mercoledì 20 luglio 2011

Glenn Hauser logs July 19-20, 2011

** AUSTRALIA. 15415, July 20 at 0550, RA with ``what is a dingo?`` quiz for immediate responses from Asia, not // much stronger 15160/15240 on the Pacific service.

9710, surprised to hear RA English on here, July 20 at 1140, since it`s supposedly scheduled only at 07-11 and 16-20 via Shep. Has live broadcast of British parliament all-day debate over Murdoch; sounds just like Question Time, constantly with rude noise interruptions. Is // 9590, 9580, 9475, and instead of 9560, weakly on 9570, but prior to CRI Cuban carrier on 9570, I think this may be a 9590/9580 mixing product in the receiver if not the transmitter.

Per HFCC, including current info for ABC via
http://hfcc.org/data/a11/index.phtml
9560 is supposed to take over the 353 degree beam from 9710 at 1100, so did they just miss the switch or is this a deliberate change?

9710 remained on: 1159 cut away from House of Commons, as ACI from 9715 Bonaire started, but by sidetuning, 9710- remained listenable for 1200 RA news, 1205 `Asia-Pacific` rather than back to London. Got some more shut-eye, and at next check 1341, 9710 was *still* going with promo for `Saturday Night Country`, then YL DJ talking about the UK situation, and still nothing audible on 9560 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake July 20, before 1200:
11500, JBA with flutter at 1146
12600, very poor with flutter at 1147, no others audible up to 18 MHz

Before 1400:
16980, poor with heavy flutter at 1331
16100, fair at 1328
15970, poor with flutter at 1331
15430, poor at 1329-1330* -- it`s back
13920, fair at 1332; none in the 14`s or 12`s
13130, good at 1333
11500, fair at 1335
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. 13590, July 20 at 1149, glib announcers in English and music I at first assumed were from CVC Zambia, but 1154 ID as CRI `Beyond Beijing`, 1155 into Chinese Studio, ``I want to learn Chinese; it can be fun!``. This buffer often gets cut off before finished as transmitter switching requires. Must be frustrating for students.

Lusaka is registered here all the way from 06 to 20 UT, 100 kW, 315 degrees aimed at Michigan, but no sign of it now; while CRI is 500 kW, 193 degrees from Beijing site, way off-target here but still easily listenable; not much else propagating above 12 MHz this early except lo-latitude Guiana French, Cuba and close-hop Canada (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GREECE. 15630, July 20 at 0136, fair signal with Greek music. As John Babbis pointed out, VOG is again on the wrong frequency, staying here instead of switching to 15650 at 2300. ERA axually registers both most of the day in HFCC, so they are covered but never using more than one at a time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUATEMALA. 4055+, July 20 at 1125, R. Truth in English mentioning Chiquimula; 1127 into Chinese! with some musical background, still at 1131. Signal surged briefly to S9+8 at 1128, sunrise enhancement. Theirs: 1138; Mine: 1129. Frequency very slightly high compared with BFO to JOZ+ 6055. Never heard R. Verdad in Chinese before. This 700-watt regional station acts like a trans-oceanic broadcaster, which it can be for the DXers (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ISRAEL. 15850, July 20 at 0137, poor signal with fluttery music, must be Galei Zahal. So I check their other, new, frequency which I have not yet heard: 9235 --- this one is now audible but very poor with music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** LAOS [non]. 9355, July 20 at 1157-1158* good signal, ``You have been listening to Radio Free Asia``, then Lao-sounding music until off. If they are going to bother to insert a closing ID in English, why not add the language it has been? Scheduled Lao at 11-12, 100 kW, 285 degrees via SAIPAN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MAURITANIA. 7245, July 20 at 0600, IGIM is on today with chanting. Nothing of course on night frequency 4845, where it was reported recently from NJ around 0730. Altho Nouakchott stix way out into the Atlantic, longitude 16 west, so really ought to be on UT-1 timezone, UT is observed, and per gaisma.com today`s sunrise is 0638 UT; at latitude 18 north there is a one-hour variation during the year, to be 0739 in six months. So now, much of a signal at 0730 on 60m is unlikely, an hour after local sunrise. What else could he have been hearing on 4845 with an ``excellent signal in Arabic``, 17 July at 0728-0735? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. Es opening of July 19 continued from last report, UT:

1632 on 3 from WSW, grafic at bottom shows towns including San Luís Río Colorado, so must be in XHBC Mexicali coverage area; then Baja California Turismo ad. 1635 on 3, bug lower right I have seen several times from XHBC has a leaf on a stem, hard-to-read slogan partly in script on two lines, and cut off by overscanned TV screen corner, so look up the website: it is; DE TODO UN POCO which means A Little Bit of Everything, M-F at 8 am PDT.

