DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-013, January 31, 2008 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 2008 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 1393 **flexible times Thu 0700 WRMI 9955** Thu 1530 WRMI 7385 Fri 0030 WBCQ 7415 Fri 0730 WRMI 9955** Fri 1200 WRMI 9955** Fri 2130 WWCR1 15825 Fri 2330 WBCQ 5110-CUSB 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 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** 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: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. R. Solh, via UK, 15265, Jan 30 at 1419-1459:30*, quite good reception and recorded it to availablize the music in an mp3 archive, TBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALASKA. Last night I set my timer and receiver to 780 and later today was pleasantly surprised to hear the following: A few minutes before 03:00 MST [1000 UT] I heard music, which is unusual on this frequency as I usually hear the talk formats of WBBM or KKOH. At the top of the hour I heard "KNOM in Nome. It's one o'clock." Then it went into ABC News. I heard the exact same ID at 06:00 and again at 08:00. This is the sixth new Alaskan station heard this season (Mike in St Isidore, AB, Stonebridge, Jan 30, with AOR 7030+, Quantum Phaser, EWE's of 110' & 125', a 1000' E/W beverage and a 1000' BUS at 300 degrees, both un-terminated, Jan 30, IRCA via DXLD) ** ALGERIA. ALGERIAN GOVERNMENT USES RADIO QUR’AN TO COMBAT TERRORISM The Algerian government has begun using Radio Qur’an to broadcast Islam-based arguments against violence and extremism. Eager to combat the forces of extremism and terrorism in their country, Algerian authorities have enlisted the aid of the station to broadcast religious messages condemning the violent practices. Islamic scholars from Algeria and Gulf countries have appeared on Radio Qur’an to undermine the doctrinal bases used by al-Qaeda to justify its suicide operations in North Africa. Though the FM station is only on the air from 5:00 AM to 11:00 AM, it has already had some impact on the anti-terrorist effort. Citing local and French security findings, Algerian newspapers reported recently that Radio Qur’an has played a pivotal role in recent months in convincing scores of armed men to lay down their arms and benefit from pardons under the laws of national reconciliation, adopted in 2005. The Algerian government began the radio effort in an attempt to undermine the effect of al-Qaeda’s online dissemination of audio and video propaganda and training information. The terrorist group has also begun videotaping all its suicide operations and attacks in Algeria, making the footage freely available to citizens browsing Islamist websites. Some sites even provide videos formatted for viewing and transmission on mobile phones. (Source: Temoust.org) (January 29th, 2008 - 16:23 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1393, DXLD) No mention of the extensive SW relays via UK and other sites of this service. If that is what it is doing, could explain why USA is involved in the SW service (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1393, DXLD) ** ANGOLA. 4950, RNA-Canal "A", Mulenvos, 1831-1937, 26 Jan, Portuguese, international f/ball match report Cameroon v Zambia (5-nil at the end), news 1900, advertisement, Rádio 5 relay at 1930 for sport news; 45444, but deteriorating as from 1900 onwards; AC-like noise on carrier during the match report (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 15820/LSB, Radio Continental relay (presumed); 2037- 2105, 28-Jan; Wide variety of tunes; Andean flute, baladas, opera & Flamenco (my description) to announcements in Spanish at 2100; one promo began with "Cinco" (5-90?). SIO=153- at tune-in but deteriorated continually and gone by 2105 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, Drake R8B + 215' center-fed RW, 85' end-fed RW, 125' bow-tie, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** BELGIUM [non]. Updated B-07 of TDP stations effective Feb. 1: TDP Radio in DRM: 0000-0100 on 9790 SAC 070 kW / 227 deg to NoAm Daily 0800-0900 on 6015 ISS 035 kW / 060 deg to WeEu Mon 0900-1000 on 6015 ISS 035 kW / 060 deg to WeEu Tue 1000-1100 on 6015 ISS 035 kW / 060 deg to WeEu Wed 1100-1200 on 6015 ISS 035 kW / 060 deg to WeEu Thu 1200-1300 on 6015 ISS 035 kW / 060 deg to WeEu Fri 1300-1400 on 6015 ISS 035 kW / 060 deg to WeEu Sat 1400-1500 on 6015 ISS 035 kW / 060 deg to WeEu Sun 1500-1600 on 6015 ISS 035 kW / 060 deg to WeEu Daily Moj Them Radio in Hmong: 0100-0130 on 15260 TAI 100 kW / 250 deg to Asia Mon/Wed/Fri Haiv Hmoob Radio in Hmong: [NEW] 0100-0130 on 15260 TAI 100 kW / 250 deg to Asia Tue Hmong Lao Radio in Hmong: 0100-0200 on 15260 TAI 100 kW / 250 deg to Asia Thu/Sun Hmong World Christian Radio in Hmong: 0100-0200 on 15260 TAI 100 kW / 250 deg to Asia Sat Denge Mezopotamya in Kurdish: 0500-1300 11530 SMF 300 kW / 129 deg to WeAs, ex KCH 300 kW / 116 deg 1300-1500 11530 SMF 500 kW / 129 deg to WeAs, ex KCH 500 kW / 116 deg 1500-1900 7540 SMF 500 kW / 129 deg to WeAs, ex KCH 500 kW / 116 deg 1900-2100 7540 SMF 300 kW / 129 deg to WeAs, ex KCH 300 kW / 116 deg Que Huong Radio in Vietnamese: 1200-1300 on 15680 DB 100 kW / 117 deg to Asia Mon-Sat Radio Xoriyo Ogadenia in Somali: [NEW:] 1400-1430 on 17875 SAM 250 kW / 188 deg to EaAf Tue/Sat from Feb. 02 1600-1630 on 7560 SAM 250 kW / 188 deg to EaAf Tue/Sat till Jan. 29 Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church/Holy Synod Radio in Amharic: 1600-1700 on 9445 SAM 250 kW / 188 deg to EaAf Mon Radio Democracy Shorayee in Persian 1700-1800 on 7470 RUSorTDF transmitter to WeAs Tue/Thu/Fri/Sun Suab Xaa Moo Zoo in Hmong 2330-2400 on 11655 TAI 100 kW / 250 deg to Asia Daily ====================================================================== Tensae Ethiopia Voice of Unity in Amharic: 1500-1600 on 11900 ARM 250 kW / 188 deg to EaAf Daily, cancelled Andenet Le Democracy in Amharic: 1600-1700 on 7560 SAM 250 kW / 188 deg to EaAf Wed/Fri/Sun, cancelled Ethiopian People's Patriotic Front (EPPF) in Amharic: 1600-1700 on 9445 SAM 250 kW / 188 deg to EaAf Thu, cancelled Voice of Delina in Tigrigna: 1700-1730 on 7335 ARM 100 kW / 188 deg to EaAf Mon-Fri, cancelled (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, Jan 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BENIN. 1566, TWR, Parakou, 1802-1946, 22 Jan, Vernacular, music, announcements, IDs, addresses info.; 34443, QRM de G+IND. Tests seemed to have ended on 25 Jan (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Jan 30 DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BENIN. TWR Africa have published a schedule for their new 1566 kHz transmitter http://www.twrafrica.org/Programmes-2/benin.asp Basically 0200-0435 UT and 1600-2030 (or 2045 Tue & Thu) UT (Mark Hattam, Jan 31, MWC via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. Re the UNIDENTIFIED on 4450, previously discussed: See next logging. WRTH 2008 lists two different R. Ecos: 4409, 0.5, R. Eco, Reyes, 2230-0200; and inactive* on 4702, R. Eco, San Borja, W. 1100-0300, nominal 4700 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4451.2, R. Eco (tentative), Reyes, 2313-2326, 26 Jan, Castilian, communiqués and messages, IDs as "Eco Radio", many references to Bolivia; 23341, adjacent QRM de KRE 4450 (Carlos Gonçalves - POR) 4699.4, R. San Miguel, Riberalta, 0122-0130, 26 Jan, Castilian, talks; 23332, CODAR QRM (Carlos Gonçalves - POR) 5952.4, R. Pío XII, Siglo XX, 2232-2249, 26 Jan, Quechua, songs, talks; 33442, adjacent QRM (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Jan 30 DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4732, R. Universitaria, Cobija 01/29 Spanish, 2328-2350, ads “Aerocom, voar entre amigos...”., 2333 male announces a song about sad things, then they plays the presumed sad song and a selection of local pop, although been heard Mexican rock Group Mana at 2345. Stronger like on 01/14, 33433 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil, (23 33 S, 46 51 W), Sony ICF SW40, dipole 18m, 32m Jan 31, dxldyg via DXLD) 4732, Radio Universitaria, 1048-1100 Jan 30. At tune in, noted music. At 1055 a male with canned comments/promos and ID. Canned ads included. Signal was poor to fair and the CODAR didn't help much, "he said sarcastically" (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4732, Radio Universitaria, Cobija, Pando *simply blasting in* from 1030 to 1050 Jan 31 (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4732, Radio Universitaria, Cobija, Pando 1046 to 1107 29 Jan, harmonizing trios and piano music. Surprising strength after fade out of Radio Yura 4717v and Radio San Miguel 4699v. 31 Jan at 1035 to 1058 fade out "...Emisora de Bolivia.. en el departamento de .... [sound effect] ..metros, Radio Universitaria..." by YL. Followed by canned sound effects and two repeated IDs. This the strongest signal yet from Radio Universitaria; the fade out is very rapid! 4781.48, Radio Tacana, Tumupasa noted 1050 to 1100 with good signal- 29 January. 6134.75, Radio Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 0112 ID as.... en Bolivia ..... Radio Santa Cruz...." and promptly into flutes. Exceptionally strong signal 30 January (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, NRD 535D and Icom 746 Pro, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 4754.86, ZYF904, Radio Immaculada [sic] Conceição (presumed); 0548-0602+, 26-Jan; M in Portuguese with lite Portuguese baladas; SID at 0600 may have been R. Immaculada without Conceição; talk had a religious cadence but didn't hear any key words. SIO=3+32+, best in USB, lite swiper. QRM (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, Drake R8B + 215' center-fed RW, 85' end-fed RW, 125' bow-tie, Cumbre DX via DXLD) not MICRONESIA; another log below ** BRAZIL. 3235, R. Club, Marília SP, 0102-0115, 26 Jan, "Guarujá FM" relay, chat, songs, advertisements, sl. "Guarujá FM - Carnaval 2008!"; 34342, utility QRM. 3375, R. Educadora, Araraquara SP, 0113-0020, 26 Jan, Brazilian pops; 25332. 4755. R. Imaculada (not "inmaculada"!) Conceição (not "concepção"!), Cpº Grande MS, 0125-0133, 26 Jan, religious program; 13331, CODAR QRM. 4815, R. Difusora, Londrina PR, 0130-0139, 26 Jan, phone-ins during religious program; 34422. 4825, R. Canção Nova, Cachoeira Paulista SP, 0132-0145, 26 Jan, rosary; 35433. 4845.2, R. Cultura Ondas Tropicais, 0135-0147, 26 Jan, listeners' messages; 44333, utility QRM (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Jan 30 DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CHLN 550 Trois-Rivières, QC: R.I.P Checking on 550 kHz, Trois-Rivières, QC, at 0340 UT, it was off the air. I had a check almost everyday over the last weeks and it was still on the air yesterday. They may have shut down the transmitter in the last hours. Looking at their web site, they never talked about the exact day/hour that the mediumwave frequency would go off the air. What a pity that they not even mention a word after 71 years on that channel! Here they go now on 106.9 MHz. The bright side on a DXer point of view are those new channels QRM free opening for me: 549, 550, 555 and 558 and 560 (Sylvain Naud, Portneuf, QC, Canada, Jan 29, mwdx yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. DRM mixup: see NETHERLANDS [non] ** CHAD. 6165. RD Nationale Tchadienne, Grevia, 1129-1308, 27 Jan, French, music, talks, folk songs, jingle at 1302 for following newscast; 15341. At 1600, they switch to 4905, very powerful, possibly more than 100 kW (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Jan 30 DX LISTENING DIGEST) Already reported here as 250 kW (gh) ** CHINA. 