sabato 4 gennaio 2014

Glenn Hauser logs January 3-4, 2014

Updated:
World of Radio schedule:
http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html

DX/SWL/Media Programs:
http://www.worldofradio.com/dxpgms.html

Alan Roe`s SW Station Hitlist:
http://www.w4uvh.net/hitlist.htm

** CHILE [non]. On the condiglista, Claudio Galaz posted news from a Chilean radio forum
http://www.radiomaniacos.cl/foros/index.php?showtopic=3624
that RCW Radio Compañía Worldwide, would carry out a test broadcast at 0000 UT Jan 4 on 7290 in the AM mode, 50 watts; duration not given.

I pointed out that there might be QRM from CNR1 scheduled on 7290 before and after that hour from Beijing; and also 7290 is a prime hangout for North American hams in the AM mode.

With the computer off and out of contact, I started monitoring at 0000 on 7290, and indeed heard a weak signal, probably China. Meanwhile, RCW had discovered that was big QRM down there, so said they would use 7550 instead starting at 0050, but I didn`t know that until afterwards. I probably tuned across 7550 without noticing anything.

The radio maniacs forum shortwave sexion is worth keeping an eye on, as that`s also where news first appeared of the Cooperativa fútbol relay on 12365-USB last (and every?) October (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA [and non]. 5990, Jan 4 at 0003 I notice that CRI Spanish relay via CUBA is again late coming up (tho already running on 15120), with 5990 bearing instead a very poor signal in Russian. I`d rather hear that anyway, since Aoki shows it too is CRI, but 100 kW, 345 degrees from Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. Recheck at 0028, now Habana is on.

9750, Jan 4 at 0047 sounds like Japanese songs, fair with deep fades, and I figure it`s NHK which is on 9750 for long hours --- but not this long. Aoki shows it must also have been Hohhot, PBS Nei Menggu, in Mongolian, 50 kW, 36 degrees USward; among more E Asian signals on 31m than European or American (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. 17495, Jan 4 at 0007, Chinese, really Cantonese scheduled, 500 kW, 193 degrees from site. Tuning down the 16m band I about concluded it was totally dead & empty until I got to this, making it the OSOB and the SSOB; also with echo, long/short path? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 15120, Jan 4 at 0003, checking CRI Spanish relay which is missing from // 5990, I hear not only a hum but an echo on 15120; could it be long/short path? It`s a long way around from Habana, some 38 megameters (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** EQUATORIAL GUINEA [non]. 15190, Jan 3 at 1911, JBA carrier, probably V. of Philippines rather than R. Africa, which remains unheard here in 2014y; has anyone, even at other dayparts? Long before the advent of RAN/WRMI, Bata would disappear for months at a time, breakdowns or out of funding? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 1570, Jan 3 at 1952 UT on caradio, some classical music catches my ear, a rarity on AM, and even FM radio; soon segué to a kid choir in Spanish. Must be the Tulsa market station which recently converted to Radio Católica Mundial, where some liturgical music crosses the classical barrier, and yes, // KTLR 890 OKC with much stronger signal.

Here`s how the flips were reported in IRCA and NRC last month/year:
``1530 KXTD Wagoner, OK old slogan: "La Luz AM 1530", new: "Qué Buena"
1530 KXTD Wagoner, OK was Spanish Christian, now Regional Mexican
1570 KZLI Catoosa, OK old slogan: "Mega 1570", new: "La Luz 1570"
1570 KZLI Catoosa, OK was Spanish
(BROADCASTING INFORMATION, Robert J. Wien (KG6RJW/3) - DATE OF COLUMN:
DECEMBER 14, 2013, Column data span: November 30, 2013-December 14,
2013, Data courtesy of Stationintel.com, FCC database and member
contributions, IRCA DX Monitor Dec 21 via DXLD)
1530, KXTD, Wagoner – Format to SS:MEX (ex-SS:SPT), slogan to "Que
Buena," drop network ESPD; delete // KZLI-1570. 1570, KZLI, Catoosa –
Delete // KXTD-1530 (AM Switch, NRC DX News Dec 23 via DXLD)``

However, the flip had already happened last March as noted by Bruce Winkelman in Tulsa: ``KZLI-1570 Catoosa/Tulsa noted running Spanish religious programming this afternoon while running errands 1800-1900Z so apparently no longer // KXTD-1530. Heard a soft voiced female announcer at 1855Z with "Esta es La Luz" slogan(?) between Spanish religious vocal music songs. KXTD still ESPN Desportes during that time frame. Bruce Winkelman AA5CO Tulsa, OK`` BTW one of the hosts on KTLR/KZLI is named Winkelman.

