DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-016, February 7, 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 1394 [revised] Thu 0630 WRMI 9955 Thu 1530 WRMI 7385 Thu 2300 WRMI 9955 [NEW] Fri 0030 WBCQ 7415 Fri 0900 WRMI 9955 Fri 2130 WWCR1 15825 Fri 2330 WBCQ 5110-CUSB Sat 0900 WRMI 9955 Sat 1730 WWCR3 12160 Sun 0330 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0730 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0900 WRMI 9955 Sun 1615 WRMI 7385 Mon 0400 WBCQ 9330-CLSB [irregular] Mon 0515 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 Tue 1630 WRMI 7385 Wed 1230 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 15265 via Rampisham at 1300+ in Dari/Pashto with music. Presumed Taiwan alternating. Taiwan jammed with talk station, not crash and bang jammer. All fair reception, Taiwan fading fast. 7 Feb. 73/Liz (Cameron, MI, dxldxyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 19m not really opening up here until after 1400; nothing heard on 15265 at 1330 check, but Solh quite good by 1430 recheck. Per Aoki, CBS Taiwan is on 15265 only at 13-14, jammed (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGUILLA [non]. University Network Spoof --- I stumbled onto a YouTube clip of a parody of Dr. Gene that nearly had me falling out of my chair. This is especially funny to those who might have watched him on cable or online to put a face to the voice. The actor nailed it! I could find only one mistake --- the old Doc would never have been caught dead smoking a cigar smaller than a tortilla roller, costing less than $100. :>))) for anyone interested: http://youtube.com/watch?v=sT9kol3syaA 73 -r. (Rich Barton, AZ, ABDX via DXLD) Related video is a non-spoof tribute to DGS (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 9630, R. AUSTRALIA, 2200-2330 1234567 Indonesian 250 290 Darwin AUS 13637E1225 ABC b07 [Aoki] This what I got at 2300, Thursday Jan. 5th, with impressive signal, some splatter from CVC Spanish on 9635. I can't imagine this transmission coming no other way but long path. Frankly, never have heard a signal from Australia at this time on 31m. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica. Sony ICF7600GR + T2FD, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHAMAS. BROADCASTING CORPORATION OF THE BAHAMAS TO BECOME PUBLIC BROADCASTER http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/files/2008/02/zns.jpg As significant changes take place at the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas (BCB), newly appointed Chairman Michael Moss noted recently that those changes will soon be taken to a higher level when the BCB converts from a state-run enterprise to a public service broadcaster. Moss confirmed that the move falls in line with the Government’s mandate to ensure that ZNS is removed from the commercial broadcasting business. This will not only require some form of organizational changes within the BCB, he said, but will also require some legislative changes to ensure the mandate is fulfilled. Moss revealed that at the forefront of the Board’s plans for digital upgrades is the replacement of a tower on Settler’s Way that was condemned about eight years ago. The old tower, which he said is causing the broadcast signals from 810 AM to be deficient, is expected to be removed before the end of the year. Read more in The Freeport News http://freeport.nassauguardian.net/national_local/348377948201624.php (February 7th, 2008 by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** BELARUS. 7390, R Belarus Minsk produces two terrible sideband spurs on 7357-7363 and 7416-7422 kHz, at present 1300 UT, Feb 4th. Another 75 kW unit of Minsk site is still underneath on even 7360.00 kHz. 7357-7363 and 7417-7422 again Belarus R Minsk distorted today Feb 5th, two spurs, most strong peaks of a "narrowFM-like" distorted signal on 7421 to 7422 kHz. On Feb 6th only spurs on upper side: 7418-7423, 7448-7457, and 7478- 7483 kHz, 1620 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, wwdxc BC-DX Feb 4/5/6, harmonics yg via DXLD) ** BENIN. 1566, 5/2 1900, TWR Benin, talks African language, good signal but strong QRM Greek pirate on 1566.7 and "large bad breaking modulation" (Giampiero Bernardini, rx: Perseus, ant: wire 30 m. long, QTH: Pescia (Pistoia), Tuscany, Italy, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non] When conditions are good on the high end of the band TWR- Benin-1566 should be well heard along the U.S. A. East coast. Back when Dahomey [now Benin] was on 1475 it often put in a huge signal here in Wallingford, Pa. even with just about 100 kw or less. By the way, the high powered Malta station was on 1557. The big ones on 1566 were Sfax, Tunisia and the one in Switzerland. Look for India before 0100 GMT (Ben Dangerfield, Wallingford, PA, NRC-AM via DXLD) TWR Benin 1566 good tonight --- 1566 | BENIN | TWR, Parakou, FEB 6 0300 - good at sign-on with man saying "You are tuned to a service of Trans World Radio." then chimes and into a soul-influenced Christian vocal. Blank carrier started up at about 0258. Stronger tonight than on previous evenings (Mark Connelly, Billerica, MA, USA (GC= 42.5332 N / 71.2205 W) (= 42Â 32' N / 71Â 13' W) (home) 24 km (15 miles) northwest of Boston, Receiver: Drake R8A; Antenna: SuperLoop, peak northeast / null southwest, 10 m vertical by 16 m horizontal, base height 1.5 m, NRC-AM via WORLD OF RADIO 1394, DXLD) TWR Benin - 1566 coming in at 2230 EST [0330 GMT Feb 6] with hymns but barely readable. Announcements but I can't make out much yet (Ben Dangerfield, Wallingford, PA, ibid.) Assumed new station on 1566 from Benin. Feb. 6 0439 to 0500 UT. Woman announcer with religious songs and talk in English. Heard mention," The Bible says"... Very variable signal with static and slop. In weak to fair to good at times. Still in but not as strong (OLD ROY Barstow, Cape Cod, SDR-IQ 50Ft. FLAG, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) Beste mensen, "We gaan door" zei ik eergisteren nog. Was dus niet zo lang nodig. Vandaag tussen 1840 en 1900 UT op 1566 kHz een Afrikaanse prediker (tenminste zo klonk het, verstaan kon ik niks). Wel een adres in Parakou. O=3-4 En dat alles met de UK locals weggenuld met de ALA. Maar zelf op de draadantenenne was de Afrikaanse zender sterker. Om 2000 UT alles op scherp voor een ID - komt er een andere zender overheen : HLAZ jingle! Had ik ook niet kunnen dromen dat deze mij nog eens een ID van een ander station zou storen. Wel het IS van TWR opgenomen. Voor een ID moet ik blijkbaar nog iets langer wachten ! Groeten, (Aart Rouw, 77185 Bühl, Duitsland AR7030 + ALA1530 / 10m langdraad/MLB, bdx mailing list via WORLD OF RADIO 1394, DXLD) So in European evenings beware of another gospel huxter on 1566 from a very different direxion: South Korea (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) EXTENDING THE REACH OF GOD'S WORD --- TRANS WORLD RADIO REACHING THE UNREACHED FROM NEW TRANSMITTING SITE IN WEST AFRICA Cary, NC, February 5, 2008 --- Following years of prayer, groundwork and intense spiritual warfare [??], international Christian broadcaster Trans World Radio (TWR) is now airing the good news of Jesus Christ into spiritually needy West Africa. Broadcasts in 14 languages began February 1 from a powerful 100,000-watt AM transmitter located in the country of Benin, the birthplace of voodoo. The new broadcasting outlet marks TWR's 14th major international transmitting site, and it fortifies the Mission's 33-year-old evangelical outreach in Africa. The facility has the potential to reach some 63 million people, many of whom belong to another major world religion. "We need to pray for those who are going to hear the gospel perhaps for the very first time," says TWR-Africa Director of Operations Ray Alary. "Pray that they will be receptive, and that their hearts will be changed for the Lord Jesus Christ." According to Operation World (21st Century Edition), most West African nations have numerous unreached people groups without an established indigenous evangelical church. Radio, then, is one of the most relevant and cost-effective ways to share Christ's love with people in this vast region. TWR's broadcasts to West Africa provide messages of hope and salvation not evidenced on a large scale since a civil war resulted in the destruction of Radio ELWA in 1990. The Benin station broadcasts evangelical and discipleship programs produced by pastors, Christian organizations and church leaders in West Africa. Furthermore, broadcasts are airing for children, nonreaders and those affected by HIV/AIDS. Broadcasts from Benin include the following diverse languages and dialects: Bariba, Dendi, Ditammari, English, Fon, French, Hausa, Ifè, Kanuri, Lukpa, Pulaar, Songhai, Twi and Yoruba. To read more about TWR's ministry from Benin, visit http://www.twrafrica.org (TWR - February 5, 2008 - via Alokesh Gupta, India, DXLD) There they go again, disrespecting their new host country re voodoo, apparently anathema to single- or rather, triple-godders (gh, DXLD) ** BENIN. 5025, 5/2 1750, Radio Benin, Parakou, national program ID "Radio Benin", nice music and news at 1800, Later regional program with ID "Radio Parakou" with local news around 1820, French, good (Giampiero Bernardini, rx: Perseus, ant: wire 30 m. long, QTH: Pescia (Pistoia), Tuscany, Italy, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4450, R. La Cruz del Sur (tentative), 02/04, Spanish, 2223-2345 male and female talks, mentioned sometimes "R. La Cruz del Sur...". Very weak and noisy, almost unreadable 23222. 73 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil, Feb 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Note nothing on 4876 for a while; the Brasil station seems silent. Would be great to have them back on the air as they had an attractive pennant and used to verify (Bob Wilkner, Republica de Florida, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4545.25, 2353 05/02/2008, R. Virgen de los Remedios, Tupiza, SS, OM Talk, 35343 – UG 4732.00, 0011 06/02/2008, R. La Palabra, Santa Ana Del Yacuma, SS. Mx cantor, 35343 (Ulysses Galletti, Cidade: Itatiba - S.P., dxlclubepr yg via DXLD) ?? Everyone else reports 4732 as R. Universitaria. WRTH 2008 lists both on 4732, with La Palabra as *inactive (gh, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Escuta em 90 metros (3 x 1160 kHz) --- Olá amigos da lista DXCPR. Escutados em 90 metros os sinais harmônicos da Rádio Norte - 1160 kHz de Londrina - PR. Após algum tempo de escuta nos 90 metros e me deparando com a indentificação, resolvi pesquisar nas Ondas Médias e consegui ouvir o sinal fundamental, que na maior parte do tempo não se fazia presente, em meio a interferência de diversas outras emissoras e ao fading profundo. Inversamente, a escuta do harmônico x3 nos 90 metros estava constante, com as características próprias da emissão em OT nesta faixa, pouco fading e com bom áudio. 