** BANGLADESH. 15505, August 10 at 1359, BB IS, poor signal, but timesignal is clear, 5 + 1, last pip higher, ending at 1400:01.5, then ``Salam Aleikum``, opening Urdu (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake [non], CNR1 jamming, August 10 before 1400:
17370, good at 1354
16160, good at 1354
16100, very good at 1354 with flutter
15900, fair at 1356; none in the 14s
13920, fair at 1358
13830, very poor at 1358; none in the 12s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also EAST TURKISTAN
** CROATIA. 21280-USB, August 10 at 1405, the OSOB is 9A3OS, making numerous short 5&9 contacts with North Americans, and he also has an American accent, goes by Sam, per QRZ.com despite really being:
9A3OS Croatia, SINISA PUZAK, B. WEISS 5, CAKOVEC 40000, Croatia
Constant fonetix are nine-alfa-three-ocean-sugar. Says band is unstable; at first JBA but improving slightly. Cakovec (properly with a hook over the first C) is in the extreme northern tip of Croatia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 6060 & 6125, VG August 10 at 0719, RHC is still on the air and in Spanish, tho both are supposed to quit at 0700 after English. I am seldom awake this late, but check a few things while I can`t sleep (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EAST TURKISTAN. 17630, August 10 at 1352, CRI English with a report on pop music, outro as an Easy FM show about Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (apparently a music group), part 1, with Johnny Hutong on CRI News Plus Radio. Wow, how hip the ChiCom are now! VG signal amounting to the SSOB, with not even RHC audible on 17580, and much stronger than CRI French with Chinese lesson on 17560. 17560 is Kashgar, 17630 Urumqi, both on 308 degree, 500 kW beams to Europe. Urumqi has a considerably more northerly path which somehow works better for us (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [non]. 5910, oh oh, August 10 at 0533, a broadcast in French is heavily QRMing HJDH with a low het, since Alcaraván Radio is always off-frequency. None such scheduled at this hour. Since there is lots of news datelined Washington, I wonder if it`s VOA, but nothing to compare on 9885 via Botswana, since VOA French is M-F only and this is Saturday, and as everyone knows, nothing ever happens on weekends and who has time to listen then anyway? I keep listening when at 0540 a music program is introduced mentioning ``japonais``, keeps talking until the music finally starts at 0543.
Meanwhile I have been quickly checking the proper frequencies for NHK French at 0530: 11730 via Issoudun, FRANCE, is synchronized! And 13840 via Madagascar is several seconds behind, and a very poor signal tonight (in previous seasons, 11730 had been direct from Japan.) Therefore I conclude that 5910 is a mistake by Issoudun [note spelling; people keep getting it wrong], since ISS does relay NHK earlier, 0200-0400 in Japanese, and 0400-0430 in Spanish, 290 degrees for Mexico, Central America and Caribbean, and surely ruining HJDH in NW South America too; so brought 5910 up by mistake again at 0530! However, it vanishes at 0544, uncovering Colombia`s typical nice music. If this weren`t a Saturday it would have been just in time not to collide with another station on 5910, TWR Polish via Austria, at 0544-0559 M-F only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PERU. 4790-, August 10 at 0531, JBA carrier with traces of music, no doubt R. Visión, which is reported to be running sometimes all-night, irregularly. Long gone are the days when this was a bigsig from the Andes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PERU [and non]. 5980, August 10 at 0059-0100:59*, Chaski carrier cuts off 5.5 seconds later than yesterday. Meanwhile there is a noisy extremely distorted spur covering roughly 5965-5985, perhaps the LRA 6060 transmitter totally out of whack which the Southern Coners have been complaining about for months.
