** ALBANIA. 7425, Dec 6 at 0005, R. Tirana Albanian is still here, apparently the poor signal with music rather than China atop. At 0248 check, English is back on 7420 after being on 7425 48 hours earlier. If they both can`t be on 7420, it would be more advantageous for 00 Albanian to use it than 0230 English, but both would avoid 7430 adjacent V. of Russia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ALBANIA. 7210, Dec 6 at 0605, poor signal in Arabic; have been wondering what this be: CRI via Cërrik, 05-07, 150 kW, 240 degrees, says HFCC, in the clear at this moment, but blocked at 0530-0557 by Romania in Russian, and until 0600 also registered VOR Moskva. But Aoki shows VOR Spanish at 00-05 only; and also reminds us of R. Fana, non-HFCC Ethiopia on 7210 in Amharic/Oromo (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRIA. 6155, Dec 6 at 0559, ``Radio Austria International`` IDs still being used, in German, English, French, Spanish, languages it no longer broadcasts otherwise, 0600 cut too late to news in German already in progress (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BULGARIA. R. Bulgaria is still kilowasting kilowatts by running dead-air carrier long before start of next broadcast: 9400, Dec 6 at 0609. German is at 0630; same as they were doing in A-season on 11600 before 0530 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Dec 6, before 1500:
14970, fair at 1451
9200, good at 1455, with flutter; no others 19-7 MHz by 1457
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. 6120, Dec 6 at 0600, RHC IS badly squeezed between adjacent RHC English stronger on 6125, and CRI Sackville on 6115; there is a one-hour overlap of two RHC services only 5 kHz apart at 05-06, Cubans vs Cubans!
6050, Dec 6 at 0601, ``Ed Newman`` is upwrapping the English hour late, ``hasta mañana``. The previous morning, RHC was running two minutes early in its timechex. Then at 0602 on this and the other three overkill English frequencies, 6010, 6060 and 6125, a minute of Spanish, promo for 22 de dic., 50th anniversary of Cuba`s alfabetization campaign = literacy. (But what good is literacy if your freedom to read is controlled??) 0603 reopening English altho Ed just said goodbye; audio glitched so the ``Habana`` was missing, just said ``Radio – Cuba``, and claims to be streaming at radiohc.cu
6000, Dec 6 at 1236, RHC is here in Spanish // 6140 and with CCI from the China/Taiwan radio war, Commies vs Commies, on 6150. The point is, original Nov 13 schedule had RHC on 6010 at 12-13, and online sked still shows that, but Prof. Arnie told José Bueno, Spain, that they had since started using 6000 without saying what it replaced! Now we know, but why? Surely not deliberately to give XEOI a clear frequency for an hour, but that`s the effect; see MEXICO. The usual N. Korean jamming noise remains on 6015, and 6003, rather close to RHC, more Commies vs Commies!
9805, Dec 6 at 1311, noise jamming vs nothing, a frequency used by R. Martí in the A-season but not the B-season. (This leapfrogging a current jammer on 9565 could explain why Steve Handler heard some jamming on WYFR 9355 at a very different time, 2305 Dec 3.)
13670, Dec 6 at 1450, RHC is absent from this scheduled frequency, and still gone at 1528 check. Still on all the other 19, 22, 25 and 31m frequencies, except:
11760, Dec 6 at 1454, open carrier/dead air, and still such as 1527. Wake up at the transmitter site! The cost of electricity wasted on this, not to mention needless multiple // frequencies, and all that jamming, could have fed countless nearly starving Cubans due to food rationing. But, first things first!
15380, Dec 6 at 1530 I carefully copy the confused RHC frequency announcement:
15380, 15230 until 16
9540 until 16; 13-16 on 9850
13680 until 16; 13780 and 13680 too
[sic twice; 13680 replaced by 13670 when it`s on]
11760, 11840, 11690 until 16; from 13 on 11750 until 16
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [non]. 7210-LSB, haven`t heard the counter-revolutionary rants from Nelson Roig in Pennsylvania lately, so looked for him Dec 6 at 1247 and there he is on his favorite frequency, no ID for a while, but his polemical style and voice quite recognizable. Is talking about San Pedro Sula, Honduras, where he apparently had visited, being a ``cornucopia`` of good food, unlike the shortages in Cuba.
