** ALBANIA [and non]. 7425, Feb 1 at 0259, R. Tirana IS is playing after the English semihour, and with a SAH from open carrier. Soon Shijak goes off, and the carrier enlivens with Deutsche Welle opening Kiswahili via RWANDA. I assume it was not on early enough to bother programming from Tirana (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AMSTERDAM ISLAND [and non]. The December issue of Atividade DX, the monthly print bulletin of the DX Clube do Brasil, has arrived just in time with a timely lead article about the much-anticipated FT5ZM DX-pedition, the first since 1998, and before that, 1987.
Alfredo Meurer points out, ``Uma estação dessa magnitude é de interesse planetário dos amadores e dos SWL. Todos querem tê-la como um troféu de uma grande conquista. Então os amadores vão se matar para conseguir o tão sonhado QSO com ela. Um tumulto inacreditável será ouvido por todos numa certa QRG. Será uma balbúrdia sem precedentes que todos ouviremeos. Ai saberemos que se tratará de FT5ZM. Mas atençao! Ela não estará ali naquela QRG. Ela estará em split [. . .]
E nós estaremos ali para faturarmos ela e todas aquelas estações raras que também estarão a sua caça. Num pile-up dessa magnitude poderemos faturar mais de 150 países, sem dúvida, e muitos deles muito difíceis de serem escutados depois.``
In other words, he`s suggesting DXing the pileups for more rare countries, more than 150 of them! I`m not sure I could take that: most of the piler-uppers heard around here are mere North Americans (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. 1640, Jan 31 at 2102 UT check, no news, just `True Oldies` music even at hourtop from KZLS Enid-Hennessey-Oklahoma City. But not for long! Tnx to Artie Bigley for finding this on the reactivated RadioInsight.com board for Oklahoma, posted by Lance Venta, yet *another* format change for 1640; call change coming too? ---
``Reid Mullins And Talk Coming To KZLS Oklahoma City
Last Updated on January 30, 2014 at 3:49 pm
Champlin Broadcasting will begin shifting "True Oldies 1640" KZLS Enid/Oklahoma City to Talk on Monday, February 3. Reid Mullins, who had hosted mornings at Clear Channel Talk 1000 KTOK until last August will join the station Monday for a daily program from 7 to 10 am [13-16 UT, probably meaning M-F only, not daily].
McCarvilleReport.com states that "The new show on KZLS will bring back the "information and news" paradigm that former KTOK listeners were accustomed to, Mullins said. Guests will include local, state, and national political figures, commentators, and experts in various fields and sectors from agriculture, energy, healthcare, immigration and more."
Mullins joining KZLS will kick off another format change at the station, which picked up the Oldies format and KZLS call letters when sister Classic Country "99.7 Hank-FM" KNAH debuted in late September. KZLS will shift to News/Talk in all dayparts by the end of February.``
One comment so far: ``It was a real treat to hear the Oldies on 1640 via skywave at night in the Dallas area. They had a real nice processor setting too and were not handicapped by the reduced analog bandwidth which so many AM stations seem to run as a default these days. Nothing like Oldies in marvelous mono on skywave. I knew it was too good to last :-( Jay Walker``. I guess the 1630 DFW outlet is evitable (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [and non]. 17705, Jan 31 at 1825, Brother Scare is very strong here from WHRI, and during this hour // 17610 also WHRI, but much weaker and *not* synchronized; 17705 runs a couple words behind 17610.
9955, Jan 31 at 1909, WRMI is now back with BS, after having carried other programming in the 1500-1712+ period as in previous report; and also BS on 9690 WRMI, 9980 WWCR, but 9930 WTWW is off again.
5110v-CUSB, Feb 1 at 0241, WBCQ is still BSing here, presumably for the last time on this frequency with reversion to certain hours on 7490 and 15420 only, the rest of February.
7570, Feb 1 at 0146 and 0251, WRMI remains absent from this frequency which had been carrying BS overnight; transmitter problem, or schedule change? No update to the online grid. 11565, next band up for BS via WRMI, very poor carrier at 0146, can`t ID for sure.
