** CANADA. 1610, Sept 20 at 0518 UT, CHHA with 5-note IS, ID in English, IS again, ID in Spanish; plug an event 22 Nov 2014 celebrating station`s tenth anniversary; 0520 UT ``la canción de la semana``. IDs include callsign in each language, but slogan Radio Voces Latinas only in Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. 9230, Sept 20 at 1153, CNR1 jammer, poor-fair
10960, Sept 20 at 154, CNR1 jammer, poor
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. 9460, Sept 20 at 1149, CRI Esperanto service with language lesson, how to say ``carbonata trinkaj^o`` (circumflex really over the j) in Chinese or vice versa; good signal here. Transmission missing from HFCC, but Aoki says: 1103[sic]-1157 daily, 500 kW, 175 degrees from Kunming-Anning, a ``CRI mystery Aug. 20-``.
9460 was also reported by Claudio Galaz, Chile, at 1136 UT 4 Sept, with SINPO 55454 // 11635 and 15110. Wolfgang Büschel, using an SDR in Sydney, between 11 and 12 UT Sept 18, remarked ``9460 3x terrible mixture, ute, AWR Guam, CRI Esperanto`` but only CRI heard here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 13740, Sept 20 at 0225, RHC Spanish on with VG signal, and not on 11760. Maybe there has been an intentional mid-season schedule change which they refuse to display on website; and/or there always seems to be at least one transmitter down, causing juggling of the others.
5040, Sept 20 at 0235, RHC Spanish is undermodulated with hum; wiggle that patchcord! 5025 Rebelde is OK.
6000, Sept 20 at 0505, RHC English gone again, the Cuban Four remaining (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EGYPT. 9315, Sept 20 at 0218, no signal from R. Cairo`s English to N America.
9965, Sept 20 at 0219, R. Cairo, whine and Arabic, good with flutter
12070, Sept 20 at 0219, R. Cairo, good signal but rhumble and suppressed modulation audible at peaks
13850, Sept 20 at 0224, R. Cairo, good signal but dead air --- wait, it was just a pregnant pause during distorted Qur`aning
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUATEMALA. 4055, Sept 20 at 1138, R. Truth with dramatic reading in Chinese, presumably Biblical, accompanied by dramatic music. I guess their ID in Chinese would be Zhe-nxiàng Diàntái (e- rendering high level tone over the e) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN. 11880, Sept 20 at 0230, VIRI very good with flutter, news theme, thought they mentioned Kurdish, but scheduled as Uzbek at 0220-0250, 500 kW, 18 degrees from Sirjan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA SOUTH. 15575, Sept 20 at 0222, KBSWR fair in Spanish, with flutter. Too bad they refuse to use this evenings in English, instead at 13-14 UT when it propagate only circa mid-summer, not any more (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6185, Sept 20 at 0503, XEPPM YL mentions 24-hour service, and introduces traditional Irish music, but cut off the air by 0505, as only 1060 MW keeps running, tsk2 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MICRONESIA. 4755+, Sept 20 at 1158, PMA The Cross is very poor with some contact info (phone number?) in English, probably of a syndicated program, marred by MARS(?) SSB and digital QRM almost co-channel (but no time to measure to usual 4755.55 area), until cutoff at 1159:26.5* after which I retune quickly to 5020 where I capture SOLOMON ISLANDS [q.v.] doing its own autocutoff 27 seconds later (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA [and non]. 1140, Sept 20 at 0241 UT, XEMR gospel huxter in Spanish has QRM from national ads in English, 0244 UT soft rock/soul; hard to null vs XEMR and makes 90/minute = 1.5 Hz SAH with it; 0253 UT more national ads, for IRS relief, low-T, and then: Deaconess Medical Center, 405 area code, so it`s only KRMP Oklahoma City.
