** CANADA. Reminder to monitor the very last `Maple Leaf Mailbag` on RCI today Sunday June 24, at 1800-1900 on 17810 & 11765 Skelton, 9530 Kashgar; and at 2000-2100 on Sackville 15235, 15330, 17735 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake June 24, before 1200:
14700, good at 1158
14950, fair at 1158-1200*
Before 1300:
13920, good at 1237; none in the 12s
14700, very good at 1240
15555, very good at 1242
15780, very good at 1241, way over 15775 VOA Korean Tinang USward
16100, very good at 1244
16920, very good at 1244
17450, JBA at 1245
After 1300:
15555, good at 1304; the only one still on past hourtop
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA [non]. 13650, June 24 at 1206, CRI English with CCI, surely V. of Korear, followed 5 or 6 words later by 13645. 13650 is via Cerrik, ALBANIA; 13645 is via Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** COLOMBIA. 14950.7, June 24 at 0058, another try at the station previously filed under UNIDENTIFIED. Much better signal than before! Peaks at 6 bars on the DX-398 instead of the usual zero, maybe 1. As I tune in, again mentioning ``Ciudad de Pasto`` with a phone number.
0059, plug for Cristo, 0100 Mexican music.
0107, music segué, lyric includes ``la salvación``, quote from Isaías, YL timecheck, more music
0113, announcement includes ``ellos no pueden esperar``, song.
0117, Bible quote, then timecheck in a different format by YL only, ``---- Estéreo informa la hora: 8 de la noche, 22 minutos``. But she`s still 5 minutes fast! Unfortunately the canned IDs are somewhat muffled, harder to copy than the music. And now it`s weakening.
0121 quoting another Bible versículo, timecheck, weaker still.
On the Pasto lead I had researched all the radio stations there, starting with AM. There are only a few, with the best bet being per WRTH on 1250, Radio Vida/Radio María. I later got their webcast to work and it did not have this religious element.
The official Colombian government station list is here:http://www.mintic.gov.co/images/documentos/radio_difusion_sonora/listado_emisoras.xls
In three different categories. Once I heard ``stereo`` I knew the originating station was very likely FM, not AM. Again there are only a few possibilities in Pasto, all with webcasts: Tropicana Estéreo 97.1, certainly not the right format; Amor Estéreo 94.1, but that`s RCN and 14950 is local; Romántica Stereo 88.1 HJU86 looks promising, as licensee is the Cooperativa de Trabajo Asociado Arca de Noé, implying religious connexion with Noah`s Ark, but it sounds secular too.
I`m running this on my FM feeder 87.85 MHz as I resume monitoring 14950 on the porch at 0158. Switching back and forth, no match.
0202, announcement about something with dates in junio.
0205, the street light photocell again fires up the arc starting with a big RF blast on SW. This is the current dusk time with a clear sky.
0205 another automated timecheck, 0210 announcement, 0214 fading and I quit. Final recheck at 0343 to find it gone, probably off much earlier.
Meanwhile I check one more Pasto station, R. Capital Pasto, 104.1, which despite the seemingly secular name is obviously religious from its Facebook, but again the announcements and music style don`t fit.
Another check in the morning June 24: at 1158 Firedrake is dominating 14950, off at 1200, with JBA signal uncovered maybe from Colombia, but now one of my DTV cable boxes has decided to vary to this frequency with its bubble-jamming, still at 1224.
So nothing fits for Pasto. Since 14950 is obviously piratical, maybe the FM station is too, and not in the official lists? No, Pasto turns out to be a mislead. Fortunately, I need pursue this no longer, as Henrik Klemetz reports:
``Thanks to Torolf Johnsson, of Stockholm, for providing two good audio files. The programming heard on 14950.6 is that of Salem Stéreo, which operates on 106.5 FM from Rioblanco, Tolima, Colombia. I am inclined to believe that the SW frequency is being operated by some local or semilocal ham. Pasto is mentioned in an ad as the home town of Freddy Noguera, who is co-hosting a youth meeting June 26-26 [sic].``
BTW, this station does not appear on the official list! Here`s its website:http://www.salemstereo.com/
and stream with strange title Radio Ipuc:
[hmm, maybe means something like Iglesia Pentecostal Unida Colombiana]http://www.salemstereo.com/radio/salemstereo.html
Format matches checked at 1511 UT with timecheck only 2 minutes fast. ID is pronounced ``Salén Estéreo``. I would not rule out possibility that other times in past and future, 14950 may relay some other station. And since Salem Stereo does webcast, the relay really could be anywhere, unless 14950 is suitably ahead of the webcast delay.
