** BULGARIA. 15600, Jan 17 until 1500*, doomed R. Bulgaria with choral music, abruptly off without announcement; had lite het from 15601, WEWN 15610 spur. Due to scheduling, I find myself listening more to its Bulgarian and other language broadcasts for the music than to English, of which there is none scheduled between 0800 and 1830. Its website now says:
``As of February 1 our media stops broadcasting on short waves, 76 years after the first emission in this frequency range. The reasons are both financial and related to our wish to keep pace with new trends. Programmes in Balkan languages will keep coming in medium waves. As of February 1 you will be able to find and listen to us in the Internet at
http://bnr.bg/sites/en/FullEmissions/Pages/default.aspx
This gives the start to a new stage of Radio Bulgaria's development. We hope that the relations of trust and friendship kept up for many years would persist. We would be with you again – our long-time listeners and those who would join the large family of Radio Bulgaria from now on.``
Daily English broadcasts are already available on demand there (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. 6175, Jan 17 at 0545, 0623 and 0634, no signals from Sackville, unlike 24 hours earlier when the KBSWR 06-07 Spanish service was being run on this Vietnam relay frequency // KBS` normal 6045 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. 13670, Jan 17 at 1351, RHC in talk about Habana Radio, with heavy CCI, almost as strong from CRI English making a SAH, // 13790. Both the CRI signals are from Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN during this hour, Commies vs Commies! At 1441, unlike yesterday, RHC is still going on 13670, and now it has mutual ACI with CRI English via Sackville 13675, Commies vs Commies! Great frequency management, Arnie (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN. 9685, Jan 17 at 1528, piano music sounds // 9730, but could not get a match in time on two receivers, before 1529 when they differ. 9685 goes off at 1530*. That was the Russian service of VIRI, while 9730 is the Bengali service; sites Ahwaz and Kamalabad respectively, poor signals (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [non]. 15720, Jan 17 at 1514, NHK in S Asian language closing, ``Namaskar``, 1515 `Sakura` and reopening, but then cut off abruptly at 1515.5. This is when they transition from Hindi to Urdu, the latter supposed to be on 9515 via Tashkent, while Hindi at 1430 on 15720 is via MADAGASCAR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5985, Jan 17 at 1343, Shiokaze YL in slow Chinese with piano music, het from Myanmar. Seems to be using Chinese more than before, and English less, besides main languages Korean and Japanese. Poor signal today from JSR Tokyo/Yamata, JAPAN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PAPUA NEW GUINEA [and non]. 7325, Jan 17 I am on Wantok Radio Light`s frequency at 1357 just as CRI Japanese is going off, but T-storm noise level from Louisiana and/or the Ohio Valley is a bad omen, even affecting the 7 MHz band here: only a JBA carrier detectable during next semihour; also overshadowed by *1359 on 7330, CRI Russian, WNW from Xi`an. WRL`s program schedule, maybe not updated for years, shows nothing but ``Music Automation`` from 1130 to 1900 UT except `PM`s Prayer and National Anthem` around midnight = 1400 UT. IIRC, WRL uses an NVIS (near vertical incidence skywave) antenna, which means even less of the 1 kW signal goes horizontally to the DX world. But I can`t find anything about this on their current website, where they claim ``short wave on 7325 kHz (throughout PNG and overseas)`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. 15460, Jan 17 at 1354, RRI German again with annoying audio artifacts, especially on the sidebands, about to sign off, but no signal on // 17530, off the air? Propagation from the area seemed to be funxional on 16 mb (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. 9840, Jan 17 at 0628, poor signal in Russian with some reverb, i.e. R. Rossii from Taldom site near Moskva, and also RWM 9996 Taldom binary bits audible, unlike 24 hours earlier when there was no 9840 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. 15435, Jan 17 at 1508, BSKSA Arabic narration and music with a beat; constant crackle in modulation superimposed. New transmitters being installed at Jeddah may compensate for this once activated in A-12 season; Wolfgang Büschel thinx these were the source of tone and Balkan music tests last summer. They plan to put English at 16-21, already on the domestic service, onto three SW frequencies, unfortunately unsuitably too low for North America in the summer (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 11715.1, Jan 17 at 1430, KJES ID in English amid choral singing, undermodulated yet strong and steady at S9+20. Now it`s off-frequency to the high side instead of previous 11714.8 area, but within FCC tolerance following Notice of Violation. Nothing on 11715.0 to het it, so the variation is not obvious (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. George McClintock tells me that the WTWW website has been updated to include some video tours of the transmitters: http://wtww.us/pages/transmitters.php. Also video of some National Religious Broadcasters sessions on the homepage http://wtww.us and more will be added from this year`s Feb 19-21 convention in Nashville (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
