** ANGUILLA. 11775, Caribbean Beacon local programming from 1610 kHz still mixing with The University Network, June 3 at 1203: PMS on the latter, an OM preacher on the former prompting responsive readings. At 1349 a hyper preacher was QRMing PMS. At least she is not a screamer, I`ll say that for her. At 1402, local YL announcer was sending (birthday?) greetings to people in The Valley, from The Caribbean Beacon, then music from 1403 to last until 10:30 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA. RA has changed its programming: temporary anomaly or permanent? 9580 and 9590, the two best frequencies in accidental NAm target beyond the Pacific, are normally //, but June 3 at 1148 they were separate. 9580 had live sports coverage of some kind, but since my ears glaze over immediately, did not determine what, possibly something involving machines; while 9590 had a talk about how highly NZ ranks on the Peace Index.
9580 was // weaker 9560, while 9590 was // weaker 9475. At 1213 the two pairs were still separate, 9580/9560 with dead air for a while until announcer mentioned a ``problem in master control``, 1215 promo RA FM frequencies in various Asian cities, as ``Connect Asia``; promo podcast for ``Nightlife`` which is apparently the program in progress, live timechex for 10:16 in the east, 8:16 in WA, and ``now welcoming listeners on Radio Australia``, so this domestic program is aware that RA is carrying it and apparently it is out of the ordinary. At 1237 on 9580, more promos for Nightlife and RA.
Meanwhile, 9590 and 9475 were in what we used to hear on all the RA English frequencies during the 1200 hour, ``Late Night Live`` (LNL for short), which of course is also originally a domestic program, from a different ABC net, National Radio, while Nightlife is on so-called Local Radio, and the topic I was hearing matches this:
``Wednesday June 3 Centrelink General Manager Hank Jongen will bring us up to date on the recent changes to our welfare system.``
More surprises: rechecked at 1300, 9590 went into Chinese from RA, still // 9475, whilst 9580/9560 stayed in English. Another check at 1353: 9590 still in Chinese; 9580 with YL interviewing a guy in a helmet, which turned out to be ``Rural Reporter`` at a rodeo.
1357 QSY announcement by Roger Broadbent on 9580 said these were about to close: 6020, 9580, 9560, 5995; and these were about to open in two minutes: 7240, 6080, 5995. Note that 5995 was both closing and opening! And no mention of 9590, but it was never mentioned anyway despite the fact it used to continue beyond 1400. Monitoring 9590 across hourtop 1400: music kept playing, and then more announcements in Chinese.
Are these changes accounted for on the RA website? Of course not! The undated frequency guide (for English only) at http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pdf/frequency_guide.pdf
claims 9590 is still in English until 1600.
WRTH A09 update shows RA Chinese only at 1300-1430 on Shepparton 9475, 11660; Tanshui, Taiwan 11760; Darwin 11825 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. Yet another anomaly from R. Canada Internal: the 1405-1504 UT hour on 9515 to NE USA is supposed to be in Russian, per their own schedules, but June 3 at 1435 it was really in Portuguese (Brazilian) with French lessons! A narrative about Mic-Mac and other Indians, with occasional translations in a child`s voice of common words like oiseau and enfant. 1500 recheck, still in Portuguese, but now the kid interjexions in English. What is going on and what is the point of all this? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake observations June 3: at 1417 poor-fair on 8400 and 9000. But at 1321 very good on 14420, absent from 13970. In honor of those massacred in Beijing 20 years ago, I kept listening to 14420 until 1339, and considered it a funeral dirge. I suggest that whenever we hear Firedrake, we remember that day, and that today China remains the World`s Largest Dictatorship, contrary to those optimistic, idealistic, young demonstrators who imagined Democracy was a real possibility.
15760 had heavy CNR1 echo jamming, June 3 at 1425. Absolutely nothing in WRTH, HFCC, Aoki or EiBi as a possible target, so perhaps a new frequency for Sound of Hope (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** FRANCE [non]. 13640, RFI via GUIANA FRENCH, June 3 at 1206 with strike fill music, ``Cry Me a River`` in English instead of scheduled Spanish, but a few sex later the transmitter dumped off the air. Did not get around to rechecking before scheduled 1230 closing. Yes, the strike keeps being extended day by day (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 4750 at 1132 June 3 with music, talk in Indonesian, so RRI Makassar is active if you listen soon enough at earliest sunrise, now 1114 UT here. CODAR QRM and also another carrier slightly off-frequency, Qinghai, Hailar or Dhaka? (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [and non]. R. Japan, 6010, June 3 at 1126 with IS, 1130 opening ID in Russian mentioned `severniy` or the like, so is this considered a `northern` service? It is indeed aimed 30 degrees from Yamata for DVR, and onward to NAm with a good signal. Aoki says it`s at 1100-1200, so why the IS in the middle? Because it`s really only 1130-1200 per WRTH A-09. Another semihour XEOI is blasted away by co-channel blockage.
