lunedì 23 maggio 2011

Glenn Hauser logs May 22-23, 2011

I beg indulgence of SW-only lists, as I again include some FM and TV DX which has been hopping in lately. Disregard under CANADA, MEXICO, USA if not really interested; or consider broader DXing horizons.

** ANTARCTICA. 15476, LRA36, May 23: tune-in at 1238 to just-barely-audible carrier, much weaker than China on 15480. By 1246 rises to very-poor level with some music; 1256 Spanish XYL talk mixed with music, S4-S8 averaging S6. 1303 building to peak of S7-S9+5 during vocal music; 1319 laughing in conversation; 1329 gone, cut off early as sometimes happens? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CANADA. Sporadic E analog TV DX May 22, in UT:

At 1837 on ch 2 from north, `Family Guy` animation in English. Generic TV Guide Canada (which is in bed with zap2it.com, and is not linked from the US TV Guide site), says FG is on the Global network at 1:30-3 pm EDT, so that narrows it down to CKND2 in Manitoba. If it were from NW it would be CICT in Calgary (if the time fit, probably not), or from the NE one of the Ontarians, CIII2 or CFGC2.

At 0217 UT May 23, following an afternoon of SC/NC/VA FM DX, and both TV and FM DX from Aguascalientes, Zacatecas and San Luís Potosí, found analog Es on ch 2 from the northeast, live broadcast of Billboard Music Awards; in the USA on ABC which has no full-power analog affiliates, so this must be Canada.

Online generic TV Guide Canada shows it`s via CTV Network [as CFTO with the CTV logo barely visible unlike the CBC Exploding Pizza], so this must be CKCO2 Wiarton Ont., and/or CHBX, Sault Ste. Marie; continued in and out until fade around 0300 when event ended, then a few snatches of weather grafix. Was a few seconds ahead of KOCO via analog cable. Could not make out any local commercial clues during long break around 0225, but did catch a CTV logo later at 0248 (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake May 23:
17170, very good with flutter at 1243
16100, fair with flutter at 1244
15555, poor at 1246 compared to 15545
15545, good at 1246
15540, very poor at 1348, not on 15545 or 15555 now
15430, very poor at 1347; never before 1330
13970, good at 1159; very good at 1250
13920, very good at 1250; none in the 12`s
10970, fair at 1159; fair at 1253
 7970, fair at 1254, and better than 10970
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA. 9526-, May 23 at 1334, poor with music, just enough to confirm VOI is on the air today if not the language, supposedly English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. Big sporadic E opening brought in both TV and FM the afternoon of May 22; after already getting Canada on TV, and SC-NC-VA on FM, I switched to analog TV, finding lots of Mexicans, UT:

1934, ch 2, many stations interfering, encouraging higher tuning
1934, ch 3, movie from Net 5 per bug in upper right; went back to FM hoping for Mexico, but not yet, still eastern US dominating; see U S A
2042, ch 3, still movie, now obviously from music and Pierce Brosnan, a James Bond one. Surely XHBQ in Zacatecas, the only full-power 5 on 3
2042, ch 4, CCI
2056, ch 5, same movie as 3, JB music. Could be XHGC lead station, DF

2058, ch 6, video with Spanish ad, and 10 kHz offset QRM; some audio starting to show; 2100 with 6 logo animation, so this is a local-origination station; ``Finanzas 6 próspero para todos``, ``Flash Finanzas``; PSA for Tribunal Federal de Justicia, with a logo consisting of a capital T overlain by a lower-case f.

Then ``6 Aguascalientes TV presenta ---`` ``El Cuartel del Aire``, ``escenarios de San Marcos, 2011``, outdoor concert in the dark starting with group singing and speaking in German, mentions Multi-kulti. Briefly snow-free. Continuous Aguascalientes 6 ID bug in upper left. This is XHCGA, the logo visible here
http://www.mexicoradiotv.com/aguascalientes/tv.htm
but his link to the station site doesn`t work, instead from here, run by the Ags. state government
http://www.aguascalientes.gob.mx/
which also has streaming video. I DXed this station last year, but always a pleasure to see it again.