Also could not detect any carrier on 5980.2, where the Uruguayan pirate Emisora Chaná in Tacuarembo has reactivated, first reported by Ernesto Paulero in Argentina, and confirmed by Horacio Nigro who contacted the operator, CX6OL, who said for the past biweek it`s been running 24 hours with 30 watts, nor am I likely to with that low power (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOMALILAND. 7120, August 10 at 1344, JBA AM carrier with CW QRM from an N4; presumed trace of R. Hargeisa, long path, which is a long shot from here, still a bihour after sunrise, but should be improving into fall, including English around 1320-1340 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 13725, August 10 at 0725, good signal with lively music, then Hausa talk about Obama, 0729 VOA theme ending with Yankee Doodle riff; English outro as from Washington, DC; 0730 complete Yankee Doodle Dandy sign-off. It`s via São Tomé at 0700-0730; HFCC shows 100 kW at zero degrees daily. I`m still unclear whether in HFCC, 0 means due north or non-direxional; which is it? If 0 does mean ND, then how to indicate due north, 360? Or vice versa? Neither ND nor 360 is ever entered in the azimuth column (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1681 monitoring: checking for the ``firm`` 0200 UT Saturday broadcast on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB, August 10 music fill is playing at 0203, but finally WOR starts at 0207. Next:
Saturday 2330v on WTWW-2 9930 (maybe), UT Sunday 0400.5 on WTWW-1 5830 (surely), Sunday 2330v on WTWW-2 9930 (maybe). (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 9330-CUSB, August 10 at 0636, WBCQ is certainly on all-night now and propagating well; `Insight for Living` with Chuck Swindall decrying how ignorant Americans are geography, matching numerous cities with wrong countries. Then at 0640 I hear some scratchy SSB ACI on the hi side; it`s 2-way in unID language, maybe Slavic on 9333-USB (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VENEZUELA [non]. 9955, August 10 at 0204, Ecos del Torbes special via WRMI is JBA but no jamming, enough to recognize what I heard clearly 24 hours earlier on webcast. One more repeat at 2230 Saturday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 6925-AM, August 10 at 0547 music and announcement from some pirate, but just too weak. Logs on hfunderground.com indicate it was Radio True North from the ``west side``, on air long hours before and after then. BTW, I have to look out for fifth harmonic of local KCRC 1390 on 6950, which at this time was cutting on and off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 11159-USB, Aug 10 at 0057 I turn the DX-398 back on which is still tuned here, and the VOLMET station is still there, inbooming more than it had been at 1330 August 9. Includes Baghdad International, Trabzon. Now I can also hear a much weaker VOLMET on 11253-USB, sounds like same stuff, but on one receiver I can`t check if parallel. So MKL, RAF in UK is still going on 11253, not moved to 11159. To be checked further!
11159-USB, August 10 at 0538, still good signal with VOLMET including Budapest, unseems // much weaker 11253. No way 11159 is coming from Europe compared to lack of other signals from there. Still needs max ATT to avoid pumping. At 0555 I can pull enough signal on 11253-USB to compare them better: 11159 is about one word behind 11253, satellite feed? 0556 another airport mentioned is Tbilisi; some of them have ``no information available``. Still trying to copy the too-fast and garbled ID by the roboYL; sounds something like ``This is military one-five lot-time (? Or one time lot five), information broadcast``.
I keep listening to copy further locations: Kandahar NIA; Baghdad International; Schipol; Trabzon; Askhabad NIA; Tbilisi; Wellington; Birmingham; East Midlands; Manchester; Cardiff; Prestwick; Bahrain International; Sigonella; Akrotiri; Cairo International. There are still a number of other locations I have not recognized. Once I thought I heard Halifax, which would be the only N American site and perhaps a clue as to location. One might also suspect they have reactivated Ascension, requiring this new frequency; except there are NO African spots covered except Cairo. It really concentrates on UK to Middle East routes with NZ tacked on
Noel Green in NW England says Aug 10: ``There is no signal here at 0900 UT on 11159, but the usual 11253 is on air // 5450. At my location 5450 is the strongest signal. And yes, there is a Wellington in the UK.
