DX LISTENING DIGEST 10-37, September 14, 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 WORLD OF RADIO 1530 HEADLINES: *DX and station news from: Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Canada, Central African Republic, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Croatia, Ecuador, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Kuwait, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Pridnestrovye, Russia, Saint Helena, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, USA, Western Sahara SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1530, September 15-21, 2010 Wed 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 1900 WBCQ 7415 Thu 1500 WRMI 9955 Thu 1900 WBCQ 7415 Thu 2100 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] Sat 1600 WWCR2 12160 Sat 1730 WRMI 9955 Sat 1800 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 7290 Sun 0230 WWCR3 4840 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1515 WRMI 9955 Sun 1730 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Tue 1900 WBCQ 7415 Tue 2230 WRMI 9955 Wed 0030 WRMI 9955 Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html or http://schedule.worldofradio.org or http://sked.worldofradio.org For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://193.42.152.193/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN: http://www.wrn.org/wrn-listeners/world-of-radio/ http://www.wrn.org/listeners/world-of-radio/rss/09:00:00UTC/English/541 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD, which seems to be coming out less frequently? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg without delay. When applying, please identify yourself with your real name and location. Those who do not, unless I recognize them, will be prompted once to do so and no action will be taken otherwise. Here`s where to sign up: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** AFGHANISTAN. VOA LAUNCHES NEW TV PROGRAM TO AFGHANISTAN Dual-language program premières Friday: see U S A ** ALASKA. I noticed at 0930 UT Sept 12, several Alaskans are coming in with their old strength. 750-KFQD tearing up KXL at 0930 780-KNOM playing Nights in White Satin o/u KKOH at 0932 850-KICY on top of channel with man in RR at 0940. JOUB 774 wasn't bad either and 279 is weak. Drake R8, NW EWE. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside Oregon, IRCA via DXLD) ** ALASKA. 11870, KNLS, Anchor Point, 0832-0835, Aug 12, talks, 15331 (Bernard Mille, Bailleul, France, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) So are they still running one transmitter only, and for which language, each hour? (gh, DXLD) ** ALBANIA. Re 10-36: From USA: Enjoyed Radio Tirana in English today --- Yes, Drita -- I'm sorry to report that I tried to listen at 2000 UT, but the modulation was so low that I tuned away; the carrier was as strong as it usually is, though, and there was no transmitter hum. Hope this helps your engineers and All the best, (Anne Fanelli, Sept 9, via Drita Çiço and Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) Sept 10th Radio Tirana external service in English still replaced by their domestic service 1st program in Albanian language. 13639.98 .. .97 odd channel noted at 2006 UT til sudden switch OFF at Shijak engineer midst on pop light music at 2028:25 UT. At 2007 UT comment talk on "..socialist ... Komsomolze ...". Only fair S=7 signal here in dead zone Germany, the real signal skipped over our head. Only signal by side lobe vagabunding fair signal. But should be real better in the U.K. GB and IRL, as well as in Northern America. When switched my E1 receiver sudden to 6164.98 odd channel at 2029 UT, S=9+10dB signal, and \\ much better 9489.97 kHz S=9+20dB level, same FM 1st program relay occurred. vy73 de (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** ALGERIA [non]. 5865, Sept 10 at 0456 good signal, RTA with Qur`an via FRANCE, but cut it off abruptly at 0457*. Allah`ll get `em for that. TDF waits for no man or god when the time comes to change frequencies. Meanwhile, back in Algiers, they ought to be aware of things like this and program accordingly (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGOLA. Very rarely heard in Sofia, at present Radio Angola is received during the night with a satisfactory signal after 23 hours on 4950 kHz with a program in Portuguese and local languages. The other announced frequency of 7217 kHz produces no signal. Source: (Rumen Pankov, BNR Radio Bulgaria: DXprogram September 10, 2010 http://bit.ly/9IENh4 via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) 4949.76, 2345-2355 12.09, R Nacional de Angola, Mulenvos, Portuguese talk with muffled audio, utility QRM in USB, 34333 (Anker Petersen, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** ANGUILLA. 1610, The Caribbean Beacon, The Valley. 0935-0938 September 11, 2010. Fair under Tampa International Airport TIS, with the lovely Mrs. SCott, I presume, rattling away. Parallel 6090 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. 15476.0, LRA36 (presumed), 1504, September 9. Pop song “La Isla Bonita” by Madonna; 1506 in Spanish with assume sign off announcement; 1507*; carrier off at 1508 (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15476, LRA36 fair with music, Friday Sept 10 at 1305, stronger than hetted Rampisham 15480. Now for a weekend rest (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Antarctica, LRA36 Finally --- I'm going to report my probable reception of LRA36, Antarctica, after months of trying. My reception was on Saturday, September 11, 2010 on 15476 at 1348 UT. The broadcast was very weak and unintelligible, I lost them at 1402. I could hear a male, and I think, a female announcer. I'm going to stick my neck out and say that this was LRA36. I tuned above and below the frequency and heard nothing. I'm going to keep trying hoping for a clear enough reception so that I can send a report to them, hoping for a QSL card. I don't know if they QSL at all? Here's wishing good DX to all (Rich Brock, Beaver, Pennsylvania, USA, Grundig Satellit 750 receiver, Zepp longwire, MFJ Versa Tuner II, HCDX via DXLD) Rich, LRA36 normally operates M-F only. I did not notice it today as I tuned by, but did not dig for it as did not expect it to be on Saturday. But what else could it be on 15476? 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Thanks For The Reply, Glenn, Yes, I thought also that LRA36 was on M-F only as per one of your earlier posts. My radio was still tuned to the frequency from listening the day before and I was reading HCDX reports that I save in my e-mail and suddenly heard voices. Like you say, what else could it have been? I didn't check EIBI or any other frequency lists to se if there's any other stations on at that time, which I will do later today. I hope that this search doesn't break my bubble! Rich Brock, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nothing at all scheduled on 15475 anytime. No tell-tale 4 kHz het or carrier on Sunday Sept 12 (gh) 15476, no trace of LRA36 carrier, Monday Sept 13 at several chex during 12-15 UT scheduled broadcast: 1320, 1359, 1423; but 15480 from Rampisham was audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15476.0, LRA36, noticeably off the air at 1447, September 13 and as also not observed earlier by Glenn (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15476, LRA36 back on air Tuesday Sept 14 after missing Sept 13. 1301 vocal music audible, het 15480 Rampisham; 1413 still but weaker than 15480 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 15345.00, R. Nacional, 2346-0020, September 12-13. The usual Sunday-Monday (UT) relay the regional station “Radio Nacional Santa Fe”; excited fútbol coverage in Spanish; ToH pips; 0011-0020 break for news items about Santa Fe then back to fútbol coverage; fair to almost good; attached audio file has a nice ID. http://www.mediafire.com/?hy5a1u1o58owust http://www.radionacional.com.ar/ has audio streaming for “LRA 14 Radio Nacional Santa Fe” (Escuchar en vivo) (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1 & E5, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Thank you for listening to my recording and observing the following: “I copied some fragments of it: After the ID mentions ``40 emisoras en todo el país``, and montage of some IDs, = 40 stations all over the country, apparently referring to the R. Nacional network; another being Radio del Sur. Ends with ``fútbol, pasión nacional`` = soccer, national passion.” Glenn Hauser (via Ron Howard, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA. 2368.5, presumed R. Symban, 0902-0917, Sept 8, listed Greek. M & W announcers with brief comments over music; wind instruments with talk at 0911, into animated exchange between M & W announcers, similar to logging posted by Ron Howard-CA; poor-fair; surprisingly decent signal strength holding up well with band noise; nothing heard following day, Sept 9, during same time (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. VL8 stations best on 2310, then 2325, JBA on 2485 with talk at 1227 Sept 10. No trace of R. Symban on 2368.5v --- just too much noise and/or too little gain and/or too late in the day past local sunrise, but will keep trying, as it has now been heard all over North America, sometimes reported as strong as the 50 kW VL8s! VL8 check Sept 12 at 1220: YL Oz talk best on 2310, then 2325, and worst on 2485 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 8176-USB, Sept 12 at 1241 marine weather forecasts up to Wednesday, including seas in metres, winds in knots, gale warnings, naming coastal areas I do not recognize. OM robot voice but more human than US stations. I wonder if downunderites could distinguish its accent NZ vs Oz. I at first thought this was NZ, but 8176 is VMC Charleville in south-central Qsld as per http://www.bom.gov.au/marine/marine_weather_radio.shtml And one might match some coastal names heard on this map: http://www.bom.gov.au/marine/australia-marine-forecast-map.shtml (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Re 10-36: Cox/Darwin summary === Let's sum up all the bites about the Cox transmission equipment, provided by various sources, since I fear merely reproducing them all is prone to result in even more confusion. In order of installation dates: 3 x Collins 250 kW from 1968: Scrapped. Now Sackville should be the only site in the world still operating such transmitters. Cf. http://www.transmitter.be/col-821a2.html 2 x Thomson TRE 2326 from 1993: No definite confirmation, but there is ample evidence of these units being the Thomson 250 kW transmitters just obtained second hand by TWR for their Guam facility (Broadcast Australia did not take them, at the same time the model numbers match). Thomson 300 kW, moved in from Carnarvon in 1996: Scrapped. 2 x Continental 100 kW, moved in by Christian Vision from somewhere else (also the type numbers 418E and 418F, respectively, did not lead me to a suspected origin so far): Moved to Shepparton (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I think all the Collins transmitters at Sackville are long gone, replaced in two phases, 1992-94, and 1999. Thought the first replacements were ABB units, with the second wave being either ABB or Thales, or perhaps Thomson; not sure due to murky timeline with corporate mergers and acquisitions. Don't believe everything you see on transmitter.be or tdp.info as much of it is either out of date or simply wrong (Steve Luce, Houston, Sept 13, ibid.) The primary source for information about this transmission facility are these remains of a broken webpage: http://john20747.spaces.live.com/?_c11_BlogPart_pagedir=Next&_c11_BlogPart_handle=cns!C94213F4CD7EE1A2!205&_c11_BlogPart_BlogPart=blogview&_c=BlogPart&_c02_owner=1%3F%3F The latest gossip from Melbourne was that two of the old transmitters were still in a just barely operational condition. This webpage says one has actually still been used, and in an earlier discussion it had been stated that in particular no automatic tuning was possible anymore. The timeline appears to be that the predecessor of Broadcast Australia purchased two new transmitters from Thomson-CSF in 1993/1994 and moved in another one from Carnarvon in 1996. Then in 1997 the site has been closed. Finally in 2000 Christian Vision took it over, and the referenced webpage revealed for the first time that they brought in two Continental 100 kW transmitters, now moved to Shepparton and specified as being 418E and 418F, respectively, models. It is said that these transmitters were not new but have been purchased used, which of course raises the question about their original location. This part of the story is still a mystery. In recent years up to four frequencies were on air from Cox simultaneously. Obviously up to three would have been the Thomson-CSF transmitters, but there are two possibilities for at least the fourth one: Either it was indeed still one of the old Collins beasts (perhaps not always the same one), or this fourth frequency had been run with the Continental transmitters, thus with 100 kW only. All Cox/Darwin frequencies have always been registered as 250 kW, but here I would add "for what it was worth". Concerning Asia Brown Boveri: When had Thomcast, which combined the transmission equipment businesses of ABB and Thomson-CSF, actually been founded? I understand that model designators starting with "TRE" point at the former Thomson-CSF product line, as opposed to SK... = ABB. Correct me if necessary. As a reminder: Later Thomcast had been purchased by Thalès, a French armaments trust, but just some years later Thalès repelled it and the whole thing came back to Thomson, which in the meantime had also purchased Grass Valley, a company focussing on TV equipment. It seems that they hardly use the Grass Valley brand anymore, and the report from the HFCC conference indicates that another restructuring is in the pipeline anyway. And how about the identical Collins transmitters at Sackville? http://www.j-hawkins.com/rci1.shtml (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHAMAS. 810, ZNS3, Freeport, Grand Bahama. 2100+ September 8, 2010. Fair on a couple of Paul's vintage rigs in the radio room with soca, tight signal (Paul Zecchino/Terry Krueger at Zecchino's QTH, Manasota Key, FL, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS [and non]. BIELORUSSIA, 279, BR, Sasnovy, 2103-2121, 09 Sep'10, Bielorussian, news until 2110, weather (tentatively) report, pops; 35332. Evening reception of this one has been adverse for many, many weeks. And there is the already usual heterodyne with 280.2 (usually 280) - Turkmenistan off channel and *always* running an empty carrier? (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELIZE. Re 10-36: Glenn, Belize antennas were not rhombics but phased H polarized dipoles. There is an illustration in the TCI catalogue as they made them although they were actually designed by Carl Smith. Each was supported by 8 towers not poles. They were pointed in a southerly direction for skywave propagation into central American countries which were of concern to the U.S. government of the time. And they were on 1530 and 1580 kHz (Ben Dawson, WA, Hatfield & Dawson, Sept 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 6024.92, R. Illimani/Patria Nueva (presumed), 0113-0143, September 10. QRM from R. Amanecer; possibly // to Radio Fides; non- stop exited fútbol coverage in Spanish; poor. 6155.30, Radio Fides (presumed), 0113-0143, September 10. Possibly // to R. Illimani/Patria Nueva; non-stop exited fútbol coverage in Spanish; poor with AIR QRM (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 6134.79v, R. Santa Cruz, 0039-0108*, September 13. LA pop and ballads; 0103-0106 series of clear IDs “Radio Santa Cruz . . . La Paz”; off with flute music along with a song about “Santa Cruz”; started out poor, but slowly improved as signal faded up (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1 & E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BONAIRE. 6250, NHK Spanish leapfrog mixing product, perfectly readable even with max attenuation, Sept 10 at 0515; also some Dutch audio, as 6080 saults over 6165. 6250 has some Spanish SSB on the hi side, ute beeps on the lo side; Equatorial Guinea not yet on, and still not when I quit around 0540 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 2380 kHz em 120 m. Trata-se da Rádio Educadora de Limeira- SP, que está fora do ar já faz algum tempo. A direção da emissora informou que o TX está em manutenção. Pelo o que me consta, 2380 kHz é a única QRG que ainda está ativa nos 120 metros. O que acontece é a falta de empenho dos donos de rádios quando se trata de ondas curtas e tropicais. 73 (Luiz Chaine Neto, Limeira sp, 13-9-2010, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 4845.23, 0155-0158* 08.09, R Cultura Ondas Tropicais, Manaus, AM, Portuguese. National hymn, Codar QRM, but Mauritania off that night, 34343 (Anker Petersen, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 5055, R Difusora, Cáceres, MT, Not heard since Aug 05 with evening broadcasts, cf. DX-Window 408 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. RNA was recently reported from Brasil on 6180 instead of 6185, and it has jumped to this frequency in the past. If only would stay there, away from XEPPM México, Radio Educación. But at 0525 check Sept 12, RNA was on 6185 as usual with music // 11780, in UT-Sunday- only overnight broadcast, atop and causing fast SAH with somewhat off- frequency XEPPM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL [and non]. BRAZIL/KOREA D.P.R., 9665.117, Voz Missionária, Florianópolis SC, SIO 322-3 Portugiesich, noch ein kleiner Kampf mit VoKorea 9665.361 kHz (jeder, wie er trifft ...) (Nils Schiffhauer-D DK8OK, A-DX Sept 5 via BC-DX via DXLD) Uhr? ** BRAZIL. RADIO 9 DE JULHO EM ONDAS CURTAS --- Prezados amigos radio escutas e dexistas, Estou escutando neste momento na frequençia de 9820 kHz a Rádio 9 de Julho. Estão transmitindo uma missa e a toda hora citam que a missa está sendo transmitida pela Rádio 9 de Julho. Sempre escutei esta radio em 1600 à noite. O som é local com sinpo de 44434. Não me parece harmónica; se alguém mais já ouviu esta emissora em ondas curtas e poder relatar. 73 A TODOS (PAULO MICHELON, PORTO ALEGRE RS, ``6:01 pm`` Sept 13, RECEPTOR MOTOGLOBE E SONY ICF 7600 DS OS DOIS RECEPTORES DIGITAIS, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Paulo, Sim, 9820 é a freqüência de OC da 9 de julho. É uma emissão em // com 1600 kHz. 73, (Rudolf Grimm, ibid.) Olá! Rádio 9 de julho: notei que embora estejam emitindo em ondas- curtas, costumam citar apenas a frequência em OM. Chega para mim em BH com sinal forte e estável. Além da programação religiosa, colocam muitas músicas de época. A minha mãe adorou ouvir e relembrar da infância e adolescência. Sempre que ouço, está quase livre de ruídos, sòmente aqueles provávelmente gerados pelas redes elétricas locais. Enviarei meu informe ainda esta semana. 73s, (Rodrigo de Araujo, http://www.ondasderadio.wordpress.com SWARL PY4-004SWL, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil, ibid.) Isn`t it off-frequency, low? ** BRUNEI. 594, 09 SEP, 2107 UT, Radio Television Brunei, in apparent Malay with Koranic chants by men and women, many mentions of Ramadan and Eid al Fitr. I have never heard chants done by a female before and their chants were accompanied by drums. There were even modern pop songs about Ramadan, which I guess is kinda like Christian rock. It was an interesting listening experience. Several IDs during the course of everything. Signal strength was fair, overriding local electrical noise. Signal just followed the water path. Not much else to report. I have been down with food poisoning the last 24 hours or so, and the good doctor has pumped me full of all kinds of stuff and given me pills which make me doze off, so DXing is a little limited right now. Sorry. 73s (Al Muick, Pattaya, Thailand, WinRadio G303e, 10m Longwire/Randomwire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) How unIslamic. Who will cast the first stone? ** CANADA [and non]. Going to Piggly Wiggly in Savannah, TN in a red 2006 Saturn Vue: 860, CJBC Toronto, ON 1934 [EDT = UT -5] in French. Don't speak FF so don't have much to say about it. 1010, CFRB Toronto, ON 1939 with talk about Toronto and people who had French sounding names mentioned. 1540, KGBC [presumed] Galveston, TX 1942 with many mentions of China Radio International and Chinese language lesson. NEW (Kevin Redding, Crump TN, Sept 8, ABDX via DXLD) Kevin, Since you were getting two other Toronto stations, why not presume your CRI on 1540 was CHIN? Sked now shows it`s 50% of the time on that station 7 pm - 7 am EDT, seven days a week! http://chinradio.com/radio-programs/cri/ 73, (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, ibid.) Glenn, it`s possible. No matter which one, it doesn't go in my log book as a catch. No ads or IDs to figure it out (Kevin Redding, ibid.) On a direxional radio you could DF it, ruling out Galveston? Hmmm, no they are pretty close to collinear, opposites from you (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. 6175, Sept 12 at 0527-0529* with VTC, oops Babcock, fill- music loop, as also played during transmission break two sesquihours earlier when there is no programming from Voice of Vietnam via Sackville (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See AUSTRALIA too ** CANADA [and non?]. 12000, RCI IS alternating with English and French IDs, which we often hear when feed is lost, Sept 13 at 1313, 1406, still 1425; poor but steady signal, much weaker than CNR1 jammer on 11990, and also much weaker than NHK relay funxioning normally on 11655. RCI not scheduled on 12000 from Sackville or any relay site, but could be a test via somewhere else. FWIW, VOR via Khabarovsk is registered on 12000 at 10-14, but no sign of it. 9625, CBC NQ transmitter again on air after sign-off, with tone test, Sept 14 at 0525-0526, continuing with open carrier. Why? 12000, RCI IS & IDs heard again today, Sept 14 at 1255, 1315 but gone at next check 1410. Why? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Mount Royal tower facelift --- Very nice blog and pix about the upgrade work on the Mount Royal tower: http://blog.fagstein.com/2010/08/21/tv-maintenance-on-mount-royal/ 73, (Charles Gauthier, Brossard, QC, Sept 11, WTFDA via DXLD) Consequently we are reminded that the Canadiens are able to watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on non-cable free-to-air channels; tho most of them use cable even for those (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. Hi Glenn, Just a short word about the stations in Central Africa Republic. I'm one of the guys who went to CAR in April to set up two stations. One in Bimbo province near the capital of Bangui for the government on 5035 kHz. Another in Boali, for ICDI on 3390. The antennas need to especially made for each frequency and the TB1000 SW transmitter has to have some modules changed in it to broadcast in different meterbands (Hank Zeck, Osceola, Indiana 46561, Serving at the HCJB Global Technology Center in Elkhart, IN, Sept 11, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hank, Thanks for the clarification. Do you know or could you find out from contacts whether either of these is on the air now? There were some reports of 5035 a few months ago, but have seen no reports at all of 3390. Thanks, (Glenn to Hank, via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) ** CHAD. 7120, R Dif. Nationale Tchadienne, Gredia, N’Djaména, 1617- 1731*, Aug 10, vernacular reports from various African countries with African folkmusic bridges between items, telephone reports, 1700 two Gongs, ID and news, economic reports – transmitter was off 1704-1705. Reactivated! S 8-9 (Roland Schulze, Stuttgart, Germany, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) But subsequently gone again, just on 6165 (gh) [and non]. Chad & Croatia. Both Radio Chad and Radio Voice of Croatia were noted at 1830 hours on odd frequencies on the 6165 kHz channel: Croatia was on 6164.5 kHz and Chad on 6165.5 approximately, resulting in strong interference. Source: (Rumen Pankov, BNR Radio Bulgaria: DXprogram September 10, 2010 http://bit.ly/9IENh4 via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) Once 6165 is clear of Bonaire, Sept 12 at 0530, het of less than 1 kHz between two weak signals, presumably RNT Chad and HR Croatia. Did not try to measure them, but Rumen Pankov in Bulgaria has reported these at 1830 on approximately 6164.5 and 6165.5 respectively (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This afternoon HR Deanovec is on 6164.64v kHz, S=9+10dB at 1630 and 1710 UT, both het heavily by even 6165 CRI Urumchi in Turkish at 1630 UT, and CRI Beijing in English to CIS/ME/NE at 17-18 UT. vy73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Sept 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non?]. Over-the-horizon radar pulsing Sept 12 at 1231- 1236, approx. ranges: 5765-5825 vs AFN just on the edge of it; then hear it down to 5735 6865-6920 same sound as 5765-5825 6800-6865 different lower pitch than 6865-6920 6520-6580 same pitch as 6800+ 6460-6505 ditto (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. EAST JAMMERSTAN: 14400, Crash & Bang Chinese Music Jammer; 2317, 8-Sep & 2249, 9-Sep (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) Firedrake chex Sept 9: none found between 1245 and 1400. Firedrake Sept 10: 8400, poor to fair at 1221 No others found before 1300 or 1305-1314 up to 18 MHz Firedrake Sept 11: 8400, VG at 1252, but nothing on 10500 or anywhere up to 15 MHz by 1300. Nor up to 18 MHz after 1305. Firedrake Sept 12: 8400, good at 1244, but nothing on 10500 or higher found until: 13680, fair at 1252 with flutter; no others up to 18 MHz, except: 16100, poor at 1256. Firedrake Sept 13: none found in several scans 8-18 MHz between 1305 and 1425, initially checking 8400 and 10500. CNR1 jammers were quite strong on 15285, 15265 et al., so Firedrake should have been audible somewhere if on the air. Some suspicious hets and CNR1s, however: Sept 13 at 1356, 15530 with CNR1 // 15285, and weaker het from 15528.5; also CNR1 on 15430 with flutter until 1400* cutting off timesignal after only two pips, and then I found 15530 also off. But at 1401, 15550 has talk (not WJHR) with het on hi side slightly less than 1 kHz. 15580, VOA Music Mix at 1421 with weak het from 15582 and some audio. Aoki has V. of Tibet via Tajikistan until 1400 on 15527 and via UAE until 1400 on 15430; nothing to account for 15550; VOT via Tajikistan on 15578 until 1407, then 15572; but the jumps are subject to wide variation. Also, at 1419, 17560 CNR1 strong with heavy flutter, no het, // 11990 jammer. Must be against Voice of Tibet via Madagascar, one channel up from WYFR 17555. I first logged this as 17555 but I must have been off as no info that WYFR and Madagascar have shifted from listings. Madagascar relay not known for jumping around despite ChiCom jamming of clients. Firedrake Sept 14: 9380, poor with flutter at 1252 No others found in bandscans 8-18 MHz before and after 1300. 9845, at 1405 Sept 14 not only CNR1 jamming // 15285 against VOA Chinese but also distorted audio from something else, not sure if in Chinese or maybe Vietnamese, as if a spur but probably intentional additional jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 5050, 10 SEP, 2327 UT, Beibu Bay Radio, in presumed Mandarin (according to schedule) with man talking in soothing tones over classical music, then ID with many mentions of Beibu, into some light jazz music. Allegedly only 15 kW, but good signals with only a slight fade (Al Muick, Pattaya, Thailand, WinRadio G303e, 10m Longwire / Randomwire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 6065, CNR2/CBR, 1212, September 13. They did not abandon this frequency as I first thought; now on a new schedule with them signing off much earlier than the ex 1605*; off sometime before 1256, but have not caught the exact time yet; // 6155, which is not on this new schedule (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 11905, CPBS Taiwan-2 (or Voice of Shenzhou Program 6, depending which source used). 1153-1200* September 12, 2010. Good with very nice, exotic ethnic vocals. Not quite Chinese-sounding female briefly at 1159 (listed Amoy or Hakka?), plug pulled promptly at 1200 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. QSLs: CANADA. CRI via Sackville, 6020, f/d hand- written 'Hani ethnic minority group' card with site, program schedule and very large cardboard heart shaped CRI pennant in 2 weeks for report to crieng @ cri.com.cn CANADA, CRI via Sackville, 6020, f/d hand-written 'Hani ethnic minority group' card without site, program schedule, Messenger magazine and book-mark in 2 weeks for report to crieng @ cri.com.cn CUBA, CRI via Cuba, 13740, f/d hand-written 'Hani ethnic minority group' card with site, 2010 Happy New Year card, in 2 weeks for report to crieng @ cri.com.cn (Brandon Jordan, Memphis TN, Sept 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. 6009.8v, LV de tu Conciencia, 0430-0505, Sept 12, local music. Spanish talk. English ID at 0438 and into Spanish religious talk. Radio-drama. Fair but unstable with frequency constantly varying between 6009.74-6009.94 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** COSTA RICA [and non]. 5954.22 / 5955, COSTA RICA (CLANDESTINE) ELCOR (Radio República relay), Guápiles vs. CUBA jammers. Well surprise, surprise. It only took a few hours after my dxldyg post was read by Arnaldo & Company, and the hour of unjammed República is no more. Tune-in 2139 check on September 11, 2010 found the jammers grinding away on 5955, with the ELCOR transmitter barely audible on the usual 5954.22. I wonder what would happen if, say a US clear channel MW was falsely reported as carrying República? Would Cuba blindly initiate jamming? Could be a fun game for all (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA [non] ** COSTA RICA. 5930 / 5970, Radio Exterior de España, Cariari de Pococí. 1306-1313 September 6, 2010. Presumed the site with Spanish news items. Both clear and fair, with 5970 a little better (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5965, REE relay missing Sept 10 at 0500 check, allowing weak signal from Vatican to come thru opening English, but with RHC 5970 ACI; REE scheduled 04-08. 5965, REE relay in Spanish at 0532 Sept 11, obliterating the papal voice; had been missing the night before (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA [non]. GERMANY, Voice of Croatia, 9725, 2317 GMT, Croation [sic], 433, Sept 5, YL and OM in a conversation (Stewart Mackenzie-CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ?? This just moved from 9925 to 7375. Nothing scheduled on 9725 for which this might be mistaken; I guess it`s a typo for 9925. Registered to be there until 6 Sept, then 7375 from 7 Sept (gh, DXLD) ** CROATIA [non]. Re 10-36: HRT via M&B Wertachtal and Nauen outlets three TXs syncronized: 9925 0100-0500 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 NAU 100 325 1005-060910 HRT DTK 9925 2200-0300 11,12,13,14,15,16 WER 100 240 1005-060910 HRT DTK 9925 2300-0300 6,7,8,9,10 WER 100 300 1005-060910 HRT DTK 7375 0100-0500 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 NAU 100 325 0709-311010 HRT DTK 7375 2200-0300 11,12,13,14,15,16 WER 100 240 0709-311010 HRT DTK 7375 2300-0300 6,7,8,9,10 WER 100 300 0709-311010 HRT DTK (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) IOW, times, targets, sites, powers and azimuths are all identical, just changed from 9925 to 7375 as of 7 Sept. But if a single transmission span was partly on 9925 and partly on 7375, probably because 0000 UT or local midnite occurred amid it (gh, DXLD) ** CROATIA [and non]. 6164.64v This afternoon HR Deanovec is on 6164.64v kHz, S=9+10dB at 1630 and 1710 UT, both het heavily by even 6165.00 CRI Urumchi in Turkish at 1630 UT, and CRI Beijing in English to CIS/ME/NE at 1700-1800 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Sept 12, via DXLD) See CHAD ** CUBA. Accurate MF Cuba List? Is there a list on the www of Cuban MF AM broadcast band stations that is accurate? Last week I picked up an Icom IC-756 Pro II for back up on the ham radio bands that is excellent on the MF AM broadcast band. It surpasses my Drake R-8B and Icom R-75 as far as sensitivity and selectivity. I'm doing a band scan on all of the stations that I can hear on ground wave from my location here in central Florida and have a lot of co-channel Cuban stations. 73 & GUD DX, (Thomas F. Giella, NZ4O, Lakeland, FL, USA, ABDX via DXLD) Arnie Coro says that there are so many repeaters / boosters on the same channel and the same frequency that there is no way to tell what you are hearing (Kevin Redding, TN, ibid.) Bruce Conti`s website [unlinked] has Cuban listings a sesquiyear old, arranged by network (via Chris Black, ibid.) ** CUBA. MI LOG - AM: 09 SEP 2010 THU SFI=75-8-0 SR0707 SS2053 0570 CMDC SANTA CLARA CUBA RR RADIO RELOJ 2233EDT 30KW 1400 MI 0790 CMAQ PINAR DEL RIO CUBA RR RADIO RELOJ 2243EDT 30KW 1395 MI 10 SEP 2010 FRI SFI=74-6-1 SR0708 SS1952 860 CMDB COLON MATANZAS RADIO RELOJ RR 2113EDT 30KW 1350 MI 870 CMDT SANCTI SPIRITUS RADIO RELOJ RR 2115EDT 1KW 1440 MI RELOG rcvr: Kenwood TS-450S, ant 34" sq loop (Byron WA8LCZ nr Detroit MI, Sept 11, ABDX via DXLD) ** CUBA. DISCLAIMER: National Radio Club editors and members are permanently banned from being granted permission to use or reproduce any LW/MW items below. [also BAHAMAS, MEXICO, NICARAGUA, USA, UNID] 610, Radio Rebelde, Bahía Honda, Pinar del Río. 0938-0950 September 11, 2010. Airing a song about and with "Radio Rebelde" in the lyrics. Anyone know what the title and artist is? 1000 / 1080, Radio Guamá, presumed Palacios and Pinar del Río, respectively. Something with their audio source malfunctioned, with both channels running nothing but big, fat open carriers much of the afternoon, finally back with good audio 2108 recheck (Paul Zechhino / Terry Krueger at Zecchino's QTH, Manasota Key, FL) 1000 / 1080, Radio Guamá, presumed Palacios and Pinar del Río, respectively. Still having problems, or not 24/7. Both transmitters off at 1200 check September 11, 2010. Both back, but not very strong, 1410 recheck. 1060, Radio Veinte Seis, Matanzas. 1035-1050 September 12, 2010. Tune- in to nice, traditional Cuban oldie vocals, pubescent female announcer. Canned ID by male at 1046: "Esta es Radio Veinte Seis, desde Matanzas, Cuba" then, of all things, time sounders (four short, one long) at 1047, into news read by man. Guess they thought it was 13 minutes later than what it was. Cuban time in reverse. Excellent on the sunrise bump. Hi, Arnie. No parallels audible. 1210, Radio Sancti Spíritus, Sancti Spíritus. 1052-1100 September 12, 2010. Fair to good with traditional Cuban vocals, male canned ID at 1058. Mixing with presumed WNMA, Miami Springs. 1220, Radio Caribe, Isla de la Juventud. 1032-1100 September 9, 2010. Youthful, albeit squeaky female announcer between Spanish pop and rap vocals, finally an ID at 1100. This one used to be on 1270 awhile back. Very good. 1550, Radio Rebelde, Nuevitas, Camagüey. 1043-1050 September 6, 2010. Parallel 1180 etc., fighting Spanish WRHC, Coral Gables (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1570, Radio Enciclopedia, unknown site. 2035-2100 September 8, 2010. Kenny G song, paralleled to 530. Extremely poor and very tight null against the Auburndale and another station. First log of this for me since February, 2000 and, if I recall for Paul, since 2005. No other old Enciclopedia channels heard. Logged on Paul's DX-398 portable, coupled to the RadioShack non-active loop on the spice rack base rotator (Paul V. Zecchino/Terry L Krueger at Zecchino's QTH, Manasota Key, FL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1570, Radio Enciclopedia, Las Tunas (per WRTVH 2010). 0930-0935 September 11, 2010. Orchestral movie score, a fragment popping through all the co-channel, in parallel 530. This is the one re-discovered on September 8, daytime, at Paul Zecchino's Manasota Key monitoring station (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. 1620 kHz UNID DX Spanish Language Heard - Possible Radio Rebelde --- Last night I was listening to 1620 kHz and heard some anthem-sounding music followed by what sounded like Spanish language. I have uploaded the file into the files section of the group. I have tried to clean it up as best as possible and reduce the "local" US DX to a tolerable level. Ignore any English heard as they are WTAW in Texas and KOZN in Nebraska. I recorded it right at about 0400 UT on 2010-09-08. I suspect it might be Radio Rebelde from Cuba. Can anyone ID this recording for me? If so, this would equal my most distant MW DX of Radio Enciclopedia which I hear regularly. Thanks, (John Kugellagers, ];') Lakewood, Colorado, Hammarlund SP-600, Lankford-style 30 ft low-noise vertical, Sept 8, mwdx yg via DXLD) No doubt that this is the Cuban anthem and Radio Rebelde is the only Cuban listed on 1620 (WRTH 2010). Nice catch! (Sylvain Naud, Portneuf, QC CAN, ibid.) Thanks Sylvain. Silly me, This morning before I checked back here I Googled "Cuban National Anthem" http://www.goodnoise.com/samples/m3u/song/10873362/13511635.m3u and found many mp3s of it. It is definitely the Cuban anthem and therefore it must be Radio Rebelde. Not sure why didn't do this last night...probably tired...or maybe it was the gin and tonic. Either way this is my second Cuban station. Strange that I can get two Cuban stations and never hear anything from the west coast of Florida where there is at least one 50 kW station in the Tampa-St Petersburg area. Maybe the water path is just better from Cuba? (John ];'), ibid.) Don`t know which one you refer to, but the FL stations are direxional, mostly away from the rest of US, while the Cubans are not (gh, DXLD) So in my search to ID the sound clip I found some Cuban radio resources. Programming information on Radio Rebelde: http://www.radiorebelde.cu/english/programming/ [not that they have any programming IN English! -gh] It does not list 1620 kHz as a broadcasting frequency. I have found in my searches that it is a recent frequency for Radio Rebelde. The earliest I have found online that RR has been on 1620 kHz is November, 2009. I cannot seem to find anything official on RR 1620 as to transmitter location or broadcast power. MWlist seems to have locations that plot in the water for most Cuban stations. Nothing in the FCC searches. This link is a Cuban Radio station directory: http://www.cubanradio.cu/index.php/cuban-radio-stations-directory It seems to list the callsigns for most "networks" (I.E. CMBA for Radio Rebelde) and the number of transmitters for each particular "network" (I.E. 45T for AM and 13T for FM for Radio Rebelde). Places where an actual frequency is listed might be for one station "networks". It also looks like there is contact e-mail addresses for each "network" for those of us who like to get QSLs (John ];'), Lakewood, Colorado, mwdx yg via DXLD) I often use this list of Cuban stations: http://www.bamlog.com/cuba.htm (Paul Crankshaw, UK, ibid.) Hello John, I've read somewhere that Cuba is often jamming the relay of Radio Marti Via WDHP by putting Radio Rebelde on this frequency. 73, (Guido Schotmans, Belgium, ibid.) Yes, Guido, I have heard this explanation several times too, but it is a bit of a problem that nobody (as much as I know) ever documented by a recording that there were really two signals on the frequency: República and Rebelde. I heard Rebelde on 1620 kHz several times, also after 0400 UT, but at this time WDHP should relay BBC WS instead of República. Well, maybe Rebelde is on the air 24h on this frequency but who knows? I think our friends in Florida could perhaps bring more light into this mystery? (Karel Honzik, CZECHIA, ibid.) Hi, One way of checking first hand is to use the Vero Beach, Florida Global Tuner http://www.globaltuners.com/home.php (Paul, New Zealand, ibid.) It`s amazing that people keep discovering Cuba on 1620, while this has been going on since last year, as reported in DXLD. Don`t expect Cuba to list all its jammers in public documents. It doesn`t matter when or whether WDHP is currently carrying Radio Martí or Radio República. Once they do it at all, there will be a jammer on the frequency for eternity (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1620 | CUBA | R. Rebelde, AUG 28 0048 - // 1180 with orchestral music, then shouting man; good over second Spanish-speaker (Mark Connelly, WA1ION, South Orleans, Cape Cod, MA, USA (GC= 41.7347 N / 69.991 W) (= 41? 44.1' N / 69? 59.5' W) (Town Landing / beach, off Route 28, 0.3 km N of Tar Kiln Road) Receiver: Microtelecom Perseus operated with MSI Wind U100 netbook Antenna: cardioid-pattern Micro-SuperLoop on car roof, square, 2 m per side, with 9:1 transformer on east bottom corner to speaker wire to 2:1 transformer to W7IUV transfer amp, and 9:1 transformer on west corner to speaker wire to 500 ohm null-adjust potentiometer. See http://home.comcast.net/~dx_lab/pictures/micro_superloop.htm for a similar antenna, NRC-AM via DXLD) There is more than one Radio Rebelde transmitter on 1620 kHz. This morning I heard a very noticeable echo of two, maybe three transmitters. You can hear it too; here is my short recording: http://www.box.net/shared/xrhmziufpd (Karel Honzik, CZECHIA, Sept 13, HCDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. RHC anomaly observations: UT Sept 9 at 0549, 6060 is again on the air but in Spanish instead of usual English at this hour, // Spanish 6120 and 5040, and 6060 suffers splash de REE direct from Spain even when it`s talk rather than music. English RHC on 5970, 6010, 6150. 9965, DentroCuban Jamming Command, same story as last few days, *1358:25 Sept 9 with initial pulsing over R. Australia Chinese via Palau, rapidly piling on for a wall of noise by 1359 with nothing else audible, such as the real target of this. Still going past 1618; yet to determine when it quits, tho not heard later in the afternoon. RHC anomalies Sept 10: at 0500, 6000 is still on in English instead of 6010, open for Colombia/Mexico het mix. English also on 5970, 6150; and at 0508, 6060 under REE 6055 splash. 