** ANTARCTICA [non]. 15476, Thu Feb 23 at 1310, once again no trace of LRA36, nor on several other chex in the following bihour. If they were ever willing or able to turn on the transmitter again, it should have been on Feb 22, ``Argentine Antarctic Day`` celebrating 108 years of continuous inhabitance, according to LU8YD on the condig lista.
I did not see this till later and did not realize it was AA Day, so did not dig for 15476, but certainly did not notice any sign of it as tuning across the area a few times Wednesday morning.
This also happens (?) to be Antarctic Activity Week for the hams, 20-26 Feb, involving special-event callsigns from several countries, but nothing from inside Antarctica? Per 425 DX news, see http://www.waponline.it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BRAZIL. 11780, Feb 23 at 0704, RNA is back in business, usual very good signal with glib wake-up DJ intoning ``Bom dia, Amazônia, bom dia, Brasil``, said he would be on until 7 am, ``até as sete``, phone numbers for call-ins, timecheck for 5:05. None of the weakerbras were inmaking it this time on 25m (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. 15600, Feb 23 at 1253, I thought I heard an RFA riff, but then sounded like Indonesian, much weaker between Greenville 15590 open carrier prior to Spanish, and WEWN 15610. Aoki & HFCC show this must be CRI in Malay at 1230-1327 via Kunming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also EAST TURKISTAN
** CHINA [and non]. Firedrake Feb 23, before 1400:
11500, good with flutter at 1320
12230, very good at 1321
13130, very good at 1323; none in the 14s
15500, good at 1326 with het from 15498, presumably VOT, Tajikistan; stayed on until 1336*
15535, fair from *1336, moved from 15500 or 15540? No hets audible now
15540, very good at 1324 with het from 15537 = V of Tibet, Tajikistan; went off at 1330*
15970, very good with flutter at 1323
16100, very good with flutter at 1328; none in the 17s, 18s
Firedrake Feb 23 before 1500:
none of the last hour`s mostly out-of-band frequencies reheard, but:
11970, good at 1437. Very little ever scheduled on 11970, nothing at all at this hour, let alone a likely target --- except in Aoki:
``11980 SOH Xi Wang Zhi Sheng 2000-1700 1234567 Chinese 0.1 ND ? TWN 11955E 2610N SOH b11 11950-12100`` -- i.e. anywhere in that range.
Firedrake Feb 23 after 1500:
7525, surprisingly good at 1529-1530+, but no target scheduled after VOA Chinese via Tinang at 13-15 in Aoki, and EiBi shows that is normally jammed by CNR1. The closest we can come are Aoki listings for SOH via Tajikistan, 2200-2230 and 2330-2330 ranging anywhere from 7515 to 7640.
Other CNR1 signals were still well audible on 7445, 7385, 7365, 7305, even 6145; also 9450, many of them no doubt jammers, plus 9790 and 9905 each with victims also audible underneath.
Additional ChiCom jamming notes Feb 23:
15375, Feb 23 at 1327 Chinese with buzz jamming, 1338 mostly just the noise. Aoki shows RFA Tibetan via Tajikistan at 12-14 (also UAE 11-12), so the Chinese may have been more jamming such as CNR1.
11625, Feb 23 at 1521, motorboat jamming vs algo, in Chinese? Once again nothing known worth jamming here, the closest being RTI in Amoy (Hokkein) at 13-14, per Aoki, and no wide-ranging jumparound for SOH listed anywhere around this one. However, EiBi shows a CNR1 jammer on 11625 at 15-16, but no known target (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UNIDENTIFIED 15555
** CUBA. 13670, Feb 23 at 1252, RHC is on here with VG signal, but not on 13780 yet. I thought 13670 did not start until 13 either, but current website schedule shows 13670 at 12-15, and 13780 at 13-16. However, they still haven`t corrected 6010 to 6000 at 12-13 so it`s as usual unreliable. Nor did the WRTH Feb 1 updater, which has 13670 at 12-15 and 13780 at 13-15. No one can agree on the details of RHC`s schedule, largely tnx to RHC not following its own published and/or announced sked (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EAST TURKISTAN [and non]. 12015, Feb 23 at 1250, interview in English, probably Thursdays` `Voices of Other Lands` on CRI, which is scheduled on 12015 this hour only. Despite southwards from Kashgar, would be quite listenable signal if it weren`t buried by the constant RTTY intruding on this frequency; serves the damn ChiCom jammers right. Fruitless search of various listings for source of the RTTY, but no doubt in North America, likely US military. One log said it was encrypted, anyway.
