lunedì 24 ottobre 2011

Glenn Hauser logs October 24, 2011

** ALBANIA. 9590, Oct 24 at 0525, Chinese song // 9515, so both must be CRI Arabic service via Cërrik relay: yes, 9515 is 240 degrees, 9590 is 140 degrees. Long song almost sounded like Jesus rock, but surely not, finally ending by 0534, into Arabic ID and talk (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ALBANIA. Drita Çiço explains that the new curtailed R. Tirana schedule for Oct 21-29 did not go into effect after all, so the cuts are not expected to happen until Oct 30 with B-11 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake Oct 24, after 1230:
10300, poor at 1233
11500, fair at 1233, making fast SAH with open carrier from Tajikistan
12230, good at 1234
12600, very poor at 1235
13130, good at 1235
13970, good at 1235; none in the 14s, 15s or 16s

Before 1400:
18200, very poor at 1348
16100, very poor at 1358; none in the 17s
15545, good at 1358
14700, very good at 1359
13970, very good at 1359
12230, very good at 1359
10300, fair at 1359; none in the 11s, 7s

Before 1500, a time I don`t often check, found some unusual ones:
11550, good at 1442 making heavy clash with WEWN Spanish, its only good transmitter, Commies vs Catholix!
12670, very good at 1444; Sound of Hope must be adventurous today
13680, very good at 1446, over RHC, Commies vs Commies!
13970, very good at 1446; none in the 14s
18200, good at 1454; none in the 15s, 16s, 17s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA [non]. 23860, Oct 24 at 1456, my harmonic search pays off, with music // 11930, i.e. R. Martí, Greenville! Peaks S9+3 and no jamming audible, so DentroCubans should hunt for clear RM on this and other harmonix. Then looked for others, 27640 (2 x 13820) but not heard there amid freebanders tending to be on -5 frequencies; nor on 23690 (2 x 11845). From B-11, 15330 will be back in use at 14-20, and that should be a good target on 30660, which I vaguely recall hearing in years past.

But there`s more: R. Martí is now on 9955, i.e. via WRMI! I kept listening to 23960 and heard it announced at 1500 to tune for RM on new 9955 at 6-7 pm and 11-12 pm. Is this a trial run? Those Eastern times knock out numerous DX program repeats, including WORLD OF RADIO at 0330 UT Thursdays. This week, with both Cuba and USA on DST, that means 22-23 and 03-04 UT; is it daily?

Next week, From Oct 30 Cuba goes off DST a week earlier than USA, so what then? Will WRMI change times to keep up with Cuba, or wait another week to shift everything one UT hour later, i.e. RM relay at 23-24 and 04-05?? Nothing yet about this on WRMI website.

Jeff White explains that at 22-23 UT it`s a rebroadcast of `Cuba al Día` originally airing on RM at 19-20 UT M-F, and will stay at 22-23 UT thru the first week of November; while the ``11 pm`` portion may not start until after DST is over.

I say: WRMI has now made the big time in exile programming, and Cuba conveniently already has jammers set up for 9955 at many other times (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GERMANY [non]. 15330, Oct 24 at 1448, novelty song in German. It`s less than a week before Deutsche Welle self-destructs, eliminating all German SW broadcasts, as that language will greatly decline in world presence, leaving only some English and certain strategic Afro-Asian tongues from DW. Later at 1454 found // 17840 in more music.
15330 is 300 kW, 107 degrees from Woofferton UK at 14-15 only.
17840 is 250 kW, 80 degrees from Sines, PORTUGAL at 14-15 only
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GREECE. 15630, Monday Oct 24 at 1449, Greek music, fair signal but somewhat undermodulated, so VOG is back on, starting at 1400 now? Exact curtailed schedule still not determined. Also, John Babbis notes:

``VOICE OF GREECE OFF ON SUNDAY 2000-0300 UT? Voice of Greece seems to have laid off the Sunday night shift due to austerity. On Sunday, October 23, 7450, 7475, 9420, 15630, and 15650 were silent when I monitored from 2000 to 0200 UT. The same thing happened on Sunday, October 2 and 9; and only 9420 was working on Sunday, October 16 from 2000 to 0200 UT`` Those are the only hours he normally monitors, so VOG may well be off the rest of Sundays earlier.

However, Alokesh Gupta has just obtained the VOG B-11 schedule: ``Note: Due to impending crisis, ERT decided to restrict HF broadcast hours. The broadcast hours temporarily will be 1600 to 0400 GMT.`` with no mention of any difference on Sundays. Rounded times ignoring 10-minute-early closings for refrequencing:

ERA-5: 16-04 9420;
16-18 15630, 18-23 15650, 23-02 15630, 23-04 7475, 02-04 7450.