NHKWNRJ, 9625, June 3 at 1212 with news in English, atop both WYFR in Portuguese and CBC Northern a poor third; NHK // better 9695, azimuths from Yamata respectively 165 and 240 degrees, so directly off the back from the latter is 60 degrees usward. By 1352, CBCNQ was on top of a SAH, phone interview (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH. 11560, June 3 at 1345, very distorted signal but seemed to be based on program modulation of some kind, could not tell whether speech or music. Transmitter out of order? No, it`s juche jamming against NK Reform Radio, scheduled 1330-1400 via Tajikistan; and it went off at 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NETHERLANDS [non]. Tuned in RN`s reactivated Spanish to SSAm on 9495, just in time at 2356 June 2 before sign-off to confirm GUIANA FRENCH was indeed relaying RN in Spanish, from 2300, rather than VOR in Portuguese by mistake, as was reported the day before. Poor reception here in CNAm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** POLAND [non]. See USA: WRMI
** SAUDI ARABIA. 17895 fading in at 1425 June 3 with Qur`an. This is BSKSA Riyadh at 295 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 9541.5, SIBC on the air June 3 at 1220 producing het with China 9540; only traces of audio which unseemed // or at least unsynchronized with BBC Singapore 9740 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAIWAN. 11715, RTI concluding English hour at 1159 June 3, then 5+1 timesignal and into Chinese with ``Chungyang`` ID. Axually Amoy per Aoki, and beam switches from 180 to 145 degrees via Tainan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WRMI, 9955, just barely audible and could not even be sure of the language, June 3 at 1153, but there was NO jamming, unlike after 1200 when Radio Cuba Libre comes on. 24 hours earlier, Tuesday around 1150, I had tuned across 9955 with a good jamming-free signal during a DX program in English which I thought was DX Partyline, but the WRMI schedule at http://www.wrmi.net/program.php?id=94 not updated since March 14, says it`s supposed to be Wavescan. BTW, don`t you believe the DXPL page at WRMI http://www.wrmi.net/program.php?id=13 which still shows winter non-DST timings and even 7385, which was abandoned years ago! Many other individual program pages on the WRMI website are far outdated.
WRMI back on the air on a weekday afternoon, first time heard in many weeks, June 3 at 2002 with Polish Radio External Service via WRN, on the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism in 1989. Fair signal and no jamming. So is WRMI back with full 40-hour-per week WRN relay at 1600-2400 M-F? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. As I was checking out the N Korean jamming on 11560, could not help but notice that WEWN was missing both from 11550 and 11530, June 3 at 1346. On weather maps it looks like there were storms around Birmingham, so that could explain it, deliberate avoidance of Thor`s wrath. I know WEWN was on 11530 a couple hours earlier along with its raspy spur on 11520. Next check at 2000, all three transmitters were on, 11550, 15610 and 17510 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WWRB spurs from 9385 detectable as carriers, 9453 and 9317, hets against 9455 and 9320 stations, June 3 at 1410. Altho WWCR was strong on 15825, no 18770 second harmonic of WWRB was making it this time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. VOA, World News Now, June 3 at 1416:30 via Greenville 17585 with sesquiminute Earth & Sky daily feature, 1418-1423 weekly Wednesday feature Wordmaster, this one interviewing Pat O`Connor about her book ``Origins of the Specious``, e.g., using `they` to avoid gender in singular pronouns, the only way to do it in English, and goes way back many centuries. 1423 sports and I tune out. 1428 Today in History, but as expected, chopped off at 1429:30 for sign-off of the Greenville site. So strong this time, I could not hear the other site it is now handing off to, Botswana, and the GB carrier stayed on a few minutes after modulation finished at 1430:30; at 1439 was off, and still no BOTS audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7290, June 3 at 1319, KX5JT calling ``CQ AM Phone``, but no immediate replies. This is a favorite hAM frequency. He`s John D. Tate in Maurice, Louisiana per ARRL callsign lookup (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VENEZUELA [non]. RNV, 6060 via CUBA, June 3 at 1141 in English about the Aló, Presidente show and how it is interactive with viewers, not just a monolog (like Fidel?). Well, the YL presenter was speaking broken English but with extensive clips in Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** AUSTRALIA. RA has changed its programming: temporary anomaly or permanent? 9580 and 9590, the two best frequencies in accidental NAm target beyond the Pacific, are normally //, but June 3 at 1148 they were separate. 9580 had live sports coverage of some kind, but since my ears glaze over immediately, did not determine what, possibly something involving machines; while 9590 had a talk about how highly NZ ranks on the Peace Index.