9750, Nei Menggu PBS, 2352, 1/29/08, listed Mongolian. Male and female announcers talking, then an Asian soft pop tune cut off for a brief announcement and time pips at 0000, followed by presumed ID, several more announcements, then apparent news by a female presenter. Fair w/some flutter. (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) QSL: 9750 Nei Menggu PBS, no-data QSL on a repurposed Olympics New Year greeting card confirming (in Chinese) that the CD I'd sent was a recording of their Mongolian service, with official stamp but no v/s. In fact, nothing at all was in English except my address, which was clipped off my report and glued to the envelope; I'm guessing there's no English speakers at the station. This in 2 months for English and Chinese reports, audio CD, $1, and mint stamps (not used). (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Looking for Mauritanie 4845 which BTW has been absent for nearly a week, I happened to hear something splattering and found this Chinese like transmission on 4845 at 0230. Only thing that matches on this schedule per Aoki B07 is PBS Heilonjiang, just 50 kW ND. One of a kind reception for an Asian station at this time on 60m, where commonly those can be heard at local sunrise, around 1130 UT. SIO 353 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Sony ICF7600GR + T2FD, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA. 5954.2, UNID, site?, 2233-23..., 26 Jan, non-stop ballads in Castilian [sic]; 43442, adjacent QRM. At the time of the log, my own direction finding determined it might be CAm. Is it really CTR? (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Jan 30 DX LISTENING DIGEST) Why should you doubt the rather specific info Raúl Saavedra has uncovered for us? (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. Just after checking 11680, found an open carrier on 11750 at 1514 Jan 29, then at 1515 up came audio from R. Rebelde talking about their 50th anniversary; is this the axual date? Included old-timer with creaky voice, abruptly cut off at 1520* exposing some other weak signal on 11750. Neither RHC nor Rebelde is scheduled on 11750 at this time, but RHC recently added 11750 at 2000-2300, so I suppose testing that transmitter with whatever audio feed was handy (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. CANAL DE TV DOS EUA AUMENTA TRANSMISSÕES PARA CUBA Andrea Wellbaum, enviada especial a Miami O canal de televisão administrado pelo governo americano que transmite notícias e programas em espanhol para Cuba, a TV Martí, aumentará suas transmissões para a ilha de uma tarde por semana para seis. De acordo com o diretor da agência que administra a TV e a Rádio Marti, Alberto Mascaro, a iniciativa estava prevista para o fim de agosto, mas foi antecipada por causa das notícias do estado de saúde de Fidel Castro ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/portuguese/reporterbbc/story/2006/08/060808_tveuacubaale.shtml (via Adalberto Azevedo, Barbacena - MG, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. 4815, Radio El Buen Pastor, 0238-0301*, 1/30/08, Spanish. Female DJ with Spanish-language pop and ballads, canned promo with tentative ID and mentions of Ecuador amid heavy echo effect. Closing announcement over music by deep-voiced m, then off at 0301. Some CODAR QRM and splatter from whatever the racket is on 4810. Fair (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. 6250, Radio Cairo (Abis), 2140-2147, 1/29/2008, English. Woman talking about Gaza and Palestinians. ID at 2147. Good signal (SINPO 44333). Had to tune slightly on high side in an attempt to resolve usual audio difficulties (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, TenTec RX-340, Drake R8B, RF Space SDR-14, Random Wire (90' in Attic), PAR EF-SWL (200' Along Top of Fence), Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) and: ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 6250, RN-Malabo, 0620-0635 29 Jan. Decent between RTTY with events scheduled at "centro cultural español de Bata" and the local "estadio de fútbol", quick mention of Radio Nacional at 0628, kid's chorus at BoH (Dan Sheedy, CA, R75/EF102040, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6250.00, R Malabo, 0601, Jan 29, "Radio Malabo informa y comenta", news, African Cup results, item on "la lucha contra la lepra", clear but blocked by (unscheduled?) Cairo 6250.09 at 0631 recheck (Martien Groot. Schoorl, Netherlands, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Could Cairo be fighting EqG over this frequency morningwise, since Cairo started using it eveningwise this season whilst Malabo was inactive? (gh, DXLD) 6250, Radio Nacional (Malabo), 0534-0615, 1/30/2008, Spanish. West African pop music with male announcer and "Radio Nacional" IDs. Short talk with second man 0538-0541. Talk with man and woman after 0604. Mention of Malabo. Good signal with high side utility interference and deep fades, SINPO 33323 (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, TenTec RX-340, Drake R8B, RF Space SDR-14, Random Wire (90' in Attic), PAR EF-SWL (200' Along Top of Fence), Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** FRANCE [and non]. French President Sarkozy's plan to put RFI and two television channels in a new France Monde organization has run into opposition from Belgium, Switzerland and Canada. Those countries are partners in TV5, which would be put into the new holding company along with a French- language France 24. French financial daily Les Echos reports the public broadcasters in those countries want TV5 to remain a joint project for French-speaking countries and they do not want to work for a Franco-French organization. TV5 is two-thirds controlled by the French government, which provides 84 percent of its funding (Mike Cooper, Jan 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GAMBIA. Report: RFI BACK ON THE FM DIAL IN THE GAMBIA. "Following negotiations between the Department of State for Communication, Information and Technology and the management of Radio France International (RFI), the radio is now back on the air." The Point (Banjul), 25 January 2008. RFI was taken off the air 15 January. See previous post. Posted: 29 Jan 2008 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Radio 700 monthly broadcast coming: 6005, WER, Sun Feb 3rd at 1000-1200 UT. Once again RadioFreaks from Euskirchen "Radio 700" on air via T-Systems (TDF) Wertachtal site, theme: Carnival around the World, by Christian Milling. Viz.: Wie [ich] heute in einem Telefonat erfahren habe, sendet am 3.2.2008 Radio 700 wieder auf der Kurzwelle 6005 kHz. Sendezeit ist von 1000- 1200 UT. Thema: Karneval in aller Welt. Moderator ist Christian Milling. (Hans Werner Lange-D, via Volker Willschrey-D, A-DX Jan 30) Dafuer wird ein Sender bei T-systems (nunmehr TDF France Eigner) der DTK Wertachtal, mit reduzierter Leistung von 100 kW und Rundstrahlantenne für 2 Stunden angemietet (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. MV Baltic Radio is on this Sunday on the 3rd of February 2008 at 1300 UT on the new channel of 6140 kHz MV. Baltic Radio is on the air from the transmitting station in Wertachtal. We will be using a non-directional antenna system (Quadrant antenna). More [Sunday] transmissions in February 2008: 10th Feb 6140 13-14 Radio Joystick in teamwork with MV Baltic Radio 17th Feb 6140 13-14 European Music Radio in teamwork with MV Baltic R 24th Feb 6140 13-14 Radio Gloria Int. in teamwork with MV Baltic Radio Good Listening 73s (Tom Taylor, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. GFA [Gospel for Asia] 9765, QSL-card in 843 days after a few f/ups by mail and Email. QTH: 1800 Golden Trail Ct., Carrollton, TX 75010. http://www.needgod.com (Dxer S. Kolesov, Ukraine, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** GERMANY [non]. / UKRAINE. As of today UR's Radio Promin will relay Deutsche Welle in Ukrainian, 0700-0715 and 1530-1545. In return DW will cut the morning transmission on MW/SW to just 15 minutes as well, 0530-0545, still on 5945/Woofferton and 7200/Sines. 999 remains booked 0530-0600 until the end of March; here the just aired programme will be repeated at 0545. And I think it remained unclear from which Ukrainian shortwave site DW 1400-1500 on 9380 originates: It started on Nov 14 as a test transmission from Kopani and had been moved to Krasne on Dec 7, still using 250 kW as during the tests via Kopani (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA [non]. 4799.95, GUATEMALA, R. Buenas Neuvas, 1045 1/27. Good, with music under the shooper. Somewhat better in LSB (Rick Barton, AZ, ABDX via DXLD) Rick, The Latin currently active on 4800 is XERTA in Mexico City, ex- 4810. R. Buenas Nuevas, Guatemala, has been inactive for quite some time. Did you get any identifiable info? It would be very bad news for XERTA if RBN came back. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Thank You for pointing that out, Glenn! I had put in the log by mistake from my "maybe-recheck" list. I had zero beat the frequency to just off center, as was the old R. B. Nuevas transmitter. The music fit Mexico - the ID was not heard. I'll try not to post with haste in the future! (Rick Barton, AZ, ABDX via DXLD) Hi Glenn - I have XERTA on 4800 a.t.m. [at the moment?] I tuned in at 1100 and had it right square on at 4800 (using the R-8). But I did notice that when I turned on my computer at 1130 it puts out a lot of QRM on 4800. So I don`t know whether the station was really off frequency a little or the computer QRM threw me off (Rick Barton, AZ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ** HAWAII. 2863-USB, Honolulu Radio at 0930 to 0935, ID as such, rather than 25 after the hours. Good signal- 29 January (Robert Wilkner, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) i.e. aeronautical; is there VOLMET on this frequency? Who runs it now, FAA, or ARINC, or? Callsign? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** HAWAII [and non]. Several more copies of the WWVH antenna story have circulated, including one via Tim Hendel, who adds: Re: WOR 1392, WWVB new site, I have maintained for a long time that the southeast is poorly served by WWV, CHU, and WWVH. There are times when I can't get a usable signal from any time station, with my rather modest antenna. The same was true when I lived in Miami, I used to tune R. Reloj on 760 sometimes. I think another HF time station [is needed], perhaps somewhere in central Georgia, or thereabouts, perhaps on a different set of frequencies, say, 4, 8 and 12 MHz, or 4.5, 9 and 13.5 MHz (Tim Hendel, AL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII. QSL: 2500 WWVH, partial-data (date and freq only) card showing views of the old antennas on Maui and the current ones on Kauai in about 3 weeks for an English report, no veri signer. Note that this is not the same card as the sailing-ship QSL folder they've issued for many years (which I'd lost in a move and was hoping to replace); perhaps they've finally run out (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. 3250.07, R Luz y Vida, 1243, 1/25. Spanish mixed with cochannel DPR Korea martial music. Fair (George Herr, CA, WinRadio g303e, R8B and NRD535, 50' wire and AmRad Antennas, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) 3250, R. Luz y Vida, San Luís, 0053-0112, 26 Jan, Castilian, talks, phone-ins, children's songs, TCs; 24342 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Jan 30 DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Luz y Vida, 3250 kHz, 0040 UT January 29, 2008. Spanish speaking male, positive ID, songs. Overall fair. 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Manassas, VA, USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. 