ERT-3, Macedonian Station: 16-18 9935, 18-23 7450. With a self-contradictory separate schedule as 1600-1650 9935, 1600-2250 7450, while in the combined schedule it looks like there would be no overlap but a 10-minute QSY at 1750. Note: the Mac frequencies have recently been reported // Athens with no separate programming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA. 9525-, VOI still missing at various tunebies before and after 1300 UT Oct 24 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MAURITANIA. 7245, Oct 24 at 0522, IGIM is already on with conversation in Arabic, not yet chanty; ACI from about equal Vatican signal on 7250, but more modulation from them (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. Pre-sunrise MWDX Oct 24, UT. 1200 UT is now too far before local sunrise latening from 1245, for there to be any SRS reception peaks, and the US QRM is still heavy. Before long maybe we`ll be getting multiple XE NAs around 1300.

Most of Mexico will go off DST Oct 30, a week earlier than USA, but there is so much American commercial influence along the border that such cities will keep on DST a week longer until Nov 6 along with US, a true Week Of Confusion. See also CUBA [non].

760, Oct 24 at 1205 UT, ABC Radio introducing Carlos Ramos Padilla, newscaster? In the DF sexion, Cantú says: ``760 XEABC ABC Radio, Comentarios, Programas hablados. 70,000 watts día, 10,000 watts noche desde San Sebastian Chimalpa, Mex. Grupo ABC Radio.`` So transmitter is over in Estado de México (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NIGERIA. 15120, Oct 24 at 0529, VON is peaking S9+12, with hum, whine and distortion, but not too bad, carrier unstable with BFO on, starting `Today in History` segment, with something happening in 1648y, then 1945y, UN founded. Say, when matching dates in the 1600s, is that by the old style or new style calendar?? Had not been audible last few nights, due to widely diverging propagation and/or operation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PHILIPPINES. 7505, Oct 24 at 1440, soprano with hymny song in language unknown; poor signal but it`s late enough for WWCR 7490 splash to be reduced and not a problem now. Is FEBC Iba site, 100 kW, 300 degrees in Chinese per HFCC and Aoki. I`m waiting for someone to list-log this as WRNO, which has really been off the air for 11 months now, never to return?? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U K [non]. 17695, Oct 24 at 1343, BBCWS disclaimer loop, ``no programming available at this time, see bbcworldservice.com`` but I am not going to waste my time hunting for any explanation at that site! There better not be any such programming, as per HFCC, 17695 is scheduled 1330-1600 for IBB Biblis, tho Aoki says R. Farda Lampertheim.

Loop ended around 1344, and then hearing S Asian song synchronized with // 17755 which is also listed as R. Farda, Biblis in Aoki; Lampertheim in probably more current HFCC. 17695 still heard with ME pop music at 1453. Maybe BBC was running over from its only scheduled 17695 broadcast, 1300-1330 Uzbek via CYPRUS which of course is also jammed by the ChiCom (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WRMI now relaying R. Martí; R. Martí on harmonic: see CUBA [non]

** U S A. Routine check for WORLD OF RADIO play on Area 51, scheduled UT Monday 0300 on WBCQ 5110v-CUSB, on webcast found Radio Jennifer instead continuing past 0300 and 0330 Oct 24, so I asked Larry Will:

``Larry, Wondering what happened to WOR tonight as Jennifer ran until 0330, then `a hi-pitched buzz`, and then not WOR or IRR. I see you have Duck & Cover on the sked for 0330, but WOR at 0300. Glenn``

``Glenn, My apologies. WOR did air at 0200 last evening. When I realized it was running early it was 12 minutes in, so I left it running and played R. Jennifer at 0230. Second, CKUT is doing their annual fundraising drive over the next two weeks and I don't like to play fundraisers for other stations. Next week I will probably play a classic rebroadcast of the IRR. Regards, Lw``

Also, on the frequency change for WBCQ from 7415 to 7490: Altho Marion`s Attic alerted listeners it would be in effect Sunday Oct 23 for her broadcast at 21-22, I did not monitor as in the meantime I received a phone call from Jennifer Weiner, who said 7490 would not start until Oct 24.

