** CUBA. 15140, Aug 16 at 1557 on caradio, RHC modulation is quite suptorted! = suppressed and distorted. WTP = wiggle that patchcord. Something`s always wrong at RHC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1995 monitoring: missed confirmed on first SW airing, Fri Aug 16 at 2200 on WRMI 9955; anyone hear it?
Confirmed UT Sat August 17 at 0130 on WRMI 7780, poor in noise and I
think a brief upcut, unusual on this frequency. Next:
0629vUT Saturday HLR 6190-CUSB Germany to WSW
1000 UT Saturday Unique Radio 3210-USB NSW [Aug 17? alt. weeks]
[has been off for repairs since Aug 4 tfn]
1430 UT Saturday HLR 9485-CUSB Germany ND
1930vUT Saturday WA0RCR 1860-AM ND
2100 UT Saturday WRMI 9955 to SSE
0130 UT Sunday WRMI 5850 to NW
0300vUT Sunday WA0RCR 1860-AM [nominal 0315] ND
1030 UT Sunday HLR 7265-CUSB Germany [? missing last week] to WSW
2130 UT Sunday WRMI 7780 to NE
0130 UT Monday WRMI 9395 to NNW, 7780 to NE
0230 UT Monday WRMI 7780 to NE
0300vUT Monday WBCQ 5130v Area 51 6160v? to WSW
0330 UT Monday WRMI 9955 to SSE
0930 UT Monday Unique Radio 3210-USB NSW [still hiatus?]
1130 UT Monday Unique Radio 3210-USB NSW [still hiatus?]
1816 UT Monday IRRS 7290 Romania ND
0100 UT Tuesday WRMI 7780 to NE
0800 UT Tuesday Unique Radio 3210-USB NSW [2 editions; hiatus?]
2100 UT Wednesday WRMI 9955 to SSE
2100 UT Wednesday WBCQ 7490v to WSW
0100 UT Thursday WRMI 7780 to NE
Full schedule including AM, FM, webcasts, satellite, podcasts:
http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9330.000, Aug 16 at 2030, S9+10/20 bigsig with C&W music --- the WBCQ Superstation is back! I was rather expecting this since Allan Weiner twitted earlier today that his show tonight would be on 9330 plus the other four frequencies. Must be warming up for that. Two or three tunes without a break, but with considerable selective fading distortion, and some separate modulation/peak distortion. 2037 mentions ``Classic Country`` and adstring for businesses in Woodstock (New Brunswick nearby, not NY!), about powerline construxion along I-95, Fredericton, Houlton, Aroostook Milling Co; 2042 weather in F and C, ``Kixx FM``, back to music. Kixx FM = WBCQ-FM 94.7, Monticello ME, 6/6 kW with classic country.
7490.207v, Aug 16 at 2045 I check another BCQ and to my horror discover my local high line noise is back, but fortunately cutting off and on, not yet near-continuous, but probably will be again unless we get some more rain since August 12. While noise is off I can tell 7490 is on and measure it, JBA with talk not //, presumably `Financial Survival`. Nothing audible on 6160v or 5130v this early before dark.
9330, another country music block ends ends at 2050, more adstring mentioning Houlton, Highway 2 exit 191, Woodstock. Makes us thankful that except when test-simulcasting the local FM, WBCQ SW frequencies are not full of commercials useless to us. Recheck at 2102, now it`s joined 7490.2 for `Behaviour Night` music, audiblizing this program for once, altho unfortunately I do not have time to keep listening to it. 2332 recheck, again with ``Kixx FM`` country music.
9330, at 2359 Aug 16, program switching briefly with what sounds like ``radioserpentine.com`` but must have been the scheduled on 7490 ``Radio FKB Sermon Time``! Then 0000 UT Sat Aug 17, cut to ``William Tell Overture``. Yes, now I can tell it`s // JBA on 7490v, 6160v and 5130v. He soon confirms 9330 is on with the full 500 kW. This week I won`t have to strain to hear it on 7490. ``Tom is kinda like the CE of the Super-station``. Kinda?
