** CANADA. 284 MCW kHz, Jan 16 at 0703 UT, dash and QD, 500-watt NDB
at The Pas, Manitoba. Surprised to hear it as just before, could not
detect WG Winnipeg, 1000 watts on 248 which is normally the most
reliable, but during `auroral` conditions; however, Blitzortung shows
no lightning anywhere in N America, just some out around Bermuda.
DXinfocentre.com says of WG, ``TO BE DECOMMISSIONED 2023-04-20``; and
right next to it, QL, 248, 1000 watts in Lethbridge, Alberta, already
decommissioned -- I never heard it even mixing with WG. QL does appear
in countless MARE Log Summaries, until Feb 11, 2022 (Glenn Hauser, OK,
WOR)
** CANADA. 7850 CUSB, Jan 16 at 1855, no direct signal from CHU but OK
on 14670. Too much absorption below 8 MHz, but at 1945 check, 7850 is
OK into Maryland SDR (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)
** CANADA. 28170 CW, Jan 16 at 1903, VVV DE VA3XCD/B, a beacon not on
WI5V roster on this or any frequency. QRZ.com unmentions anybeacon
either:
VA3XCD Canada flag Canada
William G Pooley, 400 DEWEY ROAD RR3, YARKER, ON K0K 3N0, Canada
Yarker is a small town just NW of Kingston. LOTS of other beacons and
phoners on 10m wide open (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)
** CUBA. 5990, Jan 15 at 2305, CRI relay is S9+25/35, but English
modulation buried under huge hum. Second harmonic 11980 achieves S8/S9
with more audible modulation, less hum - so harmonix can come in
handy! Something`s always wrong at RadioCuba (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)
** MALI. 15125, Jan 16 at 1606, music with very heavy bass beat, then
Arabic announcement, S7/S9. It`s CRI via Bamako toward E Africa (Glenn
Hauser, OK, WOR)
** NORFOLK ISLAND. From Nick Hacko, Jan 16 at 1004 UT:
``[WOR] A quick report on RadioDX Norfolk Isl 3rd test + upcoming
transmission announcement (to follow) ---
Let me get straight into it: thank you for tuning in. Your dedication
to SWLing is simply astonishing. Again, thank you for tuning in and
for your polite, detailed and very enthusiastic reports.
The reason why Radio DX exists is simple: it's here so you can chase
it. Clearly, we are not quite there yet, but the recent test runs over
the past few days gave us assurance that we are heading in right
direction. AM broadcasting is not my forte. Actually, I know very
little about putting a station on air. However, knowing that the
effort is appreciated encourages me to learn and invest in this
project.
Of course, very special 'thank you' goes to Glenn Hauser and WOR. If
it wasn't for Glenn's dedication for SWLing, his persistence, pedantic
devotion to build and support a community of like-minded people, this
project would never take off. To have Glenn's voice as station ID is a
privilege - and I'm so proud that this was the case from the very
first test transmission.
Equally, I am grateful to hard-core North American listeners who
started communication even before the signal went on air. Plenty of
encouragement and true gentlemen-ship. And same goes to crazy Finns! I
mean, seriously, you have to be absolutely crazy to go out, in the
middle of winter, to stretch 1,000m beverage in direction of Norfolk
island, just to hear that feeble signal, 18,000 km away. Hats down,
humbling indeed.
A word or two about Norfolk Island. Situated 1700 km east of mainland
Australia and 1,000 northwest of New Zealand, NF is a rock 8 x 5 km in
size with population of around 2000 people. Really, nothing more than
is a tiny dot in the South Pacific ocean. While every island community
is a unique one in its own way, people of Norfolk Island are dealing
with a number of challenges: recent loss of independence and
self-government, aged infrastructure, lack of essential services.
The population is a mix of Pitcairn Island descendants who are seeking
return to independence and self government, Australians and New
Zealanders. Australian Government is keen to fully integrate Norfolk
into its domain; however, integration process will take time, as well
as plenty of good will from all the participants. The reality is that
a population of 2000 people cannot physically and financially sustain
itself without Australian support, and if it wasn't for Australia,
even the basic services like transport, Medicare and education would
be impossible to maintain.
You can imagine that in such political and social climate, for a
newcomer, it takes years to build true relationships, to become
accepted and to integrate in meaningful way. The key word is
self-sufficiency. On the other hand, the island climate is very
pleasant with temperature all year around between 18-24 C. Plenty of
rain too, so Norfolk is green and lavish. No snakes (of any kind!) and
no poisonous spiders, no traffic lights or fast food restaurants.
Pristine air and water, and the island is extremely clean.
