[HCDX] Glenn Hauser logs April 3, 2008

[Glenn Hauser <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx>]

This 3-hour monitoring session was a lot of fun, and I hope the information
collected is of use to others. Trouble is, it took me another 3.5+ hours to
compile this report, rather than more monitoring! (gh)

** ALBANIA. R. Tirana, English to NAm, April 3 at 1442 check, much weaker than
Darwin 13635. A few minutes later, Tirana had improved to more or less equal
strength but still adjacent QRM from CVC. Also at 1450, CODAR was audible as
high as 13670. Looks like Tirana should shift up; not to 13645 where there is
Lampertheim, but 13650 or 13655 where I hear nothing during this semihour, nor
is anything scheduled. 13660 may be occupied by Sines, but not heard here. So
13655 should be best. The 1845 English broadcast on 13640 was better with no
QRM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ANGUILLA [and non]. 6090 off the air when tuning by April 3 at 0620,
uncovering noise and low het, presumably Nigeria and Brasil; I never get
anything worthwhile when DGS croaks; hmm, I shouldn`t put it that way.

BTW, I do not call the Costa Rican transmitters carrying identical programming
``Caribbean Beacon``, since that is the name of the Anguilla station, in fact
from before DGS bought it. 

However, Mike Barraclough points out that the CR listings on page 417 of the
WRTH 2008 do show that as Caribbean Beacon, along with University Network. I
still don`t think the Cahuita transmitters should be called ``CB``, but if PMS
really declares that is their name, I suppose that is her prerogative. But has
she?

However, the same programming heard on WWCR 13845/5935 is certainly not The
Caribbean Beacon. It all comes from Los Ángeles, after all, mostly old tapes of
Defunct Gene Scott. This is all pretty theoretical, as to my knowledge, neither
Anguilla nor CR have EVER broadcast a local ID by any name! Let alone the
registered callsign in CR, TIRWR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA [and non]. To prove me wrong? Cuba is not jamming WRMI 9955 24/7, at
least not at the moment. Checked April 3 at 0628, weak music and talk on 9955,
must be WRMI, presumably another repeat of Radio Prague that they are unaware
of in the Czech Republic, since the 06-07 hour is supposed to be a repeat of
the M-F 23-24 UT hour when Prague is on the WRMI schedule grid, English, then
Spanish.

At 1400 recheck April 3, 9955 was being jammed as the start of the ex-7385
block containing R. Prague once again. At 1417 recheck, jamming was gone, but
VP sig, presumably Prague (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also
CZECHIA; and USA for more on WRMI

** CUBA [and non]. Collision with VOA on 6180: see U S A [and non]

** CZECHIA. R. Prague, 13580, 1300 in English to NAm, but April 3 I just tuned
in at 1327 as they were ending Panorama show with music vamping instead of
irrelevantly announcing French transmission schedule, as they often do
following English; 1329 IS once and off. Another secret airing of R. Prague via
WRMI, 9955: see CUBA [and non] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GERMANY. 15470, April 3 at 1433 nice native choir of a few harmonious
voices, but too soon into talk in African language mentioning Daniel, Babylon,
Nebudkanezzar, etc. This is Bible Voice Broadcasting, to Sudan, but language
unknown, via Jülich, 100 kW, 145 degrees at 1430-1529 (Friday -1544), per
MB/DTK A-08 schedule via Wolfgang Büschel. There is no such broadcast in the
WRTH 2008 BVB schedule under Canada (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GERMANY [non]. DW Russian service via UK on 15420 and 15690, in lieu of
WBCQ: see USA [and non]

** GUAM. KTWR, 9975, Bible story by YL, 1418 April 3 audible under skirt of
WWCR 9980. Hearing this 285-degree English broadcast is possible only if WWCR
has not built up to full strength (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTNEING DIGEST)

** INDIA. Big open carrier with hum on 15050, April 3 at 1430. Left a receiver
on this in case modulation started, but still OC at 1454, gone at 1517 recheck.
Only broadcast station on 15050 is All India Radio, and Sinhala is scheduled
here at 1245-1500 from Delhi, 250 kW, 174 degrees. Maybe longpath. Now all we
need is some modulation. Wake up in Delhi! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)

** ISRAEL [and non]. 15789, het and noise and 1404 check April 3. I suppose
Galei Zahal, up from nominal 15785. The only station known on 15790 is Udorn,
which means Chicom jamming is likely, tho I`m not sure of service or language
from IBB (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI, new 11725 doing very nicely, good but some deep fades,
April 3 at 0629 with song by Sara Brightman, as back-announced, 0632 timecheck
for 28:8, into Spectrum program about Greenpeace. That time reminds us that NZ
is still on DST of UT+13 until April 6, the latest date ever, I think.
Thenceforward, programs from domestic RNZ will be one UT hour later. 11725 is
now scheduled 0459-0658. 