9965, like clockwork, DentroCuban jamming starts again Sept 10 at *1358:25, quickly building up to noise wall and ruining Radio Australia, Palau in Chinese, if nothing else. In fact it probably is on a clock timer. Set and forget whether there is really anything there needing jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6110 / 6150 / 6180, Radio Habana Cuba. 1203-1205 September 9, 2010. Noted in passing with Spanish on these channels in parallel, using up way too much unneeded space so close to each other (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RHC anomaly Sept 12: at 0521, 6150 with open carrier only, while English nominal on 5970, 6010, and 6060 under splash from Spain 6055. As I tuned across RHC, 15120, better 11760, Sept 13 at 1342, Tony Gómez was mentioning that one of the founders of RHC had died this morning, sounds like Saída López Cabaroca, who for almost 50 years from the outset had been Jefe del Departamento de Análisis de Correspondencia Internacional. Then an archive interview with her until 1351 mentioning that the number one country for letters to RHC is México, number two USA, etc. I`m pretty sure of her second and third names, but Googling on them both within and without the RHC site got nowhere. Apparently more of a nonentity until her demise. Not to be confused with Lourdes López, well-known correspondence chief who recently retired; never heard the name Lourdes mentioned. Who knows her correct name? Obit Yet another example of RHC failing to get its act together: Sept 13 at 2004, opening Revista Informativa de la Tarde, 20-23 UT, with frequency list, not including 11760, the one I was listening to! Instead on 25m, only said 11730 y 12030. Then tried 12030 and not on there, but I don`t take 11760 to be a replacement. 2036 recheck, now 12030 is also on, plus 11760 and weaker 11730. Schedule shows 11760 is supposed to be in English at 20-21, but that yankee-imperialist lingo often gets lost in the shuffle. While I`m there, check for 11690, which used to be on quite a lot in the daytime, but now it shows only for Aló Presidente on Sunday mornings, and we know that has been suspended until October, and even when on is highly irregular (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. 5954.22v, COSTA RICA (CLANDESTINE), ELCOR (Radio República relay), Guápiles. 2110-2130 September 8, 2010. The usual Spanish anti-Castro programming with some opera vocal breaks. Fair. Brought up on a couple of Paul's vintage valve rigs in the radio room. Time to finally christen this as a clandestine (Paul Zecchino/Terry Krueger at Zecchino's QTH, Manasota Key, FL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also COSTA RICA ** ECUADOR. Stephan Schaa of VozAndes Media in Germany explained that after HCJB dismantled its shortwave transmitter site in Pifo, Ecuador, the equipment was donated to HCJB's German branch. This included a 100-kilowatt HC-100 HF transmitter, two 33-kilowatt Siemens linear transmitters which have been tested by HCJB with four kilowatts in DRM mode, and two 10-kilowatt regional shortwave transmitters, one of which is operating on 6050 kHz. The donation also included antennas and transmission lines. VozAndes Media has a plan to build a new shortwave transmitter site somewhere else in Ecuador within 6 to 12 months, although a site has not yet been located. The plan is to broadcast in German, Spanish and Portuguese, as well as some regional South American languages such as Quichua. Broadcasts will be targeted primarily at Latin America, although there would also likely be broadcasts to Europe in German with the 100-kilowatt transmitter. Some DRM transmissions are planned (Shortwave Station News from the HFCC/ASBU B10 Conference, via Jeff White, Sept NASB Newsletter via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) ** ECUADOR. 6050, HCJB, Pichincha, *0826-0835, 13-09, inicio de la transmisión con música andina, luego himno nacional, locutora, quechua, identificación: "HCJB", señales horarias a 0830 y comentarios en quechua por locutor. 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. 6270, at 0245 11 Sept 10 in Arabic music (modern quavering equal to pop religious rock), very clean signal from R Cairo, E1+ANLP1 9305, at 0317 11 Sept 10 in Arabic, Koranic chanting with long 3- second open carriers between phrases. Clean copy on E1+ANLP1 (Stewart, Hamilton, Ont., ODXA yg via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 6250, Radio Nacional Malabo, 0543-0600, Sept 12, Afro-pop music. Spanish announcements. Poor. Weak. Irregular (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) See also WESTERN SAHARA [non] ** ERITREA. Re 10-36: Hi Glenn! ``I couldn`t say about Amharic & Tigrigna, but I don`t think there is anything about ``Broad Masses`` in the Arabic version, so what`s with that?`` Masses yes, broad no. If you type "Voice of the Masses of Eritrea" into Google-translator you get the following result, which looks very similar to "Sawt al-Jamahir al-Iritriyyah": Übersetzung von Englisch in Arabisch ??? ???????? ?? ??????? [original Arabic garblized for MS word and text here] Umschrift Swt al-Jmahyr Mn Arytrya [original had diacritics and additional vowels, banished by MS word and text] 73, (Patrick Robic, Austria, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7178, 1932 03 August, VOBME, Arabic singing, OM, 43543 (Edwin Southwell, Hants., Sept WDXC Contact via DXLD) Normally these make 5- kHz jumps, rather than in-between; typo? (gh, DXLD) 7175, Voice of the Broad Masses, Selai Dairo, 1829-1904, 11 Sep'10, Arabic, talks, mostly Arabic songs & songs; 55433. 7210, Voice of the Broad Masses (presumed), Selai Dairo, 1735-1802, 12 Sep'10, Tigrinya (listed), HoA songs; 33432, very strong adjacent QRM at 1800. At the same time, 7175 carries the program in Arabic (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA [non]. CLANDESTINE, 5950, Voice of the Tigré Revolution, Geja Jawe (or Geja Dera?), ETHIOPIA, 1748-1803, 12 Sep'10, vernacular, HoA songs, talks; 45333, very strong adjacent QRM from 5955 at 1800 (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 5950, Voice of the Tigre Revolution, 0353-0357, 9/9/2010, Tigrinya. Horn of Africa music. Talk by man at 0354. Poor signal heard under Taiwan via WYFR. Lost when Taiwan changed from spoken segment to music at 0357. No parallels noted (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, IC-R75, RX-340, Random Wire (90'), ALA100M Loop (20'), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 6090, Amhara State Regional R (presumed), Geja Jawe, 1714-1729, 12 Sep'10, Amharic (listed), folk songs; 33441, QRM mainly de unID in C Asian language, but also adjacent DRM signal. 7165, R. Ethiopia, Geja Jawe, 1711-1802*, 12 Sep'10, French, music program consisting of both local and foreign songs, infos & news on Ethiopia, jingle prior to 1800, then the carrier went on for a bit; 45333; \\ 9559.85 very poor, adjacent QRM. 9559.85 ditto, 1712-1727, 12 Sep'10, same as on \\ 7165 (see above); 33431, adjacent QRM (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE [non?]. 17620, Sept 14 at 1415 French talk about Africa, with hum, good signal I don`t usually hear, and accent is non- Parisian, so really RFI? Yes, 1430 RFI ID and sounder. 17620 is registered for both Issoudun and Montsinéry, so perhaps axual usage has changed: 08-16 Issoudun at 185 degrees, 10-16 Montsinéry at 75 degrees. The typical hum and good signal now make me favor GUF as source (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also GUIANA FRENCH ** GERMANY. BEETHOVENFEST, from Bonn, Sept 10-Oct 9, including podcasts, live broadcasts via DW: http://www.dw-world.de/beethoven The first one conflicted with Last Night of the Proms! Tnx to Yimber Gaviría for the tip (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Más información (en inglés) Transmisión en vivo http://www7.dw-world.de/livestream_beethoven/index2.html Descargar Podcast http://rss.dw-world.de/xml/podcast_beethovenfest Beethovenfest http://en.beethovenfest.de/home/ Fuente: Beethovenfest transmitirá concierto en Internet - El Universal - Cultura http://bit.ly/aUHqMg (Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, noticiasdx yg via DXLD) ** GERMANY [and non]. 6180, DW in English closing transmission at 0529-0530* Sept 11, 150 degrees via Sines, PORTUGAL; sufficient signal, but the 0400-0530 English broadcast is unfeasible in NAm with Vietnam via Sackville on 6175 until 0529*. One minute is better than zero, which is what they intend for us to hear. At 0530 found DW weaker in German on 6075, also from Sines but at 35 degrees. And just as I tuned across 6085, DRM cut on at 0530. Quite a signal for the nondirexional 10 kW Ismaning transmitter, disturbing Dead Gene Scott on 6090; DRM supposedly 0400-2210, so maybe it had just been a momentary break (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Re: WRN to be taken off FM in Berlin --- Update: They're now off since Monday, with the expiration of their licence that was valid until Sep 13. The airtime has been taken over by Blu FM as expected: http://www.blu-fm.de/index.php?s=news&a=news&nid=1675 Meanwhile Voice of Russia hinted at FM relays in Berlin, starting towards the end of this year. No details have been revealed so far, but 97.2 would appear to be a logical place (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUAM [and non]. AFN on new frequency! 5755.5-USB, approximately, Sept 10 at 1353 during Marketplace Morning segment on NPR Morning Edition, running a few sex ahead of KOSU, which deliberately delays its analog audio to match IBOC. Ex-5765, in the clear now but NOT a good idea for the 11 hours a day WTWW is on 5755 – currently 01-12 per FCC instead of 02-12 thru August, but haven`t confirmed that. AFN could be a punch-up error or variation? Further chex required (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn and all, Checked AFN (Guam) at 1130 and 1230 on Sept 11 and found them operating USB on the normal (local nighttime) frequency of 5765. Anomaly which Glenn noted on Sept 10 must have been a punch-up error or such. Regards, (T.C. Patterson, KDØJJO/DU7, Cebu, Philippines, ptsw yg via DXLD) AFN back on proper frequency 5765-USB, Sept 11 at 1240, WESat from NPR with Scott Simon introducing silly ballgame interview. He`s a huge baseball fan and imagines all his listeners are. At least we know the sports segment is always around this part of the hour. Anyhow, AFN had been on 5755.5 24 hours earlier, apparently by mistake (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUIANA FRENCH. 9735, open carrier with hum, Sept 14 at 0528; presumably TDF V of Russia Spanish 500 kW relay was not turned off at 0500*. Wake up in Montsinéry! This has happened before (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also FRANCE [non?] ** GUINEA. 4900, Familia FM, (tentative), 2320-2330 Sept 9, Noted music until 2324 when it is interrupted by a male and female in French language comments. After comments, more hilife type music is presented. Signal was poor. Could not find any information about this station except for one entry in AOKI on 4900 kHz. Checked the station's Web page http://www.familiaFm.com/ which was all in French, but nothing mentioned about 4900 KHz. At 2337 a female (same one as before) commences with chatter again (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, NRD545, 26.37N 081.05W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Chuck, The website does mention 4900 at the top, but alternating with other messages so you have to watch them swap around for a while: ``Nouvelle Station Ecoutez la radio Familia en ondes courtes sur 4.900MHz dans tout le pays du lundi au dimanche, de 18h à 00h TU...`` Could not find any info? It`s been reported numerous times in DXLD, including background when it first appeared. 73, (Glenn, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, Thank you. Thought I had something new (Chuck, DXLD) Also, on the technicians page, there's a caption identifying the tech in charge of "SW 4.9 Timbi." (David Goren, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Specifically, Moriba Tavaguèze Kolié, Administrateur du site Web et Responsable de Familia SW 4.9 Timbi is pictured on this page: http://www.familiafm.com/index.php/menu-notre-identite/equipe/menu-equipe-technique and larger here with contact field: http://www.familiafm.com/index.php/component/contact/57-cat-employes/37-contact-moriba-tavagueze-kolie And another fellow, Administrateur du site Web et Responsable de Familia SW 4.9: Marcel Loua is on: http://www.familiafm.com/index.php/menu-notre-identite/equipe/menu-equipe-animateur 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** HAITI. 840 | R. 4VEH (4VEF), Cap-Haitien, AUG 12 0300 - good with 4VEH ID. + AUG 13 0100 - French talk, 'jingle bells' riff, gospel vocal; slightly over mess (Mark Connelly, WA1ION, South Yarmouth, Cape Cod, MA, USA (GC= 41.6933 N / 70.1912 W) (= 41? 41.6' N / 70? 11.5' W) Receiver: Microtelecom Perseus operated with MSI Wind U100 netbook Antenna: west-null SuperLoop, 9 m vertical by 22 m horizontal, base height 1 m, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** HONDURAS. 3250, R. Luz y Vida, 0227 9/7/10, fair-poor with songs in Spanish; heard throughout the week (Jim Ronda, Tulsa OK, NRD-545, R- 75; PAR-SWL and Flex-MLB, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** INDIA. 4970, AIR Shillong, 1241, September 13. In English with the “Hit Parade” pop music show; 1315 “important announcement” that AIR Shillong will conduct audition tests for an announcer in Hindi on October 6 at 11 AM at the studios of Shillong; “Youth Time” show; 1335 “over to Delhi” for sports news in Hindi (briefly became // 9425 and 9470); interview with a Shillong conservationist about trees. One of their better receptions (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4840, 0010-0020 09.09, AIR Mumbai, Marathi (tentatively) ann, Indian songs, QRM WWCR, 43543 AP-DNK 4940.00, 0020-0040 06.09, AIR Guwahati Assamese (presumed)/ Hindi/English Indian songs, news from Delhi // 4920 and 4965. Transmitter break down at 0024-0032, 25332. AP-DNK 4965.01, 0025-0040 06.09, AIR Shimla Hindi ann, Sitar music, time signal, news in Hindi and English from Delhi about release of 3 hostages, test of supersonic missile with range 290 km, 34333, QRM Zambia AP-DNK New 5040, *0023-0055 fade out, 09.09, AIR Jeypore, Oriya (presumed) ann after AIR IS, local traditional songs. Seems to be repaired. The transmitter had a break down 0030-0035 and there was noted some hum on the transmitter. R Habana Cuba with French (QSA 4) was disturbing Jeypore here, so it was heard best in USB with 32443 (Anker Petersen, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) ** INDIA. AIR Jeypore 5040 back on air --- Noted this evening with excellent strength when checked at 1445. Good to see the audio modulation problem solved. Regards (Ashok Satpathy, India, Sept 8, dx_india yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) Dear DX-friends, Thanks for the hint from Ashok! Here in Denmark I noted AIR Jeypore back on the air on 5040 kHz. Heard signing on Sep 09 at *0023-0055 fade out with All India Radio interval signal followed by local traditional songs. The transmitter had a break down 0030-0035 and there was noted some hum on the transmitter. R Habana Cuba with French (QSA 4) was disturbing Jeypore here, so it was heard best in USB with SINPO 32443 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, ibid.) I think the happiness was short lived. It has been absent this morning. Will check later in the day when they switch to 6040. The hum was noted when it was on air. Best regards (Ashok Satpathy, Sept 9, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, ibid.) ** INDIA. 15050, AIR poor with flutter, Indian vocal music at 1322 Sept 14, still at 1404, talk at 1424. Per Aoki it`s Sinhala service via Delhi/Khampur at 13-15. Transpolar conditions slightly improving with equinox imminent? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 15795, AIR Chinese service, Sept 10 at 1302 with Indian vocal music, then Bollywood, flutter, but no ChiCom jamming audible; must be a propagational quirk. 9425, AIR National Channel, Bengaluru, Sept 10 at 1312 with tone test already, next check 1323 music but unseems Vande Mataram; 1325 Akashvani ID by YL, over music, flutter, peaks S9+20. 9425 is another frequency which has not been making it this summer but hope it will improve equinoxially; after this it steadily weakened and not much left past 1400. Nothing audible from // Aligarh 9470 if it is still on, but also suffers from WTWW 9479 splash. [and non]. 15795, AIR 1145-1315 Mandarin service, Sept 12 at 1255 with Bollywood vocal music atop echo jamming. Such a threat is Bollywood to traditional ChiCom culture! They hardly need to jam // 17705, but probably do so anyway, Sept 12 at 1257, because of CCI between the Indian music and Arabic talk, both continuing past 1300, collision with BSKSA at 12-15, 500 kW, 310 degrees Euro/USward from Riyadh, so only the first quarter-hour of AIR here is Saudiless, but is it ChiComless? AIR both 15795 and 17705 are Bengaluru, 35 and 58 degrees respectively, per Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9425, Bengaluru with AIR National Channel, Sept 14 at 1402 vocal music, fair with heavy flutter, but better than other channels from same site, 9690 GOS and 9870 VBS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) My monitoring observation show that yesterday 12 Sept 2010 at 1000- 1100 UT, I could hear a spurious signal on around 15950 kHz with AIR GOS English. The signal was very strong but very distorted. I checked all scheduled frequencies and found that all except 15260 kHz were OK. 15260 kHz was very faint and I guess it was the culprit. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, dx_india yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 3325, RRI Palangkaraya, surprisingly good Sept 10 at 1229-1232+ M&W in Indonesian over music bed, mentioning Radio RRI, Nippon Hoso Kyokai several times, and BBC London; a promo about their news sources? SSOB except for 3185 WWRB, and 4750 was much weaker (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3325, RRI Palangkaraya (Palangkaraya), 1028-1034, 9/11/2010, Indonesian. Apparent Koran recitation by man. Talk by man at 1030. Slow vocal music at 1032 followed by talk by man and woman. Poor signal, strength declining slowly. Similar (but not strictly parallel) program noted on 4750 (Makassar). Nothing heard from usual cochannel PNG station (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, IC-R75, RX-340, Random Wire (90'), ALA100M Loop (20'), DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. 3325, RRI Palangkaraya, would have been readable Sept 12 at 1215 except for much stronger three-per-second ute pulsing centered on 3320 but extending 3305-3335. The intervals were slightly variable (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 4750, 10 SEP, 1134 UT, RRI Makassar (tentative), long- winded Koranic singing with occasional prayer and talk. Sounded like Bahasa Indonesia, but unable to confirm via RRI live audio stream, and Makassar regional live audio not offered. Checked on Bangladesh website to make sure I didn't have them and they were happily playing light pop. Am curious about Makassar (anyone else in the area noticed this programming at this particular day/time?). (Al Muick, Pattaya, Thailand, WinRadio G303e, 10m Longwire/Randomwire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4750, RRI Makassar, 1005-1020 Sept 12, Initially noted the usual Islamic type chanting by a male. At 1006 a live male comments in Indonesian language. This is followed with music. Signal faded between threshold and poor (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, 26.37N 081.05W, NRD545 & WINRADIO G305e/pd, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA [and non]. 9526-, VOI, Thursday Sept 9 at 1249 during Japanese hour, just open carrier with hum, no modulation, ergo no audio dropouts either! Still OC during English hour at 1310, past 1330. Recheck at 1356, carrier was already off, so CRI Russian 9525 gets to start at 1357 without a het, for a change. 9526-, the VOI transmitter broke down Sept 9, open carrier and off before 1400, and still off Sept 10: no signal at all at 1219 and 1316 chex. Not a power outage at Cimanggis, since RRI 9680 was on with Qur`an at the latter time. Or VOI might have jumped unpredictably to alternate 11785v, but no sign of it or a het there, just the ChiCom/VOA radio war; let`s hope they learned their lesson about that frequency last year. 9526-, VOI still missing Saturday Sept 11 at 1235 check and after 1300 scheduled English. Nor on alternate 11785, only ChiCom jamming vs VOA (and no WHRI Hmong either, canceled). 9526-, VOI still absent before and after 1300 Sept 12; we miss it, despite the flaws! Checked at 1247 and 1346. After missing a few days, VOI attempted a comeback on 9526-, Sept 13: at 1304 hummy open carrier, interrupted by occasional bits of news in English. 1315 now English mostly on but with the brief audio dropouts; back to open carrier at 1321 and off the air at 1332*. But *1333:25 carrier back on with a bit of audio, back off at 1335:35* and not noted any later. Atsunori Ishida reported carriers were on the air at earlier hours Sept 9-11, but not yet posted what he heard on Sept 12 or 13: Sep 09 9526 kHz ----- ( Carrier : 0949-1300- ) Sep 10 9526 kHz ----- ( Carrier : 0955-1202 ) Sep 11 9526 kHz ----- ( Carrier : 0955-1000- ) Following all the disruptions the past week to VOI 9526- transmissions, I was fearful that Tuesday`s Exotic Indonesia with RRI Banjarmasin would not air intact on Sept 14. And so it did not: 1252 tune-in, traditional music with audio dropouts; 1302, still with monkey-chatter-music, dropouts; 1303 YL announcement in Japanese running late, 1304 percussion. 1310 still music, Japanese, gamelan; 1315 open carrier with hum. 1329 finally joining in progress (JIP) VOI English with Today in History segment, 1331 we finally hear Mr. Banjarmasin, then Focus segment from Jak about Lebanon and security of Indonesians living there. 1342 pre-produced talk by Banj guy about traditional remedies there, such as smearing the body with cumin to make it yellowish. Still some audio dropouts but they are less frequent and quicker, so problem diminished. *1357:20 CRI 9525.0 het starts but VOI remains atop with music; 1402 canned 3-frequency ID in English refuses to die, Sound of Dignity. 1403 into Indonesian news starting with Afghanistan, but quickly cut modulation. 1414 open carrier still on hetting CRI Russian. 1420 now modulating again with music, 1430 Indonesian talk. And so it goes. Would Exotic Indonesia have been unmarred if I were listening on 95.2 in Banjarmasin to Pro2, or to webcast from Jakarta? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yet: RRI to expand its overseas broadcasts Full story at : http://tinyurl.com/2frla4v (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Sept 13, dxldyg via DXLD) Viz.: STATE RADIO TO BROADCAST PROGRAMS FOR MIGRANT WORKERS The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 09/11/2010 6:04 PM | National To mark its 6th [sic] anniversary, state radio RRI plans to expand its overseas broadcast programs to serve 2.68 million Indonesian migrant workers across Asia and Middle East. The radio’s president director, Parni Hadi, said on Saturday the programs would target migrant workers employed in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan and Middle-East countries. Parni said the radio expected to serve as a bridge between the migrant workers and their families at home. "RRI not only bridges Indonesians in the country but also between Indonesians at home and those living in overseas through a program called "Siaran Kampung Halaman" (Broadcast from home) which will also connect our migrant workers with their families in Indonesia," he said as quoted by Antara news agency. The initial broadcast will reach Indonesian workers in Hong Kong and Malaysia (via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL. TRENDS IN TROPICAL BANDS BROADCASTING 2010 A year ago I did forecast, that there will not be many Domestic broadcasting stations left on the Tropical Bands (120, 90 and 60 mb) in year 2020 and this trend continues. As editor of the Domestic Broadcasting Survey (DBS) my task is, throughout the year until the next publication, to check the bands myself and follow the loggings from our members and other DX-ers around the world. For each frequency on the list, a note is taken of the months when it has been heard. If a station has not been heard by any DX-er during the past 12 months, it is deleted. By this measure, the DBS contains only the active domestic broadcasting stations. With this systematic registration of broadcasting stations on the Tropical Bands each year, it is possible to make some statistics, on how many frequencies were active in each region of the world and compare these numbers. International broadcasters, Clandestine and Pirate stations are not included in these statistics. Domestic Broadcasting Survey 12 You can read about the new DBS-12 at http://www.dswci.org/news/2010/1004/dbs-12.pdf According to DBS-12, published in April 2010 by the DSWCI, 223 frequencies were heard in the frequency range of 2.200 to 5.800 kHz by DX-ers around the world during the past year. That are 12 frequencies less than the previous year. Active domestic transmitters on 2200 – 5800 kHz Region 1973 1985 1997 2010 Central Africa 102 76 40 12 Southern Africa 57 39 33 8 Middle East 9 4 1 0 Indian Subcontinent 62 45 45 30 South East Asia 40 29 21 4 Indonesia 171 105 65 10 China, Taiwan, Mongolia 119 110 75 32 CIS (former USSR) 61 59 47 7 Far East 38 28 28 12 Papua New Guinea 17 20 20 14 Australia and other Pacific 10 4 13 11 Central America, Mexico 21 23 24 3 Caribbean 29 3 3 2 Northwestern South America 98 41 19 3 Ecuador 47 33 22 4 Peru 78 69 78 25 Bolivia 35 42 25 11 Brazil 107 87 67 34 Southern South America 5 2 1 1 Total 1,106 819 627 223 Countries like Brazil, China, India, Peru, Papua New Guinea and Bolivia are still dominating the Tropical Bands. But during the past year Tropical stations have disappeared, especially in Central Africa, Latin America and Indonesia. The reason is that other media got higher priority than keeping an elderly Shortwave (SW) transmitter alive. (Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. Have recently discovered an excellent podcast called 'FrequencyCast' - 'the UK TV & Tech Podcast'. This has been running for some time and is produced monthly by Pete & Carl. Subjects covered in the last few shows include PLT issues, an interview with Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society, a review of an interesting wifi radio, Freeview & Sky news, various technical gadgets, and a round up of radio & TV news. If you haven't already heard this podcast / programme I can recommend you take a listen. It's easy to listen online or download, and all previous podcasts are still available on their very good website. Here's the link... http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/ Hope you enjoy. Regards to all in BDXC & thanks as always for the marvellous Communication magazine - it is much appreciated. Cheers (Jim Salmon 2E0RMI, bdxc-uk yg via DXLD) ** IRAN. 3945, 0000-0010 09.09, VOIRI, Zahedan, Tajik conversation, 55544 AP-DNK 3985, 0005-0015 09.09, VOIRI Kamalabad, Azeri ann and pop songs, QRM Croatia, 53544 (Anker Petersen, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) 15150, Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Sirjan. 1318-1414 September 9, 2010. Good. Arabic programming with man and woman punctuated by Iranian classical music bed brought up louder for a few seconds between items, into Qur`an recital from 1331. Parallel very poor 13800 Zahedan site, which co-channel someone with Spanish Jesus talk [WYFR]. Maybe still VoIRI the one, someone in Arabic at 1546 spot check (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. 7460, MOLDOVA, Payem e-Doost, 0303-0315* Sep 10, man with talk in listed Farsi language. Music fanfare at 0307 followed by a woman announcer and vocals. The woman returned with talk alternating with instrumental music until the music was terminated. Fair to good. (Rich D'Angelo, Wyomissing PA 19610, Ten-Tec RX-340, Drake R-8B, Eton E1, Eton E5, Alpha Delta DX Sloper, RF Systems Mini-Windom, Datong FL3, JPS ANC-4, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Bahai station (gh) ** IRELAND. Utility QSL: Shannon Aeradio volmet, 5055, f/d brochure and 'with compliments card in 2 weeks for report to qsl @ iaa.ie 73, (Brandon Jordan, Memphis TN, Sept 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND [non]. WRN Broadcast is once again helping RTÉ to provide worldwide coverage of the GAA All Ireland Finals on the 5th and 19th September. WRN is providing RTÉ with special transmissions on shortwave radio in Africa, where many Irish people live and work, often in relative isolation with poor communications. You can tune into these broadcasts on the following frequencies: To South Africa: 1300-1700 UT on 7265 To East Africa: 1300-1500 UT on 15400, 1500-1700 on 11695 To West Africa: 1430-1500 UT on 15445, 1500-1630 on 11805 kHz In addition to this, RTÉ Radio will be providing extensive coverage around the world. For further information on where you can access this visit http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/championship/thechampionship.html WRN Broadcast has a long history with the Irish state broadcaster and has been transmitting RTÉ around the world since 1994. For more information on WRN's shortwave services, please contact sales @ wrnbroadcast.com (re:wired >News from WRN Broadcast> September 2010 via Fleur Nittolo, WRN, Sept 9, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) ** ISRAEL. 6973, Galei Tzahal (meaning The Waves of Defence), Lod, Tel Aviv, 1927-2055, Aug 14 and 22, interview in Hebrew followed by US blues songs, 34343 (Graham Bell, Cape Town, South Africa, and Bernard Mille, Bailleul, France, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) ** JAPAN [non]. Printed and e-mail QSL’s from Japan SW Club We will start issuing e-mail QSL for the JSWC edited programs in Wavescan and DX Partyline. Our e-mail address for your report is jswcqsl @ live.jp The QSL card issued by the e-mail is the same design as the printed QSL. We continue to issue the printed QSL by the same system as before. Your report should be addressed to: JSWC, P. O. Box 44, Kamakura, Postal Code 248-8691, JAPAN. 1 IRC or 2 US dollars for return postage will be appreciated (Toshimichi Ohtake/JSWC, Kamakura, Japan, Aug 31, DSWCI DX Window Sept 8 via DXLD) ** JORDAN. 11960, Radio Amman from Al Karanah site in Arabic noted on air this morning Sept 13 when turning-on my Eton E1 set at 0405 UT, signal S=6-8 deep fluttery, at still local dark in Germany. At 0420 UT increased reception, signal up to S=9+20dB. Short break in transmission, feed-off at 0430:45 UT midst in sentence, tx off from 0431:20 to 0432:20 UT. 50 minutes morning news program til 0449:30 UT. International politics report by female and male announcer, as well as phone interviews and orchestra jingles in between. Politics with Hillary Clinton on Sharm El-Sheikh. 0445-0447 UT International sports report, European soccer leagues results, Tennis tournament New York report. 0450 UT start modern Arabic music til 0452:22 UT, when TX at Al Karanah site switched off midst on music broadcast. Jordan Radio Amman 11960 kHz came not back on air again, when checked between 0452 and 0515 UT. Jordan on shortwave is not regular anymore at scheduled 0500-0715 UT. Rather noted - irregularly not every day - at 0400-0500 UT slot (Wolfgang Büschel, Sept 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Há alguns anos eu venho tentando um QSL da Jordânia, que sempre chegava bem aqui em SC, mas essa emissora é dureza! Forte 73 (Fabricio Andrade Silva, PP5002SWL, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** KASHMIR. AIR Leh 4760 noted off air on 9th Sept, back on air today 10th Sept. Here's a related news report (link not working) : Radio Kashmir's frequency continues to disrupt on second day http://www.risingkashmir.com/news/radio-kashmir%E2%80%99s-frequency-continues-to-disrupt-on-second-day-1278.aspx Press reports indicate the administrative and programme staff of AIR Srinagar went on 2-day mass casual leave on 7th & 8th Sept however no disruptions noted on 4950 kHz (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** KASHMIR. Radio Kashmir, Srinagar special Ramzan broadcasts to end: The special broadcasts of Radio Kashmir Srinagar early in the mornings will come to an end this year most probably tomorrow. When I checked early yesterday morning they started at 2240 and signed off at 2320 on 1116 & 4950 kHz. On the first day of their broadcast on 11 Aug 2010 they were noted at 2215 to 2256 UT. They were noted delaying the timings may be to match the prayer timings. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, Sept 8, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 2850, KCBS, Sept 12 at 1222, M&W talk in Korean at S9+15. Also traces of NK on 3320 under the ute beeper; VOK Japanese on 3250 at 1225; 3481 as jamming het under other audio on 3480 at 1223, which Aoki unravels as: 3480 VOICE OF THE PEOPLE, from S to N Korea and 3481 Anti-Imperialist NAT. DEM. FRONT relaying PBS from N to S Korea (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 6135, Sept 9 at 1405, very poor in noise level, talk in Korean or Japanese? With some piano music. Must be Shiokaze/Sea Breeze, as heard daily by Ron Howard in California on its 1400-1430 alternate frequency to 5910. I have not been able to hear it since spring, as 49m is too far into the dayside, and it`s still two hours after local sunrise. In fact, our latest sunrises in Dec-Jan will still be somewhat before 1400, I confidently predict. This transmission from JSR, Yamata, Japan is 100 kW at 290 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN. 3929.68, 0310-0320, CLANDESTINE, 10.09, R Voice of Kurdistan, via Sulaimaniya, No. Iraq. Kurdish talk, jamming from Iran, 33333 AP-DNK 4870.19, 0315-0325, CLANDESTINE, 10.09, Voice of Iranian Kurdistan, via Salah Al-Din, No. Iraq. Kurdish talk, jamming from Iran and CODAR QRM, 32322 (Anker Petersen, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** KUWAIT [and non]. 15540, R. Kuwait, presumed? Just barely audible carrier Sept 13 at 1937, and overwhelmed by much stronger and readable 15535, R. Netherlands, 150 degrees from Wertachtal, GERMANY, reporting on tuna. When Kuwait first appeared with English on 15540, I mused that it would block RN, and so it has, until now. Suspect something`s amiss at Kabd, especially since Greece along the same lines was sufficient on 15630. Also checked Kuwait`s Arabic channel to CNAm, 17550, at 2030 after VOA Bonaire was off, and could not hear it at all. Next day Sept 14 c1935, Kuwait 15540 was a little better, still below RNW 15535 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS. 6130, 10 SEP, 1444 UT, Lao National Radio in Lao with talks by female announcer into several Laotian tunes. Station ID at 2201 after song ended by woman announcer with extremely laid-back voice. Constant S9 signal with no QRM on this night. 73s (Al Muick, Pattaya, Thailand, WinRadio G303e, 10m Longwire/Randomwire, DX LISTENIG DIGEST) Laos also seems to have low-level audio on 7145 (Robin VK7RH Harwood, 20/177 Penquite Road, Norwood, Tasmania 7250, Phone 6103-63 449794, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA. 21695, with African music Sept 13 at 1326, poor but SSOB surpassing Spain 21610; 1328 Swahili talk mixed with music, stronger than // 17725. By 1353, Spain 21610, 21570 and 21540 were all much stronger than weakening 21695. At 1417, 21695 gone and 17725 remained in English with ID Voice of Africa from the Great Jamahiriyah (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 5030, RTM Sarawak presumed, beginning to show again, and looking forward to improved reception in fall and winter; Sept 10 at 1234 with music vs Cuba 5025, then M&W dialog in unknown language, not necessarily Malay (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Even though I do not often report on Sarawak FM on 5030, it is indeed heard by me on a daily basis with fair reception, as per today’s audio. At 00:31 an ID "Sarawak FM" and at 00:34 online http://www.rtmsarawak.gov.my which has live audio streaming (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, ibid.) ** MAURITANIA. 4845, 0310-0315 10.09, R Mauritania, Nouakchott. Arabic conversation at the end of Ramadan, 44444, CODAR QRM (Anker Petersen, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) 7245, R. Mauritanie, Nouakchott, 1800-1829*, 12 Sep'10, French, news bulletin until 1813, lute tunes break prior to a program in an Arabic related language, talks; 55444. The evening outlet, 4845 did not s/on until a few minutes past 1830 (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nothing special except that Mauritania continued to broadcast late after the end of Ramadan! 4845, 0240-0330 12.09, R Mauritanie, Nouakchott, Hassania Arabic, late broadcast after the Ramadan has ended! Conversation, local songs, 0304 Qur'an recitation and phone-in programme and instrumental music. It was off the air 11.09. QRM WWCR 4840 with Glenn Hauser "World of Radio" 44544 (Anker Petersen, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** MEXICO. 590, MÉXICO, XEPH, México DF. 1102-1112 September 9, 2010. Tune-in to choral national anthem, live announcer mentioning, "... la rey [ley?] de México..." and a canned "¡5-90 la Más Caliente!" a couple of times, matching their website, a/k/a "Sabrosita" slogan though not mentioned. 660, XEAR, Tampico, Tamaulipas. 1100-1105 September 10, 2010. Tune-in to choral national anthem, "La Mexicana 6-60" slogan a couple of times, into rancheras. Excellent, with another weak Mexican underneath, with the anthem about a minute behind. 780, XEMTS, Tampico, Tamaulipas. 1107-1114 September 10, 2010. Tentatively the one (seem to recall this one dominates at sunrise peak) and matching the level of 660 XEAR. Nonstop, fast-paced news alternated by man and woman, including Mexican congress actions, time checks for "Centro de México." Another XE with Texican vocals weak underneath from 1111. 920, XELE, Radio Preferida, Tampico, Tamaulipas. 1101-1130 [Sept 11] tune-in to choral national anthem conclusion, "El noticiero en la mañana... Radio Informa..." commercials with lots of sirens and back to news. Several "Preferida" and "Radio Preferida... la favorita... Radio Informa..." mentions. Listed in Fred Cantú's online as "Indomable" (Untameable) slogan. 1500, XEDF, México DF. 1115-1125 September 9, 2010. Spot set with peso pricings, male canned "XEDF A-M, México, Distrito Federal, 50,000 vatios...Grupo Fórmula..." into more commercials. Very good (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Precision measurement of TV carriers as DX ID aid: see RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM ** MONACO [non]. QSL: Trans World Radio, TWR Monte Carlo in English, 9800, signed f/d card by airmail from Vienna, Austria, in 135 days for English report (2 May 2010). Photo of European "oldtown" cityscape. Handwritten apology by Kalman Dobos for delayed response (Bruce Jensen, CA, Sept 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. 4895, 2315-2335 08.09, Mongoliin R, Murun. Mongolian talk, music and famous operetta theme, 33433. Hum on transmitter // 4830 Altay which had low modulation (35431) (Anker Petersen, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** MOROCCO. 171, Médi 1, Nador, was off one evening a few days ago, just \\ 9575 was audible (typically worse than 171 evenings due to skip. Its carrier is simply not as it used to be - it's weaker than usual. An maintenance works going on or simply a decision to step down power? 595 (again!), RTM-"A", Oujda, 2122-2137, 08 Sep'10, discussion about what I think was the Ramadan, phone-ins, chanting; 53443, QRM mainly de adjacent channels, not PORTUGAL 594 whose QRM was dealt with by the phaser and the K9AY antenna (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 10-36: After few days out, today I'm back at home, noted Nador today on normal schedule. Sept 10th 1320 UT, 15341.14 odd kHz RTM program, terrible het by HCA KNX from Australia in [supposedly] Punjabi S=9+25dB strong signal from downunder. 9575.00, R Medi One, Nador as usual. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And re Medi #1 - yes, it was back on air the following day on 9575 and 15340 too, and audible all week. Maybe they have a maintenance day? 73 from (Noel Green, UK, Sept 11, ibid.) ** MYANMAR. 5915, Myanma Radio. September 10. They have not returned to 5920 again; still here mixing with CRI and unidentified station. Heard before 1330 playing music and after that non-stop educational lectures. 5985.83, Myanma R., 1436-1501, September 10. In vernacular with indigenous music; mostly fair. For most of the summer this has been very poor, so is nice to find the improved reception (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR [and non]. See U K. Possible cuts in BBC Burmese ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES [non!]