My wife and I spend half of the time on Norfolk, and half in
Australia. I am 59, not yet of retirement age :-( I wish I could
spend more time playing radios, but great deal of time is spent
obtaining food, preparing meals, gardening, slashing and clearing
overgrown vegetation. We have planted papayas, bananas, passion fruit
and avocados - and they grow fantastic on Norfolk. Over 500 kg of
radio equipment was carried so far as hand luggage, as well as cabling
and aluminium, so I am already active on 160m to 6m.
Back to 60 m --- Getting on air requires re-tuning of the 160m
antenna, tuning it to 5 MHz, tapping the PI coil in the amplifier and
then sitting next to radio ensuring that all goes well. Not really
plug-and-play setup. And definitely not something that could be done
in the middle of the night, or on a short notice. My biggest problem
is finding a dedicated and reliable 1 kW, 60 m, AM transmitter. There
are not many makers out there who make transmitters at reasonable
price.
I really want 'to get it right' - great audio quality with reliable
service. The idea is to leave TX on air for hours at a time so I can
'do something else'. The good news is that the location is superb;
antenna is on the hilltop (5 acres of land) 140 m above the sea level
with uninterrupted views over Pacific in all directions. It really
doesn't get any better than that. As you have noticed, even with 200
W, signal in Hawaii is very decent (distance 6,600 km). As well, all
over Australia, as far to Perth (5,000 km). This is very encouraging.
Transmitting at sunrise yielded dozen reports from Finland, Sweden,
Holland, Austria, Germany and Thailand. Unfortunately Europeans were
deprived of sunrise signal enhancement. It should have happened, but
it didn't. For that reason, I am planning one more session from 17:00
to 18:30 UTC sometime this week. Please stay on WOR mailing list and
watch for announcement. The programming format remains the same:
couple of songs and very frequent station ID. I really want you to
capture that Glenn's announcement so you can claim QSL.
I do apologize for not being able to reply to every email directly.
However, once in Sydney, I will have more time to acknowledge your
reception report. As promised before: QSL card is 100% sure, but it
will take a bit of time to get the cards printed.
Couple of photos attached: the antenna wire, suspended from a 50 m
pine tree. There are 18x 40 m radials in the base. Second photo was
taken 30 minutes before sunrise, during the last test towards Europe.
If you wish to email me directly, please do so on
vk9dx@clockmaker.com.au --- 73 Nick RadioDX NF`` (via Glenn Hauser,
WOR)
** TURKEY. 5960, Jan 15 at 2304, no carrier direct from VOT.
Considering K=5, could be on but zero propagation; did not get around
to checking European remotes. But VOT occasionally fails to emit from
Emirler (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)
** U S A. 326 MCW kHz, Jan 16 at 0705 UT, MA, 400 watt NDB at Midland
TX; perhaps my most regular Texan, not always logged but for the
record. Sounds like single letter Q if you don`t consider the pause
(Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)
** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 2173 monitoring: confirmed Sunday
January 15 at 2100 UT on IRRS SW via AM Italia, 1323 kHz, Villa
Estense, VG S9+10/20 with lite musical CCI from understation, probably
Smooth Radio, Brighton, England. Still nothing on previous alternate
or test frequencies 918, 207 kHz.
Also confirmed UT Monday January 16 at 0030 on WRMI 7780, S9/+10 into
Maurice LA SDR, after which I wrote Jeff White:
``Noise blasts over WOR --- Jeff, This has been going on for months.
Would appreciate it if you could fix it. The WOR playbacks on System D
7780 always start with a burst of noise completely overriding my
opening for 10+ seconds. This always starts at exactly the same time I
start talking, so obviously some defect coming out of your
transmitter. Not external QRM or jamming. After a brief pause there is
another short burst. Lately I have also been noting three short bursts
of the same noise about 3 minutes into. I am sure you would hear all
this by remote monitoring if not line monitoring in-house. Once I
thought I heard same at start of some other program, not sure, but
seems likely. Thanks, Glenn``
``Glenn: The "noise blasts" do not originate with WRMI. We have an
idea where they might be coming from, but it's hard to know for sure.
I'm sure you realize that 7780 is OOB, and that utility stations have
priority over us, so a lot of times we have to live with these things.
It does not only happen when your program is on the air. Jeff White,
General Manager, WRMI Radio Miami International``
``Jeff, Well, it`s uncanny the precision timing to the split second to
start at the same time as WOR. Why don`t you reprogram so WOR starts
:15 seconds after the half hour? That would avoid the noise or prove
it`s not deliberate against any certain program. Or if inevitable,
maybe a permanent WRMI frequency change is in order. Like 7730 where
you are already authorized but not really using? Or was that the one
with the multi-harmonic problem?
