** CANADA. 6070, July 21 at 0601 UT, CFRX with new Art Bell show, `Midnight [sic] in the Desert`, running 8 seconds behind 7490 WBCQ. Apparently not leaving a hole for stations to insert any network or local news on the hour. Bell`s website affiliate list has now added CFRX at the top as a SW outlet, besides CFRB 1010 at the bottom. Schedule is 04-07 UT Tue-Sat; see also USA. This logged on the PL-880 inside with whip only, as everything else disconnected for T-storm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 9782.7 & 9797.3 approx., July 21 at 0457 just before close-down, JBA carriers, spurs from very strong CRI relay on 9790.0 halfway between them. Therefore this is the same transmitter as for RHC 9550 at 12-13 UT which I reported: ``9542.8 and 9557.2, approx., July 19 at 1228, JBA carriers matching about 7.2 kHz away from VG 9550, so spurs from this RHC transmitter. 9550 RHC at 11-13 is the 250 kW Titán-5 transmitter, on the A-16 HQ 2/2/0.2 antenna toward San Francisco. I was going to cite the other frequencies Titán-5 uses for checking spurs there, but it`s the only RHC transmission; elsewhen presumably for spy numbers and/or China relays. If one does find 7.2 kHz spurs around any of those, that would clinch it``. So now it`s clinched. But surely there are more (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. 9315, 9965, 11935, 12070, July 21 at 0120, for at least the third night, all four R. Cairo transmitters are missing. I still haven`t seen a single reply to my yesterday`s query whether any/all other R. Cairo transmissions be silent (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. 9420, July 21 at 0458, Greek music, poor signal, so VOG is on tonight; 11645 Dabanga via Vatican has a rumbling het, presumably also VOG, as not on 9935 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. After a morning of summer snow, July 21 at 1558 UT, fades in sporadic E analog CCI on 2. 1601 on 2, Televisa-5 net bug in LR, animation amid CCI 1604 on 3, Play-Doh ad with no CCI, // 2 with CCI 1605 on 2, promo for Ridículos show on net-5 1610 on 2, f bug in LR = Televisa 4 Foro net 1617 on 4, algo video, no bug, but 1618 MATUTINO EXPRESS on set background, letters so large you can see only part of them at a time as the rotate; little CCI. 1622 on 3, net-5 animation almost snow-free in color 1624 on 4, Scotch-Brite, Smartphone, USACell, VICHY, Kleenex, Bayer, Nuevo RAID (``ride``) ads, back to show `Sin palabras, torneo de verano` 1627 on 5, now strong video here, PSA for MOVER MEXICO. 1632 on 6, some DX video starting here, 1636 net 5 bug LR, as I wrap this report; more to come? If MUF keeps going up I`ll have to head to the porch for FM DX (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 104.5, KZZW Mooreland (Woodward market) is stunting. Due to T-storm I am relegated to safely bandscanning FM on portable PL-880 rather than SW with longwire, July 21 at 0532 UT encountering synth male voice with countdowns and aphorisms. There are two countdowns in a row as little as 6 seconds apart, such as ``Z minus 3 days, 15 hours, 27 minutes, 54 seconds`` which means Zero-hour will be Friday July 24 at 2100 UT. Fifteen is pronounced ``fifteem``. In between every second countdown an aphorism is inserted, some silly, occasionally profound, or hilarious, and often unreadable due to poor dixion of the robot. Some are timeless; some are local; Barney the flight attendant/waiter occasionally appears. Examples, not necessarily verbatim thru my scribbling: ``We are bringing this [s?]lag to the Tri-State area, and Oakwood [and Canton, and other towns]`` ``OK, Lambert(?), enough of this In-Balance stuff; it`s time to get Un-balanced`` ``We have 100,000 watts of awesome and we`re not afraid to use it`` ``Boom --- ready or not, here comes the voice from the south`` ``Billy Jean is not my lover`` ``This is the second softest thing I`ve ever felt`` ``There`s more than one way to look at a problem, and they may all be right`` ``Coffee, tea or milk?`` ``She`s breaking up, captain; she can`t take much more`` ``We have a really big shoe tonight; a really big shoe`` ``The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or one`` ``Remember, computers cannot think for themselves; they are just like everyone else in your office`` ``I`ve got the right shoes, the right dress; I don`t know why you don`t love me`` Etc., etc., etc.! By 1553 UT recheck, there are *three* countdowns in a row between aphorisms instead of two --- giving us a little more time to copy them. KZZW IDs are frequently integrated, occasionally mentioning it`s on Facebook, Twitter: 1045KZZW. There is some repetition of non-local aphorisms if you listen long enough, but seems always mixed in with new material. Length of the aphorisms varies widely, but countdowns