Next check at 0457, none of the scheduled WRMI frequencies audible: 7570, 9495, 9840, 9955, 11565. All off? Since Cuba is propagating on 9790, the CRI relay being the SSOB by far (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA: WRMI
** SRI LANKA. 11905, Feb 1 at 0150, SLBC fair with flutter in S Asian, presumably Hindi songs; 0200, 3-pip timesignal about 13 seconds slow as seems to be required, a bit of talk, but soon back to pop music past 0225. Supposedly there are some English segments in this transmission, which I`ve yet to catch: Aoki says 0115-0330 English/Hindi; anyway, would only be gospel huxters at 0300-0330 irregularly on Sat & Sun as per BDXC-UK B-13 Broadcasts in English booklet (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9955, Feb 1 at 0146, WRMI is VG with R. Slovakia International in English, pulse jamming barely audible under; at 0225 amid weekly PCJ Radio International hour, during `Media Network Plus`, the episode from about a month ago featuring Lucy Burton`s interviews at Radio Romania International, and starting at 0229, with yours truly about the future of shortwave.
0233 Keith introduces next topic, about difficulty of reporting health news, as contradixions about what`s good for you and not are sure to follow. 0240 recheck, the 9955 signal has really dropped out. Altho Jan 31 solar flux was 166, and K index at 0300 Feb 1 is 0, WWV also reports that radio blackouts reaching the R1 level have occurred and remain likely (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also SOUTH CAROLINA [and non]
** U S A. 7506.6, Feb 1 at 0257, I am mainly hearing a TADIL-A bonker, but measure a carrier here, which must surely be WRNO`s, just barely modulated in music, then barely modulated in talk, still unreadable. Hard to decide if it`s propped out, too close, or on low power. Anyhow, 7490 WBCQ is much stronger now at thrice the distance (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 12105, Jan 31 at 1834, WTWW-3 is back on with Arabible, having been absent at last check 1508 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 14227-USB, Jan 31 at 1917, W100AW making quick contacts and talking an awful lot about whisky but suddenly stops, QSYed without notice? At first I thought he had:
14241-USB, Jan 31 at 1918, sounds like the above but this one signs W1AW/0, giving out 5-9s from Minnesota. While W100AW is presumably the HQ station in Newington CT.
These are part of the year-long ARRL QSO Party, celebrating the organization`s one hundredth anniversary. *All* about it here, including portable W1AW`s in every state, two per week, so one can WAS with nothing but them:http://www.arrl.org/centennial-qso-party
Certificates for sale at a hefty price.
However, searching FCC lookup on call W1AW/0 from the very same pages gets no results! Here`s the schedule of the portables:http://www.arrl.org/files/file/On%20the%20Air/W1AW_2014_sked.pdf
including this week, with host callsign and host name:
1/29/2014 Minnesota W0AA MWA/NLRS [lookupable: MINNESOTA WIRELESS ASSOCIATION, W0AA (Club), 292 Heather Ln, Long Lake, MN 553569439]
1/29/2014 Texas N1XS TDXS
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 640, Jan 31 at 2047 UT on the caradio, I find that our local KEPN Moore OK cuts off the air, back on, and at 2048 UT off again and stays off, and along with it, daytime IBOC! As I am driving around central Enid, I hasten to find a place to park with the least line noise, to go after DX on this suddenly clear frequency! I stop in front of a day care center near Seventh & Randolph, and hope I don`t look too suspicious.
I`m hoping for WOI Ames IA, and that`s obviously just what I am getting on 640, weak but clear during ``Science Friday from PRI`` (no longer NPR, since demise of `Talk of the Nation`), Ira Flatow interviewing Alan Alda. There is also a slow SAH from much weaker station. Assuming skywave is not in play at mid-afternoon, most likely the 50 kW non-direxional daytime groundwave signal from WCRV Collierville TN (Memphis), with the only other possibility KTIB Thibodaux LA which is 5 kW, direxional N/S-ish. KFI is a bit far.
At 2058 UT, winter weather advisory for Iowa; 2059 UT mentions University of Northern Iowa (also on KUNI, I assume), and ID for ``Iowa Public Radio News, WOI, 640, Ames-Des Moines``. This is 5 kW non-direxional at a city-to-city distance of 726 km = 451 statute miles, over high ground-conductivity central USA, and not really surprising since 540 KWMT Fort Dodge even further is constantly audible (tho mixed with The Metroplex), also 5 kW, but lower-end advantage and also somewhat direxional this way.
BTW, NRC AM Log shows WOI with IBOC too, but too weak to tell here, and I recall that such has recently been denied by closer monitors. It`s great to be hearing the *one* public radio station possible here on MW groundwave (and nothing really on nighttime skywave either, besides CBW, vs XET).
