DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-026, February 26, 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 1397 Thu 0630 WRMI 9955 Thu 1530 WRMI 7385 Thu 2300 WRMI 9955 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 ** ARGENTINA. Uma escuta que me chamou a atenção foi a de uma emissora argentina nos 6285 kHz. Suponho ser a Rádio Nacional da Argentina (que estava sendo ouvida nos 6280 kHz). 6285, 2128 24/02 unID (Rádio Nacional da Argentina??), OM, px esportivo, menção à Rosário, SS 45333 (Rubens Ferraz Pedroso; Bandeirantes - Paraná - Brasil, Receptor: Degen DE1103. Antena: Sony AN 71, dxclubepr yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1397, DXLD) This was reported several times last year, but there was great disagreement whether it was a deliberate feeder, or spur from 6060 (gh, ibid.) ** ARGENTINA. 15344.70, RAE Buenos Aires in Italian, S=7 signal, but RAE fade out now at 2020 UT Feb 26 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Feb 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHRAIN. Bahrein. Radio Behrein es captada frecuentemente en la capital de Bulgaria, Sofía, entre las 0500 y las 0800 horas, con programa musical en árabe, frecuencia de 9745 kilohercios. La emisora se capta con frecuencia menor, con programa en inglés, desde las 1900 y las 1925 en la frecuencia de 6010 kilohercios. Después de las 1925 en esa misma frecuencia de 6010 kilohercios comienza a prevalecer la señal de la Radio de Irán, transmitiendo también en inglés (Rumen Pankov, Versión en español de Mijail Mijailov, Noticias DX desde Rádio Bulgaria / 25.02.2008 http://www.bnr.bg/RadioBulgaria/Emission_Spanish via Antônio Schuler, Noticias DX yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1397, DXLD) ** BANGLADESH. 7250, Bangladesh Betar, 1229-1247, Feb 25, tune-in to IS. Time pips at 1230 followed by opening English ID announcements and short bit of local music. English news at 1231. 30 seconds of local music at 1239 then back to more news programming. Strong carrier but with weak hum and low modulation making reception very difficult. Occasional HAM QRM also. I lost them at 1247 when signal abruptly dropped way down into the noise (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, TenTec RX-340, 100 foot long wires, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. 7390: As reported few weeks ago, faulty Belarus transmitter on 7390 put out a small spur peak on 7364 kHz, and also a wide range spur on upper side 7416 to 7425 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Feb 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BHUTAN. "The challenge for the BBS Radio is the quality. The day BBS Radio went online... I was thinking about the content. But keep listening and your feedback will only help us to do better". This from Kesang, GM Radio Service at BBS, in response to my email commenting on their online programming. So if anyone can now hear them on 6035, they have an easy way to confirm their ID by checking for the parallel audio online. For myself, I have never been able to hear them on the current 6035, but did frequently enjoy hearing them with decent reception back in the early 1990s when they were on 5025. One of my favorite shows back then was the United Nations Radio program carried from 1430-1445, as part of their English segment. Anyway, it's nice to be able to hear them again, even if only via the Internet (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Feb 26, NASWA yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1397, DXLD) ** BHUTAN. 6035, 0010-0040 24-02, Bhutan Broadcasting Service, Sangaygang. Dzongkha announcement, native rhythmic music with drums, Buddhist Monks intoning. Early s/on tonight, 34333, weak QRM Colombia 6035. From *0030 strong QRM 6030 BVB, Canada via Wertachtal in English (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1397, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4716.69, Radio Yura, Yura, 0120-0139*, Feb 25, variety of Spanish pops/ballads. Bolivian music. Spanish announcements. Sign off with Bolivian tune. Very weak (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 6134.80, Radio Santa Cruz, 1024-1030 Feb 26. Noted Spanish language comments from individuals. At 1025, canned ID as, "Radio Santa Cruz ... en Bolivia". More live comments follow. Signal was fair (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, R-390A, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Upon which skyjumpers descended live on the Today Show around 1530 UT Feb 26 (gh, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. BRASIL - Foram reativadas as freqüências de 3235 e 5045 kHz por parte da Rádio Guarujá. Os canais fazem relay da Guarujá FM e são administrados pelo jornalista Orivaldo Rampazo. O canal 1550 AM virou Rádio Globo Baixada e tem outra administração. Os canais em ondas curtas não entraram no contrato com o Sistema Globo. No futuro, o canal 9715 kHz também será ativado. BRASIL - A Rádio Congonhas, de Congonhas (MG), encerra a sua transmissão na freqüência de 4775 kHz exatamente às 2300. Um locutor lê mensagem de otimismo e termina a programação com rezas e a benção. BRASIL - Quando ocorrem jogos do Guaratinguetá pelo campeonato paulista, a Rádio Aparecida transmite o evento usando a freqüência de 5035 kHz. As demais seguem com a programação normal. BRASIL - A Rádio Clube Paranaense, de Curitiba (PR), teve seu equipamento de transmissão danificado e não deve mais emitir em 6045 kHz. A informação foi dada por Fernando Cunha, daquela emissora, a Ulysses A. Galetti, de São Paulo (SP). Era a última freqüência que a emissora curitibana mantinha em ondas curtas, já que havia apagado as emissões em 9725 e 11935 kHz (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Feb 24 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Hello Marcelo and 73 to all Dxers in Brasil, it's quite a coincidence that now a completely new list of FM stations from Brasil is now available on the FMLIST radio stations database, it can be found on this URL: http://www.fmlist.org It includes the following details of FM stations from Brasil: - exact or rough location details including arcminute or even arcsecond coordinates - all station names can be edited or updated easily by database editors, regional names are included. - transmitter power if available is mostly included along with a few RDS entries FMLIST offers some features too, like these: easy creation and editing of DX logs or bandscans, several types of map applications including Google Earth or Live Maps. All data from FMLIST is used on FMSCAN -> http://www.fmscan.org Reception predictions and network maps can be made, MWLIST -> http://www.mwlist.org features a worldwide database MW and LW stations, but some areas of South America may be incomplete or would need updates; it is rather simple for a user to report updates to this database. Good DX (Björn Tryba, QTH: NRW state/Germany 06e20/51n15 -database editor- http://www.fmlist.org and http://www.mwlist.org Feb 26, dxing.info via DXLD) See also PUBLICATIONS ** BULGARIA. 9400, R. Bulgaria in Russian 19-20 UT Feb 26 put out a spur on the lower side in 9377 to 9380 kHz range (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Feb 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. RCI's "The Link" on Feb. 25, 2008: "On this date in 1945, CBC's international service began regular broadcasts on shortwave. We'll learn about the birth and development of the radio service you're listening to now. Jim Craig is here now with his history column On This Day, to take us back to those days of RCI's infancy." The entire show [30 MB] can be downloaded at http://www.radio-canada.ca/radio/baladodiffusion/telechargement2008/thelink/2008/02/thelink-20080225-1547.mp3 Pleasant listening (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, Feb 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Re 8-025, Calgary traffic radio --- The article isn't quite right. During off-peak hours at least, the station alternates between two computer-generated voices, one male and one female. (I haven't listened during rush hour -- perhaps that is what the columnist is referring to.) A human male also reads a pre-recorded message to provide station information. I think he IDs the station as CIRI, although I stand to be corrected (Ricky Leong, Calgary, Feb 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/city/story.html?id=51dda578-a9f1-429d-ab08-17d5a275ab07&k=83205 Love the headline (Benn Kobb, DXLD) ** CHINA. 6015, PBS Xinjiang (tentative), 02/25/08, 0058, listed Kazakh. Male and female announcers speaking, very tough copy under strong QRM from China Radio Int'l (via Albania) on 6020. Totally covered by splatter during top of the hour, so could not hear if distinctive Chinese time pips were there at 0100. Tentative log, but nothing else found at this freq/time in various references (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Firedrake Jamming noted on odd 7474 around 1620 UT Feb 26. Against RFA Ulan-Bataar in Tibetan 7470? (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Feb 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO DR [non]. RADIO OKAPI CELEBRATES ITS SIXTH BIRTHDAY With 200 employees, the majority of which are Congolese, it's considered as the most popular and most believable radio in the country, with an audience of nearly 30% of the Congolese population... http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EGUA-7C6T57?OpenDocument (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. Hello, this morning, I woke up much much early around 0450 UT, and noted in 0450-0545 UT slot as follows: Cariari de Pococi CTR REE program on odd 5963.98...99 around 0450 UT, Feb 26. Co-channel RHC Spanish even 5965.00 til 0500 UT. Tentative WORLD UNIVERS. NETWORK Cahuita on odd 6149.98 at 0514 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Feb 26, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1397, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA. 3984.85, Croatian Radio-Voice of Croatia, 0300-0315, Feb 25, English ID announcements & "Croatia Today" news program to 0307. Euro-pop music at 0308. Weak but readable. Much better on // 7285-via Germany (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA. Glas Hrvatske (Voice of Croatia) is online at http://www.hrt.hr/hr/glashrvatske/gh.php Clicking on English at the top of the page leads to a single page with satellite reception information, an email address, and a link to 24-hour streaming audio of Voice of Croatia in Real Audio format (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB R3M 3J3, Click!, March ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** CUBA. Radio Habana Cuba: http://rhc.cu/ (click English) or http://www.radiohc.cu/ (different URL, but the same content). Radio Habana is the national broadcaster of Cuba, producing programming in nine languages. The RHC website is quite simple in appearance, with three columns of content. On the left, there are text links to such items as Cuba News, Latin American Roundup, the much-loved DXers Unlimited, and the all-important About Us (which is strangely lacking in contact information). In the centre of the webpage are brief articles and headlines filed under Cuba News, International News, Editorials, and Features, many of which link to extended articles. At the top, you’ll also find a link labeled Linea 1 to streaming audio of RHC; the service is in Windows Media format, at a low-quality 20 Kbps. The right side of the RHC website is home to several small pictures with captions such as Selected Speeches by President Fidel Castro, Messages of Solidarity with Fidel, and Reflections by Fidel (spot the trend). The actual content provided throughout the RHC website is distinctly different from what you’d find through the mainstream Western media; your own global perspective will determine whether it’s informative, comical, or nonsense, but rest assured that traditional viewpoints will be challenged. Despite a paucity of graphics and other fancy features, the RHC website loaded quite slowly; this may be due to slow equipment in Cuba or “extranational” barriers to speedy access (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB R3M 3J3, Click!, March ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. Listening to this [IRAN, q.v.], I was reminded of recent ODXA / DXLD threads on male vs. female announcers for “punching through” poor conditions. The regular female announcer on this service does indeed come through quite well, somewhat readable even on nights when reception is rather poor. I wonder if they utilize such techniques as explained recently by Arnie Coro (and Andy Sennitt) to provide better modulation and make it more intelligible. And speaking of Cuba, perhaps RHC might consider such modification for Ed Newman in their English news, whose voice often does not cut through very well and is quite difficult to understand (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, Feb 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. RHC 6060 at 1947 in Spanish. This is not the Sunday transmission from RAE as listed in PWBR. Unusually strong for this time. // 600[0] moderate, // 5965 faint. 