** BANGLADESH. 15505, April 20 I am waiting earlier for BB carrier to come on, but today not until *1359:00, adding hum and IS about 10 sex later, timesignal fast again ending at 1359:46, usual theme and Urdu opening; fair (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake April 20 before 1300: NOT: instead, all the usual OOB FD frequencies are on the air with CNR1 program jamming instead, why? Compared to usual inband CNR1 jammer on 11785. The Hong Kong Firedrake orchestra is getting a well-deserved night off!
12230, fair at 1233
12670, good at 1233 with flutter
12870, poor at 1253
13530, fair at 1251 with CODAR
14700, fair-good at 1249
13750, poor at 1249
15560, poor at 1241, het on hi side
15800, fair at 1241
15870, good at 1241
15900, good at 1241
16100, very good at 1245
16360, poor-fair at 1245
16920, good at 1245
16980, poor at 1245 with ute
17300, good at 1247
18180, poor at 1247
That`s 16 at once, and I am not including many more usual inband CNR1 jammers, just mostly OOB frequencies where Firedrake normally appears.
Firedrake [non] April 20 after 1300, still CNR1 audio instead:
14700, fair at 1326; none in the 13s or 12s
14750, very poor at 1326, not synch with 18970 either
15565, very poor at 1321; het on hi side
16100, fair at 1319
16160, very poor at 1319
16360, very por at 1319
17250, poor at 1322
18180, very poor at 1323, an echo apart from:
18970, very good at 1323! Unusual way up here, tho I must admit I don`t always tune all the way up to 19 MHz searching for FD. Now I tune all the way up to 21 MHz, but no others. I also usually don`t take the trouble to compare any non-synchrony among Firedrake frequencies, but I do note now that 18970 CNR1 is a few sex behind, e.g. 14700. 18970 still going at 1354-1400* off after timesignal, but not back before or after 1500 by 1517 quit.
Note: in no case was there any trace of Sound of Hope, so I hope that no one reports any of these CNR1s as SOH (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also INDIA
** CHINA. 8-kHz spur observations April 20 at 1256: detectable hets or JBA carriers on 11744, 11752, 11768, 11776, i.e. emanating from 11760 fundamental; at 1407 also on 11744, 11752, 11768, 11776. Normally before 1300 the fundamental is 11720, but today must have already switched to 11760 at 1256, as 11720 source would not normally reach up to 11776 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** COLOMBIA [and non]. 6010+, April 20 at 0457, Spanish talk about cristianos, 0458 ACI from RHC sounder on 6000; *0459 RHC carrier on 6010 but the first station still audible under at first with slight het; 0500 RHC English modulation on and off and on, putting an end to the competition.
My assumption yesterday before 0500 that the 6010+ station was R. Mil is apparently wrong. In fact, XEOI must be off the air again, since I am only hearing one SS station on 6010. As for the frequency precision, Ron Howard found out from Dave Valko, that LV de tu Conciencia drifts 0.2 kHz both sides of 6010.0, while Mil is steady on 6009.96. Mike Gilchrist had an unID on 6010.226; Ralph Perry says that`s also HJDH (all these at other times, however). See also MEXICO (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 6000, April 20 at 0459, RHC English is still on here, while *0459 open carrier on 6010, so two separate transmitters, not a 10-kHz shift by one. I was checking out the Colombia/Mexico situation on 6010, q.v. 0500 RHC modulation cuts on and off and on to stay on 6010; initial squeal is still audible at 0532 check.
