sabato 18 giugno 2011

Glenn Hauser logs June 17-18, 2011

** ANTARCTICA. 15476, since LRA36 was detectable again on June 16, I expect to hear it on June 17, trying from 1230, but nothing; 1232 I think I may hear a carrier beat, but cannot be sure, and no further signs of it at 1242, 1254. Is this another holiday back in the homeland? No, but per list in DXLD 11-21, June 15 was, a day I did not check and Ron Howard did not report it either (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. On rare occasions when I am ready to monitor before 0500 UT, I now look for Firedrake, as recently logged some frequencies trying to block the Chicom noontime hour of Sound of Hope. June 17 at 0456, FD is JBA on 17170, with heavy flutter, and frequency instability caused by Doppler, until cut off at 0500:05*. None had been found on lower frequencies in previous few minutes, but there were lots of CNR1 and CRI frequencies incoming well enough on 15 and 17 MHz bands.

Firedrake later June 17:
10300, fair at 1153
11500, fair at 1153
12980, fair at 1229
13500, poor at 1155

Firedrake June 18:
10300, good at 1243; fair at 1335
11500, fair at 1251, // 10300; fair at 1333
12270, good at 1252; good at 1333
12980, poor at 1252; poor at 1331
13130, very poor at 1253; fair at 1331
13920, good at 1252
14720, fair at 1257, instead of usual 14700. SOH tried to pull a fast one and jump to this frequency, but the ChiCom monitors caught them; 14720 still JBA at 1331
15430, good at 1341 vs something audible, i.e. V. of Tibet via UAE
15900, fair at 1257
15970, good at 1329, but not before 1300
16100, good at 1330
16980, very poor at 1257; fair at 1329
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 5040, as I tune across RHC, June 17 at 0455, sign-off message is running, mentioning strange frequencies including 9600, 12000, presumably for the upcoming morning transmissions, but neither has been in (intentional) use by RHC for a long time. Presumably another outdated script/canned announcement I must try another time to copy completely for great amusement. Or have they suddenly made schedule changes? No, still neither mentioned here:
http://www.radiohc.cu/index.php/de-interes/frecuencias.html

Then played national anthem. 5040 normally closes down circa 0500 and I did not check it further, but Wolfgang Büschel was still hearing it at 0530 the same date, off by 0532 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KUWAIT. 15540, R. Kuwait, June 17 at 1945 as I tune in, the get-out-by-June-30-or-be-deported PSA for illegal immigrants is playing yet again. Various articles of the decree are read, separated by bits of ``Tubular Bells``, theme from ``The Exorcist``, hee hee, RK with a sense of humor about Kuwait exorcising IIs.

Very good summer reception on this English frequency unknown in the studio, and unpropagating in the winter. After news headlines at 2050, recheck at 2053 found that announcement playing yet2 again.

17550, R. Kuwait in Arabic, June 17 at 2003, even better than 15540; napdozed during most of this semihour as great Arabic music was playing mixed with YL narration, about what? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ROMANIA. 17510, June 17 just as I tune in at 1157, I hear one note of music and carrier cut. Yes, it`s the final note of the RRI IS, ending the English hour at 1100, registered in HFCC to last until 1200, but they always end 3 minutes earlier. This is 300 kW, 307 degrees from Tiganeshti to W Europe, and consequently onward to NAm, propagation permitting, which it does these summer days.

15195, June 18 at 1302, RRI Romanian service is playing some novelty/comedy songs, sounds like fun. This is 12-14 UT, 300 kW, 285 degrees from Galbeni to France, fair and somewhat offbeam for US (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SPAIN [non]. 17850, Friday June 17 at 2000 REE via Costa Rica with timesignal, UT+2 timecheck, and then open carrier until 2001:32*. No longer troubled by WYFR on the 17845 side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U K [and non]. 17795, June 17 at 1950-1959:30* BBCWS with `From Our Own Correspondent`, report from Tunisia; poor but generally readable. This is one of countless broadcasts benefiting from WYFR`s drastic cutback [see USA!]; until today had been blocked by Okeechobee on 17795 from 1200 to 2145. BBC is on 17795 at 16-18, 55 degrees from Ascension, and 18-20, 180 degrees from Skelton (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1569 monitoring: June 17 at 2145 I get an e-mail from Allan Weiner of WBCQ: ``Hi Glenn, Sorry to hear what WWCR did. Not cool. Anyway, We have you scheduled Wednesdays 5:30-6 pm Eastern and Thursdays 5:30-6 pm Eastern on 7415. Hope that helps a bit. Allan``. And quickly confirmed on webcast, Thursday 2130 UT as well as Wednesday 2130. The Thursday broadcast should allow us to get the new edition on the air quickly. Thanks, Allan!

