giovedì 15 marzo 2018

Glenn Hauser logs March 12-13-14, 2018

** ANGUILLA. 6090, March 13 at 0615, CB is off again; also off March 14 at 0232 check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ARGENTINA [non]. Further chex of RAE relays via WRMI, Mon March 12: 

March 12 at 1900, again no RAE German on 9395, instead Oldies // 9455, and from 1958 past 2000, 9395 still Oldies, not RAE Italian, while 9455 breaks off for variety programming, see USA: WRMI. 

Recall that these alleged M-F transmissions scheduled effective January 8 were also missing until they finally appeared exactly one month ago on February 12. Apparently lost in the shuffle again due to confusion with DST affecting other transmissions (and/or the clox on the servers in question --- but AFAIK these two are not showing up at any time on any frequency).

5950, at 2200 March 12, no signal from RAE Spanish; it`s always weak here but should be able to detect it. By 2231 it`s on and JBA with tango? Must have come up late. M-F only.

7780, at 2330 March 12, confirmed in French, RAE. M-F only.

9395, UT Tue March 13 at 0118, RAE English has indeed shifted back to 0100 start instead of 0200 during standard time, but now it`s got a new //, 9455! Discussion of a bandoneón player. 

9395, March 13 after 1900 and 2000, RAE German and Italian are still AWOL, Oldies instead. Wonder for how many weeks this time? 

9455, March 14 at 0131 check, RAE English interviewing an Argentine expat in New York, same kind of show they were doing almost a year ago. Now 9455 is S9+10, much stronger than // 9395, the original and still only publicized frequency. (But the other WRMI on 9 MHz is now S9+20 on 9955 with no jamming vs gospel huxter.)

9455 confirmed still // 9955 for RAE Portuguese an hour earlier than before, March 14 at 1100, both very good today. So in most of Brasil, this broadcast was at 10 am local until a month ago, then 9 am when Brasil went off DST, now 8 am since FL goes on DST, as if that should have any impact in the target. (FL is considering legislation to stay on DST of UT-4 yearound, which should simplify things for WRMI!)

I expect RAE itself will be slow to catch up, if ever, with accurate real time and frequency changes for all these (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1921, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ASCENSION. 15490, March 14 at 1932 on caradio, African language with typical ``Ascension hum``. It`s Hausa among others scheduled 1800-2000/2030 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA. 7730, March 12 at 2333 during WRMI survey, a JBA carrier here and some modulation? much weaker than the weak WRMI 7780. Aoki shows another station may be on 7730 any of the 24 hours, Sound of Hope, 1 kW, so no doubt this is ChiCom CNR1 jamming. And WRMI does not come up on 7730 until 0000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA [non]. 13670, March 14 at 1417, soft song in English with guitar, lyrix repeated include ``no one`s talking`` and ``no, no, no, no, no``, yet 1419 followed by M&W discussing in French! Aoki/NDXC shows it`s CRI French service via ALBANIA; in more confusing cross/cultural programming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA: 9570 spurs

** CUBA. RHC survey on second, third and fourth days of DST; this will be rather convoluted, especially for anyone trying to restructure this to frequency order, but this is what I heard, starting Monday March 12. I have included the date with each item, seeming redundant here, but RHC and my gh credit will have to be added if rearranged:

15730 at 2231 March 12, dead air? Maybe algo, vs high noise level. Sunday March 11 at this time, it was Esperanto. 15730 by 2330 March 12 is audibly Portuguese but modulation is cutting out and distorted.

15230 at 2233 March 12 is Portuguese, while yesterday started the hour in English by mistake; 9720 at 2233 March 12 is Kriyol-la; 5040 at 2235 March 12 in Spanish.

5040 at 2300 March 12, frequency announcement is woefully incomplete: 11670, 11950, 6000, and stopping ``deja de transmitir`` 5040! -- NOT!! Still on in Spanish but should be English; maybe later, and for now // Spanish 11760, 11840 plus/minus parasites.

11950 // 6000 by 2302 March 12 are dead air, but 2303 JIP `Mesa Redonda`. In fact, 11950 // 6000 are not main RHC as the frequency announcement implied, but the separate `Mesa Redonda` TV soundtrack channels now one UT hour earlier. Both of them are off again during the 00-01 hour, at 0022 check March 13. 

15230 at 2303 March 12 is dead air, still so at 2307, not English. 9720 is English by 2303 already. By 2330 March 12, 15230 is in Spanish // 11760 etc..

