[IRCA] MW DX from Enid OK, November 29-December 10, 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.

My previous comments were not so much against station-counting and the rules for doing so, but in favor of DX-reporting *quality* instead of 
quantity. To me, every log is a potential learning experience about 
some or all of: culture, geography, propagation, station quirks in 
operations, language, and whatever the subject of the programming is, 
without which there would be no broadcasting in the first place.

I am lamenting that there seems to be no place for such reporting in 
the major MW DX publications. They are all about minimum details, 
maximum lists of stations identified.

** CANADA. 800, Dec 5 at 1338 UT, in KQCV OKC null, ``CKLW AM 800`` dominating way over XEROK despite west-of-terminator advantage, promo for the ``only open-line talk show in Windsor-Essex``, on weekday mornings; local weather now on Sunday Morning Live, mixing F and C, happy birthdays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 3320, NK triumphal choral music, Dec 10 at 1244, slightly stronger than Indo/PNG 3325. At 1247, similar choral music on stronger S9+15 2850+, slightly on the hi side compared to KOA or whatever on 850. I don`t think 2850 and 3320 are supposed to be //, however. Yet stronger signals with het on 3480/3481, and here the Korean talk was quite readable. Strangely, when I am getting these 2-3 MHz DPRK signals, I never hear anything on 3560, the listed VOK feeder (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. 660, Dec 10 at 1325, 6:25 timecheck ``en La Tremenda, Número Uno``, after referring to addresses on Avenida Sexta Norte. This is 5 kW XEACB, in Ciudad Delicias, Chihuahua, UT -7 zone. I no longer find Chihuahuans all over the dial in the mornings as I did in October, altho maybe not hitting the right sunrise enhancement window (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. Shortly after hearing KEEL-710 news on KWKH-1130 [see USA], I came to 710 itself, Dec 6 at 1345, instead best but weak signal quickly recognized by jingle ``La Ranchera de Cuauhtémoc``, was XEDP, temp un grado, SAH with presumed KGNC, the latter yet to start daytime domination (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. As I tuned by 940 with WKY 930 OKC nulled, heard something in Spanish, ID as XEEJ, Dec 5 at 1342. Or so I thought: closest match is XEYJ, Sabinas, Coahuila. No doubt about the jota, but the e could have been a ye (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 1690, the next chapter in the saga of Enid`s talking house transmitter: Finally the afternoon of Nov 29 I go to the address on the recording, 3509 McClaflin Drive in the SE corner of Enid. Before 2100 UT in central Enid I am hearing it as usual, tho skywave from Chicago and Denver is already coming in, making TH sound wishy-washy, i.e. unstable FMy carrier just like Greg`s units formerly on 1670. Without the QRM it sounds OK. 

But a sense of foreboding increases as I approach the address --- the TH signal fades out, so nothing but the X-band stations when I am parked in front of it. There is no sign on the curb about this being a TH, but the inhabitants are home so I ring the doorbell. The gentleman who answers is rather surprised, assures me the house is not for sale, but he did buy it two years ago from Ms. Sabedra! 

So this is a leftover transmitter stored somewhere else which somehow got turned back on recently, playing the old loop. Returning to central Enid I can again hear it around the intersexion of Maine and Van Buren, but now there is too much skywave. As I go further west, it is lost again. The realtor`s office is about five blox further north on VB, but a previous drive-by there did not find any signal peak. 

So this presents another find-the-transmitter challenge, which needs to be conducted at low noon when there is least skywave QRM. Once I have found it, I will inform Ms Sabedra- and urge her to turn it off. My apologies to DXers everywhere else, but their chances of hearing this more than a mile away are minuscule (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 1690, I have now tracked down the errant talking house in Enid. First I went back to the office of Smith Realty at 528 N Van Buren: http://www.w4uvh.net/SmithRealty.jpg

And made sure the signal was not emanating from the building behind this sign. No, it was DFed to ESE from there. Driving east a few blox, the signal audibly increased on the caradio. Did a loop around the neighborhood, and soon around 1930 UT Nov 30 came to a much stronger signal in the 600 block of West Elm, across from Emerson Middle School. Parked across the street from a likely house, 607, 
http://www.w4uvh.net/Sabedra.jpg 
and on the DX-398 as I walked up the driveway the signal finally started to inboom, lighting up the signal meter. 

Obviously this was it, confirmed by a car in the driveway with the same phone number on the back window as announced on the 1690 loop. Before I could knock on the door, a young lady emerged, having seen me approach, and it was Samantha Sabedra- herself! Since she had stepped into the windchill with bare arms, and I was all bundled up, I kept the conversation brief, but she told me she has about 5 TH transmitters in her house, and was working on this one to redeploy it. 

