** CHINA. Firedrake May 9, before 1400:
16100, very poor at 1337 with heavy flutter; none in the 17s
15970, JBA at 1344
15490, very poor at 1344 with heavy flutter
14800, very poor at 1345
14700, very poor at 1345; none audible in the 13s, 12s, 11s, 10s
Propagation was very disturbed. I`ve long suspected that many of the FD frequencies are coming from Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN, also a major CRI relay site, and far enough west to ``provide`` good coverage of the populous regions of eastern China; but at this time I was also getting better than usual reception from India and Uzbekistan, qq.vv., vs. poor reception from east Asia. WWV reported at 1500:
``Geophysical Alert Message
#
Solar-terrestrial indices for 08 May follow.
Solar flux 123 and estimated planetary A-index 9.
The estimated planetary K-index at 1500 UTC on 09 May was 4.
Space weather for the past 24 hours has been minor.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level occurred.
Space weather for the next 24 hours is predicted to be minor.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level are likely.``
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA [and non]. 15190, May 9 at 0550, R. Africa with hymn, but extremely distorted and squealing; at 0615 that was louder than the intentional modulation. Sounds like transmitter is about to blow up, putting it off the air again for months if not forever. Other African signals on 19m were in well, 15400 Madagascar, 15580 Botswana, 15120 Nigeria, 15275 Rwanda (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. 9690, May 9 at 1355, AIR GOS, fair with Indian classical music, 1400 news of Olympix. Better than usual, this transpolar signal while other Asians were degraded; see also UZBEKISTAN, CHINA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. R. Kuwait is mixed up worse than usual May 8, after occasionally recently putting the Arabic service on 15540 instead of English.
Tuning in at 2000, I find 15540 is totally missing (I *think* it was there earlier today as I tuned around without logging). But 17550 is now on with good signal, and it`s the English service instead of Arabic! Never any announcements, but the usual segués of Western mostly classic rock as normally heard this hour on 15540. First song at 2001, however is more country. Further notes on the music:
2007, sounds like Nirvana, hardly appropriate druggy stuff for good Moslems; but then we`re often surprised by content of their Western music. Do they know what they are playing, what the lyrix really say?
2011, ``Sweet Dreams``, Annie Lenox & Eurythmix, but seems like a different version than usually heard, with rhythm-only cadenzas
2014, Rod-Stewart-ish?
2019, ``Touch Me When We`re Dancing``, Karen & the Carpenters. Oooh, hot stuff for the sexually pious
2028 I note that 15540 is still off; at 2029, I note that 13650 is still on, in Arabic. This normally switches to 17550 at 2000. 13650 is only fair and fluttery, W&M in Arabic. Back to 17550:
2029, ``Too Many Mornings``(?), C&W or country-rock
2035, is it Jerry Lee Lewis, or Little Richard?
2038, maybe Janet Jaxon
2041, something else. Most of these are ~3-minute trax
2048, ID as R. Kuwait with frequencies 963, 93.3, 11990 [sic], News in Brief coming up shortly, bit more music
2050-2053, News in Brief, back to music
2058, usual sign-off in English with frequencies again, and also imaginary broadcast at 0500-0800 on 15110; national anthem by military band
2100, accurate 5+1 timesignal, ID in Arabic, news fanfare and start news, but cut 17550 off at 2101; now, 13650 is also off an hour late (tho Aoki lists it until 2100)
2103, 17550 comes back on as they must have realized their mistakes; is it weaker now? Arabic continues, still audible at 2359, more fluttery, 0000 goes quiet, no timesignal, but then a bit more music until 0002* May 9 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1616, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA. 15115-15120-15125, May 8 at 1953, DRM noise audible with BFO, so VON Abuja is active; and today no spurs from Spain 15110 around 15119.5.
15120, May 9 at 0549, VON Ikorodu in analog with good signal, hum, YL talking about ``photo-gráphy`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. 15135, May 9 at 1340, intense drama in Russian, fair signal. Or so I thought: Listed as RRI in Romanian from Galbeni. Maybe I was misled by some Slavic elements in the language, obscured by the dramatization.
