** ARGENTINA. 15345.0+, Nov 20 at 2159, R. Nacional has now escaped collision with Morocco as the latter unexpectedly shifted yesterday to 15349.5 and then 15349.1. LRA has heavy flutter unlike Morocco, and a big 4+kHz het between them now allows separation by side-tuning (or tighter selectivity; LRA is closer to 15345 than IMM is to 15349). Song in progress keeps playing thru accurate auto-timesignal at 2200. Not totally in the clear until IMM cuts off around 2215 rather than nominal 2200, and then LRA continues into the evening, but copy is tough with all the flutter and only fair signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA [non]. 15240, Nov 20 at 2225, items about Piltdown Man hoax, refers to ``on the right side of this picture``, as if this were television --- maybe it is! RA has been caught relaying ABC TV news channel soundtrack before; it`s ``On This Day`` in history feature, also about release of the Beatles` White Album, Dr. John R&B singer born in 1940y. This doesn`t seem right to me for Nov 20 --- sure enough, Googling quickly finds Dr John was born on Nov 21:
``Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. (born November 21, 1940),``http://www.rhythmandtheblues.org.uk/public/shadesartists/drjohn.htm
I`ve got news for you Downunderites: it may be Nov 21 where you are, but at 2225 UT, it`s still Nov 20 from America to western Europe! So hold off on the historical advances, please.
Back to business: 15240 audio quality doesn`t sound like Shepparton but is putting in a much better signal than Shep // 15515, furthermore not synchronized. HFCC B-11 shows nothing at this hour for RA from anywhere --- that`s because the ChiCom forbid RA or any other station from including relays via vile breakaway province Taiwan in HFCC.
Aoki is under no such political restrixions: ``15240 R. AUSTRALIA 2200-2330 1234567 English 100 205 Tainan TWN 12010E 2302N ABC b11``. Then at 00-08 on 15240 it really is Shepparton at 30 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BRAZIL. 15190, Nov 20 at 2311, R. Inconfidência is playing the 2nd movement from Beethoven's "Pathétique" piano sonata, a.k.a. the theme music for `Adventures in Good Music` with the late Karl Haas. Always nice to hear classical on SW, but the signal is pretty rough with flutter, like Argentina on 15345+. Perhaps this is a regular classical program on Sundays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Nov 20, before 2400:
11500, very poor with flutter at 2336
12600, fair at 2338
12670, fair at 2338
13970, very poor with het at 2340
14700, fair with flutter at 2340; none in the 15s
16980, fair at 2343; none in the 17s, 18s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 11840, Nov 20 at 2337, RHC is about 2 minutes into this week`s `En Contacto` as heard earlier entirely at 1436-1450, i.e. started at 2335 this Sunday, unlike 2345 last Sunday. So amend the schedules to tune in by 2335 in case they repeat the earlier start. Of course :35 past whatever hour should be nominal but they have previously run it later during this program block, and even omitted it from published schedules (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [non]. 7405, Nov 20 at 2219, rock song in English, what`s this? O, just R. Martí since it`s // 9565 tho 7405 jamming is lite if at all, unlike an hour later (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EGYPT [and non]. 9365+, Nov 20 at 2323, very distorted spur from something, soon matched to even more distorted strong signal from R. Cairo Arabic on 9305. 9365 makes a scratchy sound upon WTJC 9370, undermodulated. Tsk2, but serves them right for putting out their own nasty spurs periodically. Could not hear one matching 60 kHz lower around 9345 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GREECE. 15650, Nov 20 at 2315, Greek music on VG signal, then Greek announcement from VOG. No flutter from here, unlike BRAZIL on 15190, KUWAIT on 17550, qq.vv. The VOG sked from DX Mix News Nov 11 in DXLD 11-46 shows 15650 going off at 2250, after a 105 degree beam to ME from 1800. Yet it was much better than // 9420 axually aimed 323 degrees USward before and after 2300. 15650 supposedly switches to 15630 between 2250 and 2300 but stays on the 105 antenna opposite us (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUAM. 15320, UT Sunday Nov 20 at 2238, AWR Wavescan is underway from KSDA, better than we can usually hear it from WRMI where it is produced, furthermore with several repeats just deleted in curtailed 9955 schedule. Jeff White is reading script by Adrian Peterson about the first Radio Free Asia in 1951-1953, transmitted from Philippines, with callsigns ``dee zed`` this and that. Note, Jeff, that the Filipinos say ``zee`` like their former colonial masters, Americans.