9580 was // weaker 9560, while 9590 was // weaker 9475. At 1213 the two pairs were still separate, 9580/9560 with dead air for a while until announcer mentioned a ``problem in master control``, 1215 promo RA FM frequencies in various Asian cities, as ``Connect Asia``; promo podcast for ``Nightlife`` which is apparently the program in progress, live timechex for 10:16 in the east, 8:16 in WA, and ``now welcoming listeners on Radio Australia``, so this domestic program is aware that RA is carrying it and apparently it is out of the ordinary. At 1237 on 9580, more promos for Nightlife and RA.
Meanwhile, 9590 and 9475 were in what we used to hear on all the RA English frequencies during the 1200 hour, ``Late Night Live`` (LNL for short), which of course is also originally a domestic program, from a different ABC net, National Radio, while Nightlife is on so-called Local Radio, and the topic I was hearing matches this:
``Wednesday June 3 Centrelink General Manager Hank Jongen will bring us up to date on the recent changes to our welfare system.``
More surprises: rechecked at 1300, 9590 went into Chinese from RA, still // 9475, whilst 9580/9560 stayed in English. Another check at 1353: 9590 still in Chinese; 9580 with YL interviewing a guy in a helmet, which turned out to be ``Rural Reporter`` at a rodeo.
1357 QSY announcement by Roger Broadbent on 9580 said these were about to close: 6020, 9580, 9560, 5995; and these were about to open in two minutes: 7240, 6080, 5995. Note that 5995 was both closing and opening! And no mention of 9590, but it was never mentioned anyway despite the fact it used to continue beyond 1400. Monitoring 9590 across hourtop 1400: music kept playing, and then more announcements in Chinese.
Are these changes accounted for on the RA website? Of course not! The undated frequency guide (for English only) at http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pdf/frequency_guide.pdf
claims 9590 is still in English until 1600.
WRTH A09 update shows RA Chinese only at 1300-1430 on Shepparton 9475, 11660; Tanshui, Taiwan 11760; Darwin 11825 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. Yet another anomaly from R. Canada Internal: the 1405-1504 UT hour on 9515 to NE USA is supposed to be in Russian, per their own schedules, but June 3 at 1435 it was really in Portuguese (Brazilian) with French lessons! A narrative about Mic-Mac and other Indians, with occasional translations in a child`s voice of common words like oiseau and enfant. 1500 recheck, still in Portuguese, but now the kid interjexions in English. What is going on and what is the point of all this? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake observations June 3: at 1417 poor-fair on 8400 and 9000. But at 1321 very good on 14420, absent from 13970. In honor of those massacred in Beijing 20 years ago, I kept listening to 14420 until 1339, and considered it a funeral dirge. I suggest that whenever we hear Firedrake, we remember that day, and that today China remains the World`s Largest Dictatorship, contrary to those optimistic, idealistic, young demonstrators who imagined Democracy was a real possibility.
15760 had heavy CNR1 echo jamming, June 3 at 1425. Absolutely nothing in WRTH, HFCC, Aoki or EiBi as a possible target, so perhaps a new frequency for Sound of Hope (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** FRANCE [non]. 13640, RFI via GUIANA FRENCH, June 3 at 1206 with strike fill music, ``Cry Me a River`` in English instead of scheduled Spanish, but a few sex later the transmitter dumped off the air. Did not get around to rechecking before scheduled 1230 closing. Yes, the strike keeps being extended day by day (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 4750 at 1132 June 3 with music, talk in Indonesian, so RRI Makassar is active if you listen soon enough at earliest sunrise, now 1114 UT here. CODAR QRM and also another carrier slightly off-frequency, Qinghai, Hailar or Dhaka? (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [and non]. R. Japan, 6010, June 3 at 1126 with IS, 1130 opening ID in Russian mentioned `severniy` or the like, so is this considered a `northern` service? It is indeed aimed 30 degrees from Yamata for DVR, and onward to NAm with a good signal. Aoki says it`s at 1100-1200, so why the IS in the middle? Because it`s really only 1130-1200 per WRTH A-09. Another semihour XEOI is blasted away by co-channel blockage.
