** BULGARIA. 5900, UT Sat Jan 21 at 0342 R. Bulgaria conveying its own schedule during weekly DX program; 0348 into DX news, 0350 NHK schedule. Poor and no better on // 7400 with ACI. One more week before this DX program will no longer be on SW, but will they continue to provide it on webcasts? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. 5745 and 5810, Jan 21 at 0513, both leapfrog mixing products from Sackville are audible weakly: 5745 with Vietnamese music // VOV 6175 relay, jumping over fulcrum 5960 CRI English relay, commies vs commies; and 5810 with music // NHK 6110 relay, over same fulcrum; both possible during this semihour only. Also looked for matches on the hi sides, 6260 and 6390, but could not hear them; 6390 blocked by ute noise (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Jan 21: 11500, fair at 1452; no others found up to 18 MHz before 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** COLOMBIA. 6010, Jan 21 at 0435 just as I tune in, call-letter ID as HJDH, i.e. The Voice of Thy Conscience, atop lo het from Brasil and/or Mexico, then hymn. Blasted away after 0500, of course, by RHC English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** COSTA RICA [and non]. 5965, Jan 21 at 0411, REE relay is on // 9675; checking because it was missing at 0632 Jan 20. And still on at 0657 Jan 21.
9675, tho very strong aimed 340 degrees USward, by 0524 Jan 21 was suffering from CCI underneath, causing fast SAH, screaming preacher presumably Brasil, not Saudi Arabia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** DJIBOUTI. 4780, looking for reactivated R. Djibouti Jan 21, finally some weak talk audible at 0333, but gone at 0335. Brian Alexander logged them from *0312 to suddenly off at 0334*. Continues to be quite erratic, transmitter problems? And not as strong as it was last year (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ECUADOR. 4919-, Jan 21 at 0325, pop Andean music, good S9+12 signal, much stronger than Brasil 4885; loud modulation and somewhat distorted, carrier unstable wobbling with BFO on, rolling fades, 0328 segué to slower tune; 0332-0333 ID as ``Radio Quito --- la voz en vivo``, time check as 10:30? Still going with variety of music, sometimes vocal, at chex: 0355, 0437, 0504, 0537, 0655, 0713, so presumably all-night. At 0400 caught another ID, ``Radio Quito --- la voz en vivo de la capital``, 23 horas TC. Slightly on low side of 1-kHz-off-4920 frequency. Brian Alexander measured it at same time as 20 Hz low, 4818.98. Maybe it`s reactivated for a longer stay than usual, first reported Jan 12, and usually gone again within a day or two (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ETHIOPIA. 5950, Jan 21 at 0407, good signal with Amharish talk; recheck 0449, YL announcement HOA music, somewhat weaker. No, must be Tigrinya or Afar, as listed in Aoki for V of Tigray Revolution, 100 kW ND from Addis Ababa-Gedja, starting at 0300. And I did hear Afar mentioned. Now in the clear, unlike before 0400, no chance with Taiwan/WYFR on 5950; however, 5935 WWCR is so strong that it`s overloading onto 5950, more so than NHK Sackville from closer 5960 on the other side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GERMANY [non]. 7350, Jan 21 at 0418, report on human rights violations, corruption in Equatorial Guinea, and then Gabon, VG signal from DW via RWANDA. Heard the same thing repeated one hour later on 6155 with fair signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN. 9760, Jan 21 at 0525, poor signal with Japanese sounding much like than on 9595, but not //, as 9760 is R. Nikkei 2, and 9595 is R. Nikkei 1 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. 21540, Jan 21 at 1500, R. Kuwait in Arabic still on after collision with Spain had ended, but cut off at 1502*. Supposed to be on 21520 in B-11 but never went there, preferring to keep colliding with REE. ¡Vivan los moros! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. Finally a sporadic-E opening reaching TV channels, Jan 21 first noticed already in progress at 1925 UT, with CCI on 2 and 3, Spanish from the SSW or so; then up to ch 4 with a letterboxed movie, Televisa bug in LR, f bug in UR, i.e. net-4, 1928 interrupted by a `Corte` = news bulletin about a 6.0 earthquake in Chiapas which hit at 12:47 local time (1847 UT). Then graphic of map showing affected nearby states too, forotv bug in lower left.
