DX LISTENING DIGEST 12-07, February 15, 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 2012 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html For restrixions and searchable 2011 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid1.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 1604 HEADLINES: *DX and station news about: Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, France, Gabon, Germany, Indonesia, Iran, Korea, Laos, Madagascar, Myanmar, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oklahoma, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Taiwan, Tajikistan, UK, USA SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1604, Feb 16-22, 2012 Thu 0430 WRMI 9955 [confirmed on webcast] 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 not including this] Mon 1230 WRMI 9955 Tue 1030 HLR 5980 Hamburger Lokal Radio Thu 0430 WRMI 9955 [or maybe 1605 if ready in time] 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/ ** ALBANIA [and non]. 7425, Feb 12 at 0047, R. Tirana ID, with CCI from China also causing a SAH. I would say it`s 60% Tirana, 40% China. R. Tirana never took my advice since early in the B-11 season to get away from this by shifting to clear 7420 for the 00-01 Albanian broadcast to North America. BTW, this hour is not in English as someone reported (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7530, R. Tirana. Signal on the air at 2058:58 and immediately into IS. Instrumental music and W with voice-over ID and English sked announcement. News opening announcement by W, then M with news. Strong signal. Figured I better get a recording of this before they decide to go off the air like all the other Europeans have been in recent years. (8 Feb.) (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, NRD-535D and Perseus (SDR), T2FD, Wellbrook ALA1530, HCDX via DXLD) ** ALBANIA. INTRUDER --- right now: 14.02.2012 1835 UT *7180 KHz* A3E 59++ QTE 190 deg Radio Chine International program in French. 73 de (Gerd OE3GSA Oedreigsa [get it?], Austria, INTRUDERALERT mailing list via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) Most likely a keyboard punching error at Cërrik Albania relay site center tonight. 1800-1957 UT French 7385cer, 7360cer, 6055cer, 5970cer. CRI French service not heard on 7360 kHz tonight. vy73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** ALGERIA. 531/549 both in at decent level 2230-2242 UT with rock music via "Jil FM." At 2230 they were playing Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb," a song clearly about heroin use. Never thought I would hear this from a Muslim country! Ya never know! (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Feb 8, http://www.wtfda.info/showthread.php?t=228 IRCA via DXLD) ?? Surely there is heroin use in Muslim countries; even raw material. Or maybe they don`t get it (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Maybe they just don't want to get involved politically in others` crap and Floyd's tune is their anthem! (Todd Skaine, Woodbury, MN, 2010, PL 310 or Toyota radio, IRCA via DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. 15476, since it`s Thursday, just in case a couple chex whether LRA36 be reactive: No, not even a carrier detectable at 1358, 1443 Feb 9 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 13363.5-LSB, UT Sun Feb 12 at 0023, very rapid play-by- play by a couple of guys, football? Poor signal. May have heard a quick `Continental` ID in passing, one of the regular occupants of this relay (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. After hearing 13363.5-LSB, I check 15345v for R. Nacional. Much stronger signal here, S9+20 with flutter, at first just open carrier, then just barely modulated with music. At 0042 Feb 12 somewhat better modulation with tango, 0043 mentions `Nacional`. I am listening with BFO on, and the transmitter is audibly drifting (after the FRG-7 BFO drift settles down when it is first turned on) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15345.068, 1857 22/1, Rock song, ID "Radio Nacional Argentina informa" and news in Spanish, "Radio Nacional, la radio pública argentina", good (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italia, RX: Excalibur Pro - ANT; T2FD - Feb 11, playdx yg via DXLD) ARGENTINA/MOROCCO. Both on air, but poor signal of RAE Buenos Aires 15344.915 varying / wandering up and down to x.937 kHz, Spanish at 1909 UT Febr 12, also SNRT / RTMaroccaine [IMM] Nador relay back on 15349.138 kHz, weak S=4-5 at 1914 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Febr 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15345, 13/Feb 0124, RAE in Spanish. Seems like a soap opera. Good signal, but low modulation. 45443 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, 12 14´S, 38 58´W - Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. Subject: [A-DX] RAE - Aktuelle Info aus Argentinien Ohne viele Worte - anbei aktuelle Info aus Argentinien zu den seit 1.2.2012 ausgefallenen deutschsprachigen Sendungen: 73 (Heiko Priess, Germany, Feb 8, A-DX via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) Viz.: -------- Original-Nachricht -------- Betreff: Unsere Sendungen :-) Datum: Wed, 8 Feb 2012 12:41:43 -0800 (PST) Von: RAEDeutsch Antwort an: RAEDeutsch Liebe Freunde! Wir danken Ihnen herzlich für Ihre E-Mails! Machen Sie sich bitte keine Sorgen um den Fortbestand von RAE, der ist nicht gefährdet! Derzeit haben wir nur technische Probleme in den Studios, sodass wir nicht in der Lage sind, die volle Sendung aufzunehmen, haben heute aber angefangen, die Nachrichten aufzunehmen. Wenn Sie also versuchen, uns zu empfangen, wird es in den nächsten Tagen nur Nachrichten und viel Musik geben, ja? Herzliche Grüße aus Argentinien Ihre Rayén Braun FYI AUTOMATIC TRANSLATION 73 wb RAE - Latest info from Argentina Without many words - see the latest info from Argentina since the 02/01/2012 unusual German broadcasts: 73 Heiko -------- Original Message -------- Date: Wed, February 8, 2012 12:41:43 -0800 (PST) Dear friends! Thank you very much for your e-mails! Do not be concerned about the continued existence of RAE, which is not at risk! Currently we only have a technical problems in the studio, so we are not in a position to record the full program, but have now started to record the German news. If you try to receive is, it is only NEWS in the coming days and length and lots of music to serve you. Best regards from Argentina, Yours, Rayen Braun (via Büschel, Feb 9, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. ABC RELEASES VIDEO ON ‘TOP HAT’ MAST OF 3WV DOOEN http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/abc-releases-video-on-unique-antenna-of-3wv-dooen When it comes to beaming radio waves across vast distances, the Dooen transmitter is world class. Standing 201 metres tall with a 19 metre wide capacitive ‘top hat’, the 3WV mast in western Victoria stands out in the vast flat landscape that stretches below it. Celebrating 75 years of service, the occasion of World Radio Day seemed a worthy time to pay tribute to this impressive technological structure. “It really meant a lot to us. It must’ve been a big undertaking in 1936 to build it because cranes and things that are about today weren’t even heard of,” says long time Horsham resident James Heard. In fact 594 AM has even been heard as far as Canada, Japan and South Africa. The staggering reach is aided by the distinctive ‘top hat’ and the low frequency of the AM band. While obviously a success, the antenna was the first of its kind in Australia and acted as a prototype for other services. “It’s the first solid-state 50 kW broadcast transmitter installed for the ABC and it was the test bed for the installations across the rest of the country,” says Tim Hughes, Transmission Coordinator for ABC Victoria. Watch a 3 minute video about the 3WV mast http://www.abc.net.au/local/videos/2012/02/12/3428813.htm?site=centralvic (February 12th, 2012 - 13:45 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) 5 Comments on “ABC releases video on ‘top hat’ mast of 3WV Dooen” #1 Nigel Holmes on Feb 13th, 2012 at 06:20 Johns and Waygood was a heavy construction company commissioned in the mid ’30’s to construct anti-fade (~190 deg.) radiators for the ABC mf stations in capital cities and major regional towns. The Sydney (2BL & 2FC) and Melbourne (3LO & 3AR) masts were full-size, without top- loading, at 735? (224m) and 705? (215m) respectively. They were built ~1938 and are in service today. 2CR (Central Rivers, Cumnock), 2NR (Northern Rivers, Grafton), 3WV (Western Victoria, Dooen), 6WA Wagin and 4QN Brandon were some of the early top-loaded masts of the same period. Around 155-200m high. They look quite impressive from Google Earth. #2 Richard Suy on Feb 13th, 2012 at 14:17 Awesome and excellent video clip indeed! It’s a great video about 3WV mast. I’m very satisfied to watch it. Thanks for allocation. #3 Glenn Hauser on Feb 15th, 2012 at 03:05 This report has some misleading info: One of the effects of the “top hat“ is to reduce skywave and enhance lower-angle radiation, i.e. put more into groundwave. Thus it was heard in Japan, Canada and South Africa, *despite*, not because of, the top hat. “Solid state“ did not come in until the late 1950s. While 3WV may have had the first solid state transmitter, it could not have been originally from 1936. #4 Andy Sennitt on Feb 15th, 2012 at 13:05 OK, Glenn. Thanks for the corrections. I am not an antenna expert. The text is as originally published on the ABC website. #5 Kai Ludwig on Feb 15th, 2012 at 21:03 In particular the report messes up groundwave coverage (for which this low frequency is very good) and pure DX catches, far away from any regular skywave service (for which the other way round a higher frequency would be better). The actual purpose of such top capacities is to prevent the antenna from radiating steeply upwards. Otherwise at certain locations both a groundwave and a skywave signal of about equal strength can be present, and this causes very bad fading. Larger antennas such as 1/2 or 5/8 wavelength radiate only at comparatively low angles by their own, top capacities are being added to smaller masts to avoid the issue there. This does not eliminate the skywave service, just lets the skywave component return to earth only at greater distances from the transmitter where it will be considerably stronger than the groundwave. An East German antenna design once in widespread use for powers up to 20 kW consisted of a 51 metres lattice mast and a characteristic top capacity. Here is the last one still in continuous use, for 1188 kHz which has recently been heard in North America in spite of its really modest power of a mere 3 kW (the transmitter is in the new container- like hut, the satellite dish is just a back-up, regular program feed still comes in via landline): http://jans-radioseiten.de/reichenbachb.html And the mention of a solid-state transmitter in the article here obviously refers to a modernization, replacing the previously used tube transmitter. Solid-state transmitters for 50 kW did not appear much before 1990 (MN blog comments via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. More on the new 1674 AM signal from Melbourne. Transmitter location is at Gro-Link Nursery, 766 Duncans Road, Werribee South (Robert Copeman, Feb NZ DX Times via DXLD) And the frequency is owned by none other than Justin Christie of FM LPON fame. It now appears “the 1674 signal will be time shared between Surf FM and the Lion (of Judah) with Lion offering programs from 4 pm Sunday to 4 pm Fridays” according to Jock’s Journal. The 1674 signal is, as normal for X band, slightly better than telephone quality (Brian Goldsmith via MW-Pacific-Asia Yahoo Group via Feb NZ DX Times via DXLD) List of Melbourne extended band AM stations currently on air: 1611, 3UCB Hoppers Crossing, Victoria (VRN) 1620, 3CW Bayswater, Victoria 1629, 3CW Williamstown, Victoria 1638, 3ME South Morang, Victoria (Radio Lebanon) 1674, 3MJR Werribee South, Victoria (Lion 16-74) 1701, 3VMV Somerton, Victoria (Islamic Voice Radio) (Robert Copeman & Ian Stanley via MW-Pacific-Asia Yahoo Group, ibid.) 1611 in Sydney now carries the Vision Radio Network replacing 2GW (Paul Mech via MW-Pacific-Asia Yahoo Group, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA. 6230-USB, Feb 10 at 1345, poor signal in Oz English, wind velocities in knots plus gusts for locations including Adelaide, i.e. from VMW, Wiluna WA, then forecast for NT. This frequency is usually jammed by North Korea from 16 to 20 hours a day including at 1345, per Aoki, since MND Radio uses it for 76 minutes a day, not including 1345, but Ron Howard notes much of the NK jamming has been missing lately, reconfiguring? And he also heard VMW an hour earlier today. At 1347 it was marred by 2-way SSB in accented English, as 6230 is also a marine communications channel in North America (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA [non]. 9965, Feb 10 at 1404, RA playing versions of ``Waltzing Matilda`` other than their (former?) IS, as part of an English lesson for Chinese, ``How do you feel about this version?`` repeatedly queried and practised. This is the 1300 sesquihour relayed by T8WH PALAU, from Medorn, or is it Medorm? Sources conflict (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHRAIN [and non]. 9745, R. Bahrain: V. of Russia is here in French until 2100 (ID and address at 2058). Someone came on with big OC at 2108 briefly. Sounded like some Arabic music here after 2119. A little better by 2130. Moreso by 2150 with some great vocals. Getting splash QRM from Russia on 9750 after s/on 2149, so not much heard after that. (6 Feb.) (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, NRD-535D and Perseus (SDR), T2FD, Wellbrook ALA1530, HCDX via DXLD) ** BELARUS. Is indeed active on 6080. Often noted just after 1500 with a buzzy carrier and programme in parallel with 279. Low modulation as on 279. Later lost in the co-channel mess. 11730 not audible at that time (Olle Alm, Sweden, Feb 14, 2012, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks dear Olle, why not actually sign the 6080 kHz reception by the Ukrainian and Russian DXers in the area of ??Ukraine {Vlad - do you hear something?}, Crimea, Caucasus, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaidjan? Scheduled 6080 kHz 1500-2104 UT in Belarus and Russian. To zones 28E,29S,39N 150 kW 127degrees. BTC SDT. BLR Minsk Kalodziscy SW two antennas at 125 to EaUKR/Caucasus / 305degr USA 53 58 16.23 N 27 46 52.97 E and an older antenna at Kalodziscy site also at (Wolfgang Büschel, Febr 14, BC-DX 15 Feb via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4699.32, R. San Miguel, OC already on at 0900, and music start at 0903:48 and canned M announcer at 0905 but just couldn't copy much. 0907 another canned announcement, more music, then another canned echo announcement by M. This seems to have a different opening every day!! Finally into music at 0913. (7 Feb.) 4699.34, R. San Miguel, Heard again much better this day with buzzing OC from 0859 to 0907 when pleasant music began followed by M at 0908 which sounds like a long station mission statement. Live instrumental band music, then studio M voice-over announcements with opening morning greetings and nice quick IDs at 0912:50. Into lively tropical music. 0917 more announcements starting with TC. (8 Feb.) 5952.46, R. Pio Doce, Good signal with end of talk by W at 2343. Canned announcements including mention of "cultural campesino". W returned with presumed news-like program at 2346. Getting slop QRM from Turkey 5960 until it went off at 2355. More canned dialog between M, W, and child then to ToH. Nice "Pio Doce" choral song at 0001, same as heard years ago!! Apparent promo, then talk by studio M announcer with occasional music bridges, and mentions of campesina, and "buenas noches". W joined in after 0010. Took phone calls from reporters. Mention of "...radio información...". 0023-0026 ad/promo block with mention of "...radio sensación..." and several mentions of Pio Doce. Back to news-like program. Seemed best around 0010. (6-7 Feb.) (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, NRD-535D and Perseus (SDR), T2FD, Wellbrook ALA1530, HCDX via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 3309.99 R. Mosoj Chaski, 1040, fair with Spanish M, "yip-yippie" vocals, only partial w/distant t-storm QRN. 13 Feb. 4699.33 R. San Miguel, 1034, fair with nice ballads/guitar solos; comments by M with reverb EFX, best in LSB with UTE high side. 13 Feb. 4716.68 R. Yura, 1022, tentative, very poor with Spanish man; in the mush and probably this, but too weak for ID. 13 Feb. 5952.32 R. Pio XII, 1100, fair with news or similar by a man, best in LSB to escape 5955 (CRI) splatter (5950 clear). 13 Feb. 6134.83 R. Santa Cruz, 0940, good with lengthy talk by a man, "R. Santa Cruz" ID by same man. Very good, despite t-storm QRN. 13 Feb (David Sharp, NSW, Partial list of equipment: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, R30A, Timewave 599ZX, various Palstar and MFJ accessories, Quantum Phaser, various Sangean and Tecsun portables, EWE aerials, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. Radio San Miguel --- la estoy escuchando casi sin interferencia y sin ruido en 4699.32 kHz en LSB, noticias, publicidades, ID emisora, Radio San Miguel. Si alguien quiere publicar algo, acá está: http://diexismoargentino.blogspot.com (Ernesto Paulero, 0005 UT Feb 11, condiglist yg via DXLD) Surely you were tuning in LSB, not that it was so transmitting (gh) ** BONAIRE. 800, NETHERLANDS ANTILLES, Trans World Radio, 0027 February 15, 2012. Canned Spanish program ending, female, "Ésta es Radio Transmundial... desde las Antillas Holandesas..." at 0030, into another Spanish gospel program. Very good on local post-sunset (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) ** BOTSWANA. Radio Botswana, 621 Selebi Phikwi // 1215 Mahalapye. Feb 11, 2012. Saturday. 1740-1748. SeTswana. Afro music, into something like a church service at 1745. 621 fair - good, 1215 fair - good. From 1819 -1824 SeTswana, afro music. 621 good, 1215 poor. Jo'burg sunset 1655. Radio Botswana. 945 Gabarone // 621 Selebi Phikwe. Feb 11, 2012. Saturday. 1806-1811. News in English then weather forecast - cloudy and warm tomorrow in Gabarone. At 1810, afro music. Very poor. 621 is much better. Jo'burg sunset 1655. Radio Botswana, 1071 Jwaneng // 621 // 1215. Feb 11, 2012. Saturday. 1818-1824. SeTswana, afro music. Good. Jo'burg sunset 1655. Botswana. Voice of America relay, 909 Selebi-Phikwe // 4930 // 6080. Feb 11, 2012. Saturday. 1802-1806. "Nightline Africa" news. ID at 1804 "English service of the Voice of America". Good. Jo'burg sunset 1655 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Ouça esta RádioWeb --- Está no ar a mais nova programação da Rádio Legal com os seguintes destaques: 1. 30 Minutos com Ulysses Galletti que nos apresenta uma seleção musical do cantor sertanejo Sergio Reis; 2. A programação Jornalística de Jean Schutz traz uma matéria bem interessante com o título “Aprenda a Arte de Saborear”; 3. Em Alguns Minutos com Ulysses Galletti, o apresentador conta um pouco mais sobre sua vida, falando da compra do seu primeiro carro. As passagens que ele conta de sua vida são sempre interessantes, com um toque literário; 4. Em Receita Legal, Jean Schutz traz um saboroso bolo de atum; 5. Educar e Minuto da Inclusão, os programas de Utilidade Pública da Rádio Legal; 6. Rock and Roll: Roberto Filho nos faz lembrar aquelas músicas de Rock gostosas e memoráveis dos anos 50 e 60; 7. Recordação Musical 2º ano: nesta semana, Ulysses Galletti traz um sucesso marcante no ano de 1951; 8. No Quadro QTC Legal desta semana, temos o Propagando as Ondas do Rádio, onde Ulysses Galletti continua apresentando o artigo de Michel Viani “Como Conservar o seu Receptor de Rádio”; 9. Radionovela “Pedaço de Mim” (Policial): a trama continua a se desenrolar em mais este capítulo desta radionovela, tão emocionante e imprevisível; 10. Mantra 2012 com todos os membros e colaboradores da Rádio Legal; 11. Encerramento. Para ouvir a nossa programação, acessem o link: http://www.radiolegal.org/ (Ulysses Galletti, Feb 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 4865.02, R. Verdes Florestas, 1004, poor with talk by Portuguese man, possibly news. No ID so tentative. 13 Feb. 4877.49, Rdif. Roraima, 1055, noted in passing and presumed, with Portuguese man; distorted audio. 13 Feb. 4885.01, Rdif. Acreana, 0954, t/in to ID by a man, brief "Ave Maria" music bridge and into more talk. Strong. 13 Feb Really good opening the past couple of days! 2380.12, R. Educadora, 0950, tentative-- perhaps even wishful thinking -- but a threshold carrier was noted during an excellent ZY opening, definite talk by a man and cadence makes me think it was Portuguese. Last heard here about two years ago, so certainly a rarity, if this. 14 Feb. 3375.31, R. Municipal, 0907, poor with talk by a woman, local music, brief comment by a man, first-time reception. 14 Feb. 4784.98, R. Brasil, 1007, news or similar by Portuguese man, one clear mention of "Campinas." Briefly covered by a UTE but otherwise good. 14 Feb. [see comment below] 4805.02, Rdif. do Amazonas, 1000, talk by deep-voiced man, comments by a second man on the phone, slight reverb EFX on speech, fanfare at 1002, ID, then high-energy ads or similar. 14 Feb. 4824.95, R. Canção Nova, 0917, weak and presumed, with continuous Brasopops. No announcements heard. 14 Feb. 4915.01, Rdif. Macapá, 0951, fair with upbeat man, occasional comments by woman, local references. 14 Feb. [see comment below] 4925.24, R. Educação Rural, 1011, fading-up above noise floor with uptempo Portuguese man, doorbell or chime SFX, into more talk. First- time reception. 14 Feb. 4965.09, R. Alvorada? Presume the one at 0943, barely above threshold with continuous talk by Portuguese man. 14 Feb. 4984.99, R. Brasil Central, 0854, very low modulation, but Brasopops cutting through, talk by a man, very tough copy. 14 Feb. 5034.97, R. Aparecida, 0840, long talk by Portuguese man, into Brasopops. Fair. 14 Feb. 9819.58, R. Nove de Julho, 0825, causing big het against weak unID on nominal; very good copy in LSB with lengthy talk by a woman, occasional mic feedback (almost sounded like a sermon). Fair-good on peaks. 14 Feb (David Sharp, NSW, Partial list of equipment: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, R30A, Timewave 599ZX, various Palstar and MFJ accessories, Quantum Phaser, various Sangean and Tecsun portables, EWE aerials, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Everyone, From John Santosuosso in Florida -- ``David, Is 4784 a recent reactivation? I know of no Brasil currently active there. Suspect your 4915 is R Daqui`` My reply to John: 4784 was definitely in Portuguese. Never heard here prior. 4915 could possibly be R. Daqui but I've had Macapá on prior occasions. 73's (David Sharp, NSW Australia, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. 4877.6v, Rdif Roraima, 0335-0403*, US pop tune of Haddaway’s What Is Love (Baby Don’t Hurt Me). Portuguese pop music. Portuguese announcements. Closing ID announcements at 0402 and off. No National Anthem tonight. Fair level but poor audio with wobbly, unstable carrier. Feb 11 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** BRAZIL. RADIO SENADO OFF SHORTWAVE --- Desde o dia 7 de fevereiro, a Rádio Senado deixou de transmitir sua programação na freqüência de 5990 kHz, na faixa de 49 metros. O motivo é que não foi renovado um contrato do Senado com a Empresa Brasil de Comunicação – antiga Radiobrás, que cedia um transmissor de ondas curtas para fazer a emissão. A Rádio Senado transmitia em ondas curtas há 12 anos e ainda não há previsão de seu retorno, que depende de entendimentos entre as direções da casa legislativa e a EBC. É uma lástima! (Célio Romais, http://blog.romais.jor.br/?p=253 DX LISTENING DIGEST) Since Feb 7, R. Senado has quit broadcasting its programming on 5990. The reason is that the contract of Senado with EBC, which provided a SW transmitter for this, was not renewed. R. Senado broadcast on SW for 12 years and there is no provision for returning, which depends on understandings between the managements of the legislative house and EBC. It`s a shame! (gh`s translation for WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It`s all federal government, isn`t it? (gh, DXLD) Hi Glenn, Indeed, but executive and legislative branches of government. They are a couple of galaxies apart most of the time. :^) Regards, (Vince, Beijing, DX LISTENING DIGEST) What an unpleasant surprise! Gonna miss this one . . . for the DXing night owls, R Senado could always be counted upon for a strong signal and pleasant music in the 0900-ish time slot. Regardless of how the bands were doing on any given morning, R Senado 5990 kHz was always there as a friendly visitor. Was just listening to them a week or so ago, and their special birthday/anniversary announcements. Quite a turnabout in events (Ralph Perry, IL, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re R. Senado off 5990 [DXLD item was quoted, my translation only, not crediting original info to Célio Romais] 250 kW Programm aus Brasilien ausgeschaltet? Wenn ich mich recht erinnere, waren da "etliche" Sender à 250 kW installiert, RN de Amazonia und der Auslandsdienst RN Brasil wurden von dort ausgestrahlt. Wird nun zugesperrt? (Uwe Volk-D, A-DX Febr 11) Hallo Uwe, obwohl vom gleichen technischen Standort ausgehend, darf man Radio Senado ZYE773 nicht mit RNB RN da Amazonia gleichsetzen. Es duerfte nicht schwer sein, die RNB RN da Amazonia 6180 und 11780 zu beobachten. Von der 9665 Frequenz habe ich sehr lange nichts gehoert. Dort wird Richtung Nord/Nordwesten ausgesendet, aber da kommt noch Einiges der Seitenkeule in Europa an. Wenn man sich B. in Google Earth ansieht, kann man die Ausmasse und Entfernungen in diesem Land ermessen, bis an die Landesgrenze sind es allein 3000 km. Da machen weiterhin Radio Nacional Aussendungen Sinn. Obwohl man vor 25 Jahren auch mal die halbe Welt beschallen wollte, mit Auslandssendungen bis Angola, Mozambique, Madagascar, Richtung Indien Subkontinent. Derart sind/waren die Vorhangantennen ausgelegt. RadioBras Brazilia Rodeador Park Shortwave 15 36 13.49 S 48 07 48.16 W Grad Zielgebiet +/- 30 Grad 055 MLI LBY ISR IRN AFG 310 CUB KS Calgary 325 CUB FL IL Winipeg 345 GUF Barbados NY Montreal Aoki listet diese Daten 5990 R. Senado 0850-2200 1234567 Port 250 345 ZYE773 6180 RN da Amazonia 0630-0300 1234567 Port 250 344 RNAMA 9665 RN DA AMAZONIA 0500-0700 1234567 Port 250 314 RNAMA 9665 RN DA AMAZONIA 0700-0800 1.....7 Port 250 314 RNAMA 9665 RN DA AMAZONIA 1800-1900 1.....7 Port 250 314 RNAMA 9665 RN DA AMAZONIA 1900-2100 1234567 Port 250 314 RNAMA 9665 RN DA AMAZONIA 2100-2200 1.....7 Port 250 314 RNAMA 11780 RN da Amazonia 0200-0550 1234567 Port 7.5 360 RNAMA 11780 RN da Amazonia 0550-0200 1234567 Port 7.5 360 RNAMA (Wolfgang Büschel, Feb 11, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Febr 15 via DXLD) Sigh, Aoki keeps long outdated info. 6180 has been inactive for years, 9665 much longer than that, and 11780 is obviously the hi-power transmitter, altho possibly not up to the full 250 kW, but not any paltry 7.5 kW, a typical power of old Brazilian private stations like R. Guaíba on 11785. So what will they do with the 5990 transmitter now? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) RÁDIO SENADO ONDAS CURTAS 5990 KHZ FORA DO AR A todos os ouvintes e/ou pessoas que fazem uso do sistema de recados da Rádio Senado Ondas Curtas e ainda a todos os colaboradores que ao longo dos anos participaram da programação da emissora com entrevistas ou de outras formas, informamos que a Rádio Senado Ondas Curtas está fora do ar desde o dia 07/02/2012, em razão da não renovação de contrato de utilização dos equipamentos de transmissão entre a EBC e o Senado Federal. Segue abaixo texto jornalístico sobre o trabalho da emissora ao longo desses 12 anos que acabam de ser completados. Atenciosamente, (José Carlos Sigmaringa, Rádio Senado Ondas Curtas, sigma @ senado.gov.br Tel. 61 3303-1277 Assinante da lista de radioescutas, 15 Feb, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Viz.: A Rádio Senado Ondas Curtas (OC), que transmitia em 5990 Khz, faixa de 49 metros, a partir desta terça-feira, dia 07 de fevereiro de 2012, não irá mais ao ar. A razão é o término e a não renovação do contrato de utilização dos transmissores e do canal de frequência que a emissora alugava. Desde o ano de 2000, o Senado Federal mantinha com a Radiobrás, hoje Empresa Brasileira de Comunicação - EBC, um contrato, mediante pagamento de aluguel, de utilização, durante 13 horas por dia, de um transmissor em ondas curtas de alta potencia (250 Kwatts), com antena direcionada para o Norte, instalado no Parque do Rodeador, no Distrito Federal. Esse contrato foi renovado várias vezes, mas, este ano, até esse momento, não houve entendimento entre as direções das duas entidades para a renovação do aluguel e a ordem da cúpula da Secretaria de Comunicação Social do Senado foi a de não colocar a emissora no ar nesta terça-feira, por não haver mais instrumento legal que garanta a continuidade do serviço. Ao longo desses 12 anos do contrato de aluguel com a Radiobras/EBC, a alta direção do Senado Federal nunca decidiu pela aquisição de equipamentos próprios de transmissão, nem requisitar ao Ministério das Comunicações e à Anatel um canal de transmissão em ondas curtas, mesmo sendo a Rádio Senado Ondas Curtas uma emissora que angariou ao longo dos anos grande audiência em vastas áreas rurais das regiões Norte, Nordeste e Centro-Oeste do país. A Rádio Senado Ondas Curtas cobre uma área estimada em 3 milhões de km2 do território nacional e atinge fazendas, povoados, áreas indígenas, assentamentos da reforma agrária e outras comunidades isoladas do interior do Brasil. A principal audiência da Rádio Senado OC é de pessoas que, ou não tem outros meios de comunicação, ou tem acesso difícil a eles, tanto por conta do isolamento geográfico, quanto por suas condições financeiras. Nas cartas que enviam à emissora, os ouvintes informam que não têm acesso a telefone e nem mesmo a luz elétrica. Já houve dias em que ao longo da programação cerca de 200 recados foram ao ar, comunicando fatos os mais diversos como, nascimentos, falecimentos, agendamentos de consultas etc. Não só pessoas físicas, mas também prefeituras, sindicatos, agências de defesa sanitária, secretarias municipais de educação e saúde e associações do interior usam o serviço para transmitir comunicados aos moradores da zona rural. Os ouvintes também mandam cartas para a emissora que são lidas no ar. Em 2011 foram cerca de 6 000 cartas e comunicados diversos recebidos e aproximadamente 40 mil recados, viabilizando a comunicação com ouvintes que residem em áreas isoladas do nosso território. O carro chefe da programação da emissora é um programa ao vivo - O Senado é Mais Brasil, transmitido no início da manhã, com 3 horas de duração, que mescla notícias do Senado, informações de interesse da população do interior, leitura de cartas de ouvintes e um quadro que cativa a audiência - O Celular do Sertão. Através desse serviço, qualquer pessoa, ligando gratuitamente para o Alô Senado (0800612211), para o telefone do estúdio, ou por e-mail, pode enviar mensagens para amigos e parentes que residem em regiões que ainda não tem acesso ao serviço telefônico, nesse imenso território brasileiro. Para atender a esse público, a Rádio Senado Ondas Curtas mantém no ar programas de prestação de serviço. Um dos mais requisitados é o Pergunte ao Doutor. Os ouvintes escrevem para a emissora relatando um problema de saúde e as dúvidas e perguntas são respondidas por médicos do próprio Senado ou outros profissionais de Brasília. A emissora produz ainda o Fique Por Dentro da Lei, destinado a tirar dúvidas sobre questões legais e o acesso a programas sociais; Viver da Terra, com orientações sobre agropecuária; e Sintonia Ambiental, tendo como tema a proteção do Meio Ambiente. Os programas sempre buscam especialistas nas suas áreas para tratar dos temas em pauta. A Rádio Senado Ondas Curtas atua ainda em radiodramaturgia com o programa Contos que Encantam, fazendo a dramatização radiofônica de peças da literatura nacional e mundial. A continuidade desse trabalho está ameaçada se não houver um entendimento com a EBC ou se o Senado Federal não considerar importante a instalação de um sistema próprio de transmissão em ondas curtas. As transmissões em OC alcançam longas distâncias. O sinal emitido pelo transmissor sobe até a ionosfera, reflete nessa camada da atmosfera e volta para a terra, reflete novamente sobre a crosta terrestre e ricocheteando consegue contornar o globo terrestre. O sinal emitido de Brasília é ouvido, com boa qualidade sonora, em simples receptores portáteis (radinhos de pilha) no interior da Amazônia, do Nordeste e do Centro-Oeste e até em partes da região Sudeste, como no Norte de Minas Gerais e interior de São Paulo, mesmo durante o dia, quando as transmissões radiofônicas são afetadas pela radiação solar. Os estados que mais se comunicam com a Rádio Senado Ondas Curtas são: Pará, Maranhão, Piauí, Tocantins, Goiás, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso e Mato Grosso do Sul A emissora já recebeu também inúmeras cartas de radioescutas enviadas do Japão, Finlândia, França, Suíça, Estados Unidos, Rússia, Canadá, China, Colômbia, Áustria, Espanha, Holanda, Inglaterra, Itália, Noruega, Suécia, Nigéria e de Goa, antiga colônia portuguesa na Índia (via José Carlos Sigmaringa Seixas, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. 49 metros: espúrios, harmônicos, QRN's, os diabos --- A faixa de 49 m. está "infestada" de ruídos provindos de TXs mal regulados, que se espalham pela faixa. Acredito que a Band 6090 kHz e algumas emissoras religiosas (que não são poucas), fazem parte do rol das que interferem. Garanto que se fossem radioamadores e radiocidadãos que estivessem interferindo, a Anatel já teria tomado drásticas providências. 73 (Luiz Chaine Neto, Limeira sp, 15-2-2012, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. From bandscans [no times or dates]: 6060 B Deus é Amor // 6120, 9565 and 11765 6120 B Super R Deus é Amor // 6060, 9565 and 11765 Is the Super R Deus é Amor organization renting air time 24 hours a day from Tupi and Globo or have they taken over these SW outlets altogether? (Maarten van Delft, visiting Costa Rica Jan-Feb, DSWCI DX Window Feb 15 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL [and non]. 9819.66, Nove de Julho? 2118 11 Feb with a LA rhythm under CNR2 on exact 9820. Talks in Portuguese. There is also sample clip on http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?2uu538ouz25x919 which is very narrowly filtered (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 11815, Feb 13 at 0628, wide-awake madrugada music typical of R. Brasil Central, Goiânia; very poor at first, 0630 announcements and now fading up to S9+15, to be sure they are Brazilian as M&W are conversing at 0632. It`s the OBOB (only Brazilian on band) and not much else either. Nothing audible on RBC`s other channel 4985. Jim Young in California says that has been missing for a few weeks as of Feb 8 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 15190, 0232, Rádio Inconfidência now being heard on high side of frequency, measured at 15190.06 on 1/2 and 15190.07 on 2/2. Good with idents in Portuguese and regular “Amigos da Madrugada” program jingle (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, (Northland), New Zealand, AOR7030+, EWEs to North, Central & South America 100m BOG to NE, and Alpha Delta Sloper antennas, Feb NX DX Times via DXLD) ** BULGARIA. Ivo, Glad that you are again doing DX Mix News! So you are still with R. Bulgaria? 73, (Glenn to Ivo Ivanov, via DXLD) Dear Mr. Hauser, For now remain, but hardly more than 3-4 months. Radio Bulgaria is no longer, no such station. Unfortunately for me Radio Bulgaria is closed page. 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Feb 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURMA [non]. Democratic Voice of Burma: 6225 via KAZAKHSTAN, 1411 27 Dec, OM talk, 24442 (Michael L Ford, Staffordshire, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) 6225 via KAZAKHSTAN, 1445 Jan 22, interview, 34433 (Mike Barraclough, ibid.) 7510, 0007 21 Jan, ARMENIA, talk, 33322 (Tony Ashar, West Java, Indonesia, ibid.) EiBi shows the only two DVB SW broadcasts are now 1430-1530 on 6225, and 2330-2430 on 7510 via those sites. At 1411, Aoki shows 6225 would be something else: Bible Voice Broadcasting via Kazakhstan, Tue-Fri in Cantonese, and that log was on a Tuesday; Monday in Mandarin, Sunday and Saturday in English (gh, DXLD) ** CAMEROON. 6005, 1415 23 Nov, CRTV news, regional announcements, English, 32333 (Dzever Ishenge, Benue State, Nigeria, YB-400, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Long delayed report via P-mail. Since then, our other correspondent in Nigeria was not hearing it (gh) ** CANADA. Village 900 [CKMO] to leave the air March 4th CKMO 900 Victoria BC will leave the air on March 4th: http://www.villagenow.net/2012/02/village-900-embraces-evolution-to.html [from radiowest.ca] (via Andy Reid, Ont., Feb 14, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DXLD) http://www.cfax1070.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4937:camosun-radio-station-goes-off-air-next-month&catid=45:mainlocal-news&Itemid=155 March 4th is what is mentioned there. It's an earlier sign off than was anticipated recently (Nick Hall-Patch, IRCA via DXLD) Viz.: The Camosun College radio station will go off the air three weeks today, on March 4th. The station has been broadcasting at 900 kilohertz on the AM dial, since swapping its FM frequency with a commercial radio station ten years ago. As part of the agreement the commercial station owner, Rogers Communications, has been subsidizing the AM transmitter, but that agreement has now expired. Camosun announced a year ago that it would cease broadcasting, but continue to produce programming for distribution on the internet. The date for that switchover is now confirmed. Frank Stanford (via DXLD) ** CANADA [non]. Good night for Latins --- PRico presumed 580 was very strong, two Latins on 690 one Cuba the other unID, and that's actually on s.e. wire (Saul Chernos, 0252 UT 12 Feb, IRCA via DXLD) 690 solid ID Radio Recuerdo, for Colombia, and a new catch. Montreal will soon sign back on here so running out of time on 690, and 940 (Saul Chernos, Burnt River Ont., 0456 UT 12 Feb, IRCA via DXLD) 940 just yielded Máxima 940 AM! That's WIPR Puerto Rico. Previously heard in Toronto many years ago, new for Burnt River ON (Cherenos, 0426 UT, ibid.) Seems to be two Spanish stations mixing on 690, one Cuban and the other just IDed at 2330 EST as Radio Recuerdos from Bogotá. Relog, but I can't remember the last time I logged a Colombian from here. Thanks for the tip, Saul (Jim Renfrew, Holley NY, 0450 UT, ibid.) ** CANADA. 6030, Calgary - CFVP relaying CKMX (AM 1060). During Feb have been hearing this semi-regularly from about 1215 to 1255; mixing with CNR1; C&W songs; clear IDs; “Southern Alberta born and raised. Classic Country AM ten sixty”; rather surprising how well their 100 watts is doing against CNR1's 100,000 watts. Thanks to Harold Sellers for a very nice QSL card! MP3 audio of ID posted at http://www.box.com/s/5rhr17zrgkpg64y3l10d Had been checking on possible Myanmar reception; none! (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 6069.96, CFRX, 0916, noted with usual overnight stand-up comedy; mostly in the mush but fair (with partial copy) on peaks. 14 Feb. [see also UNIDENTIFIED 6070!] 6159.97, CKZU, 0817, English, mostly in the mush but occasional peaks with talk by a woman, all alone on freq. 14 Feb (David Sharp, NSW, Partial list of equipment: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, R30A, Timewave 599ZX, various Palstar and MFJ accessories, Quantum Phaser, various Sangean and Tecsun portables, EWE aerials, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 9800, Feb 10 at 0212, RCI Spanish VG signal with `Canadá en las Américas` program, giving toll-free numbers to reach them from various countries. Seems the raison d`être of RCI is still immigration, as obvious from this program`s website: http://www.rcinet.ca/espagnol/emision/canada-en-las-americas/portal/ This 9800 transmission is missing from HFCC, but in EiBi, Aoki, WRTH and RCI`s technical schedule. While we`re at it, full RCI Spanish: 23:00-23:29 7 Days SAC 11990 250 176 HR 4/4/1.0 12-14,15W,16N 23:00-23:29 7 Days SAC 9785 250 176 HR 4/4/1.0 12-14,15W,16N 00:00-00:29 7 Days SAC 9785 250 176 HR 4/4/1.0 12-14,15W,16N 00:00-00:29 7 Days SAC 11990 250 176 HR 4/4/1.0 12-14,15W,16N 01:00-01:29 7 Days SAC 6100 250 253 HR 4/3/1.0 8S, 10N, 10SE, 11W 02:00-02:29 7 Days SAC 9800 250 268 HR 2/1/0.5 7SW,10N,10SE (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The Link, RCI's flagship program devoted its Monday Feb. 13th episode to World Radio Day. Segments included a history of radio in Canada and a round table of the future of radio. Portions of the program can be listened to here: http://www.rcinet.ca/english/program/the-link/archives/episode/16-28_2012-02-13-the-link-monday-february-13-2012/ World Radio Day: http://www.worldradioday.org/ (Andy Reid, Ont., Feb 14, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) from Facebook today [Feb 13]: The Link on Radio Canada International "Dear RCI listeners and friends, Happy World Radio Day! Don't miss our special broadcast dedicated to celebrating radio, live at 13:05 EST or 18:05 UTC on shortwave or the Internet." http://www.rcinet.ca/english/program/the-link/home/ Shortwave schedule (to Mid East & Africa): 1800-1900 UTC on 9740 via Kashi, China; 9770 via Skelton, UK; 11845 via Vatican; 15365 and 17790 via Sackville, Canada (Alan Pennington, BDXC-UK yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DXLD) Or for those who missed it, via radio [non]: http://www.rcinet.ca/english/program/the-link/archives/episode/16-28_2012-02-13-the-link-monday-february-13-2012/ (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. 6604-USB, Feb 14 at 0636, VOLMET sounds like same voice as 6754-USB Trenton Military, and first wondered if they were //, but at this time 6604 is NY Radio, shared with Gander at other hourparts. 6604 including Pittsburgh, St Louis, Indianapolis, with temps and dewpoints in C, usual confusing mix of English and metric units for other data. 6754 included Shearwater (NS) base. EiBi now covers all this utility-broadcast scheduling as well as proper SWBC programming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Re: Firedrake Feb 2: ``9315, good at 1427 mixing with some Asian audio. Target is VOA Tibetan via Thailand during this hour only, which normally would be subjected to CNR1 jamming, as in Handler`s list, but Frodge has it as Firedrake (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` I listed it on 9315 in 2011. Below is the first log I've seen for it in 2012 (Harold Frodge, Flaming Goose, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: ``Firedrake Feb 3: 9315, checked at 1450 Feb 3 where yesterday there was FD vs VOA Tibetan via Thailand, but now it`s back to CNR1 jamming // 9450 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX ISTENING DIGEST)`` 7255, Feb 9 at 1341, Firedrake-like music, but not exactly, as it`s CRI Russian service with announcement at 1342, 500 kW, 37 degrees from SZG site also USward; Shijiazhuang not to be found on the map, page 55 of the WRTH 2012, until looked up on page 662 to find it`s a.k.a. Nanpozhuang, southwest of Beijing. As for real Firedrake, none found 1345-1355 Feb 9, searching 7-18 MHz. Firedrake Feb 10: 13920, 2243. With musical jamming. Good signal. // 11500, 14400, 14700, 16100. 14400, 2333. With music jamming. Fair-poor. // 11500 Good, 14700 Fair, 16100 Poor. 14700, 2333. With music jamming. Fair. // 11500 Good, 14400 Fair-poor, 16100 Poor (Steven Handler, Buffalo Grove IL, Icom IC-7200, Tecsun PL- 660 and wire antennas, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) 15870, 13/Feb 0135, Firedrake. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, 12 14´S, 38 58´W - Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake Feb 15: 12500, very poor at 1436 12600, very poor at 1436 No others found 10-18 MHz in the next few minutes. Propagation was generally poor on hi-latitude paths from everywhere (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 4940, Voice of Strait. The Saturday “Focus on China” show in English was preempted Jan 28 by the Spring Festival Holiday (Lunar New Year), but glad to hear their return on Feb 4 from 1500 to 1530 with news from the past week; China’s leading agricultural scientist Yuan Longping was presented with the Mahathir Science Award for his contribution in developing hybrid rice, etc. 6035, PBS Yunnan, 1200, Feb 10. Clearest ever ID in English: “This is the Voice of Shangri-La brought to you by Yunnan Radio”. MP3 audio http://www.box.com/s/ia0zsfrg5htk4acf7jg8 Unusually good propagation! (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 7220 and 7435, Feb 9 at 1358-1400, still can`t make out any REE IS from Kunming before CRI Nepali service. 7220 and better 7435, Feb 10 at 1358, Kunming site is again audibly playing the totally off-topic Radio Exterior de España IS, prior to the CRI Nepali service; I had not been able to detect it for a couple of days (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. The Epoch Times, 8 Feb 2012, Heng He: "Forty-three years ago, I first became aware that there was an alternative to the [Chinese Communist] Party, an outside world against which the Party’s actions could be judged. In 1969, like millions of middle and high school students across China, I was sent to the countryside. Leaving behind my native Shanghai, I carried one shortwave radio with me. It took me several months to get all the parts from different surplus stores and then put them together. When I finally tuned the radio, I heard a totally different voice. Unlike the firm, righteous, and authoritative voice that we heard every day at that time, it was soft and friendly. I immediately realized that it was the Voice of America. In our small circle of friends who had the same hobby of assembling our own radios, listening to VOA was no secret. But it was dangerous, and listening to the 'enemy radio' could even lead to jail. Today, listening to the VOA is no longer a crime (although the station’s programs are still jammed), but installing a satellite dish to watch the New York-based New Tang Dynasty TV caused one Guangxi Province resident to get slapped with a three-year jail sentence." (kimandreweliott.com Feb 11 via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 5909.93, Alcaraván Radio, 0903, fading-up with rustic ballads, brief comments by a man at 0908 and quickly back to music. 14 Feb (David Sharp, NSW, Partial list of equipment: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, R30A, Timewave 599ZX, various Palstar and MFJ accessories, Quantum Phaser, various Sangean and Tecsun portables, EWE aerials, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO [then known as FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA]. Re 12-06, ``I liked to listen to Brazzaville’s theme music, and when I had company at sign-on time I’d insist they listen to it. I later learned the music was from an Offenbach operetta. An authoritative man’s voice would announce, “This is Radio Brazzaville, the French National Broadcasting Station in (pause) Africa.” Or something like that (Wendel Craighead, Kansas, via DXPlorer, ibid.)`` Glenn, The theme music Mr. Craighead heard on Radio Brazzaville in the early 1950's was the "Knightsbridge March". R. Brazzaville and Radio Leopoldville (Belgian Congo) were the two most exotic stations I heard on my S-38B while in high school (Joe Buch, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Joe, I don`t remember Brazzaville`s music, but Knightsbridge March was the theme to DX Parytyline from HCJB. Brazzaville too? Strange the French would use something so British (Glenn to Joe, via DXLD) Glenn, I do not remember the theme music to DXPL although I did listen to it from time to time. I found on Youtube a performance of the Knightsbridge March by Eric Coates. It was almost 60 years ago when I think I heard it on R. Brazzaville and I could be wrong. If you can trace Mr. Craighead, try sending him this link:to see if it is the ditty he remembers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTPWUDscd_s The major theme begins at 4 minutes into the performance. I agree it is strange for a French station to use a British composer's music. Offenbach would certainly be more appropriate but I am pretty sure it was not from "Gaîté Parisien". Cheers, (Joe Buch, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CORSICA [and non]. Subject: [mwoffsets] 1494 Two MDA transmitters carrying R. Moldova (Yedinets/Cahul): 1493.937 24h 1494.001 *04-22* (eventually TX is *0345-2230* [s.off time is approx.]) I'm not sure who's where. Possibly somebody's closer to watch/hear ground wave and/or has wider aperture to distinguish between those two ?... (my QTH has ~25deg difference and is ~500 km away) other signals noted: 1493.998 RUS (Krasnyy Bor) *1647-1901* carries VOR/Russ 1494.000 GRC (24h on Su.) 1494.000 F (France Info, Clermont-Ferrand?) 