Anyhow, they`ve got the SS back on air after a month, despite all the problems with it he was complaining about last week, and more this week: It runs on Winders 10. Needed to sit down when the first electric bills arrived, in 5 or 6 figures (meaning: $100K, more or less, a month?). Is replying to usual caller. Confirms 9330 is now on the same 245 degree azimuth as all the others. During the earlier test this afternoon, AW was checking various SDRs and found it was getting in well to Iceland, Europe, South Africa, Vancouver BC, etc.
The rotatable antenna manufacturer, Ampegon, went bankrupt and was bought by Cesstron (sounds like?). No, it`s Cestron. found it:
http://www.cestron.de/
Communication Engineering Services and Electronics
[now what would that be in German and acronymed?]
News Release, Berlin, 14 August 2019
CESTRON announces acquisition of strategic assets from Ampegon and AM Broadcast. . .
http://www.cestron.de/News?PHPSESSID=d7f905e03b6f42ec0682119c7364e63b
AW says Cestron has $300K worth of spare parts for WBCQ which he hopes to be able to get. Another problem is that WBCQ has NO documentation about the antenna. Cestron is rehiring most of the old Ampegon engineers, and hopes they will come to WBCQ by end of August and get to work [earlier info was that WBCQ would have to pay for their airfare and lodging.]
The antenna will cover all bands 5.9 to 28 [sic] MHz, but each frequency must be pre-programmed into it with proper antenna tuning unit settings, etc. Need documentation on exactly how to do that correctly.
It`s all servo-controlled. More AC on the transmitter has been installed. AW would still prefer plate modulation. Tom replaced power supply modules. Something about ground-strapping required for lightning protexion. All this brand-new equipment should have been under warranty, but that went away with the bankruptcy, which he hears was not a ``nice`` transition.
Question, what is the reflected power of the 500 kW? No more than 2 kW, and it has to be that low. Is it safe to be near the antenna? Yes, no problem since you are under the beam which is going out at an upward tilt of 10-15-20 degrees.
He starts to talk about Woodstock (NY, not NB), at 0021, but of course interrupted by another caller, gets into political discussion which he often says he is trying to avoid.
0024, I recheck the other frequencies while the HLNL abates, and find
that they are not synchronized, why not? approx.:
7490+ is 28 seconds ahead of 9330
6160v is 29 seconds ahead of 9330 --- well, maybe in margin of error
5130v is 2 seconds ahead of 9330
3265v is still a JBA carrier, can`t tell
0054, answering another question about music licensing and royalties like on domestic stations? NO, does not apply to US SW stations which technically are broadcasting to a foreign audience, like Mexico whereWBCQs are aimed. 0100 canned auto legal ID by self interrupts, but the live AW is not finished, as just now he starts going thru e-mail. Larry Will advises of the hum on phone line worst on 9330, and AW says that is due to processing and superior low-frequency response.
0107 finally to benedixion, and concludes saying that World`s Last Chance will be on air shortly, 100% programming 9330, while plenty of time is for sale, cheap on the other ``classic`` frequencies. 0111 canned s/off announcement and 9330 turned off* immediately.
But 6160v and 7490v stay on with music, seemingly //, while 5130v stays on with something else, talk. By 0130 recheck, 6160v & 7490v are now BSing, and 5130v something-elseing.
If that was too much for you, here`s John Carver`s summary:
``Tonight's show started on time. This evening I'm listening on 6160 as 7490 had a very poor signal. Moved to 5130 when some hets started on 6160 and eventually moved to 9330. Allan states that they're on all five frequencies this evening including full power on the new transmitter. First phone call at 0007 from Freddie. Next call at 0016 was a prank call. Another phone call at 0022 interrupted a discussion about Woodstock. Phone call was about Trump.
