** ANGUILLA [and non]. Oops: I forgot to include date and time of this one ---
but it could have been just about anywhen:
6090 & 5935 WWCR, 0312 UT
Monday April 18, nice jazz saxophone, but we know it`s only a brief interlude
for The so-called University Network to give their 800 number and make a
reservation for this Sunday`s service, obviously too late now; back to PMS
blather (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also ETHIOPIA
**
CUBA. 13740, April 18 at 2055, strong open carrier, 2100 cut-on RHC IS and brief
martial NA, sign-on with frequency list in typical Soviet-style backward order
just like R. Moscú used to do it: 17730, 13740, 11760, 11840, 9535, 9710, 5040;
FM 102.5 in Habana, 91.7 on Isla de Juventud, 103.1 serving three provinces
including Mayabeque, Artemisa. Looks like RHC is expanding its domestic presence
not only with more and more 24h FM transmitters, but overnight on several AM
channels, presumably bumping off Rebelde, Reloj or some other filler.
The
trouble is, 17730 is *not* on, but unmentioned very strong 15370 *is* on; 2101
initiating `Nuestra América`` magazine show for the next bihour (ex-`Revista
Informativa de la Tarde`). Just what does this magazine show contain? Who knows?
RHC website under Programacion
has
no specific program time or title details whatsoever, just another outdated B-15
version of the transmission schedule in all languages. But we know there are
specific program segments appearing at more or less the same times from week to
week.
See our previous discussion of the 15370/17730 confusion, which RHC
itself obviously has not sorted out yet. 2300 recheck, now 17730 is on starting
Kriyol. 11880 African service is not yet on at 2100, should be 22-24 UT (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, April 18 at
0537, JBA carrier from presumed RNGE, Bata. Doubt I`ll ever get much more than
this from it, but reported recently active: Manuel Méndez in Spain heard it weak
but clear, signing on at 0453 Sunday April 17. Ron Howard in California then had
a faint carrier at 0520 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
MADAGASCAR. 13710, April 18 at 2036, fair signal with some music, not paid much
attention to on my way to 13650 to check ROMANIA. But uplooked later, 13710 at
20-21 is MWV, a.k.a. Radio Feda in the [arz] language which means the Egyptian
dialect of Arabic. So another transmission not inactive today; missed checking
for 1800 English on 17640 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
MEXICO. 610, April 18 at 1146 UT, YL with birthday wishes to people in ``Miguel
Alemán``, which can`t refer to the Tamaulipas border Ciudad, as there is no 610
anywhere near there, and this ones loops SW, likely my primary SRS station, XEGS
in Guasave, Sinaloa. Later non-ID as ``Su Colonia 106.1``; at 1150, ``la
frecuencia que te mueve``. Cantú and IRCA Mexican log confirm that XEGS indeed
has an FM on 106.1. Not yet // 650 XETNT, which I think will start at 1200 with
their shared agropecuaria show, by when 610 has lost out to KCSP. Not sure of
``Colonia``. Searching on Colonia 106.1 leads to a UStream labeled ``FM 106.1
COLONIA ABORIGEN CHACO on USTREAM: FM``, but doesn`t show where it is,
Paraguay?? OTOH, Miguel Alemán may well be the name of a colonia near Guasave.
There are bound to be several around the country and there is one in Culiacán,
Sinaloa, close enough? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
ROMANIA. 11870, April 18 at 2035, poor signals both AM and DRM can be heard from
RRI, continuing to QRM itself, one from each site, both aimed toward W Europe
and N America! This English broadcast is in clear on // 13650, with usual
variety of brief talk features, but not much music which appears on the one-hour
transmissions. When will they admit a mistake, and move the AM 11870 to 15170?
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 13670, April 18 at
2034, S9+20 steady open carrier, obviously VOA Greenville-B warming up an hour
before the 2130-2200 Bambara service, which I do hear at 2143 check. EiBi shows
this transmission is M-F, also on 9490 Ascension, 11900 Vatican, 15120
Greenville.
