sabato 5 ottobre 2013

Glenn Hauser logs October 3-4, 2013

** AUSTRALIA. 9580, Friday Oct 4 at 1232 instead of 1230, RA is ending `Download This Show` and starting `Innovations`, admittedly a repeat from 2012y, about Durham and other varieties of wheat. Show website still shows no new ones produced since July 2013; previously RA had been inserting a prepeat of new `Future Tense` shows in the Fri 1230 slot, but now back to `Innovations`, even if reruns (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BOLIVIA. 5952.4, Oct 4 at 0054, Pio Doce is missing again, off early or off completely; 4717-, Yura is only a JBA carrier. A few minutes after 0100, 6135-, R. Santa Cruz with a full ID on strong signal, but not enough to overcome the Aparecida 6135.0 het. Weaker het on 6155 probably involving R. Fides (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BOLIVIA. 3310, Oct 4 at 0107, very poor music sounds Andean vocal; 0108 YL announcement, presumed R. Mosoj Chaski, on after 0100 today (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL. 4885, Oct 4 at 0056, now the wandering squealblob is right atop Pará (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHAD [and non]. 6165-, Oct 4 at 0058, weak talk unseems French, maybe Arabic dialect, from RNT on late again, before Cuba, which cuts on at *0100:50 with Spanish in progress instead of English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake [non] CNR1 jamming October 4 before 1300:
15970, fair with flutter at 1254
15570, poor at 1254 with het on lo side; none in the 16s, 17s
14870, poor at 1256
13830, fair at 1256; none in the 12s
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 6165, Oct 4 at *0100:50, RHC cuts on covering up Chad, but with Spanish in progress instead of English; English is already on 6000 but undermodulated. By 0104 recheck, 6165 has switched to English.

RadioCuba has an awful hard time coördinating frequency/transmitter switches with programming: at 0458, 6000 is in Spanish instead of English, while 6165 continues in English; Spanish also on 6060, 5040; 6125 comes on at *0458 with carrier. By 0501, 6000 has switched to proper English feed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** EAST TURKISTAN [and non]. 13650 & 13670, Oct 4 at 1331, CRI in Chinese as scheduled via Urumqi and Kashgar respectively, 13670 stronger but also with TADIL-A bonker QRM, unusual spot (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** EGYPT. 9967, Oct 4 at 0103, R. Cairo again 2 kHz off-frequency, VG strength, usual whine and distorted suppressed modulation in Arabic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, Oct 4 at 1823 UT, still no R. Africa again, 48 hours after reactivation first heard. Maybe a JBA carrier from Philippines. Meanwhile, there have been reports of the domestic service from Bata on 5005 being heard again in the +2200-2400+ UT period; activation there maybe not by coincidence (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GERMANY [non]. 17800 // 17820, Oct 4 at 1241, song about soccer(?), 1242 DW ID in French, synchronized so likely from same site despite only 20 kHz apart; one thing for sure: if it`s DW, it can`t be from Germany. HFCC shows 250 kW Woofferton UK for both, 180 and 152 degrees respectively, yet 17800 is slightly stronger. Would expect 17820 to have the edge here, since it`s closer to directly off the back (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDIA. 11985, Oct 4 at 0057, no signal from AIR Khampur; while 11740 AIR Goa is very poor with flutter, talk in presumed Sinhala (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 610 & 650, Oct 4 at 1203 UT, same Spanish newscast // and synchronized, stronger on 650, i.e. XETNT Los Mochis, and XEGS 610 Guasave, Sinaloas (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 660, Oct 4 at 1203 UT, ``Hotel California``, then live DJ/newscaster with 6:05 TC at 1205 UT en ``La Lupe`, béisbol scores, so a little of everything, from:
660 XEACB La Lupe + FM 98.9 Cd. Delicias, Chih. 3,000 1,000
as in Cantú (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 1180, Oct 4 at 1212 UT, Spanish music from southwest, have to minimize IBOC noise from evil KFAQ 1170 Tulsa; ``éxitos --- Ke Buena ``. Music really hyper; we`re awake now; likewise the SHVA announcing; 1215 lotería PSA, 1216 adds Chihuahua to Ke Buena, so:
1180 XEJK Ke buena + FM 95.3 Cd. Delicias, Chih. 5,000 1,500
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. After getting even translators from Lawton and Wichita Falls, less than 200 miles away, see OKLAHOMA [and non], I keep checking all the channels in DTV and on another set in analog, split fed from the same antenna, and am astounded to see a weak but steady signal on channel 6, a toon with the net-5 oval-italic logo in the lower-right corner, which I have seen on so many transmitters via sporadic E, but this is tropo! A duct extending far beyond the OK/TX stations I was getting.