NHKWNRJ, 9625, June 3 at 1212 with news in English, atop both WYFR in Portuguese and CBC Northern a poor third; NHK // better 9695, azimuths from Yamata respectively 165 and 240 degrees, so directly off the back from the latter is 60 degrees usward. By 1352, CBCNQ was on top of a SAH, phone interview (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH. 11560, June 3 at 1345, very distorted signal but seemed to be based on program modulation of some kind, could not tell whether speech or music. Transmitter out of order? No, it`s juche jamming against NK Reform Radio, scheduled 1330-1400 via Tajikistan; and it went off at 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NETHERLANDS [non]. Tuned in RN`s reactivated Spanish to SSAm on 9495, just in time at 2356 June 2 before sign-off to confirm GUIANA FRENCH was indeed relaying RN in Spanish, from 2300, rather than VOR in Portuguese by mistake, as was reported the day before. Poor reception here in CNAm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** POLAND [non]. See USA: WRMI
** SAUDI ARABIA. 17895 fading in at 1425 June 3 with Qur`an. This is BSKSA Riyadh at 295 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 9541.5, SIBC on the air June 3 at 1220 producing het with China 9540; only traces of audio which unseemed // or at least unsynchronized with BBC Singapore 9740 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAIWAN. 11715, RTI concluding English hour at 1159 June 3, then 5+1 timesignal and into Chinese with ``Chungyang`` ID. Axually Amoy per Aoki, and beam switches from 180 to 145 degrees via Tainan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WRMI, 9955, just barely audible and could not even be sure of the language, June 3 at 1153, but there was NO jamming, unlike after 1200 when Radio Cuba Libre comes on. 24 hours earlier, Tuesday around 1150, I had tuned across 9955 with a good jamming-free signal during a DX program in English which I thought was DX Partyline, but the WRMI schedule at http://www.wrmi.net/program.php?id=94 not updated since March 14, says it`s supposed to be Wavescan. BTW, don`t you believe the DXPL page at WRMI http://www.wrmi.net/program.php?id=13 which still shows winter non-DST timings and even 7385, which was abandoned years ago! Many other individual program pages on the WRMI website are far outdated.
WRMI back on the air on a weekday afternoon, first time heard in many weeks, June 3 at 2002 with Polish Radio External Service via WRN, on the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism in 1989. Fair signal and no jamming. So is WRMI back with full 40-hour-per week WRN relay at 1600-2400 M-F? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. As I was checking out the N Korean jamming on 11560, could not help but notice that WEWN was missing both from 11550 and 11530, June 3 at 1346. On weather maps it looks like there were storms around Birmingham, so that could explain it, deliberate avoidance of Thor`s wrath. I know WEWN was on 11530 a couple hours earlier along with its raspy spur on 11520. Next check at 2000, all three transmitters were on, 11550, 15610 and 17510 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WWRB spurs from 9385 detectable as carriers, 9453 and 9317, hets against 9455 and 9320 stations, June 3 at 1410. Altho WWCR was strong on 15825, no 18770 second harmonic of WWRB was making it this time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [and non]. VOA, World News Now, June 3 at 1416:30 via Greenville 17585 with sesquiminute Earth & Sky daily feature, 1418-1423 weekly Wednesday feature Wordmaster, this one interviewing Pat O`Connor about her book ``Origins of the Specious``, e.g., using `they` to avoid gender in singular pronouns, the only way to do it in English, and goes way back many centuries. 1423 sports and I tune out. 1428 Today in History, but as expected, chopped off at 1429:30 for sign-off of the Greenville site. So strong this time, I could not hear the other site it is now handing off to, Botswana, and the GB carrier stayed on a few minutes after modulation finished at 1430:30; at 1439 was off, and still no BOTS audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 7290, June 3 at 1319, KX5JT calling ``CQ AM Phone``, but no immediate replies. This is a favorite hAM frequency. He`s John D. Tate in Maurice, Louisiana per ARRL callsign lookup (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VENEZUELA [non]. RNV, 6060 via CUBA, June 3 at 1141 in English about the Aló, Presidente show and how it is interactive with viewers, not just a monolog (like Fidel?). Well, the YL presenter was speaking broken English but with extensive clips in Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
