venerdì 4 aprile 2014

Glenn Hauser logs April 3-4, 2014

** AFGHANISTAN [non]. 15090, April 4 at 0055, very poor talk, from R. Ashna via THAILAND, which starts IBB`s 11 broadcast hours per day on this aero frequency at 0030 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ALGERIA [non]. 13820, April 3 at 1933, Qur`an on VP signal with remnant pulse jamming from CUBA on ex-Martí frequency. HFCC shows TDA via TDF FRANCE at 18-20 in French, which of course means, mostly Arabic. If prior conduct is any indication, the DentroCuban Jamming Command will never turn off its jammers completely from an ex-Martí frequency; only other station foolish enough to use it now is Egypt at 16-18 in Urdu (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** AUSTRALIA. 15400, April 4 at 1234, good with heavy flutter, hymn in English ``You Raise Me Up``; 1236 unknown language but mentions twice or thrice ``Making Life Better``. It`s HCJB, per HFCC in Indonesian at 1210-1245 daily but per Aoki in Rawang at 1230-1300 daily, a minority language in Myanmar. 15400 at 1259, signing off HCJB Australia for Southeast Asia; ``these programs first heard at 2345 on this same frequency, 15400`` and off at 1300*.

15450, April 4 at 1401, HCJB ID and inspirational music prélude, ``commencing shortly``, 1405 greeting South Asia for next sesquihour in English. Fair signal with flutter almost steady enough to be a subaudible heterodyne, but nothing else scheduled here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BANGLADESH. 15105, April 4 at 1238, BB fair with flutter, music and English talk about education, but hard to comprehend more than a word here and there.

15505, April 4 at 1356, BB on with tone, 1357.5 the exotic 11-note IS, timesignal ending at 1359:42 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL. 9664.75, April 4 at 0106, poor with music, Voz Missionária has varied only this far at the moment instead of - 2 kHz from 9665. Nothing around to het it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL. 11856.55, April 4 at 0105, Brazuguese religious talk and prayer, good signal but R. Aparecida is way off-frequency tonight (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. CNR1 jammer survey April 4; no Firedrakes heard at all; grouped by hours here:

10960, April 4 at 1253, CNR1 jammer, very poor with flutter
12230, April 4 at 1242, CNR1 jammer, poor with flutter
12370, April 4 at 1242, CNR1 jammer, poor with flutter
12500, April 4 at 1244, CNR1 jammer, very poor with flutter
12910, April 4 at 1244, CNR1 jammer, very poor with flutter
13970, April 4 at 1244, CNR1 jammer, fair with flutter; none in 14s

11605, April 4 at 1351, CNR1 jammer, good with CCI target
11785, April 4 at 1351, CNR1 jammer, very good
11805, April 4 at 1351, CNR1 jammer, very good; none in the 10s
12230, April 4 at 1350, CNR1 jammer, very poor with flutter
13830, April 4 at 1346, CNR1 jammer, fair, and also noise jamming?
13970, April 4 at 1348, CNR1 jammer, very good
14750, April 4 at 1346, CNR1 jammer, very good
15115, 15195, 15265, April 4 at 1343, usual fixed inband CNR1 jammers
16360, April 4 at 1343, CNR1 jammer, fair
16750, April 4 at 1343, CNR1 jammer, fair
16920, April 4 at 1342, CNR1 jammer, good with flutter; none 17-20 MHz

15525, April 4 at 1404, CNR1 jammer mixing equally with V. of Tibet via MADAGASCAR, which at 1407 jumps to 15530, jammer stays on 15525
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA [and non]. 15600, April 4 at 1230, heavy RTTY QRM to a broadcaster, ``Inilah`` something, so it`s Indonesian? No, Malay from CRI via Kunming at 1230-1300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 5025 Rebelde & 5040 RHC are both on, April 4 at 0541, unlike 24 hours earlier when 5025 was off.

5855, April 4 at 0542, digital spy bursts, YL with one Spanish number group, ``15281``, more blaats, causing lite ACI to WRMI`s new TruNews service on 5850 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** EGYPT [and non]. 11710.1, April 4 at 0101, R. Cairo provides a bit of suppressed, distorted modulation allegedly Spanish, stronger than Argentina 11710.8 or so, making big het.

