** ALBANIA. 9850, May 11 at *0127:40, R. Tirana IS comes on prior to only English broadcast to North America, and only one of two to anywhere. Good signal and no QRM from 9860 WHRI here, but I continue to feel it would be safer to shift to 9845 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ANTARCTICA. 15476, trying again for reactivated LRA36, Friday May 10 at 1929-1936, nothing audible, while BBC 15480 UAE was only JBA. However, I later learned that others were barely hearing it. Still nothing for me at 2045, so at 2059 I listen via Twente SDR, and am getting at least a het against BBC Oman which is about to go off. Closing in on 15476, I am still not getting anything, but that`s because it went off at 2102 per Mauno Ritola, an hour earlier than the day before. So the schedule could be 18-21 or 18-22 UT, more or less; in previous years it was never active on Sat or Sun, but check anyway. Manuel Méndez in Spain also heard it poorly with ``interference from other stations on 15475`` --- but there aren`t supposed to be any there!? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BANGLADESH. 15505, May 11 at 1357, tone test, hum and flutter, peaking S9+12; 1358 IS, timesignal ending at 1359:46.5, Bangladesh Betar opening Urdu (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA [and non]. 990, UT Saturday May 11 at 0506 UT, CBW Winnipeg opening `Vinyl Tap`, when I was expecting to hear `As It Happens, Midnight Edition`, but apparently that does not apply to Friday nights on CBC Radio One; usual CCI and SAH from XET Monterrey, which we can never get rid of completely, despite supposed southward-only pattern ``covering all of Mexico`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. 17560, Saturday May 11 at 1245-1300, lots of Beatles` greatest hits, interspersed with French announcements, from CRI via Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN. Why would a station from China broadcasting in French be featuring the Beatles, in English? Why NOT? Usual very good signal but with flutter, and // 17650 from same at 12-14. These are commonly heard here far beyond the intended target of southeast CIRAF 27 = France (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake, May 11:
13795, good around 1230 and fair at 1348, the only real FD left
CNR1 jamming on ex-FD frequencies, May 11 before 1400:
13830, poor at 1347; none in the 12s
14700, good at 1347
14980, very good at 1347
15610, poor at 1351 under WEWN, also propeller noise, het on lo side
15900, very good at 1350
15940, very poor at 1350
16100, fair at 1351
16920, poor at 1351; none in the 17s, 18s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA SOUTH. 15575, Saturday May 11 at 1353, KBSWR `Listeners Lounge` concluding Jeff in Baltimore segment, over to Kevin O`Donovan in NM at 1353:45-1357:05, so this week he gets 3:20, and nothing but ordinary SW listening tips, no satellite stuff, heard on his DX-440 with telescopic antenna only: Australia, NZ, DW/Rwanda, France, Romania, Vatican, Turkey, Iran, Saudi, Egypt, Japan & BBC/Ascension.
All seemed OK, except: he said Iran on 15470 at 0230-0330, while English there is an hour later still, isn`t it? And Saudi in Arabic on 9580 at 0355 --- what about Morocco on 9579? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PERU. 5980, May 11 at 0055, R. Chaski with usual very poor but detectable signal, carrier and bits of modulation vs noise level. A bit better by 0102 as I recognize the devotional(?) segment theme music, and cut off the air at 0105:45*. I missed checking the past two evenings, but on May 8 it was 0105:29*, i.e. 16 seconds earlier, so the usual precession of approx. 5.3 seconds later every 24 hours continues (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PRIDNESTROVYE. 9665, Friday May 10 at 2300 and later chex in the hour, NO signal from Radio PMR (but weak carrier from the off-frequency ZY on the lo side). This confirms what I have been reporting that the remaining 23-24 UT broadcast of Radio PMR is UT Sunday thru Thursday, NOT Monday-Friday even tho the station may put it that way, and others propagate this misinformation without checking or paying attention to what I have been trying to explain. Weeks ago I already confirmed it IS on the air on UT Sundays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SERBIA [non]. 9685, May 11 at 0057, International Radio Serbia is back! Usual VG signal, hitting all the bars on the DX-398, significantly stronger than VOR/Pridnestrovye on 9665, with folk music, 0059 English announcement with website http://www.voiceofserbia.org which is a lot simpler than the original Serbian version; 0100 IS variations, 0102 in Serbian.
