venerdì 24 agosto 2012

Glenn Hauser logs August 23-24, 2012

** AUSTRALIA. 15340, Aug 24 at 1307, HCJB in the clear as RHC is missing, so we can hear S Asian languages; still at 1343 and 1434 chex. Languages vary from day to day but Aoki shows these on Fridays:
1300-1315 Dzongkha, 1315-1330 Hmar, 1330-1400 Hindi daily, 1400-1430 Urdu daily, 1430-1445 Gujarati, and would have heard English at 1445-1530 exc Sat Nepali (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BANGLADESH. 15105, Aug 24 before 1300, no signal detectable from BB`s English broadcast; nor at 1343 toward end of scheduled Nepali semihour. Just not propagating, or no longer there?

15505, by 1357 Aug 24, the next BB frequency is propagating, tone test, fair signal with flutter, 1358:50 starts IS but out of synch and faded out as another iteration has already started, timesignal ending late at 1400:12. After 1409 or so the rest of the Urdu transmission is mostly S Asian vocal music, presumably Bengali, rarely heard in Pakistan? 1429 brief announcement, hum, then hum stops, but carrier remains past 1432.

I previously pointed out that signals from Dhaka to here are almost transpolar within 7 degrees of North Pole, but what great circle across N America is within 0-1 degrees of exactly transpolar? Thunder Bay-Madison-Cairo-New Orleans-Mérida-San Salvador. The antipodes is in the Pacific west of Antofagasta, Chile, just beyond the Tropic of Capricorn, the nearest islands to the east being Chile`s San Félix & San Ambrosio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake Aug 24, before 1400:
15485, very poor at 1350, het on hi side; none others 12-18 MHz
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. Ho hum, another night and more SNAFUs to report from RHC: 6010, Aug 24 *0514 carrier comes on for the 0500 English service, 0515 adding modulation. Then I check 6125; it`s only open carrier until 0519 modulation brought up. Meanwhile 6050 and 6060 were already running.

RadioCuba also suffered HCJB to be heard on 15340, RHC never showing up at 1307-1434+; see AUSTRALIA. Meanwhile RHC had bigsigs on 13780, 17580, 17730 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KUWAIT. 15115, Aug 23 at 2009, I am looking for R. Kuwait`s new General Service Arabic frequency, allegedly on air for very long hours, 12-24 UT, 500 kW, 59 degrees from Kabd to E Asia since Aug 20, per DX Re Mix News, Bulgaria --- but nothing audible here despite 15540 English well audible, presumably toward Europe and us. The Arabic frequencies for NAm are still on, 13650 until 2000, then much better 17550 after 2000.

By 2059 as 15540 is signing off, I can now get a JBA signal on 15515, and seems but not confirmed // 17550. Direxionality of their respective antennas must be highly efficient (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MADAGASCAR [and non]. 15580, Aug 23 I am tuned in early at 1956 to track what is happening with the collision after 2000. Nothing but VOA English to Africa at first, poor with flutter, Spe-cial Eng-lish feature on the 2000 Bush vs Gore stolen elexion (no, they did not put it that way); outro as `The Making of a Nation` (rather, unmaking). Botswana dropped carrier immediately at 2000, and a few sex later crash-starts with much stronger signal:

15580, two stations mixing immediately, and it`s now certain this is a double audio feed into and out of a single transmitter, i.e. Talata. It`s at least the third night in a row this has happened; doesn`t anyone there even listen for two seconds to their own transmission, either line or off-the-air monitoring? Of course not! Just let the automation do it. VOA`s `African Beat` is into music immediately, who cares about news on the hour? So again difficultizes making any sense of the other audio, at equal level, but music tends to sound louder; almost all talk, but what station and language??

It`s either Japanese or Korean. I listen for key words. Once I think I hear a ``desu ka`` which means Japanese (but it could be just a clip). Then I hear ``VOA`` mentioned, and an ``imnida``, and then ``Hangkuk``, which mean it`s Korean. Unlike in our mornings/their evenings when VOA Korean service has jingles in English and plays a lot of American music in English. Japanese was dropped long ago by VOA, as who needs to say anything to a firm ally?? It so happens that VOA does have a Korean broadcast at this time, but of course not intended to be broadcast from Madagascar to Africa! I`ll bet it`s on an adjacent satellite channel, which somehow Talata is feeding into the transmitter along with the correct one. And never noticing!