Then another story about the early AFRS; Luigi Cobisi`s report from Europe; and DX report from Bangladesh voiced by Salahuddin Dolar; finally some fill music from Alaska about the Bering land bridge, cut off the air at 2259* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. 9445, Nov 20 at 2215, AIR ending commentary on Syrian crisis, into feature on arts/film festival in Panaji. Best here but // 11670 and hummy 7550. Enjoy the dynamic sound of ionospheric India while you can, as they vow to replace *all* 54 SW transmitters, domestic and external, with DRM by 2015, all analog off by 2017. Seehttp://www.facebook.com/notes/national-association-of-shortwave-broadcasters/drm-progress-in-asia/308932825803170
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. Once again R. Kuwait defies conventional propagation: not heard from nominal *2000 on 17550 but rechecked at 2318 (after 2 am in Kabd), there it is in Arabic; at 2345 it reads S9+15 with heavy flutter, unlike a few other 16m signals from S America, E Asia, Pacific. 2400 ID and talk mixed with music, stingers, so not a regular newscast, cut off the air in mid-word at 0004* Nov 21. Unlike HFCC, Aoki claims this is in the MOI B-11 schedule:
17550 R. KUWAIT 2000-2400 1234567 Arabic 500 350 Sulaibiyah KWT 04745E 2910N MOI b11 --- i.e. aimed almost over the pole toward C&W N America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MOROCCO. 15349.1, Nov 20 at 2158, IMM is still on its latest frequency choice, away from Argentina [q.v.] on 15345.0+ (the latter is closer to 15345 than IMM is to 15349), which is a big improvement, but not quite enough, as a 4+ kHz het beats away between them now; with sufficient signals, either can be avoided by side-tuning a bit. Mikhail Timofeyev, St. Pete, measured this Nov 19 at 1808 on 15349.14.
2200 is the nominal closedown time of IMM, but keeps going with Arabic ID, news. Finally cuts off around 2215. This signal does not suffer from flutter like Argentina (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NETHERLANDS [non]. 15315, Nov 20 at 2201, RNW in Dutch, good signal, but is it Greenville substituting for the ratty Bonaire transmitter, or has that now been repaired; as of when? Expectation was to be fixed by Nov 18 or so. Were any other relays via Bonaire affected, and if so how? Perhaps the answer will be here:http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/rats-damage-one-of-the-bonaire-transmitters#comment-3677185
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. 11830, Nov 20 at 2217, VOR in English conversation, fair signal a second ahead of // 7250. 22-23 on 11830 is 250 kW, 64 degrees from Pet/Kam to WNAm, a strange isolated transmission, not followed by another frequency from there until 0200, and local time is only 2-3 pm PST. 7250 is via ``Armavir`` in western Russia. 7290 effectively takes over from 11830 at 2300 from Pridnestrovye, but now it`s still Radio PMR in Russian on UT Sunday = local Monday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 15420-CUSB, Nov 20 at 2157, WBCQ with preacher, but not the A.A. (androgynous anapaest). Close-down is shown as 2200 on the WBCQ program schedule, but now stays on past 2200; at 2202 outro as ``Living Word at Aggressive Christianity``, then dead air for a biminute; 2204 music and opening Word of The Spirit. I guess both are subprograms of listed `Global Spirit Proclamation`, but http://schedule.wbcq.com/main.php?fn=show_program&id=19
says it`s `Lord of the Spirit` rather than Word; maybe. Next check at 2231, 15420 is still on but dead air again; 2236 introed by spooky banshee music, another episode of WOTS/LOTS starts; after intro by normal voice, A.A. preacher/ess from Fence Lake takes over. Next check 2259, off the air. Maybe extended an hour since got a late start past 1800 today, still open carrier at 1841 as in my earlier report. FCC allows WBCQ on 15420 any time between 12 and 23.
