DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-024, February 22, 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 NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1396 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 ** ANGOLA. Re RNAngola em DXLD 8-022/19Fev'08: Caro Célio: Neste boletim DX, não pude deixar de notar o seu sublinhado acerca da designação da RNA http://www.rna.ao/empresa.cgi que, francamente, não o entendo. O nome é bem "Rádio Nacional de Angola"; a preposição correcta é *de*, não *da*! E, já agora, permita-me que esclareça o seguinte: os "anúncios fúnebres" são, com efeito, a "necrologia", tal como vem nalguns jornais. Em http://www.rna.ao/empresa.cgi podemos, sim, ver alguns erros perfeitamente evitáveis: "estério", em vez de (correcto) "estéreo", e "estereofônico", em vez de (correcto) "estereofónico" (Rádio FM Estério") Não me pergunte por que razão eles usam as letras K W Y, que são estranhas ao português. Faz tanto sentido, ou seja, nenhum, como vermos um determinado país anglófono, por exemplo, passar a usar o ß, também por ex.: " ** ANGOLA. O sinal da Rádio Nacional da Angola (e não "de Angola"!) tem chegado, todos os dias, após às 2100, em Bombinhas (SC), pela tradicional freqüência de 4950 kHz. Em 11 de fevereiro, o colunista acompanhou, às 2111, o segmento "Agenda Nacional", onde foram irradiados anúncios fúnebres, perda de documentos e chamamento para assembléia em escolas. "Agenda Nacional, serviço de utilidade pública da Rádio Nacional da Angola", dizia a vinheta da estação (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Feb 17 via DXLD) " Melhores cumprimentos e bons DX! (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, Feb 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. AUSTRALIA RADIO DIAL 1931 Radio Heritage Foundation http://www.radioheritage.net Some 6.3 million Australian radio listeners had just 55 radio stations they could tune to in 1931, a year when there was 30 per cent unemployment and the Sydney Harbor Bridge was still being built. The Radio Heritage Foundation has released a snap shot of the nation's radio dial that year, not only listing long gone but still familiar radio calls of the era, but including rare art work from many of the stations themselves. Sydney was the clear leader in the radio stakes, with powerful 2BL and 2FC owned by the national broadcasting service, the most powerful commercial station [2GB] and the two next most powerful private stations in the Commonwealth [2KY and 2UW] all serving the 1.3 million Sydney listeners. As darkness fell, popular radio serials, music, talks and sports personalities from these Sydney stations were heard deep inside NSW and far into Queensland, Victoria and South Australia, as people in small towns and lonely stations together shared this new form of entertainment. Barely a decade after the ending of the Great War when radio was still unknown, local enthusiasts, small groups of businessmen, churches, trade unions and the new national broadcaster were busy testing the edges of this new technology. Says the Radio Heritage Foundation, it's important to name the names, to remember the people and companies that are now fading fast from living memory. It's also fun to see that these days can be remembered in color, as art work from the period was very colorful. The 'Australia Radio Dial 1931' is part of a series relating radio broadcasting to the popular culture of the times. They paint the broad picture, and often lead into more detailed memories about individual stations, programs and personalities. Other Australian radio heritage content includes the Long Lost Australian Radio Stars series, Australia's Early Radio Pioneers from the 1920's, Australian Radio Clubs [remember 'Jason & The Argonauts?'] and several ANZAC salutes to the Australian Army Amenities Service stations across the SW Pacific and Asia in WWII. The Radio Heritage Foundation is a registered non-profit organization supported entirely by volunteers. It carries out research and publishing into the connections between radio broadcasting and popular culture across the entire Pacific. Donations of memorabilia, memories and funds are always welcome. Volunteers always needed. Contact details are at http://www.radioheritage.net Email: info @ radioheritage.net (David Ricquish, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHRAIN. Seems to be 24 hours on 9745 kHz, observed several times night and daytime, but almost [always?] with songs in Arabic. Noted with talks in Arabic 1200-1230 UT featuring prayer and sermon Muslim till 1209 UT and news in Arabic (Feb 16-21). (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Feb 22, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 23 via DXLD) ** BENIN. TWR Benin 1566 kHz this morning --- Hi everyone, TWR Benin is coming fine in the mornings before sunrise here in Finland. I got a nice signal on 1566 kHz between 0430-0500 UT in English. Before and after that the transmission was in African languages. There was QRM from County Sound Radio [low power UK] which was playing "Knock Knock Knocking on Heaven's Door"! TWR Benin had gospel music at the same time. 73's (Hannu Romppainen, Finland, Feb 20, MWC via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4451.20, UNID in DX-Window no. 343 is R Santa Ana, Santa Ana de Yacuma, Beni, 2330-2356v*, Feb 06, talks in Spanish, messages to listeners, presumed news and local events announcement, music at 2350. Sometimes they mention "Radiocomunicación Roco" what could generate doubt, and should sound like "Radio... Co", "Radio Eco". It seems to be a service company of messages from listeners to be announced through radio stations, to other listeners. Like always, very weak and noisy, 23222 (Rogildo F. Aragão, Quillacollo, Bolivia and Bobrowiec, Brasil, DSWCI DX Window Feb 20 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 4845, R Meteorologia Paulista, Ibitinga, SP, relaying R Ibitinga (1110 MW), 1058, Feb 09, Portuguese program "Viva a vida", ID: "ZYK592 Sociedade Rádio Ibitinga Limitada, 1110 kHz, ondas médias, ZYG869 Rádio Meteorologia Paulista, ondas curtas 4845 kHz, emissoras integrantes da Central Paulista de Rádio, Ibitinga, São Paulo, Brasil", 45544 (Rudolf W. Grimm, São Bernardo / Jarinu, SP, Brazil, DSWCI DX Window Feb 20 via DXLD) ** CHAD. 4904.97, RNT, *0429-0435, Feb 22, Sign on with National Anthem. Talk. Strong carrier but very weak modulation. Barely audible. Much better signal at 0532 check (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHAD. Noted a carrier on 7119.97 kHz (notice, however Chad is on 4904.97 odd frequency) close-down at 1657 UT. Hefty co-channel QRM at this time by CNR8 Beijing in Uighur and Mongolian, and CRI Kunming in Hindi-Chinese lesson also (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 23 via DXLD) ** CHAD. 4904.97, R Dif. Nationale Tchadienne, Gredia, N'Djamena was still off the air Feb 04, 05 and 06. (Bernardini and Petersen, DSWCI DX Window Feb 20 via DXLD) Back [on the air] from temporary studio on reduced schedule from Feb 07. Heard *0437-0740 fade out, Feb 08, 09, 11, 12, 14, 15 and 17, (first sign on *0450 in mid Afropop song on Feb 13) (*0430, but off 0550-0625, Feb 17) and *1600-2126*, Feb 07, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 19 (Off Feb 17 and 18 at 1815), signs on and off with the orchestral National Anthem of Chad, morning mostly in French, evening in vernacular until 1900, then French, ID's, news, reports. It is impressive to say that merry African pops could be heard often although the political tension must be still continuing in N'Djamena, 45444-15131, QRM weaker Xizang PBS, Tibet, evenings until 1806* and from *2100. According to many reports the radio is back broadcasting from a temporary office, in a private building (Bernardini, Bueschel, Cruz, D'Angelo, Goncalves, Goonetilleke, Hauser, Kato, Liangas, Petersen, Ratzer, Ritola, Romero, Ronda in DXplorer and Wilkner, DSWCI DX Window Feb 20 via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. Sound of Hope and Firedrake --- Heavy jamming continues being every day. Received on 12260, 13970, 18180, 21900, 7300, 10250, 14390 kHz with the monitor of Feb. 22 at 0530 UT. Today, SOH received good reception on 14390 kHz at monitoring break. Audio file: 14390 kHz at 0359-0506. http://www.ric.hi-ho.ne.jp/in_hiroshi/k/fire_14390_0222_0359-0506.mp3 SOH at 01'01"-05'51" and 01:00'10"-01:04'25" de S. Aoki (S. Hasegawa, NDXC-HQ, Feb 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 9540, China Radio International, 1145-1157 Feb 22, Noted a female in Vietnamese Language comments until 1156 when a male joins her. Noted a partial ID which sounded like "China Radio..." At 1157 signal went off the air. However a minute later Firedrake type music pops up and plays until the hour. Signal of both were fair. (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, FL, NRD545, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Aoki shows: 9540*Xi Wang Zhi Sheng SOH 0900-1100 1.....7 Chinese 100 325 Tanshui TWN 12129E2513 SOH b07 9540 CHINA RADIO INTER. 1100-1157 1234567 Cantonese 500 142 Beijing CHN 11627E3957 CRI b07 9540 CHINA RADIO INTER. 1200-1257 1234567 Chinese 500 283 Kunming CHN 10250E2510 CRI b07 So maybe SOH has something to do with this, tho supposedly not on this day at this hour (Glenn, ibid.) ** COLOMBIA. AIR FORCE DESTROYS REBEL RADIO NETWORK | Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency) Bogota, 21 February (Xinhua): A cocaine lab, a radio network and a base allegedly belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were destroyed in central Colombia, officials said Thursday. The Colombian Air Force (FAC) said it had bombed an area in La Uribe, in Meta province, following an investigation into the alleged rebel radio "Resistance Voice." "The clandestine radio network was in a building with transmission equipment, antennas and a security base, which were completely destroyed," the FAC said, adding that a drug lab was also found there. FARC, Colombia's largest rebel group, has been fighting against the Colombian government for almost half a century. