giovedì 9 febbraio 2012

Glenn Hauser logs February 9, 2012

** ANTARCTICA. 15476, since it`s Thursday, just in case a couple chex in case LRA36 be reactive: No, not even a carrier detectable at 1358, 1443 Feb 9 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. 7255, Feb 9 at 1341, Firedrake-like music, but not exactly, as it`s CRI Russian service with announcement at 1342, 500 kW, 37 degrees from SZG site also USward; Shijiazhuang not to be found on the map, page 55 of the WRTH 2012, until looked up on page 662 to find it`s a.k.a. Nanpozhuang, southwest of Beijing.

As for real Firedrake, none found 1345-1355 Feb 9, searching 7-18 MHz.

7220 and 7435, Feb 9 at 1358-1400, still can`t make out any REE IS from Kunming before CRI Nepali service (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CROATIA [non]. 7375, Feb 9 at 0412, Hrvatski Radio is missing from German relay; I was hearing it earlier in the evening at some unlogged time with usual very good signal and music. Normally lasts until 0600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 13670, Feb 9 at 1351, RHC is on with VG signal. Gone at 1413. Has also been missing past few mornings when checked after 14. Evidently they are turning it off around 14, when CRI Sackville comes up on 13675, altho 13670 is supposedly scheduled, and announced as on the air until 16 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CYPRUS. 21540-21565, Feb 9 at 1403, OTH radar pulses, presumed from here, RSD [OK, that means right-smack-dab] in middle of the 13m broadcast band, bothering Kuwait clashing with Spain on 21540, and NHK via France on 21560. I had gotten out of habit of logging these, especially when out-of-band (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GERMANY. 15205, Feb 9 at 1415, very poor with hymn seeming English, then one with a country/cowboy touch. HFCC shows MBR via Wertachtal until 1430; Aoki shows Pan American via Nauen; which? Will EiBi break the tie? He says Wertachtal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** IRAN. 7200, Feb 9 at 0327 open carrier, VIRI about to open English to NAm. 0329:30 a SAH appears, presumably Sudan about to sign-on too, but: 0330 bells and V. of Justice ID, NA and no modulation from Sudan audible. ACI QRhaM in SSB from low side. VOJ // 7365 as usual buried under DentroCuban Jamming Command and Radio Martí, and 7200 is really too poor for further listening.

13750, Feb 9 at 1432, Qur`an, poor with flutter and splash from CRI/Cuba 13740; 1433 talk presumed Hindi, 1435 typical VIRI news theme, very poor by 1442. Is IRIB Hindi, 500 kW, 102 degrees via Sirjan as scheduled at 1430-1530; not the wooden HFCC entry also on 13750 for R. Sultanate of Oman, Thumrait, 1400-1730 in Arabic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** IRAN [non]. 13635, Feb 9 at 1414, Radio Farda ID, Iranian rap and other pop music, cut off inmidst song at 1429*, how rude. Continued on much weaker 13615 with timesignal at 1430, news; also // better 15410. 13635 is 250 kW, 105 degrees from Wertachtal, GERMANY at 1230-1430 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISENING DIGEST)

** MAURITANIA. 7245, Feb 9 at 0627, IGIM is already on and chanting; abutted by 7250 Vatican from *0628.5 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MYANMAR. 7110, Feb 9 at 1335, fair signal with pop music, CW QRM; nothing much audible after 1400. Is this really from Nay Pyi Daw or from Rokhine State? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ROMANIA. 15460, Feb 9 at 1354, RRI German with those audio artifacts again, altho did not hear them on // 17530 when in IS just before sign-off. I also quickly checked for the +/- 2070 kHz leapfrog mixing products Des Walsh in Ireland has reported in WDXC Contact: 13390, nothing but CODAR, and 19600 nothing there (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA. 6074, Feb 9 at 1259-1302, no trace of 2MTL or 8GAL V/CQ marker as 6075 R. Rossii Pet/Kam is signing off at 1300 with timesignal a few sex late, carrier on for a minute more (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TAIWAN [and non]. 7385, Feb 9 at 1522, music with a SAH of about 6 Hz, i.e. between RTI`s 7-hour Chinese service from 1000 UT, 100 kW, 352 degrees from Kouhu, and ChiCom jamming, but not sure which I was mainly hearing. Must consult Aoki rather than HFCC for this info (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U K [non]. 7385, Feb 9 at 0336, BBCWS English to Africa, huge signal, hard to believe not aimed USward but listed as 114 degrees from ASCENSION. 0412 recheck even huger signal in English, but now it`s Dr. Stan with call-in about medicine and religion, 1-888-24LIBERTY [forget the TY!], so hardly BBC, but instead WHRI airing show `Radio Liberty` with Stan Monteith Tue-Sat at 04-05. Continued under USA [and non] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. Continued from UK [non]: HFCC registrations show the two overlapping, WHRI at 01-13, 315 degrees, and BBC at 02-03 Seychelles, 03-04 Ascension. Yet there was no WHRI before 04 and no BBC after 04. Things may be different on weekends. WHRI`s own frequency schedule page
http://www.whr.org/Frequencies.cfm
shows Angel 1 on 7385 at 00-01, 03-04, and Angel 6 at 01-03, 04-08.

