** CHINA. Firedrake Dec 27:
7550, poor at 1354 with het on hi side, like happens on 15 MHz vs V. of Tibet via Tajikistan. Aoki does not show any on 7550+ but on 7550-:
7542 at 1342-1400, 7547 at 1300-1342, which may well have shifted.
7390, poor at 1354 mixing with something intermittently in English, presumably language lesson during VOA Cantonese via Tinang, PHILIPPINES (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CROATIA [and non]. 7375, Dec 27 at 0556, checking V. of Croatia via Nauen, GERMANY, as time is running out. Usual lot of pop vocal music; another song starts at 0559, only to be faded out a few sex before 0600 for a sign-off announcement, concluding with only three widely-spaced time pips, then transmitter off. At mid-winter, even this frequency is subject to fade-outs, above the MUF, but fair tonight.
Time running out? I don`t mean just tonight, I mean forever. Horacio Nigro had just forwarded news from Leonardo Nicolás Emmanuel Reiman, Salta, Argentina, on Facebook wall, "Historias de Radio", with a YouTube recording of their Spanish broadcast announcing that SW broadcasts would be terminated as of January 1.
Then I also found an announcement about that on their website with SW and satellite schedules, in Croatian, saying the same thing as translated. This applies not only to the Germany and Singapore relays, but also to their own transmitter inside Croatia on 7370 day and 3985 night:
``From the first January 2013, this program will no longer be broadcast on shortwave. You'll still be able to find us on the medium wave in Europe and on the satellite and the Internet for the whole world. Funds which have hitherto been used to service the transmission on short wave will be used to offer diverse content of this program, including the launch of multimedia content.``
MW refers to 600 kW on 1134 kHz, but which is off the air after 00 UT. Don`t you believe the VOACAP propagation coverage map for it which is really theoretical for something at 2.0 MHz! So yet another SW broadcaster cuts its own throat, expecting to retain an audience on satellite and internet. The MW does make it to North America occasionally for the DXer, but hardly the ordinary listener.
Meanwhile we can still hear the daily English broadcasts at 2315 and 0300 UT on 7375 and 3985, plus a few at other times: 07, 11, 17, 1905 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1649, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GREECE. 7475, Dec 27 at 0614, ERT with similar song playing to one on 9420, but not //, so R. Filia is back tonight on 7475. You never know from one night to the next whether these will be // or not during the 06-07 hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUAM. 5765-USB, Dec 27 at 1348, AFN ending fashion segment from ``Today on NBC``, which probably lost something without the video; just at the edge of OTH radar pulsing peaking 5805. I took it as an Xmas gift when first reheard Dec 25, but Bob Wilkner was hearing it again by Dec 21, and Ron Howard by Dec 22, after having been off most of December, the first two sesquiweeks (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1649, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN. 11910, Dec 27 at 2221, Japanese I had not noticed before but since it is // 11665 and synchronized, both are NHK direct from Yamata, at 290 and 235 degrees respectively, far off from their Asian targets here, but respectable signals, especially 11665 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5985, Dec 27 at 1346, Shiokaze is back here, in Japanese with typical sad piano music, ex-6135, in periodic frequency shuffle, which Ron Howard says occurred Dec 26, and I still logged it on 6135, Dec 25. Now it`s making the usual het with off-frequency Myanmar. Expect English on Friday at 1330-1430 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1649, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. Channel A2 NTSC, Dec 27 at 2358 UT, signal fades in from south, with net-5 bug in upper right; seems dubbed reality show including someone in a bear suit; also with zero-beat CCI, only weak signal but at 0003 UT Dec 28, MUF ascends briefly to ch A3 video, not // so at least we know this is not XHBQ Zacatecas. Nothing more until another ch 2 fade-in at 0107 UT. Only weak signals in fitful winter Es opening. 6m ham Es maps show most contacts are over mid-America, centered over Missouri (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9625, 9660-9735, 10100-10125, and 10300-10340, approx. range of modulation spike spurs but peaking around 9705, from WTWW-3, 9905 transmitter, Dec 26 at 2136 check. Now they are worse than ever.
