venerdì 26 febbraio 2016

Glenn Hauser logs February 24-25, 2016


** BRAZIL [and non]. 9645.4, Feb 25 at 0458, JBA carrier, presumed R. Bandeirantes reactivated on SW, as first reported by Brazilians on Feb 22, and resuming its off-frequency. Not as strong as the other 31m ZY variants off 9630, 9665, 9725, 9820. They also say 6090v is back on, blocked here by Anguilla, but possibly capable of hetting it. The third Bandeirantes channel 11925 is not yet reported.

9645.0, Feb 25 at 0521, now there`s a very poor on-frequency signal yet stronger than 9645.4. HFCC shows it`s VR, SMG VATICAN in Arabic at 0500-0530.

9645.4, Feb 25 at 0626 now RB is clear with music but very poor (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1814, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CANADA. 1610, Feb 25 at 0459 UT, announcement in Spanish over PMS Anguilla, and 0500 UT `O, Canada` national anthem, i.e. CHHA, Voces Latinas, Toronto. Do any other or all Canadians play NA at local midnite? I haven`t noticed it before, certainly not from CBC; optional unlike Mexico? Getting the new 1610 in Montreal past CHHA will be tough here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA [non]. 9570, Feb 25 at 1353, S9+10 song in Brazuguese with guitar, from, what else? CRI English via CUBA, or rather as IDed with addresses at 1354, ``CRI News-Plus Radio`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 6000, Feb 25 at 0512, S9+40 open carrier/dead air instead of RHC English; 6060 is S9+25; 6100 is S9+30, and 6165 is S9+35. Otherwise: 5040 is still in Spanish; 6075 is on with dead air; at 0518 so is 11840 at S3 to 5; at 0522, 9535 is on with dead air at S8. All these are scheduled in Spanish until 0600, plus 15230, generally inaudible here, until 0700.

Recheck at 0536: 6000 still dead air, 9535 off, 11840 JBA in Spanish // 5040 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KOREA NORTH [non]. 7400, Feb 25 at 1345, Sea Breeze YL in English on Thursday, 1347 typical sounder; presumed CRI Burmese is the understation today. It`s about time for another Shiokaze frequency jump, probably back to the 6 MHz band from JAPAN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 9120 and 8960, Feb 25 at 0626, weak signals of Brother Scare and local ESPN 1390 KCRC, i.e. external mixing or R75 receiver overload, both 1390 kHz away from VG WRMI frequencies, 7730 and 7570 (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Tuning thru longwave for beacons, not expecting any real DX, I find these on the NRD-545 with ALA-330S loop oriented east-west:
251, Feb 25 at 0525, AM  - Amarillo TX; I thought it was on 250
365, Feb 25 at 0527, HQG - Hugoton KS; I thought it was on 364
404, Feb 25 at 0530, FNB - Falls City - Brenner NE; thought it was 405
(Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1813 monitoring: confirmed Wed Feb 24 at 2200 on WBCQ 7490v-AM webcast. Due to slight misalignment of automation timing, three extraneous words are inserted after the WBCQ ID and just before WOR playback starts. Today, they are: ``up in Quebec``. Similar happens before some WRMI airings. Also confirmed at 0030 UT Thu Feb 25 on WBCQ 9330v-CUSB.

WORLD OF RADIO 1814 ready for first SW broadcasts Thu Feb 25:
Thu 1230   WRMI 9955 to SSE
Thu 2100   WRMI 13695 to NW
Fri 0030   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
Fri 2130   WRMI 15770 to NE
Fri 2130.5 WRMI 13695 to NW
Sat 0030   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
Sat 0730   HLR 6190-CUSB to SW
Sat 1530   HLR 7265-CUSB to SW
Sat 2030v  WA0RCR 1860-AM ND 
Sat 2330   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
Sun 0410v  WA0RCR 1860-AM ND 
Mon 0030   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
Mon 0400v  WBCQ 5110v-CUSB Area 51 to WSW
Mon 0430.5 WRMI 9955 to SSE  
Tue 0030   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
Tue 1200   WRMI 9955 to SSE
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. 9455, Feb 25 at 1350, Brother Scare at S6, so poor that first I imagine it`s Bulgaria, but 1359 WRMI ID by BZ; so o yeah, it`s the most obscure of WRMI`s new frequencies, #14 on hi-angle antenna 181 degrees to Cuba at 13-20, paired with equally weak nightish channel 5950 at 20-13, mostly BS except for some AWR and FR hours.

