sabato 10 dicembre 2011

Glenn Hauser logs December 9-10, 2011

** CHILE. 17680, Dec 10 at 1359, CVC La Voz in Spanish with promo about winning US$500 for sending them a SW reception report! (I assume there is some catch, like a drawing.) Gave p-mail as Apartado 395, Talagante, Santiago; also by texting or e-mail oc @ cvclavoz.com
Info about other contests, but not mentioning reception reporting:
http://cvclavoz.com/concursos/
Should you win as a result of reading this, how about sending me a cut? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake Dec 10, before 1500:
12300, recent new frequency, very good with flutter at 1457-1500*. No others found 7-19 MHz by 1500. Suspect most of them were off as surely a few more should have been propagating, unless a very narrow LUHF/MUF window at the moment.

9790 // 9905 // 7445 // 6145, Dec 10 at 1513, Chinese synchronized, and about two seconds behind on 9810. Is this RFA or CNR1 jamming? The latter, as investigated in Aoki listings:
9790 has RFA via Saipan, 9905 RFA Palau, 7445 RFA Tinian, 6145 RTI, all of which Must Be Jammed, while 9810 is a legit CNR1 service via Nanning 954 site (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 6150, Dec 10 at 0526, RHC English is back here instead of 6125 where it is supposedly scheduled after 0500. 6150 is quite undermodulated, and with heavy ACI from normally modulated 6145, Romania. Perhaps Arnie noticed my comment that RHC was only 5 kHz from itself in Spanish on 6120 during the 05-06 hour, but going back to 6150 is no improvement, and this transmitter is so pathetic that they might as well turn it off. Or: asleep at the switch and forgot to change to 6125 at 0500. 6120 modulation was louder but rough and still not up to par.

13780, Dec 10 at 1501, RHC frequency announcement has been corrected to say 13670 instead of defunct 13680, but still nonsensically mentions it twice, ``en 22 metros, 13670 hasta las 16, y también 13780 y 13670 hasta las 16``. Attention announcer: please engage brain before reading what is put before you (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** FRANCE. 15300 and 17620, Dec 10 at 1332, break in musique for some news headlines in French, then a feature interview, so apparently not totally strike-filling musique at the moment from RFI; fair signals, the higher squeezed by Saudi on both sides (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUATEMALA. 4055, Dec 10 at 0526, R. Verdad with some Bach performed by voice with chorus instead of Klavier, nice S9+12 signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDIA. 9620, Dec 10 at 1321, open carrier with some hum, flutter, no modulation. HFCC shows nothing at all on 9620 between 0900 and 1430; but Aoki, where AIR gets listed whether it wants to or not, has the answer: 1230-1500 in Sindhi, 250 kW, 245 degrees from Aligarh. AIR is quite capable of broadcasting nothing, and this is no doubt another instance (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA [and non]. 9526-, Dec 10 at 1506, big het between equally poor signals, 9525 being CRI English, and 9526- surely VOI, as recently shifted here from 9525-; what little undermodulated audio I can make out from the upper doesn`t seem English, but tonal, maybe Chinese. Months ago, VOI would sometimes leave transmitter on past 1500 and start repeating the 1300 English, only to cut it off at odd times long before the end of the hour.

Yes, Ishida agrees,
http://rri.jpn.org/ that on Dec 10 they started Chinese at 1457; and the first day of 9526 ex-9525 was Dec 5. Other dates when on past 1500 it was also in Chinese. The next English is circa 1900, one day in French instead (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 810, Dec 10 at 0602 UT, barely copiable thru QRM is ID from XERI, ``Tamaulipas, 5000 watts, 25 años al aire``, then playing instrumental NA after local midnight. This is a bit surprising, as this Radio Rey, Reynosa is listed for only 100 watts at night (1000 day), vs the other Tamaulipan, XEFW in Tampico with 1000 night (50000 day). And IRCA Mexican Log 2010 says XERI is stereo too (C-QUAM?). Current Cantú and WRTH 2011 agree on the listed power figures. So is 5000 mere hype, or admission that they are running that much even at night? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 88.3, Dec 10 at 1630 UT, Enid`s Family Radio 250-watt satellator K202BY is missing; it may have been absent for some time, as it`s normally ignored anyway. Of course, these unattended translators fail periodically, and it often takes a while before anyone gets around to fixing them. But we can hope this is a consequence of Harold Camping`s stupidity and it`s gone for good.

