** AUSTRALIA. 15525, Sat Jan 19 at 2230, HCJB ID and frequency in English, very poor, then into Japanese, which per Aoki is UT Fri & Sat only, otherwise Chinese (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BRAZIL. 11780-AM, Jan 18 at 2236, RNA is back to normal with good modulation, no spurs; ditto at rechex 2330, UT Jan 19 0135, 0342, 0615. Also still OK Jan 19 at 2220 and later (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BULGARIA. 9450, Jan 20 at 0042, ID ``This is KBC Radio, broadcasting from Bulgaria`` just as I tune in after some music; only poor-fair signal. Kim Elliott continues to conduct digital text tests on this weekly 00-02 UT Sunday broadcast, which I have yet to try, but others report varying degrees of success (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 11840, Jan 18 at 2238, RHC Spanish is undermodulated/distorted, no comparison to English on 11880.
9810, Jan 19 at 0625, RHC Spanish is on late again, music sounds like `Cuba Campesina`. Then found // on 6120 with ACI from stronger RHC English 6125; 0630 promo for RHC`s ``año 50`` --- that was two years ago (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUAM. 13363-USB, Jan 19 at 2217, very weak broadcast seems in English, so not Argentina, but AFN. S. Hasegawa, Japan reported at 1032 UT Jan 19: ``AFN-Guam operates on 13362 kHz now for 24 hours`` --- rather than nights on 5765-USB, but remains to be heard how long this last (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MALI. 15505, Jan 19 at 2228 open carrier, poor; 2230 just barely audible/modulated. Presumed the useless CRI Bamako II relay, scheduled here only for a semihour per Aoki. At least it still exists, apparently (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 1560, Jan 19 at 0645 UT, ``en Radio Viva, proclamamos lo altísimo, Radio Viva 15-60`` on to gospel rock in Spanish. I figured this would be easy to look up, but no such slogan on 1560 in NRC AM Log. Nor Radio ``Vida``, as it could have been. NRC has the only SS:REL on 1560 as KVAN in Burbank WA, night power 700 watts. Soon lost in QRM and did not get a bearing on it. O, here is Radio Viva in the IRCA Mexican Log: XEJPV, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, 10/-1 kW --- the minus really means presumed/suspected/estimated night power. WRTH 2013 says 1 kW fulltime, and Cantú says 1 kW daytime only: hardly (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 1570, Jan 19 at 1529 UT, Spanish, can it be XERF, or Tulsa? By golly, promo for `La Hora Nacional`, and it loops correctly for XERF, almost two hours after sunrise and about a megameter away. Sure helps to be La Poderosa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGESET)
** NEW ZEALAND. 11725, Jan 19 at 0636, RNZI in that great Saturday-night request show finishing some Flanders & Swann, 0640 the unicorn song by the Irish Rovers. Fair to sufficient signal, whilst R. Australia was JBA to missing from 11945, 12, 13 and 15 MHz channels, no loss during `Grandstand` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. 530, the new TIS/HAR in the Enid area continues to be heard Jan 18. Around 2100 UT I set out to find it. Since it has been DF`d as almost N/S of central Enid, I head east and west to get it from other angles. Soon obvious that it`s from south, not north of Enid. From Garland & Garriott on the west side, it loops SE. So I drive south and east to home in on it, and indeed it gets stronger.
As I approach Vance AFB, strength and angles indicate it`s obviously coming from somewhere on the base. I stop at the brand-new visitor`s center by the main/north gate (where several antique aircraft are permanently mounted), and enquire. Guess what: the airperson at the desk knows nothing about it, and the noise level inside is so extreme I can`t let her hear it. She does give me a phone number for further info. Altho I`m a USAF vet, you don`t just drive onto the base without permission. From the perimeter I can`t spot a likely antenna.
The same group of Ad Council PSAs are still running in rotation over and over, repeating every few minutes. From listening, there is no clue this thing has anything to do with the military, let alone the USAF or Vance AFB in particular, and there are still no IDs.
