martedì 21 febbraio 2012

Glenn Hauser logs February 21, 2012

** ANGUILLA. 6090, Feb 21 at 0700, Caribbean Beacon is off, uncovering weak het from presumed Nigeria/Brasil; wish I had noticed this earlier. 11775 is on nominally at 1354 check with gospel music interlude (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL. 11780, Feb 21 at 0644, RNA is on, good with Brazilian talk, reverb, crowd noise --- o, must be covering Carnaval in the nightmiddle, which might affect transmission hours of this, but end of DST Feb 26 should shift everything one real UT hour later (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 530, Feb 21 at 0243, instead of R. Enciclopedia`s EZL music dominating the channel, it`s mixed with R. Rebelde // 670 et al. ICRT has gone and ruined what was a pleasant `clear channel` service to both sides of the Strait by putting on another transmitter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GABON [non]. 9580, Feb 21 at 0643, no signal from ANU. Operation and/or sign-on time seem quite variable. 9575 Morocco is in. At 0711, there is a very weak signal on 9580. Per Aoki, Australia does not start until 0800, but PBS Xizang, Lhasa is on 9580 at 0200-0930 except this was Tuesday, its siesta-maintenance day, supposed to be off the air after 0600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GERMANY. 15215, all set Feb 21 for the once-a-year special from Radio Öömrang, very strong carrier cuts on at 1600, and rocky start of modulation with some drops, opening in English mentioning news of Amrang on 21 Feb, prior to the burning-event (bonfire?) each year one hour later.

Audio sounds like a lo-fi internet feed, impeding readability despite strong signal, as does the mixture of English and Frisian during the hour. Mostly Frisian, but shorter segments every few minutes in English. The accent in English does not help either. Never any music, one guy speaking both languages altho briefly thought I heard a different voice. Requires a DXer`s dedication to keep listening; they should have aggregated the English to one single longer portion.

1603 something about a Christmas celebration, back to Frisian. 1605 English about the burning; 1612 English again; 1618 mentions the new year, but did he say 2012? ``Free voice of the Frisian people``, schedule as on Jülich, 15230 kHz, 11 o`clock New York time, 16 UTzed, 17 MEzed, address with postal code 25946 but I can`t understand the rest of it.

Since Jülich no longer exists and 15230 is the wrong frequency altho was used in 2009y, I suspect they are playing back a recording from long ago; either that, or they never found out that they are on 15215 via Wertachtal both this year and last.

1622 another brief English segment, mentioning February; 1629 English, greeting ``listeners all over the world, especially New York``. After this it sounds like High German, not Frisian. 1633 ID in English, with nonsensical mention (also heard something like this last year) of ``High 19 FM via Jülich, 15230 k-H-z``, times again as above, and address. They do not offer QSLs. Did anyone ever get one previous years? No further English breaks heard. At some point must have switched back to Frisian/Low German until the end.

Mentioned Internet at 1658, but no closing ID or anything, NO ``Auf Wiederhören bis zum nächsten Jahr`` or however you spell that in Frisian. Modulation cut in mid-word at 1658:15 or so, carrier remained on, figured that was it, but 1659:40 modulation resumed with a bit of English, then carrier cut off at 1700* before completed announcement.

No sign of KSDA CCI on 15215 at 1600-1630 that Ivo Ivanov warned us about, which is English aimed 285 from Guam to S Asia. Maybe a problem in Europe, especially the skip zone from Wertachtal?

At 1629, in English he said ``my name is Janos(?) ---`` but not sure of that. The 3-year-old story at
http://www.amrum-news.de/2009/02/18/radio-oomrang-geht-wieder-auf-sendungto/
shows the guy who was doing it then as Arjan Kölzow with his family e-mail address.