George McClintock continued to work on the problem and thanks us and some other monitors for help with this. By Dec 27 at 1920 he thought he had solved the problem and called us for another monitoring check. Yes, 9905 came on with music, but no spurs! Nor at some later chex.
He explained it something like this if I copied it correctly: It seems the neutralization capacitor needed adjustment once the fundamental frequency changed from previous 9990. Maybe it was corroded. The screen current was also wiggling. The neutralization circuit takes RF and feeds it back to the input to be canceled, to keep the amplifier from oscillating. But the amp went into self-oscillation with the RF at plus/minus 200 kHz or so.
Some other stations have exhibited a similar problem from time to time, so perhaps they should take this into account. It`s satisfying to have helped a station solve such a problem, unlike others which do nothing even when informed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1649 monitoring: produxion finished just in time for first airing, confirmed, on WTWW 9479, Thursday Dec 27 at 2200. Now the ``new frequency 5830`` announcement has been removed, but the TOH legal ID has resumed firing *after* WOR starts, covering up part of our intro. Otherwise intact, unlike last week when 9479 was partly off the air. Further WOR opportunities:
UT Fri 0430v on WWRB 3195 and 5050
UT Sat 0230v on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB
Sat 0630 on HLR 7265, 1630 on 6190
Sat 0900, 1600, 1830; Sun 0900, 1630; Mon 0530; Tue 1200 on WRMI 9955
UT Sun 0500 on WTWW 5830
Sat 1830 on WRN via SiriusXM 120 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN. 7250, once again Dec 27 at 0619, VR is on the air early with IS, 0620 Albanian, which is not supposed to be on SW any more. Poor signal tonight, and may have been on considerably before 0619 in ``Scandinavian`` but not yet noticed. Then checked 3975 and 6075, but they were not on yet before 0630 mass. 9645 probably not either, or not propagating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
7550, poor at 1354 with het on hi side, like happens on 15 MHz vs V. of Tibet via Tajikistan. Aoki does not show any on 7550+ but on 7550-:
7542 at 1342-1400, 7547 at 1300-1342, which may well have shifted.
7390, poor at 1354 mixing with something intermittently in English, presumably language lesson during VOA Cantonese via Tinang, PHILIPPINES (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CROATIA [and non]. 7375, Dec 27 at 0556, checking V. of Croatia via Nauen, GERMANY, as time is running out. Usual lot of pop vocal music; another song starts at 0559, only to be faded out a few sex before 0600 for a sign-off announcement, concluding with only three widely-spaced time pips, then transmitter off. At mid-winter, even this frequency is subject to fade-outs, above the MUF, but fair tonight.
Time running out? I don`t mean just tonight, I mean forever. Horacio Nigro had just forwarded news from Leonardo Nicolás Emmanuel Reiman, Salta, Argentina, on Facebook wall, "Historias de Radio", with a YouTube recording of their Spanish broadcast announcing that SW broadcasts would be terminated as of January 1.
Then I also found an announcement about that on their website with SW and satellite schedules, in Croatian, saying the same thing as translated. This applies not only to the Germany and Singapore relays, but also to their own transmitter inside Croatia on 7370 day and 3985 night:
``From the first January 2013, this program will no longer be broadcast on shortwave. You'll still be able to find us on the medium wave in Europe and on the satellite and the Internet for the whole world. Funds which have hitherto been used to service the transmission on short wave will be used to offer diverse content of this program, including the launch of multimedia content.``
MW refers to 600 kW on 1134 kHz, but which is off the air after 00 UT. Don`t you believe the VOACAP propagation coverage map for it which is really theoretical for something at 2.0 MHz! So yet another SW broadcaster cuts its own throat, expecting to retain an audience on satellite and internet. The MW does make it to North America occasionally for the DXer, but hardly the ordinary listener.
