DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-152, December 15, 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 1386 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 Mon 0515 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Mon 0930 WRMI 9955** Tue 1130 WRMI 9955** Tue 1630 WRMI 7385 Wed 0830 WRMI 9955** WORLD OF RADIO, CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL SCHEDULE: Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN NOW AVAILABLE: http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. New 13830 was on air on the 13th, and heard here around 1300 at good strength. I'm not sure of the exact schedule for this frequency, but Wolfgang mentioned 1200-1400, so at 1425/1430 it had probably left the air. 15265 still goes to about 1500 (Noel Green, England, Dec 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, only 15265 extends till 1500 UT (Wolfgang Büschel BC-DX, DXLD) Wolfgang Büschel`s reports of new 13830 for R. Solh were before 1400 UT only. But Dec 14 I checked at 1346 and still nothing on 13830, as I was reconfirming on 15265 yet yet yet again that at that very hour, R. Solh is still playing the same sticking music CD as it has for months now. The new 13830 broadcast is axually only at 1230-1330 via Rampisham (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. R. Tirana at 1530 on 13640: I checked it today, too, and here in Germany it was merely a faint carrier (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALGERIA [non]. At 1030+ UT I have an Arabic station playing popular music and song on 15615. It's not the 'traditional' Libyan style heard via 15150 though. It's a weak signal (like 15300), so I don't know what chance there will be of hearing an ID. I don't hear anything on 15230 except a loud local buzz. It is interesting if France has taken over relays of Algiers - I haven't seen an updated list of VT relays for B-07 as yet. The one in the new 2008 WRTH (yes - mine arrived yesterday also) doesn't show any transmissions from Algiers at 1030. I don't understand why France should relay Libya any more now that the colonel has got at least three transmitters of his own - unless, of course, Libya wishes to operate a continuous Arabic language service. 15615 kHz went off at 1100 UT after announcements by a man and a woman - not copied unfortunately. I'll listen later (Noel R. Green, UK, Dec 12, wwdxc BC-DX Dec 14 via DXLD) Radio Algérienne. The frequencies of 5915 and 9850 opening at 2100 UT are definitely Algeria. I checked both today, Friday, Dec. 14 and heard time pips at 2100 followed by what sounded like a national anthem. This I compared with that under Algeria on http://www.national-anthems.net and they were the same. The additional two frequencies of 7175 and 7295 which were in parallel with 9850 and 5915 as reported by me on Wed. Dec.12 (see DXLD 7-151) were not heard today. So those four frequencies heard on Dec. 12 were from Algeria and not Libya. Also Algeria (presumed) was heard today on 9455 and 11815 between 2000 and 2100 (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, Dec 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Algérienne via Issoudun (cf. DXLD 7-151): Last night I checked 7175 and 7295 a couple of times between 2100 and 2300 but could not detect any signals there. Today around 1745 I found some weak signal on 9610 which I could not further identify in the slope of 9615 = RCI in Ukrainian (still around, years after the first attempts to abolish it) via Rampisham with remarkably poor, distorted modulation. Any opinions on the circumstance that it is their Holy Qur`an program Radio Algérienne distributes to Africa? Is promoting this religion a more important task for them than providing informations from an Algerian point of view? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RTAlgiers tests in Arabic (Holy Qur`an) via TDF/ISS 500 kW Dec. 6-12: 0400-0658 on 5960 / 194 deg to EaCeAf; 7295 / 162 deg to NoWeAf 0700-0758 on 9435 / 194 deg to EaCeAf; 11625 / 162 deg to NoWeAf 0800-0858 on 9435 / 194 deg to EaCeAf; 15230 / 162 deg to NoWeAf 0900-1058 on 15230 / 162 deg to NoWeAf; 15615 / 194 deg to EaCeAf 1600-1658 on 13830 / 194 deg to EaCeAf; 15165 / 162 deg to NoWeAf 1700-1758 on 9610 / 162 deg to NoWeAf; 13830 / 194 deg to EaCeAf 1800-1958 on 9610 / 162 deg to NoWeAf; 9820 / 194 deg to EaCeAf 2000-2058 on 7175 / 162 deg to NoWeAf; 9820 / 194 deg to EaCeAf 2100-2258 on 7175 / 162 deg to NoWeAf; 7295 / 194 deg to EaCeAf (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, Dec 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. RA propagating again on its best frequency [not] for North America, 9580, Dec 14 at 1358. Unfortunately, I tuned in only seconds before it went to a fragment of W. Matilda, interrupting programming, and off, leaving quite weaker 9590 to continue (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. This season Belarussian Radio new on 7360 and 7390 kHz in Belarus from 1200 on until 1800 UT. Also new 1600-1800 on 6090 (QRM China and BBC Farsi) \\ 6115 in Belarussian with other programme. From 1805 until 2400 UT 6090, 7360 and 7390 Polish, German, English and Russian international service. Same programme on 7420 but very weak from defective transmitter (Udo Krueger, Germany, Dec 8, wwdxc BC-DX Dec 14 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. A freqüência de 5045 kHz foi reativada pela Rádio Guarujá, de Guarujá (SP). Quem notou, novamente, a emissora em tal canal foi o Édison Bocorny Júnior, em Novo Hamburgo (RS), em 11 de dezembro. A programação levada ao ar em 5045 kHz é a da Rádio Guarujá FM, ou seja, um relay da programação feita em Guarujá, e não da Rádio Globo Santos (Célio Romais, RS, Dec 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. Re 7-151, ``BTW, Sofia, Bulgaria is registered for DRM at 04-14 on 13865-13870-13875, but AFAIK is yet to start any DRM`` They already had DRM transmissions on air, a program stream from WRN which earlier had also brokered some AM transmissions on these facilities without revealing the site. On IFA 2005 WRN announced these DRM transmissions as originating from "Southeastern Europe"; we instantly associated them with Bulgaria, I posted some considerations whether the site might be Kostinbrod or Padarsko, WRN was not amused about this and stated that it was definitely Kostinbrod. A while ago these DRM transmissions ceased again. That's how I remember the story, certainly it is reflected in the past DXLD editions in detail (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BURMA [non]. 5955, Democratic Voice of Burma, via Wertachtal, 2330- 0030, and 9415, via Gavar, Armenia and via Talata-Volonondry, Madagascar, 1430-1530, in Burmese and Vernaculars. On Dec 10, this exile organisation "National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma" with Headquarter's in Oslo, Norway, was honoured by the Danish Prize of Freedom of 100,000 DKK which once a year is given to an organisation supporting Human Rights (Danish Press via Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Dec 12 via DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. Re 7-151: Northernmost radio station is gone Since someone asked(grin)... I believe the new northernmost radio station is probably either Qaanaq Radiunga-93.5 or the KNR relay station on 95.0 at Qaanaq, Greenland. Wikipedia says this town is at 76-31-50N. The new northernmost radio station in Canada is CBIL-105.1 Resolute, Nunavut at 74-41-53N. There's probably a KNR TV transmitter at Qaanaq as well. However, relay transmitter CH4210 Grise Fjord, Nunavut (ch. 10) is within 7 minutes of latitude of Qaanaq (76-24-44N) so depending on the exact location of the Qaanaq transmitters relative to the town, CH4210 could be the northernmost broadcast station. Most of the Russian Franz Josef Land lies north of 80N, and I believe there are permanent bases there, so it is possible the northernmost station is actually in Russia. Barring the possibility of stations in Russia, the northernmost AM station is probably KBRW-680 Barrow, Alaska at 71-19-08N. -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, WTFDA via DXLD) There could still be an unlicenced Channel 9 operating in Eureka, Nunavut since no sat dish can be installed at Eureka due to 2200' mountains directly to the south (2 miles across the fjord). The sat dish is 7 miles away at Skull Point, thus Channel 9 was used to cover that distance. It is possible that they now have cable coverage to get more channels --- though 7 miles would be a long haul without boosters along the way. I'll have to do some digging and find out the current setup. BTW, I always gave the channel 9 in Eureka the call sign "CHS" since this was the military's callsign at "Fort Eureka" (the military owned the sat dish & Skull Point transmitter site). (Bill Hepburn, Ont., ibid.) Most interesting. I've received a message from a Scandinavian DXer who says there's an AM station on 1485 kHz in Longyearbyen, Svalbard (Norwegian territory) at 78-13N which is significantly north of Qaanaaq. Even further north at 78-55N, he believes there are NRK FM repeaters at Nylesund. European DXers believe there are no broadcast stations on Franz Josef Land. (Russian territory, almost all of which lies north of Qaanaaq.) (Doug Smith, W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) ** CANADA. 1380 CKLC gone: I have received word that 1380 CKLC has signed off. Anyone confirm? (Andy Reid, ON, Dec 13, ODXA yg via DXLD) I don't know if CKLC has signed off 1380 yet, but they are due to leave AM soon. They're moving to FM, at 98.9, and are now calling themselves "The Drive". I'm listening to their streaming audio feed right now, and the music format is modern alternative rock (bands like Radiohead, Green Day, Linkin Park, etc.). Their website is http://www.989.fm So CKLC as a "mouldy-oldie" station is gone. To me, this means that CKLC has come full circle. When I was a teenager in Kingston in the late 1970s, CKLC was the leading Top-40 station there. It was the station we all listened to for the latest in music. But time went by and the station's role in Kingston declined to the point where it was the least significant station there, playing probably the least-fashionable music of any station in Kingston. I don't mind oldies stations, but CKLC was so bad that I couldn't bear to listen to it for more than a few minutes at a time. But now with their move to FM, they seem to be trying to go back to being a leading-edge rock station (Greg Shoom, ibid.) ** CANADA. Re 7-151: CKEC [New Glasgow NS 1320] is now IDing as East Coast FM. Presumably just a couple more months of AM left (Paul Crankshaw, Troon, Scotland, 1940 UT Dec 14, MWC via DXLD) Also noted 1320 CKEC with ID “94.1 East Coast FM” (Andrew Brade, UK, ibid.) ** CANADA. Toronto 740/860 (cf. DXLD 7-148 and 7-149): The bostonradio.org image gallery of a station visit in 2004 is of historical value now, according to http://www.odxa.on.ca/chwo/transmitters.html both 740 and 860 are run with new solid-state transmitters (Nautel XR50) since January. To me the wording does not make it finally clear if all four tube transmitters were seamlessly replaced or if probably the situation is now such that two of the elder Continental's were kept as aux with just two new Nautel's have been installed. And while browsing around I also found a recording of the "retune" announcement broadcast on 740 in 1999 for one day before the CBC left this frequency (and gave away the CD as a collector's item): http://dxworld.com/dxaudio.html (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 4750, PBS Hailar (tentative) on Dec 8, with Chinese classical music and drama from 0740 UT tune. Pop vocals at 0750 with man announcer. Unusual band conditions tonight - never have heard China before this early, especially on 60 mb. Both Central PBS Hailar and Qinghai PBS Xining listed here in 2008 PWBR, but only CPBS Hailar for this time period. WRTH 2007 shows CNR Nanning on this channel? SINPO 34433 with QRM from CODAR and heavy QSB (Bruce W. Churchill, CA, DXplorer Dec 8 via BC-DX via DXLD) ** CHINA. BPM audio posted here, very clean sampling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BPM_%28time_service%29 (Terry Krueger, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5000, BPM Lintong at 1459 UT on Dec 7. Ten repetitions of "BPM" in Morse Code beginning at 1459:00. I believe there was a voice ID by a YL at 1459:48 (seemed to be in Chinese). Fair signal but under WWV and WWVH, of course. 