24 Feb (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This was the National Assembly special coronation of Raúl; not normally on the air on 49m at this hour (gh) ** CUBA [and non]. CANADA and CUBA? 5990, R Prague/China Radio International, 0416, 02/25/08. Radio Prague in English (via Sackville) battling it out with an equally strong broadcast in Cantonese with mention of www.chineseradio.cn (a.k.a. CRI). CRI-Cantonese via Havana is listed at 04-05 on 9790, but nothing there. Havana also relays CRI in Spanish on 5990 at 00-01; forgot to switch frequencies? (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CYPRUS TURKISH NORTHERN. Radio Bayrak International: http://www.brt.gov.nc.tr or http://www.brtk.com both lead to the same site, so click English at the top. On the ensuing page, look for Online Broadcast on the left side, which leads to a pop-up menu with two television and five radio streams. All appear to be in Windows Media format(s) – Bayrak Turkish Music is particularly nice. Those with wanderlust may want to click on the ReMax Cyprus advertisement (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB R3M 3J3, Click!, March ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** CYPRUS. Southern – Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation: http://www.cybc.com.cy it’s all Greek to me, but there are many programs listed under Audio On Demand and Video On Demand (bottom of the page). (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB R3M 3J3, Click!, March ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** CZECH REPUBLIC. Radio Prague (Radio Praha): http://www.radio.cz/ Offered in six languages, Radio Praha’s website is loaded with content. We’ll begin by clicking on English at the top of the page (other choices are Czech, French, German, Russian, and Spanish). The main page is divided into three main sections: down the left-hand side you’ll find headings such as News, Czech Music, Magazine, Spotlight, and an impressive Archive; each item includes an “ear” icon that links to audio content. Below these are Events and Projects, About Radio Prague (including sections on How to listen to RP, QSLs, and RSS/ podcasts, among others), About the Czech Republic, and Useful Information (aimed primarily at the domestic audience). In the middle of the main page are boxes corresponding to the News etc. categories listed in the left column, each with a brief leading story and link to the corresponding age, and most including audio (in Real Audio format) and/or a photo. On the right-hand side of the main page are large links to QSL cards 2008 and Frequencies, and smaller links to internet audio (on-demand and live, or your schedule and theirs, respectively, and in both Real Audio and MP3 formats), Contact, Search, and a wonderful Text only version of the website, which is a slimmed-down version of the website that’s perfect for those with a slow internet connection or small internet device (mobile phone, PDA, etc.). (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB R3M 3J3, Click!, March ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** DJIBOUTI. The website for Radio Télévision de Djibouti http://www.rtd.dj is entirely in French, but has numerous links to downloadable and streaming audio programming in various formats. Videos are also available for download, as well as newscasts in Somali and Afar. Beware of the many pop-up ads that may appear when you click anywhere – I was offered a trip to France with some nice young ladies on one page (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB R3M 3J3, Click!, March ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** DJIBOUTI. Por razones desconocidas, Radio Yibuti se mantuvo ausente de la onda corta por determinado período de tiempo, pero el pasado 7 de febrero fue nuevamente captada en su frecuencia habitual, de 4780 kilohercios con programa en lenguas vernáculas (Rumen Pankov, Versión en español de Mijail Mijailov, Noticias DX desde Rádio Bulgaria / 25.02.2008 http://www.bnr.bg/RadioBulgaria/Emission_Spanish via Antônio Schuler, Noticias DX yg via DXLD) ** DUCIE ISLAND. (Update). The VP6DX operation is very active and will continue until they leave on February 28th. As this was being written, the VP6DX Web site was reporting just under 139,000 QSOs. Online logs are now available at: http://ducie2008.dl1mgb.com/onlinelog/index.php For more details on donating funds and updates, visit the VP6DX Web page at: http://www.vp6dx.com (The Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 847 February 25, 2008, Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW, Provided by BARF80.ORG (Cleveland, Ohio), via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) 15m certainly has been working best for me to hear the VP6DX pedition. Previously ran across it on 21305-USB, but Feb 25 at 2219 it was on 21295-USB, saying ``listen 310`` meaning duplex, they were listening for calls on 21310. Put another receiver there, but only heard one or two weak stations, as most of NAm was in skip zone. I wonder why hams don`t verbally say ``QSX`` much, the proper term for this? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. HCJB Global Voice, The Voice of the Andes: http://www.hcjbglobal.org (also see http://www.vozandes.org for “Radio en vivo” – live radio). While HCJB began in Ecuador in 1931, according to their website, international headquarters have been in Colorado, USA for the past 15 years. I decided to keep it filed under Ecuador – for now (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB R3M 3J3, Click!, March ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** EGYPT. Radio Cairo (ERTU): http://www.ertu.org/ Egypt Radio Television Union operates the external services Radio Cairo and Voice of the Arabs. The ERTU website given (as listed in WRTH 2008) is beautiful, but does not appear to offer English. WRTH also lists http://www.freewebs.com/overseas-radio/ as an unofficial Radio Cairo website (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB R3M 3J3, Click!, March ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** EGYPT. EGITO - Em 16 de fevereiro, o colunista escutou, em Bombinhas (SC), a programação em espanhol da Rádio El Cairo, em 9360 kHz, a partir de 0115. Os apresentadores do programa El Cairo Contesta ofereceram músicas para um único ouvinte de Cuba que teve a sua carta mencionada em todo o segmento que durou cerca de 15 minutos. Estariam faltando cartas dos ouvintes naquela programação? (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Feb 24 via DXLD) ** ERITREA. 7100, VOBME, Asmara, program 1, *0355-0415, Feb 25, IS/vernacular announcement sequence. Vernacular talk at 0400. Very weak. 7175, VOBME, Asmara, program 2, *0355-0415, Feb 25, IS/vernacular announcement sequence. Vernacular talk at 0400. Some Horn of Africa music. Fair to good signal but covered by jammer at 0410 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. Listed as “Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea” in Passport 2008, The State of Eritrea’s Ministry of Information is represented in English at http:/www.shabait.com (subtitle: Serving the TRUTH). Two audio items are available, both from summer 2007, along with an empty page for hosting video. Other news items appeared to be up-to-date (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB R3M 3J3, Click!, March ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. Radio Ethiopia, http://www.erta.gov.et/ has numerous links for online video – English news videos date from 27 December 2007, while those in Amharic are from April 2000 (!). The latest radio news is dated 02-13-1999 (using dd/mm/yyyy format!) – perhaps a more generous calendar is in use? Attempting to load the videos locked my computer’s web browser, so I can’t comment on the content. Printed news appears to be updated, and at the time of my visit included mention of a conference on Ethiopia at the University of Saskatchewan on 5 February of this year (Paul E. Guise, Winnipeg, MB R3M 3J3, Click!, March ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. 6030, Voice of Tigray Revolution (presumed), 02/25/08, 0433, listed Tigrinya. Similar to previous Sunday nights [during DCJC and Martí truce, UT Mondays], male and female announcers in rapid-fire vernacular w/Afro-Arab fusion-type music bridges and tunes. Seemed // to 6170, which is also a listed VOTR frequency, but tough to be sure w/QRM from 6165. Definitely not // 7110 (R Ethiopia) and 7210 (presumed R Fana). Fair/poor (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. EUROPEAN RADIO NETWORK OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED Listeners can hear EURANET from April 2008 by Europe Correspondent Matthijs Nieuwenhuis* 26-02-2008 Listen: Peter Veenendaal explains Euranet to RNW's Newsline (mp3) Euranet. That is the name of the new radio and internet project that will commence broadcasting on 31 March 2008. It is a consortium of sixteen radio stations from thirteen countries. The group includes international broadcasters like Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Deutsche Welle and Radio France International. But there are also regional and local stations, often from new EU member states. Radio Slovenia International and Polskie Radio from Poland are also part of the project. A major aim is to inform young citizens about the European Union. . . . . .There are some notable absentees: the BBC are not taking part, for instance. Erik Betterman, head of Deutsche Welle (picture), suggested in Brussels that the BBC is shifting its international focus toward the Middle East rather than Europe. From EU founder member Italy no radio station has yet joined Euranet 'because of organisational problems in Italy', according to Mr Betterman. And the Scandinavian countries, originally part of the group, are no longer represented since Radio Sweden withdrew from international broadcasting. . . http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/080226-euranet (via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) ??? Radio Sweden withdrew from IBC???? How come I still hear them in English to North America? This is not really a ``radio station`` with WTFK transmitters, just a website (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) INICIATIVA DE RFI Y LA DEUTSCHE WELLE Crean una red europea de radio con emisoras en 13 países y 10 lenguas. La única española es Punto Radio, que se une a belgas, francesas, búlgaras, checas, portuguesas o húngaras. . . http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/02/26/comunicacion/1204043949.html (via José Miguel Romero2, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) ** EUROPE [and non]. DECLINE OF EUROPEAN BROADCASTERS Back in the late 1960s and 1970s, most shortwave listening (over half) was European-dominated, with much of my listening done to stations such as Radio Portugal (remember them?), Radio Nederland, DW, BBC, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Now, as these stations are all either gone or drastically cut back, radio listening time is spent hearing stations farther east, their Eastern European and Middle Eastern cousins, many of whom were poorly or rarely heard in the 60s and 70s (Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria, Russia, Serbia, Czech Republic, Albania, Turkey, Iran, Egypt). Shortwave radio is far from “dead,” but there are many (mostly older white male “baby boomer”) whiners who are sorry, with a mixture of nostalgia and in some cases anger, to see the decline of this fascinating hobby where many of the “major players” of two or three decades ago are either seldom and poorly heard in transmissions beamed elsewhere, or gone altogether. I hope that the few stations still putting out good reliable signals and interesting programs, particularly Radio Netherlands, continue on shortwave for a least a few more years so that there is something to tune to when spending pleasant spring and summer afternoons or evenings in the yard or garden. I am not yet ready to lug my computer out into the yard or park (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, Feb 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. PIRATE. Ireland, 6295, Reflections Europe, 2230-2356*, Feb 24, English religious talk & religious music. "People`s Gospel Hour" with Nova Scotia, Canada and Boston, Mass. addresses. ID at 2313. "Moments of Inspiration" religious program at 2314. Fair reception but some splatter from Egypt 6290 & occasional RTTY QRM. Sundays only. Listed 230 watts (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. PIRATE. 