** CHINA. Firedrake March 24, before 1330:
12230, good at 1314
13680, good at 1317; 100-watt nuisance SOH Taiwan probably targeted
13920, very good at 1315
15500, good at 1321, het from 15498, presumed V of Tibet, Tajikistan
15595, good at 1321; also open carrier or JBM on 15600, het on 15603
15940, very good at 1320
15970, fair at 1319; none in the 14s
16980, good at 1327
17250, poor at 1330
After 1400:
17570, fair at 1410, vs V of Tibet, Madagascar
15605, good at 1411
13970, poor at 1418; none in the 11s, 12s, 14s, 16s
13680, fair at 1418 with ACI from CRI Canada 13675
Before 1500:
9930, fair at 1452. Target something new? Aoki has T8WH Palau until 1500 only on Sundays with LeSEA music, which means it may not have been on SW at all. EiBi has generic WHR Palau in English until 1500 daily. HFCC shows ``HBN`` with unsourced Cantonese and English at 1430-1500 daily.
12130, at 1452, something weak mixing with FD, I think but not certain. Scheduled at 14-15 is RFA in Vietnamese via Sri Lanka. I can barely make a // 13680 at 1454; unusual for FD to be used for Vietnam
13680, poor at 1454, despite R. Farda, Wertachtal from *1430
17250, fair with flutter at 1458; none in the 14s, 15s, 16s, 18s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA [and non]. 15190, March 23 at 1858, R. Africa audible with OM gospel huxter vs horrible splatter from overmodulated SPAIN [q.v.] on 15110. Yet 15190 signal is better than usual, g.h. partly readable at 1908, with musical background. At the moment 15190 is about the upper limit of the Spain-splatter. He closes at 1911, ``until next week``, and then only a semiminute of dead air!!
Is there any ID? Of course not! By 1911:30 or so, the next show starts, something ``of Truth, broadcast from the US``, greeting listeners in several countries, and referencing I Timothy 5:24, which says in my handy pocket cowboy Bible NIV translation: ``The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them`.`` How profound; this assumes one accepts the very concept of ``sin``.
At 2019, 15190 is still on and still splattered by Spain, and now YFR Ascension is also on 15195, but today R. Africa is at least as strong and gaining. 2045, 15190 still on with YL g.h. rather distorted and still splattered as I quit for now.
Earlier March 23 past 1500, Ron Howard was getting R. Africa colliding with IRRS/Romania on 15190, fill music instead of Arabic women show, but March 24 until 1507, I am only hearing Brother Scare and psychophants on his extended Sabbath service. At 1640 recheck still revival music from Walterboro, Romania // but not synch with 9385, 9980. Possibly a second carrier underneath but can`t be sure. Will be uncovered at 1700: at 1702, a very weak carrier on 15190.0, I suppose R. Africa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN. 15345-, March 23 at 1900, muffled ID in French but could not catch it; certainly not Argentina, and no sign of that; evitable 4+ kHz het from Morocco 15349+, to this slightly on the lo side of 15345. Flute & drums, M&W conversing, also more bits of music, mentions ``année nouvelle, printemps``.
That fits for Iran with its logical new year coinciding with spring equinox, and VIRI is so listed in French at 1830-1930, 500 kW, 259 degrees from Kamalabad, for W & C Africa from Mauritania to Chad and Gabon. From 1906:45 heard a closer het on and off and on and off, maybe RAE trying to get going. At 1913, the Islamists were reading a ponderous script on an historical or cultural topic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT [and non]. 15540, March 23 at 1916, VG signal with hard rock music, so R. Kuwait`s ``Arabic`` service in English is propagating today while I was distracted lower in the band by the mess around 15110-15190. Must have been good for the Islamic evangelism show at 1800, news at 1830. But by 2018 recheck had diminished to JBA. This thing must be right close to the MUF, often inaudible, but if it pokes up a bit higher, in it comes. We can hope for more of MOI as spring progresses.