The second-best signal on 25m was RHC on 11760, but given a choice between Sara
Brightman in maximum SW fidelity, and Arnie Coro in deliberately degraded
fidelity, with so-called ``news``, which would you choose? (Glenn Hauser, OK,
DX LI STENING DIGEST)

** PRIDNESTROVYE. Radio PMR on new 12135 for Europe but checked here April 3.
At 1410 some talk audible, presumably English, with heavy QRM from 2-tone CODAR
(so two overlapping transmissions?), more of a problem than AFN 12133.5-USB.
CODAR ranged from 12100 to 12255. 1452 recheck, a little better in English with
the same QRM. English quarter-hours are reported by José Miguel Romero as 1400,
1445, 1530 and 1615. Now the question is whether they are 4, 5, 6 or 7 days a
week, so please check on Fri, Sat and Sun (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)

** RUSSIA. VOR in English, from 1400 April 3 on 15660 to S Asia, but like
yesterday missing from scheduled // 15605. Reception on 15660 not so good
today. There are no good offbeam frequencies for us in the 15-16 hour, but
found again at 1612 on 13855, which is to Africa, about a book fair involving
Chekhov. 13855 is a Moscow site, 200 kW, 190 degrees at 1400-1800, the
scheduled English segment being 16-18.

To save you the trouble of looking up the English programming during these
hours at http://ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&e=152&p= where you have to be careful
to downsize the page so the times line up with the titles! On Firefox; won`t
change on IE ---

1400 Mon-Sat News & Views; Sun: Sunday Panorama, A Stroll Around the Kremlin,
Legends of Russian Sports [all, or alternating?]

1430+:
Mon Moscow Yesterday & Today
Tue Kaleidoscope
Wed Russian by Radio
Thu VOR Treasure Store [from audio archives, maybe?]
Fri Moscow Yesterday & Today
Sat Timelines
Sun Folkbox

1611 
Mon Science Plus
Tue Moscow Mailbag
Wed Science Plus
Thu This is Russia
Fri Moscow Mailbag
Sat Encyclopedia ``All Russia``
Sun This is Russia

1630+
Mon Guest Speaker, Spiritual Flowerbed [what`s that?]
Tue Guest Speaker
Wed Guest Speaker, Spiritual Flowerbed
Thu Guest Speaker
Fri Guest Speaker
Sat VOR Treasure Store
Sun Timelines

Earlier, I was checking 13855 for Israel`s Persian service, but at 1526 this
fair frequency was in Arabic, and at 1526 Sawt al-Rossiya (sp?) ID; I had
misremembered Israel`s frequency, really 13850. Even earlier at 1437, 13855 VOR
had whistling music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SAUDI ARABIA. BSKSA Holy Qur`an Service must be the source of the huge raspy
buzz on 15205, April 3 at 1559, as the only station on 15205 at 16-18 per PWBR
`2008`. It`s absolutely incredible that the Saudis keep turning on this totally
defective transmitter, Riyadh, 500 kW, 320 degrees toward us, which also has a
full schedule on several other frequencies at other times. 

S9+20, about the same level as Call of Islam program on 15435 which had no such
problem, the latter // much weaker 15225 when checked earlier at 1502 with
muezzin, but there was muezzin again close to 1600. 

As for 15205, contrary to PWBR, some other station was detectable under the
buzz. What masochist could that be? Or maybe mix of Saudio. BTW, totally by
coincidence, I found my VCR flashing that it had finished timer recording, put
weaker pulses on 15205 until I cleared it at 1501, long before BSKSA came on
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** THAILAND. R. Thailand, 9805, weak English at 1414 April 3 presumed this.
Propagation from SE Asia was poor today unlike April 2; no QRM, so should be
usable in NAm when conditions improve (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TIBET [and non]. Another superb program from R. Australia, Rear Vision, Thu
April 3 at 1330 on 9580, 9590, 9560, 9475, recounted the history of Chinese
claims to Tibet. Very enlightening. Transcript and audio:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/rearvision/stories/2008/2200921.htm
This is axually a Radio National program, but at 1354 outro, host said `Rear
Vision on Radio Australia`, so they repackage it? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)

