T-storms kept developing right over Enid all evening, UT Aug 17, so computers and antennas unplugged, leaving us nothing else to do but monitor SW in primetime when we usually do not, with inside antennas only, pretty long wrapped around the ceiling several times, and presumably less direxional than the usual E-W longwire.
T-storm noise was heavy, but less human-made QRN than usual and propagation not too bad. More storms the next morning kept us off the outside wires. All the logs in this report are without external antenna, still with the FRG-7, and YB-400 as backup. Or in some cases quick checks in the yard with DX-398 portable, whip. ** ARGENTINA. Pleased to hear the RAE IS on 15344.0 or so as early as 1648 Aug 17; thought I heard them say ``atención`` once, but constant het from 15345, which must be Morocco. I was trying to measure 15344 more closely on the ATS-909 but at 1657 it had shifted much closer to 15345, still a lower-pitched het. 1700 6-pip timesignal and talk in unID language, but too much hash from TV swish. By now I am not sure whether I am hearing Morocco in Arabic or Argentina in its extra German broadcast, but one of them went off anyway at 1702, or at least there was no further het. I also had been distracted by a signal on 15340; see ETHIOPIA [non] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 9755 with unexpected program in English, Aug 17 at 0052, lofi mix including classical music; 0057 outro as ``Inside the Music`` from CBC Radio 1 --- Has RCI finally come to its senses and put CBCR1 back on shortwave?! Not exactly. At 0059 Radio-Canada ID, then CBC ID in unknown language, mentioning 9625 more than once, 0100 CBC News. OMG, it`s the CBC NQ service on wrong frequency! Nothing on 9625; S9+20 on 9755, stronger than 9625 usually attains, so on wrong antenna too? But squeezed by RFI 9750 GUF carrier and Spanish news modulation from 0100. 9755 is the frequency used by RCI English to USA in the winter, despite lower MUFs, and is not supposed to be on at this hour in summer. So what`s on 6100? At 0101, RCI harmonica fill music, undermodulated with hum, 0103 RCI ID mentioning The Link. 0104 Mandarin as scheduled. 9755 reception declining, but 0105 into another CBC program, probably In the Key of Charles. (BTW, there was no Outfront at 0045 as online CBC schedule claims even on local Sundays.) 0151 recheck, 9755 still in music show, but now a fast SAH from open carrier? 0158, CBCNQ ID again as ``9625``, and same in Inuktituk. 0200 sharp, RCI Spanish starts suddenly stronger on 9755, as scheduled for this hour, but still with something under. After news at 0206 gave three frequencies, but the only one I caught was on the 31m band, 9640, certainly incorrect --- not used since B-08 season and at 0000 only! Geez, are they screwed up in multiple ways. Then El Castor Mensajero (The Messenger Beaver, i.e. mailbag show, featuring Cubans). BTW, 6100 also has Spanish this hour but 5 minutes offset, and different Internal show anyway? Did not check. 9755 wrapping up ECM at 0258, still with fast SAH from co-channel interference, then 0259 RCI off leaving weak signal, 0300 CBC News signature! So not only was the CBCNQ service on the wrong frequency, but another transmitter in the hall at Sackville was on the SAME frequency during this hour, a really close collision! NQ probably stayed on 9755 till 0505* but unchecked later. After 0200, 9625 would have been badly squeezed between Spain on 9620 and Spain/Costa Rica on 9630. I did check the next morning and at 1325 nothing on 9755, but usual ripple SAH on 9625 indicating the always slightly-off-frequency CBCNQ was back, with Hmong dominant from FEBC Manila; see PHILIPPINES. To be sure, another check after FEBC off at 1400: Yes, weak CBC news in English. Also next evening UT Aug 18 at 0037 check, nothing on 9755, but weak signal on 9625. I did not notify Sackville about having NQ on 9755 the night before (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA. 9925 via Germany, kept an ear on VOC Aug 17 from 0207 looking for the English half-hour as per EiBi and Aoki, but only heard pop music, presumably in Croatian until 0230 when opened Voz de Croacia