After some more phone referrals, someone suggests its purpose is to announce gate closings, etc. It turns out the civilian person likely to know all about at the Comms Squadron is gone for the long weekend.
Jan 19 at 1338 UT I monitor again, finding only two of previous PSAs are playing, about locks & home safety, kids & internet, alternating with a new one about the need for booster seats for post-baby kids.
Why can`t they fill time with something more useful, like AFN instead of 5765-Guam? Another check Jan 19 at 2215 UT: now only two PSAs are alternating: asthma and booster seats.
It will be interesting to determine its range. Can any further Oklahomans hear it? Only a few miles away it is weak enough to be nulled out for Cuba at night. On my way out to find it, around the intersexion of Randolph & Cleveland, there was co-channel QRM with a SAH. North-south HV powerline there raises the MW noise level, but also boosts other signals as a supplemental defacto re-radiating beverage antenna (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 17680, Jan 19 at 1516, African singing and talking, poor signal. HFCC shows VOA Hausa via BOTSWANA, 100 kW, 350 degrees at 1500-1530 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1652 monitoring: The 0430 UT Friday Jan 18 on WWRB: Tim Noonan reports: ``Hi Glenn, 3195 had trouble getting the program started, but then they ran it in its entirety, a few minutes late.`` Don`t know if 5050 was also on this week.
5110v-CUSB, Area 51 via WBCQ has live `Allan Weiner Worldwide` still running at 0230 UT Saturday Jan 19, but it`s JBA. So I go to webcast to be sure what`s happening. He wraps up late and WOR starts at 0241. About an hour later, the 5110v signal is better.
On WRMI 9955: barely confirmed Saturday Jan 19 after 1600: very weak signal, and not sure if there is also very weak jamming. Slightly better at 1830, but jamming definitely there too; tnx a lot, Arnie! Next: Sun 0530, Tue 1200. On WTWW 5830: UT Sun 0500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7505, Jan 19 at 0146 check, still no signal from WRNO as some have alleged. Recheck 0227, now it`s on, 7506.4v (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5085, Jan 20 at 0040, WTWW-2 is missing from its usual Saturday-night broadcast. Was not on day frequency 9905 either nor at 2221 Jan 19, and WTWW-3 was also absent from 12105, while WTWW-1 9479 remained (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9370, Jan 20 at 0041, Brother Scare is still on here from WWRB, instead of night frequency 3185. It used to come on much earlier, so checking their current (?) but undated schedule at
http://www.wwrb.org/schedule/combined.pdf
in EST = UT -5, so should have switched at 0000 UT:
``Radio Station WWRB Transmitter Broadcast Schedule
Global 1: 045° Dual Feed Rhombic
07.30 PM – 09.00 PM: 3.215 MHz
09.00 PM – 12.00 AM: 3.195 MHz
Global 2: 150° Dual Feed Wide Spaced Yagi
07:00 PM – 12.00 AM: 5.050 MHz
Global 3: 340° Dual Feed Rhombic
08.00 AM – 07.00 PM: 9.385 MHz [moved months ago to 9370 kHz]
07.00 PM – 08.00 AM: 3.185 MHz
Global 4:
Currently leased for shortwave propagation study.``
This appears to be more accurate than the individual transmitter program schedules which still show some long-gone frequencies. I wonder what the SW propagation study is all about, for whom, and WTFK?? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN. 7250, Jan 19 at 0627, VR in Albanian, on early again; 0633 fair signal with Latin mass, as I check the others: 3975 is missing! 6075 is good, 9645 is poor with Brazilian het (Glenn Hauer, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 1510-, Jan 19 at 1315 UT, once again there is a low het on low side looping NE/SW, pointing to KCTE Independence MO, but the main sports signal audible on 1510 IDs as WLAC. Just recently I had decided KCTE was back on frequency, so is another one off 1510 now? Or do they maybe have two different transmitters? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
[this report was delayed 8+ hours by a Suddenlink internet & cable outage affecting half of Enid, said to be caused by a fibre optic cable cut, so I added interim logs to it.]
