DX LISTENING DIGEST 10-18, May 6, 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 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 1511, May 6-12, 2010 Note: while most WWCR transmitters are back on the air, programming may be disrupted. See USA Thu 1900 WBCQ 7415 Thu 2100 WRMI 9955 Fri 0030 WRMI 9955 Fri 0330 WWRB 3185 Fri 1430 WRMI 9955 Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 0800 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 9515 [second, fourth, fifth Saturdays, maybe; but not May 8] Sat 1330 WRMI 9955 Sat 1630 WWCR2 12160 Sat 1800 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 7290 Sat 1900 WRMI 9955 Sun 0230 WWCR3 4840 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1515 WRMI 9955 Sun 1900 WRMI 9955 Sun 2330 WWCR4 9980 Mon 0330 WWCR4 5890 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Tue 1900 WBCQ 7415 Tue 2230 WRMI 9955 Wed 0030 WRMI 9955 Wed 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 1900 WBCQ 7415 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/08:00:00UTC/English/541 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org ** AFGHANISTAN. Re: Khost MW 621 kHz 200 kW Harris mediumwave unit ? Hi Glenn, I monitored 621 kHz a couple of time during the week but found no signal in my region. Nowadays reception conditions here are poor on the whole. Radio Pakistan Peshawar, which used to be heard in Lahore with moderate strength is not being heard nowadays. While many Indian stations are being heard clearly on the frequencies between 650 to 600 kHz. The stations from the western direction are not being heard in my region from last few weeks (Aslam Javaid, Lahore, Pakistan, May 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Logged VOA Deewa Radio in Pashto on 621 kHz, 2nd May during check at around 1750 UT; this is via the new MW transmitter site in Afghanistan located in Tani-Khost. A 200 kW Harris transmitter was installed recently. Schedule: 0100-0400 & 1300-1900 UT on 621 kHz in Pashto Here's an audio file : http://sites.google.com/site/alokeshgupta2/deewa_radio_voa_621_1758-1800utc_2may2010r.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1 (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, May 5, dx_sasia yg via DXLD) ** ALASKA. COAST GUARD TAKES DOWN ALASKA'S TALLEST STRUCTURE By DAN JOLING Associated Press Writer ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- The Coast Guard has knocked down Alaska's tallest structure, along with a part of its maritime and flight communications history. The agency and a private explosives company on Wednesday demolished a 1,350-foot Long Range Aids to Navigation tower on the Seward Peninsula. The tower was at the Coast Guard LORAN station at Port Clarence about 70 miles northwest of Nome. It was completed in 1961 and was the tallest tower of its kind in the country. . . http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AK_TOWER_DEMOLITION_AKOL-?SITE=RIPRJ&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-04-29-23-06-52 (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) Alaska's tallest structure demolished in explosion -------------------------------------------------- Alaska's tallest structure has been destroyed in a controlled demolition using explosives. The 411 m (1,350 ft) Long Range Aids to Navigation (LORAN) tower on the Seward Peninsula was brought crashing down. The Coast Guard, who ordered the demolition, said the tower was deteriorating and at risk of collapse. -- Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8653754.stm (via Dragan Lekic, Serbia, dxldyg via DXLD) with <1 minute video (gh) ** ALBANIA. 13640, R. Tirana, April 30 at 2012 in English, no QRM, ACI or CCI, S9+15 during music, then ``Albanian Outstanding Personalities Profile``, trouble is I couldn`t catch his name, a ``humanist`` and Catholic priest in 1474 who was at odds with the Ottomans. Maybe they mean humanitarian? After a few minutes, rest of transmission was music until 2027 goodbye, theme and cut off air before it could finish. Later, from DW news May 1 at 0615 on 7325 via Portugal, I learned that this was a big day in Tirana, a demonstration by 200,000 supporters of the Socialist opposition against the validity of last June`s elexion. I sure wish I had heard how R. Tirana itself covered that in the first 12 minutes. 7425, R. Tirana English at 0154 UT Sunday May 2, S9+25 but somewhat undermodulated, and some splash from WBCQ 7415, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALGERIA [non]. 7295, RTA via FRANCE, April 30 at 0600 from music to 5+1 timesignal 8 seconds late, then sounder and Arabic talk, perhaps news. As noted last time, from May 2 this frequency should be going off at 0600 instead of 0700 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANDORRA. Re 10-17: Hi Glenn, About Radio Andorra's stamp, here is another link. It's on page 12. http://timbres.laposte.fr/html/images/philinfo/philinfo_web_05_10.pdf Note that this stamp will be sold in the main post office in most cities in France, and also on line at: http://timbres.laposte.fr Regards from France! (Christian Ghibaudo, Nice, France, April 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. 15476, Arcángel San Gabriel con señal regular y desvanecimiento completo de señal con música, informaciones deportivas y temperatura de -18 grados en la Base Esperanza. Escucha del 23 de abril 2010. SINPO: 25222 (L. Valderas, San Antonio, chile, Federachi, BOLETÍN ESCUCHAS DEL MUNDO, MAYO 2010 via DXLD) As always, thank you Glenn. Here in California this morning (29 April 2010), LRA36 R. San Gabriel Archangel was audible on 15476 with talk/music as late as 1445z, well after local sunrise; I did not have a chance to tune in earlier, but will make a point tomorrow. Assuming this station is on the Antarctic Peninsula nearest S. America, with a nice all-water path skimming along South America's west coast, that 10 kW signal zips right on through in fine fashion! At that same time, a station on 15480 was also active but weak, but at that time and here on the West Coast of California, I'd guess it was Dem. Voice of BURMA via Yerevan, Armenia (Bruce Jensen, California, USA, ptsw yg via DXLD) [and non]. 15476, LRA36 continues to be audible every weekday morning. April 30 at 1257 with pop music, better signal than usual, past 1300. Seems they never do an ID or any announcement at this hourtop. Retune at 1312 just in time to hear an OM say ``Transmite LRA36`` but rest of ID lost in fade; then into YL speaking Spanish. They usually have a talk segment around this time. But at next2 check 1323 already back in music. At 1349 still holding up in romantic music, signal ranging from S2 to peaks at S8, but by 1353 getting too weak. Meanwhile, the ACI from Woofferton 15480 dropped at 1329 when Poland`s Russian broadcast ended, shortly back on for Belarussian, but weaker despite beam switch of only 5 degrees. By 1358 this had built up to be problematic for the Archangel (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Since I had heard LRA36 virtually every weekday for two weeks, checked Saturday May 1 just in case, but not even a carrier on 15476 or a 4- kHz het with 15480, around 1330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) For the first weekday in a fortnight, can`t hear any signal on 15476 from LRA36, Monday May 3 at 1321, nor by final check at 1418; but propagation certainly degraded on 19m, with Cubans weaker than usual, no UK on 15480, Turkey barely audible on 15450, and CRI via Sackville 15260 the only inboomer. It having been inaudible on May 3, I was eager to reconfirm LRA-36 still active on May 4, as you never know when they will vanish for months at a time; tuned in 15476 at 1204 but nothing. Just as I was fine tuning below 15480 Chinese (which is CNR1 Beijing site #572, not a jammer(!) until 1300, per Aoki), on pops the 15476 carrier at *1205, now making a nice hefty 4 kHz het, but no modulation audible. By 1240 some music is making it, with a heavy drum beat; 1252 announcement and more of same; 1300 YL talking but too weak. BTW, I see that Aoki still has not updated the sked for 15476, showing old 18-21 M-F (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15476, LRA36, Wednesday May 5 at 1228 with pop song, enough of a carrier to produce a good het with 15480. Still audible with music at 1325, but not much after that. Thursday May 6 from 1200 I sit on 15476 (or rather 15475 with BFO on), to detect exactly when LRA36 turns on its transmitter. There it goes, from *1203:21. Too weak to get any modulation now or later. Trouble is, when I do this, I miss Pomp & Circumstance from XEXQ (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 15345.2, fair signal and nothing to het against from typically off-frequency General Pacheco, UT Sunday May 2 at 0102 with promo for something on ``Nacional, la Radio``, time check for just after 22 hours local, more promos, and 0105 ``Radio Nacional Argentina presenta: Noche tras noche``. If this were a weeknight, same transmitter would be on 11710.7v instead with the RAE Japanese hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 3210 kHz, the 1 kW Pifo HCJB transmitter, Craig Allen has been busy in other areas, so as soon as he gets time, whammo, ex Schofields in Sydney’s west a new DX station. Also Symban 2368.5 currently off air, so I guess we win one, we lose one (Johno Wright, NSW, May Australian DX News via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 2310, VL8A Alice Springs NT 1040 to 1050 weak audio 2325, VL8T Tennant Creek NT 1040 to 1050 moderate audio 2485, VL8K Katherine NT 1040 to 1050 good audio, all 26 April 4910, Tennant Creek 0820 noted on 30 April, 4835 covered by W*RP [?] (Robert Wilkner, FL, May 1, Drake R8, Icom 746Pro DL, Noise Reducing antenna, 60 meter band dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. Maybe they already known but here are some links to foto images of Moosbrunn SW transmitter site http://members.aon.at/wabweb/frames/moosbrunnf.htm Wien Bisamberg MW site http://members.aon.at/wabweb/frames/bisambergf.htm (John Bernaerts, Belgium, shortwavesites yg Apr 26 via BC-DX May 1 via DXLD) The item on the Vienna-Bisamberg transmitter in bc-dx #961, quoting BDXC-UK, contains some severe mistakes, e.g.: Bisamberg transmissions came from "Reichssender Wien", not "Reichssender Linz". The 1950 mast was provided by the US Allies - a defunct mast from their Linz-Kronstorf site - but the transmitter was operated, for the "Public Broadcasting Service" by the Austrian Postal Authorities, a first token of independence in occupied Austria. "Neighbour in Need" started with 60 kW but was increased to 120 kW and even 600 kW. That the building, which has preservation order on it "serves as a Data Centre for Internet company Google. With good electrical power availability, plenty of water for cooling equipment and good flood protection, Bisamberg was seen as a good place to base a secure server centre" is absolute nonsense; the author probably was prey of April Fools' Day (Wolf Harranth OE1WHC, Documentary Archives Radio Communication) ------ Wolf Harranth OE1WHC Dokumentationsarchiv Funk (QSL Collection) ORF/QSL Argentinierstr. 30A. A-1040 Wien Archivstandort: An den Steinfeldern 4A, A-1230 Wien, Austria +43-1-50101-16071 / Mob (+43676)0676-4012585 (Apr 26) (via Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) See also POLAND [non] ** AZERBAIJAN. 9677.3, Voice of Justice. In Azeri, s/on 1301 with IS, next news and talks about "Hojala" (pse see in Wikipedia the story of this village!) and some instrumental music, address in Nagorno Karabakh Republic. IS at 1331 and close/down on 23/4. Demodulated sounds like Cairo, Pakistan etc (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria (Sony ICF 2001, Marconi), May Australian DX News via DXLD) ** BELARUS. 7265, Tentatively Belarus Radio, Brest shortwave relay seems back on air again. Was missed, a lot of weeks out of service. Noted in 1800-1830 UT slot on May 3rd, S=5-6, announcement in Belarussian / Russian followed by symphonic music concert (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, May 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM [non]. TDP PROGRAM AND FREQUENCY SCHEDULE A10 PROGRAM TIME UTC FREQ AM/DRM DAYS LANG TARGET AREA -------------------------------------------------------------------- Moj Them Radio 0130-0200 15260 AM m.w.f.. Hmong AS TAI-TWN Denge Mezopotamya 0400-1800 11530 AM mtwtfss Kurdish ME KOP-UKR Denge Mezopotamya 1800-2000 7540 AM mtwtfss Kurdish ME KOP-UKR TDP Radio 0700-0800 6015 DRM m...... English EUR ISS-F TDP Radio 0800-0900 6015 DRM .t..... English EUR ISS-F TDP Radio 0900-1000 6015 DRM ..w.... English EUR ISS-F TDP Radio 1000-1100 6015 DRM ...t... English EUR ISS-F TDP Radio 1100-1200 6015 DRM ....f.. English EUR ISS-F TDP Radio 1200-1300 6015 DRM .....s. English EUR ISS-F TDP Radio 1300-1400 6015 DRM ......s English EUR ISS-F Radio Democracia 0900-1000 21555 AM ......s Amharic AF SAM-RUS La Voix de Djibouti 1200-1300 17880 AM ...t... Somali AF SAM-RUS The Disco Palace 1400-1500 6015 DRM mtwtfss English EUR ISS-F EOTC Holy Synod R 1600-1700 15195 AM m...... Amharic AF SAM-RUS Meleket Ethiopia R 1600-1645 15195 AM ..w.... Amharic AF SAM-RUS Voice Of Asena 1730-1800 15350 AM m...f.. Tigrinya AF SAM-RUS VOf Meselna Delina 1730-1800 15350 AM .t.t.s. Tigrinya AF SAM-RUS Radio Bilal 1800-1900 15350 AM mtwtfss Amharic AF SAM-RUS TDP Radio 1900-2000 15755 DRM mtwtfss English AM BON-HOL The Disco Palace 2000-2100 15755 DRM mtwtfss English AM BON-HOL Suab Xaa Moo Zoo 2230-2300 7530 AM mtwtfss Hmong AS TAI-TWN Reception Report with return postage to : TDP c/o Ludo Maes P.O. Box 1 2310 Rijkevorsel BELGIUM Tel : +32 33 14 78 00 Mob : +32 477 477 800 Fax : +32 33 14 12 12 E-mail: Web: (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, May 5, with sites added by Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BHUTAN. 6035 kHz: I receive only Bhutan here, as it`s very much near by. Thanks & Regards, (Partha Sarathi Goswami, Siliguri – 734001, Dist. Darjeeling, West Bengal, INDIA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See MYANMAR! ** BIAFRA [non]. BTW, I still check occasionally for V. of Biafra International via WHRI during its last-known transmission which vanished in December, Friday 19-20 on 15665, including April 30, and so far have not found any surprise comeback. Have VOBI abandoned their dream of independence from those SOBs in the rest of Nigeria? We need more radio countries! Beyond the NASWA convention of once-a-country, always-a-country (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4796.41 [corrected, not 4976.41], 30.4 2345, R. Lipez. Reklam vid denna tid. Starkare vid 0200. Tydliga ID. Min första loggning med en Flag antenn!! Kul! (Arne Nilsson, Sweden? SW Bulletin May 2 via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 6134.81, Radio Santa Cruz, 0100-0112*, May 1, Spanish pops/ballads. Ads. ID announcements at 0108. Abrupt sign off during Bolivian music. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** BRAZIL. Empresários de emissoras não acreditam mais nas ondas curtas. Tanto é que desativam sem aviso. A Educadora de Limeira desativou a única frequência ativa que havia em 120 metros, ondas tropicais de 2380 kHz. Algumas emissoras internacionais estão gradativamente desativando seus TX de short waves. No ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO temos oito emissoras de ondas curtas e tropicais em atividade: Ei-las: Rádio Gazeta (49m, 31m), Rádio Bandeirantes (49m, 31m e 25m), Rádio Canção Nova (49m, 31m, 62m), Rádio Record (49m e 31m), Rádio 9 de Julho (31m), Cultura de Araraquara (90m), Rádio Meteorologia Paulista de Ibitinga (62m), Rádio Aparecida (62m, 49m, 31m). Creio que não esqueci nenhuma. Como veem, é muito pouco. Enfim, eles acham que são inúteis as ondas curtas e tropicais. Se são inúteis para a radiodifusão, são utilíssimas para os radioamadores e radiocidadãos, que crescem em número. Sinal dos tempos... 73 (Luiz Chaine Neto, Limeira SP, 30-4-2010m radioescutas yg via DXLD) Re: Ondas curtas e tropicais_abaixo assinado É lamentável Senhores e Senhoras, mas esta é a realidade que nós radioescutas globalizados e milhares de ouvintes brasileiros que residem em área rural e nem sabem o que é conectar-se à internet e fazem uso cotidiano da escuta de emissoras de ondas curtas. Os empresários nem imaginam o que estão perdendo em termos de publicidade e público alvo. Nesta lista de discussão somos um grupo de 1050 assinantes e creio que 100% são à favor da manutenção das emissoras de ondas curtas. Por que não criamos uma espécie de abaixo assinado e enviamos às emissoras que desativaram suas estações manifestando nossa insatisfação com a extinção das emissoras de ondas curtas e tropicais no Brasil e no mundo???? Se depender de mim, eis o manifesto e minha assinatura e se vc tem o interesse na continuação das ondas curtas e tropicais assine embaixo: (vamos coletar o máximo de assinaturas possíveis e sensibilizar os empresarios do setor, cada um encaminhe às emissoras abaixo relacionadas) "SOMOS ABSOUTAMENTE CONTRA A DESATIVAÇÃO DE EMISSORAS DE ONDAS CURTAS E TROPICAIS NO BRASIL POIS ELAS, ALÉM DE SEREM DE GRANDE INTERESSE DA POPULAÇÃO E DE GRANDE UTILIDADE PÚBLICA, SÃO O ÚNICO MEIO DE COMUNICAÇÃO E INFORMAÇÃO À QUE O HABITANTE DE ÁREAS LONGÍNQUAS TEM ACESSO MESMO COM TODOS OS AVANÇOS DA TECNOLOGIA DE INFORMAÇÃO E INTERNET. Abaixo-Assinado: (DAVID ELIAS NADER, Radioamador, prefixo PU4YEN, ibid.) David, É uma boa, diria ótima ideia. Muitas coisas desagradáveis acontecem porque as pessoas passivamente aceitam e se silenciam. Acho que essa inciativa é, antes de tudo, um exercício de cidadania. Por falar em cidadania, e tentando levar essa ideia um pouco mais adiante, penso que poderíamos inclusive remeter esse abaixo assinado (e outros textos em defesa das Ondas Curtas/Tropicais) às autoridades locais dessas emissoras que abandonaram as HF, para que de, uma forma ou de outra, prestem alguma forma de subvenção ou isenção de impostos para que elas continuem no ar, levando a imagem da cidade ao resto do país e do mundo. Em âmbito federal, por que não, de certa forma, tentar enquadrar uma espécie de Lei Rouanet para as rádio emissoras de OC? Afinal é uma atividade cultura de alto gabarito! Está lançada a ideia ... Forte abraço, 73 (Fabricio Andrade Silva, Tubarão, SC, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. Re 10-17: what was the time Rdif. Roraima was logged? Amigo Glenn, Esqueci de digitar a hora, a escuta foi às 0245 UT, 26/04/10. Dia 28 tentei mas não escutei às 0230. Neste momento 0215 01/05/10 está em 4875 mas con sinal S-2. 73 (Rogildo Fontenelle Aragão, Quillacollo, Bolivia, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4875.52, Brasil, Rdif Roraima, Boa Vista, 0945, Portuguese om 26 April. [Muito obrigado a Rogildo F. Aragão para a sua audição original correto da rádio], 2330 on 28 April, 1030 on 29 April. [Wilkner & XM Cedar Key] (Robert Wilkner, FL, May 1, Drake R8, Icom 746Pro DL, Noise Reducing antenna, 60 meter band dipole, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4875.4, Rádio Difusora Roraima, 0337-0404* Apr 29, Man with religious sounding talk in Portuguese. At 0356 studio man announcer with ID and quick announcement. Back to presumed preacher for a few minutes before the man announcer returned with ID and closedown announcements. Soft instrumental music bridge until choral national anthem. Reactivation (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 May 2 via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DXLD) 4875.5, R. Roraima (ID as "R. Difusora" which I typically abbreviate as "Difª), Boa Vista RR, 2247-2306, 30 Apr'10, songs, chatter, ID, A Voz do Brasil at 2300; 35332 (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4875.481, 30.4 2235, R Roraima reaktiverad, fin mx och tydligt och klart ID “R Roraima, Boa Vista …” på nya Flag-antennen i 300 gr. 3 (Thomas Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin May 2 via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 6000, Radio Guaíba, Porto Alegre, RS back to 49 meterband frequency. Reported at 11 UT on May 01st with a report about MERCOSUR actuality. Good signal (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DXLD) BRASIL, 6000, Radio Guaíba, Porto Alegre, RS, retornó a su frecuencia habitual de 49 metros. Reportada alrededor de las 11 UT del 01 de Mayo de 2010 con un espacio dedicado a resaltar novedades del Mercosur. Buena calidad de señal en la zona del Rio de la Plata (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 10000, 30/4 2125 Observatório Nacional - Rio de Janeiro, Portuguese ID e pip pip, buono (Roberto Pavanello, Vercelli - Italia, via Roberto Scaglione, shortwave yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 11735.92, Radio Transmundial, Santa Maria, 2000-2010*, May 1, presumed with Portuguese talk by man and woman. Abrupt sign off. Poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** BRAZIL. 11925.1v, R. Bandeirantes, fair May 4 at 0518 giving 2:18 time-check, Brazilian talk, no need for ID (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. DRM TESTS FROM BRAZIL ON 26040 KHZ The Brazilian Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL) has issued an authorization to the Padre Anchieta Foundation, an organization that develops educational radio and television programmes, for the testing of DRM. Tests will be done on 26.040 MHz, with a bandwidth between 10 kHz and 20 kHz, in São Paulo. The tests will be conducted over a period of one year but may be extended, and aim to support a decision about the standard to be adopted by the country. The experiment will be suspended if harmful interference occurs to licensed radio stations. At the end of March, a decree published by the Ministry of Communications announced the technical guidelines for deciding what digital radio system will be deployed in Brazil. One of the requirements is that the standard to be adopted covers both the AM and FM systems to ensure that the consumer does not have to buy two different receivers. According to the Ministry of Communications, so far the two systems tested - DRM and IBOC - did not meet all the technical requirements. According to the tests already carried out, the digital systems in the world today do not produce a quality far superior to that of FM analogue. DRM has the advantage of being an open system, which opens the possibility of technology transfer. The US standard IBOC (In-Band-On- Channel) already tested in Brazil, besides depending on the payment of royalties its use, also presents difficulties for transmissions on medium and short wave, where there is greater interest on the part of the government (Source: Padre Anchieta Foundation) (May 6th, 2010 - 11:58 UT, by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) PAF operates the R. Cultura, 9615, ex/inactive 17815 and 6170, with two separate programs; I often listen to the classical one on webcast. So far all the 11-meter DRM experiments have been quite low power (1 kW or less?), but under the right conditions can skip out DXwise (gh) ** CANADA. 6160, May 2 at 0600, CBC News with slight echo and rippling SAH, so CKZN and CKZU both in at this time. Normally programming is 4 hours apart except for certain hourtop national newscasts. The least CBC could do would be to: zero-beat the two transmitters with each other; and: synchronize the network program feeds (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [non]. RUSSIA, BVB summer schedule A-10 changes. Ex 5945. http://www.biblevoice.org/listings/china China 1 Sunday 1145-1215 English 7245 kHz 100 kW Khabarovsk Sunday 1215-1230 Cantonese 7245 kHz 100 kW Khabarovsk Monday 1200-1215 Mandarin 7245 kHz 100 kW Khabarovsk Monday 1215-1230 Cantonese 7245 kHz 100 kW Khabarovsk Tuesday 1200-1215 Mandarin 7245 kHz 100 kW Khabarovsk Tuesday 1215-1230 Cantonese 7245 kHz 100 kW Khabarovsk Wednesday 1215-1230 Cantonese 7245 kHz 100 kW Khabarovsk Thursday 1215-1230 Cantonese 7245 kHz 100 kW Khabarovsk Friday 1200-1230 Cantonese 7245 kHz 100 kW Khabarovsk Saturday 1145-1215 English 7245 kHz 100 kW Khabarovsk 1215-1230 Cantonese 7245 kHz 100 kW Khabarovsk All our Shortwave Programs are available for internet listening at http://www.biblevoice.org Select Listen and then Language and/or the Broadcaster Name. Programmers love to hear from you directly! Send your reports to or mail to: BVB P O Box 425, Station E Toronto, Ontario Canada M6H 4E3 (BVB, April 28, via BC-DX May 1 via DXLD) ** CHILE. I have been complaining for months about the dirty mushy spurs the CVC transmitter on 11920 put out varying plus/minus 20 kHz during the HCJB Kulina and Portuguese relay at 2245-2445. A few weeks ago, asked CVC HQ in England how much longer would it take them to fix it? No reply, but they finally have! May 1 at 2316 I find the usual good signal on 11920 in Portuguese, but no sign of any spur around 11900, which had been heard again on 11897.6 only a few days ago, April 24 as in DXLD 10-17. Nor around 11940, tho at this hour, it could have been masked by the DentroCuban Jamming Command against Martí still running centered on 11930 but with jampulses as far as 11940; more about that under CUBA. That`s the good news. Now the bad news: a different spur problem from CVC Chile: UT May 2 at 0142 between 11795 and 11825 I am hearing extremely distorted and loud music spur spixe centered maybe on 11810, hard to tell; could be 11815. A transmitter on one of those frequencies drastically malfunxioning? As always with such spurs, tune around the band on another receiver looking for a match in the modulation. And I find it: 11665, with the heavily modulated gospel rock CVC plays incessantly. Yes, that`s where it is coming from, so is there another spur equidistant below 11665? Yes! Can make out same circa 11510, but this is competing with another spur, WEWN`s 10-kHz one from English on 11520. Catholix vs Christian Visionaries! These CVC spurs may be nothing new as I seldom bandscan during this timeperiod. But if old, why have I not seen any reports of them; does no one else care? But then hardly anyone else reported the 11920 spurs. All three were gone at 0227 check as 11665 closes at 0200. Probably always happening at 23-02 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) After discovering on May 1 that CVC had lost spurs from 11920 but added them from 11665, I recheck May 2 at 2337, this time on portable so they don`t sound as pervasive, but still spiking roughly 11810- 11830 from 11665, and trace on 11510 vs spur from WEWN 11520; and yes, 11920 still clean with no HCJB spurs around 11900 or 11940 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 6035, PBS Yunnan/Voice of Shangri-La, 1400, April 30. Pips and the standard ID in English; “This is the Voice of Shangri-La, brought to you by Yunnan Radio”; this is the first time I have heard this other than at 1300; usually 1400 has very strong adjacent QRM that completely blocks out Yunnan. Myanmar was not here today. May 2, at 1212 heard decent signal in Vietnamese; Myanmar not here today and could not make out anything from Bhutan. 6060, PBS-2 Sichuan, 1505-1515*, April 29. Non-stop indigenous instrumental music; fair; // 7225; suddenly went off the air. 9705 (ex: 5075). Voice of Pujiang via Shanghai, 1209, May 2. The first day here on their summer frequency; fair; their other frequencies remain the same; // 3280 and 4950 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also MYANMAR! ** CHINA [non]. 4220, Qinghai PBS. Found to be off-the-air during random checking from 1210 to 1335 on May 1, 2 and 3. I asked Sei-ichi Hasegawa to please confirm this and he also found them not broadcasting on May 3. Thank you Sei-ichi for the confirmation! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Re: Yunnan QSY 6973 to 7210 kHz from May 1 --- Yunnan PBS Minority language service which planned QSY to 7210 kHz, it is a stay on 6937 kHz at 1130UT on May 2. 6973 was mistyped; correct is 6937 kHz (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, May 2, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I can't receive Yunnan PBS minority language service on 6937 kHz today. I was able to receive it until yesterday. Probably, I think that QSY to 7210 kHz, but not confirm by heavy QRM of VOV-1 on same frequency (S. Hasegawa, Japan, May 4, NDXC, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 4940, Voice of Strait, 1211-1355, April 30. Special programming; live audio feed from the opening ceremonies of the Shanghai Expo; in Chinese, English and French; was just the audio feed with no announcers (unlike the CNR-1 coverage, which had their own commentary in Chinese over the basic live feed); no station ID in English at 1300 as normally heard; fair. Interesting Expo numbers: The cost will be more than twice what Beijing spent on the Olympics and they will limit daily admissions to just 800,000 persons! 