I checked the 6m DX Sherlock map which showed a couple of Mexican paths, but a huge number of paths converging over southern Indiana obviously separate from the opening I am witnessing. Mixture of stations continued constantly on chs 2, 3, and 4, hitting 5 by 2033 and 2129 which means FM might be open too. At 2023, ch 2 displayed a phone number in GDL = Guadalajara; at 2033, ch 2 had an ad aimed at Poza Rica, Veracruz. At 2101 on ch 2, there was a +tv bug in UR, i.e. Mas Visión in Guadalajara, along with COSA FACIL, apparently a movie or episode title. 2146 ad for Guadalajara.
Opening may have been set off by a coronal mass ejexion; still going strong as I wrap this report at 2150 UT Jan 21 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA [non]. 9865, Jan 21 at 1450, OC and Russian tones, 1507 song, 1508 Russian announcement, instrumental music. Not in latest HFCC, but Aoki shows it as V. of Russia in Russian from Moscow site at 1500. Updated VOR sked from Wolfgang Büschel in DXLD 12-03 shows site is instead Grigoriopol, Moldova = Kishinov, PRIDNESTROVYE (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH AFRICA. 7285, Jan 21 at 0358 `Whiter Shade of Pale`, how appropriate from this Afrikaaner service, R. Sonder Grense, its subtle theme? 0500 time signal 1 second late, presumed news in Afrikaans. Fair signal, much weaker than 7275 Tunisia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN SOUTH [non]. 7315, Jan 21 at 0426, `HoA` music, 0627 IDs as R. Tamazuj (sounds more like Tamázuy), fair, squeezed by 7320 Russia. 0428 mentions some kHz, ID again at sign off; 0429 without break, R. Dabanga song takes over; neither audible on // 11940. 7315 is 135 degrees from Issoudun, FRANCE for both; 11940 scheduled to switch from Madagascar to Issoudun (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN SOUTH [non]. 17745, Jan 21 at 1524 I am checking whether Sudan Radio Service is again in English during this hour on Saturday instead of Arabish: soul song in English; 1528 English ID with totally confused `change of schedule` announcement I heard two weeks ago in UT+3; she says 6-8 pm on 9840 near 10 on your dial, change in the last hour, the rest the same, 7-9 am on 13720, 6-8 pm on 17745 near 18, and the last hour on 9840. But when is this ``last hour``, exactly? Does that mean 17-18 after the 15-17 on 17745? Or is 9840 still used in the mornings?
Anyhow, 17745 via UK still in English on our Saturday mornings: 1530 feature about ethnic representation in government, ``The Road to Peace`` as in dentro-promo at 1533, but I think still claiming to be on Wednesdays. After 1545 it was mostly music; 1559 strumming and ID into another language (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SWAZILAND. 4775, Jan 21 at 0347 weak talk in tonal-sounding language, noticed after 4780 lost Djibouti [q.v.]: is TWR in Lomwe at 0342-0357, 50 kW at 3 degrees from Manzini. Contends with weak bonker nearby. After 0400 switches to German, 233 degrees toward Namibia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5890, Jan 21 at 0339, WWCR with non-BS preacher referring to Gene Scott, hooking a fish with money in his mouth. Better watch out: saying anything disrespectful about DGS can get you banned from WWCR where he is a revered demigod. Schedule shows during this hour weeknights it`s TruthHouse Ministries, E.C. Fulcher. VG signal, but prolonged Cuban jamming audible underneath, long after VOA finishes 5890, at 0200: the risk of sharing a frequency with a jammed service.
At 0410 I find 5890 is dead air, not filled until Brother Scare cuts on at 0417, nominally starting now at 0400 weeknights, 0500 UT Sun & Mon (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 6115, VG Jan 21 at 0345, ``Hallelujah Chorus`` // 6890, abutting RHC 6120 with `Gaceta Cultural`. 6115 is new frequency for WYFR, HFCC registered as starting 2 January, 100 kW, 355 degrees at 2315-0400. Not sure what it replaces, if anything, but notification direct from WYFR said it started January 16, all in English.
