[HCDX]: G Hauser's Shortwave/DX Report 99-80

[Glenn Hauser <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx>]

        GLENN HAUSER'S SHORTWAVE/DX REPORT 99-80, Dec 26, 1999

{Items from this and all our reports may be reproduced and re-
reproduced only providing full credit be maintained at all stages. If 
excerpting, this means appending the line above}

** BRAZIL. Here is some first-hand information I obtained about Radio 
RGS here in Porto Alegre. An official of the station told me on the 
phone: SW frequencies are 6160, 9550 and 11895. Programming is the 
same as Sistema Mundial LBV, from Rio de Janeiro. Some programs are 
produced here in Porto Alegre, as well as futebol games of the Gremio 
and International teams. Station is located at Avenida Sao Paulo No. 
722, Bairro Sao Geraldo, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. 
Postal code: 90.230-160. Phone: (51) 337.6416. Station director: 
Paulo César Rodrigues. Sistema LBV is a radio network which presents 
the lectures and preaching of journalist José de Paiva Netto, who is 
the worldwide director of the organization. LBV stands for Legião da 
Boa Vontade (Good Will Legion). It is some kind of religious sect 
which preaches goodwill and help for the needy as a way of life. 
Their site is: http://www.lbv.org info@xxxxxxx (Celio Romais, Porto 
Alegre, translated by Hauser)

** FRANCE/GERMANY. Today a heavy storm (my dictionary suggests to 
translate "Orkan" into "hurricane" but this recently turned out to be 
somewhat misleading) swept across France and southern Germany, 
knocking also various transmitters temporarily off air, especially 
DLF Donebach 153 kHz for about two hours. Südwestrundfunk evidently 
suffered microwave link disruptions, their satellite transponder 
showed tonight just a test card, indicating a "program disturbance" 
and rather strangely referring explicitly to their Teufelskopf 
channel 53 transmitter; how could this specific card get on the 
satellite uplink? Anyway, it will be especially interesting to hear 
about the fate of the various shortwave sites in the affected area. 
Wertachtal is operating as usual on 3995 and 6075, but this just 
confirms the ND aerials as OK but says nothing about the curtain 
arrays. Issoudun was tonight found to pound in as usual on 3965, but 
5900 was rather weak for 500 kW, making me wonder if a 100 kW 
transmitter was used instead. Also the IBB facilities at Biblis, 
Lampertheim and Holzkirchen had to endure a more or less heavy storm. 
(Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 26)

** OMAN. R. Sultanate s/on in English by woman 1400 on 12/25, 
immediately into one minute of news headlines, then into an
interesting interview program, "Voices" hosted by Daniel Brown.
Brown talked to an Egyptian archaeologist about the Pyramids.  
Would've been more interesting to listen to on a clear frequency... 
but Oman was actually overriding HCJB for once. Good signal, 
slightly fluttery, with slight long-path echo; SAH between Oman & 
HCJB. Another annoyance was often outrageous splatter from WYFR on 
15130. By about 1412 or so Oman was fading a bit and/or HCJB was 
propagating better, because they were more or less even by 1420 when 
I gave up. First time I've logged this English service. (Randy 
Stewart, Springfield MO, 25 December)

** PERU. This morning, Friday, December 24, I have my first really 
clear and loud Peruvian, Radio Difusora Huancabamba on 6535, first 
noted at 1015 UTC, continuing loud and strong with Andean music and 
announcer with echo chamber past 1110 UTC. Great winter DX to you! 
(Donna Ring, NJ) 

** PERU. 5197.1, R. Sonora, Lima; 25/12 2115-2155 33333 mx tropical 
ID "Sonora da la hora" mx ID "Sonora, tu compañera inseparable..." mx 
ID "En Sonora las 4 y 25 minutos de la tarde" mx ID "Sonora en los 
1110KHz" en // 1110KHz. NOTE: I don't know what may have happened, 
but I remember this is the way Radio Comas started [its 
announcements?] (Pedro F. Arrunategui, Lima)

** RUSSIA. Mikhail Timofeyev pointed out, that St. Petersburg - 
Popovka no longer carries VoR "Kosovo" but 2000-2200 on 6205 VoR 
regular Russian service instead. A check around 2045...2100 showed, 
that these also regards 7320 (Moscow area) as well as MW 621 from 
Grigoriopol-Maiac (Moldova/Pridnestrovye), hence VoR evidently 
discontinued its special Kosovo service. (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 
26) 

* SAIPAN. Mr. Grimm, Thank you for your interest in obtaining a QSL 
card from KFBS Saipan. Just send your report to kfbsprog@xxxxxxxx, 
and we will be glad to verify your reception of KFBS. (David Creel, 
Acting Director FEBC, Saipan via Rudolf Grimm, radio-escutas)

