** CHINA. 11560, May 14 by 1822, hey, it`s Firedragon music, at S4 and
overshadowed by 11565 WRMI. Maybe another signal under it, which would be
jamming victim R Free Asia in Chinese via Saipan this hour only; still audible
at 1844.
13810, May 15 at 0006, very poor S5 signal in Chinese? That
would be CNR1 jamming vs VOA Tibetan via Thailand this hour only (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 9790, May 14 at 0526, huge S9+30
carrier and dead air except for some hum, of course, the Cubans have neglected
to turn off the CRI relay after 0500. Imagine how many Cubans could have enjoyed
a nutritious meal for the cost of that much electricity wasted, @ 250 kW (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NORTH AMERICA. 6935-USB, May 15 at
0008, S9+5 with hard rock version of ``Boots Made for Walking``. At 0025 finally
an announcement with birdcalls, evidently sign-off ID I missed copying, 73 in CW
and off. These logs say it was Northwoods Radio:
(Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NORTH AMERICA. 6929.97-USB, May 15 at
0026, as soon as the 6935 station is off, I find one is now on here, much
stronger at S9+20, dense music, 0032 cuts off in music, resumes with ``Those
Were the Days``. At 0040 check this is off. These logs say it was Pee Wee:
(Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NORTH AMERICA. 6970.0-USB, May 15 at
0034, rock music at S9+25; 0040 announcer says there is a rumor that people like
good old music; hope that`s true ---. 0047 another announcement, says a friend
lost his house in the wind; and this is Burn It Down Radio, refers to HF
Underground posts, BID Radio, will be on for an hour and then disappear; 0055
``American Pie``. I QRT after 0100. Many more logs of this:
(Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OMAN. 15140, May 15 at 0025 check,
unlike 24 hours earlier, no signal from RSO, off or not propagating? nor on any
of the registered frequencies for this timeblock, 9500, 9650 or 12015 (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PERU. 5980, May 15 at 0055, no signal
from R. Chaski, not even JBA carrier, so no cutoff timing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** SWEDEN [non]. 15510, May 14 at 1837, very poor S3
signal, maybe Arabish? Aoki shows it`s IBRA Media via Woofferton UK in the Fur
language (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Armed Forces
Day crossband test monitoring May 14: first I check around 1825 UT for stations
of particular interest: WUG-2 Memphis at the Army Corps of Engineers, as Jim
Pogue has invited us, but nothing heard now or later on any listed frequencies,
20973.5, 18293.5, 13910.5 or 5403.5. The top two would unlikely propagate this
close anyway in less than 500 mile range, but noting heard on the bottom pair
into the evening.
At 1825+ I also check the frequencies for ABH, Hawaii,
but no go either: 20997, 18272, 14438, 5357, the least of which would of course
nor propagate now. And of ADB Okinawa, my main target: 20994, 17545, 14487,
zilch. But I do get something else interesting on 17545 later,
below.
17545-USB, May 14 at 2354 checking for ADB Okinawa, at a daypart
when it should propagate best, instead hear another AF Day crossbander, NPAX,
calling ``any ham station``, listening on 18185-upper. Many repetitions every
minute or two, but never any contacts, past 0004 May 15, and not heard any more
by 0010. This and the others always give calls fonetikaly so no doubt about
them, but NPAX never says what or where it is --- a Navy vessel, no doubt. See
below.
I don`t have the full publicized AF Day schedule at hand in the
shack, but it only showed base stations, and nothing naval, so it`s a pleasant
surprise to encounter NPAX, and others to follow by random tuning near the 20m
band:
14441.50-USB, May 14 at 2358, NIIW, another AF Day crossbander,
says he is listening on 14341 (I run across this after hearing nothing from ABH
Okinawa on 14438). So what vessel is this, and where?
I find this
229-page unclassified PDF, not only US, but for allied countries; somewhere in
there?
