DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-085, July 20, 2007 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 2007 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1367: ** tentative Sat 1630 WWCR3 12160 [confirmed July 14] Sat 2130 WRMI 9955 Sun 0230 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1500 WRMI 7385 Mon 0300 WBCQ 9330-CLSB Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Mon 0530 WRMI 9955** Mon 0930 WRMI 9955** Tue 1030 WRMI 9955** Wed 0730 WRMI 9955** WORLD OF RADIO, CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL SCHEDULE: 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 For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN NOW AVAILABLE: http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org MUNDO RADIAL, Julio-Agosto: (corriente) http://www.w4uvh.net/mr0707.ram (descargar) http://www.w4uvh.net/mr0707.rm (texto) http://www.worldofradio.com/mr0707.html ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. ENGLAND: R Solh, 17700 at 1430 in Dari/Pashto. The usual pop music. Loud and Clear. 19 July (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. La Radio Transmundial, o sea la Trans World Radio, prevé cambios sustanciales en sus emisiones en las ondas medias y cortas. Muy probablemente no habrá transmisiones con la ayuda de instalaciones situadas en Albania, en la temporada de invierno, que comienza a finales de octubre. Rumen Pankov, Versión en español de Mijail Mijailov http://www.bnr.bg/RadioBulgaria/Emission_Spanish/Theme_Espacio_diexista/Material/07.07.16.htm (R. Bulgaria Spanish DX July 16 via DXLD) ** ALGERIA. A few months ago there was big news that English broadcasts were again available from Algiers --- on webcast, anyway. No schedule on the site, but we found one at 1900(?) UT and axually listened to one or two. Since then, hardly anything to follow up. I tried again recently at some other daypart but could not get a connexion. What is the status of this? http://www.algerian-radio.dz/Radio-International/indexfr.asp looks about the same; in fact the dates on it are still from March! ``Radio Algérie Internationale, un nouveau né, dans le champs médiatique de l'audio visuel en Algérie. Première chaîne d'information continue en Algérie, "AI" se fixe comme objectif d'émettre 24 heures sur 24 heures dans un très proche avenir. "AI" émettra dans un premier temps douze heures par jour entre midi et zéro heure. Et sur satellite: . . .`` Says initially it will be operating 12 hours a day from local noon to midnite. The five linx at the top still go nowhere, and the listen link mms://193.194.64.116/elbahdja wants to launch some unknown external application, we are warned to suspect (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. New from Radio Australia: "Five Minutes to Midnight", from Asialink The University of Melbourne's "Asialink Centre" [sic] promotes understanding of the countries of Asia and creates links with Asian counterparts. Radio Australia has begun to air a series of lectures entitled "Five Minutes to Midnight", dealing with the Doomsday Clock, established in 1947 at the University of Chicago to reflect concerns over the risk of nuclear war (Richard Cuff, June 14, swprograms via DXLD) Following up: Roger Broadbent tells me the second lecture in the Asialink series "Five Minutes to Midnight" was recorded a couple of weeks ago. Broadcast times are: Friday 20 July at 2330 UT (Asia/Pacific & OnLine) Saturday 21 July at 1030 UT (Asia & OnLine - the Pacific will hear coverage of a Rugby Union game between Australia & NZ) Sunday 22 July at 0230 & 0530 (OnLine only) Sunday 22 July at 1130 UT (World Radio Network - North America stream) (BTW - the morning SW service we hear in North America is the Pacific service). MP3 & Podcast - of both lectures is available on the Radio Australia website at: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/fivemins/ Here are some additional details on the series: Five Minutes to Midnight: Melbourne University's Asialink explores the ticking of the Doomsday Clock, a concept established in 1947 at the University of Chicago to reflect concerns that the world could obliterate itself by way of nuclear war. The title of the series, Five Minutes to Midnight, refers to planet earth's current position on the Doomsday Clock, based on nuclear, environmental and technological threats. The clock ticked forward two minutes in January 2007, due to climate change. The second lecture in this three part series is titled: "Terrorism as a Family Activity: Understanding Jemaah Islamiyah's Social Ties", Presented by Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group (ICG) (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, July 19, ibid.) see also TURKEY ** BELGIUM. Regarding last week's question about exact airtime of RTBF, the most accurate was the WRTH! 0300-2115 UT. I've checked it in the evenings. But, here are their official announcements: http://www.rtbfi.be/rtbf_2000/objects/sac/0/1/8/9/8/0189895_sac/cell03_0189895_sac.jpg [83 KB] 0300-0430 & 0500-2100 UTC http://www.rtbf.be/stellent/groups/public/documents/doc_generique/075530.pdf [357 KB] 0300-0430 & 0500-2115 UTC Best regards & many 73s! (Dragan Lekic from Subotica, Serbia, July 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. RÁDIO GUARUJÁ APRESENTARÁ ÚLTIMA EDIÇÃO DE PROGRAMA DX Após ser irradiado por um período de três anos e oito meses, o programa Nas Ondas Curtas da Guarujá Paulista será apresentado, pela última vez, neste sábado (21), a partir das 21h30min, no horário oficial de Brasília, pelas freqüências de 1550, 3385 e 5045 kHz. Ocorre que, a partir da segunda-feira (23), a emissora vai entrar em rede com o Sistema Globo de Rádio, passando a se identificar como Rádio Globo Santos. Assim, apenas seis horas diárias serão produzidas na Baixada Santista: entre 10h e 13h e das 17h às 20h, no horário oficial de Brasília. Nos demais espaços, a programação será em rede com o Sistema Globo de Rádio. Por isso, a desaparição do programa DX. Em sua última edição, o programa Nas Ondas Curtas da Guarujá Paulista irá prestar uma homenagem ao diretor da emissora, jornalista Orivaldo Rampazo, por incentivar as escutas em ondas curtas. Também por aceitar a parceria com o DX Clube do Brasil, que resultou na produção e veiculação de cerca de 190 programas falando sobre DX e ondas curtas pela Guarujá Paulista. O programa ainda irá relembrar das pessoas que ajudaram na produção e apresentação do mesmo com suas vozes. Enviará também saudações especiais para um grupo de pessoas de todo o mundo que valorizam e pesquisam as ondas curtas, tais como Carlos Gonçalves, de Portugal, Glenn Hauser e Jeff White, dos Estados Unidos, Arnaldo Slaen e Gabriel Barrera, da Argentina, José Miguel Romero e Manuel Méndez, da Espanha, Eduardo Peñailillo Barra, do Chile, Anker Petersen, da Dinamarca, Henrik Klemetz, da Suécia e muitos outros. A produção, a cargo do DX Clube do Brasil, irá preparar um cartão QSL especial para a última edição do espaço Nas Ondas Curtas da Guarujá Paulista. Caso captar e enviar um relatório de recepção para a produção, o interessado poderá receber uma confirmação especial. É um QSL da produção do programa e não da própria emissora, que também poderá ser contactada para tal fim. O interessado poderá enviar seu relatório por e-mail ou carta clássica contendo, inclusive, gravação da escuta em MP3, para: Caixa Postal 51, CEP: 90.001-970, Porto Alegre (RS), Brasil. E-mail: dx @ romais.jor.br ////////////////////////////////// O quê? Programa Nas Ondas Curtas da Guarujá Paulista Quando? Sábado, a partir das 21h30min, no horário oficial de Brasília (0030 UTC de domingo) Onde? Em 1550, 3385 e 5045 kHz. ////////////////////////////////// (Célio Romais, Brasil, July 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) A Spanish machine translation of this, amazingly good, appeared in the dxldyg. Hmm, not so amazing, considering how closely the languages are related. This DX program is about to have its final airing, as the station it is on is turning over most of its programming time to another (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. It's just after 1900 UT and I'm enjoying sertaneja music from Rádio Brasil Central on 11815 kHz. For weeks now they've been a steady guest here providing pretty good reception. Not bad considering they claim to use just 7½ kW on this frequency. Probably the most efficient kilowatts in radio history or they are not telling the truth. Kind regards (Christer Brunström, Halmstad, Sweden, July 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. DXing the Finnish Way blog had been inactive for a sesquimonth, but now has picked up again, including some items from here, most of which were already in DXLD but only in Portuguese: http://finndxer.wordpress.com/2007/07/16/brazil-news-update/ (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. Dear OM, The Sound of Hope 24 hour service has begun to use new frequency. Now operating: 7300 9200 10300 13970 15000 (nf ex 145xx kHz) 18180; at 0205 UT on July 20. de S. Aoki (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Watch out, WWV/H! (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA. Voice of Croatia/Voz de Croacia mp3 download link Dear DXers, If you missed a program from the Voice of Croatia onshort waves, and you want to hear it, or program you've heard was very interesting to you, and you want to have it, then download the audio in mp3 format [64kbps/44kHz/stereo]: type http://www.hrt.hr/audio_clip and under "Mreža" where the default is "1. Program" choose Glas Hrvatske and then just click on CROACIA HOY or CROATIA TODAY and the download should start. The files are between 6 and 8 MB large. Best regards! (Dragan Lekic from Subotica, Serbia, July 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. RHC`s 11760 transmitter was putting out numerous spurs, July 19 at 1212 as I tuned around 25m. On 11760 itself it was somewhat distorted. Worst spur on 11794, and all the others found at plus or minus 34 kHz from 11760 and multiples of 34 kHz, as extremely distorted scratchy blobs, altho weaker the further from 11760. Detectable on: 11624, 11658, 11692, 11726; 11794, 11828, 11862, 11896, 11930. These interfered with numerous stations, including R. Rebelde on 11655, something in Chinese on 11825. Some of them still audible at 1400 recheck, 11794 being much stronger than 11726. Next day, July 20 at 1320, however, no spurs audible, just 11760 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. See MALAYSIA [non] ** GERMANY. BERLIN 6005 KNOCKED OFF BY FIRE A fire at the Berlin-Britz station severely damaged the transmitter which carried Deutschlandradio Kultur on 6005. It remains to be seen if and when the transmitter can be reactivated. http://www.dradio.de/dkultur/sendungen/dkultur-mw-lw/647187/ Harald Kuhl called up Deutschlandradio and got the damage specified as 100,000 Euro. It is subject of a management decision if this rather expensive repair will be carried out. The affected transmitter is a Telefunken S4001 without the fast tuning components. Back in 1995 this transmitter stood next to an S4002 (100 kW mediumwave, aux) and a S4003 (300 kW / 990 kHz). Probably these tube transmitters were since then removed to make way for the current 855 and 990 solid state transmitters (25 and 100 kW, respectively), probably they are still there and were damaged as well. Anyway mediumwave transmissions are not affected, there is the usual DRM hiss on 855 and 990 is on as well (at 2040 check relaying ZDF TV audio // 177 as scheduled). The 6190 transmitter sits in another building and is thus not affected as well. I would say that it should not be entirely ruled out that 6005 will rise from ashes (pardon me), since Deutschlandradio engineering got an allowance to order spare parts for this transmitter as recently as in last January. Otherwise it only remains to be seen how much life is left in the 1950 vintage transmitter, still relaying Deutschlandfunk on 6190 after it just barely escaped a looming shut-down back in 2003 (Kai Ludwig, July 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) According to