giovedì 7 febbraio 2013

Glenn Hauser logs February 6-7, 2013

** AUSTRALIA. 2485, Feb 6 at 1222, poor but music is audible, and sounds // 2325, the VL8 stations (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BOLIVIA. 4717-, Feb 7 at 0058, my most reliable 60m Andean, Yura, is missing tonight (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. Firedrake Feb 6:
9315, poor at 1440, usual reliable service vs VOA Tibetan via Thailand during this hour only. However, not heard on Feb 7.

Firedrake Feb 7:
9490, very good at 1449 with flutter, atop CCI in Chinese. New spot for FD? Target is VOA Tinang in Mandarin during this hour only, probably normally jammed by CNR1 instead (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA [and non]. 9905, Feb 7 at 1558, CNR1 jamming VG atop Chinese talk from RFA PALAU. CNR1 is playing Chinese version of ``I`ve Never Been to Me``, one-hit wonder from 1982 by Charlene (Soraia), gist of which is avoiding becoming an old maid, surely an objective of the ChiCom as well, just don`t have more than one offspring, preferably male. See this with lyrix and nice stillustrations:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhQWND9jKDA
And think of how it could apply to Chinese women in the unlikely event it`s been faithfully translated.

All this on 9905 at 15-18 (plus Tinian at 18-20) means WTWW needs to find another frequency in the mornings, as it plans to add programming in March with regular broadcasting. Or get RFA to move, taking its jammers with it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. 4220, Feb 7 at 0047, JBA AM carrier, presumably PBS Qinghai, Tibetan-Amdo dialect service, 50 kW, 206 degrees from Xining per Aoki, but inaudible at 0057 altho Aoki shows the morning broadcast runs from 2250 to 0200. A way-out-of-band frequency worth checking. Not a good date for western China propagation; see also EAST TURKISTAN.

4800, Feb 7 at 0048, very poor signal with flutter, no doubt PBS Geermu; maybe a bit of CCI: I need to watch out for 5 x 960 local KGWA, tho I certainly hear Chinese here normally (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 13780, Feb 6 at 1516, today`s RHC anomaly: off the air, while 13740 China relay is on, and at 1520 check so are all the other RHC frequencies, 17730, 17580 (one of which is often absent by this hour), 15340, 15230, 11860, 11760, 11750, 11690, and JBA 9540 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** EAST TURKISTAN. 4500, Feb 7 at 0047, very poor signal with talk vs CODAR crashes, still heard at 0057 unlike CHINA 4220; presumably PBS Xinjiang outlet from Urumqi, this one for the Mongolian service, as Wolfgang Büschel points out, to go with 4850 Kazakh, 4980 Uighur, 5060 Mandarin, as usually heard but all poor tonight.

While in Thailand, 1969-1970 trying to DX on an Allied VHF low-band 30-50 MHz portable, which brought in lots of neat stuff by F2, sporadic E and TE scatter, I had trouble with this since the receiver IF was 4.5 MHz (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CYPRUS [and non]. 17850, Feb 7 at 1435, broadcaster is badly bothered by intruding OTH radar pulsing ranging 17840-17865: it`s RFI Pashto this semihour, 500 kW, 85 degrees from Issoudun. Why invade the broadcast band when there are scads of empty utility channels 16-21 MHz?? See also GUAM for link to OTHR info, but unfortunately no audio clip of the one from Cyprus (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** FRANCE. 21580, Feb 7 at 1438, good signal in Pashto, news about Syria, from RFI, 500 kW, 85 degrees from Issoudun. Didn`t realize it would be // 17850 same parameters, heard a bit earlier, see CYPRUS [and non] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GREECE [and non]. 15630, Feb 6 at 1517, VOG music, bothered by modulation spur spikes from 15825 WWCR which range this low, and even more bothered by +18 kHz squealing spur from WEWN 15610 circa 15628 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUAM [and non]. 5765-USB, Feb 6 at 1431, AFN with report on military housing, so own programming? Maybe not as further items on Acapulco gang-rapes, Massachusetts pharmacies shut due to meningitis, then a CNN reporter on the Superdome. Heard just about every morning lately tho not logged, as has remained active.

