lunedì 15 luglio 2013

Glenn Hauser logs July 14-15, 2013

** BOLIVIA. 6135-, July 15 at 0110, R. Santa Cruz is staying on later than 24 hours earlier, since it`s now Sunday night = UT Monday. Song about ``poder popular`` suddenly cuts to dead air past 0112+; censored? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL. 4895, July 15 at 0100, now the best ZY signal on 60m is here instead of 4915-no signal or 4885-much weaker: music vs CODAR, lightning crashes, 0101 in Portuguese, 0108 still talking as if a sermon. There had been two ZYs on 4895, but R. Baré has not been reported for some months and presumed inactive, which leaves presumed R. Novo Tempo, Campo Grande, MS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CANADA. After concentrating on TV and FM DX from Sonora, Arizona and BCN for several hours July 14, that finally fades and I turn my attention and my antenna toward the northeast, as 6m maps indicate lots of Es activity there:

1908 UT on 2, weakish signal with two sports anchors side by side, then I make out CBS bug in LR, and it`s obviously golf, with banners on little poles, and indeed // not synchronized with KWTV-39 OKC, PGA. TV Guide for Ontario shows the Canadian network simulcasting this is Global so altho I did not make out a Global bug (often hard to see), I conclude this is the only analog Global-2 in Ont., CIII-TV-2 in Bancroft; it`s peaking NE rather than N which would be the Manitoban. Bill Hepburn`s map shows CIII is Global, altho W9WI.com network info is missing for many of the stations on ch 2. Soon fades out, no more TV/FM DX for a while.

Jim Renfrew, Holley NY, replies July 14 to my previous report about the channel 2 Ontarians:

``Glenn, I had CKCO-2 yesterday hammering CIII-2. It's not often able to be more than CCI to CIII. I also noted a lot of Owen Sound FMers were in at the same time. I had a QSL from CKCO-2 a year or so ago and the CE says on the card that there are (were) no plans to move to digital. 

CKWS 11 just jumped to DT in the last few days, also channel 11, first reported by Jim Pizzi. Not much of a target for you in either case, but some evidence that the smaller market stations in Canada may be shifting to digital. While CIII is a bit of a pest on 2 for me, at least its presence lets me know that the TV and antenna are working!``
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. Continuing Es TV DX opening on July 14 from previous report, and also after an excursion to USA/Arizona on FM and DTV, here only analog in UT:

1715 on 3, lucha libre starts to show; bug in LR is oval, maybe generic Televisa

1717 on 2, children`s competition of some sort with large auditorium audience. Since it`s educational, I suspect it`s the Once network, which I thought I heard mentioned, but no match on 2 in NW Mexico.

1721 on 2, I glance at one screen just at the right moment to read a local ID supered in white for a few seconds at top center: XHPDT. That leads to Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, 18 kW, per W9WI.com, with Televisa net-2. A new one for me. Program turns out to match their schedule at 12-14 local, ``VIII Olimpiada Mexicana de Geografía``, evidently qualifiers for the big one in St. Petersburg, sponsored by National Geographic. 1726 pause for promos including Televisa Deportes, lost after that.

1730 on 3, still lucha libre. Bug in UL includes AAA. This wrestling originates in León, Guanajuato and ring announcements are in Spanish, but some of the participants` names are in gringo. The way they jump around, could almost pass for gymnasts. ``Triple-A`` also mentioned audibly in Spanish.

1740 on 3, better view of the Televisa bug in LR says DEPORTES tinily below it; quite a bit of ghosting on this but not much QRM. This is looking more and more like XHBC Mexicali; it does peak further north/west than the others, and soon confirmed their online program schedule with `Lucha Libre` at 10-noon Sunday. Plus:

1741 on 5, Azteca net-13 fades in vs CCI from my cable leak. This also fits for the other Mexicali, XHAQ, both seen often before

1742 on 6, a bit of video showing, probably XETV Tijuana on net-5

1800+ everything fades out, the last to go, weak video on 3.