Also that WORLD OF RADIO is not scheduled on Wednesdays at 2130, contrary to updated 7490 website schedule, just Thursdays at 2130. Let`s see how much QRM WBCQ gets on 7490 now from Kazakhstan at 19-22, BBC Thailand at 22-24. WOR will stay at 2130 for another two weeks, then 2230 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Hi Glenn: In regards to the Unidentified - 1110 [with Qur`an?], this station is very strong in the Austin area. Heard tonight with a woman announcer speaking in Indian dialect and English at times. Frequently, telephone numbers were mentioned with 214/972 area codes (Dallas area). Station disappeared abruptly at 2358 and did not catch station ID. Regards, (Mike Beu, KD5DSQ, Austin, Texas, Oct 22, IRCA via DXLD)

** U S A. 1550, Oct 24 at 0545 UT, dominant station on the FRG-7 with east/west longwire is going on and on about events at Branson, so it`s KLFJ Springfield, ``Branson Information Radio``, a pseudo-TIS supposedly running only 28 watts at night instead or 5000 watts day (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1630-USB, Oct 24 at 0547, Mexican music, ``16-30 AM, nuestra frecuencia, nuestro nombre La Jota Mexicana``. There had been several logs all over North America of KRND Fox Farm WY on USB, meaning that other DSB stations such as KCJJ could be heard on 1630-LSB without KRND QRM. Yes, indeed, much more KRND modulation on USB, but there is still a little audible on LSB via the DX-398, and at the moment not much else. It does not seem like the carrier is reduced. At night, local KFXY 1640 DSB not much of a problem, but there is a fast SAH on 1630, perhaps 14 Hz as Rick Shaftan, NJ, had asked if that`s the one on 1630.014? The big question is, why is KRND doing this, and is it deliberately, or even legally? It would be quite a surprise if FCC authorized suppressing one sideband on an AM station. I don`t see any reason to do so, such as to reduce interference to any 1620 station (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Pacific MW carrier search Oct 24 at 1211-1216 UT, USB mode on the DX-398 with internal antenna only: 702, 747, 756, 774, 828, 972, 1053, 1287 (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
It was such a nice fall afternoon that I spent over an hour outside on the sunny porch, DXing with the DX-398 initially on battery, but hooked up AC once I decided to stay a while. Plus random wire antenna strung around the area. In a couple days the temps are to plummet here. This dalliance will probably make me hustle to get caught up in time for the next WORLD OF RADIO produxion on Wednesday evening.

** ALBANIA. 13735, no trace of R. Tirana at 1855 or 1958-2000+ Oct 24, for the 1845 and 2000 English broadcasts, which will supposedly last one more week. It`s really catch-as-catch-can with this station. Presumed Kuwait was making it thru poorly on 13650; and better YFR via Wertachtal on 13750 until 1900 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHILE [and non]. 17680, Oct 24 at 1452, CVC La Voz which is normally loud and clear all day, has heavy CCI and a SAH varying around 5 Hz, from something playing Afro/Asian(?) music. In fact, BBC Somali, 300 kW, 160 degrees via CYPRUS has been scheduled since 19 July at 1300-1600, but I hadn`t noticed it before vs CVC which is 100 kW at 0 degrees (or non-direxional?). So far it looks like this problem will go away in B-11, but UAE could be on 17680 from 10 to 17 --- many of those registrations are wooden (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. 13800, Oct 24 at 1856 Firedrake with fair signal; could not do complete bandscan with the DX-398 but did punch up most of the common FD frequencies heard earlier in the day, and none others found. Expected it to vanish at 1900, but continued past 1903, and for the next hour still at 1941, 1953, but gone at 2001. Unlike Sound of Hope which gets a break at the top of every hour, target here is R. Free Asia in Chinese via Tajikistan at 17-20 which would usually be jammed by CNR1. Aoki shows SOH could also appear on 13800 24 hours (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA [and non]. 28505-USB, Oct 24 at 1924, I`d recognize that Arnienglish anywhere, yes, you guessed it, mes amis, CO2KK in person, explaining how Cuba is a big Antille, plus 4000 little islands in an archipelago, to KB1PXX in Connecticut (also audible), who hopes one day to SCUBA in Cuba. Arnie says the best place is Maria la Gorda (Fat Mary) off Pinar del Río province, where there are coral reefs, commercial and spearfishing prohibited, visibility up to 30 meters. Also reveling in great 10m propagation now, band opens at sunrise from Eurafrica. KB1 keeps trying to wrap up contact, but Arnie adds to look out for club station T46A this weekend in the CQ WW SSB contest. 1927 Arnie calls CQ DX 10m, fonetix mostly as kilo-kilo, but sometimes as King-Kong, ha2 (So Arnie is the 8000-pound gorilla in the Raum?), next contact another Connecticutter, John, AB1NT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KUWAIT. 15540, Oct 24 at 1904, R. Kuwait is fair in Arabic, not English. At first I hoped it was just a clip about to be translated, but no. 18-21 on 15540 has always been registered as Arabic, and RK`s delegate with the amazing eyebrows at HFCC Dallas believed that info when I mentioned that the announcers were always giving the wrong frequency for English, 11990.

