DX LISTENING DIGEST 10-06, February 11, 2010 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2010 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html For restrixions and searchable 2009 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid9.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1499, February 11-17, 2010 Thu 2000 WBCQ 7415 9330-CUSB? Fri 0100 WRMI 9955 [ex-0200] Fri 1530 WRMI 9955 Fri 2130 WWCR1 7465 Sat 0900 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 9510 [second, fourth, fifth Sats] Sat 0900 WRMI 9955 Sat 1430 WRMI 9955 Sat 1730 WWCR3 12160 Sat 1900 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 6170 Sat 2000 WRMI 9955 Sun 0330 WWCR3 4755 Sun 0730 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0900 WRMI 9955 Sun 1230 South Herts Radio 5835 Sun 1615 WRMI 9955 Sun 2000 WRMI 9955 Tue 1630 WRMI 9955 Tue 2000 WBCQ 7415 9330-CUSB? Wed 0230 WRMI 9955 [new] Wed 1630 WRMI 9955 [usually first airing?] Wed 1930 South Herts Radio 3935 Wed 2000 WBCQ 7415 9330-CUSB? Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html or http://schedule.worldofradio.org or http://sked.worldofradio.org For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://193.42.152.193/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN: http://www.wrn.org/wrn-listeners/world-of-radio/ http://www.wrn.org/listeners/world-of-radio/rss/09:00:00UTC/English/541 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org ***** EDITOR`S NOTE: Welcome to the new, leaner DXLD. As you may have noticed, we have been only getting issues published about once a week for the last few months, altho they have been huge ones. This is because we have been struggling to get `caught up` once a week (for the moment) to have the full file available to draw material for WORLD OF RADIO. But even that has become impossible to continue, without 24/7 work on it. I have already been spending far too much of my time on DXLD, and this has to be cut back. While the ideal has been to aggregate all significant info (in the opinion of the editor) into one publication, this involves a lot of duplication of effort, notably from many of the posts already distributed immediately to the DXLD yahoogroup. From now on, there will be less material drawn from the yg, which means it is even more important to post and read material there in the first place. Regular contributors to the yg, please do not be offended if not all your logs wind up in compiled DXLD, and please do keep the material coming to the group! If you have been holding out from subscribing to the group, for one reason or another, now is the time to reconsider and join up. We must also be more selective in the material drawn from other groups, DX publications. There will be less material not dealing with SW broadcast, altho the editor always reserves the right not to be confined to `strict SWBC`. An unfortunate consequence of this is a reduxion in synergy, putting together logs and other info from a variety of sources to get a fuller pixure. Also very time-consuming has been editing material to meet our self- imposed standards of style, especially getting rid of most abbrs. which so many DXers think are cool or even necessary to use! Thus DXLD will consequently appear more ragged and less literate, unavoidably, unless people start writing in real English. I hope people will appreciate the necessity for all this, a compromise between what we have been doing and quitting the whole endeavor (Glenn Hauser) DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD, which seems to be coming out less frequently? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg without delay. When applying, please identify yourself with your real name and location. Those who do not, unless I recognize them, will be prompted once to do so and no action will be taken otherwise. Here`s where to sign up: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** ALBANIA. Radio Tirana Online now streaming at 64 kbps Radio Tirana Online is now streaming what I assume to be a relay of the domestic service Radio 1 at 64 kbps. Before and after the news summary at 1200 UTC there was a short commercial for Radio Tirana Online mentioning the URL. The audio level is very high, but the quality is good and there was very little distortion (February 9th, 2010 - 12:18 UTC, by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) 1 Comment on “Radio Tirana Online now streaming at 64 kbps” 1. #1 radiomensch on Feb 9th, 2010 at 16:15 The URL for the livestream is: http://radiotirana.fly-dns.com/listen.pls Radio Tirana’s external service can also be heard online: http://radiotirana.funkhaus.info:8000/listen.pls (MN blog comment via DXLD) ** ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS. 4760, AIR Port Blair (presumed), 1701- 1730*, Feb 6. Non-stop, repetitive indigenous chanting/singing and music; 1727 announcement (too weak to ID language). Believe AIR Leh scheduled for 1700*; poor. Several hours after my local sunrise! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGUILLA [and non]. Another screwup by The University Network audio feed, occurring anywhere from LA to International Vacuum, but not at the hapless/helpless SW transmitter sites: Feb 6 at 0636, 6090 Anguilla mostly dead air with bits of PMS audio occasionally cutting on. Exactly the same thing is happening on 5935 WWCR at 0639 check. Allows us to enjoy the het from Nigeria 6090v with less QRM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENNG DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 11710.786v, 29/1 0100, RAE, announcements in several languages, fair (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italia, 6 Feb, RX: SDR- IQ; AOR AR7030; Yaesu FRG-7, Sony ICF SW100, ANT: T2FD, playdx yg via DXLD) Have not been able to detect RAE on 15345 while Morocco is on, so wondering if it`s gone again? No, Feb 8 at 2156, very poor signal with flutter, but enough to recognize the RAE IS. Also weak and fluttery signal with music during scheduled Japanese hour, Feb 9 at 0147 on approx. 11710.7 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see MOROCCO ** ASIA [non]. B-09 RFA Daily Broadcast Frequencies. All times in UT. Burmese (4 hours daily) 0030-0130 12115IRA, 13710TIN, 15700TIN 1230-1330 7595TIN, 11795TIN, 12105IRA 1330-1400 7595TIN, 11795IRA, 12105IRA 1400-1430 11795KWT, 13855IRA 1630-1730 7570TIN Cantonese (2 hours daily) 1400-1500 5810TIN, 7280TIN 2200-2300 9570TIN, 11740SAI, 11775TIN Khmer (2 hours daily) 1230-1330 13725IRA, 15160TIN 2230-2330 9355IRA, 11850TIN Korean (5 hours daily) 1500-1700 1350 , 5860TIN, 7210IRK, 9385SAI 1700-1900 1350 , 5860TIN, 9385IRA 2100-2200 1350 , 7460 , 9385TIN, 12075TIN Lao (2 hours daily) 0000-0100 11830IRA, 15535TIN 1100-1130 9355IRA, 15120IRA 1130-1200 9355IRA, 15120SAI Mandarin (12 hours daily) 0300-0600 11980IRK, 13710TIN, 15150TIN, 15665TIN, 17615TIN, 17880SAI, 21540TIN 0600-0700 11980IRK, 13710TIN, 15150TIN, 15665TIN, 17615TIN, 17880SAI 1500-1600 5810TIN, 7445TIN, 9440TIN, 9905PAL, 11945TIN, 13725TIN 1600-1700 5810TIN, 7415TIN, 7445TIN, 9455SAI, 9905PAL, 11945TIN, 13725TIN 1700-1800 5810TIN, 7415TIN, 7445TIN, 9355SAI, 9455SAI, 9905PAL, 11945TIN, 13670TIN 1800-1900 5810TIN, 7385TWN, 7415TIN, 7445TIN, 9355SAI, 9455SAI, 9905TIN, 11790SAI, 11945TIN, 13670TIN 1900-2000 1098TWN, 5810TIN, 5990TIN, 6095TIN, 7385TWN, 9355SAI, 9455SAI, 9875PAL, 9905TIN, 11790SAI, 11945TIN 2000-2100 1098TWN, 5810TIN, 5990TIN, 6095TIN, 7355TWN, 7495TIN, 9355SAI, 9455SAI, 9875PAL, 11900SAI, 11945TIN 2100-2200 1098TWN, 5810TIN, 6095TIN, 7355TWN, 7495TIN, 9355SAI, 9455SAI, 9875PAL, 11945TIN, 13745TIN 2300-0000 7540 , 11775TIN, 11975TIN, 15265SAI, 15430TIN, 15550TIN Tibetan (10 hours daily) 0100-0300 7470KWT, 9670WER, 11695UAE, 15220TIN, 17730 0600-0700 17515 , 17715KWT, 21500TIN, 21695UAE 1000-1100 9690LTU, 15140LAM, 17750KWT 1100-1200 7470 , 11540 , 11590KWT, 15375UAE 1200-1400 7470 , 11540 , 11590KWT, 13625TIN, 15375UAE 1500-1530 7530 , 9410BIB, 11500KWT, 15145UAE 1530-1600 7470KWT, 7530 , 11500KWT, 15145UAE 2200-2300 5820TIN, 7470TIN, 9835LAM 2300-0000 6010UAE, 7470 , 7550KWT, 9875LTU Uyghur (2 hours daily) 0100-0200 7480 , 9480LTU, 9645UAE, 9690UAE, 13605TIN 1600-1700 7470IRA, 7510 , 11720SAI, 11730UAE Vietnamese (2 hours daily) 1400-1500 5855TIN, 7515TIN, 9990SAI, 11605TWN, 12130IRA 13865IRA, 15195TIN 1400-1430 1503TWN 2300-2330 1359TWN 2330-2400 1359TWN, 5855IRA, 11605TWN, 11965TIN, 15135SAI 0000-0030 5855IRA, 11605TWN, 11965TIN, 15135SAI (Radio Free Asia website, via Gordon Brown-UK, NWDXC Feb 5 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 2368.485v, Jan 11 + other days 1700-1920: R Symban, Sydney NSW. Often heard but seldom with good audio. Best heard Jan 11 - Q3, also Jan 19 quite good. Obviously best heard when the sun wind rises rapidly, perhaps due to so called "ducting". Their own program after 19 UT with ads and ID as "Radio Symban". Most likely a transmitter only with 15-250 W (Tarmo Kontro, Finland, SW Bulletin Feb 7, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 10-05: Ron: Great work on Radio Symban! I have recorded the past two nights (last night for 7+ hours!) to see if I can forensically determine signal presence. There is a definite carrier on 2368.5 here but I have not yet found the audio between 0810 and 1515 UT. The band has been quieter than normal lately without the usual electrical noise I get around here on some nights - this time frame might be the best chance I have. I did hear ARDS on 5050 when it was active but they were running about 400 watts - double Symban's power, so we'll just have to see what rises from the noise threshold in the next few nights. Good job; keep them coming! (Bruce Churchill, Fallbrook, CA, Feb 6, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 11660, RA at 1433 Sunday Feb 7, quiz asking ``what mythical Hindu bird is similar to the Phoenix?`` Contestant needed a hint: Indonesian airline. This is during the 4-hour, except for news on the hour ``Sunday Nights`` program at 12-16 per the RA program schedule: ``The program features talkback on an issue of topical interest (usually the first hour), an in-depth interview, the popular Inquizition quiz, great music, and the One O'Clock Chat Room. Presenter: John Cleary``, see http://www.abc.net.au/sundaynights/ RA is currently scheduled on 11660, 13-17, 329 degrees from Shepparton (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Re 10-05, CVC Closing Darwin: Hi Glenn, Sorry, I am pretty busy right now so I've not had much time to answer your questions. We're past the weekend and Darwin is now closed so too late on the last question. As to the others: GH: Whose decision was it to dismantle the Darwin facility rather than repurpose it? One would have thought that Radio Australia would be glad to have it back for its own full use. Since CVC was leasing it, whose property is it now, on the air or not? AF: CVC's lease expires at the end of June so we have to vacate the site by then. You would have to ask Radio Australia directly about their intentions. GH: Are some of the transmitters, antennas destined for other sites? AF: CVC is the owner of all the technical equipment on site, so yes, this is variously being sold, redeployed, scrapped. Do you plan to mark the final transmission(s) in any particular way, special programming or announcements, and if so, exactly when; specially endorsed QSLs? AF: the time has passed, but I don't know the answer in any case! Hope that helps, sorry again for the delay. Regards (Andrew Flynn, CVC HQ UK, Feb 4, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. R. AUSTRALIA USING NEW RELAY SITES AFTER DARWIN CLOSES Mike Bird writes: The Cox Peninsula, Darwin HF transmitter station in Australia was closed on 31 January 2010. CVC, a Christian broadcasting company who leased the transmission equipment since 1999 after the then Howard government closed the site in 1997, had decided to drop HF broadcasting to Asia. The original lease to use the site included a get out clause after 10 years. The land the transmitter complex is built on has since been claimed by a local Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory. In the past few days the technicians have started decommissioning the equipment and lowering the antennas. This has meant Radio Australia (RA) has had to find alternative HF transmitting relays to service Asia. VT based in the UK have so far found two sites that can provide relay transmissions for RA to broadcast to Asia at Medorm (HBN) Palau in the Pacific Ocean and Dhabbaya (DHA) in the United Arab Emirates. The schedule is as follows (all times UT): * 0000-0030 Indonesian to West & central Indonesia on HBN 15225 * 0100-0130 Burmese to Burma on HBN 15655 * 0400-0430 Indonesian to West & central Indonesia on HBN 15780 * 0500-0530 Indonesian to West & central Indonesia on HBN 15590 * 1300-1430 Chinese to SE China & SE Asia in general on HBN 9890 * 1600-1630 Burmese to Burma on HBN 9965 * 2200-2400 English to SE Asia (Indonesia, Vietnam) on HBN 12040 * 2200-2330 Indonesian to West & central Indonesia on DHA 5935 * 2300-2330 Burmese to Burma on DHA 5955 Discussions are currently taking place between RA, VT and the Singapore government about the possible use of the Kranji relay facility to further bolster RA’s transmissions to Asia. (Source: Mike Bird) (February 6th, 2010 - 18:20 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DXLD) Comments on “R. Australia using new relay sites after Darwin closes” 3. #3 Glenn Hauser on Feb 8th, 2010 at 00:27 So the Singapore government has veto power over what VT relays from Kranji? Why would they veto Radio Australia? 4. #4 Andy Sennitt on Feb 8th, 2010 at 10:14 The word ‘veto’ does not appear in the above story, neither is it implied. But presumably the media law in Singapore requires the government’s approval for relays of foreign broadcasters. There’s nothing unusual in that. 5. #5 Kai Ludwig on Feb 8th, 2010 at 15:30 Indeed. Here in Germany an approval from the Foreign Office is necessary to transmit foreign broadcasters on shortwave. However, in the case of the ABC this approval would be just a formality. Thus it is indeed interesting that the ABC needs to “discuss” the possibilities of using transmitters in Singapore with the authorities there. This wording suggests that the matter is a bit more complicated, and this sheds an interesting light on aspects of media politics. And in regard to the Darwin/Cox transmitter site I understand the situation to be such that 1/ closing it down and dismantling it is unavoidable, due to the station grounds being claimed by the previous or just legitimate owners (a problem caused four decades ago, when the station has been set up) and 2/ the equipment is still owned by either Broadcast Australia or an Australian authority, so it’s up to them to decide what to do with it (the three Thomson transmitters are certainly still too valuable for the scrap yard and could be sold to an interested operator). Please correct me if necessary. 6. #6 Andy Sennitt on Feb 8th, 2010 at 15:41 I wouldn’t read too much into the wording. I suspect the discussion has more to do with VT being able to negotiate a favourable price, as RA’s budget is very limited. I wouldn’t call it ‘media politics’, it’s simply business. I cannot comment on the situation regarding Darwin as I am not a lawyer (MN blog comments via DXLD) ** AZERBAIJAN. 9677.51, Ädälän Säsi Radiosu, Stepanakert, Nagorny Karabakh, *0600, Jan 27, Azeri, IS + ID "...Stepanakert Ädälän Säsi Radiosu" and news, 35442 (Patrick Robic, Leibnitz / Ramsau am Dachstein, Austria, DSWCI DX Window Feb 3 via DXLD) 9677.5, Aerzerbaican has NOT been heard here. No signal (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, Feb 8, DX LISTENING DIGESET) ** BRAZIL. Logs from a few days ago: 4754.925v, 29/1 0110 Radio Imaculada Conceicao, (tentative) Campo Grande, man talking, signal not so bad but low modulation 4845.237v, 29/1 0120 Radio Cultura, Manaus, nice songs, fair 4914.941v, 29/1 0130 Radio Difusora do Macapà, songs, ids, fair 4935.231v, 29/1 0140 (tent.) Radio Capixaba, talks, drifting, too poor 9645.311v, 31/1 0025 Radio Bandeirantes, sport talks, fair but in USB to avoid VOA from Thailand on 9645 (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italia, 6 Feb, RX: SDR-IQ; AOR AR7030; Yaesu FRG-7, Sony ICF SW100, ANT: T2FD, playdx yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Rádio Senado 5990 kHz sent me a QSL card written in Portuguese for my reception report in Portuguese with 1 IRC after five months, by Ms. Marcela Maceda Diniz, reporter and presenter. She also wrote me a kind letter in Japanese. "senado" means "senate", this is the senate operated station to inform the activities of the Brazilian senate. Address: Senado Federal, Praça dos Tres Poderes Anexo II - Bloco B - Terreo Brasilia/DF - Cep: 70165-900 Brazil E-mail: or Telephone: +55 61 0800 612211 FAX: +55 61 3311 4239 URL: The QSL card and some photographs of the sation is shown in my home page (Takahito Akabayashi, Tokyo-JPN, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 31 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL [and non]. 6185, RNA cut on *0632 Feb 6, obliterating music from XEPPM with its own music; how rude! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL [and non]. Just as I tune across 9695, Feb 5 at 1236, I hear ``Fundação Rio Mar`` mentioned in Brazilian, so no waiting required for an ID from R. Rio Mar, Manáus, making an awful het of about 0.2 kHz with something in Thai on 9695.0, i.e. R. Japan aimed Thaiward from Yamata, whilst Rio Mar is Africaward at 70 degrees, both per Aoki; and NHK soon overtaking (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL [and non]. RÁDIO DIGITAL: PADRÃO EUROPEU GANHA "ROBUSTEZ TÉCNICA". --- Informação: AESP - Associação de Emissoras de Rádio e Televisão do Estado de São Paulo - 04/02/2010 A partir desta quarta-feira, 03/02, o Ministério das Comunicações realiza em Belo Horizonte (MG) mais uma rodada de testes de rádio digital, com o início de transmissões experimentais do padrão de tecnologia européia DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale). Os dados serão coletados e comparados com outros testes realizados no país com o padrão norte-americano Iboc (In-Band-On-Chanel). O relatório comparativo com as transmissões deverá ser entregue ao ministro das Comunicações, Hélio Costa, até o final de fevereiro. . . http://www.sulradio.com.br/atualidades/atualidade_28127.asp (via Célio Romais, Brasil, DXLD) This is a very strange story. You may want to run the whole page thru Google translation. WTFK? Says DRM is being tested in BH, but where??? Keeps referring to DRM as a ``European`` system, and IBOC as a ``North American`` one. There is nothing especially European about DRM, except that it is not used on MW in NAm; and IBOC is not used on MW in Europe. Also claims DRM has been operating already on tropical bands! I don`t think so, unless this means Alaska on 4840-4850! And BTW, what ever became of that grand experiment, only monitored briefly in Japan last fall with text, not audio?? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURKINA FASO. 5030v, Rdiff. du Burkina carrier (tentative) drifting quickly around 5028.95-5031.26, 1910-1930, Jan 25, Afropop, French (tentative) announcement 15331 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Feb 3 via DXLD) ** CANADA. QSL FROM TRENTON MILITARY --- Trenton Military, Military Aeronautical Communication System (MACS), 15034 KHz confirm with letter and some pictures of the site in 2 months. Address: 8 Wing Trenton WITSS (MACS SITE) HWY N.33 21124 LOYALIST PKWY VARRYING PLACE, ONTARIO CANADA K0K1L0 V/S Cpl Anthony Moyer MACS Op C Shift QSL, pictures of the site and audioclip available here: http://blog.libero.it/radioascolto/8377793.html (Francesco Cecconi, ANAGNI - CENTRAL ITALY, Feb 4, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. Re 10-05: Check out this Globe and Mail article "Good night, Vancouver; good morning, Moscow" at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/good-night-vancouver-good-morning-moscow/article1455679/?service=email (via Doug Copeland, Feb 4, DXLD) ** CANADA [non]. 12035, Feb 6 at 1520, screaming American-accented gospel huxter about the dark age we are in; around 1530 I was engrossed with 15670 so missed ID if any, but at 1532-1545*, 12035 was wasting kilowatts with open carrier only. This is Bible Voice Broadcasting scheduled via Wertachtal, GERMANY, due east with 100 kW, English, Urdu or Punjabi depending on day of week and quarter-hour. Aoki shows it at 1500-1615 but nothing on day 7 = Saturday, so it must be highly flexible. A DTK schedule instead shows Saturday span is 1515-1545. Who pays for the 15 minutes of dead air? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHAD. 6165, checking for Chad Feb 5 at 0558 just in time to hear some hilife music with SAH from weak open carrier, and start of French announcement before Bonaire blasted on at 0559 with tone and RNW IS starting Dutch to NAm. Anyhow, that was enough to confirm RNT active on 6165, the interim carrier probably Croatia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 8400, 05/Feb 2330, Only the carrier without modulation. Not hear the Chinese Firedrake. No sign of Firedrake in 10210, 10970, 11300, 12750, 13970, 14430, 14780, 16270, 17470. Firedrake in 14970 the 2335 UT (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake music-only ChiCom jamming is showing up less and less at the moment, as also noted by other monitors. Feb 9 at 1518 I was able to detect it only on 8400, very poor (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake Feb 10 at 1406: fair on 8400, nothing on 9000 or higher spots (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 5050, Guangxi Beibu Bay Radio, 1424, Feb 6. Brief bit in English; “I am Eric Maskin, the 2007 Nobel Laureate in economics. The launch of CAFTA [China ASEAN Free Trade Area] to bring mutual benefits to all the countries of ASEAN. I think it is a very exciting development. I look forward to seeing what happens”; CAFTA came into existence on Jan 1 and is the world’s third largest free trade zone; into “Top Music” show of EZL songs; in Vietnamese with only the program name in English. Even though this station primarily plays music, they obviously emphasize the economy of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the Beibu Bay Economic Zone in their news and as reflected on the BBR website (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. A while ago I remarked that the WOOB 9170 frequency of CNR6 was not heard after 1400, but Feb 10 at 1407 there was a weak and fluttery signal in Chinese and a trace of it at 1501. Per Aoki this service alternates Mandarin and Amoy, 50 kW, 162 degrees from Beijing 491 site, at 1100-1805, 2055-0105 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. 13670, Feb 6 at 1515 YL talk in French, then song vs splatter from 13675 CRI via CANADA, confidently list-logged as CRI via Cërrik, ALBANIA, as scheduled, ChiCom vs ChiCom! But widely divergent targets supposedly not QRMing each other (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGSET) ** CHINA. 15335, usual 500 kW superpower beast of CRI Russian service via Kashi-Kashgar site at 0800-1000 UT, but noted on very broadband signal these days, showed up 15323 to 15347 kHz today Feb 4 (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 4 via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. CHINESE NEW YEAR AND EXPO 2010 SHANGHAI Hi Glenn, February 14 with be the Chinese New Year. This will be the year of the Tiger. It is an opportunity to hear and identify numerous Chinese stations which will be carrying a relay of the CNR-1 (China National Radio) programming of the New Year’s festivities. Last year I was able to catch PBS Hulun Buir, China Huayi BC and Voice of Strait, all in parallel with CNR-1 programming, from about 1320 to 1440 UT. The New Year’s program consists of live coverage of a variety show, with a wide range of entertainment (long comedy segments, traditional Chinese music and singing, sounds of the audience applauding and laughing, etc.). I imagine that this year will result in the same massive coverage. Because so many frequencies will be parallel, it should be fairly easy to identify them. Also please be aware that this same New Year’s programming via CNR-1 will also be used for jamming of such stations as the Sound of Hope, etc. It is very helpful to check with the Aoki frequency list to determine if one is hearing a “real” CNR-1 broadcast or just one used for jamming. China is not the only country to celebrate the New Year on that day. Japan [see below], Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and Mongolia are some of the other countries that also observe the Lunar New Year. Is worth checking on stations from these countries to see if they also have any special programming. The first of May will mark the start of Expo 2010 in Shanghai. It is anticipated that the number of people attending this event will be the highest number ever in the history of the World's Fair. When I was last in Shanghai (2008); there were already massive building projects under way related to the Expo 2010 (new buildings, new underground subway lines, etc.). There is no question that China sees this as an extremely important event, to showcase their booming economy. I have already started to hear lengthy items about it on the English program “Holy Tibet” via Xizang PBS-Lhasa. It would seem logical that China will be focusing on projecting their global presence during this important year. It may help explain why they have now started numerous identifications in English on their CNR-1 evening news. Perhaps we will observe SW activities relating to Expo 2010 Shanghai, so please keep an ear out for anything new. Wish you good listening! Thanks to Sei-ichi Hasegawa (NDXC) of Japan for his comments that the Lunar New Year is generally not that important in Japan and “it is used at the festival of the Shinto shrines. Therefore there are no special broadcasts in Japan.” Whereas in China, the Spring Festival that celebrates the Lunar New Year is the most important holiday of the whole year. I should have mentioned that the special coverage by CNR-1 will be on February 13, their local New Year’s Eve, from probably sometime before 1320 UT to after 1440 UT (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Feb 4, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. 2980, Feb 5 at 0614 just barely audible music, presumed HJAY Barranquilla. Wish they would turn up the power a bit on the second harmonic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. 2859.82, Radio San Carlos, 0154-0204*, Feb 6, 2nd harmonic. 2 x 1430v. Local Spanish pops/ballads. Spanish talk. Poor in noisy conditions but occasional peaks up to fair levels (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** CUBA. Saludos Amigos, He recibido un mensaje de Rosario Lafita Fernandez, la nueva encargada de la correspondencia de Radio Habana Cuba, en la cual me informa que Lourdes Lopez, pasar a disfrutar de su jubilacion despues de 40 años de estar a cargo de ella. Mensaje de Rosario Lafita Fernandez... "Estimado Yimber: Con este primer mensaje en el presente año, le extendemos el saludo afectuoso del colectivo de Radio Habana Cuba, y los mejores deseos para usted y su familia. Siempre lo recordamos por su admiración a Cuba y a esta emisora de ondas cortas. Deseamos que en el 2010 se estrechen, aún más, nuestros lazos de amistad, y lo exhortamos a ofrecer sus valiosos criterios sobre la programación que trasmitimos. Atentos a sus comunicaciones, nos despedimos fraternalmente. Rosario Lafita Fernández J’Dpto. de Correspondencia Internacional Radio Habana Cuba" Y el mensaje de Lourdes Lopez... "AÑO 52 DE LA REVOLUCIÓN Queridos amigas y amigos: Una vez más me comunico con ustedes para saludarlos e informarles que ya me jubilé, así podré disfrutar de mis nietos más tiempo. Quiero decirles que una de las mayores satisfacciones de mi vida es haber trabajado durante más de 40 años en Radio Habana Cuba, y de forma especial, en contacto directo con sus oyentes y amigos. Me jubilo feliz, porque dejo a un grupo de compañeras que comparten mis sentimientos y el privilegio de comunicarse con los amigos de Cuba en todos los Continentes. Al frente del colectivo queda Rosario Lafita, quien cuenta con una experiencia de 30 años de labor, y quien continuará la hermosa labor que con tanto amor realizamos. Con la alegría de saber que mantendrán el contacto con nuestra querida emisora, me despido. Lourdes López." (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DXLD) The end of an era; I think practically every listener who got a QSL or other mail from RHC heard from Lourdes López, who has now retired after 40 years and introduces her successoress (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. Dear Glenn, I am getting Radio Republica on 9810 at around 0230. What`s their email ID for reports. The email report was not delivered which was sent to info@radiorepublica.org Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, Hyderabad 500082, India, Jan 24, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Jose, You might try info @ directorio.org as at http://www.directorio.org/en_index.php which is the parent organisation. Let us know if you get any reply, as they are not very responsive. Were you hearing any jamming noise on 9810? It`s usually heavy here if there is any propagation from Cuba. 73, (Glenn to Jose, ibid.) Thanks for the info Glenn. No jamming at all noted here. That station is heard occasionally only when propagation is good. 73 (Jose Jacob, Jan 25, ibid.) Many thanks for giving the correct email ID of Radio República. I have received general email confirmation from the station within 24 hours of my sending report. Reply was from Maria A. Lima, Special Assistant to Program Coordinator, Directorio Democrático Cubano. Her email ID is: marialima @ directorio.org Radio República is heard by me occasionally on 9810 at around 0130- 0300 UT. There is co channel interference from China. By the way AIR Panaji is also temporarily off air on 9810 at this time in Nepali. In fact I was looking for Panaji when I heard Radio República. Many thanks once again. Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, India, Feb 6, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11600, DentroCuban Jamming Command noise starts at *1557 Feb 5. Ramping up a bit ahead of hourtop is typical. Still going strong at 1800. I still have not been able to uncover any victim beneath the noise, but I have an unconfirmed report that Radio República is running a low-power transmitter from Central America [not California as I first assumed]. Can anyone detect that, perhaps closer to the site, or closer to Cuba in the skip zone of the jamming?? I`ve been hearing this `jamming against nothing`(?), several weeks on 11600 in the daytime as late as 2200, and even in the nightmiddle. If RR is the cause, they need to wise up and jump to different clear frequencies. Anyhow it ties up jammers which might be doing more damage somewhere else, à la Sound of Hope`s teeny ham transmitters vs Firedrake (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11600, jamming vs presumed Radio República, grinding away Feb 6 at 1658; no doubt started as usual one hour earlier. 