DX LISTENING DIGEST 16-02, January 13, 2016 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2016 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html [also linx to previous years] NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn WORLD OF RADIO 1808 CONTENTS: *DX and station news about: Asia non, Bolivia, Brasil, Canada, China, Czechia, Equatorial Guinea, France, Greece, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, México, Monaco, North America, Papua New Guinea, Perú, Russia non, USA, Yemen non SHORTWAVE AIRINGS of WORLD OF RADIO 1808, January 14-20, 2016 Thu 1230 WRMI 9955 [confirmed] Thu 2100 WRMI 7570 [confirmed] Fri 0200 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB [confirmed] Fri 2130 WRMI 15770 [confirmed] Fri 2130 WRMI 7570 [confirmed] Sat 0730 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio Sat 1530 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio [confirmed, CRI QRM] Sat 2030v WA0RCR 1860-AM Sun 0415v WA0RCR 1860-AM [confirmed] Sun 0900 WRMI 5850 Mon 0400v WBCQ 5110v Area 51 Mon 0430 WRMI 9955 Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 Wed 1415 WRMI 9955 Wed 2200 WBCQ 7490v 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-audio-plattform/podcast/glenn-hauser-wor ALTERNATIVE PODCASTS, tnx Stephen Cooper: http://shortwave.am/wor.xml AND ANOTHER PODCAST ALTERNATIVE, tnx to Keith Weston: http://feeds.feedburner.com/GlennHausersWorldOfRadio 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 NOTE: I have *resolved* to make DXLD leaner, more selective, as I seriously need to reduce my workload, much of which has been merely editing gobs of material into presentable form. This makes it even more important to be a member of the DXLD yg for additional material which may not make it into weekly isssues (gh) DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg without delay. When applying, please identify yourself with your real name and location, and say something about why you want to join. Those who do not, unless I recognize them, will be prompted once to do so and no action will be taken otherwise. Here`s where to sign up: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** AFGHANISTAN. MEDIA IN AFGHANISTAN'S HERAT PROVINCE - JANUARY 2016 Media feature by BBC Monitoring on 8 January The relatively stable and prosperous western province of Herat, the second-most populated in Afghanistan, has the largest number of media outlets after Kabul. Seventeen private television channels have been established in the past 15 years. Most of the channels are based in the city and broadcast to the provincial capital and surrounding districts, reaching about 1.5 million people. Surveys show that the city of Herat has relatively good access to electricity and television ownership is the highest after Kabul. With the opening of the major Salma hydroelectric dam in the province scheduled for mid-2016, television ownership is likely to soar. But, as elsewhere in Afghanistan, media in Herat are experiencing severe economic hardship because of a decline in financial support from the West and falling advertising revenues. Most outlets have cut staffing and running costs. Television is the preferred choice for news, information and entertainment where electricity is available. With few exceptions, local TV output is largely in Dari/Farsi. Heratis also have access to TV and radio channels which operate from Kabul. Some of the Herat-based TV channels run radio stations. Digital terrestrial TV (DTT) has not come to Herat yet, but is expected to launch in 2016. Herati media operators say that the Afghan Broadcasting System (ABS), which is rolling out DTT nationwide, has given them until end of 2016 to join the digitization programme in lieu of a fee (1,400 dollars per month to broadcast to Herat alone) which they say they cannot afford. Growth in the print media has been limited because of the availability of so many broadcast choices and the low literacy rate. Only a small number of newspapers, with small circulations, are published in the province. The distribution of major Kabul-based newspapers, such as Hasht-e Sobh and Mandegar, has further dented interest in the local press. Television Ariana Herat TV This is the local version of Kabul-based Ariana TV, which is the flagship of Bayat Media Group (BMG). Launched in March 2012, Ariana Herat TV airs a two-hourly evening programme for the province, but relays Kabul-based Ariana TV and its sister news channel ATN during the rest of the day. Ariana also has local relays in the western provinces of Nimroz, Farah, Ghor and Badghis. Staffing: 17. CEO: Ahmad Fawad Ahmadi. Asia TV The liberal-leaning channel launched in 2010 and broadcasts from 0600 to midnight to the city and surrounding districts. Asia TV also launched outlets in Kabul, Mazar-e Sharif and Jalalabad in the past few years, but with limited success. The Mazar outlet is about to close. Typical daily programming includes: two Dari evening news bulletins, Iranian and Turkish soaps, foreign films, music and documentaries. Other content includes: a weekly interview with a politician, political debates and a weekly religious programme. The channel focuses on young people and claims a considerable audience in the province. Amanollah Attai, the proprietor of the TV and a businessman, was murdered in Kabul in September 2015 but is unclear if this had anything to do with the station. TV officials had in the past reported receiving threats from local clergy and conservative elements because of the TV's liberal content and what they considered to be the inadequate pixelation of images of women's skin. Language: 90 per cent Dari. Staffing: 12 in Herat, 30 in Kabul, 10 in Mazar and 20 in Jalalabad. CEO: Maqsud Ehrari. http://www.asiaaf.tv Asr TV ("Time") The 24-hour channel broadcasts to the city and surrounding districts from 0600 to midnight. Launched in March 2012, half of the channel's content is dedicated to news and current affairs programmes (mostly on Herat issues) with the rest being entertainment, sports and lifestyle. The proprietor, Sayed Wahid Qatali, is a member of the Provincial Council and owns construction and import businesses. Also owns Asr FM radio. Staffing: 35 including volunteers. Spending and revenue: some 13,000 and 8,000 dollars respectively. CEO: Abdol Rashid Azami. Chekad TV ("Mountain Peak") The channel was launched in mid-2013 by Ahmad Wali Nasiri, a lecturer at the Fine Arts Faculty of Herat University. Nasiri says he has little political engagement and is mostly interested in facilitating social change through social and cultural programmes. Content includes two soaps, documentaries dubbed into Farsi, programmes on citizenship, women and family life and the problems of Heratis vis a vis local officials. Staffing: 22 including some volunteers. CEO: Sohail Nasiri. http://chekad.tv/ Esteqlal TV ("Independence") Launched in mid-2014, the channel mainly airs news, current affairs (with a special focus on Herat), sports, soaps, films and religious and children programmes. It avoids music that might be deemed racy. Staffing: 15. Proprietor: Ahmad Ali Jebraeli. Eslah TV ("Reform") The religious channel was launched in August 2012 by Khalil Ahmad Jami, a lecturer at the Theology Faculty of Herat University. Like most other Herat channels, Eslah broadcasts to the city and surrounding districts via a 1-kW transmitter. Content includes religious and educational programming, news and political discussions, but no music. The TV belongs to the Jamiat-e Eslah (Reform Society), an emerging religiously-inspired organization, which is said to have a considerable student following in Kabul, Herat and the eastern province of Nangarhar. The movement, which is accused of Salafi tendencies by some, is often at odds with the government and is against Western forces. The ostensibly non-violent movement is thought to be expanding media and charitable activities throughout the country. The proprietor also runs two radio stations in the western provinces of Badghis and Nimroz, but not in Herat yet. The Reform Society has an FM radio in the capital and another in the eastern city of Jalalabad and a number of periodicals throughout Afghanistan. Revenue reportedly comes from adverts and donations from businesses. Director: Sayed Abdol Rahim Rahmani, a graduate of the Faculty of Journalism of Herat University and a former state TV official. Eslah has 15 permanent staff and some 30 volunteers who work on a part-time basis. http://www.eslahonline.net Faryad TV ("Shout") Launched in early 2013, the channel mainly broadcasts a mix of entertainment programmes via a 1-kW transmitter to the city of Herat and surrounding areas and also runs Radio Faryad FM for Herat and Farah Province. The proprietor, Khalil Amiri, is a media activist and a graduate of the Faculty of Journalism. Staffing: 35 including volunteers. Herai TV Herai was launched in mid 2007 by Afghan-German national Sayed Najibollah Yusofi, who worked for Deutsche Welle in Germany. The channel broadcasts 18 hours of programming to the city and surrounding districts via a 300-Watt transmitter. Content includes music, soaps, films and documentaries dubbed into Farsi, social and educational programmes for youth and children. No news and political programmes. Officials say they are struggling to make ends meet in view of shrinking advertising revenue and competition from other channels. The channel says it cannot air racy or lively music because it fears the reactions of conservatives and Mullahs. It says it has to exercise considerable self censorship. Staffing: 16 full time and 10 part- timers. CEO: Abdol Naser Akbari. Jawana TV ("Blossom") The channel was launched in 2012 by Habib Rahman Pedram, a member of Herat Provincial Council. It mainly broadcasts soaps that are dubbed by GEM TV. Staffing: 9. Maihan TV ("Homeland") The channel launched in 2010 is facing imminent closure owing to financial problems. The proprietor, Abdol Azim Qanawizyan, owns the Super Cola factory in the province. Negin-e Alghias ("Jewel of help") The religious channel was launched in early 2015 by Mawlawi Khodadad Saleh, the head of Herat Ulema (clergy) Council. The pro-government channel seems to have come into being in response to hard-line Eslah TV, owned by the Reform Society. Mr Saleh is the leader of Herat's main mosque and runs religious seminaries, including Al-Ghias University. Broadcasting from 0700 to 2300, the channel mostly airs traditional religious teachings, gives ample time to Saleh's sermons and Friday prayers speeches, but dedicates little time to current affairs programmes or news. Staffing: 11. CEO: Ziaoddin Nezami, who owns Radio Sada-e Mardom (Voice of the people) in the city. RTA Herat (provincial state TV) The channel launched in 1980, relays 12 hours of the Kabul-based mother channel (National Afghanistan TV) every day, but locally produces six-hour programmes with a focus on the province. Besides a local FM radio station, the provincial RTA also has two TV relays in the districts of Kohsan and Shindand. Like most other provincial state channels, it relays most of the live broadcasts of state TV's speeches and press conferences by President Ashraf Ghani and other senior officials or the live broadcasts of other events of national importance. Staffing: 40; Head of broadcasting: Abdol Sami Wafa. Saqi TV ("Cup bearer") The city's first private channel, this low-budget TV was launched in November 2005. It broadcasts to the city and a number of districts via a 500-Watt transmitter. The channel broadcasts a mix of programmes, including Iranian and Western films, soaps, documentaries (taken from National Geographic) and music performed by male singers only. There are no news bulletins, but the TV airs the main news bulletin of the Mazar-based channel every evening. The TV has also started operations in Herat's Ghorian district through a 250-Watt transmitter. In September 2012, the government shut down Saqi TV for a month "for inciting" people over the burning of a Koran by a US pastor. Staffing: 18 including volunteers. The owner, Nabi Tareq, is a Saudi-educated lecturer who teachers at Herat University. Sima-e Ghorian TV The channel was launched by Jamshed Azizi in the Ghorian District of Herat in 2003. He also owns Radio Sobh in the district. No other information is available. Taban TV ("Shining") The channel was launched in mid 2009 by Abdol Karim Sadeqi with an initial investment of some 200,000 dollars. It broadcasts some 18 hours a day to the city and surrounding districts. Content includes Islamic, cultural and educational programmes, some Iranian and Turkish soaps or films dubbed in Farsi as well as some music (as long as it is not sung by women). Some programmes are produced in-house. The owner describes the channel as "Islamic television with educational programmes" and denies any link to ex-Governor Mohammad Esmail Khan. The TV stopped its Pashto version for the city of Jalalabad in early 2015 due to financial problems and scrapped plans to launch in the cities of Mazar-e Sharif and Kandahar. Staffing: 30. Funding is said to come from adverts and the owner's purse. Taraqi TV ("Progress") The channel launched in 2012 and broadcasts to the city and surrounding areas via a 1-kW transmitter from 0700 to midnight. It also owns Zohal FM radio which broadcast to the city of Herat. Current programming includes a daily film, three soaps (two Iranian, one US), documentaries (dubbed by Dubai-based GEM TV, a major Farsi satellite channel), music and some social and cultural programmes. Some programmes, such as those on women's issues and current affairs, are still being funded by USAID, but officials fear the funding could soon dry up. Content is largely liberal-leaning. Staffing: 40 including volunteers. CEO: Omar Nasir Mojaddedi. Proprietor: Sayed Esmail Isar-Rahimi, who own businesses in imports/export, logistics and construction. Zendagi TV ("Life ") The channel was launched in late 2014 by Fahim Sahel and mostly airs music, sports and films. Staffing: 9. Source: BBC Monitoring research 8 Jan 16 (via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN. MEDIA IN AFGHANISTAN'S BALKH PROVINCE - JANUARY 2016 Media feature by BBC Monitoring on 8 January Relative stability and economic prosperity have led to considerable growth in the private media sector in Mazar-e Sharif, the capital of Balkh Province. After Kabul and Herat, the biggest city in the north has the largest number of local media outlets in Afghanistan. Besides a dozen local television channels, which have emerged since 2002, locals have access to a dozen more terrestrial channels operating from the capital Kabul. But as elsewhere in Afghanistan, the nose-diving economy, shrinking advertising market and waning foreign support are taking a big toll on the province's once-thriving media. Most of the private television channels are struggling to survive. Two stations, Kam and Mehraban, closed recently and another two, Asia and Safir, face imminent closure. The prospects for recently-launched, shoestring-budget channels look no better. A low literacy rate, problems with distribution and competition from broadcasting outlets and social media have held back development of the local press. A small number of newspapers with limited circulation are published in the province. The distribution of Hasht-e Sobh and Mandegar, two major Kabul-based newspapers, has further undermined interest in local titles. Television is the preferred choice for news and entertainment where electricity is available. With some exceptions, local TV output in the province is largely in Dari/Farsi. Television Arzu TV ("Aspiration") Launched in 2007, the Mazar-e Sharif -based channel broadcasts terrestrially and via satellite to greater Kabul, Herat, Balkh and most other northern provinces. Liberal in tone, it broadcasts in Dari, with news bulletins in Uzbek and Pashto also. Some content, especially political programmes, is produced at its studio in Kabul. Content includes news, entertainment and soaps from India, Turkey, Iran and the West. Owner: Kamal Nabizada, a businessman with interests in Afghanistan, Central Asia and Russia. Arzu has reduced its staffing to 160 from 200 in the face of financial problems. CEO: Dr Najib Paikan. Ariana Balkh TV This is the regional station of Kabul-based Ariana TV, which is the flagship outlet of Bayat Media Group (BMG). Launched in February 2012, the mainly Dari channel also broadcasts to the northern provinces of Konduz, Takhar, Baghlan, Badakhshan, Samangan, Sar-e Pol, Fariab and Jowzjan. The northern version of Ariana airs a two-hourly evening programme on local issues, but relays BMG's Kabul-based Ariana TV and its sister news channel ATN during the rest of the day. BMG has a local journalist and a cameraman in each of the northern provinces. A sister radio station airs two hours of daily programming in Uzbek and Turkmen. Staffing: 25. Almas TV ("Diamond") Broadcasts an 18-hour mix of programming to Mazar-e Sharif since launch in 2012. Staffing: 20. Proprietor: Mohammad Nazif Salehi. Hila TV ("Hope") Launched in March 2015, Hila airs a mix of programming to Mazar-e Sharif from a small compound. Staffing: 10. Proprietor: Haji Jalil Osmani. Mehr TV ("Compassion") The channel was launched in 2010 by Abas Ebrahimzada, an MP from Balkh, and broadcasts to Mazar-e Sharif and surrounding districts from 0600 to 0000. Programming includes soaps, entertainment, music, phone- ins, documentaries and news. There is limited coverage of politics. Ebrahimzada is a prominent businessman with interests in the construction industry. The TV also owns an FM radio, airing programmes for 18 hours per day for the city. Staffing: 45. CEO: Sayed Zaman Hosayni. Mitra TV Mitra TV is owned by Atta Mohammad Nur, the powerful Tajik governor of Balkh Province. Launched in March 2014, Mitra broadcasts to Mazar-e Sharif and Kabul terrestrially and via satellite across the country. While occupying a large building in Mazar-e Sharif, some 80 per cent of its content is produced from a more humble office in Kabul. The 24- hour channel carries news/political output, entertainment, music, sports, arts, historical and cultural programmes. The quality of the output is considered to be high. Mitra has scaled down its original plan to expand terrestrial transmission elsewhere in the country, perhaps because of the roll-out of digital terrestrial TV (DTT) which has recently started from the capital. The television's new CEO is Tahir Qaderi, a former UK-based employee of BBC Persian TV, who has embarked on a complete overhaul of content and tone "to appeal to a wider audience". Tahir is in talks with the BBC to air the corporation's Uzbek news bulletin through Mitra TV. The network has more than 100 staff. http://www.mitramedia.tv Ranaa TV ("Light") Launched in early 2015, Ranaa TV broadcasts to Mazar-e Sharif from 0500-0100. Programming mainly comprises soaps, sport and films. Staffing: 12. Proprietor: Tora Baz Stanakzai. RTA Balkh TV (state-owned provincial TV and Radio) Balkh TV broadcasts from 0800 to midnight to the city of Mazar-e Sharif and surrounding districts using a 1-kW transmitter. The station relays three hours of the Kabul-based state-owned National Afghanistan TV every evening. It also relays much of the national state TV's live coverage of speeches and press conferences by President Ashraf Ghani and top officials, and live broadcasts of other events of national importance. Balkh FM Radio airs 12 hours of programming every day (0700-1900) from Balkh TV's compound. Both outlets are seen as having limited influence in the province. Languages: mainly Dari, but also Uzbek, Turkmen and Pashto. Number of employees at both outlets: 22. Safir TV ("Ambassador") The channel was launched in 2012 by Sayed Abdollah Masrur, a member of Balkh Provincial Council. Programme content is mainly religious- leaning, with no music aired. Its officials say the TV is trying to promote harmony between the Sunni and Shi'i branches of Islam. The channel's survival is said to be in question because of financial difficulties. Staffing: 8. Samaa TV ("Sky") The channel was launched in September 2014 by Gol Rahman Hamdard, son of Joma Khan Hamdard, who served as the governor of eastern Paktia province until recently. It broadcasts a mix of programming to Mazar city and surrounding areas from 0500-0000. Staffing 15. CEO: Abdol Latif Sahak, a former official of the IWPR. Setar-e Sahar TV ("Morning Star") The provincial channel was launched in 2009 by Shafiqollah Azizi, who has owned a radio in Mazar-e Sharif of the same name since 2005. Broadcasting to Mazar-e Sharif and surrounding districts from 0600- 0000, the mainly-Dari channel mostly airs music, un-dubbed films and soaps, but has no news bulletins. It is part of the Morning Star group which includes three FM radio stations in the northern provinces of Faryab (Radio Tamana), Jowzjan (Radio Bostan) and Sar-e Pol (Radio Sada-e Banu). These stations are said to focus on women's issues. Total number of staff: 20. Source: BBC Monitoring research 8 Jan 16 (via DXLD) ** ALASKA. 680 KBRW --- Just switched the receiver on to set up for overnight recordings to find 680 KBRW booming in, with a nice ID at 2200! 73, (Martin A. Hall, Clashmore, Scotland, Jan 8, Perseus SDR, RPA-1 preamp, MFJ-1026 phaser (modified), beverages: 290m at 187 degrees, 460m at 236 degrees, 490m at 276 degrees, 630m at 342 degrees, all terminated. http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/clashmoreradio/ MWCircle yg via DXLD) Just audible also here and much better via Lars Lahti's Haparanda SWE Perseus. Do I see it right, that they have adjusted the frequency to 680.000 kHz even? 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, 2231 UT, ibid.) ** ALASKA [and non]. KNLS Anchor Point 7355.0 kHz in Chinesisch gleich stark wie PNG [7325], und KNLS Englis[c]h um 0835 UT auf 9615 kHz, die haben bei KNLS nach der Sender-Reparatur ihre 'Akten wieder gut beieinander ...', jetzt warten wir nur noch auf den Madagascar Zwilling der Organisation (Wolfgang Büschel, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Probably via Brisbane remote receiver (gh) ** ALBANIA [and non]. 7470, Jan 10 at 0149, very poor S4 carrier, no doubt the usurping IBB Kuwait transmitter. How will it compare to R. Tirana when it comes on? Recheck 0216, RT IS is already on, S5 with fast SAH from Kuwait since Shijak is always slightly off-frequency to the low side. Over here, Tirana can overcome it, but not completely, while 7465 is wide open, so Tirana should go back there, altho there is something on 7460 which is S4. That would be PRIDNESTROVYE to Iran, supposedly not starting until 0230. Then I check 7470 on UTwente SDR at 0251, and find an almost equal mix, with IBB talk somewhat atop the Tirana music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [As of UT Jan 16, R. Tirana did move to 7465] ** ALGERIA [non]. France/Algeria: Presumed Radio Algérienne via Issoudun was on 7335, with time signal for 2300, followed by a TOH jingle, but they cut the audio after the very first sound, so no chance to hear which exact network they relayed. Carrier cut followed momentarily (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 11710.729, RAE Buenos Aires in Japanese noted at 0150 UT on Jan 12. Signal S=6 or -92dBm level here in southern Germany. Scheduled (Mon-Fri) 22 UT to (Tue-Sat) 0500 UT. ID at 0159 UT by female, also in German, "siempre Argentina...". Time pips at 0200:03 UT [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 12, dxldyg via DXLD) ** ASIA [non]. RADIO FREE ASIA RELEASES YEAR OF THE MONKEY QSL JANUARY 2016 --- The Year of the Monkey begins February 08, 2016 and ends January 27, 2017. The design is used with permission from the United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA). The sheet is made of ten $ 1.20 USD stamps with the UN emblem as a standard international first class postage stamp. Those born in a monkey year are said to be optimistic, adventurous, humorous, forthright and to-the-point, and intelligent. Monkeys have strong personalities and are witty, but also mischievous, clever and curious about the world around them. The Chinese New Year is celebrated in many countries around the world. This is RFA’s 60th QSL and is used to confirm all valid RFA reception reports from January-April 2016. RFA encourages listeners to submit reception reports. Reception reports are valuable to RFA as they help us evaluate the signal strength and quality of our transmissions. RFA confirms all accurate reception reports by mailing a QSL card to the listener. RFA welcomes all reception report submissions at http://techweb.rfa.org (follow the QSL REPORTS link) not only from DX’ers, but also from its general listening audience. Reception reports are also accepted by email at qsl@rfa.org and by mail to: Reception Reports, Radio Free Asia, 2025 M. Street NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036, USA (A. Janitschek, RFA Washington via DSWCI DX Window Jan 6 via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DXLD) The US Postal Service also issues Chinese NY stamps each year, so more monkeys to come (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Hi Glenn, Hope you had a good Christmas and New Year. Over the last few months I have been finding it difficult to get anything at all on shortwave on my Roberts R809 and this has been going on since my mains lead broke and I replaced it with one from a well-known electronics store chain. Anyway on Friday 07th January I took my set up to a hill just south of my home city of Bristol (UK) with some batteries and decided, based on the information in my WRTH 2016, to see what I could get. I was very surprised, at 2045 UT, to get ABC Radio Australia with a decent signal on 12065, thereby catching a bit of their 0900-2100 UT broadcast which, I understand, is for the Pacific regions. Not bad going, especially considering the broadcast is not aimed toward continental Asia, let alone Europe! Regards and 73s, (Dave Harries (Bristol, UK, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dave, Glad you were able to get something. Really, 12065 is supposed to be on 355 degree beam, not really toward you at 320 degrees, but more so than 12085 which is 30 degrees. Or course by the time it has reached the other side of the world it has spread out a lot. However, on occasion I have found 12065 stronger than or equal to 12085 here, indicating some kind of antenna mixup or propagation anomaly. I`m at 70 degrees from Shepparton which is right on the strong 9580 beam (Glenn to Dave, via DXLD) ** AZERBAIJAN. 9676.7, Ictimai Radio at 0854 in Azeri with ads, traditional instrumental music, ID "Ictimai Radio" at 0900 followed by news read by a female presenter with short musical interludes between the items, more ads at 0905, Jingle "Ictimai Radio" at 0906 followed by a local pop song – Poor (transmitting in NFM mode) Jan 5 (Patrick Robic, AUSTRIA, ODXA YRX via DXLD) Strong signal of Ictimai Radio with broadband FM modulation from 0815 on 9676.9 secret unknown site to CeAs Azeri, video on Jan 11: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/strong-signal-of-ictimai-radio-with.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #934 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, via DXLD) ** BAHRAIN. Good reception of Radio Bahrain on January 7: 1455-1555 on 9745 ABH 010 kW / non-dir to N/ME Music CUSB http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/good-reception-of-radio-bahrain-on.html 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, Web: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DXLD) 9745, RB at 2041 in Arabic, Jan. 8. Modern ME music, virtually continuous music. S7, but clear (Twente remote via Mike Bryant, KY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BANGLADESH. GatesAir Brings HD Radio™ Broadcasting to Bangladesh Government broadcaster Betar Engineering will be the first to launch HD Radio across the South Asia region, covering 18 million listeners with a turnkey system featuring two GatesAir Flexiva™ transmitters Cincinnati, OH, January 07, 2016 GatesAir, a global leader in wireless, over-the-air content delivery solutions for radio and TV broadcasters, will turn on the first two HD Radio stations in South Asia in early 2016 for Betar, the national government broadcaster for Bangladesh. The HD Radio™ broadcasts, supported by two GatesAir Flexiva™ 10kW transmitters, will cover the capital city of Dhaka and surrounding regions with high-quality audio for news and entertainment. Upon evaluating digital radio standards, Betar chose HD Radio due to its exceptional audio quality and multichannel opportunities, and selected GatesAir due to its leadership and innovation for HD Radio in the Americas and internationally. Betar additionally chose GatesAir for its ability to provide a turnkey, low-maintenance over-the-air solution under a tight deadline, as well as local sales and support — two key differentiators from competing vendors. “Dhaka is considered the tenth largest city in the world, with a population of more than 18 million in the greater region,” said Mr. Md. Abul Bashar Patwary, project director, Betar Engineering. “We therefore required a highly reliable, easily serviceable over-the-air delivery platform to ensure consistently strong coverage across the entire region. GatesAir’s ability to provide a reliable, US-made platform in a timely manner is helping us get on the air faster — and on the leading edge of digital radio.” GatesAir worked closely with Betar across site planning and system design, including all transmission, antenna, monitoring and peripheral equipment. Along with the Flexiva transmitters, the complete solution includes a GatesAir Exgine4 HD Radio platform featuring a FlexStar HDI-200 Importer and HDE-200 Exporter at the studio. In addition to program audio, this architecture allows Betar to deliver program- associated data services (logos, station ID information, artist/song title details) over a single stream to the transmitter — with plenty of bandwidth to add more program channels in the future. Signal coverage is strengthened through a higher-than-usual FM tower for Betar (250 feet as opposed to 200) and a panel antenna — the first of its kind deployed in Bangladesh. However, Betar is especially pleased with the training opportunities and ongoing local support provided through GatesAir. Betar representatives travelled to GatesAir’s Quincy, Illinois manufacturing center to receive training on the entire system, while GatesAir and local partner Resources-21 Limited will ensure Betar engineers are supported through the installation and commissioning process—and for years following the stations’ launch. “GatesAir worked closely with the Betar team to ensure the end-to-end system is specified to their exact needs in a very challenging operating environment,” said Jhonny Maroun, regional sales manager for the Middle East and South Asia (MESA), GatesAir. “We are honored to be working with Betar in this historical project.” (Press Release via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Jan 8, dx_sasia yg via DXLD) a.k.a. IBOC, evidently applied only to VHF FM here, while INDIA next door goes with DRM on MW (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** BARBADOS. TEP FM DX to Brasil: see PROPAGATION ** BELGIUM. 2761/USB, Oostende Radio (presumed); 2235-2242*, 5-Jan; M in English & Dutch? with weather; mentioned Schipol (Amsterdam A/P). Poor (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, 5515 Whitehall St., Midland MI 48642-3156, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow-tie, All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BHUTAN. 6035.053, Thimpu, Dzongka language?, S=6 or -88dBm, transmitter hops up and down approx. 5 Hertz (Wolfgang Büschel, quick log report of Jan 9 at 0100-0300 UT, noted in remote unit in Thailand and Doha Qatar, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [non-log]. 6035.05, BBS. Monitoring 0039-0123, Jan 11 did not hear them sign on. This corresponds with this info received from Gautam Kumar Sharma (Assam, India): "On January 11th, I did aircheck from time to time from 0030 to 0200 UT on 6035 but found no signal. Later at 0233 during another random aircheck I found BBS on air." Thanks for Gautam's input! The BBS sign on time varies a great deal!! (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BIAFRA [non]. 