1160 kHz 04/02 0428 B, Rádio Norte - Londrina - PR mx Kid Abelha, slogan, ID, 22322 MV 3480 kHz 04/02 0428 B, Rádio Norte - Londrina - PR mx Kid Abelha, slogan, ID, 45344 MV RX Sony ICF-2001D, antena loop de quadro Onda Média. Kenwood R-1000, antena long wire 14 metros. Um abraço à todos e boas escutas! (Michel Viani - Osasco - SP, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Rádio Brasil Central, Goiânia, 4985 at 0500 in Portuguese, ID by man with many jingles, excellent signal very enjoyable listening 73 (Ferdy HB9DSP – ICOM 756PROIII / K9AY Loop, [Switzerland], Feb 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Após meses de inatividade nos 31 metros, a Rádio Tupi de Curitiba reativou a sua frequência de 9565 kHz, monitorada por mim na noite deste domingo. Ainda falta reativar a frequência de 11765 nos 25 metros, que não tem tido certa regularidade no ar. 73´s (Édison Bocorny Jr., Feb 6, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Ha, when I heard them on 6060 they were announcing all three (gh, DXLD) See also UNIDENTIFIED ** BRAZIL. Nacional da Amazônia --- Amigos, Desde hoje e até quinta- feira (07.02) tenho o privilégio de substituir a apresentadora Sula Sevillis no programa Ponto de Encontro, da Rádio Nacional da Amazônia. Escrevo para dizer que, apesar dos problemas com os transmissores (os 6180 estão fora do ar, em manutenção), é impressionante a participação dos ouvintes. Só com os 11780 no ar, o telefone não pára. E é impressionante também a predominância do estado do Pará nas ligações. Hoje também recebi ligações do Maranhão e de Tocantins. O programa vai das 10h às 12h (hora de Brasília), mas o telefone fica aberto aos ouvintes das 11h às 12h. [12-14 UT, 13-14 UT; from Feb 17: 13-15 UT, 14-15 UT respectively --- gh] O telefone não pára, mesmo com os ouvintes tendo que pagar ligações interestaduais (tá na hora de colocar um 0800). E é só gente supersimples, cujo único meio de comunicação é o rádio de ondas curtas. Um deles me disse isso hoje no ar. O programa abre o microfone para as pessoas darem recados umas às outras. "Fulano avisa que chegou bem, já fez a consulta mas agora precisa de uns exames, vai ter que ficar mais dois dias" ou "fulana avisa que tá chegando amanhã de volta e pede para o marido esperá-la na porteira da fazenda", e por aí vai. Isso ainda existe, e com muita força. E eu, vindo lá do sul, fico emocionado com este Brasil que ainda não conheço, embora esteja jogando minha voz pra dentro dele. Abraços (Lucio Haeser, Brasília, Feb 4, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL [and non]. Como recebem a Rádio Gazeta na faixa de 19 metros? Bom dia aos amigos da lista!!!!!!!! Quero compartilhar com os amigos e saber de todos, como recebem a Rádio Gazeta na faixa de 19 metros, pois pela primeira vez a ouvi aqui em casa, som Limpo, audio baixo mas limpo, algum fading, no mais foi uma surpresa para mim que já havia tentado captar esta emissora tantas vezes e hoje por acaso enquanto esperava pela transmissão da Rádio Canadá Internacional (Canadá Direto) tive a oportunidade de ouvi-la. è o meu bom e velho Transglobe me trazendo alegrias (Willamys [sic] Santos / Olinda - Pernambuco -8.0083 S, -34.864 W, HI 21NX, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) WTFK? 15325. Time? Not given, but RCI is on 15305 (no usage currently of 15325) in Portuguese at 2000-2300 Fri/Sat/Sun. Are they now playing the same Canadá Direto semi-hour show 6 times in a row? Aoki shows: 15325 R. Gazeta 0900-0300 1234567 Portuguese 1 350 Sao Paulo SP B 04639W 2333S (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. RCI in Portuguese: see BRAZIL just above, Gazeta ** CANADA. 6070, CFRB YL singing in English, 2/1 0605 (Tom Venney, Mulliken MI, MARE Tipsheet Feb 7 via DXLD) CFRX will probably pop up without notice at some point, per reports they are working on it, but no other logs of it, and I myself have been checking 6070 frequently both day and night. At 0605 I`d want to be very sure it wasn`t CVC Chile in Spanish I was hearing, which dominates the frequency and will surely make CFRX reception worthless during most of the night, just as it was before CFRX crashed. RCI, also representing private broadcasters at HFCC, has failed miserably to protect their frequencies. Also, CFRB is news/talk, not that there couldn`t occasionally be a bit of singing in a commercial (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. BROADCASTING: WHY AM STATIONS ARE DISAPPEARING RADIO SILENCE: Kingston, Ont., is the latest city to lose its AM radio stations, but it likely won't be the last. Tired of stagnant revenue and tiny profits, broadcasters are jumping to the FM dial every chance they get GRANT ROBERTSON, MEDIA REPORTER, February 6, 2008 Almost 30 years of Ray Bergstrom's life have been spent as a disc jockey on AM radio. But the most agonizing music selection he ever made came last month when he chose Roy Orbison's It's Over to be the final song played on Kingston's 960 AM. Oldies 960 was abandoning AM for the smoother-sounding - and far more profitable - FM dial. The station, owned by Corus Entertainment Inc., would remake itself as Lite 104.3 FM, and in January the AM station signed off for good, sinking into a static abyss. It is a growing reality in the radio industry these days as broadcasters seek regulatory permission to flip AM stations to FM, where profits and audiences are bigger and the signal is more reliable in urban centres. The industry has seen the trend coming for a long time, but Kingston is ahead of the curve. When Oldies 960 jumped, so did the other two AM stations in town. For the first time since the dawn of radio there, AM is off the air. "For people like me who grew up in the sixties and fell in love with AM radio, it's the death of something near and dear," Mr. Bergstrom said as he programmed adult contemporary tracks for Lite 104.3's afternoon show. Bittersweet in so many ways for the industry, since most broadcasters see little future in AM outside of the largest urban centres where news, talk and sports stations find success, but music formats struggle to make a profit. Most of Canada's biggest radio broadcasters have either been approved to flip at least a few of their AM stations in certain markets, or are awaiting clearance to do so. Some other small Canadian cities, such as Thunder Bay, have also seen the AM dial fall silent. Figures kept by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission indicate there were 178 commercial AM stations at the start of 2007. This is outside of the CBC, which is a public broadcaster. However, at least a dozen stations a year have been seeking to flip. Were it not for limited space on the FM dial in major markets, coupled with restrictions on how many FM stations a company can own in any one market, AM stations in Canada would be dwindling even faster, several broadcasters say. In addition to Corus, Rogers Communications Inc., CTVglobemedia Inc., Pattison Broadcasting Group Ltd. and the CBC are all looking to switch wherever there's an unclaimed frequency. "This is going on in markets everywhere, and it's safe to say that everyone with AM operations that hasn't found a profitable niche is looking seriously at doing something about their AM stations," said Duff Roman, acting head of radio for CTVglobemedia, which acquired CHUM Ltd.'s radio network last year. At stake is the profitability - if not the viability - of a station. The average AM station makes $118,000 a year, while the average FM station pulls in $659,000. Not surprisingly, the number of AM stations has been steadily eroding. The 178 AM stations represents a 40-per-cent drop from the 287 that existed a decade earlier. Meanwhile, FM stations have more than doubled to 419 from 192 in 1996, owing to a mix of stations moving over from AM and a willingness by the CRTC to grant licences for new FM stations. A move by the CBC to shift several of its AM stations to FM, or at least operate them simultaneously on both dials, has sped up the trend, some executives say, since the CBC takes big audiences with it when it moves to FM. "The fact is, about 80 per cent of all people under age 54 do not listen to AM," said John Hayes, president of Corus Radio. "The CBC has been very effective in moving their services to FM because they know that's where the audience is. So we've been all over the commission to allow us to flip AM to FM where we can." The CBC, which is applying to exchange its Vancouver AM station for three FM signals that will cover the same area of southwestern B.C., says the move is more about signal disruption than audiences. "AM still has tremendous advantages over FM on the distance it's able to cover," said Ted Kennedy, chief of staff for CBC English Radio. "But the issue we're having, and it's an issue facing everybody, is that with modern construction techniques in major urban centres, AM doesn't penetrate the buildings as well." But the biggest hurdle in big cities is scarcity of available signals on the FM dial. In downtown Vancouver, there is only one spot remaining on FM and rival broadcasters would also love to have it. "FM is a much more valued signal," said Rael Merson, president of broadcasting for Rogers, which has converted stations in Victoria and Winnipeg. "When the product you are selling is music, the quality of the audio is of paramount importance." Ownership rules limiting broadcasters to a pair of English and French FM stations in any given market also stand in the way of such aspirations. Corus applied last year to simultaneously broadcast one of its AM formats in Winnipeg on FM to get a better signal in the city. It was turned down by the CRTC because the move would have given the company three FM stations there. Such ownership and frequency restrictions may be the only thing keeping AM music stations from being relegated to the history books. "Let's face it, there's a lot of people including my kids who have grown up never having listened to AM radio, except when I forced them to listen to me," Mr. Bergstrom says. Though he did contemplate other tracks for that final song - including Steam's 1969 chart topper Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye, Mr. Bergstrom figured Mr. Orbison put it best when he crooned: "There's someone new. We're through, we're through." By the numbers AM STATIONS (2006): 178 Revenue: $320-million Pretax profit: $21-million Average profit per station: $118,000 FM STATIONS: 419 Revenue: $1.09-billion Pretax profit: $276-million Average profit per station: $659,000 (source? via Kevin Redding, Feb 6, ABDX via DXLD) Full story (with great illustration! [not when I looked --- gh]) at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080206.RAMFM06/TPStory/?query=cbc (Eric Flodén, BC, dxldyg via DXLD) The Globe and Mail article is a fair synopsis of the current AM situation in Canada. I would like to offer these further thoughts: - the abandoning of AM for FM is a world wide trend being observed in many countries, excluding the States, Australia and others. Ipod's, mp3 players and other forms of listing to higher quality music are probably adding to the migration - where AM is being closed down in Canada is mostly taking place in Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes and BC. These areas receive a lot of night time interference from many American stations. Conversely in the Prairies where populations are lower, soil conditions [no rock] allow for signals to travel farther. Interference is also lower. 10-50 kW's goes along way - there will be, for quite some time, AM in Canada but stations will be limited to larger metropolitan areas. Because of dial congestion, these stations will have no choice but to remain on AM until something better comes along (Andy Reid, Ont., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This article is actually pretty accurate. There are so many reasons why AM is dying here in Canada. It is pretty easy to apply for and receive a "flip" in all but the greater Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver areas. The problem in those areas is a scarcity of FM frequencies. But in other areas, prime FM frequencies, e.g. Class C, C1 and B [in descending order] are getting scarce. Yet many stations are trading in a killer AM signal for a Class B1 or even a Class A put-put signal. Sound quality is the big reason - it`s tough to get HiFi AM receivers, even though Canadian AMers transmit to 10 kHz audio and many FM radios have been dumbed down to 10 to 12 kHz in the top end. Noise is another reason - FM is far from "static free" but it is much more static or noise resistant than AM. Another factor is the value of AM transmitter site land. A certain former AM site of which I am very aware of ultimately sold for $10,000,000 [station didn't get that as it sold to a developer] and that is in a small town. But an old transmitter site on the edge of town can make a very nice spot for siting box stores. Imagine what a multi-tower array site on the edge of a major city would be worth. The first big flip I was aware of was CFNB in 1994, trading in 50 kW on 550 kHz - one heck of a groundwave signal - for FM. The flipping frenzy has been hectic ever since (Phil Rafuse, PEI, ibid.) ** CHAD. 4905, 4/2 & 5/2 1930 RDN Chad, OFF AIR, civil war (Giampiero Bernardini, rx: Perseus, ant: wire 30 m. long, QTH: Pescia (Pistoia), Tuscany, Italy, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHAD. CHAD RADIO AND TV REPORTED BACK ON THE AIR CNN is reporting that government radio and TV broadcasts from Chad, which had been off the air since Saturday, have resumed. The network says that Chad’s president today claimed his government was in control of the entire country, speaking to journalists for the first time since rebels tried to remove him from power. The report adds that “Broadcasts that had been cut have resumed Wednesday, with the message that all is calm, order is restored, and it is safe to return.” Prior to the coup attempt, the station had been well received in Europe during local evenings on 4905 kHz (February 6th, 2008 by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) Media Network are carrying a CNN report that government broadcasts from Chad have resumed. On 4905 at 1708 here there is a station carrying Arabic news, fair strength, Xizang PBS at similar strength also on the channel. Nothing on 4905 at 1815 re-check (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth Garden City, UK, Feb 6, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1394, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So is anyone hearing Chad definitely back on 4905 later this evening? Certainly there was nothing on 4905 when I last checked around 0615 UT Feb 6 (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Nothing on 4905 at 1815 re-check (Mike Barraclough, England, ibid.) 1809 nothing here (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Chad 4904.97 kHz - Nothing noted between 1800 and 2100 UT, but now at 2110 UT I heard a tiny[not 100 kW as previously superpower from Chad] carrier on even 4905.00, which is - most likely - TPBS Lhasa Tibet signal. 