24h(?) curious unid traces (most likely Europeans): 1493.987 -0350> (fading out) 1494.036 (Vlad Titarev, Kremenchuk, UKRAINE, Feb 7, via BC-DX via DXLD) Erich Bergmann of Ansbach/Stuttgart Germany wrote the news FRANCE/CORSE, 1494, It appears that another mediumwave transmitter has ceased their broadcasting mission. As I already wrote to you last week, France Bleu Frequenza Mora heard only on 1404 kHz via Ajaccio. But Bastia on 1494 kHz via 'no more', here's noted just a different location via France Info (Erich Bergmann-D, via wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Febr 8) Subject: 1494 kHz Frankreich --- Hallo Wolfgang, Es scheint so dass noch eine Sendestelle auf Mittelwelle ihre Sendung eingestellt hat. Wie ich Dir schon letzte Woche schrieb ist France Bleu, Frequenza Mora nur mehr auf 1404 kHz via Ajaccio zu hören, auf 1494 kHz via Bastia nicht mehr, hier kommt nur noch France Info via einen anderen Standort. 73s (Erich Bergman, Feb 8, ibid.) [mwdx] Re: Fw: 1494 kHz France --- Dear friends, after the message Wolfgang sent, I contacted Christian Ghibaudo in Nice, France, to find what was going on in FRANCE BLEU FREQUENZA MORA. He phoned to Ajaccio offices and the secretary replied the 1494 kHz frequency was TEMPORARILY off for problems connected to the snow falls and low temperatures in the Bastia area where is located the 1494 kHz RFBFM transmitter. The station is operated directly from Ajaccio centre. The chief Engineer has controlled the line and reconnected the signal from Ajaccio to Bastia, so after 1930 hours this evening 1494 kHz has been REACTIVATED.... The secretary assured NO EXISTS plans to close down 1494 kHz. So please dear friends control 1494 kHz from your places and you will be able to listen again in the 1494 kHz frequency the local programs from Corse. Good listenings (Dario Monferini & Christian Ghibaudo,, Feb 9, mwdx yg via BC-DX via DXLD) Excellent research Dario and Christian. Reuters report, and featured on all German and European TV channels tonight: "French power demand is expected to reach a new record high at 100,000 MW on Thursday evening and soar to 98,000 MW on Tuesday, 1.3 percent above the previous record reached on December 2010. .... Because of 90% production of nuclear electricity, there are many main power heating systems used in France ..." At 1745 UT Febr 9 noted both 1494.0025 ERA Greece, and 1493.937 like Edinet-Moldova in Romanian, - tentatively. 73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** COSTA RICA. In San José I visited R Monumental and R Reloj which verified me on 6150 in 1964 and 6206 kHz in 1967 respectively. They are now in one building as part of Central de Radios (CDR), a network comprising some 30 radio stations! All stations have nationwide FM- coverage, but I was told that their main focus is now satellite and internet broadcasting. So SW in Costa Rica really seems a thing of the past (Maarten Van Delft, Feb 10, visiting CR, DSWCI DX Window Feb 15 via DXLD) ?? Except for the big REE relays, and 5954.2, R. República! Too bad you could not visit those (gh, DXLD) ** CROATIA [non]. 7375, Feb 9 at 0412, Hrvatski Radio is missing from German relay; I was hearing it earlier in the evening at some unlogged time with usual very good signal and music. Normally lasts until 0600. 7375, Feb 10 at 0338, Voz de Croacia in Spanish about horrible coldwave, temperature plunging to -26 C. Signal is not as strong as usual, weaker than 7385 BBC Ascension, and has very slight reverb sound, caused by the three 100 kW Wertachtal, GERMANY transmitters being slightly unsynchronized, at 240, 300 and 325 degrees in the 02- 04 segment. Or possibly backscatter from the 240 one aimed at S America. Was checking this since the night before, the westerly 325 one remaining after 0400 was inaudible at 0412. Note: Spanish is currently at 0330, not 0230 as during DST (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 620 Rebelde FM, not parallel 600, 670, and 710 600, R. Rebelde, San Germán FEB 9 0100 - Good; "Rebelde la Habana, emisora de la revolución," parallel 670 and 710 kHz. 620, R. Rebelde, Colón FEB 9 0100 - Good over WSNR; "Rebelde FM, la Habana," not parallel 600, 670 and 710 kHz. Audio clip uploaded to the 2012 International Logbook http://www.bamlog.com/2012logbook.htm (Bruce Conti, NH, contiba @ gmail.com mwdx yg via DXLD) ** CUBA. New MW transmitters on the air. Hi friends, There is an article on the web site of "TV Yumurí" (the Matanzas provincial TV station) informing that RadioCuba has improved the reception quality of Radio Rebelde and Radio Reloj thanks to the reopening of the Bolondrón transmitter site. This site was damaged in 2001 by the hurricane Michell. There is a video showing this "new" CTOM but unfortunately there is no info about the frequencies in use from this reopened installation. In old listings the Bolondrón site is on 910 for Radio Reloj. http://www.tvyumuri.icrt.cu/provinciales/5298-incrementa-calidad-empresa-radiocuba-en-matanzas.html The article is dated Dec. 9th 2010. Another one: In a note published on Jan 17th 2011 in the Radio Cubana site it is said that a new R. Progreso transmitter will be shortly on the air from the La Palma CTOM (Centro Transmisor de Onda Media). This site was devastated by Gustav & Ike hurricanes in 2008. The whole installation has been rebuilt and a new 70 m. tower has been erected to serve R. Guamá - 710, R. Rebelde - 1180 (already in operation at time of writing) and now R. Progreso. No frequency is mentioned but: Perhaps the new unid Progreso tx. reported on 1230 from early 2011?? http://www.radiocubana.cu/index.php/noticias-de-la-radio-cubana/1-noticias-nacionales/1776-pinar-del-rio-se-beneficia-con-nueva-senal-radiofonica http://www.cubanradio.cu/index.php/news-on-the-radio/1-national-news/1011-pinar-del-rio-a-new-radio-signal 73s (Mauricio Molano, Salamanca, ESPAÑA - SPAIN, Feb 13, RX site: Aldea del Cano, Cáceres. LAT: 39º17'09.70 N LONG: 6º19'00 W RX: PERSEUS. ANT: WELLBROOK ALA1530S+ http://moladx.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) CUB Bolondron Matanzas 1240 kHz 10 kW, 910 kHz 5kW 22 47'08.20"N 81 28'32.88"W http://g.co/maps/ze5b4 CUB La Palma, R Guamá 710, R Rebelde 1180, R Progreso ?880? probably 22 44'47.55"N 83 33'04.12"W http://g.co/maps/bz2qz 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** CUBA. 1280, Radio Enciclopedia, Varadero, Matanzas. 0102 February 15, 2012. Someone bubbling up with instrumental/clarinet version of "The Look Of Love" at 0102. Seemingly the same source as Spanish Cuban-accented female overmodulated quick talk 0106, back to instrumentals. Sporadically bubbling up and still overmodulated with cheesy instrumentals, mostly piano Latin jazz tinged. Same female 0124, mentioning Cuba, seriously overdriven audio. At 0207, clarinet "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes", with the unidentified Southern Gospel station still trading off. Looking for the newly-reported Radio Trinidad on this channel. No ID tonight. But the following evening, February 15 2359, Radio Enciclopedia canned ID into violin cover of Led Zeppelin "Kashmir" parallel 530. This one has been here for quite a while -- listed on my Cuba doc and last in the WRTVH 1997 -- not on Sr. Molano's excellent list though (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) ** CUBA [non]. 17655, 1753 4 Jan, RHC, presumed, in Portuguese, excellent, not listed on this frequency (Richard W Parker, Pennsburg PA, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Because it`s really VOA Greenville. Why would you think it`s RHC? (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. 13670, Feb 9 at 1351, RHC is on with VG signal. Gone at 1413. Has also been missing past few mornings when checked after 14. Evidently they are turning it off around 14, when CRI Sackville comes up on 13675, altho 13670 is supposedly scheduled, and announced as on the air until 16. 11532.0, Friday Feb 10 at 0634, huge S9+25 carrier with hum, incomparably stronger than the 25m broadcasters, RNZI 11725 the SSOB. Probably 250 kW transmitter like or same as used by RHC which would also be super-strong if on 25m at this hour. I keep monitoring to hear the digital utility noise bursts which last for about 45 seconds every 5 minutes at 0635, 0640, 0645. I have previously logged 11532 in DXLDs: 8-132, 9-008, 9-016, 9-080, 9-082, 9-083, 10-01, 10-02, 10-45, 11-47, 12-02. Would you believe I don`t get a single hit searching on 11532 in the 39,442 posts so far in the the UDXF yg? I do find it however, in the latest ENIGMA newsletter, http://www.brogers.dsl.pipex.com/enigma2000/newsletters/CEN.pdf as part of the Cuban spy numbers schedule denoted V2a: M/W/F/Sat in the 06-07 hour accompanied by 11435, which I have also heard and I believe occupies the first half of the hour. 9124, Feb 12 at 0633, big S9+22 open carrier with hum, and just like on 11532, 24 hours earlier, which is not on tonight, most of the 0635- 0636+ minute occupied by digital data bursts, from the V2a Spy Numbers station (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. 11750, Feb 11 at 1421, I am hearing some singing weakly under always weak RHC. I had dreams of SLBC Sri Lanka, the 300 kW Ekala transmitter, but this does not start until 1500 (HFCC) or 1530 (Aoki) or 1530 (Trincomalee, WRTH) or 1630 (Trinco, EiBi) --- instead it must be R. Farda via Biblis, GERMANY, 100 kW at 108 degrees until 1530 (HFCC, EiBi), or -1600 (Aoki). As for RHC, 11750 is always very weak compared to 11760, yet Aoki shows 11750 as 100 kW, 340 degrees USward, while 11760 as 100 kW non- direxional. Something doesn`t add up here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 300 kW Ekala transmitter --- Hello Glenn, that's not true. Acc to Victor and former DWL technicians too, confirmed - this is the ONLY 250 kW outlet from former DWL Trincomalee site at present. In summer A-12 schedule more TRM relays could be expected then of various broadcasting programs. 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) 13670, today Feb 11 RHC has this frequency on past 1400 when RadioCuba had been turning it off the past week, still going at 1433 with `news`, hetting another strong signal from CRI English via Canada 13675, Commies vs Commies. 15370, Feb 12 at 0026, open carrier with no flutter, unlike Argentina on 15345v. S9+22. RHC is supposed to be in Quechua here until 0030, maybe ended early. Off at next check 0043. 6010, UT Sunday Feb 12 at 0710, RHC in weekly Esperanto service, which I had not reconfirmed lately. Sunday anomalies Feb 12: 1411, 13670 is on but 13750 is off. At 1418, 11760 is off while 11750 and 11840 are on. But at 1450, 13750 is on with RHC programming // 13670, 13780 et al. At 1456, 11760 is back, but 9850 is off, 9540 JBA. At 1533, still RHC on 13750 // 11750, 13670, 13780, but 15370 is not on. At 1643, 17750 is on at S9+15 but JBM with YL yelling (YL-ling?), so is this Venezuela relay? 13750 is off, no 13680 either as reserved for `Aló, Presidente`; 1644, 15370 is better modulated, seems like same cacophony as on 17750 with car horns, YL et al., S9+18 until cuts off at 1645*. Then I find fair open carrier on 13680, and 11690 is JBM with same as 15370. At 1646, 17750 is now off. Quite a mess, apparently RHC is undecided about whether to keep broadcasting what is incoming from Caracas. Then I check the A,P website and find the live feed is coverage of a parade, reviewed by El Hugazo and a seated compañero; mostly young people with banners, marching bands, etc., still going at 1745 with goose-stepping soldiers. Doesn`t make for very good radio, tho there is super- patriotic commentary by someone other than Chávez; seems to be in honor of Bolívar tho everything the regime does is In His Name. O, this is it: 198th anniversary of the Batalla de la Victoria, Día de la Juventud. El Hugazo is finally speaking to the crowd at 1821 --- on the video cast, SW unchecked now. 11532, Feb 13 at 0634, open carrier, surely Cuban spy station V2a again, since it`s scheduled M/W/F/Sat and this is Monday. But unlike last Friday at same time, it`s relatively weak, only S9 to S9+10 peaks as the digital data bursts start at 0635. 11532, Feb 15 at 0638-0639+, digital data bursts from V2a are a little earlier than usual, i.e. within the multiples of 5 minutes such as 0640-0641 as heard previously. It`s by far the SSOB on the 25m band including all legitimate voice broadcasters (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. A new program grid from WRMI dated Feb 9 has been put up via a couple of clix from http://www.wrmi.net It shows that the Radio Libertad clandestine is again back on 9955 as per previous schedule, which had been off the air (for fund-raising?) in January+: daily 13-14, Tue-Sat 00-01 and 05-06. R. Martí programs, unlabeled as to source, are shown M-F 11-12 and 23-24 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) U.S.A.: 9955, WRMI Radio Miami Int'l, Miami FL (presumed); 2017-2031+, 11-Feb; Radio Canada Int'l program Mesalla [sic] Canada -- interview with Oxfam Canada representative to 2027, then feature on a Toronto musician. WRN promo at 2029+ cutting off the RCI program and into Radio Australia News at 2030:30. All in English. SIO=353 at tune-in; Cuban buzz-pulser (presumed) started about 2021. About 2021:40 the WRMI sig rose noticeably to SIO=4+53+ obliterating the buzz-pulser (did it just stop?). The WRMI sig settled back some, but still stronger than at tune-in. I sent a copy of this log to WRMI and got this back from Jeff White in 1:03! "Interesting, Harold. It's strange that the Cuban jammer would begin in the middle of a WRN segment. But in any case, we certainly didn't change anything on our end." (Harold Frodge, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING TO CUBA IN THE NEWS. Posted: 11 Feb 2012 Miami Herald, 8 Feb 2012, Orlando Gutiérrez-Baronat: "Because we disagreed with past policies of USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) regarding direct assistance to activists living on the island, the Cuban Democratic Directorate (Directorio), chose to concentrate its efforts under federal grant funds to transmit uncensored information and provide international solidarity to the Cuban freedom movement. Direct assistance has been raised privately and fundamentally within the Cuban-American community. Radio República, the Directorate’s 24-hour, seven-day-a-week [sic] shortwave radio station, has provided a voice to Cuba’s resistance from the smallest provincial towns to the largest Havana neighborhoods. Its format has been strategically designed to enhance the natural self-defense mechanism of nonviolent struggle generated by Cuban society. Costing between $1.5 million to $2 million a year, Radio República’s budget accounts for over 50 percent of the Directorate’s annual funds from federal grants. These costs are far below the annual budgets of both public and commercial shortwave radio stations." (kimandreweliott.com via DXLD) See also USA: BBG budget request It was once 24/7, allegedly with the tiny transmitters on 9965 and 5954, but not any more for months, much reduced airtime via 5954, RMI Sackville 9490, and currently not even on 9955 WRMI. Big lie? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CYPRUS. 21540-21565, Feb 9 at 1403, OTH radar pulses, presumed from here, RSD [OK, that means right-smack-dab] in middle of the 13m broadcast band, bothering Kuwait clashing with Spain on 21540, and NHK via France on 21560. I had gotten out of habit of logging these, especially when out-of-band (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DJIBOUTI [and non]. 4780, Feb 10 at 0341, R. Djibouti has poor signal, talk in Afar? mentioning Washington; at 0342, TWR Swaziland cuts on 4775 with choral programming in progress, just as scheduled daily in Lomwe for a quarter-hour. 4775 is slightly stronger and definitely louder. 0346, 4780 into HOA music, still audible at 0358 when the music is vocal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4780, Radio Djibouti, *0323:30-0345, late and abrupt sign on with Arabic talk. Horn of Africa style pop music. Local children’s chorus. Indigenous tribal music. Poor to fair. Feb 11 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Republica Dominicana: hoy, día mundial de la radio Teo Veras, director de las emisoras La 91 FM y Raíces [caption] Este 13 de febrero se celebra por primera vez el Día Mundial de la Radio, declarado por la UNESCO. La fecha encuentra a la radiodifusión nacional en un momento de importantes avances y acorde a las nuevas tecnologías. Según entendidos, sólo falta un poco de atención a la preparación del personal que presta su voz para trabajar en ella. Por Mariela Mejía Hoy, por primera vez, se celebra el Día Mundial de la Radio. Desde los días de la intervención norteamericana en el país, entre 1916 y 1924, se escuchan ondas hertzianas en la República Dominicana cuyo uso fue transformado y, a la fecha, ya el país cuenta con más de 380 emisoras. El Instituto Dominicano de las Telecomunicaciones ha afirmado que, en término de capacidad poblacional y densidad territorial, el país tiene la mayor cantidad de emisoras de todo el mundo y que, según estudios, el 93% de la población se entera por la televisión y el 63% por la radio. La Conferencia General de la Unesco, en su reunión 36, en noviembre de 2011, proclamó el 13 de febrero el Día Mundial de la Radio, fecha en que se creó Radio Naciones Unidas en 1946. La Unesco resalta que la radio se considera como un medio de comunicación de bajo costo, "especialmente apropiado para llegar a las comunidades alejadas y a las personas vulnerables como los analfabetos, los discapacitados, las mujeres, los jóvenes y los pobres, que, además, ofrece una plataforma para intervenir en el debate público, independientemente de cuál sea el nivel de educación de los oyentes". En un mensaje conjunto que difundió junto con la Unión Internacional de Telecomunicaciones resalta que "están apareciendo nuevas herramientas para elaborar material de audio, al tiempo que la distribución es cada vez más eficaz. La radio está cada vez más digitalizada, democratizada y personalizada". En la República Dominicana y como ocurre en otras naciones, la radio desempeña un papel importante en la comunicación en situaciones de emergencia y en las operaciones de socorro. Teo Veras, director de las emisoras La 91 FM y Raíces, y locutor de radio desde el año 1969, entiende que la radiodifusión criolla está actualmente a la vanguardia de los estándares internacionales. "Estamos con tecnología de punta y el locutor dominicano es un radiodifusor muy emprendedor y siempre está al tanto de lo último que está saliendo en el mercado", dice. El expresidente de la Asociación Dominicana de Radiodifusores, José Enrique Mc-Dougal, también considera que ese sector de la comunicación ha crecido enormemente. "Actualmente se hacen esfuerzos sobrehumanos para poder mantener el fortalecimiento y sostenimiento de esos medios de difusión y expresión pública y una seguridad económica", agrega. Lejos de mermar su uso, Veras resalta que la tecnología de teléfonos móviles inteligentes ha dado un repunte al uso de la radio y asegura su continuidad al permitir hacer llamadas, navegar por la internet, tomar fotografías, ver televisión y, entre otras aplicaciones, escuchar la radio. "La radio tiene una ventaja sobre los otros medios y es que utiliza solamente un solo sentido que es el sentido del oído... y se pueden hacer otras cosas mientras se está escuchando", comenta. Entiende que, pese a los avances, la radio dominicana tiene puntos a mejorar, como capacitar más al personal en todos los órdenes, sobre todo en cultura general, gramática y lenguaje. Sobre el lenguaje, entiende que es tiempo de que se tomen medidas sobre el de tipo soez que usan algunos locutores de programas diarios. "Están mal informando a la población y están acostumbrando a la población a conducirse de una manera que no es la correcta", asegura. "Brea Frank", locutor de la emisora Mortal 104.9, ganador del Micrófono de Oro en el renglón locutor urbano 2011 y nominado a los premios Casandra en la categoría de Locutor del Año, entiende que su clase es un motor de ayuda a la sociedad: "por lo tanto entiendo que siempre hay espacio para mejorar, llevar información y educar". "Esto, más que una profesión, es una responsabilidad que implica estar en constante aprendizaje y llevarlo al oyente", agrega. Inicios de la radio en RD Según publica el Círculo de Locutores Dominicanos en su página web, fue después de la mitad del decenio de los años 20 que el ingeniero Frank Hatton Guerrero como presidente del radio club de Santo Domingo, construye un pequeño transmisor de Amplitud Modulada de pocos vatios para crear la primera señal de broadcasting del país, nombrándola luego HIRC. "Por algunos años, la estación HIRC transmitió prácticamente solo versiones de algunos juegos de baseball, peleas de boxeo, música en vivo y noticias extraídas del periódico Listín Diario. Hasta que el 8 de abril del 1928 sale al aire la estación HIX, la estación oficial del estado dominicano con la asistencia del presidente de la República, Horacio Vásquez, y su esposa doña Trina de Moya. Ese día se transmitió por primera vez el Himno nacional", reseña la organización. Más adelante destaca que la puesta en operación formalmente de las estaciones HIH y la HIX, puso al país como uno de los primeros países en América Latina en incorporarse a la radiodifusión internacional. En los inicios de la radio en el país, hablar por ella era un modo de entretenimiento y, como ocurre con proyectos en sus comienzos, muy pocos creyeron en el futuro de la industria radiofónica. "Estamos con tecnología de punta y el locutor dominicano es un radiodifusor muy emprendedor". --- Teo Veras FUENTE: Diario Libre: http://diariolibre.com.do/ecos/2012/02/13/i323821_index.html (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. RADIO AFRICA, 15190, EVER OR NEVER? Some weeks back we found a report of R. Africa, 15190, being heard in Malaysia, 26 Nov at 1940-2100. Since reports of this one have been quite sporadic and no one ever gives any confirmable program details, we have remained unconvinced. Now Timm Breyel has followed up with the verification he received from Pan American in California. Enlarge to make letter fuzzily readable. http://shortwavedxer.blogspot.com/2011/11/radio-africa-equatorial-guinea.html You will note that his program details, ``An English language broadcast of music and talking`` are hardly anything but generic, and so is the wording of the form letter reply --- but you can bet it will be going out to the ministries who think they are buying airtime on this outlet! Accompanying card has this schedule printed on it in UT: Radio Africa 7190 & 15190, daily 1700-2300 Radio East Africa 15190, daily 1400-1700, Sat & Sun 0500-0900 Radio Africa #2 15190, Monday-Friday 0500-0900 That amounts to 15190 being on the air daily 05-09 and 14-23, plus 7190 at 17-23 (two transmitters?). The three different services are supposedly on different antenna headings. We all know that 7190 has not been on the air for years, and repeated attempts to hear anything from it on 15190 have been unsuccessful here. 15190 is however heard daily at 13-15 and until 17 on Saturdays with Brother Scare via IRRS via Romania. Hearing 15190 during those hours, you`d better be very certain it is Radio Africa before claiming it. Voice of Philippines is also on 15190 at 1730-1930 including some English. In previous seasons WYFR has been on 15190 after 2200. And there`s always Radio Inconfidência, Brasil, which however should be hard to mistake for an American gospel huxter. I would like to become a believer, if someone hearing Radio Africa will only send a full report, quote a definite ID, program titles or preacher names, and preferably a sound clip. We also need monitoring from Africa where there should be no doubt about its identity if it`s ever really on. We would also like to see the ``programme schedule`` to cross check that with the ministries. We are also still waiting for the date and time the DXer in Bulgaria reported QSLing it more recently as well as the other times he heard it this year. I cannot emphasize enough that getting a QSL is not necessarily any proof of reception, especially when it`s a `proxy` by someone far away, and/or when there could be any intention to deceive. Few stations view QSLs as legal documents, but rather a PR gesture to listeners, likely giving them the benefit of the doubt, or to collect `proof` to be offered to gullible advertisers, timebuyers. Listeners can make honest mistakes, believe they must have heard it, and whether or not HQ knows the truth, they may go ahead and confirm it. Even HQ may be deceived by the people in charge of axually running the transmitter far, far, away. Equatorial Guinea`s government is not exactly a paragon of integrity. Possibly they do get the transmitter going on these rare occasions when someone DXes it, and then let the extrapolation begin! Saves a lot of trouble, not to mention electrical expense, just to let it sit there (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 6030, 1920 22/1, Radio Oromiya Radio [sic], nice Horn of Africa music, talk by woman, QRM from Bible Voice in English. Maybe Ethiopia is in extended schedule because it's reported on air till 1900. poor/fair (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italia, RX: Excalibur Pro - ANT; T2FD - Feb 11, playdx yg via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. 7194.98, Radio Ethiopia, 1420, fair with discussion between lang man and woman; HoA music bridges, best copy in LSB. 13 Feb (David Sharp, NSW, Partial list of equipment: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, R30A, Timewave 599ZX, various Palstar and MFJ accessories, Quantum Phaser, various Sangean and Tecsun portables, EWE aerials, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9705, R. Ethiopia, 2045 excellent signal with HoA Pop music. More Arabic style song. M announcer 2055 over the music. 2057-2059 usual news fanfare and final newsbrief by W. Canned ID by M with mention of "program" several times. ID sounds like "NEE-Jes-car Radio". Choral NA to 2101 and off. (6 Feb.) (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, NRD-535D and Perseus (SDR), T2FD, Wellbrook ALA1530, HCDX via DXLD) Followed by NIGER, q.v. ** EUROPE. 12800, 1509 22 Jan, R. Spaceshuttle International, Finnish elections, dance music, English, 34433 (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Pirate ** FRANCE. 17615, Feb 13 at 1601, African language mentioning Turkey. I am used to hearing BSKSA in Arabic, but hands over frequency at 1600 to RFI Hausa via Issoudun. 15300, Feb 14 at 1534 I find an open carrier, 1535 it starts cutting on and off, and during the split seconds it is on, there are also bits of talk modulation. 1536 steady OC again until 1537*, *1528 OC-1539*, *1539- back to on and off with modulation and now I can tell the fragments are in French -1540*, *1542 more of same, now staying on a bit longer each time, then nothing further heard as I paid more attention to my blintz breakfast. Times approximate as I did not try to pin the ons and offs down to the second. Of course, when first heard I assumed it would be RFI Issoudun on its well-known frequency, once running continuously very long hours, but in WRTH Feb Update as curtailed to only 06-09, 12-13, and 17-19, giving them plenty of time in between to mess with the transmitter (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) More of same: Dalle 0950 UT alle 0954 sui 9790 kHz Radio France International (canale "Direct Monde"), quindi seguivano svariate accensioni e spegnimenti con la sola portante muta. Dalle 1030 è nuovamente tornata la modulazione, con due brevi emissioni di circa un minuto. Sapreste indicarmi una mail di TDF? Ciao (Matteo Cremo, Feb 16, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** FRANCE. MERGER OF RFI AND FRANCE 24 HAS BEEN COMPLETED Extraordinary general meetings of Radio France International (RFI), its Arabic subsidiary Monte Carlo Doualiya and l’Audiovisuel Extérieur de la France (AEF) have endorsed the merger of the radio station with the international news channel France 24, the AEF announced on Monday. In a statement, the AEF said that this “allows the creation of an official French broadcasting group of international dimensions”, after more than two years of conflict and a procedural battle conducted by the RFI unions against the merger. The General Assembly of the AEF, the holding company, in fact consists of one person - its CEO Alain de Pouzilhac, who represents the sole shareholder, the State. “With this merger a new page opens, the constitution of a major international audiovisual group that is powerful and competitive”, reads the statement of the AEF co-signed by RFI, France 24 and Monte Carlo Doualiya. The principle of creating the AEF was decided by President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2009, but the process was punctuated by repeated strikes at RFI, as some of the employees were opposed to a merger with France 24 and the relocation of the radio station. A redundancy plan as part of the merger was opened in early January, and some 102 applications for voluntary redundancy had been received by early February. The plan calls for a total of 126 job cuts at RFI, France 24 and Monte Carlo Doualiya. In a letter to Prime Minister Francois Fillon, RFI trade unions had denounced the “second round of redundancies” launched by the management, with “126 further positions eliminated in addition to the 206 that were already in the 2009 Plan.” (Source: AFP French via Google Translate)( February 14th, 2012 - 10:47 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DXLD) ** GABON. Africa Cup Final Zambia vv Ivory Coast, from Libreville: 9580 kHz, live coverage at present. And in Europe visible in EuroSport TV channel. 40 000 spectators, at present National Anthems at 1925 UT Feb 12 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non] UNITED KINGDOM: 9430 kHz, 1900 UT, BBC/Woofferton, football match Ivory Coast - Zambia. 73 de (Matti Ponkamo, Naantali, Finland (KP10AK18), IC-718, 10m random wire, HCDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DXLD) In penalty kicks now, also on BBCWS 9915 and 12095 (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, 2208 UT Feb 12, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9580, Feb 14 at 0624, no signal from ANO aside MOROCCO 9575, but at 0630 recheck it is on with French, music, stronger than 9575; 0632 ``Vous écoutez Africa Numéro Un, vôtre radio``, so its reactivation has surpassed the finale of the silly ballgame tournament. Is *0630 its nominal schedule now? WRTH 2012 shows 0500-2300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Africa No. 1, 9580, Moyabi. Feb 15, 2012 Wednesday. 1622-1626. French, OM talking but unreadable. No ID heard. Poor. Lots of atmospheric QRN. Jo'burg sunset 1652. Africa No. 1, 9580, Moyabi. Feb 15, 2012 Wednesday. 1722-1801. French, Afro-pop music, and excitable OM talking. ID at 1739 "Africa Number 1" all in English. OM mentioned "Afrique du Sud" at 1750, possibly the source of some of his music, but he was talking too fast for my high- school French to keep up. All went quiet at 1759 for about 30 secs, then OM with "Africa Number 1" followed by YL with "Africa Numéro Un" and time pips at 1800, into YL reading news. Fair - good at first, quite readable but a bit fadey. Rapidly getting better with time, quite good by 1736. Good by 1745, I don't recall ever having such a good signal from Gabon. Jo'burg sunset 1652 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. 15205, Feb 9 at 1415, very poor with hymn seeming English, then one with a country/cowboy touch. HFCC shows MBR via Wertachtal until 1430; Aoki shows Pan American via Nauen; which? Will EiBi break the tie? He says Wertachtal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And Sundays 1430-1445 15205 MBR Pan Am Broadcasting also via Issoudun France too. http://www.hfcc.org/data/schedbyfmo.php?seas=B11&fmor=MBR (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. A preminder that another yearly broadcast special to NAm from the Frisians is likely upcoming, Radio Öömrang. It`s been happening on 21 February, which this year is Tuesday. Read all about it in last year`s DXLD 11-08 when it was at 16-17 on 15215 via Wertachtal. http://www.w4uvh.net/dxld1108.txt See also http://www.amrum-news.de/2009/02/18/radio-oomrang-geht-wieder-auf-sendungto/ where there was an announcement of the 2009 sending when it would be at 16-17 on 15230 via Jülich. I don`t yet see anything about this year, but keep an eye on http://www.amrum-news.de/ I do see this is only one hour before a special event this year, according to rotating calendar Highlight entries: ``Biaken auf Amrum - in allen 5 Inseldörfern brennen nach Einbruch der Dunkelheit wieder die traditionellen Biake-Feuer, Datum: 21.02.2012 - 18:00 Uhr`` (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Many thanks for your kind email. The one time annual Radio Öömrang transmission will take place on February 21/2012 between 1600- 1659 UT by using a 500 kW transmitter at Wertachtal on 15215 kHz. The antenna azimuth will be 300 degrees and the wanted target areas are NAM-East Coast and parts of WEUR. Best regards (Walter Brodowsky TDF Group Short-Wave Project Leader, Key-Account & Product-Manager Short-wave, MEDIA BROADCAST GmbH, Feb 13, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Deutsche Welle's new website --- Is it just me, or does Deutsche Welle not have a single audio news podcast? I looked through both the English and German sections, and there's a lot under the "Culture" rubric, and some stuff under "Politics", but nothing that would be generic news. And most if not all of the podcasts seem to be video. Their audio "Media Center" also seems to be a terrible memory hog, too; I tried to stop the page loading so I could clink on the link for the podcasts, and it froze up the browser for a good five minutes (Ted Schuerzinger, fedya at hughes dot net, Feb 11, Now blogging at http://justacineast.blogspot.com Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) I found this: http://mediacenter.dw.de/english/audio/ Not a podcast, though. Online audio (John Figliozzi, NY, ibid.) Re DW Jingles --- The actual question is if they have abandoned Fidelio altogether, besides introducing a new audio design, replacing the previous one that came into use not that many years ago. The answer is so far a vague "no". I think it were still the familiar Celesta sounds that poked through the noise on the faint signals before 1300 on 11945 and before 1500 on 12070. Missed the start of the 'stans block at 1330 and found that "Persian" hands over straight to Pashto at 1400. So just tuned out of nostalgia into 12045, the only remaining strong DW signal here in Europe: Carrier already on at 1425, and from 1426 it carried the good old run- up tones, may well have been the 1050 Hz pitch found in the old millenium to be characteristic for Tbilisskaya. Switched over at 1430 sharp to program feed, just starting with audio design, first announcement for Tiehdabbeljuh but then referring to Deutsche Welle, also inside the following news read out by an inexperienced announcer. So Tiehdabbeljuh has not abandoned its old name altogether. At 1431 the transmitter tripped off momentarily but came back on after five seconds. And the transmission closed as unceremonially as it started at 1500. Can't check it right now but was just told that the ten notes in question would come up here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFLfQC3FQQw#t=1h42m20s And for those who care: Fidelio also played a role in the events of autumn 1989. The first night of a new production at Dresden took place on 7 (one source says 9) Oct 1989 under quite extraordinary circumstances, with police letting only people with a ticket come even close to the opera house where inside anciety spread. After the choir of the prisoners the attendance got up for a scene applause, described as standing in the auditorium like a wall. This 1989 staging has recently been revived: http://www.semperoper.de/en/oper/repertoire/spielzeit-201011/detailansicht/details/53715/besetzung/1819.html PS. For Amharic the 11895 carrier from Kigali came on at 1557, and this time without any doubt IS from 1558. Not so on 12070 which has Swahili before. Can't tell about 15275, the TV set in the flat above me overrides the 19 mb as usual (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [non]. Some DW changes: 0500-0600 NF 11800 KIG 250 kW / 295 deg WCAf, ex 9810 in English 0530-0600 on 17800 DHA 250 kW / 230 deg SoAf, add. freq in Portuguese 1200-1300 NF 21780 KIG 250 kW / 295 deg NWAf, ex 17800 in French 1300-1400 NF 21780 KIG 250 kW / 295 deg NWAf, ex 21550 in Hausa 1800-1900 on 17500 DHA 250 kW / 255 deg WCAf, add. freq in Hausa 1800-1900 on 21780 KIG 250 kW / 295 deg WCAf, add. freq in Hausa 1800-1900 on 12070 KIG 250 kW / 295 deg WCAf, ex WOF tx in Hausa 1930-2000 on 12045 MEY 100 kW / 330 deg SoAf, add. freq in Portuguese (DX Mix News 13 Feb, [11800] via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DXLD) ** GERMANY. MV BALTIC RADIO INFORMATION FOR 2012 MV Baltic Radio: Will start broadcasts again in the 49m Band via Media Broadcast during the summertime of 2012. The first transmission will be on the first Sunday of April 2012, the Power will be 100 kW. Radio Gloria International (Germany) Will start transmissions via Media broadcast on the 25th of March 2012. European Music Radio: Will transmit via Göhren (9480) and possible Transmissions in the 49m Band via Media Broadcast during 2012. All Stations via Göhren 9480 kHz. The transmitter via Göhren (9480) is used for long distance broadcasts and transmissions on other frequencies. This Service will continue as normal via the Transmitter of MV Baltic Radio with the power of 1 kW. More Information will be added in the near future! MV Baltic Radio and all stations via 9480 wish you good listening. 73s Tom Taylor, Feb 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST; also via Arnaldo Slaen, dxldyg via DXLD; also via Joe Talbot, DXLD) ** GREENLAND. Re DXLD 12-04: My apologies to John Durham who was the contributor of the Greenland piece in last month’s issue (Arthur de Maine, utility editor, Feb NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** GUAM. 11675, Feb 15 at 1504, fair signal with South Asian singing and drumming, perhaps Christian praise, 1505 YL announcement. Aoki shows it`s KSDA, 1500-1530, 100 kW, 285 degrees from Agat in Telugu (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. 4055, Feb 13 at 1203, no signal from R. Verdad; did not check earlier but should still be audible if on, well before sunrise here and there. They have been having trouble getting reliable workers for the morning shift supposed to start at 1100; hope it`s not another transmitter problem. 4055, Feb 15 at 0124 quick check in prime time confirms R. Verdad still on the air altho had been missing one morning. Good signal with ``Alleluia`` [a spelling acceptable to MS Word] hymn on piano only, which I defy anyone to hear without subvocalizing the essential praiseterm, a one-word lyric, so who needs a vocalist? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUYANA. 3290, V. of Guyana. Ad block at tune/in 0959. Nice ID by W host announcer "You are listening to the Voice of Guyana. (sponsor) the ?? professionals, the time is 6 hours". Fanfare and into the news to 1004. 1005 brief VOG concert promo, then W with live ID again "You're tuned to the Voice of Guyana, it is 6 hours 10". Picked up a national syndicated program then. Good signal. (11 Feb.) (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, NRD-535D and Perseus (SDR), T2FD, Wellbrook ALA1530, HCDX via DXLD) ** HONDURAS. Loggings made in Costa Rica, Jan.-Feb. 2012. As usual, I listened with my Sony 7600GR with its short telescopic whip. As the radio provides only 1 kHz resolution, all frequencies are more or less approximate. [no times or dates] 3250 HND R Luz y Vida 3340 HND HRMI (very weak and rare!) (Maarten van Delft, visiting Costa Rica Jan-Feb, DSWCI DX Window Feb 15 via DXLD) 3250, HRPC, Radio Luz Y Vida, San Luis, hymn-like music fading up at 1130 followed by OM announcer in Spanish at 1131 (may have been opening announcments this date, not sure). Very weak modulation but decent carrier strength. 1133 into religious music and OM giving inspirational talk, seemed a mix of religion and patriotism, equally as many references to "El Señor" as to "nuestra patria". Pattern was OM spoke, then paused as music cranked up, and then down, when he started speaking again. Rinse and repeat, hi! Modulation improved a bit as transmitter warmed up, but was fighting a losing battle with my local sunrise and the rising D-layer absorption. Almost gone by 1140 (Ralph Perry, Wheaton, Illinois, Drake R8B; Japan Radio NRD-545; Eton E1; Hallicrafters SX100; Knightkit Star Roamer, Dentron Super Tuner + Ameco PLF-2 + Palomar P-408 + customized (tropical bands) Quantum Phaser antenna unit, Longwires (150' + 100'); Tuned Multi-Turn 20" Small Loop; Single-Turn Coax Loop. dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST ** INDIA. TWO HIGH POWER DRM TRANSMITTERS ALMOST READY The 18th Annual Broadcast Engineering Society of India (BES) international conference and exhibition has concluded in New Delhi. All India Radio’s (AIR) current digitalization programme was discussed by speakers during the conference and by visitors at the exhibition. According to AIR’s Additional Director General Yogendra Pal, two 1000 KW mediumwave transmitters at Rajkot and Kolkata are likely to be operational by March 2012, and the rest of the 72 DRM transmitters would be commissioned between June 2012 to March 2013. The ongoing roll-out by AIR spurred the interest of receiver manufacturers who were present at the event with their products. DRM’s Alexander Zink and Ludo Maes made presentations about DRM technology and receivers respectively, which enhanced a very interactive session on Success of Digital Radio broadcasting. DRM member companies Nautel, RFmondial, Digidia, Fraunhofer, Harris and Thomson attended the BES conference this year (Source: DRM Consortium)(February 14th, 2012 - 11:45 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) WTFK?? ** INDIA. February 9 Notes --- All India Radio regionals: During checks of 60-M from 1440 to 1510: Absent were 4775, 4820.8 (but suspected on 4820.00 as two stations noted there), 4835 went off for a few minutes (and a weaker carrier noted 4834.76), 4970, and 4990. Best were on 4840 and 5010. Uncertain were 4940 and 5050. 4760 still has 2 signals, so suspect Port Blair and Leh there together (Jim Young, WPC6JY, Wrightwood, CA, ICOM IC-756 ProIII + 80-M inverted Vee + 40-M yagi, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** INDIA [and non]. Some AIR stations heard 1515-1545 UT slot Feb 13: 4870.020, Radio Sedaye-e Kashmir from New Delhi Khampur, S=7 signal strength on remote SDR unit in Nagoya-JPN. 1528 UT Febr 13, subcontinental singer, time pips 1530 UT and signing-off transmitter abruptly on this channel. 4894.992, AIR Kurseong in English at 1532 UT, very weak at S=5-6 level. 4949.989, Voice of Pujiang zhi Sheng, Shanghai China ahead of AIR Srinagar on 4950.006 kHz. Very weak AIR Shimla on 4965.005 kHz at 1540 UT Feb 13. AIR Shillong on nearly even 4970 kHz in English 1540 til 1545 UT close-down, news at 1540-1543 UT followed by short sports news til 1545 UT, but accompanied by heavy transmitter buzz spurs of 50 Hertz, at plus/minus 50/100/150 .... to ... 450/500 Hertz (Wolfgang Büschel, Feb 13, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 15 via DXLD) Continued under RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM --- Frequency Accuracy ** INDONESIA. 774, RRI Fak Fak, 1317 UT, presumed with Indo vocals, in null of 3LO Melbourne and 4TO Townsville, but very tough copy with deep fades. 14 Feb. 1053, RRI Jayapura, 1300, RRI news by a man, weak in null of cochannel domestics but mixing with mystery bubble jammer (which no-one else seems to be hearing). 14 Feb. 3995.01, RRI Kendari, 1240, very strong with local vocals, Indo man at 1244, then more music. Nearly overmodulating on peaks. 14 Feb. [NOTE: Reactivated after 11 months! More in next issue, ya in dxldyg, gh log] 7289.95, RRI Nabire, 0800, tune-in to RRI news by man; weak and fluttery. 14 Feb (David Sharp, NSW, Partial list of equipment: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, R30A, Timewave 599ZX, various Palstar and MFJ accessories, Quantum Phaser, various Sangean and Tecsun portables, EWE aerials, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 9525.00, Voice of Indonesia, 1036-1048, Feb 13. In English; music segment; ID; poor to almost fair with adjacent QRM. Have they ever been on the exact frequency before? If so, rare! Would like to see a Perseus frequency readout for this now (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. 9525-, Feb 15 at 1421, S9+20 signal from VOI but barely modulated in unID language talk, presumed Indonesian, with ACI from RVA 9520 splash, conveniently moved down 5 kHz at 1428 so no longer a problem. 1431 now in music and a bit better until 1457*. Slightly later another very poor signal comes on with Chinese language lesson filler prior to CRI English via Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN. For many months, VOI had stuck to 9526-, but Ron Howard had them on exactly 9525.00, 1036-1048, Feb 13. Now they are definitely offset slightly to the low side of 9525 instead of 9526-. Aoki does not bother with the 1-kHz jumps, listing everything as if on 9525. Ishida says the move occurred already Feb 10: ``Feb 10 9525 kHz Voice of Indonesia: *0950-2000- on February 10. Moved from 9526 kHz.`` The signal has been so poor that I had not tried to check for a change since then (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [non?]. Code back on EWTN --- Once again right now, 1930+ UT Sunday Feb 12, on the EWTN cable channel with Joy of Music, I am hearing Morse code in the background. As Doug previously explained, apparently leak from a nearby sound frequency on the transponder with required continuous ID info. Hope somebody can copy it, best when Bish is talking rather than organing. At 2040 UT, I can still hear it during hail-marys, tho seems softer. 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, WTFDA via DXLD) I think this is a symptom of a poorly-operating (or misadjusted) analog satellite receiver at your cable system, not of any kind of fault at the EWTN studios or uplink. IOW I think it's going to continue (at least intermittently) until your cable system replaces their receiver (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That would not surprise me at all, considering all the other foulups at Suddenlink. But it would be nice if someone elsewhere could listen and unconfirm it when I am hearing it in Enid (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) It would of course be best if someone checks out the satellite signal which appears to be on Galaxy 15 (133 deg. West), on 3.920 GHz horizontal. The interesting thing here is that the audio subcarriers on this transponder, besides the TV audio on 6.20 and 6.80 MHz, appear to contain the English and Spanish radio feeds as transmit by the WEWN facility, on 5.38 and 5.60 MHz, respectively. It's well possible that these subcarriers are still the audio source used at Birmingham. All this per http://www.lyngsat.com/galaxy15.html which is edited and customized to customers, so not necessarily shows any signal carried on a certain satellite transponder. Thus, as said, it would be best to check it out directly. But comparisons with the WEWN output would not hurt anyway (Kai Ludwig, Germany dxldyg via DX LSIENING DIGEST) Amongst all the garbage audio put out by WEWN, I have never heard any Morse code (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** IRAN. 7200, Feb 9 at 0327 open carrier, VIRI about to open English to NAm. 0329:30 a SAH appears, presumably Sudan about to sign-on too, but: 0330 bells and V. of Justice ID, NA and no modulation from Sudan audible. ACI QRhaM in SSB from low side. VOJ // 7365 as usual buried under DentroCuban Jamming Command and Radio Martí, and 7200 is really too poor for further listening. 13750, Feb 9 at 1432, Qur`an, poor with flutter and splash from CRI/Cuba 13740; 1433 talk presumed Hindi, 1435 typical VIRI news theme, very poor by 1442. Is IRIB Hindi, 500 kW, 102 degrees via Sirjan as scheduled at 1430-1530; not the wooden HFCC entry also on 13750 for R. Sultanate of Oman, Thumrait, 1400-1730 in Arabic. [and non]. 