DX LISTENING DIGEST 15-14, April 8, 2015
Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING
edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com
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[also linx to previous years]
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WORLD OF RADIO 1768 CONTENTS: *DX and station news about:
Australia, Belarus non, Bulgaria, China, Cuba, Egypt, Europe, Greece,
India, Iran and non, Iraq and non, Italy, Madagascar, Oklahoma,
Pakistan, Romania, Russia, Rwanda non, Saudi Arabia, South Carolina
non, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan and non, USA, Vatican
SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1768, April 9-15, 2015
Thu 0330 WRMI 9955 [1767 replayed]
Thu 1230 WRMI 9955 [confirmed]
Thu 2100 WRMI 7570 [confirmed, also on 15770]
Fri 2130 WRMI 7570 [confirmed; also no 15770]
Sat 0730 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio
Sat 1530 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio
Sat 1930v WA0RCR 1860-AM
Sun 0315v WA0RCR 1860-AM [confirmed at 0328.5]
Sun 2100 WRMI 15770 [confirmed, and not on 7570]
Sun 2300 WRMI 11580 [confirmed]
Mon 0300v WBCQ 5110v Area 51
Tue 1100 WRMI 9955
Wed 0630 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio
Wed 1315 WRMI 9955
Wed 1430 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio
Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v
Thu 0330 WRMI 9955 [or 1769 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
WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS:
Tnx to Dr Harald Gabler and the Rhein-Main Radio Club.
http://www.rmrc.de/index.php/rmrc-service/podcast/glenn-hauser-wor
ALTERNATIVE PODCASTS, tnx Stephen Cooper:
http://shortwave.am/wor.xml
AND ANOTHER PODCAST ALTERNATIVE, tnx to Keith Weston:
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Also via [but still not back in service]:
http://tunein.com/radio/World-of-Radio-p198/
OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO:
http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html
or http://wor.worldofradio.org
DAY-BY-DAY ARCHIVE OF GLENN HAUSER`S LOG REPORTS:
Unedited, uncondensed, unchanged from original version, many of
them too complex, minutely researched, multi-frequency, opinionated,
inconsequential, off-topic, or lengthy for some log editors to
manage; and also ahead of their availability in these weekly issues:
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/index.php?topic=Hauser
DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD? A lot more info, not all of it
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** ALBANIA. 9855 [sic], April 3 at 0128, R. Tirana IS, fair with
flutter, still no ACI or CCI, just storm noise to combat. All RT
broadcasts are 100 kW on 310 degree azimuth from Shijak, i.e.: Bern-
Paris-Cork-St. Anthony-Gaspé-Québec-Montréal-Ottawa-Toronto-
Cincinnati-Little Rock-San Antonio-Monterrey-Tepic, all within a
degree of that. Enid is about 5 degrees off, 315, but at this distance
should not make much difference in angle; our path does however go
further into the sub-auroral zone over the north Atlantic and sheer
distance weakens it compared to northeast America (Glenn Hauser, OK,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Regarding this log of a few nites ago, I have just noticed that the
frequency should have been 9850 at 0130 --- 9855 is the frequency I
did write in my original log, but I was probably wrong, altho it is
also possible that R. Tirana was wrong as has happened before (Glenn
Hauser, circa April 7, ibid.)
** ALGERIA. See IRELAND [and non]
** ANGOLA. 4949.75, 2020-2030 1.4, R Nacional de Angola, Mulenvos.
Portuguese talk by woman 15321 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, what I heard
recently in Skovlunde on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire,
WB yg via DXLD)
4949.75, RNdA, 1810, almost no audio defeating a strong S9+20 carrier,
2/4 (David Sharp, NSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ANTARCTICA. 15476.00, 2015-2050 1.4, R Nacional Arcángel San
Gabriel, Base Esperanza, woman and man talking in Spanish, music,
25332. Best 73 and Happy Easter (Anker Petersen, Denmark, what I heard
recently in Skovlunde on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire,
WB yg via DXLD)
15476, LRA 36 Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, Base Esperanza,
2005, 07-04,now on air with female comments in Spanish. 14321 (Manuel
Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Grundig Satellit 500, cable antenna, 8 meters,
dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ARGENTINA [and non]. 11710.73, RAE, 0325, surprised to find this
with good level, local music and talk by a man, best in USB to escape
het with weak unidentified station on nominal. 2/4 (David Sharp, NSW,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
11711-, April 3 at 0101, RAE is barely audible beneath the crackling
spur from 11780.1v BRAZIL (even worse on 11745 & 11815). These S
American neighbors are so out of it, they don`t know, or don`t care
that they have this pervasive problem. By 0327 during RAE`s English
hour it`s improved to poor, vs lite crackle, still not really
readable. Why is RAE so weak compared to huge RNA? Got to be running
*much less* than originally rated 100 kW, and no doubt inferior
antenna.
Also a JBA het from something properly on 11710. Of stations bothering
to register with HFCC (unlike Argentina & Brasil), that would be TWR
via UAE in Ethiopian languages at 0330-0345 only. The other collision
on 11710 would be Egypt, q.v. in Spanish at 0045-0200 but apparently
not currently using it. But they did part of last A-season (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ARMENIA. 4810, Armenia Public Radio, 1908, news or similar, into
Arabic vocals. 4/4 (David Sharp, NSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA. 585 kHz, 2WEB - North American Reception Reports Wanted!
Hello All, In these days when in practically takes an Act of Congress
(or Parliament?) to get a QSL from a transoceanic MW-DX station, David
Sharp (the program director) of 585-2WEB in Bourke, Australia is
asking for DX reports from North America. Since assuming his duties at
the "Outback Radio" station quite a few years ago David has only
received two reports from North America -- from Nigel in Alberta, and
from me (actually I never even sent him a report, but since he is a
member of our Ultralightdx group, he heard a `585-2WEB` recording from
one of my Cliffhanger DXpeditions, and sent me a verification letter
and bumper stickers out of the blue). For those of you with the
resources and ability to track down the 10 kW Australian station,
Dave's request is forwarded below:
``Hi Gary, Despite further enhancing our signal with several
improvements - including installation of a new Optimod running at
125%, we have only had a few TP reports and all from the west coast of
the USA and Canada. If anyone heard us in the Midwest or ECNA it would
be a record. FWIW - I have not issued any QSLs since your last
reception as reports from DXers are scant.
P.S. Liked your reference to the song by Boston! Sent from David
Sharp's iPhone`` (via Gary DeBock, WA, April 4, IRCA via DXLD) Re:
Hi Dave, 585-2WEB is always high on our priority list, Dave, but the
Kiwi stations almost totally hijacked the propagation last July! Even
the 2 kW Maori underperformer 585-Radio Ngati Porou showed up...
despite our best efforts to track down Outback Radio.
Anyway, I have "More Than a Feeling" that we will hear Outback Radio
again in August-- with a potent signal like it had on the Seaside,
Oregon beach in July of 2010 (probably audible all the way to Boston?)
http://www.mediafire.com/view/nnbd8qkn0u6cdqg/585-2WEB-1229Z071810PL380.MP3
73, (Gary DeBock, ultralightdx yg via IRCA, ibid.)
Thanks for the info. 2WEB 585 used to be not as common with 2 kW. I
QSL'd them back in the 80s or 90s (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, KGED
QSL Manager, ibid.) I QSLed 2WEB in 1992, but I don't think I've heard
it since then. It would be nice to give it another try this summer
(Bruce Portzer, WA, ibid.)
** AUSTRALIA. AUSTRÁLIA, 4835, VL8A, Alice Springs, Territ.º do Norte,
1931-1954, 28/3, inglês, noticiário até às 1935, rubrica de chamadas
de ouvintes; 25331. Recepção melhor em 30/3, pelas 1830.
4910, VL8T, Tennant Creek, Territ.º do Norte, 2131-2154, 30/3, inglês,
notícias, informação desportiva, às 2139, texto, música; 34332.
5025, VL8K, Katherine, Territ.º do Norte, 2133-2155, 30/3, cf. //
4910, mas apenas até à conclusão da informação desportiva, anúncios de
programação, texto, relato de Vanuatu; 44332 (Carlos L R de Assunção
Gonçalves, Portugal HF logs March 26-31, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA. 12085, Friday April 3 at 1255, RA is wrapping up
classical music, about an uncompleted Haydn string quartet. Shortly
outro as having been `Keys to Music`, so glad to know this token
classical show is back on SW. RA program schedule now defaults to
``London`` so I have to go to the very bottom of the drop down list to
put it on UTC! Ha! This sked is also unaware that KtM is on the air,
showing instead `The World` at 12-13 Friday, followed correctly by 13-
14 `Conversations with Richard Fidler`. So now I know more, and so do
you, dear reader, about what RA is doing than RA itself (Glenn Hauser,
OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Radio Australia, 9580, 4/3/15 (Easter holiday weekend). I enjoyed the
Keys to Music program at 1206 UT this particular morning. The entire
program featured fine classical music selections from the composer
Joseph Haydn and information about his life (Larry Zamora, Garland,
TX, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Following Friday, the time was shifted to
1306 UT (gh)
** AUSTRALIA [and non]. RA vs China Radio International 07-09 UT
0700-0800 on 17840 SHP 100 kW / 070 deg to EPac English ABC RA
0800-0805 on 17840 SHP 100 kW / 070 deg to EPac French ABC RA
0805-0900 on 17840 SHP 100 kW / 070 deg to EPac English ABC RA
0700-0900 NF 17840 KAS 100 kW / 174 deg to SoAs Chinese CRI, ex 17520
A-14:
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/radio-australia-vs-china-radio.html
IRAN vs AUSTRALIA, VOIRI/IRIB vs ABC Radio Australia in A-15:
1153-1450 on 11955 KAM 500 kW / 085 deg to WeAs Dari VOIRI/IRIB
1153-1450 on 12065 SHP 100 kW / 355 deg to EaAs English ABC RA
1423-1520 on 12085 AHW 250 kW / 026 deg to CeAs Russian VOIRI/IRIB
1423-1520 on 12085 SHP 100 kW / 030 deg to NPac English ABC RA
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/voiriirib-vs-abc-radio-australia.html
(DX RE MIX NEWS #904 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, April 07, 2015
via DXLD)
** AUSTRALIA. 15550, April 3 at 1242, Chinese, first thought maybe a
CNR1 jammer, but no het, and 1244 sign-off in English by RBA to 1245*.
Yes, HFCC shows KNX 100 kW, 340 degrees at 1140-1245 in Chinese
Mandarin except M-F 1140-1215 in Mcn, whatever that is – a tri-letter
nowhere in EiBi`s readme language list. Aoki translated Mcn to
Cantonese, which makes sense, but strange that whoever established
these abbrs. reversed the order rather than the more logical Cmn and
Ccn. EiBi`s list shows Cantonese is supposed to be CA, or [yue], as in
Yue.
15340, April 3 at 1257, RBA is on here, same transmitter as 15550?
With hymntune medley and ``This is Reach Beyond Australia. Our
programme on this frequency will commence shortly.``; fair with some
flutter and talk CCI underneath; 1300 signs on as to South Asia on
15340, additional slogan ``life-changing radio``, into language, CCI
gone but still flutter. Aoki shows the only other 15340 is ChiCom
jamming and Sound of Hope, which might be on until 1500 but not today.
11590, April 3 at 1325 is still missing, having initialized in the A-
15 schedule, so I go hunting for RBA elsewhere on the band --- and I
find it!
On unlisted 12075, fair and flutter, with hymn medley runup and IDs
again, 1330 opening to South Asia on ``11590``!! So now I know more
and so do you, dear reader, about what RBA is doing than RBA itself!
No obvious reason for abrupt replacement of 11590 a few days ago, no
collision noted here, but maybe there was one over there.
This and 15340 are the ones scheduled to go into partially separate
English half-sesquihours at 1445 to conclude each transmission. 12075
puts RBA right between Radio Australia and Radio Australia on 12065
and 12085, just to be neighbourly (and more noticed?). Had I known
that IBB TINIAN in Myanmarianese was already scheduled on 12075 at
1430-1500 per HFCC A-15 lookup later, I certainly would have checked
whether it`s still there with RBA colliding.
Ivo Ivanov later noticed that 15340 stayed on late today until 1600,
while 11590 was off since April 1, but he hadn`t found 12075. Extended
probably because of ``Good Friday`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
Extended transmission of Reach Beyond Australia on April 3
1445-1530 15340 KNX 100 kW / 310 deg SoAs English as scheduled in A-15
1530-1600 15340 KNX 100 kW / 310 deg SoAs English unscheduled, videos:
// frequency 11590 KNX 100 kW / 305 deg SoAs English off from April 1.
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/extended-transmission-of-reach-beyond.html
-- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, dxldyg via DXLD)
12075, April 4 at 1326 I check RBA 24 hours later, and here it is
again with medley leadup to S Asian transmission, good with some
flutter, and at 1330 again claims to be on 11590! I retune at 1429 to
detect whether there is a collision with IBB Burmese via Tinian as in
HFCC for 1430-1500. At first seems like there is, but no, was only own
RBA music mixing with talk, for from 1430 talk only there is no CCI.
1451 recheck, 12075 is off! By now, Aoki has 12075 instead of 11590
for RBA, but at 1330-1445 only, no English --- BBC Singapore in Urdu
is on 12075 from 1500 so that`s why, but where did RBA English go?
Still not back on 11590. I scan the entire 25m band but find it
nowhere.
The other S Asian service in English is presumably what is poorly
audible on 15340 at 1455 and will last until 1530? Not per Aoki, which
on this frequency now shows a gap from 1445 to 1515, then English at
1515-1600. Searching Aoki, there is no replacement for 12075/11590
English at 1445-1530. What I heard on 15340 at 1455 could have been
instead of RBA, SOH/CNR1 jamming up to 1630.
Time for another try at the RBA website for possible accurate update?
http://www.reachbeyond.org.au/site/DefaultSite/filesystem/documents/publications/Reach/Beyond/Australia/A15/Program/Schedule.pdf
No, it`s still ``V 1.0, March 5 2015`` [sic; a month old!] claiming to
run separate English at 1445-1530 on 15340 and 11590. But this is
labeled ``Listeners Edition`` --- so maybe it`s disinfo and they
really have an internal schedule about what they are really doing, not
to be shared.
BTW, in this part of my previous report I wrote 11580 instead of
11590, corrected: Ivo Ivanov later noticed that 15340 stayed on late
today until 1600, while 11590 was off since April 1, but he hadn`t
found 12075. Extended probably because of ``Good Friday`` (Glenn
Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Reach Beyond Australia 1330-1445 on new 12075, ex 11590, 1445-1530
deleted
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/reach-beyond-australia-1330-1445-on-new.html
-- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, dxldyg via DXLD)
Extended transmission of Reach Beyond Australia on Apr 3
1445-1530 15340 KNX 100 kW / 310 deg SoAs English as scheduled in A-15
1530-1600 15340 KNX 100 kW / 310 deg SoAs English unscheduled, videos:
// freq 11590 KNX 100 kW / 305 deg SoAs English is off from April 1.
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/extended-transmission-of-reach-beyond.html
Frequency and time changes of Reach Beyond Australia:
all: NF 12075 KNX 100 kW / 305 deg to SoAs:
1330-1400 Hindi Sat-Thu, ex 11590
1330-1400 English Fri, ex 11590
1400-1415 Chattisgarhi Sat/Sun, ex 11590
1400-1415 Malayalam Mon, ex 11590
1400-1415 Telugu Tue/Thu, ex 11590
1400-1415 Kuruk Wed, ex 11590
1400-1415 Marathi Fri, ex 11590
1415-1430 Tamil Sat/Sun, ex 11590
1415-1430 Bahnla Mon, ex 11590
1415-1430 Marwari Tue, ex 11590
1415-1430 Hindi Wed, ex 11590
1415-1430 Telugu Thu, ex 11590
1415-1430 Marathi Fri, ex 11590
1430-1445 Tamil Sun-Fri, ex 11590
1430-1445 Urdu Sat, ex 11590
1445-1530 English, ex 11590, CANCELLED
1445-1530 15340 KNX 100 kW / 310 deg SoAs English, till 1600 April 3
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/reach-beyond-australia-1330-1445-on-new.html
(DX RE MIX NEWS #904 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, April 07, 2015
via DXLD)
Reach Beyond Australia, wrong frequency announcement in English
1330-1400 NF 12075 KNX 100 kW / 305 deg SoAs Hindi Sat-Thu, ex 11590
1330-1400 on 15340 KNX 100 kW / 310 deg SoAs Hindi Sat-Thu
NOTE: 12075 is 20 sec. delay after 15340
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/reach-beyond-australia-1330-1445-on-new.html
(Ivo Ivanov, dxldyg via DXLD)
12075, April 5 at 1327, RBA with medley runup as usual, and 1330 sign-
on in English *still* claims to be on 11590. Good with some flutter
here, unlike 12085 RA. I didn`t, but Ivo Ivanov was also monitoring
15340 and found Hindi to be // but 20 seconds delayed behind 12075
(except Fridays). Sked for ``11590`` and 15340 does show the same
Hindi programming at 1330-1400, while Fridays is `Beyond Words` in
English and Hindi.
12075, April 6 at 1412, RBA in S Asian language, good with flutter.
Missed checking today at 1330, whether they still imagine they are on
11590. Has their program schedule been updated either? Nope.
12075, April 8 at 1327, good signal from RBA ID & IS prélude, 1330
sign-on to South Asia finally announcing correct frequency 12075
instead of 11590 which I had not heard since March 30, tho it may have
lasted a day or two longer. So it took about a week for them to catch
up to their own QSY: still announcing ``11590`` as of April 6,
unchecked April 7 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** BAHRAIN [non]. Ciao a tutti gli amici del gruppo! Ecco i seguenti
ascolti in onde corte fatti il 7/04: 9745, 7/04, 2040, Radio Free Asia
via Kuwait Px Chi 34533. 73 da (Nino Marabello, QTH Treviso, Italia,
RX: SONY ICF SW7600G, Ant.: esterna VHF azimuth 090, bclnews.it yg via
WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DXLD)
That`s rather inconvenient for nearby BAHRAIN on its well-known? SW
frequency (gh, DXLD)
9745, 1918, checking for Radio Bahrain and the frequency is no longer
clear this hour, covered by Firedrake. 4/4 (David Sharp, NSW, WORLD OF
RADIO 1768, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BANGLADESH. 15505, April 3 past 1400+ BB IS is still playing,
finally until very late mistimesignal ending at 1400:39. First time in
ages it`s been slow rather than fast, ending before 1400. Maybe had a
power failure and misreset the clox.
15505, April 4 at 1359-1400+, not even a JBA carrier detectable from
BB today to clock its mistimesignal, so suspect it`s off. + 6 MHz
matcher for fine tuning, 21505 Sa`udi is in well enough.
15505, April 5 until 1400:11, can barely make out the mistimesignal of
BB, still running slow rather than fast.
15505, April 7 at 1359, open carrier, poor with flutter, 1359:33 BB IS
starts; 1359:56 IS stops, but NO mistimesignal, just opening
announcement, and into Urdu theme music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** BELARUS. Belarussian Radio 1 in Belarussian from March 29 on new
frequency
0400-0700 NF 7255 MNS 125 kW / 072 deg to EaEu, ex 11930 in A-14
Radio Belarus Minsk from March 29 also on new frequency
1100-1400 on 11730 MNS 100 kW / 246 deg to WeEu Belarussian
1400-1600 on 11730 MNS 100 kW / 246 deg to WeEu Russian
1600-1800 on 11730 MNS 100 kW / 246 deg to WeEu Polish
1705-1800 NF 11930 MNS 125 kW / 252 deg to WeEu Polish ex 7255 in A-14
1800-1940 on 11730 MNS 100 kW / 246 deg to WeEu German
1800-1940 NF 11930 MNS 125 kW / 252 deg to WeEu German ex 7255 in A-14
1940-2000 on 11730 MNS 100 kW / 246 deg to WeEu German Tue/Wed/Fri
1940-2000 NF 11930 MNS 125 kW / 252 deg to WeEu German Tue/Wed/Fri,
ex 7255 in A-14
1940-2000 on 11730 MNS 100 kW / 246 deg to WeEu French Sat-Mon/Thu
1940-2000 NF 11930 MNS 125 kW / 252 deg to WeEu French Sat-Mon/Thu,
ex 7255 in A-14
2000-2020 on 11730 MNS 100 kW / 246 deg to WeEu Spanish Sat-Mon/Thu
2000-2020 NF 11930 MNS 125 kW / 252 deg to WeEu Spanish Sat-Mon/Thu,
ex 7255 in A-14
2000-2020 on 11730 MNS 100 kW / 246 deg to WeEu English Tue/Wed/Fri
2000-2020 NF 11930 MNS 125 kW / 252 deg to WeEu English Tue/Wed/Fri,
ex 7255 in A-14
2020-2200 on 11730 MNS 100 kW / 246 deg to WeEu English
2020-2200 NF 11930 MNS 125 kW / 252 deg to WeEu English ex 7255 A-14
2200-2300 on 11730 MNS 100 kW / 246 deg to WeEu Russian
2200-2300 NF 11930 MNS 125 kW / 252 deg to WeEu Russian ex 7255 A-14
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/03/belarussian-radio-1-in-belarussian-on.html
(DX RE MIX NEWS #904 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, April 07, 2015
via DXLD)
** BELARUS. Radio "Belarus" expands its presence in global media space
As BelTA learned from the press service of the BTRC chief media
holding of the country and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched a
joint project: all broadcasting radio "Belarus" is automatically
relayed in online at the Belarusian Foreign Ministry
http://www.belarusfacts.by
Visitors to the portal can now not only read, but also to hear all the
needed information about Belarus in eight languages: Belarusian,
Russian, English, German, Polish, French, Spanish and Chinese. With
the new Internet project jointly by journalists and diplomats will
contribute to the promotion of a positive image of Belarus abroad.
As the chief of radio "Belarus" Naum Galperovich cooperation with the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs - one of the priorities of the
international broadcasting. Information messages Belarusian Foreign
Ministry regularly heard on the waves and on the site of radio
"Belarus" in Belarusian, Russian, English and German. A new approach,
on the one hand, allows to increase of audience, and the other -
extends site http://belarusfacts.by
Radio "Belarus" has been working since 1962. The total daily amount of
the original broadcast today is 26 hours. In the broadcast of the
program are presented on the political, economic and socio-cultural
life of Belarus. belta.by (OnAir.ru via RusDX April 5 via DXLD)
** BELARUS. BYE BYE BELARUS --- För några år sedan besökte Bengt
Ericson och jag Vitryssland på inbjudan av Radio Belarus. Det var en
lyckad resa, vi blev väl omhändertagna och miljön i Minsk var angenäm,
en vacker stad med många parker och ett behagligt lugn.
Visst var vi medvetna om att vi befann oss i en diktaturstat, men den
föreföll vara av det mildare slaget. Vi beslöt av ta emot vår
kontaktperson på Radio Belarus, Larisa Suarez, för ett besök här i
Sverige, och genom fint samarbete mellan dx-are i Stockholm,
Norrköping och Småland blev också Larisas resa i Sverige lyckad -
reserapporten kan studeras I ett äldre nummer av Eter-Aktuellt.
Sedan dess har det hårdnat. Relationerna mellan Belarus och EU-
länderna, då inte minst Sverige, har utmärkts av friktioner och
konfrontationer. Ett annat irritationsmoment för mig som dx-are har
varit det usla samarbetet mellan tekniker och programfolk på Radio
Belarus. Påpekanden om stark överton från MV 1170 kHz föll inte
vederbörande tekniker på läppen - ingen åtgärd. Vanligt förekommande
avbrott i internetsändningen av Radio Belarus engelska program
lördagar-söndagar har föranlett många klagomål från min sida - även i
den saken har det varit segt. Och förslag om en repris vid lunchtid på
11730 kHz av kvällssändningen på engelska som hörs mycket dåligt på
kortvåg möttes av tummen ner.
Nåja, att det finns friktioner mellan tekniker och programfolk är
sannerligen inte ovanligt, Nils-Olof Franzéns bok Radiominnen ger
talande bevis på relationsproblem mellan Telegrafverket och
Radiotjänst på sin tid.... här i lyckolandet Sverige....
Men i fråga om Radio Belarus skulle det bli bara värre. När det andra
veckohelgen i följd inte fanns någon internetsändning av Larisas
brevlådeprogram rann sinnet på mig (efter att ha kollat att Minsk FM
och andra kommersiella sändare gick på webben men inte den statliga
radion) och jag skrev till Larisa att de som producenter och
presentatörer inte borde tolerera att sitta och jobba med program som
sedan inte går ut till lyssnarna - om så behövs borde ni protestera
hos A.L. själv, skrev jag. Och därmed hade jag tydligen gått över
gränsen. Mitt mail hade lästs av andra och setts som uppvigling!
Tänk att jag kunde vara så dum, trots många års kontakter och
förvecklingar med Enver Hoxhas Albanien! Tänk att jag inte insåg ännu
en gång att med en diktatur leker man inte! Det som hände var att mina
mail kom tillbaka flera gånger med notering av "Postmaster"
(=censuren) att adressen suarez@radio.tvr.by inte är unik!
Naturligtvis en ren lögn, dessutom klumpig. E-mail har ju gått fram på
den adressen tidigare. Larisa, tidigare gift med en latinamerikan, har
ett i Minsk troligen unikt efternamn....
Försök med radions allmänna e-mailadress misslyckades också. Där blev
svaret att mailet inte levererades "for policy reasons." Jo men visst,
men snarare "for political reasons"!
Så för min del är det "bye bye Belarus". Som lyssnare får man antingen
hålla god min i elakt spel eller finna sig i att bli blockerad. Efter
att ha stött mig med regimen i Tirana och blivit placerad i kylskåp i
åratal borde jag begripit det. Stor tok blir efterklok! (Ullmar Qvick
via NORDX, via RusDX April 5 via DXLD)
BYE BYE BELARUS
A few years ago, while visiting Bengt Ericson and I Belarus at the
invitation of Radio Belarus. It was a successful trip, we were well
cared for and the environment in Minsk was pleasant, a beautiful city
with many parks and a pleasant calm.
Sure, we were aware that we were in a dictatorship government, but it
appeared to be of the milder kind. We decided to take our contact
person at Radio Belarus, Larissa Suárez, on a visit here in Sweden,
and the fine cooperation between DX-ers in Stockholm, Norrköping and
Småland also became Larisa travel in Sweden successful - Trip Report
can be studied in an older issues of Ether-News.
Since then it has hardened. The relations between Belarus and the EU
countries, not least Sweden, has been marked by frictions and
confrontations. Another annoyance for me as DX-ers have been the vile
cooperation between engineers and software people on the radio
Belarus. Observations on strong overtone of MV 1170 kHz [2340 kHz?]
did not appear he technician on the lip - no action. Frequently
interruptions in Internet broadcast of Radio Belarus English programs
Saturdays-Sundays has prompted many complaints from my side - even in
the matter, it has been tough. And proposals for a replay at noon on
11730 kHz of the evening broadcast in English that sounds very bad
short-wave was met by the thumbs down.
Oh well, that there are frictions between technologies and programs
people are certainly not unusual. Nils-Olof Franzén's book Radio
Memories give eloquent proof of the relationship between Telegraph
Agency and Radio Service in its time - here in Lyckolandet Sweden.
But in the case of Radio Belarus would become worse. When the second
weekly weekend in a row, there was no Internet transmission of Larisa
mailslot ran the mind in me (after having checked that the Minsk FM
and other commercial stations went on the web but not the state radio)
and I wrote to Larisa to those producers and presenters are not should
tolerate sit and work with programs that then do not go out to the
listeners - if needed you should protest of AL myself, I wrote. And
thus, I had apparently gone over the limit. My message had been read
by others and seen as sedition!
Keep in mind that I could be so stupid, despite many years of contacts
and entanglements with Enver Hoxha's Albania! Imagine that I did not
realize yet again that with a dictatorship playing one does not! What
happened was that my email came back several times with the listing of
"Postmaster" (= censorship) to address suarez@radio.tvr.by not unique!
Of course, a clean lie, in addition clumsy. E-mail has gone up at that
address earlier. Larisa, formerly married to a hispanic, has an in
Minsk probably unique last name.
Try radio's general email address also failed. Where the answer was
that the email was not delivered "for Policy Reasons. "Yeah, but
certainly, but rather" for Political Reasons "!
So for me it's "bye bye Belarus". As a listener may either put a good
face on evil games or resign themselves to become blocked. After
having supported me with the regime in Tirana and has been placed in
the refrigerator for years should I understood it.
Large wrong becomes hindsight! (Ullmar Qvick through NORDX, via RusDX
in Swedish, run thru Google translate for English via gh, DXLD)
Instead of lamenting and accusing 'dictatorial regime' of all deadly
sins, why not snail-mail a registered letter with signed delivery to
the chairman or another high-ranking official at Radio Belarus?
it may be much more efficient to deal with such sort of issues
There is communications ministry of something, too, that must be
supervising the transmitting facilities; and they are to react to such
complaints in the written form (Leo Barmaleo, Moldova, DXLDYG via DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** BOLIVIA. 5952.42, Radio Pio XII, 1143, fair with local music, LSB
essential to escape 5955 slop. 3/4 (David Sharp, NSW, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** BOTSWANA. 909, VOA Relay, 1851, editorial about the Nigerian
election, // 4930. 4/4 (David Sharp, NSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BRAZIL. BRASIL, 5035, R. Aparecida, Aparecida SP, 2237-2248, 26/3,
noticiário nacional obrigatório A Voz do Brasil; 44433, QRM da R.
Educação Rural de Coari.
5035.05, R. Educação Rural, Coari AM, 2236-2250, 26/3, canções,
anúncio da freqüência, informações da hora, ao que se seguiu rubrica
de mensagens de ouvintes; 34432, QRM da R. Aparecida (Carlos L R de
Assunção Gonçalves, Portugal HF logs March 26-31, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BRAZIL [and non]. 11815, 11745 & 11710, April 4 at 0116 crackling
spurs from 11780.1v RNA/RNB. The 11745 one seems to be wider than
usual down past 11740, but it`s rather blending with splatter from
11730, now at 0118 VATICAN IS direct to S Asia at 0040-0200, the final
third-hour in English.
11745, April 5 at 0007, crackling spur from 11780.1v RNA/RNB, wide
enough to QRM 11740 station in Chinese? That would be CNR2 via
ubiquitous (see also CHINA) Lingshi 725 site, per Aoki, overlapping
with AIR Tamil via Goa.
11710, 11745, 11815, April 5 at 0600 still spurring away, poorly,
rather than nully.
11710, 11745 & 11815, April 8 at 0544, crackling spurs from 11780.1v
RNA/RNB still have not been eliminated (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST) See also ARGENTINA [and non]
** BRAZIL. 11935, Radio Brazil 2, March 30, 1129-1147 and 1430-1445.
excellent signal, S9+ Chinese ethnic music, F announcer, Chinese
language in the 1430 segment. Misidentified as CRI in an earlier
report (Vince Henley, 4306 Shelby Court, Anacortes, WA. Equipment:
Tecsun PL-380, JRC NRD-525, Drake R8B. Antennas are half-meter whip on
PL-380 and Alpha-Delta DX-Ultra installed broadside east-west, NASWA
Flashsheet April 5 via DXLD)
??? NO way RB2 is in Chinese. At the later hour, VOA Korean is on
11935; at the earlier, CRI in Russian, which could also include some
Chinese names or even lessons. Also, I don`t think ``RB`` in this case
means ``Radio Brazil`` --- altho it could easily be so misconstrued.
Short for the original callsign PRB2 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
11935-, April 5 at 0000, numerous ``RB Dois`` IDs with promos, PSA for
governo de Paraná, slogan ``a rádio que toca você`` (the radio which
touches you), IDs for ``AM 1430`` only, no mention of the three SW
frequencies! Unusually loud and clear signal, 42-56 dbu on the PL-880
and good modulation level. Slightly on the lo side, enough to produce
a LAH, which now would be very remnant CNR5 and/or RVA; and after
0045, Cairo (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BRAZIL. Brazil logs:
6040, RB2, 0925, presumed with threshold talk by a man, mostly
unreadable. 26 March
9565.05, SRDA, 0745, long winded sermon, // 9586.9. 26 March
9586.9, SRDA, 0735, sermon, fair signal but peaking to good level. 26
March
9645.38, Rádio Bandeirantes, 0730, lively conversation, into ads or
similar, fair. 26 March
9819.68, Rádio 9 de Julho, 0720, Brasopops, talk by a man, very good.
26 March
11764.72, SRDA, 0753, noted in passing and // to 31m outlets. Poor. 26
March
11780.11, RNdA, 0800, strong with news by a man. 26 March
15190.15, R. Inconfidência, 0709, tentative with threshold bits of
audio but never more than JBA. 26 March (David Sharp, NSW, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** BULGARIA. Vakarel Bulgaria History petition. NO to the destruction
of RPS "Vakarel", the symbol of Bulgarian Radio.
BULGARIA Petition. Sofia Vakaral history.
<https://www.facebook.com/save.vakarel/info>
Historical and technical information on the Vakarel transmitter.
Radio transmitter station "Vakarel" is located 2 kms from village
Vakarel (Ihtiman) and is situated at an altitude of 900 m. The station
was designed and built by the German company Telefunken specialists
after long research to find the best place for broadcast in the ranges
of long and medium waves. Very best features of the terrain and
location ensuring RPS "Vakarel" to 01.01.2015 one of the leading
country and Europe places in quality local and international
broadcasting.
On November 17, 1937 were carried out the first experimental
broadcasts, and on 8 December the same year the official Launching and
began regular operation of the station. With the start of broadcasts
of Vakarel in Europe begin to clearly hear emissions Sofia Radio
broadcast wave of 352.9 m / 850 kHz with power 100000 watt.
The antenna of this transmitter type Blaw-Knox, is a real technical
marvel, not only the time, but today. It has a diamond shape, high is
about 200 meters tall and weighs about 130 tons, it is reinforced with
four massive steel guyed. Of this type in Bulgaria has one antenna-
Stara Zagora-also built in 1936, but the Hungarian company Standard.
In Europe there are only two antennas-one in England and Hungary.
Transmitter's contemporary, the technician Ivan Pickles tells about
the construction of Vakarelska transmitter: "In 1936 year on a high
hill near the village began construction Vakarel ... Facing the big
spindle diversity antenna, 214 meters high, which ultimately rested on
a glass insulator stick with four strong steel ropes. Dug deep ditch,
which takes special high-frequency cable to the studio in Sofia. The
construction of the transmitter is held by the company-builder
"Telefunken", but in construction attended many of our workers,
technicians and engineers, including Eng. Martulkov, Eng. Pipev, Eng.
Kolarov."
Ing. Stanislav Martulkov gives a detailed description of the facility
in 1938 in year-on BIAD: "The location of the new transmitter is
selected after basic research-about 905 m. Above sea level, 37 kms
from Sofia, about 2.5 kilometers before Vakarel ... alarm antenna for
airplanes going through the revolving lights of a thousand watts, with
a red light, built 15 meters high masts on both sides of the antenna."
Eng. Gregory Uzunov describes antenna Vakarel "powerful transmitter
antenna near the village Vakarel built by "Hein-Lehmann" Berlin is an
iron mast structure with fish shape (wider in the middle of its
tapered at the ends) with a height of 179 meters. At the top of the
antenna is extended by a metal rod, which rises in height and 17
meters in such a way that the entire height of 196 meters. (In other
calculations height was 199.82 m). Conductor current serving four
flange beams, power antenna becomes the bottom of tubular wire."
Eng. K.Todorov: "From its center are tensioned steel cables (93 th
meter), four in number, in 60 mm thick, composed of 121 wires. The
base of the mast is concrete block, heavy 48 tons and blocks which are
nailed ropes are 67 tons apiece."