6m maps have been showing much more activity to the northeast, so I finally rotate to see if anything come in from CANADA: q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. Just a quick update as to some Tijuana TV details, re: Glenn Hauser and some of his DX Listening Digest reports (all very interesting, by the way). Because Tijuana/Tecate is seen quite often here in Santa Barbara by tropo ducting, I can clarify that all Tijuana/Tecate analogs are still on as of this writing in mid July 2013. So far, no deadline has been kept for their turn-off.

And, not all Mexico station info is up to date. As to the two specific stations in question: Analog XHTJB-3 Tijuana (Once TV XEIPN-11 Mexico City network) is still on. It is on DTV on RF ch 46 "3." Analog XETV-6 Tijuana (XHGC-5 Mexico City network) is still on, but no longer with its long-standing English service. XETV's English service is now only on its DTV RF ch 23-1 "6-1." Its XHGC-5 DTV service is on RF ch 23-2 "6-2." I hope this helps. Best of DX, (Dennis Smith, Santa Bárbara CA, July 10, for August WTFDA VUD, via editor Nick Langan, DXLD)

** PERU. 5980, July 15 at 0104-0105:17.5*, R. Chaski carrier with some talk modulation until cutoff 5.5 (or maybe 5.25) seconds later than yesterday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SUDAN [and non]. 15400, July 15 at 0449, 1000 Hz tone jammer along with R. Dabanga via MADAGASCAR. Too bad; this had been our best frequency to hear Dabanga and its jolly jingles (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1677 monitoring: Sunday July 14 at 2330v on WTWW-2 9930: missing, not on the air. This time I also check the night frequency 5085, and not on there either. Remaining repeats:

Tue 1100 on WRMI 9955; Wed 0630 & 1430 on HLR 7265-CUSB, maybe 1630 on 15785-CUSB. Also could appear any day, any time between 17 and 24 on 9930, 00 and 01 on 5085 once WTWW-2 is back on the air (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 850, UT Monday July 15 at 0510, KOA with `Coast to Coast AM`. Sunday-night host is doing his farewell show after 13 years. Seems lately he has been doing only one Sunday per month. This finale will present his favorite guests with something new from each, starting with Saturday night host John B. Wells who will also be taking over these Sundays: mutual admiration society. This guy is Ian Punnett, @deaconpunnett I think he said, whom I had not really noticed once a month. Sendoff info:
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/article/thanks-for-the-memories
Said he is transitioning to being a PhD candidate and a published author, `How to Pray When You`re Pissed at God`. Axually I kept tuning down while this was going on and heard the last part of it on 600 WREC Memphis (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 870, July 15 at 0506 UT I`m getting a station with WWL nulled, and it`s not in Vietnamese! So for a change, not KFJZ Fort Worth cheating. YL is giving detailed weather forecasts but never mentions a location (which happens too often on local stations, assuming all listeners know where it`s coming from). 0507 segué to Star Spangled Banner by small chorus; shux, no ID or sign-off message. Unshux: *after* the NA comes the sign-off with complete info altho I could not copy it all partly due to nearby lightning crashes altho WWL can be completely nulled: this is from Minnesota, dual FM 97.5 with 100 kW; could not catch call but FCC Query shows KDKK, Park Rapids; matches same city for 870, KPRM, which NRC AM Log shows with 25/1 kW, but CP for 40/1. Announced now as 40 kW day, 1 kW night, so the CP is now on. Also gives hours as 9 am to midnight on Sunday, [CDT = UT -5, Sunday 14-05 Monday UT], presumably longer on weekdays. Carrier with SAH stays on
 a while longer.