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has reiterated his intention to defeat FARC by military means, while Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been trying to promote a dialogue between Uribe's government and the rebels to reach a peace treaty in Colombia. [Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reported on 21 February that the "La Voz de la Resistencia" FM radio station was based along the upper reaches of the Guape river in La Uribe municipality. According to officials, it was "the main source of terrorist broadcasts".] Source: Xinhua news agency website, Beijing, in English 21 Feb 08 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** CONGO DR. 6210, R Kahuzi, Bukavu, 1835-2006v*, Feb 01, 02 and 04, French talks, music bridges, ID e.g. at 1837, sometimes CWQRM and splatters from 6205, sometimes strong QRN, best 23332 (Roland Schulze, Stuttgart, Germany, DSWCI DX Window Feb 20 via DXLD) GALCOM RADIOS DELIVERED TO MILITIA FORCES UPON THEIR REQUEST! http://radiokahuzi.blogspot.com/2008/02/galcom-radios-delivered-to-militia.html Greetings from Bukavu, and Sammy, a brave young man in the heart of the jungle! This is the third time Samuel Katambwe Imbundo Dadien has come to get Galcom radios to take back to his village of Kiluma, one kilometer from Kigalube, a stronghold of the Interhamwe armed forces. He has developed groups of listeners among the Interhamwe and in his community where he is the President or Coordinateur of the Kahuzi Radio Club. Please pray for this strategic ministry, as we try to reach the hearts and minds of this warring army of refugees from 1994 Rwanda, because some of them are accused of violating thousands of the women and girls in that area and even Walungu near Bukavu. Since July 2008, our objective has been to reach these warring factions and also those of Lauren Nkunda in North Kivu -- by adding Kinyarwandan broadcasts and sending Galcom short wave receivers by various carriers to the leaders, themselves, asking to supply more for their troops if they are willing. This outreach has been a happy success, and very popular there and in the Fizi territory among the former Mai Mai. Today Sammy brought a letter from an Interhamwe Commander, Thomas NKURUNZIZA, who listens to Radio Kahuzi and wants very much to receive the Galcom rechargable radios so he can listen regularly to our full variety of programming and information. We hope you will be as delighted and interested as we are in this affirmation in the right direction! They are listening to hear how they will be able to leave the Congo Jungle Basin! Recently we broadcast an interesting VOA interview, where they indicated one group of Interhamwe are now beginning each day with prayer and gospel singing, before they disperse for their days work in the jungle. We hope and pray that solutions will be found and that hearts will be changed -- for the sake of our women and children, too long victims of refused alternatives! Keep Looking UP! And Keep On Keeping ON!! Sincerely, Richard & Kathy McDonald (Radio Kahuzi blog Feb 17 via DXLD) Also with a YouTube video introduxion to Radio Kahuzi (gh) ** CUBA. 5025, R. Rebelde with nice Jazz music, Spanish news with many mentions of Cuba at :56 and ID at 0702 as "Rebelde, de la Habana, emisora de la revolución, and then more Latin Music. Good copy -- SIO 453+ 0610-0710 15/Feb --Zichi MI 6000, RHC with English Latin American Roundup, music and news with reading of a translation of the "Message to the Cuban People" from Fidel declining to be renominated as President and commander in chief due to his health. I wonder if he's really still alive, and if so, he must really look bad since he's not been seen in public since his provisional resignation in 2006! SIO 4+4+4 -- xmtr off for a few minutes at the ToH when they obviously must move their beam as it was MUCH worse reception when I checked back at around :10 0420-0500* 19/Feb --Zichi MI 6180, RHC with more English news and comment re the resignation, another reading of the translated statement from Fidel and into DXers Unlimited with Arnie Coro at :37. Is it my imagination, or is the music they have been playing since the resignation been a bit more somber than their usual upbeat and jazzy stuff? SIO 4+54+ 0500-0555 19/Feb (Kenneth Vito Zichi, MI, MARE Tipsheet Feb 22 via DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. 6100, R. República, 0347-0357, Feb 22, political talk in Spanish, sound of rooster crowing, IDs, garbled audio due to jamming (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. Re Glenn's comment, 8-023: "In WHAT way is it ``expanded``? Have not noticed any additional SW Frequencies" I think it refers to the amount of live programming. I saw a report yesterday where someone from Radio Martí remarked "we are on the air 20 hours a day". In fact, the service is on the air 24 hours a day, but presumably the overnight stuff is usually repeats/pre-recorded (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CYPRUS TURKISH NORTHERN. Radio Bayrak with carrier only and tests for s/on from time to time on 6150 kHz observed at 0330-0530 UT. On MW 1098 kHz at 0320 UT and later popular songs in Turkish but no pop music in English, as was earlier (Feb 21). (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 23 via DXLD) ** CZECHIA [non]. 9955, R. Prague via WRMI, SIO 332+ with jammer but popping up clearly over the Jamming now and then. Features re Czech Republic (why they jamming English? Fidel/Raul have too much electricity lately?) SIO 332+ 0015-0025 16/Feb (Kenneth Vito Zichi, MI, MARE Tipsheet Feb 22 via DXLD) ** DUCIE ISLAND. The Ducie Island DXpedition, VP6DX, Update The VP6DX DXpedition continues to attract huge pileups on all bands and modes. On February 19 they reported that 104,900 contacts were already made! Having in mind that the team will wrap up on February 27 or 28, it’s very likely that all previous records can be broken! Some interesting facts have been reported: 160 meter contact made with opposite side of the planet. At February 18, 1252 UT, the VP6DX 160 meter operator was called by, and completed a contact with A45XR, Alex in Oman. A45XR is located less than 300 km from the antipode (exact opposite location on the planet) of Ducie Island. This contact took place during the late afternoon, Oman time, 1 hour 10 minutes before sunset. At the time of the contact, the terminator was 2000 km from Oman, approaching from the east-northwest. All directions between antipodes are of equal distance. Over what path was this contact made? At Ducie Island, A45XR’s signals were heard best on the 305 beverage antenna. This suggests the signal path traveled over Japan, northern China, and Pakistan --- exiting perpendicular from the twilight zone. It is possible a single E-skip hop between Oman and northeast Pakistan completed the path through the 2000 km daylight sector. Congratulations to both operators! – is said in the VP6DX’s press release. Now that we have shown Ducie Island’s topband operating team can contact even the farthest point on the planet, what’s stopping you from trying a top band contact with VP6DX? If you think your antenna is inferior, or you are running limited transmitter power, don’t give up! Look at comments in the guestbook section of http://www.VP6DX.com website: lots of stations are now in the VP6DX log book with very simple antennas and low heights – even on top band! So, give every band and mode a try. We are waiting for your call! We are stuck on an inhabited island with nothing to do but work any station who calls us! 6 meter beacon now on the air. On February 19 the VP6DX 6 m beacon began operations. The beacon frequency is 50105.5 kHz. Beacon power is 70 watts to a Yagi antenna. We will try beaming east-northeast for two hours around our sunrise --- north-northeast to USA/Canada/Central America for the reminder of the day. Please submit any reception reports via http://www.VP6DX.com You may call us on the beacon frequency. 80 meter long path to OH and European Russia. During a window around Ducie Island local sunrise (13.45 – 14.45 UTC), long path contacts have been made on both 75 m SSB and 80 m CW with stations in Finland and European Russia. The furthest contact was to northern Finland, about 25,000 km from Ducie Island and 5000 km beyond the antipodes. The best reception at Ducie Island for most contacts is on the 195 beverage antenna. This long path route parallels the terminator (bearing 187 from Ducie) with signals traveling over Antarctica --- Heard Island --- Rodríguez Island --- the Pesian Gulf --- and western Russia. We encourage stations in Scandinavia and western Russia to listen during these times and call VP6DX if they hear our signal (via R. Bulgaria DX Program Feb 22 via DXLD) ** EUROPE. PIRATE. Catalan, Spain, 6312.13, Radio Barretina relaying Radio L`Arboç, 2215-2255+, Feb 22, Tentative. Rock/pop music. Talk in unidentified language. Phone Talk. Too weak to catch an ID. PIRATE. 6882, Radio Playback Int. 2220-2255+, Feb 22, Tentative. English programming with DJ chatter. Pop music. Very weak (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. Free Radio Nova test transmission --- Dear Friends, I've been asked to to let you know that there will be a test transmission this coming Saturday afternoon (23rd Feb) starting 1400 UT on 15800 kHz. The output-power will be approx. 50 watts into a sloper dipole. It would be very much appreciated if you could listen to your radio to see if you receive this test; music from the 1920's and 1930's will be aired. The station name is 'Radio Oranje'. 73's Frank; picture of their new rig bought from me: http://www.listentoradionova.com/novanews/newgroundsbig.jpg (via DR. Tim) (via Roberto Scaglione, shortwave yg via DXLD) ** FALKLAND ISLANDS. 3958, FIBS, verified with short personal letter and by signing my Prepared Post Card; in 40 days for a follow-up report (almost 24 years from initial report) from V/S Corina Bishop, Station Manager. I asked about the possibility of doing a SW broadcast, to which she replied, "Also, I am afraid that we are unable to do a special broadcast on SW." (Rich D'Angelo, Wyomissing PA, DSWCI DX Window Feb 20 via DXLD) ** GABON. 4777, RTV Gabonaise (Moyabi). 0535-0607. 16 Feb 08. French. Armchair quality signal for early morning Saturday risers in Gabon. Lots of patter, ID's and Afropop music. S9+20/Exc (Joe Wood, TN, MARE Tipsheet Feb 22 via DXLD) WRTH 2008 says Moyabi, but transmitter site not confirmed. The question has arisen whether the RTVG domestic broadcasts, originally from their own separate site, have been moved to the Africa Number One site (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GABON. Africa #1, 9580 use to dedicate its 2100 + slot to a different artist every day. This time a female group covering Otis Redding's The Fa Fa Fa Song, followed by an answer to the Percy Sledge classic now named When a Woman Loves a Man. Fair signal. Best African on 31m at this time of the day. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Feb 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GEORGIA. Seems on 9495, 9535 and MW 1350 only programs of Abkhaz radio and Radio Rossii there are, and not anymore from Sochi and Krasnodar. 