** ALBANIA [and non]. 7425, Feb 12 at 0047, R. Tirana ID, with CCI from China also causing a SAH. I would say it`s 60% Tirana, 40% China. R. Tirana never took my advice since early in the B-11 season to get away from this by shifting to clear 7420 for the 00-01 Albanian broadcast to North America. BTW, this hour is not in English as someone reported (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ARGENTINA. 13363.5-LSB, UT Sun Feb 12 at 0023, very rapid play-by-play by a couple of guys, football? Poor signal. May have heard a quick `Continental` ID in passing, one of the regular occupants of this relay (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ARGENTINA. After hearing 13363.5-LSB, I check 15345v for R. Nacional. Much stronger signal here, S9+20 with flutter, at first just open carrier, then just barely modulated with music. At 0042 somewhat better modulation with tango, 0043 mentions `Nacional`. I am listening with BFO on, and the transmitter is audibly drifting (after the FRG-7 BFO drift settles down when it is first turned on) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 15370, Feb 12 at 0026, open carrier with no flutter, unlike Argentina on 15345v. S9+22. RHC is supposed to be in Quechua here until 0030, maybe ended early. Off at next check 0043.
6010, UT Sunday Feb 12 at 0710, RHC in weekly Esperanto service, which I had not reconfirmed lately.
Sunday anomalies Feb 12: 1411, 13670 is on but 13750 is off. At 1418, 11760 is off while 11750 and 11840 are on. But at 1450, 13750 is on with RHC programming // 13670, 13780 et al. At 1456, 11760 is back, but 9850 is off, 9540 JBA. At 1533, still RHC on 13750 // 11750, 13670, 13780, but 15370 is not on.
At 1643, 17750 is on at S9+15 but JBM with YL yelling (YL-ling?), so is this Venezuela relay? 13750 is off, no 13680 either as reserved for `Aló, Presidente`; 1644, 15370 is better modulated, seems like same cacophony as on 17750 with car horns, YL et al., S9+18 until cuts off at 1645*. Then I find fair open carrier on 13680, and 11690 is JBM with same as 15370. At 1646, 17750 is now off.
Quite a mess, apparently RHC is undecided about whether to keep broadcasting what is incoming from Caracas. Then I check the A,P website and find the live feed is coverage of a parade, reviewed by El Hugazo and a seated compañero; mostly young people with banners, marching bands, etc., still going at 1745 with goose-stepping soldiers. Doesn`t make for very good radio, tho there is super-patriotic commentary by someone other than Chávez; seems to be in honor of Bolívar tho everything the regime does is In His Name. O, this is it: 198th anniversary of the Batalla de la Victoria, Día de la Juventud. El Hugazo is finally speaking to the crowd at 1821 --- on the video cast, SW unchecked now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 9124, Feb 12 at 0633, big S9+22 open carrier with hum, and just like on 11532, 24 hours earlier, which is not on tonight, most of the 0635-0636+ minute occupied by digital data bursts, from the V2a Spy Numbers station (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND [and non]. 5950, Feb 12 at 1407, weak signal presumed RNZI, vs stronger NHK 5955; no sign of it during following hour on mistaken 15720 unlike yesterday. At 1451, NHK Hindi via Madagascar was poor but clear on 15720 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA [non]. 7275, Feb 12 at 0629 I am ready for at least a carrier from FRCN as Tunisia goes off, but not a trace (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NORTH AMERICA. 6925, Feb 12 at 1354 music on SSB, continuous OTH radar pulse QRM, retune 1401 just in time to hear asking for reports to ``radiogaga6925@gmail.com, thanks for tuning in`` and off at 1402; frequency matched Nikkei on 3925.0 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PRIDNESTROVYE. 7260, Feb 12 at 0049, VOR in Russian with motorboating sound on the transmission from KCH = Grigoriopol, 500 kW, 295 degrees; no such problem on 7290, VOR in English from same site // 7250 ``Armavir`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 9385, Feb 12 at 1532, Brother Scare via WWRB is announcing a test and asking for reports, Monday Feb 13 at 5-7 pm EST on 9990, 7-10 pm on 5085. If he ever mentioned WTWW, it was before I intuned, but he normally does not identify the SW stations he`s on. This confirms the test George McClintock already told us about; tho it`s the WTWW-2 transmitter also tested 48 hours earlier with rational programming, apparently putting him on #2 is not in the plans, but eventually on a #4 which would have different frequencies and propagation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 6055, UT Sunday Feb 12 at 0051, REE English is in mailbag with Allison Hughes, reading a report from `AP`, India, and others even quoting the SINPOs. Says that March 15 will be the 60th anniversary of REE and asks for ideas how to celebrate, party? Of course when it started it wasn`t called REE and it was in the long-live-Franco, up-with-Spain era. Usual squeeze between RHC and RHC.