** BRAZIL. 11780-AM, Jan 18 at 2236, RNA is back to normal with good modulation, no spurs; ditto at rechex 2330, UT Jan 19 0135, 0342, 0615. Also still OK Jan 19 at 2220 and later (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BULGARIA. 9450, Jan 20 at 0042, ID ``This is KBC Radio, broadcasting from Bulgaria`` just as I tune in after some music; only poor-fair signal. Kim Elliott continues to conduct digital text tests on this weekly 00-02 UT Sunday broadcast, which I have yet to try, but others report varying degrees of success (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 11840, Jan 18 at 2238, RHC Spanish is undermodulated/distorted, no comparison to English on 11880.
9810, Jan 19 at 0625, RHC Spanish is on late again, music sounds like `Cuba Campesina`. Then found // on 6120 with ACI from stronger RHC English 6125; 0630 promo for RHC`s ``año 50`` --- that was two years ago (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUAM. 13363-USB, Jan 19 at 2217, very weak broadcast seems in English, so not Argentina, but AFN. S. Hasegawa, Japan reported at 1032 UT Jan 19: ``AFN-Guam operates on 13362 kHz now for 24 hours`` --- rather than nights on 5765-USB, but remains to be heard how long this last (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MALI. 15505, Jan 19 at 2228 open carrier, poor; 2230 just barely audible/modulated. Presumed the useless CRI Bamako II relay, scheduled here only for a semihour per Aoki. At least it still exists, apparently (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 1560, Jan 19 at 0645 UT, ``en Radio Viva, proclamamos lo altísimo, Radio Viva 15-60`` on to gospel rock in Spanish. I figured this would be easy to look up, but no such slogan on 1560 in NRC AM Log. Nor Radio ``Vida``, as it could have been. NRC has the only SS:REL on 1560 as KVAN in Burbank WA, night power 700 watts. Soon lost in QRM and did not get a bearing on it. O, here is Radio Viva in the IRCA Mexican Log: XEJPV, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, 10/-1 kW --- the minus really means presumed/suspected/estimated night power. WRTH 2013 says 1 kW fulltime, and Cantú says 1 kW daytime only: hardly (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 1570, Jan 19 at 1529 UT, Spanish, can it be XERF, or Tulsa? By golly, promo for `La Hora Nacional`, and it loops correctly for XERF, almost two hours after sunrise and about a megameter away. Sure helps to be La Poderosa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGESET)
** NEW ZEALAND. 11725, Jan 19 at 0636, RNZI in that great Saturday-night request show finishing some Flanders & Swann, 0640 the unicorn song by the Irish Rovers. Fair to sufficient signal, whilst R. Australia was JBA to missing from 11945, 12, 13 and 15 MHz channels, no loss during `Grandstand` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. 530, the new TIS/HAR in the Enid area continues to be heard Jan 18. Around 2100 UT I set out to find it. Since it has been DF`d as almost N/S of central Enid, I head east and west to get it from other angles. Soon obvious that it`s from south, not north of Enid. From Garland & Garriott on the west side, it loops SE. So I drive south and east to home in on it, and indeed it gets stronger.
As I approach Vance AFB, strength and angles indicate it`s obviously coming from somewhere on the base. I stop at the brand-new visitor`s center by the main/north gate (where several antique aircraft are permanently mounted), and enquire. Guess what: the airperson at the desk knows nothing about it, and the noise level inside is so extreme I can`t let her hear it. She does give me a phone number for further info. Altho I`m a USAF vet, you don`t just drive onto the base without permission. From the perimeter I can`t spot a likely antenna.
The same group of Ad Council PSAs are still running in rotation over and over, repeating every few minutes. From listening, there is no clue this thing has anything to do with the military, let alone the USAF or Vance AFB in particular, and there are still no IDs.
