[HCDX]: G Hauser's SW/DX Report 98-56

["Glenn Hauser" <wghauser@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

        GLENN HAUSER'S SHORTWAVE/DX REPORT 98-56, Dec 31, 1998

{Items from this and all our other reports may be reproduced and
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NEW YEAR'S EVE MONITORING from Glenn Hauser

1100 UT on 9700, RNZI staying on late for the occasion. Announcer
said there would be 7 pips instead of 6 due to leap second, but I
only counted 6! Indeed, what worldwide chaos there would be if
every timezone inserted the leapsecond at its own local midnight,
a common misconception, instead of all at 0000 UT! News on the
hour mentioned heavy police precautions against drunken violence
in various NZ cities; then a fun music-request show, observing 
before 1130 that Norfolk Island was about to enter 1999.

1300 UT on 9580, R. Australia. Here it was business as usual with
pips and newscast which did greet the new year at the outset.

1400 UT on 4890, NBC, Papua New Guinea. Fortunately, PNG is no
longer aping the Australians with irrelevant DST in the tropics.
At 1359 ran a spot with "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" for "Phone 
before New Year's Day and avoid busy lines" but too late to do 
any good! No timesignal so the poor Papua New Guineans depending 
on NBC were in the dark about the exact start of 1999, perhaps 
less of a problem in a less technological society. Nice local 
choral rendition of a few verses of "Auld Lang Syne"; 1407 speech 
in English by some official, evidently the head of NBC, who is a 
Motu and a Christian judging from his remarks. Made some point of 
C now standing for Corporation, which I thought it already did 
instead of Commission. 1417 the same spot as at 1359, now far too 
late to be valid. At 1418 into Pidgin so I turned my attention to 
R. Japan, but at 1430 check NBC was still going, back in English.
Carrier was still detectable at 1523 recheck.

1500 UT on 11705, R. Japan, NHK Warudo. Actually checked this as
early as 1100 when found on 6110 instead of 6120 via Canada; did
Sackville forget again to retune the transmitter from last night's
frequency? Already going with super-rapid talk and Japanese pop
music in annual frenzy pre-empting English. 1443 came "Auld Lang
Syne". 1445 a gong from Kyoto as things got more serious, "NHK
Warudo" ID. Chanting and gonging really got going at 1458.
This year RCI did not interrupt with its own IS by mistake. 
Respectful silence and 4-pip NHK timesignal at 1500, violin solo
perhaps by Midori whom I heard mentioned earlier. Then interview
with her. (Glenn Hauser, OK)

Based on previous experience, I don't expect much if anything to
be audible here from across Asia for 1999 arrival. In REVIEW OF
INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING, Ivan Grishin suggests from Europe:

Two stations on my "don't miss" list are DW in German on 6100 & 
15275 and REE in Spanish on 11815, both before UT 2300. DW has a 
somewhat solemn countdown to midnight. You may be able to hear 
cheering in the background as the clock strikes twelve. What 
follows is an enjoyable hour of party music.

Over at REE Spain, I enjoy the banter between the male and female 
announcers from UT 2200-2300, with lots of music leading up to 
more cheering and excitement at midnight in Madrid. The way the 
woman announcer was carrying on two years ago, I wondered if she 
had a bit too much champagne.  She seemed a bit more controlled 
last year, but still a lot of fun! 73 & HNY!  (Ivan Grishin, 
Oshawa, earlier in Dec, via Hauser)

ICELAND. Reykjavik on new 9260 Dec 24-25, extended Xmas sked,
2215-2300+ //9275, 11402, 13860, all RC USB. Not usually on 4
freqs at once. Icelandic talk, classical and church music, mass
at 2341 check, still here at 0050 music, gone at 0102 check.
Next night, Dec 25 back to usual sked at 2300, only on 11402,
9275 (Brian Alexander, PA via Hauser) Perhaps similar behavior
for NYE? (Hauser)

U S A. Namibians, beware! NBC is no longer the sole broadcast
occupant worldwide of 3270. Dave Frantz at WGTG tipped me that
the FCC just authorized that frequency for him to use on USB;
it seems he hit it lucky by picking a channel which apparently
has no USG or US military usage, and specifying sideband makes
it easier to get since less bandwidth and hence possible conflicts
are involved. Evidently the existence of NBC did not even figure
as it was news to him. Perhaps on some nights in the 0400-0600
period NBC will provide a nice carrier for him, which he'd rather
not have in his SSB promotion. Need for this is that 6890-USB 
for WGTG-2 has been fading down around 0300, so Dec 31 at 0304
he announced QSY, and 3270-USB came up at 0308 for more American
Freedom Network. Said was only 2 kW PEP at outset due to some
antenna problem, but should be up to 50 kW transmitter power
from following night, in the 0300-0700 period. Signal here was
fair, with more noise to fight than on 6890. With kilofoot
rhombic at 340 degrees toward Alaska and Canada, and 50 kW power, 
will amount to "6.3 megawatts of effective talk power." The 6-
element wide-spaced yagi is not quite ready, 95 percent complete,
and he was working on it earlier in the day up on the tower in
the frigid air (Glenn Hauser, OK)                       ###


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