6860 & 6905, Jan 21 at 0416, JBA signals in Chinese, i.e. RTI leapfrog mixing products from very strong WYFR 6875 and 6890 which are // during this hour instead of one in Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7520, UT Sat Jan 21 at 0351, VG signal with expressive narration in Russian, then second speaker with American accent, more drama; mentioned synagogue cognate as some point, but surely Christian, i.e. WHRI at 47 degrees, 03-04 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1490, UT Sat Jan 21 at 0700 I am all set for the KRSN Los Álamos NM DX test, monitoring both on the FRG-7 with E-W longwire, and on the handheld but AC-powered DX-398 with internal ferrite loop only. I hear it first and best on the DX-398 so stick with that: immediately hear some unreadable Morse code on 1490; 0701 sweep tones; 0701 VVV CQ KRSN in fast Morse; then I shift the DX-398 to 1498-LSB and hear the code better. 0703 again hear the slower code on center frequency, then sweeps. 0704 some other station briefly fades up during network news in English. 0705 code again I think. 0706 sweeps easily heard at 1488- or 1487-LSB settings (less QRM from 1480 than 1500, so stuck with lower side), and VVV KRSN IDs again. 0707 slow code on center. 0708 sweeps heard on center, and finally one more time on 1487-LSB, code IDs with KRSN sent multiple times. Said to be 20 wpm; I couldn`t normally copy `CW` cold that fast, but I knew what letters to
expect, and clearly made them out. There was more to the message I could not copy, maybe the city. Never could hear any voice from Paul Walker on this test. Certainly proves that the code and sweep technique is a winner for cutting thru hundreds of stations QRMing on graveyard channels! I am 759 km = 471 miles away. Thanks to Mike Westfall for arranging this test on his local station, which recently upgraded its facilities. It is to recur UT Sunday Jan 22 also at 0700-0710 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN. 9660 and 9645, Jan 21 at 0529, VR IS synchronized, so plugged into common playout (maybe running continuously to be brought up whenever needed), 0530 splitting with 9645 in Arabic, 9660 in Portuguese. 9645 a bit stronger but with pervasive off-frequency Bandeirantes het.
Arabic is supposed to run from 0500 to 0600 daily, so they put a break in the middle? O yes, I remember that Vatican Radio carries a program from a Lebanese Christian station, and buried in the LEBANON info on page 259 of the WRTH 2012 is this about V. of Charity, 106.0 and 107.7 FM: ``relayed by Vatican Radio 0530-0555 on 11715`` which is also the // to 9645 for the entire hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 7465, Jan 21 at 1439, S9+22 open carrier with lite fading; gone at next check 1451. Probably VOA Tinang, PHILIPPINES, preparing for the 1500 English broadcast westward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. 5745 and 5810, Jan 21 at 0513, both leapfrog mixing products from Sackville are audible weakly: 5745 with Vietnamese music // VOV 6175 relay, jumping over fulcrum 5960 CRI English relay, commies vs commies; and 5810 with music // NHK 6110 relay, over same fulcrum; both possible during this semihour only. Also looked for matches on the hi sides, 6260 and 6390, but could not hear them; 6390 blocked by ute noise (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Jan 21: 11500, fair at 1452; no others found up to 18 MHz before 1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** COLOMBIA. 6010, Jan 21 at 0435 just as I tune in, call-letter ID as HJDH, i.e. The Voice of Thy Conscience, atop lo het from Brasil and/or Mexico, then hymn. Blasted away after 0500, of course, by RHC English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** COSTA RICA [and non]. 5965, Jan 21 at 0411, REE relay is on // 9675; checking because it was missing at 0632 Jan 20. And still on at 0657 Jan 21.
