** ALBANIA. 13735, May 18 at 1853, R. Tirana is S9+12 on peaks, but just barely modulated during 1845 English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ANTARCTICA. 15476, LRA36 check May 19: nothing at 1229, but retune at 1231 it`s on with vocal music, 1241 still music with heavy beat; 1247 still has not started announcements, and since signal is very poor today, S7 to S9 peaks, I stay with it no longer, except to note at 1311 the music is S7 to peaks at S9+10 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DEX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA [non]. 17810, May 18 at 1850, surprised to be hearing RCI English so well here, with Ian Jones, as I know that Sackville is no longer scheduled at all on this 1800 transmission to Africa. It`s really 300 kW, 175 degrees via Skelton UK. Cut off at 1859:30* without any ID or IS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake May 19: first, some heard at unusual time, midday in China:
17170, fair at 0449
16100, very poor at 0451
15900, very poor at 0451
14720, very poor at 0452; frequency unheard elsewhen
Now to the usual monitoring times:
11500, mostly open carrier, hum at 1221, maybe not from FD; none lower
13920, very good at 1225, none in the 12s or 10s
14700, very good at 1346; was not on earlier
15530, good at 1227 // 13920; JBA at 1249
15540, fair at 1227 // 15530; fair at 1336, only one around here now
15545, fair at 1308 and also on 15550
15555, very poor at 1249, no longer on 15540; no doubt all five in this area vs jumpy V. of Tibet
16100, poor at 1229 with flutter, no others up to 19 MHz; fair at 1251
Altho 13540 was out of order in yesterday`s original report, it was not a typo (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA [and non]. 11665 is a mess, where MALAYSIA has a new transmitter at 00-16, 100 kW, 93 degrees from Kajang, per HFCC. All I hear is ChiCom CNR1 echo jamming all morning, e.g. at 1352 May 19, plus het. HFCC shows the only competition as IBB in Somali via Sri Lanka at 13-14, then CRI in English by Wulumuchi at 14-15. But there must be some reason for the jamming, for which Aoki must be consulted:
Yes, it`s of course. R. Taiwan International, in Chinese which must be jammed, all its broadcasts banned from HFCC by the ChiCom, not only at 1000-1705 but also at 0400-0600. Wake up in Malaysia! This frequency is no good. I was again hearing their other one OK on 9835 earlier around 1230 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 6150, May 19 at 1200 I pause on RHC here to monitor their complete frequency announcement. All sounded correct until they got down to 49 m, mentioning only 6000! Usual squeal, undermod on this channel (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GERMANY [non]. 17650, May 19 at 1341 VG signal talking about John Kerry in Pakistan, mentioning Taliban, Afghanistan. Scheduled as DW in Dari at 1330-1400, 500 kW, 92 degrees from Rampisham UK, to be followed by Pashto at 1400-1430 --- but what I was hearing sounded more like Pashto already, not Dari. 1345-1347 there was a biminute of deadair; 1348 DW jingle (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, May 19 at 1216, VOI remains with poor signal only, now in special-Japanese, i.e. spoken more slowly and clearly than native speakers do on NHK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN. 9595, Thursday May 19 at 1302, R. Nikkei in French lesson, only French about Japanese visiting Paris, until 1304 mixing in explanations in Japanese; fair (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [non]. 15335, regarding NHK via CHILE heard May 17 and 18 after 1400, in English the first day, and Japanese the second. It was not a test, but a special broadcast. S. Hasegawa explains to DXLD:
``Dear Glenn, R. Japan via Santiago on 15335 performed temporarily special broadcast in Japanese for South America on May 17 and 18 at 1400-2000 UT. Midnight program of "Radio Sinyabin-the radio midnight mail" on NHK -1 and FM as for the program for domestic. Because "Brazil-hatu Radio Sinyabin-sending from Brazil, radio midnight mail" was broadcast for these two days, it was relayed for South American Japanese from Santiago. South Asian Service (English, Hindi and Urdu) by misfeeding until 1520 UT May 17.`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. 15540, May 18 at 1902, R. Kuwait not with Islam-for-Heathens as usually heard at this hour, but this Wednesday instead a secular talk about `Gulf Landmarx & Utilities` (not sure of last word!), some medical facility in Qatar; in the form of a dramatic trialog, rather hokey with two men and one woman (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA [and non]. 11920, May 19 at 0444 VG signal with rock music seemingly in English; thought it might be gospel-rock, but uplooked later in HFCC, this has to be RRI, Romanian service at 04-05, 300 kW, 285 degrees from Galbeni.
