** CANADA. 15125, April 8 at 1543, RCI with a very sad tone, reading letters from listeners referring to RCI in the past tense. Sounded like the announcer had a lump in his throat. `Maple Leaf Mailbag` should be a must-hear this week, following news of RCI`s imminent demise. This transmission with poor reception was 500 kW, 212 degrees via Wulumuchi, EAST TURKISTAN.
We may expect much better via Sackville at 20-21 on 17735 (after Tunisia cuts off circa 2008), 15330 and 15235. Or if further east, try the 18-19 broadcast on 9530 via Kashgar, East Turkistan, 11765 and 17810 via Skelton UK. 17810 is often well-heard in North America, too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake April 8, after 1300:
15485, fair at 1313 but off at 1315
15540, fair at 1315, was already on before 15485 went off
16100, very good with flutter at 1317
17450, very good at 1317
After 1330:
15495, good at 1336
15560, good at 1336
15870, good at 1336
16100, very good at 1337
17450, very good at 1339
After 1400:
15615, good at 1412
17570, fair at 1412, frequency of the day for V. of Tibet, Madagascar
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. 17750, April 7 at 1929, RHC is on with open carrier, allowing 17755 Spain to be heard, and still so at 1933 when French should have started. Next check at 1936, French has started, blasting away REE. TDP DRM from GUF at 20-21 is still on 17750-17755-17760 at 2034 check, heavy noise upon RHC Arabic. TDP`s change to 17870-17875-17880 is ASAP, maybe Monday if not Sunday once it goes thru the bureaucratic chain.
9810, April 8 at 0500, RHC is still on just because `Sonido Cubano` runs a bit late, program outro, an echo apart from 11840. But 11760 has already cut off at 0459*. As 9810 is starting to mix with ScandinaVatican, RHC cuts off after first four notes of IS, and 11840 a few sex later. So it appears the intention is to close all Spanish frequencies around 0500 rather than one hour later on 9810 as in own schedule.
More dead air from the Cuban Commies: 15340, April 8 at 1312 OC with hum, but music is on at 1314. At 1321 it`s back to dead air, along with // dead air on 13780. I kept monitoring 15340 and at 1330 sharp, modulation resumed in progress, fortunately in time for first airing of `En Contacto` #15 of 2012y, starting a few sex before 1335 at its new DST timing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 19140, April 8 at 1320, CRI English reaching S9+5 and readable, = 2 x 9570. Don`t think I`ve ever heard this particular harmonic before; no 2 x RHC found elsewhere above 18 MHz.
Searching DXLD, there is one hit on 19140, inhttp://www.w4uvh.net/dxld8026.txt
when ITU monitoring station in France was hearing an unID here during the CRI hours, 12-14 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, April 7 at 1929, no signal from R. Africa, an hour when it is usually active (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ISRAEL. 15785, April 7 at 1931, Galei Zahal, poor signal with song in AM mode, 1932 Hebrew announcement. Still here, despite CCI and ACI in the mornings. Meanwhile, ex-15850 beckons for a revival (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [and non]. 6110 via doomed Sackville, CANADA, April 8 at 0510, NHK news in English outroed by Hirokazu Sakamaki, if I copied the syllables correctly this time instead of my previous guess, ``Hirokazu Kazamaki``. Time to look him up on the website. Guess what, no sign of any newscaster names, nor does anything show up by searching, so I listen to the latest NHK news podcast, http://www3.nhk.or.jp/rj/podcast/mp3/english.mp3
where he introduces himself, and now I`m quite sure this laid-back guy is called Hirokazu Sakamaki. True, it`s the news that matters, not the caster, but they could at least acknowledge him somewhere. Names of presenters of various other programs are given, including `Friends Around the World`, Kay Fujimoto and Mick Corliss which followed, but this show is so hokey with their scripted artificial good humor, I just couldn`t keep listening (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. 15540, April 7 at 1930, poor signal from R. Kuwait, but it was better than 15785 Israel, worse than 15630 Greece. 2048 a C&W song about Wichita, not ``Lineman``; 2050 music stops for news in English including: Syrian bloodshed etc., Yemen, Libya, Sudan and South Sudan, Pakistan, Virginia Beach --- finally one item outside the region. 2055 back to scat music, in Arabic? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA. 15120, April 7 at 1929, no signal, DRM or AM from VON, presumably because it`s Saturday.