6882, Playback Int. 2257-2330, Feb 23, pop music. ID. Weak but readable (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GEORGIA. Noted in 0450-0545 UT Feb 26 slot as follows: Abkhazian Radio on odd 9494.75 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Feb 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. 6140, *1300-1345 Sunday 24-02, R Gloria International, via MV Baltic R, via Wertachtal. English/German ID, schedule, address, modern music, first from Japan, 45544 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) Believe this is monthly? (gh) ** GERMANY. MV Baltic Radio is on this Sunday on the 2nd of March 2008 At 1300 UT on the new channel of 6140 kHz. MV Baltic Radio is on the air from the transmitting station in Wertachtal. We will be using a non-directional antenna system (Quadrant antenna). Good Listening 73s (Tom Taylor, Feb 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Winter B-07 of DTK T-Systems Media & Broadcast. Pt 3 of 4: Bible Voice Broadcasting Network (BVBN): to Europe 0800-0915 on 5945 WER 100 kW / 300 deg Fri/Sat English 0800-0945 on 5945 WER 100 kW / 300 deg Sun English 0915-0945 on 5945 WER 040 kW / 300 deg Sat English DRM 1200-1230 on 5945 WER 040 kW / non-dir Sun English DRM 1900-1930 on 6015 WER 125 kW / 055 deg Tue/Fri Russian 1915-1930 on 6015 WER 125 kW / 055 deg Mon English 1915-1930 on 6015 WER 125 kW / 055 deg Wed Russian 1900-1945 NF 6015 WER 125 kW / 055 deg Thu Ukrainian, ex 5960 1900-1945 on 6015 WER 125 kW / 055 deg Sat English 1900-2030 on 6015 WER 125 kW / 055 deg Sun English/Russian/English 1800-1830 on 7205 NAU 125 kW / 230 deg Sun Spanish to West and Central Africa 1930-2000 on 7260 WER 100 kW / 195 deg Sat English 1830-2000 on 7260 WER 100 kW / 180 deg Sun English, ex JUL 100 kW/155 1900-1930 on 7245 WER 500 kW / 165 deg Sun English to East Africa 0430-0530 on 9615 WER 100 kW / 135 deg Sat Amharic 0430-0500 on 9615 WER 100 kW / 135 deg Sun Amharic 0900-1000 on 17545 NAU 125 kW / 145 deg Fri Arabic 1600-1700 on 9730 NAU 100 kW / 142 deg Wed Amharic 1630-1700 on 9730 NAU 100 kW / 142 deg Thu-Tue Amharic 1700-1800 on 9730 NAU 100 kW / 142 deg Daily Tigrinya/Amharic 1800-1900 on 9730 NAU 100 kW / 142 deg Fri/Sun Somali 1800-1830 on 9730 NAU 100 kW / 142 deg Sat Somali 1630-1730 NF 11875 JUL 100 kW / 145 deg Sat-Thu Nuer/Dinka, ex 11645 1630-1745 NF 11875 JUL 100 kW / 145 deg Fri Nuer/Dinka, ex 11645 1530-1600 on 13720 WER 125 kW / 135 deg Wed Tigrinya 2000-2030 on 9565 WER 250 kW / 135 deg Thu Arabic to Middle East 0430-0530 on 9615 WER 250 kW / 120 deg Mon-Thu Arabic 0430-0545 on 9615 WER 250 kW / 120 deg Fri Arabic 1715-1830 on 6195 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Mon/Wed/Fri Arabic 1800-1830 on 6195 WER 100 kW / 120 deg Tue/Thu Arabic 1800-1900 on 6195 WER 100 kW / 120 deg Sat English 1830-1900 on 6195 WER 100 kW / 120 deg Sun English 1900-2000 on 9470 WER 250 kW / 120 deg Sat/Sun English 1930-2000 on 9470 WER 250 kW / 120 deg Fri English 1800-1830 on 7210 JUL 100 kW / 105 deg Mon/Wed/Fri Persian 1800-1900 on 7210 JUL 100 kW / 105 deg Tue/Thu/Sun Persian 1800-1815 on 7210 JUL 100 kW / 105 deg Sat English 1430-1630 on 9925 WER 125 kW / 105 deg Daily Persian 1625-1715 on 11970 WER 250 kW / 120 deg Tue/Fri Arabic 1625-1730 on 11970 WER 250 kW / 120 deg Mon/Wed/Thu Arabic 1640-1715 on 9460 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Mon-Fri English 1715-1815 on 9460 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Tue Hebrew/Tagalog/ English/Russian 1815-1900 on 9460 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Tue Hebrew 1715-1745 on 9460 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Thu Hebrew/English 1645-1830 on 9460 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Sat English 1830-1930 on 9460 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Sat Hebrew/English 1630-1915 on 9460 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Sun English, ex 1630-1830 to South Asia 0030-0045 on 5935 NAU 500 kW / 080 deg Sat/Sun Bengali, ex Daily 0030-0100 on 6030 NAU 500 kW / 095 deg Mon-Thu Hindi 0030-0100 on 6030 NAU 500 kW / 095 deg Fri-Sun English 1500-1600 on 11895 WER 250 kW / 090 deg Mon/Thu/Fri Bengali 1530-1600 on 11895 WER 250 kW / 090 deg Tue Hindi 1515-1600 on 11895 WER 250 kW / 090 deg Wed Hindi 1500-1530 on 11895 WER 250 kW / 090 deg Sat English 1500-1530 on 11895 WER 250 kW / 090 deg Sun Bengali 1400-1500 on 11695 NAU 250 kW / 095 deg Sat/Sun English 1530-1600 on 12035 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Mon English 1500-1600 on 12035 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Tue Urdu 1515-1600 on 12035 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Wed/Thu/Sat English 1515-1600 on 12035 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Fri Punjabi 1530-1600 on 12035 JUL 100 kW / 090 deg Sun Urdu to South East Asia 1200-1230 on 15565 NAU 250 kW / 070 deg Mon-Fri Uighur 2245-2330 on 7185 WER 250 kW / 075 deg Fri Vietnamese 2300-2330 on 7185 WER 250 kW / 075 deg Sat Vietnamese (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 25 via DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. 4052.47, 0330-0340 25-02, R. Verdad, Chiquimula. Spanish religious talk, hymns 25232 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) Their 8th anniversary date (gh, DXLD) Passport lists this one as signing on at 1100 while the WRTH lists it at 1130 but I have found the actual sign-on time can vary between 1115 and 1130. The day’s programming begins at 1130 – ed (Mark Coady, Your Reports, March ODXA Listening In via DXLD) As in my recent log, at sign-off, they say they return at 5 am (gh, DXLD) ** HONG KONG. VIEWS SOUGHT ON RADIO LICENCE APPLICATION news.gov.hk February 25, 2008 http://news.gov.hk/en/category/infrastructureandlogistics/080225/html/080225en06002.htm The Broadcasting Authority is inviting the public to express views on Wave Media's application for a sound-broadcasting licence. The application involves the operation of a Hong Kong-wide radio channel at 810 kHz in the AM frequency band, which is the only vacant channel covering the whole city. Wave Media plans to broadcast locally produced Chinese language programmes 24 hours a day. It plans to start service within a year from the date the licence is granted. The company has nine shareholders including business executives, bankers, investors, professionals and media executives, and it plans to inject up to $140 million into the company after the licence has been granted. According to its submission, the initial capital investment is estimated to be $39 million for infrastructure construction, and a $69 million loss is forecast for the early stage of operation. The authority will consider representations from the public and other factors, such as the feasibility of the applicant's technical proposal on the use of the frequency spectrum, and the management, financial and technical capability of the applicant to establish and maintain a sound broadcasting service, before making its recommendations to the Chief Executive in Council. Application details will be uploaded to the authority's website and published in the South China Morning Post and Ming Pao newspapers tomorrow (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) HK and medium wave don’t go together very well. Many people live in steel framed buildings, and the highway network is riddled with tunnels. Golden Hill (RTHK 3, Tsuen Wan) is a fairly lousy site (set on a mountain top), but the Peng Chau site has good water paths to HK and Kowloon. Hope that they choose the latter for the TX location (Paul A Smith, Feb 25, 2008 at 8:57 pm, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** INDIA. All India Radio tests are again scheduled in DRM mode on 6100 kHz from 0430 to 1130 UT from 23rd Feb till 25th Feb 2008 during demo at the BES Expo 2008 - 14th International Conference & Exhibition on Terrestrial & Satellite Broadcasting was held here in New Delhi at halls 12 & 12A, Pragati Maidan. Regds (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, Feb 24, dx_india via DXLD) ** INDIA. INDIAN GOVERNMENT TO STRENGTHEN RADIO-TV NETWORK 16:4 IST Lok Sabha The Government has proposed to set up 93 AIR transmitters and 41 Doordarshan transmitters in the country during 2007-2008 and 2008- 2009. In addition, 100 Low Power Transmitters (LPTs) will also be set up in the North Eastern States. The total estimated cost in respect of All India Radio is Rupees 182 crores. The same in respect of Doordarshan is Rupees 198.37 crores. The criteria followed by the Government for establishment of Radio and TV transmitters include factors such as extent of resultant coverage to urban and rural population; provision of coverage to tribal, hilly, remote and border areas; terrain conditions etc., and it has no linkage to the number of cities. This information was given by Minister of Information & Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri P. R. Dasmunsi in written reply to a question in parliament today. RS/AS (Press Information Bureau, Govt. of India via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, Feb 27, dxldyg via DXLD) What about SW? ** INDONESIA. 9525.98v, Voice of Indonesia, Jakarta-Cimanggis, 1016- 1040, Feb 26, heard yet again, in Thai, pop songs/ballads, OM talking over gamelan music, good reception. Recently their schedule is even more erratic than usual, totally unpredictable as to when they will be on the air. Did not hear VOI on 11784.88v today, but last heard there on Feb 24 at 1737, with fair reception (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOI back again on 9526! But bound to be temporary as usual. Feb 26 at 1445 with western-style pop music, lyrix maybe in Indonesian, since this is the Indonesian language hour. 1458 to brief talk, probably final warta berita headlines, 1500 TS, gamelan IS, 1501 NA by YL soprano to 1505+ and carrier still on at tune-out. Usual VG signal when they manage to come up on this frequency instead of 11785v (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 9680, RRI Jakarta, 1043-1056, Feb 26, in BI, mixing with WYFR in French (till 1045 sign-off), in the clear till a strong sign- on at 1055 from CNR-1 (// 5030), which was getting an early start on jamming Taiwan. Glenn has a good analysis of 9680 in DXLD 8-023 (Indonesia). At least the KGRE program here on Sun. & Wed. (1000-1020) only has to contend with QRM from WYFR till the end of March, when they change schedules (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. CALLING CQ! CALLING CQ! CALLING CQ! from: k b 1 e x z! The amateur radio hour comes to C Joy Internet radio! Thursdays: 1:00 Eastern, 12-Noon Central, [1800 UT] k b 1 e x z hosts The amateur Radio Hour. Join via echolink, or dial into our conference line: 641-715-3200. Access code: 809573# For echolink, you must have a valid Amateur radio license. If no license, you can talk through my station. Come and learn about amateur radio. It is fun and exciting. Hope to hear you there! (Pastor Darryl Breffe -- k b 1 e x z, Feb 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. Noted in 0450-0545 UT Feb 26 slot: 12025 S=9+10 dB at 0527 UT in Russian IRIB Kamalabad, from 0530 UT in Arabic, also IRIB Tehran - but not scheduled yet 0530- 0600 UT!? The technician failed to switch-OFF the unit? 12060.10 odd IRIB Kamalabad Turkish at 0529 UT [0430-0600 UT]. 13801.16 odd frequency at 0537 UT, IRIB Zahedan in Arabic (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Feb 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [and non]. 