DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-032, March 9, 2008 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2008 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1398 Mon 0300 WBCQ 9330-CLSB [irregular] Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 7385 Wed 1130 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 ** ALASKA. KNLS A-08 Broadcast Schedule Starting March 30, 2008 Time Freq(khz) MB Language --------------------------- 0800-0900 7355 41 English 0800-0900 11765 25 Mandarin 0900-1000 6150 49 Russian 0900-1000 7355 41 Mandarin 1000-1100 6890 49 English 1000-1100 11765 25 Mandarin 1100-1200 7370 41 Russian 1100-1200 11870 25 Mandarin 1200-1300 7355 41 English 1200-1300 9780 31 English 1300-1400 9795 31 Mandarin 1300-1400 9780 31 Mandarin 1400-1500 7355 41 English 1400-1500 9920 31 Mandarin 1500-1600 7355 41 Russian 1500-1600 9920 31 Mandarin 1600-1700 7355 41 Russian 1600-1700 9920 31 Mandarin 1700-1800 7355 41 Russian 1700-1800 9920 31 Mandarin (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, March 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGOLA. 4950, Radio Nacional, Mulenvos, 2228-2235, March 07, Portuguese, short talk, news, talk by male, 24432 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4950, RNA, Luanda, 0325-0353, March 8, pop songs, no lack of "Rádio Nacional de Angola" IDs, mostly fair, briefly good, still fair at 0447 with high-life music (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. I've been listening for HCJB Australia *0730-0930* UT on 11750 kHz. Nothing. Is HCJB Australia still on at this time? Someone recommend a better time/freq for East Coast US reception? 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Manassas, VA, Krist, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I`ve heard them tho not lately on some of their 15 MHz channels. Try 15425 at 1400-1530 or 15435 at 1330-1400. There are several others, also around 2300-2400. Those are aimed toward Asia unlike 11750 at 120 degrees. I wonder if that is really off the air, or not propagating. (Glenn Hauser, OK, ibid.) About HCJB via KNX 11750 being still on air: It was this Sunday morning (March 9) at tune in 0750 when very weak in strength. But the signal improved and was clearly IDed on the hour. I would guess that poor propagation has been the reason for it not being reported recently (Noel R. Green (NW England), March 9, ibid.) ** BELGIUM. VRT TO CLOSE MOST MEDIUMWAVE TRANSMITTERS ON 30 MARCH As previously reported, the Flemish public broadcaster VRT plans to close all its mediumwave transmitters except the one on 927 kHz. The website Radiovisie reports today that the planned date of closure is 30 March. Radiovisie says that the VRT will save 2.5 million kWh of energy, and produce 1850 tons less of CO2 per year. The decision was reached after management decided not to invest further in mediumwave. The mediumwave sites are about thirty years old, and without new investment it is impossible to keep them all operating (Source: Radiovisie.be)(March 7th, 2008 - 16:03 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) The 540 frequency is excellent for International Broadcasting. When situated in SW Flanders and with the assigned power (more then it is running on now) you will be able to cover the whole of Belgium, but also the Netherlands and a major part of the UK including London (!) and NW France (Lille). I guess a 30 Milion pop. coverage. 1188 ca also be used with much more then the current 5 kW in Kuurne, and situated on a good location will cover the whole of Flanders. Yes you need a new site and with limited costs (do it yourself, never hire a state operator) I see a business case. 1512 is quite local, its current location you can just cover Brussels and Antwerp, and a major part of Flanders with say 20-50 kW. During night-time this is a rather clear channel for International broadcasters. Maybe some reli party might be intersted. Note that the Belgian government MUST put the channels availble to commercial broadcasters due to European (Brussels hi hi) regulation (ruud [vos?], March 9th, 2008 - 17:43 UTC, ibid.) ** BOLIVIA. Does anybody heard something on 4110 kHz? It should be L.A. 4110, UNID; 03/09 Spanish 0013-0039 male talks, 0015 short music, male and female talks sounding like outside, 0021 instrumental pop music, male talks, 0028 male talks on music, maybe mentioned "Bolivia". Noisy, around 0025 SINPO 23222 degrading, few pieces readable. Audio file of this unID, 146 kbt, 37 seconds here: http://geocities.yahoo.com.br/eefibra/unid4110khz00013utc090308.mp3 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu, SP, Brasil (23 39 S, 46 52 W), Sony ICF SW40, dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4111.602, Bolivia - Radio Virgen de los Remedios, 1030 to 1040, om en español, fair strength, per tip by Rogildo F. Aragão en La República de Bolivia. 9 March. Previously on 4545.396 with a weaker signal (Bob Wilkner, FL, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Agora a pouco recebi uma mensagem via celular do Eduardo Dourado que encontra-se no litoral paranaense informando que estava ouvindo a Radio Cultura de SP em 9590 kHz o que foi confirmado por mim aqui em Curitiba mas exatamente às 1830 UT ela "pulou" para os 9580. A modulação do audio bem sofrível mas em condições de identificar as musicas tocadas e a locução característica da emissora (Marcel Bedene, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) A frequência exata da Cultura sp é de 9615 kHz 31 m. Se ela estiver fora disto significa que há harmônicos. Aliás a Cultura de SP depois que mudou o comando tanto de rádio como TV, ficou em estado precário. As ondas curtas estão à deriva. Em 49m 6170 kHz então estão fora do ar faz tempo. 73 (Luiz Chaine Neto, Limeira SP, ibid.) Varying from 9615 to 9590 or 9580 is not what makes a harmonic. This has been reported several times before off-frequency (gh, DXLD) Oi Luiz, O interessante é que a freqüência original estava fora do ar (Marcelo Bedene, op. cit.) Olá, conforme alguns colegas comentaram semanas atrás, encontrei a R Cultura SP 31 metros fora-de-freqüência e som muito distorcido hoje às 15h de Brasilía [18 UT]. O sinal (portadora) era intenso, mas parecia ter uma osilação de uns 5-10 Hz. 9590, 09/03 1800, R. Cultura AM, São Paulo, Brasil. Música seguida de locução "Hoje às 8 da noite Radar Cultura ... na Cultura AM". Som fortemente distorcido, fora da freqüência nominal de 9615 kHz. 34441 Ao lado tínhamos em 9585 a R Globo de São Paulo, com sinal um pouco mais fraco mas completamete compreensível (Huelbe Garcia, Porto Alegre, RS, 30S, 51W, Sony 7600G, antena telescópica, March 9, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. RADIO 2 PLANS LESS WEEKDAY CLASSICAL MUSIC --- GUY DIXON From Wednesday's Globe and Mail March 5, 2008 at 4:14 AM EST For the final phase of its overhaul of Radio 2, the CBC plans to play less classical music weekday mornings and late afternoons and more pop, showcasing a wider variety of Canadian music and aiming to appeal to a broader audience. The last round of programming changes, which began a year ago, won't occur until the Labour Day weekend. But CBC executives are making the plan public now as the music industry descends on Toronto for the annual Canadian Music Week conference and music festival (today through Saturday). The new weekday morning show from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. will be a mix of much less classical and much more pop, leaning toward established musicians such as Joni Mitchell and Diana Krall, with around 50-per- cent Canadian content. There's no decision yet on who the host will be. The midday show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. will be entirely classical, playing both CDs and live performances, with around 40-per- cent Canadian content. But the drive-home afternoon show will be the biggest departure from current programming. That show from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. will ignore classical entirely and instead air a wide variety of genres from contemporary pop and world music to blues and roots, with an emphasis on newer songs and artists such as Feist and Serena Ryder. In September, Radio 2 will also launch separate all-day all-classical, all-jazz and all-singer-songwriter stations on the Internet. Radio 3 will remain an Internet- and satellite-based service. However, one petitioner among a vocal group of listeners, musicians and composers who have criticized the overhaul argued yesterday that even an all- classical Web-based service wouldn't rectify the fact that Radio 2's on-air, non-classical programs are moving away from what had been the network's core listeners. While acknowledging that change always meets opposition, Jennifer McGuire, executive director of radio, said that overall ratings haven't dropped as significantly as anticipated, as some listeners tune out and new ones tune in. She also emphasized that only a tiny fraction - 0.8 per cent - of new Canadian songs get commercial radio play and that the Radio 2 changes will allow for much more Canadian music to be heard, from pop to experimental. But, "people who like classical music can still find classical music on Radio 2. In fact, it is still the most represented single genre on the service," McGuire said. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080305.wtwo05/BNStory/Entertainment/home (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** CANADA. 1140 CBI log and news from Bruce Conti, Nashua NH; SDR IQ, WR-CMC-30, MWDX-5, 50 x 75-ft SuperLoop antennas east with remote variable termination and south 1150-feet? terminated. Time/date EST (UTC-5). 1140, CBI, NS, Sydney - 3/8 0500 [1000 UT] - Good; "You're listening to CBC Radio One in Cape Breton. We broadcast on an assigned frequency of 1140 kilohertz at a power of 10,000 watts from our studio at 285 Alexandra Street in Sydney, and our transmission facility at Keltic Drive. In addition to 1140 AM, CBC Cape Breton programs are carried on a number of FM frequencies, including 90.1 FM Bay St. Lawrence, 107.1 FM in the Cheticamp region and the Acadian part of the Cabot Trail, and through the Margaree Valley at 93.9, and in the communities on the west side of the island such as Inverness, Mabou, and Brook Village you can hear us at 94.3 FM." No mention of 97.1 CBIT-FM Sydney. (BC- NH) CBC RADIO ONE SWITCH TO FM DIAL DELAYED The Cape Breton Post, February 18, 2008 SYDNEY --- The CBC says it`s highly unlikely CBC Radio One in Sydney will switch over to the FM dial this fiscal year or next. The radio station hoped to make the move by sometime next fiscal year but radio regional director Susan Mitton said that isn`t likely to happen. ``What they are going to do for the next year is prioritize areas of the country that have no service, so we aren`t obviously there,`` she said. ``It`s our Maritime priority but there are other parts of the country that have no CBC Radio One service. They are ahead of us.`` Mitton said the move to FM is still on the wish list for next fiscal year. ``We`re lower on the list though so it`s highly unlikely unless something happens, say a project in another part of the country doesn`t happen, well, that would obviously free up those and we could get back on the priority list.