domenica 7 aprile 2013

Glenn Hauser logs April 5-6, 2013

** AUSTRALIA. 15400, April 6 at 1459, HCJB is playing Celtic music, what else, in a service from Oz to S Asia? Into `Focus on the Family` episode including topic ``should your marriage put up with mediocre sex?`` Hmm, who would answer, yes? Is this appropriate for such an audience? I suspect there is plenty of sex of some kind going on in the world`s largest trination, Indipakidesh. Quite strong reception, but fluttery, and after 1500 there is some weak CCI underneath. BBC ASCENSION is just starting its lengthy 15400 relay, and too, Iran`s Bengali service is at 1430-1530, following the earlier sesquihour collision in Urdu. I can`t imagine that KNX is going to stay on 15400 under such circumstances, unless they`ve decided to take the bullying RHC-approach, drive the competition away from the frequency which they should have by priority (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BANGLADESH. 15505, April 6, again I am too late tuning in BB a few sex past 1400 to hear the timesignal – NOT! Here it comes, conveniently about 58 seconds late after the prolonged IS. Still with the hum, vying with the other buzz exactly 6 MHz higher from Saudi Arabia. After 1410 the BB Urdu service is mostly music; is this the best way to spend taxpayer money? Is Pakistan really in need of music from Dhaka? And is it in Bengali or Urdu? Do the lyrix score political points? 1429 sign-off employs English terms ``meter band`` and ``program``, which apparently don`t exist in Urdu. When talk stops just before 1430, so does the hum, and a clean carrier stays on a few sex longer until 1430:15* as the transmitter site demonstrates that the hum comes that way from the studio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

** CHINA. Firedrake April 6:
7470, poor at 1305. Aoki reveals the target is RFA in Tibetan via MONGOLIA at 11-14, which you won`t ever find in HFCC, nor will RFA acknowledge this secret UB site on its own skeds or QSLs. This pretense will of course keep our friends the Mongolians out of trouble with the ChiCom.

11970, good at 1338; none in the 12s
14980, very poor at 1346; none in the 13s
15570, fair at 1349, ACI to KBSWR 15575; and stays on past 1400
15900, very good at 1346; none in the 16s or 17s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** DIEGO GARCIA. 12759-USB, April 6 at 0112, AFN is barely audible instead of just barely audible, with a sports segment mentioning Sacramento, from USA Radio Network; 0113 to song, 0117 YL DJ announcement, maybe ID but too weak, on to another rock song in the local wake-up show in the tropix where with yearound DST they pretend it`s 7+ am. I suppose it helps to get the crews up early for those long bombing runs (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA. 9526-, April 6 at 1309, VOI is axually modulating audibly in English altho nowhere near 100%! It`s almost readable, aided by the clarity of the announcer`s enunciation; progress, but not there yet. While being 4 kHz from ACI on 9530 was a killer in B-12, now being 6 kHz from much less ACI on 9520 is helpful in A-13 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** IRAN [non]. 9760, April 6 at 0521, good signal with dense ME pop music, what? 0524 Persian announcement; sure, it`s R. Farda as now scheduled 0230-0530, 100 kW, 108 degrees via Lampertheim, GERMANY (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KOREA NORTH. 11735, April 6 at 1340, VOK with cinematic-sounding fantasy orchestral music, then Chinese announcement. VG signal level, but lots of selective-fading distortion and traces of jamming crosstalk at transmitter site audible during pause. Much better here than on 11710 English squeezed by the other cultists on 11715.

April 5 Aoki has nothing on 11735! Nor even Zanzibar so it`s still incomplete, but 11735 is a longtime N Korean channel. Arnulf Piontek`s new A13 schedule shows during this hour, 11735 VOK Chinese is at 238 degrees for SE Asia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KOREA SOUTH. 15575, April 5 at 1347, KBSWR English is propagating on a Saturday, finally allowing me to listen to `Worldwide Friendship` after months of inaccessibility. Just finishing mailbag segment, then Jeff in Baltimore`s `Tech Tips` which are restricted to info about KBS only, and its web presence. I`m amazed that this extremely specialized idea was accepted for broadcast and goes on and on, but it must have appealed to the management. However, Jeff admits that to cover spring break vacations he`s doing ``retrospectives`` this week and next, about which of his previous talx have got the most hits, so it`s even more incestuous.

Then from 1352, Christer Brunström`s monthly DX report from Sweden which has replaced Kevin O`Donovan from New Mexico, who used to be on every week, but now shared with others during the month. Christer complains about noise level at his home QTH but visited a friend at a quieter place and heard a bunch of good stuff: Somaliland 7120, Djibouti 4780, Brazil 11735, 15190; Germany 3985, 3995 – the latter at 2200 with HCJB`s Saturday DX show in German, maybe moving to 7205 in April; China 5050; and finally gh`s WOR at 2330 on new WTWW frequency 9930. Says he will be back in early May. He had a full five minutes, tho Kevin used to occupy only three, IIRC.