21-18 UT 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, ibid.) Nothing at 2115 UT. Heard only PBS, Regards (JM Aubier, France, ibid.) I have a receiver on 4905 since 1700z, no trace here in south Italy (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, 2125 UT Feb 6, ibid.) No joy on either 6165 or 4905 at 2115 (Hans Johnson, FL, Feb 6, Cumbre DX via DXLD) "By Tuesday evening the capital's streets were deserted. The government made radio broadcasts saying it had expelled all rebels in the city and appealed for residents to return. However, Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, said on French radio on Wednesday that rebels seemed to be regrouping outside Ndjamena." A J (source? via Robert Wilkner, Feb 6, Cumbre DX via DXLD) [END OF FEB 6 LOGS, START OF FEB 7 LOGS:] There seems to be an African station on 4905 at 1730 mostly blocked by China. Chad on as Mike reported yesterday? (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, Feb 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well under China here but audible with talk, China off 1805 so now in the clear but weak and am having to listen in LSB due to what I think is local interference, just gone from talk in unknown language to African music (Mike Barraclough, England, Feb 7, ibid.) I heard nothing at 1730, but now at 1805 UT I would say Chad is back on 4904.97 kHz again 73 wb (Wolfgang Büsschel, Feb 7, ibid.) Now at 1815 UT good reception in vernacular language mentioning Chad (David Visser, Holland, Feb 7, ibid.) Yep. At 1900 into French with R Chad ID and mentions of the frequencies used (Jari Savolainen, Finland, ibid.) Chad is terug in de lucht ! 73, (Guido Schotmans, Belgium, 1846 UT Feb 7, BDX via DXLD) At 1802 heard Afro songs today 7/2 so must be Chad: qur`anic verses, a song, 1815 with talks by OM in French, Arabic and local mix, ida`a jumhuria?? Some QRM from Lhasa till 1805 (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, Cumbre DX via DXLD) 4905, interesting, African Music. DX T[uner?] 1900 to 1920 rlcw (Robert L. C. Wilkner, FL, ibid.) Thanks Bob Wilkner tip, Tuned into DX Tuner Sweden at 1910 and heard African music (Hans Johnson, FL, ibid.) Not heard here at 2130 check on 4905 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4904.97, Chad Improvisational program, ended at 2038 UT tonight, according Juergen Martens in German ng A-DX. Said "à demain" [means until tomorrow], and National Anthem. Easy to check, Lhasa Tibet on even 4905 ends at 1805, Chad on odd 4904.97, starts mostly by 1800 - 2300 UT, and approx. 0430-0730 too. "Programm war heute Abend sehr improvisiert. Sendeschluss schon um 20:38 UTC "A demain" [means by tomorrow], dann noch die Nationalhymne..." 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** CHILE. ÚLTIMAS MEDIDAS POR CRISIS ENERGÉTICA: GOBIERNO ALARGA HORARIO DE VERANO. Estimados: Debido a la crisis energética que se cierne sobre la República de Chile, debido a la falta de agua, el Gobierno ha decidido - según ha informado hace minutos Radio Cooperativa - alargar el horario de verano (GMT -3 en Chile Continental) hasta el último sábado de marzo, o sea, sábado 30, en vez de cambiar el sábado 16, como debía ser. Entre otras medidas se aplicará una reducción del voltaje de 10%. Saludos, (Eduardo Peñailillo, Chile, Feb 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Re 8-015: {is this graf by Fred? --- gh} No, it`s from the original article (Fred Waterer, Ont., DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO DR. Press Release - HCJB GLOBAL PARTNER RADIO STATION IN CONGO ENCOURAGES RESIDENTS AFTER QUAKES Datum: Wed, 06 Feb 2008 13:58:00 +0000 Von: Colin Lowther Rückantwort: radiochristians@yahoogroups.co.uk Firma: HCJB-UK HCJB GLOBAL PARTNER RADIO STATION IN CONGO ENCOURAGES RESIDENTS AFTER QUAKES A voice of hope continues to blanket the city of Bukavu and the eastern part of the Democratic of Congo (D.R.C.) after a pair of earthquakes rocked the region on Sunday, Feb. 3, killing at least 46 people, including 10 who were attending church services. Though the quake left hundreds injured and thousands homeless in the D.R.C. as well as neighboring Rwanda, Radio Kahuzi, HCJB Global Voice’s partner station in Bukavu, suffered only minor damage. Richard McDonald, a missionary who serves at Radio Kahuzi with his wife, Kathy, was making a last-minute check of the radio equipment, preparing to leave for church, when the category-6.0 quake struck at 9:30 a.m. local time. “The very heavy rack supporting the transmitters began rocking violently from side to side,” McDonald explained. “I tried to wrestle it to a stop and switched off the power, waiting for just less than a minute for the quake to finish. “Danny Magadju, our journalist in training, powered down the studio and we exited for safety. No equipment was damaged, so we cautiously went back on the air,” McDonald explained. Since then the broadcasts have been interrupted only occasionally by brief power outages. “We continue to share good news with the listeners and what we know about the state of affairs and relay the news live concerning the day-to-day situation. The governor and seismographic experts are giving good counsel to the population via Radio Kahuzi.” McDonald added that engineers are keeping a close eye on two nearby hydroelectric dams that already had cracks and may have suffered further damage in the temblors. “But we are on the air as normal thus far,” he said. “We will also continue with shortwave broadcasts from 6 to 10 p.m. Mondays and Fridays, reaching as far as Johannesburg, South Africa. We can also cover the eastern half of the D.R.C. and Rwanda with a good strong signal.” (if local time then probably -1 h for UTC, WRTH 2008: 6210 kHz) (...) [no, Bukavu is on UT +2, so M & F only, 1600-2000 UT --- gh] Earthquakes are not unusual in the western Great Rift Valley --- a seismically active fault line straddling western Uganda, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania. In 1994 a magnitude-6 tremor in the foothills of western Uganda’s Rwenzori Mountains killed at least six people. In 1966 a magnitude-7 earthquake killed 157 people and injured more than 1,300 in the Semliki Valley, also in western Uganda. (...) NOTES HCJB Global has been reaching out to listeners with the claims of Christ for more than 75 years via short-wave radio, local FM radio and now satellite radio and the Internet. We partner with churches and missions around the world to help them fulfil Christ's Great Commission through media and medical ministries. In Britain, rather than focus on the traditional world of Christian radio, HCJB-UK has a passion to reach those outside the church who listen to secular radio stations. To achieve this we use the name 'Whistling Frog Productions' - placing our own award-winning radio material on local commercial stations, resourcing Christians already working in the radio industry and offering quality training to aspiring Christian broadcasters. HCJB-UK also runs AUDIOPOT http://www.audiopot.org the UK's on-line library of creative Christian audio. This popular website offers free access to over 1900 MP3 files of thoughts, interviews and features - easy to search and perfect for illustrating talks, starting discussions in the classroom or playing on local radio. Contact Colin Lowther Tel 01274 721810 email clowther@hcjb.org.uk Web http://www.hcjb.org.uk (via Dr Hansjoerg Biener, Germany, DXLD) http://www.fallingrain.com/world/CG/12/Bukavu.html yes, UTC +2 hrs (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) More info and maps of the place (gh, DXLD) ** CROATIA [non]. GERMANY: 7285 Hrvatska (Croatian) Radio via Wertachtal with English news with chimes between items, Sx and Wx [sports and weather?] for Croatia and ID at 2321 "You are listening to Croatia Radio, The V of Croatia" with satellite, BC and website. :23 music and into Spanish at BoH. Reception steadily improving during my monitoring: SIO 243 at start, 354 by end. 2315-2335 2/Feb (Kenneth Vito Zichi, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** CUBA. Still checking Radio Havana for Arnie's DX show at 2030 UT on 11760 here in Oklahoma today, 5 February. The interference was so strong I couldn't make out anything. Checking again at 2300 on 9550, the SIO was 333 but I never heard a show. I may have missed it as I was busy from 2330 to 2355. By the time I checked there was Cuban music and then a sign off. Tuned in at 0100 this evening on 6180 but there was no signal, checked 6000 still nothing, then low and behold a strong signal on 9820 running 444. By 0145 the 6180 signal was back with a 444 but nothing on 9820. The announcer at 0100 said Arnie was on special assignment, but would be back for the weekend show. This is not the first time 9820 has been active for a while for the 0100 English broadcast. I picked it up on October 11, 2007, running DXers Unlimited at 0141 with a 343 down to 242. At the same time the 6000 frequency was also active with the same programming at the same time with a signal of 433. I e-mailed Arnie about the use of 9820 the next day but never received a reply. I have checked 9820 off and on since the October use and haven't heard it until this evening. A reply from my posting on the Cumbre about the whereabouts of Arnie said he may be at the HFCC meeting. I think it is in Singapore. If so this may be a first, as I understand Havana doesn't usually participate or recognize the HFCC (Steve Cross, Del City, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Steve, HFCC is going on now in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Axually, Arnie has been to at least one before, in South Africa, I believe, as an observer? But that doesn`t mean Cuba really participates. We had a story in DXLD recently that he is also advising R. Nacional de Venezuela on how to make SW programming, but no definite time for that mentioned. Also, I heard him with a phoned-in ``news update`` at 0630 UT Feb 5, his usual spot, but it is hardly breaking news and could have been recorded much earlier. (So could DXUL if he had time to do advance shows as he has sometimes admitted in the past.) 73, (Glenn Hauser, Enid, ibid.) ** CUBA. No sign of "The Het" again on 1181 last night. Its absence leaves a huge void in my life and heart (Harry Helms, W5HLH Smithville, TX EL19, Feb 6, ABDX via DXLD) The CARRIER, also missing here when checked the last few eves (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. Hi Glenn, Managed to hear HCJB DRM on 15275, 1130 UT. Signal steadily got stronger, and audio was good, few audio breaks, but not bad at all for 4 kilowatts! Regards (Chris Lewis, England, Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Plus huge antenna gain? 15270-15275-15280 (gh, DXLD) see also CONGO DR ** ERITREA. 