1741 on 3, the almost-zero-beat video CCI from WSW is growing, and at 1747 briefly overcoming XHBC is XHTJB Tijuana, with ONCE NOTICIAS in lower right, YL with map showing all of Mexico, hurricane in Atlantic.

1753 on 3, novela from net 2 in UR, Televisa oval logo in UL. CCI indicates this is still XHBC.

Kept an eye on channel 2, most of early UT July 20, and some signs of activity, but things really start hopping at:

0235 on 2, net-13
0237 on 4, net-2 novela
0314 on 2-5, lots of CCI

Then start monitoring 88.1 FM for signs of skip over KWOU.
0358 on 88.1, finally some soul music fades in over KWOU jazz, back out again

0358 on 5, 10:58 bug in LR, so from CDT zone, plus temp
0400 around here: see U S A
0419 on 5, WSW, net-13 novela, so XHAQ Mexicali
0419 on 6, English, show for fat ladies; CW bug LR, so XETV Tijuana
0419 on 3, usual almost-zero CCI between XHBC and XHTJB

0424 on 3, audio mix of Spanish, YL introducing concert acts with lots of audience noise; and much lower modulated, something in English!
0429 still some English, woman being interviewed; 0430 now both in Spanish, and 0432 Baja California PSAs atop. The channel 3 map at
http://www.dxinfocentre.com/TV3.pdf
shows there are a couple of analog ch 3 LP/translators in central CA and UT, but the closer ones in southern CA, and AZ are DTV. I think the English must have been from XHTJB: it`s not inconceivable that a border educational station would have a little English now & then. Per zap2it/SD Union, the Tuesday show until 9:30 pm is ``Colegio Nacional, Grandes Pensadores Mexicanos``, unseems what I was getting.

0434 on 4, ads in Spanish for Gatorade; salud-es-belleza/Walmart; snow-free briefly

0440 on 90.7, briefly a bit of Spanish overcomes the local overload as  I maneouvre the whip on the DX-398. Probably Mexicali

0536 on 3, XHTJB is atop with ONCE NOTICIAS at LR, starting with dust storm in Phoenix. 0530-0600 UT is their `Noticiario Nocturno` block

Next morning JBA signals from WWCR 15825, 13845, no sporadic E tipoff today from that direxion, but:

1430 on 2, something infades weakly from SSW; 1435 net-5 toons atop. Weak CCI next sesquihour, nothing identifiable

1607, weak signals showing on 3, 4 and 5, still 1634, but too weak and mixed to ID anything.

1648, now all channels 2-6 have growing CCI but nothing dominates; time to check FM

1651 on 88.1, like TV, CCI mix of at least two stations, one with music, one with adstring including Soriana department store, Michoacán government PSA, so XHZN Zamora again