4940, Voice of Strait, 1300, May 6. Pips; assume Chinese ID followed by “This is the Voice of Taiwan Strait News Radio”. This ID is consistently given at 1300; fair. Please listen to the brief audio attachment [in the dxldyg]. (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 5010, Guangxi Beibu Bay Radio (BBR), randomly from 1321 to about 1400, May 5. A new frequency for them! In Vietnamese with EZL pop songs; BoH multi-language IDs and mention of “Top Music”; fair to good with no AIR QRM; after 1400 heard back on their normal 5050. Possibly their new schedule is being on 5010 till 1400, then 1400 to 1600* up on 5050. It makes sense for them to move away from 5050, due to the domination there of China Huayi BC (signs off at 1300), but why move to 5010? AIR Thiruv. is now totally covered till 1400. Needs more monitoring to confirm just what their new schedule is. (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5050, Guangxi Beibu Bay Radio (BBR), 1205, May 6. Back to their normal frequency! Buried underneath a much stronger China Huayi BC. So yesterdays broadcast on 5010 was just an anomaly or was it a trial run of some type? Sei-ichi Hasegawa (Japan) confirms hearing them yesterday on 5010 till 1405, when they moved up to their usual 5050 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. CRI advance publicity said it would be broadcasting live coverage in English of the opening of Shanghai Expo, April 30 at 12-14 UT. So I look around for it at 1225. Unfortunately, there are no English relays via Canada or Cuba during this hour. At 1227 I do find 11825 with an official speaking in English about how great the Expo will be for the world at large, and then he says some more words in Chinese, presumably consecutively translating himself. Thank god for CNR1 jammers, of which 11825 is one, vs VOA Chinese via Philippines, itself inaudible. // 11785 and many other frequencies. At 1234 played a bit of Blue Danube, rather incongruous on the Huangpu. Surely the Expo special will be on the 1300 English relays? No, at 1305, 9650 via Canada is in ordinary China Drive program from Beijing! With heavy QRM from RNW in Dutch via Philippines. And so is // 9570 via Cuba, with usual defective modulation. Talking about irrelevant weather in Beijing alternating English and Chinese. So much for that. Also, 11805 has an open carrier at 1229 so I stand by for what`s next: at 1230 sharp, CNR1 echo jamming starts at exactly the same time as VOA Chinese starts, scheduled oddly from the half-hour via Thailand. Here both are audible, but the jamming atop, of course. At least this is // 11825 et al., with the Shanghai special (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Firedrake scan 0318 to 0338, April 30. Only found two; 12600 // 12970, both fair. Unusual to find so few! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake April 30: 15730, fair at 1315, aside Sweden 15735, but what`s to jam on 15730? Today`s edition of Aoki does not show anything, except Sound of Hope on 15750 varies 15700-15795, so probably jumped here today, altho supposedly in a break at 13-14 between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan sites. 13100, fair at 1310 12600, good at 1310 10440, good at 1318 with het from something, ute? 10300, poor at 1318, much weaker than 10440, why? Not found anywhere else 8-19 MHz, not even 8400 at 1323. Former regular spot 9000 has not been heard for several weeks. Firedrake May 1: 10240, good at 1320, unusual frequency 10440, equally good at 1320 12600, fair at 1326 12960, good at 1326, not on 12970 or 12950 today 13970, good at 1326 None others found 8-19 MHz. However, checking 15540 at 1332 I hear weak CNR1 jamming // much stronger 15285 and 15265; nothing else audible on 15540, so I wonder if V. of Tibet`s expanded broadcast is really contracted now out of this timeslot. But unlike their teeny weeny DentroCuban comrades, the ChiCom are pretty astute at avoiding jamming against nothing, even if we can`t hear the victim. And at 1434 I find a poor and fluttery CNR1 on 17560 // 15285. This is to jam V. of Tibet due northeast from MADAGASCAR at 1400-1430, unheard. As of today this VOT broadcast is at 1400-1430 only, ex 1330- 1430 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11575, CHINA, Firedrake at very good level, heard between 1650 and 1750. May 1 (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Eton E1 and AN- 1 active antenna, listening from my car, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nothing likely to be jammed on 11575, except this in Aoki: 11565*SOH Xi Wang Zhi Sheng 1600-1630 1234567 Chinese 100 131 Tashkent UZB 06909E 4113N SOH a10 11500-11590 [varies] (gh, DXLD) Propagation from E Asia was quite degraded the morning of May 2: the only Firedrake I could find 9-18 MHz was 12950, just barely audible at 1345. However: 11590 // 11605 at 1234 May 2 in Chinese, presumably CNR1 jammers. You know your station has a PR problem when the first assumption of anyone hearing it is that it`s a jammer rather than a legitimate transmission. But do the ChiCom care? Of course not! The urgency for jamming into oblivion any outside news or opinion trumps everything else. Uplooked later in Aoki, yes, both are jammers against RFA`s Tibetan service via Kuwait and Tinian respectively. Firedrake May 3: propagation is subpar, and can only find poor signals at 1326 on 12980, 12600, none audible above or below in the usual spots between 8 and 18 MHz. The former jumps frequency from day to day, also heard recently on 12970, 12960, 12950 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Seldom heard Firedrake music jamming against US propaganda stations, but today May 3rd came back on this music sound instead of echo word jamming. Noted against RFA Mandarin service on 9540 17-19 Tinian S=9+30dB, 9905 15-18 KHBN Palau, 7355 against TWN, 11700 18-20 Tinian, 13625 17-22 Tinian. 17560, Mandarin echo talk jamming against VoTibet Madagascar, latter which was not heard here in Europe, 1330-1430 UT May 3rd (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, May 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake May 4: 8400, no sign of any at 1145 and later chex; nor 9000 9150, fair-good at 1145 10970, good at 1148 11420, good at 1148 12960, poor at 1306 13300, poor at 1210 None others found in the 8-18 MHz range. However, 15795 again with CNR1 jamming, May 4 at 1211, // other CNR1 jammers on 11785 et al. No trace of AIR Mandarin service underneath 15795. [and non]. Firedrake May 5: 14900, poor at 1234 13320, fair at 1235 13300, fair at 1320, but modulation cutting on and off, unusual 12980, good at 1319 12960, poor at 1236 12600, fair at 1319 11460, poor at 1318 and 1340 10420, fair at 1318 and 1340 10300, fair at 1239 9355, good at 1242; against what? VOA and RFA use this frequency a lot but are supposedly taking a break during this hour. At 1344 no FD, but VOA Cantonese via SAIPAN. 8400, nothing today, nor any heard above 14900. Note to editors who cannot afford so much white space: please insert semicolon after each frequency-line rather than running them together. 15435, May 5 at 1325 weak talk marred by varying het, presumably today`s frequency for V. of Tibet via UAE at 1330-1400 listed by Aoki on 15430? However, Romania`s Chinese service is on 15435 at 1300-1330, so it would be surprising if the ChiCom are now jamming that deliberately rather than VOT, or warming up for same (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake May 6: 14920, poor at 1334 13970, JBA at 1335 12960, good at 1335, and NOT // 14920 and 12600. (I have not been checking assiduously for non-// Firedraxe, but they occasionally happen, from a different playback of the 60-minute show, and this was obvious when confirming frequencies on two different receivers.) 12600, poor at 1337 10440, poor at 1339 9150, fair at 1342 None others found 8-18 MHz. A somewhat different set would have been in use during the previous hour or the following hour. E Asian reception was overall not very good this morning. Except: 11990, at 1402 May 6, CNR1 with VG signal, not echoey like jammer on // 11805. Why is it on 11990? VOA in Chinese, of course! Aoki says via Novosibirsk, RUSSIA at 13-15; there was no trace of it audible here underneath the jamming by the wicked mind-control-freak ChiCom. SWPC: ``Solar-terrestrial indices for 05 May follow. Solar flux 83 and mid-latitude A-index 6. The mid-latitude K-index at 1500 UTC on 06 May was 2 (15 nT). Space weather for the past 24 hours has been minor. Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level occurred. No space weather storms are expected for the next 24 hours.`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 10-17: ``Firedrake, lots of them April 23: at 1325 fair with flutter on 13970, but no other `970s --- is that a Falun Gong ``lucky number``, as someone suggested frequencies are picked on that basis?`` http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_in_Chinese_culture The "pirate" SoH would pick frequencies like 18160, 18180 - I think they were all "lucky number" frequencies. 73, (Brett/p Graham, Hong Kong, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. Clandestine QSL: SOUND OF HOPE RADIO NETWORK, 8400 kHz, Cartolina QSL in 35 giorni. RP: 1$. QTH: P. O. Box 70456 - Sunnyvale CA 94086 (USA). Inviato CD MP3 (Luca Botto Fiora, Italy, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** CHINA. XINHUA ENGLISH TV STARTS TRIAL BROADCASTS TOMORROW China’s official Xinhua news agency will launch a 24-hour, global English TV service that will be broadcast via satellites, cable systems, the Internet and cell phones. The English TV service will be produced by China Network Corporation (CNC), which is affiliated to Xinhua. A ceremony was held in Beijing today to mark the start of a trial broadcast scheduled for tomorrow. After a trial operation of two months, the English service will be officially launched on 1 July. Backed by the local and overseas Xinhua correspondents network, CNC aimed to quickly respond to major news events in China and abroad, and provide objective, comprehensive, in-depth and multi-dimensional news analysis, Xinhua President Li Congjun said. He said: “CNC will offer an alternative source of information for a global audience and aims to promote peace and development by interpreting the world in a global perspective.” CNC’s programmes include World News, China Report, Business News, Lifestyles, and news magazine programmes, such as China View and Click On Today, as well as feature programmes such as World Perspective and Global Visitors. (Source: Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union) Andy Sennitt comments: This probably explains why CCTV 9 relaunched as CCTV News on Monday of this week. It appears there is a battle going on between CCTV and Xinhua to deliver global news from a Chinese perspective. One wonders whether the two services are supported by competing factions within the Chinese hierarchy, or whether China simply wants to give the appearance of press freedom by having two networks ostensibly competing with each other (April 30th, 2010 - 11:52 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) 2 Comments on “Xinhua English TV starts trial broadcasts tomorrow” #1 andi on Apr 30th, 2010 at 12:55 China really wants to promote its image abroad. Is there really a big audience for this kind of stuff? #2 Keith Perron on Apr 30th, 2010 at 14:22 Both budgets some from the same departments of the Ministry Of Culture, Ministry Of Propaganda, and the State Council. If Xinhua English will be seen in any markets except China I really wonder. Something people don’t know is this would make three satellite news channels from China. Yes you heard me correct, 3. CCTV 9 Xinhua English TV and China Radio International TV. China Radio International TV was launched around the same time as DW- TV. They broadcast 24/7 in Mandarin, Cantonese and English. They have a budget of 80million RMB (around 12 million Euros). Staffed by 1409 people. With a huge audience of …………………….. Or maybe only 1409 people. If anything, Andy said it best, “appearance of press freedom by having two networks ostensibly competing with each other”. Why would they start such a thing? Well, the other answer is to create jobs. The government is under lots of pressure to create jobs. And if you look at the history of other communist governments like the USSR, GDR and others, they did the same. Just expect to see an announcement coming up soon about a second international broadcaster from China. I’m not kidding. The Beijing Radio Corp., which own Beijing Music Radio, Beijing Traffic Radio, Beijing Sports Radio, Radio 774, and many others put on the table a plan at the last National People’s Congress to launch a 24[/7?] international radio service called China Worldwide. The service will broadcast in Mandarin and English 24/7 and will include 30 other languages including Dutch (Media Network blog comments via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 6010v, LV de tu Conciencia, Puerto Lleras, 0425-0450, May 2, local music. Spanish announcements. Short English ID at 0432 as “The Voice of Your Conscience”. Spanish talk. Fair to good signal strength but kept drifting up and down between 6010.04 - 6010.08. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** CUBA. Quick Study: World's Most Dangerous Leaders South-of-the-Border Boss Men Raúl Castro, Country: Cuba, Came to Power: 2008 from Reader's Digest - December 2008 He may be new to the role, but Raúl has apprenticed with brother Fidel since the Cuban revolution, the 1959 uprising that saw the murder of thousands and put all private property in Communist hands. Raúl's rise to headman brought no joy to the streets of Havana. There remain some 230 political prisoners in custody, subject to beatings and other inhumane treatment. There is no free press, and unauthorized gatherings of more than three people can lead to jail time. "In terms of human rights violations in Latin America, Cuba is in a league by itself," says Peter DeShazo of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. (from http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/quick-study-worlds-most-dangerous-leaders/article107242.html via DXLD) ** CUBA. LIBERTAD DE PRENSA EN CUBA --- Dos blogueros conversan con voanoticias.com sobre la libertad de prensa y censura en la isla. Iscar [sic] Blanco - Washington, DC | voanoticias.com Desde que comencé supe que atreverse a opinar libremente tiene un costo personal y social muy grande. Sin embargo, creo que precisamente hacerlo es lo que me ha protegido para llegar hasta aquí”, comentó Sánchez. El próximo lunes 3 de mayo se celebrará el Día Mundial de la Libertad de Prensa y para ello, voanoticias.com conversó con la bloguera cubana, Yoani Sánchez, sobre la libertad de prensa en Cuba. Según Sánchez, la tarea de escribir un blog desde Cuba no ha sido una tarea fácil. “Desde que comencé supe que atreverse a opinar libremente tiene un costo personal y social muy grande. Sin embargo, creo que precisamente hacerlo es lo que me ha protegido para llegar hasta aquí”, comentó Sánchez en entrevista telefónica. Sánchez, quien mantiene su blog “GeneraciónY”, conversó además sobre cómo logró comunicarse con el presidente de Estados Unidos y recibir una respuesta del mandatario. “Envié un cuestionario de siete preguntas no solamente al presidente Obama sino también al presidente Castro, con preguntas principalmente sobre el tema de las relaciones bilaterales. El presidente de mi país no me ha respondido todavía pero respondió el señor. Obama, porque creo que él es todavía un presidente que conversa con sus ciudadanos, evidentemente en Cuba el poder no mira hacia abajo”, dijo Sánchez. También conversamos con Reinaldo Escobar, esposo de Yoani, sobre lo difícil que es, en pleno siglo 21, trabajar en la internet en Cuba. “Un ciudadano cubano no puede ir a una oficina a pedir una conexión de internet doméstica en su casa, eso no existe, las únicas personas que tienen algo similar a una conexión de internet son oficiales de alto rango, o algunos periodistas oficiales que tienen el privilegio de tener una conexión en sus casas”, nos explicó Reinaldo. La entrevista completa estará a su disposición este lunes tres de mayo. aqui: http://www1.voanews.com/spanish/news/ Libertad de prensa en Cuba | América Latina | Spanish http://bit.ly/bwz8tE (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, noticiasdx yg via DXLD) RECOMIENDAN FUSIÓN DE RADIO Y TV MARTÍ CON LA VOZ DE AMÉRICA - Ultimas noticias - ElNuevoHerald. com_ Por JUAN O. TAMAYO Varios senadores demócratas recomendaron el lunes trasladar Radio y TV Martí de Miami a Washington y que su operación se fusione con la Voz de América, debido a su escaso impacto y audiencia dentro de Cuba. "Es decepcionante que después de 18 años Radio y TV Martí no hayan conseguido hacer avance discernible alguno en la sociedad cubana o influido en el gobierno cubano'', dijo el senador John Kerry, presidente de la Comisión de Relaciones Exteriores del Senado, al publicar un informe de la plantilla demócrata de dicha comisión. . . http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2010/05/03/711009/recomiendan-fusion-de-radio-y.html Cordiales 73 (via Oscar de Céspedes, FL, condiglist yg via DXLD) U.S. MEDIA CAMPAIGN HAS FAILED TO INFLUENCE CUBA, SENATORS SAY http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/03/AR2010050304426_pf.html (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) EE.UU: RADIO Y TV MARTÍ, UN "FIASCO" DE COSTOS DESMESURADOS Por Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, 4 may (IPS) - Las transmisiones radiales y televisivas de Estados Unidos hacia Cuba no consiguieron más que una audiencia raquítica y un efecto político nulo en la isla de régimen socialista. Eso sí, se comieron casi 700 millones de dólares en 27 años. Ese es el diagnóstico estampado en un informe del Comité de Relaciones Exteriores del Senado de Estados Unidos. . . Fuente: http://www.ipsenespanol.net/nota.asp?idnews=95326 (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia) When Radio Martí went on the air in 1985, its studios were located in Washington, and its ID included "un servicio de la Voz de los Estados Unidos de América," i.e., a service of VOA. Later, the VOA connection was dropped, and Radio and TV Martí moved to Miami in 1996. The Senate report would have the Martís move back to Washington and resume their affiliation with VOA. Also peculiar is the statement "spend less money on measuring audience size and focus more on quality programming." When assessing the performance of international broadcasting, members of Congress almost always first ask how many listener (or viewers) a service has. Will quality of programming now be determined by members of Congress rather than the less-often-measured audience? That would be an effective way to eliminate what's left of the audience, but, never mind, there may be no measurements to document that disappearance. Consolidation in US international broadcasting is a good thing, so more combination of effort between Radio/TV Martí and VOA would result in some refreshing efficiency. However, the Radio/TV Martí studio facility in Miami was constructed at considerable expense, so it might not make sense to abandon it immediately. In the meantime, the advantages of covering Latin America from Miami versus Washington can be assessed (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Accompanying many other items about this, linked via: http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=8873 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. 9780, R. República via Sackville. Spanish broadcast IDing as Radio República. Good level with some noise 0356 on 1/4, off 0359 (Gavin Hellyer, Ararat Vic (Yaesu FRG-8800, 80m Longwire, 30m Loop NSEW 6m High, Yaesu FRT-7700 ATU), May Australian DX News via DXLD) What is your source for this being via Sackville? As we have reported, the signal here is much inferior to the one on 9490 before 0200 which we know is Sackville, even capable of overcoming jamming. Perhaps the source was Aoki which claims 9780 is Sackville, and RMI. Yet Jeff White had told me he knew nothing about this transmission, altho he is responsible for the 9490 one. Perhaps Aoki just assumes it has to be Sackville, brokered by RMI. Nor is the 9780 broadcast in HFCC, strongly suggesting it is ``veiled`` by VTC as they have done in the past, likely a UK site (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. 9780, DentroCuban Jamming Command pulsing at rate of 128/minute, lower-pitched than usual, May 5 at 1337. Here because of R. República which uses 9780 only at 02-04! Now there is something collateral under the jamming, per Aoki, Taiwan in Chinese, which also gets direct jamming from China (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. RHC anomalies May 1-2: at 2305, I notice that 5040 is missing, altho 5025 Rebelde is audible. 5040 is supposedly the only frequency for the 23-24 UT English broadcast, o no! I continued bandscanning from top down, noting the other usual RHC frequencies, none of them with English. Finally at 2332 I come across 6060, and there it is, RHC English while 5040 is still absent. Not very strong on 6060 and has some ACI splash from REE in French on 6055. At 2337 start DXers Unlimited, with Item #1, DTV makes Es TVDX less productive. At 0003 check, 6060 is now in RHC French, which would also have been on 5040 which is still silent. But now on 6060 there is something underneath. Could be Argentina or Brasil, but at 0013 I hear the RHC news sounder, // 6110. So not one, but two RHC transmissions are on 6060 by mistake, or not? Audio mix on one transmitter? 6060 supposedly does not start until 0500 in English per current schedule. Meanwhile, at 2331 I noticed that 5970 was also missing. This one is not supposed to start until 0100, but has really been running as early as 2300, colliding with RNW Bonaire 2300-2330 in Dutch, and which just caused them to move to 6140 (which is an ex-RHC frequency). Unfortunately I tuned in a bit too late to confirm whether RNW had yet made the switch, which tonight would have been unnecessary anyway! 5970 was however on by my next check at 0003, in Spanish, // 6000, 6110, 6120. 5040 had finally come on sometime before 0228 when I find it in Spanish. Suspect it was another case of slopperation at site, no one noticing they had the wrong frequency running, eventually rectified. OR, one transmitter down, so another substituted on another frequency? Now observations of the DentroCuban Jamming Command, May 1-UT May 2: at 2317 after looking for CVC spur around 11920, I notice that the two jammed frequencies 11930 Martí and 11970 VOA make for a mesh of jamspurs all the way between them. The only signal which can compete, but not completely override the pulsing is 11955 in Spanish, but it dumps off the air at 2318-2319; carrier returns first and modulation resumes a few sex later, about art in Romanian monasteries; hmmm, I`ll bet it`s RRI as scheduled this hour via Tiganeshti. At 0049 there is still heavy jamming on VOA frequencies 5890, 9885 and 11970, the DCJC too stupid to pick up on the fact that the VOA Spanish service stops at 0000 UT on weekends. Countless kW are wasted instead of feeding starving Cubans. 9780 also with heavy jamming at 0215 May 2, perhaps a trace of R. República audio underneath. At 1532 May 2 checking for Aló, Presidente relays of Venezuela, none of those, but RHC itself active with rather weak signals on 11730, 11760, 12030, 15380, the last clashing at about equal level with listed R. Ashna via Wertachtal. Rogue jamspurs from DCJC: May 3 at 1237 centered about 7658, fading in and out; could originate from 7405 blast against Martí; pulsing at the rate of 4 per second. Exactly same rate on 12020 at 1328, also weak. This could come from 11845. 12020 is of course a deliberate RHC frequency later in the day. We would dearly like to know whether any of the noise/pulse jamming comes from RHC`s broadcast sites, but will have to wait for the counter- revolutionary era, with RadioCuba exposed. DCJC pulsing at 0515 May 4 on 9780, 9490, 9460, i.e. against nothing, since República, República and Martí finish with these frequencies earlier in evening. At same time, slower rate but stronger pulsing and other noise on 9955 against WRMI, which presumably is on the air but also with no need to be jammed after 0500, airing WRN English starting with Israel. Nice to hear the 13580 RHC spur again, May 4 at 1305 which I have not noticed for a while, altho very poor signal, this time was unusually a bit stronger than its twin, 13880, both of which are leapfrogs of 13680 and 13780 over each other, and of course those two were inbooming. See also USA: Martí Once again, RHC DXers Unlimited shows up at the wrong time: UT Wed May 5 at 0520 I come upon it in progress, best on 6010, next undermodulated 5970, and worst 6060, weak with Spain ACI de 6055. Arnie was already at Item 5, so close to the end. Must have started circa 0505 instead of 0535. Playback operator mixed up two half-hour tapes? May 6 at 1406 I notice that both RHC 22m frequencies, tho quite strong, have co-channel QRM. 13680 has it worse, something in Russian, i.e. R. Liberty via Rampisham, UK, at 62 degrees during this hour only. On 13780 it`s Deutsche Welle in German via Woofferton, UK, at 107 degrees also overlapping RHC this hour only. As an outlaw nation, Cuban usage is not in HFCC, so the RL and DW frequency managers may not have even considered it; tho in their own targets RHC may be no problem, unlike vice versa. In which case: serves the Cuban commies right for jamming VOA and other US broadcasts deliberately rather than accidentally (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CYPRUS. 9920-9945, OTH radar pulses, presumed from here, May 1 at 2327; main victim is 9935 in Spanish which is YFR via GUF, so who cares? Over-the-horizon radar pulses covering 25 kHz, presumed from here, May 1 at 1329, poor on 14555-14580 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DJIBOUTI [non]. Note that LV Djibouti has a new time and frequency, [see BELGIUM [non] TDP A-10 schedule] still on Thursdays only, but now at 1200-1300 on 17880, ex 1530-1630 on 15165. Wolfgang Bueschel has researched the transmitter sites and 17880 he says is Samara, Russia. (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) TDP gives the only language as Somali; I would hazard a guess that French is also used; Afar? (gh, ibid.) ** EGYPT. 11590, R. Cairo, at 2313 May 1 at S9+20 signal but just barely modulated with ME music. I daringly turn the volume all the way up, and that makes it sound about normal level, but risky vs fades, noise, interference, and occasional spixe in the modulation itself to higher level, but nowhere near normal. This is the so-called Western North American service in English at 2300-2430, followed by four hours of Arabic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. Re 10-17: I've not heard Radio Africa in 15190 that time of night [April 29 around 0600] here in California (maybe a SSB het if I bothered to look), but it's always present and frequently readable local afternoons around these parts (Bruce Jensen, California, USA, ptsw yg via DXLD) ** ERITREA. 4710 Voice of the Broad Masses (as per Mauno Ritola's tip), 1831-1907, 29 Apr'10, Vernacular, HoA songs; \\ 7100, 7185; 25342. Not audible since. 7100 ditto (presumed), 1808-1848, 28 Apr'10, Vernacular, talks, music; \\ 7185; 22431 (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Had been on 4700 (gh) ** ERITREA. Quick Study: World's Most Dangerous Leaders ISAIAS AFWERKI, COUNTRY: ERITREA, CAME TO POWER: 1993 from Reader's Digest - December 2008 Afwerki may be the most ruthless ruler you've never heard of. He's been described as "mercurial" and "autocratic." "One questions his emotional approach to issues," says Princeton Lyman, former U.S. ambassador to South Africa. Afwerki's human rights record reads like a how-to manual for aspiring dictators: no opposition parties, no rule of law, no unapproved religions. An unknown number of political prisoners have disappeared into secret jails. The president won a unique distinction last year: Eritrea ranked 169th out of 169 countries in a Reporters Without Borders press-freedom index. (from http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/quick-study-worlds-most-dangerous-leaders/article107242-1.html via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. Radio Fana, is active this evening on 6890 from 0255 UT with IS, ID at 0301, then possible news, 5/5 (Brandon Jordan, TN, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Is it often inactive? (gh) ** ETHIOPIA [and non]. VOA LAUNCHES NEWS ON ARABSAT FOR ETHIOPIA AND THE REGION IN THREE LANGUAGES Voice of America announced Wednesday the start-up of a new satellite transmission of many of its Africa language broadcasts, giving the Horn of Africa broadcasts in Afan Oromo, Amharic and Tigrigna prime evening listening time on the 24-hour schedule. Ethiopians and Eritreans with access to satellite television on Arabsat, the region`s most popular satellite, can now hear the clear and complete broadcast of daily news from our reporters on the ground, and from our international broadcasters in Washington, D.C. This audio transmission of VOA's shortwave air shows will display as VOA Africa 24 in a list of available channels. Listeners can tune into the audio of VOA's regular live Monday- through-Friday broadcasts of Afan Oromo at 8:30 p.m., Amharic at 9 p.m. and Tigrigna at 10 p.m. and the Amharic Breakfast Show at 6 a.m. These evening broadcasts will be repeated immediately following the live broadcasts. The Breakfast Show will be repeated at 7 a.m. On weekends, you will also hear the regular broadcasts on Saturday at 9 p.m. of the Amharic broadcast of the popular Ya Musica Qana and featured panel discussions and live broadcast of Radio Magazine at 9 p.m. on Sundays. [insert caption here] Instructions for accessing our new audio channel are as follows: Satellite: Arabsat 26% East Downlink Frequency: 11.938 GHz FEC: 3/4 Symbol Rate: 27.5 MSym/s Downlink Polarization: Vertical VC: 544/1L and 1R Voice of America, which has been airing news to Ethiopia in language for more than 27 years, is proud to offer our listeners in Ethiopia this new way of getting the best of Ethiopian and international news. (VOA via Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, May 2, dxldyg via DXLD) Why go to all that trouble for a few satellite downlinkers? Oh yeah: AN OPEN LETTER TO ETHIOPIAN LISTENERS ON WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY PRESS RELEASE - The Voice of America is deeply concerned about the actions taken in late February to jam the shortwave broadcasts of VOA news in Afaan Oromoo, Amharic, and Tigrigna and to block access to VOA web sites in these languages. We have stated publicly that we are opposed to all efforts to interfere with the free flow of news and information. While we hope to work with the Ethiopian Government to resolve the issues behind the jamming, our broadcasters in Washington and in Ethiopia continue to work diligently to bring you balanced reports, timely news, and major events in Amharic, Afaan Oromoo, and Tigrigna. And, we will bring you full coverage of Ethiopia’s national elections. . . https://author.voanews.com/english/About/2010-05-03-ethiopia- statement.cfm (VOA via DXLD) WTFK on SW? Not in the press release; who cares? 