[HCDX] Glenn Hauser logs April 11, 2008

[Glenn Hauser <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx>]

** CUBA. Despite very poor propagation conditions of SF = 68, April 11 at 1325,
RHC 15370 was barreling in as usual, strongest signal on band by far,
overloading the receiver, and also showing up for a while around 15000. No
WWV/H propagating to pin down the frequency, and it was soon gone. But at 1336,
15370 was missing, still missing at 1356 while all the other usual RHC
frequencies on 13, 11 and 9 MHz were on as usual.

Later check on April 11 at 2044 found music on 11750, cutting off the air as
soon as I tuned by. RHC`s nearby 11760 was also off. Came back on a minute
later, the latter in Arabic, but then both off again. At 2048 I found the
English frequency 9505 had just come on the air with ancient ``terrorism``
grievance against the US (or rather, Fueracubanos). The other RHC frequencies
were still off. Recheck 2100, they were all back on. Was there any interruption
to the Radio Martí jamming on 9565, 11930, 13820? Of course not! They are on a
higher-priority more reliable grid, with multiple transmitters to boot (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ECUADOR. While looking for XEXQ 6045, April 11 at 1247, noticed some traces
of Spanish occasionally surfacing on 6050 vs the Malaysian het. Can`t be
anything but HCJB, not // 11960, but not supposed to be, domestic vs external
services. 6050 is on until 1500 with double antenna, 25 kW each toward 18 and
172 degrees. Just about fadeout time roughly a sesquihour after local sunrise,
which varies only a few minutes during the year at the Equator (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. R. Africa is back! Not reported in ages on 15190, but
strong signal S9+20 Friday April 11 from tune-in 2059 with lo-fi prayer, to
gospel singing off-mike; it was the ending of a program, 2101 with contact info
as embassy @ afcmi.org or Box 714, White City, Saskatchewan S4L 5Bl, Canada.
Also gave a telephone number I missed; website http://www.afcmi.org of
Ambassadors for Christ Ministries, Inc. The certainly had no Saskatchewan
accent and per website the senior pastors appear to be Africans, James and
Rebecca Otitoju. Don`t see anything there about radio broadcasts, let alone via
Equatorial Guinea. And while the box number in White City is the same, the
website shows postal code S0G 5B0!

Music continued until 2106 pause, NO ID, and into next program, which by
comparison was undermodulated, just preacher speaking, Hope for Today,
continuing previous lesson from Ephesians. 2107 audio cuts out. 

At this time I compared signal to WYFR, via Ascension on adjacent 15195. EqG
15190 was slightly stronger, as WYFR at 65 degrees is not aimed this way
anyway, but WYFR modulation much better.

In case this was a quarter-hour program, I stayed with it for another break,
and at 2119 it was ending with address Hope for Today, P O Box 3, Breezewood,
Pennsylvania 15533. Given twice, but could not copy the town so had to look up
the ZIP. Website sounded like http://www.heraldsabout.org but that goes
nowhere.

Still no station ID. At 2124 started another program, Temple Time, from Union
Baptist Church in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Poor audio, YL fire-and-brimstone
introduxion, tape snagging, dead air.

2127 cut to local ID I had been waiting for. Announcer spoke very slowly and
clearly: Radio Africa, spelt radioafrica @ myway.com to contact ministries by
forwarding, or write to postal addresses given at end of programs or c/o Radio
Africa, P O Box CT 3741 (or maybe 3701 if pronounced oh), Cantonment [spelt],
Accra [stressed on first syllable], Ghana. ``Thanks for listening to the Radio
Africa Network``. Neither Equatorial Guinea nor Pan American Broadcasting,
Cupertino, California were ever mentioned, and casual listeners would have no
idea where this was transmitted from, Ghana maybe? 2130 back to singing with
tape snagging horribly. Carrier stayed on as I fired up the computer to start
compiling this report. 

Much bigger carrier cut on 15190 briefly at 2152, and again at 2158, which
turned out to be WYFR, Okeechobee, Portuguese at 142 degrees from 2200. But R.
Africa could still be detected underneath in English, with a slow SAH, the two
within a few Hz of each other. Christians vs Christians!

It`s been ages since this was reported in the evening. There have been sporadic
reports of it in the morning, 0900-1100 period, such as in DXLD 7-143. But it`s
hard to be certain with definite IDs sparse.

