lunedì 1 luglio 2013

Glenn Hauser logs June 30-July 1, 2013

** BRAZIL. 4915, July 1 at 0056, fair signal with music, and within a few seconds of tune-in, ID by Rádio Daqui. Yay, it`s back after missing a couple of nights and again the best ZY by far on the 60m band (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** IRAN [non]. 7585, July 1 at 0058, fair signal with pop music, i.e. R. Farda, 250 kW, 310 degrees from Iranawila, SRI LANKA, which is on very long hours, 1700-0130 per Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KOREA NORTH. 11680, June 30 at 2024, emotional speech in Korean with background music; must be KCBS which per Aoki is on the air from 20 to 18 UT with 50 kW ND. Unusual to hear this time of day (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KUWAIT. 15540 & 17550, June 30 at 2024, R. Kuwait English & Arabic services with fair signals, as conditions have recovered somewhat (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. Sporadic-E analog TV DX opening continued from previous report, which started at 1455 UT June 30:

1543 on 2, Azteca net-7 bug, stronger than some other CCI

1602 on 2, Azteca-7 in UR, with animation

1630 on 2, weak signal but now visibly soccer

1649 on 3, fade-in US sitcom, Spanish ads, video only; soon fade out along with ch 2

1715 on 2, fade-in algo

1720 on 2, ad in Spanish, video and audio

1730 on 2, animation, net-7 bug UR

1802 on 2, large font program title includes ISRAEL

1805 on 2, interview, fade-in enough to make out TeleVer bug UR: XHFM, Veracruz

1822 on 2, still same; interviewer has big boxy sign on his hand mike, unseems legend TeleVer on it, what?

1912 on 2, soccer and CCI, weak; nothing further
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PERU. 5980, July 1 at 0054, R. Chaski usual weak but sufficient carrier until cut off at 0104:03.5* which is 5.5 seconds later than yesterday. How far will they get into the fifth minute past the hour this time before timer reset? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TAIWAN [non]. 15440, June 30 at *2158, sometime before 2159 the WYFR carrier cuts on, 2200 opening RTI relay for the *last* time, local quality signal, with just enough lite selective fading once in a while to remind us this is via the dynamic medium of international shortwave by ionospheric propagation. I`ve usually listened to RTI on a hit-and-miss basis, but on this momentous occasion I monitor the entire hour (as re-relayed from the shack FRG-7 by feeder on 88.1 MHz thruout the house to several FM radios).

News starts with record heat wave in Taibei; 2205 `Week in Review`; 2208 plug `new` website
http://english.rti.org.tw and `This Day in History`: 1859y, Niagara Falls tightrope stunt; 1894, Tower Bridge opens in London; 1990, E&W Germany merge economies with DM for both; outro by Andrew Ryan

2210, plug upcoming shows `Chinese To Go`, `Soundwaves`, but first: `Here In Taiwan` for Monday, July 1: soft stories such as an ATM at a supermarket which keeps shocking people, bad grounding?; huge lines of people applying for flight attendant jobs, which may not be as glamourous as they think; ghost sightings

2225, `Chinese to Go`, learning to say ``give up your seat``, as in a courtesy by younger people to older people on bus, not always willing

2231, rock music, must be `Soundwaves`, or fill? 2247 Chinese performer, songs titled ``If`` and at 2255 ``Do You Know``.

2258-2300 canned announcement of entire RTI English schedule including the canceled WYFR relays as if they will still exist, and mixing in low-power MW relays via US stations on 1210, 750, without saying where they are!

There was NO mention during this broadcast that it would be the final one on SW to North America! So much for historical perspective.

2300 WYFR ID in Chinese (no English) and right into a Chinese dialect.

[see USA: WYFR final log in the interim]

UT July 1 on 6115, reception is never as solid as on 15440, but recheck after Family Radio`s own finale at 0300 UT: this RTI relay is obviously a repeat of the one 5 hours earlier, same news of heatwave, etc. And spotchecked, not listening to whole thing again.

Concludes with ``This is WYFR, Okeechobee, Florida`` at 0400 and pulled the big switch, off at 0400:04* July 1, 2013 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 6115, monitoring the last few minutes of WYFR, UT July 1 from 0245, playing ``Onward Christian Soldiers`` and ``Battle Hymn of the Republic``, other hymns by chorus and orchestra interspersed with brief Bible verses by non-Harold Camping announcer as ``Words to Live By`` --- probably regular programming; fade out at 0259 for ``It`s people just like you who [illegible] at the ministry of Family Radio``. Last words? Not quite, after almost minute of dead air, ``This is WYFR, Okeechobee, Florida`` ID, and opening RTI repeat --- see TAIWAN [non]

After that hour, another legal ID as above spanning 0400 and carrier cut forever at 0400:04*. Nothing ever heard to the effect that this was the end of an era on shortwave.

Family Radio has not given any hint about what will become of the 14-transmitter Okeechobee facility, but we hope it will live on with some other identity, preferably secular. How about multiple NPR program streams? Dream on.

From tomorrow we expect to hear WWCR on 6115 ex-6875, but only at 2100-0100 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 4840, UT Monday July 1 at 0400-0430, enjoying the full ``Talking Machine Show`` of old wax cylinder music, a fragment of which we heard on an earlier airing. Excellent signal as always on this WWCR intruder into the 60m tropical/utility band (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9930, Sunday June 30 at 2025 check, WTWW-2 is not on air, nor is WTWW-3 12105. However at 2150, 9930 is on with Martha Garvin. Perhaps schedule reduced to purchased time after 2100? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1675 monitoring: confirmed on WTWW-2, 9930, Sunday June 30 starting at 2328:35. Next: Tuesday 1100 on WRMI 9955; Wednesday 0630 & 1430 on HLR 7265-CUSB (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ZANZIBAR. 11735, June 30 at 2023, very poor signal with music, presumed ZBC active again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)