3340, Radio Misiones Internacionales, 0004, 1/30/08, Spanish. Modern-sounding pop/rock music with lots of quick announcements and promos scattered in between, ID in passing as "Radio Misiones" noted a few times. Audio seemed somewhat low. Have not heard this station in a while, and I see no logs in the NASWA Flashsheet since last November. Fair (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3340, Radio Misiones Internacionales, Comayagüela, 0110 with strong signal after being off for a week. ID by OM with horn sound effects and others that sounded like Disney cartoons 30 January (Robert Wilkner- Pompano Beach, South Florida, NRD 535D and Icom 746 Pro, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 11620, All India Radio; 2052-2101+, 29-Jan; Sitar music to English ID at 2059:40 and into English news. SIO=333; IS came up under at 2056:53 but no detectable s/on at 2100 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 215' center-fed RW, 85' end-fed RW, 125' bow-tie, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Has Portugal moved off 11620? I believe the B-07 schedule shows 11620 until 2100 on weekdays, -2400 on weekends, and also available until 2400 on weekdays for special events (gh, DXLD) ** INDIA [non]. Re 8-012: TWR is now identifying as TWR itself in Indian languages. Earlier they used to identity as "Viswa Vani" (Jose Jacob, Hyderabad, India, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) `T-W-R` pronounced as in English or the full ``Trans World Radio``? (gh, DXLD) ** INDONESIA. V. of Indonesia, 9526, mostly missing lately; not there Jan 29 at 1430 check; but Jan 30 at 1403, Suara Indonesia ID in warta berita, with hum, ringing sound; 1404 cut off briefly. Jan 31 at 1441, missing. Also RRI, 9680, Jan 30 at 1414 Indo ballads mixing with Chinese talk, SAH of about 4 Hz varying slightly (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Re 8-012: RFI back on WRN as normal today (Mike Cooper, Jan 28, DXLD) Also I see that CRI is still available OD for the last seven days at http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=34 So what is its status, exactly? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [non]. KBCS Seattle, heard promoting World Radio Network, M-F at 5 am [PST = 1300-1400 UT] just before Democracy Now. This was heard during the KBCS program I most often get on webcast, Spice Route, UT Thu 0500-0700, South Asian Music. Several specific WRN stations were mentioned but I didn`t catch them. But it must not be the live feed from WRN for only one hour, as that would just be RTE Ireland. WRN used to have list of rebroadcast partners on website, but if it`s there now it`s behind password protexion (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. Radio Italia dall'IRAN : Nuova frequenza Cari amici di playdx, con la presente vi comunichiamo la nostra nuova frequenza serale di 6205 kHz (49 metri) applicabile dal 01/02/2008. Vi saremo molto grati di ricevere i vostri rapporti d'ascolto su questa nuova frequenza. Cordiali e distinti saluti e a presto Il responsabile della corrispondenza di Radio Italia Web: http://italian.irib.ir/ Email: italianradio @ irib.ir Ali Azizmohammadi (via Dario Monferini, Italy, Jan 29, playdx yg via DXLD) ??? When? Replacing What? Via Lithuania? Above website shows B-07 sked in Italian as: ora (UTC) frequenza (kHz) 06:30-07:30 7545 13620 15085 19:30-20:00 5890 7380 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dal mese di febbraio la frequenza dei 5890 kHz utilizzata per la trasmissione serale delle 1930 UT, sarà sostituita per l'ennesima volta con i 6205 Khz. Anche in questo caso, richiedono rapporti d'ascolto per la nuova frequenza (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, Jan 29, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. R. Farda, 11750, Jan 31 at 1445 with ID and music. This is Lampertheim, Germany, 100 kW, 108 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND [and non]. Hi Glenn, Yes the political debate in Ireland and especially in Northern Ireland has exploded (excuse the pun!) where Northern Ireland nationalists (48% of the population that view themselves as Irish not British and see RTE as their national TV and Radio services) feel being cut off from their media lifelines. Actually I know many Northern Ireland unionists (ie those that see themselves as British) that tune regularly to RTE Radio news and current affairs programmes as well. As someone that has lived and still regularly travels into the North the further the way you get from the border the worse the FM and TV signals get. The British authorities have always objected to any attempt by RTE to set up strong transmitters in the border areas. The medium wave and lately long wave transmissions were what most nationalists there rely on. Interestingly, I checked around my own county, Clare, in the past week and I visited a number of shops in the towns of Ennis and Kilrush - none of them sold radios with LW! It seems that it is getting harder to get LW radios here. My Opel car radio does not have LW so I often have to listen to League of Ireland soccer on 567 MW on Friday nights while I drive. What am I to do from the 24th March. Give up driving on Friday nights? Does anyone know the actual strength of the LW transmitter? I always assumed it was still 500 kW but many suggest it is only 300 kW now. It is reduced to 150 KW at night so as not to interfere with Algeria (?). Does Algeria reduce its power at night so not to interfere with RTE? I suggest not of course. Any reports from readers/listeners of your programme, Glenn, as to LW coverage on 252 in mainland Europe and perhaps even the north east of Canada? During a visit to north east Italy last year Algeria blocked any chance of RTE being heard. I was reading recently that during WWII or "The Emergency", as it was known in the neutral Irish Free State, medium wave transmissions of Radio Eireann reached as far as Moscow! If anyone wishes to object to the proposed closure of medium wave transmissions please email RTE on hearus @ rte.ie Kind regards, (Paul Guckian, Ennis, Co Clare, Ireland, Jan 29 DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. 6971.9, 26/1 1725, Galei Zahal, Songs and talks, good (Giampiero Bernardini, QTH: Pescia (Pistoia) Tuscany, rx: RFSpace SDR- IQ ant: wire 30 meters long My blog SW: http://radiodxsw.blogspot.com/ HCDX via DXLD) ** ITALY. Hi Glenn! RAI is now transmitting 2 DRM audio signals on 846 kHz via Santa Palomba: RAI Radiouno in Stereo with 19.06 kbps and RAI ISORADIO in mono with 12.30 kbps. RAI ISORADIO is a program for motorway users with pop music and traffic information normally broadcasted only on FM 103.3 MHz. 73, (Patrick, Austria, Jan 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. JSR-Shiokaze changed a transmission beam from KDDI-Yamata 290 degrees (to China) to 270 degrees (to India). From January 28. The antenna is reduced for reduction service of NHK-Radio Japan (S. Hasegawa NDXC-HQ, Jan 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) But Shiokaze is supposedly for North Korea, so why aim it to India? Not sure I understand. Does this refer to the 5985 kHz transmission at 1400-1430? It collides with Myanmar on 5986. What do you mean by ``reduction service of NHK``? (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) The antenna of the 290 degrees beam stops maintenance and is going to dismantle it (S. Hasegawa, NDXC-HQ, ibid.) ** JAPAN. NHK-JAPAN GETS NEW PRESIDENT Genichi Hashimoto has resigned as President of NHK-Japan. He has been replaced by Shigeo Fukuchi, who was today officially inaugurated as the public broadcaster's new head. Mr Hashimoto had served as NHK President since 25 January 2005. With his resignation, he also relinquished his position as President of the ABU. ABU Vice-President, Abdul Rahman Hamid of RTM-Malaysia, will take over as Acting President until a new president is elected during the 45th ABU General Assembly in Bali in November. "For the ABU to continue to grow and achieve its vision, transparency and leadership are two important elements. Mr Hashimoto's commitment and leadership has helped ABU move into a more dynamic and professional association of broadcasting organisations," said Mr Abdul Rahman. "I'm sure that ABU members will join me in expressing our sincere appreciation and gratitude to the President in strengthening ABU during his term." At a press conference yesterday, Mr Fukuchi, 73, said that NHK's most important mission is to regain and enhance people's trust. He also said it was important for NHK, as a public broadcaster, to further enrich high quality programmes, provide prompt and accurate news, enhance international broadcasting, and promote digital terrestrial broadcasting. Before taking up his new post at NHK, Mr Fukuchi was Advisor to the Board of Asahi Breweries Ltd since 2006. He joined the firm in 1957, rising through the ranks to become Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 2002. He is the first president from outside NHK since the late Yoshizo Ikeda from Mitsui & Co Ltd, who became NHK President in 1988. Taeko Nagai, who served her three-year term as NHK Executive Vice- President, also resigned yesterday. The next Vice-President is expected to be appointed by Mr Fukuchi shortly. Friday 25 Jan 2008 (ABU via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. 4450, KCBS, Pyongyang, 2315-2327, 26 Jan, Korean, songs; 45323 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Jan 30 DX LISTENING DIGEST) Cf BOLIVIA. ** KOREA NORTH [non]. ORNK changed schedule from 31 Jan. Now scheduled: 2100-2200 daily 7510 (ex 9930 1100-1200 M-F) Ending announcement: http://ndxc.org/aoki/binews/ab/ornk_7510_0131.wav de (S. Aoki via S. Hasegawa, NDXC-HQ, Feb 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) To theme of Pomp & Circumstance. Shiokaze: See JAPAN ** LAOS [non]. See BELGIUM [non] ** LATVIA. RELAYS THIS WEEKEND ON 9290 KHZ Sat February 2nd Radio Joystick 0900-1000 UT Radio Nord Evergreen 1000-1100 UT Latvia Today 1100-1200 UT Radio Casablanca 1200-1300 UT Sun February 3rd Latvia Today 1400-1500 UT Good Listening 73s (Tom Taylor, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MACEDONIA. VOA CONDEMNS ATTACK ON GENERAL MANAGER OF MACEDONIAN PARTNER STATION The Voice of America has condemned the attack against Goran Gavrilov, General Manager of Kanal 77. Mr Gavrilov was beaten violently outside his home in Stip, Macedonia on the night of 25 January. “We call for a full and complete investigation of the circumstances surrounding this brutal attack,” said Danforth Austin, Director of the Voice of America. “To tolerate such violence against the media - the free flow of ideas - would be a step backwards for Macedonia.” Kanal 77 rebroadcasts VOA’s Macedonian-language radio programmes across its nationwide network. The private network has been an important partner in transmitting VOA’s news and information to the audience across Macedonia during its democratic transition (Source: Voice of America)(January 29th, 2008 - 16:05 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. 5009.95, RTV Malagasy (Antananarivo), 2310-2405, 1/27/2008, Vernacular. Pop music followed by talk by man at 2330. Man and woman talking at 2033 with occasional short musical bridges in what sounded like a drama. Good signal, the best ever heard here (SINPO 34333). Audio was slightly distorted (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, TenTec RX-340, Drake R8B, RF Space SDR-14, Random Wire (90' in Attic), PAR EF-SWL (200' Along Top of Fence), Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) 5010, RTV Malagasy, 2324-0345+, 1/27/08, French / vernacular. Afropop music, some exaggerated conversations that sounded like radio dramas, lots more. Language at times seemed to flow freely back and forth between French and dialects. Fair signal first noted at 2324 tune-in, gradually faded to threshold around 0130, then rapidly built back up around 0230, and was still going (though fading) by 0345. Thanks to Brian Alexander for his log in helping to pin this down. 5010, RTV Malagasy, 0310-0315+, 1/30/08, French/vernacular. Recorded segment of a female talking, male announcer briefly, then a different woman talking over jaunty music, possible ID as "Radio Malagasy", mentions of Madagascar and Africa. Language seems to flow freely back and forth between French and vernacular. Remarkably strong and clear S9+10 signal with minimal fading, though for some reason much stronger in USB than LSB. Very good (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 6049.64, see TIBET [and non] ** MAURITANIA. 4845 missing: see CHINA ** MEXICO. After a few days` absence, XEYU back on 9599.3v, Jan 29 at 0610 with classical, deep fades; and at 1410 news about water shortage in Mexico City, and blackouts. 