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WGN 720 Silent Period-Observations
I had set my alarm for 1:30 AM EST (0630 UTC), but when it rang I shut
it off and made the mistake of laying there! I was listening to WGN on the radio when I went to sleep, and fortunately the test tones that were being transmitted woke me up at 2:50 AM EST (0750 UTC). Things I heard, times in UTC: Prior to 0938 I was hearing a Spanish speaking station. At 0938 I was getting accented English and a time check for 4:38 AM. Then into a reggae version of Simon and Garfunkle's 'Bridge over Troubled Water'. I think this may have been the Jamaican station. At 0947 the beginning of a Salvation Army program in English faded up, not sure who this may have been. At 0958 the Spanish speaking station faded up again and there was a nice echo announcement "Para todo la pais..." and a possible mention of Baranquilla, which would be the Colombian. I think this may have been the dominant Spanish station I had been hearing after WGN cut its carrier. At 1029 WGN turned the transmitter back on, so the fun was over! No definite ID's on any other USA stations. I was hoping for Nevada or possibly Alaska. I was using the R8B and 70' and 200' wires. Steve Holland, MI Drake R7, R8 and R8B http://www.iserv.net/~n8kdv/dxpage.htm |
At 0938 I was getting accented English and a time check for 4:38 AM.
Then into a reggae version of Simon and Garfunkle's 'Bridge over Troubled Water'. I think this may have been the Jamaican station. I heard that too ! Did it sound like this: http://members.aol.com/j999w/DX/720khz_tent_Jamaica.wav (273kb) Listening in AM mode was pretty useless with a spanish station 100hz high. Still need to go over notes and tapes. John WB9UAI Milwaukee |
J999w wrote: At 0938 I was getting accented English and a time check for 4:38 AM. Then into a reggae version of Simon and Garfunkle's 'Bridge over Troubled Water'. I think this may have been the Jamaican station. I heard that too ! Did it sound like this: http://members.aol.com/j999w/DX/720khz_tent_Jamaica.wav (273kb) That was it. Listening in AM mode was pretty useless with a spanish station 100hz high. Still need to go over notes and tapes. John WB9UAI Milwaukee |
J999w wrote: At 0938 I was getting accented English and a time check for 4:38 AM. Then into a reggae version of Simon and Garfunkle's 'Bridge over Troubled Water'. I think this may have been the Jamaican station. I heard that too ! Did it sound like this: http://members.aol.com/j999w/DX/720khz_tent_Jamaica.wav (273kb) Listening in AM mode was pretty useless with a spanish station 100hz high. Still need to go over notes and tapes. John WB9UAI Milwaukee I didn't notice anyone 100 hz high though. Steve Holland, MI Drake R7, R8 and R8B http://www.iserv.net/~n8kdv/dxpage.htm |
I didn't notice anyone 100 hz high though I taped that too. :^] http://members.aol.com/j999w/DX/720khz_het.wav Looking at the spectrograph on CoolEdit, it looks like about 250hz. I'll check it with SR5 later. Quite the pest. jw wb9uai |
J999w wrote: I didn't notice anyone 100 hz high though I taped that too. :^] http://members.aol.com/j999w/DX/720khz_het.wav Looking at the spectrograph on CoolEdit, it looks like about 250hz. I'll check it with SR5 later. Quite the pest. jw wb9uai Interesting. Wonder if it's something local to you, as I observed no hets on the frequency either upper or lower here. Steve Holland, MI Drake R7, R8 and R8B http://www.iserv.net/~n8kdv/dxpage.htm |
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"Nobody You Know" wrote in message Here in Ohio, CHTN from Prince Edward Island was dominant with rock n roll oldies. The Jamaican/Colombian were in and out underneath. Didn't hear the Salvation Army program. There was a low-frequency het, probably some drifty Central/South American (there's a few low-powered Mexicans on 720). All this was awash in a background of line noise and digital hash that seems to plague my neighborhood. But no KDWN. There was no Colombian noted by AM DXers; XEDE in Saltillo, Mexico was the Spanish signal noted mixing with RJR from Jamaica even in the East and much of the Midwest. XEDE is widely heard even with WGN on the air. |