11600, R. Biafra-Sofia at 2059 in English, Jan 8. Jamaican reggae music right through the TOH. “All We Need is Freedom” S7, but very clear, best in USB to avoid digital QRM from below (Twente remote via Mike Bryant, KY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. ENTRE CINCUENTA Y SESENTA EMISORAS BOLIVIANAS INICIARON TRÁMITES PARA RENOVAR LICENCIAS 50 a 60 medios de comunicación ya comenzaron el trámite para renovar su frecuencia y mantenerse en el aire, informó el asesor jurídico de Asociación Boliviana de Radiodifusoras (Asbora), Mario Saúl Andrade. La anterior semana, el director de la Autoridad de Regulación y Fiscalización de Telecomunicaciones y Transportes (ATT), César Borth, informó que, en cumplimiento a la Ley de Telecomunicaciones (164), hasta 2019 más de 500 medios de comunicación, entre radios y canales de televisión, cerrarían sus emisiones, porque su concesión se extinguirá. Sin embargo, para Asbora la ATT está haciendo una mala interpretación de la norma. Andrade aseguró que el inciso II del artículo 30 y el artículo 42 de la Ley164 permiten que los medios mantengan sus licencias. El primer texto aludido señala que la vigencia de la concesión de la frecuencia es de 15 años, mientras que el segundo permite la renovación de los contratos. Borht sostuvo que las emisoras que deseen mantener su frecuencia deberán presentarse a una licitación o un concurso de proyectos. El asesor de Asbora aseveró que la ATT se basa en Reglamento de la Ley 164 para sus afirmaciones. Indicó que ese Reglamento “es totalmente contradictorio y ambiguo porque por un parte habla que las emisoras tienen que entrar en una licitación (para renovar licencia) pero por otra en la artículo 77 permite la renovación de licencia a las emisoras que con un año de anticipación hayan solicitado su intención de regulación”. El artículo 77 del reglamento a la Ley 164 señala que “la intención de renovación para las licencias de operación de Redes Públicas y licencias de Radiodifusión deberán ser presentadas a la ATT al menos con un (1) año de anticipación a la fecha de vencimiento de la licencia; si la intención no fuera presentada o estuviera fuera del plazo señalado en el presente Parágrafo, la licencia no será renovada”. En ese entendido, ya hubo emisoras que ya presentaron su intención de renovar su frecuencia. “50 a 60 emisores ya han presentado sus trámites de renovación de frecuencias en base a la Ley 164 y el artículo 77 del Reglamento”, dijo Andrade. La ministra de Comunicación, Marianela Paco, recordó que tuvo la posición “radical” de revertir todas las frecuencias de los medios de comunicación inmediatamente luego de la promulgación de la Ley de Telecomunicaciones, lo cual ocurrió en 2011. “Seguramente a muchos les ha de sonar injusto (la reversión de frecuencias) pero yo les recuerdo que inclusive al ser legisladora yo fui más radical: inmediatamente a la promulgación de la Ley (164) deberían haberse revertido todas las frecuencias”, dijo. Para Paco, el proceso en que unas 500 emisoras podrían perder su licencia de funcionamiento es “democratizador”, porque en cumplimiento a la Ley de Telecomunicaciones esas frecuencias deben distribuirse de la siguiente manera: el Estado, tendrá hasta el 33%, otro 33% está destinado para medios comerciales, mientras que el ámbito social comunitario y los pueblos indígenas tendrán a 17% (ERBOL via GRA blog via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 5952.43, Radio Pio Doce. Jan 11 with an early sign off; 00.57*; off with the usual format (whistling “Colonel Bogey March,” ID and chines). 6134.80, R. Santa Cruz, 0203*, Dec 11. Off with usual "Santa Cruz" song; went off a few seconds before 0204 (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6134.81, Jan 13 at 0121, Spanish no longer in the clear but with reactivated het from 6135.2 Brasil, q.v. However, I can get rid of that by LSB tuning, PBS of 0.25 and BWC of 2.50, to use NRD-545 terminology; soon rewarded at 0122 by IDs for Radio Santa Cruz (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 4885, Rádio Clube do Pará, Belém, 0755-0825, 09-01, Brazilian songs, Portuguese, comments. 34433. (Méndez) 6040.45, Rádio RB2, Curitiba, 0802-0835, 09-01, religious program "Com a Mãe Aparecida". // 9630, 9725. 24322. (Méndez) 9819.4, Rádio 9 de Julho, São Paulo, 0804-0840, 10-01, religious comments and songs, identification: "Rádio 9 de Julho Católica, AM 1600, ondas curtas 9820 kHz, São Paulo, Brasil", "6 horas e 6 minutos". 34433. (Méndez) 10000, Time Signal Station Observatório Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, 0810-0820, 10-01, time signals, female: "Observatório Nacional, 6 horas, 10 minutos, 30 segundos". 23322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, logs in Reinante, Sangean ATS-909X, Tecsun PL-880, Cable antenna 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 11780.101, RNB / RNA Brasília, poor signal into Germany at 0204 UT Jan 12, only S=3-4 just on threshold signal level. 11764.651, Similar poor tiny SRDA Super Rádio Deus é Amor, Curitiba, PR at 0208 UT. 9819.310, Nice song - not religious - modern music with orchestra accompaniment at 0220 UT Jan 12. R Nove de Julho, São Paulo, SP. S=8 or -76dBm much fluttery signal tonight. 9664.958, Exact footprint of Rádio Voz Missionária, Camboriú, SC, talk by female and male in BrasPortuguese language at 0234 UT on Jan 12. S=9 or -75dBm. 9629.939, Odd frequency of Rádio Aparecida, Aparecida, SP, modern pop music, with chorus and orchestra, S=9 or -73dBm at 0245 UT on Jan 12. 9565.036, Odd frequency of Super Rádio Deus é Amor, Curitiba, PR, S=7 or -86dBm signal, modern singer, chorus and orchestra music, not prayer heard at 0250 UT on Jan 12. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 12, dxldyg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Rádio Alvorada 970/4865 kHz --- Brasil (Paraná) - „A Rádio Alvorada. A catedral do ar” (slogan heard in the programme) / „A Rádio Alvorada. A rádio da família“ (slogan on the web site) is run by the Fundação Mater et Magistra (Rua Dom Bosco nº 145 – Jd Dom Bosco, 86060-340 – Londrina PR) for the Roman-Catholic Archdiocese of Londrina. A virtual tour of the station produced on the occasion of the golden jubilee of the station (2014) is found at http://radioalvoradalondrina.com.br/tourvirtual/tour.html Their medium wave frequency 970 kHz (ZYJ 260, 7.5 kW) is not easily found on their web site but mentioned at http://radioalvoradalondrina.com.br/provisorio/identidade-organizacional Their short wave frequency 4865 kHz which is still reported by international short wave monitors was not found on the site although short wave is mentioned in the station’s history. People accessing the web site http://radioalvoradalondrina.com.br/ will of course more easily use the web stream. According to announcements, the programme is 24 h on the air, although in the night (Mo-Fr 2200/Sa+Su 2100-0600) Rádio Alvorada joins the Rede Milícia Sat programme by the Milícia da Imaculada (São Paulo). During the day Rádio Alvorada also rebroadcasts programmes of other Catholic producers like Rádio Aparecida. ------------------------------------------- Note: The website http://alvoradalondrina.rcr.org.br/ given in the WRTH 2016, pg. 125, did not come up when checked (Dr. Hansjoerg Biener 9 January 2016, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Cf. recent DXLD logs: 4865 has varied down to 4862-4863 avoiding the other ZY on 4865.0, Verdes Florestas (gh, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 4865.00, Jan 13 at 0110, open carrier at S8. Rádio Verdes Florestas is here, unlike the other ``4865`` Brazilian, but no modulation audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGSET) ** BRAZIL. Rádio Difusora de Macapá 4915 kHz --- Ola amigos, o transmissor de 4915 kHz está fora do ar na faixa de ondas tropicais, por favor religuem, essa é a unica frequencia que chega aqui para nós nas fazendas e no interior tem muita gente reclamando também nos blogs, obrigado, abraço. Fica aqui o transmissor de onda tropical https://www.google.com/maps/@0.0112997,-51.0639145,3a,75y,246.46h,90.66t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQQj6v3_cLGakJDEhjri5YA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 resposta via facebook: ``Daniel Wyllyans, Estamos trabalhando pra resolver o problema. Difusora Macapá`` Essa emissora é do governo do estado do Amapá; o website passou por mudanças ganhando um novo visual http://www.difusora.ap.gov.br/ tem grandes possibilidades dela voltar em onda tropical, pois dinheiro o governo tem. O possivel motivo dela estar fora do ar: ``Muito bom, falando em ondas tropicais a radio difusora de macapa 4915 kHz vc sabe o motivo dela estar fora do ar ??`` ``Sim. Está fora do ar. Segundo informações, roubaram a caixa de sintonia e algumas varas de cobre das antenas. Parece muito estranho o fato porque o parque transmissor deveria ser vigiado. Mas, dizem por aqui que estão providenciando a reposição do equipamento e manutenção do transmissor e das antenas por um técnico da Continental que ainda virá em Macapá, não sei quando? Alan Nunes`` (Daniel Wyllyans, Brasil, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DXLD) Says it`s off the air because the antenna tuning box was stolen and some copper from the antennas. Site should have been under surveillance (gh, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. Ondas curtas da Bandeirantes --- Salve, dexistas! Um passarinho pousou hoje na minha janela e disse que a Rádio Bandeirantes de São Paulo desligou as ondas curtas por motivo de economia. Abraços, (Valter Aguiar, Curitiba, Brasil, Jan 7, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Caro Sr. Valter, sou radio escuta da Bandeirantes desde 1980 e percebo que a partir de 5 anos para cá a Bandeirantes vem fazendo muitas trapalhadas. A começar com a criação e anexação de muitas rádios ao Grupo Bandeirantes, rádios sem expressão alguma e que só servem para delapidar o patrimônio outrora construído a custa de muito trabalho. Não bastace isso; a demissão de jornalistas de qualidade que foram substituídos por jornalistas sem muita expressão e para piorar esta notícia da exclusão das ondas curtas que há muito tempo sofria reclamações pela falta de qualidade do sinal. Desculpe se este meu questionamento contradiz sua opinião mas é o que penso até este momento (Paulo Maia, PU2UPS, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. 6135.2, Jan 13 at 0120, carrier must be Rádio Aparecida reactivated, much weaker than 6134.81 BOLIVIA, q.v., but enough to het it without special processing (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And 6135.2 stays on late, all night? (gh) 11855.02, Jan 8 at 0557, R. Aparecida edging ever-closer to its nominal. 11854.99, Jan 10 at 0142, oops, R. Aparecida, weak in Brazuguese, overshot its downward drift toward nominal 11850.000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. SECRETLAND, SPL relay Brother HySTAIRical before Radio Biafra on January 7, SCB: 1900-2000 11600 050 kW / 195 deg WeAf English Brother HySTAIRical/TOM 2000-2300 11600 050 kW / 195 deg WeAf English R.Biafra, live program Full schedule of Brother HySTAIRical via SPL Secretbrod effective January 7 1500-1700 11600 100 kW / 090 deg WeAs English, see BVBroadcasting 1500-1900 15600 100 kW / 126 deg N/ME English, no signal Jan 7 1900-2000 11600 050 kW / 195 deg WeAf English, see under R. Biafra 1900-2300 5900 100 kW / 306 deg WeEu English, no signal Jan 7 2000-2400 9465 050 kW / 195 deg WeAf English, no signal Jan 7 2200-2400 9400 100 kW / 306 deg ENAm English, no signal Jan 7 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/spl-relay-brother-hystairical-before_8.html 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, Web: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DXLD) SECRETLAND Updated winter B-15 schedule of SPL Secretbrod [SCB] as of January 8. This schedule subject to changes because powers and azimuths are approximate. With kW / degrees 0903-1003 9510 050 / 306 WeEu German Sat Radio City 1032-1257 9510 050 / 306 WeEu English Sun European Gospel Radio 1500-1600 9400 100 / 090 WeAs Kurdish Denge Kurdistan 1500-1600 11600 100 / 090 WeAs English Brother Stair, new 1500-1530 15190 050 / 090 SoAs English/German Sun Radio Santec 1500-1530 15515 050 / 195 EaAf Oromo Sat Radio Warra Wangeelaati 1500-1600 15600 050 / 126 N/ME English Brother Stair, nothing Jan 8 1600-1700 9400 100 / 090 WeAs Kurdish Denge Kurdistan 1600-1700 11600 100 / 090 WeAs English Brother Stair, new + video 1600-1700 15600 050 / 126 N/ME English Brother Stair, new + video 1700-1730 7460 050 / 090 WeAs Persian Mon/Fri Radio Ranginkaman 1700-1800 11600 100 / 090 WeAs Persian BVBroadcasting 1700-1715 11700 100 / 126 N/ME Arabic Dardasha 7 BVBroadcasting 1715-1745 11700 100 / 126 N/ME Arabic Tue BVBroadcasting 1715-1800 11700 100 / 126 N/ME Arabic Mon/Wed/Fri BVBroadcasting 1700-1800 11850 050 / 195 EaAf Afar/Arabic Dimtse Radio Erena 1700-1800 15600 050 / 126 N/ME English Brother Stair, nothing Jan 8 1800-1900 9500 100 / 306 ENAm English Brother Stair, TWR Af is here 1801-1831 11600 100 / 090 WeAs English ETC Radio 1800-1900 15600 050 / 126 N/ME English Brother Stair, nothing Jan 8 1900-2000 5900 050 / 306 WeEu English Brother Stair, new + video 1900-2000 7290 050 / 306 WeEu German 3rd Fri Radio City 1900-2000 7290 050 / 306 WeEu English 1st/2nd/4th Fri UNRadio & other 1900-2000 7290 050 / 306 WeEu English Sat/Sun UN Radio and other 1900-2000 9500 100 / 306 ENAm English Brother Stair, nothing Jan 8 1900-2000 11600 050 / 195 WeAf English Brother Stair, new + video 2000-2200 5900 050 / 306 WeEu English Brother Stair, new + video 2000-2200 9465 100 / 195 WeAf English Brother Stair, new + video 2000-2200 9500 100 / 306 ENAm English Brother Stair, new + video 2000-2200 11600 050 / 195 WeAf English Radio Biafra, test 2200-2300 5900 050 / 306 WeEu English Brother Stair, new + video 2200-2300 9400 100 / 306 ENAm English Brother Stair, nothing Jan 8 2200-2300 9465 100 / 195 WeAf English Brother Stair, nothing Jan 8 2200-2300 11600 050 / 195 WeAf English Radio Biafra, test 2300-2400 9400 100 / 306 ENAm English Brother Stair, nothing Jan 8 2300-2400 9465 100 / 195 WeAf English Brother Stair, nothing Jan 8 Videos new additional frequencies of Brother Stair/TOM? from January 8 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/updated-winter-b-15-schedule-of-spl.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, dxldyg via DXLD) see also SOUTH CAROLINA [non] ** CANADA [and non]. 1610, CHHA seems off the air right now, or at least no sign of them here in Michigan, which is unusual. Instead I just heard the Mackinac Bridge Authority TIS fade in on 1610 using the North D-KAZ at a distance of around 200 miles. New here! 73, (Tim Tromp, West Michigan, 0229 UT Jan 11, ABDX via DXLD) 1610 is indeed off. I'm in downtown Toronto, a mile from the transmitter. A loud buzz on the channel and adjacent ones precludes any attempt at DX. Seems to be the only Toronto station off. Snowy weather precluding me from trying to go mobile (Saul Chernos, 0357 UT Jan 11, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** CANADA. 2748.98-USB, Jan 10 at 0156, YL in French, not synthetic? S5 with marine weather. Nominal 2749, but sounds better slightly off- tuned. VCS Halifax starts at 0140 in English to be followed by French, via Chebogue, Nova Scotia site. Nothing on 2598-USB now, nor 2514 or 2582 after 0200, when far-north stations are scheduled (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also NEWFOUNDLAND ** CANADA. AMANDA DAWN CHRISTIE LAUNCHING DOCUMENTARY ABOUT DEMISE OF RCI TOWERS --- CBC News New Brunswick January 10, 2016 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/amanda-dawn-christie-radio-canada-towers-1.3395105 Moncton artist Amanda Dawn Christie says after six years, her documentary Spectres of Shortwave, about the demise of the Radio- Canada International towers in Sackville, is nearly complete. "A project like this is very hard," Christie said in an interview on Information Morning Moncton. "When I went into this project they weren't supposed to be tearing the towers down." After budget cuts in 2012, CBC announced the shortwave service would end after 67 years of broadcasting around the world. Christie calls that decision a loss for the international community. "Shortwave communication is something that will always get through. Even though technology advances and people rely on the internet — not everyone can afford a computer or digital receiver … Canada was known for more objective, non-biased broadcasting." Initially, the CBC tried to sell the towers and the land, but when a buyer couldn't be found, the towers were demolished in March of 2014. Christie says one of the biggest challenges of producing the two-hour documentary has been working alone for many of the 46 days of filming, including the days when the towers came down. She says it was tough, but she will remember what if felt like to gain the respect of the demolition crew at the site. "I think in the beginning they didn't know what to make of me … but after two months of seeing me everyday with a 50-pound camera going out in the snow 12 hours a day, working just as hard as they were, it was nice to see that work acknowledged." Christie says the other challenge has been shaping those hours of footage and interviews into a feature length documentary with a "micro-budget." "The average one hour TV documentary in Canada costs about $400,000 to produce and right now my film is sitting at close to two hours and I'm working on a budget less than $100,000," she said. Christie is hoping her film will be accepted and shown at Toronto's international documentary festival Hot Docs in April. She says funding from Hot Docs has helped her to complete the project, as did a visit to New York where she showed her film as a work-in- progress to an audience unfamiliar with the towers. "The response was really positive in New York and that really gave me the motivation to go, 'Okay, I'm on the right track, now let's finish this. Posted by: (Mike Terry, Jan 11, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DXLD; also via Mike Barraclough, ibid.) ** CANADA. DX Podcast - Episode #2 http://coffee.bc.ca/files/dx-podcast-2-16.mp3 Featuring more with Ian McFarland – Enjoy - The continuing dialog with Ian McFarland (former broadcaster with CBC Radio International and NHK in Tokyo...) (Colin Newell is the Editor and creator of Coffeecrew.com - Jan 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. THAILAND/CHINA, 5869.9 to 5880.1 kHz wide range WHITE NOISE jamming sound by China mainland security organization against 5875 kHz BBCWS in English 12-14 UT from Nakhon Sawan-THAILAND relay site. Latter S=9+20dB signal strength. Heard at 1250 UT on Jan 8 on remote Perseus in Thailand. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 8, DXLD) ** CHINA. 4940.000, China has aligned that transmitter lately to exact x.000 Hz even frequency channel again. Voice of Strait from Fuzhou southern China coast, in Chinese. Was some 50 Hz downwards on lower sideband previously in Nov/Dec 2015. At 1205 UT on Jan 4 noted S=9+10dB fair signal in downunder Queensland remote server unit. (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 4 via BCDX 9 Jan via DXLD) Yes, I had also noticed it was back on-frequency (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. New 5006-USB, V26 Chinese numbers station, randomly monitoring from 1239 to 1523, Jan 8; non-stop numbers via mechanical synthesis voice; mostly fair. Thanks to Hiroyuki Komatsubara (Japan) for the timely tip, who heard V26 at 1020 today. Why is V26 broadcasting non-stop here? Now completely blocking the low powered Japanese station; per Aoki: 5006 HFD Radio Station 0000-2400 1234567 H3A 0.2 ND Tokyo- Chofu J 3539N 13932E JG2XA // 8006 https://app.box.com/s/hye877gx8dx2rhfsq2grbtnavkempcvi contains my three minute audio (fair quality) (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Thanks very much to Amano (Japan) for the correction of my log. In fact I heard VC01, a Chinese military numbers station, not V26. "Ron-san. Thank you for your great reception audio. I have just heard the audio. The results that I have heard from the audio, it's not V26 but VC01. VC01 another name has called Chinese Robot. Reference (VC01) http://priyom.org/military-stations/china/chinese-robot My audio: Jan 28(Sat) 2012 at 1650 UT on 5195 kHz(USB) - http://radio.chobi.net/bbsasia/img/207.mp3 " Then it would seem that 5006-USB is in fact ex: 6225-USB, the Chinese military station that I had recently been hearing. Audio of that reception at https://app.box.com/s/esvwwcz88upu0cxxi1ekpxe6v1blr6bx As always, appreciate Amano's expert assistance! Ron - - - - - - (Corrected Log) New 5006-USB (ex: 6225), VC01, Chinese military numbers station, randomly monitoring from 1239 to 1523, Jan 8; non-stop numbers via mechanical synthesis voice; mostly fair. Thanks to Hiroyuki Komatsubara (Japan) for the timely tip, who heard VC01 at 1020 today. 5006-USB, VC01 Chinese Military numbers station: Jan 9 on the air 1246 and subsequent checking; mostly fair. Jan 10 off the air. [Sundays off? gh] Jan 11 on the air at 1219 and subsequent checking through 1432; mostly fair. Thanks again to Amano-san (Japan) for his help (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Music Jammer (Firedrake) on 7425 blasting into Europe at 2003, Jan 7. S9+20, RFA-Kuwait still audible underneath. Signal wiping out other China broadcasts on both sides. Music Jammer (Firedrake) on 9410 at 2011, Jan. 7. S9+15, No trace of RFA-Marianas. Music Jammer FD 0n 9455 at 2021, Jan. 7. S9. // 9410. No RFA (remote, Twente? Via Mike Bryant, KY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. THAILAND/CHINA, 5869.9 to 5880.1 kHz wide range WHITE NOISE jamming sound by China mainland security organization against 5875 kHz BBCWS in English 12-14 UT from Nakhon Sawan relay site. Latter S=9+20dB signal strength. Heard at 1250 UT on Jan 8 on Uwe's remote Perseus in Thailand. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 8, dxldyg via DXLD) 7415, Firedragon, 1540, Jan 10. Strong against R. Free Asia (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 6145, Qinghai PBS (presumed), 1319-1400, Jan 13. Thanks to the alert from Amano-san (Japan) that this had re-activated again; clearly // 9780; in Chinese with music show; mostly pop Chinese songs, but one in English ("First Time"); started poor but improved to fair; 1400 covered by both RTI and CNR1 (jamming) signing on. My audio with fair quality at https://app.box.com/s/z9jmr9y4u74dfzlzz5006oat579uwyqg (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Thanks to Hiroyuki Komatsubara for the correct song ID - Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen with "Good Time." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7HmzwI67ec&feature=youtu.be - - - - corrected log: 6145, Qinghai PBS (presumed), 1319-1400, Jan 13. Thanks to the alert from Amano-san (Japan) that this had re-activated again; clearly // 9780; in Chinese with music show; mostly pop Chinese songs, but one in English ("Good Time"); started poor but improved to fair; 1400 covered by both RTI and CNR1 (jamming) signing on. My audio with fair quality at https://app.box.com/s/z9jmr9y4u74dfzlzz5006oat579uwyqg (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. CRI on 9588 at 0125 --- Very strong reception on CRI on off-channel 9588. Is this a punch-up error? A weak het from 9590 audible. All in English. A one-off? 73 (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, Jan 11, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hearing this here on 9588.05. No het on 9590 visible or audible here (Stephen C Wood, Harwich,Mass., 0148 UT Jan 11, ibid.) So the missing channel was 9580 - Cuba, right? (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Presumably so, Glenn. Nothing on the band at all at 0420 recheck. I'm pretty sure there was no one on 9580 when I checked. I would have noticed that on the Perseus waterfall. 73 (Walt Salmaniw, ibid.) ** CHINA. ILLEGAL BROADCASTERS CLUTTER UP THE CITY’S AIRWAVES WITH LEWD COMMERCIALS --- Global Times, China, By Wang Han, January 13, 2106 http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/963384.shtml "I was listening in my car to a radio program on my way home at about 1 am when suddenly I heard a commercial for sexual performance enhancers being openly broadcast. I was astounded that midnight radio programs had become so vulgar. But at that time I didn't realize the commercial was actually being put to air by an illegal radio station," said Mr Tang, a Shanghai resident who usually works night shifts. Mr Tang is not alone in being upset at what he heard on the radio. Many Shanghai people report having their favorite radio programs interrupted with inappropriate and often racy commercials for medications promising to treat erectile dysfunction or to enhance sexual prowess. Since 2015 the number of illegal radio stations broadcasting in Shanghai has been on the increase. These illegal, or pirate radio stations usually operate from rented rooms in high-rise buildings and it can be hard to tell them apart from legitimate stations. According to the Shanghai Radio Administration Bureau, illegal radio stations usually have similar frequencies and often content to the licensed operators. They have announcers, hosts, experts and phone-in segments - 89.4MHz, one of the pirate stations, takes calls from listeners overnight. High returns: A lot of these pirate stations have been making huge profits by broadcasting pornographic programs - it's a low-investment-quick- profit business. Radio transmitters that can make these broadcasts only cost between 10,000 yuan ($1,521) and 30,000 yuan. These stations reportedly charge 1,000 yuan an hour for broadcasting commercials for sexual health products. A station broadcasting 24 hours a day could be making about 20,000 yuan. And operating one of these pirate radio stations is easy. The equipment fits into a rented room and an antenna is placed outside the windows - using timers and remote controls no one actually needs to be where the transmitting equipment is. Pan Hongyou, an expert in radio management, said that an antenna and a powerful transmitter were all that was needed to run a pirate radio station. Radio transmitters are widely available online, and with this equipment, operators can easily transmit pre-recorded programs to audiences that could number in the millions. "This magic pill and this mystery therapy will bring happiness to all women." This is the style of a typical commercial on a pirate station. Most of these commercials are heard from midnight and the target audience is obviously adults and senior men. But behind the commercials are a profitable chain of drug manufacturers, illegal radio operators, program hosts, fake doctors and experts, and pretend patients. These radio programs tend to have the same pattern. First, a "famous doctor" is invited to take part in the program, and then the host introduces products and talks to listeners in phone-in sessions. The phone lines are always busy, and listeners seek help from the doctor by describing their sex lives in intimate and pornographic detail. It is also noteworthy that the "doctors" on these programs usually claim that the preparations they prescribe are from secret formulas handed down to them by their ancestors. There is always a discount if people buy the medications within a certain time frame - and the best bargain can be had right now. But then they say that again the following night. Most of the drugs sold through these radio stations are fake or counterfeit and the "doctors" are actors as indeed are many of the listeners who phone in. In 2010, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television banned the advertising of sex-related health products and medical treatments on licensed radio stations. Since then this type of commercial has all but vanished from legitimate radio broadcasts. With no way to advertise on legal platforms, a few businessmen turned to unlicensed radio broadcasters for help, and the demand for these services has seen the mushrooming of the illegal radio stations in the city. Safety threat: As well as upsetting unprepared listeners there are serious potential dangers involved with these broadcasters, which can pose a threat to civil aviation communications, along with emergency service radio bands. On January 9, 2015 four Chinese flights trying to land at a Dalian airport experienced interference from local illegal radio stations. The flights were forced to land even though the pilots could not rely on the communication systems, which had been seriously affected. In 2014, Okay Airways complained to the radio authority in Tianjin that an unlicensed broadcaster was using a frequency that was reserved for ground control's communication with the airline's aircraft, putting aircraft taking off and landing at risk. An industry expert explained: "The radius of interference created by a pirate radio station's broadcasts can stretch to about 300 kilometers and this is exactly the range for most take-offs and landings, which are the most hazardous parts of a flight." Chen Jianguo, an experienced air traffic controller, said: "Though most illegal broadcasters use citizens band radio, some fail to send signals accurately, so sometimes clutter can interfere with the frequency used by airplanes." He said that when pilots communicated with air traffic controllers on the ground, they sometimes heard broadcasts of irrelevant chat and commercials from local pirate radio stations. "Radio interference like this could interrupt normal aviation communications. If pilots can't hear ground controllers clearly, it increases the risk of accidents." Hard to track: But tracking down pirate radio stations is difficult. "Since these offenders tend to use remote terminals to operate their transmitters, and use fake ID cards to rent rooms, it is rather hard to catch them in action," said a law enforcement officer. He said while a 24-hour pirate radio station can operate with just a USB flash drive, a radio transmitter, and an aerial, it takes law enforcement officers a long time to fix an exact location of a transmitter. Despite the difficulties in 2015 the Shanghai Radio Administration Bureau and Shanghai police successfully tracked down 18 pirate radio stations and confiscated their transmitters. And in 2016, the bureau will continue to chase pirate radio operators. Under China's radio laws, the current punishment for operating an unlicensed radio station is the confiscation of the equipment and a fine of up to 5,000 yuan. These regulations were introduced in 1993 but in the past 22 years the technology and the viability of illegal radio broadcasting has changed dramatically. In September 2015 the Ministry of Industry and Information Technologyof the People's Republic of China said it would revise the current radio regulations, and increase the maximum fine to 20,000 yuan. Compiled by Wang Han based on reports in thepaper.cn, the Oriental Morning Post and xinhuanet.com Posted by: (Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 1000 kHz, 01/07, 2208 EST [0308 UT Jan 8] RCN (Cartagena, Colombia) in Spanish, SINPO 23333. News bulletin mentioning “colombiano”, “cadena”, then into a telephone conversation. ID as „Ere Ce Ene“. Received in North Miami Beach. Hi Glenn, Hope you are doing well. I am just back from Florida. You may remember that I was there first in June 2014, so now it was my second time. Once again I used my chance to do some AM DXing there - in that region it's always fascinating. This time I listened in three locations: Siesta Key (near Sarasota), Cooper City (near Fort Lauderdale) and North Miami Beach. You will find my logs attached (I marked some of them in bold - more interesting ones [full report on the dxldyg]). I listened on my SONY ICF SW-7600 GR and its inbuilt antenna. Best wishes from Lithuania, (Robertas Pogorelis, DX LISTENIING DIGEST) see also USA for FL HAR/TIS logs; UNID 1330 ** CUBA. 17750, Jan 9 at 1518, RHC is S9+10, while 17730 is S9+20, but the synchronized Spanish modulation on 17750 is *much* weaker. 6100, Sunday Jan 10 at 0715 or so, Esperanto confirmed from RHC, but by 0725 it`s already off, replaced by undermodulated Spanish which is not supposed to be on any frequency at this time. 11880 // 15370, Jan 12 at 2117, RHC French with severe problems, modulation cutting on and off with additional extraneous noises, these two synchronized, while the third French frequency, 11670, is OK. The B15 skeds originally showed 15370 stopping at 2100, but I`ve heard it before still on for 2100+ French; and all three are supposedly Bauta site, but I would have guessed 11670 as a different site due to this 67% anomaly. 9500, Jan 13 at 0135, extremely distorted, wideband and loud spur from RHC Spanish // 9535; and a much weaker match 35 kHz on the other side, 9570 but enough to block a weak CRI relay via ALBANIA JBA carrier (while Cuba`s // relay on 9580 is blasting in). 9535 itself is lightly distorted with some crackle, most of the power/modulation squeezing out the hole in the side of the toothpaste tube on 9500. Whew, not far enough to QRM the jamming on 9490. 6075, Jan 13 at 0719, RHC Spanish is still running here instead of closing at 0600 as usual and as scheduled. Asleep at the switch? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. RADIO HABANA CUBA LANZA UN NUEVO ALMANAQUE [sic] DE BOLSILLO by gruporadioescuchaargentino El año 2015 cerró para el colectivo de Radio Habana Cuba con la inmensa alegría de haber celebrado por anticipado el aniversario 55 de su creación gracias a la edición, por primera vez en muchos años, de dos calendarios de bolsillo de 2016, con retratos del Pintor de Iberoamérica Oswaldo Guayasamín realizados a dos cubanos ilustres: el cantautor Silvio Rodríguez y el líder histórico de la Revolución, Fidel Castro. El calendario con el retrato de Silvio Rodríguez, quien fue pintado por Guayasamín en La Habana el 29 de noviembre de 1986, el día exacto en que el cantautor cumplía cuarenta años de edad, fue presentado en la capital cubana el 19 de octubre de 2015 en la sede de la Sociedad Cultural José Martí. Y como Guayasamín pintó en cuatro ocasiones a Fidel Castro, se seleccionó el cuarto y último de los retratos que Oswaldo hizo a su amigo Fidel con motivo del 70 aniversario del natalicio del líder de la Revolución Cubana. Al acto en La Habana de presentación del calendario de bolsillo de 2016 en homenaje a Fidel por su 90 cumpleaños el 13 de agosto próximo, asistieron importantes personalidades. Esta es, en síntesis, la historia de los calendarios de bolsillo de Radio Habana Cuba de 2016, pequeñas obras de arte que están recibiendo los oyentes y amigos de la emisora en el mundo, y que gracias al pincel de Oswaldo Guayasamín rinden homenaje a Fidel Castro, en su noventa cumpleaños el próximo 13 de agosto, y al cantautor Silvio Rodríguez, quien cumplirá 70 años de edad el 29 de noviembre del año 2016 (via GRA blog via DXLD) 6100, Radio Havana Cuba with English hour including programmes about the 2016 pocket calendar (yes, a good 10 minutes talking about a credit card sized calendar!) and discussion of MLB's request to allow importing players from Cuba. BoH headlines, including mention of the proposed border controls in Europe & Mosque fire in Texas. Into "Breakthrough" with Arnie Coro talking about citrus disease issues in Cuba, into jazz music. Into ESPERANTO at 0700, not something you hear often any more! Other frequencies signed off at 0700. 444+44 // 6000 better 4+554+4+ but with hum in modulation. Other //s also in OK, 6165 3+44+43+ and 6060 was 34443+. 0600-0705 27/Dec SB-310 +randomwire (Ken Zichi, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** CUBA. [Re 16-01:] Quote Originally Posted by Raymie ``The Habana Libre has some interesting stuff. Notably channel 12 is what I would call an "intermittent operation" station carrying a TDT test service in digital and Canal Educativo in analog. This article from 2011 talks about the replacement of the tower and mentions that 91.7 COCO, 94.9 Radio Ciudad Habana, and 98.3 Radio Metropolitana broadcast from there. Another source says 93.3 Radio Taíno is also there.`` Just to update, a reminder that R. Ciudad moved to 94.7 since that time. I strongly suspect that this was due to R Martí briefly using 94.7. There is also a Taíno on 94.7 from parts unknown. And Juan, just a reminder, any info on the power used for 104.7 Mayabeque and/or QTH of that non-Guantánamo 530 Rebelde would be much appreciated! cd (Chris Dunne, FL, Jan 9, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. FRANCE/CUBA, 9490, Radio República from TDF Issoudun France relay at S=9+10dB or -69dBm signal level - at 0252 UT Jan 12, (in rather signal skip zone in Germany some 650 km away from ISS). White noise buzz jamming signal from ?Bejucal? Cuba site covers 9485.4 to 9494.6 kHz range [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 12, dxldyg via DXLD) 9490, Jan 10 at 0122, R. República is remarkably strong, for a signal from Europe such as FRANCE, S9+45 way over the DentroCuban Jamming Command (9570 CRI Albania is only S9+20). Since RMI brokered this, we`ve wondered if WRMI site Okeechobee would ever start broadcasting this instead of Issoudun, but no listing as such yet (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. TV Martí Wins Emmy Award ---- JANUARY 5, 2016 Four journalists smiling at the camera after winning an award José Valois, Vivian Martínez, Natalia Crujeiras, Isabel Cuervo and Tatiana Riquelme [caption] Television Martí has won an Emmy award for its informative production that examined the plight of Cubans trying to flee to the United States. Isabel Cuervo, Alfredo Jacomino, Jose Valois and Ricardo Quintana were honored with a 2015 Suncoast Regional Emmy Award from The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS). . . http://www.bbg.gov/blog/2016/01/05/tv-marti-wins-emmy-award/ (via Hansjoerg Biener, DXLD) regional = not such a big deal (gh) ** CZECHIA. There has been confusing information in different media about LW 270 kHz, whether it has been closed down or not. It has NOT been closed down. Heard it this noon via Twente webSDR. Ydun Ritz (6/1-2016) http://mediumwave.info/news.html Posted by: (Mike Terry, Jan 8, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DXLD) Czech Republic, Czech Radio, CRoPlus reduces MW. From 5 January the CRo Plus slot on MW 639, 945 and 1332 kHz at 1500-2300 will be replaced by CRo 2 except for the Ostrava 639 kHz transmitter which will continue to carry CRo Plus, as there is not yet full FM coverage in the Ostrava area (Reports via Rémy Friess, Mauno Ritola, Karel Honzik, Mike Barraclough) This means that the English news bulletins at 1805 and 1905 UT will only be carried on Ostrava 639 kHz transmitter (30 kW), but will be co-channel CRo2 from Prague with 750 kW! (ed) (Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) CIAO, BUON 2016; ABBIAMO VISTO MOLTI PIAGNISTEI (CRYING MESSAGES) ANNUNCIARE CHE IN CZECHIA NON CI SONO DAL 4 GENNAIO 2016 EMITTENTI OPERANTI SULLE ONDE MEDIE. QUASI TUTTI SI SONO SCORDATI CHE IN CZECHIA CONTINUANO A TRASMETTERE SULLE ONDE MEDIE 3 EMITTENTI COMMERCIALI OPERANTI 24 ORE SU 24. HERE THE DETAILS: 981, RADIO CESKY IMPULS, http://www.ceskyimpuls.cz ASCOLTO DIFFICOLTOSO IN ITALY A CAUSA DI RADIO CULTURE ALGERIA 981. 1062, COUNTRY RADIO PRAG, http://www.facebook.com/CountryRadio.cz ASCOLTO POSSIBILE DOPO LE ORE 2359 ITALIANE CHE LA RAI CHIUDE SU 1062. 1233, RADIO DECHOVKA PRAG http://www.facebook.com/Radio-Dechovka-152321544962142/ ASCOLTO POSSIBILE IN ITALIA IL CANALE RISULTA ABBASTANZA LIBERO (Dario Monferini, playdx 8 January via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DXLD) ** ECUADOR. 6050, HCJB, Pichincha, *0825-0840, 10-01, tuning music, anthem, Quechua, identification: "HCJB Quito, AM 690, 6050 onda corta", time signals, Quechua comments, Ecuadorian music. 24322. (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, logs in Reinante, Sangean ATS-909X, Tecsun PL-880, Cable antenna 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. 9700, RC-Abis at 2056, Jan. 8. Supposed to be their French service, but just getting a strong carrier. No audio at all (Twente remote via Mike Bryant, KY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9964.55, Jan 8 at 0113, R. Cairo Arabic service is open carrier/dead air, slight whine unlike 9420 Greece. At least it`s 1 kHz closer to 9965 than last check. 9964.56, Jan 10 at 0118, R. Cairo Arabic service is an S9+20 open carrier, dead air except for humwhine. 9745.05, Jan 11 at 0637, R. Cairo manages some suptorted modulation in Arabic this time, talk and music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9964.570, Strong carrier, but only approx. 5% very low modulation of R Cairo in Arabic. S=9+10dB or -62dBm measured on remote Perseus unit in southern Germany. 0212 UT Jan 12. Also some 300 Hertz peaks visible on either side, 6x 300 Hertz distance apart, like +/- 300 600 900 1200 1500, and 1800 Hertz distance. 9745.041 Odd frequency and distorted signal, of Radio Cairo in Arabic. Heard at 0235 UT on Jan 12. Peaks at S=9+20dB or -51dBm, much fluttery. Broooooaaaadband distortion on 9667 to 9820 kHz frequency range [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 12, dxldyg via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, RNGE/R. Bata, 0448-0558, Jan 8. Very early sign on; some Spanish announcements, but mostly African hi-life music/singing; 0552 surprised to finally hear one song in Spanish, so very different from the repetitive African pop music/singing; mostly poor, but well above threshold level audio; after 0558 they played no music, but too weak by then to make out any details (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. 9977.8, 1610-... 25/12, ?, Baltic Sea R - pirate, German / Finnish / English/..., Xmas carols, e-mail address, announcements, USB tx. Adjacent QRM. 24431 (Carlos Gonçalves, Lisboa, Portugal, JRC NRD- 545DSP & PERSEUS sdr; homemade amp. (W7IUV version); 20 m T2FD, 30 m inv. V, 6x19x6 m Ewe 135º, raised, 4 loop K9AY, playdx 8 Jan via DXLD) ** EUROPE. Download your free 2016 Calendar – Pirate Radio Europe http://freeradioreport.blogspot.it/2016/01/download-your-free-2016-calender-pirate.html (Axel Röse, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** FINLAND. Time Signal Station Mikes, Espoo, 0913-0920, 09-01, Time signals, beeps, silent at beep 59. Good signal. 34433 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, logs in Reinante, Sangean ATS-909X, Tecsun PL-880, Cable antenna 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE [and non]. Most of the France Info and France Bleu medium wave transmitters closed some time between 0015 and 0120 UT on the morning of 1 January. But when engineers in the central TDF control room switched off the Rennes 711 kHz transmitter, the cooling system went off as well. As they feared the equipment might catch fire, they switched it back on again. Someone was sent to the station to pull the plug and it finally went off early on the morning of 2 January. Closure of the Lyon 603 kHz transmitter was postponed to enable it to broadcast Holy Mass for the sick at 1700 UT on Sunday 3 January. This Mass, from the chapel of Notre Dame des Ondes [Our Lady of the Waves], has been aired without interruption for 77 years. The Lyon transmitter was switched off just after 2300 UT (midnight local time) on 3 January (Thanks to reports and observations from Christian Ghibaudo, Rémy Friess, Gareth Foster, Gabby Simmonds, Alan Pennington, Nick Rank, Dave Kenny, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Remaining stations on AM in France & Monaco 10 January 2016 From Christian Ghibaudo on the WRTH Facebook group: 162 kHz Allouis 2000/1000 kW France Inter 24h 216 kHz Roumoules 1400/900 kW RMC (0356–2308) 1467 kHz Roumoules 1000 kW TWR (2100–2315) 1467 kHz Col de la Madone 40 kW R. Maria France (0500-1930) 1593 kHz St. Gouéno 10 kW Bretagne 5 24h Météo Marine (Weather Forecast for seamen) 1903-1910 on France Inter 162 kHz (Only on LW, no FM/Internet) Posted by: (Mike Terry, Jan 10, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DXLD) ** FRANCE. Good signal of Radio France International, Mandingo Jan 12 0800-0830 15455 ISS 500 kW / 198 deg WAf Mandingo M-F; French Sat/Sun: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/good-signal-of-radio-france.html 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Closure of Deutschlandfunk’s transmitters on 549, 756, 1269, 1422 kHz started at 2245 UT on 31 December with the final frequency 1422 kHz switched off at 2257. Antenna Saar’s outlet on 1179 kHz also closed at about the same time. Only two medium wave transmitters now remain on air in Germany: AFN on 1107 kHz (Vilsek 10 kW) and 1143 kHz (Mönchengladbach 1 kW). Despite the lower power I find that 1143 comes in best here during the evening. On LW, Europe 1 continues from Felsberg on 183 kHz (Dave Kenny, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** GERMANY. 15205, Jan 11 at 1431, S9 open carrier/dead air; 1433 gospel huxter in English cuts on, rough modulation at first, praying for a very happy Christmas, a bit late now; The People`s Gospel Hour is opening, offering 2016 calendar, http://tpgh.ca and 1435 pastor starts. Add /radio and you get a list of mostly Canadian radio stations, but for SW we are referred only to WTJC 9370 & WBOH 5920, long defunct! Aoki shows 15205 is via Pan American Broadcasting via Nauen, 1415-1430 Mon-Sat, and 1400-1445 Sunday, but this is Monday! HFCC agrees, and the 1430-1445 segment on ``Sundays`` boosts from 100 to 250 kW on same azimuth 95 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE [and non]. Voice of Greece was back again on shortwave on January 5 with the multiple tone/hum/whine transmitter problem, as on 9935 several months ago, all on 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg to WeEu: 0700-0800 Greek + various langs: in Serbian, Romanian, Russian, Polish, Albanian, Italian and Arabic. 0800-0900 Greek 0900-0910 Greek/Arabic/Italian/Polish 0910-1000 Greek 1000-1015 Greek/Romanian/Serbian/Russian 1015-1100 Greek 1100-1115 Greek/Spanish/Albanian/Polish 1115-1200 Greek from 1200 very weak, under strong CNR-13 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/voice-of-greece-was-back-again-on.html (Ivo Ivanov, B`lgariya, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DXLD) GREECE vs CHINA, Voice of Greece English vs CNR-13 Uyghur on January 5 1300-1306 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg to WeEu English Voice of Greece 1300-1306 9420 LIN 100 kW / 298 deg to EaAs Uyghur CNR-13, 2 videos http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/voice-of-greece-english-vscnr-13-uyghur.html Voice of Greece with transmitter problem: the multiple tone, hum, whine on Jan 8-9: from 1808 Greek as on 9935 several months ago from 1200 Greek no signal from around 1220 UT http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/voice-of-greece-with-tx-problem.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #934 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, Jan 11, 2016, via DXLD) It seems that the transmitter with the bad buzz is the only one still operational at the ERT shortwave site. They have put it on 9420 while there is no signal on supposed // 9935, noted before and after 2300 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 7, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9420 - V. of Greece noted here, 0012 with fair signal but huge humm on transmitter. I can barely tell that there is music of some sort playing. Into talks but really only hear traces of audio (Stephen C Wood, Jan 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Or was it UT Jan 8? 9420 at 2155 in Greek, Jan. 7. Greek folk music. Strong at S9+20, but a really loud annoying hum (Remote, Twente? Via Mike Bryant, KY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9420, Jan 7 at 2230, oh oh, the multi-tone whine is back from Voice of Greece --- this had been on 9935 until that transmitter crashed a few months ago; now they`ve brought it back on the other frequency. No program modulation at all audible now. Recheck at 0112 Jan 8, still whining, but now some talk modulation is audible underneath. Another check at 0610 Jan 8, still whining at S4. Does this mean the funxional 9420 Avlis transmitter which had been on the air increasingly sporadically, is now completely out of commission? What`t the point of running the very defective whining transmitter at all? Can`t ERT turn on a radio and hear what it sounds like??? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9420, Jan 9 at 0701, ERT is still whining away; not on air circa 0130 check Jan 10 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re Ivo: GREECE slight whine hum at 0140 UT Jan 12. Accurate frequency reading on 9419.938 kHz on lower sideband. S=9+20dB in western Europe, or -46dBm in peaks. wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) This evening (Tuesday evening my time here in Newfoundland) I have been checking various on-line receivers to see who is picking up ERT 9420 kHz and who isn't. I couldn't get much signal at all here in Newfoundland. Twente was picking it up quite loudly earlier (say about 2300 UT) but the broadcast was nearly obliterated by the complex audio tone we've been hearing for some days/weeks. Looking at the Twente waterfall, I estimated the tone this evening was around 300 Hz, perhaps a little lower than that. A couple of days ago it seemed to be about 200 Hz and, a few days before that, somewhat closer to 100 Hz. Is that fact (if it's so) diagnostic of something particular gone wrong in their transmitter? I checked some southern Italian on-line receivers and could barely hear ERT, or not at all. Likewise the on-line tuner at Bratislava -- the signal was there but smothered in regular random atmospheric noise. But the Rimini receiver was getting it; Rimini is in north- central Italy, on the east coast. It is 0100 UT, Weds morning 13/1/16, right now and the Rimini receiver has for the past hour or so been getting it quite well, often with no sign of the audio tone. I flicked back and forth between Rimini and Twente for a while and there was a distinct difference in the interference of the audio tone. This seems to me to suggest that the tone is not coming from the transmitter but from somewhere else. Is that reasonable? Last year we were hearing tones on ERT that were attributed to a bad transmitter (or perhaps just hets from) at VOIRI. That noise would often disappear at 2300 UT when the Iranian transmitter was turned off. Is it possible this is happening again but with closer-to-24hr running of the offending txr? (Philip Hiscock, Newfoundland, 0058 UT Jan 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Such as Zahedan, Iran transmitter which used to QRM Greece from about one sesquikHz away? I really don`t think so in this case. Last night Wolfgang Büschel reported: (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) 9419.931 Avlis Greece, Greek folk music, what else? Again slight whine hum at 0258 UT on Jan 12, of 319 Hertz apart distance, either sideband 17 peaks x 319 Hertz visible on SDR unit screen software 9419.931 kHz on lower sideband. S=9+25dB in western Europe, or -43dBm signal in southern Germany (Büschel, WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9419.93, Jan 13 at 0132, Greek music from VOG is audible, off- frequency and with that whine (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VoG on 9420 kHz this morning (noted via Twente just before 1300 UT) battling it out with CNR-13, providing significant QRM. Didn't hear (or see) the multiple tones but perhaps the QRM was obscuring them. Combined signal level: S9+20 dB. Nothing noted on 9935 kHz. And a pleasant surprise: English news and weather just after 1300. One of the rare English segments. Recorded (Richard Langley, NB, Jan 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUAM [and non]. Adventist World Radio KSDA vs. IBB R. Marti, Jan 5 2100-2200 on 9565 SDA 100 kW / 315 deg to EaAs Chinese AWR KSDA 2100-2200 on 9565 GB 250 kW / 164 deg to Cuba Spanish Radio Marti http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/adventist-world-radio-ksda-vs-ibb-radio.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #934 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, Jan 11, 2016, via DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. 4055, Jan 10 at 0211, R. Verdad with discussion about Venezuela, very poor S8, tough copy. Unseems religious, maybe Antena DX program? This has never appeared on RV`s own program schedule, apparently not updated in years, but appears every week in publicity for `Antena DX`, originating in Panamá, as on R. Verdad Saturdays at 8 pm = UT Sundays 0200. Of course, still no sign of clone Verdades around this frequency. Dr Madrid says the tests have been only brief, and the entity supposedly carrying them out has kept delaying; maybe not until February, since he will be away in Perú the rest of January. He also told Tomoaki Wagai, who reported to DSWCI: ”I have some good news about Radio Verdad for you. We are starting a new system by which we are going to transmit to the whole world with a strong signal. I have spent very much money on that, and I just paid some money yesterday for our strong transmissions to Japan with Radio Verdad's signal. I hope everything comes out alright. If so, we may be transmitting with a strong signal by the month of February 2016.” ”We are almost ready for the short wave transmissions, but our Government said to wait until January, but in January I am going to travel to Perú. So, I hope we may transmit in February. I hope everything comes out alright. We are going to transmit through Short Wave Alliance Euro-USA. May God bless you. Dr. Édgar Amílcar Madrid Radio Verdad and Radio Verdad TV” (Tomoaki Wagai, Wakayama, Japan, DSWCI DX Window Jan 6 via DXLD) We have never heard of this Short Wave Alliance Euro-USA and it has no web presence that I can find. I fear Dr Madrid has been scammed. I already advised him not to pay up front for this, but it`s too late. He has told me he doesn`t fully understand how this is supposed to work, but apparently picking up internet feeds and transmitting them on frequencies close to 4055 from various sites. For starters, how about info on licensing these in each country? Or from satellites? Sure seems fishy to me. Here`s more from Dr Madrid to me on Jan 3, excerpts: ``Dear Glenn: I don`t have all information about Short Wave Alliance, except for my technician. I have not received any report either yet, neither from Ralph Borthwick. According to their information, there are different percentages of transmissions in different countries, for example, Japan has only 10%, United States and Canada have 45%. They are making only test transmissions for making necessary adjustments. It is a Mexican Engineer the expert who is working on it. It could be that your geographic area might not be covered yet; I don't know. I hope everything comes out alright. The tests are being done as close as they can to our 4055 frequency. The frequency and power adjustments are automatically made on computers and satellites. I don't fully understand all the system yet, but I think they are not using any SW transmitters, but many computers in different countries, which are sending the signal to SW Antennas. It is a modern technology, and, right now, it is only on trial. As I said, I don't fully understand the system yet. I will appreciate if you keep on track of this situation, for me to know about the results. If this system works alright, it is going to be marvelous. We`ll be in contact. May God bless you. Dr. Édgar Amílcar Madrid, Radio Verdad`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Glenn Hauser, I should be very pleased, if R. Verdad has new transmitter. Now what do you think about new transmission of R. Verdad? Best wishes, (Tomoaki Wagai, Wakayama, Japan, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tommy, As I have said in my reports, I have serious doubts this is true. We shall see if these extra signals ever appear. Dr Madrid`s explanation and admitted lack of understanding about how this works do not make sense to me (Glenn to Tomoaki, ibid.) Dear Glenn Hauser, Thank you for your valuable idea. When I received e-mail from Dr. Édgar Amílcar Madrid, I also noticed with gentle concern. I'm feeling that he is an upright and respectable man. And I feel that he is an open and trusting nature. But he isn't comfortably fixed for money. I sent very small money on IBAN system last year. I watched Dr. Madrid's answer to your question. I also will keep hearing future broadcasting. Thank you! (Tomoaki, ibid.) ** GUYANA. 3290, Voice of Guyana, 0208-0345, Jan 11. Music show - Bobby Vinton "I Love How You Love Me," "Open Your Eyes To Love" (movie soundtrack), Simon & Garfunkel "The Sound of Silence," etc.; 0208-0333 music; 0333-0345 announcer; mostly poor with QRM (utility[?] and SSB chatter) (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. SURVEY FOR MW & SW SERVICES OF ALL INDIA RADIO --- Dear All, A project for Technical audit of MW (Medium Wave – frequency from 530 to 1620 kHz) & SW (Short Wave - frequency from 3 to 30 MHz) services of All India Radio for its Reach and Effectiveness has been undertaken by Prof. Girish Kumar, Electrical Engineering Department, IIT Bombay. There are nearly 150 MW transmitters, around 50 SW transmitters and 410 FM transmitters in India. Our team would be doing radiation measurement all over India. As part of the project, we also have to do survey for estimation of number of people listening to MW & SW bands and the quality of programs being aired. The purpose of all the above is that FM radios are now wide spread and people may not be listening to MW & SW. Majority of the mobile phones and car radios have FM radio but not MW & SW radios. MW & SW have been in existence for the last six decades but now the question is: are these still useful? This project is of great national importance since Prasar Bharati is making financial losses of around Rs. 10,000 crores annually and also consuming massive electrical power and other resources. We need to collect the data from 10,000+ people, which will help Prasar Bharati to take a policy decision. I request you all to please contact your relatives, friends, etc. in various parts of the country to give their feedback. Please find the form below comprising of the details regarding All India Radio services. Yours and your friends/relatives early response will be greatly appreciated. Please fill in the survey here : http://tinyurl.com/jx7croc (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Jan 6, dx_india yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DXLD) I suspect they don`t want to hear from listeners abroad on SW or MW (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. INDIA TO GET ITS MAIDEN RADIO SERVICE FOR HIGHWAY UPDATES Moushumi Das Gupta --- NEW DELHI: Highway commuters can soon get real- time updates about the condition of the road they are travelling on by tuning into a dedicated radio channel. The channel will not only help travellers get information on traffic movement on the particular stretch, including road repair going on and traffic diversion, but also know the location of the motels and other amenities along the route. The road transpor t and highways ministry is all set to launch Highway Advisory Services (HAS), a radio channel to give real-time update of traffic movement on the highway you are using on a half-hourly basis. Though common abroad, this would be the first time that HAS would be launched in India. At present, some FM channels do air traffic updates that are crowd sourced but their reach is limited to a radius of 30 km. The ministry will initially run the service on one of the existing channels of All India Radio (AIR). The service will take off on a pilot basis on the 256-km Delhi-Jaipur stretch. It will be expanded to highways across India in the second phase. If all goes as per plan, highways minister Nitin Gadkari will launch HAS this month. “We will soon sign a contract with AIR. We have already bought airtime for three months to start the pilot run,” said an official. Though initially the service will run on AIR FM Gold channel, the ministry will go for a single frequency dedicated channel when it expands the service across India. Three control rooms are being set up in Gurgaon and Jaipur to man the channel. “We will collect data from road sensors and patrol vehicles of concessionaire running the highway stretch. This information will then be processed at the control rooms and broadcast,” said an official. For the Delhi-Jaipur stretch, the HAS will give updates for five minutes every half an hour. “It will be a mix of static content such as road safety tips and real time update on movement of traffic on the stretch. While AIR FM Gold will air the updates on the Delhi stretch, AIR Alwar, Kothputhli and Jaipur will cover the Rajasthan stretch,” said an official. (Hindustan Times, Delhi, 12 Jan 2016) --- (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Jan 12, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. There’s an interesting blog at http://akashvanisamvaad.blogspot.fi/ It’s The All India Radio blog and seems official even though it appears registered to an individual. It contains lots of radio news from the busy world of AIR, with social media links too - as there are at AIR’s official website http://allindiaradio.gov.in/ (Chrissy Brand, Webwatch, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** INDIA. 9950, AIR-Delhi(?) at 2049 in English, Jan 8. W discussing N Korean building a hydrogen bomb. M ID and music at 2050. // 11620, 11670. S9+20, but a squeal being produced on announcer audio. Seems to disappear on Subcontinental music (Twente remote via Mike Bryant, KY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 3324.8945 kHz, accurate RRI Palangka Raya in Indonesian at 2215 UT, female announcer, and smooth South Sea music, S=7 or - 88dBm on remote SDR in Thailand server net. Noise floor is excellent - 127dBm (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, Jan 9, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA [and non]. Only peaks visible, no signal on TWO UNIDENTIFIED 4749.949 probably RRI Makassar at 2228 UT, and co-channel 4749.993 kHz CNR 1st program from Hailar in Chinese (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, Jan 9, probably remote receiver in Thailand, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4749.95 approx., Jan 10 at 1415, very poor talk vs CODAR on off- frequency signature of RRI Makassar, rather than China or Bangladesh. Haven`t had any signs of RRI lately here. What does Atsunori Ishida say? It`s been on every day this year from before 1000 until sign-off circa 1557. He doesn`t deal with precise frequencies, but Ron Howard had it on 4749.95 on Dec 15 after a week`s absence (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA [and non]. CHINA vs INDONESIA, China Radio International vs. Voice of Indonesia on January 5 1500-1557 9525 KAS 500 kW / 308 deg to WeEu English China Radio Inter. 1500-1600 9525 JAK 250 kW / 010 deg to EaAs Chinese Voice of Indonesia Much better modulation of Voice of Indonesia after 1600 UT January 5 1603-1703 9525 JAK 250 kW / 290 deg to N/ME Arabic 1703-1803 9525 JAK 250 kW / 290 deg to WeEu Spanish 1803-1903 9525 JAK 250 kW / 290 deg to WeEu German 1903-2003 9525 JAK 250 kW / 290 deg to WeEu English 2003-2103 9525 JAK 250 kW / 290 deg to WeEu French http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/china-radio-inter-vsvoice-of-indonesia.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #934 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, Jan 11, 2016, via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. EME OR MOON BOUNCE BEGAN 70 YEARS AGO eHam.net By Jim Linton - VK3PC 9 January 2016 http://www.eham.net/articles/35946 The United States Army was the first to bounce a radio signal off the Moon, and the site is now part of the Information Age Science History Museum and Learning Centre. The historic transmission on January 10 1946 from an Army tracking dish, is the starting point for all moon bounce experiments. Project Diana, named for the Roman Moon goddess Diana, was an experimental project at Fort Monmouth in New Jersey to bounce radar signals off the Moon and receive the reflected signals. It played a part in the space race, and even those weak signal reflected from the lunar surface are reported to have had experimental applications in spying activities. Those lucky enough to receive the reflected signal received a QSL card. Moon Bounce communication was abandoned by the military to be replaced by communication satellites in the early 1960s. However it found a use in Amateur Radio in the 1960s and with weak signal techniques of today is still being explored throughout the world. The large dish antenna is available to Moon Bounce for radio amateurs. The Ocean Monmouth Amateur Radio Club intends to put a 23cm signal on the dish and celebrate at birth of EME Posted by: (Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Tim Bucknall in Congleton, Cheshire writes with reference to his UHF logs below: The US Navy’s elderly satellite comms system accidentally rebroadcasts FM broadcasts from round the world. I've been logging these lately. Sometimes the signals are strong but they're usually distorted because satcom only receives in 30 kHz bandwidth so identifying them is the challenge. Jurgen Bartels identified 243.63 as Vatican Radio (in stereo), presumably a relay somewhere in Africa. Rx: IC-R9500 IF output feeding Burkhardt Reuter RDR54D1 SDR+ CLP 5130, log periodic. Further information online of course, including this at Chris Smolinkski’s 2012 post http://www.radiohobbyist.org/blog/?p=913 UHF SATCOM refers to satellite repeaters that operate between 240 MHz and 270 MHz. To receive SATCOM, you need a receiver that can tune the frequency range in narrow FM (most modern scanners can do this). You also need an outside antenna, and possibly a LNA preamp. The satellites in question are operated by the US military. They are essentially repeaters in geostationary orbit. Because they are open (no access control) they are often used by third parties, most often by people in Brazil. What an interesting start to another year of FM logs; please do keep the news and logs flowing throughout 2016. 