. NETHERLANDS ANTILLES WILL BREAK-UP (It's Official - Dutch Antilles sign declaration reforming their status). "Radio Netherlands Worldwide" reports: "Delegations from the Dutch Antilles signed a declaration today (September 9th) in 'The Hague' today reforming the status of these five former Dutch island colonies in the Caribbean. As of 10 October 2010, the Dutch Antilles will cease to exist as a country. Curacao and St. Maarten will become separate countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, while Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius will become special Dutch municipalities. Aruba already had a separate status. The ceremony was attended by Prince Willem-Alexander and Deputy Kingdom Relations Minister Ank Bijleveld and caretaker Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende. The prime minister called the declaration 'a new chapter'. The intensive process which has taken five years is supposed to give the larger islands more autonomy." From the RNW Web page at: http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/dutch-antilles-sign-declaration-reforming-their-status So What Does This Mean For DXers? Just another step closer for new DXCC entities. Now that it is official that the Netherlands Antilles will be dissolving, "maybe" we will hear something from the DXCC desk before the date October 10th. Remember, to be added to the "DXCC List" as a "Political Entity", it must meet one or more of the following criteria: A) The entity is a UN Member State. B) The entity has been assigned a ITU callsign prefix block. C) The entity must be listed on either the "U.S. Department of State" or the United Nation's list of "non self-governing territories. " As we have seen in the past, it is not a new one until the DXCC says so.... PC75, THE NETHERLANDS (WFF Op). Fred, PA0FAW, will be active as PC75HV from the "Hoge Veluwe" National Park (FF-PA-005) between October 1- 28th. Activity will be on mostly CW and the Digital modes but with some SSB. QSL via PA0FAW, direct, by the Bureau or e-QSL (SWLs are OK). Fred is an ISWL Member, so if worked or heard, can be counted for the ISWL Monitor Award. PJ2, NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. Geoff, W0CG, will be active once again as PJ2DX from the PJ2T Signal Point Station on Curacao (SA-006, WLOTA LH-0942) between now and September 23rd. Activity will be on all HF bands. QSL via W0CG direct or via N9AG for a Bureau QSL. PJ2, NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. Operators Rich/K3RWN, Larry/AB3ER, Steve/KB3EYY, Bob/KG3F and Bob/K3RMB will activate PJ2S during the CQWW DX RTTY Contest (September 25-26th). Operations will take place from the PJ2T Signal Point Station on Curacao (SA-006, WLOTA LH-0942). QSL via K3MJW or LoTW. PJ6, NETHERLANDS ANTILLES (Update). Two teams, comprised mostly of members of the Southeastern DX Club (SEDXC), will operate from the Island of Saba (NA-145, Grid Square is FK87) over a two week period beginning October 9th and ceasing operations on October 22nd. The operators mentioned are: Week 1 (October 9-15th): Dave/K4SSU, Bob/K4UEE, Ralph/K0IR, Don/N4HH, Bill/N4NX, Steve/VE7CT, Chaz/W4GKF, and Gregg/W6IZT Week 2 (October 16-22nd): Bob/K4UEE, Tim/K5AC, Wey/K8EAB, Wayne/KU4V, Hal/N4GG, Gordon/N4LR, Steve/VE7CT and Ralph/VE7XF The frequencies for this operation is not published yet. The reason given: "Since there will be several DXpedition operations on the air from the area, we expect that all will coordinate before the fact to minimize interference. We expect to publish our frequencies before we are QRV." QSL info is as follows: They intend to upload logs frequently from the island directly to LoTW. If you want a QSL card, they are available three ways: * OQRS DIRECT * OQRS BUREAU * DIRECT MAIL WITH 44¢ SASE/$$$/IRC( S) -- But please, use only ONE of the ways to save us a lot of extra work. Should you choose to QSL directly to N4NX via direct mail, send your QSO information and SASE to: Saba DXpedition 2010, Bill N4NX, 355 Westerhall Court, Atlanta GA 30328-1233 For more info/details and updates, please visit the "Activiating Saba 2010" Web page at: http://www.saba2010.com PJ7, ST. MAARTEN (Update). Operators Joe/W8GEX and Craig/K9CT the co- leaders for the upcoming St. Maarten DXpedition (NA-105) are pleased to announce that they have been granted permission to use PJ7E for their 10 day operation scheduled to begin on October 10th. All indications are that St. Maarten will become a "New One." The team is looking forward to working everyone. Plans for the operation are going just fine. Their container with all the equipment will be leaving port soon (Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 976, September 13, 2010, Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW, Provided by BARF80.ORG (Cleveland, Ohio), via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** NICARAGUA. 540.118, Radio Corporación, Managua. 1054-1100 September 6, 2010. "Corporación... de la agría..." by man, into Spanish tenor vocal. Always makes a big het on 540 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA [and non]. 6089.86, FRCN, Kaduna. 2206-2213 September 11, 2010. Very good, albeit briefly, with exited male speaker in presumed Hausa, alternating with short (one or two lines) of Qur'an readings. Hummy audio and crappy remote audio feed, just what one would expect from anything Nigerian. Sadly, big open carrier up at 2111, into Mrs. Gene Scott mid-sentence rattling about from 2212 on 6090 (University Network, Anguilla). Still audible via LSB, but poor, thanks to the lady and her transmitter. (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. Re 10-36: "History. 7275 ended approx. 12 Feb 2008, according Carlos Gonçalves in Portugal 12 Feb 2008 log." As a matter of fact, my Feb'08 log is: 7275.0 1121-1250 NIG 09/2 R. Nigeria, Abuja. E, tks,..., mx. Barely audible at 1300. 15431 CG and a brief check on the following months revealed no further observations on 7275 till this day. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7275, negative - not even a carrier traced from Abuja on Sept 7th ... 11th in 0635 to 0714 UT slot. RTT Sfax noted here around 0622-0628 UT, much stronger than \\ 7335 kHz to WeAF (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) So 7275 reactivation short- lived (gh) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6925-USB, USA (PIRATE), [W]RRI Radio Random International. 0112-0139* September 12, 2010. AC/DC, Genesis, Wings, Guns 'N Roses, Norman Greenbaum, etc. Male ID's as "This is Radio RRI Radio Random International" and final "WRRI" ID. Excellent. Signal about the same for Gerry Bishop in Niceville, FL, who I tipped off during email exchanges (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6925, PIRATE (No. Am.), Radio Random International, 9/12/2010, 0109, Murray Head "One Night in Bangkok", ID "This is WRRI, Radio Random International, now at radiorandominternational.com" mixed with goofy rendition of Stars & Stripes Forever, AC/DC "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap", faded into the mud by 0113 (Ralph Brandi, Middletown NJ, QS1R, T2FD, 300-foot mini-Beverage, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. PIRATE RADIO, WBNY, QSL "Microphone" card, QSL business card, T-shirt, fridge magnets, 1 million dollar bill, WBNY mouse pad, Commander Bunny for President sticker and personal note from Commander Bunny, WBNY, POB 1, Belfast, NY 14711 (Brandon Jordan, Memphis TN, Sept 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. The GCN pirate is back on the air in Enid, 99.9 MHz, not heard for a couple of sesquimonths (tho it could have been on sporadically, unnoticed). On caradio in central Enid, Sept 9 at 1920 UT, rightwing wacko Alex Jones; only national ads for gold, tasty MREs, etc. Reception somewhat spotty but about the same as before. Site seems still to be the location we found on the south-central edge of Enid, as when we drove to the north side of Enid, it was losing out to KTCS 99.9 in Fort Smith AR, IDed, 192 miles away. On the west end of Enid, GCN was a little better with less problem from KTCS. Around 2130 UT, a woman talkhost was on, presumably the glamorized Katherine Albrecht http://www.katherinealbrecht.com/ as on the schedule and also heard previously. Her guest now was Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war activist who lost a son to George W. Bush, and is not any happier with Barack H. Obama. She hasn`t been much in the news lately, and appearing here indicates a more moderate if not leftward orientation to the K.A. show, but I haven`t listened to her long enough to tell exactly where she`s coming from. It seems that Cindy also has her own Soapbox radio show, mentioned at http://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com/ but nothing obvious about when and where to hear it ``online and on the air``, without plowing thru Facebook. O, wiki has another link to it: http://www.cindysheehanssoapbox.com/ It`s a weekly show, but suspect it`s mainly online; we await any broadcast affiliate info. 99.9, Genesis Communications Network pirate in Enid, back on the air Sept 9, was gone again Sept 10 afternoon chex around 1900 and later. So, you never know with this one. While I was at it: 104.7 KEIF-LP Enid still on the air despite FCC myriabuck fine and talk it would have to close; another rumor says they have already moved transmitter site off the too-high building: but even if now in compliance heightwise, you don`t just do that without permission from FCC. Signal as strong as ever at local range. 1120 KEOR on the air Sept 10, and 1580 KOKB was modulating, but back to open carrier around 1620 Sept 11, so probably was again for the 1300-1500 Spanish Saturday sports service of KHGG, which I no longer need to monitor. Emmanuel Christian School, Enid has finally resumed part 15 FM 97.7 loops by kids for fall session, as ``WECS``. Within a few blox where I could hear it on Sept 13 around 1856 UT, still playing last week`s, dated Sept 6-10, with usual format, two very young kids IDing themselves, birthday greetings to a few others, Bible quotation, historical note, words in their mouths as I seriously doubt they researched all this themselves. 99.9, GCN pirate in Enid again on air with Alex North [sic]. [I believe your pirate on 99.9 with GCN is streaming Alex Jones, not Alex North. I could be wrong; I can't get that signal here in Edmond. --- Eric Reed] You`re right: got my Alexes {Alices?} upmixed; see previous log above (gh) 104.7, KEIF-LP The Rocket, Enid, sanxioned but still on air with rock. 1120, KEOR Sperry on the air weakly. A thread discussing what`s happening with this and KJMU 1340 is at: http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=9f98590fccd40a194615b3a00e719c25&topic=174536.0 or via [reproduced below: http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?board=224.0 1580, KOKB Blackwell, modulating on a Monday. One anomaly, however: no signal on 1500 where we can normally barely hear KPGM Pawhuska/Bartlesville, 500 watt daytimer. To be rechecked. And so we did at 1534 Sept 14: still absent (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. [Re KJMU 1340 Sand Springs] I'm hearing "Hot 1340 The Groove" now exclusively on "Hot 1120 The Groove". The IDs for 1340 are gone, and the 1340 transmitter appears to be turned OFF. Anybody know what happened to 1340? I don't think that transmitter's gone dark for decades (Nightaire, Aug 26, radio-info.com OK board via DXLD) A month or so ago, it was the other way around. 1120 was off the air and 1340 was airing IDs for both stations (Les Stock, ibid.) The electric meter is still in the can but it is not turning at all; the main breaker must be off. It appears that James Hardman has left the place. Actually [1340] was dark when James Hardman leased the station in April 2008 (Tower Lights, Aug 31, ibid. Really? Wow. Had no idea. So now it sits there unless somebody comes up with the money to buy or LMA it? Does he just have to notify the FCC every 30 days that he's dark to avoid having to turn in the license? I've always wondered what the signal could do with a cranked-up Optimod or Omnia. The signal was always so gently processed that I assumed they were still only using a CRL final limiter on the signal, as they were back in the mid 90s. The coverage was there, but the noise floor was just way too high on the fringe. ADDITIONALLY: Here's an FCC action against the listed owner of KJMU-AM 1340, Sand Springs from earlier this year OOPS. Quote ...As described in greater detail below, we conclude under this procedure that Birach is apparently liable for a forfeiture in the amount of $15,000 for its apparent willful and repeated violation of Section 310(d) of the Act by transferring de facto control of Station WMFN(AM) to a time broker without prior Commission approval, and of Section 73.1125 of the Commission's rules by failing to maintain a meaningful presence at the Station's main studio.... http://www.fcc.gov/eb/Orders/2010/DA-10-455A1.html (Night Aire, ibid.) That's not good, according to the FCC's website KEOR 1120 is only a daytimer, right? and KJMU 1340 is a 24 hour signal even though it doesn't cover all of Tulsa very well especially at night where you can't get it on the south side of the city. Maybe Hardman can get a translator with a fair to decent signal over Tulsa simulcast on that (X-Man, ibid.) If it is going to be dark then Birach needs to obtain an STA to be licensed but silent. As for the fine at WFMN he could possibly have had the same fine at Sand Springs if the station had been inspected. Birach was doing exactly the same thing, just was not caught in the act by the FCC. The station has an Omnia 3 but audio is not the problem. The ground system has serious problems on the east side of the tower; for the most part it is not there. As the area became developed, the radials were cut and the new owners of the property where the tower sits and to the east could care less about and did not understand the importance of the ground radials. A bad ground system plus being on 1340 equals bad coverage in the noise of Tulsa. In the past when the rain had saturated the ground at the tower you could receive a decent signal on a car radio in Muskogee but more radials have been cut since that time (Tower Lights, Sept. 1, ibid.) I hate to see any station go dark. A compromised ground system will hurt any AM. I had always assumed a poor ground system was why the folded unipole was hung on the 1340 tower in the first place. With the unipole, the AM tower is grounded and fed through wire skirts hanging down the side of the tower. First one I saw was on the old KNOR in Norman. At the time, it was touted as a method for dealing with a poor ground system. But, not true. You can't cheat mother nature in that fashion. With the typical vertical radiator, the ground system has to be there or you will see a reduction in the radiated signal. The 1340 in Sand Springs is unusual in that its day power is lower than its night power. All of these class C [sic] channels (some call them graveyard channels) are spaced under the assumption that they're running 250 watts daytime. So when they all operate at full power, the signals overlap. No consideration is given to nighttime skywave. It's kind of a Mutually Assured Destruction allocation scheme. The 1340 in OKC is an old station, on a tall, very efficient tower, and as a result its 250 watt daytime footprint is much larger than normal. I always assumed it to be the reason that 1340 SS had an upside down power authorization, 450 watts daytime and 900 nighttime. Some older-timer might be around who could explain the history of the Sand Springs 1340. I recall that its original tower site was on top of a building in downtown Sand Springs. The ground straps from the tower ran down the side of the building. Could be that the original station was so inefficient that when it was moved it was locked into to what it had. In any event, it's not much (stacker, Sept 1, ibid.) I worked at KTOW from April 1968 to the end of December 1968. KTOW was in a building in downtown Sand Springs, and yes the tower was mounted on the second floor roof. The transmitter faced the control room. And yes, the ground straps, such as they were, ran down the side of the building. 1340 was a Class 4 AM station. Class 4's or "Local Class" stations ran 1000 watts daytime, and 250 watts at night with non- directional antennas. KTOW signal covered most of Tulsa in the daytime, and barely got out of Sand Springs at night. At the time, they were the only country station in Tulsa, so even with the terrible signal had good ratings. Until 1962 or 1963, they could only run 250 watts day and night, but then the FCC allowed them to a kilowatt daytime. I used to drive to Oklahoma City frequently and would leave the car radio on 1340. Around Stroud, KTOW and KOCY would interfere with each other, but only for a few miles, then one would over run the other depending on whether I was go to OKC or coming back to Tulsa. At about the same that the FCC permitted the power increase, they also implemented the Third Class Radio-Telephone license as a requirement to operate non-directional stations. When I went to Dallas in September 1964 to take the third phone test, there were a number of older guys taking the test to keep their jobs. They were really sweating bullets over having to pass the test. Buddy Powell owned KTOW at the time; he was great to work for. Dean Jenkins (Kelly) was the PD and I was the news director. I replaced Bob Losure when he left to do news at KAKC. I didn't explain, the FCC rule change applied to all Class 4 stations, not just KTOW or KOCY. There were (are) four [sic] AM frequencies designated as Class 4 Local. There were (maybe still are) thousands of AM stations assigned to those four frequencies. Another ground story. In 1976 Ed Montray left Swanson Broadcasting where he'd the vice president of the FM division, to buy KTMC in McAlester. KTMC is a Class 4 AM on 1400. He persuaded me to leave KRMG and move down there to as Sales Manager. A year so after we'd moved there he leased 20 acres or so where the station was located to a farmer who was going to plant corn or wheat or something. One day, I had to go over to Hartshorne to make a sales call. Driving back, the signal dropped out. When I got back to the station, I found that the farmer had plowed up the ground, and came into the station to tell Ed that he found hundred of little pieces of copper wire where he'd been plowing. Ed didn't know what a ground system was, but learned that day that the ground system is as important as the antenna. He ordered a big spool of copper wire, and two weeks later invited all the Swanson GM's and Ken Greenwood to spend the weekend in McAlester. On that Saturday morning, there they were all out behind the station, shovels in hand, replanting the KTMC ground system. Ed Montrey looked like Tom Sawyer getting his friends to paint the fence, or in this case plant the ground system (michaeldean, Sept 2, ibid.) Apparently, Hardman did the same thing at 1560 WMBH in Joplin (Les Stock, Sept 2, ibid.) Wasn't KTOW owned by Roy Clark at some point? (Stan, ibid.) Update: Friday morning, KEOR is silent. KJMU is broadcasting en español. BTW, there are six Class IV local channels: 1230, 1240, 1340, 1400, 1450, and 1490 (Les Stock, Sept 3, ibid.) Well, as of 6:30 p. Friday, KEOR has re-emerged with the apparent former 1340 format. 1340 still in Spanish. Low modulation on both stations. Little or no processing (stacker, Sept 3, ibid.) That's why I about fell over when it was claimed earlier in this thread that 1340 had an Omnia-3am. Really??? Did anybody bother to plug it in and put it in the chain? Did somebody hit the "bypass" switch on it? It was always SO dry that it sounded not like an "open" AM, it sounded like a tape not recorded in Dolby, being played back with the Dolby switched on. What city of license is 1120 assigned to? What city are they tying with their calls? Thought I heard the wrong city. Maybe not. Also, should they still be on after 7:30 at night? (NightAire, ibid.) It's 10:10 and KEOR is still on, with KMOX trying to bust through. I heard them identify as Sperry/Tulsa. WTF? (stacker, ibid.) KEOR is one of two daytimers licensed to Catoosa. They transmit from 106th North and Peoria, near Sperry (Les Stock, ibid.) This may answer your questions - or maybe not. It lists different operating parameters for day and night operation. http://cdbs.recnet.com/fmq.php?call=keor (stan, Sept 5, ibid.) ** OKLAHOMA. Legal Notices --- Published in the Enid News & Eagle, September 10, 11, 17, 18, 2010 (1034) ON TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 7, 2010 WAUKOMIS BAPTIST CHURN [sic] INC SUBMITTED AN APPLICATION OF CONSENT TO ASSIGNMENT OF A CP IN GOLTRY, OK KWGT CHANNEL 213 90.5 FM TO BE ASSIGNED TO THE LOVE STATION INC. OFFICERS OF WAUKOMIS BAPTIST CHURCH INC ARE DANNY MARNEY & TAMMY TREANOR. OFFICERS OF THE LOVE STATION INC ARE DOYLE BREWER, STEVE AVAMPATO, LARRY EAST, CLEVE POWELL & NANCY BREWER. A COPY OF THE APPLICATION, ANY AMENDMENTS AND RELATED MATERIALS WILL BE ON FILE FOR PUBLIC INSPECTION AT THE WAUKOMIS BAPTIST CHURCH IN WAUKOMIS, OK (after seeing in print, found by searching on KWGT at http://oklahoma.arcasearch.com/okc/ via DXLD) ! Just what we need, yet another relay of KLVV 88.7 which has a perfectly good signal in this area already. ``Churn``, indeed! Waukomis Baptist got this CP and now have probably sold it at a considerable profit; did they ever really plan to set up their own radio station? BTW, the city of license is Goltry, NW of Enid, not Waukomis, S of Enid. And the transmitter site per http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=FM1273429.html is even further away at Jet, just south of Great Salt Plains; 35 kW, and its prime coverage area does not even reach Waukomis! Now it will not matter. And it will block other 90.5 stations such as KNYD Oasis Net from Tulsa, but it has plenty of relays too. Here`s the FCC info about this: http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_det.pl?Application_id=1396553 leading to: http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/comment.pl?Application_id=1396553&File_number=BAPED-20100826AFE (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 10 days after its termination on RF9, KWTV transmitter is still on and running the NO PROGRAMMING slide described previously, Sept 10 at 0324 UT, silent audio. I have asked KWTV how much longer they will be wasting watts on this, and also suggested that once this is decided, they should give us a couple of more virtual channels on RF39, like sister station KOTV-45 Tulsa, e.g. no-cost CLASSIC ARTS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Still on RF9 Sept 14 (gh) ** OKLAHOMA. KFOR-27, OKC on newscasts has been mentioning that starting Sept 13, they are upgrading transmitters in NW OK: Alva, Woodward, Seiling and Gage. No, it`s transformers they are upgrading, per: http://www.kfor.com/about/transformerupgrade/ No, it really must be translators! Just getting around to converting some of them from analog to digital, each to be off the air for a day or a few days. Any details of channels? Of course not! Website says also doing the same for substation KAUT-40. What is really happening? Checking the OK page of W9WI.com http://www.w9wi.com/states/OK.html we find not a single translator listed relaying KAUT! For KFOR: Alva & Cherokee: two each at the same coordinates, aiming different direxions? CP DTV: K22ID-D and K28JX-D; old LIC: K56FK, K58FM Plus: Cherokee & Alva: K20JD-D, ex K60ER Gage: none listed for KFOR; maybe licensed to May, north of there? K22BR licensed and same CP for digital; also CP for K25JQ-D Seiling: K47LB-D, ex-K53CI Woodward: none listed for KFOR; apparently nearby COL Mooreland: K33JM-D, ex K61CW I`m not going to spend time tracing ownerships, but translator groups in a single town are often all co-owned locally or by translator specialists, rather than individually by each station they carry, so would not be surprised if same upgrades are going on for other OKC stations` translators in the same towns. The new DTV ones are 500 watts (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3275, Radio Southern Highlands (Mendi), 1101- 1120, 9/11/2010, Tok Pisin. PNG pop music and talk by man. Threshold level signal until a couple of minutes of peak strength at 1116-1118. 3290, Radio Central (Port Moresby), 1042-1104, 9/11/2010, Tok Pisin. Talk by man. PNG pop music at 1046, alternating with short talk segments. Threshold level signal with good increase 1059-1104. 3365, Radio Milne Bay (Alotau), 1040-1050, 9/11/2010, Tok Pisin. Talk by man and PNG pop music occasionally peaking above the noise. Very marginal, threshold level signal with a few good peaks at 1049 and 1050. Other PNG stations heard today on 3385, 3275, and 3290. 3385, Radio East New Britain (Rabaul), 1045-1102, 9/11/2010, Tok Pisin. PNG pop music with talk by man. Poor but steady signal. As usual, the best of the PNGs heard this morning (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, IC-R75, RX-340, Random Wire (90'), ALA100M Loop (20'), WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3365, Sept 13 at 1248 poor with music; only audible signal on band besides WWRB 3185, tho carriers detectable on 3290, 3315; not 3385 of course, off earlier. 3365 is R. Milne Bay, Alotau. 3385, R. East New Britain, Rabaul, Sept 12 at 1225 talk in English, or Tok Pisin, poor signal, cut off abruptly at 1226* as Ron Howard has been observing. Must be on clock timer, and who cares about the SW audience? How rude (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3915, Radio Fly, 1352-1503, September 9. EZL pop songs (“I’ll Be There”, etc.), C&W and rock & roll songs; announcer sounded Australian; for most of the time I could clearly hear // 5960; both about equal strength (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PNG Radio Fly info --- A few days ago I sent a reception report to Radio Fly PNG 3915. I received a confirmation e-mail from R Fly team and in the later contacts I was told that both SW transmitters are located at Kiunga and running 1 kW at the moment. The team is preparing a (printed I suppose) QSL to be posted in due time. The 1 kW tx is putting out nice signals to Finland on 3915 every now and then (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Sept 10, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Earlier there were reports that 3915 and 5960 were at two different sites. Maybe two different coverage areas? (gh, DXLD) ** PERU. 5921.29, PERÚ Radio Bethel, Arequipa. 1019-1024 September 10, 2010. Presumed the one with young-sounding Spanish female announcer in faced-paced talk, sometimes briefly joined by man. Clear and fair (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU [and non]. 6019.3, R. Victoria seems missing again after reappearing Sept 8. On Sept 9 at 0558, I barely tune 6020 in time, but don`t think it was hetting CRI; and after Sackville QRT, could not detect it on cleared channel. 6020, CRI Sackville, Sept 10 at 0502 hetless, so R. Victoria 6019.3 is gone again after a one-night appearance Sept 8. 6019.3, R. Victoria on again, off again: Sept 11 at 0532, CRI via Sackville 6020.0 has its tell-tale het (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6019.26, Radio Victoria, 0953-1005 Sept 11, Noted a male in Spanish language at tune in. Immediately, he stops and music is presented. At 0958 canned promos heard. After the hour live Spanish comments from a female. Signal was at a fair level, but adjacent signals influenced its readability (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, WR G305e/pd, 26.37N 081.05W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6019.3, R. Victoria on again with het to CRI Sackville 6020.0 at 0527 Sept 12 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6019.26, Radio Victoria, 0953-1005 Sept 12, Noted a male, David Miranda, the preacher in his usual sermon type comments. At 0959, canned ID by a different person. Heard some words like "Kilohertz" but not all. After the canned ID, Miranda returns to his sermon. Signal was poor with a Het causing interference (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, 26.37N 081.05W, NRD545 & WINRADIO G305e/pd, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6019.3, R. Victoria het on CRIEnglish via Sackville 6020.0, Sept 13 at 0547 interfering with Osman. Henceforth, we`ll assume this is the case and not report it until missing again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 6173.8, R Tawantinsuyo, Cusco, 0101, Aug 28, high-spirited talk in Spanish, then discussion, fair. (Bell, Cape Town, South Africa, DSWCI DX Window Sept 8 via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. 15285, R. Pilipinas, *0200-0329*, September 10. Fair to almost good reception in English; “Dateline Malacañang" (massive coverage of issues dealing with the botched hostage rescue of a tourist bus last month in which 8 Hong Kong tourists died); "Mindanao Update"; “P-B-S News” (again items about the botched hostage rescue last month); “Philippines Trivia”; “The Philippines Today”; “Today in Philippines History”; EZL pop songs; numerous IDs; National Anthem (Lupang Hinirang) before going off. This certainly is one of the better stations for presenting local features. Unlike the Voice of Indonesia, which also carries local items, the audio here is consistently good (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND. A free LW channel --- LW transmitter Bydgoszcz - Solec Kujawski 225 kHz is off the air for maintenance September 13-26 (Karel Honzik, CZECHIA, Sept 13, HCDX via DXLD) Nothing else in Europe on 225, but Siberia (gh, DXLD) ** POLAND [non]. Polskie radio in Hebrew [Re 10-36, would 7265 work?] As David has no internet access --- B-09 and B-10 1900-1930 UT PR Hebrew via Rampisham 500 kW 110 degrees, but also REE co-channel registered via Noblejas 250 kW in Arabic and Spanish at 170 degrees. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PRIDNESTROVYE [and non]. 9665, MOLDOVA, Voice of Russia with OC from 2257 on Sep 8 then IS and "This is Moscow. You are tuned to the Voice of Russia" ID at 2300 - seems to be 2300 - 0000 and 0000 - 0200 on weekends. 9665, MOLDOVA-PRIDNESTROVIE, Radio PMR at 0000 on Sep 9 with a man with "This is Tiraspol, capital of the Pridnestrovie Moldavian Republic" ID then news. I wonder if someone was asleep at the switch earlier this week at Grigoriopol and forgot that Radio PMR came on at midnight UT rather than Voice of Russia. – (Mark Coady, NASWA & ODXA ygs via DXLD) Or a power struggle among the faxions. Joe Hanlon, NJ, had PMR on 6240 last night 00-02, when VOR was still in English on 9665. UT Sept 9 at 0024 I find French from PMR on 9665, and 6240 now in Russian, not sure which service. VOR English is on 5900 ex-9890 at 22-02; audible here at 0030 but rather poor, while PMR on 9665 had gone into English. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) A re-check at 0057 Sept 9 showed the Voice of Russia on this frequency so maybe Radio PMR simply goes through the language rotation (English, French, German) only once these days. More monitoring is required. (Mark Coady, ibid.) ** PRIDNESTROVYE [and non]. See RUSSIA. I also heard VOR on 9665 from 2356+ Sept 9. Would someone happen to have a QSL address for PMR? Thanks and 73, (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I sent an email report to PMR to: radiopmr @ inbox.ru and a day or two after I got it verified by email. PS: This night at 00 UT I also heard Russia in English on 9665. Good Luck, (Erik Koie, Copenhagen, UT Sept 10, ibid.) The interesting story is that both 6240 and 9665 are on air simultaneously, since they used to be winter/summer alternatives. Is 7285 still on air with Russian, too? If yes the Grigoriopol site has at night (in Europe) now three transmitters on air, all aiming at North and Central America, something they have not done in more than 15 years I think. Now the question is what will become of 9665 after the end of October. As a winter frequency it should really be too high, but do they have three antennas with this azimuth for 49/41 metres? They have a rotatable antenna, an apparent high/low pair of dipole walls and a set of curtains, and it is possible that some antennas have been restored to working condition only recently (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also RUSSIA Quick check for Radio PMR found it back on air UT Monday Sept 13 at 0025 on 6240 in French, after weekend break; while VOR in English occupied 9665 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Listened this Tuesday morning (via automatic recording) and noted: PMR was on 6240 in English; V of Russia was on 9665 in English. 73, (Erik Koie, Copenhagen, Sept 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. The National Radiocommunications Company (Radiocom) is offering to sell shortwave airtime from its transmitter sites in Tiganeshti and Saftica. Two Continental transmitters – one 100 kilowatt and one 300 kilowatt – can broadcast in both analogue and DRM. Twelve Russian horizontal dipole antennas and a TCI rotatable log periodic antenna offer a number of different azimuths (Shortwave Station News from the HFCC/ASBU B10 Conference, via Jeff White, Sept NASB Newsletter via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. QSL: Radio Romania International, 7335, f/d 'The Fortified Church of Valea Viilor" card card in 2 weeks for report to eng @ rri.ro (Brandon Jordan, Memphis TN, Sept 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [and non]. QSLs: PRIDNESTROVIE. Radio Pridnestrovie, 9665, f/d word document e-QSL in 1 day, v/s Anatoly Kirsa for report to adiopmr @ inbox.ru Voice of Russia via Krasnodor, 9665, f/d Luzkhkov Bridge card with site in 3 weeks for report to world @ ruvr.ru Voice of Russia via Krasnodor, 9890, f/d Luzkhkov Bridge card with site in 2 weeks for report to world @ ruvr.ru UKRAINE. Voice of Russia via Lvov, 7440, f/d State Tretyakov Gallery card with site in 3 weeks for report to world @ ruvr.ru (Brandon Jordan, Memphis TN, Sept 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. A sure sign of the imminent equinox: 5930, motorboating Petropavlovsk/Kamchatskiy transmitter with unstable carrier audible already at 0559 UT Sept 9; aided by unusually weak WWCR DGS 5935, as ``the skip was long``, likewise BS on 5890. We normally hear 5930 until 1300*. Amused myself by clocking 5+1 timesignal to 0600 which ended 5 seconds late compared to WWV. It seems the Russians are not that concerned about accuracy, but timesignal pips imply precision! Otherwise they might as well give a verbal timecheck somewhere around the top of the hour. Then ID in Russian, as information program from R. Rossii. 5930, R. Rossii, Pet/Kam, Sept 10 at 1242 Russian announcement, into familiar music by great Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, the piece evoking for me Arctic vastness, the dim sun struggling to broach the horizon and then fading out; but am not sure of the title. 1251 outro announcement mentioning Pärt, who is currently being celebrated in Estonia. The 5930 transmitter still has hum/motorboating, and with BFO on can tell it is as usual unstable; // 5940 from Magadan weaker but unburdened by such problems. When talk resumed I could tell that 5940 was running a word ahead of 5930 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [and non]. Voice of Russia and Radio PMR keep juggling their schedules, in a power struggle? Earlier this week, VOR replaced PMR on 9665 with English at 0000-0200, in addition to usual VOR English after 0200 via Pridnestrovye. Then as found by Joe Hanlon, NJ, PMR turned up on 6240 at 0000-0200 Sept 8 with 15-minute language rotation blox including English at 0000, 0045, 0130; 6240 has been its winter frequency previously, and supposedly has been in use summerly for Europe at 17-19 M-F. However, as tipped by Mark Coady in Ontario, 9665 was back to PMR on Sept 8, opening English at 0000, but VOR had it during the previous hour; and when he checked again at 0057 Sept 9, 9665 had resumed VOR less than an hour after PMR started. My own observations: UT Sept 9 at 0024 I find French from PMR on 9665, and 6240 now in Russian, not sure which service. VOR English is on 5900 ex-9890 at 22-02, audible here at 0030 but rather poor; while PMR on 9665 had gone into English. Next check at 0106, 9665 was in English but sounded like PMR to me, rather than VOR. Perhaps master control in Moscow and/or the Grigoriopol operators are quite confused or uncertain about which service to put on which frequency at which hours. Such behaviour is not listener-friendly. Meanwhile, another day goes by and VOR still makes no attempt to update its schedule at http://english.ruvr.ru/radio_broadcast/schedule which still shows 9890 at 22-02, 9665 at 02-04 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tonight (Sep 10th) at 0000 we have the Voice of Russia on 9665 so the Moldavian Merry-Go-Round is in full force. Who will it be tomorrow --- Voice of Russia or Radio PMR. Maybe the ODXA and NASWA should take bets. We just might have discovered a new revenu stream, Just kidding. -- (Mark Coady, ODXA & NASWA ygs via DXLD) Since the programming/stations carried on the 6240 and 9665 Pridnestrovye transmitters have been so variable the last few nights, I made a point of checking again UT Friday Sept 10 (starting 2358 UT Sept 9): 5900, too weak in the noise level to confirm, but supposedly VOR English 22-02, via ``Armavir``. 6240, at 2358 intermittent tune-up tones; 0000 Radio PMR in English. Could not check every quarter hour, but: 0032 in German, 0046 English, 0125 German, 0146 French and 0158 to ``au revoir`` at 0200*. One may with some confidence fill in the blanks as 0015 French, 0100 French, 0130 English, but don`t count on this every weeknight. Since this was UT Friday, Radio PMR should be off for 70 hours, resuming at 0000 UT Monday. The question is whether 6240 will be on the air with VOR English, or Russian during this bihour on UT Saturday or Sunday. 9665: 2358 VOR English, saying would continue on 31 and 41m [what? AFAIK it`s on 49m, 5900]; Presumably has been on since 2300. 0000 re- opening VORWS in English. Signal steadily declines; 0125 still VOR English; 0158 now it`s so weak the Brazilian het is a problem, 0159 IS, 0200 still VOR English, I think. Now, will VOR English stay on 9665 from 2300 to 0400 every night? 24 hours earlier, UT Friday Sept 9, Mark Coady and I heard PMR back on 9665 starting at 0000 but VOR had resumed before 0100. And 6240 I heard with some service in Russian during that hour. 9735: while we are straining to hear these weak signals in the noise, 9735 is on from 0200 Sept 10 opening La Voz de Rusia in Spanish, excellent via GUIANA FRENCH (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Unknown, 5900, Voice of Russia, 0025-0045 Sept 11, Commentary and news in English language presented by male and female. In between some music heard. The "Voice of Russia" ID heard at 0032 by a female. Judging from the strength, this signal sounds like a relay - probably via MOLDOVA-PRIDNESTROVIE? Yes the signal was very good (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, NRD545, 26.37N 081.05W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FWIW, 5900 is registered as 500 kW, 315 degrees from ``Armavir`` at 22-04. 6240 surely ``Kichinov`` like 9665. VOR chex UT Saturday Sept 11: at 0023, in English on both 5900 and 9665, with 9665 running about 2 sex ahead of 5900, only fair signals. Same at 0030, when IRSerbia was in English on 9675, eclipsing 9665 with better modulation and signal, but duller announceress. VOR at 0113 still on 5900 and 9665 still, now without comparison to 9675. 6240, which had mostly been carrying Radio PMR at 00-02 this week, was off the air at 0023 and later chex Sept 11, as appropriate for UT Sat & Sun (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAINT HELENA. Radio St Helena Day 2010 CANCELLED --- Dear Friends, it really hurts me to have to send you the following message. With best 73, (Robert Kipp, 1549 UT Sept 10, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: ===================== RSH << RSD 2010 Cancelled >> 10 September 2010 ============ Radio St. Helena sincerely regrets to have to inform radio listeners everywhere that >> Radio St. Helena Day 2010 has been cancelled << . This very difficult decision was necessary, due to severe technical problems with the shortwave antenna tower. RSH is quite confident that RSD will be able to continue in 2011. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- RSH << RSD 2010 Abgesagt >> 10 September 2010 ============ Radio St. Helena bedauert es sehr, Kurzwellenhoerern mitteilen zu muessen, dass >> Radio St. Helena Day 2010 abgesagt worden ist << . Diese sehr schwierige Entscheidung ist notwendig gewesen, weil gravierende technische Probleme mit dem Antennenmast der Kurzwellenstation aufgetreten sind. RSH ist recht zuversichtlich, dass RSD in 2011 fortgesetzt erden kann. ============ With best greetings, Mit besten Gruessen, (Gary Walters Station Manager, Radio St. Helena Robert Kipp Radio St. Helena Day Revival Project, Sept 10, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) They still would have a month to fix it; what a pity (gh) We at Radio St. Helena are also VERY SAD to have to announce the cancellation of RSD 2010. The problems with the tower holding the 3- element Yagi antenna are such that we simply had no choice. There is no chance to fix the tower in the next six weeks, but RSH is quite confident that we will be able to broadcast a RSD 2011 program next year. At the moment, I am investigating the possibility of setting up a wire antenna as a temporary measure, but I am not at all sure whether we will be able to do that. The technical resources on the VERY REMOTE island of St. Helena are not so good. If anything needs to be ordered from England, then it takes a lot of time and effort. (Robert Kipp via Yimber Gaviria via playdx2003 ml via Roberto Scaglione, Sept 11, shortwave yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) He also said: Did you and your friends ever manage to listen to the RSD programs? In 2008 or 2007 or 2006? Did ANYONE ever hear us in South America? What is the name and Internet address of your radio club in Colombia?? Perhaps I could send them some information or a photo about RSH / RSD? With BEST 73 to all our radio friends in Colombia and South America, Robert Kipp Radio St. Helena Revival Project (via Gaviría, noticiasdx yg via DXLD) ** SAINT KITTS & NEVIS. 