Ch 6, Oct 4 at 1451 UT, first seen; no sign of Es DX on the lower channels, nor on the maps, nor any expected at this yearpart. Checking W9WI.com, and Hepburn`s channel 6 map, the nearest and most likely one is XET, 75 kW in Monterrey NL (which I have seen before by Es), but there are two other net-5s on 6 along the east coast, XHAJ, 20 kW in Orizaba, Veracruz and one in Chetumal QR, both of which would be very long shots, but proto-hurricane Karen in the Gulf could really kick up the DX. Notably, Hepburn`s tropo maps at 1200 Oct 4 do not show activity as far inland as Enid or Monterrey! But heavy along the coasts and further east in OK.

On the TV-FM Skip Log, Mexican DX authority Danny Oglethorpe in Shreveport replies, `` Glenn, nice catch on XET. XHAJ-6 relays XHAJ-5, which is TeleVer, independent. XET does run a text ID every thirty minutes. The drifting time of the XET ID was about :09 and :39 on July 30th. There is no telling about the time by now``. Lots of great info at his site:
http://tvdxtips.com/index.html

So that rules out Orizaba; rechecking W9WI.com it does show it as a Televisa 5 relayer:
http://www.w9wi.com/web/tv-channels/6.html

Jockeying the rotor, it does seem to peak from the direxion of Monterrey (somewhat west of south) rather than the others, south or eastish. Before 1500 UT I have the ATS-909 tuned to 87.75 (whip only but picking up bounces from the nearby TV antenna), and I can hear Spanish audio while the video on the TV is not strong enough to pass the audio. That fades in a few minutes. Of course, there`s no local ID audio, and any video ID would not be legible. Frame bar still visible at 1510, then gone.

Then from the W9WI.com listings, I check the other Monterrey channels: analog on 2, 4, 7, 10, 12, 22, 28, 47, 53; DTV on 23, 25, 31, 39, 44?, 47, 48, 50. Many of those are blocked here of course, but nothing showing on the ones which are not. I do see some frame bars on other VHF channels, but always suspect those of being local cable radiation. Normally one would expect (much) stronger tropo signals from the same area on hi-VHF and even UHF, than on lo-VHF channels.

The city-to-city distance calculator shows Monterrey to Enid as
1215.79 km = 755.45 statute miles = 656.47 nautical miles.

1214.37 km is the more refined great circle distance calculation from XET transmitter site at 25-37-52N, 100-14-03W, to Enid, bearing 10 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NEW ZEALAND. 11670-11675-11680, Oct 4 at 0507, RNZI is back in DRM as scheduled instead of AM 24 hours earlier. What do the poor DRM-feed relayers do when their signal defaults to AM? Are they set up to receive that properly instead? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENIING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA [and non]. 1210, Oct 4 at 0534 UT, no KGYN Guymon, which for weeks/months has been reliably shooting signal toward us and Philadelphia at night; maybe got their null working, but can`t even be sure it`s on the air at all. In full daytime at 1825 UT, when it is normally audible weakly on groundwave, still missing tho there may be a JBA carrier on 1210. I went on a DXpedition around the block to check the caradio in some spots avoiding local noise sources. For two other 1210s logged, see U S A (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA [and non]. Heavy tropo opening from Lawton/Wichita Falls TX area, Oct 4 starting at turn-on 1356 UT:

RF 11, KSWO-DT Lawton on 7-1 (ABC); TELEMUN on 7-2, LWN on 7-3

RF 18, OETA as 10-1, and OKLA as 10-2. Still according to W9WI.com this must be K18IZ-D in Grandfield. This strange situation was discussed almost two years ago in DXLD 11-43. OETA moved it from Frederick to serve the L/WF market better. There never was any channel 10 around there; virtual number chosen to be amid the existing 3/6/7/18 stations. Yet two years after we got this info from OETA, their own website
http://www.oeta.tv/about/dtv/channels.html
http://www.oeta.tv/about/coverage.html
*still* doesn`t include anything from Grandfield, but with Frederick: Channel 34; Lawton: Channel 36, not making clear whether RF or virtual channels, but I think in most cases for the translators (other than this) they are the same. BTW, the OK page of W9WI.com also seems to be incomplete as far as all the OETA translators. 18 is still in solid at 1445 UT.

