** BRAZIL [and non]. 6180, June 17 at 0434, no RNA tonight tho it`s VG on 11780; instead just something in English, no doubt DW RWANDA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA [and non]. 6080, June 17 at 0517, CRI English via Sackville on wrong frequency again, instead of 6190 this hour; did not change from 6080 which is the right frequency before 0500. As a result, huge collision with NHK Warudo Radio Japón in Spanish via BONAIRE which is properly on 6080 during this semihour. Both signals very strong here. (NHK English via Canada remained on 6110 correctly.) 0525 R. Japón acknowledging reception reports including from someone in EE. UU. Will word ever get back to them about these periodic screwups by Sackville?
Apparently, Sackville, or Montréal if remotely controlled from there, are increasingly in a don`t-give-a-damn attitude as they are about to self-destruct and lose their jobs. One would have hoped they could have remained professional to the very end, especially since such mistakes impact innocent bystanders (also their own relay clients).
Despite all this, we must brace ourselves from June 25 for a lot of vacant spaces on the bands where we used to hear loud and clear relays via Sackville of China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and others. We know of one client which plans to switch to another site, but what about all of these? Do they have any such plans, or are they just going to let their NAm audiences go? China will still have Cuba, Spain and Albania, of course, even if they make no substitutes for Sackville. Cuba should be willing to help out Vietnam. Japan and Korea could use Bonaire lasting a little longer (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake, June 17 after 0400:
14400, very poor at 0422
16100, very poor at 0423; no others found 11-19 MHz during quite disturbed propagation
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA [non]. 6080, UT Sunday June 17 at 0531, CRI English via Sackville on wrong frequency instead of 6190, just cleared as NHK Spanish via Bonaire has just signed 6080 off at 0530. CRI starts `The World According to Words` program, explaining English neologisms, starting with ``gap-year``, i.e. taking a year off between high school and college, an idea which has not caught on in China (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CANADA
** CUBA. 12060, June 17 at 0421, DentroCuban Jamming Command, at least two pulsers unsynchronized on 2 x 6030 where many, many, more pile up for a wall of noise against Radio Martí. Also pulses fundamentally jamming nothing at 0425 on 11930, 9490, 7365, 5980. At 0426, pulse jamming also on 9955 WRMI, but South Asian accent in English more or less readable, presumably in WaveScan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EGYPT. 13855, June 17 at 0037 hum and something JBM; 13620, buzz like an airplane propeller, much louder and higher-pitched than 13855. These two are the OSOB! in strange propagation conditions, obviously both R. Cairo as scheduled per HFCC:
13855 2330 0200 10,11 ABS 250 286 218 1234567 250312 281012 D Ara, Spa
13620 0045 0200 13,15 ABS 250 241 218 1234567 250312 281012 D Spa
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. 15540, June 16 at 2045, R. Kuwait with Arabic talk about Mubarak, and // 17550 which is slightly weaker and flutterier. Once again, RK has switched without notice from English to Arabic on 15540. (We are fortunate that it`s in English most of the time 1800-2100, since they insist on registering this block as Arabic anyway, and imagining in their announcements that English is still on 11990, abandoned years ago.)
But guess what, at 2050, 15540 cuts back to English for the few-minute scheduled news headlines, but at 2054 it`s back to Arabic // 17550 until off around 2100*. Possible scenario: news is done live and for some reason the other English programming was unavailable, or control operator simply had brought up the wrong pot with Arabic instead of English programming elsewhen (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** LEBANON [non]. 11715, June 17 at 0425 very poor in Arabic, no doubt Vatican Radio`s own program as scheduled; 0428 VR IS; 0430 ``hunting call`` fanfare, ``Huna ---`` ID, presumably Sawt al-Mahabba relay, as also scheduled, but I have a hard time making out the full ID. Nothing on 9645 at this time. 11715 had faded out a few minutes later (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. 13775, June 17 at 0438, V. of Russia on its sole English frequency to NAm, DJ talking about keeping warm on the -50C Arctic by ``doing it, if you know what I mean``, and then a song to that effect (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** THAILAND. 15275, June 17 at 0034, R. Thailand with news in English, surprisingly good now on N American service. I`m not often monitoring around this time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TUNISIA [and non]. 7275, June 17 at 0432, IWT mostly music serves as BFO for some ham, probably American in LSB on exactly same frequency. This is a risky tactic, as a 500 kW broadcast transmitter could easily overpower a ham at one thousandth that much, but I guess it was working for the station he was contacting, as he went on and on about physical therapy and some medical procedure. This seldom happens with IWT usually unimpeded (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1621 monitoring: June 17 after 0400, confirmed on 5755, WTWW. On WRMI 9955: confirmed Sunday at 1545 amid webcast, nothing but a JBA carrier on unjammed 9955; further repeats: Sunday 1730, Monday 0500, 1130. On HLR 5980 Germany: Tuesday 0930. On SiriusXM 120: Sunday 1730 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA [and non]. 6080, June 17 at 0517, CRI English via Sackville on wrong frequency again, instead of 6190 this hour; did not change from 6080 which is the right frequency before 0500. As a result, huge collision with NHK Warudo Radio Japón in Spanish via BONAIRE which is properly on 6080 during this semihour. Both signals very strong here. (NHK English via Canada remained on 6110 correctly.) 0525 R. Japón acknowledging reception reports including from someone in EE. UU. Will word ever get back to them about these periodic screwups by Sackville?