860 | V. of Nevis, Bath Village, AUG 27 2332 - Caribbean English talk by woman, soca music; poor, mixed with Latin Americans. + AUG 28 0045 - soca vocal, "Von" mention, then "How Deep is Your Love" by the Bee Gees (Mark Connelly, WA1ION, South Orleans, Cape Cod, MA (GC= 41.7347 N / 69.991 W) (= 41? 44.1' N / 69? 59.5' W) (Town Landing / beach, off Route 28, 0.3 km N of Tar Kiln Road) Receiver: Microtelecom Perseus operated with MSI Wind U100 netbook Antenna: cardioid-pattern Micro-SuperLoop on car roof, square, 2 m per side, with 9:1 transformer on east bottom corner to speaker wire to 2:1 transformer to W7IUV transfer amp, and 9:1 transformer on west corner to speaker wire to 500 ohm null-adjust potentiometer. See http://home.comcast.net/~dx_lab/pictures/micro_superloop.htm for a similar antenna, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** SAIPAN. 9585, Vietnamese YL squeezed between RA and RA Saturday Night Country, Sept 11 at 1257. It`s KFBS at 12-13, 278 degrees. Usually one can tune between 9580 and 9590 without this intrusion (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 11784.92-odd, Today Sept 14th was one of the better days propagationwise. After long pause noted BSKSA Djedda's 2nd program again. Though scheduled in WRTH spring update as 0600-1700 UT on 11855 kHz. But heard today with Holy Quran prayer between 1630 and TX off at 1659:18 UT at S=6-7 strength level on 11785 instead. Checked against Voice of Indonesia, Jakarta, but latter was still in 31 mb on odd 9525.97 kHz S=9+20dB seldom strong at 1645 UT. vy73 de (Wolfgang df5sx Büschel, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5019.9, Solomon Islands BC (Honiara), 1108-1114, 9/11/2010, English. Talk by woman, apparently BBC or Australian news. Poor signal with minimal fading, blasted by Rebelde on 5025. First log on this frequency in a couple of years (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, IC- R75, RX-340, Random Wire (90'), ALA100M Loop (20'), DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA. "R. Hage Somaliya" plans to run a test on 6915 kHz on Sunday 12th September between 1600-1605. 73 and good listening! (WRTH Info via Twitter via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, Sept 11, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re yesterday`s tweet: R Hage, 6915 kHz, Sunday`s test transmission's start time will be 1600 +/- 5 minutes and will be on air for approx 30 minutes (WRTH Info via Twitter, ibid.) WRTH Info twitter had been inactive since last November. Not a chance here in deep North America (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) 6915, R Hage (scheduled test) Nothing heard on 9/12 from 1555 tune to 1630 tune out on 6915 via Global Tuners in Broome WA - this would be the only GT site that could feasibly hear this broadcast in this time frame. There was a high noise level on this receiver on this frequency. On USB I could hear a carrier to past 1650, but no idea what/where that was from - most likely not associated with R. Hage due to its presence well past 1630. On LSB nothing was heard. For Alokesh: any e-mail address to which queries can be made? (Bruce Churchill, CA, Cumbre DX via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) ** SOMALILAND. 7145, R Hargeisa, Hargeisa, Somaliland, 1620-1701*, Aug 11, vernacular conversation with mention of “Somalia”, 1635 Horn of Africa music with singers, 1659 ID: “Radio Hargeisa… programming”, frequencies, IS, 1700 one Gong and short piece of music, S 8 (Roland Schulze, Stuttgart, Germany, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) 7145, R. Hargeisa (presumed), Hargeisa, Somaliland, 1731-1806, 12 Sep'10, Somali (listed), talks, music; 35442 (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This one certainly is elusive, and one must watch out for the ever- varying Eritreans and Ethiopians in this area (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. 3255, BBC (Meyerton), 0328-0335, 9/9/2010, English. Talk by woman. Identification by man at 0329 followed by BBC program information. News of Africa by man and woman at 0330. Good signal, the best in many months on this frequency. 3320, Radio Sondergrense (Meyerton), 0331-0340, 9/9/2010, Afrikaans. Talk by man. Afrikaaner pop music at 0334. Back to talk at 0339. Good signal. 3345, Channel Africa (Meyerton), 0333-0338, 9/9/2010, English. Talk by man and woman. Poor signal with heavy interference from Spain via Costa Rica on 3350 (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, IC-R75, RX-340, Random Wire (90'), ALA100M Loop (20'), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 5890, Brother Scare via WWCR, Sept 10 at 0458 check with same horrible sideband noise as on day frequency 9980. I suspect the garbage is coming over the satellite feed from Walterboro, but could be filtered out; OTOH, other huge signals from WWCR such as 7490 have similar problems, so maybe they are just overdriving the modulation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. 1386, Euskadi Irratia, Bilbao, continues with its extremely weak modulation level (on a strong carrier). Could this be some test to evaluate listeners' reaction in the sense that, if little or none is received, then the transmitter is therefore redundant? 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That would be sneaky (gh) ** SPAIN. Many logs of OverHorizonRadar station in Spain, 7.1 to 7.2 MHz intruder logs ... click to http://www.iarums-r1.org/iarums/news2010/news1008.pdf vy73 wb df5sx - Sept 11 (BC-DX via DXLD) + scads of other intruders ** SPAIN. Fernando Almarza of Radio Exterior de España reported that his station is broadcasting in DRM to Mexico and the United States (Ciraf zones 7, 8, 10 and 11) from its relay site in Costa Rica. REE would appreciate any and all reception reports on these transmissions, which are on 9630 kHz daily from 0000-0200 UT in Spanish. The azimuth is 340 degrees, and transmissions are in the DRM B mode (Shortwave Station News from the HFCC/ASBU B10 Conference, via Jeff White, Sept NASB Newsletter via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. Medium Wave Transmission from Sri Lanka --- For clients wanting to be heard in Sri Lanka and southern India, a Medium Wave transmission is now available through WRN Broadcast. The 50 kW transmitter represents a cost effective method of reaching local audiences in Sri Lanka during daytime and a far wider geographical area in the evenings and early morning. A free test can be provided to clients looking to trial the effectiveness of the transmitter prior to any formal agreement. For more information, please contact the Sales Department on sales @ wrnbroadcast.com or call +44 20 7896 4026 (re:wired >News from WRN Broadcast> September 2010 via Fleur Nittolo, WRN, Sept 9, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) WTFK? It`s difficult to find any MW frequencies among all the FM domestic broadcasting for SL in WRTH 2010. I do see one on 855 for SLBC, with 20 kW, reactivated, at Irattaperiyakulam with the Wanni service; what`s that? Searching WRTH info only in print is of course not practical. The comprehensive Radio Stations in Sri Lanka, http://www.asiawaves.net/sri-lanka-radio.htm has everything in MHz except for kHz mentions of TWR 873 and 882; DW 1548 kHz, none of which are only 50 kW, but listed as 400 kW. It does not list 855. Does WRN have a new MW transmitter there? Or is it one of these powered down, or up to 50? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ampara 855 [ex-693] kHz was an old channel in Eastern Ceylon in the 90ties (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX via DXLD) It is out of Puttalam, where the MW TWR programmes come from. 50 kW on 1125 kHz, Glenn (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This one will be on 1125 kHz and was moved location and frequency from somewhere else in Sri Lanka. They say the installation will be completed next week and we can start to run tests (WRN Broadcast, Sept 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Here are the details ..... http://www.slbc.lk/images/stories/tender_notice/OPPORTUNITIES_FOR_BROADCASTERS.pdf (Alokesh Gupta, dxldyg via DXLD) SLBC Medium Wave Overseas Broadcasting facilities at Puttalam Tx site a) NAUTEL –NA 200 1. Frequency : 873 KHz 2. Rated Out Put : 200 KW , 400 KW 3. Transmitter: “NAUTEL” – NA 200, Solid state Transmitter 4. Available Air Time : 7 AM to 05:30 PM , Sri Lanka Time 5. Coverage Area: South India and Central Part of India 6. Detail of Antenna : 3 –Tower Medium Wave 350 Degrees Directional Antenna System b) NAUTEL – ND 50 1. Frequency : 1125 KHz 2. Rated Out Put : 50KW 3. Transmitter: “NAUTEL” – ND 50, Solid state Transmitter 4. Available Air Time : Negotiable 5. Coverage Area: South India 6. Detail of Antenna : 2 base –grounded guyed masts of galvanized steel, complete with shunt feed skirt and tuning series TML 7. Azimath Pattern: 350 Degrees Directional, 8 .0 dBi gain. For inquiries contact, ddge @ slbc.lk Deputy Director General (Engineering), 094 -112696131 Superintendent engineer (AM-services), 094 -714204316 (via Alokesh Gupta, India, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) G.C. 07 58 35.32 N 79 47 54.09 E http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=de&geocode=&q=07+58+35.32+N++79+47+54.09+E&sll=51.151786,10.415039&sspn=19.253434,57.084961&ie=UTF8&ll=7.976448,79.798336&spn=0.001851,0.003484&t=h&z=19 SLBC is also progressing with the installation of a 50 kW MW transmitter in Puttalam on 1125 kHz to beam to South India where there are large numbers of Sri Lankans who fled the war over the last 30 years, and also to strengthen the coverage to the North of Sri Lanka. (Victor Goonetilleke-CLN, 4S7VK, UADX, via wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 4, 2010, via DXLD) 1125 kHz 50 kW is still not on the air. Dummy load testing took place yesterday. Might be a week for any on air tests. -- (G. Victor A. Goonetilleke 4S7VK, "Shangri-la"' 298 Madapatha Road, Piliyandala. Sri Lanka, Sept 11, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UADX made a comeback as a pdf publication in March with edition 149, but it seems we are still waiting for number 150. Meanwhile above item came from the blog where presumably further issues will be linked: http://dxasia-uadx.blogspot.com/ (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) You know Glenn, we came back with a bang and then tragedy when Sarath's son passed away and both of us were shaken to the bones (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I had not heard about that. Our condolences (Glenn) ** SRI LANKA. 6004.75, External Service of the SLBC, Ekala, *0054- 0100, Aug 11 and 15, National Anthem and ID in English, frequencies, "it's another rainy day", poor with some heavy disturbances from +- 5 kHz (Michele D'Amico, Milano / San Marco la Catola, Italy, and Thomas Lindenthal, Mertendorf, Germany, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) 7189.72, Sri Lanka BC, 1222-1232*, September 10. I have been reading about their new MW transmitter, but is this a new SW transmitter? For one thing the signal strength was much stronger than ever heard here before (I think more than just good propagation); for another the frequency in the past was normally slightly above 7190. Perhaps Victor Goonetilleke in Sri Lanka can comment on this. In vernacular with subcontinent singing; believe they played their choral National Anthem (Sri Lanka Matha) at sign off (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7190: I hear the carrier but never any modulation. For what it's worth, guys, I never hear any modulation on this carrier here in northern Tasmania. It always seems to go QRT around 1230z. Oh for the days of the Commercial service of the SLBC on 19 meters! (Robin VK7RH Harwood, 20/177 Penquite Road, Norwood, Tasmania 7250, Phone 6103-63 449794, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7189.72, Sri Lanka BC, 1219-1231*, September 13. Continues to be heard with stronger signal than normal and also on this lower than usual frequency; choral National Anthem (Sri Lanka Matha) at sign off (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. Something to look out for this weekend --- This Saturday [Sept 18] between 1600 and 1800 UT the National Civil Defense Department of the ROC is conducting a test of its emergency transmitter site located in the Yunmingshan mountains in the same location of a joint monitoring station operated by the National Security Bureau and the US government (nick named Spook Mountain). Power is 50 kW. Frequency: unknown (but from a test they did in 2007 it was between 10700 and 12700 kHz). Wish I had more info but don't. Normally Taiwan does air raid drills in the early part of Summer. This system was set up as part of it. But from what I was told, it was not done in the past three years, because of damage to the antenna from Typhoon Pabak in August 2007 (Keith Perron, Taiwan, Sept 13, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [non]. 15557, Voice of Tibet, via Dushanbe-Yangiyul, Tajikistan, 1230, Aug 16, Chinese mainland jamming transmitter on air started carrier on air at 1232:33, started late at *1233:10 with BUT different SLOW Chinese music jamming, not Firedrake like rhythm; and not like jamming against AIR Mandarin and/or RFA Tibetan distortion. (Wolfgang Bueschel, DSWCI DX Window Aug 25 via DXLD) ** TURKEY. TRT-1 observed on Sept 2nd with program in Turkish on MW 702 \\ SW 5960 kHz with long list of SW spurs with strong levels of the signals with steps approx. +/- 29 kHz: At 1700 on 5989, ... , 6104, 6133, 6164, 6193 kHz etc., and on 5931, 5902,5873, 5844, 5815 etc. From 1900 UT a football direct reportage was heard on 702 and all above frequencies and more. (On 927 and 954 MW there were native songs). It reminds me of Voice of Vietnam's effect in the past, when VOV was heard on 10 frequencies in the 22 m.b. - fundamental was 13740 kHz (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Sept 6 via DXLD) ** TURKEY. 15450, VOT, fair Sept 11 at 1303, YL reading reception reports with the all-important SINPO ratings, shortly concluding DX Corner with contact info, theme. So this Saturday is reconfirmed as an on-week for this alt-week non-DX program (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. London-based World Radio Network is selling airtime on FM networks in Turkey (over 28 outlets in major cities like Istanbul, Izmir and Bursa), Afghanistan (reaching listeners in Kabul, Habat, Jalalabad, Mazar-e-Sharif and Kandahar) and Buenos Aires, Argentina (two stations – one with 30 kW and the other with 60 kW ERP). (Shortwave [sic] Station News from the HFCC/ASBU B10 Conference, via Jeff White, Sept NASB Newsletter via DXLD) See also SRI LANKA ** U K [and non]. AUNG SAN SUU KYI CONCERNED ABOUT POSSIBLE DROPPING OF BBC BURMESE COVERAGE | Text of report in English by New Delhi-based Burmese opposition Mizzima News Agency 09 September The BBC's Burmese service broadcasts could be eliminated next year as part of the Cameron coalition government's dramatic reduction in spending on the BBC World Service, The Guardian of London on Tuesday, quoting an unnamed source. However, late yesterday in response to that report, BBC News quoted British Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt as saying that no decision had been taken about possible cuts to its World Service's annual A£264 million (US$409 million) grant, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has told website's entertainment and arts section Caption reads: "Win Tin (above), a veteran Burmese journalist and co- founder of the Burmese opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), expressed hope that the British government would reconsider cuts at BBC Burmese, calling it an essential service for millions of people in Burma, who would otherwise be stuck with Burmese junta-controlled media. Photo: Mizzima" (Mizzima News, 9 Sep) "Government departments have been told to shave at least 25 per cent off budgets to tackle the UK [British] deficit," the report said. The British government funds the World Service, which receives allocations from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), Britain's foreign ministry. Hunt was reported as saying that the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government was "absolutely committed to the global reach of the World Service and the very important job it does as a beacon for democracy around the globe". An FCO spokesman told the BBC: "Any proposal to open or close a language service requires ministerial approval -no such approval has been sought or given." All aspects of the FCO's future budget were being considered as part of the government's spending review, the outcome of which would be on October 20, he added. But that is all information for public consumption. The Guardian report quoted an insider who said: "The Burma office is up for grabs. It is a question of costs. It is very expensive and has relatively few listeners. The 'human rights' argument doesn't hold much sway with the new Foreign Office [FCO]." The service, which recently celebrated its 70th year on air, is routinely denounced in Burma's state-controlled media. Burma observers say that cancelling or reducing BBC Burmese broadcasts would be a major victory for the military regime. In a recent interview with Mizzima, the BBC Burmese service chief, Tin Htar Swe, foreshadowed the funding difficulties. Because of the economic recession in Britain, the FCO might be forced to reduce the funding of the World Service, which could have a knock-on effect regarding the Burmese language service, she said. However, the impact on programming would not be significant, she hoped. Caption reads: "A screen capture from a broadcast by state mouthpiece Myanmar Radio and Television that denounces the BBC World Service. The British government funded broadcaster is facing possible funding cuts that may threaten its Burmese service to an audience of more than 8 million people inside Burma." (Mizzima News, 9 Sep) Subir Bhaumik, the BBC's East India correspondent based in Kolkata, who also contributes to the Burmese service, told Mizzima he was aware of general cost-cutting but was more hopeful considering the importance placed on coverage in the run-up to Burma's first elections in two decades. "I am not aware of any major budget cuts in Burmese and Bengali services in the immediate future, though there is a general tightening of belts ... across the BBC," he said. "But the BBC is giving much importance to the Burma elections and I don't see any compromise that the BBC will make with our Burma coverage." Reached for comment, Win Tin, a veteran Burmese journalist and co- founder of the National League for Democracy (NLD), said that termination of the BBC's Burmese broadcasts would be a "gift" for Burma's military authorities "because the BBC tells the people of Burma what is really going on, something the regime doesn't want". He said he hoped the British government and FCO Secretary William Hague, would reconsider the cuts at BBC Burmese "because it is an essential service for millions of people across Burma, especially the millions who don't speak English and otherwise would be stuck with Burmese state-controlled media". He said he hoped the British government and FCO Secretary William Hague, would reconsider the cuts at BBC Burmese "because it is an essential service for millions of people across Burma, especially the millions who don't speak English and otherwise would be stuck with Burmese state-controlled media". The estimated audience in Burma, contrary to what The Guardian source's statement suggests, is in fact quite large when considered as a percentage of Burma's population. The numbers are however dwarfed in comparison to the BBC's broadcasts in Hindi and Urdu, directed at India and Pakistan, which have far bigger populations than Burma. The Southeast Asian Press Alliance's 2007 report "Foreign Assistance to the Burmese News Media" said in terms of all outlets based outside Burma, the BBC Burmese service probably had a larger audience than any other medium in the Burmese language. It added that: "Since November 2003, the BBC World Service Trust -the station's charity arm -has been broadcasting educational soap operas and magazine-style programmes in Burmese that have become very popular." Suu Kyi, British opposition, 'very concerned' by BBC Burmese cuts The London Independent newspaper reported that Kyi Win, a lawyer for the detained NLD leader said that Aung San Suu Kyi had "heard that the BBC could be facing some funding problems due to the current economic situation in Britain and the BBC Burmese service might be facing cuts rather than expansion. She is very concerned about the situation as the people in Burma are relying on [the] BBC ... for news and information." Also, Shadow Foreign Secretary David Miliband agreed with the stance of Win Tin and other Burma watchers when he told The Guardian that ending BBC broadcasts to Burma would play into the hands of the country's ruling military junta. "The World Service is a steady, credible voice in parts of the world where the only other messages blend threats and propaganda," he said. "Scrapping the World Service in Burma would be a gift to the military junta, and an insult to political prisoners locked in Burma's jail for no crime." Burma is the subject of tough Western sanctions, because of its refusal to recognise the last elections in 1990 and the prolonged detention of opposition leader Suu Kyi. The country will hold its first election in 20 years in November, but pro-democracy parties say that restrictions imposed by the military government will virtually ensure its proxy parties win the poll. What the Burmese regime has to say about BBC Burmese and the 1988 uprising === New Light of Myanmar Monday, June 13, 2005 However, BBC and VOA purposely breached the journalist ethics and broadcast fabricated instigations to incite uprising and anarchistic acts during the 1988 unrest. With fabricated interviews to fuel the problem, they made attempts to push Myanmar into abyss. Everybody can still remember the skyful of lies made by BBC and VOA at that time. After the 1988 incidents, in addition to BBC and VOA, new foreign media such as RFA, DVB and other broadcasting stations and foreign periodicals including Shan Thandawsint have been broadcasting slanderous fabrications and instigations without shame in order to disintegrate the Union; disintegrate the national solidarity of Myanmar and perpetrate the loss of her sovereignty. SPDC denies claims in BBC report on political prisoners New Light of Myanmar Friday, 13 August, 2004 Those who daren't show their face -57 As they are making wicked lies and slanders one after another, the BBC and the VOA [Voice of America] have become skilled in creating fabrication. At 6 a.m. on 26 July 2004, the BBC aired an interview with Ko Teik Naing of the AAPP [Assistance Association for Political Prisoners Burma] concerning the demise of poet U Kyi Tin Oo. The VOA also broadcast an interview with his daughter at 9 p.m. on the same day. The brief account of the fabrication was that the BBC interviewed the so-called secretary of the AAPP about U Kyi Tin Oo, who was released from jail on 26 March 2004 and who died on 24 July. Teik Naing told the BBC that U Kyi Tin Oo died of hypertension, cardiac disorder and diabetes, which he was suffering from, while serving his jail term. Teik Naing also said that his toe was already decomposed; and that bits of bamboo were found inside his body as he was stabbed and hit with pointed bamboo sticks during the interrogation. But during the VOA interview, her daughter said that his father was suffering from hypertension since before he was sentenced. She even said that her father underwent medical treatment at Insein Hospital before he was released from prison. So, it has become quite clear. What the so-called secretary of the AAPP, an organization that is located at a far corner in a remote border area, said about U Kyi Tin Oo was nothing but lies to make the matter worse. Such a person who is skilled in creating lies and fabricated sad stories will be very rare. The acts of the expatriates and fugitives of the AAPP and the corrupt politicians from inside the country attacking Myanmar [Burma] and her Government on all fronts to the degree beyond imagination to make political gains were so mean. Whenever a person dies after he was released from prison for a period of a month or a year or ten years, the AAPP and the corrupt politicians always create a sad story, with fabrications, saying that the said person died of the effects of tortures in the prison or during interrogation or died of a certain illness or diseases due to lack of prison health care services. And if he died in prison, they slander the Government for not releasing him sooner for enabling him to undergo medical treatment in time. In reality, those persons are very pitiful for they are constantly under the influence of the greed to grab power. Man is not free from death, sufferings and illness. Death may come at any time. So, a prisoner or an ordinary person can die at any time. Moreover, a person can be contracted by some kind of disease while he is in prison or at his house. But a prisoner like U Kyi Tin Oo is sentenced to imprisonment without hard labour. U Kyi Tin Oo was so comfortable in the prison, enjoying sound sleep every night and daily meals served at the right time. The prison doctors provide regular medical check-ups for inmates, and give them medical treatment. If necessary, specialist surgeons make medical check-up on and gave medical treatment to them. The prisoners are even treated at public hospitals outside the prison. So, the accusations that a prisoner is stricken with a certain kind of illness or disease while serving his jail term are just lies. And the liars create the slanderous accusations not because of their goodwill for the prisoners, but just because of their greed to earn dollars! Source: Mizzima News Agency, New Delhi, in English 0000 gmt 09 Sep 10 (via BBCM via DXLD) In the United States, we call this threatening to close the Washington Monument. Given the success of BBC Burmese in attracting an audience, and the acute need of the Burmese people for accurate information, the choice of the service as a trial balloon was silly (Kim Andrew Elliott, www.kimandrewellott.com via DXLD) BBC WORLD SERVICE CONFIRMS NEED FOR CUTS http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/410/15/52034.html While Burma / Myanmar had been cited as a service to be cut, the BBC has not confirmed that. – (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, Sept 10, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) UK foreign secretary William Hague speaking to the Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday: Hague told the Commons foreign affairs committee that he would soon be telling the World Service what he thought it could achieve as a "contribution" to the spending review. But he said the BBC Burma service "does not cost very much" and closing it "probably wouldn't be a very good way of saving money". "Here am I as someone who in opposition has appeared on platforms with Burmese human rights activists, launched books with Burmese human rights activists and been on the World Service talking about Burma and the importance of communicating into it. The chances that I'm then going to sit in my office and say, 'let's close the World Service into Burma' are correspondingly small." Full article from the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/08/world-service-budget-cuts-bbc (via Mike Barraclough, Sept 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) James on Sep 9th, 2010 at 00:06: This is just barmy really. Michael Lyons has made the very valid point that the BBCWS is one of the very leanest parts of the BBC already. Under the Conservative ethos, they deserve a bit more money because they’re doing so well, but of course they won’t get it. The Burmese service is very, very important in Burma. As soon as something develops there, the BBC Burmese service is the place people go to for information within the country. The Russian section is also under threat as part of these plans. Again, while it’s not like Burma, there’s a very clear need for the service in that region. Internal broadcasters don’t yet have the media freedoms that one would expect before the BBCWS stops broadcasting there. The last cuts had quite enough of an effect on the Russian service! (Media Network blog comment via DXLD) ** U K. BBC Bangla announcement --- 0n 8, 9 and 10th September 2010 in Bengali at the start of their 0030-0100 Bengali transmission announces the times as "6.30 am in Bangladesh, 5.00 am in India and 11.30 pm GMT". This is a mix up because the Indian time should read 6.00 am. This takes us back to the period 19th June – 31st December 2009 when Bangladesh had advanced its local time by one hour and BBC Bangla had adjusted its transmission to keep up with the Bangladesh local time. In relative terms this change had meant that the first morning BBC Bangla morning transmission would start at 5.00 am Indian time. On 31st March 2010, just before this change was due to reappear, the daylight saving time was scrapped by Bangladesh Cabinet. It is not clear to me about how long is this BBC faux pas continuing and how long will take to correct. Backdated frequency information in BBC Bangla website in Bengali script was displayed for close two years till it was corrected recently! (Supratik Sanatani, West Bengal, Sept 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. At the Plenary Meeting, Gary Stanley of VT Communications explained that his company was recently acquired by a company called Babcock in the UK. So VT Communications is now called Babcock, and the company's FMO (Frequency Management Organization) code for the HFCC will be changed from VTC to BAB. They will use VTC through the B10 season, and will begin using the new BAB code as of the A11 season. “It's business as usual for us,” said Gary. “The only difference is that at the next conference we'll be in the front of the room!” (Delegations are seated in the meeting room in alphabetical order.) (Shortwave Station News from the HFCC/ASBU B10 Conference, via Jeff White, Sept NASB Newsletter via DXLD) ** U K. Re 10-36: BBC Proms 320 kbps AAC experiment The BBC has launched an "experimental" 320 kbps AAC Internet stream carrying the Proms. The stream will be available until the Last Night of the Proms on Saturday 11th September, and the BBC would like people to listen to the stream while the Proms are on, then to provide feedback by filling in a short online questionnaire. As it is an extreme rarity for the BBC to care about the audio quality it delivers on digital radio, let alone experiment with a bit rate as high as 320 kbps, would urge as many of you as possible to have a listen to this stream and to fill in the online questionnaire afterwards. The 320 kbps AAC stream can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2010/audioexperiment/ The online questionnaire is here: http://ecustomeropinions.com/survey/survey.php?sid=471224792 And a BBC Internet blog about the "extra high quality audio experiment" can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2010/09/bbc_proms_extra_high_quality_audio.html (digitalradiotech UK Newsletter via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, dxldyg via DXLD) If too many outsiders laud the 320 stream, it might backfire with BBC restricting audio like they do TV to insiders (gh, DXLD) ** U K. Last Night of the Proms on DRM, WTFK? IBC 2010 will witness the inaugural DRM transmission of the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms, on Saturday September 11th between 1800 and 2200 GMT (2000 to 0000 CET). This world famous concert which concludes the biggest classical music festival in the world will be recorded at London’s Royal Albert Hall and transmitted via DRM letting audiences across Europe tune into this prestigious event ‘Live’ and in high quality for the first time. The concert will be transmitted by Babcock from one of its facilities in the UK (Sept DRM Newsletter via DXLD) Last Night just began on BBCR3 webcast at 1830 (not 1800). It might help to know the frequency for the above, SW or MW? and if it is ``recorded`` how is it also ``live``? In 2008 and/or 2009 this was on 1296 and 5875/5895. I see that 5875 is currently registered with BBC via AUSTRIA at 19-21 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) According to postings in the German-language A-DX list ("they have switched on their noise generator again") 1296 kHz was indeed in use. No word about shortwave, and probably indeed no such transmissions were on air, since 5875/5895 look like Norway, but these transmitters are no longer in use for the BBC DRM pilot project. Btw, I would not hold my breath for it to continue if the expected budget cuts will be as serious as alleged (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) More under DIGITAL BROADCASTING below ** U K. CONSUMER EXPERT GROUP SLAMS UK DIGITAL RADIO SWITCHOVER PLANS Media Guardian report that a government advisory body has cast doubt on the prospects for digital radio switchover by 2015 and warned the industry not to bully or scare consumers into taking up the new technology. The Consumer Expert Group, which was set up to advise the government on digital TV switchover and has had its remit extended to radio, said the target switchover date of 2015 was "far too early". Raising the possibility that digital radio switchover might not be feasible or even desirable, the report said a "full cost-benefit analysis from a user perspective must be carried out as a matter of urgency". The group includes representatives from organisations such as Age UK, the Royal National Institute for the Blind, the Voice of the Listener and Viewer, Citizens Advice and Which. It's report has been described as pretty devastating by Media Guardian's John Plunkett. The CEG said there were a "range of consumer barriers which require further research and a more proactive approach from government to ensure they are addressed, including coverage and reception issues and finding a solution to in-car [digital radio] vehicle conversions". The group said the lack of research into consumers' willingness and ability to pay for digital radio was "concerning" and warned that takeup of the new technology was slow. No digital switchover date should be set by the government until less than 30% of radio listening was via analogue platforms, the CEG recommends and not until digital radio has been standard in cars for at least two years. Under current plans a switchover date would be put in place when analogue listening was still as high as 50%. It says that Digital Radio UK has caused misunderstanding and confusion with its marketing campaigns. It criticises the commercial radio trade body The Radio Centre which it says was which it says was wrong to propose that the BBC should put its more popular content on digital-only platforms to encourage takeup stating that: "Listeners should be convinced to adopt digital radio through compelling content, not bullied to do so to maintain access to the programmes they enjoy on analogue," Digital radio needs compelling content to encourage listeners to dump their analogue sets, it says. The problem is that digital radio – unlike digital TV – doesn't have it, with just a handful of digital- only services such as BBC 6 Music and Planet Rock. In the words of today's report, the consumer proposition has "stagnated". Digital takeup has been slower than predicted, and it warns that cheap digital radios – trumpeted by the industry as a key factor in prompting listeners to switch – may not be the answer, offering poor functionality and sound quality. The report also raises questions about in-car digital radio listening, signal strength, the need to include DAB+ in the digital roadmap, the problem of disposing and recycling analogue radios and the danger that older and disabled people will be left behind. The Consumer Expert Group said the report was "not requested by government" but undertaken to attain a "thorough understanding of the consumer issues surrounding digital radio and bring them to the government's attention as preliminary policy decisions". The report is now available as a pdf or in rich text form at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport website at; http://www.culture.gov.uk/publications/7410.aspx (via Mike Terry, Sept 14, dxldyg via DXLD) DAB and DTV for that matter are both driven by industry greed not what people want. They both should be the best that they possibly can be instead of currently, the worst that they can get away with. Regards (Harry Brooks, North East England, UK, ibid.) ** U S A. SEPTEMBER MEETING OF THE BROADCASTING BOARD OF GOVERNORS Washington, DC, 09/10/2010 --- The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) will meet on Friday, September 17, 2010, from 10:00 a.m. to noon [1400-1600 UT]. The BBG will be considering BBG Governance Committee recommendations, the BBG`s research program and other business. The meeting is open -- via webcast --- to the public. The public may observe the open meeting via live and on demand streaming at http://www.bbg.gov (BBG press release via David Walcutt, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) This will be the first opportunity for the public to observe a BBG meeting, if not participate (Kim Andrew Elliott, www.kimandrewelliott.com via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. VOA LAUNCHES NEW TV PROGRAM TO AFGHANISTAN Dual-language program premieres Friday Washington, D.C., September 9, 2010 - A groundbreaking new Voice of America television program, Karwan (Caravan), premiers in Afghanistan Friday, with an exciting and youthful approach to critical issues facing the country. The 30-minute dual-language weekly program, broadcast in both Dari and Pashto, will tackle social and political issues, culture, health, education and other topics, highlighting what young people are doing in Afghanistan and the United States. 'Karwan' host Daoud Sediqi Click through for 4x6, 300 dpi version Courtesy Voice of America http://author.voanews.com/english/About/images/KarwanBanner_4x6.jpg The program is hosted by the easygoing Daoud Sediqi, who has been called the “Ryan Seacrest of Afghanistan.” Before coming to the United States Daoud was the moderator of Afghan Star, the wildly popular Afghan talent show modeled on American Idol. With a creative mix of off-site remotes, in-studio discussion and direct audience feedback through social media sites, Karwan will offer viewers in Afghanistan a chance to comment on what is important to them. The program, which is funded by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, plans to develop ways for viewers to send in web-based videos to expand the dialogue. It will also draw on a network of Afghan-based journalists to give the show a strong regional presence. In addition to Karwan, VOA reaches millions of people daily in Afghanistan through its popular radio programs and TV Ashna (which means friend in Dari and Pashto) as well as the Internet. Check the VOA Dari website at http://www.voanews.com/dari/news/ and the VOA Pashto website at http://www.voanews.com/pashto/news/ (VOA press release Sept 9 via DXLD; also via Alokesh Gupta, dxldyg) ** U S A. The IBB transmitter site in Greenville, North Carolina had been threatened with closure this October. But at the time of the HFCC Conference, it appeared that the possible closure would be postponed until at least sometime next year (Shortwave Station News from the HFCC/ASBU B10 Conference, via Jeff White, Sept NASB Newsletter via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. 9945, Yankee Doodle IS 1359 Friday Sept 10, 1400 VOA sign-on by DJ in English, then switching to Indonesian for this Thu- Fri-Sat-only pop music show; 250 kW, 200 degrees via Tinang, PHILIPPINES (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Confirmed on webcast first airing this week of new WORLD OF RADIO 1529, also 9955 from WRMI, at 1500 UT Thursday Sept 9. Next few SW airings should be: Thursday 1900 on WBCQ 7415, 2100 on WRMI 9955, Friday 0330 on WWRB 3185, 1430 on WRMI 9955, 2030 on WWCR 15825. Webcasts available from all of them too. WORLD OF RADIO 1529 confirmed on WRMI 9955, Friday Sept 10 at 1430. Next SW airing should be Friday 2030 on WWCR 15825 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Can anyone check 17520 before 1630, or even after? While DXing with Cumbre is on the WHRI1 webcast, I cannot detect even a carrier on 17520 where it was heard for the last few weeks; and 16m is hopping with other signals. [shortly later]: Then I check the WHR online sked and find that this transmission has been moved without notice to 21630. A signal barely detectable there, so I suppose DWC was on it from 1600 Sat Sept 11. She wrapped up early at 1624, but theme played for 5 minutes on webcast. First quarter hour was mostly, or all quoting Media Network blog items, then Pirating with Chris Lobdell, including clips as usual, recorded off air and not always very readable. 21630 signal much weaker than Portugal 21655, even Spain on 21610, 21570. Meanwhile WORLD OF RADIO 1529 was super-audible via WWCR2 12160 at 1601-1630, with sexy reverb added (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 21630 scheduled from Sept 5th, registered for A-10 already in March. 15-19 UT (Sun 16-19) English to WestAfrica. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Since most registered WHR transmissions are wooden, that does not constitute ``notice`` (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 9370-, WTJC missing again/still, Sept 10 at 1220, 1326; no problem with propagation from some other US signals in the area: at the first time, WHRI/BBC on 9410, nearby NC station VOA on 9885; at the second time, WINB 9265, WWRB 9385. 