** AUSTRALIA. 21725, Monday May 28 at 0535, poor signal with slow song. Figured it was European with Romania in on 21500, or even Iranian, but HFCC shows IBB Tinian at 0500-0600, 250 kW, 279 degrees, but which service? For that we always have to look elsewhere, such as EiBi, which shows merely RFA in Mandarin, but on Thursdays only, and HFCC also lists day-5 only. Besides the CNR1 jammer also during this hour on Thursdays only, EiBi has something else:
R. Australia, daily at 05-07 in English to SE Asia. RA Shepparton / Brandon schedules are still absent from HFCC! Aoki also has RA Shep, 329 degrees --- but no RFA on 21725 at all (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake May 28, after 1220:
16100, good at 1221, none higher
15940, fair at 1224
15900, fair at 1224, a bit better than 15940
15445, fair at 1223 with het on lo side
14800, good at 1224
14700, good at 1225 with CCI talk, axually Sound of Hope presumed
13970, JBA at 1226; one in the 12s
11500, JBA at 1226; can`t be sure it`s FD rather than VOR, Tajikistan
Before 1300:
15550, fair at 1247; now not on 15445
17170, very poor at 1252
17250, very poor at 1252
17450, very poor at 1252
After 1300, incomplete:
15485, poor at 1304; I think it was on before 15550 went off
15550, fair at 1302 but gone at 1305
Before 1400:
13970, JBA at 1355; none in the 12s
14600, fair at 1356
14700, poor at 1356
15485, poor at 1356, het on hi side
16100, fair-good at 1358
17170, very poor at 1358
17250, poor at 1358
17450, very poor at 1358
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 9955, May 27 at 1952, checking WRMI 9955, heavy jamming with some pulsing also audible. What`s on WRMI at this time on Sundays? If the March 31 program grid still posted remains correct, it`s `Words of Life`, ergo evangelism in English --- and there are no Spanish programs immediately before or after, nor at this time on any other day of the week (WRMI off the air anyway weekday afternoons). The DentroCuban Jamming Command cannot be too careful, or rather too incompetent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CYPRUS. 16781-16806, May 28 at 0530, OTH radar pulses presumed from here, as BBC Cyprus was also in well on 17640, see UK [non] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, May 28 at 0547, R. Africa is on with VG signal, preacher bemoaning the ``licentuous`` [sic] lifestyle of John Edwards. This was not yet on the last I tuned across circa 0525 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN. 17655 & 17660, May 28 at 0526, same soft keyboard music on both, seem //, producing mutual het, but don`t get a definite match in time with a second receiver, signals only fair. 17655 goes off at 0529* while 17660 continues music until 0529:45 open carrier, 0530 three rising chimes, brief announcements, Iranian NA, 0531:25 very brief Qur`an and presumed translation, 0532 plucked music theme and opening program, not the news theme. HFCC shows 17655 until 0530 in Russian, 500 kW, 40 degrees from Sirjan, while 17660 is ``Bossni`` at 0530-0630, 500 kW, 297 degrees from Kamalabad (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. The morning of May 27 I was having trouble getting a clear signal from KCSC 90.1 Edmond, our classical music station. Some kind of raucous musical interference, certainly not R. Kansas which tends toward the classical too. Maybe something further by tropo? No, checking later in the evening around 0130 UT May 28, our brand-new station on 90.5 is out of whack, distorted on the fundamental with gospel rock music and splattering at least 0.5 MHz above and below, depending on relative signal to other stations, and antenna orientation, including interfering with KCSC.
It`s KGVV 90.5 in Goltry/Carrier just NW of here, an unneeded repeater of KLVV 88.7 Ponca City which is also still on the 98.5 Enid translator. Isn`t anyone at the station paying attention to their own output? Ha! I`m sure there is no one tending it at the Carrier transmitter site, nor do they bother to listen to it back at HQ in Ponca if they can get it. BTW, since 90.5 came on a few weeks ago, even when operating correctly, it squashes our second-newest nearby station on 90.3, KHEV in Fairview, which is really just another gospel-huxter repeater.