5100, R Bana, 1400, English ID: ”This is R Bana of the Ministry of Education in Asmara, Eritrea, broadcasting on 1089 kHz MW and 5.1 MHz SW” (Maarten Van Delft, visiting Ethiopia, DSWCI DX Window Feb 6 via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. R Ethiopia is a commercial government station. Re. 5990/7110/9704: From 1400 hours onwards I noted that 5990 first mixed with co-channel VOIRI and is then completely lost under them. I never managed to hear 9704 during my trip, probably due to skip. The new Oromo Service on 6030, identifying as "Radio Oromia", is on the air daily at 0400-0600, 0900-1100 and 1600-1800. Excellent reception everywhere, must be 100 kW. The English programme in the Home Service is now a full hour, viz. Mo- Fr 1400-1500. In the course of 2008, new MW relays are planned at Nazret (10 kW on 1035) and Nekemte (100 kW on 1053). The Robe relay will be completely rebuilt and the new 100 kW transmitter will shift from 972 to 837 kHz after completion. The antennas will be built by Colton Tower Consulants Inc., and Harris will supply the transmitters. Mr. Melesse Edea Beyi is the head of the English language programme in the Home Service as well as the programmes in English, French and Arabic of the External Service. Somali is now aired at 0700-0800 and 1200-1300, Tigrayan at 1500-1530 and Arabic at 1400-1500 and 1530- 1600. The Afari, English and French programmes are still broadcast as per schedule. In addition to 7165 and 9560, 989 MW is also used for the Addis Ababa region. R Fana now has two 100 kW transmitters, both on 6110 and 7210. Their 5970 appears to be inactive. In a month or two, the station will increase its broadcasting time to 18 hours daily. Mr. Fre Tesfamichael has left the Voice of the Tigray Revolution. Mr. Abera Tesfay has succeeded him as director. He told me that since May 2007 they have been using a 100 kW transmitter. It is located near Addis for better nationwide coverage. The two old 10 kW transmitters at Mekele will remain as standby. I was told that they simultaneously broadcast on two frequencies from the new transmitter. I expressed my surprise about this, but I am a technical layman, so who knows! They are still in a testing phase. Their assigned frequencies are: 5950, 5980, 6170 and 7155. I frequently heard the combination 5950 and 6170, but they were often silent altogether. They broadcast 66 hours a week in Tigrayan and 9.5 hours in Afari. They are now busy moving to a brand new building. An FM relay is projected for Mekele, but there are no plans to use MW. Before popping in at this station, I visited the impressive monument and nearby museum, dedicated to the long and bloody struggle of the TPLF (Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front) against Mengistu’s Derg (junta). In the museum I also saw the old transmitter and antenna which had been used for some years in a cave in the Simien Mountains at an altitude of over 3500 m. when they were still a clandestine station. There was only one narrow path to the cave and all supplies had to be taken up via this tough route. They even carried up anti- aircraft guns and so the station was never silenced by the Derg. Mr. Abera and the director of PR, Mr. Berhaie, told me of the hardships they had to endure in the cave, such as the cold up there. Before every broadcast they had to heat the frozen cooling liquid for the transmitter! (Maarten Van Delft, visiting Ethiopia, DSWCI DX Window Feb 6 via WORLD OF RADIO 1394, DXLD) Did you enquire about jamming??!! (gh, DXLD) ** FRANCE. France's public TV and radio outlets will be hit with a 24- hour strike on February 13. Labor unions are upset with a proposal by President Sarzoky to eliminate commercials on French television and radio networks. While the French public broadcasters air fewer commercials than private broadcasters, the end of them would significantly reduce budgets for the public broadcasters. Sarkozy has not proposed a commensurate increase in government funding to make up for the loss. Agence France Presse reports that the strike has been called against RFI and France Televisions, and a similar notice was being made to domestic Radio France outlets and TV5, the francophone TV channel. Three unions at RFI -- two journalist unions (SNJ and SNJ- CGT) and a technicians' union (SNRT-CGT) have given a Feb. 13 strike notice (Mike Cooper, GA, Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. 4799.75, R Buenas Nuevas, 1235, 02/07/08, Spanish. Male announcer on tune-in with commentary and a couple of near-immediate IDs as "Radio Buenas Nuevas" amid his talk. Slight heterodyne from something on or near 4800 (XERTA??), but too weak to tell what it might have been. Fair/good (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Oh oh; RBN may have figured it should assert its rights to 4800 vs XERTA which moved from 4810 during RBN inactivity. But be very careful, as XERTA in religionist programing could also mention ``buenas nuevas`` (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) True, and it does bear further monitoring. I didn't stay with it very long once I noticed the PNGs were coming in, but whoever it was on 4799.75 was not audible in a quick recheck made between 1300-1400 (which would jibe with the listed 1000-1300 for RBN in Aoki). (Mark Schiefelbein, ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. NEW INTERNET RADIO STATION: PJR WORLDWIDE Greetings from everyone here at West Point Community Radio, As most of you are aware we went through some changes with our Radio Veronica outlet a few months back, which necessitated dropping all of the talk and discussion programming that we had been running in favor of an all music format. As I mentioned at that time this was, in part, to make way for a new Internet Radio Station that would specialize in such programming. Now the time has come to ramp up our new station. Beginning on February 15th PJR Worldwide: Peace and Justice Radio will debut with a wide array of programming of interest to those involved in the peace and justice movements. PJR Worldwide will bring you the best talk and discussion programming available today, without commercials, and without war-mongering and hate speech. We will dedicate our programming to seeking peace among the peoples of the world, and justice for the oppressed. In what promises to be a divisive political year, we believe that the peace and justice message is more important than ever. As we promised, we are bringing back the vast majority of programs that once ran on Radio Veronica, including yours, and will be adding others. Most will run three times a week, once in each major daypart: mornings, afternoons, and evenings. It is hoped that by giving these programs airings in various dayparts that your outreach will be maximized to the greatest number of listeners. PJR Worldwide will also feature several musical interludes throughout the day featuring a wide variety of classical music. We will also air a new all-night presentation of Jazz and Standards. On Sundays out talk and discussion programming will be minimal as we devote the majority of our day to a new program called “Buffered Cache”. Buffered Cache will feature a mix of folk and rock music of the late 60s and early 70s, Americana , and a lot of surprises, as well. For a look at our complete schedule, including the new times and dates of your programs, go to our website at either http://www.pjradio.org or http://www.peaceandjusticeradio.org Use the schedule to update your websites, and feel free to link to ours. We have added a webpage with links to each of your sites. We look forward to renewing our working relationship with each of you. Welcome to PJR Worldwide: Peace and Justice Radio. (Rene' F. Tetro, General Manager, West Point Community Radio, PJR Worldwide: Peace and Justice Radio, West Point, PA, Feb 7, Email: rtetro @ pobox.com Our umbrella website: http://www.westpointcommunityradio.org DX LISTENING DIGEST) New grid in ET shows WORLD OF RADIO, UT: Wed 1100, Fri 2300, Sat 1900. Streaming link: mms://wma1.viastreaming.net/PJR?SWMEXt=.wma (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. YELLOWSTONE LAUNCHES STREAMING WEBCAM OF OLD FAITHFUL YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — Yellowstone National Park has launched a live, streaming webcam focused on the Old Faithful area. The real-time webcam provides full motion video of Old Faithful Geyser, as well as other geysers located on Geyser Hill. To see the webcam, go to http://www.nps.gov/yell and click on "Photos & Multimedia." http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2008-01-29-yellowstone-streaming-webcam_N.htm (USA Today via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [non]. 5711 kHz USB 1757z: "DoD Cape" and "BRD" (Booster Recovery Director) working Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) retrieval ship "Liberty Star" re position to maintain for STS-122 Space Shuttle launch. (07Feb2008) (AL STERN Satellite Beach FL, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SpaceCoastComms Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** IRELAND. Hi Glenn, Re 7-015: About your issues around RTÉ being a state broadcaster and religion can I recommend that you tune into RTÉ Radio 1 at 1200 and 1800 UT and tell me what you hear? A strange way for a state broadcaster to announce the top of the hour don't you think? (The same happens on RTÉ 1 TV!). You can listen live to Radio 1 on http://www.rte.ie and follow the directions under radio. This becomes an issue in the new multicultural Ireland we live in from time to time. I would prefer Newstalk Radio to lease 567. This is an excellent independent 24 hour news and talk radio that was Dublin based until a year ago when it became nationwide on FM. 567 would extend its coverage considerably including the Irish communities in Britain and North West Europe! Interestingly RTÉ 1 was off air on 567 for most of yesterday (5/2/08). Was this some gamesmanship by RTÉ? RTÉ NL means RTÉ Networks Limited. This is a RTÉ company that runs its radio and television transmission network and leases the transmitters as well to the numerous national, regional and local independent radio stations. Kind Regards, (Paul Guckian, Ennis, Co Clare, Ireland, Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This document [8-015 referenced pdf] is from 2006. UCB was one of five applicants for the Irish national religious station licence on AM. Two of the applicants, Yes Radio and Spirit Radio, were selected to go through the final stage of the process. The licence was awarded to Spirit Radio, who have purchased their own site 10km south of Athlone and will use 612, last April. RTE NL is RTE Transmissions Network Limited: http://www.rtenl.ie/index.asp Two other applicants for the licence, Radio Maria and CCN Radio, had also proposed leasing RTE NL facilities (Mike Barraclough, England, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. 