9535, Feb 12 at 0132, REE Spanish is amid `Desde el Infierno`, the spooky show with weird music and narration, its B-season timing of 0105+ UT Sundays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Checking out the WTWW-2 test Feb 11-12, first on 9990: tuned in at 2205 and I heard PPP // 9479 audio instead, with some splash. Transmitter dumps off the air at 2207, so they are running that until the thing settles down. More ons and offs 2208-2209. While off, I notice that WWV is strong enough to splash upon 9990, but WTWW blows it away when on. *2215 back on now with rock music. Carrier is noticeably wobbling and modulation distorted. I can hear noise field splash out past 10000 and below 9980 (WWCR is off now) altho not with specific peaks as previously. (At 2218 WWV propagation info was: SF=112, A=4, K21=1, no, no). 2220 Olivia Newton-John. I compare the carrier wobble to WINB 9265 and find 9990 more so. Other WTWW 9479 is not doing this. At 2224 during dead air on 9990 except for hum, I hear the same pitch hum around 10010.
Show finally gets underway at 2231, ``This Is Only A Test``, a.k.a. `QSO Radio Show`, 615-547-9520. Modulation still somewhat distorted. First caller to Ted Randall is WB0AEA in Lincoln NE. Dumps off the air again amid this 2234-2236. 2238 during music I can hear noise field extending from roughly 9960 to 10020 = +/- 30 kHz. Altho it`s more than we get from most stations of this strength, it is not too severe, and certainly better than when #2 was first tested.
There is too much going on and I am not listening to every word for the next 6 hours, but I never heard anyone mention or being prompted to check for spurs and noise fields or modulation quality; just general evaluations of how strong the signal is.
2240, a caller wants more rock music when regular programming starts. (Don`t count on it unless some rocker wants to outbid the preachers for airtime here!) Ted makes no such commitment. 2254 caller asks about possible QRM with WWCR, but Ted explains they are some distance apart geographically and have separate frequencies, no problem. (But what about when they are right next to each other on 9980 and 9990?)
Signal is weakening just a bit; at next check 2320, cuts off the air again for a while. Next check 2353, George McClintock is on the phone from the transmitter site, telling about how he was also trying to get a SW station when Joe Costello succeeded with authorization for WRNO. George is also diabetic and lost an eye, but not limbs like Costello. 2358 they coordinate to make the frequency change to 5085, and 9990 off at 2359.
UT Feb 12: 0000:30, 5085 cuts off and on and off and on. At 0012 the 5085 frequency has less wobble than 9990 had; decreasing noise field out to 5075-5105, but not enough to bother 5070 WWCR or 5110v WBCQ.
Many more calls discussing ham and SW radio. At 0127 they were talking about me and WORLD OF RADIO, and how we appreciate George and WTWW for broadcasting it, ex-WRNO, ex-WWCR! Ted says, ``Glenn Hauser`s program is an asset``. Thank you.