I later read that Terry Krueger, FL, had also IDed it: ``14950.68 COLOMBIA Salem Stereo, Ibagué or Río Blanco, Tolima. 2145 June 23, 2012`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GERMANY. 7265, Sunday June 24 at 0459 past 0500, no signal from Hamburger Lokalradio, just North American SSB hams in their Field Day frenzy, overfilling the bands once a year; they were even atop Vatican on 7250. Thomas Voelkner had tipped us that HLR would be on today, including a special airing of WORLD OF RADIO at 0630. Aoki shows it`s only 1 kW, 230 degrees from Bremen, starting this early only on Sat & Sun (but not always?), so how was reception in Europe for WOR?
Noel Green, Blackpool, England reports: ``Hello Glenn, Yes, WOR was heard on 7265 today (24th) at tune in around 0635 till close at 0800. Their signal was varying from nil on the meter with surges up to 9, but mostly about S2. That's not strong enough to over-ride my local noise level and so I missed hearing clearly some of the programme. But, I hope they will do it again another weekend`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. 15540, June 23 at 1809 check, R. Kuwait is in Arabic intonations, not Qur`an recitation, then into English translation, fair signal. So it`s the regular Islamic-evangelism show, not default to total Arabic today; fair signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. Sporadic-E analog TV DX June 23, UT:
1649 on 2, fade-in Spanish from south. Grafix showing Mesa 5, Mesa 6, Mesa 7, audio announcing premio after premio in the 20s. Some kind of game show, auxion, lottery? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1622 monitoring: confirmed on WTWW 5755, UT Sunday June 24 at 0400. Once again like Thursday, the ID causes my opening to be upcut in progress. Remaining airings on WRMI 9955: Sunday 1530, 1730, Monday 0500, 1130; on HLR 5980: Tuesday 0930 [see also GERMANY]. On WRN via SiriusXM channel 120: Sunday 1730 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9990, Saturday June 23 at 1730, no signal from WTWW-2 despite advance publicity from Ted Randall that he would be doing a live show from Field Day near Nashville at 12-6 pm (=17-23 UT). Next check at 1745 it was on with music; 1815 a live interview and onward for at least two hours, alternating with classic rock/country. Meanwhile after 1800, his pre-recorded regular QSO show was airing on WTWW-1 9479.
12105, June 23 at 1813, noticed that WTWW-3 was in Arabic, which is normally heard from *1400, but now with piano music background, so not Arabible? I don`t think languages they really broadcast have ever matched the nominal schedule on website:
``Transmitter 3 Scripture readings 12.105 Mhz New schedule to start shortly:
Central UTC
6 - 9 am Russian 1200 - 1500
9 - 12 noon Arabic 1500 - 1800
12 - 3pm French 1800 - 2100
3 - 6pm German 2100 - 0000
6 - 9pm Spanish 0000 - 0400
9 - 12 midn Portuguese 0400 - 0600
12MN - 3am English 0600 - 0900
3 - 6am English 0900 - 1200``
Note the time conversions are for MDT/CST, not CDT. And not really on the air between 0500 and 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9980, June 23 at 1910 I notice that WWCR-4 is off early, so no competition for 9990 WTWW; but June 24 at early 1223, I notice that 9980 is on with ``The Last Radio Program``, VG signal, Alun(sp?) giving his e-mail address. This show does not appear anywhere on the WWCR program schedule.
So they are messing with the schedule again. According to their own PDF program schedule dated June 4, on Saturdays, 9980 goes off at 2000 after BS; Sunday sign-on not until 1400 with more BS. Don`t you believe it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 12050, June 23 at 2028, open carrier/dead air from WEWN Spanish, while 13830 is crackly. 7555, June 24 at 0501 and still 0511, no signal from WEWN Spanish which is missing a lot, but not every night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 17605, June 24 at 1306, good signal in Burmese from YFR, so presumed still on substitute site Grigoriopol/Kishinov, Pridnestrovye/Moldova, instead of originally scheduled Tashkent, Uzbekistan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ZIMBABWE [non]. 9870, June 24 at 0453, African language with distortion; I remember that Saudi Arabia, Iran and India use this frequency, but it`s none of those now. Aoki shows:
``9870 R. VOICE OF PEOPLE 0400-0500 1234567 English/Shona/Ndebele 50 265 Talata-Volondry 3 MDG 04737E 1843S RVP a12``
So apparently the 50 kW Madagascar transmitter has its problems. I don`t think it was jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15725, June 24 at 0510, music with very poor signal, 0511 YL maybe in Urdu; 0517 intonation sounded more like English, then music. The choices are: R. Pakistan, and V. of South Sudan Revolutionary Radio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake June 24, before 1200:
14700, good at 1158
14950, fair at 1158-1200*
Before 1300:
13920, good at 1237; none in the 12s
14700, very good at 1240
15555, very good at 1242
15780, very good at 1241, way over 15775 VOA Korean Tinang USward
16100, very good at 1244
16920, very good at 1244
17450, JBA at 1245
After 1300:
15555, good at 1304; the only one still on past hourtop
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA [non]. 13650, June 24 at 1206, CRI English with CCI, surely V. of Korear, followed 5 or 6 words later by 13645. 13650 is via Cerrik, ALBANIA; 13645 is via Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** COLOMBIA. 14950.7, June 24 at 0058, another try at the station previously filed under UNIDENTIFIED. Much better signal than before! Peaks at 6 bars on the DX-398 instead of the usual zero, maybe 1. As I tune in, again mentioning ``Ciudad de Pasto`` with a phone number.