`` When the CBC received permission from the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission in July to switch over to the FM dial it was given two to three years to make the move, she noted. The CBC has said the AM transmitter and antenna system off Keltic Drive will have to be replaced, along with other related broadcasting equipment, for the move from 1140 AM to 97.1 FM. The switch to FM will improve the signal, and the sound, for Radio One listeners, and will extend the broadcast into some pockets that currently aren't able to receive the AM signal (Bruce Conti - Nashua NH, http://members.aol.com/baconti/bamlog.htm mwdx yg via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. BBCWS broadcasts in Uzbek twice a day, for half an hour on each occasion. The Chinese jam the service, as they do not want the Uzbek-speaking minority in western China to tune in. In addition to the commonly-heard Firedrake or Firedragon jamming (continuous ``crash-bang`` Chinese music), I was very interested to hear what appeared to be a regular Chinese station being used for the jamming. This allows the Chinese to claim that the jamming is just ``accidental`` interference. However, they give the game away by only putting on the interference for the exact 30-minute duration of the BBC Uzbek broadcasts!! I also heard a similar Chinese programme being used to jam the BBC`s Mandarin service and the Falun Gong station from Taiwan, Sound of Hope. But I`m pleased to say that the jamming was far from being fully effective. SOH in particular came in quite well. The Chinese would be better off using an old Soviet white-noise jamming signal (or even DRM!), but then they wouldn`t be able to keep pretending that they were not jamming (Chris Greenway, from a February visit, Radio in Tashkent, longer article, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** CLIPPERTON ISLAND. TX5C DX-pedition finally on the air: on 3796- LSB, heard March 9, op with French accent, occasionally speaking French to contacts in France; at 0653 with GW5XHG, at 0655 UA0ZC. Periodic spoiler QRM from carrier on low side; what demented ham would do this? TX5C was QRZ Europe at this hour; duplex, and other side of contacts not heard on this frequency. Did not look for match. Not knowing this, at 0658 N5CW called on same frequency, but someone else quickly informed him that TX5C was listening somewhere else. Weak but clear signals (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) TX5C DXpedition heard 9 March on 1826-CW at 1125, also logged on 80/40/20/17/15M various times between 0322 and 1625. Clipperton last logged in 1978 (FO0XA, if memory serves) (Dan Sheedy, CA, R75/EF102040, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) TX5C, CLIPPERTON ATOLL DXPEDITION UPDATE. The Clipperton team is now on the air! Looks like activity by TX5C started around 0000z, March 9th. Reports indicate the team battled sea sickness getting there and are now fighting the heat (110 deg. F). Because of the heat, the team was approximately 24 hours behind their intended schedule during the set up. Their Web site stated, "The heat has compounded our work load and Arnie, N6HC, had his hands full dealing with sunburns and mandatory work and water breaks every 30 minutes to ensure each team member's safety." As this bulletin was being prepared, it seemed that they were on all bands except 12m and 60m. QSL via N7CQQ, by the bureau or direct to: John Kennon, P.O. Box 31553, Laughlin, Nevada 89028, USA. The log will also be uploaded to LoTW once the official log has been certified. For more information, online log and updates, visit the TX5C Web page at: http://www.clipperton2008.org (The Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 849, March 10, 2008, Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW. Provided by BARF80.ORG (Cleveland, Ohio), via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. SPAIN, 5964, REE-Noblejas, 0518 9 March. Down a kHz and // 3350 (Costa Rica), 6055 (Noblejas), 9675 (C.R.) with author interview, REE ID and pips at 0530 (Dan Sheedy, CA, R75/EF102040, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dan, 5964 is also Costa Rica, not Noblejas (gh, ibid.) ** DUCIE ISLAND [and non]. AMATEUR RADIO IS ALIVE AND WELL Last month's VP6DX Ducie Island DXpedition logged nearly 183,700 contacts. This included nearly 7,000 on top band and more than 10,000 using digital modes. They made an almost equal number of CW and SSB contacts at around 87,000 each. By the time the south Pacific operation finished on 27 February, the group had broken several records. One was for the largest number of contacts made by any radio expedition. Further detailed information is on the web at http://www.vp6dx.com (RSGB http://www.rsgb.org/news/hl1.php via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) It`s certainly alive, but how well? Quantity is everything, quality is nothing. These contacts were nothing but a signal report exchange, maybe a tnx and a 73 if that, ideally with clear copy lasting maybe 10 seconds. Lots of DX contest/pedition work involves ``contacts`` without the DX station even giving its callsign to each contactee, which ought to be the absolute minimum requirement --- but hey, over the course of an expedition, there would only be time for a few thousand fewer contacts if those extra seconds were taken. I listened for several minutes to a frequency near where Clipperton was supposed to be (now we know not yet active), and heard somebody rapidly working lots of stations without giving own call, could that be it? No, finally IDing as a ZP5, Paraguay. QRZ? What about discussions on the culture and politics of Ducie Island? Or even a few words about what went into the DXpedition? Oops, Ducie has no culture or politics, tho it does have history. Ditto Clipperton. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** FINLAND. Additionally [to Brother Scare], IBB is planning to use Pori for six hours per day during A_08, with 250 kW towards the Middle East (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX via Mar BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Heusweiler 1422 kHz: New transmitter on air Alerted by this thread: http://forum.mysnip.de/read.php?8773,568874 An improved audio quality clearly indicates that on last Thursday the remaining Thomson tube transmitter on the Heusweiler site has been decommissioned and replaced by the new 400 kW Transradio transmitter (with new audio processing as well, thus the obvious change of modulation characteristics) for Deutschlandfunk on 1422. It has meanwhile been revealed in the already referenced photo thread that some time ago the output of the old equipment on 1422 had been further reduced to just 300 kW (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUAM. KTWR Trans World Radio - Guam A08 Frequency Schedule (March 30, 2008 - October 26,2008) --------------------------------------------------- LANGUAGE UTC-STRT STOP DAYS FREQ MB TARGET AREA --------------------------------------------------- Amdo-Tibetan 1300-1315 Mon-Thu 9370 31 China Cantonese 1100-1145 Mon-Fri 9975 31 China Cantonese 1100-1115 Sat 9975 31 China Cantonese 1100-1200 Sun 9975 31 China Cantonese 2200-2245 Mon-Fri 12130 25 China Cantonese 2200-2215 Sat 12130 25 China Cantonese 2200-2300 Sun 12130 25 China Hakka 1145-1200 Thu-Fri 9975 31 China Hakka 1115-1200 Sat 9975 31 China Hui 1300-1330 Sat 9370 31 China Hui 1030-1100 Sun 13765 22 China Mandarin 0930-1100 Daily 12105 25 China Mandarin 1015-1200 Daily 11590 25 China Mandarin 1100-1200 Daily 9910 31 China Mandarin 1200-1230 Sun-Fri 9910 31 China Mandarin 1200-1300 Daily 9370 31 China Mandarin 1315-1345 Mon-Fri 9370 31 China Mandarin 1200-1400 Sun 9370 31 China Mandarin 1200-1330 Sat-Sun 7430 41 China Mandarin 1200-1400 Mon-Fri 7430 41 China Mandarin 1400-1500 Daily 7520 41 China Mandarin 2200-2215 Daily 11765 25 China Mandarin 2230-2315 Daily 13720 22 China Nosu Yi 1100-1115 Sat-Sun 11590 25 China Swatow 1145-1200 Mon-Wed 9975 31 China Uyghur 1030-1100 Mon-Fri 13765 22 China Mongolian 1200-1215 Sat 9910 31 Mongolia Korean 1400-1515 Daily 11570 31 Korea English 0800-0835 Mon-Fri 11840 25 South Pacific English 0800-0815 Sat 11840 25 South Pacific English 0805-0900 Tu,Th,Fr 15170 19 SE Asia English 0820-0900 Wed 15170 19 SE Asia English 0830-0900 Mon 15170 19 SE Asia Balinese 0900-0915 Fri-Tue 15200 19 Indonesia Indonesian 0945-1045 Daily 15200 19 Indonesia Javanese 1045-1115 Daily 15200 19 Indonesia Madurese 0915-0945 Daily 15200 19 Indonesia Sundanese 1115-1145 Daily 15200 19 Indonesia Torajanese 0900-0915 Wed-Thu 15200 19 Indonesia Burmese 1200-1300 Sun-Fri 13765 22 Myanmar Burmese 1200-1235 Sat 13765 22 Myanmar Sgaw Karen 1300-1330 Daily 9585 31 Myanmar Vietnamese 1100-1130 Daily 9635 31 Vietnam Vietnamese 1400-1430 Mon-Fri 9920 31 Vietnam Vietnamese 1400-1500 Sat-Sun 9920 31 Vietnam Khmer 1300-1330 Daily 9975 31 Cambodia Kokborok 1230-1300 Mon-Fri 11570 25 South Asia Kokborok 1245-1300 Sat 11570 25 South Asia English 1355-1400 Daily 9975 31 South Asia English 1400-1500 Tue-Wed 9975 31 South Asia English 1400-1430 Mo,Th,Fr 9975 31 South Asia Assamese 1330-1400 Mon-Fri 12075 25 South Asia Assamese 1330-1345 Sun 12075 25 South Asia Santhali 1345-1400 Daily 9900 31 South Asia Boro 1300-1315 Wed-Sun 11570 25 South Asia Manipuri 1315-1330 Mon-Wed 11570 25 South Asia Mus/Bengali 1300-1315 Mon-Tue 11570 25 South Asia Reports to : Trans World Radio - Guam P.O. Box 8780, Agat, Guam 96928 USA (Via George Ross, 1st Mar 2008 via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, March 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. Saludos amigos diexistas, me he permitido compartirles algunas opiniones vertidas de parte del Dr. Édgar Amílcar Madrid Morales, gerente y fundador de Radio Verdad de Chiquimula, Guatemala. En respuesta qué receptores usa la audiencia regional para escucharles y cómo la sintonizan, me comentó: (LAS NOTAS EN AZUL SON SUS COMENTARIOS Y RESPUESTAS) EAM: "Los radios que dan excelente resultado, son los antiguos, sean de tubos o transistores, y agregándoles una antena de hilo de aproximadamente 30 metros de longitud, de norte a sur. Hay que controlar las lámparas fluorescentes, porque ellas son la principal fuente de interferencias, y otros aparatos electrónicos, como computadoras encendidas (producen mucha interferencia), cargadores de baterías, juegos electrónicos, transformadores eléctricos, hornos de microondas, etc. Las interferencias se dan en las ciudades llenas de aparatos, pero en el campo, las interferencias son muy mínimas. En Europa, el amigo diexista Ilpo Parviainen, de Finlandia, manejó su automóvil mil kilómetros, hacia una montaña, para escuchar "Radio Verdad", cuando estábamos transmitiendo con sólo 200 watts, y logró una señal aceptable. Me dijo: Considero insólito en la historia de la radiodifusión, que con sólo 200 watts, tenga una señal transmundial. MCR: Hace ya varios años había una emisora pequeña, restringida por el propio gobierno, (Hablo de Radio Huayacocotla, Veracruz, México), pero ellos salían al aire en los 2390 kHz y con muy poca potencia; hoy en día ya cuentan con FM y suspendieron su onda corta. EAM: Qué lástima. Así lo hizo también "Radio Chortís" de Jocotán, Chiquimula. MCR: La gente de la región, en su mayoría indígena, la sintonizaba con radio caseros sencillos y con sus antenas de hilo. Espero que no suceda así con Radio Verdad, sino que cubra las dos bandas en su momento, MCR: (ATENCIÓN COLEGAS AL SIGUIENTE PÁRRAFO:) EAM: Por supuesto, que yo no dejaría jamás la onda corta (a menos que me lo prohíba el gobierno), pues ésa es mi banda preferencial, con la cual yo soñaba desde niño. La FM la quiero sólo para cubrir el auditorio local. Espero que alguno de nuestros gobiernos abra algún día los ojos, y nos dé la frecuencia. Aunque sea un horario recortado, no lo recortaría. Prefiero aumentarlo. Pues si el objetivo es la educación y desarrollo de la población local, sí, es necesario y urgente su FM. Édgar Amílcar Madrid MCR: en comunicación vía e-mail con su servidor y amigo (Magdiel Cruz Rodríguez, reportando desde Jiutepec, Morelos México, March 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) MCR: Saludos colegas diexistas y amantes de la radio: Les pido de su atención, continúo comunicándome vía e-mail con el Dr. Edgar Amilcar Madrid, gerente de Radio Verdad de Chiquimula, Guatemala CA. Él es una persona APASIONADA por la onda corta y su supervivencia en el dial a nivel mundial; él pide que levantemos la voz!!! y que hagamos más que DX!!! Les pido reproducir y si es posible TRADUCIR éstas líneas en cuanta publicación, boletín, foros y/o programas de radio, por favor. Y NO duden en comunicarse directamente con el Dr. Édgar Amílcar Madrid, visitando su página web: http://www.radioverdad.org para hacerle llegar cualquier comentario al respecto. E-mail: radioverdad5 @ yahoo.com ME UNO A SU EXCLAMACIÓN (Y YO CREO QUE UDS. TAMBIÉN) ¡¡¡VIVA LA ONDA CORTA!!! Copia de un correo recibido hoy mismo: EAM: Hermano Magdiel: Gracias por los conceptos recopilados sobre la onda corta. Yo he cuestionado a los industriales, ¿por qué han dejado de fabricar radios de onda corta, si éstos tienen un enorme alcance; si en onda corta están las estaciones de radio más potentes del mundo (y en FM ya no caben, pero allí cerca se escuchan nada más). Cuando yo traté de conseguir un transmisor de 1000 watts en onda corta, en todas las fábricas de transmisores del mundo que consulté, me