BTW, since IRAN changed time for English, V. of Justice to NAm from 0130-0230 to 0330-0430 on 11920, there should be quite a collision for a semihour; needs to be checked before 0430.
BTW2, this frequency area has a lot to offer before 0500: also Jordan Arabic 11960, Turkey music 11980, France in English 11995, Tunisia Arabic 12005 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [and non]. 21610, May 19 at 1254, REE finishing Basque, 1255 into Castilian promos, starting with lengthy phone number for listeners to leave messages, for return calls ASAP. Unlike yesterday, // 21540 finds KUWAIT in Arabic pop music atop making fast SAH, but at 1300 REE news is dominant. What a waste! With scads of open frequencies on 13m, no need to collide, e.g. 21570 which Spain quit after B-10 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SWAZILAND. 4775, something talking May 19 at 0430, into choral hymn 0431, too poor in T-storm noise level, but unusual for me to hear anything here, usually not monitoring before 0500. Could it be the Bolivian? Surely not: this must have been early enough around Swazi sunrise before fadeout of TWR. In fact, gaisma.com does show today`s Manzini sunrise as 0428 UT!
WRTH A-11 Update shows 4775 usage: 0340-0400 daily in Lomwe, 0400-0800 in German/English, divided up this way: German 0400-0430 M-F, 0400-0500 Sat/Sun; followed by English. The German portion only has // 3200. HFCC adds that at 0358-0400 there is a beam change from 3 to 233 degrees on this 50 kW unit (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. 15450, May 19 at 1312, enjoyed some Turkish pop music fill from VOT, 1322 headlines in English, 1323 sign-off YL claims this broadcast was at 1330-1430 on 15520, 15450! Don`t they even have a clock in the studio on UT, which might clue her in that it is not even 1330 yet? Then played identical IS nine times and part of a tenth before cut off at 1326*. You never know how many times it will repeat if any; but if you`ve heard one, you`ve heard them all (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 13570, May 18 finally confirmed when the long break in transmission from WINB ends on weekdays, after starting circa 1315v*. (Since Good Friends Radio pulled out despite still appearing on the WINB website program schedule by time.) Carrier on at *1859:52; 1900:30 modulation cuts on with big hum, ID with phone number (not a sign-on per se), 1901 to `Voice of the Spirit`, the anapaestic androgynous preachperson from Fence Lake NM also emanating via WBCQ 15420-CUSB (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 15795, WWRB testing again May 18 at 1912 with continuous big band music including ``In the Mood``, still at 1950 with no announcements at all. S9+8 on meter but sounds only poor and now roughly equivalent to 15825 WWCR. BB music is good for evaluating frequency response, dynamic range, and it sounds fine except for the non-solid signal here. The latest from Dave at 2354 UT May 18:
``Greetings: WWRB shortwave this week will begin extensive testing on 15.795 MHz. The RF heating issues have been resolved. WWRB is receiving excellent reports on our audio quality & signal levels. During the test, WWRB may take the transmitter off the air at random times to check for RF heating in other areas of our transmitter facilities.
The Runway LOCALIZER monitors co-located with WWRB shortwave Flag / Alarm on some modulation peaks. The LOCALIZER monitors are required by FAA rules for ILS (Instrument Landing System) approaches to Airline Transport's private runway co-located with WWRB shortwave. The LOCALIZER monitors MUST be working to specifications before WWRB can start regular programming on 15.795 MHz. Regular programming on 15.795 MHz to be announced. Regards, Captain David L. Frantz, Chief Pilot, Airline Transport`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1565 monitoring: WBCQ, Wednesday May 18 from 2130 confirmed on webcast; JBA on 7415 at 2152 check.
9955 WRMI, UT Thursday May 19 at 0330: nothing but wall-of-noise-jamming audible; tnx a lot, Arnie! Confirmed on webcast. Next airings Thursday 1500 [missed checking], 2100, Friday 1430, Saturday 0800, 1730, Sunday 0800, 1530, 1730.