15120.0, April 8 at 0454, VON is on and audible again, from old Ikorodu site since it`s in AM and not off-frequency, fair signal with national anthem, 0455 sign-on in English. Only a few other signals on 19m, 15400 Dabanga better, 15720 NZ worse (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NORTH AMERICA. Got this reply from Undercover Radio for my 15250 report April 7 at 1440-1500+:
``It's great to hear from you Glenn. You are the only person that reported it. I just decided what the heck, and dropped in on 15250 to see what I could drum up. It was my old classic 20th anniversary show from 2006. Geeze, I guess that means I've been on the air 26 years now. Power was 1000 watts peak. Thanks for the very detailed report and I'd be curious to hear if anyone else reported the show. I suspect being in the middle of the band that more people heard it than reported it. Dr. Benway``
I guess that means the 20th anniversary QSL package is no longer available. Still no other reports have reached here of UR on 15250, nor any posts on the FRN Grapevine (Glenn Hauser, OK, April 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PALAU. 11705, April 8 at 1310, praise music in English, rolling fades: nothing in HFCC, but Aoki has already caught up with this: T8WH has added a 1300-1315 prélude of their own to the NHK relays in Indonesian and Japanese at 1315-1430; why? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. IBB continues to allow its stations to approach, if not cross the boundary separating church and state.
15580, April 7 at 2041, song about ``Jesus, My Saviour``, outro as sung by Patrick somebody of Rwanda, then a 16-member choral group of genocide survivors (as is just about everybody remaining in Rwanda) with ``You are the Path and the Way`` redundantly, host first reading pro-Jesus lyrix translated, as if the hymn was in English, I could not understand it. Show is `Music Time in Africa`, host Matthew LaVoy.
He sure sounds different speaking plain American English than in his other persona in French as Mathieu LaVoie, where he really lays on the hype. MTIA is normally secular so this diversion is obviously inspired by Christian holydays underway. Now: equal time for Animists, Atheists, LDS, and everyfaith? They are certainly entitled to it once you open this religious can of worms, but I suspect IBB will get away with it, no one else really caring. AUSCS (AUFSOCAS?) needs to be sic`d on `em. O, 15580 at this hour is via MADAGASCAR, 250 kW, 305 degrees; latest HFCC shows it unused currently by Greenville at any hour.
R. Martí has a reprehensible history of broadcasting Roman Catholic services to Cuba to the exclusion of all other faxions, and maybe still do weekly; it`s hard to find a program schedule. On Easter morning, April 8 at 1306 on 11845, equal to or below the wall-of-noise jamming level, I am hearing a choir and organ, but apparently played from the studio as followed by announcer reading the 23rd Psalm; at least it sounded like a regular announcer rather than a priest. 13820 bore jamming only, 7405 mostly jamming, and 11930 not yet jammed or Martíed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9385, April 8 at 0504, Brother Scare is back, as WWRB failed to switch to 3185 a few hours earlier, absent now. Fair with deep fading (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1611 monitoring: confirmed after 1530 Sunday April 8 on 9955 WRMI, usual poor signal, but unseemed jammed. Repeats at 1730, Monday 0500, 1130. Also confirmed with excellent signal, UT Sunday April 8 at 0400 on 5755 WTWW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
We may expect much better via Sackville at 20-21 on 17735 (after Tunisia cuts off circa 2008), 15330 and 15235. Or if further east, try the 18-19 broadcast on 9530 via Kashgar, East Turkistan, 11765 and 17810 via Skelton UK. 17810 is often well-heard in North America, too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake April 8, after 1300:
15485, fair at 1313 but off at 1315
15540, fair at 1315, was already on before 15485 went off
16100, very good with flutter at 1317
17450, very good at 1317
After 1330:
15495, good at 1336
15560, good at 1336
15870, good at 1336
16100, very good at 1337
17450, very good at 1339
After 1400:
15615, good at 1412
17570, fair at 1412, frequency of the day for V. of Tibet, Madagascar
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA [and non]. 17750, April 7 at 1929, RHC is on with open carrier, allowing 17755 Spain to be heard, and still so at 1933 when French should have started. Next check at 1936, French has started, blasting away REE. TDP DRM from GUF at 20-21 is still on 17750-17755-17760 at 2034 check, heavy noise upon RHC Arabic. TDP`s change to 17870-17875-17880 is ASAP, maybe Monday if not Sunday once it goes thru the bureaucratic chain.
9810, April 8 at 0500, RHC is still on just because `Sonido Cubano` runs a bit late, program outro, an echo apart from 11840. But 11760 has already cut off at 0459*. As 9810 is starting to mix with ScandinaVatican, RHC cuts off after first four notes of IS, and 11840 a few sex later. So it appears the intention is to close all Spanish frequencies around 0500 rather than one hour later on 9810 as in own schedule.
More dead air from the Cuban Commies: 15340, April 8 at 1312 OC with hum, but music is on at 1314. At 1321 it`s back to dead air, along with // dead air on 13780. I kept monitoring 15340 and at 1330 sharp, modulation resumed in progress, fortunately in time for first airing of `En Contacto` #15 of 2012y, starting a few sex before 1335 at its new DST timing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 19140, April 8 at 1320, CRI English reaching S9+5 and readable, = 2 x 9570. Don`t think I`ve ever heard this particular harmonic before; no 2 x RHC found elsewhere above 18 MHz.