7200, Feb 10 at 0338, so-called V. of Justice in English tonight has more CCI from SUDAN than last night, Iran still atop, but with bits of music and presumed Arabic underneath, and causing a SAH; also QRhaM SSB. Neither of them of course, can use the lower sideband of 7200 legally, which is an exclusive hamband everywhere now. Furthermore, no broadcasts TO North America should be within the 7200-7300 segment, but Iran is hardly the only offender there. Its // 7365 is as usual useless, buried by the DentroCuban Jamming Command and Radio Martí. The incompetents in Tehran are not only violating international frequency agreements but severely hampering their only broadcast in English to North America by not putting it on one clear frequency in the 7300+ range, where there are plenty available during this hour, but I am not going to make any suggestions. In A-12 still at 0330-0430 they plan to use 11920 and 13650 --- will 11920 again collide with Romania like all last summer? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, The radicalism generates intolerance and stubbornness, which results only in attitudes to contradict. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA - Brasil, ibid.) Are you chastising them and/or me? (gh) 11685, Feb 11 at 1405, S Asian language talk and bits of music, some flutter. Unusual to hear something on the low side of NAA Maine RTTY 11687.5. I soon find better signal on the DX-398 with lots of antenna wire strung around the inside ceiling, than on the FRG-7 with 30+ m external longwire, which runs east-west not favoring northerly sources. Side-tuning to 11684 with narrow bandwidth gets rid of the RTTY. This is VIRI in Urdu at 1300-1430, 500 kW, 178 degrees from Kamalabad: not the direxion of Pakistan at all, but more or less toward Qatar and Bahrain, for Gastarbeiter? I expect it`s still short-path off the back rather than long-path off the front. 1412 mentions azad, and Iran, crowd chanting along with a lead singer; 1416 ``Yih Teheran`` and news theme from ``Iran islami``. Then I find a weaker // on 11720, which is 500 kW, 118 degrees from Kamalabad, this one really toward Pak (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [and non]. BROADCASTERS COMPLAIN ABOUT IRAN’S SIGNAL JAMMING Thursday, February 9, 2012 4:23 PM Radio World By James Careless February 8,2012 Five major international broadcasters — Voice of America, British Broadcasting Corp., Deutsche Welle, Audiovisuel Extérieur de la France and Radio Netherlands Worldwide — recently called on Iran to stop jamming radio and TV signals targeted at that country. “It has been going on intermittently for at least two years,” says Jan Hoek, RNW’s director general. “Stations affected have been VOA’s Persian network, RFE/RL’s Radio Farda and Radio Sawa, the BBC’s Persian TV channel and Deutsche Welle. On occasions, other stations such as RNW’s Dutch TV channel and Radio Sawa (a U.S. Arabic-language station) that use subcarriers on the same satellite transponder have been affected, even though they have no broadcasts aimed at Iran.” See the full article here: http://radioworld.com/article/broadcasters-complain-about-iran%E2%80%99s-signal-jamming/211706 (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DXLD; also via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. 7480, *1800-1845* 30 Dec, MOLDOVA, Payem-e-Doost relay, YL ID, talk, music, Farsi, 45444 (Michael L Ford, Staffordshire, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Baha`i ** IRAN [non]. 13635, Feb 9 at 1414, Radio Farda ID, Iranian rap and other pop music, cut off inmidst song at 1429*, how rude. Continued on much weaker 13615 with timesignal at 1430, news; also // better 15410. 13635 is 250 kW, 105 degrees from Wertachtal, GERMANY at 1230-1430 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also CUBA [and non] ** ITALY [non]. 15190, 1502 UT 23 Dec, IRRS SW via ROMANIA, EZL orchestral music, NPR Forum to 1515*, English, SINPO 43443 (Alan Roe, England, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) That was a Friday, when IRRS is now carrying that Arabic program for women. Must have defaulted to backup programming that date, or todal feed SNAFU, Forum being the talk show on KQED San Francisco they have previously inexplicably picked up (gh, DXLD) ** JAPAN. 9595, Feb 15 at 0635, R. Nikkei has good signal, better than Gabon 9580, while playing album cuts in English by a YL singer, ``Dream a Little Dream of Me`` for starters. Finally another YL makes rapid announcement in Japanese from 0659. // 6055 not yet audible between RHC and RHC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN [non]. 13725, Feb 11 at 1431, Persian M&W mentioning some kHz, and ``Injo`` something. It`s NHK`s semihour due east from 500 kW, Issoudun, FRANCE (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KAZAKHSTAN. New time for Voice of Orthodox in Russian: 1600-1630 on 7515 A-A 200 kW / 310 deg to CeAs Tue/Fri, ex 1630-1700 (DX Mix News 13 Feb via DXLD) See also BURMA [non] ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 6230, MND (Ministry of National Defense) Radio (presumed), 1213-1218, Feb 9. Yesterday and today noticed large gaps in the North Korea jamming here and also on 6015. Down temporarily for maintenance? OM in Korean till jammed at 1218. MP3 audio http://www.box.com/s/a3noyrq95vq5l9df6c14 (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ABSENCE OF SOME OF THE NORTH KOREA JAMMING CONTINUES Hi Glenn, Feb 10 continued with erratic jamming by N. Korea. 6015, KBS Hanminjok Bangsong 1 (presumed), heard with no jamming 1018 and 1030; by 1040 sounded like N. Korea started testing a new pulsating noise jammer here; by 1131 thru subsequent checks till 1241 the jamming was off. So another day of long segments of no jamming! Very nice to finally be able to hear this in the clear. 6230, MND (Ministry of National Defense) Radio (presumed) at 1208, just like yesterday, found them with a strong signal in the clear with no jamming; earlier about 1107 I did note the usual jamming noise here, but by 1135 the jamming was off. 6230-USB, with the jamming off, I was able to hear VMW (Australia Weather West) from 1243 till 1251* with almost fair reception; marine weather conditions and ending with VMW ID [WORLD OF RADIO 1604] 6348, Echo of Hope not jammed. 6600 and 3912, Voice of the People also not jammed; 4450 was jammed. How long will this erratic scheduling last? (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, Calif., dxldyg via DXLD) My guess: Could also be, that the DPR Korean technician set up new transmitter and antenna hardware gear, and jamming transmitter site located for a short time to another installation? vy 73 de wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Projects in North Korea - D.P.R. our company supplies North Korea with 10 kW TV transmitter, 20 / 50 / 100 / 150 kW SW radio transmitters, 600 kW MW radio transmitter, together with the accessories. From 1-27 June 2011 a delegation of eight technicians from KPPTC, North Korea, joined a training programme at the company, centred on the current SW transmitter contract and the previous MW contract. "Due to political factors on the North Korean side, the site where the shortwave transmitter(s) will be installed is a state secret, so the installation and set-up of the 100 kW shortwave transmitter(s) will have to be solved entirely by North Korean technicians and it will be impossible for technicians from our company to visit North Korea to inspect. Meanwhile the installation of the shortwave transmitter(s) is taking place in (a) tunnel(s), and there are a huge number of technical problems to be overcome." North Korean trainee project. North Korea SW Project Technical Training was Rounded off. (via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) Hi Ron and Wolfgang. I can confirm that the jamming from the North on broadcasts from the South has disappeared, perhaps temporarily. This allows signals from the South to be audible, particularly on 6230 which as Ron points out is used around the clock by VMW in Wiluna WA for met broadcasts. Has the reverse jamming from the South on clandestine broadcasts from the North also gone?. Also note that the powerful 6250v channel from Pyongyang is absent but the 6400 channel which is usually in parallel is still present but at reduced strength (Robin L. Harwood VK7RH, Norwood, Tasmania 7250, Feb 11, dxld yg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6285, Feb 13 at 1137, choral music, with motorboating on the carrier, i.e. VOK French hour, 200 kW USward at 28 degrees from Kujang (previous hour English, following hour Korean) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Feb 13 randomly from 1025 to 1415. Found they are still erratically using their jamming transmitters or testing new ones. 6015 - KBS Hanminjok Bangsong 1, often in the clear for long segments with no jamming. 6230 – Also erratic jamming here. VMW (Australia Weather West) on USB heard in the clear from 1102 to 1104* and 1349 to 1358*. MND (Ministry of National Defense) Radio in the clear at 1217, but jammed by 1222; in the clear again at 1232. 6230 on Feb 14 they are still intermittently jamming here during random checks from 1054 to 1235. MND Radio mixing with the jamming at 1201 with pop Korean song and then into monologue in Korean; by 1234 another pop Korean song, but with no jamming; 1235 jamming on again. Erratic! (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 6003, Feb 11 at 1341, Echo of Hope M&W conversation in Korean from the South, no jamming audible for a change (tho RA Brandon DRM from 5995 is bad enough until 1400). However, heavy Juche jamming pulsing on 6230 at 1342 against no clandestine, just totally obliterating VMW unlike 24 hours earlier (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 6135, Feb 10 at 1349, Sea Breeze again in English on Friday, via JSR Tokyo/Yamata. YL is more understandable this time, quoting brief news items concerning NK, e.g. from AP, mentioning the Korean War and then a slightly more current item about Pres. Obama`s State of the Union address. In between items there is a jazzy jingle/stinger replacing the electronic music one they must have grown weary of hearing/playing every couple of minutes before the English hiatus; however, I liked it better. Meanwhile, a lo het could be heard, slightly on the hi side of 6135, and it had increased slightly by comparison at recheck 1418; Madagascar longpath? That fits, since it was measured as recently as Jan 23 by Ron Howard on 6135.18 until 1459*. Per gaisma.com, today`s sunset in Antananarivo was 1528*, and sunrise in Enid was *1325 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. CLANDESTINES and other Target Broadcasts: 4557, Voice of the People, via Goyang, South Korea, 2239-2301*, Feb 11, Korean reports, ID and schedule announced before the sign off, 33333. Only QRM from Russian Navy Single Letter Beacons "D" and "S". Jammed on // frequencies 3912 (O=1-2), 6518 (32332), 6600 (32332). (Patrick Robic, Leibnitz, Austria, DSWCI DX Window Feb 15 via DXLD) 4557 is a new frequency! (DSWCI Ed. Anker Petersen, ibid.) New if it is really VOP --- 4557 has long been used by Pyongyang Broadcasting Station, considered a separate external service from VOK, as in WRTH 2012. Did PBS leave it and VOP glom onto 4557? Aoki does now have only these entries for 4557: 4557 VOICE OF THE PEOPLE 0455-0800 1234567 Korean 50 ND Kyonggi-do KOR 12650E 3735N VOP b11 // 3480, 3912, 4450 4557 VOICE OF THE PEOPLE 0800-1200 1234567 Korean 50 ND Kyonggi-do KOR Feb. 2- 4557 VOICE OF THE PEOPLE 1200-1600 1234567 Korean 50 ND Kyonggi-do KOR 4557 VOICE OF THE PEOPLE 1600-2000 1234567 Korean 50 ND Kyonggi-do KOR 4557 VOICE OF THE PEOPLE 2000-2303 1234567 Korean 50 ND Kyonggi-do KOR 4557 TX7 3985(DRM) 2304-0404 1234567 Music(Digital) 100 ND JongAn ? KOR 12651E3702N DRM b11 Feb. 2- N & S have previously clashed on 4450, not just jamming but with programming (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH. 6015, KBS Hanminjok Bangsong 1 (presumed), randomly from 1057-1120 and subsequent checks, Feb 9. A rare occurrence with no North Korea jamming here; similar situation Feb 8; in Korean; pop song; 1100-1110 news; chatting on the phone and pop songs; by 1203 noted QRM from PBS Xinjiang (// 4330) underneath. Edited MP3 audio http://www.box.com/s/v79aszbo6z32so1nhlzq 6015, KBS Hanminjok Bangsong 1 (presumed), randomly from 1054-1326, Feb 14 completely in the clear with no jamming; after 1200 noted QRM from PBS Xinjiang underneath (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. 6300, Feb 13 at 1137 something in Korean on clear frequency, no jamming but some utebeeps. Uplooked later in Aoki, it`s a new frequency and time for MND Radio at 1100-1150, since Feb 9 and also at 0600-0650, 100 kW, site JongAn? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN [non]. BELGIUM (non), TDP changes: Denge Mezopotamya in Kurdish: 0400-1600 on 11530 SMF 300 kW / 129 deg to WeAs, ex 0400-1500 1600-2000 on 7540 SMF 500 kW / 129 deg to WeAs, ex 1500-2000 (DX Mix News 13 Feb via DXLD) ** KUWAIT [and non]. 21540, Feb 10 at 1421, R. Kuwait good signal in Qur`an, lovely rendition with lite reverb, and hardly any CCI from SPAIN which is also very weak today on its clear 21610. A festival of Qur`aning this Friday (tho seems like any and every day), with 17670 IRAN more hard-sell, slower-paced with longer pauses, but soon interrupted by non-musical talk, crowd response, instrumental music; 17615, SAUDI ARABIA`s Qur`an at 1435 was faster with no pausing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS [and non]. 6130, Lao National Radio, Vientiane, nice signal 1255 tune in on 2/11, EZL local Lao vocals with full instrumental accompaniment, local melodies. 1258 into Lao pop vocal, OM with small combo, straight out of a rural S E Asian night club, hi. Music ran thru the ToH, then at 1301 a burst of a pounding, disco-type electronic beat f/by OM with lengthy anmts in Lao. Perhaps a news summary. 1305 music resumed with more Western-sounding guitar ballads, love songs by OM, but rendered in Lao. At same time/date, 7110 Myanma Radio also really pounding in. These two make for some wonderful morning listening; take advantage while they are available! (Ralph Perry, Wheaton, Illinois, Drake R8B; Japan Radio NRD-545; Eton E1; Hallicrafters SX100; Knightkit Star Roamer, Dentron Super Tuner + Ameco PLF-2 + Palomar P-408 + customized (tropical bands) Quantum Phaser antenna unit, Longwires (150' + 100'); Tuned Multi-Turn 20" Small Loop; Single-Turn Coax Loop. dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST 6130, LNR, 1147, noted in passing with nice local vocals and talk by a man. Good to very good on peaks. Sam Neua and the International Service are still untraced. 12 Feb (David Sharp, NSW, Partial list of equipment: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, R30A, Timewave 599ZX, various Palstar and MFJ accessories, Quantum Phaser, various Sangean and Tecsun portables, EWE aerials, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6130, LNR, 1420, Feb 13 (Monday). Playing indigenous songs. Have been checking on LNR recently during this time period and sad to say it seems they have dropped their interesting 1415 to 1430 segments. In past years I could hear English/Laotian language lessons on Mon. Tue. and sometimes Fri. and Sat.; with French on Wed. and Thurs. Now I find they usually just play their local music. I really miss the English/Laotian segments of learning business English! Hope that they will return again in the future. During weekdays, 1400 to 1415 is the news in Laotian. Photo of LNR transmitters at http://english.vov.vn/Home/VOV-strengthens-ties-with-Laos-National-Radio/201112/133769.vov along with story of VOV providing assistance to LNR (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS [non]. BELGIUM (non), TDP changes: Suab Xaa Moo Zoo in Hmong, new transmission: 1130-1200 on 9605 TAI 100 kW / 250 deg to SEAs (DX Mix News 13 Feb via DXLD) ** LESOTHO. Family Radio relay, 1197 Maseru. Feb 11, 2012. Saturday. 1826-1827. OM preaching, but JBA, hardly readable. Very poor. Jo'burg sunset 1655. Radio Lesotho, 639 Maseru. Feb 11, 2012. Saturday. 1748-1750. SeSotho. OM talking, but unreadable. Very weak. Jo'burg sunset 1655 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA. 11600, Radio Télévision Libye - Radio Libye, No sign of Libya the past 2 days between 1600-1800. Feb 10, 11 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) New time for Radio TV Libya in French: v1700-1800v on 11600 UNID tx, ex v1600-1800v (DX Mix News 13 Feb via DXLD) They have not been reported much in the first hour lately, but is that really an intentional change? (gh, DXLD) ** LUXEMBOURG. Luxembourg huge on 1440 kHz Can you imagine some of your home appliances going nuts consequence of a strong electromagnetic field coming from a high power transmitter right in your backyard? That's what a number of the 670 homes located in the neighbourhood of the Marnach 1200 kW transmitting facility in Luxembourg are suffering. There even had been cases of leukemia. You may want to read the following article from the newspaper "Luxemburger Wort" to learn more. As I couldn't find the English version from the archives, here's the Google Translation from the French article which is not too badly translated after all (hopefully that long URL will work): http://translate.google.ca/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=fr&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wort.lu%2Fwort%2Fweb%2Ffr%2Fluxembourg%2Farticles%2F2011%2F06%2F153626%2Findex.php As a demonstration of a big transmitting power and with propagation helping, here's a sample of CRI's programming ending a French program, IDing in full fashion and then, into the English program with news about the Canadian-Chinese trade agreement signed last week. This is a near 3 min clip caught with the Perseus hooked to the 55 degrees, 950 ft Beverage to Europe: http://www.quebecdx.com/luxembourg_1440a_cri.mp3 (02-09-2012 16:57 EST) (Sylvain Naud, Portneuf, QC, CANADA, IRCA via DXLD) But who was there first, the 1200 kW transmitter or the 670 households? Who would be foolish enough to buy property when that is already on the air? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. 5010.00, Radio Madagasikara, 0218-0245, carrier + USB. Tune-in to local African music. 25 second IS at 0229 followed by choral National Anthem. Local guitar music and opening announcements at 0231. Malagasy talk. Local choral music. La Bamba song. Weak but readable. Feb 11 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) [and non]. 6135+, Feb 11 at 1427, just as Shiokaze in Japanese from Japan is about to sign off, het on hi side is stronger than it was earlier in the hour, but still far too weak to copy even after JSR QRT at 1430. But without Shiokaze, we would never even notice its presence, surely R. Madagasikara by long path, as frequently logged by Ron Howard et al. in California until 1500*. WRTH says 30 kW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also KOREA NORTH [non] ** MADAGASCAR. RNW MADAGASCAR OFF THE AIR FOLLOWING TROPICAL CYCLONE Today a category 4 tropical cyclone (Giovanna) crossed the island of Madagascar. The road from the capital city to our relay station is a mud stream right now and lower parts of the Island are flooded. Schools and businesses are closed. First reports mention a lot of damage. We lost the roofs from two small buildings including the high voltage area. So this forced us to close down the operation this morning completely because of the massive rain showers. Four antennas and two satellite dishes are damaged and need to be repaired. Fortunately the transmitter building was not damaged and luckily none of our team was injured. Also our office in Antananarivo in Ivandry had some damage and we lost our wireless link from the office to the station. Communication with the station is difficult. Tomorrow at daylight we can exactly assess the damage and start repairing. We expect to be on air with the most important services at 1300 UTC. We’ve been in contact with all clients. IBB, DWL and Vatican will try to cover from their own sites. (Source: Rocus de Joode, RNW Programme Distribution) Andy Sennitt adds: Tomorrow we hope to publish some photos. This evening I am working on our main website till 2200 UTC so I have no time to prepare them (February 14th, 2012 - 18:55 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DXLD) Meanwhile, some scheduled MDG transmissions may be on same frequency from different sites, known only to the stations unless specifically queried (gh, DXLD) Will the new World Christian Broadcasting shortwave facility in Madagascar -- perhaps the last major shortwave broadcast facility to be built anywhere in the world -- be on the air before the Radio Netherlands shortwave relay in Madagascar goes off the air? (Kim Andrew Elliott, Feb 8, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) The RNW relay site has suffered extensive damage: http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/rnw-madagascar-off-the-air-following-tropical-cyclone So some of the usual transmissions might come from a substitute site on the same frequency, known only to the broadcasters unless specifically queried. I checked 15720, Feb 15 at 1442 and heard usual Hindi news from NHK World, as IDed at 1445 following the usual pause for program change, seems like still/again Madagascar. I posted this on the MN blog: ``What a shame. I wonder if RNW will decide just to quit now rather than pour more money into repairing it? Feb 15 at 1442 I am hearing NHK World in Hindi as usual on 15720. Can you confirm that Talata is back on the air, at least for this transmission, rather than from a substitute site? Fair steady signal as usual, in the absence of RNZI on the wrong frequency which occurred once a few days ago.`` Andy Sennitt replied at 1715: ``Yes Glenn, the station was back on the air at 1300 UTC as we had hoped. I don’t have all the details yet of what’s on and what’s not, but Rocus confirms the one you heard was Madagascar. I imagine that insurance will pay for repairs. We can’t just close down suddenly because we have a duty of care to our staff in Madagascar. They are very hard-working and will get the station fully operational again very quickly.`` I also asked Madagascar World Voice if they had any damage. Reply: ``Hello Glenn, We received no damage to the MWV facility in Mahajanga. It appears we were right on the edge of the cyclone. We had some wind and rain, but nothing like the intensity experienced in Antananarivo. It is disturbing to see the pictures of all of the damage to RNW. It is a blessing that no one was hurt. Thanks for asking about MWV. If I can answer more questions, please let me know. Regards, Charles H. Caudill, President/CEO, World Christian Broadcasting`` (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 6050.02, Asyik FM, 1052, Feb 7. In vernacular with EZL pop songs. So the Voice of Malaysia programming heard here was only on Feb 1, 2 and 3; must have just been for their holiday. Details of Feb 3 reception that Timm Breyel and I both heard, are at http://shortwavedxer.blogspot.com/2012/02/voice-of-malaysia.html and Timm, who lives in Malaysia, of course had better reception; audio clip http://soundcloud.com/shortwavedxer/vom-programme-summary/s-he3LE 11630, Sarawak FM via RTM, via Kajang, 1149, Feb 10. Ex: Wai FM; they have again switched programming; in vernacular; // 9835 and both with many IADs (intermittent audio dropouts). Change first noted Feb 8 and subsequent days. The only way to be sure what is on 11630 is to catch a positive ID or hear a clear //. 11630, on Feb 14. Subsequent checking after 1111 found they seemed to be off the air today. When last heard Feb 10, was broadcasting Sarawak FM (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA [and non]. 7245, Feb 9 at 0627, IGIM is already on and chanting; abutted by 7250 Vatican from *0628.5. 7245, Fri Feb 10 at 0628, IGIM is already on and chanting, as I stand by for VATICAN to pop on adjacent 7250, and so it does at 0628:25 carrier, soon adding modulation for outro of 0600 English broadcast which is not supposed to be on this frequency at all, 0629 bells. It`s interesting to compare these signals from night to night (when they both manage to be on). This time, IGIM is steady while Vatican is unusually fluttery but // 6075 is loud and steady; what a difference a MHz makes. 7245, Feb 13 at 0622 IGIM is on and chanting. BTW, during this hour including when IGIM is not yet on, I never hear any trace of V. of Tajik, the 100 kW external service on 7245 which is scheduled 0200-1800, including Dari at 06-08 following Farsi at 04-06. Is it really on? Alexander Berezkin, St. Petersburg, Russia, did report it Jan 28 at 0522 in Persian with no interference. Sometimes IGIM is on before 0600. [See TAJIKISTAN] 7245, Feb 15 at 0625 IGIM is already on with chanting; adjacent VATICAN 7250 from *0628 quite weak by comparison as were most Eurosigs (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MICRONESIA. 4755.45, The Cross. Usual ID by child at 0959:45, then into religious program. Poor with local noise here. (8 Feb.) (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, NRD-535D and Perseus (SDR), T2FD, Wellbrook ALA1530, HCDX via DXLD) ** MONACO. 8728, 11 Feb at 1057, Monaco Radio IS reel starting with TWR's IS hymn, then IS as Ici Monaco meteorology ch 23 ch 25 nonstop etc., // 17260.05 kHz. The 17 MHz signal has S5 (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Surely on USB (gh, DXLD) The theme coastal station Monaco Radio is playing is the Monaco National Anthem. TWR interval signal is arrangement of this melody. 73, (Jari Savolainen, Finland, HCDX via DXLD) ** MOROCCO. /ARGENTINA, Both on air, but poor signal of RAE Buenos Aires, 15344.915 varying / wandering up and down to x.937 kHz, Spanish at 1909 UT Febr 12, also SNRT / RTMaroccaine [IMM] Nador relay back on 15349.138 kHz, weak S=4-5 at 1914 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Febr 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOZAMBIQUE. Rádio Moçambique, Emissora Provincial Gaza, 810 Xai- Xai. Feb 11, 2012. Saturday. 1753-1756. Portuguese, excited OM with sports commentary. Fair. Jo'burg sunset 1655. Rádio Moçambique, Delegação de Beira, 873 Sofala (Beira). Feb 11, 2012. Saturday. 1756-1802. Afro music followed at 1759 by 2 OM's and a YL talking in Portuguese then more afro music right through TOH without ID. Fair - good. Jo'burg sunset 1655. Rádio Moçambique, Emissora Provincial Tete, 963 (Tete) // Emissora Interprovincial Maputo and Gaza 1008 (Maputo) // Emissor Provincial de Manica 1026 (Chimóio). Feb 11, 2012. Saturday. 1811-1819. Portugese. OM with sports commentary. 963 and 1008 were fair - poor. 1026 Chimoio was fair - good, but suddenly cut off at 1818, whilst the other two frequencies carried on. Jo'burg sunset 1655. Rádio Moçambique, Emissora Nacional, 1206 Inhambane // 963 // 1008. Feb 11, 2012. Saturday. 1827- 1829. Same sports commentary as 963 and 1008, but 1026 still off air. Poor. Jo'burg sunset 1655. Rádio Moçambique, Emissora Provincial de Cabo Delgado, 1224 Pemba. Feb 11, 2012. Saturday. 1831-1833. JBA but sounds like the same sports commentary as all the other Mozambique frequencies. Very poor. Jo'burg sunset 1655 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRTH indicates Moz terminology is Emissão Provincial, not Emissora (gh) ** MYANMAR. 7110, Feb 9 at 1335, fair signal with pop music, CW QRM; nothing much audible after 1400. Is this really from Nay Pyi Daw or from Rokhine State? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 12-06: So are all these frequencies from a single transmitter? Where? Is Rakhine a city? No, Reader`s Digest Great World Atlas shows it as a state, the westernmost strip along the Bay of Bengal coast, capital/major city Sittwe/Akyab. Rakhine was previously mentioned in DXLDs 10-09 and 10-18 in connexion with FM stations Rakhine Broadcasting Station - TX site --- Hi all, HFSkeds latest edition lists 7110 & 9590 kHz as from Naypyidaw as per Aoki reference. 7345 kHz not listed. GE 2011 imagery of Naypyidaw site appears to show just the one obvious SW antenna (or SW antenna location). WRTH 2012 shows the one transmitter site/frequency for NayPyiDaw for Myanmar Radio. If HFSkeds/Aoki is correct then one might assume now two SW antennas/transmitters at NayPyiDaw. But has any of this been proven? Could the Rakhine Broadcasting Station transmissions rather be from Yangon SW site? Just pondering. Would welcome further comments/discussion (Ian Baxter, Feb 9, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) Aoki (and therefore my combined list) shows the same coordinates for Yangon and Naypyidaw. Seems still undetermined (Dan Ferguson, ibid.) Didn't we have 5915 kHz possibly at 20 10 50n 96 08 40e? (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) Yes, that's correct, Mauno (Ian Baxter, ibid.) This is consistently producing the best signals I have heard on 7110, possibly from Napyidaw [sic]. I call it Radio Nappie Door :) However the 5985v channel has gone down here in strength. I cannot hear the so-called regional on 7345 as the Chinese signal is dominant. There are frequent mentions of Myanmar on 7110. The presence of it is annoying the ham community here in Australia. Just after observing it I came across an HS0 calling an Alaskan station. Could not hear the latter but the Thai station was strong here. Not surprising as he was beaming in this direction and copying the WL7 via the South Pole on long path. If he beamed short path he would have better copy but the Thai would have been down here. For the log: Myanmar, 7110 Napyidaw. 1220 with music and announcements at excellent strength but suffering slight QRM from Chinese OTHR at Hainan. The latter was from 7070 to 7150. Also noted 6.9 [Feb 9??] to 7005. Can you also hear these rapid pulses? (Robin L. Harwood VK7RH, Norwood, Tasmania 7250, Feb 11, dxld yg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Robin, Thanks for your observations. You were fortunate to have only "slight QRM" from the OTH radar on Feb 10. Here in California it was fairly strong, per the following MP3 audio clip. I measured it from 7085 through to 7150. Normally Myanma Radio on 7110 is fair, but not today. Audio at http://www.box.com/s/a0bcg46z6ro3b6xqu9iu (Ron Howard, San Francisco, ibid.) 7110, Myanmar Radio, 1215-1250, talk in unidentified language. Local pop music. Weak but readable. Feb 11 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) [and non]. Was doing some listening in the morning when I discovered a fairly strong signal from Myanmar around 1100. Quickly gathered up the Perseus and gear and headed up to the SGLs [? his favorite nearby DXpedition spot, I guess --- gh] hoping to get a good recording of this before conditions change as sunrise is rapidly moving back now. Plus, the local noise on the frequency ruins any good reception. Got there and set up just in time for Laos 1200 ToH gong routine, but unfortunately Cuba once again blasted it out. (Laid out the 315' BOG at 355 degrees). MYANMAR, 7110, R. Myanma. 1211 usual Asian pop music with W announcer host. Didn't do anything special across their ToH at 1230. M joined in at 1232 and they had a program of rap music then. Getting a lot of Spanish ham QRM right on top for most of that first half hour. Then had some calling CQ in CW after 1235. Was also getting some slight odd motorboating QRM in the second half hour. The signal was good but not as good as I was expecting. And with all the QRM, the trip was basically a bust. (11 Feb.) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, NRD-535D and Perseus (SDR), T2FD, Wellbrook ALA1530, HCDX via DXLD) 7110, Myanma Radio, 1135, very strong with nice local music and occasional comments by a woman. 12 Feb (David Sharp, NSW, Partial list of equipment: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, R30A, Timewave 599ZX, various Palstar and MFJ accessories, Quantum Phaser, various Sangean and Tecsun portables, EWE aerials, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) MYANMAR/BURMA. 7110, Myanma Radio, randomly from 1155 to 1430*, Feb 13. In vernacular with EZL pop songs and indigenous music; no OTHR. http://www.box.com/s/e8xbzt017lbcaohd8k3p contains MP3 sign off audio. 7345, randomly from 1101 to 1330*, Feb 13. A separate Rakhine Broadcasting Station or the minority language service of Myanma Radio via unknown site? In vernacular and playing EZL songs and indigenous music; heavy CNR1 QRM. Believe they will always have poor reception here as a result of strong CNR1 on frequency. 5985.83, Myanma Radio, 1121-1144, Feb 14. In vernacular; pop songs; BoH indigenous theme music, but no longer with chimes; at times almost fair. 7110, Myanma Radio on Feb 14. At 1104 in the clear with no OTH radar; whereas randomly from 1147 to 1331 had Myanmar mixing with strong OTH radar (7085-7145); 1330 indigenous theme music, but no chimes (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7110, Myanma Radio, 1154-1200, Feb 15. In vernacular with a math lecture (“minus ... divided by ... therefore … minus ...”) from the Distance Learning Service; after 1200 back to their usual music programming; strong OTH radar again today. This looks promising because if it is a regular segment, some of the lectures are in English and would be interesting to hear; the Distance Learning Service lectures are normally heard on 5915 staring at 1330. Very brief MP3 audio posted at http://www.box.com/s/gvtalbeqvydo6ijbrt3g (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) A reminder to keep monitoring the new frequency of Myanmar, 7110 between 1030 and 1430 UT, and try to figure out whether it is from one of the two national capitals or from the capital of Rakhine state on the west coast (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW CALEDONIA. QSL: Marinha Francesa, Nouméa/Nova Caledônia 16957 kHz USB - FUJ, Marinha Francesa, Nouméa - Nova Caledônia. Recebido: PPC assinado + carimbado 102 dias. V/S: Bruno Livi. IR enviado por carta, com SAE. QTH usado: Marine Nationale Française - STIA Nouvelle Calédonie, BP 38, 00365 Armees, Nouméa, Nouvelle Calédonie Obs.: Infelizmente o cartão chegou um pouco borrado (parece ter havido contato com água) e também um pouco sujo. Visualização em breve no http://pqslfabricio.blogspot.com/ 73 (Fabricio Andrade Silva, PP5002SWL, Tubarão, SC, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND [and non]. 15720, Feb 11 at 1450 surprised to find good signal here in English, announcer plugging BBC `Science in Axion` coming up at ``half past four``. Therefore it must be RNZI relaying RNZN on a totally wrong frequency again! Best heard RNZI in quite a while, so kept listening for an hour. Nice selexion of classic rock, such as 1455 Don Fardon`s version of ``Indian Reservation``, a.k.a. ``Lament of Cherokee Indians`` --- just right for an unexpected listener in the Cherokee Strip! 1457 ``Rose Garden`` by Lynn Anderson. 1500 news presented by Roger Gascoyne; 1507 lengthy coastal weather forecasts; 1511 at ``11 after 4`` back to music, Michael Jaxon at age 13, ``My Girl``. How precocious. 1517 outro song by Anitar O`Day, on to Grateful Dead, James Brown, etc. 1530 as promised, `Science in Axion` with several stories including Russian drillers reaching Ozero Vostok far below Antarctica, prehistoric large cricket sounds (which I could not hear), European deepfreeze. Since BBC squeezed this show among others from 27 to 18 minutes, it`s become more superficial. At 1549 YL announcement says ``closing this (unnamed) frequency, retune immediately to 9765``, and off. So I retune to 9765 but hear nothing, not even a het starting up against VOA Spe-cial Eng-lish on 9760. I then spend a few minutes searching all other RNZI frequencies I can remember, since if it`s on the wrong frequency before 1550, it could well be on another wrong frequency next. But nothing heard on 17675, 13730, 11725, 11675; might have gone to 7440, 6170 or 5950, too late to propagate now. However, at 1558 I hear that dreaded DRM noise on 9765! So instead of AM, RNZI has brought up DRM on that frequency. Furthermore, at 1600 it`s mixing with something weak in AM, Spanish, i.e. REE Costa Rica // 15125. Also brief ``running water`` ute intruder on and off. At 1602- 1603 I try again the other possible RNZI AM frequencies but find it nowhere. Uplooked later, part of their current schedule shows: 1059-1158 15720 AM 9870 DRM Timor 1159-1258 15720 AM [no DRM] Timor 1300-1550 5950 AM [no DRM] Pacific 1551-1750 9765 AM 9890 DRM Cook Islands, Samoa So maybe the RNZI AM after 1551 was swapped on 9890, which I did not think to check. BTW, 15720 at first was atop CCI from something which hardly expected to be QRMed by NZ, i.e. NHK Hindi via MADAGASCAR at 1430-1515. This is merely the latest of many instances of RNZI showing up on the wrong frequency, evidently caused by mis-programming of the computer automation controlling QSYs; or Rangitaiki has a mind of its own? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5950, Feb 12 at 1407, weak signal presumed RNZI, vs stronger NHK 5955; no sign of it during following hour on mistaken 15720 unlike yesterday. At 1451, NHK Hindi via Madagascar was poor but clear on 15720 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGER. 9705, La Voix du Sahel. Heard with W talk as soon as Ethiopia signed off at 2101. Not very strong at this time. Afro Pop and Hi-life music in the next hour, a little stronger. 2253 W announcer in French after song ended, then into Koran to 2257. M announcer with short closing announcement starting with what sounded like an ID, mention of "programme", then into choral NA for a minute, 5 second tone, the OC. Unfortunately the local noise on 9708 wandered down over them earlier. (6 Feb.) (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, NRD-535D and Perseus (SDR), T2FD, Wellbrook ALA1530, HCDX via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. 6089, 1934 22/1, FRCN Radio Nigeria, Kaduna, talks in vernacular, fair stopped at 1943 by a strong carrier (Voice of Russia starting at 2000) (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italia, RX: Excalibur Pro - ANT; T2FD - Feb 11, playdx yg via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. 9690, 1100 3 Nov, VON, local drums, chants, news in English, 43444 (Dzever Ishenge, Benue State, Nigeria, YB-400, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Long delayed report via P-mail (gh) ** NIGERIA [non]. 7275, Feb 12 at 0629 I am ready for at least a carrier from FRCN as Tunisia goes off, but not a trace. 7275, Feb 13 at 0629, again no trace of a signal from FRCN as I am monitoring when Tunisia turns off. 7275, Feb 14 at 0629, for the third night, no trace of any signal from FRCN as soon as Tunisia goes off. A few minutes earlier, I thought there was something underneath it. Could Abuja be signing off before Sfax does? Is anyone currently hearing Nigeria on 7275 at any time? 7275, Feb 15 at 0629, ditto another Nigerialess night once Tunisia clears the frequency. BTW, 15120 VON has not been audible during this hour for several weeks now (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. [Pirate]. 6925 USB, Radio Ga Ga, 2340-2355, pop music. ID. Poor to fair. Feb 10 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** NORTH AMERICA. [Pirate]. 6925, Radio Ronin Shortwave, 2308-2315+, ID. Rock music by AC/DC and others. Fair to good. Feb 11 (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, USA, Icom IC-7600, two 100 foot longwires, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6925, Feb 12 at 1354 music on SSB, continuous OTH radar pulse QRM, retune 1401 just in time to hear asking for reports to ``radiogaga6925@gmail.com, thanks for tuning in`` and off at 1402; frequency matched Nikkei on 3925.0 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. KFAQ 1170 IBOC --- KFAQ's IBOC remains off this morning, allowing clear reception of 1180 KOIL-NE here in Tulsa at 0900 CST 09 FEB 12. 1160 has a weak SS station under the splatter, probably needed KCTO-MO (Bruce Winkelman AA5CO, Tulsa, OK, R8 Par EndFedZ Sloper, Feb 9, ABDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DXLD) 1170, KFAQ Tulsa remains IBOC-free, as Bruce Winkelman first reported last week; Feb 13 at 2125 UT, 1160 and 1180 are open for DX tho none is incoming yet. And IBOC has also been off at various nighttime chex (Glenn Hauser, Enid, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 1230, Feb 13 at 2130 UT tuning around caradio, came upon huge variable whine on 1220 and 1240, obviously coming from out-of- whack semi-local WBBZ Ponca City which normally has a clean signal. Could also hear some of it when tuned to 1230 itself. It might have emanated from some horrible traffic light, but remained the same as I traveled on. I stopped on a quiet street and turned off the engine, and it was still there, altho suddenly stopped about a minute later, at 2134 and did not come back, even when I retraced my previous route. I had also quickly tuned thru the entire MW band in case it appear elsewhere, but it did not (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. RADIO PAKISTAN TURBAT 100 KW HIGH POWERED MEDIUM WAVE TRANSMITTER INAUGURATED. {Mediumwave tx NAUTEL type Made in Canada, Turbat on the coast of Balochistan, Gulf of Oman / Arabian Sea, no frequency given, Turbat was on low power 1584 kHz, but will be transmitted probably on another MW channel... } Turbat, The 100 kW high powered medium wave transmitter of Radio Pakistan Turbat inaugurated Wednesday will provide easy access to news and entertainment to people of remote areas of Balochistan province. Information Minister Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan was scheduled to inaugurate but due to technical fault in aircraft it could not land at Turbat and returned to Karachi. She inaugurated transmitter from Radio Pakistan Karachi. Dr Firdous said this project reflects priority and importance PPP government accords to people of Balochistan. President Asif Ali Zardari always supported rights of Baloch people. She said projects like one initiated by Radio Pakistan in Turbat will promote harmony between the federation and the provinces. She said government gave Aghaz-e-Haqooq Balochistan package and committed to ensure its complete implementation to remove sense of deprivation of the people. She said presence of Senators Ismail Buledi & Abdul Malik Baloch in inauguration ceremony at Turbat reflects success of reconciliation policy initiated by PPP government. She said 100 W high powered transmitter will help empower people particularly women, youth and promote rich culture of Balochistan. Recognizing sacrifices of Baloch people for the country's peace, security she said Baloch are "patriotic people, symbol of pride and prestige of Pakistan. "Following policy of Benazir Bhutto we are ready to hold dialogue with estranged Baloch leaders but any conspiracy against the country will be foiled. Dialogue is only way forward to redress longstanding grievances of people of Balochistan which was neglected in the past. Acts of terrorism and targeted killings will not deter resolve of people of the province. Balochistan and Pakistan are interlinked." She said under new National Finance Commission NFC Award Balochistan has been given greater share in its resources to end their grievances. "We want to bring them into mainstream. Balochistan is energy corridor and Gwadar is economic hub of entire country. 600 Baloch students given scholarships, internship to 10,000 youth and 10,000 Baloch youth inducted in Pakistan Army." Director General Radio Pakistan Murtaza Solangi said transmitter completed at cost of Rs 164 million has 300 kilometers range in day and triple during night time which will ensure clear signals in southern parts of Balochistan and reach various parts of Gulf and Iran. ( Febr 8, 2012) Info Minister Inaugurates 100 kW HPT of PBC Turbat. 