I hardly expected that, a 1 kW ND daytimer, now a sesquihour after official OKC sunset in Sept of 0115 UT (Oct: 0030). Aha, FCC shows it does have PSSA (post-sunset authority) for SIX WATTS yearound, until 0245 UT in Sept. But this is no 6 watts --- and:
0525 UT recheck, KRMP is still on with a local OKC promo. Of course they run continuously on FM 92.1 translator, so it should be ``easy`` to ``forget`` to turn off the AM as required by license and law (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5020, Sept 20 at 1156, SIBC very poor with some `island music`. After timing the MICRONESIA [q.v.] cutoff I hurry back here and catch 5020 itself cutting off at 1159:53.5* compared to WWV (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH AFRICA. 7285, Sept 20 at 0502, dead air, surely Radio Sonder Grense; yes, modulation cuts on joining Afrikaans news in progress at 0503. Fair signal but window for this from *0500 is shortening with earlier sunrises at their end, while it remains nightmiddle here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 21640, Sept 20 at 1258, REE mesmerizing 9-note interval signal is playing --- enjoy it while we can as there will be no need for it come October when REE is demoted to a webcaster only; NOT // equally poor signals on 21610 and even poorer 21515 which are wrapping up a program. At 1300, 21640 joins in with newscast. Recent very relevant discussion in the DXLD yg:
Juan Franco Crespo forwards a note from CE3BBC in Chile, that according to the upcoming Sept 21 edition of REE`s Amigos de la Onda Corta, podcast of which is already available, they will be staying on SW a while longer.http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/audios/amigos-de-la-onda-corta/amigos-onda-corta-35-anos-asociacion-dx-barcelona-21-09-14/2767938/
``En Amigos de la Onda Corta, del próximo 21, se informa que el sistema HF continua por el momento para REE. Para detalles paso el enlace. La partida de la onda corta es inminente pero no para este período 2014 al parecer.``
I listened to the first few minutes in which Antonio Buitrago talks vaguely about this without mentioning any specific dates. He does say a new schedule [for B-14?] shows his program reduced to only one broadcast, UT Sundays at 0005-0100, so from that he apparently concludes that SW will be continuing, altho abolishing HF at some point is still a definite management decision.
Did anyone hear the English mailbag Friday Sept 19? Podcast for the 18 Sept broadcast is not yet up.http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/audios/emision-en-ingles/
And in fact by Sept 20, the latest one is still dated Sept 17
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Then José Bueno forwarded a new program grid effective 1 October 2014. It`s color-coded without explanation; mostly in white, but a lot of blox in blue, green or red. Blue appears to mean straight relay of Radio Nacional – i.e. program 1. Green and red presumably refer to some other domestic networks. But what about a couple of program titles in the white blox which are printed in red instead of black?
NOTE: this schedule does NOT say it is for shortwave! I think people inside and outside REE may be victims of wishful thinking about SW being prolonged after Sept 30. The only program with ``Onda Corta`` in its title, Antonio Buitrago`s, is being renamed to remove that: ``Amigos de Radio Exterior``. (Unfortunately, this is overdue, since for a long time the show has had very little to do with SW, but instead a well-done general media magazine. Even the ``noticias DX`` segment was not really about DXing, i.e. picking up stations with times and frequencies!)
It looks as if REE *web* programming will be squished into one 24-hour service, no longer any alternatives for different targets or languages. The foreign languages are all crammed into the overnight hours in Spain, 12-5 am Tue-Sat = 22-03 UT (still during DST in October).
There is no need to take SW propagation factors into account either, since there won`t be any. Scheduling is OK for the Americas in English, French and Portuguese, but not so handy for Russia and most of the Arab world, after midnite there!
Not so OK is the reduxion of English and others to only half an hour each, and no longer any on weekends, but with two airings, starting on UT M-F, presumably the second being repeats on UT Tue-Sat:
Arabic: 2200 & 0030
English: 2230 & 0100
French: 2300 & 0130
Russian: 2330 & 0200
Portuguese: 0000 & 0230
There are still regional magazines in Spanish, but they too are one-after-another without any consideration of local time, M-F: 1530 América Hoy, 1600 África Hoy, 1630 Asia Hoy.
