** OOSTA RICA [non]. 7780, UT Thu Dec 24 at 0100, WRMI pre-empts WOR
2065 for `Mundo Sorprendente` from Berny Solano, which originally airs
on Radio Costa Rica, 930. Reports are invited to Apartado 582/2200,
11101 San Jose, or to mundosorprendentecr@gmail.com so I e-mail him:

``Hola Berny, Acabo de escuchar su programa navideño de Mundo
Sorprendente a través de WRMI 7780, 01 a 02 TU del 24 de diciembre.
Acá en Oclajoma, la señal es muy débil, así es que me puse en varios
receptores remotos: Holanda primero, pero mejor en estado de Maine con
tiempo limitado, después de Rochester NY, llegando bastante bien. Todo
reemplazando a otra emisión de mi programa World of Radio.

Un placer escucharle en OC. Al iniciarse, a mediados 0132, y hacia el
final 0153, ofreció QSL y calendario 2021 con paisajes de CR, así es
que quisiera pedirselo.

Dentro del programa siempre música navideña y una variedad de saludos
hasta charlas. Pude entender algunos de los nombres: Rubén Guillermo
Margenet desde Rosario, Argentina; antes de él, una sueca hablando
español perfecto, como no, semi-colombiana la hija del fallecido
Henrik Klemetz, pero ¿cuál es su nombre? 0144, Jorge García, Barinas,
Venezuela; 0145 un cuento de Oscar Wilde; 0153 finalizando; 0157 otra
música del oriente medio RMI para llenar la hora.

Anticipo el próximo programa, la semana que viene.
73, Glenn Hauser, P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702 USA``

No reply yet. Repeats scheduled next night, UT Dec 25 at 0200 on 5800,
which in a quick I heard starting; and one more time at 0400 on 9955.
And another special show for New Year exactly one week later at all
three times (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

** CUBA. 5040, 6000, 6100, 9700, Dec 24 at 0706, no RHC English
signals at all; usually 6100 or 9700 is still on altho not always for
the full hour. Something`s always wrong at RHC (Glenn Hauser, OK,
WOR)

** CUBA [non]. 9490, Dec 25 at 0320, R. República via FRANCE loud &
clear into Bonaire SDR with trop-pop music, holiday wishes and
greetings, qualifying as an Xmas show? No jamming audible there or in
NB per Richard Langley who tipped on this (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

** TAIWAN [non]. 5800, UT Thu Dec 24 at 0300, `Freedom Synergy Radio`
again for the third night in a row occupying this WRMI hour, replacing
several programs still showing on the skedgrid; to be 5, or even 7
nights a week? But the TRSW Xmas special has already been publicized
for UT Saturday Dec 26 at 0300-0400. You would never guess from the
name what this program is really about: pro-Taiwan, anti-ChiCom, with
a Latin American accent. Evidently restored on WRMI after a break
since August, but slow to show up on the skeds (Glenn Hauser, OK,
WORLD OF RADIO 2066)

** TURKEY. 5960, Dec 25 at 0007, S9+10 but undermodulated music, could
be Turkish as another overrun of VOT English for a bonus hour in
German as happens occasionally; too strong and too on-frequency for
Xinjiang PBS from East Turkistan, land of imperialist ChiCom
persecution of Uyghurs and other Moslems (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 2065 monitoring: confirmed
Wednesday December 23 from 2200:20 on WBCQ 7490.18v, S7-S9 but VP vs
HNL here.

Also confirmed Wed Dec 23 at 2300 on WRMI 9955, S9+25 about equal to
Cuban jamming and losing out to it.

As expected, not confirmed UT Thu Dec 24 at 0100 on WRMI 7780,
pre-empted by `Mundo Sorprendente` --- see COSTA RICA [non]

WORLD OF RADIO 2066 contents: Antarctica, Armenia, Brasil, Canada,
China, Colombia, Costa Rica non, Eritrea non, Europe, France, Germany,
Greece, Iran non, Italy, Japan, Korea North and non, Korea South,
Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar,, Nigeria, Sa`udi Arabia, UK non, USA, Vanuatu,
Vatican, unidentified 2580; SWL Fest; WRTH; propagation outlook

WOR 2066 is available as of 0112 UT Friday December 25
(mp3 stream) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor2066.m3u
(mp3 download) http://www.w4uvh.net/wor2066.mp3

Or via http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html
Also linx to podcast services.

The shortwave broadcasts should be:

0130 UT Friday WRMI 5850 to NW & 5010 to S [confirmed]
0130 UT Saturday WRMI 7780 to NE
1300 UT Saturday WRMI 15770 to NE
2030vUT Saturday WA0RCR 1860-AM
2300 UT Saturday WRMI 7780 to NE
0400vUT Sunday WA0RCR 1860-AM [nominal 0415; as late as 0500]
2300vUT Sunday WBCQ 6160v Area 51 to WSW [new, ex 0400 Mon]
0030 UT Monday WRMI 7730 to WNW
0130 UT Monday WRMI 7780 to NE
0230 UT Monday WRMI 7780 to NE, 5800 to SSE
0430 UT Monday WRMI 9955 [jammed?] to SSE
1900vUT Monday IRRS 7290 Bulgaria to WNW, 594-Italy
0100 UT Tuesday WRMI 7780 to NE
2200 UT Wednesday WBCQ 7490v to WSW
2300 UT Wednesday WRMI 9955 to SSE
0100 UT Thursday WRMI 7780 to NE [pre-empted]

Full schedule including AM, FM, webcasts, satellite, podcasts:
http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html

Our non-commercial broadcasts and website depend on voluntary support:
thanks this week to Gerald T. Pollard, Raleigh NC,
who sent a generous Solsticial check in US$ on a US bank to
Glenn Hauser, P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702 USA

One may also contribute via PayPal, not necessarily in US funds, to:
woradio at yahoo.com

WOR 2066 first airings confirmed UT Friday December 25 at 0130 on
WRMIs: at Bonaire SDR, 5010 S8/S9+15 and 5850 S5-S8; due to azimuths
quite the opposite direct to here (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

** U S A. 830, Dec 24 at 0544 UT, WCCO Minneapolis is again echoing,
like it was last night around 0730 during `Our American Stories`. It`s
now clear this is not just affecting that show as in a coincidental
second station on its network, since I could not find any.