In the words of eyewitnesses lies only a hint of the colossal work on
the construction of a high-quality national transmitter. Work laid
with love and professionalism, sent waves of RPS "Vakarel 'homes even
English.
The transmitter of Vakarel is not affected by any natural disaster-did
not hurt nor earthquake or hurricane winds. During World War II
survived the bombing because it serves as a reference to the Anglo-
American airmen. After 1944, the national transmitter end Vakarel came
to be called "Transmitter Hristo Botev". Due to lack of spare parts,
the transmitter works with half power-50 kW. In 1950, the General
Directorate for broadcasting contract with Hungarian company
"Standard" for the repair of "Transmitter Hristo Botev". On February
24, 1954 the facility was put into regular ekspoatatsiya with renewed
power of 100 kW.
In 1984 vavveden in eksploatatatsiya Bulgarian transmitter development
of the Institute of heavy radio electronics (led by the famous
engineer. Hristo Bachvarov) with power of 40 kW, reset by means of
long waves with a frequency of 261 kHz, a frequency known to thousands
of Bulgarians and foreigners. The transmitter works until 2001, when
after one month break is replaced by a Russian type DSV-75 with power
75 kW, which is currently unavailable. This transmitter was delivered
to RPS "cape", but was never installed there. RPS "Vakarel" is one of
the 26 remaining operating transmitters of long waves in the world.
Broadcast programs can be heard here very well throughout the country
and in Europe, have a loyal following. (6. Januar 2015)
NO to the destruction of RPS "Vakarel", the symbol of Bulgarian Radio.
Radio transmission station "Vakarel"-78 year old pride of Bulgaria,
was stopped on 01.01.2015. Help save her from destruction!
<https:\\www.facebook.com/save.vakarel/info?tab=page_info>
<https:\\www.facebook.com/save.vakarel>
<https://www.facebook.com/notes/836355213074915/>
<https://www.facebook.com/save.vakarel/photos_stream?ref=page_internal>
Dear compatriots, On 1 January 2015 contrary to the interests of
thousands of listeners and national security were stopped long wave
transmitter 261 kHz in RPS "Vakarel" and medium-wave frequencies in
Gallikos Kilkis, Samuel, Kardzhali, Republic and Targovishte. Despite
these many listeners medium-wave frequencies were largely local
coverage predvatelyat in Vakarel had even internationally.
Currently this site with historic and strategic importance is about to
be liquidated following the fate of the majority of suspended radio in
recent over 20 years.
History of RPS "Vakarel" stretches back to back in 1934, when
specialists from the company Telefunken visit Bulgaria in search of
the most suitable location for broadcasting. After almost a year and
demand measurements, they stop at the height above the Sofia village
Vakarel. The location is ideal for a number of natural and
geographical reasons. In fact it is the best in the country. In 1936
construction began on the first transmitter and in nearby 1937 already
made the first tests. On 17 November 1937, the transmitter enters into
operation. And from that moment began the creation of a legend, fought
their way with her beautiful voice as hundreds of specialists,
engineers and native genius of radiodeloto and millions of listeners.
A national pride. Until this New Year's Eve, 78 long and turbulent
years.
The importance of the station is beyond doubt. Through its program of
Bulgarian National Radio reach thousands of listeners outside other
coating, whether or VHF television. Director General of BNR Mr.
Radoslav Yankulov in a gust of inadequate and incompetent fatal
modernism is going to war against the broadcasting of long and medium
wave. According to his statements it is obsolete technology, rejected
all over the world, too expensive for maintenance and generally
meaningless. According to him, Bulgaria has 98% coverage of the
country with the FM signal. He is even ready, in his words, a
financial scheme by which to buy the poor listeners VHF radios. The
truth, my dear compatriots, is much different.
Bulgaria is a mountainous country and a considerable part of the
population lives in the mountains. Despite the presence of several
dozens of regional and national radio stations in VHF range, due to
rough terrain their coverage of mountainous areas is very limited.
These areas are served until recently by twenty regional and 7
national radio coverage of the SG and ST.
These transmitters broadcast programs of Radio, plus news content was
provided by the regional studios of Radio, giving listeners an
interesting, diverse and relevant information for the region. Due to
the nature of the spectrum reached their voice not only to the most
remote corners of Bulgaria, but also to our compatriots abroad.
Bulgarian speech was reaching tens of thousands from the western
suburbs, the Bulgarians southern Romania, the thousands in Europe.
According to experts in the industry to achieve too VHF coverage of
98% must be built between 800 and 1,000 new FM transmitter, most of
them must be located in rugged terrain. Behind the promise of Mr.
Yankulov hide millions of BGN deals for construction of road
infrastructure, grid, microwave network and radio transmission
network. And it will come to the Bulgarian taxpayer tens of times more
expensive than the maintenance of all the destroyed and scrapped
transmitters SG and ST will be the peak of stupidity and
nekompetenstnostta, wastage of precious and needed resources. The cost
would be astronomical. Then he is ready to gift VHF receivers of all
poor listeners. If for example we put average supply wholesale price
of about 30 lev for receiver and modest Suppose that in our country
there are 100.000 people living in remote rural areas receive three
million lev, the price of electricity for RPS "Vakarel" for 16 years.
By what right Mr. Yankulov discriminates against those 100.000
Bulgarians in Bulgaria and thousands abroad?
According to him, the whole civilized world refuses mass stops
transmitters ST and SG. Therefore you in central Europe evening heard
over 25 stations of the SG and 90 CB? For this reason you constantly
modernize existing and build new facilities in the EU Member States?
There are several reasons:
1) Huge coverage with lower costs
The coverage area of a modern 100-kilowatt transmitter SG, suitably
located and having a good quality antenna system is up to 2000 km. The
annual cost of electricity would be about 127 546 lev. These are 17
cents per capita per year. The coverage area of this transmitter CB
would be around 400 km. Costs 1000 VHF transmitter would be
drastically higher.
2) high security communication channel
The radio can not be easily stopped. This is extremely important in
case of war, natural disasters and accidents. This is one of the main
roles of the national radio-to reach all in such cases. In a statement
Mr Yankulov expressed the view that it is best to listen to Radio on
their mobile phones via the Internet. Due to its high complexity and
multi-layered, his proposed transmission medium is the most
vulnerable, insecure and chaotic. Radio is extremely safe, in case of
disaster, accident or war, transfers can be organized by themselves
transmitting stations protected studios, and from pre-recorded
programs and others.
3) Extremely low cost and simplicity of terminal equipment
National Radio is a public service. It must serve the people of them
and for them. Although urbanization of Bulgarian cities, thousands of
our fellow citizens live in isolated and remote areas where food is
retrieved with a daily struggle with the ground for her gifts. Despite
the proven return to rural life, most of these listeners are elderly
and low-income. But almost all have a suitable receiver. In our
country there are still thousands of fully operable tube and
transistor radios.
Despite the claims of Mr. Yankulov last repeated on 19.01.2015 in the
morning of BNT1 that broadcasts CB of RPS "Vidin" of mediumwave 576
kHz reach all listeners in the country, this is not true. The
transmitter is located in a very inappropriate place for broadcasting.
Moreover purchased 400 kilowatt transmitter Thompson is poor and
causes a number of problems in the operation, which requires to work
with 200 kilowatts of power. Despite this power coverage area and
signal quality are far from sufficient for the country.
We are all aware of the financial, organizational and resource
difficulties for the state national media. Abbreviation of regional
programs is understandable. But the exclusion of only a transmitter
having a capacity for national coverage is not.
We appeal to all of you from the ordinary listener, to the members of
the parliamentary committee on culture and media! Let us not allow
mercantile tear everything built to destroy the little left of a once
proud our national radio. Let us save RPS "Vakarel" and turn it into
the main transmitter broadcasting center of Bulgaria.
We call for:
1) Purchase of the State of RPS "Vakarel";
2) Purchase and installation of a new transmitter SG from a reputable
supplier (e.g. Transradio, Gates or Nautel) with capacity of 50 kW in
the estimated annual cost of electricity by 63 773 lev or 9 cents per
capita per year;
3) Purchase and installation of new CB transmitter from a reputable
supplier (e.g. Transradio, Gates or Nautel) to power 100 kilowatts, at
an estimated annual cost of electricity from 127,546 lev or 17 cents
per capita per year;
4) preserving old Dvublokov transmitter DSV-75 as a reserve power,
proven in the toughest conditions.
5) Construction of new diplexer that will allow simultaneous operation
of two transmitters with existing antenna system;
6) Restoration of broadcasting program "Horizon" Radio station SG and
ST for the country and abroad.
7) Construction of the area of one of the residential buildings in the
station of a modern museum of Bulgarian radiodelo an information
center and a library. The museum is open for organized visits of
Bulgarian and foreign citizens, students from technical schools and
universities.
A good example of suitable transmitters are Nautel NX50 / NX100,
Transradio TRAM50 / TRAM100, and Gates Flexdivia 3DX50 / 3DX100.
These actions would provide not only 100% coverage for much less money
than those needed to build a grand network of VHF transmitters, but
also a safe, inexpensive and proven method to reach foreign audiences
from countries like Ukraine, Turkey, Egypt, Italy, Austria, Czech
Republic, Germany, Serbia, Albania, Belarus and others. All this can
be achieved with the vote of confidence of German experts, chosen
height of the village Vakarel as the best option for broadcasting in
the country, with the vote of confidence of the Bulgarian State again
be the master and guardian of a legendary station.
Only in this way Bulgaria's voice can be heard again from all its
podannitsi home and away.
<http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.peticiq.com%2Fsavevakarel&h=cAQFjshBT>
(via Wolfgang Büschel, April 2, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DXLD)
** BULGARIA [non]. Utwente hears no signal on 9525 at 1820-1845 UT.
Please check around the 31mb (or beyond?) in case there is an unknown
replacement for the Global 24 Saturday broadcast, which last week was
18-22 UT, starting with The Rock Pile at 18-20, Blues Radio
International at 20-21, G24 News at 2100-2130, World of Radio at 2130-
2200.
As I mentioned before, CRI Russian in A-15 is now scheduled from
Beijing site on 9525 at 19-21, which would make a big collision (also
Indonesia could be on 9526-).
I asked Jeff Demers about this and he says that Bulgaria gave them no
options for this week, so not sure if that means staying on 9525, or
nothing at all. It`s also not clear whether the previous WRMI
transmissions will be happening this weekend.
Rechecking Utwente remote at 1857, still nothing on 9525, but 9515 is
on with CRI prélude, 1900 opening Czech; back to 9525, and now it`s on
in Russian, bigsig and nothing else (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** CAMBODIA [non]. New frequencies of clandestine broadcasts in A-15:
CMN Cambodia Media Network Radio:
2300-2330 7510 DB 200 kW / 125 deg to SEAs Khmer Sun/Tue/Thu, ex 9945
in A-14 (Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, April 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
April 2: CMN Cambodia Media Network Radio in Khmer to SEAs 2328 on
7510 Dushanbe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FujKZuVO8o&feature=youtu.be
(Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CANADA. [Re 15-13]: Radio Canada International to return to air
Rudolf, Independente do partido no poder, acabar com a CBC seria o
máximo para os políticos. So não aconteceu ainda por causa da pressão
popular. Os políticos adoram a CBC quando são oposição; quando viram
governo, a coisa muda completamente. A morte está sendo lenta, atravez
da redução orcamentária ano a ano. Quanto à volta da RCI, é tão
improvável que nem primeiro de Abril ajuda. :^) Abraços, (Vince,
radioescutas yg via DXLD)
** CHINA. 1170, CNR1, 2043, on top of frequency with traditional
music, 2CH well underneath. 4/4.
1521, CNR1? 2012, sudden fade-up out of nowhere to take over channel
with ethnic music and very strong on peaks. 4/4,
1530, Zhejiang, 2018, well on top of 2VM with Classical Chinese music
and talk by enthusiastic woman. 4/4 (David Sharp, NSW, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** CHINA. 13980-, April 3 at 0453, CNR1 jammer, very poor, slightly on
lo side at least compared to 11980 TURKEY
13980, April 3 at 1253, CNR1 jammer, very poor; here it is again
13920, April 3 at 1254, CNR1 jammer, poor, so better than 13980. No
other OOBs found this hour up to 18 MHz
16100, April 3 at 1358, CNR1 jammer, poor with flutter
14870, April 3 at 1359, CNR1 jammer, very poor
14920, April 3 at 1359, CNR1 jammer, very poor but none further sought
as I am rushing to 15505 Bangladesh.
CNR1 jammers morning of April 4; none in the 18s or 16s but:
17900, April 4 at 1425, CNR1 jammer, very poor with flutter and ute?
QRM. Unusual spot; latest Aoki shows unusually precise frequencies:
17900.293 2330-1330 TWN * SOH Xi Wang Zhi Sheng Chi ? 1-7
I don`t try to measure it. At this time the only other 16mb signals
are 17790 WRMI, 17730 RHC, 17615 Cairo; not even the East Turkistanis
12870, April 4 at 1432, CNR1 jammer, good with flutter
12910, April 4 at 1432, CNR1 jammer, good with flutter
12980, April 4 at 1432, CNR1 jammer, good with flutter
13530, April 4 at 1434, CNR1 jammer, good with flutter
14870, April 4 at 1435, CNR1 jammer, very good with flutter
14920, April 4 at 1435, CNR1 jammer, very good with flutter
15970, April 4 at 1435, CNR1 jammer, good with flutter
15775, April 4 at 1435, CNR1 jammer, good with flutter
15115, April 4 at 1436, CNR1 jammer, very good with flutter, CCI
11785, April 4 at 1442, CNR1 jammer poor with flutter
11500, April 4 at 1443, CNR1 jammer, fair
11470, April 4 at 1443, CNR1 jamer, poor with flutter
10870, April 4 at 1444, CNR1 jammer, fair with flutter; none in the
9s, 8s or 7s
After logging all these I put one receiver on 14870 and quickly
recheck the others for synchrony: the only ones matching 14870 are
14920 and 11500; but I can`t be sure all the others are synchro with
each other.
[and non]. 17580, April 4 at 2353, poor signal in Chinese, must be per
Aoki, CNR1 via Lingshi, and in this case not a jammer!
11785, April 5 at 1350, CNR1 jammer with Sunday-evening cultural hour,
i.e. a Chinese (Peking?) Opera replete with hyper-soprano screeches;
also on numerous other CNR1 jammer (or non) channels on 7, 9, 11 MHz.
1354 spoken outro to the show.
18990, Sunday April 5 at 1357, JBA signal probably CNR1 but too weak
to be sure of a // match --- and another weak signal on 19010, so RFA
Tibetan via KUWAIT has faked out the ChiCom jammer? No, the Sunday 13-
14 hour of RFA is listed in Aoki as supposed to be on 19010; with
18990 on Weds & Sats; wake, up SARFT Jamming Command!
CNR1 jammers morning of April 6:
9155, April 6 at 1244, CNR1 jammer, poor
9200, April 6 at 1244, CNR1 jammer, fair
9230, April 6 at 1244, CNR1 jammer, poor
9280, April 6 at 1244, CNR1 jammer, poor-fair
9500, April 6 at 1245, CNR1 jammer, poor-fair
No full bandscan during this hour
15970, April 6 at 1416, CNR1 jammer, fair
16920, April 6 at 1416, CNR1 jammer, poor with flutter
16530, April 6 at 1416, CNR1 jammer, fair with flutter
17900, April 6 at 1418, CNR1 jammer, very poor, ute QRM
No full scan of 12-15 MHz. I think SARFT are still following the
strange protocol of jamming vs Sound of Hope: turning it off at top of
hour, and back on circa :20 after, but these are already on, early?
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
[and non]. 17705, April 8 at 1314, CNR1 jammer echoing and ruining
SAUDI ARABIA, but the real target is All India Radio, Chinese service
which has just moved here for A-15. Recheck at 1318, BSKSA in the
clear as AIR ends at 1315. [WORLD OF RADIO 1768]
18990, April 8 at 1317, very poor signal only here on this band, i.e.
the Wed & Sat 13-14 channel for RFA Tibetan via KUWAIT; can`t really
tell whether it`s that or a CNR1 jammer.
16100, April 8 at 1319, CNR1 jammer, poor with flutter. No other OOBs
found in the 17s, 15s, 14s, 13s or 12s. Yet the East Turkistani non-
jammer CRI services in French and English are in very well on 17560,
17630, 17650 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. 3900, Hulun Buir PBS, 1134, fair with talk by a man and
local music. 4/4 (David Sharp, NSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. 3990.00, 2315-2325 1.4, Gannan PBS, Tianshui. Chinese talk
under stronger Xinjiang PBS in Uighur 22422 (Anker Petersen, Denmark,
what I heard recently in Skovlunde on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres
of longwire, WB yg via DXLD)
** CHINA [and non]. 12055, April 4 at 2357, fair signal, S Asian
sounding? But mixing with `East is Red` Chicom NA, timesignal a
sesquisecond late from 0000 UT April 5, and then some Russian words?
Aoki shows the collision is this: CNR-17 Kazakh service from Lingshi
725 site starting at 2355, and FEBC Bocaue Philippines in Lu from 2345
to 0015, both daily. Signals add up to 47-53 dbu on the PL-880 (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA [non]. 1520, April 6 at 1242 UT, with KOKC off for antenna
replacement [see OKLAHOMA], CRI English with item about artificial
snow for skiing in the Siena Valley, clip in Italian, i.e. the 25 kW
daytime relay via KYND Cypress (Houston) TX. I was going to check for
// on 9570 via Cuba but during this hour it`s in Chinese. Our Enid
sunrise today: 1211 UT; in one week, 10 minutes earlier, closing in on
1200 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CONGO. 6115, Radio Congo, 1822, just caught fill music they
sometimes use at end of broadcast, plug pulled at 1825. Good. 2/4
(David Sharp, NSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CONGO DR. 5066.33, 1835, R. Candip, Bunia, DR Congo – talk in
French, mention Brazzaville. 242, 09/03 APs
5066.34, 1955, R. Candip, Bunia, DR Congo – long talk in French,
occasional Morse [? as QRM?], off 2016, 242, 07/03 APs
5066.34, 1951, R Candip, Bunia, DR Congo – continuous African music.
Off at 2015. 242, 14/03 Aps (Alan Pennington, Sheigra DX-pedition,
Sutherland, Scotland, UK, AOR 7030plus, multiple Beverage aerials,
April BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD)
5066.32, 1944, R. Candip, Bunia, Dem. Congo – very nice songs, final
ID by woman. Off at 2015 fair/good, 14/03, BOC (Giampero
Bernardini/Dario Monferini, Bocca di Magra, Italy Excalibur Pro,
Perseus; MaxiWhip 10m long, Wellbrook LFL1010 loop, ibid.)
5066.4, Radio Candip, 1743, fair with hi life, battling utility. 2/4
(David Sharp, NSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 6060, April 3 at 0445, RHC in English already: supposed to
stay in Spanish until 0500, now // 6165 and 6000, all of which are
undermodulated to the extent that copy is difficult with local storm
noise added to otherwise strong signals. 6000 is slightly better than
the others. Remaining frequencies all still heard at 0450 in Spanish:
5040 VG, 9535 P, 11670 VG, 11840 VG, 13740 VG. 6100 is not yet on; and
6090 PMS Anguilla is much louder than any RHC English frequency.
Time to check the online sked whether finally updated for A-15?
http://www.radiohc.cu/interesantes/estaticas/frecuencias
NOPE, as of 1650 UT April 3, still showing the old sked expiring in
March, which was not even updated for the DST shifts made March 8!
Could be that a few late frequency changes are about to be made within
10 days of the real start of A-15, as Arnie always takes his time on
that.
When I tuned in 6060 at 0445, the announcers were mentioning that
there are technical issues with their ``Real Audio channels``, which
of course aren`t Real at all. They would let us know when they are
back. Checked at 1655 UT April 3, I do get RHC to play on Windows
Media:
http://media.enet.cu/radiohabanacuba
15370, April 4 at 2357, RHC Cuban music, with big hum; wiggle that
patchcord!
11670, April 5 at 0008, RHC Spanish, VG level 54-59 dbu on PL-880, but
undermodulated.
5990, April 5 at 0013, CRI Spanish relay via CUBA is suptorted; //
15120 is suppressed but not distorted, plus hum which is missing on
5990.
15370, April 5 at 1314, RHC Spanish playing neat marimba song with
lyrix about ``las frutas que adornan la cruz`` such as mangos, a sly
reference to Pascua? 1317 opening ``Correo Internacional``, hardly,
starting with a Cuban listener, since they may safely contact their
own SW station, full addresses looking for penpals abroad. BTW, altho
Pascua is the official Spanish for Easter, they confusingly also apply
it to Xmas = Navidad.
15370, April 6 at 1410, RHC AWOL from one of its best frequencies;
still on 15230, 17730, 11760, 9640, but not on 11950, 11860, 9820 or
9550. More than a week after A-15 officially began, it`s about time
for Arnie to be making any seasonal RHC changes, and putting up a real
new schedule, but 15370 absence may just be a temporary anomaly. I
also make quick scans of 17, 15, 13, 11 MHz bands for possible
replacement without finding any. Still the old B-14 at
http://www.radiohc.cu/interesantes/estaticas/frecuencias
15370, April 7 at 1326, this RHC frequency is still missing. Old B14
sked is still on website, showing it at 14-16 UT, but from DST March
8, it really shifted to 13-15 UT.
15370, April 8 at 1313, RHC still absent; barely audible on 15230,
better on 17730, 9640, etc. No, website schedule still hasn`t been
updated beyond B-14 until March 7. Wake up, Arnie!
A-15 RHC sked effective April 11-12 via wb has few major changes:
Bauta site, 11-15 on 15730, typo for 15370? 15-18 on 11950 midday
frequency instead of 11760 (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DX
LISTENING DIGEST) No, BOTH 15370 and 15730 are on the new sked (gh)
** CUBA [and non]. 13605, April 3 at 1251, R. Martí, GB open carrier
is already on with brief tone test and silence, while I can also
already hear Cuban jamming underneath, but not yet building up to full
bore for the 1300- transmission.
13605, April 7 at 0546, R. Martí is long gone at this hour, but the
DentroCuban Jamming Command angrily keeps attacking its A-15 frequency
with pulse jamming, and irregular beeping more audible with BFO, like
the clip I previously recorded on 11930. In fact, 11930 is doing the
same thing now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ECUADOR. 75 Years of HCJB Shortwave --- On Easter Sunday, 1940, a
new radio station had just come on the air and was conducting its
inaugural broadcast with a new 10 kW shortwave transmitter. The
station wasn’t entirely new, but it had just installed the new
transmitter, and it now had a strong signal to North America. That
station was HCJB, the Voice of the Andes, in Quito, Ecuador.
Full article here: http://onetuberadio.com
Posted by: (Mike Terry, April 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EGYPT. 9315, April 3 at 0053, R. Cairo, poor, just barely modulated
with hum during scheduled Spanish
9965, April 3 at 0053, R. Cairo, good signal but open carrier/dead air
except for whine; Arabic frequency
12070, April 3 at 0054, R. Cairo, fair signal but suptorted modulation
in presumed Spanish --- but that`s not all!
11897-11913 or so, April 3 at 0102, huge extremely distorted FM blob
of mostly talk, but impossible to discern language, let alone a single
word. On second receiver I try to find a match with other 25m bigsigs,
11920 YFR/WRMI, 12105 WTWW, 12005 Vietnam/UK, 11870 WEWN, 11760 RHC,
but they are off the hook. Impossible to pinpoint center of this with
no specific carrier, but sounds loudest circa 11909. On PL-880 with
short random wire, dbu readings are 44-53. ``Modulation`` is very
dense, and a roar remains during pauses between words.
Altho there was too little mod to match with 12070 Cairo, I suspect
them as a well-known source of engineering malfeasance, so now I check
for a match on 9315 --- after listening a couple of minutes, I can
tell there is a match --- only by lining up the pauses. Then I also
confirm // 12070 to 9315. So this is a totally out of order (rather
than partially) ERTU transmitter. Not checked again until 0243 when
it`s off. It was however, still on at 0115 totally blocking any trace
of Sri Lanka 11905 and its mistimesignal. Tonight I am thwarted on
that! By 0243, SL is apparently finished with 11905 anyway (not in
HFCC).
So which frequency could this blob be scheduled for? Per HFCC A-15,
Spanish at 0045-0200 is over-registered not only for 9315 and 12070,
but also 9720, 9860, 11710, 11935, 12035, 12080, all Abis. So likely
closest 11935, except never used before while 12035 has been, both
unheard now. We`ll see if one of them is back in whack next time.
[and non]. 11897-11913, April 4 at 0110, no blob tonight from R. Cairo
as reported last night, a horrible wideband FMy distorted mess. So now
I try to figure out where it was coming from. Of the previously listed
alternative registered frequencies from Abis, 12035 is not on the air,
but on 11935, RB2, Brasil has some CCI making a LAH since ZY is always
off-frequency. 12070 is on as usual, very suptorted during Spanish
service. Recheck at 0145, I can now barely tell that the music under
Brasil is // 12070, so that`s it! But this 11935 Cairo signal is even
weaker than Brasil, nowhere near the level it was putting out as an
extremely distorted spur.
13850, April 4 at 0531, this distorted Cairo frequency now has wobbly
spurs at plus and minus 10, QRMing R. Japan in French on 13840 (Glenn
Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
New A-15 frequencies of Radio Cairo in German/French/English
1900-2000 NF 9665 ABS 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu German, ex 9410 A-14
2000-2115 NF 9665 ABS 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu French, ex 9410 A-14
2115-2245 NF 9800 ABS 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu English, x 9895 A-14
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/new-15-frequencies-of-radio-cairo-in.html
(DX RE MIX NEWS #904 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, April 07, 2015
via WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DXLD)
[and non]. 13840-13850-13860, April 8 at 0547, suptorted bigsig from
R. Cairo in Arabic toward N America on 13850 again putting out spurs
10 kHz above and below, the 13840 one messing with NHK French via
MADAGASCAR during this semihour only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** ERITREA. 7184.98, VoBME, 1726, talk by a man, HOA music, strong.
2/4 (David Sharp, NSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ETHIOPIA. 6030, Radio Oromiya, 1953, presumed, strong with HOA
vocals. 4/4 (David Sharp, NSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ETHIOPIA [and non]. CLANDESTINE Sagalee Radio Risala-ti, Radio
Risala International, April 3:
1830-1900 on 15165 secret / hidden site to EaAf Oromo Fri
Transmissions are jammed by Ethiopia with white noise digital jamming
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/sagalee-radio-risala-ti-radio-risala.html
-- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ETHIOPIA [non]. CLANDESTINE, Sagalee Radio Risala-ti, Radio Risala
International, April 3:
1830-1900 on 15165 secret / hidden site to EaAf Oromo Fri
Transmissions are jammed by Ethiopia with white noise digital jamming
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/sagalee-radio-risala-ti-radio-risala.html
(DX RE MIX NEWS #904 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, April 07, 2015
via DXLD)
** EUROPE. PIRATE-EURO. Abu Dhabi, 6290 AM, 0003-0023+, 03-28-15, SIO:
444. Mr. Black Bandit under his other name, played "Boots" by Nancy
Sinatra, "Son Of A Preacher Man" by Dusty Springfield, etc., not the
full songs but just clips. Talking and IDs by BB (Chris Lobdell, Box
80146, Stoneham, MA 02180 USA, Receivers: Eton E1, NRD-545; Aerials:
G5RV, 40 Meter Dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EUROPE. Free Radio Service Holland till 1500 UT on 9300.5 kHz
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/free-radio-service-holland-till-1500.html
-- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, April 5, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DXLD)
April 5: Free Radio Service Holland to Eu 1256 on 9300.5, parallel
7699.9 not heard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmuHpN3bljI&feature=youtu.be
Free Radio Service Holland to Eu 1325 on 9300.5, parallel 7699.9 not
heard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBt9QbbXCRY&feature=youtu.be
Free Radio Service Holland to Eu 1325 on 9300.5, parallel 7699.9 not
heard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBt9QbbXCRY&feature=youtu.be
Free Radio Service Holland to Eu 1400 on 9300.5, parallel 7699.9 not
heard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-xUex1OwE0&feature=youtu.be
Free Radio Service Holland to Eu 1428 on 9300.5, parallel 7699.9 not
heard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uerlNk6w8qo&feature=youtu.be
Free Radio Service Holland to Eu 1456 on 9300.5, parallel 7699.9 not
heard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S5IP3E9pfo&feature=youtu.be
Free Radio Service Holland to Eu 1458 on 9300.5, parallel 7699.9 not
heard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVnNcDWr6oY&feature=youtu.be
Free Radio Service Holland to Eu 1548 on 9300.5, parallel 7699.9 not
heard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKtxNEoZ5vo&feature=youtu.be
Free Radio Service Holland to Eu 1624 on 9300.5, parallel 7699.9 not
heard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrDUYeESIeg&feature=youtu.be
Free Radio Service Holland to Eu 1706 on 9300.5, parallel 7699.9 not
heard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjYi6fZkMJ4&feature=youtu.be
Free Radio Service Holland to Eu 1804 on 9300.5, parallel 7699.9 not
heard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfXAVjJzA4U&feature=youtu.be
Free Radio Service Holland to Eu 1902 on 9300.5, parallel 7699.9 not
heard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGsAzmMHYV8&feature=youtu.be
Free Radio Service Holland to Eu 1957 on 9300.5, parallel 7699.9 not
heard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHoXJIRmaV0&feature=youtu.be
Free Radio Service Holland to Eu 2000 on 9300.5, parallel 7699.9 not
heard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMpJLFF-6WU
(Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** FALKLAND ISLANDS. Sabotean el servicio de radio de las Islas
Malvinas | Malvinas
http://www.minutouno.com/notas/359223-sabotean-el-servicio-radio-las-islas-malvinas
(via Horacio Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, April 3, condiglista yg via
DXLD)
Several Government websites of Argentina hacked and defaced by
‘Libero’, from Argentina Hack Team --- Falkland Is. Radio Service was
among the hacked websites.
http://www.techworm.net/2015/04/anonymous-member-libero-hacks-malvinas-tv-and-radio-websites.html
(via Horacio Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, dxldyg via DXLD)
** FIJI. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will provide a
grant aid of FJ$15m for the construction of a new mediumwave
transmission system to the Fiji government. The signing ceremony was
held the past week between JICA, the Ministry of Public Enterprises
and the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation. The equipment will include two
transmitters (558 and 990 kHz frequency), complete antenna system and
other related equipment together with transmitter building. The
rehabilitation of the AM transmission will provide vastly improved
coverage to whole of Fiji thus ensuring that the populations in the
maritime islands have access to the much needed radio service (Fiji
Sun, 17 March via Alan Pennington, April BDXC-UK Communication via
DXLD)
** FINLAND. Scandinavian Weekend Radio on 11720 & 11690 on April 4:
Next monthly broadcast of Scandinavian Weekend Radio-SWR will be
on 1st Saturday of May from 2100 UT May 1 till 2100 UT May 2:
2100-2200 on 6170 VIR 0.1 kW / non-dir to FIN Finnish
2100-2200 on 11720 VIR 0.1 kW / non-dir to FIN Finnish
2200-2400 on 6170 VIR 0.1 kW / non-dir to FIN Finnish
2200-2400 on 11690 VIR 0.1 kW / non-dir to FIN Finnish
0000-0500 on 6170 VIR 0.1 kW / non-dir to FIN Finnish
0000-0500 on 11690 VIR 0.1 kW / non-dir to FIN Finnish
0500-0700 on 5980 VIR 0.1 kW / non-dir to FIN Finnish
0500-0700 on 11690 VIR 0.1 kW / non-dir to FIN Finnish
0700-0800 on 5980 VIR 0.1 kW / non-dir to FIN Finnish
0700-0800 on 11720 VIR 0.1 kW / non-dir to FIN Finnish
0800-1300 on 6170 VIR 0.1 kW / non-dir to FIN Finnish
0800-1300 on 11720 VIR 0.1 kW / non-dir to FIN Finnish
1300-1400 on 6170 VIR 0.1 kW / non-dir to FIN Finnish
1300-1400 on 11690 VIR 0.1 kW / non-dir to FIN Finnish
1400-1600 on 5980 VIR 0.1 kW / non-dir to FIN Finnish
1400-1600 on 11690 VIR 0.1 kW / non-dir to FIN Finnish
1600-1800 on 5980 VIR 0.1 kW / non-dir to FIN Finnish
1600-1800 on 11720 VIR 0.1 kW / non-dir to FIN Finnish
1800-2100 on 6170 VIR 0.1 kW / non-dir to FIN Finnish
1800-2100 on 11690 VIR 0.1 kW / non-dir to FIN Finnish
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/scandinavian-weekend-radio-on-11720-and.html
(DX RE MIX NEWS #904 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, April 07, 2015
via DXLD)
** FRANCE. SARKOZY EX-AIDE TAKES THE AXE TO RADIO FRANCE LARGESSE
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32209048
-- (Via Terry Krueger, April 8, DXLD) viz., nothing about SW or RFI:
Sarkozy ex-aide takes the axe to Radio France largesse
By Hugh Schofield BBC News, Paris 8 April 2015
From the section Europe
Radio France has been hit by strikes
For three weeks the morning ritual for millions of people in France
has been rudely interrupted by a strike at one of the country's great
public sector institutions: Radio France.
Instead of the familiar 0700 jingle-and-bulletin that got us moving
kettlewards, listeners to the news channel France-Info have had to
endure 21 days of recorded messages and music.
Non-striking journalists periodically manage to put together short
sequences on the station, but it is a pale shadow of the real thing.
The corporation never felt the stern hand of reform
Masses of listeners are defecting to private channels such as RMC and
Europe 1.
And there is the same empty airtime on the six other channels that
operate from Maison de la Radio in Paris (France Inter, France Bleu,
France Culture, France Musique, FIP and Le Mouv').
No-one can remember a strike at Radio France lasting this long,
because no strike ever has.
There is a reason for that. For decades Radio France has enjoyed the
status of a cosseted state asset.
No reform
Constantly lauded - its mission of public service placing it above
reproach - the corporation never felt the stern hand of reform.
But now the country's coffers are empty. There is no more buying off
the protest with a sneaky handout from the culture ministry.
Mathieu Gallet has upset the unions
Today the years of accumulated waste and inefficiencies cry out for an
overhaul. A report a couple of weeks ago from the French treasury
watchdog, the Cour des Comptes, showed the scale of the problem.
From 2004 to 2013, expenditure at Radio France went up 27.5% - with no
increase in audience. Salary costs went up by 47% because at a time of
growing pressure on jobs everywhere else Radio France took on 20% more
staff.
Because of the layers of accumulated privileges (often negotiated with
unions after previous strikes), the 5,000 workers enjoy up to 68
working days off a year - more than 13 weeks. There are 388 staff
members who are paid union representatives - a whopping 8% of the
workforce.
Renovation of Radio France's landmark Seine-side headquarters was
supposed to cost 262m euros (£191m, $285m). Instead it is costing 575m
euros.
Right-winger
Changing all this requires a mix of vision, toughness and dialogue,
but the man whose job it is might have been purpose-picked to
antagonise the unions.
Radio France's new president Mathieu Gallet is handsome, young,
energetic - and right-wing. One of his previous jobs was in the
culture ministry under President Nicholas Sarkozy.
Mr Gallet has warned that the corporation's annual deficit of 21m
euros is unsustainable. He wants a voluntary redundancy plan to shed
300 or so jobs.
The danger is that we news junkies will start looking elsewhere, and
discovering the competition
He says that Radio France's two orchestras are one too many; that the
separate news rooms at France Inter, France Info and France Culture
need to be integrated; and that the network of local stations at
France Bleu should commission shared material.
But all this has merely infuriated the unions at Radio France.
