DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-159, December 26, 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 SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1388 **flexible times Thu 0700 WRMI 9955** Thu 1530 WRMI 7385 Thu 1600 KAIJ 9480 [off air in Dec but webcasting] Fri 0030 WBCQ 7415 Fri 0730 WRMI 9955** Fri 1200 KAIJ 5755 [off air in Dec but webcasting] Fri 1200 WRMI 9955** Fri 2130 WWCR1 15825 [not expected 7465] Fri 2330 WBCQ 5110-CLSB [NEW from Dec 21] Sat 0900 WRMI 9955 Sat 1730 WWCR3 12160 Sat 2230 WRMI 9955 Sun 0330 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0730 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0900 WRMI 9955 Sun 1200 WRMI 9955 [new] Sun 1615 WRMI 7385 Mon 0400 WBCQ 9330-CLSB [irregular] Mon 0515 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Mon 0930 WRMI 9955** Tue 1130 WRMI 9955** Tue 1630 WRMI 7385 Wed 0830 WRMI 9955** WORLD OF RADIO, CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL SCHEDULE: Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN NOW AVAILABLE: http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL] http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org ** ALBANIA. Dear Drita, Radio Tirana, December 25, 2007 *2100-2126* UT, 7430 kHz. SINPO 45544. News, then Christmas celebrations in Albania. Female announcer said, "Merry Christmas everyone - this is the wish of the staff of Radio Tirana". Song "Ave Maria" played. "Joy to the World" music played. At 2125 the female announcer said, "Wishing you again, Merry Christmas - goodbye from Albania". Interesting and informative programming! No audio problems. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 73, Kraig Krist, KG4LAC Manassas, VA USA (via Drita Çiço, R. Tirana Monitoring Center, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But did Kraig get any signal at all on // 9915 for NAm? (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. SYDNEY HOBART YACHT RACE FROM 26TH DECEMBER 2007 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race - HF Comms 6516 / 4483 khz This show will be broadcasting the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race HF Radio Comms. It will be monitoring the primary race frequency 6516 khz USB. It will start shortly after the Race begins 26th December 2007. http://ustream.tv/channel/sydney-hobart-yacht-race---hf-comms-6516--4483-khz (via Mike Terry, England, dxldyg via DXLD) Hearing a bit of traffic here on 6516 USB at 1310 with a vessel giving it's position (Steve Lare, Holland, MI USA, Dec 26, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA. 6230-USB, VMW, Wiluna, Western Australia; 1250-1304 24 December, 2007. Tune-in to Aussie male reading coastal weather for western Australia and Australian occupied islands, clear VMW ID at 1252 and off. Back up at 1255 with schedule for VMW and VMC (didn't copy it all), then back again at 1300 (presumed still VMW at this time) with weather by seemingly the same man, and parallel located on 8113-USB. Both channels clear and good. Of all the websites I find and have seen listed, none appear to accurately list the schedules of VMW/VMC, or accurately indicate the frequencies for that matter. Seemingly the same for the numerous New Zealand coastal weather stations (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, JRC NRD-535, ICOM IC-R75, RadioShack DX-399, Hammarlund HQ-180A, GE Superadio III, dipole, RadioShack Pro-60 handheld scanner, interior longwire, Scotka MW ferrite loop, RadioShack non-active MW loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA [non]. 9565, CVC (Lusaka, ZAMBIA) *0500-0510 23 Dec. Tnx Glenn's info in DXLD, CVC heard nicely with "Plugged In Movie Reviews", Chatback and pop song from Hillary Duff (Dan Sheedy, CA, R75/120' random "trippin' Santa" wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHAMAS. 1540, Radio Bahamas, Nassau, New Providence; 0045-0109 22 December, 2007. Old School calypso vocals, canned ID by man at 0052, "This is A-M 15-40, the National Voice of the Bahamas" then into Bahamian vocal cover of "Noël" Christmas song, followed by a Whitney Houston-ish track across the top-of-hour. At 0101, a very cool, live and deep-voiced male jock reminding the listeners of what Christmas is all about, and a shout-out to a listener "... on the island of [New] Providence, one of our Family Islands..." Into traditional Irish Christmas instrumental. Fair on the NRD-535 with dipole, better (at times very good) on the IC-R75 coupled to the emergency hurricane internal room longwire. Also at 1135-1139 on 24 December with mention that the current program (was) sponsored by the Ministry of Health & Social Development, Coke- A-Cola spot mentioning the Caribbean Bottling Company, then canned "A- M 15-40, the National Voice" by man (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, JRC NRD-535, ICOM IC-R75, RadioShack DX-399, Hammarlund HQ-180A, GE Superadio III, dipole, RadioShack Pro-60 handheld scanner, interior longwire, Scotka MW ferrite loop, RadioShack non-active MW loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CANADA ** BELGIUM. 9970 not often heard here, but when it is, has to be RTBF, the frequency`s only occupant at any time, direct from Wavre, not a relay as in the case of VRT. Dec 25 at 1444 a familiar novelty song, 1446 announcement in French (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4699.35, R. San Miguel, 1028, Dec 26, Spanish. OM and YL with announcements, complete with barking dog sound effects, and brief musical bits. Poor/fair (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200'Beverages, 60 M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Or maybe not SFX? Hi (gh) I've often wondered that myself. LOL (Scott Barbour, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Vancouver 6160 --- Hi Glenn, just started to burrow through the news and discussions of the last days, so let's start with this from DXLD 7-155: >> CBC powerhouse CBU-690 Vancouver will be moving to FM. Another DX target gone - but another open channel for west coasters. Remote areas of BC will still be able to receive the station via CKZU shortwave (6160 kc/s). http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Hearings/2007/n2007-18.htm#15 End/WRH (Bill Hepburn, Ont., WTFDA-AM via DXLD) Sure of that? (gh) << A look at it from an engineering point of view: The coordinates given by HFCC etc. for 6160 point with no doubt at the 690 kHz facility. That's an interesting four mast installation at Richmond, on the shore between the terminuses of Steveston Highway and Williams Road: http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&hl=de&ie=UTF8&ll=49.138147,-123.198795&spn=0.010234,0.020084&t=h&z=16&om=1 This site went on air in 1967, allowing to boost 690 from 10 to 50 kW with this directional system. That's all I could find about it, neither more info nor photos of the site showed up on my search attempts. What I could find was this complaint about poor reception: http://www.insidethecbc.com/bcfreqs Unbelievable; if a 50 kW from just 15 km away does not provide a sufficient signal, then mediumwave is simply dead. How much millivolts per meter are this? (It's "all bars" on an ATS 909, as experienced or similar constellations at Dresden and Leipzig.) So 6160 is apparently on air from the 690 site. Now it would be up to an insider of Canadian broadcasting to predict what will happen. My assumption from far away, for what it's worth: They will shut down the transmitter site and while doing so also have to switch off this tiny box nobody besides some transmitter engineers cares for anymore, with CBC not considering the demise of 6160 being something they would have to "communicate" (in fact Deutschlandradio also never issued anything about 6005, all info released by their engineering department about this matter was inofficial). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Re DXLD 7-157, BAHAMAS [non]. My guess is that CHIN was the station I heard on 1540 at around 0730 today (Dec. 26). The signal was fair to good but with intense QRM from Germany 1539. It was possible to distinguish that a man and woman were speaking in Italian, but the programme proved impossible to copy. I note that the station schedule lists "MMFM" on Wednesdays at this time (0130 local) - whatever that is, it was Italian that I heard (I wasn't 'computerised' at the time). (Noel R. Green (NW England), UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The grid does show this at 1-3 am ET Wednesday, but clicking on MMFM, we get this: ``AM 1540 Thursday 1am to 3am PROGRAM DESCRIPTION Mmfm MMFM is exclusively produced by Mystik Mike. Steve Venom is your musical programmer, Andy Grande is your audio editor. justin Marchello is your A&R rep. To listen to the latest show click on the link below Visit Producer's Web site`` However, other weekdays at this time Rai International is scheduled, so apparently CHIN are confused about which day of the week applies after midnight --- or holiday variation from normal sked (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. We can now attach a price to Moses Znaimer's purchase of CHWO (740 Toronto) from the Caine family: he's paying C$7,320,613 for the big-signalled standards station, according to the application filed last week with the CRTC (Scott Fybush, NE [sic] Radio Watch Dec 24 via DXLD) ** CHAD. 4904.96, 23/12 1932, R.D.N. Tchadienne, Talks, good (Giampiero Bernardini, Milan, Italy, rx: Perseus; ant: T2FD 15 m long; my SW blog: http://radiodxsw.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4905a, Rdif. NT, N'djamena, 0525-0604 25 Dec. Quite nice with upbeat Francophone W African vocals, ID: Radiodiffusion et Télévision Nationale Tchadienne at 0529 and 0549, more neat vocals mixed with phone interviews, feature on visiting Spain (mentions of Madrid, Barcelona), after 0600, music more Afro-hiphop, DJ taking listeners` calls with one mention of N'djamena (Dan Sheedy, CA, R75/120' random "trippin' Santa" wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4904.97, RNT, 0545-0605, Dec 25, in French, Afropop, ToH gives phone number to call in, a few brief on-air phone calls, fair (Ron Howard, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I`ve heard it too, no doubt, RNT reactivated on 4905: best 60m signal by far outside NAm, Dec 26 at 0605-0620, mostly talk in uncertain language, maybe part Arabic, part French, with bits of music. Nothing resembling an ID heard. Mauritania might have competed if it were audible on 4845. Furthermore the `4905` signal was a smidgin below frequency as others have reported minus 30-40 Hz or so; while I couldn`t be precise to two decimal places, I could tell it was off, using the YB-400 simply by zeroing the BFO on WWV, and then stepping from 4905 up and down 1 kHz. The het at 4904 was noticeably lower in pitch than at 4906 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, T'Chad: RNT on exactly 4905. 