9675, tho very strong aimed 340 degrees USward, by 0524 Jan 21 was suffering from CCI underneath, causing fast SAH, screaming preacher presumably Brasil, not Saudi Arabia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** DJIBOUTI. 4780, looking for reactivated R. Djibouti Jan 21, finally some weak talk audible at 0333, but gone at 0335. Brian Alexander logged them from *0312 to suddenly off at 0334*. Continues to be quite erratic, transmitter problems? And not as strong as it was last year (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ECUADOR. 4919-, Jan 21 at 0325, pop Andean music, good S9+12 signal, much stronger than Brasil 4885; loud modulation and somewhat distorted, carrier unstable wobbling with BFO on, rolling fades, 0328 segué to slower tune; 0332-0333 ID as ``Radio Quito --- la voz en vivo``, time check as 10:30? Still going with variety of music, sometimes vocal, at chex: 0355, 0437, 0504, 0537, 0655, 0713, so presumably all-night. At 0400 caught another ID, ``Radio Quito --- la voz en vivo de la capital``, 23 horas TC. Slightly on low side of 1-kHz-off-4920 frequency. Brian Alexander measured it at same time as 20 Hz low, 4818.98. Maybe it`s reactivated for a longer stay than usual, first reported Jan 12, and usually gone again within a day or two (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ETHIOPIA. 5950, Jan 21 at 0407, good signal with Amharish talk; recheck 0449, YL announcement HOA music, somewhat weaker. No, must be Tigrinya or Afar, as listed in Aoki for V of Tigray Revolution, 100 kW ND from Addis Ababa-Gedja, starting at 0300. And I did hear Afar mentioned. Now in the clear, unlike before 0400, no chance with Taiwan/WYFR on 5950; however, 5935 WWCR is so strong that it`s overloading onto 5950, more so than NHK Sackville from closer 5960 on the other side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GERMANY [non]. 7350, Jan 21 at 0418, report on human rights violations, corruption in Equatorial Guinea, and then Gabon, VG signal from DW via RWANDA. Heard the same thing repeated one hour later on 6155 with fair signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN. 9760, Jan 21 at 0525, poor signal with Japanese sounding much like than on 9595, but not //, as 9760 is R. Nikkei 2, and 9595 is R. Nikkei 1 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. 21540, Jan 21 at 1500, R. Kuwait in Arabic still on after collision with Spain had ended, but cut off at 1502*. Supposed to be on 21520 in B-11 but never went there, preferring to keep colliding with REE. ¡Vivan los moros! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. Finally a sporadic-E opening reaching TV channels, Jan 21 first noticed already in progress at 1925 UT, with CCI on 2 and 3, Spanish from the SSW or so; then up to ch 4 with a letterboxed movie, Televisa bug in LR, f bug in UR, i.e. net-4, 1928 interrupted by a `Corte` = news bulletin about a 6.0 earthquake in Chiapas which hit at 12:47 local time (1847 UT). Then graphic of map showing affected nearby states too, forotv bug in lower left.
I checked the 6m DX Sherlock map which showed a couple of Mexican paths, but a huge number of paths converging over southern Indiana obviously separate from the opening I am witnessing. Mixture of stations continued constantly on chs 2, 3, and 4, hitting 5 by 2033 and 2129 which means FM might be open too. At 2023, ch 2 displayed a phone number in GDL = Guadalajara; at 2033, ch 2 had an ad aimed at Poza Rica, Veracruz. At 2101 on ch 2, there was a +tv bug in UR, i.e. Mas Visión in Guadalajara, along with COSA FACIL, apparently a movie or episode title. 2146 ad for Guadalajara.
Opening may have been set off by a coronal mass ejexion; still going strong as I wrap this report at 2150 UT Jan 21 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA [non]. 9865, Jan 21 at 1450, OC and Russian tones, 1507 song, 1508 Russian announcement, instrumental music. Not in latest HFCC, but Aoki shows it as V. of Russia in Russian from Moscow site at 1500. Updated VOR sked from Wolfgang Büschel in DXLD 12-03 shows site is instead Grigoriopol, Moldova = Kishinov, PRIDNESTROVYE (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH AFRICA. 7285, Jan 21 at 0358 `Whiter Shade of Pale`, how appropriate from this Afrikaaner service, R. Sonder Grense, its subtle theme? 0500 time signal 1 second late, presumed news in Afrikaans. Fair signal, much weaker than 7275 Tunisia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN SOUTH [non]. 7315, Jan 21 at 0426, `HoA` music, 0627 IDs as R. Tamazuj (sounds more like Tamázuy), fair, squeezed by 7320 Russia. 0428 mentions some kHz, ID again at sign off; 0429 without break, R. Dabanga song takes over; neither audible on // 11940. 7315 is 135 degrees from Issoudun, FRANCE for both; 11940 scheduled to switch from Madagascar to Issoudun (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN SOUTH [non]. 17745, Jan 21 at 1524 I am checking whether Sudan Radio Service is again in English during this hour on Saturday instead of Arabish: soul song in English; 1528 English ID with totally confused `change of schedule` announcement I heard two weeks ago in UT+3; she says 6-8 pm on 9840 near 10 on your dial, change in the last hour, the rest the same, 7-9 am on 13720, 6-8 pm on 17745 near 18, and the last hour on 9840. But when is this ``last hour``, exactly? Does that mean 17-18 after the 15-17 on 17745? Or is 9840 still used in the mornings?
