** CANADA. Before all the DTV tropo TVDX from Iowa and neighboring states is quite finished, Es fires up July 21, UT and the antenna is already conveniently NNE:
1605 on 2, some video starts to show
1747 on 2, some more video as MUF edges up again
1755 on 2, tentative Global bug LR, maybe one of the pair in Ontario rather than Manitoba this time, as per 1817 log
1808 on 2, 3, 4, CCI
1817 on 2, video het of 440 Hz = A above middle C on my keyboard. A giveaway for the always off-frequency CKCO-2 in Wiarton Ontario, as discussed a biyear ago in DXLD 10-28, measured by Bill Hepburn then:
``55.240.66v CKCO-2 Wiarton, ON``, i.e. 660 Hz off of exact channel 2-minus-offset stations, such as the other CTV station, CHBX in Sault Ste Marie; it had varied down to as little as 300 Hz off
Nothing more including break for lunch and nap, until:
2048 on 2, signs of Es video again with antenna still north; nothing develops (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** COLOMBIA. 14950.75v, another check for Salem Stereo, July 22 around 0220: no signal. Then I get a reply to my inquiry about why we had not heard them for a week, `No se oye más en Oklahoma``:
``Dios te bendiga, Sr. Guillermo Glenn Hauser, Me da mucha alegría saludarle y saber que nos han escuchado, le informo que en estos días hemos tenido problemas con nuestros equipos de trasmisión en onda corta 14950 KHz, pero Dios mediante en unos diez días volvemos al aire para nos escue [? sic]. Le deseo muchas bendiciones del Señor y ya le estaremos informando cuando volvamos al aire. La Paz de Cristo, Atte:
LUIS EMILIOTORRES GARZÓN, Pastor y Director de Salem Stereo``
Says they have problems with the SW equipment but hope to be back on the air in ten days or so (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** COSTA RICA. 17740-18200, July 21 at 1856, for third day, REE Cariari relay is again splattering all over the 16m band and beyond, while 17850 fundamental is distorted (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EGYPT. 11890, July 21 at 2155, checking whether R. Cairo has moved English here from 6270 as alleged, 2115-2245 to Europe. There is a very poor, undermodulated signal here, intonation could be English. Too early to hear 6270 if it were still on. Nothing else scheduled here, so maybe it is really Cairo. HFCC entry now shows both 11890 and 6270 for this broadcast since 25 March, obviously not true. Altho HFCC has columns for specific start and stop dates, too many registrants just put start/end of season including imaginary wooden ones. I`ve yet to see any reports of 11890 from Europe where it should be easy to confirm this.
Other frequencies checked July 22 at 0220: 9305 General Arabic service is nothing but a huge buzz, no program modulation at all, and extends gradually out to 9275 and 9327 (probably further up if not for 9330 WBCQ).
9315 is confirmed still in English with 0222 ID for North American service, undermodulated, much weaker than 9305 and suffering from its spurbuzz! 9720 nothing. 9965 in Arabic with music interspersed, extremely distorted modulation but no spurs. At 0400, 9305 is still buzzing but a little weaker, 9315 is off and 9965 continues as before (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. One of the references to XEDP 710`s FM frequency in last report had a typo: it`s 89.7, not 89.9 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1626 monitoring: confirmed starting 0359:40 UT Sunday July 22 on very good signal from WTWW 5755, but with usual interruption for legal ID at hourtop. Other repeats, on WRMI 9955 are: Sun 0800, 1530, 1730, Mon 0500, 1130 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7506.4, July 22 at 0359 checking WRNO: rock music runs a bit past 0400, and it`s quite distorted. No one would listen to that voluntarily. Kyle somebody starts a sign-off announcement for ``Contemporary Hit Radio, WRNO`` claiming to be on 7505, from transmitter at New Orleans, Louisiana, but is cut off the air before he can finish. Signal anyway very strong (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Large tropo TV and FM DX opening from as far away as Minnesota, morning of Saturday July 21, all times UT. First noted on FM portable DX-398 with whip, NPR `Weekend Edition Saturday` on 90.1 totally overriding KCSC OKC, i.e. R. Kansas. This is always the #2 station on 90.1 here, but obviously tropo from the north is way up now. Also gospel music could override 91.7 KOSU with antenna in certain positions.
1219 break in NPR on 90.9 brought Iowa Public Radio ID, i.e. KUNI Cedar Falls. Another unID NPR On 91.5 not synchronized, probably KANU Lawrence KS. And on 89.5, maybe only KWGS Tulsa.