The hardliners there mainly represent technicians, although many
journalists have also stopped work.
Inevitability of reform
The strikers have made it quite clear that they want Mr Gallet to go.
And usefully they have discovered that even as he was advising drastic
cuts at the corporation, he spent 100,000 euros doing up his personal
office there.
It is the sort of gaffe that could easily have brought him down. But
so far Mr Gallet continues with the backing of the Socialist
government, which presumably sees as well as he does the inevitability
of reform.
For those of us who depended on France-Info's round-the-clock news
output, it is an infuriating time.
Though the station has a discernible left-wing bias - the ratio of
union leaders to company bosses interviewed must be about five to one
- it is in general thorough and professional.
It is also, by comparison with private stations, mercifully light on
adverts (though, for all its vaunted public sector ethos, Radio France
does permit some).
The danger is that we news junkies will start looking elsewhere, and
discovering the competition (via Terry Krueger, DXLD)
** FRANCE. 15560, April 8 at 0552, poor signal in Arabish? No, must be
Swahili as HFCC shows RFI at 0530-0600, 500 kW, 135 degrees from
Issoudun (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
[and non]. All transmissions of RFI in French via Meyerton in A-15 are
cancelled. Transmissions in other languages are moved to Issoudun and
Madagascar, videos:
0430-0500 on 11790 ISS 500 kW / 135 deg to ECAf Swahili, ex MEY
0530-0600 on 15560 ISS 500 kW / 135 deg to ECAf Swahili, ex MEY
0600-0700 on 11605 MEY 100 kW / 345 deg to WeAf French, cancelled
0700-0900 on 15170 MEY 100 kW / 345 deg to WeAf French, cancelled
1200-1300 on 17660 MDC 250 kW / 305 deg to CeAf French, ex MEY
1500-1600 on 21690 ISS 500 kW / 135 deg to ECAf Swahili, ex MEY
1700-1730 on 21690 ISS 500 kW / 160 deg to SoAf Portuguese, ex MEY
1700-2000 on 9800 MEY 100 kW / 350 deg to WCAf French, cancelled
1900-1930 on 17660 ISS 500 kW / 155 deg to SoAf Portuguese, ex MEY
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/03/all-transmissions-of-rfi-in-french-via.html
(DX RE MIX NEWS #904 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, April 07, 2015
via DXLD)
** GERMANY. 17810, April 7 at 1342, poor signal with hymn, language
sounds Chinese, only signal in the 17.8s. HFCC shows it`s AWR, 250 kW,
70 degrees via Nauen at 1300-1500 in Chinese (except Sat & Sun 1300-
1330 Uyghur). Would any of that merit jamming? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
It's a weak fluttery signal at my location in NW England with
occasional echo at 1400. There is no jamming to be heard though - but
it might be worth trying it on Sat/Sun in Uyghur! (Noel R. Green,
April 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GERMANY. 7265.00, 1230-1255 4.4, Hamburger Lokalradio, Göhren.
English programme "With Good Reason" with interviews first about
dialects in Germany, then about Germany' s colonial experiences in
Africa, 1251 English ID, song 45344 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, what I
heard recently in Skovlunde on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of
longwire, WB yg via DXLD)
** GERMANY. 6940, 2011, R Dardasha 7 via Germany. OM with Arabic talk
to 2015, ID & off 444, 07/03 MLF (Michael L Ford, Newcastle-u-Lyme,
Staffs, UK, NRD515, NCM515, NRD545, 85' lw, Wellbrook 330ALA loop,
April BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD)
Part of Bible Voice Broadcasting network. Supposed to be on 5940,
2000-2015 via Nauen in B-14. Your typo or theirs? (gh, DXLD)
** GERMANY. April 1: DPØ7 Seefunk mit dem Seewetterdienst in German to
CeEu 0730 on 9560.2 Kall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMnPwJ-ajvo&feature=youtu.be
DPØ7 Seefunk mit dem Seewetterdienst German CeEu 0758 on 9560.2 Kall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K319FwHJ0A&feature=youtu.be
DPØ7 Seefunk mit dem Seewetterdienst German CeEu 1200 on 9560.2 Kall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS25RgJceHE&feature=youtu.be
DPØ7 Seefunk mit dem Seewetterdienst German CeEu 1224 on 9560.2 Kall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQtmO8OVI-Q&feature=youtu.be
(Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GREECE. ERT Open only on two frequencies on March 31
from 1830 on 9420*AVL 170 kW / 323 deg to WeEu Greek
from 1830 on 9935 AVL 100 kW / 285 deg to WeEu Greek is off
from 1830 on 15650 AVL 100 kW / 105 deg to SoAs Greek
*co-ch VIRI in Arabic
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/ertopen-only-on-two-frequencies-on.html
ERT Open on a single frequency on April 6:
from 0625 on 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg to WeEu Greek and continues at
0830
from 0625 on 11645 AVL 100 kW / 182 deg to NoAf Greek is off
from 0625 on 15630 AVL 100 kW / 285 deg to WeEu Greek is off
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/ert-open-on-single-frequency-on-april-6.html
(DX RE MIX NEWS #904 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, April 07, 2015
via DXLD)
** GREECE. News about the Greek TV stations and ERT --- The new
government is now requiring from the TV broadcasters to pay of 25
million Eu for their usage of the digital UHF spectrum excluding the
Nova multi channel TV subscription service This has been announced on
2th [April 2]. This amount refers to years between 2012 and 2015. As
for the moment the response from the broadcaster association, advised
that they paid from the arbitrary adverts of the elections in that
period.
Subject 2: ERT workers to be back : The bill has been submitted on 2-4
to the parliament together with two more > the president of the
parliament requested the bills to be separated one per one and is
supposed to be discussed after the orthodox Easter, i.e. after 13th of
April (Zacharias Liangas, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
---------
Greece: The resurrection of ERT
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2015/04/challenging-coverage-conflict-yemen-150404092029886.html
Nearly two years ago, the Greek government shut down the country's
state broadcaster ERT in what it claimed was an austerity measure.
However, many journalists at the channel called the move political.
They refused to leave the headquarters in Athens and kept broadcasting
from the building without pay. The occupation became symbolic in the
fight against austerity which in part explains why the newly elected
government, Syriza – which won on an anti-austerity campaign – has
been so determined to get the channel back on air.
Critics say that the new government was in too much of a hurry and
have questioned its draft bill to reinstate ERT, saying that it fails
to address previous issues. There is also a legitimate concern over
how Syriza plans to fund the state broadcaster and whether the license
fee will be enough to rehire the former employees and leave the
channel with enough to produce worthwhile content [WORLD OF RADIO
1768]
Friday, April 3, 2015
DISCUSSION OF ERT RELAUNCH LEGISLATION TO START TUESDAY
The Greek Parliament’s public administration committee will on Tuesday
begin discussing the draft legislation the government submitted to the
House this week foreseeing the reopening of public broadcaster ERT...
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/04/03/greek-govt-tables-bill-to-reopen-ert/
GREEK GOV’T TABLES BILL TO REOPEN ERT
A bill paving the way for the reopening of Greek public broadcaster
ERT was tabled by the government on April 1. The draft law was tabled
after an Athens court ruled that some 3,000 ERT (Hellenic Broadcasting
Corporation) employees were fired illegally in 2013. The court also
decided that the 198 former employees who appealed against their
dismissals should be rehired immediately.
The court’s decision comes in complete contrast to the country’s
highest administrative court, the Council of State, which found the
government was within its rights to close the broadcaster and fire its
staff.
On June 11, 2013, the Greek government announced ERT would close and
all its employees would be fired. The Greek public broadcaster was
dissolved by a Common Ministerial Decision as amended by an urgent
government legislative act. Despite running a budget surplus on income
from a license fee outside the state budget, in a televised statement,
the at the time minister responsible for media and New Democracy,
PASOK and Democratic Left (DIMAR) coalition government spokesperson
Simos Kedikoglou, characterized ERT as a “haven of waste” that cost
more and had fewer viewers than private stations. “The Greek people
are paying for ERT, which has three times, even eight times, as much
staff as it needs” he said, adding that the government was sacrificing
one of the public sector’s “sacred cows.”
Later in the evening, riot police forced their way into the
transmitting stations and all ERT transmitters were closed down. Using
satellite offices and other spaces that had not been closed down, ERT
journalists continued to broadcast to the Internet.
ERT consisted of five TV channels — ET-1, NET, ET-3, ERT World and
ERT-HD — as well as seven radio stations in Athens, three in
Thessaloniki, 19 peripheral radio stations across the country, a
symphonic orchestra and one of modern music as well as a choir. It
also had magazines, and a website http://www.ert.gr digital archives,
web TV at http://www.ert.gr/webtv some 2,324 regular employees and 792
provisional workers. - See more at:
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/04/03/greek-govt-tables-bill-to-reopen-ert/
(all via ZL, April 4, DXLD)
** GREECE. 15650, April 5 at 2101, poor signal with ``Edho Athinai``
ID rather than Makedonias as in my previous log.
15650, April 8 at 0551, poor signal in Greek // fair 9420, so ERTOpen
(or whatever it`s currently calling itself), with MUF holding up late
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Good reception in Hanwell, New Brunswick, Canada (east coast)
yesterday of ERT Open on 9420 kHz. Noted at 2030 UT on 8 April with
classical music and fair to good signal. Then again after about 0200
UT on 9 April with enjoyable eclectic DJ'ed music program of jazz,
blues, easy-listening, soft rock, and Greek music. No signal on other
known ERT Open frequencies could be detected. IDs at the top and/or
bottom of the hour: "ert open" (pronounced as two syllables).
Transmission was in parallel to Internet streaming:
http://www.ertopen.com/apps/radio/?name=ERA+Athinon&type=mp3&url=radio.ertopen.com/erasport
but the online streaming was about 20 seconds AHEAD of the radio
transmission.
Transmission continued to about 0508 UT when the transmitter switched
off. Equipment: Tecsun PL-880 with built-in telescopic whip antenna
(Richard Langley, Fredricton NB, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUAM. How come no AWR transmissions registered for GUAM; KSDA off?
http://www.hfcc.org/data/schedbybrc.php?seas=A15&broadc=AWR
http://www.hfcc.org/data/schedbyfmo.php?seas=A15&fmor=AWR
No, HFCC groups them instead with all the other FCC stations:
http://www.hfcc.org/data/schedbyfmo.php?seas=A15&fmor=FCC
(Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
[and non]. 11580, April 3 at 1313, Vietnamese, from KTWR, no longer
colliding with WRMI/BS which is now closing at 1300*, but KTWR starts
at 1200 in Yi, 1245 in Viet.
11825, April 3 at 1313, WRMI/BS, however now has lite CCI, which would
be FEBC Bocaue in Tibetan this semihour only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
New summer A-15 of KTWR Agana, Guam (Trans World Radio Asia) in
English
1000-1020 11840 TWR 100 kW / 165 deg AUS Mon-Sat no change time/freq
1030-1110 11965 TWR 100 kW / 263 deg SEAs Mon-Fri, ex 0850-0930 15200
1500-1518 15110 TWR 100 kW / 285 deg SEAs Mon-Sat, ex 1400-1418 15190
1500-1530 15110 TWR 100 kW / 285 deg SEAs Sunday, ex 1400-1430 15190
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/new-summer-15-of-ktwr-agana-guam-in.html
-- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, dxldyg April 6 via DXLD)
** GUATEMALA. 4055, Radio Verdad, 1122, poor with sermon or similar by
a man, hymn, distant t-storm QRN. 4/4 (David Sharp, NSW, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** GUYANA. 3290, Voice of Guyana at 0535 with BBC news, item about
South Carolina policeman shooting fleeing black man - Poor, // various
BBC frequencies, Apr 8 (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia,
listening in my car by the lake, with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 active
antenna. Editor of World English Survey and Target Listening,
available at http://www.odxa.on.ca dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** HONDURAS. Short documentary about Radio Progresso in Honduras
http://ignatiansolidarity.net/la-voz-del-pueblo/
Regards, (Vince, Ottawa, April 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
You are here:
Home
/ La Voz del Pueblo
La Voz del Pueblo
The most violent country on the planet isn’t halfway across the globe;
it is a 2.5 hour flight from Houston. Most U.S. citizens are at best
dimly aware of the bloodshed that is the defining feature of present-
day Honduras. Last summer, 2014, Honduran children surfaced on the
southern U.S. border by the tens of thousands, prompting a Texas
congressman to decry this “invasion of our nation.” Likewise,
protesters in California met the young immigrants with angry slogans
like “return to sender!” But did protesters have any understanding of
the situation these youth were escaping? The violence they’d be thrown
back into if they were indeed “returned to sender”?
La Voz Del Pueblo is an 18-minute documentary that explores the
difficult and violent Honduran reality through the perspective of
journalists at the Jesuit-run radio station, Radio Progreso (intro to
audio-video, via DXLD)
Note: there is no double-S in Spanish! Except foreign names such as
Italian. IIRC, R. Progreso used to be on SW; if so, predating even the
LA-DX archive, wherein that name appears nowhere, not even as
Progresso. Nor was it even in the WRTH 1994 I handily consult.
Likewise looking for a LV del Pueblo other than Bolivian (Glenn
Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. Here’s something interesting: All India Radio (Bengaluru
listed) on 17895 at 1000 in DRM has English news 4/4, and a second
channel is also present in the Dream display labelled “Test Music”.
It in fact had a Hindi drama production. I’ve seen data such as
pictures and news headlines before piggy-backed onto various DRM
services, but two distinct programs that can be toggled between at
will has been less common. The Indians are really getting into this
technology, whilst most of the rest of the world has moved on (for
shortwave, at least). Regards, (Craig Seager, NSW, ARDXC via WORLD OF
RADIO 1768, DXLD)
All India Radio really has to fix their audio. They are making DRM
sound like the worst AM sound you can ever hear. When you compare AIR
audio quality to Radio New Zealand International. It makes me wonder
what is the point (Keith Perron, Panchiao, Taiwan, circa April 6,
Facebook via Drita Çiço, WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DXLD)
I have been waiting to get back to my WinRadio Excalibur ever since
Craig posted about the second AIR DRM audio stream a few days ago (my
life is now continuous travel with very short stops back at the
shack). Tonight I am tuning in - top signal S9 +10 here with no drop
outs and I am turned into the second stream playing classic 1970's
Hindi Film Music. I also have a Bonito RadioJet that receives DRM, I
will try that another day.
When I am here, I tune to AIR DRM almost early every morning while
having my first coffee and toast. It`s a DRM service for Europe, but
also reaches me here at very good strength. Tomorrow I will check if
there is a secondary stream there too. There may be, because if Craig
didn't post about it, I would have always overlooked the number 2
stream button was activated in the WinRadio user interface. Perhaps I
have been missing out on the alternative audio for ages.
I have a massive collection of recorded AIR DRM spectrum, I will have
to load some up and see if the second channel is in them as well.
Cheers, (Mark Fahey, NSW?, ARDXC via DXLD)
** INDONESIA. 1053, RRI Jayapura, 1300, news by a man, in null of 2CA
but mixing with Brisbane and Korean bubble jammer noted underneath.
2/4.
1107, RRI unID site, 1332, gamelan and soft pop noted in partial 2EA
null. 2/4 (David Sharp, NSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 3 x RRI reception, SouthEast Asian Tropical band
transmitters heard between 1300 and 1330 UT.
3324.9 kHz Palangkaraya O=3+ (excellent, not before heard on this
level) 1334 UT March 30, s/off
3344.9 kHz Ternate O=2-3 (for very first time on this installation)
4869.9 kHz Wamena O=2 (from 1320 UT India = AIR in Nepali language)
(Uwe Volk, Tha Mai, Provinz Chanthaburi, Thailand, A-DX via BC-DX 2
April via DXLD)
** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET & VACUUM. Re: ``CBS SUNDAY MORNING: As I
mentioned before, we have been relying on the Smithsonian Channel...``
They used to mention the replay on Smithsonian Channel on every
broadcast, somewhere closer to the end, though I haven't bothered to
notice when they (presumably) stopped mentioning. I want to say the
'partnership' with their partly-owned network lasted no more than a
year. I almost always catch it on the 1300 UT airing via my CBS
affiliate (Terry Krueger, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. ARE ALIENS BEHIND MYSTERIOUS RADIO BURSTS?
SCIENTISTS WEIGH IN
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/02/radio-bursts-alien-signals_n_6984870.html
(via Alfredo Cañote, Perú, condiglista yg via DXLD)
** IRAN. In response to Des Walsh’s letter in the March issue of
“Communication mentioning the mysterious 'two tones' that are often
heard on 28 MHz, thanks to a report in the IARU's latest 'Intruder
watch' website, this has now been identified as an Iranian Over the
Horizon System. It's a real pain for sure when it's on air, especially
as it wipes out a lot of the 10 metre Beacon Band when it's active.
Details can be found in the 'Latest News' section on the IARU site at
http://www.iarums-r1.org/
Des is correct that they are in wideband FM, at least that is what is
shown in the IARU data: FMCW - Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave,
307 and 870 sps (sweeps per second).” Thank you to ALAN GALE for that
response (April BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD)
** IRAN. Unscheduled frequency on VIRI/IRIB in Arabic:
1420-1650 on 17550 KAM 500 kW / 259 deg to NEAf, scheduled till 1420
// frequency 9420 SIR 500 kW / 185 deg to NEAf, co-ch CNR 13 Uyghur
// frequency 9850 KAM 500 kW / 178 deg to N/ME, videos on April 3:
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/unscheduled-frequency-17550-of-viriirib.html
(DX RE MIX NEWS #904 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, April 07, 2015
via DXLD)
9510, April 3 at 0052, poor signal with Qur`an, long pauses. Could
that be because the cantor is trying to remember what comes next ---
or does he have a script, since after all, there is no video to give
him away. Could it be OMAN? No signal on 11650 or 12015; no, per HFCC
it`s just IRIB, 0030-0230 Arabic, 500 kW, 289 degrees from Zahedan: a
station psychically obsessed with Qur`aning. Why isn`t this a :20-:20
transmission? Looking over sked from Iran in WRTH 2015, for B-14, most
but not all of the Arabix were :30-:30.
17715, April 3 at 1248 poor signal with flutter, Chinese talk,
mentions ``Chung-kuo`` several times, and then a website in .ir,
fragment of IRIB IS and pulling plug at 1250*. HFCC shows 500 kW, 64
degrees from Kamalabad at 1150-1250 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO
1768, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN [non]. A-15 schedule of Radio Ranginkaman/Radio Rainbow:
1600-1630 7575 secret / hidden site WeAs Farsi Mon/Fri till Sept. 18
1600-1630 15630 SCB 050 kW / 090 deg WeAs Farsi Mon/Fri old Soviet tx
1700-1730 7575 secret / hidden site WeAs Farsi Mon/Fri from Sept. 21
1700-1730 13810 SCB 050 kW / 090 deg WeAs Farsi Mon/Fri old Soviet tx
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/summer-15-schedule-of-radio.html
(DX RE MIX NEWS #904 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, April 07, 2015
via WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DXLD)
March 29: Radio Ranginkaman, Radio Rainbow in Farsi to WeAs 1600 on
7575 Grigoriopol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuQFa-rMBbs&feature=youtu.be
Radio Ranginkaman, Radio Rainbow in Farsi to WeAs 1628 on 7575
Grigoriopol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6dLwG_uzrg&feature=youtu.be
(Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN [non]. 15960 [sic], 1306, R Farda, USA. ID by OM and YL, ??,
444, 18/03 TMR (Tim Ritchie, Felixstowe, Suffolk, England, UK, Sony
ST-SA3ES/6 elemt beam, Eddystone S940 QTek vertical, April BDXC-UK
Communication via DXLD)
A station in this part of band would more likely be CNR1 jamming
and/or Sound of Hope. Your typo or theirs? In B-14, R. Farda was
scheduled on 15690 via SRI LANKA at 0430-1400 (Glenn Hauser, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAQ [and non]. ISIS radio in English --- The Islamic State's Al-
Bayan Radio has been on FM in Mosul (Iraq) and Raqqa (Syria) for a
while. IS supporters post recordings of their Arabic news bulletins on
the internet. For the record: reportedly on 99.9 in Raqqa (the IS
"capital") and 89.4 in Mosul. Today, a recording of their daily
English news bulletin has also been posted on the internet. It's at
http://archive.org/details/en18ggg
The recording, which gives today's date, starts with an introduction
in Arabic, including the ID "Idha'at Al-Bayan", and then the English
bulletin read by a man with a American accent. They also broadcast in
Russian (Chris Greenway, April 7, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRELAND [and non]. RTE’s longwave transmitter was off the air for
maintenance for a few days in March and Des Walsh writes that:
“on Monday [24 March] I tuned to 252 kHz and heard French programming,
loud and clear, thinking RTE was possible doing a special French opt
out until I heard the announcement ‘programacion ou Chain trois’ [sic]
and the penny dropped that I was listening to Algeria 3, RTE1 being
off the air.
Well, the signal strength from Algeria since recent upgrades is huge.
For the past three days on my car radio it is listenable all day long
and at times has nearly been as strong as Radio 4. It’s travelling
inland a considerable distance as it’s been heard in Co. Limerick
and Kilkenny so must be causing interference in the south of England
too. Massive increase in Algerian signals. Time for RTE to move to 261
kHz, but they just want to shut it down. Look how fickle the on-line
and DAB systems are! Long wave is RUGGED and SIMPLE, but the powers
that be do not want to know, too busy playing with the latest digital
technology!” (April BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD)
** ITALY. A quick reply from Italian station Radio Latino. In his
reply the operator said: "Radio Latino has been broadcasting
irregularly since 2006 with low power (50 watts p.e.p.) from central
Italy. You have been listening to one of the first test transmissions
of 2015 with the new transmitter (500 watts p.e.p), but we still have
to set up correctly the audio section of the station (that's why you
heard some overmodulation). The antenna at the moment is an inverted V
dipole working from 7530 to 7610 kHz. In the next weeks I should be
quite active from 7530 up to 7610 (main frequency will be 7540) during
evening and night and, during 2015, we hope to be on air regularly on
a daily basis, with one hour programme". The station has a website at:
www.radiolatino.bigbig.com (Axel Röse, via UK-Dxers
http://www.shortwavedx.blogspot.de/ via April BDXC-UK Communication
via WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DXLD)
** JAPAN. 774, NHK Akita, 1320, fair with general talk by a man, in
null of 3LO and mostly on top of 4TO. 2/4 (David Sharp, NSW, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [non]. 5910, April 3 at 0448, VG signal in Japanese, as NHK
is now scheduled 03-05, 500 kW, 290 degrees from FRANCE to CIRAFs 10 &
11 = Mexico, Central America and Caribbean, but inadvertently covering
the USA too, where mere English-speakers are of no interest to R.
Japan. No het at the moment, but this bihour is the time NOT to expect
to hear COLOMBIA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** JAPAN [non]. Radio Japan (Via Singapore), 11740, 4/1/15. Heard with
a good signal at 1200 UT s/on and news; 1215 with Focus program
talking about Japanese lacquer ware. Overall, the reception was much
better than usual on this particular morning considering that the
Voice of Korea was not on the air to cause adjacent [11735]
interference (Larry Zamora, Garland, TX, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [non]. New frequencies of clandestine broadcasts A-15:
Radio Free North Korea:
1230-1330 NF 9330 DB 100 kW / 071 deg to NEAs Korean, ex 1530-1630
on 11550 A-14
Radio Free Chosun:
1300-1500 NF 11570 TAC 100 kW / 070 deg to NEAs Korean, ex 15630 A-14
(Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, April 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
March 31: Radio Free Chosun in Korean to NEAs 1300 on new 11570
Tashkent, ex 15630 in A 14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIan5EV2uVA&feature=youtu.be
Radio Free Chosun in Korean to NEAs 1358 on new 11570 Tashkent, ex
15630 in A 14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm_37ZFD4K8&feature=youtu.be
Radio Free North Korea in Korean to NEAs 1309 on new 9330 Dushanbe, ex
1530-1630 on 11550
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEJz3Z6d3c0&feature=youtu.be
Radio Free North Korea in Korean to NEAs 1320 on new 9330 Dushanbe, ex
1530-1630 on 11550
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqYUBr7JYyc&feature=youtu.be
Radio Free North Korea in Korean to NEAs 1328 on new 9330 Dushanbe, ex
1530-1630 on 11550
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGm7neNtkjg&feature=youtu.be
North Korea Reform Radio in Korean to NEAs 1430 on new 11550 Palauig
Zambales, ex 11560
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUCghYF_lKU&feature=youtu.be
Shiokaze Sea Breeze in Korean to NEAs 1428 on 6020 Yamata
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziecQUztSV4&feature=youtu.be
Shiokaze Sea Breeze in Korean to NEAs 1649 on 5985 Yamata
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS5H4_NRBLY&feature=youtu.be
Voice of Wilderness in Korean to NEAS 1302 on 11860 Palauig Zambales
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z4JVRBsmZ4&feature=youtu.be
(Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH [non]. Shiokaze Sea Breeze effective from March 29:
1330-1400 on 6020 YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Japanese Mon
1330-1400 on 6020 YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Chinese Tue
1330-1400 on 6020 YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Japanese Wed
1330-1400 on 6020 YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs English Thu
1330-1400 on 6020 YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Korean Fri
1330-1400 on 6020 YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Korean Sat
1330-1400 on 6020 YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Japanese Sun
1400-1430 on 6020 YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Japanese Mon
1400-1430 on 6020 YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Korean Tue
1400-1430 on 6020 YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Japanese Wed
1400-1430 on 6020 YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs English Thu
1400-1430 on 6020 YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Korean Fri
1400-1430 on 6020 YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Japanese Sat
1400-1430 on 6020 YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Korean Sun
1600-1630 on 5985*YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Japanese Mon
1600-1630 on 5985*YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Chinese Tue
1600-1630 on 5985*YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Japanese Wed
1600-1630 on 5985*YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs English Thu
1600-1630 on 5985*YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Korean Fri
1600-1630 on 5985*YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Korean Sat
1600-1630 on 5985*YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Japanese Sun
1630-1700 on 5985*YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Japanese Mon
1630-1700 on 5985*YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Korean Tue
1630-1700 on 5985*YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Japanese Wed
1630-1700 on 5985*YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs English Thu
1630-1700 on 5985*YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Korean Fri
1630-1700 on 5985*YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Japanese Sat
1630-1700 on 5985*YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs Korean Sun
* co-ch China Radio International in Swahili
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/shiokaze-sea-breeze-effective-from.html
(DX RE MIX NEWS #904 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, April 07, 2015
via DXLD)
** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 11570, Tuesday April 7 at 1335, fast tone
jamming, about 8 pulses per second, offset at 11571, a modulated
carrier, against weak station. At first I think KTWR Vietnamese must
have shifted down from 11580 to 11570, but it would have closed at
1330 anyway except on a Saturday. For more options, consult Aoki,
which has something else on 11570, missing from HFCC:
11570 1300-1500 UZB Radio Free Chosun Kor Tashkent 1-7
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KURDISTAN [non]. 11510, April 3 at 0304, Denge Kurdistan fair now
with Kurdish music, still at 0326, presumably via PRIDNESTROVYE; OTOH,
just about inaudible around 1300 today (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** KUWAIT. 17550, April 4 at 2353, Arabic, fair with heavy flutter,
31-47 dbu on the PL-880, so the 20-24 UT Central & Western North
American service is propagating today, at least toward the end of it.
17550, April 8 at 2035, I find the best source of soporific SW music
for my nap is the Qur`aning from R. Kuwait`s peculiar C&W N American
service, which is propagating today; but it would have been better
without so much flutter fading. It does help me doze until alarm at
2058 when I have to check WBCQ for WOR. This starts at 2000; I gather
that earlier in the day, Iran has been showing up on new 17550: 1420-
1650 in Arabic per Ivo Ivanov (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MADAGASCAR. 5010.79, Radio Malagasy, 1830, strong with local
vocals, much better modulation than during prior log of 21/3. 2/4
(David Sharp, NSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO [and non]. 540, April 5 at 0651 UT, immediately upon tune-
in, ID for ``La Ranchera de Paquimé`` 540 and FM 90.5, i.e. XETX,
1000/250 watts in Nuevo Casas Grandes, northern Chihuahua. Rotating
DX-398, sharing 540 with CBK, not XEWA. XETX is usual night owner of
540, and IDs at every break, a DXer`s dream (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. [Re 15-13, 1100 log]: Glenn, Radio Cañón 1100 made it up
here with a huge signal over-topping WTAM a few weeks ago. A month or
so previous had an anthem on 1100 and was keeping an eye on the
channel (Saul Chernos, Ont., April 3, WTFDA Forum via DXLD)
** MEXICO. 6185, April 5 at 0555, XEPPM with jazz song in Spanish,
good modulation, better than usual, and good signal too. This is the
final nite for 7 months that Radio Educación will normally be on the
air until 0600v, since DST finally starts in most of México, including
the DF, so local midnight signoff will henceforth be 0500v. (We still
don`t know what time of day they turn it back on, but do know it is
running by the afternoons.)
This Mexico timezone map now answers our question whether Quintana Roo
has gone to UT -4 EDT since it was already on UT -5 EST unlike any
other state?
http://www.worldtimezone.com/time-mexico12.php
NO: Q.R. still EST so now back to being the same UT -5 as CDT for
central Mexico (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MEXICO. El IFT licitará 191 frecuencias de radio FM en 2015 en
México --- by gruporadioescuchaargentino
El Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones (IFT) licitará 191
frecuencias de radio frecuencia modulada (FM) para uso comercial,
según el acuerdo del Pleno publicado recientemente en el Diario
Oficial de la Federación (DOF).
Las nuevas licitaciones son parte de las modificaciones al Programa
Anual de Uso y Aprovechamiento de Bandas de Frecuencias 2015 aprobadas
por el Pleno del IFT el pasado 27 de marzo.
IFT aumentó el número de concesiones para atender las solicitudes de
interesados en obtenerlas.
En diciembre, el IFT contemplaba la licitación de 97 frecuencias FM
para uso comercial, cifra que aumentó hasta 191 tras la incorporación
de las modificaciones al Programa 2015.
El IFT también otorgará concesiones de 14 frecuencias para uso público
y 97 de uso social, además de 69 frecuencias para uso comercial de
amplitud modulada o AM.
Los procesos de licitación pública de estas concesiones iniciarán
durante el segundo semestre de este 2015. El fallo se dará en el mismo
periodo, salvo causas justificadas, aclara el IFT (CNN Expansión via
GRA blog April 7 via DXLD)
** MEXICO. [Re 15-13, 970 log remark]: That is correct, Cd. Madera
[Chihuahua] only has XHMAC-7. However it is going to also be a
transmitter site for the two new Mexican networks. The FCC says Madera
is also allotted 13 in analog but I don't think anything was actually
built on that frequency. The closest city with Azteca stations is
Nuevo Casas Grandes at 85 miles NNE (Raymie Humbert, AZ, April 2,
WTFDA Forum via DXLD)
** MEXICO. From Raymie`s Mexico Beat blog for another week:
Today Danny Oglethorpe has begun updating http://TVDXTips.com
You'll find information I've contributed, including my Guide to Shadow
Channels, logos and other information, and it even links here now.
Updating has just begun and I'll be helping Danny make sure that there
is more current information on Mexico on the site. It's a great
resource and with all the information I can add to it it will only get
better.
I speak Spanish so you don't have to (Raymie Humbert, AZ, April 1,
WTFDA Forum via DXLD) Yes, I do, and so should every Anglo. Al
contrario, sí lo hablo, como deben todos los anglos (gh, DXLD)
Thanks to Scysmo we now know that Ensenada indeed has digital
stations:
XHEBC-TDT 26 (57.x, CE)
XHENE-TDT 16 (13.x, A13)
XHENT-TDT 20 (2.x, A7)
Authorized but not on (cochannel) is XHS-TDT 23 (Televisa Regional).
Not authorized at all is XHENJ-17 (Canal 5) or endangered XHENB-29
(local). (Raymie Humbert, AZ, April 2, WTFDA Forum via DXLD)
And we also now know that Azteca snuck a quick one past us and turned
two more stations on at the end of February: XHKYU-TDT 23 (4.x) and
XHVAD-TDT 24 (10.x) Valladolid/Kahua, Yucatán.
It's kinda unclear what's up with XHVTT. It went on 41 (which is the
correct allocation), then jumped to 32 apparently and now someone says
it's off. But the same guy that said XHVTT was on also said the
Aztecas were off.
I really don't know what's going on here. I'm going to guess all three
are on: XHVTT on 32 and the Aztecas at a power too low for the one
guy. Last edited by Raymie; 04-04-2015 at 06:48 PM (Raymie Humbert,
April 3, originally, ibid.)
It's official: the Canal Once digital construction continues with the
launch of regular programming on XHCHI-TDT 20.x (as foretold by the
diver's appearance in Chihuahua). Physical channel is not yet known.
This will leave XHAUC (Gala TV) and endangered XHABC as the remaining
analog-only stations in Chihuahua City. XHAUC has a digital
authorization and has been surprisingly slow in getting on air. XHABC
has nothing of the sort and may face significant financial
difficulties in transitioning.
Also it looks like XHCCU Cancún is nearing a launch of its digital
signal. XHCCU does not have an authorization (Raymie, April 5, ibid.)
Continuing with the theme of stations whose callsigns start with C,
XHCRT-TDT Cerro Azul, Veracruz is known to be on the air. VC 10.x in
the CE net. The converter used to see this station (see below) shows
the RF frequency, which is neither of the allocated 36 or 51 but is
instead channel 18 (!) — the box gives a reading of 497 MHz.
The source for this information is someone who did an equipment test
of an antenna at Gutiérrez Zamora, Ver. He caught XHZAP-TDT 20
Zacatlán Pue. (67 mi), XHOPXA-TDT from Las Lajas (60 mi) and XHCRT,
which was 65 miles from him.
XHCRT is one of three stations in the Poza Rica/Cerro Azul area.
(Edit: forgot XHAZL-2, Azteca 7 net.) Cerro Azul also has XHVCA-33 in
the Veracruz state network. It is not in digital.
I believe Televisa is trying to avoid new station sign-ons in the 600
MHz band if they can help it, just look at XHVTT sliding down from 41
to 32; also XHCRT-TDT may be the first operating TV station on channel
18 in Mexico.
If you're wondering how that happens, I believe when land mobile came
along, Mexico took the step of not allowing television stations on
channels 16 and 18 and severely limited the operation of future UHFs
on channels 14-20. In fact XHTC-16 Mexico City had its concession
changed to specify channel 28. There was only two channel 14s, one
channel 15, two channel 17s, one channel 19 and two channel 20s (later
five). The 19 (XHLUC) is in very tightly packed central Mexico, and
all the others are on the US-Mexico border.
With digital television, this frequency range has been identified as
ideal for intensive broadcasting use in Mexico, and indeed there are
many more digital stations being allocated to these frequencies. Two
15s, five 16s, four 17s, one 19, and seven 20s have been made for
existing stations. A 14, three 15s, four 16s and three 18s are part of
the new national networks (mostly in northern Mexico). A 15 in
Arandas, Jal., and a 14 (old analog allotment - Magdalena de Kino
Son.) are available as well as conversion frequencies. Last edited by
Raymie; 04-05-2015 at 11:08 PM. Reason: oops (Raymie, April 5, ibid.)
Here is another Mexicali analog shutdown video that was on youtube.
check out how the picture on the TV on XHMEX-32 starts rolling before
the signal is shut down. The station must have had a round knob or
long shaft switch that increase or decrease the signal power slowly
instead of a button or short flip switch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMShtHSe1Yg
For anyone who would like to know what a Station ID In Mexico looks
like in HD, here is XEW-TDT-48 & XHGC-TDT-50 ID IN HD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NQ__6fQwGM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU0MhDu-wmY
(Bâton Rouge, Louisiana, DXer, April 6, ibid.)
