** AUSTRALIA. 21740, Feb 14 at 2117, huge signal from RA in English, and as always round this daypart, the OSOB! What a pity that countless other Pacifican, not to mention, Asian and American countries, have *no* interest in SW broadcasting on this band when it`s wide open to N America. 21740 is officially of course only for the Pacific (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 5025, Feb 15 at 0646, R. Rebelde is gone again; any info on a specific less-than-24-hour schedule now? While 5040 RHC is back in English instead of Spanish yesterday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MALAYSIA [and non]. 5964.6, Feb 15 at 1415, remnant signals well after sunrise are still enough to produce an audible het, so it looks like RTM has gone back to their off-frequency transmitter after a while using a better on-frequency one; vs China. My keyboard finds the het pitch to be approx. G4 = 392 Hz (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 1430, Feb 15 at 0658 UT, dominant signal is banda music, looping N/S, 0703 UT mentions ``Fórmula perfecta`` and more music. May have dozed during a real ID. NRC AM Log 2013 does not show any likely SS, none of the three Texans. Cantú lists only five (!) XEs on 1430, of which the closest to the south but weakest is:
1430 XEWD La Grande de Cd Miguel Alemán Cd. Miguel Alemán, Tamps. 5,000 150
Further, in about the same direxion are two stronger ones:
1430 XETT Radio Tlaxcala Tlaxcala, Tlax. 5,000 1,000
1430 XELL Latido + 90.1 FM Veracruz, Ver. 5,000 1,000
IRCA 2013 and WRTH 2014, however show a sixth station on 1430, 250-watt XERAC, La Número Uno en Campeche / Radio Fórmula, Campeche. In the Campeche section, Cantú still has no such station, altho he does include its FM counterpart, 97.3 XHRAC (maybe assumed to have ``migrated`` from AM already?). Anyhow, XERAC looks like the tentative source. I can`t find any affiliate list or anything about Campeche at the Grupo Fórmula site. There is still a remote chance it could be a US station changed format, as the Fórmula brand does exist here.
Conditions somewhat ``auroral`` altho K index at 06 was only 1; WWV:
``Geophysical Alert Message
Solar-terrestrial indices for 14 February follow.
Solar flux 167 and estimated planetary A-index 4.
The estimated planetary K-index at 0600 UTC on 15 February was 1.
Space weather for the past 24 hours has been minor.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level occurred.
Space weather for the next 24 hours is predicted to be moderate.
Geomagnetic storms reaching the G2 level are likely.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level are expected.``
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA. 11769.9, Feb 14 at 2128-2130+, flutish music and presumed Arabic from VON, with splash from 11775 Anguilla (Glenn Hauser, oK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. 31, KXOK-LD, Enid, a.k.a. TV-OK, continues to be SNAFU. Feb 15 around 1715 UT, main channel 31.1 is still replaying parts of old `Discover Oklahoma` travelog episodes from Oct 2010; at 1723 UT about the Lazy Parrot Restaurant & Lounge somewhere in the 918 area code; with long pauses of dead air. But along with a glimpse of color bars, quick ID slides sometimes appear at odd times, showing KXOK 31 in Enid, KTEW 18 in Ponca City, and the intervening translator K35JY in Lamont, along with the RTV logo whose programming is no longer appearing at all. The two subchannels remain as before, 31.2 with color bars instead of Mundo Fox, and 31.3 with black instead of Azteca; ditto for the weaker RF 32 intercity relay duplicates.
