sabato 25 febbraio 2017

Glenn Hauser logs February 24-25, 2017


** BRAZIL. 4894.92, Feb 25 at 0119, the VP Brazilian is here again, R. Novo Tempo (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL. 6147-6157 approx., Feb 25 at 0131, huge S9+45 distortion blob peaking circa 6151-6152. I bet it`s Brasília --- yes, barely able to match modulation peaks and pauses with 11780 where RNA/RNB is active tonight. And I am also hearing // 6180 with OK modulation but there the signal is very weak mixed with CRI and I can ID it only by // 11780 which is sufficient but not inbooming; RNA ID in passing at 0133. There is no match 23-33 kHz above 6180, a VERY misaligned transmitter. The crap around 6151 reminds me of sewage bubbling thru a manhole in a flood. What next? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL. 11854.16, Feb 25 at 0144, R. Aparecida has varied up to here, and frequency is unstable, only S3 and equivalent to the 11850 RHC spur. 

Wolfgang Büschel reported during the following hour: ``11855.233 plus minus 20 Hertz HOPPING up and won, very unstable transmission fq-wise, R Aparecida, at 0223 UT Feb 25, S=4-5 on threshold level in Florida remote SDR`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** COLOMBIA [non]. 5910+, Feb 25 at 0105, no signal from Alcaraván Radio, only one music here with no het or CCI, i.e. Romania (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA [and non]. 9330, Feb 24 at 0717, Cuban Spy Numbers alternating with digiblatts, very strong as usual, but finally I can hear WBCQ Brother Scare underneath, and making a weak het, from about 9329.85; easier at 0719 during some dead air from the spies. Since WBCQ expanded to 24 hours, I knew this had to happen, but first time enough signal from WBCQ to confirm they are really on the air vs the DGI hour which has been on 9330 for ages (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUATEMALA. 4055, Feb 25 at 0152, Radio Verdad with something devotional in Spanish, but high noise level. Reminder that today is their seventeenth anniversary. Dr Madrid sent this notice:

``Ya hemos publicado Radio Verdad TV Día 083.1, con la Historia Gráfica de Radio Verdad hasta el año 2015. Lo publicamos con motivo de celebrar mañana sábado los primeros 17 años de Radio Verdad. Lo celebraremos mañana sábado en el Monte Horeb, de la Aldea San Esteban, en Chiquimula, Guatemala desde las cinco de la tarde hasta las nueve y media de la noche (hora de Guatemala). Le invitamos a estar con nosotros. Habrá una cena especial a beneficio de Radio Verdad. Éste es el link directo: 
Dr. Édgar Amílcar Madrid, Gerente General.``

