** CHINA. Firedrake Nov 13, before 1400:
10300, Chinese talk very poor at 1354, NO FD, so really Sound of Hope?
12230, FD good at 1356; no time to find others before 1400
After 1400:
17570, good at 1416 vs V. of Tibet via Madagascar on today`s frequency
Before 1500:
18200, very good with flutter at 1445; none in the 17s, 16s, 15s, 14s
13970, good at 1448
12670, very good at 1449
12600, fair at 1449; none in the 11s
10300, good at 1450
9315, good at 1451, // 12600 etc.; none in the 8s, 7s. 9315 is an unusual spot, vs what? VOA in Tibetan via Thailand at 14-15. Not CNR1 jamming today
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. RHC has made further schedule adjustments as of Nov 13 --- not Oct 30 when the rest of the world did; not Nov 6 when much of its audience in NAm did, not Nov 7 when RHC started new frequencies, so we are now into two Weeks of Confusion. Basically, Spanish morning service has been extended an hour until 1600, and programming within moved one hour later too. We don`t yet know whether this also apply to afternoons and evenings, and whether they are still starting at *1100.
9540 as a new unlisted frequency for RHC turns out not so good a choice, since on Sundays WHRI is blasting it away with gospel huxter`s Bible study at 1346. In fact, I can`t even hear the weak RHC signal under it. Arnie should have noticed in HFCC that WHRI is on 9540 Sundays only at 13-14. Afterwards, at 1403, RHC 9540 can be heard, but the much stronger new // 9850 is now off, tho it had been on at 1347.
At 1408, I find RHC again on 13750, which is a remnant of the long-gone Sunday-only `Aló, Presidente` service for Venezuela. I wonder if RHC was also on 13750 before 1400 when VOA Spanish was using it; the two collided on Monday Nov 7, but since then, RHC had avoided 13750. Also on // 13670 and 13780.
This caused me to look for spurious leapfrog mixing products on new spots. 13810 had an S9+12 carrier, of 13750 leaping over 13780 another 30 kHz higher. This of course will only happen when those two fundamentals are both on, like Sundays. But 13810 modulation is just-barely. I have also been expecting one on 13890, i.e. 13670 leaping over 13780 another 110 kHz higher, and think I barely detect it now vs local cable DTV converter box bubble-jamming. Can`t hear one on 13830 yet, which would be 13670 leaping over 13750 another 80 kHz higher. These fundamentals are very strong and synchronized from same site.
Last week, EC was still on at 1335, but this Sunday at 1347 on 9850 I am instead hearing an `Así es mi Tierra` interview with a Puerto Rican lamenting inroads of English words into the Spanish language there. But 1352 on to folk music in `Cuba Campesina` so I assume AEMT was just a segment inside CC, which used to be aired circa 1230 on Sundays. 1411 RHC mailbag, formerly an hour earlier.
No, checking the non-updated programming page we find they had been:
12:25 UTC Domingo Así es mi tierra
12:33 UTC Domingo Cuba Campesina
13:00 UTC Domingo Noticiero
13:10 UTC Domingo Amigos de Cuba
13:30 UTC Domingo Boletín
13:35 UTC Domingo En Contacto
13:50 UTC Domingo En Compañía del Doctor
14:00 UTC Domingo Noticiero
14:10 UTC Domingo El Mundo de la Filatelia
14:30 UTC Domingo Boletín
14:35 UTC Domingo La Cultura en Cuba
14:53 UTC Domingo Boletín Resumen de la Mañana
So will `En Contacto` be at 1435 now? Yes! Confirmed starting then on 13750, 13670, 13780, 11840, 11760, 15380, under CRI on 15230, and an echo apart on weaker signals from RHC`s other site on 11750, 11690, 9540. Manolo opens by greeting ``amigos de la onda corta``, not to be confused with the title of the no longer competing REE show (much like the phrase ``world of radio`` being used by anyone but gh).
Usual first item was happy-birthdays, this time to one listener and one staffer (the latter female without specifying her age); then an essay about the threatened status of SW broadcasting written by Juan Franco Crespo, Spain, and read by Antonio Gómez, the clippery RHC staff announcer. Ended at 1450, then the ex-1350 show `En Compañía del Doctor`.
So DX program `En Contacto` has been moved one UT hour later on Sundays; is this deliberately to escape the time conflict with Spain`s DX program `Amigos de la Onda Corta` which one biweek ago shifted from 1232 to 1332 UT on its several frequencies? If so, brought all the others with it.
1500 promo ``Nuestro Caribe`` mentioning a bunch of countries within and bordering, ``por un comercio justo``. No frequency announcement at this hourtop, nor as now expected, any sign-off. Instead, 1501 news sounder and news. 1514 starting `Mundo de la Filatélia` also latened one hour. Rechecking frequencies still on now instead of 1500* --- 15380, 15230, 13780, 13750, 13670, 11840, 11760, 11750, 11690(? too weak vs RTTY), 9540.