9810 also with Cuban jamming against R. República, along with some rhythmic tones I don`t hear elsewhere, so wonder if that is from the jamming or a bit of RR programming sounders poking thru the noise. The Feb 8 issue of DX Mix News, Bulgaria shows this as a VT Communications transmission via Rampisham UK: 2300-0400 on 9810 RMP 500 kW / 285 deg to Cuba Spanish Even tho VT does not admit it. 15080, DentroCuban Jamming Command on yet another strange new frequency, Feb 9 at 1509, relatively lite level with pulsing atop what could only be Cairo which runs distorted Arabic at 13-16. Could make out a carrier and some mod underneath jamming, still at 1519, but not at next check 1548. Could it be that Radio República or some other counter-revolutionary put a peanut-whistle on 15080 provoking this? Or is DCJC totally out of its mind, jamming Cairo in Arabic? From 1556 Feb 9 I monitored 11600 for another DCJC to turn on, and so it did at *1558:40, lite pulses at first, quickly building up from additional transmitters to S9+18 level, against presumed R. República which we have never been able to detect here, unlike those intrepid Habana monitors (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DentroCuban Jamming Command has added tones to some of its broadcasts mixed in with the noise; first noted on 9810 and thought they might be from victim R. República, but same heard on 7405 against R. Martí. It`s a rapid (random?) set of up-and-down tones, sort of like telephone touch-tones, or from a SFX recording, Feb 10 at 0618. Could also be caused by frequency-shift keying against the victim carrier. 15080, unlike the day before, no jamming here against weak and distorted Cairo in Arabic, Feb 10 at 1456 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA: WRMI ** CUBA [and non]. 9955, DentroCuban Jamming Command noise wall obliterating WRMI before 1500 Sat Feb 6 when WORLD OF RADIO is scheduled. Standard denunciation of Arnie Coro for allowing this against a fellow DX program. And he pretends to be ``our friend in Habana``??!! At 1500 jamming as usual abated somewhat so we could tell that WRMI was still relaying R. Prague in English. But at 1657 recheck nothing but jamming audible. 13770, RHC`s weak but long-hours frequency all day in Spanish, Feb 6 at 1702 had weaker station under. AIR in Hindi, 500 kW, 300 degrees from Bangaluru is scheduled at 1615-1730, and nothing else, per Aoki. As an outlaw nation, Cuba refuses to participate in HFCC, so all others may unsafely assume RHC is not on any particular frequency. 11705, I noticed an open carrier shortly after 1300 Feb 5, presumed no quick turn-off for the Venezuela relay at 12-13; but at 1315 still OC here with occasional clicking. Arnie Coro`s henchpersons at the DentroCuban Jamming Command are still attacking his former colleague at RHC, Keith Perron: UT Sunday Feb 7 at 0613, a repeat of Happy Station on WRMI 9955 vs jamming pulses. See USA: WRMI for more. 11760, RHC, Sunday Feb 7 at 1539 with VG signal unlike weekdays when they have switched to the other antenna/transmitter which is weaker at midday. Probably because still on same setup as for Esperanto 1500- 1530 Sundays only. 1539 program had some memorias culturales of Cuban musicians in New York, during Formalmente Informal, which is normally heard weekdays at 1430 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also VENEZUELA [non] So much for lack of jamming against WRMI during its Haitian service at 12-13 M-F on 9955: Feb 8 at 1248 check, nothing but heavy DCJC noise wall vs scheduled UN Radio relay in French. I don`t know whether it was already grinding as early as 1200, but seems the callous Cubans can`t risk anything positive getting thru to Haiti. Since I have had occasion more than once recently to criticize the atrocious quality of the 11705 transmission relaying Venezuela at 12- 13, such as distorted modulation and splatter, it is only fair that I also make note of its fine clear modulation achieved on Feb 8 at 1254 about the Haitian earthquake and Venezuela`s aid, what else? The carrier was still on, open, at 1309 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CYPRUS. OTH radar pulsing, presumed from here but could be FRANCE or somewhere else in the area, Feb 10 at 1437 covering 17740-17760, peaking at 17750. By 1449 it had strengthened to become audible even under strong WYFR 17760, and extending up to 17765. Exactly same sound also on weaker range 15480-15505, Feb 10 at 1451, this time blasting a weak HOA station in the middle on 15490, i.e. BBC Somali via SEYCHELLES, also heard with BBC theme until 1459:30* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. PLANS FOR A NEW HCJB SHORTWAVE STATION --- One 100 kW transmitter, some lower powered (30/10 kW) transmitters and other material are left from the Pifo site, closed down and dismantled by HCJB Global. This equipment, in particular the 100 kW transmitter, has been donated to Vozandes Media. It is planned to set it up in Ecuador again for broadcasts in German and Portuguese, in a joint effort with HCJB Brazil. They hope to be able to keep transmissions from Chile on air until this new facility is ready: (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 6, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Eine neue Ausgabe von Medien aktuell: Kirche im Rundfunk ist bei http://www.biener-media.de/medien-aktuell.html abzurufen. In Ergänzung einer dortigen Meldung das Nachstehende: Pläne für eine neue HCJB-Kurzwellenstation Nachdem die US-amerikanische Zentrale von HCJB Global das mit dem Bau des neuen Großflughafens von Quito verbundene Sendeende aus Pifo zum Ausstieg aus der Kurzwelle genutzt hat, haben die Mitglieder der deutschen Redaktion zunächst die Initiative ergriffen, die Kurzwellensendungen für Ekuador fortzuführen. Aktuell sendet HCJB La Voz de los Andes vom Ersatzstandort Pichincha nach folgendem Sendeplan auf 6050 kHz (10 kW): 8.30 Quechua, 11.30- 15.00 Castellano sowie 19.00 Castellano, 0.00 Waodani, 0.30 Cofán, 1.00-5.00 Castellano. [UT] Obwohl Ausrüstung von Pifo zum Standort von HCJB Australia verlegt wurde und anderes Material wohl nicht wiederverwendbar ist, ist immer noch einiges übrig (ein 100 kW HC 100 Sender, mehrere 30 und 10 kW Sender, Antennen, Leitungsmaterial...). Vozandes Media plant deshalb auch die Wiedererrichtung einer internationalen Kurzwellenstation. Wie Iris Rauscher auf Nachfrage ausführte, hat Vozandes Media von HCJB Global einen 100 kW-Sender gestiftet bekommen, „und wir planen diesen Sender für die Programme in Deutsch für Europa neu in Ecuador aufzubauen. Wir suchen gerade nach einem geeigneten Grundstück. Wenn es dann so weit ist können wir vielleicht auch andere Sprachen (Portugiesisch und Kechwa, Plattdeutsch etc?) mit dazu nehmen. Dann könnten wir auch mit DRM weitermachen.“ HCJB Brasilien wird sich an den Kosten beteiligen und Mitbetreiber werden. Dennoch: „Das ist ein großes Projekt für uns. Wir hoffen auch auf neue Mitarbeiter gerade für die technische Seite.“ Sendungen mit südamerikanischer Flächendeckung werden aktuell aus dem chilenischen Calera de Tango ausgestrahlt. Bei den beteiligten Zweigen von Radio HCJB hofft man, die Sendungen aus Chile so lange fortführen zu können, bis Vozandes Media einen neuen Kurzwellenstandort in Ekuador in Betrieb nehmen kann (Dr. Hansjörg Biener, Feb 3, via Kai Ludwig, dxldyg via DXLD) Well2 (gh) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, Feb 8 at 0608, Spanish talk with a bit of reverb, poor signal but with Castilian accent and anyhow there are no LAs on this frequency, so surely RNGE Bata --- or rather RGE, as WRTH 2010 names it just Radiodifusión de Guinea Ecuatorial; nothing audible on 6250 but lots of ute QRM. Oops, WRTH does show a Radio LTC, Juliaca, Perú on 5005 or 5006, but have seen zero reports of that anytime in last few years (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6250, Radio Nacional Malabo (Malabo), 0608-0635, 2/4/2010, Spanish. Brief talk by man followed by West African pop music (one long, non- stop selection). Initially poor to moderate signal with deep fades and occasional utility interference. Strength became quite good 0615-0625 (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, RX-340, IC-R75, Random Wires (90' and 200'), ALA100M, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA [and non]. 15190, have not checked R. Africa lately whether they are still broadcasting convicted and sentenced to 175 years, child-marrying sex-criminal ``Tony Alamo``? Yes! Feb 8 at 2201, in the clear after YFR off 15195, there he is, conversing with his YL sidekick, and at 2226 she is reading some verses, prompted and with interjexions by Alamo. Good signal but deep fades. I also heard him earlier the same day around 1330 on WINB 9265, as he was comparing himself to some other religionists at the margins who have had problems with the law, David Koresh and Warren Jeffs (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also ITALY [non] ** ETHIOPIA. 6030, Radio Oromiya, 1517, Feb 6. Already on the air with repetitive HOA music and singing. Weekends (observed on a Saturday) have an earlier sign on than the weekday *1522. It was Bruce Churchill who first noted the difference (Thanks Bruce!); heard through CNR-1. Seems this one is no longer all that rare anymore! 7165, R. Ethiopia, 1537, Feb 6. Pop music and HOA music in vernacular (Afar scheduled); 1600 xylophone like music (very similar to the Radio Oromiya IS); “This is the external service of Radio Ethiopia broadcasting in English in the 31 meter band and 41 meter band in shortwave and 303 meters on medium wave. Our program begins with a news summary”; pop songs in English; many brief news items with music bridges; 1630 another “external service of Radio Ethiopia”; news in English; causing QRM for hams; mostly poor (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7110.0, Feb 5 at 0549 with Horn of Africa music, 0550 announcement and more music, fair. Always seems odd to hear them at this time, almost 9 am local, but has to be R. Ethiopia, domestic service scheduled 03-21 overall per WRTH. Aoki, however, shows this frequency OFF the air at 05-08 except weekends, and Uganda starting at 0600, but there have been NO reports in years of Uganda really on 7110. Also a weaker signal with music on 7175, no doubt more from Ethiopia, but nothing on 7165 except hams (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [and non]. 9560, Sunday Feb 7 at 1534 station in Chinese, with het whose pitch was constantly wavering. No doubt the latter is the perpetually off-frequency Ethiopia. Per WRTH, at 15-16 it`s carrying the clandestine Voice of Democratic Alliance, headquartered in Khartoum, against Eritrea, at the moment in Tigrinya, and also using Arabic, Afar, Kunama depending on day of week and which half hour. Aoki shows the Chinese as CRI via Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE [non]. On UT Feb 4 as in my previous report, I discovered that RFI`s Spanish service at 0100-0130 was on 7360 instead of 5995, via French Guiana, so naturally assumed that was one of their unpublicized February shifts. But 24 hours later, at 0102 UT Feb 5, 7360 is vacant and RFI is back on 5995, VG signal. May they make up their mind? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also GUIANA FRENCH ** GERMANY [non]. Having heard a quarter hour of open carrier at 1530 on 12035, see ASIA [non], I was not too surprised to hear more OC on frequency at 1701, no audio until 1703, YL news in French joined in progress; not // 15300 so not RFI but this is something else. 1705 all is revealed with DW jingle and ID as to Africa. This hour is scheduled via Woofferton UK, following a previous hour of same via Rampisham (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. I was wondering if there have been any loggings of Radio Santec on the shortwaves. It has been some time since I have seen a listing for their broadcasts. I have e-mailed the U.S. home office in Connecticut (Ed Insinger, RL Drake R8A + End-fed longwire 100 feet long, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The latest reports mentioning SANTEC were in DXLD 9-051 of last July, and some in June. I think those were about its appearances on MW in Europe. WRTH 2010 does have an entry for it on page 444, under GERMANY in the International Section showing the only SW frequency for the current `winter` season as 7310, Sundays at 1800-1900 via Moscow. That`s really part of the VOR German service, but altho several other programs are linked here, can`t find a program schedule for the entire German service! Perhaps they have stuff like this they`d rather hide: http://german.ruvr.ru/radio_broadcast/ Current Aoki makes no mention of Santec: 7310 VOICE OF RUSSIA 1700- 2100 1234567 German 250 260 Moskva RUS 03718E 5545N VOR b09 However, this page http://www.radio-santec.com/cms/index.php?id=frequenzen0&L=0 mentions MW 1323 kHz only for the Sunday 1900 MEZ broadcast. So it may no longer be on SW at all; this should be easy for Europeans to check out, but it`s too late this week. SANTEC has the traits of a cult, run by the Universal Life Church, and refers to the Urchrist, the original Jesus (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RUSSIA: Radio SANTEC, 9830 kHz, F/D QSL card, correctly verifying a written reception report sent by e-mail and sent again 3 more times. Also received 5 religious booklets about this Ministry in 427 days making this verification the longest awaited one, by me”!! (Julio Rolando Pineda Cordón, GUATEMALA, Feb CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** GOA. Last year I visited the SW & MW transmitters of AIR Panaji. Then I was told that they were changing their Vividh Bharati 20 kW transmitter on 1539 kHz to 828 kHz due to co channel interference from Voice of America. In November 2009 I heard them on the new 828 kHz and reported to them. Recently I got an email reply from the Station Engineer that they were on low power at that time and that now they are on full power. They are interested in reception reports of this transmitter. Reception Reports may be sent to Mr. V. N. Page, Station Engineer, AIR Panaji at the email id panaji.spt @ air.org.in By the way it is heard only very faintly at my location and there is co channel interference from Radio Pakistan. Incidentally the SW transmissions from AIR Panaji are not fully operational now. [Later:] According to latest info both the MW (828 kHz) & SW transmitters of AIR Panaji are currently operating on low power only. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad 500082, India, Feb 3, dx_india yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DXLD) ** GREECE. 7475, ERT at 0650 Feb 7, fun music which another listener evaluated as ``beer drinking songs``, due to wavering amateur pitches and general level of enthusiasm, but this was really the Sunday morning trihour Voice of Greece dedicates to Greek Orthodox services, where there is no separation of church and state broadcaster. But just as we were getting into it, cut off abruptly without announcement, explanation or apology, at 0652:35*. Yes, it`s time to retune that Avlis to 12105, come hell or high water. All we could do was retune to // 9420 for continuation, but much weaker there (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. R Filia relay today on 11645 kHz instead. ERT - ERA5 multi foreign languages relay of Radio Filia towards Europe at 0600 to 1000 UT usually on 12105 kHz appeared on the summer frequency today Feb 8th. German nx in progress at 0908 UT S=9+30dB signal in Germany. Scheduled - but not in reality. Europe (Foreign languages): 0600-1000 665 12105 (Albanian, English, French, Spanish 1000-1200 665 German, Russian, Arabic,Serbocroatian, 1200-1700 665 Bulgarian, Polish, Roumanian, Turkish) Noted Serbo-Croatian news at 1430-1500 UT today. R Filia http://tvradio.ert.gr/radio/liveradio/filia.asp (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I heard it on Monday on 11645, too, with Russian programming from 0930 to 10 UT. Then transmitter was turned off. I tried 11645 today but there was nothing. I should have checked 12105 but I didn't. 73, (Sergei S., ibid.) Yes, R Filia is now on 11645 kHz, also noted today Feb 9. On Monday 8th I also heard German at 0900, and Russian with ID at 0931 UT and world news. You are right Sergei, except: V of Greece Avlis site has MAINTENANCE day on every Tuesdays. This lasts irreg. vary from 0800 to 1100 UT in the morning, three TXs are off, but sometime the engineers start with 9420 and 15630 kHz units, and the break on 12105/11645 unit starts later on. On Tue Feb 9th I noted English 6-7 UT, and French 0700 til about 0740 UT, when I left the house. I guess the schedule block on 11645 kHz is like this now: 0600 En, 0700 Fr, 0800 Sp, Ge 0900, Ru 0930-1000 UT. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, ibid.) Despite the civil servants` strike in Greece`s deepening crisis, VOG seems to be operating as normally as usual, Feb 10 around 1500 on 15650; by 1546 that was off and an open carrier on 15630, with modulation applied by 1548, then announcer interrupting programming for listing of kilocyclon to different targets (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREENLAND. 3815 USB, KNR, Tasiilaq, 2059-2213*v, Jan 24, 25 and 27, Greenlandic talks and choir songs, 2130 Greenlandic news, 2200 Danish news and reports, fading in and out with SINPO up to 33443. Constant CWQRM morsing a callsign + occasional French conversations and Russian Airport calls KNR, Tasiilaq (USB). (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Feb 3 via DXLD) ** GUAM [and non]. 11940, at 1430 Feb 7, English ID from KSDA, Agat, introducing program in a language I could not catch, due to co-channel from Romania. Aoki says it`s Karen daily following Chin daily at 1400- 1430. Coincidentally, both stations are aiming 285 degrees from their respective sites, RRI`s being Galbeni, which due to their wide separation means there should be no conflict --- except way off here in deep North America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUIANA FRENCH. Now I think I know why I heard RFI Spanish at 0100- 0130 on 7360 instead of 5995, UT Feb 4 but vice versa on Feb 5. At 2312 Feb 5 I noticed a VG signal in Portuguese from YFR on 7360, prompting me to look it up and find that Montsinéry is scheduled all the way from 2200 to 0100. Aoki shows all three hours in Portuguese, but it was Camping in English after 0000 Feb 6. So GUF must have just failed to make the frequency change to 5995 on the date I heard RFI on 7360. Once again on Feb 6 at 0100, RFI Spanish was on correct 5995 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see FRANCE [non]; USA [non] ** GUINEA. Emissora da Guiné em 41 metros A Rádio Conakry, emissora da Guiné, continua chegando com bom sinal aqui em minha região. Estou monitorando-a por vários dias. Coincidência ou não, o fato é que nos dois últimos finais de semana o sinal foi captado com muito boa qualidade. Durante a semana também eu a tenho ouvido com bom sinal, vez ou outra com maior dificuldade, mas definitivamente a emissora tem estado presente no dial todos os dias. Outra curiosidade tem sido o horário de desligamento dos transmissores, que por vezes não obedece um horário padronizado, nem tão pouco tem ocorrido uma manifestação da emissora de que será desligada. Inesperadamente os transmissores são desligados durante a programação. Ja registrei horários de "tx off" às 0000, 2330 e até 2310 UT. Durante a programação, diversas músicas regionais, bem rítmicas, muito interessantes, locução em francés, ouvintes ao telefone. Nos últimos dois sábados, fiz diversas gravacões da programação. É possível ouvir também a ID por diversas vezes como "Rádio Guiné", sendo esta ID anunciada no início de algumas músicas. Os sinais tem sido ouvidos com boa qualidade na maior parte do tempo, tanto em equipamentos de mesa com antena externa, como equipamentos portáteis com antena telescópica. A qualidade de áudio da emissora é boa. [accents were missing until this last graf -- ?? gh] 7125 06/02 2320 GUI, R. Conakry, Sonfonia, mx local, id, cm FF, 35443 RX: Sommerkamp (Yaesu) FRG-7, antena long wire 10/14m, acoplador. Transglobe B-481, antena telescópica. Um abraco a todos e boas escutas! (Michel Viani - Osasco - São Paulo - Brasil, Membro do DX Clube do Brasil Feb 8, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** HAITI. Re 10-05, Commando Solo logs on 1030 kHz: Hi Glenn, Thanks very much for your email and sorry for the late reply; I just returned from China. Here are two audioclips. The programming was in French. At the top hour I heard the VOA station ID in English, so this might have been a VOA relay. With very best 73 (Jim Solatie, Finland, Feb 5, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Jim, Tnx very much. Glad to hear those, and apparently their frequency control is very accurate [no heterodynes audible, even sub- ]. Toward the middle of the 2255 clip I hear them mention ``Lavwadlamerik`` as I do on their extensive SW transmissions in Creole. Apparently the English station is WBZ, also I think mentioned about the same time. Did not hear VOA English ID, but I assume that was not part of the clips. 73, (Glenn to Jim, via DXLD) Hi Glenn, Yes, WBZ is the one interfering. And yes, VOA-ID came five minutes later. I am not 100 % sure if it was the same station, but obviously so. May I ask if you know any contact information to them? Wishing you a great weekend, (Jim Solatie, Finland, ibid.) I haven`t found the HQ address back in Pennsylvania; does anyone have it handy? (gh, DXLD) ** HAITI. HAITI BROADCASTING SITUATION REPORT FROM FCC . . .I want to tell you about a special need in Haiti now – the radio and TV stations. The earthquake affected all of Haiti’s communications infrastructure, but the damage to radio and TV stations has been particularly debilitating because they are normally staffed 24/7 so the proportional loss of life and building and equipment damage was enormous. The impact of the earthquake has strained the ability to spread information about humanitarian relief and other messages, not to mention music and recreational programming. A good thing about broadcasting is that it can reach so many people at once – when it’s working. Now more than ever, radio and TV is a critical source of information for the people of Haiti – regarding location of food and water distribution, medical services, shelter, weather, etc. By the time we left, only six of 18 TV licensees were on the air, and their operations were intermittent. The two licensed AM radio stations were off the air because they couldn’t afford the fuel needed to run the generators that would power their transmitters. Of the 40 licensed FM stations, 30 were on the air, with a few able to operate between 12-16 hours per day. Damaged facilities and equipment, limited fuel and lack of advertising revenue are really hurting the broadcasters in Haiti now. . . http://reboot.fcc.gov/blog?entryId=147736 (Mindel DeLa Torre, FCC via mwneditor, Feb 10, MWCircle yg via DXLD) Not a word about SW broadcasts from abroad, or Commando Solo; is she even aware of them? Earlier posts not checked (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** INDIA. The rare station, AIR Kohima was noted yesterday 5 Feb 2010 at around 1500 UTC. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, dx_india yg via DXLD) 4850, AIR Kohima, 1323-1340, Feb 6. Naga segment; 1340-1350, news and sports in vernacular; 1350-1401*, news and sports in English (Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh calls on states to work together with Center to bring food prices under control, Congress leader challenges Nagaland to enroll 1 lakh members, 22 taxi drivers arrested, security forces gun down four militants, list of medals won at the South Asian Games, etc.). IDs: “This is All India Radio Kohima” and “This news comes to you from All India Radio Kohima”; mostly fair. Erratic schedule since their special broadcast on eve of Republic Day (Jan 25); not on the air every day. Audio (MP3) at http://www.mediafire.com/?adzwyj4152j 4850, AIR Kohima, 1315-1402*, Feb 8. Usual format in vernacular and English. Today’s news all about Nagaland (Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has written to the North East Student Organization to assure them about the security of NE students in Delhi, which was in response to a memorandum sent to the PM, etc.), along with the weather. 1400, show “Calling All Nagaland” with DJ playing rock music; suddenly went off the air. I always find it interesting to learn what is happening in Nagaland! 5050, AIR Aizawl, 1604-1630*, Feb 8. Radio drama till 1629 sign-off announcement; too weak to make out language (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 13605, AIR IS very poor at 1514 Feb 9 interfering with CODAR; 1515 sign on with ``Hii ni``, an immediate confirmation that it`s in Swahili as scheduled until 1615, 150 kW, 280 degrees from Bangaluru per Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) + see GOA ** INDIA. Re 10-05: AIR to get 2 MW DRM transmitters for Gujarat, W Bengal WTFK? WRTH 2010 shows 1000 kW Chinsurah on 594 and 1134 kHz; are they presently sharing one old 1000 kW transmitter, partially for external services, so never both on the air at same time? With a new 1000 kW transmitter, would this remain the case, or would they be able to operate at the same time with one using the old transmitter? A megawatt of DRM on MW would be a terrific noise source. WRTH shows Rajkot A on 810 kHz, but only 300 kW, and no Rajkot B on the list (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Hi Glenn, Existing frequencies will remain same. Regarding additional usage no info available. Old txers will be dismantled. Regards (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re: All India Radio confirms order for two Megawatt DRM MW transmitters Hi Everyone, Just a quick note to say, I agree with the general opinion, DRM will be slow to catch on, if it's not already dead. I suppose, broadcasters have to start DRM broadcasts, if people are to buy receivers. I seem to remember that was the case with FM stereo. But at least with stereo, you could still receive the monaural broadcast. With DRM, you'll probably have to buy a new receiver. I don't see that happening in the USA (where "HD Radio" has been slow to catch on), let alone Third World and "emerging" nations. A consultant here in Australia tells me that DRM is "the flavor of the month" in Europe. Maybe it will take off there but again, I see its roll-out in other parts of the world as an unlikely prospect (David Sharp, NSW Australia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) DRM is rather dead after 14 years public promotion by the EU tax payer, a lot of conference, trade show, travel and entertainment expenses. Developed already in 1996 --- my DRM equipment got dusty under the hobby table since 2002 year. Wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) I really believe that DRM stands for Dumb Radio Morons. DRM will die out, because the turkeys in Europe running it are all (blank) up. They make a huge noise when some dance station from Belgium is on DRM to Asia. Who's listening? Get the VOA, RFI, RNW, BBCWS, DW, NHK, RA and others on DRM then make noise. I remember when Dumb Radio Morons were so proud to announce Voice Of Russia. Oh, like VOR is an important world broadcaster. LOL (Keith Perron, Taiwan, ibid.) WRONG - BBC & DW already has 40 hours of daily DRM transmissions, Australia opted for DAB+ & if I correctly remember VOA started tests last year. Voice of Russia - I'm not sure about your criteria for being an "important world broadcaster" but do you know how many hours of SW they put up everyday? (Alokesh Gupta, VU3BSE, New Delhi, India http://alokeshgupta.blogspot.com/ ibid.) RA also does a bit of DRM on SW; DAB+ of course not being for SW (gh) The point I am trying to make: Yes they have DRM, but who listens? Can I hear them in this part of the world? Where are the receivers? It's not like I can go to any electronics shop here in Taipei or Hong Kong or even Tokyo to buy one. I was being sarcastic about VOR. VOR is not what you would call a major world player in international radio. It's just as important at Voice Of Korea (Keith Perron, Taiwan, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) In my opinion DRM is pretty slow to grow up and after a decade we don't know whether it will actually show up or not! Although Indian authorities are highly supporting DRM, it may be just to generate new tenders and have a lot of money under the table for some contractors and higher officials - this is what we see often here in South Asia; authorities are least concerned about technology or requirement. And really VOR is no more an important broadcaster since after the 90's. But my main concern is the bandwidth DRM eats. If a DRM transmission eats up to 20 kHz bandwidth and causes splatter on that frequency range even outside the coverage area - it will be a curse to DXing. As per my knowledge, DRM and DAB are far different, but the upgradation is also required for equipments in both sides and DAB receivers are more costly solutions, even as my knowledge goes the DAB audio and transmissions are much better than DRM, but it costs much too. Awaiting your comments, regards, (Partha Sarathi Goswami, Siliguri, West Bengal, India, Cell: +91-94343-27414, Skype: dxinginfo Feb 4, dxldyg via DXLD) In Google Earth imagery Rajkot Paddhari 1071 kHz 1000 kW 22 30 01.31 N 70 31 12.03 E Calcutta Magra MW 594 & 1134 kHz 1000 kW 2-mast and 4-mast array 23 01 31.08 N 88 21 21.85 E (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) AIR'S IMMEDIATE DRM PLANS --- NEW INITIATIVES TAKEN BY ALL INDIA RADIO - A new 20 kW DRM enabled MW transmitter at Mall Road, Delhi replacing the old txer on 1368 kHz (used for VBS). Funds already allocated, transmitter to be installed before Commonwealth Games in Oct 2010. - A new 500 watt transmi8tter for local DRM transmission on 26 MHz in Delhi/NCR, planned to install before Commonwealth Games. - 500 kW old SW transmitter at SPT Bangalore to be replaced by SW DRM transmitter (Alokesh Gupta, VU3BSE, New Delhi, India, http://alokeshgupta.blogspot.com/ Feb 6, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDONESIA [non]. 17820, former CVC Darwin in Indonesian outlet, seemingly now carried via Tashkent-UZBEKISTAN site at reduced 0700- 1000 UT segment. 0930 UT on Feb 4. Noted S=9+10dB signal here in Germany. Scheduled formerly 0400-1000 UT via Darwin site. But terrible feedline in use, not very stable, many many breaks in between. Undoubtedly a pure bad Internet phone line quality. Program content was dull for a religious programmer, pop singer music program only. Also noted CVC Tashkent outlet in Hindi on 13630 kHz, suffers by only S=6 signal in Europe, scheduled 0400-1100 UT (wb, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 4 via WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DXLD) Really UZBEKISTAN? See AUSTRALIA, PALAU ** INDONESIA [and non]. 4750, RRI Makassar, SSOB, Feb 6 at 1420 in long-form piece of familiar piano music I wish I could place, with YL narration in Indonesian, later breaking into song. Must have been a `good Indonesian morning` on 60m if only I had been monitoring earlier. 5030 Malaysia also audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI at 1307 Feb 5 in English, presumed news but too undermodulated to follow, especially with the propagational fades being louder. 3325, RRI Palangkaraya was also in later in the hour, mostly music. 9526-, VOI missing again Feb 8 at 1243 check, while RRI 9680 was in well with music. No 9526- either at some other tunebys (tunebies?) in the following bihour. 9680 was airing ``Indonesian opera`` just before 1500 and as usual ran over, this time until 1501. Just as applause started, cut the carrier, so at least this transmitter op is paying some attention to what`s being modulated (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL. B-09 Schedule of VT Communications Relays Pt 2 of 3: WRN Premier League Football commentaries (times vary) 1230-1930 on 6230 TAC 100 kW / 090 deg to CHN Chinese Sat/Sun 1500-1930 on 5800 KV 100 kW / 330 deg to U.K. English Sat/Sun [Is VT really involved in these transmissions and WRN only re-sells VT services? I thought WRN makes shortwave arrangements directly with Radioagenstvo-M, Sentech and Media Broadcast. KV = Kiev, i.e. Brovary. If so 5800 would not be co-located with 5830 etc. (Radio Ukraine International with 100 kW) but instead with 5970 (UR1). Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST] Free North Korea Radio 1100-1200 NF 12155 DB 300 kW / 070 deg to KRE Korean, ex 12150 1300-1500 on 7490 DB 300 kW / 070 deg to KRE Korean 1900-2100 on 7530 ERV 300 kW / 065 deg to KRE Korean Radio Free Chosun 1200-1300 on 9950 TAC 100 kW / 065 deg to KRE Korean 1200-1300 on 11560 ERV 300 kW / 065 deg to KRE Korean 1545-1615 on 9940 ERV 300 kW / 065 deg to KRE Korean 2000-2100 on 7515 TAC 100 kW / 065 deg to KRE Korean Nippon no Kaze/Ilbone Baram 1300-1330 on 9655 TAI 100 kW / 002 deg to KRE Korean 1500-1530 NF 9975 HBN 100 kW / 345 deg to KRE Korean, ex 9690 DRW 1530-1600 on 9965 HBN 100 kW / 345 deg to KRE Korean Cornerstone Ministries International/Voice of Wilderness 1300-1400 on 9850 ERV 300 kW / 065 deg to KRE Korean [Cornerstone Ministries International/Voice of Wilderness: 1300-1400 on 9850 ERV 300 kW / 065 deg to KRE Korean 9965 kHz (ex 9850 kHz) de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, NDXC Feb 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)] Furusato no Kaze/Wind of Hometown 1330-1400 NF 9775 TAI 100 kW / 002 deg to KRE Japanese, ex 9950 TAI 1430-1500 NF 9950 HBN 100 kW / 345 deg to KRE Japanese, ex 9880 DRW 1600-1630 on 9780 TAI 250 kW / 045 deg to KRE Japanese JSR Shiokaze 1400-1430 on 5910 YAM 100 kW / 280 deg to KRE Jap/Kor/En/Ch alt 5985 2030-2100 on 6045 YAM 100 kW / 280 deg to KRE Jap/Kor/En/Ch alt 5965 Open Radio for North Korea 1400-1430 on 7550 ERV 300 kW / 065 deg to KRE Korean [Open Radio for North Korea 1400-1430 on 7550 ERV 300 kW / 065 deg to KRE Korean 1400-1500 (Add. 1430-1500) de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, NDXC Feb 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)] see also KOREA NORTH [non] below 2100-2200 on 7510 ERV 300 kW / 065 deg to KRE Korean North Korea Reform Radio 1500-1600 on 7590 TAC 100 kW / 065 deg to KRE Korean Voice of Freedom 1600-1700 on 6240 TAC 100 kW / 065 deg to KRE Korean + jamming Voice of Tibet 1330-1400 on 13695 DHA 250 kW / 070 deg to CeAs Tibetan Southern Sudan Interactive Radio Instruction: 1600-1700 on 11785 MEY 100 kW / non-dir to EaAf Arabic Sat-Thu SW Radio Africa 1700-1900 on 4880 MEY 100 kW / 005 deg to SoAf English Radio Huryaal 1730-1800 on 9855 DHA 250 kW / 215 deg to EaAf Somali Sat-Thu IBRA Radio 1730-1800 on 9615 WOF 250 kW / 114 deg to ME Arabic 1730-1800 on 11785 SKN 300 kW / 140 deg to EaAf Swahili 1730-1800 on 11975 MEY 100 kW / 015 deg to EaAf Somali 1800-1930 on 9635 SKN 300 kW / 140 deg to CeAf Arabic 1900-2030 on 7445 RMP 500 kW / 160 deg to WeAf Fulfulfe/Hausa/Others Zimbabwe Community Radio/Radio Dialogue 1755-1855 on 4895 MEY 100 kW / 000 deg to ZWE Ndebele/English/Shona Eglise du Christ 1900-1930 on 7260 SKN 250 kW / 175 deg to NoAf French Thu Radio Taiwan International 1900-2000 on 3955 SKN 250 kW / 106 deg to WeEu German 1900-2000 on 3985 SKN 250 kW / 175 deg to WeEu French UNIDentified 1900-2000 on 9515 SKN 300 kW / 095 deg to WeAs Farsi Sat-Mon [this item in WORLD OF RADIO 1499] WRN RTE Radio One 1930-2030 on 6225 MEY 100 kW / non-dir to SoAf English HCJB Global 2100-2145 on 12025 SAC 250 kW / 073 deg to NoAf Arabic Radio Australia 2200-2330 on 5935 DHA 250 kW / 105 deg to SEAs Indonesian 2200-2400 on 12040 HBN 100 kW / 270 deg to SEAs English 2300-2330 on 5955 DHA 250 kW / 090 deg to SEAs Burmese 0000-0030 on 15225 HBN 100 kW / 270 deg to SEAs Indonesian 0100-0130 on 15655 HBN 100 kW / 270 deg to SEAs Burmese 0400-0430 on 15780 HBN 100 kW / 270 deg to SEAs Indonesian 0500-0530 on 15590 HBN 100 kW / 270 deg to SEAs Indonesian 1100-1300 on 17880 DHA 250 kW / 090 deg to SEAs English 1300-1430 on 9890 HBN 100 kW / 318 deg to EaAs Chinese 1600-1630 on 9965 HBN 100 kW / 270 deg to SEAs Burmese [Radio Australia 1600-1630 on 9965 HBN 100 kW / 270 deg to SEAs Burmese Chinese (not Burmese) de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, NDXC Feb 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)] Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation 2215-2245 on 6180 CYP 250 kW / 314 deg to SEEu Greek Fri-Sun 2215-2245 on 7210 CYP 300 kW / 314 deg to SEEu Greek Fri-Sun 2215-2245 on 9760 CYP 250 kW / 315 deg to SEEu Greek Fri-Sun Suaab Xaa Moo Zoo 2230-2300 on 7510 TAI 100 kW / 250 deg to SEAs Hmong [2230-2300 on 7510 TAI 100 kW / 250 deg to SEAs Hmong not heard from February 1 de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, NDXC Feb 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)] Radio República 2300-0400 on 9810 RMP 500 kW / 285 deg to Cuba Spanish (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 8 via WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DXLD) ** IRAN. 13810.00, IRIB Kamalabad in Albanian logged at 0630-0728 UT with strong S=9+30dB signal in southern Germany. But also transmission of two accompanied spurious signals synchronously observed some 69 kHz away both sides, on 13736-13744 and 13876-13883 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 5 via harmonics yg via DXLD) 15545, at 1420 Feb 5, Qur`an with long pauses, fluttery signal peaking S9+8; 1442 conversation in Arabic. This is VIRI which has a very long continuous Arabic broadcast 0530-1628 via Sirjan, 500 kW, 295 degrees, per Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND [non]. RTE Radio, 31 January 2010 at 2015 UT tune-in on 6225 kHz. Program in progress about depression. Partial station ID picked up at 2028: "Dublin... on the web at wrn.org... World Radio Network." Then a female announcer said: "If you would like to subscribe to the newsletter, go to wrn.org." Final ID at 2030: "You are listening to the World Radio Network." Picked up bits and pieces of programming, due to low signal strength and fading. Off abruptly at 2030. I sent a reception report to hearus @ rte.ie on 1 February 2010 and received an acknowledgment from Sean at RTE three hours later. He said a QSL will come later (Ed Insinger, RL Drake R8A + End-fed longwire 100 feet long, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. 15785.0, instead of 2-3 kHz lower was Galei Tsahal, Feb 8 at 1525 with discussion in Hebrew; poor signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. /EGYPT[?] 9450.00, Ein unidentifiziertes Programm mit arabischer Musik gehoert zwischen 1015 und jetzt 1035 UT, Feb 4. Nur ein S=6 Signal. Stark gestoert durch ein Dittering UTE RTTY Signal mit zwei peaks auf 9447.91 kHz. Letzteres aber nicht im Zusammenhang mit dem Grund der Aussendung auf 9450 kHz zu sehen. Auf 9450 treibt sich vormittags oft der israelische M_ossa_d mit Fuenfergruppen-Verlesung herum, und die arabische Musik mit aegyptischen Einschlag der Nasserzeit in den Sechzigern ist praktisch die Overtuere dazu. Diese Frequenz 9450 wurde schon oft auf der ENIGMA ng berichtet (wb, A-DX Feb 4) Schoenes Video dazu (M_OSSA_D) unter (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. RAI Medium Wave Network usually relaying RAI R1, is also broadcasting live audio from RAI TV channels with appropriate commentary for audio impaired people (we call it in Italian "audiodescrizioni" litterally "audiodescriptions"). Shortly before the TV programme does begin an announcement is made as the radio programme is about to be interrupted (it continues on FM, of course) normally between 2015 and 2030 UT to continue until about 2200-2215 UT. In the next days audio from TV and action descriptions will be broadcast on MW: Sant'Agostino (a fiction about St. Augustine, Rai TV 1, Jan 31 and Feb 01, 2010) Mi ricordo di Anna Frank (Remembering Anne Frank, Rai TV 1, Jan 27) Desperate Housewives 5 - (the same you have all over the world, but in Italian! RAI Tv2, on Fridays until end of April) followed (but only until end of February) Brothers and Sisters 3 (also an American series). Io e mio figlio (My Son and I) a police fiction entirely staged in Trieste about 2015-2215 on Feb 02 UT (Luigi Cobisi, Firenze, Italy, DSWCI DX Window Feb 3 via DXLD) ** ITALY [non]. 5990, UT Tue Feb 9 at 0620 as I tuned across, heard the unmistakable voice of ``Tony Alamo``. Some adjacent QRM from Mali 5995. 5990 is IRRS via SLOVAKIA, a.k.a. European Gospel Radio, a.k.a. NEXUS-IBA, whose frequency schedule shows 5990 at 0530-0630 Mon-Thu, while the program schedules have been changed to show 5990 and Alamo starting instead at 0700 CET = 0600 UT Mon-Thu only; still until 0630, or 0700 now? Standard remarx about Alámo. The latest press reports on his unenviable situation: http://www.tonyalamonews.com/ (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 7480 with N Korean-style oscillating whoop- whoop jamming plus pulsing, Feb 10 at 1358 against weak unidentifiable signal. But nothing fits. Per Aoki until 1400 on 7480 is FEBC Iba, Philippines, due west in Nung on Sun-Wed, Bru on Thu-Sat. Both are tribal languages in Vietnam per EiBi http://www.eibispace.de/dx/README.TXT but it is hard to imagine them mounting a jamming campaign even if they object strenuously to being evangelized by the alien Christian monotheists. After 1400 on 7480, it`s only IBB`s R. Aap ki Dunyaa in Urdu, via Sri Lanka. The jamming lingered but stopped by 1402. 7480 is also used at other dayparts by R. Free Asia, and could also be for some N Korean clandestine, but none known to be scheduled now. 7480 is however reserved by WRN for the Tashkent transmitter at 13-15, 65 degrees to China and North Korea, so something new may have just started. WRN is already on 7490 via Tajikistan with R. Free North Korea at 13-15, but that`s totally blocked here by WWCR, which at the moment was not strong enough to impede 7480. Could that have shifted to 7480 in a futile attempt to evade jamming? 7550 with more NK-style oscillating jamming at 1403. This one is easily explained because since Feb 1, Open Radio for North Korea has been there at 1400-1500, 300 kW, 65 degrees from Armenia, per Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 7590, Feb 6 at 1533 oscillating Juche jammer against something weak under, i.e. North Korea Reform Radio via Tashkent, UZBEKISTAN, 15-16, 100 kW, 65 degrees per Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 9950, Feb 6 at 1440 YL monolog in Japanese, then Korean, 1444 definitely Japanese, unusually strong signal muscling aside even the DentroCuban jamming against WRMI on 9955. At 1450 she was announcing e-mail and website, using English letters, but so Japanese-accented that I could not copy them, except for .jp. Off at 1459:30*. Must be mixing languages, but this is officially the Japanese version of Furusato no Kaze, one of the clandestines concerned with abduxions by the North Koreans, site being PALAU at 1430-1500, while their other transmitter on 9930 also closed at same time; see USA [non]. As on WORLD OF RADIO 1498, Hiroshi and S. Hasegawa gave us the current schedule for these via Taiwan and Palau, as of Feb 2, post-Darwin: Furusato no Kaze in Japanese 1333-1357 9775 via TWN (ex 9950) 1430-1500 9950 via PLW (ex 9880 via Darwin) 1600-1630 9780 via TWN Ilbone Baram (Nippon no Kaze) in Korean 1300-1330 9655 via TWN 1500-1530 9975 via PLW (ex 9690 via Darwin) 1530-1600 9965 via PLW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN [non]. 7540, V. of Mesopotamia with typical Kurdish music, Feb 6 at 1533, fair with flutter. Not often heard here unlike regular 11530 before 1500 QSY. Both are 129 degrees from ``Simferopol``, UKRAINE, meaning really Mykolaiv as in Ukrainian, Nikolayev as in Russian. I get the spelling differences toward the end, but not why one starts with M and the other with N. BTW, at least half the time, it seems, English-writers misspell ``Ukrainian`` leaving out the I in the middle, despite the fact that the natives stress that very letter, not allowing it to be swallowed as merely a member of a diphthong. [see LANGUAGE LESSONS] 11530 via UKRAINE, V. of Mesopotamia, Feb 9 at 1424 Kurdish rap with piano accompaniment, which must be heard to be believed; 1425 segué reverted to more traditional music, whew, for rest of hour until 1500* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. Re 10-05: Fortunately, someone saved the video from YouTube, before it was deleted, and here it is now in attachment on DXLD YG with this post. Just right click on file and "Save As ...". It's a WMV file, 4 minute long, 4.2 MB large. YG allows only maximum 5 MB per attachment. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/attachments/folder/890114758/item/list (via DrAgan Lekic, Serbia, Feb 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Rotatable antenna at IBB Kuwait MW and SW site. Many thanks Stephan, download worked fast due of 5890 Kbit/s transmission. Most questions solved now, when watched to the Johnson Imagineering video from IBB Kuwait Transmitting Station. At IBB Kuwait site the erection phase #2 is in progress: 1 - erection of MW station for Radio Farda Kuwait relay 1386 kHz service, remove of ex 600 kW Harris MW sender unit from Kavalla Greece to Kuwait site and to erect newly 3-mast antenna in north-easterly corner of the area too. close to 29 31 17.36 N 47 41 24.74 E 2 - both two 250 kW Continental SW units removed from former IBB RFE/RL Holzkirchen Germany site switched on at Kuwait recently. Via the antenna matrix at Kuwait site 4 x 250 TX via maximal 12 antenna positions [connected to fixed 70 degrees curtain arrays and via the new rotatable Thomson antenna soon], watch Johnson Imagineering video at 2.35 minutEs duration, "Monitor and Control" image precise. 3 - matches in connection to item #2, the very new Thomson AHR 2/2 antenna, rotatable at around 360 degrees and soon in full broadcasting service of more 10 IBB scheduled transmissions. That's not a pure ALLISS antenna type. There are new fixed RIGID dipole elements in use, but the accompanied transmitter is not placed on the shaft mast, like at other Thomson made installations at Issoudun France, Nauen Germany, Montsinery French Guiana, and Qiqihar Heilongjiang in China [of April 2003], but signal is fed by more than 1 kilometerlong feeder line from transmitter house, like in Sines Portugal and Abuja Nigeria implemented. Similar "Thomson RIGID dipole antenna" erected worldwide, like at Sines Portugal, RTL Luxembourg Junglinster, Radio Pakistan Karachi Landhi, Abuja Nigeria and Turkey revolving at Emirler and Çakirlar sites. According to the Video and fixed points like TX house, nearby Communications-Tower and the satellite antennas, also the view to the highway road, the main power masts and the 1593 kHz MW twin mast array in the northwestern corner of the area, the new rotatable Thomson AHR 2/2 antenna should be narrowed to the location at 29 31 22.22 N 47 40 19.60 E see accompanied Google Earth screenshot image. Feeder line to the Thomson antenna is more than 1 kilometer in length. See type table on page 4 of the PDF pamphlet of Thomson AHR 2/2 antenna in http://www.grassvalley.com/assets/media/2072/TRB-RDAnt-R1.0.pdf 4 different antenna types, like single, two, or 4 vertical dipole rows, as well as up to four horizontal dipole layouts seen, also with different gain levels. PDF pamphlet: "The newly developed Rigid Dipole Technology combines design principles as implemented in rotatable shortwave antennas with the advantages of curtain antennas." (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Feb 5 via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR [non]. R. Mada, 15670 now colliding with Miraya FM: see SUDAN [non] ** MALAYSIA/SARAWAK. 5030, Sarawak FM via RTM, 1418 + 1444, Feb 6. In vernacular; Saturday format of repetitive indigenous music accompanied by chanting/singing, along with on-air phone call. Would think that this unique chanting would help folks to confirm they are hearing this station on Saturdays; fair. Audio (MP3) at http://www.mediafire.com/?m3zgzz0jtf0 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5030, RTM Sarawak, Feb 9 at 1359 fair playing Tom Jones` ``Lonely Is a Man Without Love``, accurate 2-pip timesignal at 1400, less modulated talk, presumed news in local language; SINPO 25433, i.e. Cuba 5025 too weak to bother now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Autorizan: Canal 21 al GDF; 94.1 FM a la UAM; 1670 AM a Anáhuac. El pleno de la Comisión Federal de Telecomunicaciones (Cofetel) autorizó la operación de la señal digital de televisión al Gobierno del Distrito Federal (GDF), al Congreso de la Unión y a la Universidad de Guadalajara para que sean vistos en señal abierta. En el Valle de México autorizó además un par de señales de radio para la UAM y la Universidad Anáhuac [Reforma] Se trata del primer paquete de concesiones o permisos de televisión que entrega la Cofetel luego de la decisión de la Corte de reconocer su facultad para otorgar, revocar y refrendar concesiones de radio y televisión abiertas. Al canal del GDF se le asignó la frecuencia 512-518 MHz, canal 21, y al Congreso, la frecuencia 656-662 MHz, canal 45. La Cofetel aprobó además cinco permisos de radio de baja potencia para que la Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana opere estaciones con fines culturales en cada uno de sus campus en la frecuencia 94.1 de Frecuencia Modulada. También otorgó un permiso a la Productora y Difusora Universitaria, de la Universidad Anáhuac, para que opere una estación en la frecuencia 1670 de Amplitud Modulada. El resto de las autorizaciones de radiodifusión corresponden a 10 permisionarios que servirán a diferentes comunidades para cuestiones de interés social, entre ellas Plenitud de Vida, A.C., ubicada en Nayarit con la frecuencia 1280 AM. ... Por Staff IRVM Enero 28, 2010 Fuente: http://bit.ly/9UhkL1 (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DXLD) More mainly about FM authorizations. NOTE a new educational X-bander is coming on 1670! (gh, DXLD) ** MEXICO. 4800, XERTA (Radio Transcontinental) (Mexico City), 0655- 0705, 2/4/2010, Spanish. Lively pop music. Announcements by man at 0659, followed by more music. Identification at 0704. Generally poor signal with some good peaks (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, RX-340, IC- R75, Random Wires (90' and 200'), ALA100M, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. 4800, Feb 8 at 0621, preacher speaking Spanish in conversational tone, what a relief compared to overwrought David Miranda via Brasil 9565 a few minutes earlier; weak but almost readable signal vs CODAR. XERTA is seldom heard here this well, or at all, and must be very low power, tho it does make it to Spain (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6104.752, 0737 UT, XEQM, Candela FM, XEMH. Local music in Spanish and comments by OM. ID "Candela nacional". Fair reception. Same time Radio Educación on 6185 at 0744, very good signal and clear audio with classical music, mostly piano. 6009.960, 0750, XEOI Radio Mil. Typical local Spanish music, fair reception. The LA stations are also good on the MW band, best time 0700 UT sunrise!! Perseus SDR, Several Kaz antennas + Marconi, + preamp. 12db 73, (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, Feb 6, HCDX via DXLD) ** MOLDOVA. On MW 999 kHz Grigoriopol site heard Mon-Fri in Russian at 0430-0500 UT with ID "Pragramma Prdnestrovia". It is already renamed ID from the earlier "Radio Pridnestrovia". All news and comments are with friendly words to Moldovian authorities in Chisinau, not as earlier. The announcement at 0457 UT was "We are on the air Mondays to Fridays on FM from 11 and from 20 and on MW 999 kHz from 6 to 8 MT", respectively 08 & 17 UT on FM and 0300-0500 UT on 999 kHz (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 5 via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) ** MONGOLIA [non]. MONGOLIA/RUSSIA, Checked on different times and weekdays but seems radio Voice of Mongolia in Russian is not using more the facilities of Voice of Russia in Russian and it is probably since 01.01.2010 (Rumen Pankov-BUL, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 5 via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) ** MOROCCO [and non]. RTM normally switches from 15341 to 15345 around 1500, but Feb 5 it was already on 15345 at 1418, undermodulated and with usual whine, leaving 15340 clear for HCJB Australia, which was inaudible. This transmission is supposedly not among those HCJB has suspended because of wind damage to antennas, and often does not propagate here anyway. Recheck at 1802, Arabic music still on 15345, and I think the whine is still self-imposed, not a het from Argentina if it is still there, as usual blocked by Morocco during European service. RTVM still on 15345 instead of 15341, Feb 7 at 1424, Arabic with perpetual whine out of transmitter. Have they also left 15341 completely earlier in the day? Morocco does not participate in HFCC, but we can`t help but wonder if as part of the just-concluded conference in Kuala Lumpur, representative of HCJB Australia somehow prevailed upon Morocco to get off 15341, especially since they weren`t running it on 15340, and always causing a het to HCJB using 15340 at 1145-1530, 307 degrees from Kununurra to Asia. Aoki`s latest info was for B-08: `15340`, 09-15, RTVM, 250 kW, 110 degrees from Nador, then 15345 same parameters at 15-22. Making a shift at 1500 from 15340/1 to 15345 may have originally had some interference-avoiding purpose, no longer vigent and may as well be on 15345 from 0900. Axually, in the best of all possible worlds, the current situation calls for RTVM to shift from 15345 back to 15340 sometime between 1530 and 1700 or 1800, liberating 15345 for ARGENTINA! Fat chance. RAE was supposedly developing some kind of relationship with HFCC short of full participation requiring payment of dues, much less attending conferences in person. Did the Moroccans even show up as informal observers when a recent HFCC was held in nextdoor Tunisia? So much for my hypothesis that RTM had quit using 15341 in favor of 15345 as monitored the past couple days: Feb 8 at 1414 they were back on 15341, poor signal and undermodulated Arabic. Sometime during the next hour, probably circa 1500, switched to 15345 where found at next check 1526. I suppose the variation is just a matter of sloppy get- around-to-it operation. Still not detecting HCJB Australia even as a het from 15340. 15341, RTM at 1452 Feb 10, wailing music, self-imposed whine but no het from anything on 15340 such as scheduled HCJB Australia. Next check 1545 had shifted to 15345 with same whine, and now also long/short path echo, going from music to phone caller (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. 5770, Myanmar Defense Forces Br. Station (presumed), 1447- 1528*, Feb 8. In vernacular; pop and indigenous songs; the usual indigenous instrumental music at sign off; mostly fair; above average reception. 5985.0, Naypyidaw Myanma Radio, 1530-1600*, Feb 8. In English; the usual format of news, weather, slogans (“Only with stability and peace will the nation develop. Only with stability and peace will democratization process be successful . . .”); music (Celine Dion singing “Have You Ever Been In Love”, etc.); Anthem. QRM till 1557, after which Myanmar was well heard (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Monitored schedule of Myanma R goes like this: 5915, 2315-0230, 0730v-1530*, 5985, 2300-0130, 0930-1600*; 7200, 0030-0230v 0300 weekends, 9730, 0300-0730, old Yangon transmitter. 9730.85, 0731-1130. Transmitters on 5915, 5985, 7200, 9730 from Nay Pye Taw (and you must pronounce it Naypa Taaaawi!). (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka in UADX, via DSWCI DX Window Feb 4 via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. I`m such a lucky guy; once again quite by chance without any conscious intent, I am tuned to 9670 for RNW`s easily missed one-minute English broadcast! Feb 5 at 1256 I hear the RNW IS, 1257-1258* interview in English with a kid about something. What is really happening: this is the tail end of the 1230 Dutch transmission to Indonesia via IBB Tinian, where they don`t cut it off when it`s really over at 1257, and the program feed circuit switches to English in progress for reasons unknown (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEWFOUNDLAND. RADIO FREE NOGGIN COVE GOOD OLE COUNTRY – Cyril Gillingham is entertaining the locals in Noggin Cove with his own amateur radio station, playing old school country tunes for those who grew up with only a radio in their childhood homes. Andrew Robinson/The Beacon [caption] AMATEUR RADIO ENTHUSIAST SPINS OLD TIME COUNTRY BY ANDREW ROBINSON The Beacon In Noggin Cove, Cyril Gillingham said there are many older folks who love to hear old time country music – the sort of sounds they used to hear growing up in the community. It’s a style largely ignored by most commercial stations, who now have playlists dominated by the likes of Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, and Taylor Swift. Now, Mr. Gillingham is trying to fill that old school country void through a hobby he’s put a lot of passion into. With a modest amount of equipment, Mr. Gillingham is operating an amateur radio station out of his attic in Noggin Cove. “I was always into old country music,” said the retired fishermen, sitting in an attic filled with CDs and musical instruments. “I got myself a little transmitter, and I had the other equipment from DJing dances, so I got a little five-watt transmitter and went from there.” . . . [more] Source: http://www.ganderbeacon.ca/index.cfm?sid=324091&sc=305 (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, and Kim Elliott, DXLD) Er, you can`t play music on an amateur radio station, legally. So who is confused here? Story now has several comments, including from some of his fans, but nowhere is a frequency mentioned. I added my comment with that very question on Feb 9, but still not showing Feb 10 as the moderator mulls it? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. Blue Oyster Cult song --- re 10-05, gh`s log of The Crystal Ship, 5385.4: ``Don`t Fear the Reefer`` It's "Don't Fear the Reaper" - one should NEVER fear good reefer! (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 1170, KFAQ, IBOC had been turned off at 2012 UT check Feb 5; finally 1160 and 1180 were clear for DX on the caradio, altho this early, there wasn`t any. Had been on constantly in daytime, so we`ll have to see if this be a fluke or a policy change. Then a sesquihour later, the powerline noise level around much of Enid was up, a lot like IBOC except it`s all over the band. Arrgh. KFAQ 1170 Tulsa IBOC is still off at 1555 UT check Feb 6; I am beginning to be hopeful (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1170 KFAQ IBOC still off this morning 1555Z (0955 CST) 06FEB10. Thanks for the heads-up on this one, Glenn (Bruce Winkelman, Tulsa, OK, ABDX via DXLD) Seems we both checked at exactly the same time! And still off ever since (gh) [back on night and day by UT Feb 11 --- gh] ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. I have long noticed on the caradio that there is something wrong with KSPI 780 Stillwater, a sports talker; Feb 8 at 2049 UT I was hearing hets of almost the same pitch when stepped 10 kHz to much weaker stations on adjacent frequencies, both of them attempting to play music for our enjoyment: 770, KAAM Garland, The Metroplex, TX, with ``The Way You Look Tonite``, nostalgia format, and 790, KXXX Colby KS, with ``Rhinestone Cowboy`` in country format; and mixed with news/talk from KFYO Lubbock TX There is also a higher-pitched whine when tuned to KSPI itself. It`s about 50 miles away, and hard to believe a daytimer with such a big signal here is only 250 watts. They must be modulating it to the hilt. I think it is putting out spurs, but will have to see if I can measure them on some other radio. [later: YES, detected close to 776 and 784] BTW, years ago in Enid I had no problem hearing daytime groundwave from KXXX in the NW corner of KS, or KFYO, also over 300 miles away in West Texas, nulling one or the other, but not any more with KSPI on one side and augmented KQCV OKC 800 on the other, now 2.5 kW instead of original 250 watt outlet. Trying to remember its original call from the 1960s when I started, but FCC call sign history can`t either. KQCV also makes it tough to listen to WHB ex-KCMO Kansas City on 810. 