** BIAFRA [non]. V. of Biafra International continues to be missing, for the third week in a row from its previously scheduled time of 19-20 UT Fridays on WHRI 15665; nothing there Dec 25 around 1930. Website continues to lack any audio files since Dec 11, which did not get a SW airing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. What`s this, Xmas music on CFRX? Can hardly call it ``NewsTalk 10-10`` any more, at several 6070 chex UT Dec 25, and also 0556 UT Dec 26, with jazzed-up Joy to the World; however back to a call-in talkshow around 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Dec 26 at 1417: very poor on 9000, nothing on 8400, 10210 or 11300; nor 11350 where it`s also been reported recently (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 6250, Dec 26 at 0559, fair S9+15 signal, with self-serving promo, ``Informamos lo que acontece, Radio Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial, desde Malabo``. 0600 short ID just as ``Radio Malabo``, hilife music, 0601 repeat the 0559 ID.
Since this is one of the worst, most corrupt dictatorships in Africa, we should take their claim with a grain of salt and perhaps establish a ``Radio Free Equatorial Guinea``. Any takers? Spain? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENINIG DIGEST)
** MOROCCO. 15345, RTM at 1507 Dec 26, good S9+15 signal, but no modulation. Well, almost none --- filling the gap was their transmitter whine (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NETHERLANDS [non]. 15595, RNW in English, 1426 Dec 26 with program promos for Bridges with Africa, European Jazz Stage; contact addresses, 1428 saying goodbye to WRN-Europe listeners, continuing to S Asia on 12080, 15595; 1429 Earthbeat Xmas special. 1506 going from news to The State We`re In, co-produxion with WAMU 88.5.
While 15595 is an erstwhile Madagascar frequency, hearing this reminds me that it has not been audible for a long time. The only reason we are hearing it now is that Hörby, SWEDEN, 350 kW toward S Asia is substituting due to fire at Talata which put the Mad relay off the air.
Details are here, now with a photo added of serious damage to the racks, and updates on substitute transmissions, also concerning Sweden and Vatican relays:
http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/fire-puts-rnw-madagascar-relay-station-off-the-air
As for 12080, altho it was announced, could hear nothing there but at 1509 a very weak carrier and could not match traces of modulation to 15595, which would not be synchronized anyway. That used to be Madagascar too, but in B-09 is scheduled as Tinang, Philippines before 1500, and UAE afterwards (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. Saturday mornings around 1430 one is faced with multiple choices for good SW music --- including Bulgaria, Cuba, Martí, Greece, Hmong Lao Radio. But from 1420 tune-in Dec 26 I was drawn most to 11815, Voice of Turkey in Turkish, wonderful music on plucked string instrument, male and female singers, and quite good reception on this 500 kW, 320 degree 14-17 UT transmission from Çakirlar toward Europe and consequently USward. 1432-1440 broke for pursed-lipped talk in Turkish, then more music; 1500 timesignal and presumed news. TRT 11815 is best heard on weekends when Spain is not using its Costa Rica relay on that frequency; Japan is always on, but not a problem today (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. Checked 5800 for the WRN English football live relays via Mykolaiv, UKRAINE, Sat Dec 26 at 1511, but as expected, nothing heard. Checking the schedule later, in DXLD 9-086, no wonder, as today`s first match was to end at 1445, but there`s another at 1725-1930, Liverpool v Wolverhampton Wanderers; also Sunday 27th December,
1555-1800 Hull City v Manchester United. Axually, I would be surprised to hear 5800 way over here, but this may well be the last chance, on the final weekend of 2009. How do they know each match will last two hours and five minutes? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Tuneby 5890, 0557 Dec 26, at first thought PPP and WWCR-4 were missing again, but the carrier was on, openly; by 0602 modulation had resumed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 4011, Navy MARS net on SSB, Dec 26 at 1405, NNN0JRET and NNN0AS74 discussing procedures for Tuesday evening when one of them is apparently substituting for the other. Look at those callsigns, getting longer and longer, and now with numbers in the suffix. Are these secretly vanity-driven, or what? Google got zero hits on the first one, but three (!) on the second, all leading to my own previous report of another Saturday, Oct 18, 2008 at 1315 on 4825, so calls like that are not so new, per the gh of 14+ months ago. It`s incredible that no one else in the entire world of Googledom has reported either, before or since, nor have the calls leaked out in any public MARS documents (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 6074, 8GAL V/CQ marker just barely audible on CW Dec 26 at 1400-1401, at first beating against the slightly unstable Pet/Kam 6075 carrier which had just stopped modulating after timesignal; still not hearing China/Taiwan afterwards (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 17850 with another mysterious continuous tone test, Sat Dec 26 at 1433 and still at 1440; 1513 still audible but much weaker.
