** ANTARCTICA. Haven`t posted a non-log of LRA36 for several weeks, so here`s one on a Thursday, which was supposedly the most likely broadcast day as of last year:
15476, May 3 at 1351, no signal on 15476, altho other broadcasters are still respecting its absence, nothing on 15475, never even Firedrake. Stations which *are* active should be so lucky (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA. Further monitoring of R. Australia, still lacking any definitive schedule on the RA website or HFCC, since all the changes last week:
15515 went off about 0557* May 3; Aoki now shows it until 0600, while EiBi still has the old 0500*.
Aoki does have some of the new schedules, but not all. Altho labeled A-12, apparently based only on incomplete monitoring, like ours is. Still shows 9580 ending at 1400, while it really continues. Shows 9590 as xed out, off the air. Has new 9890 at 13-15, tho now gone. Has 21740 at 22-01; 19000 at 23-01 to Asia, 01-03 to Pacific, so signal should improve here at 01 with beamswitch from 353 to 70 degrees.
15415, May 3 at 0558, poor signal ending `Pacific Beat`, continuing after 0600 with news, when 15240 is also on and very good.
11945, May 3 is already on at 0610 // 15240 with quiz about the name of that hyper-valuable Munch painting. EiBi shows 11945 as 07-13, old sked? Aoki shows 06-13, but of course we have been and continue to hear it past 13, in fact past 14 today, weaker than 9580 which now is the SSOB except for US stations, and nothing audible this late on 6 MHz (nor 7, as 7240 is apparently totally deleted? No, Aoki shows 18-21, but gone from *1400).
9660, May 3 at 0617 is still on, weaker and an echo apart from 15240. So I guess 9660 is still Brandon, not Shepparton.
6020, May 3 at 1206, RA is in English with the PM talking about Singapore, stronger than 6080, and 5990-5995-6000 bears DRM noise.
11945, 9580, 9475, 6080 and 6020 are all in music during English at 1236 May 3.
9890 and 9590 are still missing at 1308.
6020 is still in English today at 1314, while 9475 is in Chinese, and at 1325 check past 1400, 11945 in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake May 3, after 1320:
16100, JBA at 1321, none higher. Propagation degraded today
15500, very poor at 1322, het on lo side
14800, good at 1323; none in the 13s, 12s
Before 1400:
14800, very good at 1356; none in the 17s, 13s, 12s
15490, fair at 1352, het on lo side
15610, poor at 1352
15760, very poor at 1352
15900, very poor at 1352
16100, good at 1355
16980, poor at 1354
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GERMANY [non]. 15275, May 3 at 0604, DW news in English, good signal. Per HFCC this is a new frequency at this hour as of April 17. Then found even stronger VG signal on // 17820, at 0605 as `Afrika Link` was starting, in fact, the inbooming OSOB. Other stations around RWANDA could also have a defacto North American service on 16m in the middle of the summery night! And also sufficient signal on // 13780 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. The sporadic-E analog TV DX opening of May 2 petered out around 1530 UT as in previous report, but revived a bit later:
1718 on channel 2, CCI video reappears
1757 on 4, 10 kHz CCI from ~SW, toons on one, novela on other
1808 on 4, toons, bug in UR is mostly off-screen, but looks more like net-7 or Galavisión than net-5, the prime purveyor of toons
1816 on 6, video MUF briefly spikes up to here
1830 on 4, comedy show with grown men dressed up like kids with silly hats. Grown woman has her own silly hat.
1843 on 4, CCI including a net-5 bug UR
1855 on 2, same kidshow as on 4 above
(Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA. 15120, May 3 at 0600, VON, `News About Nigeria`, YL with humbuzz, but good signal and improving (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA [non]. 11500, May 3 at 1222, poor signal with heavy flutter, M&W in English. Incredibly, this V of Russia service to S Asia, via TAJIKISTAN, has replaced dead air with programming, at least for today (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** THAILAND. 9890, May 3 at 1241, fair signal in English, commercial for Bangkok Airways, so I bet it`s HSK9 --- yes, soon followed by two IDs for Radio Thailand. Only lite ACI from 9885 bearing VOA Spanish and pulse jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [and non]. 15105, May 3 at 0559, BBCWS still treats us to some Bow Bells, prior to the only hour in English currently on this frequency (otherwise French, Hausa), 06-07, 300 kW, 170 degrees from Woofferton, instead of ``no programming on this frequency``. Then truncated version of ``Lilliburlero`` leading up to 0600 timesignal and news. They can`t spare a few more seconds to play the ``whole`` thing? I always feel like I am falling off a cliff when it stops incomplete. Poor signal and with a het, from what?
