** BRAZIL. 11780, July 18 at 0559, RNA is distorted but no spurs audible, with ID for its 300 kW on 980 MW. Aoki shows 360 degrees as azimuth on 11780, presumably meaning due north rather than non-direxional; but Wolfgang Büschel says it`s 310 degrees (source?) which is right toward us, making us also the worst victims of its overmodulation/splash/spurs (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BRAZIL [and non]. 11735, July 18 at 1036, Brazuguese promo for Bíblias with phone number, free ones? About equal level and zero-beat with music from North Korea // 11710. 1037 mentions Transmundial more than once, and also www.transmundial.com.br; 1038 into YL DJ. I never hear R. Transmundial in the evenings; must sign off earlier despite Aoki listing 0800-0200. WRTH 2014 attempts to show hours for only a handful of ZY SW stations, not including this one. Unavoidably awake, now at 1040 I find these others active on 25m: 11780, 11855, 11915; not 11765 or 11925; and maybe 11815 under NHK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. 16500, looking for non-Firedrake music concert again July 18 as heard yesterday: nothing, at 1230, 1316, 1343 checks.
16920, July 18 at 1354, CNR1 jammer, poor signal; and no others audible 11-19 MHz except the usual 11 & 15 MHz inbanders (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 15340 and 11860 are today`s missing RHC frequencies, checked at 1307 and 1344 UT; while still on are: 17730, 17580, 15370, 15230, 12010, 11760, 9820, 9550; is that enough? Lacking 15340 means the leapfrogs are also AWOL from 15310, 15400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MALAYSIA. 9835, July 18 at 1255, pop music, Sarawak FM mentioned, 1300 into RTM news, ``berita`` with lengthy musical intro, mentions ``tragedy`` with a hard-g. Was not // weaker 11665 before hourtop, the Wai FM service, but joined for the news, altho out of synch with 9835 a few syllables behind 11665. 1311 back to music and ads on 9835. No dirges in the music here; after all, only a fraxion of the victims were from Malaysia.
While it`s a minor point compared to the immensity of the tragedy, I have to point out again that it was not ``flight 17`` that went down, but a specific airplane which should be identified forever by its unique callsign. This site http://www.flightradar24.com/flight/mh17
shows the aircraft on the flight ``cancelled`` (I`ll say) on July 17 was 9MMRD. Several other craft made the flight on other dates including today July 18, 9MMRL, departed Amsterdam at 1019 UT, ETA 2147 for a duration of 11 hours and 28 minutes. The previous flight by 9MMRA on July 16 took 11 hours and 30 minutes, so avoiding Ukraine is expected to make very little difference in flight time. We`ll have to recheck when it really lands (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND. 11725, July 18 at 0556, RNZI seems back to normal tonite in AM --- but the DRM on 11685-11690-11695 is absent. Nor is it circa 13730, a previous DRM frequency at certain hours. The How to Listen schedule at http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/listen
has been updated as of 12 July to in fact show a gap in DRM usage at 0400-0651, until 7330 comes on, and again a gap at 0758-1551 when in AM only on 9700/6170. Another DRM gap: 2151-0250 when on AM 15720 only, explained thus: ``In future our DRM is on air only at times required for rebroadcast by Pacific Stations``. Tough luck for listeners beyond in North America who had been getting RNZI as one of the few sufficient DRM signals. The other way round, DRM is still scheduled (but we wonder if continuous depending on stations` needs):
0200-0400 17675 M-F only for Vanuatu [so not on NE beam]
0651-0758 7330 daily for Tonga
1551-1745 7330 daily Cooks, Samoa, Niue, Tonga
1746-1835 7330 daily Cooks, Samoa, Niue, Tonga
1836-1850 9630 daily Samoa
1851-1950 11690 daily Niue, Samoa, Tonga
1951-2050 15720 daily Niue, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands
2051-2150 15720 daily Solomon Islands [so not on NE beam]
Except for the 0651 broadcast, none of these are favorable for North American reception.
Note that at 0603 July 18 I found DRM-like noise circa 13670 where nothing is listed.