17565 now also jammed --- Hi Glenn, Ethiopia/USA: I tuned in again today, 01 MAY, at 1800 to 17565 kHz. The carrier came on at 1759, shortly jumping into a program in what seemed to be an African language with music. After a short break, it was in fact the VOA Amharic Service that started with an ID and information about the Arabsat relay. I started a recording at 1814 when an interview was going on. At 1818, the jamming signal appeared with a strong signal, modulated with noise. I had checked the parallel frequencies before, of which at least 12140 kHz and 13870 kHz showed similar jamming phenomena. On 17565, the jamming is only partly effective, as most of the modulation gets through in spite of it, while one may doubt about its effectiveness in the target area. That's it for today, have a good Sunday. 73s & good DX (Robert Foerster, Germany, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOA services in Oromo, Amharic, and Tigrigna at 1730-1930 UT were subject of hiss jamming today May 3rd. Noted Oromo at 1730-1800 and hiss on all three 11925, 12140, and 13870[not 13780 as typo on VOA website). Amharic at 1800 UT and annoying hiss noise on 9620, 11925, 11975, 12140, 13835, 13870, and 15730 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, May 3, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. WHAT NEXT FOR VOA AMHARIC? -- By Hindessa Abdul 05/04/10 Jammin’ In what seems to be a brazen move against a major donor, Ethiopian Prime Minister Mr Meles Zenawi decided to jam Voice of America (VOA). A voice that was part of the Ethiopian airwaves for almost three decades. The PM accused VOA of “engaging in destabilizing propaganda.” It even went further as to compare the Washington DC based broadcaster to Radio Mille Collines of Rwanda of the early 1990s fame which is considered to be the voice of génocidaires. The announcement didn’t come as surprise for the transmission was jammed as of February. But it was a pleasure hearing it from the horses own mouth. Don’t envy the spokesperson When VOA audience in Addis first complained about the poor quality of transmission, it was clear the government was interfering. However the spokesperson, Mr Shimeles Kemal, was adamant in denying it. "This is a baseless allegation," he said first. On another occasion “the Ethiopian government does not support the policy of restricting foreign broadcasting services in the country. Such practices are prohibited in our constitution.” Then days later “Ethiopia has a constitution which outlaws any act by any official organ to restrict the dissemination of broadcast material from abroad.” His boss need not want to beat around the bush. He never cared for what Mr Shimeles had been insisting all along. He was not only blunt to tell the U.S., which blesses the regime with 1 billion dollar annually, that he was jamming them, he even went as far to explaining about the timetables. Then the poor spokesperson had no option except to swallow his pride and say VOA “has repeatedly broadcast programs and statements that tend to incite, foment hatred between different ethnic groups." The director’s reaction, ”VOA deplores jamming and any other form of censorship of the media”, was hardly a deterrent. Mr Danforth Austin was rather angry at the comparison with the Rwandan radio than the actual jamming, since he has almost 50 language services to worry about. Neither the jamming nor the obsession with everything pre-1994 Rwanda is not new. In 2005 Ethiopia not only jammed the VOA, they even charged five of the journalists of the station with genocide. In 2008 the broadcaster was jammed again. Authorities also put pressure by threatening to deny accreditation to the Addis based journalists. Some of the correspondents are not new to the security forces. Mr Meleskachew Amha was brutally beaten during the 2005 elections. More recently he was detained on dubious charges. Ironically, Ethiopian officials still give interviews to the broadcaster. VOA journalists are still accredited and working. It seems the Ethiopian government doesn’t know what it really wants to do. VOA Voice of America is government funded broadcaster that has been set up during the Second World War to counter anti U.S. propaganda. Its role during the cold war was immense. It has played a significant role in bringing down the Iron Curtain. With an annual budget of around $ 200 million, it broadcasts 1,500 hours of programming in 49 languages. Amharic being one of them. The Amharic service of the Voice of America was launched in 1982 when the Mengistu regime was decidedly in power, with its ideology oriented towards Marxism and more importantly after it pledged allegiance to the Soviet Union camp. Back then it was one of the few sources of alternative news in otherwise a completely isolated country. With the ascent of EPRDF/TPLF to power, the VOA’s role seemed to be fading. As private newspapers were mushrooming and a lot of other alternative news sources emerging, many can be forgiven for writing VOA off the radar. But as it turns out, the journey has only begun. Good bye VOA? Now the all evident fact on the ground: VOA is disappearing from the Ethiopian airwaves. If the recent email sent to its subscribers is an indication, the Voice seems to have lost the battle, not the war though. In the email dated April 26 VOA confirms “service has been recently interrupted by the Ethiopian government.” It also states: “they have blocked access to our Horn of Africa website for all who live in Ethiopia”. For the moment the calculation as clearly put by the Economist “the Voice of America does more harm inside the country than outside criticism of his censorship” seems to be working. According to audience researches 11-20 percent of adult Ethiopians tune to the radio station. That is a tremendous amount of audience thrown into the news blackout. Ethiopians in Diaspora still enjoy listening to the broadcaster. VOA is certainly serving as a platform of exchanging views and ideas among the Diaspora also. But the ultimate target is the 80 million strong population who has rarely enjoyed the benefit of free media. ”other alternatives” In a desperate bid to outmaneuver Ethiopian jammers, VOA announced the addition of shortwave frequencies, launching of morning shows and the commencement of satellite transmission. It communicated to its audience technical terms and numbers which can rather be understood by the staff at Sululta Satellite Station. Some may as well prefer the blackout than have to decipher those figures. Of course VOA is exploring ”other alternatives”. In an editorial entitled Silence not golden in Ethiopia, VOA insists the United States is “a friend and supporter of Ethiopia”. That diplomatic tone didn’t seem to impress the rulers in Addis. As part of the rhetoric of not repeating the mistakes of May 2005, the regime in Addis will continue to jam the voice until after the elections. It is clear that the U.S. is currently held hostage of a regime it propped up with massive military and economic aid under the misguided assumption of “an ally on war on terror”. What should be clear is that that money is also being used to jam U.S. radios and web services. Lessons to draw • VOA cannot continue depending on traditional means of broadcasting • VOA can also expect more sophisticated ways of jamming and filtering from Ethiopia, in large part thanks to the Chinese assistance. Chinese have long become champions of web filtering. • On the positive note though, the regime in Ethiopian cannot continue blocking access to news media. It may create temporary problems like what we are experiencing now. But it will not have the financial and technical abilities to hold on to this kind of behavior for long time. • It is also time for the U.S. to think about upholding its core values of democracy and rule of law, even when it comes to a corner 12 thousand kilometers away. Source: http://nazret.com/blog/index.php?blog=15&title=ethiopia_what_next_for_voa_amharic&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. Ethiopian hiss on 15195 kHz, 16-17 UT today May 3rd Last year in A-09 TDP had this service to Ethiopia, on 15195 kHz via Samara Russia - only Mondays - 1600-1700 UT EOTC Holy Synod Radio http://www.eotcholysynod.org/ But only hiss sound noted here in southern Germany today. Signal from Samara is usually weak here. Our DXers in Greece and Cyprus, Zacharias and Costas will have more powerful signals on their sets. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, May 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This was reported in DXLDs 10-09, 10-10, 10-11 and 10-12. In 10-11, two Okies heard it as late as March 15, one with jamming, the other without (gh, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. According to Ginbot 7 homepage http://www.ginbot7.org/ operates in ham band: Dimts Radio, 0600-0630 and 1700-1730 UT, 6100, 7140, 7175 and 7185 kHz (Tue, Thu and Sat) (S. Hasegawa, Japan, May 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Especially 7175 and 7185 have been reported lately in the radio war with jamming. These bands indicate closer site (ERITREA?) than as in WRTH 2010 Ginbot 7, Samara, Russia on higher frequencies (gh, DXLD) I guess they use the Eritrean transmitters which are noted to hop around these frequencies. 6100 is news to me, 6200 has been recently used by Eritrea. 73, (Jari Savolainen, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) http://www.ginbot7.org/ has a +44 GB number, +44 203 286 9661 against ETHIOPIA`s present government http://www.addisdimts.com/aboutus.html ``Addis Dimts Radio provides diverse cultural and political perspectives for all Ethiopians globally and we believe in a mixture of private and public partnerships, We oppose the current EPRDF regime political philosophy and economic policies,`` so supposedly via ERI Asmara Selai Dairo [Saladaro] 2 MW, 3 log-per SW arrays, 15 13'00.00"N 38 52'32.00"E http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=de&geocode=&q=15%C2%B013%2700.00%22N++38%C2%B052%2732.00%22E&sll=51.151786,10.415039&sspn=19.842079,57.084961&ie=UTF8&ll=15.216614,38.875637&spn=0.007433,0.013937&t=h&z=17 entry ETH under Aoki ginbot7 list entries seem to be wrong. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, May 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. FRS HOLLAND 30 YEARS From Irish Paul's radio blog http://irishpaulsradioblog.blogspot.com/ FW: FRS on air late May/ FRS 30 years From: FRS-Holland Sent: 01/05/2010 13:39:52 Subject: FRS on air late May/ FRS 30 years Dear FRS Friends, May 2010 broadcast Since our February 28th broadcast, FRS has been silent. However: we feel that in this very special year, it's important to keep in touch with our listening audience. May 30th - on the 5th Sunday - FRS will take to the air from 0752 to 1245 UT (6400) and 1352-1845 UT (7600). The morning/ early afternoon shows will be repeated as from 1352 UT onwards. Right now there is still an option to use a second frequency in parallel, we will inform you about that at a later stage. Expect the usual mix of music & information. 2010: 30 Years of FRS-Holland on Short Wave In the mean time FRS is preparing the 30th anniversary which will take place in October 2010. Five years ago, FRS would have been celebrating its 25th birthday but that celebration had to be cancelled due to personal circumstances. Sad but true. This year things are looking different and we feel it's time to do a big on air celebration. And that will certainly happen! But: we feel that an on air celebration would be incomplete without our listeners' input! Therefore we explicitly invite you as FRSH listener to participate: "2010 will be a very special year for all at FRSH: 30 years on the air! We will be celebrating this later in 2010. We invite our listening audience to participate in the celebrations later this year. We'd like to receive your personal FRS memories. Put them on a sheet of paper or send them by mail and most wanted: record your personal message and send an mp3 audio file. All listeners` contributions will be collected and together it will be our anthology of 30 years of SW broadcasts. When did you hear us for the first time, what was your favourite show, when did you get your first QSL, how much did you listen to FRS, any special on air moments you remember? All this info could be part of your personal FRS contribution. For any serious contribution, we have a nice surprise and that is a promise!" Important: as we have to do a lot of preparations for that very special broadcast, we urge to send your contribution as soon as possible! < frs@frsholland.nl > or P O Box 2702, 6049 ZG Herten, the Netherlands. If you have any questions/ remarks, feel free to contact us!! 73s, Peter Verbruggen (on behalf of the FRS Team) a Balance between Music & Information joint to one Format.... FRS-Holland P O Box 2702 6049 ZG Herten The Netherlands e-mail: < frs.holland @ hccnet.nl > e-mail: < frs @ frsholland.nl > info via frs holland and while you are there type Gary Drew into the search bar top left of the radio blog home page :-) (via Gary Drew, SHR, dxldyg via DXLD; also via Alokesh Gupta, ibid.) ** GERMANY [non]. 15410, May 2 at 1225 in perfect French discussing strikes in Spain with frequent voice-overs from comments in Castilian. Fair signal; 1230 DW 4-note sounder, ID and into ``Club de l`auditeur``, bit of ``Happy Birthday`` ditty and tribute to Togo`s indépendence. This is via RWANDA at 12-13, 295 degrees, preceded by an hour of Swahili, followed by an hour of Hausa, each on a different azimuth. Hmm, 1230 Sunday is when we once could hear Club 9516 in English from France with David Page, if 21620 were propagating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY EAST. POLISH BROADCASTS FROM RUNDFUNK DER DDR Again a quite special topic: Polish broadcasts from Rundfunk der DDR. They went out on 179 kHz and have been launched in 1981, one source says in October, another in December. Even more widely diverge the given details about the cancellation of this service, one source says March 1982 while another one says the broadcasts lasted until June 1986. In the latter one case it could be that the 1982 date refers to the end of a status as a "special editorial office", with broadcasts continued in a more regular way. These broadcasts are remarkable for being put together like a clandestine service. Editors with Polish skills had been detailed for this service from the whole of GDR radio and commited to secrecy. A shack has been set aside for this service and of course locked up. I suspect the primary if not only purpose of this fuss was to discipline staff members. Actually the same goes also for Deutscher Freiheitssender 904 and Deutscher Soldatensender 935, the would-like- to-be-clandestine services good frequency tables listed as a matter of course as "Burg, 250 kW, special service". Organizationally this Polish service belonged to Radio Berlin International. And now my question: Has anybody heard it and recalls for sure how it has been presented? Did the broadcasts open with the well-known eight bars from the national anthem and an announcement like "Tu Radio Berlin International!", or have the broadcasts been presented in a more neutral way? I have to ask due to vague hints that these Polish broadcasts have been presented as a Stimme der DDR special, i.e. under the identity of the network that otherwise used the longwave transmitter. But here one must be cautious, since RBI broadcasts in German opened with "Hier ist Radio Berlin International, die Stimme der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik!". Thus Stimme der DDR tends to get confused with RBI, especially since during daytime Stimme der DDR has been carried on 6115 kHz, too. But still it was a different station. Actually I would proceed from the assumption that the mentioned hints were just another case of this standard confusion, wouldn't I know about the Russian broadcasts that went out via Gosteleradio, were to my knowledge a product of RBI but have been presented under a neutral "Berlin, capital of the GDR" identity, using the interval signal of Radio DDR, another domestic network (which was also on 1044 kHz, to pick out the farthest-ranging of its numerous mediumwave frequencies). Any comments on this matter? Accessible via the Yahoo group are recent photos of the mentioned shack. I don't know for sure, but I think it's this one: http://maps.google.de/?ie=UTF8&ll=52.479846,13.501299&spn=0.001214,0.002411&t=k&z=19 The shred of paper required to change shoes before entering this room (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. SPURS: Greece regularly heard on 6210 kHz, f.e. on Apr 21st at 1800 UT // 9420 15630 kHz (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, April 29, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 1 via DXLD) i.e. 15630 minus 9420 = 6210, not to be assumed as Kahuzi or something equally exotic (gh) ** GREECE. Still waiting to see if the newly announced Greek austerity program will result in cuts on Athens' SW services? (Steve Luce, TX, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUINEA. 7125, Radio Guineé, 2200-2302*, May 1, vernacular and French talk. Local Afro-pop music. Local folk music. Abrupt sign off. Irregular. Fair but occasional ham QRM (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** GUYANA. 3290, Voice of Guyana noted briefly and somewhat poorly at 0230 on 4/25. On a quick check, with orchestral music and vocal with heavy QRN. My last official log of this station was in 2000 (Gerry Dexter, Lake Geneva WI, NRD 545, TenTec 340, Mark (MK-1) and Parker balanced doublet antennas, NASWA Flashsheet May 2 via DXLD) 3289.99, Voice of Guyana reactivated, tentatively heard 25 Apr when weak but much improved signal 26 Apr at 0820 and positively identified. Programme consisted of Hindi music, Islamic talk in English and Qur`an readings, local Guyana commercials, Christian hymns and message. Morning music program from 0855. Most recently heard 0655 4 May when on BBC World Service relay across the hour. But also see PAPUA NEW GUINEA (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, Northland, New Zealand, AOR7030+ with EWEs aimed at North, Central & South America, May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3289.99, V. of Guyana, at 0905-0940 UT on April 26, good level despite constant static crashes. Soft spoken man DJ in English, oldies pops "My Cup Runneth Over With Love," "You Light Up My Life," etc. TC's, birthday greetings, local announcements, "Good morning to you," "plenty of sunshine today." Starting to drop fast by 0940 UT. Great to have this one back per recent reports (John Herkimer-NY-USA, DXplorer Apr 26 via BC-DX May 1 via DXLD) Making progress DXing reactivated GBC: last time no carrier at all, but April 30 at 0548 I do detect a carrier on 3290, weaker than the RTTY on 3287; and far too much T-storm static from Kansas to pull anything thru it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUYANA. Hi Glenn, here's an update on Radio Guyana. I have the transmitter on 3290 full time. We did some tests on 5950, but they were getting heavy interference from a station in Portuguese (BRAZIL?). They are going to apply for a frequency in the 60 meter band for daytime. I saw some of the reports, and guess they're not doing so well Stateside. One "glitch" I noticed when I was there is the board ops tend to let the audio levels "drift" around, and much of the recorded material is "hummy", and very low level. They have a very basic "channel strip" processor (DBX-266XL compressor-gate). I tried to set it up to compensate for the large variations in level, but it just can't cope with the noisy low stuff. The direct feeds from the B.B.C. are loud enough to work with, as well as some of the live talk shows, so hopefully some of the listeners will be able to get an I.D. Although the transmitter is a 10 kW, they requested I run it at 8 kW, to save on peak demand charges. I know the frequency is low, and summer conditions are here, but does the signal seem rather weak for that power level and area? Also a little concerned about the frequency being reported. The frequency synthesizer is a commercial unit, and although I verified it with a counter, worried the regular power outages might have damaged the reference oscillator. Will be returning when they get new daytime allocation. The 560 kHz A.M. transmitter is now running 7000 watts (was 2500.) All in all, was a pleasure to work down there. Had a couple of mishaps during first few days of testing the shortwave, but quite frankly, Guyana is one of the best countries I've been to in South America. Shame it's known mostly for "Jonestown". Hope all is well with everybody, and thanks for the reports. Next stop, Liberia (Jamie Labadia, 0244 UT May 1, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Jamie, thanks for the update. I wouldn`t worry too much about being 20 Hz low as some have reported, unless as you say it could be a symptom of some damage, but undermodulation is certainly a big problem at too many stations. I am not aware of any Brazilian on 5950; unless it`s a spur from some other 49m frequency as have been reported from Brasil on various spots. I don`t see anything listed which should be a problem beyond WYFR which is currently on 5950 from 22 to 13, aimed north or west, in English or Spanish and with some Taiwan relays, but nothing in Portuguese. Then there is the Bolivian, Pio Doce, on 5952+ all day, but is it far enough away not to matter? Anyhow, they should have checked to be sure 5950 was still OK before committing to resume it. What became of the other MW frequency 760? Any plans to resume it? Are they still running two separate programs on FM, anyway? How about the listed 700 kHz in Linden; is it active? (Glenn to Jamie, via DXLD) 3290, Guyana, GBC, 2315 YL in English, pop vocals, 0010 brief commercial with cost "..and 75 cents.." 25/26 April. Same time 27 & 28 April [Wilkner & XM Cedar Key]; 0820 OM minister in English "...in the Book of Revelation".... followed by sub continental music to 0845, 30 April (Robert Wilkner, FL, May 1, Drake R8, Icom 746Pro DL, Noise Reducing antenna, 60 meter band dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) On 05/02 at 0524 UT I have captured a signal on 3290 kHz. SINPO was not very good 32232. English by female and male announcers; British accent which seems to be the BBC World Service so I think it has got something to do with the re-launch of Guyana on shortwave after years of absence. I have got several reception reports for them and I hope to have a QSL card this time. 73s and have a good DXing, (Adán González, Catia La Mar, Vargas State, VENEZUELA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3290, Voice of Guyana, 0915-0930 May 3, Noted musical selections with English comments from a male between tunes. Comments consisted of live Ads by the announcer. After that, back to music. Signal was best I heard since they came back on the air, which is a fair level. No interference noted this morning nor the buzz that's been here for a couple of days (Chuck Bolland, WinRadio G305e/pd, 26.27N 081.05W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Conforme noticiado há alguns dias por dexistas nos Estados Unidos, a Rádio Guyana voltou a transmitir nos 3290 kHz. Pude ouvir em 04.05.2010 às 0900 UT seu fraco sinal aqui em São Carlos-SP, inclusive a propagação está muito ruim neste horário, fracos sinais em praticamente todas as bandas de ondas curtas (Samuel Cássio Martins blog via DXLD) ** HAITI [and non]. EARS TO OUR WORLD ARTICLE, WSJ mag Hi Glenn: I have an article about Ears To Our World in the Wall Street Journal magazine that came out this weekend. Here's the web info, there's also a video slide show I produced using radio sound and photos collected in Port Au Prince about twelve days after the quake. http://magazine.wsj.com/hunter/donate/tuning-in/ 73, (David Goren, May 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 9425, AIR Bengaluru- National Channel, 1435-1500, May 5 (Wednesday). Two weeks have gone by, so it was time for another segment of “Earth Beat” presented during the “Vividha” program (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 9690, AIR GOS frequency better than usual, good signal but fluttery, May 3 at 1334, modulation well over the hum, but it`s not in English! Trying to place it, seems like it`s tonal, not much like Hindi or major S Asian languages. Is there a handy reference showing which are tonal and which not? 1335 to music, then commentary, at 1345 mentioning ``International Court of Justice`` and ``Kyoto Protocol``; 1347 to instrumental music, 1352 announcement and vocal music. At 1354 I check the other scheduled AIR GOS frequencies: weaker 13710 is // so it has the same problem with wrong language input. Both these are Bengaluru; 11620 is Delhi, and JBA, can`t tell if it`s // but may well not be. Kept going past 1400 with more music. Much better signal on 9690 than AIR VBS on 9870 which used to have the edge, also from Bangalore. Meanwhile I am checking WRTH 2010 to see which other languages are on the AIR at this time, supposed to be on other frequencies. Then for latest info, according to http://www.qsl.net/vu2jos/es/time.htm this is the lineup with site abbreviations: 1230-1500 Sindhi 6165(Kh) 7340(M) 9620(A) 1300-1430 Punjabi 702(J) 1300-1500 Sinhala 1053(T) 7270(Ch) 15050(Kh); used later: 9820(P) 1315-1415 Dari 7410(Kh) 9910(Kh); to be used later: 7255(A) 1330-1430 Nepali 3945(G) 4860(Ki) 7420(Gu) 11775(P) 1134(C) 1330-1500 English 9690(B) 11620(Kh) 13710(B) E SE Asia 1415-1530 Pushtu 7410(Kh) 9910(Kh); to be used later: 7255(A) By now I have suspected announcements are in Dari/Persian, altho not supposed to be a tonal language, so I pay close attention at 1415 when that transitions to Pushtu. 1414:30 stop music, announcement, but signal is fading; 1415 ``Salaam Aleikum`` in a different language, and 1416 into different-sounding music. So I am fairly sure I was hearing on 9690 and 13710 what was supposed to be on 7410 and 9910 from Khampur site near Delhi; unchecked but likely inaudible anyway from that site. Maybe they had English on instead? The programme feed could have been misrouted from master control in Delhi; or Bengaluru was tuned to the wrong input. In any event, no one had noticed and fixed it during the first half-sesquihour of the 1330 ``English`` transmission, and probably for the entire sesquihour (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Glenn, Many thanks for the interesting observation of AIR. In this case it seems to be the wrong feed given at Bengaluru site. I also used to come across such instances from time to time. If it goes on for long time, I used to telephone the particular station and then they would rectify it immediately. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Since AIR Bengaluru broadcast the wrong language, apparently Dari, instead of English, May 3 at 1330-1415+ on 9690 and 13710, I make a point of checking May 4: at 1318, 9690 carrier is already on with flutter, some hum. 1330 poor, but opening in English. Congratulations! See also CHINA 9690, May 5 at 1330, poor signal with some hum, AIR opening GOS in English, correct language for second day in a row, into news. Worse on // 13710 with CCI, presumably CRI French via Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN to Europe as scheduled; Cuban leapfrogs no longer possible on this frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9690, AIR GOS so weak I could barely hear the hum, at *1330 May 6, but sufficient to confirm in correct language English for the third day in a row (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. PRASAR BHARATI FUNDING TO BE CUT 50% Ashish Sinha, Posted: Tuesday, May 04, 2010 at 2228 hrs IST New Delhi: In a move aimed at making the public broadcaster self- dependent, the government is all set to reduce the financial support to Prasar Bharati by half starting this fiscal. This effectively means Prasar Bharati will now get annually around Rs 600 crore less from the government going forward and it will have to fend for itself to meet the shortfall. More at : http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Prasar-Bharati-funding-to-be-cut-50-/614550/ (via Alokesh Gupta, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDONESIA [and non]. 9680, RRI Jakarta, 1002-1015 May 1. At tune in, noted local type music. It sounded like a novelty tune in Indonesian, with laughing and humor. After the one tune, a male talks with another on the telephone. Signal was very good this morning. 