** AUSTRALIA. 12085, Dec 24 at 1349, this RA frequency is unusually weaker than 12065, reverse of usual situation due to azimuths, a mixup? By 1402, back to normal and both much weaker than the Oklahoma service on 9580 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BOLIVIA. 5952.48, UT Sun Dec 25 at 0223, Radio Pio XII leading up to a misa, S9-S7 and stronger than hetter 5950 WRMIBS at S7-S6. 0225 mentions Pio Doce, and over to a non-SS YL correspondent. Already off at 0239 recheck: I was expecting them to stay on late for an Xmas eve midnight mass. 6134.8 Radio Santa Cruz also off by now, ceding to the Apparition on 6135.2. I also scanned the 90 and 60 m bands a few times, but found nothing unusual for Xmas eve, such as reactivations or prolonged schedules of the few LA stations left. Maybe better luck on New Year`s Eve (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 5040, Dec 25 at 0140, RHC is S9+30 of dead air, still so at 0218. No monitoring session would be complete without some foulup by RHC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. 11650 & 9790, Dec 24 at 1907, JBA carriers on two of the publicized frequencies for NDR`s annual Xmas eve broadcast for mariners, `Gruss an Bord`. I knew it would be rather pointless to try to hear it in deep landlocked North America; nothing audible on other listed frequencies 9810, 9740 (which turned out to be on 9470 by mistake), 6145, 6125. Second bihour is on a mostly different set of frequencies; checked amid at 2204: JBA carriers on 9590, 9765; 9830 JBA but fighting a local birdie; 9650 weak signal barely modulated but later in French, likely Guinea; nothing on 5935 or 6145, the latter reported to have been turned off by Armenia before the second segment (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. 1566, Dec 24 at 1335, JBA carrier from NW until cut off about 1344:33* for antenna/language switch of HLAZ, FEBC Jeju Island. Back on and weaker a few seconds before 1345 for Chinese succeeding Japanese. Signal is fading more than usual; no TP carriers found elsewhere on MW band complete 9-kHz scan, not even at the low end. (I have often been filing this under unID, but with the known break in carrier time, it`s quite definite even if no audio copied) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. 5008.2vv, Dec 25 at 0139, wishy-wobbly carrier is already on from presumed RNM, soon slides down to 5007.8. But recheck at 0218, nothing heard around 5008 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. 17640, Dec 24 at 1808, MWV with American advice on family finances and gift-giving, segment produced by AIMF for APR. Good at S9+10, the SSOB on 16m with nothing but weak 17790 WRMIBS for comparison (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. 6145, Dec 25 at 0135, The Mighty KBC seems a bit undermodulated from Nauen, reads S9. 0150 recheck, asking for and providing fart sounds for the studio dog, SFX or real? It seems there is a good chance that any random tune-in to KBC will find Uncle Eric on his fart trip, never gets old for him. Well, it certainly is distinktive; hardly any other SW stations are even known ever to mention them, let alone air them (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEWFOUNDLAND. 6159.97, Dec 24 at 2222, JBA signal here in English, no doubt CKZN, which I had not been hearing for a few nights and wondered if they were off like CKZU. Apparently just not propagating. Philip Hiscock (in St. John's, Newfoundland, about 7 km in a straight line from the transmitter), had replied, ``Glenn, I just tuned to CKZN 6160 kHz and it is on air right now. It is just after 1400 UT on Sat 24 Dec 2016`` And Richard Langley replied Dec 24: ``Weak signal from CKZN here in New Brunswick with just the Tecsun PL-880's whip antenna indoors at 1700 UT with the NRC time signal`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. 5150-AM, Dec 25 at 0141, pirate music at S9, about equally weak to WBCQ music on 5129.8. 5150 is the ``relay pirate` frequency. Still music audible at 0220. Nothing around 5120 now where another ``WBCQ`` was previously heard (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RWANDA [non]. 