7160 kHz, Voice of Justice has been putting in regular signal, especially strong on the 22nd and 25th, in English, 0130-0230. Parallel 6120 generally not so good, but audible. On the 25th, this included a feature on Vice President Cheney and his ties to Halliburton, how he made $44 million for five years work, Halliburton jumped from 19th most important contractor for the US Defense Department in 1999 to number 1 in 2003 with US$4 Billion in 2003 (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, Feb 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. See LITHUANIA ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. Glenn: Curious, is there anyone out there saying that they're still hearing something that IDs itself as Radio Pyongyang? IARU R3 Monitoring Service still gets quite a few reports of Radio Pyongyang on frequencies where others report hearing something that IDs itself as Voice of Korea. Yes, I know Radio Pyongyang has called itself Voice of Korea for a a while now, but folks are quite insistent that they are hearing the former (and I doubt they mean this: http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=19041 ;^). Tnx. 73, (VR2BrettGraham/p, Hong Kong, Feb 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VR2BG, I expect it`s just a case of old habits dying hard. I suppose the ``R Pyongyang`` CD dates back a few years, but hard to tell from the info given. I also recently pointed out a case of KBS World Radio (South) being called Voice of Korea (really North) by someone in South Korea who should know better. ``Radio Hanoi`` was a name never used by the station, I understand, but Voice of Vietnam is and was frequently called that nevertheless by the ignorant western press, or even by GIs. 73, (Glenn to Brett, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, noticed that recent piece; one would expect the Koreans themselves to get it right. Then again, after 57 years I suppose it's hard to adjust to Robert having asked that he no longer be called Bob. The CD I think is of RP, mentioned at http://www.kyotojournal.org/reviews/66_Agit_pop.html that it uses recordings made in 1995-2000 from Beijing. Cheers. 73, (Brett/p, ibid.) ** KOREA NORTH. 3320, KCBS-Pyongyang, 1250, 02/25/08, Korean. Male presenter with an extended dialogue, followed by martial orchestral music. Fair/poor (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOSOVO. KOSOVO AND ADDING NEW COUNTRIES TO DXCC - Bill Moore, NC1L, ARRL DXCC Manager, reports (on February 19th): "Naturally there are many questions about the DXCC status of Kosovo, and whether or not it will be added to the DXCC list. The DXCC rules, which were modified in 2000 to better handle inclusion to DXCC, are clear on how additions can be made: For inclusion in the DXCC List, conditions as set out below must be met. Listing is not contingent upon whether operation has occurred or will occur, but only upon the qualifications of the Entity. Political Entities, Geographical Entities, Special Areas #1, Political Entities is the category with which we are concerned with respect to Kosovo. 1. Political Entities: Political Entities are those areas which are separated by reason of government or political division. They generally contain an indigenous population which is not predominantly composed of military or scientific personnel. An Entity will be added to the DXCC List as a Political Entity if it meets one or more of the following criteria: a) The entity is a UN Member State. b) The entity has been assigned a callsign prefix bloc by the ITU. (The exceptions to this rule are international organizations, such as the UN and ICAO. These Entities are classified under Special Areas, 3.a); and Ineligible Areas, 4.b).) A provisional prefix bloc assignment may be made by the Secretary General of ITU. Should such provisional assignments not be ratified later by the full ITU, the Entity will be removed from the DXCC List. c) The Entity contains a permanent population, is administered by a local government, and is located at least 800 km from its parent. To satisfy the 'permanent population' and 'administered by a local government' criteria of this sub-section, an Entity must be listed on either (a) the U.S. Department of State's list of 'Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty' as having a local 'Administrative Center,' or (b) the United Nations list of 'Non-Self-Governing Territories. ' New Entities satisfying one or more of the conditions above will be added to the DXCC List by administrative action as of their 'Event Date.' So, Kosovo will be added to the DXCC list if it becomes a member of the UN, or (2), if it receives a prefix bloc from the ITU. The third condition does not apply. The date upon which either (a) or (b) occurs will be the event date." Bill Moore spells it out even more in this week's "ARRL Letter": "The 'Event Date' will be either the date Kosovo became a UN member or it receives its prefix from the ITU. Contacts made before the 'Event Date' will be counted as Serbia." YU8, KOSOVA (Update on Project Goodwill Kosova). Member of Project Goodwill Kosova (YU8/OH2R) have gone QRT as of Thursday, February 21st, after making 11,000 QSOs. Operators were Nigel/G3TXF, Wayne/N7NG, Martti/OH2BH, Pertti/OH2PM, Juha/OH8NC and Bernie/W3UR. The operators were issued a licences by the UNMIK (the United Nations Mission In Kosovo) "in an effort to support and help revitalize Amateur Radio locally" as reported last week. QSL all YU8/homecall via their home callsigns and YU8/OH2R via OH2BN. You may have noticed that the spelling for KOSOVO is now Kosova. Reports indicate that this is the way the new nation will spell its name. Nigel, G3TXF, has posted some photos of the recent YU8/OH2R operation on his Web page at: http://www.g3txf.com/dxtrip/YU8-G3TXF/YU8-Kosovo.html (The Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 847 February 25, 2008, Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW, Provided by BARF80.ORG (Cleveland, Ohio), via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) see also KURDISTAN; SERBIA ** KURDISTAN [non]. 1840 UT Feb 26: 7540 Jammer on 7537 to 7546 kHz range. Underneath Mesopotamia Kurdish service via Mykolaiev Ukraine. Also discovered an annoying 1020 Hertz tone then. Latter still also noted on 7541.02 kHz Carrier at 2020 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Feb 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, But jammer on 7540 kHz and whistle carrier on 7541.02 kHz against Kurdish program could also originate from Turkish intelligence or army service against Kurdish people, in order to back up the Turkish invasion into Iraq territory. We say in Germany: "The ghost is out of the bottle..." , after the Muslim state Kosovo autonomy as mini state occurred under US pressure now. I feel the Turks` national policy "get a second wind" to held Kurdish national people down. [see also TURKEY on Kurdish broadcasts] And Basque country, Catalonia state in Spain, Corsica island, Belgium break apart, Hungarian people in Romania and Slovakia, Albanian people in Montenegro, Russian nationals in Estonia and Latvia, Ossetia in Georgia, Stepanakert in Armenia, Turkish people in Bulgaria, Caucasus tinderbox, and last but not least a Palestine state autonomy will follow to get their mini state autonomy. Kosovo autonomy - is still an ideal for repressed and occupied people all over the world. 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Feb 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. Kuwait Disappointment --- A nice oversized envelope was received in today's mail from the State of Kuwait, Ministry of Information, Engineering Affairs - Department of Frequency Management. With an outstanding reception report to Radio Kuwait pending, I couldn't wait to see what was in the package. The big item was a really neat 2008 desk calendar that I may even use because of its size. Not bad! Reaching into the envelope I managed to find a postcard which I assumed was my QSL from Radio Kuwait. Wrong! It was a blank postcard. I was more than a little disappointed. It may be time for a follow up report (Rich D'Angelo, PA, Feb 25, NASWA yg via DXLD) See OMAN ** LITHUANIA. Updated winter B-07 of Sitkunai Relays effective Feb. 21: [BUT ALREADY SUPERSEDED; see next entry] VOIROI/IRIB in various langs 0630-0728 on 7545 SIT 100 kW / 259 deg to WeEu in Italian 1430-1528 on 5815 SIT 100 kW / 040 deg to EaEu in Russian, ex 079 deg 1730-1828 on 6265 SIT 100 kW / 259 deg to WeEu in German 1830-1928 on 6265 SIT 100 kW / 259 deg to WeEu in French 1930-2028 on 6265 SIT 100 kW / 259 deg to WeEu in English 2030-2128 on 6265 SIT 100 kW / 259 deg to WeEu in Spanish Radio Racja in Belarussian 1530-1728 NF 7565 SIT 100 kW / 040 deg to EaEu, ex 5815 / 079 deg Mighty KBC Radio in English 2130-2228 NF 6265 SIT 100 kW / 259 deg to WeEu, ex 2200-2300 on 6235 0100-0158 NF 6255 SIT 100 kW / 310 deg to NoAm Sun, ex 6235 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 25 via DXLD) UPDATED WINTER B-07 OF SITKUNAI RELAYS FROM FEB. 29: VOIROI/IRIB 0630-0728 on 7545 SIT 100 kW / 259 deg to WeEu in Italian, no-change 1430-1528 on 5815 SIT 100 kW / 040 deg to EaEu in Russian, ex 079 deg 1730-1828 NF 7565 SIT 100 kW / 259 deg to WeEu in German, ex 6265 1830-1928 NF 7565 SIT 100 kW / 259 deg to WeEu in French, ex 6265 1930-2028 NF 7565 SIT 100 kW / 259 deg to WeEu in English, ex 6265 2030-2128 NF 6055 SIT 100 kW / 259 deg to WeEu in Spanish, ex 6265 Radio Racja in Belarussian 1530-1728 NF 7565 SIT 100 kW / 040 deg to EaEu, ex 5815 / 079 deg Mighty KBC Radio in English 2130-2228 NF 6055 SIT 100 kW / 259 deg to WeEu, ex 6265, re-ex 6235 0100-0158 NF 6040*SIT 100 kW / 310 deg to NoAm Sun, ex 6255, re-ex 6235 *from March 9 --- 73 from (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, Feb 26, WORLD OF RADIO 1397, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 4845, Radio Mauritarie, 2152-2155, escuchada el 25 de febrero en idioma árabe a locutor con comentarios, intervención de oyentes por teléfono; se aprecia mala y baja modulación, SINPO 44343 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, YAESU FRG-7700, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 9599.22, R UNAM, 2303, 02/24/08, English/Spanish. A Spanish-accented announcer interviewing (in English) a member of an American jazz trio that's about to perform in Mexico, then an instrumental funk song, and back to Spanish for the next interview segment. Website lists this program is "La Música Que Hace la Diferencia", Sundays 2230-0000; apparently the audience is worldly enough to tolerate an occasional English segment. Fair to good with slight hum, QRM from Vatican R on 9600 starting at 2312 (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, WORLD OF RADIO 1397, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9600, Radio UNAM, se está escuchando desde las 1900 UT con muy buena señal, SINPO 4-5/5/4/4/4. Música clásica, noticias cada hora, servicios informativos de BBC mundo y Radio Francia Int'l. (MAGDIEL CRUZ RDZ, Morelos, Sangean ATS 818, Antena Hilo 15 mts, Feb 25, WORLD OF RADIO 1397, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. XESS-620 now simulcasting XESDD-1030 --- XESS-620 (ex-ESPN Deportes) is now // XESDD-1030 (actually 620 is maybe .5-1.5 seconds ahead) with TOH ID "XESDD La Tremenda 10-30 AM...Puerto Nuevo, Baja California, México" and a pile of "La Tremenda 10-30 AM" jingles. 'SDD format is (roughly) brokered tele-talk, primarily US ads, and a nice mix of XE music programs; format change took place a few weeks ago. I was too lazy to check 620 TOH ID 'til now (Dan Sheedy, CA, WPE6BVT, Feb 24, dxhub yg via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Frequency change of RNW in Spanish to SoAm: 0200-0357 NF 9430 SIN 250 kW / 245 deg, ex 9895 to avoid VOIROI in Arabic (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 25 via DXLD) ** OMAN. Re: Kuwait Disappointment --- I had something similar happen a couple of weeks ago. My pulse quickened when I saw a nice fat envelope from Oman waiting in the mailbox, obviously a response to my reception report to R Sultanate of Oman. Since they don't seem to be real big on QSLing, I couldn't wait to see what was there. Inside was a pocket calendar, tourist brochures, a paperback book (sort of an 'annual report' on the country), and a letter on Ministry of Information letterhead --- thanking me for my report and saying they'd passed it on to the frequency management people for THEM to verify. So close, yet so far (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. 4835, 1558-1720 23+24-02, R. Pakistan, Islamabad. Urdu/English Current Affairs programme ex 5080 heard with varying signal strength and terrible modulation, English news 1600, ID: "Radio Pakistan", QRM AIR Gangtok [see SIKKIM] which often is stronger; 34331 - 35333 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1397, DXLD) ** PAKISTAN [and non]. 1600 UT Feb 26: Just when checked 7540 Mesopotamia Kurdish service channel, I came across of an anoying distortion signal, seemingly from Radio Pakistan on 7520 kHz, signal strength about S=9 +40 dB tremendously. (schedule 1330-1615 UT,) but listened 1600-1615 UT portion only. Covered about 70 kHz both sideband like from 7453 to 7590 kHz space (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Feb 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3290, R Central, 1140-1201*, 02/24/08. Female announcer with easy-listening and light island music, longer announcement at 1159 to national anthem and off. Poor (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. !!!!QSL-QSL- QSL-QSL!! !!!! RADIO LA HORA, 4857.5 kHz (on QSL: 4855), QSL+ paper pennant, v/s Carlos Gamarra Moscoso, Av. Garcilaso 411, WANCHAQ, CUSCO, PERU'. 