I can no longer find a Spanish affiliate list on the EWTN website.
But this is on the KTLR site at
http://www.ktlr.com/engine/emw.exe/*qshome=home

``Today AM 1570 K Z L I in Tulsa joins our broadcasts
and together AM 890 KTLR and AM 1570 KZLI become
COMMUNITY TALK RADIO FOR OKLAHOMA

La Estacion Católica de Oklahoma presenta ahora EWTN
en Español a partir de la 1 pm entre semana en
Community Talk AM 890 - KTLR``

That is, joining RCM at 1900 UT M-F, and with some other Spanish gospel huxters earlier and on weekends. This page gives sked for both stations, so 100% parallel?
http://www.ktlr.com/engine/emw.exe/*qshome=home&st=561&rec=4&kw=news&parm=4&trec=2&lktype=6&snum=1

I know KTLR is partly in English, so apparently KZLI must be too: This appears to be current, even includes SR/SS times for each month with January hilited. Of course, Tulsa and OKC, some 100 miles apart, will not necessarily be the same every month (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 88.3, Jan 3 at 1956 UT, I`m doing a non-commercial bandscan on the caradio, and pleased to find local KEAR (Family Radio) translator K202BY missing. I hope it`s gone for good along with Harold Camping, but probably just another temporary breakdown. That makes 88.3 one of the `openest` frequencies for DX, just as the Quadrantids meteor shower is about to peak; see UNIDENTIFIED.

Just barely audible: some clicking which may be what`s left of the K202BY transmitter. I see in the WTFDA FM database that it`s 250 watts, vertical only; one of the weaker translators here, from a tower site west of Enid = 4 miles east and 2 miles north of Lahoma, and FCC map shows its 60 dbu contour doesn`t quite reach downtown Enid itself.

While waiting for meteor bursts, at 1959 UT Jan 3, I also get an airplane-scatter burst, with rapid Doppler fading and KOSU calendar promo, so that`s their 1.2 kW fill-in relay back in hometown Stillwater, KOSR, necessary because their bigsig on 91.7 moved too far away, almost to OKC.

Even after pulling into the garage, I keep listening for more MS DX, but also hear some other weak gospel-huxtering fading slowly in and out, so probably other OK or KS low-power stations. One had Alex Scourby Bible readings at 2010 UT, then a hymn (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PERU. 5980, Jan 4 at 0059, JBA carrier from R. Chaski until cut off at 0102:33* which is 22 seconds later than last log 4 nights ago = still averaging 5.5 seconds later per 24 hours (China via Cuba overrun splashing from 5990 misopening English lasted only until 0101*). (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SOLOMON ISLANDS [non]. 9545, Jan 4 at 0049, Chinese with an echo, plus some CCI, i.e. CNR1 jamming vs VOA Chinese via THAILAND at 00-01. So another time we can forget about hearing SIBC. Aoki shows however only three non-SIBC transmissions on 9545:
2200-2300 Jamming plus VOA Chinese via Philippines
2300-2330 FEBC Philippines in different Hmong dialects, M-F vs Sat/Sun
0000-0100 Jamming plus VOA Chinese via Thailand
Philippine if not ChiCom signals are likely to be a big QRM problem for these 2.5 hours in the Solomons. Between 22 and 01, SIBC could use 6080 without QRMelbourne, but that too would confront two Chinese domestic services; 9 am-noon local time, maybe not so bad (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 9930, Jan 3 at 1907, WTWW-2 is off; thank Yahweh for a few other frequencies Brother Scare is still on! 9370-WWRB, 9690-WRMI, 9980-WWCR, 11825-WRMI. Can you hear he now? Meanwhile the other two WTWWs remain on, 9475 with SFAW, 12105 back with Arabible; and by 2117 recheck, 9930 is back on too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SPAIN. 6055, UT Sat Jan 4 at 0029, REE English is amid mailbag with a letter from Libya; surely pre-recorded but sounds live as host is having trouble making out the handwriting. Also with sound-effect of crumpling paper or tearing open envelope, like Keith Glover used to employ on Radio Australia before each letter; remember? Automatic half-hour timesignal of 5+1 is accurate since this is no relay as it would have been delayed via Costa Rica, which never condescended to broadcast in English anyway (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SRI LANKA. 5805, Jan 4 at 0025, fair signal interview in tonal Asian language, not Mandarin; unusual to hear anything lower than 5830 WTWW outside this band. Aoki has the answer: since Dec 25, VOA Tibetan via Iranawila, 250 kW at 20 degrees, has been using 5805 on Saturdays only, jumping to three other frequencies depending on day of week: 5760 on Sunday, 5750 on M/W/F, 5770 on Tue & Thu. This will supposedly confuse or evade the ChiCom jammers, at least until they read about it here or in Aoki; none heard so far (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 15610, Jan 3 at 1912, WEWN English service is back on with VG signal, after missing earlier today, and along with it the spurs circa plus/minus 9 kHz. Night English frequency 11520 also active 0045 Jan 4.

