lunedì 25 ottobre 2010

Glenn Hauser logs October 24-25, 2010

** ANTARCTICA. 15476, LRA36 carrier barely detectable Oct 25 at 1307, weaker than UK 15480 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ARGENTINA. 28419-USB, checking a semihour after I was getting PY2LOW on 28420, instead heard LW4VU (?) with contest contacts by George (Jorge? He pronounces it sorta Frenchly). His dixion makes it hard to tell whether he is saying Victor or Italy. Like so many hams he mixes up different fonetik alfabets: Lima Whisky Four Italy/Victor? United. Heard this over and over and could not figure out which.

Then I look up both LW4IU and LW4VU in QRZ.com --- neither listed. So I try every other letter in the fourth slot, and find only one hit, which must be it, as I am certain of the L, W, 4, and U:

LW4EU
Jorge Manuel Conde Saubidet
Belgrano 100
Chacabuco Zip Code 6740,
Argentina

I guess he was saying ``echo`` or some other E-word (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL. This map may be handy, altho hams don`t always realize bands are open if no one is calling CQ.
http://www.vhfdx.info/spots/map.php?Lan=E&Frec=28&ML=M&Map=NA

When I checked it at 2040 UT Oct 24, there were contact lines all over it from North America, Caribbean, South America. Fired up 10 meters, and first station I heard was PY2LOW, São Paulo on 28420-USB, working US stations in English, such as N1ZZ, with peculiar fonetix Papa Yellow Two London Ocean Washington. Best area for phone DX is in the 28.4`s.

You can change to other maps, different continents, and if things really get hot, go up to 50 MHz or higher. When 10 meters is open, 12 is likely to be too, and there were several good ham signals there in the 24.9`s.

And don`t forget to look for broadcast harmonics too in this range. 2 x 13 MHz band on 27 MHz, 3 x 9 MHz band on 28 MHz, etc. (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CANADA. 7325, R. Canada Internal, Oct 25 at 1142 with fancy fiddling cadenza, could have been Enid`s own Kyle Dillingham, but is in RCI`s Arabic service, as followed by such an announcement, at the moment unusually well atop co-channel CRI in Japanese (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHILE. 10 and 12 meters are less open than earlier, but 15 is good, with lots of DX signals, including on 21342 at 2318 Oct 24, Chile ham working numerous Japan stations (also audible weaker, including JA2FUJ), thru pileups of US stations. It`s hard to copy his call but at least he says it with every contact, sounding like ``X-ray radio three, three alfa alfa`` -- but with two `threes`? QRZ.com does find it:

XR33AA
RadioClub de Chile
CE3AA Special Call
Celebrating Atacama miners rescue, RM 8330996
Chile

O, I get it: 33 miners. He doesn`t have time to say anything about them, just make CQ WW DX contest contacts as rapidly as possible (which I assume ends at 2359z). The US stations do not even bother to state his callsign, just their own. That should not constitute a valid contact, but we know it does, as long as he can be heard saying theirs and exchange signal report.

Another little thing: the QRZ.com listing does not say WHERE this is?! Chile is a big (long) country. Is it really at the mine site? I doubt it, but who knows? Might have an historic QSL to collect (Glenn Hauser, OK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake Oct 25: none found 8-18 MHz after 1307. E Asian propagation continues to be depressed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA [and non]. 6105, Oct 25 at 1120 pulse jamming against nothing, causing ACI to RHC 6110 and vice versa. 6105 was an extra R. Martí frequency we logged on April 20, but thought it had been out of use for months now; had been scheduled until 1130, then shift to 11845. At least Mérida is inactive so can`t be harmed by this.

9965, DentroCuban Jamming Command with wall of noise Oct 25 at 1152, as well as on 9955 vs WRMI. Arnie probably read our reports of Radio República on 9965 from 1100, altho we have never heard it at any time on this frequency. Previously the jamming did not start until 1358. Another check at 1317, jamming still on 9965, but not 9955.

Terry Krueger in FL has succeeded in hearing R. República on 9965.5, Oct 22 at 1239 weak plus jamming; Oct 23 1221-1234 RR clear with no jamming; Oct 24 at 1227 in the clear (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUATEMALA. ``So as sundown approaches, monitor 4052.5``, I suggested to the dxldyg following news from Dr Madrid that R. Truth was about to reactivate its repaired main transmitter.

