DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-034, March 14, 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 1399 Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 1630 WWCR3 12160 Sun 0230 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1515 WRMI 7385 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 ** ABKHAZIA. 10/3 0809, 9535 // 9494.7 kHz, prob. R. ABKHAZIA - Soxum. Musica locale e talk OM/YL. Segnale sufficiente-buono. Allora hanno 2 trasmettitori. Alle 0830 era già spenta (Luca Botto Fiora, Rapallo (Genova), G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, DE 1103 rx, playdx yg via DXLD) Or one plus a spur (gh, DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [and non]. Radio Solh: Online PUSHTO Music. Re 8-033: Hi Glenn, I hope you are fine. In continuation of my earlier reply on Radio Solh I would like to inform that you can find a lot of Pushto Music at the following link http://www.musafar.com/index_004.htm Give it a try. So far as Dari component of Radio Solh is concerned I may add for you information that although to non-speakers Pushto and Dari may sound similar to each other, in fact these are totally different languages. A Dari speaker can hardly understand what is being said in Pushto. But I have had done courses in Dari and can speak, read and write Dari in addition to Persian, Arabic, Hindi, Bangla, Nepali, Gujrati, French and a couple of Pakistani local languages. So it was observed that what was being said in Dari was also similar to the Pushto component of Radio Solh. I have noted thru monitoring Radio Solh from last few days that the same program is repeated daily as has been observed by you as well. Coming to Dari music I must admit that it has more catchy tunes as compared to Pushto. Historically Pushton (Pushto speaking) society has been more conservative as compared to Dari. Music was not encouraged by Pushton society and it does not have an established tradition of classical music. Most of Pushto music is folk music (Aslam Javaid, Lahore, Pakistan, March 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I wonder if you could check the US Psyops station Radio Solh from Afghanistan on 6700. They seem to be rather irregular, but at times logged here during UT afternoon 1400 before/after. If you can catch them, it would be most interesting to see if they announce the station location. They're mostly music but around H+25 onwards there's at times IDs and BOH news. The language of course is Dari and/or Pashtu (Jari Savolainen, Finland, to Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, DXplorer Mar 13 via BC-DX Mar 15 via DXLD) Aslam has also been asked (gh) ** ALGERIA [non]. Radio Algeria - Holy Qur'an - noticed on 7375 (parallel with 5915, 7295 and 9850) at tune in after 2100 UT with a very strong signal on Tues. and Wed., March 11 and 12. I assume that this is a new frequency as I don't remember seeing it mentioned in DXLD or listed anywhere else to my knowledge. Radio Algeria. Further to my report on March 12, 7375 was also noted from tune in after 2000 UT to 2100, Thursday, March 13 (parallel to 9455 and 11815) and on top of Radio Farda. Time pips at 2100, then the national anthem and now parallel to 5915, 7295 and 9850 (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7375 not in HFCC, but after 2100, 5915 is Rampisham, 7295 is Issoudun, and 9850 is Skelton. See also DXLD 8-014, where RTA was testing at Janend at other times via various Merlin and DTK sites. Of course TDF now owns DTK, so there is further confusion. Maybe 7375 is another test frequency from somewhere (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. La noche del eclipse de Luna total: el 20 al 21 de febrero, fueron verificados los programas de Radio Argentina para el Exterior, pero fueron oídos sólo las siguientes emisiones: en 15346 kiloherzios, a las 1800 horas, en italiano; a las 1900 horas, en francés; a las 2000 horas en alemán y a las 2100 horas en español. A las 2300 horas, la frecuencia cambió a 11711 kilohercios y fue radiado un programa en portugués. Entre las 0100 y las 0300 horas, no fueron oídas las habituales emisiones en inglés y francés. La frecuencia de 11710 kiloherzios es utilizada también por China. Fuente: Radio Bulgaria Por: (Rumen Pankov http://www.bnr.bg/RadioBulgaria via Antônio Schuler, noticiasdx yg via DXLD I hope you are not implying that the lunar eclipse had anything to do with this reception. Would you not hear the same the day before or after, ionospheric propagation conditions permitting? (gh, DXLD) ** ARMENIA [non]. RFE/RL denigrates shortwave as it admits it is forced to resume it for Armenia which closed its FM relays: 1500-1600 on 9830 and 11695 [site now known: both Biblis, Germany](Glenn Hauser, March 12, WORLD OF RADIO 1399 and DX LISTENING DIGEST) "Outmoded" shortwave and blogs bring uncensored information to Armenia (updated). Shortwave was never "moded." It was never the popular medium of choice. Shortwave has always been the frequency of necessity, to get programs into remote parts of one's own country, or into countries where that content is not allowed, or otherwise unavailable, through the domestic media. That was the case in the Armenia of the USSR, and it has become the case again in the past few days. Shortwave is "remoded." And it remains necessary for such occasions. Posted: 13 Mar 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, much more: http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=3516 via DXLD) I'll have a look to 9825 RL Turkmen / 9830 RL Armenien [ \\ latter 11695] at 1500-1600 UT, both from Biblis on similar target. Very Strange! RL Turkmen on 9825, and n e w RL Armenian on 9830 to similar target at very same time 1500-1600 UT ??? Adjacent channel usage, both countries are only 500 miles apart. 9825 noted another program on co-channel too: most likely R. MIRAYA FM 1500-1800 Arabic/English 150 kW 140 degr Rimavska Sobota SVK IRRS UNMISS in B07. 9830 suffered by co-channel CNR-1 program 0850-1735 UT in Chinese 100 kW 175 deg from Beijing. There aren't many clear frequencies on 9 MHz in our local afternoon, but even so, RL on 9825 and 9830 at the same time to the same area does seem a very strange choice! (Wolfgang Büschel, Mar 12/13, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 15 via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. RA is still annoying us by cutting off the 5-minute Perspective commentary in the middle, such as Thursday March 13 at 1358 on 6020, over to Waltzing Matilda as frequency is about to close, with 5995, 6080 and 7240 coming up. This also happens on 9580 but I was not quick enough to retune to 9590 this time for the rest of the commentary, nor should anyone have to. What we do have to do is go here: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/perspective/default.htm and download the talx, or even read the transcripts. This is a M-F show, but it seems RA only runs it as an expendable filler at 1355 on UT Thursdays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 4835, ABC-Alice Springs, 2150-2210, March 13 & 14, heard a very weak/threshold signal past two nights here. Announcers with an Australian or British accent. Pop music. Too weak to catch an ID but definitely // 4910-Tennant Creek with a very weak/threshold signal also (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. From the ABC website: This is official confirmation of the sale of the majority of Tasmanian commercial radio stations to an unknown outfit, Grant Broadcasters. As the news item states, no major changes are expected in the short term. This leaves Macquarie with the two Hobart FM licenses. Here in northern Tasmania, 7LA and TAB radio are on 89.3 and 90.1 and simulcasting with their existing AM channels of 1098 and 1008. TAB radio has already indicated they will be switching off 1008 very soon. 7LA will have a 60 day period before they finally dim 1098 but no indications when that 60 day period commences (Robin L. Harwood, Norwood Tasmania 7250, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tas radio stations sold --- Posted 1 hour 6 minutes ago Nine Tasmanian radio station licences have been sold by their owner, the Macquarie Media Group. Grant Broadcasters has bought the licences for an undisclosed sum. The licences are: 7LA in Launceston; Sea-FM and Heart 7BU in Burnie; Sea-FM and Heart 7AD in Devonport; Aus-FM and West Coast 7XS in Queenstown; and in Scottsdale, Sea-FM and Heart 7SD. The sales were ordered by the Competition and Consumer Commission, and the Australian Communications and Media Authority, after Macquarie bought the Southern Cross Broadcasting company late last year. Macquarie retains its two Hobart-based FM licences, Sea-FM and Heart- FM. Grant Cameron from Grant Broadcasters says his company will keep existing staff, and is not planning any big changes to existing formats. "We're continuing with the current programming that people are familiar with and used to, so I think we'll be seeing a lot of the same sort of thing, and we're not planning to come in and start pulling rugs out from anything and upsetting apple carts," he said. (via Radio Monitor and Electronic Media Observer, Robin L. Harwood, Norwood Tasmania 7250, ibid.) ** BOLIVIA. 