8794-USB, Chanjiang Maritime Security Information Center at 1345-1420 UT. Not heard here on several tries (John Wilkins, CO, DXplorer Dec 9 via BC-DX Dec 13 via DXLD) ** CHINA. 5860, Voice of Jinling, Nanjing, 1234, Dec 11, Chinese brief announcements, US pop classics like "When a man loves a woman" and "Blowing in the wind", co/channel Farda did not fade in until much later. Presumed, again noted Dec 13&14 to 1430 s/off in mid-song, Aoki lists 1400 close (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Re 7-151, 6937, Yunnan PBS, with spurs 6920 and 6929 --- Kunming has had these 8 kHz spurs up and down from nominal for couple of weeks now (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Dec 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 7165, Nei Menggu PBS, Hohhot, 1200, Dec 13, Chinese "CPBS" announcement, march, relayed CNR-1 news but split up again 1228. No trace of co/channel WYFR, fair (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 9810, CNR-2, China Business Radio, 1145-1230, Dec 15, Chinese talk. Time pips & English "China Business Radio" ID at 1200 then back to Chinese talk. Some local ballads/pop music. Covered by a strong Radio Thailand in English at their 1230 sign on. Otherwise a fair signal. Weaker on // 6065, 6090, 7315, 7375. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Usually don't pay any attention to the Firedrake theme, but I found an Asian percussive music, seemed Chinese at 2325 on 12160 // 11975. Can this be the jammer? (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Dec 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake as you probably know is broadcast from China and consists of Chinese music used to jam another station (sometimes along with CNR-1 programming) (Ron Howard, CA, ibid.) Thanks Ron, so what I heard is more likely Firedrake because there is a Chinese transmission on 11975 for that hour, but according to Aoki I only found WWCR using 12160, altho not after 2300. 73s and good listening (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, ibid.) Another mystery. orchestral Asian music on 6280 from my start of DX at 2200 until now at 2341. continuous orchestral Asian music like Taiwan, China, Japan, etc. with NO voice announcement, ID's or anything. just music (Steve Price, Johnstown, PA, National NC-173, R-5000, 400 foot inverted L and 200 foot buried ground, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6280: surely Firedrake against Sound of Hope, as in the Aoki schedule http://www.geocities.jp/binewsjp/bib07.txt Are you not familiar with Firedrake musical jamming from China? This has been discussed many times in DX Listening Digest. The same thing is on numerous frequencies at once and you can get parallels most of the time (Glenn to Steve, via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 5910, Marfil Estéreo, Lomalinda, 2342-0020 and 0514-0750, Nov 17, Dec 01, 07 and 08, program of lively Latin vocals, occasional ID's: "Marfil Estéreo" and a canned ID: "Estás en sintonía con HKI79 FM Marfil Estereo", ad: "Supermercado Pato Loco, en Puerto Rico, Meta", religious report: "La venida del Señor por Martin Stendall", Llaneras, 44444 (D'Angelo, Bernardini and Méndez, DSWCI DX Window Dec 12 via DXLD) I have read Martin Stendall's fantastic book. (DSWCI Ed. Anker Petersen, ibid.) ** CONGO DR. Re 7-151: Are they (Candip) really using slogan "La Voix du Congo" anymore? I guess this was used years ago during unrest times. What I have heard on 5066V lately are names "Telecandip" "Candip" or "Radio Candip" used (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Dec 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. The second question came from the Iceland, where the winter season is now in full swing, and as always making much more time available for homebrewing radios and listening to short wave, listener Ib, tells me in his e-mail that he is able to pick up several Radio Havana Cuba frequencies, among them 12000 kiloHertz as soon as it goes on the air at eleven hours UT. Well, amigo Ib, the reason you are picking up the 12000 kiloHertz Spanish language programs so clearly in Iceland, is that we are using a curtain array antenna that is beaming to 010 degrees azimuth, so your QTH is right into the main beam of the antenna, that has a beamwidth at the – 3 dB points of plus and minus 20 degrees or a little less. I also checked the maximum useable frequency and frequency of optimum traffic from Cuba to Iceland between 11 and 15 hours UT, and 12000 kiloHertz is very well placed to provide such an excellent signal as you are reporting. Congratulations on your Spanish lessons, and yes, our announcers at the Despertar con Cuba morning show speak at a lower speed than the average Cubans do!! (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Dec 15, HCDX via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. 3380, Centro Radiofónico de Imbabura, Ibarra, 2340-0108*, Nov 28/29, Spanish very weak signal, but mostly popular songs and animated talks. 0103 Ecuadorian National hymn with several verses for 5 minutes, 15111. Thank you for the tips to Rodríguez! (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Dec 12 via DXLD) ** EGYPT. Radio Cairo 6250 in English at 2214. Nice audio for once with S-40 pounding signal. 12-14-07. Radio Cairo 6290 in Arabic at 2215. Nice audio with Arabic ID, chimes and IS with pounding S-40 signal. 12-14-07 (Steve Price, Johnstown, PA, National NC-173, R-5000, 400 foot inverted L and 200 foot buried ground, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, Radio Nacional, Bata, 2050-2257*, Dec 13, Afro-pops, ID. Spanish talk. Sign off with National Anthem. Poor to fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, Radio Africa, Bata, 1140-1325*, Dec 15, tune-in to English preacher. Gospel music. Christmas music. Very emotional preacher after 1300. "Radio Africa Network" IDs at 1222, 1251, 1319 & 1323 along with mentions of RadioAfricaNetwork.com & PanAmericanBroadcasting.com websites & address in San Jose, CA. Poor. Weak with deep fades. Better after 1300. Some co-channel QRM from VOA-Sri Lanka in English at 1235 fade-in to 1300 sign off. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA/ETHIOPIA. Eritrean Radio is active on 7175 kHz. I heard sign on at 0355 with local music. From 0400 UT on jamming. In the afternoon Jamming can also be heard time by time from 1500-1700 UT on 7175, at 1700 Arabic program is beginning with ID Idhatu-s sawt al- gumhuriyati-l Eritrea with means Radio Voice of the Republic of Eritrea. At 1730 UT Somali program until 1800 UT QRT and sign off. Jamming is varying in 7170 to 7195 kHz range. I think Eritrea and Ethiopia are shifting frequencies (Udo Krueger, Germany, Dec 8, wwdxc BC-DX Dec 14 via DXLD) [non] I heard Andenet Le Demokracy with SINPO 55555 at *1600-1700* on 7560 Wednesday. But today at the same hour nothing was heard either on 7560, 9445 or 15260 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DXplorer Dec 6 via BC-DX Dec 14 via DXLD) Today I had R Xoriyo on 7560 (ex 9445) with very strong signal, but signed off at 1630! [30 mins duration on Sunday] (Anker Petersen-DEN, DXplorer Dec 9, ibid.) Dear Anker, yes, but V of Delina on 12015 kHz is via Harvest R, so I suppose it is directly, not via TDP. On 7335 kHz they seem to play 'TDP Radio music' (Mauno Ritola, Finland, DXplorer Dec 11, ibid.) Andenet (to Ethiopia) better, but TDP is still behind: Andenet Ledemocracy 1600-1700 7560 AM ..w...s Amharic Africa Voice of Delina 1700-1730 12015 AM mtwtf.. English Africa Now the schedule has been updated: TDPradio 0000-0100 9790 DRM mtwtfss English America Moj Them Radio 0100-0130 15260 AM m.w.f.. Hmong Asia Denge Mezopotamya 0500-1500 11530 AM mtwtfss Kurdish M East Denge Mezopotamya 1500-2100 7540 AM mtwtfss Kurdish M East Que Huong Radio 1200-1300 15680 AM mtwtfs. Vietnamese Asia TDPradio 0800-0900 6015 DRM m...... English Europe TDPradio 0900-1000 6015 DRM .t..... English Europe TDPradio 1000-1100 6015 DRM ..w.... English Europe TDPradio 1100-1200 6015 DRM ...t... English Europe TDPradio 1200-1300 6015 DRM ....f.. English Europe TDPradio 1300-1400 6015 DRM .....s. English Europe TDPradio 1400-1500 6015 DRM ......s English Europe TDPradio 1500-1600 6015 DRM mtwtfss English Europe Tensae Ethiopia VoUnity 1500-1600 11900 AM mtwtfss Amharic Africa EOTC Holy Synod Radio 1600-1700 9445 AM m...... Amharic Africa Radio Xoriyo Ogadenia 1600-1630 7560 AM .t...s. Somali Africa Andenet Ledemocracy 1600-1700 7560 AM ..w.f.s Amharic Africa EPPF Radio 1600-1700 9445 AM ...t... Amharic Africa Voice of Delina 1700-1730 7335 AM mtwtf.. English Africa Radio Democracy Shorayee 1700-1800 7470 AM .t.tf.s Farsi Middle East Suab Xaa Moo Zoo 2330-2400 11655 AM mtwtfss Hmong Asia (Anker Petersen-DEN, DXplorer Dec 10, ibid.) Yes, R Horio - Xoriyo noted on Tue 11th at 1600 UT, and accompanied Ethiiopian jamming (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Dec 14 via DXLD) ** FINLAND. It is time for the extra Christmas Day broadcast of the Scandinavian Weekend R (starting on Monday Christmas night the 24th at 22 hours UT). Here are our planned frequencies and timeschedule: MW: 1602 kHz, 24 hours [sic: obviously copied from the usual Fri/Sat sked, here Mon/Tue:] 49 mb: 5980 kHz, sa 17-19 UTC 6170 kHz, fr-sa 22-17 UTC, sa 19-22 UTC 25 mb: 11690 kHz, fr-sa 23-08 UTC, 14-17 UTC, 19-22 utc 11720 kHz, fr 22-23 UTC, 08-14 UTC, 17-19 UTC RECEPTION REPORTS AND MESSAGES MOST WELCOME: e-mails to: info @ swradio.net and letters (with 2 IRC/2 Euro/2 US$) to: SWR/reports, P. O. Box 99, FI-34801 VIRRAT, FINLAND. You can found our Programme Schedule our web-pages: http://www.swradio.net (Alpo Heinonen / Scandinavian Weekend Radio, Rovaniemi, Finland, DSWCI DX Window Dec 12 via DXLD) ** FRANCE [non]. Russia, 5960, Radiostantsiya Tikhiy Okean, 0945-1000, closing at 1000 Dec 14. Immediately at 1000, China Radio International comes up in Spanish to occupy the frequency (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello Chuck, CRI in Spanish at 1000 UT? Is it a new transmission? Regards (Jean-Michel Aubier, France, ibid.) Jean, Don't know. It just came on after Russia went down and it was loud, so probably a relay from somewhere close like Canada or Cuba? (Chuck Bolland, ibid.) 5960 at 1000-1030 in Spanish is not CRI, but RFI via Guiana French, 250 kW, 265 degrees, new since Dec 7, also on 9825. Can we be more careful with the IDs? 73, (Glenn, ibid.) Meanwhile, Chuck had already followed up: French Guiana (presumed), 5960, Radio France International, 0958-1030. At 0958 RFI comes on the frequency with French language comments, then on the hour after time tics, the broadcast continues in Spanish with male and female commentators in the news. At 1011, clear ID by male as, "... Radio France Internationale...". Then back to news in Spanish. Signal was good. This is the station that I thought was CRI on the 14th broadcasting in Spanish. Please correct your references (Chuck Bolland, December 15, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GEORGIA. 