Then checked 13650, which yesterday bore Kuwait in Arabic to us, colliding with Canada in French during previous hour; but at 2021 March 23 the Arabic is on the contrary now from Canada, // 11870, with ACI from RHC 13640. Kuwait supposedly raises from 13650 to 17550 at 2000 to N America, but that still isn`t propagating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** LEBANON [non]. Re the V. of Charity relay in Arabic via Vatican I have been hearing at 0530 on 9645, Patrick Robic, Austria says ``According to a QSL letter from some years ago their Arabic name is "Sawt al mahabba"`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND. 11725, March 24 at 0538, RNZI only fair with flutter, unusual for this trans-equatorial path, while higher latitudes were in better, as was RNZI DRM on 13725-13730-13735, altho ``flutter`` doesn`t really apply to the way DRM noise can sound (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA. 15120, March 23 at 1858 another check for VON, but it`s hopelessly blocked by huge splatter from overmodulated 15110 SPAIN, q.v. However, when tuned to REE via Costa Rica 15125, besides the 15110 splatter, I can also hear QRDRM noise from 15120, confirming VON is still wasting its watts in that wonderful new mode (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. 15460 // 17530, March 24 at 1328, RRI German service again with the horrible audio artifacts on the sidebands I recorded yesterday. And also audible during IS on 17540 at 1459 prior to Arabic hour.
My yesterday`s report drew these responses, from Kai Ludwig, Germany:
``You say there were spurs? Probably the program audio gets inverted on these spurs, arising already at the audio frequency stage, in the same way than primitive voice scrambling works. The cause could be within the audio input equipment at the transmitter plant, resulting in the fault showing up on both frequencies.``
And later, March 24 at 1321: ``Today the same here as on earlier occasions: 17530 is inaudible, if on air at all; I can't even trace a carrier.
But 15460 comes in well, with the news mentioning the time switch this night and the criticism against this pointless exercise. Now I finally hear the phenomenon for myself, further supporting what I suspected already from your recording:
There appear to be spurs on both sides of the carrier, intensely modulated with inverted program audio. Actually I can note only these modulation products clearly; the "original" spurs can just barely be traced when suspecting what's going on.
It's indeed a pretty prominent effect that should have prompted someone to ask on mailing lists. From the German point of view I'm even more astounded about something else: That nobody discussed how 17530 usually skips over Germany. The only possible explanation I see is identical for both aspects. I think I do not have to speak it out, don't I?`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [and non]. 15110, March 23 at 1857, REE IS, extremely distorted overmodulation, splattering worst plus/minus 40 kHz, but also audible up to 15280, and less on the lower side to 15000 or so; useless and bothering a wide part of the 19m band. Come on, Noblejas, get your transmitter fixed, or turn it off!
I am of course trying to check on Nigeria, q.v. on 15120, and Equatorial Guinea, q.v. on 15190; I can still hear the latter with REE splat but 15120 is hopeless at first. REE Noblejas is also QRMing its own Costa Rica relay on 15125 which is already running with programming, not IS.
It also has QRDRM from 15115-15120-15125 Nigeria, the main way of telling that is operating. By 1907 when REE is talking, still distorted and splattering, but not so widely. Recheck 2019, 15110 is still extremely distorted and splattering past 15190; and at 2045, but less on the low side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN [and non]. 13800, March 24 at 0536, oscillating tone jammer, no doubt as previously heard vs R. Dabanga, via UAE which doesn`t propagate here even without the jamming. Other frequency 7315 via FRANCE has good signal at 0544, no jamming audible. If there is any doubt, chances are R. Dabanga will ID every few minutes, often in song.
