DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-087, July 24, 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 AIRING OF WORLD OF RADIO 1367: ** tentative Wed 0730 WRMI 9955** SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1368: ** tentative Wed 2200 WBCQ 7415 Wed 2300 WBCQ 18910-CLSB or 17495-CLSB Thu 0600 WRMI 9955** Thu 1430 WRMI 7385 Thu 1500 KAIJ 9480 Fri 0630 WRMI 9955** Fri 1030 KAIJ 5755 Fri 1100 WRMI 9955** Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 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 [not July 23] 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 ** AFGHANISTAN. See UNIDENTIFIED ** ALBANIA. 13720, Puuuuuh, a tremendous signal noted here at 2000- 2027 UT today, S=9+40 dB powerhouse. Interval music of R Tirana at 2027 UT on July 24. 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALGERIA. LW 153, R. Algérienne, Béchar, 1505-, 14 Jul, Arabic, news, reports on the Pan-African Games; 54353, weak audio, QRM de Germany 153. 198 ditto, Ouargla, 1509-, 14 Jul, same as on // 153, but weaker audio; 34353, QRM de UK (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. UNUSUAL RADIO STATIONS IN AUSTRALIA I wonder if there countries other than Australia where there are what are called here "Narrowcasting Services" Here in Melbourne there are stations on from 151.45 to 152.35 MHz in FM mode, but with limited deviation as used by radio amateurs in VHF and UHF bands. All are in LOTE i.e. languages other than English. They are commercial and/or subscription stations. I searched our Australian Communications and Media Authority website to find out the details of the licensees, transmitter locations, powers etc. I find as examples 151.675, Australian Muslim Media Inc from Ferny Creek, east of Melbourne with 50 watts, mode 16K0F3E 151.800, Macedonian Radio Station in South Morang, north of the city 152.125, Middle East Radio in Reservoir a northern suburb plus 6 others in Vietnamese, Chinese and Indian languages that are full quieting to me 18 km east of Melbourne. The ACMA website shows the 152.125 MHz station licence as having expired but it is still going strong! I wonder where listeners get radios to receive these frequencies. My Kenwood TS-2000 amateur transceiver covers the frequencies of course. If anyone wants details of any transmission within Australia, a search using the frequency using the following URL links to the licence and from there to all the other information required:- http://www.acma.gov.au/pls/radcom/assignment_range.range_lookup This is somewhat off topic in terms of DX Glenn, but might be of some interest (Morrison Hoyle, Victoria, WORLD OF RADIO 1368, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Very interesting. Narrowcastsing here is more apt to be carried out on subcarriers of regular FM broadcast transmitters, and now of course, on HD extra channels. Tangentially, I seem to recall that this frequency range is also used for studio-transmitter broadcast linx in some Latin American countries. They also get picked up by satellite transponders inadvertently and relayed on other frequencies, to some consternation. They should also be excellent DX targets during intense sporadic E openings surpassing the 2m hamband (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. LW: 279 BR, Sasnovy, 2118-2130, 14 Jul, Bielorussian, talks about local composers, announcements, light music; 54353. 198 ditto, Ouargla, 1509-, cf. // 153; 34353, weaker audio than on // 153, QRM de UK (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BENIN. 5025, ORTB, Parakou, 0921-1425 (did not fade out during this whole period!), 23 Jul, unreadable talks in French (t), pops at around 1105, interview in progress at 1425; 15331 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 9645.2, R. Bandeirantes, São Paulo SP, 0940-1115, 23 Jul, advertisements, Pan-American Games reports, chats & general info, news; 23432, then useless signal by 1050. 9694.9, R. Rio Mar, Manaus AM, 1338-1421, 21 Jul, talks on local politics & the Amazon region, ID+fqs, “Notícias Rio Mar” newscast at 1405; 34432, occasional adjacent QRM de Nigeria 9690 (very strong by the way). 11770, R. CBN Anhangüera (?), Goiânia GO, 2039-2102*, 21 Jul, talks, possibly newscast; 45444 but huge audio distortion, then transmitter suddenly off at 2102 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) A selexion from dozens of Brazilian and other logs by Carlos; full report in the dxldyg (gh) ** BULGARIA. A destacar, la ausencia notada de R Varna en la noche de este domingo (Tomás Méndez, Spain, July 24, RX: GRUNDIG SATELLIT 700, SONY ICF SW7600GR, ICOM IC-R2, DEGEN 1103, playdx yg via DXLD) R. Varna, 9900 at 0100 with news in Bulgarian. Music afterwards. Fair as usual. 23 July (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURKINA FASO. 7230, R. Burkina, Ouagadougou, 1328-1415, 14 Jul, French/Vernacular, messages & obituary, talks; 35343 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1425 22/7, 7230 kHz, R. BURKINA - Ouagadougou, FF/Vernacolo, commenti su delle elezioni. Segnale sufficiente-buono! In certi momenti spuntava in sottofondo la Cina ma per fortuna continuava poi a dominare l'Africa (Luca Botto Fiora, Rapallo (Genova), G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Italy, playdx yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. Once again, CHU in the clear on 7335, July 23 at 0604, no WHRI, but apparently they still use it later. Also in clear about same time July 24. Could nightowls check when the QRM now starts? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1368, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. 7220, R. Centrafrique, Bimbo, 0840-1340, 21 Jul, talks, seemingly phone.-ins, French at 1330 when slightly stronger; 15331. Also observed 1001-, 22 Jul, vernacular, African pops, news at 1100, rated 35343 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 6155, CNR-2/CBR, 1300-1400, July 23, hour program mostly in English: "This is English Evening on China Business Radio", hosted by Eric, song "Every Breath You Take" by Sting, talking about weddings, "Career Focus. In tonight`s edition of Smith's Business close-up.", segment "Studio Classroom Worldwide", fair-good. MP3 audio available at: http://www.listeningexpress.com/download/#EE (Ron Howard-CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Re 7-086, Sound of Hope and Firedrake: Dear Sei-ichi, thank you. I have checked the frequencies after 1600 and I find all others free of Dragon Dancer than 7300. So maybe the others close at 1600? 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, July 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. Firedrake check, July 24 at 1350: fair on 10300, but not audible on any other SOH frequency – 9200, 13970, 16500, 18180 tho the last had some noisy carrier on it, probably local origin. Did find Firedrake // 10300 on 11605. That would be against Radio Free Asia, Tinian in Tibetan until 1400*; after 1400 no Firedrake on 11605, but something weak, in Vietnamese. That would be RFA via Tainan, Taiwan, per Aoki, so not subject to jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO BELGIAN [and non]. VOA Leopoldville: see U S A [and non] ** COSTA RICA. 6020.95, REE, 0237-0311, July 24, Spanish programming, fair-poor, // 3350, 6055, 6125, 9535 & 9620 (Ron Howard-CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. RHC missing from 11805, July 24 at 1355 and later; instead heard something in Chinese. That would be VOA via Tinang, Philippines, or more likely, the Chicom jamming against it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. Traditional folk music of Cuba on the BBC WS Dear SW listeners, If you've missed this very interesting program "CLOSE UP" of the BBC WS about the traditional folk music of Cuba, you may listen to it via streaming till early Friday UT (part one) and from July 27 till August 03 (part two). Part two you may also listen via good old short wave. Best regards! (Dragan Lekic from Subotica, Serbia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/close_up.shtml rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk/worldservice/closeup.ra Close Up (20070720 & 27) Updated weekly at 08:32 GMT on Friday Lucy Durán presents the first of two programmes exploring the traditional folk music of Cuba. With music recorded especially for the programme, she embarks on a 1000-mile road journey from Guantánamo and Santiago in the East, to the island's capital Havana in the north-west (via Lekic, ibid.) See also INTERNATIONAL VACUUM ** ECUADOR. 3279.8, La Voz del Napo, Tena, 0535-0550, 21-07, español, locutor, comentarios y canciones religiosas. 24322- (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, escuchas realizadas en Camping de Reinante, provincia de Lugo, Mar Cantábrico, entre los días 15 y 23 de Julio, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EL SALVADOR. Radio Venceremos -- Encontré un video bien interesante de Radio Venceremos : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap5Nsk_ltUw Un SALUDO Atte. (Luis Vallebueno E., Durango, Dgo, México, condig list via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, R. Nacional, Bata, 2220-2230, 14 Jul, vernacular, African pops; 55444 but overmodulated, and on 21 Jul the audio was very weak --- another transmitter break down soon? (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 1417 22/7, 7165.1 kHz, R. ETHIOPIA - Gedja, Arabo, canto locale. Segnale sufficiente-buono! Alle 1430 c'era l'Iran, ma il segnale non era particolarmente invasivo (Luca Botto Fiora, Rapallo (Genova), G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Italy, playdx yg via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. 7165, R. Ethiopia, Geja Dera, 1401-1419, 23 Jul, Arabic, news; 25342; parallel to a stronger 9560.6 but with weaker audio. 9560.6, R. Ethiopia, Geja Dera, 1355-1421, 23 Jul, Afar (tentatively), talks, IS, Arabic, announcements, newscast; 25432, weaker audio than on weaker // outlet 7165 kHz. 9704.2, R. Ethiopia, Geja Dera, 1426-1437, 23 Jul, English, western pops, chimes at 1430, newscast; 34432, adjacent QRM de Niger 9705 very strong (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, WORLD OF RADIO 1368, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7165 and 9560 are external service; 9704 domestic service; apparent new time for English as WRTH 2007 has it at 1030-1100 M-F (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. Pirate: 3945, Weekend Music R, Scotland, G, 2119-, 22 Jul, English, music; 34332; parallel to 6400 kHz good. 6400, Weekend Music R, Scotland, GB, 2031-, 21 Jul, English, announcements, music, announced 3945 kHz for Sunday, 22nd; 55533 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. 22/7 0632 UT, 6005 kHz, DLR BERLIN assente. Notata spenta anche ieri e questa mattina (23+24/7). (Luca Botto Fiora, Rapallo (Genova), G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Italy, playdx yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1368, DXLD) As previously reported here, put off by a fire (gh) ** GUATEMALA. 4781.3, R. Cultural Coatán, San Sebastián de Coatán, 2236-2247, 21 Jul, Spanish, pops; 34332 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Unusual to be that far off frequency (gh, DXLD) ** GUINEA. 1385.9, R. Rurale, Labé, 2125-2145, 11 Jul, French/Vernacular, info about schools, clinics & doctors; 55444, and also splendid on 12 Jul as early as 1912. 7125, R. Guinée a.k.a. R. Conakry, Sonfonya, 2205-2227, 12 Jul, French, “Journal de la Nation”; 54433, weakfish & clipped audio, QRM de China. 