I did not monitor every single program segment for new timings, but at 1539, 11760 is bearing `La Cultura en Cuba`, ex-1435. So what happens at 1600 now? RHC ID, but cut off abruptly before any frequency announcement or sign-off, affecting all the 13 and 11 MHz frequencies. 13670 went off first, while 13780 and 13750 kept open carrier past 1601.
The weekly Esperanto broadcast at 1500 Sundays on 11760 only was replaced by Spanish, so would it now be at 1600 instead? 11760 did stay on, but at 1602 resumed Spanish, 1603 suddenly cut to Esperanto, mentioning `nova horo`, but reception too poor to copy details, now with added ACI from Chinese on 11765 (where HFCC shows only Spain in Arabic! But, oui mes ami, you guessed it, Aoki shows 11765 at 16-17 as jammed Sound of Hope 100 kW from Taiwan; Commies vs Commies).
Has the RHC Esperanto site been updated to reveal this? Of course not!
Still shown at the slow-loading
http://www.radiohc.cu/eo/interesaoj/frekvencoj.html
``Norte, Centro y Suramérica 11760 Khz 25 15 - 15:30 UTC
San Francisco 6010 Khz 49 7 - 7:30 UTC
Suramérica 15370 Khz 19 22:30 - 23 UTC``
BTW, last March, Esperanto briefly switched to 1600 UT, but then went back to 1500 once Cuba changed to DST.
Also, at 1910 UT Nov 13, the RHC Spanish frequency page is not accessible, so maybe is finally being updated?
Yes, further changes are afoot. At 1927, no RHC English on 11760 any more; instead AWR with no QRM. Will RHC English shift back to 2000 on 11760, or somewhere else? I`m already late in finishing and dispatching this report. One final check at 2000: nothing from RHC on 11760 after AWR is finished and opening on 11755 instead.
13640 at 1927 Nov 13 has big RHC open carrier, overriding but heavy QRM from India, and still so as RHC is opening French to Europe at 1932. So 13640 is an awful choice for RHC to reach Europe, with India already there at 1730-2030, 500 kW, 300 degrees from Bengaluru to Europe, and also in French starting at 1945! Way to go, RHC frequency mis-manager and jamming advocate Prof. Arnaldo de Jesús Coro Antich, CO2KK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EGYPT. 15080, Nov 13 at 1413, M&W in very distorted talk, scheduled only as R. Cairo Arabic from Abis at 13-16; so what else is new? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** FRANCE [and non]. 17620, Sunday Nov 13 at 1417, Spanish interview about medical matters, voice-overing French comments --- and nothing on 17690, where RFI Spanish at 1400-1430 is still supposedly scheduled via GUIANA FRENCH. 17620 is nominally amid a long French-only transmission direct from Issoudun. Mistake in program feed, site, frequency, or a real intentional change? On voudrait savoir (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** FRANCE [non]. Radio Waves International 28th anniversary special broadcast via a legal transmitter, Sitkunai, LITHUANIA, UT Sunday Nov 13 at 0200-0400 was originally scheduled for 7420, before they realized that R. Tirana had just started using this frequency for English to North America at 0230-0300.
Sigitas Zilionis asked R. Tirana not to use 7420, but R. Tirana refused, and I suggested ZRC use 7415 instead, which after all, is appropriately an ex-pirate frequency in NAm, and now also vacated by WBCQ. And so they did. When nothing was on the air at 0159 and 0200, I wondered what happened, until:
*0201:20 cut on the air joining music in progress, song apparently titled ``Radio Waves``; 0203 sign-on in English, and country music. 0210 liner as ``WCS, the oldie (only?) way for good music``. Several variations of this were heard later, but what is WCS, a faux-American callsign? SINPO 45444, and this very good signal held up for the entire bihour. Seems to have been a big success, with reports like that I have seen from all over North America.
0219 outro a song from `73-`74, mentions 100 kW, 28 years. (Did they ever acknowledge the transmitter was in Lithuania??) At *0229 I could hear a 5 kHz het start from Tirana, but no problem separating the two. Nor was there any ACI from 7410, which bothered Wolfgang Büschel inside Europe. Mostly music, alternating French and English segments, country music and other music. 0304 RWI ID; 0323 ``Bette Davis Eyes``; 0327 address in English, ID in French, ``WCS`` again. 0343 song in French about ``Radios libres . . . Radio Ca-Ca``; sounds nasty. 0345, ``Radio Waves is where you heard the great country music`` by over-acting announcer. Past tense, but country music was next again.