RF 22, KAUZ-HD 6-1; did not get any subchannels checked (CBS)

RF 28, KFDX-DT 3-1; no subchannels; still in at 1514 UT (NBC)

RF 15, surprised to see an 18-1 KJTL-DT PSIP-only ID, as it must have overcome KTBO briefly, with antenna away from OKC; KTBO is 700 kW, KJTL 1000 kW from Wichita Falls.

RF 15, shortly after the above, I also see a DTV 15-1 label, but only a `bad` signal. There are a surprising number of ``15s on 15`` in W9WI.com around here: low powers in Salina KS, Springfield MO, Houston TX, Laredo TX (15 kW KLMV-LD, on the way to Monterrey?), but I suspect it`s 31 kW KXVA in Abilene TX.

On the other set I also keep checking all the channels in analog, and see a weak frame bar on 44. W9WI.com shows the likely one is K44GS, Wichita Falls 3.34 kW translator of KERA Dallas. At 1448 it lox in enough to see a toon with Dr Seuss character. Check! With KERA schedule ``The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot about That`` (not including tropo TVDX, I assume).

My analog channel scanning really pays off when I then see tropo on lowband ch 6 from MEXICO! q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PERU [and non]. 5980, Oct 4 at 0053, regular Chaski-check finds huge pulse jamming from CUBA. Sometimes there are traces of this, but it`s horrible now, and totally uncalled-for, as R. Martí is on 5980 for only 3 hours in the middle of the night. It`s not at the wall-of-noise level, but about as severe as it could be and still produce individual pulses. Tnx a lot, Arnie! Yet with BFO I can still detect a carrier under it, hopefully still Chaski, and it does go off at 0105:56, which is 6.5 seconds later than yesterday. Still not reset timer to cut off before 0100 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA. 13805, Oct 4 at 1330, jazzed-up ``Moscow Nites`` theme, poor with flutter, Chinese announcement. It`s VOR at 10-14, 250 kW due south from Irkutsk per HFCC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TUNISIA. 7275, Oct 4 at 0457 no signal from IWT, but checked just a bit too early before contracted 1-hour transmission, in well at 0509 recheck (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1689 monitoring: confirmed first airing on WTWW-1 9479, Thursday Oct 3 starting at 2101:10. Altho I was already familiar with the content, this time I let it play so noted a one-minute break in transmission at 2122.6 as gh was talking about Oman.

Also confirmed on WWRB webcast, UT Friday Oct 4 at 0329 after a respectful semiminute pause fading down the preacher, but no intervening announcement, and WOR was upcut missing part of the opening. Also confirmed on 5050 at 0345 check.

Next: UT Sat 0200v on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB; Sat 0630 & 1430 on HLR 7265-CUSB (still on temp antenna?); Sat 1500 on WRMI 9955; Sat 2330v on WTWW-2 9930; UT Sun 0401 on WTWW-1 5830 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WTWW had been switching nite/day frequencies at 1300, but on Oct 4 earlier, change or mistake? At 1228 check all these are off: 5830, 9479, 5085, 12105, but 9930 is on with BS. By 1230, 9479 is on; at 1243 check, 12105 is already on with Arabible instead of *1300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9850 & 9870, Oct 4 at 0102, the bigsig from WHRI on 9860 is putting out parasitic spurs plus and minus 10, the upper bothering AIR & TRT colliding as usual on 9870, and the lower threatening Albania`s only English to North America which will start by 0130 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 7506.4, Oct 4 at 0345 check, still no WRNO. I gather from others it`s continued absent since my last note Sept 30 at 0102. Can`t say I`ve missed it, but DW loses its newscast relayer in North America (like they cared) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)