DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-148, December 7, 2007 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2007 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1385 Sat 1730 WWCR3 12160 Sat 2230 WRMI 9955 Sun 0330 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0730 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0900 WRMI 9955 Sun 1200 WRMI 9955 [new] Sun 1615 WRMI 7385 Mon 0400 WBCQ 9330-CLSB [irregular?] Mon 0515 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Mon 0930 WRMI 9955** Tue 1130 WRMI 9955** Tue 1630 WRMI 7385 Wed 0830 WRMI 9955** ** flexible times 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 ** ALBANIA. POSSIBLE CLOSURE OF RT FOREIGN SERVICE ON SHORT WAVES Klara, the English translator in Radio Tirana, told me today in full confidence that she recently translated a material of EBU-European Broadcasting Union, where an EBU director, woman, has suggested to the Radio Tirana Director to close the Radio Tirana Service on Short Waves and use the Internet for Radio Tirana Foreign Service instead. The EBU argument for that was that we spend much more for the power on Medium Waves and Short Waves than for the production of the programs. Its replacement with Internet, would bring also the increase of the salary of the program producers, who may be trained by the EBU specialists how to enter their programs in the Internet. Klara said that she very much hopes to be kept as the English program maker, while it is unclear if other foreign languages producers will continue to work in Radio Tirana. A week ago, I had in the hall of Radio Tirana a long talk with our General Director. We met him occasionally. The Audit Director at ARTV was with me. Our General Director while talking about ARTV problems and the position of my Monitoring Center, said that 'when nominated in 2006 as General Director, we found closed the short wave service of Radio Tirana, we reopened it and possibly we will close it soon. His argument was the high expenses for this service that are partially covered by our Government'. He did not mention that this service would be replaced by the Internet. I immediately went to the Director of Radio Tirana Foreign Service, Ms Mira Bregu, and to the Director of Radio Tirana, Ms Zamira Koleci. I told them separately about this news, without giving the name of the source of it. The first, Mira was cold and passive, very much indeed! While Zamira insisted to tell her the source, but I could not give her the name of General Director, because of a real fight between them. Zamira said that nothing may happen only if she will propose anything to the Council of ARTV. She did not tell me for her planes with EBU to close the short waves and pass this service on to the Internet. I am not going to talk here about the real advantages of the short waves towards the Internet. We have been talking together about this much in the past. I always think that behind economic reasons, there are rather strong political reasons in the world political higher levels (...against communism???). In October 2007, the TWR transferred its broadcasts on SW via Shijak radiostation to DTK-Germany (very much expensive comparing with us) , while the TWR Technical Director Mr Ruedi Baertschi told me last July that TWR might come back after one year and a half again to Shijak. That's for now from us (Drita Çiço, ARTV Head of Monitoring Center - Radio Tirana, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) There is a very simple solution to your problem and to the closure of HF broadcasting in Albania. Start preparing your HF transmitters for DRM service. Inexpensive DRM receivers (portable as well in cars) will soon hit the market and any organization that shut down their short- wave broadcasts will be very regretful! Internet is wonderful if you have the time to sit in front of your monitor! Regards, (Adil Mina, via Drita, DXLD) Mina of course is a developer and great proponent of DRM! (gh, DXLD) Hello Drita: Really distressing news. Radio is really under a threat. Strong interests want to destroy this fine medium, and I feel absolutely sure there are commercial interests involved too. But there is a question of ignorance as well. Some points in defense of radio broadcasting: 1. You are on holiday - do you use the internet? Usually you don't, the technical and human problems exist. A small radio you bring along, with batteries, gives you contact with the broadcasting media at home and around the world. 2. You are in bed late at night and early in the morning. Internet listening? Probably not. A small bedside radio is very comfortable. 3. There is some kind of crisis, a small one or a disaster. These happen every year in different parts of the world, we know it. No electricity, no internet, no telephone working (maybe mobiles but not for sure). But you have got a little radio and you can check the situation and get advice IF THERE ARE BROADCASTS TO LISTEN TO!!! 4. You visit some countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America where the local people tell you they haven't got and cannot afford the internet, in many areas they have not even got electric power. But they have got small battery radios. IS IT DEMOCRATIC BEHAVIOUR TO CLOSE THEIR CONTACTS WITH THE WORLD? These were some points in defence of national and international radio. I wish those who can make the decisions would be wise enough to listen. DRM has been found to have some strong disadvantages. But now they use internet distribution as a pretext to close down radio broadcasts. And they use costs as the carrot to make the donkeys speed up! Well Drita, this will be all. We are believed to be old conservative goats if we say that things were better in the past. But I often feel they were, so help me God! Your friend in Sweden (Ullmar Qvick, via Drita, ibid.) Dear Drita, thanks for this info. Under no circumstances it makes sense to give up the shortwave transmissions and switch over to Internet. That is no replacement at all. Unfortunately it is still impossible to receive the shortwave transmissions here, but this should not have any effect to that opinion. Please keep me informed. Best regards, (Volker Willschrey, Germany, ibid.) Dear Drita, BIG, BIG mistake. Hasn't anyone learned anything from the other SW stations leaving and going to internet only? 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Krist, VA, ibid.) Drita, I am very sorry to hear this. I hope closing SW can be prevented, just as we are making it as effective as possible (Glenn Hauser, OK, ibid.) Dear drita Cico, Please note my remarks below: 1) How does the Albanian & Tirana tourist bureau expect North & South Americans to know about a small country like Albania to visit and bring in an influx of U.S. dollars, as they are cheap now. 2) many people here have dial-up, not cable or satellite; as a result we may only get on the internet once or twice a month. HOW MUCH EASIER IT IS TO PUNCH IN THE FREQUENCIES ON OUR SHORT WAVE SETS TO LISTEN TO RADIO TIRANA. SHOW THIS TO THE BEAN COUNTERS WHO WANT TO CUT THE SERVICE. (YOU CAN WIN THE BATTLE & LOSE THE WAR). (CHARLES MAXANT, THE MOUNTAIN STATE [West Virginia] USA, ibid.) Hi Drita, I was just wondering if it is possible to get mp3 files to you for broadcast via the internet yet? I know in the past you do not have broadband/ADSL in Albania, but I hope this will change if it hasn't already. Please advise. Kind regards, (Ian Drake, Alice's Restaurant Rock Radio, http://www.rockradio.eu.com ibid.) Hi Drita, I'm very sorry to read about this. The pass to Internet from shortwave of Radio Tirana is a big loss. Hope that this is only a rumour and RT can continue on MW and SW. About the TWR, if they come back to the Shijak transmitters this can help Radio Tirana in some way? Something that I cannot understand is the EBU recommend to cease the SW transmissions which is a way to reach places where there isn't Internet or where it is really expensive. A SW radio is really a cheap thing !!! Allow me to be in touch with you about this matter, Radio Tirana is something important to me. Take care, 73's from (EC2ADN George http://www.dxhamradio.com/ec2and Spain, ibid.) Hello Drita! I am sorry that I have not written before - but I have been away. I was in London for Amnesty International! And if you want a message to pass to the people talking about closing the short wave Foreign Service, here are my thoughts on the subject: - I worked in radio myself for a while, with CBC Radio One, and I can relate to what audiences want and what they need! For many, radio is a lifeline, especially when you live in small rural areas and there is limited computer access. And CBC went through some public outrage when it talked about cutting back on its shortwave service! - radios are cheap! Even shortwave radios are affordable. And you can use batteries if there's a power outage. You can't do that with your computer. - for many, radio goes where computers can't. - many governments try to control the Internet: China, for example, and North Korea. It's harder to control radio. I can bring my portable shortwave to China and listen to Radio Tirana if I want to! If I can get my shortwave through customs in North Korea, I can access the outside world. You can't do that with a computer! - for many Internet is still unreliable. I find that myself when I am listening to an Internet station and the connection is always "buffering"! - I travel a good deal internationally. I find the radio is very convenient! And I completely agree all of Ullmar's statements, except one: I'm not an "old conservative goat!" (I'm not old at all! I'm only 40, a mom with a young daughter...) I love shortwave radio, thanks to an electrician dad who introduced me to it as a child. Since I got into the hobby, started DXing and sending off reports, it's amazing how I have become part of a "United Nations" of my own! We need SW broadcasts. We need stations like Radio Tirana so the world can learn about issues and life in Albania! Cheers, (Sue Hickey, Newfoundland, Canada, ibid.) ** ANGUILLA [and non]. DGS, 11775, Dec 7 at 1750 with considerable QRM in Luso-Portuguese. That`s VOA São Tomé at 138 degrees, 1700-1800. VOA also collides with The Valley at 2030-2100 in Hausa/French via ST/Morocco (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CJBC AM 860 Toronto, Ontario --- I just had one of my "What the blazes is THAT!" DX moments: CJBC is having technical troubles and is running heavily distorted audio. I'm thinking there is a major fault in their transmitter - AND they'll have to shut down shortly for repairs. Anyone up at this moment (1:30 A.M. Central) should have a listen to see what they think. BTW, I first thought it might be band conditions, but CHWO [740, same transmitter site, and antenna?] is running their magnificent audio as usual. [Later:] Right at 2 o'clock the CJBC signal went off twice for a moment, then the audio greatly improved. They seem to have gone over to using a spare transmitter (Curtis Sadowski, Paxton, Illinois, Dec 6, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) ** CANADA. BBM Ratings for Winnipeg --- Glenn: As mentioned in the Dec. 4 Winnipeg Free Press - the latest Bureau of Broadcast Measurement (BBM) for the fall states that CBC Radio One (990/89.3) scored its highest ratings ever. "The station attracted 10.3 per cent of listeners 12 and over from Sept. 3 to Oct. 28, good for second place". The station has seen its ratings consistently improve after moving to FM. CBC Radio Two (98.3) dropped down to a 3.3 share. The article states that "perennial ratings leader CJOB held on to the top spot in the new book with a 17.2 share. It has applied for an FM signal similar to CBC's move." I hope that CJOB will also stay on 680 and not go the way CKY/CKRC did. CKRC (630) is now CFQX 104.1 and it share dropped to 7.5. CKY (580) is now 1102 Clear FM and it had a big drop down to 5.4. Finally back in Winnipeg to retire (Anthony Markewicz, MB, Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Ian McFarland on the CBC --- Tomorrow morning - December 7, 2007 - 1430 to 1500 UT on CBC On the Island - http://www.cbc.ca/ontheisland/ click on the stream OR if you live in the Northwest - Washington or S.W. B.C. you can catch it on 90.5 FM Victoria or one of many repeaters. It is "Food Bank" week on Vancouver Island and Ian talks about the Duncan food bank and how he has raised money for it with the sales of a certain CD series of Interval Signals! (Colin Newell, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, HCDX via DXLD) Not until about 1445; never mentioned the late Richard Wood`s name, without whom there would have been no language recognition course; concluded playing a couple clips of NBC, SIBC (gh, DXLD) Ian McFarland talks about his work with the Duncan B.C. food bank - where he volunteers 2 days a week. http://www.dxer.ca/images/stories/podcasts/CBC_OnTheIsland_32kps.mp3 He sounds as good as he ever did on RCI! (Colin Newell, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, Dec 7, HCDX via DXLD) ** CHINA. 