9494.72, State R, Sokhumi, *1156-1230v*, Nov 23 and 24, IS, Abkhaz ID's, talks, instrumental music. Also heard at 0840-0919*, Nov 28. Best SINPO was 34232 (Roland Schulze, Stuttgart, Germany, DSWCI DX Window Dec 12 via DXLD) ** GUIANA FRENCH. Effective Dec 12, TDF may be using 5055 from here in DRM up to 24 hours a day in French with 150 kW at 36 degrees for domestic coverage, tho aiming it out toward the Atlantic would seem to be a strange azimuth to accomplish that. This could put a crimp in RHC`s plan to try the same frequency in analog, mentioned by Arnie Coro some months ago, but never heard yet. So write off 5050-5060 kHz if and when this fires up. TDF still may use higher frequencies for DRM at certain hours, so with only one DRM transmitter, 5050-5060 will not necessarily be on the air continuously. They previously tested DRM on 6170-6175-6180 in daytime only, so possibly 5050-5055-5060 will really be restricted to daytime. Never saw any DRM DX reports of 6175. Presumed site for unlisted DRM, 13860-13865-13870, still strong Fri Dec 14 at 1348 check, but missing Sat Dec 15 at 1439. Probably another M-F only operation, or channel could be gone after a brief test period. TDF now plans to be running DRM at any hour on 5050-5055-5060 for domestic coverage (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAITI. Newest Haïti broadcast list --- I have been in the progress of updating my Haïti FM list in "Emisoras de FM". I have learned today that the Haïti broadcast authority has once again updated their broadcast list. The last time they updated it was in September. This list covers AM, FM, & TV. It is basically a 'mailing' list for the stations licensed to broadcast. It does include the station names, frequencies and city of transmission. I have the calls and power from a separate list which I acquired late this summer. I mentioned earlier this year that I would NOT be doing another "Emisoras de FM" for at least a couple years. Haïti was the only country listed in "Emisoras" which I believed had sketchy information. The list I used at the time, as I learned later, was several years old. If you are interested in incorporating the updated list of Haïti FMs into your copy of "Emisoras", it might be easier to print out all of the pages (there are 12 pages) and staple them together and tuck them into your book. You will quickly notice there have been a lot of changes and new stations added to the dial from the information appearing in "Emisoras de FM". Here is the direct link, which you might want to bookmark.... http://www.conatel.gouv.ht/marche/radio_list_1.php Just a note about the list. If you believe you have heard French radio from Haïti, you should be making a note if it the broadcast was $tereo or mono. The list is very specific with the stations which they broadcast. An example would be: Artibonite "Radio Inite" FM 99.5 101, Rue Guerrier Belladere "Radio Rotation FM" FM$ 100.5 276-1322/245-4227 [since all listings are in CAPS, no accents are shown; bummer --- gh] I have cut & pasted the information from the first page. Notice the listing for Artibonite "Radio Inite" shows FM. This is a mono signal. The next is Belladere "Radio Rotation FM", which shows FM$ - a stereo signal. You can trust the broadcast signal information shown - they are very specific about that information. Enjoy! If you have any specific questions about Haïti FM stations, feel free to ask me OFFLIST. I've dug into Haïti radio information enough now to understand what is going on there. If you need to match call letters and kilowatts to a station you have identified from the list, please email me and I will send you the information. As a side note, most of the Port-au-Prince (PAP) FMs are running 5-10 kW and most of the Cap-Haïtien stations are running 5 kW (Jim Thomas, wdx0fbu, Milliken, Colorado, (40 miles north of Denver) 40 18.642'N 104 52.566'W WTFDA via DXLD ** INDIA. 11620 blocked: see PORTUGAL ** INDIA. Dear Friends, AIR National Channel is noted back on 9470 yesterday (parallel to 9425) at 1320-0043. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, Dec 13, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. Re: ``3266.43, 29+30/11 2118-2153 RRT Gorontalo, local news, ID, 2130-2140, better in USB cause ute 3266.5, poor/fair --- Shouldn`t it be better on LSB, then? But only 70 Hz apart (gh, DXLD)`` I can say: yes it's better in LSB, of course!!! But about "But only 70 Hz apart" I can say that new SDR receivers have really good filter shapes. Especially the RF Space SDR-14 and SDR-IQ, but also Winradio G33EM (that's the Marine version of G303e). But also AOR 7030 with a good SSB crystal filter can do it, sometimes. Naturally you can separate close signals if they are both low signals. You cannot do it on 6 MHz with superpowers. I hope this can clear it. Thank you for your really great job, have nice time and good DXing, friendly, (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italy, Dec 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. VOI, 9526.0, lasts another day, Dec 14 at 1359 wrapping Korean with e-mail address voi @ rri-online.com pronounced more or less in English, and into Indonesian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. 13790, muezzin fair at 1350 UT Fri Dec 14. HFCC says this is Iran`s Arabic service, 0530-1430, 500 kW, 178 degrees from Kamalabad (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [and non]. Most of the frequencies and programmes of IRIB in B-07 season remain as Winter 06/07. The only changes: German 1730-1827 7380, 6265(Sitkunai-LTU tx), 6205 (ex6200). Bangla 0830-0927 11705 Kamalabad, ex Sirjan now very good reception 1430-1527 5910, 7380 (ex7295), 7330 kHz. Japanese on new times and frequencies, one hour instead half hour px 1300-1357 9905, 7380 both audible on free channel 2100-2157 7260 (weak), 6145 (audible under VOR Spanish). Armenian 0300-0327 7295, 7255 (new fq, good reception) 5925 1430-1530 40E,41W KAM 500 94 PUSHTU-m IRN IRB ex 5935 5925 1530-1730 40E,41N KAM 500 94 URDU-m IRN IRB ex 5935 7260 2100-2200 45 SIR 500 53 JAPANESE IRN IRB ex 7190 7350 0230-0530 39 KAM 500 178 ARABIC IRN IRB ex-0430 13600 0630-0730 27,28,37,SIR 500 285 FRENCH IRN IRB ex13710 13790 0530-1430 38,39 KAM 500 178 ARABIC IRN IRB ex0430--m Meshed program [Mashad?] (Udo Krueger, Germany, Dec 8, wwdxc BC-DX Dec 14 via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. 4365.8v, Voice of the Communist Party of Iran, 1450- 1720, Dec 06, Kurdish songs, Kurdish ID at 1457, no jamming at all for several hours, jamming first noted around 1715. Internationale was played during the program. Frequency drifted from around 4365.7 to 4365.9, 34444 (Bjarke Vestesen, Radby, Blommenslyst, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Dec 12 via DXLD) ** JAPAN. 5006, JG2XA, Tokyo at 1412-1440 UT on Dec 7. Morse ID's every couple of minutes or so. The text is as follows: "JG2XA JG2XA JG2XA UEC HFD station" sent around 10 wpm. Fair signal, about even with the local band noise on peaks. 3925, R. Nikkei at 1328-1330* UT on Dec 5. Last minute of classical music program; ID at 1329 UT as "Kochirawa Nikkei Radiosha" by M who then named all six stations in the group by call letters (JOZx, where x is a single-digit number) and power. Transmission ended at 1330 UT; carrier off a minute later (John Wilkins, CO, DXplorer Dec 9 via BC-DX Dec 14 via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. Usually all I hear is a weak het around 6050, but in the absence of XEXQ 6045, Dec 15 at 1409, a muezzin was doing his thing on approx. 6049.7, 1411 into talk in presumed Malay, then some music. Aoki, which does not bother with decimal off-frequencies, shows 6050 only as RTMalaysia Sarawak, at Sibu, 10 kW in Malay. If anybody posted a B-07 RTM schedule, it escaped us, but it includes several wooden registrations, including TWO sites on this frequency, both Sibu at 0200-1500 10 kW, and Kajang (Kuala Lumpur) at 0200-1700 with 50 kW. Ron Howard measured the off-frequency one on 6049.63 back on Nov 7 and said it was Suara Islam/Voice of Islam via RTM at 1540-1635 so that would presumably be KL and NOT Sarawak (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Re 7-151: 6045, XEXQ is back again, Dec 14 at 1355 check with classical; not very strong. Gone again, Dec 15 at 1400 check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. XERTA new address, soon on 4800 kHz -- Hallo Runde, anlaesslich eines Aufenthaltes in Ciudad de Mexico vor ca. 10 Tagen hab ich mir meine QSL Karte bei obiger Station fuer einen Bericht aus dem Jahr 2004 abgeholt. Dieses Unterfangen war insofern nicht ganz einfach, als XERTA nun eine neue Adresse hat, naemlich: XERTA, Radio Transcontinental de América López 157-4, Col. Centro México DF, C.P. 06070, México Ansprechpartner ist David R. Carrillo Blanco, e-mail: info @ xertaradio.com Empfangsberichten sollte $1 fuers Porto beiliegen, allfaellige Spenden sind bei dieser nun hundertprozentigen religioesen Station naturgemaess auch willkommen. Bei meinem Besuch teilte mir Herr Carrillo uebrigens mit, dass die QRG zukuenftig 4800 kHz sein werde (Ewald Glantschnig, Switzerland, on tour in M.C. D.F., Dec 11, A-DX via BC-DX Dec 14 via DXLD) ** MICRONESIA. We finally have a callsign for the presumably still inactive Pacific Missionary Aviation shortwave station on 4755: Their pdf program schedule http://www.pmapacific.org/ministries/radio/thecross_schedule_11x17.pdf updated Oct 22, but I must not have looked at it for almost two months, says The Cross Radio, 4755 is V6MP while FM 88.5 is V6MA. Sked is still 06-24 local, i.e. 19-13 UT, with PMF Sermon by Nob Kalau himself daily at 11-1150 UT. Everything else in the local evening appears to be in English from various distant gospel huxters, some of them well-known aliens, such as Chuck Colson and Billy Graham (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOROCCO. 7265, VOA (via Briech) 0625-0630* 12 Dec. Closing in French with possible schedule info into generic VOA English sign-off announcement & YDD (Dan Sheedy, CA R75/PAR EF102040, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This is M-F only 0530-0630 (gh) ** NEW ZEALAND. 3935, R Reading Service, Levín, has lost its QSL- Manager. Sadly, Brian Stokoe died at the end of October. I have recently been asked if I would be able to take over the position of QSL Manager. I have gladly accepted, but am aware that I have big shoes to fill. Brian was, as you know, a Board member, senior announcer and QSL Manager of R Reading Service for many years, as well as Technical monitor for R Japan and other international broadcasters. He had a keen sense of humour and a very good rapport with people. He will be greatly missed. Could you kindly remind SWLs that, for one IRC and a valid reception report by regular mail, NZRRS will respond promptly with QSL card, fridge magnet, and info about New Zealand. Thank you. 73 (Kelvin Brayshaw, Levín [sic], New Zealand, DSWCI DX Window Dec 12 via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. 7275a, FRCN, Abuja (tentative), 0602-0620 12 Dec. Parallel 4770 with English national news (redevelopment project in Abuja, National Council for Agriculture meeting, economic reports), quick "Radio Nigeria" at 0615 into promo for what sounded like the national lottery. 41 M weak (mostly covered by (presuemd) RTT-Tunisia in Arabic) and audio a bit "hummy" but not sure if a product of being slightly off-frequency or just "usual" Nigerian audio. 4770 much better (Dan Sheedy, CA R75/PAR EF102040, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Around off 7274.86 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX via DXLD) ** NORWAY. NRK 630 to go off? http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/more_og_romsdal/1.4290865 It seems to be the same old song in Norway regarding taking out good AM-capable sites. The list is long during the 90s: 153 from Tromsø, 216 from Oslo-Kløfta, 675 from Bodø, 702 from Vadsø, 890 from Bergen- Askøy, 1314 from Kvitsøy (still standing). Not to mention the Decca sites of "Stavanger" and "Sotra" and other locations. No decision taken, but now NRK 630, 100 kW(reserve 10 kW, call sign LKA) from Vigra may now be closed down at last, according to NRK Møre and Romsdal news today. This is a case to be decided by the Ministry of Communications. Vigra is a very good site near the salt water propagation of the Atlantic. 