Was not sure of the frequencies of the others, but they are on the signs to go with them. Too bad; I was going to offer to take 1690 off her hands if she no longer wanted it (tho I am less than impressed with the modulation and frequency stability). She is aware of Greg`s TH units, says he has been pushing other realtors to use them, and there is a third agency here that has some, Exit Homesellers.

Samantha says she has been selling real estate for four years. Her own house is nice but not in an upscale neighborhood; across from a school is undesirable due to noise and congestion, even if you are not a convicted sex offender for life. It`s rather modest, no doubt compared to some of the dwellings she has handled. Unlike Greg, she`s probably too young to have seven children, and thus the urgency to rack up many large commissions. What is a realtor`s typical commission, anyway?

Once I start hearing 1690 with a new loop, or other TH frequencies, I will know where to find her for more info, such as what kind of antennas are in use. A bit later this day, but before skywave QRM, she was just barely audible on the caradio near the intersexion of West OKG and Cleveland, barely one sesquimile away, but penetrating a built-up mostly residential, partially commercial path (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. Despite my visit with Samantha Sabedra Nov 30, informing her I was listening to what had turned out to be a 2-year-old Talking House loop from her about a house no longer on the market, she left the 1690 transmitter running continuously with that from her home, as heard whenever I was near enough thru Dec 7. But on Dec 8 at 2215 UT 1690 was missing, so I started tuning down the band on the caradio, and soon heard her again, this time on 1570. 

But this appears to be a new loop, since she now calls herself Samantha Kennington, dropping the Sabedra. (On her website http://www.samanthakennington.com/default.html 
in listing of herself ``top producer`` and colleagues, she is still hyphenated Sabedra-Kennington.) 

And 1570 is still coming from her residence at 607 W Elm, but the home she is pushing now is a 2BR at 1910 East Ash, more than three miles to the ENE. At local range, there is a lot of hum, which was not affecting the 1690. Her punch line now is ``your new home for the holidays``. 

The next morning, Dec 9, 1570 was not heard on Elm, and when I went by less than a mile from the Ash address, it was not heard either, but I suspect it was on the way to being installed there, which I will have to visit directly. 

1570 was the frequency she was using from 1330 W. Elm in August 2008 when I first heard her. Skywave QRM is quite a bit worse, as when I first heard it this time after 22 UT, numerous real stations were vying for Enid listener, headed by XERF (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTSENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 720, KDWN Las Vegas NV: you may recall that during October I was hearing this almost any morning from 1245 UT, as it was switching to non-direxional 50 kW day pattern one hour earlier than authorized, apparently due to confusion about the difference between PDT and PST. 

In November the legal sunrise time was 1415 UT, so KDWN might have been switching at 1315 instead, but I never could hear it then, nor even at 1415, which was too far past sunrise eastward. Apparently it finally dawned on them, and resumed switching at the correct time as of Nov 1, let alone Nov 7 with the end of PDT. 

I make one more try on Nov 30 at 1415, but still hear nothing but a weak mix of WGN and KSAH. LVNV axual sunrise this date is 1432 UT and will reach its latest in early January at 1452. Meanwhile, legal FCC sunrise for KDWN in December and January is 1445 UT. So possibly by late Dec it will be able to propagate briefly from 1445, but it really needs to resume switching one hour too early at 1345 to reach this far east (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1130, KWKH Shreveport LA, Dec 6 at 1340 UT after country Xmas tune, news headlines from KEEL. ?! 710 being the other 50 kW station there, onetime rivals. Now I see they are co-owned by TOWNSQUARE MEDIA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

** U S A. 1190, Nov 30 at 1421 UT from NW/SE I am hearing siren-like sounds and other electronic music, not your average commercial radio fare, so presume it is KVCU, Boulder CO, the student-operated ``AM Revolution`` at the University of Colorado, which FCC AM Query affirms ``operates as a noncommercial educational station``, with daytime power of 6.8 kW nondirexional. November official FCC sunrise is 1345 UT, and December 1415. 

