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Boca Raton SDR: 530-neither Cuban transmitter noted. 570—a weak Radio Reloj. 670 and 710, at least part of the Rebelde chorus noted under Miami stations. 950-Radio Reloj, almost undoubtedly Havana transmitter. Cuban on 990 noted, also Rebelde on 1550. Checked Bonaire: 530, again neither Cuban transmitter. 1180 had Radio Marti in the clear
 
Again, the outages in the rest of Cuba have nothing to do with the hurricane. They have such outages every few days in all or parts of Cuba.

They are rationing electricity and have been since last year.

The English language Cuban radio site is up and running at: https://www.radiohc.cu/en

Radio Progreso, one of the national networks, is live and online at https://www.radioprogreso.icrt.cu/

The government national radio site is up and streaming at https://www.radiocubana.cu/ . They even have live reports on the hurricane.

The national news network even has pictures of news reports from the hard-hit western provinces https://www.radioreloj.cu/
Someone was trying to convince me last night that Cuba was running 500,000 watch directional with Radio Rebelde aimed right at Marathon. I told him I would anxiously await the actual evidence. He didn’t seem to believe that Cuba was running the same power that they used to do in the 70s
 
Looks like R. Marti is 100KW-D/50KW-N. Wonder how far west they can be heard tonight?
 
Boca Raton SDR: 530-neither Cuban transmitter noted. 570—a weak Radio Reloj. 670 and 710, at least part of the Rebelde chorus noted under Miami stations. 950-Radio Reloj, almost undoubtedly Havana transmitter. Cuban on 990 noted, also Rebelde on 1550. Checked Bonaire: 530, again neither Cuban transmitter. 1180 had Radio Marti in the clear
530 has two stations, one with low power in the far eastern part of Cuba (near Guantanamo) and the other in the area to the west of La Habana, which might have been hit by the storm.
 
Someone was trying to convince me last night that Cuba was running 500,000 watch directional with Radio Rebelde aimed right at Marathon. I told him I would anxiously await the actual evidence. He didn’t seem to believe that Cuba was running the same power that they used to do in the 70s
The new Cuban rebuild of AM and FM in Cuba involved far fewer high power transmitters and lots of low to medium power ones. In nearly every location, the national networks are on multiplexed towers with 3 to 4 AMs on each, all across the country. On 710, there are nearly 40 separate low to medium power transmitters: one is 200 kw, there are 4 50 kw ones and the rest are 5 kw and 10 kw.

There would be no reason to aim 500 kw at Marathon. The objective is to load 1180 with powerful signals from east to west so that Martí can not be heard in Cuba. They don't care what people hear in the Florida keys.
 
530 has two stations, one with low power in the far eastern part of Cuba (near Guantanamo) and the other in the area to the west of La Habana, which might have been hit by the storm.
Both are usually pretty widely heard, with the Radio Enciclopedia 530 apparently being the higher powered of the two, the other is a Rebelde, that’s Guantanamo I believe. Neither were noted. I wish the Key West SDR was still around, that was a great receiver to hear Cuba “like a local”
 
The new Cuban rebuild of AM and FM in Cuba involved far fewer high power transmitters and lots of low to medium power ones. In nearly every location, the national networks are on multiplexed towers with 3 to 4 AMs on each, all across the country. On 710, there are nearly 40 separate low to medium power transmitters: one is 200 kw, there are 4 50 kw ones and the rest are 5 kw and 10 kw.

There would be no reason to aim 500 kw at Marathon. The objective is to load 1180 with powerful signals from east to west so that Martí can not be heard in Cuba. They don't care what people hear in the Florida keys.
Correcting my earlier post, the person I was talking to on Facebook believed that Cuba was still running the same powers that they did in the 70s, which obviously they are not. MWList noted that the 200kW may be inactive.
 
All I can tell you is they were in the clear are they Bonaire SDR. Normally they aren’t.
DX conditions during hurricanes can be very strange. Take it from someone who lived and worked in Puerto Rico for over three decades and saw many of them.
 
Had a good night DXing last night between 10:00 PM and Midnight CDT.

One of the best signals from XEG on 1050 in many, many years. Almost local grade. Also good reception of KKDA Grand Prairie, Texas on 730 equal in strength with XEX and KGGR Dallas, Texas on 1040 over WBZ.

Two new ones heard last night. First WGMP Montgomery, Alabama with rock music format on 1170 and finally WCHK Canton, Georgia on 1290 with poor reception and Spanish language programming under WHKY. If all my calculation in the Excel spreadsheet are correct, than WCHK makes it my 1,500 AM station heard in Chicago area for me.
 
Had a good night DXing last night between 10:00 PM and Midnight CDT.

