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[HCDX] Glenn Hauser logs April 5, 2008



** CANADA. It`s clear that Sackville`s most decrepit SW transmitter is reserved
for the Northern Québec Service on 9625. The modulation is seldom up to par,
and it was particularly bad April 5 at 2216 with a lot of distortion on peaks.
These converted into spur spikes ranging from 9635 to 9650, peaking at an open
spot 9640, which I could match to the distorted modulation peaks on 9625 on
another receiver. I guess that was during World This Weekend; recheck at 2246
during Master Debaters, things had improved and the spixes were not audible.
Did they tweak something, or does the unit go in and out of order all by
itself? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** COSTA RICA. It seems one of the three REE relay transmitters at Cariari de
Pococí must always be one kHz low in frequency. April 5 at 2145 during expanded
weekend hours, sports was on 11814 with a het from something on 11815, //
17850.0 and at 2218 with music // 9765.0 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)

** CUBA [and non]. RHC observations Saturday April 5:

11750 at 2041 in Spanish, the new service to Europe, but with choral hymns
co-channel, SAH of 5 Hz; and at 2145 announcement by YL in Chinese, which is
KSDA, Guam, at 21-22. I suppose they don`t interfere with each other in China
and Europe, but they sure do here when FE conditions are good. OTOH, that 315
degree beam from Guam may well carry on into Europe, the other way round than I
am getting it; does it?

9820 already with strong open carrier at 2149 Sat April 5; 2159:30 began
modulating with a bit of music, no ID, switched to applause and into a session
of the Sétimo Congreso de la Unión de Escritores de Cuba, including Raúl Castro
himself. This is the special service // 6000 only, which on other days of the
week is designated Mesa Redonda, roughly 22-24 UT.

17705 at 2201 April 5 opening RHC Portuguese, another day back on nominal
frequency instead of 17740 where it jumped April 3.

12000 at 2207, 2251 and 2300 chex April 5, was not on the air, just HCJB with
no collision, unlike some previous days.

11800 at 2300, surprised to hear RHC opening in English, // usual 9550 but with
an echo between them due to different feed routes and/or transmitter sites. Per
the out-of-date schedule at
http://www.radiohc.cu/espanol/frecuencia/frecuencias-espanol.htm
11800 is supposed to end at 2300 after two hours of Spanish to Caribbean, as
well as Portuguese and Arabic to Caribbean (????) at 2000-2100. Probably they
did not get 11800 turned off on time, but I did not have a chance to check it
later in the hour until 2400.

I did make a quick check of other frequencies at 2300, and found RHC Spanish on
13760; French on 9505 // 5965 but an echo between them. It sure sounded like
regular French to me with opening newscast, but the schedule above has these
frequencies at 2300 and other times listed under BOTH French and Creole! (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ECUADOR. As I was looking around 25m for RHC anomalies, such as the previous
collision with HCJB on 12000, none of that April 5, but from 2252 tune-in I
listened to the Brazilian tribal language Kulina, which is on the schedule now
at 2245-2300 daily on 11920, 250 kW, 126 degrees. It used to be only 10 minutes
or less. Not surprisingly, the only thing I could understand was ``Matéu,
Capítulo Dezoito`` mentioned by the preacher at 2256 and 2259. 

Try to put yourself in the shoes(?) of an isolated people for whom the only
radio broadcast in their language is from missionaries dedicated to depriving
them of their original religion! I feel for the Kulina. According to the NIV,
subjects in Matthew XVIII are: The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, The
Parable of the Lost Sheep, A Brother Who Sins Against You, and The Parable of
the Unmerciful Servant. Including verses 8-9 advising people to cut off their
hands and feet and gouge out one of their eyes. Yeah, sure. What good work HCJB
is doing. And are there sheep in the Amazon? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)

** EGYPT [and non]. R. Cairo`s new 11550 for the European language services,
concluding with English at 2115-2245 has a slight problem: it collides with 500
kW WEWN. And it`s off-frequency causing a het, roughly on 11550.1, slightly
wavering, which means the frequency of one of the transmitters is unstable, and
I`ll bet I know which one. 

April 5 at 2158 found Cairo in English, tho undermodulated, was axually
dominating WEWN. At this time a YL was speaking in some kind of commentary but
could not axually follow it. WEWN ID in Spanish around 2200. Rechecked
periodically during the remaining semisesquihour, and situation remained about
the same. Cairo went off at 2245:40 leaving WEWN alone. 

Except on its lowest frequencies, and sometimes even on those at night, WEWN is
normally a poor signal here, skipping over from only one megameter away, and/or
aimed elsewhere, and/or not really running 500 kW or even 350. WEWN is on 11550
all the way from 14 to 24 UT at 220 degrees toward Mexico, while Cairo is at
1500-2245, 315 degrees toward Europe (and North America). Is WEWN any problem
for it in Europe? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI, 15720, fair ending ``Mediawatch`` program at 2134 UT
Saturday April 5, from RNZ National, saying it would repeat tonight. This one
qualifies for listings as a DX/Media program, so what are its exact times, now
that DST is over from local April 6? It appears nowhere on
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/schedules.php but so many blox are just labeled
``National Radio``, not very informative.

