venerdì 4 aprile 2014

Glenn Hauser logs April 2-3, 2014

** ALASKA. 7355, April 3 at 1227, KNLS is now confirmed here in A-14, ex-9615 for this English hour in B-13. Why in the world would they go to a lower frequency in the summer from midnight-sun land? Need lessons in Propagation 101, which perhaps their ``DX specialist`` Carl Mann could provide, but today his ``DX Definitions`` repeat from a series recorded decades ago, is about zero-beating, tuning AM stations with the BFO on; it lasts barely two minutes. Fair signal. HFCC A-14 now shows both 7355 and 11870 for English at 12-13, apparently covering bases with alternates, and in case they ever get a second transmitter going again. Maybe their 25mb antenna is inoperative? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BANGLADESH. 15505, April 3 at 1356, BB with open carrier, maybe tone on usual very poor signal; 1357 IS but dumps off the air at 1358*, back on at *1359, not too late to detect early offtimesignal ending at 1359:48.5 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA [and non]. CNR1 jammer pickings are sparse on April 3, except for usual 15-MHz inbanders, nothing higher or lower on 12-20 MHz than:
16160, April 3 at 1343, CNR1 jammer is very poor with flutter.

17740, April 3 at 1406, CNR1 jammer with flutter, mixing with target this hour only but daily, VOA Tibetan via THAILAND.

15560, April 3 at 1408, CNR1 jammer, poor, no hets but presumably vs V. of Tibet, via Tajikistan which is on 15562, 15563 at various times per Aoki but at this minute is supposedly on 15568 which would require jamming on 15570 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA [and non]. 11930, April 3 at 0524, usual lite pulse jamming markers here far beyond R. Martí hours have now blossomed into a full wall-of-noise against nothing from the wacky DentroCuban Jamming Command. Except, as in Aoki, bad news for Belarus, authoritarian enough, but non-Commie.

5025, April 3 circa 0530, R. Rebelde is off, but at next check 1210 it`s on.

11860.0, April 3 at 1223, RHC is on-frequency; checking since Rob Wagner, Austraia, ADXN had reported RHC on 11859.65, March 5 at 1350 hetting VOW. At 1304 it`s atop musical CCI and maybe some noise too. That would be V. of Wilderness, Korean clandestine via Tajikistan. There is something off-frequency one channel up; see KOREA NORTH (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** EAST TURKISTAN. 17630, April 3 at 1344, CRI English is fair with flutter, and for another hour at 1404 check; also in French on 17560 & weaker // 17650 with Chinese lesson at 1344. Like last summer, these are E.T. channels toward Europe, from Urumqi in English, Kashgar in French. CRI also pretends to broadcast eastward from Mali in English on 17630 at 14-16, but no trace of it here, and why would they CCI themselves? Should any CRIEnglish be audible after 1500 on 17630, that could be Mali (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GERMANY [non]. 15595, April 3 at 1340, very poor signal with deep fades, conversation. It`s DW in Dari via RWANDA, plus Pashto at 1330-1427, 250 kW at 30 degrees from Kigali, whose only targets outside Africa are now Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUAM. 11845, Thursday April 3 at 1331, fair signal, with slow talk in SE Asian language. Aoki says it`s KSDA at 1330-1400 Thursdays and Fridays in Hmong, 100 kW, 285 degrees from Agat. Other days of week in Assamese or Malay. And wonder of wonders, no Cuban pulse jamming against non-Martí at the moment (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KOREA NORTH. 11865-, April 3 at 1223, something is slightly off-frequency to the lo side, sounds like a hymn, but nothing listed except VOK in Japanese; after confirming that RHC is not off-frequency from 11860.0; see CUBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KOREA NORTH [non]. 15630, April 3 at 1248, open carrier with poor signal, presumably R. Free Chosun on new frequency per Ivo Ivanov, and moved one hour earlier, replacing +14-16 UT on 9775 via RVA Philippines. However, no prélude of romantic songs in English any more, just dead air until 1300 start of Korean modulation.