There's some big radio news today (actually it came out a week or two
ago but it got DOF'd so we have full detail now). Hundreds of new
radio stations and even 12 new allotments for public use television
stations from La Paz BCS to Chetumal Q. Roo (Raymie, April 6, ibid.)
Another new digital television station to report: XHJP-TDT 23
(currently 23.2 PSIP but should be 11.1), Puerto Escondido, Oax. (A7).
The 23.2 PSIP is not entirely unexpected of course. Certain Azteca
stations are using their physical channel number — if they are, A7
stations will always have their only subchannel as .2 and A13 stations
as .1.
It's the second of four stations in Puerto Escondido to sign on.
Azteca for whatever reason does not have a digital authorization for
XHPCE-7 (A13), which I believe is one of just two Aztecas to lack one
(the other is XHHR-6 Ojinaga Chih., and that's almost certainly an
international coordination case). Also, of course, the Oaxaca state
network (Raymie, April 7, ibid.)
Mystery of the night:
Is XHCOZ-5 Cozumel Q. Roo (1.5 kW, permit) still on the air? Sure,
they're still broadcasting local programming, but part of their site
seems to make me think they have gone cable-only. Here's the section
that has me thinking:
"TV Cozumel, Canal 5 is a television station available on Cablemás
cable systems. We are on channel 25 analog and 135 digital. Canal 5
began operations in 1997 over the air broadcasting as XHCOZ (currently
on the air). Given the increased cable penetration rate in Cozumel and
given that Cablemás is the leading cable system in Cozumel, it was
decided in 2007 to add Canal 5 to that system which is what we
currently operate and market."
Most Mexican cable systems have local cable origination stations which
help to fill the local void missing from broadcast. And cable
penetration rates in the country have gone up a good bit in recent
years (Raymie, April 7, ibid.)
** MONGOLIA. Reception of Voice of Mongolia due to absence of Voice of
Korea:
1400-1430 on 12014.9 U-B 250 kW / 178 deg to SEAs Mongolian
1430-1500 on 12014.9 U-B 250 kW / 116 deg to EaAs Chinese
1400-1457 on 12015.0 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to EaEu Russian, at 1451 was
back
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/reception-of-voice-of-mongolia-due-to.html
Reception of Voice of Mongolia due to absence of Voice of Korea:
1500-1530 on 12014.9 U-B 250 kW / 116 deg to EaAs Japanese
1500-1557 on 12015.0 KUJ 200 kW / 325 deg to EaEu Russian, at 1530 was
back
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/reception-of-voice-of-mongolia-due-to_2.html
(DX RE MIX NEWS #904 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, April 07, 2015
via DXLD)
** MOROCCO. 1.4.2015, 13:11, Georgi Bancov [dxld] kirjoitti:
> It turns out that Radio Amazigh is a private Moroccan radiostation,
> situated in the capital city of Rabat and broadcasting on various FM
> frequencies and also on satellite (HotBird).
Or SNRT channel? Do you have a link to its web page?
> It is dedicated mainly to the culture of the Berbers. 99% sure it is
a 1st April hoax.
But a bad one, because it was published already on 29th March. 73,
(Mauno Ritola, Finland, April 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Looks like it's the SNRT Berber service, designated as 'Network C' in
the current WRTH. http://www.snrt.ma/nos_chaines_presentation.php
(David Kernick, Interval Signals Online, ibid.)
** MYANMAR [and non]. 6165, CHINA / MYANMAR. Both CNR 6 and Thazin
Radio – Beijing and Pyin U Lwin (both Presumed), 1255, 4/4/15, in
Mandarin and Burmese. CNR 6 with traditional music to ToH ID sequence
with Male announcer. Thazin Radio with talk by male and female
announcers through top of hour. If there was an ID I missed it in the
mess. Usually there is one or the other here. This was pretty much a
mess here, I imagine it must be a real tangle in Asia. It is
noticeable that there was another Myanmar / China clash on 7200 this
morning.
7200, MYANMAR / CHINA. Both Myanma Radio (Presumed) and CNR 1 jammer,
1318, 4/4/15, in Burmese and Mandarin. Myanma Radio on top with female
announcer. CNR jammer under with music and female announcer. CNR
jammer // 7230 legitimate CNR 1 via X’ian. It is noticeable that there
was another Myanmar / China clash on 6165 this morning (Mark Taylor,
Madison, Wisconsin. Equipment: Perseus, WinRadio g313e, Eton e1,
Grundig Satellit 800 & G3, Sangean 909X with clear mod, Tecsun PL 660;
40 meters dipole, RF Systems Mk 2, Flextenna, NASWA Flashsheet April 5
via DXLD)
CNR1 would not be on 7200 to jam Myanmar, but R. Taiwan International
which per Aoki is there, but only at 10-13 (gh, DXLD)
** NETHERLANDS [non]. Bruce Parsons, Radio Netherlands --- Just wanted
to let you all know that I just spend over an hour talking to someone
you may remember from Radio Netherlands. Bruce Parsons began work at
Radio Netherlands in 1963 and spent 15 years with them before going to
Deutsche Welle for 2 years. He's not 87 and lives in Englewood,
Florida and is still very active (Keith Perron, Taiwan, dxldyg via DX
LISTENING DIGEST) And presumably to be on a Media Network + show (gh)
Thanks for the update on Bruce Parsons. I particularly remember his
good humor and upbeat personality. RNW had an amazing array of on-air
talent back in the 1960's and 70's, much of the reason it was one of
the most popular SW stations in the world at the time (Stephen Luce,
Houston, Texas, April 3, ibid.)
** NEW CALEDONIA. 666, Nouméa, 0840, fair with French talk, in null of
2CN but still contending with 4LM. A tough catch even here. 4/4 (David
Sharp, NSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW ZEALAND. 15720, April 3 at 0457, good signal from RNZI QSY
announcement to 11725, chirp IS once and a fragment before cutoff at
0458:00*. So I tune to 11725 awaiting it, which cuts on with more
chirping at *0458:43, very good now, unlike absent 24 hours earlier
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA [non]. No signal of Radio APC, Radio Chanji from Sunday,
March 29: 0600-0630 on 11720 NAU 125 kW / 185 deg to WeAf Hausa,
cancelled or change time and frequency. My last videos of Radio APC,
Radio Chanji on March 25:
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/03/no-signal-of-radio-apc-radio-chanji.html
(DX RE MIX NEWS #904 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, April 07, 2015
via DXLD)
** NIGERIA [non]. March 29:
Hamada Radio International in hausa to WeAf 0530 on 11740 Nauen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPFnzw_vz8E&feature=youtu.be
Dandal Kura in Kanuri to WeAf 0534 on 7415 Ascension
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh9XdI3xoVw&feature=youtu.be
(Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NORTH AMERICA. PIRATE-NA. Wolverine Radio, 6945 USB, 0110-0149*,
03-29-15, SIO: 454. Strong as usual with songs with the word "Devil"
in them. Brief ID, a SSTV image just prior to sign off. [Lobdell-MA]
PIRATE-NA. TCS-The Crystal Ship, 6876 AM, 0106-0131+, 04-03-15, SIO:
343. Tunes by The Who, including "I'm Free:", "Going Mobile", Magic
Bus". Promo for The Free Radio Cafe by Commander Bunny (Chris Lobdell,
Box 80146, Stoneham, MA 02180 USA, Receivers: Eton E1, NRD-545;
Aerials: G5RV, 40 Meter Dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
6876-AM, April 3 at 0046, very poor signal also fighting nearby storm
noise, music, 0158 synthetic ID for The Crystal Ship (as John Poet had
tipped his mailing list such a relay (for which as a bustee, he
himself is not responsible) was expected to start around 0000. Still
detected at 0117, 0129 but never enough signal to enjoy the music
here; sorry (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NORTH AMERICA. Three pirates in a row:
6940, April 5 at 0317: AM carrier, but no modulation now? Gilles
Letourneau in Montréal earlier at 0200 was getting Wolverine Radio
here but in USB, SSTV. Numerous logs in hfunderground say that ended
at 0236*. Also reports of the unID 6940 carrier at 0312-0321 here:
http://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,21359.0.html
6935-USB, April 5 at 0317, fair signal with Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer ad,
presumably a parody. Many other logs of this as Renegade Radio:
http://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,21352.0.html
6930-USB, April 5 at 0317, good signal with hard rock. Several other
logs of this, all unID, and with Weird Al:
http://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,21357.0.html
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. Earthquake report: April 6 at 1530:45 UT, my Acer
computer screen shakes, but nothing else seen or felt (or heard) to
indicate a tremor: USGS confirms it 22 seconds earlier, just about the
same spot I last reported a 4+ quake, presumably from fracking, now:
4.2, 22 km SSE of Medford, Oklahoma 2015-04-06 15:30:23 UT 3.4 km
deep.
Earthquake report: the DXLD/WOR room shakes for a few seconds, April 7
at 0352:24 UT. USGS info looked up later shows:
M 3.1 5 km SE of Enid, Oklahoma 2015-04-07 03:52:17 UTC 5.0 km
Location 36.357 N, 97.838 W
Once again, note the delay, only 7 seconds, and this one is indeed
closer! Meanwhile, the previous one we logged, which felt weaker here,
has been slightly downgraded from original mag 4.2:
M 3.9 - 20 km SSE of Medford, Oklahoma 2015-04-06 15:30:23 UTC
Location 36.634 N 97.657 W Depth 5.2 km
(Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. 1520, April 6 at 1235 UT, KOKC is off the air again: this
time presumably during demolition of remaining tornado-folded tower,
and/or erexion of one new tower, which was supposedly going to be
accomplished last week. This allows CRI/TX to be heard, i.a., q.v.
under CHINA [non]. This early after sunrise, at 1243 UT April 6, still
too much TX on 1560 from KGOW stupid sportstalk to hear KOKC-via-KEBC.
Finally checked at 1602 UT April 6, 1520 is still silent, and CBS News
is on weak 1560; 1605 UT ID (only) as ``News-Talk 1520 [sic] KOKC``,
weather, so KEBC presumably has kept carrying KOKC programming ever
since the disaster almost a biweek ago, and now is useful again.
[non]. 1520, April 7 at 0556 UT, KOKC is still off, allowing KOLM
Rochester MN to dominate over some weaker signals: 0559 UT weather on
``Sports Radio 1520, The Ticket``. Beyond cheatin` KOLM, should be a
great opportunity to DX others while lacking usual KOKC dominance,
probably not much longer once their new antenna be up.
Recheck in daytime 1539 UT April 7, KOKC is still off, but there`s
always KOKC-via-KEBC on 1560 for those who can get it; weak here, but
usually readable on caradio at least (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO
1768, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
1520, April 8 at 2129 UT check, KOKC is still off for reconstruxion.
Dennis Gibson posted this to IRCA also on April 8:
``KOKC standby tower status --- On Facebook, Chief Engineer Mike
Fields says it should be back on the air "by the weekend". He is
working on modifying the antenna tuning unit to match the shorter
tower. It will be 190 feet, a little over a quarter wavelength. It
doesn't have to be painted or lit as it's less than 200 feet. The
power will be 10 kW. Here's the STA:
https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101674910&formid=911&fac_num=73981
Sent from my iPhone``
That was quoted already in DXLD 15-13 and in my previous log report.
I say, that since KOKC was taking forever to rebuild its full-power 50
kW DA system, will this expedite that process, or delay it even
further? Maybe they are satisfied with 10/10 kW U1, plenty for local
coverage, and never mind all the listeners in New Zealand. If KOKC
were to permanently reduce to 10/10 kW U1, it would lose peripheral
interference protexion.
Of course, it`s still off the morning of April 9, facilitating ChiCom
penetration into deep North America; see CHINA [non], KYND log. At
1321 UT, KOKC programming via KEBC is stronger on 1560 than KYND on
1520 (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA [and non]. RF 5 thru 51, with only a few exceptions,
almost every channel in this range has at least a BAD DTV signal, tnx
to heavy regional tropo, April 7 from tune-in 1428 UT. Most of them
not enough to decode, but notable is RF 27, where KFOR OKC, normally a
bigsig, is NOT decoding, meaning it has too much co-channel
interference. My antenna is still stuck toward OKC, remember, so I
can`t rotate and chase other direxions. One which does decode is RF
35, KMTW DT, i.e. the megawatt in Hutchinson KS, off the back.
On RF 5, brief sign of a BAD signal is intriguing. W9WI.com listings
in the area include not a single Kansan, but a single Oklahoman not
too far off the antenna heading:
Durant, OK KXDA-LD 100 33-07-57N 096-39-39W LIC 47.1:S:REL
Durant, OK KXDA-LD 3,000 32-54-04N 096-41-15W CP 47.1:S:REL
And of course several in further TX, notably but unlikely:
KCWX Fredericksburg TX, 23.7 kW or ``special-temporary`` with 45 kW
The Mountainlake tropo map shows huge overlapping red blobs over OK
and all adjacent states; the more refined Hepburn map for 1200 UT
today shows the major area around Louisiana, but a separate minor area
from OK into KS.
In legacy-mode, after being sure my analog TV set is still connected
to the same antenna thru amp and splitter, I still step thru all the
channels, 2 up to 56 in case there be any NTSC left; discounting cable
radiation here and there, not a raster to be seen, except something on
ch 52 --- this must not be real either, as W9WI.com shows there is
only ONE US station of any kind left on this channel, a TBN analog
translator in Pennsylvania. Here, utility occupancy starts at 57, and
many more, but not all, upwards thru 83, which my old Zenith 12-incher
B&W still tunes. I reset it to channel 2 hoping for some sporadic E
analog DX from the few Canadians, Mexicans, Cubans, Americans left
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA [and non]. RF 32, April 6 at 1429 UT, FINALLY some signs
of life from TV-OK in Enid --- infomercial selling old Carol Burnett
shows, the same kind of crap they used to air fulltime in lieu of any
real programming. 1723 recheck, STILL Burnett, maybe the only thing
loaded to play. There are periodic crawlers abottom about this
wonderful DVD offer, but only the top edge of the letters are visible,
making them impossible to read, so the video is further disordered.
And it`s at the very bottom edge, so cut off another overscanned
screen.
KXOK-LD is really on RF 31, but its main transmitter is still down;
while the intercity relay to Lamont, WQOS306 on RF 32 has stayed on
the air. For months its 31.1 had been black and silent. With nothing
on RF 31, forcing Suddenlink cable 15 to display !Weak Signal for as
many months --- headend is only a block away from Broadway Tower
KXOK/TVOK antenna in downtown Enid, but retuning to RF 32 to get it is
beyond them.
Anyhow it would still be pointless, as there is no sound on the
infomercial, except for occasional humbuzz peaks, as if a device is
struggling to find some sound. Oh, later at 1748 UT during other
commercials, sound is on! Maybe engineer is working on it, making some
progress. 1752 UT: sound gone again.
31.1 aspect ratio CANNOT be changed. But 31.2 continues with silence
and full-screen color bars, PSIP label M-FOX, and aspect ratio CAN be
changed. 31.3 continues with silence and full-screen color bars, PSIP
label Azteca, aspect ratio CANNOT be changed --- but neither of these
Spanish channels has been seen with any programming for many months.
Tropo is up, and BAD signal is detected on RF 31, but I`m sure it`s
not KXOK, as when on, it was much stronger than RF 32 relay. Also a
BAD signal on RF 45. Both channels have low-powers in OKC, but I
assume I am getting full-power Wichitans off the back, as my rotor is
still dead and aimed at OKC. Also getting BAD signal on 8 = KPTS
Wichita. I park on RF 31, and indeed at 1659 and 1705 UT, video starts
to lock briefly, and it`s Univisión, which means Wichita, but PSIP ID
only as Univisi. The 7-letter limit to these relieves them of worry
about whether to put the accent on the o --- but Univision corporate
avoids it to seem less alien (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. RF 39, Sunday April 5 at 1500 UT, astounded to find that
KWTV continues with the second half of CBS` `Face the Nation` on main
channel 9.1. Ever since the show expanded to a full hour a couple
years ago, primary KWTV has refused to carry it all, instead switching
to gospel huxters at 10 am CT Sundays --- but most of the time would
put `FTN` Pt 2 on its 9.2 `News 9 Now` subchannel, which is mostly
wasted on hours-old local newscast replays. FTN was always getting
upcut at the join, due to automation and no one paying attention.
Another option would have been to put it on KSBI RF 16, 52.1, the
full-power station KWTV acquired last year.
Now online skeds for April 5 confirm that this was no accident, with
all of FTN on 9.1 from 1430 to 1530 UT, then Joel Osteen, g.h. IIRC,
the 1500 religion was a local church: maybe their contract finally ran
out (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. RF 50, KOPX 62.2 OKC, Ion`s qubo kidvid subchannel, April
3 between 1430 and 1745 UT chex, is still cutting on Spanish SAP
channel only for a few seconds every quarter-hour; why? (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OMAN. 9500, April 4 at 0124, fair signal with Qur`an, i.e. RSO, as
now registered for 00-02 on 315 degree antenna for W Europe, but
easily carrying on to N America. How many Europeans are up in the
middle of the night to listen to this?? It isn`t even Ramadan yet.
Stronger than 9510 Iran, which we heard Qur`aning 24.5 hours earlier,
but no 9500 then. Currently registered alternatives for the 00-02
period from RSO are 9650, 12015. Of course, from previous behavior,
they could also show up on earlier frequencies supposed to end at 2400
or even 2200 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PAKISTAN. Surprisingly broadcast of Radio Pakistan in Chinese on
April 8:
1200-1300 on 15700 ISL 250 kW / 070 deg to EaAs, QRM powerful R.Farda
15690
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/surprisingly-broadcast-of-radio.html
-- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DXLD)
WRTH 2015 for B-14 had this on 9670 and 11905, both Islamabad and
daggered as irregular (Glenn Hauser, ibid.)
** PERU. Peruvian logs:
4747.52, Huanta Dos Mil, 1143, very strong with huaynos, LSB always
good to escape 4750 slop. 2 April
4774.9, Radio Tarma, 1136, uptempo man with huaynos noted in passing.
2 April
4810, Radio Logos, 1130, fair with talk by a man, no CODAR. 2 April
4955, R. Cultural Amauta, 1110, strongest OA on the band with huaynos,
ID by a man, mensajes. 2 April
4985.51, Radio Voz Cristiana, 1116, very strong with local music and
comments by man. 2 April
5024.9, R. Quillabamba, 1053, noted as het against Rebelde and partial
copy in LSB. 2 April
5980, Radio Chaski, 1152, tune/in to convenient "Radio Chaski" ID by a
man, poor. 2 April
6173.95, R. Tawantinsuyo, 1148, noted in passing as het against
nominal but fair copy of huaynos in LSB. 2 April (David Sharp, NSW, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** PERU. 5980+, April 3 at 0044, very poor carrier, slightly on hi
side compared to neighbors, with some modulation from R. Chaski,
suffering heavy splatter from 5990 China via Cuba before hourtop; and
now in A-15 remains alone on 5980 itself past 0100, facilitating
capture of sliding autocutoff time today precessed to 0107:09.5*. Last
check was 5 nites ago on March 29 until 0106:38.5* so this is 31
seconds later, or averaging 6.2 seconds later per 24 hours.
5980, April 4 at *0107 my streetlite fires up, clear sky after sunset
at 0055*. And at 0107 the JBA carrier of R. Chaski is on until cutoff
at 0107:14.5*. This time it was so clear that I could tell it did so
in two steps, first step weakened, then in a split second, totally
off*. Last nite it was timed at 0107:09.5* so this is 5.0 seconds
later.
5980, April 6 at 0108, JBA carrier from R. Chaski cuts off at
0107:27*. One binite ago it was at 0107:14.5* so this is 12.5 seconds
later, averaging 6.25 later per (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** PHILIPPINES. 11990, April 8 at 1405, VOA Korean is overmodulated
and distorted from Tinang transmitter, a recurrent problem on this and
other/previous frequencies; also splattering plus/minus 10. This is on
the 21-degree antenna. Usual strong signal since that azimuth crosses:
Pusan (slightly off North Korea), Barrow, Sioux Lookout, Ann Arbor,
Myrtle Beach, ergo, also a North American service (Glenn Hauser, OK,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. Radio Romania International, 17680, 4/5/15, 1145 UT. Good
listening level for their European service. It was strange, but the
host mentioned they were devoting the music program to Palm Sunday
when the actual day was Easter Sunday. It even got more strange when
they led off the music program with a music piece from Tchaikovsky's
Nutcracker Suite which is associated with Christmas (Larry Zamora,
Garland, TX, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Larry, Tnx for the reports. I believe that Orthodox Palm Sunday &
Easter are one week later this year (Glenn to Larry via DXLD)
Glenn, You are correct. Thanks for clarifying (Larry to Glenn, ibid.)
11800, April 5 at 0006, RRI English now here, news with Romanian
angles concluding, 0007 `Week in Review`, very good, 53-66 dbu on PL-
880, and // 9730 merely good at 45-54 dbu.
17745, April 5 at 2103, RRI in Spanish with classical music, something
about Transilvania; poor-fair with heavy fading, 19-30 dbu on the PL-
880 with short random wire. This is 247 degrees from Tiganeshti at 21-
22.
It seems no one but me bothers to respell ``Tiganesti`` fonetikaly to
account for the missing diacritix. The S has a sedilla under it, which
makes it sh. Checking Wikipedia, we find there are more than that!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C8%9Aig%C4%83ne%C8%99ti
i.e. a tedilla (comma) under the T, and a soft (semi-circle) accent
over the a, all of which are not reproducible in standard Western
fonts. So the T should also be replaced by Ts, but maybe we can do
without the accent on the a. Analogous to cedilla for ç, I call the
subscripts sedilla and tedilla as I don`t know the proper names for
them in English, or Romanian.
The word axually means Gypsy, (as in Tzigane, French version), and
there are several villages by this name in Romania: I haven`t tried to
find out which one in Wikipedia hosts the major SW site. Anyhow, from
now on I will be spelling (and pronouncing) it Tsiganeshti! Perhaps
our monitor Tudor in Romania can clarify this (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD
OF RADIO 1768, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. Got 2 QSL-cards from the Krasnodar regional radio and
television transmitting center of the reception program "Radio Adygea"
20.03.2015 year frequency of 6000 kHz. One card is filled in Russian,
the other on English. The report sent by electronic mail: krasnodar @
rtrn.ru and ru6ax @ land.ru Also sent a large-size booklet with photos
transmitting center (Dmitry Kutuzov, Ryazan, Russia / "deneb-radio-dx"
via RusDX April 5 via DXLD)
** RUSSIA [and non]. Hi Everyone, Just noticed Foxtel (Australia) has
added RT to the channel line-up. Amateurish and factually incorrect
presentation (in my opinion) - but perhaps I am outside their target
demo, which mostly seems geared towards younger viewers. The one big
surprise is "Politicking with Larry King." The first thought which
crossed my mind, "This channel is beneath him."
Foxtel offers a good range of news channels, including: Al Jazeera,
BBC, Bloomberg, CCTV, CNBC, CNN, Fox, NHK and Sky. And I have to think
channels like RT are the new mouthpiece for their respective
governments/countries?
Right now RT is talking about how Saudi intervention in Yemen is
illegal because the locals have the right to self-determination with
their government but not surprisingly, fails to draw a parallel with
Russian intervention in the Ukraine.
We have all discussed previously the vulnerabilities of satellite and
Internet-delivered product, as opposed to HF radio. Just makes me
wonder how governments and others would deliver their message if
satellite channels or the Internet were blocked?
Sent from (David Sharp's NSW, iPhone, April 3, dxldyg via WORLD OF
RADIO 1768, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Also being offered on SlingTV app (Steve Wood, ibid.)
RT is a highly sophisticated organization whose aim is to obfuscate
the stories they wish to cover, resulting in the reader to give up in
frustration over ever getting to the truth. Such was the case, for
example, with the shoot-down of MH17 last summer. Whereas the evidence
is absolutely overwhelming that this occurred as a result of a missile
launched by the terrorists in the Donbas, provided to them by Russia,
you never, ever hear this from RT. Instead, all sorts of wacky
theories are promulgated. I recommend this very good article about RT
(now Sputnik):
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/14/world/europe/russian-tv-insider-says-putin-is-running-the-show-in-ukraine.html?_r=1
73 (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DXLD)
Believe me or not, no official media ever has shown us the full truth.
All of them (both pro-western, such as CNN, BBC and Al-Jazeera and
pro-Russian, such as Sputnik) are owned by the corporations and serve
not our interests, but the interests of the corporations. Do not close
your eyes, the war is business that brings the corporations billions
of dollars every year and they have no reason to show us what is
happening behind the scenes (Georgi Bancov, Blgaria, dxldyg via DXLD)
I would not use the word "sophisticated" to describe RT. Its
presentation is worse than when CNN launched so many years ago. People
who follow world events know the skulduggery behind RT, but others,
including those who rely upon social media as a primary news source,
are easy targets for this channel.
It is true there is a certain degree of bias amongst all the major
news networks but RT goes beyond this level to the point of pure
propaganda and mis-information on behalf of Putin's government.
As a sidebar - how would the Russian government get this rubbish out
in front of people if satellite and cable companies pulled the plug?
And it could happen. Sent from (David Sharp's iPhone, ibid.)
As they say, apple doesn`t fall far from the tree. Was radio 'liberty'
his father worked for, any better? Furthermore, how can a person get
to the bottom of it if he "never been, just pretended"? His mentality
is much too different.
“I couldn’t get the jokes and I couldn’t get all the cultural
associations.”
At the beginning of the century the city was, he said, “full of
vitality and madness and incredibly exciting” and “the place to be.”
There was optimism, he said, because Russia appeared to be heading in
the direction of European democracy.
They are now being deployed, not just against Western policies, but
against basic Western values, Mr. Pomerantsev argues (Leo Barmaleo,
Moldova, ibid.)
But do not miss one important aspect mentioned in this article as
well:
"Mr. Pomerantsev fears that the financial pressures and Western
sanctions, instead of compelling Mr. Putin to change course, are
likely to make Russia more closed and dictatorial."
In the field of media: Painting the B&W picture is merely
counterproductive.
But this appears to be something many media organizations simply do
not grasp. Neither does, it seems after a recent report, Peter
Horrocks, someone the BBC considered worth 400,000 Euro per year if I
recall correct. I was quite irritated by his war rhetorics, as quoted
by the Guardian.
The core of this is a dramatic slip in quality over the last ten
years. The recent plane crash threw a dazzling light on this issue.
Here in Germany news media found itself heavily attacked, and it may
or may not be justifiable how this piece essentially says that news
media from other EU countries is not better, rather even worse:
http://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/sendungen/zapp/Draufhalten-Medien-in-Montabaur,germanwings256.html
(Particularly remarkable the BBC [?] girl that has the nerve to ask
the mayor of Montabaur if he has his statement that he has nothing for
the press in English, too. What was she thinking who she is?)
What this has to do with Russia Today: This dramatic slip in quality
has apparently been identified by them as a market possibility. They
developed a strategy to position themselves as the underdogs, the
schmuddel childs that speak out what is indecent to say. Thus attacks
on Russia Today will end up in its own marketing, such as in this
trailer, typical also for its extremely fast pace:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecbFtyqNSWc#t=695
Saw it by chance in this German-language production that then
continues with an interview with this presenter. And the earlier
interview in this video was the first time where I saw it mentioned
that already in last year a copilot had locked out the pilot, just in
this case only to deroute the plane, like in the old days of the so-
called hijackings of Polish planes in Berlin which then preferred
Tempelhof over Schönefeld. Quite interesting. Have I heard this on
German media? No.
Oh, and at 10'20 a political joke: "So, what do we have in Yemen: A
corrupt, unpopular, authoritarian president, affine with a foreign
power, an uprising, violent and disputed as well, and the president
simply sets off. Does this sound familiar?"
These German-language productions are made by obviously unexperienced
newcomers and often quite murky. Still these people report things no
one else reports, often with no discernible political reasons of any
kind. This situation is, referred to German media, just pathetic. Does
it really surprise anyone that Russia Today simply uses the
opportunities they get as a present?
Also interesting: Hardly anyone seems to speak about Sputnik, the
other brand obviously aiming at audiences that do not like the RT
style and want to have it serious. But what is there of interest
appears to be very much focussed on the websites. I have not the
impression that radio plays any real role here anymore. Just as one
could hear from Voice of Russia circles in last year: Simonyan did not
simply shut it all down (except for the AM transmitters, which she
deemed as horribly expensive, related to the listener numbers,
meanwhile having dropped below the level detectable by audience
research), but did from the start not expect much from this medium at
all.
And no, I don't think that this is a specific aspect of Russian
foreign media. Classic foreign radio, even shortwave as distribution
platform? In developed countries the sun has already set (Kai Ludwig,
Germany, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** RWANDA [non]. Radio Inyabutatu on new 21480 Issoudun, ex 17500 in
A-14
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/radio-inyabutatu-on-new-21480-issoudun.html
-- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, April 4, dxldyg via DXLD)
New frequencies of clandestine broadcasts in A-15:
Radio Inyabutatu:
1600-1700 21480 ISS 100 kW / 144 deg to SoAf K'rawanda Sat, ex 17500
in A-14 (Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, April 5, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1768,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. 1521, BSKSA, 2000, fair with news or similar by man,
in null of 2QN but soon lost to China. 4/4 (David Sharp, NSW, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** SAUDI ARABIA. 21505, 1223, BSKSA, Arabic talk, low distorted
modulation, 452, 07/03. The dirty transmitter output of BSKSA on 21505
kHz, sounding very distorted and putting out spurs all over the 13m
band (Simon Hockenhull, Bristol, England, UK, Grundig Sat 700, YB 400,
ferrite rods, AKD Target HF3+4m LW, April BDXC-UK Communication via
DXLD)
[and non]. 11805-11835, April 4 at 2130, while I have the Netherlands`
Utwente receiver running for WOR check, also try some other
frequencies. BSKSA Qur`an 11820 is incredibly strong, and splattering
out to 15 kHz above and below, impossible closer in, blasting away
what`s left of Brother Scare 11825 WRMI (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** SINGAPORE. 3915.00, *2158-2210 23.3, BBC, via Kranji. Big Ben IS,
ID, 2200 English news - reactivated after two years, 45333 (Anker
Petersen, Denmark, what I heard recently in Skovlunde on my AOR
AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire, WB yg via DXLD)
** SOMALILAND. 7120, Radio Hargeisa, 1738, very strong with local
vocals. 2/4 (David Sharp, NSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) = 2 April ---
David has gone native (gh)
7120-, April 3 at 0330, open carrier slightly on the lo side, and only
JBM by 0332, as R. Hargeisa attempts to broadcast. Look out: as quoted
in WOR 1767, Rumen Pankov in Bulgaria caught some anomalies in late
March, on the air more than an hour earlier and jumping to 7130 (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. USA, Overcomer Ministry, 15770 at 2013 Mar 5.
Preacher telling all that we are losing today in the world. He states
they spend 100,000 dollars a month to be heard around the world. Fair
signal (Mike Yohnicki, London, ON, DX-394, Antron 99 antenna, April
CIDX Messenger via DXLD)
11825, April 3 at 1239, Brother Scare via WRMI is plugging big
Passover event tonight at 8 pm ET = 0000 UT Saturday, inviting
visitors to his Tabernacle, which exit to take off the hiway. It`s the
same canned announcement he has been airing for a couple of weeks,
yawn. Hey, is he a secret Jew, or what?
Right now there is heavy Asian CCI vs the 355 azimuth from Okee. That
would be VOA 250 kW, 332 degrees via Tinang, PHILIPPINES at 09-13, so
the evil Obama government is blocking the holy word of the Last Day
Prophet of God!! By speaking the language of our evil enemy China.
WRMI-8 is now on air from 10 to 22 with TOM, extended weekends until
02 with Global 24 [see also GUAM and non].
11580, WRMI-9 at 44 degrees with TOM is now scheduled only at 03-13
and 21-23, other programming at 23-01, and at 01-03 with System B,
same color coding as main 9955, so really duplicating it? Unchecked
yet. WRMI was doing this a few months ago but it didn`t last long.
Programming during that bihour includes several DX programs, mostly
Spanish, musical shows, R. Slovakia and Praga in Spanish (Glenn
Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA:
WORLD OF RADIO
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non non]. 11700, April 6 at 1249, surprised to find
Brother Scare here with good and steady signal, so surely American
rather than Eurasian, but totally NOT // WRMI 11580, 11825. But WRMI
is the odd-one-out, playing backup recording? since 11700 is a few
seconds ahead of otherwise // 9980 WWCR. Subject on the non-WRMI
stations is the Pope`s September visit to Philadelphia, with various
unattributed news clips about it. 1258 cuts to Jesus tune, BS ID, but
no station ID, 1300 cut to a few notes of other music, open carrier
and off.
HFCC A-15 shows what it is: WHRI registered 11-13, 250 kW, 152 degrees
to CIRAFs 12-15, i.e. S America. The first hour is daily, the second
hour except Sundays. So anyhow, BS is back on his home-state SW
station. Is this info included at
http://www.overcomerministry.org/
or
ftp://www.overcomerministry.org/RadioSchedule/Short%20Wave%20Radio.html
Of course not! His own website info is worse than useless. But
searching on the redesigned WHR sked,
http://lesea.com/whr/program-schedules/
we get a whole bunch of BS --- strange I had not noticed much of the
rest. I would rather delete the EDT column, but retain it to match up
with the DAY column:
``UTC EASTERN TIME DAY
0700-0800 3:00 AM-4:00 AM Su,Mo,Tu,We,Th,Fr,Sa 7315
0800-0900 4:00 AM-5:00 AM Su,Mo,Tu,We,Th,Fr,Sa 7315
1300-1400 9:00 AM-10:00 AM Su,Sa 21610
1400-1500 10:00 AM-11:00 AM Sa 21600
1800-1900 2:00 PM-3:00 PM Mo,Tu,We,Th,Fr 21600
1900-2000 3:00 PM-4:00 PM Mo,Tu,We,Th,Fr 17610
2000-2100 4:00 PM-5:00 PM Su 11670
2000-2100 4:00 PM-5:00 PM Mo,Tu,We,Th,Fr 11670
2200-2300 6:00 PM-7:00 PM Su 11670
0000-0100 8:00 PM-9:00 PM Mo 5920
0200-0300 10:00 PM-11:00 PM Su,Mo,Tu,We,Th,Fr,Sa 5920
1000-1100 6:00 AM-7:00 AM Su 9610
1100-1200 7:00 AM-8:00 AM Su,Mo,Tu,We,Th,Fr,Sa 11700
1200-1300 8:00 AM-9:00 AM Mo,Tu,We,Th,Fr,Sa 11700
1600-1700 12:00 PM-1:00 PM Su,Mo,Tu,We,Th,Fr,Sa 9840
1700-1800 1:00 PM-2:00 PM Su,Mo,Tu,We,Th,Fr,Sa 9840
1900-2000 3:00 PM-4:00 PM Su 9840
2000-2100 4:00 PM-5:00 PM Sa 11670
2200-2300 6:00 PM-7:00 PM Sa 11670
2200-2300 6:00 PM-7:00 PM Mo,Tu,We,Th,Fr 11775
2300-0000 7:00 PM-8:00 PM Sa 7315
2300-0000 7:00 PM-8:00 PM Mo,Tu,We,Th,Fr 11775
[and one more: this alone appears to be T8WH PALAU]
UTC EASTERN TIME DAY
1600-1700 12:00 PM-1:00 PM Su,Mo,Tu,We,Th,Fr,Sa 9930``
(Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Brother Stair via World Harvest Radio, according to program schedule:
0700-0900 7315 HRI 250 kW / 152 deg SoAm WHRI Angel 1 Daily,
confirmed
1000-1100 9610 HRI 250 kW / 152 deg SoAm WHRI Angel 1 Sun
1100-1200 11700*HRI 250 kW / 152 deg SoAm WHRI Angel 1 Daily confirmed
1200-1300 11700*HRI 250 kW / 152 deg SoAm WHRI Angel 1 Mn-Sa confirmed
1300-1400 21600 HRI 250 kW / 085 deg CeAf WHRI Angel 1 Sat/Sun
1400-1500 21600 HRI 250 kW / 085 deg CeAf WHRI Angel 1 Sat
1800-1900 21600 HRI 250 kW / 085 deg CeAf WHRI Angel 1 Mon-Fri
1900-2000 17610 HRI 250 kW / 085 deg CeAf WHRI Angel 1 Mon-Fri
2300-2400 11775 HRI 250 kW / 047 deg WeEu WHRI Angel 1 Mon-Fri
0000-0100 5920 HRI 250 kW / 047 deg WeEu WHRI Angel 2 Mon
0200-0300 5920 HRI 250 kW / 047 deg WeEu WHRI Angel 2 Daily
1600-1800 9840 HRI 250 kW / 025 deg ENAm WHRI Angel 2 Daily confirmed
1900-2000 9840 HRI 250 kW / 025 deg ENAm WHRI Angel 2 Sun
2000-2100 11670 HRI 250 kW / 173 deg CeAm WHRI Angel 2 Mon-Sat
2000-2100 11670 HRI 250 kW / 173 deg CeAm WHRI Angel 2 Mon-Sat
2200-2300 11670 HRI 250 kW / 173 deg CeAm WHRI Angel 2 Sat/Sun
2300-2400 7315 HRI 250 kW / 173 deg CeAm WHRI Angel 2 Sat
1600-1700 9930 HBN 100 kW / 270 deg SEAs T8WH Angel 4 Daily confirmed
* will be changed to new frequency 15320, registered in HFCC before
few minutes.
-- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DXLD)
WHRI on new 15320, ex 11700, 1100-1300 UTC effective from today, April
9 (Ivo Ivanov, ibid.)
** SPAIN [and non]. 15490, Saturday April 4 at 1455, REE is fair here
with silly ballgame hype, but no signal on 15450; 17715 has a JBA
carrier, maybe this; no 17855 and nothing on 21 MHz.
April 4 at 1906-1908 after any frequency changes should have happened,
I look for REE again: 17715 fair and 15490 good, none of the others:
no 17855, leaving France 17850 unscathed; nothing on 21 MHz; no 15450,
17755; and for good measure nothing audible on former 12030, 11940 or
9620 but unlikely to propagate anyway now.
17715 // stronger 15490, Sunday April 5 at 2101 check, only REE
frequencies audible, none of the others on 17 or 15 MHz. I wonder if
they will ever come back to 17855 which had the best signal in North
America? Yes! ---
17855, April 7 at 1912, REE reactivated here with SBG in Castilian;
first time heard since the early few days of A-15. VG signal on the N
American beam, much stronger than // 17715, and also stronger than //
15490 which is second best (and which had been first-best during
17855` absence). Also JBA on // 15450, so congrats, four transmitters
running at once. This time, no France adjacent on 17850, or is there a
JBA carrier there? HFCC does have RFI registered 19-20 from ISSoudun
from 29 March to 29 August only (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO
1768, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN [non]. GERMANY, Radio MiAmigo via Kall effective from April
4/5: 0800-1200 on 9560 KLL 020 kW / non-dir to CeEu German Sat/Sun
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/radio-miamigo-via-kall-effective-from.html
(DX RE MIX NEWS #904 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, April 07, 2015
via DXLD)
** SRI LANKA. [Re 15-13, RWANDA:] The only death in the Trincomalee
station with 27 years of civil conflict, and the station was a no
man`s territory, was a German engineer who took a chance and left the
station to get to Colombo (200 km away) to catch a flight. There was
firing in the area between Tamil Tigers and the Government forces and
he was advised not to leave the station. Both the Tigers and
Government commanders always informed the DW station if there were any
activities. He took a chance and paid the price, sadly.
Trincomalee was in a safe place after the conflict, well established
and Commercial National grid power was just a few months away after
the end of the conflict on May 2010 when the decision was taken to
close the station on 30th October and hand over to SLBC on the 1st of
Jan 2011. It would have been even cheaper to run the station as the
SLBC now finds it.
We all tried hard to make DW management keep Trinco as it was good to
cover Africa too and Asia compared to limited use and more expensive
Kigali. But we feel closing Trinco and keeping Kigali was short term
and a trick to close down short wave in the short term as they have
now done. If the German government can't afford 3 million Euros, I
wonder who can. It is just that there is no will. Trincomalee is
running with 10% of that budget. :) (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka,
March 29, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SRI LANKA. 11905, in the clear April 4 at 0115, but zero signal
from SLBC, so no mistimesignal to monitor either. Were they scared off
by the Cairo blob last night? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN [and non]. 11650, April 3 at 0451, tone jammer, and (via
VATICAN) R. Dabanga ID in passing, poor.
13800, April 3 at 0452, R. Dabanga signal via MADAGASCAR is better
here tonight, but double tone jamming is worse, hi and lo pitches.
13800, April 7 at 0547, heavy tone jamming mixing with R. Dabanga,
fair signals at about equal levels. // 11650 the same situation, but
both at poor levels. 13800 is via MADAGASCAR; 11650 via VATICAN.
13800, April 8 at 0549, R. Dabanga, very good via VATICAN, and NO tone
jamming for a change. But // 11650 is only fair and with tone jamming.
HFCC shows a confusing site swaparound for 13800, content of which
must be 0400-0429 R. Tamazuj, 0429-0559 R. Dabanga:
0400-0430, 250 kW, 138 degrees from FRANCE
0430-0530, 250 kW, 335 degrees from MADAGASCAR
0530-0600, 250 kW, 150 degrees from VATICAN
So at 0529 amid the Dabanga broadcast there would be a site change.
Meanwhile on 11650:
0400-0430, 250 kW, 145 degrees from VATICAN
0430-0600, 250 kW, 146 degrees from VATICAN
What`s the point of a separate listing with a 1-degree azimuth shift?
Really a transmitter change? Both are on Antenna type 216. And BTW
amid this also on 11650 at 0400-0500 is CRI Vietnamese via Kunming
(Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN [non] & SUDAN SOUTH [non]. New frequencies of clandestine
broadcasts in A-15, part 2:
Radio Tamazuj:
0400-0430 7315 MDC 250 kW / 320 deg EaAf Sudanese Arabic
0400-0430 11650 SMG 250 kW / 146 deg EaAf Sudanese Arabic
0400-0430 13800 ISS 250 kW / 138 deg EaAf Sudanese Arabic ex 15550 MDC
1500-1530 15150 MDC 250 kW / 340 deg EaAf Sudanese Arabic
1500-1530 15550 SMG 250 kW / 150 deg EaAf Sudanese Arabic
1500-1530 17600 ISS 250 kW / 138 deg EaAf Sudanese Arabic ex 13800 SMG
Radio Dabanga:
0430-0600 11650 SMG 250 kW / 146 deg EaAf Sudanese Arabic
0430-0530 13800 MDC 250 kW / 335 deg EaAf Sudanese Arabic ex 15550 SMG
0530-0600 13800 SMG 250 kW / 150 deg EaAf Sudanese Arabic ex 15550 MDC
1530-1600 15150 MDC 250 kW / 340 deg EaAf Sudanese Arabic
1530-1600 15550 SMG 250 kW / 150 deg EaAf Sudanese Arabic
1600-1630 15150 SMG 200 kW / 146 deg EaAf Sudanese Arabic
1600-1630 15550 SMG 200 kW / 150 deg EaAf Sudanese Arabic
(Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, April 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN SOUTH [non]. March 31:
Radio Miraya in English to EaAf 0540 on 11560 secret tx site
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lroghgVpNTo&feature=youtu.be
(Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
11560, PRIDNESTROVIE (MOLDOVA) Radio Miraya at 0518 in English with an
interview with a UNHCR official discussing wildfires in South Sudan -
Very good, Apr 8 (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, listening
in my car by the lake, with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 active antenna.
Editor of World English Survey and Target Listening, available at
http://www.odxa.on.ca dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Transmitter site
for this is subject of dispute (gh, DXLD)
** SWAZILAND. 1170, TWR, 2025, urban themed religious vocals, Bible
talk by two women in English. Presumed and only briefly on top. 4/4
(David Sharp, NSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SWAZILAND. 15360, April 6 at 1412, hymn in presumed Urdu, good
signal, TWR`s sole Asian broadcast from its African site, 1400-1415,
100 kW, 43 degrees per HFCC. Retune too late to hear music box IS
which should open and close it: 1415 open carrier to 1415.5*. In WRTH,
you won`t find any Urdu under SWAZILAND, and not under SOUTH AFRICA
either, since that`s for the TWR Africa service only (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAHITI. French Polynesia, 738, Radio Tahiti, 0826, noted briefly
with French talk in partial null of 2NR. Mostly poor. 4/4 (David
Sharp, NSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAJIKISTAN. 14295, Tajik Radio, Orzu. 3 x 4765, talks in Tajik,
1248, then into local music. In amongst the hams! Fair, 3 April, but
couldn’t hear the fundamental this night. Rgds (Craig Seager, NSW,
ARDXC via DXLD)
** TIBET [non]. 18980, April 7 at 1344, JBA signal here. Try to // it
with CNR1 jammer on 15265, but not, tho it could be, merely not synch.
18990, April 7 at 1344, an even weaker JBA broadcast signal, also with
some noise.
So what`s the Tuesday registration for RFA Tibetan via Kuwait? 18980
at 13-14, 18990 at 12-13. So both RFA and the jammer should be on
18980 during this hour, but April 5 I did find them uncoördinated. By
1358 today, 18980 is off, 18990 still on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
Radio Free Asia in Tibetan on 19 MHz, updated 1300-1400 UT slot:
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/radio-free-asia-in-tibetan-on-19-mhz.html
(Ivo Ivanov, April 6, dxldyg via DXLD)
KUWAIT, Radio Free Asia in Tibetan 19 MHz
1100-1200 18930 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Mon
1100-1200 18980 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tue
1100-1200 18990 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Wed
1100-1200 19000 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Thu
1100-1200 18980 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Fri
1100-1200 18990 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Sat
1100-1200 19010 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Sun
1200-1300 18980 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Mon
1200-1300 18990 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tue
1200-1300 19000 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Wed
1200-1300 18980 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Thu
1200-1300 18990 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Fri
1200-1300 19000 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Sat
1200-1300 18930 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Sun
1300-1400 18930 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Mon, not 18980
1300-1400 18980 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Tue, not 18990
1300-1400 18990 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Wed, not 19000
1300-1400 19000 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Thu, not 18980
1300-1400 18980 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Fri, not 18990
1300-1400 18990 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sat, not 19000
1300-1400 19010 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sun, not 18930
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/radio-free-asia-in-tibetan-on-19-mhz.html
(DX RE MIX NEWS #904 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, April 07, 2015
via DXLD)
** TURKEY. 13635, April 5 at 0602, good signal in Turkish from TRT,
and to the extent they play music, should be good background
entertainment, now scheduled 0600-1300, 500 kW, 310 degrees from
Emirler to W Europe, and furthermore, N America when propagation
permit (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** UKRAINE. 3310-USB, 0033, Odessa Coastal R, “Ukraine Navigation
Warnings” in English, 233, 13/03 DKs (Dave Kenny Sheigra, Sutherland,
Scotland, UK, AOR 7030plus, multiple Beverage aerials, April BDXC-UK
Communication via DXLD)
** UKRAINE. [Re BELARUS, BYE BYE]. Well, it's about the same with R.
Ukraine International. I have tried all possible email addresses,
giving them technical reports but never any reaction and some
addresses bounce. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, via NORDX, via RusDX
April 5 via DXLD)
** U K [non]. CHELMSFORD CALLING WORLD SERVICE ANNOUCE A NEW RELAY
Chelmsford Calling World Service just posted on Facebook:
Today (Sunday) is a good day to tune in to us on short wave! - We're
starting a new relay via CHANNEL 292 on 6070 kHz at 1600 UT (that's 5
pm UK time), and current propagation conditions mean that their signal
is booming in all over Europe (& beyond ?) at this time! Further
relays coming up.
Don't forget - we'll also be relayed across Europe via our good
friends at HLR - Hamburger Lokalradio - as usual on 7265 kHz at the
slightly different time of 1200 UT next Saturday 11th April. Thanks to
all at HLR for carrying our programme for 6 months!
Oh yes - we're also worldwide on Wednesdays at 2200 UT on 9955 kHz via
the excellent WRMI - Radio Miami International from Okeechobee,
Florida!
'THANK YOU' to above & all our other relay friends! Details as always:
http://www.chelmsfordcalling.com/
Posted by: (Mike Terry April 5 dxldyg via DXLD)
** U S A. NEW MANAGING EDITOR OF VOA NEWS CENTER
Washington, D.C., April 2, 2015 - Voice of America has named Clara
Domínguez as Managing Editor of the VOA News Center, the main source
of news-gathering and production for a weekly audience of more than
172 million people in nearly 50 languages.
Domínguez moves to the News Center from the Latin America Division,
where she helped build a network of more than 350 television, radio,
and on-line affiliates, reaching record audiences throughout South and
Central America and the Caribbean.
Broadcasting Board of Governors Interim CEO André Mendes and VOA
Director David Ensor announced the appointment Thursday at a meeting
of News Center staff.
"Clara is the right person to lead us to a 'digital first' newsroom
for the 21st century," Ensor says. "She is a clear-headed, highly-
intelligent, seasoned journalist with a track record of extraordinary
success building audience."
Domínguez has more than 28 years of experience as a broadcast
journalist. Prior to joining VOA in 2010, she was News Director at the
Office of Cuba Broadcasting.
"Clara is uniquely positioned to help the news room deliver the timely
and robust news products that today's complex media environment
demands," Mendes says. "Coming from one of our most important language
services, Clara will provide a fresh perspective to the rapidly-
evolving role that the VOA newsroom plays in carrying out our ever-
more-important mission."
"I am honored to be taking on this new challenge at an important time
for VOA," Domínguez says. "There is a strong tradition of great
journalism in the VOA newsroom. I look forward to working with this
impressive cadre of reporters, editors, and producers to reach new
audiences with reliable and influential journalism."
Domínguez has a Masters in International Affairs from The George
Washington University and an MBA from the University of Miami. A
native of Havana, Cuba, she is fluent in Spanish and has a working
knowledge of French (VOA PR April 2 via WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DXLD)
** U S A. DAVID ENSOR STEPPING DOWN AS VOA DIRECTOR
http://www.insidevoa.com/content/david-ensor-stepping-down-as-voa-director/2709706.html
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 7, 2015 -- Voice of America Director David
Ensor today announced his resignation after nearly four years leading
the nation's international state broadcaster.
During Ensor's tenure, VOA's radio, television, and online audience
grew by 49 million people to 172 million a week, according to survey
data prepared for the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees
Voice of America and four other media organizations funded by the U.S.
government.
"I am honored to have had the opportunity to work alongside so many
fine journalists," Ensor said during a meeting with VOA staff. "You
have made VOA a social-media leader in South East Asia and an
affiliate-model innovator in Latin America."
Under his leadership, VOA has launched new television programs in
Russian, Ukrainian, Persian, Mandarin, Burmese, Urdu, Kurdish, Pashto,
Somali, Dari, Creole, English and many more. Ensor initiated a
"digital first" reorganization of VOA's central newsroom and a boost
in programming to Africa.
"We are grateful for the leadership David Ensor brought to VOA," said
BBG Chair Jeff Shell. "His deep journalistic roots and rich knowledge
of world events were tremendous assets he enthusiastically invested in
this venerable organization."
Prior to joining VOA in June 2011, Ensor was Director of
Communications and Public Diplomacy at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. He
came to VOA as an award-winning journalist in his own right. During
his 30 years as a radio and television correspondent, he reported for
NPR, ABC News, and CNN and covered such major stories as the fall of
Communism in Poland and the Soviet Union, the travels of Pope John
Paul II, and U.S. national security issues in the wake of the 9/11
attacks.
Despite the constraints of diminishing budgets in each of his years as
director, Ensor said "VOA has found creative ways to respond to the
lies of Vladimir Putin and to the threats of ISIS. And it will be
ready to do much more under its next director, if resources can be
identified."
At the meeting with VOA staff, Ensor said, "So long as the VOA Charter
of 1976 is never weakened, I know VOA's professionals will be able
continue to serve our country by providing accurate journalism that is
honest and independent and thus earns the trust of millions around the
world."
Ensor also thanked the Broadcasting Board of Governors for their trust
and said he will stay on the job until the end of May to allow the
Board time to search for VOA's 29th director.
For more information about this release, contact the VOA Public
Relations office in Washington at (202) 203-4959, or write to
publicrelations@voanews.com For more information about VOA, visit the
Public Relations website at http://www.insidevoa.com or the main news
site at http://www.voanews.com
VOA reaches a global weekly audience of more than 172 million people
in nearly 50 languages. VOA programs are delivered on satellite,
cable, shortwave, FM, medium wave, streaming audio and video and more
than 2,350 media outlets worldwide. It is funded by the U.S. Congress
through the Broadcasting Board of Governors (VOA PR April 7 via gh,
Hansjoerg Biener, J. Burke N0LSD, DXLD)
And no explanation whatsoever, not even the lame substitute phrase of
"personal reasons". So are we supposed to take this as veiled
explanation?
"So long as the VOA Charter of 1976 is never weakened..."
In case it has anything to do with
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n6SS-U9_5g
``VOA Director David Ensor Takes Shots at Ambassador, Former VOA
Reporters, and NGO Media Website --- FreeMediaOnline.org``
my comment would be: This organization is beyond help (Kai Ludwig,
WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
DIRECTOR OF VOICE OF AMERICA IS PLANNING TO STEP DOWN - NYTimes.com
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/04/08/us/director-ofvoice-of-america-is-planning-to-step-down.html
Sent from my iPhone (via David Cole, OK, DXLD) Viz.:
DIRECTOR OF VOICE OF AMERICA IS PLANNING TO STEP DOWN
By RON NIXON April 7, 2015
WASHINGTON -- David Ensor, who as director of the Voice of America has
presided over significant growth in the news agency's audience despite
budget cuts, announced Tuesday that he was stepping down.
Mr. Ensor, who joined the Voice of America in June 2011, said he would
leave the government-funded broadcaster at the end of next month. He
did not explain his decision or discuss his plans.
The Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees the Voice of
America, credited Mr. Ensor with creating new television programming
in Russian, Ukrainian, Persian, Mandarin, Burmese and Creole, among
other languages. It also said he had led a digital transformation of
the agency's newsroom and expanded media programs in Africa.
According to survey data prepared for the board, the Voice of
America's international radio, television and online audience has
reached 172 million people a week, an increase of 49 million during
Mr. Ensor's tenure.
Mr. Ensor, 64, a former reporter for NPR, ABC News and CNN, was the
director of communications and public diplomacy at the United States
Embassy in Afghanistan before joining the Voice of America.
His time at the news agency has not been without controversy. Dan
Robinson, the former chief White House correspondent for the Voice of
America, said its central news operation had been devastated by
staffing cuts, and he and other former employees said a number of
veteran correspondents had resigned or retired in frustration.
Last year, BBG Watch, a blog that is written in part by current and
former Voice of America employees, obtained emails under the Freedom
of Information Act showing that Mr. Ensor and a number of his
subordinates had planned a skit that mocked former employees who had
been critical of the agency.
Mr. Ensor announced his resignation during a noon meeting with Voice
of America staff members, whom he said had continued to produce
high-quality journalism despite budget constraints.
"I am honored to have had the opportunity to work alongside so many
fine journalists," he said.
Mr. Ensor is the second government broadcasting executive to leave in
recent weeks. After just 42 days on the job, Andrew Lack resigned as
chief executive of the Broadcasting Board of Governors last month to
return to NBCUniversal.
Critics say the departures are the latest in a series of problems at
the Voice of America and other government-backed broadcasters. The
agencies have been accused of floundering while other countries,
particularly Russia and China, have built competing international
media outlets.
The House passed a bill last year saying that the Voice of America
should support American "public diplomacy" and policies. The move set
off a revolt among staff members, who said the change would affect
their editorial independence.
The Senate did not take up the measure. It is expected to be
introduced again in the House (NYT via Mike Cooper, WORLD OF RADIO
1768, DXLD)
VOICE OF AMERICA DIRECTOR DAVID ENSOR STEPPING DOWN
BBG Watch > Congress > Voice of America Director David Ensor stepping
down --- BBGWatcher April 7, 2015
5 Comments Congress, Featured News, Hot Tub Blog
Alan Heil, Andre Mendes, Andy Lack, Barack Obama, BBG, BBG Watch, CEO,
Dan Robinson, David Ensor, Elizabeth Portale, Facebook, Gary Thomas,
H.R. 4490, Hillary Clinton, Internet, journalism, S. Enders Wimbush,
social media, U.S. Congress, VOA, VOA Charter [caption]
At today's Town Hall meeting at the Voice of America (VOA) in
Washington, DC, Director David Ensor announced that he has submitted
his resignation to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) yesterday
and wants to leave by end of May. Well-informed sources told BBG Watch
that a permanent replacement for David Ensor is not likely to be named
until the federal agency in charge of VOA and other U.S. taxpayer-
funded media organizations serving audiences abroad also has a new
permanent CEO. First BBG CEO Andy Lack had left earlier this year
after only a few weeks on the job.
Interim CEO André Mendes said at the All-Hands meeting today that
"David has taken his lumps here at VOA."
Among many news and management failures at the Voice of America,
President Obama's recent video statement on the Iran nuclear deal
framework announcement was not posted on Facebook and YouTube for
hours by VOA English and VOA Persian services.
On Obama's Iran nuclear deal video statement, Al Jazeera, BBC,
Germany's Deutsche Welle (DW), Russia's RT news websites and even U.S.
State Department public diplomacy websites in English and Persian were
getting better audience engagement stats through social media than VOA
by a factor of more than 10 to 1, and 20 to 1 in some cases.
Prior to the announcement of David Ensor's resignation, a new study,
"Reassessing U.S. International Broadcasting," written by a former
Broadcasting Board of Governors member S. Enders Wimbush and a former
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) executive Elizabeth M.
Portale, offered a sometimes blistering critique of the current setup
and management of U.S. international broadcasting and called for a
comprehensive reform.
The study recommended that "Broadcast strategy should be replaced by
media strategy." The "Digital First" strategy announced only recently
by David Ensor and his deputy, VOA's Executive Editor Steve Redisch, a
20-year CNN veteran before joining VOA, has been mired in confusion,
according to VOA journalists who spoke with BBG Watch on condition of
anonymity.
Those interviewed for the study critical of the BBG and VOA included
former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, former chairmen of the
Broadcasting Board of Governors, Marc Nathanson and Amb. James
Glassman, former Voice of America directors Geoffrey Cowan and Robert
Reilly, former RFE/RL President Dr. Jeffrey Gedmin, former U.S.
Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, National Endowment for Democracy
President Carl Gershman, former Freedom House President David Kramer,
Dr. Francis Fukuyama, and several other prominent American scholars,
diplomats, journalists and media experts.
The full text of the study has not yet been published online.
David Ensor said that his decision to step down later this year was
made some time ago, presumably before the study was made.
The study says that "U.S. international broadcasting should use good
journalism as its platform." But it also states that "Its networks are
not independent news agencies, as if they were CNNs that happen to
receive their funding from the U.S. government," and concludes that
"The journalism `firewall' that has come to characterize the
relationship between U.S. international broadcasting and other parts
of the government is overblown and frequently counterproductive."
"Thank god we have a strong firewall. ... I believe in it (the VOA
Charter)," David Ensor said at today's meeting. "It's important that
we distinguish between journalism and propaganda going forward...,"
Ensor added. Ensor served as CNN's National Security Correspondent
from 1998 to 2006. Shortly before announcing his resignation, David
Ensor started referring publicly to the Voice of America as "America's
international state broadcaster."
But Ensor was quoted as saying at today's meeting with employees that
the VOA Charter must be retained in whatever "son of 4490'' bill
emerges this session of the U.S. Congress. He was referring to the
somewhat controversial bipartisan legislation, H.R. 4490, introduced
last year to reform the Broadcasting Board of Governors. The U.S.
Senate did not vote on the bill which Chairman of the House Foreign
Relations Committee Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Ranking Member Eliot Engel
(D-NY) and other lawmakers want to reintroduce this year with the
support of the State Department and the White House.
During testimony on January 23, 2013 before the House Foreign Affairs,
chaired by Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), then Secretary of State, Hillary
Clinton stated that the "Broadcasting Board of Governors is
practically defunct in terms of its capacity to be able to tell a
message around the world. So we're abdicating the ideological arena
and we need to get back into it."
A Voice of America press release on David Ensor's resignation refers
to VOA as "the nation's international state broadcaster."
In a Facebook post, former VOA White House, congressional and foreign
correspondent Dan Robinson listed other problems at the Voice of
America.
FORMER VOA SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT DAN ROBINSON: "During
his tenure VOA lost a number of veteran news correspondents who
resigned or retired in frustration (including myself), and VOA's
central news operation was devastated by staffing cuts and
mismanagement.
VOA, and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) which oversees
all U.S. international broadcasters, have been at the bottom of
federal employee satisfaction ratings for years."
In a controversial and unprecedented performance by a VOA director, at
the December 2014 VOA employee holiday party satire skit David Ensor
himself lampooned former VOA reporters, former BBG member Ambassador
Victor Ashe and the BBG Watch. Documents recently released under the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request showed that David Ensor used
government email system to plan with his subordinates a satire skit
against what is a private U.S. media watch dog website which has
published reports and commentaries critical of the VOA management.
VOA and its parent federal agency, the Broadcasting Board of
Governors, state that their mission, which is 100% funded by U.S. tax
dollars appropriated by the U.S Congress, is "to broadcast accurate,
balanced, and comprehensive news and information to an international
audience" and "to inform, engage and connect people around the world
in support of freedom and democracy."
"As of now I intend to leave in late May or early June. I'm
considering a number of interesting options for the future," David
Ensor said at today's meeting with Voice of America employees. He also
said he and his wife agreed some time ago he would not stay at VOA go
beyond this year. He engaged in some self-praise for all he has
accomplished in his nearly four years here, mentioning new programs,
new managers, new work by many branches.
Ensor also remarked today: "I'm not going to become another Alan
Heil," although he added he is a member of the Alan Heil fan club.
Alan L. Heil Jr. is a former Voice of America deputy director and
program director known for long tenure at VOA and his book "Voice of
America - A History."
One former VOA correspondent who wants to remain anonymous had this
reaction to the Voice of America press release on David Ensor's
resignation:
ANNONYMOUS FORMER VOA ENGLISH CORRESPONDENT: "The press release on
this has a few gems, describing VOA as a state broadcaster and
quoting Ensor as saying VOA responded to Putin's lies under aegis.
Also bogus audience numbers."
A comment left on the closed Voice of America Alumni Facebook page
noted that the VOA press release on David Ensor's resignation had very
little to say about building up a following in closed societies and
put emphasis instead on expanding audience numbers and TV programs.
The person commenting described the the current model of "expansion"
as being at the root of the mismanagement problem at VOA.
Former VOA senior national security correspondent Gary Thomas, who in
the past had voiced strong opposition to the wording of H.R. 4490,
posted this comment on Facebook:
FORMER VOA SENIOR CORRESPONDENT GARY THOMAS: "A move long overdue,
IMHO. VOA's first animatronic leader just kept leading the
organization deeper into the weeds until it no longer knew the way
out."
(...)
"When policymakers try to expropriate journalism for a policy
purposes, it de facto ceases being journalism and becomes something
else: PR, public diplomacy, outreach, advocacy, whatever. That is
why so many of us opposed the language in HR 4490. The constant
tension between journalists and policy mavens creates institutional
schizophrenia, which leads to a nervous breakdown - which is exactly
what has happened at VOA, thus escalating the calls for reform. But
Ensor and Redisch - especially Ensor - cannot be absolved. They must
shoulder much of the responsibility for this sorry state of affairs
for their slavish pandering to policy demands over journalistic
imperatives, as Ensor's pathetic performance at the most recent
Board meeting demonstrated."
More information and reactions can be found in a Facebook post by
former VOA senior White House correspondent Dan Robinson.
VOA director David Ensor announced his resignation on Tuesday, after
nearly four years in the position, saying he...
Posted by Dan Robinson on Tuesday, April 7, 2015
BBG Watch also received this David Ensor announcement which was
emailed to VOA employees:
DAVID ENSOR: As I announced at this morning's All-Hands meeting, I
have submitted my resignation to the Broadcasting Board of
Governors, to take effect at the end of May.
That will give the Board time to search for the 29th director of
this wonderful organization.
Some time ago, my wife and I planned for me to step down later this
year. I had assumed that once Andy Lack learned the ropes he would
be ready to choose a new director.
André Mendes does not need as long as Andy. He knows this
organization and I am confident will do everything he can to keep
VOA strong and effective.
I am honored to have worked alongside so many fine journalists here
who have been building bigger audiences and dynamic new programming
despite smaller budgets over the last four years in a row.
I want to thank the Broadcasting Board of Governors for their trust.
It has been an honor serving our country this way, and I look
forward to doing so with energy until my last day in office.
I will have more to say near the end of that time. But I promise you
this: I will remain a champion of VOA for the rest of my life.
David
(BBG Watch via Mike Cooper, DXLD)
5 Comments:
1. dsfgdsfg April 7, 2015 at 5:00 pm
You were really, really late with this news! I'm very disappointed
in this site.
1. BBGWatcher April 7, 2015 at 7:08 pm
To grace your very funny comment with a funny but true answer, we can
only say that we are somewhat encouraged we were still considerably
faster on this than Voice of America English newsroom under its
current senior VOA leadership has been in recent years on many
important White House, State Department, U.S. Congress and other U.S.
and international news stories, and missed some of them altogether.
But we can assure you that reprimands will be issued. It appears that
some of our reporter volunteers were too busy talking to The New York
Times about VOA Director's resignation rather than sending us their
updates from the capital city of Washington. We can only say in their
defense that they have been doing this for BBG Watch for free.
In other words, their public service reporting for BBG Watch doesn't
cost U.S. taxpayers a single penny whereas VOA's budget is now about
$200 million and it employs well over a thousand of full-time
employees and exploited contractors.
Toute proportion gardee, while BBG Watch did not break this story, as
we did with our exclusives on Andy Lack's appointment and several
other BBG-related stories, we did not do too badly, in our modest
opinion. But don't take any of this too seriously. Don't worry. Be
happy.
2. Roderick Beningborough April 7, 2015 at 6:49 pm:
During testimony on January 23, 2013 before the House Foreign Affairs,
chaired by Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), then Secretary of State, Hillary
Clinton stated that the "Broadcasting Board of Governors is
practically defunct in terms of its capacity to be able to tell a
message around the world. So we're abdicating the ideological arena
and we need to get back into it.
That was over 2 years ago, "journalists".
1. BBGWatcher ()April 7, 2015 at 7:13 pm:
Yes, true, but under the current senior VOA leadership and, according
to a most recent study, there has been no improvement since then.
VOA's social media performance on President Obama's Iran nuclear deal
framework was a good example of the lack of progress, if not
regression. Therefore, Secretary Clinton's comment is highly relevant.
3. Mr. Bubble April 7, 2015 at 10:43 pm:
BBG Watch is quite right to point out that whereas it is not a large
organization, with millions of dollars budgeted [approximately $200
million annually plus additional tens of millions in program and
technical support], VOA always has been, as shown by numerous BBG
Watch posts has, frequently unable to get important breaking news
stories up on its website quickly. The South Carolina story was
another perfect example of this. Outgunned again by the folks in
London, who really know how to do the job. Why not bring some of them
over to Washington for a two week seminar on how to do it right.
(BBGWatch comments to above, via Cooper, DXLD)
VOICE OF AMERICA DIRECTOR USED GOVERNMENT EMAIL SYSTEM TO PLAN SATIRE
AGAINST U.S. WATCH DOG WEBSITE
BBGWatcher April 1, 2015 0 Comments
Featured News, Hot Tub Blog
BBG, BBG Watch, David Ensor, FOIA, Jehovah's Witnesses
BBG Watch Commentary
In some countries to which U.S. taxpayer-funded Voice of America (VOA)
directs its broadcasts, independent bloggers and journalists who
expose government corruption are frequently jailed and sometimes
tortured and even killed. VOA and its parent federal agency, the
Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), proudly proclaim that their
mission, which is 100% funded by U.S. tax dollars appropriated by the
U.S Congress, is "to broadcast accurate, balanced, and comprehensive
news and information to an international audience" and "to inform,
engage and connect people around the world in support of freedom and
democracy."
Recently released documents show that Voice of America director David
Ensor used government email system to plan with his subordinates a
satire skit against a private U.S. media website critical of the VOA
management.
"Sure Neil. With writers like you, what could go wrong?!," Director
Ensor writes to one of his subordinates, expressing support for the
idea and promising his participation.
Government records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) requests show that David Ensor and a number of his subordinates
exchanged emails at the Broadcasting Board of Governors federal agency
to plan their mocking session against BBG Watch.
We at BBG Watch were somewhat surprised when the Voice of America
director chose our independent watch dog blog run by former and
current VOA journalists and other volunteers to lampoon in a satire
skit at a holiday party held last December on government time at a
government building in Washington, DC. David Ensor could have chosen
to lampoon Vladimir Putin, Iranian ayatollahs, ISIS, others who
persecute journalists and undermine free press, or to poke fun at
himself. But he mocked BBG Watch instead, comparing its audience
numbers to those of The Watchtower, an illustrated religious magazine
published semimonthly in 228 languages by Jehovah's Witnesses, a
religious sect persecuted in various countries.
The release of agency records subject to at least one of the FOIA
requests about the December event does not appear to be complete. It
does not include any video recordings of the event at which David
Ensor lampooned not only BBG Watch but also two former senior VOA
correspondents, a former VOA executive, and a former member of the
Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) who was appointed to this
position by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate and is also
a former U.S. ambassador.
All of these individuals being mocked by VOA director were private
citizens. They were not invited to the event at which they were made
fun of and which likely cost U.S. taxpayers several thousand dollars
in lost work time and other expenses. This could probably pay for a
few VOA reporting assignments about a country or countries that lack
free media.
It appears that instead U.S. taxpayers in effect subsidized an attempt
to discredit a private U.S. media blog and private U.S. citizens who
are exposing waste and abuse at a U.S. government agency charged with
supporting similar private journalist bloggers in other countries --
the effort being led by one of the agency's top officials.
Several VOA journalists said that such a public performance by VOA
director was unprecedented. There is also no record of any former VOA
director making comments in a public setting about a religious group
that could be construed in any way as making fun of that religious
denomination or its activities. While some VOA journalists
participated in the skit, others told BBG Watch that they were
appalled by the performance and Director Ensor's role.
U.S. government employees using government-issued equipment were seen
videotaping Director Ensor and a few of his subordinates making fun of
BBG Watch. Agency lawyers did not release the video tape which was
listed in the FOIA request, but BBG Watch had posted earlier an audio
recording and transcript of David Ensor's holiday skit.
BBG_Watch_bus_stop_ad300
We don't mind being mocked. Our U.S.-based blog has had several scoops
in reporting on the BBG international media outreach agency and
exposing government waste and abuse. Our investigative reporting was
mentioned in Congressional Record, The Washington Post, The New York
Times, Mother Jones, NPR and by other U.S. and international media.