4733: While looking for R. Palabra I heard a program called R. Universitaria on the QRG of R. Palabra. After 2300 UT a man presented Spanish pops giving phonenumber for listeners to call. After 2330 UT ads followed by ID as "Radio Universitaria la mejor opción" at 2334. Although the signal went off for around 3 minutes it was good and improved during listening. SIO: 343 (Jan 19 2008) (Zeljko Crncic, touring in Ecuador, March 9, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 15 via DXLD) Usually reported on 4732, slightly variable but not that much (gh, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4781.14, presumed R. Tacana, 1013-1028, Mar 10, Spanish. M announcer between musical selections; poor-weak with CODAR; unusable by bottom of hour (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. See GHANA [non] ** BULGARIA. Dear Mr. Hauser, the new schedule of R. Bulgaria A-08 You may find please on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/open_dx/message/16479 73s, (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, March 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) In keeping with its name, open dx yg archives are accessible to non- members, and you may find other things of interest, altho most of the posts are in Russian. I believe Rumen uses Romanized Russian for some reason, tho one would think Bulgarian would suffice. The RB sked is the same as this: (gh, DXLD) RADIO BULGARIA, Summer schedule from March 30 to October 26, 2008 ALBANIAN 0530-0600 Mon-Fri Balkans 1224, 7400 0600-0700 Sat/Sun Balkans 1224, 7400 1100-1130 -daily- Balkans 7400 1600-1630 -daily- Balkans 747, 1224, 7400 1900-2000 -daily- Balkans 747, 1224, 7400 BULGARIAN 0000-0100 -daily- South America 7400, 9400 0000-0100 -daily- North America 9700, 11700 0430-0500 Mon-Fri Balkans 1224, 7400 0430-0500 Mon-Fri East Europe 7200, 9400 0430-0500 Mon-Fri West Europe 7200, 9400 0400-0500 Sat/Sun Balkans 1224, 7400 0400-0500 Sat/Sun East Europe 7200, 9400 0400-0500 Sat/Sun West Europe 7200, 9400 1000-1030 -daily- Balkans 7400 1000-1030 -daily- East Europe 11600, 13600 1000-1030 -daily- West Europe 11700, 15700 1200-1400 -daily- Balkans 1224 1200-1400 -daily- West Europe 11700, 15700 1500-1600 -daily- Balkans 1224, 7400 1500-1600 -daily- East Europe 7200, 9400 1500-1600 -daily- Middle East 13800 1500-1600 -daily- South Africa 15800 1800-1900 -daily- Balkans 747, 1224, 7400 1800-2000 -daily- Middle East 9800 1800-2000 -daily- West Europe 11800 ENGLISH 0200-0300 -daily- North America 9700, 11700 0630-0700 -daily- West Europe 7200, 9400 1130-1200 -daily- West Europe 11700, 15700 1730-1800 -daily- West Europe 7200, 9400 2100-2200 -daily- West Europe 5900, 9700 2300-2400 -daily- North America 9700, 11700 FRENCH 0100-0200 -daily- North America 9700, 11700 0600-0630 -daily- West Europe 7200, 9400 1100-1130 -daily- West Europe 11700, 15700 1700-1730 -daily- West Europe 7200, 9400 2000-2100 -daily- West Europe 5900, 9700 GERMAN 0530-0600 -daily- West Europe 7200, 9400 1030-1100 -daily- West Europe 11700, 15700 1630-1700 -daily- West Europe 7200, 9400 1900-2000 -daily- West Europe 5900, 9700 GREEK 0500-0530 Mon-Fri Balkans 1224, 7400 0500-0600 Sat/Sun Balkans 1224, 7400 1030-1100 -daily- Balkans 7400 1630-1700 -daily- Balkans 747, 1224, 7400 2000-2100 -daily- Balkans 747, 1224, 7400 RUSSIAN 0300-0400 -daily- East Europe 1224, 7200, 9400 0500-0530 -daily- East Europe 7200, 9400 1030-1100 -daily- East Europe 11600, 13600 1400-1500 -daily- East Europe 1224, 7200, 9400 1400-1500 -daily- Central Asia 11700 1600-1630 -daily- East Europe 7200, 9400 1800-1900 -daily- East Europe 5900, 9400 2300-2400 -daily- Central Asia 11600 SERBIAN 0600-0630 Mon-Fri Balkans 1224, 7400 0700-0800 Sat/Sun Balkans 1224, 7400 1130-1200 -daily- Balkans 7400 1700-1730 -daily- Balkans 747, 1224, 7400 2100-2200 -daily- Balkans 747, 1224, 7400 SPANISH 0100-0200 -daily- South America 7400, 9400 0100-0200 -daily- Central America 11600 0600-0630 -daily- South Europe 11800, 15800 1100-1130 -daily- South Europe 11800, 15800 1630-1700 -daily- South Europe 11800, 13800 2100-2200 -daily- South Europe 11800, 13800 2300-2400 -daily- South America 7400, 9400 TURKISH 0500-0530 -daily- Middle East 9800, 11800 1000-1030 -daily- Middle East 9800, 11800 1730-1800 -daily- Middle East 747, 1224, 7400 (via Dino Bloise, dxldyg, tidied-up by Alan Roe, DXLD) ** BURKINA FASO. Yesterday (13th of March) and today 14th of March no broadcast of Radio Burkina on 5030 kHz, not in the morning and neither in the evening (Erich Bergmann, Germany, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 14 via DXLD) ** BURMA [non]. Germany, 5954.93, Democratic Voice of Burma, (Tentative), 2327-0030 March 12-13. When ELCOR went down, this station faded in real quick. Noted a female and male in Oriental language comments. At this writing (2335 UT) the signal was still active. The 0030 time is a projected ending time based on the Passport entry. Signal was poor to fair and continually improving as time progresses (Chuck Bolland, NRD545, Clewiston, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saludos cordiales. ALEMANIA, 5955, Democratic Voice of Burma, 2335- 2340, escuchada el 12 de marzo en birmano a locutora con comentarios; parece que estaba leyendo una carta, se aprecia un silencio y como cambia las hojas, breve intervención de un locutor, SINPO 45544 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), Spain, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, YAESU FRG-7700, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 9625, Northern Quebec Service; 1204, 2/21 Signal has distortion / warble in sync mode. Unstable carrier? Also noted at dxpedition 3/2 (Larry Russell, MI, MARE Tipsheet March 14 via DXLD) ** CANADA. 6250, Radio Canada Int. via Sackville, 0104-0159*, March 14, Spanish programming. Leapfrogging spur of 6100. 6100 leapfrogging over 6175-Voice of Vietnam via Sackville and landing on 6250. 75 kHz separation between each frequency. Reception varied from very weak to very good with deep fades. Occasional RTTY QRM. Not to be mistaken for Equatorial Guinea. 6390, Radio Japan via Sackville, 0203-0230, March 14, Japanese programming. Leapfrogging spur of 5960. 5960 leapfrogging over 6175- Voice or Vietnam via Sackville and landing on 6390. 215 kHz separation between each frequency. Poor to fair. Also noticed 5960 programming bleeding into 6175 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 6250: and on 6025 kHz symmetrical too? (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX via DXLD) Probably, but blown away by QRM; watch out, Amanecer (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. If you haven`t got around to listening to the RCI anniversary segment, as in DXLD 8-026: ``RCI's "The Link" on Feb. 25, 2008: "On this date in 1945, CBC's international service began regular broadcasts on shortwave. We'll learn about the birth and development of the radio service you're listening to now. Jim Craig is here now with his history column On This Day, to take us back to those days of RCI's infancy." The entire show [30 MB] can be downloaded at http://www.radio-canada.ca/radio/baladodiffusion/telechargement2008/thelink/2008/02/thelink-20080225-1547.mp3 Pleasant listening (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, Feb 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` I found it embedded within the file at 24:40-34:28. The segment was also uploaded to the DXLD yg files (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CBC Radio One, Ideas, has been running a long series, no end in sight yet, on Wednesdays = UT Thursdays: HOW TO THINK ABOUT SCIENCE If science is neither cookery, nor angelic virtuosity, then what is it? Modern societies have tended to take science for granted as a way of knowing, ordering and controlling the world. Everything was subject to science, but science itself largely escaped scrutiny. This situation has changed dramatically in recent years. Historians, sociologists, philosophers and sometimes scientists themselves have begun to ask fundamental questions about how the institution of science is structured and how it knows what it knows. David Cayley talks to some of the leading lights of this new field of study. Please note all programs will be available to listen to again in real audio after the episode has aired. Go to CBC Podcasting for the podcast versions of the series. Broadcast Schedule Episode 1 - November 14 - Simon Schaffer Episode 2 - November 21 - Lorraine Daston Episode 3 - November 28 - Margaret Lock Episode 4 - December 5 - Ian Hacking and Andrew Pickering Episode 5 - December 12 - Ulrich Beck and Bruno Latour Episode 6 - January 2 - James Lovelock Episode 7 - January 9 - Arthur Zajonc Episode 8 - January 16 - Wendell Berry Episode 9 - January 23 - Rupert Sheldrake Episode 10 - January 30 - Brian Wynne Episode 11 - February 21 - Sajay Samuel Episode 12 - February 27 - David Abram Episode 13 - March 5 - Dean Bavington Episode 14 - March 12 - Evelyn Fox Keller . . . http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/features/science/index.html (via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CANADA. We were a bit disappointed when the return of Canadia 2056 in January turned out to be a rerun of the original series, which we had already listened to, but investigating the program website http://www.cbc.ca/canadia2056/ now we find: "Season 2 of Canadia: 2056 begins the week of March 17th!" That`s UT Thursday 0205, and Friday 1432 [+1/2/3/4 hours] on CBC Radio One (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CBC'S SOUNDS LIKE CANADA TO BE SILENCED AFTER SUMMER Last Updated: Thursday, March 13, 2008 | 3:00 PM ET CBC News http://www.cbc.ca/arts/media/story/2008/03/13/soundslikecanada-cancellation.html CBC Radio says its weekday morning show, Sounds Like Canada, will end its six-year run at the end of the summer. The Radio One show's cancellation follows the decision by host Shelagh Rogers to leave her position on May 30. The show will be replaced by a new program, yet to be developed. "This change provides