2158 drums and ID in French with anthem and sign off at 2228 12-26 (Steve Price, Johnstown, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. I have a tentative logging of Xinjiang People Broadcast Station in Urumqi on 5060 kc/s between 2342-0003 UT on December 25-26, 2007. SIO 343 building to a surprising SIO 444 by 0000. Talk in Chinese (presumed) by man. At 0000 time pips, rooster crow? and then ID in female voice. Music began at 0003. Another polar path but with a high latitude K index of 0-1, no significant signal flutter was heard. At times some minor interference by a host of utility stations. Checked back at 0100 and heard time pips again but SIO of 333 due to post sunrise D layer absorption. Antenna 120-11 meter dipole and Icom IC-746 Pro. 73, (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF, Lakeland, FL, USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHRISTMAS ISLANDS [non]. Glenn You may well be correct with the pronunciation of 'Kiritmati', I surely don't hold myself out as an expert on the i-kiribati language. If I got it wrong, I apologize. As to air checks and more information about VLU2 and the other three local stations, currently we have no other information. There may well be recordings of them somewhere, but we haven't come across any. We had contacted both 6RCI and Radio Kiritimati several times for airchecks and other current data whilst preparing the show, but nothing eventuated from either station. We felt it to be of interest for 'Mailbox' listeners to share with them what we did have, along with some island music and station announcements and greetings in several languages not normally used by RNZI. We do have an article about and photos of the current Radio Kiritimati at http://www.radioheritage.net hence our invitation to listeners to go have a look should they want more details. And, of course, being Christmas, we thought it was appropriate to maintain a 'Christmas' theme throughout the entire program prepared by the Radio Heritage Foundation. We're sorry it didn't come up to your expectations. Merry Christmas from the South Pacific (David Ricquish, NZ, Dec 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi David, I was sure I had heard a clip of one or more of those stations before, maybe on the old AWR Wavescan? And here`s one: http://www.intervalsignals.net/countries/christmas_island.htm I`m no expert on the language either; just going by the example of the way Kiribati is really pronounced, (which fools a lot of people). I did enjoy your whole segment and appreciate the work put into it (Glenn to David, via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. 1329.7, HJFE, RCN, Pereira. RCN ID // 980 & 760 W 0228 05/12 JF (John Faulkner, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Notts., AOR AR7030, ewe antenna, Winrad v1.24, VAC, WaveLab, Cool Edit Pro, RecAll-PRO, MWC via DXLD) And in North America we should at least be able to hear a 300 Hz het from this below 1330 (gh, DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. More on the 6010 collision between Conciencia and Radio Mil: see MEXICO [and non] ** CUBA. 17435, Espía; 1704-1741 25 December, 2007. Clear and fair with low modulation and partial skip echo, Spanish female five digit groups until "Final, final, final" at 1741. Parallel 6867, which despite being local level, had almost zero modulation. Both in AM transmission mode (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, JRC NRD-535, ICOM IC-R75, RadioShack DX-399, Hammarlund HQ-180A, GE Superadio III, dipole, RadioShack Pro-60 handheld scanner, interior longwire, Scotka MW ferrite loop, RadioShack non-active MW loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. CRI via Cuba is, today on past 14 UT in English thus impairing reception of Radio Australia on 9590 - 20 kHz away! The official s/off time is 14 UT which would leave RA's 9590 in the clear. 9570 left the air at 1414 and came up a minute or so later on 13740 (Andy Reid, Ont., Dec 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 1100, wobbler; 1200-1202 24 December, 2007. Loud, no program audio, just wobbling away. Also quite fine at 1720, best audible detuning to 1099 in USB, or 1101 in LSB. 1140, Radio Cadena Habana, Artemisa, La Habana; 1717-1832 24 December, 2007. Good via LSB to avoid 1150 semi-local. Oldie Cuban vocals, male and female announcers, telco-fed Instituto de Meteorología forecast at 1728-1729 by man. Male canned "Ésta es Radio Cadena Habana, la frecuencia popular" at 1730, female time check, into local affairs discussion till 1750. Noticero Nacional de Radio news feed from 1800 to 1827 Radio Cadena Habana ID (ending a little early today, with bumper music continuing on Rebelde channels until 1828 Rebelde ID). Presumed-only site for 1140. Parallel very poor 1080 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, JRC NRD-535, ICOM IC-R75, RadioShack DX-399, Hammarlund HQ-180A, GE Superadio III, dipole, RadioShack Pro-60 handheld scanner, interior longwire, Scotka MW ferrite loop, RadioShack non-active MW loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. TV2 Es HIJB to FL --- HIJB channel 2 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic is in fair. Distinctive Tele Antillas logo in the upper right and displayed almost constantly. Spanish soap opera with plenty of commercials. Logo is not displayed during commercials TV4 CCI at times. (Randolph Zerr, KW4RZ, grid EM60qk, Fort Walton Beach, Florida, 1730 UT Dec 26, FM DX page http://www.geocities.com/kw4rz WTFDA via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. 3810-LSB, HD210A [sic], 0152+, Dec 26, Spanish. Time station battling for dominance with co-channel amatuer radio ops. Fair (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60 M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I take this opportunity to point out once again that this callsign has one number in it, not three. Think Instituto Oceanográfico de la Armada, its initials (gh, DXLD) ** EGYPT. Hello Group, around 1030 UT while scanning the 49 MB I noticed the general program of Radio Cairo on 6250 kHz with a talk show and interviews. I checked Eibi and Aoki's lists but it wasn't mentioned there. I wonder if this is another test transmission like the Voice of the Arabs and the Wadi el-Neel on 9250. All the best (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, Dec 25, DX LISTENIING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA ECUATORIAL. 15190, Radio África 2, 1002-1007, escuchada el 25 de diciembre en inglés a locutor con comentarios, parece un sermón ya que lo hace gritando, se aprecia de fondo una ligera señal con voz de mujer, probablemente de CRI, SINPO 44444 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), Spain, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, YAESU FRG-7700, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. Re 7-158: R Ethiopië is momenteel (1425 UT) op 9558.3-6 (ipv 9560.6) met Arabische programmering, parallel aan gebruikelijke 7165.12. De frequentie is nogal onstabiel maar het signaal blijft uitstekend (Alexander (Delft), Dec 24, BDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1388, DXLD) You might expect Amharic, except this is external service (gh) 9559, Radio Ethiopia, 1621-1632, escuchada el 25 de diciembre en su servicio inglés con emisión de música pop melódica. La frecuencia exacta no la conozco, pero con la Sangean la escucho mejor en esa frecuencia, fuertemente interferida por CRI en su servicio en árabe por 9555, a las 1630 tonos horarios tocados por una campana, locutor y locutora con comentarios, apenas se les entiende, probable referencias a Sudán, SINPO 33443 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), Spain, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, YAESU FRG-7700, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The ATS-909 in SSB mode tunes in 40 Hz steps, so as I explained in detail before, it is possible to measure frequencies with considerable accuracy, but it is rather tedious and a correxion factor must be included. Simply reading off the dial ``where it sounds best`` especially with no decimals displayed can be very misleading. It is always the carrier frequency that matters when reporting a station (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 7110, Radio Ethiopia, 2050-2100*, Dec 24, Horn of Africa music. Some music with a more Mid-East sound. Amharic talk. Sign off with National Anthem at 2059. Good signal. // 5990-weak, poor with DRM QRM. 9 MHz frequency not heard (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. See INTERNATIONAL VACUUM ** HUNGARY. HUNGRÍA, 6025, Kossuth Radio, 1740-1745, escuchada el 24 de diciembre en su servicio en húngaro con la emisión de música navideña, bonita canción, probablemente algún tipo de villancico, locutor y locutora con comentarios, SINPO 44444 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), Spain, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A- 108, YAESU FRG-7700, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Radio France Internationale has apparently terminated its relationship with Dish Network in the U.S. after almost 10 years. Without notice, Dish Network substituted a French Web radio station for RFI at midday today. The good news is that RFI's French service is now available free-to-air (unscrambled) on Galaxy 25 (Ku band, 12053 MHz, SR 22000, audio PID 1500). Also available on this same frequency, with differing program IDs, are RFI broadcasts in Spanish, Portugese, RFI Afrique, RFI Musique, Monte Carlo Doualiya in Arabic, and RFI in Vietnamese and Mandarin (I think). It's nice to have a new (and good) international broadcaster available on a U.S. satellite, easily received with a small dish and cheap MPEG receiver (Mike Cooper, GA, Dec 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. Dec 25 at 1417 I started bandscanning 8-9 MHz, which I often skip, lacking broadcasters, but should not. At 1418 I came upon 8122 SSB, where detailed weather info was being given for the Sea of Cortez and vicinity, mainly gales 25-30 kts, 10-12 foot seas tonight. This was by a REAL HUMAN BEING, no robot, a very informal old salt, colorful accent and language, a guy who knows his stuff, making it a meteorology and geography lesson at the same time. He talked continuously until 1434 when he passed it back to ``Lovely Rita``, apparently the NCS with a much weaker signal; her call seemed to end in 796. Turns out this was the Amigo Net, closing until tomorrow afternoon/evening, the speaker having been Don, WBQ557, I thought he said, Oxnard, California. Rita said they were going to QSY to 4149 USB, but Don continued with another contact, also a station he could barely hear in Mazatlán, then discussed the weather outlook for Isabela. I believe I have logged this net before, but can`t find it on that frequency in searching my logs. But he`s really WPXU557, Don Anderson, per schedule I got by a bit of Googling: http://www.pacsea.org/n6hgradio.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1388, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: DON ANDERSON'S RADIO SCHEDULE Beginning March, 2007 My ham call N6HG My private coast station, SUMMER PASSAGE RADIO WPXU557 My Valiant 47 “SUMMER PASSAGE” WBX8756 Oxnard CA UT kHz [USB, u.o.s.?] 1415 8122 Amigo Net. My Forecast, Ensenada to Socorro Island and Sea of Cortez to Puerto Vallarta to Central America 1430 3968 LSB Sonrisa Net. I monitor for weather reports and any emergency traffic 1515 7233 LSB Baja California Maritime Service Net. My forecast San Diego to Puerto Vallarta including Sea of Cortez. Weekends only. I am backup for AA6TP if needed on weekends 1530 7294 LSB Chubasco Net. I monitor for any emergency traffic 1530* 12359 I monitor 12C for weather questions usually 500 to 2500 miles from my station 1600* 16534 I monitor 16C for weather questions usually from vessels in North Atlantic Caribbean and Southwest Pacific out to 7000 miles from my station. 18840, 22165 and 25115 are alternate frequencies, especially for vessels beyond 4000 miles. 2245* 12359 I monitor 12C for weather questions from vessels out to 2500 miles from my station 0015* 16534 I monitor 16C for weather questions from vessel North and South Pacific, out to 7000 miles from my station 0100 6516 Southbound Net. Brief summary on 6D of any significant weather since amigo Net * If nothing heard after 15 minutes I close down. On Sundays I close down after my 12C watch (via DXLD) ** IRAN. 7320, Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Sirjan; 1931- 1945 24 December, 2007. English female ID and schedule/frequencies for all English transmissions, brief Kor`an reading in Farsi or Arabic, back to English female with male, reading news. Clear and fair (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, JRC NRD- 535, ICOM IC-R75, RadioShack DX-399, Hammarlund HQ-180A, GE Superadio III, dipole, RadioShack Pro-60 handheld scanner, interior longwire, Scotka MW ferrite loop, RadioShack non-active MW loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBERIA. 