** AFGHANISTAN [non]. R. Solh, 17700 via Rampisham UK, was fairly audible August 2 at 1335 so made the difficult choice of listening to it instead of the much more pervasive, but also just as repetitive, Firedrake on 17200 et al. Yes, same music as always including skipping CD at 1346-1349 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. Firedrake with big S9+15 signal on new 17200, August 2 at 1317, stronger than any 16mb station which could only reach S9+10 at this hour. Including another Firedrake on 17705 at 1315, much weaker, presumably against India, past 1315 scheduled closing, and finally off 17705 when rechecked 1332. I also scanned entire 18, 16, 14, 13 and 12 MHz out-of-band MHz ranges looking for more Firedrake, and found only 14420 at 1319, much weaker than 17200; both presumably provoked by Sound of Hope. FD was also on 17560 at 1325, and on 17550 at 1422, the latter with some victim audible underneath and a SAH. Per Aoki, 17560 would be against V. of Tibet via Tashkent, and 17550 vs. VOT via Madagascar. Took some time to enjoy the Firedrake performance with such excellent reception on 17200, never forgetting that it`s employed by the Chicom as if they were spoiled children, screaming so they can`t hear what their parents are trying to say to them. The great disparity in signal between 17200 and the other 17 MHz Firedrakes makes one wonder about how the transmitter sites, powers and azimuths actually differ. Would the SARFT please register details about these transmissions, purely to aid propagational research? 17200 went to open carrier between 1400:20 and Firedrake resumption at 1404:40; but at 1409 recheck 17200 was gone (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN [non]. At last, NHKWNRJ via Sackville, 6120, free of Singapore QRM! In the clear, Saturday August 2 at 1220, monthly haiku feature with Shokan, subjects fireflies, water lilies, cicadas. Name of British-accented Japanese hostess mentioned in passing sounded like Kimie Oshima. Yes, she is pictured on the WI page http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/radio/wi/index.html but identified as doing the Just for Laughs segment, and Shokan is just above her, altho unnamed, and I still haven`t caught his full name. Why are the RJ presenters so reticent in identifying themselves? Tuned in earlier for the final repeat two hours later, 11705 also via Sackville but with traces of pre-echo from Yamata direct on same frequency. World of Haiku started at 1416. 13m struggling to open brought usual Libya, Portugal, Spain, Ascension frequencies, but also some very weak talk on 21560 at 1309 August 2, music at 1313. Any help in PWBR `2008`? Of course not! Aoki shows this could only be Japan in Swahili via France, so close to off the back here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA. V. of Africa, 21695, poorly audible in Swahili, August 2 at 1306; and around 1420 in music, presumably now during English broadcast. The 130 degree azimuth on this, per Aoki, is close to directly off the back from us, 310 degrees, and so somewhat favorable for North America. Spain, Portugal and Ascension also audible on 13m. Solar flux may have leaped up a notch or two, but as of August 1 was still 66, per SWPC, while K-index Aug 2 at 12 was 0, at 15 was 2 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SINGAPORE. RSI missing from 6080, 6120 and 6150 when checked around 1230 August 2, as promised. According to monitoring by Alan Davies in Indonesia and this story http://www.channelnewsasia.com/cna/cgi-bin/search/search_7days.pl?status=&search=shortwave&id=364130 via kimandrewelliott.com, it`s not just RSI which has vanished (website also deleted much too hastily), but all SW relays of domestic services from the Kranji site. If this was the intention all along, how come it was only the RSI external service that was publicized starting two months ago to be closed as of August 1? The domestic service SW relays already considered inconsequential? We would have settled for those remnants. See JAPAN, TAIWAN for what else is being heard on above frequencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. REE, 17595, started interesting discussion about Maya-Quiché language and music of Guatemala, Sat Aug 2 at 1405, but couldn`t stay with it. Per sked in UT +2 at http://www.rtve.es/archivos/70-9383-FICHERO/ParrillaREE_2008_VERANO.pdf show is Página Abierta, Sat 1405-1430, and repeated Sun 0405 and also airs Wed 0630, not sure which comes first (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. Singapore may be gone from 6150, but I am still hearing something, August 2 at 1230 song, 1232 lively M&W announcements, sounds like Chinese. Aoki shows: 6150*R.TAIWAN INT. 0900-1400 1234567 Chinese 100 310 Kouhu TWN 12010E2335N CBSC a08 Which means it is also jammed, altho I was not hearing any Firedrake. Has this been there all along, colliding with RSI? Could have been hearing CNR1 jamming instead (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WRNO back on the air testing with variety of music, on 7505, from tune-in 2132 UT August 1 during ``Crazy`` by Patsy Cline. VG S9+22 signal. Modulation quality generally good but with some clicks and pops, occasionally cutting to low-level. 2150 started Beatles` ``Come Together`` but cut off after opening. 2152 Celtic song. Pauses of one or two minutes between music cuts. 2200 the first ID I have heard, nor have I seen any reported before this, apparently by engineer at transmitter site rather than from studio, clicking on mike and with some feedback: ``This is WRNO, broadcasting on 7 dot 505 megacycles``. 17 kb clip of this only at http://www.w4uvh.net/wrnoid1.rm [in original hasty post I wrote `transmitting` instead.] Back to more music cuts, ``Solitary Man``, sounds like Roy Orbison, piano solos, Bertie Wooster theme, 2218 big band, New Orleans swing music, pause at 2239, a bit of feedback as mike apparently turned on again. Then just before 2241 another ID, same text as above, but sounds like another live announcement, another long pause, 2243 music resumed, etc. After that I left a radio on but was not paying very close attention. Open carrier ran from 2250 to 2300, no ID, 2301 Celtic fiddle music, more open carrier. 2312 Bertie Wooster theme again, carrier off at 2320:40*. Back on shortly, open carrier off and on. 2359 another ID this time mentioning New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America, various music, off again at 0020* August 2; mostly off until 0100, full ID and piano rendition of What a Friend We Have in Jesus, 0114 some preaching. After 0145 some classical music; 0158 ``Summertime``, then more preaching. Now seems to be in regular programming? 0211 speaker mentioned owner Robert Mawire in connexion with The End Times --- here we go again! and plugging a book of his, Fort Worth address; more music, still going at 0230, YL ID with frequency, ``transmitter site in New Orleans, Louisiana``. Music audio was dropping out, during Mendelssohn`s Midsummer Night`s Dream, so still needs some work. If they get their act together and play full pieces of classical music without interruption for proselytizing I will be very pleasantly surprised. Before 0300, preaching by presumed Mawire, with strange accent, apparently from his African background, abruptly interrupted by commercial for his book. Tuned out; 0430 recheck, off. 15590 not yet on as of 1609 UT August 2 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Ran across Pirating with Cumbre on WHRA 15710, Sat Aug 2 at 1250, with R. Azteca clips from Kulpsville, full of censor-beeps --- apparently you can`t say ``ass`` on WHR unless Biblequoting --- but Marie ended DXing with Cumbre already at 1255, into WHR promos, so did it start earlier than 1230? VG signal, but on S-meter could see some flutter, not audibly. This airing is an apparent recent addition. Same show #593 repeated at 1431 on 11785 WHRI, after music ceased late with excessively echoey Hmong announcement. BTW, Marie says she lost her job and previous e-mail at Syracuse University last year; yet her p-mail address is now via WCNY, sister station of WAER where she worked. I see that the nice portrait of her has disappeared from the WAER website staff page (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15675 strong with tone test at 1427 Saturday August 2, 1428 to open carrier briefly and off. Prime suspect is VOA Greenville, scheduled Sat/Sun only at 17-18 in English to WAf (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ### ---[Start Commercial]--------------------- Order your WRTH 2008: http://www.hard-core-dx.com/redirect2.php?id=wrth2008 ---[End Commercial]----------------------- ________________________________________ Hard-Core-DX mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ _______________________________________________ THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License published by Michael Stutz at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/dsl.html