73, Glenn``
Also confirmed UT Monday January 16 at 0400 on Area 51 webcast --- but
NOT on WBCQ 6160-. Propagation is degraded so New Hampshire and
Maryland SDRs are getting zero signals, too close. Missouri SDR has an
invisible and inaudible carrier but SAM shows signature offset of
-62/67 Hz = 6159.933 to 6159.938 variable. A better signal direct at
S9 but NO modulation! I measure it varying around 6159.934. It`s
always something?! [meanwhile, R. Angela in Marriage of Figaro is
S9+10/20 direct on 5130.00 with good modulation.]
{about the first 5045 Norfolk test, I hear myself giving the date as
November 11 instead of January 11, geez! 15+ minutes into program}
{too late to fix on WOR, Ken Zichi corrects his frequency range for
CODAR including Morse code IDs: 4450-4475 like the other reporter, not
7450-7475} Next:
0130 UT Tuesday WRMI 9395 to NNW
0030 UT Wednesday WRMI 9395 to NNW
1030 UT Wednesday WRMI 5850 to NW [canceled!]
2200 UT Wednesday WBCQ 7490v to WSW
0130 UT Thursday WRMI 9395 to NNW
0130 UT Thursday WRMI 5010 to S
Full schedule including AM, FM, webcasts, satellite, podcasts:
http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html
Like our website, a noncommercial service for which financial support
is appreciated. Thanks this week to Benn Kobb, DC for a contribution
via
PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com - in US funds but not necessarily.
One may also contribute by MO or check on a US bank to:
Glenn Hauser, P O Box 1684, Enid, OK 73702 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)
** VANUATU. 7260, Jan 16 at 0656, JBA carrier from R. Vanuatu, as I
finally start monitoring before 0700. Expecting it to QSY shortly I
then tune to 7890 and wait for a 2 X 3945 carrier to pop on: which it
does at *0659:06 - or 0659.1 decimally. Some sound is JBA. At 0732 I
check X3 = 11835 and find it S6/S8 with some music and talk audible.
Gary Pence, KM5X, TX also simulmonitoring and says, ``Vanuatu on at
0700z, 3945, 7890, 11835 via Maui 1/16/23 S5-S8`` (Glenn Hauser, OK,
WOR)
UNIDENTIFIED [and non]. 6780, Jan 15 at 2253, JBA carrier with Doppler
flutter. Nothing listed but could be Sound of Hope jammer. Same very
wobbly frequency effect on some other no doubt E Asian, hi latitude
signals:
13705, Jan 15 at 2255, NHK IS, only S3 with Doppler flutter.
9100, Jan 15 at 2257, Doppler flutter on carrier which is mostly
noise, this week`s frequency of Echo of Hope, from Korea South, and
jamming? Alternates with 9095 and 9105. EiBi has extremely detailed
schedules of these, occupying 48 lines = 16 each including English
segments, while Aoki has only one line on wrong current frequency
9105.
``:Product: Geophysical Alert Message wwv.txt
:Issued: 2023 Jan 16 0000 UTC
# Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction
Center
#
# Geophysical Alert Message
#
Solar-terrestrial indices for 15 January follow.
Solar flux 234 and estimated planetary A-index 30.
The estimated planetary K-index at 0000 UTC on 16 January was 5.00.
Space weather for the past 24 hours has been moderate.
Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level occurred.
Radio blackouts reaching the R2 level occurred.
Space weather for the next 24 hours is predicted to be minor.
Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level are expected.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level are likely.``
(Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)
UNIDENTIFIED. 27555 USB, Jan 16 at 1858, CQ DX, ###136, QSY 27515,
freebander slurring his unlegal callsign. In English, but when he goes
off, some weaker Brazuguese. Also lots of Spanish on 11m, while
official CB is bursting with hets, AM transmitters unable to
zero-beat. SF is way above 200; DXMAPS often show Es MUFs
tantalizingly just below 88 MHz FMBC band.
Es and/or F2 could audiblize some SWBC harmonix, so in USB I tune
continuously down from 26100 to 21450 without hitting a single
suspicious carrier. Of course there are a lot fewer fundamentals on
air now than previous solar maxes. Here`s a quick reference table:
4750-5130 X 6 = 28500 - 30780
4750-5130 X 5 = 23750 - 25650
5800-6200 X 5 = 29000 - 31000
5800-6200 X 4 = 23200 - 24800
7200-7500 X 4 = 28800 - 30000
9250-9990 X 3 = 27750 - 29970
11500-12160 X 2 = 23000 - 24320
13570-13870 X 2 = 27140 - 27740
Of course there are other possibilities, higher multiples of lower
bands, going well above 30 MHz (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)
This report dispatched at 2033 UT January 16
_
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