** AUSTRALIA. R. Australia was supposed to start regular DRM broadcasts April 1, but I am wondering if they have been delayed?
Have tried 19000 a few times between 01-03 with no DRM noise heard; of course, any even-MHz is a bad choice for an analog Wadley Loop receiver like the FRG-7 generating its own birdies.
6080, April 4 at 1254, could not detect any DRM noise, where it is scheduled at 11-13 (but no AM either). Nor on 9890 after 1300. The schedule publicized was:
``Time (UT) kHz Target DRM mode
0100-0300 19000 central Pacific C 10 kHz 16QAM level 1 11 kb/s
0700-0900 7410 south-west Pacific B 10 kHz 64QAM level 2 24 kb/s
0900-1100 9475 south-west Pacific B 10 kHz 64QAM level 2 24 kb/s
1100-1300 6080 west Pacific & PNG C 10 kHz 16QAM level 1 11 kb/s
1300-1500 9890 central Pacific C 10 kHz 16QAM level 1 11 kb/s
1500-1700 5940 SE-Asia C 10 kHz 16QAM level 1 11 kb/s
1700-1900 9475 SE-Asia C 10 kHz 16QAM level 1 11 kb/s
(Nigel Holmes, Chief Engineer, Radio Australia via Craig Seager,
Australian Radio DX Club via Alokesh Gupta, March 20, dxldyg via WORLD
OF RADIO 1609, DXLD 12-12)``
DRM is confirmed as not operational:
Greetings All, Reply from John Westland at RA below...
Ian, We're struck some unforeseen delays in establishing the DRM schedule from Shepparton. Of course we are as excited as anyone in getting DRM on the schedule. We see it as a very useful second tier distribution means into remote locations (for feeding small FM community stations) and hope to see it very soon. Regards, John Westland, Head, Distribution (via Ian Johnson, April 3, ARDXC via DXLD)
** CHINA. Firedrake April 4, before 1400:
12300, very good with flutter at 1352
12500, very good at 1352; none in the 11s, 10s
13850, very good at 1351, way over 13845 WWCR
13920, very poor with utility QRM at 1349
14700, very good with flutter at 1349
15485, good with flutter at 1347; het on the hi side
15560, good at 1348, het on the lo side
15870, very good at 1349; none in the 16s or 17s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGESET) See also INDIA [and non]; UNIDENTIFIED 15585
** INDIA [and non]. CRI gets into India unimpeded for countless SW frequency-hours in Bengali, English, Hindi and Tamil (and QRMs lots of MW and tropical band frequencies), but when it comes to AIR`s only attempt to speak Chinese to the Chinese, no way!!! You are not allowed to do that!! Why do the Indians put up with it?
15795, April 4 at 1313, roughly equal mix of two stations, Chinese talk and Indian music, at the end of AIR`s 1145-1315 service, the other no doubt CNR1 jammer, and after Chinese announcements, both go off at the same second 1315* after one of them emits a quick tone. The same happens on // 17705, as sometimes also propagating here, and a third frequency is listed for AIR Chinese, 11840. A12 EiBi shows CNR1 jammers on all three (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, April 4 at 1306, VOI has fair signal but very undermodulated, sounds like English intonation; useless (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MAURITANIA. 7245, April 4 at 0550, IGIM is missing; came on later? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 670, April 4 at 1201, mañanitas, birthday greetings to listeners, R. Ranchito ID, 7:01 TC, jingle, full ID as mil watts from Torreón, Coahuila, i.e. XETOR; IRCA Mexican Log and WRTH show 5000/250 watts, but Cantú has 1000/250. Hard to believe they would assert less power than reality (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 880, April 4 at 1210, several local news items about Gómez Palacio, such as closing public telephones. G.P. is the Durango city adjacent to Torreón, Coahuila, really the same metro area, so this has to be, per Cantú:
880 XETC Kiuu + FM 91.1 Torreón, Coah. 10,000 1,000
Kiuu? What a strange name; derivation??