1800-1825 Mon-Fri Radio Rossii there is (new time) on 9495 and 1350 kHz. On Feb 21st after Moon Eclipse observed *0425-0515 UT Radio Rossii and not Abkhaz Radio and later *0825-0900 Abkhaz Radio in Abkhazian, from 0900 news in Russian till 0906* UT (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Feb 22, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 23 via DXLD) ** GERMANY. RADIO GLORIA INTERNATIONAL THIS SUNDAY Date 24th of February 2008, Time 1300 to 1400 UT, Channel 6140 kHz The transmissions of Radio Gloria will be broadcast over the transmitting station Wertachtal in Germany. The transmitter power will be 100 000 Watts, and we will be using a non-directional antenna system (Quadrant antenna). Radio Gloria Internation in teamwork with MV Baltic Radio. Good listening 73s (Tom Taylor, Feb 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. Re Dresden article: my comments in detail: ´´in the city, which was full of some very strong FM signals´´ --- They originate from the 252 metres tall TV tower at Dresden- Wachwitz, put in operation in 1969 and somewhat forgotten since the restaurant in the "goblet" and the observation platform on the restaurant's roof had been closed in 1991. All attempts to reopen it failed so far, some officials even asserted that the tower has only little importance anymore, from the point of view of broadcasting distribution of course an absolutely absurd claim. http://bielieboy.piranho.de/fernsehturm/html/bilder_frame.html http://www.das-neue-dresden.de/fernsehturm.html http://www.vereinfernsehturmdresden.de/ The latter link contains a collection of press clippings, one of them also featuring the transmission equipment on this forgotten place: http://www.vereinfernsehturmdresden.de/presse/SZ%2012.07.07%20c.JPG ´´I remember reading with interest in the FM DX column of a hi-fi magazine in the seventies that "continental" cities quite typically "enjoyed" significantly higher signal strengths for their FM reception than we do in Britain in general.´´ --- In eastern Germany only where the transmitters were located in the cities, which was amongst Dresden the case for Berlin and Schwerin. Already in Leipzig things are a bit different, since the high power transmitters for this area are located 15 km outside the town, at Wiederau. ´´We had a little Toyota Yaris - hardly an impressive car by "Top Gear" standards, but it was extremely suitable for us - and it had one of the best car radios for DXing that I have ever had the use of. It looks like a purpose built unit with AM and FM. I believe from memory that it covers both the LW and MW bands.´´ --- Sounds very familiar, reminds me to the radio in a company car (probably indeed a Toyota), with the only exception that it's FM and MW only. But indeed it has a knob for manual tuning and quite decent MW performance. And the speakers are not that good on this company car either. ´´It was strangely comforting to this Brit to be able to listen all day on 648 kHz wherever we were to the BBC World Service from Orfordness. As I have not been in this part of Germany during the summer months I do not know if this was simply as a result of the usual winter MW propagation improvement´´ --- Yes, must have been residual skywave, otherwise 648 fades out during daytime. The most distant groundwave signals in the Dresden area are 972 from Hamburg and 594/873 from Frankfurt area. ´´1044 MDR Info. I'm told this has local parliament opt outs´´ --- Here is a recording of 1044 breaking away from MDR Info for such a broadcast: http://janbalzer.gmxhome.de/wilsdruf/10122002.ram Due to these opt-outs 1044 is fed via the MDR radiohouse at Dresden. In 1992/93 the parliament coverage had even been routed via the Nalepastraße radiohouse at Berlin, through the console in the DT64 studio, and once a listener from the UK sent them a letter, asking about the strange programming he heard on a particular evening. ´´but otherwise is a relay of the mainstream state-wide news service, also available on FM.´´ --- However, for many years MDR Info was for political reasons an exclusive AM station. The first FM transmitter of MDR Info in Sachsen did not go on air before 2001, and the coverage is still spotty, thus mediumwave is kept as a necessary fill-in. ´´88.3 __R.SA__ 70s / 80s pop, commercial. Calls itself "RSA".´´ --- 88.3 is an additional relay from Freital, put on air because 89.2 is limited to 2 kW. This station has been created in 1996 as Sachsen branch of Radioropa, the station known from Burg-261 and the shortwave relays via Litomysl on 5975/5980. A few years later this FM licence had been sold to Radio PSR, the station been renamed into oldie.fm and finally into R.SA in 2003. Radio PSR is meanwhile part of the Regiocast group. Regiocast operated at Kiel a station called R.SH, and by calling their second Leipzig station R.SA they could recycle R.SH jingles etc. there. ´´90.1 MDR_JUMP 90s / 00s pop. Highly processed. More high energy presentation and competitions aimed it appears at the teens and twenties.´´ --- And that's despite MDR operates a dedicated youth program, MDR Sputnik (what became in 1993 of the former DT64). Jump is rigorously formatted, they keep the personality of their presenters as low as possible (except for the morning and drivetime shows) and so on. And they use a kind of stereo enhancement that renders their audio almost incompatible with mono reception. ´´91.1 BBC-RFI_ The BBC’s feed for this service has changed since I last heard this one. It used to be a quality stereo feed with local announcements in English and even some local programming in German (although I have never heard this). Now it appears that the local announcements have gone and it sounds like a relay of the low bit-rate mono feed that we are more used to here in Britain. This station shares the transmitter rather bizarrely with Radio France International which does actually do programmes in German still.´´ --- This is a joint licence of BBC and RFI, something they maintain in Budapest as well. The whole output is handled by RFI and fed to Sachsen via the already described, poorish 64 kbps satellite link. RFI indeed produces a dedicated "Sachsenmagazin" for these frequencies and inserts special ID's (some of them apparently provided by the BBC), but this happens at Paris. No studio or other facilities for BBC/RFI exists in Sachsen, their Leipzig addresses are merely letterboxes at the offices of trade organizations. It could be that the situation was different years ago, but all attempts to nail down an actual program production at Leipzig for this early period failed so far. ´´92.2 MDR_SACH ... Highly processed.´´ --- Dedicated Sachsen station of MDR, produced at their Königsbrücker Straße radiohouse. Attempts had been made to convince them of removing their awful audio processing (widely considered as the ugliest one in German public broadcasting at all) at least from their feed for the Astra satellite service, but to no avail. So it's of no use that they have an engineer-operated studio with U 87 mic's (but beware of the buzzword "digital", this Acousta console, like it was to my knowledge in use at ROI, too, is an analogue one!): http://www.mcs-sachsen.de/HF_aufnahmestudio_dresden.htm http://www.mdr.de/unternehmen/standorte-programme/137668.html ´´95.4 MDR_FIGA Similar in a way to D Kultur but with a Sachsen bias.´´ --- Should actually be an emphasis on Sachsen-Anhalt and Thüringen as well, since it is meant for Sachsen plus these two states and originates from the Halle radiohouse in Sachsen-Anhalt, like Jump and MDR Info. http://www.mdr.de/unternehmen/standorte-programme/halle/139027.html ´´97.3 __DLF___ ... Unprocessed and good sound quality.´´ --- Actually a Jünger processor is in use for the FM feed. But it's designed to work unnoticeable, keeping the original fidelity and natural dynamics of the program audio and compressing it just as much as necessary to avoid a faint appearance of the modulation when compared to all the other, highly compressed stuff. The same applies to Deutschlandradio Kultur, they have exactly the same FM processing. ´´99.3 _APOLLO_ Broadcasts with the slogan "Bleiben Sie Anders" (something like “Just be / stay different”). Nice mix of jazz and classical. No adverts that I could hear. Probably local non- commercial radio.´´ --- This is a joint station of all commercial broadcasters in Sachsen, from studios in Chemnitz. Its primary purpose, besides providing "jacket" programming for frequencies to be used by the non-commercial stations (like Coloradio), is to keep unwanted competition (including the Hamburg-based Klassik Radio) out of Sachsen. ´´100.2 _ENERGY_ Energy Sachsen. The name says it all.´´ --- But is misleading in as far as it is a franchise partner of NRJ but not run by NRJ themselves. Meanwhile this station broadcasts from the Regiocast promises in Leipzig, ordinary offices without any real radio atmosphere: http://www.radioszene.de/PSR_Medienzentrum1.htm http://www.radioszene.de/PSR_Medienzentrum2.htm ´´102.4 ? Radio PSR. “Der ‘Supermix’ für Sachsen“ (no translation necessary!) Heard it all before´´ --- Also tuned in after 6 PM? Not only during the night but already after 6 PM Radio PSR and R.SA carry like their Kiel-based sister stations only automatted weather forecasts and traffic announcements (for highways only). An "innovative" system generates them from prepared modules. It sounds absolutely ridiculous and embarrassing. But apparently nothing is too embarrassing for Regiocast now. ´´103.5 DRESDEN_ R Dresden. “Hit für Hit ein Hit”.´´ --- Has in 2005 been swallowed by RTL. The Radio Dresden promises in a building called Ammonhof are now in use for Hitradio RTL as well. They made a big bohey when inaugurating their new studios there in spring 2005, as if studios with DHD 2200 consoles (something other stations use for small production studios only) are something to be proud of (the many CDs etc. in this photo are typical for the special Saturday evening programme this website belongs to only): http://www.maxi-mal.de/img/sendeplatz_klein.jpg ´´105.2 RTLSACHS RTL Sachsen Quite the worst sound quality on the band´´ --- But it's already better than a few years ago. Back then they had an absolutely hideous processing (now it has "only" lots of bass enhancement and compression, the latter sucking up any tape hiss from oldie songs to a ridiculous level) and used low bitrate STL circuits, turning everything into a cacophony of artifacts. And recently they cranked the Optimod (or whatever they use) for Radio Dresden as well. I could continue on and on, but now it's really time to go to bed ... All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. 4799.79, Radio Buenas Nuevas, 0407-0432*, Feb 22, religious programming in local language. Spanish ballads. Spanish talk. Closing Spanish ID announcements at 0429 & 0431. Weak but readable. Weak CODAR QRM. No het from 4800 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUIANA FRENCH. Cf previous report under POLAND [non]. PRES via Montsinéry, 9660, achieved some modulation this time when checked Feb 22 around 2230, Polish talk. Signal read S9+20, but still badly undermodulated, no comparison in loudness to other similar signals on band, e.g. Spain direct on 9630, S9+25 loud & clear (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUIANA FRENCH. Radio France Internationale relay. 5995. 0107-0127. 