73 e buoni DX (Mauro Giroletti, shortwave yg via DXLD) Not currently active? (gh) ** PERU. 4775, RADIO TARMA. Tarma, Perú. 0001-0012 Febr. 24. Pgm: El Tribunal de la Vida con Lorena de la Paz. Luego la usual y completa ID: "...OCX4J 1510 kHz onda media; OCX4E 4775 kHz onda corta tropical, banda de 60 metros en amplitud modulada; OCW4A 93.9 MHz, frecuencia modulada estéreo transmite Radio Tarma; desde Tarma, Perú en América del Sur..." 4940, RADIO SAN ANTONIO. Atalaya, Perú. 0330-0345 Febr. 24. Pgm: Agua Viva con el tema sobre el bautismo católico. Luego largas tandas de música con alabanzas. Anuncios de Intercom Atalaya.- 5460.4, RADIO BOLIVAR. Bolívar, Perú. 2340-2355 Febr. 23. Comunicados y complacencias telefónicas. "...Radio Bolívar, la primera y la mejor..." "...ésta es la señal arrasadora de Radio Bolívar; gracias por estar con la No. 1 de la provincia..." 5470.7, RADIO SAN NICOLAS. Rodríguez de Mendoza, Perú. 2331-2339 Febr. 23. Pgm: La Voz de la Liberación. Mencionan aniversario de la Iglesia Dios es Amor. "...estamos a través de Radio San Nicolás y sus dos frecuencias..." (Rafael Rodríguez R., Bogotá, Colombia, Feb 26, condiglist yg via DXLD) ** POLAND [non]. Checked for two Polish radio relays as per DX Mix #507, dated 12 Feb. Didn't hear either, scheduled for 2200 on 9660 via GUF and 6050 via WER. 25 Feb (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1397, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PRIDNESTROVYE. 7370, Tiraspol, Moldova noted in lovely French service around 1915 UT Feb 26. Powerful signal. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Feb 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Hi Glenn, Came across the following the other day. Had never heard this here before and can't remember ever having seen this reported either. 6195, R Rossii, 1700, Feb 24, Russian ID, news & temperatures in the clear after co-channel BBC sign-off. This was running slightly behind // 5905 Moscow, then split up at 1710 to carry separate Russ programming which was difficult to keep track of due to low audio. Eventually got blocked 1759 by BBC reappearing. Again noted Feb 25 1705, Russ sports news, wiped out 1712 by co-channel BVB carrier. Aoki lists Ulan Ude, HFCC says Irkutsk. Wonder who is right? (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, Feb 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [non]. 6240 kHz, Voice of Russia, has also been coming in incredibly strong at 0200 in English (heard in parallel a bit more poorly on 7250 kHz on 25th), on February 24 with “Moscow Mailbag” after the news, with hosts Olga_______ and Carl Watts. On this particular show they answered a question from a listener about Carl Watts (and his brother, who also works for VOR). Olga did most of the explanation here, on how Carl’s father had come to Canada from the Ukraine (presumably in the 1930s?) and how he had sought special permission to come back to the Soviet Union (in the early 1950s?) when Carl and his brother were school boys. Olga said that they were among the first Canadians she had known. While I have not heard it recently, Carl was (is?) the announcer of the Jazz Show. There was also an announcement on VOR soliciting comments on views of the World Service which is celebrating 30 years this October. During this “ad” they played the “Nights Over Moscow” (or is it “Moscow Nights?”) and bells of the Kremlin which were the commonly used interval signals used during the late 1970s on to 1990s, I think. The most interesting comments will be posted on their web site, and they are also taking audio files by CD or tape and will broadcast some of the most interesting ones in their broadcasts later this year. I have often wondered why they changed their interval signals / theme songs shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union (I forget exactly when) from the melody above and Kremlin bells to their current use of bells with the “Great Gates of Kiev” which as we all know, is a city in the separate country of Ukraine (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, Feb 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The Kievan Rus' was a forerunner of the Russian State --- all Russian Tsars traced their lineage back to this earlier state based in Kiev. The Kievan Rus' adopted the Eastern Orthodox faith as well. That is an interesting story in itself. You can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kievan_Rus' I assume this is part of the reason. Perhaps harkening back to Russia's roots (not to mention her religious roots) (Fred Waterer, Ont, ODXA yg via DXLD) And to remind us, none too subtly, that until rather recently, Russia dominated Ukraine (gh, DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. Noted in 0450-0545 UT Feb 26 slot: 15170 - noisy BUZZ tx of BSKSA HQuran on wide body 15164 to 15178 kHz at 0540 UT. 0300-0555 UT. Noted again at 1800-2300 UT today on 11915 centered, but covers 11906 to 11924 kHz area (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Feb 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA [non]. 7115 kHz, International Radio Serbia, has been heard with a very good signal between 0100-0230 over the past several days, especially strong on February 22 and 25th. English at 0100 and 0200 (closedown at 0229) separated by a half hour of Italian at 0130. I wonder why they would use Italian at this hour, for insomniacs in Italy? At present this is likely the best heard broadcast here in Italian (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, Feb 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA. Serbian Radio has radically improved its website. Check it out at http://glassrbije.org/E/ (Glas Srbije = Voice of Serbia) a reminder, Serbs refer to Kosovo as Kosovo-Metohija, or more commonly Kosmet. Although today, Kosovo is mostly ethnic Albanian, Serbs see it as the birthplace of modern Serbia. You can listen to the latest English broadcast online, or try 7115 kHz at 0200 UT [and 0100]. The Serbian Radio website has texts of their newscasts, and lots of information. There is a defiant tone to their programming. Serbia is clearly irritated that Kosovo is being, in their view, wrenched away by the US/UN/EU. Of course the usual ethnic, religious and linguistic tensions creep into the equation. At the same time they are walking a fi ne line, with hopes of future membership in the EU on the line. On Feb 24, there were 11 stories on the website --- 10 dealt with Kosovo. The 11th was a report about the Serbian Water Polo team (Fred Waterer, Programming Matters, March ODXA Listening In via DXLD) From an article about monitoring all the countries in the region, on SW or webcast, not including Kosovo itself (gh, DXLD) ** SIKKIM. 4835, 1510-1600*, India, 24-02, AIR Gangtok. Nepali/English Nepali talk, 1530-1545 English news heard // AIR Thiruvananthapuram 34232 Stronger than Pakistan that day (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1397, DXLD) ** TURKEY. TRT-TURKEY TO LAUNCH KURDISH BROADCASTS TRT-Turkey is planning to set aside one of its five channels for broadcasts in non-Turkish languages used by Turkish citizens, most notably Kurdish, reports Today's Zaman. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has decided to go forward with new efforts to expand broadcasts in Kurdish amid criticism that the government's reform process has encountered a serious slowdown. TRT General Manager Ibrahim Sahin said it had not yet been decided exactly how the foreign language broadcasts would be carried out but that most likely an entire channel would be devoted to Kurdish broadcasts. Mr Sahin said: "This channel will start broadcasting as soon as possible. We don't have an exact date yet, though." He added that the TRT board was already at work on coming up with the content of the Kurdish programming. TRT, the national public broadcaster, is currently planning to either dedicate one of its current channels to full day Kurdish language broadcasts, or to have these broadcasts aired on a new TRT channel (ABU 21 Feb via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) On Live from Turkey, Feb 26, they were also talking about impending changes at TRT, perhaps also affecting SW? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** UKRAINE. 7440 kHz, Radio Ukraine International, at 0100 UT with Ukrainian Diary, with an incredibly strong, clear signal on February 24th. This is just another of many examples of very good to excellent propagation on 41 meters during recent days, especially on the 22nd and 24th of signals from Eastern Europe and Mideast in this time slot (0000-0300 UT) as well as afternoons 2100-2300 UT (Roger Chambers, Utica, New York, Feb 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [and non]. BBC ENDS EUROPEAN SHORTWAVE http://followthemedia.com/tickle/ticklefile18022008.htm 6195, 7325, 9410, 12095, 15070 – what do those numbers have in common? They were all shortwave transmission frequencies to listen to the BBC World Service Radio in Europe. But no more, for the BBC has stopped European shortwave transmissions. Not that one can’t listen to the BBC World Service any more in Europe. It’s on the Internet and on many local AM or FM transmitters throughout the continent delivered with satellite quality. Here in Geneva, FTM’s hometown, BBC hourly news bulletins are part of World Radio Switzerland on FM and on DAB throughout the rest of the country (not that we know anyone in Switzerland who owns a DAB radio) For the older generation (that means pre-Internet) the World Service and Voice of America on shortwave were about the only way to listen to English speaking voices and keep up with world affairs no matter where you were in Europe. And ftm’s Philip Stone recalls that when he transferred from Europe to Indianapolis (real culture shock!) in 1979 he found that neither the local newspaper nor broadcasters catered to his thirst for international news so out came the trusty Panasonic shortwave radio bought in a hard currency shop in Moscow in 1974 at a real bargain and he was up to date with the chimes of Big Ben. Couldn’t do that now, of course, since BBC shortwave transmissions to North America ended in 2001. The BBC will continue with shortwave to parts of Africa and Asia where listeners can truly enjoy what sun spots can do to those transmission bands (Follow the Media, via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) WORLD SERVICE CUTS SHORTWAVE IN EUROPE John Plunkett guardian.co.uk, Wednesday February 20 2008 [excerpt:] "It is a landmark in as much that the BBC and other international broadcasters have been using shortwave for the last three-quarters of a century and it is now coming to an end," said Simon Spanswick, the chief executive of the Association for International Broadcasting, the industry association for the international broadcast community. "Everybody now has to use different ways to engage listeners. Nobody in the developed world listens on noisy, crackly shortwave anymore," Spanswick added. . . http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/feb/20/bbc.radio?gusrc=rss&feed=media (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) How many "nobodies" do we have in this group? What a load of crap. SW radios may not be falling off the shelves in the average department store, but I'm sure you can find them in western Europe just as you can here in the US. (Jay "Nobody" Heyl, FL, ABDX via DXLD) As far as the Beeb though, I guess they still transmit to S America. I remember when a lot of the shortwave listeners were calling the BBCWS the Half World Service after dropping N America, what are we down to now... BBC 1/8 service, or maybe Beeb Third World Service? (KD5GNN, ibid.) While BBC`s self-destruxion as a worldwide SW broadcaster is deplorable, this ignorant writer buys into the idea which any real SWL knows is wrong, that SW broadcasts can only be heard in their designated target areas! SW signals do not stop at artificial political boundaries, which is one very great thing about the medium. As we have discussed some time ago in DXLD, some transmissions to western Russia are admittedly still on the air, and that means Europe, at least from the Cyprus relay site. BTW, 15070 was not just turned off --- it has been gone for years, as BBC got out of that aeronautical band, replacing it with various frequencies toward the high side of the 15 MHz band. Anyone with a little patience, a little savvy, and access to accurate transmission listings, can pull in the BBC even in western Europe and North America, whether the WS like it or not. BBCWS does not officially broadcast on SW to South America either, but in the Western Hemisphere, only to the Caribbean. We can hear those quite well in nearby North America, during their limited hours (4 per day), as well as transmissions destined for Africa, Asia. 