9860, May 3 at 0617, BBCWS in English news, fair signal suffering from splash de VOA GB 9880 in French, and 9860 is // 9410 which is slightly behind. HFCC shows 9860 is in use by BBC during this hour only, 100 kW, 15 degrees from SOUTH AFRICA. While 9410 is 250 kW, 65 degrees from Ascension (and N.B., 9410 from 8 May at 06-07, will be 300 kW, 180 degrees from Skelton, probably replacing ASC tho HFCC registration has not been altered, showing both in effect until 28 Oct!). Note also that in the previous hour 05-06, 9410 is from Meyerton (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9330-CUSB, WBCQ lost modulation again, May 3 at 0613 just open carrier and some hum; plus suspicious weaker carrier on 9313 approx., but louder same pitch hum, spur from 9330? Not matched by another around 9347. Others have reported spurs from this transmitter.
9330, next check at 1216 May 3, far-right wingnut railing about the New World Order, banksters, Russian troops in Colorado. Doesn`t sound like the usual occupant of this transmitter, Rod Hembree`s religious Good Friends Radio Network, including Radio 2:11. Then at 1217, preacher talking about a messiah cuts on at equal level, and the two audios mix! Could one be on LSB, the other on USB? I start to tune the DX-398 to find out, but by 1218, the FRWN has stopped and we hear only the religious programming.
Next2 check at 1316, 9330 how with Pacific Garden Mission promo for its `Unshackled` program, now in 13 languages around the world, kept referring to Thanksgiving, about a semiyear out of synch, and back to hokey moralistic drama. Thanks, but no thanks, I`ll take the ``shackles`` of rational free thought. Presumably another show included in the Good Friends Radio Network feed. I foolishly went looking for a program schedule via http://www.biblediscoverytv.com/ and audio launched immediately interfering with something else I was listening to, and could not get it to stop short of exiting the site. Beware! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1615: first SW airing will be 2100 UT Thursday May 3 on WTWW 9479; then 0330 UT Friday on WWRB 5050; 0130 UT Saturday on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB; 0400 UT Sunday on WTWW 5755. Also on WRMI 9955: Sat 0800, 1500, 1730, Sun 0800, 1530, 1730, Mon 0500, 1130. And on WRN via SiriusXM 120, Sat & Sun 1730, Sun 0830 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1190, May 3 at 1157 UT, sorrowful breakup song suitable for teeny-boppers, from what else, Radio Disney, dominating frequency for a while, then Home Depot ad (whose customers are presumably adult), 1158 fading and losing out to a Fox Sports outlet, but enough signal at 1200 to hear a local ID for KPHN Kansas City [MO], meshing with the NE/SW DF on it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1650, May 3 at 1146 UT, ``16-50 The Fan`` with sports talk, i.e. KCNZ Cedar Falls IA. Already too late to get XEARZ, with my local sunrise now 1136 UT, one minute earlier every morning (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN [non]. 11890, May 3 at 1359, poor signal with Vatican Radio IS. Chances are when you hear this just before the hour they are about to sign off*, not *on, and yes, off at 1400*. HFCC May 1 shows this had been Vietnamese at 1315-1400, 250 kW, 280 degrees from TINIAN, which HFCC now attributes to the country abbr`d MHL --- ``11890 1315 1400 49 TIN 250 280 0 216 1234567 250312 281012 D 16000 Vie MHL VAT VAT 13012``
MHL, what`s that, a new one? HFCC does not provide a reference for country abbrs. Check ITU instead: it`s missing from this listing:
http://www.iarums-r1.org/iarums/itu.pdf
Looks suspiciously like short for MARSHALL, but that`s shown as MRL.
However, on page 658 of the WRTH 2012, MHL is listed as the ITU code for Marshall Islands! Also among Marshalls` many abbrs. here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_codes:_M#.C2.A0Marshall_Islands
TROUBLE IS, Tinian and Saipan, are NOT in the Marshall Islands. Here`s a map of the ones which are, and further info on them:
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/26551.htm
Tinian is in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, which is about 25 degrees of longitude further west, quite a miss! Here`s an equivalent map and info:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cq.html
Aoki and EiBi correctly show the country abbr. as MRA.
BTW, another VR transmission on 11890 preceding this one, Chinese at 1225-1315 is instead via PUG, PHILIPPINES, 250 kW, 320 degrees.
BTW2, there are lots of Marshallese in Enid, strangely enough. We often drive by one of their churches on the way to the cemetery. A serious injury fight involving one of them at a middle school was labeled a hate crime, and made national news (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15870, May 3 at 0556, very poor carrier with flutter, broadcast station? Only Aoki shows a possibility beyond the far right of the 15 MHz band, WWCR and Galei Tsahal: what else but a Sound of Hope nuisance transmitter from Taiwan (or maybe Firedrake):
``15870 SOH Xi Wang Zhi Sheng 2000-1700 1234567 Chinese 0.1 ND ? TWN 11955E 2610N SOH a12`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
15476, May 3 at 1351, no signal on 15476, altho other broadcasters are still respecting its absence, nothing on 15475, never even Firedrake. Stations which *are* active should be so lucky (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA. Further monitoring of R. Australia, still lacking any definitive schedule on the RA website or HFCC, since all the changes last week:
15515 went off about 0557* May 3; Aoki now shows it until 0600, while EiBi still has the old 0500*.
