venerdì 16 settembre 2011

Glenn Hauser logs September 14-16, 2011

** ANTARCTICA. 15476, Sept 14 and 15, I was not in a position to pull in such a weak signal if it were on. But another absence noted Friday Sept 16 at 1305. Here`s why I did hear it on previous Tuesday and Thursday, but not other weekdays, from Roberto Scaglione, Sicily:
``Hi Glenn, three photos from LRA36. In one of these we can understand why it was inactive: a storm broke through the windows and the snow came on the transmitter. Now reactivated only on Tue and Thu``. The first shows the 5 kW CCA AM transmitter in fine condition, the next a close-up, and finally all covered with snow:
http://www.w4uvh.net/LRA36a.jpg
http://www.w4uvh.net/LRA36b.jpg
http://www.w4uvh.net/LRA36c.jpg
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake Sept 14 and 15: not checked as I was away.

Firedrake Sept 16, only a few showing here and there:
 7970 and 10300, not heard at any chex starting with 1250
11500, no FD either, just the big open carrier hum from presumed VOR [non] via TAJIKISTAN, at 1253 and 1343
12270, very good at 1255, which means many others should have been audible if on the air
13950, good at 1423; no others above or below at this hour
14720, poor at 1341; none lower
15285, poor with buzz jammer too at 1307; was not there before 1300
15430, poor at 1306 vs VOT het on 15432 which also hetted RRI 15435
15545, very poor not positively FD at 1258 but mixing with something else, and a het on the lo side. No others up to 18 MHz by 1300
15900, fair at 1336, none in the 16s, 17s or 18s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 12000, Sept 16 at 0610, DCJC pulses against nothing, since VOA Spanish really uses 12000 only for an hour or two around 0000. But the paranoid Cuban Commies can`t be too careful. Same pulsing at 0622 on 11775, another out-of-schedule jammer, hours after Radio Martí quits, but this one was bothering a collateral damagee, listed as CRI Arabic via Albania at 05-07 --- Commies via non-Commies vs Commies!

11435.0, Sept 16 at 0619, S9+18 with digital noises, then silent carrier for a while from the Cuban spy station, much stronger than the jammers (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CYPRUS. 17755-17780, Sept 16 at 1418, OTH radar pulsing presumed from here, and fortunately not bothering any audible broadcasters (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUAM. 5765-USB, Sept 16 at 1241, AFN gone again despite absence of any QRM from 5755 WTWW which QSYed earlier to 9479. That will help when Guam resumes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDIA. 15050, Sept 16 at 1330, AIR with South Asian music, best heard in months; must be an equinoxial thing --- good enough for a tolerant SWL to enjoy listening to, fluttery with S9+10 peaks, enabling me to detect a slightly wavering het on both sides circa 4 kHz, which implies it`s self-inflicted. Is that obvious, or more annoying to closer listeners? This is the Sinhala service, 250 kW, 174 degrees from Delhi at 1300-1500, so it`s hard to say whether it is reaching here by long path direct or short path off the back (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KUWAIT [and non]. 21540, Sept 16 at 1301, RK in Arabic well atop co-channel REE in Spanish; 1302 Kuwait ID, still the same at 1416. I mentioned this collision to REE`s frequency manager Fernando Almarza at HFCC Dallas, and he replied that it had been resolved, but must have been referring to the B-11 season, when Kuwait is optimistically registering 25725 at 0105-1500, 500 kW, 310 degrees to western Europe, apparently in replacement of 21540. That raises my eyebrows, but should be interesting, maybe propagating sometimes with a day path, if they really use it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MAURITANIA. 7245, Sept 14 at 0421 check, IGIM is not on the air, no carrier between the 7240 and 7250 stations. 7245 on at next check 50 hours later, Sept 16 at 0628, while Guinea was not on 7125 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NIGERIA. 15120, Sept 16 at 0614, VON English with YL news about fighting in Sudan, peaking S9+12, with hum, but no CCCCI audible [Chinese co-channel interference, a.k.a. 401] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 12100, Sept 16 at 0618, JBA carrier presumably WTWW-3 which recently resumed 24-hour operation. George McClintock feels it will be audible further afield such as in Australia, if not here overnight. Next check at 1245, it`s strong with Arabic, vs previous *1300v; unusually heard a few notes of music before resuming Christian Bible readings. WTWW-1 9479 with PPP/SFAW was also on already and 5755 off, apparently changing earlier than 1300v now. George is putting the finishing touches on WTWW-2 which is planned to operate on 9990 days/5080 nights aimed southward; he may have another full-time client for it, but undecided yet (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9872, Sept 16 at 0624, VOA-GB French with big signal on 9880, but also noisy spur around here, in apparent envelope of main signal, but not so much on the other side. The first half of this M-F 0530-0630 broadcast on 9880 is via Botswana, the second half Greenville, which tunes up prior to 0600 on 9870 or thereabouts (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 13562, 13571, 13589, 13598, Sept 16 at 1310, the plus/minus 9 and 18 kHz squishy spurs from WEWN`s English transmitter on 13580. Also one of the Spanish senders on 12050 had its usual less disruptive squealing audible on main carrier. I met Glen Tapley at HFCC in Dallas but did not have a chance to discuss this with him; he must be aware of these from my numerous previous reports, apparently insoluble problems. I should urge Tom Lucey at FCC to disallow anyone from broadcasting 10 or 20 kHz from the squishy transmitter, for their own good. Glen did explain that WEWN`s few days off the air in August were for annual maintenance, i.e. mowing the antenna field and checking out or repairing the grounding system, when of course everything must be turned off.

A preliminary report on HFCC has been posted to the DXLD yg, and a more detailed one will be in DXLD 11-38. (Completion of DXLD 11-37 prior to HFCC and before WOR 1582 produxion has been delayed as a result.) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1582 monitoring: first airing earlier than usual this week, Wednesday Sept 14 at 1530 on WRMI 9955. I stopped on the road back from Dallas in southern OK to check Thursday Sept 15 at 2100, confirmed on VG WTWW 9479 and also audible even on the portable with whip from WRMI 9955, a few seconds apart. Besides many more WRMI repeats, further airings this weekend: UT Sunday 0400 on WTWW 5755; UT Monday 0300v on WBCQ Area 51 5110v-CUSB. On WRN via SiriusXM 120: Sat & Sun 1730, Sun 0830 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)