** BANGLADESH. 15105, August 15 at 1240, no signal from Bangladesh Betar when supposedly on in English, nor on alternates 15505, 15520. Nothing on 15105 at 1339 (there should be a Nepali service in here at 1315-1345, as heard Aug 13 on 15105 by Partha Sarathi Goswami, West Bengal). Before 1400 I am standing by on 15105, and yes, again today it comes on at *1358, not 15505 as allegedly scheduled, very weak signal but enough to recognize the IS before presumed Urdu; it was so weak and fading out that I could not detect a timesignal, unless it was too far displaced from hourtop (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHILE. 17680, August 14 at 2215 check, CVC La Voz is off. The reëxpanded schedule for its farewell week is apparently 13-22 UT. Just as well for RNZI DRM noise audible 17670-17675-17680, which will soon be rid of the ACI altogether.
17680, August 15 at 1407, CVC La Voz is again temporarily on early, with, what else, gospel rock. Since yesterday`s report, press release from CVC has emerged confirming that they are closing down Calera de Tango after August 17:
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/christian-media-ministry-stops-shortwave-transmissions-to-latin-america-166108896.html
Spanish version via Yimber Gaviría:
http://cvclavoz.cl/comunicadodeprensa.html
Via Dino Bloise, Frecuencia al Día, Luis Valderas in Chile says the final broadcast will be Friday 17 August at 13-22 UT; no frequency mentioned but surely at least 17680. Via Yimber Gaviria, Valderas has also been hearing it between 17 and 18 on 9635. Also via Horacio Nigro, a special last-day QSL is expected to be available; reports to Casilla 395, Talagante, Chile or to antonio @ cvclavoz.cl
NHK knew this was coming, since they already registered a month ago replacements for SGO after Aug 17, noted by DX Re Mix News of July 18:
Portuguese
0900-0930 6130 GUF 250 kW / 185 deg to BRA, ex SGO 100 kW / 060 deg
2130-2200 11880 GUF 250 kW / 185 deg to BRA, ex SGO 100 kW / 060 deg
Spanish
0930-1000 6195 HRI 250 kW / 167 deg to SoAm, ex SGO 100 kW / 350 deg
The site is to be dismantled! Like other perfectly good(?) SW sites, it`s a crying shame that it`s never going to be put to better use: the 17680 signal is so good all day long in NAm that it could have brought public radio to dark areas in the US. Since it`s programmed out of Miami anyway, WLRN could have taken over, but not a single US public radio station has had the vision to add shortwave (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also ZAMBIA
** CHINA. Firedrake August 15, after 1300:
15485, poor at 1315
15560, very poor at 1315
Before 1400:
12980, good at 1345
13130, good at 1342
13920, good at 1342; none in the 14s, 16s, 17s
15485, poor at 1344, het on hi side
15605, very poor at 1343 with noise too
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also SPAIN
** COLOMBIA. 14950.8, August 15 at 0123-0125, JBA signal here with non-Firedrake music, but better level than before, from reactivated Salem Stereo, Rioblanco, Tolima. Next check at 0452, around S7, with Mexican-style gospel music, 0456 announcement, probably Bible verse, as in usual format. Also at 1312, carrier on this unique frequency, music bits (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 9540, Aug 15 at 1255, an open carrier, perhaps RHC, about equal with the Asian co-channel; and anyhow no spurs around 9511, a blessing. 9550 RHC was still on, but gone at next check 1257 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN. 15325, Aug 15 at 0457, some classical music, // 17810 at 0459 with NHK ID in Japanese, also // 15195 to which I was tuned for the 0500 TS and off. The other two were also gone then, all poor signals for Asia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CHILE
** MAURITANIA [and non]. 