11670 is DA till 2304:20 March 12, then JIP main Spanish // 9535, 9640

5040, March 12 at 2333 is finally in English, // 9720 with some distortion on the upper

UT Tue March 13:

6060 VG at 0022 UT March 13, music in Spanish service, // 9535, 9640 distorted and CW mix?, 11670, 11760, 11840 and parasites, 15230. 5040 Kriyol-la.

9720 and 15730 are off by 0022 UT March 13. 

6165 // 6000 at 0116 March 13, English with fair modulation. So confirmed back to *0100 start instead of *0200 during standard time.

5980, March 13 at 0617, multiple pulse jamming against no Radio Martí which is still not starting until *0700; Jamming Command must have suspected it would come up an hour earlier due to DST? But jamming was always ramping up somewhat before 0700 anyway.

6100 at 0617 March 13, RHC English is S9+20 but JBM; 6165 as strong but low modulation with CCI from Japan in Arabic via France; 6060 weaker, 6000 stronger.

15370, March 13 at 1415 is putting out only weak spurs with F# tone audible on 15508 and weaker 15439; not audible circa 15302 or 15234.

March 14:
6000 & 6165, UT March 14 at 0232 are S9+10 with JBM music; 6060 Spanish off, leaving a het

9553 & 9586 approx., March 14 at 1358-1400*, matching extremely distorted spurblobs, modulation pauses matching those on source 9570 CRI relay via CUBA, during filler Chinese lesson for English, plus/minus 16-17 kHz.

15302 approx., March 14 at 1405, only weak spurblob detected this time from 15370 (Glenn Hauser, OK, [summarized on WORLD OF RADIO 1921] DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA [non]. 9490, March 14 at 0227, via FRANCE, Radio República is good S9 with NO jamming audible, ending `Encuentro Informativo` and with sked as ``9490, 9 a 11 de la noche, de lunes a domingo``, i.e. from EDT to UT = 01-03 daily and no extensions/variations on weekends any more, if that is to be believed. It`s brokered by RMI, and BTW at this hour all three Okeechobee transmitters on the band, 9395, 9455 and 9955, aimed three different direxions, are JBA here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NIGERIA. 7255-, March 13 at 0631, Voice of Nigeria still AWOL (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1921, DX LISTENING DIGEST, but: 
7254.922, March 14 at 0607, it`s back with Hausa at S9+20 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. RF channel A-48, March 14 at 1454 UT, KOCY-LP visiblizes its snowy NTSC analog Estrella TV picture from OKC, reconfirming it still exist, so I also go looking for DTV signals. KBZC-LD is briefly decoding multiple channels on RF 42, and there are Bad signals on 21 and 19, all of which imply OKC; morning area tropo enhancement, despite no such predixion by William Hepburn`s maps (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 5890, March 13 at 0614, WWCR-4 still silent with no BS, while 5935, WWCR-2 is S9+10 with so-called University Network (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SRI LANKA. 11905, March 13 at 0114:57.5, tune in SLBC just in time to hear the music prélude bit, and 2+1 mis-timesignal until 0115:05 before opening Hindi. Now heavy flutter but a fairly good signal, probably due to the N/S equinoxial terminator facilitating grayline (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 1920 monitoring: confirmed Mon Mar 12 at 2330 on WBCQ, 9330.2v-CUSB, JBA; also confirmed UT Tue Mar 13 at 0030 on WRMI, 7730, very good. Also confirmed Tue Mar 13 at 2030 on WRMI 7780 & 9455 (unlike a week ago when 9455 went astray); also Tue Mar 13 at 2130 on 9455 (not checked, but as I later discovered on the schedule, 7780 is now ALSO supposed to be // during this hour too!). 

I haven`t finished WOR 1921 in time for these, nor for: Tue Mar 13 at 2330 on WBCQ, so 1920 replays one more time on 9330.25v-CUSB, JBA.

WORLD OF RADIO 1921 contents: Argentina non, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brasil, China, Cuba, Europe, Iran and non, Japan, Korea South, Madagascar, Nigeria and non, Russia, South Carolina non, Spain, Sudan and non, Sudan South, Taiwan, Uganda non, USA; and the propagation outlook