4759.97, ELWA, 2225-2302*, Dec 25, English religious talk. Choral music. Contemporary Christian music. Sign off with National Anthem. Poor in noisy conditions & CODAR QRM (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 4845, R. Mauritanie, 0236-0303, Dec 25, Arabic/English. OM in Arabic hosting what appeared to be a pop music countdown, featuring songs in both English and Arabic. Into announcers with vox effects over tinny stringed instruments from 0255 thru tune-out. I don`t monitor Mauritania regularly, but when I do I have never heard pop music in any language. Fair/good (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200'Beverages, 60 M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) BTW, congrats and our appreciation to Scott Barbour for volunteering to be the next tropical band log editor for the NASWA Journal, and to Dan Ferguson, retiring editor (gh, DXLD) exactly 24 hours later: 4845, R. Mauritania (presumed), 0236-0355, Dec 26, running late with OM & YL, on-air phone calls, in Arabic, long segment of a type of chanting/singing, did not sound like the usual reciting from Qur'an, fair to poor, still on at 0421 (Ron Howard, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Fun with the SRF-59 --- Sitting on 1260 kHz at 8:30 p.m. CST where XEL, [DF] "La Doce Sesenta" is dominant with its female-led talk, and in its null, I hear an ID for "Radio Ranchito", which is XEOG, Ojinaga, Chih., which I've never heard before here in Krum. XEL used to be non-existent here, but this year, it has dominated 1260 at night, indicating that, like many other Mexican stations, it may be using its daytime facilities. A few years ago, when I drove between here and El Paso, on New Years Day, 2005, XEOG was silent, but last year, the day before New Years, it was heard on the car radio. There are two English-speakers also on 1260, and maybe a third Spanish-speaker trying to make it through. News Talk 104.1 and 1260, KSGF, just came up for an ID at 8:47. This little radio may breath some life into my DX. Any ideas about a similar-sized, inexpensive MP3 type recorder that's connectable and compatible to the earphone jack. Take about five of these on the road and collect lots of good airchecks. Qal R. Mann, Krunudgeon (John A. Callarman, Krum TX, Dec 24, ABDX via DXLD) KSGF = Springfield MO; never heard that one in Enid; must be direxional unfavorably (gh) ** MEXICO [and non]. Estimado Glenn: antes que nada deseo que estes pasando unas fiestas felices y que el 2008 sea un gran año para ti y los tuyos. Acabo de leer lo que publicas en tu "Digest" más reciente en relación al conflicto en los 6010 kHz. Solo te contestaré algunas de las cosas escritas por Stendall, repito solo algunas: 1. XEOI Radio Mil, no ha dejado de emitir en los 6010 kHz desde principios de los años 50. Desde que me invitaron lo Srs. Salas a realizar un proyecto en la onda corta de Radio MIL (1997) tengo una gran cantidad de informes de recepción de todos los años desde entonces que prueban lo anterior. Y recogiendo algunos de los informes previos a 1997 me di cuenta de que no se había dejado de emitir. Miente Stendal al decir que tenía Radio Mil mucho tiempo fuera del aire. 2. En 1990 Radio Mil onda corta adquirió un nuevo transmisor y aumento su potencia a 1 kW, hasta ese año lo hacía con 500 vatios. 3. Desde mediados del 2002 nos percatamos de un ruido de fondo en los 6010 kHz, y fué a fines de ese año en que se identificó que había una emisora que interfería; recuerdo el informe de un diexista danés (Anker Petersen) que se encontraba en Chiapas (sur de México) y nos envió la información. Posteriormente más diexistas nos lo comunicaron y cuando salí de vacaciones ese año me pude percatar de ello. 3. Rafael Rodríguez en ese 2002 nos contactó a Héctor García Bojorge y a mí para hacernos ver que podría haber un conflicto con una emisora colombiana. Nos informó entonces que incialmente se había asignado la frecuencia de 6060 kHz pero que el ministerio colombiano de comunicaciones había hecho un cambio final y había asignado los 6010 kHz, y que esto causaría un problema. Enviamos entonces cartas al ministerio colombiano (sin respuesta) y a la organización que había recibido dicha asignación (también sin respuesta). Esto lo sabe muy bien Rafael Rodríguez y tengo copia del correo electrónico que me envió y mi contestación, mismos que se le hice llegar a Stendal para demostrarle otra de sus mentiras. 4. En una de tantas comunicaciones con Stendal me confesó haber tenido problemas con una emisora sudamericana, nunca me dijo cuál y cómo se resolvió el problema. 5. Desde entonces los informes de recepción a XEOI Radio Mil cayeron estrepitosamente, de 20 al mes a no más de tres. Nuestro proyecto incluído el programa DX tuvo que terminarse, después de muchos años de trabajo. Acabo de estar en la oficina postal y contamos solo seis informes a XEOI desde junio hasta diciembre. 6. Cuando hubo comunicaciones con Stendal y vimos algún cambio de mejora se lo hice ver y agradecer, teníamos la intención de volver al proyecto pero nuevamente recibíamos informes de la interferencia; yo mismo pude constatar todos estos años esta interferencia a no más de 50 km de la Cd. de México. 7. Stendal afirma que "por décadas" los 6010 kHz han estado asignados y utilizados en Colombia; miente nuevamente este Sr. El último registro de esta asignación a Colombia es en 1980. Miente de nuevo Stendal. Y si llegó a emplearse esta frecuencia en Colombia antes de 1980, nunca hubo conflicto registrado con Radio Mil. 8. Afirma Stendal que soy el único que se queja; tengo los informes y las cartas de muchos diexistas que hablan al respecto, pero que no encuentran eco si envían alguna carta a "La Voz de Tu Conciencia". Debe recordar Stendal que varios diexistas reconocidos desde México, España o Argentina le hicieron ver lo de la interferencia. Es decir nuevamente miente Stendal. De esto está al tanto Rafael Roidríguez. 9. Me han mandado informes de no haber interferencia de La Voz de Tu Conciencia. En algunas noches yo mismo he notado que ocasionalmente no se escucha el ruido de fondo. Por motivos familiares y de trabajo no he podido salir de la Ciudad de México por un par de meses; si no hay cambio, saldré a la costa del Pacífico mexicano la próxima semana y podré saber cuál es la situación actual. 10. Hace un par de años, cuando "Radio República" se metió a los 6010 kHz, fuimos nosotros y gracias a Jeff White se hizo el contacto para resolver el conflicto, lo cual se superó en tres meses y "Radio República" se retiro de los 6010 kHz. Stendal me afirmó en una comunicación que él lo había visto esto personalmente, otra mentira más de este Sr. Es decir, nosotros logramos despejar los 6010 kHz y no ellos. 11. Afirma Stendal que han gastado mucho dinero en los supuestos cambios, y pregunto ¿Cuánto dinero ha invertido Radio Mil manteniendo estos años su señal las 24 horas a pesar de la interferencia majadera" de "La Voz de Tu Conciencia"? Y no me extiendo más; puedo comprobar todas y cada una de las afirmaciones. Para mí la solución no es complicada, que cumplan con su palabra de modificar su antena y que reduzcan a 1 kW de potencia o dejen de emitir de las 0000 a las 1200 UT. Entiendo que a pesar de ser "La Voz de Tu Conciencia" una emisora que "busca la paz", el problema es que quien da el dinero no desea invertir en resolver el problema, y ser como te digo una emisora de "paz", no les importa imponer y perjudicar o otros, en este caso a XEOI Radio Mil". A mí me tiene sin cuidado cuál sea el perfil de esa emisora; respeto el derecho que tenemos a la libre expresión. No es como Stendal lo afirma que por ser tú o yo "ateos" estamos en su contra. Es simplemente respetar y esto no lo han hecho; me gusta siempre recordar a Benito Juárez: "entre los hombres como entre las naciones el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz". Para finalizar ahora sí, desconozco qué quiere decir con que soy un "DX buff" [aficionado]; solo te sé decir que he tenido desde 1997 el cargo honorífico de responsable de la onda corta de Radio Mil. Hace unas tres semanas me fué a ver a mi consultorio el productor general de Radio Mil y hablamos del proyecto; asimismo la semana pasada hablé con el Ing. Rodríguez, encargado técnico para ver qué mejoras se hacen, a pesar de que siempre están al tanto de la situación técnica. XEOI Radio Mil pertenece a una organización muy seria "NRM Comunicaciones" que tiene muchas emisoras de OM FM, y por supuesto onda corta. Te reitero mis felicitaciones (Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla, DF, Dec 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST; cc to Martin Stendal and Jeff White) I don`t think it helps to call someone a liar repeatedly, but Julián feels his evidence justifies that (gh, DXLD) ** MEXICO. 6010, Radio Mil, México DF, 1006-1020, 25-12, canciones románticas latinoamericanas, identificación por locutor: “En Radio Mil, Vive México”, “Nueve grados, Radio Mil”. Señal muy débil, pero sin interferencia de La Voz de tu Conciencia. 14321. (Méndez) 6185, Radio Educación, México DF, 0859-0945, 25-11, Locutor, identificación: “Radio Educación, 1060 Amplitud Modulada, transmitiendo desde ... Colonia del Valle”. “Entrecruzamiento, todos lo martes y jueves a las 20 horas”. “Todos los días, de lunes a viernes, escuche nuestro noticiero, a las 8 de la mañana, 2 y media de la tarde y 8 de la noche”. Canciones y música clásica. 44444. (Méndez) 9599.2, Radio UNAM, México DF, 2250-2257, 24-12, música clásica, locutor y locutora, comentario sobre grupos editoriales de México, libros. 24322. (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, escuchas realizadas en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) XEYU`s signal has been a lot weaker here lately than it was a while earlier (Glenn Hauser, OK, Dec 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 9599.41, MÉXICO, Radio UNAM, México DF; 1552-1601 24 December, 2007. Female opera. Drifty in my short listen, 9599.398- .435. Fair, clear and modulation not too bad (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, JRC NRD-535, ICOM IC-R75, RadioShack DX-399, Hammarlund HQ-180A, GE Superadio III, dipole, RadioShack Pro-60 handheld scanner, interior longwire, Scotka MW ferrite loop, RadioShack non-active MW loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. CIUDAD JUÁREZ: INICIÓ TRANSMISIONES RADIO GUADALUPANA http://www.cimacnoticias.com/site/07122409-Ciudad-Juarez-inic.31545.0.html De la Redacción --- México, DF, 24 dic 07 (CIMAC).