15190, with Alex Scourby bibling also audible better than usual, i.e. the Brother Scare service via IRRS via Tiganeshti. These signals making it thru despite degraded propagation conditions (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. 15465, May 8 at 1955, poor signal in French; 1957 ID as ``La Voix de la République ---`` I thought, ``de Russie``? Then Soviet (oops, Russian) Hymn = instrumental NA, 1959 ``Chariots of Fire`` IS on balalaika to 2000+*. HFCC shows it`s VOR in French at 18-20, 250 kW, 250 degrees from a circa-Moskva site (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RWANDA. 17820, May 9 at 0612, DW English audible again, but only poorly in the nightmiddle, unlike previous log, roughly equal to // 13780, and much better on // 15275 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [non]. REE engineering department must be non-existent or incompetent. Not only do some Noblejas transmitters put out horrible spurs, but also Cariari, COSTA RICA. This one has done it before, disrupting much of the 31m band, but now it`s worse than ever, disrupting the entire band!
9630, May 9 at 0555, extremely distorted and splattering out to approx. plus and minus 300 kHz, i.e. 9330-9930 or so, during talk. Then during music it`s out to 400 kHz, 9230-10030 or so!! Fortunately it was almost sign-off time, but could have been like this for the past four hours or more. Was anyone trying to listen to anything on 31m during that period? 0600 timesignal and the buzz around the band could still be heard during the few sex of unmodulated carrier which followed before cut off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7555, May 9 at 0604, WEWN is missing again tonight from usual ``Peace in the light of the moon`` Spanish service, ``Paz a la luz de la luna EN VIVO``, which runs the catch-phrase ``por su dolorosa pasión`` into the ground.
Still audible poorly on 11520 and 11870. Since all three transmitters continue to be heard at other dayparts I am beginning to wonder if there was a permanent QSY from 7555, but haven`t found it elsewhere yet, and 7555 is still on the web schedule at
http://www.ewtn.com/radio/freq.htm
between 05 and 13; however, we know that is not necessarily kept up to date (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5000, May 9 at 0608, WWV with weather info, by non-professional announcer so soft spoken and mumbling that it was hard to understand, worsened by background noise and even other talk on the recording; ``to be continued`` and finished up after 0609 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 15470, May 9 at 1342, steady open carrier at S9+15 but some deep fades, cut off at 1342:22, soon back on until cut off for good at 1343:16*. It`s the Edward R. Murrow station, Greenville-B tuning up for later broadcast on this frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1616: completed early UT Wednesday May 9 so ready for first SW broadcast UT Thu May 10 at 0330 on WRMI 9955, which no doubt will be jammed if on the air. Further WRMI airings: Sat 0800, 1500, 1730, Sun 0800, 1530, 1730, Mon 0500, 1130. Also:
Thu 2100 on WTWW 9479, UT Fri 0330 on WWRB 5050, UT Sat 0130v on WBCQ Area 51 5110v-CUSB/LSB, UT Sun 0400 on WTWW 5755, Tue 0930 on HLR Germany 5980. Also on WRN via SiriusXM channel 120, Sat & Sun 1730, Sun 0830. Full schedule including many more webcasts:
http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** UZBEKISTAN. 17605, May 9 at 1331, familiar hymn, ``The Church`s One Foundation``, rendered beautifully in Burmese, as became obvious from the talk that followed, and source also obvious when a YFR theme played. Fair signal, site? Uplooked later, it`s Tashkent at 1300-1400, 100 kW, 131 degrees. Propagation was generally very degraded, but some near trans-polar signals like this were enhanced. Aoki shows this transmission is under the auspices/brokerage of BaBcoCk, rather than the Russians. I`d still rather hear Radio Tashkent.
WWV reported at 1200: ``Geophysical Alert Message
#
Solar-terrestrial indices for 08 May follow.
Solar flux 123 and estimated planetary A-index 9.
The estimated planetary K-index at 1200 UTC on 09 May was 3.
Space weather for the past 24 hours has been minor.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level occurred.