93.1 had RDS of ``MY 93.1 / AT40 WITH / RYAN SEACREST``. That slogan goes with KHMY Hutchinson KS. My local 93.1 translator probably off, but could have been overridden. After a quick breakfast of strawberries and home-grown hazelnuts, I then turned attention to TVDX.
With antenna NNE-ward, first stepped thru all the TV channels manually on the Zenith converter at 1240-1249 UT. There was at least a `bad` signal on most of them. Some channels with no signal at all were the OKC ones, which normally achieve some level of signal, even decoding with antenna way off from true direxion of SSE. This was probably not due to lack of strength, but to co-channel QRM from other DX stations.
4, bad, only one around is WHBF Rock Island IL; see 36 definite log
5, bad, no doubt WOI Ames IA; see 23
8, KPTS Wichita
9, bad
10, KAKE Wichita
11, KTWU Topeka
12, bad
14, bad
16, bad
17, bad
18, KCPT-1 Kansas City
19, bad
20, KETV-DT Omaha, very good, held up for hours
21, bad
22, bad
23, KCWI, Ames IA, very good
26, bad
28, bad
30, bad
34, WDAF-DT Kansas City
35, bad
36, KWQC-TV, 6-1, NBC, Davenport IA
38, bad
41, bad
42, bad
43, bad
45, KSNW-DT, 3-1 Wichita [other Wichitans ignored]
46, bad
47, bad
48, bad
49, bad
After this, rest of log has been reorganized from time to RF channel order first, as there are multiple entries for many stations. P = still photographs made. In many cases I did not have the time to check subchannels, as I wanted to be sure to ID and photo the main channel
4 at 1259, peaks NNE rather than N, but never enough to decode, presumed WHBF Rock Island IL; gone by 1354 while 5 and 9 still in
5 at 1354, bad signal but DTV presumed WOI-TV Ames IA, NNE rather than N; still there at 1509 when 23 Ames was definite
9 at 1322, KCRG-DT, 9-1, Cedar Rapids IA P; 1327 on 9-1 P a promo for 9-2 programming, but I didn`t get to see 9-2 itself
11 at 1329, KTWU ID with translators shown, Topeka KS, P
12 at 1503, NET-HD, 12-1; 1504 P with program guide and P at 1505. I.e. KUON-TV Lincoln NE. Pleased with this as it had to surpass Wichita/Hutchinson almost same direxion
14 at 1404, KAAS-DT, 17-1, P. Must really be 40 kW KOCW Hoisington KS, relaying KSAS 26 Wichita thru KAAS-TV Salina which is on RF 17! Note that a different KAAS-LP in the same Fox/Wichita group is on 31 in Garden City
16 at 1256, KDSM-DT, 17-1, Des Moines IA; at 1332 P KDSM-DT 17-1 PSIP shows but no signal now
18 at 1340, KCPT-3, 19-2, P, Create subchannel with program guide display, Kansas City MO
20 at 1249, KETV, 7-1, local `Newscenter 7`, Omaha NE; at 1448, 7-2 is MeTV with B&W music video
22 at 1256, WOWT, 6-1 Omaha; 1334 ID P
23 at 1335, KCWI, 23-1, PSIP ID P but no signal now; 1341 P KCWI 23-1 with program guide, Ames IA; still at 1509, 1510 P with program guides; still a bad signal bar at 1625
25 at 1359, KTIN-HD, 21-1 P. I had noticed that Mountainlake tropo map showed big red blob extending all the way from IL to SE Arizona!! I don`t believe there is really any tropo west of here, but had turned antenna toward WSW just in case, and caught this which I had not seen with antenna NNE. Fort Dodge IA, P. Also at 1439 P KTIN-HD, 21-1; 21-2 is KTINSD1, 21-3 is KTINSD2; IPTV bug in LR
28 at 1427, KSIN-TV, 27-1, Iowa Public TV, P, Sioux City
34 at 1313, WDAF-SD PSIP ID on 4-2, Kansas City MO; 1336 P WDAF DT PSIP on 4-1
36 circa 1246, see initial scan above, definite KWQC-TV, 6-1, Davenport IA, but next log on 36 was something else: [WOC-TV somehow morphed into KWQC over the years: ignore the tail on the Q?]