- La Diócesis de Ciudad Juárez inauguró oficialmente la semana pasada Radio Guadalupana, en la frecuencia de 1100 [sic] de Amplitud Modulada, la primera emisora católica mexicana que se escucha en Texas y otras zonas de los Estados Unidos. El proyecto de Radio Guadalupana se estableció “atendiendo a la urgencia de nuestros tiempos de proclamar la verdad sobre la vida humana y el destino del hombre revelado en Jesucristo”, según el decreto por el cual se erigió la emisora. La programación y contenido de Radio Guadalupana, emisora radiofónica del grupo Nueva Era, será dependiente de la Diócesis de Ciudad Juárez, según el decreto leído durante su inauguración por el secretario canciller, padre Jorge González. El alcance de la emisora incluye, además de Ciudad Juárez, Texas, Las Cruces, Nuevo México, Villa Ahumada y lugares aledaños. Durante la misa que se celebró en la Catedral de Ciudad Juárez, que se convirtió en su primer programa transmitido, el obispo Renato Ascendió León señaló que Radio Guadalupana estará al aire 24 horas al día los 365 días del año. Asimismo, dijo que durante el día, en esta emisora, la cual es la segunda de corte religioso en la localidad -- la primera fue Radio Viva --, habrá distintas programaciones en donde sacerdotes como Eduardo Hayen y Antonio Salcido compartirán temas religiosos, señala la prensa local. Es así como a partir de las 6 de la mañana ambos sacerdotes presentarán el programa “Qué padre... amanecer”. A las 7:30 se transmitirá la liturgia de las horas y a las 8 la misa en vivo desde alguna parroquia de la localidad. A las 8:30 de la mañana será el programa musical “Creo en Dios”, a las 11 serán las noticias de Radio Vaticana y a las 11:30 el programa Criterios de ACI Prensa, apunta la prensa local. Al mediodía será el rezo del ángelus y 5 minutos después la primera parte del programa musical Mi vida en Cristo. Su página de Internet http://radioguadalupana.org aunque aún no transmite la señal en vivo, ya cuenta con algunas cápsulas informativas. Cabe destacar que dentro del portal es posible acceder a la página católica de ACI prensa. Además, en el portal de Radio Guadalupana los radioescuchas pueden consultar los programas que se desarrollan en la emisora, los días en los que transmiten, los horarios y los conductores de cada uno. Durante la inauguración de la emisora, celebrada el pasado 11 de diciembre y la cual se llevó a cabo a la par de los festejos a la Virgen de Guadalupe, María Eugenia Arriaga, del diario diocesano Presencia, señaló que Radio Guadalupana ayudará a Ciudad Juárez a “hermanarse” con El Paso, Texas. Por ello, refirió Arriaga al portal Catholic.net, la diócesis de El Paso, Texas tendrá una participación de dos horas diarias, es decir, “el trabajo pastoral se realiza binacionalmente lo que favorece profundamente a los dos países y evidencian que la fe no tiene fronteras” (via José Miguel Romero, dxldyg via DXLD) 1100 kHz? Impossible. There is an 1110 in Juárez, XEWR, which is what must have been taken over by the Catholix. Yes: website specifies 1110. Beware, loud audio launches automatically from above website; how rude!!! Name alludes to the Mexican Virgin Mary cult (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MICRONESIA. Re 7-158: Received a very nice full detail QSL card today from Roland Weibel who is PMA's IT/Development Assistant (according to their website) and now, apparently, their Radio Station Mgr., in 2 months for a CD recording, SASE & prepared card, neither used. I sent the package to the Guam address but the card was stamped and postmarked from Pohnpei. NASWA country C/V# 224. Nice Christmas present! (Terry Palmersheim, KC7LDP Helena, MT, Dec 25, HCDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1388, DXLD) I also received the QSL today also from PMA The Cross. All details are the same as yours. I send them an Email report back in early October. Naswa VIC 182 (Steve Price, Johnstown, PA, Dec 24, ibid.) VIC = Verified individual country; vs HIC = heard individual country (gh) ** MONACO. TWR: see NETHERLANDS ANTILLES ** MYANMAR. BURMA/MYANMAR, 5040.61, R. Myanmar, 1152-1206, Dec 24, vernacular. Female announcer between "wailing" vocal ballads and flutes. Wind instruments at 1200, OM until music returns at 1205. Poor under band noise and het presumably from 5039v-R. Libertad (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200'Beverages, 60 M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) FYI, I try to file dentroBurman logs under MYANMAR, and clandestines under BURMA [non] (gh) ** NETHERLANDS. RADIO NETHERLANDS JUBILEE CONCERT by Chris Chambers 24-12-2007 On Christmas Day there's a change to our normal line-up. We're bringing you a special concert from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Radio Netherlands. The celebrations started with the arrival of Princess Máxima On 29 November this year, Radio Netherlands Worldwide celebrated its 60th birthday with the largest concert it's ever given. It was held at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the cultural centre of the Netherlands and in the presence of Princess Máxima, the wife of the Dutch Crown Prince Willem Alexander. The programme is presented by Chris Chambers. The line-up: The Italian percussionist Nando Russo opens the concert with 'Meeting Point'. Mezzo-soprano Tania Kross and the pianist Randal Corsen are both from Curacao and perform a local song 'Chuchubi' in their native Papiamento. They're joined by the Amedeo Modigliani string Quartet. The Indian Percussionist Trilok Girtu performs his own work 'Balato!' The Argentinian tenor Enrique Folger sings 'Tomo y Obligo' Tania Kross returns to the stage with two pieces from Bizet's 'Carmen'. The brass section of the Concertgebouw Orchestra perform Giovanni Gabrielli's 'Primitoni' Ali Keita comes from The Ivory Coast and performs 'Drums of the World' on a balafon. He's joined by Trilok Girtu. A jazz version of 'The Port of Amsterdam' is played by Randel Corsen and his band with Ali Keita on the balafon. The Dutch band Bløf sing two of their most famous songs 'Dans aan Zee' and 'Laag bij de Grond' . . . http://www.radionetherlands.nl/specialseries/RNW60/071124-jubilee-concert Embedded Quicktime launches automatically from above page; it`s only 50% of the whole concert. You`d think online at least they could availablize it all. Maybe they do in Dutch? Nothing at all about it found in a quick look thru their Dutch site starting at http://www.wereldomroep.nl/actua/ English Page above also has YouTube ready to play, I assume just a fragment. No --- they are ``sorry, video no longer available`` (gh, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. A LATIN XMAS TREAT FOR YOU -- by Andy Clark 04-12-2007 Looking for a little Latin fire this Christmas? Then look no further. As a special festive treat, and because we here at Radio Netherlands Worldwide are celebrating our 60th anniversary, we have teamed up with our Latin American department and have a wonderful festive give-away for you. All you need to do is fill in a form, but make sure you do so by or on 27 December 2007. We'll be closing the 'inbox' for your entries at 1600 hours (UT) on that day. A CD specially made by the world-renowned vocal group Opus Cuatro from Argentina. The group came together in 1968 and it has a broad range of music rooted in the folk traditions of Argentina and Latin America. At times the music has a jazz tinge and at others an uplifting spiritual sound, but don't take our word for it - enter our competition and have the chance to take a listen for yourself. Simply fill in the form below and tell us what you think of Radio Netherlands Worldwide at 60. We'll publish the best comments and those selected will receive the Opus Cuatro CD . . . http://www.radionetherlands.nl/specialseries/RNW60/xmastreat60 (via gh, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. TWR Bonaire transmitter --- Re: >> The Brown-Boveri 500 kW MW unit I saw at TWR had been purchased used from somewhere in Africa (I want to say Bophuthatswana, but I could be wrong), and could easily have gone back there or to somewhere in the Middle East or Asia. << According to Hansjörg Biener this was the former 604 kHz transmitter of Capital Radio in Transkei: http://www.marzinfo-cape.co.za/kurzwelle/capital_radio.jpg http://www.capital604.com http://www.biener-media.de/atn-rtm.html The replacement is a Nautel NA100 (thus 100 kW), the antenna is described as four mast system. Some other notes: The station was the outcome of a search for a supplement to TWR's Monaco operations. First they intended to build a station at Puerto Rico but found conditions like being limited to fixed shortwave frequencies inacceptable, so they went to the Netherlands Antilles, got airport-related trouble at Curaçao and thus finally settled at Bonaire. The construction of the complete station (500 kW MW, 250 kW SW, another 50 kW SW) had been contracted to Continental. A production of programming in English, Spanish and Portuguese had been established at Bonaire but much material came from outside, especially the vast majority of the German-language programming originated from Evangeliums-Rundfunk. Also transmissions for eastern Europe were launched as addition to the Monaco outlets but later reduced and finally discontinued altogether. In 1988 they got rid of the antenna aiming at Europe by letting it blown up in a military exercise. Between 1964 and 1969 the TWR transmitters were also used by RNW, a pronounced separation between TWR and RNW programming had been made by cutting the carrier for two minutes. The used "but almost like new" mediumwave transmitter from Transkei cost them 703,000 USD, as opposed to 2 millions USD for a similar new one. The shortwave transmitters, which dated like the old mediumwave unit back to 1964, were not replaced, lingered around for some more time (during the last years the 250 kW unit had been run on just 100 kW) and were finally shut down on June 30 1993. I still recall hearing a German-language programme from there during the last weeks of operation, with faint signal late in the evening somewhere on the 19 mB (perhaps it was 15355) on the Sangean radio I had just bought (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. Radio Pacific was rebranded to BSport effective October 29. New format is 'Sport Radio'. Co-channel Radio Trackside remains unaltered and BSport is now competing head on with TRN's Radio Sport, having dumped all non-sports programs. Schedule for those frequencies (approximately 14 of them) Schedule: BSport M-F 1800-2400, Sat 1700-2000, Sun 1700-2400; Radio Trackside M-F 2400-1200, Sat 2000- 1200, Sun 2400-1200; Radio Live M-F 1200-1800, Sat 1200-1700, Sun 1200-1700 [all times UT]. Essentially, there are 3 separate stations sharing the same frequencies, transmitters etc. (David Ricquish, DX Worldwide II, IRCA DX Monitor Dec 29 via DXLD) ** NIGER. 9704.99, LV du Sahel, Niamey, 2205-2301*, Dec 25, French talk. Variety of French pops-ballads, Afro-pop music. Phone talk. Kor`an at 2255-2259. Short IS on flute followed by choral National Anthem. Poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. TCS On Air Sat AM 1520 UT --- Greetings, friends! The Crystal Ship is going on the air this AM on 6875 kHz, from 1520 through 1700 UT or so. No holiday music, but The Doors, The Bush Fuhrer, Vietnam tour-de-force, etc. (John Poet, The Crystal Ship, Dec 22, via Will Martin, MO, DXLD) Merry Christmas! TCS holiday freqs. Merry Christmas to all my radio friends! The Crystal Ship is going on the air this Christmas Eve, on 6700 kHz commencing about 2120 UT. A parallel frequency of 3430 kHz will commence sometime after 2200. We will likely be on the air Christmas Day, as follows: Sometime between 1200-1700 UT on 6700 kHz; anytime after 2000 on 6700 and possibly // 3420 kHz at local darkness. Hoping all have a safe and happy holiday. 