** AUSTRALIA [and non]. 21740, March 17 at 2140, no signal from R. Australia which normally inbooms starting at 2100. That`s because of a geostorm with K = 6 at 2100, per WWV:
``Geophysical Alert Message
# Solar-terrestrial indices for 17 March follow.
Solar flux 126 and estimated planetary A-index 46.
The estimated planetary K-index at 2100 UTC on 17 March was 6.
Space weather for the past 24 hours has been moderate.
Geomagnetic storms reaching the G2 level occurred.
Solar radiation storms reaching the S1 level occurred.
Space weather for the next 24 hours is predicted to be moderate.
Geomagnetic storms reaching the G2 level are expected.``
But 15m was open at least from Nicaragua, YN3M circa 21345-USB. At 0051 March 18, still no 21740, but 19000 was poorly audible instead of usual good signal. If aurora reached this far south it was behind the clouds (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BANGLADESH. 15505, March 18 at 1359, BB has come on with IS, poor with flutter, some hum, 1400 accurate timesignal which is presumably coincidental, and opening Urdu (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake March 18:
12230, fair at 1352 with flutter; none in the 11s
12370, fair at 1352 with flutter; none in the 13s
14700, fair at 1354 with flutter, also ute QRM? None in the 15s, 16s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. After all the anomalies on Saturday, I recheck RHC on Sunday afternoon March 17, and find it more or less back to `normal`:
11880, at 2224 is back in French instead of Portuguese, but at 2230 goes into Portuguese. Portuguese has already been running on 15230 from 2200, but re-opened at 2229 with IS and ID. I then find the same program is on 11880, but 65 seconds behind 15230 rather than synchronized as happened before. Does the one-hour Portuguese broadcast, whenever and wherever it may be, always consist of one same semi-hour repeated?
Spanish frequencies with music around 2230: 11840, 15340, 15230.
15370 at 2231, this being Sunday, opens Esperanto instead of French.
11880 at 2300 March 17, is back in English instead of Spanish yesterday.
5040, OTOH, at 0550 UT March 18, is in Spanish instead of English, which continued on the overkill 49m channels. Now what?
13740, March 18 at 1351, RHC Spanish is here // 13780, instead of usual dead-air warm-up to CRI English. Still RHC SS at 1358 as I amuse myself listening to outdated frequency announcement not including the one I am listening to! 17580, 17730, 15230, 15340, 9540, 13780, 11760, 11860, 11690, 11750 and he keeps saying most of them will be on until 1600, ignorant of the timeshift a week ago until 1500*
It is not until 1400:30 that 13740 is suddenly switched to CRI English, joined in progress. Refund a few yuan? One of SW`s great mysteries is why RHC has never been relayed in exchange via China. Just no interest in reaching Asia?
Trying to get thru to the RHC Spanish program schedule at http://www.radiohc.cu/index.php/de-interes/frecuencias.html
I keep getting 404s, but finally connect at 1625 UT March 18 --- it has just been updated, a week too late. Now the Spanish times are starting at 11 instead of 12, until 15, and ending at 05 instead of 06; looks like no frequency changes, just times, and Aló Presidente still has a heading, but details deleted just like Hugo.