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"Nobody You Know" wrote in message ... wrote: There was no Colombian noted by AM DXers; XEDE in Saltillo, Mexico was the Spanish signal noted mixing with RJR from Jamaica even in the East and much of the Midwest. That's possible. I simply said Colombia because the other poster thought it could be. Whatever it was, I can't claim it as a catch because I never heard an ID. On the other hand, the Jamaican is obvious, and is frequently heard here. At last sunspot minimum, CHTN was as strong as WGN here a few times, heralding a good North Atlantic path for European stations. Are you sure it was XEDE? They only run 250 watts at night (albeit non-directional). On the other hand, there are much stronger stations in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Colombia, and Venezuela, though I don't know their antenna patterns or hours of operation. XEDE increased to 5,000 watts non-DA some time ago; it has been widely identified as the dominant Spanish station on 720 in the WGN silent period, and is heard in places like Dallas, Denver, etc., with WGN on the air. Nicaragua is seldom heard if active; the YSR affiliate is about 5 kw and behind mountains, and seldom heard in the US since the 70's. Colombia and Venezuela were not coming in anywhere per DXers on a reflector that night. Outside of a few Mexicans, there are very, very few directional Latin American stations. |
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XEDE increased to 5,000 watts non-DA some time ago; it has been widely identified as the dominant Spanish station on 720 in the WGN silent period, and is heard in places like Dallas, Denver, etc., with WGN on the air. Nicaragua is seldom heard if active; the YSR affiliate is about 5 kw and behind mountains, and seldom heard in the US since the 70's. Colombia and Venezuela were not coming in anywhere per DXers on a reflector that night. Outside of a few Mexicans, there are very, very few directional Latin American stations. Thank you for the information. I guess I need a more recent WRTH. You seem to know a lot about Central/South American MW stations. Is there a better reference than the WRTH? HOLD THE PHONE ! I believe I heard Nicaragua during the test on 720.1khz. (and the new WRTH is due out any day now I guess). If you search the web for Nicaragua on 720khz, there are a number of loggings in the last 5 - 10 years. Here's my write up on the WGN test that I've sent out on the various reflectors. Comments most certainly welcome (pro and con ! ) ----------------------------------- I'm about 90 miles north of WGN, so they are pretty much impossible to phase or null out, so I was excited about the possibilities to hear something new. I thought conditions were pretty good with 730khz, XEX, Mexico City, running about S9+10db during most of the test. I had S4 line noise on all antennas except my big 55 ft high vertical, so that's what I used with the Icom R71a, recording on cassette. Clips of most of the highlights below can be found at http://members.aol.com/j999w/DX in downloadable Real Audio format. Any help with the unidents would be greatly appreciated since this is probalby my only chance for the next 10 years to get any of these ! No oldies were heard, no Jamaican sounding stations. Highlights: 0836z Unknown Spanish ident during brief carrier drop. Two time pips, "La Una ...." "La noche ... cinco" several mentions of Yucatan. Not sure who that would be. Heavy 100hz heterodyne from who I believe is YNRC Radio Catolica, Nicaragua which has been reported on 720.1khz before. 0910z 100hz het is really loud now, peaking S6. I can hear a woman talking. 0921z Quick "La ...casa" ident. 0937z Man in English with what sounds like "south side ... 4:37 (EST) for the South side". 0950z Religious talk in English. 0955z Quick ident "Radio Oriente', Porlamar" (silent 'r') then into Venezuela national anthem. 1000z Woman in English talking " ... for this holiday season, we have a special gift for you ... free CD ... live performances ... ". I searched the web on this, but found nothing. 1020z mix of two Spanish stations, and some gospel music in short bursts until carrier came back on. Soooooo, I'm logging: 720khz YVQE Radio Oriente', Porlamar, Venezuela 11.30.03 0955z fair to good with quick ident "Radio Oriente', Porlama" then into national anthem. WGN off. NEW ! JW-WI 720.1khz YNRC Radio Catolica, Managua, Nicaragua *TENTATIVE* 11.30.03 0900z poor to fair with strong heterodyne and spanish programming. WGN off. NEW ! JW-WI I had a lot of fun with this test, looking forward to more. 73 and good DX, John Wilke WB9UAI Milwaukee, WI |