FCC AM Query shows they now have an application to raise day power further to 50 kW; the nighttime direxional pattern is unfound, but its parameters show the southward null toward WWL is supposed to extend as far as 200 degrees, close to Enidward. Park Rapids is in NW MN, east of Fargo, south of Bemidji. KPRM is part of the Double K FM radio network of four FMs and three other AMs:
http://www.kkradionetwork.com/
Is there a full program schedule on this station`s page http://www.kkradionetwork.com/page/show/348825-kprm-870-am-25-000-watts
? Of course not! Despite ``classic country`` format, just some major shows, such as Limbaugh & Hannity, so we know they are anti-American. And from http://www.kkradionetwork.com/page/show/348858-kdkk-97-5-fm-starstation-
[sic, ending with hyphen], you`d never know it is simulcast with 870
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. After 2+ hours of Mexican TVDX from Sonora and vicinity, MUF attains the FM band, July 14 at 1636 UT as I am already monitoring my lowest fairly open channel, 88.1 (and local Family Radio translator on 88.3 is off, but there are no Mexicans on 88.3!). And furthermore no northwest Mexicans on 88.1.

1636 on 88.1, fades in ranchera music, easily topping KWOU Woodward OK fringe signal. 1637, ``música fronteriza en Radio Bilingüe``, program promo expressed in Hora del Pacífico. I consult the WTFDA FM database and find none of the 88.1s in Alta California are shown in Spanish, so let`s try Arizona, where MST in summer time is the same: Yes! KREE is Radio Bilingüe with 1.5/1.5 kW V&H in Pirtleville AZ. Where in the world is that? A suburb of Douglas, in SE AZ right near the Sonora border, 755 miles/1216 km from Enid.

1646 on 88.1, another promo mentioning Los Ángeles, whence apparently programming originates, altho I don`t find another FM station by that name in CA --- until I search WTFDA db on ``Radio Biling`` as it`s truncated, to avoid dealing with an umlaut? This turns up nine stations, all in the non-commercial band around the state, but none very close to LA coordinates, plus three translators above 92, (and none on 88.1 in CA). Then at 1647, still in Spanish, a promo for the FCC`s upcoming LPFM application window, on behalf of the Prometheus Project ---
http://prometheusradio.org BTW, that was the closest to English ever heard on Bilingual Radio.http://www.w4uvh.net/KREE.rm

1646 on 88.1, CCI to KREE starts to overtake, from one of those overkill `K-Love` stations, in English of which there are none on this frequency in CA, but nearby in AZ: KLTU in Mammoth, with 16/16 kW. Where in the world is that? Serves Tucson, tho not on my maps. 769 miles/1238 km Mammoth to Enid.

1656 on 88.1, full ID for KLTU, Tucson, back to praise music.
http://www.w4uvh.net/KLTU.rm

1710, I notice that the (analog) TV MUF has fallen to channel 3, but 88.1 KLTU is still in, 1712 local event in Arizona ad. 88.1 is gone by 1720. But:

1713, I turn the Zenith converter on to RF channel 4, and am rewarded by a ``bad`` DTV signal! Bill Hepburn`s map shows there`s one near Tucson, K04QP-D, and W9WI.com shows it licensed to Casas Adobes with 300 watts, but CP for 2 kW. I ``will`` the signal to surpass the threshold of decoding, but it never does in the remaining few minutes it`s registering at all on the meter in orange. I don`t count stations, so I can confidently say it was this one, since it correlated with KLTU reception, and everything fits. (And of course there are no full-power DTVs on 4 anywhere around there).

FCC further shows it`s owned by KVOA, the original full-power inhabitant of channel 4 in Tucson --- guess they could not bear to give up ch 4 completely while the real KVOA is now on RF 23. W9WI.com says it is // to KVOA, which on 23 also has Cozi, whatever that is, on ``4.2``. FCC coverage map of K04QP-D shows over the entire city of Tucson as far as Marana and Catalina to the north, Green Valley to the south. I suppose in the city, remapping would get KVOA on either RF 4 or 23, or both without knowing really which it be. Can this be because from the main mountaintop transmitter site, there are DTV signal problems down in the city proper? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 5925-5965 approx., UT Mon July 15 at 0104, extremely distorted wideband noise with traces of talk modulation, as also heard 24 hours earlier on UT Sun. Argentine and neighboring DXers on the condiglist have been complaining that the LRA 6060 transmitter has been out of whack for months with wideband noise ruining the entire 49 m band for them, apparently only on weekends (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)