73s, (Chrissy Brand, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) 254.74, 2208, IRAN, IRIB STL, via Satcom east. A cappella song, low mod --- 01/12 TB. STL = Studio Transmitter Link 254.77, 1829, Unid, WFM BC STL, Congo? French, African music, blocked by Brazil open mic from 1906 --- 01/12 TB 254.78, 1921, PARAGUAY, R Uno, Asunción via Satcom, football, QRG: 254.775 --- 04/12 TB 268.44, 2029, PERU, R La Beta, Cajamarca via Satcom mono WFM STL --- 08/12 TB 269.96, 1913, NICARAGUA, UNID Spanish religion, WFM BC, --- 01/12 TB (Tim Bucknall, Cheshire, ibid.) See MEXICO: Satellite TV monitoring ** IRAN. 9710, Voice of Justice, I had to use the USB mode to cut out some of the repeated noise bursts; this was not random noise, 0342 to 0349(?), SINFO=3,2,2,3,2, the announcers spoke out harshly about the executions in Saudi Arabia, so the noise bursts could have been a jammer signal from them, a R-390A, and the 42’ Windom antenna. Please see the Voice of Justice logging on 7325 kHz. 1/8. 7325, IRAN. Voice of Justice, 0350 to 0421. An ID at 0421, SINFO = 5,3,4,3,3; this signal did not have the repeated noise bursts. The announcers continued their verbal attack against Saudi Arabia noting the war in Yemen and how the nations around Saudi Arabia need to resolve their problems with Saudi Arabia (ex. Iran), the 5050A and the 42’ Windom antenna. Both loggings (the one on 9710 kHz) used the same antenna connected by a “T” BNC connector. 8/6 [sic; must be Jan 8. If you don`t do dates in numbers they are less likely to get wrong --- gh] (John Davis, NE of Columbus OH, NASWA Flashsheet Jan 10 via DXLD) 7425, VOIRI-Kamalabad at 1955 in English, Jan. 7. M discussing contemporaries of the Prophet, dramatic background music. Strong signal into Europe, S9+35. ID at TOH (Twente via Mike Bryant, KY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. Smaller Italian AM stations --- Onde Medie Italia, compiled by Roberto Scaglione and Antonello Napolitano (not translated) 567 Challenger Radio (Villa Estense, PD) 828 Radio Z100 Milano (Lombardia) 846 Challenger Radio (Villa Estense, PD) 1017 Media Veneta Radio (Piove di Sacco, PD) 1035 Media Veneta Radio (Vigonza, PD) 1071 Radio Marina (irregolare) 1323 Radio Base 101 (Peraga di Vigonza, PD) 1341 Gold 15-93 Hit Radio (stereo C-Quam) 1350 I AM Radio (Milano, MI) 1359 Radio Settanta (Casalborsetti, RA) 1359 Radio Stereo 98 (Zero Branco, TV) 1359 Radio Time 1368 Challenger Radio (Villa Estense, PD) 1377 Radio Music Time (Lombardia) 1386 RAMradio (Milano, MI – test) 1395 Radio Activity (Ferrara, FE) 1404 Radio Luna (Casalgrande, RE – irregolare) 1440 (nuova emittente in Campania) 1440 (test in Sicilia) 1476 Cosmo Radio (Milano, Mi – irregolare) 1476 Skate Radio (Padova, PD) 1476 Radio Briscola (Piemonte) 1476 Media Radio Castellana (Castel San Pietro Terme, BO) 1476 Gold 14-76 Hit Radio (Sicilia) 1476 Radio Treviso (Treviso, TV) 1500 Stazione Sperimentale 1500 (Calabria – test) 1512 Progressive Radio 1512 Free Radio AM (Trieste, TS – irregolare) 1512 Radio Fioretta 1548 Radio Baby AM (Trieste, TS – irregolare) 1557 Radio King RRR (Cerveteri, RM) 1566 Radio Ghost 1566 Radio Melody (irregolare) 1566 Radio Macondo (irregolare) 1566 Radio AM Stereo (irregolare) 1566 Radio Settanta (Casalborsetti, RA) 1584 Radio Studio X (Momigno, PT – stereo C-Quam) 1584 Power Radio AM (Trieste, TS – irregolare) 1593 Gold 15-93 Hit Radio (stereo C-Quam) 1602 Golden Radio Italia (Sarego, VI) 1602 Radio Regional (Otricoli, TR) 1602 Radio Crystal (irregolare) 1602 Radio Baby AM (Trieste, TS – irregolare) 1602 Rock AM (Gorizia, GO – prossima attivazione) 1611 Gold 16-11 Solo Musica Italiana (Sicilia) http://www.ondemedieitalia.it/emittenti/ Posted by: (Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) There is little to be translated into English: irregolare means erratic, prossima attivazione = coming soon, nuova emittente = new station. The name of the station, with a few exceptions, is followed by QTH (Antonello Napolitano, ibid.) ** KOREA NORTH. KCBS (Korean Central Broadcasting) Here are some recent clips from my local KCBS station in metro Pyongyang. My location is 117 miles south of Pyongyang. AM 819 is the flagship station of the KCBS network, broadcasting from a few miles outside north suburban Pyongyang just off the Pyongyang- Huichon Expressway. The station is on-air 24 hours a day, while the network itself is on for 22 hours a day. The network broadcasts from 0458-0258 local time (2028-1828 UT), though 819 switches its audio feed to a computer- generated jammer from 0258-0440 (1828-2010 UT) before beginning the daily sign-on sequence. The only signal to be concerned with in regards to blocking is 20 kW MBC Gwangju. KCBS also broadcasts on 720 Kanggye, 873 Sinuiju, and 999 Hamhung. 720 has an intermittent schedule (in other words, when there is enough electricity to operate), 999 is only on-air for special broadcasts such as speeches, holidays, etc., and 873 operates 24 hours by broadcasting the Pyongyang Broadcasting feed in the two hours of KCBS break. Local affiliates share broadcasting between the two networks on a regular basis, with the exception of flagship stations 657 (Pyongyang Broadcasting flagship, licensed to Kangnam County but also in the north suburbs) and 819. Electricity shortages are common in rural areas. My local Pyongyang Broadcasting affiliate AM 810 37 miles away is rarely on the air, and Pyongyang FM affiliate 35 miles away often abruptly goes off the air. On the other hand, capital area affiliates are running 24/7 with no concerns. KCBS is "Joseon jungang bangsong," Joseon being the name of Korea in the past, but used by North Korea (only) to refer to itself. "Jungang" is "central," and "bangsong" is the Korean word for broadcast(ing). * The first three clips are recorded on 2850, which is // 819. KCBS and Pyongyang Broadcasting are some of the 21 jammed frequencies here on the Korean peninsula (China gets in on the action too), some jammed from the south, some from the north, and some from both at once. The shortwave frequency has some peaks and dips but for recording is obviously more reliable compared to pesky jammers. Daily Sign-On Sequence (12:52) / Jan. 2, 2016: Sign-on is the same every day at 5:28am with the xylophone sign-on tones similar to Pyongyang AM/FM affiliates ("Joseon jungang bangsong imnida" / "This is Korean Central Broadcasting"), TOH tones (Pyongyang is on a half- hour time zone), welcome message, Song of General Kim Il Sung, Song of General Kim Jong Il, followed by frequencies, full daily schedule, and into regular programming. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/KCBS_819_2.MP3 New Year's Performances (8:35) / Jan. 1, 2016: There are always performances now and then on the radio and often story broadcasts that are interesting to listen to. However, it's only on the major holidays when the special broadcasts occur, and this is one of them. North Korea's AM towers lit up like a Christmas tree for New Year's after nearly the whole country going off-air (purposely it appeared) for Jan. 1st. Nearly every frequency came on broadcasting these performances live and then a replay later into the night, skipping TOH IDs. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/KCBS_819_1.MP3 New Year's Speech (8:13) / Jan. 2, 2016: I'm not sure who is who here, but it's a New Year's speech that was broadcasted nationwide live across all networks, including on rural affiliates, and then replayed the following afternoon. This was not, however, Kim Jeong-eun, who also gave a speech for the holiday. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/KCBS_819_3.MP3 An example of a typical electricity shortage on my local Pyongyang FM Bangsong 92.5 (35 miles) (8:21) / Jan. 3, 2016: The power was very likely already turned down from its relatively moderate 2 kW (we use actual output in Asia, not ERP, so 1-5 kW is most common), then off it goes! Needless to say, it didn't return. It's not the first time I was recording an FM affiliate and had it disappear. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/external/Pyongyang_FM_Blackout_010316.MP3 [ Radio and weather geeks, beware. Lake inversion DX, coastal tropo, Korean and coastal Chinese FM, RDS database, and bandscans at http://www.beaglebass.com/dx • Tuner: Samsung Yepp Q2 MP3 player & Grundig G8 • Location: Seoul, Korea (530 mi. ne of Shanghai) • Home DX sites: City Beach, Grand Haven, Mich.; Kruse & Père Marquette Beach, Muskegon, Mich.; Silver Lake Sand Dunes, Mears, Mich.; Stearns Park Beach, Ludington, Mich.; Songtan, Korea • Contact me at Chris.Kadlec@gmx.de ] (Chris Kadlec, Jan 13, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. UZBEKISTAN, another Bubble Jamming on North Korean soil: 7615 kHz, Voice of Wilderness in Korean via Tashkent-UZB site relay, at 1335 UT on Jan 8. Heard on Uwe's remote Perseus in Thailand. And accompanied BUBBLE jamming underneath. [later] heard in Tokyo Japan remote unit: 7590 kHz, NKRR in Korean via Tashkent-UZB site relay at 1505 UT on Jan 8. Wideband frequency range bubbler on frequency 7581 to 7599 kHz [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 8, dxldyg via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH & SOUTH. A LOOK AT DECADES OF PROPAGANDA BATTLES BETWEEN THE KOREAS --- By HYUNG-JIN KIM Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea's resumption of anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts from mammoth speakers in retaliation for the North's fourth nuclear test is a return to old-fashioned, Cold War-era psychological warfare - something the two Koreas, locked in a standoff over the world's most heavily armed border, specialize in. Many in Seoul believe the broadcasts will sting in Pyongyang because the rigidly controlled, authoritarian country worries that the broadcasts will demoralize frontline troops and residents and eventually weaken the grip of absolute leader Kim Jong Un. Here is a look at the history of propaganda warfare between the rival Koreas: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_NKOREA_NUCLEAR_PROPAGANDA_WARFARE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-08-05-55-51 (via Mike Cooper, Jan 8, DXLD) real radio is mentioned, briefly (gh) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. JAPAN, Shiokaze Sea Breeze with Japanese broadcast on January 7: 1300-1400 on 5910 YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs instead of English Thu 1600-1700 on 5955*YAM 300 kW / 280 deg to NEAs instead of English Thu * strong co-ch from Radio Romania International in Ukrainian & Serbian http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/shiokaze-sea-breeze-with- japanese.html 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, Equipment: Sony ICF-2001D 30 m. long wire, Web: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH. 3911.966, Voice of the People in Korean, S=9+10dB or - 70dBm at 2234 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, df5sx, Jan 9, probably remote receiver in Thailand, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH [and non]. Now 4885 kHz KOR --- re Bubble / OTHR diverse ORTH / Jam Audio modes. Between 1730 and 1756 UT Jan 11, I did check this 4885 kHz fq range too. Anyway, today no permanent noise signal noted so far, only pure S=9+10dB signal from KOR logged on remote SDR in Australia and Japan. Good excellent modulation of a new TX unit, which is determined by the Bernd Friedewald report / confirmation, of new Continental Texas-USA transmitter unit produced for South Korea delivery in 2015. Today, no noise signal observed, whether targeted bubbler, or OTHR from China, Iran, or Turkey. But 20 minutes later around 1755 UT, a scratch OTHR signal belongs, in the range 4827-4896 kHz, only in Tokyo, Nagoya and Brisbane Queensland Australia belong noted, but not heard any in Doha Qatar, Greece or DARC Amberg Bavaria Germany monitoring remote posts (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4885, Echo of Hope - VOH on Jan 11 with the usual good signal and still not jammed (1221 and subsequent checking). Also noted: OTH radar 4845-4885 kHz. CODAR 4885-4910 kHz. OTH radar 4945-4985 kHz (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KYRGYZSTAN. 4819.87, 0150-0200 7.1, Kyrgyz R 1, Krasnaya Rechka. Kyrgyz ann, orchestra music by Tjaikowsky, heterodyne from Xizang 4820 22222 // much better 4010 (45333) (Anker Petersen, what I heard recently on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in Skovlunde with biting cold frost degrees outdoor, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) [and non]. KYRGYZ REPUBLIC, 4009.835 4819.891 5129.965 Observation of Kyrgyz Radio from Bishkek Krasnaya Rechka at 1605 UT on Jan 7. "4009.969 and 4819.837 kHz footprints at 1220 UT on Oct 14, 2015" The Kyrgyz seem to switch their transmitters to suit their mood on the three 75 / 60 meterband frequencies. Possibly they have left from the USSR Soviet era some 4-5 station units? Today on Jan 7 at 1605 UT: 4009.835, Kyrgyz Radio 1, Bishkek of Krasnaya Rechka-KGZ broadcast center, S=8-9 at -75dBm signal, a local domestic radioplay with two announcers in progress, female and male voices. Two weeks ago Bishkek accurate footprint was upper sideband on 4010.033 kHz on air though. By opposite contrast, the unit on 4820 kHz channel is much weaker today Jan 7, than 4010v kHz. 4819.891, At 1610 UT on Jan 7 very tiny signal propagates from PBS Xizang Chinese program on even 4820.0 kHz too, latter S=5 or weak - 93dBm. And Bishkek Krasnaya Rechka-KGZ tx as usual on lower sideband close to 4819.891 kHz, S=4-5 poor tiny -98dBm. 5129.965, The 3rd Bishkek Krasnaya Rechka tx, rented to religious Radio Sedaye Zindagi program (with TWR roots?) noted at 1625 UT on Jan 7 on 5129.965 kHz in 58 meterband. All heard on Zakynthos Greece remote SDR Perseus server. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 7, dxldyg via DXLD) ** LAOS. 6130.0015, Lao National Radio in Laotian language from Vientiane, rather in close nighttime skip zone? Only S=9+10dB or - 62dBm signal observed at 1245 UT on Jan 8. Heard on Uwe's remote Perseus in Thailand. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 8, dxldyg via DXLD) 6130.000, Lao National Radio, S=9+5dB or -69dBm at 0139 and 0217 UT even frequency (Wolfgang Büschel, quick log report of Jan 9 at 0100- 0300 UT, noted in remote unit in Thailand and Doha Qatar, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LUXEMBOURG. Closure of the historic Manarch transmitter on 1440 kHz took place at 2259 UT on 31 December. The relay of China Radio International was interrupted at 2257 with the Luxembourg national anthem, the transmitter went off abruptly without any announcement at 2259. The previous night at 0000-0205 UT a recording was carried of the special programme by Mike Hollis marking the closure of the English service which was originally aired in 1991. This is available online at http://www.mediafire.com/listen/rs96x5nf3wll2dg/208+Last+show+31.12.1991.mp3 (Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) By the time you read this, the Radio Luxembourg medium wave transmitter at Marnach on 1440 kHz will have been shut down for good. It’s not the closedown of just one more MW transmitter. It’s difficult for anyone who wasn’t a teenager in the sixties to understand the importance of some radio stations: Capodistria and Monte Carlo for the Italians, Europe 1 for the French, Veronica for the Dutch, Caroline and the other pirates for the British - and Luxembourg 208 for all Europeans. What made Luxembourg so great? I see two main factors: the great music of the sixties, and a certain degree of difficulty in obtaining it (I mean, both the cost of records and the lack of pop music on European public networks). Radio Luxembourg 208 provided more than six hours of that music, every day. And for most Europeans, it was the only one. Quite the opposite today: pop music of very low quality, which can be heard 24/7 on hundreds of radio stations. That’s the reason why it must be sadly said that the end of Radio Luxembourg on medium waves (its German service - Fabulous 208 has long gone) hurts more our nostalgic feeling than our listening choice. Let’s cling to our own happy memories of the Station of the Stars! (But just a reminder, for two hours of fine music, usually with Georges Lang from 2200 to midnight UT daily - and especially WRTL Country at 2300 on Fridays and L'Heure du Jazz at 2200 on Sundays - on the surviving AM frequency from Luxembourg, long wave 234 kHz). (Southern European Report with Stefano Valianti, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. 11665, Wai FM, 1508-1542, Jan 10 (Sunday). Surprised to hear DJ in vernacular playing all C&W (American) songs; gave song titles in English; songs - "I Walk the Line," "Detroit City," "I Don't Want To Talk About It," "Don't Forget to Remember Me," "Everybody's Somebody's Fool," "Take Me Home, Country Roads," etc.; fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. 9635, Radio Mali, Bamako, *0800-0815, 10-01, tuning music, identification: "Içi Radio Mali, éméttant de Bamako, "Radio Télévision du Mali", French, comments. 14321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, logs in Reinante, Sangean ATS-909X, Tecsun PL-880, Cable antenna 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Strong signal and zero modulation of Radio Mali, Jan 12 from 0815 on 9635 BKO 050 kW / non-dir to WeAf French/Arabic: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2016/01/strong-signal-and-zero- modulation-of.html 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 660, Jan 13 at 1324, one announcer reading live adstring, 1327 mentions 98.9 FM, 6:27 time, ``Chihuahua capital``, all of which mean it`s XEACB, Ciudad Delicias, Chihuahua (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 700, Jan 11 at 1316, rustic fiddle and guitar music, staple in the mornings from XEETCH which at 1333 gives full ID in Spanish as La Voz de los Tres Rios, Etchojoa, Sonora, and also native languages; 1334 ``toque un baile`` and back to music. Some of the usual other signals from NW Mexico in the UT -7 zone also in during this pre- sunrise span: 550, 620, 660, 710, 870. 700, Jan 13 at 1330, XEETCH rustic music at the moment from Etchojoa, Sonora, is drumming and piccolo (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 720, Jan 13 at 1332, ``Fonógrafo 720 AM`` ID, classic rock, YL with Spanish dedication, timecheck as 7:33, loops WSW? We have a confusing situation about the identity of this station: a few nights ago, Dec 27 at 0121, I assumed it was XEDE Saltillo, Coahuila, which fits for the timecheck heard now, CST. In the morning around sunrise, it`s likely to be a bit further west, such as XEJCC Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, where the time is 6:33 am MST. Searching on the slogan, I get a Wikipedia listing of Grupo Radio México stations including XEJCC 720 Juárez as Fonógrafo 720, so that would seem to clinch it except for the clock. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grupo_Radio_M%C3%A9xico#Ciudad_Ju.C3.A1rez.2C_Chihuahua Fonógrafo does not appear for any 720 station in our DX source listings: WRTH 2016, IRCA Mexican Log 2015, and Cantú as of early 2015, all of which have it as Extremo 720 (and BTW, IRCA Log has upped the power from 1 kW to 25 kW daytimer). The GRM website itself, http://www.gradiomex.com/estaciones-por-ciudad/ still has XEJCC on its long-abandoned frequency 1520 as ``La 15 20``. The Fonógrafo monicker also applies to a Grupo Radio Centro station on 1150, XEJP, México DF. I suppose it`s possible that the 720 station in Juárez is inserting local non-IDs, while relaying programming out of DF with TCs local for there. A DXer in El Paso could clarify this (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 770, Jan 8 at 1358, historical item in Spanish about the 1930s, 1400 Radio Fórmula ID, so XEACH Monterrey NL. This late, after sunrise I would have expected something further west, like XEREV Los Mochis, but obviously not top-40. Only this now, no KKOB NM, which doesn`t hit day pattern on 770 until 1415 UT in January (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 800, Jan 13 at 1336 UT, strong Spanish from the WSW with KQCV OKC nulled as much as possible --- just like XEROK used to achieve before it disappeared. Two men and one woman in studio, dialogs with callers; 1340 with 6:40 timecheck, mentions ``carretera a Casas Grandes``, and an address in ``Colonia Villa Esperanza``; 1343 discussing Powerball and its sesquigigadollar jackpot. Makes slow SAH with KQCV of approx. 92 per minute or almost 1.5 Hz, which IIRC was also typical of the old XEROK. And this *is* definitely XEROK, seemingly jacked up again to 50 kW power at least for the moment. The colonia chex out for Ciudad Juárez (but also one in Ahumada, Chihuahua, which is just south of CiJz, and another in San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León, not the right direxion altho there is one NL station on 800, in Montemorelos); and Nuevo Casas Grandes is the next town to the SW of CiJz via federal hiway 2. Neither at sunrise nor at night have I been hearing any such signal on 800 vs KQCV --- if I get anything else at night, it`s likely to be TWR Bonaire. We`ll see if XEROK continues revived at night (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes! ** MEXICO. Re: ``1080 unID Mexico - mystery second anthem --- Have a clip`` --- He may want to compare to the audios here: http://lyricstranslate.com/en/mexican-state-anthems-lyrics.html (Terry L Krueger, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. RAYMIE`S MEXICO BEAT this week --- [DTV] 2-4-6-8, who do I appreciate, when state networks switch on time, like BCS Canal 8! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hhrJDc_OEQ Signed on December 28. XHBZC applied for an extension but did not need it. A gold medal for using their virtual channel! They even managed to beat a commercial station to the punch. Post-apagón things have gotten really slow here... The IFT did zilch this week, so it's to be expected. I also have a full table of CORTV technical information, much of which is new. As noted before, only 16 transmitters are being converted. ——— The Supreme Court this week said that radio stations will still need to play the national anthem. http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/articulo/nacion/sociedad/2016/01/7/avalan-obligacion-de-transmitir-himno-nacional-en-radio-y-tv The decision came in a case brought forth by Sonora broadcaster Radio Grupo García de León which had challenged the requirements. The SCJN unanimously ruled against them and upheld some other provisions of broadcasting law. Este programa es público, ajeno a cualquier partido político. Queda prohibido el uso para fines distintos a los establecidos en el programa. Read my Mexico Beat blog (Raymie Humbert, Phœnix AZ, Jan 10, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) Another state network is making it: the Quintana Roo state network. This video says that their Chetumal and Felipe Carrillo Puerto transmitters are online and that Cancún and Playa del Carmen will come in a matter of days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYp-9qtZOYc This is big news. Because of what I think are permit issues, we only have an auth for the FCP transmitter (100 watts, channel 28). No technical information is available for the other stations. I expect Chetumal 30, Cancún 31 and Playa del Carmen 41. The SQCS website, which has next to nothing on TV, has dropped its Siete Más references for "Televisión de Quintana Roo", which is likely the name change that accompanied the channel change. (Good idea, too, as it wasn't channel 7 in Cancún or Playa del Carmen.) (Raymie, Jan 11, ibid.) The SPR is building a new multiplex scheme... Third-wave SPR cities will get Canal del Congreso on x.2. http://www.20minutos.com.mx/noticia/49924/0/canal-del-congreso-se-veria-en-television-abierta-en-10-ciudades-mas/ Este programa es público, ajeno a cualquier partido político. Queda prohibido el uso para fines distintos a los establecidos en el programa. Read my Mexico Beat blog http://forums.wtfda.org/showthread.php?9113-OPMA-is-changing (Raymie, Jan 12, ibid.) ** MEXICO [non]. SHF Satellites: I installed a DiSEqC Box to ‘automate’ the dish pointing process, and unlike my experience so far with inexpensive DVB2 receivers, I can’t say enough positive about this thing! You plug it in, attach the satellite feed THROUGH it to the “DiSEqC compatible” receiver by hooking the co-ax from the dish to the receiver through it, and then run through the channels telling the receiver where to point the dish so you can get reception. The NEXT time you switch to that channel, the box gets a signal from the receiver and remembers where you want to point the dish, and viola [sic], it goes there. So easy even a spouse can use it (once it is set up!) You can also use the numbers on the box to ‘interpolate’ and find new satellites more easily. To that end, I logged a new ‘bird’: Eutelsat 117WA which is technically not supposed to be seen here, but manages to make it “OK”. I have also learned what I'm doing wrong with the dish connections that is preventing me from seeing anything polarized horizontally (I think!) so I'm looking forward to my next trip to the lake to do some additional experimenting and see if that works! 116.8 W, Eutelsat 117W A C-Band 3.720-V GHz 27000 MSPS. There are 16 channels of Mexican educational TV on this transponder, but the ‘last’ one, “TVU”, was airing a Canadian ‘opera’ in English (w/Spanish subtitles), called “Burnt Toast Opera” which was just a hoot and a half. There is a courtroom scene where a lawyer claims his client is not competent to stand trial because “She insists on telling the truth” about an incident that happened in the toilet, which of course means there is a toilet set up in the middle of courtroom --- and this is all done in a ‘tongue in cheek’ opera style with everyone singing his lines. I gotta find the whole opera! You just don’t see this stuff on ‘normal’ TV! :) Into a not so funny show about Renaissance architecture in Europe at 2055 in Spanish. Just barely decoding with lots of stuttering and pixelization, but enough to ID. I may have to do some tree trimming, or this could just be aimed south of us. 2045- 2100 2/Jan --Zichi MI2 113 W Eutelsat C Band 3.825-v GHz 4200 MSPS symbol rate with Spanish, Puebla TV (as in the Mexican State). I had thought they re-encoded its stream to MPEG-4, but, on rescanning the satellite, it appears that what they have done is ADDED an MPEG-4 stream and put it where the old DVB stream was but also KEPT the old DVB stream so I still get my ‘old movie’ fix on Saturday nights! (Yay!) Tonight’s “Puebla Cinema” movie was a remake of Shakespeare’s “As you Like It” from a couple years ago with Kevin Kline and a bunch of British actors I didn’t recognize (but the female lead, Bryce Dallas Howard, was both a decent actress and also easy on the eyes!). This was a rather strange movie. It kept the Shakespearian dialog, but was set in 1800s Japan. Just odd to say the least. In English with Spanish subtitles. Also being shown on Eutelsat 117W A in one of the 16 channels there, with the logo-bug of “22” which appeared in the upper right of both channels, but Puebla’s logo-bug was in the upper left of this channel only. In with a solid decode, 0400-0455 3/Jan (Kenneth Vito Zichi, Port Hope MI2, MARE Tipsheet Jan 8 via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DXLD) ** MONACO. 8728, Radio Monaco (via 3AC) at 1157 with short intro music followed by ID "Bonjour … nouveau … Radio Monaco" and news in French mentioning France, militaire, Côte d´Azur, accident with 12 injured at Rallye Dakar, Iran; signing off at 1200 – Poor Jan 4 (Patrick Robic, AUSTRIA, ODXA YRX via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DXLD) ** MONGOLIA. 12034.9, Voice of Mongolia in English signing on 0859 with interval signal, ID "Welcome to the Voice of Mongolia" at 0900 followed by programme preview, short music and news at 0901, traditional Mongolian song at 0908 – Poor Jan 6 (Patrick Robic, AUSTRIA, ODXA YRX via DXLD) 12035, Voice of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, 0908-0916, 10-01, Mongolian songs, English, commens. 23322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, logs in Reinante, Sangean ATS-909X, Tecsun PL-880, Cable antenna 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA [non]. GERMANY, Weak signal of Voice of Mongolia Jan 10 0800-0830 on 7310 KLL 001 kW / non-dir to CeEu English: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/weak-signal-of-voice-of-mongolia-on.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #934 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, Jan 11, 2016, via DXLD) ** MYANMAR [and non]. 6164.993, Thazin Radio noted from northern Myanmar-Burma at Pyin Ou Lwin site. Heard on Uwe's remote Perseus in Thailand at 1235 UT on Jan 8, at S=9+30dB or powerful -41dBm signal level. 5914.992, Myanmar Radio in undoubtedly Burmese - or similar dialect - from new national capital Naypyidaw MW site, logged at 1253 UT on Jan 8 at S=9+25dB or -45dBm much powerful in Thailand SDR server unit. 5985.0, even frequency of Myanmar Radio in Burmese at 1258 UT on Jan 8, rather from British empire era Rangoon Yegu site - tentatively? Logged at S=9+25dB or -49dBm signal strength. 7199.9965, precise Myanmar Radio outlet from - probably - Rangoon Yegu site. Scheduled 0930-1500 UT according Japanese Aoki Nagoya listing. S=9+30dB signal strength in remote SDR unit in Thailand. Singing ladies chorus in Burmese, well ahead of China mainland jamming station against Taiwan Chinese service, Chinese language poor underneath still heard at 1315 UT. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 8, dxldyg via DXLD) Thanks, Wolfy, for checking on the Myanmar stations. Jan 8 on 7200.00 at 1400, just after CNR1 1400*, heard Myanmar Radio in the clear, but only for three minutes; 1403*. So their sign off time varies a great deal! (Ron Howard, California, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5985.0, Myanmar Radio, 1537, Jan 8 (Friday). NHK's "Friends Around the World" show; info about and playing their songs - music group "Dreams Come True"; translated some of their songs (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9730.000, Myanmar Radio, Tentative Rangoon Yegu site. This is on the morning skip zone. English news at 0231-0241:45 UT. S=9+5dB or -71dBm (Wolfgang Büschel, quick log report of Jan 9 at 0100-0300 UT, noted in remote unit in Thailand and Doha Qatar, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. Low power medium wave in the Netherlands Ydun's Medium Wave Info --- By Marcel Rommerts 12 January 2016 After switching off a number of high power transmitters in 2015, at the end of December the Dutch government has launched a public consultation on ‘opening up’ the medium waveband for radio and non- radio applications with 'low power' and with limited government regulation. When referring to 'low power' this means both a power in the range of 1 – 5 watts (site coverage) and 50 – 100 watts (municipal coverage). The idea is that the same frequencies will be re-used across the country. They will be handed out on the basis of a first- come, first served basis. Deadline for comments is 14 February 2016. http://mediumwave.info/news.html (via Mike Terry, mwdx yg via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Just as I expected, Mighty KBC via Germany has just opened in Dutch at 0000 UT January 10 on their new frequency ex- 7395 -- 6040, and with big het on hi side from RB2, Curitiba, Brasil, which has been reported off-frequency like this for months, but ignored by whoever picked this frequency. Some of us can notch it out, but why should we have to? Depending on relative strength, notching may not be enough (Glenn Hauser, OK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) On the west coast, nothing from KBC seen on my Perseus, but a decent carrier from Brasil. 