** ALASKA. 11870, June 29 at 1236, American accent talking about the Gospels, VG signal made me fear WYFR was back. 1257 gospel rock in English, no announcements, 1259 to open carrier, 1259:35* off. It must have been KNLS, which never occurred to me until I looked it up as they never have such a good signal here! KTWR is also scheduled in non-English continuing past 1300 on 11870, unheard (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake June 29, by time segments:
Unusual to hear any in the 05-06 hour:
15970, very poor at 0525
16980, poor at 0527
1230-1300:
11500, good at 1238
12980, very good at 1239
13800, good at 1248 // 12980
13850, poor at 1248
13920, very good at 1248
13970, very good at 1248, with some distortion, unusual; and five at once within 1 MHz span
14700, fair at 1249
15540, fair at 1252
15670, good at 1253, CNR1 echo jammer only, no FD now
15970, fair at 1254
16980, very good at 1254
1300-1330:
15540, fair at 1311: may have stayed on across hourtop
14970, good at 1328
14700, fair at 1328; none in the 12`s
13970, very good at 1328 (logged as 13980, probably my mistake)
13920, very good at 1328
11500, fair at 1329; none in the 10`s
1330-1400:
11500, very poor at 1347
11590, poor at 1353 // 15525. 11590 unusual: Aoki today has nothing to account for it, just RFA in Tibetan via Kuwait after 1500
13920, very good at 1348
13970, very good at 1348
14700, poor at 1349
14970, very good at 1348
15275, good at 1352; Aoki has V. of Tibet/Tajikistan on 15273 during this semihour only
15430, very poor at 1351
15525, good at 1351: jumpy V. of Tibet must have landed around here, ex-15540. The June 29 at 1400 Aoki shows:
``15524 1340-1400 TJK * VOICE OF TIBET Chi Dushanbe-Ya 1-7``
15970, fair at 1349, poor at 1357
16980, very good at 1353
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CYPRUS. OTH radar pulses, presumed from here, June 29:
17175-17200, poor at 0526
15815-15845, fair at 0528
13465-13490, poor at 0535
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. Finally, running the TVDX receiver on channel 2 getting nothing but snow hour after hour pays off: June 28 at 1750 UT, fade-in with XRIO promo ID, and then full-screen ID of: FOX over XRIO with a larger 2 to their right. Soon fades out again. This Matamoros station in English, really XHRIO, is more commonly seen further away than I am. Unfortunately I didn`t have the camera handy or the VCR hooked up. This ID appears on Danny Oglethorpe`s website. BTW, it`s sound is louder than US stations, probably running greater power fraxion vs video.
It turned out to be a precursor of much more Mexican TVDX later in the day. By 2200 UT I am getting a mix of analog DX on ch 2.
2252 on 2, a Televisa promo
2252 on 4, algo; 2258, novela; but in upper left, partially cut off by overscan in corner, ---- de aquí, above clock 17:58 and 36 degrees. Snowfree for a while past hourtop with no supered ID seen. Anyone recognize the source of ``de aquí``?
2301 on 6, different novela; bug in UR can`t make out
2302 on 2, net-2 star bug UR, promo for Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México captioned in lower right (population is over a million, making it one of the largest cities in the world no one has heard of, being merely a suburb of megopolis Ciudad de México; not helped by its unpronounceable Aztec name, unless shortened to Neza)
2303 on 4, novela, Galavisión bug in UR; it`s low-contrast, at least in B&W. Oglethrope says this net DXed on 4 is most often XELN Torreón; altho W9WI shows that with net-5 and the two full-power net-9 XEQ relayers on 4 are in Tapachula and Oaxaca
2349 on 5, ad for Nido
2349 on 3, canal 3 with local program; http://www.campafamily.com --- They are musical clowns, and instrumental `funny` music autolaunches. Linx to further sites, one of which mentions they appeared in January in Culiacán but that`s not enough to pin this on XHQ for sure.