While IRCA has it as XETC, slogan: 880 AM, 10,000/100, 24 hours
and WRTH has XETC, 880 AM/Estéreo Mayran, 10000/1000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 970, April 4 at 1213 UT, choral NA is playing at odd time, as I try to minimize splatter from local KGWA 960. 1214 a quick sign-on I could not copy, right into music, 1219 segué balada/romántica. IRCA shows schedule times for each station, but nothing starting at 1215 or any other quarter-hour. Maybe the morning person was late (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND. 7280-7285-7290, April 4 around 1255, no DRM from RNZI audible now, unlike the first few days of April. After my inquiry, Adrian Sainsbury confirms April 3 there was a mistake in the operation and the schedule: ``Hello Glenn, Yes you are right the DRM should end at 2359 [NZT!]. Also the web schedule has been corrected, hangover I suspect from daylight saving changes in NZ. Regards Adrian``
So this is the schedule on website as of April 4:
``25 Mar 2012 - 27 Oct 2012
0459-0650 11725 AM 11675 DRM Pacific
0651-0758 11725 AM 11675 DRM Tonga
0759-1058 6170 AM 7285 DRM Pacific
1059-1158 9655 AM 7285 DRM Timor
1159-1258 9655 AM Timor , NW Pacific
1300-1550 6170 AM Pacific
1551-1650 6170 AM 7285 DRM Cook Islands, Samoa, Fiji
1651-1836 9615 AM 9890 DRM Cook Islands, Samoa, Fiji
1837-1850 9615 AM 11675 DRM Samoa
1851-2150 11725 AM 15720 DRM Niue, Fiji Tonga Samoa
2151-0458 15720 AM 17675 DRM Pacific``
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [and non]. 9630, April 4 at 0549, REE via COSTA RICA is back here after switching to alternate 9675, 24 hours earlier; why?
17595, Wed April 4 at 1311, the normally bigsig direct from Noblejas to NAm, is absent, tho scheduled 13-15 weekdays only, but this audiblized VATICAN q.v. 17590 just as it was going off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TUNISIA. 7335, April 4 at 0556 open carrier, so I keep listening: at 0558:16, IWT modulation suddenly cuts on amid music and becomes // 7275. They don`t even have the finesse to fade it up, let alone insert a formal sign-on. As ever, HFCC registration is an hour off, 7335 at ``0700-0910``, 265 degrees to CIRAF 37. Aoki knows better, showing 0600-0810. EiBi is even more accurate with 0557-0806. Probably controlled by an inhuman timing device. Fortunately, Vatican is now finished with 7335 at 0500, so there is no overlap any more (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7811-USB, April 4 at 0544-0546, AFN again with Jim Hightower commentary for the third night in a row. Unfortunately it is a repeat of 24 hours earlier about J.O.B.S. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1070, April 4 at 1220 UT, ``Wichita`s Big Talker, KQAM 1480 also being heard on 1070 this morning``, right-wing discussion of bringing back earmarx; 1228 anti-Obama remarx from same guys heard on 1480. 1240 UT check, oldie music had resumed, which is supposed to be the only format now of 1070 KLIO.
On caradio, when trying to hear the same syndicated True Oldies format from 99.7 KZNG ``Mustang``-OKC, the frequency Hiram Champlin hijacked from Alva-Enid, it is usually disrupted by QRM from the new Wichita-market station that OK move possiblized on 99.7, and ironically I have to switch to 1070 to hear the song more clearly and lower-fi. So why this talk intrusion temporarily on 1070? Hope it does not mean TO is on the way out (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. It`s a new month so I am exploring what the Navajo stations are doing, after having been on nondirexional day patterns an hour too early in March. KTNN was caught powering up one day at 1235 UT.
660, KTNN`s official sunrise in April is 1245 UT, but nothing heard from it April 4 before or after this hour, just K-SKY Dallas with Bill Bennett`s `Morning in America` gushing over guest wacko Ann Coulter. Or should I say wacka? No. Still nothing from AZ after 1300, nor from KHAC 880 across the line in NM. Yet, 770 KKOB Albuquerque had popped right onto day pattern at its proper new time, 1230, and remained audible past 1300 with ABC news.
KTNN`s direxional pattern plot athttp://transition.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/86014-2089.pdf
shows the cardioid nulling New York retains an itty bitty lobe eastward at approximately 87 degrees.
880, KHAC Tse Bonito NM, had also been heard eastward well before sunrise in March, but April 4 nothing before or after 1300, in KRVN null. (Back at 1233, KLRG AM & FM, Arkansas with local promos amid Imus, including nickname for local host being ``The Arizona Kid``. That could be confusing). Still no KHAC by 1300 which should legally be on day pattern after 1245 UT. Same situation as late as 1315 when I quit, 770 KKOB still audible, no Navajos on 660 or 880, just KSKY on 660 and KRVN on 880. Today`s local sunrise was 1213 UT, currently moving 10 minutes earlier each week (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN. 17590, April 4 at 1311, in absence of strong signal from 17595 SPAIN q.v., a few words of Chinese, morphing to Latin ``Laudetur Jesus Christus``, which combined with two notes of the Vatican Radio ``Christus Vincit`` IS before cut off abruptly at 1312* leads me to believe it was VR, as scheduled 1225-1315 in Chinese, 500 kW, 65 degrees from SMG (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15435, April 4 at 1346, big buzz here altho signal is poor: suspect BSKSA which doesn`t open officially until 1500. Nothing listed at this hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15585, April 4 at 1400, strong open carrier, goes off a few sex after tunein, uncovering Spain. Maybe was tail of a Firedrake, which jumps all over the place in this range (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Have tried 19000 a few times between 01-03 with no DRM noise heard; of course, any even-MHz is a bad choice for an analog Wadley Loop receiver like the FRG-7 generating its own birdies.