The only other major broadcaster in Bambara is RFI (but
called Mandinka by it and WRTH); only gospel huxter with Bambara on SW is IBRA;
also TWR-Swaziland via Benin on MW, and of course ORTM Mali where it`s mainly
spoken on barely modulated 5995, 9635. Bambara was a surprise rapid addition to
VOA a few years ago spurred by violence in Mali (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1821 monitoring: confirmed Monday April
18 at 2330 on WBCQ, 9329.96-CUSB, poor. Next:
Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 to
SSE
Tue 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE
Tue 2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
Wed
1315.5 WRMI 9955 to SSE
Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v to WSW
Wed 2330 WBCQ
9330v-CUSB to WSW
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A.
3185, April 18 at 1113, no signal from WWRBS which should be running all-night.
Last check at 0325, 9370 was still on.
5050, Monday April 18 at 2255,
WWRB with Radio RSA IS, so back to nominal opening time vs. 2355 on Sunday; 2300
Dave inviting phone calls and then a tune.
I`ve had some reaxion from
knowledgeable people to some of Dave`s comments on the air and/or by mail,
summarizing: WWRB is not the only US SW station inspected by the FCC. But just
because rules are on the books, FCC does not necessarily enforce all of them,
and has admitted as much to SW broadcasters, e.g. serving a domestic rather than
foreign audience is OK; top-of-hour IDs may be delayed up to 45 minutes to avoid
interrupting programming. The FCC doesn`t really care about enforcing rules on
SW broadcasters, there are so few of them. FCC responds mainly to hot-button
issues, such as EAS violations.
What is the ``10 dB rule`` Dave talks
about? Antennas are supposed to have at least that much direxional forward gain.
However, with rhombix you don`t necessarily want this, unless you are trying to
reach a very distant target; the less direxional, the better, for domestic
coverage, at least from mid-continent rather than the periphery (like WBCQ,
WRMI, KVOH). If you are pushing in one direxion, you are losing coverage to the
sides and back. Likewise, increased height of towers supporting rhombic antennas
is not necessarily a positive thing. Yes, makes for a lower takeoff angle for
distant targets, but causes more skip-over domestic targets. 100 kW Harris
transmitters do not have solid-state modulators; if they did, they would cost up
to 100K$ more.
As for Dave`s problems with Christian broadcasters
causing him to lose his faith(?), many smaller ones are just in it for the
money, and putting any and all on the air without vetting them is asking for
trouble, rather than major reliable ministries. The US SW situation is dismal,
with a lot more screwups technically and operationally than even gh catches
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. UNIDENTIFIED. 5845,
April 18 at 0624, JBA AM carrier detectable in sideband of 5850 WRMIBS. The only
5845 in HFCC A-16 is BBC via Thailand, 3.5+ hours of 100 kW English DRM westward
at 1429-1800, echoed by EiBi. So does Aoki but at 1359-1800. What could this be
now? Seems steady rather than parasite out of WRMI, not known for those anyway
like WTWW, WWCR, WEWN habitually produce, altho faulty audio feeds like Brother
Hystairical might force WRMI into them. A leapfrog mixing product of two higher
49mb frequencies from same site?
Searching archive, I already figured
this out last year: ``5980, Nov 16 at 0404, the WWCR 5890/5935 leapfrog another
45 kHz higher attains S9 as the fundamentals are still very strong, mostly audio
from 5890 some non-BS gospel huxter, but 5935`s dead Gene Scott also audible. On
reverse leap, 5845, only a very poor carrier`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 11640, April 18 at 2105, S9 open carrier/dead air,
still at 2142; easily overlooked next to 11635 Cuban spy-numbers, but no ACI
problem. Only broadcaster scheduled is CRI English via MALI from 2000 (other
languages earlier), but supposed to end at 2130. Bamako site is well-known for
lack of modulation, so may well be this (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
This report dispatched at 0041 UT April 19