WOR also confirmed on WWRB, 5050, UT Friday 0331.

All the times on WRMI: Fri 1430, Sat 0800, 1500, 1730, Sun 0800, 1530, 1730, Mon 1130, 1530, 2130, Tue 1530, Wed 1530, Thu 0330, 1500, 2100 for a total of fifteen chances. Thanks, Jeff!

Last week we found 9330 WBCQ missing for several days. John H Carver explains in the dxldyg: ``Friday night on Allan Weiner Worldwide he mentioned that he had left the station for a couple of days on an errand and while gone three transmitters had gone down and he had worked mostly nonstop till the day of his show repairing everything that had broken.``

However, 9330 missing again at 1336 check June 18.

Last weekend we were away and did not even attempt to monitor WWCR at the times formerly broadcasting WORLD OF RADIO; however, Friday June 17 at 2030 on 15825 we have been ``Unshackled``! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. The SW bands are drastically different now, lacking WYFR on up to 5 or 6 frequencies each! Effective June 17, WYFR has cut back to 22-05 UT only on up to 9 frequencies at once (plus one until 0700 with RTI relay, 5950). Now all night, in the morning and most of the day, WYFR is nowhere to be heard.

That opens many opportunities for other stations to glom onto needed frequencies, especially US outlets as the abandoned ones have already been `cleared` by FCC and HFCC. It also resolves many clashes about which nothing was ever done before; e.g., see UK 17795. 9625 no longer blocking CBCNQ. 11830 no longer colliding with Cuba after 1300, etc., etc., etc. We could still hear YFR via TAIWAN 11535 before 1300 June 18.

The full new schedule has already been published and analyzed in the DXLD yahoogroup. Here`s the condensed version:

Revised A-2011 Frequency Schedule for WYFR effective 1600 UT on JUNE 17, 2011

 FREQ   STRT STOP CIRAF ZONES POWR AZIMUTH  ANT  LANG

 5950   0300 0700   10     YFR 100  285     804  EN,MNA,EN,SP
 5950   0145 0300   4,5,9  YFR 100  355     804  EN
 5985   0300 0400   4,5,9  YFR 100  355     805  MNA
 5985   2145 0300   11     YFR 100  181     805  SPB,SPA,SPB,SPA,ENA
 6875   0300-0345   11     YFR 100  181     804  SPB
 6915   2245 0100   16     YFR 100  160     902  SPB,SPA
 7520   2200 0100   15     YFR 100  142     902  SPA,POA,ENB
 7570   0100 0300   16     YFR 100  160     902  SPB,SP
 7570   0400 0500   11     YFR 100  222     805  SP
 9385   0200 0400   11     YFR 100  222     804  SPA,SPB
 9680   0145 0300    2     YFR 100  315     804  EN
11530   2300 0200   14     YFR 100  160     902  SPB,SPA,POA
11550   0100 0145   13     YFR 100  142     902  POA
11580   2245 0300   15     YFR 100  160     902  ENB,POB,SPB,SPA
11740   0200 0500   11     YFR 100  222     804  SPA,ENA,SPB
11855   0045 0145   11     YFR 100  222     804  SPB
15190   2200-0100   13     YFR 100  142     902  POB,POA,POB
15255   2200 0300   15     YFR 100  151     804  SPA,ENB,FRB,SPB,SPA
15440   2145-0300   10     YFR 100  285     804  SPA,SPB,SPA,SPB,Ct/Hk
17725   2145 0200   13     YFR 100  140     902  POB,SP,POA,SPA
(Evelyn Marcy, WYFR Okeechobee, June 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

Analysis of above: relays of R. Taiwan International are included; the 05-07 period is for RTI only. Note that the two 50 kW units are no longer listed, all 100 kW. Hour-by-hour total transmitter usage:

2145-2200 3 = warmup only?
2200-2245 6
2245-2300 8
2300-0045 9
0045-0100 10
0100-0300 9
0300-0400 5
0400-0500 4
0500-0700 1

The A and B after EN, SP and PO must mean two different program streams per language. Ct/Hk = Cantonese/Hakka from RTI.

YFR has also made drastic reduxions in overseas relays, but quite a few remain (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###