** AUSTRALIA. 9580, went with R. Australia for 2012y arrival at the shifted time of 1300 UT (9590 had heavy CCI at 1255, presumably CRI Russian despite due NW from SZG site). At 1257 two guys with timecheck for 11:56. Seems they are on rooftop of the ABC building in Melbourne awaiting fireworx display; 1259, 1 minute to go. At 1300 no timesignal, just a verbal countdown ending about a sesquisecond late. Then lots of explosions as the guys tried to be heard over them. Said fireworx were set off from tops of other buildings, controlled by 30 computers. Mentioned Triple J and 774, i.e. the ABC Melbourne frequency better(?) known as 3LO.
1305-1310 back to studio for delayed RA newscast mentioning bigger/biggest fireworks show at Sydney. 1310 music and back to the roofguys who in the meantime have gone down to the studio too, mentioning simulcast with RA for the next two hours, phone numbers with 774 in them too. Sydney`s fireworks are set off from barges in the harbo, rather than downtown buildings as in Melbun (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BRUNEI. For New Year`s in the UT+8 zone I decided to try something exotic, according to Lou Josephs` recommendation at http://newyearslive.blogspot.com/
Listened online to RTB from about 1520 Dec 31, mostly pop music with DJ in local language; 1555 Qur`an segment; 1600 no timesignal but apparently marking new year, 1602 sounds like national anthem, followed by speech, probably by the Sultan, one of the world`s richest oligarchs, until 1612 jingle ID ``National FM, Radio Brunei`` but only the ID and occasional words were in English, back to pop music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake December 30 before 2400:
9200, good with flutter at 2340; none in the 11s, 10s
12500, good at 2338
13970, poor with flutter at 2334; maybe over some CCI
15900, fair at 2335; none in the 14s
16100, fair at 2335
16980, poor at 2336
17170, fair at 2337
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [and non]. NHK World Radio Japan always has a live music show on New Year`s Eve, from domestic radio or TV, so well before 1500 UT = midnite I start listening to that from 1313 via CANADA 11655 relay. Lots of songs, audience applause in big auditorium with PA reverb by announcers, chatting between performances. 1348 `Sukiyaki` in heartfelt, not bouncy rendition; 1357 `Sakura` in a poppier version. 1443 Auld Lang Syne ending that program, 1445 back to pre-produced feature, including 1449 banging on something.
Knowing that Sackville will cut off the transmission just before 2012, I have retuned to 9750 direct which by 1458 has just as a good a signal if not better, but with some SAH, likely PBS Nei Menggu, Hohhot as in Aoki, or maybe Kuwait, but not defunct Malaysia as still in HFCC. 11655 does cut off by 1459, and 9750 continues with gong, then accurate timesignal at 1500, more gongs periodically during speech (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA SOUTH [non]. 9650, KBS World Radio`s Korean hour via Sackville at 14-15 happens to be during the final hour of 2011y there, so I listen to a bit tuning back and forth with Japan. They did play Auld Lang Syne at 1409; also goes off too early at 1459 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MAURITANIA. 7245, Dec 31 at 0645, IGIM Nouakchott is on and chanting, a lot weaker than the Gregorian chanting on 7250 Vatican (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAIWAN [and non]. More attempts to hear R. Taiwán Internacional as scheduled in Spanish relays: 11885, Dec 30 at 2353, Chinese vs Chinese, i.e. RTI Taiwan vs RTI WYFR at about equal levels, instead of Spanish via WYFR. 2359 blotted by CRI turned on early with tail of usual end-of-hour dispensable filler, `Let`s Learn Chinese` lessons, giving chinese@cri.com.cn address. I was thinking CRI English at 0000 would be Sackville, but on 11885 that`s only at 13-14; at 00-01 HFCC shows it`s 500 kW, 200 degrees from Xi`an. After 0000 Taiwan was off and WYFR continued in WYFR English, instead of scheduled WYFR Portuguese; by 0030, it was atop Xi`an.
