** GUAM. 5765-USB, Dec 8 at 1401, no signal from AFN, which Ron Howard also noted absent Dec 6, tho Bob Wilkner heard it Nov 30. We hope it is just another temporary absence (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. 9425v, Dec 8 at 1414, the 9470 AIR Aligarh banshee blob is here at the moment, on the frequency supposed to be occupied by another National Channel transmitter which is not being heard at all even when clear. Within the next minute, blob wanders up across 9430 FEBC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH. 2850, Dec 8 at 1327, KCBS good at S9+20 with orchestral music; quick scan found plenty of others on this ``good NK morning`` --- 3250, 3320, 3480 with het; jammers on 3912, 3985; 4450 and 4557 jammers with target also audible; and of course the mid-6 MHz jammers which hold up longest. 2850 still audible at 1400 somewhat weaker, with Korean announcement, triumphal music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SARAWAK [non]. 15430, Dec 8 at 1327 and 1353, still no signal from R. Free Kenyalang, supposedly new frequency for new 12-14 UT broadcast via WRN from unknown site. Nor did others further east hear it nor on ex-15650. Maybe tomorrow (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 17595, Sat Dec 8 at 1355, VG signal from REE with song in Spanish. Suspect token N American service direct as before the cuts, but now never heard here on weekdays, not even when supposedly on air to S America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [non]. 7435, Dec 8 at 1358, REE IS weakly audible in nonsensical relay via Kunming, China as lead-in to CRI Nepali service. // 7220 blocked this time by perfectly legitimate SSB QRhaM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN [non]. 15535, Dec 8 at 1459, strong open carrier, starts modulating just before 1500 in Arabish, Radio Tamazuj ID, but with heavy echo. At first I think this is self-imposed nonsense for effect, which should never be done on shortwave, with enough impediments already to clear reception; but at 1526 it`s still echoing, so could it be short/long path? HFCC shows this is: 1500-1630, 250 kW, 150 degrees via SMG, VATICAN, CVA PNW FPU. Aimed oppositeward, with enough signal to echo via long path, but plenty primary signal here no doubt off the back by short path (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 9955, Dec 8 at 1411, WRMI with Spanish talk about el Papa y el Sr. Jesucristo, so suspect Vatican Radio relay. Fair signal, mixing with moderate pulse jamming. I see that WRMI has just put up a new program schedule grid dated Dec 7 showing 1400-1430 Sat is `En Camino` which I think is a VR program, but nothing about it in the WRMI alfabetical program listing nor on the VR Spanish website. Maybe not; and not to be confused with ``El Camino`` = KKNS New Mexico, see UNIDENTIFIED. Camino means road, or pathway.
There have been no changes to the WORLD OF RADIO times on WRMI. The grid is two clix away from http://www.wrmi.net
BTW, Kim Elliott told the NASWA group Dec 8, but not DXLD:
``Digital text IDs this weekend on WRMI --- Radio Miami International, 9955 kHz, is sending out IDs in digital text between programs. Saturday 0500 to Sunday 0500, PSK125 is centered at 2000, 2500, and 3000 Hz. Sunday 0500 to Monday 0500, MFSK16 is centered at 2500 and 3000 Hz. Give or take a few Hz. Times and days are UTC, of course.
The WRMI signal, beamed away from the USA, is usually fair at best. And then there is the ferocious Cuban jamming. An excellent environment to test digital text modes. You can decode from the radio or from the recording using Fldigi available from http://www.w1hkj.com --- Kim``
Earlier, Kim justified his digital text tests via The Mighty KBC (and more of that this UT Sunday 0130-0200 on 9450 via Bulgaria):
``I am also partial to amplitude modulation, but in this modern age, many people are using text to send and receive information. If we can demonstrate that text via shortwave can be a useful substitute when the internet is disrupted by dictators or disasters, then we will have provided a good reason not to dismantle shortwave transmitting sites.``
I comment: We`ve got enough extraneous noise already inside the SWBC bands --- DRM racket, utility intruders from SSB to any kind of digital mode, jamming, distorted FM spurs --- we don`t need any more non-AM non-speech or music. By all means try digital text, SSTV if you like, but put them (and DRM too!) in the fixed utility bands where they belong (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 870, Dec 8 at 1335 UT, Vietnamese scripted talk, bits of piano music, 1340 fading; loops N/S. One thing for sure: it`s not Tarahumara, XETAR. By far the most likely US station to be heard here besides WWL is KFJZ, Fort Worth TX, which had been Spanish/Catholic as in NRC AM Log 2012. A bit of searching found this,
``Vietnamese American Broadcasting 1270 KFJZ``:
http://tunein.com/radio/VAB-Vietnamese-American-Broadcasting-870-s32636/
where Vietnamese audio autolaunches presumably from KFJZ rather than from any of a few other such stations also displayed on page. I wonder when it flipped? I suspect this had something to do with ChiCom imperialism, CRI relay bumping Vietnamese from another frequency. The last time I definitely logged KFJZ in Spanish was Oct 31, 2011.