us with the opportunity to continue evolving the Radio One daytime schedule to meet the needs of current and new listeners," said Chris Boyce, CBC Radio's interim program director, in a release on Thursday. "We don't know what the new show will look like, but we do know we need a strong host, with a strong personality, that the audience will connect with and want to spend time with." CBC Radio will be hatching ideas with small groups of programmers, according to the release. Rogers made her announcement over the weekend. Sounds Like Canada is one of the network's two flagship radio morning shows that replaced the three-hour program This Morning. Anna Maria Tremonti's The Current is the other show. Rogers hosted This Morning for two years until 2002 before the slot was split into two programs. Rogers moved to Vancouver in 2003 with the new program. The broadcaster has been with CBC Radio since 1980 (via Fred Waterer, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. CFGT-1270 Alma Quebec has applied to the CRTC to move to FM (97.7 MHz, 50 kW, 77.6 metres): http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Hearings/2008/n2008-1.htm#29 Alma, Quebec, Application No. 2008-0098-9 Application by Groupe Radio Antenne 6 inc. to convert commercial radio station CFGT Alma from the AM band to the FM band. The new station would operate on frequency 97.7 MHz (channel 249B) with an average effective radiated power of 50,000 watts (non-directional antenna/antenna height of 77.6 metres). The applicant is requesting permission to simulcast the programming of the new FM station on CFGT-AM for a period of 3 months from the date of implementation of the new station. The applicant is also requesting, pursuant to sections 9(1)(e) and 24(1) of the Broadcasting Act, the revocation of the licence of CFGT effective at the end of the simulcast period. 73, (via Deane McIntyre, VE6BPO, March 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHAD. RNT, 4905, March 13 at 0602 had run music past hourtop, then announcement in non-French, perhaps Arabic but not sure of that. WRTH does not break down their `vernacular` schedule. Constant annoying CODAR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 3990, Xinjiang PBS Urumqi, 2359-0023, Mar 10, Mandarin. M & W with talk between exotic ballads and musical selections; fair at best over mild ARO chatter; // 4890 poor under CODAR & band noise (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. The Chinese OTH radar was active today on 10130 - 10170 kHz with 43 pulses/second. Time: about 1630 UT. Official bearings showed to China (Wolf Hadel, Germany, March 11, DK2OM, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 15 via DXLD) I heard Firedrake this Friday Mar 14 morning on 15110 kHz until it went off at 0900 UT. I wonder who they could be jamming on this frequency. I hear KWT until 0800 UT and then nothing previously. (Noel R. Green, UK, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 14, ibid.) Yes, heard an UNKNOWN Chinese station on co-channel 15110 too in past week, around 0630-0800 UT. Asked some friends in Far East Asia recently, but no answer so far. Taiwan? (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** CHINA. CRI replied quickly to my email on Feb 24 and sent a Beijing Olympics QSL, showing the National Aquatics Centre, and some artwork of delicate Chinese paper cutouts, received Saturday Mar 8 (Dan Malloy, ka1rdz, Tue Mar 11, 2008, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** CLIPPERTON ISLAND. TX5C DXPEDITION HOT NEWS from http://www.clipperton2008.org/dxpedition/TX5C_dxpedition.htm: March 12: Q[SO]'s now total 40,573. Yesterday we had three major thunderstorms that tore up the camp. Generators in both the SSB and CW camps went down and took repairs to get back up. Winds toppled antennas and they had to be repaired. We lost our 15 meter SVDA in the SSB camp which was destroyed by the winds. We will attempt to straight out or replace the broken aluminum today. Two of our CW keyers went down and we cannot repair them. So our operators are sending CW the good old fashioned way but it's reducing our q rate. Morale is high and despite the weather we are all working as hard as we can. The thunderstorms are also causing our noise levels in the night to be extremely high. These thunderstorms have been increasing in size and frequency for the past several days. Although they blow through in about 15 minutes, they dump on average about an inch of rain or more and are accompanied by very strong gusting winds. March 11 --- On our 2nd day of operation, qso's now total 30,225. Operations on March 10th continued without any significant interruptions from mother nature (finally!). Good pile-ups were seen on all operating frequencies. Yesterday we focused on European openings per our operating plan where Clipperton is high on the most wanted list. Paths to the USA are open almost all the time on a variety of bands so we really want to focus on Europe and other hard to reach areas when propagation is possible. This is why we landed on the north side of the island in the first place. So we know the USA operators will understand why at certain times we are operating only Europe or outside the USA. When the paths are open to EU, we're hearing all of Europe extremely well, very strong signals. We're finding that our Q rates rise significantly when stations call only once or twice and use complete calls. Signals are so strong, with no qsb or noise on our end, that we can often quickly pick out several complete calls and work more stations. If we all work together, we can get more people in our logs. . . (via DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. 5954.1v, "Elcor Transmitter", 2310-2327*, Mar 11, Spanish/English. "Live" Spanish music; pop instrumental & Alanis Morrisette tune with transmission abruptly terminated at song`s end; fair at best with adjacent channel splatter (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5954.10, ELCOR Costa Rica,(presumed), 2254-2327 March 12, With a program of recorded music of live performances with Spanish language comments and lyrics. No live comments heard during the period. The Station/signal dropped of the air at 2327. Signal was fair (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5954.113, COSTA RICA, unidentified "ELCOR transmitter station"; 2320- 2330 28 February, 2008. Excellent, though still squeezed badly by adjacent channel signals, especially 5955. This day, no repeat cycle songs but a mix of Spanish and English pop -- including Madonna's relatively recent "Jump" -- with the usual brief gap between tracks, into open carrier at the normal 2330. 5954.181, COSTA RICA, unidentified "ELCOR transmitter station"; 2228- 2236 9 March, 2008. Already on at 2228 check, vocals. Is this active on local Saturday/Sunday? I haven't had a chance to check (Terry L. Krueger, Clearwater FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA. 3984.877, Hrvatski Radio; 0054-0104 7 March, 2008. Croatian pop vocal, slow time sounders, male ID into news summary. Fair at best in approaching thunderstorm noise (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, March 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Removing any doubt about whether Cuba would adopt DST to match Miami, March 13 at 1403, on 12000, RHC with timecheck for 9:03 = UT -5, not 4. This follows their frequency announcement always read live, and never completely correct. Echo once again heard on RHC 6000, March 14 at 0554, implying that two slightly unsynchronized transmitters are running here. Not constant, but when one of them faded a bit the echo could be heard. This and many other anomalies could be confirmed or denied, or explained by Arnie Coro, who surely sees my reports, but apparently does not want to get involved in a discussion with a non-sycophant of RHC who even dares to criticize Cuban jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. 530, FLORIDA AIRSPACE, Radio Martí; checked for this on local Saturday, 8 March, 6:00-6:15 pm [2300-2315 UT]. [Cuba] Radio Enciclopedia dominating, and traces of [Turks & Caicos] Radio Visión Cristiana under. It's been forever since I've hear "Air Martí" here, but beginning about now is the time to start checking for it, through summer, at this coastal west Florida location (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, March 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. See UNIDENTIFIED 6024.95 ** EGYPT. 9250, Radio Wadi el Nil verified an e-mail report with an e- mail reply in 11 days from the Egyptian Overseas Radio English Program eqyptianoverseas_english @ hotmail.com from Marwan Khattab who thanked me for the reception report, added me to the Listeners' Club and who gave my address to the "QSL card department" implying a response would be coming from them as well. Marwan mentioned that he would meet me if I came to Cairo. Interested to see what, if anything, arrives by postal mail (Rich D'Angelo, PA, DXplorer Mar 9 via BC-DX March 15 via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. ETHIOPIAN FREE PRESS JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION WANTS TO START SW SERVICE --- In a statement marking its 16th anniversary, the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association (EFJA) says: “We take this opportunity to call upon all members of EFJA and International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and upon all professional colleagues and associations, to renew their traditional help and cooperation to enable us, the EFJA members, to launch a shortwave radio broadcasting service in Europe and to reach the hearts and minds of our people in Ethiopia and in the Diaspora.” (Source: EFJA via International Federation of Journalists) (March 13th, 2008 - 12:48 UTC by Andy, Media Network blog via DXLD) Geez, how many SW clandestines to Ethiopia have we already? (gh, DXLD) ** GABON. 