230 metres antenna. This after a long battle between Avinor and preservation/other interests. In 2002 enthusiastic on-site engineers offered to put Northern Star on air on 216 kHz from this station, co-siting with the NRK MW station. But Norkring apparently turned a blind eye to the proposal. NRK may still have its eye on using 630, with 1200 kW being allocated in the Geneva Plan 1974/1975. No alternative site has been mentioned for this channel, but some years ago the remaining Stad Decca Site may have been considered. (The relatively new NRK Røst 675 (1999-) is a former Decca station) Short history for Scandinavian speaking readers(scroll to LKA): http://www.northernstar.no/bernt.htm Svenn Martinsen, Northern Star International Broadcasters AS, Norway, Dec 13, MWC via DXLD) Decca? To us that is an obsolete navigational system, not broadcast. What means it here? (gh, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Tulsa radio ice storm update --- KCFO-970 and KMUS-1380 both back on the air today, KGTO-1050 and KRVT-1270 still off. KTBZ- 1430 has IBOC back on tonite as does KMUS. Big sections of Tulsa are still without electricity, including one of my stores. More tragedies as two people died in fires, one started by an unattended candle, the other started by an electrical short from a generator (Bruce Winkelman, Tulsa, OK, Dec 13, ABDX via DXLD) ** OMAN. 15140, Radio Sultanate of Oman, 1430-1500, Dec 15, English news at 1430-1439 followed by ID & into continuous pop music by Madonna & others. Weak but readable. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND [non]. 9450 kHz, Polish Radio, (Wertachtal) from 1310 UT in English for North America. A program responding to many listener reports from the UK and Copenhagen, but also several from the US (Montana, Illinois, and Glenn Hauser in Oklahoma) and New Brunswick reporting better reception of Polish Radio on their relatively new 9450 kHz at 1300. I did not catch the name of the program or announcer, but apparently weekly on Thursdays. Then a talk on the history of hats. SINPO 35334, and many in North America are reporting similar reception. Heard on a Grundig Yachtboy 400 PE with long wire (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, Dec 13, ODXA yg via DXLD) I did not report this directly to PRES, so they must have picked it up off my log report or DXLD (gh) ** PORTUGAL [and non]. 11620 --- Until recently, I was able to hear All India Radio on 11620, conditions permitting, during local afternoon hours. Lately however, Radiodifusão Poruguesa has overpowered them, usually with Portuguese music or a soccer game. It's a shame that they moved here, since RDPI was strong on 15560 to this area (with a large number of Portuguese speakers, at that) and there was no need to go to an occupied frequency (Dan Malloy, KA1RDZ, so New England? Dec 13, ODXA yg via DXLD) Yeah, I still can't get used to not being able to hear AIR on 11620 for the 2045-2230 UT broadcast; they've used that frequency since, like, forever. However, I hear 9445 well at that time. Hope this helps and 73 de (Anne Fanelli in Elma NY (near Buffalo), ibid.) I miss them too. We need to contact RDP and kindly ask them to reconsider using this frequency. I tried emailing them from their web site but the email bounced back. Does anyone have the correct address [I don't think the one in PWBR worked for me either] (Andy Reid, Ont., ibid.) Isabel Saraiva is the person to contact, isabel.venes @ rtp.pt If you find an address as rdp.pt, that`s old before the website URL changed. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** PRIDNESTROVIE. 7370, Radio PMR, *1500-1515, Dec 13, English news about Moldova-Russia politics. IDs. Address, e-mail address, and schedule at 1514. French at 1515. Mon-Fri only. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. Italradio learns from R Romania their Italian program scheduled at 1900 is not being transmitted on its usual frequency 6180 due to unprecised technical problems. Problems should be removed in a few days. In the time being listeners are invited to stay in tune on the Internet channel 3 at 1900 and on SW at other scheduled times (Luigi Cobisi, Firenze, Italy, date??, DSWCI DX Window Dec 12 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 11975, Kamchatka Rybatskaya not heard in a long time in the 0000-0100 Sunday UT time slot. Gone for good or moved to another freq/time? Lately CRI has been occupying 11975 at this time with a VG signal (John Wilkins, CO, Dec 9, DXplorer via BC-DX Dec 14 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 5960, Radiostantsiya Tikhiy Okean, 0945-1000 Dec 14. Tuned in late, but signal was still fading in, so the result was beneficial. Noted a female in Russian language comments - probably news. At 0948 music is presented for a couple of minutes. The final 10 minutes of the program consisted of news and a few comments and some music until the hour when the final ID is given. Signal is at a good level by the time of closing at 1000. Immediately at 1000, RFI comes up in Spanish to occupy the frequency (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radiostantsiya Pacific Ocean 5960. 0954 perfect Russian ID in the clear. Thanks to a tip from an email/posting log from a fellow DX'er weeks ago (Stephen J. Price, Johnstown, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Re DXLD 7-151, Congo DR/6210 mix --- 6210 VOR mix I mentioned. 14 Dec 2007 at 1840 I checked this, the main mix on 6210 is VOR Arabic//6140. I think this is mixed with VOR 6175 (at the time in Swedish) as I've heard earlier also VOR in Finnish on 6210. Both 6140 and 6175 are via Krasnodar according to schedules. Again, this is a transmitter site mix, not a receiver mix. Both 6140 and 6175 are not very strong here (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAINT HELENA. Radio St. Helena Day, Dec 15, 2007: a few early reports as this issue is being wrapped up during the affair: (gh) At 1735, Weak audio in Uruguay, music, in noisy band. Let's await for better time and antenna beam. 73 (Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1736 UT Dec 15, first full ID by YL (Robert Scaglione, Sicily, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) First detected music at 1740 UT Dec 15/07 on 11092.5 kHz. At 1748 Female and male chatting. Just above threshold. KLM Log Periodic Beam pointed at 225 degrees. RSH ID heard above noise at 1750. Signal building so should be good when it our turn here in North America. At 1751 the tune Locomotion. 73 (Mick Delmage, Sherwood Park, AB, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Very, very weak audio observed here at 1820. Using the Drake R7 and a 200' W-E wire. Sunset at SH is around 1842. I do see that according to N3KL, solar X-rays are active. http://www.n3kl.org/ (Steve Lare, Holland MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11092.5, Radio St Helena, 2015-2021, 15-12, Inicio transmisión para Europa, inglés, locutor, identificación: "Welcome to Radio St. Helena, 11092.5 kHz". Canción en ingles, nueva identificación y comentario por locutor: "You are listening to Radio St. Helena, 11092.5 kHz, Short Wave ... to New Zealand, India, Japan, Europe, North America, South America and the rest of the world". Buena señal. 35433 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, antena de cable, 8 metros, escucha realizada en casco urbano de Lugo, ibid.) ** SAUDI ARABIA. BSKSA first program noted on odd 17729.98 and 17740.00 from 0600 to 0900 UT slot (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 9/10, wwdxc BC-DX Dec 14 via DXLD) ** SERBIA [and non]. SERBIA/BOSNIA, 7240, Stubline. Serbian Radio: bad frequency choice on 7240 kHz. 1100-1135 best reception for Serbian Info program. But today (Saturday) IS at 1058, transmitter down at 1100, 1105 transmitter strongly open but not connected to the program. Perhaps on weekends no Info program. 1400-1500 mostly still acceptable for English and Serbian, but Chinese Radio from Lhasa (until 1800). From 1500 until 1755 Saudi Radio in Farsi is dominating the frequency, only some traces of Serbian Radio through Saudi and Chinese stations. Yesterday Serbia`s Italian Service was surprisingly strong on 7240 at 1850, from 1900 QRM VOR German but still audible in Russian and English until 2000, 2000 until 2200 Voice of Vietnam, no more Serbian Radio audible. What is interesting, program often until ..:30 and ..:00 than IS until ..:04/..:34, then beginning of next program (Udo Krueger, Germany, Dec 8, wwdxc BC-DX Dec 14 via DXLD) Probably Bijeljina-Jabanusa is on air right now on 7240, at 1525 check I found a signal which I think is just too strong for originating from the low power transmitter at Obrenovac-Stubline. However, reception suffers considerably from one or even two co-channel stations, one of them much off-frequency to an extend that the produced het is already a very low hum rather than a SAH. The prominent carrier is spot on 7240, and this prominent carrier appears to originate from the Radio Serbia transmitter, so it appears that one of the unid. co-channels is the culprit. Programming as scheduled, i.e. Spanish wrapping up (still announcing the old radioyu.org website), some minutes of IS, followed by Arabic at 1530, all without carrier break, i.e. via the same antenna. Re. their new service on Eutelsat W2: Why on 16 deg. East? This slot is relevant for the Balkans but not for Central Europe, hardly anyboy has a dish pointing at this position here. The alternative would be 13. deg. East, already in use by RTS Sat and Beograd 1 by way of a GlobeCast multiplex on Hotbird 6 (11.585 GHz v), so it would be only logical to put Radio Serbia on air here, too. On W2 they now use a multiplex of the Bulgarian company ITV Partner (11.140 GHz h), uplinked from Sofia, so they do not save the audio circuits to Jabanusa but instead even need one to Sofia now (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 7-151: Radio Internazionale di Serbia --- Sembra sia stato riattivato, con un paio di giorni d'anticipo rispetto all'ultima previsione, il trasmettitore di Bijeljina da 250 kW della Radio Internazionale di Serbia. La frequenza torna così ad essere quella storica invernale dei 6100 kHz. Attivato anche lo streaming internet 24 ore al giorno all'indirizzo http://centrala1.securesites.net:8000/listen.pls e la diffusione satellitare a 16 est (11138 GHz pol. H sr 27700 FEC 3/4) [note: this is the 24h satellite sked, not all on SW] 0000-0100 SERBO DOM-VEN 0000-0030 SERBO SAB 0030-0100 SPAGNOLO SAB 0100-0130 SPAGNOLO DOM-VEN 0100-0130 ITALIANO SAB 0130-0200 ITALIANO DOM-VEN 0130-0200 FRANCESE SAB 0200-0230 RUSSO MAR-VEN 0200-0230 SERBO SAB 0200-0215 UNGHERESE DOM,LUN 0215-0230 GRECO DOM,LUN 0230-0400 SERBO 0400-0430 TEDESCO MAR-VEN 0400-0430 ARABO SAB 0400-0430 RUSSO DOM,LUN 0430-0500 FRANCESE DOM-VEN 0430-0500 RUSSO SAB 0500-0530 SERBO 0530-0600 INGLESE LUN-SAB 0530-0600 SERBO DOM 0600-0700 SERBO LUN 0600-0630 SPAGNOLO MAR-VEN 0600-0630 TEDESCO SAB 0600-0630 INGLESE DOM 0630-0700 ARABO MAR-VEN 0630-0700 SPAGNOLO SAB,DOM 0700-0715 ALBANESE MAR-VEN 0700-0715 UNGHERESE SAB 0700-0730 ARABO DOM,LUN 0715-0730 GRECO MAR-SAB 0730-0800 ITALIANO 0800-0830 SERBO 0830-0900 INGLESE LUN-SAB 0830-0900 SERBO DOM 0900-0930 TEDESCO LUN-VEN 0900-0930 RUSSO SAB 0900-0930 INGLESE DOM 0930-1000 SPAGNOLO LUN 0930-1000 FRANCESE MAR-SAB 0930-1000 TEDESCO DOM 1000-1400 SERBO 1400-1430 INGLESE 1430-1500 SERBO 1500-1530 SPAGNOLO 1530-1600 ARABO 1600-1630 RUSSO 1630-1700 FRENCH 1700-1730 TEDESCO 1730-1745 MANDARINO 1745-1800 ALBANESE 1800-1815 UNGHERESE 1815-1830 GRECO 1830-1900 ITALIANO 1900-1930 RUSSO 1930-2000 INGLESE 2000-2030 SPAGNOLO 2030-2100 SERBO DOM-VEN 2030-2130 SERBO SAB 2100-2130 TEDESCO DOM-VEN 2130-2200 FRANCESE 2200-2215 MANDARINO 2215-2230 ALBANESE 2230-2300 INGLESE 2300-2400 SERBO (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, playdx yg via DXLD) Ciao! Sono le 1831 UT (salute!!!) di Venerdi 14 Dicembre. Sono su 6100 kHz. Qui non arriva nulla che possa sembrare provenire dalla Serbia (Dario Monferini, Italy, playdx yg via DXLD) Saludos Dario, a las 1830 desde Valencia en España, en 6100 estaba escuchando el servicio en inglés de CRI y ha empezado el servicio de La Voz de La Rep. Isl de Irán; he podido escuchar perfectamente su sintonía: 6100 1830-1930 IRN IRIB Teheran AL Eu s Fuerte colisión con CRI, sin señal de Radio Serbia en 6100, por si acaso he chequeado en 7240, no he captado señal alguna, he recordado que antiguamente Radio Serbia y Montenegro emitió en 7200, pero tampoco he captado. Atentamente (José Miguel Romero2, Spain, ibid.) Hai controllato i 7240? Oggi è stata ascoltata su quella vecchia frequenza ma con un segnale che non sembrava provenire dal tx low power. Alternano le 2 frequenze (Roberto Scaglione, playdx yg via DXLD) At 1935 on 6100 only station audible here is CRI in Russian. At 2000 Serbia started their Spanish broadcast on 7240. On 6100 only CRI heard here at that time. I think it's Serbian language now on both 7140 [sic] and 6100 at 2045 UT. Yes, there's also Arabic language station in the crowd of 6100 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, ibid.) 6100, Some Chinese origin transmissions noted as always here, from Kunming, Xian, Urumchi, Kashi and Beijing usually. And Sirjan Iran too. There is no room for Bosnia here in overcrowded 49 mb during deep winter. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, 2005 UT Dec 14, ibid.) Hola: Escuchando en estos momentos el servicio en español de R. Serbia Int. desde el reactivado centro de Bijeljina. La emisión corresponde con su esquema: de 2000 a 2030, la frecuencia es 6100 Khz. La calidad de la emisión no es buena, acusa intermodulaciones y es más bien baja (250kW ??). En paralelo con su programación en internet. Cordialmente, (Tomás Méndez, Spain, playdx yg via DXLD) Hola: In Spain listen Serbia in 6100 sinpo 34333, 2000- not 7240 (program in Arabic at 2020) - Cordialmente (Tomás Méndez Losa, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hola senores, total diferente en Alemania: 6100 superpower 500 kW station CRI Xian en árabe y 6100 superpower 500 kW station IRIB Tehran Sirjan en albanés. 7240 superpower 300 kW station RCI Montreal via Skelton-UK en árabe y 7240 100 kW CNR Lhasa Tibet China, toca constantemente música de orquesta. Saludos de wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Now, after 1900, they are indeed on 6100 with news in Russian, including, you guessed it, Kosovo. Powerful signal, putting the DRM hiss from Junglinster into the background enough to make way for ambient noises in the studio (traffic out there, I heard that already on their webcasts a while ago). However, there is again an unid. co-channel station with programming in a Slavic language, probably even Russian, too. At the same time 7240 has Family Radio in German via a CIS site. Around 1530 I checked 6100 too, but only a weak carrier could be detected in the DRM hiss, unlikely Bijeljina I think. There should be no doubt about the program line-up as posted by Dragan Lekic already a while ago, they also don't appear to maintain different outputs for satellite/webcast and shortwave, but what about the operation of the reactivated Bijeljina transmitter; at which times is it on and on which frequencies (plus, as an in-depht detail, using what kind of antennas)? And here in eastern Germany I hear at the same time on 7240 only a modest signal with elevator music, like put on air by somebody who lost his program feed. No traces of other co-channel stations. 6100 is now covered by the Junglinster racket to an extend that all I can say about the signal on this frequency is that this is some other programming than Radio Serbia. It's also quite interesting that at 1935 China entirely overrode the Bijeljina signal in Finland. Here CRI was audible, too, but only in the background. And now, at 2100, it turns out that the elevator music on 7240 apparently originated from Lhasa. Still no trace of Bijeljina on 6100, but Radio Serbia is easily audible via their webstream, with news items hinting that the Serbians will raise the Srpska matter if Kosovo becomes independent (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) BOSNIA, 7240 --- for the first time I heard R Serbia International via Bijeljina, Bosnia around 1500-1530 UT in Spanish, world news at 1500- 1510 UT. Supposedly reduced 125 kW of power over a non-directional antenna, not the tiny 10 kW tx box anymore which was in use previously since September 2006. Signal not strong but readable. Co-channel interference by BSKSA Riyadh in Persian 1500-1800 UT and PBS Xizang in Chinese. At 1525 UT an "indigestible mess" noted on this channel. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Germany, Dec 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dec 15 at 1535: Now in Arabic. Suff/good signal here in south Italy (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, ibid.) Radio Serbia check around 1745 Dec 15: Only CRI in English audible on 6100, only some other station (sounding like Arabic, not further checked) audible on 7240 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) ** SERBIA. RADIO B92 ACCUSES MINISTER'S PARTY OF LAUNCHING CAMPAIGN AGAINST IT | Excerpt from report in English by Serbian pro-western Belgrade-based Radio B92 website, on 11 December New Serbia continued its anti-B92 campaign in parliament Monday [10 December], linking a radio programme with the loss of Kosovo. In the parliament building, party officials handed out leaflets pouring scorn on B92, depicting an hourglass (the English translation of Pescanik, the controversial radio show) at the top of which is Serbia, with Kosovo seeping down at the bottom. This is how the programme, and B92 as a whole, has been tied in with the Kosovo status crisis. New Serbia MP Slobodanka Mladenovic was handing leaflets out carrying the messages, "Just let it drip... Pescanik - B92" and "Pescanik for beginners", as part of a protest campaign against "the new anti-Serb, anti-constitutional campaign of the new TV Bastille - B92." On the front page there is a picture of an hourglass, on which is a map of Serbia in the form of sand seeping out of the south of Serbia, New Serbia's website and the message, "B92 has been diagnosed as suffering from the seriously contagious disease known as Sequelae leprae, the consequences of leprosy!" [Passage omitted: more details] Parliamentary Speaker Oliver Dulic said that he could not prohibit the distribution of leaflets, though he could condemn the distribution of any offensive material. [Passage omitted: more details] New Serbia's youth movement yesterday organized a campaign entitled "Pescanik for Beginners", a protest against, as they claimed, "the anti-Serb and anti-Constitutional campaign of the new TV Bastille - B92." Activists, led by party deputy leader and Topola Mayor Dragan Jovanovic, recently broke up a Pescanik promotion in Arandjelovac. But many believe that Infrastructure Minister Velimir Ilic's party, New Serbia, is launching its attacks on B92 over matters unrelated to politics or Kosovo, namely, our consistent reporting about embezzlements related to Ilic. He recently sent out a message to B92 journalists "not to initiate things we do not need in these troubling times". "You are a problem, a big problem, and, we simply must solve this problem. If I show up with 50 people, you will say that is not enough. So, we will not come with less than 100,000," the minister said. Now a look at some of the New Serbia issues that B92, marked by the minister as a big problem he will ! deal with, reported about in the past months and years. Source: Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in English 1746 gmt 11 Dec 07 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** SPAIN. NUESTRO PACO MARTÍNEZ Estimados amigos: Hay noticias que no nos gustaría tener que dar nunca. Y ésta es, sin duda, una de ellas. El pasado domingo, 9 de diciembre, falleció en Madrid el presidente de la Asociación Española de Radioescucha, Francisco Martínez y Martínez (Paco Martínez como le conocíamos muchos de nosotros y a él le gustaba que le llamaran). Todos los que hemos tratado a Paco, y con independencia de determinados desacuerdos puntuales que hayamos podido tener con él, hemos de reconocer con justicia que ha sido una de las personas que, desde hace treinta años, más y mejor ha contribuido para extender y popularizar la radioescucha y el diexismo en nuestro país. Hombre de fuerte carácter, polemista, amante de la conversación y el debate, y dotado de una enorme capacidad para el trabajo desinteresado en beneficio de nuestra común afición, Paco no escatimó esfuerzo alguno en realizar lo mejor posible las más variadas funciones, primero en GECE (club del que fue uno de sus promotores y fundador en 1977) y posteriormente en AER. Amigo de todos nosotros y del contacto personal en una afición a veces tan deshumanizada como es la nuestra, la AER debe a Paco, entre otras muchas cosas, su propia existencia. También, y no de menos importancia, la organización de numerosas reuniones en diferentes puntos de España donde muchos de nosotros hemos podido conocernos personalmente, compartir afición y experiencias, y debatir sobre el presente y el futuro del DX. Problemas de salud surgidos en los últimos años habían hecho que Paco fuera abandonando poco a poco la “primera línea” de la AER (si bien conservaba el puesto de Presidente de la misma), centrándose en otros proyectos y trabajos puntuales, pero siempre relacionados con el diexismo europeo. Su última gran contribución a nuestro hobby fue su colaboración para dotar al EDXC (Consejo Europeo de Diexismo) de unos nuevos estatutos, más democráticos y acordes con la realidad del DX en el siglo XXI. La AER, a través de estas líneas, desea presentar a la familia y amigos de Paco Martínez su más emotivo y respetuoso reconocimiento, haciéndose partícipe de tan enorme pérdida. Descansa en Paz, amigo Paco. Nunca te olvidaremos (Pedro Sedano, Madrid, España, COORDINADOR GENERAL AER http://aer-dx.org/ Dec 11, Noticias DX yg via DXLD) OBIT ** SUDAN [and non]. Radio Omdurman remains unchanged from 1500 until 1932 UT on 7200 kHz. Audible most of the time but R Bulgaria mostly stronger 1500-1600 Russian, 1600-1700 Bulgarian, 1700-1730 Russian, 1730-1800 Spanish, 1800- 1828 Radio Omdurman without QRM, 1830-1930 CRI Arabic from Moscow transmitter (Udo Krueger, Germany, Dec 8, wwdxc BC-DX Dec 14 via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. SLOVAKIA. 9825, Miraya FM Radio, via IRRS, 1500-1520, Dec 15, Tentative. English news. Tentative ID. Very poor in noise. Possible jammer on frequency with tones. DRM noise down around 9795- 9805 but not spreading up to this frequency (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. Another lucky day for R. Thailand`s English at 1400-1430, as Costa Rica was absent from 9725, Dec 14 at 1416, but even so signal was only poor with flutter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. 6765.04-USB, Bangkok Meteorological Radio at 1309-1400* UT on Dec 9. Did some detailed monitoring on this one. Three languages are rotated: English, Thai, and Khmer, I think. Each segment lasts 2-4 minutes and is separated by their 1.5-minute-long IS. The English segment is by a man, the other two by YL's. The English ID is simply "This is Bangkok Meteorological Radio..." followed by frequencies, announced as 6765.1 and 8743, and sked, announced as 00-02, 03-05, 06- 08. 09-11, 12-14, 15-17, 18-20, and 21-23 UT. True to the announced sked, they went off at 1400 (approx.) this morning. 