Said he will be 70 in January, left Cuba in 1961 (or 1971?) and never went back. Has taken good care of himself, never smoked, only an occasional glass of wine with a good meal, takes aspirin and vitamins daily, has never been sick, and will continue sexually active into his 80s. 1257 finally inserts an N1NR ID, with KP4YAY.
Several other weaker stations heard in his net, including one who has his voice processed to sound like a hi-pitched cartoon character. Gives no IDs, so we wonder if he`s really a Dentro-Cuban? Nelson has to ask him repeatedly to say again, speak clearly. 1259 begins some musical ACI from a 7205 and/or 7215 broadcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** FRANCE [and non]. Further chex of RFI vs strike situation, Dec 6:
7220, Dec 6 at 0605, English news in progress; avoid the middle of the semi-hour when they are always talking about stupid ballgames. MUF is quite low, only weak signals on 9 MHz except Gabon 9580, so can`t // RFI to 9765.
7390, Dec 6 at 0607, French service playing musique instead; rather undermodulated too, and with crackles maybe from QRM rather than self.
21690, Dec 6 at 1320, French service is talking instead of musiquing, but I expect there will be more rolling strike outages. Latest update Dec 5 from Mike Cooper, GA:
``RFI staff have voted overwhelmingly in opposition to the pending fusion of RFI and the France 24 television channel. In voting on Monday, 558 were against the merger and 26 were for it. Unions say there are 781 employees at RFI. Meanwhile, workers voted unanimously to continue their strike for another day. Another staff meeting is scheduled to take place Tuesday at 2pm on the 7th floor of the Maison de Radio France. "No reform and no business project can take place without the support of personnel," the unions warn`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GREECE. 15630, Dec 6 at 1528, VOG is already on air in Greek talk, with squishy QRM from WEWN 15610 spur on 15628. Supposedly starts at 1600; just an anomaly, or are they reëxpanding their schedule toward 24 hours? Still a big blank spot on 9420 around 0600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6010, Dec 6 at 1240, weak Spanish YL in Radio Mil`s morning news block, fortunately cleared by RHC moving to 6000 during this hour; see CUBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. 6074, Dec 6 at 1259 I am standing by for R. Rossii, 6075, Pet/Kam to close and the Russian Army tactical CW marker to start: as the final RR timesignal is running at 1300, a few CW tones are heard, a very tentative V. Pause, and then obviously hand-keyed, the standard marker is sent: ``VVV CQ CQ CQ DE 2MTL 2MTL K`` from 1300.6 to 1301.5. Quite clear copy today. What has become of the other call, 8GAL? Is it really at another location? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAIWAN. 7555, Dec 6 at 1500, 3+1 timesignal, announcement in Thai with Taiwan website; S9+20 but undermodulated; soon fading down. Per Aoki it`s RTI at 15-16, 100 kW, 255 degrees from Paochung (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAIWAN [non]. This recent item was a bit too brief: ``6875, ditto several weeks of previous almost-daily chex`` It referred to a log of RTI via WYFR at 0639 UT Dec 3. Also, Dec 6 I managed to check before 0600: at 0558, 6875 was in Chinese instead of English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TUNISIA. This item had a typo in the frequency, 7375; should be:
7275, Dec 4 until 0630* IWT closes abruptly, apparently ex -0627* so reset the timer? IWT = short for the Arabic ID as in WRTH 2011: ``Idh`atu-l-Wataniya at-Tunisiya``. Since it`s all in Arabic, why keep referring to it by French name? // 7335 continues, free of co-channel Vatican after 0620 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 7520, Dec 6 at 1501, VOA news in normal English, 1505 introducing Eng-lish Teach-ing and Spe-cial Eng-lish hour; quite good reception despite being listed in Aoki as 275 degrees from Tinang, PHILIPPINES. I would have guessed it`s on the 21-degree antenna USward. But HFCC adds another 250 kW from there at 200 degrees, so maybe the total 500 kW accounts for it, and the 200 azimuth is opposite of 20 degrees USward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN [non]. 