Searching DXLD, there is one hit on 19140, inhttp://www.w4uvh.net/dxld8026.txt
when ITU monitoring station in France was hearing an unID here during the CRI hours, 12-14 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, April 7 at 1929, no signal from R. Africa, an hour when it is usually active (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ISRAEL. 15785, April 7 at 1931, Galei Zahal, poor signal with song in AM mode, 1932 Hebrew announcement. Still here, despite CCI and ACI in the mornings. Meanwhile, ex-15850 beckons for a revival (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [and non]. 6110 via doomed Sackville, CANADA, April 8 at 0510, NHK news in English outroed by Hirokazu Sakamaki, if I copied the syllables correctly this time instead of my previous guess, ``Hirokazu Kazamaki``. Time to look him up on the website. Guess what, no sign of any newscaster names, nor does anything show up by searching, so I listen to the latest NHK news podcast, http://www3.nhk.or.jp/rj/podcast/mp3/english.mp3
where he introduces himself, and now I`m quite sure this laid-back guy is called Hirokazu Sakamaki. True, it`s the news that matters, not the caster, but they could at least acknowledge him somewhere. Names of presenters of various other programs are given, including `Friends Around the World`, Kay Fujimoto and Mick Corliss which followed, but this show is so hokey with their scripted artificial good humor, I just couldn`t keep listening (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. 15540, April 7 at 1930, poor signal from R. Kuwait, but it was better than 15785 Israel, worse than 15630 Greece. 2048 a C&W song about Wichita, not ``Lineman``; 2050 music stops for news in English including: Syrian bloodshed etc., Yemen, Libya, Sudan and South Sudan, Pakistan, Virginia Beach --- finally one item outside the region. 2055 back to scat music, in Arabic? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA. 15120, April 7 at 1929, no signal, DRM or AM from VON, presumably because it`s Saturday.
15120.0, April 8 at 0454, VON is on and audible again, from old Ikorodu site since it`s in AM and not off-frequency, fair signal with national anthem, 0455 sign-on in English. Only a few other signals on 19m, 15400 Dabanga better, 15720 NZ worse (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NORTH AMERICA. Got this reply from Undercover Radio for my 15250 report April 7 at 1440-1500+:
``It's great to hear from you Glenn. You are the only person that reported it. I just decided what the heck, and dropped in on 15250 to see what I could drum up. It was my old classic 20th anniversary show from 2006. Geeze, I guess that means I've been on the air 26 years now. Power was 1000 watts peak. Thanks for the very detailed report and I'd be curious to hear if anyone else reported the show. I suspect being in the middle of the band that more people heard it than reported it. Dr. Benway``
I guess that means the 20th anniversary QSL package is no longer available. Still no other reports have reached here of UR on 15250, nor any posts on the FRN Grapevine (Glenn Hauser, OK, April 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PALAU. 11705, April 8 at 1310, praise music in English, rolling fades: nothing in HFCC, but Aoki has already caught up with this: T8WH has added a 1300-1315 prélude of their own to the NHK relays in Indonesian and Japanese at 1315-1430; why? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. IBB continues to allow its stations to approach, if not cross the boundary separating church and state.
15580, April 7 at 2041, song about ``Jesus, My Saviour``, outro as sung by Patrick somebody of Rwanda, then a 16-member choral group of genocide survivors (as is just about everybody remaining in Rwanda) with ``You are the Path and the Way`` redundantly, host first reading pro-Jesus lyrix translated, as if the hymn was in English, I could not understand it. Show is `Music Time in Africa`, host Matthew LaVoy.
He sure sounds different speaking plain American English than in his other persona in French as Mathieu LaVoie, where he really lays on the hype. MTIA is normally secular so this diversion is obviously inspired by Christian holydays underway. Now: equal time for Animists, Atheists, LDS, and everyfaith? They are certainly entitled to it once you open this religious can of worms, but I suspect IBB will get away with it, no one else really caring. AUSCS (AUFSOCAS?) needs to be sic`d on `em. O, 15580 at this hour is via MADAGASCAR, 250 kW, 305 degrees; latest HFCC shows it unused currently by Greenville at any hour.
R. Martí has a reprehensible history of broadcasting Roman Catholic services to Cuba to the exclusion of all other faxions, and maybe still do weekly; it`s hard to find a program schedule. On Easter morning, April 8 at 1306 on 11845, equal to or below the wall-of-noise jamming level, I am hearing a choir and organ, but apparently played from the studio as followed by announcer reading the 23rd Psalm; at least it sounded like a regular announcer rather than a priest. 13820 bore jamming only, 7405 mostly jamming, and 11930 not yet jammed or Martíed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9385, April 8 at 0504, Brother Scare is back, as WWRB failed to switch to 3185 a few hours earlier, absent now. Fair with deep fading (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1611 monitoring: confirmed after 1530 Sunday April 8 on 9955 WRMI, usual poor signal, but unseemed jammed. Repeats at 1730, Monday 0500, 1130. Also confirmed with excellent signal, UT Sunday April 8 at 0400 on 5755 WTWW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
