[HCDX] Glenn Hauser logs December 9-10, 2013

[Glenn Hauser <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx>]

** CHINA. 11775, Dec 10 at 1503, Firedrake in the clear as ANGUILLA is missing. Strangely, Aoki does not show any jamming or target of jamming at this hour; something new moved in? Only radio-war hours listed on 11775, also in EiBi, are 1215-1330 AIR Tibetan, and 2300-2400 RFA Chinese.

6145, Dec 10 at 1504, usual Firedrake here is still JBA this late (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CUBA. 5025, Dec 10 at 0626, R. Rebelde is still off the air. But it is on with VG signal in Spanish at 1157, no longer on 5050 which is looking more and more like a one-time mistake. However, as Wolfgang Buschel has also noted, Karel Honzik in Czechia replies to a previous report of mine on HCDX at a time when my eyes & ears are usually shut:

``Hi, it seems that Cuba has only one transmitter [and/or antenna] available for 5025 + 5040 kHz at the moment. On Dec 9 there was RHC in English on 5040 until 0700 (UT), then retuned to 5025 and continued with Radio Rebelde. Today Dec 10 the same schedule: RHC in English on 5040 until 0705, then retuned to 5025, the English modulation remains until 0707, then the modulation changes seamlessly into Rebelde`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** EQUATORIAL GUINEA [non]. See USA: WRMI

** FRANCE. 15395, Dec 10 at 1429, surprised to hear good signal in  French, promo for later RFI program and ID, but 1430 into Farsi or Dari, opening with ``injo``. This is listed in HFCC for one hour later, in Pst = Pashto?? at 1530-1630, 500 kW, 85 degrees from Issoudun to CIRAF 40, and has not been corrected there; it`s one of the transmissions shifted one UT hour earlier than registered, due to some confusion about local timezone changes. Aoki correctly has it at 1430-1530, and in Persian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** OKLAHOMA. 89.5-FM, Dec 10 at 0210 UT, visited the ``singing Xmas trees` oil-well lot after dark, NE corner of West Oak and North Oakwood in Enid, and the light-and-sound show is underway again. Seems less extensive than last year, and with some different music, including Mel Blanc`s multi-voice Xmas, such as Sylvester The Cat. Part 15 transmitter unfortunately has some distortion on it even when parked at full-quieting limited range, so with glittering snow on the ground at 16 degrees F, did not hang around for the whole thing (and down to 5 degrees here the next morning). Now to seek out the private residence with its own FM and light show further west (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** RUSSIA [non]. 9395, Dec 9 at 2257, very poor signal from the closest thing to a N American service left from VOR, in English, difficult copy but something about the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony which just took place yesterday (but TV broadcast will be delayed until monthend). 2300 ID explicitly as ``Voice of Russia``, not VR or RUVR! And more news. Too poor to keep struggling to understand it. 

This is 500 kW, 305 degrees via ARMENIA at 22-24 UT to CIRAF 10-12 = south of the USA, followed by Spanish for another few hours. I am checking this because news just broke today of Putin decreeing a total reorganization of Russian news media, and it`s unclear what will become of VOR. From a RIA Novosti report Dec 9 via Derek Lynch:

``News agency RIA Novosti and the state-owned Voice of Russia radio will be scrapped and absorbed into a new media conglomerate called Rossiya Sevodnya, according to a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin. The move is the latest in a series of shifts in Russia's news landscape, which appear to point toward a tightening of state control in the already heavily regulated media sector.``

VOR was already expected to cease SW broadcasting before the end of the year, and this may speed up the process, but still on the air for the time being. Frankly, since VOR already abandoned its North American SW audience, we really don`t care, beyond general sadness at the continuing demise of ISWBC.

