mercoledì 6 maggio 2020

Glenn Hauser logs May 5-6, 2020

** ALASKA. 9580, May 6 at 1452, KNLS is again on correct frequency instead of 9695, S5-S7 ID as ``Your New Life Station``, P O Box address in Anchor Point (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

** ALGERIA [non]. 13820, May 6 at 1753, via UTwente I am standing by for RTA/TDA relay via FRANCE to start, meanwhile nothing but band noise on frequency. Issoudun does cut on a few seconds before *1800 and at exactly the same time the beepery, so it does surely seem to be defect of own transmitter, not jamming from somewhere else. The relative level of beepery continues same thruout hour as I keep listening. Altho the Qur`an Service, it`s far from total recitations; first news in French, then a lot of talk in Arabic, various music mixed with recitations.

That`s the only frequency for the first hour, but at 1900 I find the beepery has switched to 11985; while the second frequency 12060 is free of it. Both go off at 1957. *2000 next pair come on, 9655 beeped, 9510 clear, immediately into nothing but Qur`an.

If this self-QRM has been going on for years, it`s strange that so few random logs by others mention it. Maybe worse now? Or people just have ignored it (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

** CUBA [and non]. 711.00, May 6 at 0205, off-frequency het upon legit 710 stations such as KCMO; even stronger at 0222. Also a beat of about 3 Hz between two off-frequency 1 kHz het signals when tuned to 710-USB; At 0225, I isolate 711 as much as possible and attempt to hear any modulation to match Radio Rebelde on 5025; JBA but not 100% positive.

711 still there at 0601, vs Mexican NA in the 710 mix. At this time there are no TA 9-kHz signals on the lower half of band; one JBA carrier on 846, presumed from night-path Kiritimati.

Steven Wiseblood, Harlingen TX in the RGV, replied April 21-22: ``2-3 weeks ago Rebelde was measured at 710.5 kHz. As of April 15th they have returned to nominal 710.00 kHz. When they were off frequency they were producing a MASSIVE HET agaisnt semi-local 710 KURV Edinburg.

I seem to remember a few years ago Rebelde was on 711 for a few days, and were easily strong enough to be separable from 710. This time I measured the audio beat to 710 kHz. At least on one early morning I measured the audio beat from Rebelde at 510 Hz.``

However, I, gh, never caught anything around 710.51. Remember, there are SEVEN Rebelde transmitters on 710 per WRTH 2020 page 172, ranging from 200 to 1 kW, plus a Radio Guamá 10 kW in Pinar del Río. We really can`t tell which two are on 711, and it`s definitely not right to say ``Radio Rebelde on 711 instead of 710`` as if there were only one of them. DXers in FL might be able to sort this out; except for QRM from ``wacky`` WAQI 50 kW Miami, which is why all these CMBAs converged on 710 in the first place. Something`s always wrong at RadioCuba. Ask Arnie? Ha3 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

** CUBA. 15140, Tue May 5 at 1934-1941, RHC English with `DXers Unlimited` over this variable span. Hard to follow; I think he was mainly talking about ham QRP operation; distorted, but less so this time than French on 15370. Something`s always wrong at RHC (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

** CUBA. 13700, May 6 at 1350, no spurblobs from RHC today but 13700 itself is splattery. Something`s always wrong at RHC (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

** CUBA. 11880, May 6 at 1448 check, CRI Plus English relay is gone again after resuming yesterday after two days gone. Something`s always wrong at RadioCuba (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

** MEXICO [and non]. 6185, May 6 at 0617, XEPPM fair modulation, enough to tell that it`s the finale of Beethoven`s Ninth, but played on keyboard, with a bit of choral; 0620 segué to Pomp & Circumstance. They used to have a detailed playlist but now can`t even find a program grid schedule at https://radioeducacion.edu.mx/