2127, 87.75, ch 6 audio heard on FM, with Bond music from net-5

A lot more TV on chs 2-6, but I concentrated on FM while I could. MUF fell below FM after 2200.

2213, ch 4, San Luís Potosí mentioned, maybe XHSLP, Once TV network

2216, ch 5, still with a net-5 movie, maybe no longer James Bond

2323, ch 5 in Spanish, game show sort of like Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy, one of the contestants in a skeleton costume scaring his female opponent away; TVDX fadeout around 2345 [but CANADA, q.v., back in early next UT day]

FM DX from Mexico, after getting Aguascalientes ch 6 TV. Equipment: DX-398 on AC, antenna built-in whip only, easily manoeuvrable, inside.

2114 UT, 90.5, English rock with Es fades; 2121 Spanish ID sounds like ``Cuba 90.5``, but surely not, more rock in English. 2125, ``Cuba 90.5, ochentas, noventas y hoy``. I`m switching back and forth with 92.7. At 2129, 90.5 ID as XHUVA, Aguascalientes, also mentions an AM frequency --- 1170 per Cantú --- all the Ags AM and FM stations are here:
http://www.mexicoradiotv.com/aguascalientes/index.htm --- so this is really ``Uva 90.5``, not Cuba. Is/Are Ags known for grapes?

2116, 92.7, Castilian-accented documentary on how well Japanese cars are maintained, making them good bets for the second-hand market in Kenya, complete with location sound. Educational station? The RDS is stuck claiming TEMP 57C, which I find hard to believe either in F or C! Next probably not the same station:

2123, 92.7 now bearing English rock, but that doesn`t mean it`s not Mexico! 2126 ID as ``Alternativa FM 92.7, contigo en todo momento``, PSA with phone number to call the army - ejército, sponsored by el gobierno del estado --- but which? Don`t they know they have listener a thousand miles away?? And back to rock in English. 2130, full ID as XHUVTA (?), Alternativa, street address for grupo Radio y Televisión de Aguascalientes; another PSA for calling the army (vs drug wars?), promo for related AM, Radio 13-20. Cantú and Elving show the call for 92.7 is really XHRTA, contrary to what I thought I heard above.

2142, 96.5, plug for a 25 de mayo event, probably a concert, in a Zacatecas palacio; poor and soon faded. FM Atlas shows XHZER, Fresnillo, Zac. But Cantú says it`s in Zacatecas city.

2143, 97.7, Mexican novelty song, ``es la número uno en San Luís Potosí``, fadeout. So it`s XHSNP, La Caliente, en SLP city per Cantú.

2152, 97.3 PSA from gobierno del estado, but which? Poor and fadeout. But then I got one more US station, from NC, see U S A (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA [and non?]. While Es FM DXing, May 22, some local notes:

88.7, KLVV plugs website as
http://www.mypraisefm.com

90.3, at 2201 UT preacher in Spanish, weak, probably groundwave, as Mexico`s radio dial is not yet infested by gospel huxters like ours.

90.5, one of my most open frequencies, after finding TVDX from Mexico, checking this at 2012 hoping for XEDA or something, but hear a weak station in Spanish talking about Jesús, probably one of the Oklahomans other than KNYD, or Kansan. Or Virginia? See U S A. Mexico came later.

99.7, stereo pilot on, but at 1919 ``Green Onions`` is playing in mono, absolutely no separation, from ``The True Oldies Channel``, i.e. KZLS `Mustang`, and VG signal now. Must have completed their upgrade/move slightly closer to Enid but still in OKC market.

Chisholm Trail Broadcasting bought out its original Alva competitor on 99.7, KXLS, with site halfway to Enid; then put KXLS format on another station it bought out, 95.7 in Lahoma; moved its original 96.9 KNID halfway to OKC, rebranded as ``Bob``; put its main station KNID on 99.7. But more recently closed 99.7 to move it into OKC market, moving KNID again to 107.1. At 2005, some music really is in stereo.

101.1, the latest frequency for KVRO Stillwater, originally commercial student station, at 1854 ``California Dreamin``` with extreme stereo separation, artificial? Slogan sounded like ``RC Rock `n` Roll``. Quickly discounted from being DX, as signal too steady, even more so at 1901 slogan as ``classic rock``, interrupted for EAS notification of Tornado Watch #326 for Lincoln and Payne counties, the latter = Stillwater. (None of the tornadic weather extended as far west as Enid today, fortunately. whew).