This had vanished after last log on UT May 2; altho not checked May 9 or 10, I have yet to see any other reports of it back on those dates. Transmission schedule (miscalled ``program schedule``) tho bearing current A-13 season dates at http://voiceofserbia.org/program-schedule is still headed ``Radio Yugoslavia Shortwave``! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9825, May 11 at *0116, VG open carrier from VOA Greenville, 0129 YDD sign-on, 0130 Spe-cial Eng-lish. IBB frequency management must have finally got my message that ex-9820 confronted the off-frequency Brazilian and its het. HFCC shows 9825 went into effect 4 May, altho this is a UT Tue-Sat-only transmission (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO monitoring: 9930, WTWW-2 is still playing back three-week-old WOR 1665, found 8 minutes into it with 6105 Brazil item, Friday May 10 at 1935, so it started at 1927.
WORLD OF RADIO 1668 monitoring: confirmed on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB, starting late from 0136:39 UT Saturday May 11, after a prolonged live `Allan Weiner Worldwide`.
Next chances on WTWW: Saturday 2330v on 9930, UT Sunday 0400 on 5830, Sunday 2330v on 9930 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 15040, May 11 at 0110, very weak and fading signal with gospel huxter, but on peaks matches 7520, i.e. WWCR-4 airing `Call to Decision` with Butch Paugh. First heard on the DX-398, then also audible on the FRG-7 at 0114. 7520 is of course very strong, but I think this is a real propagated second harmonic. Also synchronized // WWCR-1 on 3215 as scheduled UT Tue-Sat, but 7520 is not on the air during this hour on weekends while 3215 has other programming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 15260, May 10 at 1932, fair signal with S Asian song, I thought, so surprised to find this listed in HFCC as AWR Arabic via Nauen, GERMANY, 100 kW, 215 degrees at 1900-2000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7389-SSB, May 11 at 1311, NWVC, calls frequently in fonetix, from USS LST 325, ``welcome aboard`` to numerous US hams, including N4NY at 1316, as this is the one day a year for crossband contacts, Armed Forces Day [non; supposed to be every third Saturday in May, i.e. May 18, 2013, but for this purpose celebrated today in order not to clash with Dayton Hamvention: why couldn`t this be part of that?].
Main op Ray says they have only four personnel, another guy on CW, a logger, and a supervisor. But at 1323 another op, Steve was calling CQ, and contacting K5SGG. Steve is from Ohio, home call W6VM. Listening on 7240-LSB, where I heard a few coördinated transmissions, but failed to check whether 7389 was on USB or LSB; anyhow, constant het from an AM broadcaster on 7390, i.e. R. Free Asia in Burmese, switching from Sri Lanka to Tinian at 1330. But where in the world is NWVC? Finally R-I-C-K mentions at 1344 that she`s at Evansville, Indiana on the Ohio River. At QRZ.com she goes by the strange (but apparently real and appropriate) call of WW2LST:
[sic] from http://www.qrz.com/db/WW2LST ---
``Remember to always send a SASE when requesting a QSL.
Our home port is Evansville, Indiana EM 67
LST-325 used the Navy call sign NWVC in WW2 and has been currently assign that call sign for use on Marine frequencies. The WW2 voice call sign of LST-325 was "Checker Five"
The task of being the Trustee of WW2LST has been assumed by Bob Pointer N9XAW. (we appointed him when he left the room before he came back)
Senior Chief Perry Ballenger W8AU heads up the radio division. He is very active in Navy Mars and an avid CW operator (although I actually saw him use a microphone once).
The ship will be on the air from Evansville from time to time using WW2LST. While underway on one of our trips we will use WW2LST/MM marine mobile.
The ship takes a goodwill tour every year in the fall. We visit many cities along the river ways to allow visitors to come aboard and visit the ship. Our goal is to keep history alive and remind us of the sacrifices our veterans have made four our freedom.
While underway we also activate APRS using the HF 30 meter band. You can follow us at http://www.aprs.fi or visit our web page and click on the link there. While underway we use WW2LST
We have the radio room restored with equipment from the WWII and Korean war era as well as some modern ham gear. About 80% of the equipment is fully operational and used from time to time.
