[HCDX] Glenn Hauser logs March 8

[Glenn Hauser <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx>]

** CUBA [and non]. DentroCuban Jamming Command, wall of noise centered on 15330
against Radio Martí, March 8 at 1405, was also putting out spurious spikes as
far as 15305-15355, the latter audible under WYFR. Also same sounding spikes on
15495, next to HCJB DRM 15480-15485-15490. Recheck at 1537, the spikes had
built up to more severity, bothering Morocco Arabic on 15345, also vs Saudi
Arabia Arabic 15435-15445; and the upper set 15485-15495 vs HCJB DRM was
matched by a lower set at 15165-15175, i.e. plus and minus 155-165 kHz from
15330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

** GUIANA FRENCH. TDF DRM test to SWL Winter Fest, 17835-17840-17845, March 8
at 1401. Only heard DRM noise and no AM from Portugal, which is scheduled
weekends only on 17840; however 16m European reception was far below normal
with e.g. Spain 17595 just barely audible instead of usual inbooming. Even from
the east coast among DRM monitors I don`t see any mention of Portugal causing
problems. Next I checked at 2028, 17835-17840-17845 was DRM-free; I believe a
DRM monitor said they closed at 2009. For those wondering, all my ``DRM`` logs
are just of the noise, as I am not sufficiently motivated to try to monitor DRM
as intended (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA. RRI was good on 60 meters, March 8; it helped a lot to tune in an
hour earlier than I usually do, at 1304: 4605 Serui was best at S9+20 with
warta berita, // 4790 Fak2, and at 1306 also // 4920 Biak when M&W were
talking, still in news, I think. However at 1305, 4870 Wamena was in music not
// the others. At 1308, 4605 heard mentioning ``RRI [pronounced air-air-ee]. .
. warta berita``. At 1351, 4605 was still holding up well with music and more
flutter than before, also 4790 with not // music, and CODAR worst there; also
at 1351, 4920 was somewhat stronger than 4870. Missing was 4750 Makassar, even
at the earliest 1304 check. There were also some Chinese frequencies audible,
interspersed. VOI 9526 was missing this date before and after 1400 (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. Have been looking for the ``OK`` hifer beacon on 3450, as recently
reported from as far away as Michigan, but must have been off or below my
considerable local noise level. But heard March 8 at 1310 with nothing but A1 =
CW ID ``OK`` ten times per minute, peaking S9+8, fortunately a bit above the
current noise level, and a bit below 3450.0. It was still detectable at 1408,
1444, 1547, and 2031 UT. WHERE in Oklahoma is it, I wonder? I suppose this is
secret since it is not exactly licensed. The website
http://highfrequencybeaconsociety.bravehost.com/beacons.html
gives no specific location, but claims it is 24/7, running 300 Megawatts! I
should get it on my teeth. O, I`ll bet they mean millwatts, if not microwatts,
since they don`t know their M/m/u metric prefixes.

``OK 3450 Khz solar power 300Mw end fed wire 24/7 Location: Oklahoma`` 

And there`s another one in state for me to seek next:
``MO 4077 Khz solar 200Mw 118ft end fed wire 24/7 Location: Oklahoma``
(Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PORTUGAL. Nice Portuguese music on 15465, Saturday March 8 until 2000* Can`t
imagine why RDPI did not have a silly ballgame runing on a Saturday evening,
but fine with me (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SUDAN [non]. SSIRI, 15675 fair via South Africa, Sat March 8 at 1400, YL
opening elementary English lessons with usual doorbells, etc. Not always
audible, but scheduled Tue/Thu/Sat 1400-1430 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)

Geophysical Alert Message # Solar-terrestrial indices for 07 March follow.
Solar flux 71 and mid-latitude A-index 2. The mid-latitude K-index at 1500 UTC
on 08 March was 4 (48 nT). No space weather storms were observed for the past
24 hours. No space weather storms are expected for the next 24 hours (SWPC via
DXLD)

