venerdì 19 ottobre 2012

Glenn Hauser logs October 17-18, 2012

** BANGLADESH. 15105, Oct 18 at 1256, Bangladesh Betar-style signal with talk, presumably English, very poor signal, 1259 tone and off, taking with it the transmitted background noise. Brian Alexander observes this 1230 broadcast often starts very late into the semihour.

15505, Oct 18 at 1358, very poor BB carrier is on but badly squeezed between 15500 Firedrake, 15502 V. of Tibet carrier, 15510 V. of Russia. Could not hear any IS or TS, but 1400 recognizable Urdu service opening theme music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BELGIUM [non]. 17870-17875-17880, Oct 17 at 2056 check, just in time to reconfirm DRM noise still here from The Disco Palace, TDP Radio via GUIANA FRENCH, at 20-21, despite TDP having cancelled its other DRM via FRANCE 6015, as the gradual decline of a flawed idea, DRM on shortwave, continues. 17875 so strong that it could be heard beyond the supposed 10-kHz bandwidth, a very rude noise infesting what used to be a strictly AM-mode SWBC band (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CANADA. 6110, Oct 18 at *0501, as happens far too often, Sackville comes on a minute late with NHK English relay. Suspect it is the same transmitter as on 5960 in Japanese until 0500, but different antenna and azimuth; not enough time to reset between them (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CANADA. 9625, Oct 18 at 1316, CBCNQ is better than usual, which is nice since this is doomed to oblivion in about 10 days. Discussion about suicide, in English but with Inuit(?) accent, call-in number 888-896-3135; 1318 on to interview about NHL. It was also better than usual before 0500, holding its own against REE/CR 9630 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake October 18, before 1300, all with flutter:
14700, very good at 1253; none in the 12s, 13s
15550, good at 1255
15735, very good at 1253
15900, very poor at 1253
16100, very poor at 1256
16920, poor at 1256
16980, very good at 1256
17250, very good at 1258; none in the 18s

After 1300:
 7445, fair at 1314, in mix with CNR1 jamming, RTI Chinese
15635, very poor at 1310, with noise and het on hi side 15637
15565, very poor at 1310, with noise and same het on lo side 15563

Before 1400:
15500, poor at 1357, het on hi side 15502 from V. of Tibet, and badly squeezing Bangladesh 15505, q.v.
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. 11736, 11744, 11752, 11768, 11776, 11784, 11792, Oct 18 at 1322, the 8-kHz- multiple spurs from CNR1 jammer on unheard 11760 under Cuba, are barely detectable today, most obviously as hets against 11750, 11775 and 11785 stations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 820, Oct 18 at 0520 UT, in WBAP null, heard a Radio Reloj top-of-minute tone signal, and ``RR`` in code; a minute later I compared to WWV and found R.R. was 6 sex late. By one minute after that, it was no longer audible. WRTH 2012 lists four Cubans on 820, but the only R. Reloj is 10 kW in Ciego de Ávila. Some weeks ago in the WBAP null I heard instead its `Red Eye Radio` affiliate WWBA in Largo, Florida making an echo, but not tonight (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 6010, Oct 18 at 0541, RHC midweek-mailbag in English is lowly modulated about like // 6125, much softer than normal level 6050. ``Ed Newman`` is proudly promoting the 2013 RHC pocket calendar, which will première on Tuesday Oct 23, and then be mailed out to listeners on request. This one honors José Martí on his 160th birthday year. (I understand the commies consider him Cuba`s national hero just like the anti-commies; who really owns him?) Ed makes it such a big deal, but I have received these calendars in the past, which are simply a 2 x 3 inch card, more or less, with a black and white portrait of some big shot on one side, and the entire year`s calendar on the other. I can`t recall whether they make Sundays the first or last day of the week in the layout, but I prefer first, just like HFCC, so RHC is probably contrary (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUIANA FRENCH. 11995, Oct 18 at 0457, open carrier with some hum, as TDF continues to burn megawatts for nothing, some 2 hours after finishing the RTI Spanish relay on this frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA. 9526-, Oct 18 at 1303, VOI carrier is on again, maybe just barely modulated, weaker than the flutter fading, supposedly English. I don`t detect any of the usual jingles. Same at 1315. It`s a little further below 9526 than previously, as I can tell by stepping 1 kHz above and below on the YB-400 with BFO. Wolfgang Büschel measured it on 9525.891 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KURDISTAN [non]. 11510, Oct 18 at 0548, presumed Kurdish, fair with flutter (while Turkey, overlapping Kurdistan had a good signal on 11980). 11510 from Denge Kurdistanya, as Ivo Ivanov spells it, and who has uncovered what has really been going on with this service: ex-Denge Mezopotamya, broker TDP, now called BRB, which had been via Luch, UKRAINE site on 11530, but that site suddenly closed down at the end of August, leaving D.M. and several other clients in the lu[r]ch.