9790, Dec 6 at 1311 some classical music catches my ear, but when I come back at 1313 it`s off the air. Must have been VR, 250 kW, 350 degrees via Palauig-Zambales, RVA Philippines, Chinese at 1228-1315 [sic] per Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ALBANIA. 7210, Dec 6 at 0605, poor signal in Arabic; have been wondering what this be: CRI via Cërrik, 05-07, 150 kW, 240 degrees, says HFCC, in the clear at this moment, but blocked at 0530-0557 by Romania in Russian, and until 0600 also registered VOR Moskva. But Aoki shows VOR Spanish at 00-05 only; and also reminds us of R. Fana, non-HFCC Ethiopia on 7210 in Amharic/Oromo (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRIA. 6155, Dec 6 at 0559, ``Radio Austria International`` IDs still being used, in German, English, French, Spanish, languages it no longer broadcasts otherwise, 0600 cut too late to news in German already in progress (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BULGARIA. R. Bulgaria is still kilowasting kilowatts by running dead-air carrier long before start of next broadcast: 9400, Dec 6 at 0609. German is at 0630; same as they were doing in A-season on 11600 before 0530 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Dec 6, before 1500:
14970, fair at 1451
9200, good at 1455, with flutter; no others 19-7 MHz by 1457
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. 6120, Dec 6 at 0600, RHC IS badly squeezed between adjacent RHC English stronger on 6125, and CRI Sackville on 6115; there is a one-hour overlap of two RHC services only 5 kHz apart at 05-06, Cubans vs Cubans!
6050, Dec 6 at 0601, ``Ed Newman`` is upwrapping the English hour late, ``hasta mañana``. The previous morning, RHC was running two minutes early in its timechex. Then at 0602 on this and the other three overkill English frequencies, 6010, 6060 and 6125, a minute of Spanish, promo for 22 de dic., 50th anniversary of Cuba`s alfabetization campaign = literacy. (But what good is literacy if your freedom to read is controlled??) 0603 reopening English altho Ed just said goodbye; audio glitched so the ``Habana`` was missing, just said ``Radio – Cuba``, and claims to be streaming at radiohc.cu
6000, Dec 6 at 1236, RHC is here in Spanish // 6140 and with CCI from the China/Taiwan radio war, Commies vs Commies, on 6150. The point is, original Nov 13 schedule had RHC on 6010 at 12-13, and online sked still shows that, but Prof. Arnie told José Bueno, Spain, that they had since started using 6000 without saying what it replaced! Now we know, but why? Surely not deliberately to give XEOI a clear frequency for an hour, but that`s the effect; see MEXICO. The usual N. Korean jamming noise remains on 6015, and 6003, rather close to RHC, more Commies vs Commies!
9805, Dec 6 at 1311, noise jamming vs nothing, a frequency used by R. Martí in the A-season but not the B-season. (This leapfrogging a current jammer on 9565 could explain why Steve Handler heard some jamming on WYFR 9355 at a very different time, 2305 Dec 3.)
13670, Dec 6 at 1450, RHC is absent from this scheduled frequency, and still gone at 1528 check. Still on all the other 19, 22, 25 and 31m frequencies, except:
11760, Dec 6 at 1454, open carrier/dead air, and still such as 1527. Wake up at the transmitter site! The cost of electricity wasted on this, not to mention needless multiple // frequencies, and all that jamming, could have fed countless nearly starving Cubans due to food rationing. But, first things first!
15380, Dec 6 at 1530 I carefully copy the confused RHC frequency announcement:
15380, 15230 until 16
9540 until 16; 13-16 on 9850
13680 until 16; 13780 and 13680 too
[sic twice; 13680 replaced by 13670 when it`s on]
11760, 11840, 11690 until 16; from 13 on 11750 until 16
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [non]. 7210-LSB, haven`t heard the counter-revolutionary rants from Nelson Roig in Pennsylvania lately, so looked for him Dec 6 at 1247 and there he is on his favorite frequency, no ID for a while, but his polemical style and voice quite recognizable. Is talking about San Pedro Sula, Honduras, where he apparently had visited, being a ``cornucopia`` of good food, unlike the shortages in Cuba.