7125 ditto, 1410-1505, 14 Jul, vernacular, African pops; 44333, increasing QRM de VOA via Thailand (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. INDIA VS ENGLAND CRICKET COMMENTARY ON AIR Cricket commentary of first test match, fourth day play between India & England was noted on 22nd July, 2007 on following All India Radio channels: Tentative time for commentary: 1000-1805 UT SW 4810-Bhopal 4910-Jaipur 5010-Thiru'puram 5015-Delhi 5040-Jeypore MW 531-Jodhpur 585-Nagpur 603-Ajmer 621-Patna 666-Delhi 747-Lucknow 756-Jagdalpur 765-Dharwad 774-Shimla 801-Jabalpur 810-Rajkot co-ch BB 846-Ahmedabad 873-Jalandhar 918-Suratgarh 963-Jalgaon 972-Cuttack co-ch PBS 981-Raipur 990-Jammu 1026-Allahabad 1143-Rohtak 1260-Ambikapur 1386-Gwalior 1467-Jeypore 1593-Bhopal Schedule for India - England cricket series : Test Matches July 19-23 : 1st Test at Lord's July 27-31 : 2nd Test at Trent Bridge August 9-13: 3rd Test at Brit Oval One day matches : August 21: 1st ODI, The Rose Bowl (day/night) August 24: 2nd ODI, Bristol (d/n) August 27: 3rd ODI, Edgbaston August 30: 4th ODI, Old Trafford (d/n) September 2: 5th ODI, Headingley Carnegie Stadium September 5: 6th ODI, The Brit Oval September 8: 7th ODI, Lord's Regards, (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, July 23, dx_india via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. MERGED SIRIUS-XM RADIO WOULD OFFER A LA CARTE PRICING --- July 23, 2007: 11:16 AM EST http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200707231116DOWJONESDJONLINE000414_FORTUNE5.htm WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- A merged Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (SIRI) and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (XMSR) would offer so-called a la carte pricing options, with packages starting as low as $6.99 a month, the companies said Monday. In a statement, the rivals fleshed out the details of what choices subscribers would have if the federal government allows them to complete their tie-up. Listeners could choose from a package of 50 radio channels for $6.99 a month, compared to the current standard rate of $12.95 a month. They also could opt for a 100-channel package that includes selecting channels from the other service's range for $14.99 a month. A so-called 'Family-Friendly' tier, which would enable listeners to block out channels they found offensive, would be offered as well. The companies say this option would cost $1 less a month than the standard $12.95 monthly charge. The companies are trying to win regulators' approval for their merger, announced in February. In order for the deal to proceed, both the Department of Justice's antitrust division and the Federal Communications Commission must approve it. Monday's pledges clearly are aimed at the FCC, whose chairman, Kevin Martin has long been a proponent of both a la carte programming and cleaning up the airwaves. They likely would do little to impact Justice Department lawyers, whose analysis of the deal will be from a purely competition point of view. Shares of Sirius were up 12 cents, or 3.8%, recently, to $3.24, while XM gained 5 cents, or 0.4%, to $12.70. -By Corey Boles, Dow Jones Newswires (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) I suspect that a merged satellite service would probably look more like Sirius than XM, which wouldn't make me happy because I voted for XM with my wallet. The thing about mergers that seldom gets mentioned is that there's always a winning company who runs the show, and a losing company which basically gets taken over. This becomes important when programming philosophies are being considered. For example, I prefer XM's decades channels to the ones Sirius offers, (with some personnel exceptions like Norm N. Nite.) But I don't believe for a minute that both companies' decades offerings will survive; the economics would probably rule that out. The big merger benefit would be more diverse sports offerings. But in other departments, I expect choices to be fewer. Sure, they're talking about à la carte pricing. But on the other side of the ledger, I'd bet everyone pays more to get just the amount of programming they're getting already. Groovy. You'll pay less for fewer channels. But they're not doing this to provide favors to subscribers. If the merger doesn't go through, XM and Sirius will have wasted lots of money on it, and that's money they should be spending to make their offerings more attractive to potential subscribers. I suspect the merger will take place. And when it does, there'll probably be a time-frame in which they pledge not to substantially alter service. But when that time's up, watch the landscape change dramatically. By the way, I've read that Mediabay, the firm that syndicates "When Radio Was" and provides old-time radio programming for XM and Sirius, is shutting down in early September. I think it's affiliated with Radio Spirits, but I don't know if Radio Spirits is part of the shutdown. We'll see if the satellite services will continue to program OTR after that (Rick Lewis, AZ, ABDX via DXLD) I have mixed feelings about the merger myself. I had both, but dropped XM because I couldn't stand the sound quality, but I did like the programming. A perfect scenario would be a chance to get some of the XM channels on the Sirius bird, but who knows what if anything will happen (Juan Ft. Pierce Gualda, ibid.) I am blissfully happy about the new pricing program. Had I decided to protest Sirius and their decision to hire the pervert Howard Stern, I would only have patronized XM and their decision to hire the equally repulsive Opie and Anthony. Now, I can vote with my wallet to bypass BOTH objectionable programs. I only hope that cable TV is next. I am sick of paying for the raw sewage channels along with the family and science channels (Bruce Carter, ibid.) I suspect the XM birds will be in use for a long time to come. Not only do they have more channel bandwidth and better coverage than the Sirius birds, but they're also insured. That's right --- Sirius has no insurance on its satellites. A stray micrometeor could derail the entire XM/Sirius merger! (Harry Helms, W5HLH, Smithville, TX, EL19, ibid.) The only time I notice a problem with the XM sound is when I switch from XM to CD. Then it becomes obvious XM is not close to CD quality. Still better than FM though. I siriusly (yuck, yuck) doubt the bird is the problem with the sound quality. Both XM and Sirius are digital, so you either get the signal or you don't. I've always thought the XM sound quality was due to too much compression. I recall reading somewhere they're using 96 kbps on the music channels. (Talk channels must be about 32 kbps with horrible artifacts.) I'm not sure that correlates directly to MP3 bit rates, but it's clearly less than optimal (Jay Heyl, FL, ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. I am Arnie Coro, radio amateur CO2KK, and here is item one for today. It's a news item. Cuba has a new satellite TV channel, it was named Canal ACN, and the ACN stands for Cuban News Agency in Spanish. The new satellite channel is on Hispasat I-d Transponder 79 vertical polarization, and the footprint of the bird provides practically total coverage of the Americas with just a small area in the Amazonian region of Brazil that is not covered by the satellite signals. The signal of Canal ACN at this moment is a television text only type of signal, that is created here in Havana using digital technology and then uplinked to the satellite for broadcasting. In the near future the now text mode signal with accompanying audio background will include graphics too. The main objective of Canal ACN is to provide Cuba medical doctors and other Cubans providing aid to Latin American and Caribbean nations with up to date, actually up to the minute information and news about Cuba. The same Hispasat ID transponder also is at this moment broadcasting other Cuban live television channels as well as several radio stations, including Radio Havana Cuba Spanish language programs, and soon we will also include English and other languages too (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited July 24, HCDX via DXLD) ** IRELAND [and NORTHERN]. Re: [dxld] Irish Church Broadcasts Hi, last Sunday I checked 11 m for these church transmissions. I could copy more then 30 channels between 26985 and 27990 with real strong signals at 1100 UT with holy masses. Nothing on 28.x MHz this time. Most of them are from the Republic of Ireland, but at least one was from Northern Ireland (Irish accent but with a female minister). On 26985 kHz was one station with (nearly) nonstop studio recorded modern British or Irish Christian music with some few "talks" by a priest. Has anybody the rules for these stations. Are they legal in Ireland? If yes, which frequencies, power etc.? Do they need individual licenses? I read that the British OFCOM has allocated some frequencies for Northern Ireland (only?, whats about the rest of the UK?) for this purpose. Do they need individual license or it is a general "CE" allocation? Is there somewhere any good recent listing? Has anybody asked for a QSL so far? And had success? I think for "DX" it would be very very difficult to identify them. I think the only way to ID is to listen for "announcements" for local church events or names of persons (for marriages, funerals etc.). These details are very difficult to confirm from Germany ...hi. DXers outside the "home parish" need very good lists ;-) These transmissions are a nice playground at times of sporadic E propagations on 10/11 meters. Would be double fun, if we could ID them correctly and QSL them too ;-) 73, (Tom - DL8AAM Rösner, July 23, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1368, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tom, perhaps it may even be more interesting to QSL those BC -- would Irish Catholics look kindly on reports from (maybe) German Lutherans, hi...;-) Good luck with getting those verifications.. 73, (Dan Sheedy, WB6FJD, ibid.) ** ISLE OF MAN. ISLE OF MAN LONGWAVE STATION OFFERS RSS FEED PRIOR TO LAUNCH Isle of Man International Broadcasting, the much-delayed longwave station on 279 kHz, seems to be getting closer to launch. On its website, an RSS feed has been added. The station says that “in combination with our NEWS page, our dedicated news feed will provide the latest information on the station launch as it becomes available.” Isle of Man International Broadcasting http://www.iomib.com/ (July 23rd, 2007 - 9:20 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) 6 Responses to “Isle of Man longwave station offers RSS feed prior to launch” Mike Barraclough Says: July 23rd, 2007 at 11:24 e On the other hand there is now nothing else on their website. Andy Says: July 23rd, 2007 at 11:48 e There hasn’t been anything on the website for many weeks. But at least we know that the project is still alive (allegedly) Red Kite Says: July 23rd, 2007 at 15:44 e It’s too late for longwave unless they are all digital with DRM, satellite, cable and internet from the start. If they were to do that I might start taking them seriously. I got tired of hearing about this one years ago I’m afraid. Andy Says: July 23rd, 2007 at 16:50 e As far as I know, the plan is to use an AM/DRM transmitter, and they have previously said that longwave will NOT be the only platform. So, maybe your wish will be granted Bear Says: July 23rd, 2007 at 19:55 e Why does it have to be DRM? AM is perfectly okay if the programming is interesting enough to attract an audience (Media Network blog via DXLD) ** ITALY. Dear Giorgio, I'm very sorry for my delay but I was on holidays since 11 June to today!!!! Yess, I needed a lot of holidays !!!! Concerning SW. I've no news, the last one I have is that it's only question of time. At the moment the situation is: Italian Government suspended the financing of the SW transmission. Rai, at this moment, is deciding if continue or not without Government support (someone at RaiWay, July 23 via George Poppin, CA, WORLD OF RADIO 1368, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JOHNSTON ISLAND. KH3, JOHNSTON ISLAND. Skipper of the USSV Dharma, Susan Meckley, W7KFI, who was expected to depart sometime last week for Johnston Island (OC-023, USI OI-006), has once