** ALBANIA [and non]. 13640, R. Tirana, English to Eu and NAm at 1845-1900 and 2000-2030 Mon-Sat, on a frequency which was carefully chosen and registered not to cause or be subject to interference, now has co-channel QRM since a few days after A-11 officially started, All India Radio began using it during these hours and beyond: 1715-1945 in Arabic, 1945-2030 in French, 500 kW, 300 degrees via Bengaluru. First noted by Noel Green in England, where AIR ruins Tirana reception, so we monitored it April 2:
Until 1857 or so, R. Tirana was atop the CCI, which became clearly audible once Tirana went off. The QRM was stronger before *1959 Tirana resumed, and it started atop, but progressively lost out to the interference, until by 2027 they were roughly equal levels. No doubt the situation is worse further east and south from here, and intolerable in Europe. Since propagation was subnormal today, the clash could be worse when conditions improve.
Since Tirana was on 13640 first (also previous seasons) and duly coordinated, AIR, which is obviously capable of changes at short notice, should move immediately to a clear 13 MHz frequency, of which there are plenty.
While barely evading a collision with Albania, Dardasha 7 from Cyprus, due south via Wertachtal is also on 13640 in Arabic at 1900-1930, Wolfgang Büschel reports.
Tirana skips Sundays in English, so the other two may be heard today, without Shijak, that collision resuming Monday unless AIR relents (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. 15330, April 2 at 2012, RCI remains here for its only vestigial English hour on AM from Sackville, // weaker 15235, 17735; and originally published 13650 has now been replaced by 15330, so not a mistake, but a last-minute A-11 change (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake April 3: 8400, VG and no CCI at 1251. Not heard after 1300, nor anywhere else up to 18 MHz by 1310, during subnormal propagation conditions; per WWV, the mid-latitude K-index at 12 and 15 UT was 3 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. 11760, RHC `En Contacto`, Sunday April 3 at 1338, Manolo de la Rosa says that the new frequency for Europe circa 2240 Sundays is 17650, but he doesn`t make clear that is not supposed to go into effect until April 4 so today should still be on 11770, et al.
13750, open carrier April 3 at 1404, and 13680 is off as is standard RHC practice on Sundays whether or not there is going to be any `Aló, Presidente` a few hours later from Venezuela.
At 1607, 13750 and the four other A,P frequencies are off the air: 17750, 15370, 13680, 11690. Checking http://www.alopresidente.gob.ve/ it says that El Hugazo has ``ceded his space`` to a report on somebody`s South American tour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GERMANY [non]. 11865, DW is still here with two hours of English for Africa, 2000 at 140 degrees via PORTUGAL, 2100 at 295 degrees via RWANDA, and fairly audible in deep NAm too: April 2 at 2040 report on the late zoopolarbear Knut; 2126 with German lesson, 2130 into political/news discussion, and during this hour better on // 15540, also 295 from Rwanda, and audible on 15275, 120 from Portugal.
15275 Rwanda was back with DW English, April 3 at 0608 repeating the previous report on Knut, but VG signal drops off the air every few seconds. Now nothing from 15190 Eq Guinea or 15120 Nigeria. Knut:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,752006,00.html
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI missing for the second day in a row, April 3 at 1251 when should have been in Japanese, and after 1300 in English, but once again the other Cimanggis transmitter with RRI domestic continued to be heard on 9680 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. 15540, April 2 at 1958, R. Kuwait English service, good with flutter, rock music, but by 2011 had faded to very poor level. Meanwhile, nothing audible from Arabic service to C&W NAm on 17550. Propagation is very selective and touchy with this (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [non]. 11880, Sunday April 3 at 1238, REE`s `Amigos de la Onda Corta` is in progress via COSTA RICA, station news including ESPN on the air from Dominican Republic on MW 690; then REE`s Emisión Sefarad celebrates its 25th anniversary April 4, schedule for it and interviews with presenters Matilda and Rajel, who are also involved in other projects such as a new book of Sephardic poetry.
