** ANGUILLA. 11775, missing earlier today, May 10 at 2001 check, DGS is back on air (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA [and non]. 15515, UT Friday May 11 at 0300, RA has signed on in English, // 15160 which also just started, and 15240 which was already on. I was looking for a revived French broadcast as in the WRTH Update, M-F 0300-0315 on 15240, 15515, plus Brandon 12080. Then received RA`s own A12 schedule at last, showing instead: French 0300-0330 M-F on 15515 and 12080 only. But no French, at least not yet.
11945 has been a good new frequency for RA in our mornings, altho usually weaker than 9580. It`s always been clear when heard after 1200, but May 11 I am listening at 1138 and find there is CCI in Chinese underneath. HFCC (which still hasn`t been updated for a week, and still has no SHP registrations at all), shows the Chinese is R. Veritas Asia, PHILIPPINES, 250 kW non-direxional (or due north?) at 10-12.
WRTH Update shows the RA 11945 hours are 0600-1530. RA`s own schedule agrees, but in two segments, 0600-1000 at 100 degrees, 1000-1530 at 70 degrees. 70 is best for us, and I don`t recall RA using a 100 degree azimuth before; it`s shown nowhere else on their complete schedule. Could it be a typo? Or a hefty slew. 100 from Shep is aimed across North Island NZ near Hamilton, then not much of anything except French Polynesia, and Pitcairn at 108 degrees, entering North America at Guatemala (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BIAFRA [non]. 11870, Thu May 10 at 2054, poor signal with talk; 2058 unseems English, so Igbo? Mentions kilohertz, off at 2100. R. Biafra London, continuing its Thu/Sat only 20-21 broadcasts. HFCC shows this is via WRN, 125 kW, 180 degrees via Wertachtal, GERMANY
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BRAZIL. 6180 and 11780, UT Friday May 11 at 0454, surprised to hear samba music, RNA on the air late/early other than on a Sunday; usual madrugada DJ informing us the time is 1:55 am in ``um novo dia``, and it`s Day #6. Normally these are off roughly 0330-0800. Maybe testing now that both transmitters are back in service? More QRM that XEPPM 6185 does not need, see MEXICO (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. 11750, May 11 at 1220, interesting talk about Naha, Okinawa, major tourist destination. Can it be CRI? Their broad topix can fool you. But 1229 NHK World frequency announcement starts with the ones for 0500, 1000, and two of the 1200 ones, not including this before modulation cut, and carrier not cut until 1231.
I can only assume this was another SNAFU at Sackville, since CRI English is on 11750 at 1100-1200 only, but they must have left the transmitter on by mistake, instead of 6120? Certainly better reception out here in the summer on 11750, tho BBC Thailand normally has the frequency to itself during this hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake May 11, before 1300:
16980, poor at 1248
16100, very poor at 1247
14800, fair at 1248; none in the 15s
13850, fair at 1258
After 1300:
15565, fair at 1313
15490, poor at 1313; none in the 16s, 14s, 13s, 12s, but this is earlier in the hour than many of them normally cut back on
Before 1400:
14800, fair at 1354
15490, poor at 1353, het on low side
16100, JBA at 1354; none in the 18s, 17s, 13s, 12s, 11s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 6010, May 11 at 0457, RHC already on here with VG signal in Spanish, promo for ``La Radio del Sur``, audio counterpart of Venezuelan-inspired TeleSur, // much weaker 6060. Shortly RHC switched to English on both from 0500. It would be interesting if RHC were to put LRS programming on SW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EGYPT. 9305, May 11 at 0310, R. Cairo is undermodulated in Arabic talk, 0315 music is more distorted; comparing to English on 9315: just barely modulated. WRTH Update says some but not all of the Arabic broadcasts are 1 hour earlier from May to Sept, including 9305 General Program via Abis to NAm, at 1900-0700. But this assumes Egypt will go on DST of UT+3 instead of UT+2 sometime this month, which it has not done for the past two summers, and timeanddate.com does not expect it to this year either. If 9305 starts closing at 0600, that will indicate a timeshift (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, May 10 at 2002, awful squeal/roar over talk and/or music from R. Africa, still very much ailing; how long will it last? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. R. Kuwait is operating nominally May 10: at 2002, 15540 is good in western pop music, i.e. English service. At 2001, both 13650 and 17550 are unheard, just before 17550 comes on, and then it`s good with flutter at 2004 in Arabic music, roughly equal signal to 15540 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** LEBANON [non]. 11715, May 11 at 0452, very poor signal with bits of music; WRTH Update says Vatican Radio is carrying Sawt al-Mahabba daily at 0430-0455 on 11715, following its own Arabic at 0400, which is also on 9645. When I heard it during the B-11 season timing at 0530, 9645 was on the air and better audible, but not now. It had come on in English after 0500, poor with Brasilian het at 0502 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6185, May 11 at 0459, XEPPM, ``se acabó el programa de hoy``, bit of classical music, poor signal, fair modulation, which means an improvement, but blasted away just before *0500 by CRI Sackville 6190, another night on its correct frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NETHERLANDS [non]. RNW is sending itself off with a 24-hour Dutch-language marathon May 10-11, on many additional frequencies. Apparently the regular ones are on too for one last time, including:
17605, May 10 at 2102, very good from Bonaire.