again postponed her departure. Susan informs OPDX (as she apologizes to everyone) that it seems to look "like one hell of a hurricane season...." heading her way from the Mexican area. She states, "If there is a two week lull I will depart for KH3, but it looks like I am stuck in Honolulu till end of the season. In any event, propagation is much better in November than in July/August anyway. I guess the tooth ache that brought me back to Honolulu was good after all...." She also mentions that she does not want to get stuck on an island that has a 5 ft. elevation during a hurricane storm surge and everything goes underwater (Excerpts and distribution of The OPDX Bulletin are granted as long as KB8NW/OPDX/BARF80 receive credit, July 23, via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1368, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Re 7-086, Echo of Hope on 6003 ex-6348: The July 23 edition of Aoki list does make this change: 6003 ECHO OF HOPE 0300-0500 1234567 Korean 10 ND Gimpo KOR 126..E35.. EOH a07 Jul.1- 6003 ECHO OF HOPE 1100-1500 1234567 Korean 10 ND Gimpo KOR 126..E37.. EOH a07 Jul.1- But still also on 6348 in case it return, or is it still there too? 6348 ECHO OF HOPE 0300-0500 1234567 Korean 10 ND Gimpo KOR 126..E37.. EOH a07 6348 ECHO OF HOPE 1100-1900 1234567 Korean 10 ND Gimpo KOR 126..E37.. EOH a07 (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1368, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. QSL: Station: - KBS World Radio Date: - 30-06-2007 Frequency: - 9515 kHz Time: - 1600-1700 UTC Language: - English Description: - B-boys of Korea. A B-boy is a term for a person who’s devoted to hip-hop culture and recently refers to a male who practices breakdancing. Korean B-boys have gone to be the world’s top level with a number of dancers sweeping international B-boy battles. Their videotaped performances are even being used as texts for European B- boys. Regards & 73’s (Mukesh Kumar, THE COSMOS CLUB, MUZAFFARPUR – 842002, BIHAR, INDIA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. 11990, Radio Kuwait, 1915-2100*, 7/21/07. Pop music program until 1930 station ID and into program reading a short story by a Kuwaiti author. More pop music after another ID at 1945. At 2048 a man announcer with ID ("You are listening to radio Kuwait") mentioning 11,990 kHz to Europe and North America. The news in brief followed a local time check for 11:49 PM in the State of Kuwait. More pop music from 2053 until the man announcer returned for close down announcements mentioning tomorrow's 1800 GMT transmission. Closed with orchestra National Anthem with 5 + 1 time pips at 2100 and Arabic ID before carrier was terminated. Fair to good reception (Rich D'Angelo, Wyomissing, PA 19610, U.S.A., Ten-Tec RX-340, Drake R-8B, Eton E1, Lowe HF-150, Alpha Delta DX Sloper, RF Systems Mini-Windom, Datong FL3, JPS ANC-4, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Dear All, As I write this, I am listening to Radio Kuwait English Language Service on 11990, at 1830 UT. I am assuming that they have resumed their transmissions in English on Shortwave, as they announced such a transmission on air. This is a good news for shortwave. Best Wishes (Christopher Lewis, England, July 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. Heard yesterday, 23/7: 7295 kHz - 1827 UT - MLA - Traxx FM, Kajang, Audible after s/off VOIRI on same frequency and before s/on CRI in English at 1900. Modern pop music, ID “You’ve found a radiostation that plays all your favourite songs, songs, Traxx FM FM!“. Comments in terrible English in between the songs. SINPO 35333 Location : Borsbeek, Belgium (N51º11'/E4º29') Receiver : JRC NRD-525 (ESKA-modified) Antennas : 15m longwire with MLB + home built MW-loop 73 and good DX, (DXA30 Marc Vissers, HCDX via DXLD) ** MALI. 5995.0, RTV du Mali, 23 July+, 2030. Glenn, hearing this every Hawaii evening. Tuning down to SSS LSB 5994.8 or so to try to get clear of Habana on 6000. In the clear after 0700 RHC signoff. Fair to poor. Not sure if it fades out before 08, or just signs off. Sure lasts awhile after Mali sunrise. Disappearing tonight into the hash around 0714. Great music listening. Southern African 60 meters is quite good just now around S. Af sunrise (David Norcross, Hawaii Kai, Oahu, Hawaii, ICF2010 & Satellit 800 w/longwires, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Southern Africa (around Botswana, but not Mali) is antipodal to HI (gh, DXLD) ** MALI. 5995, R. Mali, Kati, 2135-2146, 21 Jul, Vernacular, traditional chanting; 54444 despite adjacent DRM QRM 5990; // 4835.3. 7284.6, R. Mali, Kati, 1413-1455, 15 Jul, French, Malian songs, talks; 45343; // 11960. 11960, R. Mali, Kati, 1415-1450, 15 Jul, French, Malian songs; 44433, adj. QRM, poor at 1500; parallel to 7284.6 kHz (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 783, R. Mauritania, Nouakchott, 1924-1936, 12 Jul, vernacular, talks & phone-ins; 33342, co-channel & adjacent QRM, then superb signal at 2100. 4845, R. Mauritanie (?), Nouakchott, 0955-f/out 1020, 22 Jul, unreadable talks in unidentified language; 15341; DF=SWest, MTN silent on 7245 where in s/on at 1150. 7245, R. Mauritanie, Nouakchott, 1335-1720, 21 Jul, Arabic, talks, children’s program (tentatively), news at 1700, so probably s/off about an hour later or so; 55444. Note: it was observed s/on at 1150 on 22 Jul (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6010, Radio Mil, México DF, 0558-0620, 23-07, canciones, idenficación a las 0559: "Radio Mil", comentarios por locutor y locutora, identificación completa a las 0604: "Radio Mil, 1000 kHz, 50.000 watts, onda corta 6010 kHz...", canción identificativa: "Radio Mil", "Vive México en Radio Mil". 23222. 6185, Radio Educación, México DF, 0703-0720, 15-07, canciones latinoamericanas. 24322. 9599.2, Radio UNAM, México DF, 0532-0553, 17-07, música de piano, locutor, comentarios: "Procuraduría General de la República", más música clásica. "Mozart y la orquesta de Salzburgo". Eclipsada a las 0553 al aparecer la portadora de Radio Bulgaria en 9600. 34333. 9599.2, Radio UNAM, México DF, 0538-0557, 23-07, música clásica, locutora presentando las piezas. A las 0557 eclipsada por Radio Bulgaria en 9600 khz. 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, escuchas realizadas en Camping de Reinante, provincia de Lugo, Mar Cantábrico, entre los días 15 y 23 de Julio, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, WORLD OF RADIO 1368, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 9599.4, R. UNAM, 0931-0945, 14 Jul, Spanish, classical music; 24432, adjacent QRM 9605. Noted on 9599.2 on 15 Jul at 1015 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, WORLD OF RADIO 1368, DX LISTENING DIGEST) XEYU, 9599.2 or so, 0545 July 23, classical music axually coming in well enough to enjoy, tho with some deep fades; pause for announcement including government agency PSA, no commercials; into Wagner running past hourtop tho het de 9600.0 underneath. F-layer propagation still pitiful; maybe sporadic E accounts for this (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1368, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Solar-terrestrial indices for 22 July follow. Solar flux 66 and mid- latitude A-index 4. The mid-latitude K-index at 0600 UTC on 23 July was 1 (6 nT). No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours. No space weather storms are expected for the next 24 hours. (SEC via DXLD) ** MEXICO. XHTY, 99.7 MHZ, TIJUANA, IS ON THE AIR WITH HD RADIO A Communicator reader indicates that XHTY, 99.7 MHz, Tijuana, has lit up in HD. This report is from a Los Angeles broadcast engineer who drives through Malibu on his way home, and Malibu is where the signal was received. He knew it was XHTY because the call sign appeared on his radio's digital display (sort of an instant QSL card). The engineer reported that the station "sounded fine" and concluded that this could be "the first border FM from Mexico to transmit HD." Of course, reception in Malibu will vary depending on temperature inversion layer ducting conditions (CGC Communicator July 23, via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** MOROCCO. 1126.7, RTM-“A”, site?, 2214-, 15 Jul, Arabic, radioplay; 54444 but almost inaudible audio; parallel to 207, 540, 819 for instance. 1638, RTM-“A”, Rabat, 1405-, 14 Jul, Arabic, Arabic songs; 35353; harmonic of 819 at S9+55dB, weak audio. 1644, RTM-“B”, site?, here’s a bunch of observations on this one which is also pesting the 1600-1700 kHz range evenings: 1339-1415 UT, 14 Jul, Spanish, Spanish rhythms, news at 1400, Spanish songs, then gone; 55454 but FM-like signal, thus extremely difficult to copy; 1502-1615, 15 Jul, French, news, pops, Arabic later on, talks; 55353, still extremely tough to copy. 0900-, 16 Jul, French, newscast cf. 15 Jul at 1502; 55454. 7308, RTM-“C”, Sébaa-Aioun, 1410-, 23 Jul, Berber, traditional chanting; harmonic of 1044 kHz; 15341. 5220, RTM-“C”, Sébaa-Aioun, 1417-, 23 Jul, Berber, traditional chanting; harmonic of 1044 kHz; 15331 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, WORLD OF RADIO 1368, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI has just snuk in a frequency change, 9655, without flagging it under ``what`s new`` or changing the effective start date, which certainly was not May 6: Our direct broadcasts can be heard on short-wave as follows: 06 May 2007 - 02 Sep 2007 UTC kHz Target, Azimuth, all daily 0459-0658 9615 AM & 9890 DRM Pacific 0 0659-1058 6095 AM & 7145 DRM and Pacific 0 1059-1258 9655 AM & 7145 DRM NW Pac, Bougainville, PNG, Timor 325 1300-1550 6095 AM [no DRM] Pacific 0 1551-1850 7145 AM & 6095 DRM Cook Is, Fiji, Niue, Samoa, Tonga 35 1851-2050 9615 AM & 9890 DRM Cook Is, Fiji, Niue, Samoa, Tonga 35 2051-2155 15720 AM & 11675 DRM NW Pacific, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands 0 2156-2358 15720 AM & 13730 DRM NW Pacific, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands 0 2359-0458 13730 AM & 15720 DRM Pacific 0 (RNZI website July 24, cleaned up by gh for WORLD OF RADIO 1368, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGER. 9705, La Voix du Sahel, Niamey, 2211-2228, 12 Jul, vernacular, talks, seemingly news; 54444; also 1007-, 22 Jul, French, interview; 35433 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 4770, R. Nigeria, Kaduna, 0832-f/out 0955, 23 Jul, English, talks, western music & songs; 25342, then audible again around 1345 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. A few months ago, I contacted Rob Deemer, host of The Composer Next Door, on KCSC-FM, Sundays 21-22 UT, to tell him that there is a similar show on WUOL in Louisville, Brave New World, which is now at 00-01 UT Tuesdays. Now I see on the BNW page of the WUOL website http://www.wuol.org/bravenewworld.htm# that there is a link back to TCND at KCSC, a nice instance of inter- stational cooperation. ``If you like Brave New World, and would like to listen to a similar show, tune in to The Composer Next Door on Sundays at 4pm through streaming audio out of KCSC/KBCW. The host and producer is Rob Deemer.`` And there is a reciprocal note on TCND page at KCSC, also with linx, http://www.thecomposernextdoor.org/about.html ``BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! If you like what you hear on The Composer Next Door, please check out another great show that focuses on new music - Brave New World, hosted by my good friend Daniel Gilliam, is broadcast from WUOL-FM in Louisville, KY and nationally online.