Thanks to our advance publicity, this was widely heard by others:

Al Muick, Whitehall PA says, ``Oeoemrang is coming in very strong right now at 1639 on 21 February on 15215 with a soft-spoken talk in Low German about a Commander and the Northsea. No interference and minimal fading. Lots of talk about weather. No music heard yet. I've just realized how poor my Frisian comprehension is.``

Noel R. Green says, ``Yes, it is a VERY strong signal at my location in NW England too, but going down a little by the end of transmission``

Wolfgang Büschel says: ``I guess the station is a non-verifier. Never heard widely that Radio Oeoemrang sent out QSLs. From 2011 broadcast:

Mr. Arjan Koelzow
Tanenwai 24
25946 Nebel (Amrum island)
Germany

which is the sponsor of this broadcast. Tel. +49 [0] 4682/2688,
E-Mail <familie-koelzow @ t-online.de>``
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA. 9525-, Feb 21 at 1335, very poor carrier, also just barely modulated, as usual from VOI during the English hour. And still slightly on the low side. Are they still on ``Exotic Indonesia`` excursions with RRI Banjarmasin on Tuesdays? Haven`t been able to hear that for many months (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KOREA NORTH [non]. 6135, Feb 21 at 1339, Shiokaze is in Chinese with piano music. Seems to be reliably in Chinese now on Tuesdays per some previous logs here. Aoki agrees, with this current language lineup at 1330-1430:
Japanese & Korean Sun
all Japanese      Mon/Wed/Thu
all Chinese       Tue
Korean & Japanese Sat
all English       Fri
These are all 100 kW, 290 degrees from Ibaragi-Koga-Yamata, JAPAN, but plenty of signal way over here, altho bound to diminish as spring and summer oncome, with earlier sunrises as they stick to this hour always on 6 MHz band, periodically jumping for a few weeks each to 5985 or 5910 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MYANMAR. 7110, Feb 21 at 1350, poor signal from Rakhine with vocal music; at first some talk is mixing, but that must be an LSB ham on exact same reference frequency; then intermittent CWQRM from hams who don`t appreciate what an exotic broadcast intruder they have (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NEW ZEALAND. 11670-11675-11680, Feb 21 at 0654, DRM noise noticed here after finding good signal from RNZI in AM on 11725. Usually the // DRM at this hour is 13725-13730-13735. RNZI`s own schedule shows:

0459-0758 11725 AM 13730 DRM Pacific Daily

HFCC shows `N` = DRM is also registered (as an alternate?) on 11675 at 05-07, so is this a change or a mistake? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 15750, Feb 21 at 1400 and still 1443, nothing but a JBA carrier here for The Overcomer Ministry test, but we know the Voice of the Last Day Prophet of God is going out unto all the world, and this is not intended for us. At 1440 on somewhat more easily heard 15190 Romania, 9990 Lebanon and 9385 Manchester, (none synchronized), BS is making an announcement about this. Already in progress but doubt he ever revealed the site. Target however is Africa at 14-17 on 15750, then Eu/ME at 18-21 on 7590, second of two-day test, after which will decide based on reports whether to keep these broadcasts. He got one report yesterday from Japan. Wants phone calls or e-mail, even spells out OVERCOMER MINISTRY. Ivo Ivanov, DX Re Mix News, Bulgaria, like us, hypothesizes these may be via ARMENIA, and on Feb 20 rated 15750 as SINPO 25332, 7590 as 45444. I don`t even try for the latter over here at midday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TUNISIA [and non]. Re my report of unID Arabic on 17735 clashing with NHK via France at 1639+ Feb 20: Mauno Ritola, Finland, says on Feb 21: ``Yes, heard also today at 1625. No ID yet.`` Later: ``Seems to be R. Tunisienne here instead of 9725 kHz.``

Noel R. Green, England, says: ``At tune into 17735 around 1605 I found a very strong signal all over NHK via ISS and Arabic music playing. A female announcer was seemingly introducing requested music, and later she also did a phone in interview.

Now at 1630+ I find that 17735 is in // with 12005 which is a Tunisian
frequency from 1600. Tunis should also utilise 9725 from 1600, but on
there is what appears to be a very strong CNR jammer // 9905 etc.