100 kW high power medium wave transmitter of Radio Pakistan Turbat, has been inaugurated. Information Minister Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan and Senator Ismail Buledi inaugurated 100 kW high power medium wave transmitter of Radio Pakistan Turbat on Wednesday. Speaking on the occasion, the Information Minister said the transmitter will provide easy access to news and entertainment to the people of far flung areas of Balochistan. She said this project reflects the priority and importance the PPP government accords to the people of Balochistan. Dr Firdous said that the Baloch youth will enjoy quality information and entertainment programmes on Turbat Radio Station. She expressed the hope this transmitter will play an important role by engaging Baloch youth in variety of current affairs programme. The Minister maintained that the transmitter can also help in creating awareness and further activating women about their rights. Senator Ismail Buledi described the installation of transmitter at PBC Turbat as a great project and said it will provide access to information to the people of far flung areas of the province. Director General Radio Pakistan Murtaza Solangi said that the transmitter has been completed at a cost of over one hundred and sixty-four million rupees. He said this station will cover a vast area of Balochistan during the day and can be heard in UAE, Iran, Oman and other Gulf countries. (via Roberto Rizzardi, Porto S. Stefano (GR) Italy, bclnews.it Febr 8) also FIRDOUS INAUGURATES BROADCASTING HOUSE IN TURBAT. Turbat, Feb 8: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan and Senator Ismail Buledi on Wednesday inaugurated new broadcasting house and 100 kilowatts high powered medium wave transmitter of Radio Pakistan Turbat. After commissioning of the new transmitter manufactured in Canada, Radio Pakistan Turbat's transmission will not only be heard in far- flung southern parts of Balochistan, but also in Iran and Gulf region. The Minister was scheduled to inaugurate the transmitter at PBC Turbat, but her plane could not land at Turbat airport because of some technical problem and returned to Karachi. She inaugurated the transmitter from Radio Pakistan Karachi. The inaugural ceremony, held at PBC Turbat as per the schedule, was broadcast live by all stations of Radio Pakistan. Speaking on the occasion, the minister said commissioning of the high powered transmitter will enable the people living in far flung areas of the province to have an easy access to news and entertainment. She said a powerful radio station in Turbat will promote the rich culture of the province besides providing jobs to local population. She said development of media will also ensure protection of the rights and interests of Baloch people. She was confident that Radio Pakistan Turbat will promote harmony between the federation and the provinces as well as people of all the four provinces. She said this project reflects the priority and importance the PPP government accords to the people of Balochistan. The minister said President Asif Ali Zardari has himself always supported the rights of the Baloch people. The present government gave the Aaghaz-e-Haqooq Balochistan package and is committed to ensure its complete implementation to remove the sense of deprivation of the people of the province, she added. She said under the new NFC Award, Balochistan has been given a greater share in the resources to remove the province's grievances. She said the presence of Senators Ismail Buledi and Abdul Malik Baloch also in the ceremony reflects the success of the reconciliation policy initiated by the present government. Recognizing the sacrifices of Baloch people for the country's peace and security, she said Baloch are patriotic people and symbol of pride and dignity of Pakistan. Firdous Ashiq Awan said that following in the footprints of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, the government is ready to hold dialogue with the estranged Baloch leaders. She said the dialogue is the only means to redress the grievances of the people of the province, which was neglected in the past. But, the government is also committed to foil every conspiracy of the enemies against the integrity of the country, she vowed. Firdous Ashiq Awan said Balochistan is the energy corridor and Gwadar is the economic hub of the country. She said 600 Baloch students have been given scholarships and another 10,000 youths provided internship. Moreover, 10,000 Baloch youth have been inducted into the Pakistan Army. The information minister appreciated the employees of Radio Pakistan for their hard work to install the Turbat transmitter. She assured that qualified Baloch people will be given preference in jobs at PBC Turbat. Speaking on the occasion, Director General Radio Pakistan Murtaza Solangi said the transmitter has been completed at a cost of over Rs 164 million. The transmitter, he said has the range of 300 km during the day and expand by three times during nighttime. This will ensure clear signals in the southern parts of Balochistan as well as different areas of Gulf and Iran. Speaking from Turbat, Ismail Buledi described the installation of the powerful transmitter at Radio Pakistan Turbat as a great project and said it will provide access to information to the people of the far flung areas of the province, besides promoting healthy cultural activity in the area. (Febr 8, 2012) also "staff for Radio Pakistan Quetta center will be deputed to run Turban center" at Radio Pakistan Turbat was OFF air since August 2011. The voice from transmitter will not be restricted to Pakistan only, but also reach large number of Balochis living in other neighbouring countries including Iran, Muscat, Dubai, minimizing their home sickness, the minister said. Radio Pakistan Turbat will help in rejoining the families and ultimately fulfill the dream of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto for the development and prosperity of Balochistan, which is being ensured by the Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani's package for the Baloch people under Aghaz-e-Huqooq-e- Balochistan, she added. [...] Director General PBC Murtaza Solangi in his welcome address said that this station will cover a vast area of Balochistan during the day and can be heard in UAE, Iran, Oman and other Gulf countries. In a written reply, Information Minister Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan informed the House that a transmitter has been installed in the new premises of Radio Pakistan Turbat. The Minister said the pre-testing of the transmitter's components has already been taken up, which will take two to three weeks. Jan 20, 2012 In a written reply, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan informed the House transmitter has been installed in the new premises of Radio Pakistan Turbat. She said since it is a fifteen years old transmitter, it may require modification and upgradation. The Minister said the pretesting of the transmitter's components has already been taken up, which will take two to three weeks. Jan 20, 2012 Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (Radio Pakistan) has one broadcasting station of 0.25 K.W., M.W. 1584 kHz at Turbat. This station was inaugurated on January 4, 1981 and daily transmits a programme for about five hours (1800-2310). It broadcasts in Urdu (3 hours) and Balochi (2 hours) while radio stations at Quetta and Khuzdar also transmit a programme in Balochi which can be listened to in Gwadar district. RADIO PAKISTAN PLANS A NUMBER OF NEW MEDIUMWAVE TRANSMITTERS. With mediumwave transmission of Radio Pakistan Larkana already off the air since 14 August, the recently-installed 2.5 kW transmitter for FM- 93 designed to broadcast up to 80 kilometres radius, has also proved an enigma for the faithful listeners who claim it can only be heard within a 20-25 km radius. The 2.5 kW transmitter replaced the 1.5 kW transmitter of FM-101 after its mast collapsed in December 2008 and the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation renamed it FM-93. The radio station was commissioned in October 1995 and was inaugurated by Benazir Bhutto. Sources in the PBC and listeners of FM-93 told Dawn on Tuesday that the new transmitter could hardly be heard beyond 20 to 25 km. It was neither properly tuned nor were its antennas properly fitted, restricting the transmission up to 20 km radius, said the sources. The sources said the officials at the radio station had refused to give certificate to the mast installers about the transmission range without carrying out tests and had informed PBC senior management about the faults. Najeeb Alam, the engineering manager of the PBC, had sent a letter to the controller of the procurement cell, requesting him to ask the mast company to send experts to check the FM-93 transmitter, they said. The old 1.5 kW transmitter's range was 60 to 70 km. A large number of radio listeners recently held a demonstration in Qambar and protested over small range of FM-93. They called for rectifying the fault. The Director General of PBC, Ghulam Murtaza Solangi, said that mediumwave transmission had been temporarily suspended in Larkana because the old transmitter was giving barely 40 per cent output. It was, therefore, not fair to keep it operating and it would be replaced by a newly approved 100 KW mediumwave transmitter, which would take at least a year to get operational, he said. He claimed the range of old mediumwave transmitter of the Lahore radio station had almost doubled after necessary repairs and admitted the transmission of 100 kW mediumwave transmitter at Karachi had also been off the air temporarily. A new 5 kW FM transmitter installed in Karachi was quite enough for the whole metropolitan area, he claimed. A 100 kW mediumwave transmitter purchased for Larkana was shifted to Turbat by the previous government and replaced with a 10 kW one, said the sources. The mediumwave transmitter of Khairpur radio also remained off the air for over six days, but the DG claimed it was now back on the air after necessary repairs. Mr Solangi said that a new 100 kW mediumwave transmitter would be installed in Hyderabad within a year and the PBC was planning to install mediumwave transmitters in Muzaffarabad, Multan, Guwadar and Turbat because the budget had already been allocated for them in the current fiscal year. He disclosed that an estimate for installation of 1000 kW mediumwave transmitter in Gwadar, which would broadcast to Iran, Afghanistan and Middle East, had been submitted to the Ministry of Information and hoped it would be okayed soon. New 150 kW mediumwave transmitters would be installed in Quetta and Dera Ghazi Khan while a 300 kW mediumwave transmitter would be installed in Peshawar, he said. Source: Dawn.com via Andy Sennitt, Media Network weblog (16/9-2009) Ydun's Medium Wave Info (all via Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Febr 8, via DXLD) WTFK? Re: Radio Pakistan inaugurates 100 kW MW tr at Tarbat Response from Radio Pakistan regarding inquiry about new 100 kW Turbat transmitter: ``Dear Bruce Conti, Thank you for message showing interest in Radio Pakistan. The newly inaugurated transmitter at Turbat broadcasts programmes at frequency 981 from 7 am to 10 pm daily.It will be fully operational soon after some technical adjustments. with best regards. Mubasher Majoka, Spokesman PBC`` (via Bruce Conti, Feb 11, mwdx yg WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DXLD) 981 kHz, 100 kW PAKISTAN Turbat {????} Baluchistan {????????} Radio Pakistan UT 0200-1700 UT Operates 0100-1600 UT when Daylight Saving Time is in force (Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) At last some good news comes on the subject of stations starting and closing. There has been far too much of the latter recently especially in Europe. On 8 February 2012 PBC started on 981 at 100 kW. It was even better to hear from the PBC Director General to the effect that such a transmitter could "cover a vast area of Balochistan". Pakistan is a densely populated country. The authorities in Islamabad view the cost PER LISTENER for MW as being relatively cheap. Similar authorities in Europe do not seem to think in the same way - in my view a short sighted attitude. As for the location of the mast it will be some time until it appears on maps. The resolution of the area is not bad. I will keep an eye on Asia Waves over the next 6 months or so to see if Alan Davies can work his magic again to locate the mast! Perhaps the PBC authorities might offer coordinates to the DX community at this early stage - but I'm not holding out much hope. 73's (Dan Goldfarb, mwmasts yg via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. R. Pakistan in English: 15725, 1100 7 Jan, YL ID, news, poor audio, 54444 (Chris Shorten, Norwich, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) 15725, 1100 2 Jan, news, but terrible audio, 45433 (Alan Roe, ibid.) 17700, 0905 27 Jan, news, distorted modulation, 44444 (Mike Barraclough, ibid.) 17700, 1100 8 Jan, YL ID, news, poor audio, 43343 (Chris Shorten, ibid.) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3385, NBC East New Britain. This station ends their broadcasting day when a timer automatically turns off the transmitter. For a long time that timer had been set at 1224*, but now they suddenly go off the air at a new 1237*; noted on Feb 6, 9 and 10 (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3204.96, NBC Sandaun, 1251-1328*, Feb 14. In Tok Pisin playing pop island songs; 1255 full ID; 1301 bird calls and into the news in English; “Good night Papua New Guinea”; item about the Prime Minister; poor, but still enjoyable listening to island songs. Continues to be slightly off frequency. 3385, NBC East New Britain, 1236-1237*, Feb 14. Pop song and suddenly off in mid-song; ex: 1224* (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I wonder if the exact cutoff time and change in it are based on precise computations of electricity costs and budget (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DXLD) Interesting story about New Dawn FM at http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106743 which is a Bougainville station (Ron Howard, dxldyg via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Some NBC PNG Transmitter history: PM, Daru & Kimbe --- Hi folks, Thought I'd take a moment to share some PNG NBC transmitter history for those interested. From NBC official sources DATE: July 1990. NBC Port Moresby 9520 & 3925 kHz outlets have been off for over 4 years now. The old transmitters installed during the early 60's finally ceased to operate. It is intended that the service on 9520 be restored using a secondhand Nodac txer from from Daru, when Daru (Radio Western) was replaced with a new NEC 10kW in 1988. This 5kW txer is being reassembled & returned to Port Moresby. Also prior to this time a new 10kW txer at Kimbe for Radio West New Britain had been installed. PNG: NBC Kundu SW 2 to 10 kW upgrades - More Txer History DATE: July 1990. It was intended that by late 1990 (post July 1990) that the following NBC Kundu SW stations would be upgraded with new NEC 10 kW transmitters: Radio West New Britain, Radio Southern Highlands, Radio Manus, Radio Northern, Radio Eastern Highlands & Radio New Ireland. (That would complete the 2 kW to 10 kW NBC SW Kundu Service TXer upgrade program - IB) Also at this point in time NBC 4890 kHz was operating with just 5 kW (Ian Baxter [ Official information from my 'NBC Archives' ], Feb 14, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7325, Feb 15 at 1357 as soon as China goes off, JBA carrier with bits of music, and some talk around hourtop, presumed Wantok Radio Light during the semihour window the Chicom so kindly provide (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU [and non]. 6059.99, Aroma Cafe Radio, heard on 6,7 and 8 Feb. Typically the buzzsaw-sound open carrier noted before the hour, prior to a variable nominal *1100. Noted already in progress at 1108 on 2/6 with folklorica program, plenty of rustic huayno music with arpas, sicu-sicu, quenas, guitar. Ads by YL in Spanish with piano music underneath at 1110. 1123 ". . . las 6 de la mañana y 23 minutos . . " then into more huaynos with arpa and bass guitar. 1124.44 CRI open carrier blotted out most of frequency, but could still hear a little bit of the OA underneath. On 2/7 was an *1101 s/on, noting OM announcer and then NA and then again following pattern and going into morning Andes sunrise program. Best on 2/8, big buzzsaw open/carrier at 1055 tune-in, nothing noted thru 1104 when briefly tuned away. At 1109 retune, OA NA already in progress. 1110 YL with nice clear "Transmite Aroma Cafe Radio . . ." with chimes or piano notes, and then straight into same morning folkloric programming. At 1115, nice time/check by locutora as "La 6 de la mañana y 15 con Aroma Cafe Radio . . ." and again at 1120. Seems consistently a female announcer of late and a folkloric music program, different from the fare being reported not too long ago, which was I think was reported as a relay of their FM signal (Ralph W. Perry, Illinois, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6059.99, Feb 13 at 1112, I am rarely awake for the Aroma Café Radio window, so take advantage of it when I am today: quite weak signal with music and occasional talk, too weak to make much out. I can`t measure frequency directly, but there is a fast SAH of about 10 Hz which fits nicely for the off-frequency everyone is reporting, vs an even weaker carrier with better frequency control (PBS Sichuan 2? Or RR Yakutsk? Can`t be Brasil, and unlikely Argentina either tho scheduled to be on in Portuguese weekdays, considering how far off their other frequencies are). 1121 a YL is speaking loudly. *1124:50 the CRI carrier comes on but it`s weak enough that I still hear ACR underneath, clinched at 1127 by a timecheck audibly Spanish for ``las seis de la mañana, --- minutos`` = Peruvian time and language. 1130 CRI IS starts and ID for Tagalog is also in Spanish! ``Radio Internacional de China``. Rechecked after 1200 when CRI is off, nothing more audible from Perú (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) One more log below ** PERU. 4774.97, R. Tarma. Signal on the air at 0956:08, and campo music start at 0959:08. Full canned ID at 0959:56. More canned ID promos including "Música folklórica nacional por R. Tarma en Perú" at 1001:30. Unfortunately CODAR was down here this morning. (8 Feb.) 4774.97, R. Tarma. Finally fairly clear signal at 1000 for their usual canned opening ID announcement. (9 Feb.) 4955, R. Cultural Amauta. Suddenly on in mid-program at 1046:25 with nice campo music. M announcer in presumed Quechua. Choral song then. 1051:58 fanfare and beautiful clear ID by W "Desde ciudad de Huanta, transmite R. Cultural Amauta en FM 9?.9 estéreo". 1053 back to campo music for about 45 seconds, then live studio M announcer again over the song with nice quick ID and talk. Mentioned a few cities/towns. Cont[inuous?]. song, and M returned again at 1058:00 with another ID and more announcements. More of the same music and talk with mentions of Huanta, Pasco, cultural. Very nice signal this morning. For some reason, I have difficulty IDing this. (9 Feb.) 5039.18, R. Libertad de Junín. Signal on the air at 0942:30. Music started 0944:55. Long canned echo talk by M 0948-0955, then different M announcer. 0956 pleasant LA music. Another canned announcement 1000. Music and farm animal (cows, chickens, crickets) SFX, and live studio M announcer with long talk. Good. (8 Feb.) 5120, Ondas del Suroriente. Found the signal came on at 1047:54. Programming finally started at 1104:10. Canned announcement by M but just couldn't copy. Fairly strong when the signal came on but it faded quickly in 15 minutes. (8 Feb.) 5120, Ondas del Suroriente. On the air early today at 1019:47. Finally buzzing at 1041:29 when they turned the mixer on no doubt. 1041:49 canned ID announcement by M with frequency. Didn't hear any mention of "Radio" in the ID. Campo music start and live M announcer came on with TC and talk with mention of campesina, and possible prayers with mention of Santa María and going into melody recitation briefly several times. Ended at 1049 with mention of program "...su programa 'Amanecer ??". Beautiful tinkly OA music. M returned at 1051 with TC and more talk. 1052 nice campo song. Plays some great music. Best heard yet. Would be easy if not for the ute on 5121.5. (9 Feb.) (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, NRD-535D and Perseus (SDR), T2FD, Wellbrook ALA1530, HCDX via DXLD) 4955, Radio Cultural Amauta, Huanta, best signal on 60 meters this morning of 2/10 at 1035 with rustic huayno selection featuring simple guitar plucking and YL singer. Segued into another plucked guitar huayno but with a small chorus of women. Rechecked at 1054 and still in folklorica program. This was a pretty good morning for the Andes, also noting 5039 Junin, 4775 Tarma blowing in (Ralph Perry, Illinois, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. RADIO UNIVERSAL. Cusco 6090: Noted Email address on web page as radiouniversal @ speedy.com.pe (John Durham, Feb NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** PERU. 3329.52, Ondas del Huallaga, 1047, tentative, only partial copy in LSB to escape CHU; talk by a Spanish man but no ID. 13 Feb. 4747.08, Huanta Dos Mil, 1118, fair with huaynos, comments by man, best in LSB to escape 4750 slop. 12 Feb. 4774.93, Radio Tarma, 1013, fair with mensajes by a man, huaynos, some UTE QRM. 13 Feb. 4826.46, R. Sicuani, 1050, presumed, weak with huaynos but no ID. Weak het lowside, LV de la Selva? 12 Feb. 4954.99, R. Cultural Amauta, 1106, very good with comments by a woman, then into huaynos. 13 Feb. 4974.78, R. Del Pacífico, 1042, lengthy talk by a man with many references to "Lima", fair-good. 12 Feb. 5024.55, R. Quillabamba, 1020, noted as strong het against Rebelde; partial copy in LSB with huaynos but not good enough for an ID. 13 Feb. 5039.18, R. Libertad, 1035, really good and strongest of all OA's with huaynos and frequent comments by a man. 12 Feb. 5120.01, R. Ondas del Sur Oriente, 1057, mensajes or similar by a man, local references, pretty good copy despite OTHR. 12 Feb. 5485.23, UnID Peruvian at 1112, "yippie" huaynos but only just above threshold. Reina de la Selva? Someone else? 12 Feb. 6059.94, Aroma Cafe Radio, 1110, presumed with rustic LAm music, best in LSB to partially avoid 6060 slop. 13 Feb. [others report 6059.99, and does not seem as much as 60 Hz low to me, vs CCI, e.g. CRI – gh] 6173.68, R. Tawantinsuyo, 1123, causing nice het against presumed China on nominal, LSB allowed for partial copy of huaynos but not speech. 12 Feb (David Sharp, NSW, Partial list of equipment: FT-950, NRD-535D, R8, R30A, Timewave 599ZX, various Palstar and MFJ accessories, Quantum Phaser, various Sangean and Tecsun portables, EWE aerials, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 1170, VOA Poro NOT HEARD despite regular monitoring. 14-23 January 2012 (Bryan Clark on holiday in Singapore, using only a small Sony ICF7600G with its internal ferrite rod aerial (Bryan Clark Visiting Singapore with Sony 7600G and 3 metre internal wire antenna, Feb NZ DX Times via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DXLD) Closing megawatt down forever already? See USA: BBG budget request (gh, DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. IBB Tinang site, transmitter #2: 9555, Feb 15 at 1425 I find a strong S9+25 open carrier with some hum and flutter when VOA`s Korean service is supposed to air and is usually heard. I leave a receiver on this in case modulation should happen, but no, nothing until 1458:53* for QSY to 9760 VOA English. *1459:21 carrier on there, with brief breaks several times, still no modulation after 1500. As I go to breakfast of Mexican strawberries via Salinas, California, and homemade English muffins with apple butter spread on one half, and peach jam on the other [is this close enough to tweeting the important details of my life?], I leave the receiver on 9760 for another hour. Still no modulation at all, and occasional brief offdumps, especially around 1528-1533. Finally stopped monitoring at 1557. Can`t they tell at Tinang that the transmitter is not being modulated?? Like a meter stuck on zero if they don`t axually listen to their own broadcasts? In which case they might as well turn it off? Or not, if it`s still important to occupy the frequencies with nothing? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. ?? FEBC ?? 12095, Bocaue?? Feb 14, 2012 Tuesday. 2304- 2330. Went to sleep listening to the BBC WS via Cyprus. Woken up by a lovely interval signal, apparently on keyboard / organ or similar instrument. By the time I got my brain into gear it had changed to a YL delivering a monologue in an eastern language which I can't pin down, having just woken up at 1 am local. Timewise, Aoki, EiBi and HFCC list only FEBC Manila. Aoki lists the language as "Hmo", HFCC as "multiple" and EiBi offers no possibilities, saying only that it is targetted at southeast Asia. So I guess it could be Hmong, to Vietnam (Hmo = Hmong in EiBi). Sign off at 2330* (as per Aoki, EiBi and HFCC) with a couple of secs of the interval signal, but it didn't sound so exotic when I was more awake (or maybe there wasn't enough of it). Very weak and noisy (atmospheric QRN). Jo'burg sunrise 0353 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL. 1035 Belmonte (lugar de)_POR The "MCR" saga continues... The next PORTUGAL transmitter in the list is the one MCR installed within a piece of land owned by the huge company called C.ª das Lezírias, http://www.cl.pt/htmls/pt/home.shtml This alone means a visit to the site is difficult, to put it mildly; unless you have some contacts, which is why I'm still hoping to see it in more detail. As a matter of fact, "my contact" in the MCR has prompted himself to offer a tour, even if it didn't coincide with any necessary drive up the transmitter for maintenance or any other technical purpose! Getting near the mast is impossible, but it is visible at a distance, either from national road n.º 10 or possibly even better from the A13 motorway, which I have never used till this day by the way. GC are 38º 52' 15.38", N 08º 47' 03.01" W; see attached GEarth photograph. The photo I'm sending Dan to insert was taken by yours truly standing by one of the many CL gates along road n.º 10; the containers housing the transmitter & generator, and the ATU close to the monopole are not visible from that height, but as I said, maybe it is as one travels along the mentioned motorway. This station uses a 125 m monopole that stood as the main tower at neighbouring Porto Alto, GC 38º 54' 41.89" N 08º 51' 17.00" W, where the 77 m tower at the back of the building is still in place along with the 4 old smaller towers that were once used for a rhombic beamed to Europe. The other attached photo shows how close P. Alto and the new site really are: some 8 km. This old site was sold by MCR to COFINA, http://www.confina.pt some 5- 6 years ago. I shall be compiling a separate description of it in a message to come. The transmitter: It's a solid state 100 kW THALÈS unit like the one installed at MCR's other site, Avanca. For quite some time, it was stored at neighbouring Porto Alto --- where rats made of it an "amusement park." Years passed until it was finally taken to Belmonte, but problems began right from the start, and still exist for the transmitter is off on occasions. The MCR prorgram or channel that's currently being transmitted over 1035 is StarFM, a music station consisting of pop oldies from the 50s- 60s-70s. A few VHF-FM txs http://starfm.clix.pt/info/frequencias.html yet none south of the capital, so 1035 MF is the only available outlet in those regions. 73, (Carlos L. R de A. Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, Feb 8, mwmasts yg via DXLD) PORTO ALTO: JUICE COOLED TRANSMITTERS! In a recent post, I promised a few words on the defunct site of Porto Alto. This is a bit of an iconic MW site here in Portugal where very few actually know it by its full name: "Centro Emissor Jorge Botelho Moniz" (J.B. Moniz was a co- founder the station back in 1928). In that year, 1928, the original MF site was at Parede, west of Lisboa, and the ID consisted of the official call sign, CT1 DY and the station name, "Rádio Parede." In 1931, a few rather disconcerting station name changes took place: R. Parede... R.Club da Costa do Sol... R.Club Português... R. C. da Costa do Sol... RCP, a name that remained until the company and its affiliated stations like R. Ribatejo and R. Alto Douro were nationalised, in 1975. In the late 1930s, RCP was a well known station in neighbouring Spain for it was allowed to broadcast special pro-falangist programs during the country's civil war. Sympathies towards Franco were carefully measured where there was, of course, an open animosity towards the Spanish republicans. In 1955, the power was increased to 2 x 25 kW, and at the same time a new site was built, the "Centro Emissor Alberto Lima Bastos" after the name of another co-founder; location was (and still is) Miramar, frequency 782, power 100 kW. About a decade later, the Parede site was replaced by a new one, that of Pt.º Alto, where the max. power was 120 kW, 25 kW night time. RCP "died" after the nationalisation and became RDP 3, later RDP R. Comercial, the only commercial network of the RDP. R. Comercial was sold to privates in 1993. The RDP did use Porto Alto for some time, then sort of "moth balled" it when they suppressed MF for RDP 2, and used one of the CEN (*) transmitters for carrying RDP-3/R. Comercial. That meant an adjustment to the CEN monopole being used for 666 and 756, as the CEN frequencies became 666 and 1035. *) CEN-Cento Emissor Nacional, Castanheira do Ribatejo, currently just 666 kHz 10 kW (+one 10 kW reserve tx), back then 2 x 135 kW Brown Bovery Co. txs, so a more powerful site than that of neighbouring Porto Alto. After being in the hands of privates, the Pt.º Alto site regained some life, particularly by the current owners, MCR, but being too big to maintain at a time when remote controlled stations are trivial, not to mention that the P. Alto urban area is too close to the site, MCR chose to look for another place before selling the property. And so they did, MCR took one [125 m] of the towers, repaired and painted it, and installed some 8 km farther east, near St.º Estêvão. In my other message, I said something about --- rats. The story is, that when MCR received two THALES 100 kW solid state transmitters, left one thereof stored at P. Alto for several years (!). The only living creatures around surely looked at the tx container as if they'd got another playground. As a consequence of mice and rats` invasion, extensive damage occurred, which according to my contact at MCR explains why 1035: the repairs didn't fully cure the rats' follies. That, I mean the "rat issue" was, I think, solved, but it just happens 1035 is indeed off from time to time. There is no standby unit, but there's a back up generator --- which they don't bother to put to work. As to the power, MCR doesn't allow its technicians to put it more than about one third of the nominal 100 kW+ level. To conclude this, it remains to be said the current signal emanating from 1035 Belmonte is that of MCR's "StarFM", but that was not the case in the very recent past: other stations of the group were aired on 1035, viz. R. Nacional, R. Club (Português), Foxx FM (for just a few days!), then R. Club again... The photos I took. As you can see, one of the monopoles is still visible along with the 4 smaller masts that once held a rhombic antenna. I mean the visible MF mast is the one closer to the building. Further afield, i.e. some 700 m or so from the still existing mast, stood the 125 monopole; its ATU hut is marked red on the GEarth map I prepared. The four marks (a-b-c-d) to the west of the building indicate the still existing rhombic towers shown on one of my photos. But why the orange trees? Very simple explanation, really, but at the same time a little secret. The story goes that the old transmitters were actually "orange juice-cooled", which explains why those naughty mice and rats that were left without their THALES playground are so healthy and ready for fun! For the time being, they must be happy with what they got, the old transmitters. This was, I think, the only site in the world where the coolant used for the transmitters was pure vitamin C!!! 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Feb 15, Mwmasts yg via DXLD) ** PRIDNESTROVYE. 7260, Feb 12 at 0049, VOR in Russian with motorboating sound on the transmission from KCH = Grigoriopol, 500 kW, 295 degrees; no such problem on 7290, VOR in English from same site // 7250 ``Armavir`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PUERTO RICO. QSL: WKAQ San Juan, 580, no data memorandum in Spanish on Univisión stationery stating the my report was "confirmed" and "genuine" (both words in bold text on original) for English report via first-class mail and US $2 in return postage. V/s. Néstor Pérez, Engineering Manager. This is a distance of 1634.15 miles from my QTH and they were only running 5 kW. Heard on February 3rd after 0100 local after they faded up with a children's hospital telethon and overrode the QRM from WHP Harrisburg, co-channel. An amazing catch for me! nestorperez(at)univisionradio(dot)com Néstor Pérez from WKAQ also informs me of the following: 1. They run 10 kW on 580 during the day and switch to 5 kW at night and are always non-directional (WRTH please correct the entry!) 2. They are using two SX5 Harris transmitters with a combiner to produce the daytime 10 kW signal. 3. They (Univisión?) have two more stations in Puerto Rico: WUKQ in Ponce, southern part of the island on 1420 kHz with 1 kW non- directional and WYEL in Mayagüez, western part of the island on 600 kHz with 5kW, directional. 73 and have a great week! (Al Muick, PA, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** REUNION. QSL CARD FROM FUX, FRENCH NAVY LA REUNION Pictures and info availble here: http://blog.libero.it/radioascolto/11056573.html 73's Francesco Cecconi, noticiasdx yg via DXLD) Mauro Giroletti`s (gh) ** ROMANIA. 15460, Feb 9 at 1354, RRI German with those audio artifacts again, altho did not hear them on // 17530 when in IS just before sign-off. I also quickly checked for the +/- 2070 kHz leapfrog mixing products Des Walsh in Ireland has reported in WDXC Contact: 13390, nothing but CODAR, and 19600 nothing there. 7310, Feb 11 at 0638, RRI `Newsreel` is describing matter-of-factly the new Romanian government and those now in charge; yet popular demonstrations continue (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. RUSSIA RADIO SHAKE-UP FOLLOWS PUTIN CRITICISM By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ Published: February 14, 2012 MOSCOW — The editor in chief of an influential Russian radio station recently rebuked by Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin for its biting criticism of the Kremlin stepped down from the station’s board of directors on Tuesday after its government-controlled owners announced changes in the board’s membership, including the removal of its only two independent members. Aleksei A. Venediktov, editor in chief of the radio station Ekho Moskvy, who stepped down from its board of directors. [caption] The editor, Aleksei A. Venediktov, said that he would remain in charge of the newsroom at the station, Ekho Moskvy, but that he would not remain on the nine-member board. The authorities said that politics were not involved in the decision to reshuffle the board, but the shake-up at the station, which is controlled by Russia’s government- owned natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, nevertheless sent a chill through the journalistic world here. . . http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/world/europe/russia-radio-shake-up-follows-putin-criticism.html?_r=1&ref=global-home (via Gerald T Pollard, NC, DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 6074, Feb 9 at 1259-1302, no trace of 2MTL or 8GAL V/CQ marker as 6075 R. Rossii Pet/Kam is signing off at 1300 with timesignal a few sex late, carrier on for a minute more (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also UNIDENTIFIED ** RUSSIA [and non]. Additional frequencies for Voice of Russia: 1500-1700 on 9865*S.P 250 kW / 215 deg to NWAf in Russian 1600-2000 on 9410#DB 500 kW / 275 deg to NWAf in Arabic * terrible audio # co-channel BBC in Somali and English from 1800 (DX Mix News 13 Feb via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 4996, RWM time station 2339 continuous CW IDs, then silent seconds 56-59, long time tick 2340, and time ticks with double ticks on the 8-11, 30-32 seconds. Fairly decent signal. Best heard tuned to 4997 in LSB. (6 Feb.) (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, NRD-535D and Perseus (SDR), T2FD, Wellbrook ALA1530, HCDX via DXLD) ** SAIPAN. 9705, Feb 11 at 1357 some English gives me pause, phony OM talk about buying a bike, whether to wear a helmet, consecutively translated by YL into idiomatic Cantonese, but cut off abruptly at 1358. Back on a few sex later with a R. Svoboda ID in Russian! Then open carrier until resuming Cantonese at 1400 with VOA theme, ``Mei- guo - Wa-shing-ton``. Signal slightly weaker now. Per Aoki, this is when #3 transmitter at the Robert E. Kamosa Station maintained and operated for IBB by Rome Research Corp. at Agingan Point (as in WRTH under NORTHERN MARIANAS) switches antennas from 285 to 310 degrees, why? Maybe because the 285 is needed for some higher priority language elsewhere at 1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAINT VINCENT. NBC Radio St. Vincent - 700 kHz - Kingstown (S. Vicente y Granadinas) - QSL --- En 1986 escuché por primera vez a Radio St. Vincent, entonces en 705 kHz. Después de algún tiempo de inactividad, compraron un emisor nuevo y empezaron a emitir en 700 kHz. La alegría les ha durado poco, pues a finales del 2010 un rayo dañó el equipo y dejaron de salir en onda media. Y ya no parece que tengan mucho interés por volver a ponerla en marcha. Repasando la grabación del Perseus correspondiente al 21 de noviembre del 2009, me los encontré con buena señal en algunos momentos, incluso ganándole la partida a la WLW de Cincinnati. Le envié un informe de recepción por correo-e a su Director Técnico, el Sr. Lynford Byron, quién me ha respondido en tres días. Thanks! nbcsvgtech @ vincysurf.com Publicado por Mauricio Molano miércoles 8 de febrero de 2012 (via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** SAO TOME E PRINCIPE. QSL: AFIA DARFUR via PINHEIRA, 7275. Confirmation letter from Helena Menezes, with attached full-data color e-card depicting transmitter site and BBG logos (Martí, RFE/RL, VOA, Sawa, & RFA) signed by Víctor Guadalupe, Transmitter Plant Assistant Supervisor, in 1 week. Letter said a QSL was also being sent by post. Report was sent to Hmenezes @ sto.ibb.gov (Wendel Craighead, Kansas, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** SARAWAK [non]. 15420, 1000, MALAYSIA/PALAU, Radio Free Sarawak via Palau opened abruptly 0959:45 with end of “World Harvest Radio” English ident, then tone test till 1000:35 when instrumental music and opening announcements for Radio Free Sarawak heard at strong level in Malay 21/1. Only one frequency announced so appears this replaces previous Dushanbe relay absent from 17560 (Bryan Clark Visiting Singapore with Sony 7600G and 3 metre internal wire antenna, Feb NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** SOMALIA [non]. 17680, 0839 23 Jan, UAE, Radio Ergo relay, radioergo.org, Somali, 24333 (Tony Ashar, West Java, Indonesia, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) WRTH 2012 reminds us that this is the former IRIN Radio, HQ in Copenhagen, address and presumably produxion in Nairobi, 0830-0930 daily (gh, DXLD) ** SOMALIA [non]. MOLDOVA, Radio RSD in Somali or Arabic Somali noted on Feb. 11: 1700-1745 on 12130 KCH 100 kW / 180 deg to EaAF Sat, ex Thu (DX Mix News 13 Feb via DXLD) RSD, what`s that? Only one matching this schedule on page 507 of the WRTH 2012 is the last one under SOMALIA: Awdalradio (clandestine), awdalstate@yahoo.com http://awdalradio.com http://awdal.awdalstate.com 1700-1740 [ex] Thu on 12130 Samara [sic], ```On SW since September 2011.`` This one must have escaped our notice: awdal never mentioned previously in DXLD. First website seems all-Somali except navigation, and has some audio files not since last July. This site has some more recent `radio` files http://awdalstate.com/?cat=17 but the one with two awdals in it just goes to a website builder. That still doesn`t explain what RSD means. Here`s some basic info about Awdal, which is the westernmost tip of Somaliland: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awdal (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA [non]. 11740, OPPOSITION, Radio Damal via Woofferton (Targeting Somalia), 1846-1857 with singing-chanting then M into talking with W talking for just a couple of seconds twice, and at 1858 music with singing. At 1901 instrumental music followed at 1903 with M talking, possible ID. Language listed as Somali. Audio is about 11-12 seconds ahead of the audio on their web site. Fair. 2/9/12 (Steven Handler, Buffalo Grove IL, Icom IC-7200, Tecsun PL-660 and wire antennas, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. Black Business Quarterly, 23 Jan 2012, Cathy Grosvenor: South African "[s]tate-owned signal provider, Sentech, is starting to shake off its dismal reputation. CEO Setumo Mohapi, however, has admitted that its turnaround strategy is not yet complete after a history of irregular and wasteful expenditure. ... 'The company’s SW [short wave] and VSAT [very small aperture terminal] products remain a concern, and plans have been put in place to reposition these services.'" (kimandrewelliott.com Feb 8 via DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. Radio Pulpit, 657 Meyerton. Feb 11, 2012. Saturday. 1750-1753. Christ will never leave me or forget me. ID at 1752 "Radio Pulpit 657 AM". Very good. Jo'burg sunset 1655. Chinese Radio. 1269 Midrand (Jo'burg). Feb 11, 2012. Saturday. 1848- 1850. Mandarin, OM talking with orchestral backing (music is not very Chinese). Good. Jo'burg sunset 1655. Pan Hellenic Voice, 1422 Bedfordview (Jo'burg). Feb 11, 2012. Saturday. 1850-1852. Greek, talk and music for the local Greek community. Very good. Jo'burg sunset 1655. Radio Today, 1485 Marks Park, Johannesburg. Feb 11, 2012. Saturday. 1852-1855. Review of a locally-produced play with its music. Very good. Jo'burg sunset 1655. Radio Islam, 1548 Lenasia (Johannesburg). Feb 11, 2012. Saturday. 1855 -1856. Sounds like arabic talk, but JBA. Very poor. Jo'burg sunset 1655 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 9385, Feb 12 at 1532, Brother Scare via WWRB is announcing a test and asking for reports, Monday Feb 13 at 5-7 pm EST on 9990, 7-10 pm on 5085. If he ever mentioned WTWW, it was before I intuned, but he normally does not identify the SW stations he`s on. This confirms the test George McClintock already told us about; tho it`s the WTWW-2 transmitter also tested 48 hours earlier with rational programming, apparently putting him on #2 is not in the plans, but eventually on a #4 which would have different frequencies and propagation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wrong: on #2 now ** SPAIN. 6055, UT Sunday Feb 12 at 0051, REE English is in mailbag with Allison Hughes, reading a report from `AP`, India, and others even quoting the SINPOs. Says that March 15 will be the 60th anniversary of REE and asks for ideas how to celebrate, party? Of course when it started it wasn`t called REE and it was in the long- live-Franco, up-with-Spain era. Usual squeeze between RHC and RHC. 9535, Feb 12 at 0132, REE Spanish is amid `Desde el Infierno`, the spooky show with weird music and narration, its B-season timing of 0105+ UT Sundays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. AUDIOCLIP: SRI LANKA BROADCASTING CORPORATION 11750 kHz Listen at 1800-1830 UT 11750 kHz. Music and ID. Good signal. The audioclip is available here: http://blog.libero.it/radioascolto/11066751.html 73's (Francesco Cecconi, CENTRAL ITALY, 14 Feb, noticiasdx yg via DXLD) ** SWAZILAND. Trans World Radio, 1171, Manzini. Feb 11, 2012. Saturday. 1824-1826. YL talking about marriage and living together. Fair - good. Jo'burg sunset 1655 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also DJIBOUTI [and non] ** TAIWAN. 15070, 13/Fev 0057, SOH, (PRESUMED) in Chinese (or similar identified). YL talk. At 0059 music and what appears to be a vignette. At 0100 YL back the talk. Weak signal and moderate noise of my electrical grid (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, 12 14´S, 38 58´W - Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Jorge, 15070 is a channel where there are often European pirates some of whom have nostalgia-themed music (Robin VK7RH Harwood, Norwood, Tasmania, ibid.) But Aoki also shows SOH there (gh) ** TAIWAN. 9780, Feb 11 at 1559, BaBcoCk music loop ``IS``, 1600 switch to other music, sounds sorta religious, YL announcement in Japanese. Aoki shows it`s Furusato no Kaze, 1600-1630, 250 kW, 45 degrees from Taipei, TAIWAN so also USward. Since it`s under the auspices of Babcock, and not clandestine for China, the ChiCom allow this to be registered in HFCC, as long as the country is shown as CHN rather than TWN, even tho site is TAI for Taipei, according to the HFCC abbrs. This leads me to look thru the entire Site file at HFCC, to find which of the other ``CHN`` entries are really in Taiwan: MIN Minhsiung PLI Pali [ex R. Liberty; still in use?] TSH Tanshui (not to be confused with TIA Tianshui on the mainland!) I believe there are quite a few more, e.g. Tainan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN [and non]. 7385, Feb 9 at 1522, music with a SAH of about 6 Hz, i.e. between RTI`s 7-hour Chinese service from 1000 UT, 100 kW, 352 degrees from Kouhu, and ChiCom jamming, but not sure which I was mainly hearing. Must consult Aoki rather than HFCC for this info (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN [non]. Rick Barton in AZ had reported RTI via WYFR in English Jan 29 at 0225 on 15440, not a frequency where it is scheduled to be, so I looked for this Feb 10 at 0210, but nothing audible; however, the 19m band was just about dead. Then checked out further WYFR/RTI channels: For the 02-03 UT RTI English broadcast, the WYFR frequencies are supposed to be 5950 and 9680: 5950 was off the air! and 9680 too at 0217-0220, allowing something Slavickish, but must have been the scheduled Uzbek service perhaps including some Russian terminology, a legacy of colonial empire, from R. Liberty via SRI LANKA, also aimed USward. By 0245 however, something weak in English was audible on 9680, presumably RTI via WYFR. After 0300, 6875 had excellent signal with RTI in English as now scheduled, while much weaker 6890 had WYFR English instead of Spanish, // much stronger recent new frequency 6115. At 0400, 6875 went into Chinese ``news`` from RTI (or rather CBSC programming per Aoki), and // weaker 6890 which per Aoki is supposed to be RTI in Spanish. Not checked in the 05-06 hour, when 6875 has been occupied by Chinese instead of scheduled English, but: 6875, Feb 10 at 0640, RTI is in SPANISH!!!! about Taiwan`s Secretario de Cultura. This is the language that has been supposed to occupy the 06-07 hour, but for the past 3+ months has really been RTI in German every night I have checked and frequently reported since Nov 2 starting with DXLD 11-44. They`ve finally fixed it, but for good? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5950, RTI via WYFR is back on in English UT Sat Feb 11 at 0225 check, and also on 9680, audio somewhat distorted on both. Dan Elyea at Okeechobee tells me that 5950 was indeed off the air the night before due to antenna problems. This time I also check 6875 during the 05-06 hour and at 0532 find RTI is also back in proper English here, instead of Chinese which had substituted for the past two sesquimonths, due to WYFR`s computer-control `meltdown` which is just now being repaired. At the 06-07 hour, 6875 is still in proper RTI Spanish too for the second night. Dan Elyea also told me on Feb 10: ``As of last evening the RTI schedule should be back on track. The FSI [WYFR = Family Stations International] transmissions should be as scheduled sometime early next week. Yes, we're finally getting the last bugs out of our program automation system. There may be a few glitches still to be worked out, but the main functions are rolling. It's been a strange and widespread combination of hardware and software issues spread throughout the 30 to 40 computers that make up the overall system. Per the HP techs who helped with one aspect of the failure, our system was maliciously hacked. But other issues played into the total crash, as well. 73, Dan`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) QSL card 12 from R. Taiwan International --- Hello radio friends! On February 10, 2012 I received a QSL from R. Taiwan International, 6875 kHz via Okeechobee 08/12/2011 0600 UT. Sent reception report via web report and received new full data QSL card in 56 days via ordinary mail. The QSL of this month reproduces The National Taiwan Museum established in 1908, combines many elements of classic western architecture. The building is shaped into the Chinese character for "one". This simple yet powerful design has the main entrance and lobby in the center, with two wings branching off to the left and right. 73 from (Nino Marabello, Treviso, Italy, RX: SONY SW7600G, Ant.: VHF outdoor antenna at 230 degrees, http://web.tiscali.it/ondecorte DX LISTENING DIGEST) presumably was in German, not Spanish (gh, DXLD) QSL: Radio Taiwan International, 9680, full-data Branch Station Tainan curtain antenna card in 40 days for online English report submission. Also send some other QSLs (blank) and report form, apparently the idea being to fill out the report and return them with one of the QSLs to be filled out and sent back. The Paochung Branch Site card is also very nice! (Al Muick, PA, Feb 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I guess they don`t try to match the site shown on the card with the site being verified? Or is that now up to the DIY? According to Aoki, 9680 is not used by Tainan, but by Taipei at 11-17 in Chinese +jamming, Okeechobee at 02-03 in English. Which one did you report? 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Hi Glenn, I reported Taipei. Maybe the don't have a Taipei card? In fact, the transmitter site portion of the card was written in Chinese (!) so I really don't know what they said there, but also wished me a Happy Chinese New year. 73 (Al Muick, ibid.) For those interested in SW QSL cards depicting transmitter sites and SW antennas, etc., Radio Taiwan International released two new QSL cards late in 2011 depicting the Tainan & Paochung SW transmitter stations. I made a request to RTI that they produce a QSL card for each of their 6 SW relay station transmitter sites back in August of 2011, along with their now popular English staff QSL. Well, RTI liked my idea and produced two SW transmitter site QSL cards. If you would like these cards, please mention this in correspondence to RTI with your reception report. Also if you would like a QSL card produced (in future) for each of the other four RTI transmitter sites of Danshuei, Huwei, Kouhu and Minhsiung, please send your request into RTI. Also, at the Shortwavesites [ SW Transmitter sites speciality ] Yahoo Group we collect imagery of SW transmitter sites from cameras or from scans of QSLs deplicting SW Broadcast station transmitter sites. https://sites.google.com/site/shortwavesites/home It would be great to see more DXers encouraging the remaining SW broadcasters to produce these SW transmitter site QSLs before more SW transmitter sites close and are demolished. They are part of our shortwave history (Ian Baxter, RTI Monitor & Shortwavesites YG, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. Additional frequency of Radio Taiwan International: 1100-1300 on 9465 TAI 250 kW / 180 deg to SEAs in English and Amoy (DX Mix News 13 Feb via DXLD) ** TAJIKISTAN [and non]. Re MAURITANIA: ``BTW, during this hour including when IGIM is not yet on, I never hear any trace of V. of Tajik, the 100 kW external service on 7245 which is scheduled 0200- 1800, including Dari at 06-08 following Farsi at 04-06. Is it really on? Alexander Berezkin, St. Petersburg, Russia, did report it Jan 28 at 0522 in Persian with no interference. Sometimes IGIM is on before 0600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` At tune in today (14th) at 1510 on 7245 I hear what I assume is listed by the WRTH and Aoki as CNR-2 via Beijing - Chinese, anyway. In the background is another station with songs reminiscent of what we might hear from Tajikistan, and not Mauritania. These three are the only occupants of 7245 at this time, according to the Aoki list. CNR should close at 1605, but from 1600-1657 Romanian DRM will block this (and adjacent) channels. CRI in Esperanto via Xian will use the channel from 1700-1757 as well as RFA in Burmese at 1630-1730. But, from 1757 V of Tajik and Mauritania are the only ones listed by Aoki on 7245. Aoki says there is a transmission in Tajik at 1800-1840 via VoTajik, though this is not shown in the WRTH. It should be very easy to distinguish this from Mauritania if they are the only occupants at 1800 - but not across the pond at this time I wouldn`t think! (Noel R. Green (NW England), Feb 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Speaking of Voice of Tajik --- I tuned in today (Feb. 14) at approx. 