This also linx to
http://www.vablive.com/
but is only under construxion and that also linx to:
http://esll.org/index.html
but doesn`t go anywhere.
Address in Farmers Branch TX is shown on the vablive page which is titled ``Tieng Noi The He Moi``; while the NRC AM Log 2012 showed an address in Houston, not even Fort Worth. Anyhow, 870 is a 1 kW direxional daytimer with PSRA of 0.5 kW. December SR-SS schedule is 1330-2330; January: 1330-2345 UT.
NRC Pattern Book of 2005y showed it non-direxional, but FCC AM Query now shows a broad pattern peaking NW with considerable null but not a notch toward WWL, of course. I wonder at what point between FW and NO the signals are equal on daytime groundwave?
Topo map for KFJZ via FCC, where the exact sites are NOT marked, indicates it`s somwhere among Garden Acres - Ft Worth Spinks Airport, Oak Grove, Rendon, Valley Ridge, Everman --- i.e. at the southern edge of Tarrant County, just east of I35W, i.e. south of Fort Worth. If KFJZ wanted to cover all of The Metroplex, yet protect WWL, it should have been sited on the SE side of Dallas. Office if not studio location in Farmers Branch, OTOH is on the NW side of Dallas. Is that a Vietnamese neighborhood?
Calls KFJZ are heritage, going back to original 1270, and also thence to original TV channel 11, pre-KTVT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 1310, Dec 8 at 1346 UT, romantic music in Spanish, soon fading, east-west. Lots of SS stations on 1310 in the USA, but perhaps most likely now is KKNS Corrales (Albuquerque) NM, which is ``El Camino``, Spanish contemporary Christian. However, official December sunrise is not until 1400 UT (January: 1415) when 5 kW non-direxional day power is legal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Channel A2 NTSC, Dec 8 at 1547 UT, bits of video flash by two or three times, probably Geminid meteor scatter from Mexico, with antenna aimed south as usual, on the lookout also for winter sporadic E openings. Nothing showing on the 6m maps (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. 9425v, Dec 8 at 1414, the 9470 AIR Aligarh banshee blob is here at the moment, on the frequency supposed to be occupied by another National Channel transmitter which is not being heard at all even when clear. Within the next minute, blob wanders up across 9430 FEBC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH. 2850, Dec 8 at 1327, KCBS good at S9+20 with orchestral music; quick scan found plenty of others on this ``good NK morning`` --- 3250, 3320, 3480 with het; jammers on 3912, 3985; 4450 and 4557 jammers with target also audible; and of course the mid-6 MHz jammers which hold up longest. 2850 still audible at 1400 somewhat weaker, with Korean announcement, triumphal music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SARAWAK [non]. 15430, Dec 8 at 1327 and 1353, still no signal from R. Free Kenyalang, supposedly new frequency for new 12-14 UT broadcast via WRN from unknown site. Nor did others further east hear it nor on ex-15650. Maybe tomorrow (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 17595, Sat Dec 8 at 1355, VG signal from REE with song in Spanish. Suspect token N American service direct as before the cuts, but now never heard here on weekdays, not even when supposedly on air to S America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [non]. 7435, Dec 8 at 1358, REE IS weakly audible in nonsensical relay via Kunming, China as lead-in to CRI Nepali service. // 7220 blocked this time by perfectly legitimate SSB QRhaM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN [non]. 15535, Dec 8 at 1459, strong open carrier, starts modulating just before 1500 in Arabish, Radio Tamazuj ID, but with heavy echo. At first I think this is self-imposed nonsense for effect, which should never be done on shortwave, with enough impediments already to clear reception; but at 1526 it`s still echoing, so could it be short/long path? HFCC shows this is: 1500-1630, 250 kW, 150 degrees via SMG, VATICAN, CVA PNW FPU. Aimed oppositeward, with enough signal to echo via long path, but plenty primary signal here no doubt off the back by short path (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 9955, Dec 8 at 1411, WRMI with Spanish talk about el Papa y el Sr. Jesucristo, so suspect Vatican Radio relay. Fair signal, mixing with moderate pulse jamming. I see that WRMI has just put up a new program schedule grid dated Dec 7 showing 1400-1430 Sat is `En Camino` which I think is a VR program, but nothing about it in the WRMI alfabetical program listing nor on the VR Spanish website. Maybe not; and not to be confused with ``El Camino`` = KKNS New Mexico, see UNIDENTIFIED. Camino means road, or pathway.