On WWRB: UT Friday 0330v on 5050. On WWCR: Friday 2030 on 15825, Saturday 1600 on 12160, Sunday 0630 on 3215. On IPAR: Saturday 1800 on 7290. On SiriusXM 120: Saturday & Sunday 1730, Sunday 0830 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** ANTARCTICA. 15476, LRA36 check May 19: nothing at 1229, but retune at 1231 it`s on with vocal music, 1241 still music with heavy beat; 1247 still has not started announcements, and since signal is very poor today, S7 to S9 peaks, I stay with it no longer, except to note at 1311 the music is S7 to peaks at S9+10 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DEX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA [non]. 17810, May 18 at 1850, surprised to be hearing RCI English so well here, with Ian Jones, as I know that Sackville is no longer scheduled at all on this 1800 transmission to Africa. It`s really 300 kW, 175 degrees via Skelton UK. Cut off at 1859:30* without any ID or IS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake May 19: first, some heard at unusual time, midday in China:
17170, fair at 0449
16100, very poor at 0451
15900, very poor at 0451
14720, very poor at 0452; frequency unheard elsewhen
Now to the usual monitoring times:
11500, mostly open carrier, hum at 1221, maybe not from FD; none lower
13920, very good at 1225, none in the 12s or 10s
14700, very good at 1346; was not on earlier
15530, good at 1227 // 13920; JBA at 1249
15540, fair at 1227 // 15530; fair at 1336, only one around here now
15545, fair at 1308 and also on 15550
15555, very poor at 1249, no longer on 15540; no doubt all five in this area vs jumpy V. of Tibet
16100, poor at 1229 with flutter, no others up to 19 MHz; fair at 1251
Altho 13540 was out of order in yesterday`s original report, it was not a typo (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA [and non]. 11665 is a mess, where MALAYSIA has a new transmitter at 00-16, 100 kW, 93 degrees from Kajang, per HFCC. All I hear is ChiCom CNR1 echo jamming all morning, e.g. at 1352 May 19, plus het. HFCC shows the only competition as IBB in Somali via Sri Lanka at 13-14, then CRI in English by Wulumuchi at 14-15. But there must be some reason for the jamming, for which Aoki must be consulted:
Yes, it`s of course. R. Taiwan International, in Chinese which must be jammed, all its broadcasts banned from HFCC by the ChiCom, not only at 1000-1705 but also at 0400-0600. Wake up in Malaysia! This frequency is no good. I was again hearing their other one OK on 9835 earlier around 1230 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 6150, May 19 at 1200 I pause on RHC here to monitor their complete frequency announcement. All sounded correct until they got down to 49 m, mentioning only 6000! Usual squeal, undermod on this channel (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GERMANY [non]. 17650, May 19 at 1341 VG signal talking about John Kerry in Pakistan, mentioning Taliban, Afghanistan. Scheduled as DW in Dari at 1330-1400, 500 kW, 92 degrees from Rampisham UK, to be followed by Pashto at 1400-1430 --- but what I was hearing sounded more like Pashto already, not Dari. 1345-1347 there was a biminute of deadair; 1348 DW jingle (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, May 19 at 1216, VOI remains with poor signal only, now in special-Japanese, i.e. spoken more slowly and clearly than native speakers do on NHK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN. 9595, Thursday May 19 at 1302, R. Nikkei in French lesson, only French about Japanese visiting Paris, until 1304 mixing in explanations in Japanese; fair (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [non]. 15335, regarding NHK via CHILE heard May 17 and 18 after 1400, in English the first day, and Japanese the second. It was not a test, but a special broadcast. S. Hasegawa explains to DXLD:
``Dear Glenn, R. Japan via Santiago on 15335 performed temporarily special broadcast in Japanese for South America on May 17 and 18 at 1400-2000 UT. Midnight program of "Radio Sinyabin-the radio midnight mail" on NHK -1 and FM as for the program for domestic. Because "Brazil-hatu Radio Sinyabin-sending from Brazil, radio midnight mail" was broadcast for these two days, it was relayed for South American Japanese from Santiago. South Asian Service (English, Hindi and Urdu) by misfeeding until 1520 UT May 17.`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. 15540, May 18 at 1902, R. Kuwait not with Islam-for-Heathens as usually heard at this hour, but this Wednesday instead a secular talk about `Gulf Landmarx & Utilities` (not sure of last word!), some medical facility in Qatar; in the form of a dramatic trialog, rather hokey with two men and one woman (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA [and non]. 11920, May 19 at 0444 VG signal with rock music seemingly in English; thought it might be gospel-rock, but uplooked later in HFCC, this has to be RRI, Romanian service at 04-05, 300 kW, 285 degrees from Galbeni.