ACP 113(AI) CALL SIGN BOOK FOR SHIPS JANUARY 2012
UNCLASSIFIED
NO,
NIIW not found by searching or in the huge alfabetical-order list. NAPX is in
it, identified as YP 684 (US-N) --- that helps a lot.
13963.5-USB, May
15 at 0002, AAC is S9+20, CQ Armed Forces Day Crossband Test, from Lexington KY,
listening on 14235. Name is Harvey, and making contacts, but difficulty in
copying due to propagation. Once the call, handle and state of contact entered
in log, promises QSL from Fort Huachuca in 4-6 weeks.
14383.50-USB, AAZ,
Eddie, the HQ station of US Army Netcom, Fort Huachuca AZ, contacting KK4BDF on
14336.5 (I never bother to tune the inside-ham frequencies). He says the QSL
will come in 60 days; will make two more contacts before QRT as the day is about
over. So at 0014 that`s WB0LSW, Ed in KS, and at 0016, W3HH, Doug in FL.
But then at 0018, a YL op takes over AAZ to make some more contacts;
never hear her name. 0019 it`s with KK4ZVD, Terry in VA, difficult for her to
copy. 0030 she`s still on with WZ9B. It`s standard protocol to tell each contact
that a QSL will be coming in 60 days, once assured that they`re OK in the
Callbook.
6913.0-USB, May 16 at 0041, another navy ship, NWVC is
calling CQ for hams on 7178-LSB. This one is S9+25, then contacts someone he
knows, Tom, KD8SML. Whenever the NWVC mike is open, can hear CW in background,
no doubt adjacent ops not using `phones, Art, Perry and Steve, but don`t hear
his own handle. This one gives more details: NWVC is aboard LST-325, and offers
an additional QSL to the ``federal`` one, if QSL sent to address on website of
http://LSTMemorial.org --- From that, which
launches a slideshow, we learn that it`s docked at Evansville IN, dating from
WWII but is still fully operational with guided tours. 0046 another contact with
KA1EKR. NWVC appears in the pdf document above as HISTORICAL MUSEUM (LST 325)
(US-N), which we already know more about. And now we know why WRMI was expelled
from 6915! (Glenn Hauser, USAF, Ret., OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A
[and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 1825 monitoring: confirmed Sat May 14 at 1430+ on
Hamburger Lokálradio via Göhren, 7265-CUSB, via the UTwente remote; fairly
sufficient with some deep fades, and no QRM. If you`d like 2 or 3 minutes of
propagation info from me, listen at 1425 for the end of Media Network Plus, or
better yet from 1400 for all of it. WOR 1825 also confirmed Sat May 14 after
2234 on WBCQ, 9330-, CUSB, fair. Also confirmed at 0327 UT Sunday May 15 on
WA0RCR, 1860-AM, as I am mentioning HCJB, which occurs at about 8 and 10 minutes
into the program. Next:
Sun 0830 Unique Radio 3210 NSW low-power
Sun
2330 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
Mon 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW
Mon 0300v WBCQ
5130v Area 51 to WSW
Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 to SSE
Mon 2330 WBCQ
9330v-CUSB to WSW
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. 9370, Sat May 14 at 1827, 9370 is on!
It`s WWRB at S9+15, no more BS like on 15440 WRMI, etc., etc., etc., but monolog
in non-English. It`s a lo-fi feed, in a tonal African language. I listen almost
continuously trying to dig out some clews; occasional Englishy words
understandable, including Nigeria, Los Angeles, California; a website like www.radiomonasi.algo (but that goes
nowhere, similar spelling/sounding?); frequency 88-point, shortwave, Burundi,
shortwave, South Africa. At 1857, Luganda. At 1857.5 a brief song mentioning
Uganda a few times.
No outro of program in English, but 1858 YL ID for
WWRB with phone 931-728-6087 ``for your message``; and then Dave comes on live?
calling this ``Radio Africa from WWRB Radio Worldwide``, about to close down;
plays the YL ID again, in which she also says ``the audience of the world is
waiting to hear your message`` and immediately off at 1900:43*.
