giovedì 20 novembre 2014

Glenn Hauser logs November 19-20, 2014

** AFGHANISTAN [non]. 13590, Nov 19 at 1405, talk in Pashto about Pakistan, then suddenly all-English interviewing (ex?) Ambassador William somebody, good with flutter; 1410 interviewer briefly summarizes their conversation in Pashto, back to English to 1415 at least. It`s VOA Deewa Radio, via Nauen, GERMANY this hour only; preceded by Kuwait, followed by Sri Lanka. So why change sites every hour? Because they can? To even out daily propagation variations? But that would be helpful only if each hour is a repeat. One would think the two closer ones would be better any time than Germany (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ARGENTINA. 11711-, Nov 19 at 0329, I`m checking RAE by tuning USB to minimize the 11710 het from presumed CRI Russian via Urumqi. Since hearing English instead of French during this hour last week, I`ve been intending to reconfirm it: yes, altho very poor, I can tell it is not French but English intonation; 0330 3-pip auto timesignal seems a few seconds late, then RAE ID in Spanish, back to English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** EGYPT. 9905, Nov 19 at 0644, R. Cairo signal is good with flutter, but now it`s just barely modulated and distorted (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** FRANCE. 7390, Nov 19 at 0653, RFI in French, fair signal with fast SAH --- again making me suspect Issoudun is really running two transmitters here, even if only one is modulating. Aoki and HFCC show 7390 at 04-05 on 130 degrees, 05-06 on 160 degrees, 06-07 on 185 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 1510, Nov 19 at 0125, now I`m all set to record the regular half-hour break of the unID thought to be XEQI in Monterrey --- The Radio Shack Desk Top Digital Recorder patched into the DX-398. O, no! Just being turned on not yet recording, the device puts noise on this and other MW frequencies! No good for weak signals. I had used it before with no problem on SW, but it also messed up some FM DX recordings. Ain`t the digital world great? Anyhow at 0129 with WLAC nulled, the Spanish station is running a PSA or ad with a .mx website. So will have to keep trying or revert to an analog cassette tape recorder (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SOMALILAND [and non?]. 7120, Nov 20 at 0320-0332, no signal from R. Hargeisa, nor on 7130. Eurafrican monitors have been hearing something new on 7130 during their afternoon and evening, 1433-1831; at first assumed to be a move by Hargeisa, but the programming is in Arabic, clandestine directed at Bahrain, and originating in Iran, as identified by Tarek Zeidan in Cairo. Conceivably this could be employing the Hargeisa transmitter, if not coincidentally off the 7120 air, but why not direct from Iran? Precision frequency observations by Wolfgang Büschel and Mauno Ritola indicate the 7130 unit is not like Hargeisa, but Iran (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TURKEY. 9820, Nov 19 at 0643, big open carrier, lite het probably from off-frequency Brasilian. Scheduled here at 0450-0656 is V of Turkey in Turkish, 250 kW at 138 degrees, opposite from hereward. I would have suspected something closer, like a Greenville warmup. Nothing is scheduled to start at 0700. 9820 Turkey schedule is simultaneous with the listed 500 kW, 310 degree beam USward on 9700, and ordinarily audible, which I would have compared had I known (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1747 monitoring: confirmed at 0401 UT Wednesday Nov 19 on Global 24 via WRMI 9395, but only a poor signal. From the G24 program schedule it was unclear whether a previous special, `Shakespeare on Shortwave` would be pre-empting WOR or not.

Also confirmed Wednesday Nov 19 at 1415 on WRMI 9955, fair signal but with pulse jamming: tnx a lot, Arnie! Also confirmed on WBCQ webcast at 2200 UT Wed Nov 19, and presumably 7490v; and less than a minute later starting on Global 24 via WRMI 9395. Also confirmed after 0430 UT Thursday Nov 20 on WRMI webcast. And another repeat of 1747 to be 1330 UT Thursday Nov 20, with #1748 ready in time for first broadcast at 2201 Thursday Nov 20 on Global 24 via WRMI 9395, and again at 0030 UT Friday Nov 21 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 9395, Wednesday Nov 19 at 1350, Global 24 via WRMI, very poor signal with unknown program; 1359 mentioned Deutsche Welle but maybe just a promo; better at 1438 when a KBS World Radio ID goes by (yesterday KBS was on an hour earlier). Wednesday sked shows Jazz for the Asking before 1400, Old Time Radio Drama after 1400. I don`t think so. I know they have had a lot of problems getting the planned programs on the air thru internet access.

`The End of the Dial` was a special from CBC about shortwave radio stations closing with lots of classic clips and whether the medium itself is doomed vs podcasting, etc.: publicized for 0300 UT Thursday Nov 20. Listening on webcast, starts at 0305 after news, and as I suspected it`s from the archive of `Ideas`, great CBC series which airs at this very same time in the Central zone, but this show is from February. Meanwhile, 9395 is just barely audible! I found the show page with audio ready to launch:
http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/ID/2436633773/

BTW, Global 24 is carrying out a 24-hour test via BULGARIA, UT Saturday Nov 22 from 0000 on 9465, reports very much wanted. I`ve advised them that 9465 is not exactly clear according to HFCC:

1330-1400 FEBC Philippines
1600-1800 IBB Lampertheim = VOA English
1800-1900 RFI Issoudun
2100-2300 Brother Scare via Nauen, Germany

Maybe some of these are not really on the air, or G24 will go with some other frequency instead. Eibi only has the 1330 and 1600 broadcasts; Aoki only has the 1330 and 2100 ones. 1800 RFI could really be Taiwan in disguise.

Global 24 will also be testing via Sri Lanka on Sunday, December 7 at 1500-1558 on 13720, says Keith Perron (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

This report dispatched at 0552 UT November 20