This despite IBB SAIPAN already on 9455 starting at 1600 plus ChiCom jamming, Firedrake at times. (Voice of Russia also pretends it`s on 9455 until 1400 via Irkutsk) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

** U S A. 9275, Feb 24 at 2036 check, no signal from WMLK, Bethel PA, whose open carrier test was confirmed 48 hours earlier; available between 17 and 22 UT. Another check Feb 25 at 1910: Not (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1814, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 11635, Feb 25 at 0515, Hallelujah (pick your spelling) hymn poor at S5. Must be WHRI reactivated: yes, HFCC shows it stopped 11635 from Dec 6, resumed it Feb 7, at 0430-0600, 250 kW northeastward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1080, Feb 25 at 0534 UT, C&W music vs KRLD Dallas, i.e. KSLL Price UT, 10 kW non-direxional daytimer still funxioning 24h. Does KRLD care? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1380, Feb 25 at 0459 UT, usual plug for Iglesia del Pueblo on Pasadena Blvd., and usual ID ONLY for KMIC 1590 Houston, R. Aleluya, really via KRCM Shenandoah TX, obviously still running its 22 kW day power on north/eastward pattern, breaking three regulations at once (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** YEMEN [non]. I`ve asked Don Moman, VE6JY near Edmonton, Alberta, who has an antenna farm with direxion-finding capability, if he could help us with the 11860 station. His full findings so far appear in the DXLD yg; including his first check after 0100 UT Feb 25: a 60 Hz hum displayed on the Perseus screen capture (and I see a barely visible double, 120 Hz from the carrier). (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

I read the comment about possibly coming from Iran - but I can rule that out, I think. As per the attached Perseus screen capture the transmitted signal has easily viewed 60 Hz hum components indicating it`s fed from a 60 cycle power source. Iran is listed as 50 Hz. Saudi is 60 Hz. You can also see the "fuzz" on the carrier which is typical of a signal going thru the somewhat disturbed auroral regions (Don Moman, 0250 UT Feb 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

Don, Very good. Neat clue about the hum Hz. I see that Saudi Arabia is the ONLY country in the Mideast, not to mention Europe and most of Asia, Africa, that is on 60 Hz.

Would this definitely be caused by 60 Hz power at the transmitter, or could it be caused by 60 Hz hum in the studio modulation being fed into the transmitter, and which could be in two different countries? (Glenn to Don, via DXLD)

I suppose it could sneak in via either means, and I'm no expert, but to me it comes in mainly at the transmitter. If the signal is strong enough, I think it would be very rare not to see either 50 or 60 Hz energy. I think in most cases the audio response would fall off greatly enough in a shortwave transmitter modulation chain, there wouldn't be much left, even if it was present in the audio feed (Don, ibid.)

Around 1450 UT he finds the peak short-path signal at 20 degrees, but also long-path from 200 degrees. That azimuth cuts right across Saudi Arabia, midway between Riyadh and Jeddah, and within one degree of Aden.

My check of 11860 at 1401 Feb 25 finds usual big S9+10 signal, W&M with Arabic news about Yemen, and can`t hear any hum. If Don gets any 50 Hz hum from 11860 at other dayparts, that should prove then it`s not from Sa`udi Arabia (Glenn Hauser, OK DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. Big buzzy signal is slowly drifting downward; an ionosonde? Feb 25 at 1407 it crosses 11535; at 1410 past 11400, 1411 past 11375, 1412 past 11360, 1414 to 11345. It was slowing down, at first 45 kHz per minute, then 25, 15, only 7.5, approx. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

This report dispatched at 1917 UT February 25