6165, May 11 at 0510 is blasting in as usual from Bonaire, for very last time? That will also put an end to the leapfrog mixing product on 6250, NHK Spanish from 6080 at 0500-0527, and people can no longer imagine they are hearing Equatorial Guinea there unless it really return. Also will unclog 6165 for Chad.
9895, special scheduled from Nauen at 20-24, inaudible here.
Scheduled all day from Bonaire until 2000 May 11 only, three frequencies in the 13m band, to Africa/S America, not us. At 1311, 21555 is poor, better than 21720, better than JBA 21750. By 1354, 2155 and 21720 are equally good, still better than 21750.
Since we know Bonaire units make leapfrog mixing products on other bands, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to find some on 13m if at least two of the fundamentals become strong enough: try 21945, 21845, 21780, 21690, 21390, 21360 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA. 15120, May 11 at 0505, VON in analog English is audible tonight unlike last night, fair signal with hum/growl, and weakening as the hour goes on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. Some area tropo is enhancing the signal from my last remaining semi-local analog, ch 48 in OKC, May 11 at 1358 UT, Estrella TV in a movie; at 1400 for a few sex, super ID in tiny white letters in lower-left corner:
KOCY 48
OKLAHOMA CITY
The movie continues, sort of a mixture of Batman and Lucha Libre, starring a guy in a mask plus full-head satin covering and a cape, uses grappling hook to climb up side of building (anyone can do that! Some superhero). Soon referred to as ``Blue Demon``, and the movie is ``Blue Demon y las Diabólicas``, from 1966-67. Interesting to Google up the background on this. The movie name gets only three hits, one in German. But Blue Demon himself gets 5,690,000. At first I thought it might be dubbed, as part of it was set in NYC, but it`s original Mexican; has radio-communication scenes using codes such as QRX and QSL! This is typical low-brow entertainment provided by minor network Estrella TV. Signal faded down to normal JBV level by 1500 UT.
At its peak I also checked ch 19 and found traces of video there, so maybe the other OKC LPTV is still on the analog air (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SERBIA [non]. 9685, May 10 at 0121 tune-in, IRS with some music, but soon interrupted by 4-note ``Windows closing down`` logo! Who needs to turn on/off a computer to hear this wonderful music?? Followed by two minutes of dead air, so figured they were finished, but 0123 music resumed, must have rebooted, 0124 Serbian announcement, more music and no further talk until off at 0130*. A few days before, it was off long before 0130, as I reported (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [and non]. WRTH A-12 pdf update just published includes REE minority languages:
2300-0200 daily LAm 15160nob**
2300-0200 daily SAm 11680nob**
2300-0500 daily SAm 9620nob**
2300-0500 daily NAm,CAm 9535nob**
** Includes news Mon-Fri, in Galician & Catalan, at 2330-2345.
So I check all but 11680, which is probably covered by Cuba, May 10 at 2338 and find Galician, with a heavy Castilian accent. You have to listen closely to hear the difference, such as pronouncing gallego as if it were ``galego``; 2340 into plain old Castilian. So maybe Catalan was first at 2330? These have been cleverly scheduled when the Costa Rica relay is not on the air, best here on 9535.