The 60 dbu contour map at FCC FM Query shows from a site just west of SH 132 on extension of Willow Road, WNW of Enid, it reached only halfway into Enid anyway. Looking at the 88.3 listings for OK, there are 10 others, mostly translators or low-power, except for a 100 kW Cherokee Nation CP in Murphy, all of which should make for interesting DX. I can`t find Murphy on the maps, but FCC shows the site is axually near Big Cabin on I-44 SW of Vinita, quite some distance from Cherokee HQ in Tahlequah (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 1580, Dec 10 at 1344 UT, open carrier from KOKB Blackwell, and also from sister station 1020 KOKP Perry. That might have made way for no-longer mysterious Spanish Saturday mornings from 1580 in Fort Smith, but at 1400 sharp, without ID or sign-on, both of them start modulating with apparently live weekly show (p)reviewing high-school football games. This was not awaiting local sunrise, which is already at 1330 in Dec (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PRIDNESTROVYE. 7290, Dec 9 at 2129, Radio PMR is still on and opening German program. Since this was UT Friday, I was expecting them to be off the air for the weekend, after local midnight in UT+3 zone = 2100 UT. The time situation there is very confusing. One timeanddate.com pages says:

Transnistria will stay on DST, UT +3 after Oct 30, including Tiraspol:
http://www.timeanddate.com/news/time/transnistria-eternal-dst.html

and another says: Tiraspol: UT +2, no DST at the moment, Dec 10http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=949

This page also has Chisinau = Kishinev, Moldova on UT+2 at the moment:http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=177

Of course, any professional *external* service would not allow itself to be affected by local time changes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA. 9840, Dec 10 at 0530, VOR via Pet/Kam, English news headlines, somewhat over co-channel R. Rossii, with SAH/flutter between them. Since VOR has deprived us this winter of a NAm service until 0700, due to what ought to be irrelevant local time change in Moscow, I haven`t been hearing it much as I usually don`t start monitoring until 0600, after which the Moscow site R. Rossii is alone on 9840 and often coming in well. But today I reconfirm that they are still colliding before 0600, another example of monumental incompetence in frequency management, Russians vs Russians! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TAIWAN [non]. 6875, Dec 10 at 0524, RTI via WYFR is still in wrong language, Chinese instead of English. Has not a single regular English listener complained to them about this? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [non]. 9760, Dec 10 at 1506, VOA Eng-lish Teach-ing is either quite undermodulated, or is blotted by a stronger S9+25 open carrier, also with some hum. I could turn volume up to max and hear it at adequate non-distorting level, // 7520 Tinang which was normally modulated. Since 1500 is another unnecessary site-switch time for VOA English on 9760, from Thailand to Philippines, both transmitters could be on the air, altho would expect 21 degrees from Tinang to exceed 300 degrees from Udorn. BTW, China has finally got off 9760, no longer colliding with VOA after 1300, instead on 9765 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. 7490, Dec 9 at 2230, amid `Behaviour Night` early music, WBCQ is well atop co-channel BBCWS via THAILAND, unlike 24 hours earlier during WORLD OF RADIO; them`s the breaks as long as WBCQ does not go to a clear frequency like 7505, occupied by the imaginary WRNO. For those who have not yet heard this week`s WOR 1594, let me recommend UT Sunday 0500 on WTWW 5755 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 11715-, Dec 10 at 1519, KJES with English catechisms, slightly on the lo side toward 11714.9, but closer to on-frequency than usual. I wonder if 15385 is too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 560, Dec 10 at 0550 UT, tail end of `Jim Bohannon Show` on one of his original stations, KWTO Springfield MO, guest Willie Geist with some funny stuff; when that fades, also audible on 600 WMT Cedar Rapids. Also found still on 690, presumed KGGF Coffeyville KS, but more QRM there. Glad to find Jimbo still on a few audible stations here, since local KGWA 960 dropped him a few years ago. But now it`s easier to hear Jimbo on demand via
http://www.jimbohannonshow.com/programhighlights
Go to Dec 09 and the three-hour show autolaunches, minus all the commercials and breaks so it lasts only two hours. Advance player timer to 1:20 for the start of the third hour with Geist:

``If you get up early enough (5:30 am Eastern Time [1030 UT]) and flip on MSNBC, you'll get a look at the news from a kind of skewed perspective on the program `Way Too Early with Willie Geist`. In addition to his own show, Geist also co-hosts MSNBC's early morning chat fest `Morning Joe`, with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.

And now, Geist has taken his unusual way of looking at things and written a book about some important events in America - that never actually happened. The book is "American Freak Show: The Completely Fabricated Stories of Our New National Treasures" (published by Hyperion). In it, the real-life characters who now dominate the 24-hour news cycle are cast as stars in completely made-up scenes that are eerily not far from reality.`` Such as Pres. Palin delivering her inaugural address at WWF and refusing to be sworn in by a Washington-insider, C.J. Roberts (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1330, Dec 10 at 1344 UT, KNSS Wichita dominant, has C&W music when nulled, fast SAH, but fading by 1346. Most likely KCKM, Monahans TX as previously logged, only format fit in the area (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 14678.5-USB, Dec 10 at 1448, 2-way in colloquial Spanish, one stronger than the other, mentioning mar (sea) and médico (doctor); went on for quite a while, no IDs or anything identifiable caught (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)