0059, plug for Cristo, 0100 Mexican music.
0107, music segué, lyric includes ``la salvación``, quote from Isaías, YL timecheck, more music
0113, announcement includes ``ellos no pueden esperar``, song.
0117, Bible quote, then timecheck in a different format by YL only, ``---- Estéreo informa la hora: 8 de la noche, 22 minutos``. But she`s still 5 minutes fast! Unfortunately the canned IDs are somewhat muffled, harder to copy than the music. And now it`s weakening.
0121 quoting another Bible versículo, timecheck, weaker still.
On the Pasto lead I had researched all the radio stations there, starting with AM. There are only a few, with the best bet being per WRTH on 1250, Radio Vida/Radio María. I later got their webcast to work and it did not have this religious element.
The official Colombian government station list is here:http://www.mintic.gov.co/images/documentos/radio_difusion_sonora/listado_emisoras.xls
In three different categories. Once I heard ``stereo`` I knew the originating station was very likely FM, not AM. Again there are only a few possibilities in Pasto, all with webcasts: Tropicana Estéreo 97.1, certainly not the right format; Amor Estéreo 94.1, but that`s RCN and 14950 is local; Romántica Stereo 88.1 HJU86 looks promising, as licensee is the Cooperativa de Trabajo Asociado Arca de Noé, implying religious connexion with Noah`s Ark, but it sounds secular too.
I`m running this on my FM feeder 87.85 MHz as I resume monitoring 14950 on the porch at 0158. Switching back and forth, no match.
0202, announcement about something with dates in junio.
0205, the street light photocell again fires up the arc starting with a big RF blast on SW. This is the current dusk time with a clear sky.
0205 another automated timecheck, 0210 announcement, 0214 fading and I quit. Final recheck at 0343 to find it gone, probably off much earlier.
Meanwhile I check one more Pasto station, R. Capital Pasto, 104.1, which despite the seemingly secular name is obviously religious from its Facebook, but again the announcements and music style don`t fit.
Another check in the morning June 24: at 1158 Firedrake is dominating 14950, off at 1200, with JBA signal uncovered maybe from Colombia, but now one of my DTV cable boxes has decided to vary to this frequency with its bubble-jamming, still at 1224.
So nothing fits for Pasto. Since 14950 is obviously piratical, maybe the FM station is too, and not in the official lists? No, Pasto turns out to be a mislead. Fortunately, I need pursue this no longer, as Henrik Klemetz reports:
``Thanks to Torolf Johnsson, of Stockholm, for providing two good audio files. The programming heard on 14950.6 is that of Salem Stéreo, which operates on 106.5 FM from Rioblanco, Tolima, Colombia. I am inclined to believe that the SW frequency is being operated by some local or semilocal ham. Pasto is mentioned in an ad as the home town of Freddy Noguera, who is co-hosting a youth meeting June 26-26 [sic].``
BTW, this station does not appear on the official list! Here`s its website:http://www.salemstereo.com/
and stream with strange title Radio Ipuc:
[hmm, maybe means something like Iglesia Pentecostal Unida Colombiana]http://www.salemstereo.com/radio/salemstereo.html
Format matches checked at 1511 UT with timecheck only 2 minutes fast. ID is pronounced ``Salén Estéreo``. I would not rule out possibility that other times in past and future, 14950 may relay some other station. And since Salem Stereo does webcast, the relay really could be anywhere, unless 14950 is suitably ahead of the webcast delay.