The English `hedule` has also been timeshifted,
http://www.radiohc.cu/ing/of-interest/frequencies.html
adding errors such as ``1880`` instead of 11880 at 23-24 (same error for Portuguese at 2230); and English 6000 as 01-07, which surely is supposed to be 01-05, as 6010 still starts at 05 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EAST TURKISTAN. 7250, March 18 at 0103, something in Chinese. I was expecting to hear Russia, as ``Armavir`` is still registered for VOR at 22-04 to N America, but not really any more since 2012y began. Instead it`s CRI via Urumqi during this hour only. Also // 7300, which is Kashgar. The domestic services from E.T. I used to get around 0100 on 60m are no longer making it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GREECE. Presumably responding to my remark about Greek Orthodox singing on ERT, John Babbis refers to this interesting background about ``Byzantine chanting`` in America:
http://www.pravmir.com/english-text-and-byzantine-chant-some-problems-and-issues/
altho it only touches on the gender issue: ``The scope of this education poses serious challenges – most of our choir directors do not have the time or resources to devote to four years at Holy Cross, or a long-term stay on Mt. Athos. Nevertheless, our new chanters, often converts and often women, need more tools than their willingness to do the job`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 4790, March 18 at 1225, again no signal from RRI Fak Fak, but a double-carrier on 4750, i.e. RRI Makassar, and as Ron Howard confirms, reactivated Bangladesh (presumably; the two ChiComs aren`t much of a factor here). Still nothing but CODAR sweeping 4790 at 1317. Atsunori Ishida has not heard Fak2 at all since March 15; gone again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [non]. 11740, March 18 at 0505 check, NHKWRJ is back, whew, after missing last night its 0500-0530 English to N America via GUIANA FRENCH, with less than two weeks left till oblivion (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 540, March 18 at 0601 UT, ``Soy Soldado`` super-patriotic recitation, 0602 ID mentioning 540 and FM 106.9? I was expecting usually dominant XETX, but its FM is 90.5, while XEWA SLP has 103.9, presumably what I was hearing, as 3 and 6 sound almost alike in Spanish. Then into choral NA. XEWA has become a rarity, can`t be 150 kW non-direxional any more (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6010, March 18 at 1227, XEOI is fair and readable with no QRM, news about the explosion in a Mexican Jesus-town, something on El Salvador. About the best time of day to hear R. Mil here, before sunrise which today was 1238 UT, heading for, of course, 1232 on the Equinox (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PALAU. 9930, Monday March 18 at 1238, T8WH is off the air, and remains so past 1400. My message about yesterday`s disastrous spurring atop WWVH 10000, leapfrogging over 9965 must have got thru to someone? Not necessarily: per Aoki, 9930 is on the air at 12-14 only on weekends with one exception. So will this happen again on Sat & Sun?
9965 comes on at *1300 March 18 with R. Australia in Chinese, but without 9930 there is no RA on that frequency next to it, and no mix on 10000, 10035. At 1357 everything still OK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PERU. The geostorms might have enhanced S American reception, but instead it`s subnormal: At 0057 March 18, not much on 60m, can`t even hear BOLIVIA on 5952+, and JBA on 6135-, boding ill for today`s Chaski-check:
5980, March 17 at 0057, I do still get a carrier, and Cuba 5990 is off by 0059, so I can copy the instant that R. Chaski turns itself off: 0101:03* which amounts to an unusual 6 sex later than last night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 9370, March 18 at 1348 and still 1402, open carrier/dead air from WWRB instead of Brother Scare, quite an improvement. However, until attenuated, could hear a weak BS on 9370, which was cross-modulation from super-signal of 9980 WWCR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN [non]. 7315, March 18 at 0552, R. Dabanga music, back tonight with usual incredibly good signal from VATICAN, way over here in deep North America, after dead air and then even no carrier last night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TUNISIA. 7275, March 18 at 0552, IWT is still AWOL (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9930, Sunday March 17 at 2144, WTWW-2 is on again this afternoon like Saturday, music, distorted, wobble on carrier, with main spur circa 9905, but also traced on 9860, 9800, 9740, i.e. approx. 60-kHz intervals, and probably on 9955 under the jamming. It seems this transmitter needs a settling-in period, as by 2236 the spurs had relented, tho still some buzz around 9905.