May 28 around 1350 UT, KGVV 90.5 is still distorted and expanding beyond legal bandwidth, altho KCSC has more of a problem with 90.1 co-channel KHCC Hutchinson KS (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. 17760, May 28 at 0533, RRI very good in English news, // poor 21500 --- summer day-like propagation in the nightmiddle as insolation is not far away on hi-latitude paths, and the critical first refraxion is probably fully illuminated. 0551 in mailbag acknowledging a report from North Carolina (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 9385, May 28 at 1306, via WWRB, Brother Scare is speaking about an earthquake and tidal wave ``last week`` affecting ``Asia minor`` [sic], such as India, Thailand and Indonesia, i.e. God punishing Hindus, Buddhists and Moslems? Strange, I didn`t hear about any such event last week; besides TOM replaying old, old stuff, the modulation is degraded. What`s the matter with him? I mean other than as usual (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [and non]. REE provides more entertainment in the form of spur-produxion from its inside and outside transmitter sites, and consequently chasing them down, May 27 at 1928-1942 on 16m:
17850 via COSTA RICA surrounded by spurs at multiples of approx. 13.84 kHz, computed since the furthest one out was at 17780.8, or 69.2 kHz away. Others detected around 17864, 17878; 17836, 17822 JBA, not 17808.5. At first I could hear a very weak het on BBC 17795, and the next CR spur would be on 17794.6 or so. And also a very weak one on 17753.1, hetting REE SPAIN 17755.0! This was the first one noticed at 1928, just before CUBA turned on much stronger 17750.0, but could still detect the 17753 carrier.
17771.3 bore another REE spur with audio at 1928, presumably coming from 17755, 16.3 kHz away, as it didn`t fit the pattern from CR. And the lowest one on 17739.2, which is 15.8 kHz below 17755. Well, they`re both close to 16 kHz away, maybe slight errors in measuring.
This was all on the DX-398 on the porch, and since I was apparently getting spurs from both REE sites, I got my DX-375 out of the car where it stays for emergency use and had no problem picking up the super signal on 17850 to compare with the spurs` audio.
Yes, 17780.8 as heard on the DX-398 was synchronized with 17850 on the DX-375, while 17755 direct from Spain was as usual ahead by 4 or 5 seconds. So we had the spur fields crossing each other, CR going as low as 17753, Spain going as high as 17771. At 1950 checked frequent spur source 15110 from Noblejas, but none this time, all the effort being put into 16m (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TUNISIA [and non]. 7275, May 28 at 0542, IWT is so weak that a ham (sounds American) has put his transmitter right on this frequency. It`s really amazing that this happens so seldom, as hams could do this anytime they please. IWT carrier provides some BFO, but not enough, especially when it fades a bit and the SSB nature of the unID ham becomes apparent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. 17640, May 28 at 0523, BBCWS in English with good signal via CYPRUS, scheduled 05-08, 300 kW, 173 degrees. Latest HFCC shows BBC`s full usage of 17640, all in English: also overlapping 07-13 Seychelles, 13-17 Ascension, 17-18 Cyprus again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 17650, May 28 at 1259, hilife music, pause, 1300 ``Direct from Washington, the Voice of America, V.O.A.`` jingle and into scheduled Somali, 250 kW, 139 degrees via SMG at 1300-1400. Did not hear any traditional English opening as ``The following program is in Somali``, or more recent version, ``This is the Voice of America, in Somali`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 15180, May 27 at 1924, very strong signal from WHRI, Indianapolis 500 victory celebration by somebody (I still don`t know and don`t care who). WHRI has been broadcasting this deathtrap non-religious macho/machine nonsense for years, in tribute to its Indiana roots. I am happy to say that I saw no advance publicity of the time or frequency, just ran across it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN. 21675, May 28 at 1218, very poor signal in Italian. 21680 used to be the prime 13m frequency of VR, but now 21675 is the only one scheduled at any time, and only for 20 minutes from 1200 as in HFCC and Aoki, 250 kW, 185 degrees from SMG; EiBi guesses 30 minutes as VR never specifies how long any transmission lasts. I just received in the P-mail last week the VR A-12 schedule folder, which also shows 21675 as news in Italian daily at 1200 to Africa, and no SW //s, just AM & FM. (But they might fire up a 13m channel for Special Broadcasts.) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA [non]
UNIDENTIFIED. 17765, May 28 at 1249, close to 1000 Hz tone on and off, then pitches stepping down to a very low note I couldn`t measure, below 200 Hz; 1255 stepping up rapidly again to a higher pitch but not as high as originally, open carrier and off. Nothing is scheduled on 17765 anywhere near this time. Whatever became of those new transmitters being installed in Saudi Arabia, suspected source of many more such tone tests last year? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. According to the 6m maps, there was a lot of Es activity up into FM, but not much made it here even on VHF TV, May 27, UT:
1916, signs of Es on channel 2 with antenna north; centered over Kansas, too close to be useful here.