Ready for first airings Wednesday March 14:
Wed 1030   WRMI 9455 to WNW [confirmed VG with higher pre-sunrise MUF]
Wed 2100   WRMI 9955 [NEW!] to SSE
Wed 2100   WBCQ 7490v to WSW
[on caradio confirmed both with about same fair signals, OK in quiet locations only; 9955 about two seconds behind 7490]
Wed 2330   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW [confirmed, fair on 9330.2v]
Thu 2230.5 WRMI 5850 to NW
Thu 2330   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
Fri 2330   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
Sat 0729   HLR 6190-CUSB to WSW
Sat 1531   HLR 6190-CUSB to WSW
Sat 1930v  WA0RCR 1860-AM ND
Sat 2130   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
Sat 2300   WRMI 7780 to NE
Sun 0200   WRMI 7780 to NE
Sun 0310v  WA0RCR 1860-AM ND
Sun 1130   HLR 9485-CUSB to WSW
Sun 2330   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
Mon 0300v  WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW
Mon 0330   WRMI 9955 to SSE, 9455 to WNW
Mon 2330   WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW
Tue 0030   WRMI 7730 to WNW
Tue 2030   WRMI 7780 to NE, 9455 to WNW [or #1922?]
Tue 2130   WRMI 7780 to NE, 9455 to WNW [or #1922?]

Full WOR schedule via all media, podcast access:
http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html

BTW, Larry Will explains that the UT Sunday March 11 0400 WOR broadcast on Area 51, 5130- WBCQ, was ``ad-hoc``, not to be reliably continued (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WRMI survey starting March 12; this will be rather convoluted, especially for anyone trying to rearrange this into frequency order, but this is what I found. I`ve put a date with each item, making those seem redundant in my original format, but I am not adding ``WRMI`` with each one, nor my gh credit, which will have to be appended if rearranged:

9455 // 7780, Mon Mar 12 at 2010, something in Russian --- DX program `Radio Panorama` as now scheduled at 2000 Mondays, followed by `Wavescan` at 2030. Sked grid has a typo as ``9445`` for this hour!

9455 // 7780, Mon Mar 12 at 2155, `La Rosa de Tokio` hour is finishing. Previously these two frequencies had separate programming during this hour. The skedgrid confirms this. 

9455 // 9955, Mon Mar 12 at 2200, `Wavescan` again, #472 for week of March 11, now on this parallel pair; while 7780 and 9395 are very poor, Oldies?

5850, Mon Mar 12 at 2232, no signal from this WRMI supposed to start at 2230, but cuts on at *2233, VG with `Yeshua`. Having problems getting going on time, like 5950 not at *2200, see ARGENTINA [non].

7780 // jammed 9955, Mon Mar 12 at 2305, `Viva Miami`; while 9395 // 9455 are now Oldies; both with VOA news circa 2330. 

5850, Mon Mar 12 after 2300, still R. Tirana in English, and at 2330, R. Prague in English.

9955, Mon Mar 12 by 2333, wall of noise jamming vs Spanish, presumably Radio Libertad, now at 2315-2400 M-F. 

Now from UT Tuesday March 13:

7730, UT Tue Mar 13 at 0018, `Wavescan` in progress, and from 0030 `World of Radio 1920`, both VG.

7780, UT Tue Mar 13 at 0018, RSI in Slovak (NOT 11580 as still shown on skedgrid; and is // 5850).

9395 // 9455, UT Tue Mar 13 at 0019, commercial with phone 800-764-9168, back to Oldies.

9955, UT Tue Mar 13 at 0020, Spanish gospel huxter readable vs jamming. Scheduled at 0015-0030 is `Frank & Ernest in Spanish`.

11530, UT Tue Mar 13 at 0021, Spanish about China, RTI relay; also some CCI: it is also a Sound of Hope frequency 20 hours a day and subject to CNR1 jamming. Two birds with one stone?

5950, UT Tue Mar 13 at 0021, Spanish gospel huxter. It`s the AWR-Cuba block at 0000-0030 only.

5850, UT Tue Mar 13 at 0021, Slavic song, during Slovakia in English.

5850, UT Tue Mar 13 at 0117, ``Star Wars`` theme and starting `Italian SW Panorama` to present MW & SW logs from DX Fanzine, and // much weaker 5950 and // 7780 of middle strength. I.e. this is the second part of IBC Radio at 0100-0130. Frequency usage contradicts the skedgrid which shows at 0100-0200, 7780 // 5950 with this, but 5850 going with 9395 // 9455 for `Grateful Dead`! But that can`t be right since Argentina in English is now on 9395 // 9455 at 01-02 weeknights.

11530, UT Tue Mar 13 at 0118, romantic or rather praise gospel music in Spanish. It`s the `Fámily Radio` hour at 01-02, same 160 degree azimuth as on 9955.

9955, UT Tue Mar 13 at 0118, music in Spanish with jamming. Yet sked now shows for the 0100-0130 UT Tue block: `Coming Home`.

