** CHILE. 16750, August 2 at 1409, strong FM-distorted spur in Spanish spreading 20 kHz; certainly was not there previous hour as I scanned several times for Firedrakes. Now soon found // 17680 CVC La Voz at 1410, and matching but weaker spur circa 18600. Recheck lower one at 1415, worst around 16760, so the offset is plus and minus approx. 920 kHz. Fundamental 17680 was also audibly splattering between 17630 and 17710 but 16750-16760 much worse. I also looked for other appearances between the major spurs but did not find any for sure (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake, August 2; before 1300:
8400, JBA at 1240
10300, good at 1255
12270, good at 1257
14700, fair at 1257
15545, poor at 1258
16480, very good at 1259-1300*, Unusual new frequency; kept a receiver on it past 1318 but did not resume. Not in today`s Aoki. 16480 was last reported in July 2007 when Aoki was listing it as low-power SOH Taiwan and S. Hasegawa was hearing it: see DXLD 7-093, 7-088, 7-086
Before 1330:
15425, good at 1320; off at 1358 check, probably by 1330
15280, fair at 1320
Before 1400:
15515, good at 1351, 1358 with het from 15517 or 15518
15295, fair at 1352; was 15280 during previous and following semihour
12025, poor at 1353 mixing with CNR1 Chinese; none lower to 10 MHz
Before 1430:
17560, fair at 1422, atop but mixing with V. of Tibet via MADAGASCAR
15790, good at 1423-1430+
15280, poor at 1425; was 15295 during previous semihour
12900, fair at 1427; not there in earlier semihours
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. 11900, August 2 at 1428, song in Chinese, but not // CNR1 jammers on 11990, 12040; then announcements in non-Chinese. I thought I heard `warta berita` mentioned, so tentatively Indonesian but HFCC and Aoki agree it`s CRI in Sinhala at 14-15, 500 kW, 258 degrees from Jinhua-Youb site (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. For the record, at least three RHC transmitters suffer from squealing: 13680, 13780, and CRI relay on 13740 all doing it at 1402 August 2; 13740 worst since it`s also undermodulated. Copied RHC frequency announcement for the record:
19m: from 1100, 15120, 15360, 15230 [always failing to specify that 15120 goes off already circa 1400]
22m: from 1300, 13680, 13780
25m: from 1100, 11690, 1760, 11830, 12040; from 1300, 11730
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, August 2 at 1250-1255, VOI with Special Japanese announcement, ``Cielito Lindo`` on marimba (or a very close-sounding Indoclone). Fair signal at best. 1312 recheck during English hour, YL in continuous talk, but unreadable. Despite S9+20 on meter, is too weak and undermodulated vs noise level.
It`s Tuesday, so is there another hookup with RRI Banjarmasin? Apparently so, as at 1333 I could barely make out the tones of the Banj announcer, declined to very poor signal. As we approach a sesquimonth past Solstice, we may hope for gradually improving reception. Earlier today at 1110, Chuck Bolland in FL measured VOI 40 Hz below 9526 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ITALY [non]. 15610, August 2 at 1359-1400* very familiar operatic choral excerpt. Presumably IRRS via ROMANIA, tail of Brother Scare relay, now certainly not // WWRB 9385. IRRS plays bits of ``Aïda`` elsewhen as filler or signature. However, I did not notice BS earlier in the hour in tunebies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. 15540, Monday August 1 at 2019 after music, ``Radio Kuwait, in coöperation with Radio Bahrain, presents `Bahrain [something]`, which turned out to be a talk on pearl-diving and the pearl industry there; outro as ``A Radio Bahrain production, presented by Radio Kuwait``, 2025 back to rock music. May we rely on this as a regular relay every week, or day during these 6 minutes? Doubt it.
2048, RK plugs Ramadan, then romantic music, cut short at 2050 for news headlines, this time lasting only one sesquiminute. If the world were ending, still no more than two minutes could ever be spared for this. Topix: congratulatory cables sent to the H. H. the Emir on the start of the holy month of Ramadan [?? as if the emir had something to do with that??]; new Japanese military [attaché?] to Kuwait; US default averted. Got to get right back to more rock music before closing at 2100 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MAURITANIA. 7245, August 2 at 0523, IGIM is on a semi-hour earlier than usual, and already chanting. Presumably schedule change for Ramadan; in fact R. Mauritanie used to run all-night for Ramadan, so are they redoing that and sticking to 7245 rather than 4845? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MOROCCO. 15345+, now that it`s Ramadan, August 1, will IMM via Nador stay on an hour later with DST also concluded? I am listening at 2055 to undermodulated Arabic music, het on lo side from Argentina, 2059 Qur`an briefly, 2100 sounder and Arabic talk presumed news, still on air at 2107. Unfortunately, I was out of earshot of the alarm I set for 2157 and missed rechecking it then; but there will be another day.