5765-USB, also audible Feb 7 at 1321, but heavy QRM from OTH radar pulses ranging 5755-5810; for a good discussion of different OTHRs, what they look and sound like, see
http://www.iarums-r1.org/iarums/radar-2012.pdf
as Dinan Rogerio reminded us on the radioescutas list
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDIA. 5010, Feb 7 at 0052, very poor with S Asian vocal music, presumably AIR Thiruvananthapuram, (or as WRTH helpfully spells it antiquely, Trivandrum), scheduled in Aoki mornings for 0020-0215.

BTW, if you definitely hear Spanish on 5010, it`s probably a mixing product from Cuba 5040/5025 which should be checked for a match, rather than Dominican Republic, Honduras, or Ecuador which are all long gone, tho R. Pueblo/Cristal, DR was occasionally active in recent years.

4840, Feb 7 at 1323, more S Asian vocal music, very poor and weaker than Australia 4835, but nice to hear the only SW station besides WWCR on 4840, AIR Mumbai, 50 kW non-direxional at 1230-1730 & 2355-0400 per Aoki. WWCR current span is 01-13, but when DST starts March 10 it`s to shift to 00-12 UT, better in the mornings for other DX, worse in the evenings (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5910, Wed Feb 6 at 1428, Shiokaze, in Japanese with piano background until 1430*, reactivated frequency which Ron Howard says started Feb 6 for the 1330-1430 broadcast, usually English on Fridays only, ex-5985 which had acquired some Juche jamming I could never hear, but clearing that frequency for MYANMAR on 5985.83v. Sea Breeze should still be better heard from *1330 before fading into the daytime noise level every spring. Aoki shows the other broadcast at 20-21 UT we can never hear also moved to 5910 Feb 5; unusual for both to be on same frequency.

5910, Thu Feb 7 at 1330 now I catch the opening of Shiokaze, also Japanese with piano music, and of course better signal now an hour earlier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 1090, Feb 7 at 1347 UT, as I think I am hearing reactivated KAAY, fast SAH and Spanish takes over, soon 7:47 timecheck, ``Milenio Radio, 103.7, volvemos`` after ad break. XEAU Monterrey, the usual one here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 2910, Feb 6 at 1224, Spanish talk still poorly audible from previously IDed XEVT, Villahermosa, Tabasco, 3 x 970. It seems I have an `exclusive` on this (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NEW ZEALAND. 11725, Feb 7 at 1256, no signal from RNZI, where first heard on `test` Feb 4; Ivo Ivanov thought this test would last until Feb 10, as I quoted on WORLD OF RADIO, but apparently not.

On the next day, Feb 5, I noticed it was a lot weaker, and wondered if in the meantime, had switched from 35 degree antenna favoring us to 325 degrees as scheduled for that bihour; but RA 11945 was also weaker than usual.

Now Feb 7, How to Listen schedule
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/listen.php has been edited to remove anything about such a test, again showing 15720 at 1059-1258. As soon as I found 11725 missing, I checked that and other known RNZI frequencies on 13, 9, 7 and 6 MHz but did not hear any. The Europeans should be happy, where 15720 is best.

5950 is still next, well heard opening after Bell Bird with news at 1300 Feb 7 about casualties in the Solomons` tsunami (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OMAN. 15560, Feb 7 at 1431, R. Oman, English, after headlines, ``news in detail`` starting with Syria; poor signal, usual het on lo side, V. of Tibet? So best to listen on USB, but I wish they had kept this hour on 15140 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PERU [and non]. 5980, Feb 7 at 0055 vocal music is atop Chinese CCI and no Cuban jamnoise audible, but now there is some other noiseblob on the low side, slowing moving upward, so USB tuning is better. 0100 CNR1 jammer closes with timesignal, leaving just the music vs the noise, no doubt R. Chaski, Urubamba.

Splash from CRI via CUBA 5990 also bothers, running overtime again as `The Beijing Hour` is opening in English only to be chopped off, slipshod at 0100:44*.

Back on 5980 at 0101:41 there is music from Chaski, 0102:30 announcement, 0103:20 both music and talk, until this carrier cuts off at 0105:30* --- again a few sex later than the nights before (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA. 7320, Feb 6 at 0616, R. Rossii, good with talk in Russian, music; also Feb 7 at 0659 with animal SFX, Golos Rossii ID, timesignal 6 seconds late! Vesti information program. From Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, and better here than on 5930, heard Feb 7 at 1259 just after WWCR had audiblized it by quitting 5935; IS, music to 1300* without any timesignal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SAIPAN [and non]. 9705, Feb 6 at 1436, VOA Cantonese has carrier rapidly oscillating, obvious with BFO, talking about Mei-Guo, voicing-over some English clips. This Agingan Point 3 transmitter, per Aoki at 13-15 UT, periodically shows such defects, 100 kW at 285 degrees; could also hear some weak CCI, presumably jamming by CNR1. I assume the ChiCom don`t bother to match language for language on their jammers.