4777, Radio Gabon, *0458-0510, March 14, sign on with opening French announcements. No National Anthem tonight. Local tribal music at 0459. News at 0500. Good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GHANA [non]. 4915, Ghana BC1, 0633-0635, escuchada el 14 de marzo con emisión de música afro, SINPO 24232 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) JMR2`s seemingly routine log would be big news if it means that this country has really reactivated on SW, but I don`t see any ID reported. Ghana has not been reported on SW 4915 since May or June 2006. Kenya of course is also listed on 4915, but would probably have faded out by 0633 (9:33 am local on the Equator.) --- if it were on the air either; see below. I often hear a weak signal there around this time but assume it to be one of the Brazilians. Aoki says Rdif. de Macapá is 24 hours. Closer monitoring should confirm whether it`s Brazil or not. If looks like José Miguel was relying on Aoki listing for Ghana, which unfortunately does not make clear that it has been off the air for years! There are lots of other `inactive` listings in there, so beware. See DXLD 6-087 for a discussion of precision frequency measurements Ghana vs Kenya, but only in the evening. These May-June 2006 logs are the latest I could find of anyone reporting Ghana on 4915. 4915 Ghana last logged in 2006: http://www.muenster.org/uwz/ms-alt/africalist/africalist.pdf DXLD 7-138 carries an item that a new shortwave transmitter was being planned. Also about this, the complete entry for Ghana in BDXC-UK`s Africa on Shortwave, updated January 2008: There is currently no shortwave activity in Ghana. GBC Radio Ghana is currently inactive on shortwave. However, in November 2007, Ghana's Minister for Finance and Economic Planning was quoted as saying that "the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation would install a 50 kW transmitter to improve upon its shortwave service and introduce a second channel to be situated in Kumasi for commercialisation and public education on government policies and programmes." So how about checking 4915 especially in the Eurafrican evening or at nominal sign-on 0530 for any confirmation of Ghana. BTW, Kenya is also reported inactive on SW including 4915, in BDXC-UK and Hallmann, altho if any frequency were to be heard, that is the most likely one (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST via dxldyg) Saludos Glenn, en efecto me basé en el listado de Aoki, lo más probable sea Kenia, descarto Brasil. La música es africana, no brasileña, lamento la confusión, desconocía la situación de Ghana sobre su inactividad en Onda Corta. 73 (José Miguel Romero, ibid.) Hi Glenn, Think the confusion may have come about because 4915 was especially good March 14. It caught my attention as being unusual, so I briefly listened, wondering about the possibility of Ghana, but was in Portuguese, so I moved on (Ron Howard, CA, ibid.) And there is strong African influence on some Brazilian music (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. I rarely send reception reports for QSL, but can hardly refuse when directly invited by the station to do so. So my log of Feb 20 as in DXLD 8-023 was e-mailed to R. Verdad, 4052.5v, and the reply came in the P-mail March 12. The unsealed envelope was secured by one little piece of mystik tape, which had been broken, so I can`t be sure everything originally in the envelope was still there, but nevertheless it contained: 1, a very nice pennant (or banner as they call it) on yellow background with frills hanging below, with the usual slogans and logos. I will scan and availablize the image along with the QSL in my gallery http://www.worldofradio.com/QSL.html The pennant has a somewhat rubbery backing, and the obverse of the QSL card was stuck to that, but could be peeled off without much damage. A faint image of the card remains on the back of the pennant, as some of the green ink came off. 2, QSL card as illustrated on their own website, showing a quetzal, and labeled QSL 8 for 8th anniversary. Filled in my name, location, date and time of reception. Still has some rubbery residue from the pennant. Blank on the back. 3, yellow sticker with some of the same slogans and logos as the pennant 4, faux cheque from the Banco Vida Eterna, with numerous Bible verses, and signed by `Jesucristo`. Even has `safety` text in the entire background of the obverse, Juan 3:16. 5, slip of paper with drawing of 7 figures à la the ascent of man from ape to sapiens, instead from a guy holding a wine glass degenerating to a pig with a keg, ``El alcohol adormece al hombre, para despertar a la bestia.`` -- Dr. Saint Jacques [not if you drink in moderation; good for you] 6, five pages of printed material, similar to what is on their website http://www.radioverdad.org starting with a customized letter in English addressed to me, dated Feb 26, enumerating all the countries whence reports have come, saying power is now 650 watts, at 89-32-15 W, 14-48-10 N. Signed by Dr. Édgar Amílcar Madrid who recounts his background and the history of the station. Since a child, he always wanted to be on the uncrowded 75 meter band, and got his wish 7, another sheet, `Radiation Area of Radio Truth` with a little world map centered on Chiquimula (not great circle azimuthal equidistant), and 4 separate lists of reports received in the past 8 years, by continents, countries, departments of Guatemala, and `states` of Canada, Mexico, USA 8, program schedule in English (tho most of the programming is axually in Spanish), in time order 5 am to 24:05 with more than 44 entries, for Monday through Saturday only; Sunday: Special Programming. However, at 16:30-17:00 some day, not clear which, as there is another entry for the same semihour, = 2230-2300 UT, there is E Imb`utz Ajk`in (The Good News, in Chortí). Maybe it`s Saturday only. It points out that there are 23 educational programs, underlined, and 33 Christian; sponsorships $100 per month. Several of the `educational` programs obviously have a religious angle, from titles. I see that the early morning show I heard when I discovered Radio Verdad eight years ago, is still on the schedule, presumably with the same choo-choo sound effects, The Gospel Train, at 5:25-6 am = 1125- 1200 UT, a time pointed out in the literature, when TGAV is DXable at great distances, just before local sunrise. 9, What to do if the band is very noisy to tune ``RADIO TRUTH``, tips on orienting antenna, preferably 25 to 100 meters long, and avoiding noise sources 10, 2008 calendar on card stock, also promoting the program Volviendo a Jesús, which is also on some Guatemalan FM stations, and Honduran AM stations, same as received before 11, the lightweight airmail envelope, with red and blue parallelograms around all borders, also has logos of RV and Volviendo a Jesús, Romans 12:21, and three stamps, two of which for Q6.50 each are identical, an old Q5 quetzal stamp on the new stamps, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Guatemalan Philatelic Association, 1932-2007; unfortunately, like on the previous mailing, the third stamp is pasted on top of the other two; this one from the same set, for Q1.00 showing an old Q1 stamp in different colors of the same old bird perched on a corinthian pedestal. Lightly handstamped postmark for 27 FEB. Our congratulations to Dr Madrid on the anniversary, and appreciation for an individual broadcaster enthusiastic about shortwave, who is trying to make a difference in his country and beyond. Although he says, ``Lightning have destroyed a part of our main short wave transmitter several times, and we have made many vain efforts to convince our Government to provide us with an FM frequency besides the SW.`` The recently published e-mail correspondence in Spanish with Magdiel Cruz R. in Mexico mentioned that R. Verdad has also been denied power increases on SW beyond 1 kW, since Honduras does not want his station to be audible there, altho it is anyway (Glenn Hauser, OK, as updated and corrected from original post, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAITI [non]. VOA must have heard that Haïti went on DST of UT -4 when we did March 9, as Creole services shifted one UT hour earlier on that date, all via Greenville: M-F 1130-1200 15390; daily 1630-1700 15390 17565; 2100-2130 11895 13725 15390. I have not yet confirmed this by monitoring, however (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) http://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst2008.html as of UT March 13 still says there is no DST in Haiti in 2008, standard disclaimer. Someone should listen to a Haitian statian, on webcast at least, and note their timechex. I listened to Radio Lumière for a while before and after 0300 UT March 13, but they just kept talking, witnessing, with no time check. http://winstreams.net/radiolumiere2.htm This site http://www.timegenie.com/country.time/ht/ says Haiti no longer observes DST as of 2007, and shows current time in Haiti = UT - 5 = Enid. These also show Haiti on UT -5: http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/caribbean/haiti/time.htm http://www.horlogeparlante.com/english/haiti_port-au-prince_583.php http://www.worldtimeserver.com/current_time_in_HT.aspx Could it be that VOA switches Creole one hour forward and back for its own convenience in Washington, not Port-au-Prince? But they don`t do that with any other language services I am aware of (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. AIR Itanagar which has been off the air for some time now was heard sign-on at 0025 with a transmitter hum and rather low level modulation. After about 10 minutes the station went off the air. However, in our S. Asian evenings good and normal mod when tuned in at 1330. Appears to have repaired the transmitter and ironed out bugs. 14/03 (G. Victor A. Goonetilleke, 4S7VK, "Shangri-La", Piliyandala, Sri Lanka, dx_india yg via DXLD) Victor, I assume this refers to 4990? What about their listed daytime frequency 6150? 