`` (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Add KWGS / 89.5 / Tulsa to the list of US FM stations that have one of their HD side channels dedicated to the BBC World Service 24/7. KWGS's HD3 channel is so designated. See http://www.kwgs.org/ the section labeled "HD Radio Listening Choices." (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, July 24, swprograms via DXLD) ** PALESTINE [non]. Voice Of Palestine from Iran --- Hello Dxers, checking Radio IRIB around 1925 UT on 6025, I noticed that they started the daily program of Voice Of Palestine, Voice of the Islamic Revolution in Palestine, sign on at 1930 which is a new time slot for me, and the announcer gave 2 frequencies --- 9505 and 7260 kHz!!! Of course none was working. Sounds like they moved the program from the usual time 0330-0430 UT to that new time of 1930-2030 UT using the same frequency of the Arabic section of IRIB 6025 kHz. All the best (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, July 23, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1368, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Lo peor de todo es que algunas emisoras no se escuchan, no por mala propagación, sino por que parece que están fuera del aire y tal vez para no volver, tal como Radio Visión, Chiclayo, que entraba muy bién por aquí en los 4790.2 kHz (Manuel Méndez, Spain, Noticias DX via DXLD) Cf 7-086 about Atlántida on same frequency (gh) ** PERU. More excepts from ``EL TIEMPO HECHICERO`` DX NEWS No. 31 Julio 2007 by Tetsuya HIRAHARA/RNM, June visit to Lima 4654, Radio Centinela del Norte, around 0000 on June 11. IDs – Ésta es Radio Centinela de Norte. – Radio Centinela todo lo que a tí te gusta, todo lo que tú prefieres está en Radio Centinela. – La radio nueva ``Centinela de Norte`` donde se mezcla la música y la información, ``Centinela de Norte``. – Centinela del Norte Radio vive en tus momentos felices. Centinela, alegría y diversión Centinela. – Radio Centinela del Norte, ahora más cerca de la gente, la mejor programación, los mejores éxitos, sólo en Centinela del Norte. – Sois escuchando Radio Centinela, alegría sin límite. – Gracias, gracias por tu preferencia: la mejor programación y los mejores éxitos sólo en Centinela del Norte. – Más fuerte contundente [?] que nunca. Radio Centinela del Norte. 5120, Radio Ondas del Suroriente, Quillabamba: Ad for Botica San Juan. 0005 News ``Libre Opinión (tercera edición)``. June 11. ID – Integrando a nivel nacional e internacional, Radio Ondas del Suroriente, amplitud modulada 1400 kHz, onda corta 5070 kHz banda de 60 metros, y la gran cadena nacional vía satélite 96.5 frecuencia modulada estéreo. 5602, Radio La Voz de los Andes, El Higuerón, 0134 s/off with NA on June 11. ID – ``8 de la noche 10 minutos, 8:10 minutos, la recuerda que (nuestros personales en) Radio La Voz de los Andes, la radio que está en su corazón, estamos en onda corta internacional de los 5602.6 de la onda corta. Bueno amigos oyentes, saludamos a todos amigos que se encuentran`` (Tetsuya Hirahara, Japan, THDXN via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4857.46, R. La Hora, Cusco, 23/7 2355, Male speech about Perú, good 33332. 5014.35, R. Altura, Cerro de Pasco, 23/7 2332 ID and Male in discussion on the phone, 33222 5939.30, R. Melodía, Arequipa, 23/7 2250, Spanish songs typical, weak but fair, 22222, Tropical Gr (Maurits Van Driessche from Belgium, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 5014.4, Radio Altura, 0335-0404*, 7/19/07. Man announcer with Spanish talk hosting program of huaynos. ID at closedown but left air without National Anthem. Poor (Rich D'Angelo, Wyomissing, PA 19610, U.S.A., Ten-Tec RX-340, Drake R-8B, Eton E1, Lowe HF-150, Alpha Delta DX Sloper, RF Systems Mini-Windom, Datong FL3, JPS ANC-4, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) 5014.4, Radio Altura (Cerro de Pasco), 0325-0335, 7/19/2007, Spanish. Man talking around and over local music. Poor signal (SINPO 24222). (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, TenTec RX-340, Drake R8B; 90' random wire, PAR EF-SWL, LFE H-800, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** POLAND. LW 225, Polskie R, Solec Kujawski, 2142-2207, 11 Jul, talks, weather report, TS, chimes, IS, channel 1 ID, newscast; 55343 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. Re 7-086: Checked 7185 today (23 July) and found Radio Romania International to be back on frequency at 2200 (Steve Lare, MI, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1368, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also UNIDENTIFIED 11777 ** RUSSIA. Re 7-086: They have demolished LW RS im. Kominterna in Ufa (built in 1942) in June 29 54 45 30N, 56 02 00E low res. 162 RV-96 (GTRK Bashkortostan) and 198 RV-1 (Mayak) are cut off for ever. Other site near Ufa in Yazykovo now has 693 (Radio Rossii) and 1287 (Radio Yunost) many photos, videos and news in Russian: http://www.radioscanner.ru/forum/index.php?action=vthread&forum=5&topic=25330&page=2 In June 19 RTRN has destroyed MW site in Astrakhan 46 21 10N, 48 04 13E hi res. 576 RV-50 and 792 RV-35 are perished for ever too. FM and residential areas are coming (Victor Rutkovsky, Russia, July 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ufa, Novosemeykino; Yekaterinburg and Kurovskaya silent? My earlier notes about the Ufa transmitter sites were in part wrong. Notes on this topic in Russian can be found here: http://victorcity.dxing.ru/Cities/ufa.htm The Komintern station operated on longwave only, on both 162 (moved to this frequency from ex-153 during the nineties) and 198. The dxing.ru page speculates about 198 being moved to a former jamming site, but of course this would have to be discussed only in case there is still a signal on this frequency. Photos of the Komintern site taken as recently as in last March, including a mast climb: http://ufaradiov.narod.ru/ Large thread with photos of the still intact site on pages 1 and 2 and pictures of its demolition on pages 3 and 4: http://www.radioscanner.ru/forum/index.php?action=vthread&forum=5&topic=25330 Yazykovo has mediumwave transmitters instead, the mentioned 693 as well as another one on 1278. Photos of the site, prominently featuring the shortwave antennas: http://foto.mail.ru/list/4034098/29/ Fascinating stuff: A report about the Novosemeykino site northeast of Samara, inaugurated in 1942 with 1200 kW (so much for Erching being the world's largest transmitter when it went on air in 1953). Unfortunately I get only garbled characters on this page, but the pictures really speak volumes: http://www.retro.samnet.ru/zapstolica/rvs/index.htm Note the RV-390 transmitter. Earlier it was believed that the more recent Samara high power LW/MW transmitters were located elsewhere, cf. http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/dxld1070.txt but at least without the text it appears that indeed Novosemeykino remained in use with upgraded equipment. Could it be in fact a VLF site what had been spotted near Syzran? http://maps.google.de/?ie=UTF8&t=h&om=0&ll=53.222788,48.446274&spn=0.030524,0.078278&z=13 http://victorcity.dxing.ru/Cities/samara.htm gives Novosemeykino as site for both 234 and 873 with 2000 kW each, mentions a shut-down of this ancient site as recently as in 2005 (apparently in accordance with the feature I can't read) and speculates about the current site of Radio Rossii on 873, if it is still on air at all. 234 had been shut down already in the early nineties. More photos of the Novosemeykino antennas: http://phonecard.hobi.ru/img5 Are all of the big shortwave sites in Russia still on air? Until recently the answer was apparently "yes", but now it looks as if Yekaterinburg went silent. A few registrations are still included in HFCC, but at least 9610 and 11920 are obviously wood; when checking two days ago after 1900 I found on 9610 only a preacher in English which turned out to be Family Radio via Wertachtal (in fact it was by far the best Wertachtal signal I ever had above 49 metres) while 11920 was empty. The nice gallery at http://www.e1.ru/fun/photo/view_album.php?id=50103 includes on page 5 also a glimpse on a piece of equipment, a power supply control board I guess (certainly not a transmitter as stated), still showing at least one "green light", but who knows what this means and when this photo was taken. And I find it suspicious that according to http://victorcity.dxing.ru/Cities/ekaterinburg.htm the Yekaterinburg city outlets on mediumwave (666 and 909) were moved from the shortwave site to the separate LW/MW site. http://victorcity.dxing.ru/Cities/moskva.htm points out a change in the Moscow region I find suspicious as well: 549 had been moved in 1998 from the Kurovskaya to the Chkalovskaya site, then in last year again to Elektrostal. So are the shortwave transmitters of the Kurovskaya site still in use? Without counting frequency hours in detail I assume that the Lesnoy and Taldom capacity is sufficient for the remaining "MSK" transmissions. I must add that I was quite surprised to read about 549 via Chkalovskaya, since it was so far believed that this site had been closed altogether when shortwave transmissions ceased there, cf. http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/dxld0044.txt But now it turns out that Chkalovskaya was still active on mediumwave until last year. Picture gallery, at present blocked by the provider: http://foto.mail.ru/mail/leon77-77/rc5/ Kurovskaya site: http://www.tvtower.ru/311_RCMO/rc7.shtml It is named after Kurovskoye, but rather located northeast of Avsyunino: http://maps.google.de/?ie=UTF8&ll=55.582808,39.151325&spn=0.028817,0.078278&t=h&z=13&om=0 The guy anchors of the mediumwave mast and the towers of the shortwave curtains can be easily seen when zooming closer, unlike the rhombics which appear to be placed in the forrest in between. PS. I did not count how many hours I spent on this topic during the last days, but it is just too fascinating to finally see all these facilities (Kai Ludwig, Germany, July 24, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) And thanks to you for sharing all your research with us. We can always depend on something new and interesting from your byline! (gh, DXLD) ** SAINT HELENA. 11092.5, Radio St. Helena, 1900-2015, 17-07, transmisión de prueba de esta emisora. Múltiples identificaciones: "This is Radio St. Helena, broadcasting on 11092.5 USB". Canciones en inglés, locutor, locutora, e-mail address: station-manager @ helanta.sh Muy buena señal en la primera hora de transmisión. 44444 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, escuchas realizadas en Camping de Reinante, provincia de Lugo, Mar Cantábrico, entre los días 15 y 23 de Julio, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Opnamen van station gemaakt in Lommel met de K9AY: http://www.schotmans.net/dxsounds/RStHelenatestTx17-7-2007_opening.mp3 73, (Guido Schotmans, Belgium, BDX via DXLD) ** SAINT HELENA. ZD7, ST. HELENA. Tom, KC0W, will be moving to St. Helena Island in early September and is expected to be active as ZD7X. His activity will be on modes CW, SSB, RTTY and PSK. Look for his operations on 160-6 meters. Special attention will be given to 40, 75/80 and 160 meters. ZD7X will be active in all major contests. Tom has already announced that he will be active as a Single-Op/Low- Power entry in both the CQ World Wide DX SSB Contest (October 27-28th) and the CQ World Wide DX CW Contest (November 24-25th). When not contesting Tom will be DXing in general. His QSL Manager is WØMM (Excerpts and distribution of The OPDX Bulletin are granted as long as KB8NW/OPDX/BARF80 receive credit, July 23, via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** SINGAPORE. 7275, Mediacorp R. Singapore – Olikkalanjiam channel, Kranji, 1323-1412, 14 Jul, Tamil, pops & traditional songs; 25432. (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wow, around local mean noon (gh, DXLD) ** SLOVAKIA [and non]. Re: ``The DX programme in question, if indeed "broadcast by Deutsche Welle and afterwards by Radio Slovakia International", was probably a production by DW's Tina Krasnopolskaya, presumably in Russian.`` Yes, for a couple of years she was making a DX program in Russian, called "Mir radio - Radiomir" ("World of Radio - Radioworld"), for DW and later for Radio Slovakia Int'l. But the program was aired for the last time on June 25, 2006! And it never resumed after RSI's return to SW in the B06 season. Someone seems to confuse the years ;) (Sergei Nikiskin, Russia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AFRICA. 