I've been monitoring this station on and off to try to obtain an ID, but all I can understand is what Glenn does. I think Glenn has done well to understand where some of the broadcasts are about, as it's all being "read" at HIGH speed and some of it is badly garbled - I think I've just heard Brize Norton, but I don't hear 21H018 - could that be QNH and a number? Will keep an ear to 11159``
So there is a Wellington in the UK, but is there a significant airfield there? One temp I heard for that was a wintry 15. Meanwhile I have realized that the final item in each conditions-listing says ``QNH`` followed by a number just above 1000, or in one case, 999, so obviously it`s barometric pressure in millibars, not ``21H---`` as I copied previously. From http://www.answers.com/topic/volmet-volmet ---
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Aviation: volmet/VOLMET
``The continuous recorded broadcast of weather conditions at selected airfields. Volmet is updated every 30 min and, hence, the received broadcast may be slightly old. Elements of each broadcast are in the following order: surface wind, visibility, RVR (runway visual range) if applicable, weather, clouds, temperature, dew point, and QNH (atmospheric pressure reduced to sea-level pressure. The height of a place above mean sea level will be indicated when the QNH is set on the altimeter sub-scale).
Nonessential words, such as surface wind and visibility, are not spoken. When CAVOK (cloud and visibility OK), the visibility must be more than 6 miles (10 km) and the clouds not lower than 5000 ft (1500 m), or below the minimum sector latitude, whichever is greater. Also, there should be no cumulonimbus clouds. Further, there should be no precipitation, thunder, shallow fog, or low-drifting snow. The surface winds, temperature, dew point, and QNH will continue to be broadcast``
11159 still audible when I finally quit at 0715, but reawake at 1335 August 10 for next check, 11159-USB still good, no 11253 audible here.
Meanwhile another report of 11159-USB VOLMET in the UDXF yg August 10: ``English lady giving weather for Shanghai, Ascension Island, Dakar, Mombasa, Nairobi, etc. on 11159 khz USB. Clear signal (S4). 0647 UT. Eddy Waters, South Australia``. I`ve yet to hear any of those places mentioned, maybe not listening at the right hourpart (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake [non], CNR1 jamming, August 10 before 1400:
17370, good at 1354
16160, good at 1354
16100, very good at 1354 with flutter
15900, fair at 1356; none in the 14s
13920, fair at 1358
13830, very poor at 1358; none in the 12s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also EAST TURKISTAN
** CROATIA. 21280-USB, August 10 at 1405, the OSOB is 9A3OS, making numerous short 5&9 contacts with North Americans, and he also has an American accent, goes by Sam, per QRZ.com despite really being:
9A3OS Croatia, SINISA PUZAK, B. WEISS 5, CAKOVEC 40000, Croatia
Constant fonetix are nine-alfa-three-ocean-sugar. Says band is unstable; at first JBA but improving slightly. Cakovec (properly with a hook over the first C) is in the extreme northern tip of Croatia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 6060 & 6125, VG August 10 at 0719, RHC is still on the air and in Spanish, tho both are supposed to quit at 0700 after English. I am seldom awake this late, but check a few things while I can`t sleep (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EAST TURKISTAN. 17630, August 10 at 1352, CRI English with a report on pop music, outro as an Easy FM show about Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (apparently a music group), part 1, with Johnny Hutong on CRI News Plus Radio. Wow, how hip the ChiCom are now! VG signal amounting to the SSOB, with not even RHC audible on 17580, and much stronger than CRI French with Chinese lesson on 17560. 17560 is Kashgar, 17630 Urumqi, both on 308 degree, 500 kW beams to Europe. Urumqi has a considerably more northerly path which somehow works better for us (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [non]. 5910, oh oh, August 10 at 0533, a broadcast in French is heavily QRMing HJDH with a low het, since Alcaraván Radio is always off-frequency. None such scheduled at this hour. Since there is lots of news datelined Washington, I wonder if it`s VOA, but nothing to compare on 9885 via Botswana, since VOA French is M-F only and this is Saturday, and as everyone knows, nothing ever happens on weekends and who has time to listen then anyway? I keep listening when at 0540 a music program is introduced mentioning ``japonais``, keeps talking until the music finally starts at 0543.