15780.92v, 5/2 1120, Galei Zahal, talks, H, very good (Giampiero Bernardini, rx: Perseus, ant: wire 30 m. long, QTH: Pescia (Pistoia), Tuscany, Italy, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JORDAN. I heard R. Jordan, English at 1600 on Sunday Feb 3. There was propagational roll and medium hash. Signal varied 1-3. So it has returned. Not sure exactly what`s going on, whether problems with transmission or it`s propagation with recent no shows. I`ve heard it on late January varying times in Arabic, reasonable signal (Bob Thomas, Bridgeport CT, Feb 3, by P-mail, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. FRONTLINE SOLDIERS RADIO --- Do you know what the address is for Frontline Soldiers Radio, North Korea? It's not included in the listing in the WRTH (Matt Parij, MI, Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No. Have you heard them? Have not seen any reports for a long time (Glenn to Matt, via DXLD) I've heard them the other day. I've been trying to find the address. I'm trying to send in my reception report. Here's a response I got from the North Korean government over trying to find a way to contact them. They're trying to keep Frontline Soldiers Radio a secret. -----Original Message----- From: Special Delegation -DPR of Korea korea @ korea-dpr.com Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 4:48 AM To: Matt Subject: Re: North Korean Military Dear Sir, There are no military radio stations that broadcast outside the DPR of Korea. As for the e-mail you can send it here korea @ korea-dpr.com and we will forward it to the appropriate Ministry/Department. Best regards, Mr. Ri Man Yong, Secretariat (via Matt, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I am not at all surprised at the response you got, altho any response at all is something. Now how about the details of your logging? (Glenn to Matt, via DXLD) ATTN: Military Dept/Ministry, Frontline Soldiers Radio. Date: February 5, 2008. Time: 7:36 P.M-8:11 P.M Eastern Time. Receiver: Grundig S350. Antenna: Typical FM/SW. Frequency: 3025 KHz. Location: Warren, Michigan, USA. Programming: Programming in Korean. Please send the QSL card to: Matthew Parij [. . .] Warren, Michigan 48092 USA (Matt, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That`s around 10 am in Korea, rather difficult time to pick up anything this far away on 100 meters, especially with no external antenna. I have not seen any reports of this at all in many months; if on the air, should be much easier in our mornings before sunrise. According to WRTH 2008 its schedule is more limited. Here`s the complete entry: FRONTLINE SOLDIERS RADIO (Jonyon Chobyongdurul Wihan Pangsong) MW & SW: 1613 kHz, 3025 kHz (irr.) D. Prgr in Korean: 2030-2230 and 0730-0930 on. [sic] Times and freqs are variable. Ann: `` Jonyon Chobyongdurul Wihan Pangsong-imnida`` It`s also in the Aoki list, which includes a lot of inactive stations, with this single entry, not dealing with MW frequencies: 3025 FRONTLINE SOLDIERS R. 2040-2220 1234567 Korean 15 ND Pyongyang KRE 12533E 3905N FSR Perhaps they can check whether it is currently active at this or the time you reported. So how sure are you that this is the station you picked up? Positive about the language? Any ID as above? Was there any music of the NK genre? The S350 is probably subject to images, such as from Nikkei, Japan, 3925, minus 900 kHz, but it`s not likely to be audible at that hour either. QSLing FSR, let alone just hearing them, would be quite a coup, as I doubt they have ever QSLed (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. CLANDESTINE, 3912, Voice of the People, via Goyang, South Korea, 1915, Jan 11, Korean audible in USB, but jammed from North Korea in LSB with the German programme from Voice of Korea, Pyongyang, // 6285 and 9325 (Roland Schulze, Germany, DSWCI DX Window Feb 6 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 6348, CLAND. Echo of Hope (Presumed), 1220 Music and talk by YL making it thru the co-channel DPRK Gov't Censor Station (Rick Barton, AZ 2/6, ABDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1394, DXLD) Feb 6 at 1407, surprised to find Echo of Hope, 6348 with hardly any jamming audible; normally the jamming is severe of at least the same level as EOH. Must have powered down in NK, probably not for long. AFN Hawaii 6350-USB was more of a QRM problem, in a musical show. Next day the relative jamming level was a bit stronger (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1394, DX LISTENING DIGEST) {not V. of People as first stated} ** MEXICO. 9599.29, 2350 6 Feb, Radio UNAM, Mexico, talks in SS, ID, classical music after 0000, fair, nice signal, in LSB to avoid QRM on 9600 kHz. rx: WinRad G33EM. ant: T2FD 15 m long (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italy, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONACO. 4363, 5/2 1828, Monaco Radio, maritime, IDs, music, meteo & info in French, good (Giampiero Bernardini, rx: Perseus, ant: wire 30 m. long, QTH: Pescia (Pistoia), Tuscany, Italy, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. WISE MEN SUBJUGATE THEMSELVES AND DO NOT LISTEN TO FOREIGN STATIONS. "I’ve always figured Buddhism is the source of both this Burmese courtesy and passivity. The junta certainly likes to take advantage of Buddhist scripture for propaganda purposes. In that day’s edition of the state newspaper, a banner of text quoted the teachings of the Dhammapada: 'Irrigators guide the waters; arrow-makers fashion the shaft; carpenters bend the wood; Wise men subjugate themselves.' On the bottom fold was a rant against foreign news services. 'THE PUBLIC BE WARNED OF KILLERS ON THE AIRWAVES: RFA (Radio-Free Asia), VOA (Voice of America), BBC.'" Adam Karlin, World Hum, 4 February 2008 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) A 2007 survey in nine cities of Burma shows that 27% of adults listened to BBC during the past week, 22% VOA, 12% RFA. These are among the largest audiences for international broadcasting anywhere in the world (Kim Andrew Elliott, Posted: 05 Feb 2008, ibid.) ** MYANMAR. Re 8-015: I was quite surprised on February 2 that they held up fairly well until about 1410 or so, then began the slide into the mud. Although still audible, I could not tell if they actually went into English at 1430 or not. 5985.8 kHz. My local sunrise was about 1258. I did get a report off for reception on January 26 from 1300 to 1330 on 5985.8 via registered mail which was $11.05 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NAGORNO-KARABAKH. VOICE OF JUSTICE/NAGORNO-KARABAKH Hi Glenn, You may have noticed in the new February issue of the NASWA Journal that the Country List Committee has added Nagorno-Karabakh to the list. I had a few questions about that, and here is Rich D'Angelo's reply: Here is the relevant portion from the gazetteer: NAGORNO-KARABAKH (Azerbaijan S.S.R.) (AS) Part of USSR union republic until August 30, 1991; part of independent Azerbaijan until December 10, 1991; separatist government since. The following is from Don Jensen's upcoming column slated to appear in March's Journal: "This new country is represented by the SW Voice of Justice in the capital of Stepanakert. The CLC concluded that its status as a quasi- independent country is analogous to that of Abkhazia (Georgian S.S.R.) and Pridnestrovie (Moldavian S.S.R.), both already on the NASWA list." Hope this helps. The country list on the website should have been updated accordingly but, unfortunately, has not happened as yet. Attached is a copy of the latest country list which will be posted at some point to the website. 73, Rich d`Angelo (via Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Eibi shows Voice of Justice at 0600-0635 9677 Wed, Fri, and 1600-1635 9677 Tue, Thur. Aoki shows Voice of Justice at 0500-0535 9677 Wed, Fri, and 1400-1435 9677 Tue, Thur. Wonder which is correct? At any rate, Aoki shows 5 kW with a non- directional antenna via Stepanakert (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, Feb 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI 60TH ANNIVERSARY REQUEST Special request Radio New Zealand Shortwave Memorabilia I've been asked by RNZI to produce a special documentary[s] celebrating 60 years of shortwave broadcasting from Radio NZ/RNZI since September 1948. Do you have any old audio recordings of RNZ SW broadcasts? Any old program guides or frequency schedules? Old QSL cards? Old newspaper or magazine clippings? Any interesting stories about the station, personalities etc? Photos? Please write and tell me what you have, as it may help us with the research involved over the coming months. If it's audio, please advise the format [tape, cassette, CD or whatever] and if they're photos, please send a short list. I'm especially interested in material from outside New Zealand, and reception by listeners over the years in Europe, North and South America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. We'll then review all the material available and be in touch. What you think is not important may turn out to be a vital piece of the story!! If you have any queries, please email or write me. Many thanks, (David Ricquish [RNZI Mailbox contributor], Feb 7, Mail: Radio Heritage Foundation, PO Box 14339, Wellington 6241, New Zealand. Email: info @ radioheritage.net DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7325, Wantok R Light, Port Moresby, 1030-1143, Jan 24 and 26, inspirational religious music, English ann with ID for “Wantok Radio Light”, "Night Light show", sponsored by an auto dealership in Port Moresby. Signal fading at times, readable (Hauser, Henderson and Howard, DSWCI DX Window Feb 6 via DXLD) I have never heard, nor reported I heard, this station; and did Dan, really on the east coast? I know Ron did (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3235, R. West New Britain, 1148-1205, Feb 5, presumed Tok Pisin. W announcer between indigenous music selections; lots of percussion/wind instruments and "wailing" vocals, straight thru ToH. Poor/fair at best. 3905, R. New Ireland, 1206-1236, Feb 5, Tok Pisin. W with news at tune-in; bits of English, "...economic... April... Sudan..." Indigenous music/ballads from 1211 thru tune-out, W between selections; more English bits at 1217, "national... one week...". Fair at tune-in and holding steady, started to fade around 1225 (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Quite a decent opening to PNG this morning, best in a couple months at least - several other stations with audio, though I stopped on these two. 3315, R Manus, 1306, 02/07/08. Male DJ in vernacular with the usual PNG mix of western light pop and island/reggae tunes, several tunes played back-to-back w/no talk at all. Still going when it finally faded out around 1350. Fair. 3335, R East Sepik, 1241-1305*, 02/07/08. Female DJ spinning island and light pop tunes. National anthem, then switched to apparent relay of Port Moresby (with news in English) for a few minutes before pulling the plug. Fair (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3235, R. West New Britain (presumed), 3315 R. Manus (presumed) and 3335 R. East Sepik (presumed). 1218-1305. 2/7/08. All three stations heard during sunrise at my QTH with island music and announcements. News noted on R. Manus and R. East Sepik at 1300. R. East Sepik and R. Manus had best signal strengths noted at this QTH since late June in 2007 (Stephen Bass, Columbus, Ohio, Icom 746PRO and Wellbrook 330S Loop, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** PERU. 4835.4, R. Marañón, 1046-1101, Feb 4, Spanish. M & W talk, IDs in passing. Presumed ad strings between more announcer talk. Announcement at ToH. Fair (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. R. TIKHIY OKEAN IS NO LONGER BROADCASTING ON SW Hi Glenn, [re 8-008] --- Another SW station is gone! Was very disappointed to read in DX-Window No. 343 that R. Tikhiy Okean, via Vladivostok, is no longer broadcasting on SW, this per the new WRTH Update (Feb 2008) http://www.wrth.com/files/WRTHB07SchedulesUpdateFEB2008.pdf Even the Primorskoye Radio/R. Tikhiy Okean website is no longer available, completely gone! This would of course explain why R. Tikhiy Okean has not been heard for a while now. For me, they were consistently the strongest Russian SW station on the air and I especially enjoyed the Russian folk songs and ballads that they played. They will be missed! (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1394, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So no longer on MW either, or any wave? (gh, DXLD) ** SAMOA. MORE DELAYS IN SELL-OFF OF SAMOA BROADCASTING CORPORATION http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/files/2008/02/sbc-logo.gif The Samoan Government’s plan to sell off its Samoa Broadcasting Corporation has been delayed again. Bids for the two radio stations and one television station were received last November. But after the privately-owned Radio Polynesia pulled out, only the Samoa Quality Broadcasting group - made up of several former SBC staff - remains in contention. The Cabinet is yet to decide on a redundancy package for the approximately thirty SBC staff. This is causing major frustration according to one employee who didn’t want to be identified. The plans to privatise the Samoa Broadcasting Corporation were originally announced in 1998, but there is increasing opposition to the plans. Independent MP Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi says only SBC television and the FM radio station should be sold. He wants the Government to keep the powerful AM radio station, which is heard around the Pacific. (Source: Niu FM)(February 7th, 2008 by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 11854.9v, 5/2 1140, BSKSA 2, music & talks Arabic, fading, fair. 21705, 5/2 1145, BSKSA 1, Talks Arabic, very good (Giampiero Bernardini, rx: Perseus, ant: wire 30 m. long, QTH: Pescia (Pistoia), Tuscany, Italy, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SENEGAL [non]. 