11785, Feb 23 at 1435 before I found real Firedrake on 11970, some similar music here, soon announced in Chinese, i.e. CRI to Europe via Kashgar (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUATEMALA. 4055, Feb 23 at 1231, TGAV is on the air this morning, intonation sounds Japanese and may have caught them with canned ID, but too far down in the noise level to be sure it`s not just Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA [and non] 3995, Feb 23 at 1304, all I can pull is a very poor carrier, with QRhaM, from presumed RRI Kendari as recently reactivated. There was a ham net circa 3997 involving reading chapter 21:18, presumably from some version of a Christian Bible which would be unacceptable to other faxions.
Alan Davies in Indonesia reveals that RRI Palu, Sulawesi has also been reactivated around 3967, he heard until just before 2400* Feb 19, in the local morning; but far too much SSB QRhaM for us to have any chance at in the our mornings, if it is even on the air in their local evenings? It was last reported in Sept 2009; and last listed in WRTH 2010 as *inactive on 3961v (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9525-, Feb 23 at 1440 I am surprised to find fair signal and good modulation level from VOI, slightly on lo side, mostly music during presumed Indonesian hour, but unfortunately lots of IADs every few sex and each lasting longer than usual. Before 1400 I could not pull out any English vs 9530 ACI. While I was concentrating on breakfast of green & red grapes, English muffin with homemade apricot jam on one side, commercial mixed-berry packet on the other, VOI appeared to stay on after 1457, making lo het with CRI at 1516, instead of the more obvious hi het when it was on 9526- (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN. 6145, Feb 23 at 0715 after hearing Karen Carpenter on RUSSIA [q.v.], NHK is playing ``Careless Whisper`` by Wham. This is Japanese service to eastern Siberia, where it seems they can`t get enough of old American pop music in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA. 15120, Feb 23 at 1525, not even a carrier detectable from anything or VON, which others occasionally log during this English hour. Is it only sporadically operative? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA [and non]. 6010, Feb 23 at 0709, R. Rossii on new frequency from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, having made an abrupt surprise move from 6075 the day before as discovered by Ron Howard in California. Perhaps to get away from the Vatican clash on 6075, which inherited this frequency from DW --- tho the clash with DW never bothered RR.
But now it`s curtains for Mexico and Colombia who already have plenty of QRM at other hours on 6010, as RR is surely using it for their full 17-13 UT span as 6075 was. Yes: shown as such in latest Aoki, Ron outpoints. At 0709 lo het probably from HJDH can be heard, and bits of Spanish too mixing with the music and Russian; meanwhile 6075 is clear for Vatican still audible in Italian. At 0713 I find 6010 // much stronger 7320 Magadan with Karen Carpenter song, 0714 Russian announcement and reklam.
6010 next checked at 1225 and there is RR again playing a song involving whistling, making me remember and lament the old ``Es Radio Mil`` whistle jingle I haven`t heard in ages and probably no longer in use. Not a trace of XEOI which even before this event, had been inaudible, and I again wonder if it`s on the air at all, or underpowered from nominal 1 kW, Julián?
6075 for many years has been the B-season frequency for RR, Pet/Kam, and 5930 in the A-seasons. What about A-12? They still plan to go to 5930, but who knows, may have another surprise in store for us.