9650, SAUK/R. Sonder Grense, Meyerton, 1003-1427, 23 Jul, Afrikaans, talks about Gospel songs, weather report, ads, songs, news 1400, interview in progress at end of observation; 35443, but declining and with adjacent QRM after 1400 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AFRICA. SOUTH AFRICAN BROADCASTER LAUNCHES 'PROGRESSIVE' NEW CHANNEL http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/22/1984927.htm Posted Sun Jul 22, 2007 3:18pm AEST South Africa has launched its answer to the international news channels BBC and CNN. Run by South Africa's public broadcaster, SABC News International says it wants to provide what it calls more positive coverage of Africa to counter tales of poverty and violence. According to the SABC's head of news and current affairs, Snuki Zikalala, the new channel will cover news from the continent in a progressive and sympathetic manner. It will report on cultural and social developments and not shy away from scandals or corruption. But media watchdogs say the news provider should be focusing on bolstering its editorial independence at home. The organisation has recently come under intense criticism after it considered dropping a documentary about President Thabo Mbeki. SABC has denied that such censorship takes place. -*BBC* (via Wayne Bastow, NSW, dxldyg via DXLD) OK, but rather lacking in detail. How may one view it? (gh, DXLD) ** SPAIN. Ya sé que la emisión de REE en inglés no es precisamente muy DX, pero me llamaron la atención dos cosas, la música época '80s y el inglés tan peculiar de la locutora, me recordó (quizás exagerando un poco) a las locutoras de Taiwán de digamos hace 10-15 años con sus lecturas tan extrañas casi recitando: 9840, 2123, REE-Noblejas, Mx programa, viajes a Santiago C[ompostela]. 22/07, Ing, 45444 (Tomás Méndez, Spain, RX: GRUNDIG SATELLIT 700, SONY ICF SW7600GR, ICOM IC-R2, DEGEN 1103 playdx yg via DXLD) ** SPAIN. Hi Glenn, Just thought I let you know, in case you haven't heard, that Jesús de Polanco, the founder of El País newspaper where I work, and Grupo PRISA media, which owns a several radio stations along the US-Mexican border, died Saturday at Ruber International Hospital here in Madrid. He was 77. Here's his obit that appeared in today's NY Times. JESÚS DE POLANCO, 77, DIES; MEDIA MOGUL HELPED REVIVE FREE SPEECH IN SPAIN --- By VICTORIA BURNETT July 23, 2007 MADRID, July 22 — Jesús de Polanco, a billionaire media entrepreneur viewed by Spaniards as crucial to restoring the free press during the country’s transition to democracy in the 1970s, died Saturday. He was 77. Mr. de Polanco had been ill for some time, Grupo Prisa, the powerful media group he co-founded, said in a statement announcing his death on Saturday. Mr. de Polanco, the chairman of Prisa, was one of the country’s most influential men and a close ally of the governing Socialist Party. Also the co-founder of El País, the best-selling newspaper in the country, he was ranked 287th in March on the Forbes list of the richest people in the world, with a fortune worth $3 billion. His burial on Sunday was attended by prominent cultural figures and senior politicians from the left and right, including Felipe González, the former Socialist prime minister, and José Saramago, the Portuguese Nobel Prize laureate, according to the radio station Cadena SER. José Bono, a former defense minister, said that Mr. de Polanco’s media group “defended liberty during complicated times, and this is something that we Spaniards who fought against dictatorship cannot forget.” Jesús de Polanco Gutiérrez was born in Madrid in 1929. Orphaned at a young age, he paid his way through school by selling books, and eventually earned a law degree. He co-founded El País in 1976 as Spain emerged from the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco, and helped build Prisa into a thriving publishing and broadcast empire. Its holdings include newspapers, magazines, television and radio stations in Spain, as well as a clutch of radio stations in Latin America and a 15 percent stake in the French newspaper Le Monde. “He has left behind the mark of a man of acute intelligence whose conviction contributed to the modernization of Spain,” Santiago de Ybarra y Churruca, president of a rival media group, Vocento S.A., wrote in the conservative newspaper ABC. Though Mr. de Polanco vowed to stand up for the independence and integrity of the media, Prisa’s editorial line closely reflected that of the Socialist government, and rivals have charged that the group benefited from political favors. Despite the kind of huge growth over the last three decades that sometimes leads families to step back from big companies, even with Mr. de Polanco’s death, his family will retain a strong presence in the company. Three of his four children are top executives at Prisa. He will be succeeded as chairman of Prisa by its current vice president, his son Ignacio, 52. His daughter Isabelle is the chief executive of the group’s educational publishing division Santillana; his son Manuel is the chief executive of its Portuguese media division; and his daughter María Jesús works on projects unrelated to the company (via Marty Delfin, Madrid, Spain, July 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) OBIT ** SPAIN. DRM tests on MW: see DIGITAL BROADCASTING ** SRI LANKA. Listening post? No, transmitting post. "During the J. R. Jayewardene government Sri Lanka’s signing an agreement with Voice of America was made one of the excuses for India to arm fund and train the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam that finally killed Rajiv Gandhi. But the US did not want to help Sri lanka when the country was being attacked by the LTTE not to antagonize India. India concluded the Voice of America relay station was actually a listening post on India." Walter Jayawardhana, Lankaweb, 19 July 2007. http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items07/190707-1.html (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Speculation about the IBB relay in Sri Lanka pops up in South Asian publications and websites from time to time. Because the facility is relaying VOA and other U.S. stations with four 500-kilowatt and three 250-kilowatt transmitters, anyone in the subcontinent with a twenty- dollar shortwave radio can attest to its actual purpose. With 2,750 kilowatts to cause RF interference to sensitive receivers, it would be a poor location for a "listening post." Posted: 22 Jul 2007 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) ** SUDAN. 7200, SNBC, Omdurman, 1003-f/out 1025, 22 Jul, Arabic, talks; 25332 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. SRS 5985 at 0305 with news. Severe ute QRM had to be filtered out but finally nabbed an ID at 0320. First time heard. I still haven't heard other frequencies. 24 July (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ute QRM on 5985? What about WYFR? This particular one via Rwanda (gh) WYFR was there but also an FDM (frequency division multiplex, if I recall correctly). I have no means of decoding that so I couldn't ID. WYFR was actually weaker than SRS. 73/Liz (Cameron, ibid.) ** SURINAME. 4990, R. Apintie, Paramaribo, 2230-2240, 21 Jul, Dutch, talks, music; 23231, adjacent QRM de B 4985 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN [non]. A destacar, aunque ya lo había notado anteriormente, la interferencia de una emisora de letras a la emisión de CBS Taiwán desde Okeechobee: 11565, 0226, USA, CBS TAIWAN-Okeechobee, Com, QRM emisora de letras 22/07 Chipre, 33333 (Tomás Méndez, Spain, RX: GRUNDIG SATELLIT 700, SONY ICF SW7600GR, ICOM IC-R2, DEGEN 1103, playdx yg via DXLD) ** THAILAND. PHUKET TO HAVE A FULL ENGLISH LANGUAGE RADIO STATION Phuket in Thailand will have a full English language radio station that will cater to tourists and expatriates in the region. 90.5 Phuket Gold FM, covering Phang Nga and Krabi as well, will be the only English language radio station in the region, playing hits from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. The station will help promote tourism in the region, serving as a place for news and entertainment for tourists and expatriates alike,” as its Managing Director Chaiyos Binpradap explains: “90.5 Phuket Gold FM will be officially up and running on the 9th of September 2007, while programs are expected to be on the air waves as early as August, while our ‘Andaman News’ TV news programme will continue to have its audio track repeated on the same frequency 90.5 FM at 6pm weekdays.” (Source: ThaisNews)( July 23rd, 2007 - 12:09 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** TURKEY. LW 180, TRT, Polatli, 2113-2125, 20 Jul, phone-ins, talks; weak audio; 53452, adjacent QRM de Morocco 171 & Germany 183 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKMENISTAN. See UNIDENTIFIED ** UKRAINE [and non]. The NDB on 1155 kHz is 'LS' Krasnyi Luch, Ukraine N48.1054 E038.5624, 617 kHz is 'G' Luhansk, Ukraine N48.2451 E039.2430. I would suspect that the one on 721 is 'MS' on 720 from Taganrog South in Russia, N47.1130 E038.5300. Wish I could hear them here!:-) 73 for now, (Alan Gale, UK, MWC via DXLD) ** U K. Re 7-087: "Dear Glenn, Andy Sennitt is correct re: failure of BBCR4 LF 198 kHz and the colocated 5LIVE MF - but seems to be unaware of the flooding likely to explain it (it's difficult to blame the Beeb for the severely unseasonal weather!)" I am perfectly well aware of the flooding in the UK. DXLD is a radio- related publication and I did not consider it necessary to file a weather report, as the flooding in the UK is being well covered in the international media. I reported that 198 was off the air in case some DXers in Western Europe wanted to try logging other stations on the frequency that are normally blocked by Droitwich. The remark about the BBC was not "blaming" them, I was merely commenting that it came at the end of a week of embarrassing stories about the BBC (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, July 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. U.S. INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING: JOURNALISM IS ITS OWN PURPOSE. At a 10 July town meeting of Voice of America and International Broadcasting Bureau employees, James K. Glassman, new chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, said that for U.S. international broadcasting, journalism is the "foundation." Beyond that, however, that there must be "journalism with purpose … journalism that contributes towards freedom." (Listen to mp3 excerpt http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/Journalism_with_Purpose.mp3 I wrote to Mr. Glassman, with copy to all BBG members, offering reasons why, in U.S. international broadcasting, journalism is its own purpose. See my letter of 19 July 2007 http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/?id=1981 Posted: 22 Jul 2007 (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Viz.: Kim's letter to James K. Glassman on "journalism with purpose." Arlington, Virginia July 19, 2007 Mr. James K. Glassman Chairman Broadcasting Board of Governors 330 Independence Avenue S.W. Washington, D.C. 20237 Dear Mr. Glassman: Thank you for convening the Town Meeting of IBB and VOA employees on July 10. During the meeting you said that, in U.S. international broadcasting, journalism is the “foundation.” Beyond that, however, that there must be “journalism with purpose … journalism that contributes towards freedom.” I would like to offer reasons why, in successful international broadcasting, journalism is its own purpose. I have been involved in international broadcasting audience research since 1977. In the survey and focus groups results I’ve seen since then, the message has been consistent: people use international broadcasting to get the reliable news, especially about their own countries, that is not provided by their state controlled domestic media. They turn to international broadcasts as the antidote to propaganda. They can detect even subtle attempts to emphasize this or downplay that. If unsatisfied, they will tune elsewhere. Preferably, U.S. international broadcasting would be conducted by the private sector. This would give USIB the independence necessary to achieve credibility. But because there is little prospect for commercial success in international broadcasting in languages such as Pashto, Burmese, or Creole, the government must provide the funds for international broadcasting. Why would the U.S. government want to pay for an international broadcasting effort if it cannot dictate its content? There are at least four reasons…. 