in Spanish. Maybe there was a quick English newscast at 0200 I already missed? Or just forget it for Sundays; or August holidays. Why does everyone in Europe think they have to go on holidays in August? Wouldn`t it be less disruptive to stagger absences from May thru September at least? WRTH A-09 update does not attempt to break down foreign language times; it`s all just Croatian/Other (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Will RHC ever resume its first English broadcast of the day at 2030? Not yet; Aug 16 at 2055 check, just Spanish on 11760 // 11770 et al. Could not hear 17660. Blame the Honduran oligarchy. RHC check at 0117 Aug 17, found 13790 and 13760 the only signals audible on 22m. At 0120: Spanish on 5965, 6060, 6120, 6140, 9600 11760 and an echo away on 13760, at the moment talking about the Wizard of Oz; weak signal with different music in Spanish on 6000, presumably the only English-service channel running, useless. En Contacto, the DX program ran from 0136 past 0151 UT Monday and I listened to most of it on 9600 which was strong but somewhat distorted. Featured monthly report from Pedro Sedano of AER with items including WRTH update, RRI Enescu contest, CyBC, Turquía. He takes a lot of time and trouble to spell out unfamiliar addresses, apparently assuming people will want to write to the stations. 13880 mixing product stronger than usual, Aug 17 at 1348 in talk about Barbados, 13680 leaping over 13780, both extremely strong; while leapfrog the other way on 13580 was JBA. Secret RHC midday service reconfirmed Aug 17 at 1547 on 11760, 11800 distorted, 11690; barely audible on 5965, and 6000 which were the only stations audible on 49-50m, not even WBOH 5920 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC [and non]. Pleased NOT to hear DRM test on 15470-15475-15476-15480 as previously scheduled by IBB/HCJB Greenville starting Aug 17 for HFCC, when checked at 2025, nor anywhere else on 19m (tho ANTARCTICA was not making it either, its unique low-power frequency should be respected!). 11700-11705-11710, HCJB DRM at 1546 Aug 17. Kim Elliott says this is a feeder to affiliates in Brasil. I wonder how many are really using it and how many ordinary DRM listeners there are? Also noted 15275-15280-15285 HCJB DRM around 2030 as usual. 17865-17870-17875, big DRM signal Aug 17 at 1622, TDF testing from Guiana French to HFCC in Dominican Republic. These tests do not appear on the DRM/DX schedule, but are mentioned on linked fora, supposed to be Aug 18-20 at 16-18, Aug 21 at 16-21, but already going Aug 17! A reminder that Jeff White is reactivating his Radio Discovery from Punta Cana HFCC this week Aug 17-22 on 4730 with only 100 watts to a half-wave dipole, testing WinDRM, SSB and AM. See details on DXLD 9-055. On the afternoon of Aug 17, Jeff told me they were just setting it up, ``We could be on tonight, but I`m not sure yet``. I`ve urged him to let it run all night. This should be quite a challenge to DX anywhere, especially here around all the T-storm noise. Do they manage to evade CODAR, and military ute SSBs on both sides? BTW, the tropstorms and hurricane in the area did not cause any of the delegations to cancel, Jeff says (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. Awful modulation from R. Cairo continues: 9915, Aug 17 at 0050, level S9+20 but extremely distorted yet muffled audio, useless, supposedly Spanish at 0045-0200 only. 6290, distorted muezzin, audio also cutting out at 0118, better modulation than 9915, but not by much. 6290 still on and audible with distorted Arabic news at 0402. In fact Aoki shows it`s continuous 1900-0700, 250 kW, 315 degrees from Abis; targets Eu and NAm thruout tho possible span here is shorter in summer. Aoki also titles this service 'El-Bernameg Al-Aam' --- which means? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, Aug 17 at 1554 with revival music, undermod talk in English, has to be R. Africa, the home away from home for convict Tony Alamo (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. While monitoring Argentina on 15344, Aug 17 at 1643, noticed flute music, unID language talk on poor 15340, 1656 HOA(?) singing, but off by 1658. Since Morocco is on 15345 at this hour, must be something else. Looked up later in Aoki, it`s the Monday-only 1600-1700 broadcast of EOTC Holy Synod Radio, clandestine to Ethiopia in Amharic, via Samara, Russia, 200 kW, 188 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. 