Meanwhile I have been quickly checking the proper frequencies for NHK French at 0530: 11730 via Issoudun, FRANCE, is synchronized! And 13840 via Madagascar is several seconds behind, and a very poor signal tonight (in previous seasons, 11730 had been direct from Japan.) Therefore I conclude that 5910 is a mistake by Issoudun [note spelling; people keep getting it wrong], since ISS does relay NHK earlier, 0200-0400 in Japanese, and 0400-0430 in Spanish, 290 degrees for Mexico, Central America and Caribbean, and surely ruining HJDH in NW South America too; so brought 5910 up by mistake again at 0530! However, it vanishes at 0544, uncovering Colombia`s typical nice music. If this weren`t a Saturday it would have been just in time not to collide with another station on 5910, TWR Polish via Austria, at 0544-0559 M-F only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PERU. 4790-, August 10 at 0531, JBA carrier with traces of music, no doubt R. Visión, which is reported to be running sometimes all-night, irregularly. Long gone are the days when this was a bigsig from the Andes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PERU [and non]. 5980, August 10 at 0059-0100:59*, Chaski carrier cuts off 5.5 seconds later than yesterday. Meanwhile there is a noisy extremely distorted spur covering roughly 5965-5985, perhaps the LRA 6060 transmitter totally out of whack which the Southern Coners have been complaining about for months.
Also could not detect any carrier on 5980.2, where the Uruguayan pirate Emisora Chaná in Tacuarembo has reactivated, first reported by Ernesto Paulero in Argentina, and confirmed by Horacio Nigro who contacted the operator, CX6OL, who said for the past biweek it`s been running 24 hours with 30 watts, nor am I likely to with that low power (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOMALILAND. 7120, August 10 at 1344, JBA AM carrier with CW QRM from an N4; presumed trace of R. Hargeisa, long path, which is a long shot from here, still a bihour after sunrise, but should be improving into fall, including English around 1320-1340 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 13725, August 10 at 0725, good signal with lively music, then Hausa talk about Obama, 0729 VOA theme ending with Yankee Doodle riff; English outro as from Washington, DC; 0730 complete Yankee Doodle Dandy sign-off. It`s via São Tomé at 0700-0730; HFCC shows 100 kW at zero degrees daily. I`m still unclear whether in HFCC, 0 means due north or non-direxional; which is it? If 0 does mean ND, then how to indicate due north, 360? Or vice versa? Neither ND nor 360 is ever entered in the azimuth column (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1681 monitoring: checking for the ``firm`` 0200 UT Saturday broadcast on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB, August 10 music fill is playing at 0203, but finally WOR starts at 0207. Next:
Saturday 2330v on WTWW-2 9930 (maybe), UT Sunday 0400.5 on WTWW-1 5830 (surely), Sunday 2330v on WTWW-2 9930 (maybe). (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 9330-CUSB, August 10 at 0636, WBCQ is certainly on all-night now and propagating well; `Insight for Living` with Chuck Swindall decrying how ignorant Americans are geography, matching numerous cities with wrong countries. Then at 0640 I hear some scratchy SSB ACI on the hi side; it`s 2-way in unID language, maybe Slavic on 9333-USB (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VENEZUELA [non]. 9955, August 10 at 0204, Ecos del Torbes special via WRMI is JBA but no jamming, enough to recognize what I heard clearly 24 hours earlier on webcast. One more repeat at 2230 Saturday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 6925-AM, August 10 at 0547 music and announcement from some pirate, but just too weak. Logs on hfunderground.com indicate it was Radio True North from the ``west side``, on air long hours before and after then. BTW, I have to look out for fifth harmonic of local KCRC 1390 on 6950, which at this time was cutting on and off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 11159-USB, Aug 10 at 0057 I turn the DX-398 back on which is still tuned here, and the VOLMET station is still there, inbooming more than it had been at 1330 August 9. Includes Baghdad International, Trabzon. Now I can also hear a much weaker VOLMET on 11253-USB, sounds like same stuff, but on one receiver I can`t check if parallel. So MKL, RAF in UK is still going on 11253, not moved to 11159. To be checked further!