0011 UT. 73 (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, ibid.) Here in Central Germany 01.00z foF2 ~ 3 MHz (Juliusruh), that means ===> skipzone 6 MHz > 1500 km. But, I have a strong, very strong backscatter signal from NAUEN (distance ~100 miles) on 6040 kHz with the KBC programm ===> NA RF-signal with doppler, thus the audio quality lowly, but loud. West Coast NOW in grey-line, should propagate (roger, ibid.) KBC doing fine in Alberta from 0100 tune in and onwards; another carrier on ~6040.38 but not bothering KBC much (Don Moman, VE6JY, ibid.) KBC with a fair signal (certainly easily listenable), on remote SDR unit in Israel (GREG HARDISON, CA, 0236 UT Jan 10, ibid.) Strong signal here in eastern Canada even with just the telescopic whip antenna on a Tecsun PL-880 inside an RFI-plagued house. No noticeable heterodyne while listening to the audio recorded unattended. Before the station audio begins, there is a faintly- detectable het with a frequency of about 370 Hz. Does this correspond to the strong het heard by others to the west? (Richard Langley, NB, ibid.) 6040, Jan 10 at 0000, The Mighty KBC is just signing on in Dutch, new frequency and new start time, replacing 7395, via Nauen, GERMANY. Just as I expected, there is a constant het on the hi side from Rádio RB2, Curitiba, Brasil, which we knew has been off-frequency for ages, about 6040.4. KBC is a lot stronger at S9+25, but why pick a frequency like this with the annoying sidetone? Even on the NRD-545 I can`t seem to notch it, altho LSB and tighter passband can minimize it. Seems that `The Giant Jukebox` occupies the last two hours at 01-03. Happened to catch new time (permanent?) for Kim Elliott`s Radiogram, 0220, this time greeting the Venezuelan DX meeting as he revealed in the spoken intro. Maybe RB2 would sign off before 0300? Apparently not. I also check on the UTwente SDR at 0253, and find about the same proportion of KBC signal to heterodyne there! Meanwhile, other DXLD yg members noted the het: 370 Hz in New Brunswick by Richard Langley, 380 in Alberta by Don Moman, but they didn`t find it bothersome, while in British Columbia, Walt Salmaniw was hearing only the Brazilian carrier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RF carrier on +370 Hz was RB2: http://www.rhci-online.net/files/2016-01-10_KBC_6040kHz_0001z.gif The west coast had too much sun at the start of the KBC radio show at 00.00z. Clearly seen here on the map: http://www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/VoA_Radiogram_2016-01-09.htm#KBC (roger, ibid.) You're right, Roger. I used to get them quite well when they were on an hour later. Still, propagation was pretty miserable, even well into the show. I never did get any audio from them yesterday. Beautiful display of graphics, by the way, Roger! 73 (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, ibid.) ** NEWFOUNDLAND. 2598-USB, Jan 13 at 0104, S6 YL voice in English with marine weather, mainly wind forecasts for Friday, Saturday, Sunday at uncopiable locations. Canadian Coast Guard site shows St Anthony, Nfld starting at 0107, but there must be something just before it: yes, further down the page, MCTS Placentia, VCP via St Lawrence site starting at 0048, ``Technical marine synopsis, forecasts and wave height forecasts for marine areas 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237 and 238. Weather and Wave height forecasts for marine area 213`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. 9700, Radio New Zealand International (RNZI), 1312 to 1333, a tentative ID via the Internet, SINFO=4,5,2,3,2. They seem to be broadcasting their national service which is of no importance to a shortwave monitor outside of New Zealand. This is a waste [of] very expensive RF energy, the 5050A and the 42’ Windom antenna. 1/1 (John Davis, NE of Columbus OH, NASWA Flashsheet Jan 10 via DXLD) What an incredible attitude. Stations relaying their domestic service on SW (which is most of the time on RNZI) offer a truer insight into a country than programming packaged for external consumption, often assuming the audience is basically ignorant about the country (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 6089.87 - R. Nigeria, Kaduna - on the air right now, 2202, with a good signal. Strength is S8 with only slight interference. Dr. Scott seems to be trying to tune on but his signal is only producing a strong het at the moment (Stephen C Wood, Harwich, Mass., Jan 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6089.857, precise Nigerian Kaduna station from Africa at 2244 UT. Caribbean is not as strong, but feed in from North America in coming hour. Frequency accuracy even, - and plus 1 Hz. Jan 9. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) 6089.9, Radio Nigeria, Kaduna, 0554-0612, 10-01, Vernacular songs and comments, Hausa. 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, logs in Reinante, Sangean ATS-909X, Tecsun PL-880, Cable antenna 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 7254.92, Jan 7 at 0800, after drumming, VON is still on and propagating with ID in English and news, poor signal. I guess it had been French before 0800. I try not to be up this late, but it was an overlong World of Radio produxion session (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Das ist Physik: V of Nigeria in English, wunderbar mit S=9 verständlich in Queensland-AUS, über den westlichen, langen Pfad über Südamerika und dem Süd-Atlantik auf der krummen QRG 7254.921 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Time? circa 0830 UT from adjacent logs (gh) ** NIGERIA [and non]. Copied from Dandal Kura Facebook account. NEW YEAR MESSAGE TO THE NATION FROM PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI Fellow Citizens, Welcome to the beginning of a New Year of the continuation of CHANGE in our beloved nation. I am aware that Nigerians have experienced a number of significant hardships over the past months. Living in the State House has not alienated me from your daily sufferings. I am aware of the lengthy queues at fuel stations and of the difficulties businesses have faced in acquiring foreign exchange. These challenges are only temporary; we are working to make things better. When I presented myself to you as a presidential candidate and asked you to vote for me, I wanted to be a leader who keeps his promises. I wanted to be a leader who restores the people's hope in those elected to serve them. I wanted to be a leader who initiates positive and enduring CHANGE. I am still totally committed to being that kind of leader. Unforeseen circumstances and other distractions notwithstanding, I shall still do my utmost best to keep every promise I made to Nigerians during my election campaign. In the past seven months since our inauguration on May 29, 2015, my administration has focused on laying the right foundation for the CHANGE you voted for during our historic presidential election. Nigerians will in due course begin to enjoy the fruits of all our ongoing work. The effective and efficient implementation of our 2016 budget proposals will address many of the socio-economic issues that are of current concern to our people. One area in which Nigerians, especially those in the northeast, have already begun to experience major CHANGE is in the war on terror. I commend our Armed Forces for significantly curtailing the insurgency which has ravaged the northeast of Nigeria over the past few years. However, there is still a lot of work to be done in the area of security. Our Armed Forces will maintain, consolidate and build on their successes in the war against Boko Haram and violent extremism. This government will not consider the matter concluded until the terrorists have been completely routed and normalcy restored to all parts of the country that have been adversely affected by the Boko Haram insurgency. Our crackdown on corruption will continue to be vigorously undertaken. I urge the courts to support our efforts and help in the recovery of stolen funds by speedily concluding trials and showing that impunity no longer has a place in our country. There is much work to do in other areas as well and I have charged all my ministers and other appointees to ensure that Nigerians experience positive changes in their lives in 2016. We must reduce our country's reliance on oil. We must diversify our economy. And we must do all we can to promote job creation. Our challenges are many but our determination to succeed is strong and unshaken. So too is our confidence in God. I wish you all a very Happy New Year. MUHAMMADU BUHARI (via Tony Ashar, Indonesia, DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. Shortwave Pirate Radio 2015 – A Year In Review (North America) A review of pirate radio activity – as received in North America - throughout the last year can be found here: http://hfunderground.com/blog/?p=475 (Mike Terry & Axel Röse, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** NORTH AMERICA. UNIDs: 7530/AM, 1536-1603+, 2-Jan; Continuous 80s pop/rock tunes; no announcements heard. SIO=242 with trill bursts; O=3- peaks + some apparent on/offs. Presume this might be the station recently reported on 7590 & earlier on 7540 & 7550 & ID'd as Pirate Radio Nation by 7590 by Joe Filipkowski as reported in the Free Radio Weekly. ThaDood reporting on the Free Radio Net said it might have been WAZU. +++ [meaning same first frequency as above, 7530/AM?] 2248-2312+, 2- Jan; Non-Top-40 pop/rock, some cut off & some CD sticks; no announcements. SIO=3+53 +++ 0225, 4-Jan; Can just tell there's music (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, 5515 Whitehall St., Midland MI 48642-3156, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow-tie, All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. Free Radio Weekly logs for January 2-8, 2016 Network 51 Pirate Radio. Saturday, January 2, 2016, 1831, 6935 usb. Music by Billy Idol, "Rebel Yell," ID "Network 51 Pirate Radio" announcing songs, and into "Velcro Fly" by ZZ Top. s5, good. (Will-MD) Amphetamine Radio. Saturday, January 2, 2016, 1905, 6925 usb. Rock music, SSTV at 1906. CW at 1908. More rock music at 1909, David Bowie, "Suffragette City." ID "Amphetamine radio, the most tweaked out radio on the 43 meter band" at 1912. Steady s9, very good signal. (Will-MD) Old time radio. Sunday, January 3, 2016, 1719, 6770 am. Cisco Kid radio show. Fair to good signal, noisy conditions, s5/s7. (Will-MD) Moonlight Radio. Sunday, January 3, 2016, 2218, 6925 usb. Synth/pop music. ID at 2222. Fair signal. s5. Improved to s9 at 2229. (Will-MD) Liquid Radio. Sunday, January 3, 2016, 2333, 6925.1 am. Upbeat dance music, fair to good signal, s5. (Will-MD) Old time radio. Monday, January 4, 2016, 0123, 6770 am. Amos and Andy show, quite listenable signal this evening. Unusual to get this one here at this time. s5/s7. (Will-MD) Old time radio. Friday, January 8, 2016, 1410, 6770 am. This morning finds their signal fading in and out of the noise floor. At 1416 some brief utility voice traffic appears co-channel on upper side band. A patriotic themed episode of "Night Beat." Randy Stone at 1423 mentions the atom bomb. (Will-MD) (Larry Will, Mount Airy, Maryland, Icom IC- R75 with G5RV, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello Gents: Just a few of the many stations on the air recently! PIRATE-NA. WDDR/Drunken DJ Radio, 3440 USB, 0301-0505+, 01-01-16 SIO: 343 Entertaining program of chatter and tunes by the OP who runs Wolverine Radio! Taking requests from posters on the hfunderground.com Drinking and celebrating the New Year in a classical pirate way. Tunes by The Sex Pistols, Traffic, Spirit, The Rocking Vickers just to same a few. Synthesized female voice was mocking “Skipmuck”, a frequent poster on the HFU. [Lobdell-MA] PIRATE-NA. X-FM, 6955 AM Stereo, 0210-0225+, 01-02-15 SIO: 121 Just barely audible through the noise floor with the usual DJ chatter and songs, live time checks and ID’s. [Lobdell-MA] PIRATE-NA. WREC/Radio Free East Coast, 6925 USB, 0216-0312*, 01-04-15 SIO: 454 Nice audio and signal from this recently reactivated pirate! ID’s/emails, rock tunes by The Sex Pistols, Blink 182, Silvers Pickups, Rob Zombie, etc. [Lobdell-MA] (Chris Lobdell, Tewksbury, Massachusetts USA, Receivers: Eton E1, JRC NRD-525, Aerial: G5RV Dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6925 AM, PIRATE (No. Am.), Canadian Radio After Dark, 0059, 1/9/16. Snippets of Elvis songs poking through the static floor. ID from HF Underground. Poor (Taylor – WI) [really in USA? gh] 6925, PIRATE (No. Am.), “U N I D” (not “an UnID”) 2232, 1/9/16. Music starting to come through static floor, Fleetwood Mac, “U N I D” ID, another rock song, another ID, another song into wry talk about current events – sounded like a monologue from “Le Show”, abrupt drop in signal at 2252 and gone by 2300. Sunset was 2240 here today, so I wonder if this was greyline (Taylor – WI) 6955-LSB, PIRATE (No. Am.), Pee Wee Radio, 0219, 1/9/16. “Rubber Band man,” brief break, segue to another song, off. Back at 0237 with music into apparent skit, goofy song, various sound effects (racing engine, spooky sounds), more music, faded out. ID from HF Underground (Mark Taylor, Madison WI, Perseus, SDRPlay, E1, Satellit 800, bunch of portables; 40M dipole, 100’ longwire into a 9:1 balun, Flextenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. Not much pirate activity lately on 42m, that I have caught, anyway. Saturday night, UT Sunday Jan 10 the only one I can find is that JBA carrier with some talk at 0112 on 6925.16-AM, and at 0206 with music, S4. I remember that exact frequency as carrying Liquid Radio before, but as 6925 it`s also unID in HF Underground: http://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,25637.0.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Don't currently have a sound card to listen to your current audio with, so I'm not sure if you were already aware of this, but it appears the "old-time radio" format that appeared on 13560 a year or so ago may be back. Heard it here in SE Kansas this morning and again at mid-day. Can't be positive of the programming under all the local noise, but the show during the noon hour sounded like Burns & Allen. (John Davis, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) John, Tnx. Only the ISM(?) noise when I checked today. Please let me know if you hear it further with times. What is your location? (Glenn to John, via DXLD) Hi Glenn, QTH here is Oswego, KS, grid EM27kc. Heard the pirate late yesterday afternoon (the 11th) clearly enough to confirm the old-time radio format. They started The Great Gildersleeve at 4:28 PM CST. Today at about 9:00 AM, 11:30 AM and 4 PM, I was again able to copy them somewhat in upper sideband mode, although there was enough noise today to make it difficult to decipher. Using AM or LSB mode, the program was totally swamped in the ISM and RFID racket, just as you observed. Their carrier has been staying remarkably close to 13560.50 this week. So far, I haven't seen it vary by more than 10 Hz. Even though the pirate's sidebands are weaker than the ISM noise, in the very narrow CW bandwidths I use to monitor legitimate Part 15 experimenters ("HiFERs," per http://lwca.org/sitepage/part15/index.htm ), they are still strong enough to swamp the much weaker HiFER beacons at times, up to 4 kHz from the center of the band (John Davis, Jan 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. 94.3, Jan 7 at 2044 UT, KLGB-LP Enid is off again, allowing thru a weak talking gospel huxter, presumably 100 kW Bott KVCW Kingman KS near Wichita. No excuse for this now such as widespread power outages, nor even the recent ``swarm`` of 4+ fracking earthquakes in this area (which I did not even feel). Still no KLGB-LP Jan 8 at 1626 check. Now it is truly 0.0/0.0 kW H&V as listed in the WTFDA DB --- but it could still be on with exciter power or less, as we discovered before by driving right up to the tower on North Van Buren. Its co-station on same tower, KVBN 99.9, continues unabated (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Was back on in a day or two, unnoticed just when (gh) ** OKLAHOMA. If anyone is curious to know more about Enid, which without really trying, became the default HQ of WOR/DXLD/RIB/GH, a new episode of Oklahoma Horizon half-hour TV show is all about Enid, several segments including some aerial/drone footage: http://www.okhorizon.com/shows/2016-show-archive/january-2016/show-1602 This might leave you with an overwhelmingly positive impression. Inhabitants know better. BTW, the 11-foot low-clearance ``truck-eating railroad bridge`` over East Maine just consumed another one (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PANAMA. A PARTIR DEL 03 DE ENERO SE INICIÓ CAMBIO EN EL NÚMERO DE 86 FRECUENCIAs DE RADIO FM A partir del pasado 03 de enero se inició un cambio en el número de 86 frecuencias de radio Frecuencia Modulada (FM) a nivel nacional, como parte de reordenamiento que delanta la Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos (ASEP). El proceso que involucra el cambio en el número de las frecuencias de algunas emisoras de radio FM, se realiza en coordinación con la Dirección Nacional de Telecomunicaciones de la ASEP. Al respecto, el administrador de la ASEP, Roberto Meana anunció que el reordenamiento a las frecuencias de radio de FM consiste en establecer una separación de hasta 200 kilohertz entre cada frecuencia para brindar mejor calidad. Estarán sujetas a este cambio 4 frecuencias en la provincia de Darién, 13 en Colón, 22 frecuencias en Panamá, 25 en Coclé, Herrera, Los Santos y Veraguas, y 22 frecuencias entre las provincias de Chiriquí y Bocas del Toro. La ASEP aclaró que de las 86 frecuencias que se reordenarán 25 de ellas, podrán efectuar los cambios antes del 9 de enero de 2016; las emisoras que se encuentren en este grupo, estará enunciado a partir de qué fecha podrán sintonizarla en la nueva frecuencia. La aplicación de esta medida que culmina el próximo 9 de enero, permitirá liberar unas 45 frecuencias que posteriormente podrán ir a licitación pública (NO SOURCE cited, via GRA blog via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3260, NBC Madang, 1226*, Jan 11. Weak signal; mostly unusable; suddenly off (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA [and non]. 7324.96, Wantok Radio Light (presumed). Thanks very much to Hiroyuki Komatsubara (Japan) for the alert that WRL has reactivated after being off the air for some time now; Jan 10 with several openings with CRI off the air. 1257-1258 heard religious song; this opening is usually 1, 2 or 3 minutes long. After 1357 (CRI sign off time) heard very weak signal clearly off frequency as usual; by 1413 had definite religious songs; 1418 tentative ID and back to religious music; 1424 CRI transmitter turned on covering WRL. Nice to have them back on the air again! (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ron and all, No hint of a carrier here, and as I type there is a good greyline path, so not 24 hours as previously listed. Will try about 0800z tomorrow (Mark, Anglesey, 1949 UT Jan 11, ibid.) Hi Mark, Yes, please try at 0800+. Please note the following updated info. 7324.94, Wantok Radio Light (presumed). Jan 11 was a repeat of yesterday's log; very poor/very weak, but able to make out the religious music; 1357-1402 announcers; 1402-1424 music. Thanks again to Hiroyuki Komatsubara (Japan) for the alert, as he first heard them Jan 9 at 1411. Mauno Ritola measured 7324.942 kHz, so slightly lower that when last on the air. This new slight change was also noted by Bryan Clark in New Zealand - "Heard fading in here around 0800 UT today [Jan 11] and quite readable by 0830. I'm thinking their frequency may be a little lower than when I last logged them?" and Mauno confirmed. Thanks for everyone's feedback! (Ron Howard, California, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And also did check 7325 on Japanese and Brisbane remotes, except the big fat Chinese on even fq was on air, I couldn't see any 2nd/further string on 7325 lower sideband neither (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, circa 1100-1300 UT Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7325-, Jan 11 at 1255, CRI Japanese with a JBA carrier under slightly offset, presumed Wantok Radio Light, reported by Ron Howard to have reactivated yesterday after many months. As he said, CRI takes a break at 1257-1259, and during that the JBA carrier is indeed barely detectable, in fact more evident by the beat it makes with CRI when it comes back on weaker at 1259, having changed from Jihnua to Xian site. Another longer window starts at 1357* of CRI, but again not enough signal left of WRL to make anything out of it. Why WRL would choose to confront its 1 kW with 500 kW from China is beyond comprehension. Cri Japanese starts at 1000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 12 Jan., PNG Wantok R Light auf 7324.937 kHz, ID um 0818 UT, schönes verständliches Signal, pop mx um 0824 (Wolfgang Büschel, Jan 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Probably on Brisbane remote rx ** PERU [and non]. 5980, Jan 10 at 0106, it`s been quite a while, a biweek in fact, since I have done a Chaski-check, but I hear only one JBA carrier which continues past 0109, i.e. BBC/UAE. On Dec 27, Chaski went off at 0106:23.5*, and figuring an average of 6 seconds later per 24 hours, it would now be some 84 seconds later, circa 0107:47.5; so have they reset it earlier already again, or just off, or just not propagating? Now there`s also splash from 5985 since WRMI extended that frequency. 5980, Jan 13 at 0059, two JBA carriers audible slightly apart making a double beat with BFO, i.e. BBC/UAE which is just starting Hindi; and R. Chaski. I used to tune the NRD-545 on USB to 5979.6 or so to hear the two pitches and when one of them cuts off, but now with WRMI-2 from 0100 splashing BS from 5985, despite being closer to it, I find it`s better to tune in LSB to 5980.4 or so. The stronger one makes a definite exit at 0103:00, which means there has been another reset earlier than the last time I got a definite later timing Dec 27. Now for a while it should be slipping circa 6 seconds later from night to night (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. 11695, Jan 13 at 1420, talk in Cambodian instead of R. Japan in English I was expecting, where it used to be, but now this is VOA via IBB Tinang, while NHK via Tashkent has shifted to 11685, and still on // 11925 via PALAU, audible but with Cuban radio war QRM from 11930. As Cambodian is in closing announcement, chopped off at 1429* sharp, but Tinang back on slightly stronger at *1429:40 with fragment of Vatican IS, opening in Hindi, after a beam change from 270 to 283 degrees. Favored treatment to only one sect makes this relay deal a violation of Separation of Church and State, opening IBB to demands for SW airtime by all ilx of gospel huxters (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PRIDNESTROVYE. MOLDOVA Frequency change of Trans World Radio Africa 0330-0345 NF 9400 KCH 300 kW / 155 deg to EaAf, ex 11655, as follows: Amharic Sun/Mon/Fri, Oromo Tue, Sidamo Wed/Thu. http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/frequency-change-of-trans-world-radio.html 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) What about Denge Kurdistane on 9400? O, doesn`t start until 0400 (gh) ** ROMANIA. 7325, UT Sun Jan 10 at 0145, RRI reading reception report from NY state, and one more from November, before ending `DX Mailbag`, 0147 on to `New Names on the Cover` about a graphic artist. I suppose I should add the former to DX/SWL/MEDIA PROGRAMS, if I could find out its exact times (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, ROMANIA. R Romania Int. Here is my listing of approximate times for RRI's "DX Mailbag" and "Listener's Letterbox" programmes, as monitored during November when compiling my Music on Shortwave listings [and posted to the DXLD yg] 1840-1845 tu,th,su DX Mailbag 6090-tg 7350-tg-drm 1840-1855 sa Listener's Letterbox 6090-tg 7350-tg-drm 2340-2345 tu,th,su DX Mailbag 6015-ga 7220-ga 7395-tg 9620-tg 2340-2355 sa Listener's Letterbox 6015-ga 7220-ga 7395-tg 9620-tg 0140-0145 we,fr,mo DX Mailbag 6020-ga 7340-ga 11790-tg 13730-tg 0140-0155 su Listener's Letterbox 6145-ga 7325-ga 0440-0445 we,fr,mo DX Mailbag 6020-ga 7340-ga 11790-tg 13730-tg 0440-0455 su Listener's Letterbox 6020-ga 7340-ga 11790-tg 13730-tg 1240-1245 we,fr,mo DX Mailbag 13580-tg 15150-ga 15460-tg 17765-ga 1240-1255 su Listener's Letterbox 13580-tg 15150-ga 15460-tg 17765-ga (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [non]. "Trans World Radio" (TWR Europe) season A16 - - 01/02/2016. On the last Sunday in March, with 03/27/2016, at the epoch of the shortwave broadcasts "Trans World Radio" (TWR Europe) to the CIS countries. In the summer season broadcasts on HF for this region it will be gone. I recall that began broadcasting on short wave to the territory of the former Soviet Union was laid in 1958 Information (Vasilii Gulyaev, Astrakhan, Russia with its WEB-site «DX COURIER", via RusDX Jan 10 via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DXLD) ** RUSSIA [and non]. “2015 SHORTWAVE FREQUENCY GUIDE” (C) 2014 by Klingenfuss Publications. UTILITY RADIO. Modulation: SSB Call / Station / Land / Frequenz (kHz) AEROFLOT Moscow / RUS / 11193 Almaty Air / KAZ / 6730 Arkhangelsk Air / RUS / 3479, 5661, 6598, 10084, 13288, 17961 UGE Arkhangelsk R / RUS / 2325, 2630, 4399, 6522, 8710 Ashkabad Air / TKM / 2770, 4727, 6945, 8951 Astana Air / KAZ / 4045, 4727, 6945 Astrakhan Air / RUS / 2655, 5568 Baku Air / AZE / 2770, 4045, 6730, 6945 Chelyabinsk Air, SW / RUS / 4755, 6820, 6945 Dashkhovuz Air / TKM / 4727 Donets'k Air / UKR / 4045, 6945 Dushanbe Air / TJK / 2944, 4669, 6631, 8951, 11375, 17961 Elista Air / RUS / 2655, 5568 Irkutsk Air, SE / RUS / 3004, 3016, 3485, 5649, 5655, 5664, 6571, 8897, 8942, 8951, 10039, 10042, 11396, 13303, 13309, 17907, 17958 Ivdel' Air, SW / RUS / 3019, 5646, 13315, 17958 UIW Kaliningrad R / RUS / 8764, 13098, 17311 Khabarovsk Air, SE / RUS / 3004, 5664, 10039, 13303, 17958 Khanty-Mansiysk Air, SW / RUS / 3019, 5646, 13315, 17958 Khar'kov Air / UKR / 3815, 6945 Kirensk Air / RUS / 3004, 5664, 10039, 13303, 17958 Kiyev Air / UKR / 3479, 3815, 4755, 5661, 6598, 6945, 10084, 13288, 17961 Kolpashevo Air, SW / RUS / 3004, 5664, 10039, 13303, 17958 Kostanay Air / KAZ / 4045, 4755, 6945 Krasnodar Air / RUS / 2655, 2770, 4045, 4755, 5568 Krasnoyarsk Air / RUS / 3004, 5664, 10039, 13303, 17958 Liepaja R / LVA / 8758 [Thank Wolfgang Bueschel (DF5SX), Germany - for information support] (Continuation of the list in the next issue) 73! (Anatoly Klepov, RusDX Jan 10 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Good signal of Local Radio Voronezh on Jan 12: 1457-1501 on 6990 VOR 001 kW / non-dir to EaEu Russian http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/good-signal-of-local-radio-voronezh-on.html 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) As relayed by Commie pirate Komintern Radio (gh, DXLD) ** SAAR. AUDIOCLIP: EUROPE 1, 183 kHz, TRIBUTE TO DAVID BOWIE 11/1 1900-2100, 183 kHz, Europe 1, tribute to David Bowie, music and interviews, strong signal. The audioclip is available here: http://swli05639fr.blogspot.it/2016/01/europe-1-tribute-to-david-bowie-183-khz.html 73's de (Francesco Cecconi, Jan 11, QTH: Central Italy, RX: ICOM R71ANT: 100 mt LW, condiglista yg via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 1521.0, Jan 10 at 0136, definite carrier here hetting KOKC OKC, surely the usual 2-megawatt BSKSA beast at Duba in the NW corner (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. BSKSA is not as keen as TDF [ALGERIA] about cutting transmissions accurately; the 9505 carrier, still with modulation, disappeared not before 2301 or 2302. The audio was not particularly clean (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SINGAPORE. SINGAPORE STARTS TO CELEBRATE 80 YEARS OF BROADCASTING Radio transmission first started in Singapore back in June 1936 with one radio station operating from a Government building in Empress Place. See article here: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/mediacorp-celebrates-80/2406402.html Posted by: (Mike Terry, Jan 8, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. Hi Ron, today Jan 11 in approx. 11-1330 UT time range, I checked 5020v kHz twice, but couldn't see anything on screen, totally empty (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Log: 5020 kHz, Solomon Island Broadcasting Corp., Honiara, 1900 UT, SIO 232. In Honiara hat man heute den Ersatzsender auf 5019.88 kHz um 1850 UT in Betrieb genommen. Dessen Signal ist wesentlich schwächer als das Signal des neuen mit japanischer Hilfe installierten Senders. 73 (Christoph Ratzer, Austria, Jan 11, A-DX via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) Heute Morgen am 12.1. in Brisbane im Sommer Downunder gehört/gesehen, aber nicht wirklich eine Freude, weil da noch eine UTE Station mit gleicher Stärke bei 5018.300 kHz ihre dit Signale absondert. 5019.861 kHz accurate - das Programm um 08.00 UTC ist zwar hörbar (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [and non]. 11600, the JBA carrier I had before Biafra at 2000 via BULGARIA, Ivo Ivanov says, was indeed Secretbrod, carrying Brother HyStairical during the 19 UT hour, and earlier (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re Brother HySTAIRical: 1900-2300 5900 SCB ??? kW / 306 deg WeEu English, no signal at 1930 UT 2000-2400 9465 SCB ??? kW / 195 deg WeAf English, no signal at 2000 UT 2200-2400 9400 SCB ??? kW / 306 deg WeEu English, please check At 2245 in Central Europe: No trace of any signal on 9400, and nothing on 9465 and 5900 either. But don't worry, he's screaming over the WHRI transmitters on 9505, almost crying while begging for radio time money (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Jan 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9840, WHRI, Cypress Creek SC (presumed); 1625-1636+, 7-Jan; Bro. HyStairical in full-bore fire & brimstone mode about coming dire events in 2016; said that both the Pope & the Queen said we might have experienced our last Xmas. 1629 B.S. interrupted himself to tell us that funds to continue broadcasting into 2016 have become available -- SURPRISE! 1635 back into fire & brimstone mode. S20 peaks (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, 5515 Whitehall St., Midland MI 48642-3156, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow-tie, All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5015, USA. WRMI - Okeechobee, 1205, 1/9/16, in English or similar. Loose section of piano and violin music with one man wailing and another apparently speaking in tongues - although it sounded more like Portuguese from SDRA than English from Br. Stair to me – very Pentecostal. Nearly mistook it for Radio Cultura’s relay of Super Radio Deus é Amor also listed on this frequency from the programming. Fair – good (Mark Taylor, Madison WI, Perseus, SDRPlay, E1, Satellit 800, bunch of portables; 40M dipole, 100’ longwire into a 9:1 balun, Flextenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) That`s regular programming on TOM, ``moaning & wailing`` the hours starting at 00 & 12 UT during ST, 23 & 11 UT during DST (gh, DXLD) SECRETLAND, Updated schedule of Brother HySTAIRical via Secretbrod 1500-1600 11600 SCB 100 kW / 090 deg WeAs English, confirmed Jan 9 1500-1600 15600 SCB 050 kW / 126 deg N/ME English, nothing Jan 8/9 1600-1700 11600 SCB 100 kW / 090 deg WeAs English 1600-1700 15600 SCB 050 kW / 126 deg N/ME English 1700-1800 15600 SCB 050 kW / 126 deg N/ME English, Sat/Sun/Tue-Thu 1900-2000 11600 SCB 050 kW / 195 deg WeAf English 1900-2300 5900 SCB 050 kW / 306 deg WeEu English 2000-2200 9465 SCB 100 kW / 195 deg WeAf English, not 2000-2400UT 2000-2200 9500 SCB 100 kW / 306 deg ENAm English, not 1800-2200UT 2200-2400 9400 SCB 100 kW / 306 deg ENAm English, nothing Jan 8/9 Additional videos from Jan 9 on the frequencies, missing on Jan 8: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/updated-schedule-of-brother-hystairical.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #934 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, Jan 11, 2016, via DXLD) Brother HySTAIRical via SPL Secretbrod SCB 1500-1600 11600 100 kW / 090 deg WAs English 1600-1700 11600 100 kW / 090 deg WAs English+Brother Stair from 15600! 1600-1700 15600 050 kW / 126 deg N/ME English Sat/Sun/Tue-Thu 1600-1652 15600 050 kW / 126 deg N/ME English Mon/Fri frequency change 1700-1730 7460 050 kW / 090 deg WAs Persian Mon/Fri Radio Ranginkaman 1700-1802 15600 050 kW / 126 deg N/ME English Sat/Sun/Tue-Thu 1900-2000 5900 050 kW / 306 deg WEu English same transmitter 15600 1900-2000 11600 050 kW / 195 deg WAf English 2000-2200 5900 050 kW / 306 deg WEu English 2000-2200 9465 100 kW / 195 deg WAf English 2000-2200 9500 100 kW / 306 deg ENAm English 2200-2300 5900 050 kW / 306 deg WEu English 2200-2400 9400 100 kW / 306 deg ENAm English not active at present! 11600 kHz with 65 sec. delay from 15600 kHz at 1600 UT! 11600 kHz with 65 sec. delay from 5900 kHz at 1900 UT! 5900/9465/9500 kHz, all three are in parallel at 2000UT http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/brother-hystairical-via-splsecretbrod.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #934 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, Jan 11, 2016, via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. 11905, Jan 8 at 0114:13, SLBC carrier cuts on, increasing the total signal very slightly over the Chinese remnant already on 11905, but still very weak, JBA at S2. Music prélude starts about 0114:47.5, mis-timesignal at 0115:10.5. This is usually around 0115:18, but sometimes around 0115:10, and never at 0115:00 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. 