Glenn Hauser, P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702  wghauser@yahoo.com

Rather than racking up totals ASAP, I enjoy DXing which leads to
mysteries and eventually solving them by research and/or help of
others, mostly as discussed in the World of Radio iogroup. Take
note of quotation marx. By frequency over the last few weeks, all
dates and times UT!:

730: UNIDENTIFIED. Dec 23 at 0750, classical music,
a surprise as no stations are overtly so formatted; pause and more as
if album cuts. Not recognizable as ``holiday`` or ``religious`` but
maybe, and/or anomaly for The Season. Would KKDA Korean TX or XEX
Deportes CDMX do this? On 730, no CBC/SRC nor any US public radio
stations.

``Glenn, The station on 730 kHz remains UNIDENTIFIED and continues to
play two Classical guitar music selections as performed by John De'Bey
- "Gavottes" from Suite No. 6 by Johann Sebastian Bach and "Largo"
from Concerto 93 by Antonio Vivaldi. This is playing on a loop
continuously with no station ID or call letters.

At my receiving location in the northern part of the state of Georgia,
the station on 730 kHz fades in and out during the evening hours.
Using a Tescun AN-200 antenna loop coupled with a Radiowow R-108
receiver, the best receiving direction seems to be a line directly
East-West. The station on 730 kHz is not WUMP in Huntsville, AL nor
WLTQ in Charleston, SC or WZGV in Charlotte, NC. Checking the KiwiSDRs
in Alabama, the station is strongest on the Birmingham, AL SDR so that
may be a candidate for the area this station is transmitting.

It is quite odd that absolutely no call letters or station ID has been
given as normally done and required by the FCC, even during testing
periods, if the station on 730 kHz is in the United States. Bermuda
could have been a very remote possibility, but there are no MW
stations remaining there and the station would have shown up on
KiwiSDRs in North Carolina if that were the case. Central Alabama
(Birmingham area perhaps?) seems a prime candidate for its location so
far. --Evan Bexley - Buford, Georgia, USA``

Posted to the WOR iog at 0631 Jan 16. I reply at 0708. ``Evan, VERY
interesting. Tnx for following up on this, and can anyone else? I have
not noticed it again.`` So this goes on all the time, not just
overnight. This led me to check again, Jan 16 at 0743 -- and there it
is again on 730, classical guitar music. I had not listened long
enough to realize it`s a two-piece loop. On the DX-398 I try to DF it,
roughly E/W, maybe slightly clockwise, but too much at right angle,
XEX, country? To get a tight null on the unID. Of course, the only AL
station on 730 is Huntsville, nothing legal circa Birmingham. The
*only* otherone along this line is KQPN West Memphis AR, U4 1000/1000,
24h talk format, ``OvC`` per NRC AM Log -- yes, that means Overcomer
Ministry = Brother Hystairical! in which case it should be shown as
REL. But no TOMBS heard now.

[``The AM Radio Log doesn’t list a religious format unless a station has
more than one program or a substantial amount of a given format during
their broadcast day. A good example in KXEL-1540 which also carries
the Overcomer Ministry but it`s a paid segment overnight. Many
stations shown with OvC and quite a few with FoF = Focus on the Family
have a different primary format. 73 Wayne Heinen N0POH, Editor, NRC AM
Radio Log, Aurora, CO``]

Yet KQPN on radio-locator is Yahoo! Sports Radio -
https://www.730sports.com/ homepage has a listen link:
https://tunein.com/radio/KQPN-730-s35522/
which runs a commercial for ``WGU``, whatever that be, then nothing;
or ``The Sports Giant of the mid-South`` fails:
gemini.tunein.com/embed/player/s35522?partnerId=RadioTime

There happens to be a KiWiSDR in Tipton County TN which ought to be in
the daytime coverage area of KQPN:
http://km4rt.ddns.net:8073/
Tuning that in at 1947 Jan 16 -- there it is! Our great classical
guitar music. Past 2000, pauses between repeats but no ID or any
announcement. Mystery solved - except why in the world KQPN would do
this. Perhaps a sale/format change pending?