(and BTW zero for Angel 5. Yet if you go to program schedules there is plenty for Angel 5 on 7315, 5920, 11565, 17510, 17520, 15665, 13660, 9850, 9610. Their schedule displaying is still SNAFU. BTW2, ONLY time for 9610 is Sunday 2200-2300 including DXing With Cumbre at 2200; is that REALLY on the air? Countless SW frequencies in their program schedule are imaginary)(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. George McClintock tells me Feb 9 that the next WTWW-2 transmitter test is now 100% confirmed for this Saturday Feb 11, 2200-2400 on 9990, UT Sunday Feb 12 0000-0400 (or maybe -0300) on 5085. Ted Randall will be taking calls, and listeners are invited to provide factual criticism if they hear any spurs or noise around the frequencies. (I suggest they be especially vigilant for any QRM to WWV.) The Continental technician took out something that was supposed to suppress spurs, but axually produced them, and that seems to have solved the problem. There might be a briefer test on same frequencies, the following Monday/Tuesday.

Altho #2 transmitter is yet to go into service, George says he is already collecting various equipment and parts for #4 and its antenna. He hasn`t yet decided whether to get a used Harris or a new Continental 418G. The Harris would also bring in a stock of parts which could be useful. He already has an essential backup transformer acquired from ex-WJIE in Kentucky; thinks one of their transmitters went to Alaska, probably for parts as putting it on the air would be difficult (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1603 monitoring: first broadcast confirmed on webcast of 9955 WRMI, UT Thursday Feb 9 after 0430. More WRMI SW times: Sat 0900, 1600, 1830, Sun 0900, 1630, 1830, Mon 1230. On WTWW: Thu 2200 on 9479, UT Sun 0500 on 5755; On WBCQ: Thu 2230 on 7490, UT Mon 0330v on Area 51 5110v-CUSB. On WWRB: UT Fri 0430v on 3195. Also on SiriusXM 120, Sat & Sun 1830, Sun 0930 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9955, really checking the webcast of WRMI Feb 9 at 0515, there is Radio Libertad, Cuban clandestine, which has replaced WRN carrying the last gasp of Radio France International in English on shortwave, with WRN still shown during this hour on the now outdated schedule grid dated Jan 1 on WRMI website.

I have still heard English after 06, and assume that is Channel Africa, but it too is just a placeholder pending sale of the time. Radio Libertad is not on this schedule at all, but had been before 2012y; presumably they have saved up enough money to rebuy some airtime. They announced two or three M-F or daily hours, but I didn`t catch what they are. Jeff White says there should be an updated schedule posted later today.

The Programming page of WRMI does have an entry for Radio Libertad showing previous and perhaps same revived times:
Horarios de Transmisión, hora de Miami en 9955:
Diariamente      8:00-9:00 am            [daily 13-14 UT]
Lunes a Viernes  7:00-8:00 pm            [UT Tue-Sat 00-01]
Martes a Sábado 12:00 medianoche-1:00 am [Tue-Sat 05-06 UT]
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [non]. 7560, Feb 9 at 1344, familiar hymn in orlang with chimes, weak and fluttery. Aoki shows YFR Burmese via KAZAKHSTAN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VATICAN. 13765, Feb 9 at 1442, nice S Asian music, good signal from Vatican Radio`s Hindi Service, so may we assume there is something Catholic about the music? VR tries to sound secular much of the time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)