So, let us see if "Huna Tunis, idha'at al-wataniya at-Tunisia" (courtesy of the WRTH) is heard at 1700. *Ah ah*, I've just heard it said at 1647, so Tunis it is.``

Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, says: ``Great Noel, 17735 is a familiar RTT Sfax frequency. 2001 A-01 schedule showed target as NE/ME/NEAf:
17735 1200-1600 38,39 SFA 500 100deg 250301-281001 TUN RTT ONT``

Noel R. Green, UK, says: ``Yes, the CNR jammer left 9725 at 1700 and the frequency is empty. Meanwhile 17735 continues with news at 1700 followed by a Kor`anic sung recitation. As Wolfy mails, 17735 has been utilised by Tunisia in the past, so that's perhaps why they chose it again. A poor choice though, due to NHK via ISS at 1500-1700``

I had also noted the CNR1 jammer on 9725 at 1633 Feb 20, but didn`t realize it would tie in with Tunisia moving to 17735! See also UNIDENTIFIED 15435 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9330-CUSB, Feb 21 at 0712, deadair/open carrier from WBCQ; still/again such at next check 1330, but next2 check at 1352, GFRN/2:11 is remodulating with music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. George McClintock, WTWW, explains Feb 21 what is happening with #2 transmitter on 9990, 5085: Brother Stair has bought all available time until the end of Feb, continuing to test this transmitter, and will possibly use #4 once it is up and running. WTWW-2 seems to be giving somewhat better coverage for him than WWCR-4, but will cost him more than the cut-rate he gets there. George also thinks that the 9835 hour via Wertachtal can`t possibly really be at claimed 500 kW for the rate BS is paying.

The times when something else has been on WTWW-2 are due to live coverage of the NRB (National Religious Broadcasters) annual convention in Nashville, Ted Randall playing music and doing interviews. Today Feb 21 is the final day for that at 18-22 UT. The interviews have been recorded and hope to get them up on the WTWW.us website in much less than a year this time.

On WTWW-3, 12105, George plans to work in some programming other than 24h scripture, such as Christian half-hour dramas in Arabic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [non]. 7390, Feb 21 at 1455, good signal spelling out with English pronunciation ``VOA CANTONESE``, which makes for an airtight ID, via listed Tinang, PHILIPPINES site; clear here, no jamming of this inconsequential dialect (which VOA proposes to cancel anyway, leaving it to RFA), contrasting with e.g. the Chinese vs Chinese collision making a 6 Hz SAH on 7385, CNR1 vs RTI like on countless other channels where the ChiCom are hyper-fearful of any free broadcasts in Mandarin. We are urged to be nice to China, but I find it hard to accept or overlook the regime`s insistence on mind-control, resulting in gross pollution of the airwaves (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1530, Feb 21 at 0239 UT on caradio, dominant 1530 station has an ad for a urology practice in Little Rock AR, with a 501 phone number. So I`ll look up which station that would be in Arkansas: NRC AM Log show only: KVDW, England AR, D1 2500 watts, no PSSA, CH 270, which is just SE of Little Rock. But sunset was 2315 UT, so that`s way past critical-hours time. Could any other 1530 station, like WCKY have been airing such an ad? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

I highly doubt WCKY or any other station on 1530 would be airing an ad
for a Little Rock business. KVDW, Vern 1530's studios are in Jacksonville, AR, a suburb of Little Rock.

[later:] A friend of mine is in North Little Rock about 14 air miles from KVDW and he says KVDW is coming in louder and clearer then 1090 KAAY. He confirms what is being heard is "VERN 1530" (KVDW is owned by Vernon Wells). Vern 1530 streams online at
http://vern1530am.com/ so you can check the stream against what you`re hearing on AM (Paul Walker, 0515 UT Feb 21, IRCA et al., via DXLD)

Glenn, it IS KVDW, no doubt about it. This station was widely reported by DXers in the Midwest and South on the evening of February 5-6 running day power, hours after it should have gone off for the evening. I logged them at 0347 UT on 2/6 with black gospel music and an ad for a local business that included a phone number in the 501 area code, perhaps the same ad you heard. Looks like  we have another cheater to deal with. 73, (Rick Dau, South Omaha, Nebraska, ibid.)

UNIDENTIFIED. 6185v, Feb 21 at 1340, het of about 0.3 kHz between something in Chinese and something else, not sure from which side. Unlikely extended XEPPM which is slightly off 6185 but much closer than that. Per Aoki the collision would be between China Huayi and VOK, both in Chinese, so we give the nod to North Korea as the more likely variant (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED [and non]. 15435, Feb 21 at 1400-1430 trying to repeat yesterday`s unID Arabic reception, but nothing more than a JBA carrier until *1428:39 S9+20 of RVA via VATICAN, 1430 IS once and sign-on with multipath echo. Hmm, I wonder if TUNISIA used 17735 too, 10.5 years ago (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)