** GERMANY [non]. 15215, Tue Feb 21 at 1557, very poor carrier. If this is Radio
Öömrang, we are going to have a hard time hearing it --- nothing else is
scheduled here. Wham! Huge S9+10 OC cuts on just in time at *1559:54, so maybe I
was just hearing the exciter at Issoudun, FRANCE at first. But dead air for more
than a minute, causing more apprehension, another transmission failure? No,
starts modulating at 1601:15 with sign-on in Frisian/German, website www.###-radio.de and I can`t recognize the
full URL. Mentions Jahr 2006, so an old repeat? No, 1603 into English saying
these broadcasts began in 2006y, but this is a new edition for a wonderful day
in February, 2017. About someone`s 50-th wedding anniversary, and the rest of
the hour is a long interview with her, mostly in Frisian, which is a lot more
like German than English, with occasional bits of English. Could have used a bit
of typical Frisian music interludes. 1615 mentions Radio Caroline.
1620,
Big-Ben style home clock chimes stop at 4 bongs; English announcement with
frequency 15215, at 17 hours (local) giving Amrum address, and will be repeated
at 19h on internet. Someone had worked in New York, and draws a US pension.
1622, ``The Frisian Voice of Amrum, broadcasting for more than ten years``.
Etc., etc. 1658 closing says the 2018 Ausgabe will also be on 21 February at 5
pm on 15215, repeat address, 19h Wiederholung. 1659:45 UT stops, open carrier
for 20 seconds and off*.
QSLs in previous years have only been proxy via
Media Broadcast, never direct. Last year`s sending did not have a transmission
failure of an hour of dead air, requiring a make-good. That was in 2015, when
they finally got it on March 8.
This was a big steady signal with hardly
any fading for the whole hour – a fine example of what DW, RFI or any European
broadcaster could accomplish in English every day, if they cared to broadcast
500 kW at 300 degrees toward New York as in HFCC, per Wolfgang Büschel. It even
overcame my computer noise so I could leave it on. I gather that reception was
not so good in UK/Europe itself, of course in the skip zone and/or off-beam
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUATEMALA. 4055, UT Wed Feb 22
at 0155, Radio Verdad mentions `Mundo Sorprendente`, which is the title of a
program with media/DX elements we hadn`t heard or heard about in a few years.
Berny Solano in Costa Rica started it in 2013 and invited me to participate.
Sked http://radioverdad.org/?q=programaci%C3%B3n
shows
nothing of the kind nor some other programs we`ve really heard, so seems to
remain far out of date,
RV is about to celebrate its seventeenth
anniversary. It has issued a number of anniversary QSLs, and perhaps there will
be another this year. I can`t find any on the website, except for the page
explaining that it costs them up to $10 to QSL along with pennant, sticker,
other printed material, and postage. That can be remitted by PayPal. However,
the last we heard, postal service was out in Guatemala, and only e-QSLs could be
sent.
The 11-page illustrated pdf station history
says
``"Radio Verdad" salió al aire el 25 de febrero, a las 5:20 p. m., y fue
inaugurada el 5 de marzo del año 2000``, and I had the pleasure of first
publicizing it to the DX world.
This was after a very long process since
founder Dr. Édgar Amílcar Madrid first conceived it in 1967 as a 25-watt SW
transmitter to put his new `Volviendo a Jesús` program on the air. The leadup
takes about half the history file. It was written in 2014, the last part
emphasizing internet transmissions, but nothing about the strange, never
explained worldwide shortwave relay service without transmitters near the same
frequency, which I always thought was a scam, and about which we have heard
nothing further lately (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
**
MADAGASCAR. 11351 & 11868, Feb 21 circa 2130, spurblobs from MWV 11610
Chinese are again detectable. Next frequency after 2200 is 11770 in Arabic, so I
was going to look for same separations from it, circa 11512 and 12028, but the
normally well-audible fundamental is missing, apparently not on today. Another
prospect I`ve yet to seek is the 1900 Arabic on 11945 whose parasites might show
circa 11687 and 12203. But many transmissions are missing sporadically as we
suspect they have only one of their two transmitters funxional even with the
spurs (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOLOMON ISLANDS.
7170-LSB, Feb 21 at 0716, H44MS, Bernard, in Honiara in QSO with Bill who is
thrilled, W1ZY. H44 is much weaker but still more readable than SIBC ever is
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 2500 poor, 5000 good,
10000 poor, 15000 very poor, Feb 21 at 1555, WWV is still on the air rather than
publicized hiatus for electrical upgrade. Of course, I`ve been careful to be
sure I am hearing WWV rather than WWVH, which is underneath on 15000.
Not rechecked until 1948, when on 15000 I am getting WWVH at S7 but no
WWV; this close could still be a trace not completely skipping over. On 1000,
WWV is S9+20 and no WWVH. 5000 is fair with WWV. Nothing audible on 2500 or
20000.
So what is WWV announcing at 2004? Still the same announcement as
for weeks about the Feb 21 and Feb 22 outages, from 1400 for no more than 8
hours each. Should try to hear LOL at 1400-1500 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1865 monitoring: confirmed UT Tuesday
February 21 at 0030 on WRMI, 7730, good; also a few seconds later on WBCQ
9329.9v-CUSB. Also confirmed Tue Feb 21 at 2130 on WRMI 15770, good, but NO
carrier even detectable on // 6855, off? Still nothing on 6855 at 2159, but it
is audible at 2259 ID, 2300 into Radio Adventista Mundial // 5950. WOR 1865 also
confirmed Tue Feb 21 at 2300 on WRMI 9955, holding own against wall-of-noise
jamming, tnx a lot, Arnie! Which has diminished to nothing by 2328 recheck. Not
confirmed UT Wed Feb 22 at 0030 on WBCQ, but something is JBA on 9330, probably
WOR. Next:
Wed 1030 WRMI 5850 to NW, 6855 to WNW
Wed 1415.5 WRMI 9955 to
SSE, 6855 to WNW
Wed 2200 WBCQ 7490v to WSW
Thu 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB
to WSW
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 11580, Feb 21
at 2000, WRMI starting `Jazz from the Left` as sked for this hour on Tuesdays,
but only S9-S6 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 12050,
Feb 21 at 2001, WEWN is very suptorted here, which is certainly better than
overmodulated/splattering all over the band (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
This report dispatched at 0640 UT February 22