9525.87 [corrected, not 9526.87], Voice of Indonesia, 1007-1010 May 1. Stopped on this frequency to check on VoI, and found just a carrier. No audio was heard. This time slot is supposed to be the English program. At 1009, the program pops up with a lady in English news about Indonesian politics. The signal was very good this morning (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, WinRadio G305e/pd, 26.27N 081.05W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9526-, Sunday May 2 at 1310 and still at 1329, nothing but open carrier from English hour of VOI, another station which never gets through a week without some kind of SNAFU. 9526-, VOI, which was open carrier only on Sunday made a slight improvement on Monday May 3. At 1259, just barely modulated, under hum could make out the canned ID with gamelan, 1300 English program summary and starting news. Still at next check 1333 with only a trace of modulation under the hum (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9526, Voice of Indonesia already in English at 1300 tune-in, man speaking to woman on telephone with light-hearted talk about a meteor landing on a house in Jakarta. 1303 ID and into news (meteor not mentioned in headlines). Fair May 4 (Harold Sellers, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9526-, VOI, May 4 at 1310 with hum and just barely audible modulation under it; but at 1312, modulation suddenly jumps and now the YL can be more or less understood. 1314 switches to the guy at RRI Banjarmasin, a Tuesday staple, and once again the modulation lowers to make copy difficult. Wiggle that patchcord! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9525.87v, Voice of Indonesia, 1312-1346, May 4. It’s Tuesday so it must be “Exotic Indonesia, a network program jointly broadcast live by Voice of Indonesia Jakarta and R-R-I Banjarmasin”; alternating news items from Jakarta and Banjarmasin; editorial; “Today in History”; “Focus”; segment from Banjarmasin about diamonds. The feed via Banjarmasin seemed to be via phone and was weaker than the audio via the studios in Jakarta; hum continues to be strong. The overall audio quality was such that I could enjoy their program, which does not often happen! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ron - do you listen often enough for you to know their program schedule by day? If so, could you pass that along? That's something I can include in the Easy Listening column. Thanks - (Richard Cuff, NASWA yg via DXLD) Hi Richard, Afraid I do not follow VOI’s English every day. The quality of their daily reception varies a lot due to propagation, audio level, the intensity of their prominent hum, etc. My primary interest is attempting to hear the banter that takes place between Jakarta and Banjarmasin during Tuesday’s “Exotic Indonesia”. This show can be quite entertaining, when I can get a decent signal/audio from them. Wish you continued success with your Easy Listening column! Best regards, (Ron Howard, ibid.) With the exception of this every Tuesday, I don`t think there are any weekly features, just mini-segments, the same titles every day. In fact, most or all of those still appear within Exotic Indonesia. But then, you didn`t ask me. 9526-, VOI, good signal and modulation May 5 before 1300 in Japanese; 1335 OK in music during English hour. Still on at 1413 during Indonesian(?) hour, making big het with stronger CRI in Russian on 9525.0. 9526-, VOI has been consistently here, like 9525.9v, rather than 9524.9v, for several weeks; yet I keep seeing reports and listings of it as ``9525``! There IS a difference, especially when something hets from real 9525. May 6 at 1300 English has already started, good signal, not too much hum, and sufficient modulation most of the time tho occasionally drops down; wiggle that patchcord! Someone was wondering about VOI programming, day by day. It seems to me that the same magazine segments air every day, so I made note of them today. News, Editorial, This Day in History, Focus, News in Brief, Indonesian Wonders, Miscellany, Music Corner. Exact times are variable, so the music pads out the hour as necessary. Most or all of these also happen on Tuesdays interspersed with conversations about Banjarmasin stuff, on the ``Exotic Indonesia`` excursions. The intro to Miscellany lists a number of specific subjects eligible for inclusion, which I should also copy down sometime (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA [non]. NEW FROM WRN: "ASIA CALLING" --- As stated on the WRN website, "Yet another international flavor has been recently added to World Radio Network, with the addition of Asia Calling. "The program represents the first Indonesian broadcaster to be added to the WRN Networks in what will be a one-hour weekly current affairs show produced by award-winning Indonesian radio news agency KBR686H. The program produces in-depth reports that offer listeners a rare insight into the rich political, economic, social and cultural diversity of the region and provides nuanced and carefully balanced takes on stories that are often missed by other media. "From the 28th March, listeners can tune in to this exciting new program on all three WRN English networks on two 30 minute programs per week every Saturday and Sunday. " (spelling changed for an American audience...) See also http://www.asiacalling.kbr68h.com/ See also http://www.asiacalling.kbr68h.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=12&Itemid=166<=en for more details on the entity behind the program. Looks interesting (Richard Cuff, swprograms via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DXLD) Times? Not given above. In North America: 2230 ET / 1930 PT [0230 UT Sun & Mon] In Europe: 2100 BST / 2200 CET [2000 UT] In Africa and Asia 1100 UT / 1300 CET / 1300 CAT (WRN Newsletter May 1 via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. VOA to ETHIOPIA: q.v. [non]; INDONESIA above ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [non]. SATELLITE RADIO RESISTS FCC AIRWAVE PROPOSAL The Wall Street Journal, By Amy Schatz, May 3, 2010, Washington The FCC is proposing to make it easier for the winners of a 1997 airwaves auction to use those airwaves for mobile wireless Internet and phone use. Until now, a dispute about power levels and potential interference has meant the companies were limited in how they could use the airwaves they own. The FCC is scheduled to vote on the proposal in May as part of a broader effort to devote more airwaves for wireless Internet services. A FCC spokeswoman declined to comment on the specifics of the proposal. Sirius XM lawyers are fighting the plan, arguing in an April 23 filing that allowing wireless providers to use those airwaves for wireless broadband will "fail to protect satellite radio's nearly 19 million subscribers and 35 million listeners from harmful interference." . . . http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704093204575216730390975578.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. T.R. RAJEESH forwards this article on Galei Zahal Radio written by Isack Tunik, Galei Zahal commander which accompanied the 2008 issue of a stamp commemorating the station. Galei Zahal's shortwave frequencies are 6973 and 15785. Station address is Military Post Office Box 01005, Israel, email glz @ galatz.co.il On Sunday, 24 September, 1950 a trumpet blast erupted from the radio at precisely 6:30 p.m., followed by "HaTikva", Israel's national anthem. Thus began the very first broadcast of Galei Zahal, the IDF Broadcasting Service. The improvised studio was located inside a former school building in Ramat Gan. Army blankets were hung along the walls in an attempt to muffle background noise. Galei Zahal was born in the State of Israel, which, at that time, was dealing with the absorption of waves of immigrants and contending with distress and poverty. For many years Galei Zahal broadcasts were mainly geared toward soldiers, including music programs bearing soldiers' greetings and various broadcasts related to the IDF. The station was unique in that it incorporated soldiers serving in the regular army into journalistic positions, including reporters, editors, producers, news broadcasters, music broadcasters, musical editors, announcers, etc. Following the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the station began broadcasting 24 hours a day, expanding its broadcasts to include all citizens by adding news broadcasts and current affairs programming. For years, it was the only Israeli station that continued to broadcast throughout the night, to be joined later by "Kol Israel" Broadcasting. Suggestions have been raised on more than one occasion stating that the station should be closed and its broadcasts ceased, but due to protests by the public, the Knesset and the Israel Broadcasting Authority Governing Council, none of these proposals has even come to fruition. In November 1993 Galei Zahal began operating another station, establishing Galgalaz, which broadcasts music interspersed with traffic reports and has extremely high listener rates. Galei Zahal's various programs are currently presented by leading broadcasters, who are among the most highly esteemed journalists in Israel, alongside young, talented and energetic reporters, producers and editors. This combination makes Galei Zahal a relevant, young and characteristically Israeli media outlet. Thanks to a widespread array of transmitters located throughout the entire country, as well as through the internet, the station's broadcasts reach IDF bases and private homes throughout Israel and abroad, making it a central component of Israeli media in general and of public broadcasting in particular (via May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) O yeah, SW too? AAMOF have not heard 15785v in ages, off or poor propagation? Nor 6973? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** ISRAEL. In case anyone wonders what they're listening to: Israel Radio English has changed the jingle they play at the beginning and end of the news. The jingle is predominantly bells and drums. The change was made as of the 0930 UT broadcast on April 28, 2010. Unlike some of the past changes, there doesn't seem to be any change in the service to go along with it. In the past, jingles have changed for things such as when the English Service moved under the Foreign Language portion of KI. There doesn't seem to be any change besides the jingle itself, this time (Doni Rosenzweig, May 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not, of course, on SW except WRMI WRN relay (gh) Persian is all that's left on shortwave directly from KI. English, though, is still frequently on shortwave via the WRN on WRMI. Besides that, it's via the web and the other WRN related outlets (Doni, ibid.) ** ITALY. 26000, 1/5 1500, Radio Maria, Andrate, Italy, on air again and back to 26000 from 26010, weak // FM. RX: Icom R71E, ANT: T2FD. Ciao (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, playdx yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DXLD) No DRM? (gh) It is on 26000 exact today. It is in AM with a low power, around 50 watts. have fun (Giampiero, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) He gets it by groundwave, close by (gh) 26000, R. Maria, Andrate, 1003-fade/out 1045, 02 May'10, discussion; 25443. My last observation of this station was in end Aug'09. (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No doubt he gets it by sporadic-E propagation (gh, ibid.) ** ITALY [non]. 9515, IRRS, Rimavskà Sobota. ID "Tr. Marsh" and World of Radio program, poor signal during low sun activity and no spots, no coronal holes and sunny [solar] wind. At 0800 on 24/4 (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria (Sony ICF 2001, Marconi), May Australian DX News via DXLD) What does ``Tr. Marsh`` mean?? (gh, DXLD) Apologies from me, Glen[n]! Triumphal March (in the 2nd part of march around the 4th minute) from opera "Aïda" by Verdi is the beginning of IRRS broadcasts. 73,s (Rumen Pankov, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, On May 8, 2010, we shall run a repeat of Radio Joystick from 1000 to 1100 CET (0800-0900 UT) on 9515, so your program will be skipped. The evening broadcast of WOR will be run as usual. 73s, (Alfredo E. Cotroneo, CEO, NEXUS-Int'l Broadcasting Association, May 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) i.e. 1800 Saturday on 7290. See also SLOVAKIA ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. MILLIONS OF N. KOREANS LISTEN TO FOREIGN RADIO BROADCASTS Millions of North Koreans listen to dozens of foreign radio broadcasts transmitted by Japan, South Korea and the U.S., and the number is growing. This is according to Peter Beck, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, who said that it is quite a phenomenon given that Pyongyang authorities distribute only radios with fixed dials, block foreign broadcasts, and imprison citizens caught listening to foreign radio for as long as 10 years. Beck, who is also a Pantech research fellow at Stanford University's Asia Pacific Research Center, said that two of the most popular stations are Voice of America which broadcasts news from the U.S. and around the world, and Radio Free Asia which focuses on the communist regime and the lives of defectors in the South. Beck added that the North Korean regime is losing its monopoly on the control of information and outside broadcasts are undermining loyalty to the leadership. Arirang News / Apr. 30, 2010 11:10 KST Source: http://bit.ly/dkQlRj (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) That`s nice to know, but where is the evidence? (gh, DXLD) Andy Sennitt comments: There is no doubt that the number of North Koreans who have access to information from abroad is growing, but I would question whether there are “millions” of North Koreans actually listening to foreign radio broadcasts. What happens is that those who manage to listen spread the information further by word of mouth. I would be interested to know whether Mr Beck has any evidence to back up his claim of mass listenership, or whether it is just wishful thinking. Comments on ““Millions of N. Koreans listen to foreign radio broadcasts” - US academic” #1 john on Apr 30th, 2010 at 00:11 the Arirang report appears to be sourced from an article in the Wall Street Journal of April 16 which is also republished at the attached link. http://fsi.stanford.edu/news/north_koreas_radio_waves_of_resistance_20100421/ #3 ruud on Apr 30th, 2010 at 11:56 It is typical Western spoiled audience thinking that SW listening is something no normal people do. Nothing wrong with SW unless your ears have been addicted to this FM and digital sound - mostly bad processed - and to modern music that requires this since this music is so crap that it has no attraction with a bit limited audio quality. In N-Korea many people will be very happy with SW, when this gives them content (news) they cannot have from their local broadcaster. Most people in N-Korea however have to struggle for liife everyday so they hardly bother to go for un-biased news, as I have been told by a friend with radio-background who visited the country. #4 Roy Sandgren on Apr 30th, 2010 at 14:18 People around the world which got a dictatorship as government, wants to have more facts in news media are asking for a info and a SW radio multiband, AM/FM/SW - band 1 -6 is the beast choice. Crank-up radios are smuggling cross the borders in large stocks and very popular. There are always listeners to every news station on SW. More and more portable multiband radios are selling around the world. #5 Keith Perron on Apr 30th, 2010 at 14:30 You`re right, Andy. I have heard this claim before made about the DPRK. I’m sure there are some SW radios in the country, but not the millions he said there is. One way people do get information from overseas is not from radio, but rather from smuggled DVDs of South Korean news programs. It’s not the 1970s or 80s. We can put the same importance on SW was with the USSR (MN blog comments via DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH [and non]. 1800 ~ 1900 UT, 15360 kHz (via Rampisham) KBS in Russian strong and steady reception. 1800 ~ 1900 UT, 7275 kHz, KBS English poor to fair with severe interference from several stations, in Chinese presumed CNR. HFCC and AOKI also show REE Spanish from Noblejas in 50 degree Azimuth Skype: dxinginfo. Receiver Used: Sony ICF-SW7600GR and Redsun RP 2100 (which is available as CCrane CC Radio SW in America). Antenna Used: Loop Antenna built from 23 meter 20 SWG pvc coated copper wire fitted on a 2.5 meter by 1.5 meter window grill. Thanks & Regards, (Partha Sarathi Goswami, Siliguri – 734001, Dist. Darjeeling, West Bengal, INDIA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN. IRAQ/IRAN, On 3922 kHz from 0240 UT a man singing; the jammer was on 3932 kHz but and [sic] at 0302 UT ID and anthem of Kurdistan. Same hymn but not in parallel at 0304 on 4878 kHz. On both frequencies the ID is same "Eira Dendzhi Kurdistana Iran" but the contents of the programs are different, Apr 22 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, April 29, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 1 via DXLD) Usually rendered as Denge but Dendzhi is less ambiguously pronounced (gh, DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. 11530, M singer ululating May 1 at 0450, surely must be V. of Mesopotamia via Mykolayiv, UKRAINE; and no WYFR QRM. Then checking its latest sked, I see I lucked into a gap between the 0400-0445 Portuguese broadcast and French from 0500 on 11530 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. 15540, Radio Kuwait fair to good in clear at 2029 28 Apr with western pops e.g. Tom Jones. Carrying English news at 2050 recheck. Closing ident 2058 still announces old 11990 frequency, schedule 1800-2100. First noted on NF 27 Apr when reception was poor (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, Northland, New Zealand, AOR7030+ with EWEs aimed at North, Central & South America, May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15540, R. Kuwait in English, Friday April 30: at 1933 UT ``This Day in History``, detailed features on Casey Jones, end of Vietnam War, then a bunch of short items: 1770, David Thompson born, something to do with Canada. 1803, Louisiana Purchase. 1870 Lehár born. 1948 first Land Rover exhibited. 1957 Egypt reopens Suez Canal. 1993 Balanchine becomes director of NYC Ballet. This lasted until 1942 UT, co-narrated by Paul Kennedy and a YL, probably Arab whose name I couldn`t catch. Was there anything about Kuwait? If so, I missed it. RK puts more effort into its TDIH than VOA or VOI, 2 or 3 minutes each. Is this on daily at 1930? Skipping any day is surely out of the question. However, this also means less attention necessary to current events. Doing a decent job of covering breaking news is best left to SW broadcasters on the level of VOA, DW and BBC. Reception usually holds up till sign-off 2100v* but at next check today at 2052 had become JBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15540, Radio Kuwait at 1801, English, man with sked and then a program about Islam. Poor, May 1 (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Eton E1 and AN-1 active antenna, listening from my car, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Main Arabic program of R. Kuwait QSY from 6050 to 6055 kHz at *1607 UT on Apr. 30 (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Kuwait on 6055 kHz, May 1 returns to 6050 kHz at *1609-2102*. de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, May 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, noted on 6050 kHz yesterday night again. Latter is much better frequency for reception in central Europe, due of IRIB Sitkunai Lithuania on 6055 kHz. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, May 2, ibid.) ** LAOS [non]. 7145, Lao National R., Vientiane. Random checking from 1220 to 1320, May 6, found them off-the-air (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS [non]. 11785 via WHRI, Hmong World Christian Radio, May 1 at 1324 with traditional music but messed up by talkover, plus heavy CCI from Chinese radio war. HWCR is Saturdays only at 1300-1330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LITHUANIA. 9635, Radio Liberty via Sitkunai relay vgd strength 0259 13 Apr with repeated English announcement “This is Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, Praha” then into listed Tatar language with opening announcements and news. Same English announcement at 0400 closedown (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, Northland, New Zealand, AOR7030+ with EWEs aimed at North, Central & South America, May 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. Madagascar World Voice photos: Thanks to Vasily Gulyaev for the tip, here are some photos from the new Mahajanga site (not yet on the air): http://www.knls.net/rus/news.htm or into English: (Mauno Ritola, Finland, April 30, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) Axually the link given gets Finnish. I went back and got Google translation really into English: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.knls.net%2Frus%2Fnews.htm&sl=ru&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8 There is only a brief remark quoted just below and the five thumbnails are not captioned, but obvious what they are. Apparently this is not available on the KNLS English website! ``April 29, 2010. Some photos of the construction of the station in Madagascar. All support structures erected, fit out [sic] is completed, the construction of the towers completed, they are attached to anchors. Remains tight grid antenna.`` However, the apparently unlinked website of parent organization has more about Alaska, and Madagascar: http://www.worldchristian.org/Updates/LatestNews/updates.php (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) MDG - WCBC Mahajanga station still under construction New WCBC Mahajanga MDG TX site location somewhere northerly of Mahajanga airport SEEMINGLY approx. located close to Ampitilova 15 39 48 40 S, 46 21 57 64 E Installations still under constructions, see report on http://knls.net/rus/news.htm see pictures, and scroll down to transmission target map http://knls.net/images/madagascarprogect2_small.jpg 3 x 100 kW SW txs, 4 antennas target are visible on the map at 45 deg (IND) 21 deg (PAK, AFG, TJK, UZB, KGZ, KAZ) 358 deg (SOM, YEM, ARS, ISR, JOR, SYR, KWT, UAE, IRQ, ARM, GEO, RUS) 330 deg (KEN, TZA, UGA, ETH, SDN, LBY, EGY, TUN) but no directional antenna to South African states erected so far ... Picture taken view from mast top array, from north to south, no coastline is visible http://knls.net/rus/images/Birds eye view 2008.jpg [sic, worx with the spaces in it, or are they really?] but these taken view from south to north http://knls.net/rus/images/4_towers.jpg http://knls.net/rus/images/TransmitterBldg3.jpg No photo images found on KNLS Mandarin and English language website pages yet. It is not known yet, whether the station uses main power of 18 kV or 400V or erect a Diesel engine power generator there (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. Unident, 6174.39, 1105-1115 May 1, this is a carrier just south of CNR1's frequency on 6175. I am thinking it might be Voice of Malaysia, but I can't pull out any audio. Any help would be appreciated (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, WinRadio G305e/pd, 26.27N 081.05W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ron Howard has already helped by confirming my report of same het as VOM (gh, DXLD) Viz., again: 6174.4v [corrected, not 6175.4v], R. Suara Islam via RTM, 1448, April 30. They were only on the exact frequency for one day! May 2 also on 6174.4v (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 4845, ORTM, fair May 4 at 0533 with traditional music and Arabic dialect conversation, no QRM from silent WWCR 4840 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6045, looking for reactivated XEXQ at 0550 April 30: there are two very weak carriers on slightly different frequencies, and we know SLP is axually on 6044.93 or so. At 1218 audible with classical music but too much T-storm and line noise. Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla says they finally got needed replacement part from the transmitter manufacturer in Chile (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Como lo informó ayer el colega Glenn Hauser, se ha reactivado la frecuencia XEXQ de la Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, México en los 6045 kHz. En amable conversación telefónica con el Ing. Francisco Moreno Cuéllar, encargado técnico de la Radio de la UASLP, me informó que el retraso se debió a la espera y búsqueda del material necesario para corregir la falla que tenía el transmisor, el cual es relativamente nuevo, de fabricación chileno-estadounidense. Finalmente no fué esta compañía quien hizo llegar las piezas, sino la estadounidense "Newark Electronics" con representación en la ciudad de Guadalajara, Jalisco, México. Desde el miércoles 28 de abril se reactivó la frecuencia. El transmisor sale con una potencia de 450 vatios, utilizando una antena en "V" de 12 m. por lado y una altura de 6, con orientación Norte-Sur, ubicada en la planta transmisora de la UASLP denominada "Fresnos" en la Ciudad de San Luis Potosí. El horario de trasmisión es de las 07:00 a las 23:00 hrs. del Centro de México (1200-0400 UT) de lunes a domingo, con un contenido eminentemente cultural e informativo. Es por tanto, una gran noticia que una emisora de tal calidad programática vuelva a la onda corta. La he podido escuchar con un SINPO general de 4 en el centro-sur de la Ciudad de México. Cualquier información al respecto es bien recibida por el Ing. Moreno a : fjmcuellar @ gmail.com Saludos y buenas escuchas, (Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla, DF, 2343 UT April 30, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6045, XEXQ, SLP, Sunday May 2: tune-in 1202, carrier is on, but no modulation until 1211 with choral NA, 1213 right into Pomp & Circumstance March No. 1 by Elgar, which they play in its 6.5 minute entirety every morning to begin the day. No announcements at all yet until it`s over at 1219.6, sign-on mentioning 5,000 watts which is the MW 1190 power, 1220 timecheck, 1222.5 another TC and into a waltz. Signal was barely audible vs noise level. Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla, DF, has been in further contact with XEXQ. He says it was reactivated April 28; the replacement part did not come from Chile but from Newark Electronix in Guadalajara, power is 450 watts to a V antenna 12 meters on a side at a height of 6 meters, oriented north/south (so apparently we are in a good spot for maximum signal), and the summer schedule is 1200-0400 UT daily (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6045-, XEXQ got started a bit earlier Monday morning May 3, tune in at 1208 and already in sign-on announcement mentioning 1190 with 5 kW; and also ``--45`` but could not catch power announced; I`ll bet it was not the true figure of 450 vatios. Seemingly live YL DJ kept talking until classical music started at 1215; barely audible. BTW, note that other Mexican AM+SW stations have distinct callsigns: XEEP/XEPPM, XEOY/XEOI, XEMQ/XEQM, XEUN/XEYU, etc., but not this one. I have however seen it listed somewhere as XEXQOC, so possibly its true SW call axually has six letters which is possible in Mexico; or -OC considered a suffix like -FM, or -TV (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Efectivamente Glenn, no he podido aclarar el por qué Radio "Universidad" de San Luis Potosí tiene el mismo indicativo nominal tanto para la onda media como para la corta: XEXQ Como lo mencionas, todas las demás tienen diferentes indicativos nominales de cuatro o cinco letras, ej..: XEOY Radio Mil onda media y XEOI Radio Mil onda corta. Definitivamente las letras "oc" son puestas para referir a la "onda corta" pero no creo que sea el indicativo nominal como tal: XEXQOC Espero encontrar la respuesta, saludos (Julián Santiago, DF, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6045, May 4 at 0526, SAH of about 4 Hz, and very weak signals, one of which sounded like a classical song. Also a low audible het. I suspect XEXQ is leaving the transmitter on beyond nominal 0400*. Did not check next morning until 1230 when classical music was JBA but XEXQ for sure. 6045, XEXQ, May 5 at 1206 tune-in with sign-on so I must have missed Pomp & Circumstance; kept talking until classical music started at 1215. Thought I heard ``Seguro Social`` mentioned, perhaps government PSAs. Poor signal as usual, but OK for 450 watts. 