** AUSTRALIA [non]. 11550, at 2255 Feb 13, over-dramatized portrayal of a family reunion, veddy British with lots of assenting interjexions, for-he`s-a-jolly-good-fellow, so what English service is this?
None at all. It is R. Australia`s Indonesian service promoting a peculiar brand of English learning, as eventually switched to Indonesian explanation of what had just been heard; apparently less with-it than Kangguru. 2259 cut to Waltzing Matilda and off --- or so I thot tho uplooked later in Aoki, and RA`s Indo website, this transmission via Taiwan is supposedly 2200-2330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHILE. The HCJB Portuguese relay spurs from 11920 CVC Calera de Tango, vary considerably; have been 20 kHz away, but Feb 13 at 2303 as closely as I could measure their mushy centers, they were plus and minus 15.9 kHz, i.e. 11904.1 and 11935.9. When will they get around to eliminating these? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Firedrake, Feb 13 at 2315, poor with flutter on 7495. Also JBA on 8400. No known target at this hour, tho Chinese from RFA is on 7495 until 2200 via Tinian, and VOA Chinese from 0000 via Thailand. Did Sound of Hope insert itself into the gap? Normally CNR1 would be used to jam the biggies, so the oppressed Chinese people cannot hear what America is trying to say to them; meanwhile the USA is bombarded with multiple unjammed CRI relays in English via Canada, Cuba, Spain, Albania (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Transmission of RHC`s 2030-2130 English broadcast is still irregular and problematic. Sat Feb 13 at 2114 check, nothing but Spanish on 11730, 11760, 11770, 11800, lo-fi interview with a revolutionary veteran? Dog barking in background, no DXers Unlimited. 17705, Feb 13 at 2057 upwrapping RNV relay with IS iterations and off. But back on with weaker signal at 2235, poor in French with RHC mid-ID during Journal Parlé about Afghanistan. This semihour is on the schedule as Guarani, but French has been substituting, since as we all know, there are oodles of people who understand both. Does RHC really have any living Guarani-workers on its meagre payroll? Calling a radio newscast a ``spoken newspaper`` seems rather archaic, but also occurs in Castilian as ``diario hablado``. Are they admitting they are just reading directly from a newspaper? Radio/TV require material to be rewritten in a different more conversational style; broadcast journalism 101 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. As I was checking Lavwadlamerik on 7590, also noted big signal on 7580 from R. Cairo`s western NAm service in English, adequately modulated during Arab music, but 2315 worn-out recording of Cairo news theme, and OM with undermodulated news I soon gave up trying to copy; the propagational fading was louder than the audio. Back to OK modulated music by 2329, but most of next semihour was a YL reading a script about some cultural topic, too low to understand. A pity, since someone no doubt put a lot of effort into writing and reading it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. 7520, R. Farda with usual mostly-pop music format, some western, with Persian announcements, good but fluttery Feb 13 until 2330* cut modulation abruptly and carrier a semiminute later. It`s 2100-2330 via SRI LANKA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 27185, NWS relay on CB calling channel, big signal heard at two different locations in Enid a few miles and a sesquihour apart, Feb 13 at 2110 and 2236 UT. Usual lo-fi audio but hardly any worse than the original on 162.475 MHz. Frequent casual IDs are ``Enid Weather Radio``. The site of WXL48 is really on a tower SW of Enid near Drummond. This means that if a tornado is approaching from the SW, which is most likely, the radio can get blown off the air first when we need it most. Never mind, NWS radio isn`t that good with real-time warnings; tune to OKC TV stations if you can. I don`t often monitor CB, so don`t know if this relay is constant or frequent. I suppose it`s convenient for CBers who don`t have a weatheradio, but surely another less busy channel would have been preferable. This was a nice day with no urgent weather info, before another coldwave hits. Aside from the QRM problem, this might skip out, now that the F2 MUF is uppicking. Strength meter varied slightly with modulation, so not full carrier, but some SSB to it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. After the three Lavwadlamerik frequencies in the 22 UT hour, 15390, 13725 and 11925 closed at 2300, I went to 7590 and waited for it to upcome. Finally did at 2302, at first with hum and undermodulated, then brought up to normal level at 2303. 7590 remains a secret frequency missing from the VOA Creole schedule, filling in the gap at 2300-0100 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. 11560, Olympic theme music, fluttery at 2258 Feb 13, 2300 VOA ID and news in English, also weaker // 11840. These are both Tinang, PHILIPPINES, the latter just starting at that hour, 21 and 349 degrees respectively, the former USward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Masculine robot voice with high seas marine weather info, on SSB with distortion and splatter, Feb 13 at 2318 on 8502 and 4316; also // but not so distorted on 13089, 8764, 6501. These are USCG frequencies; schedule from http://www.yachtcom.info/MarineSSB.htm which could be two years old from the 2008y date on site: US Coastguard Weather Transmissions Station and Callsign Frequencies, Times (GMT) USCG Chesapeake (NMN) 4426 kHz, 6501 kHz, 8764 kHz, 13089 kHz, 17314 0330, 0515, 0930, 1115, 1530, 1715, 2130, 2315 USCG Pt Reyes (NMC) 4426 kHz, 6501 kHz, 8764 kHz, 13089 kHz, 17314 0430, 1030, 1630, 2230 USCG New Orleans (NMG) 4316 kHz, 8502 kHz, 12788 0330, 0515, 0930, 1115, 1530, 1715, 2130, 2315 USCG Honolulu (NMO) 6501 kHz, 8764 kHz, 13089 0005, 0600, 1200, 1800 Note that some frequencies are shared, but at 2315, NMG is on 4316 and 8502; NMN on 6501, 8764 and 13089. NMG New Orleans is the one with the worst distortion/splatter problem, and has been this way for a long time. Caused by overdriving the audio input? And/or transmitters desperately need an overhaul (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Dave Valko, PA, has been hearing an unID with amateurish-sounding tinny audio, Spanish talk and music on 5955, which used to be a Costa Rican and Guatemalan frequency, in the 2323-0051 period the last two evenings, Feb 12-13, but not heard in the mornings. So Feb 13 at 2327 I looked for it, but could only detect a very weak carrier vs big signal from WYFR English on 5950. Remember that the transmitter manufacturer ELCOR in Costa Rica has tested equipment previously around this frequency, so maybe they are sporadically at it again. At that time any reactivation of TIQ was ruled out, and TGNA seems equally unlikely. Worth further pursuit (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 17450, ear-piercing wide-band, multi-carrier whine reported earlier Feb 13 was still/again going at 2234 recheck. It isn`t heard every day, but when it is, makes its mark. I am quite sure it is not local but ionospherically propagated, so how about some other observations and explanations? (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