1) It is necessary to attract an audience, for reasons mentioned above. 2) It provides the news and information that bolsters the audience against the misinformation and disinformation of dictators and terrorists. Audiences then have the information they need to form their own opinions about current events. This is necessary to build and to maintain democracy, and to understand international events and U.S. policies. 3) Independent journalism provides an example of democracy in action. It reports on the deliberations of government and opposition. 4) Even if audiences do not agree with U.S. policies, they will appreciate that the United States is providing them with an independent and useful news service. On the other hand, subjecting them to propaganda may give them another reason to dislike of the United States. Certainly, the United States should advocate its policies abroad, but that is the job of public diplomacy. Public diplomacy is an activity separate from, and complementary to, international broadcasting, for reasons stated on page 3 of the 2002 BBG annual report. http://www.bbg.gov/bbg_press.cfm One manifestation of U.S. public diplomacy is the website usinfo.state.gov, now available in seven languages. Instead of U.S. international broadcasting competing with itself in 22 languages, I think it would be preferable for U.S. international broadcasting and U.S. public diplomacy to complement each other in at least those 22 languages. The mission of successful international broadcasting is defined not by us, but by the audience. If U.S. international broadcasting adheres to this market-based strategy, the outcome will be well-informed audiences and good will towards the United States. Yours sincerely, Kim Andrew Elliott is an audience research analyst in the International Broadcasting Bureau. cc: BBG members See also "Put the News Here and the Propaganda There," USC Center on Public Diplomacy, November 13, 2006 http://uscpublicdiplomacy.com/index.php/newsroom/pdblog_detail/061113_put_the_news_here_and_the_propaganda_there/ Posted: 22 Jul 2007 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. Today I received a card from VOA Greenville. After 35 years of DXing I finally verified them. Better late than never (I missed verifying VOA Dixon). (Martin Foltz, Mission Viejo CA, July 21, ABDX via DXLD) Martin, Who signed the card from Greenville? I retired from there in 2003. It seems to me that I signed a verie for Greenville for Mauno Ritola of Finland, but am not sure. Whoever it was sent me a .jpg copy of the letter. Do you have a verie from IBB Delano? I have a for-sure signer there. Have you received IBB Morocco? I got a possible signer for you. Ditto most IBB stations. I veried one of the old, transportable Okuma, Okinawa 15-kW rigs. Years later, when I reported aboard IBB Greenville, I worked for the guy who signed the QSL. He's passed on since. You make me want to do some HFBC DXing. Really never DXed much up on the HF bands. Regards, (Charles A Taylor, WD4INP, Greenville, North Carolina, ibid.) Charlie, The Greenville card was unsigned. I have VOA QSLs from: Bethany Botswana Colombo Sri Lanka Delano Greenville Kavala Greece Monrovia Liberia Ryukyu Islands Philippines (Tinang?) Rhodes Dodecanese Islands Tangier Morocco Woofferton England Udorn Thani Thailand (also IBB card direct) Most were back in the 70's-early 90's so no IBB. On my list to get is São Tomé and Briech, Morocco. I'll need to look for any other sites still used. I haven't done much HF DX for years (Martin Foltz, ibid.) Martin Foltz's list of VOA sites QSL'd is fun to read. I stopped collecting QSLs a long, long time ago, but I do have one card from VOA Hawaii, back when the stations still used call letters. I think it was KRHK, one of several CLs, one for each transmitter. I regret not QSL'ing Bound Brook, NJ [WBOU]; Schenectady, NY [WGEO]; and a couple of other domestic sites --- But the one I regret most not QSL'ing was VOA-Leopoldville. In 1958, monitoring 15260 from Hereford TX, had a strong VOA signal and, back when they identified the sites, they ID'd this site as Leopoldville. I obtained a frequency schedule from VOA shortly thereafter, and sho' 'nuff, Leopoldville was listed on it for a transmission on 15260 --- didn't last too long, probably less than a year --- but it was there, and I heard it. Propagation from Leopoldville, and from Brazzaville, directly across the Congo River, to North America was very, very good throughout the '50s. Brazzaville's signal on 11970 was one of the common regulars, and OTC on 9767, with its Amongst Friends Club, through which I, at 15 in 1950, made contact with penpals in Malmö, London, a small town in New South Wales and another in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, was the same, even on an old upright consumer-oriented Philco console that my family had brought to Oregon when we moved from Oklahoma in 1941. Dunno what happened to all that good propagation after the two Congos became independent from France and Belgium. Qal R. Mann, Krumudgeon (John Callarman, Krum TX, ibid.) VOA Léopoldville is a new one on me; must have been before I started SW DXing in 1957y (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The first VOA site I QSLed after getting interested in DXing was the VOA station at Marathon, FL on 1180 kHz. I reported it in the fall of 1963, addressed my report to "VOA Station, Marathon, FL," but my report was instead delivered to station WFFG (I think that was the call) in or near Marathon. WFFG replied to me, and their CE helpfully gave me the address for VOA in Washington. I sent a follow-up there and received a VOA "star" card with the site indicated. Back then, all VOA transmissions started with the opening bars of "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" as their interval signal and a site announcement. I always thought "Columbia" was a better interval signal than the rather wimpy versions of "Yankee Doodle" they now use. I also recall VOA stopped QSLing reports from domestic listeners around 1965/66 because federal law prohibited domestic distribution of VOA materials (like QSLs). That policy lasted only a few months, but I can't recall why/how it was reversed. It was a thrill to later see some of the VOA sites I heard as a kid. The Delano site is especially impressive from Highway 99 (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19 http://topsecrettourism.com ABDX via DXLD) That was when VOA didn't own the transmitter sites. WLWO was Crosley, KCBR (Delano) was CBS. 1180 IS NOT V O A. It is Radio Martí. Studios are in Hialeah Florida. It has the same relationship to VOA as Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, Radio Liberty and Radio Sawa. All are under IBB=International Broadcasting Bureau. Yep, and I wish they had continued the practice of site IDs! And "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" was an excellent theme and interval signal. The site IDs were dropped because some countries that hosted VOA sites didn't want to be associated too closely with stuff that might have caused neighboring countries to get their collective panties in a knot. For what it's worth, Philippines isn't one of those. As a matter of fact, and it's a little known fact, Philippines has assigned the callsign DWVA to the two IBB sites in the Philippines. About that same time, VOA began to broadcast programs to military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. Actually, they were just material inserted in a program that would have been banned formerly. Thanks for your thoughts, Harry. VOA is a great organization. The problem is that management is mostly semi-incompetent (Charles A Taylor, WD4INP, Greenville, North Carolina, ibid.) Charlie, better go back and re-read my post more carefully. I was referring to my reception in 1963, back when it most definitely a VOA outlet and long before there was an IBB or Radio Martí. Heck, in 1963 both Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty posed as private organizations, complete with PSAs on domestic radio and television seeking contributions. They were both outed as CIA fronts in Senate hearings overseen by Senator William Fulbright in 1970/71 (I'm not sure which). I'm not doubting you, but that sounds like a lame explanation for public consumption --- I mean, those offended neighboring country could determine where a VOA transmission was coming from just by consulting the WRTH! (Harry Helms W5HLH, ibid.) The head engineer at the São Tomé site for a long time is (or was, if he has retired by now) Charles Lewis, well known to hams as S9SS, formerly S92SS whom I worked in the 80's. This is not to say he is the SIGNER, but as a ham, you'd have as good a chance with him, as with anyone else. His Bio on QRZ.COM was last dated at the end of last year, and I don't know of any recent activity. When you read his Bio, you see his former calls A22, A25 (Botswana) and SV0 (likely Rhodes, though SV0 is strictly Greece and SV5 is Rhodes now). The Bio also has a picture of the transmitter site. http://www.qrz.com/callsign and enter S9SS (Bob k2euh Foxworth, FL, ibid.) Bob, Charles Lewis has retired, and now has the good sense to reside in Boone, North Carolina. God's country. You bet your bippy he'd verify a correct report. Charles Lewis used to live in Wilmington (NC), and entered Foreign Service in about 1990. He was a very active ham, and also did maintenance for broadcast stations in this area. He and I were in competition (along with about seven other civil service employees) for Foreign Service assignments. We both applied for Botswana (a very decent posting, as Botswana is the "Costa Rica" of Africa), and management did the right thing for once and selected him. I don't know who the current Station Manager for STP is. If anyone wants to know, I'll e-mail Sheldon Daitch to find out (Charles A Taylor, WD4INP, Greenville, North Carolina, ibid.) Cholly, STP is Richard Petty and Andy Granitelli. Seriously, I worked S9SS last fall on 10 SSB from the mobile; 25 watts and a 3' top loaded vertical. Also once heard Sao Tome' on 1530 while living in Kissimmee, FL. I would have missed it except I paid real close attention when I heard "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and the VOA ID. Grayline propagation, lasted about 2-3 minutes, and never heard again --- and yes, while lying in bed listening to the Sony Walkman. 