17850, thought I had something exotic with Horn of Africa vocal music Aug 17 at 1636, but 1637 into French amid crowd noises, poor signal, 1641 hilife music. It`s just RFI`s service via Issoudun to Africa at 16-18 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also DOMINICAN REPUBLIC [non] ** MEXICO. 6185, XEPPM. R. Educación noted in the clear Aug 17 at 0119 with talk in Spanish, but not enough signal vs the T-storm noise level. Current listings show `ADM` UAE until 0100*, then open window until Vatican at *0205; or is UAE really on 6185 at all? Not per Aoki and EiBi (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. Meant to mention that altho RNZI was absent from analog 11725, Aug 14 after 0500, it was back the next night and every night since including Aug 17 check at 0524 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. Checking 9625 to see whether CBCNQ was back from its excursion to 9755 the night before, see CANADA, Aug 17 at 1326 heard its rippling SAH against dominant signal in Hmong, which is FEBC Manila, confirmed as such with announcer giving P and E-mail addresses, http://www.hmongradio.febc.com --- then 1331 Jesus Saves IS on chimes/vibes several times, 1332 song. Scheduled to go from Hmong to Khmu at 1330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. RRI, 9580, UT Mon Aug 17 at 0051 with birdlike vocalizations by human singer, into Romanian Rhapsody tune. Maybe Skylark show; love their folk music. Also ran across another Tiganeshti broadcast, 9645, at 0223 during classical violin/piano music, het de perpetual Brazilian spoiler Bandeirantes, 0226 Spanish announcement from RRI. 9645 also used for 0300 English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 17560, poor with non-buzzing muezzins (two of them, or multitracked?) at 1623 Aug 17, 1635 Arabic talk; bothered by stronger but not very strong carrier on 17565 from Greenville about to start Creole at 1630. PWBR ‘2009` says 17560 is BSKSA Holy Qur`an Station, and per Aoki that is still correct, 1600-1755 at 270 degrees. Also noticed better signal on non-buzzing 15205 was already muezzening at 1655, in case one wants to nap before noon. Probably // but not confirmed as such. Meanwhile Sawt al-Buzz much stronger at 1555 on 15435 // no buzz on 15225 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA [non]. Since IRS had been confirmed on 9675 the last few days before 0100, I expected to hear it again UT Monday August 17 --- but nothing there at 0035 when the 6-daily 0030 English should have appeared. Propagation OK as VOR 9665 Pridnestrovye was fine next door. So is IRS phasing itself out, gone, or just sporadic? 24 hours later, UT Aug 18 at 0030 check, 9675 still vacant, unlike VOR 9665. So is anyone still hearing IRS any time on 9675 to NAm, scheduled 0000-0130, or 6100 to Europe between 1800 and 2130? They have hinted at closing down the SW service permanently, staying on Internet and satellite (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Brother Scare monitoring Aug 17: at 1542 on 17485 (which he thinx is 17435) via Germany, running 6 seconds behind 13845 WWCR. Recheck at 1703, 13845 had changed to Pastor Melissa Scott, but when next I noticed scarcely 2 minutes later at 1704, it was B.S. again! Unfortunately, I missed the axual transition. Just as Rick Barton, AZ, has previously monitored, for some reason at 1700 they change to PMS for a few minutes, then back to BS for another hour(?) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. I can`t believe how many anomalies I run across by random tuning (and knowing what is supposed to happen). On 9455, Aug 17 at 1333, heard news by YL in English, accented, Thai? 1335 on to global news about Nigeria, Obama; 1337 break for OM canned ID ``This is Radio Thailand, English language service``, then feature ``Perspective``. Fair and clear signal --- but wait a minute, English on 9455 is supposed to be at 1400, and after a beam switch when seldom audible here. 1330-1400 is supposed to be in Thai on 54 degree beam toward Japan, which is close to same as for NAm. A nice surprise, but probably a tape mixup or something. 