DX LISTENING DIGEST 12-02, January 11, 2012 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 2011 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 1599 HEADLINES: *DX and station news about: Afghanistan, Algeria non, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, China +non, Costa Rica, Czechia +non, France +non, Germany, Honduras, India, International pirates, Iran, Kashmir, Korea North, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Poland non, Russia, Sikkim, Sudan non, Uganda, UK, USA, Venezuela non SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1599, Jan 12-18, 2012 Thu 0430 WRMI 9955 [confirmed on webcast; 9955 jammed] Thu 2200 WTWW 9479 [confirmed] Thu 2230 WBCQ 7490 [confirmed] Fri 0430v WWRB 3195 [confirmed] Sat 0900 WRMI 9955 Sat 1600 WRMI 9955 Sat 1830 WRMI 9955 Sun 0500 WTWW 5755 Sun 0900 WRMI 9955 Sun 1630 WRMI 9955 Sun 1830 WRMI 9955 Mon 0330v WBCQ 5110v-CUSB [alternate weeks including this] Mon 1230 WRMI 9955 Tue 1030 HLR 5980 Hamburger Lokal Radio Thu 0430 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? 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, and say something about why you want to join. 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/ ** ABKHAZIA. CAUCASUS: Apsua Radio from Sukhumi, Abkhazia was heard on Dec 21st from 0400 to 0445 in Abkhazian on the medium waves 1350 kHz and from 0800 with news in Russian on 9535 (Radio Bulgaria Broadcast in English, DX Program January 06, 2012, Broadcast tips Compiled by Rumen Pankov via Rus DX via DXLD) [and non?]. CAUCASUS. [that`s one way to avoid having to decide which country these are in --- gh] V. of Justice, Nagorno-Karabakh heard on Tue 20 and Wed 23 Dec [sic: 20 Dec was Tue, but 23 Dec was Fri --- gh] at 0605-0625 on 9677v. Also Fridays 1405-1425 repeats Sats 0605-0625 on 9678v. [really 1 kHz difference reliably?] Abkhaz Radio is heard at 0330-0500 and 1400-1720 on 1350, irregularly on Mon/Wed and regularly on Fri at 0700-0808 on 9535 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, DX News, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) 9535, 0812 7 Dec, Avto R via Abkhaz R, song ``Eye of the Tiger``, Russian, SIO 353 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, HF Logbook, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) That was a Wed (gh) ** AFGHANISTAN. 1296 kHz VOA Kabul --- Hallo allemaal, Na een tip uit de ADX lijst: om 2100 utc op 1296 kHz Radio Ashna, Kabul, Afghanistan gehoord met SIO 323, wel veel fading. Groeten, (Cornel van Ravenswaaij, Netherlands?, Jan 5, AR7030 + beverage 065 deg, Benelux DX via DXLD) Hallo allemaal, Na dezefde tip hier ook geprobeerd. Heb zojuist 4 uur opname op 1296 kHz van gisteravond (6 Jan) doorgespit. En jawel - om 2200 UT een dame die het adres van "VOA Special English" doorgaf. Kwam nagenoeg uit het niets vanonder Spanje en (geloof ik) Bulgarije. en dat met alleen ALA1530. een paar minuten later nog wat engels, maar dat was het dan ook. Dat doet een mens goed. Groeten, (Aart Rouw, Bühl, Duitsland, Jan 7, AR7030+ALA1530, ibid.) ** AFGHANISTAN. 7200: "National Radio of Afghanistan" heard with its 1530-1600 English service on both 7 and 8 January. Reception was much better on the 8th. The previous day the hams were very active indeed throughout 7000-7200 (having one of their contests?). On the 8th, with less ham activity, I could use LSB to avoid splatter from Voice of Russia in Persian on 7205. Afghanistan was already in-progress with local music at 1525 tune-in. The English service started at 1529 with an announcement that still mentioned the former 6100 frequency, so this is another station where the transmitter engineers and the studio presenters don't speak to each other. They are still using the same distinctive interval signal I remember from the 1970s, which is played between items. Did someone keep the tape safe during the various civil wars and upheavals over the past 30+ years (including the Taleban era, when interval signals were presumably banned, like all music), or has it been re-recorded? No other broadcast signal heard co-channel with Afghanistan on 7200, but I thought I detected increased background noise on the channel, which could be Ethiopian white noise jamming, though not as strong as the white noise jamming at the same time on nearby 7175. The "Urdu Service" (as given on WRTH page 432, the English word "Service" is used in the ID) started at 1600 (Chris Greenway, England, Jan 8, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. A proposito dell'ascolto di Radio Afghanistan su 7200 kHz effettuato nel pomeriggio del 13 dicembre 2011, ho letto di dubbi sull'emittente isofrequenza, per alcuni dal Sudan ed altri dall'Etiopia. Io avevo pensato più al Sudan e così avevo scritto, anche se a dire il vero sotto l'Afghanistan avevo sentito anche della musica del corno d'Africa. Non conosco le relazioni di vicinanza tra Sudan ed Etiopia, però 1) Mi sembra anomalo che l'Etiopia vada a trasmettere sulla frequenza storica del Sudan e 2) Perché il Sudan - anch'esso nell'area del Corno d'Africa - non potrebbe mettere in onda musica di quel tipo? Da anni, ormai, l'ascolto di una canzone di un certo stile non significa più corrispondenza con la relativa area del pianeta, perché con le varie contaminazioni musicali tutti ormai incidono e suonano di tutto (Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova) - Italia, Jan 10, playdx yg via DXLD) Ciao Luca, posso dirti che il 30/12 sui 7200 verso le 1800 utc c'era anche l'Eritrea in // con 7175 e 4770. E' probabile che l'Etiopia si sia messa lì proprio per disturbare Asmara (Alessandro Groppazzi, Trieste, ibid.) ** ALASKA [and non]. 9655, Jan 6 at 1510, some English under RRI in Arabic, with SAH, in usual collision with KNLS, habitually won by RRI, despite both being off-the-back, 270 and 140 degrees respectively (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. My 7530 Tirana log on page 45 of the Jan NASWA Journal gives the time as 2215 but that`s incorrect, as the English broadcast is at 2100-2130. My original report did say 2115, so somehow it got typoed later. 7425, Jan 7 at 2358, R. Tirana IS before Albanian hour to NAm, 0003 Jan 8 presumed news; not much CCI from China now, as R. Tirana has declined to move to 7420 to avoid it completely. This does not necessarily mean the collision is over as conditions vary. [and non]. 7425, checking for R. Tirana`s collision with China, Jan 8 at 2354, only non-Albanian music, fairly good signal; then *2355 R. Tirana IS starts and mixes; other station off after 2357 leaving RT more or less clear. HFCC shows what the ChiCom are doing: 23-24 is 500 kW, 177 degrees, CRI Chinese via Kunming, and 00-01 is 100 kW, 174 degrees, CRI English via Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7425, 09/Jan 0027, R Tirana, in Albanian. Instrumental music. At 0030 YL talk. Music style Arabic, without musical accompaniment. At 0046 OM talk, then music style opera. At 0059 signal ID and end of transmission. Weak signal, but today no QRM of CRI, from my point of listening (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, 12 14´S 38 58´W - Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA [and non]. QSL Report for Al Muick, Week ending 07 January 2012: Radio Tirana, 7465, f/d woman in native costume drawing card in 489 days for English airmail report on French transmission with US $5.00 return postage and a follow-up via registered airmail and 2 IRCs. QSL received 49 days after follow-up. I received an email of December 6th 2011 from Clara [sic] saying she was sorry I had not received my original QSL which she put in the mail in September because she was on holidays in August. I'm thinking maybe there was confusion regarding the year because the QSL was late from the previous year! At any rate, thank you Clara for following up. This was for a reception at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan in August of 2010. The Tirana QSL card, unfortunately, is printed on about 20 lb stock paper and was not sent in an envelope, so consequently it got pretty beaten up by the various postal agencies it passed through. Slow week, and I have lots of overdue QSLs outstanding. Hopefully a new year will bring new QSLs, including the ones outstanding from Radio Maldives (seriously!), Voice of Malaysia (before they disappeared from shortwave), New Caledonia, and a whole slew of mediumwave stations, most of which are still outstanding from my time in Afghanistan. 73 (Al Muick, Whitehall PA USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALGERIA. ARGÉLIA: 676 [sic, must mean 576 ---gh], R. Algérienne / R. Béchar, Béchar, 2242-..., 09 Jan, empty carrier, so a worse situation than that of Morocco on 540; 54544, QRM de Espanha (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALGERIA [non]. 9390, Jan 5 at 1803, no carrier detectable from scheduled relay via FRANCE; WWRB 9385 with Brother Scare was not strong enough to obscure 9390 if it were on. Wolfgang Büschel the last three days has been monitoring all the France and Algeria broadcasts, and finds RTA is still on air ONLY at 19-20 on 7455, 11955. However: ``TDA erected two new 250 kW shortwave sites at Bechar (curtain antennas 49/41 mb, 31/25mb, at 135 degrees) and Ourgla (curtain ant at 206 degrees) on existing LW and MW TX sites. And daily 12 broadcasting hours rent at Issoudun will soon be ceased after completion of these two Algerian installations (wb, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 6)`` (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also FRANCE! ** ANGUILLA. 6090, University Network (Caribbean Beacon) Rev. Barbi pontificating about Deuteronomy “Thy shoes shall be iron & brass” & not open toe-ed pumps for a walk in the snow. Have you ever noticed that 'the Rev' seems more comfortable with the Old Testament? She is no Gene Scott, that’s for sure. In well, but a funny buzz in the modulation marring this: 5554+4. This was off the air completely yesterday. Tech problems? Money issues? Just decide to take the night off for the holiday? 0515-0530 3/Jan (Kenneth Vito Zichi, MI, MARE Tipsheet Jan 6 via DXLD) 6090, University Network; 2248, 4-Jan; Dead Dr. Gene telling me how it is. Too bad DDG had to pass on before last year's round of Raptures. I'm sure he'd have had a comment or ten. DDG told me to get on the telephone, then the announcer said I was watching the University Network. SIO=544 (U.N. not on 6090 or 11775 at 2117, 5-Jan) (Harold Frodge, MI, ibid.) ** ANTARCTICA. 15476, Jan 5 at 1430, as another year of Thursdays starts, during its last known schedule, still no sign of LRA36 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. MUDARON LA ANTENA DE LR6 RADIO MITRE by gruporadioescuchaargentino El Gobierno continúa su avanzada en toda la línea contra las empresas de Grupo Clarín, sus periodistas y directivos. Esta vez le tocó el turno a radio Mitre , a quien e l Ejército no le renovó el alquiler del predio desde donde emitía . Por eso, tuvo que trasladar su antena transmisora desde el predio de Tecnópolis en Villa Martelli, a uno en Hurlingham, con menor calidad de señal. La mudanza se hizo ayer, cuando se trasladó el transmisor principal y se colocó en una torre de 50 toneladas y 200 metros, que demandó una inversión de $ 6,5 millones. Estos días muchos oyentes de Radio Mitre en Capital y Gran Buenos Aires no escucharon con buena calidad sus programas favoritos, ya que se estaba emitiendo con un transmisor auxiliar, situación que seguramente mejorará a partir de hoy, cuando comience a funcionar el transmisor principal. De todos modos, la señal será inferior a la que había, ya que el predio en Hurlingham está más alejado de la Capital y a que todavía restan construir dos torres secundarias, para mejorar la radiación de la señal. . . http://gruporadioescuchaargentino.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/argentina-mudaron-la-antena-de-lr6-radio-mitre/ (GRA Jan 5 via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. Radio Nacional con problemas en 6060 --- B.A., 1950. Faulty transmitter, with carrier OK, but relatively low modulation and putting spurious noise from 5850 to 6000, QRM peak is on 5990. 73 & DX (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, Jan 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Later impeded reception of República DX test from COSTA RICA, q.v. 6060, R. Nacional, General Pacheco, 2249-2258, 07 Jan, Castilian, infos. On "cine ibero-americano"; 43432, QRM de B + adj. fqs. Parallel to 15345.12 good (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 13363.5-LSB, Sat Jan 7 at 2350, can barely detect some Spanish broadcast, i.e. the LTA army relay of some domestic Bs As station, more likely to happen on weekends with sports, and nothing from AFN Guam on 13363.0-USB. 13363.5-LSB, Jan 9 at 0002, Spanish news about sugar produxion, female teacher murdered, Aló, Presidente resumed; 0004 ID as Continental, Bs.As. temp as 25.8; much better than 24 hours earlier, now R5 and still no sign of AFN Guam (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARMENIA. KBC DRM MIX --- Ciao a tutti. Non annunciata sul sito relativo né nello schedule di http://www.drm.org sta trasmettendo, anche questo sabato, KBC da Noratus Armenia su 7590 kHz in DRM ovviamente. Per ora il segnale c'è ma la modulazione non si ascolta. Ulteriori aggiornamenti più tardi. Giovanni 1801 UT Sat Jan 7 Ricezione perfetta adesso (1805 UT): 7590 kHz in DRM. Segnale 9+20 a Messina. Per rapporti di ricezione (che conferma con QSL ): drmmix @ spaceline.bg Interferenze di tipo impulsivo sulla frequenza 7590 kHz (una specie di singhiozzo ogni tanto ). Scusate l'accostamento poco ortodosso. Ricezione negativa 1840 UT. Giovanni Dalle 2000 ricezione perfetta. In onda programma DX con notizie broadcasting worldwide. Poi solito programma contenitore con intervento di TWR, la storia delle tramissioni della VoA, intervento del Japan Short Wave Club. Signing off della trasmissione alle 2044 UT (Giovanni Lorenzi - IT9TZZ, Jan 7, QTH: Messina - Italy 38.11 N 15.32 E, Locator JM78SE, RX: Yaesu FRG-7000/Kenwood TS-440, Ant: Longwire 25 m / Dipole, Down converter: home brewing, Website: http://www.webalice.it/it9tzz bclnews.it via DXLD) KBC Trasmissione analogica --- In questo momento (1320 UT Jan 8) KBC su 6095 kHz con ottimo segnale e buona musica. KBC su 6095 kHz alle 1500. Annuncio e jingle. Leggero QRM da stazione cinese (CRI?). Allego registrazione. Condizioni di lavoro sottoindicate (Giovanni Lorenzi - IT9TZZ, QTH: Messina - Italy 38.11 N 15.32 E, 1515 UT Jan 8, ibid.) SINPO 54544 qui a Porto S. Stefano per KBC Radio con sporadico QRM da China Radio Int. in inglese da Xinjiang dalle 1500 UT. Roby (Roberto Rizzadi, Italy, 1524 UT Jan 8, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA. 2368,462 25.12 1830 R Symban kom äntligen igenom med riktigt bra signal! Grekisk musik men också en hel del tal efter 18.30. Gick också den 26.12 men inte lika starkt. AN 2368.462, 12.25 1830, R Symban finally came through with a really good signal! Greek music but also a lot of talk after 1830. Also noticed on Dec 26 but not as strong. AN (Arne Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 8, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 2368,5 26.12 1720 Radio Symban äntligen här också. Grekisk musik och en massa reklam. S 2-3. BEFF 2368.5, 12.26 1720, Radio Symban finally here, too. Greek music and a lot of advertising. S 2-3 (Björn Fransson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 8, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Ozyradio update. Jan 2012 --- Readers of the WRTH 2012 will note that OzyRadio didn't appear within the pages this year (well, not that I was able to find). After all, it disappeared from the airwaves in July 2011 & remained off air till years end. The station owner expected OzyRadio to return to the airwaves by years end (2011) from a new site. Unfortunately this didn't happen. Sadly, I have to report that a new SW transmission site still has not been secured. Given this fact, I think it very unlikely that Ozyradio will return [to] airwaves for at least six months & maybe not for sometime longer. In hindsight the station absence in the 2012 WRTH appears completely justified. If I learn more in future I'll let you all know (Ian Baxter, NSW, Shortwavesites Yahoo Group Jan 5 via WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DXLD) was sporadically active on 3210 and 5050 ** AUSTRALIA. 15340, Jan 7 at 1429, S Asian song with drumming and rustic instrument, fair signal but deep fades; must be HCJB, reminding me that I haven`t heard then in several weeks. Maybe long-path was cooperating. At least they no longer have to confront QRMorocco on 15341 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. VMW, Wiluna Meteo, 12362 USB, heard at 2140 on 06 January 2012 with maritime weather including sea heights. Several IDs. Male voice had that borderline quality where it was hard to tell if it was real or synth'ed. Very weak, but no QRM and no major QSB. At this time of day, probably due to the loop qualities and orientation (Al Muick, Whitehall, Pennsylvania, USA, Jan 6, WinRadio G303e, Wellbrook ALA1530P active loop oriented NNW-ESE, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA [non]. 11550, 10/Jan 2315, TAIWAN, R Australia, in Indonesian. YL talk, at 2320 ID by YL. Today was later listening and transmission is in Indonesian. But I think until 2315 it seems that was in English. With the better signal and without fading. Abruptly off the air at 2327. 25432. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia, 12 14´S 38 58´W - Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA [non]. 11945, 1010 20 Nov, R O1 Int, Austria, The Cold War, English, SIO 344 (Robin Tancoo, Trinidad, HF Logbook, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) No, it`s Radio AUSTRALIA (gh, DXLD) ** AZORES. AÇORES: 828, Antena 1 Açores, Monte das Cruzes, Flores, 1235-f/out 1315 (!), 09 Jan, relaying Lisboa for sports news, then local program up till the 01PM news bulletin relayed from Lisboa again as usual; 25341, but readable towards 1300. Again, this small transmitter is served by a simple folded monopole with the VHF-FM antennae on top (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AZORES. A few corrections to sections of this year's WRTH: AÇORES: RTP_DAB network: Operation on this band (as well as on SW) has been suspended as of early June last; the means do exist, they were not removed, so I feel the lists should be kept along with an explanatory note saying DAB is not currently available, which doesn't necessarily mean it can't be reactivated. Rádio Lajes: - Wrong MW fq; 1530 is the correct one after all, and has even been used for a brief period of time (and logged in Finland by DXer Mikka Makelainen!). The stn director's name is now correct, at last! 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Jan 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also MADEIRA, PORTUGAL ** BAHAMAS. ZNS Web site now offers live streams of ZNS-1 and ZNS-3 -- even ZNS-TV. Also, for the first time, schedules are posted for both radio and TV. The radio schedule also includes a "genre" for each program, so you can easily identify when Rake N Scrape, Junkanoo and Goombay are broadcast. URL is http://znsbahamas.com/ (Mike Cooper, GA, Jan 5, WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BHUTAN. BBS. Received an email from Thinley Dorji (Transmission head at Thimphu) confirming he is now in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia attending the HFCC conference. I had informed him that BBS had been off SW (5030 and 6035.05) since about Dec 25; his response: “I believe our transmitter was down and will be back soon”. We shall see! (Ron Howard, San Francisco, CA, Jan 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Bhutan was not on the air on 5030 and 6035 on 07.01 or 08.01 at 1340- 1350. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4451, R. Santa Ana, Santa Ana de Yacuma. January 07, 2322- 2330 male in Spanish talks “boliviano; para confirmar; atención Alvaro Fernández”, canned male and female on music “R. Santa Ana”. Static, 35433 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil (23 39’S-46 53’W), SW40 - Dipoles and Longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 6134.83, 6.1, R Santa Cruz, carrier appeared, too weak to produce any definite audio. Also heard opening daily Jan 2 - Jan 5 and always between 0851:25 and 0851:30. Presumed, s/on time is about 50 minutes before Sta Cruz sunrise and about 1 hr after sunrise at my QTH, freq fits (Martien Groot, Netherlands, SW Bulletin Jan 8, via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA [and non]. Bolivia, 6134.815, Radio Santa Cruz, 0154-0200 Jan 10, Russia is really ruining my evening here. Trying to hear RSC as they transmit music, but Voice of Russia [q.v.] too strong for the mediocre filtering system that the Excalibur has. Well, at 0200 I didn't need to worry anymore since Radio Santa Cruz quit for the day. 6134.820, Radio Santa Cruz, 1025-1035 Jan 10, A little noisy, but still able to get a solid signal from RSC was the time is filled with music. A male gave a brief TC on the half hour, but no ID heard. Signal remained poor with noise and heterodyne interfering (Chuck Bolland, 26N 081W, Excalibur, Clewiston FL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BONAIRE. Hi, 4 nice photos of RNW in Bonaire: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stringbeanqx/6025503038/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/stringbeanqx/6025502036/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/stringbeanqx/6024918527/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/stringbeanqx/6025438382/ (Andrea Borgnino IW0HK, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) see NETHERLANDS! ** BOTSWANA. 15570, Jan 9 at *2059 open carrier as VOA is tuning up for continuation of African service in English, to avoid Bonaire already on 15580. *2100 Bots jumps to 15580 where it is supposed to be as modulation begins. But if they are going to turn on only one minute before the hour, the offset is hardly necessary as Bonaire is already off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Radio Sociedade de Feira de Santana - BA --- “A rather large city - semi-mega, I had not heard of much before Jorge, because it never had a SW station?” - DX LISTENING DIGEST 12-01, January 4, 2012 Glenn, Sim, teve uma radio em ondas curtas, a Radio Sociedade de Feira de Santana. Abaixo os links com as gravações de um programa especial aos ouvintes da Suécia e outros que enviaram carta a Radio Sociedade ao ouvirem a sua programação na antiga freqüência de 4765 kHz, isso em 1961. Essa gravação é uma cortesia do meu colega na Suécia Henrik Klemetz que na época chamava-se Henrik Nilson. Veja um link dele hoje: http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/hk.dx http://www.box.net/shared/7i79epxmyb nro 1 http://www.box.net/shared/dx00am09v1 nro 2 http://www.box.net/shared/c7tlzoa21h nro 3 http://www.box.net/shared/f5jmv0eosd nro 4 http://www.box.net/shared/hav2z3n1b8 nro 5 http://www.box.net/shared/9d0yn5pf1v nro 6 http://www.box.net/shared/5iz1l8mkv5 nro 7 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, 12 14´S 38 58´W - Brasil, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 4875.733, 28.12 0159, R Roraima noted again with wobbling signal +/- 10-15 Hz. Strong. Drifting (Thomas Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 8, via DXLD) 4876 29.12 0000 R Roraima B har tydligen samma problem med sin sändare som man hade tidigare en gång: frekv. wobblar ca +/- 10 Hz. Den här gången fick jag frekv. till 4875,9 men den 1.1 00.00 var den 4876,45. AN 4876, 12.29 0000, R Roraima apparently has the same problem with their transmitter as when previously noticed: freq. wobbles about + / - 10 Hz. This time I measured the freq. to 4875.9, but on Jan 1 at 0000 it was on 4876.45. AN (Arne Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 8, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 4915, presumed R. Daqui, Goiânia, 0924 Jan 6, Portuguese; LA ballad then silence from 0926-0936 when I gave up; very weak; again at 2237-2256 with EZL pop music & short, canned ads/promos between selections; abruptly gone at 0956 & still so on several rechecks; fair. (Barbour-NH) 5035, R. Aparecida, Aparecida, 2221-2230 Jan 6, Portuguese; M & W announcer with talk & ballads; // 9630; poor-fair (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) BRASIL: 4865, R. Verdes Florestas, Cruz.º do Sul AC, 2251-2306, 05 Jan, local news, ID+fqs announcement at 2257 followed by some rlgs. propag. prgr; 33442, QRM de CODAR+BOL. 5035, R. Aparecida, Aparecida SP, 2205-2227, 06 Jan, program `Com a Mãe Aparecida`, featuring the Campanha dos Devotos as usual; 34422, QRM de R.Educação Rural. Silent on 31 & 25 m. 5035, R. Educação Rural, Coari AM, 2205-2223, 06 Jan, talks, songs; 24331, QRM de R. Aparecida. 6120, SRDA, São Paulo SP, 2251-..., 08 Jan, pathetic [religious] show of testimonials; 23431, adj. QRM. 9550.15, R. Boa Vontade, Pt.º Alegre RS, 2326-2339, 05 Jan, religious propaganda; 35433. Nothing heard on // 11895. 9629.9, R. Aparecida, Aparecida SP, 2327-2342, 05 Jan, songs; 45433. Audio/modulation problem solved, good audio this time! Parallel to 5035, 6135 (barely heard thanks to QRM), 11855. 9645.4, R. Bandeirantes, São Paulo SP, 2309-2325, 07 Jan, interview with a singer who even disclosed her e-mail address, advertisements, webpage announcement, then a program consisting of a retrospective of R. Bandeirantes vintage programs (I missed the name of this program though); 45433. 9819.7, R. 9 de Julho, São Paulo SP, 2311-2329, 07 Jan, songs; 44422, adjacent QRM de China on 9820. 11815, R. Brasil Central, Goiânia GO, 1943-1958, 06 Jan, program `Brasil Sertanejo` answering listeners' music requests; 54444. 11815 ditto, 1110-1157 (when blocked by REE in Castillian via CR), 09 Jan, songs, TCs, chatter & infos; 35433. 11925.2, R. Bandeirantes, São Paulo SP, 1836-1853, 07 Jan, f/ball match report Corinthians vs. Atlético, comments & infos. on other simultaneous matches; 33432, adj. QRM de Saudi Arabia. 15189.9, R. Inconfidência, Belo Horizonte MG, 1838-1904, 07 Jan, songs program, advertisements; 35544. Also fair~good throughout the day (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Carlos, Que belo log!!! Uma lástima não vermos isso nas listas brasileiras! Estou montando a antena dipolo encurtada e já guardei o seu log como referência de escuta. Parabéns mais uma vez. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA - Brasil, ibid.) Caro Jorge Freitas: Grato pela distinção! Infelizmente, onde resido, não tenho - nem de perto, nem de longe - as condições p/ poder realizar as captações que consigo na m/ estação, se assim se pode dizer, na costa SW. Aqui em Lisboa, o ruído abunda, e nada de Beverages, òbviamente. Para dar-lhe um pequeno exemplo: se consigo captar, em OMédia, algo do outro lado do Atlântico, é em más condições, o que quer dizer que nesse preciso momento, no sul, esses sinais seriam bastante bons, mesmo se captados c/ a K9AY. Resumindo, é caso p/ dizer que diferem "do dia para a noite." Das estações brasileiras, o que me desgosta imenso é constatarmos um "vira o disco e toca o mesmo": refiro-me, como adivinhará, a algumas nos 25-31-49 m a emitirem o que rotulo de propaganda religiosa, que é mesmo o cardápio habitual... Há honrosas excepções, claro está: RBC 11815, RBand. 9645/11925,2, RNAmaz. 11780, RInconf. 6010/15190. Mesmo as emissoras da família católica não pecam pela "exberância" de outras como RVMiss., RTM, e SRDA, esta última quase o expoente máximo de patetice. É, digamos, uma forma de poluição do éter tal como a proliferação de freqs. da R.Intern. da China e seus múltiplos retransmissores, seja aqui pela Europa ou algures, que os há. Continuo na expectativa de encontrar novamente a R. Cultura!!! Sabe alguma coisa deles? Cumprimentos (Carlos Gonçalves, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. 6010, ZYE521, Rádio Inconfidencia: 2242, 4-Jan; Passionate commentary by M in Portuguese to ad string at 2244+; ID at 2246+ & back to commentary. SIO=352; // 15190 ZYE522, SIO=3+53+ Per Rudolph Grimm, e-mail contacts for Inconfidencia are; diretoria @ inconfidencia.com.br and/or mstarbhz @ gmail.com (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW, All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! DX LISTTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 6070, 0605-0620, Rádio Capital, Rio de Janeiro, 07/11, Portuguese, OM is delivering a homily - poor with local noise and QRM from 6075 (CVA) in AM SYNC with 2.3 kHz bandwidth, // http://www.radiocapitalrio.com.br (Mikhail Timofeyev, North-East part of the St. Petersburg city, Russia, Drake R8A, Antenna: long wire (30 m), HCDX via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 6149.98, Rádio Record, São Paulo. Highlights of details, especially English songs appearing between otherwise very pop Portuguese songs as logged here chronologically in date/time order, to confirm there is in fact is no Radio Bayrak audible here. Usually, a female primary jock (sometimes a live man and maybe canned male ID's), the female is almost if not always the same one each night. Weak ChiCom time sounders near at 2300 on 6150.00, but no other stations audible: January 5, 2012 - 2228-2345*. 2324 female, into Lionel Ritchie "Say You, Say Me" 2328. Fragment of same song mis-queued 2345 with same female atop, abruptly off. January 6, 2012 - 2259-2335* same female jock. John Lennon's "Woman" at 2314. January 7, 2012 - 2336-2339* "Lean On Me" by Bill Withers just after tune-in. January 8, 2012 - 2246 (I was only briefly able to check this day). January 9, 2012 - 2307-2323* New Kids On the Block "I'll Be Loving You" then male and female patter, into unidentified English female vocal in English. January 10, 2012 - 2233-2352* very strong tonight, and finally with confirmed and multiple ID's. The first at 2301 by man, then a singing jingle ID at 2302. Same female jock, Portuguese pop vocals, male ID 2311 into the female jock, then James Ingram "In Your Eyes" at 2312, another male ID 2319 (these seem to be canned), female jock, 2328 male ID again, a couple more light pop vintage vocals in English later (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Re 12-01, 9587 station: There is no Cultura in 31 m. Glenn, sorry I made a mistake. It was Davi Miranda spreading noise over 40 kHz wide. Good catch. Regards (Sarmento Campos, Brasil, Sent from my Nokia phone, 7 Jan, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 9665.02, Voz Missionária, 0610-0635, Portuguese inspirational music. Portuguese announcements. Weak in noisy conditions. Slightly stronger on // 5940.04 - but poor with adjacent channel splatter. Jan 6 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** BRAZIL. Rádio Nacional da Amazônia 11780 kHz -- Recebida confirmação: Brasília-DF, 16 dias. Recebido: carta confirmatória, folder sobre aspectos turísticos do Brasil, em idioma francês. V/S: Luciana Couto, Coordenadora – Radio Nacional da Amazonia (Rudolf Grimm, São Bernardo SP, BRASIL) No verso do envelope um endereço que habitualmente não é praticado: Rádio Nacional da Amazônia, Caixa Postal 258, 70359-970 Brasília DF. Também na carta se verifica um link da EBC (Empresa Brasil de Comunicação): http://www.ebc.com.br A imagem da confirmação está em http://dxways-br.blogspot.com 73, (Rudolf Grimm, São Bernardo SP, Brasil, 7 Jan, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. (TENT)., Possibly Rádio Aparecida on 11855 at 2350 on 06 January 2012 with long talks by a woman in Portuguese, then a booming announcement by a man and continued talk. Station was weak and somewhat under-modulated, so I could not get a clear enough ID even on USB or Synch AM. Another long booming announcement on the hour, and definitely Portuguese, so I am going with Aparecida, supposedly running only 1 kW (Al Muick, Whitehall, Pennsylvania, USA, Jan 6, WinRadio G303e, Wellbrook ALA1530P active loop oriented NNW-ESE, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Rádio Bandeirantes de São Paulo (6090/9645/11925 kHz) verified my reception report in Portuguese after 2 months by QSL letter. QSL signer was Sr. Eduardo Oliveira, Gerente Técnico. Oddly QSL was sent from NHK São Paulo Office (Rua Carlos Cirillo Jr., 92 Morumbi, São Paulo SP 05614-000), which is located near Rádio Bandeirantes (Rua Radiantes 13, Bairro Morumbi, São Paulo SP 05699- 900). NHK São Paulo Office says Rádio Bandeirantes asked them to send their QSL to Japan. Enclosed one IRC was returned. BTW "bandeirantes" means "pioneers" (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, Jan 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I always assumed it meant standard-bearers, or flag-wavers. My Langenscheidt dixionary says: ``(Braz., hist.) member of the expeditions called bandeiras; adj.: of or related to bandeiras`` so it`s related. Note: will people please stop misspelling this ``Bandierantes`` (Guilherme Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. News broke Friday the 13th of January that R. Bulgaria will be closing down its shortwave service completely at the end of this month! Radio Bulgaria to end shortwave Email from Radio Bulgaria January 6 [sic; means 13??], 2012. "Dear Kraig, This year the radio's budget has been seriously cut, and we will soon be facing some radical changes in our transmissions. Shortwave broadcasts are to be ceased, and opportunities for satellite broadcasting and online programs are now explored. We are under quite a lot of mostly negative pressure recently, as we fear they might lead to losing some of our most regular and interested listeners, including you. But let's hope that things will change for the better! Keep listening to our programs while we are still on the air on shortwave. We will soon be sending all our listeners detailed info on what the future changes to our broadcasts will be. Warm regards from sunny but cold Sofia, Rossitsa, English Section, Radio Bulgaria" Another voice lost. 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC Krist, Manassas, Virginia USA, Jan 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This was soon confirmed by Ivo Ivanov: Dear listeners and friends of the short waves and Radio Bulgaria, With a huge regret to inform you very bad news. After more than 75 years in the world broadcasting from January 31, 2012 at 2200 UT Radio Bulgaria cease broadcasting on short and medium waves. The solution is that Radio Bulgaria is not necessary now its short waves and medium waves listeners. The reason - no money for broadcast on short and medium waves. And who listens to short waves today? Already has internet. Maintaining the short waves was "Mission Impossible"! Hope dies last. As a frequency manager in the last 19 years my main task was to provide best quality signal of Radio Bulgaria in worldwide coverage. There will be no short waves, there will be no frequency manager. For all people who work in Radio Bulgaria that bad news is shock and horror Beginning of the end. But expect your moral support. Please send e-mail to: Albanian section: Bulgarian section: English section: French section: German section: Greek section: Russian section: Serbian section: Spanish section: Turkish section: and from January 14, 2012: P.S. SW transmitters Kostinbrod & Padarsko will be destroyed in the next few months. Thank you and goodbye, (Ivo Ivanov, Jan 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NOTE: the closing date for this DXLD was January 11, altho not completed until late Jan 13, but we could not leave this for next issue, when, however, there will be much more about it, and reaxions, already flying thru the DXLD and other groups (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CBC RADIO ONE: "AGE OF PERSUASION" TO CHANGE FOCUS AND BECOME "UNDER THE INFLUENCE" As someone who's been involved in marketing and communications for years, I've enjoyed the weekly CBC Radio One program "Age of Persuasion", hosted by Terry O'Reilly. Instead of continuing with a 5th season of "Age Of Persuasion", the new program "Under The Influence", debuts tomorrow (January 7th). Why the change? According to the program's website, "As the marketing world shifts from a century of overt one-way messaging to a new world order of two-way dialogue, we leave the age of persuasion and enter the era of influence. The first 50 years of modern advertising was hard-sell. The next 50 years was persuasion through creativity and media tonnage. But advertising is no longer a loud one-way conversation. It's a delicate dialogue now. The goal is no longer to triumph by weight, but to win by influence." This, of course, means elements such as social media, blogs, etc... Air times: Live on the air and on the web, Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. (12:00 p.m. NT) and again on Mondays at 11:30 a.m. (3:30 p.m. NT) Sirius channel 159, Monday 4:30 p.m. ET, Tuesday 3:30 a.m. ET, Friday 3:00 a.m. ET, Saturday 9:30 a.m. ET. I would expect on-demand audio and podcast to be available (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, Internetradio mailing list via WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DXLD) Sounds interesting, Richard. The show is making a timely segué into today's business/customer interactions. The topic reminds me of Klout. (klout.com): What's your Klout Score? "The Klout Score measures influence based on your ability to drive action. Every time you create content or engage you influence others. The Klout Score uses data from social networks in order to measure: True Reach: How many people you influence Amplification: How much you influence them Network Impact: The influence of your network" (John Sullivan, Raleigh, NC, Message sent from myiPad 2 ibid._ ** CANADA. NEW SPRING RADIO 1 SCHEDULE, FEW NEW SHOWS, SEVERAL CUTS The spring (dynamic, set for various "regions") schedule is here http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/weekly/2012/01/08/cbc_radio_one/ No longer a PDF, but a webpage with many links. Unfortunately we can now see the full RCI/BBC horror of CBCOvernight without Kathy Haag. Mindless radio for the sleepless now. Where is the thought? Where is ABC's "All in the Mind" Dispatches does not have Thursday broadcast anymore when many listen, http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/program/dispatches Under the Influence is the new Mike Tennant-less Age of Persuasive. http://www.cbc.ca/undertheinfluence/ Note that you will have to pay iTUNES for the podcasts from now on. Idiots. And they promote the social flytrap of Facebook, but you should be able to view without making a pseudonym ID on this monster http://www.facebook.com/pages/Under-the-Influence/187107298048504?sk==3Dwall [WORLD OF RADIO 1599] Also, probably as part of The 8th Fire http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/8thfire/radio.html (Yet another Mark Starowicz disaster) is Trailbreakers http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/program/trailbreakers tells Canadians stories they haven`t heard before about Aboriginal people who are breaking new ground in their communities to solve long- standing problems that are holding back all of Canada. It is the spirit of reconciliation in action, building a stronger Canada for all Canadians. With Reconciliation in the air, Trailbreakers looks at emerging intersections between Canada and its First peoples. Hosted by Don Kelly. A new drama is written in place of Dispatches, Trust Inc. which is labelled as satiric, but it is puerile. http://www.cbc.ca/trustinc/ Trust, Inc. Weekly Schedule Trust, Inc. regularly airs on: CBC Radio One Thursday 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM Thursday 11:00 PM - 11:30 PM A new satirical drama that takes listeners within the walls of a public relations firm. The show follows the schemers and spinners who develop the messages and plot the ideal news narrative for their clients, and their counterparts in the news media who ultimately determine whether they succeed or fail in the quest for just the right headline and soundbite. This program belongs to the following categories: Comedy Drama [ No, it belongs in the Development waste basket ] Wednesday January 4, 2012 --- Episode 1: Serena Jordan is thrilled. Just three weeks ago, she snagged an awesome new job at the major public relations firm, Leger & Pratt. Hired to be their social media expert, she's been assigned to the Special Projects Unit, a boy's club made up of team members Ben Lederman, Ricardo Sandoval and Marshall Whitman. Eager to impress, she's at the table as the team meets the new 'brief,' city councillor, James Yearwood. The assignment: raise his profile as he prepares to make the jump to federal politics. No sweat. Yearwood's articulate, passionate, good- looking and social media savvy. The boys think it's s slam dunk. And so does Serena. Until he starts sexting her, that is. Now, Serena is stuck. Should she keep quiet? Tell her team? Confront her client? And possibly risk it all (via Dan Say, with his editorial remarx inmixed, alt.radio.networks.cbc via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** CANADA. Hi Glenn, Here's a bio-like feature about the host of CBC's Quirks & Quarks. We learn, notably, he's moved to the West Coast and does his radio show and makes TV appearances from a home studio in his basement. http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/science/5961969/story.html 73, (Ricky Leong, Calgary, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: CBC'S MAN OF SCIENCE BOB MCDONALD DISHES ON QUIRKS AND QUARKS, AND HIS MOVE TO VICTORIA -- By Adrian Chamberlain, Times Colonist, Jan 7, 2012 Bob McDonald, host of CBC's Quirks and Quarks, moved to Victoria last summer. He now works from a small home studio in the basement of his heritage bungalow in Fairfield. Photograph by: Lyle Stafford, timescolonist.com It seems like Victoria's Bob McDonald, the country's most recognizable science journalist, has always wanted to be somewhere else. Maybe out riding his Harley Ultra Classic motorcycle, an imposing maroon-and-black highway schooner. Perhaps sailing on Liberty, his 41- foot Morgan sailboat. Or maybe, well - zooming to the moon or something. If he could pony up the dough, McDonald says he'd sign up for one of billionaire Richard Branson's space flights. Or even one of those Russian space tourist excursions, despite the $20-million-plus price tag. Most Canadians know McDonald as the super-affable, super-enthused host of CBC Radio's Quirks & Quarks. His science program draws half a million listeners weekly. He's also on national TV, often chatting about science with CBC news anchor Peter Mansbridge. Last summer, the 60-year-old moved to Fairfield from Toronto - partly because his girlfriend is here, partly because the West Coast is ideal for sailing. McDonald resides in quintessential Victoria digs, a heritage bungalow. The broadcasting magic now happens in his basement, next to a freezer decorated with Walt Disney stickers. McDonald works from a small home studio, where he does radio and TV broadcasts. Propped against the wall is a giant poster from The Day the Earth Stood Still, the 1951 sci-fi flick. An early fascination with outer space fuelled his life-long love affair with science. McDonald, casual in a purple shirt and jeans, jumped up to show me the thing that started it all. It's a well- thumbed copy of the 1961 children's book Planets, published by the Golden Library of Knowledge. McDonald got it when he was a kid, perhaps seven or eight. What captivated him was a single image - an artist's rendition of Jupiter as seen from a neighbouring moon. In the picture, Jupiter looks absolutely immense. "It's huge. That's the thing that got me," he said. "I was just blown away by that. That there are places out there that are extraordinary. And maybe, one day, I'll go there." Despite bumps along the way, McDonald would ultimately achieve much. He's written books, won a Gemini Award, received honorary doctorates (despite being a college dropout) and was even named to the Order of Canada. His nationwide popularity is reflective of his gift for making science entertaining, even exciting. McDonald distils potentially dull topics to a sweet juice, thanks to his enthusiasm and a rare ability to make the complex accessible and fun. McDonald describes himself as no one special. He insists he's just an ordinary guy. "I come from rather humble roots," he said. His parents, who settled in Orillia, Ont., from Saint John, N.B., were uneducated. His mother worked in a grocery store's meat department. McDonald's father was a tradesman who made brass moulds. And he drank. "He was a violent alcoholic. He eventually drank himself to death in 1967, when I was 16," said McDonald, who has three siblings. "We had a rather unpleasant house and childhood." McDonald was an unexceptional student who displayed no talent for science. He failed Grade 9. To encourage him to pass summer school, his brother promised him a Honda scooter. McDonald passed - and got hooked on motorbikes. At York University, McDonald studied theatre, English and philosophy. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do, really. In second year he flunked out. It was an inauspicious beginning. McDonald drove a truck for a while, then worked for a company installing signs at the Toronto airport. And then, in 1972, a stroke of luck. His girlfriend, a summer interpreter at the Ontario Science Centre, tipped him that full-time replacements would be hired in September. McDonald filled out an application. He drove his truck directly from his airport gig for an 9 a.m. interview. And he talked his way into the job. He lacked the scientific background, but McDonald did have enthusiasm. And chutzpah. "I took advantage of opportunities as they came up. I didn't go to school for it. I didn't train for it. When they came along, I thought, 'Wow, that'd be neat to do.' " At the Ontario Science Centre, McDonald soaked up knowledge from staff scientists. This time it stuck. In the mid '70s, when NASA began sending robotic probes to planets such as Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus, McDonald visited the California jet propulsion laboratory where the missions were controlled. The college dropout got access by applying for press credentials on Ontario Science Centre stationery. And when CBC and CTV began clamouring for someone to talk about these missions on air, McDonald stepped up. These were his first television appearances. It turned out he was a natural communicator - the camera loved him. "I would just talk out of my head," McDonald said. Nothing was written down; he discovered he could explain elaborate concepts on the fly. "I still work that way when I do television work. It's straight up. I don't think words. I think thoughts." His long-time CBC producer, Jim Handman, says part of McDonald's gift is his capacity for putting guests at ease. "Many have never been interviewed before and Bob has the unique ability to make them feel they are talking to an old friend." Added Handman: "What you see is what you get. Bob is one of the most unpretentious and most generous radio hosts I know. And the enthusiasm is totally genuine." A willingness to make chancetaking career choices is one recurring theme in McDonald's life. It happened with the Ontario Science Centre job and those early TV appearances. When McDonald was in California for the robotic space mission, he phoned the Globe and Mail to ask why they weren't covering it. The newspaper asked McDonald if he wanted to pen an article. He said yes, although he'd never written for a newspaper before. A journalist friend told him the basics. The Globe ran it full page. Later, McDonald's roommate, who created documentary series for CBC Radio, asked McDonald if he wanted to try doing radio pieces about space. McDonald agreed, despite never having never done it before. Impressed, CBC then asked if he'd host his own series. Absolutely, said McDonald. And he also said yes when a New York TV producer who'd seen him talk science on CTV's Canada AM came a-knocking. Would McDonald do host, write and produce science items for his network? "He said, 'Do you produce your own television?' I said 'Yes.' He said, 'Great.' " In fact, McDonald did not produce his own television. After hanging up the phone he was "terrified." He lined up a cameraman and a editor. And they formed a company. Another McDonald theme is his love of outer space. When he was a kid he'd watched Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon. Not long ago, in Toronto, McDonald was at a conference attended by Aldrin. He invited the astronaut, now 81, to sail on his boat. On McDonald's wall is a framed space display that includes a signed postcard from Canadian astronaut Julie Payette. At his request, she took the card on a space mission. At the risk of seeming journalistic and cheesy, I asked McDonald whether his interest in what lies beyond Earth reflects an early need to escape an unhappy childhood home. "Oh, you bet," McDonald said. "Home is a place to be [away] from, as far as I'm concerned. Which is also why I've wandered all over the continent on a motorcycle." He's often asked to do speaking engagements. Talking to young people, there is one thing he never fails to say. "My message is that I'm nothing special. I don't come from a scientific family, or a rich family. So if I can do it, you can do it. Follow your dreams." Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/science/5961969/story.html (via Ricky Leong; and Dan Say, alt.radio.networks.cbc Jan 9 via Mike Cooper, DXLD) CBC science fraud admits it, loves new home studio a few blocks from CBC office. Bob "Squeaky" giving end-of-career" interviews away from the protection of the CBC Toronto fortress. No mention that the home studio cost the CBC big bucks because he didn't want to walk 5 blocks to the CBC studios in Victoria. And his yacht is no longer frozen in Lake Ontario ice (Day Say, BC, ibid.) I guess you don`t like him (gh) ** CANADA. 540, CBGA-1, Grande Anse NB, 10 kW, is to be replaced by FM. The CRTC approved the CBC`s application 28 Oct 2011. CBGA is part of the French-language Première Chaîne network. 540 will be closed after the launch of the FM transmitters (CRTC/Wikipedia, via Mediumwave Report, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** CANADA. 1610: The French station is CJWI Montreal, and the station that plays the Canadian anthem every day at 6 am [1100 UT] is CHHA Toronto; in fact I think they are the only station in Canada that plays the national anthem. Those are the only 2 licensed stations at 1610 in Canada (Thomas Anderson, location unknown, Jan 6, ABDX via DXLD) ** CANADA. JAPAN [non]. 5810, NHK, 0523-0529 English talk re Japanese history, ID and abruptly off; 50 dB signal with co-channel DRM QRM; good, not listed here, Dec 6 (Richard Parker, Pennsburg PA, Tropical Band [sic] Loggings, Jan NASWA Journal via DXLD) Probably some anomaly via 6100 and 5975 NHK, both via Sackville. How I have no clue. I think G. Hauser remarks about this from time to time in DXLD (Scott Barbour, ed., ibid.) The 5810 log of NHK in English: NHK Sackville at 05 is on 6110, not 6100, so for this to be a standard leapfrog mixing product, there would have to be another Sackville transmitter halfway between on 5960, and there is, this hour relaying CRI English, so it all fits: 6110 leapfrog over 5960 another 150 kHz lower lands on 5810. I tried for 5810 at 0510 January 10 but nothing audible here. However, there is no DRM to QRM 5810; Bulgaria registered 5800 but that is one of its many DRM frequencies not axually in use (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 6159.98, CKZU Vancouver, 1422-1431 Jan 6. Gogi Grant's "Wayward Wind," then man & woman chatting to 1430; CBC Regional News was next. Fair signal in the noise (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CANADA. 