9705 checked again Feb 7 at 1451: now I am hearing nothing but noise sounding suspiciously like DRM. Saipan totally out of whack again, or jamming? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SAUDI ARABIA. 21505, Feb 7 at 1439, BSKSA in Arabic, with self-imposed crackle and some hum, while the carrier itself is OK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 15625-15670, Feb 6 at 1517, approx. range of modulation spur spikes from WWCR 15825, bad for GREECE, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1655, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1655: first SW airing will be Thursday Feb 7 at 2200 on WTWW-1 9479; then UT Friday 0428v on WWRB 3195 and we hope also 5050 unlike last week; UT Saturday 0230v on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB. On WRMI 9955: Sat 0900, 1600, 1830, Sun 0900, 1630, Mon 0530, Tue 1200, Wed 0430. On WTWW-1, UT Sunday 0500 on 5830. On HLR Germany 7265-CUSB: Sat & Wed 0630 & 1630. On WRN via SiriusXM 120, Sat 1830.

WORLD OF RADIO also has a new MW outlet, KFKB, 1490 in Forks, Washington, the westernmost station in the conterminoUS, starting Feb 10, Sundays at 3 am PT = 1100 UT. It might be a bit difficult to hear beyond local range, but owner Mark Lamb found a reception report from Finland in October 2009, when the calls were KBIS. BTW, Mark says he was granted KFKB last April when he acquired the station, but FCC AM Query still has it only under the interim call KRKZ!
http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?list=0&facid=28209
See http://www.Forks1490.com whence there is also webcasting link. This KFKB is of course unrelated to the original Dr. Brinkley goat-glands KFKB in Kansas! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 5050, Feb 7 at 0053, WWRB is on again, // 3215 with preacher quoting papyrus (he mispronounces PAP-i-russ over & over) about the demise of ancient Egypt. Hope 5050 remains active this week thru 0500 Friday for WORLD OF RADIO (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9955, Thu Feb 7 at 1452, WRMI with `Wavescan`, vs pulse jamming but not wall-of-noise, during JSWC YL reading extremely struxured loggings from December, then Jeff closing with music fill. Next week`s WS will be a special for World Radio Day, from the recent HFCC in Tunis. 1459, as on the latest WRMI grid, ``Hello sports fans ---`` but the rest of the minute lost to jamming before 1500* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 2660, Feb 7 at 0708 UT, black gospel music, typical default of KGLD Tyler TX, as previously heard many times, best around sunrise, but now just as good, occasional peaks above noise level. Makes me wonder whether besides harmonicizing from 1330, they are not really reducing from 1 kW day power to 77 watts night. Tried to hear // on 1330, but too much pileup QRM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 550, Feb 7 at 1336 UT, KFRM Salina KS, several news stories about nothing but Nebraska, as it`s a virtual local there from transmitter in Cloud County, N Central Kansas. Despite its motto, ``KFRM is full time farm radio and Your source for farm markets in Kansas and Oklahoma``, and no mention of NE now or anywhen on their comprehensive schedule
http://www.kfrm.com/downloads/KFRM_programs.pdf
There is however, a scheduled `Oklahoma News Summary` M-F at 1715-1720 UT, followed on Thursdays only at 1720-1725 by `Oklahoma Ag Report`; and M-F 1827-1830 `Oklahoma Ag First`, plus several reports for different regions of Kansas (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 770, Feb 7 at 1403 UT, ``KKOB First News, starts now!``, good timing, for they have just gone to daytime pattern at 1400 UT in February for Albuquerque NM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 860, Feb 7 at 1340 UT in KKOW KS null, land for sale ad in Devine, which is just down I-35 from Von Ormy, SW of San Antonio TX, then rock music, no doubt KONO; had also just heard country music with big sig on 680, no doubt KKYX. And soon heard also 1350 KCOR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1060, Feb 7 at 1358 UT, Spanish in Chicago accent, no doubt KIJN Farwell TX as usual, plugs
http://myjesusradio.com pronounced in English, proceeding with blessings. That website forwards to http://myjesusradio.wix.com/myjesusradio
which autolaunches crummy audio feed with hum, sounds like picked up off air on cheap AM radio, but at least no fast SAHs here, checked later in the daytime.