5850 VG // weaker 7780 // weakest 5950, UT Wed March 14 at 0134, it`s Keith Perron talking about transferring discs to digital, i.e. PCJ Radio International, then plugging `Happy Station`. This is what appears misleadingly on the WRMI program skedgrid as `Media Network Plus` and on 5950 // 7780 only, while 5850 is shown as `Space Phono Radio`, but that may have been only a one- or two-shot test broadcast?

9455, March 14 after 1400, R. Eslovaquia again in unscheduled Spanish, while after 1430 at 1447 check, it`s World Music fill, and 9395 is in Oldies prior to picking up Brother Scare at 1500. It`s not clear why Slovakia need or want a third morning Spanish broadcast, already at 1030 on 9955, 1230 on 9955 and 9455 (with weekend variations)(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

WRMI: See also ARGENTINA [non]; USA [+ non] WORLD OF RADIO monitoring

** U S A. 7490v, Mon Mar 12 at 2333, WBCQ with non-TOM M&W in anti-Islamic talk. That would be `Camp Constitution Radio`. Also some CCI; maybe overload or CNR1 jammer. This M-F hour used to be BS, but DST shifted him to 22-23 UT, when all three WBCQs should be BSing, 5130v and 9330v too.

7490, UT Tue Mar 13 at 0120, Timtron is talking about the 160 mb, and converting a MW-50 transmitter to SW, which then burned up. Sked does not show anything between 0100 and 1900 UT Tuesdays; must be playback of his own show or when he was infilling for AWWW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 5085, 0120 UT March 13, WTWW-2 is on with C&W music; also 24 hours later March 14 with ham show, much stronger than competing ham show on 5130v WBCQ.

5830, March 13 at 0614, WTWW-1 seems off? Or only a JBA carrier as nothing else is listed; but 5085, March 13 at 0618, WTWW-2 is on with C&W music, usual bigsig. Neighbor 5935 WWCR is S9+10 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [non]. During `AWR Wavescan` March 13, Jeff White gave the A-18 schedule effective March 25 for that program:
Sun 1530 15670, Nauen to Nepal & Tibet
Sun 2200 12040, KSDA to western Indonesia
Sun 1600 11950, Sofia to S India [new site]
Sun 1600  9580, Trincomalee
Those are the only times on AWR itself, not including dozens more via WRMI, KVOH, VOHA, WWCR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 5050, UT Tue March 14 at 0121 check, no signal from WWRB, nor on 90m. Now with DST season, WWCR starts 3215 at 0100, the station now audible, and continuing in A-18; so if WWRB needs to be on 90m after 0100, as it had been UT Sun/Mon/Tue, it will have to use 3185 or 3195. Maybe it did run 3215 before 0100 today? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 700, March 14 at 2041 UT, at a quiet parking spot in western Enid, gospel huxtress in Spanish, reverby venue and edge of groundwave coverage make copy difficult, but 2051 UT mentions ``sangre de cristo``, and I bet it`s not about the bloody New Mexico mountain range. So it`s KHSE Wylie TX (Metroplex) currently formatted with this, not Asian. Could not copy such an ID at 2100 UT, but in English did mention at least one FM translator, and then a definite ID for: KBXD, 1480, Voz Evangélica, and alternating English and Spanish. NRC AM Log has both of these as part of the ``Radio Setecientos`` group (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1130, March 13 at 1922 UT check, KLEY Wellington KS is still SNAFU with carrier cutting on and off and pulses mixing, as I described before.

1130, March 14 at 2040 UT check, KLEY is back in whack with ``The Wave, wheat capital`` slogan, but comes and goes and will likely go out of whack again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1200, March 13 at 2055 UT, weak signal at quiet spot in western Enid on caradio, ad mentioning I-35 exit 186 (which would be Neu Braunfels), i.e. WOAI San Antonio; and then it fades out. So a bit of skywave this early? I suppose more likely than groundwave, almost 500 miles at mid-band. Or sporadic E.

Despite one guy with a tagline pooh-poohing comparing MF to VHF for Es, I suspect there is a correlation, and more research needs to be done with ionosondes, etc. It needs to be proved that Es has a *lower* frequency limit which is above the MF BC band. It is certainly evident on the lower HF bands. Shortly I was hearing pileups on CB, indicating MUF of at least 28 MHz, and a 6m Es DXmap shows MUF up to 72 MHz over Tennessee/North Carolina by 2225 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

This report dispatched at 0012 UT March 15