Aoki does have some of the new schedules, but not all. Altho labeled A-12, apparently based only on incomplete monitoring, like ours is. Still shows 9580 ending at 1400, while it really continues. Shows 9590 as xed out, off the air. Has new 9890 at 13-15, tho now gone. Has 21740 at 22-01; 19000 at 23-01 to Asia, 01-03 to Pacific, so signal should improve here at 01 with beamswitch from 353 to 70 degrees.
15415, May 3 at 0558, poor signal ending `Pacific Beat`, continuing after 0600 with news, when 15240 is also on and very good.
11945, May 3 is already on at 0610 // 15240 with quiz about the name of that hyper-valuable Munch painting. EiBi shows 11945 as 07-13, old sked? Aoki shows 06-13, but of course we have been and continue to hear it past 13, in fact past 14 today, weaker than 9580 which now is the SSOB except for US stations, and nothing audible this late on 6 MHz (nor 7, as 7240 is apparently totally deleted? No, Aoki shows 18-21, but gone from *1400).
9660, May 3 at 0617 is still on, weaker and an echo apart from 15240. So I guess 9660 is still Brandon, not Shepparton.
6020, May 3 at 1206, RA is in English with the PM talking about Singapore, stronger than 6080, and 5990-5995-6000 bears DRM noise.
11945, 9580, 9475, 6080 and 6020 are all in music during English at 1236 May 3.
9890 and 9590 are still missing at 1308.
6020 is still in English today at 1314, while 9475 is in Chinese, and at 1325 check past 1400, 11945 in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake May 3, after 1320:
16100, JBA at 1321, none higher. Propagation degraded today
15500, very poor at 1322, het on lo side
14800, good at 1323; none in the 13s, 12s
Before 1400:
14800, very good at 1356; none in the 17s, 13s, 12s
15490, fair at 1352, het on lo side
15610, poor at 1352
15760, very poor at 1352
15900, very poor at 1352
16100, good at 1355
16980, poor at 1354
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GERMANY [non]. 15275, May 3 at 0604, DW news in English, good signal. Per HFCC this is a new frequency at this hour as of April 17. Then found even stronger VG signal on // 17820, at 0605 as `Afrika Link` was starting, in fact, the inbooming OSOB. Other stations around RWANDA could also have a defacto North American service on 16m in the middle of the summery night! And also sufficient signal on // 13780 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. The sporadic-E analog TV DX opening of May 2 petered out around 1530 UT as in previous report, but revived a bit later:
1718 on channel 2, CCI video reappears
1757 on 4, 10 kHz CCI from ~SW, toons on one, novela on other
1808 on 4, toons, bug in UR is mostly off-screen, but looks more like net-7 or Galavisión than net-5, the prime purveyor of toons
1816 on 6, video MUF briefly spikes up to here
1830 on 4, comedy show with grown men dressed up like kids with silly hats. Grown woman has her own silly hat.
1843 on 4, CCI including a net-5 bug UR
1855 on 2, same kidshow as on 4 above
(Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA. 15120, May 3 at 0600, VON, `News About Nigeria`, YL with humbuzz, but good signal and improving (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA [non]. 11500, May 3 at 1222, poor signal with heavy flutter, M&W in English. Incredibly, this V of Russia service to S Asia, via TAJIKISTAN, has replaced dead air with programming, at least for today (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** THAILAND. 9890, May 3 at 1241, fair signal in English, commercial for Bangkok Airways, so I bet it`s HSK9 --- yes, soon followed by two IDs for Radio Thailand. Only lite ACI from 9885 bearing VOA Spanish and pulse jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [and non]. 15105, May 3 at 0559, BBCWS still treats us to some Bow Bells, prior to the only hour in English currently on this frequency (otherwise French, Hausa), 06-07, 300 kW, 170 degrees from Woofferton, instead of ``no programming on this frequency``. Then truncated version of ``Lilliburlero`` leading up to 0600 timesignal and news. They can`t spare a few more seconds to play the ``whole`` thing? I always feel like I am falling off a cliff when it stops incomplete. Poor signal and with a het, from what?