73, (Chris J. K4NHL, ibid.) When one hears a VOA transmitter signing on, the rendition of Yankee Doodle Dandy that is played before the top of the hour, comes from a CD-ROM or EPROM that comes from VOA HQ in Washington, so it's entirely possible for IBB stations to ID themselves independently (Charles Taylor, ibid.) ** U S A. WWCR "Youtube" Pyrotechnics videos Very disturbing videos posted by WWCR on YouTube. Posted by Jason Cooper is video of a Mapp Gas canister being detonated in the WWCR parking area near the building. If you have ever visited the location it is very identifiable as the explosion lights up the road and satellite dishes that line the driveway referred to as WWCR avenue. According to the web page he detonated the canister of Mapp Gas with a paper fire and emptying rounds of a 9 mm pistol all in the video. Very disturbing to see someone firing off rounds with a 9 mm pistol so close to the radio station studios and employees. This huge explosion was set off within 50 feet of the main complex that houses the 4 100 kW transmitters. It plays through and is repeated in slow motion and you can see the power line running over head and the C band satellite dishes along the drive even though this explosion was staged at night. A phone call to the station verified that the video was real and on the WWCR property. I have visited WWCR on a number of occasions and recognized the driveway and satellite dishes immediately during the explosion in slow motion but I wanted to make double sure prior to forming a conclusion. The pyrotechnics continues with another video that starts off inside of one of the WWCR transmitter buildings. Two of the 100 kW transmitters are panned from the front then the back side revealing power supplies and modulators. The video then jumps to being filmed from the front seat of a small truck or car driving into the antenna field down on the river bottom. The focus is a huge arc on the transmission line. Employees laughing and joking about the dangerous arc. Flames are ejected to what looks like a relay box and no attempt is made to turn off the transmitter. The large utility box is allowed to burn completely through and a proud picture is displayed of the damage. All of this displayed with employees laughing and joking. Judging from the size of the flame up, one wonders if an accelerant was used as it seems that fire and drama was the focus of these videos. With uncontrolled forest fires in the Great Smoky Mountain national park and other major fires throughout the south one wonders, is anyone responsible at that facility? The loss of the relay box very well may explain the horrendous drop in signal from WWCR over the last few months. Very unusual footage from a radio station that burned to the ground in the past. The videos can be viewed at (huge mapp gas detonation) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMV4g2VLpPk (destruction of transmission line and antenna relay box) http://www.youtube.com/user/jaycooper82 Enjoy listening to World Of Radio! I hope WWCR will still be around to continue the broadcast. Regards (Tom West, Atlanta GA, July 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This is rather confounding. Surely the transmitter should have been turned off immediately when the problem arose rather than heading out to record the damage about to occur. 100 kW RF should do the trick without any accelerant. With the matching stub melted, that presumably means of the four frequencies used by #1 (9985, 15825, 7465, 3215) only one of them can be properly impedance-matched to the antenna. Note that 9985 is also used at certain times by #3; 9985 and 7465 at certain times by #4: http://www.wwcr.com/wwcr_transmitter/wwcr_transmitter_schedules.html If one listens closely, one can hear a female voice remark that this has been ``going on for some time``. BTW, I noticed 5890 absent July 24 at 0605; supposed to start at 0400. But 5890 was on as usual when rechecked at 1342. But that`s transmitter #4 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re David Briggs, KCBI: The same Californian David Briggs who was a record producer, most famously for Neil Young? And who passed away in 1995? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Briggs_(producer) (Terry L Krueger Clearwater, Florida USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No – nothing about that Briggs being a radio engineer, and different death dates. See: RW Newsbytes Engineering veteran David Briggs died of liver and bone cancer June 26 at his home in Wichita Falls ... In 1981, Briggs became CE for the Christian inspirational station KCBI(FM) in Dallas and also ... http://www.rwonline.com/dailynews/show_issue.cgi?year=2000&month=8&week=32 WORLD OF RADIO Christian radio engineer David Briggs, 50, of liver and bone cancer. I spoke to his wife, Janet, who ... Briggs was at KCBI *90.9 Dallas, and built the Criswell shortwave station and the FM network ... http://www.angelfire.com/ok/worldofradio/dxld1073.txt (from a search via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re KVOH reported missing from 17775 after 2300: I meant to check this out sooner, but July 24 at 1839 they were on the air with a rather strong signal, but with BFO on one could tell that the carrier is slightly unstable, warbling. Some suspicious activity around 17920 and 17630, but could not be sure these were its sporadically-heard spurs (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. FCC CRACKS DOWN ON TIS ABUSE - EDITORIAL Travelers Information Stations ("TIS"), special low power stations in the AM band, are permitted to transmit only noncommercial voice information pertaining to traffic and road conditions, traffic hazard and travel advisories, directions, availability of lodging, rest stops and service stations and descriptions of local points of interest. Communicator readers have pointed out that these stations have been observed repeatedly abusing the program content rule over the years. Now the FCC is cracking down on one of the biggest abusers, the State of California. The violation applies to a TIS facility in Los Angeles that, according to the FCC, "transmitted only the same continuous loop recording of, "This is Caltrans highway advisory radio WPHJ962 broadcasting. This is a test message."" The State was given only 20 days to respond and the response must be signed by an officer of the State - so maybe this time they'll clean up their act. Maybe. Also busted is a City of Santa Monica TIS facility for simply "retransmitting the National Weather Service station KWO37...." We hope these actions send a clear message that TIS stations are to be used only for the purpose intended. In our opinion, unnecessary TIS stations should be shut off - and we suspect that the State of California operates a lot of unnecessary TIS stations. http://www.fcc.gov/eb/FieldNotices/2003/DOC-275254A1.html http://www.fcc.gov/eb/FieldNotices/2003/DOC-275255A1.html (CGC Communicator July 23, via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) Relaying NWS Weather Radio is a good thing. How many people have 152 MHz receivers in their cars? And why were those never mandated as standard equipment, for safety purposes? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) I invite Uncle Charley to come to Los Alamos and evaluate the content of our local "Emergency Advisory Radio Station", WQFJ525. http://www.lac-nm.us/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B29535D84-D67D-4ED3-8299-716CC2648FC3%7D -- Mesa Mike, N6KUY, WDX6O Los Alamos, New Mexico (DM65uv) "Los Alamos" is Spanish for "More than one Alamo" -- Dave Barry Online logbooks: http://mesamike.org/dxlog?account=mikew DX audio clips: http://mesamike.org/radio/mwdx/audio/dxclips (Mike Westfall, ABDX via DXLD) I can hear 2 or 3 from Houston that seem to do nothing but broadcast NOAA weather radio (Robert M. Bratcher, Jr., ibid.) ** U S A. Morse Code "V" At Top Of The Hour ID Having been CE at WTIC: The morse code letter “V” was added to WTIC in 1947, at the end of World War II. V for Victory. It was originally put on the air manually, using a hand crank cam system that would key the correct oscillator at the correct timing to produce “di-di-di-dah”. The original “V” was tuned with a piano, and is the first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. The system in use when I worked there was triggered off the station’s master clock. I believe the new one, which uses a digital recording of the one in use when I worked there, is also driven off the master clock system. It actually fires at one second before the hour to keep the very start of any network newscast clear. I don’t know if it is still in the files, but there was an entire manual and history of the top hour tone system in the files at WTIC, starting with the information on the original cam system – and even listing the frequencies and piano notes it was tuned to (Tom Ray, WOR, NYC, W2TRR, July 22, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. According to Radio-locator, WOKV 690 Jacksonville FL is now 25 kW at night from a site out near McClenny, FL. I've been by their daytime site, 50 KW ND, and from a water cooled transmitter; that was in the Eighties, don't know if that setup is still in use. It was not far from the Jax Hamfest site which used to be held at the dog track in Orange Park. On a hot day, you could see the steam rising from the cooling pond next to the transmitter building!! They used to be the first in line to cease carrying commercials (required by the FCC) and go 50 kW ND at night, when there was a hurricane in the area, so keep an eye on 690 when there is some kind of natural disaster in Florida. 73, (Chris K4NHL, July 22, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. PETE WILSON: 1945-2007 TV NEWS ANCHOR WAS A STRAIGHT SHOOTER C.W. Nevius Sunday, July 22, 2007 Pete Wilson, the TV news anchor with the best exasperated sigh in the business, died unexpectedly Friday night, a day after having a heart attack during hip replacement surgery. . . http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/07/22/MNGPCR500G1.DTL (via Marc DeLorenzo, MA, IRCA via DXLD) OBIT ** URUGUAY. 9620.6, Emisora del Sur, Montevideo, 2139-, 12 Jul, Spanish, talks; 32441, adjacent QRM de DW 9620 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. 3396, ZBC, Guineafowl, 1835-2025, 20 Jul, Vernacular, talks piano tunes, African pops; 45332, but rated 54333 at 2015. 4828, Voice of Zimbabwe, Guineafowl, 2218- 19 Jul, non-stop African pops & ballads; 54333, adjacent QRM de Brasil 4825 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. 9765 OPPOSITION. Radio Voice of the People, via Madagascar, 0354, 7/16/07. Noted strong open carrier here. Brief music at 0400 and man in unID language with probable opening announcement. Went into EE shortly after that but the accent was so heavy I didn't notice at first. Eventually ID for "Radio Voice of the People - VOP." Local language would have been Shona or Ndebele. Surprisingly strong reception! (Gerry Dexter, Lake Geneva, WI, NRD 515, NRD 545, eton E-1, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. 