2222 on 2, weak video showing, novela? peaking southwest, think a bit of audio was Spanish but not positive; some more barely peaks during the following semihour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
R. Australia, daily at 05-07 in English to SE Asia. RA Shepparton / Brandon schedules are still absent from HFCC! Aoki also has RA Shep, 329 degrees --- but no RFA on 21725 at all (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake May 28, after 1220:
16100, good at 1221, none higher
15940, fair at 1224
15900, fair at 1224, a bit better than 15940
15445, fair at 1223 with het on lo side
14800, good at 1224
14700, good at 1225 with CCI talk, axually Sound of Hope presumed
13970, JBA at 1226; one in the 12s
11500, JBA at 1226; can`t be sure it`s FD rather than VOR, Tajikistan
Before 1300:
15550, fair at 1247; now not on 15445
17170, very poor at 1252
17250, very poor at 1252
17450, very poor at 1252
After 1300, incomplete:
15485, poor at 1304; I think it was on before 15550 went off
15550, fair at 1302 but gone at 1305
Before 1400:
13970, JBA at 1355; none in the 12s
14600, fair at 1356
14700, poor at 1356
15485, poor at 1356, het on hi side
16100, fair-good at 1358
17170, very poor at 1358
17250, poor at 1358
17450, very poor at 1358
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 9955, May 27 at 1952, checking WRMI 9955, heavy jamming with some pulsing also audible. What`s on WRMI at this time on Sundays? If the March 31 program grid still posted remains correct, it`s `Words of Life`, ergo evangelism in English --- and there are no Spanish programs immediately before or after, nor at this time on any other day of the week (WRMI off the air anyway weekday afternoons). The DentroCuban Jamming Command cannot be too careful, or rather too incompetent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CYPRUS. 16781-16806, May 28 at 0530, OTH radar pulses presumed from here, as BBC Cyprus was also in well on 17640, see UK [non] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, May 28 at 0547, R. Africa is on with VG signal, preacher bemoaning the ``licentuous`` [sic] lifestyle of John Edwards. This was not yet on the last I tuned across circa 0525 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN. 17655 & 17660, May 28 at 0526, same soft keyboard music on both, seem //, producing mutual het, but don`t get a definite match in time with a second receiver, signals only fair. 17655 goes off at 0529* while 17660 continues music until 0529:45 open carrier, 0530 three rising chimes, brief announcements, Iranian NA, 0531:25 very brief Qur`an and presumed translation, 0532 plucked music theme and opening program, not the news theme. HFCC shows 17655 until 0530 in Russian, 500 kW, 40 degrees from Sirjan, while 17660 is ``Bossni`` at 0530-0630, 500 kW, 297 degrees from Kamalabad (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. The morning of May 27 I was having trouble getting a clear signal from KCSC 90.1 Edmond, our classical music station. Some kind of raucous musical interference, certainly not R. Kansas which tends toward the classical too. Maybe something further by tropo? No, checking later in the evening around 0130 UT May 28, our brand-new station on 90.5 is out of whack, distorted on the fundamental with gospel rock music and splattering at least 0.5 MHz above and below, depending on relative signal to other stations, and antenna orientation, including interfering with KCSC.
It`s KGVV 90.5 in Goltry/Carrier just NW of here, an unneeded repeater of KLVV 88.7 Ponca City which is also still on the 98.5 Enid translator. Isn`t anyone at the station paying attention to their own output? Ha! I`m sure there is no one tending it at the Carrier transmitter site, nor do they bother to listen to it back at HQ in Ponca if they can get it. BTW, since 90.5 came on a few weeks ago, even when operating correctly, it squashes our second-newest nearby station on 90.3, KHEV in Fairview, which is really just another gospel-huxter repeater.