dijeron que ellos no fabricaban transmisores de onda corta de tan bajísima potencia, que lo más bajo que fabricaban era de 50,000 ó 100,000 watts. Por eso, me costó mucho conseguir uno de 1,000 watts (porque el gobierno sólo me autorizó usar como 200 watts y fracción, y el gobierno de Honduras reclamó al gobierno de Guatemala que no querían que "Radio Verdad" penetrara el territorio hondureño. Ja, ja ja, que trataran de evitarlo, si estaba llegando a todo el mundo, con sólo 600 a 800 watts). Si hay tantos transmisores súper potentes de onda corta en el mundo, ¿POR QUÉ LOS FABRICANTES DE RADIORRECEPTORES NO QUIEREN FABRICARLOS? ¡¡¡¡¡¡HAGAMOS ESCÁNDALO MUNDIAL SOBRE ESTO!!!!!! ¡¡¡¡¡VIVA LA ONDA CORTA!!!!! Otra cosa: ¿Por qué los fabricantes han dejado de fabricar los radios de tan buena calidad como los de los años sesentas, y fabrican ahora radios muy inferiores (aunque lujosos) y más caros? ¿Por qué abandonaron las válvulas electrónicas, que no han podido superar? (Acabo de saber una noticia buena, y es que, las válvulas electrónicas vienen de regreso, porque no las pudieron superar.) Lástima que se me dañó, y no he tenido tiempo de repararlo, pero el excelente radio con que yo escuchaba perfectamente "Radio Verdad", era un "National" de válvulas, que compré como por $10 dólares en los años sesentas. Ahora estoy usando otro similar, también "National". Para los diexistas, hacen falta la excelencia de los radios "Grunding", "Lowe Opta" y "Philips". (Tengo un Philips de 1950 que todavía trabaja bien, y tenía hasta banda ensanchada. Escuche esto: Paso haciendo propaganda por que nos sintonicen muchos por Internet, y casi todos me mandan a decir que PREFIEREN que les cueste con la onda corta, que lograrlo en forma tan fácil como por Internet. Disculpe que me extendí, pero era lo que estaba escondido en mi corazón, desde niño. Bueno, hermano, que Dios le bendiga y guarde. Édgar Amílcar Madrid (via Magdiel Cruz Rodríguez, Jiutepec, Morelos, México, http://entre-ondas.blogspot.com/ Espero sus réplicas al tema!!! (Magdiel Cruz R., March 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) He should ask CFRB where they got their new 1 kW transmitter for 6070, still not back on the air (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN [and non]. Re 8-031: Re 8-030, adding frequencies and sites: NHK Radio Japan new times wef 30th March (Sun) Urdu 1330-1415 UT (11705YAM/11925YAM) (x0730-0800 & 1330-1400 UT) (Alokesh Gupta, India, dxld Mar 6 via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) Urdu at 1430-1515 (not 1330-1415) on 17595. Regds (Alokesh Gupta, March 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NHK World Radio Japan A08 March 30-October 26, 2008 Relay transmissions of NHK World Radio Japan (United Kingdom)UK (France) FRA (Germany) GER (UAE) UAE (Singapore) SNG (Canada) CAN (Bonaire Is.) BON [for Japanese transmissions local time is also given in ()] Southeast Asia Japanese 0200-0300(11-12) 11780 SNG 0200-0500(11-14) 17810 0800-1000(17-19) 11740 SNG 1000-1700(19- 2) 11815 1700-1900( 2- 4) 7225 2100-2200( 6- 7) 11665 2200-0000( 7- 9) 13680 English 0500-0530 17810 0900-0930 11815 1200-1230 9695 1400-1430 11705 0000-0020 17810 13650 Chinese 0600-0630 17860 1300-1330 11740 SNG 2240-2300 13650 2340-0000 15195 17810 Indonesian 0945-1030 9695 1315-1400 11705 2310-2340 17810 Thai 1130-1200 11740 SNG 1230-1300 9695 2300-2320 13650 Vietnamese 1100-1130 9695 1230-1300 11740 SNG 2320-2340 13650 Burmese 1030-1100 11740 SNG 1130-1200 9695 2340-0000 13650 Asian Continent Japanese 0200-0500(11-14) 15195 0700-0800(16-17) 15195 6145 * 6165 * 0800-1700(17- 2) 9750 1700-1900( 2- 4) 6035 2000-2200( 5- 7) 6085 2000-0000( 5- 9) 11910 Russian 0330-0400 15300 0530-0600 11715* 11760* 0800-0830 6145 * 6165 * 1330-1400 6190 1900-1920 5955 * * Far East Russia Korean 0430-0500 15300 1100-1130 6090 1230-1300 6190 1400-1430 6190 1630-1700 6035 2210-2230 9560 Chinese 0400-0430 15300 0500-0530 15300 1130-1200 6090 1300-1330 6190 1430-1500 6190 2230-2250 9560 Southwest Asia Japanese 0200-0500(11-14) 15325 1500-1700( 0- 2) 12045 SNG English 0500-0530 15325 0900-0930 15590 1310-1340 11985 1400-1430 11985 Bengali 1300-1345 17595 GER Hindi 1345-1430 17595 GER Urdu 1430-1515 17595 GER Oceania Japanese 2000-2100( 5- 6) 9625 2100-2200( 6- 7)13640 English 0900-0930 9625 1200-1230 9625 2200-2220 13640 North America English 0000-0020 6145 CAN(East) 0500-0530 6110 CAN(West) 1200-1230 6120 CAN(East) 1400-1430 11705 CAN(East) Hawaii English 0900-0930 9825 Central America Japanese 0200-0500(11-14) 5960 CAN 1500-1700( 0- 2) 9535 Spanish 0500-0530 6195 BON 1000-1030 6120 CAN South America Japanese 0200-0400(11-13) 11935 BON 0800-0900(17-18) 9825 0900-1000(18-19) 9795 CAN(East) 1700-1900( 2- 4) 9835 2200-0000( 7- 9) 15265 BON Portuguese 0230-0300 9660 BON 1030-1100 13630 CAN(East) Spanish 0400-0430 6195 BON(West) 1000-1030 9710 Europe English 0500-0530 5975 UK 1200-1230 17585 UAE 1400-1430 13630 UK 0000-0020 5960 UK sian 0430-0500 9825 GER 1130-1200 11710 UK 1800-1820 11970 Middle East & North Africa Japanese 0200-0500(11-14)17560 1700-1900( 2- 4)13740 UAE 1900-2200( 4- 7) 9560 2200-2300( 7- 8) 9650 UAE Persian 0230-0300 7295 FRA 0830-0900 15190 GER Arabic 0400-0430 7280 FRA 0700-0730 11905 FRA Africa Japanese 0800-1000(17-19)15290 FRA(West) 1500-1700( 0- 2)17735 FRA(Central) 1700-1900( 2- 4)11945 FRA(South) English 0500-0530 11970 FRA(South) 1400-1430 21560 FRA(Central) Swahili 0330-0400 9555 FRA(Central) 1300-1330 21560 FRA(Central) French 0630-0700 11970 FRA(West) 1230-1300 17870 FRA(Central)15400 FRA(West) (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, dxldyg via DXLD) ** KYRGYZIA. 4010, Kyrgyz Radio, 1705 UT March 8 with news and fair signal. Also 4050 at 1732 with a Russian program but very low audio, fair signal. On 8.3.2008 there was a big power outage from the national power company as a program against the new insurance program directed by the Government. The power outage was between 1830 to 2000 LT leaving us except without electricity also with a very clear radio environment on all bands (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA [and non]. Hola amigo Glenn: te saludo en este nuevo año 2008 y no quería molestarte, pero busqué por todos lados datos sobre la dirección o el email de Radio City SRS de Latvia or Letonia, y todos me devolvían el mensaje, como lo hacía el email de Radio Nord. Hasta le escribí a Radio City en Ytterby, Suecia y me devolvieron la carta a mi casilla. Espero que tu tengas información, desde ya muchas gracias y disculpa las molestias (Ceferino Campmajo, Argentina, March 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST) His e- and p-mail to these programs via Latvia have been returned. Does anyone have addresses that work? (gh, DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. 9750, VoM, 1715 March 8 with Malay pop80s, possibly Shidee ID at 1719. Re-tune 1740 with international news. This was election day for Malaysia . At 1756 with NHK/RJ signing on. On 8.3.2008 there was a big power outage from the national power company as a program against the new insurance program directed by the Government. The power outage was between 1830 to 2000 LT leaving us except without electricity also with a very clear radio environment on all bands (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENIING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 7295, Traxx FM via RTM, 1623-1703, March 8, in English, DJ playing rap/pop/rock/disco songs, frequent updates with the results of the general election, ToH two pips, "Here is the 1:00 AM news update from the RTM News Center, Kuala Lumpur" with more election news, website still "Under Construction" (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7295, Traxx-FM (via RTM) 1608 9 March. Nice and clear with "Quiet Storm on Traxx-FM", phone report from the National Indoor Arena about the All England-Asian Open (scores sounded like table-tennis or badminton), Suara Islam-6049.7 also doing well at 1640 with Qur`an readings, "Suara Islam" ID. 7130, Sarawak FM (via RTM) 1052-1122+ 9 March. Thanks to Ron Howard's DXLD tips, found this clear with Qur`an readings, oud bridge, great "Sarawak FM" jingles before TOH pips, "warta berita nasional, RTM" to 1110 "warta berita (dan? dari?) RTM Kuala Lumpur" to close news, another Sarawak FM jingle and BM pops. Remarkable signal with hints of Chinese underneath. // 5030 getting thumped by CNR1 (Dan Sheedy, CA, R75/EF102040, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6010, March 9 at 1409, ``Radio Mil, vive la música de México`` slogan, gradually fading up and down, but rather good on peaks; no QRM at all (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTNEING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. HAPPY STATION WITH STARTZ AUDIO ARCHIVES "I recently came across a treasure on the internet. Radio Nederland Wereldomroep has set up an Historical Audio Archive. This includes a few Eddie Startz recordings. Best of all is a Happy Station broadcast for 23rd December, 1956. This was a special show featuring the Sweet Sixteens in the Happy Station studio. The programme includes popular songs of the day, an interview with one of the singers about her stay in Australia and England, a greeting from another member of the group to her father onboard a Dutch ship, and several Dutch Christmas carols. It is wonderfully evocative of an earlier era of shortwave broadcasting. Perhaps the easiest way to access the audio archive is to type "Eddy Startz and the Sweet Sixteens" into a search engine. ("Eddy" appears to be the Dutch form of "Eddie.") As this is a developing archive, it will be interesting to see what appears later. It would certainly be good to have more Eddie Startz Happy Station recordings." (Brian Kendall, March WDXC Contact via DXLD) Typing that into google didn't come up with any results but I did find the blog at http://blogs.rnw.nl/haa I then scrolled down and clicked on English on the left hand side. There are several pages of material, some just descriptions of the programme, some mp3 files including the programme Brian mentions which was added on October 10 2007. Searching under Eddy Startz I found the following had mp3 files as well as the one Brian mentioned: Happy Station : Estación de la Alegría, / 1959-08-28 Happy Station : Estación de la Alegría, / 1959-08-19 Edmund Hillary interviewed by Eddy Startz, / 1953-11-13 Around the world in 20 days : Manila by Eddy Startz, / 1959-04-24 Details of Jonathan Marks' first Media Network and one on the history of the jingle are also posted but no mp3 files of those at present (Mike Barraclough, ibid.) RE: [dxld] Radio Netherlands Historical Audio Archive including Eddy Startz mp3's I sent this message to my colleague Martien, and this is what he says: In the process of digitizing the tapes we are planning at this time to put more material online as a kind of extra broadcast. Most tapes of Happy Station are part of the regular archive and on the way to being heard again. Around the World in 20 days will have more episodes soon, but because those episodes are only the edting tapes they contain no music. Probably Eddy slotted the music in his text. That way programmes like A Listeners' Salute (1959?) will be much more interesting to listen to: people sent their own tapes and added the music of their country. The tapes are already digitised but the administration process is not finished yet. I am very pleased that Jonathan's material is also noticed. Hopefully Jonathan's first DX-show (when it was still called DX Jukebox) will be online in a few weeks time. For DX-ers who can understand Bahasa Indonesia the blog contains a lot of material of 1997-1999 from Dx-Komunikasi. It is a very interesting period because the radio stations in Indonesia became more free and Asbari Krishna followed this process. If people want to hear MP3-files of those entries I'm happy to please them, hopefully in return for a short description of the programme in English :-) (Martien Sleutjes, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, via Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. TRYING TO RESUSCITATE KADUNA SHORTWAVE TRANSMITTER a.k.a.: FRCN Commissions FM Radio for Hausa Listeners in Kaduna http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200803070292.html Daily Trust (Abuja) http://dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4122&Itemid=59 