1220, Feb 8 at 2052 UT, looking for the Asian station from The Metroplex, but only hearing weak soul/gospel music outlet; a few minutes later, lengthy local commercial by obnoxious pitchman, but could not copy anything pinning it to KTLV Midwest City or OKC, due to splash from 1230 WBBZ Ponca City with music most of the time. Less than an hour later, I was not getting 1220 at all. FCC shows the 250 watts are direxional with major lobes at 60 and 250 degrees, nulls including 340 degrees, close to Enidward, so it could still be on but with little signal here, while 250 W would be plenty if it were nondirexional. Forget about it at night, 5 watts on same pattern. NRC AM Log 2009 shows format UC/GOS, which fits, and slogan ``Key To Living Victoriously`` --- gee, I always thought KTLV was supposed to evoke ``Twelve``. And furthermore it`s marked -I for IBOC, if so, certainly undetectable here. 1610, at quiet spots in western Enid one can make out the NWS relay via Great Salt Plains State Park TIS, WQCL720, axually licensed to the town just south, Jet. Quick & Easy leads right to the GE image at http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=36.742500,-98.132222&=0.03805,0.06727&t=k&hl=en We located the mast in the park area to the left of the road opposite the airstrip, where BTW, our ``local`` NEXRAD weather radome is located, identified with Vance AFB, both quite a distance away. 1610 used to alternate NWS Enid 162+ MHz relays with local loop of info about attraxions at the park and other towns such as Cherokee, but lately I have heard nothing but NWS so perhaps the old tape wore out after never having been changed for years, turn-it-on-and-forget- it. Back to the point, on Feb 8 at 2140 I was unusually getting QRM from another 1610 TIS, believe it`s YL voice, making 1 Hz SAH, most likely from the next closest one, Kansas Turnpike Authority, per MW List Quick & Easy: ``WPQG483 Wellington, KS 0.01 nr jct k35 & us 160 hwy`` which provides its own weather and traffic alerts for paying travelers (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. JOHN BRYANT To my DXplorer friends -- It is my sad duty to inform you that yesterday John Bryant fell from a ladder and received injuries that resulted in his death this morning. As you are, I am shocked -- John was not only one of my best friends but also a writing partner and travel buddy. As I find out details on arrangements I will keep you posted. Please raise a glass to John – we have all lost a valued friend and colleague. Harold Cones (via Ultralight yg via Kirk Allen, TX, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello All, The unpleasant news of John's sudden passing comes as a deep personal shock to both Guy Atkins and me, since we both knew him very closely, and have enjoyed years of his close friendship and guidance. This has included joint DXpeditions, joint technical projects, article drafting partnership, etc. Although Guy certainly enjoyed a much longer friendship with John, during the past two years John and I had become very close in our cooperative partnership to found, organize, promote and direct the Ultralight Radio segment of the AM-DXing hobby. John had a natural talent for organization, something that a wildly enthusiastic (but extremely diverse) ULR enthusiast group desperately needed in late 2007. Our small group was definitely outside of the "mainstream" of the AM-DXing community at the time, and many of the established DXers viewed us with a high degree of skepticism -- doubting even the concept of serious DXing with pocket radios. To John's credit, although he was certainly one of the "established DXers," he kept an open mind about our enthusiastic movement, and discovered (like most of us) that Ultralight Radio DXing was indeed thrilling... thrilling enough to rejuvenate his interest in the hobby itself. Freely donating his superb organizational talent to the Ultralight Radio cause, John was instrumental in the creation of the Definitions Committee, Awards Committee and Contest Committee. When the Yahoo Ultralightdx group was founded in early 2008, John's expertise and experience were essential in establishing the vibrant and fast-growing forum that we enjoy today. John and I constantly shared ideas about the challenges facing the Ultralight Radio movement, such as the impending exhaustion of file space on the booming Ultralightdx site. Although we occasionally had our differences of opinion, we enjoyed a very deep level of mutual respect, based upon our cooperative success (along with many others) in building up this vibrant sub-group of the AM-DXing hobby. Ironically John had recently made the decision to become a full-time resident of Washington state, and both Guy and I were looking forward to spending more time with him. There isn't much more to write at this point, since like Guy I am still in a state of shock over this very unpleasant news. Please join us in expressing your condolences to his family, when the details of the ceremony are posted (Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA), Feb 9, IRCA via DXLD) What sad news. John was a real DX "star" and will be missed greatly. I had the pleasure of visiting John a couple of years ago at his Stillwater, OK home and listened to his DX recordings from his Easter Island DXpedition (Bruce Winkelman, Tulsa, OK, NRC-AM via DXLD) Just got the news from one of my brothers, Walter Salmaniw - who was barely consolable. This is, indeed, a loss that we cannot measure, that we cannot comprehend - losing a big man... a smart man. A heart bigger than most radios. Who, alone, made some of the most significant contributions to the betterment of the radio hobby. I had coffee with John a few years back - and one had the sense that he was a born leader - with so much to give... and to quote Walter, "I expected another 20 years of John..." Let us gather, alone, in groups large and small and raise the glass of our choice - a toast... To our friend John Bryant. And hope - that his journey was swift - and pain free and that the DX where he is now is half as good as he made it here. God speed John Bryant (Colin Newell, Victoria, British Columbia, IRCA via DXLD) I'm not sure I can add anything to Colin's and Gary's words. I had the privilege of knowing John for somewhat longer, to well over 20 years ago, when a Sunday afternoon phone call came out of the blue, asking about details on a Beverage matching transformer that had been publicized in DX Monitor. He took that ball and ran with it, writing a big article about his adventures with it --- and ever since, he had been trying new things, sharing his findings in many articles in the club bulletins, and then on the Internet, organizing DXpeditions, the Proceedings of fine tuning, a least a couple of specialist Yahoo groups, and just generally being a spark plug for the hobby. I don't think that anyone can replace him (Nick Hall-Patch, Victoria, BC, Canada, IRCA via DXLD) Folks, I am overwhelmed with emotion after reading this news. John was a good friend, always an excellent conversationalist, with a sharp insight. He is already missed (Phil Bytheway, Seattle WA, ibid.) This has been a sad and shocking day for many of us, as Gary has written so eloquently. My friendship with John spanned 24 years, and I have so many fond memories of Grayland DXpeditions and other get- togethers with him. So much of what I've learned about the finer points of DXing techniques, propagation, radio modding, etc. was a result of John's free and enthusiastic sharing of his knowledge. John's leaving us so suddenly has impacted my whole family. We spent many wonderful summer weekends over the years visiting John and Linda at their Orcas Island property, or hosting them at our Puyallup home during their travels between Washington and Oklahoma. Like Gary I'm still in shock over this news. Please remember John's wife Linda and daughter Mary Ellen and her family in your thoughts and prayers (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA, IRCA via DXLD) This is indeed very sad news. I'd known John since the early 90's and always admired his uncommonly high levels of enthusiasm and energy. His contributions to the hobby have been enormous and will be very much missed (Bruce Portzer, WA, IRCA via DXLD) As others have said, and much more eloquently than I could, this is indeed a sad day for the DX world. Our small community can ill-afford the loss of someone who contributed so much. I only had the pleasure of meeting John the one time, at the Seaside convention, but we'd exchanged numerous e-mails, and as has been noted John was always most willing to share his wealth of knowledge. He is gone from us much too soon, but he most certainly lived his time to the fullest, getting the most from the hobby, and from life in general (Nigel Pimblett, Dunmore, Alberta, IRCA via DXLD) Oh my Lord, What can I say? What a terrible loss. John Bryant gone? He has been a wonderful close friend. This is terrible. I am so sorry to hear this. It just shows us all how fragile life is. Rest in peace my good friend, John. You will really be missed. What horrible news. Colin, Nick, Gary and all, It is indeed a rough night for all of us. I just came online a bit ago and I am shocked by John's death. I remember all of the times I visited with John at Grayland and when he stopped by the house with his wife. We talked hours about antennas, DX, and QSLs. I just came from the DX Room where I have the MW550P proudly sitting there that I bought from John a few years back. What a terrible loss. It is rough to even type this, and it is going to be rough night sleeping too (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) Shocking news. His accomplishments were many and varied. Former head of the OSU School of Architecture, co-writer of three books on Zenith radios and one on the history of Newport News, VA. He was a big part of the Corazon DX e-mail list, and, of course, helped spearhead the Ultralight Receiver movement two years ago. DXed for two weeks in lonely Easter Island year before last. RIP (Steve Francis, Alcoa, Tennessee, ibid.) A really wonderful warm considerate person, and one of the great DXers. The stuff he heard. Wow! He sure will be missed. Just think, I got an e mail from him a few weeks ago, saying, he would be at the 2010 Seaside convention. I remember in 2006 when he organized the talk sessons at the convention. One amazing man. Life just doesn't seen fair at times, does it? (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) Just opened a 25 year old bottle of Scotch. Have been looking at it for some time. And the time was right - to toast a man who left us all way to soon. I share the thoughts, grief and pain of those he loved, those he shared his life with, his family and friends. John's reportage was as integral to the hobby and our environment as the very components that made up our hobby; the Earth, wind, and sky... And now part of our hobby is gone. We move forward even though today we feel an irreparable loss. Thoughts and prayers to you John. (Colin Newell, Victoria, British Columbia, ibid.) If I was there, I would help you with the toast. John was a man that loved life. He did what he wanted to and enjoyed it. His DXpeditions are priceless. How many DXers out there make to to Easter Island? Even though he left us all to soon, his legacy will live on. I have several of his Proceedings that were printed in the 80s & 90s (Patrick Martin, ibid.) Perhaps an appropriate project would be to gather and compile many of his writings/articles into a book that we could all remember him by. I indeed remember his presentation at the 2006 Seaside convention (Mike Sanburn, ibid.) I'm so very sad to hear of John's passing. A few months back, he sent me an e-mail because I hadn't been posting -- he wanted to know if everything was okay. It was, I told him, I was just taking a break from the dials. Then a few years before that, out of the blue, he sent me a wealth of information about TP DXing. It was sorely needed as I'd been away from the hobby for so long. I can't say I knew John as well as those of you who are posting so eloquently here in his memory. But I can say that his steady presence in the club made a difference to me --- just as it has to you. Thanks John for your hard work in promoting our MW Dxing hobby. I'll keep your family in my thoughts and prayers (Dennis Vroom, Salmon Creek, WA, ibid.) I just arrived home from a high school basketball game to learn of the death of John Bryant. There are no words to express my shock and anguish at the loss of a giant in the DX game --- as well as a giant in the field of architectural education. I first met John at his parents' home in Stillwater when he was still in high school, and valued his technical expertise and his willingness to share his knowledge with all of us. Added to the loss of two of our best friends here in Krum, this past week has turned into the most sorrowful in my memory (John Callarman, Krum TX, NRC-AM via DXLD) I share the heartbreak expressed so eloquently here. I never met John, but he did stand out from the pack in many respects - you could tell from the quality of his posts. I saved his article from - I think - Monitoring Times, where he wrote about his DX from and visit to Easter Island. A remarkable story. My favourite part was not about the DX but the wild horses checking him out, scant inches away from the vehicle window. But, of course, he reported on the wonderful DX he had there, and how different things came in depending on the hour. Inspiring, indeed, for someone like me who lacks relative experience. Indeed, one reason I clipped John's article is because, one day, I can see making a trip similar to that. That article is perhaps the only documentation of DXing from that isolated spot, and so it will stay in my 'DXpeditions' file. If I ever do make it to Easter Island, John will be in my thoughts. Reading the posts here tonight, I can tell he had an accomplished life, and there were many who respected and loved him, and will miss him. My thoughts are with his family and his many close friends (Saul Chernos, Ont., NRC-AM via DXLD) I just checked email this morning... and this... just... sucks. Period. I never met or spoke directly to John, but we have exchanged emails over the years. He recruited me for his Mexican-DX group "Corazon DX" several years ago, and was always quick with answers and helpful hints regarding one of his favorite subjects, the Zenith Trans-Oceanic series. He'll be greatly missed (Randy Stewart, Springfield MO, NRC-AM via DXLD) I first had contact with John back in the late 80s. He wrote me regarding my DX here on the coast. Then in 1990 on one of his DXpeditions to Grayland State Park, before the DXpeditions were the Grayland Motel, Dave Williams and I went up on a Saturday afternoon to meet John and the group. We sat there on a rather wet and rainy afternoon taking about antennas, DX, and QSLs. I could tell John was quite a veteran of Tropical Band DX for many years. Dave and I were impressed from the start. We went up about once a year to visit. Then in the Fall of 92, after I got the Drake R8, I had heard an unidentified Sub continental Asian station on 864 khz, with an odd sounded language, no one seemed to know what it was. John suggested I send him a cassette of the station so he could play it for his students there at the Univ. in Oklahoma. One of his students understood the language, coming from the NE part of India. It turned out to be All India Radio Shillong with 100 KW. Thanks to John, as I would have never IDed it. He helped me on others along the way too. Dave and I love going to Grayland. It wont be the same anymore with John (Patrick Martin, OR, IRCA via DXLD) Nick Hall-Patch called me moments after I got home from work about the terrible news about John. John Bryant was a very dear friend for over 20 years. My family had visited the Bryants' on Orcas Is. on a number of occasions, and John even had the chance to come up to my cottage on Haida Gwaii, in northern B.C. John had a true gift as a teacher and was always wearing that hat during the many Grayland, WA DXpeditions that we both attended. The Saturday afternoon Show and Tell sessions were always a highlight of a Grayland weekend. They were organized by John who obviously used his many years as a professor to keep us on time and relevant to the hobby! He was also an extremely prolific writer, both in the hobby, and about just about anything else that he felt that we'd be interested in hearing about! I remember fondly his ongoing pictorial dialogue during the construction phase of Linda and John's dream home on Orcas Island, or his travelogues during their twice yearly drives between Stillwater and Orcas Is. I bet that I printed just about everything he wrote about the hobby as he was always a cutting edge DXer, and had a wonderful gift of explaining the very complex in a way that non-electronic savvy individuals such as myself could easily understand. He was an early adopter of new technology and was one of the original Premium-receiver list members, acquiring the venerable Rockwell- Collins HF-2050. He was also one to quickly move on when newer technologies appeared. His most recent receiver was the WinRadio 313e, although he was sure very interested in the Perseus SDR. Anyone even remotely interested in radio and DXing would without doubt have read some of his numerous treatises. I can't think of another enthusiast that wrote as much high quality information as did John. He leaves a HUGE void in this respect alone. John and Linda were planning to move permanently to Orcas this year, and had promised to come to Victoria for a visit this summer. I was looking forward to having my dear friends living just across the water 12 months of the year, and seeing each other more often. Life can change in a heartbeat, and John has been taken from us far too soon. John, you'll be busy on some DX related project or other in Heaven. I know you will! Linda, I am SO, SO sorry. John will never be forgotten. R.I.P, my friend (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, IRCA via DXLD) After 8 hours of trying to work through this loss of my friend and colleague of over 25 years, I still find it difficult to write this, but I must, for John's sake and the wonderful memories. John and I met and instantly hit it off in the mid 80's through involvement in Fine Tuning. He's the only guy that could ever convince me that I had something worthwhile to contribute to the hobby, even on the technical side of it, and a techie I'm not! That was evidenced by his volunteering me to participate in a jointly edited article (with John Clark) for one of Fine Tuning's Proceeding ventures --- we wrote about the JRC NRD-515. First time we met was at my house way out in the boondocks in north- central Oklahoma (9 miles NE of Newkirk, Oklahoma) in about 1985 I think (maybe 1986). He, Mitch Sams, and Glenn Hauser all came up and we spent the next 6 or 7 hours cussing and discussing the radio hobby. That was back when there were SO many great SW target stations to try for. Glenn brought his new (at that time) slides from his recent vacation to Hong Kong, and I recall he and John discussing some of the finer points of Chinese architecture --- that was John's profession, architecture. John studied the Chinese forms of the profession by going to China on more than one occasion I believe. He was very intrigued with the Eastern styles. Mitch and I just said "uh-huh" and "yea", that sort of thing. We didn't want to sound stoopid or anything. John and I always had a non-declared competition going on it seemed. Although neither of us ever declared war on the other, it was, at times, a state of war. Back in the 80's and first half of the 90's we were competing for the most Indonesians heard and verified on SW. More recently we had a competition for the XE stations on MW. A typical conversation between us sometimes included expletives that could lead some to believe we hated each other. That was certainly not the case! How he and I ever got that going is beyond me. I think that we just enjoyed challenging each other to extend oneself to the limit! That's the best way I can put it. John just had a natural ability to bring out the best in other people. God bless his heart for that! I will never ever forget what he helped me discover about myself. Challenged I was by John's influence. Thank you, John, for helping me find out for myself that I can do much more than I thought possible. Most recently, John introduced me to ultralight DX'ing. I wasn't at first really keen on the idea, but after he personally brought me a Sony SRF-59 which I still am using today, I began to get the DX'ing bug again after a 13 year (more or less) hiatus in the hobby. Once again it was John that got to me to get off my butt and do a little writing about the hobby. Like him, I haven't had this much fun in radio in many years. As John would put it, "...having a barrel of fun..." Once again I have to say, "Thank you, John!" I could write much more than I already have. I will leave it at what's been typed here. Tomorrow a letter will be sent to Linda, who courageously tolerated more than one DX'er at their place through the years. She's a gem just as John was! Thanks, John, for always being such a wonderful friend. I will miss you Buddy. Until we meet again I will remain, Your Friend, (Kirk Allen, Pasadena, TX, Feb 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RIP John, and thank you so very much for your great work in the radio hobby (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, ibid.) I've just learned of this as well. A great shock, and a sad loss. I was in occasional correspondence with John via e-mail, and greatly admired his generosity and enthusiasm for the hobby. It was an honour to have known him. John was a member of the MWC, and those who were not in contact with him will remember him for the high quality of his articles published in Medium Wave News and other DX publications. He will be missed. RIP, John (Martin Hall, Scotland, MW Circle via DXLD) I am truly saddened to hear of the loss of John Bryant, a DXer of rare skill, enthusiasm, and willingness to help and teach others. I had the pleasure to meet John at one of the Boston Area DXers meetings about 10 years ago. He had just been up to Newfoundland so we had quite a bit to talk about from that. In the 1980's I became aware of John through the Fine Tuning Proceedings books. These still stand as some of the best hobby writing ever. Though, after 20+ years, techniques, equipment, and target stations have changed a lot, the Proceedings books are still great "motivational reading". The later works such as "Emerging Techniques of High Tech DXpeditioning" embody the same level of writing skill and they form the signposts along the road the radio hobbies have taken. John's writings, like those of the late Gordon Nelson, will be the important chapters when, many years from now, historians try to sort out what we were doing in DX listening. John, as a professor of architecture, reveled in fine industrial design. This was true whether the object of attention was a building, a sports car, or a radio. His review of the SX-28, that old World War II classic, is a must read. A spin of the hefty well-balanced tuning knob becomes the passport to unique pleasures on several levels. This is like a good car reviewer's write-up about a Ferrari: it's about so much more than just "getting from A to B". The knowledge in each article was always first rate and thoroughly researched but John's writing style was never stuffy and academic. Each paragraph "pulled you in" and exuded enthusiasm for the look and feel of a great receiver, the "wow" excitement when an antenna project met or exceeded expectations, and the joyfulness about the sights, smells, local culture, etc. of exotic DXpedition sites. The loggings, technical details, etc. were always in there of course - and in splendidly accurate detail - but also there was the human interest side. A new radio was greeted the way a kid would experience opening presents on Christmas morning. A DX locale was described not just in technical terms but also in respect to how all the DXpeditioners got along (their good as well as their odd or irritating habits). There were wonderfully insightful narratives about local people, languages, customs, art, food, and music. The articles always had great photos and drawings (and, in later times, audio and video clips) to enhance and illuminate the whole experience. DX stations were not just appraised in dry terms of frequency, call, strength, and time heard. There was a distinct interest in using each broadcast logged, whether the long-appreciated Indonesians or anything else, as a way to get into the culture of people around the world. Many DXers do some research about characteristics of different countries but (even before Google made it easier) John took this to a whole new level by taking the time to figure out who the politicians, entertainers, sports figures, etc. were in many lands, as well as amassing much other vital information allowing a much more rewarding and informed "DXperience". He was truly a king of the DX hobby and will be missed greatly. Those of us who are left will be well served by re-reading the massive amount of John's material out there on the Web and in printed form that can be obtained through various clubs. We should take things from John's work to help us be keepers of the flame - not just expertise (which he had in spades) but the more visceral thrills to be had in the pursuit of each tidbit of culture that comes through our headphones and speakers from places quite different from home. I know that a year or two back he hosted a 50th high school reunion celebration that was especially important to him. How sad that it was the last time most of his former classmates saw him. My sincere condolences go out to his family and to his many, many friends (Mark Connelly, WA1ION - Billerica, MA + South Yarmouth, MA, NRC-AM via DXLD) I would like to add to Mark Connelly's comments one great piece of DX-literature that John Bryant produced. Namely the "Medium Wave Broadcasting Stations of Japan" -lists compiled in 2001 together with professor Takazi Okuda. In addition to all other things he wrote, this just shows how knowledgable he was in all aspects of DX-ing. This collection of lists is still today, almost 10 years later, an absolute "must-have" database for anybody seriously DX-ing Japanese MW- stations. RIP (Hakan Sundman, Helsinki, NRC-AM via DXLD) The E-mail just sent here with text in Spanish has written by me and is a recollection of some of the different comments by you, my appreciated colleagues, who have been remembering John Bryant here and in other groups, where John's brilliant personality and DX-career is being exposed. This article has been primarily devoted and distributed to the Spanish and Portuguese speaking DXers, who should know the DX man John was. Because of language reasons, many of the relevant histories around Bryant's DX activities maybe still be unknown. Only recently thanks to the Internet, many DXers have the chance to hear about Fine Tuning Proceedings or the Ultralight how-to- articles, or the antenna papers, etc. It's difficult to break that gap, because of lack of time, but this is a necessary oportunity, in the middle of these sad circumstance, to publicize the work of outstanding DXers, relevant for the worldwide DX Community (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, dxldyg via DXLD) Viz.: JOHN H. BRYANT --- DX-ISTA --- EE.UU. DE NA --- IN MEMORIAM Una lamentable noticia tuvimos ayer al enterarnos del trágico y lamentable fallecimiento del famoso DXista estadounidense Prof. Arq. John Bryant, de Oklahoma. Precisamente, el pasado 9 de febrero de 2010, el OM: Harold Cones, su amigo y colega, informaban a la lista "DXplorer", que el día anterior, John Bryant había caido de una escalera y había recibido heridas que había resultado en su muerte. Quienes no lo hayan conocido de nombre al menos, estimados colegas DXistas latinoamericanos, vale indicar que John era un brillante profesional, Arquitecto (fellow en el "American Institute of Architects"), Profesor Emérito, pero también, además de DXista de gran calibre, un autor de trabajos históricos y técnicos de gran relevancia en el mundo de la radio y particularmente del DXismo (técnicas de DXismo, propagacion, antenas, radio modificaciones, etc.) y hombre de una personalidad única. En los ochentas publicó a través de la asociación "Fine Tuning" los trabajos "Fine Tuning Proceedings", que a pesar de haber transcurrido más de 20 años, aún son importante material de lectura y se encuentran entre los trabajos más profundamente y mejor creados en el ámbito del hobby del DXismo. Otros textos para el DXista tales como "Emerging Techniques of High Tech DXpeditioning" merecieron gran aceptación por el nivel de preparación, y que, a no dudar, serán base a considerar para los historiadores del futuro cuando acometan el tema de lo que se ha dado en llamar el hobby del DXismo. John, tenía la maravillosa habilidad de explicar lo muy complejo en algo sencillo para quienes eran no muy adentrados en el tema de la electrónica . Adoptó tempranamente la nueva tecnología tanto a nivel profesional como en el mundo de la radio, por ejemplo adquiriendo, entre los primeros DXistas, un venerable Rockwell-Collins HF-2050. Se interesó rápidamente cuando las nuevas tecnologías aparecieron. Su más reciente receptor era el WinRadio 313e, aunque estaba muy interesado en el Perseus SDR. John, como profesor de arquitectura reveló dotes especiales en el diseño industrial fino. Esto era cierto cualquiera fuese el objeto de atención, un auto deportivo, o una radio. Se recuerda su análisis del viejo receptor Hallicrafters SX-28, de la Segunda Guerra; brindando en él detalles y descripciones que superan el elemental repaso de las piezas que lo componen. Su entusiasmo por los aspectos más humanos, la cultura local de exóticos lugares adornó llas referencias al DX que hizo y las Expediciones DX a las que concurría, para deleite de sus colegas. Sus loggings, detalles técnicos, etc. acompañados de datos sobre la cultura del pais, la música, etc. fueron la caracteristica de sus reportes. En suma , un hombre de ilustrada cultura, el entusiasmo necesario para acometer su actividad y también para encender la motivación del novato, reconocedor del valor de lo humano. En el aspecto de sus trabajos históricos, John fue autor, conjuntamente con el Dr. Harold Cones, de libros sobre la historia de la famosa Zenith, Zenith Trans-Oceanic: The Royalty of Radios ( 2008), Zenith Radio: The Early Years : 1919-1935 (Schiffer Book for Collectors) conjuntamente con Martin Blankinship, y William Wade (1997), Zenith Radio, The Glory Years, 1936-1945: History and Products (Schiffer Book for Collectors) (2003). The Zenith Trans-Oceanic, the Royalty of Radios: The Royalty of Radios (Schiffer Book for Collectors)(1995). Otro sobre el cruce del Polo Norte, Dangerous Crossings: The First Modern Polar Expedition, 1925 (2000); y sobre el gran sabio Heinrich Hertz, the beginning of microwaves: Discovery of electromagnetic waves and opening of the electromagnetic spectrum by Heinrich Hertz in the years 1886-1892 (1988), entre otros de Arquitectura e historia general. John Bryant fue propulsor de la lista de correo "Corazon DX", dedicado al DX con foco en las estaciones de radio de onda media de México e integró los grupos "Numero Uno", "Fine Tuning", "DXplorer", y mas recientemente el grupo "Ultralight DX". Pasaba la mitad en su casa de Washington, en la Isla Orcas, pero ya había decidido hacer éste su lugar de retiro definitivo y frecuentaba las Expediciones DX a Grayland, en ese Estado, donde muy buen DX se hizo y se continúa haciendo por parte de los DXistas de EE.UU de América. Era hasta el momento de su muerte, moderador, entre otros, del grupo dedicado al mundo de receptores Ultralight - la práctica de la recepción DX con receptores de bolsillo - especialmente Onda Media, pero sin descartar otras bandas, como FM y Onda Corta -, creando la Comisión de Certificados y Records. En su momento, quien esto escribe, mantuvo un intrecambio de emails para corregir un texto en ingles preparado a fines de unir puentes entre los DXistas latinoamericanos y norteamericanos en este nicho del hobby.John me felicitó por esta iniciativa.de ayuda en promover el DX en esta modalidad. Y según se informa, tambien, algunos DXistas brasileños con los cuales John mantuvo intercambio epistolar relacionado a detalles y textos de divulgación técnico DXista, para traducir y publicar en los boletines, siempre apreciándose su hombría de bien, y afectuosa disposición. Cuenta lo siguiente el fundador de la modalidad Ultralight, el DXista de EE.UU. Gary DeBock: "John, tenía un natural talento para la organización, algo que un entusiasta grupo de entusiastas ULR desesperadamente necesitaban a fines de 2007. Este pequeño grupo, - creado al año siguiente- estaba definitivamente afuera de la "corriente" en la comunidad DXista de Onda Media, y muchos de los DXistas nos vieron con un alto grado de escepticismo poniendo en duda el concepto de hacer DX serio con receptores de bolsillo. Y John era uno de esos DXistas "establecidos", pero supo mantener una mentalidad abierta al nuevo y entusiasta movimiento y descubrió, como muchos de nosotros que el DX con radio Ultraliviana era de verdad apasionante, lo suficientemente apasionante para rejuvenecer su interés en el hobby mismo. Y "libremente donando su talento organizativo a la causa Ultralight, fue fundamental en la creación del Comité de Definiciones, el Comité de Premios y el de Concursos." Sus articulos "You Can Do This" escritos por él y DeBock, donde se enseña a construir el deseado y efectivo "Slider E100 Loopstick", (modificación con una antena de ferrite al Eton E-100), ricamente ilustrada y otro de sus articulos "The Slider as a Varicoupler" y "Adding a MW antenna port to DSP Tecsun ultralights" en enero de 2010 han sido de mucha ayuda para los recién iniciados en el mundo de los receptores Ultralivianos. Uno de las anécdotas que ilustran el entusiasmo que irradiaba en la promoción del hobby es la que cuenta el DXista Gary Deacon, quien junto a John Plimmer y otros, en Sud Africa han logrado efectuar DX espectaculares de alcance transoceánico, con una Sony M37 y unos cientos de alambre como antena Beverage en el suelo. Pues, John fue donante, como parte de una contribución colectiva, de una Sony M37 y también de un minidisc encendiendo con ese gesto el entusiasmo en el DX ULR. Otra de las anécdotas es la de Patrick Martin, quien recuerda estaban en el Motel de Grayland junto al DXista Dave Williams , donde conoció a John y el grupo. Se sentaron a conversar en una húmeda y lluviosa tarde sobre antenas, DX y QSLs. John era un veterano en el arte del DX en Bandas Tropicales. Dave y Patick quedaron impresionados de primera. Una vez al año se encontraban aquí. En otoño de 1992, Patrick consiguió un Drake R8, y escuchó una Asiática no identificada en 864 khz, con un extraño idioma que nadie supo identificar. John, entonces, sugirió le enviara un cassette de la emisora en cuestión, con el fin de hacerlo oir a su grupo de estudiantes en la Universidad en Oklahoma. Uno de los estudiantes entendió la lengua, como proveniente del NE de India. Resulta ser que se trataba de All India Radio Shillong con 100 KW. "Sin la ayuda de John, jamás la hubiera identificado", finaliza diciendo Patrick. Otra de las anécdotas la cuenta Jean Burnell, el reconocido DXista de Onda Media canadiense. "Fui a Grayland, y él vino a Terranova. Nunca un hombre de a medias tomar, John se las arregló para hacer viajar con él un lote de equipamiento DX a través del continente, y en una ocasión de DXpedition, John había arreglado un test DX con el DXista Rich McVicar - recuerden que fue presentador de DX Party Line en HCJB - y quien en ese momento trabajaba en la emisora internacional ecuatoriana. HCJB (690 kHz) trasmitió Código Morse y no recuerdo que más para la ocasión, pero desafortunadamente no pudimos escucharla. Unos días después, entrevistados en el propio programa John hizo lo mejor para sostener que esa había sido la fiesta DX más grande de su vida". El DXista Rowland Archer, de EE.UU, recuerda otra muestra de su faceta humana desinteresada y del tipo de gente que era: John, publicó en su momento unos artículos llamados "Beverage on a Bush" (Beverage en un arbusto") -- "si no tienes espacio para tender 300 metros de antena, no hay problema, levántate a las 4AM, conduce tu automóvil a algún lugar, y desenróllalos". "Él me decía que no sabía lo que me estaba perdiendo, escuchando con mis antenas en el fondo de la casa. -- Tenía que probar las "BOB". Yo decía, "algún día", y eso se convertía en la "semana que viene". Bien, un día, el cartero me deja un paquete proveniente de Stillwater, Oklahoma. "Qué diablos será esto, tan pesado" pensaba mientras lo abría. Dentro, encontré una antena 'Beverage on a Bush' que John había construido y enviado para mí, sin siquiera haberme avisado antes! Y no era una antena usada que no necesitara más, esta era nuevita, nunca usada, construida especialmente para mí. Todavía la conservo." Ultimamente, se dió el lujo, convenciendo a su esposa Linda, de viajar a la quieta Isla de Pascua y hacer ondear la bandera DX junto a los moai. Su articulo fue publicado en Monitoring Times y aquí: http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/easter_island_2007.dx donde se puede leer la crónica apasionante y de donde tomamos esta foto, como postrer homenaje gráfico a su figura y trascendencia, y no sólo para los DXistas de Norteamérica: http://www.dxing.info/photos/Easter_Island_2007_Large_JHB-Calling-the-DX-Gods-WEB.jpg, Al decir del amigo y colega DXista canadiense Rob Ross, VA3SW, "¡¡Adios Amigo!! ¡llQue todas tus Recepciones sean S-9 y Trans- Pacifico!" ----- Sitios de referencia: http://www2.okstate.edu/pio/arch.html http://www2.okstate.edu/pio/archfamily.html http://architecture.ceat.okstate.edu/people/facAwards/index.htm http://openlibrary.org/a/OL2845871A/John_H._Bryant http://alanjesperson.com/gn_books.htm http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zenith-Radio-Glory-Years-1936-1946/dp/0764318837 http://www.bushwoodbooks.co.uk/book_template.php?isbn=0887407080 http://www.schifferbooks.com/newschiffer/book_template.php?isbn=0887407080 http://www.ijnhonline.org/volume1_number1_Apr02/article_conesbryant_polar_exped.doc.htm http://www.flexibuyer.com/p~p-2046402889.aspx Texto basado en recoplicación de los mensajes que están circulando por las listas de Internet: "DXplorer, DXLD, IRCA, Ultralightdx, traducidos y adaptados por (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, Feb 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tossing some ideas around as the inspiration comes. John was one of those larger than life guys who could not be contained in one lifetime. And yet. I like to suggest some kind of endowment for John - to enhance and evolve the hobby we have today - moving it forward (to steal a tired phrase). Getting together his collected works, technical and otherwise - and into a book is brilliant. Sponsoring events. Placing radio equipment with new hobbyists. Perhaps even a website that will house, in perpetuity, his memory and works - or better yet, a memorial space for all the folks that made the hobby what it is today. Tossing them out there. John Bryant forum area As well as the ULR Yahoo Group http://tinyurl.com/yc7yqrf Some poignant stories starting to pop up. Today's thought: "It was a John Bryant radio Universe - and the rest of us were happily sharing in his passion..." Best regards, (Colin Newell, Victoria, British Columbia, Feb 10, IRCA via DXLD) Sad, shocking news. John was clearly an exceptional individual who excelled at many things, and he took his chosen hobby to new levels that the rest of us can only marvel at. He will be sorely missed. My deepest condolences to his family and many friends (Barry McLarnon, VE3JF Ottawa, ON, IRCA via DXLD) Hello Everyone: Well, I just got finished reading all the emails on the ULR, DXplorer, IRCA, NRC, ODXA etc Lists about John, and Man, this has to rate as the Greatest Memorial to ANY DX'er that I have ever witnessed. Maybe only the Death of Arthur Cushen in New Zealand could be compared to the grief shown by the many Friends of John Bryant!! I have spent over 2 hours reading all the postings with memories of John's accomplishments, and I am overwhelmed!! John, You'll never know how many people you touched with your Kindness, Knowledge and Generosity. 