sabato 9 aprile 2011

Glenn Hauser logs April 8-9, 2011

** ALBANIA [and non]. 13640, checking again April 8 the unexpected AIR interference to R. Tirana, English to North America at 2000-2030:

At 1920, 13640 has poor signal mix of the two Arabic stations. 1958, India in French is very poor but reads S9+10 peaks. *1959, RT comes on with carrier at S9+15, but less modulation more than makes up for the slightly stronger signal, making AIR and RT roughly equal in sound, both unusable. 2012, both are playing music, a mess. 2020, both are talking, also a mess. There is a rippling subaudible heterodyne between them, maybe circa 15 Hz apart, which adds to the annoyance. 2028:30* RT carrier goes off, AIR now in the clear. During this half-hour, of course, // 7465 is not audible here, not an alternative (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BONAIRE. 6215, April 9 at 0315, very poor signal in Spanish. It`s a leapfrog of RNW Bonaire 6165 over RNW 6190 in Dutch, another 25 kHz higher. Confirmed // 6215 and 6165. So add one more pair to my list of possible Bonaire leapfrogs, the other side being 6140 but likely buried by inband QRM; possible only at 0259-0327 when both 6165 and 6190 are on the air from adjacent antennas and transmitters.

Tnx to Theo Donnelly, BC, for a tip on this as an unID, April 7 from *0258:30 to 0327*. In turn he was checking out another report from California, claiming that this was R. Baluarte, Argentina on 6214!

Not bloody likely, a low-power pirate which no one has reported in months (years?) even from South America. Now let`s see which DX editors go ahead and publish or broadcast that item unchallenged as Baluarte?

For the benefit of list-loggers, Aoki really ought to include these and my other computed Bonaire leapfrog frequencies, also same for Habana and Sackville, plus other notorious offending sites. Those real but unintentional transmissions would certainly be more useful than maintaining long-inactive pirates and defunct legal SW stations on the roster, not flagged as such.

BTW, I am not a hard-liner against list-logging, and do it myself --- but only by applying all available facts and experience, and if still not certain, saying so. And furthermore, if ever am completely wrong, hastening to correct it. Since I am not competing against anyone for station or country DX totals, there is no harm in doing this (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1559, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake April 9, all // except as noted:
10300, good at 1320, gone at 1410
13980, fair at 1334, poor at 1413
14700, poor at 1336
15430, very poor at 1338, ditto to 15670
15670, very poor at 1337 (or is it CNR1 music? As not // others), mixing with something, presumably V. of Tibet
16100, fair at 1339, no others 8-19 MHz; 16100 gone at 1418
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA [and non]. Another check Friday April 8 of the RHC/VOA collision on 17560 at 1930-2030: while RHC was off at least between 2019 and 2058 April 7, possibly for monitoring, on April 8 it stayed on 17560:

At 1921, VOA French very poor but in the clear. *1927 RHC OC comes on; 1930 under OC, VOA French strengthens as it switches from São Tomé to Bonaire relay. 1932:05, RHC French audio cuts on late in progress, typical shoddy performance, 1958 still colliding, RHC atop. 2001 RHC opening Portuguese way atop VOA, and continuing past 2006. 2030 RHC into Arabic, as VOA is now off.