Around expected closedown 0400 they were still going with someone on the phone who is apparently an equipment supplier, lasting until 0449*. The signal held up very strong throughout (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9955, Sat Feb 11 at 2206, WRMI with `Media Network+`, fair signal, no jamming, and far enough from WTWW 9990 test not to be bothered by that. Keith is interviewing someone about ham radio emergency work following the latest Philippine earthquake (Glen Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1603 monitoring: Sunday Feb 12 at 1646, JBA carrier on 9955 as scheduled on WRMI at 1630, and I can almost imagine I am hearing my voice. Repeats at 1830 via WRN via WRMI, when listeners further east have reported sufficient reception. Also on WBCQ Area 51, 5110v-CUSB, UT Monday 0330v (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5399.5-SSB, Sunday Feb 12 at 1405, MARS net including an AA6 discussing sunspots, as I was looking for 55m hams 4 kHz higher (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 560, Feb 12 at 0538-0541, did not really expect to hear the WFIL DX test way out here, but checked anyway, and heard only `When Radio Was` episode of Jack Benny, from about the same direxion, presumably my closest 560, KWTO Springfield MO. Tried BFO offset 5 kHz, but no sign of any MCW IDs either (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1540, Feb 12 at 0644 UT, `El Paso` song with Spanish lyrix and norteña riffs, but too much QRM to understand. Then promos and ads in Spanish mentioning ``Southwest Military Drive` so I know it`s San Antonio, a street I traversed often while at Kelly & Lackland AFBs, Von Ormy, even before the ID in English as KEDA. This time did not hear their ``Radio Jalapeño`` slogan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VENEZUELA [non]. See CUBA
** VIETNAM [non]. 9400, Feb 12 at 1420, very good signal with love songs for Valentine`s Day, some in English, but announcements in Vietnamese. 1459 ID in English with music as ``Radio Free Asia, Vietnamese service`` to 1500*. It`s 100 kW, 285 degrees from SAIPAN. No jamming audible. At first I wondered if it could be FEBC in Chinese, but they finish with 9400 at 1400. And after 1500, FEBA takes over via Armenia to Afghanistan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 1340, Feb 12 at 0649, for the moment atop the graveyard jumble, Dave with financial advice, call-in from Fort Wayne. Peaks ENE/WSW, no telling what but not my daytime dominator OKC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 6925-, Feb 12 at 0056, S9+18 pirate on AM with blues piano to 0058* after a couple notes of next song, no announcement (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ARGENTINA. 13363.5-LSB, UT Sun Feb 12 at 0023, very rapid play-by-play by a couple of guys, football? Poor signal. May have heard a quick `Continental` ID in passing, one of the regular occupants of this relay (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ARGENTINA. After hearing 13363.5-LSB, I check 15345v for R. Nacional. Much stronger signal here, S9+20 with flutter, at first just open carrier, then just barely modulated with music. At 0042 somewhat better modulation with tango, 0043 mentions `Nacional`. I am listening with BFO on, and the transmitter is audibly drifting (after the FRG-7 BFO drift settles down when it is first turned on) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 15370, Feb 12 at 0026, open carrier with no flutter, unlike Argentina on 15345v. S9+22. RHC is supposed to be in Quechua here until 0030, maybe ended early. Off at next check 0043.
6010, UT Sunday Feb 12 at 0710, RHC in weekly Esperanto service, which I had not reconfirmed lately.
Sunday anomalies Feb 12: 1411, 13670 is on but 13750 is off. At 1418, 11760 is off while 11750 and 11840 are on. But at 1450, 13750 is on with RHC programming // 13670, 13780 et al. At 1456, 11760 is back, but 9850 is off, 9540 JBA. At 1533, still RHC on 13750 // 11750, 13670, 13780, but 15370 is not on.
At 1643, 17750 is on at S9+15 but JBM with YL yelling (YL-ling?), so is this Venezuela relay? 13750 is off, no 13680 either as reserved for `Aló, Presidente`; 1644, 15370 is better modulated, seems like same cacophony as on 17750 with car horns, YL et al., S9+18 until cuts off at 1645*. Then I find fair open carrier on 13680, and 11690 is JBM with same as 15370. At 1646, 17750 is now off.