** SEYCHELLES. FEBA in English as of Dec 22:
0815-0900 .....F.     ENGLISH              As            15.460
1500-1600 Daily       ENGLISH              As            11.600
1630-1700 Su......    ENGLISH              As            11.605
(BBC Monitoring, excerpted by Hauser; no mention here of ``Specialized 
English'' yet)

** U K O G B A N I. Alistair Cooke seemed to have been back today if 
a bit hoarse. There seemed to be a bit of rustling of papers, 
especially at the beginning, although the Radio 4 audio feed is only 
at 8.5 kHz. (since the modulation is good and the station is almost 
all talk, this suffices) Christmas talk heard at 12/24/99, 2048 GMT. 
(the Real Audio feed is about 3 minutes delayed) (Joel Rubin, NY) And 
once again on the WS, UT Sun 0345, nothing was said by announcers or 
him about his absence last week, reported to be bronchitis (Hauser)

** U S A. Hi Glenn, I heard WBCQ testing transmitter number two Dec. 
24, tuned in about 20:40 UTC on 9340, USB. Signal was excellent, and 
audio was very very good, even on SSB. Transmitter went on and off 
for several hours. Al Weiner says testing will be occurring 
intermittently on Dec. 25. I called in to his live Friday night show 
to report this reception. He says he still does not know exactly what 
programming will be carried by this transmitter. (Tim Hendel, AL)

** VENEZUELA. VENEZUELAN HAMS ACTIVATE IN FLOODING DISASTER 

Word from Venezuela is that hams activated early on during the 
flooding and mud slide disaster that struck that country's Caribbean 
coast December 16. 

"The emergency is by all means the major disaster that ever happened 
in Venezuela in modern times, and there is an ongoing need for 
further communication support," said Pedro Seidemann, YV5BPG. 

Seidemann says Radio Club Venezolano club station YV5AJ and national 
emergency net station YV5RNE are on the air on the official emergency 
frequency 7090 kHz as well as on local 2-meter repeaters and 
monitoring 146.580 simplex... (ARRL Newsletter Dec 24 via John 
Norfolk)

While information is still sketchy, at least three high frequency ham 
radio relief networks are believed to be in action on the 20 and 40 
meter bands. One report out of Miami says that 7.090 MHz is being 
used by what appears to be a Venezuelan ham radio international 
relief operation. Other stations have been heard passing traffic on 
14.142 and 7.105 MHz at various time of the day.

Meanwhile, reports from relief workers at the scene say that 
international aid is beginning to arrive. This includes nine 
specially equipped search and rescue helicopters and more than 100 
servicemen detailed from the United States. Even with this help on 
the scene, it appears as if Venezuelan hams will be supplying 
communications into and out of the devastated area, for some time to 
come. As usual, hams not involved in disaster communications are 
asked to voluntarily avoid using relief net frequencies.

(Bill Burnett, KT4SB, Amateur Radio Newsline Dec 24 from media and on 
air reports via John Norfolk)

SOLSTITIAL PROPAGATION. Greetings Glenn,
     I just wanted to pass along my reception observations from my 
QTH in St Louis, Mo.  I'm getting great signals from the Middle East, 
Europe & Africa on 9 & 11 MHz during the usually bad reception hours 
of 11:00am-2:00pm (CT). The Winter path along the northern Atlantic 
basin (Between Europe & North America) is fantastic.  I can easily 
pick up the BBC all afternoon long on 9410, which normally doesn't
fare too well.  

I'm getting great signals from stations in the Middle East, that are 
targeting either West Africa or Europe. Some of the good ones include:
9990 (Radio Cairo), 11585 & 11605 (Radio Israel), 11620 (All India
Radio), 11990 (Radio Kuwait), 12050 (Egyptian Radio).

The above are just a few examples of the many catches on those bands.  
Usually the 11:00 am-2:00 pm hours are quite bad. It is nice to be 
able to get these broadcasts 'intended for other areas' in the middle 
of the day when reception is suppose to be poor.  

On a side note, the winter propagation is permitting me to hear 
stations from 3900 to 4000 kHz. I can hear 3955 (BBC Europe) & 3995 
(Deutsche Welle Europe) at night.  

My radio is a Sony ICF-7600G, hooked up to the outer braid of an
ordinary outdoor 75-ohm Coax Cable that runs to the utilty pole. This 
coax was previously the Cable TV Wire. It works well.

73 from (Todd Hartzel/n0vkg Dec 25) http://www.icon-stl.net/~toddh
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