DX LISTENING DIGEST 10-07, February 18, 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 1500, February 18-24, 2010 Thu 2000 WBCQ 7415 9330-CUSB? Fri 0130 WRMI 9955 [ex-0130, ex-0200] Fri 1130 WRMI 9955 [new] 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 ex-5070 tfn Sun 0730 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0900 WRMI 9955 Sun 1615 WRMI 9955 Sun 2000 WRMI 9955 Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 [new] Tue 1630 WRMI 9955 Tue 2000 WBCQ 7415 9330-CUSB? Wed 0230 WRMI 9955 [new] Wed 1630 WRMI 9955 [usually first airing?] 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 ** ALASKA. Glenn, in the latest DXLD you inquired about the status of WE2XRH in AK. The station's website now has some photos and newer transmission info – including CW operations. http://daradiotech.com (Benn Kobb, DC, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CW?? What`s that got to do with DRM? So is anyone outside NVIS AK hearing any of these transmissions, DRM decoded or not? No times given. Are they avoiding analog stations such as 7505: WRNO at 02-05, FEBC 1400-1630, BBC Thailand 18-19 UT, not to mention adjacent usage? Bad news for the only broadcaster on 4850, AIR Kohima and its big fan Ron Howard, but has he noticed any QRDRM? Aoki reminds us that the lowest frequency was originally 4845 when it was last reported only from Japan: 4845 WE2XRH Spark Radio(DRM) 1800-2100 1234567 Data(DRM) 100 ND Ninilchik ALS 15134W 6006N DART b09 Nov. 18, 19, 24 Nothing else scheduled currently on 9285-9305 per Aoki. No reports of the current frequencies in the drmna yg http://groups.yahoo.com/group/drmna/ I think they have a member in the Pacific northeast, but perhaps none in Alaska. Here is almost all of the text portion of the above website, but do look at it for nice illustrations (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: WE2XRH The mission of Digital Aurora Radio Technologies (DART) is to expand communications across the north by using existing, and exploring new communications technologies. DRM technology | Transmitter System | Receiver System DART is in the process of testing the potential to broadcast digital radio across Alaska. Uniquely Alaskan, the project presents challenges and opportunities that one might expect in the "Last Frontier." Digital Radio Mondiale or DRM is already being rolled out in Europe and Asia. DRM uses a technology known as Forward Error Correction (FEC) to ensure that the signal is received perfectly all the time. Up to 4 simultaneous broadcasts can be sent in a single 10 kHz channel. DRM utilizes the most advanced digital audio techniques to bring high quality music to shortwave receivers. DRM is digital and therefore can use multimedia such as pictures, text, or web pages, in addition to digital audio. Animation shows propagation during January 12, 2010. The transmitters are operating at 5, 7 and 9 MHz. Digital information is sent via DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale). DRM allows broadcast of high quality audio, pictures and data, in up to four simultaneous channels. DART represents the future of long range wireless. Imagine camping along the Yukon River or fishing in Bristol Bay - your shortwave receiver not only picks up the current weather broadcast, but shows you the weather map and satellite image as well. Back at home you might be interested in receiving streaming text of the headline news or having your newspaper delivered electronically without the need for an internet connection or cell phone. 5 MHz Antenna [caption] The antennas used are optimized for Near Vertical Incident Skywave (NVIS). This means that the broadcast signal goes almost straight up in a cone shape, then bounces off the ionosphere and comes back down again. The main objective is to cover Alaska mainland and maritime areas. The antennas are crossed dipoles with circular polarization, to maximize signal strength even during marginal conditions. You can listen! We are currently testing DRM on 4.85 MHz, 7.505 MHz and 9.295 MHz. In addition, we are broadcasting CW on 4.851 MHz, 7.511 MHz and 9.301 MHz. If you pick up our signal, let us know - we would like to hear from you info @ daradiotech.com [we prefer uncluttered pointless kHz for searching: 4850 7505 9295; 4851 7511 9301 – or really by our preference to remind us of the full bandwidth covered, 4845-4855, 7500-7510, 9290-9300. Since all the CW frequencies are within a few kHz of the DRM center, are they doing both at the same time or would that be impossible? -- gh] Receiver System DART maintains a network of receivers located throughout Alaska. The receivers are WinRadio® G-313i units. These units allow rapid measurement of signal to noise ratio, which is then used to adjust transmitter settings. Receive antennas are short dipole configuration, approximately 10 feet in length. The receivers are connected to our network and are under computer control. This means that we can precisely monitor our signal levels around the state, at all times. Shortwave signals tend to vary quite a bit, with some frequencies working better during the day, and other frequencies are better at night. Sunspot activity can also affect the ionosphere, and therefore, change the effectiveness of the signal. Most shortwave stations stay on the same frequency resulting in signal that fades in the middle of a program. DART, on the other hand, always selects the best frequency to reach the entire state (via DXLD) I need a heads-up: What kind of transmission facility was this originally? Looks like some military thing. At least the transmitters appear to be rather old Continental rigs (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Kai, I estimate it to be the reuse of the old OTH radar transmitter in Delta Junction (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, ibid.) ** ALASKA. 6890, KNLS fair and clear signal, better than usual, Feb 13 at 1417, playing ``Puttin` on the Ritz``, into talk feature about Irving Berlin which soon turned into a tract from this stealth evangelizer, ending with ``If heaven had a refrigerator, your picture would be on its door``, which I find to be a non-sequitur, not buying into their wacky god-view. This was barely but safely on the edge of ChiCom OTH radar from 6890 to 7000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. 13640, R. Tirana, good signal as usual at tune-in 1556 Feb 11, but it`s in Albanian instead of English! mentioning Balkan countries until off abruptly at 1600*. I wonder if the entire semihour was in Albanian by mistake, or if this just filled out the hour after the English part which usually ends a few minutes early. Wolfgang Büschel was also listening and says it was entirely Albanian from 1530; perhaps a feeder problem (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Seemingly the feeder line from RT studio control center to Shijak transmitter site was out of order this afternoon at 1527 to 1600 UT. Signal from Shijak was S=9+30dB loud and clear. Wonderful Albanian songs as station identification as new signature at 1527 til 1530 UT. Radio Tirana ID by man. Then the whole 1530-1600:00 UT broadcast was in Albanian language instead. Noted IDs like Radio Scupie, Radio Kosova live discussion relay (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 13640, R. Tirana to NAm, Feb 12 at 1530 resumed English after an excursion into Albanian the day before; Friday feature program after the news to be ``Albanian Outstanding Personality Profile``; usual good clear signal, and now there`s not a chance of QRM from Darwin 13635 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. R. Tirana, 6130, full-data ``woman in native dress / costume`` card in 32 days for 2 IRCs (Wilkins, MO, QSL Report, Feb NASWA Journal via DXLD) I think they have been using the same QSL card for at least 30 years (Sam Barto, ed., ibid.) Contributors to that column are identified only by last name, with no key elsewhere, unless they have also happened to contribute loggings (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGUILLA. Hello All, Weakly dominating over the TIS jumble tonight, the 1610-Anguilla beacon [sic] made its first appearance of the year here in Puyallup, WA, on one of the stand-alone 7.5" loopstick PL-380 models. Sermon by the late Dr. Scott was heard at 0834 UTC, // 6090 kHz. This is one of the very few Caribbean stations audible here, mainly because of the lack of North American broadcast stations on the frequency. It was received here last year in February, also (but is usually inaudible for most of the year). West coast DXers needing it might want to give it a try sometime soon. 73, (Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, Feb 17, IRCA via DXLD) How much power does the Anguilla Beacon have? What`s the height of the tower? I assume it only has one tower? Where exactly is the tower located? I assume it's still running the god awful dreadful Dr Gene Scott programming. I think his daughter is doing a lot of the preaching now that Daddy Gene is dead (Paul Walker, ibid.) I believe the power on 1610 used to be 50 kW (Patrick Martin, Seaside, Oregon, ibid.) WOW? 50 kW? I thought maybe only 5 or 10 kW since 1610 would be fairly clear here in the USA and you wouldn`t need that much power (Paul Walker, ibid.) ??? What`s the USA got to do with it? Serves the Caribbean as its true name implies (gh, DXLD) Most reports indicate recycled Dr. Gene sermons rather than those of his daughter (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA ( 360' ASL ), ibid.) I think it was even higher many years ago, but during the last few years it has been around 10 kW and last year it was raised to 25 kW, which improved its reception a lot also in Europe. WRTH gives now 30 kW. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) Isn't it Melissa Scott, a former porn star and wife of the deceased? (Walt Salmaniw, ibid.) Of course, as any SWL who has followed this story would know, but not the first time someone says she`s his daughter. You never know which one you will be hearing, but could be close to 50-50 (gh, DXLD) ** ARGENTINA [and non]. 15345, 2225 28/1, RAE Buenos Aires reactivated with Italian, poor but clear. Time pips 2230. Goes into Spanish at 2300. Frequency measured as 15344.63v (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, New Zealand with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, Feb NZ DX Times via DXLD) ?? strange time for Italian. It`s supposed to be M-F at 16-17 local = 19-20 UT (gh, DXLD) 15345.17v, RAE, 2237-2300+, Feb 12, lite Argentine instrumental music. Spanish announcements. ID. Frequency drifting. Was on 15345.17 at 2237 and 15345.12 at 2318 check. Fair signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 11710.629, RAE, 0226, weak and warbly carrier, sounded like English service but really difficult copy. Starting to peak just prior to 0300 with interval signal and multi-lang ID's. First time noted on this frequency here. 13 February (David Sharp, NSW Australia, NRD-535D, FT- 950 etc., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Just like the good old days, an audible het of about 200 Hz between two obstinate stations which refuse to move apart and eliminate the problem, despite plenty of open frequencies just above and below. Yes, RAE has drifted off-channel again to 15345.2 or so, but around 2115 Feb 14 the dominant audio is Arabic from MOROCCO. Next check 2219, Morocco is off, leaving very weak and fluttery RAE, or rather R. Nacional relay on weekends via same General Pacheco transmitter, in the clear. By 0010 Feb 15, 15345.2 signal has surged to good level but still heavy flutter in live play-by-play of some SBG. 15345v, RAE not only is off-frequency around 15345.2 but wobbles producing a non-constant tone against weaker Morocco, Feb 16 at 2149 when fluttery RAE could be made out as in German. One can hear the same wobble with BFO after 2200 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15345 RAE, E-QSL formato .pdf, v/s Gabriel Iván Barrera - Actualidad DX. Informe enviado a: barrera @ arg.sicoar.com Demoró: 6 dias. Buen DX (RAFAEL RODRIGUEZ R., Bogota D.C. - COLOMBIA, Feb 13, playdx yg via DXLD) See also MOROCCO ** AUSTRALIA. R. Symban, 2368.5, full-data card with letter in one week for a taped report. V/s looks like John Wright (Smith, MA, QSL Report, Feb NASWA Journal via WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DXLD) Looks like you won the Australian lottery. Great catch! (Sam Barto, ed., ibid.) ?? Who is this Smith in Massachusetts and why did we never see a report of the original log? Strangely, a fair number of QSL-collectors do not bother to report their logs in the first place. Has anyone heard it, let alone QSLed it beyond the west coast? Or was a remote receiver involved? Are we to assume not, unless specified? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No, he sent a taped report to prove it. I dunno who he is or the DX club he is with. He sent a report along with the tape. It seemed genuine, no mention of any remote receiver. If it had been the one in Woodbridge in QLD, it would have been a lot easier to ID on the tape, so it kinder dispells that myth. I remember his name as it`s very common out here in OZ as Bill Smith. He might have had a middle initial I cannot remember. So later on, and as we send messages opening up the mail and guess what? A Nigel Pimblett from Dunmore, Alberta, Canada. Medicine Hat is the nearest big town. He has sent in a report, playing it now. Yep, he has heard it, pretty weak but the Radio Symban ID is there. Why is there some doubters out there?? Looks like the signal is getting out all right. There have been 2 Finnish DXers hear Symban, also Walt in Canada. The power is up to close to the kilowatt so much easier to hear nowadays. Cheers (Johno Wright, NSW, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 2368, at 1240 30/12, Tentative Radio Symban, Melbourne very strong, not in English, no ID (Des Davey, Te Kuiti, New Zealand, Eton E5, National DR 45, 50m long wire, 50m L, Feb NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 2325, ABC Northern Territory Service (Tennant Creek), 1208-1236, 2/13/2010, English. All three 120 meter NT Service stations were audible for the first time in recent months. Program included pop music at 1208 followed by talk between the announcer and other men, one at a time. ABC national news was read by a woman at 1230. "Saturday Night Country" program began at 1235. Signal was poor to moderate with fading on 2325, essentially the same on 2310, and much weaker on 2485 (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, RX-340, IC-R75, Random Wires (90' and 200'), ALA100M, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA [non]. 11550, at 2255 Feb 13, over-dramatized portrayal of a family reunion, veddy British with lots of assenting interjexions, for-he`s-a-jolly-good-fellow, so what English service is this? None at all. It is R. Australia`s Indonesian service promoting a peculiar brand of English learning, as eventually switched to Indonesian explanation of what had just been heard; apparently less with-it than Kangguru. 2259 cut to Waltzing Matilda and off --- or so I thot tho uplooked later in Aoki, and RA`s Indo website, this transmission via Taiwan is supposedly 2200-2330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 9590, R. Australia, Monday Feb 15 at 1420 for the rest of the hour, speaker with fascinating discourse on how the Polynesians really settled the Pacific, and deserve great credit for their navigational skills, denied to them by much later European intruders. Turned out to be a Massey Lexure originally on CBC Ideas, by Wade Davis, during Radio National`s Big Ideas program, and more to come in following weeks. Here`s the info: ``2009 Massey Lectures: The Wayfinders - Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World, Lecture 2, The Wayfinders Listen Now - 2010-02-04 | http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bigideas/stories/2010/2810493.htm The Wayfinders is a profound celebration of the wonder of human genius and spirit as brought into being by culture. (For copyright reasons this program is not available as downloadable audio) The entire science of wayfinding is based on dead-reckoning. You only know where you are by knowing where you have been and how you got to where you are --- that your position at any one time is determined solely on the basis of distance and direction travelled since leaving the last known point. If you took all of the genius that allowed us to put a man on the moon and applied it to an understanding of the ocean, what you would get is Polynesia.`` We are so fortunate to have RA (and RNZI, q.v.) which aren`t afraid to give us such long-form stimulating intellexual content on SW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 15340, Feb 12 at 1355 talk in unID language, with a big het from Morocco 15341, presumably HCJB Kununurra as scheduled in Hindi 1330-1400. I wonder if the QRMorocco is a problem in India? I don`t hear the het later when Morocco is still on 15341 until about 1500 and wonder if HCJB really closes earlier than scheduled 1530? 15400, Feb 14 at 1429 tune-in, just in time to catch sign-off in English by HCJB Global Voice, Australia, saying they would resume at 2200 UT on 15525. Good S9+5 signal, carrier still on at 1432. It was actually in Chinese up to sign-off. Then checked 15340 at 1433 and there was S Asian singing over big het from Morocco 15341. Sat & Sun 1430-1445 language on schedule is Chhattisghari. Website http://www.hcjb.org.au/ is headed with this: ``Broadcast alert 11th Feb 2010 -- As of tonight our broadcast to South East Asia resumed.`` WRTH 2010 says they have one 100 kW transmitter at Kununurra, but they obviously have two, and more probably to come from Pifo (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BARBADOS. As emissoras de Barbados continuaram ouvidas em Janeiro e Fevereiro aqui em São Carlos. Nesta ultima noite a propagação esteve realmente favoravel, longo período de escuta entre 0000 e 0210 UT mais ou menos, boas recepções na maioria dos casos. Além das costumeiras 92.9 VOB, 94.7 FM CBC, 90.7 BBS, 100.7 Quality FM, BBC 92.1, pude sintonizar pela primeira vez outras duas emissoras daquelas ilhas do Caribe aqui em São Carlos, os logs seguem abaixo: 91.1, 17/02 0040 (Tentativo) Public Broadcast Service (PBS), inglês, longas conversas, recepção com sinal fraco. 101.1, 17/02 0015 (e indo até depois das 0200 UT), Slam 101.1 FM , Haggatt Hall, identificando-se várias vezes como One Hundred One.One FM, DJ, dance music. recepção de regular a a boa em todo o período ouvido. 73 (Samuel Cássio Martins, São Carlos SP, Brasil, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Tis the season for trans-equatorial scatter propagation on FM. Many more such logs from Caribbean to southern Brasil (gh, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4699.983, Radio San Miguel, 1019, Spanish, nice to hear this one again, fair at best with talk by a man and at least one reference to "Riberalta." First time I've heard this in a while. 15 February (David Sharp, NSW Australia FT-950, NRD-535D, etc., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 3309.976, Radio Mosoj Chaski, 0938, fair with Andean flute music, mention of "Cochabamba." Also noted het against CHU (3330) around this time (and wonder if it was Peruvian, Ondas del Huallaga.) 12 February. 4716.746, Radio Yura, 1031, almost too late for this one, but still readable on peaks with nice local music and occasional talk. Tried for R. San Miguel (4700v) but not even a carrier. 12 February. 5952.350, Radio Pio XII, 1012, presumed with Quechua talks, very difficult, as sandwiched between two powerhouses, some copy possible in LSB. 12 February. 6155.264, Radio Fides, 1020, tough copy in USB, against presumed China (on nominal, lowside). Brief snippets of Andean flute music but no ID, so tentative. 12 February (David Sharp, NSW Australia, NRD-535D, FT- 950 etc., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 6135, R Santa Cruz. Great level, signed on around 0910- 0912 (as went to the fridge, came back and they were on air). Spanish ID at 0917 Radio Santa Cruz. Best I’ve ever heard them. 21/1. heard again on the 25/1 but poorer level, 0910 (John Wright, Peakhurst NSW, (Icom 8500, EWE), Jan/Feb Australian DX News via DXLD) 6134.8v? ** BRAZIL. 3255, Rádio Difusora 6 de Agosto – Xapuri (Presumed), 0020– 0050, 2/13/10 in Portuguese. Male announcer, semi classical music, same announcer, 0024 woman announcer joins, 0030 music and announcement (didn’t hear an ID although there might have been one), man until 0044 when woman joined again, f/out 0055. Poor (Mark Taylor, Madison WI, R-75, Winradio g313e, Eton E1, Satllit 800, Kaito 1103; 2 Flextennas, EWE, attic mounted Flextenna, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. QSL Recebido --- Rádio Educação Rural. Caros amigos, Informo que acabo de receber um QSL da Radio Educação Rural de Tefé (AM), 4925 kHz após uma espera de dez dias. O informe de recepção foi enviado através de correio físico. Thomas Schwamborn - Diretor Administrativo. QTH: Praça Santa Tereza, nº283, Centro, Tefé/AM, CEP 69470-000 O Certificado de Recepção consiste de uma metade de folha A4, xerocada, sob insígnia da Fundação Dom Joaquim, com os dizeres "Agradecemos pela informação de recepção e podemos confirmar que está correta." Seguem dados da emissora: Emissora ZYF - 271; Frequencia 4925 kHz; Potência 5 kW, e preenchidos à mão a data da escuta (14-01- 2010) e o horário (20:45), assim como a assinatura do verificador (Thomas Schwamborn, Diretor Administrativo) . Acompanha o certificado um belo cartão postal de Tefé. 73's a todos. (Fabricio Andrade Silva, Tubarão - SC, Sony ICF sw 7600 GR, Antena Loop Blindada, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjUexz0iPiI via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 5045, instead of the usual unannounced, automated? music for long stretches, R. Cultura do Pará had apparent live coverage of the beginning of Carnaval, ``do início ao fim``, Feb 14 at 0606 UT with IDs in passing, phone numbers, crowd sounds, maybe broadcasting from the street? There is lite but not annoying reverb on the announcer`s mike. Note this was 3+ am in Belém. Since carnaval is the most important festival of the year in Brasil (who needs Chinese New Year or Valentine`s Day?), I would not be surprised if other Brazilian stations go into overdrive during it, possibly audiblizing normally staid or silent transmitters (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 5970, R. Itatiaia, 2300 news with M host. Ad block at 2304 starting with nice ID promo. 2308 great promo with frequency given and M screaming "ITATIAIA!!!" Good signal and fairly clear except for a little splatter from an adjacent frequency (12 Feb) (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) Accent should on the middle A: ee-tuh-chee-AH-yuh, right? Altho I have not heard them say it (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. A question for our Brasillian friends: Is "Radio Tupi" still a valid ID or has that been replaced by Super/Radio Deus e [sic] Amor? Or is the later just a program carried on Radio Tupi? I see Radio Tupi IDs still being reported, but I haven't heard that ID in quite a while -- only Deus e Amor (Harold Frodge, MI, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) Harold, Some colleagues reported as R Tupi mistakenly; the list AOKI also retains its former name, but today it is part of the Super Radio God is Love of Pastor David Miranda. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brasil, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. 10000.000, PPE, 0810, continuous announcements by a woman with "Observatório Nacional" prior to time checks. Weak, under WWVH and WWV. First time I have heard this. 9 February (David Sharp, NSW Australia, NRD-535D, FT-950 etc., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 11765, Super Radio Deus é Amor, Curitiba, 0055-0115, Feb 13, ID announcements at 0101. Local religious music. Portuguese preacher. Fair signal. // 6060 - weak under Cuba. // 9565.22 - threshold signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** CANADA. 650 Vancouver in Russian --- Interesting with Avtoradio Vancouver on 650 signing-on at 22:00 local (0600 UT) tonight with many Avtoradio Vancouver IDs in Russian announcing that they're starting their transmission. Not clear how long they'll be broadcasting. Possibly overnight only? (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, Feb 12, IRCA via DXLD) Walt, Yes, I was listening a bit ago to the neat Russian pop music. I would not mind a station playing Russian pops all of the time. As many know, I am really a fan of a lot of Ethnic pop music. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside Oregon, "Come visit us for the 2010 IRCA convention held Sept 24-26 at the Inn At Seaside.", IRCA via DXLD) It'll be on 8 pm to 5 am http://www.broadcastermagazine.com/issues/story.aspx?aid=1000356356 (Paul B. Walker, IL, ibid.) Right, Paul. A few minutes later, they gave a CISL ID in English and then the Avtoradio (meaning car radio in Russian) Vancouver in Russian. The English portion confirmed that they would return in the morning. I've never quite heard anything like this in Canada (although we have lots of ethnic stations, this one is using DJs from Russia, rather than locals). (Walt Salminiw, BC, ibid.) As in previous report, CISL had to get permission from the regulators to temporarily broadcast in Russian, since stations there are not free to program whatever they like; format, music, language being a condition of their licences! (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CANADA. CINA-1650 Mississauga (near Toronto) ON has applied to the CRTC to increase its daytime power from 1kW to 5 kW. Night power would remain at 680 watts. 2. Mississauga, Ontario Application No. 2009-1736-2 Application by 1760791 Ontario Inc. to amend the broadcasting licence of the commercial ethnic radio programming undertaking CINA Mississauga. The licensee proposes to change the authorized contour by increasing the authorized transmitter power from 1,000 watts to 5,000 watts day time. The night-time power would remain at 680 watts and all other technical parameters would remain unchanged. The licensee submitted that the changes would significantly improve day-time coverage in Mississauga, resulting in a better quality signal to listeners located in the western and south-western parts of its licensed area who are currently experiencing poor reception of CINA Mississauga. 73, (Deane McIntyre, VE6BPO, Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. REPORT ON THE FUTURE OF RADIO, TV, ETC., IN CANADA Anyone interested in broadcasting in Canada will want to have a look at this report released today by the CRTC. In it you will find a discussion of many issues in the Canadian broadcasting / telecommunications field including the lack of FM frequencies in large markets, IBOC, Eureka, the move of many stations from AM to FM and so forth: The most interesting part is Appendix 2, starting on p. 58. Was glad to see the QRM problems associated with IBOC on AM in the USA mentioned on p. 61 :) 73, (Deane McIntyre, VE6BPO, Feb 12, NRC-AM via DXLD) Interesting to me that while they go on about FM IBOC, they also say a little bit about streaming audio, which is the real digital elephant in the room, as Craig Healy has pointed out on this list, and which the CRTC seems to recognize in a backhanded sort of way. They did mention he tipping point: "high-quality streaming of audio content to mobile devices will become increasingly ubiquitous, and widespread integration into vehicles likely to develop." I wonder how the CRTC plans to legislate the Canadian content on that wild streaming Taiwanese station that I listened to a little while back (strictly looking for a parallel to my MW DX, yer hono(u)r). In fact, they seem to recognize that they really can't, although perhaps the Chinese could offer a pointer or two on that score (Green Dam, anyone?). Interesting times. Best wishes, (Nick Hall-Patch, Victoria, BC, Canada, IRCA via DXLD) ** CHILE. The HCJB Portuguese relay spurs from 11920 CVC Calera de Tango, vary considerably; have been 20 kHz away, but Feb 13 at 2303 as closely as I could measure their mushy centers, they were plus and minus 15.9 kHz, i.e. 11904.1 and 11935.9. When will they get around to eliminating these? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also ECUADOR [non] ** CHINA. OTH radar pulses, presumed from here, Feb 13 at 1422 on 6890-7000, 1424 on 6535-6585 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Firedrake, Feb 13 at 1435, good on 8400, nothing on 9000, 10210 or 11300 areas. Firedrake, Feb 13 at 2315, poor with flutter on 7495. Also JBA on 8400. No known target at this hour, tho Chinese from RFA is on 7495 until 2200 via Tinian, and VOA Chinese from 0000 via Thailand. Did Sound of Hope insert itself into the gap? Normally CNR1 would be used to jam the biggies, so the oppressed Chinese people cannot hear what America is trying to say to them; meanwhile the USA is bombarded with multiple unjammed CRI relays in English via Canada, Cuba, Spain, Albania. Firedrake traditional music-only jamming Feb 14 at 1450: very good on 8400, nothing on 9000, 10210 or 11300 or vicinities. Not found on 40 meters either (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello Glenn, Please could you now who transmits via 15970 kHz 1022 UT? It seems Firedrake, maybe Sound of Hope. No references on EiBi and BI News. 73, (Rudolf Grimm, São Bernardo – SP, Brazil, Feb 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake scan, 0214-0231, Feb 16. Parallel: 8400 (weak), 13100 (good), 13700-new (good), 13870-new (good), 14970 (fair), 15970-new (good), 16700 (good), 17970 (good) and 18180 (good). Not parallel: 15140 (fair). Certainly Sound of Hope is still emphasizing their morning broadcasts (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 14970, 16/Feb 1120, CHINA, Firedrake. Great signal, never before heard in this way. At 1123 UT was only carrier without the music. End transmission at 1125. But another signal much weaker, almost inaudible, still hears the music of Firedrake (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake Feb 18 at 1406: 8400, very poor with flutter. At 1507 had improved considerably, as found // on new 7560 with poor signal. No target audible under, and none listed, tho Aoki Shows VOA Tibetan starting at 1600 via Thailand. So we can only make the usual guess that the peripatetic Sound of Hope drew ChiCom jamming to 7560 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also SPAIN [non?] ** CHINA [and non]. 4460, CNR1 with apparent live New Year`s Eve concert by singer, Feb 13 at 1410; also heard same on 6040 and several other 49m channels, some of them jammers. Altho the live concert may have been over by 1540, the CRI Sackville relay on 13675 had some nice traditional music, concluding with an evocation of a few notes from The Internationale at 1546, IDs in English and Chinese. Do the Chinese also make a big deal of the exact arrival of midnight = 1600 UT? I`m sure when the lunar calendar was invented there was no such precise standard timekeeping (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, regarding your question: “Do the Chinese also make a big deal of the exact arrival of midnight = 1600 UT?”; definitely they do! They stay up and watch the festivities on CCTV, which goes on till 1:00 AM their local time. At midnight they have local fireworks or directly take part. (Feb 14 news story: “Official figures showed that Beijing's 5,000 sanitation workers had mobilized 209 vehicles since the New Year Eve and cleared 79.69 tonnes of fireworks garbage by Sunday morning, up 11.07 tonnes from the same period of last year. Southward in Shanghai, local residents' zeal with firecrackers were evident even amid drizzles. Local authorities said that 30,000 sanitation workers in this commercial city on east China seaboard started to clean up the streets of firecracker residues from 2:00 a.m Sunday, and by 7 a.m., they had cleared firework garbage of more than 1,000 tonnes”). Feb. 13 Chinese New Year’s Eve (Spring Festival) gala SW coverage. Audio feed from the CCTV live coverage from Beijing. Noted randomly from 1335 to 1441. The CCTV coverage was for five hours (1200-1700 UT). CNR-1 (4460 // 4750 // 4800 // 6030 // 6125), heard with limited coverage of the gala. A change from last year, in that they had much of their own programming instead of non-stop gala coverage. 1430 with “This is the C-N-R evening news” followed by the news in Chinese; along with the usual montage of English audio bits, etc. Voice of Strait (4940) had non-stop gala coverage. China Huayi BC (5050) extended their schedule past their usual 1300 sign off time to broadcast non-stop coverage of the festivities. QRM from Guangxi Beibu Bay Radio, with their usual programming mostly in Vietnamese. Have seen a few reports of the Voice of Strait being heard here, but I rather doubt it. If heard before 1300 in Chinese is probably CHBC and if after 1300 in Chinese, probably Guangxi Beibu Bay Radio, which does broadcast short segments in Chinese. Voice of Strait did not return to 5050 nor 4900 (continues to be a clear frequency), but only returned to 4940. Voice of Pujiang (3280 // 4950 // 5075) had no coverage of the Beijing gala, but instead broadcast their own variety show, just as they did last year (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. 9590, something in Arabic at 0635 Feb 17 with Celtic-sounding music, later Brahms, koto, quite a mix. It`s CRI via ALBANIA at 05-07. 9905 with two stations in Chinese about equal level and SAH of 1.2 Hz between them, i.e. R. Free Asia via PALAU, and CNR1 ChiCom jamming, Feb 12 at 1504 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA [and non]. 5910, HJDH, Feb 13 at 0713 VG signal but with sermon instead of peppy music, bummer, and still with lite ute QRM aside. So checked the other HJDH, 6010 at 0714 and there was a rumbling het between it and XEOI, never zero-beat, one of which had a dramatic dialog, the other music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6010.03, LV de tu Conciencia, Puerto Lleras, 1035-1115, Feb 13, Spanish religious talk. National Anthem at 1102 followed by ID, short music breaks and back to Spanish religious talk. Poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** COLOMBIA. 6035, LV del Guaviare, San José Guaviare, 1033-1110, Feb 13, children’s chorus. Spanish talk. Local music. IDs. Promos. National Anthem at 1058. Spanish announcements at 1100. Spanish talk. Fair but some noise on frequency (Brian Alexander, PA, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX Listening Digest) 6034.99, LV del Guaviare, San José Guaviare, 0045-0056*, Feb 14, local music. Spanish announcements. Sign off with National Anthem. Early sign off tonight. Weak. Poor with adjacent channel splatter (Brian Alexander, PA, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX Listening Digest) 6035.025, LV del Guaviare, 0935, presumed with nice local music (mainly easy-listening ballads), brief comments by a man. 15 February. (David Sharp, NSW Australia FT-950, NRD-535D etc., dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. OTRA COSA QUE ESTA ACABANDO URIBE, LA LIBERTAD DE PRENSA Hola Colegas, Le envío un enlace a la página BBC mundo, donde señalan la noticia del cierre de la Revista Cambio, que alguna vez perteneció a Gabriel García Márquez y que en la actualidad era de la Casa Editorial El Tiempo, principal diario de Colombia. Esta revista se destacó por destapar varios casos de corrupción del actual Gobierno y vinculaciones directas de varios colaboradores del actual Presidente con el narcotráfico y el paramilitarismo. Como el gobierno no lo puede hacer directamente ya que pregonan "la lbertad de derechos y Prensa" lo hace precionando a los dueños que están tras la adjudicación del tercer canal privado de televisión; ya anteriormente habían logrado la "cabeza" de una columnista crítica del gobierno. Y eso que ayer se celebró el Dia del Periodista en Colombia http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/america_latina/2010/02/100209_2210_colombia_revista_gz.shtml Un apunte que me faltó ayer: a Uribe no le basta utilizar las cadenas radiales RCN y Caracol (fieles serviles), para su campaña, se tomó también la radio pública (Rafael Rodriguez R., Bogotá D.C. - COLOMBIA, Feb 10, condiglist yg via DXLD) Hmm, shades of Chávez & Venezuela (gh) ** COSTA RICA. 15170, REE missing at 1419 Feb 17, allowing Romania unimpeded, which before 1500 normally happens only on Saturdays, but this is Wednesday. REE relay still going on 9765 // 11815. Such anomalies make us wonder if caused by installation of new DRM-capable transmitter. Missing yesterday from 15170, REE relay is back Feb 18 at 1418 check, well atop Romania (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA. 3985 - 0410 UT: The Voice of Croatia is being heard with the best signal ever on this frequency. Must be all this global warming we're having (Ed Tilbury, Sanibel Island, Florida, UT Feb 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA [non]. B-09 Schedule of VT Communications Relays. Pt 3 of 3: Voice of Croatia, test on Tue/Wed/Thu 0300-0500 on 7385 WOF 125 kW / 315 deg to NoAm Croatian+English news (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 15 via DXLD) As already in DXLD test week one of Feb, but not since? (gh) ** CUBA. 6580, typical DCJC-style pulsing at 0650 Feb 11; it would cut off for a split second now and then as if for a monitoring check. Never could hear any target, but it bothered aero 2-way SSB communications around 6577 and another frequency on the hi side. I also compared it to DCJC on 7405 vs Martí, and by tuning to a sideband of that, the pulsing perfectly matched 6580. See also USA: WRMI WORLD OF RADIO 1500, RHC missing from 15120, but weaker 15360 signal still there at 1324 check Feb 11. I was about to remark that the audio distortion on RHC 11800 had improved; until at 1359 Feb 11 I tuned plus and minus 6 kHz or so, encountering slush from this transmitter. RHC`s English listeners in the nightmiddle usually have at least one frequency on 49m, but Feb 12 at 0710 check they were all in Spanish: 6060, 6120, 6140, 6150; the usual very lo-fi compressed audio on 6120 compared to the others. DCJC pulses against nothing (? Or R. República, other exile peanut- whistles?) Feb 12 at 0716 on 6520, just over 24 hours since heard same on 6580. With BFO I could make out a very weak carrier on 6522, possible target. Nothing on 6580 at first, but next tuneby at 0717 found same noise going on 6575. More but not all the DCJC transmissions have added multi-tone beeping to the mix, such as 11930 vs Martí at 1526 Feb 12. Perhaps their own monitors got bored with the usual programming and decided to liven it up a bit. Grinding noise wall with no tones on 11600, Feb 12 at 1732 check, believed to be against a R. República transmitter in Central America, guess which country, not California as I first assumed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I've been checking this [11600] the last few days at 1600+. Nothing heard but the jamming (Hans Johnson, Naples, FL Sony ICF-SW7600GR with whip antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Funny this message was here. Just a few hours ago I picked up strong jamming on that frequency. I'm not sure if it was from Cuba. Here I heard a loud noise and underneath a program in Chinese (Keith Perron, Taiwan, 1806 UT Feb 13, ibid.) Type of noise and steady signal here make it certainly Cuba, tho something coincidental could be ongoing Fareastly (gh, DXLD) 9955, WRMI, completely blocked by heavy jamming around 1430 Feb 14 when WORLD OF RADIO is scheduled on Saturdays; also at 1608 when DX Partyline is allegedly on. Tnx a lot, Arnie! Transmission of RHC`s 2030-2130 English broadcast is still irregular and problematic. Sat Feb 13 at 2114 check, nothing but Spanish on 11730, 11760, 11770, 11800, lo-fi interview with a revolutionary veteran? Dog barking in background, no DXers Unlimited. 