** AUSTRALIA. 12085, Dec 24 at 1342, RA is JBA, much weaker than 12065, which should be the other way round, as 12085 should aim NNE at 30 degrees and 12065 at 35 degrees further west. I can tell 12085 is really RA on the air only by // to 12065 and 9580. Something is amiss again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA [and non]. 6070, Dec 24 at 0531, CFRX with local Toronto PSAs, not // 5085 WTWW, but this could just be in a break. No, by 0555, CFRX is in music while WTWW is still in `Midnight [sic] in the Desert` with new hostess Heather, interviewing someone who believes in levitation, soon break switching to Ted pushing C Crane SW radios.
Back to 6070: at 0556, ``10-10 news``, 0601 into local talk show. So CFRB has already bailed out now that Art Bell is gone. Axually, sounds to me like Heather is doing a good job, if you like that sort of nonsense. The CFRB website now shows at 12-3 am [EST = UT -5] Tue-Sat, generic `Newstalk 1010 Programming`. Tsk2
http://www.newstalk1010.com/schedule.aspx
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, Dec 24 I am checking periodically between 0516 and 0552, and never any trace of a carrier from RNGE; storm noise level from the Gulf coast is running about S5. Will be interesting to see whether Ron Howard was hearing any RNGE on this date (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. 13710, Dec 24 at 1408, AIR GOS, good signal with Indian classical music, always enjoyable, and NO CCI from CRI English via Kashgar, which is usually the case after 1400. Checked here after hearing it on weaker 9690, and then find the third frequency, 11620, totally inaudible; is it off?. 1419 outro music and plug the ``brand-new`` AIR GOS website (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. 660, Dec 24 at 0519, Spanish station mentions ``Grupo Radiofónico Zer``, then plug for some holiday event in Aguascalientes on 5 de enero, and a long string of federal PSAs including Cámara de Diputadas y Diputados (women finally get first billing in México! But I bet they are still a minority); SecretarÃa de Salud; CNDH (National Human Rights Commission); Senado about the ``catastrophe`` of global warming (imagine the denialist Republican-controlled U.S. Senate saying something like that!), still PSAs at 0523 as somestation in English is gaining, KSKY? Anyhow, the Ags station on 660 is 50/10 kW XEEY, and indeed is affiliated with Zer per the new IRCA Mexican Log (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND. 11724.98 approx., Dec 24 at 0536 RNZI in a song; I have long noticed it`s slightly off-frequency, so attempt to measure it on the NRD-545, where I get 11724.975; having switched to the R-75 at 0706, now I get 11724.985, so split the difference (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1805 monitoring. Ready for first SW airings Dec 24:
Thu 1230 WRMI 9955 to SSE
Thu 2100 WRMI 7570 to NW
Fri 0200 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
Fri 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE
Fri 2130.6 WRMI 7570 to NW
Sat 0730 HLR 7265-CUSB to SW
Sat 1530 HLR 7265-CUSB to SW
Sat 2030v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND?
Sun 0415v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND?
Sun 0900 WRMI 5850 to NW
Mon 0400v WBCQ 5110v-CUSB Area 51 to WSW
Mon 0430 WRMI 9955 to SSE
Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 to SSE
Wed 1415.5 WRMI 9955 to SSE
Wed 2200 WBCQ 7490v to WSW
For full WOR schedule, including many webcasts, AM, FM, satellite:
http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1050, Dec 24 at 0548 UT, KTBL program promo and ad string; on the east-west ALA-330S, I`m easily hearing this rather than XEG, which is often inexplicably weak for a 100/100 kW ND station as in WRTH 2015, Cantú and IRCA Log (however, NRC Pattern Book shows a smaller circle at night, implying reduced power, but still plenty).