0353 ``WCS World and Radio Waves International,`` address B.P. 130, 92504 Rueil Cedex, France, Europe (I confirmed this on website). 0354, ``From Nashville, USA --- ``. 0359 outro by someguy with exaggerated West Texas accent, acknowledging ``the best damn DJs in the whole world``, i.e. the Terrible Twins of RWI; No formal sign off, but 0400 open carrier, then a few bars of music and off the air (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. 15050, Sunday Nov 13 at 1412, AIR Sinhala service from Delhi (Khampur) site per Aoki, is back in AM mode today, tho Jose Jacob in Hyderabad expected this to stay in DRM from now on. So once again we can enjoy some music, altho at 1423 it was autotuned rap (in Sinhala or Hindi?), hardly our favorite style.
BTW, as of Nov 11, HFCC B-11 still lacks *any* registrations from India. What`s with that, they forgot, or boycott? Expect further collisions like the one barely headed off from KBC Radio, on 7590 instead of first planned 7550, whose own DRM test via Armenia Nov 12 at 1800 was a bust anyway. See also CUBA! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PRIDNESTROVYE. 9895, Nov 13 at 0624, the `Kichinov` relay of RNW in Dutch still has a big hum on it. We`ve heard that RNW is aware of this, so why do they put up with it? Other relays on 9865 and 9830 are OK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA [and non]. 15170, Nov 13 at 1427 surprised to hear a bit of ``Land Down Under`` by Men At Work, since that song is seldom heard following loss of a plagiarism lawsuit in Australia. Spain via Costa Rica and RRI are as usual mixing here, so am not sure which station this came from, but RRI seems more likely with its eclectic music format (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [non]. 9765, Sunday Nov 13 at 1353, REE via COSTA RICA, ending `Amigos de la Onda Corta` still starting circa 1332; mixing with CCI in English, i.e. CRI via Xi`an at 13-15. At 1355 I tuned across 11910, also hearing REE, rougher modulation, closing this frequency to Filipinas, among others, and 11910 is via Beijing, CHINA site! So having a relay deal with the ChiCom hardly guarantees you a clear frequency anywhere else vs China`s excessive SW usage (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA; ROMANIA
** SUDAN [and non]. 15535, Nov 13 at 1541, unID talk with continuous 1 kHz tone (not an offset het, as with BFO can be pinned on 15534 and 15536). Mix with another mystery test? No, the other explanation, just like we used to hear on 13620, tone jamming against R. Dabanga in A-11 around 0500. Now scheduled on 15535 at 1530-1627 is R. Dabanga, 500 kW, 150 degrees via Wertachtal, GERMANY. We`ve yet to notice any jamming on the 0430-0557 Dabanga broadcast on 7315 via France (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAIWAN [non]. 6875, Nov 13 at 0616, RTI via WYFR still in German, voice-overing Chinese QRM, instead of scheduled Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. 5845, Nov 13 at 1329, weak B-B-C- chimes, 1330 opening in unknown language, listed as Bengali, 325 degrees from THAILAND.
5875 and 5975, Nov 13 at 1455 BBCWS in English still audible on 50+ metres, but NOT //. 5975 also has beep-hets every few sex from on-and-off carrier on 5974, spaced 2.5-5.0-2.5-5.0 seconds apart, etc., why? 5975 was playing a clip from R. Peking. 5975 is SINGAPORE, 5875 is THAILAND. IIRC, in a previous hour they were indeed parallel (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7811.0-USB, Nov 12 at 0635, (overlooked it for my previous report), music instead of talk. Surely it`s AFN, but plugged into some alternative program stream instead of the usual news/talk one. This type of music with wide dynamic range and heavy beat is hardly suitable for SSB.
Still on techno(?) music feed next day Nov 13 at 0612, and also at 1407, when BTW, 12133.5 was absent while IBB Vietnamese via Sri Lanka was unimpeded on 12130 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WTWW-2 transmission but not program test took place as scheduled Nov 12-13:
9990 carrier on at *2159, 2200 very distorted musical modulation, brief break in transmission, back on still distorted overmodulation, splattering 9940-10030 or so, and then even audible between 9850 and 10120. 2206 ID and more music. 2209 Ted Randall with live announcement, asking for calls to 615-543-9520 or to tedrandall@tedrandall.com Said something about the computer going crazy in playing back music atop music. The spurs continue and at 2229 I find peaks circa 9977, 10003, somewhat weaker at further out multiples of approx. 13 kHz, i.e. 9964, 10016, 10029, 10042 and even to 10120 in the ham band and as low as 9850.
Ted was taking phone calls, not quick but long ones, including at 2234 from KC5FM in OK, and they mention gh and WOR, how our program is for the aficionado, not general audience. 2322 still spurs covering 9900 to 10050+ at least. For roughly an hour around 2330-2430, ARRL PR man was on the phone with one long commercial for ham radio.
Meanwhile, made frequency change a few minutes after 0000 to 5085. Unfortunately, this too had spur field peaking at 13 kHz intervals, notably 5072 vs WWCR 5070, and 5111 vs WBCQ 5110v. Next caller for half a sesquihour from 0030 or so was Rod Hembree, visiting AZ, currently buying 23/7 on WBCQ 9330, and my ears glazed over as he started proselytizing.