15419.97, Saturday Dec 24 at 1812, S9+10 in African language, lo fi with hum, reminds me of R. Munansi for Uganda which has been and apparently still is on very weak 15240 WWRB at same time. Still going at 1830 and at 1848 I can tell it`s not // 15240. Nothing but M&M conversation whenever I check, until 1859.4 cut to a few seconds of African choral music, and off before 1900*. Turns out what I have been hearing is Radio Itahuka`s weekly broadcast, 1800-1900, 250 kW, 315 degrees via MADAGASCAR, also good for North America far beyond, explaining the good signal, better than most on 19m. It replaced Radio Inyabutatu in November, and Kai Ludwig refers to their website http://www.radioitahuka.org which is mostly in Kinyarwanda, but one item in English, including a certain disdain for Pres. Kagame: ``President Kagame has threatened to kill other nations’ elected Presidents and in some cases, strong evidences and testimonies suggest that he did in fact kill Presidents of other countries.`` Radio Itahuka pertains to the Rwanda National Congress opposition to Kagame (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. 15500, Sat Dec 24 at 1511, REE music is S9+10 here, better than 15390 S6-S9, both of which are better than the so-called North American service on 9690 at S5-S8. 17755, probably the fourth transmitter, a JBA carrier at 1539 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 2000-USB, Dec 25 at 0158, weak MARS-like net right on the edge of the 160m hamband. Two-way contacts in American English, bothered by a local birdieblob. S4 level. Someone says that five stations have major problems with malware. Many Merry Christmas greetings. Mostly abbr`d calls such as KY7 and AR2. Once a complete(?) call as AA4KY7; also AA5EF; M5A; AAA5RJ. Calls always given fonetikaly but still hard to copy at weak levels. 0206 talking about closing the net. What is this, exactly? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)) ** U S A. 3916-LSB, UT Sun Dec 25 at 0129, ho-ho-ho, Santa Claus is talking to kids; strangely, I never hear him give his own callsign. Is that kosher? Otherhams are managing the contacts, and quite a queue has built up waiting to do so. KB3AYY is called, also N1LPE. Huge signal S9+40 from W3CJW; W8MGM in Michigan. CQ North Pole. Santa says about the same thing to each kiddie whose own voices are hard to hear: ho3, go to bed early, have some milk & cookies ready for me, gotta go, lots of work to do. Someone else announces that the Santa Net can be reached by FB under that two-word name; or e-mail [email protected] Still going at 0232. I gather that this has been underway for about a week, but presumably no more after tonight (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 4601-USB, UT Sun Dec 25 at 0127, NCS, Triblade 31, announces it`s ``the NORAD Santa Tracking Net``! (Hijacked from Civil Air Patrol.) She and most of them emit a beep when they are ``over``. Others heard includ Wildwood 23, asking for more check-ins; Triblade 19, 15. At 0134, Red Robin 8 announces the weight of Santa`s sleigh when loaded with gifts: 60,000 tons. At 0154, NORAD reports Santa is making progress toward Greenland. At 0214, 3 minutes from Labrador; Triblade 60 called or spoke. At 0235, much stronger S9+30 signal than the others have been, another YL, NCS Bluebird 30, says Santa is at Willemstad, Curacao, and will be in Caracas in about 10 seconds. It seems that Triblade 30 is the net callsign, rather than an individual (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 5745, UT Sun Dec 25 at 0221, open carrier at S9+15 is already on from GB, warming up for the VOA Radiogram at 0230, beepage underway at 0238 check. Kim Elliott says this week features 11 images of holiday lights, rather than a lot of text: http://voaradiogram.net/post/154910690352/holiday-lights-in-mfsk32-via-shortwave There they are as captured from an earlier outsending (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1857 monitoring: not confirmed, Sat Dec 24 at 2330 on WBCQ, no signal on 9330v-CUSB. Confirmed UT Sunday Dec 25 at 0427 on WA0RCR, 1860-AM, MO, about 8 minutes into show so started circa 0419 (160m is extremely quiet, hardly any CW or LSB to be heard; wonder why?). Next on SW: Sun 1130 HLR 9485-CUSB to SW Mon 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Mon 0400v WBCQ 5130v Area 51 to WSW Mon 0430 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Tue 0030 WRMI 7730 to