Now they may have `corrected` this by changing 15540 to Arabic, but we may still hope today`s language was another mistake. By 1940 had faded to very poor and could not be sure of language, but still seemed Arabic. I also had their intentional Arabic service poorly on 13650 before 1900; but after 2000 when supposedly on 17550 to C&WNAm, that was inaudible, not surprisingly since lower 15540 was about gone. Further chex of which language is on 15540 at 18-21 are of course called for. As well as whether they will ever really use 11990, which they really need to during B-seasons if English is to propagate (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA [and non]. 1600, KUSH Cushing is still off the air, no signal Oct 24 at 1910 UT check.

KUSH has an active website with recent local news, but nothing about being off the air:
http://www.1600kush.com/index.php?section=1
Nor on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/1600kush?ref=ts
Is everyone just listening online and don`t even notice if 1600 is missing? This is the link:
mms://nick9.surfernetwork.com/kush
and we got it right away at 2320 UT, but not really live, instead the 7-10 am `Donna & Molly Show` playback. Besides that, it appears the streaming is limited to live silly ballgames.

They don`t display a complete program schedule; what`s at 10-11 am? Then `The Michael Smerconish Show` at 11-1 M-F, Neal Boortz at 1-4 pm; what`s after 4 pm? Then plugs yahoosportsradio at 7 pm to 7 am on the web. Does this mean KUSH is not bothering to stay on air at night?
One more show may be of interest if they get back on the air:
``Native Air with Hugh Foley, 10-11 AM Saturdays Native American News, Music and more!``.

FCC AM Query shows SR/SS in October 1230-2345 UT, November 1300-2315, with 1000 watts day, 70 watts night. NRC AM Log adds PSRA of 500 watts, i.e. 1100-1230 UT in Oct, 1100-1300 first week of November, 1200-1300 thereafter on standard time.

In absence of KUSH I could hear a weak SAH, a bit stronger at 2002 UT with music from one N/S station, likely KRVA The Metroplex Vietnamese. The other could be one of the two Nebraskans, KNCY Nebraska City, or KRFS Superior, both 500 watts. NRC AM Log says KNCY is direxional, KRFS not.

Come to think of it, there has not been an audible het on 1600 for a while, previously pinned on KMDO Fort Scott KS, 770 watts non-direxional, so maybe that`s been fixed. But I was not getting a signal from its ENE direxion. In less than a month, skywave will be kicking in by 20 UT on the top of the band, but don`t think so yet, as no such activity heard in the X-band (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 23860, Oct 24 at 1858, R. Martí harmonic 2 x 11930 from Greenville is still audible and readable, escaping DentroCuban jamming on the fundamental [see earlier Oct 24 log report under CUBA non]. And still at 2000 talking about human rights declaration. Span of 11930 is currently 14-24, to become 13-22 in B-11. I again stepped thru the entire 23-25 MHz range but no more harmonics found, nor where RM could also appear, 19130; and 27640 bore a freebander in SSB.

Meanwhile the new WRMI 9955 relay of R. Martí was inaudible under jamming but at 2240 `Cuba al Día` confirmed on WRMI webcast, and it`s not // live Martí (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. I am finally hearing some activity in the upper portion of the 28 MHz ham band: On 29540-NBFM, VG signal slope-tuned at 29538 for distorted readability on AM, Oct 24 at 1919, NU6O, Joe in California concluded contact with K3ORH, immediately on to another contact.

29010, Oct 24 at 1922, VG signal on AM from WA3GHM in Levittown PA, with WB5YBZ which I could not hear (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) More 10m: see CUBA [and non]

** U S A. Disregard my earlier comment about Kazakhstan kolliding with WBCQ on 7490 at 18-22: that does not start until Oct 30, B-11. Supposed sign-on is 1900 UT, but I could not hear anything of it (nor on 7415 in case there was a delay); band very noisy, plus probably computer QRN peak around there, which was still running inside. Checked at 1900, and several more times. 1943 a JBA carrier on 7490, unknown if WBCQ, still nothing readable after 2000. Meanwhile as usual there was no problem in hearing WBCQ on 15420-CUSB and 9330v-CUSB, except there`s nothing on those frequencies worth listening to (but yes, I know, they pay the bills).

Recheck at 2235, now 7490 is audible with WBCQ // 9330-CUSB, so financial show instead of Good Friends Radio Network? Yes, at 22-23 M-F, `Money Talk` is scheduled on both. No co-channel audible on 7490, but it may be different closer to the terminator (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 21678 approx., Oct 24 at 1913 I am getting some intermittent SSB talk, but can`t find a spot to demodulate it, an intruder apparently employing speech inversion, sneaky (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. CODAR exploration on the DX-398 rapidly 5-kHz-stepping downward, Oct 24 at 1930: 25980-25745, break, 25705-25310 where there is a dip, then more down to 25200; QRMs freebanders here and there in the so-called 11m ISWBC band. More CODAR 24860-24600 and 24555-24445, and there is another freebander at 1935 on 24485 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)