The afternoon of Feb 14, I dropped by their office at the north end of the main floor of the Broadway Tower in downtown Enid, only to find it vacated, altho the door was unlocked. Down the hall I asked the building manager where TV-OK had gone, and all he could tell me was that they still have a room on the top floor housing their transmitters (but evidently no one inhabits it). He knew of no replacement office location. Also said they had recently changed ownership (again? that may explain the neglect). So has the Broadway Tower, which is being converted from an office building to an hotel. Has a big disposal chute running down the west outside of the building. Meanwhile, upscale restaurant on south side of ground floor has closed for remodeling(?).(Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. 11915, Feb 14 at 2126, Qur`an from BSKSA on poor signal but in the clear at 295 degrees unlike presumed // 11930 at 270, totally blocked by DentroCuban Jamming Command, and Radio Martí. And best on // 11820 at 320 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 9980, Sat Feb 15 at 1539, only WWCR among the Brother Scare stations adds a big squeal/hum/buzz, so it`s their problem, not the uplink or downlink. Clear unmarred audio on // but never synchronized: 9955 WRMI, 9930 WTWW, 9690 WRMI, 9370 WWRB and even 13810 MBR from Germany. This is of course during the live Sabbath service, when BS goes even more bonkers than usual ---
But NOT on 15420-CUSB WBCQ: I had heard the IS and ID loop before sign-on 1500, but at 1540 playing rock music (possibly gospel rock), no BS. Despite the fact that the 15420 schedulehttp://schedule.wbcq.com/main.php?fn=sked&freq=15420
now does show Overcomer only at 15-18 UT Saturdays!
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 17850, Feb 14 at 2116, huge signal from REE in Spanish, and at this hour the OSOB! What a pity that countless other European, not to mention, African and American countries, have *no* interest in SW broadcasting on this band when it`s wide open to N America. 17850 is for Central America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 13670, Feb 14 at 2118, carrier with big humbuzz, no doubt Greenville warming up for the 2130 Bambara broadcast, VOA`s newest language, while it disses major world languages and their multitudes of speakers, such as Arabic, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Spanish, etc., etc. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7730, Fri Feb 14 at 2114, very poor signal as usual from WRMI toward Europe, but enough to tell it`s on in Spanish and exhortative, so could be clandestine program, tho unneeded on that continent. Sure wish WRMI would put up program schedules for frequencies additional to 9955 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9475 & 12105, Feb 14 at 2131, two WTWWs are off, leaving one on 9930 with BS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 13270-USB, Feb 14 at 2119, WSY70, New York Radio is still spinning its wheels with all flight weather ``missing``, from: Atlanta, Bermuda, Miami, Nassau, Orlando, over and over. ``This is New York Radio, out``. I`ll say!
Without missing a beat, at 2120, ``This is Gander Radio, time 2120Z``, and on to real weather starting with Montreal.
Glenn asks: ``Is anyone ever hearing NYR on 2000-USB any more? ``
Ken Zichi, MI, replies: ``Not since July here. They are back on 3485 as of August 2013 by my monitoring. Don't know if that was a 'whoops' (it was a rather long whoops if it was!) or if they were trying something different, but they appear to be back to the scheduled frequency.``
However, 2000 was not a direct substitute for 3485, as I heard them both a number of simultimes such as in DXLD 13-10 and 13-16 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 7255-AM, Feb 14 at 2136, poor broadcast signal thought might be Nigeria, in tonal language, per Aoki in Fulfulde this hour; anyhow doesn`t sound like Hausa, really more Asian. Aoki also shows both Lhasa in Tibetan, and CNR2 in Chinese from Baoji on 7255 between 2055 and 2300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 7455-USB, Feb 14 at 2135, Spanish 2-way, similar to that heard earlier on 12152-USB, which rechecking now is vacant, but probably no