7205, Sudan R. at 1945 in Arabic, Jan 7. Man discussing Sudanese community programs. East African flute music. Good and very clear signal, S9+20. Telephone conversation with irritated woman. (Twente SDR via Mike Bryant, KY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWAZILAND [and non]. SECRETLAND, Additional frequency of SPL, registered in HFCC Database on Jan 8 1800-2200 on 9500 SCB 150 kW / 306 deg to WeEu English, probably Brother Stair TOM Bad news for Trans World Radio Africa Swaziland which uses this frequency as follows 1802-1847 on 9500 MAN 100 kW / 013 deg to EaAf English Mon-Thu 1802-1847 on 9500 MAN 100 kW / 013 deg to EaAf Swahili Sun 1802-1902 on 9500 MAN 100 kW / 013 deg to EaAf English Fri/Sat 1847-1902 on 9500 MAN 100 kW / 013 deg to EaAf Juba Arabic Sun-Thu http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/additional-frequency-of-spl-registered.html (Ivo Ivanov, B`lgaria, dxldyg via DXLD) But is 9500 Bulgaria on? (gh) ** SWEDEN. Hi Glenn, Please see attached. Feel free to reproduce if you wish. Not as active as I once was but when I do turn on the radio, you're on the short list. 73s. Sent from David Sharp's iPhone Begin forwarded message: From: qsl@sdxf.se Date: 10 January 2016 at 03:15:59 AEDT To: David Sharp Subject: Re: Possible reception in Australia Hallo again David! I am testing with an E-QSL as a pdf file. Please find your QSL attached to this mail! QSL on a special transmission from SDXF Sveriges DX-Förbund The Swedish DX Federation December 2015 http://www.sdxf.se Swedish receiver Kungs Radio model 452W [illustrated] We are pleased to verify your report of reception of a special programme from SDXF, Sveriges DX-Förbund, The Swedish DX Federation via Radio Revival in Sala, Sweden, on 5940 kHz. Date: December 26th 2015 at 1800 UTC. Comment: You are by far our most distant listener . Your report has been found to be correct. Thank you and 73´s SDXF, PO Box 1097, SE-405 23 Göteborg S W E D E N To: David Sharp Bourke NSW 2480 Australia (David Sharp, Jan 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) att visible on the dxldyg ** TAIWAN. Hi Ron: Re ``7502.0-AM, StarStar Broadcasting Station (XingXing BS), Jan 11 heard after 1301 with just open carrier (no audio, so no numbers today); good strength carrier (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` For supposed 10 kW from non-directional antenna <30 km away, it was awfully weak for me when I was over there a few weeks ago. Likewise all the SoH stuff - which was even closer. Are you sure it was (silent) A3E on 7502? They were not transmitting with that mode last month. I have seen that on other frequencies where they are said to transmit A3E also wouldn't fit, so I would be tempted to take that as a data point suggesting you didn't hear what you thought you heard. Or do they switch between H3E & A3E? 73, Brett/p. (via Ron Howard, DXLD) Hi Brett, Thanks for your email. Nice to hear from you. Several months ago I was hearing XingXing BS best in USB, but also with weaker carrier + LSB. Currently I am hearing only the following: carrier + LSB + USB, all with about equal strength reception, so have reported "AM." Have not noted any switching between modes. Attached are today's audio (Jan 13) to give you an idea of what I have been hearing. Maybe USB is slightly better, but not much? Recording of: Carrier audio (on my Etón E1 receiver in the "AM" mode). LSB audio. USB audio. Thanks again for your correspondence (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, antenna: 100' long wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAJIKISTAN. AUDIOCLIP TAJIK RADIO 1, 4765 kHz --- 1/1 0100 4765 Tajik Radio 1, ID, national anthem, good signal with QSB. The audioclip is available here: http://swli05639fr.blogspot.it/2016/01/audioclip-tajik-radio-1-beginning-of.html 73's de (Francesco Cecconi, Jan 10, QTH: Central Italy, RX: icom R71, ANT: 100 mt LW, condiglista yg via DXLD) ** THAILAND. 13744.967, very odd frequency of Radio Thailand via IBB Udorn Thani site Thai program at 0234 UT, scheduled 0230-0300 UT. S=8- 9 -80dBm (Wolfgang Büschel, quick log report of Jan 9 at 0100-0300 UT, noted in remote unit in Thailand and Doha Qatar, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [non]. 11512, Jan 13 at 1417, poor signal with flutter, talk, presumed V. of Tibet via TAJIKISTAN, and stronger than the CNR1 jammer on 11510. Recheck 1432, both are off. Aoki has this on 11513 at 1410- 1430 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Do you remember Rampisham, in Dorset, from where the BBC World Service - and latterly other providers – broadcast? Remaining are two towers, and what was the transmitter building, which several BDXC members were lucky enough to visit some ten or fifteen years ago. There are now plans to turn the site into a Solar Station to produce electricity from sunlight. The Dorset Wildlife Trust are objecting to the plans for this 188 acre site. It is suggested that there would be 100,000 solar panels producing electricity, instead of the previous vast electrical consumption of the site (Chrissy Brand, Webwatch, Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** U K [non]. SURPRISE/SURPRISE: seemingly SenTec Babcock let the 6155 kHz unit on air, before Channel Africa at 0300 UT starts on air. 6155.097 ??? most likely via AFS-SenTec Meyerton noted at 0100-0255 UT. BBCWS on this odd frequency channel. BBCWS ID at 0159 UT S=9+5dB - 73dBm in Thailand and Doha, S=8 or -76dBm in Madrid Odd frequency, and NOT registered at this hour (Wolfgang Büschel, quick log report of Jan 9 at 0100-0300 UT, noted in remote unit in Thailand and Doha Qatar, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 4517-USB, Mon Jan 11 at 1306, AFA5AB running the NCM3 Air Force MARS net, with AFA5EN, AFF5IN, and others checking in with no traffic; calls clearly given fonetikaly. Search finds this website http://afmars-msn.org/ncs-msn.php with schedule but ``no classified info``, so no frequencies. AFA5AB is shown as NCS only on Weds at 14z in winter. Mon at 13z in winter, AFA5PW is supposed to be NCS. 7457-USB, Tue Jan 12 at 1405, AFA4YU calling stations in Florida, many answers, AF MARS; no RTTY on 7455 at this time of day. Google search leads to Memphis TN for AFA4YU. 7630.5-USB, Tue Jan 12 at 1410, another weaker AF MARS net designated NEM1, an AFA5-- calling stations in New York; 1418 AFA3BC call is heard. NEM1 is ``NE Divison AF MARS Traffic Net`` daily at 1400 UT during ST, 1300 UT during DST. 4464.5-USB, Jan 13 at 0107, AF6MD calling for traffic, but none, so ``this net is free; out``. AF6MD has a bit of an accent, hard to place with a brief sample. No quick location hits searching on these calls (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. THROWING GOOD MONEY AFTER BAD: BBG’S DESPERATE STRUGGLE AGAINST REFORM --- Will Taxpayers Continue to Foot This Bill in 2016. . . and Beyond? By Dan Robinson [see original for emphatic formatting, linx, portrait] http://bbgwatch.com/bbgwatch/throwing-good-money-after-bad-bbgs-desperate-struggle-against-reform/ In a recent commentary published by BBG Watch, one of my former colleagues at VOA, Alex Belida, correctly identified striking similarities in debates that have occurred over the decades about the mission of VOA and what he calls “other information services.” Belida’s findings in research made for interesting reading, as have some recent articles by BBG Watch founder Ted Lipien detailing some of the history that is part of the story of VOA, the former Office of War Information (OWI), and later the United States Information Agency (USIA), and its one-time chief, Edward R. Murrow. But just because the same issues have been debated time and again, and for that matter, just because VOA and other U.S. funded broadcasters served an important purpose in years past, doesn’t mean American taxpayers should, in perpetuity, continue to foot the bill. That is exactly what the entrenched bureaucracy at the BBG (Broadcasting Board of Governors), its subsidiary the IBB (International Broadcasting Bureau), and to a great extent the well- paid civil servant employees under the BBG, want Congress to continue doing, all on the hope that management of people and programs will improve. Over the past two years, Congress had the opportunity to vote on House-passed legislation to reorganize U.S.-funded media, the first such sweeping effort since the 1990’s. Opponents of the legislation, especially those at VOA, attacked both House bills to help avert Senate passage. While the Senate did not vote on the legislation, it’s doubtful that anybody paid much attention to those protests. Members of Congress should recall the frequent and disturbing examples of mismanagement by the Broadcasting Board of Governors and the International Broadcasting Bureau. If this was anything other than the most opaque of federal agencies, such failures would have assured that heads rolled. At VOA, failures began at the level of former directors and their close associates, but extended down to officials in VOA’s central newsroom, whose responsibility it was to provide news coverage worthy of the respect of not only Americans, but the world. These included the inability to compete with key outlets such as RT (Russia), Al Jazeera, and CCTV (China), not to even mention BBC, as the agency was embarrassed time and again. Indeed, for a long period stretching through the first part of the millennium and into this decade, one could depend on seeing President Obama live on the BBC, but not on VOA. It was only under intense scrutiny by external critics that this changed slightly for the better, in the last two years. In 2014, Belida joined another former VOA news official in a commentary published by the website of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, calling the BBG “an unwieldy, inefficient, poorly managed and less than effective international broadcast conglomerate.” In a mostly similar commentary published by BBG Watch, the two wrote the following paragraph, which remains in my opinion one of the strongest condemnations ever written of the management structure at the Voice of America and BBG (emphasis is mine): “There is little doubt of the need to reform U.S. international broadcasting. VOA in particular has been poorly managed. The top leadership has shown little or no vision, some top managers have no real understanding of the needs of foreign audiences, some are allowed to manage through intimidation and cronyism and still others believe that the answer to the agency’s woefully low morale is to hold bingo nights and skating parties. The Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees VOA and the various entities, has been described by no less than former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as “defunct.” The BBG and its support element, the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB), are top heavy with highly paid and marginally effective personnel. The IBB has in recent years expanded, while the numbers of journalists and broadcasting staff at VOA have continued to be slashed to fit budget cuts. Cutbacks in the VOA Newsroom have reduced personnel to the point where it has become nearly impossible to properly cover a 24/7 news cycle.“ Let’s take that again . . .“a top leadership [with] little or no vision [with] top managers [with] no real understanding of the needs of foreign audiences . . . [some managing] through intimidation and cronyism . . . [whose answer to low morale was] to hold bingo nights and skating parties.” As someone who spent most of my adult life at VOA, I thought it would be instructive to revisit that quote and give it the credit it is due, because unfortunately today it remains highly-descriptive of the situation at 330 Independence Avenue, the BBG and VOA headquarters. Yet, simultaneously my former colleagues argued for a counter-proposal that would basically give entrenched bureaucrats who mismanaged news and technical operations over many years, another pass by placing all BBG entities . . . ALL of them . . . under what they called a new “strong” VOA flagship with a mandate to produce “honest journalism.” So, in addition to the description of dysfunction provided in those commentaries, let’s be clear which bureaucrats we would have been talking about. They are those who: . . . failed to ensure that VOA’s main English website, and language service websites and social media, reflected the latest news in as timely and efficient a manner as possible. . . .encouraged personnel tactics that placed BBG at the bottom of federal employee satisfaction ratings for years . . . part of the outcome includes a $400 million civil suit recently brought by contractors at BBG resulting from the agency rule violations. . . .frittered away millions in taxpayer funds on a severely flawed digital media management system, which at the end of 2015 suffered a breakdown lasting several days. . . . mishandled the Persian News Network (PNN), and effectively eliminated VOA as a potent English radio broadcasting force. . . . in 2014 insulted VOA audiences in Asia by abruptly and clumsily halting transmissions via shortwave radio, prompting analogies to the hurried final U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam. The list goes on and on. As Congress worked on reform legislation, lawmakers found themselves facing what was, in effect, an uprising by VOA civil service journalists who loudly complained about lawmakers attempting to assert their authority through legislation. In their 2014 commentary, Belida and the other former VOA official asserted that the United States simply must have a Voice of America as a “trusted and reliable” source of news. However, the fact is that years ago, VOA ceased being these things for an increasing number of people around the world who are able to choose from a rapidly-expanding menu of traditional and online media for their news content. That’s the dirty little secret unknown to many, though agency officials, from the BBG level on down, continue to cite misleadingly computed and inflated audience figures that they assert show dramatically-expanded use and “impact” of BBG material around the globe. They fail to point out that live news and in some cases all sensitive political news have been intentionally eliminated from much of what is called VOA “placement” on local stations in countries that allow such placement. They might mention in passing that Mexico is one of these countries where VOA placement is particularly popular. The fact that foreign gatekeepers decide what kind of placement material is acceptable is not mentioned. In fact, VOA has continued an accelerating slide into irrelevancy, having long ago failed to gain enough traction in the digital realm. As one official told me, regarding VOA’s troubled online operations: “VOA long ago lost the opportunity to become a destination of choice” [for global audiences]. Opponents of congressional legislation also asked lawmakers to join in a familiar Washington game, in which BBG entities opened fire at one another, seeking to continue to perpetuate their operations, and increase their budgets. In the commentary referred to above, the two former officials spoke of non-federal grantee entities Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia (RFA) and the Middle East Broadcast Network (MBN) being “winners” over VOA. Just prior to his departure, the last VOA director, David Ensor, famously told staff that he would set out to “kill” other broadcast entities if they were found to be lobbying Congress for their own purposes. What Congress should be concerned about, particularly in this time of budgetary belt-tightening, is not what federal entity wins or loses, but whether taxpayers can rely on efficiently-run operations at the BBG. Recent electrical and digital media system failures at VOA demonstrated that we’re a long way from being assured of this. In an apology letter to staff, Andre Mendes (the CEO job at BBG went to an outsider, John F. Lansing) offered his “personal apologies for this serious event”. One VOA broadcaster described it as a “full-fledged meltdown of essential systems,” and added: “This is amateur hour. We need to send out a red alert and reach out to real broadcast professionals. . .this isn’t hyperbole: this is the complete and total failure of the agency. The fact that it is, apparently, self-inflicted makes it all the worse. We are doing what Putin would love to be able to do: the Voice of America is silenced.” While not all VOA broadcasts were silenced by the latest electrical and digital failures, and some news reports were being posted online with the usual delays, remember, this is the VOA referred to in those 2014 commentaries, which proposed among other things a “newly- invigorated VOA”. . . one somehow shed of “incompetence and mismanagement at senior levels.” Also in 2014, BBG Watch, the independent watchdog website without which many problems in the agency would not have come to light, published a commentary stating, in part: “In our view, you have to earn the right to have and/or retain flagship status. That isn’t happening with the VOA today. The agency has lost its way. And we should note that flagship status is not an entitlement for an abysmally underperforming agency. Entitlement is never a rational justification for failure.” After a long career as a foreign and domestic news correspondent for VOA, including coverage of Congress, I shared concerns about language in the first House bill, H.R. 4490, that initially under-appreciated VOA’s historical role of covering U.S. and global news. Language was adjusted, and a new bill, H.R. 2323, was introduced in 2015. Still, there was no Senate vote, leaving the legislation to languish into 2016, a presidential and congressional election year. Remember — both H.R. 4490 and H.R. 2323 were bipartisan efforts, though a few VOA English News journalists attempted to portray them as purely Republican efforts. Agency officials later jumped on that bandwagon in an effort to squash legislation. Opponents continue to assert that the sinking BBG ship can be righted, that one CEO can adequately manage operations across five entities. Indeed, new CEO John Lansing (before Lansing, Andy Lack, the NBC titan who fled after less than two months in the position) dismisses doubt about this expressed by members of Congress, and a range of outside observers. I stated in 2014 that the mismanagement I witnessed in my final years at VOA led me to conclude that congressional passage, and President Obama’s signature, was absolutely necessary. Now in 2016, I still believe this to be the case. Neither VOA nor any other government-funded broadcast/media entity should be self-perpetuating based merely on the proposition that the world, and America, will be in a much worse position without them. The threat from the ISIS online brainwashing campaign. . .competition from Putin’s information machine. . . China’s media juggernaut . . . all are now being used as excuses for keeping one of the most mismanaged of agency’s in the federal bureaucracy alive ad infinitum. As for the 2016 presidential candidates, it is interesting that on the campaign trail little has been heard from Hillary Clinton who famously described the BBG as “practically defunct”, while curious proposals have come from Republican candidates Ben Carson and John Kasich. Ben Carson actually was first to bring up U.S information programs. Writing in an opinion piece in The Hill, he urged what he called “relentless ideological and information warfare” using “a new Voice of America that pounds creative messaging, hitting sensitive issues head- on, while pushing relevant messaging into the cyberspace discussion.” Kasich, the former Ohio governor, asserted that the U.S. needs some new agency to broadcast “Judeo-Christian, Western values” to target the Middle East, China, Iran and Russia. Someone on the Carson and Kasich staffs clearly suggested to them at some point that they should raise the issue of the effectiveness of the Obama administration’s handling of counter-ISIS information programs. They did, but we have heard little about it since. General radio silence from Clinton could be explained by the fact that the controversy over BBG itself, specifically mismanagement, is not an issue worth wasting breath on at campaign stops. One has to believe that, should she win the White House this year, she will turn her attention once again to what, if any, progress has been made to straighten out the mess at BBG. Meanwhile, back at the agency, officials are desperate to hold the broken BBG together, and of course preserve their GS-15 and SES salaries (some of the highest-paid officials are those who mismanaged VOA’s news and online operations). From the board on down, officials pander to all sides. On one hand, officials assure government-paid rank and file journalists that they shouldn’t worry about being ordered to pursue the agenda of countering violent extremism. On the other, in formal sessions officials such as the BBG chairman Jeff Shell talk of broadcasters being “a perfect vehicle to counter ISIS.” In a recent Washington Times interview, Shell held out the offering bowl to Congress asking for more funding to, as he put it, “compete with our adversaries, and help BBG “challenge violent Islamic extremists spreading their propaganda online.” Another line from Shell that really must have irked BBG journalists was: “we’re in the business of trying to influence people to feel better about America.” Wow. That’s quite an agenda, and not a purely journalistic one. If you’re a VOA or other BBG journalist, try putting that on your business card and see how far it gets you. At the very least, enactment of reform legislation would establish a new stepping off point for BBG, but certainly for VOA. It would provide absolute clarity from Congress as to what mission lawmakers expect government-paid civil servants to carry out. Taxpayers should not foot an annual bill of about $740 million to keep alive endless debates about the struggle between public diplomacy and journalism, or to support some rehabilitation project that is likely to stretch on for decades. Unfortunately, that is the scenario before us — unless in this second session of the 114th Congress, lawmakers act to finally pass legislation that the Obama administration has said it has been generally “on board” with. Dan Robinson retired in 2014 after 34 years with the Voice of America. In addition to his White House posting as senior VOA correspondent, he served as bureau chief in Nairobi, Kenya and Bangkok, Thailand. He was also the chief of the VOA Burmese Service and the Capitol Hill correspondent (BBG Watch via Dan Robinson himself, and Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. BBG CONTRACT EMPLOYEES $400M CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT EXCLUSIVE BBG Watch has tracked down a copy of the $400 million Class Action Complaint which was filed on December 21, 2015 in the United States Court of Federal Claims against the U.S. Government over personnel and contracting practices overseen by top officials of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). The plaintiffs, BBG and Voice of America (VOA) workers Seh Ahn Lee, Irina Ryan, and Ahmad Nariman, allege on behalf of themselves and all other persons who are similarly situated (“Class Members”) that the U.S. government-funded, international news broadcaster’s Board of Governors denied proper pay and benefits to VOA employees intentionally misclassified as independent contractors by agency officials. The complaint states that the plaintiffs are assisted by the Washington law firm THEMIS PLLC. BBG Watch is reposting parts of the Class Action Complaint and provides a LINK to the entire document which is now public. . . . http://bbgwatch.com/bbgwatch/bbg-contract-employees-400m-class-action-complaint-exclusive/ (via Dan Robinson, Mike Cooper, WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DXLD) Best read in original for formatting, italicized quotations, linx (gh) ** U S A. One of few strong Greenville signals left from VOA is the French service to Africa we hear off the back on 15730 at 2000-2030 UT. In Communication of the British DX Club, Alan Roe has lined up the music programs each day of the week: 2000-2030 su-fr V of America FR (su): Du Blues au Jazz (mo): Le hit-parade américain (tu): Antenna Libre | (The “RM Show”) (we): Musique internationale (th): Afro music (fr): La musique des caraïbes These are also on 12075 Botswana, 11900 São Tomé, and 9490 Kuwait. I listened on Wednesday Jan 13 from 2010 and was disappointed to find that it was mostly gab, altho with a musical background, not enough! Let`s hope the other days of the week they axually play music. At 2026 a bit of English interviewing a Nigerian musician before translating, and a snippet of music. Just before chopped off the 15730 air, what could be more apropos than this? ``Please don`t go!`` As the French service continues the rest of the hour at least online, but another semihour can`t be spared for this at GB (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6080, Jan 8 at 0618, VOA Greenville already on with open carrier at S9+30, atop persistent spurious Cuban pulse jamming, and traces of talk, presumably VOA São Tomé as scheduled. Pending site swaps, VOA doesn`t always do the warmup on another frequency, but should in this case. GB takes over at 0630 modulating `International Edition` on weekdays, after which on previous logs I haven`t detected any ST underneath, which presumably goes off then, instead of originally scheduled 0700*, but why? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. VOA Radiogram for first half of January 2016-01-09 Am 31.12.2015 um 14:21 schrieb VOA Radiogram: Program 145, 9-10 January 2016 (all in MFSK32) 1:33 Program preview 2:50 Greetings to Encuentro Diexista Colombo-Venezolano* http://www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/VoA_Radiogram_2016-01-09.htm#VI-EDXCV-2016 "..Saludos especiales de VOA Radiogram a todos los que asistieron a la VI Encuentro Diexista Colombo-Venezolano 2016 en Sanare, Estado Lara, Venezuela ..." ===> http://aer.org.es/el-dial-fm/noticias?format=pdf ".....VI-ENCUENTRO DIEXISTA COLOMBO-VENEZOLANO 2016 Enero 8, 9 y 10 – sanare, estado Lara Venezuela. VI-EDXCV-2016: Agenda de actividades previstas: Sábado 9 de enero: actividades diexistas de interés general: ....... 5:00 – 7:00 PM Concurso DX: captaciones de emisoras venezolanas en AM y FM. 10:00 PM Voz de America (VOA), Washington DC, Estados Unidos, transmisión digital de un radiogram con mensaje de salutacion enviado a los participantes. Hora UT: 0230 frecuencia 5745 kHz, el cual será decodificado con ayuda de tarjetas SDR y computadoras. 7:47 Abstract artist Ellsworth Kelly* 16:43 Traffic lights around the world* u.a. in einem kurzen Beitrag über "weird and wonderful traffic lights around the world" die Rückkehr des ost-deutschen Ampelmännchens in 1997: http://www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/VoA_Radiogram_2016-01-09.htm#Ampelmann 26:19 Closing announcements* * with images (roger, Germany, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. 7570, WRMI Radio Miami Int'l; 2143-2200+, 1-Jan; Glenn Hauser's World of Radio #1806; last few words cut off at 2159:32 for WRMI ID; 2159:55 abruptly into Bro. HyStairical. SIO=4+54- (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, 5515 Whitehall St., Midland MI 48642-3156, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow-tie, All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF RADIO 1807 monitoring: confirmed Thursday January 7 at 2100 on WRMI 7570, good. Also confirmed UT Friday Jan 8 at 0200 on WBCQ ~9329.98-CUSB, which is only S3-4. Look for this timing to build up as we get closer to spring. Next: Fri 1939 IRRS via BULGARIA 7290 [please check! It was heard Dec 25] Fri 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE [please check! Did not appear Jan 1] Fri 2130.6 WRMI 7570 to NW Sat 0730 HLR 7265-CUSB to SW Sat 1530 HLR 7265-CUSB to SW Sat 2030v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND? Sun 0410v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND? Sun 0900 WRMI 5850 to NW Mon 0400v WBCQ 5110v-CUSB Area 51 to WSW Mon 0430 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 1415.6 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 2200 WBCQ 7490v to WSW WORLD OF RADIO 1807 monitoring: 7290, Friday Jan 8 at 1928-1945, monitored for WORLD OF RADIO, as reported by Ivo a biweek earlier between 1939 and 1959 Dec 25 on the IRRS relay via BULGARIA --- Now not directly of course, but via UTwente SDR --- there is a JBA signal with bits of music, not WOR, overshadowed by huge splash from Arabic station on 7285, i.e. Kamalabad, IRAN, 500 kW at 178 degrees but plenty toward W Europe. It seems IRRS continues to drop in pieces of WOR to fill time but on no reliable and complete schedule. WOR 1807 confirmed Friday Jan 8 at 2130 on WRMI 15770, despite missing a week before with a Brother Scare overrun(?); also 2130.6 on WRMI 7570. Also confirmed UT Sunday Jan 10 from 0426 on WA0RCR, 1860-AM, Wentzville MO, with most of the musical opening theme removed. Next: Sun 0900 WRMI 5850 to NW Mon 0400v WBCQ 5110v-CUSB Area 51 to WSW Mon 0430 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 1415.6 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 2200 WBCQ 7490v to WSW GERMANY, 7265, Hamburger Lokal Radio, Göhren, 0746-0758, 09-01, English, Glenn Hauser's "World of Radio" program. 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, logs in Reinante, Sangean ATS-909X, Tecsun PL- 880, Cable antenna 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF RADIO 1807 monitoring: confirmed UT Monday Jan 11 at 0400 sharp on Area 51 webcast, and also confirmed on WBCQ 5109.7-CUSB before ending at 0429. Also confirmed from 0430.6 UT Monday Jan 11 on WRMI 9955. Next: Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 1415.6 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 2200 WBCQ 7490v to WSW WORLD OF RADIO 1807 monitoring: confirmed Wed Jan 13 from 1415:34 on WRMI 9955, following a gh WRMI ID which does not happen before all WOR airings, and apparently plays at no other times on WRMI. Also confirmed on WBCQ 7490 webcast, Wed Jan 13 at 2200. WORLD OF RADIO 1808 ready for first broadcasts January 14: Thu 1230 WRMI 9955 to SSE Thu 2100 WRMI 7570 to NW Fri 0200 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Fri 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE Fri 2130.6 WRMI 7570 to NW Sat 0730 HLR 7265-CUSB to SW Sat 1530 HLR 7265-CUSB to SW Sat 2030v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND? Sun 0410v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND? Sun 0900 WRMI 5850 to NW Mon 0400v WBCQ 5110v-CUSB Area 51 to WSW Mon 0430.6 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 1415.6 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 2200 WBCQ 7490v to WSW WORLD OF RADIO 1808 monitoring: confirmed first SW broadcast from 1230 UT Thursday Jan 14, at 1254 check on WRMI 9955; also lite Cuban pulse jamming, but bothersome with WRMI`s rather weak signal now. Tnx a lot, Arnie! Next: Thu 2100 WRMI 7570 to NW Fri 0200 WBCQ 9330v-CUSB to WSW Fri 2130 WRMI 15770 to NE Fri 2130.6 WRMI 7570 to NW Sat 0730 HLR 7265-CUSB to SW Sat 1530 HLR 7265-CUSB to SW Sat 2030v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND? Sun 0410v WA0RCR 1860-AM ND? Sun 0900 WRMI 5850 to NW Mon 0400v WBCQ 5110v-CUSB Area 51 to WSW Mon 0430.6 WRMI 9955 to SSE Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 1415.6 WRMI 9955 to SSE Wed 2200 WBCQ 7490v to WSW (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7570, WRMI Radio Miami Int'l; 2145-2204+ 4-Jan [Mon]; Rheinmain Radio Club program with club info & 80s rock tunes; WRMI spot before ToH into Bro. HyStairical (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, 5515 Whitehall St., Midland MI 48642-3156, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow-tie, All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! DX LISTENING DIGEST) Keeps replaying Mondays 2100; & Jan 18? (gh, DXLD) 5015, Jan 9 at 0640, WRMIBS is S9+10 to S9+20, much stronger than it was originally, especially while on wrong frequency 5956.2. Taking another look at the current WRMI transmission schedule, I see that #5 transmitter was not necessarily fixed, but instead {as I had suggested} swapped with #1, so now #5 is the backup standby, and #1 is in use on 5015, and at a different CCW azimuth, 222 degrees which is less favorable for us than 285 was, yet with a better signal. Another check Jan 10 at 0111, 5015 is S9+20 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9395, Jan 9 at 0655, Rick Wiles is explaining that he dropped the other two WRMI frequencies (5850 & 7730); that he`s also glad to be off SiriusXM, which required strict formatting, i.e. segments of certain lengths, commercial breaks, and this 5 minutes is filler being heard on AM & FM (and SW), but not SXM. This happens Monday, presumably meaning Jan 11. Says will be adding video (not TV) to webcasts this spring. 