9770-9820, April 20 at 1238, approx. range of pulsing bleeding from jammers on 9805 against Martí, as the Cubans have no compunxion about collateral damage (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUAM. 13362-USB, April 20 at 1251, AFN sufficient on day frequency at night again instead of 5765-USB: stuff about America`s navy, learn submarine electronics, computers, more USN promotion; instead of NPR Weekend Edition Saturday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA [and non]. 13710, April 20 at 1404, CRI English is mixing with AIR GOS music // 9690 at 1409 which is poor but at least clear. Bullies: CRI and domestic CNR treat India as if it doesn`t exist (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA SOUTH. 15575, April 20 at 1240, KBS open carrier is *not* on this early for a change prior to 1300 English. I don`t get back to it until 1355, just in time for Kevin O`Donovan in Farmington NM, this week with SW info on Pakistan, Indonesia, SWPC propagation outlook, reminder that after April 25, SiriusXM is removing WRN and along with it KBS; but this 15575 transmission is now heard well some days, other days almost non-existent. ACI from 15580 *1358 VOA carrier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO [and non]. 6010, April 20 at 0457, only one signal in Spanish, and it`s talking about cristianos, so presumed COLOMBIA, q.v., contrary to my assumption yesterday that it was XEOI. Radio Mil must be off the air again, hope not completely; but no signal either at 1158, just open carrier from CRI English which brings up audio closing Chinese lesson a few sex before 1200. Before 1157 had been the best shot for XEOI QRM-free (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NORTH AMERICA. 6930-AM, April 20 at 0536, very poor signal vs noise level, can tell there is an AM pirate with music, slightly on lo side compared to MW 930; poor at peaks, seems nostalgic music. Per HF Underground, this was Grizzly Bear Radio, as IDed during this hour by Harry L Smith, Springfield OH (Glenn hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7325, April 20 at 1225-1233+ very poor, narration in English with music bits; not much ACI from 7320 Russia; presumed Wantok Radio Light (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PERU. 5980, April 20 at 0100, I was out at a big-band concert, so had to miss a nightly Chaski-check. However, I am glad to see some others reporting this now: Mike Gilchrist in IA, presumed, 0030-0103* April 20 within 0.5 Hz of 5980; Chuck Bolland FL, an hour earlier at 2347-2359 April 19, tentatively threshold on 5980.048, as I hope his precise frequency readings are now accurate (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. 21505, April 20 at 1411, BSKSA Arabic, poor signal but with big buzz; can hardly wait till they get their new DRM transmitters going with nothing but noise! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 17860, April 20 at 1322-1323*, big open carrier with some hum, atop weak music, then that`s in the clear. Must have been another IBB Greenville tuneup for the Saturday-only Radiogram transmission not until 1600 on 17860; and meanwhile blocking Romania in Chinese.
With this reminder, I delay completing this report to monitor the weekly Radiogram broadcast, 17860 sufficient from tune-in 1607 Saturday April 20. Axually, I take it as a new-music concert of multiple tones, since VOA absolutely refuses to broadcast any classical music (AFAIK, in English or any other language I run across, and that also goes for any of the other BBG substations). 1617 pause for a brief announcement by non-Kim, but with unnecessary conventional music background; more intoning until 1626.4 music and then Kim announcement asking for reports; 1627.4 more tones, 1629.4 music past 1630, carrier to 1631*. He did not announce the complete schedule for this, which might have been helpful, so I will: repeats are UT Sundays 0230 on 5745, 1300 on 6095, 1930 on 15670.
Earlier, as in DXLD 13-16: ``Hi Kim, I`ve been wondering about the odd 80 kW listed power for the GB Radiograms. As you probably saw in April NASWA Journal, Dan F says ``I suspect the ``80 kw`` is some sort of equivalent power on a 250 kw AM transmitter`` --- But this IS in the AM mode, merely playing audio tones, right? Can you explain the power level? Tnx, (Glenn Hauser, April 13 to Kim Elliott, via DXLD)``
``Hi Glenn, And happy birthday, Because the digital text involves steady tones ("duty cycle" of 80 to 100%) rather than voice, which is more variable, bringing the power down saves wear and tear on the
transmitter. I'm not exactly sure why 80 kW was chosen, but I'll try
to find out. Given the performance of the digital text so far, we
could probably bring the power down some more, although at a certain
point, on these old GE transmitters, there is no longer any real
savings in wear or electricity (Kim Elliott, DX LISTENING DIGEST)``
I also lamented that his excellent blog aggregating media news interspersed with his comments, http://www.kimandrewelliott.com has stalled: As of April 20, still nothing new since his last Radiogram promo on March 30! Kim hopes to reactivate it, but says this Radiogram business has been consuming his free time.
Altho I myself have not been sufficiently motivated to try to decode it, if Radiograms will help to preserve Greenville and even SWBC itself, more power to Kim. I wonder when real current news will be transmitted rather than NASA test material (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1665 monitoring: 5110v-CUSB, Area 51 via WBCQ, confirmed at 0154 UT Saturday April 20 with the Puntland item, which means it started on time at 0130. Next: Saturday 1730 on WRN via SiriusXM channel 120, for the last time. Saturday 2330v on WTWW 9930, UT Sunday 0400 on WTWW 5830, Sunday 2330v on 9930 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake April 20 before 1300: NOT: instead, all the usual OOB FD frequencies are on the air with CNR1 program jamming instead, why? Compared to usual inband CNR1 jammer on 11785. The Hong Kong Firedrake orchestra is getting a well-deserved night off!