Meanwhile we can still hear the daily English broadcasts at 2315 and 0300 UT on 7375 and 3985, plus a few at other times: 07, 11, 17, 1905 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1649, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GREECE. 7475, Dec 27 at 0614, ERT with similar song playing to one on 9420, but not //, so R. Filia is back tonight on 7475. You never know from one night to the next whether these will be // or not during the 06-07 hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUAM. 5765-USB, Dec 27 at 1348, AFN ending fashion segment from ``Today on NBC``, which probably lost something without the video; just at the edge of OTH radar pulsing peaking 5805. I took it as an Xmas gift when first reheard Dec 25, but Bob Wilkner was hearing it again by Dec 21, and Ron Howard by Dec 22, after having been off most of December, the first two sesquiweeks (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1649, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN. 11910, Dec 27 at 2221, Japanese I had not noticed before but since it is // 11665 and synchronized, both are NHK direct from Yamata, at 290 and 235 degrees respectively, far off from their Asian targets here, but respectable signals, especially 11665 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5985, Dec 27 at 1346, Shiokaze is back here, in Japanese with typical sad piano music, ex-6135, in periodic frequency shuffle, which Ron Howard says occurred Dec 26, and I still logged it on 6135, Dec 25. Now it`s making the usual het with off-frequency Myanmar. Expect English on Friday at 1330-1430 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1649, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. Channel A2 NTSC, Dec 27 at 2358 UT, signal fades in from south, with net-5 bug in upper right; seems dubbed reality show including someone in a bear suit; also with zero-beat CCI, only weak signal but at 0003 UT Dec 28, MUF ascends briefly to ch A3 video, not // so at least we know this is not XHBQ Zacatecas. Nothing more until another ch 2 fade-in at 0107 UT. Only weak signals in fitful winter Es opening. 6m ham Es maps show most contacts are over mid-America, centered over Missouri (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9625, 9660-9735, 10100-10125, and 10300-10340, approx. range of modulation spike spurs but peaking around 9705, from WTWW-3, 9905 transmitter, Dec 26 at 2136 check. Now they are worse than ever.
George McClintock continued to work on the problem and thanks us and some other monitors for help with this. By Dec 27 at 1920 he thought he had solved the problem and called us for another monitoring check. Yes, 9905 came on with music, but no spurs! Nor at some later chex.
He explained it something like this if I copied it correctly: It seems the neutralization capacitor needed adjustment once the fundamental frequency changed from previous 9990. Maybe it was corroded. The screen current was also wiggling. The neutralization circuit takes RF and feeds it back to the input to be canceled, to keep the amplifier from oscillating. But the amp went into self-oscillation with the RF at plus/minus 200 kHz or so.
Some other stations have exhibited a similar problem from time to time, so perhaps they should take this into account. It`s satisfying to have helped a station solve such a problem, unlike others which do nothing even when informed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1649 monitoring: produxion finished just in time for first airing, confirmed, on WTWW 9479, Thursday Dec 27 at 2200. Now the ``new frequency 5830`` announcement has been removed, but the TOH legal ID has resumed firing *after* WOR starts, covering up part of our intro. Otherwise intact, unlike last week when 9479 was partly off the air. Further WOR opportunities:
UT Fri 0430v on WWRB 3195 and 5050
UT Sat 0230v on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB
Sat 0630 on HLR 7265, 1630 on 6190
Sat 0900, 1600, 1830; Sun 0900, 1630; Mon 0530; Tue 1200 on WRMI 9955
UT Sun 0500 on WTWW 5830
Sat 1830 on WRN via SiriusXM 120 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN. 7250, once again Dec 27 at 0619, VR is on the air early with IS, 0620 Albanian, which is not supposed to be on SW any more. Poor signal tonight, and may have been on considerably before 0619 in ``Scandinavian`` but not yet noticed. Then checked 3975 and 6075, but they were not on yet before 0630 mass. 9645 probably not either, or not propagating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