36 at 1419, KAAL-DT, 6-1, about animals in Namibia, P, Austin MN, 620 kW at 565 miles per city-to-city calculator; best catch of the opening by distance
38 at 1513, KXVO, 15-1, Omaha NE, P; 15-2 is more interesting with Azteca America, which we do not get around here on air or cable; lots of network promos P; still in at 1551
41 at 1425, KTIV-HD, 4-1, P, NBC Kids, Sioux City IA; at 1437 checked 4-2 and it`s KTIV-CW
43 at 1621, no signal but also shows 43-1 with a `bad` signal bar now
48 at 1603, no signal but dim PSIP shows 48-1, i.e. same channel; ideas what that might have been? Can`t tell from W9WI.com which does not show virtual channels, a major drawback. There are no full-power DTVs on 48 in KS, MO, IA, NE or MN! Not WXOW Lacrosse WI, = virtual 19
By 1625 most remaining DTV DX signals are `bad` so I quit chasing them. Note that by local mean time, i.e. correlating with the Sun, 1625 UT = only 0953, so about time to burn off; local Enid temp at 1621: 98.6 F --- besides, Es has started up on channel 2 at 1605, conveniently also from north; see CANADA, did not amount to much.
Separate NTSC, analog log:
17 at 1407, discussion among women from NNE, presumed KETM-LP Emporia KS, ``Fox 6`` listed, 22.3 kW; have had this one before
28 at 1259, weak signal from NNE, presumed the only one around, KWKD-LP, 8.8 kW, Daystar in Wichita KS; normally invisible here; at 1407 video had locked in during a magic demonstration? Shell game or something on a table
30 at 1408, video no horizontal lock until rotated NNW; video appears to have some kind of QRM or breakup, relayed CCI? but not digital tiling; `Jack Hanna`s Wild Countdown` as also on KAKE-21, with the 30 analog video slightly ahead of digital 21. Presumed KGBD-LP, Great Bend KS, 8.4 kW KAKE relayer
38 at 1409, weak video same as 30, i.e. K38GH Russell KS, 7.2 kW relay of KGBD of KAKE (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 13640, July 21 just as I tune in at 1903, an open carrier goes off*. Only thing scheduled is AIR 500 kW, 300 degrees from Bengaluru in Arabic until 1945, then French to 2030 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15170-15175-15180, July 21 at 1852 past 1900, unknown DRM signal here, very strong and much stronger than 15115-15120-15125 Voice of Nigeria. Could find nothing in DRM schedules or fora about this. In fact, only one analog transmission earlier in the day from India is scheduled on 15175. But I could also hear a weak AM carrier under the noise on 15175. A tree in the forest, falling with no notification to the few DRM enthusiasts who might want to listen (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
1605 on 2, some video starts to show
1747 on 2, some more video as MUF edges up again
1755 on 2, tentative Global bug LR, maybe one of the pair in Ontario rather than Manitoba this time, as per 1817 log
1808 on 2, 3, 4, CCI
1817 on 2, video het of 440 Hz = A above middle C on my keyboard. A giveaway for the always off-frequency CKCO-2 in Wiarton Ontario, as discussed a biyear ago in DXLD 10-28, measured by Bill Hepburn then:
``55.240.66v CKCO-2 Wiarton, ON``, i.e. 660 Hz off of exact channel 2-minus-offset stations, such as the other CTV station, CHBX in Sault Ste Marie; it had varied down to as little as 300 Hz off
Nothing more including break for lunch and nap, until:
2048 on 2, signs of Es video again with antenna still north; nothing develops (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** COLOMBIA. 14950.75v, another check for Salem Stereo, July 22 around 0220: no signal. Then I get a reply to my inquiry about why we had not heard them for a week, `No se oye más en Oklahoma``:
``Dios te bendiga, Sr. Guillermo Glenn Hauser, Me da mucha alegría saludarle y saber que nos han escuchado, le informo que en estos días hemos tenido problemas con nuestros equipos de trasmisión en onda corta 14950 KHz, pero Dios mediante en unos diez días volvemos al aire para nos escue [? sic]. Le deseo muchas bendiciones del Señor y ya le estaremos informando cuando volvamos al aire. La Paz de Cristo, Atte:
LUIS EMILIOTORRES GARZÓN, Pastor y Director de Salem Stereo``
Says they have problems with the SW equipment but hope to be back on the air in ten days or so (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** COSTA RICA. 17740-18200, July 21 at 1856, for third day, REE Cariari relay is again splattering all over the 16m band and beyond, while 17850 fundamental is distorted (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EGYPT. 11890, July 21 at 2155, checking whether R. Cairo has moved English here from 6270 as alleged, 2115-2245 to Europe. There is a very poor, undermodulated signal here, intonation could be English. Too early to hear 6270 if it were still on. Nothing else scheduled here, so maybe it is really Cairo. HFCC entry now shows both 11890 and 6270 for this broadcast since 25 March, obviously not true. Altho HFCC has columns for specific start and stop dates, too many registrants just put start/end of season including imaginary wooden ones. I`ve yet to see any reports of 11890 from Europe where it should be easy to confirm this.