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, ibid.) And now I add this tidbit. When Bob Orban brought out the Optimod H F (for the shortwave broadcaster), one of the statements I remember in the advertising literature was that "the shortwave listener is more motivated that others" and would more likely tolerate such "noisy crackly" transmissions. But to minimize such irritants, the OptimodHF used all of the appropriate techniques peculiar to shortwave that would enhance the listened-to signal. In essence, Jay has taken the words out of my mouth. I absolutely agree. I am fairly sure that shortwave is not on such precarious grounds as Iboc is. The listenership may be down from years past, yes, but it surely isn't totally dead. In those areas where FM broadcast is minimal, or where Internet connections don't exist, I suspect it is flying nicely. - JimT (Jim Tonne, ABDX via DXLD) One thing that bugs me with the BBC withdrawal is their excuse/reason that BBC is available on FM in many North American markets. There MAY be some station in my area that broadcasts BBC news a few times a day, but that's hardly the same as having access to all the programs that are available on the BBC World Service. And having it available on the internet is not the same as being able to listen to the BBC while I eat my lunch in the park. Perhaps when Harry's predictions of super- wide-array connectivity come to pass, then having the BBC on internet will be a viable substitute for SW, but we're still a ways from that (Jay Heyl, FL, ibid.) This has been a misconception in some circles at the BBC for years now. I did a story for Radio World back in 2001 that gave me a chance to visit Bush House, and many of the folks there believed that all the US stations shown on their affiliate list are actually carrying BBC WS 24/7 (as is indeed the case for some FM relays in other countries). They were quite surprised when I told them most of those stations were actually carrying the Beeb only for a few hours overnight or one or two hours during the day. The message doesn't seem to have made it up the chain of command, alas. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) The BBC WS is available on XM and Sirius. It's 24/7 with no fading, no QRM, no frequency changes, etc. And I guarantee you more people listen to XM and Sirius than listen to shortwave in the United States. OK, it's just one anecdotal example, but take my wife. She thinks (knows??) I'm weird because I listen to all that noise, interference, and fading on my shortwave radios. Yet she has XM in her car, and one of her presets is the BBC WS. There is no way she would ever listen to the BBC if it were on shortwave. I wouldn't be too surprised if the BBC now has more listeners in the United States --- everyday "civilian" listeners instead of radioheads like us --- via satellite than they had via SW at this time in 2003 (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19 http://harryhelmsblog.blogspot.com/ ibid.) Satire, Not Quite OT, just a summary: Eulogy for the BBC SW Service: The Beeb, as his friends call him, is no longer gracing our waves. However, sometimes at night I think I can hear the distant transmissions. BBCWS is survived by his children BBC XM, BBC Sirius, and BBC.co.uk., and his knock out gorgeous daughter BBC America. We would also like to point out that Setanta Sports occasionally plays with BBC Sports to grace its airwaves on 406 on Dish Network. We would also like to welcome distinguished guests to this event, such as Mr. Glenn Hauser who sends his regards, calling the untimely death "deplorable." He let's us know that he is OK though, no wait he lets us know he is IN Oklahoma. Big difference apparently. We would also like to thank Harry Helms for Mark Twain like style, sending a note to the funeral saying something of the effect, "I did not attend the funeral, but I write this nice letter to say I approve of it." The official pronunciation of death is somewhere between 2001-2008. Jay Heyl, resents the North American FMer Children of BBC, basically calling them MFers (whatever that means). And let us not forget Jim Tonne, who encourages us to remember the BBC's best comedic moments in life with that troupe, none other than Monty Python --- by paying tribute to the SPAM sketch in each of his subject lines. Spam and eggs, Spam, Spam, and eggs, Spam, Spam, Spam, Sausage, and eggs. I still remember when Kevin Redding broke the news to me on the BBCWS's death, "you can still try to receive them even on HF" To me that spoke volumes, as I reached for a Kleenex, to mourn the funny sounding people across the pond --- But I am not worthy to judge, for some have said that even I have the Mississippian voice of redneck. We must remember the good days, radio brethren, back when HCJB Ecuador was in English, back when the BBC was a king powerhouse, back when the Christian Scientist owned a powerhouse station. Back when RFPI Costa Rica was on the air. Even though listening will not be easy without them, we still have many good memories by actually DXing to come in the future. Seriously, though, it does make me sad, but it is NOT the end (Reverend Jason Gardner, Doctor of Metaphysics, (ordained by Universal Life Church: In other words I can also legally do Las Vegas weddings), ibid.) ** U K [non]. Additional BBC Hindi Frequency --- 25 Feb 2008. BBC Hindi service added one more frequency at 1400-1500 on 9615 kHz - parallel SW channels are 6140 7205 7430 11955 15245 kHz (Alok Dasgupta via http://www.dxasia.info via Alokesh Gupta, DXLD) ** U K [non]. Frequency changes for BBC WS in DRM: 0500-0700 NF 6195 KVI 035 kW / 190 deg, ex 5895 0700-0800 NF 6195 KVI 035 kW / 190 deg, ex 5875 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Feb 25 via DXLD) ** U S A. ESTADOS UNIDOS - O Club de Oyentes da programação em espanhol da Voz da América é apresentado em duas edições distintas: nos domingos, às 0130 e 1230. A apresentação é de Mercedes Antezana. A dica é do Leônidas dos Santos Nascimento, de São João Evangelista (MG). (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Feb 24 via DXLD) ** U S A. Sporadic E from the night before was still (or again) around, Feb 26 at 1429 check when WWCR was inbooming on 15825, unlike the normal barely-audible-in-F2-skipzone situation. So strong that the hum on the signal was quite annoying, as well as crosstalk underneath from PMS // 13845. Their transmitters and antennas are just too close together to isolate properly, it seems (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. ESTADOS UNIDOS via CHILE - Para quem aprecia a boa música clássica nas emissões em ondas curtas a dica é acompanhar, em português, pela CVC, o espaço Sem Limites. O jornalista José Antonio Ceschin apresenta músicas, notícias e comentários sobre o mundo das canções clássicas. A primeira edição vai ao ar, entre 2300 e 2400, em 15410 kHz. Uma reprise é transmitida, das 1000 às 1100, sempre de segundas a sextas-feiras (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX Feb 24 via DXLD) As we have outpointed several times, this show is also on Saturdays at 23-24, when we frequently acrossrun it, more likely to be aroundtuning at that hour on Sat than on Fri. Yet we don`t like the announcer`s style, nor the way he chops up the classical music, certainly not just ``songs``, into little pieces. You may safely tune to your local classical FM station for better treatment, but keep this in mind if you find yourself in the middle of the Amazon with no other access to classical (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re: Sounds like KBGG-1700 IA going to rock [not]. This weekend they're just playing Queen's "We Are the Champions/We Will Rock You" with English IDs. 73, (George Sherman, MN, Feb 24, IRCA via DXLD) I've heard stations stunt that way en route to a sports format, too. Could KXNO 1460 be getting some competition? s (Scott Fybush, NY, IRCA via WORLD OF RADIO 1397, DXLD) Good point, Scott. What with music disappearing from AM, sports probably more likely. Is it my imagination or are about 50% of AM stations Fox Sports or ESPN? And it seems the other half(?) are mostly religion, Spanish, or conservative talk. And so many of these are through IBOC hiss or co-channel QRM, program listeners must be tuning out faster than DXers! As KBGG is a regular, I should know in the next day or two. 73, (George Sherman, MN, ibid.) Looks like sports for sure. Here's what northpine.com is saying tonight: "IOWA: Change is apparently in the works at Citadel's KBGG/1700 (Des Moines), which has dropped its Regional Mexican format and is now looping Queen's "We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions." Records show Citadel reserved the domain name ESPN1700.com earlier this month. KBGG was the first full-time spanish-language station in Iowa, but faced competition from KDLS-FM/105.5 (Perry) in recent years. (2/22/2008)" s (Scott Fybush, WORLD OF RADIO 1397, ibid.) When a station stunts by playing the same song continuously for hours or days at a time, a 4 minute selection could get well over 300 air plays in a single day. I wonder how that is reported to the royalty collectors? Maybe they give a large volume discount (Patrick Griffith, CBT CBNT CRO, Westminster CO, ibid.) ** U S A. NEW DES MOINES RADIO STATION LAUNCHES POSTED: 1:00 pm CST February 25, 2008 UPDATED: 1:23 pm CST February 25, 2008 http://www.kcci.com/news/15403860/detail.html A new radio station officially launched in Des Moines on Monday morning. Citadel Broadcasting Corp. said their new station based in Urbandale is 1700 The Champ. The station will broadcast ESPN Radio programming. Officials said the station has the widest coverage area of any sports station in the metro and will reach listeners in Des Moines, Council Bluffs, Clarion, Creston and the Amanas. They said their goal is to be "Iowa's Sports Leader." Citadel Broadcasting owns 177 FM stations and 66 AM stations across the country, including stations in Des Moines like 95 KGGO, 92.5 KJJY, 97.3 The Hawk and 98.3 WOW FM. Listeners can find the new station on the radio 1700 AM (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1397, DXLD) ** U S A. IN TOWER LIGHT CASE, KVOL FINE WILL STAND, IF EASED A BIT Radio World February 22, 2008 [WTFK?? 1330 kHz] The licensee of an AM station in Louisiana will have to pay its fine for violations involving tower lighting and nighttime power - though it was able to get the fine reduced. Pittman Broadcasting Services is licensee of KVOL(AM) in Lafayette, La., and owner of an antenna structure. Enforcement Bureau agents out of New Orleans found a top beacon was dark after sunset and that no NOTAM had been issued. Later they monitored the station and saw the transmitter power increase approximately 12 dB at 6:05 p.m. on two evenings. The station is authorized to operate at 5,000 kW day and 1 kW night. They visited the next day for an inspection. "The station's chief engineer was unaware that the top beacon on the antenna structure was extinguished," the staff wrote. "After the agents so informed him, he contacted the FAA. Although the station had installed an automatic alarm system, the chief engineer explained his ignorance of the outage by surmising that either the person responsible for reading the system did not know how to read it or the system was broken. "After checking the station transmitter, the chief engineer stated that the transmitter was programmed incorrectly and was mistaking AM for PM. He stated that the transmitter's uninterruptible power supply was not functioning, which may have prevented the unit from remembering the correct time. Accordingly, the station was incorrectly programmed to transmit overpower at night with daytime power. The chief engineer stated neither he nor station staff were aware of this, prior to the inspection." The New Orleans office announced a $14,000 fine last spring. Pittman then asked for a reduction or cancellation, in part because the problems identified by the commission had since been addressed; but the FCC now says no reduction was justified for those reasons. It did however accept Pittman's argument of financial hardship and reduced the fine to $10,000. http://www.radioworld.com/dailynews/index.cgi (via Mike Terry, UK, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. Hi Glenn, 25910, WQCY434 broadcast auxiliary remote station, Cedar Hill, Texas with political talk show at 0012. UT. 333 Feb 26 25990, WQCY434 broadcast auxiliary remote station, Cedar Hill, Texas with country music at 0006 UT. 333 Feb 26. 