9370, WTJC still absent at 1934 check Sept 13, and circa 1250 Sept 14. If only there were some other fundamentalist station to fulfill our desperate needs! (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 11830, 11865 and 11910 WYFR all in open carrier Sept 12 at 1250, as Harold Camping & ilk were catching their breaths for apocalyptic nonsense to follow at 1300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. New 5109.73, 0040-0100 06.09, WBCQ, Monticello. English religious talk, jingle mentioning Monticello, hymn, comedian entertaining. WBCQ is back on the air with a strong signal after months of being very weak, 35333. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) Not new (gh) 5110 at 0229 on 12 Sept 10 in English (with ID as WBCQ at 0256) with the Michael Ketter Show. Sounds a bit like a taped filler on 9/11 because some of the stuff is out of date ("2005, three years ago"); also one "wow" in the audio where the tape snagged or something, and slowed down momentarily at 0252. AM clean and USB there at 5109.67 but no discernible LSB element. Lots of conspiracy-theory stuff about displacing poor people from valuable lands. Misc ID's as R NY Int'l, or 11LRNI or WBCQ on 7415 Monticello Maine or "WBCQ.US"; checked back at 0348 but they were into hard rock by that point. Internet listings have 5115 but USB/LSB signal bottoms out at 5109.67 today. Solid signal anyway, on E1+ANLP1 (Stewart, Hamilton, Ont, ODXA yg via DXLD) Where is it listed on 5115? Started on 5100, IIRC, then 5105, and now on 5110v for years (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 13835, at 1258 Sept 14, WEWN carrier is on, but no intentional modulation yet, just squeals coming and going, as if they are fiddling with the squeal-producing module. That`ll be the day, when they finally rid themselves of it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. QSLs: WEWN, 11520, f/d EWTN microphone card in 1 week, v/s Glen Tapley, for report to gtapley @ ewtn.com WINB, 9265, f/d red/white/blue card, program schedule, v/s Fred W. Wise. 1 week for report, $1 to POB 88, Red Lion, PA 17356 (Brandon Jordan, Memphis TN, Sept 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9355, WINB with Brother Scare, Monday Sept 13 at 1934 check; nothing audible on 18710, its second harmonic, like has happened previously with 18530, = 2 x 9265, WINB`s other frequency. Keep an ear on 18710, M-F 15-16 and 18-20, used only for BS on weekdays, in deference to the quasi-defunct WMLK not really using 9265 or any frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. SBE Alert to Members September 9, 2010 --- Members of the SBE EAS Committee and participants in SBE's EAS Exchange have identified a radio commercial being aired for the oil company, ARCO, a subsidiary of BP, which uses simulated EAS header tones at the front of the message. The message contains the spoken phrase, "This is a test." and then the simulated eight second tone. It has been reported that the header tones are played faster than 1100 baud but have tripped some EAS units monitoring stations that air the commercial. Although the problem will only affect stations that both are being monitored and play this specific commercial but the SBE recommends stations check the affected commercial material. The existence of this audio may be considered an FCC violation. For more information and to listen to the commercial, visit the SBE website http://www.sbe.org/pub_sc.php#BPCommercial (via George McClintock, DXLD) Viz.: ARCO Commercial Trips EAS Units (Updated September 10, 2010) Members of the SBE EAS Committee and participants in SBE's EAS Exchange have identified a radio commercial being aired for the oil company ARCO, a subsidiary of BP, which uses EAS header tones at the start of the commercial. The commercial starts with shortened EAS headers, then the spoken phrase, "The following alert is from ARCO [ad material]." The EAS headers are partial, but contain enough information to mimic the start of an EAS header, using the proper frequencies and data rate. When this commercial is played by a station that is being monitored it may cause some EAS equipment to un-mute and print a partial message. While the internal monitor speaker is unmuted, the alert is not relayed by the EAS unit on the monitoring station. Although the problem will only affects stations that both monitor a station that airs the ARCO commercial material and that have a particular type of EAS equipment, the SBE recommends stations check the affected commercial material. The existence of EAS header data in this material might be considered an FCC violation when aired. FCC Reg. 11.45 states, “No person may transmit or cause to transmit the EAS codes or Attention Signal, or a recording or simulation thereof, in any circumstance other than in an actual National, State or Local Area emergency or authorized test of the EAS. An MP3 of the commercial can be downloaded here. http://www.sbe.org/Arco_Spot_with_EAS_header.mp3 A further discussion of this event is occurring on the SBE EAS Exchange (Society of Broadcast Engineers via DXLD) ** U S A. KNAK reception using FM mode on 520 kHz Glenn, I have been receiving a lot of QRM/hash centered on 520 kHz, at night. I could tell it was voice but, very garbled. Been there for at least a week that I know of. Heard it trying for the Bermuda [sic; Bahamas] NDB on 526, anticipating another BCB DX season. Tonight, I switched to FM mode, and I am getting good, but overdeviating, FM reception of a station that is fading in and out from very good readability to being just "hash". It is a station carrying "IRN/USA Radio Network". No station ID discernible at the bottom of the 0600Z hour; was in a fade or didn't ID. Been hearing this for several days, but tonight is the first time I had the idea to switch to FM --- duh! On fade downs, I can hear the INE NDB through the programming. My info: I have been a ham since 1966, and long time SWL, BCB and below listener. Using an ICOM IC-756PROIII and a couple of different HF horizontal Vee antennas for reception. Also have a 30 vertical, but reception is nil compared to the wire antennas, needless to say. I'm in Logandale, NV, a very rural area, with a very low noise floor and a long way from any powerhouse AMers, and the nearby FMers are all music type stations, none up with this "IRN/USA" stuff. I tried going through my Palomar Engineers 4 meg up converter; no change. Any ideas? Is this a problem with my station, or anybody else hearing this anomalous "FM broadcast" on 520 kHz? Not receiving any AM or FM stations currently carrying the program on "normal" channels. [P.S.]: Breaking News! Just got an ID. It's KNAK, in Delta, Utah. ID was at 0700Z. Guess I need to call their engineers? Nominally on 540 AM, but really putting in a good signal here on 520 FM. I can't tell you why or how, but, it is --- TKS 73, (Don DeCaria, NF7R, Logandale, NV, 89021, 0702 UT Sept 13, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Don, Very interesting. So are they also heard on 540 at all? If not, I guess the transmitter is very much out of whack funxioning in FM mode 20 kHz off (Glenn to Don, via DXLD) Glenn, Tks for the response. They were not heard on 540 here, just usual mishmash of stations on that channel at night, but sharp listening did not detect them at all, only on 520 FM. Nil heard this AM in daylight, of course, and only a southern Utah outlet on 540, as usual. 73, (Don DeCaria, 1530 UT, ibid.) Don, There is no other 540 in Utah; Delta is in west central Utah, about 200 miles from your location NE of Las Vegas toward Mesquite close to the NV/UT/AZ border. KNAK is 1000 watts day, supposedly only 13 watts at night, both non-direxional. I expect that is also what you are getting in the daytime, but back on 540 (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Glenn, Tks. I have apparently not kept up with the leap frog of stations and calls, but will certainly be listening tonight! You are right (of course!), it is KNAK on 540 today. Good reception and no problems with signal. I'll see what happens tonite. Thank you again (Don, 1752 UT, ibid.) KNAK back on FM on 520, right at sunset. Nil heard on 540 AM, their assigned allocation, which was good reception here all day. Thanks, Glenn, for helping me on this one. Anybody else in the West hearing this? (Don, NF7R, 0223 UT Sept 14, ibid.) KNAK 540: HS FB 2005. Sometimes stays on day power at night due to chronic xmtr malfunctions 10/08 (Tim Hall, CA, ABDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) This was interesting, I corresponded with Al Tobia out in California about KNAK on or about 520 about a year ago. He was getting it and after numerous attempts I never got it here in Colorado. Can't find an email for Al right now so if someone sees this pass it on to him. I may try some taping tonight to see what I get. 73 (Wayne Heinen, Sept 13, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 720, TEXAS, KSAH, Universal City. 1121-1128 September 12, 2010. Loud with Spanish McDonalds commercial (with English "Chicken McNuggets" and "Happy Meals" not translated to Spanish); another for Applebee's; and something on "Highway 90" mentioned. Into Texicano vocal. Listed slogan is "Norteño 720." WRZN, Hernando, Florida slowly taking over the channel with bird-fed MOYL format oldies, canned ID's (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Callsign named for the sub-audible heterodynes it causes with WGN (gh) ** U S A. A's update: Flagship radio station struggling, but vows to stay on air --- KTRB-860 struggling but will stay on the air http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_16046861 The A's 50,000-watt flagship radio station, KTRB-860, is suddenly in financial turmoil, but a team spokesman said it will not impact the game broadcasts or ancillary programming, at least for the rest of this season. KTRB, owned by Harry and Jim Pappas, went into receivership to Comerica Bank on Friday and some personnel were subsequently terminated, including the station's program director. Syndicated talk- show host Michael Savage also was dropped. But as far as the A's are concerned, the only change is that postgame talk-show host Chris Townsend will be employed by the club instead of the station. "The bank will continue to run the station as is and is honoring the (team's) contract," said Ken Pries, A's vice president of broadcasting and communications. "So as far as the A's are concerned, fans are not going to notice a difference." Rumors flew after the bank takeover, many of them unfounded, including one that the station might possibly go off the air at midnight Friday. "That's absolutely 100 percent incorrect," Pries said. "I know that unequivocally. I've been on the phone with the chief engineer who is still on staff. He assures the station will remain on the air." KTRB sports director Ken Dito, who was retained, said the station will maintain and hopefully improve its 24-hour sports programming format and still plans to broadcast A's and Stanford football games. CARL STEWARD (via Kevin Redding, Sept 11, ABDX via DXLD) Of course, they just closed down their 840 replacement in Modesto (gh) ** U S A. 1080, GEORGIA, WFTD, Marietta. 1200-1225 September 11, 2010. Mexican Spanish format with rancheras, squeaky female announcer taking phone calls, commercials for stores in Atlanta, "la Ley 10-80 A-M" slogan. Fair on the Aqua Guide 705 RDF, with Radio Guamá absent this morning (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. CARDS RETURNING TO LONGTIME RADIO HOME KMOX-AM [sic] Sep 1, 8:49 PM EDT ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The St. Louis Cardinals plan to reunite next year with their longtime radio partner, the powerful AM station KMOX. Officials of the Cardinals and the 50,000-watt station announced Wednesday a multiyear agreement in principle for KMOX to resume its role as the team's flagship station beginning in 2011. KMOX carried Cardinals games for 51 years, starting in 1954. But since 2006 the Cardinals' flagship station has been the smaller KTRS-AM, a move many fans saw as a break with history. Terms of the return to KMOX weren't disclosed. Cardinals president Bill DeWitt III says KTRS has been "a great partner" but the case for going back to KMOX was "very compelling." Announcers Mike Shannon and John Rooney will continue to handle play-by-play coverage (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. 1300, WFFG, Marathon FL. Excellent mid-afternoon September 8, 2010 with news/talk format. 1600, WKWF [Key West] sports format also excellent, of course. Only the latter is audible at the QTH in Clearwater due to WQBN (Hispanic), Temple Terrace (Paul Zecchino/Terry Krueger at Zecchino's QTH, Manasota Key, FL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WDCR-1340 deleted, New Hampshire http://www.webdcr.com/History/WebDCRatPresent/tabid/135/Default.aspx http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/sta_det.pl?Facility_id=68257 http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=12267 It seems in October 2008, station management decided it wasn't cost- effective to continue the operation of the AM station. It had been operated commercially by Dartmouth College students for 50 years. WDCR will continue as a Web-only station. Dartmouth will also continue operation of their more traditionally-formatted commercial FM station WFRD 99.3 (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, Sept 13, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. SIERRA MADRE OFFICIAL LAUNCHES EMERGENCY RADIO STATION Hank Landsberg, project manager, installs a backup radio transmitter for Sierra Madre's WQKW561, "Emergency and Public Radio Station," at the public works maintenance yard in Sierra Madre on Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2010. (SGVN/Staff photo by Watchara Phomicinda) SIERRA MADRE - WQKW561 is on the air. Officials on Thursday launched the city's first-ever emergency radio station, broadcasting on AM-1630 on the dial, which will issue alerts and other vital communications during floods, fires, quakes and other emergencies. Resident Hank Landsberg, winner of the city's 2010 Public Safety Award, spearheaded the project and helped cut the ribbon at the new radio station inside City Hall. The new AM radio station is licensed and regulated by the Federal Communications Commission as a "Travelers Information Station." In times of emergency, AM-1630 will broadcast important emergency information to residents, even during power outages, officials said. During a fire, earthquake, flood, or mudslide, the station will provide information residents will need. Photo Gallery Sierra Madre official launches emergency radio station Shown is the radio transmitter for Sierra Madre's WQKW561, "Emergency and Public Radio Station," at the public works maintenance yard in Sierra Madre on Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2010. The new station covers the city of Sirra Madre and surrounding areas at 1630 on the AM dial, and will be used to broadcast emergency. (SGVN/Staff photo by Watchara Phomicinda) Sierra Madre also is bringing back its famous warning horn. Three blasts from the horn will notify residents to tune into AM-1630 for up-to-date emergency information. The Sierra Madre Fire and Public Works departments will be conducting intermittent testing of the horn during the next few weeks. Beginning in November, the horn will again sound daily at 5 p.m., seven days a week, 365 days a year. In non-emergency times, AM-1630 will broadcast information about non- commercial community events, including the city's annual Wistaria Festival, the Art Fair, Fourth of July event, etc. Residents also can publicize an event on the station. For information on how to publicize an event on AM-1630, visit http://twww.cityofsierramadre.com The city spent about $23,900 to help create the station, with residents and local businesses contributing another $13,000 to make the project a reality. Event Details: Date: 9/9/10 5:00:PM A Location: City Hall 232 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. Sierra Madre [CA] 91024 626-355-7135 Source: http://bit.ly/cSN9fB (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) Sierra Madre is not a remote mountain, but an 11K [2000y] suburb of LA just east of Pasadena. See illustration of equipment. One ought to be able to set up a 10-watt station for a lot less than $37K. Someone makes large profit? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. WQFA538, 1670, TIS from Des Moines --- It is always fun to catch TIS's by skip on the X-band channels! Last night during what were mundane conditions for distant skip, I noted this IA DOT TIS at times coming thru WTDY and the QRM behind it with Des Moines area interstate traffic info. I-35, I-80, and I-235 mentioned. Relog but the clearest that I've heard this and a good example of BOG directivity since Des Moines is west and pesky WTDY 100 times stronger and lots closer to the NW. Last season I had the two eastern IA TIS's on 1680 also, but they weren't in last night, if they still are on. 73 KAZ Barrington IL (Neil Kazaross, Sept 9, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. 1690, FLORIDA, Pinellas County Emergency Management, Largo. 0938 and 1403 September 11, 2010. Just running an annoying, big open carrier on all the sychro transmitters (Largo, Clearwater and presumably St. Petersburg). Audio was running fine yesterday (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W Florida Low Power Radio Stations: http://sites.google.com/site/floridadxn/ DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Below is a link about the FCC field of in Vancouver, WA tracking down a unlicensed station broadcasting on 1710 kHz in Portland Oregon. http://www.fcc.gov/eb/FieldNotices/2003/DOC-301194A1.html (Dennis Vroom, Salmon Creek, WA, 10 Sept, IRCA via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) Presumably this is the Russian religious station? The only thing that surprises me is how long the FCC took to bust them. There appears to be a network of these Russian stations in the Pacific NW, all on 1710. Wonder whether the others have been, or will be busted as well?? (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria BC, ibid.) Interesting. The one in the Puget Sound on 1710 is still on tonight with Russian music. Weak, but there off the NE EWE. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside Oregon, ibid.) Pat, The Seattle area Russian station on 1710 is just a level 3 carrier here. I recently purchase a "Talking House" transmitter at Goodwill. It works and allows up to 90 seconds of recording on the build in recorder (Dennis Vroom, Salmon Creek, WA, ibid.) Walt, About 6 months ago I tracked a Russian station on 1710 kHz to a neighborhood near 164th street in Vancouver [WA]. Very expensive homes in this neighborhood. Have not heard this station this summer in my visits to the area. It seems that the Seattle area Russian station on 1710 is still transmitting? In the Portland, OR area we have a Resident agent office while Seattle has a District office (Dennis Vroom, Salmon Creek, WA, ibid.) Dennis, I can verify that the Puget Sound Russian is still on. I just heard it a few minutes ago. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside Oregon, ibid.) That is cool, Dennis. How much was the talking house tx? Is it 100mw? How far does it get out? (Patrick Martin, Seaside Oregon, ibid.) Patrick, I paid $12.99 for the Talking House transmitter. The Goodwill store had 3 of them. When I plugged it into a ground-fault outlet, it tripped the breaker. It works when plugged into a regular AC outlet. 4 ft wire for a antenna in our den, I could hear it a house or two away on the Escape radio. On the bottom of the transmitter it says that it complies with Part 15 of FCC rules of regulations. Last time I visited the Goodwill store the other two were gone. One sold on e-bay last week for around $32.00 (Dennis Vroom, Salmon Creek, WA, ibid.) One of the "more upscale" Goodwill's that I shop had two or three at one time, for five dollars each. All had a cassette player in them. Might have been neat to experiment with. 73, (Dave in Indy Hascall, ibid.) 1710 kHz 1-watt DX test from Ohio: see PROPAGATION ** U S A. SPECIAL EVENT (Highway to a DX Party!). The Citrus Belt Amateur Radio Club of San Bernardino, California, will host (probably one of the most fun special event activities) the 11th annual "Route 66 On The Air" special event between September 11-19th. The purpose of this event is to offer amateur radio operators a fun way to "Relive the Ride" of their own memories of Route 66, and to celebrate the highway's 84th anniversary. The U.S. Highway 66 established in 1926, was the first major improved highway to link the west coast with the nations heartland. Through stories, songs, and TV shows, the highway came to symbolize the spirit of the freedom of the open road, inspiring many to see America. Look for the following 20 stations (three are rovers) operating in or around the major cities along the old "Route 66" from Santa Mónica, California, to Chicago, Illinois: Stations City Club -------- ------------ -------- ------------ --------- ---- W6A Santa Monica, CA Westside Amateur Radio Club W6B Los Angeles, CA Westside Amateur Radio Club W6C San Bernardino, CA Citrus Belt Amateur Radio Club W6D Victorville, CA Victor Valley Amateur Radio Club W6E Barstow, CA Barstow Amateur Radio Club W6F Kingman, AZ Hualapai Amateur Radio Club W6G Flagstaff, AZ Northern Arizona DX Association W6H Albuquerque, NM New Mexico Amateur Radio Alliance W6I Amarillo, TX Chapter 141, QCWA W6J Elk City, OK Western Oklahoma Amateur Radio Club W6K Oklahoma City, OK W6K Oklahoma City W6L Tulsa, OK Tulsa Amateur Radio Club W6M Riverton, KS Valley Center Amateur Radio Club W6N Joplin, MO Joplin Amateur Radio Club W6O Lebanon, MO Lebanon Amateur Radio Club W6P St. Louis, MO St. Louis Amateur Radio Club W6Q Chicago, IL Six Meter Club of Chicago ROVER STATIONS ------------ ---- W6R ROVER 1 Harry S. Rouse & Steve Hammer W6S ROVER 2 Glen Kesselring W6T ROVER 3 Northern Arizona DX Association Special event stations are expected to be found in the vicinity of the following frequencies. (Look for digital modes in the standard band segments for such mode) All frequencies +/- QRM: CW - 3533, 7033, 10110, 14033, 18080, 21033, 24900, 28033 and 50033 SSB - 3866, 7266, 14266, 18164, 21366, 24966, 28466 and 50166 kHz Digi - 3580, 7070, 10140, 14070, 18100, 21070, 24920 and 28120 kHz R66 MOBILE Operations - Any amateurs operating while actually driving along Route 66 during the special event period are encouraged to take part in "Route 66 On The Air", by using the designation "mobile 66" for SSB or "/m66" for CW after their callsigns. All other amateur radio operators are welcome to contact these mobile operators. REPEATERS - Some of the participating clubs will also be operating this event from their local VHF/UHF repeaters. Check the ARRL repeater guide for possible repeater frequencies, if your in the local area. Each participating club will issue their own QSL card commemorating this event. QSL information is available on the Web at: http://www.w6jbt.org/Route66OTAEvent/General%20Pages/QSL%20Information.htm For more details about the event and the certificate that is available, please visit the "Route 66 OTA Site" at: http://www.w6jbt.org/Route66OTAEvent/Index.htm [note caps] (Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 976, September 13, 2010, Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW, Provided by BARF80.ORG (Cleveland, Ohio), via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) ** U S A. KTSU 90.9 FM RDS Showing "KHRS" --- I was at home today doing some "honey-do" tasks, listening to my Radiosophy HD100 HD radio that is next to my laptop when I noticed that local FM station KTSU 90.9 from Texas Southern University was showing strange call-letters on their RDS ID. BTW, they have a terrific program called "The Wonderful World of Jazz" hosted by Sheldon P. Nunn during the morning. If you can get their web stream, it's worth a listen!! Anyway, instead of their usual "KTSU 90.9," I noticed that the radio was showing "KHRS 90.9." Given the recent hullabaloo over the sale of Rice University's KTRU 91.7 FM to the University of Houston, I didn't know if this was a "pre-cursor" to an unannounced sale or not, so I called the station to find out. The receptionist (sorry, I didn't get her name) was very kind and understanding. Evidently she had been numerous getting phone calls like mine because she knew exactly what was wrong! Something had gone wrong with the software that encodes the PI code. They have a new encoder on order, but are unsure as to when it will arrive. Until then, they are ID'ing via RDS with the call letters of an FM station in Winthrop, MN, on 105.9 MHz!!! 73 and Great DX, (Steve N5WBI Ponder, Clear Lake City, TX, Sept 13, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. Greek FM in NJ & NYC --- I've heard a Greek & World "Musical Odyssey" Sundays from 1300-1500 Eastern Time from Princeton, New Jersey station WPRB-103.3 also on the web (2 hours from 17 UT in summer, 18 winter). It seems to have more Greek music than world music unless they mean music from Greeks around the world. Good listening. NYC has Greek programming available from Aktina-FM (Greek & Greek Cypriot musical, cultural & folk arts) and from Cosmos-FM (Greek American Public Information System "Hellenic Public Radio") all via WNYE-91.5 (FM & HD). Cosmos FM programs are Sat 1200 to 1530 and Sunday 1200 to 1330 EDT/EST. Aktina FM programs are Sat 1530 to 2000 and Sunday 1330 to 1800 EDT/EST. from (Wells Perkins in N.J., Sept 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Bill Hepburn`s tropo maps showed activity between here and the Kansas City area for the morning of Sept 11, and I was already getting KWCH RF19 with the antenna pointed toward OKC. Turned around, most of the Wichita stations were visible, not including KSNW-45 for some reason, so I bandscanned for more interesting further signals. Not interesting programmatically, most of them with infomercials, kidvid on Saturday, or gospel huxters. ALL TIMES UT. At 1435, RF 14 displayed DTV 24-1 KSASDT, same as on RF 26 Wichita. W9WI.com shows this is KOCW, Hoisington KS, 40 kW, 163m, as a DT-CP relaying KSAS. Hoisington is a 3-kiloperson town (2000y) just north of Great Bend. Does not merit a displayed ID of its own, even tho bigger than a translator. At 1448, RF34 had DTV 4-1 WDRF DT displayed on the manual tuning menu --- I think! Very hard to tell and A from an R on this font and this resolution, but sure looked like an R. Anyhow, it`s really WDAF, as correctly displayed in the upper right when directly tuned. Lower right has Fox / 4 / Kansas City constant bug, and the 4 is large. Still in at 1504 check. At 1451, RF21 had DTV 16-1 KTRJ-D1, TBN with the usual 5 virtual channels like KDOR, KTBO, and presumably every TBN outlet. Oops, another A/J confusion. Maybe I need to change the font on the DTV converter: I think you can do that but haven`t looked into it; or is it just for the closed captioning. This is really KTAJ in St Joseph MO, megawatt ERP, 258 miles. And it was overcoming KAKE-21 Wichita. At 1453, RF18 with DTV 19-1 KCPT-1 with pledge drive from Kansas City imagining it`s ``tonight`` --- more proof that PBS station pledge drive pitches with all the phones ringing are phony, pre-recorded, probably generic, not even from the station in question. Or they may mix them in with recognizable local personalities. 19-2 KCPT-2 had kidvid; not sure if there was a 19-3 as signal was losing out. At 1452, rotated antenna to NW toward Dodge City KS as there were bad- signal bars showing on RF6; I often see that but no decode. But now enough to visiblize DTV 6-1 KBSD-DT, one of the few VHF stations which has kept its original channel, and the closest lowbander to me. But it`s just a full-power relay of KWCH-19 Wichita, and with the same DTV 6-2 KBSD-WX continuously. I vaguely recall in the distant past these Wichita relays around KS had some local news origination, part of 10 pm? but no longer? At 1500, RF22 with DTV 2-1 KSNC-DT, Great Bend, going into Qubo kidvid. No 2-2 here either like parent KSNW-45 with one channel only. At 1505, RF41 with DTV 38-1 KMCI-TV, in and out. I don`t think there was a 38-2, but not sure. W9WI.com shows it`s independent, from Lawrence KS, with four different entries and four different powers from 365 to 1000 kW, whichever may be in effect currently. At 1508, RF42 with DTV 41-1 KSHB-TV, 3-2-1 Penguins kidvid; while 41-2 had KSHB-WX, Action Weather for Sedalia at the moment, same graphic format as KFOR-27 DTV 4-2. KSHB is the NBC for Kansas City since WDAF blew that network off long ago to become a minion of Murdoch. In those days, real channel 4 was thought to be a tremendous advantage over any UHF channel, ha ha. Some signals remained past 1600, even 1700 UT, but weakening and I ceased chasing them, not expecting to find anything further than St. Joe (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I had Wichita signals in strong this morning with KWCH-19 in with the antenna pointed east towards Kansas City. Nothing noted from Oklahoma, but KAAS-17 Salina, KOOD-16, KSNC-22 Great Bend, and KOCW-14 Hoisington were in. KAAS-TV also uses 24-1 with KSAS call letters as does KOCW so often I see the same PSIP information on channels 14, 17 and 26. WDAF-TV (now Fox on channel 4) was the first station on the air in Kansas City starting with NBC in 1948. KCTY-25 was the second station but didn't go on the air until 1953. Later that year KMBC-WHB-9 and KCMO-5 also went on so after 5 years with one channel, KC suddenly had four. Both KTAJ-21 (licensed to St. Joseph, MO) and KMCI-41 (licensed to Lawrence, KS) now transmit from Kansas City, MO. KTAJ (TBN) operated on analog channel 16 from St. Joseph and during the transition at a very low power on channel 21. I only saw it once here. KQTV-7, ABC in St. Joseph, is now DX ub Topeka. It was viewable here with interference when it was on analog channel 2. Yesterday morning Springfield, MO was in on channels 19, 23 and 28. Maps look good for tomorrow (Dave Pomeroy, Topeka, Kansas, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Oklahoma City (15 and 50) made it in this morning along with stations from Des Moines (16 and 23 with 19-1 KDMI on 23.2), Wichita, Omaha, Tulsa, Council Bluffs 33 over local TBN 33, Red Oak (IA) and strong signals on 14 Hoisington (KS) and 16 Bunker Hill (KS). KBSH-7 Hays, KBSH-6 Dodge City, KAKE-10 Wichita, 8 and 12 Hutchinson and KHAS-5 Hastings (NE). I had hoped for some signals to the east but the same old stuff from north, south and west were in. Too few channels in use today does limit things. Dave Pomeroy (Topeka, Kansas, Sept 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) KS Tropo all since 0903 CDT :--- KOOD-DT-16 Hayes, KS 445 mi --- KSCW-DT-12 Wichita, KS ---KTWU-DT-11 Topeka, KS --- KSNT-DT-27 Topeka --- KSNW-DT-45 Wichita, KS 410 mi --- WIBW-DT-13 Topeka, KS 303 mi --- Hoisington, KS KOCW-DT-14 continues to avoid me --- 73, (Jeff Kadet, Macomb, IL http://www.oldtvguides.com/DXPhotos/ 1637 UT 12 Sept, WTFDA via DXLD) ** VATICAN [non]. 9830, have been wanting to reconfirm whether VR via Sackville is still in Spanish instead of scheduled English at 1200- 1215: yes, finally tuned in early enough Sept 12, at 1210 papal news in Spanish, closing announcement claiming to be only on 7305, 9610 and 11910, i.e. a playback of the unmentioned 0100, and/or 0145 and/or 0320 broadcasts when, BTW, 11910 is not shown on VR`s printed schedule, tho it is A-10 registered direct at 0100-0230; is it really on then? Then VR IS for another few minutes from 1211 or 1212. VR printed sked claims English daily at 1200, but EiBi says it`s Mon- Sat only with Spanish extended on Sundays only. Seems I have heard Spanish 1200+ any day of the week, but need to recheck non-Sundays now too. 9830 had some weak broadcast CCI under, but no RTTY at the moment. CNR1 listed, and one reference also has Vietnam on 9830 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM. 7220, duet of romantic music, unknown language, Sept 10 at 1225 fair vs stronger VOA Korean 7225. Probably VOV Chinese service as scheduled, 100 kW, 27 degrees also USward, altho a Geermu, China transmitter is also listed here. Searching for reports of this frequency, most of them last few months concern Eritrea or Central African Republic, but not at this hour. 7220, Sept 12 at 1237, YL in Russian, with QRhaM and in skirt of VOA Korean 7225. As scheduled, VOV per Aoki with alternating semi-hours in Russian at 1130, 1230; Chinese at 1100, 1200, 1300. 100 kW, 27 degrees USward from Hanoi-Sontay site (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CANADA ** VIRGIN ISLANDS BRITISH. 780, ZBVI, Tortola 12Sep10 0000 - Man with "From 300 feet above Roberts Bay, Tortola this is radio station zed- BVI" - Good (Chris Black, Cape Cod, Perseus and 40 x 100 Super Loop, ABDX via DXLD) I've had the pleasure of showing up at Zed BVI's studio and transmitter bldg one mid-evening, only to be turned back at the door by the lone operator. The tower is between the office/studio building and the main drag and while, could be about quarterwavelength, clearly does not clear any of the NW/SE oriented mountainside. I wonder how this range affects propagation in that direction. Maybe since 1999 they've relocated the studios to something with a better view, and to get out from under the 10 kW RF onsite. The area of the towerbase looked a bit unkempt. It also was noteworthy to me that I could get ZBVI on any radio inside my steel ship - ground is everything, and from across the bay I'm sure between having the tower's ground system partly in the salt water and my ship's hull grounded to same helped out the situation. It was a rare exception where I could make airchecks without leaving the skin of the ship. Causal DX listening never seems to produce ZBVI here in Palm Coast, FL. I've never taken the time to try hard enough (Ron Gitschier, Palm Coast, FL, ibid.) Here is nice sign/off log from ZBVI early this month: 780, VIRGIN ISLANDS (BRITISH), ZBVI, Tortola, 05Sep10 0300 - Man with "From 300 feet above Roberts Bay, Tortola this is radio station zed- BVI" and then woman with "Zed-BVI now concludes its broadcast day. Zed-BVI operates at a frequency of 780 kHz on your AM dial with a power of 10,000 watts. Our studios and transmitter are located on Roberts Bay, Tortola, British Virgin Islands. We hope you have enjoyed our broadcast day, enjoy us again tomorrow" then a hymn, "God be with you til me meet again" and National anthem. - Recorded - Very Good. Best de (Chris, Cape Cod, Black, ABDX via DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 6297.00, ALGERIA (CLANDESTINE), RASD, Rabouni. 2125-2130 September 5, 2010. Clear and fair even at this rather early hour in Florida for this time of year. Pop-ish Arabic vocals (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6248.32, RASD, *0601-0620+, Sept 12, sign on with Western Sahara National Anthem. Qur`an at 0602. Arabic talk at 0612. Middle-Eastern type music. Slightly off their usual 6297. Was on 6248.38 at sign on, drifting down to 6248.32 by 0620. This is my unidentified station that I recently reported. Fair but weak rtty QRM. Must use ECSS-LSB to avoid Equatorial Guinea on 6250 (Brian Alexander, PA, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX Listening Digest) What enlightened frequency management (gh) ARGELIA, 6248.3, Radio Nacional República Arabe Saharaui, 0740-0752, 12-09, locutor, árabe, comentarios, menciona varias veces "Saharauia". 35433. Escuchada por primera vez por mi parte en esta frecuencia, luego de que últimamente estuviese transmitiendo en 6297 kHz (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Escucha realizada en casco urbano de Lugo, Grundig Satellit 500, Antena de cable, 8 metros, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ALGERIA, 6297.09, RASD was here, not 6248 kHz, on Sept 12, at 1820 UT. (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ARGELIA, 6297, Radio Nacional de la República Arabe Saharaui, 0757- 0802*, 13-09, locutor, locutora, comentarios en árabe, himno y cierre a las 0802. 34333. Ayer esta emisora transmitía por la frecuencia de 6248.3 kHz (escucada el 12-09 entre las 0740-0752) . Hoy ya en su frecuencia habitual de 6297 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 700, MÉXICO unidentified(s). 1101-1115 September 12, 2010. Ranchera vocal, female Spanish announcer, into choral national anthem (different one than most stations play, smaller choral group, not as beautifully-executed) at late 1103 start time, talk (maybe news) after, but now mixing with another ranchera station, maybe another Mexican. All fading down rapidly. Looks like a fun channel to sit on at sunrise, or maybe one to pull your hairs out because of (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 700, (Central American). *1114-1118 September 12, 2010. While listening to the fading Mexican(s), an unfamiliar anthem (small band rendition) popped up at 1114, presume sign-on. Not the Honduran anthem, leaving El Salvador or Guatemala the best candidates. Far too late for the Dominican Republic at this location, and I don't think it was the Costa Rica anthem, and also unlikely propagation at this time. Anyone else? (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 918 kHz, 10 SEP, 2226 UT, (possibly Cambodia?), Rolled up on-freq at 2226 hoping to find NRK, but there was already a station on there playing light R&B. I know the sign on time is variable, so I sat listening and the same song was played in a loop until 2300 when there was some talk by a man. Signal was quite weak, so I was unable to clearly hear the language. Seems to me that if Phnom Penh was really at 120 kW, it would be a much better signal, unless a directional antenna. There is also a 100 kW Radio Thailand station on frequency, but this audio was not // to any of the other RT channels. I'll try again after sundown and see what I get. Not a bad day for logging. Sure wish I could get a positive on NRK above. 73s (Al Muick, Pattaya, Thailand, WinRadio G303e, 10m Longwire/Randomwire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 1210.1, 1052-1100 September 12, 2010. Het (no audio coming through) on high side of 1210, measurement approximate. Not Sancti Spíritus or presumed WNMA, both spot-on 1210 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Glenn - I had an unID on 1520 kHz last night (Sept 12) from 2330 UT to 0030 UT (Sept 13) under WWKB Buffalo (tho at times was stronger than WWKB), with non stop jazz music, and no ID. Wondering if you have any idea who it may be. 73s (Bill Bergadano, KA2EMZ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Certainly not KOKC our dominant here, with news talk. Looking thru the NRC AM Log 2010 listings for 1520, of course nobody has a pure jazz format. One not too far from you might be possible: WIZZ Greenfield MA, 10 kW daytimer, nostalgia. Altho the time should have been close to sunset if not past. Other DXers in the northeast could probably help you nail this. [Hmm, could IZZ denote JZZ? Only one letter off]. 73, (Glenn to Bill, via DXLD) Tnx Glenn - weirdest thing, no toh ID, not one announcer at all, a DX mystery! (Bill Bergadano, ibid.) Could it have been WTHE Mineola, NY? The format is usually gospel, but maybe they were doing some testing or running a brokered program (David Goren, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED [and non]. 1539.962, Latin American. 1040-1100 September 6, 2010. In the pile-up of stations with ZNS1 off, someone with Spanish vocals -- some but not all Mexican ranchera-type and not Christian -- on the low side. Also fading in and out of the mix: KGNA, Gretna, Louisiana (Spanish Christian vocals, English ID top-of-hour) and an unidentified with English China Radio International relay, possibly KZMP, University Park, TX or CHIN, Toronto, WNWR, Philadelphia -- all Googling hits as "China Radio International 1540" and suspect the Texan, as it has always dominated the channel best here (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The closest to 1539.962 in the MW offset list http://www.myradiobase.de/mediumwave/mwoffset.txt is: 1539.958 USA WYNC (Yanceyville, NC) 20070208 But the NRC AM Log 2010 lists it as urban contemporary/gospel Altho not necessarily complete and up to date, the CRI website lists NAm AM/FM relays including on 1540, CHIN (really 7 pm to 7 am per its own website), Philadelphia and KGBC Galveston, the Texan which has had lots of publicity for not quite getting CRI into Houston; AFAIK not KZMP which I sometimes hear here, never noted CRI on it. Both are below 1 kW at night, which should be in effect before 6 am CDT. To get to this, http://english.cri.cn/7146/2010/03/30/2141s559997.htm You have to go from the homepage to radio to this: http://english.cri.cn/08webcast/webcast_way.html and click on North America rather than thru the Station link at the top of http://english.cri.cn/cribb/index.htm which goes nowhere. 73, Glenn Hauser, ibid.) See also CHINA [non] Thanks for the info and links. Based on others monitoring here in FL (namely Bill Harrison), it appears CHIN is the source of CRI that I am hearing in the mix. Also, several (Bill Harrison, David Crawford) are confirming WREJ, Richmond, Virginia, IDing as "Rejoice 1540" at 1539.98. So, there are at least two domestics off-frequency, plus what I have been hearing in Spanish (seemingly Central America or Mexico). 1539.958 1539.962 1539.98 Messy! (Terry Krueger, FL, Sept 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 1611, 1115-1130 September 10, 2010. Weak but stable carrier, gone by mid-morning check. USB needed to avoid Tampa International Airport's TIS. Who? (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 1670, 1118-1430+ September 10, 2010. Odd, unstable, rapidly warbling transmitter (sounding somewhat like the Cuban wobblers, only faster). LOBS about 240/60-degrees. Heard on multiple radios. WFSM, Dry Branch, GA atop it, and not the source. Florida Low Power Radio Stations: http://sites.google.com/site/floridadxn/ (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. [Re 10-36, 3600, possible sixth harmonic of]: CUBA. 600 | CMKV, R. Rebelde, Urbano Noris, AUG 12 0200 - Rebelde news about Congo, Guantanamo, // louder 670 (Mark Connelly, WA1ION, South Yarmouth, Cape Cod, MA, USA (GC= 41.6933 N / 70.1912 W) (= 41? 