resume to the second. Except, comparing to WWV around 1300 UT, I calculate that KZZW is running about 9 seconds slow. This reminds me a lot of what WKY 930 was doing a few years ago as it was transitioning to La Indomable format. I wonder who produces this stunting countdown stuff. The new KZZW`s original format, as I have reported, was ``In-Balance`` music, i.e. an audacious mixture of hymns and short popular classics, never identified by title. Earlier on July 20 afternoon I was still hearing them playing ``Hallelujah Chorus`` as I tuned across. Quibbles: KZZW is licensed for only 60 kW ERP. Reception here some 90 miles away is as usual marginal, but is getting a bit of morning tropo boost. Depending on whip antenna orientation, there can be QRM from the 250-watt KRXO translator in closer OKC, and on the DX-398 even mixing produced between KOFM 103.1 plus KCRC 1.39 MHz = 104.49 MHz with KOFM audio --- these stations are *not* at the same site, rather competitors. KZZW fades out for a while at 1417, but gets a big boost for a few wobbly seconds at 1422 via airplane scatter; thank you, Vance jets which must fly right over populated Enid and crash only occasionally (and I suspect jet fuel exhaust fallout accounts for too much grimy dust accumulation) (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. RF32, July 21 around 0200 UT, WQOS306, Enid is off the air. Had been on as recently as July 20. It`s the ``TV-OK`` intercity relay from Enid to Lamont for an alleged channel 35 translator. Main channel of KXOK-LD, RF-31 had been off the air for many months, but the ``relay`` kept running automatically? with nothing but infomercials, usually without audio, on 31.1, PSIP as M-Fox and TVAzteca but really nothing but color bars on 31.2 and 31.3. Clueless Suddenlink cable in Enid, headend a block away from TV-OK on the Broadway Tower, kept and keeps wasting cable channel 15 with ``! Weak Signal`` instead of simply picking up the 32 RF, lacking 31 --- but useless programming anyway. Now what? [non] RF31, July 21 around 1500 UT, despite antenna aimed at OKC, longtime lack of local KXOK-LD, and some tropo enhancement from the north bring in the Wichita Univisión affiliate, with some breakups during novela. PSIP only as Univisi but it`s really megawatt KDCU-DT, Derby KS, which W9WI.com lists as remapping to 46.1 --- no, it doesn`t; and with a 46.2, UniMAS --- no, there isn`t (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA [non]. 9860, July 21 at 0606, very poor signal presumably from the NBC relay via Brandon, AUSTRALIA; 6075, July 21 at 1217, good signal from NBC via Shepparton, AUSTRALIA, during song, then 17 past 10 time-check, announcer with 3 questions about the games, listeners required to text in 3 answers to each and win a prize, 1220 a song from Fiji. Text number sounded like 16423. (How can text numbers be only 5 digits? Does that mean there are no more than 99,999 of them in the entire world?). Remember these frequencies are to close in a couple days due to expense; closing 12025 earlier makes sense as that was for other islands during the games only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA [non]. 9955, July 21 at 1230, R. Slovakia International opening English via WRMI admits at the outset that it`s the July 20 program, so they are always a day late; Prague at 1200 too? No jamming at first, but pulsing soon builds up, as the still yoked Cubans are pissed at the central-European ex-Commies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7490, July 21 at 0459 tune in to WBCQ with gold ad not synchronized with 9330 but both interrupted at 0500 WBCQ quick jingle/bell IDs which are synchronized. This is the much-hyped début of `Midnight [sic] in the Desert`, Art Bell`s radio revival (what else has he been doing all these years?), but rather anticlimactic since he really came back 25 hours earlier with a test run. Back to program and now 9330 and 7490 are almost synch a reverb apart. // 5085 WTWW-2 is timed on a 46-second delay. During the next local commercial break, July 21 at 0559, WTWW is instead filling with electronic music loop, maybe provided by AB feed. When programming resumes after 0600, now it`s 31 seconds behind 7490. And then 7490 is lagging behind 9330 by about one second. These variations can be blamed on each frequency using a different internet feed. Also on CFRX: see CANADA. 97.5, July 21 at 0524 UT, KPAK Alva OK, ``The Rock`` promo ID, and NO Art Bell (yet?), despite being on his station list both for Alva and nearby Kiowa KS --- I suspect this alleged affiliate has something to do with WBCQ`s Scott Becker being a resident of Kiowa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This report dispatched at 1637 UT July 21 _ 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
