** BANGLADESH. 15505, March 4 at 1401, 1414, no sign of BB today which was audible yesterday. Still wildly varying conditions, or transmissions? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CLIPPERTON ISLAND [and non]. Looking for some more of the TX5K DX-pedition which will last a few more days: 14195, March 4 at 1404, here`s a pileup so I bet TX5K is just below it: yes, on 14190-USB rather than publicized 14185. With hoards trying to make a 5-second contact, there are bound to be a few who don`t know that DX-peditions operate duplex, i.e. listening and transmitting on different nearby frequencies, to keep their own clear of QRM: so at 1406, W8CZN is calling several times on 14190; 1407 an AM carrier is atop the very poor signal of TX5K for a while, spoiler? At 1409 I do make out his ID, ``Tango X-Ray Five Kilo``. Try to explain that to a non-ham like my late aunt: visualize a dance floor, an x-ray machine, and 5 kilos of --- something? Another US ham invades 14190 at 1415, K1JKS, so someone else cuts in, ``he`s listening up-5``. This early, 40 meters might be working better, but couldn`t find a TX5K circa 7185 listed, which itself wouldn`t do as there`s a ragchew net on 7184-LSB from circa Colorado, including W0KJB Pueblo. Just where is Clipperton? Believe it or not, missing from the extensive index of the Reader`s Digest Great World Atlas. But it does figure in the seemingly smaller RD Bartholomew: it`s definitely tropical at 10 north/109 west, which means same latitude as northern Costa Rica, same longitude as the NM/AZ border, due south of that (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 11860, March 4 at 1357 tune-in, RHC is missing, then cuts on carrier at 1357:20, modulation on and off for a while as carrier remains (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 6360, March 4 at 1240, noise jammer with same sound as 6348, presumably against MND Radio, last known to be on 6360 during this hour; definitely on 5150, poor with no jamming, assertive YL Korean talk (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 3185, March 4 at 1232 open carrier with hum from WWRB, no Brother Scare. Next check at 1251, day frequency 9370 is now on with modulation, also on 9980 WWCR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. 13670, March 4 at 2129, VOA concluding ``Yankee Doodle Dandy`` sign-on, mis-cue to a few notes of other music, then introducing in English its brand-new language, ``Bambara``. Super-signal off the back from Greenville, like all their 94-degree African beams also putting huge signal into backward deep North America at the first hop almost 2 megameters away. I listen for a while to familiarize myself with it, apparently the #2 language in Mali, per WRTH header, second to French (which is official, with Arabic nowhere on its list). And the French influence is clear with some words I recognize: The ID itself is close (no idea how they really spell it), ``La Voix de l`America``; also, ``administration``, ``gouvernement``, ``kilowatts``, ``Bamako``, and also their FM frequency pronounced in French, ``cent deux point cinq`` (102.5). Did not hear any SW frequencies mentioned, which would presumably be pronounced in French numbers too, as VOA tries to keep these secret, also deleting them from the PR which just came out to accompany the début: http://www.insidevoa.com/content/voa-debuts-bambara-in-mali/1615088.html Two other frequencies we fortunately already knew about thanks to Ivo Ivanov, are also audible: 9620 SÃO TOMÉ is fair & clear, 12025 BOTSWANA is very poor. And I forgot to check the other ST, 7325, but we hardly need any of those when we have Greenville. I can`t remember when VOA last added, rather than deleted a language, but Mali has got what it takes: serious conflict! Will VOA drop it if and when things settle down? Bambara is too insignificant to include in the ADDX roster of languages in IBC, http://www.addx.de/Hfpdat/plaene.php but I recall there are at least a few, so a quick check of likelies in the WRTH 2013 finds: Not from China Radio International! Not from V. of Russia (seems like it was in R. Moscow`s heyday) Not from Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, South Africa Not even from gospel huxters targeting Africa such as AWR, IBRA It was not even on Family Radio in its heyday as in WRTH 2011 All I can find currently in WRTH, searching with fingers and eyes, is: 15 minutes a week on TWR Africa via Benin MW 1566 http://www.eibispace.de/dx/README.TXT lists Bambara as BM, and says there are 2.7 megaspeakers of it in Mali. So where does BM appear in the full EiBi schedules? On Mali itself 5995 & 9635, of course, much of the time, but also: 1600 1800 ARS BSKSA Riad BM WAf 17650 2215 2245 Mo-Fr SWZ Trans World Radio BM WAf 1566/BEN Both of which contradict WRTH 2013, which as I said, under SOUTH AFRICA, shows TWR Bambara only at 2025-2045 Fridays on 1566, and no Bambara from BSKSA, so does that exist or not? Nothing about Bambara, Saudi or South Africa in the January WRTH update either. Wikipedia says Mali is 90% Moslem, 5% Christian, but such steep odds don`t keep the missionaries from trying