I was also hearing SAH and peppy gospel music in Spanish earlier around 0700 UT on 1060, daytimer KIJN as usual funxioning as a fulltimer. Back at 1358, Seemed to be CCI from another SS, but from 1400 UT, ABC News takes over from NW/SE, no doubt KRCN Longmont CO, just powering up from 111 to 50,000 watts as scheduled for it official February sunrise (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1090, Feb 7 at 1344 UT, in null of KEXS Kansas City, mention in English of UFO sightings, soon losing out to fast SAH and XEAU. Could this be KAAY Little Rock back on the air? Yes! per
http://mighty1090kaay.blogspot.com/

``Thursday, February 7, 2013 --- KAAY Back On The Air --- Doug Virden has reported that, as of the evening of February 6, 2013, KAAY has returned to the air, and that he wished the music from the 60's and 70's would have returned, as well. Nonetheless, kudos to the technician(s) involved who got the station back on the air! Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com) Posted by at 6:17 AM``

His previous report said it`s a 5 kW transmitter replacing the 50 kW.
So will it need to stay on the same tight direxional patterns as when full-powered? Apparently the antennas are OK. At FCC AM Query there is nothing obvious about an STA, but in the Correspondence Folder this filing January 17 saying it went silent January 10, including:

``THE KAAY(AM) MAIN TRANSMITTER HAS SUFFERED A MAJOR POWER SUPPLY FAILURE AND THE AUXILIARY TRANSMITTER HAS BEEN FATALLY DAMAGED BY WATER. AS RESULT, THE STATION IS OFF THE AIR. RADIO LICENSE HOLDING CBC, LLC, WILL FILE A REQUEST FOR SILENT SPECIAL TEMPORARY AUTHORITY IF THE TRANSMITTERS CANNOT BE REPAIRED BY FEBRUARY 8, 2013.``

Station`s own website schedule
http://www.1090kaay.com/common/more.php?m=10&mode=schedule&r=2
shows nothing but ``airtime available`` 24/7! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1350, Feb 7 at 1349 UT, promo in Spanish for traffic and weather every dekaminute, KCOR ID, San Antonio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** UZBEKISTAN. 11730, Feb 7 at 1259 an open carrier here, unlike no carrier from NZ on 11725; recheck at 1312, it`s fluttery R. Japan with news in English, 100 kW, 141 degrees from Tashkent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VATICAN. 21680, Feb 7 at 1318, theological discussion in Italian, 1319 closing `Edizione Internazionale`, reference to radiovoaticano.va and times for next broadcasts until 1320*. Along with 21610 Spain, it was the SSOB, better even than 21780 Rwanda. 21680 is supposed to be 250 kW, 185 degrees from SMG to Africa at 1300-1320, but continues to reach far offbeam targets as well (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 2240, Feb 6 at 1216-1227 UT, no signal at all from the harmonic I had been hearing; fixed it? Should be some propagation left if it is WBBF 1120 in Buffalo NY, as theorized (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED, 4835, Feb 7 at 0051, one JBA carrier vs CODAR; 0058 now there are two JBA carriers slightly offset, until WWCR, (now I get it: steel drums evoke Trinidad, then Trinity, i.e. the Christian subset which believes in that?), blasts on 4840 at *0058:48, i.e. likely R. Ondas del Sur Oriente, Perú and then joined by All India Radio, Sikkim (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 7414.0, Feb 7 at 1304, roar and Chinese(?) or at least a tonal language, M&W talking, with modulation distortion too. Seems more like a spur or malfunxioning fundamental than being jammed, and the carrier is unstable, warbling with BFO on. Retune at 1328 the same, until everything cuts off at 1329:35*. Yesterday this was on 7413.0 and I was guessing it could be V. of Tibet via Tajikistan. Today`s Aoki still has nothing to explain either frequency at this time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 9595+, Feb 6 at 1438, R. Nikkei in Japanese again has a het on the hi side. I wonder if anyone else is hearing this, or if I am DXing some household radiator. Also a trace of it 24+ hours later, but not 22 hours later (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)