domenica 8 agosto 2010

Glenn Hauser logs August 4-7, 2010

** ANGUILLA. 6090, DGS as usual Aug 7 at 0534 check during jazz music break // WWCR on both 5935 and 5890. Some downunderite had reported The Overcomer Ministry on 6090! But that is unbelievable. It`s also incredible how anyone could confuse Dead Gene Scott with Brother Scare, each with inimitable voice and style. However if MEGO, all gospel huxters may sound alike (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ANTARCTICA. 15476+, LRA36, at 1255 Aug 5, YL with a discussion in Spanish; 1259.5 song. Best reception in a while, fading from S3 to S9+5 peaks, and even better than Cuba on 15380. 1318 still songs; nothing on 15480 to het it, and Turkey 15450 also inaudible with somewhat auroral conditions. 1338 YL mentioned ``Esperanza`` which would have helped to definitize the log if I weren`t already positive, mixing with music but weakening. Now I have local VHF 2-way repeater image QRM, fortunately only brief intermittences. 1353 still audible with rap, and past 1404 when I quit. Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, had measured it on 15476.020 on July 29 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Tho Ron Howard found Firedrake had resumed sporadically on 8400, when I checked Aug 7 at 1305, nothing audible in noise level and poor propagation, neither FD nor Sound of Hope; nor anywhere up to 13 MHz before 1300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GERMANY [non]. Reinforcing my impression that my recent log of DW German on 9465 was unusual, compared to the nightly reception on 9480, even tho both are listed as from Rwanda: Aug 5 at 0524, 9480 was VG while 9465 was only poor. 9480 is 30 degrees, 9465 180 degrees --- neither favorable for here around 315 degrees, so why the disparity? Possibly we are normally in a big sidelobe from one and a null from the other. Also could be that for maintenance or whatever, DW made a temporary site substitution not listed. BTW, 9480 changes to Woofferton site after 0600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also UNID 9479

** INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI with problems again, Aug 7 at 1303, big S9+25 carrier featuring nothing but hum for modulation. 1305:10 joined English news in progress, and lessened hum; must have wiggled that patchcord (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** LIBERIA. 4025-, usual presumed Star Radio situation, very weak carrier, with BFO on, slightly lower when compared to the Cuban signal 1.000 MHz higher, Aug 5 at 0509. And Aug 7 at 0538 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX SITUATION)

** LIBYA. As first noted by Ivo Ivanov on Aug 6, V. of Africa`s new frequencies were missing. Then Aug 7 at 0530 check, I found nothing audible on 9870 and 9880 which had been in Arabic from VOA. Other broadcasts were also reported missing by other monitors, and on Aug 7, Joe Hanlon, NJ, found English at 14-16 was back on the previous pair, 17725 and 21695 which had been replaced a few weeks ago by 15235 and 15240. So have all the old times and frequencies been reactivated? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO [continued from last report]. Another ch 2 fade-in at 1742 UT Aug 4, now with Azteca-7 news bug in LR with temp 32, 12:42 clock, no doubt XHTAU Tampico. Soon with 10-kHz-away offset CCI in video only ads in English including Bug Barrier, surely XHRIO Matamoros, still analog in English as Fox affiliate. Both gone within a minute. A bit more Mexican Es touched channel 2, Aug 4 at 2034 UT, when some Spanish faded in briefly from the SSW with ads (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. 6250, weak Spanish at 0509 Aug 5 again proved to be // strong Spanish on 6080, i.e. Bonaire relay of NHK, leapfrogging over another Bonaire transmitter on 6165, RNW Dutch, the fulcrum and consequently the spur offgoing at 0527, while 6080 continues a bit longer. No sign of Equatorial Guinea on 6250. Anyone reporting Spanish on 6250 before 0527 must rule out 6080 // to assume it is EqG (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA [and non]. 1580, KOKB Blackwell still defaults to open carrier for long periods of time, presumably losing webfeed and nobody is around to start it back up immediately. Was OC Aug 6 at 2345 UT; also 1310-1415+ Aug 7 for another Spanish-mystery DXing session, see UNIDENTIFIED; and also still OC at 1815 UT.

1120, Aug 7 at 1815 I heard rap, from KEOR Sperry-Tulsa. Bruce Winkelman in Tulsa noted that the station it used to simulcast, KJMU 1340 Sand Springs, was off the air instead at 0011 UT Aug 6, while 1120 KEOR had soul music. He says 1340 was still silent at 0334 UT Aug 6, and at 1300, while at 1315, 1120 had a preacher instead of urban contemporary music.

1240, at 1815 UT Aug 7, from a `hot spot` store parking lot in western Enid, had an echo from ESPN Radio, i.e. two stations unsynchronized on same network: KADS Elk City OK underneath the dominant daytime signal here, KFH Wichita KS, which must have changed format from News/talk as in 2009 NRC AM Log.

