** COSTA RICA. While waiting for RHC to put some modulation on 17750 carrier, April 1 at 1947, see CUBA, I amused myself by tracing spurs from the bigsig on 17850 from REE relay during stupid ballgame, distorted matching modulation. Found a lot of them at multiples of approx. 13.7 to 13.8 kHz up and down, so give or take a bit on the decimal digit: 17836.2, 17822.3, 17808.4, 17794.6 17863.7, 17877.5, 17891.5, 17905.3 As usual, the closest ones were strongest, the further ones weakest (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also spurs from SPAIN: q.v.
** CUBA. Monitoring for RHC after 1900 April 1, when the new frequencies are to be in effect: at 1908, nothing found anywhere from 11 to 18 MHz, including 11760 where I expected the 20-21 English hour to move one hour earlier as it did in A-11. However, at 1925, now 11760 is on with music in progress; must have just missed `DXers Unlimited` first airing, sob! 1927, yes, it`s RHC English; 1940 mailbag show. What follows on 11760 after 2000? At 2023 check it`s French, and guess what, at 2033 Esperanto – new time for that, ex-2230 on 15370. 17750 was one of the new frequencies mentioned for ``tarde y noche`` on `En Contacto` earlier, and by 1928 it has come on with big open carrier. I assume this should be the frequency for Europe which was also on 17 MHz last summer. In B-11 this has been 1930-2100 on 13640 in French/Arabic/Portuguese. I check 17750 repeatedly, 1935, 1941, 1945, 1956, 2017, but no modulation ever comes on, and after 1959 it`s hit by huge DRM signal on 17750-17755-17760 from TDP Radio in French Guiana. Way to go, Arnie! Only with BFO can I tell the silent carrier on 17750 is still there. Is it ruining DRM reception like DRM is ruining it? Not checked again until after the DRM hour is over, at 2123 and now 17750 is finally modulating with music, Spanish, so presumably the bihour to Europe is at 21-23, ex-22-24 on 13640. Yet, like last summer, the bigsig from this on 16m makes it hard to believe it`s aimed NE rather than NW. Included `En Contacto` also an hour earlier now, Sunday at 2240. 17750 off at 2300* sharp. The other 17 MHz frequency announced within the program, 17705, was never heard. Full evening schedule not checked yet, but at 0128 April 2, confirmed on new 11680. Spain is registered here daily at 23-02 to South America, and suspect it was source of the slight QRM under strong RHC, no doubt much worse in SAm. Way to go, Arnie! Also confirmed in Spanish on 15230, 11840, 11760, 9810, 6120, 6060, 5040, including the third and final play of `En Contacto` at 0135, ex-0235. Not heard on 17750, instead something else very weak, presumably R. Australia at 2330-0658 as in Aoki, missing from HFCC. And not on 17705 either. Around 0130, RHC English on 6000 and 6050 as before. Rest of that full schedule not yet determined; the 5040 broadcast probably shifted an hour earlier to 23-24 as last summer. The RHC website schedules in English and Spanish as of early UT April 2 still haven`t been updated with the new info. ¿Mañana? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN [and non]. While monitoring 17750, waiting for RHC to start modulating, see CUBA, April 1 at 1947 I hear some weak distorted Spanish around 17764, sounds the same as 17850 REE Costa Rica, but no match 86 kHz higher on 17936. But there is a match on 17746, i.e. +/-9 kHz from the rather weak REE Noblejas on 17755. I`m using only the DX-398 on the porch, no second receiver handy to see if audio is simul or offset. To my surprise I can still detect 17746 and 17764 after 1959 when TDP via GUIANA FRENCH DRM starts, blowing away 17755 itself, and in the sideband of RHC 17750 unmodulated carrier. On Sat & Sun, REE`s 17755 to Africa expands to 14-22, from 17-19 in Spanish and Portuguese on M-F. Also audible on 17715 to S America, which is at 14-22 on Sunday, 16-22 on Saturday, and only 15-19 including 1830-1900 Portuguese on weekdays. TDP and REE must not worry about mutual interference on 17555, with widely divergent targets, but it`s still unnecessary with plenty of vacant frequencies around. Then I succeed in hearing eight! spurs really from 17850; see COSTA RICA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TUNISIA [and non]. 17735v, April 1 before 2000, IWT is causing the usual annoying lo het to RCI, but RCI in the clear with `Maple Leaf Mailbag` in English at 2018. Don`t know exactly when Tunisia went off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. 17530, April 1 at 1926, big open carrier atop music from something else. O yes, it`s still VOA interfering with itself, Greenville preparing to take over from São Tomé, complete with sign-on at 1929, then French, instead of a drop-carrier-immediately/crash-start (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 17510, April 1 at 2145, WHRI, `DXing with Cumbre` starting the `Pirating` segment until 2155, filling rest of hour with extended closing theme, and then playing opening theme again. This is one of only two known times when they really turn on SW transmitter among the many times on the schedule (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15190, April 1 at 1859 checking in case R. Africa has reappeared: I am hearing two stations mixing, making a SAH, one of them with bad modulation. At one point I think I hear some Brazilian. The other could be Philippines. At 1932 I am still hearing noisy modulation, maybe only one station now. Bill Bingham, RSA was monitoring this earlier with R. Pilipinas from 1750, then QRM from the distorted station starting at 1826. Maybe it`s really R. Africa trying to make a comeback (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15225, April 1 at 1933, weak RTTY on this approx. frequency, intruding into the middle of the 15 MHz ISWBC band (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ---[Start Commercial]--------------------- Order your WRTH 2011: http://www.hard-core-dx.com/redirect2.php?id=wrth2011 ---[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
