[IRCA] MW DX from Enid OK, October 29-30, 2010

[Glenn Hauser <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx>]

All times and dates strictly UT. MW log editors are welcome to excerpt items, reformat and change to favorite timezone if necessary. Rx: mostly DX-398 with internal antenna only; some caradio as specified; above 2 MHz on FRG-7 with 110-foot east-west longwire.

** MEXICO. 700, Oct 30 at 1230 UT, Mexican NA, 1232 sign-on as XEGD, La Poderosa, 5 mil watts, 700 kHz, street address, two phones including 52-2-05-54, in Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua; 1233 to usual opening infomercial, ``Consejos para un mejor vivir``.

850, Oct 30 at 1211 UT, intro Luis Palau evangelist in KOA null after Obama, presumably XEM, Renacimiento 850, Chihuahua.

870, XETAR, Oct 30 at 1204 UT NA, 1206 sign-on in language, presumed Tarahumara, frequent mentions of XETAR calls pronounced in Spanish, then Spanish mentioning federal agency sponsorship of such indigenous stations as this one in Guachochi, Chihuahua; 1208 kidchorus, rapid SAH, presumably WWL still remnanting, but mostly separable, then La Voz de la Sierra Tarahumara opening in Spanish, 6:09 TC, and another at 1221 for 6:21. Unlike most of the commercial stations, this one is low-key with no screaming hype, and consequently seems a bit undermodulated, improving somewhat during canned federal government PSAs such as one for the Bicentennial at 1228, then kids in unison with call letters (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 1600, Oct 29 at 2053 UT in downtown Enid on the caradio, fair but steady signal with ad for Intuit on I-85; ??? that runs from Montgomery AL thru GA, SC, NC and VA to Washington DC. Could it be WXVI in Mont`y? It`s a bit early, but skywave is possible at topend of band. The SC and NC stations on 1600 are not too far from but not right on I-85. Kept listening, and it`s Herman Cain (sp?), black accent, sitting in for some other talkhost; not the WXVI format. 

2100 ID just for KUSH, Cushing OK, my nearest 1600, which I seriously suspected due to the steady signal, no fading, atop channel. But why the local ad from something on I-85? Because they are SNAFU, and instead of news on the hour, we also heard closed-circuit feed start of two promos for Boortz; then cutting to Oklahoma news network in progress (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 3160, WPJK, Oct 30 at 1145, S9+18 with siren, announcement, gospel song ``Do You Wanna Go With Me?``. Better signal at this hour than TGAV 4052.4. 

Remember, from Nov 1, WPJK sign-on/off times are supposed to be 1200-2215 UT. Apparently they have not yet implemented a `plan` to stay on at night with 15 watts on 1580, since we hear them doing formal sign-ons at 1130, often several minutes late. Strangely, FCC info for facility 6447, 
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?list=0&facid=6447
makes no mention of 3160 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 850, KOA Denver, Saturday Oct 30 at 1210 UT with President Obama`s weekly radio/YouTube address until 1211 so probably started no earlier than 1206. Announcer said GOP response would be on at 6:35 (MDT = 1235 UT; when MST = 1335 UT). Originally when they were really radio-only, started by Reagan, the Pres would not be on until 8:06 am MT, and the opposition at 9:06 am, when one could find them on a few stations by searching the dial. Now the release must be much earlier and the few stations bothering to carry the addresses can schedule them as desired.

1010, Oct 30 at 1241 UT, a bit of church Latin, dings, dead air, so must be a Catholic mass, then into English, YL with stage accent prays to Jesus, 1247 organ interlude, 1250 OM with sing-song prayer also in English, back into Latin homily with small-choral responses.

NW/SE so can`t be KXEN Festus/Saint Louis MO, and besides, Catholix may not be welcome there. 1256 check 11520 to see if it match WEWN, but that`s already in QSY announcement to 13845. At 1257, 1010 outros as Immaculate Heart Radio, but 1259 plug by an EWTN Fr saying IHR is 100% listener-supported, Catholic Charities of Utah, Salt Lake City being involved. 1300 legal ID as Immaculate Heart Radio, KIHU, Tooele.

This is the 50 kW station no one wanted, previously for a while public radio with BBC overnight. Callsign history from FCC AM Query:
Call Sign Begin Date 
KIHU      08/06/2009 
KPCW      03/20/2009 
KCPW      08/01/2004 
KIQN      09/18/1998 
KTUR      10/30/1992 
KTLE      05/19/1982 
KDYL 

It has an unusual antenna/power schedule, denoted U13 by NRC AM Log, which means one direxional pattern during day and critical hours, another pattern at night. Day power is 50 kW, CH 42 kW, night 194 watts, and has a CP for U4, which means the same except eliminating CH.

It`s a bit more complex than that, with FIFTEEN entries under KIHU facility 35687 at FCC:
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?list=0&facid=35687
Including ``moving`` city of license to Magna, but with same transmitter site coordinates as Tooele (tho some of the entries show slightly different coordinates).

I suppose a lot of this jockeying around is caused by having to protect CBR Calgary, while trying to get as much signal as possible into SLC at night. 

Oct SR-SS is 1345-0045 UT; Nov 1415-0015 UT; Dec 1445-2400 UT. The strong dominant signal I was getting before 1300 UT had to be either 50 or 42 kW, so were `critical hours` in effect? It was certainly before legal sunrise there. BTW, three days earlier and one hour later, I was getting KSIR Colorado on 1010, no KIHU then (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Pacific mediumwave carrier search Oct 30: 
Up the dial in LSB mode on DX-398 at 1234, found only 594 kHz.
Down the dial in USB mode at 1236-1239 detected carriers on 1188 at 1237; then 774, 594, 567. 594 not only had het of proper pitch against off-tuned BFO, but also a different het when rotated away from NW/SE, so that`s the local blip I heard before. BTW, I was checking 738/747 at 1230 when I heard KRMG Tulsa blast to day power and pattern (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###


      
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