giovedì 25 ottobre 2012

Glenn Hauser logs October 23-24, 2012

** BANGLADESH. 15505, Oct 24 at 1358, BB is on with IS; and timesignal ending at 1359:48, only 12 seconds early, opening Urdu. Mired in Mexican and non mediumwave, I did not get around to checking for BB English on 15105 before 1300 today (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL. 6180, Oct 24 at 0523, RNB is back after missing 24 hours earlier, // 11780, both good (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CANADA. 9555, Oct 24 at 0520, VOV relay with music attains VG signal a few nights before oblivion. CBC are already dismantling transmission lines; read the latest updates and comments at
http://rciaction.org/blog/2012/10/16/stop-cbc-from-dismantling-our-transmitters-to-the-world
but disregard the remark by #17 about Australia being relayed by Sackville (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA [and non]. Firedrake, Oct 24 circa 1330:
 9680, fair at 1324, and on top presumably vs Taiwan and no RRI
 9780, good at 1324, mixing with Chinese, CNR1 and/or Taiwan target
12230, very poor at 1328
12320, JBA at 1328
14700, very poor at 1332 with flutter
15525, very poor at 1334, het on lo side
16100, poor at 1335; none in the 17s

After 1400:
17570, fair at 1407 mixing with V. of Tibet via MADAGASCAR; these two at 1400-1430 could be on any of: 17560, 17565, and/or 17570, usually at same time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 6010, Oct 24 at 0524, RHC English playing reggae version of ``Hotel California``, neat. No back-announcement of source at 0530, into ``news`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUIANA FRENCH. 11995, Oct 24 at 0514, no signal from the usual hummy open carrier, so have TDF finally come to their senses? It`s missed some nights previously, only to show up again after RTI Spanish relay finishes at 0300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA. 9526-, Oct 24 at 1323, VOI in English, just barely modulated, vs flutter-fading noise. 9680 RRI seems to be off, Firedrake atop vs Taiwan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** IRAN. 13785, Oct 24 at 1330, IRIB news theme and Arabic, fair. Thus starts the final hour of the nine-hour broadcast southward from Kamalabad (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MADAGASCAR. 15400, Oct 24 at 0515, R. Dabanga relay is back in whack with lo-fi modulation like a lo-rate internet feed but on proper frequency, and no nasty spurs on 15497 or 15542 as heard the last two nights (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 650, Oct 24 at 1233 UT, starting(?) 60-minute morning news called `Altavoz` on ``Radio K``, from Sinaloa, mentioning that DST ends this Saturday night (like Europe, a week earlier than in the USA, and Mexican border areas). So it`s the usual XETNT, Los Mochis (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 850, Oct 24 at 0538 UT with SAH in KOA null, 11:37 timecheck, Milenio Radio ID; 0539 full ID for XHHEM which is on 103.7,  and XEM 850, Milenio Radio, Chihuahua. Almost-CST timecheck indicates local origination rather than DF relay (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 990, Oct 24 at 0602 UT, choral NA loops WSW, 0603 fanfare and on to super-patriotic and militaristic ``Soy Soldado`` recitation (which does not refer to selling soybeans); 0607 Chihuahua state anthem. Had CBW nulled at first with a fast SAH, 15 Hz or so, but it was still taking over after 0605 with `The World` as we already hear on KOSU at 1906 UT M-F. Per Cantú this is:
990 XEER ER Estereo Romance + FM 92.9 Cd. Cuauhtémoc, Chih. 5,000 250
So not bad for 250 watts vs 50 kW CBW, XET and everything else (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 1010, Oct 24 at 0617 UT, nulling Spanish religion from E/W, presumably Arizona, see USA, there is sports talk in Spanish mentioning Guadalajara, Jalisco, and 0618 even ``gooooooooooooooal``, tho surely a clip and not a live fútbol game at this hour. Cantú:
1010 XEHL TDW Guadalajara, Jal. 50,000 5,000
Probably // XEX 730, unchecked (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MOROCCO [and non]. 9579.12, Oct 24 at 0428, Arabic music, 0430 Arabic announcement, no doubt Médi Un as previously identified way off its nominal 9575. In the clear, nothing on 9580.0, but after 0500 big het with Gabon 9580. Was checking for something in Hindi, Australia? which Mark Coady, Ont., had reported hearing on 9580, 48 hours earlier. Don`t know what, but seriously doubt Australia, and not sure if he noted whether what he heard was really on 9579+ (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NIGERIA [and non]. 15120, Oct 24 at 0516, VON news, fair signal with whine, story about ECOWAS. This is both an African and an Australian night, with Botswana 15580, Australia 15240 and 15515 also in. You never know from one night to the next which it will be, or both (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA [and non]. 960, UT Wed Oct 24 at 0500-0505, KGWA Enid is dead air again, and this time in its null mainly hearing bluesy music, so suspect WABG in Greenwood MS with this format (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 1380, Oct 23 at 1920 UT, as I am transporting another rodent to squirrel-haven, I find that some 10 km north of Enid is far enough away for the caradio to hear KMUS with Mexican music, despite splatter from local 1390 KCRC, which itself is on the N side of Enid. Therefore I claim a logging of this station which is now licensed to Sperry, north of Tulsa, and per NRC AM Log is called ``Radio Las Américas``.

KMUS was originally named for its original city, MUSkogee, then meant MoUSe as in Radio Disney, and now surely means MUSica. KMUS daytime pattern pushes it mostly SSE unnecessarily toward ex-COL Muskogee, while KCRC goes WNW, and I may have been in a slight null from it. KMUS now has a 6-tower array somewhat south of Sperry which I believe we saw on the way to visit the KEOR 1120 site 3.7 years ago.