7490, Nov 20 at 2326 during some preacher, WBCQ again has heavy QRM from BBC Thailand co-channel, or almost, as WBCQ has again wandered off-frequency enough for a low audible het. Meanwhile, clear 7505 goes to waste, reserved for WRNO, off the air for a year (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. On Nov 16, Peter W Hansen in NY reported monitoring WYFR on all its frequencies between 22 and 05 as in English, whatever the originally scheduled language for B-11. I`m not about to duplicate that effort, but it seems to be so: Nov 20 at 2207-2213, not only are 12160, 11580 and 9690 all in English as I bandscan by them, but they are back with Harold Camping`s Bible studies. Sounds like an elder voice, rather hoarse, but not his eldest, as heard until R-day.
These were supposed to be in Spanish, Spanish and Portuguese, respectively. We can only wonder what has happened. Maybe there is a huge power struggle behind the scenes --- Foreign-language announcers quit or fired, and HC or his ilk again ascendant? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 12105, Nov 20 at 2208, WTWW-3 in Brazilian Bible readings; during a pause between chapters I can hear a low-frequency cueing tone, WTFK? This bears no resemblance to the nominal
``New schedule to start shortly:
Central UTC
6-9 am Russian 1200 - 1500
9-12 Arabic 1500 - 1800
12-3pm French 1800 - 2100
3-6pm German 2100 - 0000
6-9pm Spanish 0000 - 0400
9-12 Portuguese 0400 - 0600
12-3am English 0600 - 0900
3-6am English 0900 - 1200`` at http://wtww.us/pages/program-schedule.php
And Arabic is always heard from sign-on around 1400; never heard any Russian. After a brief period running all night, goes off around 0600. The earlier time for Portuguese certainly makes sense, as 04-06 UT is 02-04 am in Brasília. I haven`t checked the exact timings of the others (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 12050, Nov 20 at 2209, Spanish is so distorted it`s worthy of RHC ex 12040 et al., but no, this is WEWN`s frequency and this is R. Católica Mundial as soon confirmed by content // 13830, and not // RHC frequencies. There`s continuous crackle during W&W conversation, and to make it even more fitting, the accent sounds Cuban. Recheck at 2320, it`s just as bad, awful distortion and breakup. Is no one paying attention at Vandiver to their own output? Mother Angelica needs to listen to her own SW station. Gone after 2400, so I looked for the next frequency 5810 but it had not come on several minutes past then (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 5580.2, Nov 21 at 2332 I detect a weak carrier vs the high local noise level (besides that, worse below 6 MHz, I never get much in the middle of the 5 MHz band --- antenna must not resonate there.) 23 hours earlier, Bob Wilkner in S Florida reported tentatively, R. San José (de Chiquitos), Bolivia on 5580.17 at 0020 Nov 20 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA [non]. 15240, Nov 20 at 2225, items about Piltdown Man hoax, refers to ``on the right side of this picture``, as if this were television --- maybe it is! RA has been caught relaying ABC TV news channel soundtrack before; it`s ``On This Day`` in history feature, also about release of the Beatles` White Album, Dr. John R&B singer born in 1940y. This doesn`t seem right to me for Nov 20 --- sure enough, Googling quickly finds Dr John was born on Nov 21:
``Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. (born November 21, 1940),``http://www.rhythmandtheblues.org.uk/public/shadesartists/drjohn.htm
I`ve got news for you Downunderites: it may be Nov 21 where you are, but at 2225 UT, it`s still Nov 20 from America to western Europe! So hold off on the historical advances, please.
Back to business: 15240 audio quality doesn`t sound like Shepparton but is putting in a much better signal than Shep // 15515, furthermore not synchronized. HFCC B-11 shows nothing at this hour for RA from anywhere --- that`s because the ChiCom forbid RA or any other station from including relays via vile breakaway province Taiwan in HFCC.