BTW, since IRAN changed time for English, V. of Justice to NAm from 0130-0230 to 0330-0430 on 11920, there should be quite a collision for a semihour; needs to be checked before 0430.
BTW2, this frequency area has a lot to offer before 0500: also Jordan Arabic 11960, Turkey music 11980, France in English 11995, Tunisia Arabic 12005 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [and non]. 21610, May 19 at 1254, REE finishing Basque, 1255 into Castilian promos, starting with lengthy phone number for listeners to leave messages, for return calls ASAP. Unlike yesterday, // 21540 finds KUWAIT in Arabic pop music atop making fast SAH, but at 1300 REE news is dominant. What a waste! With scads of open frequencies on 13m, no need to collide, e.g. 21570 which Spain quit after B-10 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SWAZILAND. 4775, something talking May 19 at 0430, into choral hymn 0431, too poor in T-storm noise level, but unusual for me to hear anything here, usually not monitoring before 0500. Could it be the Bolivian? Surely not: this must have been early enough around Swazi sunrise before fadeout of TWR. In fact, gaisma.com does show today`s Manzini sunrise as 0428 UT!
WRTH A-11 Update shows 4775 usage: 0340-0400 daily in Lomwe, 0400-0800 in German/English, divided up this way: German 0400-0430 M-F, 0400-0500 Sat/Sun; followed by English. The German portion only has // 3200. HFCC adds that at 0358-0400 there is a beam change from 3 to 233 degrees on this 50 kW unit (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. 15450, May 19 at 1312, enjoyed some Turkish pop music fill from VOT, 1322 headlines in English, 1323 sign-off YL claims this broadcast was at 1330-1430 on 15520, 15450! Don`t they even have a clock in the studio on UT, which might clue her in that it is not even 1330 yet? Then played identical IS nine times and part of a tenth before cut off at 1326*. You never know how many times it will repeat if any; but if you`ve heard one, you`ve heard them all (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 13570, May 18 finally confirmed when the long break in transmission from WINB ends on weekdays, after starting circa 1315v*. (Since Good Friends Radio pulled out despite still appearing on the WINB website program schedule by time.) Carrier on at *1859:52; 1900:30 modulation cuts on with big hum, ID with phone number (not a sign-on per se), 1901 to `Voice of the Spirit`, the anapaestic androgynous preachperson from Fence Lake NM also emanating via WBCQ 15420-CUSB (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 15795, WWRB testing again May 18 at 1912 with continuous big band music including ``In the Mood``, still at 1950 with no announcements at all. S9+8 on meter but sounds only poor and now roughly equivalent to 15825 WWCR. BB music is good for evaluating frequency response, dynamic range, and it sounds fine except for the non-solid signal here. The latest from Dave at 2354 UT May 18:
``Greetings: WWRB shortwave this week will begin extensive testing on 15.795 MHz. The RF heating issues have been resolved. WWRB is receiving excellent reports on our audio quality & signal levels. During the test, WWRB may take the transmitter off the air at random times to check for RF heating in other areas of our transmitter facilities.
The Runway LOCALIZER monitors co-located with WWRB shortwave Flag / Alarm on some modulation peaks. The LOCALIZER monitors are required by FAA rules for ILS (Instrument Landing System) approaches to Airline Transport's private runway co-located with WWRB shortwave. The LOCALIZER monitors MUST be working to specifications before WWRB can start regular programming on 15.795 MHz. Regular programming on 15.795 MHz to be announced. Regards, Captain David L. Frantz, Chief Pilot, Airline Transport`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1565 monitoring: WBCQ, Wednesday May 18 from 2130 confirmed on webcast; JBA on 7415 at 2152 check.
9955 WRMI, UT Thursday May 19 at 0330: nothing but wall-of-noise-jamming audible; tnx a lot, Arnie! Confirmed on webcast. Next airings Thursday 1500 [missed checking], 2100, Friday 1430, Saturday 0800, 1730, Sunday 0800, 1530, 1730.
On WWRB: UT Friday 0330v on 5050. On WWCR: Friday 2030 on 15825, Saturday 1600 on 12160, Sunday 0630 on 3215. On IPAR: Saturday 1800 on 7290. On SiriusXM 120: Saturday & Sunday 1730, Sunday 0830 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###