Evidently Evan had not seen the above? when he posted this 55 minutes
later: ``Glenn, The station on 730 kHz is most likely KQPN West Memphis,
Arkansas based upon tuning in on the KiwiSDR located in Tipton County
just north of Memphis, Tennessee during the local daylight hours. The
station as monitored via this SDR is playing the same classical guitar
songs as mentioned maybe with one or more mixed in but in a constant
loop. Aside from the locally generated RFI at the SDR, the 730 kHz
signal at this SDR is at a steady level indicating a pure ground wave
mode propagation mode to this SDR during local daylight hours (for
instance at 2000).

Based upon outdated listings on Wikipedia and Radio-Locator.com, the
KQPN station no longer carries the Sport Radio format. In looking up
the FCC database, KQPN station changed owners as of September 28,
2023.
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-397387A1.pdf

No indication when this classical guitar music loop test period
started. However, it continues today with no station ID during the
hour monitored 19:45 to 20:45C on January 16, 2024. Why the station
owners are doing this is quite perplexing. Are they trying to flip and
re-sell the station? Keep it on the air to keep up the license? But
why no station ID? -- Evan Bexley - Buford, Georgia USA``

1218.1 approx.: UNIDENTIFIED, Jan 19 at 0720, weak carrier hetting
1220.0 stations; nothing this low at mwoffsets --- same as logged Dec
14, 2023 at 0751 in previous report. How about some help, others
checking for this? NRC AM Log shows there are 41 UStations on ``1220``
- with peanut power at night vs 50 kW WHKW Cleveland; and two 10 kW
Canadians aiming north. No biggies in USA west of Ohio, 1220 rather
owned by XEB CDMX, allegedly 100/100 kW, 24h but never heard. 1220
sounds like a graveyard.

Terry Krueger replied at 0127 Jan 20: ``I am no value in that I can
only tell you what *isn’t* offset after sunset here in extreme NW
Floriduh tonight. The below are all essentially on 1220, not offset.

WAYE Birmingham AL is in Spanish with lots of local spots. Pseudo
Mexi-tunes.

Someone fake C&W with constant canned drops by female as “My Country
12-20 AM.” Pointing slightly more west. Curious who this is. I’m sure
I missed NRC/IRCA updates on this.

Someone else threshold in Spanish, maybe the big XEco station. Kinda
pointing thataway. Uselessly yours, TLK``

And then David Crawford, FL: ``No hint here at 0130 Z. But cubana
Radio Caribe 1219.996 is playing some nice danzón music. К победе!``

I reply ``Tnx, youse guys for the rapid responses. Well, outruling is
beginning of process. In NRC AM Log, the only 1220 as ``My Country``
but not including the frequency as printed, is WSLM, Salem IN U4
5000/82. No FM xltr shown so would have to mention 1220 if any.
Glenn``

Terry Replies at 0331: ``Interesting. At 0041, there was a very clear
“…right here in Salem…” The fake C&W could have been bumper music. So,
probably WSLM per your digs. Thanx. Still, nothing else low 1220 het
here in defacto lower Abalama``.

1218.1 kHz, Jan 26 at 0735, JBA carrier hetting 1220.0 stack. This
time I try to DF it with the adjacent DX-398, but cannot get a null on
it. May well be something local or even internal to the NRD. Next time
I should turn that off and see if it`s still audible on the DX-398;
also, in daytime? Not so far. And it seems no one else has heard it.
But if anyone does detect it, even unID, do let us know. And try to DF it.

1359.71, Jan 14 at 0259, definite het upon 1360.00
stations dominated by sports coverage, no audio into E/W longwire.
Later lookup at mwoffsets finds this top entry!:
1360 1359,714 WCGL (Jacksonville, FL) 2022-12-06       
It`s U1 5000/89 watts -- you think?
1359.71 carrier/het also detected on other rx at 0448.