7 Nov 07. Received a full data letter direct from French Guiana in 133 days for an English report, applause card, and local postcard. V/S Jean François LeCoeuvre. Address: Radio France International, TDF SAS, Boîte Postale 7024, 97307 Cayenne Cedex, French Guiana (Joe Wood, TN, MARE Tipsheet Feb 22 via DXLD) And something of a longer 'tale of woe' from Mr Wood: Well this makes a new country for me-five in 2007, the last of the three Guiana's, and country 73 for me (not counting all the QSL's I threw away in my first few years of SWL/DXing!). Not a huge total, but with my radios and level of listening, I am pretty happy with it. The occasional QSL and new country keeps it interesting. I may make 100 yet. It also makes the only "set" of multiple countries containing a portion of the same name where I have verifications from all of the "set." It was an interesting QSL. I heard the station in Spanish and reported it as such, but the QSL lists English as the language, and it lists the Station as RFI-BBC World Service. Anyway, I heard them ID as RFI in Spanish so I guess it counts. Joe -- this is the kind of stuff that leads Harold F to say 'QSL's are definite proof that letters were sent.' Of course, looking at some of my pirate and UTE QSLs even THAT is not always true! Hey -- YOU know you heard the station, right? Good enough for me! :) kvz) (Kenneth Vito Zichi, MI, MARE Tipsheet Feb 22 via DXLD) ** GUINEA. Have been noticing for the past four years that RTG Conakry tends to enhance signal while March is on the horizon. 7125 at threshold level by 2130 but stronger by 2230. Once the A-08 arrives, RMR doesn't allow RTG to go further than 2300. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Feb 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII. A HELICOPTER ADVENTURE --- just as an aside, I put up a short video of one of my [helicopter] commutes to a tower here on Kaua`i. Hang onto your hat! Don Mussell, Consulting Engineer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X95vJC7bExE (CGC Communicator Feb 21, via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** HONG KONG [non]. More on China Sea Race Received an email with further details today: "Many thanks for your e-mail. Up until 2 years ago, we did indeed broadcast the weather forecast to the fleet in the manner described, however, PCCW has shut down the Ship to Shore radio service so we now e-mail the weather to the lead radio boat, which then broadcasts that to the fleet on SSB. I am not sure that the strength of signal from the yachts will be strong enough for you to pick up, however you are correct that the broadcast will be at 0903 and 1903. The position reports will be communicated to the lead radio boat at 0803 and 1803 on the same SSB channel. Depending on the wind conditions, we would expect most of the competing boats to be finished in 3 days (by mid-day 23 March) and once our back up radio boat (with sat-comms) has finished, the weather broadcasts will cease. I hope this answers your query? Please do let us know if you manage to pick up the SSB radio traffic of the competing yachts, Kind regards, Lindsay Lyons Sponsorship and Promotions Manager Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club" If it's the "same SSB channel" I assume that means everything will be on previously-mentioned 4060 (or backup 2368). (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Should be interesting but in this case not really from Hong Kong, but international waters wherever the lead boat may be (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks for contacting them about this. Please note that there is a DX Tuner in Hong Kong now which I believe will be able to receive these Transmissions 73s (Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX via DXLD) [non]. Similar weather reports and sailing motor vessels are broadcast to and from the Bahama Islands on 4045-USB from 1145 to about 1220 daily. Most of the sailing motor vessels are broadcasting from remote locations near Cuba, in the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Find this an interesting opportunity to log islands such as West Caicos, South Caicos etc. (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, FL, ibid.) ** INDIA. Dear Friends, Continuing my trip to AIR stations in and around Orissa I visited AIR Berhampur in Ganjam Dist, Orissa about 166 km south of Bhubaneswar. The article can be accessed using this link. http://alokeshgupta.googlepages.com/VisittoAIRBerhampur1.pdf Regards (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, Feb 22, via Alokesh Gupta, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. NASA awards $500k to develop plans for DXing from the far side of the Moon The Lunar Array for Radio Cosmology (LARC) project is headed by Jacqueline Hewitt, a professor of physics and director of MIT's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Science. LARC includes nine other MIT scientists as well as several from other institutions. It is planned as a huge array of hundreds of telescope modules designed to pick up very-low-frequency radio emissions. The array will cover an area of up to two square kilometers; the modules would be moved into place on the lunar surface by automated vehicles. Full story at http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/moonscope-0215.html -- Mesa Mike LA de NM (Mike Westfall, Lost Almost NM, n6kuy, Feb 21, ABDX via DXLD) Plus travel and installation expenses (gh) ** IRAN. 9897.5v, VOIRI, 0253-0305, Feb 22, strong but very unstable transmitter with Kor`an. Nominal 9895. Must be same unstable transmitter that is heard on 6066v. Stable at 0400 check on 9897.47. // 6065-stable (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. SRI LANKA: 7580 Radio Farda; 2029-2104+, 22-Feb; M&W in language with pop music segments. At QRN level; // 7375 via Germany, no better; // 9335 via Sri Lanka, covered by QRN -- maybe something local. 9335 had some decent brief peaks over QRN. 7580 overall best of the three. Hoping to be more specific about language, but more QRN than previous two days (Harold Frodge, MI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. 1700 Feb 17 on 9390 only in Persian instead of Russian (on 1575 MW in Russian). Reshet Bet with traditional 2-hours of golden hits from 40-60s on Saturdays 1205-1300 and 1305-1400 UT on 15760 kHz and in another weekdays, heard on Feb 21 during Moon Eclipse 0205-0300 UT 7545 with concert live of Elvis Presley rare songs. I remember 1972 when such music was forbidden here; we listened to some music broadcasts and Israel had in 1972 also at 1205 UT choice of songs from 40-50s and I think it is the [most] longrunning music program on SW ever (Feb 20). (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Feb 22, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 23 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. JSR, best heard in quite a while, Feb 22 at 1425 on 5985, in English with several YL IDs as ``JSR, Shiokaze, Sea Breeze,`` contact info over habitual piano music to 1430* SINPO 34443, only trace of the Myanmar 5986v het (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOSOVO. Das muss man vielleicht etwas naeher ausfuehren: Technisch gesehen war das stets Radio Prizren, als einer der vielen Lokalsender, die es in Jugoslawien einst auch auf Mittelwelle gab. Da passierte nichts weiter, als dass sich einige Bundeswehrangehoerige (oder auch nur der Moderator allein) mit einem Stapel CDs voll Ballermannmucke ins Sendestudio von Radio Prizren begaben und dort ihre Show machten. Laut Zeitungsartikel gab es im Regieraum nur einen CD-Spieler, dazu war noch ein Foto von einer winzigen, mit MD 441 bestueckten Buchte als Sprecherraum zu sehen; die in diesem Antwortschreiben angedeuteten Zustaende halt. Und jetzt koennte Radio Prizren nicht nur auf Mittelwelle, sondern insgesamt tot sein. Im WRTH steht jedenfalls nichts mehr von diesem Sender (Kai Ludwig, Germany, A-DX Feb 19 via wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 23 via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non?]. Two stations with same ID "Eira Dengi Kurdistan" (Here is Voice of Kurdistan) were heard with s/on on Feb 21: at 0245 UT songs sermon/prayer, ID at 0301 UT and reported and after 0340 UT on 3930 kHz (drifts in range 3912-3935 to avoid the Iranian jammer) - there was an Iranian jammer in range 4850-4880 kHz, but no signal of VOK was heard here. Later at 0330 UT began another VOK on 6335 kHz with similar opening procedure, but not jammed by Iran (Feb 21). (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Feb 22, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 23 via DXLD) ** LATVIA. Relay this weekend on 9290 kHz: Sun February 24th Latvia Today 1400-1500 UT. Good Listening 73s (Tom Taylor, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBERIA [non]. 9525, STAR R, Monrovia, via Ascension, sent me this message on Feb 11: "Dear Members and Friends of STAR radio in Liberia: We are pleased to announce that we have made several changes to our website to make it more informative and easier to use. Please take a minute to try out our new "one-click" streaming of our radio shows! Also, we have dropped the pay-for-use requirement for our audio files. Now all of our audio files are available free to members and membership is free. We are looking forward to making more improvements in the near future. Please support our work with an on-line donation. STAR radio is facing a difficult financial situation. We appreciate your support! Sincerely, Management, STAR radio Liberia. Click here to visit our site: http://starradio.org.lr/ " (via Rolf Lovstrom, Oslo, Norway, DSWCI DX Window Feb 20 via DXLD) ** LITHUANIA. KBC 6265, 2144Z very early opening on this part of the spectrum running the Wolfman Jack Show, playing Cara Mia by Jay & the Americans, Chicago's Beginnings, Dr. Hook's On The Cove of The Rolling Stone, among others. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Feb 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. 3288, R Nationaly Malagasy, Ambohidrano, 0030-past 0100, Feb 17, music and talks // 5010. I think this extension is due to the Cyclone approaching Madagascar and expecting landfall anytime according to CNN report (Victor Goonetilleke, Kolamunne, Piliyandala, Sri Lanka in DXplorer via DSWCI DX Window Feb 20 via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. 5010, RTV Malagasy, 0202-0220, Feb 22, tune-in to choral National Anthem. Malagasy talk at 0204. Instrumental music. Local music. Good. Reduced carrier USB (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. 5995, RTVM, Bamako, *0556-0620, Feb 22, sign on with guitar IS. National Anthem at 0559 followed by opening French ID announcements. Mentions of Bamako. Koran at 0602. Vernacular talk. Fair but some adjacent channel splatter from Cuba 6000 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 4845, ORTM (tentative), 0733-0836, Feb 22, programming in what sounded like Arabic, fair to poor. Had hoped to catch the change over to 7245, but gave up (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Larry Russell passes along the following which he calls SW History Corner: The Aug. 1968 National Geographic mentions that Mexico had 53 SW radio schools for native Indian children. No frequency details (MARE Tipsheet Feb 22 via DXLD) I vaguely recall this; there may well have been only one central transmitter serving the outlying schools (gh, DXLD) ** MEXICO. 