It is disturbing, however, that leaders at a federal agency charged
with supporting free press abroad choose to spent tax money on trying
to discredit citizen journalists in the United States rather than use
their time and tax dollars to advance the actual media freedom mission
of the Voice of America and the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
###
Emails Obtained Under FOIA
VOA FOIA Dec2014 1
VOA FOIA Dec2014 2
VOA FOIA Dec2014 3
VOA FOIA Dec2014 4
###
Audio Recording and Transcript Posted by BBG Watch
IFRAME: http:////www.youtube.com/embed/5n6SS-U9_5g?rel=0
VOICE OF AMERICA DIRECTOR DAVID ENSOR, DEC. 16, 2014: " . . . [in
response to] parties urging that we all be accurate, objective and
balanced, I have as promised, 10 fun facts about BBG Watch.
And the first one is, on BBG Watch, [name of former VOA Foreign and
Intelligence Correspondent] ... is writing far more than he ever
did.
The second one is kind of a interrogatory Here's my question --
where the hell is Truckee, California [managing location of BBG
Watch website] anyway?
No. 3. BBG Watch has its own version of the two source rule.
Unfortunately, the two sources are [former U.S. Ambassador to
Poland, former Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) member, former
multiple-term Mayor of Knoxville, TN] and [former VOA White House
Correspondent].
Fun fact No. 4. [Committee for U.S. International Broadcasting
(CUSIB - cusib.org) co-founder and co-director and co-founder of BBG
Watch] is more in love with himself than with Kim Jong Un.
No 5. Even people who argue a lot, like say [names of current VOA
journalists] ..., even they can agree how bad it [BBG Watch] is.
This is one you may not know. [name of Head of Digital Strategy] ...
secretly hired BBG Watch to drive traffic to the VOANews.com
website. And it's working.
No 7. BBG Watch now has as many anonymous posters as HookUP.com
No 8. It's in the running for a literary award for best work of
fiction.
No 9. It meets the standard definition of a blog -- boring, lousy,
obscure, gibberish.
And No 10. According to the Pew Internet Research Report, the BBG
Watch audience rivals that of two media powerhouses, the Watchtower
magazine [illustrated religious magazine published semimonthly in
228 languages by Jehovah's Witnesses] and the weekly circular for
Shopper's Food Warehouse (via Mike Cooper, DXLD)
** U S A. Transatlantic Connection
Elisabeth Braw --- Subscribe to RSS - Elisabeth Braw's blog
AMERICA’S VOICE IN EUROPE TO COUNTER THE KREMLIN --- 3 April 2015
http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/elisabeth-braw/america%E2%80%99s-voice-europe-counter-kremlin
(World Affairs via DXLD) and %E2%80%99 stands for some kind of
apostrophe; why make it so complicated? (gh, DXLD)
** U S A. Am 03.04.2015 um 05:41 schrieb VOA Radiogram:
Last week's test of the 8PSK FEC modes was interesting. In general,
the 8PSK FEC modes did not perform as well as well as the MFSK modes.
However, Richard in New Brunswick and I, using a receiver in Nova
Scotia, had 100% copy of all the modes, including 8PSKR250F at 635
wpm! This mode might be useful for high-speed data transmission,
including formatted web pages, over distances of 1500 km or less,
especially when propagation is stable.
This weekend we will do one more test of 8PSK125F. This will actually
be two transmissions, one without the pilot tone, and one with the
pilot tone. You do not need to make any adjustments to detect the
pilot tone, other than to have the Fldigi RxID on (green). "The RsID
signal will both determine the mode and the mode center frequency (to
the nearest 2.6 Hz). A finer resolution of the mode center frequency
can be made using the optional pilot carrier," according to the Fldigi
Users Manual.
If a bandwidth of 2.5 kHz or more are available, then the usage of
narrow modes is less reasonable. I'm still hoping for a robust fast
mode of 2x or 3x MFSK-32. When decoding of the backscattered signals
from KBC via Nauen (European night/86 miles/skip zone for me) MFSK64
is at the limit of its possibilities. For the text-decoding the
error correction helps.
http://www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/VoA_Radiogram_2015-04-04.htm
(roger, Germany, April 8, dxldyg via DXLD)
** U S A [non]. 17600, April 3 at 1357, good signal, heated
conversation in Somali, as I`ve been hearing since A-15 began, so
investigate it: HFCC shows VOA via VATICAN at 13-14; violating
Separation of Church & State, etc., etc.
6180, Monday April 6 at 0555, poor signal in French mentions Côte
d`Ivoire et al.: it`s VOA at 0530-0630 M-F via SÃO TOMÉ. 6185 Mexico
is now out of the way, closing an hour earlier circa 0500* (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. Jumping A-15 frequencies of Voice of America and Radio
Free Asia
0000-0100 on 13630 UDO 250 kW / 324 deg to CeAs Tibetan Mon VOA
0000-0100 on 13640 UDO 250 kW / 324 deg to CeAs Tibetan Tue VOA
0000-0100 on 13670 UDO 250 kW / 324 deg to CeAs Tibetan Wed VOA
0000-0100 on 13690 UDO 250 kW / 324 deg to CeAs Tibetan Thu VOA
0000-0100 on 13740 UDO 250 kW / 324 deg to CeAs Tibetan Fri VOA
0000-0100 on 13760 UDO 250 kW / 324 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sat VOA
0000-0100 on 13780 UDO 250 kW / 324 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sun VOA
0100-0200 on 17685 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Mon RFA
0100-0200 on 17635 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Tue RFA
0100-0200 on 17685 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Wed RFA
0100-0200 on 17635 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Thu RFA
0100-0200 on 17685 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Fri RFA
0100-0200 on 17665 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sat RFA
0100-0200 on 17700 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sun RFA
0200-0300 on 21550 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Mon RFA
0200-0300 on 21560 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Tue RFA
0200-0300 on 21575 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Wed RFA
0200-0300 on 21585 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Thu RFA
0200-0300 on 21595 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Fri RFA
0200-0300 on 21610 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sat RFA
0200-0300 on 21620 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sun RFA
0300-0400 on 21600 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Mon VOA
0300-0400 on 21610 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Tue VOA
0300-0400 on 21620 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Wed VOA
0300-0400 on 21630 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Thu VOA
0300-0400 on 21640 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Fri VOA
0300-0400 on 21650 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sat VOA
0300-0400 on 21660 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sun VOA
0400-0500 on 21610 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Mon VOA
0400-0500 on 21620 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Tue VOA
0400-0500 on 21630 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Wed VOA
0400-0500 on 21640 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Thu VOA
0400-0500 on 21650 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Fri VOA
0400-0500 on 21660 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sat VOA
0400-0500 on 21600 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sun VOA
0500-0600 on 21620 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Mon VOA
0500-0600 on 21630 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Tue VOA
0500-0600 on 21640 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Wed VOA
0500-0600 on 21650 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Thu VOA
0500-0600 on 21660 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Fri VOA
0500-0600 on 21600 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sat VOA
0500-0600 on 21610 PHT 250 kW / 315 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sun VOA
0600-0700 on 17635 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Mon RFA
0600-0700 on 17750 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Tue RFA
0600-0700 on 17635 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Wed RFA
0600-0700 on 17750 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Thu RFA
0600-0700 on 17635 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Fri RFA
0600-0700 on 17750 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sat RFA
0600-0700 on 17750 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sun RFA
1000-1100 on 21465 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Mon RFA
1000-1100 on 21455 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Tue RFA
1000-1100 on 21525 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Wed RFA
1000-1100 on 21505 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Thu RFA
1000-1100 on 21495 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Fri RFA
1000-1100 on 21485 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sat RFA
1000-1100 on 21475 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sun RFA
1100-1200 on 18930 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Mon RFA
1100-1200 on 18980 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Tue RFA
1100-1200 on 18990 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Wed RFA
1100-1200 on 19000 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Thu RFA
1100-1200 on 18980 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Fri RFA
1100-1200 on 18990 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sat RFA
1100-1200 on 19010 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sun RFA
1200-1300 on 18980 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Mon RFA
1200-1300 on 18990 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Tue RFA
1200-1300 on 19000 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Wed RFA
1200-1300 on 18980 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Thu RFA
1200-1300 on 18990 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Fri RFA
1200-1300 on 19000 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sat RFA
1200-1300 on 18930 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sun RFA
1300-1400 on 18930 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Mon RFA
1300-1400 on 18980 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Tue RFA
1300-1400 on 18990 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Wed RFA
1300-1400 on 19000 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Thu RFA
1300-1400 on 18980 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Fri RFA
1300-1400 on 18990 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sat RFA
1300-1400 on 19010 KWT 250 kW / 078 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sun RFA
1400-1500 on 17485 UDO 250 kW / 321 deg to CeAs Tibetan Mon VOA
1400-1500 on 17760 UDO 250 kW / 321 deg to CeAs Tibetan Tue VOA
1400-1500 on 17485 UDO 250 kW / 321 deg to CeAs Tibetan Wed VOA
1400-1500 on 17760 UDO 250 kW / 321 deg to CeAs Tibetan Thu VOA
1400-1500 on 17485 UDO 250 kW / 321 deg to CeAs Tibetan Fri VOA
1400-1500 on 17760 UDO 250 kW / 321 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sat VOA
1400-1500 on 17760 UDO 250 kW / 321 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sun VOA
1400-1500 on 13755 TIN 250 kW / 287 deg to EaAs Cantonese Mon RFA
1400-1500 on 13740 TIN 250 kW / 287 deg to EaAs Cantonese Tue RFA
1400-1500 on 13755 TIN 250 kW / 287 deg to EaAs Cantonese Wed RFA
1400-1500 on 13740 TIN 250 kW / 287 deg to EaAs Cantonese Thu RFA
1400-1500 on 13755 TIN 250 kW / 287 deg to EaAs Cantonese Fri RFA
1400-1500 on 13640 TIN 250 kW / 287 deg to EaAs Cantonese Sat RFA
1400-1500 on 13820 TIN 250 kW / 287 deg to EaAs Cantonese Sun RFA
1500-1600 on 13790 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Mon RFA
1500-1600 on 13745 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Tue RFA
1500-1600 on 13790 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Wed RFA
1500-1600 on 13745 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Thu RFA
1500-1600 on 13790 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Fri RFA
1500-1600 on 13745 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sat RFA
1500-1600 on 13745 TIN 250 kW / 295 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sun RFA
1600-1700 on 15495 BIB 100 kW / 085 deg to CeAs Tibetan Mon VOA
1600-1700 on 15505 BIB 100 kW / 085 deg to CeAs Tibetan Tue VOA
1600-1700 on 15495 BIB 100 kW / 085 deg to CeAs Tibetan Wed VOA
1600-1700 on 15505 BIB 100 kW / 085 deg to CeAs Tibetan Thu VOA
1600-1700 on 15495 BIB 100 kW / 085 deg to CeAs Tibetan Fri VOA
1600-1700 on 15505 BIB 100 kW / 085 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sat VOA
1600-1700 on 15505 BIB 100 kW / 085 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sun VOA
2200-2300 on 11830 KWT 250 kW / 080 deg to CeAs Tibetan Mon RFA
2200-2300 on 11870 KWT 250 kW / 080 deg to CeAs Tibetan Tue RFA
2200-2300 on 11965 KWT 250 kW / 080 deg to CeAs Tibetan Wed RFA
2200-2300 on 11995 KWT 250 kW / 080 deg to CeAs Tibetan Thu RFA
2200-2300 on 12035 KWT 250 kW / 080 deg to CeAs Tibetan Fri RFA
2200-2300 on 12040 KWT 250 kW / 080 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sat RFA
2200-2300 on 12125 KWT 250 kW / 080 deg to CeAs Tibetan Sun RFA
2200-2300 on 15260 TIN 250 kW / 280 deg to EaAs Cantonese Mon RFA
2200-2300 on 15270 TIN 250 kW / 280 deg to EaAs Cantonese Tue RFA
2200-2300 on 15280 TIN 250 kW / 280 deg to EaAs Cantonese Wed RFA
2200-2300 on 15290 TIN 250 kW / 280 deg to EaAs Cantonese Thu RFA
2200-2300 on 15300 TIN 250 kW / 280 deg to EaAs Cantonese Fri RFA
2200-2300 on 15375 TIN 250 kW / 280 deg to EaAs Cantonese Sat RFA
2200-2300 on 15390 TIN 250 kW / 280 deg to EaAs Cantonese Sun RFA
Observer ? 1:44 PM (Bulgarian DX Blog April 8 via DXLD)
** U S A [non]. Summer A-15 of Radio Free Asia in Cantonese and
Vietnamese:
Cantonese
1400-1500 on 13755 TIN 250 kW / 287 deg to EaAs Mon
1400-1500 on 13740 TIN 250 kW / 287 deg to EaAs Tue
1400-1500 on 13755 TIN 250 kW / 287 deg to EaAs Wed
1400-1500 on 13740 TIN 250 kW / 287 deg to EaAs Thu
1400-1500 on 13755 TIN 250 kW / 287 deg to EaAs Fri
1400-1500 on 13640 TIN 250 kW / 287 deg to EaAs Sat
1400-1500 on 13820 TIN 250 kW / 287 deg to EaAs Sun
2200-2300 on 15260 TIN 250 kW / 280 deg to EaAs Mon
2200-2300 on 15270 TIN 250 kW / 280 deg to EaAs Tue
2200-2300 on 15280 TIN 250 kW / 280 deg to EaAs Wed
2200-2300 on 15290 TIN 250 kW / 280 deg to EaAs Thu
2200-2300 on 15300 TIN 250 kW / 280 deg to EaAs Fri
2200-2300 on 15375 TIN 250 kW / 280 deg to EaAs Sat
2200-2300 on 15390 TIN 250 kW / 280 deg to EaAs Sun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiEFCtJWD0k&feature=youtu.be
Vietnamese
1400-1500 on 9950 TIN 250 kW / 270 deg to SEAs
1400-1500 on 12045 SAI 100 kW / 270 deg to SEAs
2330-0030 on 9940 TIN 250 kW / 270 deg to SEAs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxkymSuHRyI&feature=youtu.be
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/dx-re-mix-news-904.html
(DX RE MIX NEWS #904 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, April 07, 2015
via DXLD) See also TIBET [non]
** U S A [and non]. WORLD OF RADIO 1767 monitoring: WRMI has
rearranged its schedule including some WOR airings:
Thu 2100 on 7570 new
Fri 2130 on 7570 only, not 15770
Sat 1000 on 5850-canceled; on air Sundays only
Sun 2100 on 15770-new
Sun 2300 on 11580-still
The 9955 WOR times remain the same:
Thu 0330
Thu 1230
Tue 1100
Wed 1315
Meanwhile, Global 24 still hasn`t put up a schedule for this weekend,
whether last week`s Bulgarian relay of WOR Saturday at 2130 on 9525
will continue, be re-timed and/or re-frequencied. See also SOUTH
CAROLINA [non]
WORLD OF RADIO 1767 monitoring: confirmed Friday April 3 at 2130.5 on
WRMI 7570 AND still 15770 (a new schedule showed 7570 only, maybe from
next week?) Next, including further WRMI changes:
Sat 1930v WA0RCR 1860-AM
Sat 2130 Global 24 9525 via BULGARIA
[last week; but apparently not this week; see BULGARIA]
Sun 0315v WA0RCR 1860-AM
Sun 2100 WRMI 15770 NEW
Sun 2300 WRMI 11580
Mon 0300v WBCQ 5110v Area 51 [SW not on air last week but webcast]
Tue 1100 WRMI 9955
Wed 0630 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio
Wed 1315 WRMI 9955
Wed 1430 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio
Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v
Thu 0330 WRMI 9955 [or 1768 if ready in time]
Thu 1230 WRMI 9955 [ditto]
Thu 2100 WRMI 7570 [ditto; NEW]
WORLD OF RADIO 1767 monitoring. 9525 Bulgarian relay of Global 24 was
missing earlier, from 1900 occupied by China; just in case, on Utwente
remote receiver, recheck circa 2130 when WOR aired last Saturday:
still nothing. See also separate USA: Global 24
1860-AM, WA0RCR, UT Sunday April 5, previous programming really
running late past nominal 0315 time for WOR: at 0321, digital beeps;
0325 ARRL News has started with interruption for WA0RCR ID frequently
during it, so expect WOR to start circa 0338. Yes, from 0337:31, and
this time Vern has removed our musical opening and replaced it with
his own intro. Next:
Sun 2100 WRMI 15770 NEW [check whether in effect this week already]
Sun 2300 WRMI 11580
Mon 0200v WBCQ 7490 Area 51 [temp replacing 5110, 0300; see WBCQ log]
Tue 1100 WRMI 9955
Wed 0630 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio
Wed 1315 WRMI 9955
Wed 1430 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio
Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v
Thu 0330 WRMI 9955 [or 1768 if ready in time]
Thu 1230 WRMI 9955 [ditto]
Thu 2100 WRMI 7570 [ditto; NEW]
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
WORLD OF RADIO 1767 monitoring: new time on the WRMI schedule is
Sunday 2100 on 15770, but no show April 5: instead `End Times Coming`
from Manchester, England. This is scheduled on 7570 only, and too
noisy to tell if it`s //. Apparently what has happened, like on Friday
at 2130, is that the plan to split to separate programming on 7570 and
15770 has not yet been fulfilled; but maybe by the following week?
WOR 1767 confirmed at usual time of Sunday 2300 on WRMI 11580, good.
And as Larry Will advised us, WBCQ 5110 transmitter is still off the
air, so Area 51 programming is on 7490 instead. WOR would also be one
hour earlier than it had been on 5110, 0200 instead of 0300 UT Monday.
And confirmed as such: First monitored the A51 webcast as WOR started
at 0200, then I switched to the 7490 webcast, and same started within
the following minute. Then confirmed really on 7490, with VG signal.
Unknown what will happen next week. Rest of this week:
Tue 1100 WRMI 9955
Wed 0630 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio
Wed 1315 WRMI 9955
Wed 1430 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio
Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v
Thu 0330 WRMI 9955 [or 1768 if ready in time]
Thu 1230 WRMI 9955 [ditto]
Thu 2100 WRMI 7570 [ditto; NEW]
WORLD OF RADIO 1767 monitoring: confirmed Tuesday April 7 at 1106 on
WRMI 9955, VG signal, atop lite pulse jamming: tnx a lot, Arnie! Next:
Wed 0630 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio
Wed 1315 WRMI 9955
Wed 1430 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio
Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v
Thu 0330 WRMI 9955 [or 1768 if ready in time]
Thu 1230 WRMI 9955 [ditto]
Thu 2100 WRMI 7570 [ditto; NEW]
(Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
[non]. LOG: 7265 kHz/CUSB HHLR 0630-0700z, WOR, O=4 (222 km) 0700z
start: "Jazz & Literatur" (roger Thayer, Germany, 0711 UT Wed April 8,
dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
WORLD OF RADIO 1767 monitoring: confirmed Wednesday April 8 on WRMI
9955: gh ID at 1315.1; WOR from 1315.6, good signal but lite pulse
jamming: tnx a lot, Arnie! Next:
Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v
Thu 0330 WRMI 9955 [or 1768 if ready in time]
Thu 1230 WRMI 9955 [ditto]
Thu 2100 WRMI 7570 [ditto; NEW, unconfirmed]
WORLD OF RADIO 1767 monitoring: confirmed on WBCQ webcast, Wednesday
April 8 at 2100; and also very poorly audible by 2128 on 7490v.
Presumed another play at 0330 UT Thursday April 9 on WRMI 9955,
unchecked as I am still producing 1768.
WORLD OF RADIO 1768 monitoring: confirmed first SW broadcast Thursday
April 9 before 1259 on WRMI 9955; sufficient and no jamming, but ACI
from louder 9950 gospel huxtress in English, ID as T8WH Palau 1259
before closing. Next for WORLD OF RADIO:
Thu 2100 WRMI 7570 [NEW on schedule; unconfirmed yet]
Fri 2130 WRMI 7570 [and no longer 15770? But both last week]
Sat 1930v WA0RCR 1860-AM
Sat 2130 Global 24 9525 via BULGARIA
[not last week, no longer, or to be rescheduled??]
Sun 0315v WA0RCR 1860-AM [last week started 0337.5]
Sun 2100 WRMI 15770 [NEW on schedule, but not last week]
Sun 2300 WRMI 11580
Mon 0300v WBCQ 5110v Area 51 [SW not on air last week, but on 7490
instead at 0200, also webcast on both; 5110 now back on air]
Tue 1100 WRMI 9955
Wed 0630 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio
Wed 1315 WRMI 9955
Wed 1430 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio
Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v
Thu 0330 WRMI 9955 [or 1769 if ready in time]
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
A reminder: starting with you UT Saturday at 0130 with a repeat at
1330 UT Tuesdays, WORLD OF RADIO via http://www.dishnuts.net (Ray T.
Mahorney, WA4WGA, Akron OH, WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 11825, Saturday April 4 at 2344, Global 24 via WRMI with
rock, so it must be `The Rock Pile` as scheduled.
5850, April 4 at 2344, the simultaneous G24 service with Old Time
Radio as heard last two weeks, is missing. Maybe a carrier? At 2350,
definitely a strong open carrier, 52-58 dbu on the PL-880, as WRMI
will be Slovaking after 0000 anyway.
11825, another check at 0005 UT Sunday April 5: FSN news outro, Global
24 ID and like-us-on-facebook, waltz theme and `News Review` from
European News Network, but it`s about the Alps crash ``yesterday``! So
still replaying last week`s show originally aired March 25, now a
sesquiweek outdated.
Old programming is not Global 24`s fault this week, since Jeff White
notifies us that the ISP furnishing ftp access for programming to WRMI
had a serious accident and is down until maybe Tuesday. However, he
has now set up an alternative route. BTW, there is nothing new on G24
Facebook or its own website since last weekend`s programming lineup
March 28-30 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also BULGARIA
** U S A. 11580 // 9955, UT Sat April 4 at 0122, confirmed RMI main
channel 9955 programming is now getting duplicated for a bihour on
11580, as shown in the graphic sked for 9-11 pm [EDT = 01-03 UT].
`Walking in Power`, pervasive preaching is wrapping up on both with
Miami address; and at 0135 `Wavescan` is underway with Jeff quoting
Solomon Islands and Vanuatu cyclone info from DSWCI as of early March.
11580 is on 44 degree antenna toward Europe, while 9955 remains on 160
to Caribbean and S America --- but here, 11580 is quite stronger
(Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
11580, April 6 at 0221, WRMI in Spanish, must be R. Praga relay, VG
here as on weaker and still jammed // 9955; so the duplication is a
good idea and should be expanded beyond 01-03 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 9330, 1640, WBCQ, USA. Non-stop soul pop music, slight QSB
and distortion, 544, 22/03 (Charlie Wardale, Lincoln, Lincolnshire,
UK, Yaesu FRG-7, Tecsun PL-600, Datong FL1 audio filter, 15m lw, April
BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD)
While I was not monitoring on that date at that time, whenever I have
checked 9330 since early January, there has been NO signal from WBCQ,
despite appearing on their schedules. The last time I noted it was Jan
4, and by Jan 19 I reported it missing. It was later reported that the
9330 transmitter had been moved to 7490 to replace the previous
transmitter there with problems.
Possibly WBCQ put 9330 on the air with some transmitter as reported
above, but I don`t see any ID, and furthermore that`s an awfully big
signal to get into Europe across the noon meridian, presumably aimed
oppositely across the USA like all WBCQ antennas.
Some Europirates have been heard in this part of the band. That was in
B-14, but in A-15, R. Free North Korea is reported by Ivo to emit at
1530-1630 on 9330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
7490v, April 4 at 0108, WBCQ with UT Sat`s `Allan Weiner Worldwide`
now in his second hour with timeshift to start at 0000 UT. Nothing on
5110, 9330 or 15420, so it appears The Planet is down to only one
funxional transmitter! But at 0115 he`s bragging about 7490 being hi
fidelity, due to a hi-modulation level exciter tnx to TimTron, who can
make any transmitter sound like a much more powerful one by optimizing
modulation, which is more important than sheer power on AM. He rebuilt
the exciter to make this the ``highest fidelity shortwave station,
period, on the Planet, guaranteed``.
Recheck at 0120 he`s nevertheless talking about programming on 5110
(sounds familiar, is this really a rerun instead of live?), Tuesday
night shows at 9 and 11 pm ET; Thursdays at 8 pm, the Lakeside church,
9 pm DJ Fred Moe (originally supposed to be a one-shot), 11 pm Report
of the Week (?); says to check the website for sked. OK, but now this
is all it shows for 5110 on local Tue or Thu:
Tu 5110 11:00PM 12:00AM ET 0300 0400 UTC VORW
Th 5110 11:00PM 12:00AM ET 0300 0400 UTC VORW
And the only link to more info about that is from our report in
January, quoting RW Observer on hfunderground.
Apparently still operating remotely from the Land of Fla, AW thinx
5110 is also on the air, but going thru the current e-mail, someone
said there was a carrier but no modulation earlier in the hour (I
check again: still nothing at all now).
By next check at 0141, 7490 has reverted to Brother Scare and his big
Passover event, // 9370 WWRB but not synched, solo hymn with organ
``Calvary Love`` [I notice that original MS Word spellcheck redlines
this, trying to get us to change it to Cavalry?!]
7490v, Sat April 4 at 2351, WBCQ with rock music. Larry Will notified
us a bit earlier:
``Schedule changes for WBCQ 5110, 7490 --- The 5110 transmitter is
down, and Pirate Joe is unable to do his show Shortwave Saturday Night
on 7490 this evening, so we will be running some Area 51 programming
on 7490 today and tomorrow.
7490 2300 April 4 Radio Timtron Worldwide
7490 0000 April 5 The Lumpy Gravy Radio Show
7490 0200 April 5 Brother Stair (as normally scheduled) (Area 51
programming continues on our webcast)
7490 0300 April 5 Area 51
7490 0000 April 6 Radio Timtron Worldwide (as normally scheduled)
7490 0100 April 6 Plastic Magic
7490 0200 April 6 World of Radio [instead of 0300, evidently]
7490 0230 April 6 Grits Radio
Area 51 webcast http://www.splatterbox.us:5110
WBCQ 7490 webcast http://www.splatterbox.us:7415
Regards, Larry Will`` (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DX LISTENING
DIGEST) But presumably only for that weekend, back to 5110 next? (gh)
** U S A. 7555, April 4 at 0534, no signal from WEWN Spanish, just the
hash from French military on the hi side. Other two transmitters are
on, 11520 English, and 11870 Spanish, with, what else, ``dolorosa
pasión`` lamentations every few seconds (which they also do every
afternoon, when there is precious little moonlight), but as I tune
across this time, it`s a YL caller reciting it rather than the unxuous
OM host.
7555, April 5 at 0557, another nite with no signal from WEWN Radio
Católica Mundial. One third of their transmitters is down, so in
daytime I pay attention to what else be missing: 11550, nothing at
1312 check, while 12050 is sufficiently in Spanish, even tho it`s
prime Pascua time.
7555, April 6 at 0557, WEWN Spanish is still down; also at next check
1251 April 6, no signal on 11550 while 12050 Spanish is on and 11520
English. But by 1407, all three are revivified: 11550 & 12050 Spanish,
15610 English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
New summer A-15 of EWTN Global Catholic Radio:
WEWN-1 plus videos
0000-0900 11520 EWN 250 kW / 085 deg WeAf English
0900-1300 11520 EWN 250 kW / 355 deg SEAs English, ex 0900-1200 A-14
1300-1500 15610 EWN 250 kW / 355 deg SEAs English, ex N/ME in A-14
1500-1900 15610 EWN 250 kW / 040 deg N/ME English, ex 1200-1800 A-14
1900-2400 15610 EWN 250 kW / 085 deg WeAf English, ex N/ME in A-14
WEWN-2
0000-1000 11870 EWN 250 kW / 155 deg SoAm Spanish
1000-1700 12050 EWN 250 kW / 155 deg SoAm Spanish
1700-2400 13830 EWN 250 kW / 155 deg SoAm Spanish
WEWN-3
0000-0500 5810 EWN 250 kW / 220 deg MEX Spanish
0500-1300 7555 EWN 250 kW / 220 deg MEX Spanish, ex 0500-1200 A-14
1300-1800 11550 EWN 250 kW / 220 deg MEX Spanish, ex 1200-1800 A-14
1800-2400 12050 EWN 250 kW / 220 deg MEX Spanish
http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/summer-15-of-ewtn-global-catholic-radio.html
(DX RE MIX NEWS #904 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, April 07, 2015
via DXLD)
** U S A. W5KUB webcast also on shortwave
Southgate April 6, 2015
We are expanding our w5kub.com webcast. As you know we have started a
weekly ham radio program on Tuesday nights. Beginning Tuesday April 7
we will be simulcasting our webcast on shortwave station WTWW.
This station runs 100 kW and has 18 dB antennas. That equates to about
3200 Kilowatts ERP. Since this is shortwave, depending on propagation
you may or may not hear it. It is heard in many countries. The
frequency is 9930 kHz.
Since most of us got our start in shortwave listening, I plan to add a
shortwave segment to the show. You can also tune in to the website at
w5kub.com Tuesday nights 8 PM central or 0100 UT Weds.
________________________________
Live ham radio show Amateur Radio Roundtable every Tues night at 8:00
PM central (0200 [sic] UTC Weds) on W5KUB.COM
Please check out our ham radio video broadcast page at
http://w5kub.com/ and please join our W5KUB video facebook group at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/279273778772594/
Posted by: (Mike Terry, April 6, dxldyg via DXLD)
What do they mean by ``add a shortwave segment``? Was only about ham
radio on VHF+? Too many hams are only interested in repeaters on 2m.
If this is really on air, will be first time for 9930 WTWW in several
weeks (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 720, April 3 at 1814 UT on caradio in central Enid, talk
show, so I stop between some powerline or traffic light noise peaks:
WGN ID in passing, weak but readable, once again midday log of this
distant station. Later has a bit of CCI, presumed KSAH San Antonio.
This of course leads me to check for other rarities: see 830.
720, April 6 at 1901 UT on caradio, here`s WGN radio again at midday,
weak but clear and fully readable (as long as I am between powerline
and traffic light buzzes), during ``WGN News``. This is really getting
weird: as we are more and more into hi solar angles, and this is less
than a semihour beyond local mean noon, it seems less and less likely
this could be residual skywave breaking thru. WGN is capable of
getting here on extended groundwave, but previously not so reliably
nor so strongly. Of the big Chicago stations, this is the only one
with a really Clear channel. Has something improved the ground
conductivity between there and here? With general drought conditions
above ground, one would not think so. However, the Extreme Drought is
only here in OK, not so much up toward Chicago (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST) Following afternoons, WGN not so audible (gh)
** U S A. 830, April 3 at 1813 UT, weak signal, continuous talk,
partly readable, sermon probably inspired by `Good Friday` --- WCCO
might be a propagational suspect, since WGN is in, but unlikely that
secular station would be doing this even on an alleged day like today.
I`m on errands, so monitor intermittently; by 1828 UT in downtown Enid
it`s axually a bit stronger, and hope for an ID on the semi-hour. Now
with gruesome details about crucifixions and speculating about exactly
how J.C. may have died in modern medical terminology, but keeps going,
and by 1832 UT (which is exactly noon here), fading a bit and some CCI
appears, along with ACI splash from WBAP.
Try again on caradio at 1854 UT. Yay, ID in passing is JBA, sounds
like KGYL. NRC AM Log for 830 shows very likely match with a religious
format is KUYO in Evanville (Casper WY), a 25 kW ND daytimer. I also
had this circumstantially but without even such a close ID, Jan 31,
2015 at 1908 UT on one of my daytime DX-peditions as in DXLD 15-05.
Would hardly have suspected this would still be happening in April
with much higher solar angle. Or is it extended groundwave? 632 miles,
a bit less than Chicago, in a totally different direxion. Something
also audible on 650 in the 640/660 splash (but no IBOC), likely KGAB
in closer Cheyenne; and of course 670 KLTT Denver groundwave as usual
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1020, April 5 at 0634 UT, ``Hollywood 360 Radio Network``,
with nearby KOKP Perry OK nulled as much as possible, still making SAH
of 235/minute = almost 4 Hz. This is of course KDKA Pittsburgh PA, one
kilomile or a sesquimegameter away, which would be dominant were it
not for stupid sportstalker KOKP, 400/250 watts U4, night pattern with
lobes to the northwest (Enid) and south. Show confirmed on KDKA dated
schedule for Sunday April 5, 12-3 am EDT:
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/newsradio-1020-kdka-on-air-schedule/
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1090, April 3 at 0507 UT, with KRLD IBOC nulled as much as
possible, talk show about religious freedom, nevertheless 0509 ID in
passing as Fox Sports Radio. I would have expected KVOP Plainview TX
which has been showing lately in this hole, but could it be FSR`s 5 kW
daytimer in Rice Lake WI, WAQE? KVOP by now should be running Texas
State Network`s `Texas Overnight` originating at neighbor KRLD. By
recheck 0523 UT, the 1090 is indeed on that show and as before running
21 seconds ahead of KRLD. So I think KVOP was late switching from FSR
to TSN network feed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1090, April 5 at 0614 UT, C&W music in the WSW/ENE null of
IBOC from KRLD 1080, where I have been getting KVOP Plainview TX in
the Panhandle, but should be talk format. 0627 UT, oh oh, it`s gospel,
with ``This Is My Father`s World``, and 0630 ID and plug for
programming at KAAY.com --- so Little Rock is back on the air after
copper theft! Also making 3 Hz SAH; maybe that`s with KVOP. The KAAY
signal is not strong at all, and would dearly like to know what power
and antenna pattern they are on, probably by STA. Nominally it`s tight
toward Manitoba and Yucatán and not much signal over here anyway.
Ooops, the ``powerful`` KAAY.com site is for sale; it`s really
http://www.1090kaay.com
But there is nothing obvious about its death and resurrexion. Full
programming schedule
http://www.1090kaay.com/common/more.php?m=10&mode=schedule&r=2
displays ``airtime available`` 24/7! Another schedule link covers M-F
only. I think I saw the same many months ago.
Latest informal letter in the correspondence folder at FCC says:
``ON MARCH 13, 2015, THE LICENSEE DETERMINED THAT SOMEONE CUT THE
TRANSMISSION LINE WHILE ATTEMPTING TO STEAL COPPER. THE LICENSEE PLANS
TO REPLACE AND BURY THE LINE UNDERGROUND. UNTIL THAT IS ACCOMPLISHED,
THE STATION HAS SUSPENDED OPERATIONS.``
Two years and five weeks *before* is the next one on file:
``Exhibit 3 Description: PARAMETERS OF OPERATION
RADIO LICENSE HOLDING CBC, LLC, RESUMED BROADCAST OPERATIONS IN
ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 73.1560(D) OF THE RULES. BEFORE GOING SILENT
THIS STATION WAS OPERATING PURSUANT TO SPECIAL TEMPORARY AUTHORITY.
SEE BESTA-20121105ANP GRANTED 12/10/2012. STATION KAAY RETURNED TO THE
AIR WITH DIFFERENT TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS THAN THOSE PREVIOUSLY
AUTHORIZED, THEREFORE, A NEW REQUEST FOR SPECIAL TEMPORARY AUTHORITY
WAS FILED. SEE BSTA-20130208ABL GRANTED 2/15/2013.``
And that leads to this: ``Accordingly, the request for STA IS HEREBY
GRANTED. The December 10, 2012, STA is hereby modified to permit
Station KAAY(AM) to operate with an emergency nondirectional antenna
and reduced power not to exceed 5 kilowatts. It will be necessary to
further reduce power or cease operation if complaints of interference
are received. This authority expires on June 10, 2013`` (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
KAAY came back on sometime early yesterday afternoon and KARN was back
on sometime late afternoon/early evening yesterday, as reported by a
DXer near Little Rock. 1250 which had picked up KARN programming is
not back to simulcasting KIPR Power 92 Jamz (Paul B Walker, CA, April
5, NRC-AM via DXLD)
I actually noticed KAAY back on Friday evening just before Midnight
Central Time with a program hosted by Roy Masters, then a short legal
ID. Like Glenn, I'm curious to know what their current power is --
I've seen conflicting sources saying either 10 kW non-directional or 5
kW non-directional, based upon the STAs that have been extended
several times over the past few years. Friday night, it sounded to me
like the latter was the case. 73, (Rick Dau, South Omaha, Nebraska,
Sunday April 5, ibid.)
