mercoledì 17 febbraio 2016

Glenn Hauser logs February 16, 2016


** INDIA. 4896.0, Feb 16 at 1357, JBA carrier here, not 4895.0, so AIR Kurseong must be off-frequency again. Ron Howard confirms that for today (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NEW ZEALAND. 9700, Feb 16 at 1411, RNZI has YL with warning about Tropical Storm Winston hitting Tonga, Niue, with wind speeds both in knots and km/h (who cares about miles); 1415 she resumes a Story about a woman going thru pregnancy and what happens to her body (breasts bulge out of her bra, etc.) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA [non]. 11890, Feb 16 at 1402, ``Radio Svoboda; novosti`` ID and news at tune-in, fluxuating S5-S9. This is 250 kW, 349 degrees from Tinang, PHILIPPINES at 14-15 only (HFCC shows collision with SLBC Ekala during same 1400+ sesquihour, presumably not really on) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SAUDI ARABIA. 11820.048, Feb 16 at 2036, BSKSA Holy Qur`an service is S6-S9 and suffering ACI from stronger 11825 WRMIBS. If they were smart, BSKSA would be off-frequency to the lo instead of hi side, which would help a very little. I monitor on LSB but that doesn`t get rid of all the splash, as BSKSA weakens. It`s // an even weaker 11915, S2-S4 at 2050 check; and third redundant // frequency 11930 is presumably there buried under the DentroCuban Jamming Command and Radio Martí. Note: on 11860 at 2049 check, not even a JBA carrier from Yemen clandestine, so if it`s on from Riyadh at this hour, why not even a trace along with the two other definite 25m band RIY frequencies? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

** TURKEY. 9785, Feb 16 at 1428, TRT IS at S3-6, so congratulations! Made the frequency switch from 12035 English in time today for the entire Kazakh service (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 15730, Feb 16 at 2029, VOA French with hyper announcer, once again today just squeezing in a ``Please Don`t Go!`` before Greenville cuts off the air at 2030*. Hee hee, he gotta go, no choice! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1812 monitoring: attempting to confirm the UT Tuesday Feb 16 airing at 0030 on WBCQ 9330v-CUSB: JBA carrier, so it must be WBCQ but can`t tell what`s modulating it; 0058 recheck slightly better and a trace maybe of my voice. The K-index is 4, not good for northerly paths, after R1 storms, but at this time 9330 is *much* weaker than 9265 WINB in Pennsylvania, which is never a bigsig here, but plenty in comparison: WBCQ`s closest SW station neighbor, with almost identical registered parameters: 50 kW at 242 degrees, vs WBCQ with 50 kW at 245 degrees, both close toward us (Texas). Therefore, along with several recent nights of weak signals from WBCQ, I must conclude that it`s on low-power, perhaps a backup transmitter. Hope they get back up before long, for nightly airings of WOR at 0030. Next:
Wed 0030   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
Wed 1415.5 WRMI 9955 to SSE
Wed 2200   WBCQ 7490v to WSW
Thu 0030   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 11580, Tue Feb 16 at 1406 check, WRMI is running BS; seems you never know whether they will, or during all or part of the 13-15 bihour radiate a much more pleasant eclectic fill-music concert on this frequency only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. 3185, Feb 16 at 1420, WWRBS is still JBA into the dayside, while there is no signal on 9370, day frequency which has been missing a lot lately. Rather at 1429, detect a JBA carrier on 9370 but that would be IBB THAILAND in PST per HFCC, or rather per Aoki, Deewa Radio which started Dec 2 at 13-19, but presumably meant to share rather than displace WWRB. 9370 is still AWOL at 2030 check Feb 16. Another WWRB frequency, 5050, I have not heard for several weeks, but maybe missed it in the late afternoons? Anyhow, WWRB is on a reduced schedule, as Dave Frantz told me Feb 13:

``Hi Glenn, For the next few weeks / months WWRB shortwave will operate our 3215 & 3195 kHz transmitter on: Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays: One of our pilots has been hired by a major airline and now I have to fly her trips / routes. 

We are VERY proud of Captain Cathy and we wish her the best!!! What a pleasure it was to take her on as a Co-Pilot 5 years ago with ONLY 250 hours flight time & zero turbine / jet time to see her log over 1500 hours of turbine / jet time --- to go from here to an airline cockpit. It takes about three to six months to hire & train a pilot to fly / captain a Cessna Citation business jet. They need to have a type rating in the airplane and pass all of the FAA 135 requirements. Regards, Captain David L. Frantz``

So I guess this means that, except on weekends, Dave himself will not be available, nor anyone else, to run the evening 3215/3195 broadcasts before and after 0200 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9980, Feb 16 at 2031, I notice that WWCR is missing from this blasting frequency; tsk2, not really missed with BS overkill; back on at 2256 check. ESL lesson: the first ``missing`` means simply absent; ``not missed`` means don`t care or even welcome its absence (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** YEMEN [non]. 11860, Feb 16 at 1425, Republic of Yemen Radio with music at S9+10, presumably long-path; 1430 joined by CCI from IBB Kuwait to Afghanistan underneath. 11860 checked at 2049 Feb 16: NO trace of any signal, despite SAUDI ARABIA q.v. elsewhere on 25m (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

This report dispatched at 2324 UT February 16