11975, 6/2 0720, West Africa Democracy Radio, English, reports and great afro music, IDs, at 0732 talks about women rights, good (Giampiero Bernardini, rx: Perseus, ant: wire 30 m. long, QTH: Pescia (Pistoia), Tuscany, Italy, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA [non]. BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA: 7115, Radio Serbia. 0113-0130*. 7 Feb 08. English. Armchair quality reception hampered only by the accents of the announcers for my first log in years. YL with talk of art museums, architecture, Central European countries, and Serbia joining the EEU [sic]. Musical interludes between sets. S/off announcements by OM and mentions of 6100 kHz. Excellent (Joe Wood, Greenback TN, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** SOUTH AMERICA [and non]. Pirate Radio Cochiguaz on the air this weekend: We will continue with our 11 years anniversary broadcasts. Here is our schedule: Starting today Thursday at 2200 UT and ending at 1100 UT Monday 11th February. Broadcasting time: 2200 to 1100 UT on 6307 kHz AM. This is from transmitter in South America. We will also be active at the weekend from transmitter in Europe on 6308.8 kHz. Sched from this will be published tomorrow. Greetings from Cachito Mamani radio_cochiguaz @ yahoo.com (Posted on the Free Radio Network, and sent to us by Frodge, MARE Tipsheet Feb 7 via DXLD) ** TAIWAN [non]. Radio Taiwán, cómo ya nos adelantaron los compañeros de FEDERACHI, se observa que en el servicio en español a las 2000 UT por 3965 vía Issoudun en Francia, no están emitiendo el programa habitual, tan sólo música y un anuncio por locutora en francés anunciando problemas técnicos. Sin embargo no ocurre lo mismo con el servicio en alemán que empieza a las 2100 por la misma frecuencia; en la página web del servicio en español no anuncian nada. Casualmente han eliminado de la web un enlace donde explicaban cualquier incidencia o cambio en las transmisiones por Onda Corta; extraño (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Estimados colegas diexistas: Saludos desde Santiago de Chile. Les escribo por el siguiente motivo: Anoche noté en las transmisiones de las 0200 (en 9800 y 15215 kHz) que Radio Taiwán no estaba transmitiendo, sino que se daba un mensaje y música instrumental china. El colega Héctor Pino, conductor de "Esperanza DX" y bastante amigo de la emisora citada, me contó que la situación se arrastra hace semanas, se anuncia en un mensaje en FRANCÉS (al menos en los 9800) que temporalmente no hay transmisiones, y se pasa pura música. Desafortunadamente él y yo sólo hemos escuchado las emisiones a las 0200, pero ya estamos en campaña para escuchar a las 2300. Vosotros, que escucháis RTI vía Issoudun, ¿está transmitiendo RTI en español hacia Europa, o también está cubriendo con música las transmisiones? Héctor me avisó que por internet sí está transmitiendo normalmente, y además envió mails a gente en la emisora, que aún no les son respondidos. Espero vuestra respuesta, Eduardo Peñailillo (Feb 5 via Pedro Sedano, noticias dx yg via DXLD) I don`t know if it is the cause this time, but RTI has previously had such outages to relay sites blamed on an undersea cable break, as the weak link in the chain feeding its programs from Taiwan; apparently unable to access alternative feed routes. I was hearing RTI in Spanish via WYFR 5950 in the 0600 UT hour Feb 6 as I tuned past, but did not think of this problem; could have been a backup program. I was more attentive to the curious Chinese accent on their Spanish, oops Castilian (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saludos cordiales Glenn, esa explicación de la rotura del cable submarino puede ser la causa, pero no me explico porqué sólo repercute en el servicio en español y no en otros; el cable está roto para todos o para ninguno, la web está actualizada y el servicio en Internet también, es muy extraño, tampoco contestan a los E-mail, ¿qué ocultan?. Tan complicado es anunciar el problema en la web, no sé; esto es muy extraño (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not near Taiwan this time, but there have been FOUR undersea cable breaks at the same time, three in Mediterranean and one in Persian Gulf. All the press about this refers to internet being affected, as if nothing else flowed on them, but this could explain why European relay sites are affected, not American, but still not the language difference (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I listened to a couple of folks talk of the strange things they’d eaten, riffing on the upcoming Year of the Rat on http://english.rti.org.tw/ Radio Taiwan International, “Rat’s not that bad.” They also noted in response to a listener’s letter, that the reason they were off-the-air the other night was due to radio-jamming by mainland China! (Shortwave Radio. The long and the short of it. By Ken Denmead February 06, 2008 http://blog.wired.com/geekdad/2008/02/shortwave-radio.html via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) Rats; or rather, Bull (gh, DXLD) ** TURKEY. VOT, 12035, Thursday Feb 7, was not coming in well enough at 1350 for Live from Turkey, and I didn`t feel like firing up for a webcast just yet; but rechecked at 1425 the IS was still running, and in fact frequency stayed on until 1431* as another language started, supposed to be on another frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. A sad day: Britney Spears mentioned on today's "World Update" from the BBCWS --- One reason I have listened to international broadcasters for 20+ years is to avoid coverage of trite popular cultural phenomena that bore me to tears. Alas, one of my traditional favorite refuges from the inane - the BBCWS - sunk to a new low this morning. There was a roughly 4-minute story on the latest development in the pop star train wreck called Britney Spears. I have since registered my displeasure to the World Service; it will be interesting to see I get a response (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, International broadcasting / shortwave blog: http://www.intlradio.blogspot.com Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) ** U S A. PROPOSED PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING BUDGETS FOR FISCAL 2009. Administration FY 2009 budget calls for "more than 1,000 diplomats would be added to the U.S. foreign service" but including only "20 or so for public diplomacy." Reuters, 4 February 2008. "$395 million for public diplomacy to engage foreign audiences and win support for U.S. foreign policy goals." State Department, 4 January 2008. "The budget for the State Department requests $699 million for the Broadcasting Board of Governors to 'provide accurate and objective news and information about the United States.' The broadcast will be made through television, radio and the Internet 'throughout the Middle East and to people living under tyranny in North Korea, Burma, Iran and Cuba.'" The Korea Times, 5 February 2008. "The administration is also requesting $34 million for Radio and TV Martí broadcasts to Cuba." Miami Herald, 5 February 2008. For additional details, see the State and International document from the OMB web page. Posted: 05 Feb 2008 (see http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=3289 for linx, via WORLD OF RADIO 1394, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Dear Sir, On Feb 6/Wed 1800+ I heard Deewa Radio on 7455 SIO 444 // 5835 SIO 342 YL reading news on US Presidential candidates. On 7445 firedrake jammer, almost wiping ERT3 7450 out, rgrds (Tony Ashar, Depok - Indonesia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Let`s have another try at WRMI programs, making a few correxions and adding presumable repeats in the 07-10 UT period. Please disregard the version in 8-015. All on 9955, except 1500-1700 on 7385 Webcast recommended: http://68.142.10.147:8000/listen.pls STUDIO DX Mon 0630, 1530, Tue 2300, Wed 0900 [Italian] WORLD OF RADIO Thu 0630, Thu 1530, Thu 2300, Fri 0900, Sat 0900, Sun 0900, Sun 1615, Tue 1200, Tue 1630, Wed 1230 WAVESCAN Sun 0930, Sun 1200, Mon 0930, Tue 0630, Tue 1230, Fri 2330 DX PARTYLINE Fri 1645, Sun 0015 DX PARTYLINE & AVENTURA DIEXISTA Fri 1145, Sat 1130, Sun 0500, Sun 1130, Mon 1600, Wed 1200, Wed 1630 AVENTURA DIEXISTA Fri 0615, Sun 0130, Tue 1615, Wed 1145 FRECUENCIA AL DIA Mon 0500, Mon 1230, Tue 1530, Wed 0630, Wed 1200, Thu 2330, Fri 0930 LA ROSA DE TOKIO Sat & Sun 0800, Mon 2300, Tue 0900 RADIO CUBA LIBRE Tue-Sat 0500-0530, Daily 1300-1500 MRR Y LA CELULA SECRETA Mon-Fri 0600-0615 RADIO REPUBLICA Sat & Sun 0600-0800, 1700-2200, Sun/Mon 0300-0500 CDHD English: Sun 1600, Wed 0615, Wed 2330, Thu 0930 CUBA VIRTUAL Thu 1100-1130, Sun 0200-0230 ACTUALIDAD VENEZOLANA Fri 1115, Tue 1145, Sun 0245 RADIO PRAGA Daily 0530, 1030, Tue-Sat 0030 RADIO PRAGUE Daily 1000, 1500, Tue-Sat 0000 RADIO VATICANO Sat 0930, Wed 1100, Thu 1600 VIVA MIAMI Mon 1100, Mon 1200, Wed 1600, Thu 1230, Thu 1630, Fri 0630 WORLD RADIO NETWORK M-F 1700-2300 07-09 UT M-F, repeats of previous weeknight at 00-02; and at 09-10, repeats of 23-24, altho not 100% so, Jeff says. I hope I got all these right, copied down by hand from the grid, http://www.wrmi.net/images/wrmichart.xls then converted to UT days and times, and rearranged. WRMI entries significant in WOR SCHEDULE, DX PROGRAMS, and MONITORING REMINDERS CALENDAR have also been updated (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 5110.9 AM? WBCQ Monticello ME with English Bible thumper SIO 444 0609-0614. Clearer modulation in USB than LSB -- is this actually RC USB? 1/Feb (Kenneth Vito Zichi, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) Yes; cf my recent log of them way up on 5111.4 later that same day, varying (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. POSSIBLE EQUIPMENT OVERNIGHT AT FULL POWER FOR WABV-AM 1590 ABBEVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA My Chief Engineer William Boyd and I will be taking WABV-AM 1590 in Abbeville, South Carolina off the air in the mid afternoon to facilitate some much needed repairs on the station here. We will be replacing transmission cable along with replacing the ATU (Antenna tuning unit) and tweaking the audio a little bit. We SHOULD be done by mid evening on Wednesday (tomorrow) February 6th. I will test for an hour beginning at 12:01 AM at full power with jingles, morse code and maybe a few tunes. This is contingent on us repairing everything on time, which I don't see any reason why we won't finish on time. PLEASE pass this along to other members, lists and websites. I WILL QSL/Verify anyone who hears this impromptu test. NO E-QSL Service and NO mp3s/digital audio files will be accepted by email. ALL Requests MUST be sent by regular mail with a *self addressed stamped envelope*. I will accept CD's or casette tapes. If using a cassette. PLEASE DO NOT send me the entire hour with the tape at the very beginning; cue it up to where I need to listen. If sending a CD, please indicate with a short note attached to the CD what tracks I should be looking for and listening to. NO PHONE CALLS at all during the test. As soon as it's over, I'm going to bed. Now, that being said, I PROMISE another Full Power Test a little later in the year with plenty more notice for everyone. My contact mailing address for QSL's is below. Regards, Paul B. Walker, Jr. Operations Manager/Program Director/Assistant Sales Director/Secretary/Assistant