1155 UT on 7245 kHz. I heard a weak signal which I'm pretty sure it was the Hindi broadcast of the Voice of Tajik. I waited until 1200 trying to record a station ID but the Voice of Turkey in Bulgarian took over the frequency. – (Tudor Vedeanu, (Gura Humorului, Romania), dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) At tune in to 7245 at around 1810 on the 14th only Mauritania was audible with a good signal, and no trace of V of Tajik. So I assume there is no broadcast at 1800-1840 from that station, and that the WRTH is correct. Re V Of Tajik. I believe that I have just been listening to this station on 7245 today the 15th from around 1545. There was stringed music typical of this region and speech by a man between the musical items in a language sounding similar to Farsi, and listed by the WRTH as Tajik. At 1557 there was piano music and announcements by a lady. Signal strength was fair with only slight side-splash, and without any trace of CNR-2 Beijing today. However, all was lost when Romania switched on their digital racket at 1558 (Noel R. Green (NW England), Feb 15, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY [and non]. 9665, Feb 14 at 1459, VOT IS, 1500 opening Arabic; very poor signal, but surprised to be getting anything. Probably longpath, as not much from shorter Europe making it at this hour on this band. It`s 250 kW, 150 degrees from Emirler, which is close to the azimuth for US too. And on the lo side of 9560 was also getting het no doubt from perpetually off-frequency ETHIOPIA, also longpath, against much stronger Chinese, presumably RCI via JAPAN rather than CRI via EAST TURKISTAN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA. 4750, Dunamis Broadcasting, Mukono, Kampala, 1500-1900, Feb 09, usual nice African music, best till 1645 then starts to fade, 34433. In the last 2 weeks or so, it has been erratic, but today its lovely (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, DSWCI DX Window Feb 15 via DXLD) ** UKRAINE. Re 12-06: Ukraine to use DRM to continue national MW broadcasts --- Wishful thinking ... "The only thing that remains for us is to get financing...", What it is aiming for the shutdown and replacement of the old OIRT FM 70 MHz network, so it affects particular UR1 - Ukrainian Radio 1 program. They think they can not switch on CCIR FM 87-108 MHz, due to lack of frequency resources and "insane competition with commercial broadcasters" (the latter probably refers to the frequency-written records, would participate in that Ukraine Republic). (wolfy df5sx) (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re: Ukraine to use DRM to continue national MW broadcasts --- I hope those are going to be DRM-enabled transmitters that are not going to be broadcasting DRM signal. In Ukraine, MW radio serves mostly older listeners from smaller communities and poorer backgrounds. Switching to DRM is equal to not using MW at all - unless NRCU is able to provide cheap and easy-to-operate DRM receivers to its audience. In my opinion, Kurdinovich is mistaken to write off FM networks. Competition for FM frequencies is high only in Kiev and a few other major cities. But most of Ukraine has enough available spectrum. Traditional AM broadcasting is good too but I'm not sure if acquiring new transmitters would be such a good idea (Sergei S., Feb 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENIING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. 11980.11, Dniprovska Khvylia, Zaporozhia, 0846-0859*, Feb 04, Relay of UR 1, own ID and announce of the e-mail radiodh @ rambler.ru at 0855, 23332. According to an e-mail reply, the station is on air Saturdays and Sundays from 0700 to 0900 (Patrick Robic, Leibnitz, Austria, DSWCI DX Window Feb 15 via DXLD) ** U K. H-Net Review Publication: Palmegiano on Hajkowski, 'The BBC and National Identity in Britain, 1922-53' Thomas Hajkowski. The BBC and National Identity in Britain, 1922-53. Manchester Manchester University Press, 2010. xii + 252 pp. $89.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-7190-7944-3. Reviewed by Eugenia M. Palmegiano (St. Peter's College) Published on Jhistory (February, 2012) Commissioned by Heidi Tworek The BBC Sponsors "Britishness" The study of media, like Janus, typically has two faces. One looks at what public communication says; the other looks at what public communication is. The first envisions media as an important repository for research on another topic; the second envisions media as a topic worthy of research. As a consequence of this bifurcation, scholarship tends to polarize media at the cultural periphery or center. _The BBC and National Identity in Britain, 1922-53_ goes a long way in reconciling these perspectives. By focusing on BBC attempts to harmonize seemingly contradictory perceptions of being British to form a coherent national identity, the book demonstrates that media can be source and subject. Penning for the series Studies in Popular Culture, Thomas Hajkowski proposes to show how the BBC promoted "Britishness," an identity series editor Jeffrey Richards describes as "inclusive and pluralistic" (p. ix). Moving from the Corporation's early days to the arrival of television and commercial radio, Hajkowski theorizes that the BBC cultivated Britishness by airing homogeneous and heterogeneous material. Broadcasts about empire and monarchy hyped commonality and those on Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, compatible variations. Proving success in spinning Britishness on radio requires attention to BBC and its audiences, not evenly served here. Hajkowski acknowledges the difficulties in accurately measuring listeners' responses, given the uncertainty in tracking reactions of individuals. Hence, he makes an effort to support his case quantitatively from the numbers available and qualitatively from listeners' letters. His thrust, however, is top down. Announcing early that "[t]his book takes programs, not policy, as its subject" (p. 4), he details them at length, setting them in context by utilizing _Radio Times _and _The Listener_. Fortunately, loyalty to this methodology does not restrict his commentary on policy. Resting on a solid foundation of BBC written archives, personnel writings and speeches, and an impressive array of recent investigations, the volume's seven chapters reveal how Corporation and government decisions, from scheduling to content, impacted the marketing of Britishness. Preceding the evidentiary trailblazing, an introduction reviews at some length current historiography on identity, traces briefly BBC development from the 1920s to the 1950s, summarizes chapter themes, and concludes, as does every chapter, with endnotes that facilitate easy access to references. Especially helpful in the introduction is a discussion of how media shape national identity, wherein Hajkowski credits Benedict Anderson's _Imagined Communities_ (1986) and Paul Ward's _Britishness Since 1870_ (2004) for highlighting its fluidity and flexibility. Thereafter, two chapters assess BBC imperial programming, from 1923 to 1939 and from 1939 to 1953. Opening with an analysis of "new imperial history" (p. 20), Hajkowski next confirms how family, education, and social rank predisposed key BBC men, from original general manager John Reith forward, to construct the empire. For them, it was a symbol of unity representing their version of the best British values and institutions. To legitimize this rendering of Britishness for its sundry audiences, the BBC featured instructional segments and entertaining sagas. Initially, talks emphasized the respectability of an empire acquired by trade and colonialism rather than conquest; stories, which listeners purportedly preferred, starred supposed heroes, among them Charles Gordon and Herbert Kitchener. Hajkowski observes that men of this ilk typified what the BBC deemed "typical British characteristics," such as "courage, perseverance, and governing genius" (p. 24). Nevertheless, as he realizes, this profile of Britishness was a hard sell from 1939 to 1953. In those years empire as emblematic of British unity had to contend with indigenous resistance, social democracy, imperial dismemberment, working-class apathy, and a public apparently more interested in American culture than imperial dominance. Still he reckons that BBC staff members succeeded in linking the empire to great power status, which they presumed would perpetuate pride in being British. Hajkowski's chapter on monarchy likens its BBC presentation to an umbrella of Britishness over peoples within and beyond the kingdom. The Corporation script, he premises, tied monarchy to empire by elucidating additional traits of Britishness. The empire, according to the BBC, was a single family headed by royals who imbued it with tradition and cohesion. Thus, the BBC expected that covering spectacles, from weddings at home to tours overseas, and lobbying kings to do Christmas broadcasts would bolster familial Britishness near and far. Indeed one might postulate that the roots of the global media frenzy surrounding the royals in the last three decades begins with BBC reporting of the coronation of Elizabeth II with which this chapter finishes. Subsequent chapters turn the tables by centering on BBC regional services in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Maintaining that they have not garnered much historical scrutiny, Hajkowski earmarks them as crucial in nurturing another aspect of Britishness: cultural but complementary diversity. He posits that exposure to some local programming allowed listeners to see themselves as Scots or Welsh and to commence as Ulsterites within a British frame. Yet he admits that London always controlled the purse and sometimes the entire schedule, notably in World War II. Further, Corporation leadership reputedly had little sympathy for anything smelling of political separatism in Scotland and Wales. The chapters on Scotland and Wales display similarities and differences. The chapter on the Scottish Regional Programme discloses that, with a healthy portion of 1930s evening time, the many Scots on staff cobbled together a lineup suitable for urban and country residents. Programming on folk culture aimed to reinforce Scottish identity and that on Scots' imperial contributions, to underscore Britishness. But World War II ended regional service, irritating Scots when London trimmed air hours and announcers used "English" for "British" battle actions. Though a minor complaint during the Blitz, it perhaps portends the postwar independence movement, which signals the ultimate failure of the BBC to persuade an already complex society of the merits of Britishness. The chapter on Wales reminds readers that from 1932 to 1937 it had no BBC region but shared the West with part of England, leaving northerners to news from Manchester and Liverpool. Even when BBC Wales was born in 1937, weaving a Welsh identity was no easy task because language, custom, and economy divided the country. Wales, as Scotland, lost its region temporarily during World War II and resumed advancing cultural nationalism post-1945. Northern Ireland is another matter. Here, Hajkowski offers his most solid argument on the nexus between the BBC Regions and Britishness. His evidence clearly indicates that the Corporation did not merely strengthen Britishness but invented an Ulster identity. Confronted by inhabitants divided by religion, the BBC seems to have exercised more discretion about faith in the interwar era than after 1945. Hajkowski does not fully explore the implications of an interwar Catholic South evolving from home rule to independence, with the potential therein for expansion in the North. Rather, he addresses how the threat of a neutral Eire during World War II aided the BBC campaign to forge a Northern pseudo-Irishness, an identity supplemented by a large dose of sectarianism following victory. If, as Hajkowski suggests, the BBC triumphed in creating Ulster, then its later nightmare may have advantaged Scottish and Welsh dreams of devolution more than any BBC broadcast. Hajkowski asserts that by 1957 television had undermined the BBC as an authority on Britishness. The Corporation, nonetheless, continues in the twenty-first century to spread this notion. By affording listeners the opportunity to experience British and Commonwealth events simultaneously, it sustains for many across the planet a sense of shared heritage, embodied in a multicultural entity complete with a monarchial head. More significant, by endorsing dual cultural identities, the BBC remains an opponent of the parochial insularity so pandemic now. Much BBC rhetoric of Britishness smacks of mythmaking, but this identity, like most others, is acquired and alienable. By calling attention to the BBC as recorder of and player in the game of the past, Hajkowski has verified that media belong in the big leagues of both historical documentation and social institution. Citation: Eugenia M. Palmegiano. Review of Hajkowski, Thomas, _The BBC and National Identity in Britain, 1922-53_. Jhistory, H-Net Reviews. February, 2012. URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=35197 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. ------------------------------------------------------- jhistory@H-NET.MSU.EDU http://www.h-net.org/~jhistory (via Kim Pearson, Feb 9, DXLD) ** U K. BBC WORLD SERVICE OPENS DOORS TO CELEBRATE 80TH BIRTHDAY Audiences are to be given unprecedented behind the scenes access as part of a special day of live programming on February 29, to mark the BBC World Service's 80th birthday. . . http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2012/150212bush80.html (via Dragan Lekic, Serbia, dxldyg via DXLD) Worth a special flight to London? Last of Bush House I guess. And it is a leap-day/year. Though in North America we can't receive it (except via back-signal from relays) and this new-fangled intertubes. Sigh (Dan Say, BC, swprograms via DXLD) I like the inner access idea. If they can pull it off successfully, I think that making such insights available on occasion (e.g., once or twice per year) would prove popular to listeners, but not too intrusive for the staff (John, Raleigh, NC, ibid.) That last item - the Newshour debate on the future of International Broadcasting - looks particularly interesting; those of us with opinions in the matter ought to get those into the WS via their normal feedback routes (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) ** U K. The Telegraph, 8 Feb 2012, letter from Rob Mannion, editor of Practical Wireless: "Recently, the short-wave transmitter at Rampisham Down, in Dorset, was closed. The BBC has said that it will close all its short-wave services in the near future. This is short-sighted. Regimes such as those in Russia, China and Iran can withdraw internet services at the drop of a hat, and satellite services are easily jammed. But despite determined jamming of the BBC short-wave services during the Cold War by Communist Bloc countries, listeners behind the Iron Curtain still received the World Service transmissions. I implore the BBC to keep its short-wave services operating, otherwise it may lose audiences at critical times, when non-democratic governments decide to deny their countrymen access to accurate and impartial news from the West." (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** U K [non]. 17870, Feb 11 at 1439, huge crowd noise over talk in some language; 14-15 is scheduled as BBC Somali via CYPRUS. Maybe covering the silly football tournament in Gabon & Equatorial Guinea if that`s still underway; vuvuzelaless (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also GABON ** U K [non]. 7385, Feb 9 at 0336, BBCWS English to Africa, huge signal, hard to believe not aimed USward but listed as 114 degrees from ASCENSION. 0412 recheck even huger signal in English, but now it`s Dr. Stan with call-in about medicine and religion, 1-888- 24LIBERTY [forget the TY!], so hardly BBC, but instead WHRI airing show `Radio Liberty` with Stan Monteith Tue-Sat at 04-05. Continued under USA [and non] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. 9505, Feb 13 at 1500, BBCWS ID in English, poor signal I had not noticed before, and down to a JBA carrier by 1553. HFCC shows it`s 300 kW, 97 degrees from CYPRUS at 15-17 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. The Argies are getting restive again about the Malvinas, and BBC`s `From Our Own Correspondent` dealt with this topic, in two reports, from The Falklands, and from the Argentine POV, Feb 14 at 1450-1500 on 9740 via Singapore. Here`s the link to hear, and more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00nkzz5 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC SHIPPING FORECAST IDEAL FOR INSOMNIACS Daily Mail By Amy Oliver 14 February 2012 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2100925/Voice-Shipping-forecast-reveals-fans-simply-used-soothing-tones-to-sleep.html?ITO=1490 Counting sheep or reaching for a boring book are both traditional ways of getting off to sleep. But Peter Jefferson, who read Radio 4's shipping forecast for 40 years, has admitted another method that works just as well - his voice. The 66-year-old revealed some listeners tuned in to the early-hours bulletin, which he read until 2009, just to hear his dulcet tones. In an interview with the Radio Times the Mr Jefferson said the bulletin had a 'soothing effect after a long day'. 'People from all over the UK and beyond have written to me saying they felt I was reading it just to them,' he said. 'Many is the time that someone has said to me without quite realising what they're saying, "I know your voice. You've been sending me off to sleep for years".' Mr Jefferson added that the pitch and rhythm of the broadcast lulled those who were finding it hard to sleep. 'Just when sleep beckons but the mind won't quite let you slip into its silken craw, the sound of another human voice, familiar yet not intrusive, reciting this mantra can be quite relaxing,' he said. In 2009 Mr Jefferson turned the airwaves blue after fluffing his lines before the 8pm pips in 2009. He was heard muttering 'f***!' during the pips, wrongly assuming he had turned his microphone off. Mr Jefferson, who had continued to work on a freelance basis for the BBC after taking early retirement in 2001, was let go shortly afterwards. However, the BBC said his four-letter blip had nothing to do with the decision saying it was making way for 'newcomers'. Mr Jefferson joined the BBC in 1964, first as a librarian before becoming an announcer on the World Service, the Home Service and the Light Programme. He moved to Radio 4 in 1974 where he worked as a continuity announcer. He also appeared on Quote Unquote and Poetry Please. The Shipping Forecast dates back to the 1920s and is now broadcast four times a day on Radio 4 LW and FM. The last broadcast finishes at approximately 00.58 and is followed by a short goodnight message and the National Anthem. The forecast was not broadcast during the Second World War. The British Isles are divided into 31 areas for the forecast, each with a specific name including 'Forties' and 'Viking' (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. 5399.5-SSB, Sunday Feb 12 at 1405, MARS net including an AA6 discussing sunspots, as I was looking for 55m hams 4 kHz higher (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7811-USB, Feb 14 at 0644-0646 UT I am pleased to hear Jim Hightower`s wickedly pointed political commentary on AFN amid other capsules and PSAs. I assume this is a regular time for him weekdays? No, the schedule at http://myafn.dodmedia.osd.mil/AFNRadio.aspx shows `Your Dollars` & `Healthbeat` during this biminute at 2244 US Pacific Time. The huge minute-by-minute schedule is not searchable, but I don`t spot Hightower at other hours +44, or anywhen else. So was this a fluke, substitute, trial run or permanent change? 7811-USB, Feb 15 at 0644-0646, Jim Hightower commentary appears again exactly 24 hours after first noticed on AFN Saddlebunch Keys FL, despite absence from extensive online program schedule, so this may be reliable UT Tue-Sat, or M-F? Other frequencies are 5446.5 and 12133.5, not checked but surely // if on the air at this time. Jim mentioned how ROMNEY is an anagram of RMONEY, hee hee (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 8473/RTTY and SITOR-B WLO Mobile (Louisville?) AL with alternating SITOR-B and RTTY news mostly taken from the Voice of America. In 3+54+ at times, and slowly getting noiser and leading to more errors. SITOR better (due to error correction) but RTTY wasn't bad either. BTW -- The RTTY was 50 baud 170 Hz shift but it was INVERTED from the usual SITOR standard (decodable in USB rather than LSB...). From a Kim A Elliot tip heard on World of Radio this weekend. As an example of what they send, this was the item at 0201: [sic] ZCZC FROM THE VOICE OF AMERICA - - - EGYPT TO TRY 43 NGO WORKERS IN FUNDING CASE CAIRO, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5TH, 2012--(VOA)--EGYPTIAN INVESTIGATIVE JUDGES HAVE REFERRED 43 PEOPLE, INCLUDING 19 U.S. CITIZENS, TO TRIAL BEFORE A CRIMINAL COURT FOR THEIR ALLEGED INVOLVEMENT IN THE BANNED ACTIVITIES OF PRO-DEMOCRACY GROUPS THAT RECEIVED WHAT CAIRO CALLS B?ILLEGAL FOREIGN FUNDING.B? A STATEMENT ISSUED SUNDAY BY THE JUDGES OVERSEEING THE PROBE LISTED AT LEAST ONE OF THE CHARGES AS B?RUNNING ORGANIZATIONS WITHOUT THE REQUIRED LICENSES.B? A JUDICIAL SPOKESMAN SAID THOSE REFERRED TO TRIAL INCLUDE FIVE SERBS, TWO GERMANS, THREE ARAB NATIONALS AND AN UNSPECIFIED NUMBER OF EGYPTIANS. AMONG THE 19 AMERICANS IS SAM LAHOOD, HEAD OF THE EGYPT OFFICE OF THE INTERNATIONAL REPUBLICAN INSTITUTE AND THE SON OF U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY RAY LAHOOD. ALL 43 HAVE ALSO BEEN BANNED FROM LEAVING THE COUNTRY. A DATE FOR THE START OF THE TRIAL HAS YET TO BE SET. THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION HAS STRONGLY CRITICIZED EGYPT!S CRACKDOWN ON THE NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS, THREE OF WHICH ARE BASED IN WASHINGTON. AN UNSPECIFIED NUMBER OF AMERICANS INVOLVED HAVE SOUGHT SHELTER AT THE U.S. EMBASSY. ON SATURDAY, SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON WARNED HER EGYPTIAN COUNTERPART THE DISPUTE MAY LEAD TO THE LOSS OF MORE THAN ?1.3 BILLION IN ANNUAL MILITARY AID TO CAIRO. BUT FOREIGN MINISTER MOHAMED AMR RESPONDED SUNDAY BY SAYING THE GOVERNMENT CANNOT INTERFERE IN THE WORK OF THE JUDICIARY. THE INVESTIGATION INTO THE NGOS IS CLOSELY LINKED WITH THE POLITICAL TURMOIL THAT HAS ENGULFED EGYPT SINCE THE OUSTER NEARLY A YEAR AGO OF FORMER PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK, A CLOSE U.S. ALLY WHO RULED EGYPT FOR ALMOST 30 YEARS. THE MILITARY GENERALS WHO TOOK POWER AFTER MR. MUBARAK!S FALL HAVE ACCUSED B?FOREIGN HANDSB? OF ORCHESTRATING THE PROTESTS AGAINST THEIR RULE AND OFTEN SAY THE DEMONSTRATORS ARE RECEIVING FUNDS FROM ABROAD TO DESTABILIZE THE COUNTRY. EGYPTIAN AUTHORITIES CARRIED OUT 17 RAIDS ON THE NGO OFFICES IN DECEMBER, CONFISCATING EVERYTHING FROM CELL PHONES, DOCUMENTS AND COMPUTERS TO SAFES, DESKS AND MONEY. DESPITE ASSURANCES GIVEN TO U.S. OFFICIALS, TWO OF THE ORGANIZATIONS SAID THAT AS OF LAST MONTH, NO PROPERTY OR CASH HAD BEEN RETURNED. EGYPTIAN CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS SAY THE RULING MILITARY COUNCIL ORDERED THE RAIDS TO HARASS ACTI****S AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE ANTI- MUBARAK REVOLT WHO HAVE SINCE BEEN PRESSING FOR THE ARMY TO SWIFTLY HAND POWER TO CIVILIANS. IN A LETTER SENT LAST WEEK TO CLINTON AND U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY LEON PANETTA, 41 MEMBERS OF THE U.S. CONGRESS URGED THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO WITHHOLD FURTHER AID TO EGYPT UNTIL THE ORGANIZATIONS ARE ALLOWED TO REOPEN AND ALL SEIZED PROPERTY RETURNED. THE LETTER ALSO CALLED FOR AN END TO THE JUDICIAL PROBE AND THAT THE NGOS BE ALLOWED TO RESUME THEIR WORK. SOURCE: VOICE OF AMERICA - PREPARED BY ITTY EDITORIAL SERVICE SWITCHING TO RTTY BROADCAST Pretty cool! 0150-0230 6/Feb (Kenneth Vito Zichi, Williamston MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** U S A. Michael Lynton Becomes the BBG’s Interim Presiding Governor Washington, DC – Following the departure of Chairman Walter Isaacson, the Broadcasting Board of Governors today unanimously approved BBG member Michael Lynton as its new interim presiding governor. “It is a pleasure to work with this multi-talented, bipartisan board, and an honor to be elected to help lead the organization,” Lynton said. “We are each committed to the cause of making this agency the best it can be. And with our various strengths and diverse backgrounds, we all bring something to the table.” Lynton is the Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment. He is the former CEO of AOL Europe and Chairman and CEO of Pearson PLC’s Penguin Group. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Mr. Lynton and also serves on the boards of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Rand Corporation. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School and is proficient in French, German and Dutch. Lynton serves on the BBG Governance Committee. The Senate confirmed him and all the other appointed Governors in the summer of 2010.The Governors noted that Mr. Isaacson provided an inspiring example, and they acknowledged his “great efforts and tremendous contributions … during his tenure as BBG Chairman from July 2010 until January 2012. The Board extends its deepest gratitude for his service to the BBG and to United States international broadcasting.“Inspired by Chairman Isaacson’s example, the Board reaffirms its unqualified and ongoing commitment to fostering and promoting high-quality, independent and objective journalism by all BBG broadcasters. The Board rededicates itself to pursuing the mission adopted during Chairman Isaacson’s tenure: ‘To inform, engage, and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy.’ “ The Board designated Lynton to serve as presiding Governor on an interim basis until such time as it selects an alternate presiding Governor, Governor Lynton chooses to step down as presiding Governor, or a new Chairman is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The Broadcasting Board of Governors is an independent federal agency, supervising all U.S. government-supported, civilian international broadcasting, whose mission is inform, engage, and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy. BBG broadcasts reach an audience of 187 million in 100 countries. BBG networks include the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa), Radio Free Asia, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio and TV Marti). Contact: Lynne Weil, lweil@bbg.gov (BBG PR Feb 12 via Hansjoerg Biener, DXLD) Where will the CEO of Sony Pictures find time to be acting CEO of US international broadcasting? (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. On the subject of VOA to the region, the new English- language website http://middleeastvoices.com/ is "an Arab Spring social journalism project powered by VOA." Beyond that, the site is curiously detached from VOA, with no VOA logo to be seen (Kim Andrew Elliott, Feb 9, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) PROPOSAL TO REDUCE THE VOA BUDGET COULD MEAN CUTS TO SOME PROGRAMS, WHILE EXPANDING OTHERS. http://www.bbg.gov/press-release/budget-request-reflects-long-term-strategy-changing-media-environment/ (Inside VOA, Facebook, via Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, Feb 13) It`s RIF day at IBB, so employees must be apprehensive whether their positions will be cut. I have picked out some of the more significant passages in the 161-page document which of course I have not had time to review thoroughly. Nowhere in it is the word ``Greenville`` mentioned, nor is ``Murrow``. Is this good news? (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) REALIGN BBG SHORTWAVE AND MEDIUM WAVE TRANSMISSIONS 1 [–$2.660 M] The Agency has carefully analyzed its broadcasting requirements against research data on media usage and has crafted a distribution strategy for FY 2013 to maximize the effectiveness of program delivery resources. Research data clearly shows the declining effectiveness of short wave distribution to many target audiences. BBG also examined costly medium wave transmissions to assess their continuing effectiveness. Resulting transmission reallocations include shortwave and medium wave reductions for VOA English. Distribution in English remains on satellite TV, audio web, and mobile, and on shortwave and medium wave for English to Africa. Urdu transmissions on shortwave as well as one medium wave transmitter will also be reduced. Remaining VOA Urdu transmissions include medium wave, affiliate FM, satellite TV and web and mobile. Transmission reductions offset by the proposal to implement Central Asian Satellite TV include shortwave to RFE/RL and VOA’s Azerbaijan; RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz, Kazakh and Tajik as well as shortwave and medium wave cuts to RFE/RL Uzbek and shortwave cuts to VOA Uzbek. Shortwave transmissions for RFA Lao and Vietnamese will also be reduced. Remaining RFA Vietnamese distribution includes medium wave, satellite audio, web and mobile, while remaining Lao distribution includes Thai border affiliate FMs, satellite audio, web and mobile. Shortwave transmissions will also be reduced for RFA Khmer, with distribution remaining on affiliate FM, satellite audio, web and mobile. Taking all transmission and language service reductions into account, the budget request proposes to discontinue the use of shortwave and medium wave except for Cuba, China, North Korea, Burma, Iran, Tibet, Uyghur, FATA (Afghan-Pakistan border region), Pakistan, Afghanistan, Belarusian, Russian to the Caucasus, Russian, Turkmen, Khmer, and Africa. 1 [footnote] Transmission savings associated with language service reductions are included in the amount for each reduction item. Reductions shown for IBB/Technology, Services, and Innovation are additional cuts which are independent of proposed language reductions identified elsewhere in this document. CLOSE OBSOLETE PORO TRANSMISSION FACILITY [–$.643 M] The budget proposal realigns TSI’s global transmission assets by closing less effective facilities. The Poro, Philippines transmitting station would close and discontinue 10 positions. This one megawatt station currently provides only five hours per day of medium wave transmission to audiences in Southeast Asia, and the potential requirements for this station will be reduced in FY 2013. The Agency plans to maintain and develop FM radio, television, satellite, Internet, mobile services, and other platforms that are more effective for serving target audiences currently served by Poro. [already closed? See PHILIPPINES, Bryan Clark`s report from Singapore] REDUCE DUPLICATION WITH RFA IN ASIA [–$2.167 M] The budget request aims to reduce duplication in BBG radio broadcasts to Asia by minimizing VOA’s radio output and re-focusing VOA on television, which is rapidly becoming the medium of choice in Asia. The budget request reduces Burmese staffing, eliminates VOA Lao service SW transmissions, and minimizes its Vietnamese radio broadcasts. VOA would retain some Washington-based staff in the Lao and Vietnamese services to provide a Washington Bureau as well as to maintain websites. The budget also eliminates VOA Tibetan language radio, while increasing airtime and resources for VOA’s popular Tibetan satellite television broadcast. RFA would pick up the best transmission hours for Tibetan radio and continue its extensive Tibetan radio broadcasts. This proposal would reduce staffing by one Burmese position, four positions in Lao, 10 positions in Vietnamese, and seven positions in Tibetan. REDEFINE THE SPANISH SERVICE [–$1.257 M] VOA’s Spanish Service will redefine its strategic focus and operational requirements. Under this proposal it will provide Washington Bureau and other U.S. coverage as well as the VOA Direct. news and information service for affiliate radio and television stations in Latin America and the Caribbean. Six journalists will work at VOA headquarters in Washington, four journalist positions will be relocated to Miami and New York, and 14 positions will be eliminated. Miami-based VOA staff will be based at the Office of Cuba Broadcasting to provide original content, provide editorial control and contacts with VOA stringers in the U.S. and the region, and identify OCB stringer reports from Latin America for use in VOA output. New York reporters will cover U.S. economic, financial, political, and social stories. DISCONTINUE BROADCASTING IN CANTONESE [–$.964 M] VOA Cantonese products continue to have a negligible impact in the crowded South China media market. Audiences are fractional, even for non-news programming. The budget request eliminates VOA broadcasting in Cantonese. As Mandarin and Cantonese are the same written language, VOA will reach the Chinese population targeted by Cantonese on its website. RFA will continue Cantonese broadcasts. This consolidation would also reduce staffing by 7 positions. ELIMINATE THE AEROMARTÍ PLATFORM [–$1.978 M] AeroMartí is an aircraft-based, over-the-air broadcast system which targets Havana and surrounding areas. Resource limitations in recent years have reduced AeroMartí’s broadcast hours while costs of the flights have remained constant, or increased, because of fuel-related costs. Given the decrease in AeroMartí’s cost effectiveness, the request eliminates this platform. Distribution of TV Martí will continue on satellite television, the Internet, flash drives, DVDs and other methods, as technology develops. CONSOLIDATE RADIO FREE IRAQ WITH RADIO SAWA [–$1.829 M] Iraq continues to consolidate its fragile democracy amid ongoing ethnic and religious tension. A strong, ongoing BBG presence there is essential. Yet three BBG entities have been operating concurrently in Iraq for more than six years: RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq (RFI) in Arabic, Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa in Arabic, and VOA in Kurdish. Radio Sawa has consistently been a leading radio station in overall audience in Iraq and a leader for news. RFI has solid, but smaller, audiences than Sawa. These market positions afford a fruitful consolidation at a time when the BBG urgently requires resources for competing imperatives. RFI will therefore cease its separate radio operations. Selected RFI journalists and program content may transfer to Radio Sawa. Radio Sawa may also acquire RFI's local stringer reporters and corresponding expertise in covering Iraqi domestic issues. The budget request reflects the reduction of 11 positions in Radio Free Iraq and an increase to MBN's Radio Sawa staff by six positions. In addition, MBN’s Baghdad bureau will be increased by 10 positions. Savings will exceed $1 million annually in the out years through this integration. Audience loss, if any, is expected to be minimal (via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Re: ``Nowhere in it is the word ``Greenville`` mentioned, nor is ``Murrow``. Is this good news?`` I note this wording: ``The budget proposal realigns TSI`s global transmission assets by closing less effective facilities.`` This could be read in such a way that not only Poro will be closed. I assume in the case of Greenville it could turn out to be a question of the most economical approach for Radio Martí shortwave distribution (I understand that VOA programming for Latin America will no longer be transmit on shortwave): Either keep Greenville-B or lease capacity from TDF (Montsinéry) and CBC (Sackville). And this headline ``Close Obsolete Poro Transmission Facility`` could be true only for the role of the 1170 kHz transmitter in the USIB distribution mix. The equipment can hardly be called "obsolete", cf. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/coldwarcomms/message/16159 (Kai Ludwig, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See PHILIPPINES! The fate of Radio Martí decides the fate of Greenville. If the former goes, so does the latter. The Greenville facility will need significant modernization if it continues on the air. I just don't see the money being allocated for that. If Delano can be shut down, so can Greenville, for the same reasons. Of course this is all in the proposal stage, which often bears little resemblance to what actually happens (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, ibid.) MAJOR CUTS IN THE VOA NEWSROOM My attention has also been drawn to a plan to ‘Consolidate and Reorganize Central News and English Divisions’ which, if implemented, would save $5.660 million: “As part of this budget request, VOA’s Central News will accelerate its transition from a large scale producer of English-language content, much of it based on wire services, to a much leaner newsroom, producing original content, and a short menu of top stories. Central News would also act as a clearinghouse for original content produced by VOA language service journalists. “VOA Central News will be at the heart of a global newsroom for all US international broadcasting entities. Under this budget, VOA will continue successful efforts to produce content for web and other digital platforms (including audio and video) for targeted English- speaking audiences. Radio functions and corresponding staff would be consolidated. Learning English would absorb Special English functions, and take on a broader strategy of producing effective American English teaching products for a global audience. Seventy-one positions will no longer be required under this proposal.” My source in Washington comments that the plan “contains some of the most devastating cuts to VOA ’s Central News operation in decades, impacting English language reporters, along with multimedia staff.” (Andy Sennitt, February 13th, 2012 - 19:05 UTC, Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DXLD) 1 Comment on “BBG publishes 2013 budget request” #1 Keith Perron on Feb 14th, 2012 at 03:35 This is an election year. And unlike the BBC, RNW and others. The VOA can be a very hot potato with US politicians. Not all democrats support Obama, so it could happen and has happened in the past when it came to a vote it backfired.. Of all the BBG services that one that is seen as a waste is Radio Marti. But the problem is the Cuban vote in Florida. And politicians don’t want to upset that state which is very important for them. I know that a few months ago Mitt Romney praised the VOA, and said cutbacks would not happen on his watch (MN blog comment via DXLD) Interesting reading re this topic. [David Jackson comments] http://www.publicdiplomacycouncil.org/commentaries/future-international-broadcasting 73 (Horacio Nigro, Uruguay dxldyg via DXLD) Viz.: Reforming U.S. International Broadcasting (Part Two): What to do About the BBG? http://www.MountainRunner.us A Blog on Understanding, Informing, and Influencing Global Publics, published by Matt Armstrong THE FUTURE OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING --- By David Jackson The president`s 2013 budget proposal this week was big news in Washington, but for those who care about public diplomacy and international broadcasting, the most interesting parts involved the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Radio & TV Marti, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks of Radio Sawa and Alhurra TV. The Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees these organizations, has proposed some significant cuts in the overall budget, which is hardly surprising given the nation`s economic problems. But they`ve also proposed sweeping changes in the way they want the broadcasters to operate in the future. Three aspects of the BBG`s proposal particularly caught my attention: The first was the lack of recognition of VOA's historical mission of informing international audiences about the U.S. and U.S. policies, or, put another way, telling them about who Americans are, and what we believe in. The BBG's newly rewritten mission statement makes no reference to this role, which could well prompt members of Congress to question why they should spend scarce taxpayer dollars on simply supporting another international news service, even a reformed one. VOA was originally created to counter anti-American propaganda, among other reasons, and while many things have changed since those early days of World War II, the need to counter anti-American propaganda has, unfortunately, not. Unless there's a central and acknowledged role in the BBG's a and VOA's a mission for providing accurate, balanced, and comprehensive information about the U.S. and our policies, then it undermines the BBG's and VOA's entire reason for being. Second: The proposed reform of the VOA newsroom. The Board wants to radically change the way VOA's central news operation does business. In my view, this is a reform that is long overdue. As a journalist who has spent a lot of time in newsrooms during my career, I remember my surprise when I learned how little original reporting was produced in VOA`s newsroom. Most of the employees spent their days rewriting wire service stories into broadcasting copy that was consistent with VOA's Charter and editorial guidelines. The emphasis was heavily on accuracy and caution, and very little on speed or originality, which is why VOA`s language services now produce much of the agency`s best journalism. The Board has proposed that the newsroom focus on producing original content rather than rehashed wire service stories, which I believe will be critical to VOA's ability to attract audiences in the international media markets in which it competes. I do have two concerns, however. The severe cuts requested by the Board will jeopardize the newsroom`s ability to produce the mission- critical content I described in my previous point. I also wonder if they have the skills in the current newsroom to produce original, timely content. But this is a reform that is essential. Third: The proposed cuts to the broadcasting services disproportionately fall on VOA despite the fact that the Board's reforms will rely more than ever on VOA to generate original content, and despite the fact that most of VOA's broadcasts have historically reached bigger audiences than its sister services where those broadcasts overlap. When I was the VOA director and the Board said program cuts had to be made, I always urged them to make their decisions based on the relative costs per listener or viewer of VOA's language broadcast versus the competing broadcast from either Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty or Radio Free Asia (both of which overlapped to some extent with VOA's language broadcasts). It would have been the most pragmatic way to make such decisions, and also the most easily defended, but politics always interceded in such decisions, and they never did. I understand and support the Board`s goal of consolidating some elements of the broadcasters in order to reduce the wasteful duplication that has resulted from the creation of a half dozen independent and internally competing broadcasting entities over the years. But what I don`t understand is why they don`t follow this strategy to its logical conclusion and also reduce the number of brands. VOA has historically been the most recognized and respected brand in the entire BBG stable. It sometimes comes as a surprise to Americans (although not to many who have lived abroad) that VOA is well known and trusted by its international audiences. Yet time and again Board members have tried to pressure VOA management to launch programs under other names, thinking that might avoid the assumed taint of being associated with the U.S. government. The fact is, that association is not necessarily bad. VOA's reputation, which has been painstakingly built over seven decades, is of a broadcaster who tells the truth about everything, including the U.S., and even when the news is unflattering. When we try to hide the association with VOA (or the U.S. government), that only prompts conspiracy theories that the CIA is behind the broadcasts. And in the end, they always figure out it's coming from us anyway. Bringing about major changes in international broadcasting isn't easy, as I know from personal experience. But America's international broadcasters have no other choice if they want to adapt to the growing competition abroad and the ways people consume information these days. To this end, the Board deserves praise for its willingness to tackle some big issues. But they cannot be fully successful unless they also are faithful to the original mission that the American people and their representatives in Congress have supported and expected for 70 years. This article originally appeared at the Public Diplomacy Council's website and is reposted here by permission. *** David Jackson is a veteran journalist and former U.S. government official with extensive multimedia communications experience in domestic and international markets. A Jackson was the 26th Director of the Voice of America, from 2002-2006. Guests posts are the opinions of the respective authors, do not necessarily reflect the opinion of MountainRunner.us, and are published here to further the discourse on activities that understand, inform, and influence. Category: BBG Tag: BBG, David S. Jackson, International Broadcasting, media, voice of america February 15, 2012 at 7:00 am One Response * B. Brashaw says: At the risk of becoming tiresome, I'd like to echo this concern for the public diplomacy function and quality of the news report to be produced by the re-imagined BBG. And to avoid generalizations, I'll focus on just one region of the world and how it will be addressed: Latin America. Many would agree that three of the biggest issues/problems facing the U.S. today are the dependence on foreign energy sources; the impact of illegal immigration; and the flow illicit drugs and resulting transnational crime. All three arise in our backyard. Add to this two governments actively hostile to the U.S. (Cuba and Venezuela) and four others (Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador and Brazil) more sympathetic to those governments than to ours. Then throw in a nacro-terrorist group (the FARC) that has been destabilizing the region in a 20-year war conducted with every bit the persistance and ferocity of al Qaeda. If ever there was an area of the world that the U.S. needs to communicate better with and whose issues need to be better understood by us, it is Latin America. Yet in the new world order proposed by the BBG, VOA service to Latin America would be cut-back, softened and consolidated with Miami-based Radio and TV Marti, an organization better known for lack of audience, nepotism and self- dealing than for journalism. This from the BBG's 2013 budget request: ``Redefine the Spanish Service [$1.257 M] VOA`s Spanish Service will redefine its strategic focus and operational requirements. Under this proposal it will provide Washington Bureau and other U.S. coverage as well as the VOA Direct news and information service for affiliate radio and television stations in Latin America and the Caribbean. Six journalists will work at VOA headquarters in Washington, four journalist positions will be relocated to Miami and New York, and 14 positions will be eliminated. Miami-based VOA staff will be based at the Office of Cuba Broadcasting to provide original content, provide editorial control and contacts with VOA stringers in the U.S. and the region, and identify OCB stringer reports from Latin America for use in VOA output. New York reporters will cover U.S. economic, financial, political, and social stories.