martedì 3 aprile 2012

Glenn Hauser logs April 2-3, 2012

** CUBA [and non]. 17750, April 2 at 1945, RHC is managing to modulate, in French, unlike 24 hours earlier with at least a sesquihour of dead air supposedly for Europe. At 2011 it`s in Portuguese as also scheduled, and at 2037 check in Arabic, but both with huge QRDRM from The Disco Palace via Guiana French, which has been on 17750-17755-17760 for several seasons now in the 20-21 UT hour, aiming USward.

This is Arnie`s biggest blunder, so far, in mismanaging the A-12 frequencies of RHC: he should have known that because of the 17755 DRM, 17750 was not the place to put RHC on the wide-open 16m band which has scads of unused frequencies. Not that he cares about QRMing other stations: he`s demonstrated time and again that nothing matters but #1, as an outlaw station, condoning and facilitating jamming, refusing to participate in HFCC, refusing to let HCJB have its only frequency 6050 back, etc., etc.; but this usage is damaging RHC itself, so we eagerly await a correxion, no doubt without any admission of guilt.

I`ve also brought this to the attention of TDP`s Ludo Maes, who might want to make the move himself. But please, not any closer to RCI on 17735. Not a bad idea anyway, since TDP also collides directly with REE Noblejas 17755 on weekends. A look at the latest Aoki shows *nothing* at 20-21 on any frequency from 17760 to 17845, except:
17775, KVOH, imaginary, off the air for a few years now
HFCC shows some additional probably wooden entries, not in Aoki:
17785 KHBN
17845 Oman
So allowing for 15 kHz of protexion, any frequency from 17770 to 17835 would be fine for TDP [aside from the weekend octet of weak spurs from REE/Costa Rica 17850 I accumulated]. If RHC were to move up and has to have the same frequency until 2300 in Spanish, a couple more conflicts would arise, but still plenty of options, not to mention lots of spots for either in the 17.5 to 17.7 MHz range.

BTW, looking over RHC`s newly posted A-12 schedule in Spanish which I copied into my previous report, only one channel is shown on the air until 0600, 9810, and I think this must be a mistake, as in summer all the others are closing (nominally) by 0500; and in fact already April 1, 9810 was off by 0500, fortunately for the Vatican with which it had been colliding since A-12 began.

Some further RHC monitoring in this new season:

15370, April 3 at 0002 is open carrier, still at 0006; off by next check 0026. This semihour in B-11 was the Quechua service, presumably also what was missing today, just like Arabic, Portuguese and French were missing Sunday from 17750 --- pity the poor program producers who wasted their efforts because some operator down the line was not paying attention. It`s *always* something wrong, at RHC!

Unlike 24 hours earlier, 17705 is on and inbooming, at 0002 just finishing a frequency announcement in Spanish ending with 5040. 15230 also in Spanish, much weaker.

5040, missed confirming whether English is really at 23-24 now as scheduled, but at 0011 it`s very good in Kriyol, and at 0031 in French
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA [and non]. 12000, April 3 at 0009, VOA Spanish is apparently not being jammed, at least none audible, but VOA`s own modulation is rather distorted. 9885 has pulse jamming but VOA atop it. 5890 has poor signal, and no jamming audible tho Cuba is propagating well enough as low as 5040.