104.1, RDS at 2029: KMGL / MAGIC / 104.1 / OKLAHOMA / CITY`S / FAVORITE (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Sporadic E FM DX May 22, in UT: main reference is FM Atlas XXI, now over one year old, so some calls etc., could be outdated. Equipment: DX-398, on south-facing porch with AC, antenna built-in whip only, easily manoeuvrable. After 2030 it was too hot, 90+ so I went inside, using same.

1848, 93.7 with car race in stereo overriding baseball; the latter obviously KSPI Stillwater OK as after 1900 the game was OSU vs Texas Tech, with homey announcer. Any ideas from SC area?

1850, 95.9, country music, RDS scrolls: MARY GENTRY Y-ROLL WITH ME as song title, and ID: KICKIN / 95.9 / MONTGOMERY. Silly me, I figured Montgomery was the city, like in Alabama, but must be the GENTRY artist, as Kickin` 95.9 leads to WIOP, Isle of Pines SC, a Charleston suburb. FM Atlas does not have any slogan for it, but shows 50 kW on an ex-Class A channel. There is another 95.9 in the Mont`y AL market.

1852, 100.3, phone 533-1660 for NTIA (?) Net; Orangeburg Pharmacy on Russell St., ``here in Orangeburg since 1912``, another ad for Chestnut Grill. It`s WORG (get it?) but COL Elloree SC, 25 kW. Nice to hear another station from around O`burg, since WPJK eliminated its 3160 harmonic last year.

1856, 89.3, organ music, fades, stereo, then `Pipedreams` announcer Michael Barone. National program on many public stations, but fortunately RDS IDs it right away as SC ETV, i.e. WSCI Charleston. This network is in trouble with a budget-cutting anti-intellexual governor; but it`s always been odd for a statewide radio network to be such a subsidiary of TV that it`s known as a TV network on radio.

1858, 95.1, rock music, RDS: WSSX-FM, i.e. Charleston SC. FM Atlas shows slogan ``95-SX`` but if so, why not on the RDS that way? I`ll take a full legal callsign any day.

1900, 100.9, mention wayfm.com  I figured it would be tough to track down one of the gospel-huxter nets with lots of translators, but found a match immediately at
http://www.wayfm.com --- the only 100.9 being yet another outlet for Charleston SC. FMA shows it`s really WPAL-FM, 13 kW at Ridgeville.

2015, 90.5, at first thought groundwave, weak station in English, ``positive hits 89 point – something``, sharathon. Googling matches this with 89.9 at
http://www.positivehits.org/ --- lotsa luck finding any real callsigns on their webstite; not even on a coverage map with lots more frequencies, but the main ones 89.9 for Northern Virginia, 90.5 for Central Virginia.

No slogans matching in FM Atlas, but 89.9 (unheard) must be WPER Culpeper, and 90.5 WJYJ, 18.5 kW in Fredericksburg. FCC FM Query confirms both are licensed to Positive Alternative Radio. Oh oh, 90.5 WPIM, 4 kW in Martinsville is also licensed to same, so which was I getting? This one alone has the `PAR FM` slogan in FM Atlas.

2018, 93.7, ``Bob FM`` advertising a concert in Virginia Beach, Newport News, overriding KSPI. RDS: BOB-FM / 93.7 / ANYTHING / WE PLAY --- yes, in that order. I.e. WNOB [sic], Chesapeake VA, 100 kW.

2021, 95.1, RDS: WAIT BY / PAULA / COLE / ON Z95.1. This fits for WQMZ, Charlottesville VA, which is well inland unlike the mostly coastal stations heard so far.
http://www.z95.net/ FMA shows it only as Z-95, 6 kW.