And what about the Russian army CW marker which had been playing sometimes on 6074 as RR signed off at 1300? Would it also migrate, to 6009? I was listening with BFO on 6010 at 1300 Feb 23, and after few-sex-late timesignal, RR carrier stayed on about a minute but no CW. Quickly retuned to 6074, and there it was still on the old frequency with tail end of V/CQ marker de 2MTL running a bit past 1301. It was never reported however, 1 kHz from the summer channel 5930 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Surprised to find Brother Scare far out of synch Feb 23 at 1518: 85 seconds behind on WTWW 9990 compared to WWRB 9385 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAJIKISTAN. 11660, Feb 23 at 1247, good but somewhat unstable carrier with hum, and just-barely-modulated, so Dushanbe-Orzu is *still* SNAFUing the scheduled VOR 12-13 relay in English to S Asia, plus Hindi at 13-14, more English at 14-15. TJK has lots of other relay clients, so I wonder if any of them get this mistreatment? Such as V. of Tibet with all the ChiCom jamming to boot; see CHINA [and non] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9330-CUSB, Feb 23 around 0700, WBCQ was still modulating so I did not log it, but at next check 1240 it was open carrier = dead air again, why? Did not get it checked again until 1438 when modulating, but probably resumed much earlier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1605: first airing Thursday Feb 23 at 2200+ on WTWW 9479; 2230- on WBCQ 7490; 0430+ UT Friday Feb 24 on WWRB 3195. On WRMI 9955: Sat 0900, 1600, 1830, Sun 0900, 1630, 1830, Mon 0600, 1230. Also on WRN via SiriusXM 120, Sat & Sun 1830, Sun 0930. Full schedule including many more webcasts:
http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 15315, Feb 23 at +1425-1430, Rodrigo`s ``Concierto de Aranjuez`` is playing again, apparent favorite secular fill music of Family Radio, an excellent choice --- hey, why not change format completely from religious to classical?! But 1430 into a language service, i.e. amid listed Malayalam hour, via Nauen, GERMANY per HFCC, via Wertachtal per Aoki and EiBi (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 10001, Feb 23 at 1244, continuous ute noise hash slightly on hi side of WWV/WWVH, preventing me from copying the propagation minute at 1245. Whence and what is this?? George McClintock has also noticed it and is no doubt relieved that it can`t be coming from WTWW 9990 which is not on the air yet. NIST needs to be more vigilant in protecting its frequencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15535, Feb 23 at 1330, very poor signal, I thought I heard a ``Voice of Turkey`` ID go by in English, but nothing is scheduled here, least of all VOT even before 1330, and their nominal English frequency at 1330, 12035 exhibited a JBA carrier when checked a bit later at 1333 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15555, Feb 23 at 1256 poor signal with het or tone test. Nothing scheduled except in Aoki, V. of Tibet via TAJIKISTAN on 15558 at 1300-1316, which would normally get jammed by Firedrake on 15555 or 15560; see CHINA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
I did not see this till later and did not realize it was AA Day, so did not dig for 15476, but certainly did not notice any sign of it as tuning across the area a few times Wednesday morning.
This also happens (?) to be Antarctic Activity Week for the hams, 20-26 Feb, involving special-event callsigns from several countries, but nothing from inside Antarctica? Per 425 DX news, see http://www.waponline.it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BRAZIL. 11780, Feb 23 at 0704, RNA is back in business, usual very good signal with glib wake-up DJ intoning ``Bom dia, Amazônia, bom dia, Brasil``, said he would be on until 7 am, ``até as sete``, phone numbers for call-ins, timecheck for 5:05. None of the weakerbras were inmaking it this time on 25m (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. 15600, Feb 23 at 1253, I thought I heard an RFA riff, but then sounded like Indonesian, much weaker between Greenville 15590 open carrier prior to Spanish, and WEWN 15610. Aoki & HFCC show this must be CRI in Malay at 1230-1327 via Kunming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also EAST TURKISTAN
** CHINA [and non]. Firedrake Feb 23, before 1400:
11500, good with flutter at 1320
12230, very good at 1321
13130, very good at 1323; none in the 14s
15500, good at 1326 with het from 15498, presumably VOT, Tajikistan; stayed on until 1336*
15535, fair from *1336, moved from 15500 or 15540? No hets audible now
15540, very good at 1324 with het from 15537 = V of Tibet, Tajikistan; went off at 1330*
15970, very good with flutter at 1323
16100, very good with flutter at 1328; none in the 17s, 18s
Firedrake Feb 23 before 1500:
none of the last hour`s mostly out-of-band frequencies reheard, but:
11970, good at 1437. Very little ever scheduled on 11970, nothing at all at this hour, let alone a likely target --- except in Aoki:
``11980 SOH Xi Wang Zhi Sheng 2000-1700 1234567 Chinese 0.1 ND ? TWN 11955E 2610N SOH b11 11950-12100`` -- i.e. anywhere in that range.