9625, Jan 7 at 0709, 0724, open carrier is again running way after 0606* of CBC Northern Quebec service. Think of all the lost programming that might as well have been modulated upon it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [and non]. Winter B-11 of Radio Canada International: Arabic 0300-0329 on 5905 SKN 300 kW / 110 deg to N&ME 0300-0329 on 6025 SMG 100 kW / 114 deg to N&ME 0400-0429 on 5995 SMG 100 kW / 114 deg to N&ME 0400-0429 on 7265 SKN 300 kW / 110 deg to N&ME 2000-2029 on 11870 SAC 250 kW / 073 deg to NoAF 2000-2029 on 13650 SAC 250 kW / 073 deg to NoAF English 0000-0059 on 9880 KUN 100 kW / 175 deg to SEAS 1500-1559 on 9635 XIA 500 kW / 252 deg to SoAS 1500-1559 on 11975 URU 500 kW / 212 deg to SoAS 1800-1859 on 9740 KAS 100 kW / 269 deg to N&ME 1800-1859 on 9770 SKN 300 kW / 140 deg to EaAF 1800-1859 on 11845 SMG 250 kW / 210 deg to NWAF 1800-1859 on 15365 SAC 250 kW / 105 deg to NoAF 1800-1859 on 17790 SAC 250 kW / 105 deg to CeAF French 2300-2329 on 6160 KIM 100 kW / 305 deg to EaAS 1900-1959 on 9510 SKN 300 kW / 177 deg to NoAF 1900-1959 on 9770 KAS 100 kW / 269 deg to N&ME 1900-1959 on 11845 SKN 300 kW / 195 deg to NWAF 1900-1959 on 13650 SAC 250 kW / 073 deg to NoAF 1900-1959 on 15365 SAC 250 kW / 105 deg to NoAF 1900-1959 on 17790 SAC 250 kW / 105 deg to CeAF 2100-2159 on 11845 SAC 250 kW / 092 deg to NoAF 2100-2159 on 13650 SAC 250 kW / 073 deg to NoAF Mandarin 2200-2259 on 6160 KIM 100 kW / 305 deg to EaAS 0000-0059 on 9565 KIM 100 kW / 225 deg to EaAS 0000-0059 on 11785 KIM 250 kW / 290 deg to EaAS 0000-0059 on 12015 PHT 250 kW / 349 deg to EaAS 1100-1159 on 9490 PHT 250 kW / 332 deg to EaAS 1100-1159 on 9570 KIM 100 kW / 205 deg to EaAS 1500-1559 on 5965 YAM 300 kW / 290 deg to EaAS 1500-1559 on 9560 YAM 300 kW / 240 deg to EaAS Portuguese Fri-Sun 2000-2029 on 15305 SAC 250 kW / 163 deg to SoAM 2000-2029 on 17765 SAC 250 kW / 163 deg to SoAM 2100-2129 on 15305 SAC 250 kW / 163 deg to SoAM 2100-2129 on 17765 SAC 250 kW / 163 deg to SoAM 2200-2229 on 11990 SAC 250 kW / 163 deg to SoAM 2200-2229 on 15305 SAC 250 kW / 163 deg to SoAM Russian 1600-1629 on 9830 SMG 250 kW / 054 deg to EaEU 1600-1629 on 11935 SMG 250 kW / 058 deg to EaEU 1700-1729 on 9555 WOF 250 kW / 070 deg to EaEU 1700-1729 on 11935 WOF 250 kW / 078 deg to EaEU Spanish 2300-2329 on 9785 SAC 250 kW / 176 deg to SoAM 2300-2329 on 11990 SAC 250 kW / 176 deg to SoAM 0000-0029 on 9785 SAC 250 kW / 176 deg to SoAM 0000-0029 on 11990 SAC 250 kW / 176 deg to SoAM 0100-0129 on 6100 SAC 250 kW / 240 deg to CeAM (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 10 Jan via DXLD) ** CANADA. re: DXLD 12-01 CANADA: Demolition of CBC --- Glenn -- Saw the entry just now regarding CANADA: La demolición de Canadá -- Alberto Rabilotta. I plugged the associated URL into google translate website, which will then produce a link that shows a machine translation of the website. I'm not sure if anyone addressed this on the dxld yg and it was left out of the weekly digest for brevity. This is the text of what I got back: The demolition of Canada --- Alberto Rabilotta The great crisis of capitalism is allowing the dominant financial plutocracy destroyed one by one all the great achievements socioeconomic people. It seems that nothing can resist this brutal steamroller that routinely leaves a trail of unemployed and excluded. And Canada is no exception. In Canada in 2011 ended and 2012 began with two major lockouts (lock- out) to cut wages and destroy unions. The first lock-out is the Electro-Motive Canada London, Ontario, a subsidiary of the multinational U.S. Caterpillar (USA), which requires its 420 workers to accept a low of 50 percent on wages, pensions and benefits. The second lock-out is in the casting of the transnational mining company Rio Tinto Alcan in Alma, Quebec, where 780 workers were prevented from entering to work after weeks of fruitless negotiations to renew the collective bargaining agreement, which expired on Sunday past. Both cases are not surprising. The low wages and pensions, and the weakening or tearing of the unions have become the norm in Canada under the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who also has limited - if not eliminated - the right to strike federal public sector and private sector federal registration, as was evident during the recent government intervention to end strikes at Canada Post, an independent company, and Air Canada, a private company. The year begins, if you follow the headlines of major Canadian newspapers as the Globe an Mail (G & M), with the reminder that in the first three hours of 2012, wealthy entrepreneurs and executives have already won the equivalent of the average annual salary of a worker in 2010 (1), or $ 366 44 000 [sic] Canadians (the Canadian dollar is almost at parity with the U.S.), and that the average income of the "great business leaders" in 2010 was equivalent to 189 wages worker's annual average of eight million or $ 385,000, as calculated by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA, in its English acronym). For its part, the Toronto Star, the largest circulation newspaper in the country, highlights the same information, emphasizing that in 2010 the 100 highest paid executives of the country were granted an increase of 27 percent, while the average Canadian worker has only managed a increase of 1.1 percent, or less than the rate of inflation. . . [and so on --- you can read the rest by Google-translating the original Spanish at http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=142378 Only a brief paragraph touches on CBC:] . . .Among Canadian institutions are in danger, because conservatives do not accept criticism or mention of another opinion that the government is the public broadcaster Radio-Canada/Canadian Broadcasting Corp. The 2012 also begins in the Harper Canadian government initiative to establish, within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of Religious Freedom (OLR), seen by analysts as another sign of turning conservative in foreign policy, and certainly weaves together a solidly conservative Canadian government with religious movements very conservative positions in the country and abroad. The OLR, according to the G & M, you can publicly criticize "regimes" who abuse religious minorities, and without passing through the filters of diplomacy moderators or express the position of Parliament. . . - Alberto Rabilotta is a journalist in Argentina. http://www.alainet.org/active/51796&lang=es Remember -- it's a machine translation, so grammar may be quite off. v/r, (Joe Burke, Contractor, Technical Control Facility, Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHAD. 6165 RTV du Chad (presumed); 2252-2310+, 4-Jan; Mix of talk in French & variety of music -- Afro, reggae, drums & thumb harp. French news 2300-2304. Mentioned Radio Nationale at 2308. SIO=3+43- (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW, logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) CHADE, 6165, Radiodiffusion Nationale Tchadienne, Gredia, 2253-2317, 08 Jan, French, western light songs & music, announcements & "R. Tchad" ID, news bulletin at 2300 as usual, but starting with a segment in Arabic; 55444 (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. China heard earlier today on 1098 --- I've just heard for the second time CNR at 1098 kHz likely from the 1000 kW Golmud transmitter. The first and only time I heard them was in December of 2010. The band was quiet enough tonight and with the help of the phaser, the noise floor was kept between -115 and 120 dBm. Along with appropriate propagation, I could hear again this Chinese station. Surprisingly, there wasn't too much TA action at the time of the recording. The following is a dialog apparently in Chinese between a man and a woman and it was recorded on Jan 8 at 21:50 UT (16:50 EST): http://www.quebecdx.com/mp3/china_1098a.mp3 A bit later, seconds before ToH, I had which appears to be Chinese traditional music but unfortunately, a loud splatter ruined some potential ID announcement. Minutes after that, they played Chinese disco. In the first part of the following clip, here's that Chinese folk music (2159 UT) followed by the Chinese disco (heard at 2214 UT) from sec 43: http://www.quebecdx.com/mp3/china_1098b.mp3 The bearing from Quebec City to Golmud, China is 11 degrees and distance is 10615 km / 6700 Miles (Sylvain Naud, Portneuf, QC, rx: Perseus, ant: 1500 ft terminated Beverage @ 35 degrees to Northern Europe (for the Chinese catch), ant: 100 ft long wire used for phasing purpose, MFJ-1026 phaser with LF mods, IRCA via WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DXLD) ** CHINA. CHINA, MY LOVE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBR3pLlZ4tU Does anyone know this song? (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Heroic scenes of gymnasts, etc. Truly, China is heaven on earth! I must move there immediately!! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. APROVECHO PARA AGRADECER A TODOS LOS MENSAJES RECIBIDOS POR LA INTERVENCIÓN EL 1 DE ENERO EN CARTA DE BEIJING (RADIO INTERNACIONAL DE CHINA), PERO LO MÁS INTERESANTE ES DEJAR LOS COMENTARIOS EN LA WEB DE LA EMISORA O COMENTARLO CUANDO SE LES ESCRIBE. SIN COMENTARIOS ELLOS ESTÁN COMO CIEGOS Y NO SABEN REALMENTE EL IMPACTO DE LA RADIO EN LOS QUE LOS SINTONIZAN. CRÍTICAS ARGUMENTADAS FACILITAN LOS CAMBIOS.- MIL GRACIAS A TODOS Y FELIZ 2012. CORDIALES SALUDOS / GOOD LUCK / JUAN FRANCO CRESPO, SPAIN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ENTREVISTA A JUAN FRANCO EN CRI --- Aquí pueden escuchar la entrevista realizada a Juan Franco Crespo en el programa de Radio Internacional de China “Cartas a Beijing” del pasado 8 de enero 2012: http://programasdx4.podomatic.com/entry/index/2012-01-10T07_01_19-08_00 Más información y fotografías en la página de CRI: http://espanol.cri.cn/1161/2012/01/01/1s235130.htm Cordiales saludos (José Bueno, Córdoba, España, condiglist via DXLD) ** CHINA. 4940.00, Voice of Strait, presumed 1050-1100 Jan 10, Noted a good signal here with local Chinese music and Chinese comments by different males. Signal was very good when considering its origination. At 1052 program sounds like a news program judging from the format heard. At 1056 a couple of females comment in Chinese. On the hour, sounded like a short break with time tones 4 short on long and a male talking. Signal remained good which suggested the Full Moon Effect was influencing it (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Chuck, Nice to see a VOS log from Florida! Good to know they can make it across the country. Is unfortunate that 1500 to 1530 would be too late for you to have reception of their Saturday show “Focus on China”, which is enjoyable listening and an easy way to ID them. Jan 7 heard “Ray” with items about Japanese (Okinawa) authorities visiting an island that China disputes the ownership of; first year anniversary of the operation of the Russia to China oil pipeline; 3,000 orphans from Hainan province have received insurance contracts for health coverage, a charity foundation announced on Tuesday, etc.; for a nice change there was no QRM from AIR Guwahati on 4940. Thanks for all your logs (Ron Howard, San Francisco, Calif., ibid.) ** CHINA. 9200, 0034 26 Nov, CRI presumed with music, Chinese, SIO 444 (Robin Tancoo, Fyzabad, Trinidad, HF Logbook, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Likely Firedrake jamming (Stephen Howie, ed., ibid.) If by `Chinese` means talk, then it was not Firedrake which had usually been heard here, but CNR1 jamming or even the target (gh, DXLD) Delayed report by p-mail Firedrake Jan 5 before 1500: 11980, good at 1451; no others 18-7 MHz found in the 1448-1453 period. The only explanation for FD on 11980 is in Aoki: one of the countless 100-watt nuisance Sound of Hope transmitters from Taiwan could be here or anywhere from 11950 to 12100 between 2000 and 1700. EiBi also shows both SOH and FD at these hours, as ``Mandarin``, which is not correct for FD as there are never any words, spoken or sung (except for occasional switching errors at start or finish). We have heard FD on inband 11980 occasionally before. Firedrake Jan 9: still none found 7-19 MHz between 1445 and 1455 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) China Firedrake logs 10 JAN 2012 all after 1232: 9200, flux, Poor to VG 12300, flux, JBA to fair 12500, Very good 12600, Good, with equally strong utility 13970, Very good 14700, Good (Leonard Rooney, PA, Sony SW77, with 15 foot wire along indoor wall, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. TELEVISION IN CHINA --- LET ME (NOT) ENTERTAIN YOU --- THAT’S ENOUGH FUN — official Jan 7th 2012 | BEIJING | from the print edition http://www.economist.com/node/21542469 Democracy, Chinese-style LIKE broadcasters anywhere, Chinese television executives fret constantly over such things as an evolving media landscape, competition from online providers, and the viability of their business models. Now they have a new worry: how to make their prime-time offerings less entertaining. According to an order that took effect on January 1st, China’s 34 satellite television stations must limit “excessive entertainment” and “vulgar” content. This means cutting back severely on their most popular, low-cost and lucrative programming. “Super Girl”, a much watched singing contest, is no more, after officials accused it of being overlong and of poisoning youth. The order from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television limits what broadcasters may air during the prime-time hours from 7.30 to 10 pm. That period, known in China as “Gold Time,” must now include two 30-minute news briefings, and no more than 90 minutes of the lighter shows that China’s hundreds of millions of viewers have come to love. These include game shows, soap operas, dating competitions and singing contests where—uniquely for China—ordinary people get a chance to vote for favourites. Under government pressure, the number of such shows has been slashed, from over 120 to fewer than 40 a week. Compared with offerings in many other countries, China’s television fare is already quite tame. Viewers looking for sex, nudity, gore or crude language will search in vain. Still, broadcasting is thriving. The industry, including radio, grew by a quarter in 2010, with revenues of 210 billion yuan ($33.3 billion). The effort to dull things down fits into a broader campaign of cultural tightening in a year that will see a once-in-a-decade leadership succession. The outgoing president, Hu Jintao, recently warned against the danger of foreign forces using culture and ideology to “westernise and divide” China. The new leaders promise to be equally vigilant. from the print edition | Asia (Economist via Gerald T. Pollard, NC, DXLD) ** CHINA [non]. CHINA TO LAUNCH 24-HOUR TV STATION IN NEW YORK Bloomberg News reports that China is preparing to launch a 24-hour TV station in New York. But it won’t be branded CCTV, it will be called TodayChina and will be distributed free using digital TV technology in New York City. The new channel will feature news and entertainment content in English and Chinese with English subtitles. Read more from Bloomberg News http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-05/china-to-start-u-s-channel-as-state-media-takes-culture-abroad.html (January 6th, 2012 - 12:48 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DXLD) 2 Comments on “China to launch 24-hour TV station in New York” #1 SRG on Jan 6th, 2012 at 12:56 Is China copycatting Russia? Remember Russia Today TV? Nowadays it’s known as RT. And there’s a special US service, RT America, that employs a good number of Americans and reports mostly on local US developments. So the next step should be renaming TodayChina to TC ;) #2 Andi on Jan 6th, 2012 at 15:11 I think it’s just that CCTV and the Chinese government have so much money they don’t know what to do with it. So the answer: new TV channel! (MN blog comments via DXLD) Presumably buying into some available over-the-air DTV subchannel, as it sells out to the ChiCom. No, the Bloomberg story does not explain this (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 5910-, Jan 5 at 0730, open carrier, slightly on the low side, surely Alcaraván Radio HJDH failing to modulate. Probably depends on automation in the nightmiddle (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO DR. -Kinshasa, 5066.3, R. Télé Candip, Bunia, 1837-1901*, 06 Jan, vernacular, songs, audio gone for minutes up till 1848, pops, announcements and immediate closure; 35432 (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO DR. RFI BACK ON THE AIR IN DR CONGO FOLLOWING SUSPENSION The FM broadcasts of Radio France International in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were restored today, more than a week after being suspended by the authorities who were unhappy with RFI’s coverage of the post-electoral situation in the DRC, reports the AFP News Agency. The Head of State Joseph Kabila was declared winner of the presidential elections on 28 November after an election that many observers have denounced because of electoral irregularities. His main opponent Etienne Tshisekedi came second and proclaimed himself “President-elect.” “We simply executed the decision of the Supreme Audiovisual Council to suspend RFI for seven days,” said the Minister of Communication and Media, Lambert Mende, to AFP. The minister justified the suspension of RFI on New Year’s Day, accusing the station of wanting to “create a confusing situation that could lead to clashes between Congolese.” From July 2009 to October 2010, Kinshasa completely cut RFI, accused it of “demoralizing” the army (Source: AFP French via Google Translate)(January 9th, 2012 - 16:28 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA [and non]. Re 12-01: Glenn, According to Google Maps, Guápiles and Cariari are 22.1 km from one another by car, and it takes 23 minutes to drive between them (Bruce Portzer, Jan 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Checking for the special DX test that WRMI has arranged from R. República, 5954, 10 kW from its Cariari site: First hour at 20-21 I did not expect to hear over day path, but checked anyway at 2000. Not even carrier audible, but I stepped thru the 49m band with BFO searching for any carriers at 2002 vs the ambient noise level. 6070 was best tho unusable, CFRX, also very weak on 6010, perhaps XEOI; and 6090 --- what could that be? Anguilla is still on 11775 day frequency as usual. HFCC shows 6090 could be VOR, 200 kW, 285 degrees from `Armavir`. EiBi shows it`s Spanish to Spain; or Kaduna, Nigeria, discounting Brasil and Chile at this hour. Getting back to the DX test, I am back on 5954.2 at 2309, finding a steady S9+18 carrier with weaker hets from both sides, something on 5955, and presumed Bolivia on 5952+. Weak talk on 5954+, can`t be sure it`s Spanish, as it is quite undermodulated. Compared it to Brasil on 5940v, which was peaking about the same as CR, but more fading, yet much louder. I went back and forth to 5960`s Voice of Turkey where the fortnightly DX Corner was starting at 2315; including an item about this very DX test at 2324. Fortunately, VOT was not strong enough to be a QRM problem. At 2330, the meter was showing 5954.2 almost as strong as 5960 TRT, but much less modulated; yet readability is improving little by little, and I can copy a few Spanish words, such as ``derechos humanos`` and ``Santiago de Cuba``. Even better at 2335. 2337.5, ``Cuba Linda`` song, program theme? And ``Barrio Adentro`` seems to be closing. 2338 gives schedule as Sat & Sun 7-10 de la noche on 9490 [Sackville], and also mentions ``5955`` on the 49 mb, but could not copy times for that if any were given. 2340, maybe starting new program? Hets are getting worse and I don`t have notch filter(s). 2343, ID as ``Radio República, Voz del Directorio Democrático Cubano``, and familiar theme song (what`s it called?). 2359, bad splatter from something just cut on, bothering this and many other frequencies in the 5.9-6.0 range, but I could not find a source for it. Horacio Nigro in Uruguay was complaining of Argentina 6060 doing that, and so were Argentine monitors, but it`s hard to believe its fundamental, let alone spurious signal would be sufficiently strong here. Then 5954.2 went off. At least there was never any jamming! If there were, as there had been most of last year, R. República would have been a total loss. After 0000 Jan 8, the R.R. transmission via Sackville was incomparably better, despite being heavily jammed. R.R. started out atop it, tho by 0204 all I could hear was the jamming. The final DX test on 5954 was for 02-03 UT, checked at 0204 --- far too much ACI from the bigsigs on 5950 and 5960, WYFR/Taiwan and Sackville/NHK respectively. Best to use USB, as that gets it further from the closer one on the low side; still definitely a signal from R.R., but no way to copy anything amid all that QRM. This little undermodulated signal needs to be on a frequency absolutely clear of adjacent and co-channel QRM if it is to be of any use. For starters, they could get on 5955.00 to avoid one het. Thanks to wide publicity, many others in the DXLD yg were monitoring this: generally poor reception if at all, and low modulation noted. Dino Bloise, FL, was getting it better in this clip at 2315: http://frecuencialdia.podomatic.com/entry/2012-01-07T16_56_54-08_00 Don Moman, Alberta, measured the carrier at 5954.26. Before 0300, Wolfgang Büschel put it on 5954.280. While I was at it, checked 9955 WRMI itself: at 0000 January 8, surprisingly good and steady S9+20 signal, no jamming, in the middle of `La Rosa de Tokio` DX program from Argentina, about Radio Belgrano. At 0200, still fair signal from WRMI, no jamming, with gospel music, listed as Tell the World Ministry (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also as reported to Jeff White at WRMI for QSL; elsewhere: Re: Special DX Test from Costa Rica imminent [as reminded on the dxldyg about around 1600 UT Jan 7] [summarized in WORLD OF RADIO 1599] I tried a remote unit in Florida at 2030 (Jan. 7 UT) but didn't hear anything. I guess it's too early for such a low frequency. Maybe Jeff White should look into using 25 or 31 meters at that time. R. Martí was booming in on all three frequencies with 11930-Greenville providing for the best reception. 13820-Greenville showed minor signs of skipping but it's probably best frequency to evade jamming in Cuba. Transmitter on 9565-Sackville delivered powerful signal but obviously it had a good deal of jamming mixed in (Sergei S., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) As might be expected :-) nothing heard here from 2300 to 2320, 5954 swamped by Voice of Turkey on 5960. 73s (Tony, 20 miles NW of Manchester, North West UK, Jan 7, ICF 2001D and internal wire @swlistener http://swlistener.wordpress.com/ Cumbre DX via DXLD) Though at 2323 Voice of Turkey are now giving details about these DX tests :-) (Tony, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Is anyone hearing much so far? I’ve had an open carrier on about 5954.20 since 2244 or so, but nothing else (Larry Cunningham, Gahanna, Ohio, 2336 UT Jan 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENIG DIGEST) I have them now at 2327 with fair sigs, but somewhat low modulation for my taste. They are on what appears to be a nice solid carrier 5954.3 and a carrier on 5955 is giving them a het. I am presuming this may be Radio Gazeta from Brazil. Signal is improving at 2331 to be much more intelligible. Standard program fare of female and deep- voiced mail announcer. SINPO 32532, improving to 33543 (Al Muick, Whitehall PA USA, Jan 7, WinRadio G303e and Wellbrook ALA1530P active loop, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5954 kHz observed at 2339 UT on Saturday, January 7 with music and YM and Spanish announcements with a slight het and ACI from 5955 station. Fair, but not pinning the S Meter on The YB500 radio. Must be running 10 kW from their site. I think I'll QSL via WRMI for this. 73's, (Noble West, Noble West Music And Media, TN, Grundig YB500, and Built In Radio Shack Whip with Red Colored plastic top, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5954, WRMI/R República, Cariari, Special DX Test. 2305-2340 unreadable audio, just recognized man & woman, and some music at 2340. Same het, but I don`t think this is Brazilian R. Gazeta, which should be obliterating the channel. Annoying splatter at moments when music from faulty Argentina transmitter on 6060 (Horacio Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, Jan 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Horacio, The only other viable options for that frequency would be China, Australia via UAE or Iran after 2330 and the carrier was there before 2330. Australia via UAE is gone after 2330 and China is always there. I thought it might be Gazeta because there was a tiny bit of audio that rose up which seemed to be Portuguese. 5955 might remain a mystery until some IDs it. 73 (Al Muick, ibid.) Also Bolivian on 5952.4 could be the source of the het (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, Mi Blog: http://lagalenadelsur.wordpress.com/ ibid.) 5954.27, 2345-2355 07.01, R República test, Guapiles [sic] (presumed), Spanish talk, 32432, QRM VOIRI 5955 in Chinese with splashes from Voice of Turkey on 5960 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) Not much making it this far north to Alberta around 2345. Carrier looks like 5954.26 and the modulation seems quite low. There is another carrier around 5952.4 and the station on 5955 seems to be responsible for some audio as well even though its carrier is somewhat weaker. But that seems to changing as we approach sunset with assumed Costa Rica building; and then off at ~2400. 73 (Don VE6JY Moman, 0001 UT Jan 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saw the Bolivian carrier and tried USB and LSB. The carrier on 5955 made the loudest het for me. I wish the Bolivian would come up a little more. Would love to QSL them! 73 (Al Muick, PA, 0032 UT, ibid.) The carrier on 5954 kHz from CTR was quite strong here in Germany till 2359 UT s/off, but hardly any audio from Radio República readable. Maybe more luck later tonight. 73 (Harald Kuhl, 0010 UT Jan 8, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) I tried the later transmission at 0200-0300 and could hear a carrier on 5954.3, but very strong interference on both sidebands, with a het from Bolivia on 5952.5 plus strong splatter from a station on the higher sideband. Only occasional weak audio in Spanish was making it through the splatter. 73s (Dave Kenny, Caversham, England, ibid.) Same here in Germany; CTR s/off on 5954.3 kHz was at 0259. The (carrier-)signal signing off at 2359 was much stronger. 73 (Harald Kuhl, ibid.) Listening to the 2300-0000 UT SDR capture, I'm hearing a female speaking Spanish on 5954 kHz. Male in Spanish at times. Another station on 5954.309, another on 5995.504, another on 5952.400 and Voice of Turkey on 5960 kHz. Notched 5952.400 and the het is gone. Also, notched 5954.300. Hearing the YL and OM on 5954 better now (2312 UTC). I'll also capture the 02-03 UT broadcast and report on it later. 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Krist, Manassas, Virginia, United States of America, ibid.) By ``5954`` do you mean 5954.000? In addition to 5954.309 or 5954.300? And by ``5995.504``, did you mean 5955.504? No one else reports these additional carriers (gh, DXLD) QTH de sintonia: Miami, EEUU. Receptor: Degen 1103. Antena: Telescopica incorporada. Para escuchar el audio ir a: http://frecuencialdia.podomatic.com/entry/2012-01-07T16_56_54-08_00 (Dino Bloise, FL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Republica 0200 UT broadcast --- Very difficult here due to Taiwan via WYFR (via Florida) on 5950 kHz. Mr. White of WRMI already replied to my report for 2300 UTC. QSL is on the way! 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Krist, Manassas, Virginia, United States of America 0204 Jan 8, ibid.) Can hear it on the Florida globaltuners - very low modulation (Tony Magon, VK2IC, Sydney NSW, 0214 UT Jan 8, ibid.) Nil here. Only Bolivia 5952.4. Neither checking in the Etwente, The Netherlands, online sdr rx at http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8903/ any carrier showing up (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, 0224 UT Jan 8, ibid.) Got a promise of a QSL from Jeff White at 1930 local [0030 UT]. Signal was beat up here and suffered from low modulation. Carriers on both sides. Kept them on synch AM, but also tried LSB and USB without much help. Signal did improve after 2330. The 0200 broadcast is swamped, as you report, by WYFR. Looks like a lot of us will be the holders of special QSLs for the event! (Al Muick, Whitehall PA USA, 0227 UT, ibid.) 5954.26, Radio República weak but understandable 0205 to 0230. 73s (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, CumbreDX via DXLD) Right now, have carrier 5954.3, cannot copy audio (Rick Barton, AZ, 0237 UT Jan 8, cumbre via DXLD) Horacio and others: thanks to Horacio's link, I heard a het plus splatter from the WYFR RTI relay. 5954 was hammered at 0236 UT. So, I guess here even using the web receiver was no match for the RTI relay and SAH on 5954 at this time. UT Sunday, January 8, 2012, using the SDR reciever. 73's, (Noble West, MWM&M, TN, via DXLD) Carrier only detected with BFO. QRM from 5965 R Transmundial, Santa María, Brazil (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, 0239 UT, ibid.) Horacio: Just got an SAH and splatter here on the Dutch based web receiver I was monitoring. So, 5954 is now a mess as of 0241 UT, Sunday, January 8, 2012. Nice Work! 73's, (Noble at NWM&M, TN, via DXLD, RX: ADR Webreceiver in The Netherlands, ibid.) Definite ID by OM at 0245 UT. Able to knock out Taiwan via WYFR by notching and using USB. Ended broadcast with "Get Away" by Lenny Kravitz. 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Krist, Manassas, Virginia USA, 0320 UT, ibid.) I was hearing a man and woman in Spanish on 5954 kHz very well tonight here in South Carolina starting at 0252 UT, RS 5x9. The actual frequency seemed to be 5954.280 kHz. There was a very strong station on 5960 that was generating strong splatter at times so I listened to them in LSB mode. The station played the rock song "Fly Away" just before sign off at 0300. 73 - (Todd WD4NGG Roberts, ABDX, via DXLD) Only thing I heard during broadcast was a carrier detected with BFO showing carrier on 5954.30. Never did catch anything of audio. Listened 0225 with frequent rechecks. 73 and good listening! (Rick Barton, El Mirage, AZ, Drake, R-8, Slinky, Cumbre, 0336 UT, ibid.) Other than the splatter from 5960 kHz, quite nice here in California at 0253+ on 5954.28 with M & F talking and singing to 0259:20* (Jim Young, Wrightwood, CA, NASWA yg via DXLD) 5954.280, Radio República in Spanish noted at 0250 UT Jan 8th in Spanish followed by guitar music piece at 0257 UT. S=9+20dBm heard on remote unit in Virginia, US. Hit by adjacent carrier of S=9+40dB on 5950 kHz and latter later at 0300 UT ID in Chinese YFR / Radio Taiwan International in Chinese (Wolfgang Büschel, 0354 UT Jan 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) La escuché mas no puedo hacer un correcto reporte de recepción puesto que la trasmisión distorsionada de LRA1 en la QRG me tapa casi prácticamente la txn especial. 73 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, 0313 UT Jan 8, condiglist via DXLD) Nothing heard of R. República at least during the first period 2000- 2100 Z. R. Gazeta 5955 was not active at this time. Nearby Brazilians were R. Guarujá Paulista 5940 and R. Itatiaia 5970 kHz, both with strong signals (Flávio PY2ZX Archangelo, Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks for the info re Gazeta. I am very curious what the interfering signal I had on 5955 was. The only thing that would have crossed the 2330 mark would be China, and might have been long-path propagation. Are you aware if Gazeta is *ever* active on this frequency? Many thanks and 73, (Al Muick, Whitehall PA USA, ibid.) Al, I have also heard here VOIRI in Chinese from 2330 s/on, and then there's CNR8 in minority languages (Mongolian, I think) signing-on at 2300. Radio Australia via UAE in Burmese signs off at 2330. Haven't heard the latter, but have heard the first two on the WCNA. 73 (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria BC, ibid.) 5954.3, Radio República SPECIAL DX TEST via Cariari. On Jan 7 I checked 5954 kHz at 2000 UT but heard nothing. I tried again at 2300 UT and still heard nothing, but I kept checking. At 2352 I could barely hear a man and woman speaking in Spanish, and a man sang, possibly in English, with guitar accompaniment. Transmitter went off at 2359 UT. But I had doubts, as this didn't sound like the Radio República I'd heard in the past. At 0200 UT on Jan 8 nothing could be heard on 5494 kHz because of very strong Radio Taiwan International via WYFR on 5950 kHz and Radio Japan via Sackville on 5960 kHz. I kept trying, and when I tuned up to 5954.3 kHz and used LSB I could hear República with a fair signal. Although the interference was still severe, I heard several Radio República IDs. And it closed at 0259:30 UT with the same vocal and guitar music I'd heard at the end of the earlier broadcast. So apparently it was República I heard at 2352 UT. Jeff White verified my report via e-mail in less than 3 hours and said he'd send a QSL card by mail (Wendel Craighead, KS, DXplorer Jan 9 via BC-DX 11 Jan via DXLD) 5954.3, Sunday Jan 8 at 2357 I look for R. República via ELCOR, Cariari, a day after the much-publicized DX test, as it is supposed to be on the air anyway daily 23-24 --- but no signal, just the 5952+ carrier, i.e. BOLIVIA. However, at 2359, the 5954.3 carrier is on but no/lo modulation. Maybe it was a momentary failure, just before sign- off time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. 7365 and 9825, Jan 6 at 0638, heavy pulse jamming against nothing long after R. Martí is off these frequencies; slightly higher pitched pulsing on 9955 against WRMI with news in Spanish from R. Praga, which was holding its own at the moment (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also U S A: WRMI 6060, 0705-0721'50*, Radio Havana, Cuba with regular prolonged schedule on this frequency, 07/11, English, OM/YL news in details and commentary, etc. - good with slight local noise, fading and Super Rádio Deus é Amor on 6059.96 deeply in the background, best in AM SYNC with 6 kHz bandwidth (Mikhail Timofeyev, North-East part of the St. Petersburg city, Russia, Drake R8A, Antenna: long wire (30 m), HCDX via DXLD) 6060 // stronger 6010, Jan 7 at 0717, RHC English is still running past nominal 0700*. Also RHC Spanish music on 6050. But not on the fourth 49m frequency, 6125, nor on 5040. All three were off at next check 0722. 13640, RHC is still colliding with AIR, serves both these outlaw stations right, refusing to participate in HFCC but what about the poor listeners? Jan 7 at 2002, RHC Portuguese is somewhat atop music from AIR, both broadcasting to Europe, where I expect AIR has the upper hand. Arnie Coro is still maintaining that they are doing their duty by informing ITU, not HFCC about frequency usage. By the time it goes thru the ITU bureaucracy, it`s too late to resolve conflicts which could/should have been avoided in the first place, which is the purpose of having an HFCC. 11930 & 13820, Jan 9 at 0640, DentroCuban Jamming Command is pulsing away against nothing, daytime-only frequencies of R. Martí. Maybe always there 24 hours, but only heard when propagational MUF favors. 13670, Jan 11 at 1450, RHC is absent so no lowside het to CRI English 13675 via Sackville. 1531 frequency announcement on many other channels reconfirms that 13670 is supposed to be on until 1600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Since I`m too young to have participated in Little Orphan Annie`s ``Secret Circle``, sitting in front of the parlor Philco and decrypting Pierre`s weekly Ovaltine messages with my decoder, I`ve a profound sense of deprivation. Doubtless many of my peers feel likewise. Perhaps Arnie Coro, international friend of DXers, could start a similar feature for those of us who`ve missed out --- ``Little Orphan Annie`s DGI Amigos``. Members would receive colorful one-time ``Arnie Pads``, and each week the station would broadcast a 5-digit numbers transmission especially for us. Join me in writing Arnie at Apartado Postal 6240, 10600 La Habana, Cuba (Richard Parker, KB2DMD, 1205 Sleepy Hollow Road, Pennsburg PA 18073, Jan NASWA Journal via DXLD) DGI = Dirección General de Inteligencia, Cuba`s spy agency responsible for numbers (gh) ** CZECHIA [and non]. 'PRAGUE WINTER' FOR USA'S RADIO FREE EUROPE / LIBERTY --- Thu 05 January 2012 08:12 GMT | 3:12 Local Time 76302 by Alsou Taheri, the pseudonym of a journalist working at RFE/RL in Prague. These days, Soviet-style samizdat is doing the rounds at the Prague headquarters of Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty. It is a press release on the letter to Croatian government by Snjezana Pelivan, a Croatian journalist living in Prague. Her case against the Czech Republic as a country that tolerates the national discrimination practised on its territory by the American RFE/RL, is in the European Court of Human Rights. In her letter, she officially requests the government of Croatia to support her lawsuit in Strasbourg. Pelivan’s letter is passed clandestinely from hand to hand, like forbidden fruit. Computers are not trusted. It is an open secret here that the RFE/RL management monitors all intranet communications. At RFE/RL, many knew Snjezana personally and retain fond memories of her. Many remain close to her. And there is hardly anyone who does not know about her human rights case against the Radio in the Czech courts, and of her present claim against the Czech Republic as the host country to RFE/RL. In 28 languages, RFE/RL broadcasts to 21 so-called “target countries”. In Prague, the Radio employs hundreds of foreign nationals forming the great majority of broadcasting departments. Eighteen of the RFE/RL broadcasting languages are spoken predominantly by Muslim people. Snjezana Pelivan, daughter of the first prime minister of independent Bosnia and Herzegovina, was responsible for the placement of RFE/RL programs with affiliated radio stations abroad, particularly in the Caucasus and former Yugoslavia. The termination of her employment was met with disbelief and consternation. International lawsuit for international hospitality In 1995, RFE/RL moved from Munich, Germany to Prague. The radio is subordinate to the federal agency, the BBG (Broadcasting Board of Governors), in Washington. The BBG is appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. Ex officio, it includes the secretary of state, at present Hillary Clinton. Simultaneously, the BBG serves as the Board of Directors for the same RFE/RL. With a straight face and disdain for the listener’s intelligence, RFE/RL represents itself as “independent” and “private”. The insiders laugh: it’s about as ridiculous as calling Russia's Gazprom an independent private company. At that, Gazprom has slightly over 50 percent of state capital. RFE/RL has 100. The largest American civil institution abroad, RFE/RL is fully financed by the US Congress. And it is anything but independent. The influential BBG, which controls and directs all American non-military broadcasters abroad, says on its website that it “makes all major policy determinations governing the operations of RFE/RL”, “provides worldwide personnel management policies, programs, and services”. The practical consequence of the BBG-designed personnel policies, writes Snjezana Pelivan in her letter, avidly read in RFE/RL corridors, is that all foreign journalists, producers and other specialists employed by RFE/RL in Prague, are provided with uniform work contracts based deceptively on American labour laws. American laws don’t cover foreigners outside the United States. RFE/RL contracts with foreigners have the only purpose: to strip them of any legal defence – be it in the United States or in the Czech Republic. American courts, which are open to Americans, are off limits to them. Czech courts, on the other hand, take inconsistent and mutually excluding decisions as to what laws shall be used for foreigners working for RFE/RL – strict Czech laws, which exclude arbitrary terminations and cover Czech workers at RFE/RL, or the regulations which give free rein to the employer contained in the discriminatory contracts provided by RFE/RL to foreigners. In Munich, notes Snjezana Pelivan, even when it was in the American zone of occupation, American RFE/RL had to abide by German labour laws. The “pro and contra” ping pong with human fates, continues Pelivan, goes on in Czech courts for years. Presently, the case of an Armenian journalist, the mother of three young children, Anna Karapetian, similar to Pelivan’s lawsuit, is again in the Czech Supreme court – repeatedly, after making already two full rounds of the lower courts. It is the sixth time that her claim against RFE/RL will be handled by Czech judges. The case of Snjezana Pelivan was heard four times. Her employment with RFE/EL was terminated without any preliminary warnings or any reason being provided. Simultaneously, the RFE/RL management demanded that she sign a letter stating that she accepted the termination and would not question it in courts. She refused. In retaliation, the American employer withheld her severance compensation for years of impeccable service. In the same fashion, Anna Karapetian's contract was terminated. She had worked for RFE/RL for 12 years. The acute interest in Pelivan’s letter is dictated not only by the fact that she was the first to contest her termination in the Czech courts. Anna Karapetian became another rebel. But many of their former co-workers at RFE/RL were forced by financial and family reasons to succumb to demands and the arbitrariness of American management. They accepted the “hush” money, signed the statements depriving them of their basic civil right to appeal against mistreatment, and left. Every foreigner at the “human-rights” Radio knows that he or she could be treated as an expendable mercenary, too. As Afghan woman Saliha K was treated, or more recently, two Ukrainian journalists. Who is next? To Urbi et Orbi, RFE/RL solemnly proclaims its official mission: “To empower people in their struggle against violations of human rights,” “to promote democratic values and institutions,” “strengthen civil societies by projecting democratic values,” “provide a model for local media…” The BBG is no less ambitious: “Help audiences in authoritarian countries understand the principles and practices of democratic, free and just societies.” In reality, writes Snjezana Pelivan, the Czech Republic tolerates on its territory a situation in which "fewer foreign detainees are placed in a legal vacuum at the US naval base on Guantanamo, Cuba, than foreign journalists deprived of legal protection by American Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Prague”. Havel’s legacy as window dressing On 18 December former Czech President Vaclav Havel, who invited RFE/RL from Munich to Prague, died. Commemorating him, RFE/RL President Steven Korn wrote: “He championed the rights of the powerless… Havel embodied the principles that guide our organization.” Walter Isaacson, BBG chairman, echoed: "We have lost a great champion of justice.” Were they sincere? Have their personnel policies of “no-rights-to- foreigners” - designed by the BBG in Washington and used by RFE/RL in Prague - anything in common with Havel’s essay “The Power of the Powerless” directed against the “brutal and arbitrary application of power”, “hypocrisy and lies”, “arbitrary abuse of power”? Havel’s perception of RFE/RL’s mission was and always remained “old- fashioned”: “defence of human rights, civic rights and human dignity”. Rather, their lip service to the memory of the great humanitarian enables them, to use words from his essay again, “to deceive their conscience and conceal their true position both from the world and from themselves”. Did they ever read that essay written in 1978 by Vaclav Havel, the dissident? Snjezana Pelivan quotes Czech Senator Jaromir Stetina, vice-chairman of the Senate caucus of the governing party, member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Policy, Defense and Security, who described RFE/RL labour policies in the Czech Republic as “patently indecent, unfair, cynical and hypocritical”. When she comes to Prague, Hillary Clinton usually visits RFE/RL and makes a speech. Last time, she thanked the staff for helping “to create a broad international agreement with values that respect human dignity, individual rights and responsibilities”. Among her listeners were hundreds of the “rightless aborigines” as RFE/RL foreign employees were once called by Czech newspaper Lidove noviny. In her “Petition to Call the Witness” addressed to the Czech Constitutional Court, Snjezana Pelivan raised the question if the discriminatory employment policies practised by RFE/RL in the Czech Republic, were dictated by some political necessity. The witness suggested to the Court was Hillary Clinton as a member of the BBG and RFE/RL boards of directors. The Secretary of State was expected in Prague shortly. Czech news agency CTK and major Czech newspapers reported Pelivan’s request. Within five days, the Czech Constitutional Court ruled in a five-page long decision against Snjezana Pelivan. However, her request to call Hillary Clinton as a witness was not even mentioned. No reason was given why the witness should not be heard. In its ruling, the Court decided that the virtual absence of legal protection for RFE/RL foreign employees is “compatible with the social, state, and legal order of the Czech Republic”. In his article in Prague newspaper Halo,“Free Europe with Its Own Laws in Colonial Czech Republic?” Vaclav Exner, then the chairman of the Parliamentary Subcommittee on Foreign Relations, commented: “The Constitutional Court indeed achieved a speed record on this matter, as far as I know." On Exner’s initiative, the Czech parliament already twice, on 11 June 2009 and 4 February 2010, discussed the abhorrent RFE/RL labour policies. Vaclav Exner was a Communist deputy. However, stresses Snjezana Pelivan, the indignation at the immoral policies and actions of RFE/RL cuts in the Czech Republic across the whole political spectrum. Senator Jaromir Stetina is actively anti- Communist and pro-American. In February 2010, he addressed American senators with an open letter “Actions of Radio Free Europe Damage the Czech Republic and United States”. A year later, he sent a public appeal to Hillary Clinton - “From Fame to Shame: Stop Human Rights Violations and National Discrimination of Foreign Employees at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty”. The senator’s letters were broadly covered by Czech and international mass media. The Czech government, however, does not dare to appeal to the Broadcasting Board of Governors in Washington and request an end to the violation of Czech legislative sovereignty, writes Snjezana Pelivan. Not a Prague Spring but Prague Winter Asking the government in Zagreb to support her legal claim against the Czech Republic, she mentions the official statistics: out of 158 cases against the Czech Republic tried by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, Prague has won only five. In his broadly circulated Open Letter to Hillary Clinton, Senator Stetina suggested an alternative solution to the court battles scandalous for RFE/RL and the Czech Republic: "The ongoing ugly lawsuits should and could be stopped by a dignified peaceful resolution acceptable to all the parties involved, including the Czech Republic.” As was reported recently by The Croatian Times, published in English in Zagreb, Snjezana Pelivan is sceptical: “If such an offer comes, we’ll consider it. It is just that Americans spit on this country openly and smile nicely. And Prague wipes itself dry and keeps smiling, too.” To illustrate national discrimination, Snjezana Pelivan gives the following example, among others: “A foreign woman working for RFE/RL will receive maternity leave in accordance with the RFE/RL Corporate Policy Manual. It is almost three months shorter than the leave provided by Czech law to anyone else in the Czech Republic, including Czech employees of RFE/RL. But a foreign employee of the Radio has no place to complain – neither to the American courts, nor the Czech ones. In the sovereign Czech Republic, the American RFE/RL is the most sovereign judge in its own court without the right of appeal.” Foreign journalists working on the uniformly discriminatory contracts provided to them by RFE/RL know this all too well. Their comments are bitter: “Here the Wild West met the Wild East”. Most of them sincerely share the high ideals and goals of the RFE/RL official mission. It is not with a light heart that they read the now innumerable articles in the Czech and international mass media, print and electronic, denouncing their place of work: “hypocrisy”, “betrayal of ideals”, “violation of human rights”, “lawlessness”, “double standards”, “moral disaster”, “fraud”, “cynicism”, “Guantanamo in Prague”, “public idiocy instead of public diplomacy”, and the like. In low voices they discuss Pelivan’s letter at American RFE/RL, just as samizdat was discussed in the Communist autocracies. But can they do anything to protect their own “rights of the powerless”? For them, this question is not theoretical anymore. They are professionals working with information. They are fully informed that their colleague in the Moscow bureau, Karen Agamirov, organized a trade union, which on 25 March 2009 forced the unwilling RFE/RL management to sign a collective agreement which provides protection for employees. But they are also aware that last year Karen Agamirov was fired on a far-fetched pretext. The RFE/RL management has a long and vindictive memory. They know that the RFE/RL acting director of communications, Julian Knapp, got sick and tired of publicly defending the Radio’s deceptive labour policies. He took his hat and left Prague last September. John O’Sullivan, RFE/RL executive editor, is about to go, too. Yes, they are very well informed. Of their own situation and of the world around them. In turn, they inform their audiences – about the “Arab Spring”, the “Moscow December”, “Occupy Wall Street”, protests in Kiev … They are my colleagues. And from what I hear, it seems they are about to protest publicly against their feudal status at the “human-rights” radio. To judge by the current season in Prague, their collective protest will be called a “Prague Winter”. The heat is on. Alsou Taheri is the pseudonym of a journalist working at RFE/RL in Prague. News.Az Link: http://news.az/articles/society/52040 (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DXLD) No Czech diacritix in this (gh) ** DIEGO GARCIA. 4319.00 (USB), AFN, first heard at 1357 tune-in. Light music, short break TOH, back to music, ballads, break at 1413 with M/F announcers, terribly weak, back to singing music at 1419. Same format to past 1446, signal never much above background. Pop music after 1500. Last heard here 12/7 (report sent 12/8, QSL received 12/20), as ute QRM was dominant here for nearly a month in almost daily checks, for both evenings/mornings. Not heard on 12579 same time period, as well as 0030-0200 time frame. Re-check at 1532 was slightly stronger with music. 1/2/12 (Jim Young, Wrightwood, California, ICOM IC-756 Pro III + 40-M yagi + 80-M inverted Vee, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Means Jan 2, 2012 ** DJIBOUTI. 4780, 1815-1920 04.01, R Djibouti, Arta, REACTIVATED, after 3 months OFF! Arabic discussion by women mentioning Djibouti, Somali songs, 45434. But off the air at the same time on 05.01 and 08.01 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) 4780, Radio Djibouti. I have been trying to hear Djibouti the past 2 nights but nothing heard during the 0300-0330 time period. Jan 5, 6 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 4780, Jan 7 at 0310, no sign of R. Djibouti; David Sharp in NSW had discovered it reactivated Jan 4 at 1645 in the local evening, but it was sporadic afterwards. Used to put a good signal into NAm around *0300; so let`s keep looking for it. No, nothing heard either Jan 8 at 0315 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Everyone, Decided to follow up with Djibouti, 1700+, but there's not even a carrier on 4780 today, 5 Jan. A bit of a surprise, considering they were very strong yesterday (David Sharp, NSW, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi everyone, On now 1955 UT not sure when s/on occurred (Mark Davies, Anglesey, Wales, Jan 5, ibid.) Hi Mark, Thanks for the info, they must have had a late sign-on, as I had them 1645 onwards, on the 4th, but no carrier 1700+ on the 5th (David Sharp, NSW, ibid.) ** ECUADOR. 4815, R. El Buen Pastor, Saraguro, 1002-1024 Jan 2 Quechua; M announcer with indigenous music; lengthy religious talk re Cristo; weak but clear in ECCS-USB (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. 4770, 0323-0335, Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea, Asmara, 07/11, Arabic, OM news, modern Arabic pop songs and instrumental music - fair with local nose, //7175 almost good. 73! (Mikhail Timofeyev, DSWCI member no. 2987 http://dxcorner.narod.ru HCDX via DXLD) ** ERITREA/ETHIOPIA. Morning logs of Jan 7th. 5950, Voice of Tigre Revolution, in presumed Tigrina, undermodulated signal from Gedja site. ID at 0358 UT, covered one minute later by carrier, and from 0400 UT by BVB ID from Wertachtal relay site scheduled daily in Persian and I guess Sats only Luri language section. 6110.003, Radio Fana with undoubtedly local HoA music at 0418 UT Jan 7, S=7, suffered heavily by Radio Liberty Russian by powerhouse from Wertachtal, on adjacent 6105 kHz. 7110.027, Asmara, Eritrea here at 0426 UT Jan 7, no jamming on 7110, 7175, and 7205 kHz. Folk song in Amharic? section. S=6 signal fluttery, same poor signal on different program on 7205 kHz. But 7110 had \\ 7174.990 kHz, latter on MUCH stronger level of S=9+5dB. News at 0427-0429 UT. Ethiopian noise jammer appeared on 7110 and 7175, when checked again later at 0502 UT. 7204.984, Voice of Broad Masses of Eritrea, Asmara Eritrea at 0432 UT Jan 7, typical music of the region. News at 0433 UT. Weak S=6 signal like 7110 kHz, see above. 7235.041 ... wandered to x.052 during 3 minute period, Ethiopia of V of Peace & Democracy in tentative. Tigrinya from Gedja, poor signal at 0434 UT Jan 7, scheduled til 0430 UT, but program ended late at 0436 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [and non]. 5950, ?? Voice of the Tigre Revolution ?? Addis Ababa ?? Jan 07, 2012, Saturday 0251-0332. A lot going on here, making it difficult to sort out. At 0251 there is an OM talking against the background of a severe SAH. Sounded Spanish or Portuguese, but Aoki and EiBi list nothing with those languages so it must be something else from somewhere unidentified. At 0253 Horn of Africa music starts, the mystery OM is now in the background, and gone completely by 0258. At 0259 an Arabic voice appears over the music and mentions "Iran", presumably the Voice of the Islamic Republic fading in from Sirjan, and in Pashto rather than Arabic (EiBi). The Arabic / Pashto voice quickly disappears, but the Horn of Africa music continues till 0304 when it is replaced by western-style light orchestral music, which soon takes on a Horn of Africa type flavour. This music continues uninterrupted until 0331, when an OM and YL begin to talk in what I again incorrectly assume is Arabic. It is more likely Tigray (EiBi) and the programme is presumably Voice of the Tigre Revolution from Addis Ababa which should have signed on at 0300 (EiBi) but actually started at 0253. I should have thought a revolutionary station would have had more to say, instead of playing music for 30 minutes. Lots of fading in and out at the beginning, but the music became quite strong for a while after that. With sunrise at 0323 in Joburg it was almost unreadable by 0330. Jo'burg sunrise 0323 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. ETIÓPIA, 5990, Voice of the Tigré Revolution, Geja Jawe (or Geja Dera?), 1850-1859*, 08 Jan, Tigriniya (presumed), HoA songs, announcements & abrupt closure; 44433, adjacent QRM. Parallel to 1359 featured in my LF/MF report. 