1560 kHz, 0640 UT, 21 feb 08, "Radio Lagarto" (Qué nombre!!!), "Radio Lagarto, Comunícate, sé la voz viva de Chiapas"..., música tropical-romántica, señal regular a débil. Web: http://www.radiolagarto.imer.com.mx/ (Magdiel Cruz Rodríguez, Sangean ATS 818, Antena V invertida, Jiutepec, Morelos MÉXICO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) My dixionary says Lagarto means lizard, or sly, artful person, or fox, or insignia of the Spanish Military Order of Santiago (gh, DXLD) ** MEXICO [and non]. Re 8-023, Charlatan: But the most interesting thing about the book is that it points out the clear reasons why Dr. Brinkley (and not AT&T) was the progenitor of commercial broadcasting as we know it in N. America. And, of course, it also points out the fact that J. O. Weldon, of OWI ("The Office of War Information", predecessor to VOA) and Weldon & Carr (Consulting Engineers) and Continental Electronics Manufacturing Co. was the brilliant engineer who designed and built Brinkley's Kansas and Mexican transmitting stations. Ron Rackley and the late Jim Kemman (of Electronics Research, the world's premier FM transmitting antenna manufacturer) and I once spent an evening the last time the NAB convention was held in Dallas listening to J.O. tell us the whole history, and I wish I had had a tape recorder and that we hadn't consumed a whole bottle of good Scotch in the process (Ben Dawson, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [and non]. XELO Clint, Texas: REMEMBERING THE DAYS OF RADIO February 22 2008 3:00 AM http://www.cnjonline.com/opinion/movie_26219___article.html/days_night.html . . .We could only get a few stations, but after school on certain days we could hear “The Lone Ranger,” and sometimes there were mystery stories on. There was a preacher, also — Herbert W. Armstrong — who assured us with each sermon that we were headed for destruction. There was one nifty radio station on every night. XELO, Clint, Texas. The announcer repeated, often and loud, “equis, eh, elle oh, X-E-L-O, Clint, Texas. That’s C-L-I-N-T, Clint, Texas.” I learned those Spanish pronunciations of XELO and had a great time saying them often. The reason he repeated himself so much — you could order stuff and that was the address. I learned, years later, that the station was actually across the border in Mexico, which explained its unbelievably strong signal (which never would have been allowed in our country) that carried across much of the United States. My friend Jeff (his name is changed for his protection) grew up on a farm near Clint, which is southeast of El Paso. He says tourists from all over would come there looking for that station. “We would point to the desert east of us and say, ‘It’s right over that little hill,’” he says with a laugh, “and they would disappear for days.” My brother ordered a harmonica from XELO. It worked well enough that he managed to drive our mom nuts with it for a month or so. Jeff ordered a pen light. “I wanted to read comic books outside at night, and it actually worked — for awhile,” he says. Jeff and his friends had a lady school teacher they didn’t care for, so they ordered a “love potion” and had it mailed to her. “We never found out what it was,” he says with a big grin. Truth in advertising wasn’t a big deal, although they really didn’t lie. A local farm lady ordered a fly killer — guaranteed to work or your money back. This is what she got: two matching polished metal blocks about three inches wide and eight inches long, marked “A” and “B.” The instruction sheet said: “Place fly on Block A. Hit with Block B.” (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) We've talked about stations like XELO before, but there are some newcomers to the list since the last time, so it doesn't hurt to dredge up some memories for a reprise. Back when I was starting my DX'ing "career," in late 1947 in Corvallis, Oregon, there were several "Border Babies," as they were called, that I used to hear quite regularly. XELO was one of them; it became XEROK on 800. Another was XENT-1140 in Nuevo Laredo, which went dark for many years. XEG-1050 in Monterrey also did those English- language mail order commercials interspersed with country of gospel music. Three stations in Baja California, XEAC-690 Tijuana, XERB-1090 Rosarito Beach, and XEMO-860 (with only 5 kw) were also heard in Corvallis on evenings when CBR-690 Vancouver, KING-1090 Seattle, and KTRB-860 Modesto didn't dominate the dial. There was one U.S. station, at least, that did some PI advertising. (PI = per inquiry ... station would get a fee for each response that came to the add on their particular station) and that was KXEL-1540 in Waterloo, Iowa (I guessed that it chose those call letters because they were an "XE" station!). And, of course, 30 khz up the dial, there was XERF, Del Rio, Texas, which was the widest heard of them all. In 1947, as I remember it, White's Radio Log did not list the Mexican stations, and I had access to no other list. I heard all those call letters as XCLO, XCNT, XCG, XCAC, XCRB, XCMO, and XCRF ... (but White's did have KXEL so I didn't make a similar mistake in my log then.) It wasn't until I heard a sign/off announcement, in English, on "XCG" and copied the name of the Mexican equivalent of the FCC (not SCT then), wrote and asked for a list of Mexican stations, and they sent it to me, that I learned they were XEs rather than XCs. XEG's sign-off, by the way, was followed not by the current Mexican national anthem but by a lilting version of the old mariachi tune, "Las Mañanitas," which was later supplanted by "Malagueña Salerosa" as my favorite mariachi song when I heard it done by Bud & Travis in 1960. Another memorable sign-off during that period came when 10-10 CFCN (before it moved up 50 kHz) signed off with a commercial that began, "The next five and a half hours of silence are brought to you by the (so-and-so) mattress company." I'm sorry I did not send off for my statue, "with a halo that glows in the dark." (Qal R. Mann, Krumudgeon, ABDX via DXLD) XEG`s mailing address was Fort Worth 11, Texas. No doubt people were hunting all over Zone 11 for it too (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Fellow ABDXers, its time for Frantic Friday's Songburst *** Sing with me :) I feel a hot wind on my shoulder And the touch of a world that is older I turn the switch and check the number I leave it on when in bed I slumber I hear the rhythms of the music I buy the product and never use it I hear the talking of the DJ Can't understand just what does he say? I'm on a mexican radio. I'm on a Mexican - whoah - radio I dial it in and tune the station They talk about the U.S. inflation I understand just a little No comprende, it's a riddle I'm on a mexican radio. I'm on a Mexican, whoa-Oh, radio I'm on a mexican radio. I'm on a Mexican, whoa-Oh, radio I wish I was in Tijuana Eating barbequed iguana I'd take requests on the telephone I'm on a wavelength far from home I feel a hot wind on my shoulder I dial it in from south of the border I hear the talking of the DJ Can't understand just what does he say? I'm on a mexican radio. I'm on a Mexican, whoa-Oh, radio I'm on a mexican radio. I'm on a Mexican, whoa-Oh, radio Radio radio... Radio radio... Radio radio... I'm on a mexican radio. I'm on a Mexican, whoa-Oh, radio I'm on a mexican radio. I'm on a Mexican, whoa-Oh, radio Radio radio... What does he say ? Enough singing and "Back to Life, Back to reality". The only radio station I've ever heard Mexican Radio played on is 1320 / 94.1 CKEC / ECFM (Phil Rafuse, PEI, ABDX via DXLD) ** MEXICO. SOME STRANGE THINGS IN THE FCC'S MEXICAN RADIO DATABASE The FCC database has dropped several newer Mexican AM & FM sites and left previous old site data. For example, several of Mr. Bonilla's sites show none of the current (Cerro Bolla) sites for FM (or AM). The change occurred in the past few weeks. Other Mexican sites also appear to have reverted back to older data so when you go into fccinfo or radio-locator they will show coverage/data for the older Mexican sites. Strange that the FCC data base is moving backward! Name withheld upon request (CGC Communicator Feb 21, via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** MEXICO. MEXICO HAS NOT RESPONDED TO FCC REQUESTS --- The FCC sent approximately 10 commercial radio applications down to Mexico beginning in May of 2007 for approval and Mexico has not acted on any of these, or any other apps. It's as if things are frozen down there. Washington correspondent (CGC Communicator Feb 21, via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** MEXICO [non]. PROPOSAL: FIVE MORE YEARS OF NTSC-TV FOR STATIONS NEAR MEXICO Rep. Hilda Solís (D-Calif.) wants the FCC to allow U.S. TV stations on the border with Mexico to continue to broadcast in analog for five years following the Feb. 17, 2009 hard date for cutting off full-power analog transmitters. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6532138.html (CGC Communicator Feb 21, via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** MOLDOVA. First time, WYFR in English via Grigoriopol 6240 at 2130. Clear signal. Not a regular opening at this hour for European signals around 49m. Must be a seasonal (and low sunspot) behaviour. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Feb 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOLDOVA/UKRAINE. Re: 7540, 1600 in Russian, 1630 in Moldovian, 1700 Ukrainian - Radio Pridnestrovye on 7540 \\ MW 549 (under ? Voice of Mesopotamia? without Iranian jammer). Radio Moldova goes on 873, 1478, 1494, 1466 kHz at 1700 UT (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Feb 17, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 23 via DXLD) Hello Ludo, 7540 terrible mess. As Rumen explains, I noted ALSO here in Stuttgart Germany a mixture of two broadcasts, Kurdish programm from Nikolayev-Ukraine and Radio Pridnestrovye in Russian and Ukrainian, latter from Grigoriopol Moldova (Pridnestrovye separate mini area) today Feb 19th, 1500-1900 UT? (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Many thanks for your information. It is most appreciated. We did notice the interference a few days ago. We left Grigoriopol on 7540 kHz on Feb 1 and moved to Nikolayev, but we guess the Moldovians do not know we continued to use 7540 kHz. In the message of Rumen, an Iranian jammer is mentioned. Is this jammer used against Voice of Mesopotamia? (Ludo Maes, TDP Belgium, Feb 20, ibid.) Radio Nistrean. Yes, I can also hear that, here V of Mesopotamia is weak. Happened to record a clear ID for Radio Nistrean at 1515 UT with FM frequencies announced, please find the file attached (Mauno Ritola, Finland, Feb 15, ibid.) So both, Radio Nistrean via Grigoriopol (East Moldova, Pridnestrovye) on 7540 kHz co-channel, as well as Kurdish radio via new Nikolayev, Ukraine now (Büschel, ibid.) Last observation on 7540 kHz was 1500-1600 7540 \\ 549 in Moldovian on Feb 18. So, the strongest was PMR-Radio Nistrean, V. of Mesopotamia-a weak and Iranian jammer weak signal. In general: Iranian jammer was noted till 1600 UT weak signal and at 1559 UT begins a very strong jammer, some days dominating in full over Mesopotamia. Not any traces of jamming on 11530 kHz or Iranians are using low-powered newt of jammers. Exactly there is some relation between jammers on Voice of Revolution (1428-1535 3881 and 4366 kHz) and MOM (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Feb 18, ibid.) Checking this evening 1500-2000 7540 kHz and observing Voice of Mesopotamia [Denge Mezopotamya] in the shadow of Radio Nistrean Pridnestrovye in Russian, Ukrainian, Moldovian \\ MW 549 kHz and poor signal of Iranian net of jammers which from 1600 UT are stronger and after 1900 UT the jammers are dominating and heard on 7540 kHz. (Feb 22). On MW 549 kHz is now chaos and mis-match of rumbling and demodulated sounds. The strongest is Tiraspol, there are few ?Ukrainians and etc., but not Radio Kosova Pristina Obilic (Feb 22). (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, ibid.) ** MONACO [non]. Trans World Radio has started announcing their new name Trans World Radio of International Christian Broadcasting (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, R. Bulgaria DX program Feb 22 via DXLD) Ever hear of Christian Radio International? I assume that is something else; see: http://entre-ondas.blogspot.com/2008/01/ms-fotos-de-christian-radio.