At 0200, WWCR and WBCQ were off, so the WTWW spurs were clearly audible circa 5072, 5098, also 5059, 5111, 5124. (After 0200 we were distracted by the Radio Waves International pirate special from FRANCE q.v. via Lithuania on 7415, trying to monitor both on two receivers.)
At 0238 UT Nov 13, noticed that owner George McClintock himself was phoning in from the site on 5085, explaining propagation basics, history and legalities of SWBC in the USA. The entire show was mostly talk from phone calls, with only brief musical breaks, most of which were requests. As expected, most of the callers were licensed hams, following an advance publicity barrage via ARRL, QRZ.com et al. And most of the discussion prompted by Ted was about ham radio, rather than shortwave broadcasting. Wrapped up at 0400, brief open carrier and off.
The spurs are a big problem which must be fixed before WTWW-2 begins regular service. This came from Bruce Portzer in Washington state:
``I'm listening in Seattle and receiving strong spurs on 9977.238 and 10002.762 kHz, the latter dangerously close to WWV. Has anyone else noticed them? Bruce``
The spurs were also monitored and measured as far away as Germany by Wolfgang Büschel:
``Spurious splatter signals noted here on remote SDR receivers in Northern Germany, Netherlands, east London-UK, as well as on N1ZZN Hanson-MA-USA remote SDR site:
9934-9941 kHz, two peaks at 9938.665 and 9938.980
9960-9967 peak at 9964.480
9974-9981 peak at 9977.243
10001-10007 peak at 10002.760
10013-10018 peak at 10015.516
10027-10029 peak at 10028.273.
5085, WTWW 2 Testing, 0130 UT, Nov 13. Still spurious noted also here in Germany. 5059.490 5072.240 5097.8-Codar covered, 5110.530 next to WBCQ 5109.73-usb and 700 Hertz heterodyne, faint 5123.26 kHz. 73 wolfgang df5sx germany``
Altho I was not listening to every minute of the 6-hour test, I never heard any reference on the air to the spur problem. Callers merely reported how strong the signal was in various places (except 5085 was not making it well to California at first).
George McClintock replies: ``Glenn, The spectrum analyzer does not show any of these problems, however I can now look at these specific reports this week. I will also re neutralize the transmitter again and check it out on the spect.analy. All of these reports cannot be radiated from this transmitter. If one or two are correct, they will be addressed. Thanks for sending these reports to me. Hope to check and figure these reports out this week. George Mc`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7465, UT Sunday Nov 13 at 0402, `DXing with Cumbre` is in progress on WHRI, so this is the only confirmed DWC broadcast so far in B-11 that is really on shortwave, not just the online schedule of WHR. Kept same UT as last week during DST so no longer on at same hour as WORLD OF RADIO on WTWW, 5755, now shifted to 0500.
WHRI keeps polluting the entire 13m band when it operates a filthy demented transmitter upon it: Once again Nov 13 at 1411, the gospel huxter on fundamental 21600 is spurring and splattering out to 21400 and 21950; worse during music, and closer to 21600, plenty to make legitimate broadcasters on 21505, 21540, 21560, 21610 unlistenable. Am I the only one who notices or cares? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1590 monitoring: Confirmed on WTWW 5755, at 0500 UT Sunday Nov 13, ex-0400. And the modulation breakup has been fixed; George says the problem was in the WTWW computer which just needed rebooting.
Other airings: on WRMI 9955, Sunday 1630, 1830, Monday 1230, 1630, 2230, Tuesday & Wednesday 1630. On WBCQ Area 51, UT Monday 0400v on 5110v-CUSB. On WRN via SiriusXM channel 120: Sunday 1830. On Hamburger Lokalradio, Germany, 5980, Tuesday 1030. Complete schedule including webcasts at http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX ISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 11760, looking for RHC whose first English broadcast is now missing from 1900-2000 [see CUBA], Nov 13 at 1927 instead is ME-sounding music, 1928 switching to suspiciously Christian tune, 1930 AWR IDs in English,, French, German, Italian, 1931 back to English to introduce program in Tachelhit, which is in Aoki as 100 kW, 210 degrees from Wertachtal, GERMANY, daily at 1930-2000. At 2000, reopening on 11755 instead with listed French via South Africa, as 11750 in Ibo had just ended (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN [non non and non]. 7250, Nov 13 at 0609, poor signal from VR in English, but again a split second ahead of much stronger // 6075. It`s hard to be sure with weak signal and noise, but 7250 seems to be more USB than LSB, along with reduced carrier. I was standing by for the site change to SMG: at *0628:21 much stronger 250 kW carrier comes on with outro of English semi-hour, and overlapping audio for a few sex. Can`t tell when Vatican Gardens 10 kW transmitter is turned off. Then bells, 0630 introducing mass with European multilingual comments, starting with French, Spanish, English, Romanian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
10300, Chinese talk very poor at 1354, NO FD, so really Sound of Hope?