1359, Voice of the Tigré Revolution, Addis Ababa site, 1848-1859*, 08 Jan, Tigriniya (presumed), talks, HoA songs, announcements prior to abrupt closure; 34433; parallel to 5950 (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 7235.04v, 0413-0436'15*, Radio Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, 07/11, Tigrinya, OM talks, typical Horn of Africa pop songs - fair and even better with local noise and noise jamming, // 9559.00 poor (Mikhail Timofeyev, North-East part of the St. Petersburg city, Russia, Drake R8A, Antenna: long wire (30 m), HCDX via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [and non]. ERITREA ACCUSES ETHIOPIA OF JAMMING SATELLITE BROADCAST | Text of report in English by Eritrean Ministry of Information’s Shabait website on 10 January Asmara, 10 January: The source of the jamming being conducted against Eritrean satellite broadcast has been confirmed to be Ethiopia. Disclosing this fact, the Riyadh-based Arab Satellite Communications said that it has told the regime in Addis Ababa that the practice is illegal. In connection with this, Mr Asmelash Abraha, director general of Eritrean Television, told Erina [Eritrean News Agency] that in continuation of its hostile policy of blocking information disseminated from Eritrea, the TPLF [Tigray People's Liberation Front, dominant party with in Ethiopian ruling coalition] regime, with the complicity of external forces, is engaged in jamming and interfering activities. He further reminded that the aforementioned organization that it has both legal and organizational responsibility to ensure uninterrupted service for the satellite broadcast for which Eritrea has made heavy investment, and thus take legal action against the Addis Ababa regime which is conducting illegal jamming activities. Mr Asmelash also underlined that “regimes that conduct such airwave banditry are those which lack courage and capacity to face the truth being disseminated.” (Source: Shabait website, Asmara, in English 10 Jan 12 via BBC Monitoring via January 10th, 2012 - 17:57 UT by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** FRANCE. This morning (around 0530 UT), I had interesting conditions for TAs especially on the higher part of the band. A second station was mixing with France 1557 which is a rarity and it happened to be Gold from the UK. I had a parallel with Gold Manchester on 1458 which is quite seldom as well here. I'm also happy to have logged for the first time the new French station, Radio Bretagne 5 on 1593 kHz while they're still in test. Music is mainly heard with some short IDs. On the following clip, you'll hear the woman saying "...Vous êtes à l'écoute d'une émission test diffusée depuis l'émetteur de Saint-Gouéno sur la fréquence 1593 kHz" (You are listening to a test program from the Saint-Gouéno transmitter on the 1593 KHz frequency): http://www.quebecdx.com/mp3/france_bretagne5_1593.mp3 At least, something to cheer about :-) Good dx! (Sylvain Naud, Portneuf, QC, Jan 8, rx: Perseus, ant: 950 ft terminated Beverage @ 55 degrees to Europe & the Middle East (for the high band catches), ant: 100 ft long wire used for phasing purpose, MFJ-1026 phaser with LF mods, IRCA via DXLD) ** FRANCE [and non]. [Re 12-01]: RFI cuts --- I don't think we'll see any major decision on the future of RFI until after the French presidential election this spring. After that we'll have a better idea of which way the political winds are blowing, which will have an effect on financial decisions regarding French external broadcasting. Things don't look good for the Eurozone in 2012. A severe continent- wide financial crisis will mean more deep cuts in SW output. Not what SWL's want to hear, but cold economic reality is reminding all of us that external services have to be paid for, somehow, and there is not an endless pile of money to make that happen (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, Jan 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Same procedure as Deutsche Welle, 8% of the budget for technical transmission costs on the TX stations, but 35% of the budget for personnel and pensionists costs. RFI will merge with TV France 24, relocation outside Paris headquarter need 29 Mill. EURos, but SW outlet cease will save 2 Mill. only - annually. Look to poor VOA and IBB services these days, also the U.S. have the most debts on earth on China P.R. bank houses to finance two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, thanks Pres. Bush junior devise (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, ibid.) More RFI missing transmissions: Jan 5 at 0425, nothing on 7425 or 9805 scheduled for this English hour. Nor 5865 with Algerian relay. Tnx to Wolfgang Büschel and Jorge Freitas who have monitored many more hours of the RFI schedule, also relays of others via Issoudun, and of France via other sites. Certain hours of RFI French are still heard, but greatly reduced. It appears that all the English frequencies at 04-08 are missing. Kai Ludwig suggests all these abrupt reduxions could be due to transmission contracts with TDF expiring at the end of 2011y (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 21690 is one of the RFI frequencies which has not been deleted, poor signal in French Jan 5 at 1816, presumably still 17-20 via GUIANA FRENCH. Wolfgang Büschel monitors 21690 at 12-13 and 17-20 via GUF, none of the former times via ISS. 15300 ISS, missing earlier, is poorly audible here at 1808. Wolfgang Büschel observes 15300 on air only at 06-08, 12-13, 17-19. Still nothing around 0435 from the ex-English RFI frequencies 7425, 9805, nor Algeria [q.v] relay on 5865. Until 0657* poor signal still on 7390 from RFI in French as IDed just before cutoff; previously and perhaps still scheduled 04-07; Wolfgang Büschel confirms that. As of Jan 6, the HFCC sked for RFI has still not been updated to remove all the deleted transmissions! http://www.hfcc.org/data/schedbybrc.php?seas=B11&broadc=RFI What is going on is now emerging. I asked Walter Brodowsky of M&B about this, and he replied Jan 6: ``Glenn, I just received the response from TDF at France as following: RFi has decided to stop the Spanish transmission from ISS and GUF. Best regards, Walter Brodowsky``. But that`s not all! Jean-Michel Aubier in France found the story linked below and says, ``RFI could stop SW and MW transmissions at the end of 2013. For the time being, RFI could cut 32 hours on SW (could... or has ?)`` http://www.radioactu.com/actualites-radio/noi_139246/rfi-l-ifg-preconise-l-arret-de-la-diffusion-en-ondes-courtes-et-moyennes/ Mike Cooper digests and summarizes the article: ``Glenn: As I read the article, TDF planned to cut 32 hours of shortwave as part of a new contract effective January 1, 2012. The reduction would involve the broadcast in French for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, broadcasts in Portuguese and English for the African continent and broadcasts in Spanish for Central America and Cuba. It wasn't mentioned in the article Mr. Aubier pointed out, but it appears that the Météo Marine broadcast has also been cut [was 1133 UT on 13640 via GUF, 17610 ISS]. An article written by Arielle Cassim, who was the announcer on the program, says the last broadcast was on December 31. She posted her comment at: http://www.seableue.fr/fin-du-bulletin-meteo-marine-de-rfi/ Cutting SW programming to the Democratic Republic of the Congo comes at a particularly bad time, since the DRC's Communications ministry "cut the signal of RFI," according to an AFP report. The government objects to RFI's reporting since the contested re-election of President Joseph Kabila. The government in Kinshasa totally cut RFI between July 2009 and October 2010, accusing it of "demoralizing" the army.`` This refers to FM relays in the DRC. Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, also forwards a VOA News story about the Congolese disconnexion, from Scott Stearns | State Department: The United States says authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo should restore broadcasts by Radio France International. Those frequencies were blocked this week over the station's reporting on political opponents of President Joseph Kabila. Congolese authorities say they switched off RFI's six FM frequencies while a new, state-run media regulatory authority considers the station's coverage of the long-time opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland says the move breaches freedoms of speech and should be reversed immediately. . . http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/US-Calls-on-Congo-to-Restore-RFI-Broadcasts0-136767223.html No one but us seems concerned about RFI`s abrupt cancellation of all its Spanish and English SW broadcasts (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, I find it strange that RFI is cutting back on shortwave, at a time when their FM relays in DR Congo, have been off the air. Maybe it's all a matter of finances - BUT - it also illustrates a point we've discussed many times over: one or two well-chosen SW freq's to a target area is much more effective, in delivering news to "crisis areas." (And a better option than complete cessation of broadcasts.) We've seen how easy it is for governments to block or restrict the internet, shut-off cell phone services and, in the case of DR Congo, take the RFI FM relays off the air. Could just as easily happen to the BBC, VoA, R. Australia, or anyone else on an FM relay. Some governments, in time, may find the decommissioning of their SW services (and transmitter sites), premature. 73s (David Sharp, NSW, Jan 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) David, I expect the DRC problem was an unfortunate coincidence, with wheels already in motion to delete SW to there. Maybe, red-faced, they will put it back on at least temporarily (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) RFI French to "central africa" (EiBi) is on air right now (1803), on 15300. The // 17850 was also on air until a few minutes ago - it disappeared whilst I was typing this note, so I missed its sign off. Are these perhaps the broadcasts referred to above as targeted at the DRC? Regards, (Bill Bingham, RSA, Jan 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FRANCE [FRENCH GUIANA/RUSSIA/SOUTH AFRICA/TAIWAN] RFI shortwave schedule cuts. RFI schedule and TDF relays logged on Jan 4/5/6, 2012. RFI French 0400-0500 UT Jan 6 on air 7390, 9790 kHz, Not on air French 7340 kHz. 11700 kHz scheduled on M12 season. On air Swahili 0430-0500 UT via 7215-MEY, 9835-MEY AFS relay. Not on air RFI English 0400-0500 UT 7425-B11 season, 9805; 11995 latter scheduled on M12 season. RTA-TDA HQ Arabic at 0400-0500 UT not on air 5865, 7295 kHz. On air Radio Tamazuj in Ar Sudanese, 0400-0430 UT 7315-ISS. On air PNW R Dabanga in Ar Sudanese, 0430-0500 UT 7315-ISS, 11940-ISS. RFI French 0500-0600 UT on air 7390, 9790, 11605-MEY. Not on air French 7340, 9805; 11700 latter scheduled on M12 season. Not on air RFI English 0500-0600 UT 11995-B11; 13740 latter scheduled on M12 season. RTA-TDA HQ Arabic at 0500-0558 UT not on air 5865, 7295 kHz. On air NHK World R Japan in English, 0500-0530 UT 9770-ISS. On air NHK World R Japan in French, 0530-0600 UT 11730-ISS. On air PNW R Dabanga in Arabic Sudanese, 0500-0557 UT 7315-ISS only, 11940-ISS but latter again (Jan5&6) heard with 1000 Hertz tone at 0500-0531:25 UT. Radio Dabanga program re-appeared approx. 0540 UT. RFI French 0600-0700 UT on air 5925-B11, 7390, 9790, 11605-MEY, 15300 kHz. Not on air French 11700-B11; 7340, 11700 both latter scheduled on M12 season at 0600-0657 UT. Not on air RFI Portuguese 0600-0700 UT 15170-MEY. Not on air RFI English 0600-0700 UT 9765-B11, 15160, 17850; 11615 latter scheduled on M12 season. On air RFI Hausa 0600-0630 UT 7220-B11 9805; not on air 11690; 11995 latter scheduled on M12 season. On air NHK World R Japan in Arabic, 0600-0630 UT 11975-ISS. RTA-TDA HQ Arabic at 0600-0658 UT not on air 5865, 9535 kHz. On air TWR Europe in Polish 0645-0700 on air 5910, but not ISS - now registered Wertachtal, M&B brokered. RFI French 0700-0800 UT on air 9790-B11{joined late at 0707 UT} 11700, 13695, 15170-MEY, 15300, 17850 kHz. On air RFI Hausa 0700-0730 UT 13685, 15315; not heard on alternate 11830-B11. Not on air RFI English 0700-0800 UT 11725, 0700-0757 UT 15615 kHz. RFI French 0800-0900 UT on air 13695, 17620, 21580 kHz. Not on air French 15300, 17850 kHz. On air NHK World R Japan in Japanese, 0800-0900 UT 15290-ISS. RFI French 0900-1000 UT ceased totally, nothing on 13695, 15300, 17620, 17850, 21580 kHz. On air RFI in Chinese 0930-1030 UT was on air via Tainan-TWN relay on odd 7324.998, 11874.993 kHz. \\ Irkutsk Russia relay 5900 not traced on Jan 5&6. On air NHK World R Japan in Japanese, 0900-1000 UT 15290-ISS. On air RNW in Dutch, 0900-1000 UT 6035-ISS. On air TWR Hungarian 0930-1000 UT 9450-ISS, M&B brokered. RFI French 1000-1100 UT ceased totally, nothing on 6175-B11, 15300, 21690GUF; 17620 latter scheduled on M12 season. Not on air RFI Spanish 1000-1030 UT 7375GUF, 9825GUF. On air RNW in Dutch, 1000-1100 UT 6035-ISS. Not on ISS anymore exNov6, MVB in German, 1000-1100 UT Suns only, 6140 now replaced by Wertachtal instead, M&B brokered. RFI French 1100-1200 UT ceased totally, nothing on 6175, 15300, 21690GUF; 17620 latter scheduled on M12 season. Only 1100-1130 UT French/Laotion was on air via Tainan-TWN relay on odd 15679.980/15679.988 kHz. Not on air RFI French Meteo Marine 1130-1200 UT 13640GUF, 17610 kHz. RFI French 1200-1300 UT on air 15300, 17660.003MEY, 21580, 21690GUF. Not on air 6175-B11; 17620 latter scheduled on M12 season. Not on air RFI Spanish 1200-1230 UT 15515, 17610 kHz. RFI French 1300-1330 UT 6175-B11, 15300-B11, 21580, 21690GUF ceased totally; 17620 latter scheduled on M12 season. RFI French 1330-1400 UT 21690ISS latter scheduled on M12 season. RFI French 1400-1500 UT not on air 15300, 17620, 21690 kHz. On air Russian sce 11860-B11, 15530 kHz, not on alternat. 13720-B11; 17850 latter scheduled on M12 season. On air Vietnamese 1400-1500 UT via Tainan-TWN relay on 7379.990 kHz. Not on air Spanish 17690GUF. On air RTI Russian 1400-1500 UT 15225-ISS. On air TDP Radio (DRM) in English, 1400-1500 UT 6015DRM mode. Also on air NHK World R Japan in English 1400-1430 UT via 21560-ISS relay. RFI Persian 1430-1500 UT 15360-B11, 17850 kHz. Not on air 15530-B11; 21580 kHz latter scheduled on M12 season. On air PAB Pan Am Broadcasting in English 15205-ISS 1430-1500 UT Suns only, M&B brokered. Beware of PAB En on Mon-Sat is via M&B site Wertachtal in Germany at 1400/1415-1430 UT instead. Not on ISS anymore ex 27Nov, MVB in German, 1400-1500 UT Suns only, 6140 now replaced by Nauen, M&B brokered. RFI French 1500-1600 UT not on air 17850 kHz. On air Vietnamese 15-16 UT via Tanshui-TWN relay on 9564.909 kHz. On air Swahili 15-16 UT via Meyerton-AFS relay on 15160 kHz. On air NHK World R Japan in Japanese, 1500-1600 UT 17735-ISS. On air BVB Punjabi/En 1515-1530Fri/Sat, Urdu 1530-1600Thu-Sat, 13670-ISS, M&B brokered. On air TDP The Disco Palace(DRM) in English, 1530-1630 UT 12115DRM mode. RFI French 1600-1700 UT not on air 15300, 17850, 21580 kHz. On air Russian sce 1600-1630 UT 9805, 11670 kHz, not on alternative 11795[Okapi UAE], 13640 latter scheduled on M12 season. On air Hausa sce 1600-1700 UT 17615 kHz. Not on air Spanish 17690GUF. Not on air Portuguese 17605. On air YFR Amharic 15160-ISS, and Oromo 13660-ISS, M&B brokered. Not on alternative 1600-1700 UT 11975-ISS. On air RTI English 1600-1700 UT 12055-ISS. On air BVB Oromo? language 1600-1700 UT 13810-ISS, M&B brokered. AWR Somali 1630-1700 UT, 17575-ISS, M&B brokered RFI French 1700-1800 UT on air 13695, 15300, 17850, 21690-GUF. Not on air French 11705, 17620 kHz. On air RFI Persian 1700-1800 UT 11955-ISS, but not alternat.11995-ISS. On air BVB Amharic/Tigre lang 1700-1800 UT 13810-ISS. On air RTI Russian 1700-1800 UT 7465-ISS. On air RTI English 1700-1800 UT 15690-ISS. On air NHK World R Japan in Japanese, 1700-1800 UT 11945-ISS. Not on air YFR Swahili 15160-ISS. RFI French 1800-1900 UT on air 11705, 11995, 13695, 15300, 21690GUF, Not on air French 9790, 17850 kHz. Not on air RFI Portuguese 13675 kHz, 1800-1830 UT. On air NHK World R Japan in Japanese, 1800-1900 UT 11945-ISS. On air CRI Russian 9535-ISS. On air RTI English 1800-1900 UT 3965-ISS. Not on air YFR Sesotho 1800-1900 UT 12015-ISS. RTA-TDA HQ at 1800-1900 UT, not heard due co-channel RRI Bucharest in English on 11955 kHz, but I guess NOT on air, also NOT on 9390 kHz at this hour. RFI French 1900-2000 UT on air 9790, 11705, 11995, 21690GUF. Not on air French 13695, 15300 kHz, both scheduled on M12 season. Not on air RFI Portuguese 13675 kHz, 1900-1930 UT. Unfortunately couldn't trace remote Global Tuner at Johannesbourg for 5945-MEY RFI Portuguese program check. On air RFI Russian 5905, 7425 kHz, but not on 9940 kHz, latter scheduled on M12 season. RTI French 1900-2000 UT on air 11875-ISS. RTA-TDA HQ at 1900-2000 UT, 7455 11955 kHz, but not on 9390 kHz. CRI Czech relay 1930-2000 UT 7305-ISS. RFI French 2000-2100 UT on air 7205, 9790, 11995 kHz. Not on air French 11705 kHz. RTA-TDA HQ at 2000-2100 UT, NOT on service 5865, 7455, 9390 kHz. CRI Polish relay 2000-2100 UT 6145-ISS. KBS French relay 2000-2100 UT 5915-ISS. RTI Spanish relay 2000-2100 UT 3965-ISS. RFI French 2100-2200 UT on air 7205, 9790 kHz. Not on air RFI Spanish 17630-GUF. RTA-TDA HQ at 2100-2200 UT, NOT on service 5865, 7455, 9390 kHz. CRI Albanian/Hungarian relay 2100-2200 UT 6145-ISS. RTI German relay 2100-2200 UT 3965-ISS. RFI Chinese 2200-2300 UT, not traced / nothing heard on 7350 kHz from Novosibirsk Russia relay site. M12 season starts on Febr 26, til March 30, 2012. Checked from various rxs in Europe, Northern Finland, Moscow, Ukraine, USA, South Africa, Australia and Japan (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 4/5/6, 2012, dxldyg via DXLD) 21690 06/Jan 1946 FRENCH GUYANA (Relay), in French. OM talks by phone with another. // 9790, 11705, 11995, no signal in 13695 and 15300. 9790 06/Jan 2103 FRANCE, RFI, in French. Two men talk in the studio. // 7205, both com good signal. No signal in 17630, program in Spanish. (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, 12 14´S 38 58´W - Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Francia termina español, inglés y portugués en OC --- Para quienes no leen mis informes en inglés, hay que informarles que a principios del año, Radio Francia Internacional suprimió todas sus emisiones de onda corta en español, tanto como en inglés y portugués; y redujo además las horas en francés. Parece continuar su página en español, incluso audio de noticieros a pedido, tanto como via radios asociadas. http://www.espanol.rfi.fr/ (Glenn Hauser, radioescutas, condiglist and noticiasdx ygs via DXLD) Glenn, Tem uma transmissão em russo, essa tem tempo que foi cancelada ou foi nesse corte também? (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA - Brasil, ibid.) En una de uno de mis DX realizados a RFI en español escuché - en diciembre de 2011 - que toda la planta técnica de la emisora estaba en huelga y los locutores salían al aire como podían. Estimo que ya tenían algún tipo de rumor sobre este apagón. Es una verdadera lástima. Creo que se debería apurar la difusión de sistemas de transmisión digitales en onda corta para dar un poco de luz a tantas sombras. Saludos desde Córdoba Argentina. http://www.drmradio.com.ar (9775) (osoquerrell, condiglist yg via DXLD Swahili heard at 0530 on 11790 via a receiver in South Africa. And French still on 15300 at 0800-0900 (Jean-Michel Aubier, France, Jan 7-8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Despite RFI having canceled all its English broadcasts on SW, it joins some other ex-SW broadcasters, such as Prague and Slovakia and Israel, in being `preserved` thanks to WRMI relaying WRN: UT Tue-Sat 0500-0600 on 9955 according to the latest schedules. All Spanish has been canceled too, but not all Portuguese, Jean-Michel Aubier points out, still heard Jan 7 at 1900-1930 on 5950, not 5945, still via South Africa? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Portuguese not totally cancelled as indicated in DXLD 12-01: Heard today (Jan 7) on 5950 (not 5945) at 1900-1930 with a good signal in France (still via MEY ?) Regards (JM Aubier, France, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5950, 08/Jan 1913, SOUTH AFRICA, RFI, in Portuguese. From a remote radio in Johannesburg, Global Tuners. As Jean-Michel Aubier points out, and Glenn. YL presents news, at 1915 “Atualidade Esportiva”, with José Rocha. A Moderate QRM unidentified. At 1927 music and 1930 end of transmission (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, 12 14´S 38 58´W - Brasil, ibid.) Pésima noticia. Recuerdo aún con cierta nostalgia el 02 de octubre de 1982 cuando grabé una de las primeras transmisiones en español en 31 metros. Se fue la primera del 2012 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, condiglist yg via DXLD) Para la nostalgia queda en el recuerdo el programa "MUNDO DIEXISTA" los segundos y cuarto viernes de cada mes con Alejandro Valente, Eduardo Fevro, Henri Lafaurie, Michel Marcland y finalmente Marcos García Herrera. Además había un programa que se llamaba "LA ONDA CORTA, LA ONDA QUE MÁS CORTA" a cargo de Jaime Fontanillo, salía los martes para Europa por 945 y 5995. Nada puede ocupar o reemplazar esas horas inolvidables de nuestro pasado diexista. De vez en cuando desempolvar algún viejo casete con grabaciones de aquellos años de los '80 y '90 nos hará revivir una época que nos llenaba de satisfacciones y expectativas. RGM (Rubén Guillermo Margenet, Argentina, ibid.) Amigos: Es lamentable estar viviendo la desaparición de las emisoras a través de la onda corta. Para cuando nació esta forma de comunicar al mundo seguramente marcó un cambio importante. Ahora somos testigos de la introducción del medio que desplaza lentamente a nuestros receptores tan queridos. http://www.revo.co.uk/digital-radio/revo-axis.php En Chile si comercializa en: http://www.revo.co.uk/digital-radio/revo-axis.php (ce3BBC, Hugo López C., Casilla 9570, Correo Central, http://www.qrz.com/db/ce3bbc ibid.) ¡Qué cosa fea, Dios mío! Conmigo no cuenten (Margenet, ibid.) Hi Glenn, Note RFI in French, from Issoudun to central Africa (CIRAF 52 and others). Since Issoudun - central Africa - Jo'burg is not far off a straight line and probably just an extra bounce further, SA is probably about the best place to copy this one, given the apparent absence of logs from the DRC. I've just checked all the RFI French to central Africa transmissions on frequencies which I have logged in B11. All are positive IDs, although not listed as such here. Some of the monitored times are quite different to those given by HFCC (Jan 5) or EiBi (Dec 21). I don't know how they compare with RFI's own schedules. Regards, Bill. 7390 Issoudun. Jan 09, 2012, Monday 0435-0458* French. Already on air by 0435, but EiBi lists target of east Africa at this time, presumably somewhat receivable in central Africa as well. Poor - very poor in SA. Jo'burg sunrise 0325. 7390 Issoudun. Jan 09, 2012, Monday *0500-0558* French. Better than 7390 at 0435-0458*, this one must be targetted to central Africa. But by 0530 it was getting progressively worse, and almost unreadable by 0545. Fair.- poor. Jo'burg sunrise 0325. 9790 Issoudun. Jan 09, 2012, Monday. *1859-2055. French. Came on at *1859, off and then on again at 1900. Still going strong at 2055. Good at first, deteriorated to poor. This entire transmission could have been targetted to west Africa (1900-2200 according to HFCC, EiBi), with nothing to central Africa at the listed 1800-2000. Jo'burg sunset 1705. 9790 Issoudun. Jan 09, 2012, Monday 0505-0558* French. May have started at the listed time, but still unreadable, can just make out that its // 7390. By 0520 better than 7390, and improving. Very poor. Jo'burg sunrise 0325. 11705 Issoudun. Jan 08, 2012, Sunday. *1803-2244. French. Sign on at *1803, one hour later than listed 1700 (HFCC, EiBi). Still going strong at 2244, nearly two hours after supposed sign off of 2100* (HFCC, EiBi), but not sure if it`s still targeted to central Africa. At nearly 1 am local, and having already dozed-off, I abandon monitoring. Note added later: This over run was clearly a mistake. Checked again the next night, Jan 9, and it was already off air at 2004. Good - fair. To central Africa (EiBi). Jo'burg sunset 1705. 15300 Issoudun // 17850 Issoudun. Jan 07, 2012, Saturday 1740-1820. French talk. RFI jingle at 1810. Fair at first, but faded to JBA by 1820. To central Africa (EiBi). Jo'burg sunset 1705. 15300 Issoudun. Jan 08, 2012, Sunday. *1659-1857*. French. Sign on at *1659, one hour later than listed 1600 (HFCC, EiBi) Cut off at 1857*, one hour earlier than listed 2000 (HFCC, EiBi). Started off fair, but by 1730 it was poor; weak and lots of atmospheric QRN. Barely readable at times, but improved again later. To central Africa (EiBi). Jo'burg sunset 1705. 15300 Issoudun. Jan 09, 2012, Monday 0612-0757* French. At 0612 there is something there, but only on the Hallicrafters - I would have missed it on the Drake R8 (same aerial). It probably started on time (listed 0600-0800 by EiBi, HFCC) and is battling with early-morning propagation. Lots of fades below noise level, but slowly improving by 0621 and now audible on the Drake as well, but still unreadable with either. I can just make out that it`s French. By 0628 partly readable on the Hallicrafters (and I heard an RFI jingle), almost readable on the Drake. Call me a luddite, but I still maintain you can't beat valves (tubes in USA) for HF. At 0635, just readable on both receivers and getting better. Went off air for a minute or so at about 0657 (can't be more precise, incoming phone call) but it came back at 0659 with renewed vigour although listed as to the same targets as before. Went off again at 0701, back at 0702, and after that reception collapsed again. Cut off at 0757* as listed. Poor. No entertainment (or news) value at all for the entire two hour slot, although South Africa is one of the targets. Jo'burg sunrise 0325. 17850 Issoudun // 15300 Issoudun. Jan 07, 2012, Saturday 1740-?? French talk. Missed the sign off just before 1800. Fair, to central Africa (EiBi). Jo'burg sunset 1705. 17850 Issoudun. Jan 08, 2012, Sunday. *1659-1757* French. Sign on at *1659, two hours later than listed 1500 (HFCC, EiBi). Cut off at 1757*, one hour earlier than listed 1900 (HFCC, EiBi). Fair at first, but deteriorated just like 15300; still the better of the two by 1730, and remained so until its sign off. To central Africa (EiBi). Jo'burg sunset 1705. 17850 Issoudun. Jan 09, 2012, Monday *0659-0757* French. Cut off at 0757*, one hour earlier than listed 0900 (HFCC, EiBi). Fair - good. Jo'burg sunrise 0325. 21580 Issoudun. Jan 08, 2012, Sunday. AWOL or not propagating (listed 1600-1700 by EiBi, HFCC). Jo'burg sunset 1705 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FRANCE [CHINA/FRENCH GUIANA/SOUTH AFRICA/TAIWAN] RFI Paris winter B-11 schedule, til Febr 25, 2012, when M-12 season starts with few changes on Febr 26 - March 30, 2012. Cambodian 1100-1200 1503FAN-TWN Chinese 0930-1030 7324.998TAI-TWN, 11874.993TAI-TWN 2200-2300 1098KOU-TWN 2200-2400 603LUK-TWN 2300-2400 9954.978TAI-TWN, 11665.006TAI-TWN English not anymore on shortwave French 0400-0500 7390, 9790 [11700 tentat. in M-12] 0500-0600 7390, 9790, 11605MEY [11700 tentat. in M-12] 0600-0700 5925, 7390, 11605MEY, 15300 [7340, 11700 tentat. in M-12] 0700-0800 9790, 11700, 13695, 15170MEY, 15300, 17850 0800-0900 13695, 15300, 17620, 21580 1200-1300 747MIN-TWN, 15300, 17660.003MEY, 21580, 21690GUF [17620 tentat. in M-12] 1300-1400 684 Dongfang Hainan Isl-CHN 1600-1700 1296KUN-CHN 1700-1800 13695, 15300, 17850, 21690GUF 1800-1900 11705, 11995, 13695, 15300, 21690GUF 1900-2000 9790, 11705, 11995, 21690GUF [13695, 15300 tentat. in M- 12] 2000-2100 7205, 9790, 11995 2100-2200 7205, 9790 Hausa 0600-0630 7220, 9805 [11995 tentat. in M-12] 0700-0730 13685, 15315 1600-1700 17615 Laotian/French 1100-1130 15679.980TAI-TWN Mon-Fri Persian [ex Pashto] 1430-1500 15360, 17850 [21580 tentat. in M-12] 1700-1800 11955 Portuguese 1900-1930 5950MEY {thanks Jean-Marie Aubier and Jorge Freitas} {yes, heard that broadcast also tonight, on remote units in W Australia, Johannesbourg und at Athens-Greece., wb.} Russian 1400-1500 11860, 15530 [17850 tentat. in M-12] 1600-1700 9805, 11670 [13640 tentat. in M-12] 1900-2000 5905, 7425 [ 9940 tentat. in M-12] Spanish not anymore on shortwave Swahili 0430-0500 7215MEY, 9835MEY, 11790MEY 1500-1600 15160MEY Vietnamese 1400-1500 7379.990TAI-TWN 1500-1600 1296KUN-CHN, 9564.909TSH-TWN Parte Meteo Marine [Meteo marine, N Atlantic] 1130-1200 not on air anymore. (acc monitoring updated for B-11 season, Jan 6, revised by wb wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 9, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DXLD) See also UNIDENTIFIED 11705 These are my assumptions on Issoudun installations, still in discussion. 73 wolfy Center heisst wohl Haus in diesem Zusammenhang. Ich habe mal die Erkenntnisse nach den zwei T.Vignaud HTM Links auf einem Screenshot zusammengestellt. Jedenfalls gab es nur 2 Antennensterne, Center ehemals A, und dann um B erweitert, danach das Center E errichtet, und dafür das nebenstehende Center A geschliffen. Der zweite Stern über der Strasse nördlich. Mir ist nicht ganz klar, ob die Vorhangantennen über der Strasse aus 1961 dem Zentrum C zugehörig waren, und vor 1990 geschliffen wurden, um Platz für die ALLISS Antennen und deren Kontrollcenter "D"(ehemaliges Zentrum C Haus) zu schaffen, jedenfalls sieht man die Wunden der Masten in den Feldern, von den Fundamenten herrührend. Ebensolche Wunden sieht man auf dem Gelände des ehemaligen geschliffenen Centers A, nachdem Center E Haus errichtet wurde. 73 wolfgang Google translation: Center House probably means in this context. I once the findings for the two T. Vignaud HTM links on a Screenshot compiled. Anyway, there was only 2 star antenna, center formerly A, B, and then to extended I then set up the Center, and Center for the adjacent A sanded. The second star on the road north. I'm not quite clear whether the curtain antennas across the street from 1961 the center C were associated, and were ground before 1990 to make room for Alliss, the antennas and their Control Center "D" (former center C House) to create, at least you can see the wounds of the poles in the fields of the foundations originate. The same kind of wounds you see on the site of the former ground Centers A, next to E Center after house was built (Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. SWR on mediumwave: Over and out --- Just as it has been announced: Wolfsheim 1017 kHz went off at 2159:56 UT, Mühlacker 576 kHz at 2200:03, provided the time pips uncovered on 1017, originating from an unID distant transmitter (on 576 Spain became audible in the moments after) were accurate. I have both closures on the same tape, wow. Of course 666 kHz went off, too, by 2200, as it did already for years every evening, just this time for good. Not much to say about 828 kHz, it was just a mess here anyway. The closure took place in about the most shabby way possible, especially considering that it was the end of SWR cont.ra as well, which will be relaunched and as of tomorrow broadcast as SWR Info. Already the style of the announcement just made me vomit, kind of thinking how lucky I am that I have not to witness that via mediumwave. So what was on air for the last minutes: The last program item ended at 2155, an in fact quite interesting talk about Nazi ideology. After that a standard canned announcement has been played that hereby SWR cont.ra ends its broadcast day and ARD Infonacht will take over now. This was followed by cheapish fill music from the audio design, plonking away until being faded out immediately before 2200. A few moments of open carrier and this was it then. It appears that during the last days the audio circuit to Mühlacker was already dead, since 576 suddenly run about three seconds behind 666 and 1017, indicating the use of the satellite signal instead. A deliberate change, when just days were left until they would turn off the whole stuff anyway, would be quite a surprise. It should be pointed out that the three main facilities (Mühlacker, Rohrdorf and Wolfsheim) have been upgraded with new solid-state transmitters in the last years. In the case of Mühlacker this happened as recently as in 2010, and it was done because they wanted to get rid of the old S 4003 as aux transmitter and use the Nautel solid-state from the nineties as aux instead. Plain luxury, other facilities like Wiederau on 783 kHz simply have no aux transmitters anymore. Substantial amounts of licence fee payer's money have been thrown out of the window this way. But perhaps the closure of the mediumwave transmitters is a panic action, since it appears that this decision has been made at the same time when plans for substantial cuts in the programming budget emerged. Here the plan is to leave the pop stations SWR 3 and Das Ding basically untouched but to cut 15 percent at SWR 1, 20 percent at SWR 4 and a whooping 25 percent at the culture program SWR 2: http://www.swr.de/unternehmen/presse/-/id=4224/nid=4224/did=7886538/761akw/index.html http://www.nmz.de/artikel/alles-auffahren-fuer-die-minderheit-in-der-minderheit Really nice times for broadcasting in Germany! (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This is how the last 5 minutes of the 1017 kHz transmitter were received in Romania: http://youtu.be/9b26i5Ff7Tc Best regards, (Tudor Vedeanu, (Gura Humorului, Romania, ibid.) [and non] Recordings from Germany: http://www.ukwtv.de/temp/576_swr_off_10khz.mp3 http://www.ukwtv.de/temp/666_swr_off_10khz.mp3 http://www.ukwtv.de/temp/1017_swr_off_7.5khz.mp3 It is rather startling how empty 576 and 1017, until now used by SWR around the clock, have been left behind. Only 576 has a real new dominating station here, RNE 5 from Barcelona. On 1017 it's mostly a faint mess, from which so far either the 10 kW RNE 5 transmitters (as in this recording) or the tiny 600 watts outlet in England emerged. But they all are weak, the obvious thing when tuning into 1017 now is just sideband splash from the Dutch 1008 outlet. There was a time when all these SWR transmitters were subject of severe co-channel interference, on 576 from the Wöbbelin (Germany, too), Ulbroka (Latvia) and Vidin (Bulgaria) transmitters, on 666 from Sitkunai (Lithuania) and on 1017 from Mundanya near Istanbul, the latter being already quite a distance away but running a massive 1200 kW. All these outlets went away already before, and the Wöbbelin and Ulbroka transmission facilities do meanwhile no longer exist at all. Got recently a comment from the USA: "Almost as bad as shortwave." Well, rather even worse (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DXLD) 576, 666, 828, 1017, 1413: I hear that your local SWR MW transmitters are still on air. I have been checking then before and after the 31st Dec. and I'm surprised at the variation in signal strengths that I am hearing on 576, 666 and 1017 kHz. Somedays they are down in the 'mud' yet on others they come boooooooming in as they used to do when using higher powers. 1017 kHz was one that I often listened to when radio broadcast "real" music. Thanks again and a Happy New Year from (Noel Green, UK, Jan 2, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews 11 Jan via DXLD) Hello dear Noel, SWR mediumwaves 576, 666 and 1017 kHz and Freiburg 828 kHz 20 kW will cease too, will be down FOR EVER on Jan 8th at 2200 UT. Ulm MW 1413 kHz is silent already by Dec 30, 2011. 576, last since 1931 year, the tall main tower 273 meters will probably remain, but not as museum piece, but to be rebuilt to local area DAB+, FM, and DVB-TV digital services for Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Pforzheim area. 666, last since 1964 year, when reshuffled and freed former 1538 kHz (3 local txs) in order to get Deutschlandfunk Mainflingen a strong frequency on the upper end of the MW band, when DLF - as mouthpiece of the FRG and Adenauer government towards GDR, opened 50 years ago on 1 Jan 1962 at 16.00 hrs LT. DLF 1538 kHz was 3 x 350 kW = 1050 kW, but instead used 750 kW only. 1017, was originally founded in 1949/1950, when Deutsche Reichspost then, and FRENCH occupying Armed Forces in French zone of Germany erected the first MW at Rheinsender Wolfsheim as LORENZ tx of 70 kW, later increased to 120 kW in 1959, even to day 300 / night 600 kW at 29 dB antenna from 1976. Former twin mast coverage had favourite signals towards GDR North-Eastwards at 55degr, and France / Spain / Portugal / even to Canary Islands south-westerly at 235 degrees. So, Blackpool area was not a favourite signal target these days, due of adjacent Netherlands radio on 1007/1008 kHz, which screened A LITTLE bit, as well as towards ORF Vorarlberg Lauterach target on 1025 kHz also (Wolfgang Büschel, Jan 9, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 11 via DXLD) ** GERMANY. 3995, 1455-1510 07-01, Radio 700, Kall-Krekel with new all-day schedule, German ann, "Schlager", ID: "Radio Sieben Hundert", news, English pop songs. Also heard at 2045-2100*, 08.01, in German with same ID's and pop songs, abrupt s/off in the middle of a song, instead of relay of HCJB! 35333 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** GERMANY. 6095, 1305-1320, Mighty KBC Radio, Wertachtal, 07/01, English, OM (Mike Marwick) short talks with IDs as "KBC International Radio", jingle IDs, a lot of rock & roll oldies - almost good with local noise and slight fading (Mikhail Timofeyev, North-East part of the St. Petersburg city, Russia, Drake R8A, Antenna: long wire (30 m), HCDX via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Last QSL received: 9480, Radio Saxonia, full data e-mail QSL card in 22 days. Reception report send to radiosaxonia @ web.de (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Jan 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. EMR this Sunday at 0900 UT Date 15th January 2012 Time 0900 to 1000 Channel 9480 khz Programmes: 0900 Tom Taylor programme 0930 Mike Taylor (Mail Box programme) EMR Internet radio service on Sunday and Monday: Programme repeats are at the following times: 0900, 1400, 1800, 2100 UT Please visit http://www.emr.org.uk and click on the “EMR internet radio” button which you will find throughout the website (see the menu on the left). Please send all reception reports to: studio@emr.org.uk Good Listening 73s Tom EMR Postal Address: European Music Radio, c/o M.V. Baltic Radio, Seestraße 17, D-19089 Göhren, Germany (via Joe Talbot, Jan 9, DXLD) M V Baltic Radio Test Transmissions: On the 15th of January at 1000 UT M V Baltic Radio will be testing on 9480 KHz. Please send all M V Baltic Radio reception reports to info @ mvbalticradio.de Technical Information for Receiving 9480 kHz: The transmitter at Göhren is using A3H (carrier with upper side band) modulation. If you use a normal AM - shortwave receiver, please tune exactly to 9480 kHz. If you use a SSB - receiver, please tune to 9480 kHz, USB - mode. This will give you the best results. Good Listening, 73s (Tom Taylor, Jan 10, WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [non]. Frequency change of Deutsche Welle in Portuguese to S Africa: 1930-2000 NF 6150 KIG 250 kW / 170 deg, ex 6145 to avoid CRI in Romanian (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 10 Jan via DXLD) ** GIBRALTAR. 1458, R. Gibraltar, Maida Vale, 1310-1504, 07 Jan, Castilian programme, songs, chatter; English again at 03PM; 45454 (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. I recently came across an unusual station on 7450 kHz. Fades in around 1700 UT, quite loud by 1710, and goes to 2250, seven days a week. Sundays it seems on from 1815 to 2250. All non-stop music, all types from European classics to US musicals, to Latin American, to Black America. No jazz or rock so far. A woman makes the same announcements at 20 or so minute intervals although I did hear a man speak for about a minute on a half hour. Can`t quite recognize the language, tho (Bob Fraser, 255 Lincolnville Ave, Belfast ME 04915- 7404, Jan NASWA Journal via DXLD) Sounds like ERT3, Radio Makedonias, Greece (Richard D`Angelo, ed., ibid) Certainly; more music than usual due to strike/disruptions? (gh) ** GUATEMALA. 4055, R. Verdad, Chiquimula, 1057-1114 Jan 2, Six note IS at tune/in; sounds like 80's era Casio keyboard; NA at 1059; multi- lingual ID at 1104 with QSL contact info; W at 1111 in Spanish, into choral music; M with `Voice of Revival`, good (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Reception Report. Verdad, Chiquimula, 2011 [sic] 0107 0550-0607Z, 4055 kHz (best on LSB due to high side noise) Weak but copyable, abt S2. Choir singing, parallel to web audio feed: Went off abruptly at 0607z (Christopher Rumbaugh, Salem, Oregon, USA, Rig: Pappradio SDR, HDSDR, 80M dipole, 10dB Preamp, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Unusually strong signal from Guatemala this AM --- 4055, R. Verdad, 1130, 1/11 hymn and gospel music at tune-in. Solid S-9. ID by M in Spanish at TOH, into long lecture. 73 and Good Listening! (Rick Barton, El Mirage, AZ, Hammarlund HQ-200, Drake R-8; Slinky, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** HONDURAS. Radio Luz y Vida desde San Luis - Honduras captado en Bogotá D.C., en 3250 kHz, 0152 UT 11-Ene-12, - 24433, programa ("en la canoa") de música campesina con temática religiosa, locutor hace anuncios sobre cumpleaños de oyentes en diferentes pueblos. Aunque la señal es clara, es de intensidad inestable, posiblemente por la propagación. Se verificó contra audio via internet en la página: http://radioluzyvida1600.com/ 73 y Buenos DX (Jose Luis de Vicente T. - HK3ORT, condiglist yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DXLD) 3250, Luz y Vida – San Luis (Presumed), 1126, in Spanish. End of mellow song, male announcer with religious talk. First time I’ve heard them in quite some time. Poor. 1/6/11 (Mark Taylor, Madison WI, WinRadio g313e, Grunding G1 & G5, Satellit 800; EWE, Flextenna, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** INDIA. 576, 1530 8 Jan *2011*, AIR, Alappuzha, time signal (single pip) pushing thru Europeans. VOIRI does not use a pip at this time, SIO 222 (Tim Bucknall and JF [not on the contributor key list], UK, after analysis of older Perseus recordings, MW Logbook, Jan BDXC UK Communication via DXLD) Wow, a definite log on circumstantial evidence of one time pip! (gh) ** INDIA. Re: Tamilnadu stations on air early today Could be Vaikuntha Ekadasi http://www.karunamayi.org/News/Vaikuntha-Ekadasi-Jan5.html http://www.karunamayi.org/News/2012-Vaikuntha-Ekadasi-article.html 73 (Mike Brooker, (in Toronto, Canada not Tamil Nadu), Jan 5, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. AIR Kolkata is noted back today on SW after some weeks absence on 7210. Look out also on 4820 The sked is of this 50 kW tx is: 4820 0025-0215 1220-1744 7210 0230-0401v (Sat, Sun 0501), 0700-1000(Sun 1030) (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, Jan 7, dx_india yg via DXLD) Thank you Jose for this information! Am fairly sure it was AIR Kolkata on their often heard off frequency of 4820.8 on Jan 7, briefly noted in passing with nice subcontinent music at 1449. Of course best in USB to get away from QRM from Tibet/PBS Xizang Chinese Service on 4820.0, so it actually helps reception of AIR when they are off frequency (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, California, USA, Eton E1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4820.82, Could this be AIR Kolkata off frequency? I first heard at 1452 tune in without audio from my house. Something here last two mornings. I drove to a local mountain top, and found them in vernacular extremely strong, not sounding Hindi. M & F voices talking with brief music and singing past 1516 and not //other AIR stations. Poor by 1527 with Tibet (4820.00) splatter, but no TS at BOH. Little audio by 1540, but carrier still here at 1634 check. 1-7. A quick 60-meter bandscan just before 1500 from the house, then I drove to Inspiration Point to see if any difference. I was stunned! The band was full of strong signals, especially strong audio from AIR regionals on 5040 and 4840. This is when I discovered strong audio on 4820.82, so I stayed with this one. 5040 was gone after 1512 check. The previous afternoon I had driven to this location and noted both Cuban stations on 5025 and 5040 were reasonable at 2230 UT. Upon my arrival at the house 10 minutes later, I found both Cubans were weak, with no audio heard. I will be making some further checks between the house and Inspiration Pt, and having my xyl, Karen, listen to same frequencies while on the phone! FYI: The noise levels were quiet at both locations (Jim Young WPC6JY, Inspiration Point (7400 feet), CA ICOM IC-706 + 60-M resonant vertical, NASWA yg via DXLD) 4820.82, still suspect AIR Kolkata here off of 4820.0 kHz: noted at 0028 to past 0104 with not enough audio, plus splatter from Tibet on 4820.0. Note posted from Jose Jacobs, VU2JOS via Ron Howard seems to confirm this. 1/8 4810.00, AIR Bhopal, tune-in at 1453 Jan 10 with extremely strong signal, along with several other AIR regionals in band. Some sort of English language discussion by M voice at 1506. M announcer said this was a "...presidential address..." at 1508. Not found // on any other AIR frequencies. Mention of 'science and technology' at 1511, then local ID of Bhopal by F voice, child talking, jingles and into network feed at 1515. // other AIR regionals as usual to past 1527, especially AIR Mumbai on 4840.00 which was equally strong. Normal switch to English news 'headlines' after TS and AIR ID at 1530. Then went downhill fast! (Jim Young, WPC6JY, Inspiration Point (7400 feet), CA, ICOM IC-706 + 60-M resonant vertical, NASWA yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DXLD) No doubt about it Jim, Jan 10 was one of the best days for AIR regionals. I also noted AIR Mumbai at 1439 with about the strongest signal I have ever heard from them. 4747.6, confirmed by DXer in India as being AIR Leh (Radio Kashmir, Leh), had the strongest open carrier heard so far, but as you noted, very hard to make out any audio with adjacent QRM from Bangladesh Betar and CNR1 mixing together on 4750. Also found 5040 with AIR Jeypore doing well with a speech in English (heavy accent) at 1451. AIR Kolkata again off frequency on 4820.8. Noted AIR Imphal off the air from checks today between about 1340 to 1440 (Ron Howard, San Francisco, Calif., ibid., WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DXLD) see also KASHMIR 4810, 4820.82, 4840, 4880, 4920 and 5040 especially strong as also noted yesterday, around 1420-40. AIR Mumbai, 4840.00 noted with English news by F voice at 1433 1/11. 4870.02, Delhi, first heard carrier at 1412 tune-in, but no audio. Considerable hum usually at 1430 (which is normal sign-on), but still no audio. Later check at 1447 had very strong signal with good audio and F announcer in language 1/11 (Jim Young, WPC6JY, ICOM IC-706 + Grundig Satellite 800 + 40-M vertical + 60-M inverted Vee, Inspiration Point, (7400 feet) CA, NASWA yg via DXLD) Inspiration Point: there are a few in California, but for this one see http://www.wrightwoodca.com/wrightwood-mountains/mountain.php?view&mountain=10 (gh, DXLD) 4820.82, AIR Kolkata (presumed), 1356-1420 Jan 8. Mostly talk; occasional short music clip. Signal strength almost fair but no competition for the S-9 band noise. Would have been readable were it not for the noise. On this freq next 3 mornings, too (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) 4820.92, AIR Kolkata, *0025-0030, Jan 09, strong carrier without audio under Xizang PBS. (Petersen) 4840, AIR Mumbai, *2355-0020, Jan 08/09, AIR IS, "Vande Mataram" hymn, Marathi (p) ann, sitar music followed by native singing, 45333. 4895, AIR Kurseong, 1655-1700*, Jan 09, interview in English, 1659 closing ann in Nepali (p), 33333 heavy heterodyne from 4896.6. Carrier disappeared at 1701. (Petersen) 4896.5, UNID, 1655-1920, Jan 09, spurious AIR station with distorted audio in USB with Indian songs and vernacular ann, but at 1730 AIR news in English e.g. // Kingsway on 5015. Continued for more than two hours with relay of MW or FM programme in AM, but not in LSB or USB, before 1845 when it came back on all modulation modes. Lively Indian songs and vernacular ann, 25222 -- 35333. (Petersen) Can anybody help, please ? Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. 4920, AIR Chennai, 0051-0103 Jan 7, listed Hindi; W announcer with talk & Hindi music; very brief W at ToH followed by M with presumed news; fair. The best thing about this log was my almost 4 year old girl asking "What you doing, Daddy?" and letting her listen on the headphones while I showed her where Chennai was in relation to northern New Hampshire on my wall sized, world map & desk globe (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 6155, All India Radio, Bengaluru. *0016:36 January 11, 2012. Carrier up with 1000 kc/s tone until 0013:14 AIR Interval signal, opening ID in presumed (listed) Urdu, then nice subcontinental vocals through 0055 tune-out. Very good. No trace of 9595 WRTVH-2012 listed parallel. Thanks D. Crawford tip (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. AIR Kingsway on 9195 at 1015 UT --- 08 Jan 2012, 1015 UT tune in: All India Radio, Kingsway (Delhi) noted with Urdu service on 9195 kHz instead of scheduled 9595 kHz, another punching error? Scheduled till 1140. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, dx_india yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DXLD) I can visualise how that could happen on a typical keypad (gh, DXLD) ** INDIA. A GREAT MEDIUM OF PUBLIC EDUCATION DECLINES --- Finding something worth listening to on medium wave in the broadcasts of an All India Radio station in any part of the country is like looking for life in a drought-hit landscape. Tuning in to AIR's overseas service is worse. . . . . . AIR's overseas service is a disgrace to a nation claiming to have become a global economic power. Even if the policy is to use it for propaganda, its quality is so poor that the propaganda makes one laugh. . . Read this excellent article by Krishna Kumar on the present state of All India Radio here ... http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article2778207.ece?homepage=true (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Jan 7, dx_india yg via DXLD) All India Radio, General Overseas Service has a facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/General-Overseas-Service-ALL-India-Radio/335072856516925?mid=5768&sk=wall (Alokesh Gupta, VU3BSE, New Delhi, Jan 11, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. A RURAL RADIO REVOLUTION --- A small community radio started by illiterate rural women of Zahirabad in Medak district is making itself heard in villages afflicted by domestic violence, crop failures, livestock diseases and frequent droughts. It is the only radio station in the country that is operated and maintained entirely by Dalit women, none of whom has studied beyond class X. Full story at : http://www.indianexpress.com/news/a-rural-radio-revolution/897022/0 (via Alokesh Gupta, Jan 7, dx_india yg via DXLD) WTFK? ** INDIA. HEAR THE VOICE OF THE MARGINALIZED Jan 9, 2012, 02.15AM IST TNN[ Garima Prasher ] BANGALORE: If you have not tuned into 90.4 MHz, then do so. In today's life, when the voices of marginalized communities are lost in the hustle-bustle of the city, this radio station provides an opportunity for these secluded communities to express themselves. Imparting the real meaning of broadcast media, the channel brings fourth the voices that are heard the least. Sex workers, transgenders, rag-pickers, auto drivers, physically disabled, slum-dwellers and HIV positive persons, all are part of this community radio station called Radio Active. Licensed to the Jain University, the radio station is one of its kind in Bangalore that is providing unmatched opportunities to the marginalized. "Radio Active is a Government of India initiative that came into being on June 25, 2007 in the city. The station acts as a wonderful platform for those who are excluded from the society," says Pinky Chandra, director, Radio Active, CR 90.4 MHz. Priyanka R, a pansexual, is one of the Radio Jockeys. She joined the radio station a year ago and says that her life has flipped after getting this platform. "I was a sex worker and a beggar before coming here. It's a wonderful platform. I host two programmes. I want to make my listeners aware about various issues we face," says Priyanka. . . http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Hear-the-voice-of-the-marginalized/articleshow/11418041.cms (via Alokesh Gupta, Jan 11, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 9680, Jan 5 at 1455-1459*, RRI with gamelan music atop China/Taiwan QRM, cut off at 1459 sharp; then in next minute an open carrier on and off a couple times (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL. GLOBAL PIRATE HF-WEEKEND 14-15.1.2012 I'd like to remind all pirate stations and listeners around the world that next Pirate HF-Weekend will be 14-15.1.2012! That would be a test-weekend for pirates from all over the world to broadcast on High Frequencies 10-28 MHz (mostly on 15-22 MHz) to reach other continents!! There have been a lot of new visitors to my blog from all over the world, so I think there will be new listeners standing by - from South America and Asia. I hope the stations try to use frequencies between 21450-21550 and 14980-15100 kHz, but of course anything goes. IF ALL [any] STATIONS DO NOT WANT TO SIGN IN, PLEASE TRY [to] USE THESE FREQUENCY SLOTS ! SCHEDULE for Saturday 14.1 and Sunday 15.1.2012 1) European MORNING 0800-1200 UT from Europe to Asia/Japan/Oceania. 2) European AFTERNOON 1200-1600 UT from Europe to North America and vice versa 3) European NIGHT 2200-2400 UT from North America to Asia/Oceania. NEW! No stations from USA or Canada signed to this slot yet. The conditions have came down a little since November (28 MHz ham- QSO's are weak) but I think 21.5 MHz will be open - and 15 MHz for sure. Next time will be in the end of March when conditions are supposed to be better again (via F2-layer). MAIL ME THE SCHEDULE AND FREQUENCIES: harriku(ät)dnainternet.net LIST OF THE STATIONS WILL BE PUBLISHED ON FRIDAY 13.1.2012: http://www.hkdx2.blogspot.com (via Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, Jan 9, shortwave yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Strangeness on EWTN cable TV channel, Sunday Jan 8 at 1930-2000+ UT, the only time I ever condescend to watch it, during `Joy of Music`, with beautiful organ+ music (Canadian Brass too this week) and scenery, usually from Austria; one must only put up with the saccharine piety of Diane Bish. Via Suddenlink cable in Enid, we get it on `channel 70`, both analog and digital, but the audio is hissy and mono even on digital cable, obviously not upgraded from analog origin. At 1953, during a pause in the music, I am hearing Morse code!! while watching the digital cable channel. Seems not to be hand-keyed, and mostly, but not exclusively numbers (5 dit/dash characters). Then could hear the same on analog version. Can`t be something bleeding onto `ch 70` cable frequency locally; no video disruption either. Must be somewhere upline, between Irondale and here via satellite feed. But how in the world could this happen? It`s still going during the 1959 break before next program during EWTN promos, and at 2001 underneath the Apostles` Creed. I was recording the earlier part of the program for timeshifting while listening to other classical music on webcast from WPR, and checking that, the code was also during the entire JOM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sounds like the automatic ID on the uplink. After that Captain Midnight thing years ago (where the guy hijacked the satellite transponder -- Playboy Channel if I recall properly) they established a requirement that uplinks identify themselves with tone-modulated Morse on an otherwise-unused analog audio subcarrier. IIRC the callsigns are an E followed by a 5-digit number. I thought this went by the wayside when all the uplinks went digital, but I suppose there are a few straggler analog uplinks left... -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Doug, Tnx for that idea. Maybe that`s part of the explanation, but this was going on continuously over many minutes, and am pretty sure it was not an E##### repeated over and over but a lot more variety, like some kind of encrypted or maybe weather data message. So an unused analog audio subcarrier could bleed thru in an uplink (or transponder) to a used one? I`ll need to listen to EWTN some more. (Glenn to Doug, via DXLD) You've raised enough curiousity to get me to check further. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Transmitter_Identification_System and http://cfr.vlex.com/vid/281-automatic-transmitter-identification-atis-19848592 - It *is* supposed to run continuously (unlike the Morse IDs on translators). This subcarrier is used ONLY for the ID. - The callsign is not the only part of the ID. It also needs to include the phone number of the uplink and a 10-digit serial number. It's on a 7.1 MHz subcarrier. Common audio subcarriers for analog satellite were 5.8, 6.2, and 6.8 MHz. IIRC 5.8 was for mono, 6.2 for stereo left, and 6.8 for stereo right. Usually. There were exceptions. I'm sure Bob Cooper knows! The fact that the audio is noisy & distorted (while the video is OK?) suggests at least one of the audio subcarrier decoders is off- frequency. If the 6.8 subcarrier decoder is off-frequency I think it's quite likely it could decode the 7.1 Morse ID (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Occasional further chex of EWTN have lacked the code, so apparently they adjusted it (Glenn Hauser, January 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ah, "The Joy of Music." I remember it "fondly" from the days when I programmed KTWU-11 [public television]. There were a lot of demands for us to carry it and I did, but I had to preview each one and select those that were not overly religious. I had to reject about half of them. Hope I never run across one again. But we don't have cable or satellite so EWTN shouldn't sneak up on me at home (Dave Pomeroy, Topeka, Kansas, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Bish came from Wichita, and KPTS public TV there kept carrying her shows, altho not checked sked lately; don`t know whether they vet them. On EWTN she adds an introduxion pointedly mentioning that she is visiting *Catholic* cathedrals in Europe. Checking Zap2it TV listings, I see that JOM is also on EWTN Saturdays at 0900 UT; and on TBN Tuesdays at 1100 UT. So does TBN take only *Protestant* cathedrals? 73, (Glenn to Dave via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [and non]. New Episode of Shortwave America: 30 YEARS OF SPACE SHUTTLE COMMUNICATIONS HISTORY Co-hosted by Paulette MacQuarrie from Media Network Plus by PCJ Media, this is a multi-part series with each episode being 30 minutes in length. http://www.radio4all.net/files/shortwaveamerica@gmx.com/4450-1-Shortwave_America_Space_Shuttle_Communications_Episode_Segment_1.mp3 The next segment of this episode will air Friday of next week. (Dan Hensley - Shortwave America, Jan 6, dxldyg via DXLD) ** IRAN. Additional evening transmission of VOIROI/IRIB in Bengali from Jan. 5: 1630-1657 on 7375 KAM 500 kW / 100 deg to SoAs, new 1630-1657 on 9785 KAM 500 kW / 094 deg to SoAs, new 0030-0127 on 5915 KAM 500 kW / 100 deg to SoAs, del 0030-0127 on 6100 KAM 500 kW / 094 deg to SoAs, del (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 10 Jan via DXLD) I am listening to Iran since 2030 in Spanish with good signal on 9630 kHz. Excellent content, news covering military operations on the oil gulf. Regards (Sarmento Campos, Brasil, Sent from my Nokia phone, 7 Jan, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Following my report last month referring to VOIRI in English on 11805 at 1530 UT, they were heard again on 4 Dec at 1528 tune-in with interval signal, ID and schedule, but the transmitter went off abruptly at 1533. So it appears they did not switch off the transmitter at the end of the previous broadcast in Bengali (Edwin Southwell, England, DX News, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Typical slipshod operation (gh, DXLD) 4003, 2024 11 Dec, VOIRI YL talk, IS, Russian, 2026*, SIO 353 (Edwin Southwell, Tropical Bands [sic] Logbook, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Probably typo for 4005, but by whom? (gh) VOIRI/IRIB heard with an English programme on 4005 kHz at unscheduled time of 2045 UT (tune-in) on Sunday 8 January. The station had been heard earlier at 2015 (tune-in), on 7320, 6115(Lithuania) and 6010 in English as normally scheduled with a Listeners Letters programme followed by an account of an American woman's "Journey to Islam". The later unscheduled programme moved from a discussion item on Middle East democracy and then to the Journey to Islam item (with no Letters programme), and the transmitter cut off abruptly mid-talk at 2120 (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Is regular schedule there in Russian language. Worked overtime in Kamalabad, as often appears also on other broadcast bands. 4005 VO ISLAMIC REP.IRAN 1930-2028 UT 1234567 Russian 500 ND Kamalabad IRN IRIB b11 vy73 de wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) 15525, Jan 11 at 1536, pious Qur`an quotation in English, 1537 VIRI welcoming us to ``tonight`s edition brought to you live from Tehran, Iran``, program summary, first `News & Views`, then `Contemporary Scholars of Iran`, then something about `Iranian Women`. 1538 hokey news theme, the three headlines being: 1) Pres. A. said something; 2) Iranian scientist martyred by car bomb; 3) Gitmo prisoners on 3-day hunger strike. Nice to near VIRI without the heavy QRM they subject themselves to on both ``V. of Justice`` frequencies to NAm, 7200 and 7365 at 0330. Reception unusually good, only slight fading; in fact, I don`t often hear this at all. Nothing audible on // 13785 aside huge RHC 13780 signal. But at 1545, 15525 suddenly drops off; I wonder what happened? It`s still there but much weaker, while 15535 Dabanga is unchanged. 15525 registered as 105 degrees from Kamalabad, meaning off-the-back would be 285. Maybe they were aiming the wrong way at the beginning (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND. ÉIRE, 252, RTÉ, Summerhill, 1247-1308, 09 Jan, English, break for an information request re some incident, then back to a music request program with Irish songs & oldies, advertisements; news bulletin at 01PM as usual; 45454, ALG off at this time, but active later in the afternoon (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. It appears that `Notturno Italiano`, the programme produced by Rai International and broadcast nightly over Radio 1 on 657 Naples, 900 Milan and 1107 Rome, may have made its final broadcast overnight on 30/31 Dec 2011. If this is the case, then it also means that the short news bulletins in English and French that were part of the programme during the week have also been discontinued. The daily programme produced by Rai I in Arabic at 1430-1445 on 567 Caltanissetta may also have ended. All details to be confirmed; at time of editing it seems that other Rai domestic programming is now heard overnight on 657, 900 and 1107 kHz. More details next time (Tony Rogers, Mediumwave Report, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** ITALY. Radio 1 sulle frequenze del Notturno --- Sul portale Italradio un articolo sulle ultime novità dopo la soppressione del Notturno Italiano: http://portale.italradio.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2316 (Roberto Rizzardi, SWL I/0216/GR, Porto S. Stefano (GR) Italy, playdx via DXLD) Forums Notturno Italiano Ciao a tutti. Probabilmente è come quelle (vane) proteste collettive che puntualmente vengono attivate contro la chiusura dei servizi per l'estero, però chi è sempre on line può provare: mi riferisco a due forums sul Notturno Italiano, il primo all'interno del sito di RAI International (home page banner blu in calce), l'altro manco a dirlo su Facebook. Chissà che a qualcuno (di noi radioappassionati? ) non venga in mente di creare sul tema anche un gruppo Yahoo! Comunque ai due già esistenti date pure un'occhiata, fioccano lamentele anche dagli italiani in USA. Come al solito, proprio una bella figura! Buona lettura. P.S. Grazie a tutti coloro che prontamente mi hanno risposto sulla tecnica di spegnimento della RAI in onde medie (Luca Botto Fiora, playdx yg via DXLD) Ciao a tutti, ieri sera poco prima della mezzanotte ascoltavo la chiusura della programmazione RAI in onde medie con l'indicazione delle tre postazioni dalle quali sarebbero proseguite le trasmissioni: 1107 kHz Roma, 900 kHz Milano, 657 kHz Napoli. Ho notato però che non tutti gli altri tx vengono spenti, perché ho potuto ascoltare il GR della mezzanotte sui 936 kHz Trapani, 999 kHz e 1116 kHz da varie località. Qualcun'altro ha notato questa cosa anche da altre postazioni RAI? Accadeva anche prima? Roby (Roberto Rizzardi, SWL I/0216/GR, Porto S. Stefano (GR) Italy Jan 11, bclnews.it yg via DXLD ** ITALY. 5000, Time Signal Station IBF, Torino, 1602-1615, 05-01, Identification by male announcements in Italian, French and English: "IBF, IBF, IBF, Standard Frequency and Time Signal from the National Electrotechnical Institute, Turin, Italy". 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Friol, Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Cable antenna, 10 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) It's only a (bad) amateur station relaying and old IBF recording, not "IBF" (Roberto Scaglione, http://bclnews.blogspot.com ibid.) Are they actually announcing the time, and if so, is it accurate compared to RWM, WWV, CHU, BPM, etc.? (Glenn Hauser, ibid. I see always also another peak string - maybe from R Maria in Andrate, Italy, on 5000.0055 kHz here in Europe, when compared to buzzer 4625.000, RWM 4996.000 and WWV 5000.000 kHz on accurate frequency. 73 wb df5sx, 0352 UT Jan 7, ibid.) 5000, Time Signal Station [non] IBF, Torino, full data e-mail QSL card in 12 days. Reception report send to qsl @ radiomaria.org (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Jan 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. 3945, R. Nikkei 2, Chiba-Nagara. January 08, 0805-0818 English pop selections (sometimes sounding like a Japanese female singing in English). At music break, detected a weak signal underneath, which must be Vanuatu; 33533 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil (23 39’S-46 53’W), SW40 - Dipoles and Longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JORDAN. 11960, 0555 27 Nov, R. Jordan presumed, Arabic song, promo 0600 in Arabic, SIO 343 (Alan Roe, England, HF Logbook, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) 11960, 1233 4 Nov, R. Jordan presumed, tune-in to discussion in Arabic, several mentions of ``filastin``, continued without break until abruptly off at 1339, SIO 333 (Tony Rogers, UK, HF Logbook, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Maybe a test or mistake; normally on 11960 only at 05-06 (gh, DXLD) 15290, 1227 27 Dec, R. Jordan, Amman, presumed, tune-in to Arabic song, abruptly off at 1228; scheduled to 1230*, SIO 333 (Tony Rogers, ibid.) ** KASHMIR. Leh on 4747.6 --- Even after many weeks, Radio Kashmir, Leh still continues on its odd frequency of 4747.6 instead of 4760. Noted sign off regularly at 1631 (even yesterday 10 Jan 12). I could not get the proper audio at my location. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, Hyderabad 500082, India, 0417 IT Kam 11. dx_india yg via DXLD) Hi Jose, Thank you for the update. On Jan 10, Jim Young (Calif.) and I both noted the stronger than usual open carrier from AIR Leh (Radio Kashmir, Leh), but as normal unable to confirm any audio due to adjacent QRM from Bangladesh Betar and CNR1 mixing together on 4750, during the 1330 to 1450 time period. It is of some comfort to learn that even at your location you do not have the best of audio from them. Best regards, (Ron Howard, San Francisco, California, ibid., WORLD OF RADIO 1599) 4747.60, AIR Leh (presumed) with strong carrier, but not sure of audio, as too close to 4750 splatter to confirm at 1450 tune-in Jan 10. Although suspected audio, never could confirm as // to other AIR regionals after 1515, and virtually gone before 1530 (Jim Young WPC6JY, Inspiration Point (7400 feet), CA, ICOM IC-706 + 60-M resonant vertical, NASWA yg via DXLD) 4747.60, AIR Leh heard this morning 1/11 as yesterday with very strong signal, but no audio at 1356 tune-in. As Ron Howard reported to the group yesterday, Victor Goonetilleke in Sri Lanka and Jose Jacob in India report no audio heard either (Jim Young, ibid.) ** KOREA NORTH. 3219,861 28.12 1000 OID. Svag. Svårt att säga om det är R Morobe, Lae i PNG eller KCBS Pyongyang. Den musik som hördes mycket sporadiskt lät trots allt inte koreansk, men det har hänt att jag misstagit mig, HI. Den här hade 3 pip med ett längre, högre ton, som avslut vid TOTH10.00 och 11.00. Dessutom en YL hallåa då. Kanske KCBS trots allt?? Efter en koll på MWoffsets YG så svarade Wolfgang Bueschel: 3219.866 poor, S=6 noise high level afflicted signal from Hyesan site at 1125 UT”. Det bör alltså vara KCBS sändare I Hyesan som ligger på denna split, inte R Morobe PNG! AN 3219.861, 12.28 1000, UNID weak. Hard to say if it is R Morobe, Lae in PNG or KCBS Pyongyang. The music heard very occasionally did, after all, not sound like Korean, but it has happened sometimes I was mistaken, HI. This had three beeps with a longer, higher tone, which ended at TOTH 1000 and 1100. In addition, a YL announcer at that time. Perhaps KCBS, after all? After a check in the MWoffset YG Wolfgang Bueschel said: 3219.866 poor, S=6 noise high level afflicted signal from Hyesan site at 1125 UT”. Thus it seems to be KCBS in Hyesan on this split, not R Morobe PNG! AN (Arne Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 8, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. 7580, Jan 10 at 0650, 1 kHz tone thought might turn out to be something interesting, like Star-Star, but 0700 8-note IS of VOK, Japanese ID and NA. This service runs all the way until 1250, while Xing-Xing from Taiwan is on 7580 at 0600-0630 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non] 5985 via JSR Tokyo/Yamata, JAPAN, Jan 6 at 1350, Shiokaze is still not back to English on Fridays; is there any on other days now?? Programming also abnormal, violin and piano music and dramatic narration, hard to tell whether Korean or Japanese, but 1404 ID in Japanese; meanwhile with QRMyanmar from 5985.8 or so carrier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Have not heard English since they started their special emergency programming. Jan 4 (Wed.) noted *1330, on with the sound of emergency siren; into Japanese; checked at 1411 to hear Korean. So their 5985 schedule of *1330 to 1430* is half and half (Ron Howard, San Francisco, Calif., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5985, Monday Jan 9 at 1415, Shiokaze is in Chinese, with piano accompaniment; hardly any het from QRMyanmar. 5985, Tue Jan 10 at 1415, distraught woman in Japanese with piano accompaniment, no doubt an abductee survivor or relative, on Shiokaze from JSR Tokyo/Yamata, JAPAN. Only lite het from QRMyanmar (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. 6550, Jan 11 at 0633, very poor signal with choral music, i.e. new women`s service of MND clandestine to the North. Was not audible a semihour earlier for the 0600-0640 broadcast, so I was wondering if it still exist. Could not find on // 6435 amid ute QRM. Nor was there much yet from the Korean radio war on 6518 and 6600, since all these signals are getting further into daytime as the Korean sunset inchons later and later. Currently in Soul it`s already at 0834 UT, a full bihour later, so lucky to get anything propagating from this (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN [non]. ROJ TV TO CONTINUE BROADCASTING, DANISH COURT RULES --- A Danish court today fined a Kurdish satellite TV channel for broadcasting propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), but did not withdraw its licence. The Copenhagen district court ordered two firms linked to Roj TV to pay 5.2 million kroner ($893,000) in fines for supporting terror. The ruling stated that the channel had broadcast PKK propaganda and was financed by the PKK, which has been labelled a terrorist organization by the European Union and United States. Prosecutors had wanted the court to withdraw the broadcaster’s licence, and had called for a 20-million-kroner fine. Shortly after the ruling, defence attorney Bjorn Elmquist told reporters the ruling was ‘erroneous,’ but said it was ‘good that the channel had not been shut down.’ He said the case was brought due to political pressure from Turkey and the United States. The trial opened in August. (Source: DPA)( January 10th, 2012 - 13:54 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** KUWAIT. [Re 12-01] 15540, Jan 5 at 1800, no sign of a signal from R. Kuwait`s English service, which recently made it to Massachusetts at 1900; before spring, it will still take an unusually good propagation night to get it out if it is still really on the air daily at 18-21. However, just before dispatching this report, Jan 6 at 1802, RK *is* audible here with poor signal starting the daily show promoting Sunnislam (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15540, 06/Jan 1938-1945, R Kuwait, in English. It seems a staging of a theatrical piece, between a short classical music. At 1941 short Arabic music. Signal degrading. 25332 (Jorge Freitas, Brazil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)) Re: Kuwait back on 15540 --- Hi Glenn, You must think I'm crazy because Kuwait did a no show for 5 days in a row after my report to you last week [Jan. 4th]. They show up yesterday at 1800 UT with anthem and English news and programming. They were not quite as strong as last week, but still good copy. I heard them on my portable last week, a Sony ICF 7600. My main rig is a JRC NRD 525. Back on today, but not till after 1900. These guys are screwy. They flick the switch when they want. Anyways, hope you get to hear them again out in OK and thanks for the mention on your listings. Regards, (Mark Carlsen, 1916 UT Jan 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA. 11600, 1710-1730 04+05+06.01, R Télévision Libye, Sabrata. French comments about the assistance from France to the Libyan Revolution in Benghazi, with Vienna Waltzes in the background. Now good voice audio! 55444 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) 11600, Radio Télévision Libye - Radio Libye, *1612-1806*, sign on with French talk and lite French instrumental music. French ballads. IDs. Talk. Fair, but some occasional strong noise [DRM de Bulgaria?? Until 1700]. Jan 6 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** LUXEMBOURG. RTL Radio on 1440 is currently heard thruout the day with ``die besten Hits aller Zeiten``. Had previously been off between 0800 and 1700 (Tony Rogers, UK, Mediumwave Report, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. 5010.18, Radio Madagasikara, 0220-0240, tune-in to local African music. Short 25 second IS at 0229 followed by choral National Anthem. Opening Malagasy announcements at 0232. Local African music. Weak. Very poor in high noise level. Jan 6 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) MADAGÁSCAR, 5010.2, R. Madagasikara, Ambohidrano, 1722-1751, 07 Jan, Malagasy, local pops; 45433! (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5010.0-USB, R. Madagasikara, 1510-1526, Jan 11. For several months now people have been reporting this on about 5010.2, but I have not had much luck hearing them there. Today found they had switched transmitters back to the exact frequency and heard with almost fair reception via long path; EZL music; in French; IDs and ad; QRM from AIR was light, but slowing increasing (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADEIRA. A few corrections to sections of this year's WRTH: RTP, Antena 1 Madeira_MW was halted, *not suppressed*, in June/July, 2011. RTP_DAB network: (see AÇORES). PEF-Posto Emissor do Funchal: Santana 1017 kHz 1 kW was suppressed in June, 2011! (this transmitter became the standby unit at the new site for 1530 kHz at Poiso, Chão dos Balcões). 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Jan 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also AZORES, PORTUGAL ** MALAYSIA. 6050.03, Asyik FM, 1424-1510 Jan 8. M taking phone calls; Malay pop music, "Asyik FM" jingles to ToH; sounded like an anthem at 1500, then into Islamic program, presume Suara Islam". Fair/good signal, although weakening by 1500 (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Hi John, Suara Islam is no longer broadcast via 6050. Think it was last August they dropped it. Salam FM gives a lot of IDs and shortly after they start, goes to Qur'an. Very upbeat announcers, like a pop station. In the past they used Salam FM as a filler till 6050 went off the air shortly after 1500. Audio of the choral Nation Anthem and Salam FM ID posted at http://www.box.com/s/auk32giy1xvqnrppf4r1 (Ron Howard, San Francisco, Calif., ibid.) ** MALI. 5995, R.Mali, Kati, 2224-2236, 06 Jan, French, religious (Koranic) propaganda; 55433, but weak modulation. 9635 ditto, 1308-..., 07 Jan, French, talks; 45433, but very weak modulation (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 7245, IGIM, *0550-0610, abrupt sign on with local chants. Good. Jan 6 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) [and non]. 7245, Jan 6 at 0637, prayerful-sounding Arabish rather than chanting, perhaps because it`s the Fribbath, weak vs Vatican mass on 7250. 7245, Jan 9 at 0629, IGIM is on with solo-singing rather than chanting, VG signal this time. 7245, Jan 10 at 2150, IGIM presumed with YL speech, heard some French words, maybe mixed with Arabish; an unusual time for me to log this rather than around 0600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 830, Jan 11 at 1357 UT, conversation mentions Radio Zócalo, San Antonio, head-coach, overcoming WCCO. Must be 5 kW XEIK, Piedras Negras, Coahuila, where there are close commercial and cultural ties to the nearest big US city. 1358, ID as R. Zócalo on Súper Estelar 107.9, local ads for Piedras Negras, ``ciudad con futuro``. Cantú confirms the Súper Estelar on 107.9 is XHPC in Piedras Negras (Black Rocks). 860, Jan 11 at 1403 UT, ``primera edición de Noticias 8-60``, mentions Ciudad Juárez. Feared it would just be a generic news program name, not pinnable, but Cantú shows that`s the name of the entire station in CiJz, if reversed: 860, XEZOL, 860 Noticias, Cd. Juárez, Chih., 1,000 500. Just about losing out to K`KOW by now, moo (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 920, MÉXICO, XELE, La Prefereida, Tampico, Tamaulipas. 1229 January 8, 2012. Calls and slogan at 1230, Mexi-tunes, several more ID's. Very good on my local sunrise-ish (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6010, Radio Mil, México D. F., 0855-0920, 05-01, Latin American songs, identification at 0900: "Radio Mil, radiomil.com.mx", locutor, "Radio Mil, información..., Radio Mil, transmite desde, Paseo de la Reforma, radiomil.com.mx", identification song "Vive México en Radio Mil". 14321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Friol, Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Cable antenna, 10 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6010, Radio Mil, 0816 Jan 6, Spanish, romantic and popular tunes, IDs. Strong, but noise and fading (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Listening from my car with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 antenna on the roof, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6009.96, Radio Mil, 0850-0905, Spanish pop music. Spanish IDs at 0859 and back to Spanish pop tunes at 0900. Poor in noisy conditions. Jan 6 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 6010, Jan 9 at 1315, very poor signal in Spanish news, so R. Mil, XEOI. Difficult here and now, but maybe not if I were ever monitoring around 08-10 when it`s regularly reported even from Spain by Manuel Méndez. Lower bands have spring-like atmosferix from storms over north Texas (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGESET) 6010, Radio Mil, México, D. F., 0856-0920, 08-01, Latin American songs and comments by male, identification at 0900: "En Radio Mil vive México, Radio Mil, Paseo de la Reforma 115..., emisora de Núcleo Radio Mil de Comunicaciones". 14321. (Méndez) 6185, Radio Educación, México D. F., 0900-0945, 08-01, classic music. At 0935 identification: "Radio Educación, 85 años, 1060 AM, en internet: http://www.radioeducacion.mx/ y en onda corta, 6185 kHz, banda internacional de 49 metros, desde la Ciudad de México". 34333. (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Friol, Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Cable antenna, 10 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MICRONESIA. 4755,4 26.12 1010 The Cross med predikan typ amerikansk från organisation i Florida. Man kunde få en video om man skrev till dem. Sändaren gick ner 10.35. 2-3. OB 4755.4, 12.26 1010, The Cross with a typical American sermon from an organization in Florida. You could get a video if you write to them. The transmitter was shut off at 1035. 2-3. OB (Olle Bjurström, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 8, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4755,47 26.12 0810 The Cross kom igenom svagt denna gång. Men alltid lika roligt! Pratprogram. Den 28.12 gick den faktiskt mycket bättre. AN 4755.47, 12.26 0810, The Cross came through faintly this time. But always fun to hear them! Talk shows. The signal on Dec 28 was actually a lot better. AN (Arne Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 8, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4755,5 31.12 1303 The Cross Radio fadade upp, QSA 1-2, QRM från radioamatörer före och vid c/d. Sände på övertid vid midnatt lokal tid. Hördes remote via AHKs SDR-mottagare. Tack Anders! JJ 4755.5, 12.31 1303, The Cross Radio faded up, QSA 1-2, QRM from hams before and at close/down. Was on overtime at midnight local time. Was heard remotely via AHK’s SDR receiver. Thanks Anders! JJ (Jerry Johansson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 8, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. The Voice of Mongolia sigue emitiendo sus programas de 30 minutos en varios idiomas en 12085 kHz. En inglés se puede escuchar 1030-1100 UT, con muy buena señal y sin QRM. Esta emisora años atrás anunciaba el inicio de transmisiones por internet. Al haberse concretado la creación de su sitio web http://www.vom.mn/en/ con audio incluido, ¿cuánto durará la onda corta? Aprovechen a oirla mientras se pueda. 73 (Moisés Knochen, Montevideo, Uruguay, UT Jan 8, condiglist yg via DXLD) I started listening to the 8 January English program online. Far too much distorted pop music between the bits of spoken information. What a letdown (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOROCCO. MARROCOS: 540, SNRT-"A", Tahadart, 2238-..., 09 Jan, Arabic, Arabic songs; 55544, but the reason for the report is to note the modulation level - extremely weak, hardly perceived; this Moroccan outlet and that on 612 provide the best audio from SNRT. More on modulation quality uner ARGÉLIA, Algeria (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOROCCO [and non]. 15349.1, Jan 5 at 1525 after missing several days in our mornings, IMM is back to put a nasty het on 15350.0, RVA Tagalog via VATICAN which is stronger with the only modulation audible, helped by off-tuning to hi side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. 9590, Myanma R, Nay Pyi Taw (presumed site, Ed), *0130- 0330* and *0630-0830*, Jan 02, new frequency mostly with music. This does not include the English Service 0230-0330 (Goonetilleke in DXplorer, via DSWCI DX window Jan 11 via DXLD) Myanmar has a new frequency on 9590 kHz at 0130-0330 UT. This doesn't include the English Service 0230-0330 UT which is on one of the old Yangon transmitters on 9730.85 kHz. There are two separate services, one mostly music 0130-0330, 0630-0830 UT on 9590 kHz, and other service 0230-1000 UT on 9730.85 kHz which includes the English segments between 0230-0330, 0700-0730 UT (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, 4S7VK, DXplorer Jan 2 via BC-DX 11 Jan via DXLD) When checked on Jan 11, no chance to hear Myanmar, due of CRI Kashi 9590 kHz in Spanish, and V of Korea Kujang 9730 kHz in Mongolian language, and noted bitter sweet Korean lady singer (Wolfgang Büschel, Jan 11, BC-DX via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. RADIO NEDERLAND DEJARÁ DE TRANSMITIR EN OC Hoy estuve mirando el canal en Ustream del II ENCUENTRO DIEXISTA COLOMBO-VENEZOLANO, que se desarrolla en Táchira. En el encuentro, en rueda de panelistas- se dio a conocer que la emisora internacional holandesa, cesará con sus emisiones en onda corta para toda la región. Esto es, juntamente con la noticia de Radio Francia Internacional y su corte abrupto de emisiones, como un golpe de gracia a las alicaídas emisiones decamétricas. El invitado de Radio Nederland - que creo es Wim Jansen, Jefe del Departamento Latinoamericano - expresó claramente que el gobierno de Holanda dio estrictas instrucciones para suspender el servicio en onda corta y que los equipos instalados el Caribe se dispondrán para su alquiler. También dijo que la emisora seguirá emitiendo en español vía internet para sus estaciones asociadas. Estimo que todos los que observábamos la transmisión nos quedamos boquiabiertos con la noticia. Aquí en Córdoba estamos trabajando en la construcción de un emisor en OC y estas noticias nos hacen analizar en prospectiva la actual situación. ¿Cuál es el futuro de las transmisiones en onda corta? Lo que llama la atención es que, mientras Europa y EEUU reducen sus emisiones en OC, los países asiáticos invaden con su señal practicamente todo el espectro. ¿Cuál será el futuro de estas queridas transmisiones? Un abrazo a todos y nos escuchámos en: http://radio.solumedia.com.ar:8048/listen.pls (Jorge, Córdoba, Argentina, Jan 7, condiglist yg via DXLD) See also VENEZUELA The info comes from a guy named Jorge (Querrel), in Argentina, via Condiglist YG. This is what he wrote translated: "Today I was watching the Ustream channel of the II Colombian- Venezuelan DX Meeting, which develops in Táchira. In the meeting, conference panelists announced that the Dutch international broadcaster, will cease its shortwave broadcasts to the entire region. This, together with news of Radio France International`s abrupt cut of HF emissions, is a coup de grace to the ailing HF emissions. The guest from Radio Nederland, who I think is Wim Jansen, Head of the Latin American Department, made it clear that the Dutch government gave strict instructions to discontinue the service on short wave; equipment installed in the Caribbean will be kept for rent. He said the station will broadcast in Spanish via internet for their associated stations. I believe that everyone who watched the broadcast were shocked by the news [open-mouthed]. Here in Córdoba, Argentina we are working on the construction of a transmitter for SW (for DRM) and this news makes us prospectively analyze the current situation. What is the future of shortwave broadcasts? What is striking is that while Europe and the United States reduce their emissions on the SWs, Asian countries invade virtually the entire spectrum. What will the future of these beloved transmissions?" edited and adapted text by (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, odxa yg; further fixing by gh for WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RIP Radio Netherlands? On the Cumbre DX Facebook page, Horacio Nigro mentioned "BTW, closure of RNW also confirmed. They will remain via Web. Bonaire will be for airtime rental." Perhaps Andy Sennitt could clear this up (Mark Coady, Jan 8, ODXA yg via DXLD) Wim Jansen is Head of our Latin American Service. What he said is quite correct, except that in the meantime as far as I am aware Bonaire will close at the end of the year because there is not enough business to sustain it. We had hoped that the planned closure of Greenville B would bring us extra business, but that was cancelled at the last minute. The decision of the Dutch government to cut our budget by 70% from 1 January 2013 was widely announced on all our language services last summer, and the repercussions have been widely covered in my Media Network Blog, DXLD and elsewhere. We simply will have no budget to continue operating on shortwave at the current level. It's as simple as that. The salient point is that RNW is NOT closing down. If that's how people want to report the ending of shortwave to some areas, then so be it. We will still have about 100 people on the staff in Hilversum. All our transmissions in Dutch and Indonesian will end. Content we produce in the future will be directed at countries where press freedom is restricted - that's what the Dutch government wants. For those countries, I assume shortwave will still be used. About 250 of our 350 staff in Hilversum will lose their jobs. I have taken voluntary redundancy from 1 May. I was going to retire completely, but I have been offered some part-time freelance work. Sorry, I cannot say any more at the moment. And BTW, please don't report what I have said as an *official statement* from RNW. Official statements come via our press office. We never make official statements to individual news groups (Andy Sennitt, Jan 8, ibid., WORLD OF RADIO 1599) First we've heard any mention of Bonaire being kept open "for rent." However, I agree with Andy Sennitt that the station will probably be closed as planned this October. If there was a market for leased time from Bonaire we'd already see a lot more broadcasters using the facility. Seems the Americas is no longer a desired target for those still producing SW programming. Recall that the BBC/DW relay on Antigua, with the same coverage capability as Bonaire, was put up for sale after the 2005 shutdown. No buyers (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, ibid.) Meanwhile I find it remarkable how the whole affair still keeps popping up as complete surprise every time someone says something here and another one hastily hacks something into Facebook there. The key fact (budget cut by 70 percent) is known for a half year know. Is no one paying attention? Concerning the particular aspect raised here it is my impression that there were hopes to keep the Bonaire facility alive by leasing out airtime to IBB when BBG wanted to shut down Greenville-B. But meanwhile these plans appear to be no longer on the table. Greenville- B survives for now, and so Bonaire starves, as it had been foreseen even before last years budget decision, resulting in the announcement that Bonaire will be closed by the end of A12 being made in RNW's Spanish service. I think one of the multiple voices recently said that the Bonaire plant is up for sale now. No buyers of course. Another aspect that should be considered: So far there was kind of a parallel operation to RNW, all the projects of the Free Press Unlimited (formerly known as Press Now) organization, founded by the foreign office and operating from the RNW building in Hilversum as well. So far RNW was part of the public broadcasting system in the Netherlands, from which it will be removed and put in the responsibility of the foreign office, too. So some kind of consolidation is to be expected, at least in as far as the Free Press Unlimited operations should be considered when speculating about the continued shortwave distribution of Hilversum-produced programming (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) RNW MANAGEMENT & UNIONS SIGN REDUNDANCY PACKAGE Today (10 January 2012) Radio Netherlands Worldwide and the three unions representing the employees of RNW signed the agreement for the redundancy package that will apply during the reorganization that takes place this year. The Dutch government has reduced RNW’s budget by more than 70 percent from 46 million to 14 million euros a year as from 1 January 2013. RNW will in future focus exclusively on providing reliable and independent information to people in countries without a free press. The redundancy package has been designed to maximize the opportunities for employees to find new jobs. “We are now organizing a lot of courses and training designed to widen the perspective of employees,” says Director General Jan Hoek. “We have also taken into account the fact that our workforce includes people of more than thirty nationalities. So part of the plan is aimed at helping with repatriation, for those people who want to return to their country of origin.” RNW is currently working intensively on transforming itself into a new organization focusing on free speech. The station is finalising a list of the most important target areas and groups, and determining what type of content has the most added value. It is expected that a detailed plan for the new RNW will be ready in the second quarter of 2012, to be followed in the summer by the reorganization. (Source: RNW Press Release)( January 10th, 2012 - 17:02 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) 7 Comments on “RNW management & unions sign redundancy package” #1 Bill Thorhill on Jan 10th, 2012 at 18:47 I assume from what is proposed that this excellent website with its media news pages is likely to disappear in the near future? I for one will be very sad if this happens as I always try to read your news items every day. #2 David on Jan 10th, 2012 at 20:07 I agree Bill. Well said. I will be very sad too. This is a very reliable source for info and will be very sadly missed. Andy and all his hard work has been much appreciated.. #3 Andi on Jan 10th, 2012 at 21:10 Sad to see RNW’s budget be reduced but it seems to be a common trend with other international broadcaster’s as well. I agree that the Media Network blog shouldn\’t be closed down. I have learned a lot from this website and I will be sad to see it go. #4 Brian on Jan 10th, 2012 at 21:32 I agree with Bill, David and Andi. I’d be really sorry to see the blog go, but hey, let’s hope it doesn’t! :-) #5 Andy Sennitt on Jan 11th, 2012 at 09:54 Thank you, gentlemen. The facts are: I am retiring from full-time work on 1 May. There is nobody here in a position to take over the blog in its current form. There are discussions going on about alternative solutions, not necessarily at RNW. As soon as something definite is arranged, I will of course report it. In the meantime, please be patient. #6 jasmin on Jan 11th, 2012 at 12:30 All efforts to stall this move haven’t borne the desired results, but hope whatever measures RNW takes for the employees, is beneficial for them. Did not know that even journalists retire, Andy Sennitt. You maintain a great blog, wish you all the best and hope this blog will remain accessible otherwise, after the cuts. #7 Andy Sennitt on Jan 11th, 2012 at 12:55 Thanks Jasmin. I should also have mentioned that, whatever else is decided in the next few months, the plan is to leave this blog online, with all the old content intact, for the benefit of researchers (MN blog comments via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. 9830, Jan 10 at 0618, RNW Dutch is back on third frequency in the 9.8s, // unsynchronized 9865 and 9895. Last times I checked, 9830 was missing from Wertachtal, GERMANY (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. 15270 [sic], 1110 22 Dec, RNZI, impact of rugby on economy, SIO 242 (Stephen Howie, London, HF Logbook, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ?? Normally 15720, so a typo by him, or the transmitter programming? Filed in by-frequency log between 15255 and 15285 (gh, DXLD) ** NIGER. NÍGER, 9705, La Voix du Sahel, Goudel, 1121-1315, 06 Jan, Vernacular, talks, tribal songs, French for news at 01PM; 35443. 9705 ditto, 2242-2258, same day, French, phone-ins & music (there was one surprising phone-call from the island of Pemba, Moçambique!); 45433 (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA [and non]. 6090.002, Radio Nigeria Kaduna regional service in Hausa from Kaduna-Jarji outlet footprint has changed now, measured some 43 Hertz up at 0410 UT Jan 7. Was 6089.859 kHz on Jan 4th, but adjusted now close to Caribbean Beacon (University Network) from Anguilla. Muffled Kaduna signal suffered some feed phone line flutter. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I think this was Ethiopia. Kaduna right now at 0505 near 6089.85 as usually, but with weak signal this morning. 73! (Mikhail Timofeyev, Russia, HCDX via DXLD) Oooh sorry, many thanks Mikhail for your correction. The feed line problems surprised me at 0410 UT - though. 6089.859 yes is the footprint now, measured at 0523 UT Jan 7th again. Kaduna program started late this morning (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 7, ibid.) Around Jan 4-5 I had Kaduna on 6089.83 but the transmitter quickly drifted to .87-ish. Obviously, a highly unstable and variable transmitter! (David Sharp, NSW ibid.) 6089.86, 0520-0535, Radio Nigeria, 07/11, Hausa, OM/YL talks with ID at 0526'05, native OM singing - strong signal, but fair only due to local noise, Caribbean Beacon on 6090 and heterodyne, best in LSB with 2.3 or 4.0 kHz bandwidth (Mikhail Timofeyev, North-East part of the St. Petersburg city, Russia, Drake R8A, Antenna: long wire (30 m), HCDX via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. 7275, Jan 9 at 0628, Tunisia is already off while still VG on 7335, but something else is weakly audible on 7275, presumably FRCN Abuja. At 0632 it`s S9+18 but very undermodulated, M&W dialog unseems English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 9690, Voice of Nigeria, Ikorodu. January 08, 0822-0834 Hausa (listed) male “Nigeria” and later female. Strong noise (sounding like an unidentified flying object must), which sometimes covered the signal, attenuated around 0828 but sooner back. 33533 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil (23 39’S-46 53’W), SW40 - Dipoles and Longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6925 (USB), PIRATE, Radio Junk. 0101-0149* January 11, 2012. Lots of odd .wav file repeats, much of the announcements in Québec-French by a female (short blurbs) and Frenadian-centric music and production, frequent "Radio Junk on shortwave"; "You have been listening to Radio Junk"; and "Hi, this is Nixx (?) on Radio Junk, your favorite pirate" canned ID's by same female. Frequent quasi-Morse ID's atop programming. Obama 2011 holiday greetings spliced with other talk on a cycling .wav file. Abruptly off at 0149. A very big signal. Thanks D. Crawford tip while on online chat (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 780, Wed Jan 11 at 1420 UT, KSPI (plus spurs 776 and 784) instead of stupid sports talk is broadcasting Stillwater City Commission/Council meeting, live? At 8:20 am?? Currently discussing regulations about parking at boarding houses, fascinating stuff (not). Refers to visuals, so hopefully also on local cable TV; speakers not identified either by any commentator, but they managed to be on-mike, unlike Enid`s version as cablecast by Pegasys (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. It seems the two sports stations in Tulsa are getting mixed up: 1300 KAKC and 1430 KTBZ are jointly owned, affiliated with ESPN and FSN respectively: 1300, Jan 9 at 1347 UT, ``ESPN 1300, The Buzz``, signal peaking around sunrise with heavy IBOC noise on each side. I thought 1430 was ``The Buzz`` as implied by its calls. XEP takes turns dominating 1300. But on 1430 at 1350, ID as ``KTBZ 1430 AM``. At 1358, 1300 IDs again as ``ESPN 1300 The Buzz``, but then the 1300 station runs promo for ``Sports Radio 14-30 The Buzz``. So both of them must be ``The Buzz``; and BTW, no sign of IBOC on the sides of 1430, tho both are listed with it (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 1640 27.12 1000 KFXY Enid OK. ”KFXY Enid Oklahoma City … 16-40”. FD (Fredrik Douren, Sweden, ARC MV-Eko 9 Jan via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. 92.9, Jan 5 at 2106 UT I notice that KBEZ Tulsa is calling itself ``The Bob FM``, rock music. Had not noticed that before, but may be nothing very new on a station I usually ignore. No such slogan in the last FM Atlas XXI published May 2010y. Confirmed at http://www.929bobfm.com/ where ``we play anything``. Really? I want to hear, say, Monteverdi. 95.7, Thu Jan 5 at 2107 UT, KXLS Enid ``Lahoma``, breaking from format of whatever music they usually play, is broadcasting some silly ballgame, sounds local, probably HS BKB? Odd time for that. Another such SBG was heard on 93.3 at same time, i.e. local translator K227AT in Enid of KIMY 93.9 Watonga, instead of gospel. Or was it the same game with different loyalty? Yes, Enid Public Schools calendar shows tournaments are in progress both for boys` and girls` basketball, some at Watonga, but no times given. KIMY and translator are now part of a network covering most of OK and vicinity, map: http://www.thegospelstation.com/dyn/showpage.php?id=37 And they do admit to broadcasting the religion of sports, no details (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Channel A-27, KFOR-TV OKC, I noticed a few days ago in the Titan TV program listings, showed Antenna TV on both 4.2 and 4.3, I assumed a mistake. But Jan 11 a 1551, I find that is indeed the case, as the continuous weather on 4-2 has been dropped! At 1600 UT, Ant-Tv is showing ``The Buddy Holly Story``, which starts off with a DJ at KDAV-1310 Lubbock. I didn`t mind rewatching the whole thing. Titan listings still label 4.2 as KFOR-WX but also ATV, which is obviously(?) contradictory. PSIP IDs from KFOR on both do say Ant-Tv. This is also obviously a waste of spectrum; I assume the weather contract ran out at yearend, and something else will eventually replace it on 4-2, maybe NBC`s new sports channel? They ought to put MSNBC on spare DTV subchannels! Aspect Radio Cannot Be Changed, so some of the local commercials on Ant-Tv are in squeeze-o-vision (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Channel A-48 is the last remaining analog TV signal normally visible here, KUOK-LP OKC, 18.1 kW, but Jan 10 at 1555 UT after getting a tropo-enhanced KWOU 88.1 Woodward relaying KGOU 106.3 with Diane Rehm show, I turn the TV antenna westward to look for Woodward DTV on 34 and 35 --- but they are not `good` enough to decode. Manually checking further channels, I find OETA coming thru on 48, which can only be K48KE, Buffalo OK, 11.8 kW relay of KWET-12. It`s marginal, in & out, helped a little by aiming further northwest right at it. Buffalo is over 100 miles away, about 60% further than KUOK-LP ex-KWDW. I had a similar log Aug 17 as in DXLD 11-33. Tropo maps today showed nothing noteworthy in either area (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. FIRDOUS LAUNCHED UPGRADED BILINGUAL WEBSITE OF RADIO PAKISTAN ---- South Asian News Agency (SANA) January 5, 2012 ISLAMABAD, (SANA): Minister for Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan on Thursday launched the upgraded bilingual website of Radio Pakistan at a ceremony at PBC Headquarters in Islamabad. The launch coincides with the 84th birth anniversary of PPP founding Chairman Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Speaking on the occasion, the information minister terming the Radio Pakistan as the mother of all the media said it will be further strengthened and empowered to make it viable and vibrant. She said Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto made Radio Pakistan an autonomous body and gave it constitution protection through PBC Act 1973. Shaheed Benazir Bhutto also patronized the organization and we will continue to follow their vision and we will not leave the organization alone. Appreciating the role of Radio Pakistan in communication and information, the information minister said its identity and significance will be kept intact. Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said the proposals furnished by the Director General Radio Pakistan will be implemented to make it profitable and self sufficient organization with the cooperation and help of its employees. On the occasion, the Information Minister that services of six hundred and sixty one contractual empoloyees of Radio Pakistan will be regularized soon as work in this regard has almost been completed. She said that the housing scheme for the Radio employees will soon be implemented and President Asif Ali Zardari will lay the foundation of it to give the employees gift of the New Year. She announced reduction for the eligibility of house hiring facility for PBC employees from five years to two years. She said the employees will also be given fifteen percent raise in the salaries as was announced in the federal budget. Firdous Ashiq Awan said it was Radio Pakistan which has the distinction of declaring the creation of Pakistan on 14 August 1947. Now it has again taken the lead by introducing social media for dissemination of Information to the people. SOURCE: http://www.sananews.net/english/2012/01/firdous-launched-upgraded-bilingual-website-of-radio-pakistan/ (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) ** PAKISTAN [non]. VOA’S DEEWA RADIO GOES ON SATELLITE TV TO PAKISTAN Washington, D.C. — January 9, 2012 — At 10 PM Peshawer time, [1700 UT] a new television program went on the air. Deewa Radio, Voice of America’s popular Pashto language news service to the volatile border region of Northwest Pakistan, is now being broadcast on direct to home satellite TV. The first of the daily one-hour satellite TV programs to the Federally Administered Tribal Area was broadcast Monday from the VOA studios in Washington and simulcast on radio [WTFK?] and Asia Sat 3, which can be received in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Deewa first went on the air in 2006 and has built a significant audience along Pakistan’s rugged northwestern border with Afghanistan, where it is broadcast 24 hours a day on shortwave, AM and streamed on the Internet. In addition to its Washington staff, the service has a team of 26 reporters in the region and produces 9 hours of original programming every day. VOA Director David Ensor says, “The one-hour simulcast of Deewa news on satellite TV will help VOA expand its audience in this critical region, which lacks impartial sources of information.” Ensor says, “Dish ownership is growing throughout the region and many people, especially the younger audience in Pakistan, get their news increasingly from TV. We hope to be able to build on what we started today by adding additional video elements to the program in the future.” Deewa Radio’s dynamic program lineup includes news and current affairs shows, three daily call-in shows as well as contemporary Pashto music programs. The service’s multimedia website provides coverage of regional and international events and links to social media sites that offer the audience a platform for informed discussion. In addition to Deewa, Voice of America produces a wide range of Urdu, Dari and Pashto language programs for the region that are broadcast on radio, television and the Internet. For more information about this release contact Kyle King at the VOA Public Relations office at kking @ voanews.com For more about any of our language services visit the VOA English language website at http://www.voanews.com (VOA PR Jan 9 via DXLD; also via Dr Hansjoerg Biener, DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3204,965 28.12 1000 Tent NBC Sandaun West Sepik, Vanimo. Mest tal men lite mx före 10.00. Tycker mig höra ”broadcast” i något som kan vara ett ID. Hördes mellan ca 09.25 till 11.15 liksom de övriga. AN 3204.965, 12.28 1000, NBC, Tentative Sandaun, West Sepik, Vanimo. Mostly talk and only a little music before 1000. I think I hear "broadcast" in what may be an ID. Was heard from about 0925 to 1115 just like the others. AN (Arne Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 8, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3219.861, 12.28 1000, UNID weak. Hard to say if it is R Morobe, Lae in PNG or KCBS Pyongyang. See KOREA NORTH 3259,992 28.12 1000 Tent R Madang PNG. Spelade lite mx före TOTH 10.00 men var sedan störd av en Utility stn precis på TOTH. Den här hördes bäst av det jag tror är PNG. AN 3259.992, 12.28 1000, Tentative R Madang PNG. Played a little music before TOTH 1000 but was interrupted by a utility station just on TOTH. This was the strongest of the ones I think are from PNG. AN (Arne Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 8, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3314,995 28.12 1100 Tent R Manus, PNG. Var den som hördes sämst av dem jag satt som tent. Samma typ av program dock. AN 3314.995, 12.28 1100, Tentative R Manus, PNG. Was the weakest one of those noted as tentative. However the same type of program. AN (Arne Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 8, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3325, NBC Buka, 1030-1200, Jan 5. Tuned in to hear decent reception of RRI Palangkaraya, along with weaker station underneath; by 1054 weaker station had improved and was hearing C&W song in English; 1130 to 1140 OM and YL chatting in Tok Pisin; pop songs and island songs; PSA in English; frequencies (SW 1 and MW) and “N-B-C Buka”; 1155 suddenly became fluttery and went downhill quickly. Lost or signed off at 1200? CW QRM and always poor; at times difficult to tell RRI and NBC apart. Great to hear them again! Edited MP3 audio http://www.box.com/s/5416bshstr1vp0ctmi6q with PSA at 00:36, frequencies at 01:10 and ID at 01:25 (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Good catch! Buka appeared to be off for months, and there were a number of unwarranted assumptions of it instead of Palangkaraya (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3315, NBC Manus, 1344-1403*, Jan 10. DJ in Tok Pisin playing C&W, pop and island music; 1401 choral anthem by children; 1402 ID in English (".. so until 5:00 tomorrow. . "); instrumental National Anthem; 1403*. Poor reception, but better than I have heard them in a long time (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3385, PNG-NEW BRITAIN, R. East New Britain, Rabaul, 1041-1055 Jan 2, M & W announcers in Tok Pisin with occasional music bits; poor-fair; still the most reliable, if not the only, PNG I log in NH (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Received a very nice email from Kabua J. Momo, BC Officer at Radio Fly, PNG with a nice, multicolored printable PDF attachment for a Sept. 18, 2010 follow/up report (2 weeks) on 5960 kHz. Full details with correct time & date. Now, if Wantok R. Light would verify, I would have all PNG SW's QSL'ed --- again! (Terry Palmersheim, KT7DX, Helena, MT 59602, Jan 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I finally received a QSL card from Radio Fly, Papua New Guinea, which transmits on 5960, v/s James Kaltobie. Reception was on 28 May, 2010. Envelope was postmarked 16 December 2011 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI USA, Jan 6, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) After the flurry of emails within this group, I emailed them with a mp3 file from last July, and within 30 minutes, had a correct data beautiful eQSL. Of course, it'll be great if I get a postal one as well! 73 (Walt Salmaniw, BC, Jan 6, WORLD OF RADIO 1599, ibid.) ** PERU. 3355, R. JPJ, Lima, 2247-2302, 07 Jan, Castilian, TC+ID, talks; 15331. Mostly unreadable, but at least I got their ID (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3355,00 1.1 0000 R JPJ PRU gick riktigt bra med övervägande mx. Brassen på samma frekvens fanns där men hördes inte alls. AN 3355.00, 1.1 0000, Radio JPJ in Peru was really strong with predominantly music. The Brazilian on the same frequency was there but with no audio at all. AN (Arne Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 8, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5039,164 31.12 1025 R Libertad PRU överraskade med bra signal vid den här tidiga timmen. Svår att höra på kvällar/nätter då RHC dominerar frekvensen. Mx och fartfyllt tal. AN 5039.164, 12.31 1025, R Libertad with surprisingly good signal at this early hour. Difficult to hear in the evenings / nights when RHC dominates the frequency. Music and fast talk. AN (Arne Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 8, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Radio Tawantinsuyo, en 6173 kHz. Los colegas italianos Monferini y Pavanello estuvieron en esa emisora hace poco tiempo. Traían una tarjeta especialmente confeccionada (una QSL antigua de mi colección) que lograron hacer firmar por el dueño. Se la hicieron llegar a varios colegas con reportes pendientes de confirmación. Pienso que el amigo Dario Monferini podría contarnos con más detalles sobre su visita a esa emisora. 