2350 on 5, promo with swish logo of TV Azteca, as in http://tvdxtips.com/mexlogos.html
2351 on 3, promo for Talpa de Allende, Jalisco from Televisa --- one of many geographic bits broadcast nationally
2355 on 5, novela, bug in UR for Azteca-13, but it is *no longer* the two vertical bars and three vertical dots, meaning 13 in Aztec numeration! Instead it is the generic `swoosh`, three diagonal lines of the entire Azteca networks, and below it AZTECA TRECE. As of next day, Danny has now deleted the old Aztec-numeral logo and replaced it with this.
Into UT June 29:
0000 on 3, Bienvenidos a Mexicali promo by Televisa `en provincia`. Antenna was still southward as had not realized dominant skip was now from WSW. Much better when repointed there. Took several still photos, including at 0003 animated ID for 3/5 Contigo, i.e. sister stations. Then opening old movie with scripty credits, and constant bug LR for large italic 3 and under it XHBC calls. Guy in funny hat, not a cowboy sombrero, begins singing immediately, so a musical. Often snow-free.
0111 on 3, cheesecake still photos of Yolanda Ivonne Montez Farrington, her name constant at bottom, with the Yo- and -ton cut off my screen. Google her, a.k.a. Tongolele, dancer born 1932 in Spokane, including http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpMrjmJQwvA
0117 on 3, it`s still XHBC with same movie, the constant bug in LR
0133 on 3, ditto, heavy ghosting now
0136 on 5, XHAQ is back in weaker as MUF ascends
0139 on 5, ad for PULL-UPS
0141 on 5, novela credits, opening at odd hour, or closing? Title is EMPERATRIZ; new AZTECA TRECE bug in UR again with swooshes
0143 on 3, XHBC playing the `Bienvenidos a Mexicali` film again, with Televisa logo in LL, SKY in LR, concluding with ID including SKY 628 for this station via satellite
0208 on 6, MUF weakly up to here, still peaking WSW but 3 and 5 have faded out. Letterboxed movie with open captioning in bottom black bar. I have found XETV Tijuana doing letterboxing before, FWIW.
More Mexican TV DX the next morning, same UT day June 29:
1426 on 2, something fades in with antenna SSE, then moved to SSW
1438 on 2, fade-in net-5 with toons in Spanish
1450 on 3, now much stronger than signals on 2, toons from net-5, in fact at least two transmitters with same programming, different offsets
1502 on 2, PSA for becalos.mx educational aid
1516 on 3, show seems to be Noticias Express, and bug in UR has 3 in oval slanted to the right. Oglethorpe shows this as XHQ Culiacán, and indeed signal improves when pointed SW. There is also something in the lower right corner overlapping the circle, and http://tvdxtips.com/mexlogosch3.html shows it is the characteristic bird-in-flight, presumably seagull, of Grupo Pacífico stations
1547 on 4, jewelry infomercial with live models, UR bug shows 10:47 23 degrees, but no ID
1547 on 6, animated Aguascalientes TV promo, video only
1601 on 5, large letters say AHI ESTA DETALLE, while Televisa copyright notice crawls across top of screen
1603 on 5, net 5 bug UR
1603 on 6, old musical movie with sombreros; has that B&W `look` altho everything on my monitor is B&W; Bug UR has something in a square block, maybe an N. UL has constant 6 logo, and unreadable text comes and goes across top left part of screen. Steady but too snowy to make out details. 1610 break IDs this as `Cine para Todos`, from Aguascalientes TV 6, animated IDs and promos, one for `El Club de Rony` Sat & Sun at 9:00.
ch 2-6 full of CCI when I close this report around 1630, and probably FM is open if I can find time to check it. Also check ch 8 and 9 occasionally for signs of hiband Es; 7 is blocked by KOCO-DT OKC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS. 17855, June 29 at 0522, RFA in Chinese, sufficient signal as is common now. Sounds OK on AM, but with BFO I find that the carrier is wobbling considerably. Another problem at the IBB SAIPAN site.
