lunedì 1 febbraio 2016

Glenn Hauser logs January 30-31, 2016


** AFGHANISTAN [non]. 7495, Jan 31 at 0106, S8 talk which per Aoki must be VOA Radio Ashna in Dari alternating with Pashto 0030-0230, listed as 250 kW, 70 degrees from Kuwait. Don`t recall hearing this 7495 before, which is now much more favorable for us, 340 degrees via SRI LANKA due to an antenna failure at Kuwait. 7490v WBCQ is only S7 so not enough to QRM each other (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA [and non]. 7480, Jan 31 at 0102, JBA broadcast carrier in talk is overcome by humwhine jamming, i.e. R. Free Asia in Uyghur via TAJIKISTAN, 200 kW, 60 degrees from Yangiyul per Aoki, during this hour only. Altho we often hear weak spurious Cuban pulse jamming against nothing on 7480, this one can`t be blamed on the Cubans, and maybe what Allan Weiner was complaining about, altho not enough to bother 7490v WBCQ here. 

BTW, re ChiCom also jamming broadcasts in Uzbek, replying to an inquiry by Tim Hendel, I did a google search on ``Uzbek Uyghur similar languages`` and got a number of useful hits, including this:

which says: ``Uzbek and Uyghur are fairly close, but they are still probably only 65-70% intelligible. Uzbek is spoken in Uzbekistan, and Uighur is spoken in Xinjiang Province, China``. That`s how you spell East Turkistan (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA [and non]. 9690, 9670 and 9480, 0110-0112 Jan 31, all infested by CNR1 echo jamming. During this hour, 9690 is RFA Uighur via UAE; 9670 is RFA Tibetan via Tajikistan; 9480 is RFA Uighur via Kuwait (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** EAST TURKISTAN. 7250, Jan 31 at 0059, CRI is S9+20, announcements in Chinese pronouncing web info in English: www.chineseradio.cn, also spelling the name Shanghai, holiday final (?), 0100 CRI IS and ID, mentions Harbin(?). It`s 500 kW, 212 degrees from Urumqi during this Chinese hour only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NETHERLANDS [non]. 6040.007, Jan 31 at 0126, The Mighty KBC is VG at S9+30, heavy rock music, but not enough to blot out the het from Rádio RB2, Brasil on hi side. This time I get out the keyboard to match the pitch and it`s close to G4 above middle C = 392 Hz, above KBC via GERMANY. A modest proposal: if they insist on broadcasting on a frequency vs a perpetual offset interferer, why not zero-beat it? Match the frequency to at least get rid of the het, and RB2 listeners circa Brasil might also appreciate that. Such a move would be totally contrary to international broadcasting ideals, especially in Germany, but as noted above, they are a bit off-frequency themselves, already. Some transmitters may not even be capable of such deliberate fine-tuning between 5 kHz steps.

Listening again after 0200, I notice rather heavy selective fading distortion only an inveterate SWL would tolerate on the music. Radiogram doesn`t start until 0224 with MFSK32 of snow on Kim`s car (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NORTH AMERICA. 6940-AM, Jan 31 at 0056, JBA carrier is the only sign of a pirate tonite. Also UNID for many others starting as early as 2110 Jan 30 (so not necessarily the same one):
including IDs around 2311 and 2330 as MAC SW Radio, and as late as 0044 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

** U S A. 3325-USB, Jan 31 at 1148 I awaken, so go right to here for NBC Bougainville, PNG, just reactivated. There is a JBA carrier with music, but atop it is an Army MARS net designated A5A, but despite fonetix, hard to copy any full calls, maybe AAR5CH. At 1152 net control announces a QSY to ``904``, another secret frequency which I figure I will never find.