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) 4990 is rather weak here at 1600 on 13 Mar, just wonder if they're running lower power than earlier. They used to be OK few months ago. And how about 5050 AIR Aizawal. A real rare catch here for several years. To me it sounds they're running 1 kW or less. Or do they have some extremely directional antenna system, and I'm off beam? (Jari Savolalinen, Finland, March 13, DXplorer via BC-DX March 15 via DXLD) They could be running lower power than listed, Jari. I hear them morning 0030 better but always the co-channel Chinese over it. They used to be strong at their 0025 sign-on and I loved their NEastern music, especially the Sunday morning religious music. Station was there at 1600. But at 1645 both Itanagar and Aizawal off (Victor Goonetilleke, 4S7VK, DXplorer Mar 12, ibid.) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. Spirit of Knoxville - Transatlantic Balloon Mission --- Hi, I think this is the most useful web-page for radio monitors to keep an eye on. It is being refreshed every 5 minutes and contains current frequency (10146.5 kHz) and transmission- schedules: http://dtrc.utarc.org/status.php There is also a real-time chat group running at: http://dtrc.utarc.org/chat.html So far, just USA stations reporting reception. They state that the transmitter will be disabled over UK airspace to comply with licensing regulations. Cheers, (David (MM0AOF / GM7VZV) Henry, Aberdeen, Scotland, March 11, monitoringmonthly yg via DXLD) Hi David, If you listen from the UK you will also hear it; I had a signal for the last half an hour or so, I'm in Hampshire. Regards (Stuart, 1551 UT March 11, ibid.) Spirit of Knoxville sui 30 metri Ciao a tutti, vi segnalo che sono le 1924 ut e sto ricevendo sui 10146.3 LSB i segnali in RTTY e CW del pallone sonda Spirit of Knoxville IV che sta volando in questo momento sopra l'Atlantico. Il segnale e' basso ma qualcosa riesco a decodificare con MIXW. Questo e' l'inizio della stringa rtty: JURSJUFXFXFXFXFXFX (--4UT BALLOON Qui: http://www.spiritofknoxville.com/live.html e' possibile seguire in tempo reale il volo del pallone. 73 de IW0HK (Andrea Borgnino IW0HK, 1932 UT March 11, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) The Latest News: Latest info for DTRC listeners: [as of March 12] Landed at 1900z 3:00 EDT ~350 miles from Ireland. Great flight, thank you for your help! Sign up for future alerts on http://spiritofknoxville.com Record breaking flight! 40 hours, 3300 miles, almost to Ireland! We're all tired, we'll have lots more info in a few days (from dtrc site as above, via DXLD) ** IRAN. On Mar 8, I had a care package from IRIB, with Mahjubah (a Muslim family magazine), and two stamps. They must think their listeners are philatelists. No sign of the QSL I'm waiting for, maybe in the next few weeks (Dan Malloy, ka1rdz, Tue Mar 11, 2008, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** IRAN. 9475-9480-9485, DRM mode tests from Sirjan Iran, noted at 0630 and 1130 UT. Wie man auf dem DRMRX Board lesen kann, gibt es seit einigen Tagen DRM- Tests auf 9480 kHz mit der Kennung "Sirjan 86/12" und/oder aehnlich. Die Tests scheinen sehr "Low-Level" zu sein. Anscheinend wird der Sendemodus der Dream-Software benutzt und diverse Biteraten eingesetzt. Allerdings hapert es im Moment wohl noch an der Qualitaet des Signals und auch das eingespeiste Audio-Signal ist nicht so toll. (Das ist aber ja im Nahen Osten nicht ganz unueblich...). Beste Empfangsmoeglichkeiten gibt's ab 0630 UT, teilweise ist das Signal aber auch bis ueber 1100 UT "on the Air". Wer also mal sehen will, wie sich die Techniker im Iran bemuehen, die COFDM Tag fuer Tag besser in den Griff zu bekommen, wird (hoffentlich) schon bald eine FM Station (?) aus dem Iran hier in Mitteleuropa hoeren koennen (Stephan Schaa, Germany, A-DX Mar 13 via BC-DX March 15 via DXLD) ** IRAN [non]. IRAQ/IRAN, Voice of the CP Iran was heard till close down at 1919 (too late!) on 3881 and 4366 without Iranian jammers. Seems special program on communist [sic] women day (Mar 8). (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, March 10, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 15 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Furusato no Kaze via CVC-Darwin Start --- I received "Furusato no Kaze" at 1430-1500 Mar. 12 on 11995 kHz in Japanese. And "Ilbon-e Baram" at 1502-1530 on 13725 kHz in Korean. Both were added to the Taiwan transmission, and it was broadcasted the twice on day (S. Hasegawa, NDXC-HQ, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 13725 noted here in EUR with S=9+10dB signal at 1520-1529 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Mar 13, BC-DX March 14 via DXLD) Seems to me this is a first for CVC Darwin, getting into the clandestine time-brokering biz (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** KUWAIT [and non]. Radio Kuwait sent me a very nice calendar on Feb 21. It has all the Western months, and the Islamic lunar months as well. Today is Rabee al-Awwal 3. What will the Department of Homeland Security think of all this showing up in my mailbox in less than two weeks ? :-) (Dan Malloy, ka1rdz, Tue Mar 11, 2008, ODXA yg via DXLD) LOL! I remember back in the 70's when I was a pre teen I was getting letters from China, Cuba, Vietnam, Russia, etc., and the RCMP (or someone) was regularly opening them and then taping them back together before passing them on to me. At the time I accepted it as an interesting part of DX'ing, but it escalated to the point where they were opening letters from my granny :( My father put in a complaint, but letters from communist countries were still opened (Dan Murray, Brampton, Canada, ibid.) ** LATVIA. Relays this weekend via 9290 kHz Sat March 15th Latvia Today 0900-1000 UT Sun March 16th Radio Marina 1300-1400 UT http://www.radiomarina.nl Latvia Today 1400-1500 UT Good listening 73s (Tom Taylor, March 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. 5010, Radio Madagasikara; 0125-0208 6 March, 2008. Very strong with great highlife vocals, Malagasy male, local rap at 0155, into nice jazz instrumental. Then, that wonderful-sounding overnight female DJ from 0202-0205 chattering over highlife with many Radio Madagasikara mentions, siren sound effects (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, March 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5009.98, RTV Malagasy, 0217-0233, Mar 10, French. Up-beat music and "R. Madagascar" ID; M & W with list of numbers; Los Lobos "La Bamba" at 0230; fair, reduced carrier USB (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Madagascar, 5010 kHz, QSL FD letter in 34 days for $2.00; V/S Madame Rakotoma Soa Herimanitia. Address: B.P. 1202, Radio Madagascar, Antananasivio [sic] 101, Madagascar (Christoph Ratzer, Austria, OE2CRM, A-DX Mar 9 via BCDX March 15 via DXLD) Should be Antananarivo? The capital city (gh) ** MEXICO [and non]. Dr Brinkley book: see PUBLICATIONS ** MOROCCO. 5980, R. Marocaine, 0333-0359, Mar 12, Arabic. Round-table discussion at tune-in; ad string at 0039 followed by presumed Arabic pop music request program with touch-tone effects and phone number; fanfare at 0358 crushed at 0359 by 5975 RNW-Neth. Antillies sign-on; fair-good (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. Hello from Hilversum, The first half of this week was very stormy, though most of the Netherlands didn't get the battering that parts of the UK did. Things have quietened down now outside, but here in the RNW building it's very busy as colleagues get ready for the start of our summer broadcasting season on 30 March. There are going to be some changes to our shortwave service to North America. Analysis of feedback that we received last autumn showed that our early morning transmission is not widely listened to. Furthermore, colleagues who visited the States in recent months reported that the signal from Bonaire was sometimes poor at that hour of the day. So we're dropping that transmission. Also disappearing will be the extra transmissions on Sat/Sun [1900- 2100 on 3 frequencies], which were started several years ago to find out if an audience existed for a daytime shortwave service at weekends. Again, it appears that very few people regularly listen to these transmissions. The evening transmissions will continue as before (Andy Sennitt, Media Network newsletter March 13 via DXLD) The Sat/Sun afternoon 1900-2100 UT broadcast had been on 3 frequencies to NAm, via Bonaire and/or Sackville. It`s also to Africa via Bonaire on 17810, which we can easily hear every day, but not so well as the doomed frequencies aimed our way weekends; however in A-08, 17810 Bonaire at 80 degrees is being cut back to only one hour at 20 --- but then, that`s all you really need for one new hour of programming in English produced per day. Other evening African frequencies in English before 2000 may not be much use in NAm: 15535, 15335 and 11660 from Germany and France. See also USA [non], other uses for Bonaire (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. Re: RNW to Resume Arabic ``RNW's Arabic radio service, known in the Middle East as "Radio Hilversum", closed in 1994 after nearly 50 years on the air. http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/region/middleeast/080311-bbc-arabic-tv That URL has already expired but the page is still available: http://www.radionetherlands.nl/features/media/080311-bbc-arabic-tv In 1994 Arabic was on air 1530-1625 on 9860 and 13770 plus 1730-1925 on 9860 and 11665, all via Flevo. It appears that back then Arabic had been canceled together with French (1830-2125) and Portuguese (2230- 2325 and 0030-0125). Looks like this was part of a large-scale reshuffling of resources, since at the same time Dutch to Europe had been increased from 6 to 12 hours and transmissions via Bolshakovo 1386 (which must have been quite expensive, although for the purpose the output had been reduced from either 2500 or already reduced 1800 kW to "only" 1200 kW) introduced. As a website Arabic is already back, just like French and Portuguese. Btw, I seem to recall that a few years ago we heard about tape recorders being removed from RNW studios? Now see this photo, taken just two days ago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Radio_Nederland_Wereldomroep_studio4.jpg An analogue Studer console, and what sits next to it? A Telefunken tape machine. Cute! Maybe the point is that this studio (studio 4, as the file name suggests) is in use only as production studio and never goes live? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ooh, open reels, but at least there is no tape on it. Looks like the tape machine is employed as an extension of the desk to scatter papers upon, so perhaps it is not really in use. Altho the editing block seems to have something on it. Glenn Hauser, ibid.) We of course have tape decks in the building for use in documentaries etc. when the source material pre-dates digitization. The work Martien is doing on creating the digitized audio archive still only scratches the surface of what's available. But all new production is digital, using the Dalet system. So there's no reason to use the editing block unless the tape snaps :-) (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) ** NETHERLANDS. Re 8-033: Jonathan Marks' first DX Jukebox show Wow, did THAT bring back some memories! I was listening on an old Sears multiband radio back then (that was months before I got my first real SW radio, the Panasonic RF-2600) when I heard Jonathan Marks' debut, taking over Frits Greveling to host the then-DX Jukebox show that night; it was really nice of RNW to make this audio file possible, and I hope that real soon there will be an audio file of the very first Media Network show from May of '81, and many more "classic" MN shows, for us to listen and remember those days of when SW was really big -- hearing Richard Ginbey, Arthur Cushen, and other DXing legends on a weekly basis. Ahh, the days when Thursday night was THE night to hear Radio Nederland (as it was known then) and its DX show (Joe Hanlon, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Before you get too nostalgic, let me point out to newbies that as soon as he could, Marks did away with DX Juke Box, and along with it, DX reports from yours truly. Mere shortwave, or even an emphasis on SW, was just too narrow for the new Media Network, as the name implies. I am pleased that the Spanish department continued to find value in my correspondence until the very end of their own DX program last year. And note his recent comments about ``shortwave die-hards``. http://criticaldistance.blogspot.com/2008/02/death-of-digital-radio-mondiale-as-well.html He`s really been no friend of shortwave and DXing, if you look at his record. But hey, that`s OK --- it was the impetus I needed to start my own show, WORLD OF RADIO, which has outlasted the Media Network show and conveyed far more information, without bells & whistles, and without government support (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGER. Voix du Sahel (9705 kHz) sent me a printed QSL card, PFC, and view card of Niger after 1.5 years for my reception report in French enclosed US$1.00. QSLs are signed by "Directeur Technique", probably Mr. Laouali Maraka, but the signatures are unclear. In PFC he stated that the transmission power is 40 kW. This means they are using SIEMENS 100 kW transmitter at Goudel with reduced power. The change of QSL policy may be due to the change of prime minister (who had refused the support from UN) in last year. The QSLs are showed in my homepage http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~BCLSWL/QSL0803.html (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, March 8, wwdxc BC-DX Mar 15 via DXLD) Voix du Sahel is issuing two types of QSL cards. One is the old type, with old schedule, old telephone numbers, and telex number, signed by Directeur Technique Mr. Laouali Maraka. The other is the newly printed type, same design as the old, but with different color, font type, font size, with newer (but not newest) schedule, new telephone numbers, without telex number, signed by Le Director Mr. Mahanan Chamsou Maigary. Oddly enough coat of arms of Niger is reversed in the newer card! Compare the 2 cards in my home page http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~BCLSWL/QSL0803.html BTW the website of Voix du Sahel has been moved to http://www.ortn.ne since January, but the old site http://www.ortn-niger.com remains (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, March 14, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 15 via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. DST gets me to monitor 60m an hour earlier late at night, including 4770 FRCN Kaduna. March 13 at 0600 I noted that the 3+1 timesignal was 3 seconds slow compared to WWV; then news in English. March 14 at 0600, it was more like one second slow, after drumming and theme music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. Pirate, 3429.63v, The Crystal Ship, 0140-0155, March 14, pop/rock music. IDs. News at 0145. Announced power as 150 watts. Fair signal. Still here at 0412 check (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4790.2, R. Visión, 0417-0430, Mar 11, Spanish. Familiar format of M with religious talk, into "live" M preacher; fair (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 3330, R. Ondas de Huallaga after 2330 UT ads in Spanish followed by time-check at 2333 and full ID: "cobertura total en FM and AM. Ondas de[l?] Huallaga". I couldn't catch any mention of SW QRG being announced. Signal was poor but improving. The best I heard so far. SIO : 322 (Jan 18 2008) 4825, La Voz de la Selva. Before 2258 UT with music presented by man and woman ending the program, then into music. At 2258 ID as: "LVS digital" followed by a program about the family and partnership. SIO: 333 (Jan 19 2008) (Zeljko Crncic, touring in Ecuador, March 9, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 15 via DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. 9430, FEBC Bocaue, 1233-1250, Mar 11, Mandarin. M with continuos religious talk until W over music at 1249; right back to M announcer; fair-poor; fading out by tune-out (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND [non]. 9450, Polskie Radio via Wertachtal, 1303-1312, Mar 10, English. "News from Poland" with M re Polish P.M. visit to U.S.; Egyptian leader visit to Poland; Polish anti-semitism; poor (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also looked for this March 12 around 1330 --- not a trace. Makes it this far west only at deep winter. A-08 tentative frequencies for PRW English, all via Germany: 1200-1300 7330 Nauen, 9525 Wertachtal; 1700- 1800 7140 Jülich, 7265 Wertachtal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [and non]. GTRK Petropavlovsk/K, 6075, March 13 at 1400 timesignal was 3.5 seconds behind WWV; standard remark. And no 8GAL on 6074. One minute later at 1401 March 13, checked 6020 for YFR via Samara once AUSTRALIA [q.v.] had closed. Yes, YFR IS and opening listed Telugu, undermodulated. Heavy flutter this time, and about the same flutter on 6225 YFR via Dushanbe, TAJIKISTAN, Harold Camping in English about Hillary; both longpath (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. BSKSA is with - just - three "buzzy" transmitters/ antennes on air: 1. strong used by Holy Q and Bangla programs. 2. in English and on Second prorgram on 0675 [sic] and in Turkestani on 9640 kHz. 3. weak on 2nd program on 11855 kHz. On March 8th at 1000 UT observed on 13 m.b.: 21495 Holy Qur`an - clear signal 21670 Indonesian - strong, Main program - weak 21740 Indonesian - weak, Main program - strong 21705 Main program - clearly and strong and at 1200 UT 21505 Main program - strong 21560 Main - strong, Qur`an - weak. 21600 Qur`an - strong, Main - fair level of sound. 21640 Main - weak plus weak "buzzy" on low side. 21680 Main - strong signal, Qur`an-weak etc. at 1300 UT take part 21460, 21505, 21560, 21600, 21640, 21680 kHz. Checking with different receivers, in different places with different antennas - the effect was the same. (March 2-14). (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 14 via DXLD) ** SWAZILAND. 3200, TWR, 0257-0306, Mar 10, vernacular. ID/IS loop in English; M at 0300 with choral music and talks in [unID] language; poor-fair. (Barbour-NH) 4775, TWR, *0400-0415, Mar 11, German. Sign-on with ID and choral music; announcer with religious talks and hymns; jazz-like music at 0415, fair (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) These broadcasts in German are obviously intended for southern Africa, not Europe. Just how many German-speakers are down there, anyway? Seems to me it would be a much smaller minority than many of the tribal languages on their schedule. And of those, how many really want to listen to this particular sect? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. R. Thailand, A-08 from Udorn to North America: 0030-0200 12120 ex-12095, 6 degrees to the east; 0200-0330 15275, 54 degrees to the west; 0030 and 0200 English half-hours, the rest Thai (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. Riots in Lhasa --- I forgot to check "Holy Tibet" in English today: 1630-1700 on 4905, 4920, 5240, 6110, 6130, 6200, 7125, 7385. It's likely it said nothing about today's clashes in Lhasa. Other Chinese domestic media have been keeping quiet - see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7296597.stm Perhaps by tomorrow they will have worked out a line to take. "Holy Tibet" in English is also at 0700-0730 on 4905, 4920, 5240, 6110, 6130, 6200, 7385, 9490, 9580 - but propagation to Europe is against such low frequencies at that time (Chris Greenway, England, March 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [and non]. News agencies cite RFA report on protests in Lhasa (updated): http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=3524 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** TURKEY. The daily first German broadcast from the Voice of Turkey 1230-1330 is now carried on 11910 kHz instead of 17700. Good reception here. 73's and greetings from Hungary (Istvan Kiss, Hungary, March 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. TRT Deploy New Nautel Transmitter Dear Mr. Hauser, As you know that TRT and Nautel Company have been contracted to deploy new transmitters. I think that you want to know that TRT have decided new solid state Nautel transmitters in Trabzon, Cukurova and Antalya Radio transmitters. Those transmitters will be operate in 8 or 9 months there after. Transmitters will be getting better of audio quality, but in the same time there was no changes in frequencies Trabzon 954 kHz, Cukurova 630 kHz and Antalya 891 kHz. Sincerely (Mustafa Cankurt, Turkey, March 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC Arabic TV announcement and lots of rude remarx about it, mainly it seems from Britons: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2008/03/arabic_tv.html (via Dan Say, BC, DXLD) ** U K [non]. BBCWS relays via WHRI for A-08, tentative: English cancelled on 5875, 9525, 9750; Spanish at 11-12 on 6095 replaced by 12-13 on 9410 (FCC via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. In A-08 from March 30, IBB tentatively plans to use the Bonaire relay station for some transmissions due eastward toward Africa, presumably in partial replacement for Briech, Morocco: 0700- 0730 17500; 1430-1500 17530; 1700-1730 9565; 1730-1800 12080; 1800- 1830 17865, 1830-2000 17895, 1830-2030 9830. The 1430 transmission follows another one from Greenville at 1400-1430 also on 17530 at 94 degrees. It will be interesting to see what languages turn out to be involved (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also HAITI [non] ** U S A. HOOVER-ERA SPYING ON FATHER MOTIVATED ANTI-WIRETAPPING PLAINTIFF For Tash Hepting, the lead plaintiff in the pending anti-domestic wiretapping case against AT&T, government spying runs in the family. "The biggest reason for me for getting involved has to do with what happened to my father when he was a teenager," ...his father Rick landed himself on a government watch list when Rick was a thirteen year-old into ham and shortwave radio. In the late 1950s, Rick managed to tune in a station in China, and sent off the customary postcard that says to a shortwave station, "Hey, I pulled in your signal." Like any other station, the one in Communist China sent back a QSL card -- giving Rick bragging rights that he pulled in a Chinese station -- and then added his name and address to a Communist party propaganda mailing list. Soon after the 13 year-old got another note in the mail, this one from the U.S. government saying he was now under surveillance. Full story: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/03/hoover-era-spyi.html (via Mike Barraclough, England, DXLD) ** U S A. Last Johnny Lightning Show on WBCQ? There was a fire in JL's building, details at http://johnlightning.com (Steve Coletti, March 14, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) Viz.: MAJOR FIRE AT JOHN LIGHTNING'S BUILDING [This from http://johnlightning.com/. --Lw] So Long For A While --- March 13th, 2008 No Walls, No Ceiling, No Show. This past Monday an upstairs tenant in JL's building had a major fire. The water damage to the building has made it necessary for John to disassemble the studio so that repairs can be made. You are seeing what is left of JL's apartment after the abatement crew removed what was left of the wall and ceiling. The studio is on the floor below and will wind up looking the same once the studio is fully removed to the warehouse so the crew can come back to finish the job. There will be one last regular broadcast this Sunday that will originate from a different studio. JL can't continue to produce the program without his own studio and with all the other problems that come up when this situation arises he has no time to do so anyway. JL will keep us all posted through this web page so check back here frequently. Webmaster Steve A few words from Mister L The Big Guy summed up the situation here quite well. Due to the amount of demolition required to secure and make safe the building housing the 11L studio and my personal quarters, I was informed that the studio had to be disassembled. This is a major task, and I cannot promise we will be back. If that should happen, it would likely be for only a weekly one hour show. I must admit I am uncertain that I shall care to do this on a weekly basis again regardless. I have spoken to our Lord, God and my personal savior, Allan H. Weiner and he has committed to keeping the air time open for 11L/RNI use as I see fit. For this he should be committed, but that is in part why we love him so. Better friends has no man, than those I call my staff and the good folks at WBCQ. I am uncertain what will be there, but we shall coordinate with our 11L/RNI internet broadcasters, including Big Steve, Hank & Jim, Larry, Dave the "Boogie Man', and anyone else desperate enough to fill in until I may/partially return someday. We may also run some best ofs, music shows and classic 11L programs from bygone years, but for now I must focus all my attention on what is most important, and that is certainly not the Extravagonzo. I am considering doing a very occasional show live from another facility some time down the road, and hope to check in by phone on other live shows. Any new shows by me will be stripped down, basic and short, but it'll keep me in the game. If your response is affirmative, I'll take your incentive and consider doing so. For the time being, I shall keep our audio server up, as I do not wish to pull the plug on WBCQ or any of my radio pallies for so long as I can afford to maintain it. Obviously there will be a lot of expenses for yours truly within the next year that will not be covered by my insurance. If the server must be suspended or permanently closed down, I shall provide sufficient notice to all concerned. If we were to resume broadcasting it is likely to not be for many, many months. If you would like to keep in touch and stay updated please e-mail us at: WBCQRADIO @ AOL.COM Please be sure to put in your header/subject information "KEEP ME UPDATED". I will establish a list and keep you all informed. I will respond to all other personal e-mails as time allows. Please be patient, this is a very busy time for yours truly, but as this is about the only reliable way of staying in touch for now, I'd appreciate hearing from you. Written or spoken words are insufficient to thank you all for your ongoing support of our programming. Just know you are appreciated, as without you, there truly is no me, certainly there would be no reason for doing what have done. I shall try to maintain a running blog here about things on my mind and general sillyness, so we will not go away totally. Your comments on our blog entries would be appreciated and will let us know if we shall continue them. Once again, many thanks to one and all, especially my 11L/RNI radio family, with special thanks to Big Steve for being really big for us, and the Weiner dude for extending us so much of his precious air time. Please do stay in touch and I shall use this site to do the same. John L. (via Larry Will, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. Further proof that one must constantly monitor WBCQ to be sure one`s program airs as scheduled: Knowing they had new WOR 1399 the night before for airing on 17495, I did not bother to check Thursday March 13 until 2345 on 7415, and Goddess Irina was still ``singing``! So I phoned them to enquire; seems there was an error on the log, but then the op started WOR 20 minutes late at 2350 and said it would play through to conclusion. The audio was somewhat muffled, apparently having been dubbed onto a cassette in need of cleaning, alignment, or new heads (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ### Her name is actually "Irena": http://www.biznet1.com/goddessirena1/index.html Seems to be perfect for SW ;) (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) OK, exchange the I in Irina with the E in enquire and we are even (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. WNTP 990 DX test tonight --- Just a reminder that the postponed WNTP DX Test will be held tonight. The test will run between 00:00 and 01:00 Eastern Time and will contain sweep tones, Morse IDs, voice IDs, unusual music, etc. Between 00:00 and 00:30 the test will be conducted at 50 kW using our new directional pattern. Between 00:30 and 01:00 the test will be conducted at 12.5 Kw non-directional. Good dxing. [0400-0430-0500 UT Saturday March 15] (Rene' Chief Engineer, WNTP-WFIL Rene F. Tetro, Lansdale, PA, USA W2FIL, WPXG816, WPXU288 Coordinates: 40D12'41"N 75D18'22"W Grid: FN20IF Email: rtetro@pobox. com Websites: http://www.westpointcommunityradio.org http://www.veronicafm.org http://www.exalt1700.org http://www.classiccountry1630.org/ http://www.pjradio.org/ dxhub yg via DXLD) WNTP 990 kHz Philadelphia, PA. Night pattern: East, over the ocean (Larry Wild, SD, ABDX via DXLD) The NRC pattern book, 2006, shows it southeast, not east, both day and night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Heard this on CBS TV's Morning News. The CBS Radio World News Roundup is the longest-running radio news program in history. I just wish there were more CBS radio stations around that carried it close to my QTH! Here's the link to today's podcast of the Roundup. If you're a huge fan of history (as I am) you'll get a kick out of this podcast! http://audio.cbsnews.com/2008/03/13/audio3933817.mp3 Now - if CBS would only bring back the Radio Mystery Theatre! 