At 0227 Dec 31, once again RTI Spanish was missing from 9355, instead RTI English // 5950 and 9680, but 11995 via GUIANA FRENCH finally bore RTI in Spanish with ID instead of open carrier or silence. After 0600, 6875 via WYFR still in German, not Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. 5845, Dec 31 at 1327, very weak B-B-C- chimes, prior to what? Bengali, 250 kW, 325 degrees via Thailand at 1330-1400. And I see in HFCC that`s followed at 14-18 by BBC DRM, 100 kW, 290 degrees from Thailand on 5840-5845-5850; for the DRM listener in Sri Lanka? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1540, Dec 31 from 0657 to 0715 UT, tried to hear the WKVQ Eatonton GA DX test, which was scheduled with only two days notice, but never heard any Xmas music, CW IDs or sweep tones, just this:
1540, Dec 31 at 0702 UT, after Mexican music, ID in English ``This is KEDA, San Antonio, Texas, your Jalapeño radio station``. It was dominant even on my E-W longwire also suitable for the high end of MW on the FRG-7; also tried to null it on the DX-398 but not much success, only bringing up some weaker talk station, presumably KXEL. 0710 another ID for `Jalapeño Radio` mixing Spanish and English. No sign of the other Texans, closer KZMP, or KGBC with CRI, which must have lesser signals at night than KEDA`s 1 kW. BTW, those calls mean in Spanish ``stay`` as in ``with us`` = queda. I guess they don`t consider `Jalapeño Radio` to be an politically incorrect stereotype.
As for the WKVQ test, no power was stated in the publicity but they have a 10 kW non-direxional daytime authorization, which should have been employed for this post-midnite test. Yet initial reports I have seen indicate spotty reception even in the East with several 50 kW stations to contend with, but did make it as far as Manassas, Kansas City and Omaha (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Nothing ever happens on weekends, so VOA Spanish doesn`t bother with newscasts, just music fill shows at 13-14 UT Saturdays: I check again Dec 31 whether there is any jamming, none heard on 9885, 13750 or 15590. At 1317 `Música Country` is underway with top 2011 hits from Billboard; 1329 dead air almost a minute as usual, 1330 reopening 5-4-3-2-1 countdown, `Éxitos Latinoamericanos` yet this show presents Spanish-language hits from inside USA, as of course EUA is now officially part of LA.
UNIDENTIFIED. 5085.0, Dec 31 at 0637, S9+22 big carrier, with continuous middle-C tone (circa 256 Hz); continued for a while; next check at 0650 it was gone. Suspect a test from WTWW-2 on one of its planned frequencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
1305-1310 back to studio for delayed RA newscast mentioning bigger/biggest fireworks show at Sydney. 1310 music and back to the roofguys who in the meantime have gone down to the studio too, mentioning simulcast with RA for the next two hours, phone numbers with 774 in them too. Sydney`s fireworks are set off from barges in the harbo, rather than downtown buildings as in Melbun (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BRUNEI. For New Year`s in the UT+8 zone I decided to try something exotic, according to Lou Josephs` recommendation at http://newyearslive.blogspot.com/
Listened online to RTB from about 1520 Dec 31, mostly pop music with DJ in local language; 1555 Qur`an segment; 1600 no timesignal but apparently marking new year, 1602 sounds like national anthem, followed by speech, probably by the Sultan, one of the world`s richest oligarchs, until 1612 jingle ID ``National FM, Radio Brunei`` but only the ID and occasional words were in English, back to pop music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake December 30 before 2400:
9200, good with flutter at 2340; none in the 11s, 10s
12500, good at 2338
13970, poor with flutter at 2334; maybe over some CCI
15900, fair at 2335; none in the 14s
16100, fair at 2335
16980, poor at 2336
17170, fair at 2337
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [and non]. NHK World Radio Japan always has a live music show on New Year`s Eve, from domestic radio or TV, so well before 1500 UT = midnite I start listening to that from 1313 via CANADA 11655 relay. Lots of songs, audience applause in big auditorium with PA reverb by announcers, chatting between performances. 1348 `Sukiyaki` in heartfelt, not bouncy rendition; 1357 `Sakura` in a poppier version. 1443 Auld Lang Syne ending that program, 1445 back to pre-produced feature, including 1449 banging on something.