73s and FIGHT for FREE RADIO! (The Poet, The Crystal Ship, Dec 24, via Will Martin, DXLD) ** OKINAWA. JAPAN: I don’t recall seeing it mentioned in DX circles, but AFN 648 Okinawa has been silent for several months. The tower collapsed, apparently when the guy wires were being replaced. There is an informal discussion about it at http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-1012.html According to an entry in the Japanese version of Wikipedia http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFN (viewed through translation software), AFN-648 has been silent since Feb 2007. The US government is attempting to procure a new tower, but it’s not clear how long it will be before a new one is erected (Bruce Portzer, DX Worldwide II, IRCA DX Monitor Dec 29 via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. The Oklahoma News Report, Dec 26 on OETA, had a report from Tulsa about how wonderful HD radio is, including an interview with Rich Fisher of Public Radio Tulsa whose two stations are running it on FM. This prompted me to send this message to the reporter: David Crow, You fell for it! HD when applied to radio does NOT mean ``high definition`` --- in fact, it does not mean anything. iBiquity chose the term just to try to ride on the coattails of HDTV. You also failed to point out that ``HD`` radio on AM (unlike KWGS/KWTU) is a miserable failure, but while it lasts causes greatly increased interference to neighboring stations. Just try to hear anything next to KTOK or WWLS in OKC, for instance. Even on FM it has a VERY limited range and reduces the range of the main signal. This is progress? Everything you can get on HD (and incomparably more) you can already get on the Internet. Regards, Glenn Hauser, Enid (to ONR, OETA via DXLD) ** OMAN. 15140, Radio Sultanate of Oman, 1430-1445, Dec 25, Very weak. Barely audible but able to hear English news at 1430-1440 with their distinctive short music jingles. More English talk at 1441 but just to weak to decipher. Lost in noise at 1445 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7325 ofta 1110 Radio Wantok Light [sic] (pres.) med religiös musik, bl a "Praise To The Lord". Frekvensen oftast fri 1100-1150 och 1230-1300. Annars kinestalande stationer som dominerar. Hörs svagt 1-2 JJ (Jerry Johansson, Sweden? SW Bulletin Dec 26 via DXLD) ** PERU. Re 7-158: 4990.8 kHz MISTERO PERUANO New Peruvian on 4990.8 Posted by: "Glenn Hauser" Ciao! "Babbo Glenn Hauser Natale" ci ha portato un regalo dal PERU, da dove Alfredo Cañote di Lima, un ascoltatore locale, segnala di aver sentito su 4990.8 kHz l'emisora Manatial [sic] Radio 960 kHz da Huancayo, la stessa città Peruana da dove anni fa operava anche Radio Andina che utilizzava i 4995 kHz. La Web di Manatial Radio segnala che l'emisora utilizza anche i 4985 kHz: http://galeon.com/manatial/fotos.html [URL sic, not manantial] la WEB offre molte belle foto, L'emisora e diretta dal Pastor Leoncio Paco Conce. La sede della emisora è : Manatial Radio C/o : TEMPLO LA HERMOSA", Jr. SANTA CECILIA No 107, CHILCA, HUANCAYO, PERU Email : manatialradio960am @ hotmail.com A titolo di cronaca occorre precisare che anche Radio Ancash di Huaraz sempre dal Perú dichiara che continua a trasmettere su 4990 kHz nella sua bellissima pagina WEB : http://www.radioanc ash.org/ ovviamente 2 emisoras nella stessa frequenza non possono coesistere. Sono gradite --- ulteriori notizie - -- esperamos aclaraciones al respecto! (Dario Monferini, Dec 25, playdx yg via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. Re 7-157, Radio Veritas Asia B07. On December 24 at 1200, freq 11935 I heard the opening in Indonesian "Dari Quezon City Philippines, inilah Radio Veritas Asia" read by OM. At 1226 closing by OM "Sekian siaran kami malam ini….," followed by info on next sked 2300–2330 on 11820 and 9505; same time sked per WRTH 2007 (Tony Ashar, Depok - Indonesia, Dec 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PRIDNESTROVYE. Radio PMR, 7370, heard here quite well in English at 1800-1815. French program begins at 1815, with ID by woman as "Ici Tiraspol..." (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, Dec 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 5995 // 7165. Family Radio (via Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskii- site per DXLD 7-156), 1438-1500 23 Dec. Handel's "Messiah", generic "The Sound of the New Life" ID, Mr. Camping in English. 5995 mixed with R. Australia, 7165 clear. Also noted on 6225 (via "DB"-Dubai?) weak and 5920 (via "TCH"-huh?) with a very spiritual signal (has to be believed in to be heard) (Dan Sheedy, CA, R75/120' random "trippin' Santa" wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) DB = Dushanbe, Tajikistan; TCH = Chita, Russia, where they speak French, don`t they? A key to these abbrs. is among the zipped files at http://www.hfcc.org (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Thanks, Glenn --- Tchad, Tchita, Tchristmas, Tchitchicastenango, Tcherbourg --- someone's head oughta be on the tchopping block for confusing mono-lingual 'mericans like me (Dan Sheedy, ibid.) ** RUSSIA. Instead of Vatican Radio, on Tue December 25 0003 UT freq 13785 I heard YL talk in Russian and then OM informing the website which was ending with "vor.ru". Following a song, on 0008 I heard OM identifying "Radiokompaniya Golos Rossii". SINPO 44444 (Tony Ashar, Depok - Indonesia, Dec 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 6005, VOR, *0730-0803, Dec 26, program in English with jazz vocals from a recent Moscow jazz festival, weak, // 9550 (good). For the past week I have observed this with an open carrier before BoH and abruptly starting with no sign-on announcements. The usual databases show *0800 (Ron Howard, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. SLOVAKIA. 9825, Miraya FM, via IRRS, *1459-1505, Dec 25, "Miraya FM" ID & English news at 1500. Poor with co-channel QRM. Wiped out at 1505 by DRM QRM (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ESLOVAQUIA, 9825, Radio Miraya FM, 1635-1640, escuchada el 25 de diciembre en algún dialecto africano a locutor con comentarios en programa musical, con emisión de música disco pop, fragmento de carácter navideño con felicitaciones de varias personas con música de un villancico; se escucha tanto en inglés cómo en dialectos africanos, ID “Miraya FM”, SINPO 44444 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), Spain, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, YAESU FRG-7700, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TUNISIA. Re 7-158: Glenn, 500 kW at Sfax is a nominal figure. I have my doubts these days, compared the power of RTT Sfax now and in the past, in the first decade after inauguration. Looks like rather 100-125 kW at present - or station lose power on the feeder circuit now. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Things That Amuse --- I was listening online to the 'Afternoon Plays" on BBC Radio 4 from last week. There were 5, the first two are no longer available being more than a week old now. The 5 plays together trace the life of Jesus from birth to death to resurrection. Now the amusing part. Maybe it`s just me, since I'm easily amused. But... Remember all those Hollywood Biblical epics? More often than not, the bad guys (i.e. Romans) had British accents, and the "good" guys had American accents. Well, in these radio plays, Jesus, Mary and the disciples, all have broad English accents, almost cockney. The Romans and those in authority have American accents. Turnabout is fair play. The Americans... er...Romans as occupying power in the Middle East getting drawn into a local justice question. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. But its an excellent series of plays nonetheless, with a quality of production one expects from the BBC (Fred Waterer, Ont., Dec 25, ODXA yg via DXLD) Geez, when will they ever get it right --- Latin accents for the Romans, Aramaic accents for the `Christians` (gh, DXLD) ** U K [non]. If you wanted to hear the Queen's Xmas message at 1735 on Christmas Day (12/25) on 15400, or any other BBCWS program on that channel, you'd be disappointed--all I heard at 1715 check was a recording (repeated) saying "There is no programming on this frequency" and suggesting other ways to hear World Service, including the Internet. Obviously a satellite feed problem to the Ascension site; I've heard something similar on 7160 in our NAm evenings a few weeks ago. 17830 in // had no problems at same (above) time, normal news programming in progress (Joe Hanlon, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It wasn`t easy to find the QXM on the web. Searching on YouTube you get a bunch of parodies! Searching on BBC you get various excerpts or video reports ABOUT the message. I finally watched what I think is the original, as someone got it off Sky, via YouTube (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 12133.522-USB, FLORIDA, AFRTS, Saddlebunch Keys; 0322-0340 22 December, 2007. "The Car Show" with very annoying audio clipping out for a split second, every few seconds. Break at 0328 with a long string of PSA's, then back to the program at 0332. Clear and fair, parallel excellent 7811U, which also suffered from the spastically clipping audio (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, JRC NRD-535, ICOM IC-R75, RadioShack DX-399, Hammarlund HQ-180A, GE Superadio III, dipole, RadioShack Pro-60 handheld scanner, interior longwire, Scotka MW ferrite loop, RadioShack non-active MW loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 17705.28, CALIFORNIA, KVOH, Los Angeles; 1844-1927 24 December, 2007. Excellent, local quality signal. Great program of ritmos-type vocals, at least some with Christian lyrics, until 1903 male, "Ésta es KVOH, La Voz de Restauración, Los Angeles, California" and back to the songs (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, JRC NRD-535, ICOM IC-R75, RadioShack DX-399, Hammarlund HQ-180A, GE Superadio III, dipole, RadioShack Pro-60 handheld scanner, interior longwire, Scotka MW ferrite loop, RadioShack non-active MW loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Terry, I assume you mean 17775+ ? Tho KVOH does put out spurs, I hear them farther out than that. Local quality? Modulation is usually horrible despite strength when the skip is right. 73, (Glenn to Terry, via DXLD) No, 17705. I did note them later in the day (on another day and at a listed time) on 17775. Initially I thought it was Cuba or RNdV via Cuba because of the frequency, despite not being listed for this time from Cuba. I didn't find KVOH listed in PWBR for this channel, either. No WRTH-08 on hand here yet to check (Terry L. Krueger, FL, Dec 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) If not a spur as being off-channel also suggests, might be a punch-up error, except I expect this is a fix-tuned transmitter as they have been on 17775 forever, which is a very good channel for them. If there is a next time, look for a match on 17845 or whatever equals the offset to the low side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Very possible it was a spur. I never thought to check elsewhere. It was very clean and strong (Terry Krueger, ibid.) ** U S A. Re 7-158, WCNZ 1660 FL: Hello from the Land of Santa Claus, Finland! WCNZ 1660 has been one of the most common NA X-band stations here in Finland. I just wonder, how to get their QSL. I have tried snailmail for several times without any results. No QSL has been sent to me so far. Does anyone know the e-mail address for Relevant Radio 1660 kHz? Or is it impossible to get their QSL after they have left X- band? Happy Holidays, (Hannu Romppainen, Paltamo - FINLAND, http://www.romppainen.net/eng.htm MWC via DXLD) ** U S A. 940, FLORIDA (MIS), WPTI814, Pinellas County Emergency Management, Largo (9685 Ulmerton Rd.); this one joins St. Petersburg- Clearwater International Airport (1060 kHz) on the inactive TIS/MIS roster. It appears to have fallen silent fairly recently. Whether the one near downtown St. Petersburg and the one in Palm Harbor are active has yet to be determined (both are also on 940 and linked to rebroadcast the same audio). Normally with this off, I would hear a weak WINZ, Miami daytime. But now, 1340 kHz WTAN, Clearwater is putting out a weak overload image on 940, which I will blame on the station and not the receiver(s), since it is present on both the IC- R75 and JRC NRD-535. Also noted around 520 on the R75, though not on the NRD-535. 1620, FLORIDA, "WBUL" University of South Florida, Tampa; 1954-2005 22 December, 2007. A cursory check of this Part 15 while in the vicinity once again. Alternative/punk music format as usual with the conclusion of an Anti-Flag thrasher, ID by very green student, back to songs. 