lunedì 2 aprile 2012

Glenn Hauser logs April 2, 2012

** CANADA. 6160, April 2 at 0601, echoing CBC News from both CKZN and CKZU, where no effort is made to synchronize them. One is slightly weaker than the other, no telling which (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake April 2, before 1300:
13680, good at 1256
13920, fair at 1256
13970, fair at 1256
No thoro search of all the bands today, but just what I ran across

Before 1330:
15495, fair at 1325
15550, poor at 1325
15900, fair at 1327; none in the 16s

Before 1400:
15900, very good with flutter at 1358

After 1400:
15615, fair with het at 1406
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. The irresponsible DentroCuban Jamming Command is wildly jamming many unoccupied frequencies, UT Monday April 2, including:

13820, at 0542, with heavy multiple pulses (daytime-only RM frequency)
11930, at 0551, heavy jamming (daytime-only RM frequency)
11775, at 0551, lite to medium jamming vs CRI Arabic via Albania (early evening only, RM via Greenville, Sackville)
 9885, at 0552, pulsing (morning & evening VOA Spanish; now VOA Botswana escapes most of it by being on 9880 instead)
 7405, at 0559, heavy jamming during RM Monday silent period
 6940, at 0600, pulse jamming, stray or spur?
 6030, at 0601, residual lite jamming without R. Martí
 5745, at 0606, pulse jamming, another unoccupied RM channel
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 6010, 6060 and 6125, April 2 at 0604, RHC English apparently still running until 0700, but missing from the fourth frequency 6050. Remains to be seen if this was intentional for new A-12 schedule, or accidental. However, 6050 had some noise on it, suspiciously DRM-like, tho none scheduled in HFCC on this or adjacents. Maybe RHC defective?

On Monday morning, the Esperanto schedule still hasn`t been updated to show Sunday 2030 on 11760, which we heard April 1, but the English page has been, with this ``HEDULE``, confirming that the 20 and 00 broadcasts have shifted one UT hour earlier like last summer (even tho this nonsensically puts 60m even further into the dayside), but not the others:

Banda Tropical              5040            23-24
América Central            11760            19-20
América del Norte           6050/6000/6060  01-07/01-05/05-07
Norte Centro y Suramérica   6125            05-07
San Francisco               6010            05-07

The confusing three-frequencies-three times-on-one-line means that 6050 is still supposed to be on air from 01 to 07.

How about Spanish? That too is now updated; removed meterband clutter:

Buenos Aires            15230/17580     23-04 y 11-15/11-15
Nueva York              9550/11860      11-13/11-15
San Francisco           13780           13-15
Chicago                 15340/9850      13-15/11-13
América del Sur         17730           11–15 [not Suramérica above]
Banda Tropical          5040            21–23 y 01-05
América Central         11750/9540/9810 13-15/11-15/22-06
Europa                  17750           21-23
Norte Centro Suramérica 11760/6150      11-15 y 00-05/11-13
Caribe                  6120/9710/11690 23-05/21-23/11-15
América del Sur         11680/17705     23-04/21-04
            
MESA REDONDA (Lunes a Viernes y días especiales)
América del Norte       6000/15140      22:30–24
            
ALÓ PRESIDENTE (Domingo)
América Central   13680       14-18
Caribe            11690       14-18
América del Sur   17590/17750 14-18
América del Norte 15340       14-18

Some new frequencies there, notably 15140 for Mesa Redonda; and 17590, 15340 for Aló Presidente, which of course seldom happens, even when El Hugazo is not back in Cuba for chemotherapy. As we know all too well, but RHC apparently does not, when AP does appear, it never starts until after 1530, and can run as late as 1930, not ``14-18`` but no doubt all other DX sources will blindly copy what RHC puts up here, without even pointing out it is mostly missing!

RHC website has specific pages only for some of its other languages, and no comprehensive transmission schedule in one place.

French is updated:
Amérique du Sud     15370  22:30 - 23:00
Amérique Centrale   11760  20:00 - 20:30
Caraïbe              5040  00:30 - 01:00
Europa              17750  19:30 - 20:00
http://www.radiohc.cu 18:30 - 19:00 20:00 - 21:00 00:30 - 01:00

That confirms what was supposed to occupy dead air on 17750 April 1.

Portuguese: this page
http://www.radiohc.cu/pt/
is still ``under construxion`` and I am prompted to log in?!

Arabic, time backwards in Roman but when copied comes out forward:
17750 20:30 - 21

Creole and Quechua aren`t worthy of even a mention on the RHC website (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MAURITANIA. 7245, April 2 at 0558, IGIM is on and chanting, very good signal this time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NEW ZEALAND. 6170, Monday April 2 at 1329, RNZI Mailbox is already underway with Adrian Sainsbury only, no Oh. Right into Bryan Clark`s DX report also before 1330 has been reached, starting with his visit to Cooper`s Beach, and American expatriate satellite TV and TV DX guru Bob Cooper; and then a string of current SW DX news upward by frequency, including one item I had not heard about before:

BOLIVIA: 6134.82, R. Santa Cruz heard on extended sked UT Sun & Mon, weekends only? Nonstop music fade-in circa 0400 to ID, closing at 0608* one day, 0504* the next day.