11159-USB, August 10 at 0538, still good signal with VOLMET including Budapest, unseems // much weaker 11253. No way 11159 is coming from Europe compared to lack of other signals from there. Still needs max ATT to avoid pumping. At 0555 I can pull enough signal on 11253-USB to compare them better: 11159 is about one word behind 11253, satellite feed? 0556 another airport mentioned is Tbilisi; some of them have ``no information available``. Still trying to copy the too-fast and garbled ID by the roboYL; sounds something like ``This is military one-five lot-time (? Or one time lot five), information broadcast``.
I keep listening to copy further locations: Kandahar NIA; Baghdad International; Schipol; Trabzon; Askhabad NIA; Tbilisi; Wellington; Birmingham; East Midlands; Manchester; Cardiff; Prestwick; Bahrain International; Sigonella; Akrotiri; Cairo International. There are still a number of other locations I have not recognized. Once I thought I heard Halifax, which would be the only N American site and perhaps a clue as to location. One might also suspect they have reactivated Ascension, requiring this new frequency; except there are NO African spots covered except Cairo. It really concentrates on UK to Middle East routes with NZ tacked on
Noel Green in NW England says Aug 10: ``There is no signal here at 0900 UT on 11159, but the usual 11253 is on air // 5450. At my location 5450 is the strongest signal. And yes, there is a Wellington in the UK.
I've been monitoring this station on and off to try to obtain an ID, but all I can understand is what Glenn does. I think Glenn has done well to understand where some of the broadcasts are about, as it's all being "read" at HIGH speed and some of it is badly garbled - I think I've just heard Brize Norton, but I don't hear 21H018 - could that be QNH and a number? Will keep an ear to 11159``
So there is a Wellington in the UK, but is there a significant airfield there? One temp I heard for that was a wintry 15. Meanwhile I have realized that the final item in each conditions-listing says ``QNH`` followed by a number just above 1000, or in one case, 999, so obviously it`s barometric pressure in millibars, not ``21H---`` as I copied previously. From http://www.answers.com/topic/volmet-volmet ---
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Aviation: volmet/VOLMET
``The continuous recorded broadcast of weather conditions at selected airfields. Volmet is updated every 30 min and, hence, the received broadcast may be slightly old. Elements of each broadcast are in the following order: surface wind, visibility, RVR (runway visual range) if applicable, weather, clouds, temperature, dew point, and QNH (atmospheric pressure reduced to sea-level pressure. The height of a place above mean sea level will be indicated when the QNH is set on the altimeter sub-scale).
Nonessential words, such as surface wind and visibility, are not spoken. When CAVOK (cloud and visibility OK), the visibility must be more than 6 miles (10 km) and the clouds not lower than 5000 ft (1500 m), or below the minimum sector latitude, whichever is greater. Also, there should be no cumulonimbus clouds. Further, there should be no precipitation, thunder, shallow fog, or low-drifting snow. The surface winds, temperature, dew point, and QNH will continue to be broadcast``
11159 still audible when I finally quit at 0715, but reawake at 1335 August 10 for next check, 11159-USB still good, no 11253 audible here.
Meanwhile another report of 11159-USB VOLMET in the UDXF yg August 10: ``English lady giving weather for Shanghai, Ascension Island, Dakar, Mombasa, Nairobi, etc. on 11159 khz USB. Clear signal (S4). 0647 UT. Eddy Waters, South Australia``. I`ve yet to hear any of those places mentioned, maybe not listening at the right hourpart (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