Space weather for the next 24 hours is predicted to be minor.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level are likely.``
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
16100, very poor at 1337 with heavy flutter; none in the 17s
15970, JBA at 1344
15490, very poor at 1344 with heavy flutter
14800, very poor at 1345
14700, very poor at 1345; none audible in the 13s, 12s, 11s, 10s
Propagation was very disturbed. I`ve long suspected that many of the FD frequencies are coming from Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN, also a major CRI relay site, and far enough west to ``provide`` good coverage of the populous regions of eastern China; but at this time I was also getting better than usual reception from India and Uzbekistan, qq.vv., vs. poor reception from east Asia. WWV reported at 1500:
``Geophysical Alert Message
#
Solar-terrestrial indices for 08 May follow.
Solar flux 123 and estimated planetary A-index 9.
The estimated planetary K-index at 1500 UTC on 09 May was 4.
Space weather for the past 24 hours has been minor.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level occurred.
Space weather for the next 24 hours is predicted to be minor.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level are likely.``
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA [and non]. 15190, May 9 at 0550, R. Africa with hymn, but extremely distorted and squealing; at 0615 that was louder than the intentional modulation. Sounds like transmitter is about to blow up, putting it off the air again for months if not forever. Other African signals on 19m were in well, 15400 Madagascar, 15580 Botswana, 15120 Nigeria, 15275 Rwanda (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. 9690, May 9 at 1355, AIR GOS, fair with Indian classical music, 1400 news of Olympix. Better than usual, this transpolar signal while other Asians were degraded; see also UZBEKISTAN, CHINA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. R. Kuwait is mixed up worse than usual May 8, after occasionally recently putting the Arabic service on 15540 instead of English.
Tuning in at 2000, I find 15540 is totally missing (I *think* it was there earlier today as I tuned around without logging). But 17550 is now on with good signal, and it`s the English service instead of Arabic! Never any announcements, but the usual segués of Western mostly classic rock as normally heard this hour on 15540. First song at 2001, however is more country. Further notes on the music:
2007, sounds like Nirvana, hardly appropriate druggy stuff for good Moslems; but then we`re often surprised by content of their Western music. Do they know what they are playing, what the lyrix really say?
2011, ``Sweet Dreams``, Annie Lenox & Eurythmix, but seems like a different version than usually heard, with rhythm-only cadenzas
2014, Rod-Stewart-ish?
2019, ``Touch Me When We`re Dancing``, Karen & the Carpenters. Oooh, hot stuff for the sexually pious
2028 I note that 15540 is still off; at 2029, I note that 13650 is still on, in Arabic. This normally switches to 17550 at 2000. 13650 is only fair and fluttery, W&M in Arabic. Back to 17550:
2029, ``Too Many Mornings``(?), C&W or country-rock
2035, is it Jerry Lee Lewis, or Little Richard?
2038, maybe Janet Jaxon
2041, something else. Most of these are ~3-minute trax
2048, ID as R. Kuwait with frequencies 963, 93.3, 11990 [sic], News in Brief coming up shortly, bit more music
2050-2053, News in Brief, back to music
2058, usual sign-off in English with frequencies again, and also imaginary broadcast at 0500-0800 on 15110; national anthem by military band
2100, accurate 5+1 timesignal, ID in Arabic, news fanfare and start news, but cut 17550 off at 2101; now, 13650 is also off an hour late (tho Aoki lists it until 2100)
2103, 17550 comes back on as they must have realized their mistakes; is it weaker now? Arabic continues, still audible at 2359, more fluttery, 0000 goes quiet, no timesignal, but then a bit more music until 0002* May 9 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1616, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA. 15115-15120-15125, May 8 at 1953, DRM noise audible with BFO, so VON Abuja is active; and today no spurs from Spain 15110 around 15119.5.
15120, May 9 at 0549, VON Ikorodu in analog with good signal, hum, YL talking about ``photo-gráphy`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. 15135, May 9 at 1340, intense drama in Russian, fair signal. Or so I thought: Listed as RRI in Romanian from Galbeni. Maybe I was misled by some Slavic elements in the language, obscured by the dramatization.