There have been no changes to the WORLD OF RADIO times on WRMI. The grid is two clix away from http://www.wrmi.net
BTW, Kim Elliott told the NASWA group Dec 8, but not DXLD:
``Digital text IDs this weekend on WRMI --- Radio Miami International, 9955 kHz, is sending out IDs in digital text between programs. Saturday 0500 to Sunday 0500, PSK125 is centered at 2000, 2500, and 3000 Hz. Sunday 0500 to Monday 0500, MFSK16 is centered at 2500 and 3000 Hz. Give or take a few Hz. Times and days are UTC, of course.
The WRMI signal, beamed away from the USA, is usually fair at best. And then there is the ferocious Cuban jamming. An excellent environment to test digital text modes. You can decode from the radio or from the recording using Fldigi available from http://www.w1hkj.com --- Kim``
Earlier, Kim justified his digital text tests via The Mighty KBC (and more of that this UT Sunday 0130-0200 on 9450 via Bulgaria):
``I am also partial to amplitude modulation, but in this modern age, many people are using text to send and receive information. If we can demonstrate that text via shortwave can be a useful substitute when the internet is disrupted by dictators or disasters, then we will have provided a good reason not to dismantle shortwave transmitting sites.``
I comment: We`ve got enough extraneous noise already inside the SWBC bands --- DRM racket, utility intruders from SSB to any kind of digital mode, jamming, distorted FM spurs --- we don`t need any more non-AM non-speech or music. By all means try digital text, SSTV if you like, but put them (and DRM too!) in the fixed utility bands where they belong (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 870, Dec 8 at 1335 UT, Vietnamese scripted talk, bits of piano music, 1340 fading; loops N/S. One thing for sure: it`s not Tarahumara, XETAR. By far the most likely US station to be heard here besides WWL is KFJZ, Fort Worth TX, which had been Spanish/Catholic as in NRC AM Log 2012. A bit of searching found this,
``Vietnamese American Broadcasting 1270 KFJZ``:
http://tunein.com/radio/VAB-Vietnamese-American-Broadcasting-870-s32636/
where Vietnamese audio autolaunches presumably from KFJZ rather than from any of a few other such stations also displayed on page. I wonder when it flipped? I suspect this had something to do with ChiCom imperialism, CRI relay bumping Vietnamese from another frequency. The last time I definitely logged KFJZ in Spanish was Oct 31, 2011.
This also linx to
http://www.vablive.com/
but is only under construxion and that also linx to:
http://esll.org/index.html
but doesn`t go anywhere.
Address in Farmers Branch TX is shown on the vablive page which is titled ``Tieng Noi The He Moi``; while the NRC AM Log 2012 showed an address in Houston, not even Fort Worth. Anyhow, 870 is a 1 kW direxional daytimer with PSRA of 0.5 kW. December SR-SS schedule is 1330-2330; January: 1330-2345 UT.
NRC Pattern Book of 2005y showed it non-direxional, but FCC AM Query now shows a broad pattern peaking NW with considerable null but not a notch toward WWL, of course. I wonder at what point between FW and NO the signals are equal on daytime groundwave?
Topo map for KFJZ via FCC, where the exact sites are NOT marked, indicates it`s somwhere among Garden Acres - Ft Worth Spinks Airport, Oak Grove, Rendon, Valley Ridge, Everman --- i.e. at the southern edge of Tarrant County, just east of I35W, i.e. south of Fort Worth. If KFJZ wanted to cover all of The Metroplex, yet protect WWL, it should have been sited on the SE side of Dallas. Office if not studio location in Farmers Branch, OTOH is on the NW side of Dallas. Is that a Vietnamese neighborhood?
Calls KFJZ are heritage, going back to original 1270, and also thence to original TV channel 11, pre-KTVT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 1310, Dec 8 at 1346 UT, romantic music in Spanish, soon fading, east-west. Lots of SS stations on 1310 in the USA, but perhaps most likely now is KKNS Corrales (Albuquerque) NM, which is ``El Camino``, Spanish contemporary Christian. However, official December sunrise is not until 1400 UT (January: 1415) when 5 kW non-direxional day power is legal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Channel A2 NTSC, Dec 8 at 1547 UT, bits of video flash by two or three times, probably Geminid meteor scatter from Mexico, with antenna aimed south as usual, on the lookout also for winter sporadic E openings. Nothing showing on the 6m maps (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