12230, FD good at 1356; no time to find others before 1400
After 1400:
17570, good at 1416 vs V. of Tibet via Madagascar on today`s frequency
Before 1500:
18200, very good with flutter at 1445; none in the 17s, 16s, 15s, 14s
13970, good at 1448
12670, very good at 1449
12600, fair at 1449; none in the 11s
10300, good at 1450
9315, good at 1451, // 12600 etc.; none in the 8s, 7s. 9315 is an unusual spot, vs what? VOA in Tibetan via Thailand at 14-15. Not CNR1 jamming today
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. RHC has made further schedule adjustments as of Nov 13 --- not Oct 30 when the rest of the world did; not Nov 6 when much of its audience in NAm did, not Nov 7 when RHC started new frequencies, so we are now into two Weeks of Confusion. Basically, Spanish morning service has been extended an hour until 1600, and programming within moved one hour later too. We don`t yet know whether this also apply to afternoons and evenings, and whether they are still starting at *1100.
9540 as a new unlisted frequency for RHC turns out not so good a choice, since on Sundays WHRI is blasting it away with gospel huxter`s Bible study at 1346. In fact, I can`t even hear the weak RHC signal under it. Arnie should have noticed in HFCC that WHRI is on 9540 Sundays only at 13-14. Afterwards, at 1403, RHC 9540 can be heard, but the much stronger new // 9850 is now off, tho it had been on at 1347.
At 1408, I find RHC again on 13750, which is a remnant of the long-gone Sunday-only `Aló, Presidente` service for Venezuela. I wonder if RHC was also on 13750 before 1400 when VOA Spanish was using it; the two collided on Monday Nov 7, but since then, RHC had avoided 13750. Also on // 13670 and 13780.
This caused me to look for spurious leapfrog mixing products on new spots. 13810 had an S9+12 carrier, of 13750 leaping over 13780 another 30 kHz higher. This of course will only happen when those two fundamentals are both on, like Sundays. But 13810 modulation is just-barely. I have also been expecting one on 13890, i.e. 13670 leaping over 13780 another 110 kHz higher, and think I barely detect it now vs local cable DTV converter box bubble-jamming. Can`t hear one on 13830 yet, which would be 13670 leaping over 13750 another 80 kHz higher. These fundamentals are very strong and synchronized from same site.
Last week, EC was still on at 1335, but this Sunday at 1347 on 9850 I am instead hearing an `Así es mi Tierra` interview with a Puerto Rican lamenting inroads of English words into the Spanish language there. But 1352 on to folk music in `Cuba Campesina` so I assume AEMT was just a segment inside CC, which used to be aired circa 1230 on Sundays. 1411 RHC mailbag, formerly an hour earlier.
No, checking the non-updated programming page we find they had been:
12:25 UTC Domingo Así es mi tierra
12:33 UTC Domingo Cuba Campesina
13:00 UTC Domingo Noticiero
13:10 UTC Domingo Amigos de Cuba
13:30 UTC Domingo Boletín
13:35 UTC Domingo En Contacto
13:50 UTC Domingo En Compañía del Doctor
14:00 UTC Domingo Noticiero
14:10 UTC Domingo El Mundo de la Filatelia
14:30 UTC Domingo Boletín
14:35 UTC Domingo La Cultura en Cuba
14:53 UTC Domingo Boletín Resumen de la Mañana
So will `En Contacto` be at 1435 now? Yes! Confirmed starting then on 13750, 13670, 13780, 11840, 11760, 15380, under CRI on 15230, and an echo apart on weaker signals from RHC`s other site on 11750, 11690, 9540. Manolo opens by greeting ``amigos de la onda corta``, not to be confused with the title of the no longer competing REE show (much like the phrase ``world of radio`` being used by anyone but gh).
Usual first item was happy-birthdays, this time to one listener and one staffer (the latter female without specifying her age); then an essay about the threatened status of SW broadcasting written by Juan Franco Crespo, Spain, and read by Antonio Gómez, the clippery RHC staff announcer. Ended at 1450, then the ex-1350 show `En Compañía del Doctor`.
So DX program `En Contacto` has been moved one UT hour later on Sundays; is this deliberately to escape the time conflict with Spain`s DX program `Amigos de la Onda Corta` which one biweek ago shifted from 1232 to 1332 UT on its several frequencies? If so, brought all the others with it.
1500 promo ``Nuestro Caribe`` mentioning a bunch of countries within and bordering, ``por un comercio justo``. No frequency announcement at this hourtop, nor as now expected, any sign-off. Instead, 1501 news sounder and news. 1514 starting `Mundo de la Filatélia` also latened one hour. Rechecking frequencies still on now instead of 1500* --- 15380, 15230, 13780, 13750, 13670, 11840, 11760, 11750, 11690(? too weak vs RTTY), 9540.