12230, fair at 1233
12670, good at 1233 with flutter
12870, poor at 1253
13530, fair at 1251 with CODAR
14700, fair-good at 1249
13750, poor at 1249
15560, poor at 1241, het on hi side
15800, fair at 1241
15870, good at 1241
15900, good at 1241
16100, very good at 1245
16360, poor-fair at 1245
16920, good at 1245
16980, poor at 1245 with ute
17300, good at 1247
18180, poor at 1247
That`s 16 at once, and I am not including many more usual inband CNR1 jammers, just mostly OOB frequencies where Firedrake normally appears.
Firedrake [non] April 20 after 1300, still CNR1 audio instead:
14700, fair at 1326; none in the 13s or 12s
14750, very poor at 1326, not synch with 18970 either
15565, very poor at 1321; het on hi side
16100, fair at 1319
16160, very poor at 1319
16360, very por at 1319
17250, poor at 1322
18180, very poor at 1323, an echo apart from:
18970, very good at 1323! Unusual way up here, tho I must admit I don`t always tune all the way up to 19 MHz searching for FD. Now I tune all the way up to 21 MHz, but no others. I also usually don`t take the trouble to compare any non-synchrony among Firedrake frequencies, but I do note now that 18970 CNR1 is a few sex behind, e.g. 14700. 18970 still going at 1354-1400* off after timesignal, but not back before or after 1500 by 1517 quit.
Note: in no case was there any trace of Sound of Hope, so I hope that no one reports any of these CNR1s as SOH (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also INDIA
** CHINA. 8-kHz spur observations April 20 at 1256: detectable hets or JBA carriers on 11744, 11752, 11768, 11776, i.e. emanating from 11760 fundamental; at 1407 also on 11744, 11752, 11768, 11776. Normally before 1300 the fundamental is 11720, but today must have already switched to 11760 at 1256, as 11720 source would not normally reach up to 11776 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** COLOMBIA [and non]. 6010+, April 20 at 0457, Spanish talk about cristianos, 0458 ACI from RHC sounder on 6000; *0459 RHC carrier on 6010 but the first station still audible under at first with slight het; 0500 RHC English modulation on and off and on, putting an end to the competition.
My assumption yesterday before 0500 that the 6010+ station was R. Mil is apparently wrong. In fact, XEOI must be off the air again, since I am only hearing one SS station on 6010. As for the frequency precision, Ron Howard found out from Dave Valko, that LV de tu Conciencia drifts 0.2 kHz both sides of 6010.0, while Mil is steady on 6009.96. Mike Gilchrist had an unID on 6010.226; Ralph Perry says that`s also HJDH (all these at other times, however). See also MEXICO (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 6000, April 20 at 0459, RHC English is still on here, while *0459 open carrier on 6010, so two separate transmitters, not a 10-kHz shift by one. I was checking out the Colombia/Mexico situation on 6010, q.v. 0500 RHC modulation cuts on and off and on to stay on 6010; initial squeal is still audible at 0532 check.