88.3 MHz, FLORIDA (Part 15 compliant) "Kimpton Farms Christmas Radio" Largo; I just received the following email: "Hello. Interesting to find my low power 88.3 FM listed on your site http://home.earthlink.net/~tocobagadx/flortis.html A friend found your list while searching Kimpton Place on the net. My broadcast is seasonal. The audio transmitted is the audio output of the computer program that runs the display. More info about Kimpton Christmas display can be found at my site http://www.kimptonchristmas.com Merry Christmas and enjoy!" [George a/k/a "The Wizard of Christmas"] ***************************************************************** (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, JRC NRD-535, ICOM IC-R75, RadioShack DX-399, Hammarlund HQ-180A, GE Superadio III, dipole, RadioShack Pro-60 handheld scanner, interior longwire, Scotka MW ferrite loop, RadioShack non-active MW loop, Visit my "Florida Low Power Radio Stations" at: http://home.earthlink.net/~tocobagadx/flortis.html or: http://www.geocities.com/geigertree/flortis.html DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. MEMORIES OF JACKSON, MS RADIO MID 1990'S I noticed a rather lively discussion of Blues music and Mississippi radio in last DXLD 7-158. Actually, I do like blues music. I was introduced to Blues music, not by being a Mississippian, though. Rather, I remember the “Crossroads” box set coming out by Eric Clapton. In this set, he praised Robert Johnson records as the inspiration for a lot of Clapton’s rock. Strangely enough, it was Clapton’s song, “After Midnight” on a beer commercial from the 80’s or early 90’s that made me a fan of Clapton. So, actually I’d probably know a lot less about Blues music if it wasn’t for that. As previously mentioned, WMPR is not Mississippi Public Broadcasting (a.k.a. Public Radio in Mississippi- PRM) the Jackson station is WMPN 91.3. The Meridian station, transmitter actually located in Rose Hill, MS, is WMAW 88.1. Rose Hill is also the location of Meridian’s NWS station. Really, the only regular Blues programming that comes on Mississippi Public Broadcasting is Highway 61 Blues on Saturdays. A podcast of the show is available through their website http://highway61radio.org/ This is real roots of the Blues though, with a recent podcast being about Mississippi John Hurt. Still though, it is a very interesting program for anyone with any interest in the roots of any music from rock to R&B. Another interesting station I remember, when living in Jackson, MS, is WJSU which is located at historically black college Jackson State University. Not a typical college station, it broadcast a lot of Jazz. Most people that I remember listening to FM in back in high school (1994-1996), either listened to WJMI 99 Jamz, an Urban station, or WSTZ Z106, which played classic rock during the day and alternative/ grunge at night. Some people would listen to WOKK Country, though. Meanwhile, I spent most of my Saturdays listening to WMPN. I loved A Prairie Home Companion, Car Talk, Whad ya Know, and of course, Highway 61 Blues, and also a Bluegrass show on WMPN. When those shows were not on, I would spend time listening to my scanner (there never was lack of radio traffic in Jackson), and shortwave (survivalist shows, Glen L Roberts, Radio Free America, etc...) Finally, when I would stay up late, cramming for Honors Human A&P exams, I would listen to Z106, which would play songs like Rage Against the Machine, Smashing Pumpkins, and Alice in Chains late at night (Jason R Gardner, KD5GNN, Meridian, MS, Dec 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. It's unusual to see one of NEW YORK's most aggressive public broadcasters back down from a fight, but Albany's WAMC and its outspoken leader, Alan Chartock, has withdrawn from what turned out to be a high-profile battle over an open noncommercial frequency up in Lake Placid. As we reported in our November 26 issue, WAMC was one of three applicants for 91.7 there. That's a frequency rival public broadcaster North Country Public Radio (WSLU 89.5 Canton) has been using for W219AK, a translator that's been operating since 1993. North Country applied to use 91.7 for a full-power signal, with 100 watts, and it fought hard to defend its frequency once WAMC's rival application became public. In addition to newspaper articles in the local paper and in the Albany Times-Union, North Country held two "listener meet- ups" in Lake Placid to rally support for its bid for the frequency. Late last week, WAMC backed down, reaching a deal to withdraw its Lake Placid application in exchange for an agreement to acquire the W219AK license if North Country is granted the full-power facility. WAMC would seek to move W219AK to a new frequency in order to bring its programming to the area. But North Country isn't out of the woods yet - it still faces another rival for 91.7. Brian Larson's Northeast Gospel Broadcasting (WNGN 91.9 Argyle) also applied for a Lake Placid 91.7 signal, and it believes it has the edge on the frequency. That's because of the way the FCC decides between competing applications for noncommercial frequencies: the point system favors applicants with fewer existing signals (Northeast Gospel has only WNGN, while North Country has seven), and it favors applicants whose proposals will cover more land area and population, an edge that's likely to go to Northeast Gospel's 8 kW application over North Country's 100-watt application. Can North Country and Northeast Gospel reach some kind of settlement before the FCC's January deadline for such deals? And if it can't - and if Northeast Gospel wins the 91.7 license - will North Country lose its Lake Placid coverage completely? Stay tuned... In PENNSYLVANIA, things are slowly getting back to normal after the storm that downed one TV tower and damaged several others in Scranton a week ago. WNEP (Channel 16), whose analog tower came down, crushing its analog transmitters, is working to get a replacement analog signal on the air from the nearby American Tower site that's home to its WNEP-DT (Channel 49) signal. (WNEP is feeding area cable systems with a standard-definition feed via the 16.3 channel of WNEP-DT.) Wilkes University's WCLH (90.7 Wilkes-Barre), which lost its antenna that had been mounted on the WNEP tower, is back on the air at low power from the college campus, with plans to get back to full power soon from a different tower on Penobscot Mountain (Scott Fybush, NE Radio Watch Dec 24 via DXLD) ** U S A. WILL KCPW'S PROGRAMMING BID TO SURVIVE DRIVE AWAY ITS LONGTIME LISTENERS? --- By Glen Warchol, The Salt Lake Tribune Public radio station KCPW in Salt Lake City, which continued to struggle through the most recent financial reporting period, is launching innovative programming that threatens to drive away some longtime listeners. The National Public Radio affiliate's most recent tax records - made available on a nonprofit information Web site - show the $2-million-a- year operation continued to lose money. A large part of the loss stems from the purchase of an AM radio license to reach more listeners. "In a market with 60-plus competing signals, we have anticipated it will take several years to break even," station President Blair Feulner said in an e-mail Wednesday. Community Wireless of Park City, the parent of Salt Lake radio stations KCPW-FM and AM and KPCW in Park City, reported an operating loss of $413,250 in its most recent tax filings. The operation lost $600,000 in the previous year. Despite the losses, Feulner continued to be paid more than most public radio managers across the nation, at $150,537, according to the station's most recent tax statement, which covers fiscal year Sept. 1, 2005, to Aug. 31, 2006. A 2006 survey of nonprofit senior managers in Utah conducted by the Utah Nonprofits Association found that executive officers for operations the size of Community Wireless are paid a mean salary of $80,346. The maximum mean, the study found, was $84,513. Though KCPW Salt Lake City and its Park City sibling station each have general managers, Feulner acts as president, an on-air host and chief fundraiser for KPCW's proposed $1 million facilities. "I have turned the day-to-day responsibilities of operating KPCW and KCPW over to new managers so I can concentrate on construction and fundraising for our new studios in Park City," Feulner wrote in the e-mail. He declined to be interviewed and would answer only questions posed by e-mail. In 2005, most listeners learned for the first time that Feulner's compensation is in the six-figure range. Feulner and his wife and then-co-manager, Susan, together earned about $700,000 from 2001 through 2003, not counting the $895,000 one-time-payment for the sale of an unused radio license the nonprofit owned. The most recent tax records show that then-KCPW station manager Chris Eisenberg made $52,000 annually. Community Wireless has attempted to sell the AM license, so far unsuccessfully. KCPW-AM "has always [been] and still is, for sale at a price that will produce a profit for Wireless contributors," Feulner said in the e-mail. The AM band simulcasts the same programming as KCPW-FM, but that soon will change. The station is asking supporters to donate $33,000 in start-up costs to broadcast BBC World Service radio around-the-clock on 1010. The move has angered some listeners, judging from comments on KCPW's Web site. "Forget the BBC, let's keep that local news accessible to those who reside or travel out of the Salt Lake Valley," said one listener. "You must think we are a bunch of idiots!" said another. "For the last two fundraising sessions you have threatened to remove our AM station if we didn't send enough money, and now you are doing it anyway!" In the e-mail, Feulner said listeners rate BBC very highly. "We think that change will be very positive." The change to BBC on AM follows a recent programming switch on early morning KCPW-FM that has some listeners frustrated. The FM broadcast has replaced NPR's long-running "Morning Edition" news show with "The Bryant Park Project" in the 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. slot. The show, named after a park near NPR's New York headquarters, hopes to draw a younger audience to public radio. Some critics have called it "NPR-lite." Although a couple listeners said they liked the new show, most did not, and a few threatened to take their pledge money elsewhere. Feulner argues it's too early to make a call on "Bryant Park." "Most of our listeners still haven't heard the show. NPR is pouring a considerable amount of resources into this new show. We felt we owed our listeners an opportunity to hear it." (SLC Tribune Dec 5 via John Johnson, MT, IRCA DX Monitor Dec 29 via DXLD) ** U S A. Re 7-158, minivan crashing into WLS-TV studio during newscast: here`s the video, and go onto the second one for the anchor`s reaxion during the crash: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=5852858 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Our local TV stations covered the "horizontal incursion" into the WLS- TV studios, too. Now, I gues the Dept. of Homeland Security and the FCC are making plans to pass legislation that all broadcast studios be protected by rebar-reinforced concrete bollards to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. Actually, I'm surprised that WLS-TV hadn't thought of such an incident happening when they built their studios. Having on-air studios so close to major streets just sounds like an accident waiting to happen. 73, (Steve N5WBI Houston TX Ponder, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. 