11880, May 11 at 1233, REE via COSTA RICA continues in Castilian the rest of the semihour, talking about Lorca and poesía, no Basque today, as sometimes happens, with no apology or explanation ever heard. WRTH Update maintains all the frequencies on air at this time ``Include news Mon-Fri, in Basque, at 1230-1255``.
At 1255, double take here as I hear the RHC IS and ID, and then Manolo de la Rosa, but he`s just congratulating REE on its seventieth anniversary. Cariari could have been playing fillers, as I couldn`t get any frequency direct to compare, but by 1300, 5+second late timesignal it was obviously hooked up with Madrid and // 17595 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1616 monitoring: first audible SW airing confirmed Thursday May 10 at 2100 on WTWW 9479, excellent signal. Next airing scheduled 0330 UT Friday May 11 on WWRB 5050: tuned in at 0328 to hear preacher ending with ``Amen and amen`` at 0328:55. Then a full five minutes` *very* respectful pause before WOR started at 0334.
Next airings: UT Sat 0130v on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB; UT Sunday 0400 on WTWW 5755. On WRMI 9955: Sat 0800, 1500, 1730, Sun 0800, 1530, 1730, Mon 0500, 1130. Also on WRN via SiriusXM 120: Sat & Sun 1730, Sun 0830 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 5810, May 11 at 0308, WEWN Spanish is missing here too, scheduled 00-05, as well as still absent 7555 after 0500; but still on 11550 from 1300. Nothing about this athttp://www.ewtn.com/spanish/Frequencias_radio.asp
That opens 5810 for possible leapfrog mixing product of the HJDH Colombian stations, 6010 over 5910, neither of which is on exact frequency so 5810 will not be either (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1190, May 11 at 1200, KFXR Dallas ID, NBC News Radio, but lasted only two minutes with an optional cutaway at one minute! This is the extremely direxional multi-stick array, the original KLIF, and dominating the frequency for a bit here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ZANZIBAR. 11735, May 10 at 2056, ZBC very poor signal with music, 2059 sounds like NA, brief announcement and off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 6071 approx., May 11 at 1145, het upon CFRX 6070. What could it be? Could not pull any modulation from it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA [and non]. 15515, UT Friday May 11 at 0300, RA has signed on in English, // 15160 which also just started, and 15240 which was already on. I was looking for a revived French broadcast as in the WRTH Update, M-F 0300-0315 on 15240, 15515, plus Brandon 12080. Then received RA`s own A12 schedule at last, showing instead: French 0300-0330 M-F on 15515 and 12080 only. But no French, at least not yet.
11945 has been a good new frequency for RA in our mornings, altho usually weaker than 9580. It`s always been clear when heard after 1200, but May 11 I am listening at 1138 and find there is CCI in Chinese underneath. HFCC (which still hasn`t been updated for a week, and still has no SHP registrations at all), shows the Chinese is R. Veritas Asia, PHILIPPINES, 250 kW non-direxional (or due north?) at 10-12.
WRTH Update shows the RA 11945 hours are 0600-1530. RA`s own schedule agrees, but in two segments, 0600-1000 at 100 degrees, 1000-1530 at 70 degrees. 70 is best for us, and I don`t recall RA using a 100 degree azimuth before; it`s shown nowhere else on their complete schedule. Could it be a typo? Or a hefty slew. 100 from Shep is aimed across North Island NZ near Hamilton, then not much of anything except French Polynesia, and Pitcairn at 108 degrees, entering North America at Guatemala (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BIAFRA [non]. 11870, Thu May 10 at 2054, poor signal with talk; 2058 unseems English, so Igbo? Mentions kilohertz, off at 2100. R. Biafra London, continuing its Thu/Sat only 20-21 broadcasts. HFCC shows this is via WRN, 125 kW, 180 degrees via Wertachtal, GERMANY
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BRAZIL. 6180 and 11780, UT Friday May 11 at 0454, surprised to hear samba music, RNA on the air late/early other than on a Sunday; usual madrugada DJ informing us the time is 1:55 am in ``um novo dia``, and it`s Day #6. Normally these are off roughly 0330-0800. Maybe testing now that both transmitters are back in service? More QRM that XEPPM 6185 does not need, see MEXICO (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. 11750, May 11 at 1220, interesting talk about Naha, Okinawa, major tourist destination. Can it be CRI? Their broad topix can fool you. But 1229 NHK World frequency announcement starts with the ones for 0500, 1000, and two of the 1200 ones, not including this before modulation cut, and carrier not cut until 1231.