73 (Henrik Klemetz, Suecia, Jan 5, condiglist yg via DXLD) Radio Tawantinsuyo, Avenida del Sol 806, Cuzco; Casilla 39, Cuzco PERU (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevide, Uruguay, ibid.) ** POLAND [non]. The director of PRES in an interview on the English service on New Year`s Day said the external service was ``moving away`` from shortwave and planning to launch a service on DAB in London via WRN later this year. Excellent reception here in English at 1800-1900 on 3955 (Dave Kenny, Caversham, Berks., DX News, Jan BDXC Communication via WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DXLD) 106 degrees from Skelton UK (gh, DXLD) ** PORTUGAL. A few corrections to sections of this year's WRTH: [see also AZORES, MADEIRA] Mainland: APR-Assoc. Portuguesa de Radiodifusão, p. 319, left column: The addr. of this broacasters' association in incorrect - they moved to another place here in Lisbon back in 2008! RTP_DAB netw. (see AÇORES) MW, R.Comercial (*): 1035 kHz listed with nominal power - correct -, but the actual power should be listed too (like what I what I did re. R. Renascença 594 & 963). *) prgr on MW is from StarFM, a station of the same group. R.Comercial tech. director's name was finally removed! I criticised this, when it was still indicated on the WRTH 2011 for he actually passed away in 2009. Int'l. Section, p. 469, righthand column: RDPi, B11 schedule: there is one albeit not being used as SW operations were suspended in early June, 2011, like DAB. B11 was registered at HFCC, however, and is even available at the HFCC webpage. Why? Simply because the SW may resume at any time. RDPi site: listing the 4 x 100 kW standby transmitters makes no sense for a few year's time. In Dec'09, they weren't even there except for one unit that was not operational. RDPi, QSL verifier: the e-mail address is no longer, it was used by a lady who died some two years ago!!! Another country contributor's black humour joke? There is a new verifier since then, and conversely the address is different too. I am perfectly aware the AZR-MDR-POR country contributor who has been responsible for the said sections in the years 2009-2010-2011-2012, has been collecting data elsewhere, e.g. http://www.ydunritz.com and then uses it - but can't he at least copy things correctly and/or do some research of his own?! Research does cost money, it takes time to make contacts and gather as much information as we can, but I feel this is supposed to be the task of a country contributor. I felt so when I was country contributor, a collaboration that I decided to end after preparing the 2008 edition. Extra info. not related to incorrect data: PORTUGAL --- MCR group, StarFM via the idle 783 kHz 100 kW. I have just learned that, if the group is to use this frequency, a new transmitter will have to be installed, but perhaps just a unit in the 10 kW power level. The container housing the [THALES] transmitter that never really worked except for some tests years ago was "visited" by thieves more than once, so the only remedy is to improve security after a new transmitter is put into service, i.e. if the MCR administration is willing to invest even more on MW as if the loss of that 100 kW transmitter was not enough. For now, the Belmonte place transmitter on 1035 remains at just 1/3 of its nominal power. Occasionally, it's off the air due to break downs: they're in fact silent as of yesterday, 10 Jan, but expect to be back towards the end of this week, if the parts for a power supply arrive shortly. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Jan 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. The broadcasts in Romanian at 05, 14, 16 and 22 UT are from the home service R. Romania Aktualitate [sic] and are not produced by RRI (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, DX News, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) WRTH spells it R. România Aktualitati, but the last t has a tedilla, making it a ts sound, so should be spelt Aktualitatsi unless you can make a t with a comma under it (gh) 6130, R. Romania Int'l via Tiganeshti, with English News & year in review commentary, into `Inside Romania` about the ‘traveling kitchen’ show, then a Romanian language lesson “Romanian without tears”. Then the ‘cooking show’ with a recipe for Romanian pork sausage (almost a little TOO graphic a description!) then a mailbag show with LOTS of letters into classical & other Romanian music & ‘new years’ greetings. This station is nicely done; even if you can tell the announcers & writers are not native English speakers, they do far better than many others on SW! In VERY well 4+554+4+ 0405-0456* 2/Jan-(Kenneth Vito Zichi, MI, MARE Tipsheet 6 Jan via DXLD) 15280 // 17540, VG signals Jan 6 at 1517, RRI with US rock song in English by autotuned YL, yet this is the Arabic service, as IDed at 1518, ``Sawt al-Romania``. How about playing some Arabic, or even Romanian music? see also ALASKA [and non] 17530 // stronger 15460, Jan 9 at 1330, RRI Tiganeshti in German, again with strange modulation artifacts, sort of a ringing sound on each sideband, which can be reduced by tighter bandwidth, or heard individually with BFO sidetuning. I wish Kai Ludwig in Germany could hear and explain this. 9690, Jan 11 at 0620, YL singing with guitar, sounds like Brazilian tune, but not in Portuguese. Must have been Romanian, for // 7265, and 0622 French announcement from RRI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. QSL: 6135, V. of Russia via St Petersburg Regional Center, full/data `Tenth Anniversary` card with a night scene of the city. This was received in 9.5 hours for an e-mail report. The v/s Mikhail Timofeyev promised to mail a hard copy of the card along with a station pennant (Steve Wood, MA, QSL Report, Jan NASWA Journal via DXLD) Re: Anniversary QSL card from St. Petersburg in Russia Hi Mikhail, Just checking whether you received my reception report more than a month ago? I look forward to the QSL. 73, (Glenn Hauser, Jan 7 to Mikhail Timofeyev, via DXLD) Glenn, Of course, your QSL on the way. But it seems we have too long delays with our post between Russia and USA. For example, our Moscow's main post office got many boxes with letters from your country yesterday with two months (!) delay via Sweden (!)... By the way, here is my current logbook with some audio samples of my observations: http://dxcorner.narod.ru/DX_Logbook_on-line_January_2012.html 73! (Mikhail Timofeyev, Jan 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) St. Petersburg Regional Centre, 10th anniversary QSL, received Jan 12 for Dec 4, 2011 report of 6135 at 0247-0300 UT. Very nice design, and full details on back with rubber stamp from Mikhail Timofeyev. Thanks, Mikhail for offering this beautiful card: http://www.w4uvh.net/speteq1.jpg http://www.w4uvh.net/speteq2.jpg Also pennant: http://www.w4uvh.net/speteq3.jpg These are added to our QSL gallery via http://www.worldofradio.com/QSL.html And also here is the envelope: the large stamp has multi-colored sparkles on the ornament and lettering depending on the angle viewed: http://www.w4uvh.net/speteq4.jpg Postmarked 16 Dec, so airmail took 27 days. Mikhail says there have been problems in postal contacts between our countries (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. CHRISTMAS SERVICE FROM RUSSIA RIGHT NOW --- A live TV broadcast from the Church of Christ the Savior in Moscow with English commentary is in progress at http://rt.com/on-air/orthodox-christmas-moscow-live VoR Russian carries the same service (with running Russian commentary) on its usual SW and MW frequencies that can be checked here http://rus.ruvr.ru/rusradio.html The first four digits in the left column are UT. 73! (Sergei S., 1932 UT January 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx for the tip. I brought the RT webcast right up. For me the video is jerky on my undercapacity computer. Nice choral music was unfortunately underneath continuous English discussion of ceremony from studio, by a Russian OM explaining things to YL who is obviously not Russian. She asked questions like whether ROC priests could be married: yes, if they did it first. Lots of golden vestments, highly ritualized. Then the feed switched to St. Pete where St. Putin was in attendance. Seems his cohort stays in Moscow, but he travels around to different cities each Xmas. Trouble is, there was no sound from St. Pete, so eventually back to Moscow. Rather lethargic; watched maybe half an hour or half a sesquihour, when it was well past midnite in Moscow, and rechecked around 2145 UT it was still going without the commentary, but stopped before 2200. I`m afraid the public transport which was supposed to keep going one hour later than usual would already have stopped by then (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [non?]. VOR on 6005 kHz at 1600 UT Arabic !!!! Hello DXers, I was checking 6005 kHz at 1600; I was expecting Kurdish but the program I'm hearing right now is in Arabic! I checked Aoki and Eibi but only Kurdish listed there. Best regards (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, 1622 UT Jan 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) No Tarek, as Mikhail Timofeyev explained in another mail: > The point is that we are on traditional New Year holiday here in > Russia from Dec 31 till Jan 9. All regional programs will be on the > air again starting from Jan 10... So the Kurdish personnel were on planned holidays {like Russian RAMADAN weeks}, and Kurdish service on Armavir 6005 kHz will remain soon after the holidays, - I guess. vy73 de Wolfy df5sx 1400-1500 Turkish 1170 Armavir Tbilisskaya 1200 NE/ME/CIS 1377 Yerevan Gavar-ARM 1000 NE/ME/CIS 5985 St.Petersburg 200 ME < Moscow 250 kW 190deg 6005 Armavir Tbilisskaya 100 ME *** 7270 Moscow 250 ME 1500-1600 Turkish 1170 Armavir Tbilisskaya 1200 NE/ME/CIS 5985 St. Petersburg 200 ME < Moscow 250 kW 190deg 6005 Armavir Tbilisskaya 100 ME *** 7270 Moscow 250 ME 1600-1700 Arabian 5920 St.Petersburg 200 AF 9480 Moscow 250 AF 9820 Dushanbe-TJK 500 ME 9820 Dushanbe-TJK 500 AF Kurdish 1314 Yerevan Gavar-ARM 1000 NE/ME/CIS 5945 Novosibirsk 250 ME 6005 Armavir Tbilisskaya 100 ME *** 7270 Moscow 250 ME (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Did anyone hear VoR Kurdish on that frequency recently? I highly doubt that the whole service took a New Year vacation. Could be an mid- season change of frequency (VoR does that occasionally) or language link mix up. The frequency of 6005 is listed on their schedule at http://kurdish.ruvr.ru/2010/11/01/30965101.html second article on the left. The audio file for January 9 broadcast is there, as well http://kurdish.ruvr.ru/broadcasting/ Even though I see that audio files are not posted daily (Sergei S., ibid.) Not recently, but in the start of the season they were on 6005 kHz. On http://kurdish.ruvr.ru/about.html they give different frequencies, but that must be old info. I attach the frequency announcement from today's programme. If I get them right, he says: 41.9 and 228 metres, 5945, 7205 and 1314 kHz. Today also 5945 kHz was in Arabic. BTW, 1314 kHz is announced second time, so is there another transmission in Kurdish (can't get the time, if that is what he says)? (Mauno Ritola, Finland, UT Jan 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [and non]. Frequency changes for Voice of Russia in Arabic: 1600-2100 NF 9825*S.P 200 kW / 215 deg to NWAf, ex 5920 *co-ch Radio Pilipinas in English and Pilipino 1730-1930 Additional changes for Voice of Russia: 1500-1600 on 5945, 7215, 9480 in Arabic, cancelled 1500-1600 on 9480 in Russian, addit. freq. 1500-1600 on 5945, 7215 in Kurdish, new time 1600-1700 on 5945, 6005, 7270 in Kurdish, cancelled 1600-1700 on 5940 in Russian, addit. freq. 1600-1700 on 5945, 6005 in Arabic, addit. freq. 1600-1700 on 7270 in English, addit. freq. 2100-2200 on 6040 in English Ch#1 + Portuguese Ch#2 in DRM mode (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 10 Jan via DXLD) Our Bulgarian colleagues are shedding some light on this radio mystery [as above]. VoR Kurdish has a new time now. Some changes for VoR Arabic, as well (Sergei S., dxldyg via DXLD) Re Tarek`s monitoring on VOR in Arabic - or - Kurdish on 6005 - now 5945 kHz from Krasnodar oblast, at Armavir Tbilisskaya (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Re: DX Mix # 710, "Additional changes for Voice of Russia", VOR has moved to 6165 for Italian 1700 - 1800 as first heard Jan 2. Announces // 9480, 558, 6040, 6145. Blocks co/channel CRI English (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands (TenTec RX-340, 25m. longwire), Jan 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNID on 4755.003 at 14-16, Russian? See UNIDENTIFIED ** SAUDI ARABIA. BSKSA`s programmes in English and French are produced by R. Riyadh and R. Jeddah // their MW and FM frequencies in Riyadh, Jeddah and Damman as follows: 17785: Riyadh 0746-0756 English [as warm up?? gh], 0800-0954 French 15250: Jeddah 1000-1227 English 17660: Riyadh 1400-1554 French [this one regular here --- gh, OK] All begin without any IS. However, broadcasts in Indonesian, Farsi, Bengali, etc., start with 4-5 minutes of interval signal and IDs as BSKSA (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, 29 Dec, DX News, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 15435, Jan 5 at 1524, BSKSA in Arabic is not crackling or buzzing, but the carrier is wobbling as obvious with BFO employed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SEYCHELLES [non]. 11985, Thursday Jan 5 at 2147, poor signal with music and unknown language, presumably FEBA in Pulaar, 250 kW, 27 degrees from ASCENSION, registered as 2145-2215 daily except #4 = Wednesday, which however when last logged on Tuesday Jan 3 was running VTC music loop; unchecked on Wed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SIKKIM. 4835, AIR Gangtok, 0050-0130, Jan 01, the best opening in at least several years. Nice subcontinental music, woman singing, typical instrumentation, flutes, sitar and presumed Hindi talk between rather long musical selections, English interview about 2012 economic predictions and, yes, astrology until 0129, fair (Don Jensen, Kenosha WI, DSWCI DX window Jan 11 via DXLD) 4835.00, AIR, Gangtok, 0053 Jan 6 tune in when transmitter on, and their TT of 1060 Hz followed till 0058. AIR IS till 0100 (WWCR sign-on at 0058:40 not too bad), then the choral singing group till 0101, and F voice with announcements and ID in language I presume. Instrumental music followed to 0104:40 with brief anmts by F voice, and back to same music. Another F voice with brief announcement at 0106, and short music/announcements/talking at 0107. Two voices talking continued past 0112, but faded rapidly. This was my best reception of Gangtok at this time slot in over a month! (Jim Young, WPC6JY, Wrightwood, California, ICOM IC-756 ProIII + 40-M yagi + 80-M inverted Vee, NASWA yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DXLD) [and non]. Very nice log Jim. You were fortunate to catch them at that time, as 10 to 12 hours later the propagation had changed. Jan 6 found 60m band to be very poor, unlike yesterday`s outstanding conditions. Then I was able to hear Vanuatu and Solomon Islands fairly well. Yesterday 3325 had RRI dropping far downhill by 1054 and NBC improving, but RRI continued with decent reception today and NBC was only very faintly heard with some music about 1113 or so underneath RRI, for a very short period of time. No comparison to yesterday`s better reception of NBC. Today was unable to even hear BBR (5050) which is normally strong for me. Extremely bad propagation! (Ron Howard, San Francisco, Calif., ibid.) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5019,868 26.12 0930 SIBC inte alltför stark. QRM de R Rebelde. Mycket starkare 28.12 men även då störd av Rebelde. AN 5019.868, 26.12 0930, SIBC not too strong. QRM from R Rebelde. Much stronger on Dec 28 but also this day disturbed by R Rebelde. AN (Arne Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 8, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA [non]. Some changes of transmissions via BABCOCK from Jan. 1-4: Bar-Kulan Radio/Meeting Place, cancelled transmissions: 0500-0600 on 15750 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg to EaAf Somali 1600-1700 on 9960 MEY 500 kW / 020 deg to EaAf Somali (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 10 Jan via DXLD) ** SOMALIA [non]. via Woofferton, 11740, Radio Damal, 1910-1929*, tune-in to a mix of local chants and indigenous music. Abrupt sign off. Good. Jan 6 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, USA, Icom IC- 7600, two 100 foot longwires, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re: DXLD 12-01 Radio Damal Can anyone help with an address, e-mail or postal for RADIO DAMAL? Reply received in August 2011 from Station Manager Faith Kwamboka via info @ radiodamal.com 73, (Patrick Robic, Austria, Jan 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AFRICA. New time for Monday transmission of South African Radio League: 1730-1830 on 4895 MEY 100 kW / 000 deg to SoAF English, ex 1630-1730 on same (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 10 Jan via DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. 4895, South African Radio League, via Meyerton, *1730-1828*, Mo Jan 09. I heard in vain the announced "Amateur Radio Today" at 1630-1730 on this new frequency, ex 90 mb, referring to WRTH 2012 and Klingenfuss SWFG 2012. But I stayed on the frequency and at 1730 it was there! English talks about reception conditions on HF, VHF and UHF. Report from ARRL and latest HAM news from the African continent, 25232 improving to 25333. Broadcast on Mondays only. Website: http://www.amateurradio.org.za/Amateur%20Radio%20TODAY.htm new time. But what happened to the Zimbabwe Community R which in 2011 was heard at *1755-1855*? (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA [non]. Re my previous report of Channel Africa `Rise & Shine` show via WRMI 9955 at 0600-0630, which was not // SENTECH direct on 15255: Bill Bingham in RSA says that is the title of the entire 03-07 UT broadcast in English (M-F). Now I get a connexion to the website about it: http://www.channelafrica.org/portal/site/ChannelAfrica/menuitem.5531a29e85a8b98a4de34de3674daeb9/?vgnextoid=1bbaf3fd97a7c110VgnVCM10000072d4ea9bRCRD&vgnextfmt=default (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. [Re 12-01:] 540 kHz QUE PASA EN CATALUNYA ???? Onda Melodía Barcelona --- Hola, Ayer miércoles 04 de Enero, estuvo sonando Onda Melodía en Barcelona en 540 OM. Me di cuenta algo antes de las 9 de la mañana y la situación duró hasta las 11. Desde entonces se ha vuelto a oír solo Onda Cero por esa frecuencia. Las identificaciones locales eran "Onda Cero Catalunya", lo que da a entender que fue un error, pero váyase Vd. a saber qué plan tienen en Uniprex. Que pasa ???? Estan locos en Onda Cero ??? Fues un ciste de los Reyes Magos ??? (hospi_forevfer, Jan 5, http://es.groups.yahoo.com/group/edfm/ via dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) When checked on January 5th & 7th between 2000 and 2100 UTC Onda Cero Radio was still on with usual Talk programme (5th) and Sports (7th) and Jingles "Onda Cero" on 540 kHz. 73, (Patrick Robic, Austria, Jan 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. 15110, Jan 7 at 2006, REE during soccer game, Real Madrid 4, opponent 1, modulation is breaking up, and carrier is also unstable. Problems at Noblejas; // Costa Rica relay on 15125 is OK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. 1548 kHz Medium Wave 8 Jan 2012, 1730 UT tune in, till 1829 sign off. (i.e. 11.00 pm to midnight local time India) Deutsche Welle via Trincomale playing non stop music & regular announcements in German, English, French, Russian & Arabic...."This is Deutsche Welle, the external broadcasting services of Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn, we are sorry you are unable to receive our regular programs at this moment." 1548 kHz was a popular DW channel from Trincomalle, including DRM. I thought that DW via Sri Lanka closed down for good. - - Thanking you, Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, India, http://www.niar.org dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Note: it is Trincomalee with two e`s --- DW schedule format accommodates words of only 10 letters, so always cuts off an e (gh, DXLD) Here's the audio file as heard in New Delhi; Also in French http://tinyurl.com/76rnphr (Alokesh Gupta, dx_india yg via DXLD) Jose, Maybe this is the usual maintenance and training procedure for local Ceylonese staff? Uphold the morale of the workforce. Or has something to do with the present HFCC A-12 registration conference at K-L? Local native staff hired on SLBC Colombo organization by 1 Jan 2012. German engineers are under notice to leave Trincomalee transmitting site on June 30, 2012. There was no power line access at the site installation yet, crude oil for the power generator is sufficient for broadcasting for few months to come. Maybe some US protestant sect radio relay programmes will appear soon via this site? The relay station can handle broadcasts to Pazific, East Asia, Indian subcontinent, and crisis area in East Africa too. Can we be surprised at the HFCC registration conference for A-12 season at K-L, which last in Malaysia from today til Jan 13, 2012? Official handover date of the Deutsche Welle SW & MW broadcasting radio station Trincomalee to Sri Lankan management is not yet defined, maybe happened already from Jan 1, 2012 onwards? At present only single SLBC Singhalese program to Near East workers on 11750 kHz at 1530-1830 UT is on air. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This was the emergency programming DW provides on CD to the transmitter sites, supposed to be played when they get no feed from Bonn anymore, also not via dial-up, in doubt due to a major incident at the Bonn radio house. It's well possible that this production has hereby been broadcast for the very first time. Using it to test the Trincomalee transmitters, in particular the mediumwave outlet, is now of course a masterpiece of sarcasm. Like it!! And would not take it as indication that Defunct Welle will ever use Trincomalee again (Kai Ludwig, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Test tone noted last night on 1548 kHz from tune in at around 1610 UT (10 Jan 2012). It was also heard by Alokesh Gupta in Delhi (Jose Jacob, India, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. CLANDESTINE - 7315, Radio Tamazuj *0359-0529 Jan 4. S/on and ID's by man; then YL at 0400 with "Huna Radio Tamazuj;" assorted talks in Arabic followed, with occasional short clips of regional music; went seamlessly into Radio Dabanga at 0429. Fair signal with band noise, // 11940 which was poor. The previous night, 11940 had been much the better of the two. Nothing readable heard on 13800 (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbre DX via DXLD) New station R. Tamazuj/Across the border in Arabic from Jan. 5: 0400-0430 on 7315 ISS 500 kW / 135 deg to EaAF 0400-0430 on 11940 ISS 500 kW / 135 deg to EaAF 0400-0430 on 13800 DHA 250 kW / 255 deg to EaAF (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 10 Jan via DXLD) No, 11940 is MADAGASCAR (gh) ** SUDAN [non]. Hi Glenn, Re: DXLD 12-01 "(DX Mix News, Aoki, and EiBi all say 11940 is from Issoudun, RNW Media Network News seems to be the only one saying it is from Madagascar)" If you look at the HFCC listings, you will see that Radio Tamazuj at 0400-0429 is from Madagascar, then the site changes to Issoudun for Radio Dabanga at 0430-0557 (Andy Sennitt, RNW, Jan 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO TAMAZUJ OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES, OPENS WEBSITE After a week of test transmissions, Radio Tamazuj officially launched yesterday, 9 January. Radio Tamazuj is a a new radio project for the Abyei area, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile and Sudan and South Sudan’s contested borderlands. The activities will focus on reliable and independent news and information. The station will broadcast daily over shortwave frequencies. The programme will report directly and independently on current local affairs, and indirectly on issues related to peace and conflict dynamics in the border zone and Three Areas. To mitigate and prevent conflict from arising from rumors, gossip and ethnic prejudices, Radio Tamazuj seeks to provide access to timely and reliable information for the people in the Three Areas of Southern Kordofan, Blue Nile and Abyei, and the contested borderlands of Sudan and South Sudan. Tamazuj means cross borders, and the name was coined after South Sudan declared sovereignty from Sudan. The name Tamazuj is understood by the people who live across borders, which was how it came into existence. Radio Tamazuj broadcasts in the Arabic and Dinka languages. The programmes are aired every morning at 0400-0430 UTC from Monday to Saturday on 13800 (Dhabayya), 11940 (Madagascar) and 7315 (Issoudun) kHz. The station’s website in English and Arabic is now online at http://radiotamazuj.org (Sources: Radio Tamazuj, RNW Programme Distribution)(January 10th, 2012 - 10:13 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. FRANCE/SUDAN, 11940, R Dabanga feed missed on Jan 5/6 at 0430 UT totally, instead a 1000 Hertz tone appeared. Situation much different this morning Jan 7th. At 0440 UT both signals heard, R Dabanga from Issoudun and a 1000 Hertz tone from Sudan target like a jammer ? \\ 7315 from ISS S=9+35dB powerhouse. 13800-UAE S=6 signal only. Similar SRS Sudan Radio Service on 13720-UAE, latter ID heard at 0458 UT and address too (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15535, Jan 11 at 1535, R. Dabanga atop continuous 1000-Hz tone jammer, by or on behalf of the Sudanese regime. Dabanga is 500 kW, 150 degrees from Wertachtal, GERMANY, daily at 1530-1627 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Same 1000 Hz tone jammer from Sudan noted regularly on 11940 kHz in our mornings against Radio Tamazuj MDG 0400 til 0430, and against Radio Dabanga ISS 0430 til 0557 UT. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** SUDAN SOUTH [non]. 17745, Jan 7 at 1512, Sudan Radio Service is in English for a change, until 1600. Except for brief IDs or announcements, had only heard it in Arabish for a long time and was wondering if there is any English any more. WRTH 2012 shows this 15-17 daily transmission on 17745 is only in Juba Arabic, altho various other languages are scattered thruout the other times and frequencies, and English as: M-F 1730-1800 9840, Sat/Sun 0500-0600 13720, both via UAE. Reception has generally not been as good here, off the back from the 140 degree beam out of Skelton UK this season, than on the 114 from Sines, Portugal in all previous seasons, same frequency 17745. Deep fading, S7-S9+10 peaks, and heavy accents made it hard to follow, but here is what I could make out: 1512, interview about education in Southern Sudan 1517, frequency schedule announcement, including 6-8 pm, 17745, ``near 18 on your radio``, and the ``last hour`` on 9840 (what hour is that?) 1529, country music song briefly; 1529.5, says change in schedule from ``this Sunday January 1``, Saturday ?-8 pm instead of Wednesdays(?). Is that referring to English only? No frequency mentioned this time 1530, promo about land-related law; 1531 about a weekly education program (it was hard to tell whether these were promos or starting the actual programs mentioned) 1533, `The Road to Peace` another promo? Mentions Wednesday. But if this transmission was originally intended for Wednesday, means now? 1535, clip of the Minister of Information & Communication 1543, SMS address, and ``goodbye`` 1545, `Sudan Radio Service` song, not as catchy as Radio Dabanga`s. 1546, another announcement about schedule ``starting this Sunday, January 1`` as if it were still before then; 7-8 am on 13720; 6-8 pm on 17745 Monday-Saturday (? or -Sunday); song 1550, soul song ``Blame it on the Rain`` (blame what? Do they get too much rain in S.S.?) 1555, segué to another song, ska/reggae sounding 1558, music and ID announcement, schedule again, seems to be: 6-8 in the evening on 9840, ``close to #10 on your radio``, rest remaining the same, 7-9 am on 13720, 6-8 pm on 17745, ``close to #18 on your radio``, and the ``last hour`` on 9840, ``close to #10`` 1559, into Arabish, but having to pronounce the website in English, http://srs.edc.org – I thought, but that goes nowhere. However, http://edc.org is the Education Development Center, Waltham, MA, the parent agency of SRS. Researching info on SRS is not so easy: HFCC does not list it as such, just as ``non-specific`` transmissions by BaBcoCk, which also applies to several other clients. WRTH 2012 in the C&OT section on page 508 does not give a website, but ``for contact details, see National Radio Section`` --- where it is not mentioned at all on page 360, nor would you expect it to be, as it`s quasi-clandestine without the approval of the northern regime. Oops, that`s SUDAN; now there is a separate listing for SOUTH SUDAN, alfabetized under SOUTH, rather than SUDAN, on page 349, which does include SRS, with their 2 kW FM in Juba on 98.6. If it`s not for the rest of Sudan at all, then should we file it under SUDAN SOUTH [non]? HFCC as of Jan 5 does not show anything fitting SRS on 9840, but the third frequency mentioned, 13720, must be: 04-05, 250 kW, 240 degrees from UAE. The complete Babcock schedule at http://hfcc.org/data/schedbyfmo.php?seas=B11&fmor=BAB lists 13720 in effect from 1 Jan, and 17745 from 2 Jan (implying it may be silent on Sundays, as in the announcement? but yet 1234567). The real website of SRS is http://www.sudanradio.org/ leading to http://www.sudanradio.org/timetable which shows: ``SRS Radio Programming Monday to Friday Morning Frequencies Evening Frequencies 7-8 am 13720 kHz 6-8 pm 17745 kHz 8-9 am 9840 kHz 8-9 pm 9590 kHz Saturday and Sunday Morning Frequencies Evening Frequencies 7-9 am 13720 kHz 6-8 pm 17745 kHz`` The Timetable has a separate entry: SRS Darfur Programming Monday to Sunday Morning Frequencies Evening Frequencies 7-8 am 11800 kHz 7-8 pm 15500 kHz Is all that up to date? Times are UT +3. There is no 9590 in the current Babcock schedules. Aoki shows SRS 9840 at 17-18 in a variety of languages as Babcock via Issoudun, a rather strange combination. Ron Howard, California, was coincidentally listening to the same English transmission with a clip after 1534 at http://www.box.com/s/x7k0m4leceyiv63i0e40 More polar-routed, he had a lot of flutter, but still clearer copy than I. Halfway thru it is the schedule announcement, saying reducing from four to three hours a day, 7-8 am on 13720, 6-8 pm on 17745, Monday to Sunday [not Saturday; so why say that at all, instead of say, Wednesday to Tuesday?]. Then in the next minute she says adjusting the evening broadcast to 9840 at 6-8 pm, repeats 7-9 [not 8] am on 13720, 6-8 pm on 17745, and something about 9840 again. It`s not clear to me whether 9840 is replacing 17745, but I hope not (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17745, Sudan Radio Service via Woofferton, 1534-1600, Jan 7. I often check here with the hope of hearing English; today finally successful; interesting “Road to Peace” discussion program about the importance of peacekeeping in South Sudan; requested feedback via SMS or email; S.R.S. jingle; pop African songs in English; many announcements about adjusting their SW schedule since Jan 1 from 4 hours to 3 hours and adds 9840 kHz.; edited 5 minute MP3 audio at http://www.box.com/s/x7k0m4leceyiv63i0e40 containing the new schedule. Enjoyable listening! (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Eton E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Very pleased that someone besides myself was able to catch this interesting segment in English. Well done! They seemed to say 9840 would be broadcast in the last hour of their evening programming (7 to 8 PM?). Said their other frequencies would remain the same. I also noted the promo for Wednesday's "Road to Peace", so was surprised when they gave the closing announcement for today`s show as the "Road to Peace". Will it be Saturday and Wednesday only? Needs more monitoring. At their website "home" there is a picture with the caption: "Watch us build our new radio station!" Is that SW and where is it, South Sudan? Or is it more likely their FM station? (Ron Howard, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17745, Sunday Jan 8 at 1519, Sudan Radio Service is again on today, weak signal in Arabish, via UK; was much better yesterday (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENINGN DIGEST) Some changes of txions via BABCOCK from Jan. 1-4: EDC Sudan Radio Service, cancelled transmissions 0500-0600 on 13720 DHA 250 kW / 240 deg to EaAf Arabic/English Sat/Sun 1700-1730 on 9840 DHA 250 kW / 240 deg to EaAf Various*Mon-Fri 1730-1800 on 9840 DHA 250 kW / 240 deg to EaAf English Mon-Fri *Dinka Mon; Zande Tue; Moru Wed; Bari Thu; Shiluk Fri (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 10 Jan via DXLD) ** SUDAN SOUTH. A VOA press release on 13 Dec stated that `South Sudan in Focus` has added Bentiu Radio on 558 kHz as an affiliate that broadcasts the half-hour English show to the newly independent nation. This seems to confirm that there is an active MW station in S.S. (via Hansjoerg Biener, mediumwave.info via Mediumwave Report, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) WRTH 2012 lists these MW for South Sudan Radio: 558 Bentiu 5 kW, 693 Juba 100 kW, 909 Malakal 5 kW, 1071 Wau 5 kW (Tony Rogers, ed., ibid.) ** SURINAME. 4989,985 26.12 0620 R Apintie SUR starkare än vanligt. Vid 07.15 spelades ”Love hurts”. Bra också den 1.1 AN 4989.985, 26.12 0620, R Apintie stronger than usual. At 0715 "Love Hurts" was played. Strong also on Jan 1. AN (Arne Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 8, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWAZILAND. 4760.00, TWR, here at 1604 Jan 7, talking in African language. Discussion with M & F voices, brief mx pieces, orchestral mx from 1629 to 1630, then TWR chimes played briefly. More talking (Jim Young, Wrightwood CA, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** SWEDEN. TEST TRANSMISSION WITH GRIMETON RADIO/SAQ ON 17.2 KHZ Because of the missing Christmas Eve transmission we will have a test transmission on Tuesday 10th, 2012 at 1330 UT. There will only be a transmission with "VVV VVV VVV DE SAQ SAQ SAQ" running for about 30 minutes and no message. For further information on what happened on the Christmas Eve transmission, read our website http://www.alexander.n.se There will be no QSL-card on this transmission. Rgds Lars/SM6NM (Lars Kålland) (via Mike Terry, Jan 6, dxldyg via DXLD) Viz.: The problem with SAQ on Christmas Eve The reason for the trouble with SAQ on Christmas Eve was most probably a damaged fuse in the excitation circuit for the 500 V DC generator. The fuse was not completely blown but measured a very high resistance (150 ohm). When we lost the excitation current to the DC generator, we also lost the control current to the choke coils in the conductors to the main motor, and thereby the speed control of the alternator was lost. It was confusing that the problem occured exactly when we connected the running alternator to the antenna. We were actually on air a few seconds with decreasing frequency until the antenna was disconnected by the protection circuit in the speed control (SAQ via DXLD) Can report good reception this afternoon (10/1) of the transmission from SAQ Grimeton, 17.2 kHz. First CW heard at 1324 UT with good signal strength (SIO 454). Continuous IDs V V V V V V V V V DE SAQ SAQ SAQ right through to 1400. A weak descending tone was audible at 1400:37, when presumably the alternator was run-down. 73's (Nick Rank, Buxton UK, (home-brew VLF rx with ferrite rod aerial), BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) Video of 17.2 kHz SAQ --- Wilfried Fritz DJ1WF has made a video showing reception of the Swedish Alexanderson Alternator station SAQ on 17.2 kHz. This videos shows the SAQ signal reception during an extra test transmission on 17.2 kHz on 10th of January 1330 UT. The frontend was a homebrew VLF-converter with an integrated active antenna. The active antenna section consists of a telescopic rod antenna followed by a dual gate FET preamplifier. The mixer section was made with a dual gate FET, too. The converted signal (4,0172MHz) was processed by an amateur radio transceiver Icom IC706 connected to the converter's output socket. The signal was so strong again that it could be picked up with the collapsed telescopic antenna (8cm length). During the video the antenna was extended to a total lenth of 46cm, and the signal became much louder. It was amazing to hear the signal with such a short antenna so clearly. Watch SAQ ( Grimeton ) reception on 10th of Jan. 2012 13.30 UTC http://www.southgatearc.org/news/january2012/video_of_saq_reception.htm SAQ Website http://www.alexander.n.se/ UNESCO - Varberg Radio Station http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1134 Alexanderson alternator http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexanderson_alternator http://www.southgatearc.org/news/january2012/video_of_saq_reception.htm (Southgate January 11, 2012 via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** TAIWAN. 7540, 10/Jan 2200-2207, Sound of Hope, in Mandarin (Eibi listed). Start of transmission, with ID by OM and YL. Then, YL presents news with comments of reports recorded. Without Firedrake or jammer. 25432 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia, 12 14´S 38 58´W - Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. 11625, 1124 4 Dec, RTI, Paochung, // webstream, deep voice talk, strange echo, 2.5 seconds between, multipath?, Chinese, SIO 242 (Stephen Howie, London NW9, HF Logbook, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) That long a delay would be like Moonbounce, rather unlikely on HF with consumer equipment and a 5-metre longwire. Maybe they had two domestic sites going with different feed routes digitally-delayed, etc. I assume meant the echo was heard on 11625, not considering the webstream (gh, DXLD) ** TAIWAN [non]. 6875, 0639 10 Dec, RTI via Okeechobee, DX program in German, SIO 252 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, HF Logbook, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Forcing me to research what day of the week that was: Sat. Had not run across this in almost nightly chex of wrong language broadcast instead of Spanish. 6875, Jan 6 at 0639 check, RTI via WYFR still in German instead of Spanish. Also so strong it is again putting that weak image(?) on 6750 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAJIKISTAN. 4765, R. Tajikistan, Dushanbe, 0215 tune in to barely audible signal with flute music. Extremely high noise level with lots of static crashes likely associated with approaching storm. Gradual increase in signal level revealed more music. String instrument selection with vocals followed by brief announcement by YL. More music with distinct Mid Eastern character mixed with Indian influences. Very unique style. YL announcer returned with longer talks in likely Tajik language. Various music continued to TOH then deep voiced OM into probable news. Nice to see 60 meter conditions improving. Last couple of weeks even usual Brazilians have been tough catches (Steve Wood, MA, Listeners Notebook, Jan NASWA Journal via DXLD) No date ** TAJIKISTAN. 03.01.2012, 0905, 7245, 33441 - issue news in Russian. (The"Aicom-8500", the antenna wire length of 120 meters. Vladimir Kovalenko, Tomsk, Russia / "deneb-radio-dx" via Rus DX via DXLD) 29.12.2011 took Radio "Ovozi Tojik" in the Russian language from 0800 to 1000 UT on the frequency 7245 kHz. From 0800 to 0900 reception was - 23432 (the disturbance of the station broadcasts in 7250 kHz). From 0900 to 1000 reception is much better - 34333. 30.12.2011 took Radio "Ovozi Tojik" in the Russian language also from 0800 to 1000 UT on the frequency 7245 kHz. On average, the reception was - 33333. 31.12.2011 was the best reception from 0900 to 1000, on a solid 4. From broadcasts learned that the first hour of broadcasting is different from the second, and the transfer of go to the live broadcast. 02.01.2012 took Radio "Ovozi Tojik" from 0900 to 1000 UT on 7245 kHz. Reception - 24332 (Dmitry Kutuzov, Ryazan, Russia. Reception in the village of 150 km south-east of the city of Ryazan, Receiver: Degen 1103, Antenna: telescopic / "deneb-radio-dx" via RusDX via DXLD) ** TANZANIA. TANZÂNIA: 1377, R. Free Africa, Mwanza, 2258-2307, 06 Jan, Swahili, African pops; 34432, QRM de F. Also good signal on 08 Jan, 2150, same menu, but spiced with plenty of phone-ins & some western music. 73 (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. 6025, 10/Jan 2233, PBS Xizang, in English. OM with an empathic reading. At 2239 YL talk. At 2246 short instrumental music. 23432. // 6130 and 7385, weak signal, but without QRM (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia, 12 14´S 38 58´W - Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. 5960, Saturday Jan 7 at 2315, V. of Turkey starts the fortnightly `DX Corner` on Saturdays, and with new theme music, YL reading the usual media info lifted from Media Network blog, including about the Costa Rican DX test which was going on simultaneously just 5.74 kHz below, as I tuned back and forth, rather confident that VOT would not have any news I had not already heard about. 2330 went to music fill, 2332 outro DX Corner with same theme as opening, in fact same announcement for opens and closes of each show, just saying the name, and not whether it is starting or finishing. Then to multi- lingual VOT ID filler, more music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. Mientras las emisoras de onda corta de los países europeos parecen cerrar en cascada, algunas, de países no tan centrales todavía siguen al aire y llegan bien al Rio de la Plata La Voz de Turquía (en español) recibida muy bien sin interferencia en 9410 kHz a las 0200 UT. La frecuencia en paralelo (9650 kHz) llega fuerte pero interferida. Pero ésta última va dirigida más al norte (Centroamérica) de modo que era de esperarse Lástima que sus locutores leen sus textos como si estuvieran urgidos por terminar de una vez e irse a sus casas. 73 (Moisés Knochen, Montevideo, Uruguay, UT Jan 8, condiglist yg via DXLD) ** UGANDA. Radio Dunamis reactivated since going off on the 8th of December, back last night 3rd weak, tonight on my homebrew K9AY. Will post a sound clip soon. 4750 kHz. Tune in 1550 going past 1620 as I type this. And here is Dounamis SW this night playing ``What A Friend We Have in Jesus". For a DXer like me, this is the most beautiful version of it. A full 5 minutes. Enjoy! http://soundcloud.com/victor-goonetilleke/dunamis-4750-1-4-2012-16-03-22 (G. Victor A. Goonetilleke 4S7VK via DXPlorer via SW Bulletin Jan 8 via WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DXLD) ** UKRAINE. 11980.08, 0806-0822, Dneprovskaya Khvylya, Zaporozhye, 07/01, relay Ukrainian 1st program in Ukrainian with Christmas episcopal divine service from Kievo-Pecherskaya lavra - fair-almost good with local noise, // http://www.radio-rating.ru/cat/potok/2018 with 29 seconds delay (Mikhail Timofeyev, North-East part of the St. Petersburg city, Russia, Drake R8A, Antenna: long wire (30 m), HCDX via DXLD) ** U K. BBC WORLD SERVICE TO PILOT USE OF WEBSITE ADS http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jan/05/bbc-world-service-ads?newsfeed=true Thankfully the English service won't yet be subject to them, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if we get subjected to them as well. It will make the World Service feel even more like NPR with a British accent (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, Swprograms mailing list Jan 5 via DXLD) Arabic, Russian, Spanish. WORLD SERVICE 'AD PLAN' APPROVED Plans to run adverts on one of the BBC World Service's radio services and some of its websites are approved by the BBC Trust. < http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/entertainment-arts-16425625 > (BBC e-mail via Ed Gardner, DXLD) WORLD SERVICE 'AD PLAN' ATTACKED Plans to run adverts on the BBC World Service have been attacked by one of its former managing directors. < http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/entertainment-arts-16449608 > (via Ed Gardner, DXLD) Viz.: 6 January 2012 Last updated at 12:34 ET WORLD SERVICE 'ADVERT PLAN' ATTACKED BY FORMER DIRECTOR [with 5+ minute audio clip] Sir John Tusa Sir John said the decision to allow adverts was "not a trivial matter" Plans to run adverts on the BBC World Service have been attacked by one of its former managing directors. The scheme to insert advertising into World Service English output on the Berlin FM frequency is "the worst of all possible worlds", Sir John Tusa told Radio 4's The World At One. He said it would breach a "crucial" principle and "not raise much money". The scheme follows a government request that the Service generates £3m from commercial activities by 2013/2014. Advertisements will also be put on the World Service's Arabic, Russian and Spanish websites. "You can't be a little bit commercial," said Sir John, who was head of the World Service from 1986 to 1993. "It's not a trivial matter or a trivial moment." Jim Egan, acting director of global news at the BBC, accepted it was "a significant moment" but said the plan would provide "a significant contribution to the £3 million target". He refuted Sir John's suggestion that it represented "the thin edge of the wedge" and would lead to advertising across the BBC. The World Service started broadcasting in 1932 and has a worldwide weekly audience of 240 million across radio, television and online. In 2010 the government reduced its annual £270m budget by 16% and said the Foreign Office would no longer fund it from 2014 (via DXLD) Jonathan Marks has some interesting comments about this on his blog: http://jonathanmarks.libsyn.com/webpage/mn-22-01-1988-john-tusa-on-advertising-on-world-service Seems the ads would be between programs, not during. I doubt we'd hear them on shortwave anytime soon. Even so, given the choice of ads at :29 and :59, or seeing further cuts in BBCWS programming, I'll take the ads. Tusa's arguments are well intentioned, but he fails to offer any ideas of how the BBCWS should be financed in the face of huge government budget shortfalls. Should British taxpayers be financing free radio programming for listeners outside the UK? Should BBCWS listeners pay for the programming they now take for granted? I hate to keep harping on this, but as in any situation where money is short, you either find new sources of revenue, or you make cuts. You don't dig yourself deeper into a financial hole. I'm not trying to discuss politics, but SWL's have for decades enjoyed a world of listening without much (if any) regard to how it is all paid for. Seems some stark reality is finally setting in. (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7 Comments on “BBCWS to run ads on some websites and radio services” #1 lou josephs on Jan 5th, 2012 at 18:22 I’d love to buy ads on Radio 2; World Service is a bad return on investment. At least these days it is. #2 David on Jan 5th, 2012 at 18:47 The Guardian article says something about putting ads on WS in English on FM in Berlin. But they recently switched frequencies in Berlin to one with lower power and less reach. But the idea of hearing ads on BBC WS in English is very strange. #3 SRG on Jan 5th, 2012 at 18:56 I believe I read somewhere that BBCBrasil.com is BBC’s most popular foreign-language site. Surprised it’s not among those that got Trust’s permission to run ads. #4 Kai Ludwig on Jan 5th, 2012 at 20:10 The licence for 94.8 MHz in Berlin explicitly entitles the BBC to insert up to two minutes of advertisements per hour to cover the transmission costs. In fact I believed so far that this had already been implemented. This current licence is valid until next June. It can be prolonged once. After this prolongation a new allocation procedure is necessary. In other words, the current constellation has not been established for eternity, at least by the German side. #5 SRG on Jan 5th, 2012 at 20:38 Kai, are those commercials in English or German? #6 Rocco on Jan 6th, 2012 at 01:22 Nothing of strange, even the Vatican Radio run commercials during their normal programming. #7 Roy Sandgren on Jan 7th, 2012 at 10:33 Many public service broadcasters are running ads in radio and TV. BBC is a public Radio service. Sponsoring public service is very popular. High quality of radio and TV (MN blog comments via DXLD) 9 Comments on “BBCWS ‘advert plan’ attacked by former director” #1 Jonathan Marks on Jan 6th, 2012 at 18:23 John Tusa may be correct in that the Berlin relay won’t raise that much money. I see more potential with their websites, especially if they make websites that mix general BBC content with the news output. But ads on world service radio have been heard on the Auckland relay in New Zealand since the late 1990’s. Check out http://worldservice.co.nz/Home_Page.php The automated system puts the feed on BBC WS into a buffer. They carry 2 minutes of ads at the top of every hour and then play back a slightly sped up version of that hour squeezed into 58 minutes. Sounds fine to me. #2 lou josephs on Jan 6th, 2012 at 19:44 Ah I wonder if the BBC bought a cashbox, this is a pre-buffer that speeds up audio content; lots of talk stations in the US use this to add more local commercials to syndicated shows like Rush and Hannity. #3 Kai Ludwig on Jan 7th, 2012 at 00:28 I assume for some people in London it makes a big difference that in New Zealand it’s a relay by a third party while the transmitter in Berlin is leased by the BBC World Service itself. But there is also another point: When one “can’t be a little bit commercial” the obvious principle would be to simply refrain from launching commercial services, as the BBC did with BBC World News. I can’t imagine anyone here in Germany caring in any way for the difference between BBC World News and BBC World Service, in particular with these almost identical names. And it continues to fascinate me how BBC World Service applied for the authorization to insert these ads in Germany already in 2010, only recently submitted this plan to the BBC Trust and now gets domestically under fire for this. They should be happy that apparently no one in London has noticed the publicity of the Berlin FM reshuffle and asked questions back then. Another interesting question would be how the planned advertisement slots will be marketed. If the intention is to get any bookings from Germany the only way I see is to get into the packages offered by German companies. Who should here in Germany bother to deal with London for placing ads on such a niche service? #4 Mervyn Hagger on Jan 7th, 2012 at 11:29 The answer is for the British Crown corporation sole [?] to tell the truth about the political structure which created the ‘current’ BBC out of the original BBC and for the British People to take back the powers that by right belong to them individually, but which have traditionally been denied to them by Crown institutions. This entire discussion avoids the issue of why the BBC exists at all. #5 Michael Hoover on Jan 7th, 2012 at 12:04 Can’t see what all the fuss is about, if they can raise (probably very limited) extra funds by doing this, what’s the problem? I find annoying on BBC WS are all their irritating promos that are repeated over and over #6 Andy Sennitt on Jan 7th, 2012 at 14:01 It’s all about perception. In countries which have commercial radio stations that are perceived as biased due to commercial pressures, BBCWS is perceived - rightly or wrongly - to be untainted by such commercial pressures. If, in these countries, listeners start to hear commercials on BBCWS, some of the listeners may start to wonder if the BBC is still unbiased. In some countries - New Zealand is an example, as Jonathan points out - this is not a problem, but in other countries it might be. Therefore, the BBC needs to take great care in choosing when and where to place commercials to avoid damaging the image of the World Service. #7 Jonathan Marks on Jan 8th, 2012 at 21:05 Found a lovely audio clip from Media Network in January 1988 in which the very same John Tusa clearly had very little objections to earning revenue from content. Made it into a posting. Far more worried about the 15 editorial breaches at BBC World News TV. http://www.criticaldistance.blogspot.com/2012/01/mixed-commercial-messaging.html #8 Mervyn Hagger on Jan 9th, 2012 at 09:18 A little bit of oranges and apples there Jonathan! Tusa was talking about becoming a program contractor just like independent program contractors provide content to the BBC radio and television networks. In this instance the BBC would be the independent contractor supplying content to other stations. (The idea he was talking about was also tried by the Christian Science Monitor, and although the TV news show was pretty good, it failed commercially.) However, Tusa was not talking about the concept of commercial broadcasting in which ’spot’ time is sold in and around a program, so I don’t see any contradiction. However, the issue is not about finding new ways to create income for the BBC, but why the BBC exists at all. The BBC is a giant media conglomerate operating under the cloak of the Crown corporation sole while dispensing the ‘official voice’ of the day. The government has alway fed its own script alongside the soap opera script to be combined in the production of ‘The Archers’ on radio, but when you look at the entire BBC you find nothing more than the controlled voice