17705, Feb 13 at 2057 upwrapping RNV relay with IS iterations and off. But back on with weaker signal at 2235, poor in French with RHC mid-ID during Journal Parlé about Afghanistan. This semihour is on the schedule as Guarani, but French has been substituting, since as we all know, there are oodles of people who understand both. Does RHC really have any living Guarani-workers on its meagre payroll? Calling a radio newscast a ``spoken newspaper`` seems rather archaic, but also occurs in Castilian as ``diario hablado``. Are they admitting they are just reading directly from a newspaper? Radio/TV require material to be rewritten in a different more conversational style; broadcast journalism 101. Cut numbers on 5930.0, Feb 14 at 0613, new frequency? These code letter versions of spy numbers on A2 are normally heard below 5900, e.g. 5898. Very strong and bleeding into adjacent frequencies, vs WWCR/DGS on 5935, RFI on 5925. Ending at 0631 with AR x 3 and SK x 1 but carrier stays on a while. It`s surprisingly difficult to find this frequency mentioned in ENIGMA and other numbers references. [WORLD OF RADIO 1500] 13880 lacking the RHC leapfrog, Feb 14 at 1444 as I started to tune down the 13 MHz band, so one of its components must be missing: yes, 13780 OK, but absent from 13680 allowing R. Farda via Wertachtal, GERMANY to arrive unimpeded. 11760, RHC in French, Sunday Feb 14 at 2139 with Le Monde de la Filatélie. Naturally, the stamp subjects are yet more fodder for revolutionary political propaganda. Then tuned up 10 kHz to RHC Spanish on 11770, and they were just upwrapping equivalent El Mundo de la Filatelia. The variably-timed DX program, En Contacto, began at precisely 2144:30 this week, also on 11730, 11800, etc., starting with birthday greetings. At 0013 on 13820, DCJC pulses against nothing since R. Martí quits this frequency at 2200. But propagation from Cuba must be very good. Checking some other jammers, 9810 obliterated R. República at 0014, and contained beeps. At 0033, 5890 VOA under heavy jamming without beeps, but // 9885 well over jamming with beeps during an innocuous discussion about teaching children. [República: see UNIDENTIFIED 5955] 13770 Spanish and 13790 weekly Esperanto both inbooming UT Monday Feb 15 at 0022, seem equal level tho 13770 is normally much weaker here; must have changed antennas. Also had heard Esperanto earlier Sunday just after 1500 on 11760; was not copying the announced schedule, but am fairly certain there was no mention of the 13790 transmission at 0000, just the 2330 one on two frequencies, which I doubt still exist. They are mainly concerned with promoting and anticipating the 95 Universala Kongreso de Esperanto, Havano, 17-24 Julio, 2010 --- that is, if armed counter-revolution has not broken out by then. I continue to be amused by one of the announcers, obviously not a native-speaker of Esperanto, who cannot break himself of saying ``Amériko`` instead of ``Ameríko`` as invariable Esperanto rules require penultimate stress. 3445 at 0058 Feb 15 with weak Spanish talk, sure sounds // RHC 6060 et al., but only one receiver handy at the moment so can`t be positive. Plus weaker second audio source. Definitely not // Rebelde 5025. Since it ends in -5, can`t be a leapfrog or difference mix of any regular RHC or CRI relay frequencies since they all end in -0, except 17705 which goes off at 0030. For the same reason, it could not be a mix with any local MW station. Could be a mix with an equally strong spy transmitter at same site but punching numbers into the calculator, I have not come up with anything recognizable. 6150, RHC ending DX program En Contacto, Feb 15 at 0655, ergo a secret repeat starting at 0640 UT Monday; strong signal but undermodulated here; weaker signal but not undermodulated on // 6120. Meanwhile, 6140, 6060 and 6010 were still in English service with music which they play more of on Sunday nights, respite from all the talk before another week of propaganda begins. 11600, tuned in early at 1556 Feb 15 in case I could hear any trace of Radio República before the jamming hit: no, just the jamming quickly ramping up from *1558:30 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 5025, Feb 16 at 1408 playing song in English, ``Sultans of Swing`` by Dire Straits, momentarily making me imagine I was hearing VL8K in a rare coincidence of day-frequency-at-night and Cuba off --- but signal was too good and 1412 outro in Spanish. R. Rebelde does it again; baseball overrides politix (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. 7210-LSB, exile hams with polemical remarx surely intended to be overheard as quasi-broadcasts, Feb 11 at 1308, primarily Raúl, N4RAU in Miami, as last heard Jan 14 in DXLD 10-03. This time he was saying that once communism is eliminated in Venezuela there won`t be a drop of oil for Cuba, where the economy will really collapse (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. 9490, new frequency for R. República, apparently Sackville ex-9810, Feb 17 from *0003, VG signal at first with several dumps off and on, then stays on with sign-on, program summary including in EST = UT -5, i.e. 0000-0500: 8:00 pm, Frente a Frente 8:30 pm, Bloqueo 9:00 pm, La Revista de Ciencia y Tecnología 9:30 pm, Espacio Plural 10:00 pm, Atrévete, juvenil 10:30 pm, Palabra --- 11:00 pm, La --- Cubana, to interview Lincoln Díaz-Belart y de inmediato [7:05 pm], Recuento Informativo which followed at 0005:30. 9810 was still being jammed, and no jamming yet on 9490 [nor the next night at quick check]. If 9490 is Sackville, why is it stronger here than RCI English on 9755, 268 degrees? 31m signals from Europe at this time were all much weaker than 9490, except Portugal 9455, which always has a propagational advantage from the southwest corner. By 0015, 9490 was weakening a bit; 0019 still announcing old schedule of 6-11 pm on 9810, lunes a domingo. Retune at 0057 they were announcing a different schedule but missed first part, including 9955, i.e. via WRMI, but at 0058 repeated ``9810 at 6-11 pm``, outdated info. At 0100 Frente a Frente [Butting Foreheads] started as I ceased monitoring. Jeff White tells me the new R. República schedule is: 0000-0300 on 9490 UT Tue-Sat, and 0300-0500 on WRMI 9955 daily I also heard WRMI 9955 just before 0000 UT with R. República theme music; Jeff says WRMI is also informally running R.R. at 22-24 UT weekdays, which amounts to an earlier sign-on than before, ex-WRN programming, but subject to change. At 0000 WRMI switched to Radio Libertad, another Cuban clandestine, as scheduled, announced as via WRMI at 7-8 pm, ``contacto con el pueblo de Cuba``. República at 03-05 UT bumps off another Libertad hour to one hour later to 05-06 replacing English programming. No jamming audible on 9955 until next check at 0058, by when WRMI was about to go back into English, totally blocked. This could be a problem UT Friday at 0130, rescheduled time for WORLD OF RADIO, but Richard Lemke in AB reported no interference at our other new time, UT Wednesday at 0230. WRMI`s NW antenna is still out of service. Jeff later gave me some background on R. Libertad, including QSL info, which will be on WOR 1500 and DXLD 10-07 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. Glenn: In answer to your questions about Radio Libertad: This program is not just intended for Cuba; it is intended for all of Latin America -- for all countries that want freedom and democracy. In Cuba, there are what are called Círculos Democráticos Municipales, which are opposition political organizations throughout the island. There are more than 80 opposition organizations in Cuba. The Círculos work closely with another organization called the Relatores de Derechos Humanos de Cuba, which is one of the key organizations promoting human rights on the island. Radio Libertad works with both the Círculos Democráticos Municipales and the Relatores de Derechos Humanos inside Cuba. Among the groups in the exile community which support the Círculos, the Relatores and Radio Libertad itself is an organization called the Freedom League. But Radio Libertad is not trying to reach just Cuba; it wants to be heard throughout Latin America, and it includes programming about many Latin American countries where democracy and human rights are in danger, such as Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador and others. The main contact person and executive producer for Radio Libertad is Pedro Peñaranda. Pedro is the representative in the exile community of both the Círculos Democráticos Municipales and the Relatores de Derechos Humanos de Cuba. You can contact him at ppenaranda @ aol.com That address is also good for reception reports. Radio Libertad is preparing QSL cards. They should be ready within the next two weeks. Reception reports can be sent to Pedro's e-mail address or to WRMI at info @ wrmi.net or c/o WRMI, 175 Fontainebleau Blvd., Suite 1N4, Miami, FL 33172 USA. Radio Libertad is in the process of developing a website. (Jeff White, WRMI Radio Miami International, Feb 17, Tel +1-305-559- WRMI (9764) Fax +1-305-559-8186, E-mail: radiomiami9 @ cs.com http://www.wrmi.net WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CYPRUS. 9760.000, CyBC, 2214, guitar interval signal, announcements, into radio drama or similar. Plug pulled mid-sentence at 2244. Surprised to hear 7210 parallel (though it was much weaker). 13 February (David Sharp, NSW Australia, NRD-535D, FT-950 etc., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CYPRUS. 18065-18090, OTH radar pulsing, presumed from here, Feb 12 at 1428 inside the so-called 17-meter hamband. Go get `em, intruder busters. OTH radar pulsing, presumed from here, Feb 13 at 1459 covering 16870- 16900 --- they should all be so far out of broadcast bands, unlike at 1519 on 15537-15560, all frequency ranges approximate, abutting RDPI 15560. Another one safely out of band but clashing with CODAR, tsk2, 13430-13460 at 1535 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECHIA. CZECH SENATOR WRITES TO US SENATORS ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS COMPLAINT INVOLVING RFE/RL "Czech Senator Jaromir Stetina has sent an explosive letter to 'American colleagues' on the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. The letter is a reaction to a suit against the Czech Republic by a Croat who claimed national discrimination. The Czech Republic is charged with human-rights violations at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. ... Stetina warns in his letter that Prague RFE/RL employees are divided into three castes. The first includes American citizens who enjoy the protections provided by the Federal Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. Czech citizens are protected by the Czech Labour Code. Unfortunately, employees from third countries 'enjoy' zero protection." Croatian Times, 11 February 2010. See previous post about same subject. Posted: 12 Feb 2010 (kimandrewelliott.com via WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DXLD) More; http://praguemonitor.com/2010/02/15/czech-mp-writes-us-counterparts-over-work-conditions-rferl (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** DEUTSCHES REICH [non]. JEWISH SERVICE BROADCASTS FROM NAZI GERMANY Fred Waterer on Facebook alerted me to a 5 minute feature on the first Jewish ceremony in liberated Germany including a recording of part of the broadcast. I found that this had been reported in DXLD 8-019 quoting a report via Kim Andrew Elliott's website. Rabbi Sidney Lefkowitz was a chaplain who went ashore on Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. On October 29, 1944, he conducted the first Jewish service broadcast by NBC on Nazi soil. It was on the site of a synagogue burned to the ground by Nazis in 1938. The service was attacked by German artillery fire as it was being broadcast by shortwave radio to the United States over NBC. Link to the YouTube video of the report: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOTLSInghSM I then found the full broadcast, 14 minutes 32 seconds, on the American Jewish Archives site which also has the transcript. A very moving broadcast: http://www.ajcarchives.org/main.php?GroupingId=4210 Googling further NPR's Weekend edition April 20 2002 featured a recording from April 15 1945 of a shortwave broadcast of the Sabbath ceremony conducted at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp after it had been liberated by British forces. BBC reporter Patrick Gordon Walker was with the British forces and reported on what he saw. His shortwave broadcasts were recorded onto acetate disc by WEVD engineer, Moe Asch, who went on to be the founder of the very influential Folkways Records. The report, and further background, can be found at http://dbellel.blogspot.com/2007/09/sound-portraits-bergen-belsen.html (Mike Barraclough, UK, Feb 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DIEGO GARCIA. 12580.4 USB at 2015 8 Jan, Radio Sawa with Arabic ID instead of AFRTS in English, SIO 252. 4319.2-USB, AFRTS, Chagos, DG at 2000 8 Jan, ABC news in English read by lady, SIO 454 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) D.G. not mentioned in the first item, but that`s the site on nominal 12579, per Aoki only at 02-14, and we know that AFN hours are highly variable. But how could this happen? Are Sawa and AFN on nearby or easily confused satellite feed channels? As for the frequency discrepancy, I wonder if Rumen is reporting the USB peak instead of the usual carrier reference frequency 1.4 kHz lower. Note these loggings were only 15 minutes apart, so running both simultaneously, or QSY in the interim? Or some other Sawa source? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4319.2, AFRTS, Chagos Arch., Diego Garcia. USB. News in English from ABC (USA) at 2000, but on 12580-USB the program was in Arabic and nothing was on 12580 LSB, 8/1 (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria (Sony ICF-2001, Marconi antenna), Jan/Feb Australian DX News via DXLD) Cf his rather different log via BDXC-UK ** DJIBOUTI. 4780 - 0350 UT: Radio Djibouti is coming in this evening with the best signal I've heard in three years, only to be squashed by newly relocated WWCR. I don't really mind all these annoying domestic religious broadcasters but it would nice if they'd stay away from what little DX we have left. Wonder if I can figure out some kind of antenna magic to null these guys out. Fat chance, I'm sure (Ed Tilbury, Sanibel Island, Florida, UT Feb 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA WWCR ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 6025.01, Radio Amanecer Int, Santo Domingo, 0030-0045, Feb 14, Spanish talk. ID at 0032. Spanish religious music. Poor with adjacent channel splatter (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** ECUADOR. 4814.93, Radio El Buen Pastor, Saraguro, 0028-0033, presumed; M with Spanish music and talk. Decent signal getting murdered by 50 dB CODAR spikes, best heard in USB, Dec 15 (Richard W Parker, PA, Feb NASWA Journal via DXLD) 0121-0139 M in Spanish with reverb, mixed pops and folklorica, ID and frequency at 0132. Ute QRM, alleviated with USB mode. Notch eliminated presumed Difusora het. 25 dB signal and loud audio punching thru strong CODAR, fair-good Dec 18 (Parker, ibid.) last reported the previous August: 4814.95v EQA * R El Buen Pastor, Saraguro [*0828-1130/2000- 0300*](4.0-5.0) Aug09 C SS/LL (irr) (a)"Radio El Buen Pastor, siempre a tu lado" (r)ALAS-HCJB with IDs in SS (LA SW Logs via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. 5040, 0710 25/1, Voz Upana (presumed) Fair (Ian Cattermole, Blenheim, New Zealand, JRC 535, Icom IC-746 Pro, EWE, Feb NZ DX Times via DXLD) It was La Voz del Upano, but I would not presume it without a little more to go on, as it`s been off the air for yours, last reported in August 2007 per http://www.mcdxt.it/LASWLOGS.html which also shows the current LAm active around 5040 is R. Libertad, Junín, Perú. Zero program details; was this in Spanish, anyway? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. 6050.000, HCJB, carrier on at 0825, comments by man at 0830 and into language (Quechua listed). Modulation seemed a bit low. All alone on frequency 'til 0900 (David Sharp, NSW Australia, NRD- 535D, FT-950 etc., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR [non]. HCJB via CVC CHILE 11920 spurs containing mushy distorted // audio in Portuguese, Feb 15 at 0026 centered on about 11900.5 and 11939.5 = plus and minus 19.5 kHz, while 25+ hours earlier they were circa 11904 and 11936 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also CHILE; LITHUANIA ** ECUADOR [and non]. I have looked for HD2IOA timesignal station on 3810 numerous times in the 0600-0700+ UT period, with no results, but Feb 12 at 0655 there it was with quite readable signal on LSB (not USB as some reports have it), time announcements every 10 seconds in Spanish, which go for example: ``Al oir el tono, será la una hora, 55 minutos, 20 segundos`` (pause), beep. As soon as I had heard this a few times, on came the hams at exactly the same frequency, W6LC in California 200 miles N of the Bay Area, with KI4THY in Lynchburg TN, discussing this station, which one of them opined was ``a military beacon in Ecuador`` --- well yes, it`s military of the Instituto Oceanográfico de la Armada, but can`t they tell it`s a timesignaller? The QSO was wrapping up after 0659 as I was hoping for a full ID. Something like that may have been inserted around 0659:40 but am not sure; clear of QRhaM for a while again after 0700. I checked against WWV which only announces time once a minute, and it was right on. 3810-LSB, another check 24 hours later for HD2IOA, Feb 13 at 0659; yes, audible underneath spoiler hams N3TOA and K5ENU, no spring chickens but juvenilely making up funny fonetix, such as ``elephants near utopia``, or ``even nuns urinate``. Hee, hee. I was straining to hear HD2IOA underneath them during the 0659:40- 0659:50 UT segment when I thought a full ID was inserted Feb 12, and did succeed in making out the word ``Armada``, so that is definitely when it departs from time-announcements only. Furthermore, one of the hams thanked the Ecuadorian for making a top-of-hour ID, as reminder that hams should ID too (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. 15710, Feb 11 at 1327, distorted music and talk in Indonesian, mentioning Indonesia, and Cairo, what else but R. Cairo itself with usual defective broadcast, but it has been worse. As I was checking Lavwadlamerik on 7590, also noted big signal on 7580 from R. Cairo`s western NAm service in English, adequately modulated during Arab music, but 2315 worn-out recording of Cairo news theme, and OM with undermodulated news I soon gave up trying to copy; the propagational fading was louder than the audio. Back to OK modulated music by 2329, but most of next semihour was a YL reading a script about some cultural topic, too low to understand. A pity, since someone no doubt put a lot of effort into writing and reading it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 6250, RGE active with YL in Castilian news, Feb 17 at 0618, ute QRM on low side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, R. Africa at 2220 Sunday Feb 14 with evangelist Tony Alámo, convicted and sentenced to 175 years for child sex abuse, rambling about baptism and resurrexion, from a station and a broker, Panamerican Broadcasting in Cupertino CA, which have no compunxion about diffusing this monster with money. WINB broadcasts him only Monday-Friday so this is a much-needed Sunday fix; Saturday too? [see also USA: WINB] Whew, he`s out of Oklahoma after being transferred thru OKC on the way to his permanent prison, or at least the next one, which is in Tucson AZ. Now officials are trying to figure out how many ``wives`` still under his influence will be allowed to visit him, altho not conjugally. See http://www.tonyalamonews.com/3271/21210-tg-tony-alamo-transferred-to-tucson-prison.php FRG-7 was still tuned to 15190 following 2220 Feb 14 log of R. Africa, the voice of Alamo, when I turned it on again at 0607 Feb 15 --- there`s R. Africa again! With another gospel huxter, this one screaming (that`s one thing you got to give Alamo credit for --- he does not scream!). Signal fluxuating S6-S9 in an unusual night opening from Africa on 19m. Soon also found signals from NIGERIA [q.v.] 15120, SOUTH AFRICA [q.v.] 15255, DW Rwanda 15410 and VOA Botswana 15580 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. VOBME's two channels were heard with separate programming on 7175 and 7210. Very strong noise jamming (from Ethiopia, of course) was sometimes, but not always, heard on 7175. Both channels now open their evening transmission period at 1300 (an hour earlier than before). Radio Bana was not positively logged, but very strong Ethiopian-style jammer was heard on 5060 in the early evening, closing at 1630, suggesting that Bana may have been underneath it (Chris Greenway, England, Feb 17, snippets from observations made in Nairobi earlier this month, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. Hi Glenn, Reception of Radio Ethiopia External Service was great from February 1st, at 1600 UT on 7165 kHz, with no jamming heard for roughly 1 week. 9560, not so great at 1600, but French language was good at 1700. I had tried for many years to hear Radio Ethiopia but jamming made it impossible. It's a shame, because the programs I heard were interesting, informing the world about this fascinating country. The jamming was back when I checked yesterday, on 7165, at 1600, didn't check 9560. The domestic Service was received very well on 7110 at 0450 on 2/9/10, with excellent modulation. 9704 was very good also, until 0455 when heterodyne caused problems. I have a question. Does the external Service still use the old Voice of the Gospel transmitters. or did they get new ones? Best Wishes (Chris Lewis, England, Feb 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. Radio Ethiopia National Service was heard on 5990, 7110 and 9704, though 5990 seems to be irregular. The Monday-Friday English broadcast is still running at 1200-1300. Radio Ethiopia External Service is regular on 7165 and 9560. Radio Fana's frequency usage seems to be erratic. 6110, 6890 and 7210 were all heard, though only on one or two frequencies at a time. 7210 was only heard in the early morning. Care is needed as 7210 is also used by Eritrea. Voice of Tigray Revolution was only heard on 5950. Radio Oromia and Amhara Regional State Radio were heard at various times on 6030 and 6090 respectively. Both were heard closing at 1900 (Chris Greenway, England, Feb 17, snippets from observations made in Nairobi earlier this month, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 7165, Feb 12 at 1512 with weak music vs SSB hams coming and going; 7110 at same time with weak talk and music vs CW hams, but nothing on 7175. Long path, both Gedja transmitters, per Aoki with V. of Democratic Alliance on 7165, R. Ethiopia on 7110 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [and non]. Re: "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" So something's wrong here: Definitely: RE Home service is likely 03-21 every day, at least on 9704.2. I think breaks on 7110 do occur on a irregular basis, mostly in the afternoons, but not because regular programming pauses, but because the transmitter is used for something else. R. Uganda 7110 should be inactive since about 2006, as well as 5026. Was the same transmitter, the other on 4976/7195. 7175 may be Ethiopia, but that's quite unusual. Should be ERI-2 at that time. 7165 signs on briefly before 0700 on a normal day and seems to stay on air likely without regular break until 1835 (sun 1800). 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Germany, Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA/ERITREA. The usual trio of 41m band stations again heard on Feb 18 with almost fair reception at 1532 on 7110, 7165 and 7175. It was 7175 that has recently been off the air (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. 6295, Reflections Europe, IRELAND, 1642-, 14 Feb'10, English, canned religious propaganda programs & related advertisements; 45444. \\ 12255 [heard], [but] 3910 silent. No adjacent QRM de CLANDESTINE station Polisario Front, ALGERIA, as they've been silent on 6297 for a few days' time (while active on \\ 1550). 12255, Reflections Europe, IRELAND, 1650-, 14 Feb'10, cf. \\ 6295. 73 (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UNIDENTIFIED [non] ** EUROPE. PIRATE. 7610.05, Radio Amica, 2310-2320, Feb 13, pop music. Italian ID announcements at 2313. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** EUROPE. PIRATE. 15070.09v, Cupid Radio, 1312-1330+, Feb 14, IDs. Acknowledged listeners’ reports. Lite pop music. Weak but readable. Fair on peaks. Frequency drifting slightly. Was on 15070.09 at 1312, drifting up to 15070.17 by 1358 check (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** FRANCE. Radio France Internationale - English Service --- We have a new website! Visit http://www.rfienglish.com to check out the new layout and functions, including (eventually) comments on our articles. Please check it out, and let us know what you think - all feedback is welcomed! (Via Facebook) (Alokesh Gupta, VU3BSE, New Delhi, India, Feb 17, dxldyg via DXLD) ** FRANCE [and non]. 15605 in Russian, Feb 14 at 1420, first assumed VOR but it`s really RFI at 1400-1430, caught my attention since it had RTTY QRM slightly to one side, which also continued later (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA [and non] ** GERMANY. Radio Öömrang --- Re: This went by completely unnoticed? http://www.amrum-news.de/2009/02/18/radio-oomrang-geht-wieder-auf-sendungto/ Radio Öömrang, first shortwave transmissions in 2006 after Deutsche Telekom helped them through the bureaucratic jungle. Apparently annually since. On 21 Feb 2009 at 1600 on 15230, apparently to North America (they specify "time in New York"), "with five times more power than in 2008" and costing 300 Euro, so apparently Wertachtal 500 kW. I just came across this by way of googling for Radio Öömrang, prompted by an announcement that this time they have a temporary FM licence for the Amrum island. Never heard a word about it before (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Mark calendars 21 Feb 2010! (gh) Update to the above story: Reportedly they will be on air "this Sunday", so Feb 21, at 1600 on 15245, Wertachtal 500 kW to North America. The wording is a bit vague (i.e. if the frequency refers to the upcoming transmission), so if nothing appears on 15245 it could not hurt to check also 15230 or just the 19 mB in general. http://www.radiowoche.de/index.php?area=1&p=news&newsid=8465 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. 15315, YFR to India in Malayalam language. S=8 signal some 120 kilometers away of the TX site. With accompanied "round-the-globe" echo, which occurs often in 14-15 UT slot, at least on powerful WER, NAU, or SMG Vatican Radio transmissions (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, Feb 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Like we get way over here to on 11985 during that hour (gh, OK, DXLD) ** GERMANY. 12035, Feb 18 at 1521 with preacher in English referring to Romans X:2, poor signal. Aoki shows Bible Voice Broadcasting, but on Thursdays at this time it is supposed to be in Urdu, English from 1530, 100 kW, 90 degrees via Wertachtal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA [non] YFR ** GERMANY [non]. 15640, am still hearing DW in German after 2200 UT, altho DX Mix News Bulgaria reported the relay via WHRI had been cancelled. Wolfgang Büschel also finds it on IBB Monitoring clips Feb 7 and 8 (Glenn Hauser, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [non]. I've seen reports that DW was to cease its use of WHRI-Cypress Creek relays from Feb. 1--not so, as I have noted 15640 in German with a good signal at 2200 on Feb. 8 (Joe Hanlon, NJ, Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. Re 10-06: The listings for on-air transmissions on the Radio Santec website appear to be somewhat outdated. For German WRTH 2010 could reflect the current situation. Otherwise it would need to be checked out if such transmissions like English Sun at 1300 and 1900 on a single shortwave frequency or French at 2030 via Voice of Russia still exist. But in general it appears that they have cut back their radio activities in favour of TV: http://www.nuova-gerusalemme.tv (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Voice of Greece ERA-5 program in Greek on all three channels 9420, 11645 and 15630 kHz in 0700-1000 UT range this morning. Nothing heard from multi lingual R Filia relay on 11645 kHz. Now at 1050 UT only 9420 kHz is on the air during maintenance break. Feb 15 (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREENLAND. 3815, 2149-2214* 09+10+11.02 KNR, Tasiilaq (USB) Greenlandic news, report from a meeting, jazz, 2200 Danish news with several words understood: "praestestyret i Iran", "Irans Praesident Ahmadinejad", "hvad der foregår" (what takes place), "... beslutningsproces og det er en ting, vi skal forsoege at implementere i Groenland" (decision-making process which we are going to implement in Greenland), closing ann: "Hermed slutter radioavisen. Vi kommer igen i morgen." (That is the end of the news. We will be back tomorrow), 2210 music and no further announcement. 35333. They verified my earlier reception with a letter-QSL in just 7 days! 3815, 2155-2207 12.02, KNR Tasiilaq (USB) music, 2200 Danish news, tonight with deep fades 25322 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** GUAHAN. GOVERNOR ISSUES EXECUTIVE ORDER CHANGING ISLAND NAME TO GUAHAN http://www.pacificnewscenter.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3315:governor-issues-executive-order-changing-island-name-to-guahan&catid=50:homepage-slideshow-rokstories Guam - As promised in his State of the Island Address, Governor Felix Camacho wasted little time issuing an executive order to change the official name of Guam to Guahan. His Executive Order applies to all GovGuam agencies and encourages the local businesses and the community at large to adopt the name change as well. Read the Executive Order http://www.pacificnewscenter.com/images/pdf/exorder.pdf [or PNC link above reproduces it, barely] In addition the Executive order requests lawmakers pass a law re- designating Guam as Guahan. Written by : Kevin Kerrigan (via Kim Elliott, Feb 15, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DXLD) ?! What`s next? KUAM 630 and 93.9 will have to change calls to KUAHAN? This is ill-considered, as there are not that many islands/countries with an instantly-recognizable and unique four-letter name (gh, DXLD) ** GUINEA. 7125.000, RTVG, 0752, good with continuous hilife, ID by French man just after 0800, brief comments and more music at 0803. First time heard at this time here, similar signal strength to 1900+ (averages about S9+30 on peaks). 9 February (David Sharp, NSW Australia, NRD-535D, FT-950 etc., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII. 6501-USB, distorted high seas marine weather by masculine robot voice, Feb 14 at 0634, pause, and 0635 closing as ``US Coast Guard master communications station, Pacific, out``. Presumably this means NMO Honolulu rather than NMC Point Reyes CA, both of which use this frequency as well as NMN Chesapeake VA, but NMO weather starts at 0600 per schedule included in my last report --- see U S A (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4820.77, AIR Kolkata (presumed), 1312 + 1355, Feb 17. In vernacular; it was in December that I last noted them off from their normal 4820.0; signal slowly improving. 4820.0, AIR Kolkata (presumed), 1515, Feb 18. Heard back on their normal frequency again (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Note AIR Itanagar 4990 back on the air after being off for about 2 weeks. 1400 UT local music. AIR Kohima has local English news at 1355 daily. Good for programme details. 4850. Station goes off the SW freq at 1400v while MW/FM goes on obviously. Good signals (G. Victor A. Goonetilleke 4S7VK, Piliyandala. Sri Lanka, Feb 10, dx_india yg via DXLD) 1500 UT - AIR Kohima 4850 still on air with hindi movie songs. At 1515 - Hindi News Bulletin "samachar sandhya" AIR Itanagar 4990 also noted carrying hindi news at 1515. AIR Kurseong 4895 still off air (Alokesh Gupta, VU3BSE, New Delhi, India ibid.) QSL, today going past 1515, Kohima. Yesterday Jepore 5040 was off the air. I like when Jepore and if Chennai and Thiruwana` will have those days of off air, for me to do some decent 60 m DX! (Victorg, ibid.) Kohima 4850 noted off air on 11th Feb. On 10th Feb went abruptly off air at 1547 UT. On 6th Feb also noted Kohima going off air at around same time just after the English news bulletin. Regards (Alokesh, ibid.) 4850, AIR Kohima, 1311, Feb 11. Chanting/singing with subcontinent music; 1314 ID in vernacular and into the usual Naga segment that starts with indigenous theme music; tuned away and returned looking for the news at 1440, but they were off the air by then. Feb 12 seemed off the air; not heard at my first check at 1309 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4970, AIR Shillong, 1444-1512, Feb 16. Heard with the usual hum; young woman DJ on the phone taking requests and dedications for pop music (Kenny Rogers song, etc.); news headlines; 1512 switched over to Delhi programming. Of all the DJs I have heard on SW, this one is the most vivacious and most enjoyable to listen to. 9425, AIR Bengaluru, 1438, Feb 15. Monday edition of “Vividha” in English (also on Wednesdays in English); biographical information of Sarojini Naidu, known as the Nightingale of India. A great poet and the first Indian woman to become the President of the Indian National Congress; recited one of her poems; fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. AIR HYDERABAD NOTED WITH EXTENDED TRANSMISSION ON SHIVARATRI Sei-ichi Hasegawa from NDXC, Japan informs that one of his DX-friend heard All India Radio Hyderabad 4800 kHz at 1900 UT on Feb. 12. Jose Jacob confirms the language is "Telegu" (Hindu devotional talk), so must be extended txns on the ocassion of "Shivaratri" (Hindu Religious festival) which is usually celebrated during late night Indian time.(after 1800 UTC). Here's the audio file: http://a-draw.com/up2/download/1266033653.wma (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Feb 13, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. CRICKET COMMENTARY ON AIR SW 14th Feb - At 0605 UT following AIR channels were carrying cricket commentary of India-South Africa 2nd cricket test match at Kolkata: 7325 - Jaipur 7430 - Bhopal 7440 - Lucknow 7240 Mumbai, 7380 Chennai & 7420 H'bad were carryng regular programs (Alokesh Gupta, VU3BSE, New Delhi, India, Feb 14, http://alokeshgupta.blogspot.com/ dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. Don`t you believe that I heard or reported AIR on 9465 at 1430 Jan 3, as in the Feb NASWA Journal page 47. In condensing my original report, the editor picked up a frequency I said it was NOT on, that time, // 9425, instead of the correct frequency 9470 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Interesting photos of AIR AIR Kolkata http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3528/3793833918_de848dc9d5_o.jpg Another photo of AIR Kolkata http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2461/3793834340_2d2864b98b_o.jpg AIR Thiruvananthapuram http://media.photobucket.com/image/%252522all%20india%20radio%252522/rajithtvm2/tvm/AIR_Tvm.jpg First studio of Bombay Station of the All India Radio 'Radio House' which was then Indian Broadcasting Company, situated at Apollo Bunder, Bombay in 1927. http://www.timescontent.com/tss/showcase/related/photos/c1/All_India_Radio/1/r/All-India-Radio.html (Alokesh Gupta, VU3BSE, New Delhi, India http://alokeshgupta.blogspot.com/ dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. FUTURE OF PUBLIC BROADCASTING IN INDIA http://madaboutmedia.blogspot.com/2010/02/future-of-public-broadcasting-in-india.html Excerpt .... For this, the public broadcaster needs firstly to be proud of its achievements; while boasting of a proud legacy, it also needs to get young and speak to a 21st century nation of young people. Be present on the net - on Facebook, Twitter and other sites to create a buzz on important issues that the broadcasters are focusing on. Interestingly, All India Radio is already on Facebook … but wait a minute... it’s not our Aakashvani… it is an Australian music band! ------- (Alokesh Gupta, VU3BSE, New Delhi, Feb 17, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. Re 10-06, Partha Sarathi Goswami`s comments on DRM: WRONG - Its not as simple as assumed, all these digitalisation initiatives are part of GOI 's (Govt. of India) policy as included in 11th Five Year Plan period: Read the document titled "Going Digital" on GOI, Planning Commission website: http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/goingdig/drft_gdig.pdf Govt. of India's policy is clearly spelt out in that report released way back in Oct 2006... Quote - Keeping in view the world wide trends of transition in digital mode, AIR plans to introduce Digital Radio Mondale (DRM) transmission below 30 MHz. i.e. MF and HFband by upgrading its existing DRM compatible transmitters. All new transmitters including the replacement of old transmitters would be done by DRM compatible transmitters. For transmission above 30 MHz introduction of DRM + and DAB are being examined. However all digital transmission as and when introduced, will be in simulcast mode for about 10 years. This would be necessary as receivers in the beginning may be costly. Once the receivers become affordable by masses simulcast mode would be phased out. ....Unquote ``But My main concern is the bandwidth DRM eats, if a DRM txn 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.