NEWS Posted to the web 7 March 2008 --- By Abdulraheem Aodu, Kaduna The Federal Radio Corporation Nigeria (FRCN) otherwise known as Radio Nigeria Kaduna yesterday commissioned another Frequency Modulation (FM) station to transmit exclusively to listeners in Hausa language. Speaking while commissioning the new station, Minister of State for Information and Communication, Malam Ibrahim Dasuki Nakande said the new station is not a Hausa station but a station for Hausa speakers and listeners, adding that with about 16 million Hausa speakers in West Africa alone there is the need for more media stations to meet their needs. Nakande also reiterated government's intention to improve the facilities and services of the station, adding that a new transmitter would soon be installed in its Jaji substation to ensure that it is able to transmit effectively. "I'm happy to be here to commission this FM station which will transmit in Hausa language for Hausa speaking audience. It is not a Hausa station but a station that transmits to Yoruba, Igbo and other people who can speak Hausa. The new station will benefit our Hausa speaking listeners, as it is meant to foster progress and development among Nigerians. "The need for Hausa FM station is long overdue because of the increasing number of Hausa speakers across the world. We have over 16 million Hausa speakers in West Africa. This has been exploited by international radio stations that have news and other programmes in Hausa even in North African and Asian countries like Egypt, Libya, Iran. "The Federal Government is doing everything possible to resuscitate the radio station and transmitters that has [sic] gone down, especially the short wave station. We have received a 200 kW transmitter from Japan Development Corporation which we intend to install in Jaji. Government has set up a five-man committee to look into the operation of the FRCN to see how it can discharge its functions effectively," he said. Nakande who presented long service award certificates and gifts to 27 deserving members of staff later inspected structures and facilities at the old radio station before commissioning the new station by featuring in an interview with the zonal Director, Ladan Salihu. He urged the staff to put in their best and aspire for more commendation from the management while commending the Director General of FRCN and the management of Radio Kaduna for the facelift given to its structures which he noted, "has improved its aesthetics drastically." (via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. Re 8-031: Yowza! After seeing Glenn's logging of "hifer" beacon OK, I thought I'd give it a try. Heard between 0300-0315 UT 09MAR08: 3450 OK Oklahoma 300 mw (Map indicates central OK) 4077 MO Oklahoma 200 mw (Map indicates eastern OK Panhandle) 4094 PA Arkansas 200 mw (Map indicates north-central Arkansas) 4112.1 FL Florida 100 mw!! (Map indicates north-central Florida) (Bruce Winkelman, Tulsa, OK, R8, 50 foot wire, ABDX via DXLD) 3449.9 approx., "OK" hi-fer beacon with 300 milliwatts (?) beating noise level at 0406, 0445, 1052, 1143 checks on 9 March. Tnx, Glenn, for the info (Dan Sheedy, CA, R75/EF102040, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Both CW beacons heard pretty well here in the Buffalo area Mar 10 around 0100; 3450 kHz "OK" 34533, 4077 "MO" 35433 (SF=70, A=21, K=3, G1 storms past 24h). Good sigs for the power levels (mW, I guess). Too cold/snowy for much besides playing radio :-). 73 de (Anne Fanelli in Elma NY, ibid.) That makes the Oklahoma beacons pretty much coast-to- coast with less than one watt (gh, DXLD) ** PALAU [and non]. I'm listening to WWFM 89.5 which is a mixture of International Music and Local music. Some announcements (live DJs and commercials) are in their native tongue, others, like Beer commercials, are in English. They have a sister station, KDFM 98.5 which broadcasts all American music, everything from Country to Oldies to Pop/Current Music. Their stream is running at 20K/22kHz Mono and actually sounds pretty good. "The feed is live but the quality is directly proportional to the amount of traffic on the link. The signal originates from Palau and goes via satellite to a downlink in Canada. From there it is routed to the NetEnterprise Windows Media Servers in Hawaii for live streaming." To check out the station online, go to http://www.palauradio.com The listen live link is in the Upper right hand corner of the screen, in Windows Media Player streaming format. For those of you who don't have or don't like WMP, just take the MMS address and if you have Winamp 5.x or better, it WILL work in that! The Station is owned by Retired US Army Sergeant (27 years of service, he is now 57) Alfonzo Díaz, who is also a Senator in Palau who says, "dissemination of information to the public is of the essence". Both his FM stations utilize Crown 500 Watt Transmitters with Omnia 3FM audio processors, Electrovoice RE 27 Microphones and a 12 Channel Mackie 1402 VLZ Pro in the studios. Automation is "DJ PRO" from Italy. He has a Sister in Augusta, Georgia (about an hour from me, to the Southwest). When he visits her later this year, he has promised to stop by and visit me here at WABV! Regards, (Paul B. Walker, Jr., http://www.walkerbroadcasting.com http://www.wabv1590.com ABDX via DXLD) WWFM? Must be a made-up callsign. The prefix for Palau is T8 --- just ask KHBN! Seriously, Palau is really a hybrid place, partly USA and partly not. The real WWFM is noncommercial in New Jersey, classical and also satellite feeds some translators in Colorado, I believe. http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?list=0&facid=41194 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Yup, I'm very aware of the 'real" WWFM. Their other FM is KDFM 98.5 and the "real" KDFM is on 103.3 in Falfurrias, Texas owned by Paulino Bernal (Paul B Walker Jr, ibid.) Glenn, when you are on the net you can call yourself anything. Hell on the over the air radio you can call yourself by any call sign until the top of the hour. Times are changing, brother. Might not be what we are used to but it sure ain't the same (Kevin Redding, AZ, ibid.) A classic almost local example of this is 780 CFDR Halifax [HRM] NS which calls itself KIXX. Wrong country, wrong coast. http://www.780kixx.ca/ I'm of the old school - I like call letters, not cute animal names like Big Dog [CKTO], Kat Kountry [CKTY], The Fox [CFXU, where I worked a million years ago :)], The Hawk [CIGO] etc. (Phil Rafuse, PEI, ibid.) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 1725 kHz, GA, PNG beacon, weak, 1359 UT. 1737 kHz, KUT, PNG beacon, weak, 1358 UT. Miskeying constantly without the same ident twice in a row, with occasional proper "KUT" ident (Steve, NE Oregon, R75, longwires, Ratzlaff, March 9, IRCA via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. RRI now has with two main services: RRI1, Romania in Direct, features broadcasts in Aromanian (for Romanians in Macedonia), Romanian and on Sundays a special Romanian programme called ``Doar Dominical``. RRI2, Radio Bridges, broadcasts in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Ukrainian and English. English schedule is: 0100-0200 Am 6145 9515 0400-0500 Am 6115 9515, SAs 9690 11895 0630-0700 Eu 7180 9690, Au 15135 17780 1300-1400 Eu 15105 17745 1800-1900 EU 7215 9640 2130-2200 Eu 6055 7145, Am 6115 9755 2300-2400 Eu 6015 7105, Am 6115 9610 Reports to engl @ rri.ro (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, March BDXC Communication via DXLD) ** SAN MARINO [non]. S. MARINO. PATTO A ROMA, RADIOTV DEL TITANO SBARCA IN ITALIA - INTESA FIRMATA CON D'ALEMA. STOLFI: "E' UN OTTIMO ACCORDO" San Marino RadioTv sbarca in Italia. Grazie all'accordo sottoscritto oggi dal ministro degli Esteri sammarinese, il segretario di Stato Fiorenzo Stolfi, e il titolare della Farnesina, Massimo D'Alema, l'emittente di Stato di San Marino arrivera' sulle frequenze in chiaro del digitale terrestre italiano. Soddisfatto Stolfi: "E' un ottimo accordo - spiega all'agenzia Dire - che conferma i rapporti esistenti tra i due Paesi e costituisce la premessa positiva per ulteriori accordi in campo economico e culturale". L'accordo siglato oggi a Roma ha una durata quinquennale al termine della quale l'intesa sara' rinnovata tacitamente di biennio in biennio, salvo disdetta da una delle due parti. "Cinque anni - sottolinea Stolfi - consentono spazio e condizioni per programmare uno sviluppo costante nel tempo per San Marino Rtv". Rispetto alla precedente intesa, siglata nel 1992, l'accordo elimina il vincolo di esclusiva tra San Marino e Italia: "Resta un'importante collaborazione - sottolinea Stolfi - per quanto riguarda il servizio pubblico radiotelevisivo, ma non piu' in esclusiva. San Marino ora potra' utilizzare anche altre emittenti private". In sostanza, il Titano "recupera la sua sovranita' e una liberta' di movimento che non avevamo". In arrivo per San Marino RadioTv un canale sul digitale e, a breve, anche una presenza sul satellite: "In particolare - sottolinea Stolfi - [this guy sure does a lot of underlining --- gh] una presenza programmatica mirata all'area adriatico-balcanica per la promozione della cultura e dell'immagine dei due Paesi". Un allegato all'accordo siglato oggi a Roma dal segretario di Stato agli Esteri di San Marino e dal ministro degli Esteri italiano, Massimo D'Alema, impegna la Rai a offrire al Titano dei corsi di formazione professionale rivolti a giornalisti, operatori e amministratori dell'emittente di Stato. Sempre in base all'accordo, San Marino Rtv entra a pieno titolo tra le emittenti a cui la tv di Stato italiana puo' affidare la produzione di programmi e contenuti. In cambio, "San Marino concede all'Italia 3 delle 5 frequenze che ha avuto in assegnazione dall'autorita' internazionale delle comunicazioni". Frequenze gia' utilizzate dalla Rai o date in concessione, per cui San Marino Rtv incassera' ogni anno dall'Italia 3 milioni e 94 mila euro. (Dire) (via Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) Ciao! Ringrazio l'amico Roberto Scaglione per la segnalazione "l'accordo prevede la possibilità di una programmazione mirata all'area adriatico-balcanica per la promozione della lingua italiana..." UTILIZZANDO IL SATELLITE ???? oppure SULLE ONDE CORTE ???? oppure SULLE ONDE MEDIE ??? In FM è un po ottimistico immaginare che il segnale di San Marino Radio TV arrivi nell'area Balcanica. Sappiamo che il linguaggio "politicese" è sempre complicato da decifrare; ma stavolta mi pare che sia impossibile da decifrare. Agenzia http://www.apcom.net apcom permettendo. DIFATTI NEL SITO DI SAN MARINO RADIO TV ecco il testo ufficiale : http://www.sanmarinortv.sm/politica/default.asp?id=32&id_n=24667 della frase sopra riportata, non c'è traccia. APCOM forse inventa le cose che vuole lei ???? (Dario Monfeirni, Milano, playdx yg via DXLD) Qualcosa mi dice che sia chiaro che per la diffusione si tratti solo delle nuove tecnologie. Per quanto riguarda la fine del monopolio, invece, è un buon augurio... ma le frequenze??? ?? (Roberto Scaglione, ibid.) ** THAILAND. 8743-USB, Bangkok Meteorological Radio, Bangkok, 1008- 1012, March 08, English, Interval signal, ID by male as: "...this is Bangkok Meteorological...", report, 25432. Reported at 1035 on 6765- USB with 25442 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. Radio Ukraine International Summer A08 Broadcasting Schedule (30 March 2008 - 26 October 2008) Time UTC Freq Txer Site Azimuth Target Area 0000-0500 7530 Kharkiv 055 Russia 0500-0800 9945 Kharkiv 290 Western Europe 0800-1300 11550 Kharkiv 277 Western Europe 1300-1700 7530 Kharkiv 055 Russia 1700-2100 7490 Kharkiv 290 Western Europe 2100-2400 7510 Kharkiv 290 Western Europe 2300-0400 7440 Lviv 303 Northeastern America Power of transmitters: in Kharkiv - 100 kW; in Lviv - 600 kW. Transmission schedules in various languages are as follows: ENGLISH (one hour long): 0000 & 0300 7440 kHz, 0500 9945 kHz; 0900 & 1100 11550 kHz; 1400 only via satellite; 1900 7490 kHz; 2100 7510 kHz. GERMAN (one hour long): 1700 & 2000 7490 kHz; 2300 7510 kHz. UKRAINIAN programmes are transmitted at all times except for the times reserved for English and German programmes, as shown above. ROMANIAN (half an hour long): at 1700, 1930 & 2100 on 657 kHz (via Chernivtsi 25 kW). All these transmissions are available also in Real Audio and in audio mp3 files on our Website http://www.nrcu.gov.ua and on satellite "Sirius 4": 5 degrees East, horizontal polarization, 11766 MHz, SR 27.500 Ms/s, FEC 3/4, channel RUI. This schedule is subject to changes (Via Alexander Yegorov, 7th Mar 2008) (Alokesh Gupta, March 9, dxldyg via DXLD) ** UKRAINE. RUI sent QSL for a report on 9950, received in 30 days with Ukraine stamps on the envelope (nice to get a stamp on an envelope). No reply postage with my report. View on card shows panoramic view upon St. Andrews Church and the castle of Richard the Lionheart. Address: R. Ukraine International, Kreschatic 26, Kyiv, Ukraine (Edwin Southwell, England, QSL Report, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ?? Are those scenes really in Ukraine?? (gh, DXLD) ** U K. Status of BBCWS frequencies in Italy after the Feb 18 European Service cuts: 5875 --- good after 1800 6195 --- good after 1800 9410 --- not received so far at any time 11665 --- fair to 1700, good with excellent peaks after 1700 with Focus on Africa at 1709. After 1800, WYFR is heard here on 11665. 