See our web page at http://www.lstmemorial.org
Thanks for coming aboard. 73 n 88``
Where we learn that LST means Landing Ship, Tank (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ANTARCTICA. 15476, trying again for reactivated LRA36, Friday May 10 at 1929-1936, nothing audible, while BBC 15480 UAE was only JBA. However, I later learned that others were barely hearing it. Still nothing for me at 2045, so at 2059 I listen via Twente SDR, and am getting at least a het against BBC Oman which is about to go off. Closing in on 15476, I am still not getting anything, but that`s because it went off at 2102 per Mauno Ritola, an hour earlier than the day before. So the schedule could be 18-21 or 18-22 UT, more or less; in previous years it was never active on Sat or Sun, but check anyway. Manuel Méndez in Spain also heard it poorly with ``interference from other stations on 15475`` --- but there aren`t supposed to be any there!? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BANGLADESH. 15505, May 11 at 1357, tone test, hum and flutter, peaking S9+12; 1358 IS, timesignal ending at 1359:46.5, Bangladesh Betar opening Urdu (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA [and non]. 990, UT Saturday May 11 at 0506 UT, CBW Winnipeg opening `Vinyl Tap`, when I was expecting to hear `As It Happens, Midnight Edition`, but apparently that does not apply to Friday nights on CBC Radio One; usual CCI and SAH from XET Monterrey, which we can never get rid of completely, despite supposed southward-only pattern ``covering all of Mexico`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. 17560, Saturday May 11 at 1245-1300, lots of Beatles` greatest hits, interspersed with French announcements, from CRI via Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN. Why would a station from China broadcasting in French be featuring the Beatles, in English? Why NOT? Usual very good signal but with flutter, and // 17650 from same at 12-14. These are commonly heard here far beyond the intended target of southeast CIRAF 27 = France (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake, May 11:
13795, good around 1230 and fair at 1348, the only real FD left
CNR1 jamming on ex-FD frequencies, May 11 before 1400:
13830, poor at 1347; none in the 12s
14700, good at 1347
14980, very good at 1347
15610, poor at 1351 under WEWN, also propeller noise, het on lo side
15900, very good at 1350
15940, very poor at 1350
16100, fair at 1351
16920, poor at 1351; none in the 17s, 18s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA SOUTH. 15575, Saturday May 11 at 1353, KBSWR `Listeners Lounge` concluding Jeff in Baltimore segment, over to Kevin O`Donovan in NM at 1353:45-1357:05, so this week he gets 3:20, and nothing but ordinary SW listening tips, no satellite stuff, heard on his DX-440 with telescopic antenna only: Australia, NZ, DW/Rwanda, France, Romania, Vatican, Turkey, Iran, Saudi, Egypt, Japan & BBC/Ascension.
All seemed OK, except: he said Iran on 15470 at 0230-0330, while English there is an hour later still, isn`t it? And Saudi in Arabic on 9580 at 0355 --- what about Morocco on 9579? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PERU. 5980, May 11 at 0055, R. Chaski with usual very poor but detectable signal, carrier and bits of modulation vs noise level. A bit better by 0102 as I recognize the devotional(?) segment theme music, and cut off the air at 0105:45*. I missed checking the past two evenings, but on May 8 it was 0105:29*, i.e. 16 seconds earlier, so the usual precession of approx. 5.3 seconds later every 24 hours continues (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PRIDNESTROVYE. 9665, Friday May 10 at 2300 and later chex in the hour, NO signal from Radio PMR (but weak carrier from the off-frequency ZY on the lo side). This confirms what I have been reporting that the remaining 23-24 UT broadcast of Radio PMR is UT Sunday thru Thursday, NOT Monday-Friday even tho the station may put it that way, and others propagate this misinformation without checking or paying attention to what I have been trying to explain. Weeks ago I already confirmed it IS on the air on UT Sundays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SERBIA [non]. 9685, May 11 at 0057, International Radio Serbia is back! Usual VG signal, hitting all the bars on the DX-398, significantly stronger than VOR/Pridnestrovye on 9665, with folk music, 0059 English announcement with website http://www.voiceofserbia.org which is a lot simpler than the original Serbian version; 0100 IS variations, 0102 in Serbian.