I did not monitor every single program segment for new timings, but at 1539, 11760 is bearing `La Cultura en Cuba`, ex-1435. So what happens at 1600 now? RHC ID, but cut off abruptly before any frequency announcement or sign-off, affecting all the 13 and 11 MHz frequencies. 13670 went off first, while 13780 and 13750 kept open carrier past 1601.
The weekly Esperanto broadcast at 1500 Sundays on 11760 only was replaced by Spanish, so would it now be at 1600 instead? 11760 did stay on, but at 1602 resumed Spanish, 1603 suddenly cut to Esperanto, mentioning `nova horo`, but reception too poor to copy details, now with added ACI from Chinese on 11765 (where HFCC shows only Spain in Arabic! But, oui mes ami, you guessed it, Aoki shows 11765 at 16-17 as jammed Sound of Hope 100 kW from Taiwan; Commies vs Commies).
Has the RHC Esperanto site been updated to reveal this? Of course not!
Still shown at the slow-loading
http://www.radiohc.cu/eo/interesaoj/frekvencoj.html
``Norte, Centro y Suramérica 11760 Khz 25 15 - 15:30 UTC
San Francisco 6010 Khz 49 7 - 7:30 UTC
Suramérica 15370 Khz 19 22:30 - 23 UTC``
BTW, last March, Esperanto briefly switched to 1600 UT, but then went back to 1500 once Cuba changed to DST.
Also, at 1910 UT Nov 13, the RHC Spanish frequency page is not accessible, so maybe is finally being updated?
Yes, further changes are afoot. At 1927, no RHC English on 11760 any more; instead AWR with no QRM. Will RHC English shift back to 2000 on 11760, or somewhere else? I`m already late in finishing and dispatching this report. One final check at 2000: nothing from RHC on 11760 after AWR is finished and opening on 11755 instead.
13640 at 1927 Nov 13 has big RHC open carrier, overriding but heavy QRM from India, and still so as RHC is opening French to Europe at 1932. So 13640 is an awful choice for RHC to reach Europe, with India already there at 1730-2030, 500 kW, 300 degrees from Bengaluru to Europe, and also in French starting at 1945! Way to go, RHC frequency mis-manager and jamming advocate Prof. Arnaldo de Jesús Coro Antich, CO2KK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EGYPT. 15080, Nov 13 at 1413, M&W in very distorted talk, scheduled only as R. Cairo Arabic from Abis at 13-16; so what else is new? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** FRANCE [and non]. 17620, Sunday Nov 13 at 1417, Spanish interview about medical matters, voice-overing French comments --- and nothing on 17690, where RFI Spanish at 1400-1430 is still supposedly scheduled via GUIANA FRENCH. 17620 is nominally amid a long French-only transmission direct from Issoudun. Mistake in program feed, site, frequency, or a real intentional change? On voudrait savoir (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** FRANCE [non]. Radio Waves International 28th anniversary special broadcast via a legal transmitter, Sitkunai, LITHUANIA, UT Sunday Nov 13 at 0200-0400 was originally scheduled for 7420, before they realized that R. Tirana had just started using this frequency for English to North America at 0230-0300.
Sigitas Zilionis asked R. Tirana not to use 7420, but R. Tirana refused, and I suggested ZRC use 7415 instead, which after all, is appropriately an ex-pirate frequency in NAm, and now also vacated by WBCQ. And so they did. When nothing was on the air at 0159 and 0200, I wondered what happened, until:
*0201:20 cut on the air joining music in progress, song apparently titled ``Radio Waves``; 0203 sign-on in English, and country music. 0210 liner as ``WCS, the oldie (only?) way for good music``. Several variations of this were heard later, but what is WCS, a faux-American callsign? SINPO 45444, and this very good signal held up for the entire bihour. Seems to have been a big success, with reports like that I have seen from all over North America.
0219 outro a song from `73-`74, mentions 100 kW, 28 years. (Did they ever acknowledge the transmitter was in Lithuania??) At *0229 I could hear a 5 kHz het start from Tirana, but no problem separating the two. Nor was there any ACI from 7410, which bothered Wolfgang Büschel inside Europe. Mostly music, alternating French and English segments, country music and other music. 0304 RWI ID; 0323 ``Bette Davis Eyes``; 0327 address in English, ID in French, ``WCS`` again. 0343 song in French about ``Radios libres . . . Radio Ca-Ca``; sounds nasty. 0345, ``Radio Waves is where you heard the great country music`` by over-acting announcer. Past tense, but country music was next again.