On March 30, first day of A-14, it was still on 9775, while companion Korean from VOA Philippines on 9800 had already upped to 15780. Except for a brief substitution by Uzbekistan, while both were on 31m the signals were comparable, leading to my conclusion that RFC was also from Philippines, later confirmed. Now once again they are nearby on the same band, but VOA 15780 is *much* stronger and steadier, with 15630 still poor with flutter at 1339, so RFC is now back to Uzbekistan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 550, April 3 at 0535 UT in rather auroral conditions, dominant signal is from WSW/ENE in Spanish kid choir, announcement and more music, religious-sounding. Surely XEPL Ciudad Cuahuhtémoc, Chihuahua, the only fit with no other Mexicans in the Northwest and no US SS in the Southwest. Might have been in Low German or an Indian language too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MOROCCO. 9575.00, April 3 at 0521, French talk, undermodulated, from the last SW transmitter operational in this country, Médi Un. Never much of a signal here any more, but in the clear at this time, and spot-on frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 17730, April 2 at 1948, WHRI now with Brother Scare. On March 30 about the same time, I was hearing some other gospel huxter on this new frequency.

5085, April 3 at 0513, Brother Scare audio via WTWW is interrupted by some internet blaats, as he is telling us how Lester Sumrall, WHRI founder, performed an exorcism (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA: WWRB

** SPAIN. 21640, April 3 at 1351, open carrier and much weaker than 21610 with REE modulation, presumably REE too (Glenn Hauser,, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SUDAN [non]. 11650, April 3 at 0525, R. Dabanga via VATICAN, with tone jamming. (Ivo Ivanov points out that the 100 kW broadcast transmitter in Sudan has been missing from 7205 & 9505 --- could it have been more purposeful as a jammer?). 0527 ``Huna Radio Dabanga``. Very similar sounds on 11955 AWR; see U S A [non] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SWAZILAND. 15360, April 3 at 1410, S Asian songs with fair signal: TWR`s token broadcast in Urdu at 1400-1415; catch their IS at open or close (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TAIWAN [and non]. 9774, April 3 at 1252, very poor het with 9775, signatures of Fu Hsing, 10 kW from Taiwan vs CNR2 from Beijing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** THAILAND. 15590, April 3 at 0205, no signal from R. Thailand on listed new frequency for N America, at 0000-0230, in English except at 0100-0200; presumably propagation will improve. Last summer these were on 15275 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TIBET [non]. 15525, April 3 at *1357.5 carrier on from MADAGASCAR for V. of Tibet, G-VG, modulation starting 1400, and no jamming audible on or around; nevertheless at 1407 jumps up to 15530, still there at 1417, instead of down to 15520 vs Iran or down more to 15515. 15530 was available, and still no CNR1 jamming to be heard (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U K [non]. 15420, April 3 at 1355, rock music, good signal in AM mode, so not WBCQ, but instead BBC Somali service, now moved from defunct Seychelles to SOUTH AFRICA site, 250 kW, 32 degrees from Meyerton allegedly at 14-15 daily, extended from 1300 on Saturdays only, but this is Thursday; a prélude? At 1400 opening mentioning Somali and BBC.

WBCQ will still collide with it on Saturdays only, when Brother Scare starts at 1400, preceded by WBCQ`s IS & ID loop from 1355 or so; and likely far enough off for the reduced carrier to heterodyne. After 1500, `BCQ will still have 15420 to itself, unless Oman should activate one of its countless wooden registrations at 16-22 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 19969-USB, April 3 at 1347, some SSB catches my ear as I am bandscanning for ChiCom jammers. Caught three IDs, one fonetikally, from WGY901 who was making negative contact with somebody, bits of `running-water` digisigs in between. Nothing more heard until 1355 tune-out.