Anyhow, this is the last day of the B-11 season, after which all the frequencies change for A-12; will the jammers follow immediately? The 0429-0557 broadcast is to be on 15550 from UAE, 15400 from Madagascar, and 11650 from Vatican (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SWAZILAND. Re unID in my last report, 9500 at 0515 March 23 with African English preacher, suspected TWR? Bill Bingham, RSA replies:
Yes, confirmed TWR Swaziland. And yes, it happened again. 9500 Manzini. Mar 24, 2012, Saturday. 0459-0517. Repetitions of TWR IS and "This is TransWorld Radio, Swaziland", to sign on at 0500 with ID "This is Trans World Radio Bringing Hope to the World. Thanks for tuning into Radio 155". Followed by programme announcements, then an OM preacher preaching. Into children`s programming at 0515, enacting The Nativity. At 0530, a medical programme on lymphoma. Fair - good. Joburg sunrise 0414.``
An early start to A-12 scheduling? NO, not supposed to be on 9500 then, either (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAIWAN [non]. Oh, poor RTI: WYFR is screwing up your relays again. We thought it had all been fixed, but last night on 6875, English at 0500 was missing so they had to play backup filler music from Okeechobee. Tonight, UT March 24 at 0534, when supposed to be in English, it`s back to Chinese, the wrong language which was broadcast nightly from November to January or February. And furthermore at 0602 it`s back to German instead of correct Spanish! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1609 monitoring: checking WBCQ Area 51 webcast at 0128 UT Saturday March 24, music playing instead of WOR. Apparently AWWW ran much later than usual, and WOR playback started at 0135, so now we know it could be anywhere from 0100 to 0135, or even later, I suppose.
Then checked 5110v, and it was poorly audible in spring storm noise level; also QRM was such that I could hear it better in LSB than USB altho supposedly transmitted carrier plus USB only.
Next chance: UT Sunday 0400 on WTWW 5755. Also on WRMI 9955: Saturday 1730, Sunday 0800, 1530, 1730, Monday 0500, 1130.
Also on WRN via SiriusXM channel 120: Sat & Sun 1730, Sun 0830 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1340, March 24 just as I tune across at 0556 UT, ID for ``1340 KGGS`` and country music, dominating the graveyard frequency for a bit. Ever since this brand new station hit the air Nov 9 from Garden City KS, owned by KGYN Guymon OK, I had been wanting to hear it, and figured SR/SS would be best, but now I get it without even trying in the nightmiddle. Daytime groundwave blocked by OKC. See DXLD 11-46 for all about KGGS (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
12230, good at 1314
13680, good at 1317; 100-watt nuisance SOH Taiwan probably targeted
13920, very good at 1315
15500, good at 1321, het from 15498, presumed V of Tibet, Tajikistan
15595, good at 1321; also open carrier or JBM on 15600, het on 15603
15940, very good at 1320
15970, fair at 1319; none in the 14s
16980, good at 1327
17250, poor at 1330
After 1400:
17570, fair at 1410, vs V of Tibet, Madagascar
15605, good at 1411
13970, poor at 1418; none in the 11s, 12s, 14s, 16s
13680, fair at 1418 with ACI from CRI Canada 13675
Before 1500:
9930, fair at 1452. Target something new? Aoki has T8WH Palau until 1500 only on Sundays with LeSEA music, which means it may not have been on SW at all. EiBi has generic WHR Palau in English until 1500 daily. HFCC shows ``HBN`` with unsourced Cantonese and English at 1430-1500 daily.
12130, at 1452, something weak mixing with FD, I think but not certain. Scheduled at 14-15 is RFA in Vietnamese via Sri Lanka. I can barely make a // 13680 at 1454; unusual for FD to be used for Vietnam
13680, poor at 1454, despite R. Farda, Wertachtal from *1430
17250, fair with flutter at 1458; none in the 14s, 15s, 16s, 18s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA [and non]. 15190, March 23 at 1858, R. Africa audible with OM gospel huxter vs horrible splatter from overmodulated SPAIN [q.v.] on 15110. Yet 15190 signal is better than usual, g.h. partly readable at 1908, with musical background. At the moment 15190 is about the upper limit of the Spain-splatter. He closes at 1911, ``until next week``, and then only a semiminute of dead air!!
Is there any ID? Of course not! By 1911:30 or so, the next show starts, something ``of Truth, broadcast from the US``, greeting listeners in several countries, and referencing I Timothy 5:24, which says in my handy pocket cowboy Bible NIV translation: ``The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them`.`` How profound; this assumes one accepts the very concept of ``sin``.