`` A key phrase here is: "provide Washington Bureau and other U.S. coverage as well as the VOA Direct news and information service for affiliate radio and television stations in Latin America and the Caribbean." If this means the service will abandon its own broadcasting capacity and simply offer programs to affiliates that can pick and choose what elements to run, VOA will be offering nothing that isn't available from other commercial services, all of them better equipped and better staffed. As it is, one service and one service alone in VOA's Latin America Division has an appreciable impact on its target audience: VOA Creole broadcasting to Haiti. It's the leading source of news and information there, in no small part because of its crack staff (all of them Haitian ex-pats with strong links to the island), but also because of its work with the State Department to explain vital U.S. programs and policies there. The two working together after the January 2010 earthquake literally saved lives. It's unclear what the "re-defined" Latin America Division means for VOA Creole, but it can only marginalize U.S. broadcasting to the rest of Latin America. In the current federal budget crunch, better no VOA Spanish than VOA Spanish Lite. February 15, 2012 at 1:13 pm (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) #BBG Watch >> Feed BBG Watch >> Comments Feed BBG Watch >> IBB/BBG's proposed cuts for Voice of America: Summary of Main Points IBB/BBG executives cut and reduce Voice of America English and foreign language programs and positions `Has Broadcasting Board of Governors Gone Mad?' BBG wants to cut Voice of America programs to Tibet and other nations under communism By BBGWatcher on 14 February 2012 in BBG Forum, Featured News, Hot Tub BBG Watch is providing this information, which was obtained from several sources. While the main points are believed to be accurate, we can't guarantee complete accuracy. Please continue checking our website and official BBG announcements. Broadcasting Board of Governors FY2013 Budget Request Summary of Main Points What They Want To Do: o $711.56 million for international broadcasting operations o $11.6 million Internet circumvention funding o $9 million new TV programs to Egypt o $8.59 million broadcasting capital improvements o $21 million claimed administrative/tech support costs cut o Elevate and expand social media o Buy-outs/early retirements, positions reduced through attrition o TV to Central Asia VOA: What They Want To Do: Ensor: o No cuts to Farsi, Korean, Urdu, Mandarin o No cuts to domestic bureaus, overseas bureaus to merge with grantee counterparts o Says: "Radio has a very secure place at VOA, not dying by any means, won't kill it before its time." (1) What They Don't Want To Do: o No cuts to Greenville (2) o English programs: 28-30 positions cut o VOA Newsroom: 43 positions cut o Lao Service: 2FTEs (full-time employees), 2 vacancies eliminated, 2 FTEs eliminated o Cantonese Service: eliminated (7FTEs, 2POVs [purchase order vendors]) o Greek Service: eliminated o Dari Service: 5 positions cut o Pashto Service: 5 positions cut o Afghan Service (Pashto/Dari): 6 hours of programs cut during weakest day part o Albanian: 5 radio positions cut (eliminating Albanian radio) o Turkish: don't have specifics o Tibetan: don't have specifics o Vietnamese: don't have specifics o Spanish: don't have specifics o Bangla: don't have specifics o Georgian: don't have specifics Grantees: Ensor says: o Greek, Avar, Chechen, Circassian cut o Grantees facing cuts (no specifics) o There will be cuts to management (no specifics) o Number of contractors to be cut (no specifics) (3) Notes: (1) In agency literature, VOA is identified as having 43 languages (various English operations apparently identified as separate language services). VOA cuts affect 14 of the 43 services. Represents an adverse impact on almost 33% (32.5%) of VOA language services. (2) Can't do anything to Greenville until they know what the authorization is from Congress. Reductions could come later. (3) AFGE union reps say Federal employee to contractor ratio is about 50/50: about 800 each. We don't know if union can negotiate retaining FTEs over contractors. If agency targets a larger proportion of FTEs over contractors, it would aid the agency's attempt to de- Federalize the workforce. Best information available as of 7:16pm, February 13, 2012. More information will likely be forthcoming as events unfold. 1 Comment --- 1. Anywho says 14 February 12, 3:06am The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) budget submission requests cutting 7 employees out of 22 in the Voice of America (VOA) Tibetan Service, ending all six hours of daily VOA Tibetan radio broadcast. This is happening on the day China's Vice President Xi Jinping, heir apparent of the communist regime, arrives in Washington on a get-to- know-you visit. This is happening while Tibet is burning. A day after the 23rd Tibetan monk self-immolated to protest unprecedented Chinese crackdown on their religion. This is happening one week after CCTV, China's state TV launched its first live daily broadcast from its brand new 36000 sq ft studio in Washington DC, the first step of China's $7 billion media offensive in America. What is the BBG thinking? Has it gone mad? And, decimating VOA broadcasts to the Laos (4 out of 6 employees), Vietnam (10 out of 15 employees) and Cantonese to China (all 7 employees). Cutting America's broadcasts to three out of five remaining communist regimes. While planning all these cuts, the BBG promoted Bruce Sherman, the BBG strategist (or de-strategist) to SES without contest; hiring an SES director for ODDI, Office of Digital Design and Innovation; hiring a BBG communication director, another SES. All three SES positions were created as the Broadcasting Board of Governors was planning to eliminate dozens of rank and file journalists. Who needs this Board that cannibalizes its own worker bees to feed itself? (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) from http://www.MountainRunner.us A Blog on Understanding, Informing, and Influencing Global Publics, published by Matt Armstrong WHISPER OF AMERICA? --- By Alan Heil Under the Obama administration`s proposed FY 13 budget, the potential damage to the nation`s flagship publicly funded overseas network, the Voice of America, would be unprecedented if Congress approves it. Contrast the reductions: VOA faces net cuts totaling $17 million, compared with a reduction of $731,000 for its sister network, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The Voice of America, now in its 70th year, faces a far larger reduction, proportionally, than either the U.S. international broadcasting administrative support bureaucracy or collectively, the four other networks in the system. They are: RFE/RL, Radio Free Asia, Middle East Broadcasting Network, and Radio-TV Marti. Cuts of VOA staff who actually put programs on the air are the principal targets of the cuts, across the board. Such hemorrhaging must be halted if the free flow of information from America to the world is to be secured for the millennial generation so curious about our nation and its role in the century ahead. In effect, many VOA assets are being reprogrammed to enhance consolidation of U.S. international broadcasting and the rapid pursuit of new media formats. The only encouraging aspect of the budget is the notion that VOA Central News, although greatly reduced in size, will become the site of a global news network incorporating the best reporting of all five publicly-funded overseas broadcasting entities. The oversight Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) has seized on the notion that VOA best serves the national interest by transforming itself to become a Washington bureau in a number of languages and by shifting radio functions and coverage of other world areas to the grantee networks in a number of cases. This is contrary to a fundamental VOA Charter (P.L. 103-415) obligation to be an accurate, comprehensive and objective source of news (world as well as U.S.). To be sure, engagement and dialogue, crowd sourcing, and citizen reporting, are powerful potential attributes in the new age. But the largest and only full service global network, VOA, would lose 170 professional front line broadcasters and producers in the proposed budget if it is passed by Congress. The new generation, most adept new media practitioners will be at the top of the list to go. VOA will be gravely weakened in its ability to capitalize on opportunities in the digital age. Content wise, this would undercut an unmatched foundation (and respected brand name) for take-off. The BBG`s most recent surveys conclude that VOA has a 75% audience share of all who listen to, watch or consume U.S. international broadcasting in any format each week, 141 million of 187 million people altogether. Of the total, 104 million still use radio and research has shown that a multimedia approach -- including radio -- amplifies audience numbers and cross- streaming. The harm done in the proposed reductions to the English broadcasts of the Voice of America (until 2001, its top priority service) would deprive our flagship official overseas network of a valued role in our own language. This, as China, Russia, Iran and Qatar expand their English broadcasts in America`s primary tongue to 24/7 coverage. VOA was on the air in English around the clock a dozen years ago, reliably present in the universal language at any hour of the day or night. Yet now, the Voice`s future as the second decade of the 21st century dawns turns out to be dim indeed, unless Congress halts the carnage. The BBG has it right in one respect: an impartial, determined CEO with real authority is necessary to consolidate, reduce bureaucratic overload and preserve VOA and its journalistic soul. By saving frontline multimedia broadcast talent equitably, an empowered day-to- day manager could make publicly-funded U.S. overseas broadcasting the world standard the nation deserves and must have, for the sake of a safer, more secure planet. References in support of the above may be found in the proposed FY 13 budget, Pages 7-10 and 22-24. *** Alan L. Heil Jr. is a former deputy director of VOA, author of Voice of America: A History and editor of Local Voices/Global Perspectives: Challenges Ahead for U.S. International Media. Guests posts are the opinions of the respective authors, do not necessarily reflect the opinion of MountainRunner.us, and are published here to further the discourse on activities that understand, inform, and influence. Category: BBG Tag: Alan Heil, BBG, Broadcasting Board of Governors, public diplomacy, RFE/RL, VOA February 14, 2012 at 8:26 am 2 Responses maxkent says: Well, this is what happens when a once highly respected and honored news organziation becomes a halfway-house for CNN washouts. February 14, 2012 at 3:02 pm voa retiree says: Father, don't forgive them; for they know what they are doing. February 15, 2012 at 1:29 pm (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. Frequency changes of IBB: [except when ex-daily, all are NF = new frequencies] 0100-0200 7515 KWT 250 kW / 070 deg, ex 7470 RFA Tibetan Mon/Thu 0100-0200 7500 KWT 250 kW / 070 deg, ex 7470 RFA Tibetan Wed/Sun 0100-0200 7530 KWT 250 kW / 070 deg, ex 7470 RFA Tibetan Tue/Fri 0100-0200 7545 KWT 250 kW / 070 deg, ex 7470 RFA Tibetan Sat 0100-0200 17850 TIN 250 kW / 313 deg, ex 17825 RFA Uighur Tue 0200-0300 15520 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg, ex 15220 RFA Tibetan Mon/Wed/Fri 0200-0300 15220 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg, ex Daily RFA Tibetan Thu 0200-0300 15540 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg, ex 15220 RFA Tibetan Sun/Tue/Sat 0300-0600 21555 TIN 250 kW / 304 deg, ex 21540 RFA Chinese Sat 0300-0320 7425 BIB 100 kW / 088 deg, ex 11925 RFE Avari 0320-0340 7425 BIB 100 kW / 088 deg, ex 11925 RFE Chechen 0340-0400 7425 BIB 100 kW / 088 deg, ex 11925 RFE Circassian 0330-0400 13745 IRA 250 kW / 263 deg, ex 9845 VOA Somali 0600-0700 17675 KWT 250 kW / 070 deg, ex 17715 RFA Tibetan Mon/Wed/Fri 0600-0700 17715 KWT 250 kW / 070 deg, ex Daily RFA Tibetan Thu 0600-0700 17685 KWT 250 kW / 070 deg, ex 17715 RFA Tibetan Sun/Tue/Sat 1100-1200 11510 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg, ex 11590 RFA Tibetan Mon/Wed/Fri 1100-1200 11590 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg, ex Daily RFA Tibetan Thu 1100-1200 11545 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg, ex 11590 RFA Tibetan Sun/Tue/Sat 1230-1400 13595 TIN 250 kW / 280 deg, ex 7245 RFA Burmese 1400-1500 11880 BIB 100 kW / 105 deg, ex 15265 VOA Kurdish 1500-1530 11640 KWT 250 kW / 046 deg, ex 13785 VOA Uzbek 1500-1600 12085 KWT 250 kW / 070 deg, ex 11625 RFA Tibetan 1600-1630 13740 SAO 100 kW / 100 deg, ex 12010 VOA Kinyarwanda Sat 1630-1700 17655 GB 250 kW / 094 deg, ex 17650 VOA Portuguese Fri 1700-1800 17655 GB 250 kW / 094 deg, ex 17650 VOA Portuguese 1800-1830 17655 GB 250 kW / 094 deg, ex 17650 VOA Portuguese Mon-Fri 1830-1900 9435 WER 250 kW / 090 deg, ex 9440 VOA Azeri, re-ex 9440 2030-2100 11670*WER 250 kW / 180 deg, ex 7315 VOA Hausa M-F, re-ex 9780 * strong co-channel AIR in Hindi/English 2330-0030 9920 IRA 250 kW / 073 deg, ex 5885 RFA Vietnamese (DX Mix News 13 Feb via DXLD) Update: Frequency change of VOA in Hausa Mon-Fri from Feb. 13 night: 2030-2100 NF 11665 WER 250 kW / 180 deg, ex 11670, re-ex 7315, re-re- ex 9780 (Ivo Ivanov, Feb 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. 11750, Feb 12 at 1217, VOA quite good with excellent news coverage on `Crossroads Asia`, pausing to plug their photo contest which has a few more days to run, via http://www.voanews.com/asia i.e. specifically http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/asia-photo-contest-137906343.html and from 1230 [not 1130 as typoed in original report] on to `International Edition`. I figured this quite good signal would have to be on the 21 degree antenna USward from Tinang, PHILIPPINES, and so it is, during this hour only. The borepath is roughly up the Sea of Japan near Nagasaki, eastern tip of Sibir, across the Brooks Range in northern Alaska, trans-Canada, entering conterminous US thru Minnesota, Chicago, South Carolina, Haiti (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I am currently receiving WBAP on 25910, KOA 0n 25950 and KLIF on 25990, all in FM at 10:44 AM EST (Jim Balle in Springfield Mass., 1545 UT 11 Feb, NRC-AM via DXLD) Hi Jim, You are receiving RPU [remote pickup unit] frequencies. They are transmitters at broadcast studios that send a signal to be picked up by remote units in the field. They typically are used to send the air signal of the station to the people doing the remote broadcast along with off-air cues from engineers and program producers back in the studios (Dave Marthouse, ibid.) And avoid the 7+second delay often imposed on the final broadcast which they would get by monitoring off the air. However, these three stations seem to run their 25 MHz transmitters constantly, not just when doing a remote; all you need is a propagational opening (gh, DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. Continued from UK [non]: 7385: HFCC registrations show the two overlapping, WHRI at 01-13, 315 degrees, and BBC at 02-03 Seychelles, 03-04 Ascension. Yet there was no WHRI before 04 and no BBC after 04. Things may be different on weekends. WHRI`s own frequency schedule page http://www.whr.org/Frequencies.cfm shows Angel 1 on 7385 at 00-01, 03-04, and Angel 6 at 01-03, 04-08. (and BTW zero for Angel 5. Yet if you go to program schedules there is plenty for Angel 5 on 7315, 5920, 11565, 17510, 17520, 15665, 13660, 9850, 9610. Their schedule displaying is still SNAFU. BTW2, ONLY time for 9610 is Sunday 2200-2300 including DXing With Cumbre at 2200; is that REALLY on the air? Countless SW frequencies in their program schedule are imaginary) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9610, Sunday Feb 12 at 2200 and again 2218 check, zero on this frequency where World Harvest Radio claims to be broadcasting `DXing with Cumbre`. Who do they think they are fooling with all those SW frequencies on their program schedule, which are not really on the air? Those who never turn on a radio? What`s the point? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. 7385, re previous report: checking out how WHRI and BBCWS share this frequency, Feb 10: at 0220, huge signal from WHRI, with BBCWS barely audible underneath, this hour from SEYCHELLES. At 0259:40* WHRI went off, uncovering quite strong BBC which had just switched to ASCENSION site and had the frequency clearly to itself for an hour. At 0359 recheck, the WHRI carrier was back on with BBC still audible underneath until `OCS` WHRI sign-on started at 0359:30, as BBC was about to quit 7385 anyway (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1603 monitoring: first broadcast confirmed on webcast of 9955 WRMI, UT Thursday Feb 9 after 0430. More WRMI SW times: Sat 0900, 1600, 1830, Sun 0900, 1630, 1830, Mon 1230. On WTWW: Thu 2200 on 9479, UT Sun 0500 on 5755; On WBCQ: Thu 2230 on 7490, UT Mon 0330v on Area 51 5110v-CUSB. On WWRB: UT Fri 0430v on 3195. Also on SiriusXM 120, Sat & Sun 1830, Sun 0930. WORLD OF RADIO 1603 monitoring: confirmed on WTWW 9479, Thursday Feb 9 at 2200; WBCQ 7490, Thursday Feb 9 at 2230. Remaining SW airings this week are: WRMI 9955: Sat 0900, 1600, 1830, Sun 0900, 1630, 1830, Mon 1230. WTWW 5755: UT Sun 0500. WBCQ Area 51 5110v-CUSB: UT Mon 0330v. Hamburger Lokalradio 5980: Tue 1030. Also on WRN via SiriusXM 120: Sat & Sun 1830, Sun 0930. Full schedule including many more webcasts: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html WORLD OF RADIO 1603 monitoring: Sunday Feb 12 at 1646, JBA carrier on 9955 as scheduled on WRMI at 1630, and I can almost imagine I am hearing my voice. Repeats at 1830 via WRN via WRMI, when listeners further east have reported sufficient reception. Also on WBCQ Area 51, 5110v-CUSB, UT Monday 0330v (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Don`t you believe that WRMI broadcasts WORLD OF RADIO in French as in Aoki: 9955 WRMI World of Radio 1430-1500 1...... French 50 160 Miami-Hialeah (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9955, really checking the webcast of WRMI Feb 9 at 0515, there is Radio Libertad, Cuban clandestine, which has replaced WRN carrying the last gasp of Radio France International in English on shortwave, with WRN still shown during this hour on the now outdated schedule grid dated Jan 1 on WRMI website. I have still heard English after 06, and assume that is Channel Africa, but it too is just a placeholder pending sale of the time. Radio Libertad is not on this schedule at all, but had been before 2012y; presumably they have saved up enough money to rebuy some airtime. They announced two or three M-F or daily hours, but I didn`t catch what they are. Jeff White says there should be an updated schedule posted later today. The Programming page of WRMI does have an entry for Radio Libertad showing previous and perhaps same revived times: Horarios de Transmisión, hora de Miami en 9955: Diariamente 8:00-9:00 am [daily 13-14 UT] Lunes a Viernes 7:00-8:00 pm [UT Tue-Sat 00-01] Martes a Sábado 12:00 medianoche-1:00 am [Tue-Sat 05-06 UT] 9955, Sat Feb 11 at 2206, WRMI with `Media Network+`, fair signal, no jamming, and far enough from WTWW 9990 test not to be bothered by that. Keith is interviewing someone about ham radio emergency work following the latest Philippine earthquake (Glen Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. A reminder of WTWW-2 transmitter test, today Sat Feb 11 from 2200 on 9990, 0000-0400 UT Sunday on 5085. Check for spurs or other noise around each frequency, especially any QRM to WWV. Ted Randall will be promoting ham radio and taking phone-ins. George McClintock tells me there will be another test on same this Monday/Tuesday until 0300 for Brother Stair who might want to buy time on the as yet unpurchased WTWW-4 transmitter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9990, WTWW, no signal in Denmark at 2215, Feb 11 (Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Feb 15 via DXLD) Checking out the WTWW-2 test Feb 11-12, first on 9990: tuned in at 2205 and I heard PPP // 9479 audio instead, with some splash. Transmitter dumps off the air at 2207, so they are running that until the thing settles down. More ons and offs 2208-2209. While off, I notice that WWV is strong enough to splash upon 9990, but WTWW blows it away when on. *2215 back on now with rock music. Carrier is noticeably wobbling and modulation distorted. I can hear noise field splash out past 10000 and below 9980 (WWCR is off now) altho not with specific peaks as previously. (At 2218 WWV propagation info was: SF=112, A=4, K21=1, no, no). 2220 Olivia Newton-John. I compare the carrier wobble to WINB 9265 and find 9990 more so. Other WTWW 9479 is not doing this. At 2224 during dead air on 9990 except for hum, I hear the same pitch hum around 10010. Show finally gets underway at 2231, ``This Is Only A Test``, a.k.a. `QSO Radio Show`, 615-547-9520. Modulation still somewhat distorted. First caller to Ted Randall is WB0AEA in Lincoln NE. Dumps off the air again amid this 2234-2236. 2238 during music I can hear noise field extending from roughly 9960 to 10020 = +/- 30 kHz. Altho it`s more than we get from most stations of this strength, it is not too severe, and certainly better than when #2 was first tested. There is too much going on and I am not listening to every word for the next 6 hours, but I never heard anyone mention or being prompted to check for spurs and noise fields or modulation quality; just general evaluations of how strong the signal is. 2240, a caller wants more rock music when regular programming starts. (Don`t count on it unless some rocker wants to outbid the preachers for airtime here!) Ted makes no such commitment. 2254 caller asks about possible QRM with WWCR, but Ted explains they are some distance apart geographically and have separate frequencies, no problem. (But what about when they are right next to each other on 9980 and 9990?) Signal is weakening just a bit; at next check 2320, cuts off the air again for a while. Next check 2353, George McClintock is on the phone from the transmitter site, telling about how he was also trying to get a SW station when Joe Costello succeeded with authorization for WRNO. George is also diabetic and lost an eye, but not limbs like Costello. 2358 they coordinate to make the frequency change to 5085, and 9990 off at 2359. UT Feb 12: 0000:30, 5085 cuts off and on and off and on. At 0012 the 5085 frequency has less wobble than 9990 had; decreasing noise field out to 5075-5105, but not enough to bother 5070 WWCR or 5110v WBCQ. Many more calls discussing ham and SW radio. At 0127 they were talking about me and WORLD OF RADIO, and how we appreciate George and WTWW for broadcasting it, ex-WRNO, ex-WWCR! Ted says, ``Glenn Hauser`s program is an asset``. Thank you. Around expected closedown 0400 they were still going with someone on the phone who is apparently an equipment supplier, lasting until 0449*. The signal held up very strong throughout (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9990, WTWW (TN), 2/11, 2310. Two M announcers, discussing 20 meter and other amateur activities. Here in Arizona, signal strength is - WOW! SINPO 55555. Just bending the window panes here. Was a brief transmitter outage at 2321. 73 and Good Listening all! (Rick Barton, El Mirage, AZ, Drake R-8, Slinky, ABDX via DXLD) Subject: WTWW 9990 splattering into WWV on 10 MHz --- At 2336 UT, WTWW is splattering into WWV on 10 MHz. I don't have a narrow AM filter on the Yaseu FT-897D tranceiver. WTWW signal is pegged out. Even with the attenuator on there is still splatter into WWV on 10000. The DSP filtering cuts much but not ALL of the splatter (Fritze H Prentice Jr, KC5KBV, Star City, AR, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9990, 12/Feb 2357, WTWW, in English. Test. OM interview a man. The 2358 off the air. Good signal, but the modulation was slightly distorted. 5085, 13/Feb 0005, WTWW in English. Test. Music. The music sounds like a Brazilian carnival march. At 0008 OM talk. Very weak signal with moderat propagation. OM makes mention of Brazil. 5085, 13/Feb 0018, WTWW in English. From 0005, already five cuts on the signal, especially at the last minute of the report. 5085, 13/Feb 0032, WTWW in English. Follows with better signal. OM continues with interviews. At 0032 clear ID by OM, then pop music. 25332 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA - Brasil, 12 14´S, 38 58´W dxldyg via DXLD) Consegui sintonizar o teste da WTWW em 5085? Aqui com SINPO 25332. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA - Brasil, 0055 UT Feb 12, condiglist yg via DXLD) WTWW 5085 coming in S9+ on West Coast --- Right now it's 0317Z and I've been listening to it for the past couple hours. A VERY nice signal and an interesting program. While I'm using the Grundig Satellit 750 and the outdoor antenna, I also checked with the Grundig G6 pocket radio and its short whip antenna. Perfectly readable on it too, but of course not nearly as strong and clear (on the 750 I'd rate it SIO 599 [sic] with just some light selective fading). . . -- 73 de (Phil, KO6BB, Atchely, http://ko6bb1.multiply.com/ (OTR Blog) http://www.qsl.net/ko6bb/ (Web Page) Feb 12, swl at qth.net via DXLD) I listened as well, and the signal came in loud. Unlike WBCQ and other shortwave stations I have strained to listen to. And there was no religion or politics during the entire show. You can listen again on FaceBook. Go to QSO Radio Show in Facebook. I hope they continue with this type programming (Vernon Justice, Cumbre DX via DXLD) 9990, Feb 13 at *2200 as promised, WTWW-2 is back with a test for Brother Scare, joined in progress in music like on WWRB 9385 but not synchronized. 9980 WWCR runs a bit overtime so both are on for a few minutes until its 2202.5* plus some open carrier. No detectable QRM between those two, but WTWW BSplash can be heard on 10000 WWV with the FRG-7; same on the DX-398 at 2233 check. Also on 5085 in the 00-03 Feb 14 period, no spurs noted (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 5050, Feb 10 at 0345, no sign of WWRB, but instead big continuous ute noise covering at least 5050-5055. Suspect whatever that is has nixed WWRB`s usage of 5050, forcing them off by complaint to FCC since these utility frequencies are available to broadcasters only on a NIB. 3195 was still on and presumably carried WORLD OF RADIO at 0430 Friday. Recheck at 0638, the ute noise was still occupying 5050-5055. 5050-5055, for the second night, UT Feb 11 at 0225 check, huge ute noise blob is here, and no WWRB on 5050 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9330-CUSB, Feb 10 at 1357, WBCQ is deadair again, so this time I leave a receiver on here to hear when it becomes undead: 1407:25, Radio 2:11 programming comes up in progress. 5110- CUSB, slightly on the lo side, Feb 13 at 0349, WORLD OF RADIO 1603 confirmed on Area 51 via WBCQ. This UT Monday 0330v broadcast has been appearing quite reliably, but on alternate weeks only, i.e. odd- numbered WORs. BTW, I also heard the revived `Jean Shepherd Show` at its new time of 0300 UT Saturday, Feb 11, when listening to the 5110 webcast; as usual, it`s only about half a sesquihour long (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 11580, Feb 10 at 1500 I check whether the secret WWCR-4 transmission is on, but not; must have cut on shortly, as `Inspiration Across America` in progress, inbooming at 1503 recheck. This presumably happens M-F only. 11580, Feb 15 WWCR-4 is again on secret frequency after 1500 with very strong signal; and at 1555 same canned announcement played twice with Jerry Plummer asking for reports on this ``special test broadcast`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 13570 and 9265, Feb 10 at 2123, WINB is missing from both its frequencies, and no doubt the 18530 harmonic unheard lately; are there breaks now in its formerly continuous broadcasts, with QSY at 2159-2200? A new program schedule is up dated Feb 5, showing on Fridays, `The Amber May Show` starts at 1930, but durations are not indicated for anything. The next item is `Wondrous Story` at 2145, and after that `Treasure of Truth` at 2300. Other weekdays there is nothing starting after 1900 or 1930 until the 2145 show. Amber website is linked from the program list filed under T for The, which in turn linx to a podcast labeled as only 13+ minutes. Therefore the break at least on Fridays is from 1945 to 2145. At 2145, it seems unlikely they would come up for another 15 minutes on 13570, instead just start 9265 at that time instead of 2200, unless Wondrous really wants to be on 13. How long is it? Some days the next show starts at 2230 or 2300, but 45 or 75 minutes duration is very unlikely, especially since on Thursdays the next one is at 2200. So apparently there is another hiatus: Mon 2200-2230, Tue, Thu and Fri 2200-2300. Still plenty of programming in between on Sat & Sun when no break should occur. Weekdays do not start until 1700 or 1730; Sat *1345, Sun *1200, already on 13570 that early. The final program on 9265 now starts every night at 0300, maybe a semihour? Even `Good News Hour` UT Fridays could really be only 50% of that (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 15610, Feb 14 at 1534, Mother Angelica herself on WEWN, oblivious of the noise like rubbing a balloon that this transmitter is outputting to degrade her voice. With BFO, carrier is also wobbling. But the spurs peaking plus/minus 9 kHz are no worse than usual, i.e. also unacceptable. She should be ashamed, or at least confess that she has been sinning for years against her shortwave brethren and sistren, or would those be uncles & aunts since she`s a mother? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. 11955, Feb 14 at 1522 fair signal with some neat electronic music, then accompanying sermon in a Turkic language; 1527 off-topic `Concierto de Aranjuez` closing music with announcements to 1529*. HFCC shows it`s AWR in Turkish via AUSTRIA at 1500-1530, 300 kW, 120 degrees from Moosbrunn, off the back here or longpath? Not much from Europe audible here direct on 25m at this hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. YFR Family Radio changes: 1300-1400 on 12130 A-A 200 kW / 132 deg to SoAs cancelled in Nepali 1400-1500 on 5835 A-A 500 kW / 132 deg to SEAs cancelled in English 1400-1500 NF 11510 A-A 300 kW / 177 deg to SoAs, ex 11520 in Urdu 1500-1700 on 9940 TAI 250 kW / 352 deg to CeAs cancelled in Russian (DX Mix News 13 Feb via DXLD) see also TAIWAN [non] 7560, Feb 9 at 1344, familiar hymn in orlang with chimes, weak and fluttery. Aoki shows YFR Burmese via KAZAKHSTAN (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. US CUSTOMS LAUNCHES RADIO STATION FOR BORDER CROSSERS February 10, 2012 EL PASO, Texas -- People crossing between the U.S. and Mexico will now be able to tune in to a radio broadcast for the latest border crossing information, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency. CPB announced Friday that the pilot AM radio broadcast system will be at two ports of entry: the Ysleta in El Paso, and the Lincoln-Juárez in Laredo, Texas. Officials said the system will be in place to communicate important information to border crossers, like document requirements, how to use high-tech travel cars, rules and regulations. Listeners will also be able to tune in to emergency information as well. The Ysleta transmitter, which only has a range of a few miles, began broadcasting at noon Friday, and the 10-watt signal can be found on AM 530. “In addition to recent physical and technological upgrades at our ports of entry, CBP is always exploring options to better communicate with travelers,” said Ana B. Hinojosa, CBP El Paso director of field operations. “With this has come the idea of CBP border radio, an AM radio station CBP will use to broadcast pertinent, bilingual travel information on a 24/7 basis and emergency information if necessary.” CPB said it will monitor the effectiveness of the broadcast and it could lead to additional stations along the border. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/y1mHJ4 FUENTE: Lanza estación de radio Aduana Fronteriza http://bit.ly/ywYTw5 (Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, Feb 11, DXLD) ** U S A. Re: WFIL DX Test this Sunday - a reminder --- According to NRC Pattern Book, the direxionality is: major lobe to the SE, minor to the NW, nulls to the NE and SW. But FCC plot shows the lobes are not that different, and the nulls not that deep: http://transition.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/AM_DA_patterns/270951-791.pdf (Glenn Hauser, various MW lists, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 560, Feb 12 at 0538-0541, did not really expect to hear the WFIL DX test way out here, but checked anyway, and heard only `When Radio Was` episode of Jack Benny, from about the same direxion, presumably my closest 560, KWTO Springfield MO. Yes, see Sat 9 pm-midnight: http://www.newstalk560.com/schedule.aspx Tried BFO offset 5 kHz, but no sign of any MCW IDs either (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I had WIND with "Hollywood 360" up until 1 AM EST. Jim Renfrew, NY, WTFDA AM via DXLD) Here on the other side of Springfield, I really would expect nothing but KWTO, especially since the schedule matches (gh, Enid, ibid.) Can probably hear this one during the day, if I work at it, but noted with "V" morse code, whoop tones, and a spoken ID between 0012 and 0016, Beatles til 0020, test announcement, touch tones, and a whiny siren. These efx should reach Jupiter I think! Thanks for the test! (Jim Renfrew, Holley NY 0522 UT, IRCA via DXLD) Tentative report with audio clips emailed this morning after reviewing my recording of 560. Found what sounded like a "warbler" 2315 CST 11 FEB 12 and sweep tones at 2349 CST 11 FEB 12. No voice, music, sirens or morse code heard at all. Dominant stations on 560 were KWTO/KLVI/KLZ and presumed Mexican. Keeping my fingers crossed that the clips match what was broadcast! Thanks to Rene for running this test!!! 73, (Bruce Winkelman AA5CO, Tulsa, OK, Drake R8, Par EndFedZ sloper N-S, ABDX via DXLD) 560, WFIL, Philadelphia, PA. Feb/12/2012 0010-0032 EST, EE, FAIR-GOOD Sweep Tones at 0010-0011 EST. Continuous Tone at 0012-13. "VVV VVV" CW Morse Code Markers at 0013. Sweep Tones at 0013-14. Continuous Tone at 0013-14. Continuous Tone with Time Pips at 0014-16. Retuned at 0028 EST with Continuous Tone at 0028-29. Sweep Tones at 0029-30. Warble Tones at 0030. Slower Sweep Tones at 0031. Voice ID by Male DJ at 0032 EST as "This is WFIL Philadelphia, with a Test Transmission on 560 Khz". Into WFIL Jingles and IDs at 0032 EST. RELOG, 5 KW (Robert S. Ross, London, Ontario, Canada, ODXA yg via DXLD) WFIL-560 DX test Results Hi all, I have received many Reception Reports from the test we did on WFIL Saturday night/Sunday morning. I thank all of you so much for listening and sending your reports in. I will have QSLs sent out by the end of the week to all who filed a formal report at our dxtest @ wfil.com email address, or sent one via snail mail. Just for the record, I thought you might be interested in the locations from tests were received. By far, the Midwest (particularly the upper Midwest) was the big winner in number of reported receptions. Michigan had the single biggest number of reports from any state. Here is a list of the locations from which I received reports thus far. They are in no particular order: Carleton, MI Tulsa, OK South Omaha, NE Mojave, CA Western MI Southwestern CT Greensboro, NC Alcoa, TN Portneuf, QC Holley, NY Cocoa, FL Albany, NY Woodbury, MN Burnt River, ON Toronto, ON Reston, VA Methuen, MA Baltimore, MD Midland, MI Cincinnati, OH Cleveland, OH Hudson, MA Greenbush, MI London, ON 45M SE of Detroit, MI Manassas, VA Oak Creek, WI Sterling Heights, MI State College, PA Nashua, NH Williamston, MI Omaha, NE Plymouth, MN Old Fort, TN Stratford, PEI St. Albans, VT Berea, OH There were a few reports that did not give their locations. I still have paper QSLs I send out for those rare snail mail reports that I still get. I have a QSL certificate that I send out in PDF form to people who send me reports by email. 73, (Rene' Tetro, WFIL, Feb 13, ABDX via DXLD) Offhand looks like Tulsa OK [Bruce Winkelman] is the most distant on this list. I should have tried a bit harder to get it! (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. QSLs: WGN, Chicago Illinois, 720, date/frequency long-sized card in 22 days for English report via first class mail and 2 first- class stamps. V/s. James Carollo, Director of Engineering. WCCO Minneapolis MN, 830, full data "retro card" in 24 days for English report and 2 first-class stamps as return postage. V/S. Joe Joncas, WCCO-AM Engineering (Al Muick, PA, Feb 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1070, Feb 13 at 2135 UT, KLIO Wichita KS is in dead air for a few minutes, but with SAH/hum. No one at the studio is paying attention since they picked up the True Oldies satellite feed. It`s always audibly off-frequency causing a significant SAH with KNX or whatever else may be incoming. Meanwhile, the former KFTI Radio Ranch country format has been put on FM 92.3 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. New station KOAZ 1510 on with stunting. Noticed today that the new station KOAZ 1510 Isleta, NM (Albuquerque metro) is on the air today playing the same few songs over and over, with the following announcement in between each: "KOAZ and K279BP are One-Oh-Three-Seven, The Oasis. Listen at noon on February 14th, Valentines day." -- (Mike Westfall, N6KUY, WDX6O, WPC5MDW, Feb 11, Los Alamos, NM, ABDX via DXLD) KOAZ 1510. Tomorrow's the day they go to regular programming "One-Oh-Three-Seven, The Oasis" -- KOAZ Isleta, NM (diplexing off one of the towers in the KTBL array) is still stunting, but today there is a new audio loop. Now it's a three minute loop with some kind of new-age mood music, interrupted a couple of times for announcements. One announcement invites listeners to call in on the comment line, phone number 505-931-1037. The other announcement informs about a "brand new radio station" coming at noon on Feb. 14, and gives some info on what kind of music will be playing. Both announcements are by station owner Martha Whitman. No mention of call signs this time, or the 1510 frequency. Audio clip: http://mesamike.org/radio/mwdx/audio/dxclips/KOAZ-1510-20120213_1430-stunting.mp3 -- (Mike Westfall, N6KUY, WDX6O, WPC5MDW, Los Alamos, NM, Feb 13, ABDX via DXLD) The announcement on the clip, apparently recorded on 1510, is all about what will be on 103-7 The Oasis, not 1510. Maybe 1510 will just be a barker driving listeners to the FM (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Watch it be some crappy talk gobbletygook just because it's on AM. (Darwin Long, Buras, LA, Feb 14, ibid.) Actually. no. But just as bad. I tuned in today at noon to listen to the start of regular programming. It was a bit underwhelming. The opening announcement was a prerecorded message from the station owner, then straight into automation. No mention of the AM band frequency, just the FM, which is just a low power relay for the AM station. Yup, another automated smooth jazz station. Just what the world needed (Mike Westfall, NM, Feb 14, ibid.) Let me guess: the FM is monaural audio over a stereo carrier, and goes only 10 miles around town. Sounds exactly like what is the case in Kalispell MT. Last year, I noted 1340 KQJZ was "Smooth Jazz 1340 AM and 103.5 FM". Could get the AM out about 100 miles during the day even with the mountains, but the FM only went about 10 miles around town, and was monaural over a stereo carrier. But that's better than here in New Orleans - Jazz Capital of the US, and not a single jazz station. Most Smooth Jazz stations around the country have morphed into a "coffee shop" blend of music laden with AC and raspy-throat-with-ukulele tunes, dropping the word "jazz" from their slogans to become "Smooth FM". I notice KIFM 98.1 San Diego has done this. Yuk (Darwin Long, Buras, LA, ibid.) ** U S A. 1540, Feb 12 at 0644 UT, `El Paso` song with Spanish lyrix and norteña riffs, but too much QRM to understand. Then promos and ads in Spanish mentioning ``Southwest Military Drive` so I know it`s San Antonio, a street I traversed often while at Kelly & Lackland AFBs, Von Ormy, even before the ID in English as KEDA. This time did not hear their ``Radio Jalapeño`` slogan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1619.9, FLORIDA (PIRATE), Radio Keenam, Orlando. 1340 UT February 11, 2012. Fair-good on the car radio while eastbound on I-4 near Sand Lake Road with Haitian instrumental electronic kompa music. Making a slight low side het from on-frequency Radio Rebelde, Cuba. Estimating the off-frequency reading. 1650, FLORIDA (MIS), WQDC703, City of Orlando. 1350 UT February 11, 2012. Noted throughout south and SW Orlando on the car radio with a good signal, nonstop NOAA Weather Radio Melbourne relay except for frequent automated ID with calls by male voice (long, hesitant pause after the "W"). Why relay Melbourne when there's an Orlando NOAA Weather station available? their way of boasting that the Melbourne MIS (also on 1650) is inactive? 1689.93, FLORIDA (MIS), Pinellas County Emergency Management, Largo. This transmitter continues to be in malfunction mode after months. The Clearwater in-synch transmitter remains active, on-channel, and weakly audible here, but a carrier on the low side, roughly here, remains. I drove to the transmitter site today, February 11, 2012, and for some reason the digital frequency counter wouldn't read the channel measurement despite being able to get up to the fence only 10-15 feet away, but it's definitely still provisionally on, with an overmodulated traffic update loop. Signal quickly drops down just a few hundred feet away on the car radio (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Florida Low Power Radio Stations: http://sites.google.com/site/floridadxn/ dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1700, ALABAMA, WEUP, Huntsville. 1323 February 11, 2012. Good signal and mostly alone on the channel with nice Southern blues gospel, male live ID at 1323 and 1334. Heard on the car radio eastbound I-4, near the Disney exits (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Seldom reported, somehow ** U S A. 1710, WQFG689 NJ TIS: WQFG689 Hudson Valley NJ, and listed in new IRCA TIS-HAR logbook. Huge here at Burnt River (Saul Chernos, Ont., Feb 15, IRCA via DXLD) I tuned to 1710 and only heard a lot of noise plus a weak pirate playing music (R. Celestial). I thought Saul was exaggerating about the TIS being huge, when, lo and behold, a signal rose up out of the noise with talk about amber alerts, various PSAs, and WQFG689 ID - and they really were huge for a few minutes. Thanks for the tip! BTW, I measured the TIS carrier frequency to be 1710.0032 (Barry McLarnon, VE3JF, Ottawa, ON, 15 Feb, IRCA via DXLD) 1710, WQFG689, Hudson County NJ, Nice ID above the music station. Fairly good, though slightly on the high side as Barry noted. Got this at home best on the south wire with the Drake R8B, but probably heard in the car earlier with bits and pieces of PSAs. Thanks to Saul for spotting this (Jim Renfrew, Holley NY, 2157 EST Feb 15, ibid.) Hi Guys: Thanks to a Tip from Saul Chernos in Burnt River, ONT earlier in the evening, I have Logged a NEW TIS STATION on 1710. I did not hear the station when Saul originally reported hearing it, but I have been monitoring the frequency throughout the evening and they finally faded up with a decent signal for a few minutes after 2310 EST!! According to Internet Sources, this station is located in Hudson County, NEW JERSEY and utilizes 5 different transmitters located throughout the county. I'm not aware of the power on these stations but I'm sure it is relatively LOW!! It is part of the "Public Safety Pool" for Hudson County. This station is NEW for both the ULR and OVERALL LOGS and was logged on a ULR RADIO!! SONY SRF-T615 ULR BAREFOOT. ULR LOG TOTALS are now 985 Stations Heard: 1710, WQFG689, Hudson County, NEW JERSEY, Feb/15/12, 2310 EST, EE, POOR-FAIR, Heard at 2310 EST with Public Service Announcements. Mentions of "Brought to you by the US Dept of Public Safety" at 2310 EST. "For more Information call 1-800-??". PSA for "AMBER ALERTS" Mentioned Kids named "Amanda and Tyler" and "Call 911.....". at 2312 EST. ID as "WQFG689 Hudson County". NEW STATION, ULR # 985, LOW POWER TIS (Robert S. Ross, Ont., ibid.) 1710: see also UNIDENTIFIED ** U S A. ON THE NATURE OF DX ALERTS [this follows a very long and rather contentious thread I am not going to republish here, but you can soon figure out what went before from Scott`s comments. It is all in the open IRCA archives --- gh] I'm just catching up with the list here - Lisa's on her third hospitalization in three months, so I haven't had much time for DXing or for broadcasting lately. A few thoughts from this end: I think everyone in this very productive and civil conversation has a good point to make. As DXers, we want to have a way to notify each other of unusual conditions without having a "Heisenberg effect," if you will, causing that observation to change what we're observing. Saul is quite correct that some DXers will hesitate to post to a DX tip list if they know that the result will be an immediate notification to the station being observed that it's operating outside parameters. And as DXers, we have no particular obligation - certainly not a legal one, and only very questionably a moral one - to let stations know they're out of tolerance. At the same time, Paul's quite right, too, that we can be a little irrational sometimes in our attitude toward out-of-normal operation: it's fun to log a station like KHMO, normally a law-abiding signal, if a rare glitch causes it to be running day pattern at night...once. But it's no fun at all to have a KRHW or a KRXR blasting away night after night on day facilities. And of course as a broadcaster, I'm in general agreement with Paul and Gary Glaenzer (who's a friend of mine, too) that we strive to operate legally at all times. If I'm out driving at night and I hear WXXI on the west side of town when I shouldn't, yeah, of course the first call I'm going to make is to master control to make sure we're on night pattern. But having said that, I think that even as a broadcaster, I'm not sure I personally would have reacted to the DX-tip post as hastily as Paul did. It's not as though it's 1937 and the FCC is actively monitoring the AM band at night for out-of-tolerance stations. The Commission itself has made it abundantly clear through its enforcement actions, or lack thereof, that nighttime operation on the AM band is now largely up to AM stations themselves to police. I can't recall the last time I saw a citation issued for one-time night operation with day facilities. The only stations that get busted these days, and only inconsistently, are those that abuse the rules on an ongoing basis and, in the process, cause interference to another station that's sufficiently motivated to complain about it. Even then, it can be hard to get the FCC's attention. There's a daytimer on 1370 in Pennsylvania that tends to leave its day power running all night on a routine basis, nibbling away at our night coverage here in Rochester, but years of complaints have done little to get it to stop. So if the FCC manifestly doesn't care about the pollution of the AM band (and Canada cares even less; it was CHOK's former sister station CKTY 1110 that was notorious for day-pattern operation at night all through the 1990s!), do I as a little cog in the broadcasting wheel feel so personally motivated to protect the sanctity and purity of the sacred medium-wave spectrum that I'm going to go out of my way to let an engineer know within minutes of a DX-tip list posting that his station is being heard where it shouldn't? Unless it's especially egregious - say, it's the 1080 in Buffalo blasting away during a Red Sox playoff game on WTIC - I think my instinct in a case like that would probably be to see what beers are cold in my fridge, pop a cold one, check out the last period of the Sabres game on TV, and then maybe a couple of hours later I might drop a "hey, did you know your pattern didn't switch" line to the engineer in question...if you get my drift. The good guys like Gary will be certain to make sure it doesn't happen again the next night, and they're not going to face any FCC consequences as a result. The bad actors --- well, we know as DXers who they are, and if they're causing real harm to other stations, karma will catch up to them sooner or later, with or without our assistance. s (Scott Fybush, Rochester NY, 11 Feb, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. 99.7 MHz, FLORIDA, WBVL-LP, Buenaventura Lakes. 