of the Crown corporation sole. Commercial stations are restricted by what they can broadcast and this is why I cannot buy half an hour each day for the Mervyn Hagger Show to air my views on a UK station - should I care to pay the money and bother to do so. I can do this in the USA, and Rush & Co annoy me no end with their lopsided dialogs. But all I have to do is turn the dial to find something else. In the so-called UK there is nothing else to find! The idea that the BBC is the best broadcasting system in the world is nothing less than the original ‘Manchurian Candidate’ movie script writ large. #9 Kai Ludwig on Jan 9th, 2012 at 15:29 Something according to the 1988 proposals from John Tulsa had indeed been carried out in German language as of 1992 or thereabouts, a product called “Sat-Info-Stream”. I don’t know how much customers it could attract, probably it was already gone when in 1999 it was curtains for the German service altogether. And indeed people should worry in the first place about the occurrences at BBC World News you point out. BBC World News has in Berlin an analogue cable distribution and was until 2007 even on DVB- T, so it is as common as the FM radio from the BBC World Service. Try to explain to anyone the difference between the News and the Service thing: It’s just impossible, even media professionals do not care and consider both simply as “the BBC”. And the BBC itself does not appear to care either, considering how they put BBC World Service and BBC World News under a common management and refer to both as a joint “BBC Global News” branch. Thus I don’t see how they could shield the World Service from the possible impact of the editorial breaches at BBC World News (Media Network blog comments via DXLD) International broadcasters whose content is sufficiently popular to attract advertisers should welcome the opportunity to shift the burden from taxpayers. BBC already has years of experience with international advertising through its BBC World News and international-facing BBC.com. The best model for international broadcast funding -- unfortunately not emulable in most languages -- is CNN International. Its revenue is entirely through advertising, with no government subsidy. I think credibility is better served if the funding is spread over several advertisers rather than supplied by one national government (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com 9 Jan via DXLD) ** U K. BOB HOLNESS HAS DIED, aged 83. He had a varied carer in media including a long association with the BBC. Until 1998 he presented the World Service request programme "Anything Goes", a weekly anthology of words and music. Full obituary here http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2012/jan/06/bob-holness?newsfeed=true (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DXLD) ** U K. 17780, Jan 7 at 1525, English discussion of Palestine quickly shifts to talk about football --- must be BBCWS Saturday sports show. HFCC shows 17780 1430-1700 Saturdays only in Hausa, 300 kW, 165 degrees from Woofferton, but I`m quite sure it was in English. (Following the daily 1400-1430 via Ascension 17780 which really? is in Hausa). Somewhat better signal than SRS on 17745 (140 from Skelton). Now it`s Hausa that is getting bumped; previously scheduled Somali broadcasts on Saturday afternoons turned out to be in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [non]. Frequency changes of BBC WS in English: 0300-0400 NF 6140 MEY 100 kW / 330 deg to CeAf, ex 6145# 2100-2200 NF 5955 SEY 250 kw / 240 deg to SoAf, ex 5910* # to avoid Adventist World Radio in Farsi * to avoid Vatican Radio in Russian till 2130 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 10 Jan via DXLD) ** U K [and non] B-11 schedule of BABCOCK Relays. Parts 1 & 2 of 3: Radio República 0000-0300 on 9490 SAC 100 kW / 227 deg to Cuba Spanish Sun/Mon Voice of Vietnam 0100-0130 on 6175 SAC 250 kW / 212 deg to NEAm English 0130-0230 on 6175 SAC 250 kW / 212 deg to NEAm Vietnamese 0230-0300 on 6175 SAC 250 kW / 212 deg to NEAm English 0300-0330 on 6175 SAC 250 kW / 212 deg to CeAm Spanish 0330-0400 on 6175 SAC 250 kW / 212 deg to NEAm English 0400-0430 on 6175 SAC 250 kW / 212 deg to CeAm Spanish 0430-0530 on 6175 SAC 250 kW / 240 deg to NWAm Vietnamese 1800-1830 on 5955 MOS 100 kW / 300 deg to WeEu English 1830-1930 on 5955 MOS 100 kW / 300 deg to WeEu Vietnamese 1930-2000 on 5955 MOS 100 kW / 300 deg to WeEu French 2000-2030 on 6135 WOF 250 kW / 075 deg to NEEu Russian 2030-2130 on 6175 DHA 250 kW / 315 deg to WeEu German 2130-2230 on 7370 WOF 250 kW / 105 deg to SEEu Vietnamese Adventist World Radio 0100-0200 on 15445 TAI 100 kW / 250 deg to SEAs Vietnamese Sat EDC Sudan Radio Service Darfur Program 0400-0500 on 11800 DHA 250 kW / 255 deg to NEAf Arabic Sat-Thu 1600-1700 on 15500 WOF 300 kW / 140 deg to NEAf Arabic Sat-Thu EDC Sudan Radio Service 0400-0500 on 13720 DHA 250 kW / 240 deg to EaAf Arabic 1500-1700 on 17745 SKN 300 kW / 10 deg to EaAf Arabic Radio Canada International 0300-0330 on 5905 SKN 300 kW / 110 deg to N&ME Arabic 0400-0430 on 7265 SKN 300 kW / 110 deg to N&ME Arabic 1700-1730 on 9555 WOF 250 kW / 070 deg to EaEu Russian 1700-1730 on 11935 WOF 250 kW / 078 deg to EaEu Russian 1800-1900 on 9770 SKN 300 kW / 140 deg to CeAf English 1900-2000 on 9510 SKN 250 kW / 177 deg to NCAf French 1900-2000 on 11845 SKN 300 kW / 195 deg to NWAf French Radio Okapi 0400-0500 on 11690 MEY 250 kW / 340 deg to CeAf French/Lingala 1600-1700 on 11795 DHA 250 kW / 230 deg to CeAf French/Lingala Radio Damal (Voice of the Somali People or Odka Bulshada Somaliyeed) 0400-0700 on 15700 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg to EaAf Somali 1830-1930 on 11740 WOF 300 kW / 122 deg to EaAf Somali 1930-2130 on 11970 DHA 250 kW / 205 deg to EaAf Somali BBC WS in DRM 0500-0800 on 3955 SKN 100 kW / 121 deg to WeEU English 0700-0800 on 5875 MOS 040 kW / 300 deg to WeEU English 0800-0900 on 5790 SKN 100 kW / 105 deg to WeEU English 0800-0900 on 5875 WOF 100 kW / 114 deg to WeEU English 1400-1500 on 5845 NAK 090 kW / 290 deg to SoAs Hindi 1500-1800 on 5845 NAK 090 kW / 290 deg to SoAs English Radio Japan NHK World 0500-0530 on 5975 WOF 200 kW / 140 deg to WeEu English 1100-1200 on 9760 WOF 100 kW / 102 deg to WeEu Eng/Russian Fri DRM 0400-0430 on 11730 TAC 100 kW / 238 deg to WeAs Farsi 1500-1700 on 12045 SNG 250 kW / 315 deg to WeAs Japanese 0130-0200 on 9785 TAC 100 kW / 163 deg to SoAs Hindi 1300-1330 on 11730 TAC 100 kW / 141 deg to SoAs English 1400-1430 on 11695 TAC 100 kW / 163 deg to SoAs English 1515-1600 on 9515 TAC 100 kW / 186 deg to SoAs Urdu 1300-1345 on 12035 SNG 250 kW / 315 deg to SoAs Bengali 0200-0300 on 11650 SNG 250 kW / 340 deg to SEAs Japanese 0800-1000 on 11740 SNG 250 kW / 000 deg to SEAs Japanese 0945-1030 on 6140 SNG 250 kW / 140 deg to SEAs Indonesian 1030-1100 on 11740 SNG 250 kW / 330 deg to SEAs Burmese 1130-1200 on 11740 SNG 250 kW / 000 deg to SEAs Thai 1230-1300 on 11740 SNG 250 kW / 000 deg to SEAs Vietnamese 1430-1500 on 11740 SNG 250 kW / 330 deg to SEAs Burmese 0930-1000 on 6145 SGO 100 kW / 060 deg to BRA Portuguese 2130-2200 on 11880 SGO 100 kW / 060 deg to BRA Portuguese KBS World Radio 0700-0800 on 6045 WOF 250 kW / 102 deg to WeEu Korean 1100-1130 on 9760 WOF 100 kW / 105 deg to WeEu English Sat DRM 1800-1900 on 7235 WOF 300 kW / 062 deg to EaEu Russian 2000-2100 on 9840 DHA 250 kW / 290 deg to NoAf Arabic 2000-2100 on 3955 SKN 250 kW / 106 deg to WeEu German 2100-2200 on 3955 SKN 250 kW / 175 deg to WeEu French 2200-2230 on 3955 SKN 250 kW / 106 deg to WeEu English Voice of Croatia 0700-1100 on 17860 SNG 100 kW / 135 deg to AUS Croatian/English IRIN Radio (Integrated Regional Information Network) 0830-0930 on 17680 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg to EaAf Somali Eternal Good News 1130-1145 on 15525 DHA 250 kW / 100 deg to SoAs English Fri Trans World Radio Africa 1300-1315 on 13660 KIG 250 kW / 030 deg to EaAf Afar Thu-Sun 1730-1800 on 9775 DHA 250 kW / 215 deg to EaAf Amharic Fri 1800-1815 on 5965 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg to EaAf Tigrinya Mon-Wed 1800-1815 on 5965 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg to EaAf Amharic Thu/Fri 1800-1830 on 5965 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg to EaAf Tigre Sat 1800-1830 on 5965 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg to EaAf Kunama Sun 1815-1845 on 5965 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg to EaAf Tigrinya Mon-Fri 1830-1845 on 5965 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg to EaAf Amharic Sun Polish Radio External Service 1400-1430 on 15245 WOF 125 kW / 062 deg to EaEu Russian 1400-1430 on 15770 WOF 125 kW / 070 deg to EaEu Russian 1430-1500 on 15245 WOF 125 kW / 075 deg to NEEu Belorussian 1500-1530 on 9580 WOF 125 kW / 078 deg to WeEu German 1530-1600 on 9580 WOF 125 kW / 066 deg to EaEu Russian 1600-1630 on 11905 WOF 125 kW / 078 deg to NEEu Ukrainian 1630-1730 on 6050 WOF 125 kW / 082 deg to NEEu Polish 1730-1800 on 9545 WOF 250 kW / 105 deg to N&ME Hebrew 1800-1900 on 3955 SKN 250 kW / 106 deg to WeEu English 1900-2000 on 5920 WOF 125 kW / 070 deg to NEEu Belorussian 2000-2100 on 5920 WOF 125 kW / 070 deg to NEEu Polish 2200-2300 on 7330 WOF 250 kW / 282 deg to NEAm Polish 2200-2300 on 15260 SAC 250 kW / 285 deg to NEAm Polish Radio Free Sarawak 1000-1200 on 17560 DB 100 kW / 132 deg to SEAS Bahasa Malay [also, or primarily local language(s) such as Iban, no? -- gh] Radio Free North Korea 1200-1400 on 9380 ERV 200 kW / 070 deg to NEAs Korean Mon-Sat 1200-1400 on 11510 ERV 200 kW / 070 deg to NEAs Korean Sun Radio Free Chosun 1200-1400 on 11560 DB 200 kW / 070 deg to NEAs Korean 2000-2100 on 7505 DB 100 kW / 070 deg to NEAs Korean Nippon no Kaze 1300-1330 on 9950 TAI 100 kW / 002 deg to NEAs Korean 1500-1530 on 9975 HBN 100 kW / 345 deg to NEAs Korean 1530-1600 on 9965 HBN 100 kW / 345 deg to NEAs Korean CMI Voice of Wilderness 1300-1330 on 9935 DB 100 kW / 070 deg to NEAs Korean Mon-Sat 1300-1430 on 9935 DB 100 kW / 070 deg to NEAs Korean Sun Furusato no Kaze 1330-1400 on 9950 TAI 100 kW / 002 deg to NEAs Japanese 1430-1500 on 9950 HBN 100 kW / 345 deg to NEAs Japanese 1600-1630 on 9780 TAI 250 kW / 045 deg to NEAs Japanese JSR Shiokaze Sea Breeze 1330-1430 on 5985 YAM 100 kW / 280 deg to NEAs *(alt.5910/6135) 2000-2100 on 5965 YAM 100 kW / 280 deg to NEAs *(alt.5910/6110) *Japanese Mon-Thu; English Fri; Korean/Japanese Sat; Japanese/Korean Sun [NO English on Fridays for a few weeks now as we have been reporting! Maybe back this week? I also recently heard Chinese --- gh] Open Radio North Korea 1400-1500 on 7560 DB 100 kW / 070 deg to NEAs Korean 1500-1600 on 7475 TAC 200 kW / 065 deg to NEAs Korean 2100-2200 on 7480 DB 100 kW / 070 deg to NEAs Korean North Korea Reform Radio 1500-1700 on 7590 TAC 100 kW / 065 deg to NEAs Korean Voice of Martyrs (Freedom) 1600-1700 on 7485 TAC 100 kW / 065 deg to NEAs Korean Gospel for Asia 1600-1615 on 9820 DHA 250 kW / 100 deg to SoAs SoAs langs Sun-Wed 1615-1630 on 9820 DHA 250 kW / 070 deg to SoAs SoAs langs Sun-Wed 1615-1630 on 9820 DHA 250 kW / 120 deg to SoAs SoAs langs Thu-Sat 2330-2400 on 6160 DHA 250 kW / 085 deg to SoAs SoAs langs 0000-0130 on 6140 DHA 250 kW / 085 deg to SoAs SoAs langs IBRA Radio 1700-1800 on 12045 SKN 300 kW / 110 deg to N&ME Arabic 1730-1800 on 11740 MEY 100 kW / 015 deg to EaAf Somali 1730-1800 on 11785 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg to EaAf Swahili 1800-1945 on 9635 SKN 300 kW / 140 deg to NEAf Arabic 1900-2030 on 7445 SKN 300 kW / 180 deg to WeAf Fulfulde/Hausa SW Radio Africa 1700-1900 on 4880 MEY 100 kW / 005 deg to SoAf English Radio Payem e-Doost 1800-1845 on 7480 KCH 500 kW / 116 deg to WeAs Farsi 0230-0315 on 7460 KCH 500 kW / 116 deg to WeAs Farsi Radio Taiwan International 1900-2000 on 3955 SKN 250 kW / 106 deg to WeEu German 1900-2000 on 9895 DHA 250 kW / 315 deg to WeEu French RTE Radio One 1930-2030 on 5820 MEY 100 kW / non-dir to SoAf English HCJB Global 2100-2145 on 12025 SAC 250 kW / 073 deg to NoAf Arabic [first third is in Tachelhit, a Berber language; see Aoki; rest is `Arabic dialects` --- gh] Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation 2215-2245 on 6135 CYP 250 kW / 314 deg to WeEu Greek Fri-Sun 2215-2245 on 7220 CYP 300 kW / 314 deg to WeEu Greek Fri-Sun 2215-2245 on 9760 CYP 250 kW / 315 deg to WeEu Greek Fri-Sun Suaab Xaa Moo Zoo 2230-2300 on 7530 TAI 100 kW / 250 deg to SEAs Hmong [Wolfgang Bueschel changed the last entry to: Suaab Xaa Moo Zoo 2230-2300 on 7530 TSH*100 kW 250 deg to SoEaAS Hmong * TAI = Tainan TWN TSH = Tanshui - Danshuei, Taipei North, TWN (wb.) --- gh] (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Jan 11-12, via DXLD) ** U S A. BBG TO MEET ON JANUARY 13 --- The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) will meet on Friday, January 13 at BBG headquarters in Washington, D.C. The Board will further consider implementation of the Agency’s strategic plan and discuss the issue of signal interference of BBG broadcasts. In addition, the Board will review operational matters including the Board Committees and the Board meeting schedule for calendar year 2012. A budget update for the Board will include a proposal concerning Internet censorship circumvention funds. The Board will honor the 70th anniversary of the Voice of America and recognize the anniversaries of particular BBG language services. The International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) Director will update the Board on agency operations; other broadcast executives will provide programming and coverage updates. The meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m., will be webcast both live and on-demand, at http://www.bbg.gov (BBG Pufaffs Monday, 09 January, 2012 via Clara Listensprechen, WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DXLD) 1900 UT Friday Jan 13 ** U S A. BROADCASTER SUES OVER ‘VOICE OF AMERICA’ DOMAIN NAME A radio talk show host launched a suit in Louisiana federal court on Wednesday against the Broadcasting Board of Governors, challenging an arbitration ruling that stripped his right to use “Voice of America” as a domain name. Robert Namer, known as the “Voice of America,” filed a declaratory suit asking the court to overturn a contested arbitration decision awarding the BBG the right to use thevoiceofamerica.com (Source: Law360.com)(January 5th, 2012 - 10:44 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) 1 Comment on “Broadcaster sues over ‘Voice of America’ domain name” #1 Marshall on Jan 6th, 2012 at 01:20 --- Voice of Tea Bag America or perhaps Voice of Right-wing America would be a lot more accurate for Robt. Namer’s website (MN blog comment via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. 17655, Jan 5 at 1813, VOA Portuguese via Greenville is still here, ex-17650, altho as of Jan 6, HFCC listings still show the ex: 17650. How long does it take to get new info in there, anyway? Also with long-path echo, some 38 megameters around. And // weaker 15670 which during this semihour M-F only is Botswana (but at 17-18 daily it`s São Tomé, and the additional tack-on Fridays only at 1630-1700 is Wertachtal). 15580, Jan 8 at 1415 big open carrier, fading in weak tone test for a few sex, cutting it abruptly, and off the air a few sex after that. Typical behavior of VOA Greenville-B tuning up hours prior to a later broadcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also BOTSWANA ** U S A. VOZ DA AMÉRICA EM PORTUGUÊS --- Amigos, a uns 2 dias atrás enviei um informe de recepção ao serviço em português da Voz da América. Hoje recebi um e-mail da diretora do serviço em português, se prontificando em me enviar o cartão QSL. A emissora quer gravar uma entrevista comigo via telefone. É claro que eu a concederei. Vejam a mensagem que recebi da VOA: Assunto: RE: Voz da América - 17655 kHz - Ouvida no Brasil ``Caro Sr. Rubens, Agradeço a sua mensagem, e fico satisfeita que chegamos sem grandes interferências e com sinal forte. Vou procurar saber quem pode enviar o QSL (talvez eu mesma o faca). O que gostou do programa que ouviu? Sugestões? O que não gostou? Gostaria de saber a sua opinião. Gostaria de saber, também, se poderíamos conversar um pouco consigo via telefone para um espaço que temos que se chama `Correio do Ouvinte.` Cumprimentos, Ana Guedes, directora do Serviço em Português da VOA`` Vou se consigo gravar a entrevista e postar no meu blog. 73! (Rubens Ferraz Pedroso, Bandeirantes - PR, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** U S A. Hi Glenn, enclosed tape was logged on 3350 12/21/2011, 1150- 1220 UT. It is the fifth harmonic of WSCR, Chicago IL, 670. I know of your interest in harmonics (Bill Smith, W1OW, Douglas MA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx, Bill, yes WSCR IDs clearly audible. Several other multiples of 670 were reported around then, but not lately. I guess they fixed the problem. See also PROPAGATION for more comments from Bill (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. KSCS 25990 kHz on air --- Hola, innanzi tutto auguri a tutti. 25990, 1400 UT, KSCS - TX - USA relay FM, segnale buono!!! 07/01/2012 1416 25910 WBAP Fort Worth TX FM USA 111 px talk news !!! tentative !!!! 07/01/2012 1359 25990 KSCS Arlington TX FM USA 233 Relay FM 96.3 MHz, country music. ciaoooo e buoni DX !!! (Mauro - Giroletti, -Swl 1510- - IK2GFT- -Lat. 45 25'0"N Long. 9 7'0"E -Locator grid. Jn 45 Nk- playdx yg via DXLD) These both transmit from Dallas now (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 5085, Jan 5 at 0045, middle-C tone again on strong carrier, and this time I know it`s WTWW testing #2 transmitter, as George has asked me to monitor for any spurs. No, none heard, so they have now been suppressed adequately; no het against WWCR 5070, for instance, while previously there was a spur circa 5072, and at plus/minus ~13 kHz intervals up and down. Then transmitter shifted to other frequency, 9990 which was also spur-free until 0048*. George McClintock says there are still a few other minor problems to work out, and Continental engineers are expected around January 15, after which regular service should be ready to start. 12105, Jan 7 at 1522, WTWW is back on in Arabible, after missing previous afternoons; probably due to installation work on the other transmitter. Glenn, WTWW-2 will run a test this Saturday [Jan 14] from about 4 pm to 6 CENTRAL [22-24 UT] on 9990. 6 pm to 10 [00-04 UT Jan 15] on 5085. Ted Randall will take phone calls from the listeners live on air. Some final adjustments will be made during this test. Continental Electronics Co. will make some additional adjustments later this month (George McClintock, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1598: first SW airing should be Thursday Jan 5 at 2200 on WTWW 9479; then 2230 on WBCQ 7490. On WWRB 3195: UT Fri 0430v. On WRMI 9955: Sat 0900, 1600, 1830, Sun 0900, 1630, 1830. On WTWW 5755: UT Sun 0500. WORLD OF RADIO 1598 monitoring; first SW broadcast confirmed Thu Jan 5 at 2200, VG on WTWW 9479; second at 2230 on WBCQ 7490 (and not much BBC QRM from Thailand, seems to have abated); third at 0433 UT Friday Jan 6 on WWRB 3195 after 20 seconds of respectful silence following the Anderson SC preacher (meanwhile WWRB 5050 with separate programming now). Repeat on WTWW is UT Sunday 0500 on 5755; WRMI 9955 airings: Sat 0900, 1600, 1830; Sun 0900, 1630, 1830; Monday 1230. On WRN via SiriusXM 120: Sat & Sun 1830, Sun 0930 UT. Plus many more on webcast from WRMI and others; full schedule: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html WORLD OF RADIO 1598 monitoring: confirmed after 0500 UT Sunday Jan 8 on 5755, WTWW, VG signal. Area 51 schedule shows this is an off-week for WOR, so not on 5110v-CUSB this UT Monday at 0330v. Remaining WRMI SW airings on 9955 are: Sun 0900, 1630, 1830, Mon 1230. Plus many more webcasts; full schedule at http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. 9955, Jan 6 at 1408, preacher in English from WRMI vs heavy SAH and CCI from KTWR as well as lite pulse jamming. With everything Jeff White has done for HFCC and NASB, you`d think other broadcasters would cut WRMI some slack and stay off 9955, but KTWR GUAM is here at 1400-1430; HFCC says language is `yue` while Aoki shows Sunday in Hui, M-F in Cantonese, and off Saturdays only. At 1436, WRMI relay of R. Eslovaquia Internacional had less QRM after KTWR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7490, Jan 7 at 0711, 0725, open carrier from presumed WBCQ long after sign-off time UT Sat, as happens occasionally. Say, WORLD OF RADIO could use a few more airings; why not run it on a loop when leaving the transmitter on anyway? 9330-CUSB, Jan 8 at 1419, WBCQ in dead air again, instead of Rod Hembree`s Good Friends Radio Network/Radio 2:11. 7490, Jan 10 at 0646, WBCQ is still on with Overcomer Ministry, psycophant caller at the moment mentioning hearing BS on WNCE, WWBA, WCKY as well as SW. This feed was about 8 seconds behind WWRB 3185 and 10 sex behind WWCR 5890, and still going past 0700. Failed to turn off at usual time of 0400 (Plus Financial Survival at 04-05)? Did not notice it the next night in bandscanning tho I neglected to look for it specifically. Could be a make-good for some TOM hours previously missed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 11714.8, Jan 5 at 1520 and 1648, still no signal from KJES, perhaps keeping off the air due to FCC NOV on being too far off- frequency. 11714.8, Jan 9 before and after 1500, no signal from KJES now for almost a week: perhaps they are prudently staying off the air following FCC Notice of Violation, until they can figure out how to get back on legal frequency. 15385.4, Jan 9 at 1915, KJES is also missing from its 19-21 UT broadcast which can inboom here when on, another frequency too far off the FCC is likely to Notice if they come back on it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9385, fair and fading Jan 8 at 0642, Overcomer Ministry via WWRB has failed again to switch to night frequency, 3185, vacant, at the moment a non-Brother Scare preacher, // WWCR 5890 but about two seconds behind it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 21600, Jan 8 at 1419, preacheress on poor signal, rough modulation, and carrier is wobbling; from WHRI, registered daily 14- 15, but I think only on air Sundays. If propagation were better, might have brought with it the nasty spur field we have heard before from it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Some changes of transmissions via BABCOCK Jan. 1- 4: WYFR Family Radio, 1900-2000 NF 5850 MEY 100 kW / 005 deg to SoAf English, additional (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 10 Jan via DXLD) Please note the following change (effective 16 January 2012) to the WYFR B-2011 schedule: Add 6115 kHz; 2315-0400 UTC Zones 4, 5, 9; 100 kW, 355 degrees; English (Brenda at WYFR, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWCR #4 ?? 5890 Nashville ?? Jan 07, 2012, Saturday 0214- 0228. USA-accented OM talking English, sounds like a preacher but barely readable, possibly a phone-in. At 0218 another OM mentioned the "twin towers". At 0220 the start of a just-readable series of adverts with phone numbers. Including one for a product that will reduce my cholesterol levels and improve my sex life. At 0225 another caller mentioned "Daniel Chapter 11", so it is clearly a religious station but can it really be WWCR ?? Aoki and EiBi say yes and list no possible alternative, but I am (somewhat) surprised by the pro-sex content of the advert. Does God defer to the bottom line of advertising revenue these days? And Glenn in DXLD 11-50 says WWCR is not really on this frequency at this time anyway (only from 0600-1200 ut). But it is clearly a US- based religious station. Note added later: WWCR is back on this frequency at this time (DXLD 12-01). Poor, to North America (EiBi). Jo'burg sunrise 0323 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WRNO: I emailed the station to find out when shortwave will recommence; here is their reply: "We do not have a date yet, still working on repairs." (Mike Terry, England, Jan 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. It seems Montana has lost a 10 kW MW station on a reasonably clear frequency. KGVW, 640 kHz, 10 kW days (dir. NW) and 1 kW nights (dir. NE), Belgrade, MT (near Bozeman) has been off the air since at least Dec. 28, 2011. Phone call to the station goes into recording to leave a message to one of four people. I'm waiting for a callback from 'Bob'. Religious format. We have acquired two new FM outlets in the last year here in Helena, MT; KOYT, 98.5 mHz 'The Coyote' and KIMO. 107.3 MHz 'The Mighty Mo' (both C&W). KIMO actually kicks on my HD Radio (Pioneer DEH-P33HD) in the GMC with a three second delay over Analog; totally different sound! (Terry Palmersheim, KT7DX, Helena, MT 59602, Jan 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KJES offers nothing in the way of New Mexico culture, which I assure you, is not made up of robokids, beyond The Lord`s Ranch, so as Albuquerque sunrise approaches I intune 770, awaiting KKOB to pop onto daytime non-direxional pattern: There it is, Jan 11 at 1415 as Bob Clark is lamenting how NM is misunderstood elsewhere --- as a just dull wasteland near Arizona. Albuquerque has even been confused with `Alcapulco`; after all, both have beaches, tho ABQ`s is on the Rio Grande: http://www.cabq.gov/biopark/tingley Now a PR firm in Austin, Texas has been hired to publicize NM better; they should know how? Then YL sidekick with traffic report. Fading at 1420, but back up at 1425 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 830, Jan 11 at 1427 UT, country gospel music, ID as Family Life Radio, in null of what`s left of WCCO or XEIK. Therefore it`s KFLT Tucson AZ, 50 kW day power already, tho official local sunrise in January is not until 1430 and there is no info about any PSRA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Denver changes --- The religious WAY-FM group has been trying to get a signal into the Denver market for a while. They bought the 103.1 signal in Limon, which is about 100 miles ESE of Denver, with the hope of moving it to Parker, just SE of Denver. They had a pending CP to build a 1470 ft. tower east of Denver at Deer Trail to run a 100 KW signal from. Within the past year, KRWZ 950 (the original KIMN) bought a translator on 103.1 to simulcast that AM signal. The translator is on Lookout Mtn. with most of the FMs and TVs in the market. It appears that Lincoln Financial Media, the owner of KRWZ, has paid off the WAY-FM group to drop their application to move their full power 103.1 signal to Parker so LFM can keep their 250 watt translator alive. In an odd move, LFM has also applied to change the city of license of KRWZ from Denver to Parker. My guess is that they are trying to satisfy the Commission that Parker will not lose the proposed radio service of WAY-FM's, which is being changed from Parker to Weldona. Pretty goofy, but that seems to be the warped logic that the Commission uses. The newly proposed signal of WAY-FM's 103.1 is to be located at Weldona, which is a very small town way out on the plains NE of Denver. The new signal will be 25 KW instead of the 100 KW proposed for Parker, and the antenna height will be only 152 ft. instead of 1470 ft. The tower is located near Fort Morgan, so the new signal will be well out of the way of LFM's translator. It's hard to figure why WAY-FM would even bother making a move like this since there is very little population within the newly proposed service area. Their current 100 KW signal in Limon is also in a very sparsely populated area. All of this brings up another question. Does anyone know what the specific rules are pertaining to how much signal a translator is required to put over its city or community of license? I have searched the FCC R&R a number of times, but I have never been able to find anything relating to this. From what I can tell, there is no requirement that even says a translator has to put any signal at all over its city of license. There are several translators in the Denver area that are not even close to where they are licensed, nor do not put any signal over the community where they are licensed. One of those is the 103.1 translator that LFM bought to simulcast KRWZ. The community of license is Pinecliffe, which is a tiny place in Coal Creek Canyon on the Boulder and Gilpin county line. The actual location of the translator is Lookout Mtn. in Jefferson Co. just above Golden. Given the 250 watt signal, and the mountainous terrain in the area, plus the distance from Lookout Mtn. to Pinecliffe, there is no trace of that signal where the translator is licensed. It is hard enough to get a decent signal in Pinecliffe from the 100 KW FMs on Lookout because of the terrain. There are some other translators in the area that are located too far from their city of license to serve that community, which makes me wonder just how far a translator can be located from where it is licensed, when it is obvious by the facilities and location specified in the license that it was never intended to serve that community. This is not something unique to FM. There is an LPTV in the area that is located well over 50 miles from its city of license. Not only is it that far away, but it is on the other side of the Continental Divide, and has a directional antenna pointing away from its city of license toward Denver. What are the people at the FCC smoking when they grant a license like that? And why haven't other licensees complained about it? Does anyone know of any requirement in the R&R that requires an LPTV to put a signal over its city of license? Once again, I have searched the R&R, but I have not been able to find any answers. 73, (Kit Sage, W5KAT, Jan 5, ABDX via DXLD) Hey Kit, This seems a bit crazy to me, but they are not the first to try this non sense here in Denver, KUPN-TV (A former translator to KTVD MY 20) now known as KCDO-TV built a transmitter south of Ft. Morgan, CO in Dec 2010 but there licensees are listed as Sterling Colorado, even though the transmitter is not in sterling or in the same county as sterling. And what are the call letters of the LPTV station near the continental divide? (Paul Armani, CO, ibid.) Paul, KCDO-TV is perfectly legal operating as they are since they are a full power station. I watch them on low power KLPD 28-3, which retransmits their signal from Lookout Mtn. Since Sterling is their city of license and they still put a primary signal into it, they are fine. Their office and studio is also within the primary signal, but just barely. On FM, there are some questionable stations in the area. KJAC has been operating from downtown Denver since it began operation, but none of Denver is within the primary coverage area of the station. The LPTV I was referring to is K05MD-D. It is licensed to Cripple Creek, but the transmitter is at Sedalia. For anyone not familiar with the area, Cripple Creek is southwest of Colorado Springs. Sedalia is southwest of Denver. Oops, I put in my original post that it is on the other side of the Continental Divide, but that should have been the Palmer Divide. With that mountain range between the city of license and the transmitter site, plus the distance between them, there is no possible way an LPTV could cover one location from the other, and it would be unlikely even a full power station could unless they had their xmtr at the highest point in between. If you're wondering if this station really exists, I have picked it up quite easily northwest of Denver, yet I have never been able to get any of the full power digital signals from Colorado Springs. 73, (Kit Sage, W5KAT ibid.) ** U S A. WNWF 1120, Destin, FL is on late again, carrying ESPN radio from the Sirius-XM service. There are no local IDs or ads as a consequent. Miss them tonight? Not to worry, they’ll probably be on all weekend, and maybe next week with the same programming after hours. Their stream is at http://www.destin1120am.com (Gerry Bishop, Niceville, FL, 0130 UT Jan 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1190, Jan 7 at 2137 UT on the caradio with nondirexional vertical antenna, skywave is in with muddle of stations, but generally atop is ``all-new country 11-90, K#QZ``, which NRC AM Log shows as KQQZ ``Killer Country`` in Desoto MO (COL Fairview Heights IL, address in Belleville, i.e. near St Louis), 10 kW U4 with application for 25. I was looking for the new 25 kW station in White Hall AR, KJJI which may not be on the air yet (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1220, Jan 9 at 1340 UT, `AM 1220, KONZ(?)``, weather. Only likely match phonetically is KOMC, Branson MO (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1440, TENNESSEE, WZYX, Cowan. 0018 January 4, 2012. Could I have hit the source of the Oldies tonight heard New Year's eve? Tune- in to two guys and one gal live talk, mostly about local school proposed taxation and things that almost makes me think it may have been local election coverage, out of the norm format. Then male maybe canned but all so clear, "...on 14-40 AM and 94.5 FM, WZYX." Per Wiki, 94.5 is a translator http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WZYX along with 94.5 which wasn’t mentioned, so it’s WZYX, Cowan, TN, listed in the NRC Logbook as 5000/66, Oldies format, and neither translator is referenced here. It’s just a big jumble on 1440 now, Mexi-tunes (maybe Winter Park’s WPRD) and that unidentified ESPN station semi-dominating (which I swear came out of the sports news at 0104 as "Power Radio ESPN Sports Radio" but I could be wrong. No ESPN 1440 listings with that slogan in the NRC Logbook (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Abridged pile of junk: JRC NRD-535; ICOM IC-R75; Hammarlund HQ-180A; Aqua Guide 705 Radio Direction Finder; Sangean PR-D5; Sony ICF-7600GR; GE SuperRadio III; RadioShack DX-399; 1 X roof dipole; 1 X in-room random wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1600, Jan 5 at 1817 UT, only a quarter-hour before local mean noon, Vietnamese which must be from KRVA in The Metroplex TX, is overriding English groundwave from KUSH Cushing OK, and making a SAH of about 7 Hz. So here`s high-band skywave at midday, altho only 400 km away, and as we head from solstice to equinox, less and less likely, but should hold up a few more weeks from even greater distances if sought (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 17487-17501, Jan 5 at 1812 spurious talk extremely distorted, seemed to match bigsig from NWS marine weather feminine robot on 17362-USB, i.e. WLO Mobile AL (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Glenn Baxter Case --- Chief U.S. District Judge, John A. Woodcock Jr. has made a ruling in the Glenn Baxter (K1MAN) forfeiture case. The judge has granted summary judgment to the government in the amount of $10,000. The court affirmed the requested forfeiture amount for count one: Willful and malicious interference ($7,000) and count two; Willful or repeated failure to respond to FCC requests for information ($3,000) for a total of $10,000. "Mr. Baxter has delayed the Court’s work and made its job substantially more difficult by failing to comply with Local Rule 56." The Judge denied the Pecuniary Interest count (mentioning his website on the air) because the FCC failed to provide the court with screenshots or a transcript of the site. More info at http://VE7KFM.com (Bryan Crow, K3VR, Jan 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1/5/12 - FCC ANTI-PIRATE ENFORCEMENT PLUMMETS IN 2011 http://www.diymedia.net/archive/0112.htm#010512 [with histogram of enforcement actions per year; see original for many linx including to FCC NALs] The austerity gripping the United States caught up with the FCC's Enforcement Bureau last year, as field activity against unlicensed broadcasters dropped dramatically - to a level not seen in six years. From a record high of 447 enforcement actions clocked in 2009 and 2010, field agents executed just 184 in 2011, against fewer than 100 stations total. Massive drops were seen in the number of station- visits and warning letters issued. Although the 2011 stats will rise slightly after the FCC discloses its activity for the last two weeks of the year, the activity-crash is unmistakable. On the fiscal penalty front, the FCC issued 18 Notices of Apparent Liability and nine Forfeiture Orders in 2011, ringing up $168,400 in actual fines handed out. This actually represents an uptick from previous years; the agency hasn't been this fiscally punitive since 2005 - the year its field enforcement "surge" began. Whether these fines are actually collected is another matter entirely. In addition, plumbing the numbers reveals interesting subtleties, such as the fact that the FCC resolved nearly half of its fiscal attacks last year for a pittance. In Florida alone, a $20,000 NAL was knocked down to $500; a $15k NAL settled for $300; and two $10,000 NALs were squabbled to $250 and $350 respectively. Geographically speaking, the perennial hotbeds of unlicensed broadcasting were well-represented, though California stole the #2 spot from New York - extremely illustrative of the collapse in field activity. The FCC made contact with pirate radio stations in two dozen states and Puerto Rico. What the FCC failed to make up for in quantity it slightly redeemed in quality. This year's enforcement activity touched many long-standing members of the microradio movement. Stations that have been on the air for more than a decade, such as Free Radio Olympia, Berkeley Liberation Radio, Free Radio Santa Cruz, and Mbanna Kantako's Human Rights Radio, received pesky visits and letters from FCC agents, though all shrugged them off. Enforcement against AM and shortwave broadcasters is also on the rise - this is most likely due to an increase in activity on these bands rather than a change in FCC priorities regarding unlicensed broadcasting. Nearly 10% of 2011's field enforcement activity was directed at AM and shortwave pirates - the highest yearly percentage in the Enforcement Action Database's 15-year history. In perspective, however, the relative risk remains small on those bands: just eight AM/SW stations were harassed last year, the majority of them on the expanded AM band. It's been ten years since the FCC first promulgated the LPFM service, and eight since the first LPFM station took to the airwaves. For most of this period, the agency's enforcement strategy against pirate broadcasters has been administratively heavy, with field agents often taking a day-trip (or two) every month (or two) to track down radio pirates for the purposes of scaring them with paperwork. But the paper tiger obviously has better things to do, and what power it could bring to bear on the "pirate problem" seems to be in decline (via Artie Bigley, OH, DXLD) ** U S A. KMBH 88.9 uncensored student poetry readings Very Interesting programming upon tuning in the local NPR affiliate, KMBH-88.9 Harlingen, // KHID-88.1 McAllen, running a local program called Corazón Bilingüe, which was a program of students reading their poetry. Here is the website: http://corazonbilingue.com/ I have always loved listening to poetry readings, and I was thinking, this is GREAT, this is how radio was back in the 70's, with locally produced shows, where artists could, for the most part, say what they want without fear of retribution from the FCC. Of course, the poetry readings did have their fair share of colloquialisms, such as F*ck this and F*ck that, but very well placed within the poetry and not, like much of today`s hip-hop music where the 4-letter words are in your face and being yelled by an MC. I, for one, hope that this type of locally produced programming continues, it brings back memories of, what is now, a distant past (Steven Wiseblood, Harlingen TEXAS, Jan 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. THE FCC DEMONSTRATES THERE’S ROOM FOR MORE LPFMS ON THE AIRWAVES IN NEW REPORT http://flipthemedia.com/index.php/2012/01/the-fcc-says-room-for-more-lpfms-on-the-airwaves-in-new-report/ On Thursday, January 5th, The Federal Communications Commission released a report confirming that the presence of low power FM stations (LPFM) do not impact the advertising or audience of full power FM radio stations. Currently there are 838 LPFM stations in the country operating at 100 watts or less and reaching a radius of three to ten miles. In 2007, bipartisan legislation was introduced to increase the number of available LPFMs. It was then that the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) came out strongly against the introduction of what they called “thousands of micro-radio stations to the FM band”. It is possible that several hundred nonprofits will apply for new LPFM licenses when the application window opens in fall 2012 and the NAB has been concerned that they will interfere with full power stations. This finding wasn’t new to those of us who follow LPFM, but the FCC had to issue the report as a provision of the Local Community Radio Act that President Obama signed in 2011. The strength of LPFM stations is their potential to be community hubs. To foster relationship building at the local level, neighborhood groups need both physical and digital space. Nonprofits applying for LPFMs have the opportunity to broadcast terrestrially and on multiple digital platforms to extend their reach. Groups can get going now by starting online radio stations to build a volunteer base and an identity. This application window for LPFM licenses opens up an unprecedented opportunity to address historic inequities in communities. The numbers on media ownership by people of color are dismal. That’s why I’m excited about the upcoming discussion “Civil Rights on the Airwaves: Building Community Radio in Communities of Color”, which is being webcast this Monday at 1 pm PST. The webcast will include grassroots leaders talking about lessons learned in building LPFMs as community institutions and strategizing how to build more. “We’re hopeful the discussion will inspire other communities of color to plug into this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” says Danielle Mkali, facilitator of the Twin Cities Low-Power FM Collaboration and Media Justice Organizer for the Main Street Project. A great outline of their project can be found here. The discussion will be webcast on the New America Foundation site. Online viewers can Tweet questions with the hashtag #civilrightsonair. Prometheus Radio Project has more information on LPFM and starting a station. Watch a community radio barnraising for an LPFM: KCPN-FM Woodburn, Oregon. (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** VANUATU. 3945,0 28.12 0915 R Vanuatu fullt läsbar med mx. Också den 26.12 men då betydligt svagare. AN 3945.0, 28.12 0915, R Vanuatu completely audible with music. Also noted on Dec 26, but then much weaker. AN (Arne Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 8, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN [and non]. 9660, Jan 8 at 0643, about equal mix between VR and RA; the latter is listed as the 10 kW Brandon transmitter at 00- 08, also 10 degree azimuth, while VR is on 9660 at 0230-0700, the final semihour in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. Hoy estuve mirando el canal en Ustream del II ENCUENTRO DIEXISTA COLOMBO-VENEZOLANO, que se desarrolla en Táchira. Habló el representante del sistema de Radio Nacional de Venezuela y su departamento internacional a cargo de Daniel Peralta, el mencionó que su país sigue con el proyecto de instalar un gran centro de transmisión de onda corta. El hablo sobre la situación de las obras y dijo que están en un 30% y mencionó que el talón de aquiles del sistema es la energía. Ya que el centro se está construyendo en una pequeña localidad con poco acceso a redes eléctricas de gran potencia. Un abrazo a todos y nos escuchámos en: http://radio.solumedia.com.ar:8048/listen.pls (Jorge, Córdoba, Argentina, Jan 7, condiglist yg via DXLD) The info comes from a guy named Jorge (Querrel), in Argentina, via Condiglist YG. This is what he wrote translated: The representative of Radio Nacional de Venezuela and in charge of its international department Mr. Daniel Peralta, said his country continues with the project to install a large shortwave transmission center. He spoke on the status of the works and said they are at 30% and mentioned that the system's Achilles heel is energy. Since the center is being built in a small town with little access to high-power grids. edited and adapted text by (Horacio A. Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. CHÁVEZ RESUMES "ALÓ, PRESIDENTE!" BROADCAST Caracas. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez plans to resume on Sunday (January 8, 2012) his popular weekly radio and television program "Hello President," which went off the air for seven months after the firebrand leader was diagnosed with cancer, AFP reported. The program was broadcast for the last time on June 5 after running since shortly after Chávez became Venezuela's president in 1999. It is broadcast by Radio Nacional de Venezuela and state television VTV. The renewed broadcasts were announced on Twitter by Venezuela's Communication and Information Minister Andrés Izarra. More at: http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n267879 Will there be SW relays from Cuba? (Sergei S., Jan 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) including: Chávez was unable to appear for some of the broadcasts in April and May after flu and a sore knee forced him to stay away from political activity for several weeks. He halted the broadcasts in June, after undergoing surgery for a "pelvic abscess" in Cuba, where he announced he was suffering from cancer. He never revealed the exact location or nature of the cancer. A fierce critic of Washington and longtime leftist president, the 57- year-old Chávez underwent chemotherapy treatments in Caracas and Habana, which ended in September. Chávez now claims to be cured of cancer and predicts that 2012 will be a year of "much work" because of the upcoming presidential elections on October 7. He plans to seek reelection to a third term in office. Chavez uses the "Hello President" broadcasts as a tool of his government to communicate decisions about his management and development of his ideas on different themes. He has run the programs for as long as eight hours at a time (Focus Information Agency, Bulgaria? via DXLD) News reports said Hugo Chávez would resume his `Aló, Presidente` TV show Jan 8 after more than 6 months off caused initially by his cancer treatments. In the meantime, RHC has kept the imaginary Sunday block on its schedule: América Central 13680 14-18 UT Caribe 11690 14-18 UT América del Sur 15370/17750 14-18 UT América del Norte 13750 14-18 UT And RHC has kept running 13750 on Sunday mornings only with its own programming, again Jan 8. Certainly no Venezuelan relay as early as 1400, or even 1517, but included DX program `En Contacto` at 1435- 1450, interviewing visiting Venezuelan DXer Willian Gómez (his fourth trip to Cuba). Recheck at 1630-1700+ finds 13750 is still on but only with variety of vocal music, so must be standing by for Hugo; carriers on 17750 and 15370, but no signals on 13680 and 11690. Maybe the show website http://www.alopresidente.gob.ve which has been dormant since last summer, except for auto-updates on the date displayed, will have something new? Yes, http://www.alopresidente.gob.ve/info/2/2144/este_domingo_8.html but nothing about exactly when it will start, let alone end, and there is no live video feed yet by 1710, while 13750 is still music-filling. [Later:] I kept monitoring 13750, by far the best signal, and it kept playing music, so assumed A,P was still delayed, but finally at 1800 I recheck the other frequencies, and there`s Hugo! on 15370 best, 17750 next, 13680 worst, and nothing on 11690. Video+audio also underway on website. Cubans screwed up again failing to get the proper feed on the best SW frequency, the one for NAm. At 1829 I notice that the music has stopped on 13750. Open carrier, cuts off and on briefly, 1831 finally starts modulating, picking up Aló Presidente. But not for long: Next check at 1912, all the RHC A,P frequencies are off, but Hugo goes on and on via the video webcast. A,P is open-ended as far as Venezuelan TV is concerned, maybe hours more (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VENEZUELA SUNDAY PROGRAM ALO PRESIDENTE RESUMES Escrito por Heidy Morin Rueda domingo, 08 de enero de 2012 http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=466215 08 de enero de 2012, 12:51Caracas, Jan 8 (Prensa Latina) The radio- television Sunday program Alo Presidente, a space used to launch social projects and exchanges between Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and the population, resumed its broadcasts. The Head of State began the program number 376 from Monagas, in dialogue with oil workers in that city, about the need to increase the production of black gold to half a million barrels a day in the Orinoco Belt, under a plan that he designated as Orinoco Socialist Project. Today`s broadcast, with a new format, takes place in the oil area known as the biggest source of reserves of liquid hydrocarbons in the world. The last Chavez Sunday program was held on June 5, 2011, and aired for the first time in May 1999, at the headquarters of Venezuela National Radio (RNV) in the capital. hr/as/hmr/dav Modificado el (domingo, 08 de enero de 2012) (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) CHÁVEZ’S ‘ALO PRESIDENTE’ RETURNS TO VENEZUELAN TV President Hugo Chávez’s signature “Alo Presidente” TV show returned to Venezuelan screens today in the latest milestone of his recovery from cancer at the start of an election year. The 57-year-old has been on television a lot in recent weeks, looking stronger and boasting a new head of hair as he hosted regional leaders in Caracas last month then made his first official foreign trip since having surgery last June. But the formal relaunch of the programme - often hours-long folksy monologues that the socialist leader uses to tell stories, croon songs, announce the nationalization of companies and bait foes - will cheer his supporters ahead of the 7 October vote. “Here we are in Alo Presidente! … we have to coordinate a bit better,” Chávez said after technical problems caused the audio to be cut for a few minutes at the start of the show. The programme is shown live on state media and is often broadcast from different locations around the country. Sunday’s show was transmitted from the giant Petromonagas oil facility. “The return of the weekly show, along with the president’s visibly renewed hairline, suggests Chávez is recovering from his recent bout of cancer. Alo Presidente … is much more than a chat show,” said the UK-based LatinNews think tank. “President Chávez has made more policy on the airwaves than he has in the council of ministers.” The show first aired in May 1999 and was last broadcast on 5 June, 2011, just before Chávez underwent surgery in Cuba to remove a large malignant tumor from his pelvis. Officials have promised a new format for the programme, including taking phone calls live from the public (Source: Reuters)(January 8th, 2012 - 21:22 UT by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DLXD) LLEVA CHÁVEZ SU PROGRAMA DE RADIO A FACEBOOK Y TWITTER Caracas, 7 Ene (Notimex).- El programa Aló Presidente del mandatario venezolano Hugo Chávez, que se reanuda este domingo después de siete meses, tendrá un perfil en la red social Facebook para interactuar con la población, informó hoy el gobierno. El perfil de la red social, que cuenta con fotos, videos, información y un muro para expresar sus inquietudes, aportes, propuestas y problemas, se suma a la cuenta oficial enTwitter: @Alo_Presidente, informó el ministro de Comunicación e Información, Andrés Izarra. El programa Aló Presidente se emitió por primera vez desde Caracas el 23 de mayo de 1999, pero había sido suspendido luego que se le detectó cáncer pélvico al presidente Chávez, el cual dice haber superado. El mandatario anunció este día que el programa número 376 se realizará este domingo desde la Faja Petrolífera del Orinoco, considerada la fuente de reservas de hidrocarburos líquidos más grande del mundo, al sur de los estados Guárico, Anzoátegui y Monagas. FUENTE: El Sexenio de México http://bit.ly/wbYHeS Twitter: https://twitter.com/Alo_Presidente_ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Programa-Al%C3%B3-Presidente/109032239142825?ref=ts&v=wall Sitio Web: http://www.alopresidente.gob.ve (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, Jan 7, DXLD) ** VIETNAM [and non]. 13730-13733 jamming against RFA Vietnamese ??? Listen to the enclosed MP4 File from Hanoi at 1434 UT today. But heard no jamming on 13735 on Hoh Chi Min City/Saigon recording. Glenn, came across of a howler buoy jamming sound in range 13730 to 13733 kHz around 1415 UT today Jan 6th. Nearby on 13735 RFA Vietnamese sce is registered at 14-15 UT via Iranawila. But sound was different compared to FEBC jamming by Vietnam noted previously. Needs more monitoring on other frequencies. vy73 (Wolfgang, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** WALES [non and non non]. Responding to a question by Steve Handler, Don Jensen of the NASWA Country List Committee writes in the January NASWA Journal that the Woofferton UK site is right on the border between England and Wales, such that some of the antennas are in each `radio country`. While it would be nice to allow Woofferton, Wales to be counted separately from England, he concluded that it would be ``virtually impossible to know which antenna was used during any particular transmission``, so it will continue to be considered all- England (even tho NASWA already recognizes Wales as a SW radio country due to previous pirate activity). Defeatist! I`ll bet Wolfgang Büschel or other shortwavesites specialists can figure out which antenna azimuths come from Wales, if they care to, based on satellite imagery of the site. Most likely, if the boundary should be north-south at this location, azimuths not heading eastward could be from [Old North] Wales (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Chaps, Woofferton, where I have worked for the last 29 years is all in England BUT is split between two English counties of Herefordshire (sender building and 2/3 antennas) and Shropshire (1/3 antennas). So sorry to disappoint you! Regards (Dave G4OYX Porter, Senior Transmitter Engineer, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) Re: [NASWA] Woofferton semi-Welsh? Contrary to my previous belief that Herefordshire was within traditional Welsh borders, as Wooferton [sic] engineer Dave Porter/G4OXY points out, currently and in recent times at least, both UK counties, Herefordshire and Shropshire (across whose common border the Wooferton site is spread), are in England. The former is not within Wales. Historically, Herefordshire's Welsh connections are a little gray, so perhaps "semi-Welsh" is as close as it gets. But close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Of course, as Glenn notes, one now can view SW xmtr sites via Google satellite images, but Handler's original question involved how to count a 1970s vintage VOA QSL via Wooferton. No satellite images for that era are available on line so, indeed, specific antenna and beam headings in the '70s likely are unknowable today. But since neither county is in Wales, the entire issue is irrelevant. Sorry for any confusion. All one needs to come away with is that, as the current NASWA Journal indicates, Wooferton transmissions should continue to count as the "radio country," England (Don Jensen, NASWA CLC Chair, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. CLANDESTINA: 1550, Polisario Front, Rabouni, ALG, 1202-1300*, 08 Jan, Arabic, talks, music, anthem at s/off; 45444 (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Some changes of transmissions via BABCOCK from Jan. 1-4: Zimbabwe Community Radio/Radio Dialogue 1600-1700 5890 MEY 100 kW / 000 deg to ZWE En/Ndebele/Shona, new time 1755-1855 4895 MEY 100 kW / 000 deg to ZWE En/Ndebele/Shona, cancelled (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, 10 Jan via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Re:`` 1053, at 1145, I'm again hearing a strong bubble jammer here, clearly audible when cochannel domestics are nulled. Korea? PDR Korea? Someone else? 26/12 (David Sharp, NSW, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) N. Korean 1053 jammer is commonly heard in WNAm (gh, DXLD)`` NORTH Korean? Why would they jam themselves? 