At 2019, 15190 is still on and still splattered by Spain, and now YFR Ascension is also on 15195, but today R. Africa is at least as strong and gaining. 2045, 15190 still on with YL g.h. rather distorted and still splattered as I quit for now.
Earlier March 23 past 1500, Ron Howard was getting R. Africa colliding with IRRS/Romania on 15190, fill music instead of Arabic women show, but March 24 until 1507, I am only hearing Brother Scare and psychophants on his extended Sabbath service. At 1640 recheck still revival music from Walterboro, Romania // but not synch with 9385, 9980. Possibly a second carrier underneath but can`t be sure. Will be uncovered at 1700: at 1702, a very weak carrier on 15190.0, I suppose R. Africa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN. 15345-, March 23 at 1900, muffled ID in French but could not catch it; certainly not Argentina, and no sign of that; evitable 4+ kHz het from Morocco 15349+, to this slightly on the lo side of 15345. Flute & drums, M&W conversing, also more bits of music, mentions ``année nouvelle, printemps``.
That fits for Iran with its logical new year coinciding with spring equinox, and VIRI is so listed in French at 1830-1930, 500 kW, 259 degrees from Kamalabad, for W & C Africa from Mauritania to Chad and Gabon. From 1906:45 heard a closer het on and off and on and off, maybe RAE trying to get going. At 1913, the Islamists were reading a ponderous script on an historical or cultural topic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT [and non]. 15540, March 23 at 1916, VG signal with hard rock music, so R. Kuwait`s ``Arabic`` service in English is propagating today while I was distracted lower in the band by the mess around 15110-15190. Must have been good for the Islamic evangelism show at 1800, news at 1830. But by 2018 recheck had diminished to JBA. This thing must be right close to the MUF, often inaudible, but if it pokes up a bit higher, in it comes. We can hope for more of MOI as spring progresses.
Then checked 13650, which yesterday bore Kuwait in Arabic to us, colliding with Canada in French during previous hour; but at 2021 March 23 the Arabic is on the contrary now from Canada, // 11870, with ACI from RHC 13640. Kuwait supposedly raises from 13650 to 17550 at 2000 to N America, but that still isn`t propagating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** LEBANON [non]. Re the V. of Charity relay in Arabic via Vatican I have been hearing at 0530 on 9645, Patrick Robic, Austria says ``According to a QSL letter from some years ago their Arabic name is "Sawt al mahabba"`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND. 11725, March 24 at 0538, RNZI only fair with flutter, unusual for this trans-equatorial path, while higher latitudes were in better, as was RNZI DRM on 13725-13730-13735, altho ``flutter`` doesn`t really apply to the way DRM noise can sound (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA. 15120, March 23 at 1858 another check for VON, but it`s hopelessly blocked by huge splatter from overmodulated 15110 SPAIN, q.v. However, when tuned to REE via Costa Rica 15125, besides the 15110 splatter, I can also hear QRDRM noise from 15120, confirming VON is still wasting its watts in that wonderful new mode (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. 15460 // 17530, March 24 at 1328, RRI German service again with the horrible audio artifacts on the sidebands I recorded yesterday. And also audible during IS on 17540 at 1459 prior to Arabic hour.
My yesterday`s report drew these responses, from Kai Ludwig, Germany:
``You say there were spurs? Probably the program audio gets inverted on these spurs, arising already at the audio frequency stage, in the same way than primitive voice scrambling works. The cause could be within the audio input equipment at the transmitter plant, resulting in the fault showing up on both frequencies.``
And later, March 24 at 1321: ``Today the same here as on earlier occasions: 17530 is inaudible, if on air at all; I can't even trace a carrier.
But 15460 comes in well, with the news mentioning the time switch this night and the criticism against this pointless exercise. Now I finally hear the phenomenon for myself, further supporting what I suspected already from your recording:
There appear to be spurs on both sides of the carrier, intensely modulated with inverted program audio. Actually I can note only these modulation products clearly; the "original" spurs can just barely be traced when suspecting what's going on.