relation. And no RTTY QRM as there is on 7455 most of the night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 11980, Feb 14 at 2125, hi-speed RTTY here I haven`t noticed before. Maybe by somestation which considers the 25m SWBC band to end at 11975 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 12152-USB, Feb 14 at 2121-2125, two-way in colloquial Spanish I have a hard time understanding, vs CODAR. However, mentioning ``faro`` which could be either lighthouse or a radio beacon, and discussing obviously geo coördinates several times, ``19-10-79 arriba, y 95-46-04 abajo``. The latter, longitude, was first spoken as 95-45-04, then corrected. So where`s that? Assuming arriba means north (but why would abajo mean west? because it`s negative?), in the Gulf of Campeche, which is a sub-gulf of the Gulf of México, not far from Veracruz. Also mentioned ``60 millas`` from somewhere, non-metric. Would those be nautical rather than statute miles? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
This report despatched at 1816 UT February 15
** CUBA. 5025, Feb 15 at 0646, R. Rebelde is gone again; any info on a specific less-than-24-hour schedule now? While 5040 RHC is back in English instead of Spanish yesterday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MALAYSIA [and non]. 5964.6, Feb 15 at 1415, remnant signals well after sunrise are still enough to produce an audible het, so it looks like RTM has gone back to their off-frequency transmitter after a while using a better on-frequency one; vs China. My keyboard finds the het pitch to be approx. G4 = 392 Hz (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 1430, Feb 15 at 0658 UT, dominant signal is banda music, looping N/S, 0703 UT mentions ``Fórmula perfecta`` and more music. May have dozed during a real ID. NRC AM Log 2013 does not show any likely SS, none of the three Texans. Cantú lists only five (!) XEs on 1430, of which the closest to the south but weakest is:
1430 XEWD La Grande de Cd Miguel Alemán Cd. Miguel Alemán, Tamps. 5,000 150
Further, in about the same direxion are two stronger ones:
1430 XETT Radio Tlaxcala Tlaxcala, Tlax. 5,000 1,000
1430 XELL Latido + 90.1 FM Veracruz, Ver. 5,000 1,000
IRCA 2013 and WRTH 2014, however show a sixth station on 1430, 250-watt XERAC, La Número Uno en Campeche / Radio Fórmula, Campeche. In the Campeche section, Cantú still has no such station, altho he does include its FM counterpart, 97.3 XHRAC (maybe assumed to have ``migrated`` from AM already?). Anyhow, XERAC looks like the tentative source. I can`t find any affiliate list or anything about Campeche at the Grupo Fórmula site. There is still a remote chance it could be a US station changed format, as the Fórmula brand does exist here.
Conditions somewhat ``auroral`` altho K index at 06 was only 1; WWV:
``Geophysical Alert Message
Solar-terrestrial indices for 14 February follow.
Solar flux 167 and estimated planetary A-index 4.
The estimated planetary K-index at 0600 UTC on 15 February was 1.
Space weather for the past 24 hours has been minor.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level occurred.
Space weather for the next 24 hours is predicted to be moderate.
Geomagnetic storms reaching the G2 level are likely.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level are expected.``
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA. 11769.9, Feb 14 at 2128-2130+, flutish music and presumed Arabic from VON, with splash from 11775 Anguilla (Glenn Hauser, oK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. 31, KXOK-LD, Enid, a.k.a. TV-OK, continues to be SNAFU. Feb 15 around 1715 UT, main channel 31.1 is still replaying parts of old `Discover Oklahoma` travelog episodes from Oct 2010; at 1723 UT about the Lazy Parrot Restaurant & Lounge somewhere in the 918 area code; with long pauses of dead air. But along with a glimpse of color bars, quick ID slides sometimes appear at odd times, showing KXOK 31 in Enid, KTEW 18 in Ponca City, and the intervening translator K35JY in Lamont, along with the RTV logo whose programming is no longer appearing at all. The two subchannels remain as before, 31.2 with color bars instead of Mundo Fox, and 31.3 with black instead of Azteca; ditto for the weaker RF 32 intercity relay duplicates.