`` WRONG - For SW, 9/10 kHz unless you are simulcasting. ``As per my knowledge DRM and DAB is far different, but the upgradation is also required for equipments in both sides and DAB rx are more costly solutions, even as my knowledge goes the DAB audio and transmissions are much better than DRM, but it costs much too.`` WRONG - DAB sets are much cheaper, cheapest one in UK like the "Supermarkets on brands" (Tesco, Argos, Asda etc) costs between 15 -20 pounds (Alokesh Gupta, VU3BSE, New Delhi, India http://alokeshgupta.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DXLD) Hi, That will be great if everything goes well without harming the DX possibilities over shortwave. Here in South Asia we see many times that AIR and China causes many assault on DX possibilities, that’s why its often keeps me annoying about DRM splatter. And it`s reported by many renowned DXers. The good will be if DRM can give better audio quality with low power consumption in txrs, and if the receiver manufacturers get interested to build more receivers in low price. "An S-3 signal can provide very clear reception on an analog transmission, butDRM needs much more." I am attaching few links for those who are interested to see comments on DRM. Regarding the DRM here is some of our DX friends comments: [in full or in part with linx in the dxldyg, some from previous DXLDs] 73s (Partha Sarathi Goswami, Siliguri, WB, India, ibid.) ** INDIA [non]. 6260, Feb 13 at 1425 weak and fluttery signal with S Asian music and talk; it`s CVC`s Hindi service which still exists on SW via UZBEKISTAN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 9526v, V. Of Indonesia Jakarta, 1016-1033, Feb 7, English. W announcer with talk re flowers; program ID for "Indonesian Voices" & VOI URL at 1018; talk re economic meeting of member states (members of what I have no clue); full ID into week in review-like program with news of Russian diplomat in Indonesia; VOI General Overseas Service ID at 1031 into "Indonesian Wonders"; fair at best with just enough band noise and heavy accents to make detailing a challenge; first I've logged any VOI English service in a long time (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale NH, NRD-545, RX-350D, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9526-, VOI with YL talking about IRI, universities, in ``Miscellany`` segment ending at 1333 Feb 11, another one tomorrow; on to ``Music Corner`` from Bali. Some hum and flutter, a bit undermodulated but sufficient. 1401 signing off in English, 1403 opening in Malay or Indonesian, hard to discern which, as heard no mention of BM or BI, then warta berita, with more hum vs audio than during English. 9680, RRI domestic relay Feb 13 at 1603, gamelan concert with singing, still at 1621 drama with singing. Normally this goes off around 1500v. 9526- VOI was also on at 1605 causing het to 9525, no doubt CRI Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN, weaker. 9526- sounded like something reverent tho not strictly Qur`an, 1607 over to YL talking non-English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9525.96v, Came surprisingly across VOI German program from Jakarta Cimanggis at 1715 UT. In peaks up to S=9+20dB at 1715-1720 UT with newscast program, which read slowly by charming exotic female reader. ID "Stimme Indonesiens". Scheduled in actual schedule fact as Arabic program at that time, and German section should be scheduled to begin with 90 minutes later. Now at 1730 UT interference became stronger on adjacent channel: YFR Arabic at 17-18 UT via VT-group Rampisham with 500 kW on 9530 kHz even in direction of 105 degrees, strong beast S=9+40dB. Best reception of Indonesia on portable Eton E1 set SYNC function mode and Pass Band Tuning by minus 700 Hertz shift (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, Feb 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Heard here Feb 16 from 1750 on 9526, local music, closing announcements in Spanish, start of German service at 1800 with news. Fair signal but with weak presumed heterodyne eliminated by using USB (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth Garden City, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9525.94, VOI, 1339, 2/14/10. English service. High-pitched young female in extended talk was difficult to follow. Some type of narrative. English ID at 1345. Pop music to 1359. Another ID with frequency sked by YL. ID at 1400:06 with web site address. Switched feeds in mid-sentence to listed Malay. Pop music with middle eastern sound. Stronger signal than AIR, 9870 at 1405; Signal dropped to S6 with low modulation by 1435 (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8B, Wellbrook ALA-100 Loop & 330S Loop, http://www.radiodx.net/wordpress/ Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) 9525.98, Voice of Indonesia, 1315-1330, Feb 14, tune-in to English news. ID. Poor with weak modulation and adjacent channel splatter (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) VOI, 9526-, still sticking to this off-frequency, and instead of taking a break 15-16 UT, still on the air at 1516 Feb 18 playing songs, undermodulated, but signal over the het from EAST TURKISTAN 9525.0. Atsunori Ishida monitored VOI on the air during this hour with Indonesian, several recent dates in February (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9526, VOI, 1433, Feb 18. Seemed to be in Indonesian; ID in English; pop songs; heard with the usual hum, but today the modulation was at a good level, for fair reception; somewhat poorer reception noted from 1507 to 1511; still in Indonesian (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. CBS RADIO BLOCKS STREAMING OUTSIDE OF U.S. February 15, 2010 --- As of last Friday, CBS Radio has stopped streaming its terrestrial stations online outside of the U.S., presumably due to online royalty issues. All CBS stations, even News, Talk and Sports stations, are no longer available outside the States. If listeners outside the States attempt to listen online, they are given a message citing costs and regulations that now prevent the station from streaming. CBS Radio VP of Communications Karen Mateo confirmed to FMQB that its stations are "not available outside of the U.S. at this time." Mateo added that "listeners outside the U.S. can access Last.fm where they can create endless personalized radio stations, watch videos, discover new artists, and learn more about their favorite musicians and events in their area." Source: FMQB Thinking Ahead! http://www.fmqb.com/article.asp?id=1699707 (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) I used to love listening to KHHT Hot 92 Jamz on the webstream but they banned it for UK listening way back. Lucky I have someone in California who sends me the station`s shows on CD. The best station I have ever heard (Gary Drew, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) There`s a trick to that. If either you go to their web site or sign in using a different email addy (Ron Trotto, IL, ibid.) Try pasting this into your internet browser Should get you KHHT live. Sorry - even better - a tiny link! http://tinyurl.com/nmacyd Works in the UK - as of 17:08 UK time (Keith, UK, ibid.) That is the first time I have tried it in ages and wow - it works, that's just great. It's my all time favorite radio station!! Thanks and a massive 73 to you all. (Gaz, ibid.) I listened to a few minutes of it to see what all the fuss is about. BORING, not a note of classical music, and with commercials; one mentioned KFI, which I could not quite fathom (gh, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. WRN appears to have removed the feed of WRN Français from the Galaxy 19 satellite. The English and Multilingual feeds are still there. No mention of this satellite transmission on the WRN web site (Mike Cooper, Feb 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. BBC Radio 4's Midnight News just reported that the BBC, Deutsche Welle and VOA have released some sort of joint statement about Iranian satellite jamming; I haven't yet been able to find anything written. Regards, (Joe Durso in Louisville, KY, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) BBC/DW/VOA joint statement on Iranian jamming --- Several hours later I've been able to find exactly one reference to the 'joint statement' online, posted five hours after the radio story aired. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8511921.stm Regards, (Joe Durso in Louisville, KY, Feb 12, ibid.) DEUTSCHE WELLE: SATELLITE BROADCASTS BLOCKED ONCE AGAIN As of Wednesday, February 10, 2010, the broadcast of Deutsche Welle’s television program has been jammed once again. According to the information received by Germany’s international broadcaster, the satellite interference – like that in December 2009 – is most likely coming from Iran. In a letter to the Iranian Embassy in Germany, Director General Erik Bettermann insistently objected to the “direct interference of the reception of international information offerings”. He went on to say that the repeated limitation of freedom of opinion and freedom of speech by the Iranian administration is “no longer acceptable”. The Director General pointed out that not only has the television broadcast been jammed, but that Deutsche Welle radio and especially Internet content has been censored by Iran. Since Wednesday afternoon, DW-TV’s satellite broadcast has been selectively jammed. The signal, which is broadcast using Hotbird 8, a satellite that provides programming for Europe and bordering regions – including Iran – was available for a few hours overnight, but was once again jammed on the morning of Thursday, February 11. Hotbird 8 is also used as relay point for the Nilesat satellite and the provider of Deutsche Welle’s live stream service – both of which were also affected due to the interference. In this respect, there have been problems in receiving DW-TV programming for Europe (English and German) and for the Arab world (Arabic and English) as well as the Farsi radio service. The DW-TV ARABIA broadcast has in the meantime been re-established using a Hotbird transponder. Deutsche Welle had already experienced interference on December 7-8, 2009 on its Hotbird transponder. According to the information provided by Eutelsat, the source of the interference could be clearly localized and identified: the jamming signal came from Iran. Bettermann pointed out the Deutsche Welle’s Farsi service via shortwave in and around Teheran has been a problem for quite some time. However, radio programming was still available on the website http://www.dw-world.de/persian and although this was regularly blocked, users in Iran knew of technological ways to access it. (Press Release) (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxldyg via DXLD) ``Bettermann pointed out the Deutsche Welle's Farsi service via shortwave in and around Teheran has been a problem for quite some time.`` Never heard about this before. Pure nonsense? Local Tehran PLC hiss? DWL Bulgarian was jammed by Bulgarian communist dictatorship til Dec 1988, Amharic broadcasts in last year by broadband DRM-like hisssing data jamming by Ethiopia. Regularly Iranian army security services jams whole transmissions of VoIranian Revolution, VoIranian Communist Party, Radyo Dengi Kurdistana in 3 and 4 MHz band. Kol Israel remaining Persian service in 9, 11 and 13 MHz band is also jammed regularly. Wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Alternate satellite in case of interference on HB8-TP155 Dear Partner, As we are still suffering from deliberate interference to our services we have leased transmission capacity on an alternative satellite. You can receive our TV and radio programs now on Astra 1E at 23.5 Deg. East, Transponder 55 Frequency 10.803 MHz horizontal, 22.000 Msymb/sec FEC 5/6 We would like to apologize again for any inconvenience and hope to restore the service on Hotbird as soon as possible. Best Regards (Deutsche Welle, Monitoring Center, Feb 12, via Drita Çiço, Albania, DXLD) Dear Partner, our regular transmission on HB8 TP155 is back to normal. The parallel transmission (ASTRA 23.5 TP55) will remain until further notice. Best Regards (Deutsche Welle Monitoring Center, Feb 14, ibid.) This is real & happening, we saw the same jamming happening earlier during the peak of the protests last year. Here in Australia we were affected when many of the European feeds we receive on AsiaSat 5 were interrupted by suspected Iranian jamming of a uplink earth station in Israel that serves as a gateway for us. Ironically the 4 Iranian TV stations I can view here in Sydney are all also on AsiaSat 5. Cheers, (Mark Fahey, NSW, Feb 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Mark, Wolfgang is doubting the fact that Iranians are actively jamming DW's Farsi service on the _short wave bands_. It's good that DW Farsi is still on the SW, unlike its Arabic service. Yeah, Wolfgang, Bulgarians used to be the worst jammers back in 1980s. They even jammed TWR and Vatican Radio in Bulgarian. The Russian services of those stations weren't jammed back then. If I'm not mistaken the Soviet Union stopped jamming DW Russian on Nov. 29, 1988 (Sergei S., ibid.) Actually nobody says that this is a fact. DW issued a vaguely worded statement that is meant to be interpreted this way, but they do not explicitly claim that DW Persian on shortwave gets jammed, lacking hard evidence. I think it is quite counterproductive to potentially compromise the criticism on Iran's practice this way. Concerning the satellite side I wrote the following a few hours ago, have not rechecked the situation since. Note the full magnitude of this matter. I would suggest dropping some bombs on the uplink facilities in Iran if I weren't a pacifist. Update: The whole DW program package, including the RNW feeds, has been put on another satellite, Astra 1H on 23.5 deg. East, cf. http://www.telesat-info.de/sat/002/041.htm What they use here is a Media Broadcast multiplex that so far saw only minor use for some Spanish TV programming and CT 1 (Czech public television) in HD. Obviously an emergency measure, arranged ad hoc to ensure the signal distribution within Europe. So the situation must indeed be pretty bad. See also http://forum.digitalfernsehen.de/forum/digital-tv-ueber-satellit-dvb-s/241992-frequenz-11604-auf-hotbird-down-ard.html The screenshot shows the typical appearance of satellite jamming on a receiver: Badly reduced signal quality despite a high RF level. Here the discussion first refers to Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen (aka. "Das Erste" or simply being referred to as "ARD"), which uses this multiplex, too. The discussion indicates that the mux was jammed throughout yesterday. Today it was first in the clear, but by 1430 UT the jamming had returned. One posting also asks how many multiplexes the Iranians in fact jam at present. I have not seen a full picture, but considering that they even go after Deutsche Welle, which in Persian broadcasts just a rather minor radio service, other signals must "attract" them, too. Meanwhile I really wonder how long Eutelsat will still accept IRIB as a customer. Just forget all the sweet statements about media freedom, here you have the dire reality (Kai Ludwig, Feb 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, on news.google.de I see right now 16 references in German and 45 ones in English. And I find this report: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5240936,00.html It appears to be premature. As reported the jamming against the 11.604 GHz multiplex on Hotbird was indeed gone earlier this day, but had resumed at 1430 UT and confirmed as still being there at 1600. No more recent reports appeared yet See this video, which appears to be made today shortly before 1600: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_ZGmrLEh48 (Ludwig, 2236 UT Feb 12, ibid.) BROADCASTERS CONDEMN IRAN INTERFERENCE Three international broadcasters have condemned Iran for 'deliberate electronic interference' in their broadcasts. Voice of America, the BBC and German service Deutsche Welle said the new wave of jamming of satellite services began yesterday as Iran marked the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution. In a joint statement, the three say the Iranian authorities were using the same satellite services to broadcast freely around the world while denying their own people programmes coming in from outside. Earlier, the US accused Iran of an 'information blockade' saying the phone network, text messages and internet had all been blocked. US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley reiterated US calls on the Iranian leadership to grant citizens what it says are universal rights to gather and express themselves freely. 'It is clear that the Iranian government fears its own people,' Mr Crowley said. Iranians have a right to have access to information, communicate and express their views, he said (rte.ie via Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Feb 13, DXLD) > Some curious statements from that press release: Not the first ones. As an example, in last year Erik Bettermann likewise stated that DW Chinese gets jammed on shortwave, but absolutely no evidence of this could be found, even when checking monitoring results thoroughly. I think that such loose remarks at an official level are prone to be counterproductive. It seems that today the 11.604 GHz signal on Hotbird is in the clear again. But I think it is still too early to call off the alarm, as DW did yesterday, only to find that the jamming resumed in the afternoon. Has somebody checked the CRI relays via 963 kHz since Wednesday? The feed is routed through this multiplex as well (Media Broadcast at Usingen picks up a C-band signal and puts it on Hotbird for final use in Finland), so the Pori transmitter must have lost modulation unless some back-up has been throwed in, as it apparently was the case for the RNW transmissions on shortwave (since RNW News says they were not affected). (Kai Ludwig, dxldyg via DXLD) Meanwhile it has been reported that indeed "Finland" had no back-up option. The CRI relays via Pori were missing as long as the Hotbird signal was disturbed, instead recorded Radio 86 broadcasts in other than the scheduled languages had been played out. So Iran jammed China. Cute! Another Hotbird multiplex jammed by the Iranians, too, was the one with the Voice of Vietnam and Brother Scare feeds: http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/fashion-tv-accuses-iran-of-jamming-broadcasts It appears that back-ups had been used to keep RNW shortwave transmissions on air (like dial-up or, in particular at Media Broadcast, simply 19.2 deg. East), but what about these? It's well possible that Moosbrunn, Wertachtal, Skelton lost modulation from Hanoi and Walterboro, respectively (Kai Ludwig, Feb 17, ibid.) By the way, what does the mentioned Radiocommunications Regulations Board in regard to the deliberate interference targeting radio broadcasts in Chinese, Tibetan and other languages spoken in China, occurring not just repeatedly but continuosly, for years if not decades? (Those who are not familiar with this matter: Just try a web search for “firedrake radio”.) And in my opinion it must be mentioned that the recent Hotbird jamming needs uplink equipment. Thus it is more than a remote possibility that this jamming has been done by the same organization that also uplinks the IRIB multiplex on Hotbird 8. In other words, Eutelsat’s own Iranian customer is to blame (Kai Ludwig, Feb 17, Media Network blog comment via DXLD) ** IRAN. VIRI Arabic service, 15545, Feb 18 at 1420 bothering WJHR 15550-USB, q.v. With BFO on for that at 1434, tuned down to 15545 and noticed the Iranian carrier from Sirjan is a bit unstable. 1530 (top of hour to them) played distinctive news theme (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. 7520, R. Farda with usual mostly-pop music format, some western, with Persian announcements, good but fluttery Feb 13 until 2330* cut modulation abruptly and carrier a semiminute later. It`s 2100-2330 via SRI LANKA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [and non]. Re Iran jamming satellites: See INTERNATIONAL VACUUM ** ISRAEL. New frequency? 6797 - Tentative logging here of Galei Tzahal, Israel at 0055 10 Feb. Lots of western pop music, including Stevie Wonder, with multiple announcers in Hebrew (?). Couldn't really get a positive ID because my Hebrew isn't very good; it doesn't exist. At TOH YL into apparent news with mentions of Palestine & Toyota. Possible ads, then into more music, 'Betty Davis Eyes". Best reception in USB due to poor modulation and band noise. I cannot be 100% that this is them but the language and programming sounded right (Stephen Wood, Harwich, MA, NASWA yg via DXLD) Nom. 6973; did he mean 6977 or something like that? (gh) ** JAPAN [non]. During nice 13m opening, see SAUDI ARABIA, much weaker signal audible on 21560 with NHKWNRJ in English via FRANCE, Feb 12 at 1426 // only a reverb apart from same program via Canada 11705 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KAZAKHSTAN. Re: BBC/DW/VOA joint statement on Iranian jamming Some curious statements from that press release: <<"Iran has been disrupting our radio programs for many decades in this manner, and also our website. This is the case not only with Deutsche Welle, but nearly all of the Western media," he added. These complaints came as the US accused Iran of a total information blockade, jamming access to Google and other popular websites within Iran.>> If anyone interested, here's the list of websites blocked in Kazakhstan: http://kaznet-freedom.org/dvigenie/press-relizi-dvig/223-zajavlenie-o-blokirovke Transnational oil companies are doing fine in Kazakhstan so we don't hear strongly worded statements on the Internet abuses there (Sergei S., Feb 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, quite interesting of course. Well, the "condemning" thing in regard to Azerbaijan also suddenly stopped when the Nabucco project emerged. Almost from one moment to another, nobody in Bruxelles cared for the cancelled FM relays of foreign broadcasters anymore (Kai Ludwig, ibid.) ** KENYA. The rumours and speculation last year about the KBC closing its MW network have turned out to be incorrect as almost all listed channels were heard, including Garissa 567/639, listed in the WRTH as irregular (Chris Greenway, England, Feb 17, snippets from observations made in Nairobi earlier this month, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. Three different programs noted in Korean at 2300-2348, for example named: Home Service 1 on 2850, 9665[v]. Home Service 2 on 4450, 6250, 6399, both till 2400 and later. Voice of Korea on 3560, 6280, 7180, 7570, 9345, 9975, 11535, 12015 --- starting and ending at 2347 with the national anthem. All eight // VOK frequencies also heard 9 Jan at 2307 with emotional speech, SIO 252 on 3560. So the schedules of `KCBS` and `PBS` programmes are not common with those of VOK. In WRTH 2009 the info may be incorrect (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, 25 Jan, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) And in WRTH 2010 it is all rather confusing. The domestic sexion has a certain list of frequencies, some carrying Pyongyang, some carrying Central program, some carrying regional programs, depending on the time. International sexion says all the VOK programs in Korean are produced by KCBS, and there is a separate Korean language external service called Pyongyang Broadcasting Station. Perhaps DPRK-fan Arnulf Piontek in Berlin could unravel all this for us, since VOK seasonal frequency changes are minimal. What we need is a schedule by each Korean-language frequency showing exactly at what times it is carrying which service (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I checked a few transmissions and as far as I can tell, each frequency is carried as listed. Home Service 1 is KCBS for North Korea. 'Home Service 2' is Pyongyang Broadcasting Station, targeted mainly for South Korea via high-power MW and SW and separate FM service for North Korea (and partly relayed on some KCBS MW frequencies for North Korea). Voice of Korea has no own production of Korean programmes; they are produced by KCBS. Pyongyang Broadcasting Station has some one hour transmissions, which are NOT // with the long PBS transmission. At 0900 there are at least four services in Korean from N Korea on SW: 1. VOK produced by KCBS: for example 9345 kHz. 2. Pyongyang BS one hour service: for example 15245 kHz. 3. Pyongyang BS long transmission: for example 6251 kHz. 4. KCBS home sce: for example 9665 kHz. 4450 kHz belongs to Pyongyang Branch of the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front, which has for many years been in // with PBS, the only exception being the s/on and /off announcements. I hope this clarifies it a bit. 73, (Mauno Ritola, WRTH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7580, very weak signal with music and talk in Japanese, 0720 Feb 12 -- - VOK Japanese service is here at 0700-1250 and 2100-2350, per Aoki, with Farda and Cairo occupying most of the rest of the time. VOK also audible on 7140 with Pyongyang Pangsong homeservice relay (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5910, Shiokaze again in English on a Thursday, Feb 11 at 1407 via JSR JAPAN: descriptions of abductees, atop lite Juche jamming noise. So the DPRK dictator even fears people hearing this in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Shiokaze QSY to 5985 from 5910 kHz at 1400-1430 UT on Feb 15 in Korean. Jamming from North Korea is stay on 5910 kHz. http://www.mediacat-blog.jp/usr/hiroshi/5985_20100215_5985s.gif de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5985, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze via Yamata, Japan, 1414, Feb 15. In Korean. Sorry to again hear them here causing QRM for Myanmar. Ex: 5910 was still being heavily jammed even without Shiokaze being there, causing QRM for Myanmar on 5915 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX WORLD OF RADIO 1500, LISTENING DIGEST) 5985, Shiokaze is back here on alternate frequency ex-several weeks on 5910, for its daily 1400-1430 broadcast via JSR, JAPAN, in Korean, Japanese, Chinese, English, or occasionally French. First noted Feb 15 by Ron Howard and Hiroshi/S. Hasegawa, a day I did not look for it, but Feb 16 at 1404 talk in Japanese at first with non-piano march music background I wondered might be QRM, but then unimpeded talk. No jamming or co-channel from Myanmar audible here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5985, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze via Yamata, Japan, 1406, Feb 17. Scheduled from 1400 to 1430; N. Korean jamming not here yet, but still heavy on ex: 5910 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5985, on Feb 18 they finally noticed that Shiokaze had vacated 5910 in favor of 5985, so the jamming was heard today at 1446 even though Shiokaze had already signed off (*1400-1430*). 5910 now clear of jamming. In the past the jamming of Shiokaze was rather hit-or-miss, but recently have noted them being jammed just about every day. Has North Korea become more sensitive to the issue of abducted Japanese or are there just more transmitters available now for jamming? (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. 6215, Spy? 1231-1236, Feb 10. Korean folk song; woman announcer reading assume numbers in Korean; fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN. 4786.00, 0425-0445, CLANDESTINE, 13.02, Voice of Iranian Kurdistan, via Salah Al-Din, Iraq. Kurdish ann and martial song, 0432 Farsi talk, 33433. Jumped at 0425 from 4780 and jammer followed (Anker Petersen, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** KYRGYZSTAN. 4010/4050, Kyrgyz R. on 4010 and relay of R. Rossi on 4050 kHz are putting in weak audio around 0130 UT via long path (our local twilight), but not yet clearly discernible program details. Expect these channels to improve in coming weeks. Definite carriers visible on the Perseus. These are also possible in local mornings, around 1400 UT (Bruce W. Churchill-CA-USA, DXplorer Feb 12 via BC-DX via DXLD) Why not short path?? (gh) ** LAOS. 7145.000, Lao National Radio, 1215, Vietnamese (listed) woman announcer with nice local music. Frequent breaks in transmission. 12 February (David Sharp, NSW Australia, NRD-535D, FT-950 etc., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7145, Lao National R., Vientiane, 1330-1359*, Feb 12. In English; “This is the Lao National Radio, broadcasting from Vientiane, the National Democratic Republic. Our English language is broadcast twice daily at 1300 hours and 2030 hours local time, which is 7 hours ahead of GMT. It is transmitted on a frequency of 97.25 MHz. on FM”; local news (items emphasizing Laos negotiations to join the World Trade Organization [WTO], many people in Laos will be traveling during the upcoming New Year, etc.); “You are now listening to the Lao National Radio transmitted on FM 97.25 MHz., with our English news program”; international news; into FM programming in Laotian. 7145, Lao National R., Vientiane, Feb 17. Recently this has had well above average reception. Started the English segment early today at 1324; usual news format (local and international); items about the National Centre for Environmental Health and Water Supply providing clean water, on Tuesday President Obama announced funding for new nuclear power plant, etc.; final ID and off the air at 1353, without any FM programming in Laotian (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA. Glenn: The last couple days 21 MHz has opened quite nicely to several continents. I noticed this today: 21695, The Voice of Africa from the Great Jamahiriya, 1440 Feb 12, Some anti Zionist talk, then an essay by Muammar Gaddafi called " The solution for the problem of democracy" which highlighted the shortcomings of secular constitutional democracy and the advantages of Theocracy. The programing seemed very Afrocentric, I guess that is their target audience. Good signal. Nice to hear 13 meters active again (David Hodgson, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LITHUANIA. QSL Report --- SW Radio, via Sitkunai, 3955, QSL (with mention of tx site), letter for e-report to indo @ sw-radio.com in 10 weeks. v/s Viktor Sawatzki. Botschaft des Heils, via Sitkunai, 3955, QSL (with mention of tx site), letter for e-report to info@gemeinde-gottes-herford.de in 3 weeks. v/s Nikolai Ernst (Artur Fernández Llorella, Catalonia, Spain, HCDX via DXLD) What`s SW-Radio?? A missionary program for Germans in Russia, partner- station of HCJB, so this more likely appears as an `HCJB relay via Lithuania`` http://www.sw-radio.com/radio/index.php/sites/ueber_sw_radio/ I suppose Botschaft des Heils is more of the same, unresearched (gh, DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. Heard during the day on both 6135 and 7105 (Chris Greenway, England, Feb 17, snippets from observations made in Nairobi earlier this month, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. NEW GENERATORS INSTALLED LATE 2009 --- Construction continues on the Madagascar World Voice station. In the fall of 2009, two much needed diesel powered generators arrived after months of delay. Electrical wiring, destroyed by vandals last year, has been ordered and should arrive during April. In early 2010, the antennas will be erected between the 4 towers that are already standing. We will then ship the three 100,000 watt transmitters which are already built, tested and packed in three 40 foot containers ready for shipment (World Christian Broadcasting via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR [non]. via Pridnestrovye, 15670, Radio Mada International, *1530-1600*, Feb 13, test tones at 1527. Sign on at 1530 with Malagasy talk. Sat, Sun only. Fair signal level but poor overall signal due to co-channel QRM from Miraya 101 FM (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) MOLDOVA/SLOVAKIA, 15670 at 1500-1508 UT Feb 13, the 300 kW unit at Grigoriopol Maiac Moldova switched on and off again and again with S=9+20dB level, to prepare the antenna matching for 1525 UT opening procedure. Scheduled 1525-1600 UT Sat/Sun Radio Mada Internationale towards Madagascar at 160 degrees via the revolving antenna at Maiac site. From RNW Media Network: http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/radio-mada-internationale-on-the-web "Radio Mada Internationale, the clandestine shortwave station supporting the deposed president of Madgascar Marc Ravalomanana, also has a website at [sic] and a YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/radiomada The website contains audio files of the station's broadcasts. As far as I can see, the station doesn't as yet have its own logo." (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, Feb 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Mada still colliding with Miraya FM for Sudan on 15670: Sunday Feb 14 at 1529 with usual SAH of about 3 Hz, double audio from 1530 while 15680 et al. remain vacant (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also SUDAN [non] ** MALAWI. Glenn, Last year some time I saw a posting somewhere that TWR was to set up a short wave station in Malawi, and that it would be on the air by the end of 2009. Do you know any further details about these plans? (at least I have not noticed any news about the station actually starting up) (Geir, Vestnes, Norway, BCLNews.it yg via DXLD) I have not heard anything further about this. WRTH 2010 continues to show a Future Plan for 4870 kHz, 1 kW at Lilongwe (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** MALAYSIA. 11885, Voice of Malaysia, 1142, Feb 10. Thanks to a tip from Dan Sheedy, I dusted off my Etón E5 and listened from home, something I have not done in a while. Dan measured this at 11884.6. I heard them in Chinese with EZL songs; fair reception and good audio; ToH 1+1 pips and into a different audio feed in Bahasa Indonesia with poor audio (mushy/muffled); many “Voice of Malaysia” IDs (both spoken and singing) (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA/SARAWAK. 5030, Sarawak FM via RTM, 1551-1600*, Feb 18. DJ in vernacular; pop songs; routinely heard now with fair to good reception, thanks to CNR-1 vacating this frequency (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Possible Mexico on 1610 --- With a bit more solar activity, reception to the south has been more enhanced, and I heard a decent signal on 1610 which I tentatively believe to be XEUACH, Radio Chapingo. I didn't hear a formal ID, but thought I might have heard a passing reference to Chapingo, and a phone number given would be clear to a Spanish-speaker. The music preceding this clip was more Andean than Mexican, but as I think this is an educational station, that may not be surprising. As always, help is much appreciated. 73, (Nigel Pimblett, VE6TNF, Dunmore, Alberta, Canada, Feb 16, RealDX yg via DXLD) Yes! Your recording starts with: "El Centro de Formación Artística y Cultural de la Universidad Autónoma Chapingo invita a sus talleres artísticos..." and follows with the enumeration of the activities availables from this cultural center (Mauricio Molano, Salamanca, Spain, ibid.) Hi Nigel, just at the beginning of the clip I hear "el centro de formación artistica y cultural de la Universidad Autonoma Chapingo invita.." It's a promo inviting to to inscribe to the various courses and the telephone number is given for info (Valter Comuzzi, ibid.) Nice catch Nigel. I need them here in IL, where Toronto is very nasty on 1610. Am I correct that XEUACH s/off at 0200? I need to aim Phased BOGs that direction, knock out Toronto and hope. 73 KAZ (Neil Kazaross, ibid.) No luck yet here: IBOC from KATZ-1600 St Louis (gh, Enid, DXLD) ** MEXICO. 