41.6' N / 70? 11.5' W) Receiver: Microtelecom Perseus operated with MSI Wind U100 netbook Antenna: west-null SuperLoop, 9 m vertical by 22 m horizontal, base height 1 m, NRC-AM via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 6961.95, 1849-2016, Sept 12, something there in the clear but too weak for me to be able to draw any conclusions from contents. Seemed mainly songs and sparse announcements? Unstable, had drifted up to 6962.01 at 1854 then slowly went down to 6961.70 at 2016 tune-out. Would like to think this is Somalia, very possibly R Shabelle [see SOMALIA], or is my TenTec playing tricks on me again? 73, (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello, frequency often in use by Jan van Gent European pirate radio station. Was on at that time according to pirate radio chat http://www.easyshopdiscountzone.com/radio/pirate/english/ though not heard here. European pirate radio QRGs 6912 6960 6962 band becoming quite popular. 73 (Achim Brückner, http://www.freeradio.de http://www.dxradio.de RX: NRD 525 GF, ANT: ARA 30, QTH: Detmold 5156 N 852 E Germany, WORLD OF RADIO 1530, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 9752.5, approx. 2-way Spanish SSB intruders, intermittently at 1306-1312+ Sept 13; het from 9750 broadcaster (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9770.2, Carrier here every morning, including today Sept 11, circa 1130. South Korea or something else? 9771.8, another carrier, same timeframe as 9770.2. (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Re 10-36, Trying to identify 11070: ``You mean you were hearing 11070 and 11150 on both the Eton and the Roberts??`` It's strange but yes I did use two receivers at the same location to double check in case it was a harmonic. I will try again later and hope to get an ident (Gary Drew, SH, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Maybe the - minus - 900 kHz IF spurious in 25mb on GAZ's rx in United Kingdom ? CANADA, 11990, RCI Sackville in Spanish S=9+20dB signal on Sept 11 at 2200 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No, 11070 UNIDENTIFIED. 17865, wide distorted FMy spur with music, Sept 14 at 1306. Quickly searched for a match on 16m, such as strong signal from WYFR 17795, but spur quit just as WYFR went from music to talk, possibly below threshold (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Did I hear you say correctly that NOBODY has donated to WOR in three weeks, per the most recent WOR at about 16 minutes into the show (?) (I d/l the MP3 version last night because I missed it on WRN). Are radio people/listeners that CHEAP? I just sent, via PAYPAL a donation to WOR. I sure appreciate your re-printing a couple of articles this past year, including my January 2010 article "DXing on the Baltic Sea" which appeared in the VUD. I believe you mentioned my www.archive.org site on "The Best of Hawaiian AM/MW DX (1986-91)" page there. Hits are increasing hugely - likely because of your graciousness to mention it. My own "WR-3" natural VLF-radio receiver orders http://www.auroralchorus.com/wr3gx2.htm are coming in droves now, after a long year, in 2009, without any - so my own business's "recession" ended earlier this year. But I could not believe my ears when you said three weeks had gone by without a donation/financial support to WOR, so I fired up the computer (was going to keep it off today for a needed break) and sent the dough! It's the least I could do. Thanks for your "priceless" information in WOR and DXLD's! Best 73, (Steve McGreevy - N6NKS, Keeler, CA, Sept 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks to Bill Patalon, Baltimore MD who sent a contribution via PayPal (gh) Thanks to Benn Kobb, for a contribution via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com (gh) Thanks to Don DeCaria, also via PayPal (gh) All four above acknowledged on WORLD OF RADIO 1530 (gh) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ JAPANESE QSL COLLECTION ON WEB My QSL collection from 1956 is now on the web. At http://picasaweb.google.com/jswc5160?showall=true#100 you can see it. This page was exhibited by efforts of Mr. Koichiro Itou (member of Japan SW Club), Iwate prefecture. I am very happy that many old and young listeners over the world visit this page. By the way, this page is now on the way. The new QSL will be added (Shinichi Shiraishi, Sendai, Japan, Aug 28, DSWCI DX Window Sept 8 via DXLD) eMail ADDRESS OF INTERNATIONAL RADIO STATIONS I'll want inform you that my German friend have in Internet a long list of eMail address of International radio stations and told me to inform all my friends that he likes receive news about eventually mistakes of this list, so I send to you the web side of my friend that is http://www.email.dxer.info While his mail address is: hf.dumrese @ gmx.de Well dear friend hoping that this news you like receive, I say good bye and '73 from north of Italy (GABRIELLI Dario, IT - 30031 DOLO (Ve), ITALY, Sept 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FINDING SIGNAL STRENGTH BY LAT/LONG COORDINATES http://www.v-soft.com/ZipSignal/default.htm is a website that allows the user to find the strongest AM signals (in terms of field strength in dBuV/m) by typing a Zip Code into the search engine. What I'm looking for is something that narrows it down even further -- finding the strongest AM signals at any given lat/long coordinates on planet Earth. Does such a website exist? 73, (Rick Dau, South Omaha, Nebraska, 41:12:07N, 95:58:22W, NRC-AM via DXLD) I don't know of anything offhand, but if I find something, I'll post. Since these must be based on predicted coverage, and knowing that many variables can affect signal levels in any given area, I wouldn't believe too strongly in anything these tables have to say. As an example, I punched my zip code into the site. It says there should be 1.59 mV/M in my town. Maybe across town at town hall, but in my driveway, I have approximately 0.35 mV/M for WOR. That's a significant difference. I've never measured the signal at my town hall, but my home is rotated around and into the null of WOR's signal. Town hall would be coming out of the null into the bubble of the main lobe. But, this would make a great tool for station sales departments (Thomas R. Ray, III CPBE, AMD, DRB, Vice President/Corporate Director of Engineering, Buckley Radio, WOR News Talk Radio 710HD, ibid.) This is worldwide: http://www.fmscan.org/index.php?r=m 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ABDX via DXLD) SHORTWAVE MUSIC +++++++++++++++ Shortwave as music group name, album name, album inspiration, and opera component. Posted: 08 Sep 2010 My Chemical Toilet, 6 September 2010, Stuart Waterman: "Aeroplane are the people who did ... this amazing remix of The Shortwave Set... ." Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC), 2 September 2010: "Shortwave Society from Knoxville 'uses elements from orchestral and electronic soundscapes to create a unique accompaniment to their off-kilter pop songs.'" Under the Radar, 6 September 2010: "The Transistors are set to release their long awaited new EP - Flux Pentaphile. The EP follows their debut album Short Wave released last year and was again recorded with the legendary Bob Frisbee on a frenzied trip to Auckland this time last year." The Pitch (Kansas City), 3 September 2010: "Known for its psychedelic electronic beats and rowdy live shows, Sound Tribe Sector 9 (known to fans as STS9) purveys genre-spanning electro-funk jams. The group's latest album, Ad Explorata, is based on mysterious voices that band members overheard on a shortwave radio and traced to Big Sur, where they found a metal box full of black-ops military paraphernalia from the Cold War." SILive.com (Staten Island), 5 September 2010: "Galileo, Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer have inspired contemporary operas. Now it is physicist Raymond Chiao’s turn. His work in superconductivity and gravity waves has inspired Mikel Rouse’s 'Gravity Radio,' a song cycle (multichannel video, string quartet, short-wave radio and art songs)." (See http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=9580 for linx, via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ SHORTWAVE DESCENDS ON SWITZERLAND THE B10 HFCC/ASBU CONFERENCE By Jeff White Our trip to Switzerland began on a troubling note. As the American Airlines flight was about to take off from the Tampa airport, the pilot noted that one of the engines was not accelerating properly. Fortunately, he decided that it would be best to abort the takeoff and return to the terminal. To make a long story short, we ended up arriving in Zurich exactly 24 hours later than planned – on Friday instead of Thursday. The HFCC/ASBU B10 Coordination Conference would begin the following Monday, August 2, and my wife Thais and I had a lot of preparation to do. However, Switzerland is a very efficient country where everything works like clockwork, and the conference hotel was no exception. The people at the Movenpick Zurich-Regensdorf Hotel had everything under control, and HFCC Chairman Oldrich Cip and Secretary Vladislav Cip arrived on time on Thursday (by train from the Czech Republic), so preparations were well underway by the time we arrived on Friday. This was the semi-annual seasonal conference where shortwave frequencies were coordinated on a worldwide basis for the B10 (i.e. winter) season which begins on October 31, 2010 and runs through March 27, 2011. The NASB co-sponsored the conference along with our longtime associate member Thomson Broadcast & Multimedia, based in Turgi, about 40 minutes northwest of Zurich. Besides myself and Thais from WRMI, there were several other representatives from NASB members and associate members: Glen Tapley – NASB Vice President -- from WEWN, Jerry Plummer from WWCR, George Ross and Shakti Verma from Trans World Radio, Ken Lingwood and Stephan Schaa from HCJB, Claudius Dedio and Giuseppe Cirillo of Adventist World Radio, Ludo Maes and Mireya Martinez of TDP in Belgium, and multiple representatives from TDF of France, VT Communications and the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau. The U.S.-based private shortwave stations attend the HFCC/ASBU conferences as part of the FCC delegation, which was headed by Tom Lucey. This was not the first time the NASB had sponsored an HFCC/ASBU conference. The first time we hosted the meeting was in Mexico City in February of 2005. The second time was in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic just a year ago in August of 2009. At the closing reception and dinner at the edge of the beach in Punta Cana, sponsored by Thomson Broadcast and Multimedia, Thomson's John White suggested that we consider organizing a future HFCC conference in Switzerland near their plant in Turgi. One thing led to another, and by early 2010 we were planning for the B10 Conference in Zurich. We were a bit concerned that attendance in Zurich might be low due to the world economic crisis and the fact that prices in Switzerland are among the highest in Europe. But we attempted to keep the costs as low as possible under the circumstances, and the turnout was even higher than expected. The final number of delegates was 112 from about 48 different countries and organizations. Most people arrived in Zurich – or more precisely in the Zurich suburb of Regensdorf, where the Movenpick Hotel is located – on Sunday, August 1, and the B10 Conference began on August 2. Joseph Troxler, head of Thomson in Turgi, welcomed delegates to Switzerland with a brief explanation of the country's geography, culture and politics. He explained that Switzerland is a landlocked country geographically divided between the Alps, the central plateau and the Jura mountains. The country has a population of 7.6 million, who are divided into three main linguistic and cultural regions: German, French and Italian, with a few valleys where a little-known language called Romansch is spoken. Switzerland is a federal parliamentary democracy. “For any change in the constitution, a referendum is mandatory; for any change in a law, a referendum can be requested,” explained Josef. “Through referenda, citizens may challenge any law voted by federal parliament and through initiatives introduce amendments to the federal constitution, making Switzerland the closest state in the world to a direct democracy.” The presidency is a rotating position which changes every year, and he or she doesn't have a tremendous amount of power. So many Swiss do not even know who the current president is. (It's a woman at the moment.) From Geoff Spells' official notes about the opening session: “[Joseph] followed this with a short overview of the structure of Thomson. He said that the main business of transmission was currently integrated into a company organisation called Grass Valley but noted that there will be changes in this structure soon. He also noted that the well known Thomson name is used within an overall company called Technicolor. Joseph then outlined the product range within the four main manufacturing plants. Joseph said that more information would be available during the factory visit to Turgi planned for Wednesday afternoon.” To officially declare the conference open, the delegate from Sentech in South Africa, Sikander Hoosen, was asked to give a few blasts on a vuvuzela – the loud horn that made so much background noise during the recent soccer World Cup in South Africa – which he had brought with him. At the opening plenary, Sergio Salvatori of Vatican Radio gave details of the technical procedures to be used during the week. After a coffee break, the actual frequency coordination process began. The NASB sponsored the high-speed Internet service at the conference. The hotel provided a main Internet connection to the conference secretariat room, and a server in the secretariat was connected to a wireless network in the main conference meeting room with the HFCC/ASBU Intranet content. Unfortunately, despite extensive tests of the conference Intranet network during the days prior to the conference, there were serious problems when the approximately 100 laptops began using the network simultaneously. Internet connectivity was sporadic at best. The hotel's technical staff began working immediately with Vladislav, Gerald Theoret of CBC, Sergio Salvatori and other HFCC personnel to try to find the problem. The Movenpick chain sent its IT expert to the hotel to work on the matter also. But after nearly four hours of trying to resolve the matter, it was still not working. In order to avoid a major problem, the hotel offered to let all conference delegates connect to its wireless Internet directly, so participants were able to upload schedules to the HFCC's duplicate server in Prague. Vladislav explained that this was not a perfect solution, but it was workable. As an added bonus, delegates were able to access the wireless connection from their individual hotel rooms also at no cost to them. Once the Internet issue was resolved, the coordination process for the rest of the week proceeded smoothly. The HFCC/ASBU Conference ran Monday through Friday, August 2-6. Most of the meeting consisted of the usual uploading of frequency schedules for the B10 season, processing data, producing “collision lists” and negotiating solutions to the collisions between stations. But on Tuesday afternoon, there was a one-hour DRM session presented by Ludo Maes of TDP, Horst Scholz of Deutsche Welle and Mireya Martínez of TDP. Ludo began with an overview of the DRM Consortium and an explanation of Digital Radio Mondiale's features, benefits and global receiver strategy. He explained that state broadcaster All India Radio has recently chosen DRM for the digitalization of its vast mediumwave and shortwave network, including the purchase of five new shortwave transmitters and a 500-watt DRM transmitter for 26 MHz trials. Russia also announced the introduction of DRM for mediumwave and shortwave transmissions earlier this year. The Voice of Russia is planning DRM transmissions to the Arab world and Latin America. Next, Ludo Maes had a presentation about DRM monitoring systems. As he explained, “there are many different systems available for monitoring DRM broadcasts. Each system has its own specific tools, advantages and disadvantages. For incidental, free of charge monitoring, the data on the DRMrx forum will provide the perfect solution. In case a more dedicated, scheduled monitoring is desired, the Theseus, RFmonitor or IBB DRM monitoring systems will certainly fulfill your needs.” For more details, you can e-mail Ludo Maes at info@transmitter.org. The third major part of the DRM presentation was the results of a recent survey of European international broadcasters about multistandard digital radio receivers. Here is Ludo Maes' background to the survey and summary of the results: “A major issue regarding the success of digital radio is the availability of cheap digital radio receivers. A digital radio receiver can only be produced at a low price if it can be produced in large quantities. A multistandard digital radio receiver (having the major digital standards onboard) can be sold in every country around the world. This allows for mass production and minimizes the risk for receiver manufacturers since they can sell the same receiver in any market. The appearance of multistandard digital radio chipsets is the key. “The intention of the survey was to find out the opinion of radio broadcasters towards the idea of multistandard digital radio receivers. In this survey, the major European radio broadcasters were contacted, asking them only 2 questions [Do you support the idea that a multistandard digital receiver would be a good step forward for digital radio to become a success? And, if multistandard digital radio receivers would be available, which standards should be included in your opinion?] Of the 31 countries contacted, 28 responded to the survey. The results of the survey can be useful to the radio receiver and chipset manufacturing industry, as well as to the broadcasting unions and the radio broadcasters themselves. Hopefully this will give confidence to the industry in order to invest in the idea of multistandard digital radio receivers.” The conclusions of the survey: “Broadcasters are very much in favor of multistandard digital radio receivers. All of them find it important to have analogue FM aboard, but analogue MW and analogue SW not too much. DAB+, DRM and DRM+ are considered the most important to be included in a multistandard digital radio receiver, followed closely by DAB and T-DMB. HD-Radio and other digital standards (like wifi- radio, DVB-H and DVB-T) are considered the least important to be included.” Mireya Martínez of TDP gave a presentation about the plan to create a European International Broadcasters Group to promote the use of DRM. The idea is to include broadcasters which transmit programs in six primary European languages – English, German, French, Russian, Spanish and Italian. “All in all,” explained Mireya, “English either as a mother tongue or as a second/foreign language is spoken by 51% of EU citizens, followed by German with 32% and French with 28%.” The presentation included a list of international broadcasters in Europe and a graphic showing in which of the six above-mentioned languages each of these stations transmits. For example, 14 out of the 46 European international broadcasters transmit in Spanish. But only one out of the 14 international broadcasters which transmit in Spanish is using the DRM standard. “This means that there are still 13 potential international broadcasters in Spanish which have the possibility to broadcast in DRM,” said Mireya. “The proposed strategy is to get in contact with those 13 international broadcasters and encourage them to broadcast in DRM.” Eleven of the 46 international broadcasters are currently transmitting in DRM: BBC, Deutsche Welle, Radio Romania International, the Voice of Russia, Radio Prague, Polish Radio, Vatican Radio, RTL Luxembourg, Radio France International, Radio Exterior de España and RAI from Italy. Six of these stations broadcast DRM programming in English, five in German, three in French and Italian, two in Russian and one in Spanish. The Wednesday, August 4, coordination activities ended early so that all of the delegates could take part in a tour sponsored by Thomson Broadcast & Multimedia. Three large buses took the group from Regensdorf to the Thomson plant in Turgi, some 45 minutes away. The delegation was broken up into five groups to visit five different parts of the vast multi-building campus of the plant. The five tour divisions were: 1) An overview of antennas and masts and a look at the rotatable curtain antennas. 2) An overview of the M2W mediumwave transmitter family, a presentation of the 10-kilowatt M2W transmitter, an explanation of the DRM Skywave product line, and a live demonstration of the new DRM application called Diveemo. 3) RF applications for scientific and medical installations, including an innovative RF amplifier system for cancer therapy which is being used in Europe. 4) An overview of the Thomson shortwave transmitter line, a presentation of the 250/500 kilowatt shortwave transmitter, and a PSM modulator. 5) Historical information about Turgi, presented by recently retired Thomson employee Sally Welter (see sidebar story), whose presentation received applause from the group of visitors. After the plant tour, the buses left for a castle in Bottstein, a small town just a few kilometers from the German border. Joseph Troxler explained that the Bottstein Castle was originally a fort, back in the days when Switzerland was divided into factions. Nowadays it serves as a hotel, restaurant and banquet hall. As the weather was warm and dry, a pre-dinner cocktail reception was held in the courtyard of the castle. The dinner itself was inside, and was served with local wine produced in the Bottstein area. After a salad, everyone had a choice of veal milanese with noodles, fried salmon with potatoes or Swiss dumplings known as “spatzle” with mixed vegetables. For dessert, there was a Swiss chocolate mousse with pineapple ice cream. For entertainment, Bob Bartz of Far East Broadcasting played a few folk songs on his guitar. Feet were tapping to Bob's rendition of John Denver's “Country Roads, Take Me Home.” Back in Regensdorf on Thursday, the frequency coordination process continued. On Thursday afternoon was the Plenary Meeting. Horst Scholz reminded everyone that the A season conference alternates between Asia and the Arab countries, so the next HFCC/ASBU conference in February of 2011 will be in an ASBU country, although the exact location has not been decided yet. There was also no host yet for the B11 meeting in August of next year. Geoff Spells reported on ITU working groups, DRM work going on in the CEPT (European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations), a CEPT report on the future of terrestrial broadcasting, and fears that PLT (powerline transmission) interference on the HF bands could be much worse than currently expected. Gerald Theoret reported on the Group of Experts meeting which took place during the HFCC Conference. The main topic at this meeting was how to deal with future Internet connectivity problems such as those experienced on Monday of this week. Oldrich Cip reported on the two most recent Steering Board meetings in Prague and Zurich. “We followed up on our discussions in Kuala Lumpur on the future of shortwave radio and the HFCC,” he said. “We've all accepted the fact that there are changes in distribution platforms. But the Internet cannot completely replace wireless radio and TV. There will be a combination. We want to motivate members in initiating this debate and provide facts for those who are threatened with reductions of shortwave broadcasting.” Oldrich said the HFCC is going to open a new area of the hfcc.org website called “Broadcasters and Listeners” or something similar. Oldrich noted that the HFCC global database is the best source of information for shortwave listeners, but the data is still not accurate enough, so steps need to be taken to make it more accurate. He pointed out that a decision was made at the last HFCC/ASBU conference in Kuala Lumpur to continuously update the global database and make it available to the public as of the B10 season. “Our urgent task is to make the database 100% accurate,” he said. Organizations will be able to upload their schedule information along with their frequency requirements. There will be details on frequencies, times, languages, antennas, etc. in PDF format. “Shortwave and Internet will not be fighting each other, but complementing each other,” explained Oldrich. “We are facing critical developments in reducing the budgets of shortwave stations. We can't reinstate stations to the 'glory days' of earlier years, but we should maintain them at reasonable levels.” In his review of financial matters at the Plenary Meeting, Geoff Spells reported that the HFCC had a relatively healthy balance of accounts at the end of 2009. “The HFCC is solvent, with a cushion in the bank,” he said. This is due to a recent increase in membership fees, and members responding to the economic crisis by paying any past due amounts. For 2010 Geoff said that the financial situation looks OK. The registration desk at the HFCC/ASBU Conference was staffed by the NASB – primarily by Thais White of WRMI, who was ably assisted by Judy Tapley, wife of Glenn Tapley of WEWN. Elena Glutz of Thomson Broadcast & Multimedia also assisted on the opening day, August 2. A popular spot at the registration desk was the NASB display, which featured our 2011 annual meeting which will take place together with the DRM USA annual meeting May 13-16 onboard the Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas cruise ship sailing for three nights from Miami to the Bahamas. The meeting is open to shortwave listeners, broadcasters and anyone with an interest in shortwave radio. Conference delegates will enjoy an interesting itinerary which includes stops at Royal Caribbean's private island, CocoCay, and at Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. The cruise will include lodging, three meals per day at a choice of restaurants, a wide variety of entertainment and transportation. This is a perfect opportunity for delegates to bring along spouses and family members, who will have plenty of activities to keep them busy both on the ship and on the islands. There will be presentations by shortwave broadcasters from the U.S. and other countries on a variety of topics. Preliminary topics include shortwave broadcasting to Latin America, shortwave listening in the Arctic and a profile of Florida's shortwave stations. Of course DRM developments will be on the agenda as well. The Majesty of the Seas accommodates over 2700 passengers and around 1000 crew members who come from around the world. The NASB cruise rate of US$299.00 is guaranteed for those who register by October 27, 2010 with a deposit of $100.00 per person (i.e. $200.00 per cabin). The price is per person, based on double occupancy of a standard inside cabin. More information and a registration form are available on the NASB website, http://www.shortwave.org Click on “Annual Meeting.” CONFERENCE OPENING REMARKS BY OLDRICH CIP. HFCC CHAIRMAN Special thanks of all of us go to Jeff White, President of the NASB who has volunteered as the chairman of the preparatory committee and has taken over conference registrations, contacts with the hotel, etc. I hope that Jeff's fancy for the HFCC will stay also after the conference since he is a great writer and we need more content on the HFCC website. I have only one subject for my usual opening remarks. It follows up on our discussions in Kuala Lumpur and in the Steering Board recently. The talking point is simple, but at the same time quite fundamental: The future of international shortwave broadcasting and of the HFCC. The programme delivery modes of audiovisual media are becoming more varied and fragmented. The digital delivery – so-called broadband – is widely considered as the leading technology for the future. But there is also other evidence: “Terrestrial broadcasting in many countries is still, and will remain in the future, the main way to guarantee universal access to radio and TV content for fixed mobile and portable devices. No other single platform can replicate these benefits.” This has been the conclusion of the experts of the European Broadcasting Union in a debate on the radio spectrum policy earlier this year. According to that report the maximum benefit for both broadcasters and viewers would be the combination of terrestrial transmissions and Internet with the aim of offering the full range of benefits of both technologies. Unfortunately there is no such in depth debate yet in international broadcasting. In the present rush to embrace new digital platforms, decision makers have been moving funding from shortwave broadcasting. Yet they are frequently unaware of the properties of the individual platforms and even of the existence and needs of different segments of their audience. It would be futile to believe that the HFCC alone will be able to keep shortwave delivery in the forefront of options but we are certainly in a position to provide vital information about shortwave broadcasting and about its merits both for those who will carry on listening to shortwaves in combination with other delivery modes – and to those who consider shortwave listening as their hobby, and also to broadcasters who need facts and information for their effort to keep shortwave programmes on the air. We decided in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year that the public version of the global database of shortwave broadcasting that we manage will be continuously updated. There is no such unique pool of schedule information anywhere else. We have to see to it that the data are 100% accurate and in a format suitable for listeners. Broadcast bands are allocated internationally and a programme offered in a shortwave band is in a much more unique position than a programme placed on the Internet where there are huge numbers of stations and other attractions. The availability and quality of shortwave delivery is independent of the number of listeners. New technologies frequently incur additional costs and do not provide coverage in some locations. Shortwave delivery is free-to-air and free of any charges. Most of our regular and associated members are interested in how shortwave technology develops in the future, and what is the current state of digitization that could introduce such a dramatic improvement in sound quality. We are ready to collect and publish on the web all information that will help create a balanced and stable system of programme delivery where the distribution platforms do not compete but complement each other. We are ready to promote shortwaves. But our HFCC tools and what we do also determines quality. Very sophisticated collision processing tools are used but some members still keep over-submitting their frequency requirements. This is in conflict with the spirit of co-operation that has been established over the years. We can discuss this further during the Plenary Meeting since the HFCC management believes that now is the time to take action beyond what we have tried in the past. And before I hand over to Horst and other board colleagues, and since we are in Switzerland – this is an interesting footnote that arrived to Jeff White from a shortwave listener in Colombia the day before yesterday. Shortwave broadcasting from Switzerland would have been 75 years old yesterday August 1st 2010. Unfortunately it was stopped – I believe quite prematurely – already six years ago. This is one of the reasons why the HFCC needs to widen its scope of activities. (Sept NASB Newsletter via DXLD) TOKYO HAM FAIR 2010 This annual event was held on Aug 21 and 22 at Tokyo Big Sight [sic], and attracted about 31,000 visitors, which were the same as the last year. JSWC opened our own booth to promote SW radio listening at the booth number J-34. We had an honor of special visitors, Mr. Kazuo Ozaki from HCJB Global Voice and Mr. Hoang Lien Son of Voice of Vietnam Japanese Service. We had special lecture sessions by our members. Mr. Atsuhisa Kageyama talked on his design of delta loop antenna, and introduced his new design called Delta Loop 8, which was ultra wideband loop antenna covering AM through whole short wave bands. The present popular delta loop 7 is a tuning-type antenna, so there is an urgent need for wideband antenna because the popularity of SDR (software designed radio) among Japanese DXers is getting bigger. Mr. Takahito Akabayashi talked about the various topics on SW listening world in the past year, and concluded that the last year was not the bad year for DXers. Mr. Tetsuya Hirahara, expert DXer on Latin American stations talked on his recently published book titled “A Hora Japonesa,” a story about the Japanese language stations in Brazil targeted to many immigrants from Japan. He visited Brazil a few times to collect the materials, and actually visited several radio stations airing or used to air Japanese programs (Toshimichi Ohtake/JSWC, Kamakura, Japan, Aug 31, DSWCI DX Window Sept 8 via DXLD) THE MISSOURI DX GET-TOGETHER NOVEMBER 5-7, 2010 IN BRANSON MO The hotel for the event will be the Super 8 at 2480 Green Mountain Road. It is located in the central part of Branson's entertainment district, and not far from the Missouri 76 Strip, where all the big shows are located. Free breakfast and coffee for guests. Hotel reservations can be made by calling (417) 354-8880. For more information, contact John Tudenham at jotud @ yahoo.com (Eric Bueneman, NØUIH, Hazelwood MO, NASWA Flashsheet Sept 12 via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See also ECUADOR; ETHIOPIA; GERMANY; ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ROMANIA; SPAIN; UK; CONVENTIONS & CONFS! Log DRM Olá amigos, Segue link com imagens, gravações e comentários sobre as recentes transmissões DRM para o Brasil. http://www.archangelo.net/misc/hf/drm/view.htm (Flávio PY2ZX, Brasil, radioescutas yg via DXLD) DRM AT IFA Here are photos of the DRM presentation at IFA, driven by the media authority of Niedersachsen which sees in DRM+ (the VHF variant of the system) a viable option. The text tells about statements given at the booth that a second chunk of the Uniwave is supposed to being made at present. http://www.knallfunke.de/drm/archiv/ifa2010/index.htm On my tour I did not note this booth at all, because the new location of the TecWatch department (where new research results are being presented -- so much for commercial use of DRM being launched half a decade ago) was a crowded, confused place, I heard someone complaining how he on the first day got lost when going to the toilet. Otherwise you see on this page also the big hype of IFA 2010: 3D, 3D and nothing but 3D. One just could not stand it anymore. Wonder which pig they will chase through the village next year. (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV See also OKLAHOMA; U S A gh logs; ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM DTV RECEPTION PROBLEMS VS POWER LEVEL COMPARED TO ANALOG Here in Rochester, we have two full-power Vs (WHEC-TV 10 and WHAM-TV 13) at the same site as our three full-power Us (WXXI-TV on 16, WUHF on 28, WROC-TV on 45). Pinnacle Hill is a 700-foot hill right in the middle of what's otherwise a fairly flat market, and the Vs both got power increases not long after the transition. WHEC, for instance, is running 30 kW on its digital signal. Given the difference in measurement standards (peak power for analog, average power for digital), that comes out to about half of what they were putting out in the analog era --- hardly "flea power." Our collective experience in this market is that as long as the viewers are using antennas made for VHF as well as UHF, the coverage is about even for all the stations. There's a trouble area for everyone, down on the Lake Ontario shore where the terrain falls off below the line of sight from Pinnacle, but that's affecting the Vs and the Us about equally right now. There are certainly issues with VHF in other markets with more rugged terrain, and particular issues in LA given the sheer distance from Mount Wilson to just about everywhere that's populated in the market. But the FCC has made it clear that VHF DTV is here to stay...so one way or another, those problems are going to have to be fixed down the road. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ABDX via DXLD) Define "full power" for VHF. The ones here that are supposed to be full power don't have 10,000 watts. WLOS TV has more but I got them fine on VHF and NEVER a trace has been seen, but I can get the WUNF 33 on the same tower, and not as high up on the WLOS tower on Mt. Pisgah. WSPA-TV 7 was flawless on rabbit ears. I can occasionally get them to come it, rather spotty. Same for WRDW 12 in Augusta. I think the power level should have been half of what they got or 60%, not flea power. I have spotty V reception on my Conical (yes NOS 1980's) and it does a fair job on UHF, which I did not expect (Powell E Way III, SC, ABDX via DXLD) Let's start with definitions --- half of WHAT? We're talking apples and oranges where power levels are concerned: the "316 kW" that was the maximum power for a high-band VHF signal in the analog era was a peak measurement. If WSPA was running "316 kW" back then, it was only actually putting out that much power on visual peaks, and putting out far far less when it was in black screen. But that's not how DTV power is measured - since it's a constant datastream, it's measured at average power level. So, under current FCC rules, "full power" for high-band VHF (7-13) is 30 kW average ERP. That's very roughly equivalent to what 150 kW would have been under the old "peak ERP" measurement standard. Many VHF-hi stations have persuaded the FCC to allow them even higher power levels. As for your locals in "the other upstate," you're quite right that they're not running "10,000 watts." WSPA-TV 7 is licensed at 25.7 kW, WNTV-9 at a whopping 65 kW (with a CP for an even whoppinger 102 kW) and WLOS-13 at 29.8 kW, with a CP for 50 kW. WRDW-12 is licensed at 20.2 kW, and WIS-10 is at 57 kW. So whatever's going on here isn't just a matter of not enough power. My guess is that there are multipath issues with the terrain, especially for the Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville stations. That conical antenna may not be the right one for the job, either - most TV stations are using horizontally-polarized transmit antennas, and the best receive antenna by far is a horizontally-polarized yagi aimed right at the transmitter site. The conical is neither h-pol nor directional, which means that in addition to the desired signal, you're picking up all sorts of reflections and maybe even interference from other stations on the same channels. That may have been tolerable (and even unnoticeable) on analog, but can wreak havoc with DTV decoding. With the amount of power WLOS is putting out, it's entirely possible that its signal is reflecting all over the place on its way to you. There are some even more obscure potential problems: Charlie Rhodes has been writing a series of very frightening columns in "TV Technology" magazine exploring the possibility of intermod interference between closely-spaced DTV channels. All of which is to say that DTV transmission and reception is still a work in progress. I'm not sure if Doug Smith is on this list or not, but I had the chance a few weeks ago to see him give a presentation to the WTFDA convention up here in Rochester, answering may of these same questions in a much more comprehensive and coherent way than I've done so far here. My takeaway from his talk, though, was this: in the end, the only way to figure out how to make the DTV transition was to do the DTV transition and then fix what doesn't work. There were too many variables - antennas, receiver quality, propagation variables, etc. - to ever really be able to do a full-fledged "dry run." s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) I just forgot, that WLOS right now is running just at the best a couple thousand watts. They haven't finished the upgrade. WIS is not currently running that either. The Conical did a great job of doing UHF over the VHF, but it's a stacked conical in the box, but I haven't put it outside yet. And I was at the laundry watching WIS on a RCA with a large antenna. There was a SEVERE thunderstorm about 30 miles away and EVERY lightning flash (I had an AM radio on) caused a digital drop out! WLOS needs that as they serve a 100 some mile range; or they did (Powell, ibid.) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DAB See U K ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ As if WiFi & Garage Door Openers weren't bad enough... F.C.C. LIKELY TO OPEN NEW AIRWAVES TO WIRELESS By EDWARD WYATT Published: September 12, 2010 WASHINGTON — When the Federal Communications Commission first approved the use of unlicensed bands of the airwaves decades ago, it began a revolution in consumer electronics — first in television remote controls and garage door openers, then in baby monitors and cordless phones, and most recently in wireless computer networks. This month, the F.C.C. is likely to approve what could be an even bigger expansion of the unlicensed airwaves, opening the door to supercharged Wi-Fi networks that will do away with the need to find a wireless hot spot and will provide the scaffolding for new applications that are not yet imagined. “We know what the first kind of deployments will be,” Julius Genachowski, the chairman of the F.C.C., said in an interview, citing wireless broadband networks that can cover entire university or corporate campuses, for example — what is referred to in the industry as “Wi-Fi on steroids.” . . . http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/technology/13wifi.html (via Clara Listensprechen, dxldyg via DXLD, and via Mike Cooper, DXLD) Get it While You Can http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100913/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_fcc_super_wi_fi (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT USA, ibid.) A massive tropo opening would cause chaos with distant DTV destroying wi-fi, and wi-fi destroying DTV. Didn't they learn anything from the VHF TV Freeze of 1948? The article mentions possible telemetering and disaster comm uses. (roll eyes) Did they fire all the engineers and techs? wrh (Bill Hepburn, Ont., ibid.) You're not far off. Many of the FCC's engineering people have retired and been replaced by lawyers and accountants - just as occurs in many private-sector businesses. It seems to be the American way anymore to diminish the value of experts in the practical areas of many businesses and in government as well (Russ Edmunds, WB2BJH, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) FCC Expected To Approve White Spaces TV DXers. You should have severe concerns about this. It will impact your hobby. http://www.informationweek.com/news/infrastructure/ethernet/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227400274&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_News Microsoft and Google have both been testing white spaces networks though estimates of when devices capable of using the spectrum might reach the market vary widely. After lying dormant for more than two years, the idea of using so- called "white spaces" spectrum for a sort of free universal broadband access is likely to be approved by the FCC at its September 23 meeting, but actual implementation of the Wi-Fi complementary technology will likely remain in limbo. Providers must develop components, custom devices and infrastructure to take advantage of the technology and there is likely to be continued resistance from broadcasters and others. Another important question concerns carriers like AT&T and Verizon, which spent several billion dollars for the 700 MHz spectrum, which the free white spaces bands surround. Will the carriers support free white spaces technology, which could compete with its paid services? Tne effort already underway to use white spaces is at Rice University where researchers are working to develop and test custom-built networking gear, smartphones, laptops and other devices that can seamlessly switch frequencies between traditional Wi-Fi reception and white spaces. "Ideally, users shouldn't have to be concerned with which part of the spectrum they're using at a given time," said the university's principal researcher on the project, Edward Knightly, in a statement. "However, the use of white space should eliminate many of the problems related to Wi-Fi 'dead zones," so the overall user experience should improve." Estimates of when white spaces-capable devices will actually appear on the market range widely. More details and specs on the white spaces technology are expected to be released at the FCC meeting. David Callisch, Ruckus Wireless vice president, said he believes Ruckus can shorten the time span because of its antenna technology, although he can't predict when white spaces technology will be widely available in the U.S. "The thing that's really nice about antenna- based dynamic beamforming is that it sits above the baseband chips," said Callisch in an email Monday. "(This means) that we are agnostic about the underlying wireless transport. We can adapt smart antenna arrays to any wireless technology." Microsoft, an ardent supporter of white spaces, has been testing a white spaces network at its corporate headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Google has been another supporter of white spaces. A trial white spaces network in Wilmington, North Carolina, has also been trialing the network for several months. Because white spaces technology can deliver broadband access free of charge, the phenomenon opens up the possibility of using it to provide service to underserved individuals, many of whom can't afford to pay for existing broadband access. The Rice University researchers have worked with a Houston nonprofit organization called Technology for All that provides Wi-Fi access in a working class neighborhood in Houston. The researchers have been testing various wireless platforms and custom-built mobile phones in the neighborhood. Rice researcher Lin Zhong said the Rice researchers are studying whether a combination of Wi-Fi and white spaces technology can extend battery life and improve reception access. "White apace and Wi-Fi have quite complementary characteristics," said Zhong, who is a Rice assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering. "While a Wi-Fi node can provide a higher data rate, a white space node can cover a much larger area. The project will study how a dynamic network architecture can combine these strengths." (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) I'm confused, and at my age not a big surprise. I had always assumed that white spaces meant that somebody could operate ON a channel, where there was no existing licensed signal visible on that same channel (for example channel 4 in Tampa where the nearby local is on 3, as an example from the bad old analog days, and the nearest 4 was way off in Jax, Ga etc.). Geographical separation. Now I think I've read that white spaces means the sideband area in 'any' channel that has moved from analog to digital, was blocked and now is no longer blocked, because the signal is no longer 6 mc wide. So they can come on to the outer limits of any given channel that went digital, and that wide sideband energy is gone. Frequency separation. Can someone clarify this for us? Scott or Doug? None of the media writers seem to understand this distinction well and I'm sure their readers don't either. Tnx, (Bob Foxworth, FL, ibid.) OUTSIDE ANTENNA BANS ILLEGAL No antennas on the roof, it's a city ordinance (Martin Foltz, CA, ABDX via DXLD) Any ordinance that broad is absolutely unenforceable; federal law preempts it. (Google "OTARD" for much more on this topic.) s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) That city ordinance is null and void - it contradicts federal FCC regulations. You are within your rights to install an antenna (Bruce Carter, ibid.) As has been said by others, your city ordnance against outside antennas is in violation of federal law (Larry Wild, Old radio listener in South Dakota, ibid.) Your city ordinance is blatantly illegal. They can NOT prohibit an outside antenna. The FCC has a regulation that trumps local laws. That's PRB-1. http://www.arrl.org/antenna-regulation-and-zoning http://www.arrl.org/prb-1 This also pertains to TV antennas (Powell E Way III, SC, ibid.) I looked up the FCC site on OTARD and found it very interesting. According to the site, you can put up a satellite dish (if it is under 39" in diameter) and a TV antenna. If it more than 12' above your roof line, you may need to get permission from your local authorities. But the FCC makes it very clear that this ruling does not apply to FM broadcast radio, Ham or CB antennas (Larry Wild, Old guy from SD, ibid.) PRB-1 affects only amateur radio. The relevant piece of regulation for TV antennas is called "OTARD" (Over-The-Air Reception Devices), and can be found here: http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html "The rule (47 C.F.R. Section 1.4000) has been in effect since October 1996, and it prohibits restrictions that impair the installation, maintenance or use of antennas used to receive video programming. The rule applies to video antennas including direct-to-home satellite dishes that are less than one meter (39.37") in diameter (or of any size in Alaska), TV antennas, and wireless cable antennas. The rule prohibits most restrictions that: (1) unreasonably delay or prevent installation, maintenance or use; (2) unreasonably increase the cost of installation, maintenance or use; or (3) preclude reception of an acceptable quality signal. Effective January 22, 1999, the Commission amended the rule so that it also applies to rental property where the renter has an exclusive use area, such as a balcony or patio." s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) REMEMBERING DAN ALEXANDER Dan Alexander passed away on August 9, 2010 in Phoenix. Dan was an incredibly gifted singer and musician, a good guy, and a friend. For those who enjoy the sound of Dallas jingles, Dan was a superstar. A true professional. Dan was part of the earliest vocal groups for PAMS and others in the 1950's, and his voice was heard throughout the '60s on PAMS jingles. He was also part of the PAMS brass section, and played on many packages. In addition, he was the primary person you hear operating the sonovox on everything from Series 18 to 40. In the '70s, Dan was part of the 5-voice group that for many years was the signature sound of TM. As a freelancer, he worked for many other producers too. On the earliest JAM jingles, Dan sang bass in our 7- voice group. Once we were able to hire Jim Clancy on bass, Dan moved up a part and sang baritone in the group for the next 25 years. He can also be heard singing many other parts in different types of vocal groups. Dan was always supportive of our efforts, and contributed a level of excellence which is clearly evident in the end product. In 1984 there was a big party to celebrate Dan's 50th birthday. I made a short tape for the occasion, to have a little fun but mainly to let everyone there hear Dan's wonderful voice on its own. I found the tape this evening, listened to it, and decided to share it here. This is not intended to be a mournful retrospective of an incredible life. It is instead a celebration of the career that was very much in progress in 1984. The silly premise of this birthday party tape, not to mention my awful tongue-in-cheek narration, should not diminish the sadness we feel at losing such a unique talent and friend. You may have heard some of these items before, but perhaps you didn't realize it was Dan singing them. In any case, please enjoy them one more time. Thanks, Dan, for everything. [Edited Fri Aug 20 2010] Jonathan Wolfert JAM Creative Productions, Inc. PAMS Productions, Inc. Dallas, Texas USA Dan Alexander's 50th (1984) - audio link - http://www.jinglemad.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?81733 (via Mike Terry, UK, dxldyg via DXLD) OBIT NEW WAY TO ID ONE'S DX Well, I've never IDd one this way before --- Was listening on 1000 on the car radio on the way home from work. Two stations fighting it out, hoping one would be something interesting. Shortly before 7 pm CT, one of the two IDd as WMVP, Chicago. (darn) As WMVP was IDing, on the other station I heard "48BK" **in Morse Code** (?!) Puzzled over that one for a few miles. Then, the light bulb went off. Got home, looked it up in the FCC DB. And it turns out the other station was WMUF Paris, TN (double darn, this is a daytime regular). How did I know? W248BK is an FM translator in Paris, Tennessee, and it relays WMUF AM, which is on 1000. FM translators are allowed to ID in Morse. The way they do it is supposed to be inaudible on an ordinary FM radio. Not entirely sure why it turned out to be audible on the AM transmitter; unless the AM transmitter is actually relaying the FM translator, and the FM receiver they're using is broken -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, NRC-AM via DXLD) OFF-FREQUENCY LATIN AMERICANS FROM MARK CONNELLY`S LATEST LOG: 540.18 | NICARAGUA | YNOW, R. Corporación, Managua, AUG 12 0200 - het, bits of Spanish talk; separable from CBT/others-540.0. [Connelly*Y-MA] 650 | CUBA | ?, AUG 28 0044 - "wobbler" signal pretty much taking out the channel. [Connelly*O-MA] 819.55 | unID | ?, AUG 28 0045 - off-channel carrier, has been noted before. [Connelly*O-MA] 890.112 | DOMINICAN REPUBLIC | HIPJ, R. Continental, Santo Domingo, AUG 13 0059 - man in Spanish; briefly splittable from WAMG Spanish music. [Connelly*Y-MA] 1039.615 | VENEZUELA | La Voz de Carabobo, YVLB, Valencia, AUG 28 0101 - het, bits of audio. [Connelly*O-MA] 1060.285 | unID | ?, AUG 28 0100 - het. [Connelly*O-MA] 1100.08 | unID | ?, AUG 28 0100 - weak het growl. [Connelly*O-MA] 1129.91 | unID | ?, AUG 28 0100 - het growl against WBBR. [Connelly*O-MA] 1309.68 | unID | ?, AUG 28 0059 - growl against WLOB. MWoffsets lists HJAK, La Voz de la Patria, Barranquilla, Colombia. [Connelly*O-MA] (Report from Mark Connelly, WA1ION - Times / dates = UTC / 2010 e-mail = "MarkWA1ION@aol.com" [Connelly*O-MA] = South Orleans, Cape Cod, MA, USA (GC= 41.7347 N / 69.991 W) (= 41? 44.1' N / 69? 59.5' W) (Town Landing / beach, off Route 28, 0.3 km N of Tar Kiln Road) [Connelly*Y-MA] = South Yarmouth, Cape Cod, MA, USA (GC= 41.6933 N / 70.1912 W) (= 41? 41.6' N / 70? 11.5' W) Receiver: Microtelecom Perseus operated with MSI Wind U100 netbook Antenna (S. Orleans): cardioid-pattern Micro-SuperLoop on car roof, square, 2 m per side, with 9:1 transformer on east bottom corner to speaker wire to 2:1 transformer to W7IUV transfer amp, and 9:1 transformer on west corner to speaker wire to 500 ohm null-adjust potentiometer. See http://home.comcast.net/~dx_lab/pictures/micro_superloop.htm for a similar antenna. Antenna (S. Yarmouth): west-null SuperLoop, 9 m vertical by 22 m horizontal, base height 1 m, NRC-AM via DXLD) CODAR Dear Glenn, At long last, I just learned from your latest WOR program what "CODAR" is - all those annoying "sweepers" throughout the 4 to 5 MHz spectrum - what a total mess! As bad as the Russian Woodpecker was. One of the most strongest CODAR signals here is centered on about 5200 kHz - audible day and night here in Keeler, CA. Careful examination of its propagation characteristics and short, daytime skip characteristics point to a location within a couple of hundred miles of my QTH. Poking around the Internet, I checked out that CODAR website http://www.codar.com and found one of their transmitter sites is located in "Granite Canyon" south of Carmel, CA by about 15 km, right on the coast. I wonder if that location is where the ~5200 kHz (center) CODAR signal I mentioned in my previous e-mail is located. I now see that CODAR is all along the coastlines of North America and in Europe, and other continents too. Darn, are they going to completely plug up the HF spectrum eventually with this trash/noise? As HF broadcasting slowly declines, and CODAR rapidly expands, it looks that way, eh? Yes, your recent WOR show certainly helped me - at long last - identify those very-proliferating CODAR signals plaguing half of the old Tropical Band (60M) at this QTH. I used to enjoy 60m so much 30 years ago - remember Radio Santa Fe - Bogotá - I think 4965 kHz? I loved their Tropical Music every evening - as a younger lad, I used to imagine a tropical pavilion with arches, dim lights, and palm trees, as I listened to that station regularl on my new SW radio, practicing my Spanish skills! But many thanks again to you for enlightening myself about these pest signals. Best 73, (Steve McGreevy - N6NKS, Keeler, CA, Sept 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FLEAPOWER BEACONS http://highfrequencybeaconsociety.com/PHFER_PHOTOS.php http://www.hfunderg round.com/board/index.php/board,9.0.html Some unusual websites. These guys seem to be into building and DXing extremely low powered beacons on the HF bands, apparently using whatever crystals they have in the junk box. Looks like at least a few are Europe based and should be audible over here (Mark Palmer, Sept 8, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) SW ANTENNA RECOMMENDATIONS Was wondering if anyone could recommend a good SWL antenna. I am currently using an AD-Sloper (60') which is temporarily down due to a tree trimming gig. I have noticed an increase in noise over the last year or so and am not sure if the antenna is the culprit or just conditions in general (I don't seem to recall such constant noise issues in prior years-maybe I am just getting old, hi). Antenna does have paint splatter on it, but don't know if that hurts performance. Anyway, am looking for a possible replacement-not too expensive, lowest noise ratio possible and have room for about 60' max. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks. 73 (Larry Colton, Sept 11, NASWA yg via DXLD) If you don't mind building one yourself go to the files area where I have posted an article from the May 1990 issue of the ODXA's Listening In where I described the loaded windom I built in a 60 foot area (Mark Coady, ibid.) There are many possibilities here; however, the simplest one would be the PAR end-fed. It's only 45 foot long, but you can replace the wire yourself. It has a transformer on one end that you can ground (alternately not) and experiment with to get the lowest noise. Another possibility is a nice skywire loop. Loops are less susceptible to certain kinds of noise (depending on the environment) and some are good low-angle performers - good for those elusive DX signals... If you're interested in doing some research, there are LOTS of antenna and loop links in the following wiki articles; http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/HF_Antennas http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Loops#HF_Wire_Loops An increase in noise levels can come from so many sources, one can - and it has - write a whole book on the subject. However a good rule of thumb is to get the antenna as far from the house as you can. The rest requires some detective work - sometimes walking about with an old Walkman tuned to an empty AM frequency will serve as a very crude probe. 73 Mike Agner, KA3JZZ, ibid.) Let me second Mike's observation about the PAR-SWL end-fed antenna. I live in a suburban neighborhood that offers very little room for a long-wire antenna; and there are high-tension power lines right behind our house. The only space I had for an antenna was between our house and the neighbor's house. I tried all sorts of antennas -- both wire and vertical. Nothing has worked as well as the PAR-SWL. It is worth every penny. The antenna does not come with a coax lead-in; that needs to be bought separately (Jim Ronda, Tulsa, OK, ibid.) Thanks to all who responded to my antenna query. Lots of good ideas and gives me a few options. Thanks again, 73 (Larry Colton, ibid.) PRECISION MEASUREMENT OF TV CARRIERS AS DX ID AID Re 10-36: Be careful about Mexico state promotions, etc. My Mexico TV comments have angered some DXers to the point that they quit reporting to the tvfmdx list and WTFDA Forums. It is hard for newcomers to Mexico TV DX to understand how difficult it is to ID TV stations from Mexico. They seem to think they should get an ID every time they receive a station. For those of us who live in easy Es range of Mexico, it is common to have stations two or three deep on all five low-band channels for hours and never ID even one station. Unless you receive an independent, non-network station (or XHRIO-2 FOX or XETV-6 CW), your ID chances are very low. Having IDed 131 TV stations from Mexico since 1994, I usually recognize DXer guesses that are *not* based on worthwhile ID material. What should I do? Keep my mouth shut after DXers like Jeff Kruszka, Pat Dyer, Jeff Kadet, and myself work hard to honestly count Mexico TV logs? I saw some logs this summer that were probably not what the DXers thought, but I didn't say anything as there was a slight chance the DXers were correct; and I didn't want to hurt their feelings or make them angry. In other cases, the IDs were so far-fetched that I couldn't bite my tongue. I'm not trying to discourage DXers from trying to ID TV stations from Mexico. I'm trying to encourage patience, persistence, realistic expectations, and honesty in logging. I can guarantee a log full of erroneous logs to any DXer who thinks he can log Mexico TV DX without knowing the hard, cold facts contained in my Primer at tvdxtips.com (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA Mexico TV DX Tips http://www.tvdxtips.com Sept 9, WTFDA via DXLD) Danny, I don`t follow the WTFDA forums that closely (as opposed to the list serve), and of course I haven`t seen what personal feedback you have been getting. But I would urge you to keep `telling it like it is` re Mexican IDs. What`s the point of all this if we are not getting good info, or making incorrect assumptions? Your long experience, dedication and expertise are just what we need. I hope my log reports this summer will have been of some help in keeping up with what`s happening. If I make a wrong conclusion about a DX catch, I want to know about it. But then I have the same attitude regarding the need for accuracy in shortwave info, which doesn`t always endear me to everyone. There are certainly some guys who don`t want to hear about it. Like those for whom totals and/or QSLs are everything, and I personally don`t care about either. Just the facts. Or the best info available. 73, (Glenn to Danny, via DXLD) Glenn, Many thanks. You always make me feel better. I know that you don't falsely claim logs (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, ibid.) You should start measuring carrier offsets (not just - + and zero) and match them up with "definite" station identifications and publish a list it will take a lot of the guesswork/mystery out of the whole issue (Hugh Hoover, Portugal, WTFDA via DXLD) Excellent idea. wrh (Bill Hepburn, Ont., ibid.) I like what the others have said about measuring offsets, if that is possible and not too challenging. I also think you should be honest with DXers, and I've never ever found your tone objectionable, at all. I'd frankly want to know, regardless of how bad the news is. Even if I were to disagree. You clearly know your area, your site is useful, and if anyone is offended, well, so be it. I maintain target lists based on what others log, so I do care about accuracy. (And for other reasons as well, like having an overall picture of openings that have occurred). (Saul Chernos, Ont., ibid.) Thanks for the comments. Unfortunately, I don't have the equipment to make precise measurements of frequencies. And another unfortunate fact is that many other TV DXers who receive Mexico TV signals don't use expensive, high-end communications receivers and other equipment that could accurately measure frequencies (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, ibid.) The receiver doesn't need to be that "expensive and high end". It's the only way you're going to get to grips with this problem as I see it. It would be a real pity if someone didn't seriously measure these offsets (Hugh Hoover, Portugal, ibid.) To be honest, an offset list should have been made up years ago like it was in the UK, and to me without monitoring for carriers would be like DXing blind. Do you guys in this day and age actually sit and watch a snowy screen and hope for the best?????? At least by watching for carriers you would know if the band was open. This mail is a bit blunt, I know, but it seems for up to date TVDX you guys are a bit behind the times i.e. the USA hams on the kst 50 MHz cluster report more eu carrier openings than TVDXers your side. Cheers (David Hamilton, UK, ibid.) Here's an Icom Pcr 1500 that will do the job http://cgi.ebay.com/ICOM-PCR-1000-Computer-Controlled-Radio-Receiver-/230523508830?pt=Shortwave_Radios&hash=item35ac45985e If one hasn't got the money now save for it; that's what I did originally! (Hugh Hoover, ibid.) Are you going to do it, Hugh? (Kevin Redding, Adamsville, TN, ibid.) Unfortunately I'm in Portugal and Mexico doesn't come in too often here. If I was in your part of the world I certainly would (Hugh Hoover ibid.) Excellent point. A question I have is what do you guys use for a reference when using an R7000, since that begins at 28 or 29 MHz and you can't use WWV. Also Jeff Rostron and I were doing this in the summer. I have an R75 and he has another model Icom and our results differed. Close, but not identical. I tried posting about this on the list some time ago and I got the feeling nobody was interested except for the few who emailed me. IMO, DXing with just a TV up here will absolutely not cut it anymore. You'd need *somebody* down south within single hop range to measure some of these (yes, we could do XHRIO and XEFB-2 from up here but not much else). Yes I should have done XEFB because I saw them twice but I forgot all about it while being in the middle of a 2Es opening. I'm glad to see this subject come back again because it needs to be addressed. You guys in the UK and Europe have this down to a science. Whether it could happen over is anyone's guess. I wouldn't bet money on it (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT, ibid.) I think it's a perfectly valid point, and I thought so when you first brought it up, Mike. I'm not an active TV DX'er. I mainly DX AM & FM, and the parallel I want to draw here is to AM, where the idea of monitoring the heterodynes on transAtlantic signals began in the 1960's, using the old EBU lists. As frequency stability has increased significantly as more and more transmitters are solid state, the amount of movement is less, and the distances off nominal frequency are closer, but there are a number of stations which can still be monitored by their offsets on AM, and then using that, one can concentrate on trying to peak a specific signal, knowing which ones you want to avoid. In both cases, however, it will probably be a smallish number of DX'ers who choose to go that route, whether due to equipment cost or availability of other factors (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, (15 mi NW of Philadelphia), ibid.) Having been a member of the old British TV and FM DX club at one time, I have great respect for TV DXers in all parts of the world. However, the kind of TV DXing that involves reception and identification of carriers is, in my opinion, different than watching TV video in an effort to see ID material. They are both legitimate TV DXing, but some of us prefer receiving, recording, and photographing ID material. Mexico is a very large country, with many stations on the five low- band channels. Channel 4, for example, contains about 75 stations. Among those stations are these network relayers: 15 XHGC-5 12 XEW-2 9 Azteca-13 Is it possible that all the stations that relay XEW-2 on channel 4, using the same Z, +, or - offset, would have a different frequency reading? The challenges of Mexico TV DX don't bother me. The problems arise when uninformed DXers think Mexico TV works like TV in the U.S. They expect IDs every time a station is received. Therefore, they start the guessing game, rather than accepting Mexico TV for what it is. Mike, I was one of the WTFDAers who told you to keep posting about your frequency measurements, etc. Although I don't plan to practice that kind of DXing at present, I think it is interesting (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, Mexico TV DX Tips http://www.tvdxtips.com ibid.) In order to calculate the frequency of a station, is it not necessary to ID the station first? How would you know that a certain frequency belongs to XHLPT-2 La Paz, for example, if nobody ever knows which station is on the measured frequency. You would know this frequency is some station, but you would have no way of knowing for sure which station. Could it be the station in La Paz or one in nearby Sonora or Sinaloa? That takes you back to no ID. Some of the relayers that DXers do ID from Mexico are once in a lifetime IDs. I have a number of those. There are also unofficial relayers in Mexico (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA Mexico TV DX Tips http://www.tvdxtips.com ibid.) This so reminds me of numerous discussions decades ago in AM DX circles, which I'm sure Mike will remember, and Danny perhaps you will as well. I would not be inclined (and never have in AM DX'ing) [to have] identified and claimed a new logging without hearing identifiable material. As I noted in my post the frequency information helps sort out which carriers to chase and which to ignore (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, ( 15 mi NW of Philadelphia ), ibid.) Danny, It's my understanding that even using offsets, each transmitter has a specific frequency it settles into and remains at for fairly long periods of time. In the U.S., there was a high technical standard (except AM these days) and most transmitters if they weren't right on the money were damn close. Other countries with more lax engineering standards have a greater incidence of transmitters being off frequency. About the only way to get to the bottom of Mexico TV station IDs would be to do a measurement of every single station that can be received. You're in a good spot for that, as are the Texans and some of the other guys in the group. It doesn't matter if you get IDs right away; the IDs can be added to the frequency list whenever they become available (Curtis Sadowski, Paxton IL, ibid.) I think there are a number of reasons why this won't work as well in North America as it does in Europe. And as Danny points out, many of us simply don't consider logging a station's carrier as proof positive of reception. That may well be a cultural bias but it cannot be discounted. Like others, I'm very interested in this type of DXing, and I see where it has real value as a propagation indicator, but no, Dave, I don't see its value as a substitute for receiving visual confirmation of ID. Before the digital transition, I logged a number of stations on "audio only" but never managed to recover a visual ID. So even though I had a proof positive audio ID from the station, it's not in my log. Why? Cause this is "TV DXing" not radio. I understand those who would feel otherwise. To me it's just like amateur television. No one would accept two valid audio callsigns being exchanged as proof of a valid QSO on ATV. Because it's a visual medium, and video IDs had to be exchanged. I also can't imagine a valid QSO being awarded because you both received each other's carrier (absent any form of modulation or identification) even though you could precisely measure each other's frequency. To each their own, I suppose. 73, (Les Rayburn, N1LF, EM63nf, AL, ibid.) So Danny, why not do both? I also prefer receiving, recording, and photographing ID material - but find watching the video carriers come & go on the Perseus to be a great aid and an awesome new complement to TV DXing. It's easy to spot which carrier you're viewing if one is on top. Also great to see others underneath. I agree that the equipment is not cheap - but the cost is not stellar either and within reach of many DXers. Some already have the equipment but aren't using it for this purpose. I've started my own carrier list (no Mexicans yet - and I only claim 10 Hz accuracy --- I wouldn't claim 1 Hz with my setup). I intend to keep track of unID Mexicans in my log in the form of Azteca-13 55.242.04 MHz. If I can ID the exact transmitter later from someone else's list, then great. I'm combining both methods - visual ID and carrier ID - not simply counting a station by virtue of carrier frequency alone. However, network and carrier freq. together are better than just network and offset, and if I could refer to a carrier list for confirmation I would. And besides, if I log XHABC on 55.242.04 and later it turns out it was really XHXYZ - the fact remains that I picked up a transmitter on 55.242.04 with Azteca-13 network. As long as I'm not claiming a new distance record for XHABC, what's the harm? The station logged is a "placeholder" and my best guess using all the tools available (what I see, Es maps, your site, official sites, etc.) - my log total remains UNCHANGED after the correction. Sometimes a log is more than a tentative - more like a probable. You can never be 100% sure of what you've received. I would wager that even YOU have a Mexican log or two that is incorrect. At the very least I would know that I had a station located in Mexico and not Guatemala. This is a hobby, not research project to map DNA from apes to humans. I do concur that DXing via carrier freqs. alone has not been that viable in North America. There are so many Canadians on .000.00 MHz (and Americans back in the analogue days) to make IDing via carrier useless in many cases anyway. However it's very valuable for stations from other countries (many countries don't have offsets), and the odd Canadian station that sticks out (like CKCO-2 that meanders around ~55.240.66). Keeping track of 'warblers' and 'sirens' is also helpful. Bottom line: not everyone has the same standards for counting stations. I would say though that most WTFDAers maintain high standards and would not haphazardly log stations unless they had a very strong gut feeling that they really did receive the station that they claim. We've got a great group here. And if it later turns out to be wrong and instead a different station 100 miles away, well so be it. It's not the end of the world. Also note that most of our recent Colombian logs are even more precarious than the Mexican logs. I know of no up-to-date accurate lists. I've created one using what I've been able to gather from Colombian sources on the net. My list likely contains lots of errors. However, many WTFDAers are logging stations from my list, as am I. What are we to do? These are our logs until such time when they can be corrected, if need be, when we get a more accurate list. If Mexico were to ever publish an accurate up-to-date official TV list (which they will likely do some day), we all - including yourself - can then correct our Mexican logs as well. Don't let your blood boil over this. Your site is a great help and I have it open during every Mexican opening (Bill Hepburn, ibid.) Lack of a database would be my #1 reason. Unwillingness by some to try something new would be my 2nd. If my DX experience here consisted of sitting in front of a TV waiting for some video to show, I'd be long gone. IMO, with analog TV gone, the game has changed. You can go on as you did the past 30 years or use all available resources. It's up to you. You don't even need to measure carriers. There's a lot of information you can get from just looking at them. Forget frequency measurement. You can ID a station sometimes by what the carrier looks like. Some have really unique appearances that can be pointed to only one particular transmitter. I understand your point, but TV consists of audio and video. Doesn't matter which way I get the ID...from the audio or the video. It's all TV. TV, IMO, IS radio and video. If it's not, then what is it?? (Mike Bugaj, CT, ibid.) Bill, I find your arguments to be well reasoned, and on the money. Based on your input, I'm going to devote more time to monitoring TV carriers, and looking for openings using this method. Could I ask you to share your lists with the group? It would be a tremendous aid to those of us new to this part of the hobby. I'd also love to see anyone else's log for North America posted here. (Hate to ask Bill for anything; his tropo maps are service enough to the hobby. Thanks Bill!! ) 73, (Les Rayburn, N1LF, ibid.) I'm going to merge both your e mails here.......... > However, the kind of TV DXing that involves reception and identification of carriers is, in my opinion, different than >watching TV video in an effort to see ID material. They are both legitimate TV DXing, but some of us prefer receiving, >recording, and photographing ID material. You're missing the point: have you not considered that one can do one can do both at the same time?????? I do and so does David and most serious TVDXers now in Europe. > In order to calculate the frequency of a station, is it not necessary to ID the station first? That's the general idea! Once you've done that the "known station" can be used as a marker and when other unknown ones appear once the carrier increases to dominate the channel you can try and identify the unknown one and so on and so on - I suspect you will have a long job by the sound of it though. > Is it possible that all the stations that relay XEW-2 on channel 4, using the same Z, +, or - offset, would have a different frequency reading? Oh yes!!!! Here in Europe lots of very low power Italian relays on ch IB (62.25 MHz nominal) have been seen and they are all on a unique offset. The other thing is that the transmitter can often not be too stable and has a "signature" frequency wandering within 1-2 kHz which is unique to that transmitter. The thing about identifying the carriers before being able to see the picture is that you know the signal is there, way before you'll see it on a TV. Stay on channel and it may well increase very shortly to the level where it is visible and that to me is the advantage of it as a DX tool. It beats staring at a snowy screen (as David so eloquently put it!) for hours on end wondering "if something" will appear as one knows what's happening at a much weaker signal level. An advantage also listening to the audio with a radio is that you can receive sound with a much weaker signal than with a standard TV. Going to a narrowish bandwidth you may well be able to tune between a ch 2 + and - offset audio at the same time - Also with the mystery suspect Guyana 250-kHz-low offset one can tune the sound totally clear of the main ch 2 audio as I've done here. This is a list we use in Europe, maintained by Paul in Sussex..... http://www.g0che.co.uk/tv_info.php It's useful to say seeing the Hungarians coming up on R1 as then (for me in Portugal) there may well be double hop stuff appearing on R1 with video shortly after the "Minsk Warbler" being a good example, always round about zero offset on 49.750 but wandering in its own unique way. Lefty K1TOL in Maine hears a lot of this R1 stuff but is not into TVDX. Some Venezuelan offsets are quite off frequency but seem "stable". Brazil is much tighter into what it should be on but Belém and Recife on ch A2 seem to stick to around 30 Hz separation. I've just read Bill's message and seen that I've duplicated a lot of stuff he mentioned already (Hugh Hoover, Portugal, ibid.) I have no important input to what has become a derisive [divisive?] issue. But I do have an opinion. Measuring TV carrier frequencies is an adjunct to - not a replacement for - "logging" a station's video + audio or one or the other because of co-channel or other interference. Carrier frequency tells you what the station ID "might be" but to depend totally on 55.249.0010 as a point of "identification" stretches TV DXing as I have known it from 1950 or so. It is simply a tool - something that helps you point at a "possible individual station" rather than the now useless minus, zero and plus business. I don't believe for a moment that Mr Hoover or anyone else on this list would 'claim' a "new station" based solely upon the carrier frequency measurement. But when you have two or more options as to the "probable" station and the carrier frequency is "one" of your clues as to the POSITIVE IDent of the station, well, it is just that - a pointer. Danny is passionate about "pure" IDents, where possible including video AND audio but he properly cautions against making anything 'solid' of these as relates to Mexican stations. Perhaps the ideal situation in this case would be for Danny to acquire the appropriate equipment to "measure" the video carrier frequency for each of the Mexican stations which he has access to AND for ALL others to acquire similar equipment; and then using Danny's hard-video-audio ID information compared against the measured frequency, we have an "approaching positive" ID. I would be happy to donate US$100 to Danny acquiring such equipment (such as the ICOM PCR-1000) to assist him in becoming not just the stellar and most well founded ID center for Mexican Es TV but as well, the "source" for positive frequency-measured information. Anyone wish to join me? (Bob Cooper in NZ, ibid.) The problem is that a lot of the very long haul stuff is so blurry / ghosty the only way to get a positive ID is from the audio; my reception of WPBT in July 2008 is a good case in point, video below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5CJ6Kh95Og (Hugh Hoover, ibid.) I use an AR5000 so can tune to 10/20 MHz. One thing you could do is to make up a little 10 MHz crystal oscillator with a variable trimmer, zero beat this with WWV and then check for the 5th/6th harmonic. Other thing is to check the Ham 50 MHz beacons in the area for a basic frequency reference. If some of your ch 2 Canadian scatter signals are also what Bill Hepburn gets check with him, what he reads them as. You can put in an offset local oscillator + or - into spectrumlab to compensate of course. Bear in mind the receiver can drift a little in the first 20-30 minutes as it warms up maybe 20, 30 Hz or so, then should be stable. What we tend to do here is use RTP E2/3 as a check (normally stable)I get them as weak traces and the UK guys have them as ms type signals if no sporadic E around. We are often on skype chat and confirm what others are getting it on (Hugh Hoover, ibid.) No one is saying that you can claim records etc by xxx carrier that you have received. If you guys had made a list years ago and matched carriers by pictures or audio you would ROUGHLY know what was coming in. Notice I said roughly; now my with my own setup I don`t claim to be spot on, but over time you get to know what carrier is what and more important what new ones pop up. At the end of May how many of you guys could hold their hands up and say there was a big transatlantic opening on TV without looking at the internet. Do you think Eu DXers sat looking at a TV with a blank screen wondering if the band was open. Myself and other dxers saw the start of the opening with the weakest carriers and watched it until it reached picture level. 