domenica 26 marzo 2017

Glenn Hauser logs March 25-26, 2017


** ALBANIA [non]. 9850 & 9855, March 26 at 0142, clear frequencies in case Radio Tirana should be able to reactivate its SW services in A-17, as either would work for what used to be English to North America at 0130 except UT Mondays. Will new programming still be produced without radio outlets? It is reported to be finally closing all its own SW and MW transmissions.

The German service has its separate organization and fan base. Manfred Reiff tells the DXLD yg: ``According to a German language email received today from Christian Milling (shortwaveservice.com) the station will broadcast Radio Tirana's German service Mondays through Saturdays at 1930-2000 UT (2130-2200 CEST/MESZ) on 3985 and 6005 kHz.  So the first broadcast will be on Monday, March 27 at 1930 UT``

These are 1 kW transmitters in Kall, GERMANY, which already relay several other ex-SW stations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL. 6180 & 11780, March 26 at 0119, RNA/RNB is AWOL for sixth night in a row; 25m propagates the weaklings circa 11935, 11856, 11764, but not 11925, Bandeirantes has been off, nor 11815, sporadic RBC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CANADA. 2749-USB, March 26 at 0158, roboYL in French with day-by-day forecasts of some marine weather, at S9 until off at 0200*. I still can`t catch a definite ID, if any, but Canadian CG shows the latest 2749 transmission is VCS Halifax from Chebogue NS site starting at 0140 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** COLOMBIA. 5910.03, March 26 at 0147, Alcaraván Radio music now in the clear around S9, as Romania has just evacuated 5910 for the duration of A-17. HFCC now shows nothing on 5910 between 2000 and 1130, tho may be incomplete, except 0000-0100 the worldwide emergency standby channel for RDR, Vatican SMG the placeholder. (RRI is still on 5910 heavily to Europe 1430-2000) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 11880, March 25 at 2206, RHC in French this semi-hour, no longer in English since March 11 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 5025, March 26 at 0153, R. Rebelde is off again, leaving a JBA carrier, presumably Quillabamba, Perú (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUANTANAMO BAY [non]. Replies to my log of KG4USN, not Gitmo:

Glenn, Gitmo does have KG4 but only if it has a two-letter suffix. KG4 with a three-letter suffix is regular mainland USA. My most recent logs of the real thing were KG4BP in 2016 and KG4HI in 2015. 73 (Eike Bierwirth, Germany, March 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

Glenn, Here's some info that may clarify Guantánamo Bay amateur callsigns. Gitmo callsigns are issued by the Navy, not the FCC, and are 2x2 calls. That is, a true Gitmo call will always be from the group KG4AA thru KG4ZZ.

The callsign you heard, KG4USN, has a "Radio Service" code of "HA"
meaning it was a sequentially issued call. The ham operator did not
receive that call as a result of having been in Gitmo, nor is it a
vanity callsign. Hope this helps. 73, (Jim K5JG, ibid.)

Tnx, Eike and Jim; I see. So whose bright idea was it to intermix unique prefices for US overseas entities, with CONUS ham calls?? Also the call-areas no longer seem to mean anything. Beyond US, the numbers would match nearest US territory, such as KZ5 for Canal Zone, KG4 for Gitmo, K#6 for various Pacific Islands. But Maryland is not even in 4-land; and now it seems anyham may move anywhere to a different call area and still retain their original call, without even a /# (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MADAGASCAR. 6190, March 26 at 0212, MWV now here for A-17, ex-7390, song in Spanish; not on originally planned 6070, whew for CFRX, but I bet the PTB at CFRB never new they were threatened. Fortunately, someone at WCB changed it, after we pointed out CFRX on 6070 despite missing from HFCC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NORTH AMERICA. 6940-LSB (not USB), March 26 at 0143, pirate soul music; 0150 ID as ``Radio Free, Whatever``, as DJ says his ``very last listener has fallen off, probably nobody else out there listening. Post right now to HF Underground for me to stay on the air; [shortly:] Dick Weed, finally signing off`` at 0151*. Well, I`m here, but not on an internet device while DXing, tsk2. 

6940-USB (not LSB), March 26 at 0208 recheck, pirate music at S9, 0210 DJ apologizes to Radio Cosmo(?) for calling him a C-S-M-F; that was just a test. ``Next song from Zipper Club on Radio Free, Whatever`` which is back on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ROMANIA. 9730, March 26 at 0125, RRI is already up and running on A-17 schedule, in French at S9+10 with Romanian folk music. 7375 found stronger // at 0138 now with C&W song but apparently in French.