The ditzy YLs cohostesses remark that they love his voice, rather than what he is talking about. Sexist. 1357 summary of KBS reception quality in various places, and I don`t think they mentioned this frequency or North America. Wrapup talks about one of them leaving the show after a year, or is it the show itself which is leaving??? Or both: because next week, it will be called `Listeners Lounge`.

Neither one is mentioned by name at
http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/program/
and it doesn`t fit into any of the five categories covered. Obviously of low priority. However, the English program grid at
http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/about/about_schedule.htm
indeed shows `KBS Listeners Lounge` now occupying the times formerly filled by ``WWF`` --- so is it just a name change and will the same mailbag and DX segments continue, or not? I.e., :20-:60 during the one-hour broadcasts on Saturday, and :15-:30 during the half-hour broadcast on WRN, and 2200 on 3955 Skelton – is that still on the air? Skelton sure isn`t, and there is now a one-hour direct to Europe on 11810 at 22-23, not on this schedule, apparently not fully updated.

There also is an ``English program service 3`` for an hour consisting of nothing but `K-Pop Connection` 7 days a week, whose times I must remove from the DX Programs schedule, along with making the namechange as above (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KUWAIT. 15540, April 5 at 2059, R. Kuwait is still propagating so I can hear the English sign-off announcement again. Yes, tho he has the frequency right at 15540, he is assigning it to the ``25 meter band``, which was what went with the former frequency 11990. I predict than in another few years this too may be corrected. You don`t have to know the first thing about SW to be an announcer on a SW station! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR. 6160+, April 6 at 0104, surprised to encounter weather forecasts for Newfie and Lab, so CKZN, with lite het, presumably de CKZU or something else propagating on 6160. No time to measure the frequency but reported recently as 6160.7; audible only tnx to late cut-on of RHC 6165 at *0105.5 joining English in progress. Note: 4-5 minutes past the hour is the best time to hear local announcements from CBC stations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 1120, April 6 at 1256 UT, more than an hour after a Tulsa daytimer could be on the air, KEOR, R. Victoria is not: nothing there with still audible KMOX nulled. Maybe someday I`ll catch when it come on, but is there at 1718 UT check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 21550+, April 5 at 2057, no local noise for the next bimegahertz, as I have been hearing in the mornings from unknown nearby motor (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PERU [and non]. 5980, April 6 at 0059.5, straining to hear the R. Chaski carrier under the noise/hash, with BFO there are two extremely weak carriers on slightly different frequencies. One of them goes off about 0059:55* and the other is still on past 0103. Was the first one Urubamba with their timer reset? Maybe we`ll see if that one lasts 5 sex later the next few nites if any propagation hold up. Our streetlite with a clear sky at sunset now fires on at *0102.5 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA. 12030, April 6 at 1333, English discussion about N/S Korea including views of a Russian expert; continuous humwhine. I would have expected better from the Vladivostok site listed for VOR in HFCC, 250 kW, 230 degrees at 1000-1500. Aoki clarifies the English portions are 10-12 & 13-15 with Vietnamese in between, and shows power as 500 kW. Anyhow, it`s almost sufficient here since 50 degrees = off the back; we have to take whatever we can get from another station which has abandoned North America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SRI LANKA. 11905, April 6 at 0110 tone test with flutter, no doubt SLBC. Hope to catch their sign-on but when exactly will it be? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [non]. 12075, April 6 at 1335 rather far-out jazz, must be `Jazz America` from VOA, surviving on SW Sat & Sun 13-14. Yes, // weaker 12150. HFCC shows 12075 is TINIAN, 12150 is Tinang, PHILIPPINES, and both are active this hour only on weekends for this particular program. Would that VOA give such priority to classical music, essentially banned from any broadcast at all, or just not in the mindset of the music director (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1663 monitoring: confirmed UT Saturday April 6 starting at 0141.4 on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB. Ivo Ivanov reports that Hamburger Lokalradio was missing again from 7265-CUSB on Wednesday April 3 when WOR 1662 would have aired at 0630 & 1430; was it back on Saturday at same times? Presumably first WRMI 9955 airing, Sat at 1500, but not confirmed; checked at 1530, a JBA carrier here tho no jamming; yet 2 hours earlier Wavescan was well audible. Next: Sat 2330 on WTWW 9930; UT Sun 0400 on WTWW 5830; Sun 2315 on WTWW 9930 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9955, Sat April 6 at 1318, unfamiliar voice with promo piece about ``Oz-boo``, i.e. the Arab States Broadcasting Union, mentioning their activities in Damascus and Tunis. Jeff White outros as from an ASBU video, so was a `Wavescan` segment, one of its many airings on WRMI, Sat 1300; then, Yukiko`s monthly JSWC DX report with stale logs from a month ago, which are of little use, especially when a seasonal change intervenes. Fair signal and quite readable; followed at 1330 by another heavier Japanese accent from the Vicksburg evangelista (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)