6080, April 4 at 1254, could not detect any DRM noise, where it is scheduled at 11-13 (but no AM either). Nor on 9890 after 1300. The schedule publicized was:
``Time (UT) kHz Target DRM mode
0100-0300 19000 central Pacific C 10 kHz 16QAM level 1 11 kb/s
0700-0900 7410 south-west Pacific B 10 kHz 64QAM level 2 24 kb/s
0900-1100 9475 south-west Pacific B 10 kHz 64QAM level 2 24 kb/s
1100-1300 6080 west Pacific & PNG C 10 kHz 16QAM level 1 11 kb/s
1300-1500 9890 central Pacific C 10 kHz 16QAM level 1 11 kb/s
1500-1700 5940 SE-Asia C 10 kHz 16QAM level 1 11 kb/s
1700-1900 9475 SE-Asia C 10 kHz 16QAM level 1 11 kb/s
(Nigel Holmes, Chief Engineer, Radio Australia via Craig Seager,
Australian Radio DX Club via Alokesh Gupta, March 20, dxldyg via WORLD
OF RADIO 1609, DXLD 12-12)``
DRM is confirmed as not operational:
Greetings All, Reply from John Westland at RA below...
Ian, We're struck some unforeseen delays in establishing the DRM schedule from Shepparton. Of course we are as excited as anyone in getting DRM on the schedule. We see it as a very useful second tier distribution means into remote locations (for feeding small FM community stations) and hope to see it very soon. Regards, John Westland, Head, Distribution (via Ian Johnson, April 3, ARDXC via DXLD)
** CHINA. Firedrake April 4, before 1400:
12300, very good with flutter at 1352
12500, very good at 1352; none in the 11s, 10s
13850, very good at 1351, way over 13845 WWCR
13920, very poor with utility QRM at 1349
14700, very good with flutter at 1349
15485, good with flutter at 1347; het on the hi side
15560, good at 1348, het on the lo side
15870, very good at 1349; none in the 16s or 17s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGESET) See also INDIA [and non]; UNIDENTIFIED 15585
** INDIA [and non]. CRI gets into India unimpeded for countless SW frequency-hours in Bengali, English, Hindi and Tamil (and QRMs lots of MW and tropical band frequencies), but when it comes to AIR`s only attempt to speak Chinese to the Chinese, no way!!! You are not allowed to do that!! Why do the Indians put up with it?
15795, April 4 at 1313, roughly equal mix of two stations, Chinese talk and Indian music, at the end of AIR`s 1145-1315 service, the other no doubt CNR1 jammer, and after Chinese announcements, both go off at the same second 1315* after one of them emits a quick tone. The same happens on // 17705, as sometimes also propagating here, and a third frequency is listed for AIR Chinese, 11840. A12 EiBi shows CNR1 jammers on all three (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9526-, April 4 at 1306, VOI has fair signal but very undermodulated, sounds like English intonation; useless (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MAURITANIA. 7245, April 4 at 0550, IGIM is missing; came on later? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 670, April 4 at 1201, mañanitas, birthday greetings to listeners, R. Ranchito ID, 7:01 TC, jingle, full ID as mil watts from Torreón, Coahuila, i.e. XETOR; IRCA Mexican Log and WRTH show 5000/250 watts, but Cantú has 1000/250. Hard to believe they would assert less power than reality (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 880, April 4 at 1210, several local news items about Gómez Palacio, such as closing public telephones. G.P. is the Durango city adjacent to Torreón, Coahuila, really the same metro area, so this has to be, per Cantú:
880 XETC Kiuu + FM 91.1 Torreón, Coah. 10,000 1,000
Kiuu? What a strange name; derivation??
