[IRCA] Mostly Mexican MW DX to Enid OK, December 28, 2012-January 3, 2013

[Glenn Hauser <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx>]

All times and dates strictly UT. Rx: mostly DX-398 with internal antenna only. Or Sony SRF-59 when specified.

These logs are excerpts from my daily all-band reports, mainly SWBC, also VHF/UHF, sometimes, utility, ham, which may be found in several archives without much delay, such as
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/index.php?topic=Hauser

And compiled weekly along with extensive news from many other individuals and publications in DX LISTENING DIGEST:
http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html

** MEXICO [and non]. 540, Dec 29 at 0614 UT, ho hum, another night, and as soon as I tune in, hear ID for ``La Ranchera de Paquimé``, i.e. 5 kW XETX in Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, also 90.5 FM. No doubt IDs are frequent making this not so strange. And again, when I null it, no XEWA SLP to be heard, but instead ``CBK`` Watrous in English as quickly confirmed by // ``CBW`` 990 Winnipeg (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 540, Dec 30 at 0704 UT, for the fourth time recently, immediately upon random tune-in, here comes an ID for ``La Ranchera de Paquimé``, XETX, Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua. Not so dominant at the moment, but still nothing recognizable from XEWA further east (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 700, Dec 31 at 1314 UT only signal is weak Spanish, 6:15 TC, i.e. UT -7. Sounds like this strangely-named one I have heard before, per Cantú, alluding to another town, Etchojoa:
700 XEETCH La Voz de los Tres Rios, Navojoa, Son. 5,000 D
which is an indigenous station with native languages, IRCA reminds us. The rustic fiddle and guitar tune I also heard fits too.

In summer the UT -7 would clinch it, but in winter, also on UT -7 instead of UT -6 is a bigger-city possibility I doubt:
700 XEGD La Poderosa + FM 90.3 Hidalgo del Parral, Chih. 5,000 1,000
which I may never have heard.

Consult this handy map of Mexican timezones and oddities:
http://www.worldtimezone.com/time-mexico12.php

Then at 1320, WLW is fading in again with ID (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 750, Dec 31 at 1310 UT, noticias del estado de Sinaloa, mentioned more than once, political discussion, CCI; federal PSA vs drunk driving at fin del año; then announcement in English about New Year`s, Digital FM; then 89.5 pronounced in Spanish. What does Cantú say? It all fits for this one:
750 XECSI Éxtasis Digital + FM 89.5 Culiacán, Sin. 5,000 250
So is it really on day power long before sunrise even here in Enid?
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 1090, Dec 30 at 0610 UT, música romántica en inglés, loops N/S, full ID in Spanish I wasn`t expecting, including Milenio Radio, 103.7, CST TC and temp. Therefore it is XEAU in Monterrey NL, 5/0.25 kW per IRCA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Pacific carrier search performed Dec 28 at 1322-1329 UT after first finding one on 747, stepping the DX-398 in USB with slightly offset BFO producing a low pitch to be recognized at 9 kHz intervals not too covered by NAm signals, found all these: 585, 594, 603, 693, 702, 738, 747, 774, 828, 873, 972, 1053, 1278, 1287, 1314, 1323, 1332, 1566. Today`s Enid sunrise will be 1342, only two minutes from the latest of the year next week (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Pacific 9-kHz carrier search Dec 29 at 1323+: 702, 738, 747, 774, 828, 1566. 738 was briefly strongest, and more westerly than NW, as weaker 702 may also have been. Standard suppositions are that 702 is Australia, 738 Tahiti; 747, 774 and 828 the big NHK stations in Japan; and 1566 Korea South FEBC. These are all routine on the west coast, but it`s a major morning if we ever pull any audio from them here in deep North America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 800, Dec 30 at 0647 UT, extremely distorted modulation, which we usually hear only around sunrise. Got a good DF on it, about 195 degrees, separable from Bott gospel huxter OKC. Not much from XEROK which normally occupies the KQCV null; problems there? So the distortion again points to one of the northeast Mexicans, XEDD in Montemorelos NL, supposedly a daytimer, or more likely XEZR in Zaragoza, Coahuila, somewhat further west. I renew my call for DXers in the groundwave area of these to confirm which it is. It`s a recurrent if not constant problem. Where are you, Steve Wiseblood, when we need you? In the Philippines (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 2910, Dec 28 at 1137, couldn`t sleep so gave up and turned on the radio, to find what must be a third harmonic of something on 970. Some music but never a complete song, mostly talk in Spanish; very weak but with BFO on to help, I devote my full attention to pulling something out of it. 1145 mentions ``de la salud``; 1153 improving slightly but still very tough copy against the QRN and QSB. 1200 mentions diciembre, but no Mexican NA which raises my hope it is beyond there in C America (or just USA). 1201 signal surges some more, during brief guitar and vocal music; occasional adjacent SSB QRM but otherwise clear frequency. 1203, clear timecheck as ``6 de la mañana con 2 minutos``, so it`s somewhere in the UT -6:01 zone, hi. At 1211 I compare it to North Korea which is much stronger on 2850. 