1651 on 88.5, Spanish breaking thru now and then, 1655 mentions ``88 punto 5``. Rest of this opening will have to wait for my next report (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 93.3, K227AT, one of my several DX-blocking local gospel huxter translators in Enid, noted cutting off the air and on, mostly off, July 20 at 0541 UT; relays KIMY 93.9 originating in much smaller town Watonga OK. Has been known to relay DX when the 93.9 input signal is overridden, but I`d rather have it off for good. A few days ago when I was trying to DX 93.1, noticed its ACI coming and going abruptly. It`s still/again off at 1616 UT check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SAUDI ARABIA [non]. 15250, July 20 at 1151, as usual BSKSA`s only English broadcast is blocked by China, plus a het which could be additional jamming of VOA Chinese as scheduled before and after 1200. SA obviously does not put any priority on PR abroad among English-speaking listeners; we can hear it on many frequencies in Arabic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SERBIA [non]. 9685, July 20 at 0113, VG open carrier, must be IRS. I leave it on until it finally cuts off a few sex before 0133. Not only did IRS stay on past 0100 in English on UT Sunday when it was not supposed to, but on the only day of week when it *is* supposed to be on after 0100 for an additional semihour of Serbian, it was dead air! Who wants to stay awake all night in Bijeljina, BOSNIA, or Beograd to make sure everything worx? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TIBET [non]. 19000, nothing audible after 1200 July 20; Wolfgang Büschel suggests R. Free Asia via Kuwait at 12-14 has been trying this frequency instead of scheduled lower ones, and Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, did hear it July 18 at 1205. Nothing at all is currently scheduled on this band in HFCC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U K [non]. 17830, July 20 at 1409, BBC poorly audible, 65 degrees via ASCENSION, interviewing reporter at House of Commons about ``all-day debate`` in Parliament on the Murdoch affair; earlier I had heard live broadcast of that until 1159 on R. Australia [q.v.]. In the meantime looked for it on any US cable TV network, but unfound. Enough is enough, even for the BBC? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 5755, July 20 at 0138 past 0151, I belatedly remember that the memorial service for Pastor Pete Peters was supposed to start at 0100 via WTWW. Phone calls are on air one after another, and never heard the number given, so must have a full bank and/or set up in advance. Everyone shared their memories and esteem for the late PPP; some of the calls were quite distorted.

9479, July 20 at 1339 as I tune across WTWW, hear one of the same YL callers the night before on 5755 in tribute to the late PPP. According to
http://www.sfawbn.org/schedule.html
13-14 UT M-F is the customary playback time of ``last night`` `Live from Radio Ranch` at 01-02 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. During Es opening from NW Mexico, UT July 20: 0358 on 88.7, SRN ``news`` strong and steady, not // local KLVV translator 98.5, so 88.7 is not our semi-local KLVV. 0400 IDs for KJIL et al. Their only 88.7 outlet per website
http://kjil991.com/index.php?page_id=uxt9bg4e&description=Listen_Almost_Anywhere!
is Tribune KS. But FM Atlas shows the only non-translator Kansans on 88.7 are in Dodge City, Oketo and Eureka. Dodge is the one I ought to be getting if any, the other two far away in other parts of KS, but KVDC is hi-power 45 kW and would surely block little Tribune translator which is on the west-central edge county next to Colorado. Anyway, KVDC would not be on this network since the KJIL base station on 99.1 is not far away in Copeland. During daytime-dead conditions July 20 at 1616, 88.7 is again // 98.5 translator, so KLVV. The question remains, why was I hearing KJIL on 88.7?

0401 on 90.5, SRN ``news`` in strong with Es fading during TV opening from BCN; see MEXICO. RDS icon flashes, but doesn`t stay strong enough long enough to display; this network always worx in stories on hot-button topix to far-right religious extremists, often in a disapproving tone, and with optional cutaways every minute. 0403 back to gospel rock and fade. KSOS, 100 kW in Las Vegas NV looks like the best bet: program schedule shows some `News on the Hour` but not from where, and not exactly at 9 pm PDT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9985, July 20 at 0558, surprised to find VG signal with gospel music. WYFR used to be here before their drastic cutbax to nothing of their own after 0500. I`ll bet it`s WWCR-1 on wrong frequency, so I quickly check 3215, and sure `nuff, it`s missing. Back to 30m, and also quick check of 10000 whether the spur on 10000.6 can be heard, but not before 9985 which was S9+22 with squeal, cut off at 0559*. Then retuned again to 3215 and it cut on at *0559:30 amid same music continuing, without benefit of steel drums or QSY announcement. 9985 is scheduled for 09-11 UT only; a mistake, or propagation test? Too much noise on 90m to hear the spurs (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9370, July 20 at 1208, WTJC is out of whack again, distorted on fundamental and outspurring to 9345/9395 with dirty noise disrupting other stations including N Korea 9345, peaking closer to 9350, 9390 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 13380.0 AM, July 20 at 0552, S9+20 open carrier, then multi-tone digital bursts. Search at UDXF yg gets several hits from February this year, such as this for 13380-USB at a different time:

``It's MFA [Ministry of Foreign Affairs] Sofia using the RFSM8000 software package. There seems to be a misconfiguration in their system, as you can frequently hear the typical Windows error sound between the data bursts. Similar activity has been noted around 9052/9053 kHz. BRGDS //Leif Dehio [Germany]``

However, this was so strong I would guess Cuba rather than Bulgaria (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###