I can only assume this was another SNAFU at Sackville, since CRI English is on 11750 at 1100-1200 only, but they must have left the transmitter on by mistake, instead of 6120? Certainly better reception out here in the summer on 11750, tho BBC Thailand normally has the frequency to itself during this hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake May 11, before 1300:
16980, poor at 1248
16100, very poor at 1247
14800, fair at 1248; none in the 15s
13850, fair at 1258
After 1300:
15565, fair at 1313
15490, poor at 1313; none in the 16s, 14s, 13s, 12s, but this is earlier in the hour than many of them normally cut back on
Before 1400:
14800, fair at 1354
15490, poor at 1353, het on low side
16100, JBA at 1354; none in the 18s, 17s, 13s, 12s, 11s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 6010, May 11 at 0457, RHC already on here with VG signal in Spanish, promo for ``La Radio del Sur``, audio counterpart of Venezuelan-inspired TeleSur, // much weaker 6060. Shortly RHC switched to English on both from 0500. It would be interesting if RHC were to put LRS programming on SW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EGYPT. 9305, May 11 at 0310, R. Cairo is undermodulated in Arabic talk, 0315 music is more distorted; comparing to English on 9315: just barely modulated. WRTH Update says some but not all of the Arabic broadcasts are 1 hour earlier from May to Sept, including 9305 General Program via Abis to NAm, at 1900-0700. But this assumes Egypt will go on DST of UT+3 instead of UT+2 sometime this month, which it has not done for the past two summers, and timeanddate.com does not expect it to this year either. If 9305 starts closing at 0600, that will indicate a timeshift (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, May 10 at 2002, awful squeal/roar over talk and/or music from R. Africa, still very much ailing; how long will it last? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. R. Kuwait is operating nominally May 10: at 2002, 15540 is good in western pop music, i.e. English service. At 2001, both 13650 and 17550 are unheard, just before 17550 comes on, and then it`s good with flutter at 2004 in Arabic music, roughly equal signal to 15540 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** LEBANON [non]. 11715, May 11 at 0452, very poor signal with bits of music; WRTH Update says Vatican Radio is carrying Sawt al-Mahabba daily at 0430-0455 on 11715, following its own Arabic at 0400, which is also on 9645. When I heard it during the B-11 season timing at 0530, 9645 was on the air and better audible, but not now. It had come on in English after 0500, poor with Brasilian het at 0502 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6185, May 11 at 0459, XEPPM, ``se acabó el programa de hoy``, bit of classical music, poor signal, fair modulation, which means an improvement, but blasted away just before *0500 by CRI Sackville 6190, another night on its correct frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NETHERLANDS [non]. RNW is sending itself off with a 24-hour Dutch-language marathon May 10-11, on many additional frequencies. Apparently the regular ones are on too for one last time, including:
17605, May 10 at 2102, very good from Bonaire.
6165, May 11 at 0510 is blasting in as usual from Bonaire, for very last time? That will also put an end to the leapfrog mixing product on 6250, NHK Spanish from 6080 at 0500-0527, and people can no longer imagine they are hearing Equatorial Guinea there unless it really return. Also will unclog 6165 for Chad.
9895, special scheduled from Nauen at 20-24, inaudible here.
Scheduled all day from Bonaire until 2000 May 11 only, three frequencies in the 13m band, to Africa/S America, not us. At 1311, 21555 is poor, better than 21720, better than JBA 21750. By 1354, 2155 and 21720 are equally good, still better than 21750.