That`s exactly what I was doing all Sunday evening periodically, UT Oct 24-25, starting at:
2313: nothing yet
0022: trace of carrier near 4052.5, also 4050 (KWMO) carrier, not 4055
0123: same
0228: 4052.5 carrier is a little stronger, but T-storm noise has been too high
0357: a little better still, but not enough

Previous Sundays has been reported closing down shortly after 0400 UT Monday, but will check again in the 05-06 period in case still on. So far it does not seem like there has been a drastic power increase, altho the frequency has changed back to the original split.

[later:] At 0540, nothing detectable on 4052.5 or 4055.

However there was an S9+18 open carrier on 4035.0 with some hum, still on when I quit at 0605; never noticed that earlier or previously. Probably unrelated.

At 1124, I am back on 4052.5 and can hear a bit of music, very weak with het from 4050, presumably KWMO x 3. Since TGAV thinx it should be on 4052.5 instead of 4055, this will be a continuing problem, while 4055 was a clear frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI absent Oct 25 at 1310 and later chex. It had been on as usual Oct 24, and previous dates tho not bothered to report it. Meanwhile RRI on 9680 was still going at 1311 Oct 25, fair with Indonesian conversation, gamelan, 1322 phoner on the air (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MAURITANIA. Looking for ORTM early on 7245 again, Oct 25 at 0604, but not there, nor on 4845, nor before 0600 when Portugal occupies 7240 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. Circa sunrise MW DX Oct 25 on DX-398, internal antenna:

540, Oct 25 at 1158, Ejército y Fuerza Aérea PSA from government, W Radio promos, 1200 into local San Luís Potosí news by YL; from XEWA.

620, Oct 25 at 1205 after long orchestral NA, sign-on by XEBU, Chihuahua mentioning 10 mil watts.

700, Oct 25 at 1243, several mentions of phone 52-3-13-13, ``aquí en Ciudad Parral``, and hours it may be called, street address, mentions astrology. Same station I heard Oct 17, XEGD, Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua, with ``Consejos para un mejor vivir``.

1100, Oct 25 at 1217, some ranchera music audible only with KFAB IBOC nulled. XENAS, Navojoa, Sonora looks best bet (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 28436-USB, after getting S America as far as Chile, Argentina and Brasil, I did not expect to hear a ham on 10m only one kilomile away, Oct 25 at 2137, Luís, from Guadalajara, 4B1GZU, Four Bravo One Golf Zulu United (whatever became of Uniform?), working KE5ECB and many others. QRZ.com shows:

4B1GZU, Luis Zepeda, P.O.Box 5-273, Guadalajara, Jalisco, 45042 Mexico

Due to the short distance, I thought this might be sporadic E mixing in with F2, but Peter Baskind, N4LI, Memphis, says, ``I worked him about 30 minutes ago. S9 to my wire. This is F2.  The fact that I worked him implies that the layer is pretty ionized. That's a good sign. The West Coast is really, really loud, too`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. As previously reported, for about a week, I had not been seeing any trace of KCHM-CA, ch 36 analog, OKC, the tail-wagging-dog relay of KUOK-35 Woodward getting Univisión into the much larger Metro market. But it is showing up again UT Oct 25 at 0216 and the rest of the evening // KWDW 48 and about the same strength, whereas 36 always used to be much stronger than 48. Perhaps it had been off the air for some reason, but at least it`s not closed down permanently yet for flash-cut to DTV. It would be nice if anyone in OKC would keep track of the local on-air TV scene. The next midday after tropo burned off, 36 resumed near-invisibility like 48. In the meantime, KRSC-36 Claremore DTV was in from 75 degrees away; see U S A (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TUNISIA. RTT again on correct frequency 7275 instead of 7225, Oct 25 at 0551 with YL in Arabic, music, and continues to be somewhat undermodulated. At 0556:30 I find the open carrier has started on 7335, 0557:19 starts modulating song // 7275, and the mod level on 7335 is also noticeably louder than 7275 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 6890, WEWN, Oct 25 at 0547 preacher in English, with continuous crackle undercurrent, plus mushy spurs about 9 kHz above and below. When there are broadcast stations 10 kHz away, e.g. 13835 vs 13845 from same transmitter, results in horrible QRM, but there are none now, WYFR being safe enough at 6875. Does M. Angelica ever listen to her own station? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 3160, WPJK x 2, SC, again late signing on, Oct 25: Nothing there at 1127-1133. Retune at 1139 and now they are in sign-on message, 1140 train whistling and gospel music. Poor reception today with storm noise level probably from Alabama/Georgia area (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Hunting harmonix other than WPJK, Oct 25 at 1257 I come to 4434 kHz, with a distorted big hum and talk by YL audible, sounds like Joyce Riley --- yes, sure enough it is // WWCR 7490. The S9+20 signal on 4434 fades slightly, heard on both the FRG-7 even if fully attenuated, and on the YB-400; 1300 WWCR ID with 4 x 100 kW transmitters. Plus spurs, as I seriously suspect this is a transmitted one, altho 7490 itself has overloading super-signal. It`s 3056 kHz away from fundamental, so I also check +3056 = 10546 but hear nothing there, altho if there were a mirror match, it should propagate with 9980 also super-signal by now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 720, KDWN Las Vegas NV, Oct 25 at *1244:40 UT again cuts onto day pattern an hour too early, amid Heidi Harris telling how to vote on state questions, 1246 to traffic report; 1253 had faded down but soon back up.