At 2237, it`s the same guy as yesterday, even tho he said then, ``back next week``, with one long monolog, at the moment about seat belts. Maybe today he will outro with some ID: yes, at 2258, show has been `The Red Letter Edition Rewind`, (which alludes to certain versions of the Bible which print alleged words of JC himself in red, altho he certainly spoke no English), http://www.thinkredink.com and ``back tomorrow``, he now says. Indeed website leads to addresses in Pie Town, New Mexico, which, yes, got its name originally as a source of pies. He`s modest about proclaiming his name on the air, Don Harris. Website indicates he`s quite a character with his bus and remote lifestyle. 2259 into another same show as yesterday, 15-minute `Moments of Inspiration`.
By next check 0026 UT Monday March 18, WTWW-2 has switched to 5085 (probably at 0000), despite assumption be DX Re Mix News March 11 that the QSY would be at 2300. Now it`s Ted Randall taking musical requests. Again distorted modulation with ripple/wobble on the carrier. At 0052 I also find the recurrent spurs circa 12.5 kHz above and below 5085 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9490, March 17 at 2148, `Pirating with Cumbre` in progress, so the Sunday 2130 airing has resumed, even tho a gospel huxter replaced it last week on WHRI.
9895, UT Monday March 18 at 0059, WHRI ID with VG signal, a surprise since as reconfirmed on their website schedule, this frequency is supposedly in use only UT Tue-Sat at 0000-0030 for the last remaining legacy SW broadcast of R. Nederland, in Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7506.72, March 18 at 0104, WRNO VG signal as local YL asks for reports, into `Hour of Decision` with Billy Graham. My previous measurement found WRNO even higher than usual, so I count the clix again on the DX-398, coming up with this (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1480, after nothing out of the ordinary heard from KBXD Dallas TX during its DX test from 0500 UT March 17, got this reply from Jerry Kiefer, also to organizer Paul B Walker: ``Paul, Just got back to town. Yes we did the test last night with the tones etc but a staff screw up kept us at regular night power last night. Your call, do you want to reschedule another test in a few weeks? I apologize for the screw up as I know there was a lot of interest. Jerry`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 9425.44, March 18 at 1317, fair and steady open carrier, at first assumed 9425.0 until a weak het appeared at 1320 and then measured. The het must have been AIR National Channel coming on at usual time on proper frequency, the 9425.44 something much closer (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
``Geophysical Alert Message
# Solar-terrestrial indices for 17 March follow.
Solar flux 126 and estimated planetary A-index 46.
The estimated planetary K-index at 2100 UTC on 17 March was 6.
Space weather for the past 24 hours has been moderate.
Geomagnetic storms reaching the G2 level occurred.
Solar radiation storms reaching the S1 level occurred.
Space weather for the next 24 hours is predicted to be moderate.
Geomagnetic storms reaching the G2 level are expected.``
But 15m was open at least from Nicaragua, YN3M circa 21345-USB. At 0051 March 18, still no 21740, but 19000 was poorly audible instead of usual good signal. If aurora reached this far south it was behind the clouds (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BANGLADESH. 15505, March 18 at 1359, BB has come on with IS, poor with flutter, some hum, 1400 accurate timesignal which is presumably coincidental, and opening Urdu (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake March 18:
12230, fair at 1352 with flutter; none in the 11s
12370, fair at 1352 with flutter; none in the 13s
14700, fair at 1354 with flutter, also ute QRM? None in the 15s, 16s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. After all the anomalies on Saturday, I recheck RHC on Sunday afternoon March 17, and find it more or less back to `normal`:
11880, at 2224 is back in French instead of Portuguese, but at 2230 goes into Portuguese. Portuguese has already been running on 15230 from 2200, but re-opened at 2229 with IS and ID. I then find the same program is on 11880, but 65 seconds behind 15230 rather than synchronized as happened before. Does the one-hour Portuguese broadcast, whenever and wherever it may be, always consist of one same semi-hour repeated?
Spanish frequencies with music around 2230: 11840, 15340, 15230.
15370 at 2231, this being Sunday, opens Esperanto instead of French.
11880 at 2300 March 17, is back in English instead of Spanish yesterday.