6035, Yunnan PBS, 1357, Dec 04, Vietnamese into Chinese after fanfare at TOH, over/under co/channel Bhutan. I could trace them to past 1415 which Aoki lists as s/off time so sched there obviously needs correcting (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Seldom heard 5075, Chinese talk and music, Dec 7 at 1354, bothered by ute pulses perpetually around this frequency. Per Aoki this is VOICE OF PUJIANG at 1155-1600, Chinese/Amoy, 15 kW 182 degrees from Shanghai. At 1400 heard 3+1 (or was it 4+1?) timesignal, ID ``...guangbo diantai`` but missed the important syllables. Other Chinese audible on 60m: 5050 at 1356, M&W talk; as always, 5030 Beijing, which I have yet to formally bother to log, at 1357 with similar-sounding but not // talk on 4900. Firedrake audible at the late hour of 1748 Dec 7 on 7415, and still at 1802, so it`s not against Sound of Hope since no 5-minute break at hourtop. Instead, it`s to block R. Free Asia in Chinese via Tinian, 319 degrees at 1600-1900. That would also be a problem for WBCQ in North America, but not on that early. Altho authorized for 24 hours on 7415, current scheduled sign-on is 1900 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA for more on WBCQ ** CHINA [and non]. 15375, Chinese hissing jammer against RFA Tibetan 11-14 UT via Al Dhabbaya UAE (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 5900 AM, Servicios Secretos Cubanos. Saludos cordiales. emisión de números en español por locutora. 6 dic 07. 0800 UT. 19221 04644 57153 Atención. 19221 04644 57153 Atención. 19221 04644 57153 Atención. .... 73 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) One of their regular frequencies also heard here earlier (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. 6300, Radio Habana; 0612-0622+, 1-Dec; EE news & into SS baladas. SIO= 2+43; // 6000, SIO=534-; // 6060, SIO=4+44; // 6180, SIO=555 6420, Radio Habana; 0323, 2-Dec; M&W in SS. SIO=1+52; // 6060, SIO=555; Not // 6000 in EE (Harold Frodge, Brighton MI DXPedition, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) leapfrog mixing products (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. R. Rebelde`s excellent music show ``Hecho en Cuba``, Dec 7 at 1751 on 11655, but with SAH of about 7 Hz and weaker audio mixing, no doubt RN Madagascar. Fortunately, Rebelde has four //s: best here on 15370 and 17735; also weaker on 15570, mixing with WYFR on 17555. 1800 into major daily newscast, Noticiero Nacional de Radio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECHIA [non]. 9955, Radio Prague; News & features in English about Czech Xmas market, World AIDS day & New-Nazis in Czech Republic- - this frequency not listed in their sked or in any of my other lists... whaxup? Good reception 0002-0017 1/Dec (Kenneth Vito Zichi, Brighton MI DXpedition, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) Whaxup is that this is a new relay time on WRMI, as reported previously in DXLD, which you are invited to read to be well-informed. When you hear any unusual station on 9955, you must think of WRMI --- they also relay WRN for several hours a day (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** ECUADOR [and non]. Re 7-147, SHORTWAVE MUSIC --- I couldn't agree with you more on Andean music. Here in Boston there is a group, Inca Son, that performs at various places around town, and they are a treat. To hear them is like listening to the Música del Ecuador program that was on HCJB. I haven't heard it in a very long time, and I don't think HCJB carries it any more, which is too bad. 73 DE (Dan Malloy, KA1RDZ Everett, MA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I recall reading that Jorge Zambrano, who produced the program both in Spanish and English, had some incurable disease. It had been one of the few programs HCJB availablized on demand, but not sure if the old files are still there. Why not? But I always find it frustrating hunting around the HCJB websites (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR [non]. 15540, co-channel, two broadcasts hit each other: 1200-1330 UT HCA KNX English from Australia, and CRI Chinese via CVC Santiago-CHL (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Christians vs Christians! (gh, DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [and non]. Re 7-147: ``Clandestina: 11900, Tensae Ethiopia Voice of Unity, 1500-1505, escuchada el 5 de diciembre en ahmárico; comienza emisión con música de flauta, locutor con ID, comentarios, segmento musical, otra vez el fragmento musical interpretado por flauta, SINPO 43343 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), Spain, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This is the one hit by jamming on its previous 19m frequency; so is 11900 also jammed or something else accounting for I = 3? (gh, DXLD)`` Glenn, esta emisora se aprecia fuerte interferencia de una señal probablemente de emisión DRM; no aprecié jamming ninguno, pero sí las trazas de alguna emisión en DRM, muy fuerte (José Miguel Romero2, Spain, ibid.) José, There is NO DRM scheduled anywhere near 11900 at any time (not that the DRM schedules are totally accurate). As I have remarked before, DRM sounds a lot like jamming, (and some kinds of jamming sound a lot like DRM). I.e. continuous white noise, which is exactly the kind of jamming Ethiopia is using against DW. So I think you were hearing jamming against Tensae. Perhaps it is not too late for others to check this today (posted at 1516 UT). (Glenn Hauser, Dec 6, ibid.) Gracias Glenn por la aclaración; sin embargo el Aoki anuncia emisiones de la BBC en DRM, ¿No son correctos?. 11920+BBC 1100-1130 1234567 Indonesian 250 90 Kranji SNG 10344E0125 BBC b07 11920+BBC 1400-1600 1234567 English 250 305 Nakhon Sawan THA 10004E1503 BBC b07 11920+BBC 1600-1700 1234567 English 250 305 Nakhon Sawan THA 10004E1503 BBC b07 Atentamente (José Miguel Romero, ibid.) I have never found an explanation in Aoki about what the (+) symbol means, but it is not DRM (unlike WRTH). It seems to accompany only certain BBC frequencies, which are certainly not DRM, from sites which don`t even have DRM capability. And DRM centered on 11920 better not QRM anything on 11900! 73, (Glenn, ibid.) Glenn, no he podido chequear hoy en 11900 a las 1600 UT, pero a las 1700 no he apreciado ninguna traza en DRM, por lo tanto es posible que lo que escuché se trató de una jamming; si tengo ocasión, mañana o el domingo lo intentaré desde Sacañet en Castellón, allí el ruido es menor y es mas facil determinar la procedencia de la señal que capté. Un saludo, (JM, ibid.) ** ETHIOPIA [and non]. DWL Amharic Kigali-Rwanda. I miss the 4th channel 11645 kHz today Dec 6th. Strongest is 15620 kHz, second 15660, and poorest is Trinco 15640 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, 1433 UT Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Okay, 11645 kHz appeared very late, now 1440 UT ALSO on air. 73 wb (Büschel, ibid.) And re the DW Amharic programme at 1400 today (the 6th) - I can't hear any jamming signals, but propagation seems quite poor up here at my location. 15640 and 11645 are only just audible, and 15660 is fair at best. 15620 [Rwanda] is indeed the best one here too (Noel Green, NW England, ibid.) I'll check jamming VoA Amharic now at 1800-1900 UT 9320IRA, 9860SAO, 13870LAM, as well as 11905WER til 1845, from 1845 UAE. 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, ibid.) Dec 7 at 1425 check, DW Amharic via Rwanda was poor on 15620, no jamming audible, and none of the other frequencies audible either (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. Re 7-146: 6130, Mr. Camping's voice in FR; should read Family Radio - please apologize, also for missing date of monitoring, i.e. Dec. 2 except KUWAIT - R Free Afghanistan (Tony Ashar, Depok - Indonesia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx, Tony. Our many non-native speakers of English understandably have a lot of trouble with prepositions. I often correct them if I am sure what was meant, but that is not always clear. If you had said ``on FR`` I would not have assumed you meant ``in French``. Since you meant ``Family Radio``, it should have been ``on FR`` or not abbr`d at all (gh, DXLD) ** FRANCE. I noticed that RFI in Russian was audible on 15605 again today - not quite as strong as on the 5th though. This is parallel to 11665 at 1400-1430. Best 73 from (Noel Green, NW England, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. New QSL: GERMANY (BERLIN): Deutschlandfunk, Berlin-Britz. 6190 f/d "DLF building" card in 45 days for English report and one IRC. Illegible V/s. (JDS-AL, USA) A notation on the card indicates that this transmitter is running at a power of only 17 kilowatts. 73 - (J. D. Stephens, Hampton Cove, AL, USA, Dec 5, HCDX via DXLD) ** GREECE. RS Makedonias PR-person told me that the English news may return next year. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, via John Babbis, MD, Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. Apreciados oyentes y amigos de "Radio Verdad de Chiquimula": Dear listeners and friends of "Radio Truth" of Chiquimula: Spanish = Español: Les informo que, el próximo día 11 de diciembre 2007, expirará nuestro Sitio Web, y todavía no estamos seguros si vamos a lograr su revalidación a tiempo. Pero, como deseamos que continúen escuchándonos por Internet, aquí más abajo les anotaremos nuestros links directos, para que puedan continuar sintonizándonos por Internet 1 (ShoutCast-Winamp) o Internet 2 (Windows Media Player), aunque no esté temporalmente funcionando nuestro Sitio Web. Español = Spanish: May I inform you that, on the following day 11th of November 2007, our Web Site will expire, and we are not sure yet whether we will be able to get to renew it on time. But, as we wish you to continue listening to our signal on the Internet, we'll write here below our direct links, so that you can continue to tune our signal by Internet 1 (ShoutCast-Winamp) or Internet 2 (Windows Media Player), even if our Web Site may not temporarily be on the Internet. Links “Radio Verdad” de Chiquimula, Guatemala. Sitio Web (Website): http://www.radioverdad.org Escuchar en Vivo (Listen live) Por Winamp: Through ShoutCast-Winamp http://www.shoutcast.com/directory/index.phtml Por Windows Media Player: Through Windows Media Player: mms://200.6.219.230:8080 May God bless you (Dr. Édgar Amílcar Madrid, Manager and Director, Dec 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HUNGARY. Re 7-132: ``While checking CROATIA 3985 out, I noted until 2200 on 3975 that Magyar Rádió still runs the multilingual Radio Budapest loop before the hour-long shortwave programmes in Hungarian. All the voices they have fired, still on air. Is it stupidity, nobody caring about it --- or is it deliberate, as a subtle kind of protest? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` Sorry for the late comment: I think it is fully intentional; it seems that although Radio Budapest doesn't produce any [of its] own programmes, it broadcasts "Szulofoldunk" a.o. on 3975 kHz, which is an edited version of various MR1-Kossuth programmes with its own announcer. So the shortwave service to abroad can still be called Radio Budapest. Please note that Radio Budapest has never been very prominent in the web, only subpages as 'english.radio.hu' etc. on the Hungarian Radio web page. The situation is almost the same as with Radio Finland for many years in the final stage on shortwave: the Russian and Swedish programmes were produced by domestic networks and Radio Finland was a part of a national network, not an independent department of YLE any more (Mauno Ritola, Finland, Dec 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) It appears that Szüloföldünk is a production of Kossuth Rádió; old files from 2002 give an e-mail address at kossuth.radio.hu. At least I found mentions of it as a Kossuth Rádió programme for Hungarians abroad already in accounts of the 1956 events. [On the] contrary, Radio Budapest in the end belonged to MR4 Nemzetiségi adások, the new MR network created as an umbrella of the minority languages programmes. So who is responsible for producing and playing out the Szüloföldünk programmes now? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 7, ibid.) Be careful; Hungarian has both short and long umlauts (gh) ** ICELAND. 189 kHz: One of my favorites because of its extreme northern latitude and eclectic programming, I have been monitoring this station the past 3 days. Noted at 0009 UT December 7 at good level with news in presumed Icelandic. Then into a few seconds of The Doors' "Riders On The Storm" at 0012 before switching to a different song. Also noted at fair level 1052 Dec 5 and as late as 1057 Dec 6, and also at 2157 Dec 6. This time of year there is a gray line between Iceland and the East Coast of No America as late as 1115 UT. I find it fascinating to hear a LW TA at that very late hour (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, MA, Dec 6, IRCA via DXLD) ** INDIA. Re 7-147: I have sent mail to India with no problem. I send my reception report in an unsealed envelope, with no cash or IRCs, which aren't available at my post office, anyway. 73 DE (Dan Malloy, KA1RDZ Everett, MA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4895, AIR, Kurseong, 1128-1141, Dec. 7, Hindi; carrier at 1128, AIR IS at 1129, sign-on at 1130 with brief announcement, then into Indian folk-type music. Rapidly fading by 1141. Poor (Nick Kucij / wpe2bsw, Vermont, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGSET) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Re: Worldspace Afristar 1 to continue some services (unencrypted?) Two more stations now in the clear on WorldSpace this morning (7 Dec): CNNI and BBC WORLD both in English. So currently 16 station audible. (Virgin UK, 40 on 40,Upop & FSR still coded; Sunrise has disappeared altogether) However, there's now an announcement on the WorldSpace home page in English that lists only 13 stations that "will remain temporarily and free": BBC World Service, Bloomberg, Radio Caroline, Esperance, Europe 1, Fox Sports Radio, Marine, NPR, RFI-1, RMC Info, TalkSPORT, WRN-1 & WRN-2. Full announcement (dated 4 Dec) at http://www.worldspace.com/maintenance/index.html (Alan Pennington, England, Dec 7, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** IRAN. 6120, Voice of Justice, Kamalabad; 0218-0228* 6 December, 2007. Tune-in to English female with usual anti-US copy readings over brief Mid-east elevator music fills, male with ID, Iranian instrumental and piano filler till 0228 abrupt close. Parallel slightly better 7160, which also abruptly pulled the plug at 0228 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. See USA: VOA, Farda ** ISRAEL. Kol Israel possibly to disappear from shortwave? No, really, I mean it --- I know; this is like the boy crying "wolf" since the shutdown of Kol Israel has been threatened periodically for years. The independent "israelradio.org" and posts to DXLD have indicated that the shortwave transmitters used by Kol Israel may be switched off as of January 1st, 2008. Most of the programming (including English) currently audible via shortwave is actually produced for the domestic Israeli audience -- non-Hebrew programming airs on a radio service for primarily new immigrants called REKA (aside: this is like Radio Canada International; is it not). The only service produced expressly for a non-Israeli audience is the Persian service. The World Radio Network still offers a single 15-minute daily newscast recorded at 0430 UT; the 25-minute news magazine is kaput. This *may* be still available on the domestic service called "88FM", which is webcast live, but the schedule for 88FM isn't available in English, and I am not good enough at reading Hebrew to figure that out. Several daily editions of the 15-minute newscast are available directly from the Israeli Broadcasting Authority website; check out http://www.iba.org.il/ then "English", then "Radio On Demand", then "REKA - Intl. Radio". Times shown there are IST -- which is UT+2 in the North American winter. One would expect these would continue regardless of the status of shortwave. We in the USA would probably have the most success (if any at this juncture) contacting the Israeli embassy or its consulates; best place to start is http://www.israelemb.org/ Not sure if it's worth contacting the IBA itself or not. Check out DXLD for more updates; Glenn is more likely to have updates there than I would here (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, Dec 6, International broadcasting / shortwave blog: http://www.intlradio.blogspot.com Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. 6973.024, Galei Zahal, Lod; 0231-0242 6 December, 2007. Wondered what they were up to during Hanukah. The Israeli/Western pop/rock format remains, good level. The sometimes slightly drifty transmitter held exactly here during this listening period (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. HERE IS THE NEWS FROM RAI. IN ENGLISH. RAI, mentioned above, has given up on shortwave and on most of its 26 languages. (What are all those broadcasters doing now?) But you can still hear the news in English from RAI. It’s on RAI’s “Notturno Italiano.” This all-night radio program has existed since 1952, when its name was “Notturno dall'Italia.” It’s mostly music, but on the hour is news in Italian, English, and French. (German was dropped after October 1.) The program was transmitted to Europe on medium wave and on one shortwave frequency [6060]. The shortwave is now gone, but the medium wave and the internet audio stream carry on. http://www.international.rai.it/radio/ And, so, on my Tangent Quattro internet wi-fi radio http://www.ccrane.com/radios/wifi-radios/tangent-quattro-wifi-internet-radio.aspx I’ve been a fairly regular listener to Notturno, including it’s news in English. The schedule is 2300-0500 UTC during the winter. Frankly, this is the program RAI should have transmitted all along on shortwave to North America. Instead of the rip-and-read global news we used to get from RAI’s English shortwave broadcast to North America, the Notturno English news is all about Italy. The reader, a British- accented male, has a much more polished delivery than what we were used to on the old RAI shortwave service. (The weekend of October 6, I heard no English news, just Italian and French. The next weekend, the youngish-sounding female, prone to fluffs, we used to hear on the 0055 UTC shortwave transmission, was back, doing the English news on Notturno.) And while the music that filled the second ten minutes of the RAI shortwave broadcasts was an admixture of Western pop tunes, the music on Notturno is a pleasingly eclectic mix of mostly Italian tunes, some modern, some vintage. There is sprightly conversation in Italian between musical selections. If you know any Spanish, you’ll have some idea of what is being said in Italian. If not, Italian is a pleasant language to listen to uncomprehended. As I have been listening, I’ve noticed the Notturno internet stream drop out (“buffering”) a few times. What, is bandwidth exceeded? Are more than forty people accessing the stream? Here is where putting Notturno back on shortwave to North America might make sense. In the meantime, pour yourself a glass of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, http://www.deliciousitaly.com/prodotto.php?id=188®ione_id=1 sit down to your current novel, and enjoy Notturno Italiano in the background. We might even send e-mails to Notturno’s apparently live forum, surprising them with a sudden influx of North American listeners (Kim Andrew Elliott, Kim`s Column, Dec NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. 6285.1, KCBS (presumed); 1228-1241+, 2-Dec; Classical music to intense commentary by W in unID language at 1239. SIO=3+33-, QRM is ute trill which is alternately taken out by USB & LSB (Harold Frodge, Brighton MI DXPedition, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. 6303.35v, Voice of Korea? 1125-1205+, Dec 7, Very Tentative. Weak, slightly distorted, & slightly unstable carrier in noisy conditions. 6285 drifting up to 6303? Talk in unidentified language. Sounded like Korean folk music. Too weak in noise for a positive ID. No //s heard (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH [and non]. Dec 6 at 1328 on 4450, two-tone jamming, repeating, weak, may have been originally from vocalized notes. Since a clandestine from N to S Korea is here, we must assume the jamming is coming from S Korea, putting it in the company of China, Cuba, etc., in trying to block Free Speech. Aoki shows: 4450 KOREAN NAT.DEM.FRONT 0757-1400 1234567 Korean 15 ND Pyongyang KRE 4450 KOREAN NAT.DEM.FRONT 2157-0400 1234567 Korean 15 ND Pyongyang KRE 12533E3905 KNDF rel. KCBS (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. 7250, Radio Kuwait, 0805, Dec 06, Qor`an recitation surfaced as soon as co/channel Vatican Radio had left. This appears to be their Farsi service on recent NF presumably ex 9750 which I could not hear anymore (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. Relays this weekend via 9290 kHz Sat December 8th Latvia Today 1100-1200 UT Radio Casablanca 1200-1300 UT Sun December 9th Latvia Today 1400-1500 UT Good Listening (Tom Taylor, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LITHUANIA. 6235, Mighty KBC at 2250+ 30 Nov [Fri] with pop music. Good signal. Done 2257 (Liz Cameron, Brighton MI DXPediiton, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) 6235 KBC; 2248-2258*, 30-Nov; Wolfman Jack oldies program; ID as the Mighty KBC and gave old 6255 frequency. All in English. SIO=3+33- (Harold Frodge, ibid.) ** LITHUANIA. 