7245, Aug 15 at 0537, IGIM is weaker than usual, and adjacent Vatican 7250 mass is starting to show up again, after mostly inaudible so far this summer; in fact, stronger than Nouakchott tonight (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6185, Aug 15 at 0513, poor open carrier, no doubt XEPPM wasting watts again after nominal 0500*. It was gone by 0540 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NORTH AMERICA. Re my previous report of Ronin Radio, pirate on 6925-USB: Looking thru items at the freedradiocafe.com forum, I see several that the ID of that station was spoken as ``Radio Ronin Shortwave`` but there is another very similar sounding one matching the two words in the order I heard them, which I could easily have mistaken: ``Rave On Radio``. Was anyone else logging when I heard it, with ``crying`` tunes, UT August 12 at 0238-0309? Which was it? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. 11840, Aug 15 at 1346 fair open carrier, stronger than Cuba 11860 and enough not to be bothered by Cuban jamming 11845. 1351 starts tone tests on and off, beeps somewhere between G5 and G#5 on my keyboard, i.e. circa 800 Hz; 1401 has faded to VP, but it`s English from VOR, as scheduled 14-16, 250 kW, 265 degrees from Pet/Kam to CIRAF 44 = eastern third of China, North Korea, Taiwan. This could also be a sufficient morning service for WNAm at 7 am PDT if aimed USward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH AFRICA. 7285, Aug 15 at 0536, fair signal from R. Sonder Grense in English! They`re cool with interviewing RSA Olympic athletes who speak English; alternating with studio YL speaking Afrikaans, unclear whether translating or questioning. (Are there any Afrikaners who don`t also understand/speak English in this day and age?) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 11890, Aug 15 at 0518, astounded to hear French, plus Chinese music instead of usual REE in Spanish. 0522 ID as R. Chine Internationale, more Chinese songs. REE Spanish was really on 12035, 6055 // CR delayed on 9630, 5965. Then I strayed to Turkish music on 11980, and when back on 11890 at 0530, REE had taken over in Spanish. I can only conclude that Noblejas somehow put the wrong program feed on this frequency. They do relay China at other times, altho not intentionally in French (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN SOUTH [non]. 15725, Aug 15 at 0502, V. of South Sudan Revolutionary Radio is in sign-on routine, spirited chanting, ID in Arabic (but how does it go, exactly, Romanized?), CW-sounding music,
etc. By 0534 faded to JBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAIWAN. 11875, August 15 at 1402, fair signal in Indonesian, equal to REE/CR 11880; keeps mentioning Taiwan and Hong Kong. Banned from HFCC by the ChiCom, but Aoki shows RTI at 14-15, 250 kW, 205 degrees from Tainan, i.e. 25 degrees off the back USwards (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ZAMBIA. 13590, Aug 15 at 1308, fair signal from CVC with YL promoting an Xmas story to be told in a semihour; impossibly happy OM DJ introduces more gospel rock. Wolfgang Büschel says this is scheduled at 06-20, plus 9505 at 20-22, which are for Nigeria and consequently Michigan, while the `local` service on 6065/4965 has already been dropped, replaced by FM, as CVC is cutting back here too like canceling Chile, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 5980, Aug 15 at 0511, open carrier, 0512:55 brief tone and off at 0513:05*. Probably Greenville tuning up prior to R. Martí at 0700, unlikely Hamburger Lokal Radio which HFCC shows as 20 kW instead of 1. Channel Africa finishes English on 5980 at 0400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. The mystery 25m carriers in the 13 UT hour as heard every morning for the past week are missing August 15 at 1307, no hets upon 11735, 11750, 11775 or 11785.