Other frequencies checked July 22 at 0220: 9305 General Arabic service is nothing but a huge buzz, no program modulation at all, and extends gradually out to 9275 and 9327 (probably further up if not for 9330 WBCQ).
9315 is confirmed still in English with 0222 ID for North American service, undermodulated, much weaker than 9305 and suffering from its spurbuzz! 9720 nothing. 9965 in Arabic with music interspersed, extremely distorted modulation but no spurs. At 0400, 9305 is still buzzing but a little weaker, 9315 is off and 9965 continues as before (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. One of the references to XEDP 710`s FM frequency in last report had a typo: it`s 89.7, not 89.9 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1626 monitoring: confirmed starting 0359:40 UT Sunday July 22 on very good signal from WTWW 5755, but with usual interruption for legal ID at hourtop. Other repeats, on WRMI 9955 are: Sun 0800, 1530, 1730, Mon 0500, 1130 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7506.4, July 22 at 0359 checking WRNO: rock music runs a bit past 0400, and it`s quite distorted. No one would listen to that voluntarily. Kyle somebody starts a sign-off announcement for ``Contemporary Hit Radio, WRNO`` claiming to be on 7505, from transmitter at New Orleans, Louisiana, but is cut off the air before he can finish. Signal anyway very strong (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Large tropo TV and FM DX opening from as far away as Minnesota, morning of Saturday July 21, all times UT. First noted on FM portable DX-398 with whip, NPR `Weekend Edition Saturday` on 90.1 totally overriding KCSC OKC, i.e. R. Kansas. This is always the #2 station on 90.1 here, but obviously tropo from the north is way up now. Also gospel music could override 91.7 KOSU with antenna in certain positions.
1219 break in NPR on 90.9 brought Iowa Public Radio ID, i.e. KUNI Cedar Falls. Another unID NPR On 91.5 not synchronized, probably KANU Lawrence KS. And on 89.5, maybe only KWGS Tulsa.
93.1 had RDS of ``MY 93.1 / AT40 WITH / RYAN SEACREST``. That slogan goes with KHMY Hutchinson KS. My local 93.1 translator probably off, but could have been overridden. After a quick breakfast of strawberries and home-grown hazelnuts, I then turned attention to TVDX.
With antenna NNE-ward, first stepped thru all the TV channels manually on the Zenith converter at 1240-1249 UT. There was at least a `bad` signal on most of them. Some channels with no signal at all were the OKC ones, which normally achieve some level of signal, even decoding with antenna way off from true direxion of SSE. This was probably not due to lack of strength, but to co-channel QRM from other DX stations.
4, bad, only one around is WHBF Rock Island IL; see 36 definite log
5, bad, no doubt WOI Ames IA; see 23
8, KPTS Wichita
9, bad
10, KAKE Wichita
11, KTWU Topeka
12, bad
14, bad
16, bad
17, bad
18, KCPT-1 Kansas City
19, bad
20, KETV-DT Omaha, very good, held up for hours
21, bad
22, bad
23, KCWI, Ames IA, very good
26, bad
28, bad
30, bad
34, WDAF-DT Kansas City
35, bad
36, KWQC-TV, 6-1, NBC, Davenport IA
38, bad
41, bad
42, bad
43, bad
45, KSNW-DT, 3-1 Wichita [other Wichitans ignored]
46, bad
47, bad
48, bad
49, bad
After this, rest of log has been reorganized from time to RF channel order first, as there are multiple entries for many stations. P = still photographs made. In many cases I did not have the time to check subchannels, as I wanted to be sure to ID and photo the main channel
4 at 1259, peaks NNE rather than N, but never enough to decode, presumed WHBF Rock Island IL; gone by 1354 while 5 and 9 still in
5 at 1354, bad signal but DTV presumed WOI-TV Ames IA, NNE rather than N; still there at 1509 when 23 Ames was definite
9 at 1322, KCRG-DT, 9-1, Cedar Rapids IA P; 1327 on 9-1 P a promo for 9-2 programming, but I didn`t get to see 9-2 itself
11 at 1329, KTWU ID with translators shown, Topeka KS, P
12 at 1503, NET-HD, 12-1; 1504 P with program guide and P at 1505. I.e. KUON-TV Lincoln NE. Pleased with this as it had to surpass Wichita/Hutchinson almost same direxion