4800, Feb 13 at 0708 fair with YL singer vs CODAR, then ID as ``La nueva estrella, XERTA ---`` but fade during the rest and not sure they were still calling themselves Transcontinental; music bed had a bit of ``Blessed Assurance``, so still religious, on to continuous talk, rough copy but seemed sermonic. Also quick check of 6104.8 found XEQM reaudible at 0722 with music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also COLOMBIA [and non] ** MEXICO [and non]. Señal relativamente sin interferencias de XEQM en 6105 kHz día 01 de febrero a las 1920 UT; monitoreos hechos en una población a 15 km al oeste de Mérida reveló que la señal se desvanece casi súbitamente sin interferencia de otra emisora. El día 07 del mismo mes escuché a XEOI Radio Mil en 6010 kHz a las 2255 UT con señal bastante débil con música y anuncios hasta interferencia de la señal de intervalo de Radio Rumania; a las 2305, XEPPM Radio Educación con música de arpa y voz de locutores, señal bastante interferida por Radio Nacional da Amazônia; XEQM ausente por interferencia de Radio Habana Cuba. Atte: (Ing. Civ. Israel González Ahumada, M.I., Mérida, Yucatán, Feb 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6104.8, another capture of XEQM, Mérida, Yucatán at what seems to be its ideal time here, after 0700 UT: Feb 12 at 0704, numerous promos as ``Candela --- la más grande`` which is quite a claim for a 250(?) watt SW station, but of course they aren`t really talking about the only transmitter we can hear. Good peaks at S9+10 but deep fades, another characteristic of this for some reason. Quick ads for Coca Cola, carnaval, plus Noticieros de la Cadena RASA, segunda emisión, lunes a viernes 7-8 de la noche. Clock always seems fast: 0706 timecheck as 1:07, phone, text numbers; 0709 TC for 1:11. Hyper OM DJ keeps chattering and won`t let the music just play unimpeded (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. WWCR 15825 and 13845 instead of the usual marginal skip- over or backscatter signals at our distance of only one megameter from Nashville, reached very good levels at 1518 UT Feb 10, a sure tipoff that off-season sporadic E is in play, which may or may not ascend into the VHF range. Started monitoring channel 2 on analog TV, and nothing showed until finally at 2105 UT, a mixture of stations in Spanish on channel 2, which I am always too quick to assume are Mexicans, altho the probability is high. By 2130, channel 3 was also in with one dominant station showing cartoons in Spanish; by 2145 there was a Spanish drama on channel 4; and by 2147 the MUF was up to channel 5 video with signs of skip. Hard to get any IDs but at 2150, channel 3 had a Mexican government PSA and mention of Televisa, which could be from many different locations. MUF declined somewhat, but still channel 2 at 2247. Meanwhile I checked the 6-meter DX map at http://www.vhfdx.net/spots/map.php?Lan=E&Frec=50&Map=NA which showed NO activity at all! Wake up, hams. Around 0100 UT Feb 11, long after the TVDX had outfaded here, that map had lines all over it, from central to western NAm, with the Es patch around NW Kansas, too close to here, and then numerous other TVDXers were reporting activity in that area (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Recent Es from Mexico February 1 XHP-3 Puebla (TV3) XHFM-2 Veracruz (tele ver) XEWO-2 Guadalajara (TVT) XEFB-2 (Teleactiva) February 4 XHQ-3 Culiacán SIN (Grupo Pacífico) XEWO-2 XHGJ-2 Pto Vallarta (Supered text upper right) XHBC-3 Mexicali (many local ads and IDs) February 5 Unid-2 - XHI or XHQ (Grupo Pacífico) XEWO-2 February 10 UnID-2 - XHI or XHQ XHQ-3 XHCH-2 Chihuahua ("TV Azteca Chihuahua" ID and supered text upper left 1603 CT) XHHSS-4 Hermosillo (Many local ads, "TV Azteca Sonora" ID, and supered text upper right) XEWH-6 Hermosillo (Telemax logo upper right) XEPM-2 Cd Juárez (tucanal) XHBC-3 (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, Feb 11, WTFDA via DXLD) ** MEXICO [and non]. FM/TV: I'm still in San Diego altho my original flight was supposed to return today, because I'm 'snowed in' -- NTSC logs: In my travels in the last week or so, I’ve discovered there is still NTSC TV in parts of the US, specifically border region (which of course we knew about being so close to Canada), and more surprisingly, some large cities where low power analog stations still exist. Most of the CAs and several of the LPs have digital construction permits from the FCC so this may not last forever, but for now at least, the R-3 wasn’t totally useless on the TV bands! At any rate, since I was traveling to warmer climes, it is Mexico that was catching my eye this trip. Logs are below. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_television_stations_in_Mexico has a pretty good listing of the active TV stations in Mexico.... Ch 3 XHTJB-TV Tijuana BC, Mexico w/quiz show of some sort and local ads all in SP -- weaker than the other stations from TJ. 1825-1830 6/Feb --Zichi CA ch 6 XETV Tijuana, BC, Mexico but based in SD, IDing as San Diego CW and in EE. In like the local it is with just the whip antenna with local news program including an item about the murder/suicide of a gay go-go dancer and his estranged ‘friend’ an instructor at the Naval academy (they didn’t say which was the murder and which was the suicide... They said the police hadn’t released the names yet, but they did identify them!). The ‘big deal’ is that the neighbors called the police two days before they bodies were found reporting gunshots, and apparently the Police did not respond to the complaints. What exactly does it take to get a cop in San Diego if gunshots don’t do it? You can't make this stuff up! 1615-1630 6/Feb --Zichi CA Ch 12 XEWT-TV Tijuana BC, Mexico w/kid TV (Anime cartoon in SP) including 12 in a circle in upper right as a logo-bug. In VERY well 1830-1835 6/Feb --Zichi CA Ch 17 XHENJ-TV Ensenada BC, Mexico w/animated kids show with computer animated farm animals in SP stronger than 3 but a bit weaker than the other TJ stations. 1835-1840 6/Feb --Zichi CA Ch 21 XHTIT-TV Tijuana, BC, Mexico TV Azteca (really -- I’m not making that call sign up!) w/tail end of a sports broadcast with two anchors chatting and MANY mentions of “Azteca’, and then into ads etc All in Spanish. (Logo-bug has a ‘7’ in it which is the channel of the Mexico City Azteca station.) Into a show w/interview with a Florida doctor about the prostate ... couldn’t tell for sure but it looked like an infomercial for some snake oil! 0701-0711 7/Feb --Zichi CA Ch 27 XHJK-TV Tijuana BC, Mexico w/program about diabetes in SP -- this is also IDd as ‘Azteca’ but it was not // to ch 21, which had a much more appropriate call for something calling itself Azteca!. 0711-0713 7/Feb --Zichi CA Ch 33 XHAS-TV Tijuana BC Mexico Telemundo “Telemundo33” SID at same time as the logo came on screen, and into Sports programme including items about the Superbowl, Manchester City Soccer, NASCAR etc. in very well 0713-0715 7/Feb --Zichi CA Ch 35 K35DG San Diego (24.1 kW ERP, and technically I was outside the service area, but it managed to make it in pretty well on just a little whip antenna!) “Cinema Saturday” programme w/ye olde movies in EE and logo-bug in lower right corner. ID as UCSD-TV w/888-828-1737 and email address and web: www.ucsd.tv at 0717. Obscure old movies are hard to find even in this day of DVDs and ‘easy access’ on the web, so this is kind of fun and interesting! 0717-0725 7/Feb. --Zichi CA Ch 43 KBOP-CA San Diego (4.1 kW ERP) xmtr just south of Spring Valley w/Infomercial for some financial scam er-book on the ‘Hansen Report’ and then into another infomercial for ‘back joy orthotics’ without any ID. This station is HARD to find on the internet but it came in very well in Chula Vista. There actually is another low power analog TV station on the NORTH side of San DIego (San Marco) also on channel 43 (KSKT-CA) which generally pops up if you do internet searches on channel 43 San Diego, but that was not seen here. In well 0725-0737. 7/Feb --Zichi CA Ch 45 XHBJ-TV Tijuana BC, Mexico w/very perky YL prattling over upbeat/suspenseful rock music and trying to get people to call ‘for fee’ text numbers or a 01900 number (is that the Mexican equivalent of a 1-900 number?) in order to get a chance to win $5000 (cinco mil pesos).... This appeared to be some sort of ‘jumble’ type puzzle as she had an easel with some letters on it and it said “1 palabra” on the screen. I almost lost interest .... and at :47 the phone rang and someone said something that made her jump up and down and scream ‘muy bien’ --- I wish I understood what the point of this is, as it sure had low production values (the set props probably cost all of $5 at Wal-Mart total), yet was somehow riveting! 0738-0747 7/Feb --Zichi CA Ch 49 XHDTV-TV Tijuana BC Mexico My Network TV w/English programming aimed at San DIego. Reality TV show ‘Cheaters’ and ads and promos listing MyTV-13. ID at ToH was MyTV-13 and no call and then into comedy.tv show. 0747-0802 7/Feb --Zichi CA Ch 57 XHUAA-TV Tijuana BC, Mexico Canal de las Estrellas in well w/star logo in upper right corner of screen and carrying ye olde tyme BW movie in SP 1820-1825 6/Feb (Kenneth Vito Zichi, San Diego CA, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) He had some more LP/CA logs from Phoenix airport ** MICRONESIA. Pray for Technician Dave Casement as he plans upgrades to the radio station he installed for Pastor Nob Kalau in Pohnpei Micronesia a few years ago. This will help reach thousands of South Pacific islands with the Gospel (Galcom Prayer Bulletin for Jan 26, 2010 via DXLD) Shux, missed it. If we had all prayed Jan 26, PMA by now might be back on SW 4755, which is presumably what this `upgrade` refers to (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOROCCO [and non]. Signal levels are generally degraded this morning, and local noise level is high, so while munching my raisin bran around 1500 Feb 16, with BFO on and tuned 1 kHz away, I amuse myself by monitoring how long it takes RTM to QSY 4 kHz from 15341 to 15345: 15341 goes off at 1500:45*, and 15345 comes on at *1504:22. This is carrier, not paying attention to whether there be a further delay in modulating. That totals 3 minutes and 37 seconds = 217 seconds, or approximately 54 seconds/kHz. Now we know. The change is for no particular reason, and really ought to be after 1530 in the opposite direxion to avoid colliding with HCJB Australia and later, RAE Argentina. Missing from 15341 and 15345 Feb 18 at various chex between 1440 and 1530; but no sign of HCJB Australia 15340, just not propagating here. If this keeps up, should be a good day to hear RAE`s external service to Europe on 15345v in English, Italian, French, German 18-22 without QRMorocco (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. 7185.70, Myanma Radio, 1444-1530*, Feb 13, ex: 5915; in vernacular with EZL indigenous songs; almost fair; 1528 sign off announcement with frequencies; followed by indigenous instrumental music till off the air. Not // 5985; Myanmar not heard on 5915 or 9730.8v. Even though this frequency will cause new QRM for hams, it is infinitely better than former 5915, which had strong CRI QRM. More people should now be able to hear and enjoy this station here! Seeing as the frequency is off set, perhaps it is via Yangon and not Naypyidaw. 7185.75v, Myanma Radio, randomly from 1308 to 1530*, Feb 15. Interesting developments! Heard with TWO different Myanmar audio feeds; one was weak and clearly // 5985, while the other one was at a fair level and not // to 5915. Both in vernacular with indigenous songs. So Myanmar is clearly still on 5915, but they simply have an earlier sign off time now (sometime shortly after 1500), which mislead me to think they were off the air. By 1343 a heavy noise was heard blocking 5915 reception, which was the N. Korean jammer intended for the start of Shiokaze on 5910 at 1400, but Shiokaze today fooled them and started their half hour program up on 5985, where they caused heavy QRM for Myanmar. At 1529 noted sign off announcement with frequencies; followed by indigenous instrumental music; after the end of the music I could faintly hear the start of the English segment usually heard on 5985: “Good evening dear listeners, this is Naypyidaw Myanma Radio” and then off the air. Mauno Ritola (Finland) today noted that 5985 signed off at 1500, something I had missed, but their programming did continue on 7185.75v. Frequency definitely slightly higher than my Feb 13 reception and heard with a slight drift. Audio attachment of their sign off. 7185.75v, Myanma Radio, 1516-1530*, Feb 16. Continues to have two different Myanmar audio feeds; the weak one // 5985; the much stronger audio is not // to any other Myanmar frequencies; the same indigenous instrumental music is played before going off the air. Sign off time has been very consistent. 7185.77v, Myanma Radio, 1310 + 1415, Feb 17. In vernacular; still with two audio feeds; one very weak; noted a slight drift: 7185.77 down to .75; causing QRM for hams (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Happy Station Tribute To Radio This week is another monthly special HS Tribute To Radio, Items: Gary Drew - South Hertz Radio Jeff White - WRMI/NASB Tribute to John Bryant Talking QSL Card from Radio Japan This show will be for all regions. Go to http://www.pcjmedia.com for more information (Keith Perron, Taiwan, Feb 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I.e. original broadcasts at 0200 and 1600 UT Thursday Feb 18 on 9955 (gh, DXLD) ** NEWFOUNDLAND. Re 10-06: Radio Free Noggin Cove was on FM (103.9), not shortwave as stated in the newspaper article. I spoke with Mr. Gillingham today (Feb. 13) on the phone, and he informed me that he had been contacted by Industry Canada last night and ordered to cease transmissions. This is the perfect case of a free radio station that was doing no harm. It was in a remote area, which only gets service from one or two FM stations and 2-3 AM stations. It transmitted a musical style which did not compete with existing stations, and was non-commercial. It supported local community events. The sparsely occupied radio dial in Newfoundland needs more stations like this, not less (Terry Toope, Newfoundland, JRC NRD-525, 75m long wire, Feb 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 10-06: Your comment now published. From NewfoundlandDXer, HF underground messageboard, posted Feb 15 1527 UTC: I called Mr. Gillingham, and discovered that he was transmitting on FM, not shortwave as indicated in the article. Unfortunately, after publication, he received a call from Industry Canada ordering him to cease transmissions. This is the perfect example of a non-commercial hobbyist providing a local community service. Doing the newspaper interview was obviously not the smartest thing, but seems to have only led to a verbal warning and an offer to send out the required forms to apply for a license, so there may be a future for Radio Free Noggin Cove. At least Mr. Gillingham has the distinction of being, as far as I know, the first Newfoundland pirate. Cheers, Terry http://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php?topic=2575.0 (via Mike Barraclough, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. 11725, RNZ National via RNZI, Feb 15 at 0620, as I was bandscanning, interview with a person furious about any attention given to global-warming deniers, leading to do-nothingism, which will be catastrophic. Could not stop listening, so had to quit tuning. Turned out to be David Suzuki from Canada, until 0647, mentioned his latest book ``The Big Picture``. That was during ``Nights with Bryan Crump`` on National Radio and here is the 30-minute audio which I highly recommend: http://static.radionz.net.nz/assets/audio_item/0020/2213129/ngts-20100215-1914-The_big_picture-m048.asx We are so fortunate to have RNZI (and R. AUSTRALIA, q.v.) which aren`t afraid to give us such stimulating intellexual content (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZ, GOVERNMENT IN SHOWDOWN OVER FUNDING The radio station owned by taxpayers and listened to by hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders is heading for a major showdown with the government. ONE News can reveal the chairwoman and board members of Radio New Zealand could face the sack, if they continue to defy requests to cut costs. Radio New Zealand's programmes have made broadcasters like Sean Plunket and Kim Hill into household names. RNZ costs taxpayers about $38 million a year, but its funding is frozen and may remain so for five years. . . http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/rnz-govt-in-showdown-over-funding-3369371 (via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) This story does not mention SW, but of course, RNZ supplies much of the programming we hear on RNZI (gh, DXLD) ** NIGERIA. After finding EqG on 15190, looked for VON on 15120, and there it was, with a much stronger S9+10 signal, Feb 15 at 0608 with news read by YL about Central African Republic. Modulation OK except for irregular noise bursts every few seconds, sounding like splatter from adjacent frequency --- except there wasn`t anything nearby doing that! Instead, the noise was on their own modulation, probably somewhere in the studio-to-transmitter feed. 0611 about the gang riot in Milano, also here: http://itn.co.uk/f3156235fbaf93db19c608f7ed599c43.html 0613 about Uganda trying to kill off gays; 0616 switch to another YL for more news items. Is this the new Abuja transmitter site? If not, when is it going into full service? One should ask the German ham who has been working there and hooking up his rig to the huge antennas (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. TCS Saturday AM --- Happy Valentines Weekend, Folks! The Crystal Ship going on the air this AM at about 1440 UT, on 6876 kHz AM. We'll be opening with some of our Valentines Day favorites, from NIRVANA!!!! -- The Free Radio Weekly: A weekly Email publication with the most current pirate loggings and information now being published anywhere! Send your free subscription requests to freeradioweekly@gmail.com and tell 'em that we sent ya! Free Radio Network. Message Boards: http://www.frn.net/vines/ Pirates Week Podcast: http://www.piratesweek.info H.F. Underground Forum: http://www.hfunderground.com/board/ (John Poet, The Crystal Ship mailing list, 1440 UT Feb 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I did not get this until 2+ hours later, but here it is, in case still on (Glenn Hauser, 1648 UT Feb 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Crystal Ship still coming in well here at 1655 as it has since sign on (Steve Lare, Holland, MI USA, ibid.) Just a weak UNID on 6876 here in Florida at 1659 (Gerry Bishop, ibid.) Loud and clear here in Central Ohio from 1702. Non-stop Bruce Springsteen music as of 1714. 02/13/2010 1702-1727:45* 6876 Crystal Ship Non-stop Bruce Springsteen songs, finally an ID at 1726: "You are tuned to the Crystal Ship, the official radio voice of the Blue States Republic, defenders of truth, peace, justice, and freedom of the airways," the last phrase using an echo effect. This was followed by a bit of what sounded like a sea shanty; then dialog from an old movie or radio show that ended with "This is developing into a very bad habit." Off at 1727:45 or so. Excellent signal throughout. A fun surprise on a wintery Saturday (Larry Cunningham, Gahanna, Ohio, R5000, random wire antenna, ibid.) 6876.07 AM, The Crystal Ship, 1640-1727*, Feb 13, music by Pat Benatar, Bruce Springsteen and others. Very good signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) Greetings, folks! The Crystal Ship taking to the airwaves now (2355), on 5385 kHz AM. Opening with The Knack, in memoriam of its departed lead singer. Be sure to listen for Radical's new spoof spot for "eBeastiality.com". DISCLAIMER: I wrote no part of that. But I like playing it. Cheers! (John Poet, The Crystal Ship, 2354 UT Feb 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The Crystal Ship is currently holding forth on 5385.40, from 2357 tune-in 02/16/2010. Heard an "IS" of a line from the Doors' "Crystal Ship" followed by "Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum," this sequence repeated several times. After opening talks, into a tribute to The Knack beginning with "My Sharona." Booming signal here in Central Ohio (Larry Cunningham, Gahanna, Ohio, R5000, random wire antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Larry: Just Tuned in and slight fading noted with rock music at 0108 UT on Wednesday, February 17, 2010, some buzzing, ID "The Crystal Ship" and jingle. Fair reception at my QTH in Tennessee. Now running an ad of some kind with young kid and lady, very interesting catch. 73's, (Noble West, TN, ibid.) ** NORTH AMERICA. [Pirate]. 6850.7 AM, MAC Radio, 1632-1730, Feb 13, old Radio Prague IS at 1632. ID. Rock music. Good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** NORTH AMERICA. [Pirate]. 6951.8 USB, Outhouse Radio, 0815-0825, ID. Rock music. Good signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** OKLAHOMA. Re 10-06: 1170, KFAQ Tulsa has resumed IBOC noise on the sides, after several days` respite. Feb 11 around 2045 UT on the caradio I found a spot quiet enough to evade local noise override and could tell it was there again, so that explains the IBOQRM against KSL-1160 I was getting the night before at 0715 (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NOT KVOO, ex-call as I wrote originally! ** OKLAHOMA. Re 10-06: Yes, KSPI 780 Stillwater is putting out spurs, as previously noted hets on 770, 780 and 790 on the 10-kHz stepping caradio. Feb 11 at 2157 I tried on the DX-398 portable, and from Stillwater direxion, could detect weak carriers very close to 776 and 784 kHz, which have really been there for months (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 27185, NWS relay on CB calling channel, big signal heard at two different locations in Enid a few miles and a sesquihour apart, Feb 13 at 2110 and 2236 UT. Usual lo-fi audio but hardly any worse than the original on 162.475 MHz. Frequent casual IDs are ``Enid Weather Radio``. The site of WXL48 is really on a tower SW of Enid near Drummond. This means that if a tornado is approaching from the SW, which is most likely, the radio can get blown off the air first when we need it most. Never mind, NWS radio isn`t that good with real-time warnings; tune to OKC TV stations if you can. I don`t often monitor CB, so don`t know if this relay is constant or frequent. I suppose it`s convenient for CBers who don`t have a weatheradio, but surely another less busy channel would have been preferable. This was a nice day with no urgent weather info, before another coldwave hits. Aside from the QRM problem, this might skip out, now that the F2 MUF is uppicking. Strength meter varied slightly with modulation, so not full carrier, but some SSB to it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. More homages to John Bryant: I was saddened to read about John Bryant. I never met him but very much appreciated his work in Fine Tuning (Ed Tilbury, Sanibel Island, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was very saddened to hear of John Bryant's passing. I always regarded him as one of the pillars of the hobby. His expertise & enthusiasm will be sorely missed. His drive for enhanced equipment DX performance was an inspiration, especially for those of us not as technically astute as he was.?My prayers and condolences go out to his family. I would like to suggest some sort of memorial activity at the upcoming IRCA convention or an award in his name. Just a few thoughts... Vaya con Dios, Compadre! 73 (Craig Barnes, IRCA mailing list via DXLD) Fiquei sem palavras hoje de manhã assim que soube da morte do meu querido amigo John Bryant. Por toda uma geração de dxistas internacionais, John era um mestre único. Otimo professor de arquitetura, recém aposentado, ele tinha grandes habilidades em escrever artigos e divulgar as coisas mais difíceis. E' só procurar no Google, o trabalho dele sobre antenas e propagação é enorme, aberto e disponível para todo mundo. John procurava sempre o limite no hobby, e por isso so' acompanhava onda media de longa distancia. Morava boa parte do ano numa pequena ilha do litoral pacifico, na divisa entre Estados Unidos e Canadá. Tudo que poderia ser escutado na West Coast dos EEUU foi o John que conseguiu, e todas as antenas foram experimentadas. John Bryant ficará na historia do dxing mundial, sem dúvida. Eu trocava mensagens e clips audios toda semana com John: ele me ajudou bastante nos projetos das minhas antenas de teto aqui no Rio e outros lugares, e ele era super curioso sobre as possibilidades de escuta aqui no Brasil e outros lugares da América do Sul. Pela primeira vez, graças a ele e um pequeno grupo yahoo que ele criou, os mais conhecidos dxistas norte americanos e europeus tiveram conhecimento das condições de propagação nos litorais do Brasil, na Argentina e no Chile, a partir das minhas viagens. Juntos, posso dizer agora, alcançamos novos limites nunca antes explorados. John era sempre o primeiro a saber, e comemorar comigo. Foi graças a ele em fim que em dezembro passado visitei a Ilha de Pascoa e tive là a mais fantástica experiência da minha vida de radioescuta. Tinha sido ele o primeiro a experimentar a ilha em 2007, e ainda estávamos sonhando outra viagem, desta vez juntos, para 2011. Ainda não escrevi o relatorio da minha dxped e agora, sem o meu interlocutor, vai ser muito difícil. Um abraço e descanse em paz, querido amigo John (Rocco Cotroneo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Feb 10, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Amigos, a expedição de John Bryant na Ilha de Páscoa pode ser vista no site Dxing.Info http://www.dxing.info/dxpeditions/easter_island_2007.dx (Samuel Cássio, ibid.) John Bryant - Audio tribute... http://coffee.bc.ca/audio/jb_mixdown.mp3 or http://coffee.bc.ca/gear/618/mentor-and-friend-remembered-john-bryant-safe-journey Bottom of the page - [same as on The Happy Station, Feb 18] (Colin Newell, Victoria, British Columbia, Feb 17, IRCA via DXLD) Condolences for the family of John Bryant, from the Strode Funeral Home: http://www.strodefh.com/CurrentGuestbook.aspx?did=95a63b08-eda3-41bf-a552-4ea689de9b7c Guestbook for John Hulon Bryant To the Bryant Family..... My sincerest condolences. John was a gentleman and a scholar. A true friend who would take the time to talk at anytime. Pete Giacopelli, Feb 10, 2010, Massapequa, NY John and I shared a common calling of university professor and a common hobby of long-distance radio. In the 90's he visited me in Newfoundland, and I traveled to Grayland WA for one of his famous radio get-togethers. John was a man with enthusiasm, intelligence, humor, and generosity. I am very deeply saddened by his sudden demise, and I offer my condolences to Linda and to his family. Jean Burnell, Feb 10, 2010, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, I am deeply saddened by the loss of my very good friend John. He was the most articulate and enthusiastic man I have ever known. I learned so much of life, art, history, architecture, common sense, and good humor from him... not to mention our common bond of the radio monitoring and "DXing" hobby over 24 special years. I am already missing him immensely. Guy Atkins, Feb 11, 2010, Puyallup, WA John was one of the most unusually gifted individuals i ever had the pleasure to meet. He was very intelligent, enthusiastic, an encourager and a gifted teacher. We shared a common love of radio both shortwave and am radio. I have read a number of excellent articles he wrote on these subjects. I got to meet him when I lived in my hometown of Ponca City, Oklahoma through our mutual friend, Kirk Allen. I can not begin to say how sorry i am at his unexpected passing. My sincere condolences to his wife, his daughter and grandchildren. Carl L DeWhitt, Feb 11, 2010, Maryville, TN On behalf of the Oklahoma Vintage Radio Club (OKVRC), I express our condolences to the Bryant family. John was such a great friend, scholar, yet so much a common man who loved so many things in life. May God's Love and Strength be evident to you in your grief. Frank Karner, Feb 11, 2010, Midwest City, OK John will be remembered as one of the greatest Radio men in the hobby of DX-ing. In the community of fans listening to international radio, his example, enthusiasm and honesty leaves an indelible mark. Many thanks! Horacio Nigro, Feb 11, 2010, Montevideo, Uruguay, South America On behalf of New England Antique Radio Collectors Club (Nearc) we wish to offer to you Our deepest condolences to his wife & His daughter and grandchildren. Sincerely William J Shenette Sr Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." John 5:24 William Shenette, Feb 11, 2010, Shrewsbury Massachusetts I knew of John as part of the radio hobby for many years and finally exchanged emails as part of the Ultralight radio group. John provided a wonderful welcome to a new person in the ultralight and offered expert advise. He is the major reason I returned to the hobby after many years. John touched so many people in so many ways. I wish to extend my condolences to his family and friends. John Mosman, Feb 11, 2010, Madison, WI, John was a giant in everything he set out to do, be it radios, architecture, teaching and sharing experiences. He will be missed by many. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. Les Locklear, Feb 11, 2010, Gulfport, MS My sincerest condolences to the Bryant family. I only knew John for a year through the internet, The Ultra Light Radio Group, and his always excellent technical and hobby interest articles. Many in the AM distance reception and shortwave hobbies are feeling a heavy loss of a man that was so generous with his knowledge and his experience. He will forever be in my thoughts and prayers, every time I engage in the hobby. Alex Kaminski, Feb 11, 2010, Springboro, OH To John's family, Please accept my condolences from a fellow radio hobbyist. I had many correspondences with John and I came to respect him on a professional level. I also see that he was a man who earned respect on a personal level, as seen by those who have signed this condolence book from around the country. A good man has been lost and he will be missed by many. Dr. John Cereghin, Pastor, Grace Baptist Church of Smyrna, Delaware KB3LYP and DXer, Rev. John Cereghin, Feb 11, 2010, Smyrna, DE Very sorry to hear this tragic news about John. He was a giant in the radio hobby. My sincere condolences to the Bryant Family. Marc DeLorenzo, Feb 11, 2010, So Dennis, Cape Cod, MA I ever did, and ever will enjoy reading the countless DXpedition reports and technical papers John brilliantly authored in so many years. La terra ti sia leggera, amico. Andy Lawendel, Feb 11, 2010, Milan, Italy I was deeply shocked to hear of John's untimely passing. I was just about to send him an e-mail. I am one of many people in the radio hobby community who will have known John and his work over many years, and the Bryant family may be surprised just how many people around the world will be affected by this sad news, for John was a keen contributor to a global network of radio experimenters and enthusiasts. He will be sorely missed. RIP Steve Whitt, Feb 11, 2010, York, England, It's my loss that I never had the opportunity to meet John. My condolences to the Bryant family. Antonios Kekalos, Feb 11, 2010, Traverse City, MI John's passing is not only a great loss to his family but also to the the family of friends and fans he has accumulated over the years. We who share a love of radios also feel the loss. My condolences to John's family on behalf of the Vintage Radio and Phonograph Society. Randy and Jeannine James, Feb 11, 2010, Fort Worth, Texas To the Bryant family - My heart goes out to you. I knew of John through the radio hobby and sadly, I never got to meet him. Through countless emails, we developed quite a kinship and I was very keen on learning from him. He will be sorely missed. Please accept my condolences. Dave Hascall, Feb 11, 2010, Indianapolis, IN My deepest sympathy to the Bryant family john will be missed. His articles helped me so much in my radio hobby. My sincerest condolences David Hamilton, Feb 11, 2010, Sorn, Ayrshire, Scotland I was shocked and saddened to learn of your terrible loss. While having never met John face-to-face, our correspondence and phone calls over the past few years created a valuable friendship. John's generosity of his time, knowledge, infectious enthusiasm and good spirit will be missed by so many all over the world. His willingness to help those he hardly new was a reflection of his character and devotion to people. He may have retired from teaching, but he never stopped teaching. As we say in south Georgia, "he never met a stranger". All of you are in my heart, mind and prayers. Gil Stacy, Feb 11, 2010, Savannah, GA To Linda, Mary Ellen, and Family, I am deeply saddened by the loss of my dear friend, John. I'm so terribly sorry to hear of your loss. John was a wonderful friend for the past 25 years, and I offer my most sincere condolences. Mary Ellen, I'm one of the guys that you so cutely held up the street sign for - back in the 80's when we came down there to Stillwater for the first of what proved to be many DXpeditions. I want you to know that my thoughts and prayers are with you all during this most difficult time. I loved John as a brother, and he will be greatly missed. Sincerely yours, Kirk Allen, Feb 11, 2010, Pasadena, TX John was a rare man - a humble giant. He taught many that it's possible to be great AND to be good. He will be missed. My heart goes out to his family! John's Radio Friend, Feb 11, 2010, Cedar Rapids, IA I never knew John personally; however, I did benefit from his knowledge around the DX radio hobby through some of his publications. I also remember having enjoyed reading his Easter Island DXpedition among others. He sure was a strong influence for our hobby and I have the feeling that he was a very generous person. My sincere condolences to the Bryant family and all his close friends. Sylvain Naud, Feb 11, 2010, Portneuf, QC, Canada Good bye John, you will be greatly missed! Frank Aden N7SOK. Feb 11, 2010, Boise It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of Mr. Bryant. A man of his caliber leaves his mark on the world, and thus can never be replaced nor forgotten. I'm certain that the organizations I'm in, the W.T.F.D.A., I.C.D.X, and Skywaves fully agree with me on that point, as do all radio people the world over. Curtis Sadowski, Feb 11, 2010, Paxton, IL Linda - our thoughts and prayers are with you. I admired John so much for his approach to life and the hobby. What a great guy. I have so many good memories of the radio hobby we shared and the visits I made to your house. After hearing the news yesterday from Kirk I went to my John Bryant file (which is quite large) just remembering John. Mitch Sams, Feb 11, 2010, Blue Springs, MO Our sincerest condolences to the Bryant Family. We will dearly miss the wonderful insight, knowledge and generosity that John shared with his fellow radio hobbyists worldwide Allen Willie & Dianne Froude, Feb 11, 2010, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada My deepest sympathy to you for your loss. I had the pleasure of meeting John on a couple occasions. He was very kind, intelligent, and a help to all radio hobbyists. I speak for many when I say we share in your sorrow. Sheryl Paszkiewicz, Feb 11, 2010, Manitowoc, WI I never met, corresponded, or spoke with John Bryant --- and that's my loss. He was an absolute giant in the radio hobby, a well-respected and trusted expert. Seriously, there have been very few -- perhaps 3-4 per generation -- like him in the scope and depth of his work. Apparently, also a very giving and generous man. I'm sure his family knew of his many connections, but I wonder if they'll be at all surprised to see just how far and wide their man's influence spread around this world. My prayers and sympathies are with you all as well as those of his many friends in the hobby. Bruce Collier, Radio Station owner and DXer, York, PA, Feb 11, 2010 With great sadness, I learnt of the demise of Mr. Bryant. He was one of the most unusually God gifted individuals. He will be remembered as one of the greatest enthusiast in the hobby of DX-ing. I wish to extend my condolences to his family and friends. Sudipta Ghose, Feb 11, 2010, Kolkata, India To the Bryant Family, Please accept my sincere condolences from London Ontario CANADA. I have known John for well over 20 Years through the Radio Hobby, and most recently became very close and worked with John on the Ultralight Radio Front. John is truly admired throughout the world as a True Gentleman, and his contributions to all the Hobbies and Professions he admired will be forever cherished. Thanks John for making my life a little brighter. I'll miss you pal!! Regards Robert S. Ross London, Ontario CANADA, Feb 11, 2010 To Linda and family, I never met John personally, which of course was my loss, but as the hobby of shortwave radio goes, many people we admired and respected were never seen in person. This has always been the main attraction of this hobby to me. I was familiar with John's work and knew him to be extremely talented and devoted to excellence in the pursuit of all that he did. We will all miss his expertise and willingness to share his knowledge with grace and humility - his articles will always have a permanent place in my radio library. From 1 Corinthians 15:54-55: "Death has been swallowed up in victory.” Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? John is with his Lord and will always be in our memories... My sincerest condolences, Bruce Churchill, Feb 11, 2010, Fallbrook, CA My sincere sympathy to the Bryant family. Linda, I will always fondly remember the lunch you so graciously provided on my last visit to Stillwater to "play radio" with John. His recordings of his DX catches from Easter Island were a highlight of my visit as well has marveling at his antennas! I, too, am deeply saddened by his untimely passing. Bruce Winkelman, Feb 11, 2010, Tulsa, OK I never had the privilege to meet Mr. Bryant, but as a zenith transoceanic collector, I've always wanted to chat with him. I've read several of the books he had written, and I am grateful that he has left such an amazing legacy behind him. My deepest sympathy goes out to his family. Shawn Kuyvenhoven, Feb 11, 2010, Vancouver, BC, Canada, My sincerest condolences to Linda and the family. John has been an inspiration in stimulating my interest in experimenting with new developments in the radio DX hobby and his postings to Yahoo groups sadly missed. Tony King, Feb 11, 2010, Greytown, Wairarapa, New Zealand I was deeply saddened by the news of John's passing. While I never met him, I came to know him well over many years as a radio hobbyist and I had great pleasure in reading "Dangerous Crossings". My condolences to his family. Bjarne Mjelde, Feb 12, 2010, Berlevag, Norway Our deepest sympathy to Linda and to Mary Ellen and her family. John was man of many accomplishments, both professional and in the world of radio hobbyists, and the most entertaining of companions. We were honored to have known him as a friend. Nick and Susan Hall-Patch, Feb 12, 2010, Victoria, BC, Canada Linda and Mary Ellen, please accept my most sincerest condolences. I was so looking forward to the Bryants' living just across the water from the very active radio community in Victoria and southern Vancouver Island. I had the honour of knowing John for some twenty years, and of meeting Linda on several occasions both at their wonderful Orcas Island home, and when the two of you visited Victoria. No one would ever say a bad thing about John. He was simply that unique type of personality that immediately drew people towards him in a very positive way. Wherever he was, he would rally the troops and get the job done. I'm so happy that he had an opportunity to join me at a very special inaugural DXpedition to my Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) cottage several years back. The two of us were planning a trip even further north to Barrow, AK one day as well. Alas, the Lord had different plans. Rest in Peace, my friend. You'll never be forgotten. Walter Salmaniw, Feb 12, 2010, Victoria, B.C., Canada It was a pleasure to have known John. I was impressed with his knowledge and zeal for radios. Also his ability to communicate that expertise in a precise and enthusiastic manner. John really was a teacher, and one that will be missed. My condolences to the Bryant Family. Roberto Padilla, Feb 12, 2010, Oklahoma City Play-dx Italy is sending its modest participations to this sad moment, celebrating the great loss of the whole world wide family of hobby listeners, we will miss the great service we got from John. Glory Glory in the name of the true DXing spirit ! Dario Monferini, Playdx Italy, Feb 12, 2010, Milano, Italy John Bryant was my college friend from 1960-1967, at OSU and later at Illinois. He helped me with design charettes; and I in turn helped him. As an upperclassman or a good friend, John was a kind man who always showed a sincere and genuine interest in others. John will be missed. ~ David Davis, St. Louis, Missouri, Feb 12, 2010 Rita and I offer my humblest condolences to John's family. In the early 1990s, I was introduced to John at a Mid-America Antique Radio Club auction in Kansas City. That meeting triggered a change in direction from my desire to simply collect vintage radios into that of a radio researcher. I became increasingly involved on later Zenith book projects. Through several photo shoot visits and countless phone calls, he mentored me and encouraged my desire to became both a technical and historical researcher. I always enjoyed visiting with John and learning what I could from him. I plan to continue Zenith research and writing in John's memory. He was a great man. I will miss him. Martin W. Blankinship, Feb 12, 2010, Lawrence, KS My deepest condolences to Linda and the family. John and I had met a few times, but not recently despite our proximity and now it`s too late... I have gathered together numerous other tributes to John from DX friends, some of which you may not have seen. They may be found under OKLAHOMA [and non] in alfabetical order in issue 10-06 of DX Listening Digest: http://www.w4uvh.net/dxld1006.txt Glenn Hauser, Feb 12, 2010, Enid, OK I never met John but corresponded with him electronically on antenna design. His knowledge of his subject combined with his willingness to help placed him in a revered position. The testimonials on these pages and elswehere from around the world show the respect with which he was held by the international radio community. Andrew Brade, Feb 12, 2010, Hull, England Linda, Mary Ellen, Noel, Katie and Charlie- My deepest condolences on the loss of John (or Dr. Bryant as I will always think of him). I spent many warm and wonderful hours in the comfort of that wildly creative home of yours in Stillwater and will remember with fondness the close bond the Bryant family had and has. Patti (Haan) Smith, Feb 12, 2010, College Station, TX I offer my sincerest condolences to the Bryant family. I knew him through my Fine Tuning editorial board experience. As well, I had the privilege and the distinct pleasure DXing with him during the “Spring 1995 Newfie DXpedition” to Cappahayden, Newfoundland. A favorite photo from those times is of John, George Hakiel, and Jean Burnell standing by a “Reindeer Crossing” sign along Highway 19 on the Avalon Penninsula. John was always a gentleman and an all-round nice guy, full of knowledge and ideas. I’m deeply saddened by his death. Werner Funkenhauser, Feb 12, 2010, Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada Linda and family, I really only knew John through is e-mails and wonderful travel logs after I joined the groups online a couple of years ago. I knew who he was and respected his role in our class and school in those days and he was great at our 50th reunion last June. We will all miss, greatly his writings on numerous subjects via e- mails, especially the one he wrote after receiving his medications from Mary Ellen and the fact that she had used colorful capsules just for him after he fussed about the drab colored first ones. He was so thrilled and did such a good job of sharing his thrill with his email friends. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful guy with all of us!! W. June Martin, class of '59, Feb 12, 2010, Edmond, OK On behalf of the Radio Heritage Foundation, our condolences are offered to Linda and all John's family at this tragic loss of a husband, father and friend whose friendship and kindness knew no bounds. This Easter we'll be reminded of his expedition to Easter Island, and enjoy the recordings he made and so generously shared with us. We're so sorry to have lost such a good man so soon. Our prayers are with all who mourn John and we celebrate the joy he brought to so many all over the world. David Ricquish, Chairman, Radio Heritage Foundation, Wellington, New Zealand, Feb 13, 2010 I met John through the radio club in Oklahoma City while stationed there as a colonel in the Air Force. John was a remarkable man with great knowledge of radio and of the world in general. He gave excellent presentations on Zenith radios and was a real authority. I will always remember his kindness when we moved to Washington, DC. John wrote a letter of introduction for me and my wife Sandy to the local radio club there, because John knew the club leadership there and understood that we might appreciate being introduced in that manner. He was a real gentleman and his loss is not only a great one for the radio hobby and history, but for anyone who ever came in contact with him. Please accept our condolences. John was a great man who delighted in sharing his knowledge with others. Jack Bauman, Feb 15, 2010, St. Louis, MO A great loss to the Antique Radio Community. He shared his knowledge and expertise with all of us. Thank you. Greg Mercurio, Feb 15, 2010, New York City John was a truly talented professor. He had the gift of being able to communicate with his students on an unparalleled level. I had him at Auburn University in 1972. He later helped me in selecting and eventually being admitted to the graduate School of Architecture at the University of Illinois. I will always be in his debt for helping me to gain a real perspective of architecture and the world. He will be missed, but never forgotten. God bless. Wayne Paulk, Feb 16, 2010, Atlanta, GA My sincerest condolences and prayers for John's family. I was a student of John's 4th year studio at Auburn in 1971-72. John was a fine man and excellent teacher whose interests in a student's progress was never compromise. So sorry. Marvin Johns, Jr., Feb 16, 2010, Raleigh, NC Dear Linda, My heart goes out to you and Mary. I was privileged to teach with John during my first two years at Auburn and he did much to both inspire me and greatly helped me to become a better teacher. that all two brief period has produced a life time of memories about friendship, architecture and life. I am a far better person for having known him. Cheryl Morgan and I still talk fondly of John, he was our gold standard. Gaines T. Blackwell, Feb 17, 2010, Auburn, Alabama I first met John in Mrs. Ireland's First Grade class - Byrant sat behind Boatman. We became best friends and our lives intertwined throughout the years. We shared our interest in radio and DXing from the NRC days during our teen years to the IRCA as adults. Could not get John to try amateur radio though. I have so many fond memories of John that it would be hard to even begin to mention them. He will be missed - a part of my life is gone. Sandy and I send our condolences to Linda and family. I'm sorry that we could not be there to say goodbye. Buster (N0CKC) and Sandy (N0DPX) Boatman, Feb 18, 2010, Loveland, CO (Strode Funeral Home via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. 15395, tentatively Islamabad, R Pakistan with terrible modulation at present 1040 UT Feb 11 on 15395 kHz, broadband distorted audio on 15389.40 to 15419.54 kHz. Not listed on newly schedule like Hindi, retimed 1045-1145 9375vISL 100 kW 147 deg & 11570 ISL 100 kW 147 deg, new 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. I`ve just visited and spoken to the friendly owner of La Voz de Celendín - Radio Frequencia [sic] for the second time, the first time being four years ago. I asked him why the shortwave frequency (4485) is no longer active. He told me the service has been suspended but they hope to be back on, subject to being granted a new licence from the Ministerio de Comunicaciones; they are trying to obtain it. The MW service is however still very active on 1440 kHz, 24 hours (Steve Scott, Celendín, Cajamarca Province, Northern Perú, 20 January, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Are such Peruvian stations using frequencies far outside the legitimate tropical/broadcast bands ever really licensed? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** PERU. 4789.928, Radio Visión, 0915, presumed, with continuous huaynos. Really nice copy, despite some distant thunderstorm QRN. First time noted here in awhile. 15 February. 4824.502, LV de la Selva, 1026, ad string or similar by man, comments by a woman, into local music. Weak-Fair signal. 15 February (David Sharp, NSW Australia FT-950, NRD-535D etc., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4826v, RADIO SICUANI, E-QSL fornato .jpeg "Certificado de Sintonia", v/s Edwin Sallo Diaz, Informe enviado a: radiosicuani @ hotmail.com Demoró: 1 dia, Incluyó fotos de los estudios y personal. Buen DX (RAFAEL RODRIGUEZ R., Bogota D.C. - COLOMBIA, Feb 13, playdx yg via DXLD) ** PERU. 15 February 2010: 4774.9, Radio Tarma. Tarma, 2335-2345 male vocal followed by ID by om en espanol, good signal, music. 4835.38, Radio Marañón, Jaen, 2345 OS [sic] music, good strong signal 4857.34, Radio La Hora, Cusco, om dj with ments de Universidad San Marcos, "hoy en ?..." 5460.36, Radio Bolívar, Cd. Bolívar, 0010 16 February noted with music, fair signal 5485.45, Radio Reina de la Selva, Chachapoyas, 0005 16 February with mention of station, not ID, good signal. Seems back with a decent transmitter (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, US, 746ProDL and Drake R8, Antenna modified for roof repair. 60 meter band with one leg up and the other on the ground. Seems to still work well on 60, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 5485.52, R. Reina de la Selva, 0024 great signal with campo music. 0025 into lively Huayno. ID between songs while tuned in on the Perseus. 0027 another live announcement by M host with song announcement "Andina ??", mention of Lima, gave what sounded like a phone number, TC, ID, and ".cantando de la noche.". Back to mx. Nice signal. (12 Feb) (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Used both NRD-535D and Perseus receivers with T2FD and Tee antennas, HCDX via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. Das VoA-Relay Poro Point 1170 kHz bestaetigte meinen Empfangsbericht in 33 Tagen mit det. VoA-Karte. Der Bericht ging an die im WRTH angefuehrte Adresse: IBB Transmitting Station, Poro Point San Fernando, La Union, Philippines Die Antwort kam von folgender Absenderadresse: Station Manager, IBB Philippines Transmitting Station, PSC 500 Box 28, DPO AP 96515-1000, USA (Patrick Robic, Austria, A-DX Feb 10 via BC-DX Feb 13 via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. FEBC 9730 noted on 2/13 at s/on 2300 after IS and EG ID; in unfamiliar language... it was in Hmong (blue) dialect, aired Sat/Sun while M-F in Hmong (white), per Aoki listings, 100 kW / 293 degrees; SIO 232 (Joe Hanlon, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 17770, R. Pilipinas/VOP, *0200, Feb 16. Pop music; in English; 0201: “The time now is 0-200 UTC. Please stand by for our broadcast in English”; segments "Dateline Malacañang", "Mindanao Update" and "From the News Center of Radio Pilipinas, this is the P-B- S news"; slightly weaker on // 15285 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND [non]. B-09 Schedule of VT Communications Relays. Pt 3 of 3: Polish Radio External Service 1130-1200 on 11785 MOS 100 kW / 300 deg to WeEu Polish 1130-1200 on 15170 RMP 250 kW / 082 deg to EaEu Polish 1200-1230 on 17670 WOF 125 kW / 070 deg to EaEu Russian 1200-1230 on 17715 WOF 250 kW / 075 deg to EaEu Russian 1230-1300 on 9470 WOF 250 kW / 090 deg to WeEu German 1230-1300 on 9850 WOF 125 kW / 082 deg to WeEu German 1300-1400 on 11675 MOS 100 kW / 300 deg to WeEu English 1300-1400 on 11860 WOF 125 kW / 045 deg to NoEu English 1400-1430 on 11770 RMP 500 kW / 061 deg to EaEu Russian 1400-1430 on 15245 WOF 125 kW / 070 deg to EaEu Russian 1430-1530 on 11905 WOF 250 kW / 075 deg to EaEu Belorussian 1430-1530 on 15245 WOF 125 kW / 074 deg to EaEu Belorussian 1530-1600 on 7365 WOF 125 kW / 078 deg to EaEu Ukrainian 1530-1600 on 9580 WOF 250 kW / 066 deg to EaEu Russian 1600-1630 on 7365 RMP 500 kW / 076 deg to EaEu Ukrainian 1600-1630 on 7390 RMP 250 kW / 080 deg to EaEu Ukrainian 1630-1700 on 6100 WOF 125 kW / 090 deg to WeEu German 1630-1730 on 6050 SKN 300 kW / 090 deg to EaEu Polish 1730-1800 on 6050 SKN 300 kW / 090 deg to EaEu Belorussian 1800-1900 on 6130 WOF 100 kW / 058 deg to NoEu English DRM 1800-1900 on 9650 DHA 250 kW / 315 deg to WeEu English 1900-1930 on 5920 WOF 250 kW / 058 deg to EaEu Russian 1900-1930 on 6085 RMP 500 kW / 110 deg to EaEu Hebrew 1930-2000 on 6040 WOF 300 kW / 090 deg to EaEu Ukrainian 1930-2000 on 9490 SKN 250 kW / 080 deg to EaEu Ukrainian 2000-2030 on 6040 WOF 125 kW / 090 deg to EaEu Ukrainian 2000-2030 on 6135 WOF 250 kW / 058 deg to EaEu Russian 2030-2100 on 3975 SKN 100 kW / 120 deg to WeEu German DRM 2030-2100 on 6000 DHA 250 kW / 315 deg to WeEu German 2200-2300 on 5980 DHA 250 kW / 315 deg to WeEu Polish 2200-2300 on 5990 SKN 300 kW / 090 deg to WeEu Polish (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 15 via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL [and non]. 13 meters again lively on Feb 13, after solar flux up another couple points to 96 on Feb 12; and the K-index at 1500 Feb 13 of 1. 21655 RDPI music with VG S9+10 signal plus classical music from Spain 21610 and 21570 at roughly equivalent levels (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PRIDNESTROVYE. Moldova - Radio PMR expanded schedule on 6240 kHz Radio PMR from Tiraspol, Pridnestrovye, has considerably expanded their output recently on 6240 khz. Over the past couple of days I have monitored the following schedule: 1800-2000 Radio PMR (probably Mon-Fri) 1800 English, 1815 French, 1830 German, 1845 English, 1900 French, 1915 German 1930 English, 1945 German (2000-2200 Family Radio relay) 2200-0000 Radio PMR (Sun-Thurs?) 2200 English, 2215 French, 2230 German 2245 English, 2300 French, 2315 German 2330 English, 2345 German Massive signal here throughout the entire span, not surprising really with up to 500 kW from Moldova beamed this way. 73s (Dave Kenny, England, Feb 12, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) They must be on drugs. Today, February 14, at 2213 they had their sign-off announcements for their English transmission mentioning that this was their 2315 broadcast. Either fix your watches, or your schedule, depending on what is screwed up in Pridnestrovie. Excuse me, you moved your English transmissions to 2200 and 2245 as of February 1st. – (Mark Coady, Editor Shortwave Loggings, Shadow Lake Camp Convenor, Ontario DX Association, Feb 14, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [and non]. Russia Today's US Host Speaks Out CHALLENGING THE WESTERN MEDIA HEGEMONY --- PETER LAVELLE In my work presenting RT's CrossTalk discussion programme, I am often dismissed as part of a Kremlin propaganda project - sometimes by people who have never watched the channel. My employer and my work are evidently an affront to the complacent and to those who feel threatened by a different, and I would say more sobering, view of the world... More at: http://www.mn.ru/comment/20100208/55409811.html (Sergei S., dxldyg via DXLD) ** SAIPAN. 11635, VOA Indonesian, Fri-Sat-Sun 14-15 additional service heard Feb 12 at 1455, good signal but it was in English! Somewoman being interviewed about climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, with consecutive translation, but rudely chopped off at 1458:05* as transmitter no doubt needed somewhere else, and the program producers in Washington make no such concessions by building in natural breaks or interval- signal pauses (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAO TOME E PRINCIPE. SÃO TOMÉ E PRÍNCIPE, 4940 VOA, Pinheira, 1911- 1940, 10 Feb'10, French to Africa, football news, interviews and reports on the CAN, which has only recently been held in Angola, and an announcement at nearly 1930 explaining this had been a special broadcast, "VoA in Special English" started at 1930. What puzzled me a bit was not only this separate program in French while \\ 1530+HF were airing the "normal" evening broadcast, but foremost because the modulation level until 1929 was very low, as if we were dealing with some irregular signal from an African country; 55444. I am no regular VoA listener or observer, so don't know whether this happens occasionally, but think not; or am I wrong? 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA [and non]. 13m is hopping again tnx to solar flux reaching 94, but it`s supposed to cycle downward again soon. BSKSA with good strong S9+10 signals, Feb 12 at 1420 on 21460 with HQ, separate Arabic on 21505 // 21640 --- and none of them buzzy! Signals at first rivalled Spain on 21610, 21570, 21540, but Riyadh faded down before Noblejas. Libya also in well on 21695, NHK English via France audible on 21560 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 13m doing nicely Feb 17 at 1430, HQS on 21460, other service on 21505 // 21640. Checked 15435 at 1456 and carrier was already on, but forgot to modulate it until 1516:50, joining Arabic talk in progress, soon more Qur`an. 15435 replaces either 21505 or 21640, as 21460 continues another hour. At 1509, as normal, one service on 15225 and the other on 21460 // 13710. BSKSA, 15435, Feb 18 from *1457 and no 20-minute delay today in adding the modulation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SIERRA LEONE [non]. 11875, Cotton Tree News, currently via Rampisham UK, fair Feb 12 at 0731, two heavily accented OM in English discussing Commonwealth (Games?), right next to WEWN 11870 but more or less separable. In the A-seasons this is on 15220 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. The 9545 [sic, rather 9541.55] kHz would not propagate so well right now due to atmospheric conditions. We also had a technical fault in the dual frequency transmitter (which was on 5020 kHz) owing to the antenna physically breaking. We are in the process of getting it back up to 5020 kHz and making a few technical changes ... as we are very far away from anything here, probably looking in the next two weeks before we are back! (Ms. Min Sun, SIBC via Bob Hill-MA-USA, DXplorer Feb 10 via BC-DX Feb 13 via DXLD) ** SOMALIA [non]. Broadcasting to the Horn of Africa is not for the squeamish. "Ever since its re-instatement in 2007, the Voice of America’s Somali section has been viewed as the beckon [sic] of hope for impartial and just news service that will humble serve the people of Horn of Africa. But the future of the VOA Somali section, under the leadership of Abdirahman Yabarow, a former BBC staff seems to gradually disappearing under the dark clouds of deadly clanism. In an interview with Radio Rajodoon, Farhiya Absiye, now a former VOA reporter, revealed the inside story of the station and how clan plays the biggest role." Garowe Online, 14 February 2010. See previous post for another mention of VOA Somali. Posted: 16 Feb 2010 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** SOMALIA [non]. Re 10-06: B-09 Schedule VT Communications Relays. Pt 3 of 3: Radio Bar-Kulan/Meeting Place, from March 1, 2010? 0500-0600 on unid. ASC 250 kW / 065 deg to CEAf Somali, 25/22/19 mb? 1600-1700 on 17700 ASC 250 kW / 065 deg to CEAf Somali, A-10 on same (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 15 via WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DXLD) More details continue to emerge on this new station: it seems that the name will be Bar-Kulan Radio, rather than Radio Bar-Kulan as I first reported [10-06] A website - under construction - has appeared at: http://www.bar-kulan.com/ And the ADXC has posted the following schedule at http://adxc.wordpress.com/: [axually from DX Mix News, as above!] "Radio Bar-Kulan/Meeting Place, from March 1, 2010? "0500-0600 on unid. ASC 250 kW / 065 deg to CEAf Somali, 25/22/19 mb? "1600-1700 on 17700 ASC 250 kW / 065 deg to CEAf Somali, A-10 on same" So, they have a registration from 1st March via Ascension (Chris Greenway, UK, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ha ha, website UC is part Somali, part Latin nonsense (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DXLD) ** SOMALILAND. SOMALIA: No sign of Hargeysa on 7145 (Chris Greenway, England, Feb 17, snippets from observations made in Nairobi earlier this month, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AFRICA [and non]. 11785.03v, little odd - two stations observed on 1643 UT Feb 13. Ahead an African station in Arabic like SSIRI Southern Sudan Interactive Radio Instruction from Meyerton-AFS, which is registered by 100 kW unit at zero degrees true north. S=9+20dB at 1640-1650 UT, underneath an unID Arabic singer. 11819.97v, Another slightly odd outlet from Meyerton-AFS is Saturday only BBC Swahili service at 1430-1750 UT via Sentech AFS transmission center (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, Feb 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The Arabic on 11785 is probably Saudi Arabia, a previously used frequency altho not on current schedules; it was also making the buzz as we reported a number of times (gh) ** SOUTH AFRICA. 15255, Channel Africa in darkside TA opening on 19m, Feb 15 at 0610 with news in English, 0612 about Pres. Zuma (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. Too engrossed in R. Australia this Feb 15 with Massey Lecture, but checked 15385 at 1454 to reconfirm that REE`s Emisión Sefarad was still here Mondays at 1425 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. Hi, Is there anyone who can help me with this one. 13 February 0700 UT, 5735 kHz, Spanish ID as Radio Exterior España, news and football comments from Real Madrid, latin music. I can´t find any Spanish station on this frequency; is this a new one! I have looked at many lists but don't find it. 73*s from (John Vinther Nielsen, Herning, Denmark, Perseus SDR and KAZ antenne, BDXC-UK yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DXLD) John, Here`s what you do in a case like this. Look up all the frequencies in use by the station at that hour. See if any of them would produce a leapfrog mixing product where you heard them, i.e. two frequencies, one near the top of the 49m band, the other near the bottom. 2A - B or 2B -A? No. Then see if any two frequencies are 5735 kHz apart. Bingo: 17770 minus 12035. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Many thanks for help, I think I understand it, and must remember that another time. 73*s (John, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. 27440, REE at 1145 20 Jan, two YLs talking, music in Spanish, SIO 434 (Sam Giles, Belfast, UKOGBANI, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DXLD) = 2 x 13720, an REE frequency available between 0600 and 1700 but per Aoki currently only 08-13 M-F, 08-14 Sat/Sun, and either due north or non-direxional. Probably a sporadic E opening. When the MUF cooperates one should search for other second harmonics of 22m band broadcasters at 27+ MHz (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. Hello Glenn! I just caught the opening of the English service of REE, and there was a work stoppage ordered by the union. This was the 1900z broadcast on 9665 kHz. They are playing some very nice music from Spain instead, so it might be worth tuning into. I will check out their regular broadcast to N. American tonight on 6055, but we are likely to get the same thing. Best regards, (Matt, Niagara Falls, NY, Ten-Tec RX320, 130 ft longwire E-W, Feb 17, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Today, Feb. 18, the Spanish transmission this morning on 15585 and 13720 is 'normal programming'. 73, Erik Koie, Copenhagen, 1038 UT, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Everything seems to be fine today. I'm listening to REE in Spanish, as I type. I also listened to REE's Russian Service last night. There was no strike there. Maybe the Russian host, Svetlana, doesn't belong to the union, I don't know. In case of REE Russian, it's a one woman show. Of course, Svetlana invites other guests and experts but it's clear that it's her show. And she is amazing. Every broadcast is crafted to the highest journalistic standards with tons of positive energy and enthusiasm. It's almost unreal for today's SW broadcasting (Sergei S., 1122 UT Feb 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ayer 17 de febrero hubo un paro en RTVE, entre las 13:00-15:00 HOE (12:00-14:00 UTC) y las 19:00-21:00 HOE (18:00-20:00 UTC) Más detalle: http://es.noticias.yahoo.com/9/20100217/tso-el-paro-en-rtve-tiene-un-seguimiento-5bc9ac5.html (José Bueno, Córdoba, España, Feb 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not much; only talks about the percentage participation in the partial work-stoppages, not why? (gh, DXLD) ** SPAIN [non?]. Very surprised to hear the REE IS, no doubt about it, at 1359 Feb 18 on 7220, followed by 4-pip timesignal; quite weak signal and soon lost to QRhaM. In fact, I did not have a chance to pin down the frequency vs parallax on the FRG-7 dial, so could have been 7215 or 7225. I`ll just look it up later. Direct from Spain would be unlikely at this hour on 41m. Guess what: no REE listed anywhere on any of those frequencies. May have been a misfeed or a new frequency at a relay station. It so happens that REE Spanish to Philippines is supposed to be on 11910 via Xi`an site, CHINA at 1200-1400. And furthermore, Xi`an is listed on 7215 with CRI in Japanese at 1300- 1357, then nothing. So most likely Xi`an got their feeds mixed. Should look for it other days in case it still happen (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. RE-BROADCASTING OF BBC WORLD SERVICE PROGRAMME THROUGH THE SLBC IS TO COMMENCE. Re-Broadcasting of programmes of the BBC World Service through the Sri Lanka broadcasting Corporation will recommence on the 1st of next month. Local listeners will be accorded the opportunity to listen to this channel in all three languages. An agreement in this regard was signed at the Corporation premises today. Former Chairman of the SLBC Hudson Samarasinghe and the Head of the Business and Development Affairs of the Asia Pacific region of the BBC World Service Michelle Lobel have signed the agreement on behalf of the two institutions. The English Programme of the BBC World Service will be broadcast for a period of three and a half hours. The Sinhala and Tamil Programmes will be broadcast for a period of 30 minutes each. Former Chairman of the Corporation Hudson Samarasinghe said it was impelled to suspend the BBC World Service programme during the period the humanitarian operations were conducted, taking into consideration the broadcasting of information harmful to national security. The reason being national radio a media institution always appearing on behalf of the national security. Minister Samarasinghe added opportunities have been provided to recommence broadcasting of BBC programmes through the National Radio, after the mutual consensus between the two parties. Discussions were conducted up to cabinet level in arriving at this decision. The former Chairman further said that the doors of the National Radio has been opened to allow the free flow of balanced news, establishing the impartiality of the State Radio. The BBC World Service Representative Michelle Lobel said it is pleasing to note re- strengthening of the longstanding relations between the SLBC and the BBC. He [sic] further said the BBC has been accorded the opportunity to address a majority of listeners through he national radio. Prof. Sunanda Mahendra who presented the “Sandeshaya” Sinhala Service programme of the BBC said the practice of selecting announcers through a test should be appreciated. (Source : SLBC) (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Feb 12, dxld yg via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. 11750, SLBC Ekala scheduled in Sinhala language via the 300 kW TX gift by NHK World Tokyo. On schedule at 1500-1900 UT towards Middle East to the Ceylonese nationals as Foreign Workers living on the Arabic peninsula. S=9+20dB at 1635 UT Feb 13. Typical increased spring time propagation appearance here in Europe (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, Feb 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. 9505, R. Omdurman, Al Fitahab. Tentative logging heard at 0417-0423, 18/1. Very noisy and distorted with what sounded like Arabic announcements between short music breaks (Dennis Allen, Milperra NSW (Icom R75, Realistic DX160, Longwire, dipole), Jan/Feb Australian DX News via DXLD) Logging by the Aoki list, I assume, which shows it at 0230-0830; but I think has really been gone from 9505 for ages; not in WRTH 2010 and in fact the only active frequency from Khartoum is 7200. Consulting Aoki further, a more likely Arabic 9505 would be Iran`s V. of Palestine service, via Sirjan, 0330-0430 in B-09 schedule. WYFR is also on 9505 in English until 0445 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7200 is on for most or all of the day (WRTH shows it taking a break at 0430-1500). (Chris Greenway, England, Feb 17, snippets from observations made in Nairobi earlier this month, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7200, Sudan R, 2-16 0350, Araboc news bites about Sudan, music bursts between items, bird calls, ID, vocals similar to that on Ethiopia, VG sig (Sheryl Paszkiewicz, Manitowoc WI, NRD-515 and loop, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. 13800, Radio Dabanga in Sudanese Arabic via RNW Madagascar site observed at 1540 UT on Feb 13. S=9+20dB in southern Germany. ID of the station sung five times running one after the other. Underneath around 13799.00 another signal like interference tone of 1000 Hertz heard accompanied. But latter could be an UTE signal on odd channel (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, Feb 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) And we have noted that too here, except we thought it was DSB also peaking on 13801, i.e. not a het (gh, OK, DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. via Slovakia, 15670, Miraya 101 FM, 1420-1600, Feb 13, tune-in to pop music by Beyonce and others. Vernacular and English talk concerning Sudan. “Miraya FM” ID at 1431 followed by Afro-pop music and some Western pop music. Time pips at 1500 followed by “Miraya 101” ID and English news, Gave mirayafm.org website. Arabic talk at 1511. Fair signal until 1530 when hit with co-channel QRM from Radio Mada Int at their 1530 sign on Radio Mada on the air Sat, Sun only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) Still 15670. Miraya 101 FM via Rimavska Sobota, Slovak Republic to Sudan? underneath. IRRS brokered, S=6 tiny level, English news at 1504 UT onwards, dead zone groundwave signal at my location. "Miraya FM" ID in En at 1511 UT, then changed from English to local Arabic instead (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, Feb 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15670, Miraya FM via IRRS SLOVAKIA, Feb 13 at 1510, YL ending English news with the ``main points again`` --- we know what her model is, don`t we? She pronounces it Miráya, so that`s still OK, but the canned ID by OM afterwards pronounces it Míra, so take your pick. And into an Arabic dialect. I have been trying to get Radio Mada and Miraya FM off the same frequency where they have been colliding Sat & Sun ever since Miraya moved to 15670 from 9825 a few weeks ago; so I was listening carefully to see if Mada would show up on my suggested alternative, 15680. At least the Pridnestrovye carrier for Mada was not on so early this time, no SAH or anything yet on 15670 at 1517. By 1524 the open carrier had come on, atop Miraya producing 3 Hz SAH, but no intermittent Russian tones until 1525. Carrier cut off and on a few times; 1527 tones atop Miraya. At 1530 sharp, Mada starts modulating in presumed Malagasy, making both stations unintelligible. During the next semihour, 15680, 15660 as well as their adjacent frequencies remained tantalizingly empty as the Two M`s fought it out on 15670, until Mada was finished at 1600*. I believe Mada intends to move, but obviously this seemingly simple shift could not be accomplished yet, probably having to go thru several layers of bureaucracy (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Via IRRS, Slovakia, 15670, Miraya 101 FM, *1400-1615, Feb 14, sign on with pop music and “Miraya FM” IDs followed by a wide variety of western pop music and Afro-pop music. Time pips at 1500 followed by “Miraya 101” ID and English news. Arabic talk at 1510. Good signal but poor signal at 1530-1600, mixing with Radio Mada International. Both stations in at equal levels (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 15670, Miraya FM via IRRS via SLOVAKIA, Feb 14 at 1439 interview with both participants speaking heavily-accented English, about languages, 1443, what constitutes a free and fair elexion. Good signal declining somewhat in following hour, and collision from 1530 with Radio Mada; see MADAGASCAR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15670, Miraya FM relay via IRRS via SLOVAKIA, 1612-1628, Feb 18. Interview in English with US Special Envoy to Sudan (Scott Gration) talking about issues pertaining to Darfur (importance of relations between Chad and Sudan, etc.); almost fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ITALY/SLOVAKIA, Frequency and time change of Miraya FM Radio via IRRS: 0300-0600 on 7385 RSO 150 kW / 165 deg to EaAf En/Ar, additional morning transmission [can anyone confirm this is really on? Note it would have collided with Croatian test via UK earlier in Feb -- gh] 1400-1700 NF 15670*RSO 150 kW / 165 deg to EaAf En/Ar, ex 1500-1800 on 9825 * co-ch Radio Mada International in French 1530-1600 Sat/Sun [as already in DXLD] Time change of morning transmission of European Gospel Radio in English from Feb. 1: 0600-0700 on 5990 RSO 150 kW / non-dir to Eu/ME/NoAf Mon-Thu, 0530-0630 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 15 via DXLD) As already in DXLD; i.e. nothing but Tony Alamo? Miraya? 7385, 0503 with talks by OM in Arabic, S7 max, mentions of Saudi and Sudan by YL, 35323 (Zacharias Liangas, 17/2, THS, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) SUDAN’S MIRAYA FM LAUNCHES NEW PROGRAMMING Miraya FM officially launched its new national and regional programme on 15 February, in an effort to keep its listeners better informed and closer to the current affairs of Sudan. Three programmes of the national stream, namely “Good Morning Sudan”, “Sudan at Noon” and “Sudan Tonight” broadcast news in classic and simple Arabic and English, as well as features on economy, sports, civic education and general information. Studios in Khartoum and Juba have been linked to enable North-South debates and ensure the participation and feedback from the citizens. From six in the morning until eight in the evening, listeners are updated with news on the top of the hour. The new programme of Miraya brings a further two regional streams for northern and southern Sudan produced by the Khartoum and Juba studios respectively and broadcast twice a day. “Current Affairs” and “Social and Entertainment” programmes inform on regional news, popularise traditional music and provide an interactive format to discuss topics of special interest to women (from 10:00 to noon) and youth (from 15:00 to 17:00) The programmes follow the Miraya long established tradition since its launch in June 2006 to address issues that are important to communities across Sudan and to promote better understanding of each other and themselves. Miraya is preparing special electoral programming. Its electoral coverage is governed by the Miraya Electoral Charter, available on- line at http://www.mirayafm.org Following Miraya’s policy of promoting the local culture and the Sudanese artists, the sound of Miraya is original music produced by northern and southern Sudanese musicians performing with traditional and modern instruments. Miraya is a 24 hour, 7 day a week radio operated by the United Nations Mission in Sudan in partnership with Fondation Hirondelle, a Swiss non-governmental organization. How to listen to Miraya: * Miraya broadcasts on 101FM in southern Sudan through 15 transmitters and relays in Juba, Malakal, Wau, Rumbek, Torit, Maridi, Yambio, Bor, Yei, Bentiu, Aweil, Nasser, Melut, Raja and Kapoeta. * Miraya is also available on the Internet http://www.mirayafm.org * Miraya broadcasts on the audio channels of NileSAT (search menus for “Miraya”) * Miraya broadcasts six hours a day of news and information on shortwave at 0300-0600 UT on 7385 kHz and 1400-1700 on 15670. The broadcast includes “Good Morning Sudan” and “Current Affairs North and South” as well as “Sudan Tonight” and news on the hour in three languages. (Source: Mission of UN in Sudan) (February 16th, 2010 - 12:33 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. 