At least some familiar titles in Spanish remain somewhere on the schedule, altho critics have complained that shows have been dumbed-down, no longer what they once were. Desde el Infierno, Heliotropo, Mundo Solidario, Españoles en el Exterior, Españoles el la Mar, Planeta Vivo, Travesías, etc.
Also still there is ``Vida Verde``, Thu 03-04 UT, which we know is really in Catalan. The only minority language mentioned is Sefardí, in the same block M-F 0515-0600 UT as ``El Sonido y la Furia/La Linterna Mágica`, so does that mean those shows will be entirely Ladino, or parts of them, or Sefardí distinct from them with the content inside this block not specified? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Glenn, I think you are right. Everything I've heard on REE English points to a continued presence on the Internet and satellite, but all SW will be gone. I could possibly see SW being extended to the end of A-14 but not beyond. Perhaps tonight's Listener's Club program will have more info (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** THAILAND. 15590, Sept 20 at 0222, HSK9 poor with flutter, can tell it`s in English, but unusable; yet the best heard in a long time, this so-called ``North American`` service (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1738 monitoring: confirmed another repeat of last week`s show on WRMI, 15770 and stronger 7570, Friday Sept 19 at 2130.5. Next:
UT Sunday 0100 on WRMI 5950 --- maybe finally with 1739?
UT Sunday 0131 on KVOH 9975
UT Monday 0259v on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB; etc.
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 900, Sept 19 & Sept 20 around 1830 UT on caradio, still no signal from KSGL Wichita KS. It`s only 250 watts in the first place, and wasting watts on the IBOC sidebands, but must be putting out very little if any for the past more than a week (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VIETNAM [non]. 12005, Sept 20 at 0231, VOV very good in English, and no hum. Scheduled as Woofferton UK site, but when there is some hum of the generator ilk, we suspect Ascension is substituting (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 1520, Sept 20 at 0239 UT, KOKC OKC mixing with a fast SAH, but can`t make out any modulation from it. Also noted this a couple nights ago. Several stations along the Mississippi possible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
This report despatched at 2046 UT September 20
** CHINA. 9230, Sept 20 at 1153, CNR1 jammer, poor-fair
10960, Sept 20 at 154, CNR1 jammer, poor
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. 9460, Sept 20 at 1149, CRI Esperanto service with language lesson, how to say ``carbonata trinkaj^o`` (circumflex really over the j) in Chinese or vice versa; good signal here. Transmission missing from HFCC, but Aoki says: 1103[sic]-1157 daily, 500 kW, 175 degrees from Kunming-Anning, a ``CRI mystery Aug. 20-``.
9460 was also reported by Claudio Galaz, Chile, at 1136 UT 4 Sept, with SINPO 55454 // 11635 and 15110. Wolfgang Büschel, using an SDR in Sydney, between 11 and 12 UT Sept 18, remarked ``9460 3x terrible mixture, ute, AWR Guam, CRI Esperanto`` but only CRI heard here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 13740, Sept 20 at 0225, RHC Spanish on with VG signal, and not on 11760. Maybe there has been an intentional mid-season schedule change which they refuse to display on website; and/or there always seems to be at least one transmitter down, causing juggling of the others.
5040, Sept 20 at 0235, RHC Spanish is undermodulated with hum; wiggle that patchcord! 5025 Rebelde is OK.
6000, Sept 20 at 0505, RHC English gone again, the Cuban Four remaining (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EGYPT. 9315, Sept 20 at 0218, no signal from R. Cairo`s English to N America.