He refers to R. Africa, 15190 being in the ``tiny West African nation of Equatorial Guinea``, best at 0600-0730 with American religious teaching in the English language (to put it politely) also traces prior to 2000, usually QRM from Brazil 15189.93. And 5005, R. Nacional reactivated, poor at 0600, 1915.

Galei Zahal, 15785, 5 kW in Hebrew, heard *over* CRI English at 0500, with recording.

6170 was holding up surprisingly well more than an hour after sunrise here. But by the second item about propagation (should we be worried about sunspots, CMEs? marginally) around 1345, too much local noise to copy well, yet it is still the SSOB.

Well worth going back to listen online, for the clips of some of the DX and Bob Cooper`s 103.5 FM station, just what I am doing while writing this,
http://www.rnzi.com/audio/mailbox.mp3
which is the permanent URL for whatever is the latest programme, this one maintaining for a biweek (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 15650, April 2 at 1359 fast SAH between two transmitters, 1400 Voice of Greece IS, and presumably R. Liberty, Germany in Turkmen. But at 1401 I am just about sure there is a very weak third understation, with ramshorn call, The Overcomer Ministry mentioned, intonations of Brother Scare, not // or at least not synchro with 9385 WWRB. 1402 ID from IFTH, Greece.

Then at 1404 I check 15190, Brother Scare via IRRS via ROMANIA, which was certainly there before 1400, but now just a dead carrier, or JBM, or atop some other JBA station, Eq. Guinea? 1408 some keyboard music fill has started, 1409 rejoining BS, which I time as 49 seconds behind WWRB. So 15650 is not a frequency change from the 15190 service, but something additional.

On March 29, Wolfgang Büschel measured Greece 15 Hz high, which would account for the ``fast SAH``, and at 1359 it ``covered a religious prayer underneath on approx 15650.0 totally, midst on the station announcement in Greek started at CRASH character at 1401:07 UT``. One would think the ``religious prayer`` was not from R. Liberty, especially if it was in English?

Ivo Ivanov, DX Re Mix News, Bulgaria, reported March 28: ``ARMENIA/USA, Test transmissions of Brother Stair TOM in English: Daily 1202-1402 15650#ERV 300 kW / 125 deg SEAs from March 20 and continued --- # from 1350 strong co-channel by ERA-5 Greek and from 1400 by RL in Turkmen`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SPAIN. 15385, Monday April 2 at 1431, very poor signal with ME music, could have taken for Arabic, but must be Sephardic, in REE`s weekly service at 1425-1455, now no longer suffering ACI from RHC which has moved to 15340; announcement and on to more westernized music.

Now the two repeats need to be confirmed as on A-12 schedule:
UT Tue 0115-0145 on 11795 to SAm, really here and not colliding with Brasil on alternate 11780? HFCC on 11795 only, but was on 11780 anyway
UT Tue 0415-0445 on 9650, really here rather than alternate 9690? As usual HFCC-registered on both (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 12133.5-USB, UT Monday April 2 at 0544 I am checking AFN Florida one more time in case Jim Hightower commentary appear when it ought to, one UT hour earlier than during standard time, but which slot has been occupied by other stuff for weeks --- and I am rewarded! Jim is back, at 0544-0546, topic JOBS.

Hope this stix. Should be UT Mon-Fri at this time, and also on unchecked // 7811-USB and 5446.5-USB. The schedule at
http://myafn.dodmedia.osd.mil/AFNRadio.aspx
still lacks the block ``22:00 US Pacific Time`` for Sat & Sun, but does not show him either for Mon-Thu. Unknown if he is on the AFN schedule at any time whatsoever, since it`s not searchable (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. 12105, WTWW-3 had been opening nominally at 8 am CT, which means 1300 instead of 1400 UT now, but April 2 absent before and after 1300.

Instead, very weak signal in Chinese, with a break at 1259, i.e. due NW from KSDA GUAM, also scheduled 11-15, except until July 1 the final hour 14-15 is due NE via Trincomalee, SRI LANKA instead, per HFCC.

Wondering when WTWW will ever come on, I leave a receiver on 12105, and finally it pops on with usual bigsig at *1359:23 with Arabible in progress; no ID, no sign-on. IDs are automated in at odd times during the hours.

Meanwhile, 9479 WTWW-1 with SFAW remains quite reliably on air, but at 1319 today I notice the modulation is lower than usual, still with the usual ripple.

WTWW-2 which tested mostly with Brother Scare in Feb and early March, on 9990 day, 5085 night, remains silent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9390, April 2 at 1312, WEWN English frequency has lost it: no intelligible modulation, just the sounds of extended flatulence, or should I say, motorboating? Finally at 1316 abrupt ID and ``joining program in progress``, but modulation cuts off and on, and the same noise continues in the background. 1318 carrier too cuts off and on, modulation on and off, still motorboating. All this abutts Brother Scare only 5 kHz away on 9385 WWRB. WEWN should be put out of its misericordia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)