Glenn, KAAY 1090 returned to the air on Friday night April 3rd, 2015
per reports via social media (Facebook). I was able to confirm the
return via a brief bandscan on Saturday morning (April 4th). Also on
Saturday afternoon April 4th, KARN 920, a.k.a. The Sports Animal,
returned to the air with CBS Sports Radio programming. Power is at 5
kW nondirectional for daytime and nighttime for KAAY, and the normal 5
kW for KARN. As a side note, the other Cumulus AM station in Little
Rock, KPZK 1250 was back to simulcasting KIPR/"Power 92.3" after
carrying CBS Sports Radio programming in the absence of KARN (AM).
BTW, there is one program on KAAY that breaks the normal religious
programming format: "Tin Can Alley" which is a one-hour show of
classic hits and old KAAY audio (ads, sweepers, and other assorted
clips) airs on Saturdays at 1 pm Central. I recorded TCA via KAAY and
the program was a 30th Anniversary show of "The Last Day". Tin Can
Alley can also be heard via the webstream of KAAY at
http://www.1090kaay.com/
KUAR (89.1) Public Radio in Little Rock did an extended piece on the
KAAY reunion held on Friday April 3rd, which includes classic audio of
KAAY plus interviews of former KAAY on-air talent.
http://ualrpublicradio.org/post/former-employees-kaay-mark-anniversary-day-music-died
(Haley Prentice, Star City AR, April 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1200, April 3 at 0125 UT I hear a tone mixing with WOAI;
nulling it, the tone leads to an automaton NWS tornado *warning* but I
cannot copy the counties mentioned. There can`t be too many of those
at the moment, so within the following hour I consult the national
severe weather map at:
http://www.wunderground.com/severe.asp
which shows the only tornado spot is southwest Missouri. So now I`ve
got it --- has to be my closest 1200 which so far had eluded me, KYOO
in Bolivar, 1 kW daytimer. But could be legitimately on air now due to
emergency.
Details of this tornado warning:
http://www.wunderground.com/US/MO/088.html?MR=1
``Tornado Warning Statement as of 9:03 PM CDT on April 02, 2015
... A Tornado Warning remains in effect for north central Newton and
Jasper counties until 930 PM CDT...
At 900 PM CDT... a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado
was located near Webb City... and moving east southeast at 30 mph.
Hazard... tornado and half dollar size hail.
Source... radar indicated rotation.
Impact... flying debris will be dangerous to those caught without
shelter. Mobile homes will be damaged or destroyed. Damage
to roofs... windows and vehicles will occur. Tree damage is
likely.
Locations impacted include...
Airport Drive... Carterville... Carthage... Diamond... Duenweg...
Duquesne... northeastern Joplin... Oronogo and Webb City.
Interstate 44 between mile markers 8 and 27 will also be impacted by
this dangerous storm.
Precautionary/preparedness actions...This storm has a history of
producing tornadoes. Take cover in a basement or storm shelter now!
A Tornado Watch remains in effect until 200 am CDT Friday morning for
southeast Kansas and southern Missouri.
Lat... Lon 3693 9424 3696 9433 3700 9442 3705 9448
3709 9451 3714 9453 3717 9452 3720 9448
3725 9440 3723 9426 3715 9413 3700 9415
3695 9418
time... Mot... loc 0202z 275deg 28kt 3713 9445
Tornado... radar indicated hail... 1.25in
Cramer``
Golly, Cramer, spare us all those dots. Ever hear of commas or
semicolons? Newton and Jasper counties = Joplin and northward. Webb
City is northern suburb of Joplin. It`s 66 miles southwest of Bolivar.
If it were daytime, KYOO`s fringe coverage area would not quite reach
Joplin per (standard disclaimer) radio-locator.com. At night it`s got
to be heavily QRMed by WOAI. BTW, 1200 apparently duplicates ``Your
Country 99`` = KYOO 99.1, 25 kW ERP. From a site NE of Bolivar, 99.1
gets even less signal into Joplin area. Haven`t heard how they
pronounce Bolivar, but fat chance it`s correct as in Spanish Bolívar;
so is it BALL-uh-var, or BOWL-uh-var? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** U S A. WEGP 1390 Presque Isle coming back on as The Presence
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Decelles-Smith Meda [sic] is selling Silent 1390 WEGP Presque Isle, ME
to The Presence Radio Network for $67,500. WEGP was airing a News/Talk
format until the sale was filed, at which time it was taken off the
air (via Artie Bigley, April 4, DXLD) A regular in Europe (gh)
** U S A. 1510, April 4 at 0133 UT, plug the show on now, ``weeknights
at 7-10 on The Rock``, from NW/SE amid heavy CCI, ergo KCKK Littleton
CO, 10/25 kW (correct) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. [re 15-13:] 1520: WXYB regularly runs what surely is the day
power all night. WPSO on 1500 -- usually simulcast -- is D1 250 watts,
but it too is often heard running overnight. The FCC field office and
Ralph Barlow is in Tampa, just across the bay, but doesn't care. And
Indian Rocks Beach is not north of Clearwater. St Petersburg yes,
Clearwater, no (Terry L. Krueger, Clearwater FL, April 8, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** U S A. 1520, KYND: See CHINA [non]
** U S A. 1580, April 4 at 0130 UT, ``Hometown Radio, KGAF`` ID in the
QRM, soon overtaken by sportstalk, presumably KREL CO. KGAF is 250/250
watts U2 from Gainesville TX, which is almost-Oklahoma. Night pattern
lobito is supposed to head southwest but we are NNW from it. IIRC,
KGAF calls used to apply to a bigger station on another frequency,
910? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 1630, April 4 at 0614 UT, as often at bedtime, I had dozed
off while bandscanning MW, but wake up a bit now to hear what sounds
like ``La Jota de Iguala, 94.7 FM y 1630 AM` during music break.
[Iguala was site of some horrific news laterly.] I had earlier nulled
KCJJ and was wondering where KKGM in Dallas was. All the while it`s
making a fast SAH with one or the other. Thought I had discovered a
new Mexican! But fully awake, I realize it was just KRND in Fox Farm
WY and what they really must have said was `` La Jota Mexicana``, i.e.
NOT Mexican. 94.7 is its FM: See previous logs in DXLD 15-09 and 15-11
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. (88.7), April 3 at 1500 UT, KRZA Alamosa CO/Taos NM on
webcast starts playing the `Hightower Lowdown` early, mixing with NPR
News from 1501, and then cutting off Jim Hightower incomplete. 1506
after NPR, restarts Hightower at his scheduled time, but upcut missing
first few seconds. It`s only 2 minutes long. This is typical. I
usually listen to KRZA on Mon/Tue/Fri from 1430 UT for a good variety
of cultural regional shows, but they seldom manage to transition to
NPR News on time. Must have very inaccurate clock and/or very
hamfisted amateurish slopperators, really a shame for the public radio
station of the area (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 90.1, Sunday April 5 at 15-16 UT, `Santa Fe Chamber Music
Festival 2014` is back for another quarterly season on KUCO OK, and
many other classical public radio stations --- seek it out; this leads
into their new live season July-August 2015, and o, how I wish I could
be there for it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Regional tropo enhancement again this morning April 8,
Hepburn map much like yesterday, OK into KS. This time on the Zenith
STB DTV converter I try a different approach than stepping directly
thru all the RF channels.
Instead I start tuning thru the virtual channels, and if I see any
hesitation of the NO SIGNAL response to show up, I know there is
really a BAD signal hiding there, and then convert it to what the real
RF channel is being tuned. Of course this only works, I think, on
channels previously saved, but there are a lot of them by now.
On 5.1 I am getting two BAD signals in addition to local KOCO RF 7:
One of them is on RF 18, and the other on RF 41. Checking W9WI.com
listings it`s obvious what both of them have to be in this area, even
tho they never decode any video; and both are gone by 1430 UT:
RF 41, April 8 at 1418 UT, must be KXAS, 390.1 kW, 5.1, Fort Worth TX
RF 18, April 8 at 1418 UT, must be KFSM, 550 kW, 5.1 in Fort Smith AR
[and BTW, the refusal of KFOR OKC RF 27 to decode 24 hours earlier was
likely caused by CCI from another RF 27, KFTA, 600 kW in Fort Smith]
RF 21, April 8 at 1426 UT, BAD signal displays as 40.1, which means it
also has to be Fort Smith AR, 325 kW KHBS.
RF 30, April 8 at 1424 UT, bad signal but labeled 30.1. Listing shows
a KCLJ-LP, 15 kW in Joplin/Carthage MO, but I suspect it`s really
K30AE in Alva OK, OETA translator, which W9WI.com thinx should be
displaying as virtual 13, but IIRC other OETA translators also show
real RF channels as virtual.
RF 31, April 8 at 1425 UT, decode as Univisi, i.e. megawatt KDCU-DT
licensed to Derby KS (Wichita market). W9WI.com claims virtual channel
46, but I see it says 31.1. W9WI.com also shows this with 46.2 UniMAS.
I must look for that as 31.2 next time it tropos in.
Furthermore, W9WI.com on ch 31 also has a ``USA DTV channel allotment
change request`` with everything the same except suffix KDCU-DR.
What`s that about? Does that mean applying for a permanent change of
channel? If so, which one is not displayed.
(RF 31 is still open in Enid, no KXOK-LD tho its relay on RF 32
continues active as described yesterday.) Meanwhile, the other major
VHF and UHF signals from Wichita market are also in, but no deeper
into Kansas, some of them decoding as my antenna remains aimed at
OKC.)
RF 43, April 8 at 1426 UT, BAD signal, displays with EIGHT total
virtual subchannels, 43.1 thru 43.8. That means it has to be KCTU-LD,
Wichita KS, only 2.7 kW. I`ve previously got it to decode. See
W9WI.com for the eight different programs it allegedly provides (Glenn
Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. Official FCC Blog
CONSIDER A NEW WAY TO COMBAT PIRATE RADIO STATIONS
by: Michael O'Rielly, FCC Commissioner April 8, 2015 - 10:43 AM
http://www.fcc.gov/blog/consider-new-way-combat-pirate-radio-stations
Everyone should agree that pirate radio stations – by any definition –
are completely illegal. Given other responsibilities and obligations,
however, the Commission’s resources are stretched, and it seems that
stopping pirate radio is not at the top of the priority list. While
this reality is not surprising, we need to consider other ways to
remove the scourge that is pirate radio. One approach would be to give
broadcasters a new right to use the legal process to go after such
stations, letting loose broadcasters’ legal bloodhounds to root out
the violators. This isn’t a new idea as it has been done in other
circumstances outside of spectrum policy, such as to combat email
spam, and we should consider it here, too.
It is important to start by recognizing the truth about pirate radio
stations. They are not cute; they are not filling a niche; they are
not innovation test beds; and they are not training grounds for future
broadcasters. If broadcasting were a garden, pirate radio would be
poisonous crabgrass. Put another way, pirate radio participants are
similar to outlaws who rob a retail store and then sell the stolen
inventory online. In practice, pirate radio causes unacceptable
economic harm to legitimate and licensed American broadcasters by
stealing listeners. Pirate operators also cause “harmful interference”
that inhibits the ability of real broadcasters to transmit their
signals and programming, which provide such vital services as
emergency alerts, critical weather updates, political information and
news. And, pirate radio can disproportionately impact minority-owned
stations as they undercut their financials and can cause harmful
interference to legitimate stations serving minority populations.
Let’s also dispel another myth: pirate radio does not increase media
diversity. From time to time, arguments have been made that we should
look the other way because some pirate radio operators may be
minorities, or the stations’ content appeals to minority listeners. To
be clear, the race, color, religion, national origin, sex, or any
characteristic of a pirate radio operator should be completely
irrelevant to the discussion. Their operations are illegal – end of
story. Just imagine if we allowed this argument to be persuasive in
other spectrum enforcement decisions: Commission spectrum and
licensing policies would be thrown into complete chaos and wireless
systems would cease to operate.
Instead of embracing pirate radio, approaches like the NAB’s Broadcast
Leadership Training Program should be encouraged to prepare
underrepresented populations for leadership and ownership positions in
broadcasting. Alternatively, those truly interested in operating a
legal broadcast station can seek to participate in the Commission’s
July 2015 auction, in which 131 FM construction permits will be
available, many in smaller and less expensive markets.
If there are unmet needs or underserved populations, the solution is
not to condone an illegal station, but to convince the applicable
existing broadcaster to be more responsive. Collectively, broadcasters
are uniquely attuned to the needs of their communities and promoting
localism because the success of their stations and ultimately, their
livelihoods depend on it. Moreover, there are other technologies
available to target broadcasts to a distinct group within a community,
such as low power FM stations or Internet radio stations, which are
free, easy to establish and not regulated by the Commission.
To combat pirate radio, I am suggesting that we replicate a concept
contained in the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Specifically, section 7(g)
authorizes an Internet Service Provider to “bring a civil action in
any district of the United States with jurisdiction” against (1) false
or misleading header information; (2) aggravated violations relating
to commercial electronic mail; (3) failure to place warning labels on
commercial electronic mail containing sexually oriented materials; or
(4) a pattern or practice involving deceptive subject headings,
failure to include return address, or continuing to transmit after a
recipient objection.[1] This provision provides a mechanism for ISPs
to enjoin further violations and recover actual and aggravated damages
and attorney fees. In other words, it authorizes ISPs to seek out the
bad actors for a host of illegal activity and recoup their losses. The
framework serves as a good model to provide additional options –
outside of the FCC process – for eliminating and deterring pirate
radio.
There is no doubt that pirate radio stations are often highly mobile,
making tracking and finding such stations tedious and sometimes
futile. But with the right technology to pinpoint signal strength and
a little luck, the origination point of the pirate radio broadcast can
be located, often leading to some back office or mobile van. In fact,
broadcasters have told me of instances where they were able to
accurately detect and locate pirate radio stations, meaning it can be
done. And locating mobile pirate operators, while difficult, is no
more so than trying to locate the purveyors of unwanted spam who can
be stationed anywhere in the world with Internet access and a server.
If it can help in the case of spam, or even if it acts as a further
deterrent, why not give it a try here? Who do you think would cause
more concern to a pirate station: the busy FCC or a broadcaster
seeking to protect its station’s rights and revenues?
In all fairness, the CAN-SPAM’s private right of action for ISPs
hasn’t been used all that often and hasn’t magically eliminated spam.
No one who worked on the law ever expected it to do so. Instead, the
private right of action was meant to be one more tool in the toolbox.
In practice, the provision has been used by a select number of
companies determined to be ISPs by the courts, including Yahoo!,
Facebook, and My Space. Facebook has been of the more frequent users
of the provision, using it to obtain judgments in no fewer than three
cases leading to statutory damages and injunctive relief.
On a side note, pirate radio has been mentioned recently in
conjunction with the Commission’s proposal to reorganize and close
certain FCC field offices. To be clear, I am not taking a stance on
that matter at this time, and my proposal should not be seen in any
way related. Few details have been made available to me regarding the
field offices, and I was not a party to the plan’s development. The
field office discussion should remain completely separate because the
problem with pirate radio and lack of attention exists today under the
current enforcement structure. Whether altering the field offices
would further denigrate our enforcement efforts against pirate radio
is a debate for another time.
Private enforcement of spectrum license rights in court should remain
limited in any event. I am in no way suggesting that the Commission
transfer its spectrum enforcement authority to the court system, and
any private right here would be in addition to, not supplanting, the
Commission’s responsibilities, nor undermining any common law rights
of broadcasters. And to allow for some private action in this specific
case should not be interpreted as my support for more lawsuits and
certainly not more class-action suits. As in the case of spam, I would
not recommend allowing consumers (e.g., a station’s listeners) to file
lawsuits. But if we can narrowly permit a limited and targeted private
right of action here to be used only by broadcasters, it could provide
a valuable tool to tackle a persistent problem in some radio markets.
To the extent that this idea garners consideration, it may require a
change in current law, which is solely within the purview of Congress.
At such a point, I would leave the discussion in the capable hands of
our elected representatives.
[1] 15 U.S.C. § 7706. See also id. § 7704.
Updated: April 8, 2015 - 06:10 PM
1 comment === David Snavely • 42 minutes ago:
Florida made it a state crime to operate a pirate station and that
cleaned up Ft. Lauderdale considerably. Used to you couldn't drive
more than a few blocks without running into one. Car stereo hookups
through wireless FM onto unused channels were useless because there
weren't any unused FM channels.
The problem in Commissioner O'Rielly's thing is that, if indeed there
is a critical audience mass for a pirate, it DOES mean that there's an
itch the legitimate broadcasters aren't scratching. "The marketplace
is deciding," as the Commission loves to say. For radio to thrive it
needs to have the freedom to serve the "marketplaces" the pirates are
(FCC Official Blog via DXLD)
** URUGUAY. 6125.1, April 4 at 0138, JBA carrier, surely the slowly
sinking 813 in the final down to 150-watt Rdif. Nacional del Uruguay
on its characteristic off-frequency. HFCC A-15 shows nighttime 6125.0
competition is now only:
0230-0300 IBRA via UAE in Persian
0300-0400 DW via South Africa in Swahili
I think we can dispense with RRI Nabire, Indonesia, supposedly at 23-
02 & 05-08 which even if active would be local daytime (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VANUATU. 3945, Radio Vanuatu, domestic VBTC, March 30, 1235-1248 in
English. Popular music, light rock, excellent signal, clear with no
QSB or QRN. ID around 1240, from Emten Lagoon. Enya music and
announcements in English (Vince Henley, 4306 Shelby Court, Anacortes,
WA. Equipment: Tecsun PL-380, JRC NRD-525, Drake R8B. Antennas are
half-meter whip on PL-380 and Alpha-Delta DX-Ultra installed broadside
east-west, NASWA Flashsheet April 5 via DXLD)
What about R. Nikkei 2, JAPAN on 3945, which would more likely provide
an excellent signal or at the very least impose some QRM. They are on
3945 until 1400 on Monday-Friday, and March 30 was a Monday. Also
Nikkei occasionally are in English. But an ID is an ID. Or maybe there
was a hi-latitude blackout? No, 3/30 had A & K of 5 and 2, and no
storms per the monthly summary below (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** VATICAN. A15 schedule for Vatican Radio in English
0140-0200 Daily As 11730-va 15470-ph
0300-0320 Daily As 15470-ta
0300-0330 Daily Af 7360-md 9660-va
0500-0530 Daily Af 9660-md 11625-va
0630-0700 Daily Af 11625-va 13765-va
0630-0645 .mtwtfs DomME 585 15595-va
0700-1050 irreg Af 21550-va (irregular - special events)
0750-1000 6w6 DomEu 585 7250-va (Papal audience - multiple languages)
1530-1550 Daily AsAu 11695-rv 15470-ph 17485-va-drm (Sat: Mass -1600)
1615-1630 Daily DomME 585 15595-va
1730-1800 Daily Af 11625-md 13765-va 15570-va
2000-2030 Daily Af 13765-va 15570-va
1130-1200 .....f. AsAu 17590-va 21560-va (Vatican Radio web site/HFCC)
April BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) What means 6w6 as to days? (gh)
** VATICAN. Vatican Radio, 21550, 4/4/15. I tuned in at 1835 UT to the
special live Easter Vigil broadcast with English translation and
commentary of the service. The reception was fairly good with some
fading. Broadcast ended at 2106. I also noted another nearby Vatican
frequency (21560) carrying the same broadcast but in a different
language translation and commentary (Larry Zamora, Garland, TX, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
21550, April 4 at 1905, Catholic cantor in Latin, soon with YL English
commentary, good signal but deep fading in Vatican Radio special,
since it`s ``Holy Saturday``. Then I look for others:
21560, April 4 at 1905, don`t have to look far for here is same but
weaker in Portuguese.
17590, April 4 at 1907, here`s another weaker //, Latin bit, but not
staying for translation as I know I can then look all these up at:
http://en.radiovaticana.va/special-broadcast
Which shows I found all but one, as far as SW goes:
Easter Vigil began at 1830, and as always no length specified:
21550 to Africa in English,
9535 to Asia in Chinese
21560 to Africa in Portuguese
17590 to Africa in French
While we`re at it, what`s in store for the Big Day tomorrow?
Sunday April 5 from 0815 UT, Holy Mass & Easter Message, Urbi et Orbi
21550 to Africa in English
17590 to ME in Arabic
21560 to Africa in Portuguese
21570 to Africa in French
VR obviously appreciates that SW really helps the Orbi bit.
21550, April 4 at 2100 check, Vatican R special is still on and
propagating; started at 1830, and I first encountered at 1905; it`s
the `Easter Vigil`, whatever in Latin with English commentary. Maybe
also a trace on 21560 which was weaker in the first place (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also BRAZIL
** VIETNAM. 9635, VOV Son Tay, 1200, worth noting this is back on (or
very close) to nominal freq, quite strong. 2/4 (David Sharp, NSW, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
12001-, April 5 at 1307, Chinese, fair signal is off-frequency making
almost-1-kHz het with the FRG-7 MHz Wadley birdie. Offset confirmed on
the DX-398 with no such birdie, no het but about one 40 Hz click below
12001. Aoki shows the only SWBC station anywhere, anytime on ``12000``
is VOV, from Hanoi-Sontai site at 1100-1330 alternating Russian and
Chinese, plus 2200-2230. Yes, gone at 1341 recheck. I also noticed
this off-frequency the last day or two, but that`s nothing unusual for
this VOV site, e.g. also 9635v and 9840v (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** ZANZIBAR. 11735, Radio Zanzibar, 1926, good with Swahili man, East
African and Arabic vocals. 4/4 (David Sharp, NSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ZIMBABWE [non]. New frequencies of clandestine broadcasts in A-15:
Radio Dialogue FM:
1600-1700 12115 MDC 250 kW / 265 deg to ZWE Shona/Ndebele, ex 12105
in A-14 (Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, April 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. I continue to hear the many wobbly AM transmissions at
night in the 3 MHz area, some very strong , presumably in Russian and
most nights too in the 1.7 MHz area, such as 1719, 1741 1752, 1776,
1794 kHz and other frequencies. I still cannot even guess what they
are!” (Des Walsh, Ireland, April BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD)
UNIDENTIFIED. Buzzer Jamming? This evening (6 April PDT) I came across
something funny that may be old news to everyone else but I guess I
missed it before. There was a repetitive "buzzer" sound about same
strength (strong) as VOA Botswana on nominal 6080 and was also on
nominal 7430 and 7480. It went away promptly about 0400 UT on 6080 as
the VOA was changing sites and also left 7430 but stayed on 7480.
There it went off briefly at 0415 but came back in less than a minute.
It is not the same buzzing pattern as the famous Russian buzzer on
4625 kHz. This one has a repetition rate of somewhat less than a
second and from what I can see has a number of discrete tones (hard to
count the number because of fading) that key on and off together. The
signal on nominal 7480 is actually spread from about 7478.8 to about
7480.3 kHz. If I didn't hear it on 6080 I wouldn't have thought much
about it but it piqued my interest to see if VOA English was being
jammed by someone (Zimbabwe?). However, the other frequencies don't
correspond with any other stations broadcasting at that time. Any
ideas? (Bob LaRose, San Diego, April 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
Update - I tuned back at around 0520 UT and nominal 7480 kHz was still
there (quite strong) and nominal 6080 kHz was back on, stronger than
before. Tried to listen to Twente to see if it is audible in Europe
but the SDR apparently needs to be rebooted (Bob LaRose, San Diego,
April 7, ibid.)
Bob, I think these are strays or spurs from Cuban jamming
transmitters, as I have pointed out before. Like from 6030, 7365,
7405. Each would be only one transmitter while on the really jammed
frequencies there are a whole lot of them piled up so the sound is
rather different. But also rather the same as one hears on jammed
frequencies off-hours when they leave some of the jammers running most
of the time, like 9565, 11930 (Glenn Hauser, ibid.)
Thanks. Yes, I should have thought of that. Let me see if they are
back tonight and see if they somehow correlate to known Cuban jamming
frequencies (Bob LaRose, ibid.)
UNIDENTIFIED. Alguem tem idéia sobre uma tx em 7535 kHz, com
programação musical estou ouvindo ela neste momento 1006 UT, sinais
forte qdo aponto a loop para o Norte, somente musica continuamente, o
operador deve ser fã do Zé Ramalho pois cada 2 musicas uma é do Zé
(Dinan Rogerio, PU2UIB/PY2162SWL, Iracemapolis SP, April 7,
radioescutas yg via DXLD)
Implication being that it`s a Brazilian pirate (gh, DXLD)
UNIDENTIFIED. Numbers stations --- Egyptian music station. Thanks to
Michael Ford for more information on the unidentified station playing
Egyptian music which has been reported recently on various frequencies
in the 31m band (recently 9600 or 9550 kHz in the 0900-1230 period).
Michael says:
“This is a numbers station which has the designation of V08 in the
Enigma 2000 Control List. I have heard this station myself, although
not for a very long time (approx. 15+ years ago), and back then the
transmission almost always consisted of 5 - 10 minutes of Egyptian
music and songs then abruptly off. But, just occasionally, there was a
message. This, on the rare occasions it happened, consisted of a few
minutes of Arabic numbers, then close. It’s interesting to note that
this station is still playing the same songs by the same singer they
did all those years ago (April BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD)
That still doesn`t positively place it in Egypt (gh, DXLD)
UNIDENTIFIED. 9740, At 2315, on 4 April. The station is playing a pop
song with a female singer. At 2318 the song ended followed by a male
announcer talking in Arabic. At 2319 a new song started with several
males singing with no music, and then drums started playing. The male
announcer made a remark while the drums and music is playing. The
singing with drums continues at 2325. The song ended at 2329 with two
males definitely speaking in Arabic. The chanting/singing starts up
again at 2331. BBC Singapore is scheduled in English at this time but
this station is not BBC. Fair (John Cooper, Lebanon, PA, Equipment:
Winradio-G33DDC, CommRadio CR-1a, RF Space-SDR-IQ, Sangean ATS-909X w/
Clear Mod, Tecsun PL-660, GAP Hear It In Line Module, ANC-4, Wellbrook
ALA-1530S+, PARS-SWL End Fed x 2, NASWA Flashsheet April 5 via DXLD)
(Bahrain? – Flashsheet Ed., ibid.) Not unless it was 9745. 9740 is one
of the frequencies in A-15 registered for R. Sultanate of Oman at 22-
24. Other possibilities for the single active transmitter would be:
15355 also at 22-24, or even one supposedly closing at 2200 such as
15140 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I later heard 9740 Oman (gh)
UNIDENTIFIED. 13562 approx., April 3 at 1317 I hear the beacon again
this time a bit stronger and less CODAR, enough to copy a definite CW
ID: V1RGO/B --- not V1RGM/B as there are three dashes instead of two.
Google search assumes I must mean VIRGO and puts up millions of hits.
Thinx I`m too stupid to tell the difference between a 1 and an I,
especially on CW? Yahoo search suspects that but also offers the
alternative to search only for V1RGO/B which leads nowhere, but V1RGO
apparently is also the name of a slim wallet. That`s still less than
helpful. I try the UDXF yg: no hits on V1RGO or V1RGO/B. It must be a
brand-new beacon, but how are we to locate it? Try the HIFER lists
again: nothing at
hfunderground.com ---
nothing at
http://www.on5ex.be/clipboard_view_unreg_freq.php
but neither are much interested in the 13 MHz band for some reason
nothing at
http://www.lwca.org/sitepage/part15/index.htm
which does specialize in this band.
Up around 13564, I am also getting at 1322 April 3, beacon K6FRC,
which is well-known in California, a real ham call; LWCA shows him on
13565.05; maybe so. Could the other one really be VE1RGO? No such call
at QRZ.com. Well, maybe eventually the details of V1RGO/B will emerge
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 13815-SSB, approx., April 6 at 1302, distorted SSB
calling for checkins from different states or regions. Is
mushy/squishy, the frequency shifting depending on modulation, so not
very readable. Presumably a MARS or multi-agency net like we have
heard before below 15 MHz. This could just be spurious, as no answers
heard on 13815 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 15760-15795, April 3 at 0057, heavy rapid pulsing on and
off, OTH radar? Mostly on, and no WRMI to QRM on 15770, since it`s no
longer 24 hours, but only 13-21 BS, and 21-22 other RMI programming
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 16530 kHz, SINPO 35444, Very close in freq. Marine Ch-
121. 031730Z APR 15. Male to male conversation, sound like Filipino or
with background motor noise, possible fishing vessels. Some English,
mention "...california marina ... del Rey ... " Conversations ended
around 1745 but restarted again at 1755 UT (Martin, KB3MXM, Baltimore,
MD, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 19000/18990. Found a station on 19000 at around 1225.
Not very strong but I could tell it was NOT // CNR1. Language sounded
possibly Asian. At 1259 it suddenly jumped down to 18990. Then had a
fanfare that sounded familiar at 1300, and into probable news by W.
When it jumped down to 18990, there was another signal on 19000 which
remained for about 15 seconds before it went off. Was one jamming the
other?? Anyone know what these stations were?? It stayed on 18990 for
the next hour and went off at 1400. Here’s a link to a video I posted
on Youtube;
https://youtu.be/RsfA6-kM50k (4 April)
(Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD)
Radio Free Asia in Tibetan (bod) via Kuwait, on its complex A-season
jumparound schedule between 11 and 14 UT as in HFCC, Aoki. Lucky not
to hear the jammers this time (Glenn Hauser, ibid.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS
++++++++++++++++++++++++
ACKNOWLEDGED ON WORLD OF RADIO 1768:
Thanks for the show, Glenn! Look forward to it every week (Max Heidel,
with a contribution via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com)
Greetings, I’m a follower of your SWL radio programs and Website. A
long time ago I would do hours of SWLing in the 60’s as a youth. So
few SWL stations left but I’m doing SWL again after 45 years. Slowly
tuning the bands for hours and enjoying every moment. So sorry to hear
about the cancellation of your regular SWL reports on Global24, 9395
kHz (Martin KB3MXM, Baltimore, MD)
Mr. Hauser, Letting you know that I enjoy the information that you
provide for the SWL community and the World of Radio. Since SWL is a
hobby of mine and only enjoy in the late evenings, I do enjoy what I
can find. My set up is a (primary) Drake R8B with either a MFJ 1024
outdoor active antenna or my Icom PCR1000. Now since I am not as
experienced as others, I am finding that while tuning for shortwave
broadcast or AM broadcast I usually tune in USB and cancel out any
tones by fine tuning. What kills me on looking for DX on AM is all the
Mexican AM stations causing interference. However I am into a good
challenge. Once again thanks for providing all of us with good
information (Glenn Blum, KD5DGA, Killeen, Texas, April 3, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
Glenn, It was remiss of me not to congratulate DXLD Yahoo on 11 years
of superb work when that milestone was reached last Thursday (Dan
Goldfarb, UK, of mwmasts yg, April 8)
Dan, I appreciate your congratulations, altho I was hardly waiting for
anyone to do so, especially on a non-multiple of 5 or preferably 10,
as I myself do not pay too much attention to anniversaries. 73, (Glenn
to Dan, via DXLD)
PUBLICATIONS
++++++++++++
The DOMESTIC BROADCASTING SURVEY 17 (DBS-17), April 2015
edited by DSWCI Chairman, Anker Petersen. ISSN 1399-8218
PRESS RELEASE FROM THE DANISH SHORTWAVE CLUB INTERNATIONAL (DSWCI)
http://www.dswci.org
NEW SURVEY AVAILABLE : The 58-year-old DSWCI which counts
experienced DX-ers in 34 countries all over the world as members, has
just issued the 17th Edition of its annual Domestic Broadcasting
Survey. This survey is divided into three parts:
Part 1: The 43rd edition of the Tropical Bands Survey covering all
ACTIVE broadcasting stations on 2300-5700 kHz, including clandestines.
Part 2: Domestic stations on international shortwave bands above 5700
kHz broadcasting to a domestic audience.
Part 3: Deleted frequencies between 2 and 30 MHz which have not been
reported heard during the past five years, but may reappear.
This new Survey is based upon monitoring by our members, many official
sources and DX-bulletins. A15 schedules are included when available.
In order to make the DBS reliable, our own monitors around the world
have checked throughout the period April 2014 – March 2015, if each of
the 530 station frequencies is on the air. ACTIVE stations are marked
with an A (”Regular”), B (”Irregular”) or C (”Sporadic”) in the list.
means ”Likely inactive”.
A unique feature is the right column called ”Last log”. It shows the
last month and year before DBS deadline on March 31, 2015 when the
particular station was reported logged by a DX-er somewhere in the
world. This is another way of indicating the current audibility of the
station. *To avoid inactive stations in this DBS, most frequencies
which have not been heard during the past year, have been deleted* and
are moved to Part 3. No other frequency list has this feature!
Other useful features for easy identification (ID) are the parallel
frequencies and reference to Station ID slogans.
Reviews can be found on http://www.dswci.org
All buyers of DBS-17 will get a username and password to the monthly
updates on the tropical bands published as "Tropical Bands Monitor" on
our website. The similar, historical data from 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008,
2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 are available to anybody at
www.dswci.org/tbm
The 20 pages A-4 size DBS-17 is available by e-mail as pdf-format
(about 350 kB). A limited number is also available printed on paper.
It is sold by the treasurer:
DSWCI,
c/o Bent Nielsen, Egekrogen 14, DK 3500 Vaerloese, DENMARK
E-Mail edition: DKK 30,00 or USD 6.00 or EUR 4,00 or GBP 3,50 or SEK
40,00 or IRC 2.
Printed edition: DKK 60,00 or USD 12.00 or EUR 8,00 or GBP 7,00 or SEK
75,00 or IRC 4.
Payment by cash notes are accepted whereas checks and postal money
orders are not accepted. DSWCI’s Bank is Danske Bank, 2-12 Holmens
Kanal, DK-1092 Copenhagen K. BIC/SWIFT : DABADKKK. IBAN: DK 44 3000
4001 528459. Danish buyers please use: Reg. 3001- konto 4001528459.
If you have EURO as national currency, you are advised to pay to our
representative in Germany, Andreas Schmid.
Andreas Schmid, Lerchenweg 4, D-97717 Euerdorf, Germany. E-mail:
schmidandy@aol.com
Account 2912472076 at Targobank BLZ: 30020900. BIC: CMCIDEDD. IBAN:
DE24300209002912472076
If you want to pay via PAYPAL, you have to contact Andreas Schmid,
before you send your payment. Payment via PayPal only in US$ currency
and only for persons, living outside the European Union (EU).
Best 73's, (Anker Petersen and Bent Nielsen, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
TEKTRONIX GUIDE TO RF SIGNALS [starting with spectrum chart]
Electronic reference recognition and understanding of the various RF
signals. The handbook detailed examples of the most common signals are
often transmitted through the air, including cellular, WLAN, P25,
airports and radar signals microwave ovens. Each example contains
short fragments of signals, measurements, recordings or FM
demodulation, as well as installation files SignslVu-PC and stored
waveforms IQ.
http://info.tek.com/rs/tektronix/images/eGuide-to-RF-Signals.pdf
(Andrew Strigunenko, Moscow, RusDX April 5 via DXLD)
WORLD OF HOROLOGY
+++++++++++++++++
I don't do April Fools jokes, so there won't be any here.