9860, May 3 at 0617, BBCWS in English news, fair signal suffering from splash de VOA GB 9880 in French, and 9860 is // 9410 which is slightly behind. HFCC shows 9860 is in use by BBC during this hour only, 100 kW, 15 degrees from SOUTH AFRICA. While 9410 is 250 kW, 65 degrees from Ascension (and N.B., 9410 from 8 May at 06-07, will be 300 kW, 180 degrees from Skelton, probably replacing ASC tho HFCC registration has not been altered, showing both in effect until 28 Oct!). Note also that in the previous hour 05-06, 9410 is from Meyerton (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9330-CUSB, WBCQ lost modulation again, May 3 at 0613 just open carrier and some hum; plus suspicious weaker carrier on 9313 approx., but louder same pitch hum, spur from 9330? Not matched by another around 9347. Others have reported spurs from this transmitter.
9330, next check at 1216 May 3, far-right wingnut railing about the New World Order, banksters, Russian troops in Colorado. Doesn`t sound like the usual occupant of this transmitter, Rod Hembree`s religious Good Friends Radio Network, including Radio 2:11. Then at 1217, preacher talking about a messiah cuts on at equal level, and the two audios mix! Could one be on LSB, the other on USB? I start to tune the DX-398 to find out, but by 1218, the FRWN has stopped and we hear only the religious programming.
Next2 check at 1316, 9330 how with Pacific Garden Mission promo for its `Unshackled` program, now in 13 languages around the world, kept referring to Thanksgiving, about a semiyear out of synch, and back to hokey moralistic drama. Thanks, but no thanks, I`ll take the ``shackles`` of rational free thought. Presumably another show included in the Good Friends Radio Network feed. I foolishly went looking for a program schedule via http://www.biblediscoverytv.com/ and audio launched immediately interfering with something else I was listening to, and could not get it to stop short of exiting the site. Beware! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1615: first SW airing will be 2100 UT Thursday May 3 on WTWW 9479; then 0330 UT Friday on WWRB 5050; 0130 UT Saturday on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB; 0400 UT Sunday on WTWW 5755. Also on WRMI 9955: Sat 0800, 1500, 1730, Sun 0800, 1530, 1730, Mon 0500, 1130. And on WRN via SiriusXM 120, Sat & Sun 1730, Sun 0830 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1190, May 3 at 1157 UT, sorrowful breakup song suitable for teeny-boppers, from what else, Radio Disney, dominating frequency for a while, then Home Depot ad (whose customers are presumably adult), 1158 fading and losing out to a Fox Sports outlet, but enough signal at 1200 to hear a local ID for KPHN Kansas City [MO], meshing with the NE/SW DF on it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1650, May 3 at 1146 UT, ``16-50 The Fan`` with sports talk, i.e. KCNZ Cedar Falls IA. Already too late to get XEARZ, with my local sunrise now 1136 UT, one minute earlier every morning (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN [non]. 11890, May 3 at 1359, poor signal with Vatican Radio IS. Chances are when you hear this just before the hour they are about to sign off*, not *on, and yes, off at 1400*. HFCC May 1 shows this had been Vietnamese at 1315-1400, 250 kW, 280 degrees from TINIAN, which HFCC now attributes to the country abbr`d MHL --- ``11890 1315 1400 49 TIN 250 280 0 216 1234567 250312 281012 D 16000 Vie MHL VAT VAT 13012``
MHL, what`s that, a new one? HFCC does not provide a reference for country abbrs. Check ITU instead: it`s missing from this listing:
http://www.iarums-r1.org/iarums/itu.pdf
Looks suspiciously like short for MARSHALL, but that`s shown as MRL.
However, on page 658 of the WRTH 2012, MHL is listed as the ITU code for Marshall Islands! Also among Marshalls` many abbrs. here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_codes:_M#.C2.A0Marshall_Islands
TROUBLE IS, Tinian and Saipan, are NOT in the Marshall Islands. Here`s a map of the ones which are, and further info on them:
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/26551.htm
Tinian is in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, which is about 25 degrees of longitude further west, quite a miss! Here`s an equivalent map and info:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cq.html
Aoki and EiBi correctly show the country abbr. as MRA.
BTW, another VR transmission on 11890 preceding this one, Chinese at 1225-1315 is instead via PUG, PHILIPPINES, 250 kW, 320 degrees.
BTW2, there are lots of Marshallese in Enid, strangely enough. We often drive by one of their churches on the way to the cemetery. A serious injury fight involving one of them at a middle school was labeled a hate crime, and made national news (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15870, May 3 at 0556, very poor carrier with flutter, broadcast station? Only Aoki shows a possibility beyond the far right of the 15 MHz band, WWCR and Galei Tsahal: what else but a Sound of Hope nuisance transmitter from Taiwan (or maybe Firedrake):
``15870 SOH Xi Wang Zhi Sheng 2000-1700 1234567 Chinese 0.1 ND ? TWN 11955E 2610N SOH a12`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