Then checked 21580 TINIAN at 0525, and RFA has fair signal // 17855. Always fun to hear anything on 13m in the nightmiddle (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. 17770, June 29 at 0525, fair signal from RRI in French, but there`s a squeal on the transmitter, 185 degrees from Tiganeshti (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. 17895, June 29 at 0522, poor signal with Qur`an. It`s the HQS from BSKSA Riyadh, 500 kW, 40 degrees, a midsummer visitor. When heard here at 12-15 it`s a more propitious 295 degree beam (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [non]. 11910, June 29 at 1356, poor signal with REE IS. Unusual to hear this, relay via Beijing; HFCC says 12-14 in Spanish, 500 kW, 142 degrees, so apparently about to close down (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 12100, June 29 at 1246, WTWW absent when normally with Bible readiings in Arabic. George McClintock told me a few hours earlier, ``Glenn, I had a transmitter air flow switch go out that ate up my entire day and was not able to get to [scheduling] your program, sorry. George Mc``. The other transmitter was on as usual after 1300 on 9479. 12100 still off at 1625 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN. Two nearby VR frequencies at once with greatly divergent signals:
15570, June 29 at 0529, VR IS, 0530 opening Portuguese to Africa, fair
15595, June 29 at 0529, VR bells, very good and much stronger than 15570, 0530 introducing Latin mass, in German, Spanish, English ``from the Vatican Radio chapel``, Polish; 0532 Latin.
Both are 500 kW from SMG, on 175 and 121 azimuths respectively. What a difference 54 degrees make, tho neither USward at all. Usually all we hear at this hour is 15595 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 12300, June 29 at 0538, S9+5 open carrier, maybe a trace of modulation. Could be RHC 2 x 6150 which is always extremely undermodulated, heard at 0545 with squeal and DXers Unlimited (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENINGN DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 13380, June 29 at 0534, S9+20 open carrier. These things I associate with Cuban spy numbers, and maybe would have heard some of that or data bursts if I kept listening (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 13610, June 29 at 1247 mystery 1000 Hz tone test, mixed with talk in Chinese, i.e. CRI via Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN. No tone at 1310 recheck.
Then I look for more TT: 15500, June 29 at 1252, fair signal with mystery 1000 Hz tone test. At 1310 only open carrier, 1316 mixing with something singing. Aoki says the latter is V. of Wilderness, via UZBEKISTAN to Korea North. HFCC says it`s brokered by WRN.
15550, June 29 at 1351, now the 1000 Hz tone is here; 1358 mixing with hymn, 1359 WJHR SSB talk is starting; the tone carrier is not enough to demodulate WJHR, but continues past 1400, and then 1401 WJHR in the clear. Then looked for more tones on 17 and 18 MHz bands, none found (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** CHINA. Firedrake June 29, by time segments:
Unusual to hear any in the 05-06 hour:
15970, very poor at 0525
16980, poor at 0527
1230-1300:
11500, good at 1238
12980, very good at 1239
13800, good at 1248 // 12980
13850, poor at 1248
13920, very good at 1248
13970, very good at 1248, with some distortion, unusual; and five at once within 1 MHz span
14700, fair at 1249
15540, fair at 1252
15670, good at 1253, CNR1 echo jammer only, no FD now
15970, fair at 1254
16980, very good at 1254
1300-1330:
15540, fair at 1311: may have stayed on across hourtop
14970, good at 1328
14700, fair at 1328; none in the 12`s
13970, very good at 1328 (logged as 13980, probably my mistake)
13920, very good at 1328
11500, fair at 1329; none in the 10`s
1330-1400:
11500, very poor at 1347
11590, poor at 1353 // 15525. 11590 unusual: Aoki today has nothing to account for it, just RFA in Tibetan via Kuwait after 1500
13920, very good at 1348
13970, very good at 1348
14700, poor at 1349
14970, very good at 1348
15275, good at 1352; Aoki has V. of Tibet/Tajikistan on 15273 during this semihour only
15430, very poor at 1351
15525, good at 1351: jumpy V. of Tibet must have landed around here, ex-15540. The June 29 at 1400 Aoki shows:
``15524 1340-1400 TJK * VOICE OF TIBET Chi Dushanbe-Ya 1-7``
15970, fair at 1349, poor at 1357
16980, very good at 1353
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CYPRUS. OTH radar pulses, presumed from here, June 29:
17175-17200, poor at 0526
15815-15845, fair at 0528
13465-13490, poor at 0535
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. Finally, running the TVDX receiver on channel 2 getting nothing but snow hour after hour pays off: June 28 at 1750 UT, fade-in with XRIO promo ID, and then full-screen ID of: FOX over XRIO with a larger 2 to their right. Soon fades out again. This Matamoros station in English, really XHRIO, is more commonly seen further away than I am. Unfortunately I didn`t have the camera handy or the VCR hooked up. This ID appears on Danny Oglethorpe`s website. BTW, it`s sound is louder than US stations, probably running greater power fraxion vs video.