6045, XEXQ-OC, tune-in at 1206 May 6, already in opening talk segment, 1212 starting classical music, but outfading. Very weak as usual (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6104.8, XEQM, May 3 at 0554, with romantic music, good peaks but deep fades until *0559.6 became only a het against BBC French via Ascension opening with 5+1 timesignal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MICRONESIA. TP/Micronesian Airchecks --- As promised, here airchecks from KUTE 88.1 (a.k.a. V6AI 1494 kHz) Colonia, Yap, Federated States of Micronesia. The airchecks are approximately 45 minutes long and 21 megabytes in file size, encoded between 56K Mono and 64K Stereo. There are a total of 5 segments. http://www.onairdj.com/V6AI_1.mp3 http://www.onairdj.com/V6AI_2.mp3 http://www.onairdj.com/V6AI_3.mp3 http://www.onairdj.com/V6AI_4.mp3 http://www.onairdj.com/V6AI_5.mp3 You are more then welcome to download them for listening on your computer. If you want to listen more then once, please download them to your local hard drive rather then playing them (without saving them) in your browser. You are welcome to pass along this email/URLs/info to anyone who might be interested! I welcome any comments, or questions about the airchecks, I'll answer as best I can. A Special thank you to Yap State's Chief of Media and Protocol, Sebastian Tamagken for arranging this; I sent him cassette tapes then he and his staff recorded the station locally and sent them back to me. I'm awaiting 3 DVD's of videocheck's from WAAB-TV, the local low power TV station in Yap. Regards, (Paul B. Walker, Jr., http://www.onairdj.com http://www.facebook.com/onairdj May 4, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** MONACO. Tip from another European Principality. Radio Monaco still on the air, with news in French: 1100-1103 UT (M-F) on 4363 8728 13146 17260 kHz SSB. Regards from France! (Christian Ghibaudo, Nice, France, April 30, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. [or UNID] 7186, Heard with poor signal on April 22 & 23: 2320 UT Carrier, 2326 IDs by Lady Voice in language close to Chinese, 2328 UT sw/on with song and at 2330 UT gongs, pipes and lady says "Sankua Konmua", choir with mantra singing. 2332 UT Bells and pop songs in vernacular etc. At 2339 UT a lady voice announcement "... kilohertz ...", next songs and talks. At 0030 UT string sounds, mantra etc. and fade out. A very strange thing is that all time as background sound is heard a man voice reading something (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, April 29, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 1 via DXLD) Ron Howard has noted Myanmar with double program feed on some frequencies (gh) [re 10-17], 6035, Myanma Radio, 1208-1337, May 1. In vernacular with music program till the start of the Minorities and Distance Learning Services lectures at 1330; // 5915. Was able to occasionally hear Vietnamese (PBS Yunnan) underneath, so the real loser here is Bhutan! Yesterday Myanmar was not here during this time period. So they seriously want to use this frequency! Heard FOUR transmitters on the air at the same time (5915, 5985.76v, 6035 and 7185.75v). Back in mid-March the Naypyidaw transmitter was pulled from service on 5985.0 and replaced with the off frequency Yangon transmitter. Perhaps the 6035 transmitter is the one at Naypyidaw, formerly on 5985.0? (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5985.0, Myanma Radio, 1231, May 3. They have returned to being on the exact frequency (ex: 5985.76v); assume this is the Naypyidaw transmitter. Normal Myanmar reception noted on 5915 and 7185.75v. They were not on 6035, where I heard Vietnamese via PBS Yunnan, along with a very weak (unusable) station underneath (probably Bhutan). Hard to keep up with all the Myanmar changes! May 5, Myanma Radio. The folks at Yangon and Naypyidaw are certainly experimenting with their transmitters! Tuned in at 1339 to find Yangon on about 5985.83v (past two days had been via Naypyidaw on 5985.00); then checked 5915 to find them with a distinctive ECHO; yes, they were broadcasting the same Minorities and Distance Learning Services lecture via TWO transmitters; echo ended about 1350; checked 5985.83v again and found them still there, but suddenly heard a strong het; tuned down to 5985.00 to find that Naypyidaw had started broadcasting; after 1400 the Yangon off frequency transmitter went off the air. When 5985.00 and 5985.83v were both on they were NOT parallel. Strange developments! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) On the local evening of Apr 28, I talked with Mr. Sanatani on mobile phone in the car returning from an excellent dinner in New Delhi, thanks to Gupta. We agreed that this broadcast from Myanmar could be a kind of jamming, since Myanmar is not a member of the SAARC, hosted by the Kingdom of Bhutan (Anker Petersen, visiting India, DSWCI DX Window May 5 via Ron Howard, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Anker, You are probably correct. Certainly looked suspicious that they would pick the start of the SAARC's summit to broadcast on 6035, a frequency that BBS has occupied for many years. I guess I am just politically naive, in that I find it hard to believe they would deliberately jam Bhutan after I had read the following story about them wanting better relations with their Asian neighbors. After all, they did attend the summit as an observer nation and the Myanmar Foreign Affairs Minister did give a speech there. “Myanmar Cajoles SAARC, Eyes Membership” --- By P. Vijian “THIMPHU, April 29, 2010 (Bernama) -- Military-ruled Myanmar is cozying up to South Asian leaders to entice deeper ties. One of the oldest members of the 10-member Asean grouping, it has expressed interest to ramp up closer relations with the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) -- a region to which the country has century-old cultural and trade ties. "In view of the geographical proximity, cultural and historical linkages, we have a strong desire to promote closer relations with SAARC member states. That is why we have joined SAARC as an observer. "Myanmar's close cooperation with SAARC will provide us the opportunity to serve as the gateway for South Asia to Southeast Asia, and also to East Asian countries for the common benefit of the people in the region," U Nyan Win, Myanmar's Foreign Affairs Minister said in his speech at the 16th SAARC Summit in Thimphu. Myanmar, for the first time, became an observer country at this summit . . . Last year, reports had surfaced that Myanmar, isolated by the international community for its poor human rights records and choppy relations with some Asean members, had signaled to be part of the SAARC grouping. Myanmar military leaders, who are more close to India and Pakistan, had expressed interest to become a full member in 2008, but currently, it is accorded observer status. India, with close trade and historical ties with Rangoon, was reported to be backing Myanmar's entry into SAARC.” http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=494447 Best regards, (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, USA, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5985.00, Myanma Radio, 1225, May 6. In vernacular; played Billy Joel’s “Piano Man”; BoH ID and indigenous music; almost fair; no anomalies noted today as I did yesterday (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. BURMESE FM RADIOS EXPAND TRANSMISSION COVERAGE | Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency); subheading inserted editorially Yangon [Rangoon], 4 May: Myanmar [Burma] has been making efforts to expand transmission of frequency-modulated (FM) radio channels to attain nationwide coverage to provide audiences with more news and entertainment programmes. At present, a total of eight FM radio channels are airing news and entertainment programmes to their related states and divisions. Of them, two channels - City FM and Patoutmyay FM - are state-owned and its transmission covers Yangon, Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw. Other six private channels are Mandalay FM, Cherry FM, Padamyar FM, Shwe FM, FM Bagan and Pyinsawaddy FM. They are on the air covering Shan state, Kayar state, Kachine state, Sagaing division, Bago division, Mon state, Kayin state, Chin state, Magway division, Ayeyawaddy division, Rakhine state and Tanninthayi division respectively. Still some FM channels plan to expand airing to cover Yangon and Mandalay divisions in the next two months. In January 2002, Myanmar introduced its first Yangon City FM radio channel, featuring music and local commercial advertisements, and the airing affected only 33 townships of the Yangon municipal area. Now, the authorities are extending its transmission to cover remote townships in Yangon division, southern Mon state and southwestern Ayeyawaddy division. The Mandalay City FM was launched in April 2008, the programmes of which were aired from a TV relay station set up on the Sagaing Hill, receivable around the second largest northern city. Its transmission will cover three more cities of Monywa, Meikthila and Taunggyi during this year. in addition to Mandalay. The Padamyar FM radio station, also aired from a TV relay station set up on the Sagaing Hill, was launched in October last year, with its programmes covering Sagaing, Kachin and Monywa, and it coverage will expand to Bhamo beginning next week. Shwe FM and Cherry FM are aired to cover Bago division, Kayin State and Mon State and later it will affect Taunggyi, Lashio, Kyaingtong and Loikaw of Shan State. One more FM radio station, the Sittway, has also been added in the western coastal Rakhine state to cover three townships of Sittwe, Thandwe and Ann. Its programmes such as regional news, news articles, music and songs of ethnic minorities are being aired, according to the ministry. Meanwhile, Myanmar's foremost state-run Radio Myanmar amplitude modulated (AM) radio station, which was traditionally broadcast from the former capital of Yangon, has now aired from the new capital of Nay Pyi Taw beginning March last year. Television Moreover, Myanmar has two TV stations - MRTV and Myawaddy TV - which are operated by the state and the military. The state-run MRTV network has launched four channels including Myanmar and English languages to telecast news, education and entertainment programmes since colour television was introduced in the country in 1980. Of them, MRTV-4, which was originally a paid channel and jointly implemented by the state-run MRTV and the private-run Forever Group, started partly free-to-air telecast in December 2006 and later extended to other regions in the country. The MRTV-3 has been significantly upgraded and re-launched in March this year with professional assistance provided by a Singapore private company, Green Orange Private, to meet international standard. The MRTV-3 channel, renamed as Myanmar International TV, is being jointly run by the MRTV-3 and the private group company of Shwe Than Lwin and 24-hour English service has been in place since March 27 which can be watched from Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and America free of charge. The MRTV, established 61 years ago, is carrying out heavy functions and is striving to air quality radio and TV programmes across the country, extending functions to link countrywide network by converting analogue system into digital one, and expanding coverage to other countries. In cooperation with the Cable Network News (CNN), China Central Television (CCTV) and Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), the MRTV is also carrying satellite news. Source: Xinhua news agency, Beijing, in English 1201 gmt 4 May 10 (via BBCM via DXLD) er, what about shortwave? (gh) ** NETHERLANDS. Dutch political party D66 wants to close down Radio Nederland, so I hope that they will not be in our new government in June. Regards, (Ary Boender, Netherlands, April 30, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [and non]. The RNW schedule at http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/rnw-frequency-schedule-summer-2010 has been updated. And merged, with the latest of the large sked lists, into my combined skeds Excel spreadsheet (Dan Ferguson, Member: North American Shortwave Association Web: http://www.naswa.net Combined SWBC skeds - updated May 1 at 2200 GMT: http://www.hfskeds.com/skeds/ dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Keith Perron has announced on Facebook that a "Special show from PCJ will be broadcast on SW to North America. This one off show "will not" be streamed live over the net. We are doing this to find out how many people truly listen via SW. There will be a special gift to those who hear the program." Keith adds that he will announce the frequency on May 21st. I assume this will the Happy Station, don't know the planned date (Mike Terry, UK, May 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGER. 9704.99, LV du Sahel, Niamey, 2150-2301*, May 1, French and vernacular talk. Variety of local flute music, Afro-pops, rustic local tribal music and lite instrumental music. Qur`an at 2254. Sign off with short flute IS and National Anthem at 2259. Poor to fair signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6940-USB, May 2 at 0040 just as I tuned in a bit of music, heard ID from WEAK, and weak @ gmail.com Nothing further, so apparently signed off. Was not too weak (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. [Pirate]. 6876.06 AM, The Crystal Ship, 2320-2330, May 2, Doors music. Fake Toyota ad. IDs. Email address. Fair to good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS. 19m was hopping and even 16m, around 0430 May 1: best from 17880 and 17615 with Radio Free Asia in Chinese, via Saipan and Tinian respectively, or so I think rather than the ChiCom CNR1 jamming which surely accompanies it in Asia. However, at next check 0610, everything was dead above 13 MHz (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 1580, KOKB Blackwell once again transmitting for hours and hours with no modulation, Saturday May 1 checked at 2000, 2147, 2226 UT. Also May 2 at 0020 as skywave was starting to income, something underneath the carrier producing SAH. I have an idea: why not turn off the transmitter too, so maybe I can hear in daytime the next closest 1580 stations, Van Buren AR, El Dorado Springs MO or Gainesville TX? 1580, KOKB Blackwell, once again Sunday afternoon May 2 at several chex running open carrier with no modulation. Perhaps I am the only one who has noticed, but not one who cares, as if they were modulating it would be silly ballgame talk. Sponsors might care if they think they are paying for carrier plus modulation. Also May 3; not checked May 4. 1580, KOKB Blackwell, after a few days of open carrier whenever checked, afternoon of May 5 they were modulating with sports talk again, and may have resumed as early as May 4. I bet it happens again and again as no one is really paying attention. And/or, it`s degenerated into an unpersonned relay, and breakdowns have to wait for some contract engineer to get around to visiting Blackwell from Perry, Stillwater, or wherever based, to hit the reset button (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OMAN. 15355, Radio Sultanate of Oman, Muscat with English DJ and western pops at 0315. Closing announcements 0356 13 Apr. Heard quite often during the month but generally poor signal (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, Northland, New Zealand, AOR7030+ with EWEs aimed at North, Central & South America, May 6, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3290, Radio Central, Port Moresby, reactivated 29 Apr with “NBC National News” in Tok Pidgin at 0809, poor to fair. No trace of Guyana this day (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, Northland, New Zealand, AOR7030+ with EWEs aimed at North, Central & South America, May 6, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3905, NBC New Ireland, 1337-1403*, May 6. In Tok Pisin; DJ playing pop songs (island songs, Chicago with “If You Leave Me Now”, etc.); “Late Night Radio”; “17 minutes to 12”; mostly poor, but faded down to very poor by sign off; young kids singing Anthem before 1403* (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 3329.53, Ondas del Huallaga, Huánuco 1030 usual YL with español, off seemingly for the two previous days 4950, Radio Madre de Dios 1030 to 1050 opening to Florida almost daily [Wilkner & XM Cedar Key] 5039.21, Radio Libertad Junín, 1046 "...en el tiempo de Perú..." brief break in RHC [5040] transmission 26 April. 5120.372, Ondas del Suroriente, Quillabamba, 1033 música latina, quick drift to .512, 29 April (Robert Wilkner, FL, May 1, Drake R8, Icom 746Pro DL, Noise Reducing antenna, 60 meter band dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 9615, Radio Veritas, 1000-1010 May 1, Caught the tail end of the ID in English on the hour as, "... Veritas in Mandarin". This was followed by a program of news and comments in Mandarin language by female and male. Signal was very Good (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, WinRadio G305e/pd, 26.27N 081.05W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PHILIPPINES, Radio Veritas Asia heard well from 1500 on 15350 in Tagalog and English (Allen Dean, Lancashire, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Except this is the relay via VATICAN, 130 degrees back to the ME, ex- 11715 in the B-season, which was often heard here, but have not yet caught 15350 --- perhaps due to seldom tuning around at that hour in summer (gh, OK, DXLD) ** POLAND [non]. 11675, seems PRES via AUSTRIA, English at 12-13 has faded into oblivion. This service to Eu in B-09 carried on well to NAm in the same direxion, was weakening bit by bit in A-10, but as of May 5 a just barely audible carrier is all we can get at 1245. We hope there will still be some better days allowing it thru; anything we can get is a bonus as PRES refuses to target North America deliberately with a more suitable relay. 11675, PRES via AUSTRIA, Thursday May 6 at 1245 I can just barely make out the intonations of Swavek Chefs, presumably during ``Multi- Touch``, the combined DX/media/mailbag. At least we know this English hour is still on the air, and I suppose now summerly inbooming no further than the British Isles. Or how is it along east coast NAm? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PRIDNESTROVYE. Radio PMR is also on 6240, 1700-1900 Monday to Friday, language rotation is 1700 English, 1715 French, 1730 German, 1745 English, 1800 French, 1815 German, 1830 English, 1845 French. (Aoki A10 frequency schedule via DX News, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) But rotation is not stoneset (gh, DXLD) ** ROMANIA. 11700 DRM, RRI, Tiganeshti. Seemingly plenty of signal, but still unable to trigger decode of audio. On-screen ID as “SNR2 Tiganesti”, SNR to 14.0 – but 20.96 kbps bitrate made it a bridge too far, 0425 listed as Chinese service, 2/5 (Craig Seager, Bathurst NSW (Icom R75, Drake R8A, Folded Dipole, Random Wire, Dream DRM software), May Australian DX News via DXLD) 11955 in Spanish vs jamspurs: see CUBA [and non] ** RUSSIA. 15510, April 30 at 1357, ``Love Story`` snippet of music again today like April 27, then Dari announcement. Must be a regular program theme. And this time no modulation cutouts from VOR service to Afghanistan via Krasnodar, per Aoki, Samara per EiBi and HFCC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [non]. 9810 VOR Spanish via GUIANA FRENCH, May 2 at 0107 with La Voz de Rusia ID, no Cuban jamming for a change. No VOR Spanish at this time on 9735. GUF earlier in A-season was running both during this hour, but apparently 9735 now does not start until 0200, a May 1 mod? At 0215 check it`s the other way round, on 9735, off 9810 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Radio Rossii Dubl4 so called, European version: *1325-1700* from April 18 already 9480, ex 9470 same change as in middle April in 2009 *1725-2100* from April 25(?) already 7215, ex 7220 The items were first observed by Russian DXer Mr. Diadishchev and Ukrainian Mr. Egorov (Alexander Egorov was the DX-Editor on RUI English Service DX Program). (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, May 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Radio Krasnoyarsk, exactly Radio Rossii Krasnoyarsk on 6085 khz in A 10: 2100-2200 R. Rossii 4 (Dubl 4) 2200-1700 R. Rossii 3 (Dubl 3), featuring local prgrs of Krasnoyarsk Sun - Thu 2315-2400 Mon - Fri 0510-0610 and 0910-1010 Sat & Sun 0110-0210 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, for WOR/DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 11785, BSKSA, Riyadh. Arabic "Koran Kerim" program starting at 0958 on 22/4 with strong sounding "bzzzz" (until 1350). Interesting is that the transmitter on 9715 with close/down at 0956 and switched to 11785 is without such "bz" (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria (Sony ICF 2001, Marconi), May Australian DX News via DXLD) Maybe it`s not really the same transmitter; two of them could be closing at the same hour and the other one QSYing here. This 11785 transmission is missing from Aoki and HFCC, but EiBi has it: 11785 1000-1700 ARS BSKSA 1 A ME I also heard it months ago closer to sign-off, with the buzz, but now it`s normally blocked by the China radio war if not WHRI (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17785, BSKSA, Riyadh. English at 0750 with "From the Press" program on 22/4 and at 0753 said their schedule (times = UT + 3 as by us): "9 to 11 in English from Riyadh, 11 to 1 p.m. in French, 1 to 3.30 from Jeddah in English, 3.30 to 5 in Bengali(!), 5 to 7 in French and from 7 to midnight in English from Riyadh" (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria (Sony ICF 2001, Marconi), May Australian DX News via DXLD) I.e. the 17785 broadcast ending English at 0800, then French. Trouble is, only the French from 0800 is supposed to be on SW, but English frequently reported here as they turn the transmitter on early. The next English mentioned = Jeddah at 1000-1230 is on 15250, and AFAIK, the final English at 16-21 UT is not on SW either, tho I used to listen to some of it on webcast (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17785, 25 March at 0752, BSKSA, press report in English, SIO 555 (Colin Watson, Lanarkshire, May BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Same at 10 April at 0748 (Dave Kenny, ed., ibid.) BSKSA HQS, still running two nearby frequencies at once, contrary to known schedule, May 1 at 1336 on 17615 // 17625, only fair-poor with RFI in French amid on 17620. 17615 is supposed to change to 17625 at 1200. But at 1423 check, now it`s only 17615, not 17625 which apparently axually closed at 1400 as it is scheduled (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) New frequencies were observed first by Glenn Hauser. Here is the new schedule of BSKSA in A10 as were monitored in period March 28-April 24 (maybe there are more frequencies which I didn't hear): Main Program in Arabic 0550-0855 17730, 17740 0855-1155 15490, 17805 1155-1455 17705, 21505 1800-2255 9555, 9870, MW 1521 Call of Islam in Arabic 1500-1755 15225, 15435 Qoran Kerim [Holy] in Arabic 0300-0955 9715 0300-0555 15170 0300-0755 & 1155-1455 17895 0555-0855 & 1155-1355 15380 0855-1155 11935, 17570 0855-1150 & 1255-1555 17615 0955-1355 11785 with "bzzz" sound 1155-1355 17625 1455-1755 13710 1555-1755 15205, 17560 1755-2255 11820, 11915, 11930 Relay Radio Riyadh and Radio Jeddah on SW 0745-0800 English & 0800-0955 French 17785 1000-1230 English 15250 (?1230?)-1400 Bengali 15120 1400-1600 French 17660 Foreign Services 0400-0655 Swahili 15285 0900-1155 Indonesian 21670 1200-1355 Urdu 13775 1200-1230 & 1400-1455 Bengali 15120 (see above relay also) 1500-1755 Farsi 7240 (1500-1755 9885 under DRM seems is service to Xizang, China) [Tibet] 1600-1755 Bambara 17560 1800-2055 Turkish 9675 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, May Australian DX News via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DXLD) Thanks to Rumen Pankov for excellent BSKSA Riyadh monitored frequency schedule in dxld, from May Australian DX News. Foreign Services 0900-1155 Indonesian not heard on alternative 17585 yet. 1500-1755 9885 in Tajik/Turkmen/Uyghur/Uzbek to TKM, TJK, UZB and Xijang CHN is heard in the clear here in Germany. DRM adjacent 9880 kHz from Kaliningrad Bolshakovo is not a problem here. Planned language section programs not heard here on air yet: 0300-0455 Somali 15320, alternative 17760. 0300-0555 Chinese 21665. 0800-0955 Chinese 15610. 1400-1555 Pashto 15575, alternative 9695 (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, May 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. 15710, IRRS, 1410-1610+, May 1, No Miraya FM programming today. English, US produced, programming with US pop music. English announcements at 1431. Promo at 1432 and 1445 for “music in our schools” program. Some lite instrumental music and inspirational music. IRRS ID announcement and Milano, Italy address given at 1508 and 1608. Promo at 1610 for fire prevention. Poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) Italy: IRRS Shortwave via Slovakia on 15710 kHz, 1 May and 2 May 2010. Saturday’s program (1 May) in English consisted of Euro/disco dance music and pop musical selections, as well as an ad for nuclear technology. Listened in from 1410 to 1430 UT and experienced difficult reception conditions, due to the audio portion of your [sic] program being “clipped.” There was a cut-off of programming – a situation where only partial words and sentences could be heard. The carrier signal remained on the air at these times, suggesting a transmitter modulation abnormality, or perhaps a break in the feed between transmitter facility and studio? Interestingly, listened in again on 2 May at 1400 UT, and I was only able to detect the carrier signal, with a heterodyne noted on the carrier. Continued listening until 1458, when I heard a musical selection in part (due to the audio “clipping described above) followed by a female station identification mentioning “Radio Miraya.” Audio continued intermittently throughout this time period. At 1522 UT, I was able to hear part of an interview between a female interviewer and a male mentioning “Darfur” at this time. I sent an e-mail to Ron Norton at IRRS explaining the audio anomalies on both days. I was listening on the R8A and Eton e1 both days, using end-fed longwires 100 and 50 feet long respectively. 73’s, (Ed Insinger, Summit, NJ, May 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) via Slovakia, 15710, Miraya FM, 1415-1525+, May 2, No Miraya FM yesterday, but back on the air today. Tune-in to open carrier and intermittent audio cutting in and out. Best after 1452 with Arabic talk. “Miraya” jingles. Short breaks of African music. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) See also ITALY [non] ** SLOVAKIA. 10000, UNID in Arabic language. IM of 9740 fundamental? Nils Schiffhauer schrieb: Hmmmh, aber um 0600 UT kam eine ID von IRRS Milano- Extra in Englisch, damit "sogar ich" sie verstehen konnte ... was zudem relativ zwanglos auch das haeufigere Auftreten des Woertleins "Sudan" erklaert. 73, (Nils DK8OK, Perseus rx, 96 m delta loop, 42 m windom, A-DX via BC-DX May 1 via DXLD) Ich hab selbst jetzt nicht reingehoert - aber offensichtlich macht sich neben Jordanien jetzt auch Rimavska Sobota unerwuenscht auf 10000 kHz bemerkbar - das Programm duerfte dann wohl Miraya FM gewesen sein. (Patrick Robic, Austria, A-DX May 1, ibid.) Google translates + gh: Nils Schiffhauer wrote: Hmmmh, but at 0600 UT an ID came from IRRS Milano-Extra in English, so that "even I`` could understand it. Moreover, relatively informal and more frequent occurrence of the little word "Sudan," explained this. 73, Nils DK8OK, Perseus rx, 96 m delta loop, 42 meter Windom. I have even now not heard it again - but obviously makes the undesired side Jordan now Rimavska Sobota to 10000 kHz noticeable - the program would then probably have been Miraya FM (Patrick Robic, Austria, A-DX Sep 1 [sic], ibid.) For intermodulation there must something else to mix with, in this case either 9480 or 9870, but nothing from Slovakia there, nor is RSI even on the air between 03 and 07. Since 10000 is even-MHz, maybe a fingerslip caused that to enter by default. When hearing this on 10000, one should determine if anything be on 9740 (gh, DXLD) ** SLOVAKIA. RADIO SLOVAKIA INTERNATIONAL : SCHEDULE CHANGES http://www.slovakradio.sk/inetportal/rsi/core.php?page=showSprava&id=28451<=2 "During the period between the 1st of May and the 30th of September 2010 the following changes will be implemented in our broadcasting schedule. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday broadcasting will only take place on one frequency. Highlighted frequencies will be broadcast during even weeks. Frequencies which are not highlighted will be broadcast during odd weeks. There will be no changes to broadcasts during Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday." Very strange! frequency schedule (with Highlighted frequencies) : http://www.slovakradio.sk/inetportal/rsi/core.php?lang=2&mainpage=maincontentfull&page=frequencies (JM Aubier, France, April 30, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RSI reduces shortwave hours during summer months The comments refer to the transmission schedule on this page. No reason is given for this decision, but it should be noted that RSI dropped shortwave completely for a few months in 2006 due to budget cuts (Source: RSI website, May 1st, 2010 - 9:42 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) 1 Comment on “RSI reduces shortwave hours during summer months” #1 Kai Ludwig on May 2nd, 2010 at 13:22 Apparently just a strange approach to save about 20 percent of frequency hours but under any circumstances keep the slots clear of other occupants, hoping that the cuts can be revoked later. Of course they could simply have canceled one repeat each for German, English, French and Russian instead of coming up with this confusing mess. But it appears to be not too uncommon to make such decisions only from the point of view of transmitter operations, hardly considering how convenient they are for potential listeners (MN blog comments via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DXLD) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5020, SIBC, 1030 Island Music, good 26 April (Robert Wilkner, FL, May 1, Drake R8, Icom 746Pro DL, Noise Reducing antenna, 60 meter band dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA [non]. JONATHAN MARKS INTERVIEWS LAUNCH DIRECTOR OF RADIO BAR-KULAN Jonathan Marks writes in the Critical Distance Weblog: “Was delighted to do an interview with David Smith, the launch director of Radio Bar- Kulan. This is a new venture based on successful projects in Congo and the Central African Republic. The task of uniting Somalis in a country with no functioning central government is daunting. But, I believe, if anyone has the expertise to get it right, it is the team of Somalis working alongside David Smith at the moment.” Click here to view the 16-minute video http://criticaldistance.blogspot.com/2010/05/bar-kulan-gets-going.html (May 6th, 2010 - 14:11 UTC, by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Brother Scare is back on WWCR: May 1 at 0454 on 5890, no longer // 5935 DGS, which was rather pointless. WWCR has put up new pdf program grid as of May 1, showing BS: M-F 15-20 13845 Daily 04-11 5890 The SFAW/PPP sked on WWCR now also matches what we had in last report. No changes to WORLD OF RADIO`s six times (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also USA, WBCQ for more BS ** SPAIN. Re 10-17: A 24 hour strike by Spain's REE journalists, etc. has affected their shortwave service. Their 0000 transmission on 6055 on May 1 only had an announcement at the start and then Spanish music (Mark Coady, Peterborough, ON K9J 6X3, ODXA yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. SLBC (Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corpn.,) announced during its English transmission today they will be back on 15745 kHz from 7th May onwards at 0055-0330 UT. SLBC is temporarily using 15120 due to transmitter problem for its English at 0055-0330. 