Could it
be what has become of Radio Lead Africa, or some other Ugandan clandestine? I`m
afraid if the client thinx they are able to get into Africa in our summer on 9
MHz over a mostly daylit path, even if it`s on a proper azimuth from Tennessee,
they will be sorely disappointed.
For a general view of ``Most Suitable
Frequencies 2016``, see WRTH 2016 page 47 for a table showing in May-August from
eastern North America to Central & South Africa, at 18-22 UT, it`s 17 MHz.
Judging from current paltry MUFs, that may be an exaggeration, too optimistic,
so make it 15, but certainly not 9 which is going to get absorbed after a hop or
two in mid-Atlantic.
Not expecting to find anything about this on the
WWRB website, I check it anyway. It seems the homepage has been changed a bit,
but not to account for this. Excerpts of what it says, including rates which I
have not seen them mention before, undercutting WRMI`s
dollar-a-minute:
``Saturday, Sunday, and Monday - 7:00 pm EST - 12:00 am
EST on shortwave frequency 5.050 MHz --- Additional days and times available
upon request
How to Broadcast with Us --- Broadcasting with WWRB can be
as simple as calling us on the phone to as complex as realtime Internet
streaming. We support all modes of program delivery.
We are pleased to
provide you with the following air time quotes: a 59 minute program is $45.00,
and a 29 minute program is $22.50 - always without any commercial interruptions,
and on prime time night time programming slots to the United States, Canada,
South and Central America, the Caribbean Islands, and the rest of the
world!
Bring your message to the world on our 60,000 watt
transmitters!``
Huh??? Only 60 kW? Dave has been talking about 115 or 100
kW, and see below for powers still claimed elsewhere on the
website.
There is no longer any link to programming on the homepage, but
its URL still exists in our auto-completing browser:
``Radio
Station WWRB Transmitter Broadcast Schedule``
Global 1:
07.30 PM – 09.00
PM: 3.215 MHz
09.00 PM – 12.00 AM: 3.195 MHz
Global 2:
07:00 PM – 12.00
AM: 5.050 MHz
Global 3:
08.00 AM – 07.00 PM: 9.385 MHz
07.00 PM – 08.00
AM: 3.185 MHz
Global 4:
Currently leased for shortwave propagation
study``
That`s way out of date. Linx from this page to individual Global
1-2-3-4 schedules are obviously also totally outdated, as they have been for
years, and contradictory as to frequencies. Still shown are 12172, and even
15795 which was tested briefly years ago. That`s where they should be for Radio
Africa in ``primetime``.
Other pertinent website
info:
``Engineering Staff: Radio Station WWRB has four fully qualified
engineers on staff. At any given time, at least one engineer is stationed at the
WWRB transmitter facility.``
This page claims they have 5 fully
operational transmitters, altho Dave has recently stated that all but two have
been scrapped. ``Capable`` powers are given as 115, 115, 150, 150, and backup
150 kW.
See
maps with bits of reception report comments
So
I e-mail Dave as follows:
``Hi Dave, Caught your new African service this
afternoon on 9370, from tune-in at 1827 UT until off at almost
1901.
Details, please. What language was that? Name of program?
Destination? Contact info or website? There was no English ID at
conclusion.
What is the full schedule of the African service? And any
other services you currently have? What about the American Islamic service in
English you were talking about; when is it on? Any progress on the Pirates Cove?
Haven`t run across it on Friday evenings.
I am no longer hearing Brother
Stair at all on WWRB. Please confirm if he is off completely, or at what
remaining times? Tnx, Glenn``
No reply yet. 9370 is still off at next
check 2352, but:
5050, Sat May 14 at 2352, WWRB is back on here during
politico-religious sermon, and again // 3185 which strangely enough is axually
stronger/louder (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A.
3250.03-AM, May 15 at 0101, JBA signal at S4 less than the noise level, I can
barely make // WBCQ on 5129.9, so it`s on again. NOT on 3230 as in the WRTH A16
supplement (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
This report despatched
at 0422 UT May 15