After some more phone referrals, someone suggests its purpose is to announce gate closings, etc. It turns out the civilian person likely to know all about at the Comms Squadron is gone for the long weekend.
Jan 19 at 1338 UT I monitor again, finding only two of previous PSAs are playing, about locks & home safety, kids & internet, alternating with a new one about the need for booster seats for post-baby kids.
Why can`t they fill time with something more useful, like AFN instead of 5765-Guam? Another check Jan 19 at 2215 UT: now only two PSAs are alternating: asthma and booster seats.
It will be interesting to determine its range. Can any further Oklahomans hear it? Only a few miles away it is weak enough to be nulled out for Cuba at night. On my way out to find it, around the intersexion of Randolph & Cleveland, there was co-channel QRM with a SAH. North-south HV powerline there raises the MW noise level, but also boosts other signals as a supplemental defacto re-radiating beverage antenna (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 17680, Jan 19 at 1516, African singing and talking, poor signal. HFCC shows VOA Hausa via BOTSWANA, 100 kW, 350 degrees at 1500-1530 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1652 monitoring: The 0430 UT Friday Jan 18 on WWRB: Tim Noonan reports: ``Hi Glenn, 3195 had trouble getting the program started, but then they ran it in its entirety, a few minutes late.`` Don`t know if 5050 was also on this week.
5110v-CUSB, Area 51 via WBCQ has live `Allan Weiner Worldwide` still running at 0230 UT Saturday Jan 19, but it`s JBA. So I go to webcast to be sure what`s happening. He wraps up late and WOR starts at 0241. About an hour later, the 5110v signal is better.
On WRMI 9955: barely confirmed Saturday Jan 19 after 1600: very weak signal, and not sure if there is also very weak jamming. Slightly better at 1830, but jamming definitely there too; tnx a lot, Arnie! Next: Sun 0530, Tue 1200. On WTWW 5830: UT Sun 0500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7505, Jan 19 at 0146 check, still no signal from WRNO as some have alleged. Recheck 0227, now it`s on, 7506.4v (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5085, Jan 20 at 0040, WTWW-2 is missing from its usual Saturday-night broadcast. Was not on day frequency 9905 either nor at 2221 Jan 19, and WTWW-3 was also absent from 12105, while WTWW-1 9479 remained (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9370, Jan 20 at 0041, Brother Scare is still on here from WWRB, instead of night frequency 3185. It used to come on much earlier, so checking their current (?) but undated schedule at
http://www.wwrb.org/schedule/combined.pdf
in EST = UT -5, so should have switched at 0000 UT:
``Radio Station WWRB Transmitter Broadcast Schedule
Global 1: 045° Dual Feed Rhombic
07.30 PM – 09.00 PM: 3.215 MHz
09.00 PM – 12.00 AM: 3.195 MHz
Global 2: 150° Dual Feed Wide Spaced Yagi
07:00 PM – 12.00 AM: 5.050 MHz
Global 3: 340° Dual Feed Rhombic
08.00 AM – 07.00 PM: 9.385 MHz [moved months ago to 9370 kHz]
07.00 PM – 08.00 AM: 3.185 MHz
Global 4:
Currently leased for shortwave propagation study.``
This appears to be more accurate than the individual transmitter program schedules which still show some long-gone frequencies. I wonder what the SW propagation study is all about, for whom, and WTFK?? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN. 7250, Jan 19 at 0627, VR in Albanian, on early again; 0633 fair signal with Latin mass, as I check the others: 3975 is missing! 6075 is good, 9645 is poor with Brazilian het (Glenn Hauer, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 1510-, Jan 19 at 1315 UT, once again there is a low het on low side looping NE/SW, pointing to KCTE Independence MO, but the main sports signal audible on 1510 IDs as WLAC. Just recently I had decided KCTE was back on frequency, so is another one off 1510 now? Or do they maybe have two different transmitters? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
[this report was delayed 8+ hours by a Suddenlink internet & cable outage affecting half of Enid, said to be caused by a fibre optic cable cut, so I added interim logs to it.]