But I will take a little break from my Mexico-heavy focus to look at
items of interest in the April 1975 VUD, the first April VUD available
online. It's what DX was like 40 years ago: [VHF-UHF DIGEST]
-A new column, the WTFDA Mailbox, mostly with reports of new
members.
-New CPs: Channel 15 at Phoenix, Arizona; channel 20 at "Wassau",
Wisconsin. KNXV took four and a half years to come to air; WHRM, in
the WPT network, was on before the year was over.
-A review of the GE "TV Band Radio", now allowing DXers to discern
frequency offsets on TV stations with continuous tuning.
-DX Statistics: Glenn Hauser (some things don't change) holds the
record for XHOX-FM 95.4 Tampico. (How it got that high up, who knows.)
XHOX-FM is still around; it's an Exa FM on 95.3 running 30 kW ERP.
-Eastern TV DX: Ken Simon reports that in fog on February 12,
Delray, FL police heard Ocala on high-band VHF.
-Central TV DX: Paul E. Petosky adds new log CFVO-30 Hull, Quebec
(it was only on the air less than three years!)
-Western TV DX: Pat Dyer somehow pulls in WXLT-40 Sarasota (now
WWSB) at signoff at 990 miles via tropo—and no other Florida UHFs were
in!
-Photo News has all variety of photos, some of which are old. One
is of WUSN-2 Charleston as received from Massachusetts at 1,000 mi
(which soon after became WCBD).
-An actual April Fools joke as Ken Simon in TV QSL Corner reports
getting a QSL from Guam! (Raymie Humbert, March 31, WTFDA Forum via
DXLD) See also CANADA
ANNUAL ARMED FORCES DAY
CROSS-BAND MILITARY/AMATEUR RADIO COMMUNICATIONS TEST, 9-10 MAY 2015
The Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard are co-
sponsoring the annual military/amateur radio communications tests in
celebration of the 65th Anniversary of Armed Forces Day (AFD) and the
90th Anniversary of MARS. Although the actual Armed Forces Day is
celebrated on Saturday, May 16, 2015, the AFD Military/Amateur Cross-
band Communications Test will be conducted 09-10 May 2015 to prevent
conflict with the Dayton Hamvention (15-17 May 2015), which is the
same weekend as the actual Armed Forces Day.
The annual celebration is a unique opportunity to test two way
communications between Amateurs and military communicators authorized
in 47 CFR 97.111, and features traditional military to amateur cross
band SSB voice, Morse Code, practice using legacy interoperability
waveforms, as well as an opportunity for Amateurs to utilize more
modern military communications modes such as MIL-STD Serial PSK and
Automatic Link Establishment (ALE). Participating military stations
will transmit on selected military MARS frequencies and listen for
Amateur Radio stations in the amateur bands. The military station
operator will announce the specific amateur band frequency being
monitored. Duration of each voice contact should be limited to 1-2
minutes. The annual Secretary of Defense message will be transmitted
via digital modes, including RTTY, PACTOR, AMTOR, PSK-31, MFSK and
MT63 from certain stations.
These tests give Amateur Radio operators and Short Wave Listeners
(SWL) an opportunity and a challenge to demonstrate their individual
technical skills, and to receive recognition from the appropriate
military radio station for their proven expertise.
QSL cards will be provided to those stations making contact with the
military stations. THE 2015 Annual Armed Forces Day package with the
schedule of events and frequency plan can be downloaded from the link
found at
http://www.usarmymars.org/home/announcements
or at
http://www.n2ckh.com/PC_ALE_FORUM/2015%20ARMED%20FORCES%20DAY%20V2.pdf
(via Paul Staupe, April 8, MDXC yg via DXLD)
CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
DX CONVENTION 2015 FORT WAYNE! Hotel Registration is now open
With big thanks for your patience as we've been busy negotiating for a
good rate; I'm pleased to announce that hotel registration is now open
for the NRC/IRCA/WTFDA/Decalcomania DX Convention, July 10-12, 2015 in
Fort Wayne, Indiana!
Our hotel will be Don Hall's Guesthouse Hotel, 1313 W. Washington
Center Road, Fort Wayne IN 46825, and our specially-negotiated rate is
$85 per room per night. That includes comfortable lodgings and a very
tasty breakfast buffet each morning. The hotel is conveniently located
right off I-69, the main drag through Fort Wayne.
Reservations for the hotel are due by JUNE 10, 2015 and must be made
directly with the hotel by calling 260-489-2524 or 1-800-348-1999.
The Group Number is 7110. *PLEASE BE SURE TO GIVE THE GROUP # TO MAKE
SURE WE ARE PROPERLY CREDITED FOR ALL THE ROOMS THE CLUBS ARE USING!*
Once you've made your reservation, please drop me a line at
scott@fybush.com so I can keep track of who's staying with us.
Stay tuned in the next few days for additional registration
information. I expect the registration fee to be about $55/person,
which will include a Hall's-catered banquet at the hotel Saturday
night, a convention program and meeting room snacks. We'll also be
making tickets available separately for a Fort Wayne TinCaps baseball
game on Friday night, July 10 at Fort Wayne's beautiful Parkview Field
downtown.
Please share this notice widely through the DX community - all are
welcome to join us at this exciting joint convention this summer! And
please reach out to me with any questions - I'll try to answer them as
quickly as I can. See you in WOWO-land!! Your Convention Host, (Scott
Fybush scott@fybush.com April 7, NRC-AM via DXLD)
LANGUAGE LESSONS See also ROMANIA: Tsiganeshti; HONDURAS: Progresso
++++++++++++++++
[Re 15-13, BRAZIL]: LOREM IPSUM
Radio Alvorada is not the station on 6135, but R. Aparecida. If it was
// 4965, it must have been only a relay of Aparecida, or both stations
relaying something else, since Alvorada is also obviously Roman
Catholic per its homepage, but going on to the programação page link:
http://alvoradaparintins.com.br/programa%C3%A7%C3%A3o.html
we find it only says LOREN IPSUM, but with a link at the left to a
full page of Latin nonsense, no doubt in tribute to the RCC:
http://alvoradaparintins.com.br/esporte/copa-alvorada/49-texto-loren-ipsum-8.html
Tnx, Bob, for eventually leading us to this amusement (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Glenn, this pseudo-Latin text is a standard filler in typography which
gets used when the actual content is not yet available. As such, it
found its way into the template files of ready-to-go website packages.
Those surely aren't intended to go online, but sometimes they slip
through. It has its roots in (definitely non-Catholic) Cicero. For
more info, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorem_ipsum
"Loren ipsum" must be another scrambling of the already scrambled
original "Lorem ipsum". Best, (Eike Bierwirth, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM
+++++++++++++++++++++
TV TEST PATTERNS
Happening to be linked from the above item about Lorem ipsum, is this
article about the many different TPs, seldom seen on broadcast TV any
more; skewed toward European styles, but with a few Americans
exhibited:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testcard
(Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
ZENITH TRANS-OCEANIC, THE "ROYALTY OF RADIOS" | WSHU
http://wshu.org/post/zenith-trans-oceanic-royalty-radios
Last month, we took a look at the beginnings of what would be the age
of connectivity on the go, the battery portable radio. This month I'll
feature a line of battery powered tube radios that brought the
technology to its pinnacle. The Zenith Trans-Oceanic series of
shortwave portables would stretch from 1941 through 1982, with tube
models produced until 1963. The radios performed so well, and became
so popular, that they earned the nickname "The Royalty of Radios."
One of the sets that I featured last month was the Zenith Model 5G401,
the beginnings of a long line of such sets. The Zenith Corporation was
founded in 1918 by amateur radio operators Ralph Matthews and Karl
Hassel in Chicago as Chicago Radio Labs. They produced and sold
amateur radio equipment. In 1921 they were joined by Eugene F.
McDonald, who had served as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy in
WWI. Under McDonald, the company incorporated in 1923 as the Zenith
Radio Corporation. By 1924, the company began marketing consumer
radios and in 1926 began the mass production of its first AC powered
radio. McDonald remained a naval reservist until 1939, but was never
recalled to active service. He did however, become an avid yachtsman.
Zenith was a significant player in the 1920s radio market, but, prior
to the Great Depression, did not hold the same market share as Atwater
Kent or RCA. The closing of the Atwater Kent factory in 1936 and RCA's
decision to make the greater part of their income from licensing their
patents rather than be a major producer of radios at this time, opened
the door for Zenith to become the leading manufacturer of mid-grade to
high-end radios. With the development of tubes in the late 1930s to
support portability, McDonald came up with the concept of a portable
shortwave radio that he could use while at sea on his yacht. Although
the series of radios was inspired by his yachting experience, Mr.
McDonald correctly assumed that consumers were hungry for portables
that could receive international shortwave broadcasts. By this time,
the popularity of international shortwave broadcasts was growing
rapidly.
Using the circuit developed for the Model 5G401, Zenith first refitted
it to a larger chassis and cabinet resulting the Model 6G601 shown
below. The larger chassis would allow for the addition of the
components required to receive shortwave. The AM only radio became
known as "The Clipper" because it had the image of a sailboat on its
grill.
The greatest challenge facing the Zenith engineering team, lead by
Chief Engineer Gilbert E. Gustafson, would be to design a tuning
assembly that would result in stabile operation and still be able to
fit into the 6G601's cabinet. Starting in 1939, and continuing through
the remainder of that year, no less than 20 prototypes were submitted
to CEO McDonald for his approval. All but versions 19 and 20 were
rejected for one reason or another. (Trans-Oceanic, The Royalty of
Radios, John H. Bryant and Harold N. Cones, Schiffer Publishing Co.,
2008)
The final version consisted of a six button band selector from which
the user could select between the AM broadcast band, and five
shortwave bands ranging up to 16 MHz. The components used in the
tuning unit were of the highest quality to ensure stability in the
often rough environment that a portable radio might be operated in.
The outward appearance of the radio was the work of Robert Davol
Budlong, and industrial designer who was a graduate of Grinnell
College in Iowa. He was also well known for designing other
appliances, such as Sunbeam toasters, shavers, and mixers, all
featuring a modernistic appearance. He chose to make the radios look
like radios, a trend away from attempts to make them look like
furniture or other objects.
The first version of Zenith Trans-Oceanic line of portable shortwave
radios, the 7G605, pictured at the beginning of this article, was
released less than two months before the Pearl Harbor attack. It bore
the sailboat image, and continued to be known as the "Clipper. " It
sold for $75, and was an instant success. It was just the beginning,
though, of the series' long and colorful history. Zenith planned to
heavily promote the radio for the coming holiday season. Then, the
surprise attack on Pearl Harbor came. Most manufacturers halted
production of consumer goods for the war effort.
Zenith had other plans for their new radio, though. They changed the
image on the grill from that of a sailboat to the likeness of the B-17
bomber. The change was implemented in such a hurry, that collectors
have reported finding the bomber grill inserted over the top of the
sailboat grill. Such radios fetch a premium on the collector' s
market. It is not documented as to how many sets shipped this way. As
the original radios were called Clippers, collectors often refer to
these as "Bombers." Zenith continued to produce the radio based on
parts that it had ordered and received prior to the start of the war.
On April 22, 1942, Zenith was forced to discontinue all consumer
production by the government decree known as the "war planning board
federal edict" ordering all manufacturing efforts to be directed to
the war effort. By then, 35,000 sets had been made. At the time, it
left approximately 100,000 orders unfulfilled. (Trans-Oceanic, The
Royalty of Radios, John H. Bryant and Harold N.Cones, Schiffer
Publishing Co., 2008)
Government edict or no, and despite a ceremony in front of the press
celebrating the "last" 7G605 to roll off of the assembly line, the
company did produce a limited number of additional sets, rumored to be
about 1000 (some sources have Zenith sitting aside 1000 sets from the
final run). These were retained and used as presentation pieces given
to Zenith executives, dignitaries, war heroes, and celebrities such as
movie stars who promoted war bonds. The radio would have the
recipient' s name silk screened on the face plate. When I was trying
to acquire a 7G605 for my collection, I was outbid on one such
presentation radio, bearing the name of a Zenith vice president. The
7G605 in Clipper or Bomber form is the rarest of the civilian series,
and is highly sought after by collectors.
Beginning with WWII, Zenith also pushed the idea of Trans-Oceanics
being sold to soldiers not as military radios, but as a way for troops
to keep in touch with what was going on back in the states. To this
end, they frequently ran advertisements featuring pictures of the
radios being used by soldiers in the field and included stories
(presumably real) of the radios surviving nearby bomb blasts and even
being dropped in salt water. I have my own doubts as to the radio's
ability to function after immersion in salt water, but the radio did
have performance specifications that make stories of it being used as
a backup when a military radio was destroyed in battle quite credible.
They were not able to sell this idea to the government until after the
Korean War when, in 1956, they landed a small contract to supply 2,973
of the radios known as the R-520 to the army for such purpose. The R-
520 was a militarized version of the civilian Model H500 shown above.
It was ruggedized, damp- and fungus-proofed, had additional shielding,
a set of spare tubes, and alignment tools included inside the cabinet.
Extremely rare, it is identified by the army green vinyl covering
stamped USA at one end, and the spare set of tubes clipped inside the
rear cabinet door.
After the war, Zenith returned the radio to production in the form of
the Model 8G605 and then a slightly improved Model G500 which,
outwardly, looked the same as the 8G605. These were produced from 1946
through 1951. The sensitive, high performance portables remained a
favorite amongst shortwave listeners and radio enthusiasts in general.
In 1951, the H500 was introduced with an additional shortwave band,
giving the user an additional band button to select. The H500 was the
first model to use the new miniature tubes which had been developed as
part of the war effort.
In 1954, the 600 Series went into production. It featured a "slide
rule" dial, a departure from the traditional dials used by its
predecessors. It was produced until 1962 and was the last portable
vacuum tube radio produced in the United States.
All of the Trans-Oceanics featured Zenith`s detachable "Wave Magnet"
loop antennas. On the original 7G605, the antenna was taken to the
extreme and made to look like a giant horseshoe magnet. It was toned
down on subsequent models. The series also introduced the telescoping
stick antenna that we are more familiar with today. The listener could
switch between the two antennas to see which performed better under
different conditions. The 7G605 came with a faux snakeskin covering.
After WWII, almost all of the radios came in black leatherette-
covered cabinets, with two exceptions. On later models a brown
leatherette covering was offered as an option. I would not call these
rare, but they are far less common than the black ones. The other
exception being the very rare R-520 which was covered in either an
army green vinyl covering or the brown leatherette, both stamped "USA"
and bearing military insignias.
By now, the elegant high performance radios had earned the nickname
"The Royalty of Radios," so when the first transistor version came
out, overlapping the 600 series from 1958 on, it was named the Royal
1000. The line continued through several more solid state models
ending with the Royal 7000, which remained in production until 1982.
Just as the Model B600 was the last vacuum tube portable manufactured
in the United States, Its descendent, the Royal 7000, was the last
solid state portable radio to be made in the USA.
The Trans-Oceanic and the saga of the 1L6 tube
For those interested, read my June 2014 article about the heterodyne
circuit for more on what a mixer tube does. Pictured below are three
mixer tubes (left to right), the 1A7, used in the older model 5G401
radio, the 1LA6 used in the earlier Trans-Oceanics, and the miniature
1L6 used in the Trans-Oceanics starting with the H500. Zenith wanted
to keep up with the latest technology and so they switched to the
miniature tubes starting with the Model H500. This presented one major
problem. The 1LA6 was a complex pentagrid converter which performed
quite well at the higher shortwave bands. No one had yet created a
miniature version of this tube. With few manufacturers building
shortwave portables, most companies used the 1R5 mixer that worked
just fine on the AM broadcast band and well enough on the lower
shortwave bands to suffice.
It did not perform well at frequencies above 10 MHz, though. Zenith
contracted several tube manufacturers to attempt to design a mini
version of the 1LA6. Doing so was the equivalent of putting 5 lbs. of
groceries in a 3 lb. bag. Zenith delayed the release of the H500, and
was prepared to ship the radios with 1LA6 tubes if need be. Sylvania,
the leader in battery powered tubes was, in the end, able to produce
such a tube in the form of the 1L6. The tube was used almost
exclusively by Zenith. By 1958, with the demise of tubes on the
horizon, Zenith was again faced with the possibility of not being able
to get the tube for the release of the R600. In the beginning, the
chassis of the R600 was stamped to fit the older 1LA6 socket, and
then, when they secured a source for 1L6 tubes, was fitted with an
oversized socket for a 1L6.
Today, finding 1L6 tubes is a challenge. Prices may range up to $120
for a new old stock 1L6, whereas you can purchase a 1LA6 for less than
$7. Since I owned an R600 with a somewhat scruffy case and was not
worried about keeping the radio completely original, I decided to try
an experiment. I refitted the set with the larger 1LA6 tube and
socket. The 1LA6 is electrically identical to the 1L6, and it even has
slightly lower inter-electrode capacitance, which suggested that it
might slightly outperform the smaller tube.
After retuning the H600 per factory procedure, I discovered that,
indeed, the performance on the highest shortwave band was slightly
better. If you are restoring a radio and need a 1L6, you can
substitute a 1R5 and it will work on the AM broadcast band, but give
poor performance on shortwave. There are also a few people selling
solid state replacements made to look like the tube and directly
replace it (via Kevin Redding, TN, ABDX via DXLD)
RadioShack's BLUEPRINT FOR A REBIRTH, PLANNED BY A HEDGE FUND
A RadioShack in Brooklyn. Standard General will take over 1,700 of the
company's 4,000 stores [caption] Sam Hodgson for The New York Times
By HIROKO TABUCHI April 5, 2015
A day after RadioShack's narrow escape from liquidation in bankruptcy
court, Soohyung Kim, the financier who led the contentious rescue,
retreated to a back office to make a conference call with the chain's
almost 2,700 workers, vendors and landlords.
For many of those listening, it was their first direct real
introduction to the chief architect of the retailer's unlikely
reincarnation. "It's time for a new day," Mr. Kim said, his voice
tense yet steady. "We're here today because we know this can work."
Minutes later, relieved and exhausted, Mr. Kim sat down with his small
team at Standard General, his New York hedge fund, and pondered their
feat. "The fact that we actually pulled this off is. ..." he trailed
off. "Gratifying?" Robert Lavan, a team member, suggested.
RadioShack is a shadow of its former self, an afterthought in a world
dominated by Amazon and Best Buy that has little need for scrappy
stores that peddle cables and connectors. But Standard General, whose
lender takeover of about 1,700 of RadioShack's 4,000 stores won court
approval last Tuesday, does not see it that way.
"We always believed that when you stripped away its relatively heavy
cost structure, and some of the legacy ways they did business, there
actually was a core here that was worth saving," Mr. Kim said.
Many in the industry are skeptical. "In the consumer's mind,
RadioShack is a name that has come and gone," said Craig R. Johnson,
founder of the retail consultant Customer Growth Partners in New
Canaan, Conn. "What's its reason for being? What consumer problem are
they solving?"
That is a question that RadioShack, the 94-year-old electronics chain,
has tried to answer for years as the digital revolution sapped demand
for its staples and its stores tracked a slow decline. In February, it
filed for bankruptcy protection, buckling in the face of bigger rivals
and online competition.
RadioShack's biggest creditor, Salus Capital Partners, pushed a plan
that would probably have liquidated the retailer, prompting a showdown
in bankruptcy court. But Standard General's bid, and its promise to
save some 7,500 jobs, prevailed.
Now, the new RadioShack is pushing a revised raison d'être. RadioShack
will slim down to become an electronics convenience store of sorts,
focusing on things like Bluetooth headsets, chargers and other
accessories that shoppers may need immediately rather than waiting a
day or two for shipment of a web order. One of the most profitable
RadioShack stores is a Bridgehampton, N.Y., outlet that is frequented
by weekend vacationers who have forgotten their smartphone chargers or
earphones. And one of RadioShack's top-selling products is hearing aid
batteries.
Tablets, laptops and digital cameras will disappear from RadioShack
stores, and mobile phone sales and services will be handled by its new
partner, Sprint, all of which affects just 7 percent of RadioShack's
sales. Remaining product lines will also shrink, to 60 headphones from
about 180, for example, and to just one fitness wristband from 34.
In an interview, Ron Garriques, a former Dell and Motorola executive
chosen last week to lead the new RadioShack, said the chain would also
focus on small cities with populations of 5,000 to 100,000, where
demand still exists for a neighborhood electronics store.
When he and the Standard General team studied the old RadioShack's
4,200 stores by profitability, they found that the best-performing
stores were not in big cities or fancy malls, where the rents are high
and competitors also sell electronics. Most of those stores will
close. The number of stores in Manhattan, for instance, will fall to
just three from more than 30.
But in many smaller communities, Mr. Garriques said: "RadioShack is
part of the neighborhood. We are the `go to' store for electronics."
Then, there is the partnership with Sprint. RadioShack long profited
from selling mobile phones, but in recent years, as the market
matured, the retailer suffered under increasingly unfavorable
contracts with the mobile carriers. To make matters worse, RadioShack
did not have its own credit underwriting system for cellphone
customers, and when any customers defaulted on monthly payments,
RadioShack was required to make up the difference. So as competition
among the networks intensified, RadioShack found that its associates
struggled to properly explain the ever-changing payment plans.
Now, Sprint will take over the selling of mobile phones, paying
RadioShack to take up 60 percent of the floor space plus a sales
commission and freeing RadioShack from what had weighed heavily on its
bottom line. RadioShack hopes that the Sprint shops-inside-shops,
which will appear on Sprint's store locaters, will also drive more
traffic to its stores. (Sprint will increase its store count by almost
50 percent.)
"The parts of the business that you think are unsexy are the ones that
are doing great," Mr. Kim said. "And the parts that you'd think are
cool, the smartphones and the prime locations -- horrendous."
Standard General is now looking for more partners to set up displays
or shops-inside-shops at RadioShack. Those partners, from start-ups in
the United States to overseas suppliers, could sell anything, Mr.
Garriques said: consumer electronics, home security systems, solar
panels, wireless chargers.
One immediate uncertainty is the RadioShack brand. Salus, the largest
creditor, still owns the rights to the RadioShack name. Without a
deal, the retailer has only six months left to use the often-mocked
yet highly recognized moniker. Standard General said that it would try
to buy the name, but that it was also open to calling the stores
something new.
Salus also owns vast amounts of RadioShack's customer data, though
Standard General contends that much of that data is outdated, and
privacy agreements probably prevent Salus from selling it.
The RadioShack deal has thrust Standard General -- until recently a
little-known player in several television broadcasting transactions --
into one of the most visible corporate turnaround efforts this year.
The hedge fund is also leading a turnaround at another troubled
retailer, American Apparel.
Mr. Kim said his fund's work with highly indebted companies meant that
he sometimes encountered bankruptcies. But RadioShack's difficult
bankruptcy -- which, unlike many recent cases, was not an accelerated,
"prepackaged" process -- appeared to have taxed him and his team.
Still, he said, that is what he does. "We do our best to make lemonade
out of lemons." (via Mike Cooper, April 6, DXLD)
RADIOSHACK, BACK FROM THE DEAD, WANTS TO BECOME A BODEGA FOR BATTERIES
By Drew Harwell April 7 at 2:45 PM Follow @drewharwell
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/04/07/radioshack-back-from-the-dead-wants-to-become-a-bodega-for-batteries/
RadioShack filed for bankruptcy protection in February after 94 years
in business. But it's not dead yet. (Shawn Thew/European Pressphoto
Agency) [caption]
RadioShack, long derided as the "cockroach of retail," has evaded
another stomp. The dusty electronics chain, looking every bit of its
94 years, has emerged from its steady walk toward the light with a big
new rebirthing plan: Act more like a convenience store.
After the increasingly irrelevant gadget mart waved the white flag of
Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February, its biggest creditor, Salus Capital
Partners, fought to liquidate the Shack and squeeze out whatever value
the brand had left. But Standard General, a hedge fund, pushed to keep
open 1,740 of RadioShack's 4,000 stores, and a Delaware court last
week approved the fund's takeover proposal.
In its new life, the surviving Shacks plan to drop the unprofitable
big-name gadgets -- like cameras, laptops and tablets, which shoppers
increasingly scooped up online -- and rebrand itself as "the premier
community destination for consumer electronics," a national bodega of
batteries and earbuds.
[RadioShack may be facing the end after decade of decline]
Think of the new Shack like the modern equivalent of a small-town
corner store: Instead of milk and medicine, it will have cellphone
chargers, headphones and all the other little easily forgotten doodads
that keep our Web-connected lives running. (One of the Shack's
biggest bestsellers: Hearing-aid batteries.)
The company expects these little tech outposts to take off in
small-town America, where online shopping and quick deliveries are not
pervasive, but where gadgets remain just as much a part of life. The
best-performing Shack outlets, leaders said, weren't often in busy
cities or high-rent shopping centers, but in slower areas and strip
malls, where competition was low and RadioShack was perhaps the only
gadget game in town.
"The parts of the business that you think are unsexy are the ones that
are doing great," Soohyung Kim, Standard General's managing partner,
told the New York Times. "And the parts that you'd think are cool, the
smartphones and the prime [retail] locations -- horrendous."
But not all market-watchers are holding their breath for the Shack's
revival to health. The cannibalization of RadioShack's main business
model by online shopping -- and the rise of smartphones as a
replacement for GPS units, music players and the other gizmos that
once filled the Shack's shelves -- has not changed, they argue, and
won't be diverted by the new unveiling of a convenience mart.
"The fact that they have a new lease on life does not change the
competitive dynamics here," said Anthony Chukumba, a senior research
analyst with BB&T Capital Markets. "And to me it does not change the
so many reasons that led them to going bankrupt in the first place."
[Bankrupt RadioShack wants to sell off user data. But the bigger risk
is if a Facebook or Google goes bust.]
Only 7,500 of RadioShack's 27,000 jobs will survive in the thinned-
down chain's surviving stores, most of which will share space with
cellphone carrier Sprint. Salus, which sought to liquidate the Shack,
still owns some of the company's most critical pieces, including
customer data and the RadioShack name, meaning the new creature may
have to start from square one with an entirely untested brand.
It is unclear what the stores Standard General keeps open will be
called. Standard General representatives on Tuesday declined
to comment. But RadioShack has proclaimed its resurrection across
social media, saying the store looks "forward to continuing the
journey":
Thank you for the last 94 years, #TeamRadioShack. We look forward to
continuing the journey.
Posted by RadioShack on Thursday, April 2, 2015
The retailer has championed other Shack-is-back turnaround efforts
before, but they've always been "too little, too late," as Will
Frohnhoefer, an equity research analyst at BTIG, told the Washington
Post. "They had multiple years -- a decade of decline -- to try to
reverse things, and they didn't seem to come up with a coordinated
strategy until very late in the game."
Perhaps the Shack has a slim chance as a gadget supplier in a world
where electronics are increasingly complicated and fancy cords, like
"the world's most advanced charging cable," can raise half a million
dollars from crowdfunding sites. But if the effort proves
unsuccessful, its new leaders could once again seek to put the Shack
out of its misery, and some analysts expect the illnesses of the past
will once again plague Shack's shot at a second life.
"Even if you live in podunk U.S.A.," Chukumba said, "you still have
the Internet." Drew Harwell is a national business reporter at The
Washington Post (via Mike Cooper, DXLD)
POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Welcome to another edition of our rather sporadic “Ether to Speaker”
column. This time, it comes from something of a backlog of occasional
items that have been passed my way or have caught my eye.
Ofcom Consultation
Most notably so far this year, for me, has been the rather strangely
titled Ofcom consultation document “Notice of proposals to make the
Wireless Telegraphy (Control of Interference from Apparatus)
Regulations 2015”. In the Daily Telegraph article on the subject on 6
January, the suggestion was made that people operating powerline
broadband extenders could be prosecuted if they caused radio
interference. Since the very same organisation appeared to be saying
not so long ago that it was not so convinced that they would cause
interference, it was one of those drop-jaw moments for me.
If the journalese of the Telegraph article is correct, it would
suggest that the people who mainly innocently buy these pieces of
equipment – and have been encouraged to do so for years now – would
now be liable for the interference caused and not the manufacturer. At
any rate, if this were so, so many items of equipment cause terrific
amounts of radio interference that the courts would surely be full.
At any rate, I have to admit to being quite encouraged by the rather
minimal reading that I have done of the document. I am not one of
those people who shone academically at school and I never did go to
university – as my daughter puts it, “and while it was free, too!” My
eyes glaze over when I attempt to read Ofcom’s tome so I have not
delved very deep. However, it seems that – finally – the nation’s
guardian of the radio wavebands has caught up with the reality of
self-certification and the commercial opportunities that our wonderful
technical advances have brought and are hoping to tame the tiger of
radio interference. All rather late, but better late than never!
This paragraph on page 8 is balm to the disquieted radio soul: “Before
electrical and electronic apparatus can be placed on the market or put
into service in the United Kingdom, it is required to comply with the
Electromagnetic Compatibility Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006 No. 3418)
(the “EMC Regulations”) which implemented the EMC Directive.”
That first word is actually in italics in this document – I have
simply made it bold so it stands out even more. If these devices are
causing interference – and it is not due to a fault – I think it
could be argued that the manufacturer is the guilty party. I await
with baited [sic] breath to see if this document actually has any
useful effect on our hobby (BDXC’s Technical Section with Andrew Tett,
April BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD)
DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See INDIA; VATICAN
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV See MEXICO; OKLAHOMA; USA
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
PROPAGATION
+++++++++++
GEOMAGNETIC INDICES – Compiled by: Phil Bytheway
Geomagnetic Summary March 1 2015 through March 31 2015
Tabulated from email status daily (K at 0000 UT)
Date Flux A K Space Wx
1 128 28 3 minor, G1
2 130 28 2 minor, G1
3 125 11 3 moderate, R2
4 124 10 3 no storms
5 130 6 2 minor, R1
6 127 13 3 minor, R1
7 138 20 4 moderate, R2
8 124 11 1 no storms
9 123 6 1 moderate, R2
10 121 5 1 minor, R1
11 132 9 1 strong, R3
12 127 8 0 minor, R1
13 119 6 1 minor, R1
14 116 5 2 minor, R1
15 114 7 1 minor, R1
16 117 11 1 minor, R1
17 114 117 8 severe, G4, R1
18 115 52 5 moderate, G2
19 109 28 4 minor, G1
20 113 24 5 minor, G1
21 114 14 2 no storms
22 122 24 1 moderate, G2
23 128 21 3 minor, G1
24 133 15 2 no storms
25 138 13 2 no storms
26 136 8 3 no storms
27 138 8 2 no storms
28 146 9 3 no storms
29 145 14 2 no storms
30 134 5 2 no storms
31 128 9 2 no storms
Gx – Geomagnetic Storm Level Rx – Radio Blackouts Level Sx – Solar
Radiation Storm Level (IRCA DX Monitor April 12, via DXLD)
:Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts
:Issued: 2015 Apr 06 0133 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/weekly.html
#
# Weekly Highlights and Forecasts
#
Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 30 March - 05 April 2015
Solar activity was at low levels throughout the period. Region 2303
(N19, L=066, class/area=Hkx/400 on 17 Mar) produced low to mid-level
C-class activity early in the period while Regions 2318 (N10, L=199,
class/area=Dao/199 on 05 Apr) and 2320 (S12, L=212,
class/area=Dai/140 on 05 Apr) each produced only low-level C-class
flare activity throughout the remainder of the period.
A filament eruption centered near S29E28 was observed in SDO/AIA 193
imagery between 04/2225-2330 UTC. A long-duration C3/1f hyderflare
was measured during this event and had an associated Type-II radio
emission. The subsequent fast-moving coronal mass ejection (CME) was
first observed in SOHO/LASCO C2 coronagraph imagery beginning at
04/2336 UTC. WSA-ENLIL model output suggests a glancing blow arrival
of this CME late on 07 April.
No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.
The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at
normal levels on 30 Mar and normal to moderate levels on 31 Mar-05
Apr.
Geomagnetic field activity was at quiet to unsettled levels on 02-04
Apr with an isolated period of active conditions observed between
2100-2359 UTC on 02 Apr due to the effects of a positive polarity
coronal hole high speed stream. Quiet to unsettled levels were
observed on 30 Mar-01 Apr, and 05 Apr under a mostly nominal solar
wind environment.
FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 06 APRIL - 02 MAY 2015
Solar activity is expected to be low (below NOAA Scale event
thresholds) with a slight chance for M-class (R1-Minor) flare
activity throughout the outlook period.
No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.
The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is
expected to reach high levels on 22-24 Apr and 02 May, moderate
levels on 06-08, 11-14, 17, 20-21 Apr, and 27 Apr-01 May, and at
normal levels for the remainder of the period.
Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at G1 (Minor)
geomagnetic storm levels on 15-16, 18-19, and 25-27 Apr due to
coronal hole high speed stream effects. Active conditions are
expected on 07-09 Apr due to the anticipated arrival of the 04/05
Apr CME. Active conditions are expected on 17, 20 Apr, and 28 Apr-01
May due to coronal hole high speed stream effects with generally
quiet to unsettled levels likely for the remainder of the period.
:Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt
:Issued: 2015 Apr 06 0134 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 2015-04-06
#
# UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest
# Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index
2015 Apr 06 120 8 3
2015 Apr 07 125 12 4
2015 Apr 08 125 15 4
2015 Apr 09 130 12 4
2015 Apr 10 135 12 3
2015 Apr 11 135 5 2
2015 Apr 12 135 5 2
2015 Apr 13 135 5 2
2015 Apr 14 130 5 2
2015 Apr 15 130 20 5
2015 Apr 16 140 20 5
2015 Apr 17 145 15 4
2015 Apr 18 145 20 5
2015 Apr 19 145 20 5
2015 Apr 20 135 12 4
2015 Apr 21 130 12 3
2015 Apr 22 130 8 3
2015 Apr 23 125 8 3
2015 Apr 24 120 8 3
2015 Apr 25 125 25 5
2015 Apr 26 125 29 5
2015 Apr 27 130 29 5
2015 Apr 28 130 15 4
2015 Apr 29 120 12 4
2015 Apr 30 115 18 4
2015 May 01 115 12 4
2015 May 02 115 8 3
(SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1768, DXLD)
SWPC will be continuing the testing of its backup processing system on
Wednesday April 8 and Thursday April 9. During each of these days,
users should anticipate that there could be outages between the hours
of 1500 to 2100 UTC (1100 am - 500 pm EDT). If active space weather
conditions exist before the beginning of these testing intervals, they
will not be performed on that day (SWPC April 7 via DXLD)
GLENN`S PROPAGATION OUTLOOK FOR MEDIA NETWORK PLUS AS OF APRIL 9, 2015
Keith, IPS in Australia`s GLOBAL FORECAST calls for normal HF
propagation thru April 11 at low latitudes; fair to normal at middle
and hi latitudes.
South African space weather thru April 11: magnetic conditions peaking
at unsettled to active on April 10; shortwave fadeouts unlikely; MUFs
stable.
Met Office UK forecasts solar activity to be low, but with a chance of
moderate flares and radio blackouts. Geomagnetic activity quiet to
unsettled on April 11 and 12.
The outlook from Prague: Geomagnetic field will be:
mostly quiet on April 10, 20 - 22
quiet to unsettled on April 11 - 12, 17
active to disturbed on April 13 - 16,
quiet to active on April 18 - 19
From SWPC in Boulder: solar flux peaking at 145 April 17 to 19, down
to 115 by April 30. G1 minor storm levels expected April 15 and 16, 18
and 19 with A and K indices of 20 and 5; also April 25 to 27 with
indices of 29 and 5. Lowest As and Ks of 5 and 2 from April 11 to 14.
Bill Hepburn`s VHF-UHF DX maps show extreme tropospheric ducting this
week over the Arabian sea between Oman and India, likewise from the
other side of India around the Bay of Bengal to Myanmar; also along
the coast of west Africa and the morning of April 14 between Texas and
Yucatán (via DXLD) ###