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA [non]. RUSSIA/MONGOLIA, Thanks to info of Mr. Vadim Alexeyev - Editor of program "DX Club" of V of Russia WS (the exact name is worldwide service or WWS) in Russian, was observed another program of Voice of Mongolia in Russia via VOR may be heard on Mondays from 1645 UT on 5995, 6045, 6185, 7285, MW EUR 936 and 1089 and AS 1431 (Feb 18). (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Feb 22, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 23 via DXLD) ** MYANMAR. Dear Ron, I have checked the sign off time of the Burmese station on 5770 and confirm it as 1530 (NOT 1630 as reported by me earlier). Very sorry for the error. About the Burmese stations I have observed that at 2300 sign on, 594 is fraction of a second later than 576 and 5986. Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS Camp: Bhubaneswar East Coast of India, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEPAL. 5005, R Nepal, Khumaltar. My best efforts in the last few days both local AM and PM have yielded no signals from Kathmandu and I suspect the transmitter is off (Victor Goonetilleke, Kolamunne, Piliyandala, Sri Lanka in DXplorer via DSWCI DX Window Feb 20 via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. 15120, Voice of Nigeria, verified my 2006 reception report with a brand new large QSL depicting Zuma Rock in Abuja. It took 426 days to receive their reply. They also enclosed a nice sticker along with the card (T. R. Rajeesh, Thrissur, Kerala, India, DSWCI DX Window Feb 20 via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Me again here lamenting VON doesn't have an English service in place of Hausa on 41m after 2200. Strong and not distorted in the clear signal on 7255. Maybe I'm asking too much. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Feb 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. HF Beacon on 3450 approx.: see RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM ** OMAN. 15140, Radio Sultanate of Oman, 1425-1442, Feb 22, tune-in to pop music. Chimes/gongs & ID at 1430 followed by English news at 1431- 1439. Techno-pop music at 1439. Weak but readable (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. Feb 21, 2008. Radio Pakistan Dari service for Afghanistan was monitored in Lahore today at 5050 kHz from 1430 to 1456 UT. The transmission was heard for the first time after change in time and increase in duration w.e.f. 5.01.2008. The program content was Kor`an recitation, Dari music and Dari news at 1445 UT. The transmitter howl was horrible. SINPO was 13121. Radio Pakistan also broadcasts Dari Service from its Peshawar Station for Afghanistan at 540 kHz via a 300 kW MW transmitter from 1615 to 1700 UT. Program content of that service, titled "Nawae-Dost" (Voice of a Friend) is better as compared to external service Dari program. But at the same time strong signal of Iran's IRIB is also heard on the frequency 540 kHz in Lahore. I don`t know how strong could be IRIB on this frequency in Afghanistan. In case of a strong signal of IRIB, Radio Pakistan Peshawar's effort will be wasted. Afghanistan is one of those few countries where Radio whether on MW or SW is still very popular owing to shortage of electricity and limited TV network (Aslam Javaid, Lahore, Pakistan, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Re 8-023: ``I'm listening to the Papua New Guinea NBC sign on that is on Ian McFarland's collection of Interval Signals. It's starts with a jingle that goes like this.`` The sound byte is here - http://www.dxer.ca/content/view/40/53/ I urge our readers to play the file and see what they think. "For Papua New Guinea, the day has begun" was an anthem played at the beginning of every broadcast day on NBC radio prior to independence (Colin Newell, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, HCDX via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. 11870. RRI Galbeni in Romanian 1600-1657 UT noted with heavy distorted audio today Feb 19th (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 23 via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. SLBC observed only on 9770 kHz and not on announced 6005 and 15745 kHz at 0150 (Evangelic program)-0420 UT, with some items but mainly the golden hits of songs from the 50s and c&w (Feb 21). (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Feb 22, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 23 via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. SLOVAKIA. 9825, Miraya 101 FM, via IRRS, *1458-1505+, Feb 22, sign on with vernacular talk. Local African music at 1459. IDs & English news at 1500. Poor, difficult copy with co-channel QRM. Covered by apparent jammer at 1505 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SURINAME. 4990, R Apintie has not been propagating well for the last few weeks (Bob Wilkner, FL, Feb 18, DSWCI DX Window Feb 20 via DXLD) ** TIBET. 7385, Xizang PBS, Lhasa, Tibet, 1630-1700, Feb 13 and 14, English program about tourism in Tibet. Heard // 4905, 4920 and 5240 all weaker, 34343 (Kaj Bredahl Jorgensen, Greve, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window Feb 20 via DXLD) ** TUNISIA. 7190 kHz, 0658 UT, 21 feb 08, Radio ???, árabe, ****No he podido identificarla, alguien me puede decir qué emisora es, por favor....**** Lectura de noticas, mencionan "Beirut", "Amerikiya"... "Afganistan.." 4-5/5/5/4/4 Señal muy buena!!! fuerte. Grabé un audio, el cual quiero subir a mi blog, pero hasta estar seguro qué emisora es (Magdiel Cruz Rodríguez, Sangean ATS 818, Antena V invertida Jiutepec, Morelos MÉXICO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I told him it is Tunisia; I listen to it almost every night, and so his new blog entry: http://entre-ondas.blogspot.com/2008/02/tunisia-national-radio-tnez.html (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKMENISTAN. COCKROACH CAUSES 30 TV STAFF TO BE FIRED A large brown cockroach in Turkmenistan that appeared live on air has caused 30 staff at the state TV station to lose their jobs. The cockroach appeared on screen crawling across the desk while the newsreader was reading the 9 o’clock news. A recording of the bulletin was rebroadcast at 11 pm. The following morning, President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov was not amused, and fired no fewer than 30 workers from the channel. The President was angry because his instructions for the station to be revamped had apparently not been carried out. [illustrated] Read the full story in Media Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/22/television (February 22nd, 2008 - 17:19 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** UKRAINE. See MOLDOVA ** U K [non]. BBCWS 15400, via Ascension, has been putting nice backwards signal over Tica land with that azimuth pointing 27º, all the way till sign off at 2300. Must be another time of the year related propagation. Different stream from that on 9525 Caribbean service. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Feb 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. BBCWS is moving its DRM via Norway to 6190-6195-6200 at 0500-0700, 35 kW, 190 degrees, replacing 5890-5895-5900 at 0500-0700 and 5870-5875-5880 at 0700-0800 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. I was pleased to be able to hear intonation resembling my own on weak but unjammed WRMI 9955 signal, Feb 21 at 2322 check during scheduled WORLD OF RADIO airing at 2300 Thursdays. Thank you, DCJC, for relenting at this time. To be sure it wasn`t a propagational anomaly, I found grind jamming against Martí was still audible on 9565 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see CZECHIA ** U S A. WBCQ, 7415, Friday Feb 22 before 2300 with old 78s on Behaviour Night, enjoyable music à la Marion`s Attic which he also plugged; after 2300 Bluegrass State of Mind. As always, much better signal here than on 5110, during Area 51 bihour, which on Fridays seems to have settled at 2300 on International Radio Report from CKUT, previous Sunday, and at 2330 WORLD OF RADIO. Axually on 5111.2 or so, and IRR did not start until 2303, cut off before quite finished so WOR did not start any later than 2331 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Area 51 Schedule WBCQ 5110, Monday-Saturday 5-7 pm Eastern time (2200-0000 UT) [axually 5111.2v --- gh] webcast http://johnlightning.com:8024 Reception reports, requests, submissions, e-mail radio at zappahead.net or timtron at hotmail.com All programming is subject to change at a moment's notice, but we try to keep this schedule updated throughout the week to keep you informed! This week, we're running some classic "after hours" tapes. Stay tuned for bizarre filler material. Friday 2/22/08 2200 Piratesweek 2/17/08 2230 Grits Radio Live 2300 International Radio Report 2/17/08 2330 World of Radio 1396 Saturday 2/23/08 2200 Liquid Radio live 2300 Lumpy Gravy Radio Show #200 live Monday 2/25/08 2200 Lost Discs After Hours 3/4/06 2300 Lost Discs After Hours 3/18/05 Tuesday 2/26/08 2200 3/9/07 Allan Weiner Worldwide Winterfest Smash Up hosted by Timtron Wednesday 2/27/08 2200 Jean Shepherd - 1973-01-25 - Radio Station Job 2300 Juliet's Wild Kingdom 12 07.03.2001 with Captain Ganja Thursday 2/28/08 2200 The Michael Ketter Show 9/10/2005 2300 Radio Jamba International PiratesWeek http://www.piratesweek.info/ Marion's Attic http://members.aol.com/marionweb/ SWL Winterfest http://www.swlfest.com Radio Jamba International http://www.pmlol.com/kracker International Radio Report http://mediajct.homeip.net/radioreport/ World of Radio http://www.worldofradio.com Liquid Radio http://www.mnenergy.com/liquidradio/ Lumpy Gravy Radio Show http://www.rfma.net Jean Shpherd http://shep-archives.com/ John Lightning http://www.johnlightning.com Allan Weiner Worldwide http://www.wbcq.com Radio Jamba International