Said he will be 70 in January, left Cuba in 1961 (or 1971?) and never went back. Has taken good care of himself, never smoked, only an occasional glass of wine with a good meal, takes aspirin and vitamins daily, has never been sick, and will continue sexually active into his 80s. 1257 finally inserts an N1NR ID, with KP4YAY.
Several other weaker stations heard in his net, including one who has his voice processed to sound like a hi-pitched cartoon character. Gives no IDs, so we wonder if he`s really a Dentro-Cuban? Nelson has to ask him repeatedly to say again, speak clearly. 1259 begins some musical ACI from a 7205 and/or 7215 broadcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** FRANCE [and non]. Further chex of RFI vs strike situation, Dec 6:
7220, Dec 6 at 0605, English news in progress; avoid the middle of the semi-hour when they are always talking about stupid ballgames. MUF is quite low, only weak signals on 9 MHz except Gabon 9580, so can`t // RFI to 9765.
7390, Dec 6 at 0607, French service playing musique instead; rather undermodulated too, and with crackles maybe from QRM rather than self.
21690, Dec 6 at 1320, French service is talking instead of musiquing, but I expect there will be more rolling strike outages. Latest update Dec 5 from Mike Cooper, GA:
``RFI staff have voted overwhelmingly in opposition to the pending fusion of RFI and the France 24 television channel. In voting on Monday, 558 were against the merger and 26 were for it. Unions say there are 781 employees at RFI. Meanwhile, workers voted unanimously to continue their strike for another day. Another staff meeting is scheduled to take place Tuesday at 2pm on the 7th floor of the Maison de Radio France. "No reform and no business project can take place without the support of personnel," the unions warn`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GREECE. 15630, Dec 6 at 1528, VOG is already on air in Greek talk, with squishy QRM from WEWN 15610 spur on 15628. Supposedly starts at 1600; just an anomaly, or are they reëxpanding their schedule toward 24 hours? Still a big blank spot on 9420 around 0600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6010, Dec 6 at 1240, weak Spanish YL in Radio Mil`s morning news block, fortunately cleared by RHC moving to 6000 during this hour; see CUBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. 6074, Dec 6 at 1259 I am standing by for R. Rossii, 6075, Pet/Kam to close and the Russian Army tactical CW marker to start: as the final RR timesignal is running at 1300, a few CW tones are heard, a very tentative V. Pause, and then obviously hand-keyed, the standard marker is sent: ``VVV CQ CQ CQ DE 2MTL 2MTL K`` from 1300.6 to 1301.5. Quite clear copy today. What has become of the other call, 8GAL? Is it really at another location? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAIWAN. 7555, Dec 6 at 1500, 3+1 timesignal, announcement in Thai with Taiwan website; S9+20 but undermodulated; soon fading down. Per Aoki it`s RTI at 15-16, 100 kW, 255 degrees from Paochung (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAIWAN [non]. This recent item was a bit too brief: ``6875, ditto several weeks of previous almost-daily chex`` It referred to a log of RTI via WYFR at 0639 UT Dec 3. Also, Dec 6 I managed to check before 0600: at 0558, 6875 was in Chinese instead of English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TUNISIA. This item had a typo in the frequency, 7375; should be:
7275, Dec 4 until 0630* IWT closes abruptly, apparently ex -0627* so reset the timer? IWT = short for the Arabic ID as in WRTH 2011: ``Idh`atu-l-Wataniya at-Tunisiya``. Since it`s all in Arabic, why keep referring to it by French name? // 7335 continues, free of co-channel Vatican after 0620 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 7520, Dec 6 at 1501, VOA news in normal English, 1505 introducing Eng-lish Teach-ing and Spe-cial Eng-lish hour; quite good reception despite being listed in Aoki as 275 degrees from Tinang, PHILIPPINES. I would have guessed it`s on the 21-degree antenna USward. But HFCC adds another 250 kW from there at 200 degrees, so maybe the total 500 kW accounts for it, and the 200 azimuth is opposite of 20 degrees USward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN [non]. 9790, Dec 6 at 1311 some classical music catches my ear, but when I come back at 1313 it`s off the air. Must have been VR, 250 kW, 350 degrees via Palauig-Zambales, RVA Philippines, Chinese at 1228-1315 [sic] per Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)