http://europe.ibbmonitor.com/RMSData/Scans/2007_07_16/HELS/6/0707161106_HELS__5730__6295.TXT http://europe.ibbmonitor.com/RMSData/Scans/2007_07_16/HELS/6/0707161128_HELS__5730__6295.TXT IBB Monitoring station Helsinki scan from July 16, 2007 average strength meter (avg. s-meter) says 11:07:22, 96.00, 6005.00 11:28:31, 29.00, 6005.00 so, it's obvious that Berlin 6005 kHz ended transmission on July 16, 2007 at approximately 1115 UTC (1315 CEST). Best regards! (Dragan Lekic from Subotica, Serbia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Summer A-07 DTK T-Systems Media & Broadcast. Part 1 of 3: IBC Tamil Radio: 0000-0100 7115 WER 250 kW / 105 deg to SoAs Tamil Voice of Croatia in Croatian/English/Spanish: 0100-0500 9925 NAU 125 kW / 270 deg to NoAmWe 0400-0700 9470 WER 125 kW / 240 deg to NZ 0600-1000 11610 JUL 100 kW / 270 deg to AUS 2200-0300 9925 WER 125 kW / 240 deg to SoAm 2300-0300 9925 WER 125 kW / 300 deg to NoAmEa Athmee Yatra He/Gospel For Asia (GFA): 0030-0130 9435 WER 250 kW / 090 deg to SEaAs South East Asian langs 1330-1430 13860 WER 250 kW / 075 deg to SEaAs South East Asian langs 1430-1530 13745 WER 250 kW / 075 deg to SEaAs South East Asian langs 1530-1630 13750 WER 250 kW / 090 deg to SEaAs South East Asian langs 2330-0030 9680 WER 250 kW / 075 deg to SEaAs South East Asian langs Radio Free Asia (RFA): 0100-0300 11975 WER 500 kW / 075 deg to SEaAs Tibetan Voice of Russia (VOR): 0200-0300 9515 WER 250 kW / 300 deg to NoAm Russian WS 0300-0500 9515 WER 250 kW / 300 deg to NoAm English WS 1400-1500 15430 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg to ME Russian "Commonwealth" 2200-2300 6145 WER 125 kW / 105 deg to ME Arabic Radio Liberty (RL): 0200-0330 9510 WER 250 kW / 105 deg to WeAs Persian Radio Farda 0400-0500 15255 WER 250 kW / 105 deg to WeAs Persian Radio Farda 1200-1300 15565 WER 250 kW / 060 deg to EaEu Russian 1500-1700 9725 JUL 100 kW / 050 deg to EaEu Belorussian 1600-1700 9445 WER 250 kW / 060 deg to EaEu Russian 1600-1700 13815 WER 250 kW / 075 deg to CeAs Turkmen 1700-1900 7105 WER 250 kW / 105 deg to WeAs Persian Radio Farda 1900-2000 9805 WER 250 kW / 060 deg to CeAs Tatar Bashkir Adventist World Radio (AWR): 0300-0330 9545 WER 250 kW / 135 deg to EaAf Oromo 0300-0400 9815 WER 250 kW / 135 deg to EaAf Tigrigna/Amharic 0500-0600 5965 WER 100 kW / 120 deg to EaEu Bulgarian 0700-0830 11980 JUL 100 kW / 200 deg to NoAf Arabic/Arabic/Tachelhit 0800-0900 15260 JUL 100 kW / 200 deg to NoAf French/Tachelhit 0900-1000 9790 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg to SoEu Italian Sun 1200-1300 15435 WER 250 kW / 090 deg to SoAs English/Bangla 1300-1330 15320 WER 250 kW / 075 deg to EaAs Chinese Mon-Fri 1300-1330 15320 WER 250 kW / 075 deg to EaAs Uighur Sat/Sun 1330-1500 15320 WER 250 kW / 075 deg to EaAs Chinese 1500-1600 15160 WER 250 kW / 090 deg to SoAs Punjabi/Hindi 1500-1600 15225 WER 250 kW / 075 deg to SoAs Nepali/English 1630-1700 17575 WER 250 kW / 135 deg to EaAf Somali 1730-1800 11780 JUL 100 kW / 200 deg to NoAf Kabyle 1730-1800 17575 WER 250 kW / 135 deg to EaAf Oromo 1900-1930 15205 JUL 100 kW / 190 deg to CeAf Fulfulde 1900-2030 11730 JUL 100 kW / 200 deg to NoAf Arabic/Tachelhit/French 1900-2030 15260 JUL 100 kW / 200 deg to NoAf Arabic/Arabic/French 2000-2030 9770 WER 250 kW / 105 deg to WeAs Persian 2000-2030 15235 JUL 100 kW / 160 deg to SoAf English 2000-2100 11755 JUL 100 kW / 175 deg to WeAf French/Yoruba 2030-2100 9565 JUL 100 kW / 200 deg to NoAf Chinese CVC International till July 31 0500-0600 9430 WER 125 kW / 180 deg to WeAf English 0600-0900 15640 WER 125 kW / 180 deg to WeAf English 1500-1800 15715 WER 125 kW / 180 deg to WeAf English 1800-2100 13820 WER 125 kW / 180 deg to WeAf English Radio Netherlands till Sep. 1 0600-0655 11655 JUL 100 kW / 020 deg to NoEu Dutch 0700-0755 9610 JUL 100 kW / 050 deg to EaEu Dutch Polish Radio External Service 1030-1100 7285 NAU 100 kW / 100 deg to EaEu Polish 1030-1100 11915 WER 100 kW / 300 deg to WeEu Polish 1100-1130 13745 WER 100 kW / 060 deg to EaEu Russian 1100-1130 13840 WER 100 kW / 090 deg to EaEu Russian 1130-1200 5965 JUL 100 kW / 125 deg to WeEu German 1130-1200 5975 WER 100 kW / 040 deg to WeEu German 1200-1300 9525 WER 100 kW / 300 deg to WeEu English 1200-1300 11850 NAU 100 kW / 000 deg to WeEu English 1300-1330 11835 WER 100 kW / 060 deg to EaEu Russian 1300-1330 13800 WER 500 kW / 060 deg to EaEu Russian 1330-1430 6035 WER 100 kW / 060 deg to EaEu Belorussian 1330-1430 7180 WER 100 kW / 060 deg to EaEu Belorussian 1430-1500 6000 WER 100 kW / 075 deg to EaEu Ukrainian 1430-1500 7180 WER 100 kW / 045 deg to EaEu Russian 1500-1530 9440 WER 100 kW / 075 deg to EaEu Ukrainian 1500-1530 9555 WER 100 kW / 075 deg to EaEu Ukrainian 1530-1600 5975 WER 100 kW / 040 deg to WeEu German 1530-1630 6050 WER 100 kW / 055 deg to EaEu Polish 1630-1700 6050 WER 100 kW / 055 deg to EaEu Belorussian 1700-1800 7140 JUL 100 kW / 020 deg to NoEu English 1700-1800 7265 WER 250 kW / 300 deg to NoEu English 1800-1830 6140 WER 100 kW / 075 deg to EaEu Russian 1800-1830 9695 WER 100 kW / 120 deg to EaEu Hebrew 1830-1900 6145 WER 100 kW / 075 deg to EaEu Ukrainian 1830-1900 6175 WER 100 kW / 075 deg to EaEu Ukrainian 1900-1930 5910 WER 100 kW / 075 deg to EaEu Ukrainian 1900-1930 6050 WER 125 kW / 090 deg to EaEu Russian 1930-2000 6110 WER 100 kW / 040 deg to WeEu German 1930-2000 6140 JUL 100 kW / 130 deg to WeEu German 2100-2200 6135 WER 110 kW / 055 deg to EaEu Polish 2100-2200 7140 NAU 250 kW / 220 deg to WeEu Polish Brother Stair/The Overcomer Ministries (TOM): 1100-1200 6110 JUL 100 kW / 290 deg to WeEu English 1st Sun 1200-1500 6110 JUL 100 kW / 290 deg to WeEu English 1400-1600 13810 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg to WeAs English 1900-2100 6175 NAU 100 kW / 280 deg to WeEu English Radio Romania International (RRI): 1400-1430 9600 WER 060 kW / 300 deg to WeEu English DRM Voice of America (VOA): 1630-1800 6040 WER 250 kW / 105 deg to WeAs Persian 1700-1830 9760 WER 250 kW / 105 deg to WeAs Persian 1730-1800 7235 WER 250 kW / 090 deg to CeAs Azeri 1730-1800 13870 WER 250 kW / 150 deg to EaAf Afan/Oromo Mon-Fri 1800-1845 9875 WER 250 kW / 150 deg to EaAf Amharic HCJB Global: 1700-1800 6015 WER 100 kW / non-dir to WeEu German Voice of Oromo Liberation (Sagalee Bilisummaa Oromoo): 1700-1800 13830 JUL 100 kW / 145 deg to EaAf Oromo IBRA Radio: 1730-1800 11915 JUL 100 kW / 145 deg to EaAf Swahili 1730-1800 15600 WER 125 kW / 145 deg to EaAf Somali 1800-1900 13840 WER 250 kW / 150 deg to CeAf Arabic/Sara/Gambai/Zaghawa 1900-2045 9675 JUL 100 kW / 190 deg to WeAf Hausa/French/Fulfulde/Bambara 2000-2030 9840 JUL 100 kW / 175 deg to NoAf Arabic Democratic Voice of Burma (DVOB): 2330-0030 9490 WER 125 kW / 075 deg to SEaAs Burmese (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, July 20, via DXLD) ** GHANA [and non]. WEST AFRICAN RADIO PARADOX July 10th, 2007 DSC00735 About 20 kms west of Greater Accra we stop to refuel and stretch our legs. The weekend traffic has thinned out at last and the metropolis has disappeared behind us as we circumvent a small hill and cross a lagoon. Soulè has found my batteries in the petrol station shop – as well as a bag of what look like potato chips, but turn out to be fried banana. Another Euro buys you a bag of roasted cashew nuts. The radio springs to life with some paradoxes. The AM band is empty. The FM band is bursting with music. There are local commercial stations, the national broadcaster, as well as outlets for BBC World Service, Radio France Internationale and VOA. VOA, in particular, has a widespread publicity campaign in Accra at the moment. They have hired advertising space in the majority of bus shelters along the main roads. It is 2 pm as we switch on and discover another paradox. VOA is playing exclusively African music and encouraging people to call a number in Washington DC (not toll free by the sound of it). The local commercial stations like Joy FM are playing American hip-hop and encouraging people to SMS answers to simple quizzes, offering free phone credit as prizes. It’s the world upside down. Posted in Technology, Africa Media 2.0, RNW Debates (Jonathan Marks, http://blogs.rnw.nl/rnw60debates/ accompanied by lots of other interesting WAf observations, via DXLD) ** INDIA. Dear Glenn, Vividh Bharathi used by All India Radio means "Indian variety". Dear Glenn and Raul, AIR Khampur is using "Double Dipole Antenna" now on 10330 kHz for optimum coverage of all of India. Anyway it I picked them while in Germany and Austria recently. Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, India, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So there must be two lobes in opposite direxions (gh, DXLD) ** INDONESIA. So much for VOI`s Korean hour at its new time: July 20 at 1304, 1314 and 1353 chex, nothing but carrier and hum on 9525 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. IBA CUTS BACK ENGLISH NEWS BROADCASTS | Text of report in English by Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post website on 18 July; subheading inserted editorially Despite a public outcry earlier this year that appeared to stave off a cancellation of the Israel Broadcasting Authority’s English News on the radio, the cash-strapped IBA is now proceeding with draconian cutbacks anyway, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Among these cuts, IBA sources said, is the cancellation of the English News’s 10 p.m. 25- minute summary of the day’s news, broadcast locally and abroad via the internet, digital and shortwave radio and satellite on Reshet Heh - scheduled to go into effect at the end of July. [1900-1925 UT on 9400, 11590 or 11605, 15640] “We’re cancelling the 10 p.m. show overseas,” an IBA source told the Post, but said the evening 8:30 p.m., 15-minute local news show will be broadcast overseas on shortwave instead. “We still have our internet broadcasts; the 6:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. [on the Reka network]” the source said. “These are available on Reshet Aleph and on our Web site as well.” [what do they mean, ``instead``? 1730 UT is already on SW, as are 0330 and 0930 UT --- gh] In addition, staff overtime and studio hours used to prepare reports are also being cut. Staff members have complained about a unilateral 10 per cent reduction in their overtime hours, and the workers’ union has asked them not to sign their end-of-the-month forms if the cut is enforced. In response, IBA spokeswoman Linda Bar said there had been a reduction in overtime “not only in the English news but in all departments in the IBA. All over, the radio, the TV, all over. There has been a cut of 10 per cent of the overall count of hours for everyone”. Bar stressed that the IBA management’s decision was not to harm the English News radio or television news “right now,” and said she did not know of any plan to stop the overseas broadcasts. Shmuel Ben-Tzvi, head of overseas radio, said: “We are making changes, not cuts. Everything on the radio is included.” Arye Shaked, who heads Reshet Bet’s news division, said: “So far, I don’t see any cuts that have affected the English news or programs. They are negotiating about the reforms and the programs, but they haven’t implemented anything yet.” IBA sources said that all night-time studio hours had already been cancelled earlier in the month, which means that no reports can be prepared after 8 p.m. IBA budget cuts “The [IBA] budget cuts influence the studios as well,” one source said. “So now we don’t get any studio hours after eight in the evening. That’s true for all the languages.” Sources in the French, Spanish and Ladino departments confirmed that their nightly studios from 9 to 10 p.m., which they had shared with the English News, had also been cancelled. No such confirmation was received from Hebrew, Arabic and Russian news. Steve Leibowitz, the head of IBA News on television, said the threatened cutbacks had not yet affected his department, which broadcasts on channels 1 and 33 at 4:50 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively. “There have been no cuts up to this point,” Leibowitz said. “The basic issue is