9965, Sept 20 at 0219, R. Cairo, whine and Arabic, good with flutter
12070, Sept 20 at 0219, R. Cairo, good signal but rhumble and suppressed modulation audible at peaks
13850, Sept 20 at 0224, R. Cairo, good signal but dead air --- wait, it was just a pregnant pause during distorted Qur`aning
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUATEMALA. 4055, Sept 20 at 1138, R. Truth with dramatic reading in Chinese, presumably Biblical, accompanied by dramatic music. I guess their ID in Chinese would be Zhe-nxiàng Diàntái (e- rendering high level tone over the e) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN. 11880, Sept 20 at 0230, VIRI very good with flutter, news theme, thought they mentioned Kurdish, but scheduled as Uzbek at 0220-0250, 500 kW, 18 degrees from Sirjan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA SOUTH. 15575, Sept 20 at 0222, KBSWR fair in Spanish, with flutter. Too bad they refuse to use this evenings in English, instead at 13-14 UT when it propagate only circa mid-summer, not any more (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 6185, Sept 20 at 0503, XEPPM YL mentions 24-hour service, and introduces traditional Irish music, but cut off the air by 0505, as only 1060 MW keeps running, tsk2 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MICRONESIA. 4755+, Sept 20 at 1158, PMA The Cross is very poor with some contact info (phone number?) in English, probably of a syndicated program, marred by MARS(?) SSB and digital QRM almost co-channel (but no time to measure to usual 4755.55 area), until cutoff at 1159:26.5* after which I retune quickly to 5020 where I capture SOLOMON ISLANDS [q.v.] doing its own autocutoff 27 seconds later (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA [and non]. 1140, Sept 20 at 0241 UT, XEMR gospel huxter in Spanish has QRM from national ads in English, 0244 UT soft rock/soul; hard to null vs XEMR and makes 90/minute = 1.5 Hz SAH with it; 0253 UT more national ads, for IRS relief, low-T, and then: Deaconess Medical Center, 405 area code, so it`s only KRMP Oklahoma City.
I hardly expected that, a 1 kW ND daytimer, now a sesquihour after official OKC sunset in Sept of 0115 UT (Oct: 0030). Aha, FCC shows it does have PSSA (post-sunset authority) for SIX WATTS yearound, until 0245 UT in Sept. But this is no 6 watts --- and:
0525 UT recheck, KRMP is still on with a local OKC promo. Of course they run continuously on FM 92.1 translator, so it should be ``easy`` to ``forget`` to turn off the AM as required by license and law (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5020, Sept 20 at 1156, SIBC very poor with some `island music`. After timing the MICRONESIA [q.v.] cutoff I hurry back here and catch 5020 itself cutting off at 1159:53.5* compared to WWV (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH AFRICA. 7285, Sept 20 at 0502, dead air, surely Radio Sonder Grense; yes, modulation cuts on joining Afrikaans news in progress at 0503. Fair signal but window for this from *0500 is shortening with earlier sunrises at their end, while it remains nightmiddle here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 21640, Sept 20 at 1258, REE mesmerizing 9-note interval signal is playing --- enjoy it while we can as there will be no need for it come October when REE is demoted to a webcaster only; NOT // equally poor signals on 21610 and even poorer 21515 which are wrapping up a program. At 1300, 21640 joins in with newscast. Recent very relevant discussion in the DXLD yg:
Juan Franco Crespo forwards a note from CE3BBC in Chile, that according to the upcoming Sept 21 edition of REE`s Amigos de la Onda Corta, podcast of which is already available, they will be staying on SW a while longer.http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/audios/amigos-de-la-onda-corta/amigos-onda-corta-35-anos-asociacion-dx-barcelona-21-09-14/2767938/
``En Amigos de la Onda Corta, del próximo 21, se informa que el sistema HF continua por el momento para REE. Para detalles paso el enlace. La partida de la onda corta es inminente pero no para este período 2014 al parecer.``
I listened to the first few minutes in which Antonio Buitrago talks vaguely about this without mentioning any specific dates. He does say a new schedule [for B-14?] shows his program reduced to only one broadcast, UT Sundays at 0005-0100, so from that he apparently concludes that SW will be continuing, altho abolishing HF at some point is still a definite management decision.