``As of February 1 our media stops broadcasting on short waves, 76 years after the first emission in this frequency range. The reasons are both financial and related to our wish to keep pace with new trends. Programmes in Balkan languages will keep coming in medium waves. As of February 1 you will be able to find and listen to us in the Internet at
http://bnr.bg/sites/en/FullEmissions/Pages/default.aspx
This gives the start to a new stage of Radio Bulgaria's development. We hope that the relations of trust and friendship kept up for many years would persist. We would be with you again – our long-time listeners and those who would join the large family of Radio Bulgaria from now on.``
Daily English broadcasts are already available on demand there (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. 6175, Jan 17 at 0545, 0623 and 0634, no signals from Sackville, unlike 24 hours earlier when the KBSWR 06-07 Spanish service was being run on this Vietnam relay frequency // KBS` normal 6045 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. 13670, Jan 17 at 1351, RHC in talk about Habana Radio, with heavy CCI, almost as strong from CRI English making a SAH, // 13790. Both the CRI signals are from Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN during this hour, Commies vs Commies! At 1441, unlike yesterday, RHC is still going on 13670, and now it has mutual ACI with CRI English via Sackville 13675, Commies vs Commies! Great frequency management, Arnie (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN. 9685, Jan 17 at 1528, piano music sounds // 9730, but could not get a match in time on two receivers, before 1529 when they differ. 9685 goes off at 1530*. That was the Russian service of VIRI, while 9730 is the Bengali service; sites Ahwaz and Kamalabad respectively, poor signals (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [non]. 15720, Jan 17 at 1514, NHK in S Asian language closing, ``Namaskar``, 1515 `Sakura` and reopening, but then cut off abruptly at 1515.5. This is when they transition from Hindi to Urdu, the latter supposed to be on 9515 via Tashkent, while Hindi at 1430 on 15720 is via MADAGASCAR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5985, Jan 17 at 1343, Shiokaze YL in slow Chinese with piano music, het from Myanmar. Seems to be using Chinese more than before, and English less, besides main languages Korean and Japanese. Poor signal today from JSR Tokyo/Yamata, JAPAN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PAPUA NEW GUINEA [and non]. 7325, Jan 17 I am on Wantok Radio Light`s frequency at 1357 just as CRI Japanese is going off, but T-storm noise level from Louisiana and/or the Ohio Valley is a bad omen, even affecting the 7 MHz band here: only a JBA carrier detectable during next semihour; also overshadowed by *1359 on 7330, CRI Russian, WNW from Xi`an. WRL`s program schedule, maybe not updated for years, shows nothing but ``Music Automation`` from 1130 to 1900 UT except `PM`s Prayer and National Anthem` around midnight = 1400 UT. IIRC, WRL uses an NVIS (near vertical incidence skywave) antenna, which means even less of the 1 kW signal goes horizontally to the DX world. But I can`t find anything about this on their current website, where they claim ``short wave on 7325 kHz (throughout PNG and overseas)`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. 15460, Jan 17 at 1354, RRI German again with annoying audio artifacts, especially on the sidebands, about to sign off, but no signal on // 17530, off the air? Propagation from the area seemed to be funxional on 16 mb (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. 9840, Jan 17 at 0628, poor signal in Russian with some reverb, i.e. R. Rossii from Taldom site near Moskva, and also RWM 9996 Taldom binary bits audible, unlike 24 hours earlier when there was no 9840 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. 15435, Jan 17 at 1508, BSKSA Arabic narration and music with a beat; constant crackle in modulation superimposed. New transmitters being installed at Jeddah may compensate for this once activated in A-12 season; Wolfgang Büschel thinx these were the source of tone and Balkan music tests last summer. They plan to put English at 16-21, already on the domestic service, onto three SW frequencies, unfortunately unsuitably too low for North America in the summer (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 11715.1, Jan 17 at 1430, KJES ID in English amid choral singing, undermodulated yet strong and steady at S9+20. Now it`s off-frequency to the high side instead of previous 11714.8 area, but within FCC tolerance following Notice of Violation. Nothing on 11715.0 to het it, so the variation is not obvious (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. George McClintock tells me that the WTWW website has been updated to include some video tours of the transmitters: http://wtww.us/pages/transmitters.php. Also video of some National Religious Broadcasters sessions on the homepage http://wtww.us and more will be added from this year`s Feb 19-21 convention in Nashville (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