that the Broadcast Authority itself is going through a major financial crisis. And one of the possible areas that could be harmed was the English language news, but that is currently off the table. There is no current plan to change the English News. There could be a lot of firings in the IBA, and that could affect my staff. [But] my department is continuing as usual.” Leibowitz said he expected any cuts to be “very small, with the exception of less overtime for my staff.” He noted that management had even asked him to prepare a proposal to “expand the English-language [television] news and give us an extra half hour every day” on Channel 33 (Source: The Jerusalem Post website, Jerusalem, in English 18 Jul 07 via BBC Monitoring via Media Network blog via DXLD) KOL Israel, 11590 at 0340 on 20 July with news. Good and clear signal. Announcement at 0344 that there would be no more overseas broadcasts in English as of 28 July. // 9345 moderate. This leaves only Iran and Turkey with the most reliable signals to NAm from the Middle East, the latter being moderate here at best, and I don't care for the former. At least KOL QSLs. Mine has a note of apology on it for being late. 73/Liz (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The key word is ``overseas``. Only the 19 UT broadcast has been produced for an external audience. The others are on the domestic service and merely relayed on SW. So you may have quoted them correctly. From our point of view, the distinxion makes little difference, but it does to them. BTW, please don`t write ``KOL``. I keep seeing this from various people. It is not an initialism or acronym, just the Hebrew word for Voice, Kol, not all caps, and not sufficient name for the station, Kol Israel (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) VOICE OF ISRAEL DROPS ENGLISH-LANGUAGE BROADCAST Israeli radio announced on 20 July that overseas Voice of Israel English-language news broadcasts at 1900 gmt will stop as of 29 July. The announcement said that English-language broadcasts can still be heard daily at 0330, 0930 and 1730 gmt locally and overseas. Source: Voice of Israel external service, Jerusalem, in English 0330 gmt 20 Jul 07 (via BBCM via DXLD) Presumably also applies to French and Spanish which follow in the 1900 hour (gh, DXLD) In the planned schedule for July 29, all that's left of Reshet Hey (Israel Radio International) is: 1400-1600 UT for Persian. Besides that, it's just the domesic REKA, which is available locally, via the web and shortwave relay. I actually initially heard that the shortwave relay of REKA was only 1630 UT and later, but then was told that it isn't true. The cutbacks, at this point, are for studio time, so the entire REKA schedule would be relayed via shortwave. So, only the English language cut, is the 1900 UT broadcast. The Jpost article had a number of inaccuracies: "We're canceling the 10 p.m. show overseas," an IBA source told the Post, but said the nightly 8:30 p.m., 15-minute local news show will be broadcast overseas on shortwave instead. "We still have our Internet broadcasts - the 6:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. [on the Reka network]" the source said. "These are available on Reshet Aleph and on our Web site as well." The 8:30 PM was always relayed... it's not "instead". The English news is on REKA - it hasn't been on Reshet Alef in a few years. Anyhow, this is the unchanged REKA schedule, in UT: 03:30 - 03:45 - English 04:45 - 05:00 - French 09:30 - 09:45 - English 10:00 - 10:15 - French 14:00 - 16:00 - Persian 16:30 - 16:45 - Romanian 16:45 - 17:00 - Ladino 17:00 - 17:15 - French 17:15 - 17:30 - Spanish 17:30 - 17:45 - English 17:45 - 18:00 - Yiddish 18:00 - 18:35 - Amharic 18:35 - 18:45 - Tigrit 18:45 - 19:00 - Hungarian 19:00 - 20:00 - Russian [Later:] Scratch the word unchanged... It's unchanged for English -- but they did shorten the overall schedule, due to the studio reductions. You can compare with the current schedule: (UTC) http://www.israelradio.org/livestream.htm (Israel Time) http://reka.iba.org.il/Doc/DOC104418.pdf === By the way, UpSnap.com is now only free if you start the radio stream from your phone using their WAP website. You can't dial in directly, unless you pay $3.99 a month (Doni Rosenzweig, July 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. A reseñar que Galei Zahal comúnmente fuera de frecuencia nominal, hoy la he centrado en 15786.4 kHz ; parece que los oyentes tenemos mayor habilidad para concretar la frecuencia en que sale que los técnicos de la emisora. A no ser que les importe bien poco ante lo cual no digo nada. 15786.4, 2024, Galei Zahal-Tel Aviv-Yavne, Com+Mx, 19/07, Heb, 35333 Cordialmente, (Tomás Méndez, Spain, RX: GRUNDIG SATELLIT 700, SONY ICF SW7600GR, ICOM IC-R2, DEGEN 1103; VISITE MI SITIO WEB PERSONAL EN: http://www.telefonica.net/web2/amaranta/ playdx yg via DXLD) ** JORDAN. 6105, R Jordan, 1800, July 18. Arabic 15-minute news noted in the clear today as co/channel VOA Russian appears to have moved up to 6110. Wonder if this is permanent? (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. Hi Glenn, 9670 this morning mixing with IRIB Japanese and a North Korea strong station; I guess it's Pyongyang Pangsong. But there are no other stations on 9670 during 2100-2130 except IRIB Japanese when I look up EIBI and WRTH. I listen to the IRIB Japanese broadcast on 2100 regularly; this is my first time to hear this N. Korea station. Could find some information about it? p.s. recording file attached. Regards (Lenfant Lee, China, UT July 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Lenfant, Yes, that would be Pyongyang, nominally on 9665. I also hear this very dirty signal in the morning here around 1300. It`s hard to be sure of the exact frequency, but the noise does seem a bit on the high side. Perhaps it has varied further toward 9670 if you are just now having interference from it vs Iran. (or maybe it was not really operating as early as scheduled 2000-). Aoki list: 9665 KCBS Pyongyang 2000-1800 1234567 Korean 50 ND Kanggye KRE 12636E4058 KCBS b06 (Glenn Hauser, OK, ibid.) ** LATVIA. Radio Waves International will emit a special program on 9280 kHz from a transmitter in Latvia on July 27 from 21 to 22 hours, repeated on July 28 at 7 hours and on July 29 at 6 hours. The QSL address is: R.W.I., B.P. 130, 92504 Rueil Cedex, France (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX Program July 20 via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA [non]. Re 7-084, 6050v: Glenn, Yes, you are correct. I should have listened more carefully. It was HCJB that blocked the frequency at 1150. I apologize for the mistake (Chuck Bolland, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) You mean 1130 as previously reported? This still indicates HCJB not following schedule, as they were supposed to be on 6050 before 1130 with same facilities, bi-direxional antenna, 25 kW, just a change in languages (gh, DXLD) 7295, RTM, (TENTATIVE), 1016-1030 July 20. Noted at tune-in a female in English comments, possibly presenting the weather report. At 1018, a male comments. Signal was threshold and possibly a bogie (Chuck Bolland, FL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Chuck, Could very well be them. I also heard them today: 7295, Traxx FM (RTM), 1411-1425, July 20, in English, sports news followed by "Welcome to Rock It. We will rock you all the way to one AM", Traxx FM IDs, song by the Rolling Stones, etc., weak (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONACO [and non]. Hello, Zone 80 Azur is on the air since yesterday afternoon. On 1467 kHz from 0400-1630 UT. The address is: 37, rue d'Antibes, 06400 Cannes (France) web: http://www.zone80azur.com So the Côte d'Azur have now 3 stations on medium waves: 1350 kHz Radio Orient 1467 kHz Zone80 Azur 1557 kHz France Info Yesterday I was in Monte Carlo, and I have got news from Radio Monaco; the station is on the air since July 12th. It's the former MC One. The station is now under control of Monaco Government (some parts only). So the name is Radio Monaco, http://www.radio-monaco.com Actually it's the same kind of programme as MC One. The station will start regular programmes from September. Frequency still 98.2 MHz in Monaco Ville. But in September/October (after agreement of French CSA) the station will change frequency from Mont Agel, to cover all the Côte d'Azur. The station will also be audible until Marseilles and the Provence, with relays (that needs agreement of France). Radio Monaco will be the official voice of the Principality. This tiny country has a lot of money, and it can run Radio Monaco without problems. Untill next time, Best 73's (Christian Ghibaudo, Nice, France, July 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Bonjour, Ça y est les émissions de Zone 80 Azur ont commencé sur 1467 kHz. L'adresse: 37, rue d'Antibes, 06400 Cannes (France) web: http://www.zone80azur.com Il y a un logo spécial 1467, sur le site Internet. Je ne sais pas à quelle heure finisse les émissions sur OM; sur le site il est indiqué des émissions en soirée, mais normalement il y a TWR depuis Roumoules sur 1467 kHz, a suivre ce soir... Aujourd'hui, je suis allé à Monaco; j'ai rendu visite à Radio Monaco (ex MC One). J'ai eu quelques explications: la Principauté de Monaco est maintenant actionnaire de l'ex-MC One. C'est devenue la radio "national" de Monaco, d'ou le changement de nom. Pour le moment, émissions uniquement sur 98.2 MHz (Monaco) et Internet. Mais à partir de fin septembre, les émissions auront lieu depuis le Mont Agel, avec une autre fréquence et une autre puissance. La station sera audible jusqu'à Marseille et en Provence, avec des relais sur tout le sud-est de la France. Reste l'autorisation du CSA, mais cela devrait aller rapidement. Dés septembre, il y aura des émissions avec animateurs en studio, car pour le moment seulement de la musique, sauf le matin. À bientôt, 73's (Christian Ghibaudo, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** NIGER. NIGER SUSPENDS FRENCH RADIO FOR A MONTH By VOA News 19 July 2007 Source: http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-07-19-voa75.cfm The government of Niger has suspended local broadcasts of Radio France International (RFI) after accusing it of being biased in favor of rebel groups. Government officials who regulate media outlets in Niger announced the month-long suspension of the French state-run broadcaster Thursday. They accused RFI of broadcasting "false information" concerning M.N.J., or Niger Movement for Justice, rebels. They gave no examples of such reporting. Earlier this month, Niger shut down the private newspaper "Air Info" for three months after charging it with inciting violence and demoralizing government forces. The newspaper's most recent issue had included a story about an attack by M.N.J. rebels on a military force in Tizirzet. Some information for this report provided by Reuters and AFP (via Dragan Lekic, Serbia, dxldyg via DXLD) And RFI had recently started Hausa broadcasts, too; tsk2 (gh, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. SPOOKY AM & FM EXPERIMENTS LICENSED IN OK, NM The FCC has licensed some more experimental operations on the MW broadcast band. Digging deep into FCC info, I find Psyop mentioned in connexion with this, altho the licensee is the Multi-Spectral Laboratory in Ponca City of Oklahoma State University whose main field seems to be sensing. This is part of a 27 megadollar Navy contract, on behalf of the US Special Operations Command, Charleston SC. The authorization expires July 1, 2009. The consultant making the filings is Dr. Wayne G. Walker, who also happens to be CEO of Republic Aerospace Corp., Duncan OK. There are two locations: Chilocco, Oklahoma, which is right at the Kansas border north of Ponca City, on an abandoned water tower at an Indian school; and Flying H, New Mexico, which is in the back country SW of Roswell. Both mobile (suspect aeronautical) and fixed are authorized. The same callsign applies to both locations, WE2XFZ. Like last year`s tone tests from Virginia on 1610, 1020 and 590 kHz, each of these has three frequencies at the bottom, middle and top of the band, and ditto FM: Chilocco, OK: 540, 830, 1680 kHz, 92.3, 99.1, 107.5 MHz Flying H, NM: 530, 950, 1680 kHz, 88.3, 97.7, 107.3 MHz They are using a 2.5 and a 10 kW AM transmitter and 1 kW on FM, 5 kW ERP. They also mistakenly give ERPs for the MW frequencies. Tests will consist of 1 kHz tones or audio for 5-10 minutes. The equipment is capable of transmitting the callsign. A later filing is for shortwave frequencies too, with 1 kW on USB, LSB, AME, also from the same two locations, but different callsign, WE2XEV, on 4015, 4085, 12115, 12185, 22015, 22085, 26115, 26185. NTIA has accepted these, but two more frequencies have not yet been accepted, 12415 and 12485. Much more detail from my research into this appears in DX Listening Digests 7-082 and 7-084, under OKLAHOMA [and non]: http://www.w4uvh.net/dxld7082.txt http://www.w4uvh.net/dxld7084.txt Of course, any successful monitoring of this will be of great interest. 