May 28 around 1350 UT, KGVV 90.5 is still distorted and expanding beyond legal bandwidth, altho KCSC has more of a problem with 90.1 co-channel KHCC Hutchinson KS (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. 17760, May 28 at 0533, RRI very good in English news, // poor 21500 --- summer day-like propagation in the nightmiddle as insolation is not far away on hi-latitude paths, and the critical first refraxion is probably fully illuminated. 0551 in mailbag acknowledging a report from North Carolina (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 9385, May 28 at 1306, via WWRB, Brother Scare is speaking about an earthquake and tidal wave ``last week`` affecting ``Asia minor`` [sic], such as India, Thailand and Indonesia, i.e. God punishing Hindus, Buddhists and Moslems? Strange, I didn`t hear about any such event last week; besides TOM replaying old, old stuff, the modulation is degraded. What`s the matter with him? I mean other than as usual (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [and non]. REE provides more entertainment in the form of spur-produxion from its inside and outside transmitter sites, and consequently chasing them down, May 27 at 1928-1942 on 16m:
17850 via COSTA RICA surrounded by spurs at multiples of approx. 13.84 kHz, computed since the furthest one out was at 17780.8, or 69.2 kHz away. Others detected around 17864, 17878; 17836, 17822 JBA, not 17808.5. At first I could hear a very weak het on BBC 17795, and the next CR spur would be on 17794.6 or so. And also a very weak one on 17753.1, hetting REE SPAIN 17755.0! This was the first one noticed at 1928, just before CUBA turned on much stronger 17750.0, but could still detect the 17753 carrier.
17771.3 bore another REE spur with audio at 1928, presumably coming from 17755, 16.3 kHz away, as it didn`t fit the pattern from CR. And the lowest one on 17739.2, which is 15.8 kHz below 17755. Well, they`re both close to 16 kHz away, maybe slight errors in measuring.
This was all on the DX-398 on the porch, and since I was apparently getting spurs from both REE sites, I got my DX-375 out of the car where it stays for emergency use and had no problem picking up the super signal on 17850 to compare with the spurs` audio.
Yes, 17780.8 as heard on the DX-398 was synchronized with 17850 on the DX-375, while 17755 direct from Spain was as usual ahead by 4 or 5 seconds. So we had the spur fields crossing each other, CR going as low as 17753, Spain going as high as 17771. At 1950 checked frequent spur source 15110 from Noblejas, but none this time, all the effort being put into 16m (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TUNISIA [and non]. 7275, May 28 at 0542, IWT is so weak that a ham (sounds American) has put his transmitter right on this frequency. It`s really amazing that this happens so seldom, as hams could do this anytime they please. IWT carrier provides some BFO, but not enough, especially when it fades a bit and the SSB nature of the unID ham becomes apparent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U K [non]. 17640, May 28 at 0523, BBCWS in English with good signal via CYPRUS, scheduled 05-08, 300 kW, 173 degrees. Latest HFCC shows BBC`s full usage of 17640, all in English: also overlapping 07-13 Seychelles, 13-17 Ascension, 17-18 Cyprus again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. 17650, May 28 at 1259, hilife music, pause, 1300 ``Direct from Washington, the Voice of America, V.O.A.`` jingle and into scheduled Somali, 250 kW, 139 degrees via SMG at 1300-1400. Did not hear any traditional English opening as ``The following program is in Somali``, or more recent version, ``This is the Voice of America, in Somali`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 15180, May 27 at 1924, very strong signal from WHRI, Indianapolis 500 victory celebration by somebody (I still don`t know and don`t care who). WHRI has been broadcasting this deathtrap non-religious macho/machine nonsense for years, in tribute to its Indiana roots. I am happy to say that I saw no advance publicity of the time or frequency, just ran across it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VATICAN. 21675, May 28 at 1218, very poor signal in Italian. 21680 used to be the prime 13m frequency of VR, but now 21675 is the only one scheduled at any time, and only for 20 minutes from 1200 as in HFCC and Aoki, 250 kW, 185 degrees from SMG; EiBi guesses 30 minutes as VR never specifies how long any transmission lasts. I just received in the P-mail last week the VR A-12 schedule folder, which also shows 21675 as news in Italian daily at 1200 to Africa, and no SW //s, just AM & FM. (But they might fire up a 13m channel for Special Broadcasts.) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA [non]
UNIDENTIFIED. 17765, May 28 at 1249, close to 1000 Hz tone on and off, then pitches stepping down to a very low note I couldn`t measure, below 200 Hz; 1255 stepping up rapidly again to a higher pitch but not as high as originally, open carrier and off. Nothing is scheduled on 17765 anywhere near this time. Whatever became of those new transmitters being installed in Saudi Arabia, suspected source of many more such tone tests last year? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. According to the 6m maps, there was a lot of Es activity up into FM, but not much made it here even on VHF TV, May 27, UT:
1916, signs of Es on channel 2 with antenna north; centered over Kansas, too close to be useful here.
2222 on 2, weak video showing, novela? peaking southwest, think a bit of audio was Spanish but not positive; some more barely peaks during the following semihour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
