[portions of the CFRX report have already been posted on some lists] ** CANADA. Heard an unfamiliar het as I tuned across 49m, Sept 4 at 2315, on 6070. Something in English, yes IDing in passing as Newstalk 10-10, CFRB, so the long-delayed revival of CFRX has finally happened! But it`s off-frequency, about 6069.8. This could be a devious way of encouraging the competition, such as CVC, to evacuate, as a het from this low-power station is more annoying than being on exactly the correct frequency. CVC from Chile is currently scheduled 23-13 UT, which covers almost all the darkness hours in North America. And then there`s ELWA Liberia until 2300 or so. On second thought, that`s unlikely; but CFRX previously was not off-frequency like this.
CFRX is also shooting itself in the foot, since the het it causes also makes it very unpleasant for its own would-be listeners in North America, where 100 kW from Chile easily trumps or at least matches 1 kW from Toronto, all-night. A little help: CVC in B-season shrinx to 00-12 UT. At least CFRX should be OK in daytime for areas close enough to overcome absorption. Adjacently: Not much in Western Hemisphere on 6065, with WYFR no longer using it; DW is 24 hours via several rotating sites around Europe on 6075, and then there`s RCI with a big 250 kW on 6075 at 0205-0305 in Spanish, 268 degrees, but that`s for A-season only. Further chex of the reactivated CFRX 6069.8: By Sept 5 at 0302 it was just a het against CVC, and with expected splash from RCI 6075. At 0620 recheck, could only hear CVC and no het, so not sure if CFRX was still on; however at this hour propagation from the east was very poor, with Sackville quite weak on 6045 in Korea relay. WWCR also weak on 5070. Even Greenville 6180 was weak, while Habana 6140 was still very strong, as well as XEPPM: see MEXICO. Checking CFRX again at 1248, it was poor with het still audible, presumably the remnants of CVC which was about to sign off, anyway. And after 1300 the het gone and CFRX actually improved a bit by 1310 when resuming talk show after news and weather. Now the obstacle is local line noise level. Still audible but not listenable at 1355 when I turned on the computer and TV set. At 1735 recheck, could not even get a carrier on the portable in the yard, but with local noise sources turned off might be able to hear it on the big rig and antenna at midday, to be determined. But could not really get into it back at 1310, because of interruptions every few minutes for more weather, traffic reports, commercials, promos, phone-in numbers, all with phony enthusiasm. But that`s commercial radio for you in North America. I still welcome the revival of this relic, as there is no other Canadian or US SW station with such a format. O sure, there are talk shows on several US stations, but they all have a religious or fringe political agenda. Does CFRB have any shows on particular topics worth outseeking? See http://www.cfrb.com/shows where there are lots of different show titles, personality-driven, so if you don`t know the hosts, the names are meaningless. There are quite a few specialty shows on weekends, tho, which is SOP for talk format stations, for example, converted to UT: Sat 12-13 home improvement Sat 16-17 movies Sat 19-20 cars Sat 22-2230 movies Sun 14-15 trivia Sun 18-1830 CFRB Presents documentaries by college students Mon 02-03 comedy The need I advocated to change frequency and/or increase power with the comeback was pooh-poohed by CFRX`s QSL manager. BTW, altho I did not see his report until later, Steve Lare in MI was first to report CFRX back, earlier Sept 4 at 2050. Just how long had CFRX been off? Altho it had been intermittent for a while before then, about two years, per this item from September, 2006 in DXLD 6-144: ``CANADA. Not certain if anyone else has mentioned this or not but yesterday I had checked 6070 for CFRX and they were not there. Checked today as well and not there again. Normally they are S9+ here through the day (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, Sept 24, 2006, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CFRB/CFRX QSL signer Steve Canney told me on September 20th that CFRX was off the air then. The chief engineer was looking for the problem, but hadn`t found it. So it appears that the repairs were either too extensive or he ran out of time and it must wait for another visit to the transmitter site. BTW, new QSL card has just been printed and is now in use for CFRX and CFRB reception reports (Harold Sellers, Ont., Sept 24, 2006, ODXA via DXLD)`` QSL unneeded as I have one showing the Toronto skyline from Nov 7, 1957, or rather ``Toronto`s downtown and harbour as seen from the bay``, just added to my gallery at http://www.worldofradio.com/QSL.html Hey, where`s the CN tower?? Not constructed until l973-1976, says Wikipedia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 4845 inaudible at 0310 check Sept 5, so apparently not running all-night for Ramadan; usual ute noises were there. At 0627, ORTM was poorly audible with ute (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Trying to figure out the true schedule of XEPPM, R. Educación, 6185: Recently had been inaudible after 0600 and presumed off, but Sept 5 at 0625 VG signal with contemporary classical music, and remarkably, hardly any signal from VOA Greenville 6180 to bother it. No sign of Brasil on 6180 or 6185 or 6188 either, but when on, that could be a problem. 0628 gave Spanish timecheck more than a minute fast, ID for MW 1060, and into discussion of jazz. The SW program schedule as of June/08 is at http://www.radioeducacion.edu.mx/ONDA.pdf as mentioned by Harry Helms, and covers only 18-24 local time = 23-05 UT. But this does not necessarily mean 6185 is only on the air during those hours; those could be only when SW programming is separate from MW. BTW, it includes ``Sintonía Libre``, which I think is some sort of DX program, UT Wed/Fri/Sun 0200-0230, repeated Mon 0415-0445 [something to listen to now that WOR is gone from that hour on WBCQ]. Also a show title in English! On the Road, Tue/Thu/Sat 0015-0045. The discussion I heard at 0630 UT Friday must have been ``Datos Para Una Historia``, a repeat scheduled on MW, UT Fridays only 0630-0700, the rest of the block 0503-0957 daily, bookended by himnos nacionales, being unspecified music. Such a pity they did away with detailed minute-by-minute advance playlists. And I think I have the answer to Harry`s unID on 6185 in DXLD 8-094, something ending in -dad, which he heard Thursday August 21 at 1002: shown on the XEEP MW schedule for Wed & Thu at 10-12 UT is ``Del Campo y de la Ciudad``, all other days being unspecified music during this block, except Mondays 1100-1115, Voces de Antiguas Raíces. However if the original SW schedule is in effect, that goes off at 1100. And the evening MW schedule is certainly different from the SW one. We still suspect the SW transmission is somewhat irregular, especially after 0500. As for other Mexican SW. During these unusual conditions Sept 5, with signals from the east so attenuated, RCI relay of KBSWR in Spanish on 6045 was weak enough to uncover a fast SAH at 0620, which I suspect came from XEXQ running all night as I have heard it on occasion, perpetually slightly off frequency. 6010 XEOI was also coming in well as usual, but strength no comparison to 6185 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WBOH still has a bit of Russian, as I ran across it again Sept 5 at 0635 on 5920, very poor signal along with Greenville 6180 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ### ---[Start Commercial]--------------------- Order your WRTH 2008: http://www.hard-core-dx.com/redirect2.php?id=wrth2008 ---[End Commercial]----------------------- ________________________________________ Hard-Core-DX mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ _______________________________________________ THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License published by Michael Stutz at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/dsl.html