1528 recheck, classical. XEPPM 6185: no repeat of yesterday`s daytime apparition, checked Jan 29 at 1526. Jan 30 at 1412, 9599+ again on in Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9599.29v, Radio UNAM, Mexico City, 0939-1004, Jan 31, in Spanish, classical piano music (Schumann), brief ID, ToH IDs of music, into choral selection, fair to very good reception (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) XERTA: GUATEMALA [non] ** MONACO. Concerning 3AC: I get a het [carrier, reduced?] on 8728 often with the occasional hint of audio. At 1600 on 31-Jan on 17260, there was definite audio, but too buried to copy (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 215' center-fed RW, 85' end-fed RW, 125' bow-tie, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS. Remembered to check at 0215 what might have happened on 675 and came across a religious song in German. So apparently the switch to Radio Maria has been made at midnight. The song I found at 0225 recheck was in German as well, quite interesting. Seems they are only running music at present, but it appears to be definitely another audio source now, since the modulation characteristics have changed; 675 sounds more transparent, not so heavily processed now (actually quite good, also better than the Protestant Zeewolde counterpart, i.e. 1008). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. RE: RNW DRM via Sackville [9795-9800-9805] The mystery has been cleared up. This is from Gerald Theoret of RCI to my colleague Rocus de Joode of Programme Distribution: "Regarding the DRM problem from Sackville: I received a confirmation from Sackville that since the beginning of the B07 season, Sackville has transmitted RNW in English in the slot 2130-2200 UTC on 9800 kHz. It seems that we forgot to remove that transmission from our schedule and moreover, there was still RNW in English at this time on the usual RNW satellite feeder in English. The audio problem on January 23rd was probably related to the bad weather conditions (ice rain, snow, wind, etc.) on that night. Our technicians were so busy with other problems (antennas problems mostly) that they probably did not notice the satellite reception problem with RNW. So officially, you were there (by error) from 2130 to 2200 UT on 9800 kHz from October 27th to January 28th, except for January 23rd due to bad satellite reception conditions." So there you have it. We *were* on via Sackville, but we shouldn't have been :-) (Andy Sennitt, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Jan 31, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. 9765, RNZI, Rangitaiki, 0810-1045, 23 Jan, English, music, Dateline Pacific, news, etc.; 45433. This outlet is providing very good reception. 13840, RNZI, Rangitaiki, /1058-1259*, 25 Jan, IS, English, news, interview, etc.; 43443, adjacent utility QRM, then co-channel Polish R via Deutschland 1100 during which reception is completely ruined; second best outlet from Rangitaiki (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Jan 30 DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NICARAGUA. 540.18, Radio Corporación, YNOW, Managua, JAN 25, 0220 – news format program with many mentions of Venezuela and Managua then R. Corporación ID at BoH. Excellent signal on peaks (Brandon Jordan, Memphis TN, IRCA DX Monitor via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. 4770, R. Nigeria, Kaduna, 1305-1345, 27 Jan, Vernacular, talks (news?), chanting, discussion; 15441. As of late, it's been easier to pick this up (like BENIN 5025) at midday than R. Nigeria on 7275 at same time of the day (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Jan 30 DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4770, Radio Nigeria-Kaduna, 2220-2301*, 1/29/08, English. Heavily- accented male DJ with a selection of easy listening tunes, ID and closing announcements to national anthem. Some thunderstorm QRN, but fair/good overall (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4770, Radio Nigeria (Kaduna), 2236-2301*, 1/29/2008, English. Mellow pop music with announcements and IDs by man. News headlines at 2255 followed by music at 2257. Closing announcements by man at 2259. Anthem to 2301*. Good signal with fading, SINPO 34323 (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, TenTec RX-340, Drake R8B, RF Space SDR-14, Random Wire (90' in Attic), PAR EF-SWL (200' Along Top of Fence), Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) 4770, Radio Nigeria; 2237-2258*, 30-Jan; M in heavy accented English with program of reggae tunes; 2253:45 M in English with program notes, RN ID, TC & news; band anthem at close. SIO=443, but seemed to have problem with music feed. Base signal remained approx. S9 throughout, but most music sounded subdued, like audio under a strong OC. Anthem ended at 2257:41; 4 descending music notes at 2258:10 & pulled plug at 2302:48 (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 215' center-fed RW, 85' end-fed RW, 125' bow-tie, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. SURVEY SHOWS MANY IN ENID ARE TURNED OFF BY SUDDENLINK By Robert Barron, Staff Writer A city survey of Suddenlink Communications customers shows a level of dissatisfaction with cable television service in Enid. Results of the survey were discussed Tuesday during a public hearing held by Enid City Commission concerning Suddenlink’s request to extend the company’s franchise agreement with the city of Enid. No vote was taken at the meeting, and the decision on the extension will come at a later commission meeting. The survey, taken both online and by mail, showed 53 percent of respondents rated Suddenlink quality of service either poor or below expectations. Fifty-three percent of basic tier subscribers, 64 percent of premium channel subscribers and 66 percent of digital or high definition subscribers also said the price was too high. . . .Glenn Houser [sic] said he has had problems without much success resolving them. He also complained about content and asked who decides what programming will be allowed. Houser suggested CNN International and the English language version of Arabic television station Al Jazeera be added for additional content. . . http://www.enidnews.com/archivesearch/local_story_030004234.html (Enid Eagle Jan 30 via DXLD) He also enumerated a number of long-standing unresolved technical problems, such as OKC stations blacking out, false stereo indication on OETA/PBS, lack of stereo on some cable channels where it is available, wildly unmatched audio levels from channel to channel, etc. This item was picked up by kimiandrewelliott.com before I got around to reading it from my hardcopy newspaper! (Glenn Hauser [sic], Enid) ** OMAN. SOME PLACEMARKS ON MASIRAH ISLAND OMA_BBC Eastern Relay stn, former SW site marked now http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showprofile.php?User=1086413 20 36'21.58"N 58 53'05.85"E OMA_BBC Eastern relay site Masirah, former MW 702/1413 site http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Number/925273 20 41'24.95"N 58 54'24.13"E (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Jan 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. RESTRICTIONS ON NEWS-BASED PRIVATE RADIO STATIONS IN PAKISTAN Hi Glenn, It was thought that no obituary will come forward for the discontinued foreign language broadcasts of Radio Pakistan external services w.e.f. 5.01.2008. But a featured article appeared on January 20, 2008 in the Sunday magazine of the most widely read English newspaper in Pakistan, the daily Dawn. The article was contributed by a retired official of Radio Pakistan. Introduction of satellite based TV channels was listed as one of the basic factors responsible for decline in the radio listenership in Pakistan as well as around the world. Impression was given that radio is dying a natural death in Pakistan. Whereas in reality the state authorities have been trying to impose premature death to the medium here. Radio is still a useful part of mass media in all parts of the country. As was recently witnessed in November 2007, when emergency was enforced and curbs were imposed on private TV channels, foreign radio stations being heard in Pakistan were the only source through which independent information could be obtained by the public. Government is so much wary of the impact and reach of news based radio channels that though a lot of private TV channels operating in the country are allowed to cover news and current affairs but private radio channels are not allowed to do so. Strict action leading to confiscation of equipment was taken against those private radio stations which were broadcasting news and current affairs. It is time that Pakistani authorities reconsider their policies of restricting the private radio stations to music programs only and allow them to broadcast news as well (Aslam Javaid, Lahore, Pakistan, Jan 29, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING, DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3315, R. Manus, 1303-1312, Jan 27 in English with NBC news and music. Signal was good. It sure is great to hear the PNG's at this level. 3335, R. East Sepik, 1256-1302, Jan 27. ID & TC at 1300 with anthem then into NBC news. Signal was good (Kenny Wilson, Georgetown, KY, NRD 515, 545, 535DB, ALA1530 6 feet high, 145ft Delta loop, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** PERU. 4990.78 tentative, Radio Manantial, Huancayo, sign on with no ID announcements at 1045, continued to 1100 fade. Fair signal. 29, Similar logs on 30 and 31 January (Robert Wilkner- Pompano Beach, South Florida, NRD 535D and Icom 746 Pro, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL. Altho it was missing last week, Caixa Postal/Dexismo was back on the schedule this week in the NAm evening, 0030-0050 UT Tuesday Jan 29, and listened to the 13-minute show on demand later, just interviewing someone on phone, music fill (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also INDIA ** QATAR. AN ALJAZEERA ENGLISH "RELAUNCH" LATER THIS YEAR. "Al Jazeera English (AJE), which celebrated its first anniversary last November, is planning a hard relaunch in the second quarter of this year with 'new programmes and new people'. ... 'We are only a year old and I wouldn’t even pretend that we are close to breaking even. We’re not. The advertising cake for television in the Middle East is a relatively small cake and so I think it would be very difficult to break even on that. We have an opportunity now to pick up adverts from around the world.'" Summary of Nigel Parsons speech in Singapore, INSEAD Knowledge, 5 January 2008. The "new people" apparently means getting rid of some of the old people, as evidenced by discontent reported on 22 January 2008 and 19 December 2007. Posted: 29 Jan 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, see http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=3227 for linx, via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. 5780 / 6060: Very strong VOR S. P. outlet in Arabic 5920 accompanied by two spurs on 5780 and 6060 kHz, 1600-1900 UT today Jan 31. Noted on three separate receivers. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Re 8-012, Yakutsk site: RUS Yakutsk LW 171 500 kW, MW 549 / 50 kW, 864 20 kW, SW 6060, 6150, 7140, 7200, 7345 kHz, at 62 14 16.24 N 129 48 52.11 E (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AMERICA. 