mercoledì 9 novembre 2011

Glenn Hauser logs November 8-9, 2011

** ALBANIA [and non]. 7420, Nov 9 at 0237 check, R. Tirana English to N America is missing this UT Wednesday. Wolfgang Büschel also found the earlier Albanian hour from 0000 on 7425 missing, just China to be heard in Germany.

As for the coming conflict with Lithuania on Nov 12-13 which wanted to use 7420 for a pirate special to North America in English at 0200-0400, I suggested to Sigitas Zilionis that they use 7415 instead which is now open, and an ex-pirate frequency in North America. He replies: ``Glenn, Excellent idea, thanks! We'll go for it``.

Gary Drew forwarded info from the SW pirates yg that the special is for the 28th birthday of Radio Waves International, but shown as only on early UT Sunday November 13 at 02-04. (Also Friday Nov 11 to Eu 21-23 on 6055; Sunday Nov 13 to Asia 1330-1530 on 9895). Wolfgang Büschel points out that the latter broadcasts will apparently have to pre-empt scheduled Iran relays by ZRC Sitkunai. Now via Robert Scaglione, RWI, address in France,
http://go.to/rwi publicizes that their special will indeed be on 7415 at 02-04 Nov 13 only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL. 15190, Nov 8 at 2218 past 2230, lots of lively Brazilian talk, promos, commercials, certainly R. Inconfidência, better signal than usual but lots of trans-equatorial flutter, now unimpeded with WYFR off 15190 for the season (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CANADA. 9625, Nov 9 at 0608, CBC NQ is still running unexplained tones for minutes, even hours after closedown, but in B-11 not starting until 0606.

11885, CRI English via Sackville, Nov 9 at 1354 ending `Media Scan`, not to be taken for a DX program, on correct frequency instead of mispunched 11855 yesterday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake Nov 9, before 1400, found 11 at once:
12045, at 1352 mixing with Chinese, // 12230. Victim is VOA Chinese via Saipan this hour, also 11-13 via Tinang. Normally only CNR1 jamming would be employed, and that`s probably the Chinese I was hearing rather than VOA
12230, good at 1352; none in the 11s, 10s
13130, poor at 1358
13680, fair at 1356, mixing with presumed R. Farda; why jam this?
13920, good at 1356
13970, very poor at 1356
14700, very good at 1358
15565, very poor at 1358, het from 15562
15760, very good at 1358
16100, fair at 1359
16980, very poor at 1359
Did not get above 17 MHz before 1400 closing if any

Before 1500:
10300, good at 1442; none in the 9s, 8s, 7s
13970, very good at 1440, none in the 11s, 12s
14700, very good at 1440
15780, very good at 1438, ex-15760 previous hour; none in 16s, 17s
18180, fair at 1440

11635, Nov 9 at 1355, CNR1 jamming vs something, i.e. VOA Chinese via Thailand at 12-14 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 12040 is back, Nov 8 at 2238, the RHC transmitter which refuses to die, rumble noise is louder than the modulation; missing yesterday and no longer on the B-11 schedule
http://www.radiohc.cu/de-interes/frecuencias.html
which first appeared Nov 7; unimproved as of Nov 9, it still displays the typo ``97420`` instead of 9740. 12040 gone again the next morning Nov 9 at 1353 check, and 11690 also gone again tho still scheduled

9660, Nov 8 at 2242, RHC Spanish // 6000 but an echo apart from it, different sites or feed routes. This is the `Mesa Redonda` split service nominally now at 2330-0100, but not today, still starting an hour earlier as if on EDT. Mainstream non // RHC at same time on 9710 // 13690, also an echo apart from each other (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ECUADOR. 3810-LSB, Nov 9 at 0616, HD2IOA with Spanish time announcements and accurate pips compared to WWV, every dekasecond. I recall they ID once an hour at an odd time, but no doubt what this is with standard format. Several others have reported this recently, apparently reactivated after a couple months. Henrik Klemetz points out that their MW 1510 as DXed in Europe is no longer //, altho sometimes inserts timesignals into programming. 3810 last logged here on Sept 8 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA. 9525, Nov 9 at 1349, VOI on again for second day after reactivation, but YL English talk is too weak and undermodulated vs the ACI, especially from 9530, CNR1 jamming vs VOA Chinese via Tinang, Philippines. Swopan Chakroborty in India got this reply explaining VOI`s absence until Nov 8:

``Dear Friend Mr Swopan Chakroborty, Warmest Greeting from Jakarta. We thank you for the report and your attention to listen to RRI World Service, the Voice of Indonesia. To your information, we have made progress in repairing our SW Transmitter of 9525 KHz as it has been operating since November 8 (Tuesday). Please inform us about the strength by email. Could also we have your readiness to comment on our programmes espacially news buletin in English,
- What sort of content do you need most of the English bulletin?
- How do you think about the sentences of the news - is it clear or
sometimes umbigious? What is your suggestions. best regards, Kabul Budiono, Director of VOI`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KOREA NORTH. 7570, Nov 9 at 1332, muffled YL in stilted English about communism and the homeland. Must be VOK, and yes, // better 9335. Per Aoki, 7570 is 200 kW, 325 degrees from Kujang (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 6310, Nov 9 at 1337, YL declaiming number groups in Korean, stops at 1338.5, carrier off at 1339; same as heard previously on 6215. This was a ``good Korean morning``, besides 7570:
6285 also with VOK; noise jamming on 6600, 6518, 6348, 6015; at 1343 same noise but also pulsing on 6230, 5855. Aoki and HFCC show 5855 with RFA in Korean via Tinian, but only at 15-19; overkill or expanded broadcast time? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KUWAIT [and non]. 21540, MOI again colliding atop REE SPAIN, Nov 9 at 1429; yesterday`s absence of Spain was too good to be true, tho it`s R. Kuwait which ought to be absent from 21540 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NETHERLANDS [non]. 5955, Nov 9 at 0614, I can barely make out some Dutch, not synchronized with 6165 or 9865, vs heavy DentroCuban jamming against nothing, since there is no carrier on 5954.3v, and no het, as R. República is no longer there.

So RNW is still attempting to use this frequency despite the recalcitrant and incompetent Cubans; B11 5955 scheduled 06-07 via Vatican, 07-08 via Nauen, also 08-11 via Wertachtal, the first hour `shared` with CNR Beijing in Mongolian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NIGERIA. 15120, Nov 9 at 0611, VON is the OSOB, averaging S9+5 vs local noise level, YL in English news mentioning Republic of Congo, Tanzania. Not much hum tonite; only wish for more signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ROMANIA. 9645-9650-9655, Nov 9 at 0607, DRM noise as I am trying to check 9645 for Vatican. I bet it`s Romania, which sprinkles its DRM intrusions thruout the AM SWBC bands. Yes, uplooked later, 0600-0630 is RRI in numerical French. Also I see that VR wisely takes a semi-hour break from 9645 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA. 9840, Nov 9 at 0606, R. Rossii in the clear, since V. of Russia collision concludes at 0600*. Last winter the NAm service stayed on until 0700 (11 pm PST). Looks like VOR has allowed the permanent time change in Russia to affect its external service hours, still ending at what had been the Sommerabschluss 0600 UT. How incestuous (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TAIWAN [non]. 6875, Nov 9 at 0604, RTI via WYFR is still in German; at first I thought there was crosstalk again from another program, but soon it quit, so apparently it was voice-under being translated. This mistake instead of Spanish is obviously programmed into their playouts, as well as Chinese instead of English in the previous hour; when will they ever notice and fix it? German is supposed to be at 19-20 and 21-22 UT via Eurosites, never WYFR, especially when it is aiming at Mexico (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 7490, Nov 8 at 2245, heavy collision between station in Spanish and something slightly weaker in English. Spanish is the sole program on WBCQ in that language, `Frecuencia al Día`, Dino Bloise`s DX show also on WWCR, WRMI which succeeded our `Mundo Radial`; FAD now one UT hour later than in summer, Tuesdays 2230. BTW, FAD has been missing from WBCQ`s online schedule for months, 7415 and now 7490:
http://schedule.wbcq.com/main.php?fn=sked&freq=7490