Back to Woodstock talk after the call. Phone call at 0053 with a question about whether or not SW stations had to pay royalties on the music they played. Reading of emails at 0101. Closing prayer at 0107 and program was off the air at 0110. No new information on the superstation this evening. Just a rehash of old information. John Mid-North Indiana`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. At first: UNIDENTIFIED. 1180, Aug 16 at 0602 UT, Spanish looping roughly E/W, i.e. between WHAM baseball talk to the ENE and Rebelde echojammers to the SE. Seems like norteña music at first, but between tunes several times, about 0608, 0611, 0614, super-hype voice-actor intones ``99.9``; sometimes there may have been a slogan just before that, but I just cannot copy it. Only when aimed E/W on the DX-398 do I get a LAH, and with BFO comparing to 1170 and 1190, it`s clear that this station is the one slightly off-frequency plus+. Rearoused at 0637 UT, this time it sounds more like ``99.3``, so can`t rule that out. And zzz.
This angle pretty well rules out Mexico, but trouble is, no likely US stations are SS on 1180 per last year`s NRC AM Log. Maybe this year`s, when it comes, will have the answer. It`s yet another that considers AM only an expendable appendage of FM, tail wagging dog. IRCA Mexican Log does not have any 1180 matches to either FM frequency.
Reverse search, looking up in the WTFDA FM Database all the 99.9s in the USA in Spanish, shows none of them correlated with an ``origin`` on an 1180 station. But along the DF axis, in case there has been a format flip, we do find a station in Arkansas, KTUV 1440 Little Rock with 99.9 translators in both Rogers and Little Rock. Yet shown with non-matching formats and slogans: K260DT Little Rock, regional Mexican; and K260CS Rogers, Spanish hits, Las Americas Radio 1440. But the only AR station on 1180 is unrelated, non-SS and over by Memphis TN, WGUE, CLassic Rock format.
Before checking same for 99.3, I try radio-locator.com, on WGUE, and by golly, there it is:
``WGUE-AM 1180 kHz
Turrell, Arkansas
"La Jefa"
Station Format: Regional Mexican
Website:
http://www.lajefa993.com/
Station Owner:
Butron Media Corporation
3654 Park Ave.
Memphis, TN 38111
Phone: 901-437-5993
Fax: 901-454-1027
WGUE-AM Technical Details:
Station Status Licensed Class D
Digital Status Analog only
Area of Coverage View Daytime Coverage Map, View Nighttime Coverage
Map, View Critical Hours Coverage Map
Hours of Operation Unlimited
Antenna Mode Directional - 3 Patterns
Daytime Power 5000 Watts
Nighttime Power 26 Watts
Critical Hours Power 3500 Watts
Number of Towers 2
Transmitter Location 35° 08' 31" N, 90° 08' 06" W
License Granted October 20 2017
License Expires June 01 2020
Last FCC Update December 01 2017
WGUE-AM also broadcasts its primary channel from these 2 transmitters
W257CY 99.3 FM Memphis, TN (99 watts)
K268DA 101.5 FM Memphis, TN (250 watts)``
The nighttime coverage map for 1180 shows it almost circular, the 26 watts barely reaching adjacent counties from a + site barely on the AR side of the River near West Memphis (despite the W-call): https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WGUE&service=AM&h=N Hey, how does that fare against the 500+kW from Cuba (adding up powers in WRTH, plus more unknown). Well, at least they make it to Enid!
Then to WTFDA search for all the SS on 99.3 --- no, not there nor anything else likely. But since we have the call W257CY, going directly to that, voilà:
``W257CY WGUE-1180 99.3 MEMPHIS TN USA 0.099 0.099 290.0 0.0 35-09-16 89-49-20 REGIONAL MEXICAN LA JEFA 99.3``
It did not show up in the Spanish search since there is no entry in the field for language. I`m sure this must be it; everything fits except hearing it if really on legal night power. Note the FM power is, what else, also ``99` watts.
So as much as we decry AM stations abandoning their identity to a paltry FM translator, even to the extent of `branding`` only on the FM frequency --- in this case it leads to an ID, while SHVA shouts of ``11-80`` would not have, since we already know it`s obviously on 1180.
If all this sound vaguely familiar, it`s related to WUMY 830 sale etc., as explained in DXLD 18-44 http://www.w4uvh.net/dxld1844.txt (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
This report despatched at 0434 UT August 17