5815, Radio Racja, Sitkunai, 1433, Russian, woman reading news with mention of Iraq. Good (Kevin Redding, Cosmic Gilbert, AZ, Center of the Known Universe, Dec 7, ABDX via DXLD) Should be Belarussian, and per Aoki not on air until 1530: 5815 Radio Racja 1530-1730 1234567 Belarussian 100 259 Sitkunai LTU 02348E5502 POL b07 So is there now something else on 5815 before then, or is Racja on earlier? I suppose this would be close to grayline now, but unusual to hear Europe on 50+ meters in our mornings (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 7270, RTM, Kuching, Sarawak; 2340-2351 5 December, 2007. Purely tentative, based on Nei Menggu PBS, Huhhot listed as *0045 sign-on, and nothing else I find that would fit the format; also roughly on the grayline. SE Asian (but not Chinese) chipper female, very brief fragments of fill music. I had to depart before 0000. By recheck from 0031-0046, no trace of this or Nei Menggu making it in here, and another check at 0058 had Radio Cairo in Spanish alone on the channel. Wai FM relay in local languages listed as the programming for this RTM channel (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. After being there just about every day for a week or more, XEXQ not audible on 6045, Dec 6 at 1332 check, altho XEOI was audible on 6010. Again Dec 7 at 1336 check, XEXQ missing from 6045, and XEOI audible on 6010 at 1336, talking about Veracruz. XEYU, 9599+, was one of the better signals on 31m, Dec 7 around 1745 with classical (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONACO [and non]. NEW IN MONACO 95.40 MHz IS RADIO MONACO Bonjour! Depuis lundi 3 décembre, Radio Maria n'est plus sur la fréquence de 95.4 MHz; elle utilise seulement 1467 kHz. Comme je l'avais prévu, c'est Radio Monaco http://www.radio-monaco.com qui a pris la fréquence; le Gouvernement de Monaco fait ce qu'il veut avec les fréquences... Radio Monaco, 7 rue du Gabian Gildo Pastor Center, MC-98000 Monaco [tel] +377 97 700 621 [fax] +377 97 98 50 51 Hi! From Monday 3 December, Radio Maria is no more on FM band in the area of Monaco; the frequency 95.40 MHz is now utilized by Radio Monaco http://www.radio-monaco.com which has acquired the frequency (Ex 98.00 MHz) Radio Maria France is now over Medium Wave band from 0500 till 1800 UT on 1467 kHz. http://www.radiomaria.fr/Pages/Ecoute.htm The WEB is not yet uptodate --- The contact address is : RADIO MARIA FRANCE, BOITE POSTALE 42, FR- 06341 LA TRINITE' CEDEX, FRANCE. Email: info @ radiomaria.fr The station replies with a nice postcard and stickers (Christian Ghibaudo, Nice, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** MONTENEGRO. QSL? Some time ago I managed to hear Radio Crne Gore on 882 kHz mediumwave. I've tried to contact them by e-mail using their website http://rtcg.org but got no reply. I wonder if anyone has verified them recently (since independence) and who might be the person to contact at RTCG. Yep, looking for new country verified :-). (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [and non]. See UNIDENTIFIED 8345 ** NORTH AMERICA. Johnny Cash Radio: 3910 LSB at 0022 with mention of Larry Gatlin interview. Strong sig but ham QRM. E-mail johnnycashradio @ aol.com Seems to be connected with the site http://www.johnnycash.com/radio_jc/ Blue Christmas by Elvis. QRM from Montana Traffic net (Liz Cameron, Brighton, MI, 1 Dec, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) 3910/LSB, 0023-0030+, 1-Dec; many johnnycash.com General Store spots and JC tunes; SIO=3+33 till covered by AROs at 0030 (Harold Frodge, Brighton MI DXPedition, ibid.) Family Radio: 6925/AM, 1359-1419 with IDs as Brother Levi at Family Radio, and real web address & real Phone number for Family Radio of WYFR fame. Had me going until the program took a turn and announced they were broadcasting for Longshoremen and All night Waitresses all over America and had a segment of a Brazilian Missionary named Joseph interpreting the 23rd Psalm. Really weird, but I like the medley of Xmas tunes sung by Brother Levi and a chorus. SIO 252+ 1/Dec (Kenneth Vito Zichi, DXing at Brighton MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) 6925/AM, 2005-2018+, 1-Dec; The Trucker's Tabernacle, outreach to truck drivers, longshoreman and all-night waitresses everywhere; ad for glow-in-the-dark plastic Jesus. SIO=343 on peak till took a dive at 2014+, leaving techno (Liquid Radio) on 6925.2 on at same time (Harold Frodge, ibid.) ** PALAU. 9965, KHBN fair S=7 signal, Chinese at 13-14 UT. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PRIDNESTROVYE. Radio PMR. Still on 7370 at 1900 UT, today, Thu Dec. 6 and not 7375 as they announced yesterday and again today. Today, after announcing "Here is Tiraspol the capital of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic" they played what sounded like a national anthem (in full I think). Also the e-mail address was given yesterday and today: radiopmr @ inbox.ru (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio PMR, barely audible on 7370 vs noise level Dec 7 at 1802 in presumed English to Europe. Those further northeast are hearing this well, but it`s still tough here near high noon (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See WORLD OF HOROLOGY ** ROMANIA. 11770, terrible OVERMODULATED pop music, English from RRI Galbeni at 13-15 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) English only until 14 // 15105 (gh, DXLD) See SPAIN [non]. 15170 --- Yes it is - via 285 degrees according to the HFCC. It's one of the more regular transmissions audible here at that time at good strength, although of dubious audio quality. I've been trying to verify that REE via CTR is actually on air via this same frequency but have failed so far - but I can now show that it is thanks to Glenn's logging. Why this co-channelling when there are many other totally clear frequencies in this band, I wonder? Parallel frequencies are 11770 (followed at 1500 by V. of Nigeria in what sounds to be Swahili) and 9610. I'm not sure if 9610 goes all the way to 1500 or just gets swamped (it is poor to start with) by R. Canada International in Chinese co-channel with CRI in Sinhalese (Noel R. Green (NW England), Dec 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RRI, 7180, Dec 7 at 0658 after English broadcast, IS and this time with the co-transmitted roar (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [and non]. 6075, Dec 7 at 1338, very distorted jazzy piano music, 1343 Russian announcement. Per Aoki this is R. Rossii via Petropavlovsk [Kam.]. At 1347 also bothered by a het from unknown source on 6074; 1352 more distorted music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. BBC PROBES ATTACKS ON ITS MOSCOW STAFF The BBC today said it was investigating the possibility that three of its journalists beaten up in Moscow last week had been deliberately targeted because of their work for the corporation. A BBC World Service spokesman said it was "extremely concerned" by the "spate of attacks" on its journalists, all of whom were assaulted in separate incidents just before Russia's parliamentary elections on Sunday. David Quadrat, a Russian citizen who works for the BBC's Central Asian Service, was assaulted on Saturday November 24 on his way home from the corporation's Moscow bureau, the World Service said. His assailants shouted racist abuse and attacked him at Paveletskaya, a busy Moscow metro station. Police then arrested them. Another BBC Russian staff member, Mikhail Denisov, was attacked near his home the following day, Sunday November 25. Two men stole his phone, bank card and a significant amount of money. Denisov sustained a broken nose and possibly broken ribs. In the latest attack last Friday, November 30, another BBC Russian staff member, Yevgeny Demchenko, was assaulted while travelling home from work. He suffered head injuries and required stitches. "We are extremely concerned at this unusual spate of attacks in Moscow. Although we have no evidence to suggest the attacks were motivated by the victims' employment by the BBC, we are exploring that possibility," a BBC World Service spokesman said. "We have asked the Russian foreign ministry for assistance in ensuring staff safety. The BBC is offering its full support to these members of staff and are reviewing our safety procedures in the light of these events." --- Full report: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/dec/06/bbc.television1 (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 15380, BSKSA Riyadh Arabic, crystal clear signal 1200-1400 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15170: The BUZZY unit from BSKSA Riyadh noted again in 0300-0600 UT slot today Dec 6th. HQ prayer covered 15163 to 15176 kHz range. Later heard that buzzy sound again on 11935 kHz at 0900-1200 UT. Other BSKSA transmissions: 2nd program on 9675 kHz around 0500-0700 UT. Swahili from Riyadh at 0400-0700 UT on 15285 kHz. First program in Arabic at 0550-0900 UT on 17730 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, wwdxc BC-DX Dec 7 via DXLD) ** SERBIA. CHINESE RADIO A HIT IN SERBIA By Dragan Gmizic Washington 05 December 2007 From VOANEWS.COM: A small radio station in northern Serbia has created a popular program in a surprising language. The show is in Chinese and features music from around the world. Serbian demographers estimate more than 100,000 Chinese live in Serbia. VOA's Dragan Gmizic recently visited the station and learned that plans are in the works to create a similar TV program. . . Dear all, You can download small video (0.6 MB) at http://www.voanews.com/mediaassets/english/2007_12/Video/wmv/ChineseRadioShowinSerbia_du.wmv or read the story (taken from http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-12-05-voa37.cfm (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WTFK? You would never know unless you watch the background in the video: 93.8 MHz (gh) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Brother Scare: see U S A WWRB ** SPAIN. 4395.3 Onda Cera [sic]; 0055-0112+, 1-Dec; M&W discussion to ID at 0100; news 0100-0105; ad/promo string at 0105 and mentioned kHz. All in Spanish. SIO=322, cleanest in LSB; 0109-0120+, 2-Dec; M&W in Spanish with chit-chat and taking phone calls; ID. SIO=2+42, best in LSB (Harold Frodge, Brighton MI DXPedition, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) In Oct this mystery transmitter was widely reported relaying Onda Cero network from Spain, but more recently it was RNE (gh, DXLD) ** SPAIN [non]. REE Costa Rica relay, 15170, Dec 6 at 1340 starting token M-F Catalan news from Barcelona, after Diario Hablado in castellano; 1345:30 switched to gallego, but studio source not mentioned, so really Madrid? During this there was co-channel QRM underneath producing a SAH of about 5 Hz. According to Aoki, this would be RRI in Romanian, 250 kW, 285 degrees from Galbeni, and per HFCC targeted at France, but carrying on to us, tnx a lot! At same time RRI`s roaring English was on 15105 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also ROMANIA ** SRI LANKA [non]. Re 7-147, INTERNATIONAL, Clandestines from EiBi: Dear Sir, Clandestinas B-07 must add this one in their list 0000 0100 CLA IBC Tamil Sri Lanka 6045 (T.sytems) 73's (Jaisakthivel, Chennai, India, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Why must it be added? International Broadcasting Corporation has a UK satellite licence from the regulator Ofcom: International Broadcasting Corporation --- Music, Entertainment and news for Tamil Communities in Tamil language Via Astra satellite ORIGINAL AIR DATE: 24/02/97 3 College Fields Prince George`s Road Collierswood London Tel : 0208 100 0011 Fax : 0208 100 0012 e-mail: radio @ ibctamil.co.uk Website: http://www.ibctamil.co.uk http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/radiolicensing/sat/SA050.htm Eike lists it as G not CLA, quite correctly in my view. The stations he lists as CLA all, to me, seem to fit the definition in WRTH: "Clandestine broadcasters are politically motivated broadcasts opposed to the government of the target country." Are IBC politically motivated or do they just cover some stories/views that local people might not hear on the SLBC which is not the same thing? From Clandestine Radio Watch 020 December 1998: "Noted 0040 tune in Nov 30 already with En nx quoting long items from a Tamil Tiger radio stn mentioning the LTTE as "brave fighters". On Dec 10000 sign on in Tamil, En nx was 0050. All items were concerning the ethnic conflict but both sides were quoted. (Mike Barraclough-UK, Dec 3 in BCDX 396) and also: "IBC does not have any connection with the Tigers or any other Tamil group. IBC holds a UK Government broadcasting license which preludes any political ties or bias. WRN keeps a close watch on such things and is sure IBC staff retains the same editorial policy as when they were previously at the BBC." (Jeff Cohen, World Radio Network via Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX) Full thread: http://www.clandestineradio.com/crw/news.php?id=22&stn=268&news=144 As Jeff Cohen says, the station was founded by ex BBC Tamil Service employees (Mike Barraclough, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. 4750, presumed R. Peace, 0311-0339, Dec 6, Vernacular. Native music and announcer at tune-in. OM from 0313 thru tue-out. Poor, gradually fading out. No English ID announcement noted (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB 1, 200' Beverages, 60M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN. SAQ on Christmas Eve 2007 --- There will be, as last year, a transmission with the Alexanderson alternator on VLF 17.2 kHz from Grimeton Radio/SAQ on Christmas Eve, Monday December 24th 2007. The message transmission will take place at 0800 UT and will be repeated at 0815. The transmitter will be tuned up from around 0630 UT, so you will get time to test your antennas and equipment during that time. There will be no activity on amateur radio frequencies with the call SK6SAQ this time. QSL-reports are kindly received: - E-mail to: info @ alexander.n.se - or fax to: +46-340-674195 - or via: SM bureau - or direct by mail to: Alexander - Grimeton Veteranradios Vaenner, Radiostationen, Grimeton 72, S-430 16 ROLFSTORP, S W E D E N Also read our web site: http://www.alexander.n.se Yours, Lars Kalland SM6NM (via Mike Terry, Dec 5, dxldyg via DXLD) ** TAJIKISTAN. Very favorable listening conditions the past few evenings, here in the mountains. Hopefully the trend continues. 