780, KSPI Stillwater OK is still putting out spurs at 774 and 786 kHz as I last reported in April. These are especially obvious on the 10-kHz-step caradio, making hets against weak signals on 770 and 790, e.g. Aug 7 at 1829 (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. DXing with Cumbre had not been reported on SW for many months, despite still appearing on the WHR program schedule search at
http://www.whr.org/Program-Schedules.cfm#DETAILED_SCHEDULE_SEARCH

If you enter Marie Lamb as program host, you get 22 scheduled airings per week [or 17 if 5 of them are duplicates], but upon many chex, those SW frequencies have not really been on the air.

But is WHR at least webcasting DWC at these times? We need to invoke some Angels this weekend. Two current WHR scheduled times on Saturday we could check are:
1600 on 17520 Angel 5
1830 on 11785 Angel 6

This independent archive of DX programs
http://www.rfprograms.com/ has no DWC since last August. At that time perhttp://cdxpodcast.ralabs.com/archives/category/announcement
Marie had been making excuses about once a month for not producing a program. On the program website, the latest `new show` listed was for 15 May 2010. Has DXing with Cumbre disappeared, gone almost 3 months already? http://cdxpodcast.ralabs.com/archives/category/new-show

So we monitored the Angel 5 webcast from before 1600 UT Sat Aug 7. At 1600, on came DWC! In the intro, Marie said it was #664, recorded Thursday, August 5, 2010. Mentioned is also on iTunes under hobby podcasts, and on WRN to Europe, no time given; have to look it up. Said she had not done a program last week, however, and wrapped it up at 1618, but theme played on and on until 1620, only 20 minutes instead of 30; then Rhapsody in Blue filling out the semihour! Quite lo-fi on the music. After the usual opening plugs for Cumbre and sponsor, Chris Lobdell was on from 1605 and still until 1618 or so with his pirate report(s). Meanwhile around 1610 we also checked 17520, and to our amazement, it was really on the air with DWC. So now we have one time to add to the SW DX program listings. However, next one per WHR schedule was absent, no signal on 11785 at 1830.

Unfortunately, WWCR has moved the 12160 airing of WORLD OF RADIO to the very same time on Saturdays, 1600 instead of 1630, as also confirmed Aug 7 by monitoring and webcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WYFR the 13m OSOB, Aug 7 at 1836: 21485 German, 21525 French, better 21670 Spanish; not especially strong, but interesting that at the moment, English on the 13 MHz band were weaker, 13615 and 13690 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. I was visiting Wichita KS Aug 5-6, a respite from radio, altho I went to a concert co-sponsored by KMUW; but on the way back made some obs in the car:

1390, at 2342 UT Aug 6, KCRC Enid had considerable CCI from Spanish music. Position: just N of South Haven barely inside KS. Skywave was already kicking in. NRC AM Log 2009 indicates the only Spanish match in neighboring states to OK, indeed anywhere in mid-America, is KDQN in De Queen AR, which is near the SW corner of that state. NRC Pattern Book shows it non-direxional unlike KCRC which aims WNW. Not a chance of hearing KDQN dentro-Enid, of course.

1500, nostalgia music, no doubt KJIM from N Texas, Aug 6 before 0000 UT, and when rechecked at 0006 had robotic weather from NWS, but no definite locations caught. Briefly wondered if there were a HAR/TIS on this frequency, but soon back to nostalgia; and at 0012, ``AM 1500, KJIM, The Memory Maker``, dominating frequency, Pawhuska no problem. Listened to it for some time, but at 0100 recheck ``The new ESPN 1500, KSTP`` was taking over. I thought KJIM, a 1 kW direxional daytimer, might have just signed off, but FCC shows 0115 UT as the official LSS for Sherman TX in August.

1560, ``The Game``, very dominant at 0054 Aug 7, with Houston weather promo, 0056 ID as KGOW, 1560 AM, Bellaire TX. Totally over KOCY OKC. At 0100 much weaker with CCI, as it had just cut from 50 kW day power toward the NNE, to 15 kW night power toward the SSE.

1580, KOKB Blackwell OK, we were even closer to than in Enid, enjoying its nice uncluttered open carrier, Aug 6 at 2345, tho with volume upturned could also hear skywavers underneath it; getting all set for another Saturday morning 13-14 UT Spanish fiesta: see UNIDENTIFIED.

1610 kHz: KTA (Kansas Turnpike Authority) has several useful HAR transmitters along the route. A robotic YL voice gives weather info from Kansas City to Topeka to Wichita, but it`s jerky with inhuman intonation and pauses; some other segments are voiced by real people, like please do not run over highway workers and incur a double fine. Could not hear anything on 530 from KTA as I have further into OK, but the T-storm noise was worst at the low end of the band.