KEPN`s AM + IBOC offness also opens up 650 for daytime DX (but not 630, still infested with nothing but IBOC noise from KMIK 620 The Metroplex).
650, Jan 31 at 2052 UT, just as I tune up from 640 WOI, immediately hear ``KGAB.com``; weak but steady. At 2055 UT this has a fast SAH on it. Could it be: 50 kW WSM? 250-watt KIKK Pasadena (Houston) TX? 10 kW WNMT Nashwauk MN? Surely one of those. KGAB is 8.5 kW from Orchard Valley (Cheyenne) WY; for WY on daytime groundwave, it helps to be in the SE corner closest to here. I`ve heard it before in daytime when KEPN IBOC was off, and it`s not unusual at SRS or at night on 500 [sic] watts with WSM nulled. Now 660 KSKY Balch Springs (Irving [Dallas]) TX puts some splatter on it.
670, Jan 31 at 2053 UT, religious ad with phone 1-888-252-5345, the numbers spelling out BIBLE## something, address in Texas, but this is no doubt 50 kW KLTT Commerce City (Denver) CO, which always has a marginal daytime groundwave signal here; to hear it, just a matter of signal/noise, but checked to compare with KGAB. What else is in?
830, Jan 31 at 2056 UT, weak sports talk, WCCO? Yes, ID at 2058 UT also with an HD2 FM frequency I don`t copy, must not be the NRC-AM Log-listed 103.5, since that`s only a translator. 50 kW ND WCCO is also an extreme groundwave catch from here at 1032 km = 641 statute miles.
Since it`s less than a sesquimonth after Solstice, the question arises whether any of this is really skywave? Enid sunset is not until 2357 UT, and local mean noon is always 1832 UT, so halfway between them would be 2044.5 UT, just before I started tuning. All these signals are weak but steady, more like groundwave than skywave.
Since I am getting WCCO, try 1500 for KSTP, which if in would likely be skywave at top end of band, but nothing audible other than my nearest, 500-watt KPGM Pawhuska OK, providing at 2101 UT Jan 31 a ``WWLS Sports Animal`` ID which KEPN itself cannot.
I should have checked 1540 for KXEL Waterloo IA, which is typically skywaving early. After some shopping, next check at 2123 UT finds that 640 KEPN has come back on in the meantime, so the fun is over (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
This report despatched at 0559 UT February 1
** AMSTERDAM ISLAND [and non]. The December issue of Atividade DX, the monthly print bulletin of the DX Clube do Brasil, has arrived just in time with a timely lead article about the much-anticipated FT5ZM DX-pedition, the first since 1998, and before that, 1987.
Alfredo Meurer points out, ``Uma estação dessa magnitude é de interesse planetário dos amadores e dos SWL. Todos querem tê-la como um troféu de uma grande conquista. Então os amadores vão se matar para conseguir o tão sonhado QSO com ela. Um tumulto inacreditável será ouvido por todos numa certa QRG. Será uma balbúrdia sem precedentes que todos ouviremeos. Ai saberemos que se tratará de FT5ZM. Mas atençao! Ela não estará ali naquela QRG. Ela estará em split [. . .]
E nós estaremos ali para faturarmos ela e todas aquelas estações raras que também estarão a sua caça. Num pile-up dessa magnitude poderemos faturar mais de 150 países, sem dúvida, e muitos deles muito difíceis de serem escutados depois.``
In other words, he`s suggesting DXing the pileups for more rare countries, more than 150 of them! I`m not sure I could take that: most of the piler-uppers heard around here are mere North Americans (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. 1640, Jan 31 at 2102 UT check, no news, just `True Oldies` music even at hourtop from KZLS Enid-Hennessey-Oklahoma City. But not for long! Tnx to Artie Bigley for finding this on the reactivated RadioInsight.com board for Oklahoma, posted by Lance Venta, yet *another* format change for 1640; call change coming too? ---
``Reid Mullins And Talk Coming To KZLS Oklahoma City
Last Updated on January 30, 2014 at 3:49 pm
Champlin Broadcasting will begin shifting "True Oldies 1640" KZLS Enid/Oklahoma City to Talk on Monday, February 3. Reid Mullins, who had hosted mornings at Clear Channel Talk 1000 KTOK until last August will join the station Monday for a daily program from 7 to 10 am [13-16 UT, probably meaning M-F only, not daily].