6765 kHz was good; nothing heard on 8743-USB (John Wilkins, CO, Dec 9, DXplorer via BC-DX Dec 14 via DXLD) ** TURKEY. VOT, 12035 better than // 11735, Friday Dec 14 at 1410 with ``Turkish Capital`` program, not sure of title, but was about different companies and what they produce, e.g. fruit juice, tiles, bandages. Fascinating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. The BBC has published the beta version of its new Home Page, which is customisable for the first time, rather like Google News. The new version can be accessed here or by clicking on the link near the top of the existing Home Page. . . http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/bbc-launches-beta-version-of-new-home-page (Media Network blog Dec 14 via DXLD) ** U K. BBC 7 CELEBRATES 5 YEARS ON AIR Saturday, December 15 is the 5th anniversary of BBC 7, a day of special programs and listener's favourites is promised. As always, BBC programming is available on demand for 7 days following the broadcast. From the BBC 7 newsletter: In March 2002, an archive researcher, schedule planner, two presentation producers and I, were appointed as the first full time staff to prepare for the launch of "Network Z", (the working title for what was to become BBC 7). The idea of launching a digital speech network to exploit the vast BBC archive had been in the air for some time, and detailed reports had been written up suggesting how it might work. As a "pure entertainment" network, it was agreed that it should not include news bulletins, sport, or weather reports. The presentation was also to be pre-recorded, with new technology introduced to make it all fairly simple. And of all 5 digital radio networks to be launched by the BBC in 2002, BBC 7 was certainly regarded as being possibly the most straightforward to operate. In reality, BBC 7 was actually the most complicated of all networks. The processes of negotiating the quagmire of rights, tracking down missing episodes of programmes, and digitally re-mastering surviving programmes which had been kept on fragile quarter inch tape, vinyl discs, or even cassettes, were even more time-consuming than anticipated. However, nine months later, when our staff numbers had tripled to 15, and we had auditioned around 100 hopeful presenters, we were on track to launch on the 15th December. It was an exciting and heady time for us all. The network opened at 7am. with The Little Toe Show, followed by our first "grown-up" programme, Talking Comedy, then Knowing Me, Knowing You and Notes From A Small Island. We closed down at 1 am. However, responding to many demands from listeners, 6 months later, June 2003, we extended our broadcasting to 3.30am, and one year from launch to the day, December 2003, we increased our ouput to became a 24 hour service. Listeners couldn't seem to get enough of this new network, and after constant requests for Listen Again, we entered lengthy negotiations to provide this, and I know that this facility is very much appreciated by most of you. Proportionately, our listen again figures are the highest of any network, apparently! Five years on, there are still 4 of the staff continuing from the "famous five" and all but 2 of our original presenters. Our listenership has grown beyond our expectations, and we are all proud to be celebrating our 5th birthday. Thank you all for the suggestions for repeats you'd like to hear on our special day. I will be highlighting a selection, but you can see the full list on: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/drama/nowweare5.shtml The most requested drama by far is Theo, the story of the Steiff Teddy Bear, played by Martin Jarvis. Martin's voice possibly ranks as the most familiar on the network, with his great repertoire of comedy, drama and readings. He is a consummate radio performer, and it felt that he should be the "right" voice to present our Listeners' Choices for our 5th birthday. So without further ado, I'll reveal some of the treats in store for you in the week ahead. More at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/newsletter/newsletter_thisweek.shtml There are some real classics on offer! (Fred Waterer, Ont, Dec 14, dxld yg via DXLD) ** U S A. Glenn, On 12/14/07, FCC granted the construction permit for Smyrna Baptist Church's HF station: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-278936A1.pdf (Benn Kobb, DC, Dec 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No details on that page, not even where it is. Previous items in DXLDs from 2006: Glenn, these people have applied for an HF station in Pensacola FL, and the FCC today marked the application acceptable for filing: http://www.smyrnabaptist.org/ (Benn Kobb, DC, June 2, 2006, DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-082 via 7-152) God help us! Yet another gospel-huxtering SW outlet besmirching the image of the USA abroad. Don`t see anything about the SW on their website; they do have audio and link to an ``Old Fashioned Christian Radio Station`` meaning webcast, in Grand Prairie TX (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST, ibid.) Smyrna Baptist confirms that they are building a new SW station in Pensacola FL, to operate somewhere between 10 and 18 MHz, to bring a new standard to fundamentalist broadcasting, based on the KJV. Target date is August 2007 (Christer Brunström, Christian SW Update, HCJB DX Partyline July 2, 2006, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-096 via 7-152) Re new SWBC station: I'd not paid attention until I saw it in latest Contact magazine from WDXC (U.K.). Did a quick search and found something: Smyrna Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla., applied to FCC for SW transmitting license recently. I now notice this long-standing item in Terry Kreuger's list: 93.5 MHz (LPR) Smyrna Baptist Church, Pensacola; per the Pensacola News Journal, April 27, 2004: this station was closed by the FCC for operating without a license (allegedly applied for an LPFM license]. Located on US 29, south of I-10, with a range "from Molino to north Pace and throughout much of Pensacola." Seems like this would ensure they won't be getting a SW license, even under the Bush administration (Mike Cooper, GA, Jul 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST 6-103 via 7-152) Really? I can think of at least one former pirate that got a SW license. Of course there are R&R about FM pirates not getting LPFM licenses, etc. (Glenn Hauser, DXLD, ibid.) ** U S A. World of Radio still on 15825 2130 Fridays --- Hi, Glenn, You're probably aware of this; here in Western New York it's barely audible. Nothing heard on 7465, and I look forward to tomorrow's 1730 broadcast on 12160 which is always armchair copy. 73 and hope you don't get hit too badly by the next storm de (Anne Fanelli in Elma NY, Dec 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WWCR`s registered B-07 schedule had an error in it, showing WWCR-1 both on 7465 and 15825 in the 21-22 UT period from Dec to Mar. I pointed this out, and they took another look at it, but I never heard back from them which way it would be. So I assumed that like previous Dec-Feb seasons, WWCR-1 (the 46 degree antenna) would really be on 7465 during this hour, 21-22, pertinent because that includes WORLD OF RADIO Fridays at 2130, and we have always enjoyed this much lower frequency which propagates much better thruout North America; in the winter, 15825 is falling below the MUF that late in the day, and even at low noon is usually skipping over most of the continent, tho we hope it is reaching more distant targets OK (However, the main target, Europe is a mostly darkness path and not reliable in winter). So I announced on WOR that we would be on 7465 starting in Dec; I did not actually confirm this on the first date in question, Dec 7, as I checked the webcast and found the previous week`s show playing instead of the latest, and that was my concern. So I made a point of checking which edition was playing at 2130 Friday Dec 14 --- but nothing on 7465; I then found a just-barely-audible signal still on 15825 (and it was the latest edition, 1386). Now the schedule on the WWCR website does show 15825 still running until 2200, and we did hear the usual frequency change announcement to 7465, at 2159. As in: http://www.wwcr.com/wwcr_transmitter/wwcr_transmitter_schedules.html WWCR Spring [sic] (B07) Schedule Transmitter #1 - 100 KW - 46 Degrees Dec 1, 2007 Mar 9, 2008 Time (CT) Time (UTC) Frequency 12:00 AM - 04:00 AM 0600-1000 3.215 MHz 04:00 AM - 05:00 AM 1000-1100 9.985 MHz 05:00 AM - 04:00 PM 1100-2200 15.825 MHz 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM 2200-2300 7.465 MHz 05:00 PM - 12:00 AM 2300-0600 3.215 MHz Both the HFCC and FCC schedules for WWCR still show the one-hour overlap: Here I am rearranging the info by dates effective for clarity: HFCC: 15825 1000 2200 4,9,27,37-39 WCR 100 46 281007 031107 D FCC 7465 2200 2400 4,9,27,37-39 WCR 100 46 281007 031107 D FCC 15825 1100 2200 4,9,27,37-39 WCR 100 46 041107 301107 D FCC 7465 2200 2400 4,9,27,37-39 WCR 100 46 041107 301107 D FCC 15825 1100 2200 4,9,27,37-39 WCR 100 46 011207 090308 D FCC CONFLICT 7465 2100 2300 4,9,27,37-39 WCR 100 46 011207 090308 D FCC CONFLICT 15825 1000 2000 4,9,27,37-39 WCR 100 46 100308 300308 D FCC 7465 2000 2200 4,9,27,37-39 WCR 100 46 100308 300308 D FCC FCC: 15825 1000 2200 WWCR 100 46 4,9,27,37-39 281007 031107 7465 2200 2400 WWCR 100 46 4,9,27,37-39 281007 031107 15825 1100 2200 WWCR 100 46 4,9,27,37-39 041107 301107 7465 2200 2400 WWCR 100 46 4,9,27,37-39 041107 301107 15825 1100 2200 WWCR 100 46 4,9,27,37-39 011207 090308 CONFLICT 21-22 7465 2100 2300 WWCR 100 46 4,9,27,37-39 011207 090308 CONFLICT 21-22 15825 1000 2000 WWCR 100 46 4,9,27,37-39 100308 300308 7465 2000 2200 WWCR 100 46 4,9,27,37-39 100308 300308 So it looks like WWCR decided to go the other way this winter, but I hope they will change back for much better coverage. BTW, WWCR also uses 7465 later in the evening from another transmitter, but not pertinent here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Mess: 4915 at 2210. English religious station talking of the Christmas season mixing with perhaps Brazil or maybe Ghana. No idea, however everybody was peaking around S-7 and audio equally mixing with each other making any chance of an ID very difficult. This will take more time. As I was hoping for the ID of the religious station at 2300, conditions fell off considerably by then. 12-14-07. Also, the religious station on 4915 was briefly heard Dec 14 at 1005 gmt but I fell asleep after the bottle feeding (Steve Price, Johnstown, PA, National NC-173, R-5000, 400 foot inverted L and 200 foot buried ground, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I suggested he look for parallels on higher frequencies, as it does not work out for a receiver image or mixing product (gh, DXLD) Glenn, as I was listening to Tikhiy Okean, I bounced over to 4915 at TOH 1000 gmt and got a WWCR Nashville TN ID. I bounced them against 5070 and that was it. I am wondering if anyone else is getting this spur or whatever. I am on the R-5000 with a 400 foot "L" shaped longwire with 200 foot buried ground. I have never heard a intermod, etc out of the Kenwood. so, maybe this is a mixing product or something like that. 12-15-07 (Stephen Price, Johnstown, PA, ibid.) I can`t figure out how a 5070 mixing product would land on 4915. Is it exactly on 4915.00? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. The latest Broadcast Test Committee Podcast - Edition #6 - hosted by committee member J.D. Stephens is now available for downloading via the i-Tunes, or direct from the DXTests.info website at: http://www.dxtests.info/podcasts/BTC_Podcast_6.mp3 Good luck to everyone on the THREE DX tests this weekend (Jim Pogue, IRCA/NRC Joint Broadcast Test Committee Coordinator, Memphis, TN, via Stephens, Dec 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) First one confirmed (gh) ** U S A [and non]. US X-BAND AT A GLANCE DECEMBER 2007 Compiled by Tony King, Greytown NZ, Updates in Bold 1610 CHHA Toronto ON Rel SS 1620 WWLV South Bend IN AC:EZL “Love Songs 1620” KOZN Bellevue NE "ESPN 1620 Omaha's 'The Zone" WTAW College Station –Bryan TX 'Newstalk 16-20 WTAW' Takes C-to-C AM KYIZ Renton WA Urban, r & b, hip-hop //KRIZ " Z Twins" KSMH West Sacramento, CA Rel. ETWN Catholic. "KSMH West Sacramento" WNRP Gulf Breeze FL C & W 'Classic Country AM 1620 Gulf Breeze" WDHP St Croix, US Virgin Islands BBC WS + Caribbean prgms overnight. Full ID :59 1630 KCJJ Iowa City IA Hot AC "16-30 KCJJ" KRND Fox Farm WY SS ID 'La Grande 1630" KKGM Ft Worth/Dallas TX Rel. Southern Gospel. WRDW Augusta GA Talk/Sport Sporting News Network & ABC News. 1640 WKSH Sussex WI Disney "AM 1640 WKSH Sussex-Milwaukee" KDZR Lake Oswego OR Disney 'KDZR Radio Disney Portland" "AM 1640 KDZR" KDIA Vallejo CA Talk/religious/life issues 10kw WTNI Biloxi MS Overnight: ESPN sport M-F; C2C Sat Sun KFXY Enid OK Fox Sports 'The Score 1640 KFXY Enid-Oklahoma" KBJA Sandy UT SS romantica "Super Radio" .EE ID on hour 1650 WHKT Portsmouth VA Disney. “AM1650 WHKT Portsmouth, Radio Disney” KHRO El Paso TX Talk. “Air America Radio 1650 KHRO El Paso” KCNZ Cedar Falls IA Talk /Fox sports "The Fan KCNZ Cedar Falls- Waterloo" KWHN Fort Smith AR 'Newstalk 1650 KWHN' Takes C to C KBJD Denver CO Talk. “KNUS-2” KFOX Torrance CA Korean/ EE ID on hour CINA Mississauga ON South Asian format 680w overnight. CJRS Montreal QC New 1kw. SS FF and Yiddish Radio Shalom 1660 KTIQ Merced CA Now "Radio Visa" SS talk. EE ID "KTIQ Merced" WFNA Charlotte NC Sports/some ESPN "1660 AM WFNA Charlotte" WWRU Jersey City NJ Korean WCNZ Marco Is FL Rel. Catholic/Starboard Relevant radio WQLR Kalamazoo MI Adult contemporary x WQSN KRZI Waco TX ESPN + local sport. Nx on hr/local ads .05 ‘ESPN 1660’ KQWB West Fargo ND Now ESPN News KXOL Brigham City UT Now SS. Sports Radio Unica ID in EE on hour “K X O L 1660” KXTR Kansas City KS Classical WGIT Canovanas Puerto Rico SS ‘Tropical’ format. 