12070, April 4 at 0118, R. Cairo, good level in Spanish, but extremely distorted and mixed with some second audio source and hum.

What about the third frequency for Spanish at 0045-0200? It`s 9315, unchecked tonight, but also a loser for English at 0200. The first two are Abis, the last Abu Zabaal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUAM. 15620, April 4 at tune-in 1229*, ``thanking you for joining us`` and off. That`s nice of them, but the joining was quite brief. HFCC shows KSDA in ``Mnw`` --- thank goodness Aoki doesn`t make us guess or look up language abbrs. --- it`s Mon, daily at 1200-1230, following Indonesian, Sundanese/Javanese from 1100. EiBi`s language lookup shows Mon as spoken by 0.8 megapeople in Myanmar and Thailand, non-abbr`d MON; that`s out of place for a block otherwise to Indonesia. But antenna swings 30 degrees further north for it, check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KUWAIT. 21540, April 4 at 1544 tune across loud & clear signal in Arabic, better than Spain 21610 & 21640, and tune back across at 1545* R. Kuwait has just closed. Take your pick: HFCC shows -1730*, Eibi to -1745* and Aoki to -1800* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MALI [and non]. 17630, April 4 at 1556, very poor carrier, maybe CRI Bamako relay in English just before closing. This remains scheduled at 14-16, despite CRI English also on Urumqi, East Turkistan at 12-15, thus overlapping an hour. I hear nothing but Urumqi before 1500; Mali has been low power/low modulation for years if on the air at all. Replying to my previous log, Ivo Ivanov in Bulgaria says, ``Strong carrier, but very low modulation from transmitter in Bamako`` without specifying if or when he has axually heard it on 17630. Does anyone hear an echo during the 14-15 hour? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 710, April 4 at 1205, choral NA is still playing on weak signal, fades up at 1206 for super-patriotic recitation, ``Soy Soldado``; 1209 Chihuahua anthem; 1210 full ID for XEDP Cuauhtémoc, ``La Ranchera de Cuauhtémoc``, and XHDP FM, jingle ID; 1211 choral hymn, and preacher in Plattdeutsch, a regular on this Mennonite-area station. It`s always a bit jarring to hear such a language coming out of Mexico, but neat (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PERU. 5980, April 4 at 0059, R. Chaski very poor carrier continues until autocutoff at 0107:17.5*, 11 seconds later than a binite ago; still not reset to circa 0100 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGST)

** RUSSIA. 25900, Friday April 4 at 1424, no signal from R. Magic Eye at MTUCI Moskva, but others are reporting it well into western Europe and North America, so I DX-pedition to the quieter porch for intensive monitoring starting at 1521, and immediately hear rock music with heavy beat, poor to very poor with fades, but anything audible from this 400-watt outlet is great; also QRM from something pulsing exactly 4 times per second --- radar, or local device? Seemingly not the dog fence next door. 1529 a quick announcement I mostly missed as changing antennas and receivers, nothing but more music until 1549 still a carrier but nothing audible; 1550 a JBA carrier, so fading out rather than signing off, apparently. Moscow sunset today is 1613 UT, so there should still be plenty MUF to the west.

Once again I have been comparing the DX-398 and the PL-880. RME can be heard on both, better with a less noisy reel-out antenna than a longer one also under the eaves. PL-880 gets overload QRM from some other station, so DX-398 wins. Listening in SSB mode helps a lot, and it`s AM, as equally audible on LSB and USB. Also with the DX-398, I can easily compare frequency to WWV 15000 and find that MTUCI is very slightly on the hi side of 25900 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SOUTH AFRICA. 15660, April 4 at 1557, Channel Africa IDs in English and French mixed with bird-chirp IS inherited from Radio RSA, poor until off at 1558*. Aoki shows this was really the M-F 1456-1555 [sic] Swahili service at 19 degrees from Meyerton; while HFCC rounds it to 1500-1600 at 5 degrees; split the difference (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SPAIN. 21610 & 21640, April 4 at 1545, REE with good strength but heavy echo on both, apparently long/short path (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SUDAN [non]. 15550, April 3 at 1559, strong AM signal in Arabish, causing heavy QRM to WJHR Florida which is USB only. By tuning LSB only, I can get rid of most of WJHR on the PL-880, while the DX-398 ``mirrors`` or inadequately suppresses the USB signal.