So, as we suspected, despite publicity all over Spanish DX groups that ADLOC would be at 1330, for A-11 it is really an hour earlier now at 1230 Sundays on this and all the other frequencies. It seems that with every seasonal change, erroneous info about this scheduling gets published as fact, to be corrected by monitoring. Conditions were subnormal for Spain direct on higher frequencies. Still unconfirmed is the only other alleged time, Saturdays 0630. Did anyone hear it then April 2? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 9510, April 3 at 1250, VOA English, discussion about what`s next for Syria, outroed as `Encounter` with expert from the University of Oklahoma; *1254 another open carrier comes on, with ripple SAH depressing but not inaudiblizing modulation from first transmitter. 1300 recheck only one signal is there, VOA news in English. Per HFCC, here`s what`s happening:
Daily at 12-13 is 250 kW, 283 degrees from Tinang, PHILIPPINES, (PHT).
Sat/Sun at 13-14 is 50 kW, 285 degrees from Tinang (PHX). The extra hour is for `Jazz America` which followed // 12150, 7575. So there was an overlap of about 5 minutes, during which I was not monitoring to determine if any modulation also self-clashed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9479, WTWW, April 3 at 1317 speaker mentions matter-of-factly that radiation ``has a frequency`` which goes up to the ionosphere, but those who are baptized are protected when it comes back down, because that changes them physically. PPP/SFAW, always good for a guffaw! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 9947.5, the continuous tone test heard the previous two mornings, gone again April 3 at 1302 check. Several others have reported hearing it:
Ken W. English, Studio Engineer at KSL-TV, Salt Lake, says:
``Hi, I heard the tone/tones on 9947.5 all day on April 1, as well.
It was very strong (at Midvale, Utah, using a 55-foot long-wire antenna), with very minor fading, all day, ending somewhere around sunset. At times, it almost seemed like there were slightly different frequency audio tones on the upper and lower AM sidebands. Like you said, that might have just been a beat with 9950.
I think I have heard some un-modulated carriers, and some with tone, on various frequencies lately. I've assumed they were U.S.-based religious broadcasters with automation problems, or something. What does it cost to run 100 kW for several hours ;) ? Maybe it was on this frequency.
Doing a Google search, I found a couple of references to this being a frequency for a "NOAA Emergency Communications Network". I have e-mailed the Public Information folks at NOAA, to see if they have an answer. I'll let you know if I hear back.``
Bob LaRose, W6ACU, San Diego, CA, wrote at 1812 UT April 2:
``Hi Glen[n]! Also hearing the strong AM station with tone on 9947 kHz here in San Diego. Very strong and does not have normal fading characteristics (very slow fades and only a couple db) so speculate it is within ground wave range. First noticed all day yesterday (1st). Back again today. Navy test of some type?``
Searching DXLD, I found in 4-189 that WEWN was putting out spurs including 9947 in December, 2004, but those came from 9955, no longer in use (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
Until 1857 or so, R. Tirana was atop the CCI, which became clearly audible once Tirana went off. The QRM was stronger before *1959 Tirana resumed, and it started atop, but progressively lost out to the interference, until by 2027 they were roughly equal levels. No doubt the situation is worse further east and south from here, and intolerable in Europe. Since propagation was subnormal today, the clash could be worse when conditions improve.
Since Tirana was on 13640 first (also previous seasons) and duly coordinated, AIR, which is obviously capable of changes at short notice, should move immediately to a clear 13 MHz frequency, of which there are plenty.
While barely evading a collision with Albania, Dardasha 7 from Cyprus, due south via Wertachtal is also on 13640 in Arabic at 1900-1930, Wolfgang Büschel reports.
Tirana skips Sundays in English, so the other two may be heard today, without Shijak, that collision resuming Monday unless AIR relents (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. 15330, April 2 at 2012, RCI remains here for its only vestigial English hour on AM from Sackville, // weaker 15235, 17735; and originally published 13650 has now been replaced by 15330, so not a mistake, but a last-minute A-11 change (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake April 3: 8400, VG and no CCI at 1251. Not heard after 1300, nor anywhere else up to 18 MHz by 1310, during subnormal propagation conditions; per WWV, the mid-latitude K-index at 12 and 15 UT was 3 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. 11760, RHC `En Contacto`, Sunday April 3 at 1338, Manolo de la Rosa says that the new frequency for Europe circa 2240 Sundays is 17650, but he doesn`t make clear that is not supposed to go into effect until April 4 so today should still be on 11770, et al.
13750, open carrier April 3 at 1404, and 13680 is off as is standard RHC practice on Sundays whether or not there is going to be any `Aló, Presidente` a few hours later from Venezuela.
