giovedì 21 marzo 2013

Glenn Hauser logs March 20-21, 2013

** AUSTRALIA. 9580 & 11945, Thursday March 21 until 1357, RA with `Body Sphere` from Radio National, a new one on me which apparently started in January. Leave it to RA for stimulating new ideas on SW radio, which you really don`t find anywhere else, since public radio in the US is not on SW, and BBC hardly matters any more.

If RA ever gives up on SW, I think I shall too. Anyhow, ABCRN programs are available ondemand.

Now it`s a discussion of perfumes to be ingested as capsules and then emitted as sweat, other neat stuff. The episode I caught part of:
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bodysphere/body-architecture/4565588

After 1405, `Conversation` about early aviators, love triangles, murder, etc.:
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/conversations/alan-lancaster/4582268
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** AUSTRALIA. 15340, March 21 at 1341, HCJB, S Asian language way atop RHC making a SAH; 1343 RHC is gaining a bit during HCJB contact info, while its 15230 is JBA. Most unusual for HCJB to surpass CCI from RHC, but N American signals are unusually attenuated. EiBi and Aoki show 15340 daily at 1330-1400 Hindi, 1400-1430 Urdu, while a wide variety of minority languages run at 1200-1330 & 1430-1515 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BANGLADESH. 15505, March 21 at 1359, BB IS with hum, 1400 timesignal only one second late, opening Urdu, but switches to Arabic at 1401-1404.5, since that`s the only acceptable tongue for Qur`aning, this being a Friday, violating Separation of Mosque and State (SOMAS). With strange conditions today, see AUSTRALIA, CUBA, USA, I was wondering if this would propagate, but it certainly does, in fact achieving SSOB status, thanks to attenuation of so many other 19mb signals (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake March 21, before 1400:
11970, poor at 1334
13530, very poor at 1337
13970, poor at 1337 with ute het
None audible in the 14-18 MHz range
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 15340, March 21 at 1341, RHC barely audible under HCJB Australia [q.v.] in Hindi, most unusual, tho starts to gain a bit vs HCJB in the next few minutes, while always weaker 15230 is JBA. Yet 13780 is inbooming as usual. Must be sharp MUF cutoff from Cuba betwixt. 13780 is off early after 1400, while 13740 CRI English relay remains very strong on that band (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ECUADOR. 4781.56 approx., March 21 at 0057, singing here is the best S. American signal, no doubt the variable HCLE7, R. Oriental, Tena, Napo. After Chaski check at 0103, preaching about `señor Jesucristo`, what else? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** JAPAN. NHK World Radio Japan, A-13 English. This is extracted from HFCC. I won`t specify the targets, as R. Japan is forcing listeners elsewhere to try to hear them off-beam. Effective March 31:

0500, 5975-Woofferton UK, 11970-Issoudun, France
1000, 9625-Yamata, 9695-Singapore
1100, 9760-Woofferton UK but DRM
1200, 9695-Singapore, [OR, same parameters:] 11740
1300, 15735-Tashkent, Uzbekistan
1400, 11705-Palau, 15735-Tashkent
1800, 9590-Meyerton, South Africa [OR, same parameters:] 11885

It shows NO broadcasts any more for N America. There have been only two left in B-12, 0500 on 11740 and 1200 on 15190, both via GUIANA FRENCH. That site is closing down, and nothing is replacing these broadcasts. Possibly they will surprise us and come up with some site instead of these two GUF transmissions, but don`t count on it.

NHK LISTENERS SHOULD BE BOMBARDING THEM WITH QUESTIONS AND COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE TERMINATION OF ENGLISH TO NORTH AMERICA.

AFAIK, R. Japan has made no formal announcement on the air or on the website about abandoning its North American listeners in English, tho I can`t say I have heard or seen everything which may be out there.

Besides starting a new SWBC season at the end of March, the beginning of April is a new fiscal year in Japan, when NHK normally makes some programming and personnel changes.