"Nobody You Know" wrote in message ... wrote: XEDE increased to 5,000 watts non-DA some time ago; it has been widely identified as the dominant Spanish station on 720 in the WGN silent period, and is heard in places like Dallas, Denver, etc., with WGN on the air. Nicaragua is seldom heard if active; the YSR affiliate is about 5 kw and behind mountains, and seldom heard in the US since the 70's. Colombia and Venezuela were not coming in anywhere per DXers on a reflector that night. Outside of a few Mexicans, there are very, very few directional Latin American stations. Thank you for the information. I guess I need a more recent WRTH. You seem to know a lot about Central/South American MW stations. Is there a better reference than the WRTH? Anything is better than WRTVH. Suggest membership in National Radio Club and buying the IRCA's Mexican list. |
The ID that says "La Una" really says, "La Una... Unica" and Unica is the
name of the Coahuila station in Mexico. "J999w" wrote in message ... XEDE increased to 5,000 watts non-DA some time ago; it has been widely identified as the dominant Spanish station on 720 in the WGN silent period, and is heard in places like Dallas, Denver, etc., with WGN on the air. Nicaragua is seldom heard if active; the YSR affiliate is about 5 kw and behind mountains, and seldom heard in the US since the 70's. Colombia and Venezuela were not coming in anywhere per DXers on a reflector that night. Outside of a few Mexicans, there are very, very few directional Latin American stations. Thank you for the information. I guess I need a more recent WRTH. You seem to know a lot about Central/South American MW stations. Is there a better reference than the WRTH? HOLD THE PHONE ! I believe I heard Nicaragua during the test on 720.1khz. (and the new WRTH is due out any day now I guess). If you search the web for Nicaragua on 720khz, there are a number of loggings in the last 5 - 10 years. Here's my write up on the WGN test that I've sent out on the various reflectors. Comments most certainly welcome (pro and con ! ) ----------------------------------- I'm about 90 miles north of WGN, so they are pretty much impossible to phase or null out, so I was excited about the possibilities to hear something new. I thought conditions were pretty good with 730khz, XEX, Mexico City, running about S9+10db during most of the test. I had S4 line noise on all antennas except my big 55 ft high vertical, so that's what I used with the Icom R71a, recording on cassette. Clips of most of the highlights below can be found at http://members.aol.com/j999w/DX in downloadable Real Audio format. Any help with the unidents would be greatly appreciated since this is probalby my only chance for the next 10 years to get any of these ! No oldies were heard, no Jamaican sounding stations. Highlights: 0836z Unknown Spanish ident during brief carrier drop. Two time pips, "La Una ..." "La noche ... cinco" several mentions of Yucatan. Not sure who that would be. Heavy 100hz heterodyne from who I believe is YNRC Radio Catolica, Nicaragua which has been reported on 720.1khz before. 0910z 100hz het is really loud now, peaking S6. I can hear a woman talking. 0921z Quick "La ...casa" ident. 0937z Man in English with what sounds like "south side ... 4:37 (EST) for the South side". 0950z Religious talk in English. 0955z Quick ident "Radio Oriente', Porlamar" (silent 'r') then into Venezuela national anthem. 1000z Woman in English talking " ... for this holiday season, we have a special gift for you ... free CD ... live performances ... ". I searched the web on this, but found nothing. 1020z mix of two Spanish stations, and some gospel music in short bursts until carrier came back on. Soooooo, I'm logging: 720khz YVQE Radio Oriente', Porlamar, Venezuela 11.30.03 0955z fair to good with quick ident "Radio Oriente', Porlama" then into national anthem. WGN off. NEW ! JW-WI 720.1khz YNRC Radio Catolica, Managua, Nicaragua *TENTATIVE* 11.30.03 0900z poor to fair with strong heterodyne and spanish programming. WGN off. NEW ! JW-WI I had a lot of fun with this test, looking forward to more. 73 and good DX, John Wilke WB9UAI Milwaukee, WI |
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