0700 ID as ``Sonpower Radio World Radio``, and into `Your Weekend Show`. Another example why Sonpower should be the name of this service on WRMI schedules, not TruNews, which is only a part of that. 7570, Monday Jan 11 at 2057, WRMI is already on here with song prelude, maybe in Spanish; 2100 yet again the RMRC EDXC special hour plays back instead of `La Rosa de Tokio`, as it has every Monday since the originally intended special preëmption Dec 7, 2015. 11580, Jan 13 at 0142, two weak stations about equal level QRMing each other: something in Chinese, and WRMI. Aoki indicates it must be CNR1 jamming against 0.1 kW Sound of Hope nuisance transmitter, which could span all the way from 2300 to 1610. During this hour UT Weds on WRMI, it`s only Christ Kingdom Ministries, but on other days Wavescan or Radio France International would confront this (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WRMI AT OKEECHOBEE, FLORIDA From the WRMI-AWR DX programme “Wavescan” As most of our regular Wavescan listeners know, this program is recorded each week at the studios of WRMI - sometimes at our studio in Miami, but more often than not at our studio in Okeechobee, where the WRMI transmitter site is located. WRMI - Radio Miami International - first went on the air from a transmitter site in suburban Miami in 1994. At this location, there was one 50-kilowatt transmitter and a corner reflector antenna beamed to the Caribbean and Latin America. For part of its lifespan, WRMI- Miami also used a North American antenna beamed toward Vancouver. But on the evening of 30 November 2013, WRMI’s site in Miami went off the air for the last time, and immediately the station’s new transmitter site in Okeechobee went on the air for the first time. Okeechobee is a small city located on the north side of the massive Lake Okeechobee in the center of Florida. The WRMI transmitter site is about 15 miles north and 7 miles west of the city of Okeechobee, located far out in the rural countryside on a one-square-mile cattle ranch. The site was built by Family Radio, a Christian organization based in Oakland, California, and was owned and operated by Family Radio under the call letters WYFR until it closed down in June of 2013. WRMI purchased the transmitter facility and put it back on the air on 1 December 2013, which was actually the evening of 30 November local time in Okeechobee. The Okeechobee site is the largest privately-owned shortwave transmitter site in the Western Hemisphere. It is composed of 14 transmitters and 23 antennas - a selection of rhombics and log periodics and one curtain array antenna beamed to 11 different azimuths covering primarily North, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. As the site was off the air from the end of June until the beginning of December 2013, it was unknown exactly how quickly the equipment would return to normal operating condition. When we first went on the air on the evening of November 30th, a number of technical problems with the transmitters quickly surfaced. Fortunately, we were not using all of the transmitters initially, so when there was a problem with one unit we were able to replace it with another transmitter until the repairs were made to the first one. And gradually over the course of a few weeks all of the units were brought back into regular operating condition, with the exception of two. Transmitters 5 and 6 were very old Gates 50-kW units that had been used by WYFR when it was originally located in Scituate, Massachusetts, and later relocated to the new site in Okeechobee in the late 1970’s. Both of these transmitters were out of service at the time Family Radio went off the air, and transmitter 6 was actually scrapped and removed before Radio Miami International took over the site. Transmitter 5 was not operational, and in fact many parts in it had been cannibalised for use in the other WYFR transmitters. Several months after WRMI began its broadcasts from Okeechobee, the hole left by transmitter 6 was replaced by a transmitter moved from WRMI’s old site in Miami to the new one in central Florida. So now the station had 13 operating transmitters. Only number 5 was inoperable. All 13 working transmitters have been used most of the time over the past almost two years. At this moment, 12 transmitters are on the air every day - some for just a short period of time such as an hour or two a day, and some for as much as 24 hours a day. The other transmitter - no 1 - was in daily use until just a couple of weeks ago, but is now in standby in case something happens to one of the other transmitters and number 1 is needed to fill in for a short time. WRMI has 14 Optimod audio processing units, one for each transmitter*. These provide an extra punch to the signal. There is a large Uninterruptible Power Supply which keeps computers, lights and air conditioning operating for several seconds in the event of a power outage. The UPS is replaced by a 25-kW diesel generator which kicks in approximately 20 seconds after a power outage. The generator is not powerful enough to operate the transmitters themselves, but it keeps the computers and the rest of the transmitter building operating until the power comes back on. Fortunately, most of the power outages in Okeechobee are very short - from a fraction of a second to a few minutes in length. Currently, WRMI is transmitting about 150 hours per day of programming from a number of clients including religious organizations and relays of overseas stations such as Radio Japan, Radio Taiwan International, Radio Slovakia International and Radio Prague. Dozens of smaller clients air a variety of programs on WRMI including news and music shows, cultural programs and many others. WRMI also broadcasts a variety of DX programs in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, including of course Wavescan. As for future plans, WRMI hopes to eventually replace the old transmitter 5 with a new, or at least newer, unit, bringing the contingent back up to 14 transmitters. The station has a 23-year lease with the owner of the cattle ranch, so we hope to be on the air on shortwave for a long time to come yet. Wavescan Schedule B15 transmission period Sun 0030 WRMI 5950 100 Radio Miami Int Okeechobee Florida USA Sun 0130 WRMI 11580 100 Radio Miami Int Okeechobee Florida USA Sun 1030 WRMI 5850 and 7570 100 Radio Miami Int Okeechobee Florida USA Sun 1130 WRMI 5950 100 Radio Miami Int Okeechobee Florida USA Sun 1300 KSDA 15430 100 Adventist World Radio Agat Guam Sun 1530 AWR 11750 250 Media Broadcast Nauen Germany Sun 1600 AWR 11780 125 SLBC Trincomalee Sri Lanka Sun 1600 KSDA 15660 100 Adventist World Radio Agat Guam Mon 0000 WRMI 7730 100 Radio Miami Int Okeechobee Florida USA Mon 0130 KVOH 9975 50 Voice of Hope Los Angeles California USA Mon 1200 WRMI 9955 100 Radio Miami Int Okeechobee Florida USA Mon 1415 WRMI 9955 100 Radio Miami Int Okeechobee Florida USA Tue 0430 WRMI 9955 100 Radio Miami Int Okeechobee Florida USA Wed 0030 WRMI 5950 100 Radio Miami Int Okeechobee Florida USA Wed 1130 WRMI 5950 100 Radio Miami Int Okeechobee Florida USA Wed 1230 WRMI 9955 100 Radio Miami Int Okeechobee Florida USA Wed 2130 WRMI 7570 100 Radio Miami Int Okeechobee Florida USA Thu 0130 WRMI 11580 100 Radio Miami Int Okeechobee Florida USA Thu 1400 WRMI 9955 100 Radio Miami Int Okeechobee Florida USA Fri 1230 WRMI 9955 100 Radio Miami Int Okeechobee Florida USA Fri 2100 WRMI 7570 100 Radio Miami Int Okeechobee Florida USA Sat 0230 WRMI 9955 100 Radio Miami Int Okeechobee Florida USA Sat 1130 WRMI 5950 100 Radio Miami Int Okeechobee Florida USA Sat 1200 WRMI 9955 100 Radio Miami Int Okeechobee Florida USA Sat 1730 WWCR 12160 100 Worldwide Christian R Nashville Tennessee USA Sat 2200 KSDA 15435 100 Adventist World Radio Agat Guam Sat 2330 KSDA 15320 100 Adventist World Radio Agat Guam Sat 2345 WRMI 9955 100 Radio Miami Int Okeechobee Florida USA (Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) *While some WRMI frequencies have that Optimod punch, others do not, such as 15770 where it`s hard to believe they are using it (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Re: ``7490.06, Nov 24 at 2021, WBCQ is S9+15, which it can accomplish this early only when wintry, as it starts as early as 2000 on Tuesdays only for J. P. Ferraro`s `Pirate Joe – Extravaganzo`, now playing ``Darktown Strutters Ball``, by --- and his Skillet-Lickers, 78 rpm recorded in Atlanta, 1927y, as outroed; on to publicizing various TG weekend events in the Poughkeepsie area (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` The answer is: Gid Tanner & the Skillet Lickers, an important influential stringband from Georgia which recorded for Columbia Records in the 1920s, and whose music would now be considered "old- time" stringband music. See . Best, (Saul Broudy (W3WHK), Jan 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Hi, HERE IS the Alan Weiner interview of interest: Pirate Radio Guest On Show: eHam.net - Jan 8, 2016 http://www.eham.net/articles/35941 Our guest on Amateur Radio Roundtable this week is Allan Weiner, from the FCC and FBI and his arrest, his collection of military surplus ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDiuilEgey4 THANKS, (Artie Bigley, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The studio recording of this week`s programme with video and illustrations is on You Tube. Its called "Amateur Radio Roundtable 1 12 16". This is the description: "Streamed live on 12 Jan 2016 --- Tonight's show features Allan Weiner, ex-radio pirate, radio engineer, owner of multiple radio stations. Allan talks about his days as a pirate radio operator and Radio New York International, and all the run ins he had with the FCC. Allan also discusses his collection of military surplus equipment, including working radar systems. He also restores vintage radio equipment and has an antique car collection. Ham radio/shortwave radio show on w5kub.com every Tuesday night at 8 PM central. We are also on shortwave station WBCQ on 5110 from Monticello, ME. Special remote guests, chat room, and call in phone lines for our viewers." It starts with some music during studio preparation and programme proper follows after about 20 minutes. Posted by: (Mike Terry, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5109.7-CUSB, UT Friday Jan 8 at 0128, WBCQ, talking about God and Ethix, only poor-fair at S8, wrapping up contact info for Mennoniteradio.org or at 0131, street address of Joy Mennonite Church in NE Oklahoma City. 0132 segué to his other show, ``shortwave radio version of Broad Spectrum Radio``, James Branum says it`s about music, his hobbies, on 5110 and streaming. Says this edition is for January 6, 2015 on WBCQ (so does he think this is still airing on Wednesday instead of Thursday nights?? {Jan 6 probably date of recording}). First time I`ve had a chance to listen to this DX(?) program, and pleased to hear him say it`s inspired by Glenn Hauser! This time it`s about what he has heard during December, in different categories of SW, ham, broadcasts, etc. He`s used both his own receiver and remotes. Refers to reports in his blog, but I can`t copy the URL. Reception is not 100% clear, with low signal, noise and his conversational tone. 0142 brief interruption by ``running water`` ute QRM. Mentions lots of SW stations heard, but without numerical details such as times and frequencies. I wonder which station he heard in Iceland, which has no SWBC. Has been a ham for two months, works thru Edmond Amateur Radio Society 2m repeater; also mentions HH90IARU, Haiti, so I suppose that was on HF. Then LW logs from Europe via UTwente. By 0150 it`s mostly unreadable at S5-7. 0159 mentions that Broad Spectrum Radio is on Facebook. So James has extended his SW programming via WBCQ into 2016y. I find this archive of BSR, https://archive.org/details/@broad_spectrum_radio and this was only the third episode: https://archive.org/details/broadspectrumradio-20160107 Broad Spectrum Shortwave Radio Show #3 - Hobby Radio Report by BroadSpectrumRadio.com Published January 7, 2016 Usage Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Topics shortwave radio, short wave radio, WBCQ, James M. Branum, KG5JST, websdr Broad Spectrum Shortwave Radio Show Episode #3 - First broadcast on International Shortwave Radio Station WBCQ starting January 7, 2016 at 7:33 p.m. Central time (January 8, 2016, 2:33 [sic] a.m. UTC) Today's show: A Hobby Radio report for December 2015 from host James M. Branum, KG5JST, followed by a discussion of tips for getting started in SWL (shortwave listening) without spending too much money. Find out more at: http://www.broadspectrumradio.com or listen to the live365 streaming channel at: http://www.live365.com/stations/broadspectrumradio 9330-CUSB, Jan 8 at 0138 a quick check of another WBCQ frequency finds only S1-S2, but thanks to Terry Blalock`s screaming we can tell it`s on, prior to WOR at 0200, when the signal had improved slightly. 7490-AM, Jan 8 at 0145, quick check of the other WBCQ frequency finds an `Allan Weiner Worldwide` playback as he has Scott Becker on the phone about his big family restaurant in Kansas (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Update on Broad Spectrum Radio, answer to your question from Jan. 7-8 logs --- Hi Glenn, Just wanted to write and thank you for the mention in the Jan. 7-8 listening logs. I especially appreciate the frank feedback on the BSR show, especially as to the need to mention dates of reception, frequency, etc. I will add more of that info, as well as do a written form of the show (instead of just talking off the cuff from my notes) which should help. On the Iceland station, it was actually a longwave station --- RAS 2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A1s_2 that I heard via the U. of Twente SDR in the Netherlands. About 2/3 of my reception came by way of various websdr's and 1/3 from my own radios and antennas. For future reference, the schedule for the next few months will be as follows: Thurs 7 pm central/Fri 0100 UT - Mennonite Radio (30 minute show) Thurs 7:30 pm cen/Fri 0130 UT - Broad Spectrum Radio, Shortwave Edition (30 minute show) For BSR, the show topics will be on a monthly cycle... 1st program of the month – The BSR Radio Report – I will share what I have been listening to on shortwave radio during the previous month as well as any interesting experiences he has had as an amateur radio operator. In time, this show may also feature interviews and snippets of recorded audio from listening sessions. (Jan 7, Feb 4, Mar 3 --- these dates are all Central Time, not UT) 2nd program of the month - GI Rights show – I have practiced as a civilian attorney in the area of military law (mostly with regards to issues of conscientious objection, war resistance and AWOL) for 9 years. In this work I’ve seen how servicemembers can effectively help themselves by arming themselves with the power of knowledge, particularly as to how to read and use military regulations to ones advantage. In this show I will discuss common problems that servicemembers face, as well as some possible methods that servicemembers might act (within the boundaries of the law) to get what they want. (Jan 14, Feb 11, Mar 10) 3rd program of the month - Movement Music Show – Radio Havana Cuba already is using the title “Music with a message” for their music programming, so instead I’m going to call this the Movement Music show. I’ll be focusing on music from the past and the present that is rooted in the activist experience, particularly in the movements for peace and social justice. (Jan 21, Feb 18, Mar 17) 4th program of the month - The Neurodiversity Show – Still working out the details, but this program will likely be a discussion of the issues that folks with Aspergers/Autism Spectrum Disorder/ADHD/twice- exceptional issues face, with a focus on celebrating the positive aspects of having a different kind of mind. (Jan. 28, Feb. 25, Mar 24) 5th program of the month – Likely a special program of some kind, since we only get 5th Thursdays a few times per year. (March 31) (James Branum, Mennonite Radio/Broad Spectrum Radio, Jan 11, WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Great to see new SW programming with some substance! (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DXLD) ** U S A. Have you been listening to Dave lately on 3215? Heard a couple of "shits" and "asses" but thankfully no "fucks." Did you know he has five 100 kW transmitters there? But he only has a handful of programs. Sounds like he has a problem (Lou KF4RCA Johnson, Jan 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) His main, presumbly profitable, business is aeronautical, WWRB only a sideline (gh, DXLD) 3215, Jan 8 at 0117, WWRB`s Dave Frantz in a rant about ``crap- houses`` in New Jersey, how ``Obama-care can work for them`` (? Did not follow this line of ``reasoning`` from the outset). Suggests people avoiding the heavy hand of government should live in RVs and be able to move to another state, such as the few without state income tax (like Tennessee) at a moment`s notice; or in tiny-houses, off the grid. 0121 he says that was a playback and now he`s on live. Continuous hum on this frequency. Not sure this is a formal program, rather than Dave just turning on his transmitter and having at it during unsold time. Others have noted this around 0100 UT, and sometimes he`s still going after the frequency change at 0200 to 3195 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9475, Jan 7 at 1436, WTWW-1 is only S8 with PPPP, not built up to blasting daytime level, but mid-TN neighbor WWCR-4, 9980, *is* already blasting in with BS at S9+30. 9980 is allegedly 100 kW at 90 degrees directly away from us; 9475 is allegedly 100 kW at 50 degrees. These azimuths mean little when the antennas are rhombix with lots of side/back lobes, but how can there be such a disparity? WTWW running much reduced power? 5085, Jan 8 at 0128, open carrier/dead air from WTWW-2; ho hum. 12105, Jan 9 at 2037, WTWW-3 is OFF, no Bibling Worldwide. 5085, Jan 10 at 0128, WTWW-2 is off; 9475, WTWW-1 is on but very poor instead of night frequency 5830 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Updated schedule of WINB effective from Jan 3, including Brother Stair TOM [resumed] all on 9265 INB 050 kW / 242 deg to CeAm: 1230-1530 English Sun 1530-2100 English Sat/Sun 1900-2045 English Mon-Fri Brother Stair 2045-2100 Eng/Spa Mon-Fri 2100-2330 English Daily 2330-2400 Spanish Mon 2330-2400 English Tue-Sun 0000-0230 English Daily 0230-0300 English Sat-Thu 0300-0330 English Tue/Sat 0330-0430 English Sun (Bulgarian DX blog Thursday, January 7, 2016 via DXLD) 242 from Red Lion is not toward Central America, but ``Mexico`` (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. 6220.0, Jan 13 at 0117, S6 signal with JBA music, presumed La Ranchera, WMDB Nashville TN, 880, as relayed by WNQM 1300, as parasite to WWCR 7520, 1300 kHz higher. First time detectable for a few weeks; thought it might have been suppressed with not even a carrier audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. New broadcasting partner of KVOH Los Angeles --- USA (CA): A new broadcasting partner of the Californian short wave station “KVOH – The Voice of Hope” (kvoh.net) is Abounding Grace Radio (http://www.agradio.org/) which airs Tu-Sa 0100-0130 UT on 9975 kHz. Producer Christopher Gordon (cjgordon7@aol.com) quickly replied to an inquiry: „We decided to throw AGR on KVOH this year as a trial and it seems to be generating some good response.“ Christopher Gordon pastored at the Lynden United Reformed Church from 2004 to 2012, and is presently preaching pastor at the Escondido United Reformed Church. The programmes’ history page at http://www.agradio.org/our-history is very general, but more information can be found at http://www.escondidourc.org/abounding-grace-radio.html „Years ago I visited the KARI 550 AM radio station in Blaine, WA. KARI has been broadcasting Christian programs since 1961. As I poked around the studio looking at old records, stacks of eight-tracks, and pictures of past Christian radio hosts such as J Vernon McGee, I was overwhelmed when I looked out of a large window facing the lower mainland of B.C. and right in its path stood seven two hundred and fifty foot towers with a signal operating at five thousand watts. These towers were sending out a signal that could reach to the greater Vancouver, B.C. area which has a population of well over two million people. [...] In 2005, the Lynden United Reformed Church, having a desire for doing better at local outreach, approved the weekly airing of sermons on KARI 550 AM. Airing sermons is common approach churches take when utilizing Christian radio. While there are many benefits to this approach, we found that sermons were difficult to air on the radio due to long pausing, rotating audiences, and extensive editing needs. In 2007, the Lynden URC purchased recording equipment and I began recording the content of the sermons in a more conversational manner. We began airing fifteen minute programs Monday-Friday on KARI. This format worked well and the listener response was much greater. Today we air thirty minute programs five times a week on KPRZ (San Diego) KARI (Blaine, WA) and on weekends on KPXQ (Phoenix). Two years ago the Lynden URC revamped Abounding Grace program and established a board of directors to help develop and manage the program. All members of the Abounding Grace board are committed to the historic Protestant Christian faith and subscribe to the Three-Forms of Unity. The members of the board are Mark Hicks (board chair), Ted Farver, Randy Winter, Ian Mcclure, Gary VanderPol, Jason Vanderhorst, Pastor Gordon, and our very own Jim Jansma. The board meets by Skype every month and we are working hard to make the most of every opportunity to advance the gospel of Christ in our communities“ (via Dr. Hansjoerg Biener 11 January 2016, http://www.biener-media.de DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WBOB-600 loud and clear in W TN --- Great signal on the SE beam of the SAL-30 Shared Apex Loop, nulling WREC-600 Memphis about 30 miles away to the NW. Code, sweep tones, Price is Right etc. Also hearing their normal programming between the test segments. -- 73, (Brandon Jordan, KM4PBQ, Fayette County, TN EM55gc http://www.swldx.us 0517 UT Jan 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 600, Jan 10 at 0545 UT on the R75 [from Brandon] with E/W longwire, first check for the WBOB Jacksonville FL DX test which started at 0500 UT. Really too much WMT on this antenna, so switch to DX-398 nulling WMT IA as much as possible, i.e. aiming SE instead of ESE, which leaves a mix of Cuba and who knows what. Soon I hear Morse code spelling out JACKSONVILLE, so I could stop right there; 0549 UT sweep tones; 0550 UT rising beeps, phone-off-hook pulses; 0554 UT fire alarm siren & bells; very slow Morse spelling out WBOB a few times; 0555 UT phone-off-hook; 0557 UT WBOB in Morse many times; 0558 UT sweeps upward; 0559 UT beeps upward; 0600 UT phone-off-hook; 0603 UT fire alarm; 0605 UT I hear a voice mention Jacksonville, but suspect it was coincidental at end of Fox ``news`` from WMT; etc., etc. Tnx for the test, reportedly with 35 kW non-direxional day power and ND pattern rather than 9.5 kW out into the Atlantic normally at night (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The WBOB DX test was widely heard. You can find many, many reports of it in the open archive of the most active MWDX forum, IRCA, via: http://www.mail-archive.com/irca@hard-core-dx.com/maillist.html and also here: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ABDX/conversations/messages (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Watch "WBOB 600 kHz Test" on YouTube https://youtu.be/z-hJt5vWtF4 (Juan Gualda, Fort Pierce, Florida, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. 860, Jan 11 at 1326 UT, KKOW Pittsburg KS with birthday greetings, and one of them gets a polka dedication played at 1328 UT, regular weekday feature at this time. Slow SAH from another 860 station playing gospel music, almost same or opposite direxion. Format UC:GOS fits for KMVP Phœnix AZ, 940/1000 watts U2, but if it was really C&W that could be KPAN Hereford TX, 250/231 U1, per NRC AM Log. KMVP night pattern does have a little lobe this way; and at same time I`m getting further Sonora on 700 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1340, Jan 7 at 1413 UT, dominant signal from E/W is political talk, so not KGHM Midwest City OK, which is SSE, sports talk and closest groundwave once skywave is gone. 1415 UT phone 866-408- 7660 which I thought was for the show but may have been the first of an adstring for a tax business, finally at 1421 UT for a Best Western hotel in Carthage MO, after a 1420 UT reference to a Brentwood Shopping Centre, which checks out for: Springfield MO, KADI, which is ``The Ozarks` Big Talker``, and near enough/far enough from Carthage for such advertising to make sense. Talk host was not Glenn Beck. If their May 2015 schedule still hold, http://www.1340bigtalker.com/category/programming it`s evidently a local show: ``8-11 am Brian Kilmeade and Friends``. This site has KICK all over it, apparently in homage to original calls in *1950y (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Brian Kilmeade is not a local host; he's actually one of the hosts on Fox & Friends. Yeah (Raymie Humbert, AZ, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) ** U S A. 1460, Jan 7 at 1359-1401 UT, EWTN/Ave Maria Radio joint programming in English, but NO local ID for KHOJ Saint Charles MO, which this has to be from the NE/SW, dominating frequency along with other St Louis area signals still in, such as rock music on 1430 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Radio Discussions: 1520 KYND update --- Hi Bill, I am listening this morning, station sounds great, wondering what power level it is currently running at? Any word on what programming we may hear soon on KYND? (KF5JMD, Jan 13? Radiodiscussions via Artie Bigley, DXLD) Hi, Thanks. I know it is an odd music choice but I kind of went with the Texas Music Scene TV show as a base for artists and a sound that is a little rock and roll and a little country. It's a 80 minute loop and I screw up 3 times in the recording done straight to CD (hitting the wrong start button to fire off the Sheryl Crow, saying These are instead of This is on one track and hitting the wrong track on the Avett Brothers tune. We are running at 25,000 watts as I gaze at the Nautel on the other open screen. [what about the skewed direxional pattern??? gh] As for what programming will come, I don't know. Nothing confirmed as of this morning. I need to make a run to a friend's house to get back much of my music. He's dubbing hundreds if not more CDs for a station's music library; most all the stuff from back when a certain company offered various formats on CD. When I do that it could be interesting (Bill Turner, KYND, ibid.) ** U S A. 1540+, Jan 13 at 0152 UT, mix of KXEL Waterloo IA English talk and KEDA San Antonio TX TexMexmx, but also still with the low- audible-heterodyne on the hi side from off-frequency KGBC Galveston TX Hum FM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. The era of Pre-Teen radio in St Louis ended in mid-December when Radio Disney signed off for the last time in the Gateway City. Just before Christmas, St Louis got its third conservative talk station when WSDZ returned to the air as "1260 the Answer". It carries Salem's conservative talk shows, including Michael Medved. The other two conservative talkers in St Louis are KMOX 1120 (anchored by Rush Limbaugh) and KFTK 97.1 (whose biggest name is Sean Hannity). KXFN 1380 is silent once again, as their programming has now moved to KFNS 590. Inside STL is leasing the station. The three remaining towers near Madison IL, used for daytime broadcasting, are owned by Emmis Communications; a couple of years ago, KXFN had to give up its nighttime tower site in Monroe County IL because of financial problems. Emmis originally acquired the station in 1998 when Zimmer Radio Group pulled out of St Louis. WGNU 920's sports programming is now simulcast on the HD2 channel of KPNT 105.7 Collinsville IL. I often question the use of "HD" channels to relay AM stations, as "HD" sub-channels have only a clear signal for 10 miles. KMOX 1120 uses KEZK 102.5's HD3 channel; that and the AM "HD" signal does not get out as far as the analog AM signal. KQQZ 1190 and KZQZ 1430 now simulcast for one hour a day (1600-1700 CST/CDT) on weekdays; it's a talk show hosted by Bob Romanik, known as "The Grim Reaper of Radio". He often talks about politics in St Clair County IL; his views are a bit off the wall. "The Grim Reaper" is a former strip club owner who served as Chief of Police in Washington Park IL. His sons and attorney actually own the station (since Mr Romanik is a convicted felon). Speaking of KZQZ, their nighttime service returned a week before Christmas; it was down due to technical issues. The flooding in the St Louis area between Christmas and New Year's did a lot of damage around southern St Louis and northern Jefferson Counties in Missouri; I monitored the Red Cross communications nets on 146.850 and 147.360 MHz, as well as the marine and railroad frequencies on VHF. I didn't listen too much of the coverage on the local broadcast stations, although I watched the coverage on local television stations. 73 (Eric Bueneman (NØUIH), 631 Coachway Lane, Hazelwood, Missouri 63042-1347, DX Forum, IRCA DX Monitor Jan 16 via DXLD) ** U S A. Hi Glenn, Hope you are doing well. I am just back from Florida. You may remember that I was there first in June 2014, so now it was my second time. Once again I used my chance to do some AM DXing there - in that region it's always fascinating. This time I listened in three locations: Siesta Key (near Sarasota), Cooper City (near Fort Lauderdale) and North Miami Beach. You will find my logs attached (I marked some of them in bold - more interesting ones [full report on the dxldyg]). I listened on my SONY ICF SW-7600 GR and its inbuilt antenna. TIME ARE EST = UT -5: [gh excerpted HAR/TIS FL items] 1280, 01/06 10:40, Miramar Radio (WQCA448), SINPO 25343. Announcements from the city of Miramar, ID. Received in Cooper City. The station is still there! 1610, 01/06 09:58, Highway Advisory Radio, SINPO 25222. Received in Cooper City. 1630, 01/07 21:19, community radio of Hialeah (tent. WPYM991), SINPO 23333. Community announcements in Spanish and English. Received in North Miami Beach. 1650, 01/03 20:52, Highway Advisory Radio, SINPO 34333. Received in Siesta Key. 1670, 01/04 23:07, community radio of Pembroke Pines (WQFU322), SINPO 24333. Pre-recorded announcements and mayor‘s greetings – seem to be the same as 1.5 years ago! Received in Cooper City. 1670, 01/07 21:36, NOAA Weather Radio, „station KH3 54“ (pre-recorded ID), SINPO 33433. Marine weather information for Miami Beach and other Florida locations, mentioned 162.555(?) MHz, so probably a relay. Received in North Miami Beach. Best wishes from Lithuania, (Robertas Pogorelis, DX LISTENIING DIGEST) ** U S A. 87.9, Midland MI; 11:50 AM-12:02+ PM [EST], 2-Jan; The Xmas music pirate has switched over to Jeezus pop. Sig peaks in the same area. The pop music pirate also on 87.9 had only xmtr hum at this time. +++ 11:45 AM, 7-Jan; Now running piano jazz--the post Xmas format du jour (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, 5515 Whitehall St., Midland MI 48642-3156, Drake R8B + 185' & 60' RW + 125' bow-tie, All logged by my ears, on my receiver, in real time! DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. JIM STRADER --- Sadly we must begin the year with the news of a passing of another long-time CIDX member as well as a member of the Boston Area DXers group in Massachusetts. James (Jim) Donald Strader, age 62, died peacefully on Thursday, October 29th surrounded by his family. He grew up in Orient Heights, East Boston and Watertown, New York. He was a long time resident of Middleborough, Massachusetts. He spent most of his professional life as a structural engineer and operated his own engineering company, Zia Design & Engineering. In 2007 he studied to become a teacher and taught mathematics at New Bedford High School. Jim had a lifelong love of radio, particularly shortwave radio and was an active member of the North American Shortwave Association (NASWA). He was an amateur astronomer who closely followed solar activity and enjoyed watching the night sky. He loved music, especially Pearl Jam and the Beatles. Jim is survived by his wife and his four children. Jim was a regular attendee of the Winter SWL Festival. Jim and I struck up a good friendship over the years at the festival. We would always enjoy sitting around talking about music, radio and whatever else came up. Jim was extremely proud that one of his sons had started his own rock band. Jim joined CIDX many years ago and we were proud to have him as a part of our club. Jim will be fondly remembered in the annual “In Memoriam” ceremony at this year’s Winter SWL Festival (Sheldon Harvey, Jan CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** VIETNAM. All Vietnamese shortwave stations I monitored on 5925, 5975, 6020, and 7210 kHz were on precise accurate xx.0 kHz frequency, at 1254 till 1330 UT on Jan 8th! 5925.0, Voice of Vietnam 2nd service in Vietnamese language via Hanoi domestic site of Xuan-Mai center, logged at 1254 UT, S=9+30dB or - 44dBm signal in eastern Thailand. But outlet was accompanied by some buzz tones either sideband, 9 x 100 Hertz apart distance peaks like a garden fence strings. 