73.......ROB VA3SW (Robert S. Ross, London, Ontario, CANADA, IRCA via DXLD) Glad to see such a great memorial for such a great man, a friend to all, and one of the greatest DXers ever to grace the face of this Earth. John was talented in every aspect of the hobby, from hardware to software as well as reception of very difficult stations. His encyclopedic knowledge of stations and their programming helped him to milk the best DX from good cx. I've had the pleasure of meeting John and he also was accomplished in non-DX arenas. I can honestly say that Dr. Bryant was one of the smartest people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Today, I didn't get to read my emails until it was nearly lunch time and after reading about John's most unfortunate passing and some of the many tributes to him, I staggered off the trading floor with tears in my eyes. I was so overcome with shock and grief that I had a difficult time functioning for the remainder of the afternoon. Nearly a decade ago, I made some EZNEC mods to a ham antenna design by the late K6SE. My small version had a fine cardioid pattern with good back nulls and John wrote up a nice article discussing his tests of my design and a larger varient and named it the KAZ antenna. These Delta Flags are still in use by many today and also serve as elements for some high performance arrays. John was also a driving force behind the UltraLite DXing boom and in earlier this century he was a major contributor to the Corozon DX Group which specializes in Mexican AM DX. I have John's old mod 2010 here as well as a couple of transformers made by him. Every time I use them, I will miss him greatly. I take heart in the fact that in heaven there is no IBOC. RIP my friend .. 73 KAZ (Neil Kazaross, IL/WI, IRCA via DXLD) Hello. I went from barely knowing john to realizing the staggering accomplishments that he has given to many sectors, within 24 hrs. I am saddened that so many people have been by john's sudden passing. I pray for peace and comfort for all that are affected (Todd, ibid.) My wife and I sat over a cup of tea talking about John tonight. As some of you may know, my wife Wanda is Haida and has a very Native American spirituality. She offered this thought about John: "People like John don't ever die. They remain with us, enriching our lives long after they leave this world". She then referred me to a Native American (likely Navajo) poem (although when I Googled it, it's been attributed to many different people). I know that John was deeply proud of his own Native American roots (Chippewa, I believe), and so in tribute to this wonderful man: Native American Prayer I give you this one thought to keep - I am with you still - I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow, I am the diamond glints on snow, I am sunlight on ripened grain, I am the gentle autumn rain. When you awake in the morning's hush I am the swift, uplifting rush Of quiet birds in circled flight. I am the soft stars that shine at night. Do not think of me as gone - I am with you still - in each new dawn. We'll never forget you, my dear friend (Walt and Wanda Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, IRCA via DXLD) Hello All, As all of us express our deep respect and appreciation for John's many outstanding contributions to our hobby (and especially to our Ultralight Radio enthusiast group), perhaps the most appropriate way to honor his memory is to follow his example of unselfish service to others. Having had the privilege of cooperating very closely with John in the creation and promotion of our ULR group over the past two years, I frequently heard his concerns that although the group was growing rapidly and fulfilling its primary objective of introducing this exciting form of AM-DXing, the same core leadership group from early 2008 was constantly carrying the load in providing service to the membership. John was truly a "giving" type of leader for whom service to others came naturally, but he seems to have been unusual in his motivating concept-- that the greatest hobby pleasure comes not from one's own success, but in helping others to succeed. Based on John's superb example (and the unselfish contributions of many other ULR group leaders), our enthusiast group has certainly reversed the general impression of an AM-DXing "hobby in decline," and has grown at a phenomenal rate during these past two years -- introducing new DXing excitement and enjoyment to hundreds of hobbyists around the world. John knew that we had hit upon a "winning combination," and took pride in how we were restoring the original thrill of DXing to our membership. But he also knew that those successful in ULR-DXing, antenna experimentation or other technical areas had a responsibility to "give back" to the membership, and share their expertise with those who could benefit from it. Many new members have been surprised when John politely (but firmly) asked that they draft an article to share the secrets of their success with the membership -- but this has actually been a ULR group tradition since the very first days of our existence, and probably the primary reason for our booming growth rate. We all have a responsibility to "give back" to the membership, and in this essential priority, John certainly set a great example for all of us. As we face the very unpleasant news of John's accidental passing, I would encourage all of you to honor John's memory by following his example. If you can contribute technical articles of interest to our group (antenna experimentation, radio modification, equipment reviews, etc.), please consider doing so. If you have expertise in graphic design, John's untimely passing has left a need for a creator of Ultralight Award certificates. Those successful in domestic and international DXing should consider writing tutorial articles. If you have had great success DXing with a certain radio model, please let us know why it is your dream machine. Don't be concerned about the lack of file space on the Ultralightdx site -- John and I recently agreed on a solution for that. If you have interest in serving on one of the ULR group committees (Definitions, Awards or Contests), please consider volunteering. Discover the unique satisfaction that comes from "giving back" to others, and honor John by following his unselfish example. We all have something to contribute -- let's show we really have learned this final "lesson," from one of the hobby's greatest teachers. 73, (Gary DeBock, ULR Group Co-founder, Feb 11, IRCA via DXLD) I've placed one of my favorite photos of John in a posting on my blog, along with a few words. It is hard to write any more in depth than I have; the feelings of loss are still too strong. The photo was taken last year at John and Linda's Orcas Island home, during one of our family's visits. Please feel free to leave any thoughts or memories of John in the comments section of the post. (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA USA http://fivebelow.squarespace.com ibid.) Qualcuno l'avrà già letto sulle liste, è mancato ieri mattina John Bryant, dopo essere caduto da una scala a casa sua in Oklahoma. Non per usare parole abusate, ma Bryant ha lasciato un segno indelebile nel dxing in onde medie e mancherà assai alla comunità. Nessuno come lui aveva tanto entusiasmo per sperimentare, categorizzare e cercare di capire come funzionano le cose, nelle antenne o nei fenomeni di propagazione. In pensione da qualche anno, era professore di architettura, passava metà dell'anno a casa sua e l'altra in una casetta sul Pacifico, credo in Canada [Washington]. Ma il suo sogno era convincere la moglie ad accompagnarlo alcuni mesi all'anno all'isola di Pasqua, che riteneva a ragione il miglior dx-spot della Terra. E' grazie a John che lo scorso dicembre ho passato una settimana di sogno a Rapa Nui, ascoltando la radio e utilizzando le sue indicazioni. Nell'ultimo scambio di email, alcuni giorni fa, ci eravamo ripromessi di tornare sull'isola insieme, l'anno prossimo. Non l'ho mai conosciuto di persona, purtroppo (Rocco Cotroneo, Brasil, playdx yg via DXLD) John Bryant Memorial Service Just found a listing in the Tulsa paper on this, the service will be at the First United Methodist Church in Strode, Oklahoma at 3 P.M. on Friday. [Stillwater. Strode is the name of the funeral home --- gh] Also found a little more information about what happened - he fell from a ladder as he was preparing his house for sale. http://www.antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=129162&sid=3a9ade386ff04bf06a14ca3146e5d9f2 (Curtis Sadowski, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) including this: I just learned of John's passing about an hour ago. This is quite a shock. I just talked to Harold Cones who talked to John's wife. She is understandably distraught. John and Linda were preparing to sell their house in Stillwater and move to Washington state, where they had built a dream house over the last several years. John Bryant, FAIA, age 68, was a professor of Architecture at Oklahoma State University and used his three-dimensional mind to design his homes. I was a guest in his home in Stillwater a couple of times and admired his modernistic approach to his home's design. A cousin of mine, Roger Robison, one of John's students, later went on to win the prestigious Paris Award for Architecture. John loved radio in a number of ways: DX'ing, collecting vintage sets, research, and talking about Zenith notables, such as Commander McDonald and Robert Budlong. In the early 1990s, it was John who came over and introduced himself to me in the at a Mid-America Antique Radio Club auction. He had heard that I was the Zenith Guru in the Kansas City area and wanted to see my collection. He and Harold Cones were in the middle of writing the Transoceanic book at the time. He scheduled about four different visits to my home to photograph a number of my Zeniths for both the Early Years and the Glory Years book. I remember him telling me about the time he and Harold were going thru the McDonald files for the first time, recording all of the file headings on digital handheld recorders at 2:00 in the morning in a very hot warehouse in Chicago. What a find on the day they were leaving Chicago after understanding that Zenith had little historical information--until someone told them about a ton of sealed file cabinets in one of the old plants. The McDonald Papers. I could imagine that John felt like a kid in a candy store -- ten-fold! John will be missed. I offer my condolences to John's family. (Martin Blankinship, Lawrence, KS, Feb Thu 11, 2010 3:58 am, Antique Radio Forums via DXLD) I first had opportunity to interact with John when he was editing Proceedings, and he cajoled me into writing an article about Medium Wave DX TA, Central and South American targets. Later, he would submit his reports to International DX Digest of the NRC when I edited that column. Over the years I've had much correspondence with him, one on one and through the different threads on the lists. He was a Newfoundland DX vet, though I never crossed beverages with him there. I was very sorry to hear the news of his untimely death - good friends are never easy to come by, and he had so much more to offer. Others have given eloquent testimonies about John, and I endorse everything I've read during the last day. However, I can't resist sharing something I wrote three years ago, my imagined PBS documentary on John's Easter Island DXadventure. Here it is, RIP John! Morgan Freeman: After months of prepartion [video collage of John B throwing red-faced tantrums as he begs his family to let him go, final meeting with bank loan officer in which veiled reference to "a pound of flesh" is made, large steamer trunks sitting on the pier, tearful send-off by friends and family (including an awkward moment in which a Graylander is found stowed away in one of the trunks), small plane bouncing through thunder and lightening], John B faces some unanticipated obstacles when he reaches Easter Island ... [Video shot shows a big walrus sidling up to the beverage] John B: Hey! Leggo that wire! [Video shot shows John B with firm grip on wire in desperate tug-of- war with walrus, as both teeter on cliff edge] Morgan Freeman: But it's all in a day's work for the serious DXer ... [Collage of video shots showing John B being strip-searched at airport, John B passing through check point manned by hooded members of the Pascua Liberation Front, John B being attacked by rabid penguins after unwittingly stumbling into their mating area, John B (wearing ninja suit) hunting down the offensive dimmer light in the bowels of the hotel while the security guard is dozing, John B eating the local staple (raw squid with seaweed garnish) Morgan Freeman: And trying to explain it all to the skeptical local citizenry ... [video shot of John B in local pub] John B: And then the big signal from Nibi-Nibi came blasting in just as my batteries failed Morgan Freeman: Next week, John B develops an ingenius antenna system making use of the bars of his jail cell, using his prosthetic knee as a balun. Check your local PBS listing for the scheduled broadcast of Part 2, "DXing at the End of the World" (Jim Renfrew, Holley NY, IRCA via DXLD) I mentioned John Bryant`s death on WOR 1499 in summary form. Here`s the `official` obituary: (gh, DXLD) BRYANT SERVICE PENDING John Hulan [sic] Bryant, 68, of Stillwater, died Feb. 9, 2010. Services are pending with Strode Funeral Home (Stillwater News Press Feb 11 via DXLD) MEMORIAL FOR JOHN HULON BRYANT View / Sign Guestbook [with portrait] John Hulon Bryant, 68, passed away Tuesday, February 9, 2010, at St. John Medical Center in Tulsa, following a severe head injury sustained as the result of a fall from a ladder. A memorial service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, February 12, 2010 at First United Methodist Church in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Strode Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. John was born on April 30, 1941, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Glenn H. and Bernice Cochran Bryant. John grew up in Stillwater, graduating from Stillwater High School in 1959. He graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1964 with a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture, and earned a Master’s degree from The University of Illinois in 1968. John married Linda Sue Carhart, of Scottsdale, Arizona, on January 30, 1964. John and Linda raised one daughter, Mary Ellen. Following graduation, John was employed as a professional architect at The Benham Group in Oklahoma City. But his true passion was teaching. In 1970, he was hired as a Regents Professor of Architecture at Auburn University, where he taught until 1976. Following that, John was awarded the distinct honor of a Senior Fulbright Research Scholarship. Herewith, John, Linda, and Mary Ellen spent a year in Japan, where John researched and photographed ancient Japanese architecture. This research became the foundation for his later specialization in teaching Non-Western Architecture classes at Oklahoma State University. Following his year in Japan, John was hired by Oklahoma State University as Head of the School of Architecture, a job he held from 1977 until 1985. During his tenure as Head, John made two trips to China as a member of a delegation of U.S. Architectural Educators. They were asked to facilitate the re-establishment of schools of architecture when that country re-opened relations with the West. Following his time as Head, John served as a professor, teaching Design Studio and Non-Western and Japanese Architecture, the latter of which was frequently voted as “Favorite Class” by the students he loved so much. He retired from teaching in 2000. In 1997, John was chosen as a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. John not only loved to teach, he loved to learn. His adolescent hobby of shortwave radio listening led to a lifetime of radio study, and eventual expertise. John was internationally known as a radio antenna designer and tester. His standards were high, and he was never satisfied. John had a great interest in the history of radio, as well. He co-authored four books on the history of the Zenith Radio Corporation with his dear friend, Harold Cones. He and Harold also co-authored the book Dangerous Crossings, and account of the first modern polar expedition in 1925, in which radios and airplanes were first used in the far north. From 1988 to 1992, John self-published six annual editions of Proceedings, a compilation of articles written by short-wave radio enthusiasts, sharing their expertise about this unusual and technically complicated hobby. In 1986, John and Linda vacationed in the San Juan Islands in Washington State. They loved the area so much, they eventually bought property for a second home, which they designed and built themselves over the course of several years, the ultimate do-it-yourself project. Of all his many and diverse interests, John was most passionate about his role as both an educator and advocate for his students. John is survived by his wife of 46 years, Linda, of Stillwater, Oklahoma and Orcas Island, Washington, daughter Mary Ellen Nesser, her husband Noel Nesser, and grandchildren Katherine and Charles Nesser, of Fort Worth, Texas. Memorial contributions may be made to the Endowment fund at First United Methodist Church, 400 W. 7th St., Stillwater, Oklahoma. Condolences may be e-mailed to the family and on online obituary may be viewed by visiting http://www.strodefh.com (via gh, DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. PAKISTAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION Frequency Management, 303 Peshawar Road, Rawalpindi, Pakistan HF BROADCAST SCHEDULE B-09 [irritating, a lot of summer alternatives shown up, wb] [SO DO NOT expect to hear them now on all these frequencies!!! gh] Effective From 25th October, 2009 to 27th March, 2010, UT: Far East Chinese 1200-1300 on API-5 9390 API-6 11510 9390 1200-1300 9585 1200-1300 11510 1200-1300 12005 1200-1300 South East Asia Urdu 0045-0215 on API-5 15490 API-6 11580 11580 0045-0215 15105 0045-0215 15480 0045-0215 15490 0045-0215 17895 0045-0215 Bangla-1 0115-0200 on API-3 9350 API-4 7470 7470 0115-0200 9350 0115-0200 Bangla-2 retimed 0900-1000 on API-3 9375 API-4 11570 7475 1200-1245 9800 1200-1245 (ex 9345) To Kashmir 0445-0530 Balti and 0530-0630 Sheena on API-4 7470 South Asia Hindi-1 0215-0300 on API-3 9350 API-4 7470 7470 0215-0300 9350 0215-0300 Hindi-2 retimed 1045-1145 on API-3 9375 API-4 11570 7475 1030-1130 ? retimed, see above ? 9795 1030-1130 (x9345) Gujrati 0400-0430 API-3 9350 API-4 7470 additional 1145-1215 API-3 9375 API-4 11570 7470 0400-0430 9350 0400-0430 add new - Nepali 1000-1030 API-3 9375 API-4 11570 Sinhali 1230-1300 and Tamil 1300-1330 API-4? 11525 and API-3? 15630 Iran, Gulf & Middle East Irani 1700-1800 on API-3 6280 API-4 7485 5095 1700-1800 5860 1700-1800 6280 1700-1800 7485 1700-1800 9345 1700-1800 11595 1700-1800 Urdu 0500-0700 on API-5 15100 API-6 17835 11570 0500-0700 15105 0500-0700 15625 0500-0700 17835 0500-0700 21460 0500-0700 17835 at 0615 UT on Feb 2nd, S=9+10dB, PAK female singer, \\ 15100 kHz S=7.(wb) Urdu 1330-1530 on API-5 11565 API-6 7510 7510 1330-1530 9385 1330-1530 11565 1330-1530 15065 1330-1530 15105 1330-1530 English news 1600-1610 on API-5 11565 API-6 7535 15105 1600-1615 11895 1600-1615 11565 1600-1615 9385 1600-1615 7510 1600-1615 East / South East Africa English news 1600-1610 API-3 15100 English 15725 1600-1615 West Europe Urdu 0830-1100/English news 1100-1104 on API-5 15100 API-6 17700 15100 0800-1104 17700 0800-1104 new (alt. 17835, 21465) Urdu 1700-1900 on API-5 9340 API-6 7535 7535 1700-1900 9340 1700-1900 9390 1700-1900 11570 1700-1900 15105 1700-1900 Afghanistan & CIS Pushto API-4 4835 1345-1445 API-3 6235 1345-1445 Dari API-4 4835 1445-1545 API-3 6235 1445-1545 PST Pakistan Standard Time PST Upto 31-10-2009 UTC + 6 Hrs PST From 01-11-2009 UTC + 5 Hrs (Noel R. Green-UK, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews; updated by wb on Feb 1, by NG on Feb 3 again, via DXLD) Terrible audio quality of Radio Pakistan's Urdu service noted once again at 0635 UT Feb 5th. \\ 15100 kHz rather poor today due of low propagation on Feb 5th. But suffered by adjacent QRM of IBB Iranawila 17840 in Persian. Why not move from 17835 to 17700 kHz also? (Wolfgang Büsschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 5 via DXLD) Monitoring report of Radio Pakistan Frequency Changes w.e.f. 1.2.2010 Hi Glenn, February 05, 2010. Radio Pakistan Bangla service was monitored from 0900 UT at 9375 kHz which was followed by Nepali Service at 1000 UTC on the same frequency. SIO rating was 232. No activity was noted on 7475, the other frequency announced for both services. Hindi service was monitored from 1105 at 9375 which was followed by Gujrati service at 1145. Pushto service was monitored from 1345 at 6235 which was followed by Dari at 1445 UT on the same frequency. The transmitter for all these services was API-3 100 kW with loud buzz. The programme content was poor as usual. No signal was noted on these frequencies on February 06 and February 07. Sinhala and Tamil services were not heard in my region on all these three days. Regards (Aslam Javaid, Lahore Pakistan, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello Aslam, Thanks for forwarding the monitoring report. Frequency 7475 is not used any more, and has been replaced with 11570 in parallel with 9375. Sinhala and Tamil 1230-1330 UT are using 11525 and 15630. What is causing the interference on 9375 in your SIO rating? There have been reports that 4835 is also being used for Pushto and Dari at the new times of 1345-1445 and 1445-1545. Do you hear it? Greetings and 73 from (Noel Green, Feb 9, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I have Chinese jammer over Sound of Hope on 9380 kHz, splashing badly on 9375 kHz. But signals very weak, a blackout going on? 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, 1018 UT Feb 9, ibid.) Hi Noel, February 10, 2010. I hope you are fine. I would like to add that on February 5, I checked Tamil and Sinhala services on 11525 and 15630 from 1230 to 1330 UT but found no activity on both the frequencies. It happens that Radio Pakistan transmission via 100 kW transmitters on 25 and 19 meterbands are rarely heard in my region. As regards transmission of Pushto and Dari on 4835 from 1345 UT, I checked this frequency on February 05 and then on February 09 but found no signal. I monitored Pushto broadcast on 6235 on February 09, 2010. The signal was very weak and buzzy. Programme content was Quran recitation, devotional Urdu song, Pushto patriotic song followed by News in Pushto and then Pushto songs till 1435 when the signal faded away (Aslam Javaid, Lahore Pakistan, Feb 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PALAU. Frequency change of CVC International in Indonesian: 0700-1000 on 15725 HBN 100 kW / 270 deg to SEAs ex 0400-1000 17820 DRW (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 8 via DXLD) Frequency change of CVC International in Indonesian: 0700-1000 on 15725 HBN 100 kW / 270 deg to SEAs Monday - Friday (not Sa & Su) (S. Hasegawa, NDXC Feb 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Aha?! Only these three hours (and Mon-Fri only), or are more transmissions, perhaps also via other sites, in the pipeline? And what about CVC Chinese? (Kai Ludwig, ibid.) See INTERNATIONAL, after VTC schedule, where Wolfgang Büschel still hears this transmission on 17820 but thinx its`s via UZBEKISTAN (gh) ** PALAU [and non]. Dear Kai, CVC-Indonesian was not able to receive Feb. 6 & 7. http://www.mediacat-blog.jp/usr/hiroshi/t8wh_2010feb7.gif [handy color-coded schedule grid of T8WH Angels 3 and 4] CVC-Chinese is broadcasting on satellite radio and the Internet. (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, Feb 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 9570, tuned in at 1554 Feb 9 just in time to hear closing bells, 1555 sign-off, different IS and off by 1556, i.e. R. Veritas Asia with the R. Blagovest ``bells`` service in Russian supposedly until 1557 per Aoki, 250 kW, 331 degrees from Palauig- Zambales site (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND [non]. 11675, PRES via AUSTRIA, Thu Feb 11 at 1335 with documentary on whisperers, supposedly performing natural healing, Slavonic folk magic. Unnamed program ended a 1348 until next week. ID by Swavek Chefs as the ES of PR, on to next unnamed show about eating offal, with harp music, culminating in a recipe for tripe soup. Glad I wasn`t eating breakfast yet. May have been the Letter from Poland lady, which had been scheduled in this time segment, but what became of Multimedia before it, or rather Multitouch --- has that been completely canceled, or moved? The program grid still hasn`t been revised since 10.5 months ago: http://www.thenews.pl/static/Schedule.aspx 1356 sign-off announcement, with P-mail address, e-mail english.section @ polishradio.pl and fill with rock music postlude. Went looking for text or audio archives, and found nothing on these subjects yet, not even under today`s date, nor the last few days in case the wrong hour was being played back; but under Multimedia link, a 16-minute file of the Feb 2 program, none since: ``February 1st marked 85 years of Polish Radio broadcasting activity. Presented by Slawek Szefs --- Also, the latest comments on PRES reception and... should my name be spelled Swavek Chefs?`` Audio link: http://www.thenews.pl/radio/multimedia/artykul124866.html Which I then listened to. Erik Køie on the outskirts of Copenhagen complained of QRM from R. Netherlands, also on 11675 until 1330. That`s eastward from UAE in Dutch scheduled until 1327, but certainly likely to get into Europe off the back, especially in the skip zone from Austria! At end he does refer to a DXLD extract from 10-04, courtesy of Erik Køie, discussing spelling of Polish names, alfabet, searching for Multi-Touch. Hopes hybrid show will only be a transitory feature, and to regain funding to separate them; still have to look for audio under Multimedia on website. Fortunately our respelling-his-name comment raised a smile on his face, and he will be glad for people to spell it that way when writing; just so they write (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL. Frequency change of RDP Internacional/Radio Portugal from Feb. 6: 1700-2000 NF 9795 LIS 300 kW / 045 deg to WeEu, ex 9455* Mon-Fri 1700-2100 NF 9795 LIS 300 kW / 045 deg to WeEu, ex 9455* Sat/Sun * to avoid RFA in Chinese + Jammer (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 8 via DXLD) ** PRIDNESTROVYE. MOLDOVA – PRIDNESTROVIE: Latest observations show Radio PMR on 6240 Sunday – Thursday with the latest sked: 2200 English; 2215 French; 2230 German; 2245 English (repeat of 2200); 2300 French (repeat of 2215); German 2315 (repeat of 2230); French 2330 (repeat of 2215); German 2345 (repeat of 2230). No English after 2300 as this frequency relays Voice of Russia from 0000 (Mark Coady, Peterborough, ON K9J 6X3, Feb 8, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. Incredibly, RRI has NO English broadcasts at all between 13 and 18 UT, forcing us in prime morning hours to listen to other languages, with several transmissions well-heard in NAm anyway --- such as Arabic with Romanian accent, Feb 10 at 1543 also with Romanian folk music, a treat in any language service, and VG today on 15235 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. From 1 Jan in broadcasting "Voice of Russia" in Russian at MW and SW dramatic reduction [reduced 114 transmission hours in total, wb.]