5915, VATICAN CITY, Hello Darfur relay fair with talk in Arabic between man and woman with many mentions of Darfur and Sudan (Jim Ronda, Tulsa, OK, NRD-545, R-75 + PAR-SWL and FLEX-MLB, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Oops, time missing, but must be like this: 5915, VATICAN, Affia Dafur, at 0320 on 2/9. M in (l) Arabic and many mentions of Dafur and Sudan (Gerry Dexter, Lake Geneva WI, NRD 545, TenTec 340, Parker Balanced Doublet, Mark (MK-1) antennas, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** SURINAME. 4990, R. Apintie heard Feb 8 at 0758 UT tune with best signals ever heard here --- program was difficult to copy due to QRM from 4985 kHz but at 0814 UT I could easily hear a man in Dutch with what sounded like devotional talk. Another male in Dutch at 0830 UT then into light vocals at 0835. SINPO 3+2533 with heavy QRM from Brazil on 4985 kHz necessitating +1.25 kHz bandpass shift and notching for readability. After 0845 UT QRM gradually diminished making bandpass adjustments unnecessary (Bruce W. Churchill-CA-USA, DXplorer Feb 12 via BCDX Feb 13 via DXLD) 4989.98v, R. Apintie, 0610, pgm of Rom. ballads. Nice singing "Apintie" ID jingle by women chorus at 0615 between songs. Into "Crazy for You" by Madonna, another ballad by W vocalist, then "Nightshift" by The Commodores, and canned ID by M. Caught another ID by W at 0637. 0704 W mentioning Surinam and ID. No change in reception conditions at 0800 check. Fairly strong signal, but would have been really easy if the modulation would have been up to 100% and there wasn't any splatter QRM from the 4985 ZY. Did drift up about 10 or 15 Hz. (12 Feb) (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Used both NRD-535D and Perseus receivers with T2FD and Tee antennas, HCDX via DXLD) 4990 - 0330 UT: Radio Apintie has been heard the last few nights around this time with a weak but fairly clear signal. As noted in one of your earlier postings, it's parallel to the audio coming from the web site but seems to be running ahead of it by a minute or two (Ed Tilbury, Sanibel Island, Florida, UT Feb 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWAZILAND [and non]. 4775, TWR relay, 0413, 2/14/10. Poor under WWCR with program in German; gospel songs (Jim Ronda, Tulsa, OK, NRD- 545, R-75 + PAR-SWL and FLEX-MLB, NASWA Flashsheet via WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DXLD) ! Surprised TWR could be heard at all under big WWCR signal, but I had not tried after 0342 when TWR is registered to open; and a beam shift 0358-0400 from 3 to 233 degrees, then on until 0800 but no doubt fading out earlier. Christians vs Christians! Perhaps for this reason WWCR might reconsider, but its next move could also block some other DX (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) 11640, at 0609 Feb 16, African-accented preacher in English, S9+18 signal, but quite undermodulated. This is TWR via SENTECH, SOUTH AFRICA, 0600-0645, 500 kW, 320 degrees favoring NAm tho intended only for Nigeria, and often audible here. It`s incredible how many SW transmitters in the world are running with inadequate modulation. Don`t stations understand the necessity for good modulation as well as carrier power? Apparently not. As tubes are failing, they back off modulation as a precaution or out of necessity, and try to keep them on the air, meanwhile no doubt charging full price for fraxional service. 11640, TWR via SOUTH AFRICA, with low modulation the night before, back to normal Feb 17 at 0625 with African-accented preacher in English. Unusually, this was the SSOB = strongest signal on 25m band; Cuba e.g., on 11760 strength varies widely, and the `skip was long` tonight, making RHC JBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAJIKISTAN. 4765, Tajik R domestic program heard Feb 12 from 0133 UT tune with woman, followed by Tajik vocal/instrumental music, man/woman announcers interspersed with short instrumental music segments, and more vocal/inst Tajik mx. From 0158.5 to past 0220 UT, man & woman and Tajik vocal/inst mx. Much better signal levels than recently heard, peaking to S3 between 0155 to 0210 UT. V. of Tajikistan FS on 7245 kHz was well below 4765 kHz in signal level (Bruce W. Churchill-CA-USA, DXplorer Feb 12 via BCDX Feb 13 via DXLD) ** THAILAND. 12095, Radio Thailand, *0030-0040+, Feb 13, abrupt sign on with English programming. Promo for Thai Airways at 0031. English news at 0034. Fair to good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** THAILAND. 6765.100 USB, Bangkok Meteorological Radio, 2005, music box interval signal, then into reports by Thai man. Parallel to 8743 USB, which was much stronger. 13 February (David Sharp, NSW Australia, NRD-535D, FT-950 etc., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. 4820, at 0030 Feb 15 in Chinese, vs CODAR and some SSB on one side, and a SAH of about 8 Hz. We may confidently list-log this as Lhasa, and Kolkata, as they are the only two stations in the world on 4820 and both could be propagating near grayline (unlike Aoki, forget about Botswana and Honduras). 4800 had a weaker tentative Chinese at 0033, which would be Geermu, on the same frequency as Chennai; discounting XERTA which I see is missing from Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UNIDENTIFIED 4895 ** TIBET. "Holy Tibet" in English service of Tibet PBS-XZDT was broadcasted three times a day. Current sked: 0600-0630, 4905, 4920, 5240, 6110, 6130, 6200, 9490, 9580 1530-1600, 4905, 4920, 5240, 6110, 6130, 6200, 7255, 7385 2230-2300, 4905, 4920, 5240, 6110, 6130, 6200, 7255, 7385 de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, Feb 15, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4905, Xizang PBS-Lhasa, 1533-1600, Feb 16. “Holy Tibet” show; “This is our special program for Tibetan New Year and Chinese Spring Festival”; many individual students and monks giving New Year’s greetings to friends and family; many also said the “Holy Tibet” show helped them with their English studies; played traditional Tibetan music; fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [non]. 11500, at 1507 Feb 14, Chinese conversation with laughing, or so I thought, but listed as R. Free Asia in Tibetan, via Kuwait during this hour only. Do they mix in the language of the imperialists/colonialists? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TUNISIA. 7275, RTT checked again for exact time of cutoff during Arabic music, Feb 17: 0626:30 modulation stops, 0626:40* carrier off. Must be on a timer. But why? There is no pressing need for this transmitter on another frequency that we know of, at least not for broadcasting. Meanwhile same program continues on // 7335 until 0810v (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY [and non]. AUSTRALIA/TURKEY, 11660, Radio Australia Shepparton in English, S=9+20dB signal at 1500-1520 UT Feb 11, which shows the spring propagation is going on. In the morning around 6-8 UT also both RA outlets 11945 and 15160 kHz catched here now in southern Germany. RA 11660 suffered by co-channel QRM of poor TRT Cakirlar signal in Arabic at 1500-1600 UT, but latter on odd 11659.87 kHz, and not covered in AOKI list (Wolfgang Büschel, Feb 11, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 13 via DXLD) 12035/15300, TRT English on Feb 13 at 1400-1420 UT. 12035CAK suffered a little by buzz content, and had only 20% of modulation level. Much, much stronger \\ signal of sideback lobe 15300EMR Emirler transmission on S=9+20dB signal. Co-channel RFI transmission at ISS is only 600 kilometers away, so mostly on dead zone signal level, S=4 today 14-15 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, Feb 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15480, something new here, Feb 18 at 1428 long conversation in Turkish including M&W speakers, mentioning democracy, Alexander Pope. S9+18 signal but quite undermodulated with some hum. Still going past 1430 and 1454. Finally at 1459 a bit of music, 4-pip timesignal only about a semisecond late, but could not hear any `Burasi` ID, then presumably news. 1503 mentioned Ankara, and music program. Little doubt it`s TRT, confirmed by // 11815. Next check at 1531, 15480 was off. This is `new` because TRT is scheduled on 15480 via Çakirlar only until 1400, 500 kW, 152 degrees, per HFCC, tho WRTH shows Emirler. So were they a sesquihour late offturning it, or a deliberate schedule change? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA. Still active on 4976/7195 (Chris Greenway, England, Feb 17, snippets from observations made in Nairobi earlier this month, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. Football to Scandinavia --- Some more this week. Saturday 20th February 1245-1445 - Everton v Manchester Utd 1500-1700 - Wolverhampton Wanderers v Chelsea (WRN Feb 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Presumably 5800 via Kiyiv, UKRAINE ** U K [non]. BBCWS, Connexion Haïti still on the air in Kreyòl, Feb 11 at 1242 check via Guiana French 11860. Next check at 1255 via WHRI 9410, operatic fill music, so this time CH must have started close to on-time at 1232:30 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Heard a piece re Connexion Haiti on The World Today at 07:41 UT 12 Feb that indicated CH ends today. It began thus: PRESENTER PASCALE HARTER --- 'A little over two weeks ago on the 23rd of January the BBC World Service launched an emergency lifeline daily radio program for Haiti. It's called Connexion Haiti and it was founded to help people there cope in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake which, as we were hearing, killed at least 200,000 people. To mark the show's now final edition later today one of its producers Emilio San Pedro looks back now at how the program has helped survivors to cope, and to start rebuilding too.' The piece starts at 35:46 below. I dunno if it was used in any other programs. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0063zcb Many thanks, (Joe Durso in Louisville, Ky, Feb 12, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See USA below, WHRI programming back on 9410 Sun Feb 14 1230+ (gh) ** U K [non]. Frequency change of BBC in Swahili and French: 0400-0500 NF 7380 ASC 250 kW / 085 deg to CeAf, ex 7375 to avoid HRT HS-1 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 15 via DXLD) See CROATIA: maybe that explains their tests on 7385 (gh) ** U K. SOUTH HERTS RADIO UPDATE --- Hi Glenn, The website is updated now and the published schedule will stay for a good long while. See the times for World Of Radio and update your schedule accordingly. Note the comments on my frequencies page. Most importantly see this news from the blog... SHR Q&A's South Herts Radio broadcasts 24 hours a day even though our live internet stream is only active for 12 hours on Sunday's most of the time. Q. How do we maintain a 24 hour radio service? A. We have a network of people we rely on to relay our output on FM & AM through low power devices and sometimes high power transmitters. We do this in several ways. The easiest is when listeners take our live webcast 'when on air' and relay it from a laptop or internet radio. Occasional shortwave broadcasts are done using this method thanks to participating stations. The other method fills the gaps when our live web stream is down. This is when dedicated fans relay the files from players on our vintage, jukebox and listen again pages at the exact times listed in our schedule. These methods are totally reliant on the trust of our fans to do this and it is not always fool-proof but it does help us gain recognition and its the only way we could think of to keep us on a legal playing field. Q. Why bother going to all that trouble when reception is patchy and cannot be guaranteed due to issues of trust? A. Why not, it's free, it's fun and it does work well when things go right. Q. Do we have a mail box address or contact number? A. We only do contact by e-mail. Q. How do I find you on my radio? A. You will need an FM or AM receiver or a worldband radio with shortwave - see the frequencies page for full details. Q. What about copyrite? A. We pay a blanket fee every month and every year, it covers everything we do. Listen Live Q. How do you make money? A. SHR is a hobby, not a business. http://www.southhertsradio.com/shrblog/ http://www.southhertsradio.com - Community radio from south Hertfordshire. Regards, (Gary Drew, Feb 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) OK, but no SW frequencies are specified any more, only possible meter bands, so we can`t really list anything definite for WOR. He made some of the same points in an interview on Happy Station Feb 18 (gh, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Frequency change of RFE/RL Radio Farda in Farsi: 1500-1600 NF 7545 LAM 100 kW / 108 deg to WeAs, ex 7520 to avoid VOA English (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 15 via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. Radio Martí via Greenville with dead air for at least four minutes, 1520-1524 UT Feb 13 on all three frequencies, 15330, 13820 and 11930; a pity since all were way atop DentroCuban Jamming Command at the moment, but at least allowed us to make out the beeping tones underneath 15330, 11930, but not 13820. 1524 all resumed with talk about a béisbol lanzador, i.e. pitcher. After the three Lavwadlamerik frequencies in the 22 UT hour, 15390, 13725 and 11925 closed at 2300, I went to 7590 and waited for it to upcome. Finally did at 2302, at first with hum and undermodulated, then brought up to normal level at 2303. 7590 remains a secret frequency missing from the VOA Creole schedule, filling in the gap at 2300-0100. VOA and jamming chex early UT Feb 17: VOA Spanish at 0015 on 5890, 9885: nothing but jamming audible on both. A Fondo, at 0102: good with no jamming on 9415 and 7340, nothing on 11625, but the latter was also on, loud and clear at 0108 check. Meanwhile the old R. Martí frequencies supposedly carrying same joint- produxion hour, were nothing but jamming, 6030, 7365, 9825. Lavwadlamerik at 0104 reconfirmed on 5835, 5960, 7465, but not on 7590 which had secretly been on at 23-01. 5835 also remains secret, missing from the Creole schedule at http://author.voanews.com/english/about/frequenciesAtoZ_c.cfm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. 11560, Olympic theme music, fluttery at 2258 Feb 13, 2300 VOA ID and news in English, also weaker // 11840. These are both Tinang, PHILIPPINES, the latter just starting at that hour, 21 and 349 degrees respectively, the former USward. 15580 via SOUTH AFRICA, VOA interview with a guest about the situation in Venezuela, notably Chávez` increasing control of the media, Feb 14 at 1420-1430. Outroed as On the Line. I wanted to recommend this show to others, but website http://www1.voanews.com/english/programs/tv/64969652.html does not (yet?) include it. The ``latest show`` tho dated Feb 12 is about something else. On the Line is really a talking-heads TV show, audio track of which gets to be on SW. BTW, as VOA spins its TV logo, half the time it looks like NOV from the back side, not a good idea. Eliminating the cross bar from Capital A to make it look like a lambda is also a nonsensical graphic device and only exacerbates problems like this. Why should we call it VOLambda? 7575, VOA with talk (editorial?) on George Washington setting excellent precedents for how the US government should operate, Feb 16 at 1356 but cut off abruptly incomplete just after 1358*. Until that, reception was VG. This was via TINIAN. Because of such pervasive lack of coördination between programming and transmission, VOA is its own worst enemy. This is NOT ``good enough for government work`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also SAIPAN; SAO TOME ** U S A. The BING Maps folk have just release some new Aerial & Birds Eye Imagery. So far I have only discovered new Birds Eye Imagery of the former USA located VOA, AFRTS SW TX site of: Dixon --- great views of antennas/site ++ Please let us know if you find any new imagery of SW sites (past or present) Check out: http://www.bing.com/community/blogs/maps/ (Ian Baxter, NSW, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) A minor point, but relying solely on memory, it seems to me that Delano handled AFRTS broadcasts, not Dixon, at least toward the end. Possibly Dixon too in the earlier years before I became conscious of such things. Is there documentation one way or the other? 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Hi Glenn, As you know the Dixon site closed in 1983. I can't find any of my own material supporting this except that I have a QSL from AFRTS dated April 1982. The card print date was 28 May, 1981 & they list 4 fields for the different SW TXer sites used. However they list Delano & Dixon, CA as one field. My reception actually was via the Bethany TX site. This begs the question why would they bother to list Dixon if they didn't at some point use this site? Unless both Dixon & Delano came under the same administrative transmission responsibility & AFRTS didn't know which site would be used by some transmissions. Perhaps the QSL card alone led me to believe that Dixon carried AFRTS SW transmissions??? I've had this site listed as having carried AFRTS broadcasts in the Extinct Sites Excel file for many years without anyone questioning it. But certainly I want to know if it is wrong. In essence I really don't know and need to rely on other DXers knowledge to be sure. Hopefully someone here or on your DXLD group can confirm for us Glenn. Please let me know if you discover more. Best regards (Ian Baxter, ibid.) Hi Ian and Glenn, have you thrown away all older documentation like WRTHs for example?! > As you know the Dixon site closed in 1983. It is still listed in WRTH 1987 and even in 1989 as a backup site. I also thought that Dixon wasn't used for AFRTS, only Delano. But WRTH 1978 has a surprising entry: while VOA has both Dixon and Delano all the way from 1967 to 1989), AFRTS has for that year only Dixon and not Delano at all! I don't have all editions, but in the years both before and after AFRTS has only Delano, not Dixon. So, did AFRTS really use Dixon for a short time or is this an error? 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) Hi Mauno, Sorry I don't have all WRTH's. If I made the error of last transmission date I think it may have come from this link http://www.eham.net/articles/14253/ - which we've publicised previously within the group. Another document I found in my records shows this; which hopefully is correct as it comes from the owners of the site. QUOTE: The station [Dixon] temporarily ceased broadcasting in August, 1979 and remained in a caretaker status until October, 1983 when it resumed operation. During this period of operation its primary function was to provide Spanish language programming to Central America. Broadcasts were again suspended in April, 1988 as the result of reductions in operating budgets. On September 30, 1993 the Voice of America relinquished its interest in the 800 acres of land, the buildings, the antennas and the skeletons of five high-powered shortwave transmitters. The property was put up for sale by the San Francisco office of the General Services Administration and ultimately sold to a private owner. The decommissioning of Dixon brought to a close a fifty year long chapter in the history of international shortwave broadcasting by the United States government. On May 15, 1998 Globe Wireless announced that it had acquired the former Dixon Relay Station, located eight miles Southeast of Dixon, California to be used to connect vessels in the Pacific Ocean with land based electronic mail systems, including the Internet. END QUOTE So I will amend the last BCB SW transmission from this site to April 1988 in the Excel files. Does anyone have anything more accurate? (Ian Baxter, ibid.) ** U S A. VOA PERSIAN BROADCASTERS REPORTEDLY ACCUSE BOSS OF POOR EDITORIAL JUDGEMENT According to newsmax.com, an internal struggle within the Voice of America over its news coverage of Iran is spewing outside the agency as veteran staffers claim its Persian TV channel tilts coverage in favour of the Tehran regime. According to the website, about 30 Persian-speaking broadcasters had a confrontational meeting with VOA Director Danforth Austin. They reportedly criticized Alex Belida, acting director of the Persian News Network, for “poor editorial judgment” and a lack of understanding of Iran and Iranian affairs. Incredibly, newsmax.com claims that Mr Belida does not speak or read Persian. Mr Belida is said to have announced that he was promoting a 27-year- old novice producer with rudimentary Persian-language skills to be executive editor of the entire Persian language TV operation. Read the full story http://newsmax.com/KenTimmerman/iran-voa-coverage-protests/2010/02/11/id/349670 (February 16th, 2010 - 13:28 UTC, by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) Beware of newsmax, far-right neocon agenda (gh) Belida`s response: (at http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/?id=8347 via DXLD) see SOMALIA ** U S A [and non]. 9955, WRMI Radio Miami International and DentroCuban Jamming Command observations Feb 11: at 0615, ``pulse of the planet`` mentioned, not sure if a program segment but presumably from Israel Radio via WRN as scheduled this semihour, 0620 to electro- acoustic vamp music; it seems the last third of IR via WRN is always music fill. The solar flux is up, allowing the WRMI signal, still on the SSE antenna only, to be competitive with the DCJC pulses. Previously DCJC was up and running a fifth of an hour before 1300 during UN Radio in French to Haiti, but this day monitoring from that minute, 1248, found it in the clear, first about Haiti, Radio des Nations-Unies ID and into magazine segment about something else. It was not until *1258:40 that DCJC cut on and overwhelmed WRMI in time to block Radio Libertad at 1300. 9955, WRMI, Feb 12 at 0724 VG steady S9+10, tnx to solar flux of 94 as of Feb 11, YL talking about Haitian gang problem, as another R. Prague relay via WRN was about to end; no jamming audible. Yet another Prague relay in English having ended at 1528, station was attempting to give its transmission schedule in French, when WRMI cut to a promo for a preacher Sat 11:30 am, 9 pm and one other time. Since WRMI has trouble updating its website, Jeff White sends us new xls program grids from time to time in ET, and the Feb 12 edition has been availablized on the DXLD yahoogroup, showing that to be: Tell the World Ministry for 15 minutes, the other time being Sat 7:45 am EST. 1529:30 UT WRMI ID, 1530 WORLD OF RADIO 1499 as scheduled on Fridays; fair signal, no jamming, but weak SAH from YFR Russian via Taiwan and overload from PPP WWCR 9980 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I can confirm that WOR aired today, Feb 12. Came across it during a bandscan at 1132. Mostly rough copy & deep fades with a few peaks, here in New Hampshire (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale, NH USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Friday 1130, a new time along with Tuesday 1100 (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DXLD) WRMI: see also CUBA [non] ** U S A. WJHR International Radio, 15550 via Milton FL, full-data card with WB4BFO ham card in 6 days for a taped report and $2.00. Addr: George S. Mock, 5920 Oak Manor Drive, Milton FL 32570 (Smith, MA, QSL Report, Feb NASWA Journal via DXLD) Same in one week; however, my ham card was designed differently with an address of 975 Brazzy Acres Road, Pensacola FL 32534. I sent my report to the above Milton address (Sam Barto, Thomaston CT, ibid.) 15550 USB, WJHR, 1758-1812 Feb 10, man preacher shouting religious talk followed by choir singing. ID at 1802 by a man with e-mail address: wjhr @ usa.com Back the shouting male preacher. Fair peaks with very deep fades (Rich D'Angelo, Wyomissing PA 19610, Ten-Tec RX- 340, Drake R-8B, Eton E1, Eton E5, Alpha Delta DX Sloper, RF Systems Mini-Windom, Datong FL3, JPS ANC-4, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) 15550-USB, WJHR at 1931 Feb 15, peaking S9+8 with what else? Overconfident preacher. Can`t say signal has improved significantly after a month off in January for antenna work. Nothing there at 2116 recheck, so apparently still on limited test schedule. 15550-USB, WJHR, Milton FL, strongest yet heard, Feb 16 at 2135, S9+20 so maybe the new antenna is in use, or sporadic E is boosting signal, tho not up to VHF. Usual preacher railing against a hundred Bible translations since the KJV, which ``bomb out`` within a few years, just done for profit, and not sufficiently fundamental. Needed attenuation to avoid pumping; 2157 had switched to gospel music and stopped promptly at 2200* Maybe they had an ID or sign-off before the music. I see that Mock has QSLed some P-mail reports with his ham card adapted, but not by E-mail? At the moment, 2148, this was stronger than WBCQ 15420-CUSB which attained only S9+5 at modulation peaks by the androgynous anapaestic preacher (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15550-USB, WJHR on the air much earlier than usual with annoying preacher one would never listen to for content, at 1420 Feb 18, but bothered by Iran in Arabic 15545. By 1500, WJHR was much louder and Iran softer. But by 1530, WJHR had weakened a lot; in fact, I first thought it was off till I fished with the BFO. Attributable to propagation or fiddling with the power output, antenna? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. After widely-heard testing in late January on 5755, 9480/9475, WTWW silent as expected first week of Feb since George McClintock was away at HFCC Kuala Lumpur. Now that he`s back, I asked him, what`s next, and he replied Feb 10: ``Still repairing some RF modules but ran out of parts today. Programming to start sometime next week. We will first program the transmitter with audio for several days. This will be without the transmitter being on to fully test computers and the streaming audio on the Internet. Then several days of programming tests with the transmitter on. ``After that, full time broadcasting. There are still several 24 hour programmers that want a transmitter. I will make a last minute decision based on what is best for WTWW to add transmitters and programmers in some logical order. This actually makes sense since one of them is not ready at this time. The best laid plans of men ---``. BTW, don`t you believe that I ever heard WTWW on 5955, as typoed in the Feb BDXC-UK Communication (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7095, WWCR mixing product of 4775 leaping over 5935 just barely audible at peaks above threshold, Feb 12 at 0722. Talk by former porn star who now dresses modestly and professes to be a linguistic and Bible scholar, could make // 5935 PMS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4910 spur, WWCR 0000-0015 Dec 15, strange anomaly; at tune-in I heard ``Voice in the Wilderness`` rpg; // 5070, but soon after it was mixed with ``IRN USA Radio News`` followed by Pete Peters. I believe Peters is aired on 5070 later in the evening and the two programs were not mixed on // 5070. VIW stood alone; sig to 40 dB, excellent (Richard W Parker, PA, Feb NASWA Journal via DXLD) I have explained this several times before, but I think Richard does not use the Internet, so he won`t see this either: 4910 is the difference between 9980, the 24-hour PPP transmitter-4 (nights on 5890), and 5070: 9980 minus 5070 = 4910. You could hear either audio or both on the mix frequency, but would not expect to hear the other audio on a fundamental, tho something else could cause bleedthru there. If and when WWCR is on new 4775 instead of 5070 before 9980 closes at 0200, the same formula would put the mixture on 5205: look out for it. But as long as 4775 does not open until 0300, that can`t happen (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4840, WWCR at 0110 on 2/13. English news, some sort of network ID at 0110, commercial for a military supply outfit. Strong for a while, then down to a near fade out. Some kind of spur or other transmitter fluke. // 5070. 4775 not yet active. I wish these guys would just go away (Gerry Dexter, Lake Geneva WI, NRD 545, TenTec 340, Parker Balanced Doublet, Mark (MK-1) antennas, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ?? Can`t figure out a formula for this one as leapfrog, difference mix with WNQM 1300 or any other WWCR frequency at this time (gh, DXLD) New 4775, 2259-2315 08.02, WWCR, Nashville, TN, English religious talk, ex 5070 45444, Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, done on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) On at least one occasion they tried 4775 at this earlier hour, but still ordinarily do not switch until 0300 (gh, DXLD) WWCR on 4775 -- DX Block Reception? Last week, when WWCR surprised me with the frequency change Saturday evening after "Ask WWCR", from 5070 kHz to 4775, the reception of the DX Block following that change actually improved here in St. Louis, Missouri. So, this past weekend (UT Sunday 0300 on 2/14/10), when "Ask WWCR" on 5070 was just about totally unreadable, I was expecting the DX Block programming on 4775 to be much better after the frequency change occured. I was really disappointed when all I could pick up when I retuned to WWCR on 4775 was a grinding, rushing noise. This was on two different decent radios, a Sony 2010 and an Eton E1. I left it on during most of the hour, and there was some barely-detectable audio embedded in the noise (or modulating it) by 0345 UT or so, but I finally gave up and shut it off. (It definitely was not the radios themselves -- I could tune around and get decent SW audio from an assortment of other stations and even WWCR itself on other frequencies.) Later that evening, after 0500 UT, I tried 4775 on a different radio, a Satellit 800 this time, and *then* reception was fine, perfectly understandable (but the programming was of no interest by then, being some preacher proclaiming Armageddon :-). So my question is: Did ANYONE out there hear an understandable DX Block on WWCR 4775 kHz that day (UT 1/14/10)? If so, where were you? Any oddness in the signal that you detected? I did a forum search for "4775" before posting this and got no recent results, so I am assuming that this hasn't been being discussed already here, but if it is the subject of some other on-line exchange, please point me to that. gh had nothing in the "anomaly" file on the WoR website referring to this, so I'm really wondering if this was something really weird that just affected me or if the WWCR transmitter went crazy after the new frequency was dialed in, and the problem was only caught and fixed later that evening. 73, (Will Martin, MO, Feb 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Am trying to find out why WWCR has suddenly left 5070 for 4775. If there was an interference complaint about 5070, where was it from? Was there also one concerning 3240, which has been replaced by 7465/7490? Thanks, (Glenn, Feb 5 to FCC via DXLD) Hi Glen[n], WWCR had to vacate 3240 due to an interference complaint from a MARS operation. We have received an interference complaint from a foreign government's fixed operation concerning WWCR's 5070 operation. We are currently communicating with that government agency concerning this; meanwhile, WWCR is operating on 4775 pending the outcome of this matter (Tom Lucey, FCC, Feb 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 10475, WWCR Nashville TN: 1907-1915+, 15-Feb; Mixing product; one side is Rev. Barbi // 13845 (also // 11775) & other is WWCR //12160. (12160 - 13845) + 12160 = 10475 (Harold Frodge, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) USA WWCR Nashville on 15825 noted with two accompanied spurious signals on 15809.39 and 15840.61 kHz at 1513 UT Feb 13. English sermon "to win Christus..." S=9+30dB on 15825 kHz. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, harmonics yg via DXLD) Wow, never noticed those here, but S9+30 is just about unattainable on the incomparable FRG-7 meter (gh, OK, DXLD) Jamming of the Power Hour on 7490 kHz during the 1400 hour, with a grinding white noise sound. There was the same jamming the other day, when the program discussed The Census. Who doesn't want us to hear What? (Eric Bryan, WA, 17 Feb, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Answer in Aoki: 7490 WWCR NASHVILLE 1200-1700 1234567 English 100 40 Nashville USA 08650W 3610N WWCR3 b09 7490 Radio Free North Korea 1300-1500 1234567 Korean 100 70 Dushanbe-Yangiyul TJK 06848E 3829N FNK b09 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So Juche jamming against RFNK ** U S A. 15420-CUSB, WBCQ carrier on over BBC at 1531 Feb 13; tho missing from own schedules, this frequency carries Brother Scare on Sabbath mornings only, but from when, exactly? I left a receiver on frequency and waited, and waited. WBCQ is far enough off to produce a rippling SAH with BBCWS in English via Cyprus, but no loss since there is no significant programming, only Sportsworld. Finally at 1614 a bit of rock music starts playing from Maine, 1615 cut to BS, 1616 cut back to an ID loop by Allan Weiner which sounded like just ``BCQ, Monticello, Maine, USA`` repeating several times, then back to BS again, which I now found to be 7 seconds ahead of WWRB 9385 (and WBCQ 9330 not on). Does this mean WWRB has him on seven-second delay in order to mute him in case he says something untrue? Hardly! And with electricity so expensive in remote Monticello, it`s difficult to fathom why BCQ would run half a sesquihour with no modulation, unless BS is paying for it anyway (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Dear Shortwave Radio Friends, I am Glen Tapley, Frequency Manager with WEWN which is EWTN Global Catholic Radio. We are continually looking for volunteer frequency monitors to help us determine our reach in the world. WEWN has been on the air since December, 1992. I have attached our current B09 schedule. I have also attached our pending A10 schedule. You can utilize our on-line monitoring form if you desire. http://www.ewtn.com cursor on RADIO then SHORTWAVE MONITORING FORM. It’s always good to hear from our shortwave friends throughout the world. Gratefully, (Glen Tapley, EWTN Television/Radio Network, 5817 Old Leeds Road, Birmingham, Alabama 35210 Feb 16, to WWDXC, Germany, via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) Someone, besides myself, please complain to him about the constant plus/minus 10 kHz spurs from one of his transmitters, as I have monitored over and over (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. VATICAN STATE/USA, 11715, Radio Veritas Asia via Vatican Radio Santa Maria de Galeria, in Filipino suffers co-channel odd signal from KJES Vado on 11714.91 kHz. Noted Feb 11 at 1515 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Feb 11, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 13 via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Dear Glen[n], Your programme World of Radio is currently 5555 on the Isle of Wight, Ryde. Saturday, 13/2/2010, 6170. Via IRRS, via Slovaka. It has been very good over the last month. Isle of Wight was where radio really began, I think. Can I have a QSL card? (Stephen John Jones, Ryde, IOW, U.K., WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Stephen, Thanks for your report. Glad to know reception is so good on 6170. Unfortunately I do not have QSL cards, leaving QSLing to the stations that broadcast my program. One of them, WRMI, has a QSL card specifically for World of Radio, if you hear it on 9955 and report directly to them. Best wishes, (Glenn Hauser, reply, via WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DXLD) ** U S A. 13570, WINB with preacher in Spanish, Feb 11 at 1555, with awful self-imposed buzz, very wobbly carrier even more obvious with BFO on, and interfering with CODAR. Program schedule at http://www.winb.com/schedule.htm now shows a correct 5-hour difference between UT and ET, unlike last time we checked. Per it, does not start until 1600 with Alámo, so what`s this Spanish? All the programs flagged as Spanish, at other times, are from Family Radio. Observed the day before in Spanish prior to 1600, WINB appears to have filled in the 2-hour gap at 14-16 UT still showing on its program schedule. 