15120 kHz suffers from co-channel QRM from CRI English 0300 onwards. Schedule : SLBC All Asia Service : 0055-0330 UT (Sunday upto 0430) on 6005 (10 kW), 9770 (10 kW) & 15745 (35 kW) (Alokesh Gupta) -- Posted By Alokesh Gupta to R A D I O A C T I V I T Y at 5/05/2010 08:42:00 AM (via Gupta, dx_sasia yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DXLD) ** SUDAN. 7200, Radio Omdurman, 0404-0431* Apr 29, Man announcer with news in Arabic with numerous mentions of Sudan and several remote reports. End of news at 0420 followed by an interview feature. Carrier cut at 0431. Fair at tune in but slowly deteriorating (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 May 2 via DXLD) 7200, SRTC, Al-Aitahab, 1351-1415, 03 May'10, Arabic, radioplay, news at 1402, announcements, Arabic pops; 25443, but improving fast (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. See SLOVAKIA, Miraya FM anomalies ** SWEDEN. Radio Sweden, English 1700-1730 only heard here on 13870, not 13600 as listed in last month schedules column (David Crystal, Israel, May World DX Club Contact via DXLD) 13870 only frequency listed in English on their website when checked May 2. Aoki and Bierwirth have 13600 in Swedish 1700-1730 (Mike Barraclough, UK, ibid.) wires crossed? ** SYRIA. 12085, Radio Damascus, 2150-2202*, May 2, local music. English news summary at 2200. Off the air at 2202. Fair level but loud hum in audio made reception very difficult. 9330 not heard. (Brian Alexander, PA, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX Listening Digest) Radio Damascus back on 2 frequencies --- 9330 with a good reception at 1903 tune in with French // 12085. I've been hearing 9330 kHz with a good signal since 2 weeks approx. Transmitters finally repaired ? Regards (JM Aubier, France, May 4, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And WBCQ 9330 12+ hours per day not a problem in Europe? I suppose it should not be, aimed oppositeward, <50 vs <500 kW. But is sure is here. Are you implying Damascus` modulation is now up to par to go with the signal strength? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DXLD) ** TAIWAN. 11695-11705, extremely distorted modulation spixe with no carrier, May 4 at 1154, conversation sounds like English but hard to copy. Quick scans of 25 and even 31m find no match. At 1158 sign-off announcement I hear a dot tw, and then RTI`s complete English schedule recited, altho cannot make out two separate frequencies and targets for the 11-12 broadcast. At 1200, 3+1 timesignal, the last one prolonged at higher pitch, and into Chinese. Uplooked later, what does HFCC say? NOTHING. Taiwan is a nonentity there tnx to pressure from the ChiCom, world`s largest jammer which should be banned from HFCC instead. Aoki and EiBi reveal that RTI is supposed to be on 11715, so that transmitter is malfunxioning. Aoki says site Tainan, 250 kW, 180 degrees. The // is 7445, which would probably have been obscured by RNZI 7440 DRM before 1158. Language at 12-13 is specifically Amoy (Hokkein), says Aoki. At 1205 I notice that this scratchy noise is also bothering RNV relay via Cuba on 11705, where its own modulation seems OK today. Have I unjustly criticised that previously, really caused by Taiwan? Maybe. Unlike yesterday, no trace of scratchy RTI spur around 11695-11705, May 5 at 1238; so RNV via CUBA 11705 unscathed, but nothing on 11715 either, where RTI English is supposed to be. Plenty of Mainland signals coming thru on 25m, mainly CNR1 jammers (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But see UNIDENTIFIED 11643 ** TIBET. CHINA: LHASA HAS OWN RADIO STATION (China Daily) Updated: 2010-05-04 09:20 The Lhasa People's Radio Station began broadcasting Saturday, the first people's radio station for the capital of the Tibet autonomous region. Programs of the newly established station will be broadcast in Tibetan and Mandarin on FM 91.4, covering Lhasa's urban areas as well as its seven counties and one district. Broadcasting on a daily basis from 7:50 am to 10:10 pm, the station will provide 10 programs including news, life services, healthcare information and entertainment. SHANDONG Source: Lhasa has own radio station http://bit.ly/cQe8Cg Photo: Lhasa People's Radio to go on air in May - People's Daily Online http://bit.ly/ckR1js (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) Viz.: ``The workroom of the Lhasa People's Radio, photo from China Tibet Information Center. The Lhasa People's Radio (FM91.4), which is launched with the help from Jiangsu Province, is set to go on the air on May 1, which will end the city's history with no radio station.`` ** TIBET. 4820, Xizang PBS, 1306, April 30. Special programming; live CNR-1 audio feed from the opening ceremonies of the Shanghai Expo; in Chinese, English and French; // CNR-1 (6125, etc.) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [and non]. China [Tibet] - As Ron Howard and others reported, 4920, 6200, 6110 kHz are blank last few days, no signal from China, rather other broadcasters are being heard. 4905, 6130 are broadcasting quite different programmes like continuous western classical / orchestra music and weaker than before. MW 594 kHz is continuing normal programming. Thanks & Regards, (Partha Sarathi Goswami, Siliguri – 734001, Dist. Darjeeling, West Bengal, INDIA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [non]. 7350, CNR-11 (Tibetan Service), 1304 + 1335 + 1404 + 1433, May 6; the “Holy Tibet” program in English was not heard. Does anyone have the new schedule for HT here? (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [non]. Special stricken areas service of Qinghai PBS is finished on Apr. 30. I can't receive Qinghai PBS Tibetan on 6190 and 6090 kHz Chinese from May 1. de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, May 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TUNISIA. In really "imaginary HFCC lists". I just began to check Radio Tunis broadcasts and the result: 0330(s/on is earlier) - 0400 9725, 12005 0400-0500 7275, 9725, 12005 0500-0600 7275 0600-0625 7275, 7335 0625-0750 7335 (s/off is later, presumed at 0810). Observing for the example the HFCC list for Saudi Arabia, I am thinking that someone palmed off on us old non-concerted variations of their frequency plan in the Net. (May 4th) (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria for WOR/DXLD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. 11980, at 0449 May 1, good with nice but very repetitive ME music; I was beginning to think it was an IS, but varied somewhat over time. 0500 one-pip timesignal about one second late, W&M with Turkish announcements, news? 0504 back to music but weakening. It`s TRT Çakirlar, 04-06 at 310 degrees to Europe and consequently NAm beyond (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9785, TRT German noted here in 31 mb today, scheduled 1730-1827 UT on 11835 EMR in 25mb instead, May 3. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, May 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This is a friendly reminder: Please book your hotel room N O W !! Please observe: We are going to visit the Shortwave Transmitter Antenna in Çakirlar (For further information please do contact: Tibor Szilagyi, EDXC Secretary General, E -- Mail: tiszi2035 @ yahoo.com re EDXC Conference Ankara, Sept 30-Oct 3, 2010, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKMENISTAN. May 5 at 1750 noted Turkmenistan again active on 5015 with strong signal and mostly good modulation. It's mainly USB mode (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA. 4976, R. Uganda, Kampala, 2143-2158, 02 May'10, vernacular, talks; 55343. What have they done to the audio?! The modulation was punchy, clear; let's see how long it lasts this way. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA [non]. 15410, FRANCE, Radio Y’Abaganda, Ugandan clandestine, at 1709 with repeating no service telephone announcement, tones and “We’re sorry, you’ve reached...”, pause and then programming kicked in with two men in Swahili. This broadcast is sked Saturdays only, 1700- 1800. Poor, May 1 (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Eton E1 and AN-1 active antenna, listening from my car, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) As Brian Alexander, PA, said on April 10, 2010, I heard the same today [Saturdays only] via France, 15410, Radio Y’Abaganda, *1700-1715*, May 01, Non-stop audio loop consisting of music tone and announcement loop saying “We’re sorry you've reached a station that is unavailable at this time. Please try to tune in later" with "Live 365.Com" jingle. Into vernacular talk at 1724 UT, several interview like presentations. Sudden sign off at 1759 while audio was running. Weak to fair reception, noisy conditions after 1730 (Partha Sarathi Goswami, Siliguri – 734001, Dist. Darjeeling, West Bengal, INDIA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Via France, 15410, Radio Y’Abaganda, *1700-1725+, May 1, sign on with non-stop tape loop consisting of tones and saying “We’re sorry you've reached a station that is unavailable at this time. Please try again later". Into vernacular talk at approximately 1715. Poor to fair in noisy conditions. Sat only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 01/05/2010, 1743 UTC, 15410.0, F, Redio Y'Abaganda-Issoudun, Comentarios OM, Swa, 24332, (Antonio Madrid, Rubi, Barcelona, España, Kenwood R5000, Long Wire 25 Mts, playdx yg via DXLD) Another report they were in Swahili, instead of Luganda; unwarranted assumptions, or do they use both? (gh, DXLD) ** UKRAINE. A new edition of Hello From Kyiv was broadcast on Saturday and has now been put up for listening on demand or download. On the three previous Saturdays the same edition was broadcast. In answer to an email from James Allson (spelling?) [sounds like Olson to me --- gh], Powder Springs, Ohio asking them to reinstate the North American service on shortwave, 5 minutes 20 into the programme, they stated: "Radio Ukraine International never stopped shortwave broadcasting to any direction but its signal may not be audible in North America and some other places due to temporary technical problems. Our managers and engineers say everything's going to be OK soon". Audio on demand page: http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/index.php?id=780 (Mike Barraclough, May 5, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DXLD) Wonder what they mean by that? Still running as per schedule at extremely low power? Or is the studio not aware of what is really (not) happening with the transmitters? Europeans, please strain to detect any of their scheduled frequencies. Direct link to program: http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/UserFiles/Media/RUI/EP/EP-3-20100501-A1.mp3 I made the mistake of listening first to the other link beside it, A2 which had nothing of the sort. But the A1 definitely says it`s in May, and Andrew speaks the above words (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The station or some of its staff members might still be unaware of the fact that it is off the SW. The letter they sent out two weeks ago that referred to "technical difficulties" could be read in that light, too. Any SW station receives a fair number of complaints of poor reception. I won't be surprised if our emails are dismissed by RUI as a case of poor SW propagation (Sergei S., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) It would not surprise me if its staff think they are still on air (Keith Perron, Taiwan, ibid.) Yes, it`s incredible how many SW broadcasters have zero interest in being SWLs, even to their own station (gh, DXLD) ** U K [non]. I have been intending to monitor how BBC handles the transition from BBC Mundo in Spanish to BBCWS in English on 9410 weekdays via WHRI at 12-13. May 4 at 1213, Spanish story about 2-meter crox getting into storm sewers and residences in Villahermosa, Tabasco. After reminding us it is martes, at 1215 sharp immediately switched to English, joining in progress a discussion of terrorist plots against New York. So here`s how they handle it: clumsily. If SW were not a mere afterthought we are lucky to have at all for 225 minutes a week from BBCWS in English, they would have built in a hard break at 1215 and welcomed all their American listeners at that point. Ha (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Sunday Times: BBC WORLD SERVICE COULD LOSE 18-25% OF FUNDING http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article7114027.ece or see http://snipurl.com/vyaam Arabic and Persian TV are deemed especially vulnerable, as are "minority languages". No reasons for requiring cuts of these levels were listed; this would be for the three years beginning April 2011. One speculates the timing for the announcement is to enable World Service listeners to apply what pressure they can (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) Given our failure to save English Language Short Wave broadcasts. I'm not too hopeful that applying pressure will make that much difference, but it's worth a try (Sandy Finlayson (m.), ibid.) The news coming out one year in advance of the event suggests that this was done for effect...the exit from shortwave was announced roughly 3 1/2 months before that happened, if I recall the dates. (Richard Cuff, ibid.) Viz.: TERMINAL' CUTS LOOM AT WORLD SERVICE The Sunday Times, By Chris Gourlay, May 2, 2010 The BBC World Service is braced for the loss of up to a quarter of its budget. Executives are planning for cuts of 18%-25% after Foreign Office officials indicated its £272m annual budget would be reduced from April next year. A World Service source said the effect of a 25% cut would be "pretty much terminal". The broadcaster, which has a weekly audience of 188m, is funded by taxpayers through the Foreign Office to promote British culture and values. BBC sources say services such as BBC Arabic TV and BBC Persian TV are vulnerable because they cost a combined £34m per year. Minority language services are at risk, while the English services are likely to survive. The cuts follow a steady scaling back in the World Service's reach. In 2006 it ended its Falkland Islands service and in 2005 it axed 10 foreign language services, saving £12m. This year it was asked to make a further £7.7m cut because of a funding shortfall caused by a sharp drop in the value of the pound. The reduced budget will be for the three years from April 2011. A Foreign Office spokesman said the department was unable to give an assurance that the service's budget would be protected (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DXLD) Surprised this hasn't spurred some comments on this forum. Even a lesser reduction than that which the article mentions would certainly result in major cuts to SW output. We might see a complete change to the "two hours morning, two hours evening" pattern that has emerged in the past few years as a prelude to dropping the SW service to a particular area (Steve Luce, TX, ibid.) Since BBC left the Western Hemisphere out in the cold years ago, we can`t get too upset about any further cuts (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DXLD) First of all, it's not the purpose of BBC World Service "to promote British culture and values." I would think that Arabic and Persian would be priorities for Foreign Office funding of World Service. And audiences in those and other target areas are nowadays expecting to get their news via television. That's the problem: television is much more expensive than radio. Perhaps World Service should look to EuroNews, not as an exact template, but for ideas on how the consolidate the visual element, while providing multiple audio tracks. And why would the English service survive? The BBCWS 24-hour English radio offering(s) might be a good candidate for scaling back. It could make more use of BBC domestic radio content. It could even use the sound portion of BBC World News (which aspires to be self funding) for a few hours a day. This news will result in much discussion and politicking, but I would bet against an actual, eventual cut of 25%. Posted: 02 May 2010 (Kim Andrew Elliott, www.kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) It depends on how the cuts are carried out. I'm sure that most of the budget is devoted to payroll. If they eliminate staff to make up the shortfall and spare the broadcast operations then listeners will be less likely to be affected, or perhaps affected only to the extent that their favorite program may no longer be available. But the Beeb would still be on the air and their listeners would have something to hear. That's not how the other broadcasters seem to be doing it. They seem to save the staff but cut the operating budget by reducing air time and other broadcast operations, telling themselves that radio is a has-been medium and that their listeners will switch to new media such as podcasts and streaming (Jerry Lenamon, Waco TX, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4 Comments on “’Terminal’ cuts loom at BBCWS - Sunday Times” #1 Kai Ludwig on May 2nd, 2010 at 13:10 But the question is where these remaining English radio services will still be distributed. Their FM licence in Berlin has apparently not been prolonged so far (which could be done once without further reallocation procedures), http://www.mabb.de/radio-tv/radio/bbc.html still shows that it expires in just six months from now. And under such circumstances I would not consider it as a matter of course that the BBC World Service will continue to spend around 100,000 Euro per year for this FM relay, especially since Europe in general is no priority for them anymore. #2 Glenn Hauser on May 3rd, 2010 at 05:12 That`s too bad, but it seem to me that still quite a lot could be accomplished with only 204 megapounds, hardly “terminal“. How many other external broadcasters have anywhere near that much to spend? [also WORLD OF RADIO 1511] #3 Jonathan Marks on May 3rd, 2010 at 12:35 World service radio does indeed need a serious rethink. 648 kHz is really broadcasting to parliamentarians in Brussels, whereas Arabic radio is competing rather than complementing what is happening on TV. Basically they should have a proper cross-media policy using radio in areas where they are traditionally strong - like Africa and part of Asia. But radio into China, the Gulf, Turkey, India is a lost battle. The funding of WS Radio in English is a shambles - confused by other funding arrangements for the web and TV. As a result, WS Radio is increasingly becoming an island prone to attack by financial icebergs. WS can learn a lot from its domestic colleagues on how to use social media effectively. But I guess they regard their colleagues as the biggest threat to their existence. Henk on May 3rd, 2010 at 16:40 Of course, I don’t pay taxes in the UK (so I really have no reason to complain), but it sure would be devastating news for me if BBC-WS on 648khz were to close down. My evening walks with my Sony SRF-M37L would be very different… And BTW, I am not a parliamentarian, just a news junky living in Flanders, Belgium. (PS Long live the UK parliamentarians in Brussels, and long live Radio4 on long wave (Media Network blog comments via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. I have been wondering whether the MW frequency at Marathon FL of Radio Martí, 1180, is still off the air after a month. Apparently so, as I happened on an announcement May 4 at 1231 on 6030 atop jamming that it is ``fuera del aire``, but ``es solo temporal``. That is, assuming at the Miami studios they really know the current status of Marathon. I guess IBB are still installing new transmitter and/or upgrading antennas, which would seem to go counter to the trend in Wáshington against prolonging Martí. I also assume the DentroCuban jamming by at least three co-channel transmitters pretending to be legit broadcasts, continues unabated. Could Marathon be repurposed in a post-Martí era for a general Caribbean service or to resume Kreyòl to Haïti? Dream on. As I tuned past RHC 13680, May 4 at 1301 they were gleefully quoting Sen. Kerry criticising R/TV Martí (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: SENATORS CALL FOR RADIO/TV MARTÍ TO BECOME PART OF VOA US government-backed radio and television broadcasts into Cuba reach a tiny audience there and suffer from poor editorial standards, a US Senate Committee said in a scathing report released Monday. Founded to give Cubans accurate, unbiased news programming, Radio Martí and TV Martí “have failed to make any discernable inroads into Cuban society or to influence the Cuban Government,” said the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The panel’s report, dated 29 April, notes that US government-sponsored research has found that less than two percent of Cubans listen to Radio Martí, and “claims that TV Martí has any stable viewership are suspect.” The panel, led by Democratic Senator John Kerry, sharply criticized the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB) that oversees both outlets of having “failed to adhere to generally accepted journalistic standards.” “Both internal and external investigations have criticized OCB for broadcasting unsubstantiated reports from Cuba as legitimate news stories, for using offensive and incendiary language in news broadcasts, and for a lack of timeliness in news reporting,” the committee said. And “interviews with recently arrived Cuban immigrants show that among those who were familiar with the broadcasts, only a small minority thought they were ‘objective.” The report, entitled “Cuba: Immediate Action Is Needed to Ensure the Survivability of Radio and TV Marti,” calls for moving OCB to Washington and integrate it with Voice of America (VOA) to boost its standards. OCB must also “clean up its operation” by implementing editorial standards and drawing better on-air staff and managers, and “spend less money on measuring audience size and focus more on quality programming.” (Source: AFP) May 4th, 2010 - 9:13 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DXLD) More: CUBA [non] ** U S A. VOA News Now has been running promos for "Daybreak Asia," apparently coming soon. The promo says that the show will air at 0100, 2200 and 2300 UT, Monday through Friday, though I would suspect that the 2200 and 2300 airings are actually Sunday through Thursday UT. Presumably, this is just a renaming of the News Now hours running at those times, since Asia is the primary target at those hours, and not a new program that will air in addition to News Now currently airing during those times (Mike Cooper, GA, Apr 30, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOA NEWS NOW IS GONE, REPLACED BY NEW REGIONAL ENGLISH BROADCASTS Readers have noticed new VOA English programming. This is what I know: "VOA News Now" is no more. In its place, VOA has "soft launched" new regional programming for East/South Asia and for the Middle East. The soft launch means it has not been publicized yet (even though anyone can listen to it). The Middle East transmissions do not yet have shortwave frequencies and are thus available only via internet audio stream. The "hard launch" will be 16 May. Here is the schedule (presumably Monday through Friday): MORNING TO EAST AND SOUTH ASIA, 2200-0100 UT 2200 Daybreak Asia 2230 International Edition 2300 Daybreak Asia 2330 International Edition 0000 Daybreak Asia 0030 International Edition EVENING TO EAST AND SOUTH ASIA, 1200-1500 UT 1200 Crossroads Asia 1230 International Edition 1300 Crossroads Asia 1330 International Edition 1400 Crossroads Asia 1430 International Edition EVENING TO THE MIDDLE EAST, 1700-1800 and 1900-2000 UT 1700 Middle East Monitor 1730 International Edition 1900 Middle East Monitor 1930 International Edition There are also a few changes to VOA English programs to Africa. Posted: 4 May 2010 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. VOA has dumped the `World News Now` format for some regionalized news blox (see http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=8871 --- Kim says this has been a ``soft launch``, i.e. unpublicized). Consequently some of the most enjoyable features such as Wordmaster have disappeared from their habitual spots, in this case at 17 or 18 minutes past the hours on Wednesdays. We hope they are still on the schedule somewhere else. 9760 via PHILIPPINES, Wed May 5 at 1229 has Sarah Williams outroducing what is now called ``Crossroads Asia``. This followed an interview rather than This Day In History which had been appearing without fail at :28-:30 minutes past the hours. 1230 into the new segment on the half-hours, ``VOA`s International Edition``. At the moment 9760 is atop the deliberate co-channel interference from CRI. Recheck at 1415 when 9760 is clear, with mid-ID as ``Crossroads Asia on Voice of America``, but continued with news of Burma, Afghanistan, no Wordmaster. Maybe that feature has been shifted to the second half of hours? Not at 1451 on 15580 when in another news interview. It should be noted that VOA previously had regional news blox, until the World News Now thing replaced them; this may be an ultimate improvement (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9945, Thursday May 6 at 1359 I hear Yankee Doodle Dandy, i.e. the VOA sign-on routine. Or is it sign-off? From 1400 dead air, but almost a semi-minute later starts Indonesian service. It`s really bilingual with the announcer mixing in English, for the ``Direct Connexion`` pop music show. This transmission is Thu-Fri-Sat only, via Tinang, PHILIPPINES, per Aoki. Signal only fair (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOA vs Ethiopian jamming: see ETHIOPIA [and non] ** U S A. 9980, WWCR-4 again with Pastor Pete Peters, Friday April 30 at 1224, proffering instruxions on how to get him on public access TV, where ``they play us for nothing!``. Unsolid signal compared to huge strength of // WTWW 9479. But after 1300, 9980 also reached overload level. WWCR program guide still hasn`t been updated to show his true hours instead of temp fill programming on WWCR-4; I suppose it will be in early May. SFAW website, is it up to date? Leaves UTC field blank but default time seems to be CDT = UT -5 to which we have added UT: WWCR SFAW Broadcast Schedule: 7 days a week 9:00PM-10:00PM 5890 0200-0300 Mon-Sat 7:00AM-10:00AM 9980 1200-1500 7 days a week 7:00PM- 9:00PM 9980 0000-0200 Sunday Only 11:00AM- 2:00PM 9980 1600-1900 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF RADIO on WWCR: #1510 confirmed on 15825, Friday April 30 starting at 2030:10, poor here with no Es to help; also ending by 1657 so it must have started a bit early, Saturday May 1 on 12160, good now with some sporadic E in play, and no looping. Next airings are: UT Sun 0230 on 4840, 0630 on 3215, 2330 on 9980, Mon 0330 on 5890. 4840, WWCR-3 amid DX Block at 0229 UT Sun May 2, canned announcement claimed it was on 4775 at 0300 Saturday, i.e. old winter schedule, except it was also UT Sunday then. Then WORLD OF RADIO 1510 started only a few sex late and hope it didn`t go into looping this time, as I missed rechecking a few mins before end (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Routine check of WWCR for newly scheduled WORLD OF RADIO broadcast Sunday at 2330 on 9980: no signal at 2337 May 2. Can`t be propagation, since nearby WTWW 9479 was inbooming. Later found this on homepage: ``2 MAY 2010 - WWCR and sister station WNQM are OFF-AIR due to power outage and flooding. Nashville, Tennessee is recovering from 18 inches of rainfall in 2 days. We appreciate your patience and request your prayers for employees and friends of these stations, many of whom have suffered tremendous personal loss. Further details will be posted here as they become available.