It turned out to be a precursor of much more Mexican TVDX later in the day. By 2200 UT I am getting a mix of analog DX on ch 2.
2252 on 2, a Televisa promo
2252 on 4, algo; 2258, novela; but in upper left, partially cut off by overscan in corner, ---- de aquí, above clock 17:58 and 36 degrees. Snowfree for a while past hourtop with no supered ID seen. Anyone recognize the source of ``de aquí``?
2301 on 6, different novela; bug in UR can`t make out
2302 on 2, net-2 star bug UR, promo for Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México captioned in lower right (population is over a million, making it one of the largest cities in the world no one has heard of, being merely a suburb of megopolis Ciudad de México; not helped by its unpronounceable Aztec name, unless shortened to Neza)
2303 on 4, novela, Galavisión bug in UR; it`s low-contrast, at least in B&W. Oglethrope says this net DXed on 4 is most often XELN Torreón; altho W9WI shows that with net-5 and the two full-power net-9 XEQ relayers on 4 are in Tapachula and Oaxaca
2349 on 5, ad for Nido
2349 on 3, canal 3 with local program; http://www.campafamily.com --- They are musical clowns, and instrumental `funny` music autolaunches. Linx to further sites, one of which mentions they appeared in January in Culiacán but that`s not enough to pin this on XHQ for sure.
2350 on 5, promo with swish logo of TV Azteca, as in http://tvdxtips.com/mexlogos.html
2351 on 3, promo for Talpa de Allende, Jalisco from Televisa --- one of many geographic bits broadcast nationally
2355 on 5, novela, bug in UR for Azteca-13, but it is *no longer* the two vertical bars and three vertical dots, meaning 13 in Aztec numeration! Instead it is the generic `swoosh`, three diagonal lines of the entire Azteca networks, and below it AZTECA TRECE. As of next day, Danny has now deleted the old Aztec-numeral logo and replaced it with this.
Into UT June 29:
0000 on 3, Bienvenidos a Mexicali promo by Televisa `en provincia`. Antenna was still southward as had not realized dominant skip was now from WSW. Much better when repointed there. Took several still photos, including at 0003 animated ID for 3/5 Contigo, i.e. sister stations. Then opening old movie with scripty credits, and constant bug LR for large italic 3 and under it XHBC calls. Guy in funny hat, not a cowboy sombrero, begins singing immediately, so a musical. Often snow-free.
0111 on 3, cheesecake still photos of Yolanda Ivonne Montez Farrington, her name constant at bottom, with the Yo- and -ton cut off my screen. Google her, a.k.a. Tongolele, dancer born 1932 in Spokane, including http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpMrjmJQwvA
0117 on 3, it`s still XHBC with same movie, the constant bug in LR
0133 on 3, ditto, heavy ghosting now
0136 on 5, XHAQ is back in weaker as MUF ascends
0139 on 5, ad for PULL-UPS
0141 on 5, novela credits, opening at odd hour, or closing? Title is EMPERATRIZ; new AZTECA TRECE bug in UR again with swooshes
0143 on 3, XHBC playing the `Bienvenidos a Mexicali` film again, with Televisa logo in LL, SKY in LR, concluding with ID including SKY 628 for this station via satellite
0208 on 6, MUF weakly up to here, still peaking WSW but 3 and 5 have faded out. Letterboxed movie with open captioning in bottom black bar. I have found XETV Tijuana doing letterboxing before, FWIW.