. Russian service in the direction of Central Asia NOV 1026 kHz in periods 1400-1700 and 2000-0000 IRK 5995 kHz in time 1500-1800 SAM 7225 kHz 419124-23980 [?? - sic Samara 1600-2100 and 0000-0400] KHA/SAM 7295 kHz 1200-1600 ARM 7305 kHz 0300-0400 and MSK 12070 kHz 0300-0700 in the direction of Central Asia and Middle East NVS 7270 kHz in time 2000-2200 towards Asia K/A 6005 kHz in time 1300-1500 in the direction of Middle East MSK 5985 kHz in time 1800-1900 in the direction of Central and South America MSK 7260 kHz in time 0000-0400 in the direction of Europe MSK 7290 kHz in periods 1800-1900 and 2000-2100 in the direction of Ukraine and Moldova GRI 1548 kHz in time 1300-1600; SAM 5940 kHz 1200-1500 in Europe and the Baltics KLG 1215 kHz in time 1100-1400; StP 1494 kHz 2000-2200; completely eliminated broadcasting on a frequency 612 kHz from Vilnius-LTU 0600-1600 UT, and completely removed broadcasting on a frequency of 1170 kHz from Mogilev-BLR 0800-1600 and 1800-2000 UT. Broadcasting at 1170 kHz from Amavir Krasnodar is saved, [0400-0600 1500-2300 UT, wb.]. In the calendar of international Russian radio removed the following frequencies: towards the Middle East MSK 5985 kHz in time 1700-1800 in the direction of the Middle East and Caucasus SAM 7225 kHz in time 0000-0400 in the direction of Europe and the Baltic States KLG 1215 kHz in time of 0900-1100 in the direction of Belarus also fully removed from Mogilev-BLR at 1170 kHz 0100-0500 in the direction of Ukraine and Moldova SAM 5940 kHz in time 1700- 1800; and completely removed broadcast at 621 kHz from Grigoriopol Maiac Dniesteria 0500-2300. From 18 January some frequencies which international Russian radio, Voice of Russia ordered Russian service, namely: 1500-1700 MSK 6140 kHz in the direction of the Caucasus and the Middle East 1600-2000 StP 1494 kHz towards Europe and the Baltic States 1300-1800 and 1900-2200 KLG 1143 kHz towards the Baltic States and Belarus 2300-0400 ERV-Armenia 7430 kHz towards Central America 0500-1000 on medium wave in Germany Braunschweig 630, Oranienburg 693 and Dresden Wilsdruff 1431 kHz (instead of broadcasts in English). (Technical service GTRK "Voice of Russia", "DX club", via MIDXB # 669, 26 Jan, ed Vadim Alexeev-RUS, via RUSdx via BC-DX via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 7260, Feb 8 at 1531, VOR English starting Russian by Radio lesson, fair but ham SSB QRM and I bail out. This is 230 degrees from Vladivostok. During same hour R. Liberty in Tajik, 316 degrees from Thailand is also scheduled, but inaudible here. I should think VOR would bother RL reception in Tajikistan, close to its targets from Kashmir to Vietnam. VOR`s English to NAm frequencies in the 06-07 UT hour, 9840 and 9855, from Pet/Kam and Vladivostok respectively, have not been making it here the past several weeks during the darkest nights of winter; but a bit of solar flux and tilting toward spring helped audiblize them Feb 7 at 0646, during some story-telling. As before, 9840 quite a bit stronger than 9855, but 9840 has co- channel QRM under from the other Russian transmission from Moscow area in a prime example of self-defeating frequency planning. // 12030 if still in use, is even less likely to propagate (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA [and non]. Re 10-05: 17730.00 even! No BUZZ this morning on this usual odd 17729.65v channel of BSKSA Riyadh 1st program transmission, today at 0630 UT S=8-9, scheduled 0600-0900 UT. \\ 17740.00. Many ID's by charming lady announcer. Also Holy Qur`an program noted at fair level on 15380.00 and 17895.00 kHz at same time (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 5 via DXLD) 15435, Feb 5 from *1456.6 with carrier, Arabic modulation with conversation from 1457.4: BSKSA remains in whack, good modulation and just occupying its proper bandwidth. Only problem is a bit of whine with varying pitch, but not too bad, noted at 1511 but continuous. 15435, BSKSA still buzz-free, Feb 6 at 1505, good with Qur`an, only light squeal/whine to mar it. Just how long was the buzz going on? Searching on that keyword in my DXLD archive, the first reference I found was in 5-021, when Wolfgang Büschel reported it February 1, 2005, on 21460 and 21495; more in 5- 029 on 21, 17 and 9 MHz channels, March 2, 2005, but already had been buzzing ``for some months``. The first buzz report on 15435 was in 6-140 for Sept 19, 2006, from yours truly. We still need to confirm whether the buzz also be gone from the same transmitter on other frequencies at times other than 15- 18 UT. It`s probably on 21495 or one of the other seldom-propagating 13m channels until 1500. We had also been hearing abuzz recently on 11785, possibly from a second defective unit. Later monitoring Feb 6, 2010 at 1647: 15435 still very good, stronger than // 15205 now on the air, again with Qur`an, and that stronger than // 15225 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15250 - is that a new channel for BSKSA Riyadh's French service in \\ to 17660 at 1400-1555 UT? Noted Feb 5 with more than fair signal of S=8 around 1430 to 1450 UT, in \\ to usual registered 17660 kHz to West Africa which is tiny poor of S=2 just above the "turf" just slightly above the local noise level with computer on. Light Arabic music program with charming Arabic lady voice. Nothing BSKSA French on 15250 today Feb 6th, but regular 17660 kHz is much, much stronger today 1400-1555 UT, some sunspots looming ? PS: also Kuwait very strong this afternoon: 15110 R. KUWAIT 1305-1700 Arabic 100 100 Kabd Sulaibiyah KWT MOI b09 Nov (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA [non]. 7230, BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA. Radio Serbia (Bijeljina), 2246-2300*, 2/3/2010, English. Talk by man. Frequent mention of Serbia. Announcement by woman at 2257 followed by ID by man. Anthem at 2258. Gone at 2300. Moderate signal in very heavy ARO interference (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, RX-340, IC-R75, Random Wires (90' and 200'), ALA100M, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ?? This broadcast is supposed to be in Serbian, to Australia. Beware: there is a semihour of English at 2230 on 7230 from VOA via Thailand due North, per Aoki, but they would not be talking much about Serbia or playing its anthem; heard a mixture? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. RECEPTION OF SIBC RADIO HAPPY ISLES ON 5020 KHZ IN AUSTRIA. G'day Patrick. Thanks for your reception report. I can confirm that you have heard us on 5020; unfortunately our transmitter blew up the frequency driver circuit and one of the valves so it is off air at the moment. We are working on restoring services ASAP. Min Sun, AYAD Volunteer, Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation E-mail: msun @ sibc.com.sb Mobil phone: +677 74 93015 (Patrick Robic, Austria, A-DX Feb 9, via Wolfgang Büschel, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DXLD) ** SOMALIA [non]. Re 10-05: New targeted broadcast for SOMALIA Here are some more details about this, which I gleaned on a visit to the new station's HQ in Nairobi last week: NAME: Radio Bar-Kulan (= Meeting Place). FUNDING AND PURPOSE: UN-aided, to operate in support of UN and African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) information operations in Somalia. OPERATIONS: Independent; run by the same management that set up Radio Okapi for the DR Congo [Hirondelle Foundation? gh] LAUNCH DATE: March 2010. INITIAL SCHEDULE: 0500-0600 and 1600-1700 GMT daily. Hopes to expand broadcasting hours later. To broadcast on SW, satellite, internet streaming and via FM relays in Somalia. STUDIOS: In Nairobi. SW TRANSMISSIONS: Being arranged by VT (note: not necessarily from VT sites). Exact frequencies not yet announced (Chris (back in UK) Greenway, Feb 8, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN [and non]. While other 16m signals are so-so, REE still inbooms on 17595, Feb 6 at 1650 with modern classical piano music. Tuned on up to 17850 // via Costa Rica, at 1654 outroing piece as ``Fracciones Líricas``, and 1655 outro program title ``América Mágica``, as on schedule grid for 16-17 Saturday hour only. From the title, you would never guess it deals with contemporary classical Latin American music. Equally huge but lo-fi signal from COSTA RICA relay on 17850 was atop much weaker co-channel despite lots of open spaces on 16m, so outmatched that it was hard to compute the SAH around 3.5 Hz. It had a French touch, and sure enough, that`s RFI in French at 16-17, 500 kW, 170 degrees from Issoudun. 11765, at 1659 Feb 6, REE IS at VG level about equal to Habana 11760; 1700 accurate timesignal, fanfare and Arabic service. This Monday Feb 8 I set the alarm to remind me to check REE`s weekly Sephardic service, but of course, remembered this time and did not need the alarm. Already at 1416 open carrier on 15385, but off at 1420*. *1420:30 cut back on with REE IS for three sesquiminutes. 1425 to fanfare and sign-on as ``Radio Nacional de España/Radio Exterior, emisión Sefarad en judeo-español``. YL then announces frequencies for the three transmissions, starting with this one on ``15325`` --- she STILL doesn`t know what frequency she is really on, 15385, but just as well since it`s clear and 15325 is not. Then detailed summary of upcoming program content, so much that I found it hard to imagine how they could cram all that into a semihour. Nevertheless, no less than the first half was dedicated to an interview with a musician named Paco. He was speaking Castilian and she was speaking JE, but of course they have no trouble understanding each other. Too bad there wasn`t time to hear much of his music. Still, it`s a well-produced show and we loved what music there was. Wrapped up with another frequency schedule announcement, fanfare and off at 1455* sharp. After antenna switch, 15385 back on at *1456:30 for regular REE service in conventional Castilian. Missed it by that much: at 0146 UT Tue Feb 9 I remembered to check for the SAm broadcast of RNE/RE`s Emisión Sefarad, which I hear Monday mornings at 1425 on 15385, not announced 15325. Hostess says the 0115-0145 broadcast is on 11780, but at 0146 RNA Brasil is inbooming as usual, some flutter, with ``goooooooooaaaaaaaaallllllll`` remark. Hard to imagine REE being audible here, let alone there, no stronger than the weak REE signal arriving on 11680 --- and the 0115 broadcast is registered B-09 on 11795 which should be clear if axually in use, so let`s hope her announcement in this case is also wrong, but have to wait at least another week to check it out. Strangely, 11795 is also on the books for the repeat to NAm at 0415 along with 9690 and 9650, but surely only using one of them, 9690 the last we checked, with the others being wooden alternates (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. TWR-ASIA RENEWS COOPERATION WITH SRI LANKA BROADCASTING CORPORATION The Asian division of Christian broadcaster Trans World Radio has signed a new contract on January 12 with the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation to continue broadcasting from its transmitter site in Puttalam. TWR-Asia has been working with the oldest radio station in South Asia for the past 33 years and currently broadcasts a total of 77 programmes in 24 languages via the station. Under the new contract, which was signed after months of negotiations and discussions between both sides and which will take effect on 1 Feb 2010, the cooperation will continue for the next three years with an option to extend it for another two years. . . Nathanael Ng [more] Source: http://goo.gl/prqw Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010 12:58:16PM HKT (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DXLD) WTFK?! 882 kHz. The same transmitter shifts to 873 kHz when used for SLBC programming (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. 15670, Míraya FM at 1419 Feb 5 with African music, via IRRS via SLOVAKIA. Propagation not so good today and weaker at 1443 when it had already started talking, intonation sounding English. A bit better at next check 1511, with usual mix of English and Arabic dialect from one sentence to the next, about Juba, Southern Sudan. It will be interesting to hear what happens Sat and Sun at 1530 when Radio Mada via Pridnestrovye has been operating on same frequency. I have notified both IRRS and WRN of the potential collision. 15670, Miraya FM via IRRS via SLOVAKIA, Sat Feb 6 at 1430 with ID, promo music, poor. I had warned both WRN and IRRS about the impending collision between this and R. Mada, which has been using 15670 via Pridnestrovye, only on Sat & Sun at 1530-1600 for many weeks, but they did not manage to untangle in time. Maybe by next day or next week? As early as 1508, I detected an open carrier mixing with Miraya, making a 2.8 Hz SAH, so Mada transmitter is on, way early. Rate varied slightly either due to transmitter warmup/instability or Doppler disruptions in transit. At 1528 recheck, the OC had added ``Russian tuneup tones`` vs Miraya. At 1530 their audios were mixing at about equal levels here, intolerable, and likely as bad in Sudan and Madagascar, except both of them much stronger in target zones. At 1539, one had hilifish music, the other talk; at 1550 both were mixing music. Meanwhile, nothing at all heard on 15660, 15665, 15675 or 15680, so this could be easily solved by one of them shifting to one of those. Nothing scheduled either on any except WHRI on 15665, but they aren`t really using it, at least not this early, one of countless wooden WHR registrations. Next check at 1625, Miraya again had 15670 to itself, good but with increased flutter. Is it now closing at 17 instead of 18 since it`s starting an hour earlier at 14? Unchecked after 17. The poor Sudanese (or are they fortunate?) have a logjam of target broadcasts from abroad; see also next item, Dabanga. At the same time as Miraya, there is Sudan Radio Service on 17745 via PORTUGAL, at 1511 Feb 6 in English with drums and hilife music. Supposedly there is more English on Saturdays than elsewhen. SRS still good at 1653 with choral music. Another check of the collision on 15670, Sunday Feb 7: already on at 1418, not anything African, but Celine Dion with some of her popular hits, still at 1427; and ``We Are the World`` on and on at 1437, presumably including her participation. Is this really being outsent by Miraya FM from Sudan, or from somewhere else as prélude to the intentional relay via Rimavská Sobota, SLOVAKIA? By 1459 reception had worsened, still music; 1504 could tell they were now in expected programming, mixing English and Arabic about Southern Sudan. At 1513 the fluttery 15670 signal had SAH, I think, from the Pridnestrovye transmitter already upwarming open carrier as also noted yesterday. At 1529, the Russian tuneup tones were ending and 1530 starting Radio Mada audio mixing about equally with Miraya and SAH of almost 3 Hz. Alfredo Cotroneo of NEXUS says there is no QRM from Mada in Miraya`s Sudan target area, so doesn`t plan to move. That may be, but Madagascar is only 10 degrees away from the 160-degree azimuth out of Slovakia, so Mada listeners are likely to have a problem with Miraya. Anyhow, there`s no point in going head to head when plenty of clear frequencies are available nearby such as 15660 and 15680, where Miraya should have gone in the first place, ex-9825. Altho Mada was on 15670 first, since its usage is relatively brief, it should make the shift. Tune in next weekend (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15670, Miraya FM relay via IRRS via SLOVAKIA, 1638-1646, Feb 8 [Monday]. In Arabic and English; report by phone; asks “While you are there, do you see any people selling any medicines in the market?”; mentions HIV; singing “Miraya FM” IDs; poor-fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [and non]. Unidentified 13800, continuous tone test of about 1 kHz (not a het on just one side), Feb 6 at 1703 mixing with station in Arabic or similar. So R. Dabanga service to Sudan via MADAGASCAR at 1529-1727 has an interference problem tho nothing else is listed; or could it be a form of jamming? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. 9330, Radio Damascus (Adra), 2252-2303*, 2/2/2010, Spanish. Traditional Syrian music. Talk by woman at 2258 with occasional music in the background. Anthem 2301 to 2303* (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, RX-340, IC-R75, Random Wires (90' and 200'), ALA100M, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. 7545, 04/Fev 2206, UNID. OM e YL se alternam na fala, parece ser em chinês. Jammer Chinês? Após 2207 UT OM em longa fala. As 2217 UT a modulação ficou mais baixa. As 2222 UT até 2226 UT o que parecia um discurso gravado e uma tradução ou comentário simultâneo. Propagação começa a decair a partir das 2225 UT. As 2230 UT sem modulação só portadora. As 2232 UT a portadora sai do ar. Gravado 7545 04/FEB 2206, UNID. In Chinese(?). Signal until 2230 UT. Does anyone have information? Recorded in http://www.ipernity.com/doc/75006/7258727/ .. (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brasil, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Jorge, This broadcast is genuine Sound of Hope via TJK or UZB in Chinese, not Jammer. The jamming (Firedrake) was not broadcasted. [and non] Monitor of Hiroshi on Feb. 4 by PERSEUS recording 1230-1300 7510 (from 1243-firedrake) 1400-1430 ??? 1500-1530 7510 (from 1509-firedrake) 1530-1600 7485 no-Jamming 1600-1630 7515 no-Jamming 2200-2230 7545 no-Jamming 2230-2300 7515 (from 2243-firedrake) 2300-2330 7520 (from 2316-firedrake) 2330-2400 7500 no-Jamming (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Looks to me like frequency-hopping technique to escape jamming; thus not to be taken as a `schedule` which would repeat at same times and frequencies another day (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DXLD) Dear S. Hasegawa. Thanks for the info. I wonder what happened to the efficient Chinese Firedrake and jamming? Lately I've heard the transmission of SOH without interference. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA, BRASIL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6280, 05/Feb 2301, Sound of Hope. Music, initial ID. OM and YL talk. Reproduction of recorded statements. Short music. Good signal without QRM. Recorded (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. I'm wondering if anyone has picked up the Chinese number station on 11430 from 0600 UT to about 0630? (Keith Perron, Taiwan, Feb 10, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Probably New Star Broadcasting Station V13. Check these links ... http://www.cvni.net/radio/nsnl/nsnl038/nsnl38v13.html http://hfsurfing.blogspot.com/2009/10/v13-new-star-broadcasting-station.html (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, ibid.) Because for the past few days on 11430 from 0600 to 0629 UT I've been picking up a number station daily (Perron, ibid.) According to ABI, 11430 is QSY from 13750 of Star-Star Broadcasting Station (Xing Xing Guang bo dian tai) - 4th Radio (not New Star). Current sked of Star-Star Broadcasting Station (Xing Xing Guang bo dian tai) 1 0200-0230 9548 1 0300-0330 9548 2 0400-0430 9570 4 0500-0530 11430 4 0600-0630 11430 3 0700-0730 10522 3 0800-0830 10522 4 1200-1230 11430 4 1300-1330 11430?? de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, dxldyg, via WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN [non]. 11850, ``this day in history`` segment making some of the same points as on VOA at :27 past the hours, Feb 6 at 1709, fair signal in clear from R. Taiwan International, ID, a cappella singer joined by others briefly, then Charlie Stark introducing features for rest of English hour starting at 1711 with ``Occidental Tourist`` tale of mystix and doppelgangers, prompted by a Facebook week. This broadcast is 160 degrees from Issoudun, FRANCE (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. VOT wasting more megawatts on the 1330 English broadcast: Feb 5 at 1415, 12035 has fair signal strength but just barely modulated, while // 15300 is OK modulated but colliding with RFI in French. Here`s what they should do if they are not going to fix the modulation on 12035 and get off 15300: swap transmitters, so the unmodulated one is on 15300, and the modulated one is on clear 12035! More free advice TRT are sure to ignore (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15284 to 15416 kHz TRT Emirler spurious signal, Febr 4. and Febr 9th again. TRT Emirler 500 kW sender festival. 15350 often known as the most bad transmitter at Emirler, produced some sideband spurs a g a i n today Febr 9th at 0700 to 1400 UT. Covered more space on the 19mb segment. Spurious signals on 15332.36 to 15370.62 kHz range, as well as two sidebands at 15286.05 - 15294.65 and 15405.40 - 15415.64 kHz (wb, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 9) (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Alemania, Feb 9 http://topnews.wwdxc.de to TRT, via WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA. About broadcasting here (not shortwave): http://yimber-gaviria.blogspot.com/2010/02/uganda-cbs-radio-always-made-my-day.html (Yimber Gaviría, DXLD) ** UKRAINE. Is it an old picture in YouTube called Plasma Radio? About transmitter in Brovary RV87 150 kW. Same video found on various URL's (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 5 via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) ** U A E. DHABAYYA TRANSMITTER SITE IMAGES Hi folks, Our member Lev from Canada struck gold with a fantastic link showing many terrific images of antennas & associated transmission infrastructure of the Dhabayya SW TX site in the UAE. http://picasaweb.google.com/gungadoo/DhabayyaTxSite# or see our LINKS page from our YG website: Links > SW TRANSMITTER SITES > Middle East > UAE > Al-Dhabayya Thanks Lev - its great when members share their discoveries. It makes the establishment of this Yahoo Group so worthwhile & enjoyable. Keep up the good work. Regards (Ian Baxter, Australia, Feb 9, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) ** U K [non]. Premier League Football, in English to Sweden: Saturday 6th February Kick Off: 1245 – Liverpool v Everton Off Air: 1445 Kick Off: 1500 – Manchester Utd v Portsmouth Off Air: 1700 Sunday 7th February Kick Off: 1600 – Chelsea v Arsenal Off Air: 1800 Presumably still on 5800 via `Kharkov`, Ukraine (Glenn Hauser, Feb 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Perhaps checking around 1650 was a bit late, but in this moment I could not detect any signal on 5800. At the same time 5830 from this site was there, quite faint but beaming into western Siberia, away from Central Europe (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 6, ibid.) The English of WRN-Premier League Football was not able to receive Feb. 6. 1600-1800 were able to receive Feb. 7 on 5800 kHz. I can't receive Chinese on 6230 kHz after Manchester Utd vs Burnley of Jan. 16 (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, Feb 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) On 7 Feb at 1554 tune-in strong empty carrier on 5800. Premier League Radio audio in English started at 1600 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. 9440, Feb 7 at 0647 XYLs discussing, with babies constantly crying and wailing in the background (thus I assume the women are not mere YLs). 0658 mention BBC World Service, and Nigeria, off at 0659:30. Had not noticed this before, Hausa via Ascension at 0630 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA ** U K. 5790, Feb 8 at 0615 Russian dialog about Ukrainian elexion, shortly mentioning BBC, fair signal but would be better without QRM and overload from Cuban spy cut numbers superstrong 5800. BBCWS English on 5875 was very good. 5790 is 250 kW, 47 degrees from Rampisham at 05-07 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. This is the `final week` for BBC`s temporary Creole service, ``Connexion Haïti`` produced in Miami, according to someone at BBCWS Trust via kimandrewelliott.com, so I made a point of listening to some of the 1232:30-1252:30 UT broadcast via WHRI 9410, Friday Feb 5. At 1238 an interview about vaccinations; 1241 message from the Haitian ambassador à Washington, Raymond Joseph, with musical accompaniment. 1252 sign-off listed the FM frequencies in each Haitian city for the 9:10 am repeat, but no mention of SW --- who listens to that??? Was this the final broadcast? No, ``à demain``, she says, however you spell that in Kreyòl, so maybe Feb 6 will be the last one. Immediately followed by classical music fill introduced in Spanish, ``Compositores de Siempre`` but never identifying the musical tidbits played. Based on a remark from someone at BBCWS Trust, kimandrewelliott.com assumed that the first week in February was to be the ``last week`` for Connexion Haïti, the special Creole program BBCWS pulled together a week or two after the quake, in the wake of immediate Creole expansion by VOA. It had been inserted into the Spanish hour, at 1232:30-1252:30 via WHRI 9410 and Guiana French 11860; however, on Friday Feb 5 we heard them say they`d be back the next day, altho unchecked on Saturday and Sunday. Surely this would be gone by Monday, and the Spanish frequencies back to classical music fill? No. But it almost seemed that way, as the show did not start at the appointed time. When we intuned 9410 Feb 8 at 1237 there was an apology loop in French (not Creole), with music, saying programming was unavailable from BBC Afrique, so check out bbcafrique.com. Afrique? How did that get in here? But at 1238 axually started Connexion Haïti which thus still exists; perhaps it is being extended, maybe, day to day, or week to week. If it was needed before, it is not needed any less now. This late start should have been just in time to get it finished before the transmissions end at 1300 sharp. Receptionwise, at the outset 9410 was quite weak and mixed with Chinese QRM, i.e. CNR5 Beijing blocking Fu Hsing, Taiwan, per Aoki, and 11860 was much better, but at 1241, WHRI 9410 rapidly built up to full strength as if someone were turning up the power, but apparently, the morning ionosphere was just getting itself together, now way over the Chinese (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I think from the studio facilities used by BBC WS French service, which of course otherwise aims at Africa exclusively. Presumably this loop gets played out automatically when other audio sources are missing. Seems to me that the first week in February was the last for broadcasts in Creole from Miami, produced there in responsibility of the quoted "Humanitarian Program Manager" from the BBC World Service Trust. What now goes out appears to be made by the French service in London, so by the "actual" World Service, without its charity body (or whatever this "BBC World Service Trust" may be; it appears to be something completely different from the "BBC Trust") being involved anymore (Kai Ludwig, Feb 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, they were still calling it Connexion Haïti, and altho I heard only a bit of it, sounded like the same YL announcer from WLRN as before, who reads scripts a little too carefully and am not convinced she is a native Kreyòl speaker. Could be the feed is routed thru London anyway (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) And still on Feb 11 ** U S A. THROUGH THE HOLE IN THE FIREWALL, PRESIDENT OBAMA NOMINATES RICHARD M. LOBO TO BE DIRECTOR OF THE IBB "Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate ... Richard M. Lobo, Director, International Broadcasting Bureau. ... Richard M. Lobo is currently serving as chairman of the Florida Public Broadcasting Service Inc. Mr. Lobo is president and chief executive officer of WEDU (PBS)Tampa/St. Petersburg/Sarasota. He previously was president and general manager of WTVJ in Miami, station manager for WNBC-TV in New York, and vice president and general manager of NBC stations in Chicago and Cleveland. ... He also served as Director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting in the United States Information Agency from 1994-1995." The White House, 4 February 2010. "Lobo, 73, still must be confirmed by the Senate, so he may not be leaving Tampa soon. But the executive, whose wife, Caren, spearheaded fundraising for Barack Obama in Florida during the 2008 presidential election, will eventually leave for Washington, D.C., if confirmed, working under the Broadcasting Board of Governors." Eric Deggans, St. Petersburg Times, 5 February 2010. (kimandrewelliott.com via WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DXLD) Despite the International Broadcasting Act of 1994 placing US international broadcasting under the "firewall" of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, a major defect in that Act is that the president still appoints (with Senate consent) the director of the International Broadcasting Bureau. On paper, the IBB is the parent entity of VOA and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio and TV Martí.) So the president does an end-run around the BBG by appointing the director of the IBB, and the BBG does an end-run around the IBB by appointing the director of VOA. Customarily, the IBB confines itself to engineering and administrative functions. It is generally not involved in content (although the IBB Office of Performance Review very much is). In theory, however, the president, if displeased by VOA content, could, though his/her IBB director, constrain services vital to VOA. Given Mr. Lobo's background in broadcasting, his instincts will likely be more journalistic than political. Nevertheless, his nomination is a reminder that US international broadcasting is badly in need of reform. Consolidation of US international broadcasting would eliminate the need for the IBB as a separate layer of bureaucracy. Posted: 08 Feb 2010 (Kim Andrew Elliott, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, ibid.) ** U S A. USC SCHOLARS RECOMMEND DOMESTIC DISSEMINATION OF VOA, RFE/RL "Relax restrictions on domestic consumption of news reports by Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Free Liberty and other government- funded international broadcasters. These broadcasters have talented journalists in bureaus around the world, and the United States spends half again as much on international broadcasts aimed at foreign audiences as it spends on public broadcasting. Yet these entities are barred by law from distributing their news reports to an American audience. Case in point: A Minnesota radio station wanted to run broadcasts by the VOA’s Somali service so that its audience – mainly Somalis who were getting news from other entities broadcasting in the Somalian language – would hear reports by a reliable source of news. Adhering to a law adopted 60 years ago, the VOA was forced to say no. In an era when all Americans, including expatriate populations, have access to both outstanding news sources and propaganda from around the world, it makes little sense to deny them excellent reports funded by the United States. Technology is making this prohibition mostly obsolete. It’s no longer possible to quarantine newscasts by VOA, RFE/RL, Alhurra and others, which are gaining a big domestic audience on the Web. A recognition of that reality would make this nearly $700 million annual investment in news coverage more useful to the American public." David Westphal, "Public Policy and Funding the News, USC Center on Communication & Policy, January 2010. With introduction by former VOA director Geoffrey Cowan. "Since 1948, through congressional passage of the Smith-Mundt Act and made even more severe with subsequent legislation, Americans were essentially not to hear what their government was broadcasting to countries abroad. Today, though, technology (the Internet and direct broadcast systems) has rendered the ban meaningless. Americans surfing