One of the best signals from XEG on 1050 in many, many years. Almost local grade. Also good reception of KKDA Grand Prairie, Texas on 730 equal in strength with XEX and KGGR Dallas, Texas on 1040 over WBZ.

Two new ones heard last night. First WGMP Montgomery, Alabama with rock music format on 1170 and finally WCHK Canton, Georgia on 1290 with poor reception and Spanish language programming under WHKY. If all my calculation in the Excel spreadsheet are correct, than WCHK makes it my 1,500 AM station heard in Chicago area for me.
1,500! Tremendous!

I was sitting on 810 the last couple nights; Monday night/Tuesday morning WHB was strong under WGY and eventually over it; last night/this morning I nulled those for the most part and got a Spanish-language station that didn't match anything online, at least to my ears. Thinking it was the music I heard under WGY and WHB the night before.
 
DX conditions during hurricanes can be very strange. Take it from someone who lived and worked in Puerto Rico for over three decades and saw many of them.
The power failures are one contribution. My experience is that there is a connection between tornadoes and Sporadic E skip. They happen very close to the same time, often within the same day. There may not be a cause and affect, but both may be related to ion clouds. I've been told that convection currents in the troposphere cannot possibly be affected by ion clouds, but it could be the electrostatic fields from the ionosphere affecting the clouds and troposphere. Don't know if that can produce hurricanes. Nerve conduction is another odd interaction you wouldn't expect. A circa 100 mV charge on a very thin membrane produces an electric field strong enough to turn molecules in the membrane, allowing permeation and transportation of ions across it, resulting in nerve conduction. The Laws of Physics affect Chemistry and then Chemistry affects Biology. All together, Physiology. Who's to say that all the layers of the atmosphere can't effect each other?
 
1,500! Tremendous!

I was sitting on 810 the last couple nights; Monday night/Tuesday morning WHB was strong under WGY and eventually over it; last night/this morning I nulled those for the most part and got a Spanish-language station that didn't match anything online, at least to my ears. Thinking it was the music I heard under WGY and WHB the night before.

Your Spanish language station is most likely WMGC Murfeesboro, Tennessee. They are a common catch on 810 if you can null WGY. Listen for "El Jefe" or "La Sabrosita" slogans.
 
The power failures are one contribution. My experience is that there is a connection between tornadoes and Sporadic E skip. They happen very close to the same time, often within the same day. There may not be a cause and affect, but both may be related to ion clouds. I've been told that convection currents in the troposphere cannot possibly be affected by ion clouds, but it could be the electrostatic fields from the ionosphere affecting the clouds and troposphere. Don't know if that can produce hurricanes. Nerve conduction is another odd interaction you wouldn't expect. A circa 100 mV charge on a very thin membrane produces an electric field strong enough to turn molecules in the membrane, allowing permeation and transportation of ions across it, resulting in nerve conduction. The Laws of Physics affect Chemistry and then Chemistry affects Biology. All together, Physiology. Who's to say that all the layers of the atmosphere can't effect each other?
i’ve always heard that wind shear is suspected in ESkip reception so that would make sense
 
Your Spanish language station is most likely WMGC Murfeesboro, Tennessee. They are a common catch on 810 if you can null WGY. Listen for "El Jefe" or "La Sabrosita" slogans.
That was one stream that wouldn't load for me online. And the spoken audio was muddy. I'll try again tonight. Thanks.
 
WMCG 810 is blasting into Chicago right now (8:45 PM CDT). Many "Escucho El Jefe" slogans.
 
That was one stream that wouldn't load for me online. And the spoken audio was muddy. I'll try again tonight. Thanks.
Got it with the El Jefe moniker, and matched to a SDR near Nashville. Still muddy except for the music. Maybe that's part of the charm. Obviously running its daytime 5 kW, not 6 watts. AM No. 552. Thanks again for the help.
 
'Assistance needed in the DX Aisle .....'
I spun dial last night during Ian (9-29) on the barefoot GE SR2 trying for what I'll always call 'The Big Ape', 690 from Jacksonville. In Philly during Hugo WOKV was right there AN in between 660 and 710 NY.
But last night there seemed to be only Northern latitude stations dominant. Chicago and Detroit were louder than the closer NYC 50K stations.
On 560 I heard piano-jazz at 10:55, then a voicer that sounded like 'CF_N', followed by another instr piano piece, this second one classical. The only thing that makes sense on Radio-Locator is CFOS, Owen Sound ON. I called them and asked if it was they; left a message; no call back yet. Might there be anyone here within their range out that way who can help me out?
Netted loud SS on 920, too. I'd noticed them previously. Pretty much atop the frequency, sometimes pretty loud. R-L lists a station in Quantico VA, but with a 970-watt nighttime pattern that certainly doesn't look favorable toward me. And besides, I'm basically fluent only in Brooklyn and Southern.
Tia !
 


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