10 meters is also open. 73 (David Ross, Ont., VA3MJR, DX LISTENING DIGEST) David, Tnx for the tips. And there is also Es up at least to channel 2, 55 MHz. Es in Feb is rather unusual. Nothing untoward going on according to SWPC: ``Solar-terrestrial indices for 25 February follow. Solar flux 71 and mid-latitude A-index 4. The mid-latitude K-index at 0000 UTC on 26 February was 1 (5 nT). No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours. No space weather storms are expected for the next 24 hours.`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, 0045 UT Feb 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sporadic E opening now on 11, 10, 5, 4 meters, 3? Before 0100 checked 11 and 10 meters; loads of CB, and quite a few hams, from US 3, 4, 9 call areas. At 0100 UT, MUF rising up to ch 4 and 5, some QRM on my OKC semi-locals. No IDs. Could even hit FM 88+ MHz, so be alert. [Later:] On the WTFDA list, I see that OK and TX FM stations were already being heard in NJ before 0000 UT (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1397, ibid.) And the opening continued on TV/FM into the night. See also PROPAGATION ** U S A. Heck, You'd think I was in Thailand, not London, Ontario!!! 1600, KZGX, Watertown, MINN. Feb/22/08 2215-2330 + EST, ASIAN, FR-GD, Continuous Asian vocals, sounded like Vietnamese to me!! Listed on Internet as "HMONG" Language. Asian Pop Music and Asian String Music with Vocals. In for over an hour in/out. Some fading, but some very NICE peaks!! No English heard, no ads, no IDs on hour. So, I PRESUME this is them?? If anyone has any contradictory info on this, or knows who else is even possible, please let me know!! Have seen other loggings of this one in Asian Language! Beaming NW from London, Ontario. NEW STATION, 5 KW (Rob ROSS, ONT, ODXA yg via DXLD) Rob; John J. Reiger, DX'er and webmaster of *DX Mid America reported this one too. Apparently they do NOT ID. Here is his log from the December DX (from his site): --- 1600, KPNP, MN, Watertown, 12-7 0700 [CST?], P-F with Hmong chanting, singing. Loud at times. I've heard this station in L'Anse over past several years and in So. Milwaukee at least twice, never, never, never. Never, ever hearing an LID. Knowing it's not WWRL, WAAM, etc., based on program content, I'm counting it as NEW! JJR-WI --- There seems to be confusion with the calls, too. Between IRCA and WTFDA isn't there a MN area DX'er who could validate if 1) it's them and 2) if and when they ID? What are the requirements for a LID, in terms of language? * http://www.angelfire.com/wi/dxmidamerica/ 73, (Dave in Indianapolis, IN, Hascall, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) Found another log of this by searching on the ODXA yg (gh): 1600, KPNP, MN, Watertown 09/24/2007, 2250 [EDT?]. Good signals with talk and singing in Hmong (Laotian). Now using these calls. NEW (SA- MB) (Shawn Axelrod, Winnipeg, Manitoba, ODXA yg via DXLD) What`s LID == language ID, meaning non-English? (gh, DXLD) ** VATICAN [and non]. Re 8-025: That gap at 2245-2315 for Vatican Radio reminds me of when they used to broadcast EG to Australia/NZ at that time, when it was 2245-2305. If VR really could do it they can aim English at China where many people speak that language, and the audience is there for it. VR dropped the 2245 (morning) and 1345 (evening) transmissions to ANZ and the Far East some five years ago, along with the Japanese service on SW (Joe Hanlon, NJ, Feb 25, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Todos os dias das 7h às 8h (hora de Brasília ou 10h às 11h hora UT) a Rádio Nacional da Amazônia no noticioso Notícias da Manhã é interferida pela rádio Nacional de Venezuela que opera na mesma QRG de 6180 kHz da Nacional. Uma das duas tem que mudar 10 kHz na frequência. O Hugo Chávez ou o Lula? 73 (Luiz Chaine Neto, Limeira -sp-, Feb 26, dxlclubepr yg via dXLD) That`s not the only time Cuba clashes with Brazil on 6180. Fuera Cuba! Fuera Cuba! (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. 5915, ZNBC, 0243-0300, Feb 25, tune-in to Fish Eagle IS. Choral National Anthem at 0250. Vernacular talk at 0252. Local choral music. Poor, difficult copy with splatter from 5920 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5915, ZNBC, 0320, 02/25/08, Vernacular. Male DJ in vernacular playing African tunes and taking calls from listeners, occasionally answering "Hello!" Best in LSB. Fair (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. 13650, Christian Voice, 1653-1700* Feb 23. CVC contest promotion, ID pop vocals until 1659 "CVC" ID by man followed by flute and drum music until transmitter cut at 1700. Good reception. 13590, Christian Voice, *1700-1715 Feb 23. opened with flute and drum music after 13650 closed. Lively programming seemed to be TV feed on radio with feature about recent election sin Pakistan. Fair (Rich D'Angelo, PA, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 5837, re 8-025: Good day Glenn. The program I heard was on 5837; just 2 kcs up from 5835. In one of my radios, for instance the TS-570S (Ham), I can hear things in one frequency and on my second one, the JRC which is extremely precise, I go there on the dot. The program was quite interesting however, I can`t figure where it was coming from. When I check on WRTH, it shows two locations ??? MRA TIN BBG R Free Asia and CLN IRA BBG VOA. I had not heard such before but it was quite interesting so I will check on it again. I heard the announcer mentioning BBG. Regards (Héctor (Luigi) Pérez, NP4FW, Puerto Rico, Feb 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Quite a mystery; as I said, none of these are scheduled on 5835 at 1015. Also, the BBG stations rarely mention BBG itself. Apparently this was in English, since it was ``interesting`` and ``very nice``, tho you have not said that explicitly; or if not, what language? RFA and RFE/RL do not broadcast in English, except of course in clips preceding voice-over translation. Possibly an off-frequency or spurious signal, as I am sure BBG would not deliberately be on such a split frequency. Long gone are the days when you could depend on VOA English being on some SW frequency somewhere any hour of the day. Currently there are no SW broadcasts in English between 0700 and 1200: http://www.voanews.com/english/about/frequenciesAtoZ_e.cfm Nor are there any BBG stations scheduled on 5840 anywhere near this hour. So were you also getting WHRI on 5835 at this time? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9310, KAZAKHSTAN. UnId / Family Radio, 1253­1305, 2/24/08, in Unknown language / Burmese (listed). UnID broadcast in unknown language (not listed in any of the sources I use for this time.) The UnId stopped, and at 1300 Family Radio began with ID, continued with talk. It sounded very much like the same transmitter, or it was incredible frequency management. Both fair ­ poor (Mark Taylor, WI, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Similar as Riyadh's buzz signal, noted also an annoying buzz on WYFR 11665 channel at 1800 UT and 2030 UT. Scheduled from Okeechobee-FL at 1945 UT, but same audio buzz noted in 18-19 UT gap too, when NAU/WER is scheduled for YFR relay to zones 46/47/52. Still puzzles me (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Feb 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11995, Feb 26 at 1435-1440+ with continuous instrumental music, sounded very repetitive and may have been a loop. Fill for lost program feed or test? Still on at 1458, but off at 1459 without announcement. Listed here is CVC Darwin during this semihour since Feb 22 at 3 degree azimuth; also on 13725, and at 1500-1530 on 11650 and 13725 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED [and non]. One use of the quarterly ITU monitoring files is to look for broadcast stations in the far out-of-band regions. Of course the latest info here is now 2-4 months old, some of it in October from the A-07 season. These are flagged as BC in column 11; also as A3E mode = standard DSB AM, unlike most of the logs in the utility bands. Starting at the top of the file and going down to 12 MHz (so far), we find the following. To understand the entries fully, you need to read the key to all abbrs. and what each column stands for. The first column is the monitoring station: E = El Casar, Spain F = Rambouillet, France G = Baldock, UK K = CRMO(?), Korea South [Chosun Radio Monitoring Organization??] There are a number of receiving sites in the entire document, but these are the only ones showing up in this extract. Apparently it is up to the individuals manning them to pick out what interests them. These OOB entries can be: 1) harmonics; 2) spurs; 3) Firedrake jamming and/or Sound of Hope; 4) unknown Note that when the second time after the month and day is 2400, that does NOT mean the item was heard all the way until 2400 UT! It just means there was no out-time entered, defaulted to ``2400``. Since many of the columns are left blank, varying from entry to entry, we are not attempting to keep the columns lined up after the out-times. Note also that in the first entry here, the term `Firedrake` appears. Perhaps ITU is consulting the DX press. Otherwise: Oriental Music, or Musique Chinoise. It followed several routine logs of WWCR also on 12160. Fortunately, WWCR is not using 12160 at 1005. G 12160.00 31 12 1005 FIREDRAKE CHN BC 9K00E A3E 109 E 0 19 N 0 64 A MUSIC JAMMER G 12260.00 02 11 1518 2400 * CHN BC 9K00E A3E 65 B K 12260.00 12 11 0827 0831 42.6 UNKNOWN BC 0.021 A3E 11 248' K 12260.00 14 11 0123 0129 39.6 UNKNOWN BC 0.294 A3E 11 K 12260.00 15 11 0838 0838 40.9 UNKNOWN BC 0.021 A3E 11 E 13090.00 04 10 0840 0900 38.0 BC A3E 31 A K 13400.00 19 12 0122 0124 48.1 UNKNOWN BC 0.299 A3E K 13400.00 20 12 0825 0828 47.1 CHINA RADIO INTERNAT CHN BC 0.209 A3E G 13905.00 23 10 1512 2400 * RUS BC 9K00E A3E 80 A K 13970.00 17 10 2304 2304 42.5 UNKNOWN BC 0.117 A3E ?? G 13970.00 21 10 1110 2400 * CHN BC 9K00E A3E 90 E 53 33 N 40 65 B ORIENTAL MUSIC F 13970.00 12 11 0730 1220 18.0 CHN BC 10K0E A3E 63 A 11 G 13970.00 28 11 0945 2400 * CHN BC 9K00E A3E 90 E 53 33 N 40 65 B ORIENTAL MUSIC K 13970.00 20 12 2339 2339 44.7 UNKNOWN BC 0.019 A3E G 13970.00 21 12 0858 * CHN BC 9K00E A3E 90 E 53 33 N 40 65 B ORIENTAL MUSIC K 13970.00 21 12 0958 0958 44.5 UNKNOWN BC 0.299 A3E G 14230.00 25 12 2210 * BC 6K00E A3E 284 B ILLEGAL BC G 14400.00 21 11 1234 1240 SOUND OF HOPE INT CHN BC 9K00E A3E 54 B F 14540.00 08 11 0800 1600 13.0 NON IDENTIFIE BC 10K0E A3E 15 E 33 4 S 20 D EN AFRICAIN FRANCOPH G 14540.00 20 11 1040 2400 * CHN BC 9K00E A3E 55 B G 14620.00 25 11 0728 2400 * CHN BC 9K00E A3E 53 B F 14650.00 05 11 0700 1200 23.0 NON IDENTIFIÉ BC 10K0E A3E 62 A F 14650.00 06 11 0700 1200 15.0 NON IDENTIFIE BC 10K0E A3E 64 A MUSIQUE CHINOISE F 14710.00 04 11 1200 1500 11.0 E BC 10K0E A3E 6 W 6 36 N 28 C 11 G 14800.00 02 11 0559 2400 ? BUL BC 9K00E A3E 111 A F 14800.00 04 11 0600 0631 16.0 BUL BC 10K0E A3E 24 E 5 42 N 43 B 11 HARMONIQUE DE 7400 G 15905.00 03 12 1510 * POR BC 9K00E A3E 206 A K 16500.00 19 10 0230 0231 52.5 UNKNOWN BC 0.299 A3E 11 K 16600.00 17 10 1827 1827 4.3 UNKNOWN BC 0.299 A3E 11 ???? K 16750.00 18 12 0312 0332 38.3 UNKNOWN BC 0.020 A3E MUSIC 230' K 16750.00 19 12 0545 0547 41.6 UNKNOWN BC 0.020 A3E K 16750.00 21 12 0240 0242 42.8 UNKNOWN BC 0.019 A3E E 17025.00 29 10 1200 1259 19.0 BC A3E 3 A F 18189.60 16 10 1000 1100 20.0 NON IDENTIFIE BC 10K0E A3E 76 A F 18345.00 14 10 0910 1345 6.0 RUS BC 10K0E A3E 35 E 11 51 N 18 D EN RUSSE F 18540.20 12 10 0630 1000 15.0 NON IDENTIFIE BC 10K0E A3E F 19140.00 07 10 1200 1400 16.0 NON IDENTIFIE BC 10K0E A3E 290 A G 19870.00 21 10 1212 2400 * I BC 9K00E A3E 120 B ITALIAN SPEECH Our comments on some of the above: Likely China and/or jamming of Sound of Hope: 12160, 12260, 13400, 13970, 14400, 14540, 14620, 14650, 16500, 16600, 16750. Harmonics: 14230 = 2 x 7115, NHK via UAE? 14540 = 2 x 7270, RTVG Gabon 14710 = 2 x 7355, KNLS? 14800 = 2 x 7400, R. Bulgaria as noted 18345 = 3 x 6115, Belarus? 18540 = 3 x 6180? 19140 = 2 x 9570, CRI via Habana? 19870 = 2 x 9935? but nothing fits there 15905 = note that a DW fundamental test has been reported here, Sri Lanka? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ FMLIST has now expanded to Brasil [q.v.], Also FMLIST now offers a complete FM stations list from Australia. The Philippines and New Zealand will follow soon. -database editor- http://www.fmlist.org and http://www.mwlist.org (Björn Tryba, QTH: NRW state/Germany 06e20/51n15 Feb 26, dxing.info via DXLD) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ Re: DXLD 8-025: "jammer" Re Glenn's comment "I figured that `jammer` doesn`t mean something that jams, in Dutch, but maybe ``however``. However, Google translation funxion assures us that it does mean: ``jammer`` in English! (Glenn Hauser, DXLD)" The usual translation of jammer is "what a pity" or "unfortunately" (Andy Sennitt, Nederland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Here we go with another Language Lessons thread (I hope): The English term ``jammer`` (as in radio interference) is rather idiomatic and it is hard to translate into other languages. Some of them just give up and use the English word, but does Dutch, relying on context to differentiate it from the Dutch word jammer? In Spanish, they get by with `interferencia provocada`. Would those who speak other languages please tell us how `jammer` in our sense (or ``jamming``) is expressed in their language and what it means literally. [and not to be confused with ``jamming`` in the musical sense] (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Actually, I just checked and another translation of the Dutch word 'jammer' is 'misery', though it's most commonly used in the phrase 'wat jammer' (what a pity or what a shame) or at the beginning of a sentence, e.g. "jammer dat..." (A pity that...) I just checked at Freetranslation.com, and the English word jammer is translated into 'De stoorzender'. This means 'the disturbing station', so it's more literal than the English, a typical characterstic of Dutch and German words. If you translate stoorzender from Dutch to English it comes out as 'annoying station'. Either 'disturbing station' or 'annoying station' are good descriptions of a jammer, I think :-) Freetranslation.com is less successful with 'jamming' that comes out as 'klemmen', which re-translates as 'grip'. So I will have to ask one of our translators at RNW what would be the Dutch for 'jamming' in a radio context, unless someone else can answer that already (Andy Sennitt, Nederland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Glenn, I translate this word "jammer" from Dutch to English "jammer" are the same like "sorry" in context letter. Gr. (Maurits from Belgium Driessche, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Jammer is a German word as well. The sentence in question would read in German: Welch' ein Jammer, das hätte ich eher wissen müssen. This "das hätte ich eher wissen müssen" (I would have needed to know this before) is a common phrase, quite interesting to note that it appears to be common in Dutch, too. Störsender is in German an established term for jammer. No equivalent for "jamming" exists, it is being referred to by way of paraphrases like "Einsatz von Störsendern" or "Störsender betreiben" etc.etc. To jam a certain station is just "stören" it. Störung / stören have not only a general meaning of disturbance / disturbing something but also denote in a radio context interference / interfere with another station. That's exactly what a jammer does; it speaks for itself when a transmitter is operated for the very purpose of producing interferences (thus is a Störsender), so there is no real need for a special term. Also cases of things not working properly are called Störung, they are gestört. This includes complete failures for which the explicit term is Ausfall. Example: The situation when a transmitter fails is a Sendeausfall. Actually this term includes cases of a properly working transmitter just having lost its feed, a situation in German precisely called Modulationsausfall. In a broadcasting context audio is always called Modulation, also when no transmitter is involved (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) OK, that`s Dutch and German; how about other languages? (gh, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see also GERMANY; INDIA; UK ++++++++++++++++++++ The end of DRM? Here's something that came like a lightning bolt out of the blue. Can't say that I'm surprised, though. I'm glad I didn't spend big $$ on DRM programs/or the few receivers out there. Looks like there'll never be any either from the report. Still, it was a little bit of fun decoding the very few stations using this technology (Walt in Victoria, BC, Salmaniw, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Oh well. Looks like it's all over now ?!?! From DRM-List: HFCC discussions on future of DRM From: Mike Barraclough HFCC discussions on future of DRM Date: Mon Feb 25, 2008 4:04 am ((PST)) "From both formal and informal discussions among participants at the HFCC, it is now clear that the proposed DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) system, that would have converted analogue Shortwave to digital, FM like quality reception would hardly be implemented if ever on a large scale, beyond the current experimental stage........there are no plans from any large manufacturer to produce such (DRM) receivers now." Full report, item 2 at: http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/2008/02/news-from-european-gospel-radio.html (via Salminiw, ibid.) NPR LABS IS DOING RESEARCH - NOT ADVOCATING 10 DB MORE HD POWER Recently, in a letter from Harris Corporation, it was stated that, "...the Public Radio stations and NPR are some of the main proponents of increasing [FM HD Radio] sideband power..." (see CGC #829 and the story entitled, "Re the "up to 10 dB" power increase proposed for FM HD radio"). NPR Labs has clarified the issue by saying that, "It would be inaccurate, based on our research activities, for NPR Labs to be considered an unqualified advocate of increasing sideband power level." What NPR Labs is doing is conducting research into a number of possible ways to increase the performance of FM HD Radio, of which an HD power increase is only one way. For the full response from Mike Starling and John Kean at NPR Labs, visit the URL below and scroll down past the Harris letter. http://earthsignals.com/add_CGC/Letters/IBOC_Power_Mendenhall.htm (CGC Communicator Feb 25, via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ Re Sporadic E opening, USA: Dear Glenn, Here at my temporary location in Bhubaneswar, East Coast of India also, the FM Broadcast bands are very active. Yesterday I monitored 16 FM channels from Sri Lanka (from over 1000 kms away!), 2 from Bangladesh and many far away Indian stations (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, Camp: Bhubanewsar, Feb 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) If these were mostly over water or along the coast, I suspect tropospheric propagation rather than sporadic E, but who knows? (gh) NEW SUNSPOT GROUP #10983 Good news!!! A new sunspot group #10983 formed and was numbered on February 25, 2008. At 1650 UTC it was located at S05 W36 with a beta magnetic signature. The SWPC sunspot number (SSN) is now 12. Prior to this SSN count we went 20 consecutive days without any. Bad news!!! Unfortunately, though, between its low latitude and magnetic polarity, it's a lowly solar cycle 23 sunspot group. 73, (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF, Lakeland, FL, USA, Feb 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The geomagnetic field was at quiet to active levels at middle latitudes during 18 - 22 February. During the same period, high latitudes observed mostly unsettled to active levels with isolated minor to major storm periods. This activity was due to a recurrent coronal hole high speed stream that became geoeffective midday on 18 February. ACE solar wind measurements (638 km/s at 19/0143 UTC) and density (5-5 p/cc at 18/0644 UTC) both peaked early in the period. Significant changes in the IMF were also observed early in the period including increased Bt (peak 8 nT at 18/1104 UTC) and intermittent periods of southward Bz (minimum -6 nT at 18/1411 UTC). The high-speed stream began decaying midday on 20 February and ended the summary period with velocities near 410 km/s. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 27 FEBRUARY - 24 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 on all days of the forecast period except 28 February and 08 March. The geomagnetic field is expected to be mostly quiet to unsettled on 27 February. Activity is expected to increase to unsettled to active levels during 28 February - 01 March due to a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream. Quiet to unsettled levels are expected during 02 - 07 March as the high-speed stream subsides. Activity is expected to increase to unsettled to active levels during 08 - 13 March with minor to major storm periods possible at high latitudes due to a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream. Quiet to unsettled conditions are expected during 14 - 24 March as the high-speed stream subsides. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2008 Feb 26 2353 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 26 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2008 Feb 27 70 8 3 2008 Feb 28 70 15 4 2008 Feb 29 70 15 4 2008 Mar 01 70 10 3 2008 Mar 02 70 5 2 2008 Mar 03 70 5 2 2008 Mar 04 70 5 2 2008 Mar 05 70 5 2 2008 Mar 06 70 5 2 2008 Mar 07 70 5 2 2008 Mar 08 70 15 4 2008 Mar 09 70 15 4 2008 Mar 10 70 10 3 2008 Mar 11 70 12 3 2008 Mar 12 70 15 4 2008 Mar 13 70 10 3 2008 Mar 14 70 8 3 2008 Mar 15 70 5 2 2008 Mar 16 70 10 3 2008 Mar 17 70 10 3 2008 Mar 18 70 8 3 2008 Mar 19 70 8 3 2008 Mar 20 70 5 2 2008 Mar 21 70 5 2 2008 Mar 22 70 5 2 2008 Mar 23 70 5 2 2008 Mar 24 70 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1397, DXLD) SHORTWAVE PATHOLOGY +++++++++++++++++++ SHORTWAVE LISTENING... and the DSM IV Re: NEW DIRECTIONS RADIO, by COPTHORNE MACDONALD, SHORTWAVE LISTENING [1979 article in The Mother Earth News, making the rounds lately] ``The ham radio bug bites in many different ways, but probably sinks its fangs into most people when they innocently begin listening to distant broadcast stations. Typically, the "disease" starts with your staying up late at night listening to AM stations a thousand or more miles away. Then it becomes worse when you read somewhere that if only you had a shortwave receiver you could tune in regularly to the BBC from London . . . or to Radio Moscow . . . or to broadcasts from dozens of other exotic places.`` It is an interesting word to describe shortwave listening as a "disease." But I suppose if pathological gambling is an addiction, and video games could almost be considered an addiction. See link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070625133354.htm Looking at my DSM-IV, the diagnostic criteria for Pathological Gambling is: A. Persistent and recurrent maladaptive gambling behavior as indicated by five (or more) of the following: 1. Is preoccupied with gambling (reliving past gambling experiences, handicapping or planning next adventure, or thinking of ways to get money to gamble) 2. Needs to gamble with increasing amounts of money to achieve the desired excitement. 3. Has repeated unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back, or stop gambling. 4. Is restless or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop gambling 5. Gambles as a way of escaping from problems or of relieving a dysphoric mood (e.g., feelings of helplessness, guilt, anxiety, or depression). 6. After losing money gambling, often returns another day to get even (chasing one's losses) 7. Lies to family members, therapist, or others to conceal the extent of involvement with gambling 8. Has committed illegal acts such as forgery, fraud, theft, or embezzlement to finance gambling. 9. Has jeopardized or lost a significant relationship, job, or educational or career opportunity because of gambling 10. Relies on others to provide money to relieve a desperate financial situation caused by gambling B. The gambling behavior is not better accounted for by a Manic Episode. (source: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition Text Revision DSM-IV-TR by American Psychiatric Association, 2002). Hmm, makes me wonder what Pathological DXing would look like: A. Persistent and recurrent maladaptive radio listening behavior as indicated by five (or more) of the following: 1. Is preoccupied with DXing (relieve past DXing experiences, HF logging, or planning next listening session with schedules, or thinking of ways to get money to improve listening situation (ie. Improve the shack) 2. Needs to listen with increasingly complex radio equipment to achieve desired excitement. 3. Has repeated unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back, or stop DXing 4. Is restless or irritable when attempting to cut down DXing 5. Listens as a way of escaping problems 6. After losing the station's ID, often returns to frequency another day to get station`s ID 7. Lies to family members, particularly spouse, and others to conceal extent of involvement with DXing 8. Has committed illegal acts to obtain QSL cards, or verification letters, (e.g. breaking postal laws to send $1 to embargoed countries for a QSL, not listening for 15 minutes, etc…) 9. Has jeopardized relationships due to DXing 10. Relies on others to provide frequency lists, and other supporting materials, such as stamps for reception reports. B. The DXING behavior is not better accounted for [by] any other mental disorder (KD5GNN, ABDX via DXLD) ###