11760, April 9 at 0535, RHC is still on the air and VG in English, while 6010 is missing, the scheduled 0500 switch having failed. At 0601, 11760 is gone and open carrier on 6010; 6060 and 6050 are in Spanish about, what else, Los 5, an hour past nominal end of that language daily. Then I check 6150 and along with the squeal hear a bit of music, then IS, and into English, after which 6060 and 6050 are also in English, but 6010 still OC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GREECE. 15630, April 9 at 0530 with Brazilian song, fair // better 9420, then song in another language, Spanish? As ERA continues music fill during strike. 13, 15, and 17 MHz bands were really hopping this nightmiddle (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MADAGASCAR [and non]. 17750, April 9 at 0549, how ironic that the strongest, virtually only signals on band are on the same frequency colliding, making a fast SAH circa 12 Hz, R. Australia, Shepparton with a silly Saturday ballgame and something else, per HFCC, VOA Kurdish via Madagascar. RA scheduled to remain until 0700, and in the following hour to collide with Iran in Hausa via Sirjan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NIGERIA. 15120, April 9 at 0544, VON with usual awful audio, about politix, elexions about to start in Nigeria. With BFO on FRG-7, its carrier is wobbling, unstable, compared to e.g. Australia 15160. While this is going on, expect more attention to broadcasting to and from Nigeria (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PERU [and non]. 18057.9, April 9 at 1342 some JBA wailing from David Miranda, so the third harmonic of R. Victoria, 6019.3v is propagating, while easterly signals on 16m are not making it today; and unusually, nothing audible on 13m at 1345 or 1420. Yet WWV was reporting no space weather storms in past 24 hours, solar flux 109 on 8 April, K indices only 1 on 9 April at 1200, 2 at 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PORTUGAL. 13755, RDP Internacional, Friday April 8 at 2003 at VG strength and splattering at least +/- 10 kHz. This is a ``special emission`` frequency, available 7 days a week between 20 and 23, 300 degrees to NAm, on the air only when there is something so important as a stupid ballgame (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SPAIN. Is `Amigos de la Onda Corta` from REE really at 0630 UT Saturday as alleged in some schedule, which got its other time wrong? I wanted to be asleep at that hour April 9, but semi-awake at 0648 I checked poor signals on 11890, 12035; never heard the recognizable voice of Antonio Buitrago but others in an interview, so I have my doubts it was AOC. Of course he also does other announcing, and if I did hear him that would not prove it was AOC without considering the content. I am still waiting for anyone in the Spanish-speaking world to confirm this by monitoring, or find when it is really on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SWAZILAND. 15360, April 9 at the TWR music-box IS giving RHC a lot of co-channel QRM, but off at 1415*. 1400-1415 is in A-11 the only usage of 15360 from Manzini, 43 degrees in Urdu (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U K [non]. 17885, April 8 at 1940 and still at 2004, fluttery African language with hum, i.e. BBC in Hausa, 250 kW, 55 degrees from ASCENSION at 1930-2030, as registered by BaBCock (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1559 monitoring: 15825, WWCR-1 still inbooming April 8 at 2014, at least S9+25 with sporadic-E enhancement, and held up past 2030 when WORLD OF RADIO 1559 started this Friday. Also VG Saturday April 9 at 1600 on 12160. Next: 0630 Sunday on 3215.

On WRMI 9955: As expected, fairly readable with no co-channel QRM Saturday April 9 at 1411, just some bleedover from 9965 jamming, overload from Brother Scare on 9980, and escapable from constant RTTY around 9960. Next airings are Sat 1730, Sun 0800, 1530, 1730.

On IPAR/NEXUS-IBA/IRRS, Saturday 1800 on 7290 via Slovakia, 1566 and 1368 via Italy. How is 7290 around Europe now? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [non]. 13575, April 9 at 0607 ``Sawa`` ID in passing during music, good signal over CODAR, but slightly unstable carrier compared to CVC Zambia 13590. 0616 news in Arabic, also mentions Sawa. Yet another new frequency in constantly-changing revived SW schedule of R. Sawa. Ivo Ivanov says this one is 06-08 via Lampertheim, GERMANY (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VATICAN. 15595, April 9 at 0543, sounds like a pope reciting stuff in Latin, responses by group, presumably mass from Vatican Radio, VG signal here in the nightmiddle; 0609 recheck, news in Italian. 250 kW, 121 degrees direct from SMG (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 17904-USB, air traffic control, April 9 at 0547, contacting flights discussing ETAs, flight levels, but could not catch ID on very poor signal. Brandon in CA was reporting San Francisco and Honolulu on this frequency April 7, and earlier reports in UDXF also mention Auckland, so somewhere around the Pacific. Language? The international one, English, it goes without saying (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###