13570, Feb 12 at 1434, English preacher saying that sinning Christians will have a harder time in hell than pagans; hmmm. Modulation has been repaired temporarily, but the carrier remains slightly unstable when BFO-checked, vs CODAR. At 1507 another guy in English with anti-Obama, anti-government monolog edited together eliminating natural pauses. Listened a while, and apparently it`s the very same entity he refers to in third-person, Peter Schiff, who is primarily a gold-pusher, but also has ambitions for the US Senate from Connecticut (Googling soon confirms this), discussing how he gets more financial support from bigger states, but hasn`t really mounted a full campaign yet. 1516 took a caller from Denmark who apologized for being a foreigner getting into this discussion. Still going past 1531 with another alien caller. Altho WINB had infilled the 14-16 UT gap the day before, it was completely missing from 13570 and 9265, Sat Feb 13 at 1452 check, 1535, and even at 1611 when 13570 is normally on. Transmitter trouble? CODAR thanks them. Altho WINB was on the 13570 air in Spanish before 1600 on Thursday Feb 11, and with English between 14 and 16 Friday Feb 12, missing Saturday Feb 13, still vacant on Monday Feb 15 at 1523 check. Maybe Spanish was on again today, but no recheck until 1603 when it bore a distorted Tony Alamo singing, 1605 mailbag with sidekick Sharon reading a letter allegedly from a Kolkata admirer. Very wobbly carrier, obvious with BFO on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. TONY ALAMO TRANSFERRED TO TUCSON PRISON Texarkana Gazette February 12, 2010 By: Lynn LaRowe Rules at the federal penitentiary where Tony Alamo is being held in Tucson, Ariz., allow an “embrace and kiss” at the beginning and end of each face-to-face visit. Alamo was moved from the Federal Transfer Facility in Oklahoma sometime last week to the high-security U.S. Penitentiary in Tuscon, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons Website. Alamo, whose given name is Bernie LaZar Hoffman, was convicted by an Arkansas jury last July of all 10 counts listed in a federal indictment accusing him of bringing young girls across state lines for sex. In November, U.S. District Judge Harry Barnes sentenced Alamo to 175 years in federal prison. Alamo was held in a downtown jail in Texarkana until a restitution hearing could be conducted concerning Alamo’s liability to the five Jane Does named in Alamo’s indictment. During Alamo’s trial, one of the Jane Does testified Alamo exchanged wedding vows with her in the visitation area of the Federal Correctional Institution in Texarkana while he was serving time for tax evasion in the 1990s. The Jane Doe said other “wives” would bow their heads as if in prayer to shield Alamo from the view of guards and cameras while Alamo fondled her. In the last few days of January, federal marshals moved the convicted Alamo from the county jail where he had been held for more than a year to a federal transfer facility in Oklahoma. Officials with the Bureau of Prisons media relations office didn’t return calls Thursday and the public information officer at the Tucson penitentiary was unavailable for comment. Whether Alamo will permanently remain in Tucson or if his stay there is just a stop on his way to another unit isn’t known at this time. Concerns that Alamo, 75, will continue to control the followers who’ve remained loyal to him from within the confines of prison led a state judge to terminate the parental rights of seven members of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries members last month. Another factor was the reluctance of devotees to find housing and employment independent of the controversial ministry. [the Enid Eagle deleted the rest of the story from this point --- gh] Recordings of jailhouse conversations Alamo had while in the county jail were played at custody hearings as evidence of Alamo’s lingering grip. The Tucson penitentiary permits an inmate to have up to 30 names on an approved visitors’ list. The maximum number of “friends and associates” allowed is 10. Family members presumably comprise the remainder. Prison rules define family as parents, spouses, grandparents, children, grandchildren, stepparents, cousins, siblings, aunts and uncles. In a previous ruling, a Bureau of Prisons official declined to say whether an inmate would be allowed to list multiple people as spouses. Visitors must fill out a form, pass a background check and be approved by a prison counselor before they’re given a visit. No more than three adults will be allowed to visit Alamo at one time, according to the Arizona facility’s visitation policies. At no facility within the Bureau of Prisons are conjugal visits allowed. (from http://www.tonyalamonews.com/3271/21210-tg-tony-alamo-transferred-to-tucson-prison.php via DXLD) One comment appended to above: Joy Says: February 13th, 2010, 6:30 am I would say that s.o.b has more than a ‘lingering grip’ on the followers. More like a ‘death grip.’ Those poor, poor children; they are probably thinking their mom and dad don’t love them anymore (via DXLD) BLH/TA also has a `lingering grip` on three SW stations, and no telling how many others which continue to broadcast him (gh, DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. 6000, aimed due south, WYFR is rather weak here, but Harold Camping at 0614 Feb 14 had big variable het on him not noted before. Wild guess: R. Guaíba, Brasil, with extended or reactivated schedule for Carnaval; see also BRAZIL (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) B-09 Schedule of VT Communications Relays. Pt 3 of 3: WYFR 2000-2100 on 7240 DHA 250 kW / 315 deg to WeEu English, cancelled from Feb. 1 1800-1900 on 6090 RMP 500 kW / 095 deg to CeEu Czech 1800-1900 on 9660 SKN 300 kW / 140 deg to NoAf Arabic 1800-1900 on 11875 ASC 250 kW / 065 deg to WeAf Igbo 1830-1930 on 17660 ASC 250 kW / 085 deg to WeAf French 1900-2000 on 9685 DHA 250 kW / 260 deg to WeAf Hausa 1900-2000 on 9885 DHA 250 kW / 210 deg to WeAf English 1900-2000 on 11665 ASC 250 kW / 065 deg to WCAf Yoruba 2000-2200 on 15195 ASC 250 kW / 065 deg to CeAf English 1700-1800 on 6045 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg to EaAf Amharic 1700-1800 on 7390 RMP 500 kW / 120 deg to EaAf Somali 1700-1800 on 21680 ASC 250 kW / 085 deg to EaAf English 1900-2000 on 9660 MEY 250 kW / 019 deg to EaAf Swahili 1600-1700 on 9795 DHA 250 kW / 215 deg to SoAf English 1600-1700 on 6225 MEY 250 kW / 076 deg to SoAf Malagasy, ex English 1700-1800 on 6225 MEY 100 kW / 076 deg to SoAf French, ex English 1700-1800 on 17505 ASC 250 kW / 102 deg to SoAf Shona, ex English 1800-1900 on 6045 MEY 100 kW / 015 deg to SoAf English 1800-1900 on 9895 DHA 250 kW / 230 deg to SoAf English 1900-2000 on 3230 MEY 100 kW / 005 deg to SoAf English 1900-2000 on 3955 MEY 100 kW / 076 deg to SoAf Portuguese 1900-2000 on 6100 MEY 100 kW / 335 deg to SoAf Portuguese 1700-1800 on 9530 RMP 500 kW / 105 deg to N/ME Arabic 1700-1800 on 9430 SKN 300 kW / 110 deg to N/ME Turkish 1800-1900 on 7240 SKN 300 kW / 110 deg to N/ME Turkish 1300-1400 on 17735 DHA 250 kW / 100 deg to SoAs Kannada 1300-1400 on 17810 DHA 250 kW / 100 deg to SoAs Telugu 1400-1500 on 9855 DHA 250 kW / 105 deg to SoAs Marathi 1400-1500 on 15520 DHA 250 kW / 090 deg to SoAs Hindi 1400-1500 on 17810 DHA 250 kW / 100 deg to SoAs Tamil 1500-1600 on 9495 DHA 250 kW / 105 deg to SoAs English 1500-1600 on 12015 DHA 250 kW / 090 deg to SoAs English 1600-1700 on 11740 DHA 250 kW / 090 deg to SoAs English 1200-1300 on 17505 DHA 250 kW / 090 deg to SEAs Khmer (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 15 via DXLD) Still misses 11985, where HC in English has been after 1500 last few days, so not via VTC? And even newer, 13790; see below (gh, DXLD) 11985, Feb 12 at 1527, arrgh, there he is on another new frequency, wacky Brother Camping with Open Forum from YFR, usual clix on lo side from DCJC spur(?). During previous hour only, 14-15, 11985 bears VOA English via Lampertheim with echo, but what`s the site for this? I sure hope casual foreign listeners don`t think Camping is with VOA. We finally know that YFR relay at 15-16 on 11985 is via Rampisham, UK, but now Harold Camping has yet another new frequency during that hour, 13790, at 1526 Feb 18, running 28 seconds behind 11985, so surely elsewhence. 13790 had been registered as DTK Wertachtal, and probably still is. Both of these had long/short path echoes, and one might have guessed from same site were it not for the long offset between them. Like the BVBN preacher on 12035, Camping was referring to Romans X on an Open Forum question from a listener, who apparently believes Camping is a biblical authority! BTW, WYFR Okeechobee has just replaced 6915 with 6875 at 03-12, 355 degrees; pirates take note. That includes WYFR alternating English and Spanish except the first hour RTI in Chinese (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: ** U S A. Please note the following changes in the WYFR B-09 Schedule effective 17 February 2010: Delete: 6915 kHz 0300-1200 UTC 355 degrees Zones 4, 5, 9 Add: 6875 kHz 0300-1200 UTC 355 degrees Zones 4, 5, 9 (WYFR Feb 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 21640, 1846 10/1, WHRI with preacher in English ‘How to save yourself’. At 1858, “WHRI is now ending its broadcast on 21640 kiloHertz..” and off (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, New Zealand with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, Feb NZ DX Times via DXLD) Nice opening an hour or more after local summer sunrise (gh, DXLD) 9410 back to WHRI programming, Feb 14 at quick 1236 check, well atop China, when a gospel huxter was mentioning ``hot slippery pneumatic sex`` or something like that (trying to read my scribbled notes, pretty sure of pneumatic, anyway), presumably in disapproval, but secretly relishing the thought, ex-BBCWS Connexion Haïti in Creole, which allegedly has now ended. Need to check on a weekday to be sure, when BBC should be back to Spanish only during this hour. So could DXing with Cumbre possibly be back on SW at 1200 Sat or Sun? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 17775, KVOH, Feb 16 at 2146, music at S9+22 level which should be enough to audiblize the spurs: yes, whine and noise blobs on fading 17920v and weaker 17630v; at 2153 could match talk modulation peaks on 17775 with 17920 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I make regular chex of 4050 in case KWMO Washington MO make it thru, but usually not. Feb 13 at 0705 there was just barely audible music presumed from this 1350 station, current champ in the third- harmonic radiation category. Relatively quiet conditions Feb 14 at 0556 allowed a weak S9+5 signal to be audible on 4050 with country music. Faded a bit at 0600 sharp when inserted ID including ``KWM-`` and right back to more of same music. I.e. KWMO, Washington MO, 3 x 1350. 4050, Feb 16 at 0624 check, country music, no-strain level at peaks, no doubt presumed KWMO Washington MO, 3 x 1350 as usual (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Masculine robot voice with high seas marine weather info, on SSB with distortion and splatter, Feb 13 at 2318 on 8502 and 4316; also // but not so distorted on 13089, 8764, 6501. These are USCG frequencies; schedule from http://www.yachtcom.info/MarineSSB.htm which could be two years old from the 2008y date on site: US Coastguard Weather Transmissions Station and Callsign Frequencies, Times (GMT) USCG Chesapeake (NMN) 4426 kHz, 6501 kHz, 8764 kHz, 13089 kHz, 17314 0330, 0515, 0930, 1115, 1530, 1715, 2130, 2315 USCG Pt Reyes (NMC) 4426 kHz, 6501 kHz, 8764 kHz, 13089 kHz, 17314 0430, 1030, 1630, 2230 USCG New Orleans (NMG) 4316 kHz, 8502 kHz, 12788 0330, 0515, 0930, 1115, 1530, 1715, 2130, 2315 USCG Honolulu (NMO) 6501 kHz, 8764 kHz, 13089 0005, 0600, 1200, 1800 Note that some frequencies are shared, but at 2315, NMG is on 4316 and 8502; NMN on 6501, 8764 and 13089. NMG New Orleans is the one with the worst distortion/splatter problem, and has been this way for a long time. Caused by overdriving the audio input? And/or transmitters desperately need an overhaul (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re DXLD 10-06: ``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. (...) If you have further information to help John please send it along.`` Inside the FAA site used to be some pages relatives to the VOLMET service and the address of the unit. If you search google with "FAA New York Volmet" you can find the web address for these pages https://www.faa.gov/ats/afss/newyork/volmet.htm but, if clicking on that link you only obtain a "Page Not Found" message. But if in the Google search results page you click on the cached version you will retrieve that original page. This other page contains the address: https://www.faa.gov/ats/afss/newyork/DIR.htm Again directly from FAA site you will get only a "not found" message but the Google´s cache comes to the rescue. That page contains the following address: FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION NEW YORK AUTOMATED INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT SERVICE STATION 150 ARRIVAL AVENUE LONG ISLAND MACARTHUR AIRPORT RONKONKOMA, NEW YORK 11779 and some phones, as: New York AIFSS Administrative Office 516-471-7181 Searching for the TX. site in Barnegat, NJ with Google Earth you can obtain an address for the Antenna farm: FAA Antenna Tower Road Barnegat, NJ 08005 I hope this would serve! 73s (Mauricio Molano, Salamanca, Spain, Feb 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) A.k.a. by callsign WSY70, which apparently applies to all its frequencies, but never announced? Then came another request for this so I sent him the above (gh) Hola Glen[n], un saludo cordial, te escribo para hacerte una pregunta haber si me puedes ayudar; necesito la dirección postal o email, de la New York Radio, la capté por los 6604 Khz en SSB, con señal muy buena por acá por Barquisimeto Venezuela, si la tienes alguna información de esta emisora te agradecería me la enviaras, muchas gracias de nuevo (Williams Lopez, Barquisimeto, Venezuela, Feb 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 600 kHz, good signal looping NE/SW with nostalgia music, at 0052 UT Feb 15, a love song for VD, soon outroed as by Mary Jo Stafford, and the Phil Weston Orchestra, on ``Musical Memories`` for a Sunday afternoon, mentioning current hour 6-7 pm, so apparently live DJ somewhere in the CST zone, also giving weather forecast for what ``we`` could expect, including snow and below-freezing temps, but never a geographical hint as to exactly where ``we`` are, for those yearning for an ID. But must be WMT Cedar Rapids IA. Soon confirmed it`s Jim Doyne at http://www.wmtradio.com/pages/musicalmemories.html which says his show starts at 2 pm = 2000 UT: ``Relive your Musical Memories every Sunday with Jim Doyne --- Jim provides his listeners with the great songs of the 40’s, 50’s and early 60’s every Sunday afternoon from 2 to 7 pm.`` Companion show before it at 7:30 am-2 pm [1330-2000 UT] is: ``Leo Greco's Variety Time --- Leo has been a musician and entertainer in Eastern Iowa since the mid 1940’s. He show features a special blend of polkas, standards, country and other musical favorites. He’s been waking up Iowans on Sunday morning for over 35 years.`` WMT must be a ``full-service`` station daring to play music as well as news/talk the other six days of the week. Well, axually a disservice as their `news` comes from Fox, and Rash Limburger is on the roster, along with anti-administration stuff plastered all over their homepage. Besides the nostalgic music, I`ll give them some credit for carrying Jim Bohannon --- since our local KGWA has dropped Jimbo, WMT is a possible source for him here at 0307-0559 UT Tue-Sat, tho hardly QRM- free (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1660, Feb 11 around 2100 on caradio, dominant station is carrying caraces, no sign of classical music. Could this be KXTR Kansas City KS?? No music heard later, and at 0053 UT Feb 12, there was sportstalk about the Jayhawx, i.e. KU, nearby Lawrence KS, so it looks like KXTR has undergone a radical format change, and not some propagational quirk inbringing the next closest 1660 stations, Fargo and Waco, which are both ESPN. Or has it? KXTR 1660 has previously broken away from classical to carry stupid minorleague ballgames, mostly in the evenings. Website http://www.kxtr.com would still make you think it`s nothing but classical, not sports, but if you click on schedule page all you get is a further link, to coupons! Somehow, it seems KXTR 1660 is not that serious about classical music programming. The classical format also runs on the HD2 IBOC channel of the 98.1 FM station, so possibly the Entercom group considers that to be primary instead of surely secondary based on possible listenership, and uses 1660 as a dumping ground for sports specials or whatever needs to pre- empt the stated format. What`s on the stream may stay classical? It was anyway when checked later around 0130: http://player.streamtheworld.com/_players/entercom/player/?id=KXTR I was also monitoring 1660 around 0005 UT Feb 12, and was definitely hearing some Mexican music down in the mix --- most likely KXOL in Brigham City UT, which is now a latino hotbed? This almost an hour before Feb local sunset there of 0100 UT, so still on 10 kW day power; much more likely than another SS, but religious, Merced CA. 1660, KXTR Kansas City KS still plays classical music part of the time, such as 0724 UT Feb 13, at the moment atop multiple SAHs from other 1660s, notably Waco. BTW, 24 hours after I was hearing NASCAR nonsense on 1660, presumed KXTR, around 2100 UT on the same caradio, nothing audible on 1660, and not much else on X-band either. Conditions vary markedly from day to day, with the Sun`s slight ascension negligible, altho the trend is certainly against daytime DX, only 5 weeks from equinox! It was audible enough on Saturday afternoon Feb 13 to tell that it was carrying the Metropolitan Opera (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1160, KSL Salt Lake City UT, with delayed Jim Bohannon Show, Feb 11 at 0715 UT, but bad IBOC QRM. What could that be from? KFAQ Tulsa 1170 has stopped IBOC at least in the daytime, and still clear at 1715 UT check, but no other stations known on 1170 or 1150, much less 1180 or 1140, which would mess up 1160, where KSL itself is on the IBOC list at http://topazdesigns.com/iboc/station-list.html Hmmm, could it have been out of whack, KSL QRMing itself too close to center channel? Besides, there was no IBOC bothering weaker signals on 1180, i.e. coming from 1170 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Turned out to be KFAQ 1170 with IBOC resumed; see OKLAHOMA (gh) ** U S A. PRE-SUNRISE POWERS AND CRITICAL HOURS POWERS Is any attention paid to Pre-sunrise powers? I don't hear anything different happening at 6am and haven't for years. It's just another top-of-the-hour, as far as I can hear. Years ago, on regional frequencies, station sign-ons at 6:00 would pile on in layers, often covering the usual night dominant on the channel. Things sound no more (or less) congested now at 6:03 than they did at 5:57. Critical Hours restrictions have been ignored for years. When I worked at the Knoxville stations on 1580 and 1180 in the late 80's, nobody knew what I was talking about when I mentioned them to staff, including the owners. I strongly suspect these power restrictions exist only in some musty paper file in the bowels of the FCC building, as well as in the idealistic imaginations of the DXing brotherhood (Steve Francis, Alcoa, Tennessee, 16 Feb, IRCA via DXLD) For the most part, the variations in different power levels are lost in transition when stations are sold, people leave, paperwork gets lost. All of this began before the former daytimers were routinely getting night powers, and when everything was paper, and the broadcasting industry was more stable in terms of financials. Add to that the effects of deregulation on the requirements for engineers to be on staff and/or present and that's inevitable. Then there's the downsizing of the FCC, and the shift in enforcement focus to mostly reacting to interference complaints, and station personnel get the attitudae that the FCC doesn't care, so there's not much point in keeping track of all of this (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA ( 360' ASL ), [15 mi NNW of Philadelphia], ibid.) They really do exist, but the FCC hasn`t kept records. It`s up to the stations and if they can`t prove it, they can`t use it. A lot of stations don`t use `em as it`s too much of a hassle to program, less power than their actual night power or so little difference it isn`t worth it; any number of factors (Paul Walker, IL, NRC-AM via DXLD) Paul hit on the point I was going to make - once the stations got night power, the psra became unnecessary. And pssa was never as clean as the psra, as it had different powers every month in some cases. (Dave Braun, Wyoming, DE, ibid.) That's another factor - these tiny power levels were never practical in the first place. Back in the 1970's and 80's, most equipment couldn't handle them, so many stations never used them and the 'allocations' are forgotten. And many stations may be using other power levels - granted or otherwise - because their equipment can't handle it now, or couldn't before, and no records are kept. But I'd have to qualify the statement that if they can't prove it they can't use it by saying that's what the letter of the regulations say, but that I doubt many stations either know that nor practice it, and unless there's an interference complaint, the FCC will never know and never act (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA ( 360' ASL ) ibid.) ** U S A. KERMIT GEARY --- Troy Rogers, in Louisiana, has passed on the following news: "Just wanted to let some one there know of the passing of Long time Member Kermit Geary SR, of Walnutport PA. He was giving an award last year, as the oldest living member of the Dx's [sic]. Info on his passing can be found on line at Harding Fox Funeral Home, of Slatington, PA." Kermit was the oldest continuous member of the National Radio Club, having joined in 1933-34 before Issue #11 was published. Our sincerest condolences go out to his family. From Harding Fox Funeral Home, of Slatington, PA.: Kermit E. Geary, 92, of Walnutport, passed away February 10, 2010. Born in Lehigh Gap, he was the son of the late Erwin & Carrie A. (Kuehner) Geary. Kermit retired from the New Jersey Zinc Company, as a research scientist. He was a member of the NRHS, Lehigh Valley Chapter, Palmerton Camera Club and the National Radio DX Association where he was the oldest living member. Kermit was an avid photographer having various contributions in books and magazines pertaining to railroads and local history. Survived by his wife of 68 years Charlotte (Lawrence), daughters, Carole & husband Roger Homeyer, Charlotte & husband Robert Stefanik, son, Kermit Geary Jr., grandchildren, Carrie Martini and Diane Homeyer & husband James Fiore III. Memorial Service: Tuesday, February 16, 2010, 11:00am, Harding Funeral Home, 25-27 N. Second St., Slatington. Calling hours, 10:00 am to 11:00 pm in the funeral home (via Paul Swearingen, Topeka, Feb 12, NRC-AM via WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DXLD) Another legendary DXer has passed from our midst, the other being John Bryant, better known in IRCA circles. I am not sure I ever met Kermit, but he may have been at the Wheeling NRC convention in the early 50s (only Don Kaskey would know as he was at that gathering too). Somewhere between 10-15 years ago, I got all excited about compiling a list of all the stations I have ever heard (as opposed to reported, a list I have already reconstructed/maintained). I asked if any NRCer had kept issues of DX News going back to 1951, the year I joined, and the year I started sending in "Musings." I did not actually send reports early on and I was looking for someone who had the old issues who would photocopy all my old "Musings" for my compilation. Kermit responded out of the blue that he would be glad to help but didn't have a copier so would instead retype all my old "Musings" and send them to me. This was a massive undertaking to say the least, and I will always be grateful for the amount of time and effort he put in to this - and regretful that I never had a chance to thank him in person. I am sure other listees have other stories about this fine DXer and extraordinarily decent and giving human being and I look forward to reading them (Pete Taylor, Tacoma, WA, ibid.) I, too, regret never meeting Kermit Geary. I had hoped he would be at the NRC's Kulpsville Convention in 2004, but he was unable to make it. I was already set to visit an old friend from Texas after that gathering, so I could not make a side trip to Kermit's home. In 1962, the late Hal Schrock packaged 22 years of NRC bulletins, dating back to 1940, and sent them to me when I was living in Monroe, La., and I actually read every Musing from 1940 on, including many from Kermit. I am surprised that Pete Taylor did not make reference to the reception report Kermit sent us in 1967 when we did a DX test after switching WXHR-740 to WCAS. Kermit had all the program details, but he couched them in satirical form as if the program was filled with messages to the insurrectionists who were fighting for the independence of Wickus Island -- that's what we called the five suburbs for which we were to provide intensive local news and talk programming. Watertown, Cambridge, Arlington, Somerville and (sorry about that) Belmont. My very favorite people are those who can write clever satirical material, and Kermit moved way up after we received that reception report! Although I wasn't involved in the work done to build the marvelous NRC 50th anniversary book, I know those who did put it together were greatly supported by Kermit, who provided copies of many pages from the earlist club bulletins. He was one of the all-time great BCB DX'ers (John Callarman, Krum, TX, NRC-AM via DXLD I met Kermit Geary twice: around 1994 or 1995 at Kulpsville, Pa. [not the NRC convention] where we each spoke at a forum about TA DXing and again at the NRC Convention in Pittsburgh in 2001 where we had our pictures taken together. He was a fine person and a great DXer and I respected his DX accomplishments which I could never hope to match. He went for many, many veries while I concentrated on verifying countries. Kermit was an NRC member way back in 1933 when I was just starting to DX. If I had known about the National Radio Club then I probably would have joined too. Dave Schmidt and John Malicky tried unsuccessfully to get Kermit to come to the 2005 Convention in Kulpsville, Pa. and I would have liked to see him again there (Ben Dangerfield, Wallingford, PA, ibid.) ** U S A. Ion 25 percent gone --- For the past few days the fourth subchannel of Ion TV, KOPX-50 OKC, has vanished, a.k.a. 62-4; now only 3. It was the `Worship` channel, which had some nice scenes of nature. Is this true across the entire Ion network, or just here? What happened? 73, (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, Feb 10, WTFDA via DXLD) It`s not on here in Denver. I never watched it, so I am not entirely sure it was ever on. Except someone did tell me there was an ION channel with pretty scenery. It used to be 59-4 here. There are three ION channels on right now. 59-1, -2 and -3 (Craig, Denver, ibid.) I recently read (at AVS Forum I believe) that ION was not renewing its contract with The Worship Network. Here's some info from Wikipedia, FWIW. The Worship Network was originally founded in 1992 to "create an atmosphere in the home to inspire and encourage a quiet time to worship God." When PAX launched in 1998, The Worship Network provided overnight programming. In 2005, PAX and The Worship Network struck a deal in which the network would be carried on a digital subchannel of PAX 24 hours a day. Until January 31, 2010 the Worship Network was carried on digital subchannels of Ion O&Os and in some cases, was used as an alternative to the main Ion network feed. It is also seen around the world through its 250 broadcast affiliates.[20] On January 31, 2010 Ion dropped the Worship Network from their stations' lineups.[21] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_Television (Steve Rich, Indianapolis, IN, ibid.) I happened to catch a short message from the President of the Worship Network on the last weekend of January while watching WPPX-DT 31.4 (61.4) Wilmington, DE/ Phila. He said in the statement that the Worship Network would no longer be carried by the Ion stations after Jan. 31, 2010. He did say that their network would be available online and on a number of other broadcast outlets. I rarely watched it, but they had a number of good outdoor scenic views (Bob Seaman, Hazleton, PA, ibid.) ** VANUATU. 3945, presumed R. Vanuatu, Port Vila, 1151-1203, Feb 5, vernacular. Ballad at tune/in; brief announcer at 1156; more music thru ToH and announcer at tune/out; poor and as usual, still getting hammered by ham net via 3947-LSB (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale NH, NRD-545, RX-350D, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. And I do mean non! After a few weeks of regular Sunday appearances, no Aló, Presidente to be heard at 1735 UT check Feb 14, via Cuba, absent from 17750, 13750, 13680, 12010, while the other frequency 11690 was on but // regular RHC 11730, etc. El Hugazo has started butting into Venezuelan radio and TV whenever he feels like it, even in the middle of the night, so maybe there will be fewer Sunday marathons (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UNIDENTIFIED 9540 11680, RNV CANAL INTERNACIONAL, E-QSL formato .jpeg, v/s Freddy R. Santos - Asistente de producción, Canal Int. Informe enviado a: canalinternacionalrnv @ gmail.com Demoró: 15 dias. Buen DX (RAFAEL RODRIGUEZ R., Bogota D.C. - COLOMBIA, Feb 13, playdx yg via DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. Don`t you believe the VOV schedule in Feb NASWA Journal Listeners` Notebook, page 31, ``direct from station`` proving once again that stations themselves may not be the best source of accurate info about their own operations! It claims that the broadcasts to NAm, not stated tho meaning English only, are at 0100 and 0230 on 9725, 0330 on 6175. In fact, all three have been for years on 6175, which is via Sackville, also not stated. I have seen this error somewhere before; was that a printed schedule? I wonder if at some point they did plan to use 9725, but never got around to it, or thought better of it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [non]. 15195, good signal Feb 13 at 1455, ballad in Vietnamese, 1456 RFA theme music, ``This concludes our evening program; good night from Washington``, more instrumental music, but final ID cut off at 1458:10*, ``This is Rad----``. 14-15 hour scheduled via TINIAN, Standard remarx about lack of coördination between studio and transmitter. 13865, something in Vietnamese, Feb 14 at 1445, weak and fluttery, music. It`s R. Free Asia via SRI LANKA during this hour only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 6297.2, have not heard LV de la RASD for at least a couple weeks at various chex after 0700 UT; is anyone hearing them morning or evening? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6295, Reflections Europe, IRELAND, 1642-, 14 Feb'10, No adjacent QRM de CLANDESTINE station Polisario Front, ALGERIA, as they've been silent on 6297 for a few days' time (while active on \\ 1550). (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Or Algeria. National Radio of Sahara Arab Democratic Republic, 6297, has not been observed here for about 2 months (Terry Toope, Newfoundland, JRC NRD-525, 75m long wire, Feb 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** YEMEN. 9780.14, at 1810 23 Jan, Republic of Yemen Radio, San`a, YL talk on counter-terrorism, low mod 1815; country rock song(!) then full ID, English, SIO 343 (Alan Pennington, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. 4965, CVC with gangbusters signal on Feb 7 from 0400 UT tune with religious songs and various prayers, devotional messages, etc. in English. SINPO 45444. Excellent sigs to past 0450 UT. One of the best sigs from CVC here in recent months. 5915, 1Africa CVC with another gangbusters signal on Feb 9 from 0430 UT tune with up-beat Christian rock and frequent announcements in English at 0500 UT when English news was scheduled, the signal took a sudden and inexplicable dive from near S5 to S2. Not sure what was going on here (Bruce W. Churchill-CA-USA, DXplorer Feb 12 via BCDX Feb 13 via DXLD) As already reported in the Zambian press, both 5915 and 6165 are off, owing to problems at the transmitter site (Chris Greenway, England, Feb 17, snippets from observations made in Nairobi earlier this month, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5915, 1Africa/CVC, *0401, Feb 15. Continues to be heard with very good reception! In English with religious programming. Will be interesting to hear what happens here once Radio Zambia/Radio One returns to the air! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) CVC scheduled on 5915 at 04-05 only; ZNBC from 0515 for the rest of the day (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** ZANZIBAR. 11735 is another signal we have not heard for quite a while; via BDXC-UK Communication as of Jan 30, Victor Goonetilleke in Sri Lanka said he had not heard it since Dec 4 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: TANZANIA --- if you have been looking for Zanzibar 11725, I am sad to say that it has been off since about 5 December. My last log is on the fourth and an entry on the seventh says not on the air, and every time since. It was a 555 signal most evenings (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, DXplorer 30 Jan via BDXC-UK Communication via WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DXLD) Zanzibar - No sign of 6015 or 11735. Still active on 585 MW (Chris Greenway, England, Feb 17, snippets from observations made in Nairobi earlier this month, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. 6045, ZBC/R. Zimbabwe, 0213-0311, Feb 15. In vernacular; DJ with African high-life singing; 0300 usual canned four-minute ID in English (drums, "Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Zimbabwe", more drums, long list of cities and FM frequencies); back to vernacular. Mostly poor. This confirms my Feb 9 “presumed” reception. Nothing on 3396. 6045, ZBC/R. Zimbabwe (presumed), 0110, Feb 16. African high-life singing; re-checked at 0125 and they seemed to be off the air; later checks also found them not there. Seems they have a very erratic schedule for 3396, 4828 and 6045! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Zimbabwe Community Radio heard on 3955 // usual 4895 (via Meyerton, SOUTH AFRICA) at 1748 light music to 1755 sign-on, contact details, 11 January, SIO 322 on 4895. I cross-checked and found the two channels //. Whether that was `lucky` and they only occasionally use the two frequencies, I have no idea! (David Morris, Dorset, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Maybe a test, or error at Meyerton? Only 4895 heard the following day at *1755 (Alan Pennington, BDXC-UK ed., ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. On Tuesday 09 February 2010 11:14:30 Fred Schroyer wrote: ``I'm hearing the 1040 het here in SW PA again -- in daytime, just as before. Strength/direction is consistent with WJTB.`` I got a positive ID on the off-frequency station today at 1700 EST. It is definitely WJTB. Case closed (Barry McLarnon, VE3JF, Ottawa, ON, Feb 25, IRCA via DXLD) The other day, I monitored this het, and it seemed to be shifting slowly up and down. So, it would seem that they are not only off- frequency, but unstable as well (Adam Myrow, MA? Feb 16, NRC-AM via DXLD) 1040.2, het on WHO, Feb 17 at 0632, first time noticed here, but source of it was quite a mystery started by Fred Schroyer in PA, eventually leading to ID by Barry McLarnon, Ont., as WJTB, North Ridgeville (Elyria) OH (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Rod Bailey can't sleep at nights, so he found a lot of Spy numbers, mostly Mossad. He picked up "Yosemite Sam" broadcast, which is a first for this Club. Let me tell you a little about it. "Yosemite Sam" is a nickname for this station, easily recognisable because the cartoon voice repeating "Varmint, I'm gonna blow yah t'smitherins [sic; that`s smithereens as spellcheck even confirms --- gh]". The station, believed to originate from SW USA has 4 frequencies, 3700, 4300, 6500, and 10500. They start on a frequency, for 10 seconds, then going to the next highest for 10 seconds, and so on. Very nice catch Rod, as I said, a first. His logs are [including]: 3700 Yosemite Sam 1600 (Alex Wellner, Fountain of Ute ed., Jan/Feb Australian DX News via DXLD) Can you tell me the date of the Yosemite Sam log by Rod Bailey? And what is his location? It was widely reported in North America from Dec 2004 to Aug 2005 but not since. 73, (Glenn to Alex, via DXLD) Rod Bailey lives in Patterson NSW, near Newcastle, about 260 km north of Sydney. Unfortunately he did not write the date, because I don`t require it from my contributors. I would say it was in January. As I wrote, this is a first in Australia, in my 45 years of listening, I never heard them. I will get his e-mail address for you, so you can contact him directly. Regards (Alex Wellner, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Consulting the DXLD Archive, first item mentioning Yosemite Sam was in 4-189, Dec 23, 2004; and the last in 5-137, August 14, 2005, plus numerous issues betwixt. It was traced to a sensitive facility in a remote area of New Mexico. Is YS really back on the air? 1600 UT = 9 am local would be a bit late even in January for much of an 80m signal to make it to Australia. Of course, any ham could easily pose as an imposter YS. But Chuck Bolland in March 2005 mentioned that he used to hear it in the 1980s on 3700, so perhaps it comes back years apart, when there is some new equipment to test? I certainly have not noticed it on 3700 but I normally scan past there only around 06-07 and 14-15 UT. I think YS was mainly active in the daytime (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, I would hardly think that this could be the 'real' Yosemite Sam come calling again as you may recall it was via a government contractor or sub-contractor and once discovered it was shut down. But, stranger things have happened on the shortwave bands as you and I both know! (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Rod, I was reading of your Yosemite Sam log in ADXN. Could you give me more details, such as the date, confirm the time, mode, anything else said. Did you try the other frequencies? I haven`t seen any reports of this in North America since August 2005. Thanks, (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, The date was Monday 11/01/10 at 1600 hours UT. This is 3 am local time here, so the bands are normally quiet and conditions on the night were excellent. I heard a very quick data burst with what sounded like compressed morse in it and I was in usb mode. I did not hear the 'varmint' signature. I had heard 'noise' at the same time on 3700 twice previously, but had discounted it as just that, 'noise'. I have not heard anything on the other listed frequencies. Since 11/01 I have listened about every second night to 3700 at 1600 and not heard a thing. I have been wondering, since I put in the log, if what I heard was a complete one-off reception or if the frequency is being used for the same purposes but transmitted from a site closer to Australia. I do feel that listeners in North America should spend some time listening to try to confirm that the US station is in fact operating. Thanks for the interest and regards, (Rod Bailey, NSW, Feb 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4895, Feb 15 at 0033 had a weak fluttery signal at same time I was getting Tibet/China on 4820, 4800. Could be Mongolia, especially if AIR Kurseong was not on the air; normal sign-on is 0055, and Jose Jacob monitoring in late January said it had been off the air lately (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Things that go beep --- 1738-1800+, 2/14; I'm getting a Beeping that zero beats on 5799, 5886, 5974, 6064, 6155, 6247. The 5974 one seems to be the strongest -- peaking at about 10 db over S9, and rarely dipping below S8. It appears to be cycling at about 22 beeps per minute, but they are not EVENLY spaced, and it has been going for over an hour now (Kenneth Zichi, MI, MARE Tipsheet via Harold Frodge, DXLD) 1940, 2/14; Nothing on any of the freqs KZ mentioned, BUT...found 22 beeps/min. on 7035, 7140 & 7580 checking between 7000 & 8000. All 3 gone at 2154 recheck (Harold Frodge, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 5955, Costa Rica, TIQ, or Guatemala, TGNA back on?? 0034 talk by W in Spanish, then generic LA music. W returned at 0041 and had sound bite of M reporter. Deep f/out 0039-0041. 