Eike Bierwirth has been visiting Birmingham, and went out to see WEWN on Jan 1: ``WEWN is tucked away in the forest; it's hard to see anything from the outside but a glimpse of one antenna between the tops of two masts. There's more to see on Google Earth, actually. Too bad I couldn't be here for the NASB tour recently.

Vandiver is a cool place if you like rural America. Otherwise, you wanna get out of there. A few scattered houses, a low-notch gas station, and a couple of pick-up trucks and a random vintage car in mediocre condition standing around. Few people to be seen, but the mandatory dog that tells everybody hell breaks loose when a stranger walks down the county road to get a distant view of WEWN`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Signals which aren`t there, but quirx to be aware of on the DX-398: 5211-RCUSB, Jan 4 at 0017 political monolog sounds like a broadcast rather than a ham, about psychological profiling; then another voice on the same carrier, poor-fair.

Bingo, it`s the same as on very strong 6115 WWCR, which in the AM mode puts a 2 x 450 IF receiver image on 5215, but when tuned in USB it`s on 5211. And when tuned in LSB, it`s on 5219, i.e. 4 kHz offset oppositely. If one switches to the opposite sideband on either, nothing is heard, nor is the image audible on 5215 while in the USB or LSB tuning modes.

The same thing applies to bigsig 5830 WTWW: main image in AM is on 4930, which I am well aware of and avoid, but in USB it`s on 4926, and in LSB on 4934. One could easily assume these are real feeders or something. Bigsigs from anything else overloading on 49m such as RHC would behave same way (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 7490.0, Jan 4 at 0044, WBCQ back on frequency with music, intro two rock songs with AC-DC flavor. This would be the `Fred Flintstone` show which precedes AWWW on UT Saturdays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Atlantic carrier search January 4 at 0054-0058 UT: checking 1520 KOKC for 1521 het, and there it is, surely 2000 kW Saudi, so worth 9-kHz stepping quickly thru entire band, but first, go directly to 891 --- Yes, het there too, probably Algeria. Other JBA carriers: 783 at 0055, probably Mauritania; 1053 at 0057, UK? 1512 at 0058, probably another Saudi with only 1000 kW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 4005, Jan 4 at 0012 and many other times, hi-speed RTTY. Probably same transmitter I recently heard with open carrier only for protracted period, nothing to send but not turned off. But what is it? With the RTTY FSK going it`s hard to pinpoint the center frequency, which when unmodulated was off to the low side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 6000, Jan 4 at 0100 during RHC open carrier before IS opening English, I hear a 5?-pip timesignal ending a few seconds late. 0100 is when CNR1 Beijing finishes, and TRT Turkey starts 6000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 7255, Jan 4 at 0034 after checking again for the Chilean pirate on 7290 (not), I hear some music here in LSB, no doubt a North American ham playing around breaking the rules. Other hams pile on making crude comments about the music-player`s sexual habits; also CW QRM in a non-CW part of the band. Then music stops; 0038 a bit more music, and one detractor gives call as KI6KY, probably phony. No, that`s in ARRL/FCC lookup as ``Browne, John K, KI6KY, Davis, CA 95616``. But don`t blame him necessarily in case miscopied, or fraudulently uttered (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 88.3, Jan 3 at 1956 UT, with local translator K202BY absent [see OKLAHOMA] I have a shot at some Quadrantid meteor scatter DX as 88.3 only has weak marginal signals, and not much ACI either, unlike every other channel below 92 MHz and most of them above. So on caradio I park and listen as hourtop approaches.

Several MS bursts/pings are indeed heard during the next quarter-hour, but nothing IDable: at 2007 `Science Friday` opening is audible from some NPR station (long ago dropped by KOSU/KOSR, even the first hour which is all they carried). By this time I have pulled into the garage, but keep listening until 2015. After a while interior car lites won`t switch on while the radio runs; hmmm.

Meanwhile I check some other nearby frequencies and find some more intriguing MS unIDs: At 2002 there is a burst of Spanish both on 87.9 and 87.7. Suspect it`s a Mexican TV station on 87.75 (plus or minus .01 MHz), like XET in Monterrey NL, but it could also be one of 8 Franken-FMs in Spanish around the US, analog channel 6 LPTV stations funxioning as radio stations. At 2012 UT, another burst on 87.7 with music. Checking skyandtelescope.com later, 1930 UT Jan 3 was predicted to be the peak of the brief Quadrantid shower! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

This report despatched at 0453 UT January 4