[DX] RE: XEBAL 1470 AND ESPACIAL 1390

[Jan-Erik.Osterholm@xxxxxxxxxx]

RE: XEBAL 1470 AND ESPACIAL 1390 
As indicated earlier in this list we would return to this subject after
listening to the recordings made by Rocco et.al in Italy in early April this
year. Andy Lawendel, on behalf of Rocco Cotroneo and Enrico Oliva, was kind
to send provide us with a C90 cassette containing recordings of the unique
reception of Peruvian Espacial, Otuzco 1390 and XEBAL Becal, México on 1470,
both claimed heard in Italy in early April 2002. The recordings have been
examined by Jan-Erik Österholm (JEÖ), and Pertti Äyräs in Finland, and by
Henrik Klemetz (HK) and Björn Olsson (Olz) in Sweden - a combined cumulated
LA-DX-experience of approximately 250 years. In the following we are
addressing specific points of interest and importance.
The C90-cassette provided contains recordings of XEBAL Becal, México 1470
and Emisora Espacial, Otuzco 1390. The station ID's on the tape indicate,
without doubt, that the stations are indeed the ones claimed by Rocco et.al.
Both XEBAL and Espacial are definitely the stations contained in the
recordings. Several questions remain, however, that would be interesting to
clarify.
As mentioned earlier, it is surprising that catches like these can be made
in April in Europe especially during times without a grayline effect. After
years of listening experiences in USA (the US Mid West and in California),
in Spain, the Canary Islands and Latin America we have noted exactly the
same significant changes in propagation conditions during grayline openings.
So this is not a question of a phenomenon happening only in Scandinavia.
To refresh our memories: XEBAL 1470 was received on two occasions on April 1
and April 3 between 0210-0310.
Emisora Espacial was received on April 6, between 0020-0050.
In the following we are only referring to what we hear on the provided tape:
XEBAL: The signal is astonishingly strong over surprisingly long periods of
time. The legal ID - the exact time of which has not been disclosed but does
not appear to be the top of the hour legal ID as it should be - "XEBAL Radio
Voz Maya, en 14-70 del cuadrante en amplitud modulada, una emisora de Cadena
Cultural Becalena...." suddenly appears from nowhere to QSA 2-3 and
disappears exactly after the ID. 
The same phenomenon occurs a little bit later. From QSA 0 to QSA 3+, XEBAL
fades in announcing "...las 8,25 minutos XEBAL Radio Voz Maya....a ritmo de
salsa...". After this, the salsa part is booming in for long periods of time
even though mixed with WMTW. Here the fading between XEBAL and WMTW sounds
strange, if not abnormal. The stock exchange report from WMTW indicates,
however, that the Dow Jones Industrial and Nasdaq closing points were 10313
and 1804, respectively. This coincides exactly with the closings on April 2,
2002 at 6 p.m. EST.
The recording continues for many minutes with a mix of salsa and WMTW.
Presumably at 02.52 UTC, WMTW announces "it's 8 minutes before the hour"
and, on the tape, 1 minute 46 seconds later, WMTW announces "it's 1 minute
before the hour" without an observable change in the "background" salsa from
XEBAL. On the top of the hour WMTW suddenly disappears totally and XEBAL
booms in with street address, phone number and "Radio Voz Maya". This
top-of-the hour ID only includes the station slogan - no mention of
frequency and call sign, which are almost mandatory for Mexican stations on
top of the hour identifications.
On the tape one can also hear an announcement referring to "the threshold of
the new millennium". Arturo Tun Canul, one of the XEBAL operators, says on
the phone that the ID tape where XEBAL says they are on the threshold of the
new millennium is used by a friend of his, who works "from 9-12 pm local
time, 4 times a week". "He likes it so much, but no one else would use it,
and now we will definitely dispose of this tape", he said. The time when
this ID might be aired, any time between 9 and 12 pm, does not seem to
coincide with the April 1 recording, which was made, if we are not mistaken,
at 0210 UTC. This is the time mentioned in conjunction with Rocco´s upload. 
As for "Un mensaje a la conciencia", which can be heard at 0300 on the tape,
Arturo Tun says that this slot would have been aired normally at 0230 (8:30
pm local time), not at 0300, "although sometime you have to wait" (!!??).
Arturo Tun does some shortwave listening himself, and when asked if he had
any info of the 
local DX club, which was in the news a couple of years ago, he said that he
was a friend of the chairman of the club, José Alfonso Acosta Gallareta. The
club seems to be called Club de escuchas de onda corta de Bécal.
Taking into account the time of reception, it is surprising that the
recording, which covers some 20 minutes, does not show any signs of any
other stations than XEBAL and WTMW. Not Vibración, Latina, CPN, Cristal del
Uruguay, the dominant Brazilians etc. 
Also, the atmospheric noise sounds strange for a reception made during the
hours of darkness between Mexico and Europe.
EMISORA ESPACIAL
This recording contains Emisora Espacial, starting at 0020 UTC, with a
stable signal for about 20 minutes and hardly no signs of any other station,
and again reception time is during the dark period between northern Peru and
Italy. 
The atmospheric interference contained in the recording once again sounds
strange for night time reception. 
The most intriguing notice is the clear time check after the introduction of
the program anchored by Roberto Robles "cero horas 36 minutos" which would
indicate that the time in Europe at that time was 0536 UTC not 0036 UTC as
claimed. The correct frequency for Espacial might be 1390. However in a
newly up-dated (February 2002) peruvian station list the frequency is given
as 1540 kHz (see
http://www.mtc.gob.pe/comunicaciones/tele/archivo/xls/sonora.xls)
CONCLUSIONS
In both cases it is clear that the stations on the cassette are XEBAL 1470
and Espacial 1390. There are, however, question marks related to the
recordings. Rocco et.al might have had a once-in a-lifetime-DX-experience,
and if that is the case we are the first ones to congratulate Rocco, Andy
and Enrico and at the same time we regret the previous heated debate related
to these stations.
>From our perspective the issue is closed. We have no further comments.
Best regards
Jan-Erik Österholm and Henrik Klemetz

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