0051-0053 M announcer sounded canned. 0054 canned announcement by M over piano music. 0056- LA music with male chorus. Obliterated by 5950 and 5960 at 0100. Still there and a little audio poking through though. Tinny audio, and not at all sounding like a major established broadcaster. Tough with who else but WYFR splattering all over. R. Netherlands here at 0900. Other than that, nothing heard in the morning to 1103. (12 Feb) GUATEMALA?? 5955, TGNA?? Already getting some LA Pops at 2323. Got a little better over the following 5 minutes. Talk by M. Mention of mañnana 2337. Chatter between M and W hosts noted after 2340. 2352 reporter sound bites. Excited talk by M at 2358 with mention of nacional, and continuing over ToH After fanfare, same W returned at 0002 and was apparently talking on phone with M reporter to 0012. Soft song to 0017, then W again. Possible mention of "la palabra" at 0023 during M talk. More soft music at 0040. 0051 canned ID by M. First word definitely sounds like "radio" and the second could very well be "Cultural". Just not quite strong enough and too much slop QRM. This station has me intrigued because of its amateurish-like audio quality. Doesn't sound at all like a major broadcaster. (12-13 Feb) (Dave Valko, PA, HCDX via DXLD) Dave Valko, PA, has been hearing an unID with amateurish-sounding tinny audio, Spanish talk and music on 5955, which used to be a Costa Rican and Guatemalan frequency, in the 2323-0051 period the last two evenings, Feb 12-13, but not heard in the mornings. So Feb 13 at 2327 I looked for it, but could only detect a very weak carrier vs big signal from WYFR English on 5950. Remember that the transmitter manufacturer ELCOR in Costa Rica has tested equipment previously around this frequency, so maybe they are sporadically at it again. At that time any reactivation of TIQ was ruled out, and TGNA seems equally unlikely. Worth further pursuit (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CLANDESTINE (to Cuba) 5955, R. República, 2339, same program as heard the last couple evenings; long live report by M with background talking and music. 2357 W with promo ". Radio República ?? Escucha nuestra programación Cuba", then another with strange SFX and alternating M and W, "Noticias, ??, radio ??sasion. R. Republica, 5-O- ?? W, radio. W ??, R. Republica 5-O-??", then yet another ID/promo. What is "5-O-??"??? Discovered I actually heard this back in Oct. 2007. (13 Feb) (Dave Valko, PA, HCDX via DXLD) What do you mean by 5-O, spoken in Spanish, cinco-cero, or English five-oh, or what? It`s an oh, not a zero you wrote (gh, DXLD) 5955, trying to pull something out of this weak unID again Feb 15 at several chex between 0000 and 0057, but just too much WYFR splash from 5950, and also from RRI Spanish 5960 especially when it`s playing music, which is often. Dave Valko`s third report on this 25 hours earlier says he heard Radio República IDs, and it was previously logged by him in Oct 2007. Here`s a pertinent log from 2008y: ``CUBA [non]. 5955, *0100-0125, CLANDESTINE, 25+28.06, R. República, via Nauen, Germany, Spanish ID, talk about Cuba and Colombia, interview about internet, 54554; still on 5955 until 30.06! Different program on 6155! (Anker Petersen, AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 m longwire in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD 8-075)`` So has that relay started again, or is it now a peanut-whistle in Central America like 11600? No sign of jamming, so the DCJC must not have heard 5955 yet; and if DXers really have to dig for it, hard to imagine it having any impact among general Cuban listeners (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See CUBA [non]. República now on 9490 UNIDENTIFIED. 6010, steady S9+10 open carrier Feb 12 at 1515-1516*, and could barely imagine XEOI underneath. Similar level to Australia 5995 but it was not so steady. Likely North American source, such as Greenville or maybe Sackville? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6074, 8GAL check Feb 16 at 1400: V/CQ marker started slightly before the Russian 6075 timesignal ended, and 8GAL was just barely audible. Could not really copy the ID this time, but presumed, altho on at least one rare occasion in the past, a different tactical CW ID came thru (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Hi, I was receiving an unID religious station in English tonight on 6295 kHz. Seemed to close at 1900 UT, after ending a program from Moments of Inspiration, Benyon, Texas. 6295 suffering from a piece of broadband splash from Egypt 6290 (spreading 50 kHz each side of 6290). I never noticed anything like this on 6295 before, I wonder if is originates from a pirate in Ireland, South Europe or America. Any input most welcome. Best of DX! (Geir Stokkeland, Norway, Feb 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Geir, American pirates don`t usually appear in this range, but Irish/British ones do. Googling around I see four different ones have been reported recently (Glenn to Geir, ibid.) You listened Reflections Europe http://www.reflectionseurope.com Moments of Inspiration http://www.moiradio.com/?CID=29075 (Roberto Scaglione, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) Thank you! Only Sundays, that is why I don´t hear them on other weekdays (Geir, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 6375: I have been hearing a daily broadcast on 6375.0 from 1800-1900 since December 20. (Today, Feb. 13, it went until 1910, the first variation noted.) Programming consists of lots of talk by a man and woman (alternating), with a mixture of western style pop and Arab-style music, as well as Muslim call to prayer. I have not been able to ID the language. There is no indication of jamming. Reception is usually barely above the noise, but occasionally a little better. I usually hang out in a European pirate chat room when I am listening, and only once in two months has one listener heard this station, so it appears to consistently bounce over Europe (Terry Toope, Newfoundland, JRC NRD-525, 75m long wire, Feb 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) My guess would be a leapfrog mixing product from a transmitter site inside the 49 m band. Look for // audio on any frequency there and see if there is another transmitter at same site, not necessarily with same program, halfway between that and 6375. Or you might be able to find a match by consulting the online frequency references and then confirm by monitoring (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Absolutely regular carriers cutting on and off every five seconds in this pattern, as monitored Feb 17 at 0612: 6719.5 at 00-01 second, pause half a second, 6720.4 at 01:30-02:30, pause for two and a half seconds, resume. With BFO one can choose whatever pitch of alternating tones is most satisfying. So what is this all about? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NOT like 5799, etc., above UNIDENTIFIED [non]. 6925, music at 1422 Feb 13, no doubt a pirate. Carrier may have been reduced but hard to tell underneath ChiCom OTH radar 6890-7000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Probably this: 6925, PIRATE (No. Am.) WMPR, 1405–1435+, 2/13/10. Pleasant techno music with ID’s at 1416 & 1425. Fair. Also 2250, 2/13/10. Techno music, off 2259 (Mark Taylor, Madison WI, R-75, Winradio g313e, Eton E1, Satllit 800, Kaito 1103; 2 Flextennas, EWE, attic mounted Flextenna, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 7235, BBC, 0256-0301, Feb 5, English/listed Swahili. English loop; "This is the BBC. There are no programs on this channel at present. Details of all our services are at BBCworldservice.com". At 0300, music bit; 5+1 pips into listed BBC Meyerton relay in Swahili with ID and news re Burundi; smooth transition at 0300 leads me to presume announcement loop was also via Meyerton (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale NH, NRD-545, RX-350D, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. After hearing about the station on 9515 at 1900 (via UK) via WOR-1499, heard no trace of this station on checks at 19-20 on 2/13 and 2/14 (Joe Hanlon, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re UNIDentified. B-09 Schedule of VT Communications Relays. Pt 3 of 3: 1900-2000 on 9515 SKN 300 kW / 095 deg to WeAs Farsi Sat-Mon --- cancelled (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 15 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED [and non]. 9540, steady S9+20 open carrier, Feb 11 at 1254. Nothing significant scheduled now or after 1300 on frequency. Makes me suspect the new Radio Nacional de Venezuela site in Calabozo could be testing, as 9540 was the frequency of the original non- bolivarian RNV/Voz de Venezuela years ago. Zero news out of Venezuela about how the new project is going, but it is now two months past a previously publicized target date of December 2009. Meanwhile, RNV via CUBA was running as usual on 11705 before 1300. It`s also conceivable that RNV would switch frequencies which have been Cuba relays without notice to direct transmissions, once possible. Since RNV announces imaginary times and frequencies, never admitting that they are via Cuba, it may be hard to tell the difference (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11550, at 1630 4 Jan, African-clandestine sounding, talk in vernacular, mentioned Sudan, Chad, etc.; slightly variable and unstable carrier, possibly a transmitter spur. Checked daily since but not heard, SIO 232 (Dave Kenny, Caversham, Berks., Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Wish we had known about this in less than 5 weeks. But here we would have a hard time hearing anything but WEWN on 11550, and at this hour Taiwan in English is also scheduled, frequency slightly off which we can sometimes hear hetting Mother (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 17450, another of my occasional logs of the ear- splitting whine centered here, which with BFO on, one can tell consists of multiple carriers within each kHz beating against each other, from 17420 to 17490, Feb 13 at 1502. What and where in the world is it? 17450, ear-piercing wide-band, multi-carrier whine reported earlier Feb 13 was still/again going at 2234 recheck. It isn`t heard every day, but when it is, makes its mark. I am quite sure it is not local but ionospherically propagated, so how about some other observations and explanations? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) When it is weaker, it is much less broad-band ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ SUPER DUPER THE SUPREME 1500 ! Dear Glenn, Dear mr. Hauser, many years ago when in Bulgaria there were many active DXers and we discussed about the quality of the content of info in the world's DX programmes, we were of common opinion: the main and the most usefullest DX programme is World of Radio. In those years and now, always H.F.! Congratulations for the Jubillee WOR # 1500 from all DXers in Bulgaria, long live and good health during the next 1500 editions and more! With 73s, (Rumen Pankov, Ognyan, Christo, Gancho, Bulgaria) This weekend marks another milestone in Glenn Hauser's era as "America's Shortwave Anchorman" -- the 1500th release of his World of Radio DX program. I've listened to all but a few airings of his show since its shortwave debut on WRNO (the rock station) from New Orleans, way back in March 1982, and it`s been a staple of DXers and radio hobbyists ever since. From his in-depth analysis of stations to harmonics to that difficult catch from a distant part of the world, it was, and still is, one show a DXer could not forget to tune in each week. Nowadays, this show is one of a vanishing few true DX shows left on the shortwave bands, and we are lucky that Glenn is among those that are keeping the spirit of the shortwave DX hobby alive, through his years of research and monitoring experiences that he provides to listeners around the globe. Congrats to Glenn on all the effort you do for the radio-listening public -- now in various forms including on-air, online and via podcasting (Joe Hanlon, NJ) Congratulations on WOR 1500! Outstanding contribution to the SW listening community! (Ron Howard, Monterey CA) Congratulations on WOR #1500 (William T Hassig, Mt Prospect IL, with a check in the mail to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702 WORLD OF RADIO 1500) In Celebration of 1500 episodes --- I have been listening weekly for the last 6 months. I download and listen on my blackberry again and again (Nicholas Feliccia with a contribution via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com WORLD OF RADIO 1500) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ STATION ADDRESS REFERENCE, P- and E-MAIL Puedes encontrar información sobre direcciones y emails de emisoras en: http://www.mundodx.net/portada_agendadx.asp Cordialmente, (Tomás Méndez, QTH: El Prat de Llobregat-Barcelona España, noticiasdx yg via DXLD) BLOG DX DESDE COLOMBIA Hola Colegas, Con mucho por hacer y todo por aprender, he comenzado la realización de un blog personal sobre nuestra afición; el interés es dar a conocer algo de mi labor en el DX y del material gráfico y sonoro que he recopilado durante 23 años de recorrer el mundo a través de la radio. Confío en poder actualizarlo varias veces cada mes, y por este medio brindar la información y novedades que la sintonía de la radio siempre nos depara. Buen DX (Rafael Rodriguez R., http://dxdesdecolombia.blogspot.com/ Bogota D.C. - COLOMBIA, playdx yg via DXLD) ITU MONITORING LOGS Glenn, Some of your listeners might be interested in perusing the logs of the ITU monitoring stations. An interesting survey and a possible reference tool going back several years. Here's the link to the .pdf files http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/terrestrial/monitoring/files/pdffiles/ and a link to their main page. http://www.itu.int/en/pages/default.aspx (Brian Crow, Pittsburgh, Feb 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, we have outpointed this before and I have it bookmarked, but haven`t had the time to plough thru them, with a lot of extraneous data. One needs to carefully understand the abbreviation system in the introduxion. One might find clues to some unIDs, utility or broadcast and worth doing searches; however in the past we have also found some mistaxes by these professional monitors which we amateurs would not have made (gh, DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ Special Message from Bill Finn re: SWLFest 2010 WINTER SWL FEST FORUMS SCHEDULE (Final…. At least we think so.) All times EST. All forums 60 min. unless otherwise noted. Friday 5 March 2010 0900 – Netbooks, Smartphones and Cloud Computing: New Tools for the Hobby (Skip Arey) - The forward thinking DXer needs to run with the times and use all the tools available. Uncle Skip covers the new technologies and how it can and does help us to play radio better. 1015 – The Free Radio Forum (George Zeller) - The volume of “pirate” broadcasting set new records during the past year. Learn how to hear these intriguing signals--even during the Fest, if one were to know. This year we are pleased to feature a veteran of licensed broadcasting and the Free Radio Network, Pat Murphy, as well as a representative from WBCQ, the chief 50 KW relay source for pirate radio programming via the Area 51 block on 5110 kHz. License optional. [90 min.] 1330 – Scanning for Fun and Profit (Tom Swisher) - Join those lovable (?!) scamps, the Scum, for an exploration of the wide and varied possibilities from DC to Daylight. It could be anything, so stay tuned... 1500 - SW and Ham Radio in WWII (Lisa Spahr) – The author discusses her book, World War II Radio Heroes: Letters of Compassion, about the Short-Wave Amateur Monitors Club (SWAM). More than 60 short-wave listeners and hams sent word to her family that her grandfather had been taken prisoner in N. Africa in 1943. Spahr set out to find them and highlight their role. 1630 - Archiving Radio: Documenting the Present, Perserving the Past (Dan Robinson) - Richard Cuff, David Goren, Dan Robinson, and Michael Pool explore the art and history of capturing the sounds of the medium and shortwave bands, using examples from their personal archives. Topics include: Recording techniques and equipment; time-shifted listening; rescue & preservation of collections; online repositories; thoughts about establishing a permanent home for medium & shortwave audio recordings. 2030 - The Shortwave Shindig, formerly The Listening Lounge (David Goren) - Can a Listening Lounge by any other name sound as sweet? 10-4 Good Buddy! Grab a quart of your favorite tuning oil and open your ears to the finest in archival audio. We'll have a roundup of the most interesting sounds of the past year featuring Radio Zanzibar, Iran's Voice of Justice, Radio Canada 's Northern Quebec Service, All India Radio, as well as stations from Brazil , Bolivia , and Peru . But wait! There's more! We'll also feature audio memorials for radio-art pioneers Maryanne Amacher, & Max Neuhaus; live musical performances from Saul Brody, Skip Arey, Marty Peck, and Jack Widner; plus special presentations and gems from the Shortwaveology archives. [Warning Could last til dawn.] Saturday, 6 March 2010 0900 - Global Tuner Network/Remote Internet Radios (Tim Lemmon) - Tim explains and demonstrates the many benefits of FREE online Internet radios for all who can't receive shortwave from their homes. The audience will decide which global radios to use, and what frequencies to hear. He’ll wrap up with a live two-way HF contact using an Internet remote base radio. 1030 - International TV DXing via the Web (Joe Buch) - The growing availability of broadband internet access now allows those of us who once tried to listen to foreign SW news broadcasts to view English language TV newscasts from places like Canada, Ireland, BBC, Russia, China, France, and (if you pull your blinds and turn out the lights) the infamous Al Jazeera. All this is free with a low speed DSL connection, no antennas, and a netbook computer that sells for less than some SW radios. Learn how easy it is in this live demonstration. 1330 – The Radio St. Helena Project (Robert Kipp) - Live from Europe via Skype, Robert discusses the radio construction project on St. Helena, takes us on a visit to the BBC Ascension Island relay, and perhaps even a little sightseeing on St. Helena and Ascension. If all goes according to plan, you might even be able to ask Robert a few questions and thank him personally for Radio St. Helena Day. [75 min.] 1515 - Radio Free Asia - Today and in the Future (AJ Janitschek) - Many (hopefully all) of you have heard of Radio Free Asia. Here is your chance to hear it from one of their own. Find out more about RFA’s frequencies, QSL cards, and jamming but don’t ask about the location of their transmitter sites! (Aw, go ahead. Ask.) [45 min.] (via Free Radio Weekly Feb 13 via DXLD) MUSEA See also USA: DIXON +++++ HEAR IT NOW: A LOOK AT SEATTLE'S RADIO HISTORY By FELIKS BANEL, SPECIAL TO SEATTLEPI.COM Seattle's most powerful radio stations - those affiliated with the best-known national networks - are located all over the place these days. NPR affiliates KUOW and KPLU have studios in the University District and Belltown, respectively. PRI affiliate KBCS broadcasts from the campus of Bellevue College. CBS affiliate KIRO is on Eastlake, while ABC affiliate KOMO is at Fourth and Denny. But it wasn't always this way. Because of limitations of the original transcontinental cable that brought network programs to Seattle in radio's heyday, the city's most powerful stations in the 1930s and 1940s were all gathered in a now forgotten few square blocks downtown, in buildings that are all still standing. . . URL: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/415324_radio13.html (via Dan Say, BC, DXLD) TINY TRAP +++++++++ The Tiny Trap Strikes Again Hello Glenn, Tom Ashbrook of "On Point", on NPR, referring to Greece's financial crisis, today called the country "tiny Greece." I think of Luxembourg as being tiny, though I just read it covers almost 1000 sq. miles, so it's not even that small. I've never thought of Greece as tiny. Maybe its economy is relatively small compared to Germany's, but it still physically covers quite a bit of ground, including many islands (Eric Bryan, Feb 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Matthew Algeo, author of a book about Harry S Truman`s road trip after he was president, on BookTV, UT Feb 16 after 0400, referred to Mali as being a ``small landlocked country in west Africa``, and Bamako as a place whose location neither he (nor anyone else in his audience now) knew when he and his wife were assigned there by the USDOS in the last century. Axually, Mali is one of the larger countries in Africa, much larger than its neighbors along the coast, which possibly someone has heard of (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ A special REQUEST - from a Turkish friend I received this special request from a Turkish friend: Arkadasim, my friend, I would like to ask (everybody) if you could type for country: TURKIYE instead of Turkey, for language: Turkce instead of Turkish, for the nation: Turks instead of Turkish. I am going to start a movement, already a movement out there, to make that change on this not linguistic but actually polityical issue. Sincerely, Sevdegel Kevser Atanurhan Bayrak, Milwaukee USA (Steve Wiseblood, TX, Feb 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) How odd. Perhaps he could explain exactly why he wants this; what is the political significance? It seems rather like Ivory Coast insisting that even in English we call it Côte d`Ivoire, which despite my love affair with accents, I don`t think we should have to do. Speaking of which, should it not be Türkiye? (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Türkiye would be correct, to be exact. It is a bit like using the names that they call THEMSELVES in their country and demand that we AMERICANS use their country name rather than the one that we use (wrong as it may be) such as our name for INDIA, rather than their name Bha-rat Gan.ara-jya (Steven Wiseblood, ibid.) I think Glenn nailed it. This sounds like a case of one man banging a drum simply so he can draw attention. I haven't seen a mad rush of any Germans demanding that we Americans start calling Germany "Deutschland" or of any folks from Spain insisting that we should now refer to their country as "Espana" (with the tilde over the n, of course, my keyboard won't type it that way). But methinks this might be starting to drift OT... 73, (Rick Dau, Omaha, Neb., ibid.) Hi Steven! This is a nice idea from your friend, but I think it's not very useful in an international Usergroup which communicates in the englisch language. I also would like more to hear that you talk about "Deutschland" instead of "Germany", "deutsch" instead of "german", and "München" instead of "Munich". Probably the Austrians would like more to hear "Österreich" and the swizz people "Schweiz". There are a lot of nations that have different Names in the English Language. That has nothing to do with politics or repressions or so. For me its just the name in the english language, not more and it would be much more difficult to translate everything into and from different languages to be probably "political correct". Greetings from Deutschland ;-) and 73's, (Stephan Schaa, dxldyg via DXLD) Well, at the risk of being a curmudgeon, this will probably not happen for your friend. I am a stamp collector, and I know that people who speak a different language use different words for their particular part of the world. But while I understand the love people have of their country, the English language has already decided that Turkey is Turkey -- yes the stamps say Turkiye, but we tend to Anglicize everything. We don't call Hungary "Magyar" and we don't call Israel "Yisrael" and we don't call Germany "Deutschland" — the names that were chosen may not be perfect (the transliteration of China's cities has changed, for example -- what was once Peiping is now Beijing, which is closer to what the Chinese sounds are) but our custom dictates what we call things. I know your friend wants to make a political point, but most of us are probably not very eager to get into nationalistic discussions about what names are used in that country. Somehow, I think Turkey will remain Turkey in most English-speaking parts of the world (Donna Halper, ABDX via DXLD) You can work so hard at not offending people that you can stress out about it. A poster on another board got all bent out of shape when you called something a Spanish station - "it is a language and not a format". It made me want to scream - "lighten up dude!" Turkey is a wonderful country full of friendly, warm people and interesting places to go. I felt safe everywhere I went, unlike some other middle Eastern countries full of anti-Christian bigots. At least when I was growing up - Turkey had this wonderful 2 million watt AM signal that is a bit hard to miss, even from the US. I haven't tried for it in years - is it still on the air? (Bruce Carter, ibid.) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See also ALASKA! COSTA RICA; INDIA; ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ INTERNATIONAL VACUUM; POLAND Re: And how many DRM radios are there in America? Let's see, find a receiver with an IF output jack, get a downconverter box to step the 455 KHz or so IF down to 12 KHz, download DRM software, get said download to work properly, feed 12 KHz IF into a computer soundcard, fiddle, tune in, fiddle some more ... :) Yup, Joe and Jane Disco will be burning the midnight oil and jumping through the hoops for this I know :) (Phil Rafuse, PEI, Feb 14, ABDX via DXLD) DISCO PALACE DRM: 6015 kHz at 1400, ID: "The Disco Palace" (A06021), Issoudun (actual carrier switched on at 45 seconds late), pop music - "If I can't have you" by Yvonne Elliman, then Star Wars theme by Meco (disco version, not the John Williams one). Canned, sung ID at 1415: "All night, feel the music - Disco Palace", then back into music - Dr Hook (When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman). Bit Rate: 20.96 kbps Stereo; SNR 22 dB; Last track/album info given at end of song, in info box (using Dream software). Website given as http://www.thediscopalace.com and email as info @ thediscopalace.com Some very brief dropouts at the beginning, like the signal was being clipped - may be software related but not noticed on any other DRM signal, seemed to settle down after about 5-10 minutes. 73, (Sean Gilbert, International Editor - WRTH (World Radio TV Handbook) http://www.wrth.com Web: http://www.hfradio.org.uk RX : Racal RA1792 + Dream software ANT : ALA1530 @ 3m, Feb 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- IBOC See also USA KFAQ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ COMMENT ON THE FM HD RADIO POWER INCREASE Re Paul McLane's editorial in Radio World [see URL below]: http://www.radioworld.com/article/94498 What Mr. McLane and the FCC don't tell us is the Dark Side of HD FM. Not a word. They don't say anything about digital-to -analog interference to your OWN station that NPR Labs found, for instance, and how this interference will help speed the end of analog FM. It's as if we are shooting ourselves in the foot with this HD power increase. Managers need to wake up and ask questions. HD FM has a number of problems. There is a big gap between what the FCC and Mr. McLane and saying and what we engineers in the trenches have found and our corporations have kept us from saying. Name withheld upon request (CGC Communicator Feb 15 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ GRUNDIG G8 ON SALE From a RadioShack flyer received this week: Until Feb. 27, the Grundig G8/Traveller II SW receiver is on sale at $49.99 (Joe Hanlon, NJ, Feb 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ GEOMAGNETIC INDICES Compiled by: Phil Bytheway Geomagnetic Summary January 1 2010 through January 31 2010 Tabulated from email status daily. Date Flux A K Space Wx 1 75 1 2 no storms 2 78 0 0 no storms 3 76 3 0 no storms 4 73 2 0 no storms 5 77 1 0 no storms 6 77 0 0 no storms 7 78 0 0 no storms 8 77 1 0 no storms 9 82 0 0 no storms 10 84 2 0 no storms 11 89 8 1 no storms 12 93 4 2 no storms 13 91 5 1 no storms 14 90 3 0 no storms 15 85 2 1 no storms 16 84 1 0 no storms 17 83 2 1 no storms 18 82 2 1 no storms 19 84 1 0 minor 20 81 9 3 minor 21 83 5 0 no storms 22 82 3 2 no storms 23 85 5 1 no storms 24 85 4 0 no storms 25 81 4 1 no storms 26 80 2 0 no storms 27 78 1 1 no storms 28 76 3 0 no storms 29 73 1 1 no storms 30 75 4 2 no storms 31 75 3 1 no storms (IRCA DX Monitor Feb 13 via DXLD) LONG PATH ECHOES FROM EUROPE TO EUROPE Re Nils Schiffhauer DK8OK comment about "round the world echos" [seen on Perseus screen by 138 ms delay] here in Europe especially at 06-08 and 14-15 UT range. Die 138 ms rund-um-den-Globus Echos gibt es zwar seit dem Wochenende aufgetretenen Sonnenflecken so circa zwischen 6 und 8 UT oefter, vor allem hier in St. sind die Powerstationen Wertachtal, Nauen und Issoudun zu vermerken. Heute Nachmittag so 14-15 UT waren es die gleichen Verdaechtigen mit den dicken Muckis auch, wie Wertachtal 13655, 15285, 15325; Nauen 13700, sowie auch Vatikan Radio aus Santa Maria de Galeria mit 500 kW auf 13765 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 11/12 via DXLD) See also GERMANY Re: MORE BAD NEWS FOR FM DXERS [FM HD Power increases allowed] Whether Democans or Republicrats are in power - I fully expected our do nothing FCC to simply rubber stamp whatever iBiquity wanted. So it was a non-event. As for skip - many years of careful observation has shown me that 1kW power levels simply don't make it up into the upper atmosphere very well. Almost everything I have received via E is higher power, even though there were lots of stations at lower power level in the area targeted by the E phenomenon. So - if you put ten times the power into the sidebands - sidebands that were at 1kW will now be at 10kW, and I fully expect them to skip with a vengeance. I've been pointing out for years that we are currently in a solar minimum cycle, and once we reach solar max - skip will cause massive interference on the FM band if this power increase is granted. The AM band and AM IBOC has pretty much proved out the defective nature of this system. The only thing saving FM from a similar fate is that the solar cycle has been minimal during the entire roll out of FM IBOC. Now that solar conditions are changing, by 2012 or 2013, we will see the wholesale jamming of the band. The FCC, of course, has taken no action at all to stop AM IBOC - in spite of overwhelming evidence that interference is happening. So I expect them to do nothing about massive FM interference when it happens. I did carefully controlled experiments that proved FM HD coverage was completely adequate at 1% power levels. Of course I don't have the political clout and money that NPR and other organizations do - so my findings were not important and were ignored. This is more sour grapes on the part of broadcasters with marginal licenses in horrible terrain that don't cover their audience very well even in analog. Their solution? Become blasters at power levels completely inappropriate for the conditions under which they find their coverage area, and hope and pray a minuscule 10dB increase might make a difference in environments where signal fluctuates by up to 60dB. In effect, become the equivalent of a border blaster from years past. Typical government stuff. Got a problem? Throw money at it. Got a coverage problem? Throw power at it. We just need to wait out the implosion of this system. It is a failure in the marketplace, but bad ideas like this will hang on for years, maybe decades. Slowly, as nobody listens to HD, stations will take it silent one at a time, just as they have C-Quam. One DX situation after another will improve, and sanity will once again return to radio. That is - if the public still has an appetite for radio after the massive interference storms make it unlistenable in coming years. That - is very much in doubt. HD radio is not a solution to a problem. It is a problem desperately searching for a solution. One that will never be found, because it never met a consumer need, and the engineering was defective from the start. NO amount of money or regulation can correct bad engineering. It needed to go back to the drawing board the moment problems arose. Unfortunately, the pride and arrogance of the bad engineers refused to come to that conclusion, and the result is massive interference, billions of dollars wasted. Meanwhile they continue to try to change objective reality by the force of their mental will. Good luck with that (Bruce Carter, TX, ABDX via DXLD) I could not agree more with most of your comments, except your assumption that once solar max comes the FM bands will be overloaded with DX interference. There is little if any correlation between solar peaks and sporadic E peaks --- in fact there may even be a negative correlation. It`s the F2 layer whose MUF really rises at solar max, but rarely exceeding 60 MHz, far below the FM band. 73, (Glenn Hauser, Feb 10, ibid.) Sporadic E isn't the problem, it is the tropos. I've been doing a good deal of FM DX over the last 40 years, and those seem to follow the solar cycle. It has been miserable for years, but the solar cycle should bring it back. Not to say there haven't been some nice tropos, but those usually seem more weather and time of day related in places like Florida and the Gulf Coast. Very late night after heavy rainstorms type of stuff. But the tropos have been few and far between this year even on the Gulf coast. Not anything like when the sun is active. Those strong tropos will be even more problematical for IBOC, because reception of the distant sidebands will be stable for hours, totally disrupting reception. Those 1000W sidebands aren't much of a problem - on the few occasions I've had some decent tropos, there is no HD along with the analog station, no matter how strong it is or how quiet the adjacent frequencies are. This is pretty much what I remember from years of doing this, there seems to be a threshold somewhere about a thousand watts. Stations above that ERP skip well, those under it don't make it. So if you have these 10kW sidebands, it is going to be splatter city all over the country when tropos are active. It should make for some amusing HD DX when a local analog signal gets overridden by an HD station 400 miles away. Especially if the format is very different! Think Texas where 101.1 is classical in Dallas, oldies in San Antonio, and Spanish language in Houston. All Class C on tall towers. I doubt the audiences of those particular formats will be amused when another format overrides their local station (Bruce Carter, ibid.) YES, Sporadic-E is not much of a problem down here in South TEXAS along the Gulf Coast but I have seen our LOCALS get OVER-RUN with tropo with stations as far away as Dallas. nearly 500 miles.. We have a semi-local down here on 101.1, and I've seen it get over-run with CLASSICAL music from Dallas, OLDIES from San Antonio and SPANISH from HOUSTON. This was PRE-HD of course, but a strong duct should be good enough to OVER-RUN our semi-locals (Steven Wiseblood, Boca Chica Beach, TX, ibid.) ?? Bruce would have an even harder time correlating tropo (weather- layer) DX peaks with solar max than you would sporadic E which at least involves the ionosphere. Other than anecdotes, can you cite anything definitely showing such a correlation? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) The geomagnetic field was predominantly quiet, with the exception of some brief isolated unsettled periods. Real-time solar wind observations from the ACE spacecraft showed a small increase in velocity, density and total field late on 10 February lasting partway through 11 February. However, these changes were not sufficient to increase geomagnetic activity significantly. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 17 FEBRUARY - 15 MARCH 2010 Solar activity is expected to be predominantly low with a slight chance for isolated intervals of moderate levels throughout the forecast period. Region 1048 appears to be the most likely source for elevated activity although old Region 1045 is due to return on 28 February and may also contribute to elevated activity levels. 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 17-19 February as a series of CME’s associated with activity from Regions 1045 and 1046 could possibly impact the Earth during this time frame. Quiet levels are expected to predominate for 20-28 February. An increase to unsettled with a chance for active periods is possible on 01-02 March due to a recurrent high speed stream. Activity levels are expected to return to quiet for 03-15 March. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2010 Feb 16 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 16 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2010 Feb 17 84 10 3 2010 Feb 18 84 10 3 2010 Feb 19 84 10 3 2010 Feb 20 84 5 2 2010 Feb 21 82 5 2 2010 Feb 22 82 5 2 2010 Feb 23 82 5 2 2010 Feb 24 80 5 2 2010 Feb 25 80 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 90 5 2 2010 Mar 08 90 5 2 2010 Mar 09 90 5 2 2010 Mar 10 90 5 2 2010 Mar 11 90 5 2 2010 Mar 12 90 5 2 2010 Mar 13 90 5 2 2010 Mar 14 85 5 2 2010 Mar 15 85 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1500, DXLD) ###