Further research far back into my archives:
1360 1359.71 -290 Hz Cypress Gardens FL (WHNR)
(Medium Wave News 51/02 May/June 2005 via DXLD)

which probably derived from this 2004y log:

``1359.71, FLORIDA, WHNR, Winter Haven - 0914+ 31 October, US
soul and blues oldies, black female "I'm Debra McDowell and thank you
for listening... on your blues and oldies station..." Same off-
frequency observation here as Crawford logs. Fair signal at best
(Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)``

WHNR still exists, U4 5000/2500 but nothing about it being so far
off-frequency in past bidecade; except now appears barely on wrong
side of .000 in mwoffsets:
1360 1360,0009 WHNR (Cypress Gardens, FL) 2022-02-18

Mauno Ritola, Finland, replied: ``Nothing so much off via Orlando
KiwiSDR at 2000. Could it be, that there are two transmitters in
use as some do? Mauno``

I replied Jan 14: ``The one currently believed to be on 1359.71 is
WCGL Jaxonvil, not WHNR. Orlando is much closer to WHNR and may not
detect WCGL in daytime. Glenn`` Many tnx to David Crawford, FL, for
following up on this, first Jan 15 on the WOR iog, starting with 23
Jan 14:

``It's neither. WHNR was heard this evening on .000 to .001 around
2300 Z, "Boss Hogg" nonIDs. No IDs were heard from Jacksonville, but
there was no evidence of .71 at that time either. If it was
Jacksonville FL, it would be easily visible on the SDR waterfall here
in Titusville, and  probably even readable, during broad daylight.
I'll recheck both during daylight here.

Re-check at 0055 Z has 1359.715 in weakly, so it's further west than
Florida if it is a domestic station. The carrier was down to .714
after about 5 minutes, so it varies a bit, slowly. No audio was
detected.

Another long-term mystery carrier to my west or deep south is 859.976,
varying a few Hz slowly, and typically shuts down in the 0230-0300 Z
range; some nights it's not there at all. No audio, ever.``

And Jan 16: ``This evening, ~1359.715 popped up for all of one
minute around 0046 Z, and hasn't been back since, as of 0135 Z. So, we
couldn't watch it fade in as hoped.

Daytime reception here was all WHNR, Boss Hogg Radio, Cypress Gardens,
fair level and listenable semi-local on the right antenna, on .000 --
.001 again.

The only other significant, distinct carrier visible daytime was WQVN,
North Miami, stable on .999, Haitian format, but no readable audio
from it. There was nothing seen on .715 during the day. WQVN took over
the channel quickly around 2130 Z when the greyline propagation set
in.

Around 2230 Z, still greyline, there were hints of black gospel music
parallel the WCGL webfeed, but not for long. It was buried in the
"spot-on pile" on .000.  This is very uncertain, and there was no
other evidence that the station is even on the air. Jacksonville MW is
typically easily heard in daylight here, so if WCGL is on, it is very
low power, hiding behind another line on the waterfall, and not on
.715ish.

So, the mystery station is not from East Florida. WSAI, FoxSportsRadio
Cincinnati, is mostly dominating with NFL after full dark set in,
trading off with WQVN. David E. Crawford, Indian River City, Florida``

On 2024-01-16 19:58, David Crawford wrote: ``The 1359.715 UNID carrier
popped on again at 0045 Z this evening, but unlike last evening, has
remained on. I'll speculate that this is someone switching from day to
night config using two separate transmitters.

So, what longitude currently makes the day to night switch at 0045 Z?
Furthermore, a carrier disappeared about the same time on 1360.004 kHz,
and appeared to be a bit stronger than .715, among multiple co-ch lines
on the waterfall by that time.``

Wednesday, January 17, 2024 at 02:09:05 AM GMT+1, David Crawford wrote:
``The mystery station appears to be KPXQ, Phoenix, AZ, carrying J.
Vernon McGee at 0105Z, easy copy on the Surprise, AZ, kiwi, paralleled
on their website with some delay. Will report back here if the BoH
brings a different ID.``

Good work! And 0045 is the Jan FCC SS time for KPXQ:
https://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/srsstime?dlat=33&mlat=30&slat=28.15&dlon=112&mlon=13&slon=03.55&tzone=C
Feb: 0115. It appears they have one site for day and night; not sure
if or how FCC would show whether two separate transmitter units be used.