However, at 1348 the odd one out, 11751.5 is audible against RHC 11750, and I also find a JBA carrier on 11768.0 with nothing to het but the others are still absent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 11995, Aug 15 at 0517, the mystery open carrier with some hum is here again. Somenight I will check this before 0500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15730, Aug 15 at 1314, noise/whine sounds like jamming, rather resembling what used to appear circa 15745. Only thing scheduled per HFCC and Aoki is VOA Somali, 250 kW, 0 degrees via MADAGASCAR at 13-14. Maybe transmitter out of order; unaware of any jamming of this service (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 17580, Aug 14 at 2056 huge open carrier at tune-in and cut off a few sex later. Nothing at all in HFCC between 1800 and 2330; it is an RHC frequency in the mornings. Could also be a test-only frequency of IBB Greenville (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHILE. 17680, August 14 at 2215 check, CVC La Voz is off. The reëxpanded schedule for its farewell week is apparently 13-22 UT. Just as well for RNZI DRM noise audible 17670-17675-17680, which will soon be rid of the ACI altogether.
17680, August 15 at 1407, CVC La Voz is again temporarily on early, with, what else, gospel rock. Since yesterday`s report, press release from CVC has emerged confirming that they are closing down Calera de Tango after August 17:
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/christian-media-ministry-stops-shortwave-transmissions-to-latin-america-166108896.html
Spanish version via Yimber Gaviría:
http://cvclavoz.cl/comunicadodeprensa.html
Via Dino Bloise, Frecuencia al Día, Luis Valderas in Chile says the final broadcast will be Friday 17 August at 13-22 UT; no frequency mentioned but surely at least 17680. Via Yimber Gaviria, Valderas has also been hearing it between 17 and 18 on 9635. Also via Horacio Nigro, a special last-day QSL is expected to be available; reports to Casilla 395, Talagante, Chile or to antonio @ cvclavoz.cl
NHK knew this was coming, since they already registered a month ago replacements for SGO after Aug 17, noted by DX Re Mix News of July 18:
Portuguese
0900-0930 6130 GUF 250 kW / 185 deg to BRA, ex SGO 100 kW / 060 deg
2130-2200 11880 GUF 250 kW / 185 deg to BRA, ex SGO 100 kW / 060 deg
Spanish
0930-1000 6195 HRI 250 kW / 167 deg to SoAm, ex SGO 100 kW / 350 deg
The site is to be dismantled! Like other perfectly good(?) SW sites, it`s a crying shame that it`s never going to be put to better use: the 17680 signal is so good all day long in NAm that it could have brought public radio to dark areas in the US. Since it`s programmed out of Miami anyway, WLRN could have taken over, but not a single US public radio station has had the vision to add shortwave (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also ZAMBIA
** CHINA. Firedrake August 15, after 1300:
15485, poor at 1315
15560, very poor at 1315
Before 1400:
12980, good at 1345
13130, good at 1342
13920, good at 1342; none in the 14s, 16s, 17s
15485, poor at 1344, het on hi side
15605, very poor at 1343 with noise too
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also SPAIN
** COLOMBIA. 14950.8, August 15 at 0123-0125, JBA signal here with non-Firedrake music, but better level than before, from reactivated Salem Stereo, Rioblanco, Tolima. Next check at 0452, around S7, with Mexican-style gospel music, 0456 announcement, probably Bible verse, as in usual format. Also at 1312, carrier on this unique frequency, music bits (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 9540, Aug 15 at 1255, an open carrier, perhaps RHC, about equal with the Asian co-channel; and anyhow no spurs around 9511, a blessing. 9550 RHC was still on, but gone at next check 1257 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN. 15325, Aug 15 at 0457, some classical music, // 17810 at 0459 with NHK ID in Japanese, also // 15195 to which I was tuned for the 0500 TS and off. The other two were also gone then, all poor signals for Asia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CHILE
** MAURITANIA [and non]. 