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Oops, must be the South jamming 500 kW Pyongyang BS, right? (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 1700: I've got - classical on 1700, 1415 Central time in Houston, covering both KVNS and KKLF. Receiver CC-EP (Bruce Carter, TX, Jan 7, ABDX via DXLD) No such format known in US; Cuban test? Or Houston-area pirate. See if it matches KUHF classical stream (gh) UNIDENTIFIED. 3930.03, 1515-1545* 08.01, with distorted talk in unID language with songs, 22322 improving to 33332, heavily jammed which first stopped at 1633*. Could be R Voice of Kurdistan? (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 4755,003 3.1 1540 OID som startar 14.00 och stänger 16.00 ofta störd av utility. Ofta ganska svag. Denna dag 2-3. IDar fonetiskt” ”Radio Vengaruska Moskva”. Torde således vara en Ryss, men finner ingen information om denna. Musik av västerländsk typ och stänger med spel på troligen sträng instrument. OB 4755.003, 1.3 1540, UNID that starts 1400 and closes 1600, often disturbed by utility. Often quite weak. This day 2-3. ID phonetically as "Radio Vengaruska Moscow". Ought to be a Russian, but I can’t find any information about this. Western type music, and closes with music from most likely string instruments (Olle Bjurström, Sweden, SW Bulletin Jan 8, translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4875.35, could this be the V. Iranian Kurdistan? Heard at tune-in at 1422 with ?? chanting/singing vernacular music to 1426, then short orchestral piece. F announcer talked in ?? language to abrupt off at 1428* 1/11 (Jim Young, WPC6JY, ICOM IC-706 + Grundig Satellite 800 + 40-M vertical + 60-M inverted Vee, Inspiration Point, (7400 feet) CA, NASWA yg via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 5908 USB, 0325. CW type signal seemingly with ongoing nonsense dots. Not a Cuban numbers station that I could tell. Similar to the description of the UnID which Glenn Hauser reported on 6183 [and 6000; see 6183 below] on 1/5. QRMing Radio Canada International via Skelton UK on 5905 which was poor to begin with. 1/6/12 (Mark Taylor, Madison WI, WinRadio g313e, Grunding G1 & G5, Satellit 800; EWE, Flextenna, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 5985.0 on Jan 11. After Shiokaze (via Yamata, Japan) signed off at 1430, I found two UNID stations. The stronger one I believe may have been Voice of Russia in Turkish, as the language sounded correct. The weaker station started reciting from the Qur’an at 1431, consistent with the sign on of VIRI (Iran). Of course best in LSB due to Myanmar on 5985.8. Today there was no jamming of Shiokaze by N. Korea, so the two stations had a chance of being heard (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6183.0, Jan 5 at 0724, XEPPM 6185 during classical music has QRM from CW beeps 2 kHz lower. I count them at the rate of 50 per minute, so not based on timesignaling, and they seem slightly unevenly spaced, one missing occasionally. 6000.0, Jan 5 at 0728, the same kind of CW beeps are heard here, but not synchronized with 6183. ??? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also 5908 above UNIDENTIFIED. 7200, Jan 9 at 0626, something is here with weak talk on AM, maybe Arabish, i.e. SUDAN, but ETHIOPIA has also been reported on 7200 at various times. Normally I don`t hear anything on 7200 at this hour, but Sudan is supposedly scheduled all the way from 03 to 21. At 0627 an AM ham hits the frequency calling CQ, KB3(?)-something. He is close enough to make a fast SAH; stronger signal but weak modulation. At 0630 he or another AM ham comes back far enough off 7200 to make an audible het. At 0643 all I can make out is a carrier, no modulation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9670, Jan 9 at 1420, continuous 1 kHz tone, rechecked at 1431, 1439, 1448, 1501, but gone at next check 1530. Only thing scheduled at 14-15 in HFCC, EiBi and Aoki is VOA Tibetan via Lampertheim, GERMANY, but no sign of anything but the tone. EiBi adds the inevitable CNR1 jammer, but no sign of it either. So suspect the tone was out of Lampertheim, lacking the VOA Tibetan input (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11532.0, Jan 6 at 0632 UT, no broadcasters audible on 25m, but huge S9+25 signal here, open carrier, then brief segment of digital racket, back to carrier past 0652. Presumed part of the Cuban spy agency, and could well be using a same 250 kW transmitter as RHC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11705, 08/Jan 2325, in French. Nothing in Aoki, Eibi and HFCC. OM talk, short Arabic music. At 2330 OM presents news, before probable ID, but I had to answer a phone call. At 2334 more short Arabic music, then YL talk. At 2342 Arabic music. At 2348 Arabic music without musical accompaniment. After 2352, only the carrier. I heard until 0005 and only the carrier. Moderate to strong QRM unidentified. 33433 (Jorge Freitas-B) Audio on 11705 UNID on my blog: http://www.ipernity.com/doc/75006/12026754/ 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Probably Libya new time and frequency at 2300-2400 UT to Saharan west African French speaking audience ? 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Difficult to understand, but several mentions of Algeria. Could it be the new transmitters of TDA? (JM Aubier, France, Jan 9, ibid.) So you were hearing it today already at 2218 UT? Nothing audible on 11705 here or on Netherlands SDR at several chex between 2245 and 2345. Note Wolfy`s log a few days ago that RFI French was still on 11705 air at 18-20* Maybe that stayed on late? (Glenn, OK, ibid.) Today I have not heard. The time of the listening was long after of scheduled to the RFI. The time I'm sure, after the listening I sent the email. RFI plays this type of Arabic music? 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA - Brasil 0016 UT Jan 10, ibid.) As Bill Bingham, RSA, mentioned already: [see FRANCE] Radio France International, 11705 Issoudun. Jan 08, 2012, Sunday. *1803-2244. French. Sign on at *1803, one hour later than listed 1700 (HFCC, EiBi). Still going strong at 2244, nearly two hours after supposed sign off of 2100* (HFCC, EiBi), but not sure if its still targetted to central Africa. At nearly 1 am local, and having already dozed-off, I abandon monitoring. Note added later: This over-run was clearly a mistake. Checked again the next night, Jan 9, and it was already off air at 2004. Good - fair. To central Africa (EiBi). Jo'burg sunset 1705 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It could be an engineering fault, that RFI switched off late at 2244 UT? Still a puzzle, needs more monitoring. RTA two 250 kW sites at Bechar (looks like easy dipole antenna ready in G.E. image, targeted to Eastern Sahara/Sahel) and Ouagla at 206 degrees to western Sahel zone seems to be ready soon, maybe in A-12 from Apr 1st? TDA/RTA usually publicize carefully all their transmitter actions on internet page, like lately inauguration of the new HARRIS 600 kW units. 73 de wolfy 0051 ut jan 10 2012-01-10, RFI 11705 signing OFF at exact 2000 UT, 1st time pip. listen recording. 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Hi Wolfy, Yes, thanks, heard it live and logged it. It occurs to me that on Jan 8 TDA may have scheduled a test for Algeria (or someone else Arabic), and just kept the transmitter going with RFI in the interim period until the test was due. Just a guess. Regards, (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15670, 1345 27 Dec, Rel [relay? religious? reliable?], ``Global Media Network``, ``Come Let Us Adore Him``, English, SIO 434 (Chrissy Brand, Manchester, HF Logbook, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) This one has me stumped, nothing listed. Special for Xmas? (gh) UNIDENTIFIED. 15739-SSB, Jan 11 at 1535, 2-way in Spanish, reminding us that perhaps by strange coincidence, there are currently no significant broadcast signals to be heard between 15610 WEWN and 15825 WWCR --- making WWCR very isolated from the mainstream, just as it is by its far-right politico-religious programming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ ACKNOWLEDGED ON WORLD OF RADIO 1599: A contribution in my appreciation of all your radio related activities (Kraig Krist, Manassas VA, with a check in the mail to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702) TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED ON SUBSEQUENT PROGRAMS: Glenn, I wish I could give you more money. Our 5 month old, now 3 and a half years old, listens to your show because it`s some of the only good talking around. Bill and Judy liked too (Fred Jodry, New Rochelle NY, with an MO to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702) Thanks to a check in the mail marked ``confidential`` with a postit ``Keep up the great work``, to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702 Thanks to Jack Smith, Newport NC, for an MO in the mail to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702. Hi Glenn: Thanks for another year of WOR - a great source of info! All the best for 2012! Regards, (Mike Beu, KD5DSQ, Austin, Texas, with a contribution via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com) Thanks for a contribution from Chuck Ermatinger, MO (gh) Hi, Glenn, Been quite a while! About 20+ years since I last contacted you with SW news; from Minneapolis, I believe. The first time I called you was for my logging of Radio Grønlands on 3999 kHz, which had been reactivated. I think that was 1985 or 86' via the old fashioned way, telephone! I'm usually in the wrong place at the right time to listen to WOR via SW like I used to. So, I just go to your website; much more convenient for me. I've also donated to WOR via PayPal. Keep up the good work, Glenn! (Terry Palmersheim, KT7DX, Helena, MT 59602) Thanks for the weekly show which I used to listen to on WRN but now usually via your webstream (Andrew Rogers, Worcester, England, with a contribution in US$ via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ WRTH VIA AMAZON.COM Saw the Amazon.com thing about when people would receive their WRTH's. Ordered mine on Dec. 21 and received it yesterday, Jan. 4. Much faster than last year when it was sometime in early Feb (Terry Palmersheim, KT7DX, Helena, MT 59602, Jan 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) MUSIC ON SHORT WAVES Gift English-speaking fans of the music for the New Year from Shukhrat Rakhmatullayev's - he created on his website page "Music on Short Waves". In it he put the English version of the list of music gear, placed in a class of the Music on the AM broadcast/ Music-on-SW time under my editorship. http://www.quinbo.hostei.com/music.html 73! (Anatoly Klepov, RusDX 8 Jan via DXLD) MUSEA +++++ YOUTUBE: 1961 LP OF RADIO MOSCOW RECORDINGS "Radio Moscow and the Western Hemisphere," 1961 Cook Labs This LP compiles several different shortwave radio broadcasts from the former Soviet Union during the Cold War. Side One in two parts: Part One http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODH1yjmDon8 Part Two http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDhHk3N9X_o Side Two now uploaded; Part Three http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWyphVhYKsk Part Four http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihgAEBmeC9I (Mike Barraclough, Jan 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ FCC NEWS BRIEFS - TV WHITE SPACES SLOWLY BEING UNLEASHED The FCC has approved the first TV white space database system operated by an outside company and the first device to transmit on an unlicensed basis on so-called unused frequencies in the TV bands. This means, among other things, that the days of fringe area TV reception are numbered: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-11-2043A1.doc http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-311652A1.doc "We [the FCC] disagree with the EIBASS that the [white spaces] databases should protect the service of Mexican and Canadian stations in the territory of the United States because Section 15.712(g) of the Commission's rules provides that TV bands databases are not required to protect the portions of Canadian or Mexican television stations' contours that fall within the United States...." See page 2, paragraph 3: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-11-2044A1.doc LPFM STATIONS DO NOT DETRACT FROM FULL SERVICE COMMERCIAL FMS FCC reports to Congress regarding the economic impact of LPFM stations on full-service commercial FM stations. They conclude that, "on the whole, LPFM stations do not currently have, and in the future are unlikely to have, a demonstrable economic impact on full service commercial FM radio stations." http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-12-2A1.doc (CGC Communicator Jan 9 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) BUZZKILL KILLED Time to do the Snoopy Dance! After only a couple of weeks of arguing with my local utility (PP&L), I finally got them to repair the 500 kV transmission line which runs about 300 m behind my property and was a real buzzkill almost 24/7. They also cleaned up a few of their utility poles again. Now 518 kHz is free for NAVTEX DX and overall noise is down about 15 dB. I am now at something approaching normal listening conditions. 73 (Al Muick, Whitehall, Pennsylvania, USA, Jan 6, WinRadio G303e, Wellbrook ALA1530P active loop oriented NNW-ESE, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Al, Congratulations. Not easy to get power companies to spend money to "clean up" RFI hot spots. From my experience, even when I find a "hot spot", it's not an easy effort to get the electric company to check it out. Last time I complained, they sent an engineer to my home, "demanding" to see my equipment. Told them to "jump off a cliff", especially since I also work in radio, have some knowledge of RFI and where that fails, can call upon my station's chief engineer (who was trained by NHK engineers). So- be proud of your success and 73s (David Sharp, NSW, ibid.) Dave, Wow, they are sure uncooperative there! Fortunately, here in the USA, the FCC actually has jurisdiction over RFI and "unintentional radiators." That means that there is always an ace in the hole for DXers and hams. The ARRL works with the FCC to fix these problems when the utility is recalcitrant. It may take months, but in the end, it will normally get fixed, because the FCC can and will issue violation notices and hefty fines to utility companies that do not run a tight ship. No one wanted to see my setup. I identified myself as a radio amateur and dx'er and when I got the briefest resistance from them, mentioned that I was aware of the FCC's authority and wouldn't it be a shame if we had to go that route. Instant cooperation. The 500 kV line put on a small fireworks display some nights when the wind was fierce and there was arcing amongst the bell insulators. There is still one pole about 150m up the road that they are to work on tomorrow. If you or anyone is interested to see what the ARRL/FCC is doing about RFI, including how to diagnose where it is coming from and which device, you can have a look at: http://www.arrl.org/radio-frequency-interference-rfi Hams and DX'ers can avail themselves of the ARRL's assistance. No membership is necessary. 73 (Al - KD3WU Muick, PA, ibid.) I have the same problem, but they will hardly fix. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA - Brasil, 12 14´S 38 58´W, ibid.) Hi Al, Being from the USA (Florida) I am aware of the procedures there. However, I found my local electric company (in FL) uncooperative when I first complained. They "warmed up" to my efforts after a suspect transformer actually exploded! In Australia, our equivalent of the FCC, ACMA, moves very slowly! The AM station I work for, was receiving many complaints from listeners, who could no longer hear us (and these were local listeners, within a mile or two of our 10 kW transmitter). Long story short: the interference came from street light PE cells. From the time of first complaints, through to ACMA officials investigating the problem, to the utility company correcting the situation, took no less than THREE years! (And keep in mind that this "speedy" response came after my station's engineer ultimately filed a complaint with ACMA.) 73s (David Sharp, ibid.) Hi Dave, Three years?! Man, I feel now like I've won the lottery! That's incredible. The more I read, the more I feel like I was extremely fortunate to have only waited a couple of weeks. The streetlight cells are a major pain, even here. I've seen some incredible RFI war stories on the 'Net, and a lot of them focus around those little buggers. 73 (Al Muick, ibid.) Hi Al, For your benefit, and anyone else following this thread: while it did take 3 years to resolve the issue, the end result was, ACMA instructed the electric company to change EVERY street light PE cell, which mostly resolved the issue. This happened in 2011. Initially, the utility company made fundamental changes to the street light grid, around 2007 I think, and without consultation with any of the broadcasters in town. It wasn't long after, the interference (in the form of a 50 Hz hum) began. For you, and anyone else with RFI issues, traceable to the electric grid: persist with complaints. From experience, one or two calls usually aren't enough and it is helpful if you can trace the source. 73s (David Sharp, NSW, ibid.) NO ANTENNAS HERE, PLEASE If you are told "No antennas allowed``, could you first not write to your local preacher or one of those that has a shortwave station? I am thinking, if you`re in the USA and say ``I cannot listen to you``, or ``they are stopping me from hearing the gospel``, in a land which is heavy into this type of thing, surely you would have a lot of backing; just an idea. In Ireland you can tune into the local church on your CB radio re home bound listeners. The power and fear of God should win over any antenna problems; by the way, I am in England. Mike M3EMB Rae, Jan 2, ABDX via DXLD) None of that is necessary in the United States. We have federal regulations like OTARD via the FCC http://www.fcc.gov/guides/over-air-reception-devices-rule that allow receiving antennas and also laws that allow ham antennas and many states and municipalities have laws that allow antennas that even supersede HOA agreements (Kevin Redding, Crump, TN, ibid.) From that link: Q: I want to install an antenna for broadcast radio or amateur radio. Does the rule apply to me? A: No. The rule does not apply to antennas used for AM/FM radio, amateur ("ham") radio (see 47 C.F.R. §97.15), Citizen's Band ("CB") radio or Digital Audio Radio Services ("DARS"). (Dan Ferguson, SC, ibid.) There is a ham radio law plus a court case that covers this. It was posted here a couple of years back (Kevin Redding, Crump, TN, ibid) A few years ago I went to a ham radio club meeting where this subject was covered in great detail by a club member who is a ham and an attorney. He went over the law, and what the original intent of the ARRL was in sponsoring it. It ended up being a real let down at the end. To sum up a very lengthy presentation in a few words, he told us that anyone who buys property that is covered by an HOA or any covenant control is out of luck because this law won't help them at all. As I remember, the law is called PRB-2, or something like that. The only way this law would help anyone would be if an HOA or similar control was going to be put into place after the person already owned the property. Bottom line is, if you didn't like the terms when you bought here, you shouldn't have bought here because you are out of luck. As he explained it, the ARRL was rushed in putting together this bill and they had to make some compromises. Those compromises pretty well watered it down to where it was effective only in very few situations. His understanding was that the ARRL wants to revise the law to make it more effective, but there isn't much chance of them being able to get it through. I am in a condo community that has an HOA totally against any kind of antennas, yet they allow ugly satellite dishes. I don't have cable or satellite, so I have to rely on over the air signals, which are extremely hard to get since the change to digital. About the only choice I have for putting up an antenna is to hide it in the attic. It doesn't seem fair to me that my neighbors can put up an ugly dish to receive TV, yet I can't put up a yagi to receive an air signal, but that's the way it is and none of the existing laws can change it. Obviously, ham antennas are also out of the question, so I am limited to using a mobile rig in the car or a handheld. 73, (Kit Sage, W5KAT, Arvada, CO, ibid.) Arvada = Denver suburb, and has trouble with local DTV reception! (gh) It should be against the law for someone or some minority group of individuals to impose their vision of aesthetics on a community of property owners that own their very own property to the point where the entire community has to sacrifice their very quality of life. Yes - a satellite dish - and a big cluster of them, which is more oft the case in a condo complex - is far more unsightly than a few yagis. To this day, I vow never to EVER live in an HOA community if anything because of principle - simply because of how personal freedom is affected, even though one owns his or her own property. One person's (or one panel's) vision of whether it is right for you to air-dry your laundry, have a TV antenna, or grow daisies on your patio is far worse than any oppressive government's rule, especially if they threaten you with legal action. Thank God I live in the rural community with a half-acre of land that I can use however I see fit without neighbors or HOA board members with minds from some other planet threatening to sue (as if THEY hold your property deed). Especially for those of you on this list who might not have had any real viable choice of where you are able to live now, I feel VERY BAD and VERY SORRY for those of you now 'jailed' by HOAs and covenants - those should be totally illegal here in the United States of America. If HOA's think that a TV or ham antenna is going to bring down property values, try over-pricing the units, and watch the foreclosure rate continue to soar - THAT will really bring down home values. Crime brings down home values. Lack of access to public services and schools brings down home values. Lack of care of property (rotting wood, dead landscape, dangerous driveway/sidewalk/tree conditions, gutters/shutters/banisters falling off, peeling paint, broken windows, caved-in roof, fallen fences) brings down home values. TV and ham antennas DON'T bring down property values. Hanging the wash out doesn't lower property values. Planting rosemary instead of rose bushes, or forgetting to roll the trash cans in from the curb on Trash Day doesn't lower property values. In 1997, I managed a Radioshack store in Santa Paula, CA. I used to always keep on hand all the over-the-air TV and FM antennas, and satellite TV gear for the community. There was a mobile home park down the road where many of my customers lived, and an HOA existed there prohibiting the use of any type of outdoor antenna. But several customers from that neighborhood came in anyway to buy VHF/UHF antennas (they refused to get cable or did not have the financial means to get a satellite TV contract). I made sure to explain to them that they had the right to over-the-air reception, and gave them a copy of the AB104 (Comm Act of 1996 allowing for a 3-foot outdoor TV antenna even in an HOA or covenant area). One day, without telling me who he was, the HOA president walked into my store, and began asking me (as if he was a legitimate customer) about hooking up his TV to an over-the air antenna and a DirecTV dish. I ran though all the options and prices with him, and then he explained that he lived in the mobile home park down the road, and that there was an HOA restriction. I explained AB104 and that as long as he used this dish and that yagi, he would be OK. After his big long performance as a real customer, he then spilled the beans and told me that he was the president of the HOA, and accused me of being responsible for 'cluttering his park up with unsightly TV antennas'. I told him that his customers had a legal right to over- the-air broadcasts, that HE was illegally attempting to prevent their access to it (I handed him a copy of the law verbiage), and that HE was furthermore negatively impacting MY OWN personal livelihood as a sales manager and the success of a locally-based community business by discouraging customers from coming to my store to buy antennas and accessories they had a right to use in his park. He looked at the copy of the law (reading it for about 5 minutes at the doorway), and then stormed out without saying another word. Over the next few weeks and months, I noticed a huge surge of customers coming in from that same mobile home park for the small yagis and satellite TV systems. I asked one of the customers, and they said the restriction was lifted - so something must have clicked with that guy. (Darwin Long, Buras, LA, ibid.) This is not true. The FCC *does* pre-empt HOA jurisdiction over OTA antennas for broadcast television reception. Here's the FCC FAQ page about the "OTARD" rules that cover that pre-emption: http://www.fcc.gov/guides/over-air-reception-devices-rule If they allow satellite dishes, they MUST allow you to put up a TV yagi. No exceptions. No ifs, ands or buts. s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) But, how do you really feel? But, seriously folks, I do live in a subdivision controlled by an HOA. However, I have a neighbor, who used to be a president of an HOA in another county, and he happens to be an Amateur Radio Operator. He helped me with my SW antenna and several Amateur antenna designs that have worked to some degree or another, but he explained that you can put something up and if it receives no complaints, it's grandfathered in after a certain time period. No one has ever complained about any of my wires or his. We have explained at meetings what we do, but I don't think most folks here care too much as long as they're mostly out of sight. Yes; I'd love to throw up a tower or three, but I really don't have the money to do so anyway, and I do fine with what I have. Maybe one day I'll have the money, but if I had the money, I wouldn't live where I live and I wouldn't have too much to worry about. HOA's do have their place, but I do agree they sometimes overstep their bounds. (KI4SYC, Ira Elbert New, III, Watkinsville, Georgia, Proudly Serving You Since 1964, ibid.) Very interesting replies. To get over a UK England problem, a friend obtained an old fire engine with ladder, parked it in the road outside his house and put his antennas on the top off the ladder. This is a true story; he ran the lead into his room. Soon the road tax people told his to move it, or face a road tax, so he did by a few feet or metres. It was a cat and mouse game; in his block - flats they tried to complain, but seeing as no antennas were on any land, could not do a thing. From time to time he operated semi mobile by sitting in the fire unit`s cabin. Now not all of us can buy a used fire engine but we can a car automobile and sit in that or have a whip on its roof and operate from indoors - home. Anyone sending out RF can get blamed for BCI or TVI even - that`s even if your log shows you were on holiday or had sold your rig. It`s an all round fight being a ham, and it`s not our fault most of the time. Good luck with your antenna installations; you may need that luck (Michael M3EMB Rae, England, Jan 4, ibid.) About 10 years ago, some company ‹ a wireless carrier, as I recall ‹ wanted to put up a tower but couldn`t because of height restrictions. However, the ordinance didn`t apply to structures attached to a building. So they bought a building and added a chimney tall enough to get the coverage they needed for that site (Tim Kridel, ibid.) Can you get this guy to come over here with Fire Engine to help me install an antenna? That sounds like what I need, a big tall ladder to help get up and over some trees (KI4SYC Ira Elbert New, III, Watkinsville, Georgia, ibid.) I start giving my opinions and people that read them sometimes get mad, at me. Things are getting worse than you note. In Connecticut anyway every town has brand new 'blight' laws which cover anything that the neighbors do not like to look at. Then they use it to make revenue for the government charging some ridiculous fine per day. Then the 'recyclable department' surely covers anything metal on your property. I already have a violation here for 'metal wires' in the yard. Yes. You can hire a lawyer and fight. The towns don't care as they have endless lawyers from your tax dollars. I am not even thinking of that private covenant stuff. Remember to change your toilet; you need a permit and pay for it (zz6, ibid.) When they violate a federal law (PRB-1) which allows ham radio antennas, then that would cost them big bucks. It also would allow your antennas. Don't have a ham license? The test for the lowest level license could be done in a weekend. ARRL is right near Hartford. I'll make one simple political comment, and nothing else. When a government does things you don't like, then vote against everything associated with them. And ask your friends to do the same (Craig Healy, Providence, RI [contract engineer for several stations], ibid.) A potential problem might be allowing Amateur Radio antennas but what do they look like? Neat? I enjoy low frequencies so it gets into radials, big grounds, etc. Trees as antenna supports. [On] One amateur radio messageboard I expressed some questions and I immediate became the 'turd'. Why do you not clean up your garbage? A million ways that antennas have to look. Everything on the side of the GOD --- the inspector or 'officer' or?? doing their godly duty only. I show emotion and there is something wrong with me. I think these issues need to have people show emotion. Firmness, commitment, etc. I am not talking about being real 'nasty'. I thought that thing about TV antennas was interesting. I guess I was not even aware of it (law). I have to read it more. I think Amateur Radio, can't you by theory operate TV on higher frequencies? Amateur Radio? KH8AC, I got my old call back recently (this place is not to talk about amateur radio so...) Otherwise you should see these complaint files in various towns. The pile gets bigger and bigger. Everybody complains about their neighbor but I was told it was the real estate people that go through an area and complain wholesale. Gotta increase property values (zz6, ibid.) Bottom line is that the antenna design doesn't really matter as long as it's not way too large. They allow a tower of maybe 40' or so with an antenna on top. Wire antennas in the yard will work on 160m as well as MW and SW. Not their business as to how you use it as long as it fits potential ham use. This describes it and how it's used: http://www.arrl.org/prb-1 (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) Well, I guess someone might be mad that I have a big, tall 50-foot antenna tower in my backyard - found one of the lower nylon guy lines cut this morning (straight tool mark), and had to replace it. Wife thinks it might be a random act from kids that like to cut through our yard while playing with their air rifles. Then again, does one really know? Glad the tower didn't come crashing down. Time to fence the backyard. To keep it on-topic, my beacon (BR at 186 kHz) is being reported as loud and clear in northern Tennessee tonight, and is heard nearly nightly in Chicago and western New Mexico thus far this season. Pays to be sitting on a strip of land sticking out in the Gulf (Darwin Long, Buras, LA, ibid.) FM ANTENNA FOR A NEWBIE I've been a ham and SWL most of my life, but have always lived in VHF challenged areas so have not tried any serious FM DXing. With a recent move to Tucson, AZ, I'm a little more encouraged. In looking at antennas, the Winegard HD6055P looks to be reasonable in a surprisingly small amount of choices. Any thoughts on this or other possibilities would be appreciated. Thanks! (Bob Coomler W7SWL, W6RJC, Tucson, AZ, 30 Dec, WTFDA via DXLD) Bob, there's so little in the way of FM antennas anymore that if you can find a HD6055P, take it. The Probe 9s, the APS13s, the Magnum Dynalab MD200s (whatever they were called) are all history. The only super fringe FM antenna I can think of now is the Korner 15.11 or 19.3 made in Europe and mainly sold as a kit. Check out this page http://www.wtfda.info/showthread.php?5582-Korner-15.11-FM-antenna I don't know of anyone in the US who has one. The freight probably would be too much for most of us. But Tucson might be a good place for one unlike here in IBOC city (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT, ibid.) NEW FM DX YAGIS COMING SOON Hello! As there is a FM DX antenna thread percolating now I thought I'd let the group here know that a series of new ultra-high performance FM broadcast band Yagi antennas will hit the market early in 2012. I know this because I am a partner in the company and it was my idea to extend our product line to FM BC DXers! The antennas will be designed as if they were for EME (moonbounce) use -- in other words, extremely low sidelobes and F/B. There have never been antennas like this heretofore for the FM BC band, consumer or professional. Our antennas are built to withstand much fiercer weather than any 'consumer' FM antenna I've ever seen. Info on the company's amateur designs here: http://www.InnovAntennas.com A little background: InnovAntennas was founded by Justin Johnson, G0KSC, who is the company's chief antenna designer. Initially the company focused on high performance designs for VHF and UHF amateur radio and found acceptance in particular amongst the most critical and demanding of hams: EMEers (moonbouncers) and the hardest of hard core 6m DXers. A series of designs for the HF amateur bands followed and in 2012 ultra-high performance Yagis for FM BC, Airband and Marine band will be introduced as well as new amateur band designs. InnovAntenna designs are in particular celebrated for their exceptional patterns (which means more signal and less noise and less signals you don't want). Here's an YouTube video showing noted 6m DXer CT1HZE A/Bing the F/B pattern on his InnovAntennas 6m Yagi with a Yagi from a different manufacturer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eE7j0rvFpU CT1HZE also notably used an InnovAntennas 4m Yagi to hear the American 70-MHz WE9XUP beacon from his Portuguese QTH on multi-hop trans- Atlantic Es. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM-HYNs74UU As a long-time AM and FM BC enthusiast myself in addition to two decades of amateur radio DXing (DXCC honor roll) and contesting (CQ WW CW Contest record setter) on all bands 160m thru 23cm I know that DXers monitoring the FM BC band are every bit as passionate as hams chasing elusive 6m and 2m DX and also deserve to have state-of-art antennas and not just tired consumer designs that are 30 or 40 years out-of-date. Justin has built a prototype FM BC Yagi to test one of his computer designs and it is performing very well indeed from our Canvey Island, England factory station. I expect to have the second prototype here at my Colorado QTH in late January (and also an Yagi airband prototype). I have seen the computer model plots, they are incredible!, and I can't wait to connect one to my newly acquired Microtelecom FM+. We will also be selling phasing (2- and 4-way) splitters for DXers wanting to stack multiple Yagis. I apologize for making a commercial plug here on a DXers mailing list but there are not many avenues to get news like this out to the FM BC DX community. If you want more info on these antennas when its become available please send me an email at my work email: Bill @ InnovAntennas.com Since we have not finalized how many different models we will take into production I'd love to hear from people on what size Yagis they might be interested in (no obligation - just let me know how big a Yagi you would want if you were in the market for a new antenna). We have 6m designs extending to 17.7 meter long booms and 2m designs with booms as long as 16.6 meters (22 elements) so we will build a BIG FM BC DX Yagi if there is demand, don't be shy! The antennas will be available for shipment from England and soon the US. We also have dealers in several countries around the world. 73 Bill ----- (William Hein, AA7XT (ex-AA4XT, NT1Y, AA6TT, KC6EDP) AMSAT Life Member, ARRL Life Member, UKSMG Member 1st W to OH0 QSO on 6m, 1st North America to Asia QSO on 60m Founder of TopBand email reflector Web http://www.AA7XT.com Tel +1 (970) 628-5120 Email Bill.AA7XT @ Gmail.com Loc: DM59pa Web twitter.com/williamhein AIM / iChat / iMessage william.hein@me.com Skype williamhein find me on Facebook & Four Square WTFDA via DXLD) Bill H; IIRC the APS-14 had some serious challenges in shipping through normal channels (UPS, FedEx). The APS-13 in a box came in just under the 10 foot limit and also happens to just fit in my Honda Accord from the windshield to the back of the trunk - which makes it perfect for my annual FM DX trips around the USA. The APS-13 gain and F/B also was far superior to anything that had come before or after it (such as the Channel Master Probe 9 / aka model #4408). I also think many people stayed away from the APS-13 because of its long boom length and favored the APS-9. So my wishes for a new FM antenna --- it must be able to break down under 10 feet for shipping. And it must have at least as good specs as an APS-13. Others might prefer something the size of the APS-9. Hope this becomes a reality and you sell a ton of them! Hope that you like that FM+ too ;-) (Bill Nollman, Farmington, CT, ibid.) I'd say you'd need three models. 1. A small one for DXers in apartments. Not sure if it would be a yagi or not, but something with 3-4 db gain. 2. A midsize model (10-12 feet) for those who just don't want a monster on their roof. 3. A Super-size model for those who just can't have enough antenna. I would fall into group #2. After seeing how my APS13 bent in the October storm, no more antennas that long. Finco had the FM13 and the smaller FM4G. CM had the probe 9 and the probe 6, if I recall. APS had the 9/9b and the 13/14. Nobody did anything special for apartment/condo folk, far as I know. Oh yes, doesn't matter what you make if nobody can afford it :-) (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT, ibid.) As someone who has held off on getting any antenna other than the factory included dipole for my Sony because of the apartment living situation, I couldn't agree more. If anyone can design a somewhat unobtrusive, versatile, decent performing antenna that will work in an apartment/condo setting, I would gobble that up immediately! (Matt Lanza, Jacksonville, FL, ibid.) Bill, This is fantastic news. It would be awesome to have an antenna specifically made for FMBC DX. Since you asked for opinions, here`s mine. I would consider making two sizes. One that is roughly 2-3m in length that is easy to take on a trip, cram into an attic, or use in locations where restrictions prohibit large antennas. The other is... as large as it needs to be to achieve the best ever, world-class performance. That one`s a higher priority. Something that might not be immediately apparent to a UK designer is that the single most important performance goal should be lowest possible sidelobes and highest possible front/back in the horizontal plane. FM broadcasting in the US is characterized by spatial crowding and high transmit power, both of which are the opposite of conditions in the UK. ERP?s here are irrational, and the Gov`t continues to shoehorn in more and more stations with no end in sight, and no power reductions. A given station`s coverage is almost always determined by noise and interference from neighboring co-channel stations (or adjacent-channel stations especially when they use IBOC), not by low field strength. Every radio and tuner sold today has plenty low enough noise figure (sensitivity), but few have the selectivity and strong- signal handling needed for good DXing. Therefore, if a DXer is going to install an FM antenna on a rotor, it needs to be extremely directional, otherwise a simple, low-gain monopole or dipole antenna is just about as effective. Not sure where you are in Colorado, but you might gain insight by testing in a part of the country where there`s 50-100 kW blowtorches in every direction. If you`re in the front range, that`s not bad. But for a taste of real FM radio hell, try North Carolina, or Texas, or Ohio. It would also be very convenient if the feed could be designed with 75 ohm impedance, so that no baluns are needed. While it is possible to design a proper 300 to 75 ohm balun in theory, in reality the products on the market vary widely in quality and performance, and there`s no way to know what you`re buying. If we could just run a piece of coax from the antenna to the receiver it would greatly help installation, weatherproofing, mechanical strength, etc. Thank you (Tim McVey, ibid.) Tim -- Rest assured that NO-ONE designs antennas with cleaner patterns, smaller sidelobes and high F/R and F/B ratios than Justin G0KSC. In the EME world this mission critical metric is measured by the G/T ratio and the G0KSC designs lead the pack for pretty much all antenna boom length classes. G/T is a Figure of merit used to determine the receive capability of the antenna or array = (Gain in dBi + 2.15) - (10*log Ta). The more positive figure the better. Ta = total temperature of the antenna or array in degrees Kelvin. This includes all the side lobes, rear lobes and internal resistance of the antenna or array. The G/T table is maintained by Lionel VE7BQH can be found here: http://www.vhfdx.info/VE7BQH.html (this is the table of 2m Yagis, the designs labeled G0KSC are InnovAntennas products) I am unaware of any ''EME class" designs created for the FM BC DX community before so besides looking forward to installing and using my own array (either 2 or 4 in a stack or 4 bay is what I'm thinking) Justin and I will be keen to hear DXers experiences with our antennas. We do listen and many of our products are the direct result of customer feedback and suggestions. There have been a few comments about storm survival of FM BC Yagis. Most of our base models will survive 100-mph sustained winds. Our heavy duty models will handle 130+ mph. We use YagiStress software to confirm the durability of the design and materials. When IBOC and crowded dials crimp your DXing you need to fight back with state-of-art countermeasures! 73 and Happy New Year! (Bill AA7XT InnovAntennas America, ibid.) ``FM broadcasting in the US is characterized by spatial crowding and high transmit power, both of which are the opposite of conditions in the UK.`` So either you stayed/lived in the Scottish Highlands or were last here in 1970, pretty much every 100 kHz has something on it here, channel re-use less than 200 km in some instances and up to 240 kW ERP from the main stations. Designing something with those characteristics seems quite straight forward for narrow band comms like amateur radio, whether that level of performance can be translated to 20 MHz of B2 is another matter. The benchmark will be if it can better Peter Korner designs, from what has been said about the APS13 on some forums it was a cheaply made bit of junk, it jut happened to be large (Paul Logan, UK, Jan 1, ibid.) A guy I know in France bought an APS 13 just before the maker disappeared over the horizon. It seemed to fall to pieces very quickly, the boom apparently is now doing some good work in his vegetable garden every summer holding up some runner bean plants. Cheers (Hugh Hoover, Portugal, ibid.) The APS line performed very well in terms of reception, however they are quite light weight. Mike's experience was with a substantial amount of icing, which probably would have destroyed other lightweight antennas as well. A couple of other who lost APS antennas in wind were because the mast broke or toppled, which again would damage many antennas. There's an inherent conflict in building a long antenna in that if you build it to be very strong, it becomes very heavy. That in turn dictates a heavier duty mast and rotator. It also makes it more difficult to install. I have an APS9, which I have mounted in the loft over my garage, therefore it isn't exposed to weather. That was done in part due to having lost rotators to water infiltration and freezing, plus the difficulty of installation. It was also done due to my proximity to strong locals which caused more overload and mixing products at the greater height. IMHO the ideal FM antenna would be in the 9-10' boom length range or smaller, but with very good F/B ratio and very good side nulls. The more stations on your local band, the more important the nulls become. For some, that can be addressed by using multiple antennas, but for many of us, that's not in the cards (Russ Edmunds, WB2BJH, 15 mi NW of Philadelphia, Grid FN20id, ibid.) I will say that, **to greatly generalize**, antennas for broadcast reception are more flimsily built than those for ham radio. Even those for VHF/UHF ham radio. Most of the elements on VHF/UHF ham antennas are usually solid rods -- the driven element may be tubular but it's thicker gauge & goes "all the way around" - no seam. Certainly, they *can* be broken, but it's not nearly as easy as it is with an FM or TV antenna. If Bill Hein's FM antennas are built to the standard of a decent VHF/UHF ham antenna they should hold out a lot better than the typical broadcast antenna. Of course, he'll probably have to charge accordingly. Still, I'll be keeping a close eye on this -- my SP9 has greatly suffered from the effects of weather (tune to 94.9 and I have Little Rock, Evansville, Florence AL, and Atlanta all fighting it out.....) -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) My 14s have been up 15 years now with no issues (Rick Shaftan, Mountaintop Media, NJ, ibid.) As a subscriber to the Skywaves list, I cannot believe the negativity and pessimism of some of the posters there who replied to Bill Hein's message, which he also posted there. I really don't know why, unless Europe is Korner territory. Or unless Bill came on too strong and turned them off. Or they are just plain suspicious. Reaction here has been positive. IMO, nobody in his right mind should start designing and manufacturing outdoor FM antennas, but he and his partner are. Either they can do it or they can't. Either the products will work or they won't. At least let the guys try and the marketplace will decide how successful they will be. Skywaves DXers really disappoint me this time with their attitudes. Also there was reference to the APs-13 as being a piece of junk. I only know of one DXer (?) on that list who had one in France. IMO he was an old fart like me, perhaps older. And a bag of wind at times. In the October storm every tree in my yard suffered damage. All during the night of the storm I could hear branches snapping and falling into the backyard. I didn't sleep at all. In the morning I went outside and could not believe the huge limbs that had snapped like twigs. When 900,000 people are out of power for 7-13 days you know the storm was bad. One tall maple tree still needs to be cut down as there are few branches left on it now. The APS-13 stayed up but bent where down where the front section of masting holding the first three directors connects to the back section. The lower brace also bent down. I can't believe that a Korner 15.11 or whatever would hold up any better. Hardly a junk antenna. Sorry, but a bit annoyed this morning (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT, ibid.) Let's see the thing when it's up and running and some spec is actually published and someone has actually tried one in a real world setting. As was pointed out on the quite reasonably by Jurgen Bartels on the Skywaves list, it's one thing to produce a high spec narrow band antenna as they have done up to now and quite another to get the thing to run efficiently across 20 MHz of bandwidth; that ain't being negative imho, just asking a realistic question (Hugh Hoover, Portugal, ibid.) My APS died when hit by heavy ice and snow last winter. Wind never seemed to be a problem with it. Right now I have MD-10 which seems to be a good antenna --- slightly better but with a little more noise than the APS9b. The main thing is that it is built like a tank, solid steel rods (Keith McGinnis, Hingham MA, ibid.) Thanks, Mike for saving me from writing almost the same exact email. IMHO the APS-13 was designed as an excellent compromise between price and performance - still the best commercially available FM antenna ever built and available in the US while being quite reasonable in price ($200) and compact enough to breakdown and ship by common carriers. Obviously the market for FM antennas is ziltch as every major manufacturer has dropped them. If Bill H and friends want to take the plunge and design a quality antenna at any price I'm all for it! Because while my 2 APS-13's are still standing tall I fear the day a tree takes one out (or a heavy snow/ice event or who knows what). And then what options will I have? BTW, I seem to recall and email that the Korner FM yagis are a nightmare to put together and install. The APS-13 couldn't have been better. I have broken down, transported, put up and taken down again mine at least a dozen times with minimal damage. And in a matter of minutes. No one should ever knock the APS-13 as it took us from Probe 9 marginally good reception to seriously good FM DX. It was built perfectly for the commercial marketplace in every aspect (size, price, specs, availability, shipping, build quality). Hopefully Bill H's FM yagi(s) will be another quantum leap in FM antenna technology. Given the state of the FM dial these days for many of us we could sure use another "oh wow" kind of tool for FM DXing.... at any cost (Bill Nollman, Farmington, CT, ibid.) I wonder if the Skywaves group would have reacted differently if they didn't have the Korner still available to them (which I assume they still have)? Here in the states it's basically the Winegard 6055 (8 elements) and the FM6 (Keith McGinnis, Hingham MA, ibid.) See my reply to Mike B. Let's see some spec; it ain't being negative, just realistic. If he's "re-invented the wheel" let's see it in action (Hugh Hoover, Portugal, ibid.) Agreed. The APS-13 was such a major improvement over the Probe 9 I can't imagine how one could make a better FM yagi. Of course I'd love to see it happen! (Bill Nollman, ibid.) Of course the other thing you could do is to build a Korner antenna; the dimensions are published. Paul (who posted earlier) built one in 2010 for Mike Fallon who regularly reports to the skywaves list. He says it's the best antenna he's ever used. There could be a commercial opening for someone to build them in N. America. I think in reality not many have been sold by the people in Sweden (Hugh Hoover, ibid.) ``My 14s have been up 15 years now with no issues.`` Same with my APS-14 Monster. It has been up about 15 years now as well, and has lived through 15 Canadian Winters and Tornado Alley Summers. It is up 50 Feet on my Tower. I will say however: the APS- 14's were built MUCH BETTER than the 13's!! I also have a 13, and it can't hold a candle to the 14 as far as quality construction goes!! The APS-14 also has a Non Sag Nylon Rope that attaches to each end of the Beam, and attaches to the Center Mast above the Antenna, to prevent it from Sagging and Bopping around in the wind!! 73. ROB VA3SW (Robert S. Ross, London, Ontario CANADA, ibid.) I am enjoying this dialog about FM BC DX antennas - stop me if it gets boring! My business partner at InnovAntennas Justin G0KSC and myself have no problem with skepticism. Antenna manufacturers have a long history of inflated and just plain wrong claims and therefore "Prove it" is a healthy attitude. Both of us listen carefully to people using our antennas and we want to know what they like and don't like. Similarly, we like to talk to the various DX communities about what products and features they want but can't find when planning our design priorities. The Korner designs are very good, pretty much the only commercial FM BC antennas that provide genuinely outstanding performance and are the antennas we are benchmarking against. However, are the Korner antennas available for purchase? I couldn't find any for sale via a Google search this morning. The Swedish dealer that used to sell them has a blank page when the Korner FM DX antennas used to be: http://www.vhfteknik.se/en/products?page=shop.browse&category_id=70 The K6STI Website has a lot of interesting "no BS" info on FM BC DX antennas and related topics: http://www.ham-radio.com/k6sti/ One of the weaknesses of most of the existing designs is in the matching technology. The techniques used to match feedline to antenna impedances at the antenna typically induce pattern distortions and losses that software such as NEC2 does not adequately catch and also induces losses (we use NEC4 which does catch the matching system problems). Here is one example which was analyzed on the K6STI Website, the APS-9B: on 108-MHz it had a F/R ratio of only 15.42 dB and a mismatch loss of 1.70 dB (the APS-13 is much better than the APS-9B) while the Antennacraft FM13 had F/R ratio of only 13.08-dB at 108-MHz. Justin's designs for FM BC are all native 75-ohm and therefore require no matching; they also hold their patterns exceptionally well across the spectrum in question. We will be publishing the az and el plots as soon as we finalize the designs and models to be made available. 