If now staying on until 2200, again impedes RAE`s M-F German service to Europe, as the two stations doggedly stick to (almost) the same frequency to the detriment of both, and their would-be listeners, despite plenty of alternatives nearby. This is the usual pattern, altho some Islamic-dominated stations extend their schedules far into the night for Ramadan, regardless of any local clock changes. BTW, is fasting and gorging every day good for the body? Ask any physician or nutritionist (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [non]. 11880, August 2 at 1430, REE quadrilingual news headlines via COSTA RICA // much weaker 11815 also via CR, starting in French. Exact timing of English segment: 1433:34 to 1436:53. Frank Smith the caster today of these items: Concerns about Spain`s debt; Italy`s fiscal crisis; US Senate about to vote on debt limit; police expel remaining `indignant ones` of the 15 de Mayo movement from a square in Spain; Syrian government offensive against Hama, 140 killed since Sunday; UN Security Council to resume discussions; Norwegian killer`s lawyer says client presents list of unrealistic demands.
We need to treasure this brief bit of M-F English, since REE deleted two thirds of its English hours to North America a few years ago, and retains only one other hour of English to Europe/Africa, clearly inadequate for a major world language. However, since there are so many other sources for world news, these 3+ minutes should be devoted to news about Spain we are not getting elsewhere! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAIWAN. 15225, August 2 at 1300, very distorted spur peaking around here, FMy without specific carrier, bothering RHC 15230, tsk2, Chinese talk, but not // CNR1 on 15670 et al. jammers. Then matched it to 15265, and an equivalent but much weaker spur 40 kHz on the hi side around 15305. 15265 also has a het jammer during this hour: victim and spurrer is RTI, Chinese via Tanshui site, at 13-14 only per Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. 15470, August 2 at 1405, surprised to hear BBCWS in English --- or rather, played twice, ``no program on this channel at present; details of all our services are at bbcworldservice.com``. And 1406 into S Asian language; 1407 cut off briefly, then continued. HFCC shows Hindi via SINGAPORE at 14-15, 250 kW, 315 degrees. Still audible at 1424, peaks S9+10 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. Due to 24-hour journalist strike August 1, BBC World News, on TV, was replaced by an evergreen-filler, `Our World` on providing internet access to a remote Nigerian village, whilst taking it away for a few days from a really wired-in South Korean family. Looks familiar; think I have seen it before.
NO News of the day. This is the one anchored in Washington, so even there the BBC journalists must be astrike. BTW, Since OETA moved it from OKLA to main channel and from 2130 to 2200 UT M-F, some breaking news previously has proven that it is really live rather than on sesqui-hour delay as before. Will it be back today? (Glenn Hauser, OK, August 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WWCR has already contradicted what was said on `Ask WWCR`: 9980 was to carry Brother Scare only at 14-20, then go off the air until 0100. But Monday August 1 at 2057 it`s still on with some other program, certainly not // WWRB 9385 --- phone-talk show concluding with comments about zombies, ``back on Wednesday`` [how about Tuesday?], phone 1-800-375-4188, which immediately Googles to ``Located in Central Pennsylvania, Discount Gold and Silver Trading Co. may be contacted by telephone at 1-800-375-4188``. Then at 2059, ``WWCR must now leave the air --- until later today`` twice, and off.