** TURKEY. VOT, 15450 to WEu and consequently also aimed at NAm, doing well
here for the 1230 English broadcast, including Live from Turkey on Thursdays
from 1250; April 3 tuned in at 1305 and found only one guy in the studio with
monolog about poetry, reading some Poe; said his co-host was busy buying a new
house (and BTW, it`s easy and cheap to find accommodations in Ankara unlike
Canada). No call-ins or -outs, of course, the rule rather than the exception.
Host said he too had been overworked by helping hire new staff, auditioning
them, etc. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. After yesterday`s fiasco colliding with DW and BBC on
15420, looked again for WBCQ on that new frequency starting at 1400 April 3: no
trace of it, just DW in Russian via UK, also when rechecked at 1420, 1427; DW
broke for a semiminute at 1459 during which WBCQ could not be heard either;
then DW came back a little weaker as they switched from 500 kW Rampisham 62
degrees to 250 kW UAE 345 degrees. Had a German lesson at 1548 // better 15690
which from 1500 is Rampisham 62, probably the same transmitter as on 15420 the
previous hour. 

Finally at 1553 I noticed that WBCQ was back on 17495, with BS! And at 1608
with non-BS citing Luke V:33. I kept Allan Weiner and George Jacobs informed of
my April 2 monitoring on 15420, but got no replies; however, it seems they are
reassessing the situation while resuming the previous frequency with no such
interference problems (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. French talk April 3 at 0621, on 6095, uncovered by Anguilla
missing from 6090. That`s VOA 0530-0630 M-F via São Tomé.

Cuba`s powerful but unregistered frequency of 6180 to NAm collides not only
with 250 kW from Brasília much of the time, but now also VOA Greenville,
scheduled 0500-0700 in English to Africa. After 0500 April 3 and any other
night, it`s a big mix between the two.

Since as an outlaw nation, Cuba refuses to participate in HFCC, despite claims
to be holier than thou in abiding by ITU regulations unlike the USA, RHC must
take its lumps when it picks a frequency not on the books and thus also open to
use by others --- if they are willing to take their lumps, too. Maybe in VOA
target Africa, RHC is no big problem on 6180, but it`s plenty to ruin RHC
reception inside NAm.

13620 at 1440 April 3, ``You are listening to VOA music. . . turn it up!`` But
next announcement at 1443 was in Indonesian, as sked via Tinian 14-15
Thu/Fri/Sat only (why?), 250 kW, 255 degrees.

VOA English, 13570 São Tomé, 1443 April 3 mixing with WINB and topping it
periodically, also with CODAR QRM ranging 13375-13605, and at 1450, CODAR even
heard as far up as 13670 bothering Tirana 13640 et al., q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Checking WRMI webcast, Thu April 3 at 0525, heard Spotlight, the same
special-English show as on HCJB, talking about some health issue in third
world, nothing overtly evangelical; nominal start 0515, but as usual, running
late. Glad to hear new WORLD OF RADIO 1402 starting at 0534. Would also be on
9955, and as a rule the first SW airing anywhere now. The WRMI programming grid
has now been updated as of April 1, in EDT/UT -4:
http://www.wrmi.net/images/wrmichart.xls 
See also CUBA [and non] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. One of the excellent reading services has been Radio Reading Service
of the Rockies, with three different but sometimes parallel streams. I was
listening to The Economist, UT Thu April 3 0430 via Boulder, when they
announced they have a new name: Audio Information Network of Colorado! But at
least for now the RRSR URLs remain in use via http://www.rrsr.org/ 
This page linx to many other reading services, many of them with unrestricted
webcasts: http://www.iaais.org/hearservices.html
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VENEZUELA [non]. RNV CI via Cuba, 11680, Thu April 3 at 1519 had YL speaking
haltingly in English, but co-channel QRM in Spanish ---- wait, it`s a
voice-over translation, with the Spanish undercurrent always there; who could
that possibly be speaking originally? At 1555 recheck, in Spanish only (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 15710, April 3 at 1404, het of almost 1 kHz. Can`t sort this out
here, but Egypt likely involved; Wolfgang Büschel has found a bad 3-way clash
before 1400 on 15710 among Egypt, Armenia and WHRA [?] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 17436, big S9+20 open carrier, where Cuban spy numbers are often
reported, April 3 at 1609 so I left a receiver on it, but never heard any
modulation, and gone at 1630 recheck (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)


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