KTBL is only 1/1 kW U3 from Los Ranchos (Albuquerque) NM, and often owns 1050 at night, altho there are about 50 US stations on the frequency, most of them with minuscule power at night in deference to XEG and CHUM Toronto (which we have never heard as it also protects XEG). KTBL day and night pattern is broad, centered slightly east of north, not to the south, but no null toward us (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1220, Dec 24 at 0550 UT, WSLM weather on ``My Country 12-20`` --- the slogan listed in NRC AM Log, tho I wasn`t sure about the ``My``. Seems this Salem IN station is still/again cheating, occupying 1220 much more at night than many others in eastern US, supposedly 82 watts at night, 5000 watts day, with tight patterns slightly clockwise from east/west, tnx to Cleveland 1220 running a deep null toward the west, presumably to protect XEB to its southwest (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** YEMEN [non]. 11860, Dec 24 at 1335, good signal in Arabic discussion from R. Sana`a, certainly the best on band from Middle East, while East Asian signals are weak and Dopplery. At 1435 I`m back on the S9+20 signal, awaiting music to stop for Maghrib Call to Prayer, which happens at 1439:24.5, i.e. 80.5 seconds later than two days ago at 1438:04, and a hefty 87 seconds later than yesterday`s anomalous timing. They are belatedly catching up to the ever-latening sunsets, calculated by Gaisma.com for Dec 24 as 1439 UT in Sana`a, 1441 UT in Aden.
Meanwhile, I got out my NGS Globe and checked out the great circle paths. If this is from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as speculated, aiming at Sana`a/Aden, the long path all over-water, across the Indian Ocean, way south of Australia, and between Wilkes Land and New Zealand, up across the Pacific, would eventually run right across Enid! Within a degree or so. Our being on the same Great Circle might explain why we are getting such a strong signal, but not so much elsewhere. The short path across Europe also runs very close to Stuttgart and Blackpool, where they are not getting such a strong signal as I am, despite all of us being related near this G.C.
Why should it be an old 50 kW non-direxional transmitter in Jeddah? This is mere speculation, based on its supposed availability tho not reported in some time. HFCC B-15 registrations have it, but imaginary? --- 03-06 9580, 06-17 11855, 17-22 9580; and also: 15-18 6130. I seem to recall that when it was in use, the modulation and frequency accuracy were degraded, neither the case with this 11860.
WRTH 2015 lists 4 x 250 kW also in Jeddah, but Kai Ludwig says: ``And the "4 x 250 kW" are a new facility for which so far no signs of it being on air have been reported. Of course it could be in use already for quite some time, running frequencies registered as "RIY". I think it's a rather unlikely scenario that the complete new facility has been put into real programming use with that 11860 service for the first time.``
In fact the new WRTH 2016, which I just received today as an Xmas present, removes the 4 x 250 kW, and not the 50 kW either, showing the only Saudi SWs are in Riyadh: 4 x 350 kW and 8 x 500 kW. With a dozen high-power units, it seems that BSKSA could certainly spare one for this service with little or no effect on its existing Riyadh output.
However, Sa`udi Arabia itself is only an assumption, based on Saudi political/military support for the ousted president of Yemen. Running the same frequency day and night, 11860, does not make good propagational sense, so we wonder how reception is 24/7 in Yemen. Skip distances, city-to-city in km and miles:
Jeddah to Sanaa: 841 523
Jeddah to Aden: 1128 701
Riyadh to Sanaa: 1100 684
Riyadh to Aden: 1370 851
Our experience at 36 degrees north is that an 11 MHz signal would not normally propagate in the winter night over a ~1 megameter distance, e.g. WTWW 12105. However, Riyadh is about 25 N, Jeddah 22 N, Sana`a 15 N, Aden 12.5 N, all further south with the advantage that entails. For comparison, Okeechobee is at 27 N, habitually propagating when other US SW sites further north are diminished (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 830, Dec 24 at 0602 UT, last few strains of choral Mexican NA among the mix as I am nulling signal already reduced from WCCO with CBS News --- so Spanish here doesn`t have to be WFNO Norco LA. Ten XEs are listed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 1690, Dec 24 at 0524 UT, the unmistakable voice of Dick Cavett, not heard in a long time, apparently current since he is talking about Trump with a talkhost who is impressed by The Donald. No DF on it so not sure if WVON Berwyn (Chicago) or reformatted KDMT Arvada (Denver), now meaning ``Money Talk`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 9830.14 approx., Dec 24 at 0712, an off-frequency JBA carrier catches my ear, but this semihour has nothing listed on 9830, after DW via São Tomé until 0700, CNR from 0730 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
This report dispatched at 2003 UT December 24