So we have to hunt thru the National Radio schedules, most convenient in full
week format at http://www.radionz.co.nz/nr/schedules/whole_week
which show it as a sub-program, Sunday at 9:10 am = UT Saturday 2110 and a real
program Sunday at 10:12 pm = Sunday 1012 UT. It appears to be 24 minutes long,
so current SW schedule is:
Sat 2110-2134 on 15720
Sun 1012-1036 on 7145

BTW, looking thru the RNZI program schedule in this format:
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/schedules.php?type=all&format=day

I was surprised to see fortnightly Mailbox at some different times than I had
thought: Mon 0730 and 1630 instead of 0830 and 1530 as had been previously
listed. Yet, other airings were the same as before, Mon 1130, 1330, Tue 0330,
and Fri 2035. Note than one of the shifts was an hour later, the other an hour
earlier, so were they really caused by DST? And are they about to change back?
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** TURKEY. VOT ENAm service in English on 6195, April 6 at 2200 was inaudible
at the start, and just barely audible at the conclusion 2249 UT with
recognizable announcer giving schedule, and 2250 unmistakable IS. It`s only the
beginning of April shortly after equinox, and this can only get worse as we
transit thru solstice, with more and more light on the path, and more and more
T-storm noise. It`s already long before local sunset. Shouldn`t they be on 7 or
9 MHz? Fortunately we now have the repeat at 0300 via Sackville 7325, or even
5975 direct, better than this in CNAm, and also the 1230 broadcast to Europe on
15450 can be quite good, tho variable from day to day (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)

** U K [and non]. Surprised to find adequate signal from BBCWS in English on
13865, April 5 at 1813 with documentary about China, human rights. A time I am
not often bandscanning; not // 17830. Per BBC Whatson schedule of BBC
streaming/Euro it`s:

``John Simpson Returns to China
1 of 2. As the world's eyes focus on China before the Olympics, BBC journalist
John Simpson recalls the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.``

At closing 1829 they plugged Over To You coming up in 10 minutes. Nominal time
for that is 1840, but it used to really start 2 minutes later; I couldn`t stay
tuned to find out, even tho there was to be a discussion about BBC`s SW
cutbacks. Must get that later or ondemand. 

Rechecked frequency on portable radio in the car at 1850, and audible even
thus, but not an hour later, so probably went off at 1900. What could the site
be? Surely nothing in the W Hemisphere any more. Looked up later, it`s
Rampisham, one of those remaining SWBCs to ``Western Russia``, but Ramp has a
way of giving us usable signals off the back of the antennas way over here in
CNAm, despite BBC`s best efforts to keep us from hearing WS on SW:

13865 1700 1900 29,30SW,40W RMP 500 62 1234567 300308 261008 D G BBC MER 

And even in WNAm! In a delayed report, 13865 was also heard by Stewart
MacKenzie in CA the first day of A-08 until 1900*, with even better SIO 444
there.

So nice to hear anything at all on 13m; noted 21630 in French was by far the
strongest signal on band and the only readable one, April 5 at 1818. That`s BBC
via Ascension, 1800-1830 at 65 degrees. English on 21470 is now 13-17 at 114
degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Almost missed this quarter`s Capitol Steps comedy special, Politics
Takes a Holiday, April Fool`s Edition; just ran across the last part of it
airing on KOSU at 1700 UT Saturday April 5. Their schedule shows an awful lot
of stations, most of which don`t inform them of the airtimes, but three
webcasters are left, here converted to UT:
Sunday April  6 at 0400, KCHU Alaska
Sunday April  6 at 2200, WMUB Ohio
Sunday April 13 at 1200, WFDU, New Jersey [why delay? Pledge drive?]
Fortunately it`s also ondemand, downloadable via
http://www.capsteps.com/radio/
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. I logged it as 11830, April 5 at 1811, something in German, with
a fast SAH from another carrier, but looked up later in HFCC, nothing at all
scheduled on this frequency at this time. I suspect I was really on 11835: my
FRG-7 dial is a bit off in the 800`s, and I have to be very careful to line up
the parallax properly or confirm the frequency on a digital readout YB-400 or
DX-398 next to it. Because on 11835 we find in the ADDX listings by language
that Die Stimme der Türkei has German on 11835 at 1730-1830, and Issoudun is
also on the frequency --- unless they both really moved to 11830, which I doubt
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 11835, April 5 at 2144 with ME music, lyrix ``Allah akhbar``, G
signal, still on at 2206 in Arabic talk, but weaker. Nothing listed, but I
suspect this is Algeria`s Qur`an service, perhaps an extension from the
1800-2000 listing for Issoudun on 11835 for southern Algeria and West Africa.
It`s sure hard to keep up with the correct current schedule for this (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###


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