11 years of Radio Cochiguaz Dear Friends. Tomorrow 1st of February it is 11 years since we started our loved radio station, Radio Cochiguaz. We will therefore in the coming days/weeks make some transmissions for all our friends around the world. Our main transmitter has a technical problem we haven't solved yet. Another transmitter is being prepared to operate on 11430 kHz SSB but this is still not operable yet. A third transmitter is prepared to be operated shortly on 6305 kHz. Thus, this month we will make some broadcast in allusion of our first anniversary, both with broadcast from here in the Andes as well trough friends in Europe. We will later inform more about the schedule. Anyway probable frequencies will be: 6305 kHz (from the Andes) and 6290 or 6307 kHz (from Europe). Greetings from Cachito Contact Adress: radio_cochiguaz @ yahoo.com ---------- Estimados amigos. Mañana 1 de Febrero hacen ya 11 años transcurridos desde la creación de Radio Cochiguaz. Esto queremos marcar haciendo algunas emisiones en los próximos días/semanas para alegrar así a todos nuestros queridos amigos por todo el mundo. Nuestro transmisor principal está dañado y tenemos por el momento problemas en solucionarlo. Tenemos otros que está siendo preparado para operar en 11430 kHz SSB pero aun no está listo para salir al aire. Un tercero estará listo en los próximos días para ser utilizado desde suelo andino en la frecuencia de 6305 kHz. Por tanto durante este mes de febrero estaremos saliendo al aire en alusión a nuestro aniversario desde suelo andino como también a través de amigos en Europa. Oportunamente informaremos sobre horarios de emisión. Frecuencias probables son 6305 kHz (QTH andino) y 6290 kHz y 6307 kHz (Europa). Saludos cordiales de Cachito correo de contacto: radio_cochiguaz @ yahoo.com (via SW-pirates via Roberto Scaglione, shortwave yg via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. SRI LANKA TO GET HI-TECH NAVAL RADAR FROM CANADA: REPORT Jan 29, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is installing a hi-tech radar capable of detecting small boats of the type used by the Sea Tiger rebels as well as small aircraft, a media report said. The high-frequency (HF) surface wave radar, developed at a cost of 39 million Canadian dollars by Ottawa defence scientists and Raytheon Canada Limited, had been hailed as a major boost for maritime security, Canada's National Post newspaper said. Standard radar which use microwaves can usually only 'see' on a light of sight but HF or shortwave radio waves can travel over the curvature of the earth hugging the surface. Surface wave radar (SWR) uses the 'ground wave' of a short wave radio signal to detect objects on the sea. Over the horizon radar that uses the sky wave of a shortwave radio signal which bounces off the ionosphere is used to detect aerial objects thousands of miles away and can also be used over ground. Canada's federal government planned to build and operate eight radar sites on the country's east and west coasts as part of its push to improve security in the aftermath of the September. 11, 2001 terror attacks on the U.S. "But the government has shut down the existing experimental radar sites in Newfoundland and the program has been cancelled," the newspaper said. "The project was derailed after one complaint was received that the radar interfered with civilian communications. The experimental radars had been operating for 10 years without a complaint." Raytheon Canada, which builds the high-frequency surface wave radar, is pushing ahead with marketing the system to other nations and has sold the radar to Sri Lanka with the help of the Canadian Commercial Corporation, a Crown agency that helps firms market their products overseas. Sri Lanka has been looking for ways to improve its maritime surveillance to prevent Tiger arms smuggling ships. Last year the navy sank several Tiger arms ships in the Indian Ocean after weeks of deep-sea surveillance. Other international customers are being lined up for the Canadian radar, the National Post quoted Raytheon Canada vice president Denny Roberts as saying. "The technology works," said Roberts. "Other countries don't seem to have a problem with it." Roberts said the U.S. State Department informed the company on January 15 that the high-frequency radar is not subject to U.S. government regulations since it is designed to track vessels within a nation's own waters and because of that is not considered military equipment. The radar is said to be unique as it can track ships at much greater distances than regular surveillance systems, being able to detect objects as far away as 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) from Canada's coasts. The system transmits high-frequency waves that follow the curvature of the Earth to detect and track objects hundreds of kilometres over the horizon. Regular radars are restricted to objects in their line of sight on the horizon. To gain its advantage, the high-frequency surface wave radar uses the ocean as a conducting surface to increase its range, the newspaper said. The Canadian navy had been hoping the radars would cut down on surveillance costs, in particular the flying time of Aurora maritime patrol planes. The radar could be used to pinpoint suspicious ships, after which Aurora aircraft could be directed to those vessels to conduct further surveillance. http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/fullstory.php?newsID=508265847&no_view=1&SEARCH_TERM=35 (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) Does anyone know what frequencies will be affected? (Kevin Redding, ABDX) I bet it`s bad news for the SWLs of Asia. Geez, you mean this has defense applications, not just studying ocean waves??? Unfortunately, the ``ground wave`` signals propagate widely via skywave, the nature of the SW medium (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** TAIWAN [and non]. TAIWAN?? RTI??? 11640, 0050, Chinese, 444, Jan 27. Choir music, then Chinese vocal music at 0055. OM 0054 and then rock style music 0055. Time pips 0100 and continued with a YL with comments. Suddenly a second Chinese station came on the air in Chinese mixing with the above station. Was it Taiwan versus China Jamming?? (Stewart MacKenzie, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Relevant entries from Aoki, both 1234567: 11640*CBS 0000-0500 Chinese 100 310 Kouhu TWN 12010E2335 CBSC b07 11640 CRI 0100-0157 Chinese 500 200 Xian CHN 10854E3412 CRI b07 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. 6200, PBS-Lhasa, with CNR-8 programming, 1340, Jan 29, traditional singing, assume in Tibetan, fair, // 4905 (weak), 4920 (weak), 6110 (fair). Clearly // with CNR-8 at http://www.multilingualbooks.com/online-radio-chinese.html Decent day for Tibet reception (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. 6050.0, PBS-Lhasa XZDT (presumed), 1335, Jan 29, noted OM talking in Chinese over piano music. After years of hearing the het against Asyik FM (via RTM on 6049.64) and not being able to get any audio from the station on 6050.0 that caused the het, I have finally found the identity of my mystery station, with the timely assistance of Noel Green, who tipped me off that it was Tibet. On Jan 25 he had a het, caused by a weaker Asyik FM (presumed). Fortunately for me Asyik FM has been off the air for several days, plus better than normal reception conditions for Tibet today, all help to solve this puzzle. Thank you Noel! (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) At around 1400+ I'm currently hearing what must be this one [RTM] - but mainly as a heterodyne to louder XZDT Lhasa in Chinese on 6050. As yet I haven't been able to copy any programmes on 6049.64 (Noel R. Green (NW England), ibid.) ** TIBET/CHINA. 4905, Xizang PBS (tentative), 0016, 1/30/08, listed Tibetan. M and F announcers alternating, // 4920 seemed to be there as well but weaker and hard to make out under relentless CODAR. This frequency best in USB. Fading and mostly gone by 0030. Poor (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. VOT is now podcasting. You can view the archive at http://www.trt.net.tr (announcement on VOT, 1955 UT Jan 29 via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Finally found the English podcast page, not including every program, and only latest editions? Not including Live from Turkey, leider. http://www.trt.net.tr/wwwtrt/podcasting.aspx?dil=12 (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1393, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. 5830, Radio Ukraine International, 2227-2237, Jan 22 In English with ID at 2227 by YL. Then into a program that talked about the development of Ukrainian sporting events. Then another ID at 2231 and into a program that talked about gender discrimination. Signal was fair/good (George Herr, CA, WinRadio g303e, R8B and NRD535, 50' wire and AmRad Antennas, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) European service with only 100 kW (gh) ** U S A [non]. Re 8-012, On 9730 kHz, Radio Sawa in Arabic started at 1500 in the same as yesterday (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, Jan 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So maybe it is not accidental? What about it, Bill Whitacre? You must mean 9370. Unfortunately that is blocked in NAm by WTJC. Cf 8-012; the Jan 29 edition of Aoki changes the site from Thailand to Tinian, which makes us wonder if they are just guessing, or going by DXLD speculation, viz.: 9370 R. SAWA (VOICE OF AMERICA) 1500-1600 1234567 Arabic 250 270 Tinian Island MRA 14538E1458 IBB Deewa Jan. 28. 29 9370 R. SAWA (VOICE OF AMERICA) 1600-1700 1234567 Arabic 250 270 Tinian Island MRA 14538E1458 IBB Deewa Jan. 28. 29 (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1393, DXLD) Or simply the error has not been corrected yet. How do they actually get audio to Tinian and Saipan? It can't be the satellite dubbed by IBB as "Indian Ocean Relay" since this feed package is on NSS 703, and this satellite is already below the horizon for the Northern Marianas, cf. http://www.newskies.com/nss703coverage.htm Nothing is left between NSS 703 and NSS 806 (at least nothing in open DVB-S that would be publicly known), with the latter satellite not even reaching California, as discussed in regard to the Delano site which during its last years had to be fed via landline for this reason. So it's apparently a bit more complicated than just picking the proper audio channel from an IBB satellite mux, opening up all possibilities for switching errors the Tinian/Saipan contractor has no chance to correct on its side (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Whatever it was on 9370 at 1500 a few days ago, it was certainly Deewa Radio today (31st) // 7495 (Noel R. Green (NW England), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Monitoring of 9370 kHz via Tinian 28 Jan. 1500-1558 R. Sawa Arabic 1600-1659 R. Sawa Arabic 29 Jan. 1500-1558 R. Sawa Arabic 1603-1632 R. Sawa Arabic 1632-1700 Deewa R. Pashto (sound of intermittently) 30 Jan. (normal transmission) 1500-1559 Deewa R. Pashto 1600-1659 Deewa R. Pashto (S. Hasegawa, NDXC-HQ, Feb 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The Jan 31 edition of Aoki (revised every day), removes Sawa and shows this for 9370: 9370 WTJC 0000-2400 1234567 English 50 40 Morehead City USA 7652W3446 FBN 9370 VOA 1300-1400 1234567 Pashto 250 348 Irana Wila CLN 7948E0730 IBB Deewa R. b07 Jan. 28 9370 VOA 1400-1500 1234567 Pashto 250 348 Irana Wila CLN 7948E0730 IBB Deewa R. b07 Jan. 28 9370 VOA 1500-1600 1234567 Pashto 250 270 Tinian Island MRA 14538E1458 IBB Deewa Jan. 30 9370 VOA 1600-1700 1234567 Pashto 250 270 Tinian Island MRA 14538E1458 IBB Deewa Jan. 30 9370 VOA 1700-1800 1234567 Pashto 250 300 Udon Thani THA 10245E1725 IBB Deewa R. b07 Jan. 28 9370 VOA 1800-1900 1234567 Pashto 250 340 Irana Wila CLN 7948E0730 IBB Deewa R. b07 Jan. 28 (via gh, DXLD) Yes, Jan 31 on 9370 I also heard 1515 to 1522 VOA Deewa Radio with several times ID and news on Pakistan mostly, address Pashto Deewa Radio in Washington, DC. 1557 sudden stop then back again on 1600 YL IDing VOA Deewa Radio. Checked on 1520 and 1605 // 7455 (seven four five five). Checking Deewa Radio sked in WRTH, on 11525 I heard Larry London with Border Crossings, and nothing on 11865 (Tony Ashar, Depok - Indonesia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 8-012, VOA Urdu drops shortwave: I can confirm this, even though the VOA Urdu and VOA frequencies web pages still show the shortwave frequencies. (The frequencies on the VOA Urdu web page were out of date, which could be one reason shortwave was not more popular.) Dropping shortwave is a risky move, given that Geo-TV, which carries VOA Urdu reports, was only recently allowed back on the air by Pakistan and by Dubai Media City. In a 2007 survey, before Geo-TV was taken down, the past-week audience for VOA was 6.5% of adults, versus 8% for BBC. BBC is radio only in Urdu, but somewhat over half of the VOA audience was, at the time of the survey, via Geo-TV. Of the VOA Urdu radio listeners, 51% said they listened via medium wave, 31% shortwave. (The rest didn't know or didn't answer.) If the VOA Urdu shortwave audience can't or won't find another medium, the VOA Urdu audience could be knocked down to 5.5% or thereabouts. Posted: 29 Jan 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) V. MACEDONIA ** U S A. GLASSMAN PROMISES "GLOBAL IDEOLOGICAL ENGAGEMENT." "If I am confirmed, this