He says there were no broadcasts Sept 1-5 on 11530, but Sept 5-13 under renamed D.K. they tested the Sofia, BULGARIA site on 11510 at 03-19, as he could tell from their powerful local signal. On Sept 12, D.K. was on two frequencies at once, 11510 at 03-19 from Sofia, and back on 11530 at 03-15, which was from Bijeljina, Bosnia-Herzegovina! I.e. International Radio Serbia`s site which until then had never relayed anything else. Those are the lengthy off-hours when the 250 kW transmitter is unneeded for own broadcasts. That has a weak signal in Sofia, due to distance and/or skipping over. As of October 16, Ivo says that since Sept 14 the D.K. operation has been:

03-15 on 11510 via Bijeljina, then 15-19 also 11510 but via Sofia.

Therefore I wanted to see if I could catch the handover at 1500, Oct 18: First checked 11510 at 1401 to find presumed Kurdish music and announcement, poor signal. At 1457 retune, only a weak carrier; with BFO I listened for a break or change in the signal, but heard none. Of course, it might already have happened a few minutes before 1500. At 1500 it did come in slightly stronger, with a timesignal about 15 seconds late, continued with talk, very poor signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. UNIDENTIFIED. 540, Oct 18 at 0511 UT, unusual music catches my ears, sort of techno-rap with lyrix in English, seemingly with US political references, then mixed with Spanish by same YL singer. 0515, DJs in Spanish mention 9-11-11, maybe a text number? 0529, 9-11-11 again and back to techno-rap. At 0531 for the second time, what sounds like ``Radio Fanta`` (orange or 6 other flavors?) or rather something phonetically similar.

Loops SSW/NNE and certainly not CBK. The obvious choice would be XEWA SLP, with 150,000 vs any other 540 Mexican ranging from 100 to max 2500 night-watts, and this is probably it, despite techno-rap not really being top-40 as per its latest incarnation in the ``Los 40 Principales`` mode.

BTW, the other XEWA, 540 in Monterrey, with only 1 kW at night, is entirely separate now, ``Dominio FM 96.5`` per Cantú. Isn`t it about time to grant it an unique callsign? Hoping for a definite ID at 0600 but then I get another station, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 540, Oct 18 at 0600 UT another station gains over the techno-rap one, looping further SW, from Chihuahua, La Ranchera, also ID for FM, ends with -X, and then plays choral NA. Per Cantú it is:
540 XETX La Ranchera de Paquimé + FM 90.5 Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chih. 1,000 250
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 590, Oct 18 at 1202 UT, YL with full ID for La Sabrosita, including ``el sonido de la ciudad``, i.e. per Cantú:
590 XEPH Sabrosita México, DF 25,000 10,000
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 790, Oct 18 at 1201 UT, choral NA, 1204 full ID amid CCI mentions Chihuahua2, Grupo Radiorama, 99.3 FM, Estéreo – algo. Cantú:
790 XERPC Stereo Fiesta + FM 99.3 Chihuahua, Chih. 5,000 400
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 790, Oct 18 at 1232 UT, Grupo Fórmula mentioned, headlines following credits to various newspapers such as Imagen de Veracruz, and also several in Europe and US; loops SW with CCI from another in Spanish. Cantú shows:
790 XENT Radio Fórmula + FM 97.5 La Paz, B.C.S. 10,000 750
The other R. Fórmula in Guadalajara doesn`t fit (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 1030, Oct 18 at 1215 UT, string of PSAs, mostly federal including extolling the Presidencia of lame-duck Calderón, but amid them an ad or PSA mentioning Chihuahua, then Grupo Radio Net(?), and 1216 Radio Fórmula ID, so per Cantú:
1030 XEYC Radio Fórmula Cd. Juárez, Chih. 5,000 500O
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 740, Oct 18 at 0534 UT, KRMG Tulsa promo for `Oklahoma Innovations`, Sundays at 8 am (13 UT, soon 14). While a backwater in so many ways, socially, healthily and politically, OK does have some achievements in education and scientific research, so at least one hour a week is worth listening to KRMG, respite from its preponderance of far-right talkcrap (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA [and non]. 960, UT Thu Oct 18 at 0500-0505, KGWA Enid provides another Fox-hole, so nulling the strong carrier as much as possible, I turn up the volume to hear at first music in Spanish, and by 0503 ABC news is gaining, presumably KMA in IA. 0505 local commercial blasts back on, and whatever talkshow follows; another check at 0609 finds dead air again! Under it, a mixture of blues (WABG Mississippi`s format) and some talkshow in English. No telling how long this outage will last and when my ears might get blasted; stayed with it until 0615 when blues was dominant; good night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 1020, Oct 18 at 0611 UT, KOKP Perry is in dead air, like KGWA 960 Enid. It was not so before 0600 altho other nights it has often been. This failure happens frequently at KOKP, where obviously no human cares whether they are really modulating or not (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SOMALILAND. 7120, Oct 18 at 0347, R. Hargeisa is still on in the mornings, fair signal with Qu`ran (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TURKEY. 11980, Oct 18 at 0550, TRT Turkish service makes it less often, but good tonight with always minor-key pop music, 0556 ID and website, more music but cut off abruptly at 0556.6* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U K [non]. 17510, Oct 18 at 1258, B-B-C- chimes on very poor signal, 1259 opening sounded sorta Slavic, timesignal. It`s the Uzbek service via CYPRUS, 300 kW, 57 degrees at 1300-1330, and might well have been hit by ChiCom jamming had I listened a bit longer. There was a mixture of signals on // 21590 a few minutes later (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1639 monitoring: ready in time for first broadcast on WRMI, UT Thursday Oct 18 at 0330: confirmed on webcast, but 9955 blocked by wall-of-noise jamming; tnx a lot, Arnie!