As of Aug 2, WWCR still has not posted a new PDF program schedule, just 1 July`s still showing Brother Scare 24/7 on WWCR-4. Nor the transmitter schedule, still dated June 27-August 31 with WWCR-4 as 24 h on 5890, 9980, switching at 02 and 12 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15790, August 2, tune-in at 1321, and heard a couple words of Dutch before cut off the air, has to be RNW source. Back on at 1325, very good signal with ``Merlin music`` loop to 1327.6* and not back by 1333 or a few later chex. Some Babcock site is playing around; HFCC lists only BBC via Woofferton on 15790 at other hours. Also had Firedrake here later; see CHINA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 17900, mystery 1000 Hz tone test heard yesterday is again here today August 2 at 1304, now weaker than Saudi 17895; still on but very poor at 1356, 1410, 1421, chex (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** CHINA. Firedrake, August 2; before 1300:
8400, JBA at 1240
10300, good at 1255
12270, good at 1257
14700, fair at 1257
15545, poor at 1258
16480, very good at 1259-1300*, Unusual new frequency; kept a receiver on it past 1318 but did not resume. Not in today`s Aoki. 16480 was last reported in July 2007 when Aoki was listing it as low-power SOH Taiwan and S. Hasegawa was hearing it: see DXLD 7-093, 7-088, 7-086
Before 1330:
15425, good at 1320; off at 1358 check, probably by 1330
15280, fair at 1320
Before 1400:
15515, good at 1351, 1358 with het from 15517 or 15518
15295, fair at 1352; was 15280 during previous and following semihour
12025, poor at 1353 mixing with CNR1 Chinese; none lower to 10 MHz
Before 1430:
17560, fair at 1422, atop but mixing with V. of Tibet via MADAGASCAR
15790, good at 1423-1430+
15280, poor at 1425; was 15295 during previous semihour
12900, fair at 1427; not there in earlier semihours
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. 11900, August 2 at 1428, song in Chinese, but not // CNR1 jammers on 11990, 12040; then announcements in non-Chinese. I thought I heard `warta berita` mentioned, so tentatively Indonesian but HFCC and Aoki agree it`s CRI in Sinhala at 14-15, 500 kW, 258 degrees from Jinhua-Youb site (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. For the record, at least three RHC transmitters suffer from squealing: 13680, 13780, and CRI relay on 13740 all doing it at 1402 August 2; 13740 worst since it`s also undermodulated. Copied RHC frequency announcement for the record:
19m: from 1100, 15120, 15360, 15230 [always failing to specify that 15120 goes off already circa 1400]
22m: from 1300, 13680, 13780
25m: from 1100, 11690, 1760, 11830, 12040; from 1300, 11730
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, August 2 at 1250-1255, VOI with Special Japanese announcement, ``Cielito Lindo`` on marimba (or a very close-sounding Indoclone). Fair signal at best. 1312 recheck during English hour, YL in continuous talk, but unreadable. Despite S9+20 on meter, is too weak and undermodulated vs noise level.
It`s Tuesday, so is there another hookup with RRI Banjarmasin? Apparently so, as at 1333 I could barely make out the tones of the Banj announcer, declined to very poor signal. As we approach a sesquimonth past Solstice, we may hope for gradually improving reception. Earlier today at 1110, Chuck Bolland in FL measured VOI 40 Hz below 9526 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ITALY [non]. 15610, August 2 at 1359-1400* very familiar operatic choral excerpt. Presumably IRRS via ROMANIA, tail of Brother Scare relay, now certainly not // WWRB 9385. IRRS plays bits of ``Aïda`` elsewhen as filler or signature. However, I did not notice BS earlier in the hour in tunebies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. 15540, Monday August 1 at 2019 after music, ``Radio Kuwait, in coöperation with Radio Bahrain, presents `Bahrain [something]`, which turned out to be a talk on pearl-diving and the pearl industry there; outro as ``A Radio Bahrain production, presented by Radio Kuwait``, 2025 back to rock music. May we rely on this as a regular relay every week, or day during these 6 minutes? Doubt it.
2048, RK plugs Ramadan, then romantic music, cut short at 2050 for news headlines, this time lasting only one sesquiminute. If the world were ending, still no more than two minutes could ever be spared for this. Topix: congratulatory cables sent to the H. H. the Emir on the start of the holy month of Ramadan [?? as if the emir had something to do with that??]; new Japanese military [attaché?] to Kuwait; US default averted. Got to get right back to more rock music before closing at 2100 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MAURITANIA. 7245, August 2 at 0523, IGIM is on a semi-hour earlier than usual, and already chanting. Presumably schedule change for Ramadan; in fact R. Mauritanie used to run all-night for Ramadan, so are they redoing that and sticking to 7245 rather than 4845? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MOROCCO. 15345+, now that it`s Ramadan, August 1, will IMM via Nador stay on an hour later with DST also concluded? I am listening at 2055 to undermodulated Arabic music, het on lo side from Argentina, 2059 Qur`an briefly, 2100 sounder and Arabic talk presumed news, still on air at 2107. Unfortunately, I was out of earshot of the alarm I set for 2157 and missed rechecking it then; but there will be another day.