7245, Aug 15 at 0537, IGIM is weaker than usual, and adjacent Vatican 7250 mass is starting to show up again, after mostly inaudible so far this summer; in fact, stronger than Nouakchott tonight (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6185, Aug 15 at 0513, poor open carrier, no doubt XEPPM wasting watts again after nominal 0500*. It was gone by 0540 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NORTH AMERICA. Re my previous report of Ronin Radio, pirate on 6925-USB: Looking thru items at the freedradiocafe.com forum, I see several that the ID of that station was spoken as ``Radio Ronin Shortwave`` but there is another very similar sounding one matching the two words in the order I heard them, which I could easily have mistaken: ``Rave On Radio``. Was anyone else logging when I heard it, with ``crying`` tunes, UT August 12 at 0238-0309? Which was it? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. 11840, Aug 15 at 1346 fair open carrier, stronger than Cuba 11860 and enough not to be bothered by Cuban jamming 11845. 1351 starts tone tests on and off, beeps somewhere between G5 and G#5 on my keyboard, i.e. circa 800 Hz; 1401 has faded to VP, but it`s English from VOR, as scheduled 14-16, 250 kW, 265 degrees from Pet/Kam to CIRAF 44 = eastern third of China, North Korea, Taiwan. This could also be a sufficient morning service for WNAm at 7 am PDT if aimed USward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH AFRICA. 7285, Aug 15 at 0536, fair signal from R. Sonder Grense in English! They`re cool with interviewing RSA Olympic athletes who speak English; alternating with studio YL speaking Afrikaans, unclear whether translating or questioning. (Are there any Afrikaners who don`t also understand/speak English in this day and age?) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 11890, Aug 15 at 0518, astounded to hear French, plus Chinese music instead of usual REE in Spanish. 0522 ID as R. Chine Internationale, more Chinese songs. REE Spanish was really on 12035, 6055 // CR delayed on 9630, 5965. Then I strayed to Turkish music on 11980, and when back on 11890 at 0530, REE had taken over in Spanish. I can only conclude that Noblejas somehow put the wrong program feed on this frequency. They do relay China at other times, altho not intentionally in French (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN SOUTH [non]. 15725, Aug 15 at 0502, V. of South Sudan Revolutionary Radio is in sign-on routine, spirited chanting, ID in Arabic (but how does it go, exactly, Romanized?), CW-sounding music,
etc. By 0534 faded to JBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAIWAN. 11875, August 15 at 1402, fair signal in Indonesian, equal to REE/CR 11880; keeps mentioning Taiwan and Hong Kong. Banned from HFCC by the ChiCom, but Aoki shows RTI at 14-15, 250 kW, 205 degrees from Tainan, i.e. 25 degrees off the back USwards (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ZAMBIA. 13590, Aug 15 at 1308, fair signal from CVC with YL promoting an Xmas story to be told in a semihour; impossibly happy OM DJ introduces more gospel rock. Wolfgang Büschel says this is scheduled at 06-20, plus 9505 at 20-22, which are for Nigeria and consequently Michigan, while the `local` service on 6065/4965 has already been dropped, replaced by FM, as CVC is cutting back here too like canceling Chile, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 5980, Aug 15 at 0511, open carrier, 0512:55 brief tone and off at 0513:05*. Probably Greenville tuning up prior to R. Martí at 0700, unlikely Hamburger Lokal Radio which HFCC shows as 20 kW instead of 1. Channel Africa finishes English on 5980 at 0400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. The mystery 25m carriers in the 13 UT hour as heard every morning for the past week are missing August 15 at 1307, no hets upon 11735, 11750, 11775 or 11785.
However, at 1348 the odd one out, 11751.5 is audible against RHC 11750, and I also find a JBA carrier on 11768.0 with nothing to het but the others are still absent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 11995, Aug 15 at 0517, the mystery open carrier with some hum is here again. Somenight I will check this before 0500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15730, Aug 15 at 1314, noise/whine sounds like jamming, rather resembling what used to appear circa 15745. Only thing scheduled per HFCC and Aoki is VOA Somali, 250 kW, 0 degrees via MADAGASCAR at 13-14. Maybe transmitter out of order; unaware of any jamming of this service (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 17580, Aug 14 at 2056 huge open carrier at tune-in and cut off a few sex later. Nothing at all in HFCC between 1800 and 2330; it is an RHC frequency in the mornings. Could also be a test-only frequency of IBB Greenville (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