But on 7490, WBCQ confronts collision with BBC via Thailand. Thursdays at 2230 is now the only time for WORLD OF RADIO on WBCQ (aside from Area 51), so this interference is of great concern to us. I sent this advice to Allan Weiner:

``Hi Allan, Since the time change I have been monitoring your 7490, especially at the time of concern to me, 5:30 pm EST (2230 UT). As soon as I heard about 7490, I checked HFCC for B-11 and found a likely problem, which is BBC via Thailand:

7490 2200 2400 43E,44N,44SW,49NE NAK 250 25 0 156 1234567 301011 250312 D 7922 English THA BBC BAB 15025

From my experience, this 25 degree antenna from Thailand, altho not intended for North America, often carries on well much further in the same direction toward us. This time of day, we are near the grayline, which helps the signal right along to North America.

And so it does. Today at 5:45 pm during Frecuencia Al Dia there was very heavy interference altho WBCQ was slightly on top, exacerbated by your being off-frequency far enough to produce an audible heterodyne. This is at least as bad as the QRM from China ever was on 7415.

Possibly 7490 is better for WBCQ a little closer than Oklahoma (but then there is the skip zone where Thailand would likely also invade.) We should still have loud and clear reception of WBCQ here if only on a clear frequency. That`s surely not too much to ask.

Someone has been giving you bad frequency advice. I gather from what you said that 7490 was a quick fix by the FCC to the need to get off 7415 ASAP (but has anyone ever really heard CAP on 7416?).

Meanwhile, there are several nearby frequencies which are VACANT! At this time, they were 7485, 7495, 7500, 7505, 7510 and 7515, which means you could safely be on, 7500, 7505 or 7510 without co- or adjacent- interference.

7505 stands out as the one registered for WRNO, which has been off the air for almost a year! You should insist on using that, and if and when WRNO ever comes back, they can have 7490 or whatever other frequency can be arranged.

(Of course if your new frequency is not also nixed by FCC/NTIA --- but since 7505 was previously used by WRNO and continues to be reserved for them, there would seem to be no USG/military objection, so far.)

Part of the problem is your insistence on using one single frequency on a band at whatever time of day you need it, for many hours in a row. In the current SW situation, this is seldom realistic, and makes the job of broadcasting on a clear frequency that much more difficult.

Since there is a clear divide between your Overcomer hours and everything else on 7490, for example, you could leave Brother Stair on 7490 from later in the evening, whenever he starts. (I think there are no QRM problems then altho have not checked it thoroughly), and move your other earlier programming to 7505.

However, according to HFCC listings there is nothing (but wooden WRNO) on 7505 between 1900 and 1400 UT (2 pm and 9 am EST), so if you were to move there you could reliably use it for your entire 7 MHz output. If for some reason 7505 can`t be used, there are several other ways around the current problem.

Please consider this very seriously. It`s not just for my benefit but for yours and everything else you broadcast. 73, Glenn`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9955, UT Wed Nov 9 at 0605, WRMI is in `Viva Miami`, Jeff & Thaïs discussing Nicaragua; sufficient signal and no jamming, so maybe the Cubans happen to be resting during this hour, when WORLD OF RADIO also airs now on UT Fridays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 5000, Nov 9 at 0618, WWV propagation minute cites K index of zero at 0300 --- but by now should have the 3-hourly 0600 UT reading. Are they still not adjusted for unDST? One would have thought DST unaffects this (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VATICAN. 6185, Nov 9 at 0602, VR in `Scandinavian` is mixing with XEPPM which has just started its nightly relay of news in Spanish from RFI. The two are far enough apart to produce a fast subaudible heterodyne. The night before, Vatican was not on or not propagating. VR is // 7335, which is way under Tunisia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)