4635, presumed Tajik Radio, 0053-0105, Dec 7, listed Tajik. Male and female announcer in language with Pashto/Dari-like vocal music. Brief announcement at ToH but was unable pull an ID from it. Weak but clear (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB 1, 200' Beverages, 60M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4635.05, Tajik Radio, Yangiyul; 0246-0315 6 December, 2007. Really nice signal, the best I can recall in ages. Presumed Tajik language female, very nice local vocals and instrumentals, male at 0258 and into techo beat fill music until 0300. No time sounders (at least not audible), into news by male, patter from 0308 between male and female, 0309 filler music and talk, back to vocals at 0311. By tune out, clearly beginning to fade down fast. Decent modulation for a change, but a slight 50 cycle hum as always with this one (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND [non]. PMS Costa Rica was back up on 9725, Dec 7 at 1426, blocking Thailand`s English broadcast at 1400, except no trace of it anyway this date (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [non]. RFA Tibetan very powerful today on 11540 Dushanbe Tajikistan and 11590 Kuwait 1100-1400 UT, differ half a second (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. Re 7-147: David Crystal referred to one specific announcer who he says has now left the Voice of Turkey English Desk and gone to television. He said she had a husband and a grown up son. He also said that she was kept on, at the time one of her colleagues was fired, "because her husband is a very powerful man in Turkey". He made no mention of any of the other staff at the English desk being married, or having children, or knowing influential people. He never used the word spies. If the specific announcer referred to has not left the English Service please name her and say so, it would seem obvious to me that it is someone who David has spoken to quite regularly, probably both on and off air. "Mr. Crystal's comments would make a good script for a soap opera; however, in this case it interferes with our work as his entry shouldn't represent the voice of our legitimate listeners." David's views were represented solely as his views not as the views of any other listener. How are you defining legitimate listener? If I wish to make a comment about a Voice of Turkey programme I might listen to are you suggesting that I should refrain from doing so until I get approval from Ankara in case it "interferes with your work"? "If you could delete it, we would be very grateful. Thanks" In the UK we have freedom of expression unlike Turkey: http://www.rsf.org/country-53.php3?id_mot=101&Valider=OK http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5173576.stm I'd actually dispute David's point where he says "Freedom of speech is no greater in Turkey than it is ... in Britain or in USA" (Don't know enough about Israeli restrictions). He was quite complimentary about the access the lady, who he says has now left the station, gave him to the Live from Turkey programme. He concluded by saying "The Voice of Turkey is no worse than any other radio station but it will be less interesting than it was." Even if some of his facts are wrong, which anyone is welcome to challenge, that it is his legitimate opinion and he has every right to express it and have it published (Mike Barraclough, World DX Club, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Both the 7-147 and 7-148 items about this above have been inserted into 7-119, http://www.w4uvh.net/dxld7119.txt (gh) [Later:] The woman hosting Letterbox did not take all this quite so seriously, as I happened to be listening Thursday Dec 6 at 2329 on webcast. She began by referring to David Crystal`s original comments, tho attributed to some place I did not recognise, and rather amusedly said she is not yet married so does not have a powerful husband, freedom of speech exists at VOT even tho it is sponsored by the government, Crystal`s remarx were unfounded, but thanked him for his ``lovely comments`` about the station. Then replied to several letters from familiar names such as Køie, Kumar. Isn`t Letterbox supposed to be on Wednesday? I heard it on a previous Thursday in August as reported in DXLD 7-095. Then it should get two more repeats at 0429 UT Friday on 6020, 7240, webcast, and 0829 on webcast only, if you`d like to hear it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The views expressed were my own, not those of the World DX Club. From the 2007 Amnesty report on Turkey: After the introduction of new legislation in previous years, there was little evidence of progress in the implementation of reforms. There were continued prosecutions of people expressing their peacefully held opinions..... Laws containing fundamental restrictions on freedom of expression remained in force, resulting in the prosecution, and sometimes conviction, of groups such as journalists, writers, publishers, academics, human rights defenders and students for the peaceful expression of their beliefs. http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/Regions/Europe-and-Central-Asia/Turkey (Mike Barraclough, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) O well, there`s FOS unless you`re a Kurd, Armenian or sympathizer (gh) ** TURKEY. VOT`s Live from Turkey, starting at 1353 UT Thursday Dec 6, fair on 12035 but not 100% copy, partly thanks to the rapid slurred speech and accents of the announcers, so I switched to webcast. This semi-week`s show featured a conversation via satellite phone with a Turk from Seattle who is *rowing* across the Pacific, and is currently near Xmas Island, on his way to Australia where he will climb Mt. Kosciusko on his way across the continent (portaging his boat?). Seems he is rowing and hiking around the world, in order to inspire children to fulfill their dreams. OK, but it seems to me he is running a fairly high risk of being swamped if a storm comes up before he can be rescued. He has been quite isolated recently, not seeing a single ship for weeks (or months?). Must be well outside shipping lanes, which aside from rescue possibilities is probably a good idea to avoid being run over. VOT has been trying to get in contact with him for some time, and finally succeeded. Now they hope to do so every week. Seems his adventure, including a Turkish flag aboard, is not getting the worldwide publicity it deserves, and indeed I had not heard of it until now. The website media coverage page (in English) shows plenty, but almost all only in Turkey. As usual, could not understand names but was able to copy his website, http://around-n-over.org where we find he is Erden Eruç and all the info about this can be found there. He has quite a team backing him up, already made it across the Atlantic, and to the summit of Denali. I wonder if he is also on HF (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA. 4976, R. Uganda, 0224-0246, Dec 6, Vernacular/English. Male announcer hosting phone-in program over lite Afropops. Good Morning greeting to each caller, phone number in passing. Huge S9+ signal w/ apparent early s/on (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB 1, 200' Beverages, 60M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. BBC probes attacks on its Moscow staff : see RUSSIA ** U K. BBC-WS running a survey of jingles --- Go and register. Listen to the jingle, rank them. Then you are given two places to write 1000 word essays at the end, and also after the survey is over. Yell at them as much as you wish (Dan Say, BC, swprograms via DXLD) Viz.: We really hope you will choose to contribute to our latest online survey. By doing so you'll help us improve the BBC World Service. To take part you will need sound facilities on your computer and around ten minutes of free time online. I hope you choose to take part and that you enjoy the experience. The answers you give will be extremely valuable to us. With best wishes, (Meriam Soopee, BBC World Service --- Go to the following link to LOG IN and begin the survey. http://bbc-16012.mediascoreinc.com?eqai=NDIxNTEyNjg (via Say, ibid.) ** U S A [and non]. MORE SILENT SHORTWAVE SITES. In the latter months, at least four large chunks of the shortwave iceberg have gone plop into the sea. With the end of A07, the Radio Netherlands site in Flevo, the Netherlands, and the IBB site in Delano, California, went off the air. That was followed by the announcement that the IBB would give its Morocco relay back to Morocco in March 2008. A bit earlier, on October 1, RAI shut down all of its shortwave broadcasting, and it appears that its sites at Prato Smeraldo and Caltanissetta will never transmit again. The Morocco announcement was the most shocking. I heard one rumor to that effect, but didn’t believe it. The Morocco site is a Cold War stalwart, with ten 500-kilowatt transmitters. But that might also explain its demise. Most of its single hops would land in Eastern Europe, where the pesky outbreak of freedom has greatly reduced the incentive to listen to shortwave. Morocco is also useful for reaching the Arab World, but the Arabs tend to watch satellite television these days. The third prong of Morocco’s coverage, Africa, still has plenty of shortwave listeners. Perhaps the thinking is that Botswana and São Tomé will suffice. The announcement about the closure of Morocco said that the “all programs currently broadcast from the Morocco station will continue to be broadcast, either from other IBB facilities or through lease arrangements.” With the closure of the IBB relays in Greece in 2006, other IBB facilities will be busy. And even with other stations’ reductions of shortwave, I don’t know where sufficient transmitters- for-lease will be found. But keep in mind that the promise is to maintain broadcast hours, not specifically frequency hours. Broadcast hours could be fulfilled entirely via the internet. Delano Delano was not the ideal location for a shortwave site in 2007. Shortwave audiences in Latin America have dissipated. It’s too far from Asia or Africa to reach those continents with commanding signals. Ironically, just days before Delano closed, President Bush spoke to the people of Cuba via Radio Martí, including a Delano transmitter. And Congress is willing to lavish funds to overcome the jamming of TV and Radio Martí. But the laws of physics tell us that shortwave is the least interdictable of the media available to international broadcasting. The best way to get intelligible content into Cuba is to transmit on as many shortwave frequencies as possible, from as many sites as possible. The closure of Delano eliminates one of those sites. The U.S. State Department declared 2007 to be the “Year of the Pacific.” A big reason for this is that China is expanding its influence there. On the small island nations of the southern Pacific, with their limited domestic journalism and media, people still listen to shortwave, e.g. Radio Australia and Radio New Zealand International. The southern Pacific was also one of the places that Delano could reach reliably. Alas, in this Year of the Pacific, Delano was eliminated as a means to inform the Pacific. I’m told that Delano will remain, for now, in “caretaker” status. Good. It will be needed in the future (Kim Andrew Elliott, Kim`s Column, Dec NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. ENDING THE ABSURD PRACTICE OF PUBLISHING CLAPTRAP ABOUT U.S. INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING. "Steps to address the danger posed by the Iranian regime, short of military action" include "ending the absurd practice of broadcasting into Iran pro-regime propaganda via U.S. taxpayer-funded instruments like the Voice of America and Radio Farda." Frank J. Gaffney Jr., National Review Online, 4 December 2007. Kim: I don't speak Farsi, but I'm pretty sure that VOA Persian and Radio Farda are not transmitting pro-regime propaganda. Are these stations supposed to broadcast only anti-regime propaganda? Such a notion is completely out of touch with why people go to the trouble to tune in foreign broadcasts. Under the headline "The Ever-Helpful VOA": "Payvand Iran News, an Iranian Web site, carried a down-the-middle report of the new nukes assessment: 'A new U.S. intelligence estimate says it is not clear that Iran is determined to produce nuclear weapons. The estimate says Iran stopped nuclear weapons development four years ago, but adds that Tehran is keeping its options open.' Its source? The Voice of America." Al Kamen, Washington Post, 6 December 2007. Kim: What is Kamen getting at here? His column usually likes to catch federal bureaucracies or bureaucrats in embarrassing moments. Probably he thought that Peyvand is an official Iranian website -- a cursory look would reveal that it is an Iranian exile site -- and that VOA provided a story that brought comfort to Iranian propaganda. But even if it were an official Iranian site, was VOA supposed to ignore the story? Is VOA supposed only to report only what makes the United States look good and Iran look bad? If VOA did that, it would no longer be burdened with an audience. Posted: 06 Dec 2007 Permalink (for linx and italix see http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=2885 from kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. 