1702 22/7, 12035 kHz, SW R. AFRICA - Norvegia o UK? Inglese, IDs OM e mx afropop. Segnale buono-molto buono. Non inizia alle 17ut00, probabilmente aspetta lo spegnimento della VoR (Luca Botto Fiora, Rapallo (Genova), G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Italy, playdx yg via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Hello DXers, scanning the band for anything interesting tonight I noticed severe jamming on 4365. I picked it up around 1730 UT and the jamming is still running for the last 30 minutes or more. The jammer sounds Iranian to me; same type I used to hear longtime ago. Any idea which station is that one? I noticed the same on 3800. It's 1815 UT and both frequencies are severely jammed. All the best (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, July 23, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1368, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Most likely V. of Communist Party of Iran, as in WRTH 2007, on 3870, 4380, but constantly varying to avoid jamming. V. of Iranian Revolution on same nominals, but reported inactive at the time. Aoki has them both on 4375 and 3870, but the only transmission at this time is shown on 3870 for V. of Iranian Communist Party, 1725-1830: 4375 VO IRANIAN COMUN.PARTY 0330-0430 1234567 Persian 50 ND unknown TKM 057..E38.. VOICP 4375 VO IRANIAN COMUN.PARTY 1555-1655 1234567 Persian 50 ND unknown TKM 057..E38.. VOICP 4375 VO IRANIAN REVOLUTION 1330-1430 1234567 Kurdish/Farsi 50 ND unknown TKM 057..E38.. VOIR 3870 VO IRANIAN COMUN.PARTY 0325-0427 1234567 Persian 50 ND unknown TKM 057..E38.. VOCPI 3870 VO IRANIAN COMUN.PARTY 1425-1527 1234567 Persian 50 ND unknown TKM 057..E38.. VOCPI 3870 VO IRANIAN COMUN.PARTY 1555-1703 1234567 Persian 50 ND unknown TKM 057..E38.. VOCPI 3870 VO IRANIAN COMUN.PARTY 1725-1830 1234567 Persian 50 ND unknown TKM 057..E38.. VOCPI 3875 VO IRANIAN REVOLUTION 1330-1430 1234567 Kurdish/Farsi 50 ND unknown TKM 057..E38.. VOIR BTW, according to Aoki listings, the TKM means under the administration of Turkmenistan, and the coordinates meaning 57E, 38N put it just north of the Iranian border west of Asgabat. Source for this info? WRTH says the presumed location is northeastern Iraq. See DXLD 6-184 and 6-186 from last December under KURDISTAN for a couple reports by Petersen, Denmark, of V. of Iranian Revolution on 4365 and 3878v at 1530 (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1368, DX LISTENING DIGEST) "TKM" was shown for Iranian clandestines in the ILG list for years (on which the Aoki list is based to some extent), and has since been one of the big myths that has been circulating in DX circles. These programs have nothing to do with Turkmenistan, neither politically nor logistically. Turkmenistan has been a nationalistic and isolistic state since its independence, not involved in supporting separatist movements in neighbouring countries. Talking about Turkmenistan and myths: during the last Afghanistan war, a well-known clandestine media website linked PsyOp transmissions to Afghanistan with Turkmenistan, after monitoring conversations in the Turkmen language between transmissions. The site overlooked that Turkmen is one of the major languages spoken in Afghanistan, particularly in the north of the country, and Turkmens living there had joined the anti-Taliban "Northern Alliance". Hearing an (Afghanistan-born) Turkmen speaker in a PsyOp operation was only logical (Bernd Trutenau, July 24, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1368, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4905, 0115, 7/18/07. Fair, sometimes peaking to good with romantic ballads; beginning long fades at 0120; no ID at 0130; one song in English with the rest in Portuguese. The programming seemed to be parallel to the UNID on 4915 (Jim Ronda, Tulsa, OK, NRD- 545, R-75, E-1; Eavesdropper, 100' random wire, GMDSS-2, home made Flextenna, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Not heard during checks in this time period (Mark Taylor, WI, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 9450, 2240­2259 s/off, 7/17/07. Very poor. Alternate talk by woman and man, 2258 woman with announcements, off 2300. Heard on 2 receivers, so probably not an image. Nothing in my usual sources (EiBi, Aioki, WRTH). ENIGMA 2000 had a reference to the numbers station known as E 25 at this time in May, but this was clearly not that format (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, R-75, Eton E1, Sat 800, Sangean 909; 110' random wire, Eavesdropper, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Once again I am hearing a het on Anguilla 11775, July 24 at 1403, approximately 11777, and had not noticed it as I tuned by before 1400. Could not detect any audio. I`ll bet it`s Romania, known for drifting off-frequency, scheduled in Arabic from 1400 on 11775 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ MAELSTROM Re 7-086: Glenn, MAELSTROM originated from an area just off the coast of Norway where tides and geography create an unusual set of circumstances and creates what is essentially a permanent WHIRLPOOL, and is indicated on sea maps as a place to stay away from. I saw this not too long ago on DISCOVERY or some such cable station (Tom Messer, Mequon, Wisconsin USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see ISLE OF MAN; MALI; NEW ZEALAND ++++++++++++++++++++ HD: OKLAHOMA MALADJUSTED DRM DRM noise continues to create lots of problems to adjacent channels operating with standard AM double side band plus carrier signals. In my opinion there is no doubt that the wide DRM transmissions have to do with poorly adjusted final amplifier stages of the transmitters, because DRM requires extremely linear amplification in and a very difficult to meet peak to average power ratio handling capacity of the transmitter driver and final amplifier stages. Let's hope that soon the DRM consortium will take corrective action regarding these problems as they are shedding a very dark image to DRM broadcasts, that again in my opinion , when properly done with adequate equipment should be more compatible with other users of the radio spectrum (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited July 24, HCDX via DXLD) SPAIN DRM TESTS ON MW: Equipment installed by Transradio, more here: http://www.broadcast-transradio.com/html/drm_test_spain.html (Mike Barraclough, England, July 23, BDXC-UK via DXLD) REPLY TO THE ELLIOTT KLEIN LETTER A long-form letter commenting on the Denver FM HD Radio Spectral Regrowth issue (CGC #800) has been Web posted. Use the URL below. http://earthsignals.com/add_CGC/Letters/DenverHD_resp_Klein.htm (CGC Communicator July 23, via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ DON'T SHORTCHANGE YOUR SHORTWAVE --- By Chris Handy, Daily Texan Shortwave radio is an excellent medium for keeping tabs on global events. Signals can be received from around the world at absolutely no cost to the listener, with a wider range of content than most local radio programming. Shortwave transmitters can be operated at a relatively low cost by organizations or even individual hobbyists, lending shortwave a freedom of expression unparalleled by mainstream media. In addition, the multilingual and multicultural content of shortwave fosters the development of a great diversity of perspectives. "DX'ing," or distance listening, is a rewarding hobby with little overhead required. . . http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2007/07/23/Opinion/Dont-Shortchange.Your.Shortwave-2926149.shtml (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) That could have been written 30 years ago. In fact, it has just been written by Chris Handy, an Asian cultures and languages graduate student at the University of Texas, and published today in the Daily Texan Online. It’s not often nowadays that we see DXers getting the chance to explain their hobby to a relatively young audience, so full marks to Chris for bucking the trend of iPods and listening online, and getting back to basics (Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ARNIE CORO'S DXERS UNLIMITED'S EXCLUSIVE AND NOT COPYRIGHTED HF PROPAGATION UPDATE AND FORECAST Solar flux is not even reaching 70 units, and the geomagnetic field is very quiet, although the forecast calls for an upsurge in geomagnetic activity by next Friday, due to an expected high speed solar wind coming from a coronal hole. Propagation on the HF bands continues to be very poor during local daylight hours, and just a bit better after local sunset (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited July 24, HCDX via DXLD) VHFDX WEBSITE UPDATE The VHFDX website has been updated - and to our collective benefit even though it is a ham site. Previously there was only a single 6- meter view. That has now been separated into 50 MHz and 70 MHz views. This will be more useful for those of us who DX FM but not TV and also helpful to the TV DX'ers. Link: http://www.vhfdx.net/spots/map.php?Lan=E&Frec=70&Map=NA&mycall=&myloc=&freq=&prop (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA, WTFDA via DXLD) I love this site, I just started using it a few weeks ago, it's been invaluable for finding 6m openings (Steve N1JFU, ibid.) It also has a "ES MUF" tab which is helpful as well. When there have been problems with the website in the past (which happens to everyone), I have found Gabriel (website owner) to be very friendly and responsive. He gets things fixed fast and is very friendly. (Mike Hawkins, Campbell CA, ibid.) I tend to use both this one and Maps@dxers.info. The latter has the dynamic map feature which enables me to better zone in on what's occurring in my area, plus it has color coding by age. VHFDX has the alert feature which I use, and I also appreciate the MUF. Together they're a great help in identifying Es openings. I did also note that the alerts feature still is 6m, 2m or 70 cm (Russ Edmunds, ibid.) If you use the dynamic map on maps.dxers.info and use a Windows box, you will need to reboot your machine periodically or at the least, dump your browser and start fresh. There are memory leaks in that application that will allow it to eat all available computer resources. If you catch it early enough you can restart your browser. Otherwise, you lose control of the machine. I use the "static" aspect of the site but steer clear of the dynamic. Also, more people are using VHFDX lately so you will see things there that never show up on http://maps.dxers.info (Mike Hawkins, ibid.) The geomagnetic field was at mostly quiet levels during 16 - 19 July. Activity increased to quiet to minor storm levels during 20 - 21 July. Field activity decreased to quiet levels at all latitudes on 22 July. ACE solar wind data indicated the 20 - 21 July activity was due to a recurrent, negative-polarity coronal hole high-speed stream (HSS). Solar wind densities increased to a peak of 63 p/cc at 20/1033 UTC in advance of the HSS. Solar wind velocities increased to a high of 574 km/sec at 21/0340 UTC, then gradually decreased during the rest of the period. Significant changes in the IMF were associated with the onset of the HSS as Bt increased to a peak of 13 nT at 20/0526 UTC and Bz decreased to a minimum -11 nT at 20/0946 UTC. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 25 JULY - 20 AUGUST 2007 Solar activity is expected to be at very low levels. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to reach high levels during 25 July, 03 August, and 12 - 15 August. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to at quiet levels on 25 July. Activity is expected to increase to quiet to active levels on 26 July due to a recurrent coronal hole HSS. Quiet to unsettled conditions are expected during 27 - 30 July. Activity is expected to increase to quiet to active levels on 31 July due to a recurrent coronal hole HSS. Activity is expected to decrease to mostly quiet levels during 01 - 06 August. Activity is expected to increase to unsettled to minor storm levels on 31 July due to a recurrent coronal hole HSS. Activity is expected to decrease to quiet to unsettled levels during 08 - 09 August. Another recurrent coronal hole HSS is expected to increase activity to unsettled to minor storm levels on 10 - 11 August. Activity is expected to decrease to quiet to unsettled levels during 12 - 15 August. Activity is expected to increase to quiet to active levels during 16 - 17 August due to a recurrent coronal hole HSS. Activity is expected to decrease to quiet levels during the remainder of the period. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2007 Jul 24 2323 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center # Product description and SEC contact on the Web # http://www.sec.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2007 Jul 24 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2007 Jul 25 68 5 2 2007 Jul 26 68 15 4 2007 Jul 27 70 5 2 2007 Jul 28 70 5 2 2007 Jul 29 70 5 2 2007 Jul 30 70 8 3 2007 Jul 31 70 15 4 2007 Aug 01 70 5 2 2007 Aug 02 70 5 2 2007 Aug 03 75 5 2 2007 Aug 04 75 5 2 2007 Aug 05 75 5 2 2007 Aug 06 75 8 3 2007 Aug 07 75 20 5 2007 Aug 08 75 8 3 2007 Aug 09 75 5 2 2007 Aug 10 75 20 5 2007 Aug 11 75 15 4 2007 Aug 12 75 8 3 2007 Aug 13 70 8 3 2007 Aug 14 70 5 2 2007 Aug 15 70 8 3 2007 Aug 16 65 15 4 2007 Aug 17 65 10 3 2007 Aug 18 65 5 2 2007 Aug 19 65 5 2 2007 Aug 20 65 5 2 (http://www.sec.noaa.gov/radio via DXLD) ###