The afternoon of Feb 14, I dropped by their office at the north end of the main floor of the Broadway Tower in downtown Enid, only to find it vacated, altho the door was unlocked. Down the hall I asked the building manager where TV-OK had gone, and all he could tell me was that they still have a room on the top floor housing their transmitters (but evidently no one inhabits it). He knew of no replacement office location. Also said they had recently changed ownership (again? that may explain the neglect). So has the Broadway Tower, which is being converted from an office building to an hotel. Has a big disposal chute running down the west outside of the building. Meanwhile, upscale restaurant on south side of ground floor has closed for remodeling(?).(Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. 11915, Feb 14 at 2126, Qur`an from BSKSA on poor signal but in the clear at 295 degrees unlike presumed // 11930 at 270, totally blocked by DentroCuban Jamming Command, and Radio Martí. And best on // 11820 at 320 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 9980, Sat Feb 15 at 1539, only WWCR among the Brother Scare stations adds a big squeal/hum/buzz, so it`s their problem, not the uplink or downlink. Clear unmarred audio on // but never synchronized: 9955 WRMI, 9930 WTWW, 9690 WRMI, 9370 WWRB and even 13810 MBR from Germany. This is of course during the live Sabbath service, when BS goes even more bonkers than usual ---
But NOT on 15420-CUSB WBCQ: I had heard the IS and ID loop before sign-on 1500, but at 1540 playing rock music (possibly gospel rock), no BS. Despite the fact that the 15420 schedulehttp://schedule.wbcq.com/main.php?fn=sked&freq=15420
now does show Overcomer only at 15-18 UT Saturdays!
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 17850, Feb 14 at 2116, huge signal from REE in Spanish, and at this hour the OSOB! What a pity that countless other European, not to mention, African and American countries, have *no* interest in SW broadcasting on this band when it`s wide open to N America. 17850 is for Central America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 13670, Feb 14 at 2118, carrier with big humbuzz, no doubt Greenville warming up for the 2130 Bambara broadcast, VOA`s newest language, while it disses major world languages and their multitudes of speakers, such as Arabic, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Spanish, etc., etc. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7730, Fri Feb 14 at 2114, very poor signal as usual from WRMI toward Europe, but enough to tell it`s on in Spanish and exhortative, so could be clandestine program, tho unneeded on that continent. Sure wish WRMI would put up program schedules for frequencies additional to 9955 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9475 & 12105, Feb 14 at 2131, two WTWWs are off, leaving one on 9930 with BS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. 13270-USB, Feb 14 at 2119, WSY70, New York Radio is still spinning its wheels with all flight weather ``missing``, from: Atlanta, Bermuda, Miami, Nassau, Orlando, over and over. ``This is New York Radio, out``. I`ll say!
Without missing a beat, at 2120, ``This is Gander Radio, time 2120Z``, and on to real weather starting with Montreal.
Glenn asks: ``Is anyone ever hearing NYR on 2000-USB any more? ``
Ken Zichi, MI, replies: ``Not since July here. They are back on 3485 as of August 2013 by my monitoring. Don't know if that was a 'whoops' (it was a rather long whoops if it was!) or if they were trying something different, but they appear to be back to the scheduled frequency.``
However, 2000 was not a direct substitute for 3485, as I heard them both a number of simultimes such as in DXLD 13-10 and 13-16 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 7255-AM, Feb 14 at 2136, poor broadcast signal thought might be Nigeria, in tonal language, per Aoki in Fulfulde this hour; anyhow doesn`t sound like Hausa, really more Asian. Aoki also shows both Lhasa in Tibetan, and CNR2 in Chinese from Baoji on 7255 between 2055 and 2300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 7455-USB, Feb 14 at 2135, Spanish 2-way, similar to that heard earlier on 12152-USB, which rechecking now is vacant, but probably no relation. And no RTTY QRM as there is on 7455 most of the night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 11980, Feb 14 at 2125, hi-speed RTTY here I haven`t noticed before. Maybe by somestation which considers the 25m SWBC band to end at 11975 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 12152-USB, Feb 14 at 2121-2125, two-way in colloquial Spanish I have a hard time understanding, vs CODAR. However, mentioning ``faro`` which could be either lighthouse or a radio beacon, and discussing obviously geo coördinates several times, ``19-10-79 arriba, y 95-46-04 abajo``. The latter, longitude, was first spoken as 95-45-04, then corrected. So where`s that? Assuming arriba means north (but why would abajo mean west? because it`s negative?), in the Gulf of Campeche, which is a sub-gulf of the Gulf of México, not far from Veracruz. Also mentioned ``60 millas`` from somewhere, non-metric. Would those be nautical rather than statute miles? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
This report despatched at 1816 UT February 15