73, (Glenn Hauser, Enid, July 18, 2007, dxldyg and various MW lists, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Interesting - probably *is* for broadcasting data gathering. Now, if they'd included a few frequencies up in the TV channel bands I'd have though it was maybe someone working on that mooted system of detecting aircraft and missiles using reflected broadcast signals (Lee Reynolds, IRCA via DXLD) FWIW, with regard to the TV transmitters specified... http://www.emceecom.com/broadcast.html The TTV1000EGG is a 1 kW VHF transmitter - capable of being tuned to any VHF channel 2-13 (or foreign VHF channels) in seconds by means of thumbwheels. The page doesn't admit to a TTU100CQ, but it does list a TTU1000CQ which is a 1 kW UHF transmitter. Presumably the TTU100 is a 100-watt rig. Both at WISC-TV and WSMV-TV our low-band ("Band I") VHF antennas had a power gain of roughly 4 - I would expect these experimental stations to achieve an ERP of roughly 4kw on those channels. Maybe somewhat less as for temporary/portable operation they're likely to use lower gain transmitting antennas (maybe closer to 2 kW). I would wild-guess high-band ("Band III") to achieve roughly 3x the antenna gain, and hence 3x the ERP - 6 to 12 kW. On UHF I would expect antenna gains on the order of 20 at "real" stations and maybe on the order of 10 at these temporary/portable installations. With the (presumed) 100-watt transmitter this would yield ERPs on the order of 1 kW. – (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, I do find this very interesting. With the IBOC issue, digital on its way on both AM & FM, it is very possible that broadcaster may leave AM & FM in the future leaving them for exp. bands. 73, (Patrick Martin, OR, ibid.) Not gonna happen. That's the reason for IBOC; not a special band for digital (Powell E Way, IRCA via DXLD) Powell, Now that is true today, but what about 10 years or 20 from now? Who knows what will be coming down the pike. I would not rule out anything. I would have never thought that digital radio would be part of the AM & FM bands either. If someone would have told me that 20 years ago, I would not have believed it. For one thing, who would have thought the FCC would have allowed all of the QRM on the band that IBOC causes. Sometimes I think I am in a nightmare and have not woke up as yet. :) 73, (Patrick Martin, OR, NRC-AM via DXLD) Glenn, Any idea when the tests are to start? We'll let you know what we hear. 950 out of Lubbock puts a pretty fair signal in over here. Thanks (Jerry Kiefer, Roswell, NM, NRC-AM via DXLD) Glenn, I'll keep an ear out for them. The air-mobile ops may come down to Ft Sill. Mr. Walker's company has been a source of mystery down here in SW OK. There have been a few flyovers of what looks to be UAV's the past couple of months. Many are attaching them to Mr. Walker's company and Ft Sill. We've also been getting some strange signals in the VHF Low band and parts of the upper HF frequencies (around 26 - 27.890 MHz). Unknown if these are connected in any way, but they do seem to occur around the same time of these "fly-overs" so it makes one curious. Happy monitoring, (Jeramy Ross - W5XTL - Lawton, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UAV = unmanned aerial vehicle (gh) ** RUSSIA. RWM, Moscow, 14996 at 0327. //s not heard. MUF high tonight --- usually just 9996 heard. 19 July (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Rusia. A finales de los años 20 del siglo pasado, en la Rusia de los Soviets fue construido uno de los centros de transmisión más potentes en el mundo. El centro se conocía familiarmente por el nombre de la Radio de la Internacional Comunista. Estos días se inició el desmontaje de los cuatro gigantescos sistemas de antenas y el de todas las instalaciones de ese centro situado en las afueras de la ciudad de Ufa. Rumen Pankov, Versión en español de Mijail Mijailov http://www.bnr.bg/RadioBulgaria/Emission_Spanish/Theme_Espacio_diexista/Material/07.07.16.htm (R. Bulgaria Spanish DX July 16 via DXLD) ** SAINT HELENA. The Radio St Helena test transmission on July 17 was heard at 1900 UT on 11092.5 USB with pretty good reception quality in south Sweden. Pop music and frequent requests for email reports. The transmission was beamed to Europe according to the announcements. This was my best reception ever of Radio St Helena (Christer Brunström, Halmstad, Sweden, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hola amigos, Ayer escuchada la transmision de pruebas de Radio Santa Helena, por los 11092.5 kHz por USB). Puntual a la cita, a las 1900 UT escuchada por Canarias. La primera hora de transmisión con una señal aceptable (23322), aunque a partir de la segunda hora la señal prácticamente desapareció. Alternaba temas musicales con informaciones de identificación y datos técnicos de la emisora (al menos es lo que mi "patético" inglés me permite entender). ¿Algún amigo escuchó esta transmisión? Saludos (desde Canarias, Tomás González, July 18, Noticias DX via DXLD) I have seen a number of reports of Radio St. Helena QSLs being received for the 2006 test transmission. Is anyone else still waiting for theirs or have they all be delivered by now? Thanks! (Todd Marcuson, Bangor, Maine, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. Hungary, Iceland & Slovakia. At the end of June the short wave broadcasts of Radio Budapest, Islandic Radio and Radio Slovakia International were terminated. The popular DX Program “World of Radio – Radioworld” which used to be broadcast by Deutsche Welle and afterwards by Radio Slovakia International was aired for the last time on June 26 (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX Program July 20 via DXLD) ?? Slovakia? That`s certainly news to us. Could they have been gone for three weeks and no one else noticed? We did have a report that MEDIUMwave in Slovakia was closing down, in DXLD 7-080. Here`s the SW schedule: http://www.slovakradio.sk/inetportal/rsi/core.php?lang=2&mainpage=maincontentfull&page=frequencies including English to Europe at 1830-1900 on 5920, 7345; Americas 0100- 0130 on 5930, 9440. Please reconfirm they are still on (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Slovakia International still on SW! Heard at 1900 UT on 5920 & 6055 in Slovak Regards (Jean-Michel Aubier, France, July 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear DXers, the information of Radio Bulgaria in English is incorrect, probably only on their webpage. The precise info in German says only the DX-Program of R Slovakia Intl has been terminated on SW! "DX-Nachrichten: Ungarn, Island, Slowakei – ab dem 1. Juli haben Radio Budapest und Radio Island ihre Auslandssendungen auf Kurzwelle eingestellt. Das DX-Programm des Slowakischen Rundfunks wird seit dem 26. Juni auch nicht mehr gesendet. Wahrscheinlich bleibt aber noch die deutsche DX-Sendung "DX-Aktuell" von Markus Waidner bestehen. " Source: http://www.bnr.bg/RadioBulgaria/Emission_German/Theme_DX_Programme/Material/dx070710.htm Best regards & many 73s! (Dragan Lekic from Subotica, Serbia, ibid.) Yes, in the Spanish version too there is no such confusion. I wonder if the original script is in Bulgarian, accounting for contradictory translations? Neither one makes clear the actual language(s) of the DX program which is being dropped! Not to be confused with a certain other ``World of Radio``. Plus some other interesting items in the Spanish version, dated July 16, which were not in the English, i.e. TWR will probably no longer broadcast via Albania from B-07; and the gigantic antennas and other installations near Ufa of the Comintern Radio are being dismantled. Which station was that, in English? [see ALBANIA; RUSSIA] (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Noticias DX --- Hungría, Islandia, Eslovaquia. No se puede afirmar todavía a ciencia cierta pero Radio Budapest, una de las emisoras más respetadas por los diexistas, lo mismo que Radio Islandia, han suspendido sus emisiones en onda corta para el exterior, desde el pasado 1 de julio. El pasado 26 de junio, el programa DX de Radio Eslovaquia Internacional, llamado El mundo de la Radio, Radiomundo, fue igualmente cerrado. Probablemente se mantenga existiendo aún en los programas en idioma español. http://www.bnr.bg/RadioBulgaria/Emission_Spanish/Theme_Espacio_diexista/Material/07.07.16.htm (Rumen Pankov, Versión en español de Mijail Mijailov via DXLD) ** SPAIN. Hi Glenn, what Mike Cooper heard last weekend on RNE 3 was live coverage of the summer music festival held outside Madrid. This weekend, however, is the annual FIB Heineiken Bernicassim summer music festival in Valencia -- which is older and more internationally known -- with old groups coming together such as Devo, Iggy and the Stooges, B-52s, and Arctic Monkeys. Here's the web address in English to see the venue. http://fiberfib.com/ It will be carried live for four days on RNE 3 (Marty Delfin, Madrid, Spain, July 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY [non]. VOT was not making it on 15450, Thu July 19 at 1250 for Live from Turkey, but doubt the usual unstructured chatter among the announcers would have enlightened us much about the current political situation. Fortunately, at 1330, R. Australia happened to have an episode of Rear Vision from ABC Radio National which put it all in context, how things there are basically topsy-turvy as regards mosque and state. Furthermore, it is ondemand and a transcript is available at http://www.abc.net.au/rn/rearvision/ for the July 15 show, with this synopsis: ``Turkish elections --- Early elections have been called in Turkey to resolve a political crisis that arose over the possibility that a politician whose wife wears a headscarf would become President. What effect will the vote on 22nd July have on the tension between secularists and Islamists that goes back to the founding of the modern state in 1923?