Firedrake Feb 23 after 1500:
7525, surprisingly good at 1529-1530+, but no target scheduled after VOA Chinese via Tinang at 13-15 in Aoki, and EiBi shows that is normally jammed by CNR1. The closest we can come are Aoki listings for SOH via Tajikistan, 2200-2230 and 2330-2330 ranging anywhere from 7515 to 7640.
Other CNR1 signals were still well audible on 7445, 7385, 7365, 7305, even 6145; also 9450, many of them no doubt jammers, plus 9790 and 9905 each with victims also audible underneath.
Additional ChiCom jamming notes Feb 23:
15375, Feb 23 at 1327 Chinese with buzz jamming, 1338 mostly just the noise. Aoki shows RFA Tibetan via Tajikistan at 12-14 (also UAE 11-12), so the Chinese may have been more jamming such as CNR1.
11625, Feb 23 at 1521, motorboat jamming vs algo, in Chinese? Once again nothing known worth jamming here, the closest being RTI in Amoy (Hokkein) at 13-14, per Aoki, and no wide-ranging jumparound for SOH listed anywhere around this one. However, EiBi shows a CNR1 jammer on 11625 at 15-16, but no known target (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UNIDENTIFIED 15555
** CUBA. 13670, Feb 23 at 1252, RHC is on here with VG signal, but not on 13780 yet. I thought 13670 did not start until 13 either, but current website schedule shows 13670 at 12-15, and 13780 at 13-16. However, they still haven`t corrected 6010 to 6000 at 12-13 so it`s as usual unreliable. Nor did the WRTH Feb 1 updater, which has 13670 at 12-15 and 13780 at 13-15. No one can agree on the details of RHC`s schedule, largely tnx to RHC not following its own published and/or announced sked (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EAST TURKISTAN [and non]. 12015, Feb 23 at 1250, interview in English, probably Thursdays` `Voices of Other Lands` on CRI, which is scheduled on 12015 this hour only. Despite southwards from Kashgar, would be quite listenable signal if it weren`t buried by the constant RTTY intruding on this frequency; serves the damn ChiCom jammers right. Fruitless search of various listings for source of the RTTY, but no doubt in North America, likely US military. One log said it was encrypted, anyway.
11785, Feb 23 at 1435 before I found real Firedrake on 11970, some similar music here, soon announced in Chinese, i.e. CRI to Europe via Kashgar (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUATEMALA. 4055, Feb 23 at 1231, TGAV is on the air this morning, intonation sounds Japanese and may have caught them with canned ID, but too far down in the noise level to be sure it`s not just Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA [and non] 3995, Feb 23 at 1304, all I can pull is a very poor carrier, with QRhaM, from presumed RRI Kendari as recently reactivated. There was a ham net circa 3997 involving reading chapter 21:18, presumably from some version of a Christian Bible which would be unacceptable to other faxions.
Alan Davies in Indonesia reveals that RRI Palu, Sulawesi has also been reactivated around 3967, he heard until just before 2400* Feb 19, in the local morning; but far too much SSB QRhaM for us to have any chance at in the our mornings, if it is even on the air in their local evenings? It was last reported in Sept 2009; and last listed in WRTH 2010 as *inactive on 3961v (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9525-, Feb 23 at 1440 I am surprised to find fair signal and good modulation level from VOI, slightly on lo side, mostly music during presumed Indonesian hour, but unfortunately lots of IADs every few sex and each lasting longer than usual. Before 1400 I could not pull out any English vs 9530 ACI. While I was concentrating on breakfast of green & red grapes, English muffin with homemade apricot jam on one side, commercial mixed-berry packet on the other, VOI appeared to stay on after 1457, making lo het with CRI at 1516, instead of the more obvious hi het when it was on 9526- (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN. 6145, Feb 23 at 0715 after hearing Karen Carpenter on RUSSIA [q.v.], NHK is playing ``Careless Whisper`` by Wham. This is Japanese service to eastern Siberia, where it seems they can`t get enough of old American pop music in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA. 15120, Feb 23 at 1525, not even a carrier detectable from anything or VON, which others occasionally log during this English hour. Is it only sporadically operative? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA [and non]. 6010, Feb 23 at 0709, R. Rossii on new frequency from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, having made an abrupt surprise move from 6075 the day before as discovered by Ron Howard in California. Perhaps to get away from the Vatican clash on 6075, which inherited this frequency from DW --- tho the clash with DW never bothered RR.