By 1423 it was overtaken by a station looping N/S with a house-buying ad, 7-digit phone-number so unlikely KFXR from The Metroplex, 1424 Xmas music, maybe KVSV Beloit KS, tho its 2.3 kW lobe goes NW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 1690, Dec 3 at 1408, ``The Talk of Chicago, Voice of the Nation``, WVON ID in passing. N used to stand for something else. And I was thinking that WGN used the Talk of Chicago slogan, but don`t see it on their website now, rather News 720 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 3160+, checking for WPJK SC harmonic before sign-off, Dec 2 at 2200 I can detect a JBA carrier slightly on the hi side compared to whatever is on 1160. But missed monitoring at 2215 whether it cut off around then (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 3160, Dec 3 at 2213 I am monitoring the weak carrier from WPJK, 2 x 1580, with bits of audio, and it cuts off at 2217:08*. In Dec as well as Nov, 2215 UT is the official sunset time; yet to be confirmed is whether they are still signing on circa 1230, instead of legal sunrise 1215 in Dec. But it was still barely audible at 1307 with gospel music, no comparison to BS on 3185 WWRB, not really from South Carolina. In Jan the official times for 1580 in Orangeburg will be 1230-2245 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 

** U S A. 3160, had a chance Dec 6 to reconfirm whether WPJK harmonic is still signing on around 1230 UT in December, tho it could start at 1215 = legal sunrise in Orangeburg SC. Tune-in 1228, the carrier is on. Reception is about as good as it gets, S9+18. This time I am ready to record. Canned somewhat muffled sign-on starts at 1231, and as closely as I can copy it, says:

``This is WPJK. WPJK is now beginning another broadcasting day. WPJK is owned and operated by WPJK, on 1580 kHz with 1000 watts, by authority of the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, DC. WPJK [difficulty] studio, transmitter, [income] located at 175 [Cannon Bridge Road - per NRC AM Log]. I`m W. P. G. Carmody [?], station manager of WPJK. And now we begin another broadcasting day. 

Ladies and gentlemen, it`s time for your Gospel Train conductor, Reverend K. G. Carmody [?], Junior. All abooooard!`` Q toot, a few more words and another Q, then music. Still audible at 1308, having declined to only S9+12.

[Difficulty] and [income] are what the words sound like, but surely really said something else. Can`t find any info about station personnel at FCC or Google, tho there are a number of Carmodys in Orangeburg. If the manager`s name is W. P. J. Karmody, or something similar, that could explain the callsign; but the absentee owner per FCC is still another name off in Augusta GA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. Since I have been awake by 1230 UT, more chances to check out what the 3160, WPJK harmonic from Orangeburg SC is doing. Besides radiating far too much power on 2 x 1580, and not signing on at official sunrise 1215 in December, they don`t always hit the intended 1230 opening either.

Dec 9 at 1230, no signal. Keep monitoring with BFO off-tuned to alert me the instant they turn on the transmitter: *1236:30 carrier, 1237:10 canned sign-on, rather muffled, not as good as last time, quickly into Gospel Train, with one Q-toot; S9+15 with 2-way SSB on the side. 

Also Dec 10 at 1230, no signal. Finally *1239:32 carrier, 1239:55 sign-on, S9+18, best yet and now I make out a few missing words from previous recording:

``This is WPJK. WPJK is now beginning another broadcasting day. WPJK is owned and operated by WPJK, on 1580 kHz with output power of 1,000 watts, by authority of the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, DC. WPJK business office, studio, transmitter, and tower located at 175 Cannon Bridge Road, in Orangeburg. I`m Reverend T. G. Paul McGee [?] station manager at WPJK. And now we begin another broadcasting day.``  

And then he re-introduces himself as host of the Gospel Train show, starting with only one Q-toot again today. I am more sure of his name as above than as previously heard ``Carmody``, but still no Google hits on McGee or Magee in connexion with WPJK. 

Note he does not mention possessing a harmonic filter or suppressor! Here is a clip of the December 10 sign-on, 256 kb:
http://www.w4uvh.net/WPJK.rm
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. 873, fair carrier looping NW/SE, Dec 5 at 1326 UT, but gone at 1328, amid complete MW bandscan on 9 kHz steps, only other TPs being very weak 774 and 747. If not some local artifact, 873 is most likely JOGB NHK-2, Kumamoto, 500 kW, tho there are several other hi-powered Asians: China, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Korea North (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

UNIDENTIFIED. Trans-Pacific MW carrier search not undertaken for a few mornings until Dec 10, 1313-1320 UT with internal antenna, DX-398 on 9-kHz steps, BFO slightly offtuned for easy spotting of carriers: 594, 693, 747 (best), 774, 828, 882, 972, 1044, 1242, 1422, 1566 kHz.

I was also getting unstable signals on 873, 1053 which may have been of local origin; and curiously on 1134 a slightly varying carrier, perhaps two of them making a subaudible het (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###


      

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