Further chances on WRMI: Sat 0800, 1500, 1730, Sun 0800, 1530, 1730, Mon 0500, Tue 1100.

On WTWW: Thu 2100 on 9479; UT Sun 0200 on 5085 = NEW, heard last week but may be experimental; UT Sun 0400 on 5755

On WWRB: UT Fri 0330v on 5050
On Area 51 via WBCQ: UT Sat 0130v on 5110v-CUSB
On HLR 7265: Sat 0630 & 1630

On WRN via SiriusXM 120: Sat & Sun 1730, Sun 0830
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9980, Oct 17 at 2100, WWCR with two promos for shows later on this frequency, at 6-7 pm and at 8 pm [CDT]; 2101 UT cuts back to Brother Scare. Stations can`t be blamed for cutting into and out of his blather, since he doesn`t provide any station ID breaks! Nor does DGS nor does PPP, all with 24/7 output. Haven`t tracked it fully, but apparently this monstrous 9980 signal has had its hours expanded, already heard before 1300, perhaps to the fully registered A-12 span of 12-01. In fact, HFCC shows 11-01 effective this very date (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 7506.4, Oct 18 at 0347 check, WRNO is still gone again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1370, Oct 18 at 1220 UT as I tune in, weather info, and ``13-70 KIOL, The Voice of Iola``. New; I hadn`t realized there`s another Kansan on 1370 besides nondirexional KGNO Dodge City. KIOL is U3, 500/58 watts with tight day and night patterns from SE Kansas aimed almost N/S, certainly unfavorable for Enid, a tight null to the WSW. I figured this was just after sunrise, but FCC AM Query says in October officially it`s not until 1230; 1300 in November. NRC AM Log does not mention any PSRA. However, in the Correspondence folder we find KIOL does have pre-sunrise authority for 500 watts anyway starting at 6 AM CST/CDT yearound (not applicable in June when sunrise is earlier already). KIOL also had to overcome splatter from local KCRC 1390 on the way (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1530, Oct 18 at 1223, phoner with details of school activities including Norton Junior High, i.e. KQNK, Norton KS, 1 kW. Dominating frequency, daytimer per NRC AM Log, official sunrise not until 1245 in October, but FCC AM Query shows it does have a PSRA of 63 watts starting at 1100 UT, to protect KFBK and WCKY. In May-August they get 93 or 96 watts, and only in April a hefty 500 watts. Well, this sounds like 500 if not the full 1000 watts (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VATICAN. 17650, Oct 18 at 1301 open carrier so I leave a receiver on it; finally Somali modulation cuts on at 1308, i.e. VOA scheduled 13-14, 250 kW, 139 degrees from Santa Maria di Galeria, where they needed to wake up and get the show on when it started (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)