Previous anniversaries we thought there might be some broadcast of the festivities, but heard only regular programming. Still worth checking from 2300 Saturday until 0330 UT Sunday on 4055 (Glenn Hauser, OK, Feb 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ITALY [non]. 11580, UT Sat Feb 25 at 0140, WRMI in Italian with ham DX and QSL news, good at S9+20/25. Mispronounces Curaçao as ``Kurakao``, which is what you get for dispensing with çedilhas! Program is Radio IBC, One of three weekly Italian shows on WRMI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KURDISTAN [non]. 11600, Feb 24 at 1500, S9+10 with flutter, Denge Kurdistane music stops just as I tune in. No carrier break or level change detected, finally bringing up talk audio in progress at 1502:08. Presumably having changed from PRIDNESTROVYE relay to FRANCE (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SAIPAN. 11850.038, Feb 24 at 1426-1430+, bandscanning in 1 kHz steps with BFO, anything a bit off-frequency raises a red flag. This one is speaking some English but it`s just a clip within Vietnamese. I figure it`s most likely R. Veritas Asia, but checking Aoki, the Viet at 14-15 is instead RFA via Agignan Point, while RVA Viet is on Palauig 11850 during the previous hour. Unusual, of course, for an IBB site to be so far off-frequency, but the NMI sites seem more prone to it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SAUDI ARABIA. 9695.039, Feb 24 at 1455, talk in Asian language, poor. Aoki shows it`s R. Saudi International, 500 kW, 55 degrees from Riyadh in Pashto amid the 1358-1558 broadcast. Long path? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 1866 monitoring: confirmed Friday February 24 at 2230 on WRMI 11580, good, // barely audible 5950. But the third frequency, 6855 is carrying some music show instead in a special pre-emption. WOR also confirmed UT Sat Feb 25 at 0030 on WBCQ 9329.9-CUSB, good! signal, much better than usual, often JBA. Proto-springtime propagation upperk? Next:
Sat 0730   HLR 6190-CUSB to WSW
Sat 1530   HLR 7265-CUSB to WSW
Sat 2030v  WA0RCR 1860-AM ND
Sat 2330   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
Sun 0410v  WA0RCR 1860-AM ND
Sun 1130   HLR 9485-CUSB to SW
Mon 0030   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
Mon 0400v  WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW
Mon 0430   WRMI 9955 to SSE
Tue 0030   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
Tue 0030   WRMI 7730 to WNW
Tue 1200   WRMI 9955 to SSE, 6855 to WNW
Tue 2130   WRMI 15770 to NE, 6855 to WNW
Tue 2300   WRMI 9955 to SSE
Wed 0030   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
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. 7489.95-AM, carrier vibrating but sounds OK in AM, UT Sat Feb 25 at 0108, surprised to hear continuous rock music, no announcements, instead of `Allan Weiner Worldwide` on WBCQ. 0138 someone says ``Hit me, hit me, hit me`` over the music, but seems part of the performance. Suddenly at 0146:25, 7490 cuts to Allan Weiner in progress, about it being 83 degrees in Florida while there`s 3 or 4 feet of snow on the ground in Monticello. No indication Allan was aware he had not been on the air on both frequencies since 0100. Sharing the mike with someone, I think Scott Becker, by phone, or with Allan? 

How the #2 transmitter is a 50 kW Collins, with 6 or 8 final amplifier tubes, used on 5130 for compatible SSB --- huh? It`s been AM mode for months now, altho previously was running CUSB. I figured when in AM, 5130v would be a different transmitter. 

Says main studio is in a trailer, which was originally for his AM station on 710 (later 780 to avoid WOR); and that there are two backup (presumably SW) transmitters. Again brags about the super audio quality on 7490-AM despite 5 kHz bandwidth limitation on SW, ``the best-sounding AM signal on shortwave``. 

This is definitely live, as he then talks about the collision a week ago Thursday when WWCR was on WBCQ`s frequency 7490, during Radio Mi Amigo. Amazing how many E-mails he got about it. Could not reach anyone at WWCR, so tried George McClintock, who no longer can help with WWCR problems, but served as a mentor to Allan when he was preparing to put WBCQ on the air (and programming was on WWCR initially). It was NOT jamming, just a total accident. It`s now past 0200, as Allan implores acting president Trump whom he LOVES, to maintain Net Neutrality, and leave marijuana alone.

5129.85-AM, Feb 25 at 0109, AWWW is playing on this frequency, unlike 7490, as Allan is reminiscing about the old pirate days, Western Electric equipment, his love for classic cars; sounds familiar, like a replay rather than live, altho he says it already feels like summer in Deland of Fla, which could be current. But the audio keeps cutting out for a few seconds at a time, and stops altogether after 0117. I keep monitoring, and suddenly at 0119:30, Brother Scare is JIP! After 7490 switches to AWWW at 0146+, I check 5129.81 and find it too is now AWWW and synchronized, so again not run thru Area 51 server in Maryland like used to be done. At 0203 I measure it on 5129.87-AM. 

John Carver in Mid-North Indiana was also monitoring this and says, ``7490 went into music after Fred Flintstone signed off. 5130 was running an older AWWW until nineteen minutes after the hour and then switched to Brother Scare. The inmates are running the asylum. AWWW came up on 7490 and 5130 at 0146. Have no idea what happened`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA [and non] 9330

This report dispatched at 0455 UT February 25