Found schedule at VOA site:
http://www.voakorea.com/info/frequencies/2921.html
including:
4AM - 6AM (1900-2100 UTC)
5835, 6060, 7420 kHz 648 kHz

But those frequencies are outdated! as current EiBi and WRTH May update agree on some others (and HFCC too):
1900 2100 USA Voice of America K FE 5870/PHL-t 6060/THA-u 7365/THA-u
1900-2100 daily EAs         648vld, 5870pht,   6060udo,   7365udo
(RFA`s Korean is conveniently before and after 19-21 UT). No way we can check those low frequencies here for // but they could in Europe. How much longer will this go on, making the VOA African service on 15580 at 2000-2100 unlistenable? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MADAGASCAR. 15400, Aug 24 at 0502, R. Dabanga is back with VG signal, singing IDs immediately, after totally missing 24 hours earlier. (15725 VOSSR at same time, JBA, indicating quite a different signal source for it.)

13765, Aug 24 at 0506, Vatican Radio in English, VG S9+20 signal via Talata, but with ``buzzing-fly`` modulation problem. It`s always something on this. I prefer the cat`s meow.

13840, Aug 24 at 0528, open carrier so I keep listening to find whether unlike 24 hours earlier, Talata manages to modulate the NHK French relay. Yes, they do from 0530 `Sakura` and opening (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. Late-season sporadic E erupted August 23, with analog signals from Mexico, UT:

2309 on 2, tune-in to find two or more stations in CCI, in Spanish, peaking SSW; soon on top is a novela from net-5

2311 on 3, same net-5 novela // 2, but a word or two apart in audio

2326 on 4, yet another // net-5 novela; less CCI here, none at first

2343 on 3, XHQ bug in UR, i.e. the italic 3 in an oval, dubbed film drama, no CCI now. Culiacán, Sinaloa

2357 on 5, novela promo, with net-2 star logo (at first I thought it was the Multimedios star, but none known on ch 5)

UT August 24, continuing:

0024 on 2, still heavy CCI

0039 on 5, and 6, some signals showing

0040 on 3, almost zero-beat CCI, dead giveaway for XHBC vs XHTJB in BCN, direxion west chex

0048 on 5, novela from west, no doubt XHAQ Mexicali, then fades in to confirm net-13 Azteca bug in UR

0049 on 3, YL talk show, fade in to confirm XHBC with national Televisa logo in UR with MEXICALI in tiny letters below it. Looks like the girls are sitting on a big bed

0115 signals mostly gone

0147 on 3, DTV converter how-to PSA/promo with XHQ bug in UR again, audio slogan ``Canal 3, creciendo contigo``. Then another PSA outroed as ``servicio social de Televisoras Grupo del Pacífico``; back to news

0201 on 2, 3, 4, 5, MUF is up again; 5 has a game show; not from west

0244, still weak signals up to channel 6
0300, something remains on 3
0322, opening finished
(Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. Sunrise DX session August 24, UT; LSR Enid at 1157 UT:

990, Aug 24 at 1202 tune-in, dominant signal from XECL Mexicali giving full ID, Rocola. Cantú shows higher nite power!
990 XECL La Rocola Mexicali, B.C. 1,400 3,000
I was also getting Mexicali on TV last night, coincidentally?

1130 at 1201 UT, I can hear a weak Mexican NA under LA or KS station. Presumably at 6 am local, so in the MDT/CST zone, not CDT. That means BCS, Sinaloa, Nayarit or Chihuahua. That means one or the other of:
1130 XELUP Radio Lupita      Tepic, Nay.      1,000 D
1130 XEMOS W Radio + FM 94.1 Los Mochis, Sin. 1,000 250
per
http://www.mexicoradiotv.com/frec_am_1100-1390.htm
Nayarit is rare here, and Sinaloa common, FWIW
(Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NIGERIA. 15120, Aug 24 at 0504, VON is on and audible at S9+12, but undermodulated and hum/whine during news (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 930, Aug 24 at 1204 UT, WKY either just came on or was already running open carrier. This plus sharp groundwave null allowed an SRS signal to come thru, thought to be KCCC Carlsbad NM, but see UNIDENTIFIED. By 1228 recheck, La Indomable had begun modulating music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 1230, Aug 24 at 1212 UT, WBBZ Ponca City with local announcer giving weather, and 1214 into sports. He has a way of ``swallowing`` every other syllable, but I can still understand him. Nice to hear a real voice on a hometown station rather than a pro announcer (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 93.1, circa 1830 UT Aug 23, Enid translator K226BR of KIMY 93.9 Watonga is instead radiating a horrible noise like continuous sucking on a straw from an almost empty cup. Just the latest problem with this piece of crap. Also bothers adjacent channels (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 31-2, MundoFox via KXOK-LD Enid subchannel, further comments: the MF website knows by IP than I am in Enid and displays local weather across the top of the schedule grid. But it`s not smart enough to display the schedule in Central instead of Eastern time. Also, there is no closed captioning on this channel; nor on 31-1 with RTV for that matter; another LP loophole? That`s OK, don`t have to keep turning it off to avoid covering up the timer display (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1631 monitoring: confirmed on WTWW 9479, Thursday August 23 at 2100. As usual, starts a few sex before 2100, then interrupted for canned ID by Ted Randall, cuts back to rest of my opening theme and billboard. Nevertheless, in case there are unforeseen problems with subsequent airings, I recommend everyone try to catch this transmission if at all possible. Other WTWW airing is UT Sunday 0400 on 5755.