will be the main focus of my attention: the war of ideas – perhaps better expressed as global ideological engagement. ... The organization disseminates its messages through mass media and the Internet, and our job is not merely to explain and advocate American values and policies but to counter the disturbingly persuasive ideology of the enemy." James K. Glassman at his hearing to be confirmed as under secretary of State for public diplomacy, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 30 January 2008. "When Senate Democrat Robert Menéndez asked whether U.S. public diplomacy should 'tell it like it is.' Glassman said 'we have to be honest' adding 'we don't do propaganda.'" VOA News, 31 January 2008. Glassman at hearing: "Our enemies are eating our lunch in terms of getting the word out in digital technology." CNN, 30 January 2008 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) The most interesting part of the hearing was this exchange (mp3) between Senator Robert Menéndez (D-NJ) and Mr. Glassman. Mr. Glassman's statement that "we don't do propaganda ... It's not particularly effective. ... People have more than one source of information, we can't really fool them very well," is encouraging. However, this and other parts of the hearing suggest that American decision makers still muddle the complementary journalistic role of international broadcasting and advocacy role of public diplomacy (Kim Andrew Elliott, Posted: 31 Jan 2008, ibid., see http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=3246 for linx, via DXLD) ** U S A. Caros amigos, Como ocorre anualmente, mesmo no período que a emissora não pagava QSL, recebi hoje a Folhinha 2008 da VOA. Novamente é uma folhinha muito bonita e bem acabada, sendo que neste ano as gravuras se referem a East Coast norteamericana, de norte a sul. Se ocorrer como nos anos anteriores, devo receber nas proximas semanas, mais umas duas remessas com a mesma folhinha. Um abraço a todos, (Adalberto Azevedo, Barbacena-MG, Jan 31, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Calendar ** U S A. ANOTHER SHORTWAVE STATION COMING IN TENNESSEE; KAIJ TO RESUME George McClintock tells me he has filed an application for a new shortwave station near Nashville, TN. He is the former GM and still a partner at WWCR, and also has been managing KAIJ near Dallas. On January 31, FCC accepted the application for filing, the first step. Studio will be in Murfreesboro TN, the same location from which KAIJ has been programmed; transmitter site at Lebanon TN. Lebanon and Murfreesboro form a triangle with Nashville, east and southeast of it. The application calls for one Harris SW100 transmitter to a rhombic at 50 degrees, which will cover Europe as well as parts of Africa, and the USA. Further plans are for a total of two or three transmitters; the application can be amended if necessary. The company is called Leap of Faith, Inc., get it? And the preferred call letters would be WLOF, altho these are currently held by a religious FM station in Attica, New York, on 101.7. They would have to agree to WLOF also being used by a station on another band, which is technically allowed, but seldom authorized by FCC; or might be willing to relinquish the calls. It is difficult to predict exactly when the new station would start broadcasting, but it could take some three months to grant the CP and at least another two months to build it. Some clients have already been lined up. `WLOF` would not be totally religious, but would have programming from political and other entities which have not been on SW before. Political programming would likely skew to the right of center, simply because there is not much money or interest on the Left in SW broadcasting. The station could be useful in the 2008 presidential campaign, as soon as it can be on the air. George credits his experience with KAIJ in developing new sources of shortwave programming and revenue, never explored before, a good experiment. As for KAIJ itself, owner Mike Parker says it will definitely be returning to the air, but not known exactly when. Operational rather than technical problems are causing the delay. At least initially, it will probably resume programming as before, run out of the Murfreesboro studio, altho Parker will be taking care of further sales and programming development there, with George handling engineering. The Dallas lawyer`s website gh uncovered mentioning KAIJ in a bankruptcy proceeding took place several years ago, not recently. KAIJ`s webstream is supposed to be active again, following crashes of two computers handling it (Glenn Hauser, Jan 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 3185 USA. WWRB, 1251, 1/25. Light stringed musical fair, presumed ID not listed at this time but no else on frequency to my knowledge. good (George Herr, CA, WinRadio g303e, R8B and NRD535, 50' wire and AmRad Antennas, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Maybe not usually on then, but FCC B07 authorizes WWRB on 3185 from 0000 to 1300 (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. MOVE MIGHT MUFFLE CLASSICAL MUSIC --- PUBLIC RADIO SWITCH WILL LESSEN KVOD STRENGTH --- BY PAT FERRIER A shuffle among Denver-based Colorado Public Radio stations may pull the plug on full-time classical music in Northern Colorado, at least over the traditional air waves. KVOD, the only all-classical-all-the-time music station heard in Northern Colorado, is switching from 90.1 FM to a less powerful signal at 88.1 FM. That means the signal may not carry all the way to Loveland and Fort Collins. Colorado Public Radio, owner of KCFR, at 1340 AM, recently paid $8.2 million to buy KFDN, a small 1,200-watt station from Education Media Foundation, which broadcast religious programming. The purchase set in motion a shuffle that switches KCFR's all news and information to 90.1 FM, puts KVOD on 88.1 FM and puts the 1340 AM frequency up for sale. It's a strategy Colorado Public Radio has been working on for seven years, said Erica Stull, vice president of community outreach for CPR. Dan Hilker of Loveland listens to classical music on KVOD "23 hours a day," he said. He's unhappy he'll be losing his primary classical music outlet. . . http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080129/BUSINESS/801290327/1046/CUSTOMERSERVICE02 (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) ** U S A. 99.7 WNNX Atlanta: 99X'S DEMISE MEANS LOSS OF UNIQUE ATLANTA LIFESTYLE Published on: 01/28/08 Less than three weeks ago, my son David put a 99X sticker on his car. Little did we know that the radio station that we had known and loved since 1992 would disappear from Atlanta's airwaves before the month was over. Friday was 99X's last day on the FM dial. You see, for my family, 99X wasn't just a radio station. It was a lifestyle. It was the "play" in our live-work-play community. And it was a station that connected my daughter, Carmen, David and me. It was through 99X that we discovered incredible music, mostly from up-and-coming bands — Live, Collective Soul, Counting Crows, Tonic, Coldplay, Travis, Sister Hazel, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, Jimmy Eat World, Radiohead, 311, Matchbox 20, Cure, Barenaked Ladies, Jack Johnson, Fiona Apple, Guster, Jump Little Children, Josh Joplin — to name a few. And as we heard their tunes on the radio, we were primed to go to concerts to hear the bands play live... http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/saporta/stories/2008/01/27/saporta_0128.html (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. STATION VOLUNTEER ARRESTED IN KOOP ARSON Posted: Jan 28, 2008 05:33 PM Updated: Jan 28, 2008 11:59 PM http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=7784020&nav=menu73_2_3 The Austin Fire Department on Monday announced the arrest of a KOOP radio volunteer in the station's arson. Paul Feinstein, 24, faces a second-degree felony arson charge in connection with the fire that happened at the station, located in the 3800 block of Airport Boulevard. Feinstein confessed to the crime after he was questioned by investigators. Feinstein told them he was unhappy with other volunteers at the station who were altering his work product or playlist. "He was unhappy about that," said Battalion Chief Greg Nye with AFD's Arson Investigations Section. "It angered him. He quit as a volunteer at the station. I guess his anger got the best of him. A week or so, after he quit, he returned to the station and started the fires." According to the arrest warrant, Feinstein provided investigators with a sworn written statement including details that only the person who started the fire would know. "The fire started at about 10:20 at night," Nye said. "He assumed nobody would be there. There certainly could have been someone there in another part of the building that could have been killed by the fire." AFD's arson canine Pearl detected the presence of ignitable liquids, which was later confirmed by laboratory analysis. If found guilty, Feinstein could face two to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Damage from the Jan. 5 fire is estimated at $300,000. This is the third fire that has taken place at the station in the past three years (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) Arrest in KOOP fire --- Officials say 24-year-old was a disgruntled radio station volunteer. Click-2-Listen PUBLIC SAFETY By Claire Osborn, Joshunda Sanders, AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Tuesday, January 29, 2008 http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/01/29/0129koop.html A 24-year-old volunteer at community radio station 91.7 FM KOOP took his music so seriously that he set fire to the station when it didn't play the songs on his playlist, Austin Fire Department Battalion Chief Greg Nye said. Paul Webster Feinstein has been charged with second-degree felony arson and was being held Monday in the Travis County Central Booking Facility. If convicted, he could be sentenced to two to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. (enlarge photo) Paul Webster Feinstein quit about a week before fire. Ricardo B. Brazziell, AMERICAN-STATESMAN (enlarge photo) Pearl the arson dog, with Lt. Brooks Frederick, helped the Austin Fire Department sniff out the fuel that started the KOOP fire. The fire Jan. 5 at 3823 Airport Blvd., Suite B, caused $300,000 in damage. The radio station was off the air for 19 days before broadcasting resumed Friday from studio space donated by Entercom Communications, which owns several other local stations. Feinstein told investigators during a six-hour interview Friday that he was "very unhappy" that the music he had picked for the Internet program overnight — when the station is off the air — had been changed, Nye said. Feinstein, a graduate of Trinity University in San Antonio, had no previous criminal record, Nye said. "He had a dream of a career in radio and was very disappointed about where it had led him," Nye said. Andrew Dickens, the president of KOOP, said the dispute that Feinstein had with another volunteer was over what kind of music should be put into a digital library for the Internet program. "We knew there was a disagreement, but I would characterize it as a little clash of personalities over types of music to be played and not a big blowout," he said. Feinstein liked jazz, and his program for the Internet was called "Mellow Down Easy," Dickens said. He said he was not sure whether the dispute was over that program. Dickens said Feinstein had another job as an editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co. The company did not return a call Monday. An attorney for Feinstein also could not be reached for comment. Feinstein was a volunteer at the radio station for about a year, and he came highly recommended by the general manager at Trinity, where he had worked as a student, Dickens said. When Feinstein quit KOOP — about a week before the fire — he told people there he was going to "do other things," Dickens said. "He seemed like somebody who was young, enthusiastic, had a life, was a professional and was educated," Dickens said. After the fire, Feinstein tried to get the Trinity radio station to donate equipment so KOOP