QRM from irregular tones of same pitch; not clear whether own transmitter defect or QRM. RHC on 6145 is intoning about plus/minus 4 kHz at music peaks, and so are 6100 & 6060, so a defect in their program feed, maybe multiplied (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

** PHILIPPINES. After several weeks off, VOP is reported resumed by Jose Jacob to the WOR iogroup May 5:  ``Message is received from Radyo Pilipinas that they are back on air from 1 May 2020. - Thanking you, Yours sincerely, Jose Jacob, VU2JOS``

Alan Holder, Isle of Wight: ``Great to hear this good news. I tuned in yesterday (May 5) at 1730 and heard them as follows:
9960 – poor signal strength, noisy, but in the clear;
12120 – fair signal – clear – but with atmospheric noise;
15190 – no propagation to the U.K. currently.
The broadcast opened with many public information ads on Covid-19. A shame they do not have a mixture of Filipino and English on both the 0200 and 1730 releases. Alan Holder, Isle of Wight, U.K.``

However, no signals detected on any of the three frequencies scheduled at 0200-0330, when I tried at 0305-0310 UT May 6 remotes in Vietnam, India, Philippines, China, New Zealand. All are generally beamed westward. 12010, 15640, 17820
http://www.hfcc.org/data/schedbybrc.php?seas=A20&broadc=PBS

But Ron Howard replies, ``Hi Glenn, Listening May 6, at 0238 UT, on 15640; was clearly in English, but not very readable; on 12010 and 17820, only had a carrier, with no audio. At least they are back on the air again! Ron California``.

Keep in mind VOP is Duterte`s government station. Meanwhile he has closed the largest commercial radio/TV network, ABS-CBN:

Among several press reports about it, via Matt Francis to WOR iog:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-52548703

Via Vince Ferme, Ottawa, IRCA iog:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/philippines-largest-tv-network-abs-cbn-ordered-shut-200505084440098.html

Via Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA), ibid.:
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/05/20/abs-cbn-shutdown-comes-at-worst-possible-time-amid-pandemic-says-rights-watchdog
(Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

** TURKEY. 9830, May 5 at 2200, another day off for VOT English to N America; possibly came on late, unrechecked (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

** U S A. 366-MCW kHz, May 6 at 0609 UT, ND beacon EGK(?) I`m certain of the last letter but not the middle one. Best fit at dxinfocentre.com is EOK, 25 watts in Keokuk, Iowa. Only thing unusual vs spring noise level (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

** U S A [non?]. 9885, May 6 at 0616, VP signal in French? VOA Grimesland has been scheduled here M-F at 0600-0630, but wondering if they would keep it with no OCB or anything else to diffuse overnight. HFCC as of May 5 shows it still GB for the rest of A20. The previous semihour is via Woofferton and could probably be extended from that or some other site. This time of night, prop even from NC on this band could be this poor (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 2032 monitoring: next and last:
2100 UT Wednesday WBCQ 7490v to WSW
0100 UT Thursday  WRMI 7780 to NE

WOR 2033 should be ready early UT Friday May 8, first US SWBC Friday at 2200 on WRMI 9955.

Full schedule including AM, FM, webcasts, satellite, podcasts: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html

Thanks this week for financial support from Anne Fanelli, Elma NY, who sent a US$ cheque to Glenn Hauser, P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702

One may also contribute via PayPal, not necessarily in US funds, to woradio at yahoo.com (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

** U S A. 7490.12v, May 5 at 2053, checking WBCQ direct just before the heavily publicized `Big Broadcast of 2020`. Yep, VP S4-S5 in daytime noise level, so useless. Instead I listen to the entire hour via webcast 2100-2200, and enjoy presentations of several different music shows; some of it even sounds $tereophonic. 7490 reception is just as bad toward the end recheck at 2157. Now if they can put it on after dark, everyone will have a better chance to hear it on SW. Meanwhile the 500 kW remains dedicated to flatearthism on 9330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

This report dispatched at 2024 UT May 6