sabato 24 ottobre 2009

Glenn Hauser logs October 23, 2009, part 2

** BIAFRA [non]. V. of Biafra International: did not catch it Oct 16, so I made sure to check Oct 23 whether they had changed frequency again. No, still on 15665 via WHRI at 1902: altho reception poor with fading, backscatter hollowness, immediately recognizable with All Hail Biafra anthem. 19-20 Fridays only. FWIW, in B-09, WHRI has again registered 17520 in Ibo during this hour, but also on the same 87 degree azimuth 15665 as English, so they`re covered for either (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. Stranger and stranger it gets at Radio Habana Cuba. Having heard spurs surrounding the 11760 transmitter since Oct 10 at other dayparts, in the morning and nightmiddle, on Oct 23 I checked at 2114 for spurs surrounding 11760, and there they were starting with the nearest, 51.2 kHz above and below on 11708.8 and 11811.2. The next one up, 11862.4, was putting mush against DW English on 11865. The next one below, 11657.6, was doing the same on Radio Australia English on 11660. I could also hear further ones on 11504.0 and 11452.8.

On one previous occasion monitoring after 2200, I had a different set of spur frequencies since 11760 takes a break and the same POS transmitter was on 11670 for the Venezuelan relay. What about today? Yes, at 2114 quickly found the nearest pair on 11721.1 and 11618.9, so now displaced only 51.1 kHz, from 11670. Many more of these too found by 2223, up to 12236.1. but that implies the offset had varied in the meantime to 51.46 kHz, i.e. 11 steps away. The lowest audible was circa 11150, not measured, which would be 10 steps of circa 52 kHz away. The second one up, 11772.2 was mushing/hetting an RHC fundamental on 11770 at 2210! It also interfered with the DentroCuban Jamming Command pulsing on 11775 against nothing just after Anguilla closed and Martí does not start there until 0000. The third spur up, 11823.3, QRMed Saudi Arabia on 11820.

But in the meantime it soon became obvious that the programming on 11670 and the at least 21 other frequencies was not RNV this time, but RHC itself, as at 2212 mentioned Revista Iberoamericana de Radio Habana Cuba, the standard two-hour late-afternoon magazine show. Not only was RNV missing from 11670, all the other Habana fundamental frequencies I could find were // with RHC programming, no RNV anywhere --- it apparently got lost in the shuffle!

An echo apart from 11670, so from other transmitter site: 17660, 13760, 11800, 6000. Besides all the spurs, synchronized with 11670 from same site: 5965, 11770, 13790. The only RHC frequency I could find carrying something else was 17705 in Portuguese at 2219.

Furthermore, the 11670 transmitter had additional closer-in spurs putting grinding noises at approximately plus and minus 18 kHz, 11652 and 11688. Just another day at La Voz Espúrea de América (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

** ECUADOR. Checked one of HCJB`s last remaining frequencies, 11920, Oct 23 at 2246 as Kulina, Brazilian Indian language had just started. Same preacher as always speaking deliberately as if Kulina were not his first language. Probably a gringo missionary who learned enough to preach in it. Hoped to hear some reference to a Matthew chapter (rendered in Portuguese), as I did when first I heard this, but none such in next four sesquiminutes. 11920 did have some QRM de DentroCuban Jamming Command bleedover from 11930 against Martí.

On Nov 15, this service along with Portuguese is to switch over to CVC Chile relay site on same frequency but probably at a later hour when Cuban jamming should be less of a problem to all those fixed-tuned radios stuck on 11920. This means the lucky Kulina will also be able to hear on their 11920 radios at other times of day: Spain in Spanish, BBC in Indonesian via Singapore, CRI in French via Albania, and IBB in Tibetan via Philippines. They might become very specialized DXers (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. R. Africa, 15190 with good S9+18 signal and no ACI or CCI, Oct 23 at 2106 --- but despite this, lo-fi audio with some hum, undermodulation. Problem probably starts with the crummy consumer mike used by the African-accented preacher and/or his recording equipment. 2107 to hallelujah hymn in hilife style as outro theme. It`s the one from White City, Saskatchewan, of all places, outroed by non-African-accented announcer with address as
embassy@afpmi.org or Box 714, White City, Saskatchewan, Canada, S4L 5B1. Tho given twice, but not phonetically, duh, could not be sure of e-mail address afpmi --- some letters could have been similar sounding. Ask for offer #20081005, obviously from more than a year ago. Then I search DXLD archive on the postal code and quickly find previous log in 8-046 a sesquiyear ago. It`s instead afcmi, as in http://www.afcmi.org/
White City is a bedroom suburb on the east side of Regina.

After only a semiminute of dead air(!) R. Africa started the next show at 2111, Hope for Today, with audio fading up and down, as if a tracking problem on the cassette tape; continuing a study of Malachi.

I was disappointed not to hear convicted child sex abuse criminal evangelist Tony Alámo, a staple of 15190; perhaps he was on earlier or later. BTW, the date for his sentencing has been postponed from Oct 26 to Nov 13, per one of the stories in the long list, also concerning the financial trouble his minions are in, at
http://www.tonyalamonews.com (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GERMANY [non]. Someone reported DW missing from both Rwanda frequencies recently, 15205 and 11865 for the 2100 English broadcast to WAf, which is coincidentally aimed USwards and the closest thing to a North American service remaining from this station which blew off not only its English but German-speaking SW listeners in NAm a few years ago. But they were both inbooming Oct 23 at 2108, and an echo apart on weaker Portugal relay 9735.

Enjoy these while we can; as usual in the B-season they are gone, replaced with 11690 from Rwanda, which may have that RTTY QRM, but hopefully Habana will not decide to use it too during that hour. The other chance will be Sines on 7280, and in NAm forget about Sri Lanka on 9545, 13780 --- why try to serve W Africa from so far away?? Not much demand for transmitter time in S Asia at 2:30 am, I guess. And that`ll make the Africans try a little harder to hear DW, good for them.

The previoous 1900-1930 and 20-21 UT English from DW in B-09 will be on one Rwanda frequency, 9735, not aimed USward 295 degrees like 11690 at 21, but both at 210 degrees. At 19 we might also hear 11690 from RSA tho aimed at EAf. At 20 we might also hear 9690 from Woofferton at 160, off the back at 340 degrees. But we surely are not supposed to (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUINEA. Conakry has been reported with greatly improved modulation lately, but I haven`t been trying at the right time --- until Oct 23 when I found 7125 with a very strong and steady open carrier cutting on and off, while a much weaker and fadey carrier continuous. One of them was surely Guinea and the other perhaps some ham hijinx against that recalcitrant intruder (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NIGERIA [and non]. 7255, VON in Hausa, VG signal and modulation at 2204 Oct 23 mentioning Nigeria repeatedly; some QRM from NAm hams underneath, who incredibly found 7255 a good place to zero-beat and try to communicate without further BFO, but VON so much stronger that Hauser would not have had any trouble following the Hausa if he knew how, sir (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1483 audible until ending about 2056:30 Oct 23 on WWCR 15825; not a solid signal and probably mostly backscatter as received back here in CNAm. Therefore must have started as much as two minutes early 2028. Contrary to what you might expect with much earlier sunsets and MUF drops in winter, WWCR again plans to keep 15825 on the air a full hour later starting Nov 1 with the end of DST, until 2200 before switching transmitter 1 to 7465, which means that WOR will still be on 15825, with time shifted to 2128 on Fridays. Maybe it propagates backwards to the sunny west beyond the megameter-plus skip zone? Try it in New Mexico and beyond (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###