1670 WVVM Dry Branch, GA SS:AC WTDY Madison WI Talk. " Madison 16-70 WTDY The Pulse" KHPY Moreno Valley, CA Radio Catolica SS. Sung ID on hr. "KHPY Moreno Valley 1670" KNRO Redding CA "Sports. ESPN Radio 1670 KNRO' 1680 WTTM Lindenwold, NJ Ethnic – Asian "EBC Radio" WLAA Winter Garden FL SS "Alma Latina" EE; “WLAA Winter Garden- Orlando” WDSS Ada MI "R.Disney 'AM1680 WDSS Ada-Grand Rapids" KAVT Fresno CA Disney. ID ‘KAVT Fresno’ at TOH only KDOW Seattle WA SS ‘La Jefa AM 1680 KDOW Seattle’ KRJO Monroe LA Urban Gospel. “KRJO Monroe” 1690 KDDZ Arvada CO "R.Disney AM 16-90 KDDZ Arvada Denver" KFSG Roseville CA Ethnic EE ID on hr "KFSG Sacramento" WVON Berwyn, IL Afro-American Urban Talk ‘The Talk of Chicago’ WMLB Avondale Estates GA News/Talk CNN. ID with birdsong hourly at 59.45 WPTX Lexington Park MD Sports, Sporting News CJOL Montreal QC New 1700 WEUP Huntsville AL Black Gospel KKLF Sherman TX Talk// KLIF 570 "Talk Radio KKLF" KBGG Des Moines IA CNN News. KVNS Brownsville TX “La Preciosa” SS Music format XEPE Tecate BCN MX “The Talk of San Diego” (Dec NZ DX Times via DXLD) Nothing was in bold, so no updates; however we haven`t republished this for quite some time. Still unexplained why if it`s ``US`` some Mexicans and Canadians are included but not all of them?? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. FCC CHIEF REJECTS CALL TO DELAY VOTE Senators Accuse Martin of Forcing Cross-Ownership Rule By Frank Ahrens Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, December 14, 2007; D02 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/13/AR2007121301876_pf.html Despite a grilling from a Senate committee yesterday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin said he would not postpone a Dec. 18 vote on a controversial media-ownership rule. The panel accused Martin of ramming through what it called an unpopular regulation, which would partially lift a 35-year-old ban on one company owning a newspaper and a radio or television station in the same city. Martin, who faced similar questioning from a House panel last week, defended his record, saying it may be impossible to achieve consensus on the highly contentious and political issue of media ownership and that his agency is under court and congressional order to keep its media-ownership rules up to date. Even though the cross-ownership rule headlined yesterday's meeting of the Senate Commerce Committee, the panel used the nearly three-hour hearing to hammer Martin on a number of issues. For instance, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) asked the chairman why he was putting resources into lifting the cross-ownership ban while failing to educate the public and aid broadcasters on the conversion to digital television. In February 2009, television viewers who rely on over-the-air television (meaning they do not subscribe to cable or satellite services) will find their analog televisions useless unless they purchase a federally subsidized converter box. The FCC was criticized this week in a report from the Government Accountability Office that said the agency has no master plan to oversee the conversion. Martin said his agency has asked Congress twice for money to spread the word about digital television and twice has been denied. "I think without funds we are doing a very good job of educating consumers," he said. Opponents of lifting the cross-ownership ban say it would concentrate too much control over local news and information. The newspaper industry and Martin say the rule was crafted before the rise of satellite television and the growth of cable and the Internet, rendering it obsolete. Further, both say, allowing some cross- ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations could provide economic relief to the struggling newspaper industry by allowing it to spread out the costs of newsgathering, and could provide more local news as broadcast stations use newspaper reporting. Despite a lengthy public comment period, fellow commissioners and anti-consolidation groups have criticized Martin for trying to rush the item ahead without examining the impact of consolidation might have on other issues, such as minority and female ownership of broadcast outlets. Sens. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and McCaskill asked Martin whether he would delay the vote; he said he would not. "You are a remarkable public leader if you move ahead and do it," McCaskill said. "You're a braver man than I am." [sic, she said] Martin, a Republican, received little help from members of his party on the committee. Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) co-sponsored a bill passed by the Commerce Committee last week that would halt the Dec. 18 vote. Yesterday, Lott and others asked Martin why he cares about helping the newspaper industry. "We have an obligation to make sure that local newsgathering is robust," Martin said. "That includes ensuring a balance of independent voices in the local community." But fellow FCC commissioner Michael J. Copps, a Democrat, took the panel's side: "We are not the Federal Newspaper Commission," he said. Nelson asked Martin whether he thought a "cloud" would be placed over him if he went ahead with the Dec. 18 cross-ownership vote in the face of opposition. "During my time at the commission, there's always been a cloud over the commission on this issue," he said. "It is the most contentious issue we end up dealing with, but it is important for us to proceed." 2007 The Washington Post Company (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) We watched this session on C-SPAN; maybe you can still find it. Martin just sits there and ignores all the objexions. The Democratic commissioners were extremely critical of what is happening (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. MITT ROMNEY'S VC [sic; BC?] FIRM TO BUY CLEAR CHANNEL Posted by Chris Brunner at December 14, 2007 10:25 AM What would it cost to buy the support of just about every nationally syndicated neocon talk show host in America? About $19.5 billion, which is what Mitt Romney's private equity firm, Bain Capital, and Thomas H. Lee Partners have agreed to pay in a leveraged buyout agreement with Clear Channel Communications, the largest radio station owner in the country. This is part of a negotiation that has been pending for over a year. Clear Channel owns more than 1,100 full-power AM, FM, and shortwave radio stations, twelve radio channels on XM Satellite Radio, and more than 30 television stations in the United States. Premiere Radio Networks, which is the largest syndication company in the United States, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Clear Channel and is home to Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and many others. Sean Hannity recently signed a large multi-market contract with Clear Channel, as well. From an anonymous email: "I'll bet those hosts won't reveal that conflict of interest, but it's worth noting when you hear them begin hyping Romney, which has already begun. A lot of GOP supporters will support whomever they are told to support, so be prepared for a big push for Romney. On the bright side, Romney has more vulnerabilities than Rudy, based on his record. Look at this as the GOP establishment doing us a favor. Rich men can bankroll their own campaigns (à la John Kerry), but it takes a special breed to use investors' money to buy entire networks that can operate as passive wings of a presidential campaign." It should be noted that Mitt Romney, while no longer the CEO, remains a silent partner of Bain Capital (via Bill Patalon III, MD, DXLD) Shortwave? News to me CC owns a SW station, unless indirectly. Which? Searching on the headline, found the source was: http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/017694.html and also discussed here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2469229 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) They don't, at least not any that I'm aware of. I'm not sure that I buy the other allegations in this article, either. Bain Capital is only one of two private equity firms involved in the privatization buyout. And at least in my experience, these buyout firms have one thing, and only one thing, in mind when they do deals like this: reducing costs through job cuts and selling non-core assets and then selling the slimmed-down businesses at a profit. I'm not saying, by any means, that that's a good thing, mind you - just that it's become SOP in many sectors of business, not just media, and that the backers of these private equity firms generally don't let anything, even presidential politics, get in the way of making a buck. s (Scott Fybush, Rochester NY, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. Re 7-151: Cagigal is indeed the Spanish speaking time station on 5000 heard late afternoon before WWV gets really loud, but (without having really tried to check) I would assume they announce the time in UTC and there would be no offset. Unless El Pequeño Máximo decides to try to offset UTC by 30 minutes. I'll have to try and pick out the voice next time I'm listening there (Bob Foxworth, Tampa FL, ABDX via DXLD) I was thinking that YVTO announced local time, anyway (gh, DXLD) USA/more: WWV 5000. 2225 Mixing with another time station. Other time station's pip or more like a beep was a split of a second after the WWV pip. Did not hear any "YVTO" voice ID (do they still ID ?) or a female WWVH voice ID, perhaps the voice ID's were buried somewhere under WWV, but I did not hear any. 12-14-07 (Steve Price, Johnstown, PA, National NC-173, R-5000, 400 foot inverted L and 200 foot buried ground, DX LISTENING DIGEST) YVTO`s voice announcements always collide with WWV`s just before minute-top. Come on, Hugo! (gh, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. EMISORA DE RADIO HERMANA, RCR, CUMPLE 77 AÑOS DE TRANSMISIONES A LOS VENEZOLANOS http://elobservador.rctv.net/Noticias/VerNoticia.aspx?NoticiaId=228473&Tipo=14 11 de diciembre de 2007.- Este martes la emisora de radio que forma parte del conglomerado de empresas del Grupo 1BC, Radio Caracas Radio (RCR) está cumpliendo 77 años de ininterrumpida transmisión a todos los venezolanos. Fue en 1930, en plena dictadura de Juan Vicente Gómez, cuando el soñador William H. Phelps materializó uno de sus deseos más grandes: crear la primera emisora de radio comercial de Venezuela. Y de esa manera dio vida a la Broadcasting Caracas que cinco años después pasaría a llamarse Radio Caracas Radio. Desde sus primeros días al aire numerosas figuras, con significativos papeles en la historia de los medios de comunicación del país, dieron sus primeros pasos en la planta. Entre ellas se puede mencionar a Alfredo Sadel, Francisco Amado Pernía, Tomás Henríquez, Amador Bendayán, Víctor Saume y el número uno de los animadores y productores de programas en la historia de los medios de comunicación audiovisual venezolanos: Renny Ottolina. Actualmente RCR sigue liderando como emisora matriz, marcando la pauta con su noticiero -"Informe RCR", y destacándose, además, por ser el Circuito Oficial del equipo de Béisbol Profesional Venezolano, Navegantes del Magallanes (via José Miguel Romero2, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. CUBA, Radio Nacional Venezuela Relay, 17705, 2030, English, 444, Dec 9, OM with an ID and comments by a YL. Then some music interludes (Stewart MacKenzie, WDX6AA, Huntington Beach, California, USA, UT Dec 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) One of their rare and unpredictable English segments. Wonder how long it lasted (gh, DXLD) ** VIETNAM. 