If now staying on until 2200, again impedes RAE`s M-F German service to Europe, as the two stations doggedly stick to (almost) the same frequency to the detriment of both, and their would-be listeners, despite plenty of alternatives nearby. This is the usual pattern, altho some Islamic-dominated stations extend their schedules far into the night for Ramadan, regardless of any local clock changes. BTW, is fasting and gorging every day good for the body? Ask any physician or nutritionist (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [non]. 11880, August 2 at 1430, REE quadrilingual news headlines via COSTA RICA // much weaker 11815 also via CR, starting in French. Exact timing of English segment: 1433:34 to 1436:53. Frank Smith the caster today of these items: Concerns about Spain`s debt; Italy`s fiscal crisis; US Senate about to vote on debt limit; police expel remaining `indignant ones` of the 15 de Mayo movement from a square in Spain; Syrian government offensive against Hama, 140 killed since Sunday; UN Security Council to resume discussions; Norwegian killer`s lawyer says client presents list of unrealistic demands.
We need to treasure this brief bit of M-F English, since REE deleted two thirds of its English hours to North America a few years ago, and retains only one other hour of English to Europe/Africa, clearly inadequate for a major world language. However, since there are so many other sources for world news, these 3+ minutes should be devoted to news about Spain we are not getting elsewhere! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAIWAN. 15225, August 2 at 1300, very distorted spur peaking around here, FMy without specific carrier, bothering RHC 15230, tsk2, Chinese talk, but not // CNR1 on 15670 et al. jammers. Then matched it to 15265, and an equivalent but much weaker spur 40 kHz on the hi side around 15305. 15265 also has a het jammer during this hour: victim and spurrer is RTI, Chinese via Tanshui site, at 13-14 only per Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. 15470, August 2 at 1405, surprised to hear BBCWS in English --- or rather, played twice, ``no program on this channel at present; details of all our services are at bbcworldservice.com``. And 1406 into S Asian language; 1407 cut off briefly, then continued. HFCC shows Hindi via SINGAPORE at 14-15, 250 kW, 315 degrees. Still audible at 1424, peaks S9+10 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. Due to 24-hour journalist strike August 1, BBC World News, on TV, was replaced by an evergreen-filler, `Our World` on providing internet access to a remote Nigerian village, whilst taking it away for a few days from a really wired-in South Korean family. Looks familiar; think I have seen it before.
NO News of the day. This is the one anchored in Washington, so even there the BBC journalists must be astrike. BTW, Since OETA moved it from OKLA to main channel and from 2130 to 2200 UT M-F, some breaking news previously has proven that it is really live rather than on sesqui-hour delay as before. Will it be back today? (Glenn Hauser, OK, August 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WWCR has already contradicted what was said on `Ask WWCR`: 9980 was to carry Brother Scare only at 14-20, then go off the air until 0100. But Monday August 1 at 2057 it`s still on with some other program, certainly not // WWRB 9385 --- phone-talk show concluding with comments about zombies, ``back on Wednesday`` [how about Tuesday?], phone 1-800-375-4188, which immediately Googles to ``Located in Central Pennsylvania, Discount Gold and Silver Trading Co. may be contacted by telephone at 1-800-375-4188``. Then at 2059, ``WWCR must now leave the air --- until later today`` twice, and off.
As of Aug 2, WWCR still has not posted a new PDF program schedule, just 1 July`s still showing Brother Scare 24/7 on WWCR-4. Nor the transmitter schedule, still dated June 27-August 31 with WWCR-4 as 24 h on 5890, 9980, switching at 02 and 12 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15790, August 2, tune-in at 1321, and heard a couple words of Dutch before cut off the air, has to be RNW source. Back on at 1325, very good signal with ``Merlin music`` loop to 1327.6* and not back by 1333 or a few later chex. Some Babcock site is playing around; HFCC lists only BBC via Woofferton on 15790 at other hours. Also had Firedrake here later; see CHINA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 17900, mystery 1000 Hz tone test heard yesterday is again here today August 2 at 1304, now weaker than Saudi 17895; still on but very poor at 1356, 1410, 1421, chex (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###