Next airing also confirmed, on WWRB 5050, altho initially I was monitoring the webcast: SC preacher finishes ``amen & amen`` at 0330:48 UT; respectful pause of open carrier until hum starts at 0332:25; WOR playback finally starts at 0333:16, somewhat suppressing the hum but not totally. At 0353 I check 5050 direct and note that most of the hum goes away by monitoring on USB with the DX-398.

Next: 0130v UT Saturday on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB, as on this week`s worldmicroscope schedule, but it was last week too when really delayed until 0200, so hang loose; it depends on what filler is inserted after `Allan Weiner Worldwide`.

On WRMI 9955: Sat 0800, 1500, 1730, Sun 0800, 1530, 1730, Mon 0500, 1130. On Hamburger Lokalradio: Sat 0630 on 7265, Tue 0930 on 5980.

On WRN via SiriusXM 120: Sat & Sun 1730, Sun 0830 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9837-9850 & 9872-9882 approx., Aug 23 at 0142 check, extent of big dirty distorted FMy parasitic spurs from 9860 WHRI, with same modulation definitely audible. For at least the third night in a row, and no telling how long before that, as not a time I had been monitoring much. Why doesn`t anyone else report these gross violations of broadcast standards? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1260, Aug 24 at 1215 UT, ``104.1 Newstalk, Springfield``, i.e. KSGF in Missouri (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1460, Aug 24 at 1232 UT, Gregorian-chantish music briefly; is there a Catholic station here now? Can`t find any leads in last year`s NRC AM Log. Might have gone with KBRZ Missouri City/Houston TX, ``ethnic`` but their website
http://kbrzradio.com/5.html
shows: ``MONDAY-SUNDAY 24 HOUR A DAY!!!!!! SANGEET RADIO Variety program for the South Asian community http://www.sangeetradio.com `` 

When I tuned back a minute later, music was gone, but copied tentative ID in passing, maybe different outlet, as ``1460 KFNO``. Make that KXNO Des Moines IA, sports format, rather than KENO Las Vegas NV, also sports (not including keno?). Volatile propagation post-sunrise (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1480, Aug 24 at 1233 UT, still no sign of reactivated Metroplex TX station to be known as KBXD; more construxion delays? Only KQAM Wichita advertising Kansas State Fair; 1440 Metroplex Spanish was still skywaving in so should have heard KBXD if on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1650, Aug 24 at 1217, looking for KYHN Fort Smith AR, which DX MidAmerica reported to be back on the air as of Aug 17 (NRC AM Log says it was silent since April 2008; IIRC their transmitter site was flooded or somehow damaged) --- but, no sign of it in KFXY 1640 null, just KCNZ Cedar Falls IA with local sports talk, mentions Waterloo, etc. Cross-promotion for a game on `Cruisin` 1250` i.e. KDNZ, which must no longer be Spanish as in last year`s NRC AM Log? Yes, see
http://www.cruisin1250.com/ --- now ``real oldies``. Or has the call changed too? Yes, per FCC, now it`s KCFI which makes a lot more sense (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VATICAN [non]. 9900, Aug 24 at 1313, tonetest and open carrier, 1314, JBA Vatican Radio IS, 1315 ``Laudetur Jesus Christus`` and opening Vietnamese, music. Very undermodulated and tones continued on and off, so suppressed by a stronger carrier? Scheduled in Aoki are: 1230-1312 VR Chinese, 100 kW, 125 degrees from Irkutsk, RUSSIA, which may not have been turned off promptly; and 1315-1400 VR Vietnamese, 250 kW, 270 degrees from Tinang, PHILIPPINES (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 930, Aug 24 at 1204 UT, joint ID ``93.5 and AM 930``, thought for sure I had KCCC Carlsbad NM, nicely in null of WKY open carrier! But can`t match that FM frequency to it. Wish I could decipher a slogan I scrawled a few minutes after upwaking! Maybe it was KDET Center TX (near Shreveport), which has an FM on 92.5 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 14949-LSB, approx., Aug 24 at 0354, checking 14950 for Salem Stereo, but not even a carrier audible from it; instead 2-way in Spanish on this lower frequency; unrelated? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)