1359.7, Jan 21 at 0407, telltale het against 1360 pile,
no doubt KPXQ, Glendale AZ, as in previous report at length, IDed by
David Crawford, on the Atlantic coast of FL. But, no sign of my next
unID variant now, 1218.1.

1430 kHz, UNIDENTIFIED. Jan 7 at 0413, Spanish gospel huxter raving
about María, and still at 0430 check: must be RCC Marian cult. Loops
roughly NW/SE. NRC AM Log has best three possibilities right next to
each other; SS:REL is KMES Ogden UT, Esne Radio, unknown if Catholic;
two Texans with EWTN and Guadalupe R Network, not specified as SS, but
isn`t Guadalupe? No echo. From website, GRN seems mostly English but
some Spanish; not clear if one language per station or mixed: KEES
Gladewater and KSHJ Houston, both 5/1 kW. Looking at the NRC Pattern
Book, 2013, I see that for 1430 the enumeration is one digit off! 52
Gladewater is really Houston, and there is no 53 which is supposed to
be Houston. OK is also off: 41 on the map is obviously Alva, but on
the key it`s 42 while 41 is Newark OH! So where is Gladewater TX? in
the NE near Longview. I merely wanted to evaluate which had the more
favorable night pattern thisaway: both are no good with most signals
E/W or south. If really on day pattern/power, KEES is ND and KSHJ
thisaway. KMES certainly no good, N/S day and night. FWIW, some three
hours later, no Spanish to be heard.

``Glenn, KSHJ 1430 in Houston is English language. GRN owned, but
programs mostly EWTN English service with local announcements
inserted. Stephen Luce, Houston, Texas``

That leaves KEES Gladewater TX, unless someone can assert it`s
English, not Spanish. Radio-locator stream link for it goes to KATH
910 Frisco! DFW market, so I check at 0120 Jan 9 to find it`s English!
BTW the NRC AM Log address for KEES is Baytown TX, i.e. Houston area,
nowhere near Gladewater; but the address for KSHJ Houston is in San
Antonio! What a mess. SHJ = Sacred Heart of Jesus? Isn`t that an RCC
devotion?

1540, Jan 15 at 1605, KXEL ID in passing as soon as I
tune in, then interview Vivek, mentions of Waterloo, because of IA`s
caucus day. Must be residual skywave possible at midwinter, i.e. 2h23m
after Enid LSR at 1342, now only 2 minutes earlier than latest of the
year. Also with 88/minute = 1.47 Hz SAH, perhaps one of two KS, as
there is no OK on 1540.

1580, Dec 31 at 0404, Mexmx is dominant. Onceuponatime
the obvious source would have been 50 kW clear channel XEDM
Hermosillo, Sonora. This loops NW/SE, so all of Mexico is outruled,
and most likely TX or CO. Per NRC AM Log, all the USSS on 1580 are
also religious, in wrong direxion, or too far -- except KFCS Colorado
Springs. Segués of tune after tune, some romantic; finally 0415 quick
talk, mentions buena? So a Ke Buena? 0425 another. No, this is `El
Tigre` but sub-slogan on website is ``La que toca puras buenas``.
10000/140 watts both ND but this is no mere 140 watts, surely stuck on
10 kW day power. Site is SSE of CS between Security-Widefield, and
Fountain. Similar music on 1250 KYYS KC,KS but surely not //.

1580, Jan 9 at 0836, 10/kHz bandscan hears ``104.5`` in
English and absolutely nothing more vs Spanish music from something
else, probably KFCS CO again. Reverse search of WTFDA FM Database for
any 104.5 relaying a 1580 station leads only to: WIOL Columbus GA, the
FM being, of course, a mere 250-watt translator, W283DF. Then I
laboriously look thru each of the 48 entries on 1580 in the paper NRC
AM Log, which agrees --- but find one other, W283BN, tail wagging the
dog of WWDN, Danville VA, but it`s a 1 kW ND daytimer, while WIOL is
ND 1 kW day/45 watts night. Now which would be less unlikely?