Meanwhile, KEOR carrier is no longer heard by me or Bruce Winkelman the morning of October 24, as it apparently goes back to dormancy, having proven it still exists and can transmit if it cares to (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

** PAKISTAN. 17520, Oct 24 at 1337, big humbuzz and unstable carrier with music underneath; 1358 stronger but worse, 1415 even worse, and still at 1439. R. Pakistan transmitter is way out of whack, registered as 250 kW, 282 degrees from Islamabad at 1330-1530. Can`t they tell what a mess they are transmitting, serving no purpose whatsoever except as a huge embarrassment? And turn it off if they can`t fix it? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SOMALILAND. 7120, Oct 24 at 0334, R. Hargeisa is on, weak signal with Qur`an(?); was not quite on yet at 0330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 540, Oct 24 at 0530 UT, ``Kisses Don`t Lie`` C&W song, Hank Williams? 0532, ``AM 540, KWMT, country music and a whole lot more``. Dominating frequency from NE/SW; where`s XEWA, CBK and all the rest? Unusual to hear Fort Dodge like this in the clear at night. Both day- and the much tinier night-pattern favor the south, 5000/170 watts; maybe really on day facilities? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1010, Oct 24 at 0615 UT, Spanish religious dramatization, from E-W, dominating frequency tho I could hear a Mexican in its null, q.v. Surely the bilingual KXXT Tolleson AZ as heard at various other times previously, and suspiciously strong despite 250 watt night power vs 15000 day power. And it`s still night when heard again at 1245 UT, ads and religious announcements in Spanish concerning AZ, with 602 and 623 area codes, Phoenix, Fiesta de Sabores at an Avondale restaurán. A slow SAH with something, probably KXEN St Louis which despite being eastward tends to take over the frequency later after sunrise here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1060, Oct 24 at 1248 UT, Spanish sports talk from E/W, about Argentina, and Argentine accent included; have to avoid KNX IBOC by side-tuning to 1062. Fade at 1252, but back stronger at 1255; 1256 ID as ESPN Deportes Radio, 1257 less IBOC noise now and into a song, 1300 ID I could not catch but followed by news about Chihuahua. ESPN Deportes operates in Argentina, Mexico, USA and some other countries, but there is no real Mexican on 1060 except XEEP in the DF. Suspect this is really KXPL El Paso TX, which funxions as a Mexistation, and is even in Cantú as
1060 KXPL Radio NET 1060 Cd. Juárez, Chih. (El Paso, TX) 10,000 D

Its sister station really is all-Mexican on 1490, XECJC, and on the Radio Net website we find that there *is* an ESPN Deportes connexion, but apparently not full-time programming from it, e.g.:
http://www.radionet1490.com.mx/Programas.php?SHOWID=9
As usual, ESPN Deportes website is no help at all in locating affiliates anywhere:
http://espndeportes.espn.go.com

NRC AM Log 2012 does not include ESPN Deportes for it, but KXPL is Spanish news/talk in general, on the air from 1200 UT until sunset, and altho 10 kW after sunrise, it has a PSRA for 500 watts. FCC says official October sunrise is not until 1315 UT; November, 1330. But even before 1300, this sounds more like 10 kW than 500 watts.

It`s also unusual that ``three watt`` 1060, KIJN Farwell TX on another NM border is not the dominant sunrise signal here with Spanish hymns (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1190, Oct 24 at 1303 UT, ``San Antonio Rose``, then ID as ``1190 AM, K#QZ, another hour of cool country``. Loops WSE/ENE, i.e. KQQZ DeSoto MO --- St Louis market, address in Belleville IL per NRC AM Log, and it`s really ``Killer country``, day power 10 kW now in effect; direxional to the southwest, close enough for here (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1470, Oct 24 at 1308, weather and ``WMBD News``, ``1470 WMBD``, i.e. Peoria IL, news/talk station which has somehow held on to its heritage calls until the present, and one of those post-sunrise eastward skips before D-layer builds up to block it. Day pattern is NNW/SSE but no deep nulls to the sides so we can get it like this:
http://transition.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/173273-22108.pdf
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VATICAN. 11905, Oct 24 at 0513 checking whether SMG has corrected the wrong feed from CBC Radio 1 previously heard, but now only a JBA carrier; somehow improved at 0552 when it unseems English. Pat Blakely confirms that tonight it`s non-English at 0500, presumably back to correct VOA Kurdish relay, after IBB was notified about the problem by Wolfgang Büschel, and blamed the disruption on Iranian/Syrian satellite jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Pacific carrier search around sunrise Oct 24, 1242-1244 UT, finds only 972 from the NW, weaker 738 from the west. Likely the sesquimegawatt HLCA, KBS in Korea South, and 20 kW Tahiti, respectively (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. Huge FMy blob distortion centered on 11912 at 0333 UT Oct 24, spreading at least 11899-11921, between 11895 Romania and 11920 Iran: some broadcast transmitter way out of whack. I don`t see any likely candidates listed on 11900-11905-11915 in HFCC, so probably from further off than those. Impossible to discern language but it was all-talk.

Habana frequencies seemed to be nominal. Should have tried to rule out WEWN 11870 // 5810 but I could not find any // audio on 25m. Tnx to dxldyg tip from Gilles Letourneau in Montréal at 0201, also heard by Walt Salmaniw, Victoria at 0315, and still by Gilles at 0320. It was gone at my next check 0427. Needs to be sought following nights hoping for more readable clues and/or parallels anywhere (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)