It's indeed a pretty prominent effect that should have prompted someone to ask on mailing lists. From the German point of view I'm even more astounded about something else: That nobody discussed how 17530 usually skips over Germany. The only possible explanation I see is identical for both aspects. I think I do not have to speak it out, don't I?`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [and non]. 15110, March 23 at 1857, REE IS, extremely distorted overmodulation, splattering worst plus/minus 40 kHz, but also audible up to 15280, and less on the lower side to 15000 or so; useless and bothering a wide part of the 19m band. Come on, Noblejas, get your transmitter fixed, or turn it off!
I am of course trying to check on Nigeria, q.v. on 15120, and Equatorial Guinea, q.v. on 15190; I can still hear the latter with REE splat but 15120 is hopeless at first. REE Noblejas is also QRMing its own Costa Rica relay on 15125 which is already running with programming, not IS.
It also has QRDRM from 15115-15120-15125 Nigeria, the main way of telling that is operating. By 1907 when REE is talking, still distorted and splattering, but not so widely. Recheck 2019, 15110 is still extremely distorted and splattering past 15190; and at 2045, but less on the low side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN [and non]. 13800, March 24 at 0536, oscillating tone jammer, no doubt as previously heard vs R. Dabanga, via UAE which doesn`t propagate here even without the jamming. Other frequency 7315 via FRANCE has good signal at 0544, no jamming audible. If there is any doubt, chances are R. Dabanga will ID every few minutes, often in song.
Anyhow, this is the last day of the B-11 season, after which all the frequencies change for A-12; will the jammers follow immediately? The 0429-0557 broadcast is to be on 15550 from UAE, 15400 from Madagascar, and 11650 from Vatican (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SWAZILAND. Re unID in my last report, 9500 at 0515 March 23 with African English preacher, suspected TWR? Bill Bingham, RSA replies:
Yes, confirmed TWR Swaziland. And yes, it happened again. 9500 Manzini. Mar 24, 2012, Saturday. 0459-0517. Repetitions of TWR IS and "This is TransWorld Radio, Swaziland", to sign on at 0500 with ID "This is Trans World Radio Bringing Hope to the World. Thanks for tuning into Radio 155". Followed by programme announcements, then an OM preacher preaching. Into children`s programming at 0515, enacting The Nativity. At 0530, a medical programme on lymphoma. Fair - good. Joburg sunrise 0414.``
An early start to A-12 scheduling? NO, not supposed to be on 9500 then, either (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAIWAN [non]. Oh, poor RTI: WYFR is screwing up your relays again. We thought it had all been fixed, but last night on 6875, English at 0500 was missing so they had to play backup filler music from Okeechobee. Tonight, UT March 24 at 0534, when supposed to be in English, it`s back to Chinese, the wrong language which was broadcast nightly from November to January or February. And furthermore at 0602 it`s back to German instead of correct Spanish! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1609 monitoring: checking WBCQ Area 51 webcast at 0128 UT Saturday March 24, music playing instead of WOR. Apparently AWWW ran much later than usual, and WOR playback started at 0135, so now we know it could be anywhere from 0100 to 0135, or even later, I suppose.
Then checked 5110v, and it was poorly audible in spring storm noise level; also QRM was such that I could hear it better in LSB than USB altho supposedly transmitted carrier plus USB only.
Next chance: UT Sunday 0400 on WTWW 5755. Also on WRMI 9955: Saturday 1730, Sunday 0800, 1530, 1730, Monday 0500, 1130.
Also on WRN via SiriusXM channel 120: Sat & Sun 1730, Sun 0830 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1340, March 24 just as I tune across at 0556 UT, ID for ``1340 KGGS`` and country music, dominating the graveyard frequency for a bit. Ever since this brand new station hit the air Nov 9 from Garden City KS, owned by KGYN Guymon OK, I had been wanting to hear it, and figured SR/SS would be best, but now I get it without even trying in the nightmiddle. Daytime groundwave blocked by OKC. See DXLD 11-46 for all about KGGS (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