5040, OTOH, at 0550 UT March 18, is in Spanish instead of English, which continued on the overkill 49m channels. Now what?
13740, March 18 at 1351, RHC Spanish is here // 13780, instead of usual dead-air warm-up to CRI English. Still RHC SS at 1358 as I amuse myself listening to outdated frequency announcement not including the one I am listening to! 17580, 17730, 15230, 15340, 9540, 13780, 11760, 11860, 11690, 11750 and he keeps saying most of them will be on until 1600, ignorant of the timeshift a week ago until 1500*
It is not until 1400:30 that 13740 is suddenly switched to CRI English, joined in progress. Refund a few yuan? One of SW`s great mysteries is why RHC has never been relayed in exchange via China. Just no interest in reaching Asia?
Trying to get thru to the RHC Spanish program schedule at http://www.radiohc.cu/index.php/de-interes/frecuencias.html
I keep getting 404s, but finally connect at 1625 UT March 18 --- it has just been updated, a week too late. Now the Spanish times are starting at 11 instead of 12, until 15, and ending at 05 instead of 06; looks like no frequency changes, just times, and Aló Presidente still has a heading, but details deleted just like Hugo.
The English `hedule` has also been timeshifted,
http://www.radiohc.cu/ing/of-interest/frequencies.html
adding errors such as ``1880`` instead of 11880 at 23-24 (same error for Portuguese at 2230); and English 6000 as 01-07, which surely is supposed to be 01-05, as 6010 still starts at 05 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EAST TURKISTAN. 7250, March 18 at 0103, something in Chinese. I was expecting to hear Russia, as ``Armavir`` is still registered for VOR at 22-04 to N America, but not really any more since 2012y began. Instead it`s CRI via Urumqi during this hour only. Also // 7300, which is Kashgar. The domestic services from E.T. I used to get around 0100 on 60m are no longer making it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GREECE. Presumably responding to my remark about Greek Orthodox singing on ERT, John Babbis refers to this interesting background about ``Byzantine chanting`` in America:
http://www.pravmir.com/english-text-and-byzantine-chant-some-problems-and-issues/
altho it only touches on the gender issue: ``The scope of this education poses serious challenges – most of our choir directors do not have the time or resources to devote to four years at Holy Cross, or a long-term stay on Mt. Athos. Nevertheless, our new chanters, often converts and often women, need more tools than their willingness to do the job`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 4790, March 18 at 1225, again no signal from RRI Fak Fak, but a double-carrier on 4750, i.e. RRI Makassar, and as Ron Howard confirms, reactivated Bangladesh (presumably; the two ChiComs aren`t much of a factor here). Still nothing but CODAR sweeping 4790 at 1317. Atsunori Ishida has not heard Fak2 at all since March 15; gone again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [non]. 11740, March 18 at 0505 check, NHKWRJ is back, whew, after missing last night its 0500-0530 English to N America via GUIANA FRENCH, with less than two weeks left till oblivion (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 540, March 18 at 0601 UT, ``Soy Soldado`` super-patriotic recitation, 0602 ID mentioning 540 and FM 106.9? I was expecting usually dominant XETX, but its FM is 90.5, while XEWA SLP has 103.9, presumably what I was hearing, as 3 and 6 sound almost alike in Spanish. Then into choral NA. XEWA has become a rarity, can`t be 150 kW non-direxional any more (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6010, March 18 at 1227, XEOI is fair and readable with no QRM, news about the explosion in a Mexican Jesus-town, something on El Salvador. About the best time of day to hear R. Mil here, before sunrise which today was 1238 UT, heading for, of course, 1232 on the Equinox (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PALAU. 9930, Monday March 18 at 1238, T8WH is off the air, and remains so past 1400. My message about yesterday`s disastrous spurring atop WWVH 10000, leapfrogging over 9965 must have got thru to someone? Not necessarily: per Aoki, 9930 is on the air at 12-14 only on weekends with one exception. So will this happen again on Sat & Sun?
