[IRCA] Final DX report from Masset: Middle East dominates!

[Walter Salmaniw <canswl@xxxxxxxxx>]

*Final DX Report from Masset, Haida Gwaii to 3 January 2010: Heavy on 
the Middle East!*

* *

My final night in Haida Gwaii involved packing and taking down my now 
little-used antennae. Since erecting the QDFA, it’s been such a good 
performer that I haven’t needed to use anything else. The first to go 
was my favourite, the 750 or so foot BOG to the NW. The first few 
mornings it was my main antenna, and always a good performer….until the 
QDFA. Yahoo! I next disconnected my permanent N/S mini-Beverage as in 
every case the QDFA vastly outperformed it. Having said that, those who 
have been at the cottage can attest that it has always been a good 
performer to Europe, and even Asia, above and beyond it’s relative 
compact size (about 475’ outstretched). The evening proceeded fairly 
slowly. Clearly things were not as spectacular as the previous 2 nights. 
What it did allow me to do was to sit on a frequency for more extended 
periods and observe and ID a fair number. Although fewer signals were to 
be had, they were still very interesting to me, and way above the 
“average” evening in Masset. I now have about 1.5 TB of really 
spectacular .wav SDR files to enjoy for, I’m sure, years to come! First 
thing I’m going to do, though, is to back up these files. Those of you 
who know me may recall that I had a hard disk failure several years ago 
during a DXpedition to Masset resulting in some heartache knowing that 
many spectacular loggings were on that disk! So, here goes the last 
abbreviated report while I wait for my connecting flight home to 
Victoria. If there are any of you who would like a copy of the Perseus 
.wav files that I have, I’d be happy to do it for you, providing you 
send the HD and pay the postage! On a final note, on this occasion, I 
also was able to collect quite a number of high quality mp3 files using 
Total Recorder Pro and a relatively high bit rate. Those will be posted 
at various sites, but including Dxer.ca hosted by my very good friend, 
Colin Newell. Thanks again to Guy Atkins for building the revolutionary 
QDFA for me! I now have a Wellbrook phased array that is going to 
collect a bit of dust. Takers?

* *

873 GERMANY AFN Power Network, Oberursel-Weisskirchen, Jan 3 0350 - For 
whatever reason AFN stations are never easy to hear on MW. On 873, with 
listed 150 kW, it's a tough catch. The audio was quite low and in the 
mud, but then came up to an identifiably English program (American 
English, that is) evidently a music program. One would think that 150 kW 
would put out a lot better, but such is not the case. (Walter Salmaniw, 
Masset, B.C.)

873 RUSSIA Radio Rossii, Jan 3 0355 - Explains some of the difficulty 
with 873. After the English bit from AFN, I didn't hear anything else 
for a while identifiable until more talk at 03:54 which was clearly from 
different sites, and slightly out of sync. This is Radio Rossii with 
transmitters located in Olgino (75 kW), Lesnoy (250 kW) and Mehzavod 
(100 kW) according to PAL. Better pull out the maps. Fair at best. 
(Walter Salmaniw, Masset, B.C.)

963 FINLAND CRI, Jan 3 0406 - CRI's Russian program at good level with 
Russian (mostly Chinese) news. Not nearly as strong as a couple of 
night's ago. (Walter Salmaniw, Masset, B.C.)

1035 ESTONIA Tartu Family Radio, Jan 3 0128 - Conditions are down a bit 
from the last 2 days, but still quite respectable for my last evening in 
Masset. Religious music (I recognized the work 'sertse' which means 
'heart'. Lot's of Russian talk after 01:30. Appears to be right on 
1035.001 on the Perseus. Another slightly weaker carrier is on 1035.031 
which might just be Pakistan according to the MW offset list. Another 
very weak carrier on 1035.028 as well. No idea who that would be. Fair 
bit of splatter from 1040 domestic. Generally fairly good. Interesting, 
the 1035.028 transmitter just went off the air at 01:39. Ideas?? The fun 
just won't let up. Now the Asian station is dominating, and it's clearly 
from that part of the world. Could it be Iran, with Radio Payam in Yazda 
listed at 20/50 kW, or Jordan's Amman FM, or RTM Morocco, Rabat with 5 
kW, or even Pakistan Brdcstg Corp. with 120 kW in Multan, Punjab. Wow! 
I've got the audio clip, but now it's back to Tartu at good level at 
01:43. (Walter Salmaniw, Masset, B.C.)

1071 UNID unid, Jan 3 0153 - Now this is a BUSY frequency with Middle 
Eastern stations. There are at least 2 strong ones, and perhaps 2 weak 
stations. The first measures 1071.008, and the second 1071.002. I also 
see 2 others at 1070.993 and 1070.998, but these are likely too weak to 
produce audio. Arabic music and mumbly talk by a male. The other also 
has a male speaking, but impossible to make out the language (for me 
anyway). EMWG lists Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and 
even Sudan as possibilities. Help!!. (Walter Salmaniw, Masset, B.C.)

1089 RUSSIA Radio Rossii, Jan 3 0406 - Suddenly out of the mud leaped 
Russian at good level with moderate amount of splatter. As I recall 
there's been some restructuring of Russian Radio, so don't know whether 
the various programs still exist (Sodruzhestvo, RIR). The latter is 
listed for this hour. (Walter Salmaniw, Masset, B.C.)