790, Oct 25 at 1248 UT, KNST Tucson AZ again dominating over KFYO Lubbock TX and anything else, with ID, news, 1251 Wall Street Journal This Morning.

860, KOAM lives! Oct 25 after CBS News ended with kicker about Bullwinkle, at 1210 UT I was surprised to hear a ``KOAM News Update``, mentioning ``the four states``, stories from Joplin, Neosho, Pittsburg, KOAM mentioned a couple more times, but at 1212 transformed into ``Classic Country AM 860, KKOW``, music.

KOAM [Kansas/Oklahoma/Arkansas/Missouri] was the original call on 860, Pittsburg KS. Still applies to TV station on 13, with a CP to move back to original 7 and increase power. Not to any FM station, let alone AM 860. So apparently the TV station supplies the local news bits to KKOW, whether or not they are still commonly owned.

880, Oct 25 at 1247 UT, preacher in English from east/west, certainly not KRVN. Could be KLRG Sheridan AR 50 kW, but NRC AM Log has that as talk. Could also be KHAC Tse Bonito NM = Window Rock AZ, which is religious plus Navajo. After all, I am also getting KDWN 720 Las Vegas NV, but it`s also before sunrise in TB/WR, so should be on 430 watt night power instead of 10 kW day, nondirexional at all times.

920, Oct 25 at 1234 UT, lo-key single announcer with local Utah news dominating frequency, traffic accident, Uinta and adjacent Duchesne county unemployment rates; 1236 ``AM 920 KVEL News-Talk``, ad. KVEL is in Vernal, NE corner of state, dinosaur country. NRC AM Log says 5/1 kW, mentions no PSRA, but this is well before sunrise there. NRC Pattern Book shows night has major lobe to the NE, very minor one sort of toward us, while daytime is non-direxional. I bet it was really the latter.

1430, Oct 25 at 1354 UT, ``Studio 1430`` acknowledges a listener in Germany (presumably webcast), from NW/SE, then ``The Man in My Girl`s Life`` song involving speaking more than singing; SAH of about 10 Hz but dominating channel despite two OK 1430s, more than an hour after LSR here. It`s also after sunrise there which in October is 1315 UT; November 1345. Night pattern goes slightly east of north; daytime nondirexional. 1359 mentioning non-smokers dying in Nebraska; 1400 CNN News; 1403, 8:03 timecheck in the ``Breakfast Club``, local headlines mentioning Denver. So this is KEZW, COL suburb Aurora, with format, news network and slogan all corresponding to info in NRC AM Log also headquartered there (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Checking out OKLAHOMA analogs 36 and 48, also noticed a lot of weak DTV signals so swung antenna around eastward, Oct 25 at 1440. KRSC-36 Claremore in well with Classic Arts on 35.1.

And with KWTV finally gone forever from RF9, glad to see another channel 9 DTV signal, strong enough to decode: KAFT, Fayetteville AR, which is licensed at only 19 kW ERP, with a CP for 37.9. And logged with FOUR virtual channels unlike only two we get from OETA on-air.

13-1, KAFT-1, Sesame Street, so main PBS channel
13-2, KAFT-2, Create
13-3, KAFT-3, Plus
13-4, KAFT-4, AIRS, video only a slide but shifting to different fonts and colors centered on a dark background:

``You are listening to
AIRS
Arkansas Information
Reading Service
For The Blind``
Audio was in the clear. Faded out before 1500 UT (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. TP MW carrier search Oct 25: around 1155 UT looked for 747 and 774 from Japan, but not. A bit better in fuller scan 1221 downward in LSB mode: 1098, 774, 747, 738; 1223 upward in USB mode: 747 774, 828, 1098, 1116 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. While 10 meters was open from S America, I quickly tuned thru 11 meters and heard a number of freebanders in Spanish, but not wasting my time trying to ID them, Oct 24 at 2128-2132: 27690, 26365, 26580, 26560. Modulation left a lot to be desired, some SSB distorted, others FM distorted (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###