More Mexican TV DX the next morning, same UT day June 29:
1426 on 2, something fades in with antenna SSE, then moved to SSW
1438 on 2, fade-in net-5 with toons in Spanish
1450 on 3, now much stronger than signals on 2, toons from net-5, in fact at least two transmitters with same programming, different offsets
1502 on 2, PSA for becalos.mx educational aid
1516 on 3, show seems to be Noticias Express, and bug in UR has 3 in oval slanted to the right. Oglethorpe shows this as XHQ Culiacán, and indeed signal improves when pointed SW. There is also something in the lower right corner overlapping the circle, and http://tvdxtips.com/mexlogosch3.html shows it is the characteristic bird-in-flight, presumably seagull, of Grupo Pacífico stations
1547 on 4, jewelry infomercial with live models, UR bug shows 10:47 23 degrees, but no ID
1547 on 6, animated Aguascalientes TV promo, video only
1601 on 5, large letters say AHI ESTA DETALLE, while Televisa copyright notice crawls across top of screen
1603 on 5, net 5 bug UR
1603 on 6, old musical movie with sombreros; has that B&W `look` altho everything on my monitor is B&W; Bug UR has something in a square block, maybe an N. UL has constant 6 logo, and unreadable text comes and goes across top left part of screen. Steady but too snowy to make out details. 1610 break IDs this as `Cine para Todos`, from Aguascalientes TV 6, animated IDs and promos, one for `El Club de Rony` Sat & Sun at 9:00.
ch 2-6 full of CCI when I close this report around 1630, and probably FM is open if I can find time to check it. Also check ch 8 and 9 occasionally for signs of hiband Es; 7 is blocked by KOCO-DT OKC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS. 17855, June 29 at 0522, RFA in Chinese, sufficient signal as is common now. Sounds OK on AM, but with BFO I find that the carrier is wobbling considerably. Another problem at the IBB SAIPAN site.
Then checked 21580 TINIAN at 0525, and RFA has fair signal // 17855. Always fun to hear anything on 13m in the nightmiddle (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. 17770, June 29 at 0525, fair signal from RRI in French, but there`s a squeal on the transmitter, 185 degrees from Tiganeshti (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. 17895, June 29 at 0522, poor signal with Qur`an. It`s the HQS from BSKSA Riyadh, 500 kW, 40 degrees, a midsummer visitor. When heard here at 12-15 it`s a more propitious 295 degree beam (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [non]. 11910, June 29 at 1356, poor signal with REE IS. Unusual to hear this, relay via Beijing; HFCC says 12-14 in Spanish, 500 kW, 142 degrees, so apparently about to close down (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 12100, June 29 at 1246, WTWW absent when normally with Bible readiings in Arabic. George McClintock told me a few hours earlier, ``Glenn, I had a transmitter air flow switch go out that ate up my entire day and was not able to get to [scheduling] your program, sorry. George Mc``. The other transmitter was on as usual after 1300 on 9479. 12100 still off at 1625 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN. Two nearby VR frequencies at once with greatly divergent signals:
15570, June 29 at 0529, VR IS, 0530 opening Portuguese to Africa, fair
15595, June 29 at 0529, VR bells, very good and much stronger than 15570, 0530 introducing Latin mass, in German, Spanish, English ``from the Vatican Radio chapel``, Polish; 0532 Latin.
Both are 500 kW from SMG, on 175 and 121 azimuths respectively. What a difference 54 degrees make, tho neither USward at all. Usually all we hear at this hour is 15595 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 12300, June 29 at 0538, S9+5 open carrier, maybe a trace of modulation. Could be RHC 2 x 6150 which is always extremely undermodulated, heard at 0545 with squeal and DXers Unlimited (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENINGN DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 13380, June 29 at 0534, S9+20 open carrier. These things I associate with Cuban spy numbers, and maybe would have heard some of that or data bursts if I kept listening (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 13610, June 29 at 1247 mystery 1000 Hz tone test, mixed with talk in Chinese, i.e. CRI via Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN. No tone at 1310 recheck.
Then I look for more TT: 15500, June 29 at 1252, fair signal with mystery 1000 Hz tone test. At 1310 only open carrier, 1316 mixing with something singing. Aoki says the latter is V. of Wilderness, via UZBEKISTAN to Korea North. HFCC says it`s brokered by WRN.
15550, June 29 at 1351, now the 1000 Hz tone is here; 1358 mixing with hymn, 1359 WJHR SSB talk is starting; the tone carrier is not enough to demodulate WJHR, but continues past 1400, and then 1401 WJHR in the clear. Then looked for more tones on 17 and 18 MHz bands, none found (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###