** BOTSWANA. 7270, July 29 at 0450, tonal African language, S9/+10 with deep fades, what? Aoki/NDXC shows 04-05 M-F, VOA in Shona for Zimbabwe. EiBi shows Zimbabwean languages; WRTH shows it`s the Studio 7 service which could also be in English or Ndebele. This is the only significant broadcast signal now within the traditional 41m band. Altho legal within Region 1, American hams might prefer VOA avoid it. India and China also listed on 7270 parts of this hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BOTSWANA. 5925, July 29 at 0454, VOA English with a correspondent in Nigeria, good S9+10/20 with deep fading, off at 0500. Scheduled 0300-0500 daily (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. CNR1 jammer bandscan, July 29 starting at 1327 from 15 MHz downward:
14430, JBA Chinese
13160, CNR1, S6-S9 and choppy
12870, CNR1, S5-S7
12820, CNR1, S5-S7
12550, CNR1, S6-S8
11540, CNR1 mixed with other music from target
11460, CNR1, S3-S6
11440, CNR1, S5-S8
11120, CNR1, S1-S2
11100, CNR1, S1-S3
10960, JBA carrier
No more WOOB found down to 9 MHz. JBA carrier on 10370 is instead local overload mix of 11760 RHC minus 1390 KCRC with audio from both (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 11880, July 29 at 1419, CRI Plus relay in English back on proper frequency after stray to 11800 yesterday; now it`s just barely modulated, e.g. compared to RHC itself on 11760. Mod level jumps up at 1431 for canned boilerplate about Roundtable; I would not have blamed the studio for mod problems. No plus/minus 10 kHz spurs from 11880 audible now. Something`s always wrong at RadioCuba (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. 1640, July 29 at 1320 UT and still at 1649, dead air except for some hum from local KZLS Enid. Is no one paying attention at Chisholm Trail Broadcasting? No storms around here to blame (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 1992 monitoring: confirmed Sunday July 28 at 2130 on WRMI 7780, JBA as usual daytimes on this band.
Also confirmed UT Monday July 29 at 0130 on WRMI 7780, S9+10 and local line noise is off; also on WRMI 9395 VG S9+20.
Also confirmed UT Monday July 29 at 0230 on WRMI 7780, JBA vs storm noise from TX panhandle, Wichita areas.
Also confirmed UT Monday July 29 at 0300 sharp on Area 51 webcast; at 0326 check also on WBCQ 5130.35v, and audible on WBCQ 6159.9v, but can`t tell whether also on 3264.9 JBA carrier. John Carver could tell in mid-north Indiana: ``Glenn. 3265 is not carrying Area 51 programming tonight. However WOR is on both 5130 and 6160. John``. and Richard Langley, NB, says 3265 was carrying Pirate Joe`s WHVW programming when he checked at 0155. For me it was a JBA 3264.9 carrier at 0132. When I checked 6160- earlier at 0046, I could tell it was JL as well as on Area 51, 5130+. Area 61??
(My local high line noise problem of S9+ between 3.0 and 9.5 MHz has gone away as of UT Monday July 29 --- unlikely due to any OG&E repair over the weekend, so apprehensive it may cut on again at any time. If not, but still pending, will difficultize OG&E finding the source.)
WOR 1992 also confirmed UT Monday July 29 at 0330 on WRMI 9955, VG S9+20 this time and no jamming audible; WOR started immediately after music fill. Next:
1816 UT Monday IRRS 7290 Romania ND
0100 UT Tuesday WRMI 7780 to NE
0800 UT Tuesday Unique Radio 3210-USB NSW [2 editions]
2100 UT Wednesday WRMI 9955 to SSE
2100 UT Wednesday WBCQ 7490v to WSW
0100 UT Thursday WRMI 7780 to NE
(mp3 stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1992.m3u
(mp3 download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor1992.mp3
Or via http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html
Also linx to podcast services.
Full schedule including AM, FM, webcasts, satellite, podcasts:
http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. (7490), July 28 at 2301 listening to WBCQ webcast for `Le Show` of Harry Shearer, instead hear frequent drops in modulation, BCQ IDs inserted, dead air, resume Le Show, etc., etc. Still drops off at 2321, webcast also buffering. I assume the same problems appeared on the SW transmission.
7490+ itself at 0132 check, I notice that TOMBS is on again tho sked shows nothing between 01 and 03 UT Mondays after `Encore`, part of which I enjoyed hearing on mono webcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 6159.916, July 29 at 0457, this WBCQ is still on with algo, S8-S9 but suffering from 6165 RHC music splash; while 5130+ is off by now after Area 51 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Re WRMI 5850 missing during WORLD OF RADIO, July 28 at 0130, Bob Biermann explains on the WOR iog in a different response to Walt Salmaniw noting that 5850 has also been missing at least four times this year when he has tried to record SW Radiogram at 0800 Sundays:
``Just a couple of notes about the Radiogram. First, as someone remarked, they would expect "better service" if they were paying for the program. WRMI airs the RadioGram at NO CHARGE. In addition, the transmission line for the transmitter on 5850 was damaged by a storm over the weekend and was only fixed on Sunday morning when there was daylight. The RadioGram also airs at the same time on 7730.
Operating any Shortwave station is very difficult these days. The "supply" of technical people that can work on this equipment is shrinking at an alarming pace. In just a handful of years, it will be critical for most SW stations around the world. Many senior engineering staff is at or over retirement age or closing in fast. Younger people show no interest, and why should they? Today they can make as much working in IT than in broadcasting. Now, this is simply my personal opinion and does not represent any station. Personally, I see a tremendous amount of undue criticism on how many of the SW stations are run. Some people seem to be experts who have never operated such a facility. It's not for the faint of heart. The term "armchair quarterback" comes to mind. Unless you are active in the business you can't comprehend the challenges you face on a daily basis. Tube replacement costs are skyrocketing, and certain parts (like qualified engineers) are often in short supply.
As far as computer glitches, the automation software is highly reliable, and the computer systems are on massive battery backup. The program needs to be uploaded to us. If the program is there, it will air. One of the issues at WRMI is the fact of no decent or reliable Internet Service providers that can reach or serve us. It is worse than third world. We are miles from civilization, and I mean miles. There is no cable or Fiber within 8 miles, just some poorly maintainedcopper wire pairs from CenturyLink. We have an over the air backup, but it's a multi mile hop, subject to frequent problems we can't control. Many programmers want to stream, but bandwidth is scarce. Satellite "may" be an option in the future, but there are severe data limitations making it a poor option at present, and in Florida, rain fade issues.``
I was surprised at WRMI`s poor internet service, as its streaming of 9955 programming is pretty reliable, and I seldom have any problems uploading 10+ MB WOR files via ftp to four different Systems taking a minute or two each (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5830, July 29 at 0455, WTWW-1 is off, nor audible on day frequency 9475. 5085, WTWW-2 however is on with rock music, accompanied as always by the weak spurs about 5072.1 and 5097.9. Unfortunately did not have a chance to check for similar spurs when 9930 was rarely activated (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
This report dispatched at 1700 UT July 29