I later read that Terry Krueger, FL, had also IDed it: ``14950.68 COLOMBIA Salem Stereo, Ibagué or Río Blanco, Tolima. 2145 June 23, 2012`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GERMANY. 7265, Sunday June 24 at 0459 past 0500, no signal from Hamburger Lokalradio, just North American SSB hams in their Field Day frenzy, overfilling the bands once a year; they were even atop Vatican on 7250. Thomas Voelkner had tipped us that HLR would be on today, including a special airing of WORLD OF RADIO at 0630. Aoki shows it`s only 1 kW, 230 degrees from Bremen, starting this early only on Sat & Sun (but not always?), so how was reception in Europe for WOR?
Noel Green, Blackpool, England reports: ``Hello Glenn, Yes, WOR was heard on 7265 today (24th) at tune in around 0635 till close at 0800. Their signal was varying from nil on the meter with surges up to 9, but mostly about S2. That's not strong enough to over-ride my local noise level and so I missed hearing clearly some of the programme. But, I hope they will do it again another weekend`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. 15540, June 23 at 1809 check, R. Kuwait is in Arabic intonations, not Qur`an recitation, then into English translation, fair signal. So it`s the regular Islamic-evangelism show, not default to total Arabic today; fair signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. Sporadic-E analog TV DX June 23, UT:
1649 on 2, fade-in Spanish from south. Grafix showing Mesa 5, Mesa 6, Mesa 7, audio announcing premio after premio in the 20s. Some kind of game show, auxion, lottery? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1622 monitoring: confirmed on WTWW 5755, UT Sunday June 24 at 0400. Once again like Thursday, the ID causes my opening to be upcut in progress. Remaining airings on WRMI 9955: Sunday 1530, 1730, Monday 0500, 1130; on HLR 5980: Tuesday 0930 [see also GERMANY]. On WRN via SiriusXM channel 120: Sunday 1730 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9990, Saturday June 23 at 1730, no signal from WTWW-2 despite advance publicity from Ted Randall that he would be doing a live show from Field Day near Nashville at 12-6 pm (=17-23 UT). Next check at 1745 it was on with music; 1815 a live interview and onward for at least two hours, alternating with classic rock/country. Meanwhile after 1800, his pre-recorded regular QSO show was airing on WTWW-1 9479.
12105, June 23 at 1813, noticed that WTWW-3 was in Arabic, which is normally heard from *1400, but now with piano music background, so not Arabible? I don`t think languages they really broadcast have ever matched the nominal schedule on website:
``Transmitter 3 Scripture readings 12.105 Mhz New schedule to start shortly:
Central UTC
6 - 9 am Russian 1200 - 1500
9 - 12 noon Arabic 1500 - 1800
12 - 3pm French 1800 - 2100
3 - 6pm German 2100 - 0000
6 - 9pm Spanish 0000 - 0400
9 - 12 midn Portuguese 0400 - 0600
12MN - 3am English 0600 - 0900
3 - 6am English 0900 - 1200``
Note the time conversions are for MDT/CST, not CDT. And not really on the air between 0500 and 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9980, June 23 at 1910 I notice that WWCR-4 is off early, so no competition for 9990 WTWW; but June 24 at early 1223, I notice that 9980 is on with ``The Last Radio Program``, VG signal, Alun(sp?) giving his e-mail address. This show does not appear anywhere on the WWCR program schedule.
So they are messing with the schedule again. According to their own PDF program schedule dated June 4, on Saturdays, 9980 goes off at 2000 after BS; Sunday sign-on not until 1400 with more BS. Don`t you believe it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 12050, June 23 at 2028, open carrier/dead air from WEWN Spanish, while 13830 is crackly. 7555, June 24 at 0501 and still 0511, no signal from WEWN Spanish which is missing a lot, but not every night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 17605, June 24 at 1306, good signal in Burmese from YFR, so presumed still on substitute site Grigoriopol/Kishinov, Pridnestrovye/Moldova, instead of originally scheduled Tashkent, Uzbekistan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ZIMBABWE [non]. 9870, June 24 at 0453, African language with distortion; I remember that Saudi Arabia, Iran and India use this frequency, but it`s none of those now. Aoki shows:
``9870 R. VOICE OF PEOPLE 0400-0500 1234567 English/Shona/Ndebele 50 265 Talata-Volondry 3 MDG 04737E 1843S RVP a12``
So apparently the 50 kW Madagascar transmitter has its problems. I don`t think it was jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15725, June 24 at 0510, music with very poor signal, 0511 YL maybe in Urdu; 0517 intonation sounded more like English, then music. The choices are: R. Pakistan, and V. of South Sudan Revolutionary Radio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