12095 --- fair to good in early morning around 0600, excellent in afternoon after 1500 15485, 15565 and 15575 --- not received so far at any time 17640 --- good to excellent in early morning around 0600, fair after 1500 (not same programme as 12095) All in all, not bad for a station which no longer broadcasts to Europe. But I now wonder whether DRM has any future at all. If Europeans have turned away from shortwave listening, can the reason really be that local like --- tho analogue --- reception on, say 9410 and 12095 was not really good enough to listen and with DRM they will flock round the receivers? I doubt it (Stefano Valianti, Southern European Report, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** U S A. Contrary to my predixions, WWCR had already shifted to DST scheduling before 2 am CST March 9! At 0645 UT, WORLD OF RADIO was in progress on 3215 instead of 0730 winter timing. So exactly when do they make the switch? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re my previous comment: I don`t know about 1230 Sat, but on Sunday morning March 9, DXing With Cumbre on WHRI was underway at 1435 UT on 11785, the hour previously occupied by Hmong Lao Radio which I assume but have not confirmed, shifted to 1300-1400 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. 4965, CVC, 0448-0458:30*, March 8, in English; rap and EZL Christian songs, talking about religion, singing "Radio Christian Voice" jingle at sign-off; fair-good (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. 5915, ZNBC/Radio 1, 0247-0301, March 8, Fish Eagle IS, choral Anthem, drums and singing, in vernacular, fair. 6165, ZNBC/Radio 2, 0247-0301, March 8, Fish Eagle IS, instrumental Anthem, drums and singing, poor under heavy QRM (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 5954.2, 8/3 2315, UNID con MX LA SS buono (come si fà a dire con certezza che è dal Costa Rica ???) (Roberto Pavanello, Vercelli - Italia. Via Roberto Scaglione, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) Read Raúl Saavedra`s reports about it in DXLD and draw your own conclusions (gh) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ WINTER SWL FESTIVAL UPDATE Saturday's program was excellent with many fine presentations during the day and an enjoyable banquet during the evening. About 160 attended this year's event. Congratulations to Brian Alexander who was selected by the NASWA Executive Council as its recipient of the William P. Eddings Award as the club's member of the year for 2008. I had the pleasure of announcing the award at the Saturday night banquet at the Winter SWL Festival in Kulpsville. For those doing some advance planning, the dates have been set for the next two Winter SWL Festivals. In 2009 we will be gathering in Kulpsville on March 13 and 14. In 2010, the gathering will take place in March 5 and 6. Thanks to Rich Cuff and John Figliozzi and a cast of loyal folks that help make the Winter SWL Festival possible. 73, (Rich D`Angelo, PA, March 9, NASWA yg via DXLD) Congrats, Brian (gh) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ RE: Language Lessons in DXLD 8-030 Radio Exterior de España has had language lessons for about 12 minutes near the end of their hourly broadcast for many, many years. The three volume textbook given to me when I visited REE in 2002, while nice and useful in their own right, do not seem to match the program lesson numbers actually broadcast. Even so, for someone who is studying or has studied Spanish, this program is a good review, and still broadcast Monday to Friday. Deutsche Welle, as Rich mentioned, with “Deutsch -- Warum Nicht?” provided good texts for that series when it was broadcast a few years ago. I have an undated two volume set of these, by Harrad Meese, as well as a two volume set of “Auf Deutsch gesagt,” a “German by Radio Language Course by Rudolf Schneider.” Both are undated, but from the late 1970s to mid 1990s I think. Radio Netherlands had a nice text book and small vinyl record, many years ago (late 1960s) for their “Dutch by Radio” series. During the 1970s Radio Sweden also supplied a nice text for Swedish by Radio. Russian by Radio of a few years ago from the Voice of Russia, sent out small texts as well, but these were not really well organized or useful. I have two volumes, with lessons 9-16 and lessons 17-24. Presumably, the first volume would have more of an English explanation, by volume two, there is very little English, and the rest all in Russian (Cyrillic) alphabet. As I recall, the programs on air were not really too well conducive to really learning Russian either. I am not sure whether this is still broadcast or not, though I heard a session sometime within the last year or two. Radio Australia also had “English by Radio,” largely for Indonesians, going back many years to the 1960s and maybe earlier. A 25th anniversary booklet of Radio Australia (many years ago in the 1970s?) noted that there was a high percentage of officers in the Indonesian Navy who had used these broadcasts from Radio Australia as a primary source of their knowledge of the language, and many more had used it as a secondary source. Certainly most of these language courses offered over the years were somewhat useful, especially if used as secondary sources combined with other texts or formal study. However, to rely strictly on these courses for the information, one would have to be very highly motivated. With languages of another alphabet (as Arabic, Russian, or the Oriental tonal languages) the “self study” method is much more difficult with limited resources, and these are also languages that it is likely to have more difficulty in finding a local college course available. Motivation to learn a language is one thing, but one still needs a coherent text to avoid getting terribly discouraged. All that being said, the printed texts as provided for these courses from Spain, Germany, Holland, and Sweden were of good quality from a self study standpoint and provided a good reference for the independent study of German, Spanish, Dutch, and Swedish (Roger Chambers, Utica, NY, March 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also VENEZUELA I can add one more from long ago: Radio Budapest had a Hungarian by Radio course. Still somewhere in my ``files`` is the mimeographed material to go with it. At least I learned a few words, and the Hungarian phonetic scheme, which still escapes most Euroamericans, even classical music announcers who should feel obligated to learn it. And don`t forget Arabic lessons on R. Cairo, see EGYPT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ DST CHANGE AND "ATOMIC" CLOCKS Hi, all! I was wondering if everyone else (or anyone else) ran into the odd anomaly I noticed this morning after the overnight DST change. Here in St. Louis, MO, at least in my house, *none* of my so-called "atomic" clocks (the ones that supposedly set themselves based on the VLF signal from the NIST in Ft. Collins) changed to reflect the DST update. However, my Eton E1, which uses the HF WWV signals to set its internal clock, NOT the VLF signals, DID change the local time setting correctly. Is this a nationwide phenomenon or is there just some local VLF propagation anomaly? Note that two of my clocks do reliably re-set themselves overnight and also indicate that they are getting good VLF signal strength; they actually sit on windowsills and always seemed to receive well. The other two are wall clocks which I always leave as-is to see if they will re-set automatically, but which usually have to be moved to that same windowsill location the next night to get them to receive a good- enough signal. So I'm wondering if the new DST info at this unprecedented date didn't get correctly programmed into the WWVB VLF transmissions? Anybody see any other info about this on-line? 73, (Will Martin, MO, March 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) At work and at home I have 5 analog "atomic" clocks and three digital clocks. All corrected to DST except one of the digitals, which required a manual switch to DST (Jerry Lenamon, Waco TX, ibid.) I have an analog wall clock and an analog wrist watch that both synch to WWVB. Both of them correctly switched to DST overnight last night (Larry (in Gahanna, Ohio) Cunningham, ibid.) MIDNIGHT MADNESS Re 8-030, ARMENIA: "Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty broadcasts to Armenia are off the air since Saturday midnight and its Internet site has been blocked in a blackout on independent news, imposed as part of a state of emergency that went into effect on March 2." March 2 was Sunday, so did the radio and tv broadcasts get turned off the day before the state of emergency was declared or is the date wrong? Regards (Harry Brooks, North East England, UK, March 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ``Since Saturday midnight`` probably means the start of local Sunday. The Armenians, or whoever wrote this, are as confused as the rest of us about when a new day really begins (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Glenn, Does it make any difference whether it`s UT or local time; surely a new day begins at midnight!? (Harry, ibid.) No, the point is whether ``Saturday midnight`` means the start of Saturday or the end of Saturday. Obviously (?) since it is the boundary, it means neither, is totally ambiguous and such terminology should be avoided (Glenn, ibid.) Glenn, Midnight has always been at the start of the day. 23:59:59 is one day, 00:00:00 is the next day. Put another way, 11:59 (pm) is one day, midnight is the next. I thought it really was obvious. As you say, though, to avoid any ambiguity, it should not be used and the time stated numerically. Regards (Harry, ibid.) We are really splitting hairs here, but hey, that`s what we do! It is common at least in North America, for unthinking people to refer to ``midnight Saturday`` as what happens late Saturday night, not late Friday night. Altho the new day certainly starts at 00:00:00, I still maintain that that is the boundary between two days, and so linking it only to either one of them is incorrect. A nanosecond later you may safely refer to it as belonging to the following day, not the previous day (Glenn, ibid.) When I worked at BBC Monitoring in the 1970's, we never used 0000 at all. Broadcasts ended at 2359, or started at 0001. Not accurate, of course, but it avoided exactly this sort of confusion. When I worked on WRTH, a broadcast ending at midnight was listed as -2400 and one starting at midnight was 0000- (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) Re the reply from Andy --- Just to annoy everyone a little more, and to show that I've nothing else to do - most of my working life was as a railway signalman, and as such, a detailed and accurate log of train movements etc. had to be kept. So, if something occurred at midnight then it had to be recorded as having done so - but not using that word. And so the system that Andy used in the WRTH was what we adopted. It makes sense to me, and I use it to this day. It didn't appear to cause us a problem. And something else that was recorded was that the day and date had changed after midnight - well it has to change sometime doesn't it, whether we actually think of our own day as just continuing into the next