0353 ``WCS World and Radio Waves International,`` address B.P. 130, 92504 Rueil Cedex, France, Europe (I confirmed this on website). 0354, ``From Nashville, USA --- ``. 0359 outro by someguy with exaggerated West Texas accent, acknowledging ``the best damn DJs in the whole world``, i.e. the Terrible Twins of RWI; No formal sign off, but 0400 open carrier, then a few bars of music and off the air (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. 15050, Sunday Nov 13 at 1412, AIR Sinhala service from Delhi (Khampur) site per Aoki, is back in AM mode today, tho Jose Jacob in Hyderabad expected this to stay in DRM from now on. So once again we can enjoy some music, altho at 1423 it was autotuned rap (in Sinhala or Hindi?), hardly our favorite style.
BTW, as of Nov 11, HFCC B-11 still lacks *any* registrations from India. What`s with that, they forgot, or boycott? Expect further collisions like the one barely headed off from KBC Radio, on 7590 instead of first planned 7550, whose own DRM test via Armenia Nov 12 at 1800 was a bust anyway. See also CUBA! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PRIDNESTROVYE. 9895, Nov 13 at 0624, the `Kichinov` relay of RNW in Dutch still has a big hum on it. We`ve heard that RNW is aware of this, so why do they put up with it? Other relays on 9865 and 9830 are OK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA [and non]. 15170, Nov 13 at 1427 surprised to hear a bit of ``Land Down Under`` by Men At Work, since that song is seldom heard following loss of a plagiarism lawsuit in Australia. Spain via Costa Rica and RRI are as usual mixing here, so am not sure which station this came from, but RRI seems more likely with its eclectic music format (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [non]. 9765, Sunday Nov 13 at 1353, REE via COSTA RICA, ending `Amigos de la Onda Corta` still starting circa 1332; mixing with CCI in English, i.e. CRI via Xi`an at 13-15. At 1355 I tuned across 11910, also hearing REE, rougher modulation, closing this frequency to Filipinas, among others, and 11910 is via Beijing, CHINA site! So having a relay deal with the ChiCom hardly guarantees you a clear frequency anywhere else vs China`s excessive SW usage (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA; ROMANIA
** SUDAN [and non]. 15535, Nov 13 at 1541, unID talk with continuous 1 kHz tone (not an offset het, as with BFO can be pinned on 15534 and 15536). Mix with another mystery test? No, the other explanation, just like we used to hear on 13620, tone jamming against R. Dabanga in A-11 around 0500. Now scheduled on 15535 at 1530-1627 is R. Dabanga, 500 kW, 150 degrees via Wertachtal, GERMANY. We`ve yet to notice any jamming on the 0430-0557 Dabanga broadcast on 7315 via France (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAIWAN [non]. 6875, Nov 13 at 0616, RTI via WYFR still in German, voice-overing Chinese QRM, instead of scheduled Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. 5845, Nov 13 at 1329, weak B-B-C- chimes, 1330 opening in unknown language, listed as Bengali, 325 degrees from THAILAND.
5875 and 5975, Nov 13 at 1455 BBCWS in English still audible on 50+ metres, but NOT //. 5975 also has beep-hets every few sex from on-and-off carrier on 5974, spaced 2.5-5.0-2.5-5.0 seconds apart, etc., why? 5975 was playing a clip from R. Peking. 5975 is SINGAPORE, 5875 is THAILAND. IIRC, in a previous hour they were indeed parallel (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7811.0-USB, Nov 12 at 0635, (overlooked it for my previous report), music instead of talk. Surely it`s AFN, but plugged into some alternative program stream instead of the usual news/talk one. This type of music with wide dynamic range and heavy beat is hardly suitable for SSB.
Still on techno(?) music feed next day Nov 13 at 0612, and also at 1407, when BTW, 12133.5 was absent while IBB Vietnamese via Sri Lanka was unimpeded on 12130 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WTWW-2 transmission but not program test took place as scheduled Nov 12-13:
9990 carrier on at *2159, 2200 very distorted musical modulation, brief break in transmission, back on still distorted overmodulation, splattering 9940-10030 or so, and then even audible between 9850 and 10120. 2206 ID and more music. 2209 Ted Randall with live announcement, asking for calls to 615-543-9520 or to tedrandall@tedrandall.com Said something about the computer going crazy in playing back music atop music. The spurs continue and at 2229 I find peaks circa 9977, 10003, somewhat weaker at further out multiples of approx. 13 kHz, i.e. 9964, 10016, 10029, 10042 and even to 10120 in the ham band and as low as 9850.
Ted was taking phone calls, not quick but long ones, including at 2234 from KC5FM in OK, and they mention gh and WOR, how our program is for the aficionado, not general audience. 2322 still spurs covering 9900 to 10050+ at least. For roughly an hour around 2330-2430, ARRL PR man was on the phone with one long commercial for ham radio.
Meanwhile, made frequency change a few minutes after 0000 to 5085. Unfortunately, this too had spur field peaking at 13 kHz intervals, notably 5072 vs WWCR 5070, and 5111 vs WBCQ 5110v. Next caller for half a sesquihour from 0030 or so was Rod Hembree, visiting AZ, currently buying 23/7 on WBCQ 9330, and my ears glazed over as he started proselytizing.