This had vanished after last log on UT May 2; altho not checked May 9 or 10, I have yet to see any other reports of it back on those dates. Transmission schedule (miscalled ``program schedule``) tho bearing current A-13 season dates at http://voiceofserbia.org/program-schedule is still headed ``Radio Yugoslavia Shortwave``! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9825, May 11 at *0116, VG open carrier from VOA Greenville, 0129 YDD sign-on, 0130 Spe-cial Eng-lish. IBB frequency management must have finally got my message that ex-9820 confronted the off-frequency Brazilian and its het. HFCC shows 9825 went into effect 4 May, altho this is a UT Tue-Sat-only transmission (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO monitoring: 9930, WTWW-2 is still playing back three-week-old WOR 1665, found 8 minutes into it with 6105 Brazil item, Friday May 10 at 1935, so it started at 1927.
WORLD OF RADIO 1668 monitoring: confirmed on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB, starting late from 0136:39 UT Saturday May 11, after a prolonged live `Allan Weiner Worldwide`.
Next chances on WTWW: Saturday 2330v on 9930, UT Sunday 0400 on 5830, Sunday 2330v on 9930 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 15040, May 11 at 0110, very weak and fading signal with gospel huxter, but on peaks matches 7520, i.e. WWCR-4 airing `Call to Decision` with Butch Paugh. First heard on the DX-398, then also audible on the FRG-7 at 0114. 7520 is of course very strong, but I think this is a real propagated second harmonic. Also synchronized // WWCR-1 on 3215 as scheduled UT Tue-Sat, but 7520 is not on the air during this hour on weekends while 3215 has other programming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 15260, May 10 at 1932, fair signal with S Asian song, I thought, so surprised to find this listed in HFCC as AWR Arabic via Nauen, GERMANY, 100 kW, 215 degrees at 1900-2000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7389-SSB, May 11 at 1311, NWVC, calls frequently in fonetix, from USS LST 325, ``welcome aboard`` to numerous US hams, including N4NY at 1316, as this is the one day a year for crossband contacts, Armed Forces Day [non; supposed to be every third Saturday in May, i.e. May 18, 2013, but for this purpose celebrated today in order not to clash with Dayton Hamvention: why couldn`t this be part of that?].
Main op Ray says they have only four personnel, another guy on CW, a logger, and a supervisor. But at 1323 another op, Steve was calling CQ, and contacting K5SGG. Steve is from Ohio, home call W6VM. Listening on 7240-LSB, where I heard a few coördinated transmissions, but failed to check whether 7389 was on USB or LSB; anyhow, constant het from an AM broadcaster on 7390, i.e. R. Free Asia in Burmese, switching from Sri Lanka to Tinian at 1330. But where in the world is NWVC? Finally R-I-C-K mentions at 1344 that she`s at Evansville, Indiana on the Ohio River. At QRZ.com she goes by the strange (but apparently real and appropriate) call of WW2LST:
[sic] from http://www.qrz.com/db/WW2LST ---
``Remember to always send a SASE when requesting a QSL.
Our home port is Evansville, Indiana EM 67
LST-325 used the Navy call sign NWVC in WW2 and has been currently assign that call sign for use on Marine frequencies. The WW2 voice call sign of LST-325 was "Checker Five"
The task of being the Trustee of WW2LST has been assumed by Bob Pointer N9XAW. (we appointed him when he left the room before he came back)
Senior Chief Perry Ballenger W8AU heads up the radio division. He is very active in Navy Mars and an avid CW operator (although I actually saw him use a microphone once).
The ship will be on the air from Evansville from time to time using WW2LST. While underway on one of our trips we will use WW2LST/MM marine mobile.
The ship takes a goodwill tour every year in the fall. We visit many cities along the river ways to allow visitors to come aboard and visit the ship. Our goal is to keep history alive and remind us of the sacrifices our veterans have made four our freedom.
While underway we also activate APRS using the HF 30 meter band. You can follow us at http://www.aprs.fi or visit our web page and click on the link there. While underway we use WW2LST
We have the radio room restored with equipment from the WWII and Korean war era as well as some modern ham gear. About 80% of the equipment is fully operational and used from time to time.
See our web page at http://www.lstmemorial.org
Thanks for coming aboard. 73 n 88``
Where we learn that LST means Landing Ship, Tank (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