** TAIWAN [non]. Happened to stop on 5950, RTI via WYFR, March 8 at 0257 as
they were closing with English transmission schedule. Tho very strong signal as
usual, the modulation was suppressed by an even stronger carrier which came on
at 0258. There was an occasional SAH ripple when one took a brief fade. What
could this be? RTI is in English via WYFR at both 0200 and repeated at 0300 on
5950. But from this, it appears that two different WYFR transmitters are
involved, and they did not turn off the first one before the second one came
on. Yes, there is a beam change from 355 to 285 degrees, but instead of
switching antennas on a single transmitter, they just use two different
transmitters ?-- why not? They`ve got a dozen --- and not have to make a quick
antenna switch. Surprised no one has noted this overlap before, as far as I
know (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WHRI, Sat March 8 at 1358, tuned in 11785 just in time to hear Marie
Lamb`s ``take care`` closing, and then immediately the WHR announcer with
frequency change announcement from 7520 to next frequency, 11785! But, but,
this was already on 11785. He doesn`t even know which frequency he is really
on! So had the axual QSY just been made a few minutes before hourtop, or was
DXing with Cumbre totally on 11785 already from 1330? Furthermore, DST starting
the next day will mess things up more. I expect Hmong Lao Radio to settle at
1300-1400 Sun & Sat on 11785 instead of 1400-1500 UT, so will DWC be at 1230
instead, and on which frequency? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Air Force MARS net controlled by AFA2AJ was heard again on 7457-SSB,
Sat March 8 at 1453. By this time they were in informal conversation, with NCS
reminiscing about having served at Fort Dix in the 1950s; seems to have a New
England accent, but refers to being in northern Virginia now. Some of the
stations called used identifiers in other, tactical? format, such as
2-sierra-1, etc. Net closing at 1500. Will not be surprised if henceforth
occurs one UT hour earlier. After my previous report a couple people explained
that the Air Force Academy is in Colorado Springs --- yes, I know, and assumed
everyone else did too; that was what I meant by ``nowhere near Virginia``.

Then I tuned to 7302 and found another Air Force MARS net at 1502, this one
controlled by AFA4MK, with the net callsign frequently cited, phonetically of
course, as 4ECS1; calling for check-ins by e-com (not sure of spelling of
acronym; meaning emergency communication?) stations, first in Louisiana, then
Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas. Not many replies, but more from Oklahoma than
elsewhere, including AFA4BW, AFA4VC, AFA4FH, AFA4TG, AFA4FX. Unfortunately,
AFA4FO, somewhere in Texas, could not hear AFA4MK at all and kept transmitting
atop him. Finally a relay was arranged. Late checkins included AFA4TB in
Mississippi, AFA4CN in Arkansas, AFA4VO in Texas, AFA4FD in Texas, AFA4SJ in
Texas (with an Asian? Or maybe Spanish? accent). 

By 1519 AFA4VC had a message as they were ready to open the net for informal
conversation, but can`t do so since this is a closed net during March. At 1522
AFA4MK explained that to participate in net, Region 4 MARS emergency
communications, must register first via mygroupregister4@xxxxxxxxx --- I think
that`s what he said, and note that most traffic passing is now handled by
digital modes, but with certain software you can still use your old RTTY
equipment. The net schedule is Saturdays at 9-10, i.e. 15-16 UT; since it`s in
local time, must be going to 14-15 UT from March 15 (Glenn Hauer, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. Getting a headstart on DST, March 8 started monitoring 7325 at
1254, and heard some very weak music, 1258 sounded like YL talking, but nothing
copyable after that. 7330 QRM built up after 1300. Would like to believe this
is Wantok Radio Light, which per Aoki is on until 1700, and not AIR FM Gold
Mumbai, on Aoki sked but not others, from *1245, but believed to be inactive on
this frequency. Can someone in South Asia confirm whether AIR is on 7325 or
not?

As previously reported, from March 9, RCI is supposed to shift from 7310 to
7325 at 1105-1405, putting an end to this WRL window after 1200-1230 IBRA in
Chinese via Novosibirsk. However, from the standpoint of co-channel QRM, it
should still be possible at least for the rest of B-07 = March, after 0700 when
BBC Arabic Rampisham closes about an hour before sunset in PNG; EXCEPT
0930-1030 when RFI in Chinese via Taiwan is on 7325. So that means 0700-0930
and 1030-1105 for possible WRL reception in the clear (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST) 

UNIDENTIFIED. 15152.5 at 1404 March 8, Spanish 2-way SSB intruding on broadcast
band, usual suspects being poachers or drugrunners. This was quite weak but
even when loud and clear I can barely understand their idiomatic poorly
enunciated comments, so I wish some native speakers would give these a try and
provide more details about their content (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST) ###


      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Looking for last minute shopping deals?  
Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.  http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping
---[Start Commercial]---------------------

Order your WRTH 2008:
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/redirect2.php?id=wrth2008
---[End Commercial]-----------------------
________________________________________
Hard-Core-DX mailing list
Hard-Core-DX@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/
_______________________________________________

THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed
and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License
published by Michael Stutz at
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/dsl.html