Did anyone hear the English mailbag Friday Sept 19? Podcast for the 18 Sept broadcast is not yet up.http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/audios/emision-en-ingles/
And in fact by Sept 20, the latest one is still dated Sept 17
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Then José Bueno forwarded a new program grid effective 1 October 2014. It`s color-coded without explanation; mostly in white, but a lot of blox in blue, green or red. Blue appears to mean straight relay of Radio Nacional – i.e. program 1. Green and red presumably refer to some other domestic networks. But what about a couple of program titles in the white blox which are printed in red instead of black?
NOTE: this schedule does NOT say it is for shortwave! I think people inside and outside REE may be victims of wishful thinking about SW being prolonged after Sept 30. The only program with ``Onda Corta`` in its title, Antonio Buitrago`s, is being renamed to remove that: ``Amigos de Radio Exterior``. (Unfortunately, this is overdue, since for a long time the show has had very little to do with SW, but instead a well-done general media magazine. Even the ``noticias DX`` segment was not really about DXing, i.e. picking up stations with times and frequencies!)
It looks as if REE *web* programming will be squished into one 24-hour service, no longer any alternatives for different targets or languages. The foreign languages are all crammed into the overnight hours in Spain, 12-5 am Tue-Sat = 22-03 UT (still during DST in October).
There is no need to take SW propagation factors into account either, since there won`t be any. Scheduling is OK for the Americas in English, French and Portuguese, but not so handy for Russia and most of the Arab world, after midnite there!
Not so OK is the reduxion of English and others to only half an hour each, and no longer any on weekends, but with two airings, starting on UT M-F, presumably the second being repeats on UT Tue-Sat:
Arabic: 2200 & 0030
English: 2230 & 0100
French: 2300 & 0130
Russian: 2330 & 0200
Portuguese: 0000 & 0230
There are still regional magazines in Spanish, but they too are one-after-another without any consideration of local time, M-F: 1530 América Hoy, 1600 África Hoy, 1630 Asia Hoy.
At least some familiar titles in Spanish remain somewhere on the schedule, altho critics have complained that shows have been dumbed-down, no longer what they once were. Desde el Infierno, Heliotropo, Mundo Solidario, Españoles en el Exterior, Españoles el la Mar, Planeta Vivo, Travesías, etc.
Also still there is ``Vida Verde``, Thu 03-04 UT, which we know is really in Catalan. The only minority language mentioned is Sefardí, in the same block M-F 0515-0600 UT as ``El Sonido y la Furia/La Linterna Mágica`, so does that mean those shows will be entirely Ladino, or parts of them, or Sefardí distinct from them with the content inside this block not specified? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Glenn, I think you are right. Everything I've heard on REE English points to a continued presence on the Internet and satellite, but all SW will be gone. I could possibly see SW being extended to the end of A-14 but not beyond. Perhaps tonight's Listener's Club program will have more info (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** THAILAND. 15590, Sept 20 at 0222, HSK9 poor with flutter, can tell it`s in English, but unusable; yet the best heard in a long time, this so-called ``North American`` service (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1738 monitoring: confirmed another repeat of last week`s show on WRMI, 15770 and stronger 7570, Friday Sept 19 at 2130.5. Next:
UT Sunday 0100 on WRMI 5950 --- maybe finally with 1739?
UT Sunday 0131 on KVOH 9975
UT Monday 0259v on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB; etc.
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 900, Sept 19 & Sept 20 around 1830 UT on caradio, still no signal from KSGL Wichita KS. It`s only 250 watts in the first place, and wasting watts on the IBOC sidebands, but must be putting out very little if any for the past more than a week (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VIETNAM [non]. 12005, Sept 20 at 0231, VOV very good in English, and no hum. Scheduled as Woofferton UK site, but when there is some hum of the generator ilk, we suspect Ascension is substituting (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 1520, Sept 20 at 0239 UT, KOKC OKC mixing with a fast SAH, but can`t make out any modulation from it. Also noted this a couple nights ago. Several stations along the Mississippi possible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
This report despatched at 2046 UT September 20
