Monday, May 11, 2009

Glenn Hauser logs May 3-4-6, 2009

** CYPRUS. CyBC, 9760, surely the source of unannounced Greek folk music, Sunday May 3 from 2240 to abrupt cutoff without a word of goodbye at 2244:30. How rude! Reception was good. This is the Fri-Sat-Sun-only 2215-2244:30 transmission via BBC relay station; per EiBi, // are 7210 and 5930, not checked, but surely best here on 9760 anyway. If there were any announcements, they would be in Greek, as non-Turkish Cyprus misses a golden opportunity for outreach to the English-speaking world and its potential tourists (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** INDONESIA [and non]. As feared the day before, VOI has made another abrupt frequency change back to 11785, after many months on 9525 during the 1300 English hour. At least it`s close to 11785 rather than 11786v, but they have shot themselves in the foot since there is heavy QRM on 11785 during this hour, while 9525 was and is clear.

May 4 at 1302 I confirmed that 9525 was empty, so tuned to 11785 at 1309 and there it was, VOI detectable in English, ID at 1316 along with ``sound of dignity`` slogan. Heavy collision with at least two other stations, in Chinese, i.e. VOA via Thailand at 30 degrees also toward us, and heavy CNR-1 ChiCom jamming.

They must be totally out of touch in Jakarta about what is really happening on the available VOI channels, and this tends to confirm my assumption that the previous usage of 9525 when it was clear during the 1300 English hour, was nothing but pure luck; and of course it collided with CRI in Russian after 1400 in Malay.

Now the situation is reversed, as VOA and the ChiCom jamming quit at 1400, leaving VOI more or less clear on 11785 but there is still a weaker co-channel audible at 1422 check. Per Aoki this has to be BBCWS in Hindi at 14-15. The very strange thing about it is that on Sunday the site is Chita at 230 degrees, while the other six days of the week it`s Singapore at 315 degrees; why?

Of course Hmong Lao Radio via WHRI totally blox everything here on 11785 at 13-14 Saturdays and Sundays. Anyhow, goodbye to good reception in North America of VOI English, unless they wake up and go back to 9525. It is inconceivable that they would move to any other frequency on either band (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 9541.5, BBCWS mid-news ID without even straining to make it out, 1304 May 4, the best SIBC heard yet, but would prefer to hear something local from SI as there are a few other ways to hear BBC. If nothing else, they should play back some of their earlier local programming overnight (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. VOA Greenville already on with open carriers at 2250 tune-in May 3 on 6110 and 9825, prior to Spanish at 2300. I was checking these in follow-up to previous reports on nonsensical DentroCuban jamming in the middle of the night on 6110, and on a possible frequency change for Turkey at 2200 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [non]. 17880 at 0559 May 4 in Chinese with that ``diamond`` commercial theme music, which became a pop hit several months ago. Same music heard previously at exactly same time on same frequency. I think it`s R. Free Asia via NMI rather than ChiCom CNR1 jamming. Does anyone recognize which station uses that music? And how does the RFA Mandarin ID go? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WWRB spurs on 9317 and // 9453 resumed, May 3 at 2250 check with Brother Scare originating from 9385 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. WEWN, 11530 in English is the transmitter putting out plus/minus 10 kHz dirty spurs, as noted May 4 at 1420. Unless more than one of them does that. Luckily, no broadcasters audible on 11520 or 11540 at the moment, so not too obvious until BFO onturned.

Meanwhile, WEWN, 11550 in Spanish had a lo het and music mix underneath, probably RTI Taiwan in Vietnamese as in Aoki, altho at 1330-1430 R. Azadi in Dari via Kuwait is also scheduled. Serves them right for the unnecessary QRM WEWN causes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###



** INDONESIA. Looking for VOI on reactivated 11785, May 6 at 1300 in English, but could not unearth it below the barrage of at least two ChiCom echoing jammers starting with a 5+1 timesignal, and VOA Chinese. Tried for a few more minutes and again later in the hour but no trace of VOI, so either totally buried, not propagating or off the air today.

Meanwhile 9525 remained empty as VOI foolishly abandoned what had been a good clear frequency for them during the 1300 hour only. Tried 11785 again at 1400 when the radio war stopped, but now could hear nothing but weak Hindi from BBC Singapore, which is no doubt a big obstacle for Indonesia`s 1400 Malay broadcast when it is on 11785 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA. VOA and NHKWNRJ aren`t the only SW stations with regular jazz shows: Wednesday May 6 at 1356 was hearing jazz drumming on fluttery 12065, which must be VOR as scheduled via Chita. Indeed their grid at http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&w=225&p=
confirms the Jazz Show is on at 1330 Wednesdays. Other times are: Wed 1930, 2230; Thu 0630, 1130; Fri 0230, 0830, 2030, 2230; Sun 1630; Mon 1030, 1630; Wed 0630. Has home-grown jazz improved since the Soviet era? Has anyone figured out a pattern to VOR program repeat times, or is it just random? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A [and non]. The DentroCuban Jamming Command continues to interfere with WRMI 9955 even when it is in English and even when it is broadcasting a new WORLD OF RADIO for the first time, Wednesday May 6 at 0500 as I checked the last couple minutes at 0526. WRMI is often inaudible in the nightmiddle, but this time it had a fair signal plus jamming pulses rather than noisewall. WYFR 9680 and 9715 were meanwhile extremely strong. Yet DXers Unlimited doesn`t get jammed; Arnie obviously has no sense of fair play. BTW, if you listen to him in Spanish, he sounds a lot less ``friendly`` than he does in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WEWN`s dirty transmitters only 20 kHz apart, 11530 in English and 11550 in Spanish, May 6 at 1403 effectively block anything else from 11510 to 11570, as they produce mixing products on those two frequencies, and 11530 also has the spurs around 11520 and 11540 previously reported. The squealing sound could also be heard on 11510. Add to that the general receiver overload and desensitization. There are a number of IBB broadcasts in this range (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** VATICAN. 15235 in Vietnamese, May 6 at 1351. What does PWBR `2009` say? Vatican Radio in unknown language to SE Asia, but in Winter season only --- here it is Summer. HFCC confirms it is in fact SMG beamed eastward in Vietnamese at 1315-1400. VR`s Vietnamese services reach us well in NAm, making us wonder just how direxional their antennas really are (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###

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