`` (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE [and non]. Re 7-084, beacons on MW. 2006 beacon listing shows: 617 G Luhansk UKR N48 24 51, E039 24 24 720 MS Taganog-South RUS N47 11 30, E038 53 00 1155 LS Krasnyi Luch UKR N48 10 53, E038 56 18 73, (Jari Savolainen, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So 720 is MS rather than 7. From the dih-dah rendering I could not tell there was a pause between the M and the S, which resulted in 7. Pauses are VERY important in code (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. CENTRE OF ATTENTION Liliane Landor 16 Jul 07, 03:51 PM, BBC News | The Editors blog There is something about the media hyping of the World Service in the wake of Alan Johnston's release that makes me slightly uncomfortable. We in the World Service, and more precisely World Service News, have been the centre of attention lately. Alan made sure of that. He said "we sustained him". And judging by the clarity of his analysis post- release, he's come out fully briefed on world affairs. We do news well here at the World Service - those who listen vouch for it and those who don't still think we're "a good thing". We've finessed impartiality down to a fine art. The Independent's Robert Hanks had a fine turn of phrase last Monday: "For most of its history," he wrote, "the WS has been engaged in a kind of propaganda... the softest form of propaganda imaginable. It boosts Britain by refusing to boost Britain." And that's spot on. We do not boost, we do not label, we do not "belong" and we certainly do not take sides. We pursue "neutrality" with a vengeance. So much so that it's the only thing we're not neutral about - I'm never sure whether our audiences agree though. We broadcast to 37.6 million people in English alone, across a huge array of economic, ethnic and racial divides, political and religious convictions. We don't take anything for granted, not even that our listeners understand us at face value. It helps to be precise with words and meticulous when it comes to analysis. Our listeners are great texters and e-mailers, whether they catch us on a crackling short wave transmitter or digitally, on the net, on FM partner stations or on 648 kHz here in the UK. They love to engage and give their views. They can be picky, at times pedantic. What unites them all is a passion for, and a curiosity about, the world. . . http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2007/07/centre_of_attention.html (via Dan Say, DXLD) Plus 25 comments so far, many of them well thought-out; yet we are urged to complain about each one of them! (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U K. Re 7-084: Which BBC managers will be sacked? That's the $64,000 question. BBC CANS CONTESTS IN RESPONSE TO CHEATS --- The White Label music program on the BBC World Service was implicated for announcing fake winners of a CD competition when no winning entries had been received." http://www.miamiherald.com/103/story/174950.html (AP, 19 July 2007 via kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Alas, no surviving audio files at the BBCWS White Label web page http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/white_label.shtml Posted: 19 Jul 2007 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) a show I eschewed (gh) ** U K. I noticed that the BBC signal on Longwave 198 kHz was very weak here in the Netherlands at 1700 UT. Re-checking at 2030 UT, the situation is the same. BBC Reception Advice on the Web says that Radio 5 mediumwave [693 kHz] and Radio 4 longwave from Droitwich suffered a "failure" at 1408 UT. This must be a power failure or an antenna failure, since it affects two different transmitters. 198 kHz was carrying cricket commentary today instead of regular programmes. For the latter part of the day, cricket fans without access to the Radio 5 Live Sports Extra digital service will have had great difficulty hearing the coverage, as only two transmitters in Scotland were on the air on 198 kHz. Yet another embarrassment for the BBC this week :-( (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, July 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re ``Voice of America`` march -- Hi Glenn, This from John Stevenson... (Kim Andrew Elliott, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Kim, Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. I don't know much about this piece. As you probably know, King lived most of his life in the 20th century. He wrote A LOT of music, but he was really uneducated as a musician. He played mostly in circus bands. The VOA March is published by Barnhouse Publishers. If you want, I can check with the military bands to see if they either have the sheet music or have recorded it (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) Well, we already know where some recordings are. Seems to me VOA ought to pay a little attention to it and play it now and then, even if not adopt it as theme or interval signal. Enough of Y. Doodle, already? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. No sign of KVOH 17775 at 2300+. I haven't heard this for a few days at or about this time. 19 July (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. US CONGRESS REJECTS BUSH PLAN TO ELIMINATE CPB SUBSIDY The US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly rejected President Bush’s plan to eliminate the $420 million federal subsidy for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) by a vote of 357-72. The subsidy makes up about 15 percent of the CPB budget. Congress created the CPB in 1967 to shield public broadcasting from political influence. It distributes federal subsidies to PBS, National Public Radio and hundreds of public radio and television stations. (Source: Washington Post)( July 19th, 2007 - 8:59 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** U S A. Tnx to a link on the WHRV program grid, I see that Showtime is offering a free viewing online of the first episode of the TVersion of This American Life; it`s jerky, and a semi-hour, apparently: http://www.sho.com/site/thisamericanlife/video.do (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGSET) ** U S A. UNIVISION INAUGURA CENTRO PARA TRANSMISIONES EN CASO DE HURACÁN - 07/19/2007 - El Nuevo Herald Publicado el jueves 19 de julio del 2007 RUI FERREIRA El Nuevo Herald La cadena Univision inauguró ayer sus instalaciones de emergencia, en una renovada propiedad de WAQI/Radio Mambí en el condado Broward, que funcionará como una alternativa en caso que un desastre natural impida las emisiones regulares desde los estudios de Coral Gables. Las instalaciones cuentan con siete estudios y los equipos necesarios para garantizar las transmisiones de Radio Mambi/710 AM, WQBA/1140 AM, WAMR/107.5 FM y WRTO/98.3 FM, así como una área de trabajo para otros medios de prensa, entre ellos El Nuevo Herald, The Miami Herald y el Canal 23/Univision, socios de la cadena Univision en este proyecto informativo. El centro de emergencias tiene capacidad para trabajar 30 días seguidos sin reabastecerse y es el único privado de su género en el sur de la Florida. . . http://www.elnuevoherald.com/182/story/67783.html (via Óscar de Céspedes, July 20, condig list via DXLD) ** U S A. Oddball QSLs on eBay --- Hi Glenn! Found a couple early AM odd frequency QSLs: This one is from experimental station W2XCD from the DeForest Radio Company in Passaic, NJ. Looks like it was on 1604 kHz and is from 1930: http://cgi.ebay.com/AM-QSL-CARD-W2XCD-1604-kc-Passaic-NJ-De-Forest-Audions_W0QQitemZ320139193910QQihZ011QQcategoryZ38031QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem This is from 1924! WTAH in Belleville, IL, evidently a Chicago Tribune venture, was on 1229 kHz with just 10 watts: http://cgi.ebay.com/AM-QSL-CARD-WTAH-1229-Kcs-Belleville-Ill-1924-10-watts_W0QQitemZ320139193774QQihZ011QQcategoryZ38031QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Take care! (Eric Loy, Champaign IL, July 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Mentioned here only for those who may want to view them; the images are deliberately blurry and tilted (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Esto no puede ser, esto es el colmo, hasta cuando abusan. Saludos cordiales queridos colegas diexistas. Espero que se encuentren muy bien. Queridos amigos, lo que faltaba en Venezuela, ahora todas las cadenas de televisión por cable que se vean en Venezuela van a tener que sumerse a cadenas de 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 horas cuando lo quiera el sr chavez, que desgracia la de este país, quieren obligarnos a verlos a juro. Imagínense ustedes, CNN, FOX, SONY, MGM, RETRO, DE PELICULA, HBO y toda la catajarcia de canales que podemos ver tienen que sumarse a las cadenas de chavez. Bueno esto es lo que quieren hacer, solo porque RCTV dijo que como ahora es un canal internacional de televisión, no está obligada a sumarse a ninguna cadena, y esto parece que fue un gancho al higado al gobiernpo de chavez, el cual me imagino debe estar bien arrecho porque la señal de RCTV está de nuevo en nuestros televisores transmitiendo las penurias que pasa este pueblo. Lo único que puedo decir es que si esta vaina se dá y la aceptamos es que los venezolanos somos unos huevones de verdad verdad, otra cosa porque carajo no hacen una televisón donde aparezca chavez solamente para que lo miren a él solamente. Bueno, aquí está la noticia: (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Venezuela, condig list via DXLD) Viz.: El ministro venezolano de Información, William Lara, dijo que la reforma tiene como objeto obligar a las empresas que operan canales por cable a que se sumen a las llamadas “cadenas” de radio y televisión, que hasta ahora sólo son cumplidas por los canales de señal abierta. Caracas. - El ministro venezolano de Información, William Lara, anunció hoy que el gobierno promoverá una reforma de la Ley de Responsabilidad en Radio y Televisión para obligar a los canales por cable a transmitir el himno nacional y las mensajes del presidente Hugo Chávez. El funcionario dijo que la reforma tiene como objeto obligar a las empresas que operan canales por cable a que se sumen a las llamadas “cadenas” de radio y televisión, que hasta ahora sólo son cumplidas por los canales de señal abierta. “Esta propuesta la vamos a introducir en los próximos días ante la vicepresidencia de la república, que es el órgano coordinador de la Ley Habilitante (poderes especiales de Chávez), y luego depende de la dinámica del trabajo cuando esta Ley es sancionada por Consejo de Ministros y es publicada”, señaló Lara. Agregó que la propuesta buscará que la señal de radio y televisión que se transmite en Venezuela cumpla con lo señalado en las leyes nacionales. Agregó que la reforma cuenta con el apoyo de Chávez. Las “cadenas” de radio y televisión son usadas con mucha frecuencia por Chávez. Las emisoras y televisoras de señal abierta son obligadas por ley a transmitir los mensajes del presidente. El canal Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV), que ahora transmite por cable luego de vencerse su licencia, que el gobierno se negó a renovar, dijo que estando en una señal por suscripción no está obligada a transmitir las “cadenas” de Chávez (via JEDG, ibid.) Cámara Venezolana de Televisión por Suscripción: No hay una forma tecnológica para encadenar estas televisoras. Mario Seijas, presidente Cámara Venezolana de Televisión por Suscripción, se pronunció sobre la intención del ejecutivo de reformar la Ley de Responsabilidad Social en Radio y Televisión para obligar a los canales por cable a transmitir las cadenas y el Himno Nacional. Manifestó que “no hay una forma tecnológica para encadenar estas televisoras. No hay equipos para eso”. El presidente de Cavetesu dijo que el efecto de esta medida es muy importante para este sistema de televisión. “Es crítico, es sensible. No solo para los operadores sino para los usuarios”, manifestó. 