5000, YVTO, 0142+, Dec 26, Spanish. Venezuelan time station heard under co-channel WWV with "Observatorio Cagical, Caracas Venezuela" IDs mentioned twice, followed by UT, each minute. Fair listening in ECCS-USB (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200'Beverages, 60 M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I happened to be listening for this later that evening, but just WWV. Are you sure they gave time in UT? We had another report that it`s local time, which would seem to be called for, to help all the Venezuelans confused about what time it is (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) As my Spanish borders on terrible to non-existent, I have to say I'm not sure the time was in UT. Regrettably, I assumed it was (Scott Barbour, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. 6060, Dec 25, I wanted to check if R. Nacional de Venezuela via Cuba had an English segment today, but they did not sign-on as usual around 1100 and still not on by 1123, could only hear PBS Sichuan in Chinese (Ron Howard, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. CVC heard on new 9565: see AUSTRALIA [non] ** ZANZIBAR. 11735, Radio Tanzania-Zanzibar, 1753-1814, Dec 26, program in what sounded like Swahili, brief segment with background sounds of a large crowd, along with a drawn out "Goal", before ToH drums, "9:00 East African Time", news from Spice FM in English (items about Zanzibar [some missing Tanzanian children flown home from Saudi Arabia, there are thousands of missing Tanzanian children in Saudi Arabia], Cairo, Moscow, Islamabad, Lima, Jakarta), into Islamic type music, fair, well above average reception (Ron Howard, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ¿Whý would they be in SA? (gh, DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE. 4828, Voice of Zimbabwe (presumed), 0357-0420, Dec 26, fair with non-stop high-life music and songs (Ron Howard, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Re 7-158, 700, Jamaica? Conditions were poor here too, not as good as yesterday. 1630 KCJJ, 700 WLW but no BBC WS!, WENE 1430 is all that I have in my log. I listened to the Jamaican 700 web stream - talk only, no BBC WS. Keep trying John - conditions are set to improve over the next few days! (Andrew Brade, UK, Dec 25, MWC via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 3293, NUMBERS, Tuned across this frequency 0225 12/25 while testing my new Etón E5 and noted SSB five-digit Spanish number groups read by woman; quickly switched to ICF-2010 and confirmed this frequency and the mode was LSB. Signal was very strong --- about as strong as CHU on 3330 --- but audio was distorted, much like a ham transmitter with the speech compression set too high. It also seemed as though there was audio from another source in the background --- it was similar to getting a phone call with the caller's TV in the background. Off at 0242 with "final, final, final" by a different woman (Harry Helms, W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, ABDX via DXLD) v. 5760 UNIDENTIFIED. 5014.3, 0038-0056* 25 December. Likely R. Altura: man reading numbers in what sounded like a lottery ("ganadores", "disfrute los éxitos"), ad string from 0045, UT -4 TC at 0053, more numbers read and abruptly off at 0056 (Dan Sheedy, CA, R75/120' random "trippin' Santa" wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. NUMBERS 5760 kHz. Tuned in 1303 UT 12/26 to hear five digit CW "numbers" in progress with very strong signal. Used an apparent cut numbers system with only letters A, N, W, T, I, G, U, and R sent --- no E, M, or O normally used in cut numbers systems (and they could only represent eight digits with this system). Sent at about 15 wpm and broke about every five minutes with "AR AR AR" and the break signal (dahdidididah) sent twice. Ended at 1335 with "AR AR SK" and no more. Coupled with my previous day's logging of a similarly loud LSB Spanish 5D YL station, I can't help but wonder if something's afoot in Cuba----is Fidel finally stepping aside for good? --- and the DGI is getting word out to its operatives (Harry Helms W5HLH Smithville, TX EL19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hmmm, who says number stations have to be in the decimal system? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Re 7-158, Re: Bro Stair on 6220 kHz --- Thanks Russ, it could have been as Laser Hot Hits are now live on 6220 kHz with no sign of Bro Stair today. Laser are also on 4025.42 with a different presumably recorded programme. Both audible here with a fair signal around 1230 UTC today, 24th December (Dave Kenny, England, BDXC-UK via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 7250 kHz - Mon. Dec. 24 – 1532 to 1545 UT I heard religious talk by YL, followed by presumably drama. I missed the website info, but I heard Post Box address in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. On closing OM mentioned meter bands, kilo Hertz and Pashto. 1559 UT off. According to the following B07 lists, I found FEBA & IBRA Radio as broadcasters and Krasnodar & Armavir as transmitters. Anybody can identify the right one? (Aoki) 7250 FEBA RADIO 1530-1545 1234567 Hazaragi 200 104 Krasnodar RUS 04048E4436 FEBA b07 (EiBi) 7250;1530-1600;;G;FEBA Radio;HZ;AFG;/RUS-a;0;; (HFCC) 7250 1430 1600 40,41 ARM 200 104 1234567 281007 300308 D RUS IBR TRW 15177 (Tony Ashar, Depok - Indonesia, Dec 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. The heavy Cuban-style grind jamming is still going on 15710 whenever checked in the daytime, such as Dec 26 at 1504. Surprised I am the only one reporting this. The question is, what are they jamming? A new clandestine, or a new daytime frequency for Radio República? Possibly those closer to Cuba in the skip zone would get more of the target, if there really is one, and less of the jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ HOW TO DOWNLOAD LATEST PAL? I can't figure out how to download the latest revision of Bruce Portzer's Pacific-Asian List (PAL). I presume you get it from the Pacific Heritage webpage, but I don't find where to download it from that site. I can access it online, but I want to download it and save it to my computer, as I've done with previous versions. Any help, tips, etc. gratefully appreciated (Steve NE Oregon Ratzlaff, IRCA via DXLD) Merry Christmas, Steve (and the entire IRCA readership!). It's not the simplest in the world. I know that I've scratched my head for a bit at times. Here's how to do it: Go to the Pacific Heritage website http://www.radioheritage.net/ On the left side look under the "Our Programs". In that column there's the "Pacific-Asian Log". Click the PAL Search. Now simply enter your e-mail address, then click the "download database". Make sure you also click the MW (not the SW, which might be the default). Enter, and that should do it! Best resource on the web today for TP MW (and LW) reception bar none! Take care! (Walt in breezy Victoria, BC Salmaniw, ibid.) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ IRCA CONVENTION 2008 NEWS The 2008 IRCA Convention will be held at the Days Inn in Flagstaff, Arizona on Route 66 September 12-14. The room rates are $65 for Single, Double, Triple or Quad. We will have station tours, auction and banquet. Flagstaff is in Northern Arizona at 7,000 feet so it should not be hot with a average high of 75. Start making your plans now for Flagstaff 2008! (Bill Block, 7716 E. Thelma Drive, Prescott Valley, AZ 86314 billwblock @ msn.com IRCA DX Monitor Dec 29 via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ Etón E5 for Christmas! My oncologist's office is near the Fry's Electronics in Austin, and after a visit to him earlier this month I stopped by. I spent time examining an Etón E5 SW/AM/FM portable on display; my only SW portable is the ICF-2010 but it's large and I'm worried about it getting damaged or lost if used in the field. Di encouraged me to buy the E5, but I told her (honestly) that I need to start getting rid of some of my radio junk instead of adding something new to the pile. I should've known what was going to be in that box she gave me last night --- an Etón E5! I'll write a full review after I've played with it more, but my initial take is that I am very impressed by it, especially for the street price of about $120. The closest comparison I can make to receivers I have previously owned is to the Sony ICF-2001, the predecessor to the the ICF-2010. Like the ICF-2001, it tunes in 1 kHz increments and has a manually tuned variable BFO for SSB reception. Unlike the ICF-2001, it has two selectable bandwidths. Sensitivity is impressive, seemingly on par with the ICF-2010. Using just the telescoping whip, GLS-209 in Galveston was thumping in, as was Cuba and RVC on 530 plus "The Het" on 1181. The Radio Reloj outlets on 570, 790, and 1020 were punching through the mess on their channels with "RR" in Morse code and time ticks. I briefly used it with the Quantum Loop and there was no trace of overloading. On SW, Voice of Russia was at a nice level on 6240 kHz and was Mauritania on 4845 kHz. Selectivity is less impressive. While the narrow filter helps, it's clear the skirt selectivity in both wide and narrow positions is markedly inferior to my ICF-2010. (To be fair, my ICF-2010 has the Kiwa filters installed.) Tuning SSB takes me back to the golden days of using my Hallicrafters SX-110 and manually tuning to decode "Donald Duck." I had success in getting readable copy on everything I heard on 75 and 40 meters, but it was a slow, challenging process in some cases. I wouldn't use the E5 if I was shooting for SSB/CW DX. FM is a pleasant surprise; it seems as good as, and may be better than, the ICF-2010. I tried 101.1 MHz this morning and was able to differentiate between KONO-San Antonio and "Mega FM" in Houston by swiveling the whip antenna. Signals of both were more readable than on the ICF-2010. This is a very compact radio --- it's about as big as the speaker area of the ICF-2010. All in all, I think I'm going to be very happy with my new toy! (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19 http://harryhelmsblog.blogspot.com/ ABDX via DXLD) A LIST OF NON-CHINESE RECEIVER MANUFACTURERS http://www.etoncorp.com/GeneralMenu http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/-/-/-/SY_Storefront-Start http://www.grundig.com/ http://www.grundig-uk.co.uk/default.aspx?language=en-GB http://www.icomamerica.com/ http://www.kenwoodusa.com/ http://www.radiosophy.com/ http://www.recepterradio.com/ http://shop.sirius.com/ http://www.xmradio.com/ http://www.worldspace.com/ http://www.digitalradionow.com/home.php http://www.revo.co.uk/ http://www.tivoliaudio.com/home.php http://www.jollyvideotronics.com/radio.html http://www.robertsradio.co.uk/ http://www.emersonradio.com/main.html http://www.motobras.com.br/Portateis_eng.htm http://www.intempo-digital.co.uk/pp01.htm http://www.pure-digital.com/ http://www.kaitousa.com/radios.htm http://www.radioshack.com/home/index.jsp http://www.ccrane.com/radios/index.aspx http://www.freeplayenergy.com/products.html http://countycomm.com/gp4light.htm http://www.remarkable.co.uk/rmp_businessgifts.htm http://remcltd-test.manufacturer.globalsources.com/si/6008802970775/Homepage.htm http://www.cobyusa.com/_en/search_main.php?page=2&info2=radio http://www.koolatron.com/ http://www.design-go.com/detail_38780.html http://www.arvision.com/ http://www.midlandradio.com/index.asp http://www.cambridgesoundworks.com/store/category.cgi?category=aud_radio http://isonic.polkaudio.com/ http://www.albrecht-online.de/ http://webdb.scope.ne.jp/lexon/la42/ http://www.hyundaielectronics.ru/production/portable-equipment/radio/?lang=eng http://www.horizont.by/english/production_radio.htm http://www.vitek.ru/en/production/av/radio/ http://www.morphyrichards.co.uk/wizz400/index.pl?REFID=mruk&ORGRP=R11&ORPGM=categoryOverview&ORPGT=perl&ORLID=ENG http://www.metrosonix.com/ http://www.comsistel.com/Ciao%20Radio.htm http://www.winradio.com/index.htm (Jin Changge, China? Dec 26, dxing.info via DXLD) Hard to believe none of these are at least covertly made in China, or with Chinese components (gh, DXLD) THE BEST RECEIVERS MADE IN CHINA 1. Tecsun PL550 price: 388 yuan http://www.tecsun.com.cn/ 2. Tecsun PL230 price: 345 yuan http://www.tecsun.com.cn/ 3. Degen(Kaito) DE1102 price: 353 yuan http://www.degen.com.cn/ 4. Degen(Kaito) DE1103 price: 398 yuan http://www.degen.com.cn/ 5. Redsun RP2100 price: 398 yuan http://www.redsunelect.com/ 6. Kchibo KK-S500 price: 450 yuan http://www.kchibo.com.cn/ 7. Sangean ATS-909 price: 5900 taibi http://www.sangean.com.tw/ The coming receivers: Tecsun PL600, Tecsun S2000 and Kchibo KK-S7600L Welcome to our TECSUN HONGKONG office TECSUN (HK) is handling the export business of TECSUN radio. TECSUN radios are exported into Asia, South and North America and European countries by its brand beside China market. Moreover, TECSUN is taking the OEM projects for some famous international brands company. Please contact our TECSUN HK office right now. TECSUN ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIAL LTD. Unit 11,13/F, Block A, Hoi Luen Industrial Centre, 55 Hoi Yuen Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon, HongKong Tel: (852) 2895 1586 Fax: (852) 2890 5617 TECSUN HK E-mail: tecsun @ on-nets.com If I happen to know more retailers, I will keep you informed. By the way, radio hobbyists in China usually buy receivers online from the following retailers, who may not sell receivers overseas but you can have a try or have some idea of what is going on in the field in China. 