Quite a mess, apparently RHC is undecided about whether to keep broadcasting what is incoming from Caracas. Then I check the A,P website and find the live feed is coverage of a parade, reviewed by El Hugazo and a seated compañero; mostly young people with banners, marching bands, etc., still going at 1745 with goose-stepping soldiers. Doesn`t make for very good radio, tho there is super-patriotic commentary by someone other than Chávez; seems to be in honor of Bolívar tho everything the regime does is In His Name. O, this is it: 198th anniversary of the Batalla de la Victoria, Día de la Juventud. El Hugazo is finally speaking to the crowd at 1821 --- on the video cast, SW unchecked now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 9124, Feb 12 at 0633, big S9+22 open carrier with hum, and just like on 11532, 24 hours earlier, which is not on tonight, most of the 0635-0636+ minute occupied by digital data bursts, from the V2a Spy Numbers station (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND [and non]. 5950, Feb 12 at 1407, weak signal presumed RNZI, vs stronger NHK 5955; no sign of it during following hour on mistaken 15720 unlike yesterday. At 1451, NHK Hindi via Madagascar was poor but clear on 15720 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA [non]. 7275, Feb 12 at 0629 I am ready for at least a carrier from FRCN as Tunisia goes off, but not a trace (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NORTH AMERICA. 6925, Feb 12 at 1354 music on SSB, continuous OTH radar pulse QRM, retune 1401 just in time to hear asking for reports to ``radiogaga6925@gmail.com, thanks for tuning in`` and off at 1402; frequency matched Nikkei on 3925.0 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PRIDNESTROVYE. 7260, Feb 12 at 0049, VOR in Russian with motorboating sound on the transmission from KCH = Grigoriopol, 500 kW, 295 degrees; no such problem on 7290, VOR in English from same site // 7250 ``Armavir`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 9385, Feb 12 at 1532, Brother Scare via WWRB is announcing a test and asking for reports, Monday Feb 13 at 5-7 pm EST on 9990, 7-10 pm on 5085. If he ever mentioned WTWW, it was before I intuned, but he normally does not identify the SW stations he`s on. This confirms the test George McClintock already told us about; tho it`s the WTWW-2 transmitter also tested 48 hours earlier with rational programming, apparently putting him on #2 is not in the plans, but eventually on a #4 which would have different frequencies and propagation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 6055, UT Sunday Feb 12 at 0051, REE English is in mailbag with Allison Hughes, reading a report from `AP`, India, and others even quoting the SINPOs. Says that March 15 will be the 60th anniversary of REE and asks for ideas how to celebrate, party? Of course when it started it wasn`t called REE and it was in the long-live-Franco, up-with-Spain era. Usual squeeze between RHC and RHC.
9535, Feb 12 at 0132, REE Spanish is amid `Desde el Infierno`, the spooky show with weird music and narration, its B-season timing of 0105+ UT Sundays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Checking out the WTWW-2 test Feb 11-12, first on 9990: tuned in at 2205 and I heard PPP // 9479 audio instead, with some splash. Transmitter dumps off the air at 2207, so they are running that until the thing settles down. More ons and offs 2208-2209. While off, I notice that WWV is strong enough to splash upon 9990, but WTWW blows it away when on. *2215 back on now with rock music. Carrier is noticeably wobbling and modulation distorted. I can hear noise field splash out past 10000 and below 9980 (WWCR is off now) altho not with specific peaks as previously. (At 2218 WWV propagation info was: SF=112, A=4, K21=1, no, no). 2220 Olivia Newton-John. I compare the carrier wobble to WINB 9265 and find 9990 more so. Other WTWW 9479 is not doing this. At 2224 during dead air on 9990 except for hum, I hear the same pitch hum around 10010.
Show finally gets underway at 2231, ``This Is Only A Test``, a.k.a. `QSO Radio Show`, 615-547-9520. Modulation still somewhat distorted. First caller to Ted Randall is WB0AEA in Lincoln NE. Dumps off the air again amid this 2234-2236. 2238 during music I can hear noise field extending from roughly 9960 to 10020 = +/- 30 kHz. Altho it`s more than we get from most stations of this strength, it is not too severe, and certainly better than when #2 was first tested.