14 at 1404, KAAS-DT, 17-1, P. Must really be 40 kW KOCW Hoisington KS, relaying KSAS 26 Wichita thru KAAS-TV Salina which is on RF 17! Note that a different KAAS-LP in the same Fox/Wichita group is on 31 in Garden City
16 at 1256, KDSM-DT, 17-1, Des Moines IA; at 1332 P KDSM-DT 17-1 PSIP shows but no signal now
18 at 1340, KCPT-3, 19-2, P, Create subchannel with program guide display, Kansas City MO
20 at 1249, KETV, 7-1, local `Newscenter 7`, Omaha NE; at 1448, 7-2 is MeTV with B&W music video
22 at 1256, WOWT, 6-1 Omaha; 1334 ID P
23 at 1335, KCWI, 23-1, PSIP ID P but no signal now; 1341 P KCWI 23-1 with program guide, Ames IA; still at 1509, 1510 P with program guides; still a bad signal bar at 1625
25 at 1359, KTIN-HD, 21-1 P. I had noticed that Mountainlake tropo map showed big red blob extending all the way from IL to SE Arizona!! I don`t believe there is really any tropo west of here, but had turned antenna toward WSW just in case, and caught this which I had not seen with antenna NNE. Fort Dodge IA, P. Also at 1439 P KTIN-HD, 21-1; 21-2 is KTINSD1, 21-3 is KTINSD2; IPTV bug in LR
28 at 1427, KSIN-TV, 27-1, Iowa Public TV, P, Sioux City
34 at 1313, WDAF-SD PSIP ID on 4-2, Kansas City MO; 1336 P WDAF DT PSIP on 4-1
36 circa 1246, see initial scan above, definite KWQC-TV, 6-1, Davenport IA, but next log on 36 was something else: [WOC-TV somehow morphed into KWQC over the years: ignore the tail on the Q?]
36 at 1419, KAAL-DT, 6-1, about animals in Namibia, P, Austin MN, 620 kW at 565 miles per city-to-city calculator; best catch of the opening by distance
38 at 1513, KXVO, 15-1, Omaha NE, P; 15-2 is more interesting with Azteca America, which we do not get around here on air or cable; lots of network promos P; still in at 1551
41 at 1425, KTIV-HD, 4-1, P, NBC Kids, Sioux City IA; at 1437 checked 4-2 and it`s KTIV-CW
43 at 1621, no signal but also shows 43-1 with a `bad` signal bar now
48 at 1603, no signal but dim PSIP shows 48-1, i.e. same channel; ideas what that might have been? Can`t tell from W9WI.com which does not show virtual channels, a major drawback. There are no full-power DTVs on 48 in KS, MO, IA, NE or MN! Not WXOW Lacrosse WI, = virtual 19
By 1625 most remaining DTV DX signals are `bad` so I quit chasing them. Note that by local mean time, i.e. correlating with the Sun, 1625 UT = only 0953, so about time to burn off; local Enid temp at 1621: 98.6 F --- besides, Es has started up on channel 2 at 1605, conveniently also from north; see CANADA, did not amount to much.
Separate NTSC, analog log:
17 at 1407, discussion among women from NNE, presumed KETM-LP Emporia KS, ``Fox 6`` listed, 22.3 kW; have had this one before
28 at 1259, weak signal from NNE, presumed the only one around, KWKD-LP, 8.8 kW, Daystar in Wichita KS; normally invisible here; at 1407 video had locked in during a magic demonstration? Shell game or something on a table
30 at 1408, video no horizontal lock until rotated NNW; video appears to have some kind of QRM or breakup, relayed CCI? but not digital tiling; `Jack Hanna`s Wild Countdown` as also on KAKE-21, with the 30 analog video slightly ahead of digital 21. Presumed KGBD-LP, Great Bend KS, 8.4 kW KAKE relayer
38 at 1409, weak video same as 30, i.e. K38GH Russell KS, 7.2 kW relay of KGBD of KAKE (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 13640, July 21 just as I tune in at 1903, an open carrier goes off*. Only thing scheduled is AIR 500 kW, 300 degrees from Bengaluru in Arabic until 1945, then French to 2030 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15170-15175-15180, July 21 at 1852 past 1900, unknown DRM signal here, very strong and much stronger than 15115-15120-15125 Voice of Nigeria. Could find nothing in DRM schedules or fora about this. In fact, only one analog transmission earlier in the day from India is scheduled on 15175. But I could also hear a weak AM carrier under the noise on 15175. A tree in the forest, falling with no notification to the few DRM enthusiasts who might want to listen (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
