[IRCA] Drunken 801 Kimchaek (+SDR)

["Chris Kadlec" <beaglebass@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Just a note for those who get TP:

The 500kw Pyongyang Broadcasting / KCBS time-share signal out of Kimchaek, North Korea is a little dizzy or drunken currently and is... wandering off its kilter.

At 5:30am local sign-off (2100 UTC), the signal was half-steady in the neighbourhood of 804, smack between the 801 and 810 jammers with a clear signal. It has been drifting between 803.85 and 804.25, sometimes just zig-zagging a bit and at other times outright instantaneously hopping from one side of 804 to the other. It's running an open carrier after sign-off as usual. 15 minutes after sign-off, it briefly ran a tone for about 5 seconds shown on 802.9 and 804.9 and continued about its business before recentering itself right on 804.0 a moment later then again started stumbling around. At the 5:58am local time (2128 UTC) KCBS sign-on, it pretty much has continued, rather stable on 804.25. It would later migrate to 803.87 where it was toward 7am, until it wandered again, down to 803.50 by 10am local time.

I'm not sure if this move is in response to the new jammers or not, but it's an interesting development nonetheless. The transmitters, especially in the east coast cities, aren't known for their greatness, but it's hard to ignore the fact that the signal is clear with nothing blocking it due to this fact. There is a hum on 801 that I cannot identify, but feel it's jammer-related (open jammer perhaps; it happens) and it's heard on 804 too -- the daytime jammer would be heard clearly later on on 801 -- but the Kimchaek signal itself is clearly centered on 804 and heard well on 803 and 805. SDR shows this in an interesting fashion.

I'll keep an eye on it. The in-between frequency could give some of you a catch if you haven't heard the Kimchaek signal before.

Here are a few SDR views of this oddness.

http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/804_Kimchaek_SDR_1.jpg - Wandering signal
http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/804_Kimchaek_SDR_2.jpg - 6:15 pre sign-on tone
http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/804_Kimchaek_SDR_3.jpg - Drunken signal
http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/804_Kimchaek_SDR_4.jpg - Slipping signal
http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/804_Kimchaek_SDR_5.jpg - 6:30 sign-on tones

-Chris Kadlec
 Seoul AM Listening Guide
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