Anyhow, 17745 via UK still in English on our Saturday mornings: 1530 feature about ethnic representation in government, ``The Road to Peace`` as in dentro-promo at 1533, but I think still claiming to be on Wednesdays. After 1545 it was mostly music; 1559 strumming and ID into another language (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SWAZILAND. 4775, Jan 21 at 0347 weak talk in tonal-sounding language, noticed after 4780 lost Djibouti [q.v.]: is TWR in Lomwe at 0342-0357, 50 kW at 3 degrees from Manzini. Contends with weak bonker nearby. After 0400 switches to German, 233 degrees toward Namibia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5890, Jan 21 at 0339, WWCR with non-BS preacher referring to Gene Scott, hooking a fish with money in his mouth. Better watch out: saying anything disrespectful about DGS can get you banned from WWCR where he is a revered demigod. Schedule shows during this hour weeknights it`s TruthHouse Ministries, E.C. Fulcher. VG signal, but prolonged Cuban jamming audible underneath, long after VOA finishes 5890, at 0200: the risk of sharing a frequency with a jammed service.
At 0410 I find 5890 is dead air, not filled until Brother Scare cuts on at 0417, nominally starting now at 0400 weeknights, 0500 UT Sun & Mon (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 6115, VG Jan 21 at 0345, ``Hallelujah Chorus`` // 6890, abutting RHC 6120 with `Gaceta Cultural`. 6115 is new frequency for WYFR, HFCC registered as starting 2 January, 100 kW, 355 degrees at 2315-0400. Not sure what it replaces, if anything, but notification direct from WYFR said it started January 16, all in English.
6860 & 6905, Jan 21 at 0416, JBA signals in Chinese, i.e. RTI leapfrog mixing products from very strong WYFR 6875 and 6890 which are // during this hour instead of one in Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7520, UT Sat Jan 21 at 0351, VG signal with expressive narration in Russian, then second speaker with American accent, more drama; mentioned synagogue cognate as some point, but surely Christian, i.e. WHRI at 47 degrees, 03-04 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1490, UT Sat Jan 21 at 0700 I am all set for the KRSN Los Álamos NM DX test, monitoring both on the FRG-7 with E-W longwire, and on the handheld but AC-powered DX-398 with internal ferrite loop only. I hear it first and best on the DX-398 so stick with that: immediately hear some unreadable Morse code on 1490; 0701 sweep tones; 0701 VVV CQ KRSN in fast Morse; then I shift the DX-398 to 1498-LSB and hear the code better. 0703 again hear the slower code on center frequency, then sweeps. 0704 some other station briefly fades up during network news in English. 0705 code again I think. 0706 sweeps easily heard at 1488- or 1487-LSB settings (less QRM from 1480 than 1500, so stuck with lower side), and VVV KRSN IDs again. 0707 slow code on center. 0708 sweeps heard on center, and finally one more time on 1487-LSB, code IDs with KRSN sent multiple times. Said to be 20 wpm; I couldn`t normally copy `CW` cold that fast, but I knew what letters to
expect, and clearly made them out. There was more to the message I could not copy, maybe the city. Never could hear any voice from Paul Walker on this test. Certainly proves that the code and sweep technique is a winner for cutting thru hundreds of stations QRMing on graveyard channels! I am 759 km = 471 miles away. Thanks to Mike Westfall for arranging this test on his local station, which recently upgraded its facilities. It is to recur UT Sunday Jan 22 also at 0700-0710 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN. 9660 and 9645, Jan 21 at 0529, VR IS synchronized, so plugged into common playout (maybe running continuously to be brought up whenever needed), 0530 splitting with 9645 in Arabic, 9660 in Portuguese. 9645 a bit stronger but with pervasive off-frequency Bandeirantes het.
Arabic is supposed to run from 0500 to 0600 daily, so they put a break in the middle? O yes, I remember that Vatican Radio carries a program from a Lebanese Christian station, and buried in the LEBANON info on page 259 of the WRTH 2012 is this about V. of Charity, 106.0 and 107.7 FM: ``relayed by Vatican Radio 0530-0555 on 11715`` which is also the // to 9645 for the entire hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 7465, Jan 21 at 1439, S9+22 open carrier with lite fading; gone at next check 1451. Probably VOA Tinang, PHILIPPINES, preparing for the 1500 English broadcast westward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