4036-USB, Jan 31 at 1200, continuing my upward bandscan, I do find the same A5A Army MARS net as before on 3325, but announces this net is closing; nevertheless, another attempted check-in follows (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1810 monitoring: confirmed UT Sunday Jan 31 at 0424 on WA0RCR, MO, 1860-AM, at midpoint so started about 0410 --- and with *heavy* CW QRM on both sides. Must be a contest on 160m packing the band much more so than usual. One almost on 1860, WA0RCR and me providing the BFO, is obviously automated, no fist involved, repeatedly calling CQ evidently with few responses; what`s the point? At least with ham contests in phone modes, we are fairly confident the voices we hear are human and live even if they are stuck in incredibly boring repetitiousness. I figured this would ensue as an earlier check of 1860 at 0123 already found CW QRM to steady S9 WA0RCR. Next WORs:
Mon 0400v  WBCQ 5110v-CUSB Area 51 to WSW
Mon 0430.5 WRMI 9955 to SSE  
Tue 1200   WRMI 9955 to SSE
Wed 1415.5 WRMI 9955 to SSE
Wed 2200   WBCQ 7490v to WSW
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 7490.025-AM, approx., Sat Jan 30 at 2200, as expected, WBCQ is on an hour earlier than before on Sats for repeat of `Mennonite Radio`, James Branum`s show originally UT Fridays at 0100 on 5109.7-CUSB. This time slightly on the hi side of 7490, and no het from BBC Thailand, which if there is too weak to show. Followed at 2230 by his other show `Broad Spectrum Radio`, this episode about autism, and his own experiences with the condition. These additions still do not appear on the WBCQ 7490 online program schedule.

J. P. Ferraro`s `Shortwave Saturday Night` starts at 2300, and by 0104 UT Jan 31, WBCQ has faded to only S7, the frequency dropped to its habitual area, 7489.94; is it a slow drift downward? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** YEMEN [non]. 11860, Jan 31 at 1452, R. Sana`a, usual good signal and usual music, the thumping 4/4 triumphal stuff, 1456 into vocal, 1500 switch to talk by YL in Arabic past 1505, NO break for a Call-to-Prayer today as the sun has just set anyway (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 1500, Jan 31 at 0116 UT, continuous blues music station still in KSTP null, and traces of the other unID emitting ringing/screeching sideband sound. Come on, widespread monitoring of these could identify them (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 1521.0, Jan 31 at 0118, JBA carrier hetting 1520.0 KOKC, surely BSKSA 2-megawatter in Duba, often the only trace of trans-Atlantic MW here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 2309.0, Jan 31 at 0130 UT, S5 signal just barely modulated and drifting down slightly. Maybe this one is real rather than receiver-produced (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 3325.0, Jan 31 at 1148 a JBA carrier is obscured by an Army MARS net (see USA Log) on USB; 1203 now the broadcaster is in clear, only S4. Back to sleep until 1400: now it still reads S4 but some music into talk is audible (at 1407, 60m is full of JBA carriers matching Indonesia/India/Tibet/China frequencies). 

The question is, whether this 3325 is RRI Palangkaraya, Indonesia, or the just-reactivated NBC Bougainville. Any way to differentiate them by precise frequencies? After testing into regular operation, if like other NBCs, may sign off earlier circa 1200, or even 1100 UT, being an hour ahead of the rest of PNG; while RRI runs as late as 1700 per WRTH (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)  

UNIDENTIFIED. 3450, Jan 31 at 1155, JBA S5 AM carrier. Could be 5 x 690 or 3 x 1150 MW harmonic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 5960.0, Jan 31 at 1410, JBA carrier, presumably PBS Xinjiang, Urumqi, rather than an off-frequency lowsider as past two mornings, suspecting a comeback by R. Fly, PNG (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 6025, Jan 31 at 0052, two very weak carriers beating, one of which is on the lo side circa 6024.95. Only two listed in Aoki at this time, and which I find to be quite a reasonable explanation: PBS Xizang, Lhasa, Tibet on one of its multiple frequencies, and BOLIVIA, the off-frequency one, Radio Patria Nueva, which Aoki still denominates by its old name, Radio Illimani. Is that still used on air? WRTH 2016 shows ``Rede Illimani --- Radio Patria Nueva``. Rede would be Portuguese, not Spanish! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 6135, Jan 31 at 1412, two carriers far enough apart to make a rumble. Likely V. of Freedom, newish 10 kW clandestine from South to North Korea, and NK jamming. Altho Aoki still lists Yemen here, Sana`a presumably still inactive; and Madagascar, not reported for quite a while on this frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

This report dispatched at 1807 UT Jan 31