9839.89, Voice of Viet Nam at 2333-2345+ UT on Dec 7. English - YL with news from Vietnam; OM with world news summary at 2339; commentary on government corruption at 2342; tuned out at 2345 UT. Went off around 2357 or so per spot-checks. Good signal and \\ to 12019.6 kHz which was fair but hampered by HCJB's Portuguese on 12020 (John Wilkins, CO, DXplorer Dec 9 via BC-DX Dec 14 via DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. Best reception for new CVC transmitter from Makeni Ranch in Zambia from 0500 to 0558 UT on 9430 kHz. After that from 0600 UT on 13590 kHz weak to acceptable depending on conditions. In the afternoon only some traces on 13590 and 13650 kHz (Udo Krueger, Germany, Dec 8, wwdxc BC-DX Dec 14 via DXLD) 13590, CVC via Lusaka, 2028-2046, Dec 11, English. "The Edge" program with usual banter, CVC promos and contact info. Also CVC headlines, music request line and "Another Hindi Hit". Fair, best listening in ECCS-USB (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, MIR 10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 13590, CVC (via Lusaka) *1658-1703 12 Dec. Opening with ME-ish instrumental, anthem bridge to 1700 and into "CVC Network News". Weak but better than 13650 before their 1657*. Africa heard during my early-mid AM suggests long path, but maybe not (Dan Sheedy, CA R75/PAR EF102040, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 13650, CVC, Lusaka, 1600-1657*, Dec 13, English CVC News at 1600. "The Planet" program at 1605 with pop music by Gwen Stafani, Santana & others. "Music News". CVC news headlines at Australian address. E-mail address given. CVC promos. Fair. 13590, CVC, Lusaka, 1700-1805+, Dec 13, English CVC News at 1700. "Scope", a news & current affairs program about internet usage in India. Pop music by Gwen Stafani, Timberland, Hillary Duff & others. "CVC Network News" at 1800. Back to "Scope" program at 1805. Fair to good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. 11735, Radio Tanzania-Zanzibar, 1758-1815, Dec 13, Swahili talk. Local pop music at 1800 & Swahili talk. No English news heard. Fair. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. MADAGASCAR. 11610, Radio Voice of the People, *1700-1755*, Dec 13, vernacular talk. IDs. English at 1740 with talk about the solutions for Zimbabwe's problems. Difficult to understand due to thick accents. Closing announcements at 1754 with address & e- mail address. Weak to fair reception. No sign of the music jammer that I hear during their 0400-0500 broadcasts (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Re 6095 carrier, 7-151: I think it was Mike Barraclough who reported that 5990 [LUXEMBOURG DRM] had breaks in transmission - I noticed them off air at least on one morning during the past week at around 0730. Although I'm not usually at my radio at 0642, I haven't heard the big blast of noise on 6090 (and adjacent channels) to be missing after 0700. However, 6085 was off air on the 13th at that time allowing what I assume was Belarus to be audible on 6080 (Noel R. Green (NW England), Dec 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENINGN DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 14 Dec 1550Z 9829 kHz, FSK RTTY. By ear about 60 wpm maybe 800 Hz shift. Very strong signal fairly solid before 1600, then deep fades afterward before disappearing into the local noise around 1730 or so (Tom Norris, Murfreesboro, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tom, That has been there for ages, at many hours earlier, making 9830 pretty much unusable for broadcasts. Can you ID it? (Glenn to Tom, via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Re the 10906 distorted FM blob I heard recently around 1430, but not since. Looking thru DXLD 7-136 I am reminded of a similar anomaly on 15102 which was reported as V of Indonesia. Since we now know that VOI has moved back to 9526.0 from 11784.9, a theory arises: 10906 as an intermediate and badly tuned step in that transition. At least the times match (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Re 7-151, 15150 continuous ME music: Today around 1530 no trace of any signal on 15150 here (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Arabic music is like Radio Cairo songs in past 40 years, probably N O T Iran style. I asked Tarek - our friend in Cairo - to identify that music style. Otherwise transmission on 15150 kHz is much more powerful and noted different modern modulation sound, than ever heard on previous IRIB on 15150. And also total different to well known RTA Algiers relay via VTC Merlin U.K. relays. Transmission sound so powerful, like 500 kW beasts of Rampisham, Kuwait or BSKSA Riyadh. Still a puzzle. Maybe the Libyan's replaced/re-built another THIRD transmitter by new Thalès-Thomcast or Harris unit at Sabrata? And on final field test now, playing Arabic music continuously (Wolfgang Büschel, Dec 10/11, wwdxc BC-DX Dec 14 via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Cool. Very cool. I am a newly returned listener. Thanks for the info (Andrew Otwalt, Dec 10, with a donation via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: BULGARIA; ERITREA/ETHIOPIA nons; GUINA ++++++++++++++++++++ FRENCH; SERBIA non; SUDAN non; UNIDENTIFIED 6095 PROPAGATION +++++++++++ 60 METERS WASHOUT This morning (December 13) about 1130 UT, (30 to 45 minutes before local sunrise) a scan of 60 meters from 4780 to 5070 kHz was a complete washout, EXCEPT for WWV on 5000, Radio Rebelde on 5025, and WWCR on 5070. This has pretty much been the norm of late, it being very rare that I hear even a hint of a broadcaster below 5000 kHz. The same was true at 0035 (December 14, with Mauritania on 4845 being the only station even weakly heard. There are a few loggings here and there of Brazil or Perú but they are very rarely heard here, about half of it due to CODAR, the rest due to band noise. Maybe we are already in that time frame when tropical bands dry up as was predicted not so long ago by Anker Petersen and others. I suspect global warming must be implicated in this as well. :-) - Heard on a Grundig Yachtboy 400 PE with long wire (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, Dec 13, ODXA yg via DXLD) Re: 5070, WWCR, Nashville, TN, heard as late as 1125-fade out 1155, Dec 01, English religious propaganda, 35332. Check Cuba 5025 fade out time, I would partly expect the Cuban station to fade out well before WWCR, but both seem to "depart" at approximately the same time (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DSWCI DX Window Dec 12 via DXLD) The paths fade out when the sunlight hit the First Reflection Point and are thus nearly the same (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Dec 12 via DXLD) Yes, I know the implications of this explanation of yours, but we're dealing with possibly different powers and certainly different radiation patterns, so this does play a rôle too, not just longitude which, by the way, aren't that different. As you know, Cuba 5025 seems to use a much higher power these days; before that, the USA 5070 faded out after Cuba (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) IS A NEW SOLAR CYCLE BEGINNING? 14 December, 2007 NASA http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/14dec_excitement.htm?list887816 The solar physics community is abuzz this week. No, there haven't been any great eruptions or solar storms. The source of the excitement is a modest knot of magnetism that popped over the sun's eastern limb on Dec. 11th, pictured below in a pair of images from the orbiting Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). It may not look like much, but "this patch of magnetism could be a sign of the next solar cycle," says solar physicist David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center. For more than a year, the sun has been experiencing a lull in activity, marking the end of Solar Cycle 23, which peaked with many furious storms in 2000--2003. "Solar minimum is upon us," he says. The big question now is, when will the next solar cycle begin? It could be starting now. "New solar cycles always begin with a high-latitude, reversed polarity sunspot," explains Hathaway. "Reversed polarity " means a sunspot with opposite magnetic polarity compared to sunspots from the previous solar cycle. "High-latitude" refers to the sun's grid of latitude and longitude. Old cycle spots congregate near the sun's equator. New cycle spots appear higher, around 25 or 30 degrees latitude. The region that appeared on Dec. 11th fits both these criteria. It is high latitude (24 degrees N) and magnetically reversed. Just one problem: There is no sunspot. So far the region is just a bright knot of magnetic fields. If, however, these fields coalesce into a dark sunspot, scientists are ready to announce that Solar Cycle 24 has officially begun. Many forecasters believe Solar Cycle 24 will be big and intense. Peaking in 2011 or 2012, the cycle to come could have significant impacts on telecommunications, air traffic, power grids and GPS systems. (And don't forget the Northern Lights!) In this age of satellites and cell phones, the next solar cycle could make itself felt as never before. The furious storms won't start right away, however. Solar cycles usually take a few years to build to a frenzy and Cycle 24 will be no exception. "We still have some quiet times ahead," says Hathaway. Meanwhile, all eyes are on a promising little active region. Will it become the first sunspot of a new solar cycle? Stay tuned for updates from Science@NASA (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) According to solar optical and magnetic observations taking place for the past several days, now scientists are almost sure that the new active solar region could very well be first sign of cycle 24, because of two very well known reasons: first the region is located at a high solar latitude, plus the fact that is has a reverse magnetic polarity. The new cycle sunspots should start to appear at high solar latitudes, and a large number of them, but not all, should be showing a reversed magnetic polarity as compared to the majority of the sunspot active regions of the now ending cycle 23. And now amigos, as always at the end of the program , here is our exclusive and not copyrighted , in the public domain, ARNIE CORO’S DXERS UNLIMITED’S HF PLUS LOW BAND VHF PROPAGATION UPDATE AND FORECAST Solar flux has now passed above the 90 units mark for the same time in many days, and solar activity is hovering between low and very low… The effective sunspot number is now at 37, sending up the daytime maximum useable frequency up all around the world with some nice spots seeing up to 40 megaHertz frequencies propagating on North South paths. Sporadic E openings should be becoming more and more frequent as we approach the winter solstice, and that’s good news for TV and FM broadcast band Dxers as well as 10 and 6 meter bands amateur radio operators (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Dec 15, HCDX via DXLD) METEOR SCATTER FM DX Here`s a good example of what can be accomplished during a good meteor shower such as the Geminids; times presumably UT -5 (gh, DXLD) Wed Dec 12 MS 2030 WNBB 97.9 NC Bayboro Here at Classic Country Thu Dec 13 MS 0812 KMXW 92.3 KS Newton Ad: A-1 Truck Warehouse 0940 WZPW 92.3 IL Peoria Peoria's home town... 1915 KKHQ 92.3 IA Oelwein ...at Q-92.3 the hot mix at six. (Prev Au) 2117 WDEF 92.3 TN Chattanooga This is it. Marshall Mize Ford must sell. Fri Dec 14 MS 0005 WIL 92.3 MO St. Louis WIL 0208 KLRQ 96.1 MO Clinton K-Love presents... (previously by Es) 0242 KLRQ 96.1 MO Clinton Positive Encouraging K-Love 0655 WKLS 96.1 GA Atlanta Project 9-6-1 0705 KIPR 92.3 AR Pine Bluff Nx: PB man charged with killing her ... 0707 WDEF 92.3 TN Chattanooga Sunn 92.3 Timesaver Traffic 0714 WLIT 93.9 IL Chicago Ad: Barrington Computer (previously Tropo) 0715 KIPR 92.3 AR Pine Bluff Happy Holidays 92 jams 0840 WTBX 93.9 MN Hibbing 7:35 Prize Team, Whats yr fave R-Stn? WTBX 0945 KBVB 95.1 MN Barnesville Bob 95 0949 KAGE 95.3 MN Winona Local Southern MN ad for Unicel 0950 KXRA 92.3 MN Alexandria Ad: Leaf Valley Mercantile (Saul Chernos, Burnt River ON [his DX location remote from Toronto], Dec 14, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) Plus more unIDs with clews ###