This time I DF it and find both null at the same angle, i.e. both
coming from WCCO. Furthermore, there is no breakaway second audio
during commercial space at 0552; 0556 ``Sports Net All-Night`` I think
they call it; yes, sports talk. To clinch it, the ID just before 0600
is only for ``News-Talk, 8-3-0 WCCO``, into CBS News.

The split-second delay does not vary, but its severity does, as if
there are two signals independently propagating, rather than a
double-audio feed into one transmitter. Sometimes the echo almost goes
away, briefly. Besides, it affects programming from different network
and local sources. If this were SW, it could seem like short/long path
echo all around the world.

So this all points to one of my theories, WCCO running a second
transmitter, perhaps testing a backup. A similar thing happens with
KKOB 770 Albuquerque which does have a low-power co-channel fill-in
relay not exactly synchronized in Santa Fe at night, but none such is
known for WCCO.

The question is, whether this self-QRM is heard in the local area?
Perhaps the main transmitter totally override it out to a certain
distance. Surely others beyond MN can also hear the echo.

I am copying this and my previous report to the Minnesota DX Club,
where perhaps someone can confirm or explain what`s happening and why.
I am aware of no replies on any list so far to my report last night
filed under UNIDENTIFIED [and non]. Replies now:

``Clearly being heard with the echo in western NY 0636z. Must be moon
bounce! Jim Renfrew, Clarendon NY``

Ha2, no, the echo delay would be a lot longer than split second.

``Glenn, I’ve copied John Hansen, the program director at WCCO. Maybe
he can help us figure it out. Alan Furst, Kansas City``

``Glenn, Here’s John’s response to your report.

`He nailed it. Except it wasn’t a test. It’s happening for reasons
they haven’t figured out yet. I was waking up engineers just before 1
am last night. John` via af``

``The FCC license database shows only the primary ND1 50 kW
transmitter for WCCO, and no other transmitters on 830 kHz are shown
within 100 miles.

The KKOB license records show the gap-filler transmitter in Santa Fe,
listed as 230 watts under the main KKOB license as an “Experimental
Synchronous” transmitter.

KKOB’s use of this system makes sense, since their nighttime pattern
from the main site in Albuquerque puts Santa Fe in the null. Combined
with the mountainous terrain, this could make reception of the primary
site difficult at night, even though Santa Fe is only 60 miles north.
{axually mountains are not in the way between North Valley ABQ KKOB
site, and SF, but a stiff uphill grade --- gh}

But WCCO is non-directional at night, and the surrounding terrain is
flat, so I can’t imagine why they would need to use a second
gap-filler transmitter.

The SAH certainly points to this being an RF effect, rather than
something in the audio feed, though perhaps an inadvertent dual audio
feed to the transmitter site could cause it - especially if one feed
was direct (via an STL), while the other was via a wired or fiber
optic path.

Or, some kind of weird propagation between WCCO and Enid? Simultaneous
long and short path reception of an HF station can certainly produce a
noticeable echo, but it would be almost impossible for this to happen
on 830 kHz. Jim Barrett, Elmira, NY``

Glen[n], Listened last night for about an hour after getting your
post. Slight delay or echo heard here in Alabama (near Birmingham) as
well. KGLA Norco LA, is a frequent visitor, but not audible last
night. Heavy storm static to my Southwest was making reception of Gulf
Coast area difficult.

A similar effect occurs here often on 960 AM with WERC mixing with
another station --- both running “Coast to Coast AM” but there is a
slight delay. In this case, I’d suspect a temporary hiccup in the
audio chain more than a backup transmitter, but it would be nice to
know for sure. 73, Les Rayburn, N1LF, 121 Mayfair Park, Maylene, AL
35114``

``Glenn, I aircheck/record WCCO's 102.9 HD-2 signal 24/7 for any
breaking news that I would want to post on RadioTapes.com and there
was no echo noted. I realize you were listening to their AM signal,
but wanted to rule out there was echo in the programming. Before
COVID, WCCO was discussing moving their main transmitter location to
their backup transmitter site in Ramsey, MN and sell the current
property in Coon Rapids, MN where they have been broadcasting from
since the 1920s. Last I heard, WCCO was waiting for FAA approval to
install a taller tower in Ramsey. Tom Gavaras``

Aha, so there are two sites potentially. Coon Rapids is a NW suburb of
MSP, while Ramsey is quite further out in the same direxion.
(Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 2066)

Re "UNIDENTIFIED. 6900-6950, Dec 11 at 1402, very wideband rapid
pulsing with multi-carriers and tone, S9+10 with some fading. Maybe
another kind of OTH radar, wiping out most of the pirate band (Glenn
Hauser, OK, WOR)"

``Glenn, I've never reported this, but the pirate band is almost
always unusable in our mornings due to OTH. My guess is that it's
Chinese, but that's only a guess. 73, Walt Salmaniw, Victoria/Masset
BC`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, WOR)

This report dispatched at 0350 UT December 25
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