McCarvilleReport.com states that "The new show on KZLS will bring back the "information and news" paradigm that former KTOK listeners were accustomed to, Mullins said. Guests will include local, state, and national political figures, commentators, and experts in various fields and sectors from agriculture, energy, healthcare, immigration and more."
Mullins joining KZLS will kick off another format change at the station, which picked up the Oldies format and KZLS call letters when sister Classic Country "99.7 Hank-FM" KNAH debuted in late September. KZLS will shift to News/Talk in all dayparts by the end of February.``
One comment so far: ``It was a real treat to hear the Oldies on 1640 via skywave at night in the Dallas area. They had a real nice processor setting too and were not handicapped by the reduced analog bandwidth which so many AM stations seem to run as a default these days. Nothing like Oldies in marvelous mono on skywave. I knew it was too good to last :-( Jay Walker``. I guess the 1630 DFW outlet is evitable (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [and non]. 17705, Jan 31 at 1825, Brother Scare is very strong here from WHRI, and during this hour // 17610 also WHRI, but much weaker and *not* synchronized; 17705 runs a couple words behind 17610.
9955, Jan 31 at 1909, WRMI is now back with BS, after having carried other programming in the 1500-1712+ period as in previous report; and also BS on 9690 WRMI, 9980 WWCR, but 9930 WTWW is off again.
5110v-CUSB, Feb 1 at 0241, WBCQ is still BSing here, presumably for the last time on this frequency with reversion to certain hours on 7490 and 15420 only, the rest of February.
7570, Feb 1 at 0146 and 0251, WRMI remains absent from this frequency which had been carrying BS overnight; transmitter problem, or schedule change? No update to the online grid. 11565, next band up for BS via WRMI, very poor carrier at 0146, can`t ID for sure.
Next check at 0457, none of the scheduled WRMI frequencies audible: 7570, 9495, 9840, 9955, 11565. All off? Since Cuba is propagating on 9790, the CRI relay being the SSOB by far (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA: WRMI
** SRI LANKA. 11905, Feb 1 at 0150, SLBC fair with flutter in S Asian, presumably Hindi songs; 0200, 3-pip timesignal about 13 seconds slow as seems to be required, a bit of talk, but soon back to pop music past 0225. Supposedly there are some English segments in this transmission, which I`ve yet to catch: Aoki says 0115-0330 English/Hindi; anyway, would only be gospel huxters at 0300-0330 irregularly on Sat & Sun as per BDXC-UK B-13 Broadcasts in English booklet (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9955, Feb 1 at 0146, WRMI is VG with R. Slovakia International in English, pulse jamming barely audible under; at 0225 amid weekly PCJ Radio International hour, during `Media Network Plus`, the episode from about a month ago featuring Lucy Burton`s interviews at Radio Romania International, and starting at 0229, with yours truly about the future of shortwave.
0233 Keith introduces next topic, about difficulty of reporting health news, as contradixions about what`s good for you and not are sure to follow. 0240 recheck, the 9955 signal has really dropped out. Altho Jan 31 solar flux was 166, and K index at 0300 Feb 1 is 0, WWV also reports that radio blackouts reaching the R1 level have occurred and remain likely (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also SOUTH CAROLINA [and non]
** U S A. 7506.6, Feb 1 at 0257, I am mainly hearing a TADIL-A bonker, but measure a carrier here, which must surely be WRNO`s, just barely modulated in music, then barely modulated in talk, still unreadable. Hard to decide if it`s propped out, too close, or on low power. Anyhow, 7490 WBCQ is much stronger now at thrice the distance (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 12105, Jan 31 at 1834, WTWW-3 is back on with Arabible, having been absent at last check 1508 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 14227-USB, Jan 31 at 1917, W100AW making quick contacts and talking an awful lot about whisky but suddenly stops, QSYed without notice? At first I thought he had:
14241-USB, Jan 31 at 1918, sounds like the above but this one signs W1AW/0, giving out 5-9s from Minnesota. While W100AW is presumably the HQ station in Newington CT.
These are part of the year-long ARRL QSO Party, celebrating the organization`s one hundredth anniversary. *All* about it here, including portable W1AW`s in every state, two per week, so one can WAS with nothing but them:http://www.arrl.org/centennial-qso-party
Certificates for sale at a hefty price.
