sabato 4 luglio 2009

Glenn Hauser logs July 3-4, 2009

** CHINA. Firedrake check July 4: at 1412, trace on 13970, poor on 14420, trace maybe on 17500, no others (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. RHC still operating contrary to previous scheduling and currently published scheduling, UT July 4, presumably all prompted by obsession with the Honduran situation:

At 0610, Spanish on 6140, 6120 and 6000; English on 11760, 6060 and 6010.

At 1401, all Spanish of course, on 5965, 6000, 11760, distorted 11800, and still announcing 12000 instead of 11800, but 12000 back off the air this time.

1505 check reconfirms the additional mid-day transmissions are still running, audible on 13760, 11800, 11760, 11690, 6000 and very weak 5965; this last one had some co-channel QRM. Per Aoki, most likely CRI 5965 in Russian, 55 degrees from Beijing also usward, rather than BBC Urdu via Oman. RHC not found now on any other 13, 15, 17, or 9 MHz channel. For daytime mid-range coverage they really ought to be using at least one 9 MHz channel; but who am I to advise RHC?

Checked again at 1600, RHC IS audible on 5965 despite all-sunny path; at 1611, 6000 and 5965 still audible, with a bit of marimba music, then mentioning R. Nacional de Venezuela [see also] and the Honduran coup. At 1616, 11690, 11760 and 11800 still on too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** HONDURAS. The biggest SWBC signal from this country, which isn`t saying much, missionary HRMI on 3340, was back on the air July 4 at 0622 check, but due to high T-storm and line noise levels, only able to detect a carrier and bits of music. Presumed, but really nothing else it could be. If anyone hears them report anything political, let us know (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA. VOI without the multiple carriers and whining hets again July 4 at 1351 during the English hour, on 9526, or rather slightly less --- on July 2 Ron Howard and on July 1 Wolfgang Büschel put it on 9525.86v. Here it was quite weak today with music, QRN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. VOA English, 9885, July 4 at 1614 talk about religions, languages in Sénégal, good signal and no doubt Greenville. What are the current hours for this?

Aoki July 4 shows daily straight thru 1600-2100, but also Botswana at 1800-2030, an unlikely self-collision. EiBi July 2 shows GB at 1600-1800, Botswana 1800-2030, and back to Greenville at 2030-2100, all English. However, on June 10, the 1800-1900 hour only was shifted to Sri Lanka.

9885 is also used for various other IBB services from various sites at 0100-0630 and 1130-1300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Another problem for WWCR: 5890, with Pastor Pete Peters (what else?) July 4 at 0605 was accompanied by unstable buzzy spurs roughly plus and minus 6 kHz, but could not find any carriers. The spurs continued during pauses in modulation on the fundamental.

July 4 at 1415, WWCR VG on 13845, 15825 with sporadic E assistance, but not as strong as recently: on 18770 could barely detect a carrier of presumed WWRB 2 x 9385, and MUF did not make it up to channel 2 --- until 1838; altho the VHF antennas were disconnected most of the morning due to storms (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Not much was happening here in the way of TVDX the afternoon of July 3, while Central Americans were double-hopping into New England. Sitting on channel 2 or 3 is no longer a reliable indicator of Es openings, with fewer and fewer domestic analog stations left on the air.

So at 2328 UT I found a strong NAB Nightlight on 4, and pretty steady without much interference. No IDs of any sort visible even at peaks, and at 2331 went from English to Spanish with no ID break either. It stayed in for a good quarter-hour.

By 2338 I was getting another NL on 6, but this was a local or partially local produxion, since I immediately saw a large white WDSU in the upper right center, and audio ``call us here at the station``. In the next few minutes I think I saw a smaller WDSU bug in the lower right, but it seemed to come and go depending on what was in the NL video.

Therefore, I suspect the no-ID NL on 4 was WWL. Can anyone confirm that`s the DX-unfriendly way they do it? Unlike 4, there was CCI on 6 and at 2344 I got a glimpse of a large-letter streamer across screen-top saying ``Ask WKMG`` along with phone number. So Orlando FL was in too, tho antenna aimed at OKC is closer to New Orleans. Distance-wise, NO is only about a megameter away. All three have been logged in years past, in the case of Orlando as WDBO.

Still with 4 and 6 in, there was hardly any action, analog or digital, on 2, 3 or CCI on KOCO-5. The opening was pretty much over by 2355 as it was time to head out for a Fourth Eve ice cream social. And nothing skippy audible on 87.75 or higher on the car radio in transit (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VENEZUELA [non]. 11680, RNV via Cuba, July 4 at 1504, YL in stilted English, apparently week in review recounting events of June 30, ALBA meeting in Managua (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###