the Web are able to listen or watch virtually any broadcast or program intended for a foreign audience." Working paper on international broadcasting from ibid. (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) The restriction is on domestic dissemination, not domestic consumption. American shortwave listeners have always been able to hear VOA broadcasts, rendering the Smith Mundt domestic dissemination prohibition meaningless. But now, as VOA phases out shortwave in favor of internet delivery, the ban is becoming feasible. As discussed in a previous post, some broadcasters use IP addresses to restrict the distribution of their content to certain parts of the world. (Savvy internet users know how to work around these restrictions, but average users don't.) VOA therefore could, if it chooses to do so, or if it is directed to do so, use this same capability to comply with Smith- Mundt. There are two good reasons for US international broadcasting to be excused from the domestic dissemination prohibition. The first is that immigrant communities in the United States appreciate news about their their home countries in their home languages. VOA, RFE/RL, and RFA provide such news, so this valuable public service should not be restricted via the internet or on local radio stations. (Some radio stations in the United States use VOA programming on a "don't ask, don't tell" basis. Because VOA content is generally not protected by copyright, they use it without asking the permission that VOA would not be able to grant.) Second, VOA could expand its news coverage by bartering its international reporting for the domestic reporting of US broadcasting organizations. Such an exchange would be possible only by repealing the domestic dissemination ban on VOA content. Legislation that eliminates domestic dissemination restrictions on US international broadcasting should be carefully worded. It must be specified that funds allocated for international broadcasting are to be used for international broadcasting. There could be the temptation for an administration to use those monies for some sort of domestic communication campaign. Senior managers of US international broadcasting might want to cater to politically expeditious US audiences, at the expense of their audiences abroad. Posted: 05 Feb 2010 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) ** U S A. WILLIS CONOVER TRIBUTE PAGE ON FACEBOOK Hello, everyone! I don't know how many of you have seen it, but there is a tribute page now on Facebook for Willis Conover, longtime jazz host on the Voice of America, often called the "World's Favorite American" and one of the legends of international broadcasting. The site is run by his grand-niece, Claire Conover. I just found it a short while ago, became a fan, and posted a message. To check it out or to become a fan, here is where to go: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Willis-Conover/116189471105 73-- (Marie Lamb, NY, Feb 4, ODXA yg via DXLD) Marie is obviously partial to jazz even tho she funxions as a classical WCNY announcer ** U S A. BUDGET CUTS QUIET VOICE OF AMERICA --- By Ginger Livingston, The Daily Reflector [Greenville NC], Wednesday, February 3, 2010 The federal government wants to close the Voice of America transmission site located in Pitt County. President Obama's Fiscal Year 2011 budget for the Broadcasting Board of Governors recommends funding increases to update satellite and other broadcasting technology. But the improvements come at the loss of the Pitt County Voice of America site and reductions in engineering staffing. More at: http://www.reflector.com/news/budget-cuts-quiet-voice-america-22341 (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, dxldyg via DXLD) We should remember that the budget proposal is just that, a proposal. It may be altered during the Congressional sausage making process (Jerry Lenamon, Waco TX, ibid.) Mrs. King is yet another person who has the mentality that everybody has access to the Internet. And how does she know that only 1% of Haitians listen to SW? The agency only collects data from a small segment of the population anyway. Not to mention Cubans and the vast areas of Latin America away from the cities that have no local AM or FM stations. SW is still vital in many places to keep up with what is happening in the world (Colin Miller, on Feb 4th, 2010 at 17:55, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** U S A. U.S. BROADCASTS TO CUBA GET STRONGER By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ. AP Hispanic Affairs Writer http://www.miamiherald.com/581/story/1472809.html MIAMI -- The U.S. government's official broadcasts to Cuba and the government-funded Voice of America are for the first time regularly sharing resources - a move officials hope will enhance both services and which could blunt longtime criticism of the Cuban broadcasts. Some also question whether the move signals the beginning of the end for the controversial U.S. Office of Cuban Broadcasting. Last week, the office's TV and Radio Marti services opened their studios to VOA's Spanish division to jointly produce a regular half- hour radio show. "A Fondo" or "In Depth" provides news and analysis from around the hemisphere. It was developed in part to target Venezuela, where President Hugo Chavez has cracked down on opposition and independent media and frequently criticizes U.S. foreign policy. "I am looking into this issue to ensure that this is an effort to maximize resources to expand U.S. coverage in the region and not a back door to reducing U.S. broadcasts to Cuba," U.S Rep. Ileana Ros- Lehtinen, R-Miami, told The Associated Press. "If this reduces the capability of Radio and TV Marti, it would be another concession to the Cuban regime who fears the uncensored information these broadcasts offer," added the legislator, a Cuban- American and champion of the decades-old U.S. embargo of Cuba. Miami-based Radio and TV Marti, the government's only foreign broadcasts based outside of Washington, have for years endured charges that the virulent, anti-communist tone of some of their programs was ineffective. Critics - particularly those who oppose Washington's Cuba policies - also question whether anyone on the island even watches the more expensive TV Marti. The Cuban government generally blocks it. The association between the VOA and the Martis could help the latter's reputation, said Nicholas Cull, a University of Southern California professor who has studied the government's foreign broadcasts. "My feeling is that Marti has had a checkered history, and that anything that can pull its output into line with the high journalistic standards of VOA would be for the good," he said. U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., one of the Martis' most ardent critics, had a more cynical take. "I think they realize they're on borrowed time with the Cuba project, so I think they're trying to merge it in as much as they can with Voice of America," he said. Alberto Mascaro, a Miami native and former Office of Cuban Broadcasting executive, recently took the helm of VOA's Spanish- language service in Washington. He says the cooperation is not about politics but about the best use of resources. "Miami being a gateway city, it's a place where we can glean information and guests that in Washington just may not be as accessible. It's a whole additional talent pool," said Mascaro, who hopes to serve as a bridge between the two broadcasts. VOA has news stringers south of the U.S. border but no longer has any bureaus there - making the Miami studios all the more important as Washington seeks to counter increasing criticism from Chavez, Bolivian President Evo Morales and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega. Over the last year, the Marti studios have occasionally produced other shows for VOA and served as a training hub for its journalists from across the region. In recent weeks, VOA has also relied on Marti's Miami studios for much of its broadcasting to Haiti, using local Creole-speaking reporters from the area's large Haitian-American community. Still, the change comes as the Office of Cuban Broadcasting faces budget cuts. Last year it was forced to lay off more than 20 staffers. While the larger VOA's 2011 budget request of $206.8 million is up slightly over previous years, Cuban broadcasting's request of $29.2 million is down about $4 million from 2007. Mascaro insists both organizations adhere to the same standards and serve important but distinct missions. Marti provides a counterbalance to Cuba's tightly controlled, pro-government media. "It's not trying to provide a pro-Castro perspective. They already get that - and only that," he said. VOA's job is to offer a broader spectrum of balanced news about the U.S. and the world, with politically and culturally relevant information for each region. The two services differ on the technical side as well. Because the Cuba broadcasts are not welcome by the country's government, the U.S. must beam them directly into the island via shortwave, AM broadcasts and satellite. While VOA's broadcasts also use shortwave and satellite, and now with "Al Fondo," some AM, they rely more heavily on local affiliates. Yet that may change, too. VOA's Spanish-language radio is carried by only a handful of affiliates in Venezuela, and its TV service by even fewer. Given Chavez's recent decision to take the opposition cable and satellite Radio Caracas Television International off the air, it could soon lose even those platforms. And that would make it all the more dependent on the same modes of transmission the Martis rely on (Miami Herald Feb 10 via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ?? A Fondo, Not ``Al Fondo`` is a full hour, not half an hour. Laura must not be consulting DXLD. Since A Fondo is not specifically for Cuba, now does that make the headline correct? One could say they are `weaker`, since that`s one hour x 5 per week of time out of RM`s previous schedule specifically for Cuba. Martí is NOT the only USG service based outside Washington. How about RFE/RL in Prague????? How many other `facts` are wrong in this article? Lack of accents sic (gh) ** U S A [and non]. Checking Greenville`s hectic 01-02 hour another night, UT Feb 5: A Fondo, the new VOA/Martí collaboration again came up first on 9415 already at 0100. I suppose that particular transmitter is not required somewhere else right up to 0100. 11625 not audible yet but could come on and not be noticed due to poor propagation up there. At 0104, 7340 still absent. Did not catch when it finally came on, but it was certainly in play at 0128 thereupon when A Fondo announced frequencies: 11625, 9415 and 7340, plus Radio Martí frequencies 1180, 6030, 7365 and 9825. Initially the RM frequencies were not announced, so we were not positive whether the same program was on them under jamming. The new trio are as yet unjammed. While the old RM channels continue to be. This page introducing A Fondo http://www1.voanews.com/spanish/news/A-fondo-83291037.html originally gave the time but not the frequencies, and had a comments option. So I commented, telling them what their own frequencies are, and that it would be nice to add them. By the time I refreshed the page, they had been added, but comments no longer enabled. As of UT Feb 5 we are still waiting for them to add the four original R. Martí channels. Lavwadlamerik: At 0101, 5835 was running, but not 7465. At 0104, 7465 had come on, 0105 with some dead air, and then interrupted briefly by WWCR, q.v. I also checked 7590 at 0101 and 0109 and there seemed to be something there, but too weak to tell if // 5835. Previous nights it seemed 7590 was no longer in use after 0100. At 0107, also had LVA on its third and worst frequency 5960. The Creole schedule at http://author.voanews.com/english/about/frequenciesAtoZ_c.cfm still does not show any of the extra frequencies or times, but does still claim the 0100 broadcast is on 1180, which A Fondo also now claims to be using! On the S page, A Fondo has been added at 0100-0200 on its original three frequencies only, as if it were just another nameless VOA Spanish hour; and the lack of color coding implies it is seven days a week, contrary to original publicity that it would be only five; change of plans or another SNAFU? As of Feb 5, Lavwadlamerik appears to have cut back its unpublicized extra broadcasts in Creole to Haiti. Did not check before 2200, when it had been on 15390 until 21 and 13725 until 22, but at 2311 nothing to be heard on 7590, 5835 nor any other frequency we could find in the 5-10 MHz range. We know that 7590 at least had been heard a few days ago during this hour. Checked again just before 2400 and still no sign of LVA. UT Feb 6 at 0002, however, 5835 popped on the air with VG signal; at 0003 weak carrier from 7590, and // modulation audible from 0004. Next check at 0101 or the next couple minutes found all the LVA frequencies, 5835, 5960 and 7465 AND all the VOA/Martí A Fondo frequencies, 7340, 9415 and finally 11625 --- // in VOA ENGLISH news! Wrong feed input, or Spanish and Kreyòl feeds unavailable? After a pause at 0105, played some instrumental fill music. But circa 0108 these had switched to the correct languages. Anomalies may have been caused by heavy rain at the moment, or previous damage to some antenna? But an hour later at 0158: A Fondo in Spanish about to end, audible on 11625, much better on 9415 which seems to have some co-channel QRM under, but nothing listed; and best strength on 7340 but it now has QRM from VOR IS via GUF on 7335 about to start Spanish loud and clear, while for English to N America we have to fish around for much weaker and unreliable frequencies from the Eastern Hemisphere. LVA is also going on 5835, 5960 and 7465, off by 0200. However, at 0201, 7465 is on with VOA news in English, like an hour ago, not Kreyòl, joined by 5835 which comes back on at 0201:30. Still nothing on 7590 and of course 5960 is off in deference to NHK Japanese via Sackville. English news finished at 0205 with reference to voanews.com for more, semi-minute of dead air before instrumental fill music inkix again. At 0208 change to ``Good morning, VOA World News Now`` on 5835 and 7465, so more English, the announcer imagining he is in Asia, or at least speaking to Asia rather than America in this fluke, which BBG believes is not entitled to any VOA English unless it`s Spe-cial. However, by final check 0228, 5835 was back in Kreyol and 7465 not audible, faded out? So tonight we had quite a mix of English, Spanish and Creole. While 15390 was missing for a while, it`s back as the third frequency for the 22-23 UT hour of Lavwadlamerik, Feb 6 at 2221 check // 13725 and 11905. Also reconfirmed 7590 still in use at least during the 00- 01 hour, at 0013 Feb 7. A Fondo, the new VOA/Martí collaboration, was originally announced as M-F only, tho still listed on the VOA A-Z schedule as daily 01-02. But nothing on 7340, 9415 and 11625 at 0140 check Feb 7, so it really is off weekends. 9885, VOA with morning service in Spanish called Enfoque Andino, whose remit would seemingly overlap that of the new evening show with Martí, A Fondo; at 1245 Feb 8 with report from Venezuela, someone highly critical of adopting Haitian `orphans` abroad to such awful places as New York; then anchor asked for people in Venezuela to send photos of what`s going on there, presumably meaning anti-government demonstrations, to comentarios @ voanoticias.com to be published on its website http://www.voanoticias.com --- looking around, I don`t find much of that, but here`s one: http://www1.voanews.com/spanish/news/latin-america/Niegan-marcha-en-Caracas--83554712.html At 1310 they were plugging A Fondo, M-F at 8-9 pm on 9825 et al. Check of Lavwadlamerik`s mid-day Creole service to Haiti, Feb 6 at 1729, some music already playing apparently as a prélude, on 15390, or have they really expanded that broadcast too earlier into the morning when not checked? Anyhow at 1730 cut to ``Welcome to the Voice of America --- in Creole!`` as if just starting then. Washington host then spent the next three minutes trying to bring up counterparts in Miami with no success; live radio! Also on 17565, and after 1930, 15390 is still on the air until 2100, with 13725 also still heard after then. Checking around 0136-0140 during the 01-02 UT Tuesday hour Feb 9 whether VOA is still operational as last week? Yes: A Fondo: best on 7340, good on 9415, barely audible on 11625. No jamming on those, but heavy jamming on R. Martí 6030, 7365, 9825 which are supposedly carrying same program. Lavwadlamerik: best on 7465, rather poor on 5960, 5835. No 7590 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. 7235, VOA Korean underneath a much stronger open carrier at 1356 Feb 5. At 1358 the latter begins VOA sign-on in English, Yankee Doodle Dandy, and repeated at 1359. Meanwhile modulation has stopped on the weaker signal, or it`s off before hourtop. At 1400 no English announcement that ``the following broadcast is in Korean``, but did say in English ``VOA World News,`` immediately back into Korean. 1400 is when VOA switches sites for the continuing Korean service, from Tinian to Tinang. No telling how long the Tinang carrier has been on, VOA vs VOA! Should crash-start it instead. 9930, Feb 5 at 1507 with Pink Floyd, ``Another Brick in the Wall`` starting VOA Border Crossings requests, but poor reception here, 322 degrees from Sri Lanka. Should be better on 9760 via Tinang --- but that`s no longer VOA English as still shown on Aoki! Or rather, it was Spe-cial Eng-lish at 1500, not BC, anyway, as the VOA A-Z schedule still claims. Now at 1508, 9760 is really R. Farda, Persian music mix one second ahead of 15410 via Skelton. A feed mixup, or yet another inexplicable schedule shift by IBB? The Farda schedule with today`s date when you click on Waves at http://www.rferl.org/howtolisten/FRD/ondemand.html displays 9760 in use only in the mornings, at 0730-1100 local = 0400- 0730 UT. Collision on 9930: Feb 6 at 1440 I am hearing an American preacher, good signal atop some weaker audio. Preacher is certainly T8WH PALAU, registered here at 0700-1800, and underneath is VOA via SRI LANKA at 1400-1600. Azimuths are 345 and 322 degrees, respectively, which means a worse clash likely in Asia, altho the CIRAF target zones are officially distinct, 43-45 and 41, respectively. 1457, plug for WHR Bible giveaway and off by 1459, uncovering VOA weak and fluttery, but apparently they are about to sign off too. Now I check VOA on 9760 at 1502: yes, it`s back with English news via Philippines, instead of R. Farda as heard yesterday, which I suppose was a horrible mistake. 15460, Feb 6 at 1506 poor signal with flutter from VOA Spe-cial Eng- lish, but better than 9930 had been. Not noticed on 15460 before; this is Thailand at 166 degrees, 15-16 UT only. 15620, Feb 6 at 1645, urgent-sounding speech in an HOA language. Aoki shows VOA Somali. This is that wacky 2-hour transmission 16-18 with a site change every semi-hour, just to keep the Somalis on their toes and/or all the IBB transmitter techs. At 16 it`s 10 degrees from Botswana; at 1630 it`s 135 from Wertachtal, GERMANY; 1700 it`s 263 from Sri Lanka; 1730 it`s 76 from São Tomé. I wonder if they all manage to drop carrier immediately and crash start in order to avoid interfering with each other at handovers (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Another night to check what WWCR does, UT Feb 5: at 0055 I find 7465 already missing; it used to run until 0100. At 0059, however, 7465 cuts on for a few sex, ``At this time, WWCR ---`` and back off before we could find out what WWCR was going to do at this time. I checked 3240 where same transmitter used to reside at 23-02 until they decided to extend 7465 until 0200, despite Lavwadlamerik having put its Creole service there at 01-02. No, nothing on 3240. After colliding on UT Feb 2, they simply turned off for the hour on Feb 3 and 4 (I think). Seemed to be the same tonight as I was punching up various VOA and other frequencies to check on the DX-398, rather than full analog bandscans. I happened to be on LVA 7465 which had just come up late around 0104, when at 0105, WWCR popped back on that frequency for another few sex, during a Discount Gold website commercial, then LVA to itself again. WWCR appeared to be indecisive. So it was not until 0135 that I noticed a big signal on 7490 --- that`s WWCR, mentioning First Amendment Radio, then resident herbalist Wendy Wilson on motherwort, which stimulates the uterus. The audio is cutting out and skipping; anyhow, good signal but not solid with some fading. So 7490 is apparently where WWCR intends to be in the 01-02 hour. That works, as it`s already a WWCR frequency in the mornings but with transmitter 3 then instead of 1 now. In B-09, WWCR is already registered on 7490 for 24 hours a day, so no problem for them to expand usage of it under these circumstances. Yes, the transmitter schedule page http://www.wwcr.com/transmitter-sched.html has now been updated to show this as well as 4775 ex-5070 at 03-12 from WWCR-3 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I heard 4775 on air today (Feb. 4) at 0745 with a good signal - nothing on 5070. What is the difference between these two frequencies - does the lower end one propagate better than the high end one? At 0750 there was only a unmodulated carrier on 3215 at good strength. Bro. Stair was in full flow via 3185 [WWRB] at 0750 - another good signal - but only a carrier yesterday. Maybe he had fallen asleep at the mike? I assume he has to sleep some time! (Noel R. Green (NW England), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4775, WWCR, 0937 "The Power Hour" with M and W hosts talking about removing street cameras in regards to violating human rights. Finally a canned ID at 1010, then back to the program. Very strong and 100% copy of course. Found while checking for 4965 which I thought was a new US station at the time. Like 4965, I didn't have time to listen to this, so I thought this and 4965 might be the same station. So I was surprised 4965 was Christian Voice [see ZAMBIA] and disappointed this turned out to be WWCR. (4 Feb) (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) Contrary to a report from a Downunderite, that WWCR-3 is using 4775 from 2300 due to an interference complaint to the FCC about 5070, 4775 really starts at 0300. Still on 5070 at 2311 check Feb 5 and after 0000, 0100 and 0200 Feb 6. WWCR has been on 5070 for many years, and just now someone finds it a problem during the next nine hours? As I recall, initially it was on 5060 or 5065 but soon settled on 5070. Another check of WWCR-1 found it going strong on 7465 after 2300 Feb 5, but almost like someone threw a switch, it became quite weak after 0000 Feb 6. I`m sure propagation would have been inbooming on previous 3240 --- but who knows, another interference complaint may have knocked them off that too like 3230 before it, which was used only briefly. After 0100, 7465 again had switched to 7490. WWCR`s homepage now says: ``WWCR's Transmitter #3 will broadcast on 4.775 MHz from 0300-1200 UTC until further notice. WWCR's Transmitter #1 will broadcast on 7.490 MHz (moved from 7.465 MHz) for 1 hour daily, 0100-0200 UTC. These changes are noted in the program guide, updated 5 February.`` All these frequencies on 3, 4, 5 and 7 MHz are ``out of band``, really fixed bands in the US, and broadcasters trying them must take the risks associated with their usage being on a non-interference basis (NIB) to higher-priority transmissions, however sporadic. Complaints from utility stations at home or abroad seem to count for more, or be more likely, than from broadcasters which are in-band tropical stations in their own areas (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF RADIO confirmed on new 4775 via WWCR, UT Sundays 0330, checked Feb 7, ex-5070. Our apologies to the Djiboutians, and those who would DX them, but it was not our idea. I suppose it`s still possible if they turn 4780 on a few minutes before 0300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Last night (Mon 8-Feb) I heard strong 4775 earlier than the newly scheduled 0300-1200 per WWCR's website. At 2347 UT tune-in with lady preacher (presumably Sylvia Pearce per schedule) then hymns with harmonium accompaniment (5070 was silent). But at 0003 UT, 4775 cut off abruptly. Retuned to 5070 and heard live preacher (Joe Anthony) telling listeners his programme (Voice of the Wilderness scheduled Mon and Fri 0000 UT) would soon be on 4775 instead of 5070 and to check 4775 if you couldn't hear him on 5070. So 5070 will soon be dropped altogether by WWCR? This morning had the misfortune to catch Alex Jones' 'Infowars' at 0630 UT on 4775 in accordance with the revised schedule (5070 was silent). (Alan Pennington, Caversham, UK, AOR 7030+ / longwire / Sony 7600GR, Feb 9, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Checking around 0130-0140 Feb 9: And WWCR: active on 9980, 7490, 5070 and presumably 5935 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [non] Here`s another station impacted by WWCR moving to 4775: 4775, 30/01 2318, R. Congonhas, Congonhas/MG, BRASIL, ads Supermecado DaMatta, Padaria da Praia, ann "...em Congonhas... " 33433 (Marcio Martins Pontes, Registro-SP, Brasil, via Samuel Cássio, radioescutas yg via DXLD) 5070 antenna is of ITU #902 type, like 900-908 type - rhombic horizontals #902 RH 155/68/40 maybe 5070 kHz range suffers more by UTE services worldwide, or the horizontal rhombic matches better gain on lower 60 mb edge? ITU explanation of 902 antenna type 2.8 Type 8: Rhombic antennas Designation: RH l\\h, where: l : length of one side of the rhombus (m). : one half of the interior obtuse angle of rhombus. h : height of rhombus above ground (m). FIG 7 Horizontal rhombic antenna. The rhombic antenna has been extensively used for HF communications. It continues to be used for fixed-services point-to-point links. It has also been used for HF broadcasting but is no longer recommended for this purpose. The antenna consists of four straight wires of the same length l arranged in the form of a rhombus. A typical rhombic antenna design would use side lengths of several wavelengths and be at a height of between 0.5-1.0 l at the middle of the operating frequency range. The rhombic antenna differs from the array of dipoles since it belongs to the travelling-wave antenna category, i.e. the currents in the conductors of the antenna are substantially travelling waves originated from the feeding point and propagating through the wires towards the terminating resistance. A considerable amount of power may be lost in the terminating resistance and represents the price that has to be paid for some desirable features such as simplicity of construction, relatively wide bandwidth of operation and high directivity gain (ITU explanation via wb dxld Feb 4, via BC-DX via DXLD) ** U S A. WRMI 9955: Glenn: The transmitter is operating completely normally, but we're leaving it on the Latin American antenna full-time for the moment. They're running it for 30 hours straight, until 1700 tomorrow, just to make sure everything is OK after the repairs. Here's the story on the North American antenna. They believe it may have a short circuit somewhere, probably caused by a lightning strike, and the short probably caused the balun to burn out twice now. We have another one to install, but they're going to have to lower the boom and check it out with a fine-tooth comb to try to find and repair the short so it doesn't blow out another balun and mess up the tubes in the transmitter. I have no timeline on this yet, but our consulting engineer has to go back to Panama today, and our chief engineer here will continue to work on this. We may know more in a few days (Jeff White, WRMI, 1905 UT Feb 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRMI again audible on 9955 with 50 kW transmitter reactivated, but not very well since it`s only on the SSE antenna so far. UT Fri Feb 5 at 0117 can recognize the baseball show, no jamming. After 0200 I was back online and checked the webcast, confirming the first SW broadcast of WORLD OF RADIO 1498. The first one was expected one hour earlier on WBCQ Area 51, but that was inaudible here on 5110, and its webcast was just music during the entire hour. 9955, WRMI good in French 1233 Feb 5, to gain an audience in Haïti. The M-F 12-13 hour now consists of 1200 R. Prague, 1230 R. Vatican and 1245 R. des Nations-Unies, but any of that may be replaced by religious programming in Creole. Already on the schedule Fridays at 1230-1245 is a program called ``Jesus Christ``, but I listened too briefly to tell what it was this week, assuming it was Vatican. No jamming until end of hour at 1258 when the DCJC is getting a jump on R. Libertad. Nothing but jamming audible next bihour. At 1509, WRMI still relaying R. Prague in English about equal level to annoying DCJC pulses, but losing to them during fades. May be back on NW antenna now? Was not expected to be yet. But still needs more oomph vs accursèd uncalled-for jamming. As I was checking out VOA around 0100 UT Sat Feb 6, I also could hear DX Partyline on WRMI 9955, weak signal but not jammed. Jeff White just sent me a new program schedule, but he`s not yet finished updating it. As of now, DXPL is on it as follows: Sat 0100, 1100, 1600, 1800; Sun 0215, 0500, 1130; Mon 1600; Tue 0100, 1600; Wed 1530. AWR Wavescan: Fri 0230, 1100, 1630; Sat 0830, 1400, 2030; Sun 0930, 2230; Mon 1630; Tue 0115; Wed 1130; Thu 1530. Happy Station: the main first broadcasts are still UT Thu 0200 and 1600, usually different but not always. The repeats may be one or the other? Fri 1400, Sat 0500, 1900, Sun 0600, Tue 0500, Wed 0100. WORLD OF RADIO: Wed 1630; Fri 0200 [changed to 0100], 1530; Sat 0900, 1430, 2000; Sun 0900, 1615, 1815, 2000; Tue 1630; Wed 0230 [NEW]. [but see latest full WRMI program grid as of Feb 12 on the dxldyg] WRMI, 9955: at 1503 Feb 7, R. Prague relay in English fairly audible without jamming; more of a problem, overload from PPP WWCR 9980. 1536 during Baseball Mexico, Bruce Baskin mentioning various teams including the Chihuahua somethings. This certainly is a curious program, but he does his best to make an obscure subject interesting in a non-native language. WORLD OF RADIO reconfirmed after 1615 Sunday when I was only checking webcast. 16-18 UT programming on weekends repeats at 18-20, i.e. WORLD OF RADIO again at 1815. At 1825 check, I could hear nothing but jamming on 9955, wondering if WRMI is now on the air, but WOR confirmed repeating then on webcast. Yet another playback of WOR is on the schedule for 2000 UT Sunday; can anyone hear that on 9955? It`s the last until Tuesday at 1630 and new UT Wednesday 0230 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) More jamming: see CUBA 9955 WRMI tonight: Pretty good signal at 0140 UT Feb 9 with JSWC reporter, at first I thought DXPL, but I guess it`s Wavescan, scheduled 0115-0145, and apparently no jamming. Are you on the NW antenna yet? (Glenn to Jeff White) Glenn: That's good to hear. No, we haven't found the problem yet with the NW antenna, but they're working on it off and on. Our consulting engineer is coming back from Panama around Feb. 15th, so my guess is they'll try it again while he's here. Yes, Yukiko does the JSWC report on both DXPL and Wavescan. I'm not sure if it's the exact same material though (Jeff White, WRMI, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9955, WRMI at 1503 Feb 10, weak but clear with yesterday`s R. Prague service in English, no jamming for a change. Instead was audible a weaker co-channel with music producing SAH, i.e. Family Radio via Tainan, TAIWAN in Russian. At 1553 check, the defunct Aventura Diexista had been replaced by CDHD Brigade 2506, the only Cuban exile program kind enough to do an English version for the rest of us, a much-needed alternative to RHC; discussing Cuba`s economic woes. But this is only 15 minutes a week, with several repeats, Wed 1545 being the new airtime. Recheck at 1654 to reconfirm the Tue 1630 broadcast of WORLD OF RADIO: yes, but now there is jamming again, tnx a lot, Arnie! The jamming is about as weak as WRMI so one could still copy my remarx about Vanuatu at the moment. BTW, the WOR broadcast at 0200 UT Friday on 9955 has been changed to 0100, same hour as formerly on WBCQ 5110 Area 51 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. As for WORLD OF RADIO on Area 51, UT Fri 0100 but WBCQ 5110 was missing --- Larry Will says that unfortunately, weeknight broadcasts of A51 have been suspended due to insufficient financial support, but he does plan to keep the webcast going including WOR at that hour. Larry says: ``We are now Sunday 2200 to 0300 [UT Mon] and Saturday 2300 to 0300 [UT Sun] on 5110. Webcast will remain Tuesday-Saturday 0000-0300.