Engineer/Cleaning Person/Toilet Fixer Upper/Lawn Mower/Dog Walker Cool Country 1590 WABV 75 Highway 28 South Abbeville, South Carolina 29620-5521 (Feb 5, IRCA et al., via DXLD) So apparently he means test will be 0501-0601 UT Thu Feb 7 (gh, DXLD) Folks: Everything has been delayed by 24 hours, we are starting our work a bit late but should be finished tomorrow night and be ready to test.. just move everything 24 hours later. Everything else still holds true regarding QSL,s etc Paul Walker, Feb 6, IRCA et al., via DXLD) So apparently he means test will be 0501-0601 UT Fri Feb 8 (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. WNTP 990 kHz Philadelphia, PA DX Test Date: Saturday morning (late Friday night), Feb. 23, 2008. Time: Midnight-1 a.m. Eastern Time, 0500-0600 UT. From midnight until 12:30 a.m. the station will test with their new daytime pattern and 50 kW power. From 12:30 until 1 a.m. they will test with their non-directional pattern and 12.5 kW power. Previous non-directional tests have been conducted at 5 kW, and this higher power should give more listeners a chance to hear this station. ``We`ll especially be running a lot of sweep tones since they seem to get the best results. Morse IDs, steady 2 kHz tones, and some odd ball music -- which I have yet to pick,`` says Chief Engineer and DXer René Tetro. Reception reports may be sent to René at WNTP, 117 Ridge Pike, Lafayette Hill, PA 19444. E-mail reception reports may also be submitted to rtetro @ pobox.com ``If sending an audio recording, I prefer CD or mp3 (MP3s can be an attachment to an e-mail, provided the size doesn`t exceed 3-4 mb),`` René adds. No eQSL service is being offered for this test. This is the fourth year in a row that René will conduct a test over WNTP, but this higher transmitter power opens up lots of new possibilities. NOTE: All requests for verifications must be accompanied by return postage in order to receive a reply. Many thanks to René for his great support over the years to DXers and our hobby, and in particular for conducting this test (Jim Pogue - KH2AR @ comcast.net http://www.dxtests.info IRCA/NRC Joint BTC Coordinator, Feb 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1610 TIS in Denton TX --- On 1610 noted with continuous tape ... call W[N]G97[5] (or WMG97[5 or 9 or maybe 1], Vehicle No. 1 ... mentions that station is authorized for, among other things, Travelers Information Service, then gives phone number to call to report any interference the station may be causing. The phone number (940) 898- 5555 connects to FEMA, presumably at its Denton TX facility, but the gentlemen (two) who handled the call said they were not allowed to give out any information, even to clarify the call letters I could hear on their test tape if I were a little closer. I'm not much interested in the TIS signals, but it'll disappoint me if FEMA QRMs XEUACH at night!!! (John Callarman, Krum TX, Feb 6, NRC-AM via DXLD) Wow. When I type FEMA in the subject line, the "Send Message" box freezes up. I got a little bit better read on the signal on 1610 and am about 95-percent certain the call is WNG879, though the fellow who did the tape tails off on the last digit of the call. Part of the text of the test announcement says, "This frequency is authorized for use by Travelers Information Stations. It is often used to relay important travelers and emergency information." The announcement does not specifically say that WNG879 will be a TIS station. As I mentioned yesterday, the station gave a phone number to call in case the station was causing interference. I called the number, it turned out to be FEMA, and the men I talked to said they could not provide any information on the station, not even its call (Qal R. Mann, Krumudgeon, ABDX via DXLD) That's hardly surprising. FEMA is the successor tot he old Civil Defense programs of the 1950s, and the bulk of the FEMA budget is classified----it's still focused on things like nuclear war and terrorist attacks, which is why it is so incompetent in dealing with "mundane emergencies" like Hurricane Katrina (Harry Helms W5HLH, ibid.) I've been in the news business long enough not to be surprised at FEMA's reluctance to talk about any of its operations. I was surprised that the telephone number given on the air was a direct FEMA number. I can imagine a number of uses that an agency like FEMA would have for a mobile TIS station (I failed to add today what I reported yesterday, that the identification included the words "Vehicle No. 1" after the call and frequency." I was impressed by the verbiage telling what's authorized on "this frequency" and what "it" (antecedent: "frequency") is often used for. The announcement was carefully worded, it sounded to me, as if it were designed to leave the impression what the new station could be used for, without specifically saying something that might not be true in fact. Some of us journalists either recognize, or are cynically accustomed to and think we recognize, obfuscation when we hear it. It all depends on what the definition of "emergency" is. All the same, it would not seem logical that the ultimate use for such a station would be for any critical, secret communications. I'm sure we hobbyists only scratch the surface in our collective knowledge of the communications facilities available to our government agencies. My uninformed speculation leans toward imagining a mobile station on a public TIS frequency would be used to teach the public approaching a specific area where some emergency operation beyond weather-, accident- or construction-related activity would be involved to behave in some manner related to the specific area involved. I'm neither suspecting nor implying anything sinister ... but still secrecy-protected. Even to the point of refusing to confirm on the telephone the call letters that were given out on the air. I would enjoy, by the way, having access to FEMA's antenna farm on Loop 288 south of US 380 in Denton! (John Callarman, Krum TX, ibid.) If the station is really being run by FEMA, it's probably not an FCC authorized TIS station, but rather something authorized by the NTIA. (Mike Westfall, NM, ibid.) My guess is that they are going to start a major reconstruction nad widening of I-35 through Denton (it NEEDS it) and this station will help route travellers through the mess (Bruce Carter, TX, ibid.) I think you've nailed it, John. Denton is a regional FEMA HQ site, and I'd guess you're hearing a test of a portable broadcasting system that could be deployed to an emergency site. It might be running more power than your typical TIS station. This makes me wonder about the "1-15 counting and tone" station I heard last Saturday at sunrise on 530. I assumed it was a Texas DoT TIS, but I saw via Glenn Hauser's DXLD that Dan Sheedy in CA heard a similar station, or maybe the same one, on 530. Maybe another FEMA tester? (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, ibid.) If FEMA is [see below] involved in an actual traffic information station, there is a major reconstruction job that's due to continue north on Loop 288, running right by the FEMA installation. At the south end of 288, where it reconnects with I-35E, contractors are widening the area through several major shopping facilities from four to six lanes. Farther north, up to US 380, there's a lot of clearing work on both sides of the road, including some major drainage reconstruction ... It would make sense for TxDOT (Texas Department of Transportation for those who don't live in the Carter/Helms/Callarman neighborhood) to put establish a TIS to cover this project ... but I was unaware of the possibility that FEMA would be so involved. But with the project running adjacent to their property, they got involved. I-35 through Denton definitely needs major reconstruction work, and it's been going in, in bits and pieces, in the 7 1/2 years since we've been in Denton County, expanding from four to six lanes. It may be done by the time Congress will have to start paying back the general fund debt to the alleged Social Security Trust Fund, a long-term, never ending loan Congress made, giving no collateral ... but that's a whole 'nother story, even more off topic that Denton County Road Construction. What to you think our chances would be of getting a QSL from FEMA??? Oooops, meant to say FEMA MAYBE got involved ... I learn toward Harry's thoughts, though, because the portability of it and the emergency nature of FEMA's work gives that idea a slight edge in the "it could be" category (John Callarman, Krum TX, ibid.) ** U S A. 1600 kHz, AR03125, Oregon, Umatilla, received verie letter on Dept of the Army letterhead and info on Umatilla Army Chemical Depot in 8 days, long friendly letter explaining the purpose of the station, by Bruce E. Henrickson, Public Affairs Officer. Address: Dept. of the Army, U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency, Umatilla Chemical Depot, 78798 Ordnance Road, Building 1, Hermiston OR 97838- 9544. MW QSL: 2982 (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, Feb 6, HCDX via DXLD) Good one! I wonder if they could explain their callsign, though, which doesn't seem to fit in with ITU allotments (Mike Westfall, NM, IRCA via DXLD) Since it's an Army installation, the "A" prefix fits for a military call sign block. Is it "Alpha Romeo Zero" or "Alpha Romeo Oscar" I wonder (Jim Pogue Memphis, TN, ibid.) Jim, I believe it is Alpha Romeo Zero. So the "AR" probably stands for Army. But I have not seen that type of call on MW before. 73, (Patrick Martin, IRCA via DXLD) I have no clue about their call sign. There is no explanation in the letter, but it is probably some military call. They use the call on the air over and over with the recorded message, so it is easy to catch. The letter does state they operate under an FCC license and they call it an HAR station. 73, (Patrick Martin, ibid.) Note: this is not a legal USA callsign, as you might think since it starts with A-. Only part of the A- series belongs to the USA, per ITU allocations: AAA-ALZ United States of America AMA-AOZ Spain APA-ASZ Pakistan (Islamic Republic of) ***** ATA-AWZ India (Republic of) AXA-AXZ Australia AYA-AZZ Argentine Republic A2A-A2Z Botswana (Republic of) A3A-A3Z Tonga (Kingdom of) A4A-A4Z Oman (Sultanate of) A5A-A5Z Bhutan (Kingdom of) A6A-A6Z United Arab Emirates A7A-A7Z Qatar (State of) A8A-A8Z Liberia (Republic of) A9A-A9Z Bahrain (State of) (from http://www.arrl.org/awards/dxcc/itucalls.html which you might want to bookmark, via Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Per the QSL, the station is licensed by the FCC, but I have no clue what connection the station has with the Army. Being the Armed Forces, anything is possible (Patrick Martin, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Patrick. I found the following on the Information Station Specialists web site which is a great TIS/HAR resource that I have mentioned numerous times previously. Note that this information appears to be from 2003. At that time they were apparently using trailer mounted portable TIS stations on 1600 kHz. There is a name, e- mail address, and phone number that may be useful in seeking further information on this particular system. ------- Umatilla Army Depot Washington Demilitarization, a weapons destruction company, working on behalf of the Umatilla Army Depot in north-central Oregon, near the Washington border, is using Portable Advisory Radio Stations in association with its chemical weapons destruction work. ISS patented groundmats are also portable and can be covered with gravel if desired. Dave Trott, the company's owner, comments on the project in an email below. -----Original Message----- From: Trott David david.trott @ wgint.com Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2003 9:10 AM To: Steve Whitcomb (E-mail) Cc: Tom Coviak (E-mail) Subject: THANK YOU Importance: High Steve, Just wanted to tell you that things went well for us yesterday, and the coverage for the system was many times better than even anticipated. It was a real pleasure working with Tom Coviak. He is a great representative for your company. We enjoyed our session with him, and learned