Of the above transmissions, best chance to be heard in NAm should be: 0500 on 11970, especially in the east; 1200 on 9695/11740, 1400 on 11705, especially in the west (Glenn Hauser, March 20, WORLD OF RADIO 1661, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 560, March 21 at 0615 UT, immediately on tune-in ID as ``La Tremenda``, which means per Cantú:
560 XESRD La Tremenda +FM 89.3 Santiago Papasquiaro, Dgo. 10,000 1,000
IRCA says 5000/250 watts with 0600 closing. WRTH shows 10/0.1 kW, so there we have three different night power figures! New one here, per search of DXLDs (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 770, March 21 at 0608 UT `Los 40 Principales` 104.3 FM ID, rock in English, dominating channel. Hard to believe it`s the 100- watts-at-night XEREV, Los Mochis, Sinaloa, as in IRCA Log, but it`s the only XE on 770 with that slogan and that corresponding FM. Cantú agrees the power is 5000 watts day, 100 watts night. WRTH says the day power is only 1000 watts, but all three agree on the night power. My first definite log of this one (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

** MEXICO. 900, March 21 at 0602 UT after choral NA, full ID for XEDT, Ciudad Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua, and XHDT 98.3 with 25 kW; then music starts but abruptly cuts off the air at 0603*, apparently intentional midnight close for the AM side, but extremely rude. At least it`s more than the sked in IRCA Mexican log showing 14-02 UT on 900. Did not hear the name `Hits FM` as in IRCA and WRTH, but it`s obvious the AM is now treated as subsidiary (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PERU [and non]. 5980, March 21 at 0055, CNR1 jamming of VOA is no longer a problem due to propagation, so the DentroCuban Jamming Command fills in on occasion with noise against no Radio Martí whatsoever at this hour, helping to block DX reception of R. Chaski, Urubamba, Perú, but which still manages enough of a carrier to be detectable with BFO until its progressively-later cutoff each night, now at 0101:17.5* or so (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1661: first SW airing to be Thursday March 21 at 2100+ on WTWW-1 9479. Then: UT Friday 0330v on WWRB 3195 (and maybe 5050?); UT Saturday 0130v on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB; Saturday 0630 & 1430 on Hamburger Lokalradio 7265-CUSB; Saturday 1500 on WRMI 9955; Saturday 1730 on WRN via SiriusXM 120; UT Sunday 0400 on WTWW-1 5830 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 13570, March 20 at 1925, `AWR Wavescan` finishing DX report from Philippines, Jeff White wrapping up show. Just as I expected, its sole time on WINB is now one UT hour earlier, Wednesdays at 1900-1930 UT, contrary to the A-13 schedule Adrian Peterson has sent out, anticipating his special repeat of an old `Radio Monitors International` show about Ekala, in tribute to that Sri Lanka site about to be closed, date for that not yet set.

This airing is probably the best chance to hear WS in N America, beyond the skip zone from Red Lion; altho KSDA Guam, UT Sundays at 2230 on 15320 often comes in surprisingly well (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1661, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. 9980, March 21 at 1332, strange conditions, with Brother Scare via WWCR barely audible squeezed between much stronger 9975 KTWR in Chinese, and fax on the hi side.

9479, WTWW is sufficient but not a full-bore supersig as it usually is along with 9980 WWCR. US stations on higher bands are barely audible if at all, e.g. 12050 & 15610 WEWN, 13845 & 15825 WWCR.

Yet, WWV reports nothing unusual, at 12 and 15 UT:
``Geophysical Alert Message #
Solar-terrestrial indices for 20 March follow.
Solar flux 108 and estimated planetary A-index 9.
The estimated planetary K-index at 1200 UTC on 21 March was 1.
The estimated planetary K-index at 1500 UTC on 21 March was 1.
No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours.
No space weather storms are predicted for the next 24 hours.``
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also AUSTRALIA, BANGLADESH

** U S A [and non]. 780, interesting situation here March 21 at 0604 UT. KSPI Stillwater OK is still leaving its 250-watt-daytimer carrier on all-night. With WBBM nulled, I am hearing KSPI`s fast SAH beating against ``Lonesome Man`` and another bluegrass song, i.e. the new KCEG Pueblo CO with 720 watts night; the two are in roughly opposite direxions.

Rotating the radio at 0606, both of those disappear, and I hear instead WBBM and something in Spanish, a Mexican with a CST timecheck I would love to identify, those two being in roughly opposite direxions. In between, KSPI makes a slower SAH with WBBM, which is rather attenuated in somewhat auroral conditions (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 11740 approx., March 21 circa 1330, TADIL-A bonker like beating an anvil, intruding on the SWBC band. Who`s behind this? Has infested this area sporadically for years. Fortunately at 1330-1430, NHK is in a break between Asian languages via Singapore, altho CNR2 Lingshi is supposedly running, per Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)