2021, 95.3, ad for Hunting Hog Golf Club, and The Pavilion (restaurant?) near the ninth hole, phone 749-1900. That info leads to Ashland VA, just north of Richmond, i.e. WKHK, Colonial Heights-Richmond, 47 kW, says FM Atlas. Colonial Heights is on the other side of Richmond, south. The third time I heard it, decided they were saying ``Hunting Hawk Golf Club`, slightly more upscale, and that checks out. Then mentioned near highways 64 and 295 (Interstates) and that totally clinches it. Also mentioned another hiway, and Innsbruck(?), then fadeout. 

2024, 97.3, RDS: 97.3 THE EAGLE --- country music playing: BLAKE SHELTON / HONEY BEE. Must be WGH-FM, nice call! Which FM Atlas has as Eagle 97 FM, Newport News-Hampton Roads-Norfolk.

2026, 97.5, PSA For Piedmont Casa(?), 971-7515; ID for Charlottesville Radio Group, community awareness; mentions Bubble Wilson, hard-sell ad by Charlie Obaugh Chevy in Waynesboro for 42 mpg vehicle. Phone and Piedmont CASA lead to
http://www.pcasa.org/news.php = Court Appointed Special Advocates, for children.

So station is WWWV, Charlottesville VA, `3WV` per FM Atlas, 8.9 kW. I wonder how accurate their time signals are? I should also have been getting WBRA-DT on channel 3, but my setup is logistically inconvenient to DX FM and TV at the same time.

2155, 97.3, mixing with Aguascalientes (see MEXICO), phone number 910 332-2387 promo for Cumulus radio group jobs. This leads to Wilmington NC, i.e. WMNX, 100 kW.

2159, after an hour of Mexican TV and FM DX, a last gasp from the east, on 90.5, brief fade-in just for ID, ``WDLL, Dillon``, religious. That`s 25 kW direxional, from Dillon SC (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NEW ZEALAND [and non]. AM and DRM frequencies reversed: May 23 at 0553 and also after 0600, RNZI in DRM on 11720-11725-11730, AM on 11675 mentioning Christchurch! Another programming mixup, or deliberate? Not shown as such on the website. This QRMed NHK in French on 11730 via FRANCE, instead of BBC Arabic on 11680, altho the latter was still getting some analog NZACI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SAUDI ARABIA. 17615, May 23 at 1333, Qur`an by a cantor with a rather unpleasant nasal sound, better than // 17625, better than // 17895, all BSKSA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9680 and 9715, WYFR, May 23 at 0558 with flutter, quite unusual from Okeechobee, southerly single-hop site. Usually these are loud and clear, sometimes not, but lacking flutter. Perhaps a reflexion of Brother Camping`s instability. K index at 06 was only 1, SF = 85, says WWV (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 12100, WTWW: George McClintock advised me May 23 at 1527 that this frequency would be testing off and on today; it ran beautifully yesterday for nine hours, and may also be on all-night; however, not on when I checked at 1942 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VATICAN [non]. 13730, while Vatican Radio via CANADA was in unscheduled Spanish after 1200 Sunday May 22, on Monday May 23 at 1205 it was back to English, news about Syria (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 9320, May 23 at 0601, extremely strong S9+25 open carrier with slight fading, stronger than 9330 WBCQ; at 0608, 9320 making some digital noises, probably Cuban or US spy transmitter as heard occasionally on other 9, 11 MHz frequencies late at night. Before that, I could detect local audio mix from ESPN Radio, KCRC 1390 on that carrier, presumably occurring inside receiver (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 11500, May 23 at 1209 and 1253 all I can hear is a fair open carrier with a bit of hum. Either: V. of Russia in English via TAJIKISTAN, losing modulation; or: Firedrake against Sound of Hope, also lacking modulation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 14505-USB, May 23 at 1247, two-way in colloquial Spanish so hard to understand, one with some lite engine noise in background enough to keep the vox on during his pauses. Mentioned kilos, but also pescados, so narcotraffickers or fishing poachers; or both? Still going at 1310 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 14970, May 23 at 0551, weak oscillating tones much like the jamming in the 0430-0530 hour on 13730 against R. Dabanga for Sudan via UAE; 14970 is of course a Firedrake frequency elsewhen, but maybe coincidental. Furthermore, DX Mix News reports that R. Dabanga has moved to 15550, still via UAE; and still // 13620 via Madagascar, the only one we get here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###