1910 February 11, 2012. Noted spotty though sometimes fair-good on SR-50 west of Orlando, near Pine Hills, with Spanish DJ, decent tropical Spanish vocals. No ID noted, but surely the one. Oddly, Buenaventura Lakes is not listed in the latest Florida edition of the DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer, despite a population nearing 30,000 per Wiki. Alternately spelled Buena Ventura Lakes by some sources, though the consensus is Buenaventura Lakes. Located in extreme northern Osceola County. Logged on the car radio (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Florida Low Power Radio Stations: http://sites.google.com/site/floridadxn/ dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 10,000 LPFM APPLICATIONS? --- Radio World February 10, 2012 http://www.rwonline.com/article/lpfm-applications/211774 Community media activist Jim Ellinger got the attention of the low- power FM community this week when he predicted there may be as many as 10,000 applications for new LPFM licenses when the expected window opens. He also wondered aloud whether the FCC servers would be up to the task. Ellinger runs a nonprofit, Austin Airwaves, based in Texas. He issued a press release saying he was told by a “previously reliable government source” in the Audio Division of the FCC in late January that the commission is “shooting for the fall” for the opening of an LPFM application window. “Another source outside the commission, long familiar with the LPFM issue, stated she thought that the FCC wanted to get ‘the process rolling before the presidential election,’” he continued. Ellinger speculated that there could be so many applications nationwide thanks to the easing of interference rules. But he also quoted his FCC contact saying, “We never know what a particular demand will be until we open a window. We have stopped conjecturing about how many applications there may be. … I have consistently under-guessed how many applications are going to be filed. I have stopped guessing.” He also quoted Prometheus Radio Project Community Radio Director Vanessa Maria Graber saying Prometheus favors multiple application windows for different regions “because of the limited number of engineers and lawyers who are qualified to help organizations apply … (But) regardless of whether or not the FCC will have multiple windows, groups should waste no time in preparing to apply for a construction permit.” Ellinger noted that the number of low-power stations awarded will depend in part on how the FCC resolves the translator/LPFM priority issue. He said a proposed rulemaking about translators is expected this month. Austin Airwaves has been an advocate for expansion of LPFM. Ellinger says his group “uses radio as a tool for economic and social development, and increasingly, to serve post-disaster communities, both in the U.S. and around the world.” (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. FCC SEEKS PIRATE-FIGHTING FUNDS Insideradio.com February 15, 2012 As part of the $346.78 million requested by the FCC for its fiscal 2013 budget, chairman Julius Genachowski is seeking $2.5 million to buy new radio direction-finding equipment to help the Enforcement Bureau track down more pirate station operators. An additional $1.1 million would be used to replace the aging trucks that are equipped with the equipment (via Mike Terry, Feb 15, dxldyg via DXLD) WTF!!!?? Many of these pirates are simply just broadcasting without a license and not victimizing any other radio service. Does the FCC have nothing better to do? How about getting the pirates off the amateur radio and public safety bands first? (Dan Hensley, IL, ibid.) I am being denied reception of legal broadcast(s) (re: victimized) on that channel. That puts pirates squarely in the same league as iBOC on an adjacent channel. What I find ridiculous, and greedy is the cowtowing to iBOC adjacent channel interference and the permission granted. A good example in the NE USA is WTIC 1080 and WBAL 1090. I'm sure other such examples abound. I would have to presume that the Internet broadcasts aren't drumming up enough attention. My two milliWatts (Paul S. in CT, ibid.) So the FCC would rather go after those sporadically broadcasting, usually 6900 to 6955 kHz (harming who?) while at the same time promoting all QRM all the time known as BPL. Go figure. 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Krist, ibid.) ** U S A. TWO AM STATIONS, TWO $10,000 FINES --- 02/14/2012 http://www.rwonline.com/printarticle.aspx?articleid=211816 Two AM stations, one in Pennsylvania, one in Ohio, face $10,000 penalties from the FCC in unrelated cases. The commission issued a notice of apparent liability to Taylor Broadcasting, which owns WJTB(AM) in Elyria, Ohio, for allegedly failing to maintain a management and staff presence at its main studio. It said agents visited to inspect in March 2010 but found the main studio locked and apparently empty. According to the FCC, a "Ms. Taylor" drove up and identified herself but told them they'd have to talk to a "Mr. Taylor" and gave them his phone number; they were unable to reach him or gain access to the studio. Later, after the FCC wrote a letter of inquiry, the company replied that its personnel do not work specific days and times, but rather are "scheduled as needed" - and that the agents should have pushed the entry buzzer, according to the commission summary. But when FCC agents returned in August, they again found the door locked, with no one answering knocks, and no entry buzzer. Taylor Broadcasting's claim that station personnel are "scheduled as needed" has not resulted in a meaningful management and staff presence at its main studio, the FCC has ruled. The base fine for such cases is $7,000 but the commission set the penalty at $10,000, saying Taylor's "continued failure to comply with the commission's main studio requirements even after being advised .demonstrates a deliberate disregard for the rules." In a separate enforcement action, the FCC has issued a $10,000 NAL to Curran Communications and its station WPAM(AM) in Pottsville, Pa., for problems with its quarterly issues/programs lists. The FCC said it visited in August of 2011 and found that the station was missing 20 quarterly issues/programs lists in its public file, all the lists since its renewal application was granted in 2006. "The agent asked the station's chief operator if any of the quarterly radio issues program lists were available," the FCC wrote. "The chief operator responded that the station does not maintain such records." In both of these cases the broadcasters have 30 days to appeal for reduction or cancellation (via Kevin Redding, Feb 14, ABDX via DXLD) Wow! I can't imagine a station leaving its main studio locked and empty on a weekday during business hours. Then they tell the FCC to ring the buzzer on the door the next time they come and when they came again the place was empty again and there was no buzzer on the door! Maybe a $10,000 fine will wake somebody up! I think even the Mayberry on TV was more lively than this place! 73 - (Todd WD4NGG Roberts, ibid.) Let's look at this a different way: Lately, the FCC has been handing out $20,000 Dollar + Fines for small violations such as missing I&Ps in the Public File and that sort of thing. The fine for Locking them out is $10,000 Dollars. So if you have not updated the Public File in a while, it is a much cheaper fine to just Lock the FCC Goons out of the studio. 73, (Kevin Raper, KJ4HYD, CE WCKI WQIZ WLTQ, ibid.) At least the FCC has SOMEBODY out in the field doing their job! But while they were in Ohio, they could have at least paid a visit to WDLR-1550. And by now, everyone in the Eastern and Central time zones who've heard WDLR (and that's a bunch) should know why. 73, (Rick Dau, South Omaha, Nebraska, ibid.) It`s even cheaper to run your station correctly and not get any fine at all (Kevin Redding, Crump, TN, ibid.) No, not when you count the Man-Hours you have to pay to run a radio station correctly. It is much cheaper to just pay the fine when or if an Inspector comes along. BTW, I do keep all 3 of my stations Dead Nuts Legal. It is a pretty bad witness if a Catholic Station breaks the law after all. 73, (Kevin Raper, KJ4HYD, CE WCKI WQIZ WLTQ, ibid.) Why not? A lot of stations do it overnights and all weekend, so what's the difference? The whole mindset of operating a radio station has changed since the "plug and play" thinking brought about by satellite, voice tracking, and computerized automation. I don't agree with that way of operating, but that is the reality of the situation. The FCC lets a lot of things slide. Who knows why? You need to remember that there is a close connection between WDLR Delaware and WQTT (formerly WUCO) just down the road in Marysville. Although they are not owned by the same people, the two owners are former partners in station ownership. There is something else the two stations have in common by the way they operate. WDLR is north of Columbus with a directional signal pointing south into the market. Naturally, they want to put a signal into Columbus day and night, so they tend to operate with daytime power at night. Similarly, WQTT 1270 has been operating on their night pattern for years with an STA that keeps getting renewed. The night signal points south and covers Columbus quite well. The daytime signal has a very sharp pattern generated by a 6 tower array pointing west, and that signal does not get into Columbus at all. The reason for the STA that allows them to operate on the much more loose 2 tower night signal that sends the signal into Columbus is that their directional array is in need of major repair, so the day pattern cannot be used. As I have mentioned before, just how long does it take to repair a directional antenna system? Why has the FCC kept renewing their STA for years? I don't know the answer, but you can be assured that as long as the STA keeps getting renewed, that antenna system will never be fixed. 73, (Kit, W5KAT, ibid.) From the article it looks like the FCC doesn't agree with that way of operating either, to the tune of a $10,000 fine! The article said the FCC requires some kind of meaningful presence at a radio station's main studio? I guess they were ticked that they were not able to contact the station owner or manager during their visit. It sounds like he deliberately avoided them. 73 - (Todd WD4NGG Roberts, ibid.) With reference to WQTT, what they told the Commission in their most recent request for an STA sounds plausible. They requested to run at the reduced power of 125 watts day and night while correcting the situation. The following is copied from the FCC site (Bob Smoak, Bamberg, S. C., ibid.) Viz.: Description: THE NEED FOR THE STA REQUEST [sic:] ICS COMPLTETED THE PURCHASE OF THIS STATION IN JUNE OF 2010. AT THE TIME IT WAS OPERATING UNDER A STA WITH 125 WATTS USING THE NIGHT TIME PATTERN BOTH DAY AND NIGHT. AFTER SOME ADJUSTMENTS TO THE ANTEENA SYSTEM WE COMMECED RUNNING BACK TO THE LICENSED PARAMETERS. SINCE THAT TIME WE HAVE DISCOVERED ADDITIONAL OUT OF PARAMETER READINGS/CONDITIONS. WE BELIEVE THE ISSUE RELATES BACK TO TWO COMMUNICATIONS TOWERS THAT WERE NOT DETUNED FROM THE ARRAY. THERE HAVE BEEN ISSUES WITH THE OWNERS OF THESE TOWERS COOPERATING TO RESOLVE THIS ISSUE. SEVERAL CONSULTANTS AND PREVIOUS STATION OWNERSHIP HAVE APPROACHED THIS SITUATION AND ONE CONSULTANT NOTED RERADIATION WHEN ALLOWED TO ENTER THE FEANCED IN AREA OF THESE TWO TOWERS. ONE OF THE TOWERS; ASRN 1013845 BEING OF SELF SUPPORT DESIGN, EXCEEDS 170' AGL AND APPROCHES 90 DEGREES ELECTRICAL HEIGHT AT 1270 KHZ. WE HAVE RECORDED 130 MV/M ON DAY PATTERN -235 MV/M ON NIGHT PATTERN ALONG THE SOUTH FEANCE LINE OF THESE TOWERS. IT IS THE OPENION OF THE CONSULTANTS THAT THESE TOWERS ARE CONTRIBUTING TO THE ON GOING ISSUES WITH BOTH THE DAY AND NIGHT PATTERNS. IT IS WORTH NOTING THAT THE POINTS EXCEEDING LICENSED LIMITS, BOTH DAY AND NIGHT PATTERNS, ARE BETWEEN 335, THROUGH TRUE NORTH, TO 115 DEGREES TRUE. WHAT WE HOPE TO DO IN THE NEXT NINETY DAYS IS DO VECTOR ANALYSIS AND A NON-DIRECTIONAL PARTIAL PROOF TO VARIFY THE RERADIATION THEORY AND MAKE A DETERMININATION HOW TO PROCEED TO 'FIX' THIS ISSUE PERMENTLY. WE ARE REQUESTING TO OPERATE WITH A REDUCED POWER OF 125 WATTS BOTH DAY AND NIGHT ON THE NIGHT TIME PATTERTN FOR A NINTY DAY PERIOD WHICH WILL ALLOW US TO SERVE THE IMMEDIATE MARYSVILLE AND SURRONDING AREA WHILE THIS WORK IS BEING PERFORMED. It may sound plausible, but this has been going on for years! At some point the Commission needs to draw a line on how much time is reasonable for such repairs. I don't know how far back you can find records for those STAs, but I am willing to bet it has been at least 5 years. If I remember correctly, the station ran on an STA the whole time the last owner had it. They have a 7 tower array that is undoubtedly expensive for a small market 500 watt station to maintain and repair, but the owners had to know what they were getting when they bought it. I'm surprised the station wasn't bought out and shut down by co-channel WXYT when they increased to 50 KW. 73, (Kit W5KAT, ibid.) Somebody has to be at the Main Studio to allow the public to inspect the Public Inspection File and answer the phones during normal business hours. I don't know of ANY radio station that is not at least partially automated. 73, (Kevin Raper, KJ4HYD, CE WCKI WQIZ WLTQ, ibid.) I'm not sure that is really the case in all situations, but I don't know if any of the rules have changed regarding public inspection files. We had an FM station here that was sold in the 90s. The physical location of the station (studio and office) was Westminster (north of Denver) but the city of license was Longmont. The rules at the time said the public inspection files had to be available for inspection in the city of license. When the legal disclaimers ran on the air to announce the filing for transfer of ownership of the station, it was clearly stated that the public inspection files could be seen at a legal office in Longmont. No mention was made of the files being available for inspection at the station in Westminster. I know that most FM stations that are operated miles away from their city of license do not maintain any physical presence at all in their city of license. In the cases I am aware of, the stations kept a public inspection file at the local library in the city of license. Of course, many FMs are licensed to places that are so small they don't even have a library. Maybe they just nail them to a fencepost. 73, (Kit W5KAT, ibid.) Now the Main Studio and Public Files have to be within 25 Miles of the City of License, but it is not hard to get a Waiver on that. 73, (Kevin Raper, KJ4HYD, CE WCKI WQIZ WLTQ, ibid.) Overnight and weekends are NOT considered regular Business Office hours and don't count (Powell E Way III, ibid.) Obviously, but my point was that since nobody needs to be at the station during those hours, why should it be necessary to have anyone there at all now? Many stations are set up to have everything from the programming to the transmitter and EAS operated remotely, not that I think any of that is a good thing, so why should anyone need to be there just to make the public inspection files available? They could be kept off site at a local library or government office, or even the local fire station. 73, (Kit W5KAT, ibid.) You can get a Main Studio Waiver. WLTQ and WQIZ have that and the Public File for those Stations are located at the Studio of Co-Owned WCKI. It is not hard to do that for Non-Comm Stations. Even though we are not required to, we DO maintain a Staff in St George and Charleston to keep a local presence down there. 73, (Kevin Raper, KJ4HYD, CE WCKI WQIZ WLTQ, ibid.) At WKDK we are live from 6 AM something until after 1 PM, but someone is here until 6 PM except when we have Newberry High School or Newberry College games, and that means someone is here later, that is until the game is over (Powell E Way III, SC, ibid.) That was exactly a point I wanted to make, Kit. There ARE stations licensed to something that is nothing, and beyond 25 miles even with the new rule. I'd be extremely curious what they are doing. KWYW-FM Lost Cabin, WY --- not really much of a town, more like a ghost town with not even a state highway running to it. Pretty sure there is no large town within 25 miles. Ownership is the same as ours at KEVA, and the studios are in Riverton. But Riverton is a long way from Lost Cabin. KDUT Randolph, UT: Randolph is about 30 miles from Evanston. There probably is a library in Randolph but it's a very small town but IS the county seat. So maybe KDUT's public files are at the courthouse? Studios are in Salt Lake City, UT. KNIV-Lyman, WY: Same situation. I believe there may be a public library in Lyman or in nearby Mountain View. Public files there?? Studios are in Salt Lake City. 106.1 - our old station that was sold to Marathon and later Bustos Media: Licensed here to Evanston. Not aware that their public files are anywhere here in Evanston. Studios are in Salt Lake City. On a related note: now that KEVA is stand-alone, there are only 2 of us. There's no sales-person. Just one guy that's full-time and does most duties throughout the day taking care of most programming duties and post office / bank runs, and me. I do the morning show and I am there from 7 to 10 am. The other guy does occasionally leave during the day but there's always a note on the door with his cell phone on it and an answering machine that gives out his cell phone and mine. So, I guess if the FCC showed up we could technically be in the same situation, however they should be able to easily get ahold of one of us. Me being the chief operator I would probably have to go up and visit with them. I would certainly hope they'd be going after all these rimshotters licensed to small towns in the area, but functioning as big market stations long before they come after us. We ARE serving our community of license. They are not. No way in hell that any of the above- mentioned stations are doing anything locally related to their COL and I just can't see any way they could have ANYTHING in their public files' "quarterly issues" section, at least not anything TRUTHFUL. I can't say our quarterly issues are up to date either but we do a lot for the community. It IS probably something I should take care of, and will, just to say we're all up to date. I can take pride in saying that we do it and they (others....FMs...rimshotters...) don't. With all the rimshotting going on with FMs I'd really like to know how the FCC can enforce any kind of "community of license" related issues like quarterly issues and concerns. I'm sure the situation is no different in any of the other big markets with rimshotters licensed to small or almost non-existent towns. Food for thought anyway (Michael n Wyo Richard, ibid.) I was just thinking about things like this, ownership/staffing rules, location rules, etc., and my opinion (which is of course subject to change without notification) is along the lines of: To qualify for 8 stations in a market (or whatever the current rule is), the owner, head managers & engineers, etc., should physically live within those stations' good-signal contours (for example 2.5 mV/m for AM, 54 dBu for FM, or whatever would be strong enough to stop a scan on a consumer-grade radio, and for night AM would be at least 30 dB above co-channel interference.) If they also own stations in other areas, the top-authority "his rule is as good as God's rule" person or two or three (chief engineer, general manager, program director for example) for that location should live within those station's good-signal contours explained above. In those other areas, ownership limits should be such that no more than 2 or maybe 3 stations have a signal strength higher than 3 dB above the lowest level atmospheric/natural noise for the fully- modulated carrier at any given receive point. In the "main" area where the head network owner lives, the fringe- signal simultaneous reception limit would be 10 stations at any one point. In no case should one entity control more than about 20% of the stations in one market, except that they'd be able to always have at least 1 good-signal station or 2 fringe-signal stations receivable at any one point (The above is only my opinion, though, and is subject to change.) (Steven pianoplayer, ibid.) ** U S A. WNEW ALL-NEWS RADIO STATION IS BOTH BOON AND BANE FOR D.C. By Marc Fisher Start off with attention-gripping theme music that alerts listeners to the top headlines. Add news items so short that the station is basically a headline service. Give your new all-news radio station a rapid-fire pace that makes good old WTOP sound like a grandfatherly storyteller. The result, WNEW, which debuted last month on 99.1 FM, represents both a step up for Washington and a sad truth about the news business. That Washington finally has a headline-news station in the style of those in New York and Philadelphia is yet another way in which our once-sleepy city — where old-fashioned, personality-driven radio shows (Harden and Weaver on WMAL, Don and Mike on WJFK) lingered much longer than in most U.S. metropolises — has ascended to the big leagues. We now have an urgent-sounding all-news utility to go with our world- class traffic, Major League Baseball franchise and revitalized city center. But did Washington — one of the country’s most news-addicted markets, up there with San Francisco and Boston — really need another all-news station? The city already had one at the top of the ratings, as well as in-depth reporting on public radio. (WAMU, at 88.5 FM, which airs National Public Radio’s news shows in morning and evening drive times, puts Washington third among the nation’s top 20 markets in the portion of the audience that listens to news on public radio.) WNEW, owned by CBS, does not propose to add deeper or smarter content to Washington’s news diet. Rather, it seems designed mainly to carve off a chunk of WTOP’s massive revenue — the highest in the nation — delivering more to the corporate bottom line than, say, just another music station. (Music on the radio, in contrast to news and talk, is in existential trouble, as younger listeners rely more and more on iPods, smartphones and music discovery sources such as Spotify and Pandora.) WNEW tells listeners it is different because it is truly all news, unlike WTOP (103.5 FM), which drops its regular format for a couple of hours each week for call-in programs featuring the governors of Maryland and Virginia or the District’s police chief. And WNEW promised from the start to focus more on suburban news, an implicit dig against WTOP for airing so much city news. In its first weeks, WNEW is adding a lot of headlines to the local airwaves but precious little meaning. Its menu includes noticeably more Maryland stories, including some Baltimore area news, which sounds odd in Washington. But if you don’t like a story on WNEW, it will often be gone in just two or three sentences — less text than this paragraph. That allows the station to air more stories per hour than WTOP — about 50 compared with WTOP’s 23, according to logs I kept during WNEW’s fourth week on the air. There are great similarities between the two stations. Both air 15 to 19 minutes of commercials each hour. Both deliver traffic and weather reports at least every 10 minutes. Both read summaries of stories from the Associated Press, The Washington Post and the Examiner. Both air business reports from Jill Schlesinger of CBS Marketwatch. Both do sports twice an hour. WNEW is leaner than the competition — eight reporters to WTOP’s dozen, a staff of 46 compared with WTOP’s 70-plus full-timers. On the big breaking local story of any given day, both stations will have a reporter on the scene. But WTOP, which was owned by The Post from 1949 to 1978 and has been all-news since 1969, goes beyond local headlines with an extensive Web site and features like those found in daily newspapers: food and entertainment reports, interviews on foreign or national stories by experienced anchors such as Bob Kur, a dose of wit and personality from reporters such as David Burd and Neal Augenstein. (Hubbard Broadcasting, a family-owned Minnesota company, bought WTOP from Bonneville International last year as part of a 17-station, $505 million deal.) WTOP starts each hour with a few minutes of national news from CBS in New York; WNEW’s top stories are notably more local, although it uses snippets from ABC Radio’s national and foreign reports later in each hour. WTOP’s architect, Jim Farley, says his station will stick to its blend of breaking news and deeper reporting, including investigative series, interviews with newsmakers, and stories from reporters such as Mark Segraves, whose coverage of D.C. government demonstrates years of experience on the beat. WNEW has suffered from early stumbles over local-place names and a lack of context in some reports. And the station continues to suffer from technical glitches, with uncomfortable silences around the dramatic, jampacked minute of headlines that launches each half-hour. Washington’s all-news competition is a reprise of a showdown that began in the 1960s in New York City. In 1965, WINS created the format WNEW has adopted. Under the slogan “The news watch never stops,” it tolerates little personality, analysis or commentary — defining elements at WINS’s crosstown rival, WCBS, the model for WTOP’s approach. The essence of the WINS format is urgency, which in New York is underscored by the sound of an old-fashioned teletype machine ticking away in the background 24/7. WNEW has no ticker. Its anchors and reporters do not inhabit that attitude of insistent urgency. They sound like they’d be more comfortable on the more relaxed WTOP, which is where three WNEW anchors once worked (Evan Haning, Chas Henry and Amy Morris). But the new station delivers the headlines, quickly and efficiently, which in the end is all it seeks to do (Washington Post via Brock Whaley, Kandahar, AFG for DXLD) http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/wnew-all-news-radio-station-is-both-boon-and-bane-for-dc/2012/02/01/gIQANaiH4Q_story.html­ lots of linx in the original story (gh) ** U S A. VHF Utes: 126.125 MHz, Overhead Mid-Michigan; 5:50 PM, 3- Feb; Much tfc, but not typical ATC stuff; "Delta 462 Tally Ho"; "Flight level 200 Delta 585", "696 Hotel Charlie 300". No sqawks. Here is Paul Dobosz' explanation of what this is: You're hearing the airborne half of the high altitude (above 18,000 ft.) communications between Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) & aircraft in the enroute phase of their flights. Midland sits in the boundary of Cleveland, Minneapolis & Chicago ARTCC's so you will hear the airborne portion of many of their frequencies. The ARTCCs utilize Remote Communications Outlets (RCOs) since their controllers sit in or near the cities to which they are named for. These remote transmitters & receivers are keyed remotely with the audio delivered to the ARTCC by fiber, microwave, or leased phone lines. The particular RCO that these aircraft are communicating with is located near the village of Pullman MI. The site is co-located with a VHF Omni Range navigational beacon (VOR) that defines a waypoint on one of the major jet airways. These sites are relatively low profile located in the middle of a farm field with antennas mounted on relatively low masts or towers. They cover a radius of about 150 miles at 18,000 ft. or higher. When you hear phrases like "tally ho" they are letting the controller know they see other nearby aircraft, that the controller has pointed out to them. They should utilize the more formal acknowledgement "Delta 1234 has the traffic (in sight)" or "Delta 1234 traffic not in sight", but the chatter gets somewhat informal in this more relaxed phase of the flight (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** U S A. We`ve had dense fog advisories lately, which ought to boost some area DTV signals. Feb 15 after 1600 UT, KSNW-45 Wichita KS is decoding part of the time, and I notice that the NBC Today show they are carrying is not the same as the one on KFOR-27 OKC OK. KFOR has the hour with Hoda & Kathy Lee, while KSNW has a previous hour with Al Roker and 2 YLs. Both of them show current CST in bottom strip. Checking the KSN schedule in Titan format at http://www.ksn.com/content/about/whatson/default.aspx we see why: they break at 15-16 UT for an hour of `Live with Kelly`, then play the final two hours of Today at 16-18 UT. I assume the original live airing of Today on NBC is at 12-16 UT, so the last part is one hour delayed in OK and two hours delayed in KS. Don`t expect to get any new news on these fluffier appendages. But the additional delay could be useful if one misses something important the hour before via OKC. Which is not likely to happen, as I never watch it intentionally anyway. The KSN schedule display also shows that one of their satellites is running a subchannel, and presumably only the one shown: KSNG Garden City on 11.2 with Telemundo. The Ensign/Garden/Dodge City market is unusual in that all three major-network relays of Wichita have managed to stay on their same VHF channels as pre-transition: 6, 11 and 13! Is this true of any other market? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN. 13765, Feb 9 at 1442, nice S Asian music, good signal from Vatican Radio`s Hindi Service, so may we assume there is something Catholic about the music? VR tries to sound secular much of the time [non]. 9865, Feb 13 at 1143, Vatican Radio, strong secret Sackville Spanish signal, someone on phone discussing radio in Spain and Latin America, 1144 ID as ``Radio Vaticana`` ending in -a, ``info de la iglesia y del mundo`` about PBXVI`s visit to Cuba and Costa Rica in March. 1146 said would be back (in new Spanish) within 6 hours (not on this frequency! Their B-11 schedule folder shows Spanish at 1730 is only on MW 1260 even tho it`s in the `Americas` target area sexion!), but then continued with holier stuff, saint-of-the-day, who according to the handy calendar they also p-mailed me, for Feb 13 is St. Catherine de Ricci. VG reception except for DRM noise from 9865-9875 New Zealand requiring some off-tuning to the lo side. Off after 1200 check, no more imaginary English appended nor a full half-sesquihour of Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See MAURITANIA [and non], 7250 vs 7245 ** VENEZUELA [non]. 13750, 1420 Dec 18, RNV relay via CUBA, YL talk, local singing, Spanish, 35443 (Michael L Ford, Staffordshire, Feb World DX Club Contact via DXLD) No, only RHC at that early hour; did you not check parallels? Just because the RHC website and copycats show RNV starting at 1400 Sundays does not make it so (gh, DXLD) See also CUBA ** VIETNAM [non]. 9400, Feb 12 at 1420, very good signal with love songs for Valentine`s Day, some in English, but announcements in Vietnamese. 1459 ID in English with music as ``Radio Free Asia, Vietnamese service`` to 1500*. It`s 100 kW, 285 degrees from SAIPAN. No jamming audible. At first I wondered if it could be FEBC in Chinese, but they finish with 9400 at 1400. And after 1500, FEBA takes over via Armenia to Afghanistan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** WALES. 24952-USB, Feb 13 at 1605, sufficient signal from Steve, MW0ZZK, call given fonetically, but not with each contact, who thinx the 12m condx are not very good, but his signal improves as he worx lots of TA signals I can`t hear, first one in Sulpher, Oklahoma, W5JO, then AA3AZ and VA3CME, all of which match his online logbook at http://www.hrdlog.net/ViewLogbook.aspx?user=mw0zzk Makes me long for BBCWS on 11m to North America like it was back in 1958 or so; Woofferton is nearby. However, the MUF is below 28 MHz, nohams on 10m. QRZ.com shows: MW0ZZK, Steve Redmond, QSL via EB7DX, Abersoch, Wales. See also UNIDENTIFIED CODAR on 25 MHz (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA [and non]. Hi Glenn, ZNBC1, 5915, Lusaka. Feb 13, 2012. Monday. 0257-0343. Lunda ?? (I'm hedging my bets on the language; EiBi says it should be Lunda, but on a day of such national importance as this, I wouldn't be surprised if they were using a more widely-spoken language. There are, I believe, 72 dialects spoken in Zambia, and Lunda is really an Angolan dialect spoken in Zambia as a minority language, mainly by immigrants and casual workers). Celebratory afro music and lots of mentions of the "Cup of Nations". Good. Jo'burg sunrise 0352. ZNBC2, 6165, Lusaka. Feb 13, 2012. Monday. 0258-0343. Afro music. The Zambians are almost unreadable at first, but clearly are ecstatic about their win last night over Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations. They still went over to the VOA at 0300 for "Daybreak Africa" (// 909, 4930, 6080, 15580). But at 0329, ID "Radio 2" and right back to football with "Zambia are the new champions". At 0330 ID "Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation" and back to happy afro music, football talk and "congratulations to the boys". More music and at 0342 "Radio 2". I gave up at 0343, but up to that time there were no interviews with the Zambian team; the interviews are on the BBC. (Maybe the Zambians were caught unawares, not expecting their team to win). Horrible SAH, with French talk and afro music in the background, both from Chad and occasionally completely displacing Lusaka. By 0330 Chad is beginning to fade out (apart from the het) as our local dawn approaches. I spoke too soon; back with a vengeance at 0340, so I give up. Jo'burg sunrise 0352.. [Note added for fans of what Glenn wisely calls "silly ballgames": The Zambian win will be widely regarded as a miracle in Africa, nowhere more so than in South Africa where our own national team Bafana Bafana (the boys, the boys) is generally regarded as a disappointment. The Zambians had to start again, from scratch, 19 years ago, after their entire national team, including reserves, was killed in a plane crash. Against that background, even silly ballgame sceptics like myself can understand the present wave of celebration in that country]. China. China Radio International, 6165 Beijing. Feb 13, 2012. Monday. 1725-1806. Needing festive programming I tune in to ZNBC2, but it isn't there. Nor is ZNBC1 on 5915. Strong s9+20 carrier on each, but no modulation. Chad is AWOL as well. I can hear an OM and YL in English very faintly in the background, JBA, which EiBi assures me is CRI in English to Iran, 1700-1800. Uh? Surely not?? Why would they do that?? [CIRAF is 40 for 17-18 on 6165, i.e. Iran and Afghanistan, where we supply plenty of English speakers --- gh] But it is China, they ID'd at 1754 "CRI" before going off air at 1757* as listed (by Aoki anyway, EiBi says 1800*). So where are ZNBC1, ZNBC2, and the bane of my life, Chad ?? It's an hour after sunset, they should all be there. Well, the Zambian carriers are, just no modulation. Must have been one hell of a party today. Just AWOL. Jo'burg sunset 1653. ZNBC1, 5915, and ZNBC2, 6165, Lusaka. Feb 13, 2012. Monday. Checked again at 1819, ZNBC1 is there now; ZNBC2 has just come on at 1822. I wonder what's going on ?? Both now good; still no Chad. Jo'burg sunset 1653 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Watched the game and it was a classic, absolutely wonderful. Well done Zambia (Mike Terry, England, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, All back to normal tonight. ZNBC1, 5915 Lusaka. Feb 14, 2012. Tuesday. 1606-1746. Tonga. Already there at 1606, unlike last night when it started modulating at just before 1819. OM with monologue, followed by YL with afro music and choir singing, then back to OM's talking. No obvious mentions of football tonight. Fair - poor, but getting better; still early. Jo'burg sunset 1653. ZNBC2, 6165 Lusaka. Feb 14, 2012. Tuesday. 1606-1748. English. Already there at 1606, unlike last night when it started modulating at around 1822. OM's talking, with mentions of local towns and neighbouring countries, presumably news / current affairs. Religious slot (christian) at 1718, send your gifts to Solwezi [a small town on the western copperbelt, don't confuse with Kolwezi, a city in the southern DRC]. Talking about miracles at 1737, still talking religion at 1747. Haven't heard any mentions of football, but to be honest it`s difficult to hear anything, and it`s getting worse. Poor, still early; but the het from Chad is present again, and there is unreadable talk in the background. Jo'burg sunset 1653 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Country ?? Station ?? 1233 kHz. Location ?? Feb 11, 2012. Saturday. 1833-1848. Arabic music and YL talking Arabic. Arabic fits for frequency, but not for any of the times listed in Aoki, the Euro-African Medium Wave guide (at least the edition I have) or DXLD (A11 or B11). I have never logged this one before. Poor. Jo'burg sunset 1655 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Likely 600 kW Monte Carlo/Doualiya/TWR Cape Greco, CYPRUS, but can`t find any language/relay schedule for it in WRTH, maybe scattered (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 1340, Feb 12 at 0649, for the moment atop the graveyard jumble, Dave with financial advice, call-in from Fort Wayne. Peaks ENE/WSW, no telling what but not my daytime dominator OKC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 1710, THE BIG Q (Presumed) PIRATE USA Feb/11/12 0345 EST EE Poor-Fair. Presumed to be the one here with Oldies/Folk/ Nostalgia type Music. I've heard them with ID several times on 1710 around this time of morning in the past. Oldies Music 0345-0353 EST. Male DJ said "We're Broadcasting from high atop the ????". at 0353 EST. Into song "I know I'll never find another you" by Peter, Paul and Mary. Old Hank Williams tune "Mind your own Business"... but not by Hank!! Into a New Orleans Barrel House Blues tune 0359-0405 EST. No ID heard on hour. RELOG (Seems to be from the WEST of me???) (Has anyone figured out where these guys are coming from???) 1710, The BIG Q, Pirate USA, Feb/12/2012, 0252-0300 EST, EE, GOOD. Older Rock Music 0252-0255 EST. Nice ID by Male DJ at 0255 EST as "Just enough Power to knock your socks off...You're listening to the Big Q". (Doo Wah Diddy was playing in the Background behind the Voice ID). Into more Music 0255-0300 EST. RELOG (Robert S. Ross, London, Ontario CANADA, ODXA yg via DXLD) Hi Robert, I caught this one too last night and I'm playing back the full recording as I type this via unattended recordings. Wow, what a signal! This station came on just before 0700 UT and was going by "The Night Watchman Radio Program" using a cheesy Arnold Schwarzenegger voice-over between an eclectic mix of songs, some "real", but many humorous parodies not quite matching the format of "The Big Q" (though some crossed over). From what I can tell, this is probably the same station but with a format change and name change to match. As always, it's very well produced and slick and always entertaining. Hats off to whoever this is, the production is excellent. Regards, (Tim Tromp, West Michigan, IRCA via DXLD) Heard here with Tom Lehrer Boy Scout song after 4 am, followed by Dr Demento. Then seemed gone abruptly, signal way weaker to west than Big Q usually is, not sure if this the same as Big Q (Saul Chernos / Burnt River ON, Feb 11, ibid.) Hi Tim: I'm not sure how long your recording ran??? But if it was still running at 0353 EST (0853 UT), can you please tell me what the DJ said then. I heard him say "We're Broadcasting from high atop the ???????" I couldn't copy that last word?? Are you able to hear what he said??? Thanks...ROB VA3SW (Robert S. Ross, London, Ontario CANADA, ODXA yg via DXLD) Here you go Rob: "Thank you for listening to the Night Watchman Radio Program. We're broadcasting from high atop the Constant Jammer Mountain Peak, with powers so big that you can see it from the orbiting space lab." My recording shows the station abruptly went off the air at 0940 UT during Dr. Demento as Saul noted. This has always been the case with the "Big Q" too, not to mention the odd broadcast time. After listening to more of the recording, I could pick out a few unique sound bites that I've heard on the "Big Q" before. Regards, (Tim Tromp, ibid.) Thanks Tim, I appreciate you filling in the Blanks on that partial ID I heard and confirming it was actually THE BIG Q, which is what I figured!! I was hearing them on a BAREFOOT Ultralight SONY SRF-T615 Radio, so the signal was not always strong. At times it was though! Some deep Fades and Noise at times. 73....ROB VA3SW (Robert S. Ross, London, Ontario CANADA, ibid.) I try to monitor 1710 kHz whenever I'm at the dials or in the car. Trying for years now to log this pirate without any success. My only logging on this frequency was actually an "NRC" station a few years back with Morse Code and sweep tones. I'm surprised that it's not more popular with pirates. In contrast, I've logged a half dozen pirates on 1610 kHz over the years. Maybe we could encourage the Big-Q to do a DX Test!!! I'll be happy to post the sweep tone files and Morse Code ID's online so that the phantom operator can download them without fear of revealing themselves. 73, (Les Rayburn, N1LF, AL, IRCA via DXLD) I also check 1710 when I am bandscanning on any MW radio, including in the car (when usually daytime) and never anything here either (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Steve Canney, QSL Manager di CFRX, ha ricevuto il mio rapporto d'ascolto cartaceo, ha riascoltato la registrazione MP3 su CD-R dell'ascolto effettuato il 30 gennaio 2012 dalle 06.55 su 6070 e non corrisponde alla programmazione dell'emittente canadese. Ovviamente gli ho già risposto ringraziandolo per il tempestivo e cortese riscontro elettronico. Faccio questo appunto perché quindi l'ascolto diffuso su queste liste o in forma cartacea non era relativo a CFRX e, dato che nella ricezione si sentiva qualcosa tipo sermone in inglese, non è detto che anzichè una parodia si potesse trattare di qualche trasmissione test da parte di un'emittente religiosa reale. Come ho detto all'amico Steve, farò altri tentativi e qui chiedo scusa per l'errata interpretazione di un ascolto. Grazie (Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova) - Italia, Feb 11, playdx yg via DXLD) The CFRX QSL manager (who is a DXer with ODXA) declined to verify Luca`s report of hearing a gospel huxter in English on 6070, 30 Jan at 0655. Maybe some religious station testing? I have noted nonesuch when frequently aroundtuning, including that date I was as close as 6518 a semihour earlier and probably swept thru 49m where nothing like this appears on the schedules (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [Later:] Ciao a tutti. Purtroppo (non per me) sono abbastanza tenace, anche nel radioascolto, così questa mattina alla faccia del freddo - ma neanche troppo - ho acceso il buon vecchio R7 Drake, verso le 0630 UT su 6070 kHz, in LSB con filtro 1.8 kHz e AGC off e nonostante qualche interferenza della Radio Vaticana su 6075 kHz ho registrato 32 minuti di ciò che era ricevibile, con uno dei miei registratori stick digitali. Questa volta, ovviamente in inglese, c'erano delle telefonate e in un paio di occasioni si è sentito discretamente l'annuncio Newstalk 10-10, quindi evidentemente una ritrasmissione di CFRB. In contemporanea a questa invio perciò un'altra e-mail (con allegati ben 15 minuti di MP3) nuovamente al QSL Manager Steve Canney, nella speranza che questa volta vada un po' meglio (Luca Botto Fiora, QTH G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova) - Italia, Feb 12, playdx yg via DXLD) He listened to 6070 again this morning and got a definite recording of ``Newstalk 10-10``. But what was that other station?? Oh oh, CFRX again refuses to QSL, and he blames this on the fake DXers from Italy who have made stations like CFRX too suspicious. He has obtained QSLs before from more cooperative stations with inferior recordings, such as Candela FM in Mexico who could recognize it as their station (gh) Ciao a tutti. Due ore fa ho letto la risposta al secondo rapporto d'ascolto inviato per CFRX 6070 kHz *ascoltata* questa mattina circa tra le 0630 e le 0700 UT e, nonostante alcuni riscontri effettuati nel frattempo fra la mia registrazione ed alcuni annunci filmati ed archiviati su YouTube che *presentavano delle similitudini* (ad esempio il jingle di musica rock durante il programma condotto da Mark Elliott e in onda - secondo il sito di CFRB - proprio nella notte di domenica durante il mio ascolto), la citazione nei dettagli di alcune parole e annunci di numeri di telefono, è stato scritto che nella registrazione non si capiva bene addirittura la lingua e che, con dispiacere (!?), anche questa volta il rapporto d'ascolto non poteva essere confermato. Scusate il mio stato d'animo lievemente avvilito e lo sfogo parzialmente OT, però io ero abituato a chi presso le emittenti dalle registrazioni riconosce persino le voci degli speakers, come ad esempio a Candela FM in Messico o a BBC Southern Counties Radio, nonostante segnali assai peggiori di quello ricevuto dal Canada e, a questo punto, comincio a pensare che il contenuto ascoltato su 6070 kHz dalle 06.55 il 30 gennaio 2012, ovvero *una parodia comica dei sermoni religiosi con il pubblico che rideva* corrispondesse esattamente a ciò che è in onda a quell'ora nella notte della giornata di lunedì da Toronto, ovvero 24/7 comedy come riportato sia nelle schedules del sito di CFRB/CFRX, sia nel sito della trasmissione. Inoltre, nelle ultime due settimane, nonostante l'inattività della Bielorussia su 6070, tutti I dubbi possibili e le ricerche quasi quotidiane in Rete per vedere se il 30 gennaio all'ora del mio ascolto c'è stato qualche test di emissioni in inglese non riportate su EiBi, Aoki ecc., nessuno ha segnalato mai niente, a parte il Brasile che di certo non trasmette in inglese. Devo per caso 'ringraziare' quelli che per hobby hanno praticato (o ancora praticano?) l'invio dei rapporti d'ascolto fasulli, alimentando la diffidenza, da parte delle emittenti, anche nei confronti degli altri? Per fortuna ho avuto la bella idea di conservare le registrazioni MP3 di entrambe gli ascolti, le terrò per ricordo fino alla fine dei miei giorni, nella speranza che un giorno qualcuno dall'orecchio più fine e giovane (del mio?) vorrà rassicurarmi che quella che ho ascoltato in due glaciali mattine invernali della Riviera di Levante su 6070 era... almeno lingua inglese. Credetemi, non è per il numero di conferme anche se è un po' la mia fissazione e ve ne sarete di certo accorti, ma per il fatto che uno sta lì a maneggiare filtri, PBT, notch, AGC, amplificatore, MFJ1026 per cercare di tirare fuori il meglio da 20-30 minuti di un segnalino da oltreoceano al limite del fade-out, far sapere alla comunità DX che anche nell'Italia "di quelli che mandano i fake reports" questo tipo di ascolti è possibile e questi sono i risultati. Mi auguro, per una sorta di tranquillità personale, che qualcuno scriva presto che su 6070 in realtà era qualcosa di diverso da ciò che sostengo io con dovizia di documenti sonori, ma è più facile che ci sarà chi dirà (o solo penserà): "se dicono che non l'ha sentita...". "De gustibus non est disputandum" (Luca Botto Fiora, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) Hey Luca, I agree they ought to QSL you, but you know you heard it, you have a definite recording, so why is it so important to get CFRX to say you heard it? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 6074, at 1300 on Feb 6 heard the Russian Army tactical callsign 2MTL in CW; partially covered by Radio Rossii till 1300*; in the clear after that. Thanks to Glenn for confirmation of callsign! (Ron Howard, San Francisco at Ocean Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6925-, Feb 12 at 0056, S9+18 pirate on AM with blues piano to 0058* after a couple notes of next song, no announcement (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Utes, Hamitures and other wierdness: 7076/USB, various Hamitures sending JT65 mode 'polytone' stuff. This mode apparently has been around for a long time but I've never noticed it specifically before. Odd sounding. apparently also used on 1838, 3576, 7039, 10139, 10147, 14076, 18102, 18106, 21076, 24920 and 28076 too. This, I heard from 0200 to after 0500 as I researched just what the heck this is! and dozens of stations popped in and out some very strong others right at the noise threshold. Here's what the waterfall spectrum looked like: [jpg attached]. Times as above, all on 4/Feb (Kenneth Vito Zichi, Williamston MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) So what kind of intelligence is conveyed by this; mere banal text which could have been plain CW? (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. On Saturday 14 Jan. at 0940 UT I heard nonstop African music on 9690, continuing after Family Radio’s s/on on this frequency at 1000. Test by RNM? (Maarten van Delft, visiting Costa Rica, DSWCI DX Window Feb 15 via DXLD) You mean Malgache? Likely just V. of Nigeria as scheduled, but may have been the new site also active on 15120 January 23 with music tests (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Hi there, hearing something on 12800 kHz at the moment, AM mode. There is a voice from time to time but my noise level is too high to understand. Anyone else hearing this? Anyone know what it is? 73's (Gilles Letourneau, Montreal Canada, Icom IC-R8500, 1612 UT Feb 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Could not hear it here. Maybe Sound of Hope? Could also be 2 x 6400 North Korea. Also a log in WDXC Contact reminds me that Europirate Radio Spaceshuttle International has used this frequecny, such as Jan 22 at 1509 in English, per Mike Barraclough (gh, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 15000, Feb 9 at 2116, intruding 2-way SSB in Spanish using weakish WWV/H as BFO; wolf-whistling and prolonged ordinary whistling included, forcing me to retune quickly to 10000 for the propagation info at 2118 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15245, 13/Feb 0103, YL seems to speak in Chinese. Modulation with distortion. Some cuts of the signal. The 0107 OM and YL talk. Sometimes seem like they're talking about amateur radio. Well, they talk and then only is the signal without modulation. No signal at 0110. Weak signal. Until 0116 no signal. Recording: http://www.ipernity.com/doc/75006/12189130/ (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, 12 14´S, 38 58´W - Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 25320-25480, Feb 13 at 1609, range of CODAR swishes while WALES [q.v.] is in below 25 MHz, but whence? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ ACKNOWLEDGED ON WORLD OF RADIO 1604: Dear Mr. Glenn Hauser, It is with great pleasure that I send you this letter. My name is Tomoaki Wagai and I am a Japanese listener on radio. Thank you for sharing your information of DXing every time. I can only offer you a beggary donation. Please use for your work. I would very much appreciate your work (with a donation to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702 USA) TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED ON SUBSEQUENT PROGRAMS: 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 (gh)) Thanks for a contribution from Chuck Ermatinger, MO (gh) Thanks for your continuing great work! (Robert AK3Q Gulley, with a contribution via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com) I was listening to Ted Randall's "It's Only a Test" broadcast on WTWW Sat. night and, boy, did he sing your praises! A SW DXer (I believe) from Montreal had called and they were talking about DX radio shows, and how they wished there were more. That's when Ted mentioned "World of Radio," which the listener also knew about. They both talked about what a great job you do, even with finite resources, and how well- connected and much-respected you are. Ted went so far as to call it must-listen-to radio for DXers and said folks should tune in. It was really great to hear. This probably went on for a good five minutes. I'm sure that, if you weren't actually tuned in at the time, and heard it yourself, you have at least heard about it from your many friends and contacts. But, on the slim chance you hadn't, I wanted to pass this along. The compliments were well-deserved, and I was really glad to hear them. I know what you've done -- and continue to do -- for his hobby. That kind of public affirmation was so well deserved (Bill Patalon III, Baltimore) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ The first two weeks of WRC-12 --- RSGB News http://www.rsgb.org/news/newsitem.php?id=1 Colin Thomas, G3PSM, is the RSGB representative on the UK Delegation to WRC-12. He reports here on the first two weeks of work. After two weeks of intense discussions, the 3,000 plus delegates at the World Radio Conference 2012 are slowly but surely coming to consensus on many of the agenda items. A number of items have been finalised, including agenda item 1.22 that looked at the subject of Short Range Devices. It was decided that no changes were necessary to the Radio Regulations with regard to this subject. Unfortunately no such consensus has yet been reached on agenda item 1.23, which proposes an allocation to the amateur service in the region of 500 kHz. After 12 meetings of the sub working group dealing with this matter, the segment 472-479 kHz has been identified as the most suitable band. This represents a very small compromise from the European proposal of 472-480 kHz. It is however a major compromise by those administrations and regional groups who proposed 461-469 plus 471-478 or 472-487 kHz. Despite this, and considerations taking into account the protection of aeronautical non-directional beacons, the Arab Spectrum Management Group and Iran still maintain a position of no allocation to the amateur service. This agenda item will next be discussed next Tuesday in a higher authority committee. Another agenda item taking up a lot of talk time is 1.15, which deals with allocations for HF Oceanic Radars. While not directly affecting existing amateur services, there have been discussions around a possible allocation around 5MHz. This is the frequency area in which many countries, including the UK, have agreed channels for the amateur service. The original proposal from the United States for a 200kHz allocation has been drastically reduced to a 25kHz allocation in this area, but discussions continue. Under agenda item 8.2, Future Conference Agenda Items, Cuba has proposed a 50 kHz allocation to the 5 MHz amateur service. This proposal was unexpected and has little support from other administrations; however, the International Amateur Radio Union has pledged their support and is lobbying administrations to support it. The conference still has two weeks to run and nothing concerning the amateur service has yet been decided. Colin Thomas is posting daily reports from WRC-12 on the RSGB website (RSGB News Feb 10 via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ ALL TIME DX LISTS The new all-time DX lists edition 2011 are now available from the Circle's web site at http://www.mwcircle.org Thanks to Andrew Brade for the wonderful compilation work. 73 (Herman Boel, 13 Feb, MWCircle yg via DXLD) viz.: For over 50 years the Medium Wave Circle has published interesting reports of long distance reception of faraway radio stations in its newsletter Medium Wave News. Over time this collection grew and the Circle began to distil these reports into compilation lists showing which faraway radio stations were being heard by listeners in the UK and Ireland. These lists became known as the “All Time DX Lists” even though they only really contain data since the 1950s to the present day. The oldest list summarises long distance reception of stations in North America, but similar lists have been created for South America, Central America, Africa and Asia. Before the 1980s lists were published infrequently but with advent of computers it became easier to compile data and lists have been published annually. Initially the lists were published in Medium Wave News or as paper supplements as they grew in size. More recently they have been published on an annual CD. The All Time Lists try to be a comprehensive record of every station heard and positively identified by listeners in the UK and Ireland. Of course this is an impossibility! There will be omissions and there will be errors, so we welcome updates and corrections even years after the event. North American DX List 2011 (PDF, 173 kB) Central American DX List 2011 (PDF, 70kB) South American DX List 2011 (PDF, 150 kB) African and Asian DX list 2011 (PDF, 85 kB) http://www.mwcircle.org/mw_alltime.htm (via DXLD) MEXICO TV DX ID TIPS / PRIMER Danny Oglethorpe has updated Feb 5 his primer on the complex and confusing Mexican TV scene: http://tvdxtips.com/primer2012.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UTILITY DX: SDRS AND SEVERAL SOFTWARE DECODERS - INTRODUCTION & COMPARISON Hallo - in the last weeks I had had the opportunity to try out several software for decoding digital signals, ranging from "free" to beyond 10.000$. I couched a comparison into an introduction into utility DXing, showing also some techniques on how to catch short-time transmission by software-defined radio, or SDRs. This 50-paged multimedial iBook "Utility DXing - A Primer" can be downloaded for free at: http://bit.ly/zCfvcQ There you find also a link to the same book as PDF, readable not only on the iPad but on every PC and Mac, but lacking videos. Up to now, at least one example of these videos had been placed on You Tube: http://youtu.be/5wunBBuspEA The publication is centered around the new Decoder Krypto500, and contains numerous comparisons with other software decoders, using hands-on examples with modes like STANAG4285, GW-FSK/OFDM and PACTOR-I to -III. It has been written also as an example to discuss the future of publishing test reports etc. in an easy-to-follow and transparent manner. The iBook has been written with software "iBooks Author" which easily allows for e.g. integration of multimedia. Comments & critics are highly welcomed. -- 73, (Nils DK8OK Schiffhauer, ExcaliburPRO, SDR-IP/GPS, W-Code, 2 x 20 m active quad loop (90 ), Feb 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO BOOKS - BOSTON, HARTFORD & 8 OTHERS If you haven't seen the "Images of America" books but you like radio history you might want to check this out. I just received my copy of the Hartford edition and it is really quite a nice piece of work! It is loaded with tons of old photos and an excellent (I assume, not read yet) history of radio in Hartford. From the publishers web site it looks like they have a total of 10 and growing. This publisher does all kinds of these books including once for cities and towns, sports and hobbies. I just happen to also have one for the town I live in and the town I grew up in. Love the old photos and info that is pretty well researched. The Hartford edition is pretty interesting to me in that the author (John Ramsey) is the guy who introduced me to the WTFDA in 1984 when I was in college and working at WWUH (where he was, and still is, the Chief Engineer). He also introduced me to Mike Bugaj, and what more can be said about that! Anyway, if interested check out the publishers web site and do a catalog search for "radio". http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/9780738574103/Boston-Radio-1920-2010 (Bill Nollman, Farmington, CT, WTFDA via DXLD) HOW TO QSL How do you get these QSL cards? What information, etc. do you send the station? Do you try to contact via email or snail mail your information to them? Thanks! (Matt Outlaw, Feb 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENINGN DIGEST) Hi Matt: Here is a general outline about QSLs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QSL I prefer to send a snail mail report where I can enclose return postage for the station in the form of mint stamps or International Reply Coupons. This is especially important for smaller stations in the US and worldwide whose budgets do not allow them to reply to every letter they get from overseas. Some DX'ers do have great luck and results from email, but I personally feel that is a little bit impersonal. I think that if you follow one of the major clubs, you will find many opportunities to learn more about the hobby than can br taught here in emails. 73 and hang in there, (Al Muick, ibid.) Recently I send my reception reports of broadcasting stations via eMail only and the radio stations answer me regularly. Usually I send with my reception reports also a file audio in attachment of the listening. 73 (Dario Gabrielli, North of Italy, ibid.) JAPAN PREMIUM R.I.P.??? Ciao a tutti. Nel messaggio di prima mi sono dimenticato di riferire che da gennaio sulla casella di Libero non ricevo più Japan Premium e il sito del Kanto DXers Circle non è più funzionante. Stop? Finito? Chiuso? Semplice curiosità. Grazie (Luca Botto Fiora, Feb 11, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) Come to think of it, I haven`t received Japan Premium this year either. For a few months, there was zero participation by Japanese DXers themselves, so they just duplicated stuff sent to many other lists, which got to be rather pointless. They used to have some good monitoring especially of clandestines, notably by Kouji Hashimoto. An inquiry to JP has not been answered (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ ARGENTINA. Re 12-06, LOL: ``Mina`` must be slang, for a woman? What means it exactly? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Exactly, "mina" means mujer in Rio de la Plata slang. I was referring to the female that put her voice to ID the vocal LOL time stamps. I was asking for LOL status, and ironically, not for the woman that IDed the station, as she should've passed away. As you see Condiglist turns very local, informal and humourous sometimes. 73, (Horacio Nigro, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But is ``mina`` disrespectful or dirty? (gh, DXLD) MUSEA +++++ HISTORY OF RADIO A nice graphical view of the history of radio is here. http://blog.sonos.com/culture/the-history-of-radio/ The discovery of radio in 1892 sparked amazing technological advancements, fundamentally guiding the development of how we communicate with each other and entertain ourselves. Use the infographic below to trace the evolution of radio from the very first frequencies observed by Tesla to the social radio phenomenon Turntable.FM. . . It would make a nice wall poster. 73 (Steve Whitt, Feb 8, MWCircle yg via DXLD) ENTREVISTA EN SABADOS GIGANTES A CARLOS TOLEDO SOBRE DIEXISMO. Jorge Isacc García Rangel 10 de febrero de 2012 16:36 Un video para el recuerdo. Se trata de la entrevista que le hiciese el animador chileno Don Francisco, al colega diexista también chileno Carlos Toledo Verdugo allá por el año 1990, en el programa "Sábados Gigantes" donde explica qué es el hobby del Diexismo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL0OUgPIa9g&feature=player_embedded Diexista Carlos Toledo (via Juan Franco Crespo, Spain, DXLD) FLASH - THE RADIO JOCK In the 1980s a brilliant radio guy by the name of Gary Thomas Bourgois created a series called Flash Frisbone Radio Ace. The series is about Flash, a radio jock who bounces from one station to the next. Some of you may remember that Jonathan Marks aired a couple on Media Network. The full series is now available from PCJ Radio. Special thanks to Dave Marthouse for digging up the series. http://www.pcjmedia.com/flash (Keith Perron via idxco.forum@groups.facebook.com via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) AUSTRALIAN'S FORGOTTEN RADIO PIONEER: THE AMAZING HENRY SUTTON ABC Ballarat, Victora, Australia By Jarrod Watt 12 February, 2012 http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/02/12/3428794.htm?site=ballarat A World Radio Day special on Ballarat's legendary inventor Henry Sutton and a claim he built the world's first portable radio; a new biography promises to upturn the recognised history of Australian telecommunications and reveal century-old secrets of his work for the Australian Navy. Instead of celebration or recognition, one of Australia's earliest radio pioneers was met with the threat of charges being laid by the Postmaster General - before being excused on the grounds that he was working secretly with the Australian Navy to develop cutting-edge radio technology. Henry Sutton's great-great grand niece and biographer Lorrayne Branch is determined to uncover the evidence of his classified work on long- range radio technology with the Royal Australian Navy, as part of her biography revealing the full extent of his contribution to Australian electronics and communications technology. Henry Sutton had already risen to prominence in the 1880s, inventing, innovating, demonstrating and (rarely) patenting technology related to telephones, light bulbs, dynamos, photo printing, and his most celebrated theory, in 1885 - of transmitting moving images via the 'telefane', which John Logie Baird would later use as the foundation for developing the concept of 'television' some 35 years later. Victoria's chief electrical engineer Walter Jenvy is said to have sent Australia's first wireless signal, a message stating "Hearty greetings of welcome from Queenscliff" to the escort ship accompanying the Duke and Duchess of York aboard the HMS Ophiry, sailing to Melbourne for the opening of the first Federal Parliament in 1901 - pre-dating Marconi's disputed broadcast of the letter "S" across the Atlantic by some months. (The response to Jenvy's message is quoted to have been "Thanks; but where's Queenscliff?") Australia's first radio "broadcast" is credited to George Fisk, who broadcast the Australian national anthem from one building to another at the Royal Society of NSW in 1919, nineteen years after the Brazillian priest Father Roberto Landell de Moura demonstrated the broadcast of his voice through an electromechanical microphone and a wave transmitter. But in early 1908, Henry Sutton, having returned to Australia and become a senior member of the family business, moved to Malvern on the east side of Melbourne, building a new brand new structure in his backyard which would have ramifications within the Postmaster General's office. "He put a radio tower in, which was about twice the size of the house, and it had 2,000 feet of steel cable... he had the world's record for the longest radio transmission during that time. Many people were trying to break his record..." says Lorrayne Branch, a descendant of Henry Sutton working on the biography of her great-great uncle. Having met with Nikola Tesla in London in 1892 while attending the legendary Serbian-American's lectures on the sending of wireless energy, Sutton had begun to work on theories of sending images wirelessly. It was work he already had a strong interest in; his previously documented inventions had included the development of technology to reproduce photos for newspapers. In 1906 Henry Sutton would be part of the official demonstration of wireless telegraphy between Queenscliff and Devonport, when a representative of the Marconi Corporation sought to convince the Federal Government it needed to buy the Marconi wireless telegraphy system. According to Lorrayne Branch, it was Henry Sutton's experiments in transmitting images wirelessly that brought him to radio and upon a new concept which she is still trying to unravel. "In this process he actually discovered a new form of [radio] wave... he came up with his Sutton system of Australian wireless. He immediately contacted the Defence force which conducted experiments. In 1908 they talked to the Great White Fleet as they were coming to Australia... Of course when the Great White Fleet arrived in Australia, they came knocking on Henry's door, because their wireless system was not that good..." While he was talking with members of the Defence forces about his new technology, Henry Sutton was falling foul of the civilian bureaucrats, who were considering prosecuting him for broadcasting without proper permits or licenses. "They spent two years in argument, letters back and forth and even threatening to put Henry in jail; this upset the apple cart with the Defence force and they actually considered at one stage giving him a commission in the force so he would come under their rule and not under the Postmaster General..." "I have a letter from 1909 from George Augustine Taylor ... he was writing about this event and how scientists of the day were being treated and ignored, and why there's no industry here because nobody wants to invest... he was actually talking about Henry because he had learned the Postmaster General was about to throw Henry in jail for discovering his wireless system..." she says. Henry Sutton was granted Australia's second ever Experimental Radio License by Victoria's Post-Master General on October 7, 1909. The photo attached to this article is of Henry Sutton with what Lorrayne Branch contends is the world's first portable radio - built by Henry in 1910, a decade before the world's first retail portable radios - the 'portaphone' - were marketed by the Bureau of Standards in Washington. Lorrayne's mission continues through the archives, piecing together the information about Henry Sutton's many inventions, including telephone handsets, cars, and his pioneering work with long distance radio transmissions. "Because a lot of it was top secret, we're still digging through all the records, because all the records were broken up... I have some clues... we'll learn more about the wireless system, because details were not disclosed to the public, although it was announced many times, nobody was told exactly how it works, and we're hoping to find that information." Lorrayne Branch is planning to publish the biography of Henry Sutton later in 2012, marking the centenary of his death. Edited audio and quotes taken from a conversation recorded live for ABC Ballarat with Jarrod Watt at the Ballarat Mining Exchange, May 07, 2011 as part of the Ballarat Heritage weekend (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Hi Mike, Thanks for posting this item. You might be interested to know that I did a 10 minute interview for ABC Ballarat Morning Breakfast program about ten years ago. Topic was focused on Shortwave radio dxing. (Ian Baxter, Australia, ibid.) THE VOA BETHANY MUSEUM PROGRESSES WestChesterBuzz (Ohio), 3 Feb 2012, akiefaber: "Voice of America, which sent its original broadcast overseas 70 years ago this month, will see backers of its first-built transmitting station begin fundraising this year to become a national museum. The impact of the local transmitting station was felt in 1944 when the building and its six 200-kilowatt transmitters were completed about a year after groundbreaking. The station was instantly able to broadcast news to Europe, Africa and South America. ... Currently, the old VOA Bethany [Ohio] Relay Station is undergoing approximately $500,000 worth of exterior restoration work that includes installation of a new roof and block maintenance on the rear of the building. Once completed in the spring, it will be up to the museum’s board of directors to raise approximately $12 million to make it a revenue generating landmark." (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV See USA: KSN ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See INDIA; KOREA NORTH; KOREA SOUTH; NEW ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ZEALAND; TAJIKISTAN; UKRAINE; VATICAN DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- IBOC See also OKLAHOMA: KFAQ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Re: WLW-700 HD Decode > As Kevin says, the fact you can't IBOC DX is the fault > of IBOC, not your radio. > I think the little plastic wire loops do a disservice to radios > in general and HD in particular. That little Sony wonder > tuner is pretty good even What I've found that works well for decoding HD on AM via distant skywave is to use a 6-in capacitor-tunable loop that these plastic loops can fit inside. Then you can resonate the coil EXACTLY to the tuned frequency, and the HD should decode if the sidebands are not noisy, and you're aimed directly at the station. I've been able to decode KFAB, WBBM, KRLD, and WOAI in HD from here near New Orleans, and in Los Angeles, used to be able to receive hours-long solid HD decode from KCBS in San Francisco all night long. The key is to exactly-resonate your larger loop so that the signal going into the small loop is perfectly symmetrical. Using the system locally will ensure you always have 6 bars of buffer and a stereo stream, too. Using this same setup, I used to decode C-QuAM from (then) WMAQ and WLS Chicago in full stereo from Los Angeles during the 80's when KDWN / KDXU used to leave the air on Sunday nights. That's 1800 miles for a C-QuAM signal... tripping the pilot detector (not forced). (Darwin Long, Buras, LA, ABDX via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ R.I.P. R. L. DRAKE --- NOW BLONDER TONGUE Blonder Tongue press release, 2 Feb 2012: "Blonder Tongue Laboratories, Inc. announced today that it has completed the acquisition of the business of R.L. Drake, LLC. ... R.L. Drake delivers innovative electronic communications solutions for cable television systems, digital television reception, video signal distribution, and digital video encoding. For over 65 years, R.L. Drake has been committed to developing quality communication products that enrich the lives of consumers." (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Drake was previously a manufacturer of amateur radio equipment and shortwave receivers, including the SW4A, the SW8, the high-end R8B, and others listed on this page. http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/commdisc.html (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) VIDEO DE HAGALO USTED MISMO: RECEPTOR SDR MULTIBANDA PARA HF [DIY] Con la intención de fomentar el uso de este tipo de tecnología y motivar la radio-experimentación he incluido unos videos que muestran el desempeño del receptor SDR barato en mi blog: http://swlcolombia.blogspot.com/2012/01/hagalo-usted-mismo-receptor-sdr.html 73 y Buenos DX (Jose Luis de Vicente T. - HK3ORT Feb 9, ODXA yg via DXLD) FREQUENCY ACCURACY INDIA, 9910.055, AIR Persian service, played subcontinantal film music at 1345 UT Feb 10. S=7-8. TX location is not precisely known. Because of the lousy information policy of bureaucratic AIR broadcasting organization. AIR is not a member of HFCC frequency registration group - anymore (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Febr 10 via DXLD) Wolfy, is every station off frequency? Isn't there any station say exactly on 9760.000???? Are the technicials sloppy in setting frequencies on their TXers?? (Victor Goonetilleke, via wb, ibid.) Good morning Victor, Let's say 90% of the international shortwave broadcaster are nearly exact on x.000 to x.004 Hertz rather even frequency. Depends also on availability of nearby standard frequency station access and possibility of precise hardware adjustment alignment on modern transmission units. Or in case of North Korean broadcasts the non-availability of exact and steady main power voltage, on extreme temperatures. On the other hand, even on extreme temperature regions like R Yakutia Sakha Yakutsk, R Magadan and Murmansk Monchegorsk in far Northern Russia, the frequencies in use are very exact. Yesterday in the 1500-1545 UT monitoring slot, I could hear also at least 70% of the remaining AIR 60 mb regional stations of nearly exact frequency, but reported only "the footprints" of the different frequency channels, or AIR station channels with co-channel interference by Foreigners. It's exciting and thrilling to have such precise hand tools at hand to narrow exact frequency to one single Hertz and according recognize broadcasters, -- when remember the BFO usage and counting down fiddling in the 60ties and 70ties. Some stories to tell about this matter. Each Perseus unit I used in past 3 years, have different alignment. Exact alignment should be done for 12 band separate segments, like MW, 2.5, 4, 5 MHz, as well as the various 49 to 13 mbands. Use standard frequencies for alignment like 60, 77.5 kHz, - known MW channels of M&B Germany, Russia, Japan, 2500, 3925 Nagara, 4625 Buzzer, 4996, 5000, 9595 Nagara, 9996, 10000, 11530 UKR, 14996, 15000 kHz. Set the Perseus browser to features, like Spect, Zoom, BW 6 kHz, Span 0.24 Hz, CF step 1 kHz. Nearly 99.9% of the Russian SW transmitter are on exact frequencies even these days, as well as trained and qualified personnel on the former URS/CIS states like Belarus, Moldova; similar to say about late Bulgarians, NHK Yamata, all M&B outlets at Nauen and Wertachtal, in CHN P.R. not all - some regionals in Tibet and northern China are odd -, but most outlets on air from most modern TX facilities are very exact on channel. Some odd frequency channels noted recently - or sometimes monitored for many years, are for example: Two of the nine Saudi Arabian 500 kW beasts are always odd channel, as well as a single unit at TRT Emirler, AIR Goa Panaji after refurbishing action, Saipan-MRA unit, VOI and RRI Jakarta 9526v and 9680v, many of the Taiwanese SW channels which reported extensively in past years, RAE Buenos Aires, Moroccoan R via Nador on 15 MHz, some Iranians, Vietnamese, R Tirana, TWR Swaziland, a row of US domestic religious stations. Not to speak of lots of odd domestic stations in Latin America, Canada, or ancient puppet former RIAS now DLF Berlin Britz Germany unit on 6190v. 73 de wolfy df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PERSEUS OR WINRADIO EXCALIBUR Any of you know of a review comparing and contrasting the Perseus with the Winradio Excalibur? Or does anyone have experience with either or both radios and are willing to make comments? I am especially interested in two things - being able to make timed recordings (TOH and BOH) and whether or not they can easily use my computers built-in sound card? Comments greatly appreciated (Neil Bell, KJ6FBA, Feb 14, NASWA yg via DXLD) Neil, I have both. IRT recordings, Perseus will, with external software, make timed recordings of an entire segment of the RF spectrum. The Winradio Excalibur (I have the Pro/G33DDC version) will record either spectrum or audio (in .wav format). However, the Winradio needs dedicated (their "Virtual Soundcard") software to record only audio to a 3rd party device, such as Total Recorder, a 3rd party NAVTEX decoder, etc. I am very comfortable with Total Recorder and its capability to record .mp3 in various bitrates v/s Winradios huge .wav files. To use Total Recorder with the Excalibur, I would need Winradio`s "Virtual Soundcard" software: http://www.winradio.com/home/vsc.htm They are both great receivers. I find that on SWBC DX, the Winradio recovers somewhat more audio than does Perseus. However, when DX'ing the MW bands, I am more comfortable with Perseus. My guess is that the close in, 2 kHz dynamic range is better than Excalibur (Chuck Rippel, Chesapeake, VA, ibid.) CITY WANTS TO BUY WEATHER RADIOS FOR THOSE WITHOUT The Joplin Globe Missouri By Debby Woodin February 9, 2012 Phil Jones had been working on a construction project outside his house all day on May 22 and was unaware that a tornado watch had been issued. Once he was inside, though, his weather radio went off, and he learned that a warning had been issued. His wife and son were not home, so he called them on their cellphones to convey the warning. He could not reach his son — he later learned that his son had left the city and was not in the warning zone — but he did reach his wife. “She was at Long John Silver’s” on Range Line Road, Jones said. She hurried home to College Heights, via Duquesne, thinking she would be out of harm’s way. She made it to safety with, as it would turn out, only minutes to spare. Her receipt from the restaurant was timed 5:31 p.m. At 5:41 p.m., a massive EF-5 tornado began to grind its way six miles through the city, destroying nearly 8,000 buildings including the Long John Silver’s where she had been. The storm eventually would be blamed for 161 deaths. Jones’ family owns the local RadioShack stores. That aside, he is personally sold on the value of using weather radios. “I guarantee if you were in that tornado, you would have appreciated it going off,” Jones said. That’s why City Manager Mark Rohr wants to distribute radios to all Joplin households that do not have one. The cost for that is estimated at $300,440. The city applied for money from the State Emergency Management Agency to pay for the project, but it was denied. Instead, the city has received a donation of $50,000 from the American Red Cross to buy some radios. Rohr told the City Council on Monday that based on census numbers, there are 20,000 households in Joplin. A telephone survey has shown that 58 percent of those households do not have a weather radio, he said. He said that would mean about 11,000 radios are needed to equip every home. He said he will ask for $250,000 from the Joplin Tornado First Response Fund to put with the Red Cross donation for ordering radios from Midland Radio Co. Rohr said a distribution program could be set up through the Joplin Fire Department. The City Council is to appoint a board of local residents to decide requests from that fund. “I think it is a very important program and is a project I have been committed to for some time,” Rohr said in an email about the radio distribution. “I think it is something that can provide Joplin residents some level of comfort as we head into a new storm season.” The city plans to distribute Midland Model No. WR-120. “They transmit 24/7 weather for your area,” said Keith Stammer, the emergency preparedness director for Joplin and Jasper County. “When there is a watch or warning, they will transmit that over the radio. You can program it for whichever counties you want — in our case Jasper and Newton counties.” One advantage of a weather radio is that it transmits the warning at the same time that it goes to the National Weather Service, Stammer said. “The big thing for the owner is it is up close and personal,” he said. “The tornado sirens are designed to warn people outdoors to go inside and seek shelter. Many times people will not hear the sirens when they are inside with the television or radio playing. But with the weather radio, you pay attention to that, and you go over and listen to what they have to say.” Additionally, the radios can be equipped with batteries so they can be carried into a closet or storm shelter for information delivery while people are taking cover. Jones said he prefers a more expensive model that allows the owner to select the specific types of warnings to receive, such as high wind, tornado or severe thunderstorm, rather than more routine ones such as a forecast, winter storm watch or flood watch. That cuts down on the urge to shut off the radio if it goes off too many times with irrelevant information, Jones said. “That has happened,” Stammer acknowledged. “There is no question” that some people shut off the radios and miss a vital warning. But the frequency of broadcasts is not necessarily a detractor if the radio owner takes the opportunity to be educated. “That’s not a bad thing that they have to listen to the watches because it makes them even more aware of the different kinds of weather and the weather situation surrounding them,” Stammer said. Rohr wants to get the program going soon. The official start of storm season is March 1. Rohr said the Fire Department will make a presentation at the next council meeting, which is set for 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 20, regarding weather notification procedures. “It is important for citizens to tune in that evening” to the television broadcast of the meeting, Rohr said. More information at: http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x290305565/City-wants-to-buy-weather-radios-for-those-without (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) FIGHTING ANTI-ANTENNA COVENANTS Amateur Radio Newsline, 3 Feb 2012, Bill Pasternak: "A petition to the FCC to extend PRB-1 exemptions to cover outdoor antennas in communities with Condition, Covenant and Restrictions has been filed with the FCC by Arizona resident Leonard J. Umina, W7CCE. ... Umina asks that special exemptions be applied to wire antennas so that simple rules exist in allowing for easier participation by youth and those who otherwise might be confused by complex regulation and court decisions. Umina also asks that Shortwave Listener and the commercial shortwave market be considered." (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) YESTERDAY VS. TODAY When I was a young man (1940s-50s) I was an avid SWL. I lived in a steel; and concrete public housing unit. (OK, we were poor.) I listened on a Hallicrafters S-38-D which was nothing more than a standard 5 tube "superhet" which consisted of the following stages: Mixer/IF Amp/Diode detector & first audio and final power amp for speaker. For power it had a half wave rectifier which used the house current. This was the standard line up for all table radios of that era. The only thing different with the Hallicrafters S38D was that the converter/oscillator had bunches of coils for the SW bands. It also had a circuit to allow BFO. As I said I lived in a steel and concrete box. My antenna (We had antenna restrictions too back then) was a wire thrown out the window at night and retrieved before dawn. My radio had NO RF amp. The antenna input went straight to the converter/mixer. In spite of all these limitations, I LISTENED TO THE WORLD! Now that I'm retired I thought I'd get back into SWLing. Today I own my own home in a small town, my radio DOES have a 1st RF amp and a antenna which is better than a wire tossed out a window. In spite of my superior conditions today I find SW a QRM nightmare! What the heck has happened?? In my "day" if an electrical device of ANY source, INCLUDING the power companies, caused accidental or willful RF interference with radio frequencies the FCC was ALL OVER THEM LIKE STINK ON POO! What has happened? Does no one enforce the law anymore? I'm getting to the point where I'll just use the AM & FM bands on my radio to listen to local music and talk shows (Tom, Feb 15, shortwavelistening yg via DXLD) Hi Tom, It`s true, the bands are a noisy mess today. I think it's the cable and cable modems in my case. They don't have to be particularly noisy if they are everywhere and close by. I know they are a terrible source of noise just from my own tests and bringing a portable radio near one. The only way I can hear anything on SW today is using loop antennas. I made my own, it's electronically tuned and the output is not even amplified. The different is night and day between other larger antennas. Often a station completely covered in noise is readable on the loop. But that is only part of the problem. Listening to SW bands years ago is not like listening today. There are still a few of the big players left but many broadcasters have left. Today the internet has taken over. Using a little free application like inLight Radio and I can listen to stations all over the world in perfect digital stereo. Using a free program like Second Life and I can sit in a virtual world with friends all over the globe and chat or play games. I still like my SW radio when I can hear stuff on it but I love my computer and the internet. I suppose if it was a choice between the internet and the noise, its a tough choice but its the noise, I would never give up my internet. If it's for the programming, they all stream on the internet now, even the ones that no longer use shortwave because of the huge cost of running 500KW transmitters (Billie Marie, ibid.) INTERNET KILLED THE RADIO STAR: THE MYTH BEHIND THE DECLINE OF RADIO Columbia Spectator By Ravenna Koenig February 8, 2012 Do you remember the first time you were a member of an audience? I can’t say that I do. It’s an experience so common that it’s difficult to pinpoint that initial moment. Being a member of an audience and sharing the common experience of listening has always been something to which people attach emotional significance. Hearing something at the same time as others creates a unique sort of communion: There is something electrifying about a collective gasp, a mass flinch, the prickled hairs on the arms of a whole group. This community of listenership—once composed of fellows gathered around a fire or contained within a hall—exploded in scope with the advent of broadcast radio in the 1920s, which allowed people in far-flung locations to connect simply through the act of simultaneous listening. In recent years, however, a trend toward individualization of the listening experience has emerged, as anyone who has been living in the pale light of an LCD screen has surely noticed. Pandora, Spotify, Rhapsody, Grooveshark, and other selective streaming stations have promoted a brand of radio shaped entirely by the preferences of the individual listener. This solitary, personalized listening experience has been widely heralded as the future of radio and the death knell for conventional broadcasting. Is this really the case? And if so, what do we stand to lose when the listener, the DJ, and the artist are no longer connected by the expansive community of radio, but instead isolated in their personal relationships to the technology of music production and consumption? A panel convened at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn on January 25 to discuss trends in radio today—specifically, how new technology is altering the listener’s relationship to music. The panel—which included a producer for Premiere Radio Networks, the assistant general manager of the independent radio station WFMU, the creative technologist for iHeartRadio (a Clear Channel Radio network that aggregates local radio brands), and the host of the Gunz Show— elaborated on the specific ways radio is adapting to the technology of the 21st century. . . [more] http://eye.columbiaspectator.com/?q=article/2012/02/08/internet-killed-radio-star (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 6 ARLP006 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA February 10, 2012 To all radio amateurs Solar activity was down again this week. In fact this is the third consecutive week in which sunspot numbers were lower than the prior week. In Propagation Forecast Bulletin ARLP003 we reported an average daily sunspot number of 116.9 for January 12-18, 98.7 the next week, followed by 62 last week and now 40.4 during the latest period. The solar flux forecast - which roughly tracks sunspot numbers; we don't have access to any short term sunspot number forecast - has also been lowered steadily over recent weeks. On Tuesday, February 7 the daily sunspot number was 24, the lowest since mid-August 2011, when it was 0 and 13 on August 14-15. Looking at the lower frame on the Solar Data Plotting Utility from WA4TTK (see http://www.craigcentral.com/sol.asp for a copy), it appears that we are down from a peak of activity late last year. You can see the same trend at http://wm7d.net/hamradio/solar/ toward the middle of the page, on the graph showing sunspot and flux values over the past year. In mid-January the solar flux forecast for February 17-21 was 165, which was important because the ARRL International CW DX Contest is on February 18-19. More sunspots and higher solar flux would mean higher usable frequencies, increasing the chance that 10 and 15 meters would give good results. By January 24 the prediction was down to flux values of 155 on February 11-13, 150 on February 14-19 and 145 on February 20-23. Then on February 4 the forecast went down again, with predicted flux at 125, 130 and 155 on February 11-13, 150 on February 14-19, and 145 on February 20-23. The next day the forecast said 125 on February 11, 130 on February 12-13, with the rest of the forecast unchanged from a day earlier. Two days later on February 7 was another downward revision, with flux of 100, 105, 110 and 115 on February 11-14, and 110 on February 15-24. A day later on February 8 it changed again, with solar flux at 100 on February 9-11, 105 on February 12, and 110 on February 13-24. The latest forecast (February 9) is revised upward, with solar flux of 105 and 115 on February 10-11,120 on February 12-13, 125 on February 14, 130 on February 15-16, 120 on February 17 and 110 on February 18-24. Predicted planetary A index is 8 on February 10, 5 on February 11, 8 on February 12-13, 5 on February 14-22, 8 on February 23, and 5 on February 24 through March 1. . . . Randy Crews, W7TJ of Spokane, Washington has an observation about recent solar conditions: "This bottom is the longest I can remember since I was licensed in 1964. Usually we have about 12 months of very low activity and the solar flux punches up over 100 in about 12-15 months from the cycle bottom. This time it took two-and-a-half years, from the August 2008 low until February 14 2011. This time last year the solar flux had not yet crossed 100. February 14 was the real breakout, as chartists would say. Past solar cycles have bottomed with a sunspot number of about 10-12. The sunspot number at the bottom of the past cycle was approximately 1.5! It's been a long, long dry spell for the higher bands. Looking forward to the 150 values!" Randy also notes, "Of all the winter months, February conditions are unique. February is a combination for winter and spring propagation, with increases in daylight of 3 minutes per day (at 49 degrees N. Latitude) and still having very low D Layer absorption. Daylight is approximately 10 hours in duration, and the grayline paths are almost a carbon copy of those in October. Propagation will change almost daily as spring approaches. It is an excellent time of the year to DX or Contest." Don't miss the excellent and thought provoking article about propagation in the March 2012 issue of QST, "Three Wrong Assumptions About the Ionosphere," by Eric Nichols, KL7AJ. Eric reminds us that the ionosphere is not spherical or smooth, and he explains how propagation through it is not reciprocal, or the same coming back as it is going out (via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) P.I.G. Bulletin 120212 Solar activity will remain relatively low. Slight shorter enhancement of activity level is possible since February 14. Numerous weak and exceptional isolated middle solar flares are expected. Geomagnetic field will be: quiet on February 16, 27 - 29. mostly quiet on February 17 - 18, March 1, 7, 9. quiet to unsettled on February 13, 15, 22 - 25, March 2 - 3, 8. unsettled on February 21, March 4 - 5. quiet to active on February 19, 26. unsettled to active on February 14, March 6. active on February 20. High probability of changes in solar wind which may caused changes in magnetosphere and ionosphere is expected on February 14, (17,) 19 - 20, 22, (28,) March (2) and 4. F. K. Janda, OK1HH Czech Propagation Interested Group (OK1HH & OK1MGW) e-mail: ok1hh(at)rsys.cz (via Dario Monferini, Feb 11, DXLD) The geomagnetic field was at mostly quiet levels for the majority of the period. There were a few periods of unsettled to active conditions at mid-latitudes with active to minor storm conditions at high latitudes, early in the week on 7 and 8 February. This activity was associated with solar wind speeds between 450-500 km/s and periods of southward Bz. Mid-day on 09 February, unsettled to active periods were observed at high latitudes due to the arrival of a co-rotating interaction region followed by a weak coronal hole high speed stream. From late on 09 February until the end of the period, mostly quiet conditions prevailed. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 15 FEBRUARY - 12 MARCH 2012 Solar activity is expected to be low with a slight chance of M-class activity until Region 1419 rotates off the visible disk on 26 February. Very low to low levels are expected to prevail for the remainder of the period. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at low to moderate levels. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at mostly quiet levels throughout the period, with the exception of any currently unanticipated future CME events. Increased field activity due to recurrent disturbances is expected on 18-19 February, 23 February, 2-3 March, and 7 March. ** Attention** Beginning Monday, March 12, 2012, the Weekly bulletin will now be issued and available on the SWPC web page every Monday morning by 1500 UTC. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2012 Feb 14 2216 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 2012-02-14 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2012 Feb 15 105 5 3 2012 Feb 16 105 5 2 2012 Feb 17 110 5 2 2012 Feb 18 110 8 3 2012 Feb 19 110 8 3 2012 Feb 20 110 5 2 2012 Feb 21 105 5 2 2012 Feb 22 115 5 2 2012 Feb 23 115 8 3 2012 Feb 24 115 5 2 2012 Feb 25 115 5 2 2012 Feb 26 115 5 2 2012 Feb 27 110 5 2 2012 Feb 28 110 5 2 2012 Feb 29 110 5 2 2012 Mar 01 105 5 2 2012 Mar 02 105 8 3 2012 Mar 03 105 8 3 2012 Mar 04 110 5 2 2012 Mar 05 110 5 2 2012 Mar 06 110 5 2 2012 Mar 07 105 8 3 2012 Mar 08 105 5 2 2012 Mar 09 105 5 2 2012 Mar 10 105 5 2 2012 Mar 11 105 5 2 2012 Mar 12 110 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1604, DXLD) Solar-activity forecast for the period Feb 17 - Feb 23, 2012 Activity level: very low to low Radio flux (10.7 cm): a fluctuation in the range 100-120 f.u. Flares: weak (1-10/day), middle (0-2/period) Relative sunspot number: in the range 35-95 Astronomical Institute, Solar Dept., Ondrejov, Czech Republic e-mail: sunwatch(at)asu.cas.cz (RWC Prague) via Dario Monferini, DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING or is it WORLD OF HOROLOGY ++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++ TIME FOR A CHANGE As an America-firster, I`ve just about had enough. The last straw was a breakfast cereal commercial I just saw in the afternoon, ``It`s morning somewhere --- China!`` so have some now? Current zero-meridian and dateline locations are totally fluxe, caused by British imperialism, putting GB in the ``middle of the world``. But as we all know, the real center of the world, er, Universe was and is Chung Kuo, so I have a modest proposal, which I am sure will be approved by the Politburo if they don`t realize the full consequences: Move the zero meridian to Beijing, and thus the dateline to the Atlantic ocean. This will put China where it properly belongs in the middle of things, and put North America at the *start* of each world day, rather than at near the end, which is where Europe will wind up, certainly deservedly. Hmmm, along with Brasil, but they`re uppity too, so that`s their problem. No more will stock markets begin their days in East Asia, but in East America! Everything we do will be first, and the rest of the world will be reaxionary, trailed by Old Europe. Why not? (Glenn Hauser, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###