a lot. I've been working with the system already this morning (since about 5:30am), which is like falling off a log. The programming logic is very natural and so easy to pick up. Please advise as soon as you are able on the STA, and when you'll be forwarding the other licensing paperwork I'll need to submit through Army channels. Again, thanks for your support. Sincerely, Dave Trott, Manager WDC Emergency Preparedness Umatilla Chemical Depot Hermiston, Oregon (541) 564-7163 (Patrick Griffith, CBT CBNT CRO, Westminster CO http://community.webtv.net/AM-DXer/ http://community.webtv.net/N0NNK/ IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. Catholic radio is booming --- Steve Gajdosik, president of the Catholic Radio Association, a trade association that assists its members in getting their stations up, running and on the air, said he expects the number of Catholic radio stations in the United States to more than double in the next few years; 157 are on the air right now, including KFHC. The association helps new stations through the FCC licensing process. It recently helped file applications for 227 new stations in one week, Gajdosik said. The applications came from every state except Hawaii. They were among 4,000 filed after a moratorium imposed in 2000 on new stations in the noncommercial sector was lifted. Gajdosik said applicants expect to win 70 percent of the licenses. "I think the reason there's such interest is that bishops and pastors and laity alike are seeing what a tremendous opportunity radio is to learn their faith," Gajdosik said. "It's a sad reality, we haven't really been taught the faith over the last generation or so. "We want it straight, and we want to live that. Catholic radio does that." Gajdosik said St. Paul became the world's greatest evangelist by preaching Jesus Christ crucified. "That was the source of his power. It's truth, and it's love. People respond to that." And, judging by the boom in licensing, apparently they respond to Catholic radio that preaches that (Sidebar to story about new Catholic station KFHC-88.1 Sioux City IA, source unknown, via Kevin Redding, Feb 5, ABDX, via DXLD) ** U S A. NOVA M RADIO ADDS LOS ANGELES AND DALLAS PHOENIX, AZ -- (Marketwire - February 4, 2008) - Nova M Radio is proud to announce the addition of two new major market affiliates for "The Mike Malloy Show": 1150 KTLK/LA and 1360 KMNY/Dallas. Nova M CEO John Manzo remarks, "Malloy is a one of a kind talk radio host and his shoot from the hip style has made him a fan favorite for years. Getting back on in LA and seeing a successful grassroots effort work out in Dallas has made for a very exciting couple of weeks." KTLK/LA General Manager John Quinlan adds, "Our listeners have been asking us to put Mike back on KTLK for some time now and this is a wonderful opportunity to accomplish that. Having Mike on live during this very politically charged time will be a big boost for our radio station." Malloy starts on KTLK on Wed, 2/6. KMNY/Dallas' David Clifton spearheaded the effort to bring progressive talk back to Dallas and says, "I just can't imagine anyone better than Mike Malloy to get this going!" "The Mike Malloy Show" airs live Monday-Friday from 6-9 pm Pacific Time on the Nova M Radio Network (via Kevin Redding, AZ, Feb 5, ABDX via DXLD) UT Tue-Sat 0206-0500 ** VATICAN CITY. 4005, R. Vaticana, 2217-2230, Feb 5, Italian. M with religious talk, ID at 2220. Church bells followed by choral chanting/prayer until BoH. Fair/poor (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** YEMEN. 9780.06, Radio San'a; 1744-1800, 3-Feb; W and several M in Arabic with lengthy commentaries; somber instrumental and band music bumpers between. M mentioned San'a 2-3 times at 1756 followed by music. Either went off or dropped way down at 1800 [when English is sked]; het still there. SIO=352+ (Harold Frodge, MI, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** ZANZIBAR. 11735, RTZ, 2024-2100*, Feb 5, listed Swahili. W between very nice Hindi-like ballads. Wind instrument at 2055 with presumed ID; tentative "Dar Es Salaam"; definite "Zanzibar", followed by M with very weak audio. Back to W at 2058 with mention of Zanzibar, NA at 2059. Fair (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. I was listening to 1270 kHz last night, at 0549Z Feb. 6 (Tuesday evening local time). There was a station sending tones followed by an announcement that sounded like "CBS Radio Network Channel 41". Does anyone have any idea what or who this was? (Dave Bennett, Aldergrove, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This has been mentioned previously in DXLD. It`s one of the satellite channels put on the air by mistake when no programming is being fed. It`s usually to be heard somewhere on the MW band late at night (or even not so late in this case) tnx to stations which are running automatically with no human oversight. Stations should be fined for such waste (Glenn, ibid.) Still doesn't really tell me who it was. Oh well (Dave Bennett, ibid.) These are hard to track down, unless they suddenly get back to normal with an ID or local ad. You could try contacting the nearest 1270 stations to you, but I bet they would never admit it, or even know whether they were responsible. You could also see if there is a dominant station subsequent nights (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6074, 8GAL V/CQ marker was the most out of synch I have heard it yet compared to the closing R. Rossii timesignal at 1400* Feb 7. VVV started a bit before the TS did (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Does ANYONE know where this is? (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1394) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. GH - Picked this up around 9565 kHz (couldn't get an exact lock on the frequency because the sync detection on the Eton E1 is strange - it seems to find the sync even when off-frequency...) at 0140 UT this evening. Sounds like it might be Russian and possibly some sort of religious service, but I can't find anything in the ITU which foots to this time and frequency. Russia is allegedly only from 1200-1400, and either way this doesn't sound anything like what I'm used to hearing from the rather more pop-oriented Russian Int'l Radio, so I don't think that's it. The voice also sounds remarkably like those Yahweh bellowers on WRMI, but this is not in (perceptible) English. thanks as always for thoughts (MYKE WEISKOPF, Hollywood, CA, UT Feb 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Myke, That`s quite a performance. I can follow Portuguese pretty well when spoken in a normal tone of voice, but in this I could only recognize a few Brazilian/Portuguese words here and there, so: That would be Radio Tupi, Curitiba, Brasil [q.v.], which has just been reported to have reactivated 9565 (they are also on 6060, but blocked by Cuba until 0700). Must be a preacher really carried away [with a continuous music bed]. Could be running 9565 much as 24 hours. Regards, (Glenn to Myke, via DXLD) Wow. Radio Tupi. Completely off my radar. Thanks a zillion for the DF (Myke to Glenn, via DXLD) Perhaps Myke will be adding this to some more recent new entries at http://shortwavemusic.blogspot.com/ (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Please accept the enclosed ``love offering`` (*knew* you`d like that!) in appreciation of all you do for us fellow SWLs. Wishing you happiness, health and better band condx in `08 – also vy 73 de (Anne Fanelli in our-turn-for-the-ice-storm-today Elma NY, Feb 1, with a check in the P-mail to P O Box 1684, Enid, OK 73702) SHORTWAVE MUSIC see UNIDENTIFIED [non] 9565, just above +++++++++++++++ WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ DST EXTENDED: see CHILE UT -4:30 IN VENEZUELA CAUSES CONFUSION IN DX LOGGINGS Imagen Satelital NOAA 15 a las 2140 UT. Saludos cordiales queridos colegas diexistas. Espero que se encuentren muy bien. Hoy a las 21:40 UTC (UTC -4) pude bajar esta imagen staelital del NOAA 15 donde puede apreciarse la cantidad de nubes que esta cubriendo al territorio venezolano. Aunque la imagen es en blanco y negro se aprecia muy bien. Esto viene a corrobar lo que comentabamos anteriormente en una imagen bajada de la Estación Meteorológica NMG New Orleans. Radio Yaesu FT- 890 Antena Turnstiles Programa WXtoImg. Frecuencia 137.500 Mhz atte: (José Elías Díaz, Venezuela, Feb 5, condiglist yg via DXLD) JE, Me pregunto si puedas no reconocer la hora legal venezolana de TU menos 4:30? Para cosas no radiales, no es inconveniente quedar tu reloj en -4? Quisiera hacerlo, rechazando la hora de verano, pero he encontrado que haya que someterme. 73, (Glenn Hauser, UT -6/-5, ibid.) Saludos cordiales querido amigo Glen[n]. Espero te encuentres muy bien. Querido amigo, para serte sincero debo decirte que este horario - 4:30 para cuestiones DX me tiene loco; por tal motivo he optado seguir haciendo mis escuchas en base a una hora par, o sea -4. Con decirte que tuve que cambiar todas mis captaciones y ponerles la nueva hora y luego que hice eso me arrepentí y volví a colocarlas como estaban antes o sea con el horario -4 UTC. Pero si lo que me quieres decir es que no hace falta colocar en mis escuchas la hora UTC -4, está bien, acepto tu sugerencia y no la coloco mas para evitar problemas con las captaciones. Ahora querido amigo, dime si es a eso a lo que te refieres por favor. Recibe un fuerte abrazo (José Elías, ibid.) Todavía no entiendo bien. Sólo nos confunde mencionar TU -4. La hora TU no se ha cambiado, siempre lo mismo, y así deben proceder todas las captaciones citadas en TU, sin importar la hora local. Si tu log está en hora local de -4:30 hay que añadir 4:30 para publicar capaciones en TU... Me parece sería mejor quedar log sólo en TU. También nos confuden nuestros amigos brasileiros en sus captaciones a veces en TU, a veces en Hora de Brasília, de TU -2 actualmente, TU -3 en otras temporadas. La única manera de evitar tales problemas es utilizar solamente TU. 73, (Glenn, ibid.) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see ECUADOR ++++++++++++++++++++ PROPAGATION +++++++++++ The geomagnetic field was at mostly quiet levels during 28 - 31 January. Activity increased to active to minor storm levels by midday on 01 February. Isolated major storm periods were observed at high latitudes midday on 02 and 03 February. Activity decreased to mostly quiet to unsettled levels by late on 03 February. ACE solar wind measurements detected a co-rotating interaction region (CIR) at about 31/0900 UTC in advance of a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream (HSS) that began about 31/2100 UTC. Peak wind velocities during this stream were 638 km/sec at 02/2354 UTC. Density peaked at 16 p/cc at 31/1540 UTC while the IMF Bt peaked at 9.0 nT at 31/1646 UTC. Intermittent periods of southward Bz reached a minimum of -9.6 nT at 31/1624 UTC. The period ended with velocities steady at about 600 km/s and the IMF Bz not varying much beyond +/- 5 nT. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 06 FEBRUARY - 03 MARCH 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 06 - 08 February, 10 - 24 February, 27 February, and 29 February - 03 March. The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet during 06 - 07 February. Activity is expected to increase to unsettled to active levels on 08 - 13 February due to the onset of a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream. Quiet conditions are expected during 14 - 27 February. Activity is expected to increase to mostly unsettled to active levels during 28 February - 03 March due to another recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2008 Feb 06 0123 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 Feb 05 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2008 Feb 06 70 5 2 2008 Feb 07 70 5 2 2008 Feb 08 70 8 3 2008 Feb 09 70 10 3 2008 Feb 10 70 12 4 2008 Feb 11 70 10 3 2008 Feb 12 70 10 3 2008 Feb 13 70 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 70 5 2 2008 Feb 26 70 5 2 2008 Feb 27 70 5 2 2008 Feb 28 70 15 4 2008 Feb 29 70 15 4 2008 Mar 01 70 12 4 2008 Mar 02 70 10 3 2008 Mar 03 70 8 3 (SWPC Feb 5 via WORLD OF RADIO 1394, DXLD) ###