At 0200, WWCR and WBCQ were off, so the WTWW spurs were clearly audible circa 5072, 5098, also 5059, 5111, 5124. (After 0200 we were distracted by the Radio Waves International pirate special from FRANCE q.v. via Lithuania on 7415, trying to monitor both on two receivers.)
At 0238 UT Nov 13, noticed that owner George McClintock himself was phoning in from the site on 5085, explaining propagation basics, history and legalities of SWBC in the USA. The entire show was mostly talk from phone calls, with only brief musical breaks, most of which were requests. As expected, most of the callers were licensed hams, following an advance publicity barrage via ARRL, QRZ.com et al. And most of the discussion prompted by Ted was about ham radio, rather than shortwave broadcasting. Wrapped up at 0400, brief open carrier and off.
The spurs are a big problem which must be fixed before WTWW-2 begins regular service. This came from Bruce Portzer in Washington state:
``I'm listening in Seattle and receiving strong spurs on 9977.238 and 10002.762 kHz, the latter dangerously close to WWV. Has anyone else noticed them? Bruce``
The spurs were also monitored and measured as far away as Germany by Wolfgang Büschel:
``Spurious splatter signals noted here on remote SDR receivers in Northern Germany, Netherlands, east London-UK, as well as on N1ZZN Hanson-MA-USA remote SDR site:
9934-9941 kHz, two peaks at 9938.665 and 9938.980
9960-9967 peak at 9964.480
9974-9981 peak at 9977.243
10001-10007 peak at 10002.760
10013-10018 peak at 10015.516
10027-10029 peak at 10028.273.
5085, WTWW 2 Testing, 0130 UT, Nov 13. Still spurious noted also here in Germany. 5059.490 5072.240 5097.8-Codar covered, 5110.530 next to WBCQ 5109.73-usb and 700 Hertz heterodyne, faint 5123.26 kHz. 73 wolfgang df5sx germany``
Altho I was not listening to every minute of the 6-hour test, I never heard any reference on the air to the spur problem. Callers merely reported how strong the signal was in various places (except 5085 was not making it well to California at first).
George McClintock replies: ``Glenn, The spectrum analyzer does not show any of these problems, however I can now look at these specific reports this week. I will also re neutralize the transmitter again and check it out on the spect.analy. All of these reports cannot be radiated from this transmitter. If one or two are correct, they will be addressed. Thanks for sending these reports to me. Hope to check and figure these reports out this week. George Mc`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7465, UT Sunday Nov 13 at 0402, `DXing with Cumbre` is in progress on WHRI, so this is the only confirmed DWC broadcast so far in B-11 that is really on shortwave, not just the online schedule of WHR. Kept same UT as last week during DST so no longer on at same hour as WORLD OF RADIO on WTWW, 5755, now shifted to 0500.
WHRI keeps polluting the entire 13m band when it operates a filthy demented transmitter upon it: Once again Nov 13 at 1411, the gospel huxter on fundamental 21600 is spurring and splattering out to 21400 and 21950; worse during music, and closer to 21600, plenty to make legitimate broadcasters on 21505, 21540, 21560, 21610 unlistenable. Am I the only one who notices or cares? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1590 monitoring: Confirmed on WTWW 5755, at 0500 UT Sunday Nov 13, ex-0400. And the modulation breakup has been fixed; George says the problem was in the WTWW computer which just needed rebooting.
Other airings: on WRMI 9955, Sunday 1630, 1830, Monday 1230, 1630, 2230, Tuesday & Wednesday 1630. On WBCQ Area 51, UT Monday 0400v on 5110v-CUSB. On WRN via SiriusXM channel 120: Sunday 1830. On Hamburger Lokalradio, Germany, 5980, Tuesday 1030. Complete schedule including webcasts at http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX ISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 11760, looking for RHC whose first English broadcast is now missing from 1900-2000 [see CUBA], Nov 13 at 1927 instead is ME-sounding music, 1928 switching to suspiciously Christian tune, 1930 AWR IDs in English,, French, German, Italian, 1931 back to English to introduce program in Tachelhit, which is in Aoki as 100 kW, 210 degrees from Wertachtal, GERMANY, daily at 1930-2000. At 2000, reopening on 11755 instead with listed French via South Africa, as 11750 in Ibo had just ended (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN [non non and non]. 7250, Nov 13 at 0609, poor signal from VR in English, but again a split second ahead of much stronger // 6075. It`s hard to be sure with weak signal and noise, but 7250 seems to be more USB than LSB, along with reduced carrier. I was standing by for the site change to SMG: at *0628:21 much stronger 250 kW carrier comes on with outro of English semi-hour, and overlapping audio for a few sex. Can`t tell when Vatican Gardens 10 kW transmitter is turned off. Then bells, 0630 introducing mass with European multilingual comments, starting with French, Spanish, English, Romanian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