50 MHz hams in the USA can do it and they do spot them regular. Why can`t TV DXers ????????? The point of my mail is just to show that by monitoring carriers it tells you when the band is open and IF you had started a list you would roughly know what was coming in. It`s a tool for telling you what the propagation is like and NOT i.e. I got xxxx carrier I am claiming xxxx station. Now on to actual receiving with the d500 and tv card/ software and noise reduction software; no, I will leave that for another time :-) Cheers, Lorraine ... oops, David :-) .... my wife set up the email and her name shows (David Hamilton, ibid.) I will admit to having skipped a bunch of these messages so I probably missed it, but... Has anyone considered analysis of *DTV* carriers? There *is* a carrier. 310 kHz into the channel (54.31, 60.31, 66.31, etc...). It's going to be a LOT easier to measure the DTV carrier than to decode even the TVCT PSIP table. I do think we're going to find DTV transmitters are a LOT more stable than the older analog units -- but the analysis bears investigation. -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) Yes, I always have a receiver looking for and plotting channel 2 DTV pilot carriers. It's a great way to detect Es openings that otherwise failed to show anything analog. I've found that every DTV station I've seen on channel 2 falls within an approximate 10 Hz window. During an Es opening I will move up and look for DTV pilot carriers on channels 3-6. I now have a pretty good idea about whether or not a signal will or will not decode based on the signal strength I see on my Icom R8500. Here's a problem I have with trying to see European carriers. I don't know about everybody else, but I get a lot of "birdies" from wireless routers and other wireless devices in the neighborhood. These things produce a lot of "carriers" all over the lower television channels. There are times when I see paths between Europe and my location, and I detected what I am pretty sure are European carriers. At the same time I also detected stuff that I knew was garbage. As such I never came up with anything I could trust. If you live in a city you are probably dealing with a fairly dirty RF environment like me. The DTV pilot detection is a little different. Sometimes, but not often, I do see garbage in the plots. However, there is always enough meteor activity so that I always have decent reference plots for at least KNOP-DT and KOTA-DT (Girard Westerberg, W4GMW, http://www.DXFM.com Lexington, KY, ibid.) Sure Les. I only started my list late last Es season, so it's rather small right now. I hope to add a lot more to it next Es season. And Doug will notice that I'm also doing DTV carriers. It would great to compare with Mike et al's measurements to see if we can improve our collective accuracy. 2dtv 54.309.43 KNOP North Platte, NE 2- 55.239.92 CBGAT-14 Carleton, QC 55.239.94-98 CMBA Havana, CUB 55.240.00 CHBX Sault Ste Marie, ON 55.240.66v CKCO-2 Wiarton, ON 2z 55.250.0 CMJF Santiago de Cuba, CUB 55.250.0 ? HJBJ Cerro Kennedy, CLM 55.250.00 HJHN Magangue, CLM 55.250.00 WUVF-LP Naples, FL 55.250.0 ? YVVG Maracaibo, VEN 55.250.02 CBFT Montreal, QC 2+ 55.260.00 CIII-2 Bancroft, ON 3dtv 60.309.41 unID (sw or w) 60.309.44 unID (s) 60.309.52 ? 60.310.14 unID (s) 3- 61.240.03 CKRN-3 Bearn, QC 3z 61.250.14 CM.. unID CUB (T Rebelde) 3+ 61.260.00 CKVR Barrie, ON 4dtv 4- 67.240.00 CMBR Havana, CUB 4z 67.247.71- ? slow warbler 67.249.54 67.250.00 HJBH Cerro Kennedy, CLM (ex-67.249.2) 67.250.6 CMFG Camaguey, CUB 67.250.61 HIRTVD Santo Domingo, DOM 4+ 5dtv 5- 5z 77.250.02 CBLT Toronto, ON 5+ 6dtv 82.309.29 uniD (west) 82.309.53 WRGB Schenectady, NY 6- 83.240.02 CJOH-6 Deseronto, ON 6z 6+ 83.259.99 CIII Paris, ON wrh (Bill Hepburn, Grimsby Ont., ibid.) Most of us are within in range of one of the 6m or 4m beacons that are referenced against a frequency standard. I use both from GB3BUX, in conjunction with the xvco on the Icom 8500 and the fact it's left on 24/7 it will remain accurate to within a couple of Hz for weeks at a time. Those that aren't either get an up-to-date measurement of a known TV carrier or use home brew frequency references using MSF or GPS, http://www.rt66.com/~shera/QST_GPS.pdf I don't think that anyone claims DX just by a seeing/hearing a carrier (hope not anyway) but I do consider it an invaluble tool and it's another part of a serious DXers equipment list. Two reasons to use them, one it allows you quickly check for anything new when the channel has two or more signals fighting it out. Second, it's an early warning system for real DX. These two examples of 3x Es wouldn't have been seen if I'd not been monitoring the carriers, I just wouldn't have had the TV on watching noise. Dubai Sports @ 5500Km. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC020ZTvRKs STV Cameroon @ 5300Km http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG9xeQ81rDs (Paul Logan, UKOGBANI, ibid.) I will also contribute $100 USD for Danny (but only if Danny is interested in doing this type of DXing). I also think it should be understood that Danny is under no obligation nor time pressure to provide such information to the rest of us. I know from personal experience that I HATE IT when someone volunteers me for yet another "project". Having carrier frequencies that matched more of the Mexican stations would help with identification, to be sure. 73, (Les N1LF Rayburn, Alabaster, AL 35007-8536, ibid.) Bob and Les, your kindness is greatly appreciated. However, I won't accept any gifts. I'm sorry to say this job is too big for me, anyway. It took me sixteen years to ID a mere 131 Mexico TV stations. That was using multiple TVs and VCRs during Es. Many of those stations are IDed only once every few years, while a few others have not been IDed again. In time to come, I might help with a project like this; but this is not good time for me to begin something new (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, Mexico TV DX Tips http://www.tvdxtips.com ibid.) If DXing was a for-profit industry, we could have hired Danny full- time as chief offset monitorer. He could have quit his day job, etc... Hey, Danny, imagine working for a few hundred bosses like us... Then again... ;-) (Saul Chernos, ibid.) TO me, the statement below, "I don't think that anyone claims DX just by a seeing/hearing a carrier (hope not anyway) but I do consider it an invaluble tool and it's another part of a serious DXers equipment list." is key. This is the same argument that was had in AM DX circles in the 1960's and 70's, with some folks accusing others of logging stations they only 'saw' on a display as opposed to where definitive audio was heard. Let's face it, there are always a small few in any DX group who push the envelope on what most would consider criteria for new loggings, but the majority don't (Russ Edmunds, WB2BJH, Blue Bell, PA, ibid.) If my plans to set up a remote DX site in the interior of Jamaica ever come to fruition, that would put me within 1-hop range of Mexico (; I still have to learn how to remotely control my existing site first - and of course it depends on whether or not my mother-in-law actually moves to Jamaica (she already has the house built). Wrh (Bill Hepburn, Ont, ibid.) Isn't there a timeline for Mexican analog to end? (Saul Chernos, Ont., ibid.) Yes, but not until 2022 for the entire country. That said, I STRONGLY suspect stations will voluntarily cease analog transmission well before the government requires it. Saul (and our other Canadian readers), aren't all new TVs sold in Canada now equipped with ATSC DTV tuners as well? I know the government isn't *requiring* DTV tuners north of the border, but I can't imagine the manufacturers are making different models for Canada. And I would imagine the same is true in Mexico -- that all new TVs being sold south of the border already contain DTV tuners. Which means that in just a few more years, well over 90% of viewers in Mexico will have either cable, satellite, or a digital TV. When your analog transmitter breaks down, and you realize 95% of your audience is NOT watching that transmitter, you're going to think twice before spending $$$ to fix it (Doug Smith, TN, ibid.) How consistent is your "noise profile"? Is it possible to identify (and disregard) the garbage signals in the same way you would have identified, for example, WLWT's analog carrier? Or are they so unstable as to be uncharacterizable? (sp?) (Doug Smith to Girard W., ibid.) That's always a problem. Power supplies in DTV receivers and "modern" TV's can be bad too. If the stuff is too strong it will degrade your DTV decoding on lowband I'm sure. To prove it's not something in your house tune to a known strongish piece of garbage(!) then remove the mains power from as much as possible in the house DTV boxes, TV's, other PC's/routers, etc. Finally switch the PC monitor you're using to look at the traces off for 10 or 20 seconds then back on and see if the trace goes away and then reappears (Hugh Hoover, Portugal, ibid.) LAN cards set to 100 MB generally produce numerous birdies across B1 that will radiate from unscreened CAT5 cable for quite a distance. I remove all these AND lower the noise floor by switching all mine down to 10 MB duplex from within the device properties until such time I need to shift a lot of data around the network in a hurry (Paul Logan, http://www.ukdx.org.uk http://www.youtube.com/Aceblaggard ibid.) No, this stuff moves all over the place and depends very much on which way the antenna is pointed. Don't get me wrong. This stuff is of such low level it does not prevent reception of either analog or digital TV. It does, however, mess with my ability to possibly detect any very weak video carriers that may be making it here from Europe or elsewhere (G. Westerberg, KY, ibid.) Paul, I use all shielded CAT5, and have them all wrapped around ferrite toroids. My stuff isn't the problem. It's the stuff that comes and goes from the many houses that are near me. Both wired and wireless networks and devices are everywhere these days (Girard Westerberg, W4GMW, http://www.DXFM.com Lexington, KY, ibid.) Thanks to everybody for their comments (on and off the list). I like the idea of a frequency list. Nevertheless, when I think about the size of Mexico, the high number of relayers (some of which never ID at all), the large amount of severe CCI caused by all of those relayers, etc, I must play devil's advocate. Don't take me wrong: I have never thought anyone was cheating or lying about their Mexico TV DX. The errors have been honest mistakes based on lack of knowledge, etc. Here are a couple of the things I'm still wondering about. First, let me remind everybody that the independent and educational stations in Mexico are easy IDs. The problem here concerns network relayers, many of which have switched (Televisa) networks in recent years and months. Hugh, in your first comment below about doing both at the same time, I'm not so sure I'm coordinated well enough to watch five TVs and calculate frequencies on a receiver at the same time. If you blink, you might miss a *tiny* text ID from Mexico. And there is no audio or set times for those IDs. And many are up for as little as three *seconds.* Most of those modern tiny IDs cannot be read by DXers in the first place due to fading, jerking, heavy CCI, or weak signals. Ask Jeff Kruszka, Jeff Kadet, Fritze, Pat Dyer, Ed Phelps, Christopher Dunne, and other WTFDAers who are in easy single-hop Es range of Mexico. Even with a TV for each low-band channel, I could not read half of the IDs I saw this summer. Not even after reviewing the recordings over and over. And about those Italian relayers, do you have a location for each transmitter or just a frequency? If you do have locations, how did you get them? What kind of *local* ID material is on those Italian stations? As for somebody going to Mexico and tracking down the transmitters, there are many reasons why that won't happen. And the only DXer in Mexico who ever had an interest in helping other TV DXers is no longer in a situation to help. Am I wrong in assuming that what we are going to have is a list of unique frequencies with only a few transmitter or city of service locations? At least DXers would know that they have some unique station from Mexico. Thanks (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA Mexico TV DX Tips http://www.tvdxtips.com ibid.) Well, I'm sure if you tried it you'd see the same old carriers coming up again and again; how you relate that to transmitter sites is a different matter. No local ID from the national Rai 1 channel, though there are local "Private/Pirate" stations as well. We have an Italian transmitter list, some of these are well under 1 lW. They're also about to close down!! One can get an idea of the area as the main Italian channel A (53.75 MHz) transmitters are in the north, south and Sicily on minus zero and plus offset, and very specific area openings to Italy here give the same old weak pictures on Channel IB with the same carriers appearing each time a specific area "A" channel is in. List is here: http://www.otgtv.it/dx.html no basic offsets given. Sicily will stay till 2012 though I'm note sure what will be left in the rest of the country in 2011, not much I think. To be honest I'm not very interested in single hop stuff any more; one knows single hop Es distance give or and take. I tend to concentrate on double or more hop stuff (there's very little single hop lowband left here now anyway) and the multihop propagation aspect is what I tend to concentrate on. Strikes me you'll still be trying to locate these Mexican sites when they close down but what is useful is identifying the carriers. It can all be done very quickly and you're not going to miss anything. With a PC video card you can record the video and also you can record the carriers as well. That's how Paul got the 5000 KM + id from Dubai, looking back at the recording.. As I see it you'll have a list of carriers around minus zero and + offsets which you'll get to "know". The difficult part is getting the ID from those carriers. It's possible it may be easier for the "northern" Dxers who will have one or two weaker signals coming in via double hop or long single hop at one time instead of a jumbled mass of confusion !! Regards, (Hugh Hoover, ibid.) You think so? That will be interesting indeed (Danny, ibid.) I do indeed. If I remember Mike B had a definite ID on quite a distant Mexican signal last year, One or two slow fading double hop signals (or weak single hop signals) with audio around will probably be easier to id than a mass of single hop stuff - I know this from personal experience with Jordan and Syria from the Middle East and the Caribbean/S American signals I get here. If a load of them were piling up into each other it would be almost impossible (Hugh Hoover, Portugal, ibid.) Mike IDed, as far as I recall, XHBC-3, XEFB-2, and XHRIO-2. Those are not network relayers. As far as I can recall, no WTFDAer has been able to read the tiny, silent text IDs used by relayers via 2-hop or very long Es. Maybe you should read my Mexico TV Primer at http://tvdxtips.com and look at some text IDs on http://tvdxexpo.com I'm sorry to be so blunt. (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, ibid.) Look, I've never received Mexico once and am never likely to receive it much here. I've offered you advice (been DXing for 40 years). If you have no wish to take the advice offered so be it. All I would say is just don't get too "obsessed" over identifying Mexican TV. Personally I'd have got bored with trying to identify single hop 1000 odd miles stuff years ago and gone looking for double or triple hop signals from your location (Hugh Hoover, Portugal, ibid.) Lots of TVDXers in Europe are using TV cards with external sync with adaptive noise filters in dscaler software and with the use of the d100/500 I know the small text would be seen. Check out the difference here with the adaptive noise filter in dscaler http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=allEPOKumwo Cheers (David Hamilton, saa7134 chip tv card, free run sync software, dscaler tv software, d 500, 47 - 108 mhz log periodic, http://band1tvdx.blogspot.com/ ibid.) OK, you have the text ID problem solved with the software, etc. Therefore, we are now on the right track for DXers in the northeastern U.S. and Ontario to make positive IDs of Mexico relayers. That makes me feel a lot better, as I won't have to buy new equipment and spend my time measuring frequencies. I look forward to seeing the IDs. Although my current TV log dates back only sixteen years, I first started DXing seriously in 1968 (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, ibid_) Danny, the point of the topic of TV carriers was to give an idea how the European DXers have tackled this problem and have moved forward in the hobby and i am wondering why you are getting so worked up about this. As I said, we in Europe started this years ago which you guys should have done as well. But it seems you are quite happy with a TV and antenna and HOPING for DX while we in Europe are WATCHING for it at an early stage until it gets to video level. I am being blunt again, but it seems you are afraid to try new things which actually help in TVDX, but you know the old saying "you cant teach a old dog new tricks". Cheers (David Hamilton, ibid.) David, I can't speak for Danny, but I think your tone has been and continues to be a bit out of line. There are many differences between what works in Europe and what works in North America. Danny and others on this side of the Atlantic have a long history of innovating in this hobby, and have experimented with a variety of equipment and techniques to improve their experience. Just because everyone here doesn't rush to start monitoring carrier frequencies doesn't mean that you have not planted the seeds. I plan to explore this much more in the Winter and next summer during our "E" skip season. Why not confine the discussion to the relative merits of the technique without making assertions about someone's motives if they chose not to use it. I think that would be much more constructive. 73, (Les Rayburn, N1LF, ibid.) I think David's just pointing out in his own way that things have moved on providing one feels like moving on also; it's not really just the carrier frequency thing, it's the noise reduction software and being able to reinsert locally generated sync and record the result onto the hard drive. That means even a tiny ident in the corner of the picture will be "rock solid" co channel or no co channel interference and can be played back again and again to try to get an ID off it. The analogue pc tv card for this with the Phillips IC in it can be had for a few dollars on e bay in Europe (until they've all ended up in the trash with the digital changeover!!) (Hugh Hoover, ibid.) Well guys, the obvious way to go, at least for the NEXT few Es seasons is an analogue TV card for the PC. We don't have that many years of International analogue left, and I, for one, plan on buying a card hopefully in time for our winter Es peak!! (Steven Wiseblood, Harlingen TEXAS, ibid.) Agreed. David, can you recommend the best cards for us to look for? I'll start searching ebay right away. 73, (Les N1LF, ibid.) Danny, I've seen the small text IDs twice so far on Mexican stations, and you are right, they are extremely hard to read. However, with the signals I've seen, I'm sure at least a few of these should be readable at some point. Case in point, this colour signal from Juárez at 1,664 miles: http://dxinfocentre.com/pix/2-CiudadJuarez.JPG A text ID on a signal this strong could be readable. And look at the strengths on these South Americans: http://dxinfocentre.com/pix/2-CerroKennedy.JPG http://dxinfocentre.com/pix/2-Maracaibo.JPG Text IDs on those stations could be read. In both of my cases I didn't have a recorder running. Using frame- combining software such as Astrovideo, it might be possible to combine all of the frames of the ID and read call letters that can't be seen with the "naked eye". I have sucked out visual ID's out of the ether on some old Es videotapes. Like the Euro folks are saying, there is usually less chaos with 2-hop signals, the frames seem to be more stable overall than 1-hop. If you don't think we can do it, let us prove you wrong, we're up to the challenge. (This is the sense I feel coming from you - kind of annoying, but at the same time motivating). DX barriers are being broken down that we thought were impossible before. Colour signals from South America to Canada? I'd NEVER have believed that was possible with a combination VHF/UHF antenna that some seasoned DXers have told me is not a serious DX antenna. And with no VHF preamp. Well, good thing I didn't let them discourage me. In the meantime, I will maintain a database and share any frequency measurements I make - even on unIDs where at least network is known. Let's all be more positive. Regards, (Bill Hepburn, ibid.) Better yet, for us lazy Americans (it does seem we have been a bit behind on all aspects of DXing for years - remember the Conrad RDS unit, made in Germany?) Would David or others care to write up a quick cookbook of what many DX'ers use for equipment and a high to medium level "how to guide" of how to use it. Sounds interesting as the past summer or two has had some great (and unexpectedly long) analog DX with most US analogs off (Bill Nollman, CT, ibid.) TV CARDS --- Look here on Jurgen's DX info http://dx.3sdesign.de/ Down the left hand side to TV card mods and Improving video Card is the Flyvideo 3000 or 2000 in Europe by Lifeview (3000 has an FM tuner as well, 2000 doesn't). Maybe it was sold in N America under a different name??? One can feed video in from a TV video out as well. The sync mod isn't as bad as it seems --- I have a varactor diode across the crystal just coming out to a potentiometer. fed from the pc's 12 volts supply... His software will switch the internal sync on and off with this card only (with the Philips chip mentioned) This looks like one on ebay Germany http://cgi.ebay.de/Lifeview-TV-Karte-120620831789?pt=DE_Technik_Computerzubeh%C3%B6r_Multimedia&hash=item1c158fd42d currently 1 Euro +- $1.50 maybe Bear in mind there is a later type here http://cgi.ebay.de/TV-Tuner-LifeView-PAL-B-G-m-BT878a-1477-/360282733622?pt=DE_Technik_Computerzubeh%C3%B6r_Multimedia&hash=item53e2863c36 Which hasn't the Phillips chip and can't be synced --- If in doubt e mail Jurgen with a picture and he will confirm. The video/tuner side will do NTSC; it's just the audio that will be wrong. The card will work immediately with dscaler software & it detects the card as well (Hugh Hoover, Portugal, ibid.) I cannot find this card on eBay US or eBay UK and there's just one on eBay Germany and I can't translate the page to see if he ships to the US. This would be a good time to toss out my Win TV-D card which only half works anyway. A few months ago I fed a crappy snowy weak signal from the local ch 47 translator from this card into the TV-D card and the difference was dramatic. What was unwatchable became easily watchable. The big negative on the TV-D is the blue screen video mute on weak signals and the audio muting on weak signals. Finding this card is going to be a PITA. So far I can't find any info about it being sold in the US under a different name. The manufacturer is in Taiwan, so it could be possible. And one more, XEPM (2) Juárez, Tu Canal, for a total of four. I really hope we have more 2 hop to Central and South America next summer because now that I'm officially retired I can be home to see it for a change (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT, ibid.) I've put a short video on youtube of noise reduction and sync reinsertion here.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6Ocuxzgp10 It's a weak Moroccan analogue uhf signal on ch E44, the patterning is something from them. Raw signal up to 0:11, after this noise reduction switched on, internal sync still off. Internal sync on at 0:20 (noise reduction off) and noise reduction switched back on, with internal sync still around 0:23. The "2M" letters can be seen more clearly. Beside them is a little logobug thing (Hugh Hoover, Portugal, ibid.) I found the website to "Animation Technologies Inc" LifeView where they manufacture the TV Tuner PCi cards in Taiwan. Now, it's just a matter of finding out where we can order these from? http://www.lifeview.com.tw/html/products/internal_tv/flydvbt_duo.htm The link shows the FlyDVB-T Duo which is a switchible ANALOGUE & DIGITAL TV TUNER.. "LifeView presents the first and only digital and analog TV solution for your PC, the FlyDVB-T Duo! Enjoy picture perfect digital TV and high quality analog TV from the same card! Experience high resolution video and crystal clear stereo sound with digital TV. Our silicon tuner gives you support for worldwide analog TV standards including NTSC, PAL, and SECAM. It also gives you worldwide stereo sound support, and supports standards like MTS, EIAJ, BTSC, A2, and NiCAM. Inputs for S-Video and composite video sources are included, so you can connect external analog video devices such as a camcorder, VCR, or game console! The FlyDVB-T Duo makes the perfect solution for Mini PCs and desktop PCs alike with its low profile form factor." I would like to order one of these! STAT...hihi (Steven Wiseblood, Harlingen TEXAS, ibid.) Hi, great you found the website. Bear in mind DVB-T is not the North American digital system, it's the European one. The one with that Phillips "hackable" chip in was around in 2002; later versions aren't the same one (Hugh Hoover, ibid.) This found on ebay; will it work for NAm? http://cgi.ebay.com/MSI-TV-NYWHERE-PLUS-INTERNAL-PCI-TV-TUNER-FM-RADIO-TUNE-/330437404216?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cef9aa638 (Steven Wiseblood, Harlingen, TEXAS, ibid.) Will certainly receive analogue ok,don't think it's got any DTV capabilities. Whether the sync thing will work I don't know. Possibly not but if it has the right chip then could be (Hugh Hoover, ibid.) Gentlemen, did I ever say I was against a Mexico TV frequency list? In spite of my lack of time, lack of money, and lack of interest at this time in using the new TV DX technilogies, did I say I was against the new technologies? I even said in the post below from Saturday that I was playing devil's advocate. Nevertheless, it is OK for me to prefer my style of TV DXing to the European style. If Hugh and David think I'm old-fashioned and my DX is boring, so be it. That doesn't mean their style of DXing should be exciting to me. Hugh has plenty of experience with the new technologies. I have plenty of experience with Mexico TV DX. I probably know more about those new gadgets than Hugh knows about Mexico TV DX, as I have always read the post here and on the WTFDA Forums about the new gadgets over the years. In fact, I used to read Shywaves and the ICDX list regularly. I have lived in Louisiana all of my 55 years. Mexico has always dominated TV DX here. I have logged more than a 1,000 TV stations in the last sixteen years (including 200+ DTV logs and 300+ Es logs). In spite of Mexico's dominance here via Es and tropo, the number of Mexico logs (131) is very low when compared to the hours of time and effort put into it. Good luck with the project (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, ibid.) Well quite but I thought you wanted to see those little idents in the corner. With multi co channel on an old telly you'll rarely catch it; with pc card and external sync you will. Since your id project is "time limited" by their looming closedown I would have thought anything that helped would have been grabbed at and this will help. However each to their own (Hugh Hoover, Portugal, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ Lack of TAs [trans-Atlantic mediumwave DX] Last year at this time I was getting 50 or so TA signals every night, many quite strong. This September I have been lucky to receive as many as 20, the better ones being Saudi-1521 and some RNEs from Spain, mostly weak. So what's happened? Hardly any LAs either so conditions aren't auroral. Are any others who look for TAs having any better results? Nor have I noticed any exceptional domestic conditions such as western stations being heard in the East. I am still using the equipment as in past years. One thing I do notice. Croatia-1134 hardly makes it in here anymore. Used to be a semi-local regular (Ben Dangerfield, Wallingford, PA, Sept 9, NRC-AM via DXLD) They sign off nowadays at 2245 (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) One factor is that last year at this time geomagnetic activity was small and very infrequent. Now we are moving back toward a more typical pattern of activity with peaks and valleys in the indices. (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA ( 360' ASL ). [15 mi NNW of Philadelphia] ibid.) Well, Ben, the lack of TA activity is probably due to an increase in sunspot activity. According to the article below by the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center, the last solar minimum occurred in December of 2008. Therefore, the best TA conditions should have occurred around that time. This is consistent with my own (very UNscientific) findings in that in late January 2009, far northern TA's like Faroe Islands-531 and Greenland-720 were heard almost daily. Now, as solar activity increases, TA conditions should continue to deteriorate. Will we experience some good Auroral conditions? I hope so but only time will tell. Chris Black here on Cape Cod did hear Paraguay-780 about a month ago so there seems to be reason for optimism. Here is the article: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/ (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts http://www.wtfda.info/showthread.php?t=228 ibid.) 1710 KHZ PROPAGATION TEST WITH ONE WATT Just a heads up, I'm doing a propagation test with Mark Durenberger of the DX Audio Service tonight [Saturday Sept 11] starting at 7 PM. The test is on 1710 with 1 watt from Lima OH, and will run till 7 AM on Sunday morning. [EDT? = 2300-1100 UT] Mark is in Moab UT with a Perseus SDR on a 3/4 mile beverage antenna, aimed back east. We're trying to repeat the test we conducted several years ago, but with less power since he has a bigger antenna and the Perseus. Reports will be QSLed. Fred Vobbe, fred08 @ vobbe.com (via Harold Frodge, MI, DXLD via dxldyg) Rumor has it that there's a 1 watt signal emanating from the Toledo area tonight. At 2230 [EDT = 0230 UT Sunday] I'm hearing a fairly continuous whoop-whoop siren sound underneath the dominant felame vocalist. Ahh, there are some code groups between the whoops (Jim Renfrew, Holley NY, IRCA via DXLD) Looks like WNRC, I've heard "N", "R" and "C", though not all at once, in between whoops. Must be ratings week (Jim Renfrew, Holley NY, 0246 UT Sept 12, IRCA via DXLD) Getting it loud and clear here in the Big O, too. 73, (Rick Dau, Omaha, Nebraska, Sony ICF-2010 + Quantum Loop, 0317 UT Sept 12, NRC-AM via DXLD) Loud? With one watt? (gh) Hi Guys: I have the Same Broadcast here in London, ONTARIO CANADA at 2328-2332 EDT. Can the Chief Engineer of WNRC please Confirm if this is WNRC??????? With a Special Broadcast??? Also can you confirm the Power of 1 Watt??? THANKS!! Radio used: TECSUN PL380 with Gary DeBock Frankensteiner 7.5 Inch Ferrite Rod. 73. ROB VA3SW 1710, WNRC?? Near Toledo, OHIO, Sept/11/10, 2328 EDT, EE, Poor-Fair Morse Code heard at tune in 2328 EDT. "WNRC" possibly in Slow Speed Code. May have been more, but only heard WNRC possibly twice. Whoop Whoop Tones at 2328 and 2330. Heard music with vocals at 2332; not sure if that's part of the same transmission??? NEW STATION ULR # 841 1 WATT??? (Robert S. Ross, London, Ontario CANADA, IRCA via DXLD) Have a Little Better Copy on this at 2354-2357 EDT. And I think the Code I'm hearing is ONLY "NRC". I'm not hearing the "W" in the ID. More Whoop Whoop Tones and Vocal Music Interspersed with the Whoops. If they are Transmitting WNRC. I'm only hearing NRC in slow speed code. 73...ROB VA3SW (Robert S. Ross, London, ONTARIO CANADA, NRC-AM via DXLD) At 22:50 CDT [0350 UT] receiving code and "whoops" on 1710 kHz. On a scale of 1 to 5 for signal strength it's a 1 here with R8A and Quantum Loop (Tom Jasinski, Joliet, IL, ibid.) In here at Burnt River ON, too. Even on the nerw [new?] south wire (Saul Chernos, 0330 UT Sept 12, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) I'm just hearing noise, and I'm 50 miles north of Toledo. Will keep checking. Should be able to get it, unless it's coming from Lima, which should still be audible. 73/ (Liz Cameron, MI, 0346 UT Sept 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Getting sweep tones very weak in MN --- Heard 11:42 pm CDT [0442 UT] on Eton E1 w/8" Quantum loop. Using USB. MN 12:05 am "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder on 1710. Does anyone know who this is? Thanks for any help. Still getting the sweeps & NRC, too. 73, (George Sherman, MN, IRCA via DXLD) Sweep tone and code here in IL usually weakish. No trace of oldies. I presume this pirate is what you and Shawn in MB have been getting and that it is in your general area. 73 KAZ, ibid. (Neil Kazaross, IL/WI, ibid.) Sought it at 0535-0540 UT, but too much localish hash circa (gh) Also hearing the whoop-whoop siren here along with the code at 0815 UT on 1710. The code seems to be N R C E I, though the last two letters do not seem to come in as well as the initial N R C. Using the Drake R8 at the moment with 200' wire running W-E (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Reports will be honored here in the list. Any recordings can be sent to this e-mail address as well and will be used in the October DXAS. Please send as MP3, or mail a CD to the DXAS HQ. In your report, please indicate your location, and if possible geographic coordinates so a distance can be calculated. If you desire a QSL please indicate this in your report, and if you need one electronically (JPeg) or by mail. Another test will be scheduled this winter using .1 watts and a highly optimized 10-ft antenna with 120 radial system (Fred Vobbe, OH, NRC-AM via DXLD) Here is what I have so far. If anyone wants to change your reported info, e-mail me off list with what you want to say. Comment will be used in the DXAS. Audio files would really be valuable, and if you want to start out your file with a time of reception and description of what you used to receive the signal (i.e.: rig, antenna, and any accessories to aid in digging it out of the noise), it would be VERY valuable to the story. Hopefully, our desert patrol out north of Moab UT was able to snare the test as well on the Perseus and Beverage antenna, a record 1,350 mile catch. Crossing my fingers! Fred ---[ Quote ]--- The N.R.C. Fall Test was heard by Scott Fybush, Jim Renfrew, Rick Dau, Saul Chernos, Robert Ross, & Tom Jasinski, Jim writes: "Looks like WNRC, I've heard "N", "R" and "C", though not all at once, in between whoops. Must be ratings week." Scott writes: "Is this you? (Can't imagine who else would be whoop-whooping on 1710 tonight...)" Rick Dau says: "Getting it loud and clear here in the Big O, too." (Omaha NE) Saul commented: "In here at Burnt River ON, too. Even on the nerw south wire." Robert Ross: "Hi Guys: I have the Same Broadcast here in London, ONTARIO CANADA @ 2328-2332 EDT. Can the Chief Engineer of WNRC please Confirm if this is WNRC??????? ...with a Special Broadcast???" Tom Jasinski said: "At 22:50 CDT receiving code and "whoops" on 1710 Khz. On a scale of 1 to 5 for signal strength it's a 1 here with R8A and Quantum Loop." (via Vobbe, ibid.) Hi Fred, I got the "NRC" broadcast but have previously received a WNRC QSL, so no need for another unless this is a completely different operation. The whoops made the difference. I took a while to get each of the three letters clearly. As far as I could tell there was no "W". I didn't record it. But I believe I was the first to report it on the list after Scott tipped me off about it. Coordinates here: 43.21387, -78.013766. It seemed to be on for quite a while, at least midnight I think, first noted at 2230 EDT (Jim Renfrew, NY, ibid.) It was on 7PM to 7AM this morning. Same location. And yes, it was just "NRC". I used a different sweep this time, from 440 to 1000 Hz. In theory, it should have made it better for those with narrow bandpass. It also helps the design of the transmit antenna, since it doesn't have to be 18 kHz wide. There could possibly be another test from upper Michigan this fall. We tried an unannounced test during the NRC convention, Friday night, but only one person heard it, and it wasn't an NRC member. I'm not sure if this test will be on the short antenna or not (Vobbe, ibid.) 1710, Lima OH, Vobbe DX Audio Service; 0017, 12-Sep; Propagation test; Woop-woops, NRC in code, some notes, then repeating. There's some music QRM, presumably one of the Boston area stations. Awfully readable if only 1 watt! Mucho tnx for headsup from Fred. QSLs: Lima OH, DX Audio Service propagation test on 1710 kHz at 1 w. E-confirmation from Fred Vobbe in 1 hr. 37 min. for e-mailed log (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ARCTIC AURORA WATCH Space Weather News for Sept. 12, 2010 http://spaceweather.com A magnetic filament on the sun erupted during the late hours of Sept. 10th, hurling a bright coronal mass ejection (CME) into space. The CME is not heading directly for Earth, but the cloud's southern flank could deliver a glancing blow to our planet's magnetic field on Sept. 12th or (more likely) Sept. 13th. People in Alaska, Canada, Iceland, Greenland and Scandinavia should be alert for Northern Lights in the nights ahead. Check http://spaceweather.com for updates and movies of the eruption that prompted this alert. – (Mark Coady, Ont, Sept 12, NASWA yg via DXLD) GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY FORECAST FOR THE PERIOD OF ONE SOLAR ROTATION Geomagnetic field during the following solar rotation should be: active to disturbed: Sep 21, (24,) Oct 5 unsettled to active: Sep (20, 22,) Oct 3 - 4 quiet to unsettled: Sep 11, (12,) 13, 23, (29 - 30,), Oct 6 - 7 quiet: Sep 14 - 18, (19,) 25 - 28, Oct 1 - 2 (F. K. Janda, OK1HH, Czech Propagation Interested Group e-mail: ok1hh(at)rsys.cz Sept 9 via WORLD OF RADIO 1530, DXLD) Geomagnetic field activity was at predominantly quiet to unsettled levels during 06-09 September, with isolated active to major storm levels at high latitudes. The increased activity was due to a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream (CH HSS). Solar wind observations from ACE showed increased solar wind velocities (peak 427 km/s), increased IMF Bt (peak 9nT), and intervals of southward IMF Bz (minimum -6nT). Activity decreased to quiet levels for the rest of the period. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 15 SEPT - 11 OCT 2010 Solar activity is expected to be at very low to low levels. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at normal to moderate levels from 15-20 September. High levels are expected from 21-29 September. Normal to moderate levels are expected for the remainder of the period. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be quiet on 15 September. Activity is expected to increase to quiet to unsettled levels, with isolated active periods on 16 September through early on 18 September. The increase in activity is due to the effects from the CME observed on 11 September and the effects of a weak recurrent CH HSS. Quiet levels are expected on 19 September. Activity is expected to increase to quiet to unsettled levels, with a chance for active periods, during 20-22 September due to a recurrent CH HSS. Quiet levels are expected for the remainder of the period. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2010 Sep 14 2251 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 Sep 14 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2010 Sep 15 82 5 2 2010 Sep 16 83 12 4 2010 Sep 17 83 12 4 2010 Sep 18 85 8 3 2010 Sep 19 85 5 2 2010 Sep 20 87 8 3 2010 Sep 21 87 12 4 2010 Sep 22 85 8 3 2010 Sep 23 85 5 2 2010 Sep 24 83 5 2 2010 Sep 25 82 5 2 2010 Sep 26 80 5 2 2010 Sep 27 78 5 2 2010 Sep 28 78 5 2 2010 Sep 29 78 5 2 2010 Sep 30 78 5 2 2010 Oct 01 78 5 2 2010 Oct 02 80 5 2 2010 Oct 03 80 5 2 2010 Oct 04 80 5 2 2010 Oct 05 81 5 2 2010 Oct 06 82 5 2 2010 Oct 07 82 5 2 2010 Oct 08 84 5 2 2010 Oct 09 84 5 2 2010 Oct 10 84 5 2 2010 Oct 11 85 5 2 (SWPC via DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ I totally agree with you (and laugh) when I hear you say, boldly and honestly, on WOR and DXLD about "religious propaganda." A good and close friend and I were musing: "Hey, where is God and Heaven located"? Out there beyond Galaxy 10236XG, situated 1,000,000,000 light years half-way across The Universe." And we laughed. So much of it all is ancient human superstition(s) hugely magnified by the religious media/churches, etc. into a vast money making/tax-write-off machine - very much supported by the obnoxious FCC - an entity I find totally loathsome, because they suppress pir8 radio so badly while allowing so much crap on the airwaves, out of band US HF broadcasters, CODAR junk to jam-up HF, etc. etc. I don't wish to come across, really, as too anti-religious. I do hold a lot of "spiritual thoughts" but none of them become so crystalized as to wish me to join a church, any longer. Jesus' original Gospels have become so distorted in all of the denominational bickering and differences out there, and throughout the history of the Bible. Best 73, (Steve McGreevy - N6NKS, Keeler, CA, Sept 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I don`t much use the term ``religious propaganda``, but one of our contributors does, Carlos Gonçalves in Portugal. It`s not necessarily pejorative, but ambiguous, as the original sense of propaganda was religious, as in propagating the gospel (gh, DXLD) ###