Apparently, Sackville, or Montréal if remotely controlled from there, are increasingly in a don`t-give-a-damn attitude as they are about to self-destruct and lose their jobs. One would have hoped they could have remained professional to the very end, especially since such mistakes impact innocent bystanders (also their own relay clients).
Despite all this, we must brace ourselves from June 25 for a lot of vacant spaces on the bands where we used to hear loud and clear relays via Sackville of China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and others. We know of one client which plans to switch to another site, but what about all of these? Do they have any such plans, or are they just going to let their NAm audiences go? China will still have Cuba, Spain and Albania, of course, even if they make no substitutes for Sackville. Cuba should be willing to help out Vietnam. Japan and Korea could use Bonaire lasting a little longer (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake, June 17 after 0400:
14400, very poor at 0422
16100, very poor at 0423; no others found 11-19 MHz during quite disturbed propagation
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA [non]. 6080, UT Sunday June 17 at 0531, CRI English via Sackville on wrong frequency instead of 6190, just cleared as NHK Spanish via Bonaire has just signed 6080 off at 0530. CRI starts `The World According to Words` program, explaining English neologisms, starting with ``gap-year``, i.e. taking a year off between high school and college, an idea which has not caught on in China (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CANADA
** CUBA. 12060, June 17 at 0421, DentroCuban Jamming Command, at least two pulsers unsynchronized on 2 x 6030 where many, many, more pile up for a wall of noise against Radio Martí. Also pulses fundamentally jamming nothing at 0425 on 11930, 9490, 7365, 5980. At 0426, pulse jamming also on 9955 WRMI, but South Asian accent in English more or less readable, presumably in WaveScan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EGYPT. 13855, June 17 at 0037 hum and something JBM; 13620, buzz like an airplane propeller, much louder and higher-pitched than 13855. These two are the OSOB! in strange propagation conditions, obviously both R. Cairo as scheduled per HFCC:
13855 2330 0200 10,11 ABS 250 286 218 1234567 250312 281012 D Ara, Spa
13620 0045 0200 13,15 ABS 250 241 218 1234567 250312 281012 D Spa
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. 15540, June 16 at 2045, R. Kuwait with Arabic talk about Mubarak, and // 17550 which is slightly weaker and flutterier. Once again, RK has switched without notice from English to Arabic on 15540. (We are fortunate that it`s in English most of the time 1800-2100, since they insist on registering this block as Arabic anyway, and imagining in their announcements that English is still on 11990, abandoned years ago.)
But guess what, at 2050, 15540 cuts back to English for the few-minute scheduled news headlines, but at 2054 it`s back to Arabic // 17550 until off around 2100*. Possible scenario: news is done live and for some reason the other English programming was unavailable, or control operator simply had brought up the wrong pot with Arabic instead of English programming elsewhen (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** LEBANON [non]. 11715, June 17 at 0425 very poor in Arabic, no doubt Vatican Radio`s own program as scheduled; 0428 VR IS; 0430 ``hunting call`` fanfare, ``Huna ---`` ID, presumably Sawt al-Mahabba relay, as also scheduled, but I have a hard time making out the full ID. Nothing on 9645 at this time. 11715 had faded out a few minutes later (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. 13775, June 17 at 0438, V. of Russia on its sole English frequency to NAm, DJ talking about keeping warm on the -50C Arctic by ``doing it, if you know what I mean``, and then a song to that effect (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** THAILAND. 15275, June 17 at 0034, R. Thailand with news in English, surprisingly good now on N American service. I`m not often monitoring around this time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TUNISIA [and non]. 7275, June 17 at 0432, IWT mostly music serves as BFO for some ham, probably American in LSB on exactly same frequency. This is a risky tactic, as a 500 kW broadcast transmitter could easily overpower a ham at one thousandth that much, but I guess it was working for the station he was contacting, as he went on and on about physical therapy and some medical procedure. This seldom happens with IWT usually unimpeded (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1621 monitoring: June 17 after 0400, confirmed on 5755, WTWW. On WRMI 9955: confirmed Sunday at 1545 amid webcast, nothing but a JBA carrier on unjammed 9955; further repeats: Sunday 1730, Monday 0500, 1130. On HLR 5980 Germany: Tuesday 0930. On SiriusXM 120: Sunday 1730 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