without bothering about whether the next starts at midnight or a few seconds afterwards (Noel R. Green, England, March 7, ibid.) So it now appears that this system, i.e. turning 2400 into 2359 and 0000 into 0001, is rather common in the UK. Indeed train movements have to be recorded accurately, and so no German signalman (I was one from 1991 to 2001) would note down times one minute wrong. Enter 2400 for an arriving train before putting the blue line under this entry and stamp in the new date, or first do that and enter 0000 for a train just leaving the station or passing the junction / block post. Here are two examples for variants of the Zugmeldebuch I'm referring to: http://www.stellwerke.de/grund/seite1_7.html And under Meldungen und Vermerke I would have noted "+1" if a train was scheduled to depart at 2359 and left at 0000, one minute late. See the problem? These notes were for the report to the control centre (many different names exists for that), to be dispatched via sets almost identical to those used at GDR radio for talkback. TV schedules running trough to 5 AM or so are the common practice here in Germany as well. Thus at night better no references to "yesterday", thus the described wording "in der Nacht zum", which can be translated as "during the night leading into", maintains a correct specification of the date and avoids at the same time a clash with the perception that the new day has not really started yet (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) Kai, The communications segment of the U.S. Navy and NSA use the 24 hour clock which they determined runs from 0001 to 2359. There's no 2400 minute or 0000 minute. And their time corresponds with UTC (Chuck Bolland, FL, ibid.) Glenn, Could you please read this http://tf.nist.gov/general/misc.htm#Anchor-57026 and let me know what you think, especially paragraph 3. Regards (Harry, March 6, ibid.) Sure, using 0000 vs 2400 is one way around the problem, much preferable to axually making the numbers wrong as in 2359 and 0001 (or, why not 2359:59 and 0000:01?). There really wouldn`t be any problem if people would engage brain first, and be explicit in any of several ways rather than ambiguous. I suspect non-participants in this thread are becoming impatient with us (Glenn, ibid.) Glenn Yes, I think we're done with that discussion, there must be something interesting to listen to on the radio!!! Regards (Harry, ibid.) In fact a discussion of this matter started just two days ago here: http://www.radioforen.de/showthread.php?t=34779 Subject is the practice of Bayerischer Rundfunk to open their news at 00:00 with a time announcement like "es ist 24 Uhr". It appears that the rationale behind this is a point of view that these news conclude their broadcast day before they switch to ARD overnight programming. But most participants agree that it is wrong and must rather be "es ist 0 Uhr". Otherwise: Avoid terms like "yesterday" at night, they are prone to misunderstandings. And be aware of the circumstance that "midnight" is the moment when one day ends and the new day starts, so this term can't be assigned to a specific day. In German also a special phrase "in der Nacht zum xyz" exists for clearly specifying the day for an event in the wee hours. The described method is common practice here in Germany: End at midnight is specified as 24:00 (and only in this case 24:00 is to be used at all), start at midnight as 00:00. Example: A train stops for less than a minute at a station for which both arrival and departure are specified in a timetable. This entry would look as follows: 23.49 an 24.00 -------- ab 0.00 0.07 Likewise a transmission can run from 23:00 to 24:00 or from 00:00 to 01:00. I'm quite surprised about the BBCM practice to "round" such times to 23:59 and 00:01, respectively, since it just makes them one minute wrong (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The new RADIO day in Denmark starts at 5 in the morning - according to the Danish Radio. And it has been like that for years! http://www.dr.dk/tjenester/programoversigten/w3c/epg.asp?seldate=0&seltime=0&media=Radio To compensate for the problems this makes, the 'internal' time schedules go from 05.00 to 28.59 hrs!! Yes, believe it or not ! 73, (Erik Køie, Copenhagen, ibid.) "28.59 hrs" PURE MADNESS (Harry Brooks, England, ibid.) How does that work with digital playout? Has that been modified, or are the computer clocks set five hours behind, and all the playout times automatically adjusted? (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, ibid.) Well, I probably wasn't that correct in my posting, as many - if not all - things changed when the Danish Radio/TV moved to the new location, so I guess that the previously crazy practice was stopped, too. It was used to avoid confusion with the paper work regarding a whole broadcast day (05.00-04.59). But as said, I guess this odd way of thinking has been dropped. The computer clocks were/are 'normal', and at least previously controlled by DCF77 on 77.5 kHz. http://www.dr.dk/OmDR/About+DR/20060703144527.htm 73, (Erik Køie, Copenhagen, ibid.) And Glenn, on my web site we have always listed 12:00 as either Noon or Midnight (neither AM nor PM) and state that as a "convention" we assume that Midnight is the start of a new day (this simplifies it for users who have Tivo's and other recording devices). We elected years ago not to use 0000 or 2400 because we got too many e-mails from users who seemed not to understand (true!) so we stuck to the 12 hour clock. The NIST site has it right though. The reason (I suspect) that TV Guide and some TV web sites and TV networks still use 0500 or 0600 as the start of a day dates to the era when most TV stations weren't 24 hour operations and turned on the transmitter at that hour. It's an antiquated practice (Rob de Santos, Columbus OH, ibid.) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see also CHINA; UK ++++++++++++++++++++ DRM WASTES ENERGY, LESS RELIABLE THAN AM OR SSB DRM continues to be a source of controversial opinions among the world´s mass communications researchers, but there seems to be a consensus about the waste of resources that DRM is causing to the broadcast organizations, many of which are openly talking about severe budget limitations. It is quite contradictory to watch how an international broadcaster spends money in transmitting using DRM signals that have practically no listeners, while at the same time cutting back programs and language services that do have a well established audience, fully equipped with short wave radios that are working perfectly well. The worst thing that is happening now is that there are no DRM capable receivers available at a competitive cost, and event the DRM receivers that do exist are as hard to find as the proverbial extinct DODO bird. If DRM wants to really survive, it must find financing for producing a high quality low cost receiver that could flood the world marketplace. That should be the number one objective of the DRM Consortium if they really want DRM to be successful. Instead of encouraging broadcasters to waste their limited resources in buying new DRM capable transmitters and put them on the air for many hours every day with no listeners picking up those broadcasts at the other end. Someone must advise the Consortium about both basic marketing and audience research. Just recently a well known Cuban senior engineer and university professor commented to me that the DRM basic transmission mode for short wave was showing very poor performance even at what he described as ideal distances for HF broadcasting. Professor José Ángel Amador played back to me recordings of DRM broadcasts from the Montsinéry site of Radio France International, that showed frequent totally silent periods as propagation conditions changed abruptly between Montsinéry and Havana, changing from single hop to double hop back and forth. Professor Amador´s findings coincide very well with what I witnessed several years ago in South Africa when experimental DRM broadcasts from the Sines, Portugal site were sent beaming to Johannesburg. Instead of the slow fading typical of such a long path multiple hops propagation observed with AM signals, the DRM was either heard with good quality or just vanished, making it impossible to follow the program content because of the silence periods. The Montsinery to Havana path studied by Professor Amador is just another solid evidence that even if and when receivers are available, DRM broadcasts on short wave are much less reliable and less user friendly than standard AM and even than Single Side Band suppressed carrier signals !!! Your comments and opinions of DRM are invited; send them to arnie @ rhc.cu and if you wish them to be put on the air just tell me in your e-mail. I do believe that it is about time that broadcasters that are testing DRM without listeners bring those tests to an end in order to save energy and reduce radio frequency pollution, as well as CO2 emissions that result from the generation of electricity that is wasted powering up those DRM transmitters. My point of view is that if a station puts a signal on the air that can be heard somewhere, the energy and resources invested are well worth the effort --- but why waste so much resources sending out DRM broadcasts that nobody can hear? (Arnie Coro, Radio amateur CO2KK, Radio Havana Cuba, Dxers Unlimited´s weekend edition for 8-9 March 2008, dxld via DX LISTENING DIGEST) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO LEAGUE TAKES TOUGH STANCE AGAINST BPL Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1595 - March 7, 2008 The South African Radio League will be taking a very tough stance in its fight to stop the proliferation of Broadband over Powerline Internet access in that nation. According to a society news release, while the draft regulations for the introduction of what they call Powerline Internet Transmission or PLT go some way to protect the High Frequency radio spectrum from interference the general consensus was that the regulations do not go far enough. SARL says that interference limits, the lack of compulsory notching of the Amateur bands and the inadequate mitigation process were identified as some of the issues left open. The decision was reached following a nationwide net on Sunday, February 24th where the draft PLT regulations and the negative impact the licensing of Powerline Internet Transmission in South Africa will have on HF communication were discussed. The South African Radio League also received input from experts in the field and a major assistance from the ARRL laboratory which has been dealing with BPL interference issues for several years (SARL via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ OTH RADAR INTERFERENCE DES WALSH with a further contribution on over the horizon radar interference sent January 19, which just missed last month`s earlier than usual deadline for items sent via email for Radio Topics: Wolfgang and other are referring to narrow band over the horizon radars which I too often hear, occupying tens of kHz of spectrum at any one time. There's various ones, some pulse, others swishers/sweepers, all with distinctive sounds. But the one I have been referring to is very broadband, like a bad vehicle ignition would be, but concentrated in three broad bands as mentioned before; 7.2 to 9.9 MHz, 12.2 to 15.5 MHz and 18.5 MHz to 24MHz, (27 MHz in the last few days, new sunspot cycle?) I am monitoring at a quiet rural location daytime, but usually not at night when I am in an urban location with that dreadful electronic hash so widespread now. Usually the over the horizon radar is strong around 8 and 21 MHz, making weak signals in the 21 MHz amateur and BC bands very hard to hear. In the 21 MHz broadcast bands signals from broadcasters are presently vary variable, from one or two weak signals to maybe a good day with up to 15, with 3 REE Madrid and a number of Arabic signals quite strong S8+ overriding the pulse interference. This radar then can reach up to over 26 MHz on 'good'days! The aerial I use is a continually wound spiral vertical, with a number of taps for optimum, and is at eaves level and about 3 metres long. I can resonate down to 5 MHz with a series coil and hear 60 metre stations from about 1400 onwards (Chinese and Indian). I think I have said before that it is definitely not local, and