5955, April 3 at 0024, wall-of-noise jamming against nothing, no carrier detectable from R. República 5954.2v, apparently not on the air weeknights, or at least not during this hour. Can`t be too careful (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, April 2 at 1945, R. Africa is back, poor signal starting or ending a gospel huxter, YL giving 800 number and PO Box in Atlanta, Georgia. By 2014, however, seems to be off as only a much weaker trace on 15190, probably Brasil, with YFR Ascension 15195 ACI added. Bill Bingham, RSA, was also hearing Bata today before 1730 when blasted by R. Pilipinas (which would have been off by 1930) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GREECE. 9420 // weaker 7475 and weaker 7450, April 3 at 0019 with Greek music, so all three VOG transmitters are operating now, and not on 15 MHz. Usage may vary from day to day (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDIA. 11620, April 3 at 0011, fluttery open carrier, no doubt AIR prior to 0015 Urdu service via Bengaluru; at 0020 it`s modulating music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MAURITANIA. 7245, April 3 at 0021, presumed IGIM is on with music; will it be all-night this time, or just late with a break? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NIGERIA. 15115-15120-15125, April 2 at 1900 UT check on the portable DX-398 in a mall parking lot, with BFO I can detect DRM noise next to very strong REE 15110 on AM, which is not splattering too much today. So after missing several days, VON must be back with the 19-20 DRM hour via Abuja; are they also still preceding it with an hour in analog from Ikorodu? If they cared to be heard, they would run the new transmitter in AM! The analog 0445+ broadcast has not been audible for several nights either (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA [non]. 9665, April 3 at 0016, V. of Russia in English to N America has co-channel QRM with audio and making a fast SAH. The brute force of 500 kW from PRIDNESTROVYE is not enough against the 10 kW from BRASIL`s R. Voz Missionária, probably, tho it could also be CNR5 100 kW from Beijing scheduled until 0100, or even N. Korea, 50 kW non-direxional 22 hours a day. VOR // 9800 is clear enough, 500 kW due northwest via ``Armavir``.

As Ken Fletcher points out to the BDXC-UK yg, VOR sked:
http://english.ruvr.ru/engradio /
Transmission schedule in English by target area. 9800 and 9665 are duplicated both for North and Latin America at 22-02 and 23-02 respectively, but at 02-04, 9665 is for Latin America only, despite HFCC registrations showing 9665 on exactly the same 309 degree antenna for the entire span, 23-04, so who are they kidding? Merging all the Western Hemisphere frequencies, North and Latin America, this is all we get! O, for the good old days of 20 R. Moscow frequencies at once!

22-02 9800
23-04 9665
02-04 15425
04-06 13775

This does not mean different frequencies, same sites after 0200 and 0400 UT changes: 9800 and 9665 are from Europe, 15425 and 13775 from Pet/Kam, DVR (Far East Russia), 65 and 61 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SERBIA [non]. 9685, April 3 at 0029, IRS IS, very good, 0030 opening in English mentioning 6100 for Europe, 9685 for US (and no mention now of 9635 or 9640). It`s the usual M announcer, whose accent is too heavy for the rate at which he speaks. Know thy audience (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SPAIN. 11795, UT Tuesday April 3 at 0135 check, REE very good with Sephardic music in weekly 0115-0145 service to South America.

On Nov 14, 2011, as in DXLD 11-47, I confirmed that this broadcast was colliding with Brasil on 11780 despite announcing 11795, so gave up trying to hear it for the rest of B-11 --- but now it really is on 11795, and in the clear! Like it was in A-11. But in B-12 I bet they resume colliding, oblivious of the situation, possibly because Brasil refuses to participate in HFCC, so as far as HFCC is concerned, this 250 kW transmitter is vaporware.

The final repeat of Emisión Sefarad, to North America, confirmed on 9690, not 9650, with IS starting at *0412 UT Tuesday April 3 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SRI LANKA. 11905, April 3 at 0013, tone test with flutter; by 0020 signal is fair with flutter, now drumming, vocal anthem(?), 0025 YL ID as ``Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation`` in English, but the rest in S Asian language --- not Sinhala but the Hindi service starts at 0020. Then man singing alternating with chanting, 0032 string music.

Nothing audible yet on 15745, but it does not start until 0100 and is only 10 kW, vs 250 kW on 11905 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9955, April 3 at 0015, WRMI ID and `Viva Miami`, another interview by Jeff White in Spanish with visiting Argentine DXer Rubén Guillermo Margenet, who has been seeing the sights including radio facilities in Florida and Washington DC; seems he is impressed by America. His reports in the condig list will be in DXLD. He says there are three 15-minute VMs interviewing him, which should be availablized at
http://programasdx.com/ At the moment WRMI is only about equal to the pulse jamming level, so I don`t try to listen now. Tnx a lot, Arnie! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)