13580, IBB Lampertheim powerhouse in unID Arabic like (Somali?) language at 1300-1400 UT. S=9+10 dB (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello Wolfy and Glenn, Re the VOA 13580 - the Bulgarian DX list of IBB changes reported this as Amharic, but I still think it's Somali. They talk a lot about Somali affairs, and give a VOA at Somali e-mail address as contact (Noel Green, NW England, ibid.) Noel & Wolfy, We already had news about this in DXLD, as a new Somali service of VOA -- weren`t you the first to report that, Noel? It was on the VOA schedule as Somali that I copied (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Hello Glenn and Wolfy, That's correct - I think I was the first to report the new VOA Somali programme. I was as sure as I could be that the language was Somali - which you confirmed - Glenn - from the VOA sched. It was the Bulgars who confused the issue somewhat by listing it as Amharic - which it isn't (Noel Green, ibid.) From AIB Media Briefing, Simon Spanswick: Voice of America has doubled the output of its Somali-language radio service, just ten months after the service was launched from Washington in February 2007. The new programme is on the air at 1600 local time in the Horn of Africa (1300GMT). Top of page http://www.voanews.com/somali/ http://www.voanews.com/english/broadcast_info.cfm?co=188&lang=66 (Büschel, ibid.) ** U S A. 11975, big carrier and intermittent tone tests, 1753 Dec 7. Must be VOA Greenville warming up for English to Africa at 1800-2000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. THE GLOBAL MEDIUM ON THE MASSACHUSETTS COAST: A short history of WRUL Radio Boston, WNYW Radio New York Worldwide and WYFR Family Radio. Based on a Presentation by Lou Josephs(c) Updated and edited Thursday, January 4th, 2007 http://www.northernstar.no/wnyw3.htm (via Ian Baxter, Australia, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) Extensive with illustrations, sound clips (gh) ** U S A. 5770, WEWN Spur, 0655-0740, Dec 7, leapfrogging spur of 5850. 5850 leapfrogging over 5810. Weak to very weak. 5801.66, 5818.35, WEWN Spurs, 0615-0630, Dec 7, English religious talk. Spurs from 5810 heard with good levels. Spurs not heard about 4 hours earlier when checked (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWCR, 5980, mixing product, 5890 leapfrog over 5935, lasts until 1400 UT when both frequencies are still on; Dec 6 at 1318 had Power Hour saying that UBL video featured an imposter. The spur fades in and out, but enough to block DX on the frequency. It`s MUCH weaker than the fundamentals which are extremely strong; 5980 may well be 80 dB down or more, but not enough in this case. Or possibly it`s receiver overload, but I still hear it with max attenuation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Our re-début on WWCR 7465 was not auspicious as the wrong edition of WORLD OF RADIO was played at 2130 UT Friday Dec 7, last week`s #1384 instead of 1385. I don`t know what happened but have reminded them to please get 1385 for the repeats this weekend (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. It`s Thursday, Dec 6, and time for another WHRA check to discover what clandestines may be showing up. 12015 at 1845, unlike previous days, gospel huxter in English, so I suppose Meselná Delina is back to half an hour only at 1800 tho did not check in time. What about 11785 during the following hour? At 1905 right past 1930, more English g.h. tho this hour previously contained some African language on a Thursday. Could be they run tests for potential clients, or the automation upscrews; who knows? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WBCQ, 7415, presumed, on much later than usual probably on ad-hoc, why-not? basis, UT Fri Dec 7 at 0654, with Jumpin` Jack Flash by R. Stones; weak and fading. Or possibly a real pirate which decided to reactivate the frequency. Firedrake also on 7415 later: see CHINA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 3184.3, WWRB Manchester TN; 1248, 2-Dec; Bro. Stair with promo about a long distance phone # folks can call to listen to the Overcomer broadcast --- Why would anyone do that? S3-+ sig. They were not off frequency at 0314. 6370, WWRB Manchester TN; 0314, 2-Dec; Bluegrass Gospel program. SIO=222, LSB takes out pulse QRM. 2 x 3185; 3185 SIO=4+54. 3 x 3185 not there (Harold Frodge, Brighton MI DXPedition, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) Which would be 9555 --- a good idea to keep that in mind (gh) ** U S A. I'm baack --- Hi everyone, After going through the worst Pacific storms in my life, I am happy to report I am alive and well. But for a while, I was really wondering. It all started in last week with the forecast from the National Weather Service that a HUGE storm was going to hit the Oregon and Washington coasts. Early on they were forecasting winds of 80-90 MPH. But as it got closer, the forecast was changed to over 100 MPH. Saturday during the day our winds started to pick up to gusts to about 50 MPH. By Sunday the gusts picked up 80 MPH. Not uncommon for the coast. As they say on the Portland TV station weather reports "A garden variety Pacific storm". That was a good sized storm alone, but only the beginning. The granddaddy of them all was forecast to hit Sunday night. I was not at home when it hit, but in East Astoria. By 9-10 PM, we lost all power, internet, cel phone, and even local phone, including 9-1-1, the emergency number. We had nothing. He were totally cut off. The huge transmission Bonneville lines coming East we had lost. The wind was up to about 130 MPH out here and 80+ MPH where I was in East Astoria. The wind was really shaking the building. I spent the night there thinking I would return Monday morning. Boy was I wrong! The wind howled all night. I was really worried about my house, but it was impossible to drive home. I did not sleep all night. Too much racket. Monday morning "I thought" the wind died down. Well I took off and drove through downtown Astoria. I was driving through a disaster war zone. Broken windows, debris flying all over the place. The winds in downtown Astoria were 70+ MPH even Monday morning. In fact, the van almost got hit by a 50 square foot piece of roof from a building. It flew right past the front of the van. I drove on trying to dodge all of the debris. As I approached Youngs Bay to cross the bridge to Warrenton, I was driving right into a squall. I have never seen one, but according to the weather service, that is what I was driving into across the bridge. There the winds were 100+ MPH. The wind knocked the van all over the road. I made a fast U-turn and headed back East. I spent Monday night in East Astoria again. I was still worried about my house, but I was still in the dark, no phone service. I did finally pick up a tint tiny amount of cel signal from Washington that I could barely use, but I got a short message to Bill Block. Again I got little sleep. The wind seemed a bit less Monday night, but still strong. Tuesday morning I took off again and this time the gusts were 60-70 MPH off across Youngs Bay and I could drive in that. But still debris everywhere. Driving through Astoria looked worse than the day before. Trees destroyed everywhere, roofs, pieces of building, etc. I thought, my house is toast. But as I got close to it I could see it from the highway and my metal roof I put on it in 1999 was still on the house. I was surprised. The porch area on the back (wind side), the covering was ripped off. The trees behind my house were destroyed for the most part. Including three of my antennas. The only antenna still standing was the WNW EWE. I went in the house, no leaks, dry but a bit musty feeling from the rain and wind and the power being off. Some dents and scratches outside in the wood from flying debris, it looks like. The gutter bent up, but the house was OK. I took the camera and took pictures for the insurance. After that I checked both sides of the house, checking my big dish. It was still fine, but loose on the pole. Some bolts loosened up. I saw where the SW EWE came down and I repaired that. The beverage snapped and the vertical snapped off the top of the tree. Those two I have not repaired as yet as we got to clean up the mess first. Overall, I lucked out well. Three homes nearby suffered trees falling onto the house and I don't know how many roofs blew off. But mine held fine. As I said, downed trees everywhere. A mess, to say the least. In driving around Clatsop County, it is hard to believe the damage. It is by far the worst storm in 80 years. The Columbus Day storm was a walk in the park on the coast compared to this. The Columbus Day storm created winds almost as bad, but they were short-lived at 3-4 hours. These winds lasted for 3 days! On a side note, all the time I was listening to KAST-1370-Astoria, as they were knocked off the air Sunday night with no power. Tom Freel, GM, got the station back on the air with the generator, fighting the 130 MPH winds and getting gasoline on him. The station went local, as they have been for the last several days. Once the phones started working, you could only dial in[side] your prefix. In Astoria the prefix is 325, so you could only dial a 325 number and get through. You could not call an 861 (Warrenton) number and get through. Again, no 9-1-1 either. But KAST stayed with us as a good friend announcing any changes, the storm, etc. KAST interviewed the Mayor, City Manager, Coast Guard, you name it. Everybody has joined forces to help out. Really very well organized. We have the CG and they are also helping out. This is true local radio and that is where a station shines. KAST has been there for us. In fact the GM celebrated his 31st Wedding Anniversary on the air, took calls from listeners in Astoria and it was a great time. It put a smile on my face when I thought I had little to smile about. A great group of broadcasters. They should win an award for their service to our community. Yes, KAST was there. They are a god-send to Clatsop County. I wish there was a wy to nominate them for an NAB award. They sure deserve it. I called in on the air last night to personally thank them for all they did. Organizing all of the community leaders and one by one getting them on the air to inform our county of the dangers, help, and all. For some reason, we got power first. Why, I don't know, but I sure was surprised being without it for only 72 hours. But with the infrastructure of the Pacific Power system being totally wiped out, I thought it may be at least a week. The huge power towers were wiped out like toothpicks. But I have been very impressed with everyone involved. No support from FEMA or anyone other than our locals including the CG. Even Pacific Power contacted other power companies and got extra help. They are all great professionals and should to praised. I have considered moving from Clatsop County, but where would I find a group (as I call them) extended family like this? Places like this do not grow on trees. Even if we don't have many left. hi. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, Dec 6, IRCA via DXLD) Patrick, I am curious as to whether broadcasters on the OR and WA coast have any sort of tsunami warning network in place, and if so, how they implement it. This of course is due to the risk from the Cascadia Subduction zone which apparently faults every few hundred years with major coastal damage (the last one was in 1700 and they have found sand grains embedded in the tree rings). The warning time is given in just minutes. Just today the NY Times had an article about the tsunami threat to the _east_ coast of the US. Interestingly they did not even mention the threat from Cumbre Vieja (La Palma island in the Canaries) but rather from a deep undersea trench near Puerto Rico, one I did not even know existed. A threat model for eastern Long Island was described and the warning time given as several hours. What kind of network is in place aside from EAS to help with this scenario? (Bob Foxworth, Tampa FL, ibid.) ** U S A. New QSL: 780, WCXH, ME, Monticello after sending tentative CD report, where I could only make out the CW on the "W" & "H", received QSL card from V/S Allan H. Weiner in 10 days. Address: 28 Houlton Road, Presque Isle ME 04769. My 2nd ME station heard and QSL'd from Oregon! I only heard and QSL'd one in Alaska (WLAM-1470). I am very pleased!!! (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, KAVT Reception Manager, Dec 6, HCDX via DXLD) For special DX test a few weeks ago (gh) ** U S A. 88.3 MHz, FLORIDA (LPR), "Kimpton Farms Christmas Radio," Largo; (slogan is my designation). I think this one is back on for the holidays. I noted a mediocre stereo open carrier coming home from work, peaking on Roosevelt Blvd. at Belcher Road at 5:30 p.m. local time on 5 December, 2007. The schedule last year was local 6-11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 6 p.m.-midnight Friday and Saturday, with Christmas music synchronized to the neighborhood lights for drivers to view and listen to. The location of the transmitter is 4017 Kimpton Place. Archival data listed under this entry on my Florida Low Power Radio Stations page http://home.earthlink.net/~tocobagadx/flortis.html Whether the extremely puny signal of 89.5 MHz (LPR) "Swan Lane Christmas Radio" (again, my designation) in Safety Harbor, Florida and of similar nature is active again, I won't know until Christmas, when I'm in that area for festivities with relatives. 89.3 MHz, FLORIDA (LPR) Fun-Lan Drive-In & Swap Shop, Tampa; according to recent Tampa Tribune feature, there are four functioning screens, sometimes showing separate movies at the same time. The drive-in and swap shop is located at 2302 East Hillsborough Avenue, phone 813-237- 0886. Reference was made to audio on 89.3 MHz, but since multiple screens are used, it is presumed three other channels are used. 96.7 MHz, FLORIDA (LPR), Pinellas County Sheriff's Office; sometime back, a contact informed me that the PCSO is now deploying a low power (Part 15-compliant) mobile stereo transmitter which even has RDS capability. It is available for disaster emergencies or public events. I was tipped off on this latest activation, and since I was southbound to the Manatee Convention Center's ham convention, hearing it was assured en route. My first logging of this, except for stumbling upon it a few months ago as an open carrier (I later confirmed it was this; they were firing it up for the first time to test). Noted on December 1, 2007 around 1015 local in use for a charity event at Ft. DeSoto county park. A volunteer was reading names, stats and ranking by age group for a marathon that took place on this morning as part of the November 30-December 1 events. Fragments first began overtaking the Valdosta, Georgia urban format FMer heading south on I-275 in St. Petersburg just south of the 22nd St. S. exit. Best and briefly local near the apex of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, naturally, as it is almost parallel to the islands. Completely lost the signal once on the Manatee County mainland side of the bridge. No RDS capability in the car I was driving so I didn't get to view whatever scroll was in use. Off the air and deactivated upon my return, mid-afternoon (the event ended by 1330 local). (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, Visit my "Florida Low Power Radio Stations" at: http://home.earthlink.net/~tocobagadx/flortis.html or: http://www.geocities.com/geigertree/flortis.html dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KGO has not been running HD for days now. KMJ-580 hasn't either. KCBC-770 has been turning it on late and turning it off early, so I can listen to KKOH-780 Reno while driving to work at 8 am, and when going home after 5. But 1280 KWSX is back on and running HD. You won't hear Bernie Ward on KGO tonight... he was indicted in Federal court on charges of child pornography (using the internet) today per KGO news this afternoon (Rich Toebe, Vacaville CA, Dec 6, IRCA via DXLD) BERNIE WARD KGO-810 INDICTED --- One of my favourite hosts; I am shocked KGO night-time talk show host Bernie Ward was indicted in Federal Court today on two counts of child pornography using the Internet. Ward's attorney says the incidents are from more than four years ago and were a part of research for a book. KGO's Operations Director Jack Swanson says, "Bernie Ward has been a valued, long-time employee of KGO Radio. We were just recently made aware of these serious charges and are surprised and concerned by their nature. As the matter is currently pending in federal court, we will have no additional comment at this time. A substitute host will do the 10 pm - 1 am, Monday - Friday broadcast and the Sunday morning Godtalk broadcast." (from KGO site via Eric Flodén, BC, Dec 6, IRCA via DXLD) An indictment is not a conviction. I also think Bernie Ward is an outstanding talk show host and I'm sorry to hear about this. Sorry if Ward did something despicable for which he should be punished, and also sorry if he didn't and the charges have no merit. Either way it isn't good (Rick Lewis, ibid.) Indictment is a big, fat, scary word. It means The Grand Jury heard one side of a story and indicted Mr. Ward, instead of its customary target, the proverbial ham sandwich. Once upon a time, one was innocent until proven guilty beyond all reasonable doubt. Of late, many believe one is innocent until 'investigated'. z pvz "Innocent until investigated? Nice ring to it. Gives the sense of the Law being written down as it's spoken." - Bob Barnes, "Syriana", c. 2005 (Paul Vincent Zecchino, manojusticenopeace key, fl, ibid.) If he has been indicted in Federal Court, the evidence is not only usually enough to indict a ham sandwich but also strong enough for a jury of 12 to find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and for a judge to sentence the ham sandwich for a term of imprisonment. Standards for indictment in the U.S. District Courts are usually considerably higher than what it takes to indict in the state systems and the professionalism and competence of federal prosecutors is generally tops. While the U.S. Attorneys can be hack political appointments, the career prosecutors are no hacks. The motto in the U.S. District Courts is "Mind over Matter". "We don't mind and you don't matter." There are acquittals in federal prosecutions, but considerably rarer than in state prosecutions. He is in trouble big time (Gil Stacey, ibid.) I have had my eye on that ham sandwich for some time --- and I had a feeling. Pete Townsend, singer and songwriter for an obscure sixties band known only as "The Who" got messed up in something similar about 6 years ago - I think the defense was the same; was researching a book on the subject. These kinds of "materials" are such hot-button issues with most people, heck, most communities, that even academic research of the very subject often comes with implicit risk. Like websites about "breast cancer" that get flagged as "obscene material" by web filtering clients. Such is life, (Colin Newell, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, ibid.) So what is he being accused of exactly? Looking at a website (and lusting after it?) Downloading pictures? This stuff is repugnant but I don't see what crime has been committed (Rob Moore, ibid.) Rob, An article in the San Francisco Chronicle quotes Ward's attorney as saying his client downloaded and sent out "a few' images in a chat room in 2004 as part of research involving a book on the Internet. The Feds seized his computer in 2005 and found no porn on it. He was released yesterday on $250,000 bail. The indictment is under seal, so the government is releasing no information on the charges, thus we only have one side of the story. The lawyer says they've been trying to convince the government for two years that this was a mistake, not a pattern of behavior. It's a sad situation, no matter who's right. Bernie Ward has been known for years for his humanitarian and charity work, and I tend to believe his side, if only because his schedule probably didn't permit time for much else. But if you disobey the law, you disobey it, regardless of intent. And whatever his intent, he's undoubtedly in the biggest jam of his life. And his reputation will suffer, even if he's exonerated (Rick Lewis, ibid.) ** VENEZUELA. CAMBIO DE HORA LEGAL A PARTIR DE LA MADRUGADA DE ESTE DOMINGO --- La presente es para informarte a ti y a los colegas de la lista, que a partir de este venidero domingo 09/12, la Hora Legal de Venezuela se atrasará treinta minutos. Con tal medida, nuestra hora quedará en UTC -4:30. Dicho cambio tendrá lugar a las 3 am de ese día; lo que se recomienda es atrasar el reloj media hora, antes de irse a acostar el sábado. 73s y buen DX (Adán González, Catia La Mar, Estado Vargas, VENEZUELA, Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [and non]. LEGISLATION THAT WOULD COMBAT VIETNAMESE JAMMING AWAITS SENATE ACTION. "Republican congressman Chris Smith, told VOA Thursday he still hopes the Senate will act on the [Vietnam Human Rights Act, approved by the House of Representatives last September] which ... supports democracy programs for Vietnam, and contains funds to help the U.S.