1590, Jan 8 at 0752, romantic songs in Spanish
interrupted by ``Radio Clásico`` ID, i.e. WCGO Evanston IL; see my Dec
6 report. No business dominating frequency at night, 2.5 kW direxional
with a notch thisaway to the SW, rather than 10 kW daypower
nondirexional. So, is there a station in ChiCaGO called WEVN?

OKLAHOMA [and non]. 1600 kHz, Jan 15 at 2002, dead air at S9+20,
obviously my nearby KUSH, Cushing. 2005 comes to life with ID and
cheekily demanding ``keep listening``, into music. Obviously a
news-hole, ABC? is not being filled. I`m back almost an hour later, at
2059, ID with announcer`s name, and ``You are listening to KUSH, 1600
and 101.5, Oklahoma`s Americana station, the Cush`` and: DEAD AIR
again, but 2105 recheck, music has resumed. Did not listen for entire
5-minute break, but a trace of something else on E/W longwire:
probably usual nemesis, KRVA, 25 kW day power Vietnamese for The
Metroplex but not yet skywaving much. KUSH day power is 5 kW but gets
a lot less coverage per watt than same power would achieve at bottom
end of MF band. When will stations ever learn that automation requires
constant human oversight?

OKLAHOMA [and non]. 1640 kHz, Jan 21 circa 0200, I notice that local
KZLS Enid is OFF! No loss at all since it`s 100% // 1390 KCRC Enid,
and 100% sports, mostly stupid ballgames, I assume. So what else may I
hear on 1640? At 0404 I get around to checking: dominant looping
NNE/SSW but some fades/out/in is a monolog about diversity at United
AL, supposedly supported by FAA. Do we want anyone piloting with *any*
disabilities? No commercial breaks for at least 15 minutes; by 0420
ridiculing ``diversity``. Then I scan the entire MW band on another
radio for anything // - finding only one, but right away on 1690,
looping NW/SE. That clinches both of them among the few stations on
both frequencies per NRC AM Log:

1640, WSJP* Sussex WI; and 1690 KDMT* Arvada CO, both *non-commercial
with Relevant Radio religious network. Furthermore, I listen to the
Relevant Radio livestream around 0440 and hear the same topic, same
program, which is `The Patrick Madrid Show (repeat)` at 0200-0500 UT
Sundays. Hardly an improvement over stupid sports talk. Recheck at
1628 Jan 21, KZLS still off. Anything else to be heard at low noon,
which is always 1832 UT here? Circa 1815 not even a JBA carrier on any
of my receivers, antennas.

1640 kHz, Jan 22 at 2315, KZLS Enid is still
off the air, unknown why. Observing DX logs from Europe and NZ, I
daresay that our KZLS is the least-heard USA on 1640 -- because unlike
most of them ND, KZLS is NNW/SSE day and night, i.e. shooting for the
much huger OKC market, and from a site east of Hennessey, much closer
to OKC than other ``Enid`` MW stations. But that should advantage it
for DX to Latin America, unLatin Alyaska.

Just before 0200 Jan 23, I monitor KCRC 1390 for legal ID break in
Fox Sports Radio: sure enough, imagines both stations, KZLS first,
KCRC second! What do they know? KZLS still OFF Jan 24-UT 25.

BTW, WTNI 1640 Biloxi MS used to give KZLS or whatever it used to be
called, trouble even here in Enid, suspected of 10 kW ND day power at
night, but have not heard it in a long time and find no other reports
of it since September. What`s with that?

1640, Jan 25 at 1948, KZLS Enid is back on with silly
sportstalk // 1390 KCRC (Glenn Hauser, Enid, WORLD OF RADIO 2227)

Until the Next, Best of DX and 73 de Glenn