is DX and stronger when I hear the myriad of Chinese and other Asian stations in the 6, 7 and 9 MHz bands. I have tried to get some national Amateur Radio organizations and others to act but there seems to be a defeatist/ostrich in the sand attitude as the source seems to be high power transmissions from a large communications base on Hainan Island, China. One American amateur operator said 'aw, let them alone, they`re probably monitoring incoming missiles from PyongYang looking north- east'. So the rest of the world has to tolerate that chuff-chuff-chuff racket all over the HF spectrum. What's the ITU doing? Nothing it seems. I will try to monitor the HF bands when on holiday again soon in SE Spain, where I heard the same signals, even under 'dead' band conditions at night. So I would like anyone with a quiet radio location to erect a vertical aerial and listen, say around 21 MHz frequencies for the pulse noise. So far this January I have heard it 8 days out of 10, and curiously for the first few days the signals in the middle block 12/15 MHz were missing or very weak. So in summation these are DX signals, from far Asia, and are very wideband, and disruptive. I will try to make a directional aerial such as loop to get an idea of the heading, but with the recent wet weather its impossible to get much work done outdoors. Maybe in Spain! (Des Walsh, Ireland, Making Contact, March WDXC Contact via DXLD) OTH RADAR transmissions were observed on 5 Feb from 1300 to 1400 in the range 9925-9980 kHz, probably from Cyprus (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, March BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) AMAZING ARNIE Re CUBA, 8-031: Wow! I am impressed. Not very many people know that there is the Terman & Woodyard version of the Doherty design for DSB AM! The WECO 443A1 and original Continental 315/316 transmitters actually used the Terman and Woodyard circuit, modulated at the output stage, rather than being true Doherty linear amplifiers like the WECO 50's (such as those at KIRO and KSL - I don't know the model # from memory) or the 317C's and other higher power Continentals. Bfd (Ben Dawson, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNAVALABILITY OF LOW POWER, 1-KILOWATT SW TRANSMITTERS: GUATEMALA EXPANSION OF FM BAND: MAYBE NOT A PIPE DREAM? The FCC yesterday released a pretty extensive Report and Order and Notice of Proposed Rule Making on diversification of radio ownership. Most of what they propose was not technical. However: 4. Opening FM Spectrum for New Entrants. One commenter proposed repealing the 3rd-adjacent restrictions *on full-power stations*. I'm not entirely certain the FCC understood what they were asking, as they mentioned they were waiting for Congress to act on their recommendation to repeal the restrictions *on LPFMs*. The Commission says they can't act until Congress does. I'm pretty sure the Act of Congress does *not* prevent the FCC from relaxing these restrictions on full-power stations. This commenter also proposes the city-of-license coverage rules for commercial stations be relaxed to match those for non-commercial outlets, and to allow stations to change their city-of-license to any community located in the same market. Their proposal for relaxing city-of-license changes was later amended to propose that it be permitted *IF* there is another station licensed to the original community that is either a full-power station or LPFM that originates at least 15% of its programming. If there is no such other station, the move would still be permitted *IF* the moving station agrees to pay for the construction and first-year operating expenses of a new LPFM that originates at least 15% of its programming. The Commission denied the requests but implied they'd reconsider the 3rd-adjacent restrictions if Congress allowed them to do so. 9. Permit AM stations to use FM Translators. A commenter proposed this. Of course, there's already a proceeding open on this issue. The Commission says "We expect to issue an order resolving this proceeding soon." B. Share-Time Proposals. A commenter proposed that IBOC stations be allowed to assign the rights to their HD-2 and/or HD-3 channels to a "Socially Disadvantaged Business". The HD-2 operation would be directly licensed by the FCC as a share-time operation. (I don't know where they get the idea of "share-time" from as of course the HD-2 and HD-1 are on the air at the same time. Though maybe they're literally right -- data packets carrying the HD-2 program are interleaved in time with those carrying the HD-1 program, so I suppose you *could* say they're sharing time!) The same commenter proposes allowing a single analog station to split into an "Entertainment Station" and a "Free Speech Station". Two different licenses, independently owned and sharing time. I really don't see anything here that isn't already possible under FCC rules, *if* you can convince the owner of one station to voluntarily give up some hours to share with a new operation on the same frequency. I also don't see anything here that would provide that owner incentive to do so! G. Must-Carry for Class A TV Stations. Right now only a very limited number of Class A stations are eligible for must-carry. The trade association of LPTVs proposed expanding must-carry for Class A stations. The Commission seems to agree this is a good idea but seeks comment as to whether they have the statutory authority to do so. H. Reallocation of TV Channels 5 and 6 for FM Service. An engineering firm filed a proposal to reallocate channels 5 and 6 for FM radio. The Commission seems to think this is a good idea and seeks further comment. (personal opinion: the few DTV stations assigned to these two channels will have serious problems with this. I know WTVF here in Nashville has already ordered (and may already have on hand) a channel 5 DTV transmitter. Their plans are to install this transmitter over the next month or two, test it overnight a few nights, and then on Transition Night plumb it into their existing antenna. If channel 5 is reallocated to FM radio, WTVF will have to seek a new DTV channel, (they can't stay on their interim channel, it's outside core) return their useless channel 5 DTV transmitter, order a new transmitter and antenna for the other channel, and install it. It is unlikely this could be done in time for Transition Day and it would be a BIG extra expense. I think a far better idea would be to reallocate the entire low-band 2-6 spectrum to radio, *on a secondary basis to TV*. In many cities (including Nashville) one or more of these channels could not be used for radio because of DTV or -LP/-CA stations, but it looks like at least two channels could be used pretty much everywhere. (including NYC) Since everyone would need new radios anyway, I see little difference between supporting 76-88 MHz and supporting 54-88 MHz. It would also be a good opportunity to get something going digitally - either Eureka or full-digital IBOC - without worrying about interference to analog or limited coverage (an IBOC station on 87.3 MHz that didn't have to worry about interfering with their own analog could run 100 kW digital power and probably match the coverage of a 100 kW analog FM). So, something interesting *could* come out of this... -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, March 8, WTFDA via DXLD) MONITORING STATIONS ARE LISTED IN FCC REGULATION 0.121: Allegan, Michigan, 42 36'20.1" N. , 85 57'20.1" W. Belfast, Maine, 44 26'42.3" N. , 69 04'56.1" W. Canandaigua, New York, 42 54'48.2" N. , 77 15'57.9" W. Douglas, Arizona, 31 30'02.3" N. , 109 39'14.3" W. Ferndale, Washington, 48 57'20.4" N. , 122 33'17.6" W. Grand Island, Nebraska, 40 55'21.0" N. , 98 25'43.2" W. Kenai, Alaska, 60 43'26.0" N. , 151 20'15.0" W. Kingsville, Texas, 27 26'30.1" N. , 97 53'01.0" W. Laurel, Maryland, 39 09'54.4" N. , 76 49'15.9" W. Livermore, California, 37 43'29.7" N. , 121 45'15.8" W. Powder Springs, Georgia, 33 51'44.4" N. , 84 43'25.8" W. Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico, 18 00'18.9" N. , 66 22'30.6" W. Vero Beach, Florida, 27 36'22.1" N. , 80 38'05.2" W. Waipahu, Hawaii, 21 22'33.6" N. , 157 59'44.1" W. I think most if not all of them are operated by remote control by engineers located elsewhere. -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, NRC-AM via DXLD) The monitoring station in Hawaii is staffed, I think; and because of where it is, AM stations nearby have to limit their power, so I was told (Paul B Walker, SC, ibid.) All of the listed monitoring stations are protected, and not just from broadcasting. The one in Hawaii is probably the only one close enough to broadcast transmitters to be worth worrying about (Doug Smith, W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ RANGE OF GROUNDWAVE ON MEDIUMWAVE Hi all, How far do groundwave signals travel on the mediumwave broadcast band? That is, beyond what distance can MW signals normally be assumed to be arriving via skywave, if there is no unusual terrain along the path? Or is it impossible to generalize, because of differences in transmitter power? (Jeff T. Casey, NE2J, IRCA via DXLD) Jeff, That's a tough one to summarize quickly. Yes, one of the factors is frequency; the lower on the dial, the better, but more importantly, the conductivity of the soil. The FCC years ago published a conductivity map for the US which you can download on their website. It ranges from .5 to 30 over land. Long Island and around Atlanta have some of the worst conductivity. Parts of the Midwest and Texas are at or near 30. As a rule of thumb you occasionally find an area that matches the map but for the most part signal strength measurements show the conductivity is a lot less. Most of Dallas for example is in a 30 but in reality is about a four to a seven. The real champ is the ocean. rated at 5000. A good example, Radio Visión Cristiana in the Turks and Caicos on 530 can be heard along Florida's east coast during the day as far north as St. Augustine, well over 700 miles, thanks to the great conductivity. I have personally listened during midday to WMEN/640 from Royal Palm Beach, Florida, in the Dominican Republic several times, which is pushing 800 miles. About the best you'll find in the US is a low frequency station getting 300 miles ground wave. The more hills in the terrain, the worse the conductivity; flat pasture land with fertile soil is the best, an exception being the Florida Everglades, rated at an eight but more like a 15 due to the swampy soil. Sand makes a lousy conductor, as illustrated by the coastal area from New York to Florida. Where I live, we are in a 15, but a few miles north it's an eight and a few miles west it goes down to a four as you head towards the mountains. The changes come gradually from one conductivity to another (Jerry Kiefer, Roswell, NM, ibid.) ``About the best you'll find in the US is a low frequency station getting 300 miles ground wave.`` As I recently reconfirmed in a midday bandscan here near Enid OK, WGN- 720 Chicago is audible by groundwave. WMAQ-670 used to be before Denver came on. Chicago is almost 700 miles, Denver almost 500. These are very steady if weak signals, not like skywave which occurs on the top of the band on winter days. I get several others well over 300 miles any day, noise level permitting, e.g. WNAX-570 Yankton SD, KWMT-540 Fort Dodge IA. Yes, ground conductivity is shown on the FCC map as 30 around here. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) I don't think one can conclusively determine that such a reception is solely groundwave without determining signal arrival angles. Even at midday there is usually a skywave component which could be operating in the 300 mile plus range (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA ( 360' ASL ), [15 mi NNW of Philadelphia], ibid.) [Later:] We can all provide receptions at 100 miles or more of strong stations at midday. But even with a steady signal that's not really conclusive evidence of groundwave only. Determining a signal's arrival angle is key to determining whether or not there's daytime skywave involved. In winter daytime skywave is practically a given over paths longer than 300-500 miles. In summer, we don't usually hear long distance midday DX unless it's an all-water path. That's a further indication that the winter receptions have a skywave component (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA (360' ASL) [15 mi NNW of Philadelphia, ibid.) I believe I have also managed to hear WGN or WMAQ at summer noon, on a rare noise-quiet day. Will have to try that again, but as I said, NO fading on the WGN-720 signal as you would expect if skywave or partially skywave; while on the same monitoring expedition, 1690 at top end of band, CO or IL, was fading (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It is an interesting question and one that comes up quite often. From many south facing beaches here on Cape Cod, RVC-530 Turks & Caicos can be heard at high noon - at a distance of about 1,380 miles. Does the signal arrive entirely via groundwave or is it a combination of groundwave and daytime skywave? Good question. As someone mentioned, the late Gordon Nelson conducted scientific research on this subject in the late 1960's. Some of his results were published in DX News in an article titled "Skywave or Groundwave Reception?" I believe this article is still available from the NRC (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, MA, ibid.) My best distance midday reception, was KORL-650-10KW-Honolulu, HI (2500 miles over water) heard around 1970. KORL was mixing with KYAK- Anchorage (1800 miles also over water). That would be nil to impossible today with CISL there. No Sacramento CA on 650 then either. I also heard several Midwesterns (WMAQ, WGN, WBBM, WLS, WHO, etc.) around 1 PM Pacific time back in the early 70s too. In those days I had a 600 foot longwire running N/S. In recent years around 2000 I logged around 2 PM or so in mid winter, KATQ-Plentywood MT, KFTI- Wichita KS, and Houston TX. So long haul Midday Winter DX can be had (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, ibid.) I guess the problem is determining what is ground wave and what is skywave especially during a winter day in the northern part of the USA, or any part of Canada. If there's any amount of fading over less than a few minutes, it's generally thought that there's a skywave component. There's several scientific publications that I've seen that address MF groundwave from a theoretical standpoint; one --- NTIA Report 99-368: Medium Frequency Propagation Prediction Techniques and Antenna Modeling for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Broadcast Applications by Nicholas DeMinco, available at http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/pub/ntia-rpt/99-368/ --- says "At 0.5 MHz over average ground, the ground wave predominates over the sky wave from the transmitter site out to distances of about 150 km, where the two signals are equal. The signals add as vectors, and destructive and constructive interference can occur. At distances beyond 150 km the sky wave is the predominant signal. At a signal frequency of 1.5 MHz, the distance where the two signals are equal reduces to 45 km, because of the increased loss at the higher frequency." Given the above figures, I'm not sure how I received CBK-540 here in Victoria at 2 PM local on a mid-July afternoon (1 PM sun time, given it was daylight saving time then); I wouldn't have expected much skywave then. The references in the above publication will give you a wealth of sources, some of them stiff with mathematics. Other publications http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/pub/ntia-rpt/86-203/index.php http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/reports/1978-07.pdf The FCC's AM groundwave field strength graphs: http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/73184/index.html Gordon Nelson's article, "Skywave or Groundwave Reception", National Radio Club reprint P9 http://www.nrcdxas.org/ addressed the problem of identifying which is which for the DXer, and was an initial introduction to long haul groundwave propagation for me. The other Gordon Nelson article very relevant to groundwave reception: "Limits of Midday MW-DX", National Radio Club reprint P11. Of course, local noise levels have increased since that article was written over 30 years ago, so our mileage may well vary from his predictions. Hope this helps. Best wishes, (Nick Hall-Patch, Victoria, BC, Canada, ibid.) From NW Iowa I could hear 9 states regularly in the daytime. The most distant were probably the 3 big Chicago stations, WMAQ, WGN & WBBM. I couldn't hear WLS daytime. KFYR-550 ND was a regular with good signal. WCCO-830 was strong but I could not receive KSTP-1500 daytimes. Also 560 & 630 were vacant both in the 50s & the 80s when I listened. Sunset dx was really superb from NW Iowa (Don Kaskey, S.F. CA, ibid.) Nick, You are right, in Dec/Jan, I often have trouble finding a period in the middle of the day(Noon) where I can find no skip, as adjusting the pots on my EWEs get tricky. That is one reason I went with the 2.5K ohm ones rather than the 5K ohm. I don't have to touch up the 2.5K ohm ones often. I am sure in Dec/Jan skip happens 24 hours a day here, or at least 22- 23 hours. I have heard the old China 1040 as late at 1045 PST and the carrier was still there at Noon! This was back in the 70s. Then this Winter, I heard JOIB/JOUB often after 1000 PST in the Winter. Also JOHR-1287. Sapporo being so far North. CBK is a regular here most of the year during the day too. So Midday skip this far North in the Winter is influenced by skip. No doubt about that. 73, (Patrick Martin, OR, ibid.) Glenn, 300 miles on gw? In July during the day, I would guess there is no skip, or it would be rare, and yet KGO/KNBR/KCBS are all regulars at 550 miles. KFI is occasionally received during the Summer (When they had their old tower), so I would take a guess that gw does go out farther than 300 miles (Patrick Martin, OR, ibid.) CBK (about 70 mi N of Regina) is surrounded by great ground and I seem to recall them claiming to get improved results from having double the normal number of ground radials? Anyway, they go 700 miles for sure on groundwave weakly, on a good radio. Summer reception near Park Rapids, NW MN, on a portable. That 100 mi or so limit for *average* ground may be true? WLW can be heard weakly days in SE MN, about 650 miles. Cleveland on 1100 put a weak carrier into MN & NE daytimes, many years ago. We had a car radio that could get summertime mid-day reception of some Chicago stations in Northeastern SD, about 550 miles. WCCO is one of the strongest signals in parts of Eastern SD during the day 200+mi. WNAX-570 SD day primary almost reaches Minneapolis, about 200 miles. Omaha on 590 very readable, almost 300 mi, on SRF-59 barefoot. Several Kansas City stations weakly days, almost 450 miles, with loop. As we go up the dial WHO-1040 easily readable at 225 miles. KXEL-1540 also at 175 mi. Local KYMN-1080 on the 11 watts night, has a good groundwave strength at 25 miles, but some QRM most nights. But I've been in W NC where a station on 580 had a day primary of 15- 20 miles, and a 7 mile distant graveyarder could not be detected in the mess at night. 73, (George Sherman, MN, ibid.) While working the Oklahoma QSO Party today, I found this web-site with where daytime MW stations are sometimes heard at up to 300 miles in northeast Oklahoma. He also shows the measured frequencies exact to a millionth of hertz, which I though was very interesting. http://k5cm.com/AM%20BR0ADCAST%20STATIONS.htm Does anyone know of similar websites for other parts of the country??? JM 73 de (KJ8O, Joe Miller, Troy, Mich., Grid EN-82, March 9, NRC-AM via DXLD) Wow, the answers to my question about the maximum distance medium wave signals can travel via groundwave turned out to be far more complex, variable, and fascinating than I ever expected! Thanks very much to all who responded -- I've learned a great deal from your comments and the invaluable online resources to which you directed me. I hadn't thought about the effects on groundwaves of variables such as soil conductivity or differences in propagation between the lower and higher frequency segments of the AM broadcast band (I'm used to thinking in terms of the ham bands, which are narrow enough that propagation doesn't differ appreciably between the two ends of a band). One thing that is clear is that, unlike on VHF and UHF, groundwave bears little relation to line-of-sight. The maximum line-of-sight distance (to the horizon) over flat terrain from the top of a 300 ft. tower is only about 37 miles. A station 300 miles distant is nearly half a mile below the horizon, and a station 1,000 miles away is more than 1.5 miles below the horizon [surely more than that? --- gh]. So, the earth, especially in areas covered by saltwater (which, of course, has extremely high conductivity), apparently acts like an RF- attracting magnet, which causes medium wave signals to "adhere" to it as they travel as far as the surface conductivity and the station's effective radiated power (ERP) will take them. Maybe it's a bit more accurate to say that groundwaves actually travel *in* the ground, near the surface, as if the earth's surface is a wire that has a certain amount of resistance, where the number of ohms is an inverse function of the soil's (or the water's) conductivity. This idea helps to explain the reception at high noon in July of stations 1,000+ miles of ocean away, because it implies that there is no limit to how far groundwaves can travel, if the station's ERP is sufficient to overcome the losses caused by the surface resistance of the earth along the path to the receiver. However, since surface conductivity (and resistance) presumably do not change significantly over time (except when it rains or floods?), it would seem that a signal arriving only via groundwave should come in either 24/7 or never (assuming no changes at the transmitter site). So, I would think that a signal that is heard at noon on some days but not others must be arriving via skywave only, but maybe I'm neglecting some important factor. [noise level, especially T-storms on MW --- gh] Someone with a deeper technical understanding please correct me if I'm on the wrong track here, as I may be way off or presenting a grossly incomplete picture. One thing in particular that I don't fully understand is why high surface conductivity (including the radial system beneath a vertical antenna) enhances skywave, as well as groundwave, propagation. Thanks again to everyone who has chimed in on this very interesting subject. 73, (Jeff NE2J (formerly WB5GWB) T . Casey, Long Island, NY, IRCA via DXLD) LONG HAUL TRANSEQUATORIAL FM DX, CARIBBEAN TO SOUTHERN BRASIL [I had been wondering why no such reports had appeared in February when this usually starts --- gh] Olá amigos. Fiquei um bom tempo sem ouvir FMs caribenhas por aqui, mas não sei o motivo. Alguma coisa aconteceu com a Propagação transequatorial que não me permitiu ouvir as caribenhas por aqui. Ontem e nessa madrugada tive a grata alegria de voltar a ouvir as FMs do Caribe. A TEP trouxe sinais de novas FMs. Uma dessas novas FMs caribenhas é a ZJF de Antigua & Barbuda. Descobri com o auxílio da Internet que ela se chama Radio Saint John's, mas não achei o seu e- mail (caso ela tenha um). Alguém sabe o endereço eletrônico dela (ou o postal)? 73! SAINT VINCENT & THE GRENADINES 96.7, 0155 29/02 Nice FM, Kingstown, OM, nxs, EE 23332 96.7, 0204 08/03 Nice FM, Kingstown, mx caribenha, EE 45333 99.9, 0301 09/03 WE FM, Kingstown, mx caribenha, EE 44333 GUADELOUPE 97.0, 0206 08/03 RFO, Basse-Terre, OM, nxs, FF 45333 97.0, 0405 09/03 RFO, Basse-Terre, YL, nxs, FF 44333 MARTINICA 94.0, 0207 08/03 RFO, Trinité, mx caribenha, FF // 94.3 MHz 45233 94.3, 0210 08/03 RFO, Morne-Rouge, mx caribenha, FF 45233 TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 94.1, 0211 08/03 Love FM, Trinidad, mx caribenha, id OM: "Love FM", EE 35233 UNID 94.7, 0227 08/03 Unid (CBC - Barbados??), mx, YL, EE 25232 103.7, 0237 08/03 Unid (Hitz FM??), mx 33333 97.3, 0330 09/03 Unid (Radio Santa Lúcia??), mx romântica em EE, idioma EE?? 43333 92.7, 0411 09/03 Unid, mx caribenha c/ coral, idioma?? 34333 ANTIGUA & BARBUDA 102.7, 0240 08/03 ZJF - Radio Saint John's, Saint John's, mx caribenha, id OM: "ZJF Radio" 44333 97.1, 0333 09/03 ZDK - Liberty Radio International, Saint John's, mx caribenha, id OM: "ZDK -------", EE 45333 Receptores: Sony ICF SW 7600G e Degen DE1103. Antena: Sony AN71. (Rubens Ferraz Pedroso, March 9, Bandeirantes - Paraná, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) ###