5975.0, Voice of Vietnam 1st program from Son Tay tx broadcast center, heard at 1256 UT on Jan 8. S=9+25dB or -48dBm signal heard in Thailand remote SDR unit. 6020.0, Voice of Vietnam 4th program from Dac Lac site, S=9+15dB or - 55dBm signal strength at 1306 UT on Jan 8. Slight be neglected little buzz of 200 Hertz noted so far. News on Cambodia matter at 1308 UT. I monitored carefully. But no spurious signal in 13 kHz apart range COULD BE OBSERVED TODAY. 7210.0, Voice of Vietnam 1st program from Dac Lac site, fair S=8 signal at 1333 UT Jan 8. Maybe shortwave signal in 41 mb skip zone, to consider the distance between Vietnam and Thailand at this hour. But on this 41mb VOV-1 Dac Lac outlet heard again that widely reported spurious whistle signal of precise measured 13.791 kHz today. Centered spurs seen on 7196.209 and 7223.791 kHz. ... ... and not much far away noted at 1335 UT probably ETHIOPIAN odd broadcast on 7236.332 kHz, centered at 30 Hertz wandering up and down signal range [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] (Wolfang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 8, dxldyg via DXLD) 7220.082, VOV - Son Tay, 1/3/16, 1250. Pleasant music ID in ? Russian, 1257 carrier only until 1300 then time pips with start of Mandarin transmission, heavy LSB slop from CRI 7215. Poor to Fair (George Herr, CA, Primary Receiver: Perseus; Backup: Drake R8B; 20 ft vert wire, 25 ft horizontal wire phased with MJF 1025 noise canceler, NASWA Flashsheet Jan 10 via DXLD) 9635.793, Very odd frequency of VOV 1st program, from Son Tay site. 2 men talk at 0254 UT Jan 9. S=8-9 -79dBm (Wolfgang Büschel, quick log report of Jan 9 at 0100-0300 UT, noted in remote unit in Thailand and Doha Qatar, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [and non]. 11850, Jan 8 at 1411, talk in Vietnamese at S9+10, with whoop-whoop siren jamming weakly audible underneath, since it`s Radio Free Asia via SAIPAN during this hour, and Vietnam still proves itself NOT Free. Coincidentally(?) Vatican via Philippines is also in Vietnamese on 11850 during previous hour. Do the Viet Cong jam that too? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** YEMEN [non]. Radio Ashna vs Radio Sana'a on Jan 5: 1430-1500 on 11860 KWT 250 kW / 070 deg to WeAs Pashto Radio Ashna 1430-1630 on 11860 JED 050 kW / non-dir to N/ME Arabic Radio Sana'a 1500-1630 on 11860 KWT 250 kW / 070 deg to WeAs Dari Radio Ashna http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/radio-ashna-vsradio-sanaa-on-jan5.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #934 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, Jan 11, 2016, via DXLD) 11860, Jan 7 at 1440, usual music and exhortations in Arabic from R. Sana`a, 1447:15.5 cut to Maghrib sunset call to prayer, so this is 1 minute and 6.5 seconds later than yesterday Jan 6 at 1446:09. Today`s sunset in Sana`a is 1447; in Aden, 1448. BTW, these should reach 1500 UT in about two sesquiweeks. Then more music; 1457 measures S9+10 peaking to +20 in the R75 AM wide mode. Talk portion starts as usual at 1500, YL host making phone calls to OMs; today I am paying close attention to detect any echo/overlap in program feeds as seemed to happen yesterday at 1503. None at 1503 today as she fails to make contact with a guy on the phone, 1505 gets thru to Ahmed and they talk about Adan and Sana`a; 1509 a slight reverb on the phone line but not significant, so I quit at 1513. Recheck at 1538, signal is slightly weaker S9 peaking to S9+10; 1539 she tries to get another guy on phone line. ** YEMEN [non]. 11860, tune-in Jan 8 circa 1325, R. Sana`a is quite weak, but by 1335 building up to good level as usual. Mostly music after 1400, at 1428 interrupted by yelling as if recording of a raid (remember Saudi Arabia is taking military axion inside Yemen); familiar triumphal music we hear every day during this hour, but today the interruption for Maghrib sunset call to prayer starts at 1448:35, which is 79.5 seconds later than yesterday at 1447:15.5. 1500 switch to YL talk in Arabic; seems like a replay of yesterday, as she is phoning Ahmed in Aden, first attempt dropping out at 1503 with a phone bong, 1505 he`s back on line. Now it`s S9+10. During Qur`an pauses and talk, IBB KUWAIT continues to be audible underneath, starting at 1430 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Country / Location??? Radio Sana'a 11860. Jan 8, 2016 Friday. 1735- 1803. Tuned in to a Sana'a / AWR mixture, S3-S5, both unreadable. Peaking at S6 by 1745. Lots of QRN and normal fading, but it sounded like an SAH began at 1749 and carried on till 1800, when the signal strength increased to S5-S7 peaking at S8. Jo'burg sunset 1705. Iran. Voice of the Islamic Republic 11830 Kamalabad. Jan 8, 2016 Friday. 1803-1806. Signal was S5-S7 peaking at S8 from this 500 kW transmitter (targeting East Africa), just the same as Sana'a after its boost in signal level three minutes earlier at 1800. Jo'burg sunset 1705 (Bill Bingham, Johannesburg RSA. Drake R8E, Sony ICF2001D. dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11860, Jan 9 at 1447, checking R. Sana`a for today`s sunset call to prayer, which happens at 1448:15 interrupting dialog this time instead of music. But it`s 20 seconds earlier than yesterday, while the real sun is surely setting later and later now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) After 1800 tonight (Jan 9) quite noisy reception of Sana'a 11860, with a lot of fading and QRN, around S5-S7. I don't know if Sana'a changed transmitter tonight as suggested on other occasions, but 500 kW Iran on 11830 is a bit better with less fading and QRN, plus stronger signal around S5-S7 peaking at S9. Also checked Zanzibar 11735 in the same time slot (1810-1813). As usual here in Jo'burg it is very weak and noisy, around S3 with no entertainment value. Aoki lists this Zanzibar transmitter as 50 kW non directional, which convinces me that wherever in the Middle East Sana'a is coming from, the transmitter is far larger than the 50 kW non-directional Jeddah units previously suggested and debated - at least in the after 1800 time slot. I'm unfortunately unable to do a direct comparison with known transmissions from Saudi Arabia, so far as I can see they don't transmit to sub-Saharan Africa, at least in this frequency range, at any time of day or night. If someone knows better, please let me know! (Bill Bingham, Johannesburg RSA. Drake R8E, Sony ICF2001D. dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11860, Jan 10 at 1449:18.5, R. Sana`a interrupts programming for Maghrib, call to prayer for 2 or 3 minutes before resuming. Usual good signal during this window. That`s 63.5 seconds later than yesterday at 1448:15, making up for lost time in chasing the latening sunset, which per gaisma.com today was 1450 UT in Aden, 1449 UT in Sana`a (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Timings approximate. Sunday Jan 10: Tuned in to Sana'a 11860 at about 1750, it was S5-S6 and very fady. Not sure if a SAH was superimposed on the normal atmospheric fading, but I think so. At 1754 the signal suddenly increased to S7-S9 and reception became much more clear. But there was still a lot of what I believe is natural fading (as opposed to SAH). Compared reception with Iran after 1800 and tonight (Jan 10) in contrast to last night (Jan 9) Sana'a was marginally the stronger and less noisy signal. Iran was S5-S7, Sana'a was S7-S9, both fady (Bill Bingham, Johannesburg RSA. Drake R8E, Sony ICF2001D. dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sana'a only 50 kW? MP3 Sana'a and Iran Jan 10 2016.mp3 Download File: Sana'a and Iran Jan 10 2016.mp3 Hi Glenn, Sorry to labour this point, but I see from today's DX Re Mix News no 934, Jan 11 2016, that Ivo still apparently believes Sana'a is 50 kW non directional from Jeddah: YEMEN(non) Good signal of Radio Sana'a on January 4: from 1630 on 11860 JED 050 kW / non-dir to N/ME Arabic http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/good-signal-of-radio-sanaa-on-january-4.html I know you have doubts about this. The attached mp3 was recorded last night (Jan 10) shortly after 1800. It shows that here in RSA at least, and on Jan 10 at least, Sana'a was a slightly stronger / better signal than that from a known 500 kW transmitter (Iran) beamed in my direction from the Middle East. I did it by tuning in both 11860 and 11830 on the Drake, then simply switching VFO's. You will find the switchover at 30 secs in, and again you can also see the difference on an Audacity trace. I too find it hard to believe that Sana'a is coming from a 50 kW non directional unit in Jeddah. Regards, (Bill Bingham, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11860, Jan 11 at 1445, R. Sana`a, usual good signal way over here, during martial music, interrupted at 1449:21 for Maghrib call to prayer, which is only 2.5 seconds later than yesterday at 1449:18.5 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Times approximate. Check of Sana'a 11860 and Iran 11830 at 1806-1807 Monday Jan 11. Both S5 to S7 with slight QRN and fading; apart from different programming the two were virtually indistinguishable (Bill Bingham, Johannesburg RSA. Drake R8E, Sony ICF2001D. dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Chris, As you may have noted, suspicions are floating that the 11860 station is run by the Houthis rather than the anti-Houthis, possibly from Iran. Based on Arabic content, is BBCM certain about its political orientation and what is it? What about the transmitter site, Saudi Arabia, Riyadh rather than Jeddah? or somewhere else, or multiple sites? (Glenn to Chris Greenway, via DXLD) Hi Glenn, I haven't followed this story professionally since the station was first heard in November. At that time it was all cut and dried. The anti-Houthi news agency http://www.sabanew.net reported (approvingly) the existence of the broadcasts on 11860. Beware, there is a pro-Houthi news agency with similar URL - http://www.sabanews.net It also turned out that the 11860 broadcasts had also been reported a few days earlier by another anti-Houthi website - see the story at http://www.alislahonline.net/index.php?ac=3&no=4326 (Google Translate will give you the gist). I recall that Tarek Zeidan reported hearing anti-Houthi material on 11860. See also a report on 30 November by a Japanese DXer who said he heard crosstalk of Saudi radio's interval signal on the Yemen broadcast on 11860: http://hiroshi.mediacat-blog.jp/e113337.html What is the evidence that is now suggesting that it is in fact pro- Houthi? Regards, (Chris Greenway, BBCM, Jan 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No evidence, really; just that Bill Bingham in South Africa has been trying to correlate reception with frequencies from Iran. It would be nice if we could get a translation of some of their standard fare, such as what sounds like a ``mission statement`` with stirring music, heard repeatedly. 73, (Glenn to Chris, via DXLD) Hi Glenn, No SAH tonight (Jan 12) and no increase in signal strength either. But there was an echo at about the usual changeover time (about 1753), not sure if it was a deliberate program echo but suspect it was a transmitter-change echo as previously noted by you. MP3 attached; the echo is heard mainly at 15-35 secs, 2:10 - 2:45, and 3:00 - 3:55. No visible change on the Audacity trace. Regards, (Bill Bingham, RSA, dxldyg via DXLD) Yes, these echoes are very ``pronounced`` of about 3 syllables, more than a reverb effect which might have been deliberately produced. Monitoring during this transition time from other angles might also reveal a marked difference in signal strength, as we continue to suspect more than one transmitter site is involved for the 11860 24/7 broadcast. Someone could also refine the exact frequency at different times of day, which could be slightly different. I was about to forward this audio attachment to the yg, but 10 MB might be a bit much for some to handle. If you want to hear it, I can forward it directly to you. It`s only 4:30 long, but 320 kbps mp3 (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Yesterday, January 12, I listened Radio Saudi International, 17660 at 1400 UT signing on in French, that I believe is the only western language used by this broadcaster, with the same echo effect. Is this just a coincidence? Or should we definitely assume that Radio Sana'a is really originating from Saudi Arabia? (Antonello Napolitano, Italy, Jan 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I don`t think that`s enough of a correlation there to draw any conclusions. Echo effects could have several causes (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) FINALLY, Ivo takes note of Bill`s and my echo observations, without credit, to revise his assumptions (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) --- Radio Sana'a echo effect was observed on Jan 12 till 0900 11860 JED 050 kW / non-dir N/ME Arabic probably via Jeddah from 0900 11860 unknown tx / unknown N/ME Arabic via unknown tx site Probably same situation will be at 1759-1800, 2259-2300 and 0559-0600: 0600-0900 11860 JED 050 kW / non-dir N/ME Arabic probably via Jeddah 0900-1800 11860 unknown tx / unknown N/ME Arabic via unknown tx site 1800-2300 11860 JED 050 kW / non-dir N/ME Arabic probably via Jeddah 2300-0600 11860 unknown tx / unknown N/ME Arabic via unknown tx site http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/radio-sanaa-echo-effect-on-january-12.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11860, Jan 12 at 1430, R. Sana`a, rousing music at S9+20 to 30; break for Maghrib sunset call to prayer at 1450:38 which is 1:17 later than yesterday at 1449:21. IBB Kuwait still audible underneath during pauses; also some IADs on the Sana`a signal which continue when dramatic music resumes at 1453. Later Jan 12 at 1753, Bill Bingham in South Africa recorded three segments of echoes on the signal; very pronounced, sounds like about 3 syllables delay, more than would be deliberately done for effect, and indicative of overlapping transmitter sites during a changeover, with non-synchronized audio input feeds. The audio is allegedly soundtrack of a satellite TV channel, but it sure plays a lot of music. 11860, Jan 13 at 1451:09, R. Sana`a interrupts music for Maghrib call to prayer, which is 31 seconds later than yesterday at 1450:38, back to matching computed sunset times today in Sana`a of 1451 UT, and in Aden of 1452 UT. Usual good signal. I heard an echo a few days ago at 1503, and Bill Bingham keeps hearing echoes around 1753, so after himself having heard on 11860 an echo- overlap at 0900 UT Jan 12, Ivo Ivanov finally acknowledges that a different unknown transmitter site is in use at 09-18 & 23-06 UT, but still thinx it`s 50 kW non-direxional Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at 06-09 & 18-23 UT. So more echo/overlap/switches may occur at or a few minutes before 06, 09, 18 and 23 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. Good reception of Zanzibar Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) on January 4: 1500-2100 on 11735 DOL 050 kW / non-dir to CeAf Swahili, no English px 1800-1808 UT http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/good-reception-of-zanzibar-broadcasting.html Very good reception of Zanzibar Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) Jan 5 1500-2100 on 11735 DOL 050 kW / non-dir to CeAf Swahili, again without English at 1800 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/very-good-reception-of-zanzibar.html Fair to good reception of Zanzibar Broadcasting Corporation on Jan 7 1800-1808 on 11735 DOL 050 kW / non-dir to CeAf Swahili/Live sport, instead [of!] English http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/fair-to-good-reception-of-zanzibar.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #934 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, Jan 11, 2016, via DXLD) 11735 much weaker than it has been here in recent weeks - S3 at 1938z today Jan 9 (Rich, Near Chicago IL, Ray, Drake R8 and dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Reply to YEMEN Jan 9 log 11735, ZBC R.-Dole at 2027 in Swahili, Jan 9 (S9+25). I like to listen to this music every afternoon, I’ve noticed that the reception is far superior on the Icom 8500 (Rimini, Italy) available on GlobalTuners.com than it is on the WebSDR at Twente. Better audio, too (Mike Bryant, KY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 1330, 01/07 22:27 EST [0327 UT Jan 8] „Radio 1330, Deportes Radio“ in Spanish with sports talk. Received in North Miami Beach. WHAT WAS THIS?? (Robertas Pogorelis, FL, DX LISTENIING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4599.99, Jan 9 at 0643, JBA carrier. No broadcasters listed here except R. Perla del Acre, Bolivia, in Aoki, another long- gone legacy entry, but never flagged as such. More likely it`s a MW harmonic from 1150- or 920- (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 7630-USB, Jan 10 at 0151, 2-way in Spanish discussing Apolo XX ship on la Luna, and quantities of dólares (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Reception of numbers stations S06s and S11a on Jan 7: 0940-0945 9540 secret unknown site Eu Russian CUSB, powerful signal 1015-1027 12530 secret unknown site Eu Russian USB, very good signal http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.bg/2016/01/reception-of-numbers-stations-s06s-and.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #934 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, Jan 11, 2016, via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED [and non]. 9830.08 approx., Jan 11 at 0635, DW Hausa via IBB São Tomé, scheduled daily 0630-0700 on 9830, is very weak but also has a JBA het on the hi side. Nothing else is listed. Is anyone else hearing this? I`ve had it before. Or could it be something local to me (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11655, Jan 8 at 0559, something odd catches my ear, sounds like contemporary American YL pop singer, S6, brief pause circa 0600 but resumes until cutoff at 0601.5*. May have been looping but didn`t hear enough to be sure. Nothing at all is listed here anywhere near this hour, by HFCC, Aoki or EiBi (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ ACKNOWLEDGED ON WORLD OF RADIO 1808: In recognition of your key role in keeping the DX hobby alive (Dan Goldfarb, England, with a contribution in GBP via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com) TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED FUTURELY: Thanks to Will Martin, St Louis MO, for a generous check to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702 (and for re-renewing a subscription to The Week) Dear Glenn, Please accept this long-overdue gesture of appreciation for your hard work in continuing to compile and distribute DXLD, despite all the changes in our wonderful hobby. I wish you a happy and healthy 2016! Vy 73 de (Anne Fanelli, Elma NY, Dec 21, with a check to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702) Keep up the good work! (Henning Vahlbruch, Germany with a contribution in US$ via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com) Hi Glenn, I really enjoy your broadcasts. Due to the high levels of noise caused by all the unshielded digital crap, I can`t do much DX work, but do enjoy listening to the more powerful broadcasts (Philip H Bronfin, Reston VA, Jan 11, with a generous check to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702) Hi Glenn; wanted to congratulate you on the amount of reception detail you generate regularly. Well done! Regards, (Mark Durenberger, There's SO much I still don't know!) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ Updated EiBi English Extracts The B15 EiBi English Extracts as of January 5, 2016 are in the Schedules section of http://www.kg4lac.com 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Krist, Jan 8, dxldyg via DXLD) A VIDEO HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN RADIO PERSONALITY YouTube Video of the Month https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7L98A0aHIo In just 22 minutes, hear and see 190 video clips of famous American Radio DJs of the past. This true art for is disappearing as commercial radio moves away from personality driven radio. In the days of these DJs we often tuned in more for who was on the radio than what they were playing. See how many you recognize (Jan CIDX Messenger via DXLD) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ THE TERM "HIGH LIFE" Glenn, just a random thought, and you are free to quote me if you wish. I have noticed that many DX-ers use the term “high life” to describe African popular music, such as on Radio Nacional de Angola, WOR 1807. I remember when I first began hearing stations from newly independent sub-Saharan African stations, around 1960. The music they played at that time was called “high life.” The popular music played today seems, to me, to be very different, and I wonder if people outside of the DX-ing community still use this term. Might the term “afro-pop” be more appropriate? just a thought. 73, (Tim Hendel, AL, Jan 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, High Life music is a specific style of music which flourished in Nigeria and Ghana especially in the 1950s, well-described in the online Encyclopaedia Britannica at The term "Afro-Pop" is obviously rather broad, and subsumes a wide range of African(ethnic) musics, but is useful if you can't identify a musical style more specifically. Best, (Saul Broudy (W3WHK), DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ WORLD RADIO DAY 2016 Date: 13 Feb 2016 Location: worldwide Website: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/events/prizes ...(link is external) 13 February is a date proclaimed by UNESCO to celebrate radio broadcast, improve international cooperation among radio broadcasters and encourage decision-makers to create and provide access to information through radio, including community radios. It’s an occasion to draw attention to the unique value of radio, which remains the medium to reach the widest audience and is currently taking up new technological forms and devices. UNESCO encourages all countries to celebrate this Day by undertaking activities with diverse partners, such as national, regional and international broadcasting associations and organizations, non- governmental organizations, media organizations, outlets as well as the public at large. Let's celebrate! http://www.iasa-web.org/event/world-radio-day-2016 Posted by: (Mike Terry, Jan 9, dxldyg via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ EDXC CONFERENCE FRIDAY 9 - MONDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2016, MANCHESTER EDXC are happy to announce that the British DX Club will host EDXC 2016 in Manchester. Accommodation and the conference itself will take place at The Castlefield Hotel. http://castlefield-hotel.co.uk This is set in the historic Castlefield canal basin area of the city of Manchester. It is a short walk from shopping areas and is close to many cafes, pubs, bars and restaurants. There are also museums and art galleries nearby. Conference registration will be on the evening of Friday 9 September with conference sessions on the mornings of Saturday 10 September, Sunday 11 September and the final conference sessions on Monday 12 September. The full programme will be announced in due course. Excursions are being planned for the conference and will be announced in a few months. Accommodation prices: Castlefield Hotel costs per night (in pounds and euros): Single room £87 (€118); Double room £95 (€129); 3 people in a room £117 (€158). Our contact at the Castlefield Hotel is Ann Shannon, Reservations and Meetings Manager (Tel +44(0)161 832 7073) Room bookings should be made through her ann@castlefieldhotel.co.uk Please mention EDXC 2016 and the reference number BK57133 when you make a booking. A separate delegate rate - a small amount for conference costs - plus prices for radiothemed excursions and the Sunday night banquet, will be published nearer the time. Details are also available at the EDXC website/blog https://edxcnews.wordpress.com If you have any questions about EDXC 2016 please contact Kari Kivekäs (EDXC Secretary General), Jan-Mikael Nurmela (EDXC Assistant Secretary General), or Chrissy Brand editor@bdxc.org.uk For more on what to do and see in Manchester see http://www.visitmanchester.com/ EDXC Manchester host Chrissy Brand also writes a daily photo blog about Manchester: http://mancunianwave.blogspot.co.uk/ (Jan BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See BANGLADESH; ROMANIA ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- IBOC See BANGLADESH +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV See AFGHANISTAN; MEXICO ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ WebSDR's other than Twente? I'm familiar with Twente and Global Tuners. Are there URLs for other HF web-based radios? Thanks, (Mike Bryant, KY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This resulted in a nice long thread of replies, and is an example of what I am no longer going to laboriously re-edit into readable DXLD form. Instead, people should join and follow in the original DXLD yg, https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/dxld/conversations/topics/87608 And BTW, the DXLD yg is fully searchable if you have a keyword or frequency you need to research (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ TEP FM BROADCASTING NA [sic] CIDADE DE SÃO PAULO Amigos, na noite passada houve mais uma abertura transequatorial aqui no lotado dial da cidade de São Paulo, eu estava sintonizando a única frequencia livre que era 91.1 Mhz, recebia com sinal fraco a Radio Ipanema de Sorocaba SP quando por volta de 22:00 local começou a entrar uma emissora de lingua inglesa com sinal fraco também, eu acredito ser a Observer Radio que já recebi algumas vezes: TEP - 91.1 Mhz - Caribe TEP - 91.1 MHz - Caribe | Visualizar em youtu.be | O sinal não melhorou, ficou nessa intensidade. Por volta de 22:30 dei um giro no dial para ver se tinha alguma novidade no dial e para minha surpresa em 100.7 MHz a Radio Pirata local que domina essa frequencia estava fora do ar e entrava uma emissora também de lingua inglesa mas com sinal bem melhor que a 91.1 Mhz, era a Quality FM 100.7 de Barbados: Quality FM - 100.7 MHz - Barbados - Caribe - Parte 1 [linx] Quality FM - 100.7 MHz - Barbados - Caribe - Parte 2 O sinal ficou nessa intensidade até as 23:00 local quando começou a diminuir e às 23:10 local desapareceu, reaparecendo às 23:20, indo até 23:35 local quando a TEP desapareceu e não retornou mais. Então a TEP por aqui foi entre 22:00 e 23:10 e entre 23:20 e 23:35 horário de Brasilia. Em horário GMT foi entre 0000 e 0110 UT e entre 0120 e 0135 UT. 73´s (Fran Jr., São Paulo, 13 Jan, SPRadio Sony XDR-F1HD, Antena direcional interna Yagi 6 elementos, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Since Fran can accomplish this in the megalopolis of São Paulo, imagine what someone out in the sertaneja at a similar latitude could hear without a band clogged by locals (gh, DXLD) :Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts :Issued: 2016 Jan 11 0123 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 04 - 10 January 2016 Solar activity was at very low to low levels. Very low activity was observed on 04-05 January and 08-10 January while isolated low activity occured on 06-07 January. A pair of C1 x-ray events were observed from Region 2480 (N02, L=125, class/area Eso/190 on 10 Jan) on 06/1137 UTC and 07/0617 UTC, respectively. No Earth-directed coronal mass ejections were observed during the summary period. No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at high levels throughout the period. Geomagnetic field activity was at predominately quiet levels on 04-05 January and 08-10 January. On 06 January, activity increased to unsettled to active levels with an isolated period of minor storming (G1-Minor) observed early on the 6th. Unsettled to active conditions persisted through late on the 7th. This increase in activity was due to the presence of a recurrent, positive polarity coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS). Solar wind parameters, measured at the ACE satellite, indicated an increase in wind speeds early on 06 Jan from about 475 km/s to a peak of 643 km/s at 06/1025 UTC. Wind speeds remained elevated between 575 - 625 km/s through about 07/2000 UTC when a gradual decline to about 430 km/s were observed through the end of the summary period. Total field (Bt) averaged about 5 nT for a majority of the period, but ranged from 7-16 nT from 05/0820 UTC - 06/0131 UTC. The Bz component varied between +/- 4 nT with increased variability recorded between +12 nT to -10 nT from 05/0935 UTC to 06/0022 UTC. The phi angle was in a predominately positive (away for the Sun) orientation throughout the summary period. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 11 JANUARY-06 FEBRUARY 2016 Solar activity is expected to be at very low to low levels from 11-14 January and from 29 January - 06 February. From 15-28 January, activity levels are expected to increase to low to moderate levels (R1-Minor) due to the return of old active Region 2473 (S21, L=334). No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at normal to moderate levels on 11-12, 17-22, 26-28 January and 31 January - 02 February. High levels are expected on 13-16, 23-25, 29-30 January and 03-06 February due to enhanced winds from a series of geoeffective CH HSSs. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at unsettled to active conditions on 12-13, 22-23, 28-29 January and 02-03 February with isolated minor storm levels (G1-Minor) likely on 12 and 18 January, all due to a series of recurrent CH HSSs. Quiet to unsettled conditions are expected for the remaining days of the outlook period. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2016 Jan 11 0123 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 2016-01-11 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2016 Jan 11 110 6 2 2016 Jan 12 108 15 5 2016 Jan 13 105 12 4 2016 Jan 14 100 8 3 2016 Jan 15 105 6 2 2016 Jan 16 105 6 2 2016 Jan 17 105 6 2 2016 Jan 18 105 5 2 2016 Jan 19 100 5 2 2016 Jan 20 100 5 2 2016 Jan 21 100 8 3 2016 Jan 22 100 15 4 2016 Jan 23 105 10 3 2016 Jan 24 105 5 2 2016 Jan 25 105 5 2 2016 Jan 26 105 5 2 2016 Jan 27 110 5 2 2016 Jan 28 110 18 5 2016 Jan 29 105 12 4 2016 Jan 30 105 8 3 2016 Jan 31 105 5 2 2016 Feb 01 110 5 2 2016 Feb 02 110 15 4 2016 Feb 03 110 12 4 2016 Feb 04 110 8 3 2016 Feb 05 110 5 2 2016 Feb 06 110 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1808, DXLD) GLENN`S PROPAGATION OUTLOOK FOR MEDIA NETWORK PLUS AS OF JANUARY 14 Keith, The global HF propagation forecast from IPS in Australia: normal at all latitudes thru January 16. From Spaceweather South Africa thru January 16: magnetic conditions quiet to unsettled; shortwave fadeouts unlikely; MUF unstable. Radio Society of Great Britain calls for maximum useable frequencies up to 21 MHz on DX paths during daylight, with occasional openings on the higher HF bands. From Met Office UK, thru January 16, Solar activity low or very low, with a 30% chance of Common Class flares. Solar radiation storms are not expected. From Petr Kolman, OK1MGW of the Czech Propagation Interested Group, the Geomagnetic field will be: mostly quiet on January (15 - 17), 23, 31 quiet on January (18 - 19), 24 - 26 quiet to unsettled on January 20 - 22, 29 - 30, February 3 quiet to active on January 27 - 28, February 1 - 2 From Spaceweather Canada, the 27 Day Magnetic Activity Forecast shows highest nanotesla DRX readings on January 22 and 23, February 2 and 3. From the NOAA Spaceweather Predixion Center in Boulder: Solar activity very low to low levels January 11-14 and 29th to Feb 6. From January 15 to 28, activity levels are expected to increase to low to moderate levels. Geomagnetic field unsettled to active January 22-23, 28-29 and February 2-3 with isolated minor G1 storm levels likely January 18. A and K indices peaking at 15 and 4 on January 22; 18 and 5 on January 28. Lowest indices of 5 and 2 on January 18-20, and 24-27. Solar flux varying little, within 5 units above or below 105. William Hepburn`s worldwide VHF UHF Microwave DX forecasts show strong tropospheric ducting off Baja California and as far north as San Francisco. Extreme ducting off the coast of Uruguay, and southern Brasil, January 17-19, and all week along the west and northwest coasts of Australia (via DXLD) ###