6115, Dec 10 at 1158, I run across another VOR transmission with ``Great Gate of Kiev`` IS, 1200 ``Chariots of Fire`` theme and (re)opening in Chinese, which in HFCC is 11-14, 250 kW, 152 degrees from Irkutsk (and followed by an hour in English from Vladivostok). Something strange: this Chinese has an echo at 1203, like ChiCom echo jamming, but not the same audio as on 6125, 6180, which is really CNR1 non-jamming, and jamming, respectively. This echo is too delayed to be long/short path; maybe double audio from one transmitter? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SPAIN [and non]. 21540, Dec 10 at 1500, REE is still on here in Castilian, colliding with KUWAIT in Arabic, and now about equal levels producing a heavy SAH (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 7588.5-USB, Tue Dec 10 at 1508-1518+, MARS net discussing methods for scanning documents, with abbr`d callsigns 6VF, 6IS, 6TV and 6GE, who seems to be in charge. Per my previous log Nov 5 at 1353 on 5202-USB, when I also heard 6TV, these are Texas US Army MARS with calls really starting AAR6- (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 3185, Dec 10 at 1155, the BS transmitter of WWRB is missing, and also missing from day frequency 9370, Dec 10 at 1402 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. This time instead of filing them separately under EQUATORIAL GUINEA [non], KOREA SOUTH [non], SLOVAKIA [non], SOUTH CAROLINA [non], and USA, here are all the WRMI items together:

9955, Dec 10 at 1152, R. Eslovaquia Internacional is still on here in Spanish, over pulse jamming. After 1200, the first and probably only airing of last week`s WORLD OF RADIO 1698, and the jamming has increased with two-tone pulsing. It`s still completely readable unlike it had been from Hialeah, if you want to put up with the noise. Now that I`ve confirmed that, back to sleep for a sesquihour plus. 

At 1352, now there is no jamming on 9955 and it`s still KBS World Radio instead of Slovakia, in English, starting the second week of this error, something about test readings of plays. I hope it lasts at least another day so I can hear `Sounds of Korea` traditional music Wednesday after 1335. Today it`s overridden for less than a minute at 1352 by a stronger carrier, which must have been WRMI-11 tuning up to take over from WRMI-3 along with the beam switch at 1400 from 160 to 315 degrees. KBS is cut off before 1359 for `Scoreboard`, amid which the transmitter/antenna swap occurs and signal strength increases altho it was already sufficient before. Just before 1400, combo Spanish/English ID (whose voice, before Jeff?), and into English preacher.

17790, Dec 10 at 1420, instead of preaching, Radio Africa Network via WRMI is playing music, ``Games People Play`` at the moment, original version, by Joe South, written as a criticism of religionists!

``People walking up to you
Singing glory hallelulia [sic]
And they're tryin to sock it to you
In the name of the Lord``

>From the complete lyrix at http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/joe_south/games_people_play.html

1423 segué to a soul song, 1426 segué to a cowboy hymn with fiddle, banjo, guitar, something about Moses and the Red Sea; 1434 recheck finally a screaming gospel huxter but modulation suppressed with hum, probably that way on the original recording, but for RAN it`s still of broadcast quality (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. 770, Dec 10 at 1404 UT, KKOB Albuquerque, good steady signal with local news; 1414 plugging Rush later and Huckabee at 7:30, reminding us of the station`s anti-American agenda under the guise of news-talk. If it weren`t for that, I would be pleased to hear the #1 station in my ex-city. 

BTW, Huckabee`s 3-hour show opposite Rush is about to end as of Dec 12: 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/27/mike-huckabee-radio-show-over_n_4350962.html
But he will continue his brief extreme-right commentaries in the mornings (really three times daily), which are a lot easier for 500 stations to accommodate than the long show on 200:
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/mike-huckabee-radio-show-ends-100437.html

At 1418, KKOB is starting to fade. Official sunrise in Dec & Feb is 1400 so that`s when it should cut on to the east; January, 1415 UT. BTW2, I often hear a weak signal from KKOB at various nighttime hours, and can never be sure whether it`s the ND 230-watt Santa Fe fill-in relay, or bleed around the null toward New York of the main North Valley, ABQ, 50 kW transmitter.

Thought I might get KTNN 660 too, another 50 kW NM/AZ station protecting New York, but all I am hearing is KSKY The Metroplex. Need to check after 1415, its December sunrise (Jan 1430, Feb 1400). In null of 880 KRVN, Nebraska to the north, I am not hearing its Navajo neighbor KHAC either (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

This report dispatched at 1801 UT December 10

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