250globoFINAL.gif Señaló que por la ley de derechos de autor está prohibido modificar la programación en el aire; es por eso que no se puede cortar e ir a cadena. Están solicitando una audiencia con el ministro de Comunicación e Información, también con Conatel y Telecomunicaciones. Actualmente, la penetración de la televisión por suscripción es de 21.3 por ciento de a nivel nacional por hogares. Ha habido un crecimiento en el 2006 del 18 por ciento y tan solo en este año hubo un crecimiento del 14 por ciento. Puntualizó que de 150 canales que agrupa la televisión por suscripción, casi la mitad son operados y producidos desde el exterior. “Ya los de aquí, los nacionales, los regionales, están cumpliendo con la ley, se encadenan”, indicó. Agregó que todos los operadores por suscripción cumplen con el régimen legal vigente. Están cumpliendo cabalmente con el pago de impuestos y providencias administrativas. MGC Globovisión Publicado el 18-07-2007. http://www.globovision.com/news.php?nid=60588 ------------------------------------------------- Nota: Con el permiso del Dr. Mario Seijas, si hay una posibilidad: "Como se hace en Cuba, cerrando el cable". Se elimina Globovisión por orden presidencial (falta poco para que lo hagan), y luego se coloca tanto por señal abierta como por cable pura tv chavista. Muy democrático, ¿verdad? Saludos, (Jorge García Rangel, Venezuela, July 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ¿RCTV OTRA VEZ? Cuando ocuparon la presidencia de Conatel tanto Diosdado Cabello como Jesse Chacón, creyeron en la utilidad de que las múltiples empresas internacionales de televisión - bien por satélite o por cable - se establecieran en Venezuela por los réditos comerciales que para el país significaban. La propuesta del inefable ministro William Lara de obligarlas ahora a transmitir las interminables cadenas de Chávez y a cumplir con la ley mordaza habrá de ahuyentarlas de nuestro territorio. Curazao, Aruba y Panamá serían las ganadoras con ese éxodo. Con ese planteamiento demuestra el régimen - una vez más - su interés en acosar a la señal de RCTV. Se le caen los argumentos que repite sobre la libertad comercial y vuelve a poner en el tapete la persecución a los medios que había quedado minimizada después de la salida de RCTV por las cableras. Es una clara demostración del cercenamiento de las libertades públicas y de la confiscación de la propiedad privada contenida en un servicio pago contemplado en todo el mundo menos en Cuba, Corea del Norte, Belarús y Zimbabue. ¿Vendrá detrás el acceso a la internet? ¿AUTOCENSURA? El 6 de julio la directora de TVes, Lil Rodríguez, declaraba a Tal Cual que la independencia del nuevo canal se demostraba pues el domingo 8 estaría el controversial general Müller Rojas en el programa de Eleazar Díaz Rangel. Lo mismo había hecho el director de Últimas Noticias en una nota publicada en su diario. A última hora les dieron instrucciones: quien por varios años había sido el alter ego de Chávez en la FAB ahora estaba vetado en todos los medios oficiales. Buscaron excusas y se llevaron al general López Hidalgo, quien sigue ganando puntos rojos con sus escenarios de una invasión del imperio Bush... Fuente: Nelsón Bocaranda. Rum Runes. 19-07-2007. http://www.noticierodigital.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=226858 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Y digo yo: ANTES DEL 28 DE MAYO CIERRE DE RCTV 26 MILLONES DE VENEZOLANOS VEIAN RCTV POR SEÑAL ABIERTA. HOY 19 DE JULIO APROXIMADAMENTE ENTRE UN 35 Y UN 40% DE ESOS 26 MILLONES VENEZOLANOS AHORA LA VEN POR CABLE. A PARTE DE LA CONFISCACIÓN POR PARTE DEL RÉGIMEN DE MÁS DE 40 REPETIDORES DE RCTV REPARTIDOS POR TODA VENEZUELA SIN NINGÚN TIPO DE COMPENSACIÓN ECONÓMICA, UTILIZADOS POR LA NUEVA TELEVISORA PROPAGANDÍSTICA PRO GOBIER NO, TVES. Y me pregunto: ¿Eso no significa una limitación en las libertades civiles? Saludos, (Jorge García Rangel, Venezuela, July 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Superó al resto de los canales por suscripción RCTV VUELVE AL PRIMER LUGAR DE SINTONÍA Noticia, José Gregorio Martínez, La Verdad El diario La Verdad da cuentas del último sondeo de la encuestadora AGB realizado el pasado lunes, que ubica a la señal de RCTV Internacional como líder del grupo de los canales de televisión por suscripción, doblando en cifras a algunos de ellos en el primer día de transmisiones después de casi dos meses de silencio. Cita: RCTV es nuevamente el canal más visto en Venezuela, según la encuestadora AGB, que da cuenta del nivel de sintonía que el pasado lunes superó al resto de los canales en televisión por suscripción, los cuales estuvieron incluso 14 puntos por encima de la señal abierta. La audiencia de RCTV, en su primer día de transmisión luego de que el 27 de mayo saliera del aire por decisión del Gobierno, casi duplicó a sus más cercanos competidores. En los únicos lugares donde los números no le fueron favorables fue en el estado Zulia y en el Oriente del país, por razones que el canal atribuye a fallas técnicas que están solventando. En Caracas RCTV logró 22 por ciento, seguido por Venevisión con 13,6 por ciento y Globovisión con 7,4 por ciento. Valencia respondió con 19,5 por ciento a favor de RCTV, mientras que Venevisión obtuvo 10,4 por ciento y Globovisión 2,4 por ciento. En Barquisimeto la sintonía de RCTV se ubicó en 23 por ciento, mientras Venevisión fue vista por 15,2 por ciento y Globovisión por 9,2 por ciento. Este 16 de julio la señal de Venevisión fue la más vista en el estado Zulia con 18 por ciento, mientras RCTV obtuvo 5 por ciento de audiencia y Globovisión 3 por ciento. En el Oriente Venevisión logró 16,4 por ciento, RCTV 9 por ciento y el tercer lugar fue ocupado por Televén con 8,4 por ciento. La razón de que no lograran el primer lugar en estas zonas fue, según Pablo Mendoza, vicepresidente de Investigación de RCTV, producto de un problema que presentó Intercable con el canal 13, que fue el asignado a Radio Caracas en todo el país. Mendoza explicó que debido a este problema que presenta la frecuencia del canal 13 de Intercable en el Zulia tuvieron que mudarlos al canal 16. Recordó que esta cableoperadora es la que tiene mayor presencia en esta entidad. En Oriente aún la empresa se encuentra realizando ajustes para reubicar la señal. A través de Directv en todo el país RCTV Internacional alcanzó 24 por ciento de sintonía, frente a 9 por ciento de Venevisión, y 8 por ciento de Globovisión. Lea completo en: http://www.laverdad.com (via Jorge García Rangel, Venezuela, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [and non]. EL PRESIDENTE, EL PRESENTADOR Latin American leaders produce their own radio & TV shows by Luisa López 17-07-2007 Across Latin America, presidents are increasingly turning their backs on traditional propaganda methods and producing their own radio and television shows instead. Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez started the trend - but he's no longer the only Latin American leader turned radio host. Bolivia's Evo Morales and Ecuador's Rafael Correa have recently followed his example. . . http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/lam070717mc (Media Network newsletter via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 1610 ?? unIDed Tagalog-speaking station noted at 2205 [EDT = UT -4] 7/19, talking about "state of the nation" address by Philippine Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo" (to be rebroadcast?). Startled to hear Tagalog! Station's frequency was jumping around and last noted as 1,609,890 Hz at 2210 tune-out. Ethnic programming implies CHHA, Toronto; but frequency jumping around? Thought it may be a pirate (Charles A Taylor, WD4INP, Greenville, North Carolina, 0225 UT July 20, IRCA via DXLD) CHHA Toronto, probably. That sounds much like a program I heard a couple years ago on 1026 kHz. I presumed in was MM (Metro Manila), but never got it nailed down (Patrick Martin, OR, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. Hola Glenn, la noche del sábado capté esta señal; ¿sabes de quién se trata? En anteriores Dxlatest año 2003, se informa probablemete Cuba, retrasmitiendo a Radio Reloj. Me llama la atención música de Tango, musica Argentina? DESCONOCIDA (Probablemente Cubana) 6275, Fuerte señal, 2310-2325, de programación en español, música tipo Tango 2314, Malena Canta el Tango... tema musical en piano, Sinpo: 45333 (Héctor Frías, Chile, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hola Héctor, Posible una mezcla cubana, si corresponden las frecuencias y el sonido. 5965 sobre 6120 a 155 kHz ++. Pero 5965 en francés, y 6120 no en uso, parece. Debes patrullar la banda entera de 49m buscando el mismo audio. 6275 también puede ser pirata europea, Laser Hot Hits, aunque no me parece que ni la una ni la otra debiera llegar fuerte a Chile. Por eso, y los tangos, me parece más probable que sea algo del Cono Sur. Talvez pirata; también se ha informado varias veces de Radio Nacional, LRA escuchada en 6280 y 6285, correspondiente a 6060? Puede ser enlace en frecuencia variada. Espero que puedas escucharla más y conseguir ID definitivo. 73, (Glenn to Héctor via DX LISTENING DIGEST) And R. Reloj would certainly not be running tangos or music of any kind (gh) uena idea, Les comunicaré a mis colegas Radioescuchas de FEDERACHI, para que ayuden a monitorearla (Héctor Frías, Chile, ibid.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Keep up the good work, I always read DXLD with the greatest possible interest! 73, (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ STUBLINE Dear Glenn, In World of Radio #1367 from July 17, 2007 you wrongly pronounced Stubline transmitter site. It's not SHTUBLINA! The correct one is STUBLINEH. Regards, (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dragan, Stressed on which syllable, if any? Does Serbian have descending rather than ascending tone on stressed syllables, like Russian? (Glenn to Dragan, via DXLD) Glenn, Serbian language has both ascending and descending tone on stressed syllables. Also, since in Serbian the excellent thing is that ONE LETTER = ONE TONE, and that is always the case. But for foreigners who want to learn Serbian, the stressed syllables are really hard to learn... And, STUBLINE has no stressed syllable (Dragan Lekic, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ A RENEWED INTEREST IN DXING Folks, Mika Mäkeläinen has kindly posted the final version of my article entitled, "A Renewed Interest in DXing" regarding my recent trip to Europe, with a Kaito 1103 in tow. The article and photos can be viewed at the dxing.info website: http://www.dxing.info/articles/renewed_interest_dxing.dx There's also a copy of the same at http://www.dxer.ca At the latter site, I'll also be posting some audio clips of some of the more interesting DX. Enjoy! (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Logs are the same as in dxldyg and DXLD already, but with some additional background, and photos (gh) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ FUTURE OF PRIME TIME SHORTWAVE This has been a difficult decision for me to make. I will discontinue doing the English shortwave schedules database that I do at the end of the A-07 broadcasting season, October 28. I have been doing the shortwave schedules database for something like 22 years. I plan to continue posting schedules at the Prime Time Shortwave website after the A-07 season but they will not be entered in a database and I may be doing fewer schedules than I do at present. The email list for the ASCII text files will be discontinued. The newsletter will continue. As for why I am discontinuing doing the database. Increasing responsibilities with the family, church council, committees, other website work, being a land owner and for my full-time job are getting to be too great. It's making it difficult for me to keep up the quality work on it that I feel is necessary. If anyone is willing to work on the database I certainly willing to continue to post it to the Prime Time Shortwave website. Contact me at webma-@primetimeshortwave.com [truncated by topica groups] Other sources for a shortwave schedules database include the following: Monitoring Times. Gayle Van Horn does a very good job with this comprehensive listing of English shortwave broadcast in the monthly magazine, Monitoring Times. A subscription to the magazine is highly recommend. More information on this publication can be found at http://www.monitoringtimes.com/ Eibi. A listing of shortwave broadcast in all languages can be found at the Eibi website, http://www.eibi.de.vu/ ADDX. ADDX in Germany also have a listing of English shortwave broadcast. At their website http://www.addx.de/ Click on the Horfahrplane link and select English And as always there are the must have publications of the World Radio TV Handbook http://www.wrth.com/ with listings by country and the Passport to World Band Radio http://www.passband.com/ with listings by frequency. Regards, (Daniel Sampson, July 17, PTSW mailing list via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ MEXICO DF DX MEETING DELAYED Before you make your reservations and head off for Mexico City the last weekend in July, as published in DXLD 7-084, note that the dates have just been changed to the first weekend in August (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The guy who's organizing the Encuentro is Florentino Mazariego florentino_mazariegos @ hotmail.com He's in Puebla, but the meeting's going to be held in the historic center of Mexico City. Just a day or two ago, it was announced that the dates have been changed from July 27-29 to August 2-4. There is a website for the meeting with the latest info: http://mx.geocities.com/anacristinamtnz/dx.html Here's the agenda: PROGRAMA 2 de agosto del 2007. 