http://www.pmlol.com/kracker _________________ http://rfma.net (WBCQ Broadcasters` Forum Feb 22 via DXLD) ** U S A. Re 8-023: Hi Larry, So what is Antenna 4 about? And is that correct that it will be three hours 2/23, and two hours thereafter, starting an hour later? (Glenn to Larry Will, WBCQ via DXLD) Glenn, It is a three hour show. The schedule should be 2000 to 2300 UT Saturdays. I have no clue about what this show's all about. Allan didn't say when he sent me the schedule update. If I get a chance to talk to Allan in the next couple of days I'll see if he can enlighten us. Thanks, Lw (Larry Will, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Tentative A-08 scheduling changes by some FCC stations: WBCQ 15420 instead of 15120, 1400-0100, so Nigeria is saved; also new: 5835 at 0100-1100. Neither transmission on the air yet. In turn, long inactive WRNO showing up on some new frequencies, instead of long registered 15420 and 7395: 1400-0100 on 15590 and 2200-1600 on 7505, in turn, both replacing KTBN, but what becomes of it? WRNO still 7355 at 2200-0400. Possibly this means WRNO is becoming more serious about getting on the air, and KTBN is serious about going off the air, as I can`t imagine why they would otherwise relinquish perfectly good frequencies. In the past year at least, they have disappeared for a few days at a time, without explanation. KTMI, never on the air yet, is again being registered with 50 kW: 0000-0400 on 9465 to zone 11, 110 degrees (Caribbean/Central America) 0100-0500 on 11570 to zone 3, 70 degrees (Central Canada) 0700-1000 on 9820 to zone 35, 309 degrees (Kamchatka) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 5850, Feb 22 at 2307 heard a program ending at this strange time, giving 1-800-YESHUA1 phone number address in Lodi (with a long I), New Jersey; 2308 WHR ID. Also caught my attention because the S- meter was fluxuating slightly with modulation, so reduced carrier? Seems unlikely; maybe just a selective fading fluke. Later looked up on sked and it`s WHRA with: 2305-2308 UT Mo,Tu,We,Th,Fr Nice Jewish Boy Jonathan Cahn 5.850 MHz BTW, the World Harvest Radio website http://www.whr.org has a new look, but the basic navigation around the schedules seems to be the same (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Often hear SSB above 6.2 MHz in the mornings, seemingly river or intracoastal barge traffic. Feb 22 at 1435 UT I axually paid attention for a while to approx. 6223 kHz (het with Harold Camping), and caught ID as WHX672 in Brownsville, lots of ``rogers`` and ``comebacks``, in contact with various vessels, including Rebecca Marie, Marietta(?), off at 1439. Google search on callsign comes up with only one hit, to a seemingly useful list altho dated 2005, http://www.coastalradio.org.uk/2182licusa.pdf ``2182 kHz licenses for US coast stations`` --- mostly private with the few public ones mixed in, an 11-page list by region and state/territory of callsigns, locations, and licensees, but no other frequencies mentioned, which has WHX672 as Snodgrass, Sammy F., at Brownsville, Cameron County, TX, MC, Private Coast. Then searching WHX672 in the 13,374 messages accumulated so far in the UDXF yg, not a single hit, so this must be new information (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Two hams trying to contact were having a hard time hearing each other, but I could hear both of them well: Feb 22 at 1450 on 7162-LSB, Norm, W5RIO quite strong, but with heavy noise in the background, identified by his contact, who also complained about it, as a fan. The VOX never cut off during pauses. To avoid some QRM WT5O QSYed to 7158, but at 1455 W5RIO hadn`t got the message. They were calling each other for a while both on 7162, then on the different frequencies. As I quit, don`t know if they ever reëstablished contact. Per ARRL lookup these OMs are: WILLIAMS, NORMAN W, W5RIO (Extra), BASTROP, TX 78602 TEEPLES, P BERT, WT5O (Extra), ALPINE, TX 79831 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 8-023: David Faulkner wrote: ``I doubt that's much of a change, at least in political outlook. NPR is the chief reason Air America is superfluous and will probably never fly very well. 73's`` David, At the risk of going slightly OT, and with an open admission of bias (one of my part-time employers is WXXI in Rochester, an NPR member station): Anyone who would claim that NPR somehow makes Air America "superfluous," or vice versa, clearly hasn't spent much, if any, time listening to either recently. There's surprisingly little overlap (and lots of research to back this up) between NPR listenership and commercial talk listenership of any stripe. What Air America programs is advocacy talk - their hosts are openly partisan (as well they should be). Most of what NPR programs isn't even "talk radio" at all - it's news programming, and for every study one side offers showing that it's biased one way, there's another study showing that it's biased in the other direction. There is research (and again, lots of it) to show that listenership to NPR's news programming, which is growing steadily, cuts across ideological lines. As for the talk programs NPR offers - primarily Diane Rehm and "Talk of the Nation" in middays - it bears almost no resemblance to commercial talk radio, Air America or otherwise, and it tends to bend over so far backwards to try to be politically neutral that it ends up annoying political partisans on both sides. There are certainly plenty of complaints on the lefty blogs about NPR being too far mainstream. s (Scott Fybush, NY, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. Good morning from Des Moines. KBGG – 1700, the Spanish language station, is no longer a Spanish language station. They are playing “We are the Champions” over and over and over with an occasional insertion of a deep mail voice saying “Des Moines.” I naturally called and asked and got to speak to the manager, one Terry Peterson. Their new programming will become apparent in a few days – and that is all he would say. This transition started yesterday. By the way, the daytime coverage of this station is very impressive. It is located at the site of the old KCBC – 1390 where I was on the air for 8-1/2 years. They kept the closest one of the four towers. The transmitter site sits by a creek and has excellent soil conductivity (Doc Tom Gruis, IA, Feb 22, ABDX via DXLD) True enough! I'm sitting by the computer on the west side of the house getting it on my Kaito 2100 with just the whip he heh, fading in and out a bit but can still catch part of that old tune! Wow, 340 miles, 2;45 pm (Dean_0, O'Neill NE, ibid.) ** U S A. 600, WSNL, Flint MI, WSNL promo for "Save Christian Radio" http://www.savechristianradio.com/ Are they worried about the so- called "Fairness Doctrine" coming back? Equal time for satanists? (Larry Russell, MARE Tipsheet Feb 22 via DXLD) ** U S A. Tonight's WNTP DX Test Postponed Hi all, Because of the inclement weather today and tonight here in Philadelphia, I am going to have to postpone the WNTP DX Test until March 15 (Friday night into Saturday morning). Aside from the difficult travel conditions, the other work I needed to do tonight is going to be impossible because I won't be able to get to the towers with the heavy snowfall today and expected ice tonight. Sorry about the short notice. The setup, conditions, and procedures for the DX Test on March 15 will be the same as they would have been tonight. I will not be able to do the test before 3/15 because I leave on 2/28 for England for two weeks (coming home on 3/13). 73, (Rene' F. Tetro, Lansdale, PA, USA, W2FIL, WPXG816, WPXU288 Coordinates: 40DN 12' 41"N 75DW 18' 22"W Grid: FN20IF Email: rtetro @ pobox.com Websites: http://www.radioveronica.us http://www.veronicafm.org http://www.exalt1700.org http://www.breezy1630.org http://www.dxhub.com NRC-AM via DXLD) ** U S A. WBIX-1060 Natick, MA DX Test 2/24/08 ready to go Chief Engineer Grady Moates tells us the WBIX DX Test this weekend is a go. Here are the details: WBIX 1060 kHz Natick (Boston) Massachusetts DX Test Date: Sunday morning (late Saturday night), Feb. 24, 2008. Time: Midnight - 2:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, 0500 - 0700 UT. Mode of Operation: The station will conduct the test at 40,000 watts power using their two-tower daytime antenna pattern. Programming: Programming will include a one-hour CD of Todd Rundgren Music with Morse code, sweep tones and announcements every 10 minutes or so. For full details, click on this link: http://www.dxtests.info/2008/01/wbix-1060-khz-natick-boston.html Thanks to Grady and to Paul Walker for setting up this test (Jim Pogue KH2AR, IRCA/NRC Joint Broadcast Test Committee Coordinator, Memphis, Tennessee USA, Feb 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. RNV INAUGURA ANTENA DE TRANSMISIÓN EN CARICUAO http://www.rnv.gov.ve/noticias/?act=ST&f=&t=61233 La directora de RNV señaló que no sólo se le dará más cobertura al canal Informativo, sino de llegar de la misma forma con los canales, Clásico, Juvenil. Además, indicó que se está construyendo un centro de onda corta en el estado Guárico. En el marco de la instalación de la nueva antena de transmisión del circuito Radio Nacional de Venezuela (RNV) ubicada en la parroquia de Caricuao en Caracas, la directora de RNV, Helena Salcedo, informó que con la instalación de esta antena se busca ampliar la cobertura de la emisora en todo el territorio nacional. Asimismo, la directora de RNV señaló que no sólo se le dará más cobertura al canal Informativo, sino de llegar de la misma forma con los canales, Clásico, Juvenil. Además, indicó que se está construyendo un centro de onda corta en el estado Guárico, y centros locales en su primera etapa, donde la información regional en los estados del país será fundamental. De igual modo, la directora del circuito RNV, Helena Salcedo, manifestó que con estos centros locales, la comunidad tendrá la oportunidad de escuchar sus problemas, planteamientos e informaciones. Por último, agregó que para este año culminarían las actividades de ingeniería de RNV de las FM en todo el país (via José Miguel Romero2, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) ** VIETNAM. 6165.00, VOV-4, Xuan Mai, 2213 - 2258, Feb 21, (presumed). Hmong announcement indigenous vocals. Frequency was completely clear, no trace of co/channel CNR-6, sched here 2055-0105. Weak but slowly improving (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. 6300, R Nacional Saharaui, Rabouni, heard 0849-0901*, Feb 16, music program, brief talk in Arabic. Apparently closing ann at 0900 with programming ending at 0901 followed by 6 minutes of dead air before the carrier was terminated. Poor (Rich D'Angelo, Wyomissing PA, DSWCI DX Window Feb 20 via DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. 5915, ZNBC/Radio One, 0308-0342, Feb 22, in vernacular, African high-life music/singing, local time check (5:18), numerous IDs ("Radio One, Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation"), mostly fair or better. Enjoyable listening! (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. TANZANIA. 