Scheduled here are BBC Somali via Cyprus at 14-15, and REE Spanish via Costa Rica from 1500. Perhaps Cyprus lost the feed from London. However, per Aoki the REE variable sign-on times are 1500 on Sundays only, 1600 Saturdays, 1800 M-F (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
** CANADA. What`s this, Xmas music on CFRX? Can hardly call it ``NewsTalk 10-10`` any more, at several 6070 chex UT Dec 25, and also 0556 UT Dec 26, with jazzed-up Joy to the World; however back to a call-in talkshow around 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake Dec 26 at 1417: very poor on 9000, nothing on 8400, 10210 or 11300; nor 11350 where it`s also been reported recently (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 6250, Dec 26 at 0559, fair S9+15 signal, with self-serving promo, ``Informamos lo que acontece, Radio Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial, desde Malabo``. 0600 short ID just as ``Radio Malabo``, hilife music, 0601 repeat the 0559 ID.
Since this is one of the worst, most corrupt dictatorships in Africa, we should take their claim with a grain of salt and perhaps establish a ``Radio Free Equatorial Guinea``. Any takers? Spain? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENINIG DIGEST)
** MOROCCO. 15345, RTM at 1507 Dec 26, good S9+15 signal, but no modulation. Well, almost none --- filling the gap was their transmitter whine (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NETHERLANDS [non]. 15595, RNW in English, 1426 Dec 26 with program promos for Bridges with Africa, European Jazz Stage; contact addresses, 1428 saying goodbye to WRN-Europe listeners, continuing to S Asia on 12080, 15595; 1429 Earthbeat Xmas special. 1506 going from news to The State We`re In, co-produxion with WAMU 88.5.
While 15595 is an erstwhile Madagascar frequency, hearing this reminds me that it has not been audible for a long time. The only reason we are hearing it now is that Hörby, SWEDEN, 350 kW toward S Asia is substituting due to fire at Talata which put the Mad relay off the air.
Details are here, now with a photo added of serious damage to the racks, and updates on substitute transmissions, also concerning Sweden and Vatican relays:
http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/fire-puts-rnw-madagascar-relay-station-off-the-air
As for 12080, altho it was announced, could hear nothing there but at 1509 a very weak carrier and could not match traces of modulation to 15595, which would not be synchronized anyway. That used to be Madagascar too, but in B-09 is scheduled as Tinang, Philippines before 1500, and UAE afterwards (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. Saturday mornings around 1430 one is faced with multiple choices for good SW music --- including Bulgaria, Cuba, Martí, Greece, Hmong Lao Radio. But from 1420 tune-in Dec 26 I was drawn most to 11815, Voice of Turkey in Turkish, wonderful music on plucked string instrument, male and female singers, and quite good reception on this 500 kW, 320 degree 14-17 UT transmission from Çakirlar toward Europe and consequently USward. 1432-1440 broke for pursed-lipped talk in Turkish, then more music; 1500 timesignal and presumed news. TRT 11815 is best heard on weekends when Spain is not using its Costa Rica relay on that frequency; Japan is always on, but not a problem today (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. Checked 5800 for the WRN English football live relays via Mykolaiv, UKRAINE, Sat Dec 26 at 1511, but as expected, nothing heard. Checking the schedule later, in DXLD 9-086, no wonder, as today`s first match was to end at 1445, but there`s another at 1725-1930, Liverpool v Wolverhampton Wanderers; also Sunday 27th December,
1555-1800 Hull City v Manchester United. Axually, I would be surprised to hear 5800 way over here, but this may well be the last chance, on the final weekend of 2009. How do they know each match will last two hours and five minutes? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Tuneby 5890, 0557 Dec 26, at first thought PPP and WWCR-4 were missing again, but the carrier was on, openly; by 0602 modulation had resumed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 4011, Navy MARS net on SSB, Dec 26 at 1405, NNN0JRET and NNN0AS74 discussing procedures for Tuesday evening when one of them is apparently substituting for the other. Look at those callsigns, getting longer and longer, and now with numbers in the suffix. Are these secretly vanity-driven, or what? Google got zero hits on the first one, but three (!) on the second, all leading to my own previous report of another Saturday, Oct 18, 2008 at 1315 on 4825, so calls like that are not so new, per the gh of 14+ months ago. It`s incredible that no one else in the entire world of Googledom has reported either, before or since, nor have the calls leaked out in any public MARS documents (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 6074, 8GAL V/CQ marker just barely audible on CW Dec 26 at 1400-1401, at first beating against the slightly unstable Pet/Kam 6075 carrier which had just stopped modulating after timesignal; still not hearing China/Taiwan afterwards (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 17850 with another mysterious continuous tone test, Sat Dec 26 at 1433 and still at 1440; 1513 still audible but much weaker.
Scheduled here are BBC Somali via Cyprus at 14-15, and REE Spanish via Costa Rica from 1500. Perhaps Cyprus lost the feed from London. However, per Aoki the REE variable sign-on times are 1500 on Sundays only, 1600 Saturdays, 1800 M-F (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###