Since we know Bonaire units make leapfrog mixing products on other bands, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to find some on 13m if at least two of the fundamentals become strong enough: try 21945, 21845, 21780, 21690, 21390, 21360 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA. 15120, May 11 at 0505, VON in analog English is audible tonight unlike last night, fair signal with hum/growl, and weakening as the hour goes on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. Some area tropo is enhancing the signal from my last remaining semi-local analog, ch 48 in OKC, May 11 at 1358 UT, Estrella TV in a movie; at 1400 for a few sex, super ID in tiny white letters in lower-left corner:
KOCY 48
OKLAHOMA CITY
The movie continues, sort of a mixture of Batman and Lucha Libre, starring a guy in a mask plus full-head satin covering and a cape, uses grappling hook to climb up side of building (anyone can do that! Some superhero). Soon referred to as ``Blue Demon``, and the movie is ``Blue Demon y las Diabólicas``, from 1966-67. Interesting to Google up the background on this. The movie name gets only three hits, one in German. But Blue Demon himself gets 5,690,000. At first I thought it might be dubbed, as part of it was set in NYC, but it`s original Mexican; has radio-communication scenes using codes such as QRX and QSL! This is typical low-brow entertainment provided by minor network Estrella TV. Signal faded down to normal JBV level by 1500 UT.
At its peak I also checked ch 19 and found traces of video there, so maybe the other OKC LPTV is still on the analog air (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SERBIA [non]. 9685, May 10 at 0121 tune-in, IRS with some music, but soon interrupted by 4-note ``Windows closing down`` logo! Who needs to turn on/off a computer to hear this wonderful music?? Followed by two minutes of dead air, so figured they were finished, but 0123 music resumed, must have rebooted, 0124 Serbian announcement, more music and no further talk until off at 0130*. A few days before, it was off long before 0130, as I reported (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [and non]. WRTH A-12 pdf update just published includes REE minority languages:
2300-0200 daily LAm 15160nob**
2300-0200 daily SAm 11680nob**
2300-0500 daily SAm 9620nob**
2300-0500 daily NAm,CAm 9535nob**
** Includes news Mon-Fri, in Galician & Catalan, at 2330-2345.
So I check all but 11680, which is probably covered by Cuba, May 10 at 2338 and find Galician, with a heavy Castilian accent. You have to listen closely to hear the difference, such as pronouncing gallego as if it were ``galego``; 2340 into plain old Castilian. So maybe Catalan was first at 2330? These have been cleverly scheduled when the Costa Rica relay is not on the air, best here on 9535.
11880, May 11 at 1233, REE via COSTA RICA continues in Castilian the rest of the semihour, talking about Lorca and poesía, no Basque today, as sometimes happens, with no apology or explanation ever heard. WRTH Update maintains all the frequencies on air at this time ``Include news Mon-Fri, in Basque, at 1230-1255``.
At 1255, double take here as I hear the RHC IS and ID, and then Manolo de la Rosa, but he`s just congratulating REE on its seventieth anniversary. Cariari could have been playing fillers, as I couldn`t get any frequency direct to compare, but by 1300, 5+second late timesignal it was obviously hooked up with Madrid and // 17595 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1616 monitoring: first audible SW airing confirmed Thursday May 10 at 2100 on WTWW 9479, excellent signal. Next airing scheduled 0330 UT Friday May 11 on WWRB 5050: tuned in at 0328 to hear preacher ending with ``Amen and amen`` at 0328:55. Then a full five minutes` *very* respectful pause before WOR started at 0334.
Next airings: UT Sat 0130v on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB; UT Sunday 0400 on WTWW 5755. On WRMI 9955: Sat 0800, 1500, 1730, Sun 0800, 1530, 1730, Mon 0500, 1130. Also on WRN via SiriusXM 120: Sat & Sun 1730, Sun 0830 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 5810, May 11 at 0308, WEWN Spanish is missing here too, scheduled 00-05, as well as still absent 7555 after 0500; but still on 11550 from 1300. Nothing about this athttp://www.ewtn.com/spanish/Frequencias_radio.asp
That opens 5810 for possible leapfrog mixing product of the HJDH Colombian stations, 6010 over 5910, neither of which is on exact frequency so 5810 will not be either (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1190, May 11 at 1200, KFXR Dallas ID, NBC News Radio, but lasted only two minutes with an optional cutaway at one minute! This is the extremely direxional multi-stick array, the original KLIF, and dominating the frequency for a bit here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ZANZIBAR. 11735, May 10 at 2056, ZBC very poor signal with music, 2059 sounds like NA, brief announcement and off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 6071 approx., May 11 at 1145, het upon CFRX 6070. What could it be? Could not pull any modulation from it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