9770-9820, April 20 at 1238, approx. range of pulsing bleeding from jammers on 9805 against Martí, as the Cubans have no compunxion about collateral damage (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUAM. 13362-USB, April 20 at 1251, AFN sufficient on day frequency at night again instead of 5765-USB: stuff about America`s navy, learn submarine electronics, computers, more USN promotion; instead of NPR Weekend Edition Saturday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA [and non]. 13710, April 20 at 1404, CRI English is mixing with AIR GOS music // 9690 at 1409 which is poor but at least clear. Bullies: CRI and domestic CNR treat India as if it doesn`t exist (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA SOUTH. 15575, April 20 at 1240, KBS open carrier is *not* on this early for a change prior to 1300 English. I don`t get back to it until 1355, just in time for Kevin O`Donovan in Farmington NM, this week with SW info on Pakistan, Indonesia, SWPC propagation outlook, reminder that after April 25, SiriusXM is removing WRN and along with it KBS; but this 15575 transmission is now heard well some days, other days almost non-existent. ACI from 15580 *1358 VOA carrier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO [and non]. 6010, April 20 at 0457, only one signal in Spanish, and it`s talking about cristianos, so presumed COLOMBIA, q.v., contrary to my assumption yesterday that it was XEOI. Radio Mil must be off the air again, hope not completely; but no signal either at 1158, just open carrier from CRI English which brings up audio closing Chinese lesson a few sex before 1200. Before 1157 had been the best shot for XEOI QRM-free (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NORTH AMERICA. 6930-AM, April 20 at 0536, very poor signal vs noise level, can tell there is an AM pirate with music, slightly on lo side compared to MW 930; poor at peaks, seems nostalgic music. Per HF Underground, this was Grizzly Bear Radio, as IDed during this hour by Harry L Smith, Springfield OH (Glenn hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7325, April 20 at 1225-1233+ very poor, narration in English with music bits; not much ACI from 7320 Russia; presumed Wantok Radio Light (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PERU. 5980, April 20 at 0100, I was out at a big-band concert, so had to miss a nightly Chaski-check. However, I am glad to see some others reporting this now: Mike Gilchrist in IA, presumed, 0030-0103* April 20 within 0.5 Hz of 5980; Chuck Bolland FL, an hour earlier at 2347-2359 April 19, tentatively threshold on 5980.048, as I hope his precise frequency readings are now accurate (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. 21505, April 20 at 1411, BSKSA Arabic, poor signal but with big buzz; can hardly wait till they get their new DRM transmitters going with nothing but noise! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 17860, April 20 at 1322-1323*, big open carrier with some hum, atop weak music, then that`s in the clear. Must have been another IBB Greenville tuneup for the Saturday-only Radiogram transmission not until 1600 on 17860; and meanwhile blocking Romania in Chinese.
With this reminder, I delay completing this report to monitor the weekly Radiogram broadcast, 17860 sufficient from tune-in 1607 Saturday April 20. Axually, I take it as a new-music concert of multiple tones, since VOA absolutely refuses to broadcast any classical music (AFAIK, in English or any other language I run across, and that also goes for any of the other BBG substations). 1617 pause for a brief announcement by non-Kim, but with unnecessary conventional music background; more intoning until 1626.4 music and then Kim announcement asking for reports; 1627.4 more tones, 1629.4 music past 1630, carrier to 1631*. He did not announce the complete schedule for this, which might have been helpful, so I will: repeats are UT Sundays 0230 on 5745, 1300 on 6095, 1930 on 15670.
Earlier, as in DXLD 13-16: ``Hi Kim, I`ve been wondering about the odd 80 kW listed power for the GB Radiograms. As you probably saw in April NASWA Journal, Dan F says ``I suspect the ``80 kw`` is some sort of equivalent power on a 250 kw AM transmitter`` --- But this IS in the AM mode, merely playing audio tones, right? Can you explain the power level? Tnx, (Glenn Hauser, April 13 to Kim Elliott, via DXLD)``
``Hi Glenn, And happy birthday, Because the digital text involves steady tones ("duty cycle" of 80 to 100%) rather than voice, which is more variable, bringing the power down saves wear and tear on the
transmitter. I'm not exactly sure why 80 kW was chosen, but I'll try
to find out. Given the performance of the digital text so far, we
could probably bring the power down some more, although at a certain
point, on these old GE transmitters, there is no longer any real
savings in wear or electricity (Kim Elliott, DX LISTENING DIGEST)``
I also lamented that his excellent blog aggregating media news interspersed with his comments, http://www.kimandrewelliott.com has stalled: As of April 20, still nothing new since his last Radiogram promo on March 30! Kim hopes to reactivate it, but says this Radiogram business has been consuming his free time.
Altho I myself have not been sufficiently motivated to try to decode it, if Radiograms will help to preserve Greenville and even SWBC itself, more power to Kim. I wonder when real current news will be transmitted rather than NASA test material (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1665 monitoring: 5110v-CUSB, Area 51 via WBCQ, confirmed at 0154 UT Saturday April 20 with the Puntland item, which means it started on time at 0130. Next: Saturday 1730 on WRN via SiriusXM channel 120, for the last time. Saturday 2330v on WTWW 9930, UT Sunday 0400 on WTWW 5830, Sunday 2330v on 9930 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