At 1220 it`s fading up again with YL in Spanish, mentions ``Colonia Salinas``(?), and a restaurante, phone numbers starting with 91-. 1226 callsign in passing sounds like XEDP, but last two letters could be any fonetically similar combination, i.e.: B, C, D, G, P, T, V. Mentions cumpleaños, birthday greetings being typical morning fare on local Mexistations. 1229 TC for 6:29. 

I have two sets of headphones; so far I have been using one with boosted bass response, so I try the other one with less bass, more treble, but that means more noise overall, so back to the bass. Listening thru my stocking cap seems to help too in this extremely poor signal environment. 1241, SSB ACI again, and 2910 signal is weakening; by 1250 it`s a JBA carrier. This is still almost an hour before sunrise here, so indicates it`s in the eastern part of Mexico.

Later begins more research on above clues: First, the callsign. It so happens that the only phonetic match on 970 in IRCA and Cantú is:
970 XEVT VT + FM 104.1 Villahermosa, Tab. 10,000 5,000
IRCA shows 10/1 kW, but agrees station slogan is simply ``VT``. So does WRTH 2013 but power as 10/5.

Colonia? Finally found a list of them for Villahermosa, 180 of them with postal codes
http://www.guiapv.com/codigos_postales/index.php?t=bcid&sk=4&skt=Q2VudHJv&eid=27
and there is no Salinas, but maybe this is what I heard:
``Sabina Centro Tabasco 86153``

It seems there is a Colonia Salinas in Zacatecas where there is also a 970 station, but that rules out its callsign: XEZAZ which also has a ballad/romantic music format, no fit. Can`t get anywhere looking for typical phone prefixes in either city.

As a DX resource we need a master list of colonias for all of Mexico (and beyond), but it would be monstrous if there are as many as 180 in a relatively small city like Villahermosa.

If I am ever awake again during these hours, must pursue 2910 further, but I hope others will too and get a definite ID (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 2910, Dec 29 at 0559 UT, looking again for that presumed third harmonic of 970: JBA carrier. I leave the receiver tuned here to check again whenever I awaken --- which is 1226. Once again it`s the morning M&W chat show. Very poor signal, and all I can copy are ``la jota``, ``estado del tiempo``, ``colonia``. Today there is a lot more SSB QRM on the hi side, diminished a bit by listening in LSB mode. And 2910 is fading by 1234, too weak at 1240. Need to listen from before 1200, and theoretically should also be audible in evenings. 

>From yesterday I`m quite sure it`s a Mexican, prime suspect XEVT in Villahermosa, Tabasco. But are there any 970 stations which might be called ``La Jota``? Yes, XEJ in Juárez, but that`s on UT -7 while I was definitely hearing UT -6 timechex. There are two other Mexicans with a J in their 4-letter calls. Still not enough info. Of course there could be two harmonix on 2970, one being from XEJ, but the chances of that are remote.

Note, in yesterday`s report my first reference to a Colonia mentioned should have read ``Salinas``, not ``Sabinas``. Also I meant to mention that at one point Dec 28 I compared 2910 to 970, but the fundamental was just a mishmash of signals, also bothered by ACI from local 960 KGWA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 2910, Dec 30 at 0141 UT, JBA carrier here from the presumed third harmonic of 970. Needed to oversleep past the 12 UT window today. Still waiting for anyone else to try IDing this (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 2910, Dec 31 at 1150 UT I awaken early again, so make the best of it in another attempt to ID this presumed third harmonic of some Mexican on 970. Still it`s a threshold signal as I keep the BFO on it zero-beat, to help a little, but unproductive as I only catch a few words here and there. Spanish talk at tune-in says ``buenos días``, and has SSB ACI again. 1152 a song, 1155 talk, timecheck, mentions Zaragoza, a common name which could be applied to anything, anywhere; ``amigos radioescuchas``, one or two OMs chattering, no YL. 1202 bit of music; 

1205 now the YL joins in with her own ``buenos días``; OM handles the TCs, ``6 de la mañana, 5 minutos`` = UT -6, and a song. 1209 ``fin de año`` which it certainly is. 1215 OM & YL alternate talk; 1218 ad, 1219 mentions Juárez, same name remark. Ad for ``artículos navideños``, now no doubt discounted for clearance. Weather includes lluvias (rain). 1221, TC for 6:20; 1223 more OM & YL chat vs SSB ACI. 1227, TC for 6:26. 1229 weakening and ACI still a problem. 1235 YL in long monolog, reading a news item? Brief OM, and back to YL monolog. 1242 TC 18 minutos para las 7. 1245 fading down and I give up for today, but then tune around and find another harmonic on 2660, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

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