1357 cut to open carrier, 1358 announcements really in Thai, 1359:30 cut carrier, 1400 back on much weaker, 132 degrees. So what language then, English again, or Thai makeup swap? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY [non]. At least Sackville managed to get the right program on 7325 [cf. CANADA; unlike the entire month of March], VOT in English, UT Monday Aug 17 at 0325, VG signal with YL lecturing on circumcision, how the Turx make a big deal out of it as a coming-of-age public family ceremony for boys, rather than getting it over with as infants, if at all. How barbaric. Appropriately paused frequently for sad, wailing music. It seems high season for this is spring, and preferred days of week are Thu, Sat and Sun. 0329 ending this feature ``Our Culture,`` into next one, ``Blue Voyage``, a travelog about some bay, with OM Sedef, and that would have been more pleasant to listen to if I had time. Did recheck at 0350 sign-off, but stays on air with multiple plays of VOT IS variations on piano, something I enjoy hearing in full occasionally; 0356 started interspersing French-only La Voix de la Turquie IDs as if that language were about to start --- but not of course, on this or any SW frequency, off at 0358* uncovering weak B-B-C chimes from Rampisham starting Arabic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Seems WRNO is still running only 3 hours a day, and mostly rock music instead of preaching, which is fine with me, but it seems slow to reach its potential after a year back on the air, and never on reserved daytime channel 15590. Aug 17 at 0114, 7505 with good music modulation, steady S9+22, 0116 ID as WRNO Worldwide, gospel rock with refrain sounding like ``You Are God``, which would seem somewhat blasphemous, and nothing about grokking mentioned. Signal had faded down a lot by 0400 sign-off, carrier to 0401:30* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WTJC, 9370v, still putting out spurs, Aug 17 at 1343, weak on approx. 9345 but // 9370 matching Scourby modulation peaks; also a trace on 9395, but too much splash from WWRB 9385. The weaker spurs correlate with a weaker fundamental at the moment (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWCR announced from Aug 17 it would test 15830 instead of 15825 because of `squeal` problem, but several chex here that day found it always on 15825: at 1351 music at S9+10, not enough to overcome nearby T-storm crashes; 1407 with preacher; VG signal at 1646, no squeal audible but some hum, also at 1703. Final check at 2025, sporadic E-enhancement was over and just barely audible, still on 15825 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also SOUTH CAROLINA [non] ** U S A. The convicted Tony Alámo still going on WINB, as I tuned by 13570, Aug 17 at 1543, interfering with CODAR as WINB faded in and out (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Usually inaudible when jammed and on Caribeam, WRMI 9955 becomes audible when switches to NW antenna toward us, such as happens Sunday evenings only, UT Mondays 0200-0430 with two hours of Wire Light infomercials, and then a semihour of La Biblia Explicada, as per current sked, as heard Aug 17 at 0219 over jamming two YLs discussing metrics, what`s hot; 0406 preaching about agentes satánicos. Still jammed at both times, despite non-exile content, but atop it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9870, besides AIR Vividh Bharati service via Bangalore with Indian music at 0048 Aug 17, there was co-channel QRM from something else. Altho it does collide with various other stations later, such as Turkey in Spanish after 0100, nothing listed before then in HFCC, Aoki, EiBi, WRTH A-09 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ### ---[Start Commercial]--------------------- Order your WRTH 2009: http://www.hard-core-dx.com/redirect2.php?id=wrth2009 ---[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