9700, at next check 1025, RNZI good in AM discussing flights avoiding Ukraine; last night they stayed on 11725 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. We enjoy lunching occasionally at Enid`s best Chinese fast-food, Jiang Yuan, but have to forego listening to KOSU on our portables, since it`s on the north side of a strip mall, apparently inside a Faraday cage with very little FM reception possible. Nevertheless on July 17 circa 1830 UT I tuned around to see what I could get, like maybe Kansas stations to the north, and was surprised to find on 89.1, instead of KMUW, CNN audio! And then three more cable channel audios with plenty of commercials in the non-comm band: 88.1 Cartoon Net (? from the sound of it), 88.5 Fox News, 89.7 TLC (fighting some signal from semi-local KJTH 100 kW from ``Ponca City``). Jiang Yuan also has a TV screen in the corner, maybe from a satellite service, and suspect this includes various audio feeds on the FM band for some reason (I didn`t search further up past 94 MHz, but no others noted below there.) I could still hear CNN etc., outside the restaurant for a
couple stores down the line, and doubt a caradio RF setup would be sending on more than one frequency. I know, these are unDXable by anyone further from Jiang Yuan than that, but I wonder if others with satellite TV also get TV channel audio radiating on the FM band as a bonus? We`ll see if this is repeatable on our next visit to Jiang Yuan, which means what? Google translate is confused (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN [non]. 11650, July 18 at 0556, R. Dabanga with multiple sung IDs (more SW stations should do this!), and announcement I was trying to decide whether in English, but cut off incomplete by VATICAN site at 0557*. Starts at 0429 after R. Tamazuj. Little if any tone jamming infested 11650 in the brief time I heard it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAIWAN. 9735, July 18 at 1024, thought I heard ``phat-thanh`` mentioned so figured it was Vietnamese, but listed in Aoki as Cantonese from RTI Tainan site until 1030, then Hakka. Also with low audible heterodyne, and Taiwan is renowned for operating off-frequency, but nothing else listed for it to beat against (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [and non]. 13580, July 18 at 0601, BBCWS news with VG signal // weaker 15105. This explains it: HFCC shows 13580 at 06-08 is 250 kW, 315 degrees from MADAGASCAR, also USward; too bad it`s in our nightmiddle. 15105 is Woofferton UK at 06-07, 250 kW at 158 degrees, backwards to here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5202-USB, July 18 at 1356, digital mode, then voice from AAR6IA, closing down the net at 1357*. It`s Texas Army MARS, and he is Tom Morton, per this document picturing him on page 5, the guy in khaki in the middle:https://www.txarmymars.org/downloads/2011-TxEmergMgmtConf.pdf
5202-USB is either frequency M137 or M146 depending on whether it`s primary or secondary for Fridays at 1301 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9955, July 18 at 1250, during AWR Wavescan on WRMI, Jerry Plummer of WWCR at NASB in May mentions that they had to get off an OOB frequency immediately due to an interference complaint from St Petersburg, Russia. Presumably a utility/military, accounting for the abrupt shift from 15825 to 15795 on May 19, but only in the 09-13 period, which happens to include some Russian. 9955 still has CCI from Taiwan until 1300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 4790-, July 18 circa 0600 and again at 1030 check, open carrier slightly on the lo side, vs CODAR swishes; also with some hum. Suspect R. Visión, Chiclayo, Perú, Aoki-listed as 500 watts, 24 hours, known to have transmission problems. But nothing much else audible from S America. Not the other 4790, R. Nueva Atlántida, Iquitos, which is long-defunct but still in Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
This report despatched at 1716 UT July 18
** BRAZIL [and non]. 11735, July 18 at 1036, Brazuguese promo for Bíblias with phone number, free ones? About equal level and zero-beat with music from North Korea // 11710. 1037 mentions Transmundial more than once, and also www.transmundial.com.br; 1038 into YL DJ. I never hear R. Transmundial in the evenings; must sign off earlier despite Aoki listing 0800-0200. WRTH 2014 attempts to show hours for only a handful of ZY SW stations, not including this one. Unavoidably awake, now at 1040 I find these others active on 25m: 11780, 11855, 11915; not 11765 or 11925; and maybe 11815 under NHK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. 16500, looking for non-Firedrake music concert again July 18 as heard yesterday: nothing, at 1230, 1316, 1343 checks.
16920, July 18 at 1354, CNR1 jammer, poor signal; and no others audible 11-19 MHz except the usual 11 & 15 MHz inbanders (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 15340 and 11860 are today`s missing RHC frequencies, checked at 1307 and 1344 UT; while still on are: 17730, 17580, 15370, 15230, 12010, 11760, 9820, 9550; is that enough? Lacking 15340 means the leapfrogs are also AWOL from 15310, 15400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MALAYSIA. 9835, July 18 at 1255, pop music, Sarawak FM mentioned, 1300 into RTM news, ``berita`` with lengthy musical intro, mentions ``tragedy`` with a hard-g. Was not // weaker 11665 before hourtop, the Wai FM service, but joined for the news, altho out of synch with 9835 a few syllables behind 11665. 1311 back to music and ads on 9835. No dirges in the music here; after all, only a fraxion of the victims were from Malaysia.
