giovedì 31 gennaio 2013

Glenn Hauser logs January 29-30, 2013

** EGYPT. Early UT Jan 29 there were several reports on the DXLD yg of Qur`an on 9190v. What could it be? Tarek Zeidan later identified the accent as Egyptian, and the prayers were for dawn, which should not start until around 0300 UT in Cairo. But early the next UT day, Wolfgang Büschel in Germany reported:

``R Cairo 9191.013 kHz at 0012 UT on Jan 30: S=9 signal in Germany. EX 0000-0700 9305 ABS 250 kW 315 deg NoAM Arabic General Service. Separate program in English on 9965 kHz. 73 wb`` To which I replied:

``I rather suspected this, and am about to check it too, but the ex-frequency should be 9905, which replaced 9305 months ago. Glenn``

Then at 0057 UT Jan 30, I start monitoring, but nothing to be heard around 9190. Or 9905. 9965 is on the air. (There is also a weak blob of something around 9258 which turns out to be a spur from Guiana French q.v. 9490.) Note that Cairo formerly used several frequencies in the 9200-9300+ range, but never intentionally below 9200.

I have noticed previously that the 9905 transmitter altho scheduled straight thru 00-07, often was not on the air during the first hours of that span (nor was 9305 which it replaced).

At 0105, as I have the BFO on 9190 at 0107, I briefly hear a VFO swishing back and forth across --- maybe that`s the Cairo transmitter, very unstable, but it doesn`t stick.

Another check at 0249: still no 9190; some wandering signal like a sounder crosses weak WINB 9265, soon up across 9285. At 0255 I find that 9905 is on the air with Qur`an; 9965 other Arabic service is just barely modulated; 9720, the English frequency is just a humbuzz; and still nothing around 9190. Other monitors were not hearing it tonight either, except Wolfy earlier. It appears at this time that Cairo is back to abnormal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUIANA FRENCH. 9258, Jan 30 at 0057, weak blob of something detectable despite the T-storm noise from northeast of here. After I have checked out Peru and Egypt, I look further for spurs of the 9490 Montsinéry relay at 00-02 of RMI`s Radio República: there they are again, 9374 and matching 9606, plus and minus 116 kHz from 9490. Unlike last night, this time besides the big hum, there is some modulation of R.R. on both of them, a lofi phoneline feed.

I look for others closer to 9490: yes! Weaker ones on 9526 and 9454, hum-roar just barely modulated, fortunately not interfering with anything; these are plus and minus 36 kHz from fundamental. There is yet another pair, however, which do interfere plus and minus 70 kHz from 9490: about 9420 vs Greece, and 9560 in S Asian language, scheduled as Vatican in Tamil. The first-heard blob on 9258 now obviously comes from this too, as it is 232 kHz below 9490, double the other spurs at 116 kHz, and further has a match on 9722 vs the just barely modulated Cairo English on 9720, all heard around 0116.

Summarizing all these spurs, all approx., maybe plus or minus 1 kHz, as the blobs don`t have sharp carriers for accurate measurement:
low   high   separation from fundamental 9490
9258  9722   232 kHz
9374  9606   116 [strongest ones]
9420  9560    70
9454  9526    36
The last two are likely really matched, one pair the doubles of the other, just like the further pair of pairs above them.

These spurs closely match the displacements previously heard in the 02-04 period from the NHK Japanese relay on 5960 from Montsinéry; a quick check tonight at 0255 did not produce them, vs the high noise level, but have been heard many times before, e.g. 5844, 5890, 5924, 5996, [6030, masked by Cuban radio war], 6076, which are also 36, 70 and 116 kHz above and below the fundamental. Now I need to look for plus and minus 232 = 5728, 6192.

It was not necessary to monitor these on my main receiver with longwire, but only with the DX-398 on the porch, and a shortwire, with better frequency readout. All of these, of course, should be totally suppressed to avoid interfering with other stations and to maintain a `clean` operation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PERU. 4835, Jan 30 at 0112, no sign of R. Ondas del Sur Oriente, as per Pedro F Arrunátegui`s report the night before. I need to check an hour earlier before WWCR come son 4840, but even with BFO I cannot detect a carrier on 4835, yet can hear CODAR sweeps; it`s a poor South American night, weak signals e.g. on 4885 Brasil, 4790 Perú. Recheck at 0255, still just CODAR. So was it on the air during this period? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PERU. 5980, Jan 29 at 2259, checked for R. Chaski, Cuzco, when Thomas Nilsson in Sweden has heard it, but as expected this is too early here, nothing. Jan 30 at 0058 another try at R. Chaski, much like last night, mixing with Chinese, presumed CNR1 jammer, but unlike last night, there is quite a lot of storm noise from the Mississippi Valley area. Again the ChiCom goes off at 0100* after timesignal, and I still hear music; 0100:30, muffled announcement again I can`t recognize as Spanish; 0101:45 fanfare music and talk again like 24 hours earlier; 0103:20 more music, talk with Spanish intonation, and cut off the air at 0104:52* give or take a few sex, a close match to last night 0104:50* --- looks like they let a timer turn it off, regardless of the programming in progress. It`s fortunate that they do run a few minutes past 0100 in the clear (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)