Aoki is under no such political restrixions: ``15240 R. AUSTRALIA 2200-2330 1234567 English 100 205 Tainan TWN 12010E 2302N ABC b11``. Then at 00-08 on 15240 it really is Shepparton at 30 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BRAZIL. 15190, Nov 20 at 2311, R. Inconfidência is playing the 2nd movement from Beethoven's "Pathétique" piano sonata, a.k.a. the theme music for `Adventures in Good Music` with the late Karl Haas. Always nice to hear classical on SW, but the signal is pretty rough with flutter, like Argentina on 15345+. Perhaps this is a regular classical program on Sundays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Nov 20, before 2400:
11500, very poor with flutter at 2336
12600, fair at 2338
12670, fair at 2338
13970, very poor with het at 2340
14700, fair with flutter at 2340; none in the 15s
16980, fair at 2343; none in the 17s, 18s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 11840, Nov 20 at 2337, RHC is about 2 minutes into this week`s `En Contacto` as heard earlier entirely at 1436-1450, i.e. started at 2335 this Sunday, unlike 2345 last Sunday. So amend the schedules to tune in by 2335 in case they repeat the earlier start. Of course :35 past whatever hour should be nominal but they have previously run it later during this program block, and even omitted it from published schedules (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [non]. 7405, Nov 20 at 2219, rock song in English, what`s this? O, just R. Martí since it`s // 9565 tho 7405 jamming is lite if at all, unlike an hour later (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EGYPT [and non]. 9365+, Nov 20 at 2323, very distorted spur from something, soon matched to even more distorted strong signal from R. Cairo Arabic on 9305. 9365 makes a scratchy sound upon WTJC 9370, undermodulated. Tsk2, but serves them right for putting out their own nasty spurs periodically. Could not hear one matching 60 kHz lower around 9345 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GREECE. 15650, Nov 20 at 2315, Greek music on VG signal, then Greek announcement from VOG. No flutter from here, unlike BRAZIL on 15190, KUWAIT on 17550, qq.vv. The VOG sked from DX Mix News Nov 11 in DXLD 11-46 shows 15650 going off at 2250, after a 105 degree beam to ME from 1800. Yet it was much better than // 9420 axually aimed 323 degrees USward before and after 2300. 15650 supposedly switches to 15630 between 2250 and 2300 but stays on the 105 antenna opposite us (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUAM. 15320, UT Sunday Nov 20 at 2238, AWR Wavescan is underway from KSDA, better than we can usually hear it from WRMI where it is produced, furthermore with several repeats just deleted in curtailed 9955 schedule. Jeff White is reading script by Adrian Peterson about the first Radio Free Asia in 1951-1953, transmitted from Philippines, with callsigns ``dee zed`` this and that. Note, Jeff, that the Filipinos say ``zee`` like their former colonial masters, Americans.
Then another story about the early AFRS; Luigi Cobisi`s report from Europe; and DX report from Bangladesh voiced by Salahuddin Dolar; finally some fill music from Alaska about the Bering land bridge, cut off the air at 2259* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. 9445, Nov 20 at 2215, AIR ending commentary on Syrian crisis, into feature on arts/film festival in Panaji. Best here but // 11670 and hummy 7550. Enjoy the dynamic sound of ionospheric India while you can, as they vow to replace *all* 54 SW transmitters, domestic and external, with DRM by 2015, all analog off by 2017. Seehttp://www.facebook.com/notes/national-association-of-shortwave-broadcasters/drm-progress-in-asia/308932825803170
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. Once again R. Kuwait defies conventional propagation: not heard from nominal *2000 on 17550 but rechecked at 2318 (after 2 am in Kabd), there it is in Arabic; at 2345 it reads S9+15 with heavy flutter, unlike a few other 16m signals from S America, E Asia, Pacific. 2400 ID and talk mixed with music, stingers, so not a regular newscast, cut off the air in mid-word at 0004* Nov 21. Unlike HFCC, Aoki claims this is in the MOI B-11 schedule:
17550 R. KUWAIT 2000-2400 1234567 Arabic 500 350 Sulaibiyah KWT 04745E 2910N MOI b11 --- i.e. aimed almost over the pole toward C&W N America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MOROCCO. 15349.1, Nov 20 at 2158, IMM is still on its latest frequency choice, away from Argentina [q.v.] on 15345.0+ (the latter is closer to 15345 than IMM is to 15349), which is a big improvement, but not quite enough, as a 4+ kHz het beats away between them now; with sufficient signals, either can be avoided by side-tuning a bit. Mikhail Timofeyev, St. Pete, measured this Nov 19 at 1808 on 15349.14.