15190, with Alex Scourby bibling also audible better than usual, i.e. the Brother Scare service via IRRS via Tiganeshti. These signals making it thru despite degraded propagation conditions (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. 15465, May 8 at 1955, poor signal in French; 1957 ID as ``La Voix de la République ---`` I thought, ``de Russie``? Then Soviet (oops, Russian) Hymn = instrumental NA, 1959 ``Chariots of Fire`` IS on balalaika to 2000+*. HFCC shows it`s VOR in French at 18-20, 250 kW, 250 degrees from a circa-Moskva site (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RWANDA. 17820, May 9 at 0612, DW English audible again, but only poorly in the nightmiddle, unlike previous log, roughly equal to // 13780, and much better on // 15275 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [non]. REE engineering department must be non-existent or incompetent. Not only do some Noblejas transmitters put out horrible spurs, but also Cariari, COSTA RICA. This one has done it before, disrupting much of the 31m band, but now it`s worse than ever, disrupting the entire band!
9630, May 9 at 0555, extremely distorted and splattering out to approx. plus and minus 300 kHz, i.e. 9330-9930 or so, during talk. Then during music it`s out to 400 kHz, 9230-10030 or so!! Fortunately it was almost sign-off time, but could have been like this for the past four hours or more. Was anyone trying to listen to anything on 31m during that period? 0600 timesignal and the buzz around the band could still be heard during the few sex of unmodulated carrier which followed before cut off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7555, May 9 at 0604, WEWN is missing again tonight from usual ``Peace in the light of the moon`` Spanish service, ``Paz a la luz de la luna EN VIVO``, which runs the catch-phrase ``por su dolorosa pasión`` into the ground.
Still audible poorly on 11520 and 11870. Since all three transmitters continue to be heard at other dayparts I am beginning to wonder if there was a permanent QSY from 7555, but haven`t found it elsewhere yet, and 7555 is still on the web schedule at
http://www.ewtn.com/radio/freq.htm
between 05 and 13; however, we know that is not necessarily kept up to date (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5000, May 9 at 0608, WWV with weather info, by non-professional announcer so soft spoken and mumbling that it was hard to understand, worsened by background noise and even other talk on the recording; ``to be continued`` and finished up after 0609 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 15470, May 9 at 1342, steady open carrier at S9+15 but some deep fades, cut off at 1342:22, soon back on until cut off for good at 1343:16*. It`s the Edward R. Murrow station, Greenville-B tuning up for later broadcast on this frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1616: completed early UT Wednesday May 9 so ready for first SW broadcast UT Thu May 10 at 0330 on WRMI 9955, which no doubt will be jammed if on the air. Further WRMI airings: Sat 0800, 1500, 1730, Sun 0800, 1530, 1730, Mon 0500, 1130. Also:
Thu 2100 on WTWW 9479, UT Fri 0330 on WWRB 5050, UT Sat 0130v on WBCQ Area 51 5110v-CUSB/LSB, UT Sun 0400 on WTWW 5755, Tue 0930 on HLR Germany 5980. Also on WRN via SiriusXM channel 120, Sat & Sun 1730, Sun 0830. Full schedule including many more webcasts:
http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** UZBEKISTAN. 17605, May 9 at 1331, familiar hymn, ``The Church`s One Foundation``, rendered beautifully in Burmese, as became obvious from the talk that followed, and source also obvious when a YFR theme played. Fair signal, site? Uplooked later, it`s Tashkent at 1300-1400, 100 kW, 131 degrees. Propagation was generally very degraded, but some near trans-polar signals like this were enhanced. Aoki shows this transmission is under the auspices/brokerage of BaBcoCk, rather than the Russians. I`d still rather hear Radio Tashkent.
WWV reported at 1200: ``Geophysical Alert Message
#
Solar-terrestrial indices for 08 May follow.
Solar flux 123 and estimated planetary A-index 9.
The estimated planetary K-index at 1200 UTC on 09 May was 3.
Space weather for the past 24 hours has been minor.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level occurred.
Space weather for the next 24 hours is predicted to be minor.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level are likely.``
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