But now it`s curtains for Mexico and Colombia who already have plenty of QRM at other hours on 6010, as RR is surely using it for their full 17-13 UT span as 6075 was. Yes: shown as such in latest Aoki, Ron outpoints. At 0709 lo het probably from HJDH can be heard, and bits of Spanish too mixing with the music and Russian; meanwhile 6075 is clear for Vatican still audible in Italian. At 0713 I find 6010 // much stronger 7320 Magadan with Karen Carpenter song, 0714 Russian announcement and reklam.
6010 next checked at 1225 and there is RR again playing a song involving whistling, making me remember and lament the old ``Es Radio Mil`` whistle jingle I haven`t heard in ages and probably no longer in use. Not a trace of XEOI which even before this event, had been inaudible, and I again wonder if it`s on the air at all, or underpowered from nominal 1 kW, Julián?
6075 for many years has been the B-season frequency for RR, Pet/Kam, and 5930 in the A-seasons. What about A-12? They still plan to go to 5930, but who knows, may have another surprise in store for us.
And what about the Russian army CW marker which had been playing sometimes on 6074 as RR signed off at 1300? Would it also migrate, to 6009? I was listening with BFO on 6010 at 1300 Feb 23, and after few-sex-late timesignal, RR carrier stayed on about a minute but no CW. Quickly retuned to 6074, and there it was still on the old frequency with tail end of V/CQ marker de 2MTL running a bit past 1301. It was never reported however, 1 kHz from the summer channel 5930 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Surprised to find Brother Scare far out of synch Feb 23 at 1518: 85 seconds behind on WTWW 9990 compared to WWRB 9385 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAJIKISTAN. 11660, Feb 23 at 1247, good but somewhat unstable carrier with hum, and just-barely-modulated, so Dushanbe-Orzu is *still* SNAFUing the scheduled VOR 12-13 relay in English to S Asia, plus Hindi at 13-14, more English at 14-15. TJK has lots of other relay clients, so I wonder if any of them get this mistreatment? Such as V. of Tibet with all the ChiCom jamming to boot; see CHINA [and non] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9330-CUSB, Feb 23 around 0700, WBCQ was still modulating so I did not log it, but at next check 1240 it was open carrier = dead air again, why? Did not get it checked again until 1438 when modulating, but probably resumed much earlier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1605: first airing Thursday Feb 23 at 2200+ on WTWW 9479; 2230- on WBCQ 7490; 0430+ UT Friday Feb 24 on WWRB 3195. On WRMI 9955: Sat 0900, 1600, 1830, Sun 0900, 1630, 1830, Mon 0600, 1230. Also on WRN via SiriusXM 120, Sat & Sun 1830, Sun 0930. Full schedule including many more webcasts:
http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 15315, Feb 23 at +1425-1430, Rodrigo`s ``Concierto de Aranjuez`` is playing again, apparent favorite secular fill music of Family Radio, an excellent choice --- hey, why not change format completely from religious to classical?! But 1430 into a language service, i.e. amid listed Malayalam hour, via Nauen, GERMANY per HFCC, via Wertachtal per Aoki and EiBi (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 10001, Feb 23 at 1244, continuous ute noise hash slightly on hi side of WWV/WWVH, preventing me from copying the propagation minute at 1245. Whence and what is this?? George McClintock has also noticed it and is no doubt relieved that it can`t be coming from WTWW 9990 which is not on the air yet. NIST needs to be more vigilant in protecting its frequencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15535, Feb 23 at 1330, very poor signal, I thought I heard a ``Voice of Turkey`` ID go by in English, but nothing is scheduled here, least of all VOT even before 1330, and their nominal English frequency at 1330, 12035 exhibited a JBA carrier when checked a bit later at 1333 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15555, Feb 23 at 1256 poor signal with het or tone test. Nothing scheduled except in Aoki, V. of Tibet via TAJIKISTAN on 15558 at 1300-1316, which would normally get jammed by Firedrake on 15555 or 15560; see CHINA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