to pry some converts away in many other countries. Current B-12 HFCC does show it from Saudi Arabia, but well-known for wooden info: ``17650 1600 1800 46-48 RIY 500 250 0 216 1234567 281012 310313 D BAMBARA ARS ARS ARS 2067`` Aoki March 4 is on the ball with the new M-F 2130-2200 VOA Bambaras on 7325 and 9620, but erroneously shows 12025 and 13670 in French; and no 17650 for BSKSA. So does the Saudi Bambara broadcast exist, or not??? If not, VOA has the SW audience in Bambara all to itself. Is there a website to go with it? Can`t find any starting at http://www.voanews.com which seems to be English-only, and internal searches don`t find it either. But knowing the VOA, could still be buried somewhere in there, inaccessible. Kim Elliott has missed this momentous development too; searching http://www.kimandrewelliott.com which hasn`t been updated since Feb 28 finds only one hit on the word Bambara: ``Saudi radio ends Turkish-language broadcast. Posted: 25 Jan 2007 --- Turkish broadcasts by "Jeddah radio," two hours per day, were transmitted for the past 35 years. Anatolia, 24 January 2007. The pan-Islamic nature of Saudi external radio is reflected in its languages: Arabic, Bambara, French, Indonesian, Pashto, Persian, Somali, Swahili, Turkish, Urdu, and Uzbek.`` Ivo also warned us that VOA has registered two days of special Swahili broadcasts during the previous half hour, March 4 & 5 only, 2100-2130; but we have no idea why. Checked these at 2127: fair on 13740 Botswana, poor with flutter on 15265 São Tomé; JBA so maybe that`s it on 11875 Sri Lanka, next to Cuba. 2129 into drumming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9930, March 4 at 2126, new frequency for WTWW-2, instead of 9895 as I was previously notified to be the ex-9905 spot. It`s country gospel music with excessive modulation, no doubt a Ted Randall show, and not // 9479 or 12105 which are also on. 2128 Ted speaks, at Opryland with the WSM chief engineer; 2132 back to a C&W hymn, as I also note the carrier is wobbling slightly. If 9930 were closer to the 9479 transmitter next to it, might interact with leapfrog mixing products on 9028 and/or 10381, where I hear nothing, so that`s good. Maybe didn`t go to 9895 after all due to the ute blob I was hearing around 9898; however, 9930 is registered for KHBN most of the day, and WYFR at night when WTWW would not want it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 2000.0-USB kHz, March 4 at 0501, ``New York Radio`` VOLMET is strangely here clearly // stronger 3485 & 6604, JBA 10051 at this hour; again at 0603 UT check. Do they ever announce listed calls WSY70? Tnx to Bill Mead, Harrisburg, PA of the dxld yg who first reported it on 2000, March 3 at 1940 UT, and then at 2003 also by Leonard J. Rooney, Delaware County, Springfield PA; at 2015 by Anne Fanelli in in-like-a-lion Elma NY; at 0403 and 0430+ March 4 by Paul S. in CT. Bill Mead said: ``I'm not sure what the story is on this but there are no other volmets anywhere near this end of the band. According to dxinfocentre.com the lowest volmet frequency is 2860 kHz. This 2 MHz transmission spills a bit into the 160m band, although NY Volmet is using USB and the hams are in LSB in that area so they might not notice were they to go up that high.`` Tom Rösner, DL8AAM, said ``Weak copy in Germany too at 0545 UT (s/off at 0550z). So it seems they do more power a candle as I have no good antenna for these lower low-band.`` I commented: ``Surely this is a mistake in transmission, maybe a default mispunch?`` So is anyone hearing 2000 kHz again today? The normal share with Gander on 3485/6604/10051/13270 is: Minutes past the hours: 00-20 & 30-50 NY, 20-30 & 50-60 Gander Yes: Leonard Rooney hears 2000 kHz again at 2330 March 4, but Philip Hiscock in Newfoundland does not. No one has heard Gander on 2000 (Glenn Hauser, March 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 2660, March 4 at 1225 UT, JBA with USG PSA, 1227 gospel music, no doubt still 2 x 1330, KGLD Tyler TX (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9250-9275, March 4 at 1253, weak CODAR I had not noticed in this range before; from overseas? Of course; I mean surrounding some other continent? Seems CODAR has it in for WINB frequencies, but 9265 is on air this early Sundays only, while 13570 combats CODAR most of the time. Or rather, WINB doesn`t realize it should avoid CODAR bands (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9510-9511, March 4 at 1326, distorted FMy spurblob, mostly talk and could be Chinese, not // CNR1 e.g. on 9845. Suspect this is V. of Tibet, ex-7413-7414 which has been missing for more than a week; sounds quite like it, extremely fouled up transmitter. Can`t pin to a specific carrier frequency in the mess. That would go off at 1330, but this one keeps right on, at 1353, 1400, 1415, but not at 1435 check, or has it faded? TAJIKISTAN site was suspected whence a lot of VOT transmissions emanate, but without any such problems (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) _ Hard-Core-DX mailing list Hard-Core-DX@hard-core-dx.com 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