1. http://store.taobao.com/shop/view_shop.htm?user_id=3d341482af29144e4366d749ec3e869b 2. http://shop34015984.taobao.com/ 3. http://shop33399287.taobao.com/ Good luck! (Jin Changge, China? Dec 26, dxing.info via DXLD) Are you with TECSUN or just reposting info from them? (gh) THE PLACES TO BUY RECEIVERS 0. International http://www.ebay.com/ 1. USA http://www.universal-radio.com/ http://www.radios4you.com/ http://usa.shortwavestore.com/index.html http://www.cnomy.com/?dn=worldbandreceiver.com&pid=1PO375C2Q http://www.123radios.com/ http://www.grove-ent.com/order.html http://www.activesignals.com/Radios:-CB-Ham-and-Shortwave/Shortwave-Radio 2. UK http://www.radioworld.co.uk/catalog/ http://www.ogormans.co.uk/default.htm http://www.simplyradios.com/acatalog/ http://www.bizrate.co.uk/portableradios/products__keyword--radio__nodum--1__nwylf--1.html 3. Germany http://www.thiecom.de/shop.html 4. Canada http://www.durhamradio.com/s/home.php http://www.radioworld.ca/ 5. Switzerland http://www.dab-digitalradio.ch/?lang=en&c=db_dl&mode=swiss_type&id=3 6. Japan http://www.ecat.sony.co.jp/audio/radio/products/index.cfm?PD=265&KM=SRF-A300 7. India http://shop.rediff.com/shop/searchv3.jsp?Query=fm 8. New Zealand http://www.trademe.co.nz/ 9. China http://www.chinatraderonline.com/Radio/ http://www.huafuhifi.com/index_1.htm http://store.taobao.com/shop/view_shop.htm?user_id=3d341482af29144e4366d749ec3e869b http://shop34015984.taobao.com/ http://shop33399287.taobao.com/ (Jin Changge, China? Dec 23, dxing.info via DXLD) NEW WIFI INTERNET RADIO, $150US Checking the Best Buy website produced news of a new wifi internet radio on offer in the US that crashes through the previous price points for which such a device has been available here in North America. The receiver is named the IntelliTouch Wireless Internet Radio, Model ITC-IR1000B. It retails from bestbuy.com (apparently not yet available in the chain's stores) for $149.99 with free shipping. Its dimensions are H-5.5", W-9.5", D-5.25" and weighs in at 5 lbs. It requires connection via 802.11 a, b or g; and supports MP3, WPA and RM streaming. The receiver has a four line LCD display, provides 128-bit WEP data security, and a 5W single speaker with "deep bass effect". A purchaser reviewing the unit's performance referenced using with his stereo speakers, so apparently provision is made for external speaker connections. The only puzzler in the site's description is its reference to providing access for "up to 2500 radio stations". This seems a low number, although elsewhere in the description the reference is to "over 2500 stations"; so maybe the person responsible for placing this in the store's catalog was less than sure about the capabilities of internet radio to begin with. Browsing http://wifiradioreview.com website, this unit appears identical to the Logik IR100, where it is stated that the receiver's operability is built around the Reciva technology. That would place the number of stations available to at least twice the claims made on the Best Buy website. The IR100 has been on the market in Europe for well over a year, selling in the UK last summer for as low as the equivalent of $100, so this product would appear to have a reliable and salable track record. The two customer reviews on the http;//bestbuy.com site each give the receiver top marks. Wifi internet radio appears to have been more quickly rolled out and embraced in the UK and Europe, but gradually many of these units are beginning to make their way across the Atlantic to us. The $150 price point is the lowest I've noted thus far for a unit sold in the U.S. Found an interesting ten minute demo of this receiver here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A67KRPuO9AI The Logik IR100 is identical to the ITC-IR1000B, except that the latter appears to have had at least two firmware updates. Clearly, the manufacturer is supporting this model with software modifications as warranted or developed. There's also an interesting running commentary on aspects of the original IR100 noted by a community of early users (early adopters) here: http://logikir100.tripod.com/Logik.htm#Known%20Design%20flaws (John Figliozzi, NY, Dec 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see ETHIOPIA; SUDAN. IBOC/HD: see OKLAHOMA ++++++++++++++++++++ PROPAGATION +++++++++++ Hi, amigos radioaficionados around the world and circling our planet in Earth orbit. Season`s greetings and a happy new year 2008 with more sunspots is my wish for you listeners of DXers Unlimited that are now facing yet another chain of day after day of zero sunspots. That’s the end of solar cycle 23, yes it is, and we have yet to see at least one of two more high latitude and reverse magnetic polarity sunspot groups in order to be really sure that cycle 24 has already started. Do remember that solar cycles don’t switch from one to the other by turning off the old one and turning on the new one. Both solar cycles, the old and the new co-exist during several months and scientists believe that that’s exactly what is happening right at this end of the year 2007. More about HF propagation and a Sporadic E events forecast at the end of the show. Item two: with zero sunspots and the solar flux down to baseline levels, the 21 megaHertz or 15 meters amateur band is absolutely dead for most of the local daylight hours, with maybe a brief opening, but that’s it, we will have to wait until solar flux stabilizes above 90 to 100 units to see 15 meters come back to life; meanwhile, as we wait for more sunspots, the 18 megahertz or 17 meters and the 17 megahertz or 16 meters bands are the best daytime options for DXers; 18 megahertz for radio amateurs and 17 megaHertz or more precisely from 17.5 megahertz up to 18 megahertz for short wave listeners that want to pick up international broadcast stations. Item three: with the Sun now again absolutely quiet, the night time reception of the lower frequency bands, from 100 kiloHertz up to 5 megaHertz is extremely good, providing excellent Tropical Band DX and also nice two way contacts for radio amateurs operating on the 160 and 80 meters bands. Monitoring the 40 meters band during early Tuesday UT day, that is shortly after 9 pm my local time, or zero two hours UT, I found the band practically empty, with very few stations operating. After running a propagation analysis software program with the solar data for the past five days, I arrived at the conclusion that the maximum useable frequency was barely reaching seven megaHertz, something that explained why so few stations were heard. During extended periods of extremely low solar activity the ionosphere becomes so weak after local sunset, that it is not surprising to see the maximum useable frequency to drop down below seven megaHertz and even lower, amigos. That’s solar minimum at its worst! And now amigos, as always at the end of the program, when I am here in Havana, ready to copy ARNIE CORO’S DXERS UNLIMITED’S HF PLUS LOW BAND VHF PROPAGATION UPDATE AND FORECAST Solar activity is and will continue to be for the next several days at very low levels. Zero sunspots seen during the past six days, solar flux around 70 units and the spotless Sun is also free of coronal holes, so we will enjoy also an extremely quiet geomagnetic field, certainly good news for low frequency bands Dxers, both short wave listeners and radio amateurs. Expect more sporadic E openings to happen as we are now riding trough the peak of the winter E skip season. I wish you all Seasons Greetings and hope that next year you all will be listening to my DXers Unlimited’s show, that as always, I will try to make it as attractive and interesting as humanly possible for your enjoyment. Happy New Year, amigos! (Arnie Coro, CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Dec 25, HCDX via DXLD) The geomagnetic field was quiet to active during 17 - 20 December. Quiet to unsettled levels occurred during 21 - 23 December. ACE solar wind measurements indicated a recurrent co-rotating interaction region (CIR) occurred on 17 December. The CIR was associated with increased densities, velocities, and interplanetary magnetic field activity. Densities increased to a peak of 63 p/cc at 17/0516 UTC. CIR-associated IMF changes included increased Bt (peak 18 nT at 17/0511 UTC) and intermittent periods of increased southward Bz (minimum -18 nT at 17/0646 UTC). The CIR was followed by a high-speed stream. Velocities increased during 17 - 20 December, reached a peak of 763 km/sec at 20/2142Z, then gradually decreased during the remainder of the period. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 26 DEC 2007 - 21 JAN 2008 Solar activity is expected to be very low to low. Isolated C-class flares are possible during 01 - 13 January due to the return of old Region 978. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to reach high levels during 26 - 31 December, 10 - 12 January, and 15 - 21 January. The geomagnetic field is expected to be at quiet levels during 26 December - 06 January. Activity is expected to increase to unsettled levels during 06 - 08 January due to recurrence. Activity is expected to decrease to quiet levels during 09 - 12 January. Activity is expected to increase to unsettled to active levels during 13 - 16 January due to a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream. Activity is expected to decrease to quiet to unsettled levels for the rest of the period as the high-speed stream subsides. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2007 Dec 25 2054 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # Product description and SWPC contact on the Web # http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2007 Dec 25 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2007 Dec 26 72 5 2 2007 Dec 27 72 5 2 2007 Dec 28 72 5 2 2007 Dec 29 72 5 2 2007 Dec 30 72 5 2 2007 Dec 31 72 5 2 2008 Jan 01 75 5 2 2008 Jan 02 80 5 2 2008 Jan 03 80 5 2 2008 Jan 04 85 5 2 2008 Jan 05 85 5 2 2008 Jan 06 85 8 3 2008 Jan 07 85 12 3 2008 Jan 08 85 10 3 2008 Jan 09 85 5 2 2008 Jan 10 85 5 2 2008 Jan 11 85 5 2 2008 Jan 12 80 5 2 2008 Jan 13 80 15 4 2008 Jan 14 75 15 4 2008 Jan 15 75 15 4 2008 Jan 16 72 15 4 2008 Jan 17 72 12 3 2008 Jan 18 72 10 3 2008 Jan 19 72 8 3 2008 Jan 20 72 8 3 2008 Jan 21 72 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1388, DXLD) ###