`` All frequencies still absent May 3 at 1312: 7490, 9980, 13845, 15825. We hope there has been no major damage (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also WWCR webpage via Travers who adds: It was strange dial scanning tonight and their frequencies were empty. Checking other Tennessee stations WWRB and WTWW are unaffected by the weather (Travers, 0309 UT May 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WWCR still missing from all frequencies, May 4 at 0532: silence on 3215, 4840, 5890, 5935. Ditto at 1300 check: no 15825, 13845, 9980 or 7490. Still no further details on the WWCR website, but I hear the rhombix are not underwater, so maybe it`s just power outage. Periodic chex of WWCR frequencies found them all still missing May 5, for the fourth day in a row following the Nashville flooding. None of them on at 0527, nor at 1205, 1240. However, just as I tune in 13845 at 1321 there is a big open carrier, and soon at 1322 WWCR ID, transmission cutting on and off, then joining Pastor Melissa Scott in progress, and staying on. VG signal obviously sporadic-E enhanced. Kept looking for others, 7490, 9980, 15825, but still none of them at 1333, 1343. By 1411, 13845 had switched to Joyce Riley, and per current schedule her Power Hour is already supposed to be on WWCR-2 at 12-15 weekdays. Another check at 1451 still found 13845 the only frequency back on yet (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WWCR`s comeback: After hearing 13845 only, the morning of May 5, next check at 2130 finds 9350, 9980 and 13845 all on, but no 7465. So three of the four transmitters have resumed. May 6 at 0526, 4840 is on, and 5890 is // 5935 with PMS; before the flood, 5890 had just changed to carrying Brother Scare at that time. 3215 still missing, that is WWCR-1. Next check at 1408, 9980 inbooming, 13845 audible but weak, 15825 presumed on but not propagating; but 7490 is missing, i.e. WWCR-2, altho it was confirmed on earlier, via 9350 afternoon and 5935 at night. It may well be that only one particular transmitter is out of use, but the others can be switched around to different antennas and program feeds. So it`s more correct to think of WWCR-1, 2, 3 and 4 being program streams and antennas rather than individual transmitter units. In fact early on, designations 1 and 2 were interchanged. And of course last month, program streams per transmitter were reconfigured. Then I find a new message on the WWCR homepage as of May 6, which finally explains the situation: ``Wednesday, May 05, 2010 Flood Update Release #1 WWCR, and much of Nashville along the Cumberland River, remain in a flood state as of Wednesday, May 5 at 6.00pm (2300 UT). The Cumberland is at 48.2 feet and receding. Flood depth is 40 feet. Weather analysts predict that the Cumberland will be below flood level by Thursday, May 6 at 10.00pm (0300 UT). This is not guaranteed, as this date has been rolled back during the week. While WWCR's transmitters and buildings were spared the floodwaters, the transmitter field for WWCR's four transmitters and its medium wave sister station WNQM flooded to a level estimated between 15 and 20 feet depth. The waters appear to be receding, but there is still a tremendous amount of floodwaters in the transmitter field. On Wednesday afternoon, CT, Engineer Phil Patton was able to bring up transmitters 2, 3 and 4. This is an encouraging outcome, and could lead to more on air time soon, but WWCR is unable to determine at this time how quickly all transmitters will be brought on air. More details will be released as new information is determined. The flooding brings troubles to many Middle Tennessee and Nashville residents, as well as the noted troubles to WWCR. At least two WWCR employees are suffering loss, with home flooding, automobiles being submerged in water to the windshield and being stranded, separated from family and loved ones. WWCR requests the prayers and thoughts of both broadcasters and listeners as WWCR works its way through this major event and returns to the air, as well as for the WWCR employees (and all of Middle Tennessee residents) through this time of loss. WWCR is still without telephone and internet service. WWCR has been included in the "disaster area" by AT&T and offers no timeline for restored services.`` A lot of airtime has been lost which can never be made up, but don`t be surprised if, even back on the air, some WORLD OF RADIO times are replaced by make-goods of other programs. In fact, if there is still no internet or phone service, WOR 1511 will not make it to WWCR. I guess they still have satellite downlinking; I wonder if they could pull it off WRN in a pinch? But not until Saturday at 12:30 pm CT; or Sunday 3:30 am, 12:30 pm. To be safe, I suggest people make a point of catching the UT Friday 0330 WOR airing via WWRB 3185, or try the numerous other opportunities at http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Nashville area update: As of this morning, three of the four stations on the Brentwood FM tower are off: WPLN-90.3 WRLT-100.1 WNRQ-105.9 IIRC WKDF-103.3 is the 4th station on this tower & their IBOC is off. I suspect they're operating from their backup site in downtown Nashville. There hasn't been exceptional flooding at that tower site (that I know of -- it's on quite high ground) so I don't know why those stations are off. If WPLN's transmitter were working they might still not be on. Levees are threatened in their Metro Center studio location & the area has been evacuated. The Sinclair stations WZTV, WUXP, and WNAB are also down there (as is Comcast). Sinclair & Comcast are still on the air but no newscasts on Fox 17 last night or today (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, 1234 UT May 3, WTFDA via DXLD) WSM 650 off the air --- WSM is going through a very tough time right now. The Gaylord Opryland Hotel & Resort, where their studios are located (on an upper floor I believe) is reported to have at least 8 feet of water on its lower level. Their evening host, Eddie Stubbs, was broadcasting live from their transmitter site near Franklin, TN. Soon after his show ended at midnight CST, WSM went off the air. I have a feeling they signed off intentionally as they do not have an overnight host, and may not have the computer automation systems at their transmitter site to accommodate 24 hour broadcasting. I certainly hope this is the case, and nothing worse has happened. Also, the Grand Ole Opry house, obviously tied to WSM, is also under several feet of water. You can check out a couple of pictures here: http://www.opry.com/news/2010/05-03.html While the circumstances suck, hopefully y'all can get some nice DX on 650 with this outage (Bryce Foster - KG6VSW, Murfreesboro, TN EM65, 0637 UT May 4, ABDX via DXLD) Only bright spot is that it cuts into the evil Gaylord Oklahoman fortune (gh, DXLD) As you may have seen, Nashville is experiencing a SEVERE flooding event. Over the weekend, we broke our all-time record for total rainfall in a single month (note that Sunday was May *2* -- yes, we broke the *monthly* rainfall record in *two days*) Obviously the effects of this disaster have been spread across society. And that includes radio stations. WSM's studios are under water. They're located at the Opryland Hotel, which is reportedly flooded to a depth of eight feet. Over the weekend they were at times relaying the NOAA weather radio, and at times running dead air. They were reportedly off for a period Sunday morning. Yesterday afternoon the announcers said they were operating "from their studios on Concord Rd. in Brentwood" -- unless they've got something else I don't know about, they're talking about their transmitter building. The transmitter facility was at risk for a while as well. I saw some TV video showing standing water throughout the tower field. Not sure whether that's why they were reported off on Sunday. The transmitter building itself is several feet higher than the rest of the facility. Other Nashville stations that have been off over the last few days include: - WQSV-790 Ashland City. Transmitter is in a flood plain along the Cumberland River -- it's also on 20' stilts. Maybe that's not high enough? The stilts for the generator aren't quite as high, maybe the transmitter is OK but the generator is flooded? Studio is also on low ground but there are no reports of flooding in that neighborhood. - WMGC-810 Murfreesboro. - WYFN-980 Nashville. - WCRT-1160 Nashville. Right along the Cumberland just east of downtown. *I think* their STA FM relay on 98.7 is still working. - WVOL-1470 Nashville. Not sure why as I don't recall any significant waterways near their facility. In general, floods tend to put AM stations at risk. The kind of area that's best for siting an AM station -- areas with good ground conductivity -- tend to be flood plains. Three FM stations were also off for about 24 hours - not sure why - they share a tower, but it's on high ground. An area called "Metro Center" just north of downtown is threatened. This area is separated from the Cumberland by a levee, which is reported leaking. Facilities here include the studios of Nashville Public Radio (WPLN- 1430/90.3), the Sinclair TV stations (Fox 17/My 30/CW 58), and the cable offices (and headend?). It's been evacuated. The stations remain on the air though I suspect mostly through automation. Finally, the "new" Grand Ol' Opry House is also underwater. It's located adjacent to the Opryland Hotel. The *traditional* Opry House - - the Ryman Auditorium downtown -- is safe now and will probably remain safe. I know one Opry performance this week will be held at an alternate location and I'm sure *all* performances will be moved for the foreseeable future. The Music Row area is almost certainly safe. Radio has received a mixed review for its attention to this disaster. I haven't had much chance to listen. I did notice WLAC airing Rush Limbaugh and other syndicated talk shows at times yesterday when various FM stations were devoted to flood information. -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, May 4, NRC-AM via DXLD) OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM WSM GENERAL MANAGER Nashville has experienced a historic flood and the WSM business offices are completely submerged. We have moved our broadcast location to the famous Concord Road Tower. We will continue to broadcast from there until we determine that it is safe to return to our studio in the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. Due to the flood, our streaming player is currently off line. We are working hard to resume streaming and will keep you posted. I want to thank the WSM staff for their dedication to providing our listeners up-to-date information. Thank you for listening and supporting the Legend 650 AM WSM. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of the people affected by this disaster (via Artie Bigley, May 6, DXLD) ** U S A. 11715, KJES not heard for several days, but certainly active Sunday May 2 at 1533, inbooming on 11715 with kids doing catechisms in Spanish. Must have HF sporadic E boost, but not reaching VHF per DX Sherlock and TV-FM Skip Log. 11715-, KJES surprisingly audible with good signal May 3 at 1308, but just barely modulating obsessive Ave María song; by next check 1327 the carrier had dropped to just barely audible. Frequency is slightly on the lo side. 11715, KJES with considerable carrier but hardly any modulation, May 5 at 1315, kids chanting ``Jesus Saves`` over and over for most of a minute, to embed this dogma into their tiny robotic brains, tantamount to child abuse. Despite carrier level, bothered by splash from 11710 Korea North (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 15550-USB, you`d never know it was on without the BFO and full gain, but WJHR detectable May 5 at 1451 with its signature programming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 17920.4v, KVOH whining spur audible April 30 at 2006, from strong 17775. As usual the match on 17629.6v was much weaker, but same pitch of whine detectable. They really need to adjust the spurs so they are of equivalent strength (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9330, May 1 at 1433 fair with a preacher in Amerenglish citing Hebrews, something new here, with splash from VOK 9335. O yeah, it`s the Good Friends Radio Network which has just bought 12 hours a day on WBCQ, 13-01 UT, and thus knox out all the other bits of programming, which had appeared on 9330 between those hours: that infomercial at 18-19, World of Radio rarely at 1900-1930, Amos `n` Andy at 1930-1940; and Area 51 (93?) later in evening. Did not notice whether this 9330 transmission is still CUSB, but at this hour CLSB would be better vs P`yongyang. It`s also bad news for R. Damascus, Syria, which will now have WBCQ co-channel at all its times using 9330, so we can only hope 12085 will be funxional in more ways than one. WBCQ schedule update http://www.wbcq.com/?tag=schedule confirms this, as well as another timechange for the DX programs via Area 51 Sunday evenings on 5110-CUSB: Pirates Week at 0200-0230 UT Mondays, International Radio Report at 0230-0300 UT Mondays. Brother Scare is also ``back`` on WBCQ 7415 now: Saturday-Thursday 8 pm-11 pm (0000-0300 UT Sun-Fri) and Friday 9 pm-11 pm (0100-0300 UT Sat) I wasn`t aware he had gone away, having given up bothering with 7415 during those times. See also SOUTH CAROLINA [non] WBCQ anomalies May 1-UT May 2: As in previous report, 9330 has started carrying the Good Friends Radio Network, supposedly at 13-01 UT daily. At 2323, confirmed it`s on CUSB as usual (``compatible`` i.e. reduced- carrier upper sideband), speaker about to expose something about the Catholic Church, but suddenly cut to another topic, net ID and mentioning time of 6 am Central = 12 GMT. Not now; is this an old recording from standard time? Maybe it was a poorly-produced program promo. Next tuneby at 2349 finds dead air, then modulation cutting in and out. At one point, GFRN mentions WBCQ, leading me to believe WBCQ is its only outlet. Supposed to end at 0100, but still on with preacher, VG signal at 0203, ditto 0229. That`s not all. 7415 had been off the air Saturday evenings, but now it`s back, at 0155 UT Sunday May 2 with rock music. But as quoted in my last report from the schedule update page of the WBCQ website, Brother Scare is supposed to be on 7415 until 0300 every night including UT Sunday, and this is not TOM! Just in case checked WWRB 3145 where BS is really talking not //. At 0159 ``Chain Gang``, 0201 no ID and segué to a country rock song. Is it // 5110 Area 51 by any chance? No. 0204 ``Jailhouse Rock`` by Elvis. 0206 guess who, it`s a show hosted by Ted Randall; missed the title, but asks for e-mail and soon starts interviewing Rev. Dennis, aimed at prisoners? Website prayforme.us and inviting prayer partners. 0215 back to music. There is nothing about this on the WBCQ website, nor at http://www.tedrandall.com Possibly the extension of 9330 and the unscheduled programming on 7415 are just ad-hoc, the operator on duty deciding to keep the transmitters running a bit later with whatever he can lay his hands on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WBCQ: Schedule updates, May 2010, Saturday, May 1st, 2010 Here are the recent WBCQ schedule changes, effective May 1, 2010. •Good Friends Radio Network returns, daily 9am-9pm (1300-0100 UT), on 9330 •The Overcomer Ministry returns, Saturday-Thursday 8pm-11pm (0000- 0300) and Friday 9pm-11pm (0100-0300), on 7415 The Area 51 schedule has changed a little, as we re-adjust to the summer season: •Pirates Week with Ragnar Daneskjold moves from Sunday 6pm to Sunday 10pm (0200) on 5110 •The International Radio Report moves from Sunday 6:30pm to Sunday 10:30pm (0230) on 5110 •The Lumpy Gravy Radio Show moves from Saturday 8pm to Saturday 6pm (2200) on 5110 (WBCQ website via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DXLD) ** U S A. 5755, WTWW is usually loud and clear, but May 3 at 0600 I noticed SFAW was only a fair signal and bothered by a bonker (TADIL-A) on just about the same frequency. The ute, of course, will have priority if anyone complains. There`s always 5080 alternative, altho we knew it had ute QRM from the outset (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 5050, WWRB`s extended all-night(?) schedule with Bible dramatizations vanished at least a week ago, clearing 5045-5055 for DX. At 0530 check May 4, WWRB not on. Dave Frantz tells me they had some lightning damage and downtime, but no flooding since he had the foresight to spend $40K on gravel to raise the site near a creek, 3 feet when constructed. Dave also says he has been inundated by calls from `patriot` broadcasters desperate for airtime while WWCR is down, but he`s had it with getting screwed by them and will only sell it at premium rates, payable 6 months in advance. No takers (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. May is another Orgy month at webcasting WHRB, Harvard --- and it`s far from all classical music --- a wide range, talkshows too. Here`s the schedule in UT-4: http://whrb.org/programs/may2010.pdf (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1660, checking for KXTR Kansas City which supposedly has a classical format, as heard last night at unlogged time, but now UT Sunday May 2 at 0027 I am hearing an interview from Richmond VA with the Lt. Governor, in connexion with NASCAR, the Heath-Calhoun 400, which may be of great interest to most classical fans, but not this one. Axually, ENTERCOM just dumps on this frequency whatever it can`t place on any of its other stations in the market, classical being the lowest priority and the first to be pre-empted. Recheck a few mins later at 0034, it`s much weaker. Was it just a fade, or did KXTR switch from 10 kW day power to 1 kW night power at 0030 UT? When is LSS officially in KC KS? FCC entry for this station at http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/srsstime?dlat=39&mlat=2&slat=17.00&dlon=94&mlon=36&slon=56.00&tzone=B says 7:30 pm CST, so it`s still an hour away, unless on the first day of the new month at a new time, KXTR mistakenly cut at 7:30 pm CDT. FCC SR/SS info stays on standard time, clearly specified as such, but I am sure it still confuses lots of stations about when they should really make antenna/power changes, and such errors are most likely to happen on the first day of any month (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. LITTLE ROCK RADIO STATIONS SIMULCAST TV COVERAGE OF STORMS Central Arkansas Tornado damage and current storm coverage is being simulcast on two FM stations from TV instead of coverage originating with the radio stations. Classic rock KKPT 94.1 (Signal Media) is simulcasting audio via KTHV (CBS) Little Rock, while news/talk FM'er KARN 102.9 (Citadel) is simulcasting coverage of KLRT (FOX). Local radio stations have so gutted their news departments, that this outsourcing of TV audio is SOP in 2010. Update: 10:13pm CDT, KARN PD (and talk host) Dave Elswick and News Director Bob Steel are live on the air supplementing TV simulcasts. Normally KARN has no live bodies on the air at 10pm. BTW, KTHV, and KARK are simulcasting live coverage via the web at http://www.thv2.com and http://www.arkansasmatters.com -- -- (Fritze H Prentice Jr, KC5KBV, Star City, AR, EM43aw http://tvdxseark.blogspot.com http://www.twitter.com/KC5KBV 0316 UT May 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST via dxldyg) Truly breaking news, but mostly map/radar grafix. No storm chasers in the field? Arkansas is no Oklahoma (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 1200 AM Soquel CA --- Radio Humsafar replaced by oldies music (Brian in OR Gilbert, May 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I.e. KYAA; what`s Humsafar? Wiki says a S Asian network originating in Montreal, primarily Punjabi. Soquel is in the Bay Area; non-direxional daytime, but mostly serves The Pacific Ocean at nite (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. NYC PIRATES AND ONE NEW CT PIRATE My wife and I took the bus down to NYC for a day today and I took along the G9 which I used to check out the local conditions. On the way down I found something new. There's a Mexican pirate on 107.5 in Hartford now that comes in good downtown but disappears a mile or so away. They had Mexican music around 7:30 am and a woman speaking Spanish on the way back home. This is in addition to the 102.5, 101.5 and 103.3 which are much stronger. In the Bronx on I95 there is a pirate on 106.9 (Jamaican...very weak), and also much stronger stations on 101.5 and 103.7. These are Caribbean also. In Manhattan I was surprised to find two very strong pirates on 94.5 AND 94.9, both Spanish. The 94.5 is in stereo; the 94.9 in mono with audio in just one channel. These two were stronger than WFME at the bus pickup on 6th Ave at the Hilton and and I heard both of these as far as Greenwich, CT (30 miles). BTW, the G8 works great in a NYC environment. Coast 96.7 from Stamford was in solid. Tried for WEZN 99.9 but there were two stations weak. The selectivity and sensitivity of this radio made it a pleasure to use in Manhattan. Too bad there's so much IBOC on the band. 87.75 in NYC --- I think I read a post here that said that this station was off. It's not off. It's on and has some kind of ethnic programming. I could not recognize the language. -- (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT USA, May 1, WTFDA via DXLD) Mike, The Spanish on 94.5 is probably the one that you can access the audio stream on this website http://www.jimenezpublicidad.com/ They previously had listed all of the "stations" legal and non-legal that carried their programming here: http://www.elchiomezcla.com/Emisoras.htm I just checked this website, and it wasn't available, but that may only be temporary. The audio stream website has an Emisoras link at the bottom of the page also. Their studio is in the Bronx or Brooklyn. They had a pirate transmitter in Hazleton, PA on 92.5 in stereo that came on the air on March 13, 2009. The Hazleton transmitter covered at least 15 miles. It was located at a spot over 1,700 feet in elevation. They had a second transmitter in the Wilkes-Barre, PA area on 92.5 also. Their Emisoras page listed three transmitters in the NYC area: 94.5 in NYC, 107.9 in Perth Amboy, NJ and 90.5 (I believe) in Paterson, NJ. All of those NYC transmitters are unlicensed. They were running an ID on the air that they were located in NYC, Paterson, Perth Amboy, NJ and Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton, PA for a period of time in April & May 2009. Those in Hazleton and Wilkes-Barre were reported to the Philadelphia FCC field office in early April. The FCC was given the hours of operation, pictures of the transmitting antenna, address of the house where the transmitter was located in Hazleton, and the websites. Dave Dembroski from the Philadelphia office came and investigated them after the analog TV shut off and the residents of the house received a letter from the FCC. The local transmitters have been off since early in August 2009. The information about the NYC area pirates was forwarded to the NYC office of the FCC by the Philadelphia office (Bob Seaman, Hazleton, ibid.) ** URUGUAY. 6045-USB, Radio Sarandí tentatively reactivated. Spanish newstalk format in SSB mode only, noted 29 Apr and again 30 Apr at 0809. I last had positive ident on this on 19 Feb and it has been missing on regular checks till now. Clear frequency but difficult reception due atmospheric static noise level (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, Northland, New Zealand, AOR7030+ with EWEs aimed at North, Central & South America, May 6, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Cf. MEXICO XEXQ ** VATICAN. Vatican Radio in Romanian and Bulgarian language at 1800- 1840 UT 7140 // 7360 related with 7250 kHz and 0420-0500 on 7165 (here with ETH/ERI) and 7335 and 7250 kHz (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, April 21, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 1 via DXLD) I.e. leapfrog mixing products (gh) ** VENEZUELA. [Re 10-17]: My dear friend, Glenn. I have read the news on the attack against Radio Rebelde in Catia (Caracas). I have also heard the news some days ago on local media; Radio Rebelde was one of the first free-radio broadcasters in Caracas back in 2000. Unfortunately, I am not involved with that station. It would be nice to see the IPS displaying a strong disapproval on this issue. Hahaha. By the way, Catia is a very well-known parish in our capital city and it is named after an indigenous cacique (chief) who fought against the Spaniards back in the mid 1500s. But if you leave Caracas and you head to the coast, you will find Catia La Mar which is a parish located in Vargas State. Of course, it is also named "Catia" but with the addition of "La Mar" (The Sea) to avoid any confusion with the one in Caracas. It could be said that Catia La Mar literally means "Catia on the sea side" or something like that. Catia La Mar is just 15 minutes from Caracas downtown and Catia. The most important Venezuelan airport is located in Catia La Mar and it is known as Aeropuerto Internacional "Simón Bolívar". My good friend, I hope this information is very useful for you and the rest of the DXers who read DXLD. PS. I am using an IC-7000 radio receiver by the moment but I have not got enough time for DXing. 73s and good DXing, (Adan Gonzalez, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, May 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. The Bolivarians continue to get screwed by the Cubans, not getting their money`s worth due to defective transmitters employed for RNV relays. 11705, April 30 at 1245 check and later, horrible crackling modulation. But it`s good enough for communist government work. But see also TAIWAN 11705, RNV via CUBA, unusually with decent modulation May 2 at 1237, but usual Commie propaganda in the name of Bolívar. What would Simón say? ``Aló, Presidente`` check at 1532 Sunday May 2: Nothing on any of the usual Cuban relay frequencies, 17750, 13750, 13680, 12010, 11690 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA ** VIETNAM [and non]. 5925, VOV-2, 1638, May 03, Vietnamese, seemed Japanese lesson ending with "Sayonara!", pop ballads &talk to 1659:48 carrier off. Dominated co-channel CNR -5 which then surfaced in Chinese. Reception would have been much more difficult if R Slovakia International hadn't been off 5920. 73, Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4900 2224-... (still on as I write this), 01 May'10, long newscast in French until 2234, then ann. referring to "chaîne (...)", African pops, Vernacular, talks; 35422. Apparently, not GUINEA, which was audible at the same time on 7125, but carrying a different program. I bet it's W Africa because of DF via the Beverages, and hope I can get some ID by 2300. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Later: 4900, unID W African station, 2224-2300, 01 May'10, long newscast in French heard until 2234, some announcements, African pops, talks in vernacular; 35422. Very faint signal audible today, 02 May'10, at 1815. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4899.95, 1.5 2300 in French, rather weak, impossible to get ID on top of the hour. West African music. I agree with Carlos Gonçalves that it is a station from West Africa due to the direction of the receiving antenna (Thomas Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin May 2 via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DXLD) Maybe CHAD instead of 4905 which periodically reactivates 60m? Or was that on 6165 at the time? But Chad is not exactly West. Long ago Guinea did use 4900. Note: if it signs off at 2230 any day but Saturday, that`s a tipoff it is Chad. Has it been heard since? (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DXLD) Glenn, I had this station still on at 2300 UT and it was on Saturday May 1. I didn't manage to get a recording on my Perseus. The station has not been heard since here. Best heard on my Flag pointing in 300 degrees which indicates North or western Africa. Difficult to have an idea, though. Regards (Thomas Nilsson, Sweden, May 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4900: Karel [Honzik, Czechia], I listened to your audio clip, and I believe the last few seconds show something which seem to sound like "Ivoire", Côte d'Ivoire. I have been searching a few old WRTHs: SENEGAL used 4890 a long time ago, then 11800, GUINEA used 4900 just like Glenn said. But then again, I did hear them mentioning "chaîne nationale", which doesn't fit CTI, but fits SEN. As to a sporadic, unofficial, pirate like relay of some W African station, Mauno has a good point here: after my catch, the signal has been heard several times on the same frequency, and on AM only, so this rules out, I think, any "naughty" activity. I hope the station goes on, and that the mystery is solved before I can observe the station once again with the help of my Beverages. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 5954.2, noticed a non-standard het against Harold Camping WYFR on 5950.0, i.e. less than 5 kHz, so sought out and measured as best I could this weak carrier, May 2 at 0046, which of course brings to mind the ELCOR transmitter-test frequency from Costa Rica which may or may not have been involved at some time with Radio República (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. 