There is too much going on and I am not listening to every word for the next 6 hours, but I never heard anyone mention or being prompted to check for spurs and noise fields or modulation quality; just general evaluations of how strong the signal is.
2240, a caller wants more rock music when regular programming starts. (Don`t count on it unless some rocker wants to outbid the preachers for airtime here!) Ted makes no such commitment. 2254 caller asks about possible QRM with WWCR, but Ted explains they are some distance apart geographically and have separate frequencies, no problem. (But what about when they are right next to each other on 9980 and 9990?)
Signal is weakening just a bit; at next check 2320, cuts off the air again for a while. Next check 2353, George McClintock is on the phone from the transmitter site, telling about how he was also trying to get a SW station when Joe Costello succeeded with authorization for WRNO. George is also diabetic and lost an eye, but not limbs like Costello. 2358 they coordinate to make the frequency change to 5085, and 9990 off at 2359.
UT Feb 12: 0000:30, 5085 cuts off and on and off and on. At 0012 the 5085 frequency has less wobble than 9990 had; decreasing noise field out to 5075-5105, but not enough to bother 5070 WWCR or 5110v WBCQ.
Many more calls discussing ham and SW radio. At 0127 they were talking about me and WORLD OF RADIO, and how we appreciate George and WTWW for broadcasting it, ex-WRNO, ex-WWCR! Ted says, ``Glenn Hauser`s program is an asset``. Thank you.
Around expected closedown 0400 they were still going with someone on the phone who is apparently an equipment supplier, lasting until 0449*. The signal held up very strong throughout (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9955, Sat Feb 11 at 2206, WRMI with `Media Network+`, fair signal, no jamming, and far enough from WTWW 9990 test not to be bothered by that. Keith is interviewing someone about ham radio emergency work following the latest Philippine earthquake (Glen Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1603 monitoring: Sunday Feb 12 at 1646, JBA carrier on 9955 as scheduled on WRMI at 1630, and I can almost imagine I am hearing my voice. Repeats at 1830 via WRN via WRMI, when listeners further east have reported sufficient reception. Also on WBCQ Area 51, 5110v-CUSB, UT Monday 0330v (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5399.5-SSB, Sunday Feb 12 at 1405, MARS net including an AA6 discussing sunspots, as I was looking for 55m hams 4 kHz higher (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 560, Feb 12 at 0538-0541, did not really expect to hear the WFIL DX test way out here, but checked anyway, and heard only `When Radio Was` episode of Jack Benny, from about the same direxion, presumably my closest 560, KWTO Springfield MO. Tried BFO offset 5 kHz, but no sign of any MCW IDs either (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1540, Feb 12 at 0644 UT, `El Paso` song with Spanish lyrix and norteña riffs, but too much QRM to understand. Then promos and ads in Spanish mentioning ``Southwest Military Drive` so I know it`s San Antonio, a street I traversed often while at Kelly & Lackland AFBs, Von Ormy, even before the ID in English as KEDA. This time did not hear their ``Radio Jalapeño`` slogan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VENEZUELA [non]. See CUBA
** VIETNAM [non]. 9400, Feb 12 at 1420, very good signal with love songs for Valentine`s Day, some in English, but announcements in Vietnamese. 1459 ID in English with music as ``Radio Free Asia, Vietnamese service`` to 1500*. It`s 100 kW, 285 degrees from SAIPAN. No jamming audible. At first I wondered if it could be FEBC in Chinese, but they finish with 9400 at 1400. And after 1500, FEBA takes over via Armenia to Afghanistan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 1340, Feb 12 at 0649, for the moment atop the graveyard jumble, Dave with financial advice, call-in from Fort Wayne. Peaks ENE/WSW, no telling what but not my daytime dominator OKC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 6925-, Feb 12 at 0056, S9+18 pirate on AM with blues piano to 0058* after a couple notes of next song, no announcement (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