WNW Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE Tue 2300 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Wed 2200 WBCQ 7490v to WSW Thu 0030 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) KFKB-1490 Forks WA to go dark this month Programming is moving to one of the HD channels on KBDB-96.7: https://forks1490.com/forks-broadcasting-moving/ 73 (Tim Hall, CA, Dec 20, ABDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1857, DXLD) ! KFKB 1490 has been a WORLD OF RADIO affiliate for several years. The website says Sunday 3 am (PT) but I was told months ago that it changed to 4 am PT (=1200 UT winter/1100 UT summer). November 29, 2016 News --- Forks Broadcasting Moving Forks Broadcasting is moving its studios and offices to a new location this week – and Forks 1490 radio is moving to a new location on the radio dial. CEO Mark Lamb says the station’s move to 51 Spartan Avenue in Forks means a shift in programming as well. Most new cars are already equipped with HD-radio – and the signal has a better range and sound quality than the old AM terrestrial signal. Both moves are expected to take place at the beginning of next week. For information on how to tune in FORKs 1490 on HD, or on how to get your own HD radio go to HD.Forks1490.com (via DXLD) Above -moving page includes an audio clip about this. Will be on KBDB, Twilight 96-7, HD2, with better signal, by Thu Dec 6. https://forks1490.com/forks-broadcasting-to-be-back-on-air-thursday/ And this page says 1490 is off *temporarily*. There are also three other HD program streams. Appreciate it if anyone can confirm hearing WOR at above time on KBDB HD-2 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7490.02-AM, Sat Dec 24 at 2207, WBCQ with unknown program, YL narration about flying, bats, witches, as if for Hallowe`en, with SFX, rockmusic, S9+30. Normal sign-on Sats is 2300, but will come on an hour or two earlier for special bookings. Lacking is any advance publicity about when this will happen or what it is! Last Sunday Dec 18 at 2133 (not 1633 as originally reported, in EST by mistake), Mark Coady in Ontario was hearing ``French Dog Radio`` on 7490, presumably also WBCQ on earlier than 2200 `Marion`s Attic`. Hear what may recur on Dec 25 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9930, Sat Dec 24 at 1905, WTWW-2 with `Theater Organ of the Ozarx`, marred by some IADs, already playing Xmas carols, a mixture, but seem more secular than sacred. At 1932 Bob Heil refers to this being the midpoint rather than end of program, and indeed continues for another semihour this week. 2002 outro refers to Saturday night, nothing about Saturday afternoon. NO WTWW ID, and re-opening TOOTO, for another hour, another episode, or repeating? Briefly noted 5085 at 0219 UT Sunday Dec 25 the organ show successfully appears again this time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 3215, UT Sun Dec 25 at 0123, WWRB is on again for the weekend, but instead of far-right politico-religious harangues, playing electronic organ music, unseems carol, in waltz time, S9+40. 0210 recheck it`s switched to 3195, now country version of `Blessèd Assurance` hymn, not really a carol. Modulation level surges up and down a bit (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN. JBA carrier on 11625; JBA carrier on 7275 underneath an LSB ham; JBA algo on 6080, 6185 (could be Mexico), at 2204+ Dec 24 frequencies scheduled until 2230 for Xmas eve VR specials, each in a different language, but none good here. And that`s still before midnight in Roma (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 2520, Dec 24 at 1343 UT, S7 carrier, open or just barely modulated? Suspected WOCO Oconto WI second harmonic. If I ever wake up by 1300 UT must check for it then. Still audible at S6 by 1402 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 12024.99, Dec 24 at 1350, S7-S9 open carrier except for hi-pitched DSB tone of ~1270 Hz. Some flutter; 1358 brief break in carrier, then continues past 1407, but off at 1414 check. Nothing scheduled now on 12025, only AIR Goa at 1600-1830. I tune past here almost every morning and this is heard for first time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) With seasonal greetings, this report dispatched at 0606 UT December 25 _ 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