9369.91, Arabic sermon, S=9+10dB, at 0008 UT Apr 25. Puzzle, WTJC MOREHEAD CITY is scheduled 9370 kHz in English (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 1 via DXLD) Not a puzzle, as I have already reported WTJC in Arabic at this time, and then Chinese. Don`t you believe their online program schedule (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 11643, approximate center of horribly distorted FM blob, May 5 at 1246 between AM signals on 11640 and 11650. At one point the intonation sounds like Vietnamese, but can`t make anything further out of it. Next check 1259 it was gone. Nothing scheduled on 11645 at this hour except wooden registration for Greece. Possibly the Taiwan [q.v.] transmitter missing from 11715 which the day before was making a different sounding spur on 11695-11705 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 16725, May 5 at 1327, Spanish SSB 2-way alternating with bits of CW; in voice, included alfanumerics (``tango, eco, alfa``), and whistled into mike, what a lid. Without embargo, in marine band so maybe legit rather than poacher/narco. Standard remark about wishing native speakers would monitor these things and extract some ID or clues (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ### ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ ENIGMA EXPLAINED - BBC BROADCASTING HOUSE, BELFAST MAY 18 The Dan Gilbert Lecture: Enigma Explained -BBC Broadcasting House, Belfast - May 18th 6.30pm Alan Watson, a former radio officer in the Merchant Navy and broadcast engineer, will be giving a talk on the Enigma Code Machine at BBC Broadcasting House, Belfast on May 18 The Enigma Code Machine is one of the icons of World War II. The machine was invented in the 1920s and adopted by the German military in the 1930s as a means of secure communication for their armed forces. Alan Watson, a former radio officer in the Merchant Navy and broadcast engineer, presents a brief history of the development of the Enigma and offers insight into how it was used and cracked. Various machines, rotors and documents will be on display and refreshments will be served on arrival. This is a joint event with the Royal Television Society and the Radio Academy. Tickets are free and can be booked at http://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/shows/shows/enigma_explained The Radio Academy - Enigma http://www.radioacademy.org/2010/04/northern-ireland-branch-enigma-explained/ Royal Television Society - Enigma http://www.rts.org.uk/Events_det.asp?art_id=8103&sec_id=3399 (Southgate http://www.southgatearc.org/news/may2010/enigma_explained.htm via Mike Terry, bdxc-uk yg via DXLD) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ BDXC WEB SITE & BROADCASTS IN ENGLISH The various frequency listings which are maintained on the British DX Club web site have now been updated for May 2010: *Guide to DX & Media Programmes *Africa on Shortwave *Middle East on Shortwave *UK on Shortwave *South Asia on the Tropical Bands *External Services on Mediumwave The above can all be found on the Articles Index at: http://www.bdxc.org.uk We are also pleased to announce the publication of the A-10 edition of Broadcasts in English which can now be ordered from the club - see Home page for details. Copies were sent to club members on Friday and should be delivered this week (Dave Kenny, May 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) LONG WINDED SERIES ON RADIO LISTENING... ONLINE With the passing of the classic book "Passport to World Band Radio" it occurred to me that there is a void and a potential niche online - a series on Radio Listening... from the ground up... a "Radio Hobby for Dummies" if you would... although I cannot use that title obviously. I envisioned a series of web pages and articles dedicated to recruiting new hobbyists and energizing the existing ones. I imagine creating this on DXer.ca and then upon its completion being mirrored on a variety of similar websites hosted by other hobbyists. That way the project does not die or get locked down with the loss of the author or its participants. It's going to be a very long and long winded set of distinct web pages (or chapters) and have every facet of the radio listening hobby from AM (MW) Dxing, chasing domestics, ULR listening, collecting, SW, Utilities, Ham, Antennas, accessories, etc. Everything. Nothing left out. Not only will there be pages and pages of useful information in one spot but also a series of Podcasts and even video tutorials. I might be a tad out of my mind because in some ways, this has already been done - there are web pages dedicated to virtually every aspect of the hobby - scattered over the internet. Some sites even have pages of links to all of these sites. The downside of this is that various sites come and go - and what better plan than to have everything under one roof where everyone can access it. Losing the Passport book, for me, (and I imagine most hobbyists) has been a big deal. It left a massive hole in the library of already limited resources for radio hobbyists. This is one small way of filling in that gap. I hope also to have some participation on this project from a variety of hobbyists who are specialists in their own area - Like I said, I do not wish to leave anything out. I would also like to dedicate this project to John Bryant whose departure still hurts, whose contribution to the hobby could never be accurately measured and whose unexpected demise fundamentally changes, in some small way, the way be all see and appreciate the radio hobby. The first "chapter" is here - http://www.dxer.ca/latest/81-world-radio-101-the-basics-of-world-band-radio please follow the links to the next 2 chapters and comment (positive and negative welcome) (Colin Newell, a Victoria B.C. Resident and Writer, April 30, IRCA via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ ``POLICE BAND`` [Re 10-17] Glenn, The final series of lower power AM broadcast transmitters made by Western Electric, including the 443A1 (1 kw), 442A1 (500 w) and 451A1 (250 watt) all were tuneable up to somewhere around 2.5 or 3 MHz, ostensibly for use as base stations for police or other public safety radio purposes. This fact was shown on their nameplates. The 443 and 442 were/are grid modulated versions of Doherty amplifiers, and the 4511 was just grid modulated. They were not efficient, but could produce very high fidelity signals. I remember that the Clackamas County (Oregon) Sheriff's department still had a license for a frequency in the 2 or 3 MHz range in the early 1960's, but no equipment. I discovered this when I was in the County radio shop installing a VHF two-way radio in a new fire truck for one of the local fire departments where I was a volunteer fireman (Ben Dawson, WA, April 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NUMBERS STATIONS MACHINE REVEALED Four videos have been uploaded to YouTube showing the actual machine behind all the various East-German numbers stations and its operation. This machine pronounces, in a monotone voice, a string of numbers used by intelligence agencies for one-way shortwave radio communication with their agents in enemy countries. This machine belongs to a German collector who has a vast collection of various spy-gadgets. There were many machines of this particular model produced in East-Germany for usage within the DDR itself or other communist bloc nations, like the Soviet Union or Cuba. In Germany (east or west) this machine was referred to as a "sprach/morse generator", which is German for "speech/morse generator". The speed by which this generator pronounces the numbers can be changed which is why sometimes there were seemingly different "German ladies" to be heard, where in fact it was the same voice but played at a different speed/pitch. The printed circuit boards only contains the voice samples of the lady pronouncing numbers in either German or Spanish depending on which board was inserted. One of the videos shows how a tape can be used that not only contained the actual message intended for the agent but also the number of times this message should be repeated by the machine. The four videos show the Spanish voice behind the Atención Numbers Station, the German Voice behind the East German numbers stations, how to operate the machine manually and how to operate the machine with tape. They can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=PeterStaal01#g/u (Mike Barraclough, UK, May 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WWII DF SITES IN THE PACIFIC NW The south end of the Island, of all places on the West Coast, was selected to be the monitoring station for Japanese transmissions during WWII. Per one Web site, "in 1938, with the threat of a second world war looming, the U.S. Navy took over Fort Ward and enlarged it by confiscating surrounding properties. Tests soon showed that the fort was an outstanding location for eavesdropping on radio transmissions from the Far East, especially from Japan. So the Navy built antenna fields and a top-secret military listening post. It was at Fort Ward that the United States cracked the wartime code of the Japanese forces." So, there must be something about its location! Per: http://www.usncva.org/books/book-10.html the frequencies of interest were 12 and 16 MHz, not MW :-(. Apparently there was literally miles and miles of wire strung up on mast after mast; according to Wiki, they were big old rhombic antennae. The Wiki is a good read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Ward_(Washington) I live in the center part of the island, while Fort Ward is at the south end, maybe 5-6 miles away. I have a friend with some land down near there and we keep threatening to do a DXpedition down there. Alas, it's only a handful of miles from the big 50 kW transmitters on Vashon Island (KIRO-710, KOMO-1000, etc.), but they are due south, so a good W or NW directional antenna might be just the ticket! (Kevin Satya, Bainbridge Island, WA, April 29, IRCA via DXLD) Interesting, as on this side of the border, there were many of the same things happening during the second world war. On the island, in Victoria, there were several major DF installations. One was located where there is a local jail (on Wilkinson Road), and another was located where the University of Victoria is located now. Immediately after the war, a very large DF site was located at Boundary Bay, just south of Vancouver (adjacent to the BB airport). This was replaced in 1972 by CFS Masset, on the Queen Charlottes (Haida Gwaii) by my cottage. Masset, however, also had a DF station from the 1940s to the 1960s, when it was hugely expanded with the addition of a Wullenweber array. I recall reading that Japanese intercepts were critical to both the Victoria and Masset sites. Anyway, there are a number of good internet sites that give their history. Jerry Proc has written some wonderful stuff regarding these and other sites!? (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, ibid.) TIMTRON MOUNTAIN A trip to Maine just is not complete without going to Timtron Mountain! http://www.criticalradio.com/Timtron/Web%20Pages/Page%201.htm 73, (Kevin Raper, KJ4HYD, CE WCKI WQIZ, ABDX via DXLD) 12 pages of photos one after another AM BROADCASTS IN US BATTLE INCREASING INTERFERENCE, PLT AMONG CAUSES [so multiply power of broadcasters!] Radio World 27 April 2010 Broadcast radio consultant Richard Arsenault has a bold idea to offset electrical interference to the reception of AM radio in the United States. He is petitioning the Federal Communications Commission to allow virtually all AM stations, if they wish, to increase daytime power 10- fold or, if that's not possible, at least four-fold. This is separate from his earlier petition, addressing pre-sunrise authorization rules, on which the commission is taking comment. Arsenault argues that the AM service has suffered serious degradation of coverage from interference caused by new technologies. He cites broadband over power lines, computers, appliances like microwave ovens, energy efficient fluorescent lighting with integrated solid- state switching circuitry "and virtually all other electronic devices and services." In his eyes reception of AM radio is almost useless in many areas. "Typically, co-channel and adjacent channel interference are no longer the limiting factors to interference- free reception during daytime hours," he told Radio World in a summary of his new petition. "The commission established service contours and interference protection ratios at an earlier time when interference from existing electrical equipment was minimal and interference from digital electronics did not exist. At that time, the protected contours and the interference ratios made sense. Unfortunately, they were calculated without available foresight of the future digital technological revolution." Arsenault says few radios are capable of satisfactory reception under the protected daytime service areas out to the 0.5 mV/m contour that applies to most AMs. "What we currently have are AM broadcast stations adequately protecting each other in the AM radio band, but these same stations are not receiving protection from the intense electromagnetic interference from unintentional sources." He wants the FCC to rethink its protected service contours: "The sources of electromagnetic interference are part of our current lifestyle and will only get worse." http://www.rwonline.com/article/99848 (via RSGB) (via Mike Terry, UK, dxldyg via DXLD) EDITORIAL: CHAIRMAN GENACHOWSKI ADDRESSES THE NAB FCC Chairman Genachowski's speech at the NAB Show in Las Vegas was so well crafted that some people came away with the belief that there wouldn't be serious consequences if TV broadcasters failed to return sufficient spectrum to the FCC. While the Chairman expressed his optimism that enough TV spectrum would be voluntarily returned to satisfy the Commission's goals (his speech is posted at the first URL below), nothing was said that would rescind the tough language in the National Broadband Plan outlining what could happen if the voluntary approach failed. To see the Draconian steps for yourself, scroll down to page 92 in the Plan (second URL below). Numbered para. 4 on page 92 is entitled "Explore alternatives..." This is where the rubber meets the road. Equally alarming is numbered para. 5 on the same page where the FCC wants Congressional authority to impose fees on full-power commercial TV licensees for spectrum use -- a step that could easily drive reluctant broadcasters to relinquish some or all of their over-the-air assets. After Genachowski's speech was delivered, the audience was informed that he would take no questions, and he promptly left the stage. "Of course!" said one reporter sitting next to the editor of this newsletter. Fortunately, NAB President Gordon Smith is hanging tough against the FCC's TV spectrum grab, see the third URL. FCC Chairman Genachowski's speech: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-297469A1.doc National Broadband Plan (scroll down to page 92): http://download.broadband.gov/plan/national-broadband-plan.pdf NAB President Gordon Smith hangs tough: http://tinyurl.com/NABonSpecGrab (CGC Communicator May 1, via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See also BELGIUM; BRAZIL; ITALY; ROMANIA; ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ SAUDI ARABIA; TAIWAN DRM Consortium has launched an upgraded new website with better features and special members' area for more interactivity; have a look at: http://www.drm.org (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, April 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Two things: 1) thank you Alokesh -- info on DRM is often hard to find, and this is a neat resource. and on the other hand: 2) Is it me, or does DRM seem to be a technologic solution looking for a problem, and promulgated by people (the DRM consortium) who don't have a clue about marketing? Bear with me here. I think DRM is a cool technology, but finding a receiver as part of the great unwashed masses (that would be hobbyists like you and me) is like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. There is ONE 'reasonable' option (and even that is over US$300 when you can get a simple digital readout radio with comparable coverage for about US$100!) and Universal Radio (a dedicated retailer I hasten to add!) has trouble keeping it in stock because there are so few made. You could get a 'specially licensed' decoder for a WinRadio or I assume a Perseus, but after plunking down the US$1,000 for the receiver they want to nick you for and extra US$50 for the 'decoder software license' – I thought this was supposed to be an open standard already! Sheesh – I can buy a 'pocket rocket' radio made cheaply in China for under US$25 why in the WORLD would I spend a thousand on a radio, and then have to spend another $50 to some licensing consortium so I can use it? I just feel like I'm being used, if you catch my drift. Yes, I recognize that for some uses (e.g. R New Zealand's use of DRM as a 'feeder' service for local rebroadcasters in the Pacific region) this makes a LOT of sense, but for the average Joe listener, I just don't get it. What am I missing here? I see SW Broadcasting fading away – why should I spend money on a radio that can get an extra 5-10 broadcasters today (and no guarantee they will still be there tomorrow when they decide the audience is so small as to make keeping the transmitters on the air not worth it à la Sweden)? One last comment, and then I promise the soap box is closed: Has anyone else noticed that although the 'on line' option is there and sounds really good, they just don't use it? Example: I used to listen to Radio Netherlands 1-2 times per week -- sometimes more. Since they stopped targeting North America on SW I have listened to a programme on line maybe 2-3 times, and not in a good 9 months now. The radio is on, and I'm listening to CVC, or Radio Havana Cuba or Turkey or Radio PMR or whatever else I can find, even if they don't come in all that well, but the 'internet' option just doesn't do it for me. Is the 'on line' option real -- how many people actually use that service? Maybe it is just a whole new market segment for the International Broadcasters of people who didn't used to listen to SW at all, but I don't hear many other hobby types talking about a neat on-line program from the BBC or R Netherlands or Deutsche Welle, even though all those stations have stopped broadcasting in English to North America/Europe and 'on line' is the only way to hear them. Are broadcasters shooting themselves in the foot by pushing new technology and dumping good old analog SW? Are we radio nuts just a dying breed? Am *I* just an olde farte who needs to get with the times? :) Inquiring minds want to know, to coin a phrase! 73 //(Ken Zichi, MI, Cumbre DX via DXLD) I do listen to broadcasts on-line. However, there are more choices that way. I find myself "DXing" the Internet trying to find interesting stuff. So, instead of using the computer to hear R Netherlands or the BBC, I search around and find things like a good technology program (downloadable on demand) from a small public station in California or a Brazilian university station with some really good Brazilian music programs. If I'm going to make a long road trip, I download a bunch of podcasts to the MP3 player and listen to them on the car radio via a mini-FM transmitter. I don't listen to news or current affairs programs anymore. Reading is more efficient than listening and I have easy access to readable news from around the world. I check out the New York Times and Washington Post daily. I check out the BBC, Toronto Globe and Mail, several Latin American newspapers, and a few other media sites a few times a month. For me, listening is now more for music. I used to like using the SW for international music while doing other stuff. Now, I go to Youtube or even directly to the band websites. And, I've been (legally) buying and downloading a lot of world music. I've been discovering all kinds of Argentine rock & pop groups the past several months. Great stuff. Four decades ago I discovered the world for the first time via SW. Now I'm rediscovering it via the Internet. Realistically, I don't think that radio as we know has more than a few decades left. So, DRM is just trying to plug a hole in a ship that has way too many holes to plug (Don Moore, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ AIRCRAFT OR VOLCANIC ASH AFFECT PROPAGATION? ZCZC AP17 QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 17 ARLP017 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA April 30, 2010 To all radio amateurs Our Sun has again become very quiet. We saw 13 days with no sunspots, April 15-27, then new sunspot group 1063 appeared April 28, and on April 29 it was gone again. Although the sunspot number for April 29 is zero, early on April 30 I can still see group 1063 in a magnetogram, so perhaps it rises again. We watch the STEREO mission at http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/ looking for bright hints of activity, but lately they just seem to be magnetically complex areas that don't turn into sunspots. With no sunspot expected for today, the last day of April, this should be the second monthly decline in a row for monthly sunspot averages. Monthly averages of daily sunspot numbers for February, March and April are 30.5, 25.2 and 10.8. USAF/NOAA predicts solar flux of 76 for April 30 through May 6, rising to 80 on May 7-8, 78 May 9, and 75 after that. They also predict higher geomagnetic activity for May 4, with planetary A index from April 30 to May 7 at 5, 5, 5, 8, 18, 10, 5, and 5. Geophysical Institute Prague says April 30 through May 2 should be quiet, quiet to unsettled May 3, unsettled May 4-5, and quiet May 6. This week many comments came in about the volcanic ash cloud in Europe and possibly effects to VHF propagation, perhaps due to lack of aircraft in the sky. Brett Graham, VR2BG wrote, "No aircraft in the air removes a lot of reflective surface, though 'aircraft bounce' isn't generally thought of at lower frequencies. This is a bit like an equation with several variables, somewhat difficult to solve. "Trails of meteors somehow change due to presence of ash, in a way that seemingly affects their reflectivity at higher frequencies but not so noticeable at lower frequencies. Did the ash cloud reach that sort of altitude? If the trails are in the E-layer region, then it is about 90-150 km up. Maybe just a little ash gets that high up and could have an effect. "Though aircraft do provide more reflective surface at higher frequencies, they will move into and out of random points in the sky, potentially including area where reflectivity is needed for a particular path. "The big aircraft usually move quite a bit faster than the wind, which is what moves meteor trails around and causes the Doppler shift seen when working meteor scatter. Of course, Doppler is a function of frequency, but perhaps could help reduce the rather big variable of a lot less metal up in the sky. Ah, the black magic of RF - will we ever figure it all out?" Brett sent along this instructive link: http://www.imo.net/radio/reflection Bill Echols, NI5F wrote, "Will the strongly reduced amount of air traffic over Europe affect the ability to complete MS QSO in as rapid a time as usual? In other words, does it have to be ash attenuation making the difference?" Budd Hippisley, W2RU wrote, "How about the total absence of aluminum aircraft in the European air space?" in response to the assertion that volcanic ash was attenuating signals. Likewise, Don Kerns, AE6RF wrote, "Degraded propagation in the 4m band during the time the ash was active MIGHT have been due to the stark DECREASE in air traffic. 4m should 'bounce' off of airliners pretty well. If there were fewer of them in the sky during the same time period." Dan Zimmerman, N3OX wrote, "I don't know if the procedures in meteor scatter operation might rule out airplane scatter, but it seems like it might be the simplest explanation. "I get a lot of what I assume is airplane scatter around here ... pretty useful in contests, because I have low power and low antennas. "I think that all the Doppler shifted traces in this spectrogram of WA1ZMS/B on 2m are airplanes, http://n3ox.net/files/WA1ZMS0042Z082309.jpg " Dan sent along some information on airplane scatter here. You can read it on the web at, http://www.qsl.net/oz1rh/troposcatter99/troposcatter99.htm#Toc458130270 J. D. Erskine, VA7OTC wrote, "While attenuation of the signal from the one mentioned satellite might provide an independent space signal, signal from outside the atmosphere, for comparison with terrestrial VHF signals, two events occurred during this period. As well as the presence of volcanic ash, there was an absence of aircraft, a significant one at that. Might that have as much to do with the attenuation, real or apparent, of longer distance reception of lower frequency VHF signals?" Gene Zimmerman, W3ZZ writes the monthly "World Above 50 MHz" column for QST, and cc'd us on an email to LA4LN, mentioned in last week's bulletin. "Some have speculated that the volcanic ash might affect VHF propagation both in terms of MS (meteor scatter) and in terms of Es. While random MS conditions are reasonable in April, Es is usually quite poor. Yours is the first report I have seen that indicates that MS was significantly poorer in regions covered by the ash cloud. "You have indicated why a mechanism to explain any effect of volcanic ash would be difficult to find. This volcano has driven ash to only ~6 km heights. MS reflections occur at ~60 km or 10x higher. As you accurately point out, 4 meter signals are much longer wavelengths than the diameter of the ash particles. I see no mechanism by which the ash cloud could affect gas ionized by meteor burns in the E layer where all the refraction is taking place. It is also difficult but less so to postulate that the fairly dense ash particle cloud could scatter the signals refracted from meteor trails such that FSK441 would detect them but not be able to decode them. However you indicate that many fewer signals were even detected and NOT that these were more difficult to decode." In relation to reflections from aircraft, John Sahr, WB7NWP built a passive radar system that correlates FM broadcast signals with their reflections from aircraft and other objects in the sky. Read about it on the web at, http://rrsl.ee.washington.edu (via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) [SkywavesDX] turn those rotators time to turn your rotators in the coming weeks ahead ... this taken from the 4 meters website: At 1200 UT today Brian, WA1ZMS, has commissioned a new beacon with the callsign WE9XFT from Virginia in USA, FM07FM. The beacon operates on 70.005 MHz and is GPS locked. Callsign and a short message is sent continuously in CW at 18 WPM/90 LPM. It is a radio science beacon for E-Skip propagation purposes. ERP is 3 kW from a 3 element yagi at 60 degrees, i.e. Europe, and at 1280 m ASL. The beacon is scheduled to run 24 hours a day until September 1st unless there are technical issues precluding that. The beacon is non-amateur and sadly no 2-way QSOs can take place. Please send any and all reception reports via e- mail to Brian, WA1ZMS: his_call@att.net. cheers David Hamilton http://band1tvdx.blogspot.com/ http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/pmsdr/ (via Curtis Sadowski, IL, WTFDA via DXLD) Why sad? A one-way `contact` proves the path is open. Note this frequency is within the band 66-72 MHz, i.e. Channel 4 TV. The first of many ``intruders``? (gh, DXLD) Geomagnetic field activity ranged from quiet to major storm levels during the period. The geomagnetic field was initially at quiet levels (26-28 April), but became quiet to unsettled with an isolated active period at mid-latitudes on 29 April due to a co-rotating interaction region (CIR). During the CIR, the ACE spacecraft observed Bz fluctuations of +/- 7 nT and an increase of Bt of 9 nT. Following the CIR, the solar wind speed increased from around 310 to 400 km/s indicating the presence of a coronal hole high-speed stream. Quiet levels prevailed until 02 May, when activity increased to active to minor storm levels at middle latitudes, with major storm periods observed at high latitudes. At about 0900 UTC, observations from the ACE spacecraft indicated increases in temperature, density, and wind velocity, while the Bz component showed strong negative value peaks (at -20 nT). Solar wind speeds increased from 375 km/s to 700 km/s by 1645 UTC. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 05 - 31 MAY 2010 Solar activity is expected to be at very low to low levels with a slight chance for M-class events. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at high flux levels on 05-06 May and at moderate levels on 07 May. Normal background levels are expected to prevail for the remainder of the period. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at quiet to unsettled levels with isolated active periods from 05-06 May as the effects of a coronal hole high- speed stream subside. Quiet conditions are expected from 07-19 May. Quiet to unsettled levels are expected for 20-21 May due to a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream. Quiet levels are expected to return from 22-28 May. Unsettled to active with isolated minor storming levels are expected for 29-31 May due to a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2010 May 04 1951 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 May 04 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2010 May 05 86 10 3 2010 May 06 86 8 3 2010 May 07 84 5 2 2010 May 08 84 5 2 2010 May 09 84 5 2 2010 May 10 82 5 2 2010 May 11 82 5 2 2010 May 12 80 5 2 2010 May 13 80 5 2 2010 May 14 78 5 2 2010 May 15 76 5 2 2010 May 16 75 5 2 2010 May 17 75 5 2 2010 May 18 75 5 2 2010 May 19 75 5 2 2010 May 20 75 8 3 2010 May 21 75 8 3 2010 May 22 75 5 2 2010 May 23 76 5 2 2010 May 24 76 5 2 2010 May 25 76 5 2 2010 May 26 78 5 2 2010 May 27 78 5 2 2010 May 28 78 5 2 2010 May 29 80 25 5 2010 May 30 80 20 4 2010 May 31 80 15 3 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1511, DXLD) ###