could get back on the air, Dickens said. Feinstein told investigators Friday that he had made a copy of a key to the station after he quit, Nye said. He waited until everyone had left the night of Jan. 5 before pouring gasoline on the control panels in two different studios and starting the fire, Nye said. The fire didn't spread because it ran out of fuel, the battalion chief said. Investigators were able to determine it was arson because their trained dog, Pearl, smelled something suspicious at the scene, Nye said. When they had samples tested, they found out the fuel was gasoline, he said. Investigators talked to many people who had a key to the station, Nye said, but he would not say what led them to Feinstein. Because he was not considered a threat to the community, Feinstein was given until Monday to turn himself in. The fire was the third for the station in two years. A fire at the station's old Fifth Street home in January 2006, which was ruled accidental, caused an estimated $600,000 in damage and knocked KOOP off the air for a week. In February 2006, fire destroyed the entire Fifth Street building, which also included band rehearsal space and Sweatbox Studio, a recording facility. Fire officials determined that a malfunction in a heating and air-conditioning unit of a nearby club started that blaze. After operating out of borrowed studio space at KMFA (89.5 FM) for months, KOOP moved to new studios on Airport Boulevard in December 2006. Dickens said all volunteers at the station receive six months of training. "We are kind of worried that people will look at us like a bunch of idiots," Dickens said. "This is really just one of those out-of-the- blue situations. Who the hell would have thought somebody would have snapped?" (via James T. Bernhard, dxldyg via DXLD) "DON'T LIKE THE MUSIC? BURN DOWN THE STATION - 1/29 - Not local, but interesting. A guy didn't like changes to the music playlist at a Texas radio station, so he tried to burn it down. More from KRIS-TV in Corpus Christi" From http://www.kristv.com/global/story.asp?s=7788148 (From http://www.dcrtv.com/ via Kraig Krist, DXLD) ** U S A. KATV being relayed by KWBK-LP 45 (translator) KWBK-LP, the Equity Broadcasting owned translator is relaying KATV's analog signal as of yesterday instead of KWBF ch 42. KWBK-LP 45 is licensed to Pine Bluff AR, but the transmitter site is between Redfield AR and the Arkansas River. Audio is a hissing sound, but weak picture here. [following KATV-7 2000` tower collapse] http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=TX1009281.html http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=39151 Analog broadcasts also continue on ch 7 using KTHV's auxilary tower/antenna from Shinall Mountain (west Little Rock), although the transmitter has been confirmed to be one installed by KATV. -- (Fritze, KC5KBV, Prentice, Jr., Star City, AR EM43aw, http://tvdxseark.blogspot.com Jan 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. FREE RADIO SERVICE PROVIDES DECENT FARE ON SCHOOL BUSES YouNewsTV™Story Published: Jan 26, 2008 at 11:53 AM PST Story Updated: Jan 26, 2008 at 11:53 AM PST By Associated Press TACOMA, Wash. (AP) - Vulgarity, violence and sex. Kids find it easily by flipping the FM dial or surfing music-sharing sites on the Web. Two South Sound school districts say no matter how much of it has permeated mainstream culture, it's definitely inappropriate on school buses. Peninsula and Franklin Pierce school districts recently equipped their buses with devices that play music they know is safe for kids at all times. Students heard the station for the first time when they returned from winter break this month. Massachusetts-based BusRadio digitally transmits its programming from the East Coast to more than 10,000 buses and more than a million students nationwide every day. And it's free, although some consumer groups complain the company makes its money by targeting a captive advertising audience as young as 6 years old. . . http://www.komotv.com/news/local/14453127.html (via Benn Kobb, DXLD) WTFK? ** U S A. CLEAR CHANNEL BUDGET CUTS Clear Channel announced budget cuts yesterday because this quarter isn't looking good, and they are eye-opening: "Expense reductions: All research monies after 2/1. All Advertising and Promotion monies after 2/1. All new sales hires not already implemented, effective immediately. Any new hires budgeted but not hired, effective immediately (do not hire any additional new employees). Any/all discretionary monies (i.e., travel, meals and entertainment, etc.) for your market. If you can save it, do so. Additionally, you are not to replace any departing personnel without specific approval from your EVPO." That reeks of unadulterated managerial panic caused by a catastrophic revenue shortfall. The CC bosses are clearly just trying to make it through this quarter and they'll worry about tomorrow when (if?) it arrives. How would you like to a sales rep for a CC station? "Yes, I'd like you to buy ads even though we don't believe advertising and promotion is worth it for our station, and by the way you're picking up the check for this lunch since my T&E budget is frozen." Ye gods. . . . More here: http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2008/01/clear-channel-on-jenny-craig.html (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19 http://harryhelmsblog.blogspot.com/ Jan 29, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. NEW LOW-POWER AM STATION AT NASA/JOHNSON SPACE CENTER There was an e-mail in my inbox this morning at work announcing the start-up of a low-power emergency radio station that will cover the NASA/Johnson Space Center (JSC) area (six-mile radius). Here are the particulars, thanks to JSC's Center Ops Directorate: FREQ: 1690 kHz CALL: KHA926 POWER: 10 Watts, normal ops; 30 watts, emergency ops TRANSMITTER SITE: NASA/Johnson Space Center ANTENNA HEIGHT: 30 feet The station is scheduled to go full-time on Feb 1st. Thanks & 73, (Steve N5WBI Ponder, Houston TX, Jan 29, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. This is probably old news but while listening to 1660 on the weekend, Relevant Radio, WCNZ Marco Island Florida, were announcing that they will soon only be heard via the Internet (Dave Onley, Netherlands, Jan 29, MWC via DXLD) I posted a report to the e-list to this effect on 24.12. My written log shows that I heard them saying, at 0636 on 24.12, “We hate leaving South Florida” – unfortunately I didn’t keep any more details than this. I’ve also heard them saying that the stations (WMYR and WCNZ) had been sold and that listeners will still be able to hear the station on the web. Some time before 24.12 I heard them broadcasting appeals for donations. When I last checked their web page still lists the 1660 and 1410 frequencies. 73 (Andrew Brade, UK, ibid.) What`s happened to 1410 & 1660. Still on! (Try again) What`s happened to 1410 & 1660? I understand your Fort Myers and Naples FL stations have closed? Are these AM stations still on the air under new ownership? What is the new format on AM 1410 & AM 1660? (Barry Davies, Editor, North American News, MWC UK, to Bob Ladd, via ABDX via DXLD) No, the stations remain on the air with relevant Radio programing until such time as we find someone to buy the stations. After the sale is complete it will be up to the new owners as to what is programed on each station (Bob Ladd, manager WMYR/WCNZ, Relevant Radio via Barry Davies, ibid.) ** USA. QSL: 60 kHz WWVB, blue-on-green QSL folder w/mountain scene and station timeline in about 2 weeks for an English report, v/s illegible. Only serial #239 after all these years - guess they don't get many reports (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also HAWAII [and non] ** VATICAN. QSL CARD FROM HV0VR SPECIAL PREFIX VATICAN CITY HVOVR Confirm his PSK31 QSO on 14070 in 25 dd. QSL manager and V/S IW0GPN, Alessandro. Address via QRZ.COM. HV0HR is the special prefix to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the opening of Vatican Radio TX center located in the extraterritorial area of S. Maria Galeria, about 30 Km NW from Rome. The picture is available at: http://swli05639fr.blogspot.com/ 73's Francesco Cecconi, Italy, Jan 31, HCDX via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. RNV CI via CUBA, 11680, Tue Jan 29 at 1501-1514 was all in Spanish, no English, the usual Chavista stuff, as if everything going on in V revolves around Hugo; signal started out weaker than usual, gradually grew. Re their poor English when it happens: can`t they find any native speaker in Venezuela willing to spout the Chavista propaganda lines fluently? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [and non]. CONVENIO INTEGRAL DE COOPERACIÓN CUBA- VENEZUELA --- RNV pone en marcha programa de capacitación para su talento humano Durante el primer y segundo semestre de 2008, se dictarán una serie de cursos al personal de la institución, tendentes a fortalecer la política comunicacional del gobierno venezolano. Prensa Relaciones Institucionales RNV 28 Enero 2008, 11:00 AM http://www.rnv.gov.ve/noticias/?act=ST&f=22&t=59741 Personal de las diferentes unidades del circuito Radio Nacional de Venezuela, iniciaron el pasado 23 de enero, el curso Capacitación para el personal del canal Internacional en el manejo del contenido de la Onda Corta, programa de formación que se extenderá hasta el 01 de febrero y que forma parte del proyecto denominado Formación, capacitación y actualización del personal de Radio Nacional de Venezuela, suscrito en el marco del Convenio Integral de Cooperación Cuba-Venezuela. En cada una de las sesiones de capacitación, a cargo del periodista Arnaldo Coro Antich, Asesor de Radio Habana de Cuba, se brindarán herramientas para el manejo de contenidos por Onda Corta, aspectos como redacción, intencionalidad del mensaje, pertinencia con la realidad y calidad de audio, deben ser considerados en la producción de contenidos informativos. Antich, refirió que es necesario manejar un perfil del público al cual va dirigido el mensaje, para que éste logre satisfacer las necesidades de información de esa población, "ya que los códigos de comunicación de lenguaje local, no se adaptan al destinatario del exterior". La radio a diferencia de otro medio de comunicación, expresó Antich tiene un enorme poder de inserción en la población, por su comodidad y practicidad. Enfatizó que este medio ha sido utilizado por las grandes potencias económicas del mundo como instrumento imperialista para la perpetuación y expansión de su modelo de vida. Siendo una herramienta de difusión tan importante, señaló el asesor del principal servicio radioeléctrico de la isla caribeña, es vital que quienes trabajen dentro de este medio conozca la naturaleza del mismo, para lograr la efectividad del mensaje. Antich enfatizó en la necesidad de rescatar el factor humano o emocional de la noticia, como factor estratégico para difundir los avances que se están gestando en el continente en materia de cooperación e integración y los cuales están teniendo notable incidencia en el mejoramiento de la calidad de vida de los pueblos (via José Miguel Romero, Spain, DXLD) Arnie Coro advising RNV on how to do SW programming, as if it doesn`t sound enough like RHC already! What they need is better English, at least as good as Arnie`s, and much less totally one-sided propaganda. Admit that 51% of the Venezuelan people oppose Chávez, that there is serious opposition and let their point of view be heard. Yeah, sure (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. Glenn, Polisario Front's operation under the name R. Nacional Saharaui, 1550 & 6300, does include Castilian daily 2300-0000. Frequency announcements are not heard on both languages for ages. Daily 0700-0900 (Fri. 1000) & 1700-2300 Arabic, 2300-0000 Castilian (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Jan 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, but you never know when they are going to switch the Spanish hour to 1700, as happens periodically (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. CLANDESTINE, 4880, SW R. Africa, Meyerton, AFS, 1835-..., 26 Jan, English to Zimbabwe, talks about the country's issues; 53433, QRM de ZWE jammer + numbers station; usually somewhat better (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Jan 30 DX LISTENING DIGEST) QSL: SW R. Africa, 4880, P. O. Box 243 - Borehamwood - Herts WD6 4WA - Gran Bretagna con lettera in 68 giorni. Si 1 IRC (Roberto Pavanello, bclnews.it via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. 