While it`s a minor point compared to the immensity of the tragedy, I have to point out again that it was not ``flight 17`` that went down, but a specific airplane which should be identified forever by its unique callsign. This site http://www.flightradar24.com/flight/mh17
shows the aircraft on the flight ``cancelled`` (I`ll say) on July 17 was 9MMRD. Several other craft made the flight on other dates including today July 18, 9MMRL, departed Amsterdam at 1019 UT, ETA 2147 for a duration of 11 hours and 28 minutes. The previous flight by 9MMRA on July 16 took 11 hours and 30 minutes, so avoiding Ukraine is expected to make very little difference in flight time. We`ll have to recheck when it really lands (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND. 11725, July 18 at 0556, RNZI seems back to normal tonite in AM --- but the DRM on 11685-11690-11695 is absent. Nor is it circa 13730, a previous DRM frequency at certain hours. The How to Listen schedule at http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/listen
has been updated as of 12 July to in fact show a gap in DRM usage at 0400-0651, until 7330 comes on, and again a gap at 0758-1551 when in AM only on 9700/6170. Another DRM gap: 2151-0250 when on AM 15720 only, explained thus: ``In future our DRM is on air only at times required for rebroadcast by Pacific Stations``. Tough luck for listeners beyond in North America who had been getting RNZI as one of the few sufficient DRM signals. The other way round, DRM is still scheduled (but we wonder if continuous depending on stations` needs):
0200-0400 17675 M-F only for Vanuatu [so not on NE beam]
0651-0758 7330 daily for Tonga
1551-1745 7330 daily Cooks, Samoa, Niue, Tonga
1746-1835 7330 daily Cooks, Samoa, Niue, Tonga
1836-1850 9630 daily Samoa
1851-1950 11690 daily Niue, Samoa, Tonga
1951-2050 15720 daily Niue, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands
2051-2150 15720 daily Solomon Islands [so not on NE beam]
Except for the 0651 broadcast, none of these are favorable for North American reception.
Note that at 0603 July 18 I found DRM-like noise circa 13670 where nothing is listed.
9700, at next check 1025, RNZI good in AM discussing flights avoiding Ukraine; last night they stayed on 11725 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. We enjoy lunching occasionally at Enid`s best Chinese fast-food, Jiang Yuan, but have to forego listening to KOSU on our portables, since it`s on the north side of a strip mall, apparently inside a Faraday cage with very little FM reception possible. Nevertheless on July 17 circa 1830 UT I tuned around to see what I could get, like maybe Kansas stations to the north, and was surprised to find on 89.1, instead of KMUW, CNN audio! And then three more cable channel audios with plenty of commercials in the non-comm band: 88.1 Cartoon Net (? from the sound of it), 88.5 Fox News, 89.7 TLC (fighting some signal from semi-local KJTH 100 kW from ``Ponca City``). Jiang Yuan also has a TV screen in the corner, maybe from a satellite service, and suspect this includes various audio feeds on the FM band for some reason (I didn`t search further up past 94 MHz, but no others noted below there.) I could still hear CNN etc., outside the restaurant for a
couple stores down the line, and doubt a caradio RF setup would be sending on more than one frequency. I know, these are unDXable by anyone further from Jiang Yuan than that, but I wonder if others with satellite TV also get TV channel audio radiating on the FM band as a bonus? We`ll see if this is repeatable on our next visit to Jiang Yuan, which means what? Google translate is confused (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN [non]. 11650, July 18 at 0556, R. Dabanga with multiple sung IDs (more SW stations should do this!), and announcement I was trying to decide whether in English, but cut off incomplete by VATICAN site at 0557*. Starts at 0429 after R. Tamazuj. Little if any tone jamming infested 11650 in the brief time I heard it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAIWAN. 9735, July 18 at 1024, thought I heard ``phat-thanh`` mentioned so figured it was Vietnamese, but listed in Aoki as Cantonese from RTI Tainan site until 1030, then Hakka. Also with low audible heterodyne, and Taiwan is renowned for operating off-frequency, but nothing else listed for it to beat against (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [and non]. 13580, July 18 at 0601, BBCWS news with VG signal // weaker 15105. This explains it: HFCC shows 13580 at 06-08 is 250 kW, 315 degrees from MADAGASCAR, also USward; too bad it`s in our nightmiddle. 15105 is Woofferton UK at 06-07, 250 kW at 158 degrees, backwards to here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5202-USB, July 18 at 1356, digital mode, then voice from AAR6IA, closing down the net at 1357*. It`s Texas Army MARS, and he is Tom Morton, per this document picturing him on page 5, the guy in khaki in the middle:https://www.txarmymars.org/downloads/2011-TxEmergMgmtConf.pdf
5202-USB is either frequency M137 or M146 depending on whether it`s primary or secondary for Fridays at 1301 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9955, July 18 at 1250, during AWR Wavescan on WRMI, Jerry Plummer of WWCR at NASB in May mentions that they had to get off an OOB frequency immediately due to an interference complaint from St Petersburg, Russia. Presumably a utility/military, accounting for the abrupt shift from 15825 to 15795 on May 19, but only in the 09-13 period, which happens to include some Russian. 9955 still has CCI from Taiwan until 1300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 4790-, July 18 circa 0600 and again at 1030 check, open carrier slightly on the lo side, vs CODAR swishes; also with some hum. Suspect R. Visión, Chiclayo, Perú, Aoki-listed as 500 watts, 24 hours, known to have transmission problems. But nothing much else audible from S America. Not the other 4790, R. Nueva Atlántida, Iquitos, which is long-defunct but still in Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
This report despatched at 1716 UT July 18
