Re: [IRCA] 1521 and 1539?

[Glenn Hauser <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- On Thu, 9/23/10, Glenn Hauser <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> UNIDENTIFIED. I sometimes check out
> the hi end of the MW band late at night, using the same E-W
> longwire to the FRG-7 as for SW. Something strange, Sept 23
> at 0635 UT I was hearing a het of about 1 kHz on KOKC 1520,
> from 1521 --- that`s too late for Saudi Arabia, which is
> commonly audible earlier. And a het of almost, but not quite
> the same pitch, from 1539 against jumble of signals
> including an open carrier on 1540. 
> 
> These do happen to be Region 1 MW channels, but such a pair
> is suspicious, as if a station on 1530 were running a 9 kHz
> tone test, or spurs of the same frequency. The 1521 and 1539
> signals were fading, so not an artifact of some local
> appliance, altho 1539 was somewhat unstable judging from the
> pitch fluxuation. 1539/1540 het pitch was slightly higher
> than the 1521/1520 het, so if they were coming from a 1530
> transmitter, it was slightly on the lo side. Could not make
> out any audio from them. Ideas? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
> LISTENING DIGEST) 

UNIDENTIFIED. 1521, het on KOKC 1520, Sept 24 at 0212, surely Saudi Arabia, which if nothing else penetrates the North Atlantic darkness. Reminds me that the night before I was also getting such a het at the very late hour of 0635 UT, which led me to dispense with SA as a source and look for another explanation, such as a spur or tone test from a domestic 1530 station, especially since there was another one like it on 1539. Now at 0212, there is no 1539, so putting that aside, I am rethinking this.

Early reception from East Asia or Pacific might be possible in winter, but now it just seems too early, and there are no powerful 1521 or 1539 transmitters in those areas.

0635 has to be long after sunrise anywhere in Saudi Arabia, but just where is Duba, the site of 1521? Would you believe it doesn`t rate a dot on the WRTH map of the Middle East? O yeah, that`s for SW sites only, but there is a lot of blank space in SA. One of my atlas collexion quickly locates it in the NW corner, just across from the tip of Sinai, and it`s right on the coast, which makes it the best possible site to reach Europe and beyond. 

So when is sunrise there? Little Duba is also unrecognized as of any significance by Gaisma.com but there is a listing for a city not too far away, Tabuk: 
http://www.gaisma.com/en/location/tabuk-sa.html
which shows 0623 local = 0323 UT. 

Considering that this is the most powerful MW station in the world, 2 megawatts, could it still be penetrating by skywave three hours after sunrise through sheer brute force? It is after all, routinely reported at least two hours before sunset along east coast North America, right?

The great circle path from Duba to Enid crosses Brussels, Manchester, Belfast, so in those locations of the UK or vicinity, just how late at this time of year can you still hear BSKSA on 1521? If it gets that far still at 0635 UT, then it could also reach here. Blocked by anything? WRTH frequency list has only: two stations under 1 kW in UK, one each 5 kW in Spain, 27 kW in Russia, 100 kW in Iran (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)


      
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