`` For latest info see http://www.worldmicroscope.com (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. 11715-, KJES at 1454 Feb 5 with steady S9+20 signal, better than usual, and way over Lampertheim; only problem is its own audio which is somewhat low and distorted, and apparently crosstalk with OM reading verses on top, YL/kids and guitar singing underneath. At 1458 Vatican carrier came on 11715.0 with het since KJES is off- frequency. I was watching the S-meter to see if I could detect any change in KJES strength at 1500 when they are listed to rotate from 70 to 350 degrees, the former being OKward, but could not see any change, altho the Vatican relay of RVA complicated matters. At 1500:30 KJES broke for standard rather plaintive kid ID with plea for reports, continued in English. 11715, KJES at 1432 Feb 7, steady S9+12 dominating Lampertheim, kids singing with guitar, then into robokids copying catechisms prompted by adult. Wanted to tell whether RVA relay via Vatican during the next hour was mass in English instead of Tagalog as heard a few Sundays ago, but still too much KJES to discern that, also causing low het (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WJHR, Milton FL was not reported at all during January, while they were supposedly installing a higher-gain antenna, but now there have been reports from Jim Evans in TN and Harold Frodge in MI in the 18-21 UT span Feb 3. I never hear it when bandscanning around 15-16, so may not be on that early, nor necessarily every day. Programming of nothing but old screaming sermons is not exactly a big draw, but I try again anyway Feb 5 after 1800 on 15500-USB: Yes, there it is, as weak as ever, barely audible at 1801 but I am not lucky enough to catch another standard ID (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15550/USB, WJHR Int'l, Milton FL; 2033-2037+, 2049-2103+, 3-Feb; Screaming preacher with equally enthusiastic audience; talking about, among other things, other preachers (there is no honor amongst huxters); break-in ID at 2102:30; English religious program continued. SIO=253 (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) 15550 USB, WJHR Milton FL (presumed); 2138, 5-Feb; English preacher, barely readable (Harold Frodge, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. 17575 at 1650 Feb 6, HOA music. Is AWR in Somali via France at 1630-1700, 250 kW at 125 degrees. 15440 with AWR theme music at 1427-1428* Feb 10. Listed as Urdu at 1400-1430 via AUSTRIA. AWR transmissions are scattered all over the place, many of them half-hours on an unique frequency not used for any of their other broadcasts (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Frequency change of WYFR Family Radio via Media Broadcast: 1500-1600 NF 9800 NAU 500 kW / 084 deg to SoAs in Gujarati, ex 9675* * to avoid Voice of Russia in English WS in DRM mode (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 8 via DXLD) ** U S A. KVOH, often absent and either not propagating or off the air, but loud S9+20 signal with Spanish religion on 17775, Feb 8 at 2157. When that`s the case, time to look for its parasitic spurs --- yes, noisy blob around 17921, weak and could not make out any modulation to //, and an even weaker one at matching 17629, both 146 kHz away from fundamental. One semihour later, 17775 had faded to only S9+7 at peaks, and the spurs went below threshold. BTW, I keep seeing schedules published for this station showing they are also on 9975 morning and/or evening. KVOH does repeatedly register that with FCC and consequently HFCC, Aoki, and even WRTH show it, but don`t you believe it until someone axually hears KVOH on 9975. Is anyone paying attention to reality, and our reports about it? Only EiBi has got the message NOT to list KVOH on 9975 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 11550, WEWN Spanish, Feb 9 at 1420, music and talk interrupted over and over for long periods of dead air. Why is it so hard to get reliable program feed from Irondale to Vandiver? Wiggle that patchcord? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. THE DISCO PALACE LAUNCHES BROADCASTS IN DRM The Disco Palace has started broadcasting the best of disco music of all time to listeners across Europe and North America using Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM). The Disco Palace is based in Miami, USA and owned by Alyx & Yeyi, LLC. The programme schedule includes hits from the USA, hits from the UK, great hits of the 1970s and 1980s, slow disco hits, etc. Times, frequencies and contact information are on the station’s website http://www.thediscopalace.com/ The broadcast service provider is TDP and the broadcasts are via TDF facilities. The current shortwave schedule according to the DRM Software Radio Forums is: To Europe: 1400-1500 UT on 6015 kHz Issoudun, using 60 kW RMS and 2/2 antenna at 60 as on TDPradio transmissions. To North America: 1900- 2000 UT: TDPradio, 2000- 2100 UT: The Disco Palace. ¦Frequency: 17755 kHz ¦Power: 100 kW RMS ¦Antenna: 4 / 4 at 311 DRM parameters: ¦DRM B mode ¦Bandwidth: 10 kHz ¦MSC = 64 QAM ¦CR = 0,6 ¦encoding : AAC + SBR. ¦Parametric stereo: to be confirmed (Source: The Disco Palace) Andy Sennitt comments: I wish them well. However, a new RNW survey of over 1000 Dutch expats has revealed that nobody under the age of 35 listens to RNW on shortwave, which was hardly a surprise to me. Only a handful of shortwave listeners (literally a few hundred) have DRM receivers, so it isn’t clear who this service is intended for. And since the broadcasts are in the local afternoons, I would imagine that any potential listeners are likely to be at work or school. Or am I missing something? (February 10th, 2010 - 13:58 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) 2 Comments on “The Disco Palace launches broadcasts in DRM” #1 ruud on Feb 10th, 2010 at 14:39 I am in line with your comment Andy. Also nobody will try and find a station that only provides music for a couple of hours with many alternatives doing 24/7. SW is for 35 + and what do they expect from SW additional to their local content. Good unbiased News, and music that is not or limited available on other platforms. Examples: Oldies 60-80, Jazz/Oldies 40-50, Salsa, “Bollywood”. Dynamic and catchy. With personlaity presenters. And more News then just 1 minute 30 sec bulletins. So current affairs for say 15 min at certain times of the day. Platforms SW and Internet, Satellite. The production of these formats is rather cheap, and can be done by major broadcasters, most of them already have a newsroom, so this comes at no extra costs. #2 Kai Ludwig on Feb 10th, 2010 at 20:42 I guess the potential audiences for such a format rarely go still to school… What are the other businesses of the company that runs this project, Alyx & Yeyi? Their website says that “we count with more than 12 years working as a service provider of worldwide radio broadcasting in Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East and North America. Alyx & Yeyi owns the required technical infrastructure in order to provide broadcasting service to Latin America and the Caribbean Region …”. And, if you allow me to make no secret of this circumstance, what I read between the lines of this press release is despair: http://www.drm.org/news/detail/news/new-drm-channel-of-disco-music/ (MN blog comments via DXLD) 17750-17755-17760 is surely via Guiana French, tho not stated, as if no one would care. If they are such a big player in IBC, how come we have never heard of Alyx & Yeyi? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. John Fisher, club member from Mass., has been pulling his hair out trying to find a postal address for New York Radio VOLMET. John has VOLMET QSLs from many countries but no verified reception reports from USA. I spent hours at it also. Here is what I found. Calls itself “New York Radio” VOLMET service (aviation weather) Operated by FAA Callsign WSY70; Frequencies 6604, 10051, 13270 kHz USB Barnegat Light NJ, all transmitters 3 kW; antennas are rhombics. If you have further information to help John please send it along. More information can be found at http://tinyurl.com/ylo89pm A nice history of this station up to the present time can be found at http://oldqslcards.com/NY_ATC_Part2.pdf (Feb CIDX Messenger via DXLD) The tinyurl above leads to New York VOLMET Tests and Survey, which claims VOLMET stands for Volatile Meteorological rather than ``flight weather`` as in the original French! Between Nov 2008 and January 2009 they were testing high and low RF power levels, to see if they could get by with less power, 1 kW instead of 5 kW on four frequencies, to reduce wear and tear on the electronix. The fourth frequency is 3485, where we often hear them. So what did they decide to do? No telling on that page, but maybe the 3 kW mentioned above is the resultant compromise (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Re 10-05, COLOMBIA, 2980, comments about harmonic suppression in USA vs elsewhere: Glenn, "Decades ago" the FCC rules didn't require 2nd harmonic (and other way out of band) emissions from US stations to be -80 dBc (80 dB below carrier), as long as they didn't create "actual" (i.e., cause of complaint) interference. In fact, even after the FCC adopted emission limits, it exempted stations operating with transmitters approved prior to the rule. I can't remember exactly when, but I distinctly remember making measurements on stations that didn't meet -80 dBc but weren't required to by virtue of transmitter age at least all through the 1960's and possibly into the 1970's as well. (I just looked at the 1968 version of the rules, and it was -80 dBc at that time, but my only earlier copy of the rules is 1937-1940 so I can't say exactly when the rules changed.) And many medium wave stations outside of North America still don't meet the ITU requirements, which are somewhat more complex than FCC's. -60 dBc is probably the informal standard most places (Ben Dawson, WA, Feb 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Formats/non-IDs: NM Santa Rosa KKJY 95.9 Spanish, l, "The Line" (back to). (Bruce Elving, MN, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 700, Feb 6 at 1607 on the caradio I hear KHSE, The Metroplex, TX, in English! Usually is in some S Asian language. YL opens program of the India Association of North Texas, inviting calls to studio at a 214-AC number for requests and dedications, soon into Indian music. Last time I logged this in Sept, found program schedule at http://funasia.net/Files/rad_saturday.html At ``10-12 AM`` Saturday host is Shabnam Modgil, program is Radio Bharti, and the content is ``India Association Of North Texas``. You can`t really tell from this schedule which programs are in English unless the title includes Punjabi or something, and even then could be bilingual. I see that during various unsold hours, the default is nonstop music. Besides the splash from KGGF-690 KS, this morning I am hearing a weaker signal underneath on 700. I suppose the 15 kW in Houston with its unfavorable pattern tho not a null is about as likely as remnant WLW 50 kW non-direxional, less than twice as far. Salt Lake aims due south even daytimes, per NRC Pattern Book. Meanwhile, 720 bore two weak signals with the typical SAH between KSAH TX and WGN IL. Running only 1.5 kW, KHSE would be much better here were it not for its own null (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. To emphasize my disdain for stupid ballgames, I wanted to see how long I could go without finding out who won the so-called Superbowl, UT Feb 8. That evening I was watching mostly C-SPAN and OETA/PBS; even avoided seeing it surfing past Yahoo headlines, but scanning MW quite by chance I couldn`t help but find out as WOAI was mentioning it just as I tuned across 1200 at 0633 UT, drat! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Glenn: I heard your comment on Radio Disney shutting down 1650 AM Portsmouth. I can regularly hear them, even in daylight hours in Roswell, GA. I have a 195’ longwire antenna with about 10 counterpoise radials stretching from 15-80 feet in the opposite direction. I use my Yaesu FT 757 GX as a receiver, though I have hooked up the antenna to my GE Superradio – but it tends to overload it a bit, everything heterodynes with its neighbor 10 kHz away. The 757 does not have such issue. (NICHOLAS FELICCIA, Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nicholas, they were certainly off the air for a while, per numerous other monitors. Are you saying that you are still hearing them, or are you speaking in general terms from experience? Please provide specific log dates and times. Perhaps the closedown was temporary but that was supposedly one of the stations they are closing and presumably selling. If you are hearing it now, is 1650 from Portsmouth still Radio Disney and still called WHKT? (Glenn to Nicholas, ibid.) Glenn: I'm speaking of last month when I heard them. My last log of that was Dec 16th, well before they closed. The distance from Portsmouth VA to Atlanta is significant for daytime receiption, and definitely the best AM daytime dx from my QTH. I can only presume it’s a combination of their transmitter having a heck of a ground near the river, the clearness of 1650, and my antenna being perpendicular to their path. Due to work schedule I haven't been listening much lately. I will try to see if I can pull them in today, or what I hear on that frequency (NF, Feb 6, ibid.) ** VATICAN [and non]. 11850, VR at 1449 Feb 5 Laudeturing Jesus Christus, into S Asian language, with some long-path echo, but sufficient signal direct from SMG holding up against WYFR 11855. Musical bits sounded like koto (the Japanese instrument, not the Telluride station). Then checked 7585 and that was barely audible // but an echo apart. In previous report I failed to remention that the latter is via TAJIKISTAN. No Firedrake, so the ChiCom have apparently figured out that they don`t need to jam something in Tamil (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA: KJES 5885, tuned in Feb 5 at 2309 to hear classical guitar music, but off at 2310* before there could be a 2.5 minute fragment of a Vatican Radio English broadcast as might have happened on 7395 or 9600 if I had remembered which frequency to check, leading up to Vietnamese from 2315 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Aló, Presidente check Sunday Feb 7 at 1824: all five frequencies via CUBA audible with El Hugazo speaking, in order of decreasing strength: 12010, 13750, 11690, 17750, 13680. But 11690 had SAH and co-channel in Hausa, i.e. DW via RWANDA during this hour. I never catch exactly when A,P is starting now; has anyone? RHC long ago gave up doing its own prologue from 1400, despite displaying that on its schedules. And where`s Calabazo?? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA ** ZAMBIA. Frequency change of CVC International in English to West Africa: 0400-0500 NF 5915 LUS 100 kW / 315 deg, ex 9430 0500-0700 on 9430 LUS 100 kW / 315 deg, ex 0400-0700 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 8 via DXLD) 4965, R. Christian Voice, religious pop-like music at 0112 tune/in. 0200 long mission statement by W with music. 0201 more English programming with W host and giving upcoming program highlights. Unbelievably strong signal. Never heard so strong. In fact I thought it was a new or current US religious broadcaster on a new frequency!!! Amazing 100% clear copy like it was right next door!! (4 Feb) (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. ZNBC SHORTWAVE TRANSMITTERS FOR RADIOS 1 AND 2 BREAK DOWN http://www.lusakatimes.com/?p=23889 The Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) shortwave transmitters that carry the Radio 1 and 2 signals in the short wave band have developed a technical fault. ZNBC Public Relations Manager Miriam Mtonga disclosed the development in a statement to ZANIS in Lusaka yesterday. Ms. Mtonga said the situation means that listeners in remote areas will not be able to access the service. Ms. Mtonga said the technical fault requires importation of spare parts which has since been instituted by the national broadcaster. She has, however, said ZNBC is doing everything possible to normalize the situation. ZANIS (Lusaka Times Feb 10 via Zacharias Liangas, Greece, WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DXLD) Andy Sennitt adds: The two 100 kW transmitters normally operate at 0245-2205 on 5915 kHz (Radio 1) and 6165 kHz (Radio 2). (Media Network blog, ibid.) = WRTH 2010 listings ** ZIMBABWE. 6045, R. Zimbabwe (presumed), 0408, Feb 9. In vernacular; talking till 0420; drums; into Hi-Life music; covered at 0430 by UNID station sign-on (in French). The language and music leaves no doubt in my mind that it was them, but no ID as such. Nothing on 3396. First time I have caught them here! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6074, 8GAL again running a minute `early`, Feb 10 at 1359 as I tuned in 6075 RR Pet/Kam, whose motorboating was again under control. The V/CQ marker finished before the RR timesignal at 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6930.0 SSB, pirate at 0556 Feb 5 with song ``I told the patriot(?) goodbye``; some splatter from WYFR 6915. 0559:35 pause but no ID, 0600 resuming more music. Poor signal. Anyone get an ID on this one? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15570, big open carrier at 1507 Feb 6, even stronger than Portugal 15560, but some splatter from it. Surely another Greenville test in lieu of 15580 which they will use later. Still or again OC on 15570 at next check 1646, much stronger than VOA 15580 with African music, site for that being São Tomé at 15-17, pending switch to Greenville at 1700, very likely from the same transmitter standing by on 15570. 15570, once again with strong open carrier, and some hum, Feb 7 at 1500, splatter from Portugal 15560. Presumably Greenville test before coming up later on 15580 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Hello. Thank you for your excellent work. Do you need any help maintaining your website? I would like to volunteer to help you in any way I can. All the best, (Marc McNulty, Boston, MA 02130, with a donation via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com WORLD OF RADIO 1499) Marc, Thanks very much. And for your offer to help. Maintaining the website is something I need to do myself, altho there are never enough hours in the day! Regards, (Glenn) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ I IS CENTRAL IN UKRAINIAN BTW, at least half the time, it seems, English-writers misspell ``Ukrainian`` leaving out the I in the middle, despite the fact that the natives stress that very letter, not allowing it to be swallowed as merely a member of a diphthong (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST via NASWA yg via DXLD) Maybe so, but a Google search of the two spellings on English language pages yields only 3.77 million vs 71.4 million hits. Df (Dan Ferguson, NASWA yg via DXLD) Ahh, tnx for providing a prime example why it is very risky to use google hits as spellcheck. There are LOTS of ignorant people out there. Of course, that`s the way languages evolve, with pervasive mistaxe eventually becoming ``correct``. My unmodififed MS Word spellcheck, however, redlines Ukranian and accepts Ukrainian. Leaving out the I really doesn`t make sense, as who would spell the country itself Ukrane instead of Ukraine?? Spanish e.g. is a different matter, where Ucrania and ucraniano are already accepted (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ SNAP-ON RF CHOKES When tuning through the 31 m band the other day I noticed quite a lot of noise from our Philips digital TV. I have tried a few line filters before with no effect. Some days ago I found at work a few snap-on RFI filters clamped around some old telephone cords which are no longer in use. I decided to try one of these where the power line cable enters the TV set. I made a two turn loop and tried again on my Perseus. Voilà, almost all of the noise was gone. The other snap-on filter was immediately placed similarly on the other TV set on second floor. You can read more below what AD5X suggests and see the different models of snap-on chokes at radiodan. “Place inexpensive snap-on RF chokes on all DC and control cables in the shack and RF isolators at transceiver and amplifier outputs. These chokes are available from http://www.radiodan.com with several different inside diameters. A direct link to RadioDan’s choke page is http://www.radiodan.com/Henry/parts/RF_chokes.htm The idea is to wrap several turns of the cables and control wires through the snap-on chokes, so different ID chokes are used to accommodate diameter differences in small wires and cables. I recommend starting with 4-5 each of the snap-on ferrites shown in the parts list. Believe me, you’ll use them all!” From http://www.ad5x.com/images/Articles/RFI%20Reduction%20RevA.pdf Notice that a two turn loop through ferrite increases effective magnetic path. Impedance increases by the square of the number of turns. Coaxial Chokes Wound to Minimize Capacitance and Inductance MFJ Enterprices have a collection of parts for reducing TVI, RFI and other type of noise. See page 25 in their catalogue http://www.mfjenterprises.com/catalog/Pages_021-040.pdf for types and prices. For those who really want to go deep into eliminating RFI must read the article below where several pictures of designing chokes can be seen: http://www.yccc.org/Articles/W1HIS/CommonModeChokesW1HIS2006Apr06.pdf (via SW Bulletin Feb 7 via DXLD) END OF LORAN-C BROADCASTS ON MON 2/8/2010 2000 UTC The most reliable ground-based navigation system that has been used since 1952 comes to an end tomorrow at 2000 UT (3 PM EST). Termed LORAN (LOng-range RAdio Navigation), it was developed in the 1940's for navigation by using the principle of time-differences between pulses sent out at several transmitters at different locations, and plotted as a parabolic relationship on a map - basically only 2 points on the surface of the earth could ever have the same timing between the three pulses (the main pulse from the master station in the middle of two time-synchronized slave transmitters hundreds of miles in opposite directions of the master station). If you know what side of the "chain" of transmitters you were on, you could get an exact location fix on your map within a couple hundred feet. The original "Standard LORAN" system operated from 1942 up until 1984 on a frequency of 1800, 1850, and 1900 kHz with pulse powers of 100 kW, and LORAN-C has been operating on 100 kHz with pulse powers of between 500 kW and 1 MW since the 1952. GPS is what is displacing the LORAN-C service. However, there may (I repeat MAY) be an enhanced LORAN service (eLORAN) in the works, dependent on what the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security decides. It will provide a more accessible time standard all over North America and be a vital backup to GPS. I personally think it was foolish of DHS to discontinue LORAN. If a terrorist org decided to synchronously jam out GPS from the ground with a bunch of transmitters, a bunch of micro-asteroids took out some satellites, or a huge X class flare erupted toward earth frying the circuitry on the satellites, we now will have NOTHING to fall back on for a backup radionavigation system except for a handful of NDBs and dead-reckoning. LORAN-C was extremely reliably, nearly so as GPS, just with a little less resolution, but enough to get a plane from Point A to Point B on- course. Canadian LORAN-C will disappear in October, but Russia's will keep going a while longer (so the Alaska LORAN-C sites at Shoal Cove and Attu Island slaves will keep operating for maybe some years. Caribou, ME and Nantucket, MA will also remain on until October, as they are slaves that serve the Canadian East Coast chain, and George, WA will remain on until October to service the British Columbia master station on Vancouver Is. If you have never monitored longwave, and have wondered what that rhythmic "popping" or "ticking" sound is (1 kHz-phase-modulated pulse bursts) when your communication receiver is tuned to 100 kHz, that's LORAN-C. You can also hear this on the Mediumwave band if you are near a LORAN-C station, and you tune your radio to a frequency that is exactly 100 kHz above or below a local broadcaster (as an image mixing product). This sound will disappear tomorrow (Darwin Long, Simi Valley, CA, Feb 7, ABDX via DXLD) Like on US 412 near Boise City/Keyes OK (gh, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING - IBOC See OKLAHOMA KFAQ; USA KSL+ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING - DRM See also BRAZIL; ECUADOR; INDIA; USA non ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ As there are not many logs from DRM monitoring, I thought I would give it a go now I can actually decode DRM (using a Racal RA1792) and Dream software: DRM log from 7 Feb: 13810, 0840 BBC/DW from Sines SNR: 23.5dB ID: "BBC & DW" Playing pop songs - English 11900, 0842 BNR HORIZONT from Sofia SNR: 18dB ID: "BNR DIGITAL" male and female talking - Bulgarian 11635, 0845 VOICE OF RUSSIA from Taldom SNR: 22.5dB ID "VOICE OF RUSSIA" Pop songs and male explaining the meaning of each song - English 9870, 0849 RNZI Could hear digital hash but nothing decoded except for partial header. 9780, 0850 Radio Exterior de Espana from Noblejas. SNR: 19.3dB ID "REE Noblejas". female talking - Spanish 9610, 0853 BBC/DW from Sines SNR: 22dB ID: "BBC & DW", Playing pop songs - English 6095, 0856 RTL Radio from Junglinster. SNR: 17dB. ID: "RTL Radio" Pop music - German. Conditions do not appear that good today compared to some recent mornings. Regards, (Sean Gilbert, International Editor - WRTH (World Radio TV Handbook) Email: sean.gilbert @ wrth.com http://www.wrth.com RX: Icom IC756PRO; Racal RA1792 ANT: 15.5m Inverted Vee @ 10m; ALA1530 @ 3m http://www.hfradio.org.uk Feb 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ SUNSPOT CHART ON THE WAY UP The ISES solar cycle number sunspot progression chart was updated on February 2 and it shows a long-awaited upturn. The chart has been updated with sunspot data up until January 10 and can be seen on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) / Space Weather Prediction Center website at http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/index.html (Thanks to George Boorer ZL3PN for spotting this, via Southgate http://www.southgatearc.org/news/february2010/sunspot_chart.htm via Mike Terry, Feb 5, dxldyg via DXLD) :Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts :Issued: 2010 Feb 09 2151 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # Product description and SWPC contact on the Web # http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/weekly.html # # Weekly Highlights and Forecasts # Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 01 - 07 February 2010 Solar activity began the period at very low levels with only a few low-level B-class events for 01-04 February. Beginning on 05 February, however, there was a steady increase in background levels and an increase of flare activity with 5 B-class events. Solar images indicated the emergence of new Region 1045 (N23, L=253, class/area Fkc/320 on 07 February) which was numbered on 06 February. This group emerged rapidly and increased activity levels to moderate on 06 February as it produced an M2/Sn flare at 06/1859 UTC and an M1 x-ray event at 06/2137 UTC (associated with a coronal mass ejection observed on the east limb), as well as five C-class events. The region continued to grow on 07 February and increased activity to high levels as it produced an M6/1n at 07/0234 UTC which was associated with a Tenflare (2695 MHz radio burst with peak flux of 170 solar flux units) and a halo coronal mass ejection. The estimated plane-of-sky speed for the halo CME was about 360 km/s. No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at normal background levels from 01 February through 1530 UTC on 03 February. Flux levels increased to moderate levels until 1300 UTC on 06 February after which the flux returned to normal background levels. The geomagnetic field was at mostly quiet to unsettled levels for 01- 03 February, with a few isolated active intervals and one high- latitude minor storm interval from 1200-1500 UTC on 01 February. Geomagnetic activity was predominantly quiet for 04-07 February, with the exception of a brief unsettled to active interval from 1200-1800 UTC on 06 February. Real-time solar wind observations from the ACE spacecraft showed an increase in solar wind velocity beginning late on 02 February which reached a peak around 580 km/s early on 03 February and slowly declined over 03-04 February. This signature was most likely associated with a small negative polarity coronal hole that was observed in the northern hemisphere of the Sun. An enhancement in the interplanetary magnetic field was observed beginning mid-day on 06 February and lasting about 8 hours, with Bt reaching a maximum around 9 nT, and Bz reaching values down to -8 nT. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 10 FEBRUARY - 08 MARCH 2010 Solar activity is expected to be low to moderate with a slight chance for a major flare as 1045 remains on the disk from 10-14 February. Activity levels should decrease to low to very low levels for 15-28 February but may increase to low to moderate levels for 01-08 March as old Regions 1045 and 1040 are due to return on 28 February and 01 March, respectively. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at normal levels through most of the period. The geomagnetic field is expected to be unsettled with a chance for active periods for 10-14 February as a series of CME’s associated with activity from Region 1045 may arrive and impact the Earth during this time frame. In addition there is a slight chance for minor storm periods on 12 February due to the expected arrival of the halo CME associated with the M6 event mentioned previously. Quiet conditions are expected for 15 February, followed by quiet to unsettled levels due to a recurrent coronal hole on 16-17 February. Quiet levels should return and prevail for 18-28 February, followed by an increase to mostly unsettled levels on 01-02 March due to another recurrent coronal hole. Quiet levels should return for the remainder of the period from 03-08 March. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2010 Feb 09 2151 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # Product description and SWPC contact on the Web # http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2010 Feb 09 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2010 Feb 10 92 9 3 2010 Feb 11 90 11 3 2010 Feb 12 90 13 3 2010 Feb 13 90 10 3 2010 Feb 14 85 10 3 2010 Feb 15 85 5 2 2010 Feb 16 85 8 3 2010 Feb 17 85 7 2 2010 Feb 18 85 5 2 2010 Feb 19 85 5 2 2010 Feb 20 85 5 2 2010 Feb 21 80 5 2 2010 Feb 22 80 5 2 2010 Feb 23 80 5 2 2010 Feb 24 75 5 2 2010 Feb 25 75 5 2 2010 Feb 26 75 5 2 2010 Feb 27 75 5 2 2010 Feb 28 80 5 2 2010 Mar 01 85 10 3 2010 Mar 02 85 10 3 2010 Mar 03 85 5 2 2010 Mar 04 85 5 2 2010 Mar 05 85 5 2 2010 Mar 06 85 5 2 2010 Mar 07 85 5 2 2010 Mar 08 85 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1499, DXLD) ###