1134 GLAS HRVATSKA Glas Hrvatska, Jan 3 0205 - Excellent reception with 
religious program, 'Z namy Bog' (God is with us). At the same time, 
there's a cochannel Arabic station with Arabic music or Koranic 
chanting. Could be Iran (10 kW at Bojnord), or Kuwait (20 kw Sulabiyah). 
(Walter Salmaniw, Masset, B.C.)

1161 EGYPT Mid-Delta Radio, Jan 3 0223 - This is my guess for this Arab 
station with Arabic chants, a brief sentence or two from the announcer 
and into more chanting. Pretty sure I heard 'Saleym Alechum' in there 
too. Good to very good level. 2 carriers on the display at 1161.002 and 
1161.007. Other possibilities would be Iran and Tajikistan, and Algeria. 
I have a good audio clip available to our language experts. (Walter 
Salmaniw, Masset, B.C.)

1269 INDIA AIR, Jan 3 0237 - This is a fascinating channel normally 
occupied by DLF Neumunster, and sure enough it's there with symphony 
music. Frequently, though, there's what seems very Indian style speech 
there, so I wonder whether this could be one of the AIR transmitters? I 
have the mp3 clip!. (Walter Salmaniw, Masset, B.C.)

1278 EGYPT Egyptian Radio, Aswan, Jan 3 0251 - I'm really looking 
forward to IDing this one. Very exotic Asian/middle eastern music with 
chanting. Very strong too. Just a faint hint of any European activity. 
Normally France Bleu is here. Darn, there it is at 02:54. Hope the 
station of interest stays until the TOH! Radio Afghanistan is listed 
here amongst others. Wouldn't that be phenomenal! Murphy's Law! Way down 
at 02:58...still 2 minutes to the TOH. It's back, but NOTHING at the 
TOH. Why? My guess on this one is Egyptian Radio from Aswan with 10 kW, 
which they say signs on at 03:00. Shortly after 03:00 there was a female 
announcer, which seems to be more likely Egypt than Iran or Afghanistan? 
Again, I'll leave it to the experts out there!. (Walter Salmaniw, 
Masset, B.C.)

1431 DJIBOUTI VOA Radio Sawa, Jan 3 0315 - Fair to occasional good 
reception of Arabic with mentions of Washington, etc. Heard better 
during the day here with a stronger signal and less splatter! Still, I'm 
not complaining. (Walter Salmaniw, Masset, B.C.)

1503 IRAN IRIB 1, Jan 3 1634 - Another middle eastern station this 
morning mixing with JOUK Akita, sometimes well over, sometimes under. 
Sounds like a report from the field. Should either be North Sinai Radio 
in Egypt with 75 kW or IRIB 1 in Bushehr with 100 kW. I'm guessing the 
former. No, don't think so. At 17:00 quite strong with lots of mentions 
of Iran and Tehran. Iran it must be!. (Walter Salmaniw, Masset, B.C.)

1512 UNID unid, Jan 3 1625 - OK, yet another head scratcher! Another 
middle eastern station with lots of mentions of Afghanistan, which I 
guess doesn't mean a lot. Another cochannel there too. Not much listed 
in the EMWG on this channel except Saudi Arabia's Holy Quran programme, 
but this sure doesn't sound like that. Also Iran with IRIB 1 in Ardabil 
with 50 kW. PAL also lists Radio Herat in Afghanistan with 10 kW. I 
wish!. (Walter Salmaniw, Masset, B.C.)

1584 UNID unid, Jan 3 1604 - A difficult channel. Seems to be a 
graveyard channel for Europe and Asia. I've listened for the last 20 
minutes to a middle eastern station. Sometimes at good level. Both men 
and women announcers and not much music. Looking at PAL and EMWG, there 
are a number of possibilities: Russia (Dagestankoye Radio), Kuwait 
(which EMWG says was testing with 50 kW), Iran with IRIB 1, and Egypt 
with two transmitters listed at 10 and 1 kW. Then their's Bahrain with 1 
kW. Language experts please! Egypt is my guess. (Walter Salmaniw, 
Masset, B.C.)

1710 UNID unid, Jan 3 1540 - Just happened to be tuning through the band 
and came across 1710 (actually around 1709.985) and heard light elevator 
type music briefly before they faded down. Any ideas? Is that Russian 
station near Seattle still on the air?. (Walter Salmaniw, Masset, B.C.)

4780 DJIBOUTI RTV de Djibouti, Jan 3 1512 - Good reception except for 
CODAR QRM with very melodic Horn of Africa type music. Better than I've 
ever heard them before!. (Walter Salmaniw, Masset, B.C.)

6924.98 UNID Pirate, Jan 3 0037 - Initially good reception but a heck of 
a time to demodulate the transmission. Not in AM, but DSB it seems with 
non-stop music. Went off very briefly, and when back much weaker than 
they had been. ?Changed antenna beams? Didn't get an ID, but I was busy 
elsewhere too. (Walter Salmaniw, Masset, B.C.)
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