9965 comes on at *1300 March 18 with R. Australia in Chinese, but without 9930 there is no RA on that frequency next to it, and no mix on 10000, 10035. At 1357 everything still OK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PERU. The geostorms might have enhanced S American reception, but instead it`s subnormal: At 0057 March 18, not much on 60m, can`t even hear BOLIVIA on 5952+, and JBA on 6135-, boding ill for today`s Chaski-check:
5980, March 17 at 0057, I do still get a carrier, and Cuba 5990 is off by 0059, so I can copy the instant that R. Chaski turns itself off: 0101:03* which amounts to an unusual 6 sex later than last night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 9370, March 18 at 1348 and still 1402, open carrier/dead air from WWRB instead of Brother Scare, quite an improvement. However, until attenuated, could hear a weak BS on 9370, which was cross-modulation from super-signal of 9980 WWCR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN [non]. 7315, March 18 at 0552, R. Dabanga music, back tonight with usual incredibly good signal from VATICAN, way over here in deep North America, after dead air and then even no carrier last night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TUNISIA. 7275, March 18 at 0552, IWT is still AWOL (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9930, Sunday March 17 at 2144, WTWW-2 is on again this afternoon like Saturday, music, distorted, wobble on carrier, with main spur circa 9905, but also traced on 9860, 9800, 9740, i.e. approx. 60-kHz intervals, and probably on 9955 under the jamming. It seems this transmitter needs a settling-in period, as by 2236 the spurs had relented, tho still some buzz around 9905.
At 2237, it`s the same guy as yesterday, even tho he said then, ``back next week``, with one long monolog, at the moment about seat belts. Maybe today he will outro with some ID: yes, at 2258, show has been `The Red Letter Edition Rewind`, (which alludes to certain versions of the Bible which print alleged words of JC himself in red, altho he certainly spoke no English), http://www.thinkredink.com and ``back tomorrow``, he now says. Indeed website leads to addresses in Pie Town, New Mexico, which, yes, got its name originally as a source of pies. He`s modest about proclaiming his name on the air, Don Harris. Website indicates he`s quite a character with his bus and remote lifestyle. 2259 into another same show as yesterday, 15-minute `Moments of Inspiration`.
By next check 0026 UT Monday March 18, WTWW-2 has switched to 5085 (probably at 0000), despite assumption be DX Re Mix News March 11 that the QSY would be at 2300. Now it`s Ted Randall taking musical requests. Again distorted modulation with ripple/wobble on the carrier. At 0052 I also find the recurrent spurs circa 12.5 kHz above and below 5085 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9490, March 17 at 2148, `Pirating with Cumbre` in progress, so the Sunday 2130 airing has resumed, even tho a gospel huxter replaced it last week on WHRI.
9895, UT Monday March 18 at 0059, WHRI ID with VG signal, a surprise since as reconfirmed on their website schedule, this frequency is supposedly in use only UT Tue-Sat at 0000-0030 for the last remaining legacy SW broadcast of R. Nederland, in Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7506.72, March 18 at 0104, WRNO VG signal as local YL asks for reports, into `Hour of Decision` with Billy Graham. My previous measurement found WRNO even higher than usual, so I count the clix again on the DX-398, coming up with this (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1480, after nothing out of the ordinary heard from KBXD Dallas TX during its DX test from 0500 UT March 17, got this reply from Jerry Kiefer, also to organizer Paul B Walker: ``Paul, Just got back to town. Yes we did the test last night with the tones etc but a staff screw up kept us at regular night power last night. Your call, do you want to reschedule another test in a few weeks? I apologize for the screw up as I know there was a lot of interest. Jerry`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 9425.44, March 18 at 1317, fair and steady open carrier, at first assumed 9425.0 until a weak het appeared at 1320 and then measured. The het must have been AIR National Channel coming on at usual time on proper frequency, the 9425.44 something much closer (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