1660, Aug 6 at 2351 sportstalk about baseball, while earlier in the hour, prime format classical music was in from KXTR Kansas City KS. We know this station often pre-empts cl for SBG, so presumably that`s it, sure to dominate in Kansas. But wait --- they are talking about Fargo-Morehead, and Winnipeg, so must be KQWB, quite a nice signal overriding KC. But wait again! Discussion soon turns to talk of Kansas City team, KXTR ID in passing, and referencing
http://www.tbonesbaseball.com/ where we find:

``The Kansas City T-Bones have partnered with Entercom for the 2010 season to bring you all 100 regular-season T-Bones games! T-Bones game broadcasts will be featured on KXTR 1660 AM, with select games on 610 Sports Radio KCSP. Join the "Voice of the T-Bones" Brian Bruce for all the action.``

Anyhow, a nice lesson in not jumping to ID conclusions. I suppose a sense of humor is to be commended, but being named for a cut of steak might not appeal to all players. Still, the beefier, the better, tnx to steroids. KC is of course famous for meat packing, but hardly the capital of such, vs Chicago, Omaha, Amarillo, etc.

Strangely, the listen live link from streamtheworld.com when checked 22 hours later, altho visibly active, was really silent, and displayed the strange call KUDLIO.

1680, ``Old School 1680 AM, KRJO`` quite a good dominant signal as late as 0050 UT Aug 7 as we were passing thru Medford OK. Aug sunset in Monroe LA is officially 0100, so it was getting the max out of 10 kW day power (Glenn Hauser, KS and OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 840, in daytime bandscan from hotspot parking lot in western Enid, 1818 UT Aug 7, could hear SAH of between 6 and 7 Hz on this frequency. KTIC, 5 kW in West Point NE, has been audible here daytimes under optimum conditions, but what could the other be? KWDF in Ball, central LA seems next closest, 8 kW. Also possibly WHAS Louisville KY, KVJY in Pharr, extreme S TX (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 1580, another Saturday morning, Aug 7, so another session trying to pull anything identifiable out of the Spanish sportstalk I have been getting for weeks, only on Saturdays between 1300 and 1400 UT, underneath the open carrier from KOKB Blackwell OK, when applicable, and usually it is.

1312, tune-in, discussing Mundial de Sudáfrica. 1318 rolled tape until 1404 and may listen to it again sometime for any further details.

1322, tone and interruption by NWS flash flood advisory for NE Arkansas, which is hardly applicable to KHGG in NW AR. But KHGG is the main QRM to the Spanish, KHGG losing out as the hour proceeded.

1323, Spanish fades back in; 1329 still sports talk, mentions Copa América 2007. 1332 mentions about three times for upcoming partidos (games), maybe to be broadcast by same station. Then mentions Los Ángeles, Dallas, and some league with three or four initials in Spanish.

1345, fadeup again. This hour is just two guys conversing; not taking callers.

1348, break for promo or ad by screaming totally insincere announcer. Who falls for that? 1350 ad for leche(?), price in pesos(?), I think, which of course points to USM rather than USA source.

1351, sports discussion mentions El Salvador, Europa. KHGG seems to be gone by now.

1356, copied phone number clearly in Spanish: 633-8340. See below.

1359 fading, back up at 1403, still Spanish. 1404 another hard-sell ad, back to sports. 1410 mentions fútbol americano. 1415 gone as I quit; KOKB still open carrier.

Googling on 633-8340, pronounced 6-3-3-83-40 we get some intriguing hits; of course there could be others:

In 479 AC there is Massage Envy in Rogers AR, i.e. in KHGG coverage area.

In 719 AC, Health Partners in Colorado Springs, i.e. KREL country.

In 602 AC, it`s an active number in Phoenix, KMIK, territory, but everyone wants me to pay to find out who it belongs to.

Also hits in 307 AC for a window company in Cheyenne WY, but no 1580s around there; and in the 575 AC for Nara Visa NM, ditto (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. As I was bandscanning before retiring UT Aug 7, at 0531 came upon big het against DW German via Rwanda on 9480; it`s normally in the clear. DW was still stronger, and could not make out what the station on 9479 was saying. Since WTWW is the only station in the world at any time on that frequency, I figured they were for some reason on day frequency instead of 5755. Checking 5755, nothing there, so that seemed to clinch it.

I notified WTWW, and later heard back from Ted Randall that he and other engineers were working on a problem with the frequency change gearbox and the power level, but he says it was not on the air when I heard it, altho they did switch back and forth to 9479 when troubleshooting at 0400-0410; and was back on 5755 when finished at 0730. It seems highly improbable to me that any other station would have been putting a spur on 9479 just when WTWW was experiencing these problems, but let`s see if we hear it again and can ID it as something else (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###