Knowing that Sackville will cut off the transmission just before 2012, I have retuned to 9750 direct which by 1458 has just as a good a signal if not better, but with some SAH, likely PBS Nei Menggu, Hohhot as in Aoki, or maybe Kuwait, but not defunct Malaysia as still in HFCC. 11655 does cut off by 1459, and 9750 continues with gong, then accurate timesignal at 1500, more gongs periodically during speech (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA SOUTH [non]. 9650, KBS World Radio`s Korean hour via Sackville at 14-15 happens to be during the final hour of 2011y there, so I listen to a bit tuning back and forth with Japan. They did play Auld Lang Syne at 1409; also goes off too early at 1459 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MAURITANIA. 7245, Dec 31 at 0645, IGIM Nouakchott is on and chanting, a lot weaker than the Gregorian chanting on 7250 Vatican (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAIWAN [and non]. More attempts to hear R. Taiwán Internacional as scheduled in Spanish relays: 11885, Dec 30 at 2353, Chinese vs Chinese, i.e. RTI Taiwan vs RTI WYFR at about equal levels, instead of Spanish via WYFR. 2359 blotted by CRI turned on early with tail of usual end-of-hour dispensable filler, `Let`s Learn Chinese` lessons, giving chinese@cri.com.cn address. I was thinking CRI English at 0000 would be Sackville, but on 11885 that`s only at 13-14; at 00-01 HFCC shows it`s 500 kW, 200 degrees from Xi`an. After 0000 Taiwan was off and WYFR continued in WYFR English, instead of scheduled WYFR Portuguese; by 0030, it was atop Xi`an.
At 0227 Dec 31, once again RTI Spanish was missing from 9355, instead RTI English // 5950 and 9680, but 11995 via GUIANA FRENCH finally bore RTI in Spanish with ID instead of open carrier or silence. After 0600, 6875 via WYFR still in German, not Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. 5845, Dec 31 at 1327, very weak B-B-C- chimes, prior to what? Bengali, 250 kW, 325 degrees via Thailand at 1330-1400. And I see in HFCC that`s followed at 14-18 by BBC DRM, 100 kW, 290 degrees from Thailand on 5840-5845-5850; for the DRM listener in Sri Lanka? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1540, Dec 31 from 0657 to 0715 UT, tried to hear the WKVQ Eatonton GA DX test, which was scheduled with only two days notice, but never heard any Xmas music, CW IDs or sweep tones, just this:
1540, Dec 31 at 0702 UT, after Mexican music, ID in English ``This is KEDA, San Antonio, Texas, your Jalapeño radio station``. It was dominant even on my E-W longwire also suitable for the high end of MW on the FRG-7; also tried to null it on the DX-398 but not much success, only bringing up some weaker talk station, presumably KXEL. 0710 another ID for `Jalapeño Radio` mixing Spanish and English. No sign of the other Texans, closer KZMP, or KGBC with CRI, which must have lesser signals at night than KEDA`s 1 kW. BTW, those calls mean in Spanish ``stay`` as in ``with us`` = queda. I guess they don`t consider `Jalapeño Radio` to be an politically incorrect stereotype.
As for the WKVQ test, no power was stated in the publicity but they have a 10 kW non-direxional daytime authorization, which should have been employed for this post-midnite test. Yet initial reports I have seen indicate spotty reception even in the East with several 50 kW stations to contend with, but did make it as far as Manassas, Kansas City and Omaha (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Nothing ever happens on weekends, so VOA Spanish doesn`t bother with newscasts, just music fill shows at 13-14 UT Saturdays: I check again Dec 31 whether there is any jamming, none heard on 9885, 13750 or 15590. At 1317 `Música Country` is underway with top 2011 hits from Billboard; 1329 dead air almost a minute as usual, 1330 reopening 5-4-3-2-1 countdown, `Éxitos Latinoamericanos` yet this show presents Spanish-language hits from inside USA, as of course EUA is now officially part of LA.
UNIDENTIFIED. 5085.0, Dec 31 at 0637, S9+22 big carrier, with continuous middle-C tone (circa 256 Hz); continued for a while; next check at 0650 it was gone. Suspect a test from WTWW-2 on one of its planned frequencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