-government funded Radio Free Asia overcome Vietnamese government jamming of its transmissions." VOA News, 7 December 2007 http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-12-07-voa4.cfm Posted: 07 Dec 2007 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) This is only the last graf of a long Dan Robinson story, the rest of which is not about jamming. We are still wondering exactly how throwing money at the problem will ``overcome`` jamming, other than a payoff (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** ZAMBIA [and non]. CVC Test from Makeni Ranch, just 35 km west of Lusaka. Only S=4-5 signal here. 13650 is 2 seconds behind 13635 kHz via CVC Darwin Australia (Wolfgang Büschel, Dec 5, BC-DX via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Trying to confirm reported new frequency 21495 Greenville for VOA Studio 7 service, Dec 7 at 1755 I could barely detect a carrier on 21495; and the only identifiable signal on 13m was WYFR on 21680, very weak too, so very little propagation on this band (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 3100, UNID harmonic; 2237-2245+, 1-Dec; Nostalgia music; announcements too buried to copy, but peaks good enough to ID music. Presume 2 x 1550, but nothing ever there //. Heard every time checked through-out the weekend (Harold Frodge, MI DXPedition, MARE Tipsheeet via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. OTH radar from China? Dec 6 between 5100 and 5235 or so, continuous clicking pulses, not too strong here; overlapped with CODAR on 5225-5240, tsk2. The OTH peaked around 5125 and 5200; also QRMed a MARS net including AAM5TMI around 5215. At least between 5100 and 5235 there aren`t many broadcasters. Chinese OTH radar? About the same as the day before, but weaker, clicking pulses from 5100 to 5230 at 1355 Dec 7. Also came across similar but not identical pulsing Dec 7 at 1420 from 11988 to 12012, also barely audible under RHC on 12000. This might have been a defect in the RHC transmitter instead (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 7526, approx., somewhat unusual to hear US military 2- way SSB conversation here at 0708 Dec 6, rather close to 7520 SWBC station. One of them mentioned having 121.5 MHz capability (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Hi all, Especially Glenn, who knows how to count mirrors and things, Just recently (Dec 6th at 1510 UT) I heard an UNID station on 8345 kHz, with interviews about Kosovo independence, about a document after a trial and about the long learning process after the independence. They compared the situation with the Netherlands, which was the only country name mentioned, besides Kosovo and Albania. The program was all in English and at 1518.30 UT it suddenly was cut off in the middle of a sentence. Can anybody help? 73 from (Björn Fransson, DX-ing on the island of Gotland, Sweden, HCDX via DXLD) Björn, This time I don`t think it is an image, or a mixing product. Two clues: Netherlands, and 8345, one digit off from RN`s Tashkent relay at this hour on 9345. I think it was a punch-up error, not realized since start of the broadcast before 1400. Probably they immediately switched to the proper frequency 9345. After a lot of searching thru the user-unfriendly RN website, I finally found that the program during this semi-hour is The State We`re In: http://www.radionetherlands.nl/listeningguide/how_to_listen_asiapacific However, this week`s topic is supposedly the taboo surrounding AIDS. One would have to listen to the audio file to see for sure if it matches what you heard. http://www.radionetherlands.nl/thestatewerein/tswiradioprogramme/tswi-prog27 Perhaps Andy Sennitt can clarify this. 73, (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This doesn't seem to be The State We're In, as Kosovo/Albania have not been featured in the programme. The mention of the Netherlands is hardly surprising, given that the Yugoslav War Crimes Court is based in The Hague :-) It could have been anybody - even the BBC! But I have passed the report to our Programme Distribution Department just in case (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) According to http://www.radionetherlands.nl/listeningguide/programmetimes Amsterdam Forum is listed for Thu 1500-1530. (Yogesh, Hong Kong, ibid.) You`re right! And A.F. is indeed about war crimes tribunal, Kosovo, as I started listening to the first few minutes of the latest show at http://download.omroep.nl/rnw/smac/en_amsterdamforum.mp3 The link to program times I cited http://www.radionetherlands.nl/listeningguide/how_to_listen_asiapacific was axually for June-October as labeled at the top and I did not notice since I reached it by navigating thru the RNW website, and could reasonably assume it was current. It should have been removed, or at least not linked from some other page! Or preferably replaced with current schedule in same format. So back to my original theory, it was indeed RN, and Tashkent punched up the wrong frequency (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) OK, then Glenn's assumption was correct. One of my tasks in 2008 is to sort out what is wrong with the English website, and get it fixed. The immediate problem is that there are not enough staff to keep it up-to- date. That was the reason I was "detached" to current affairs production recently. Rest assured that getting the programme/listener pages sorted out will be a priority (Andy Sennitt, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, ibid.) I might add that first I had searched thru this week`s program previews newsletter, but could not find anything accounting for the 1500 Thursday semi-hour, since it is neither Newsline nor the primary Thursday program, but a repeat of some other day`s program. Many of the off-day repeat times are mentioned, some are not. Another very confusing thing about the newsletter is that altho many times are now given, sometimes the NAm 00, 01 and 05 broadcasts are at the top of the list, sometimes at the bottom. Surely they should always be at the end, since those broadcasts are the final repeats into the next UT day of the previous day`s programs. Sometimes the NAm times are not even all together, one at top and others at bottom (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. UNKNOWNIA: 9490 VoA EE to Oceania per their sked, but not listed in HFCC or Passport -- does anyone know of a resource to get the VoA frequency schedule listing relay sites either on the web or on paper these days? All my old data is no longer updated/ current! VoA News and IDs in English, SIO 343 2335-2345 30/Nov (Kenneth Vito Zichi, Brighton MI DXpedition, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) How about EiBi, or Aoki? Of course you would have to sift thru all the other entries. This has also been discussed already in DXLD. Aoki e.g. says 9490 VOICE OF AMERICA 2200-2400 1234567 English 250 200 Tinang PHL 12037E1521 IBB b07 (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 9830: Como decía en un anterior mensaje, la última escucha de 9830 entre las 1700 y 1720 es una duda por el momento. 9830.0 1721 ? No ID Rlg+Mx africano?? Ahora tengo la duda de una emisión que estoy escuchando en 9830; no coincide con ninguno de los listados habituales (Aoki, Eibi, HFCC). Parece emisión religiosa con charla en idioma africano y canciones de estilo de esa zona. Tenemos a AWR en 9825 según esquema a partir de las 18, Family radio en árabe en 9830 debió acabar a las 1700 pero esto no es árabe, etc., etc., no concuerda con nada. ¿Alguna idea? Aun está en el aire a las 1720 en que estoy redactando esto. Cordialmente, (Tomás Méndez, Spain, Grundig Satellit 700, Sony ICF-SW7600GR, Degen DE-1103, Icom IC-R2, logsderadio yg via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ I wish I could do more but I know every bit helps, so with this little donation, I ask that you please continue WOR. I listen every week online and if lucky, on a vintage SW radio, but I just got the new CCRadio SW and it is very good for the price-especially AM reception. That should make finding particular stations easier than with my old analog dials). Thanks again. Best wishes (Aaron Butler, with a donation via PayPal to woradio @ yahoo.com) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see ALBANIA; ETHIOPIA [and non] ++++++++++++++++++++ Radio World: "AM IBOC IN DISTRESS?" Hell officially froze over on December 5, 2007. How do we know? Radio World, for years an indefatigable, logic-be-damned supporter of AM IBOC, the place where "Guy Wire" mocked the Luddites who opposed it, has finally had a come-to-Jesus-ye-sinners moment: http://www.rwonline.com/pages/s.0044/t.9917.html A couple of money [sic] quotes: "It’s not 'just hobbyists and DXers' who have concerns, contrary to what some proponents say under their breath." "Even a number of major-market stations that have deployed AM HD are feeling the pinch of reduced coverage at night. Those with strong adjacent-channel neighbors have had their nighttime service area coverage shrink substantially." It's really funny to read this now, since the article cites many of the same technical issues about night AM IBOC that we DXers have been lamenting for years on lists such as ABDX. But the data RW treats as some new revelation has long been out there for anyone interested --- remember the 2001 tests by WLW, when Kevin heard the IBOC digihash in in AZ and I did the same from CA? It took no special genius to understand night IBOC was going to be a clustereff, only a willingness to consider data contrary to one's assumptions. Any digital modulation scheme --- IBOC, DRM, whatever --- on frequencies where skywave propagation happens is stupid, and so is anyone who advocates digital modulation on such frequencies. Digital modulation should be kept where it makes sense, namely VHF and higher. (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19 http://harryhelmsblog.blogspot.com/ Dec 5, ABDX via DXLD) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ FINALLY CHANGING TIMEZONE DECEMBER 9 TO UT -4:30: see VENEZUELA OBLATENESS LEADS TO OFFSET SR/SS EXTREMES In the N Hemisphere we are now at our earliest sunsets of the year, at Enid 2316 UT, while our latest sunrises will be a month later in early January, at Enid 1344 UT instead of the current 1330. This anomaly is because of Earth`s oblateness; only in between these dates on the solstice do we get our shortest day overall, 1339-2320. This of course has a major effect on SW propagation (Glenn Hauser, OK, Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ DOUBLE/TRIPLE ECHOES I continue to be surprised that we are hearing echoes via certain signals, and especially as average conditions continue to be quite poor. Glenn's suggestion that it might actually be back scatter seems more feasible than a journey all the way around, especially when signals from distant sites are not what might be expected. Palau 9965 is about the best that I can manage to hear from the Pacific currently in my local afternoon period (1300+). KTWR, KSDA and IBB via Tinian are elusive unless they are beaming into Russia or China (Noel Green, NW England, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) As for the `triple echoes` Wolfy has been reporting, do you mean main signal plus two echoes? One of them could be relatively close backscatter, and the other long-path (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Two echoes: Yes fundamental broadcast, and additional two echos: a stronger and tiny third signal. Three echos around the world today in 1200-1400 UT slot: 15495 AWR WER Bengali 1230-1300 250 kW 13700 and 13820 YFR WER 500 kW 15595 Vatican Radio 500 kW 11810 Jordan R also some powerful signals from the opposite like R Sweden via Sackville 11670, WWCR 15825, RHC 12000 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I realise that if there is a way, then radio waves appear to find it, and propagate in most unusual ways. And I agree that, without the proper equipment, we are unable to be completely sure which direction a long distance signal - or echo - is coming from. If propagation were to be average or above then I would have no doubts about double or triple echoes coming all the way around, but from my current listening, propagation seems below average. Hence my doubts. But perhaps I am being over pessimistic about this. In any case, it's a wonderful and interesting phenomenon, and well worth observing. I think that Wolfy will by now understand my fascination with the propagation of signals that are beamed anywhere but towards Europe, but which manage to get here and be heard never the less. And similarly according to your reporting into North America too. Best 73 from (Noel Green, NW England, ibid.) SUNSPOTS ARE BACK! More sunspots emerged this week, with every December day so far showing spots. In addition to the sunspot numbers listed below, Thursday, December 6 had a sunspot number of 29. The daily sunspot number has not been this high since mid-July. Two spots are now visible -- 977 and 978 -- and the total coverage of the solar surface by sunspots on Thursday is four times Wednesday's coverage. Average daily sunspot number for this report is over twice last week's, rising from 5.4 to 11.1. Sunspots will probably continue until at least December 13. . . http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2007/12/07/101/?nc=1 (The K7RA Solar Update via Steve Lare, dxldyg via DXLD) ###