At 1607, 13750 and the four other A,P frequencies are off the air: 17750, 15370, 13680, 11690. Checking http://www.alopresidente.gob.ve/ it says that El Hugazo has ``ceded his space`` to a report on somebody`s South American tour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GERMANY [non]. 11865, DW is still here with two hours of English for Africa, 2000 at 140 degrees via PORTUGAL, 2100 at 295 degrees via RWANDA, and fairly audible in deep NAm too: April 2 at 2040 report on the late zoopolarbear Knut; 2126 with German lesson, 2130 into political/news discussion, and during this hour better on // 15540, also 295 from Rwanda, and audible on 15275, 120 from Portugal.
15275 Rwanda was back with DW English, April 3 at 0608 repeating the previous report on Knut, but VG signal drops off the air every few seconds. Now nothing from 15190 Eq Guinea or 15120 Nigeria. Knut:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,752006,00.html
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI missing for the second day in a row, April 3 at 1251 when should have been in Japanese, and after 1300 in English, but once again the other Cimanggis transmitter with RRI domestic continued to be heard on 9680 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. 15540, April 2 at 1958, R. Kuwait English service, good with flutter, rock music, but by 2011 had faded to very poor level. Meanwhile, nothing audible from Arabic service to C&W NAm on 17550. Propagation is very selective and touchy with this (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [non]. 11880, Sunday April 3 at 1238, REE`s `Amigos de la Onda Corta` is in progress via COSTA RICA, station news including ESPN on the air from Dominican Republic on MW 690; then REE`s Emisión Sefarad celebrates its 25th anniversary April 4, schedule for it and interviews with presenters Matilda and Rajel, who are also involved in other projects such as a new book of Sephardic poetry.
So, as we suspected, despite publicity all over Spanish DX groups that ADLOC would be at 1330, for A-11 it is really an hour earlier now at 1230 Sundays on this and all the other frequencies. It seems that with every seasonal change, erroneous info about this scheduling gets published as fact, to be corrected by monitoring. Conditions were subnormal for Spain direct on higher frequencies. Still unconfirmed is the only other alleged time, Saturdays 0630. Did anyone hear it then April 2? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 9510, April 3 at 1250, VOA English, discussion about what`s next for Syria, outroed as `Encounter` with expert from the University of Oklahoma; *1254 another open carrier comes on, with ripple SAH depressing but not inaudiblizing modulation from first transmitter. 1300 recheck only one signal is there, VOA news in English. Per HFCC, here`s what`s happening:
Daily at 12-13 is 250 kW, 283 degrees from Tinang, PHILIPPINES, (PHT).
Sat/Sun at 13-14 is 50 kW, 285 degrees from Tinang (PHX). The extra hour is for `Jazz America` which followed // 12150, 7575. So there was an overlap of about 5 minutes, during which I was not monitoring to determine if any modulation also self-clashed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9479, WTWW, April 3 at 1317 speaker mentions matter-of-factly that radiation ``has a frequency`` which goes up to the ionosphere, but those who are baptized are protected when it comes back down, because that changes them physically. PPP/SFAW, always good for a guffaw! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 9947.5, the continuous tone test heard the previous two mornings, gone again April 3 at 1302 check. Several others have reported hearing it:
Ken W. English, Studio Engineer at KSL-TV, Salt Lake, says:
``Hi, I heard the tone/tones on 9947.5 all day on April 1, as well.
It was very strong (at Midvale, Utah, using a 55-foot long-wire antenna), with very minor fading, all day, ending somewhere around sunset. At times, it almost seemed like there were slightly different frequency audio tones on the upper and lower AM sidebands. Like you said, that might have just been a beat with 9950.
I think I have heard some un-modulated carriers, and some with tone, on various frequencies lately. I've assumed they were U.S.-based religious broadcasters with automation problems, or something. What does it cost to run 100 kW for several hours ;) ? Maybe it was on this frequency.
Doing a Google search, I found a couple of references to this being a frequency for a "NOAA Emergency Communications Network". I have e-mailed the Public Information folks at NOAA, to see if they have an answer. I'll let you know if I hear back.``
Bob LaRose, W6ACU, San Diego, CA, wrote at 1812 UT April 2:
``Hi Glen[n]! Also hearing the strong AM station with tone on 9947 kHz here in San Diego. Very strong and does not have normal fading characteristics (very slow fades and only a couple db) so speculate it is within ground wave range. First noticed all day yesterday (1st). Back again today. Navy test of some type?``
Searching DXLD, I found in 4-189 that WEWN was putting out spurs including 9947 in December, 2004, but those came from 9955, no longer in use (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###