However, searching FCC lookup on call W1AW/0 from the very same pages gets no results! Here`s the schedule of the portables:http://www.arrl.org/files/file/On%20the%20Air/W1AW_2014_sked.pdf
including this week, with host callsign and host name:
1/29/2014 Minnesota W0AA MWA/NLRS [lookupable: MINNESOTA WIRELESS ASSOCIATION, W0AA (Club), 292 Heather Ln, Long Lake, MN 553569439]
1/29/2014 Texas N1XS TDXS
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 640, Jan 31 at 2047 UT on the caradio, I find that our local KEPN Moore OK cuts off the air, back on, and at 2048 UT off again and stays off, and along with it, daytime IBOC! As I am driving around central Enid, I hasten to find a place to park with the least line noise, to go after DX on this suddenly clear frequency! I stop in front of a day care center near Seventh & Randolph, and hope I don`t look too suspicious.
I`m hoping for WOI Ames IA, and that`s obviously just what I am getting on 640, weak but clear during ``Science Friday from PRI`` (no longer NPR, since demise of `Talk of the Nation`), Ira Flatow interviewing Alan Alda. There is also a slow SAH from much weaker station. Assuming skywave is not in play at mid-afternoon, most likely the 50 kW non-direxional daytime groundwave signal from WCRV Collierville TN (Memphis), with the only other possibility KTIB Thibodaux LA which is 5 kW, direxional N/S-ish. KFI is a bit far.
At 2058 UT, winter weather advisory for Iowa; 2059 UT mentions University of Northern Iowa (also on KUNI, I assume), and ID for ``Iowa Public Radio News, WOI, 640, Ames-Des Moines``. This is 5 kW non-direxional at a city-to-city distance of 726 km = 451 statute miles, over high ground-conductivity central USA, and not really surprising since 540 KWMT Fort Dodge even further is constantly audible (tho mixed with The Metroplex), also 5 kW, but lower-end advantage and also somewhat direxional this way.
BTW, NRC AM Log shows WOI with IBOC too, but too weak to tell here, and I recall that such has recently been denied by closer monitors. It`s great to be hearing the *one* public radio station possible here on MW groundwave (and nothing really on nighttime skywave either, besides CBW, vs XET).
KEPN`s AM + IBOC offness also opens up 650 for daytime DX (but not 630, still infested with nothing but IBOC noise from KMIK 620 The Metroplex).
650, Jan 31 at 2052 UT, just as I tune up from 640 WOI, immediately hear ``KGAB.com``; weak but steady. At 2055 UT this has a fast SAH on it. Could it be: 50 kW WSM? 250-watt KIKK Pasadena (Houston) TX? 10 kW WNMT Nashwauk MN? Surely one of those. KGAB is 8.5 kW from Orchard Valley (Cheyenne) WY; for WY on daytime groundwave, it helps to be in the SE corner closest to here. I`ve heard it before in daytime when KEPN IBOC was off, and it`s not unusual at SRS or at night on 500 [sic] watts with WSM nulled. Now 660 KSKY Balch Springs (Irving [Dallas]) TX puts some splatter on it.
670, Jan 31 at 2053 UT, religious ad with phone 1-888-252-5345, the numbers spelling out BIBLE## something, address in Texas, but this is no doubt 50 kW KLTT Commerce City (Denver) CO, which always has a marginal daytime groundwave signal here; to hear it, just a matter of signal/noise, but checked to compare with KGAB. What else is in?
830, Jan 31 at 2056 UT, weak sports talk, WCCO? Yes, ID at 2058 UT also with an HD2 FM frequency I don`t copy, must not be the NRC-AM Log-listed 103.5, since that`s only a translator. 50 kW ND WCCO is also an extreme groundwave catch from here at 1032 km = 641 statute miles.
Since it`s less than a sesquimonth after Solstice, the question arises whether any of this is really skywave? Enid sunset is not until 2357 UT, and local mean noon is always 1832 UT, so halfway between them would be 2044.5 UT, just before I started tuning. All these signals are weak but steady, more like groundwave than skywave.
Since I am getting WCCO, try 1500 for KSTP, which if in would likely be skywave at top end of band, but nothing audible other than my nearest, 500-watt KPGM Pawhuska OK, providing at 2101 UT Jan 31 a ``WWLS Sports Animal`` ID which KEPN itself cannot.
I should have checked 1540 for KXEL Waterloo IA, which is typically skywaving early. After some shopping, next check at 2123 UT finds that 640 KEPN has come back on in the meantime, so the fun is over (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
This report despatched at 0559 UT February 1