10.00 Hs. Registro de asistentes. 12.00 Hs. Inauguración del 13º Encuentro Diexista. 13.00 Hs. Plática introductoria sobre Diexismo (para no iniciados). 14.30 Hs. Comida en grupo, pago por asistente. 18.50 Hs. Actividades complementarias. 3 de agosto del 2007. 11.00 Hs. Talleres, pláticas y ponencias referentes a las Ondas Cortas (30 minutos por intervención). 14.30 Hs. Comida en grupo. 17.00 Hs. Visita Radioemisora de Onda Corta. 21.00 Hs. Noche Diexista en la Alameda Central (si no llueve), en caso contrario en el Monumento a la Revolución. 4 de agosto del 2007. 11.00 Hs. Visita a Museo. 13.00 a 18.00 Hs. Tianguis, intercambio, compra-venta de Equipos de Onda Corta y actividades comerciales de los amigos del Círculo de Estudio Hombre Nuevo. 14.30 Hs. Comida libre. 19.00 Hs. Clausura con brindis de honor. Nota. En todas las actividades a realizarse en espacio cerrado, se solicita no fumar (via Jeff White, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO ACADEMY CELEBRATION OF OFFSHORE RADIO CHANGE OF VENUE The Radio Academy Celebration of Offshore Radio event has changed venue as detailed below, the website has also now posted a full schedule of the event at the link given: Because of the overwhelming demand for tickets, The Radio Academy has moved the Celebration of Offshore Radio event on 4th August to a new venue. It will now be taking place at Sugar Reef, 42-44 Great Windmill Street, London, W1D 7NB. Doors open at 12.30 and the event starts at 1 pm [BST = UT +1] (earlier than previously announced). The Academy had stopped selling tickets but, now that the event has moved to a larger venue, there are some available again - if you are quick! These can be obtained via the web site: http://www.radioacademy.org.uk/record.jsp?type=event&ID=81 Existing ticket holders will be receiving an email soon informing them of the venue change (Jonathan, http://www.offshoreradio.co.uk via Radio Anoraks yg via Mike Barraclough, worlddxclub yg via DXLD) MUSEA +++++ HISTORY OF RADIO AT THE WORKS - NEWARK, OHIO, SAT JULY 21 http://www.buckeyelakebeacon.net:80/news/2007/0721/News/025.html The Works museum will celebrate the local history of amateur "HAM" radio and the 60th anniversary of WCLT, the oldest FM radio station in Newark on Saturday, July 21. The event, titled "On the Air," will be held at the museum from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. In addition to an exhibit of vintage radio equipment and special activities, the entire museum complex will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The day's activities will include two Special Event Stations operated by members of the Central Ohio Operators Klub Extra-Novice (COOKEN). The stations will broadcast live. Visitors are invited to go "on the air" and speak to other amateur radio operators across the United States and in other countries. Adults and children are invited to participate. WCLT will broadcast live from The Works from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. Admission to The Works is $2 for children, $6 for adults and $4 for seniors. Works' members are admitted free. During the "On the Air" event, children wearing full Boy Scout or Girl Scout uniforms will be admitted free. For more information, call 740-349-9277 or visit the web site at http://www.attheworks.org (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) KEEPING THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE --- LIBRARY OF AMERICAN BROADCASTING By Martin Hadlow with © illustrations When the LAB’s Curator, Chuck Howell, brought out the first box of QSLs for me to thumb through, I knew that I was just glimpsing the tip of a very big iceberg. “We’ve got over 30,000”, he said. In a collection encompassing dozens of large boxes, all containing neatly indexed inserts, were filed over 30,000 radio reception reports, both QSL cards and verification letters. A veritable treasure trove of broadcasting history, saved thanks to the efforts of Jerry Berg and his team on the (CPRV) Committee for the Preservation of Radio Verifications. I was at the Library of American Broadcasting (LAB) at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD., just a Metro ride away from downtown Washington D.C., USA. Located on the third floor of the University’s Hornbake Library on the College Park campus, the Library of American Broadcasting is the preserve of the Curator, Chuck Howell, and his assistants, Reference Specialist, Michael Henry, and Resident Scholar, Douglas Gomery. The author displays a QSL he sent when he was Manager of Radio Bougainville in Kieta in 1973 (and which he found in the CPRV collection) © Martin Hadlow [caption] Chuck had brought CPRV box number twelve from storage for me to peruse. It was labeled Primary Collection: SWBC (Shortwave Broadcasting) A-B and he had thoughtfully selected it as it covered Australia. Sure enough, indexed under A were several QSLs from both ABC domestic shortwave stations and Radio Australia’s glory days of international broadcasting. However, I also noticed that, under the Bs (and just past the Botswana file), was Bougainville (Papua New Guinea). Having been Station Manager of Radio Bougainville in Kieta in 1973, I looked forward to a nostalgic reminder of my days at the station. However, I was not prepared for the surprise of finding my own signature (and a few chatty notes) on two of the verification letters I had sent to American DXers who had reported reception of our shortwave signal. That 10KW transmitter on 3225 kHz sure had reach! Entrance to Library of American Broadcasting, University of Maryland in College Park, MD. © Martin Hadlow [caption] Immediately upon entering the Library of American Broadcasting, the radio and television enthusiast knows that riches are in store. In case we don’t get the hint from the signage at the front entrance, we need look no further than the model RCA 44-BX microphone strategically placed in front of the reception desk. While young people today might associate this ‘king of microphones’ with current television ‘late show’ hosts, who often display an RCA 44 or RCA 77-D on their desks simply to impress their interviewees, I immediately thought back to my time as an announcer with 2XA, Wanganui, New Zealand in the late 1960’s. Although more than 30 years had then passed since the RCA 44 had entered service with radio stations in the USA, the (then) New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) was still using the microphone and it took pride of place as the daily work-horse in 2XA’s on-air studio. Seeing it again was like making the re-acquaintance of an old friend. Library of American Broadcasting display of vintage radio equipment. © Martin Hadlow [caption] But the LAB is more than one or two microphones from radio’s golden era of the 1930s. At the front entrance stands a colourful exhibition dedicated to the QSL card. “Last night, I pulled in China” is the catchy banner headline and displayed on the walls are facsimiles of old cards from such stations as WSAN, WSM, WFLN, KDKA, WGES, WSAI and, of course, China. There are even QSLs from Radio Afghanistan and wartime Nazi Germany’s international radio station. Library of American Broadcasting QSL Exhibition. © Martin Hadlow [caption] Nearby, a classic Hammarlund HQ-110 vintage radio stands outside a room dedicated to other old radio and television sets. In the corner is a huge piece of equipment labeled “Self Service Tube Tester”. On the LAB’s shelves and in the storage areas of the Library are some 225,000 photographs, more than 7,000 audio tapes, 9,000 recorded discs, 7,000 books, 300 periodicals, over 5,000 scripts, numerous artifacts and the CPRV QSL collection. Library of American Broadcasting display of vintage radio equipment. © Martin Hadlow [caption] The LAB had its genesis in the Broadcast Pioneers Library, an archive established at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) in Washington D.C. The collection moved to the University of Maryland in 1994 and has since developed exponentially. The LAB is now also the repository of the National Public Broadcasting Archives, and hosts the private papers of many former broadcasters and administrators. Apart from academic researchers and interested professionals, the LAB is regularly visited by University of Maryland journalism and communication students who find a wealth of old and new material in its collections. The LAB’s motto is Keeping the past for the future and, given the commitment of the staff and the interest of students and radio/television aficionados, both the past and the future look to be in very safe hands. Martin is Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Communication for Development & Social Change at the School of Journalism & Communications, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. He’s passionate about radio history and has a varied and distinguished broadcasting and media career across the Pacific, Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East, recently holding senior positions with UNESCO in Paris. The CPRV [Committee for the Preservation of Radio Verifications] and the Library of American Broadcasting are amongst our original radio heritage partners. The work of Jerry Berg and others named in this article contributes a great deal to community led radio heritage initiatives and we strongly support and endorse their activities (July NZ DX Times via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ SHORTWAVE AWAITS DRM IN UNITED STATES --- DRM PROPONENTS EYE 2008 OLYMPICS, 26 MHZ BAND --- by Jeff White, 7.18.2007 The author is vice chairman of the U.S. DRM Group and president of the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters. ELKHART, Ind. U.S. shortwave broadcasters anticipate the availability of the first low-cost Digital Radio Mondiale receiver by the end of the year, though no DRM transmissions are originating yet in the United States, despite FCC approval. China may begin DRM transmissions in time for the 2008 Olympics, spurring a global receiver launch and shortwave broadcasters from the U.S., and other countries would like to use DRM on the 26 MHz band for low-powered local FM-quality broadcasting. These were the highlights of the U.S. DRM Group meeting, which was held in May in conjunction with the annual meeting of the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters. . . http://www.rwonline.com/pages/s.0049/t.7242.html (via Dan Say, DXLD) DRM: see also GERMANY DOUG'S FINAL DTV ASSIGNMENTS Thanks to Doug Smith for his new final DTV assignments list. It is easy to use. Unfortunately, the low-band is looking pretty low for the future (Danny Shreveport, LA, WTFDA via DXLD) Final LowBand DTV Bill, thanks for putting together the low-band list. There will be *more* Es targets than I actually expected before seeing Doug's list. I am disappointed that several good DTV targets (like WMAZ-DT-4 Macon) will move to high-band or UHF. Some of the targets, like WBKP-DT-5 Calumet with 20.5 kW, will likely get out pretty well. These are my thoughts: 1. Nobody really knows how well DTV via Es will decode without analog cci in the mix. I expect DTV DXing will be easier from that standpoint. 2. Some of the DTVs will be very low in power, like KREX-DT-2 (1 kW) and WMC-DT-5 Memphis (1.46 kW). Without ATV cci, they might decode. 3. I wouldn't be too disappointed about *not* receiving the ones in Alaska. 