1044 kHz: Dear Friends on the list, for those who have been involved in "my problem" about what is heard on 1044 kHz, I want to share the following message from Mauno Ritola to me. He had listened to my cassette recording: >> Hei Björn, I could transfer the speech parts to the computer, I attach it. I got yesterday a reply from an Algerian radio hobbyist: "It's not Ethiopia. At the beginning of the recording the female presenter answers the phone by saying "Allo" which sounds very French. Then the man on the phone says his name (Ahmed) and she replies "na'am Ahmed" which is Arabic ("yes Ahmed"). The rest of the language I can't really identify but I'm confident that it's Morocco from what I can hear." >> Thanks to all, who tried to help me with my UNID, both this time and last time in February 2007. 73 from (Björn Fransson, Sweden, HCDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 4450: see BOLIVIA UNIDENTIFIED. 4600.20 at 0950 and 4600.35 at 0200; most likely both harmonics, as have not seen Bolivia reported (Robert Wilkner- Pompano Beach, South Florida, NRD 535D and Icom 746 Pro, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Date? UNIDENTIFIED. 6074, not having checked for it in over a week, 8GAL still there as usual at 1400-1401 Jan 29 with V/CQ marker immediately after, or slightly overlapping the closing timesignal from Russia 6075. Nothing further heard on CW in the next few minutes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6275v: “Radio Africa” Jan 27 2040-2055*: Pieces of African music, announcements in English, German, and then English again, gave e-mail address as radioafrica@yahoo.com Started around 6275.40 and drifted up to 6275.44, abruptly off at 2055 (David Yocis, Shannondale WV (39-13 N, 77-48 W), R8B, LWs, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1393, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Maybe the Equatorial Guinea transmitter otherwise on 6250 but colliding with Cairo? Under R. Africa name it would be PanAm religious brokerage, e.g. 15190. They used to be on 7190 evenings, long inactive (gh, DXLD) How about the pirate Radio Arctica reported on this frequency? (Jari Savolainen, Finland, ibid.) And Russian instead of German? (gh, DXLD) Or why not Radio Arctica as reported by Dave Valko on about this frequency??? (Noel R. Green (NW England), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) He had it around the same time the day before, Saturday (gh) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Re GUATEMALA [non], 4800: BTW, I appreciate you calling me on that - that notation wasn`t supposed to go out as a confirmed "log". Last thing I want to do is mislead the other DXers. More than that, I appreciate the way you can raise a question like that without browbeating or belittling --- like some in the hobby do. Best (Rick Barton, AZ) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ New 2008 NANDBH & ENDBH Hi all, For those of you that like to tune the NDB bands from time to time I'd like to announce that the 2008 edition of the ENDBH & NANDBH handbooks and CDs is now available. An info package can be downloaded at http://www.4shared.com/file/36265996/7e8331c6/2008_ndb_info_package.html or http://tinyurl.com/27j5ku The new ENDBH 2008 contains the data of more than 6200 NDBs on 150+ spiral-bound pages in A4 format. Also the NANDBH 2008 has grown and shows the data of more than 5700 NDBs on 130+ pages. As introduced with last year's edition the CD versions contain Google Earth compatible NDB waypoint files so that you can "visit" NDB locations around the globe. The multimedia contents of the CD version have been expanded to a total of more than 160 NDB pictures and over 170 NDB sound clips from around the world. Prices in Euro remained stable once again, but US-$ prices had to be adjusted due to the Euro/US-$ exchange rate. Please find more details in the info package. I'd like to take this opportunity to say many thanks to NDB DXers who have sent me comments and updates, pointed out errors, or provided NDB pictures and sound clips etc. Your support is very much appreciated and an invaluable help and encouragement for me! -- vy 73 + gd DX, (Michael Oexner, Jan 29, Editor of "The European NDB Handbook" & "The North American NDB Handbook" cf. http://www.beaconworld.org.uk/files/NDBpublications2008.pdf and http://www.4shared.com/file/36265996/7e8331c6/2008_ndb_info_package.html Jan 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ BIZNESMEN Re 8-012: ``The first E is forwards, the second E backwards. This raises another question. Do Russians follow irregular English singular and plural, i.e. biznesman for singular? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` Hi Glenn, the backward e here is to make it sound more like the English word 'man', because there isn't any more respective sound in Russian for a in this word. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So this word looking plural to us is really singular to the Russki; indeed, there is only one of them in the caricature, tee hee (gh) CASTILIAN, NOT SPANISH! As from today, I shall no longer write the (wrong), though widely used, term "Spanish" when referring to the Castilian language. * Many DX bulletins do used "Spanish" as influenced from colloquial usage, but it is sheer mistake (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Jan 30 DX LISTENING DIGEST) Then how are we to distinguish between the distinctive accent of Castile (such as th for c and z), and standard Mexican Spanish? You`re being Iberian (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ CHINESE AND OTHER LUNAR NEW YEARS A reminder that the Chinese New Year is approaching. It's year 4706 on the lunar Chinese calendar, which begins on Feb. 7 (in Shanghai, that would be Feb. 6, at 1600 UTC). Other Asian countries also celebrate, such as Solnal, the Korean New Year, and Tet, the Vietnamese New Year. It's a good time to make plans to monitor stations from these countries, as well as other Asian stations, to see what special programming they might have and possible extended schedules (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Judging from recent travel SNAFUs in China, they ought to move this to summer (gh) See also USA: VOA calendar TINY TRAP +++++++++ Here is one to add to the "Tiny Trap". From this past weekend's TV coverage of the men's final of the Australian Open, seasoned veteran broadcaster Dick Enberg referred, on a couple of occasions, to the "tiny" country of Serbia, the home of women's finalist Ana Ivanovic and men's champion Novak Djokovic. Serbia has 10.1 million people, is 88,361 sq. kilometers and is larger than the state of South Carolina (Sheldon Harvey, Quebec, Jan 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ SCIENTISTS CREATE SAND GRAIN-SIZED RADIO CBC News, January 28, 2008 As if electronics weren't already compact enough, they could get a whole lot tinier, according to researchers at the University of Illinois who have built a radio smaller than a grain of sand. . . http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/01/28/science-nanotubes.html (via Harold Sellers, dxldyg via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: more: BELGIUM; ITALY; NETHERLANDS ++++++++++++++++++++ 26 MHZ DRM SKYWAVE ANALYSIS 2 --- Jan 21, 2008 H. Donald Messer presents the results of additional interference modeling in a new paper, 26 MHz Drm Skywave Analysis – Part 2 Update, available at the link below. Building on the preliminary examination we previously posted, the new work provides the essence of the results of incorporating the type of skywave propagation analysis regularly employed by shortwave users. Don predicts that harmful interference will be a rare event, and long distance skywave propagation should not preclude 26 MHz local broadcasting. The internationally accepted REC P.533 software used in this study includes in it the effects of F, E and sporadic E layer refractions, thereby giving a comprehensive rendition of skywave propagation. "Since there will most likely continue to be concern by some that the paper analysis reported on above and the paper analysis reported on by others with a more cautionary conclusion are at odds, then the community will need carefully controlled tests to produce some definitive information on this situation," he wrote. "In doing such tests, it should be remembered that the service of interest is local broadcasting. "Finally, one need not wait until the next advent of high sunspot conditions to conduct important tests. Tests this year or next will be valuable. To a certain degree of accuracy, one can always extrapolate test results for the higher sunspot numbers expected in a few years from the time of any tests done this year or next." Download HDM_DRM_JAN2008.PDF (link at http://klixie.textdriven.com/26mhz/index.php?id=36 via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ The geomagnetic field was at mostly quiet levels during 21 - 24 January. Activity increased to active levels on 25 January. Activity decreased to mostly quiet levels for the balance of the period. ACE solar wind measurements indicated a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream (HSS) was in progress at the start of the period. Peak velocity during this stream was 606.7 km/sec at 21/0107 UTC followed by a gradual decrease through 22 January. A solar sector boundary crossing (away (+) to toward (-)) occurred during 22 - 23 January associated with increased proton densities (peak 9.6 p/cc at 23/2038 UTC) and increased IMF Bt (peak 5.9 nT at 22/1839 UTC). Another solar sector boundary crossing (toward (-) to away (+)) was detected on 24 January in advance of a coronal hole-related co-rotating interaction region (CIR) and HSS. The CIR began late on 24 January and was associated with an increase in proton densities (peak 17.9 p/cc at 24/1302 UTC) and IMF changes including increased Bt (peak 10.2 nT at 25/0216 UTC) and intermittent periods of southward Bz (minimum -7.2 nT at 25/0458 UTC). Velocities associated with the HSS increased during 25 January and reached a peak of 574.1 km/sec at 25/0731 UTC, then gradually decreased during the rest of the period. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 30 JAN - 25 FEB 2008 Solar activity is expected to be very low. 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 03 - 24 February. The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet during 30 - 31 January. Activity is expected to increase to unsettled to active levels on 01 - 02 February due to the onset of a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream. Quiet to unsettled conditions are expected during 03 - 05 February as the high-speed stream gradually subsides. Quiet conditions are expected during 06 - 08 February. Activity is expected to increase to unsettled to active levels during 09 - 10 February due to another recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream. Quiet to unsettled conditions are expected during 11 - 13 February as coronal hole effects subside. Activity is expected to decrease to quiet levels during the rest of the period. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2008 Jan 29 1853 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 2008 Jan 29 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2008 Jan 30 80 5 2 2008 Jan 31 80 5 2 2008 Feb 01 80 15 4 2008 Feb 02 80 10 3 2008 Feb 03 80 10 3 2008 Feb 04 75 10 3 2008 Feb 05 75 8 3 2008 Feb 06 75 5 2 2008 Feb 07 75 5 2 2008 Feb 08 75 5 2 2008 Feb 09 75 15 4 2008 Feb 10 75 15 4 2008 Feb 11 75 10 3 2008 Feb 12 75 10 3 2008 Feb 13 75 8 3 2008 Feb 14 70 5 2 2008 Feb 15 70 5 2 2008 Feb 16 70 5 2 2008 Feb 17 70 5 2 2008 Feb 18 70 5 2 2008 Feb 19 70 5 2 2008 Feb 20 70 5 2 2008 Feb 21 70 5 2 2008 Feb 22 70 5 2 2008 Feb 23 70 5 2 2008 Feb 24 70 5 2 2008 Feb 25 75 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1393, DXLD) ###