73 and HNY Bill (William Hein, AA7XT (ex-AA4XT, NT1Y, AA6TT, KC6EDP), etc., ibid.) Mine does too, on the stagger stack (Rick Shaftan, ibid.) EXCALIBUR PRO SDR: NEW VIDEO ON DEMODULATION, DECODING, INTERFERENCE Hi - the second video in a series of basic ones explaining some features of Winradio's ExcaliburPRO has been uploaded: http://youtu.be/qHQgdVxo7qI It covers demodulation, decoding and interference. There are also given some live examples of e.g. the advantage of synchronous modulation, and on how to work with a third-party decoder. -- 73, (Nils DK8OK Schiffhauer, Jan 7, ExcaliburPRO, SDR-IP/GPS, W-Code, 2 x 20 m active quad loop (90 ), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DRM. Chicken and Egg ?? If there are no commercial receivers available, a long term falling listening audience for AM broadcasting on SW anyway, and a financial squeeze on everyone with the costs of running transmitters (even on more efficient DRM Modes), why are broadcasters still transmitting in this mode and who is actually DRM-listening??? As mentioned before, if a half decent AM SW receiver can be purchased in the local market for a few dollars and not cost a lot to run, could DRM be a dead duck?? Is there DRM+ in the pipe linewith lower bandwidths and easily decoded on a cheap laptop?? Happy new year to all, de (Graham G3XYX Bedwell, Jan 5, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD NXP AND DRM CONSORTIUM DEMONSTRATE DIGITAL RADIO MONDIALE RECEPTION PLATFORM FOR CAR ENTERTAINMENT AT CES NXP Has Developed the World's First Fully Automotive-Qualified Global Multi-Standard Digital Radio Solution Supporting Digital Radio Mondiale NXP Semiconductors N.V.the world's largest supplier of car infotainment semiconductors, today announced the first automotive- qualified global multi-standard digital radio co-processor to include Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM). This makes NXP the first company to deliver automotive digital radio solutions for the three key global standards -- HD radio, DAB/DAB+/T-DMB and DRM -- on the same co- processor, the AF356X. The car radio platform will be unveiled at CES 2012 in Las Vegas, on Tuesday, January 10th at the NXP booth, Central Plaza -- CP8 -- during a Digital Radio Mondiale Reception with the DRM Consortium. NXP's new car entertainment solution offers manufacturers the flexibility to continue using their pre-existing HD radio architecture, as DRM capability is simply enabled by loading new firmware onto the processor. The application can also be extended to DRM+ in future. Read the press release here : http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nxp-and-drm-consortium-demonstrate-digital-radio-mondiale-reception-platform-for-car-entertainment-at-ces-2012-01-09 Digital Radio Mondiale standard for car entertainment at CES 2012 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG_-4O5XydM NXP's Digital Radio Mondiale solution: http://www.nxp.com/products/automotive/multi_standard_digital_radio/ http://www.nxp.com/connected-mobility --- (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxldyg via DXLD) SINGLE DIGITAL CAR RADIO SOLUTION UNVEILED AT CES 2012 A new digital car radio solution including DRM will be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2012) in Las Vegas this week. The DRM Consortium and NXP Semiconductors N.V. will present one single automotive digital radio solution for all the three key global digital radio standards – DRM, HD radio and DAB/DAB+/T-DMB - on the same co- processor, the SAF356X. The car radio platform will be unveiled today (10 January) at the NXP booth during a Digital Radio Mondiale reception with DRM Consortium and key representatives from the entertainment electronics industry. The inclusion of DRM in this device is mainly aimed at the booming Indian car market. The new NXP SAF356x will make it possible for listeners to receive DRM radio signals while travelling anywhere across India. In 2010 the Indian Government gave green light and allocated funds for the radio digitisation of All India Radio (AIR), the public radio broadcaster. The largest MW DRM transmitter in the country (and one of the largest in the world with a power of 1 MegaWatt) has been already installed in the west of the country with transmissions due on the air imminently. Since November 2011 All India Radio has doubled its daily DRM transmissions from Delhi to 16 hours a day. Torsten Lehmann, General Manager Car Entertainment business, NXP Semiconductors, says: “With this product we now have a single hardware platform covering all the main terrestrial digital radio standards, enabling us to offer our customers a truly global solution. DRM will enable a significant proportion of the population in countries such as India to receive high quality radio broadcast for free. As such, we’re really excited to help bring this standard especially to the world’s emerging markets.” Ruxandra Obreja, DRM Chairman, says: “NXP, a DRM member, is well known in the industry for its quality semiconductors and chip boards. Getting a new DRM solution for India and the rest of the world will definitely advance the DRM roll-out in one of the premier radio markets of the world. The 10th January event attended by senior members of DRM is a first for the Consortium at CES, a signal that DRM is not just a theoretical proposition but a consumer electronics one, too.” (Source: DRM Consortium)(January 10th, 2012 - 13:25 UT by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) 5 Comments on “Single digital car radio solution unveiled at CES 2012” #1 Tony Harding on Jan 11th, 2012 at 07:52 OK, I am a little confused. I always though HD Radio was the American’s simplistic labelling of DAB. The great American public could not get it’s head around something as complicated as DAB and so it have to be labelled HD Radio to give them something to hang onto, like HD TV. But this gives me the impression that HD radio is something other than DAB/DRM. So what is the difference? Also do they have DVB Radio in the states? #2 Roy Sandgren on Jan 11th, 2012 at 08:06 HD radio is analogue/digital on the same frequency. DAB+ is in the band III = 174-238 MHz, old VHF TV band in Europe, DRM is in the AM bands, digital only. #3 Andy Sennitt on Jan 11th, 2012 at 13:15 Tony, the other important thing to note is that HD Radio is a proprietary technology of one company - Ibiquity - whereas DRM is an open source technology. I recommend that you visit http://www.hdradio.com/ to learn more. Also note that HD Radio is expanding outside the US: http://www.ibiquity.com/international #4 Roy Sandgren on Jan 11th, 2012 at 13:29 However AM mode is the best in MW, but better in DRM on shortwave. The field strength on SW must be very high in DRM, otherwise lot of drop outs. #5 ruud on Jan 11th, 2012 at 18:16 DRM + is developed for use in Band II the FM band. HD radio is a simulcast sytem for IBOC use in the USA and other countries. DAB is developed for use of pubcasters in Europe who wish to broadcast multi- channel radio in an efficient way. Basically, all these systems are brothers and sisters of each other. And it is good that a device is developed that can handle all sytems. This should enable the system choice by the broadcaster, and allowing more systems in one area/market. DAB is very in-efficient for local radio, but this can be solved by using DRM+ next to DAB, etc. I hope that new receivers to come will carry as many broadcasting bands as possible (LW, MW, SW FM-band and band I !! and band III, maybe even L-band). This will allow analogue reception on all possible bands, whenever the radio detects a digital signal in whatever band it will also be able to handle it (MN blog comments via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- IBOC See also OKLAHOMA; see also DRM +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 50,000 WATT KSPN, LOS ANGELES, DISCONTINUES HD RADIO AND TURNS ON MDCL http://www.rwonline.com/article/kspn-is-running-mdcl-in-la/211194 KSPN, 710 kHz, Los Angeles, has implemented MDCL and should achieve considerable electric energy savings with little or no detrimental effects to its listeners. MDCL was described in CGC #1089. Of much greater interest is this comment imbedded in the underlying letter from the station's Chief Engineer, Mike Tosch: "KSPN no longer runs AM IBOC and runs full 125% positive peak (and) full NRSC modulation." These are monumental steps forward for KSPN, the listeners of KSPN, and the listeners of adjacent channel stations who will no longer receive HD splatter. According to one source, the number of listeners who will benefit from the absence of HD far outnumbers the HD listeners by virtually hundreds of thousands in a week for KSPN. Upon hearing the news that HD had been discontinued, the Chief Engineer of another AM powerhouse in the Los Angeles basin expressed his feelings in just seven words: "KSPN is to be thanked and congratulated!!" (CGC Communicator 9 Jan via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) IBOC vs MDCL --- I have heard that 710 LA has shut off their IBOC for something called MDCL? Any idea what that is and does it cause sideband hash like IBOC? 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, IRCA via DXLD) MDCL = "Modulation Dependent Carrier Level". No, it doesn't cause sideband hash; arguably it might be *better* for DXers than ordinary analog AM. In normal AM, the transmitter must provide enough carrier to support the modulation. Not enough carrier, and you get distortion -- "overmodulation". During quiet passages, when the audio is lower, you don't need as much carrier. But traditional transmitters provide that unnecessary extra carrier anyway. In MDCL, the carrier level depends on the modulation level. When the audio is lower & you don't need as much carrier, you don't provide as much. The energy in that carrier comes from the power supply -- which comes from power provided by the electric utility -- which charges for that power. Use less carrier, and you pay a smaller electric bill. That's the point of MDCL. Hams who remember something called "Controlled Carrier" may recognize the idea. It is obviously more complex than regular AM, though with modern software-driven transmitters, maybe not as complex as one might think. From what I read it's also susceptible to being noisier during quiet passages (when the weaker carrier causes the receiver's AGC to bring up the gain – and with it any noise). – (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66 IRCA via DXLD) Thanks for the good news! Another AM Band noise generator bites the dust! Now it would be even better if we hear a big 50 kW station has turned its C-Quam back on again. 73 - (Todd WD4NGG Roberts, ABDX via DXLD) Been there! [KSPN transmitter site photos] http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcgibson55/sets/72157622564076786/detail (Dennis Gibson, ABDX via DXLD) It doesn't look anything like that anymore. The old (I would say historic) building has been torn down, and a new cinderblock transmitter building was put up just west of the where the old building was. I'm sure it's a nice, modern facility now, but it has none of the character of the old one. I suspect that Scott must have some pics of the new building somewhere, but I couldn't find them on his site. This is great news - not just for me as a DXer (and neighbor) but every IBOC station that goes away is a small victory (Brian Leyton, Valley Village, CA, ibid.) Link to Scott's story on KSPN (KMPC) new transmitter building: http://www.fybush.com/sites/2009/site-090828.html (Larry Wild, Old guy from Aberdeen, South Dakota, ibid.) ONE OF THE BIGGEST CES FLOPS OF ALL TIME [HD RADIO] http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/scitech/2012/01/06/biggest-ces-flops-time/?test=faces#slide=8 (via Bruce Carter, ABDX via DXLD) > > HD Radio was certainly a flop big time on the AM broadcast band. And it still is, but a lot of the companies that got sucked into paying to use it seem to be the last to figure that out. What is hard to figure is why some companies who own multiple AM stations within a market are still using it on some of their stations, but have dropped it on others. > Sucks royal on AM. Interference generator and can't be picked up in HD beyond 25 miles. If that! I read a report a couple of years ago that said some engineers who were evaluating it in Seattle were not able to find even one location anywhere in Seattle where all of the local stations using it could be received, and those were mostly 50 kW stations. > > Plus even the name was misleading. They were hoping people > > would think HD Radio stood for High Definition Radio when in fact > > all it meant was Hybrid Digital Radio. > > This is incorrect. iBiquity staes that HD stands for nothing and has reiterated that many times. That is what they said, but does anyone really believe them? Those two letters weren't coincidence, nor were they random. It is obvious they were hoping consumers would make the association with HD Television. The term IBOC is also misleading. "In Band, On Channel" is hardly the case when on both AM and FM the system splatters interference over adjacent frequencies. FM is barely any better than AM. On most car radios I have used, there is so much splatter on FM, the scan function stops on both adjacent frequencies to every station using it. 73, (Kit Sage, W5KAT, CO, ibid.) I know a corporate engineer who jokes that IBOC stands for "In Band, Other Channel" (Brian Goodrich, ibid.) I used to call it In Band Adjacent Channel or IBAC (Kevin, Crump, TN, ibid.) And here all this time I thought it stood for "It Bleeds Over Consistently". ;) 73, (Rick Dau, South Omaha, Nebraska, ibid.) I've been calling it IBAC - "In Band All Channel" (Dan Ferguson, SC, ibid.) Its European counterpart, DRM, is no better: I think DRM sands for "Does a Real Mess"... ;-) ;-) ;-) (André Coville, France, ibid.) All iBOC did to the AM band was kill what was left of C-QuAM. Back in the year 2000, my prediction was that the remaining AM stereo stations would en-mass drop C-QuAM in order to "gear up for iBOC", then turn around a couple years later and dump iBOC... without ever bothering to reinstal the AM stereo gear. And that's EXACTLY what happened to a large percentage of the remaining C-QuAM stations that were still around in Y2K. Now we're left with a bunch of monaural talkers, and the very occasional music station. Broadcasters that did adopt iBOC AM did it entirely wrong - they applied it to their AM talk stations, rather than to their AM music stations where stereo and higher frequency response would actually have made a difference in listening enjoyment. And many of those that did install AM iBOC on a station that was previously set up for analog AM stereo didn't even bother hooking up their existing "leftover-from- C-QuAM" stereo airchain to the iBOC exciter, so no real benefit ever gained (KFI 640 is a famous example of that stunt). Finally, all the portable battery-operated iBOC radios don't even have an AM band, let alone decoding capability, so receiver manufacturers are just as bad. (Darwin Long, Buras, LA, ibid.) I think you have what happened exactly right! The sad thing now is there seems to be a resurgence of music on the AM band in many small- market AM stations around the country. But the owners don't seem to care about or want to make the effort to turn the AM Stereo gear back on, or don't want to spend the money for it. In the case of big 50 kW country music station WSM the engineers don't think there are enough listeners with C-Quam receivers to make the effort worthwhile. I think if the radio stations would make the effort and start the ball rolling by putting a good C-Quam signal on the air, it would encourage more listeners to ask for AM Stereo receivers again. Then if the Chinese radio makers knew there was a demand for AM Stereo radios again, they could probably crank them out by the millions in a very short time. That would certainly bring many AM radio listeners interest back if they heard AM stations promoting AM Stereo again on the air. Most people I have talked to don't seem to care if a station is on AM or FM as long as they have quality programming. The programming is what draws them to the station. AM Stereo would make the switch back to AM even more enticing. If you ask the average listener what IBOC stands for they probably wouldn't know but they would know what you mean if you mentioned AM Stereo to them, or at least be interested in it. 73 - (Todd WD4NGG Roberts, ibid.) And DRM for the SW, MW, or LW bands doesn't even offer stereo capability (though iBOC does). I've heard DRM on SW, and it really messes up the sidebands (Darwin Long, Buras, LA, ibid.) One example of an AM that could really benefit from C-QuAM now is KVCU Boulder. The station is owned and operated by the University of Colorado, and it's mostly music, not the usual NPR stuff. The station was donated to them maybe 10 years or so ago. Unlike most larger universities, CU does not have an FM. KVCU used to be a 5 kW daytimer, but it now operates with 6800 watts day, 5000 critical hours, and 110 watts (all ND) night. They have a great signal, and even their nighttime coverage of most of Denver is good. Their audio quality is excellent. I haven't tried them on my SRF-42 yet, but they sound as good as FM on my Carver tuner. If they would use C-QuAM and come up with a truckload of SRF-42s, it would be amazing to see the numbers they could pull. They already do quite well in mono, which is surprising with their demographics. Trying to make AM "hip" in a place like Boulder isn't easy. If there were just quality receivers for C-QuAM available at an affordable price, AM could make a resurgence all over the country. Who knows, it might even become "hip" again. 73, (Kit Sage, W5KAT, ibid.) The Sangean HDT-1X HD Radio Component Tuner has GREAT C-QUAM performance and can be had for less then $200 Bucks. ``There is no limitation to the fidelity of AM radio. From a mathematical standpoint, AM does better in frequency response than FM.`` - Leonard Kahn. 73, (Kevin Raper, KJ4HYD, CE WCKI WQIZ WLTQ, ibid.) I have often thought that Radio Disney should have promoted C-Quam. Their stations are on AM, and almost entirely music. Cheap AM stereo radios from Japan could have been re-branded with the Disney logo and marketed to kids at events and on-line. I actually talked with the head of the network, it was headquartered in Dallas at the time with powerhouse regional KMKI as their flagship station. I told her that HD radio would not work, that C-Quam receivers were reliable and inexpensive, etc. Instead, they went HD - and in the process required their core audience - kids - to buy expensive and faulty HD radios to get music in stereo. BAD business plan! I remember the heyday of Radio Disney in C-Quam on KMKI. They sounded like a local in Abilene, TX, 200 miles away - and even had an event or two over there. They had listeners in Lubbock and Midland, over 300 miles away. At least in Lubbock, the station could be heard almost static free in low interference areas, and C-Quam stereo decoded just fine. The only limitation was a night, and RD enthusiasts in West Texas were used to switching to 1160 San Antonio in the winter before sunset and then 1690 from Denver at night. In spite of AM not being "cool" or "hip", there were a lot of fans in Lubbock, more and more as word of mouth spread. It proved two things to me - (1) Areas like West Texas where formats are limited are still breeding grounds for DX'ers, even kids were learning the hobby - at least enough to want to know where to get a GE Superadio like mine. (2) It is about format and content, not necessarily sound quality. People follow and are loyal to formats - NOT stations. (3) HD radio limits analog coverage. WBAP tried it, they depend on their groundwave and skywave audience. They dumped HD. KAAM 770 sounded strong and great in C-Quam stereo as far west as Crosbyton. The only reason they didn't sound great in Lubbock was interference from KKOB which messed up the C-Quam reception a bit. KMKI had no such problems, C-Quam was easy to hear on a Sony SRF-A1 in Lubbock daytime, and the static wasn't that bad. Put a small loop nearby, it sounded like a local. The situation reversed dramatically when both stations went HD. KAAM analog is virtually gone by Crosbyton, KKOB is unchallenged in Lubbock. KMKI mono is badly degraded with a lot of static in Lubbock. I am in Houston now - KAAM in C-Quam had a good signal in NW Houston and even some listeners when 790 in Houston moved away from standards. 790 played with HD for a while and eliminated any fans in NW Houston, they have since dumped it. But it doesn't matter, because KAAM in HD is virtually unreceivable now in NW Houston. HD radio = degraded coverage. And I can document the exact same phenomenon on FM. One Houston station lost 60 miles of range to the North entirely due to HD. It was dramatic - they turned it off for a while, the range was back - they turned it back on, the range went away (Bruce Carter, TX, ibid.) Glad to know I'm definitely not the only fan of AM radio technology out there. I'm not as young as the kids that Radio Disney targets, even though I do like much of their music, but I suspect I'm still almost young enough to be many of you DXers' grandson. ;) Another reason I like AM is the coverage potential (when HD is taken out of the equation, that is). Put a Franklin antenna (or even a 1/2- wave) on a low frequency in a low-noise area with 50 kW, and I'd think you'd be able to drive cross-country (heading west at whatever the speed limit is - 70 mph or 113 km/h for example) all day in June across the northern USA or Canada, and never lose reception of the station - even if you're never close enough to the station to be able to detect any trace of a 100 kW FM on top of its tower with the XDR- F1HD. (Speaking of low noise, I know I'm not the only one who absolutely HATES the noise put out by electronic devices today. I would prefer that strict noise limits be enforced - for example I prefer the noise should be at least 90-120 dB below the minimum level signal a seasoned Ham should be able to detect (when the loudest noise is naturally- occurring and there's no thunderstorms within 12,500 miles) with tip- top equipment in QRSS CW mode, measured while touching the noisiest part of the device with its cover removed.) Somewhere I've got some airchecks of KDIS from my SRF-42 from when they were C-Quam. I should try to dig 'em up sometime. I may even also have a couple from when they were C-Quam at night and HD during the day - there was a HUGE difference in the sound when they made the switch! (They'll be hard to find, though, as I've been too lazy to rename the files created by my portable recorders from their defaults or label them in any other way.) One thing about AM Stereo, though. (I wonder why I'm always capitalizing the S - is it really a deity? ;) ) Is there some way to tweak the system to eliminate the platform motion and maintain proper stereo separation, even when you have a very weak signal and skywave/groundwave fading and/or slightly off-frequency (by a few Hz give or take) co-channel interference, like what KMKI may be in south central New Mexico, or KAAM between Abilene & Midland (if the Radio- Locator maps of KAAM and KKOB are anything close to comparable)? I may be OK with HD, though, if it didn't degrade the coverage of analog in any way (that includes being able to stand right next to an HD station's tower and receive a distant few µV/m analog signal on the same frequency), and will still perfectly decode on a typical consumer-level portable even when the analog signal's carrier is at the threshold of detectability using QRSS CW when connecting a full- wavelength-per-side box loop to a radio that'd make the GE SR seem like a toy kit crystal set. :) Also there would need to be a way to individually select desired HD stations so you could pick your poison on the graveyard channels, so to speak. ;) In the meantime, though, I'm plenty happy with AM, at least relative to FM. I don't know if it's just my location, but FM reception is pretty bad here (with the exception of being able to frequently hear 103.3 KVYB Santa Barbara from 212 miles away, although it's almost never strong enough for stereo). Posted by: ("Stephen" pianoplayer88key ibid.) Joe Q Public in most cases does not know the difference between AM IBOC and AM C-Quam analog Stereo. In fact some don't even know the difference between stereo and mono. Even if they do start making AM stereo radios and flooding the USA from China nobody is going to bother buying the radios. Most people already have several radios lying around that work fine. As far as IBOC that sick puppy wont die it will keep be rammed and shoved into car dash boards to keep share holders happy. Its been ongoing for 10 years now with no sign of ending (Starship20012001, ibid.) Starship20012001 is correct. The public has no concept of anything that pertains to AM radio technology. In the public mind, AM is a talk format, and the technology is irrelevant. Regardless of comments by radio hobbyists and radio professionals, I have never heard a member of the general public mention AM HD radio (or even AM stereo for that matter). The public is unaware of AM HD, and doesn`t care about it anyway, since the talk format isn`t dependent on it (Dick W., ibid.) At one time, the talk was that they were going to have some printer or other connected to the radio so that listeners could print out coupons, etc. using IBOC technology. Since a good portion of listening is done in the car, I kept having this picture in my mind of endless traffic collisions being caused by drivers fumbling to get a coupon printed out so they could save a penny on a cup of coffee at McDonald's. Of course, now that a few states have Distracted Driving legislation in effect, the coupon printer idea is a moot point, at best (Eric Berger, ibid.) I believe Tom Ray was quite excited about the idea of the coupon - I can see how radio sales people would love the idea. But, it does seem pretty corny. I feel a touch of sadness with the whole AM IBOC debacle - some otherwise good [although pushy and perhaps obstinate] people championed the idea - they wanted AM radio to be better. The problem is that the standard AM band just isn't roomy enough for digital. Amplitude modulation is very space efficient, digital is not. Also, skywave propagation doesn't make decoding digital any easier. Fact is, the best one can wring out of the AM band is CQUAM and using modern DSP technology to reduce noise, notch carrier whistles etc. It would be pretty easy to design DSP based receivers that would offer CQUAM and audio up to 9900 Hz, with a brick wall to zap 10 kHz carriers. Anyone with a DSP black box like the SDR-IQ can demonstrate what that sounds like and trust me, it sounds GREAT! Keep in mind that while FM technically goes up to 15 KHz audio, so many FM 'radios' are dumbed down to a lot less. Local CHTN-FM [aka Ocean 100] sounds pretty ho-hum on my factory Delphi car radio, but it sounds awesome on my vintage Heath PT-1 AM-FM tuner. My hunch is that the time has come to end AM IBOC while recognizing that FM IBOC does generally have some significant merit. Of course, L Band Eureka 147 DAB here in Canada was the biggest flop of all. By contrast, AM IBOC was a modest success and CQUAM was an overwhelming success. Now, where can I find a $400 pocket radio to listen to L Band DAB? Oh wait, even the CBC formally applied to the CRTC to shut down its DAB transmitters :) (Phil Rafuse, VY2PR, Stratford PE Canada, ibid.) One more thing - MDCL would certainly be compatible with C-Quam - you are not changing the phase-angle relationship of the sidebands by varying the output power. All MDCL does is increase and decrease the amount of input current to the final amplifier in response to the presence or absence of the average modulation over a given frame of time. In fact, if you're running digital audio processing, the processor already knows how much audio is just about to "come down the pike" from the buffer and will be able to anticipate how much increase or decrease in current into the final amp is needed just as that audio arrives at the exciter. Stereo or monaural (Darwin Long, Buras, LA, ibid.) WBYU HD 1450 not on air in New Orleans --- We had WBYU 1450 in New Orleans (HD Radio Disney) until they totally left the air in November. They have not yet returned (and don't know if they ever will) because the station has been put up for sale - hopefully the buyer will put a music format on it and not another satellite-fed talk outlet. HD will probably be yanked because someone buying a station on the cheap isn't going to want to pay Ibiquity license fees. WBYU had the best-sounding stereo HD signal during the day of any HD signal I've heard on any AM station (40 miles daytime in HD from a 1/8-wave tower at 1kW, but only about 8 miles at night, barely hitting downtown). Even though HD is flawed, it seems interesting that some 50kW stations have trouble doing better than a well-tuned 1kW station. Also, some stations turn down the HD modulation (to cut interference) so far that it strongly affects the two-tier bitrate coverage (high- bitrate stereo and low-bitrate mono streams - the radio selects the bitrate at which it will render the HD signal based on signal strength and quality, and will sometimes shift back and forth between the two). (Darwin Long, Buras, LA, Jan 10, ibid. A sensible solution would have been for the FCC to allow stations to utilize either or both of C-QuAM and Kahn-Hazeltine ISB. Stations could run C-Quam during the day, and Kahn (upon pattern switch) at night. The radio would know which signal was which by way of the pilot tone (25 Hz or 15 Hz). Encoding at the exciter could also have been done via DSP, eliminating the need for two separate exciter boxes, and allowing for remote operation via computer. In comparison between systems, both systems sound equally rich and clean when tuned correctly (-Darwin Long, Buras, LA, ABDX via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIEXISTAS LUCHARÁN POR SALVAR ONDA CORTA Publicado el : 9 Enero 2012 - 11:26 de la mañana | Por Sergio Acosta En el II Encuentro Diexista Colombo-Venezolano que concluyó este domingo en San Cristóbal, Táchira, Venezuela, los apasionados de la escucha de la onda corta llegaron a la conclusión de que van a seguir promoviendo la onda corta como vehículo de información y de libertad de expresión de los pueblos. Durante tres días, diexistas y oyentes de emisoras internacionales que llegaron desde diferentes puntos de Colombia y Venezuela, escucharon ponencias y discursos, que fueron desde la historia de la difusión de la radio venezolana , hasta nuevas iniciativas de medios que se apoyan en la onda corta, o desde la historia de Radio Nederland y su futuro, hasta el caso de Radio Nacional de Venezuela, que lleva a cabo una inversión importante para construir un transmisor de onda corta para su canal internacional de radio . . . http://www.rnw.nl/espanol/article/diexistas-luchar%C3%A1n-por-salvar-onda-corta (via Rafael Rodríguez via Yimber Gaviria, DXLD) with audio, photos DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ NUMERALLA, SE AUSTRALIA DEC 26, 2011 TO JAN 04, 2012 DXPEDITION SUMMARY [VHF TV AND FM DX, PACIFIC/ASIA/NORTH/SOUTH AMERICA?] Given that the recent Numeralla DXpedition Es DX logs are fairly large, it will take sometime before I get a chance to type them all out. In the meantime it is easier to provide a summary of the DX highlights, which represent only a small fraction of the total logs. A webpage summarizing the last three DXpeditions will be eventually compiled, but our digital cameras have all malfunctioned, so no photos can be uploaded at present. Receiving Equipment: A Peter Korner design 15.11 long-boom FM Yagi is mounted horizontally at roughly 18 ft above ground. The 15.11 is hand rotatable. Another wideband 'fringe' VHF horizontal polarised Yagi covering 45-220 MHz is mounted on a separate mast. HF DX was rarely monitored due to the VHF band being so active. The 15.11 Yagi is connected to a low noise (0.4 dB NF) pHEMT design indoor RF FM preamp manufactured by AllSat Communications Germany. The RF amp is currently listed on eBay (see links below). The amp noise performance is sufficiently well enough to hear daily aircraft scatter FM out to 450 miles. Sydney FM (e.g. 101.7 MHz 2WSFM @ 200 miles) averages about 2-3 bars on the main 15.11 + preamp + XDR setup. For the current DXpedition, the Icom R8500 wideband receiver is used with a Jim Dietrich design UA-701 GaAsFET 2dB NF preamp. The output of the UA-701 is split via a Tratec ES-02 diecast splitter feeding the D100 TV tuner and Icom R8500. RG6 Quad 75-ohm coax is used for all cable runs. Receiving Location: Geoff lives on a ~ 100 acre property which includes a homestead where we stayed. The site is located approximately 200 miles southwest of Sydney. The receiving equipment is located in a DX shack separate from the homestead. The site elevation above sea level is 800 metres (2624 ft). An 800 metre elevation site directly facing the Pacific Ocean would provide a negative horizon. However, there are distant mountains in certain directions when beaming from Numeralla, which compromise low angle DX arriving over the horizon. New Zealand is the most difficult takeoff with about 20 moon diameters (10 degrees) of horizon blockage. This isn't a major problem seeing that NZ is within single- hop Es range. However, the longer-haul 2,300 km (1,350 mile) NZ Es signals are probably diffracting via the top of the mountain range into the Numeralla listening site. The horizon takeoff improves towards the NE Pacific (Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Norfolk, Futuna) with approximately 5 degrees of horizon blockage. The degree of horizon blockage at Numeralla is not ideal for long-haul DX; hence there is room for improvement when listening from other sites. A high elevation rural coastal site overlooking the ocean would be more ideal, but for most Australian DXers, the Numeralla site is well above average. Increasing the compounding effect by optimizing various factors is a work in progress. Discussion: A trend in recent years is that Es seasons in SE Australia are progressively starting later and ending early. When ‘exotic’ Es openings over the two peak Es months are plotted on a time series distribution chart, the central peak is sharp. Over a 62-day period (Dec and Jan), it is expected that on average 2Es propagation above 88 MHz will be limited to around 5 days. The peak days also tend to be clustered directly after the summer solstice. Only 3 days (Dec 30, 31, & Jan 01) provided 2Es above 88 MHz during the Numeralla trip. This trend is proving most convenient given that the VHF bands can be largely ignored for ~ 98% of the year. It is also makes it convenient to schedule DXpeditions! For the other ~ 2% of the year a quick commute to a remote DX location and one will (probably) cleanup with 2Es DX. Financial constraints often prevent many DXers from spending funds on higher grade gear (e.g. Korner FM Yagis, expensive GaAsFET/ pHEMPT RF preamps, Icom scanners), including transportation / accommodation expenses to rural listening sites. The reasons are varied. However, during my stay at Numeralla, by virtue of the daily DX monitoring routine, I was exposed to contemporary radio and TV media, which is something I normally don't listen to back home. The excess of radio and TV ads soliciting a large slice of the general Australian/NZ consumer’s income was notable. Retail outlets offering up to 50% discount were relentless during our stay. Gambling FM stations (TAB) were also common single-hop Es DX stations during our stay. The central media theme was one gigantic money grab from consumers. The share market and gambling institutions were initially set up to extract from individuals the maximum amount of cash in the shortest possible time. The financial system, including retail, banking, share market, and gambling institutions are out to turn you upside down and vigorously shake you until every last penny drops from your pockets. To add insult to injury – they want even more funds after your net wealth drops to zero. This is referred to as negative net wealth, i.e. credit card, student loan, or banking debt. DXers who live in metro/city locations that offer poor DX potential could consider taking advantage of the fact that longer-haul VHF DX is not present virtually all of the year. At least 90% of the year can be devoted to building personal wealth reserves via secular work income. The other 5-10% of the year is devoted to laying out funds to maximize performance over small time periods. As discussed above the time window of opportunity seems to be decreasing to the point where a 7- day DXpedition will amply suffice. DXers can work smarter, not harder. Intense monitoring routines during DXpeditions involve hours of frequent checking selected frequencies throughout the day. Roughly 50 Icom R8500 memory presets were checked at Numeralla, while about 10 presets was sufficient on the XDR-F1HD. The low end of the FM band was mainly checked (e.g. 88.2, 88.6, 89.0, 89.9, 90.0, 90.1, 90.6, 91.0 MHz) when looking for 2Es from overseas. All the main VHF indicators are mentally memorized, and any combination received simultaneously requires an immediate judgment call based on priorities regarding where to beam the antennas. Devoting time to non-DXing activities is a discretionary call based on the lack of indicators present on any given day during the DXpedition. When such an opportunity presents itself, like it did during the first 3 days of our trip, one does not procrastinate. We made the most of two relatively dead days by visiting friends in Cooma, bush walks, etc. Certainly Dec 30, 31, and Jan 01 were not days to leave the dials. While monitoring the R8500 is normally important when looking for low VHF indicators, this wasn't the case on Dec 30 when 2Es opened up to Samoa, Tonga, Futuna Island, and Fiji. The only available VHF indicator was 50.11 MHz A35A Tonga. Unfortunately, 55.25 MHz KVZK-2 American Samoa recently ceased operation during the last few days. Assuming KVZK-2 was still operating, average signal levels would normally have been in the S7-9 region on Dec 30. The VK Australia 6 metre / 70cm band ham Logger can be a useful tool at times, but it was only used to check if A35A Tonga on 6 metres was being heard in Australia. All overseas 2Es FM openings were achieved without using the VK logger. In fact there were times when the PC and modem were switched off in order to minimize possible interference. We were also puzzled why certain VK and ZL 6m hams were claiming 55.25 KVZK-2 American Samoa reception, despite the fact that we did not receive it during the entire trip. KVZK-2 was not present when Tongan and Samoan 90 MHz 2Es openings were in progress. We speculated that KVZK-2 may have been temporarily off air, or on reduced TX power. The other possibility was that ZL2TPY New Plymouth, NZ misidentified KVZK- 2 for South American chA2 60 Hz video. There were some extreme multi- hop Es 50 MHz openings going on between South America and New Zealand around the same time. Another recent trend is decreased television and 6 metre beacon indicators, but increased FM stations. The religious FM stations are expanding in the Pacific Islands, and PNG. We were caught unawares when 89.9 MHz Samoan FM was received via 2Es on Dec 30. Information for many Pacific FM stations is poorly documented on the Internet. A Google search can take some time to reveal one reference to a particular station. We were fortunate to have Will Renton’s research skills uncover the origin of selected Pacific Island FM 2Es receptions. DX Reception Highlights: At 1310 local time on Dec 30, New Caledonian FM (1410 miles) was in up to 102 MHz. At 1328 LT Norfolk Island 89.9 MHz was mixing with another Pacific Island foreign language station. The beam heading difference for Samoa vs. Norfolk is only 3 degrees. From 1328-1356 LT 89.9 MHz was incorrectly assumed to be Radio Bosco Solomon Islands. When the Korner 15.11 was beamed east towards the Pacific, 89.9 MHz seemed to fade down. It was only half way during the opening that we realized 89.9 MHz was from Samoa. This was unfortunate seeing that during about half of the Samoan 2Es opening we were beaming 45 degrees off direction! Another disadvantage was intermittent power pole 50 Hz buzz interference. During the remainder of the opening (~ 1433-1520 LT) the Korner 15.11 was correctly beamed at 68 degrees towards Apia, Western Samoa (2850 miles). Power pole interference had also ceased by this time, which resulted in solid 3-bar signal peaks on the XDR-F1HD. 89.1 MHz Samoa was also initially noted at 1433 LT, but was weaker than 89.9 MHz. At 1509 LT, 89.1 MHz Mai FM Samoa peaked at 2 bars. 88.2 MHz BBC Fiji (2170 miles) also started to fade in. This represented the peak of the opening, with a noise-free 3-bar signal from 89.9 MHz Samoa. At 1516 LT, Tonga opened up on 90 MHz. It was noteworthy that 88.6 MHz Tonga wasn’t received due to lower TX power. Vanuatu briefly appeared on 90.0 at 1536 LT. Vanuatu at 1720 miles is a very transient 2Es signal into Numeralla. It takes very provisional conditions for two Es clouds correctly aligned for such a relatively short 2Es path. The other major 2Es FM day was Dec 31 when a mystery 89.5 MHz featuring badly distorted studio audio faded in on its own. We sent the mp3 recording via e-mail to DXers David Headland, Bryan Clark, and Robert Copeman. Robert's usually perspicacious analysis was lacking on this occasion when he offered Palau as the country of origin. David and Bryan offered Samoa or Tonga, which was closer to the mark. Will Renton eventually found the country of origin via one single reference on Google. Lifuka (Pangai) Tongan island faded in at 1200-1210 LT. Previous to this opening, 88.2 MHz BBC Fiji was sporadically received between 1100-1200 LT. The Tongan Island transmitter is assumed to be roughly 100 watts. It could be even less seeing that the intended island coverage area is so small. Lifuka (Pangai) is located 100 km north of the main island Tonga'tapu. This explains why 2Es was focused enough to bypass the more commonly received 88.6 and 90.0 MHz Tongan FM transmitters located 100 km further south. The audio quality is quite distorted, which just demonstrates how remote Pangai is. Norfolk Island FM faded in at 1215. I was outside the shack listening on 89.5 MHz with a Tecsun PL-390 (a.k.a. “the dabbler’s dream”). Tonga 89.5 MHz could be faintly heard on the Tecsun when it was 2-bar strength on the Korner 15.11 + Allsat preamp + XDR setup. For comparison, it takes a 2-bar noise-free signal on the main setup before anything can just be detected on the PL-390 + whip. A 2-3-bar signal on the main Korner 15.11 + Allsat preamp + XDR setup is needed for an intelligible listenable signal on the PL-390 + whip. We also noted that the PL-390 is just sensitive enough to hear weak Sydney FM via aircraft scatter. Will Renton could hear 107.1 MHz 2WPR Coonabarabran FM via 336-mile aircraft scatter using the PL-390 down near the homestead. Improved performance will result with a replacement 2 metre length whip antenna. January 01 was the final major day for 2Es at FM. At 1155 LT, Es to the north east Pacific provided a linkup to F2. 50.11 MHz W3XO Texas (8395 miles) was received at S3 strength around 1155-1205 LT. This begs the question: are there any TV DXers in the southern United States or California looking for New Zealand and Australian band 1 TV via F2? At 1217 New Caledonia FM faded in, followed by Fiji FM at 1230. While outside the shack, Will found that 88.2 MHz BBC Fiji on the PL-390 was indicating a 6dB signal simultaneously when the main Korner 15.11 + Allsat preamp + XDR setup was indicating 2 bars. Power pole QRM was transient during our stay. Unfortunately PLN was at times high during the Dec 30 2Es opening. Geoff tried physically hitting the base of the closest telegraph pole with a hammer, which sometimes temporarily reduced noise. There are two poles (150 ft) and (600 ft) that radiate RFI during dry warm weather conditions. At other times the poles completely cease radiating RFI. This is when the 0.4 dB noise figure FM preamp offers peak improvement on weak signals. The noise floor at times is low (S meter sits at 0 @ 50 MHz on R8500 with NB de-activated)), yet at other times the R8500 indicated 50 Hz buzz up to S5 strength. Using a portable FM boombox (featuring poor AM rejection) I had a chance to demonstrate to Energy Australia technicians how the power poles wipe out semi-local 88.9 MHz Thredbo FM. They intend to fix the issue later this month. The Korner 15.11 + Allsat preamp + XDR setup provides average 2 bars signal improvement compared to Geoff’s former setup (ATN 12-el FM Yagi + XDR-F1HD). This explains why when 2 Es commenced; many signals were in at 2-3-bar strength. The higher gain / lower noise FM setup is revealing more signals that were previously below the noise floor. The Korner 15.11 was able to receive New Zealand 1 watt FM via Es near the low end of the dial (87.7 MHz Infinity FM Invercargill, 88.2 MHz KC FM, 88.1 MHz NZ). Someone in NZ may know the actual specified ERP for these LPFM transmitters. High MUF Es was noted up to 175.2396 MHz (NZch4 Auckland, NZ). Typically as I experienced back home in Sydney, the signal was limited to BFO level. Another high Es MUF indicator is AITS (aircraft navigation beacons) between 112 and 116 MHz. These were often present when band 2 FM from QLD was in. Overseas TV DX via multi-Es was limited to Philippines A2-A5, and Thailand E4. ABW2 and ABAW2 Western Australia were also briefly received via 2Es. Chinese 49.75 MHz C1 at primarily BFO level and peaking at S5 was in most late afternoons via aTEP. Eight overseas countries were noted on FM: 89.1, 89.9 MHz Apia, Western Samoa 4586 km / 2850 miles. 88.6, 89.5, 90.0 Tonga - 3812 km / 2321 miles. 89.0, 90.0 & 91.0 Wallis & Futuna - 4050 km / 2516 miles. 90.0 Vanuatu – 2780 km / 1725 miles. 88.2, 88.6, 89.4, 89.8, 90.4, 92.6, 93.0 Fiji - 3490 km / 2170 miles. New Caledonian stations up to 102.0 MHz - 2280 km / 1410 miles. Norfolk Island 89.9, 91.9, 93.9, 95.9, 98.2 MHz - 1930 km / 1200 mi. New Zealand – 2000-2350 km / 1218-1431 miles. TV DX: New Zealand: 2000-2350 km / 1218-1431 miles. Albany / Perth, WA: ~ 1800 miles. China: ~ 5000 miles. Philippines: 3955 miles. Thailand: 4650 miles. Conclusion: While this year’s Numeralla DXpedition results were worthwhile, it is likely that we have virtually reached the practical DX reception limits for this location. One needs to head towards the equatorial region in order to explore new VHF DX territory. Darwin, Northern Australia is an example. We found out that return airfares to Darwin are readily affordable. In fact some $700 cheaper than I paid back in 2001! A Darwin DXpedition is tentatively planned for late Dec, 2012. Todd Emslie, Geoff Wolfe, Will Renton, Numeralla, NSW, SE Australia. Equipment: Hills DL4 45-220 MHz Yagi + UA-701 GaAsFET preamp + Icom R8500 + D100. Korner 15.11 Yagi + Allsat pHEMT preamp + Sony XDR-F1HD. Allsat pHEMT FM RF Preamp Data: http://tinyurl.com/7edzez4 http://www.ebay.com/itm/LNA-UKW-FM-RADIO-88-108-MHZ-VHF-3M-4M-super-low-noise-amplifier-NF-0-4dB-18dB-/110795391943?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19cbeb83c7 DX Log Highlights: Dec 26, 2011: 1750-1830: 49.75 MHz China – average S3. 1750 +/- 55.25 MHz DU video fluttery scatter BFO signal. 1750 +/- 38.9 MHz China data. 1920: 30.325, 30.425, 30.525 30.625 RTTY data South East Asia. Dec 27, 2011: 1259: 88.8 MAX FM (pirate TX near Mackay). 1600: 43.65 Japan, 49.75 China peaking S6. 1600: 49.75 China peaking S6, incl 43.25 Chinese TV audio. 1600: A2-4 DU TV – equatorial scatter. 1600: 50.304 VK6RSX Dampier – 2250 miles. 1600: Asian RF welding splats up to 42 MHz. 1709: 41.72 MHz data peaking north – open carrier / beeping sound. This data tx has not yet been noted in Sydney. 1709: 43.65 MHz data Japan. 1805-1814: 50.310 VK8VF Darwin. FM opened up to central NT. Dec 28, 2011: 1740: 41.720 data. 1920: 49.75 China peaking S5. Dec 29, 2011: 1212: 50.11 MHz A35A Tonga – 3812 km. Dec 30, 2011: 0920-1008: 64.25 MHz ABW2 Perth, 64.24 MHz ABAW2 Albany via 2Es – S5 average. 1328-1356, 1433-1515: 89.9 MHz “Showers of Blessing” Apia, Western Samoa (2850 miles / 4586 km). 1440-1515 89.1 MHz MAI FM Apia, Western Samoa. 41.72 MHz data. 1516-1520: 90.0 MHz Tonga 1523: 89.4 MHz Fiji. 1532: 90.0 RFO Futuna – brief. 1536: 90.0 MHz Tonga and Vanuatu mixing. 88.2 MHz BBC Fiji. 1602: 89.0, 90.0, 91.0 MHz RFO Futuna Island (with AM audio). 90.0 MHz (2460 miles) was the strongest signal peaking at 2 bars. 90.4 // 90.6 Hindu Fiji. 89.4 (over-modulated signal), 89.8 Fiji. 88.6, 92.6 (Hindu), 93.0 Fiji. 1619: 88.6, 90.0 Tonga, 88.2 Fiji. 1700-1717: 90.0 Tonga news 1726: Norfolk Island FM. Dec 31, 2011: 1100-1200: 88.2 BBC Fiji. 1200-1210: 89.5 MHz Lifuka (Pangai) Tongan island. 1215: Norfolk Island FM. 1237: 88.2 MHz BBC Fiji. 1343: 144.1 MHz VK4 Hervey Bay via Es – 10 watts. 1445: Philippines equatorial scatter up to 77.25 MHz. 1755: 49.75 China (S5), 62.2396, 62.25 chE4 BFO peaking north. Jan 01, 2012: 1155: 50.11 MHz W3XO Texas via F2+Es extension. 13786 km @ 75 degrees. 1217: New Caledonia FM up to 102 MHz. 1233: 88.2 MHz BBC, 90.6 Hindu Fiji peaking @ 2 bars on the XDR. 1239: 91.6 Fiji 1245: 89.9 Norfolk Island. 1310: 90.0 Leif FM Vanuatu. 1316: 90.0 Vanuatu mixing with Noumea. 1316: 88.2 MHz BBC Fiji – 3 bars. 1556: 50.11 3D2AG/p Fiji (no 88.2 present). Jan 03, 2012: 1055: 40.69 MHz two carriers fading – assume Alaska data. 1112-1136: 175.2396 MHz NZch4 Auckland via Es. 1137: 50.13 MHz TI7/N5BEK Costa Rica via F2 – 8650 miles 1233: 40.69 MHz Alaska data – buzz/tone cycling via F2. Jan 04, 2012: 0956 64.24 MHz ABAW2 video Albany via 2Es mixing with ABQ2 Brisbane. 1210-1240: 55.25 MHz Manila, Philippines via 3970 mile 3Es (rolling NTSC pictures on TV screen). 61.25 chA3 bfo also in. 1330: 43.65, 49.75. 1330: 49.76 bfo tx’s – possibly western China / Uzbekistan. 1540: usual afternoon 55.25 A2 Philippines fluttery bfo level audio via equatorial scatter (via Todd Emslie, Jan 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ Janda (OK1HH): Weekly Forecasts Bulletin 120108 --- Forecast for the period of one solar rotation since [sic] January 8, 2012. Solar activity will remain at present level between 120 - 150 s.f.u. with often occurrence of C-class flares and rarely M-class flares. Geomagnetic field during the following solar rotation should be: quiet: Jan 10 - 14, 20, 22 - 25. mostly quiet: Jan 9, 15, 21, 26, 29. quiet to unsettled: Jan 16 - 17, 27, Feb 1. quiet to active: Jan 18 - 19, 28. quiet to minor storm: Jan 30 - 31. Higher probability of changes in solar wind which may caused changes in magnetosphere and ionosphere is expected about Jan (9,) 10, 14, (15 - 16,) 17 - 18, (20,) 22, (24,) 25, (26, 30,) 31. Shortwave propagation conditions should slowly improve until March. Mostly quiet development with short active periods is expected. More important improvement is expected in April and May. F. K. Janda (OK1HH), Czech Propagation Interested Group e-mail: ok1hh(at)rsys.cz (via Dario Monferini, Jan 8, playdx yg via DXLD) Ondøejov: Weekly Forecasts Bulletins - DEATH CERTIFICATE On December 31, 2011 we said goodbye after 34 years of tradition of predictions of solar and geomagnetic activity from Ondøejov, founded by Køivský and Janda in January 1978. Coup de grace inflicted historically recent author of solar predictions F. Zloch by his retirement. See message at http://www.asu.cas.cz/~sunwatch/ For survivors F. K. Janda P. S. Prediction services for radio amateurs, in cooperation with P. Kolman, are continuing as nice, interesting and useful activity (via Dario Monferini, ibid.) GEOMAGNETIC INDICES Compiled by: Phil Bytheway E-mail: phil_tekno @ yahoo.com Geomagnetic Summary December 1 2011 through December 31 2011 Tabulated from email status daily. Flux A K Space Wx 1 155 7 1 no storms 2 157 3 2 no storms 3 160 8 2 no storms 4 164 4 1 no storms 5 158 2 1 no storms 6 151 1 0 no storms 7 149 1 1 no storms 8 145 2 1 no storms 9 144 3 1 no storms 10 140 3 3 no storms 11 134 6 2 no storms 12 x x x x 13 133 3 0 no storms 14 132 1 0 no storms 15 124 0 1 no storms 16 121 0 0 no storms 17 120 0 0 no storms 18 128 1 0 no storms 19 128 4 2 no storms 20 137 3 0 no storms 21 145 4 2 no storms 22 146 2 0 no storms 23 138 1 0 no storms 24 143 1 0 no storms 25 144 1 0 minor 26 146 1 0 minor 27 140 0 0 no storms 28 145 2 0 no storms 29 147 6 1 no storms 30 141 4 1 minor 31 133 3 1 no storms (IRCA DX Monitor Jan 7 via DXLD) A VERY POOR TROPICAL SEASON Conditions, at least here, have been very poor on the tropical bands. Only consistent PNG has been Radio East New Britain. Madang logged once, Symban once and that`s it since October. I have been monitoring Bhutan and Afghanistan frequencies for days with no results either. All in all, a very poor season thus far (Bill Smith, W1OW, Douglas MA, Dec 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Geomagnetic field activity was at quiet to unsettled levels during the period. Brief minor storm periods occurred at high latitudes on 05 January associated with the onset of a coronal hole high-speed stream (CH HSS). FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 11 JANUARY-06 FEBRUARY 2012 Solar activity is expected to be at low levels during the period with a slight chance for isolated M-class flare activity. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at normal levels during the period with a chance for moderate levels during 14 - 16 January and again on 30 January - 01 February. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at quiet levels during 10 January. An increase to quiet to unsettled levels is expected on 11 - 12 January and 16 January due to recurrent CH HSS effects. Quiet conditions are expected during 17 - 27 January. An increase to quiet to unsettled levels is expected on 28 - 29 January due to another CH HSS. Quiet levels are expected from 30 January - 06 February. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2012 Jan 10 1730 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 2012-01-10 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2012 Jan 11 140 5 2 2012 Jan 12 135 8 3 2012 Jan 13 130 8 3 2012 Jan 14 130 5 2 2012 Jan 15 130 5 2 2012 Jan 16 135 8 3 2012 Jan 17 140 5 2 2012 Jan 18 145 5 2 2012 Jan 19 145 5 2 2012 Jan 20 145 5 2 2012 Jan 21 145 5 2 2012 Jan 22 145 5 2 2012 Jan 23 145 5 2 2012 Jan 24 145 5 2 2012 Jan 25 145 5 2 2012 Jan 26 140 5 2 2012 Jan 27 140 5 2 2012 Jan 28 140 8 3 2012 Jan 29 140 8 3 2012 Jan 30 135 5 2 2012 Jan 31 135 5 2 2012 Feb 01 135 5 2 2012 Feb 02 135 5 2 2012 Feb 03 135 5 2 2012 Feb 04 135 5 2 2012 Feb 05 135 5 2 2012 Feb 06 135 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1599, DXLD) ###