While IRCA has it as XETC, slogan: 880 AM, 10,000/100, 24 hours
and WRTH has XETC, 880 AM/Estéreo Mayran, 10000/1000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 970, April 4 at 1213 UT, choral NA is playing at odd time, as I try to minimize splatter from local KGWA 960. 1214 a quick sign-on I could not copy, right into music, 1219 segué balada/romántica. IRCA shows schedule times for each station, but nothing starting at 1215 or any other quarter-hour. Maybe the morning person was late (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND. 7280-7285-7290, April 4 around 1255, no DRM from RNZI audible now, unlike the first few days of April. After my inquiry, Adrian Sainsbury confirms April 3 there was a mistake in the operation and the schedule: ``Hello Glenn, Yes you are right the DRM should end at 2359 [NZT!]. Also the web schedule has been corrected, hangover I suspect from daylight saving changes in NZ. Regards Adrian``
So this is the schedule on website as of April 4:
``25 Mar 2012 - 27 Oct 2012
0459-0650 11725 AM 11675 DRM Pacific
0651-0758 11725 AM 11675 DRM Tonga
0759-1058 6170 AM 7285 DRM Pacific
1059-1158 9655 AM 7285 DRM Timor
1159-1258 9655 AM Timor , NW Pacific
1300-1550 6170 AM Pacific
1551-1650 6170 AM 7285 DRM Cook Islands, Samoa, Fiji
1651-1836 9615 AM 9890 DRM Cook Islands, Samoa, Fiji
1837-1850 9615 AM 11675 DRM Samoa
1851-2150 11725 AM 15720 DRM Niue, Fiji Tonga Samoa
2151-0458 15720 AM 17675 DRM Pacific``
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [and non]. 9630, April 4 at 0549, REE via COSTA RICA is back here after switching to alternate 9675, 24 hours earlier; why?
17595, Wed April 4 at 1311, the normally bigsig direct from Noblejas to NAm, is absent, tho scheduled 13-15 weekdays only, but this audiblized VATICAN q.v. 17590 just as it was going off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TUNISIA. 7335, April 4 at 0556 open carrier, so I keep listening: at 0558:16, IWT modulation suddenly cuts on amid music and becomes // 7275. They don`t even have the finesse to fade it up, let alone insert a formal sign-on. As ever, HFCC registration is an hour off, 7335 at ``0700-0910``, 265 degrees to CIRAF 37. Aoki knows better, showing 0600-0810. EiBi is even more accurate with 0557-0806. Probably controlled by an inhuman timing device. Fortunately, Vatican is now finished with 7335 at 0500, so there is no overlap any more (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7811-USB, April 4 at 0544-0546, AFN again with Jim Hightower commentary for the third night in a row. Unfortunately it is a repeat of 24 hours earlier about J.O.B.S. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1070, April 4 at 1220 UT, ``Wichita`s Big Talker, KQAM 1480 also being heard on 1070 this morning``, right-wing discussion of bringing back earmarx; 1228 anti-Obama remarx from same guys heard on 1480. 1240 UT check, oldie music had resumed, which is supposed to be the only format now of 1070 KLIO.
On caradio, when trying to hear the same syndicated True Oldies format from 99.7 KZNG ``Mustang``-OKC, the frequency Hiram Champlin hijacked from Alva-Enid, it is usually disrupted by QRM from the new Wichita-market station that OK move possiblized on 99.7, and ironically I have to switch to 1070 to hear the song more clearly and lower-fi. So why this talk intrusion temporarily on 1070? Hope it does not mean TO is on the way out (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. It`s a new month so I am exploring what the Navajo stations are doing, after having been on nondirexional day patterns an hour too early in March. KTNN was caught powering up one day at 1235 UT.
660, KTNN`s official sunrise in April is 1245 UT, but nothing heard from it April 4 before or after this hour, just K-SKY Dallas with Bill Bennett`s `Morning in America` gushing over guest wacko Ann Coulter. Or should I say wacka? No. Still nothing from AZ after 1300, nor from KHAC 880 across the line in NM. Yet, 770 KKOB Albuquerque had popped right onto day pattern at its proper new time, 1230, and remained audible past 1300 with ABC news.
KTNN`s direxional pattern plot athttp://transition.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/86014-2089.pdf
shows the cardioid nulling New York retains an itty bitty lobe eastward at approximately 87 degrees.
880, KHAC Tse Bonito NM, had also been heard eastward well before sunrise in March, but April 4 nothing before or after 1300, in KRVN null. (Back at 1233, KLRG AM & FM, Arkansas with local promos amid Imus, including nickname for local host being ``The Arizona Kid``. That could be confusing). Still no KHAC by 1300 which should legally be on day pattern after 1245 UT. Same situation as late as 1315 when I quit, 770 KKOB still audible, no Navajos on 660 or 880, just KSKY on 660 and KRVN on 880. Today`s local sunrise was 1213 UT, currently moving 10 minutes earlier each week (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN. 17590, April 4 at 1311, in absence of strong signal from 17595 SPAIN q.v., a few words of Chinese, morphing to Latin ``Laudetur Jesus Christus``, which combined with two notes of the Vatican Radio ``Christus Vincit`` IS before cut off abruptly at 1312* leads me to believe it was VR, as scheduled 1225-1315 in Chinese, 500 kW, 65 degrees from SMG (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15435, April 4 at 1346, big buzz here altho signal is poor: suspect BSKSA which doesn`t open officially until 1500. Nothing listed at this hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15585, April 4 at 1400, strong open carrier, goes off a few sex after tunein, uncovering Spain. Maybe was tail of a Firedrake, which jumps all over the place in this range (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