WRTH 2008 says Bata on 15190 is 07-19 Sat & Sun to E Africa, 07-12 M-F to South
Africa. (But note the ID I heard was just R. Africa, not Radio East Africa or
Radio Africa 2); and that transmission is irregular, according to bookings. It
sure is! 

Would not be surprised if 15190 is not heard again for months, but we`ll see
--- Logs like this could be circulated to clients as evidence they are really
being broadcast. I expressly prohibit such use, in whole or in part.

Aoki A-08 presents the schedule this way, based on B-07, all in English:
15190 R. EAST AFRICA 0700-1600 1.....7 50 164 Bata GNE 00946E0148 RAN 
15190 R. AFRICA-2    0800-1300 .23456. 50 164 Bata GNE 00946E0148 RAN 
15190 R. AFRICA      1700-2300 1234567 50 164 Bata GNE 00946E0148 RAN 

EiBi B-07 (no A-08 yet) had it:
15190 0600-1330 SaSu  GNE Radio East Africa E EAf 
15190 1700-2300       GNE Radio Africa      E WAf 
15190 0700-1200 Mo-Fr GNE Radio Africa 2    E SAf 

R. Africa is not in HFCC on 15190.

We note that other RNGE frequencies have been active lately, Malabo 6250; and
Bata 5005 just reported earlier in the morning of April 11 by Brian Alexander.
Probably the very same transmitter, unless anyone hears 5005 and 15190 on at
the same time. Hmmm, Maurits van Driessche, Belgium, BDX reported 5005 today at
2053, but was it still on after 2059?

BTW, 19m was certainly wide open from Central Africa and vicinity. Besides
Ascension 15195, DW Rwanda was loudest of all on 15205. However, when I was
tuning by 15120 before 2100, no Nigeria heard.

This was during extremely low solar flux of only 67 at 2100 UT, mid-latitude
K-index 1, per SWPC.

Little known fact? R. Africa used to carry WORLD OF RADIO many years ago, back
in the era when we distributed on reel-to-reel tape, which were recycled thru
Cupertino (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GERMANY [non]. CVC Chile, 15410, had some co-channel of equal level, or even
overriding it, with SAH, April 11 at 1330. Per DW A-08 schedule via Alokesh
Gupta, it`s Hausa via Rwanda during the 13-14 hour, tho missing from Aoki. HFCC
says 295 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 6045, XEXQ presumed, trace of classical music on 6045 at 1316;
before 1300 all I could detect was a weak carrier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)

** NETHERLANDS [non]. RNW closing Dutch with national anthem, which they sure
play a lot, but it`s a nice one, April 11 at 1656 on 15335, good S9+15 signal.
This is Madagascar, scheduled exactly 1559-1657, 335 degrees, a rare instance
of the azimuth matching the kHz (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SAUDI ARABIA. Kudos to BSKSA for being the only station managing to put a
good signal into NAm from the ME, April 11 at 1657 on 15435, preacher in Arabic
with exaggerated reverb. Diskudos for the horrible huge raspy buzz on the Holy
Qur`an Service, 15205 at the same time, accompanied by traces of muezzin
underneath. Same situation continued at 1702 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)

** SPAIN. REE, 17595, with classical music until 1700 timesignal, ID and news,
Friday April 11; fair with local hi noise level and degraded propagation. This
is Nuestra Música, which I had overlooked in earlier inspexion of A-08 program
schedule, M-F at 1630 UT (or 1635? Since it is supposedly 25 minutes). Other
frequencies in use then: 21610, 21570, 17755, 15585, 15385, none of them Costa
Rica on weekdays, so 17595 will always be best here. Show is also M-F at 0930
when I will never listen and thus not research the frequencies (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGST)

** U K [non]. On Friday April 11 at 1253, caught a bit more of the scheduled
BBCWS Spanish broadcast at 1200, much better via WHRI Furman 9410, than via //
TDF Montsinéry 11860. Unlike the day before with rock music, a Rachmaninov
piano concerto was playing, but the starry night was rudely cut off at 1300* on
9410 without any announcements in any language ever being heard.

Also had another chance to check BBCWS in English via Rampisham to ``western
Russia``, 13865, cutting on during ID sequence implying BBC is everywhere, at
*1659:45 April 11. Good S9+15 with some fading (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST) ###

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