It`s R. Dabanga, via VATICAN, at 1527-1627 with perpetual companion R. Tamazuj at 1459-1527, per HFCC and Aoki. HFCC also shows ADM, DHA, UAE in Arabic on 15550 at 1300-1820 & 1920-2300, both presumably imaginary among countless wooden registrations they make (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** THAILAND. 15590, April 4 at 0053, R. Thailand is presumably the JBA carrier on its new frequency, 38 degrees to North America in English; yet 15565 bears a fair signal in Chinese, i.e. IBB from same site Udorn, at 30 degrees. Something is amiss (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TIBET [non]. 15525, April 4 at *1357:50 open carrier on from MADAGASCAR, 1400 Voice of Tibet opening, fair, no jamming; until hit by almost equal level CNR1 at 1405. At 1407 VOT jumps up to 15530, leaving the jammer behind on 15525, and they are still separate at 1423 check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TURKEY [and non]. 15450, April 4 at 1303, JBA signal, presumed V. of Turkey`s English from 1230, useless here but maybe OK to western Europe; ACI from much stronger KSDA in Kachin on 15445; I had noted it as Burmesish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1715 monitoring: after missing three nights, relieved to hear WWRB back on 5050, UT Friday April 4 at 0057, and still on for WOR; at 0323 check, wild preacher, but this week he wasn`t cut off until 0338 for brief announcement by Dave I couldn`t catch, respectful pause until WOR at 0339:15, joining the billboard in progress at ``International Vacuum``. Played to completion at 0407:40* and 5050 immediately off. The webcast was again at rather low level but OK if you turned up the volume. After several bufferings, lost it by 0400 when probably cut off anyway for usual Bible readings. Next:

Sat 0630 & 1430 on Hamburger Lokalradio 7265-CUSB [times shifted]
Sat 2330 on WTWW-2 9930
UT Sun 0030 on WRMI-14 9495
UT Sun 0401 on WTWW-1 5830
UT Mon 0300 on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB
Tue 1100 on WRMI-10 9955
Wed 0630 & 1430 on Hamburger Lokalradio 7265-CUSB [times shifted]
Wed 1300 on WRMI-11 9955
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 5050, April 4 at 0057, WWRB Global One service is back on with preacher, after missing three nights; at 0114, both 9370 and 3185, the BS frequencies, are off. Apparently there are not quite enough active transmitters to go around (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 7506.6, April 4 at 0115, mark down another missing transmission from WRNO. It`s often gone for a week or two, then shows up again. What exactly is the problem? (Glenn Hauser, OK, D XLISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 15550, WJHR now has co-channel collision: see SUDAN [non]

** U S A. 860, April 4 at 1210 UT, no doubt KKOW Pittsburgh KS, as `CBS World News Roundup` concludes with an item that a super-accurate new atomic clock has been installed at NIST Boulder. So I guess WWV will be even more precise now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VATICAN [non]. 11730, April 4 at 0119 Vatican Radio IS briefly, fair signal, ``Laudetur Iesus Christus`` and into S Asian language, sitar music. HFCC shows 0120 is when it transitions from Tamil to Malayalam via UZBEKISTAN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also SUDAN [non]

UNIDENTIFIED. 15290, April 4 at 0054 and still at 0117, heavy strong wideband noise centered here, not DRM, nor what jamming usually sounds like, but some multiplexed utility as heard on fixed bands --- here in the middle of the 19m SWBC band. HFCC scheduled at 0030-0100 is VOA Specialish English via Tinang, PHILIPPINES, possibly out of whack or subject to a new form of jamming? Certainly not benign beeping as in a Radiogram. Nothing listed on 15285 or 15295 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 25000, April 4 at 1547, as MTUCI is fading out from 25900, I figure the 100-watt MIKES timesignal in Espoo, FINLAND could be audible; and there are plenty of unID signals on the 12m hamband just below. On 25000 I do detect a JBA carrier with fades; possibly pips but just too weak to tell. IIRC, the station does not ID, just pips, right? I don`t find any info about it at
http://81.209.67.238/front-page
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

This report despatched at 1923 UT April 4