7335, March 26 at 0140, RRI also back here for A-17 with piano  concerto, S9+30. Listed // for Romanian service at 0000-0200 is 9790. Has a classical concert on Saturday nights, which The Mighty KBC will never do (still on 6145) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SPAIN. 9690, March 25 at 2208, REE VG at S9+25, Spanish rock music and interviewing musicians. Last date for 7 months that REE will be on the air this hour or this frequency. For A-17, 17855 to North America replaces it, ending at 2200, but at first it may have problems propagating all the way; should be much better from the start at 1400 ex-1500 on weekends (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SRI LANKA. 11905, March 26 at 0114, SLBC with S4-S5 carrier just come on, JBA music at 0116, but never detected any mis-timesignal. Jose Jacob says this was recently reactivated, so my not hearing it all winter was not due only to propagation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UNIDENTIFIED 9720

** TURKEY. 9515, March 26 at 0333, very poor signal with Turkishish music and flutter, presumably VOT English to North America now here from 0300 for A-17, ex-6080. We hope propagation improve as summer oncome. We may also try 15450 at 1230, and 9830 at 2200 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGST)

** U S A. 7535v-LSB, March 26 at 0132, distorted very intermittent ham signal, obviously a contest worker, unstable and hard to copy with BFO. At first I figure it`s a spur from 40 meters, but don`t find a match tuning across another receiver. Then I realize it could be a second harmonic from ``80`` meters, and sure enough, there he is // on 3768-LSB, ID as WS9V, working someone at 59-1050. The fundamental isn`t wobbling around like the harmonic. WS9V is James J ``Skip`` Riba, PO BOX 73, Virden, IL 62690 USA, but at QRZ.com says he may not be the operator all the time during contests (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1870 monitoring: confirmed Saturday March 25 after 2230 on WBCQ, 9330.05v-CUSB, S8. Also confirmed UT Sunday March 26 starting just as I tune in at 0329.5 on WA0RCR, 1860-AM, Wentzville MO, S9+20. Next: 
Sun 1030   HLR 9485-CUSB to SW [ex- 1130 expected due to MESZ]
Sun 2330   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
Mon 0300v  WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW
Mon 0330   WRMI 9955 to SSE
Mon 2330   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
Tue 0030   WRMI 7730 to WNW
Tue 1100   WRMI 9955 to SSE
Tue 2130   WRMI 15770 to NE, 6855 to WNW
Tue 2330   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
Wed 1030   WRMI 5850 to NW, 6855 to WNW
Wed 1315.5 WRMI 9955 to SSE, 6855 to WNW
Wed 2100   WBCQ 7490v to WSW
Wed 2330   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 7490.10v, March 25 at 2157, WBCQ The Planet IDs and IS, runup to sign-on, so not on an hour earlier this Saturday with anything Special (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 11580, Sat Mar 25 at 2200, WRMI opening `Your Weekend Show`, as scheduled on 5950 only. This hour on 11580 is not accounted for, but so far it all seems to be matching 5950. But 6855 is again unknown. 

9955, UT Sun March 26 at 0121, WRMI with preacher in Haitian Kriyol. Skedgrid now shows this quarter-hour as `Soulsvision` which would not otherwise clue us in to the language.

9395, UT Sun March 26 at 0128, this WRMI is not Oldies at the moment, but an ad for something with an 856-number, and then ``curating the King James Version``, with rock music background, over to a YL reading Psalms XXVI, Yahwuh-this and Yahwuh-that, so another YHWH cult. Checking my handy NIV with Psalms, it says ``O Lord``, this and that. Not good enough! For a picky, picky deity. But what program is this?

9395, UT Sun March 26 at 0205, now here`s yet another additional `Wavescan` repeat from 0200 as Ray Robinson is reading a script about CBR and CBRX, which later became CBU and CBUX/CKZU in Vancouver, about its site on Lulu Island (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 9770, March 26 at 0123, S8-S9 signal with modulation cutting out and in about 4 times per second, talk in language impossible to recognize, then music, 0124 to dead air, and off at 0124.5*. HFCC A-17 shows two possibilities:

SLBC Sri Lanka, 125 kW, 345 degrees in Hindi from 0115 (which looks a lot like the 11905 entry now shown as 0000-0300); or Voice of Turkey in Spanish at 0100-0200. Like last summer, it`s // 9870, so should have tried to match them up; next time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 12121.20-USB, March 26 at 0118, 2-way in Spanish with cambios. Maybe we could push it to 12121.21 for the sake of symmetry? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

This report dispatched at 0500 UT March 26