11735, Radio Tanzania-Zanzibar, 1757-1808, Feb 22, local music. Swahili talk. Local drums at 1759. Time pips, TC & English news at 1800-1808. "Spice FM" ID. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. This morning, Feb. 22, I heard Spanish numbers by YL at tune in at 0715 UT on 5883 kHz AM. The transmission stopped at 0742 UT. The signal was somewhat stronger than Rebelde on 5025. I think I remember a report about a Spanish Numbers station here on DXLD-YG on 5882 some time ago? But wasn't patient enough to find it in the archive. 73, (Erik Køie, Copenhagen, OZ-land, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I guess it`s this one in DX LISTENING DIGEST 7-008, January 18, 2007: Steve, Yes, we have had several reports of this and I have heard it myself. It seems to be on a regular schedule late at night. Surely from Cuba, according to the ENIGMA numbers group. There are only 10 letters being sent, each substituting for a number. So it`s just another variety of spy number station. I`ll bet there was a pattern to what you heard, besides only 10 letters of the 26 --- all in groups of five. This morning I also heard one on 5882, at 1445, but this was A1, real CW with carrier on and off. 73, (Glenn, Enid to Steve, via DXLD) (via Andy Sennitt, Feb 22, ibid.) Erik, This is regular here in the Great Lakes with a strong signal. 73/Liz (Cameron, MI, ibid.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ In memory of John Sgrulletta (Steve Lare, with a contribution to WOR) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ ACONVERT.ZIP UPDATED Friends, I just up-loaded an updated Aconvertapp.exe (ACONVERT.ZIP) file to my web site http://www.orchidcitysoftware.com/IMAGE59.HTML I have upgraded the program with two more sort routines that make it easier to decide what you want to listen to, or decided what you are listening to? If you download this free program, you must realize that it will over- write any previous applications you have of this program. To save any older data, create a new folder with a different name and load your older version into it. Hope you try out the new application (Chuck Bolland ka4prf @ peoplepc.com Feb 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ OT Humor Alert!!!! Delete if uninterested! Thanks. I have googled my latest pseudo-ULR, a Sony cassette walkman WM-FS493 to no end but I have found the best one (not). It is the funniest, however. What it *is* is a perfect example of Engrish, that is where some foreign language never got translated correctly or accuaretly [sic] into English. --- With a water-resistant and tough sports serial plan, this corporal stereoscopic picture is especially made as being out-of-door sport, according to no-good gaskets, bushings, and water-resistant seals that facilitate stay fresh come out irrigate, wet, and ungraded. Sony's MDR (Micro Dynamic Receiver) typewrite headphones ar water-resistant, and bring home the bacon a broad dynamical run and first-class go. . . http://electronif.com/cassette-players-and-recorders/ (via Dave Hascall, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) & others on same page PORTUGAL vs BRASIL over ANGOLA: q.v. DIGITAL BROADCASTING ++++++++++++++++++++ RE THE "UP TO 10 DB" POWER INCREASE PROPOSED FOR FM HD RADIO Exactly what is the motivation behind increasing FM HD Radio power levels by up to 10 dB? In the following long-form letter, Geoff Mendenhall, Vice President, Transmission Research and Technology at Harris Corporation, shares his views on the subject. The real driving issue in Geoff's opinion is to improve the reliability of the secondary/multi-cast channels where there is no "blend to mono" feature in scratchy signal areas. His letter also delves into the technical challenge of achieving a 10 dB power increase -- it's not a trivial matter. http://earthsignals.com/add_CGC/Letters/IBOC_Power_Mendenhall.htm The Leslie Report comments on the proposed "up to 10 dB" power increase for FM HD Radio: http://www.radioworld.com/pages/s.0121/t.11248.html (CGC Communicator Feb 21, via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) DRM: see next item below; and UK [non] RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ ETON E2 vs KAITO 1102 [Equipment for logs above:] Sony ICF7600GR + T2FD. Tell you what: after reading some reviews and comments about the Kaito 1102, (Liz Cameron's lately) I have been tempted to purchase one of those. I'd rather prefer to wait for the hypothetic Etón E2. At least I'd named that way with DRM capability. But honestly, does DRM have any future on short wave? (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Feb 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) No (Harry Helms, W5HLH, Smithville, TX, EL19 http://harryhelmsblog.blogspot.com/ ibid.) ABOUT DISABLED CARS NEAR THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING ("ESB") The "car key clicker" problem isn't unique to the ESB. I have the same problem here in Seattle anytime I'm parked near either the 3 towers on Queen Anne Hill (full-power analog 4, 5, 7, and their digital channels) or the 3 towers on Capitol Hill (full-power analog 9, 11, 22, their digital channels, plus 94.9 MHz and 90.3 MHz). When I am in those areas, I just make sure to lock my car doors manually so that when I use the actual key to get in it won't set off the alarm. (At least, that's how it works on a Subaru.) I've always assumed it was an issue with the noise floor being too high, but haven't ever investigated. Erik C. Swanson, Hatfield & Dawson Consulting Engineers eswanson (at) hatdaw.com (CGC Communicator Feb 21, via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) HIGH FREQUENCY BEACON SOCIETY I guess we have to rely on the listeners reports from the website: http://highfrequencybeaconsociety.bravehost.com/reports.html (Martin G Choquette, UDXF via DXLD) These are the frequencies reported so far this year on the above page. There is some disagreement about the decimals. The first one in OK: 3449.6 4077.2 4094.0 4112.1 8000.3 8188.6 10237.8 10245.6 13558 14417.5 Back to the home page for what this is all about: http://highfrequencybeaconsociety.bravehost.com/index.html This web site is best viewed with FireFox The Societies purpose is to study propagation of shortwave beacons. This societies membership is PRIVATE but open to all who truely are interested in putting their own beacon on the air. Most of our beacons run 100 milliwatts or less in output power. However, some beacons run more power. The true spirit of radio experimentation is much alive among the members. Copying weak signals require many unique skills and we salute the listeners who dig out these beacons. We are growing at a nice pace and new beacons are being constructed and put on the air often. Check back often to see what new beacons have been placed on the air. The Society sees the need for our country to move away from oil based energy and emerge into solar and wind power technologies. Consider having your own beacon. We would love to have you join us. We are having lots of fun. Watch for the article on the Society that is coming out in Popular Communications, March 2008 (via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ 160-METER PROPAGATION George Munsch, W5VPQ, of San Antonio, Texas, had comments about recent 160 and 75 meter discussions. "The 160/75 meter propagation conundrum arises because the F-layer is needed for propagation and the D-layer must be weak or absent to minimize absorption. When both layers are weak or absent during these long stretches of no sunspots, the bands aren't going to be very useful, which has been my observation here in Texas, although domestic long skip on 75 in the mornings has been pretty good. The only problem is that many of the stations heard are in small local cliques who are accustomed to talking among themselves and don`t want to be bothered with contacts to out-of-area 'intruders.'" (K7RA Solar Update, Feb 22, ARRL via Steve Lare, dxldyg via DXLD) SINPFEMO A better signal tech analysis by using F/TDM analysis drawings in specialized reports (version blogger ) Considering that SINPFEMO does not 100% cover the truth from listeners` point of view in regards to signal readability, QRM and fading I have used for more than 4 years derived from more specialized monitoring equipment such as Hewlett Packard, Rohde & Shwartz, etc. I think however that both terms shown below are very easy to understand; however, there is still a little analysis behind them on how I used them so far. . . http://zliangas.blogspot.com/2008/02/sinpfemo-better-signal-tech-analysis-by.html (Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) S UNITS HAVE CHANGED This is cool! The "S" meter unit today is about 6 dB per unit. If you take 50 uv as S9 and the floor of .1 uv, that is 500 to 1 ratio. That is 54 dB. Divide this by "S" 9, you have 6 dB per unit. I think it was back in 1982 or so, maybe earlier, when IEEE, with the encouragement of the Japanese electronics industry, changed the "S UNIT " to close to 6 dB, that is based on 50 uv as "S9" and a floor of .1 uv. Things change. Here is what it was back in the days of Art Collins. The 50s. My source is from the old man himself, Art Collins. He invented the "S" meter. This is from the service manual of a Collins 75S-3 receiver (Ted Randall, TN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) a jpg including ``A figure of 4 dB can be taken as an average for one S-unit`` PROPAGATION OUTLOOK FROM PRAGUE, FEBRUARY 22 Solar-activity forecast for the period Feb 22 - 28, 2008 Activity level: very low Radio flux (10.7 cm): a fluctuation in the range 67-73 f.u. Flares: weak (0-3/day) Relative sunspot number: in the range 0-22 Astronomical Institute, Solar Dept., Ondrejov, Czech Republic e-mail: sunwatch(at)asu.cas.cz (RWC Prague) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Geomagnetic activity forecast for the period Feb 22 to Feb 28, 2008 quiet: Feb 22 to 26 quiet to unsettled: Feb 27 unsettled: Feb 28 active: 0 minor storm: 0 major storm: 0 severe storm: 0 Geomagnetic activity summary: geomagnetic field was quiet on Feb 17 and 20, unsettled on Feb 14, 15, 16, 18 and 19. RWC Prague, Geophysical Institute Prague, Geomagnetic Dept, Czech Republic, e-mail: geom(at)ig.cas.cz ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Geomagnetic activity forecast for the period of one solar rotation unsettled to active: Feb (23,) Mar 2 (4,) 5, (6,) 9-11, 13(-14) active to disturbed: Feb (24, 27,) 28, (29,) Mar 1, 8 (12, 16-17) quiet: Feb (22,) 25-26, Mar (3, 7,) 15, 18 Survey: quiet - mostly quiet on: Feb 20 quiet to unsettled on: Feb 17 quiet to active on: Feb 14, 16, 18 quiet to disturbed - mostly unsettled on: Feb 11-13, 15 unsettled to active on: Feb 19 unsettled to disturbed - mostly active - active to disturbed - disturbed - Notice: Days in brackets refer to a lower probability of possible solar activity enhancements depending on previous developments on the sun. F. K. Janda, OK1HH, Czech Propagation Interested Group e-mail: franta.janda(at)quick.cz (via DXLD) ###