Such callsigns are FEMA and a 1999y page from Mike Chace-Ortiz seems still to be pertinent,
http://www.chace-ortiz.org/umc/moi/civildef/usfema.txt
listing 19969.0 as Foxtrot 57 channel among much more than 70 others;
WGY901 is the regional command center in Maynard, Massachusetts (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 17530, April 2 at 1945, VOA French via Greenville-B is super strong signal aimed oppositeward toward Africa, but carrier drops instantaneously 38 times per minute, audibly hiccuping without really interrupting modulation, and visibly with S-meter dips. Sounds like the remote drive control is toggling between binary levels (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [non]. 15090, April 3 at 1342, very poor signal with talk. Per HFCC, IBB sees nothing wrong with encroaching into the off-route aero band as if there aren`t enough SWBC channels available. That`s India`s job! It`s all alternating in ``Pst/Prs`` meaning Pashto and Dari, at 0030-0230 from Thailand, and 0730-1630, 250 kW, 70 degrees from KUWAIT. Per Aoki, the substations are VOA R. Ashna and R. Azadi = R. Free Afghanistan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 1715 monitoring: confirmed first broadcast UT Thursday April 3 at 0330 on WRMI-10, 9955; fair but echoey as propagation is not up to par.

Also second broadcast, Thursday April 3 from 1230 on WRMI-10, 9955, bothered by musical ACI from stronger 9960, i.e. Khmer Post Radio via Palau; and at 1255 check, buried by much stronger open carrier from WRMI-11 warming up for its 1259 start of modulation with `Scoreboard`. Next:
Thursday 2101 on WTWW-1, 9475
UT Friday 0330v on WWRB, 5050 or 3195? [has been off air this week]
Saturday 0630 & 1430 on Hamburger Lokalradio, 7265-CUSB, shifted times
Saturday 2330v on WTWW-2, 9930
UT Sunday 0030 on WRMI-14, 9495 [Jeff confirms still scheduled]
UT Sunday 0401 on WTWW-1, 5830
UT Monday 0300 on Area 51 via WBCQ, 5110v-CUSB
Tuesday 1100 on WRMI-10, 9955
Wednesday 0630 & 1430 on Hamburger Lokalradio, 7265-CUSB shifted times
Wednesday 1300 on WRMI-11, 9955
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Re recent WRMI anomalies, Jeff White tells me, April 2:
``Glenn: Yes, the Japan relay started on schedule on March 30. Last night we had a technical problem, which has now been corrected. [0400-0430 on 5985]
9495 is red, but the 0000-0100 hour still has the varied RMI programs (DX, etc.).
For operational purposes, we had to put Brother Stair back on the webstream for 9955 during the hours it is on the air.
There is no Wavescan broadcast at 1330 UT during A14. Jeff```
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. For the third night, UT April 3 at 0140 and 0335 chex, WWRB is absent from 5050 or 3195 for the `Global One` service, but running two transmitters with Brother Scare, 3185 (which seems a lot weaker than before), and 9370 which is VG even at night, formerly a day-only frequency. If this keep up, there can be no WORLD OF RADIO broadcast UT Friday at 0330v (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 5830, April 3 at 0513, WTWW-1 night frequency is missing, and still off at 1209, while WTWW-2 night frequency 5085 is on at both chex; after 1303 April 3, all three WTWWs are active on day frequencies, 9475, 9930 and 12105 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 15610, April 3 at 1411, WEWN English is off, altho it was on with usual bigsig and spurs during the previous hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [non]. 11955, April 3 at 0523, AWR Hausa via AUSTRIA with flutter, and tones, a lot like R. Dabanga and jamming on 11650, so first expected another clandestine; see SUDAN [non]. But 0528 AWR theme music and off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 6110.37, April 3 at 1215, intriguing het here judging from pitch close to F#4 on my keyboard. Two stations listed at this time in Aoki are 100 kW PBS Xizang, and VOA Chinese from Thailand, which must be jammed. Neither of those likely to be off-frequency, so maybe just another jammer, carrier deliberately offset. Brought to mind, however, V. of Azerbaijan, which was around 6111, 7-10 years ago (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 11615, April 3 at 1304, fair-good open carrier, one brief tone and off 1305*. Per Aoki, nothing scheduled here until VOA Chinese at 14-15 via Tinang, so probably this was it in a pre-broadcast tune-up check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)