2200 is the nominal closedown time of IMM, but keeps going with Arabic ID, news. Finally cuts off around 2215. This signal does not suffer from flutter like Argentina (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NETHERLANDS [non]. 15315, Nov 20 at 2201, RNW in Dutch, good signal, but is it Greenville substituting for the ratty Bonaire transmitter, or has that now been repaired; as of when? Expectation was to be fixed by Nov 18 or so. Were any other relays via Bonaire affected, and if so how? Perhaps the answer will be here:http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/rats-damage-one-of-the-bonaire-transmitters#comment-3677185
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. 11830, Nov 20 at 2217, VOR in English conversation, fair signal a second ahead of // 7250. 22-23 on 11830 is 250 kW, 64 degrees from Pet/Kam to WNAm, a strange isolated transmission, not followed by another frequency from there until 0200, and local time is only 2-3 pm PST. 7250 is via ``Armavir`` in western Russia. 7290 effectively takes over from 11830 at 2300 from Pridnestrovye, but now it`s still Radio PMR in Russian on UT Sunday = local Monday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 15420-CUSB, Nov 20 at 2157, WBCQ with preacher, but not the A.A. (androgynous anapaest). Close-down is shown as 2200 on the WBCQ program schedule, but now stays on past 2200; at 2202 outro as ``Living Word at Aggressive Christianity``, then dead air for a biminute; 2204 music and opening Word of The Spirit. I guess both are subprograms of listed `Global Spirit Proclamation`, but http://schedule.wbcq.com/main.php?fn=show_program&id=19
says it`s `Lord of the Spirit` rather than Word; maybe. Next check at 2231, 15420 is still on but dead air again; 2236 introed by spooky banshee music, another episode of WOTS/LOTS starts; after intro by normal voice, A.A. preacher/ess from Fence Lake takes over. Next check 2259, off the air. Maybe extended an hour since got a late start past 1800 today, still open carrier at 1841 as in my earlier report. FCC allows WBCQ on 15420 any time between 12 and 23.
7490, Nov 20 at 2326 during some preacher, WBCQ again has heavy QRM from BBC Thailand co-channel, or almost, as WBCQ has again wandered off-frequency enough for a low audible het. Meanwhile, clear 7505 goes to waste, reserved for WRNO, off the air for a year (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. On Nov 16, Peter W Hansen in NY reported monitoring WYFR on all its frequencies between 22 and 05 as in English, whatever the originally scheduled language for B-11. I`m not about to duplicate that effort, but it seems to be so: Nov 20 at 2207-2213, not only are 12160, 11580 and 9690 all in English as I bandscan by them, but they are back with Harold Camping`s Bible studies. Sounds like an elder voice, rather hoarse, but not his eldest, as heard until R-day.
These were supposed to be in Spanish, Spanish and Portuguese, respectively. We can only wonder what has happened. Maybe there is a huge power struggle behind the scenes --- Foreign-language announcers quit or fired, and HC or his ilk again ascendant? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 12105, Nov 20 at 2208, WTWW-3 in Brazilian Bible readings; during a pause between chapters I can hear a low-frequency cueing tone, WTFK? This bears no resemblance to the nominal
``New schedule to start shortly:
Central UTC
6-9 am Russian 1200 - 1500
9-12 Arabic 1500 - 1800
12-3pm French 1800 - 2100
3-6pm German 2100 - 0000
6-9pm Spanish 0000 - 0400
9-12 Portuguese 0400 - 0600
12-3am English 0600 - 0900
3-6am English 0900 - 1200`` at http://wtww.us/pages/program-schedule.php
And Arabic is always heard from sign-on around 1400; never heard any Russian. After a brief period running all night, goes off around 0600. The earlier time for Portuguese certainly makes sense, as 04-06 UT is 02-04 am in Brasília. I haven`t checked the exact timings of the others (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 12050, Nov 20 at 2209, Spanish is so distorted it`s worthy of RHC ex 12040 et al., but no, this is WEWN`s frequency and this is R. Católica Mundial as soon confirmed by content // 13830, and not // RHC frequencies. There`s continuous crackle during W&W conversation, and to make it even more fitting, the accent sounds Cuban. Recheck at 2320, it`s just as bad, awful distortion and breakup. Is no one paying attention at Vandiver to their own output? Mother Angelica needs to listen to her own SW station. Gone after 2400, so I looked for the next frequency 5810 but it had not come on several minutes past then (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 5580.2, Nov 21 at 2332 I detect a weak carrier vs the high local noise level (besides that, worse below 6 MHz, I never get much in the middle of the 5 MHz band --- antenna must not resonate there.) 23 hours earlier, Bob Wilkner in S Florida reported tentatively, R. San José (de Chiquitos), Bolivia on 5580.17 at 0020 Nov 20 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