4. A lack of ATV indicators may be a problem without using communications receivers, scanners, etc. (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, July 14, WTFDA via DXLD) CHANNEL 4 KJNP AK North Pole WHBF IL Rock Island WDKY KY Danville WOAY WV Oak Hill (Wm R Hepburn (Niagara), Ont, ibid.) Maybe Doug or somebody can answer this. Why are so few DTVs going to be on channel 4? Personally, I've had to use a MFC trap for years to block out the frequencies between channels 4 and 5. The interference there kills DX on channel 4 without the trap. (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, http://www.tvdxexpo.com ibid.) Next couple of years is crunch time. Many states will be without LowBand targets, including Hawaii! At least Alaska will remain a dream target. The Canadian situation will be interesting to follow. Manitoba & Ontario could have the only targets; the rest of Canada would only be obtainable on FM or highband Es. I'm guessing Channels 7-13 should be a bit more open for possible highband Es. wrh (Bill Hepburn, ibid.) A few general thoughts... - ISTR the FCC was trying to avoid assigning channels 3 and 4 for use in the same area, as that would raise havoc with VCRs (witness what happened in Chicago when channel 3 was used for the first time - WBBM- DT had to go off the air for a few weeks while AT&T replaced a pile of cable boxes...) I'm thinking that's why so few DTVs on channel 4. - Reading the recent CRTC release on DTV, I would not be too certain that all existing Canadian transmitters will ever convert to digital. My guess (and this is just a guess) is that stations in the largest cities will build DTVs, and relay stations serving the larger population centres will build DTVs. I suspect most relay stations of less than 10 kW ERP will simply go dark in 2011. - Danny brings up an important point, about the lack of Es indicators. If you only DX FM, this should still concern you as TV CCI is often the first indication of pending FM skip. I think a scanner would be a good investment. Program in the DTV pilot frequencies (54.31, 60.31, 66.31, 76.31, and 82.31 MHz). When those frequencies start making noise it's time to check your DTV (if you're so inclined) or FM radio. - I would not entirely rule out future power increases at some of these low-band DTVs. I suspect some stations may be in a "wait-and- see" mode, trying to see how many people will rely on OTA pickup before deciding whether to spend $$$ on more power modules for the transmitter. The upside is that on low-band, a power upgrade is cheaper... (and cheaper to operate). And I do get the impression many in the industry are surprised by how many people are looking at using OTA reception for digital TV. - Do remember that current DTV assignments are considered interim. The FCC never did figure every station was going to stay on their current DTV channel forever (of course, as in many cases current DTV assignments are "outside core"). I think stations have been surprised by how poorly low-band has worked -- and I think WBBM's well- publicized problems have probably single-handedly caused quite a few managers to rule out remaining on low-band. - The DTV assignment table being referred to here is on my website, http://www.w9wi.com --- there's a link at the top. – (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) IBOC / HD One can only hope that KOA's IBOC will beat up KXNT and KKOW and result in major complaints. 73 KAZ 55 km NW of Chicago's Loop (Neil Kazaross, NRC-AM via DXLD) Yep, KOA will really do some damage when nighttime IBOC hits the fan, and those two are at the top of the list of potential victims. Of course, KXNT is owned by CBS, one of IBOC's biggest backers, so they're unlikely to make a fuss. KKOW is a different story. Hopefully, stations like that who have a large rural audience and are not owned by members of the IBOC cartel will raise a stink about the noise. Other examples include KRVN, who will get mauled by WLS, KGYN clobbered by WOAI, WWVA whammed by WHAM, and so on. It's going to be interesting to watch this train wreck unfold! (Barry McLarnon, VE3JF, Ottawa, ON, NRCAM via DXLD) I suspect the issue with KXNT will be less one of ownership than of urban vs. rural listenership. KXNT blasts a pretty massive signal level over most of the developed portions of Las Vegas, and once you get beyond those, it's a whole lot of nothing for a very long time. The only areas that might not get enough KXNT night signal to completely overcome IBOC from KOA are in the two deep nulls toward Boulder City and Pahrump, and there aren't very many people there to complain. KKOW, KRVN and KGYN, though, as you rightly point out, have large listener bases in weakish signal areas, and if they start getting pounded, as they will, there could be some interesting court battles on the way. It'll be interesting to see who among the big Midwest low-dial regional signals takes the IBOC plunge, if any. Those signals from KWMT, KFYR, WNAX, WIBW, etc. cover so much ground, often with significant out-of-market listenership, that even daytime IBOC on a few of them could significantly mess with the signals of the others. I don't think any of those signals has gone IBOC yet, though - am I right? I certainly didn't hear any on my swing through IL/IA/NE in May... s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) 860 is a wonderful channel here near Chicago when CJBC is taken out of the QRM equation via phasing or semi-auroral or Toronto sunrise. 73 KAZ hoping for his most wanted BC on 860 when cx get good to western Canada in a couple months !! (Neil Kazaross, IL, ibid.) Neil, as you no doubt recall from your time in Ogunquit and Narragansett, 860 is definitely a DX playground here on the East Coast as well. The demise of CBH Halifax many years ago helped that along, big-time. Nulling CJBC with a phaser or even with a routine loop of the Kiwa or Quantum style is not particularly difficult. When it's auroral, the ionosphere does most of the work for you. With Toronto handily disposed-of by whichever method you prefer, the shooting gallery opens up. Among the "ducks": Cuba (R. Reloj), Dominican Republic (HILR), Venezuela (YVYE, YVOL), Brazil (ZYJ459, ZYH592), Colombia (HJNJ), Panama (HOL55), Mexico (XECCN). Maybe some deep-south domestics too. Other channels with midwest clears are also happy hunting grounds around here since those single stations are easy to null and often aurorally-affected. 700, 720, 760, and 840 are target-rich, especially in the early evening. Get rid of CFDR (happening soon) and you can add 780. 5 to 10 countries can be heard on each channel, especially at the shore with a bit of aurora kicking in and some semblance of a directional antenna. The oncoming train of night IBOC from adjacent stations will probably muck some of these channels up, so this is the season to milk 'em before things get too out of control. DXers have a brief opportunity to cash in with new toys like SDR receivers, PC / Internet DX aids, Edirol MP3 recorders, DX Engineering phasers / line amp's and other goodies not available in the Gordon Nelson / Ernie Cooper era. But, with analog AM broadcasting in decline, they'd better work fast (Mark Connelly, WA1ION - Billerica, MA, ibid.) SPECTRAL "REGROWTH" (HD RADIO STYLE) IN THE DENVER FM MARKET Spectral regrowth is created as intermodulation products between the IBOC carriers and the analog carrier. The resulting spectral regrowth causes unacceptable second, third, fourth and sometimes in extreme cases fifth adjacent channel interference --- I experienced the problem firsthand at a client's station in the Denver market. Rather than spending more time than could be spared cleaning up the transmitter issues, the offending station volunteered to install an inter-digital bandpass filter on their high-level IBOC transmitter and that took care of the problem for my client's station (which was a second adjacent "move in"). The equipment that produced the offending spectral regrowth was manufactured by BE. The inter-digital bandpass filter was supplied by Bob Surrett at Shively. Elliott Klein, Klein Broadcast Engineering, L.L.C. (CGC Communicator July 17 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ SDR-14 [software defined radio] I bought a RFSpace SDR-14 earlier this year and have totally fallen in love with this receiver. It has actually become my preferred receiver for seeking out DX, and I have found myself moving to the WinRadio G313/e only when the target has some serious QRM to contend with and I don't feel like fiddling with the FL3 or SCAF-1 filters. The ability to *see* such large chunks of bandwidth in real time and point and click tune to signals, much less record 190 kHz bandwidths, is revolutionary. I haven't had an opportunity to use a SDR-IQ, but with the SDR-14 I have had no problem recording 190 kHz bandwidths with any PC or laptop that I have used to control the receiver. Also of note, at least with the SDR-14, you can still demodulate any signal within the 190 kHz bandwidth while recording. I'm sure this is the same for the SDR-IQ. When DXing from home, I record directly to an external 500 gig Western Digital "The Book" USB drive which will hold approximately 230 full 190 kHz bandwidth 45-minute recordings, which translates to a little over a 7 days worth of recordings. For portability when DXing away from home, I picked up a small USB hard drive shell and mounted a 100 gig laptop drive in it. Both of these work flawlessly. I haven't tried recording directly to a USB memory stick, but have doubts that would be optimal. Also, regarding the output files while recording, if you activate the "Chain multiple files with timestamp names" in the Output Setup menu, then the file names of the recordings are automatically appended with the date and time. Another thing I really like about the SDR-14 is the ease of frequency calibration. My main DX targets are usually tropical band SW stations, and being able to quickly and accurately measure a carrier to the nearest Hz is nice. I usually calibrate the receiver against WWV or a IBOC carrier and find that the frequency accuracy is extremely close to being linear throughout the 30 MHz spectrum. The receiver does require re-calibration every so often, especially if the receiver is exposed to varying temperatures. The visual display of carrier signals is also phenomenal, and much more satisfying than what the WinRadio can display. It is amazing to be able to drop the FFT settings down to a .21 Hz bandwidth resolution, narrow the display to a 100 Hz span and monitor multiple TA carriers that are just above the noise floor and accurately measure the carriers to the nearest .1 Hz and the signal strength in dB to two decimal places! That brings me to another outstanding feature, and that is the ease of accurately calibrating the receiver for accurate signal level measurements. I happened to have an Elecraft XG-2 S-Meter Calibrator on hand which I was able to use to calibrate the receiver. Using the 50 uV setting on the XG-2, I found that a setting of -10.1 for FFT Max dB in SpectraVue was perfect. I was pleased to see that the calibration was accurate when setting the XG-2 to the 1 uV setting, and then that the measurements were also accurate on all three output frequencies of the XG-2 (3.6, 7 and 14 MHz) at both amplitude settings. To sum it up, these RFSpace SDR's are simply amazing. My long-term plan is to purchase a SDR-IQ later this year, and eventually having 3 or 4 total. On DXpeditions these IQ receivers will do nothing but record 190 kHz chunks of spectrum, while I will use the WinRadio for "live" listening and the SDR-14 for monitoring bands of interest. If SpectraVue eventually adds features such as synch mode, IF shift, notch filters, etc to the software then I may even contemplate selling the G313e to fund more RFSpaces :) (Brandon Jordan, TN, NRC-AM via DXLD) The 190 kHz band width of this nifty receiver could be a real boon to GY station chasers. At one shot you can monitor either the bottom four frequencies (1230, 1240, 1340, 1400 kHz) or the top four (1340, 1400, 1450, 1490 kHz). BTW, here's a recent (4/07) review of this device: http://www.uhf-satcom.com/sdr-iq/ Regards, (Pete Jernakoff, K3KMS, Wilmington, DE http://www.21centimeter.com ibid.) The display shows 190 kHz, but you receive and record 200 kHz (at least with the RSD-14, and the IQ should have the same facilities), which gives you one more channel. Put the receiver on recording e.g. on 1395. Then you can listen from 1300 to 1490 = 20 channels (even 1300 LSB and 1490 USB, if necessary, and those sidebands are outside the display!). /Sig SWEDEN (Andersson, Sigvard, ibid.) ###