73, (Steve N5WBI Ponder, Houston TX, ABDX via DXLD) Ha, podcast only runs 7:43 without commercials. Confess I haven`t listened to it in years since the Dallas Townsend era; grating now with increased pace and obligatory hyped up presentation. Anniversary segment starts at 3:33 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re Presidential blather --- FWIW, 970 WFLA airs the monkeyspeak after the Saturday local 10:00 a.m. news break, and the Demokratz response after the 11:00 news (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Those are the live feed times on various networks, and no doubt it is easiest for some affiliates who want to run them to do so at those times: 1406 & 1506 UT Saturdays. If you find one with Acting President Bush at 1406, but not with a Democrat at 1506, you know where the Fairness Doctrine is still needed (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 8-033: LYQ Frequency --- Cannot tell you why 529 but think 'Uncle Sam'. Thanks (Dave Frantz, LYQ, March 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 529, LYQ, Morrison TN; "Roseanne Airport Manchester Tennessee", 1205 Aviation weather loop tape, code IDs. Best in LSB. Found this by accident, but Harold had earlier sent out a tip on this. http://www.airport-data.com/airport/43TN/ Owner: David Frantz That name sound familiar? It should. 3/2 (Larry Russell, MI, DXPedition, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) ** U S A. 12th-Mar-2008 10:49 am - A very good day for public radio, college charitable trusts and their donors! SaveWCAL Wins a Victory for Public Radio Supporters and WCAL Donors Northfield, Minn.—A Special Master report submitted on March 7, 2008 to the Rice County (Minn.) District Court is an important victory for supporters of and donors to public radio station WCAL and St. Olaf College, according to Ruth Sylte, the president of SaveWCAL, an organization representing the donors to WCAL. “It is a very good day for supporters of public radio and thousands of SaveWCAL supporters!” said Sylte. “The report confirms that listener donations and support do matter.” . . . [much more] http://SaveWCALLiveJournal.com Contact: SaveWCAL@hotmail.com (via DXLD) ** U S A. Re 8-033, Fresno 1680: FCC still has them listed as KAVT. Tonight while trying frantically to get to the last good hamburger place in San José before closing, I heard only Spanish on 1680. ¿Por qué? Definitely not nostalgia, and as DXer`s luck always seems to be, noise goes up and signal goes down just at TOH. Patrick, whadaya know? (Mike Hawkins, Campbell CA (for two more days!!!!!), March 14, IRCA via DXLD) Mike, All I know is they switched to NOS and are changing calls and Martin heard. But who knows? SS is popular in Fresno too. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, KGED QSL Manager, ibid.) Good Morning, ID at 1059 "And now stand by for over hour America's best music right here on Legends 1680 AM KGED Fresno". ID by woman. I got lucky because I had the NW Ewe connected and the Spanish station KTFH was on top, switched back to the outdoor loop to catch the ID. Good S-9 +30 db signal on the loop (Dennis Vroomski, Salmon Creek, WA, ibid.) KTFH = Seattle, ex KDOW (gh) Mike is right, they are still legally KGED [sic, must mean KAVT from context]. Now, if they've applied for the KGED call letters but haven't received approval for them, they have been illegally identifying the station for several days now. However, unlike a license renewal application that is in processing, I don't think having an application in processing for certain call letters allows you to use them -- Sincerely, (Paul B. Walker, Jr., http://www.realradiousa.com http://www.theradiogod.com http://www.myspace.com/walkerbroadcasting ibid.) ** WESTERN SAHARA [non]. ARGELIA, 6300, Radio Nacional Saharaui, 2250- 2300, escuchada el 13 de marzo en árabe con emisión de música folklórica local con referencias al Sahara, SINPO 45444. 6300, Radio Nacional Saharaui, 2300-2310, escuchada el 13 de marzo en español, locutor con presentación, identificación, tertulia sobre la situación de Marruecos, “Literalmente en Marruecos la gente se muere de hambre...”, referencias a “La Memoria histórica”, SINPO 44343 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), Spain, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, YAESU FRG-7700, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. 4965, CVC, 2338-2350, Mar 11, English. Fire & brimstone preacher; 2339 "Focus on the Family" program ID; contemporary religious music from 2341; poor-fair; best in ECCS-LSB (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R8, R75, NIR10, MLB1, 200' Beverages, 60M dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 13590, CVC heard with strong 54545 signals from 1750 to 1810 including station ID. English OM newsreader followed by Australian talk (Dan Goldfarb, Brentwood, England, March 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. Radio Tanzania Zanzibar. English news was heard Thursday, March 13, at 2000 UT to 2010 followed by usual programming in Swahili. English news is usually reported on at 1800 UT. Good reception recently especially in the last hour of transmission to 2100 and with a great local music selection. Wonder if it is the same young lady singing that I hear so often at this time on most days. As usual the national anthem is played at 2059 (Bernie O'Shea, Ottawa, Ontario, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Re 3325, 8-033: I listened again this morning and am no closer to IDing this. Same weak signal barely above the noise --- what we might term an "imagination level" signal --- first heard 1152 with two consecutive female vocals over acoustic guitars, ToH announcement by man, and then into what seemed to be a newscast hosted by a woman, with brief segments that had a "telephonic" quality to the audio, as if they were from reporters in the field. I was hoping for some enhancement at sunrise here, but the signal was lost by 1220. I can't get a handle on the language; at times it seems to be Portuguese, the next minute it seems to be Chinese. I'll try, try again tomorrow! (Harry Helms, TX, March 12, ABDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Hi Glenn, Perhaps someone could help ID following mystery station? 6024.95, 2304-2326, March 12, choir gave lengthy rendition of "What a friend we have in Jesus", male announcer but too weak to be able to ID language. Had apparently disappeared at 2324 re- check. Frequency was clear after co-channel Kossuth R off 2259 but troubled by local noise that I couldn't get rid of. This wouldn't be reactivated R Amanecer? Best of DX & 73, (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Looks like a good bet; was it previously measured 50 Hz low? Floridians can hear it in daytime (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Something weak at 2140 GMT 13 March, definitely Spanish gospelspeak by man. Surely them, and at about 6024.95. Check later, too much mess on the channel. Mid-to-late mornings is when Amanecer is usually best (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nothing from it around 0600 UT March 14; when active it is occasionally on that late or all-night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ HEARD IT ON THE X I just finished a most enjoyable new book about Doc Brinkley -- quack extraordinaire, radio pioneer (KFKB - Kansas First, Kansas Best), father of the border blasters (XER > XERA > XERF), and de facto serial killer (his sham surgeries to implant goat gonads & ovaries in gullible hicks & hickettes killed hundreds). The book is "Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam" by Pope Brock, Crown Publishers, FEB 2008, 336 pages. It's not a book about radio per se, but about Brinkley's whole shameful career. But that career heavily involved radio, so there is plenty of interesting radio stuff for us DXers who remember the '60s when Wolfman Jack howled over the 250 kW on 1570 (muted a bit from 500 kW input / 1 megawatt ERP in earlier days). He was a true trailblazer in broadcasting country music & advertising. Some U.S. communication laws were rewritten specifically b/c of his outrageous behavior. Fittingly, the book ends with the lyrics to ZZ Top's '70s hit song. The writer has done his research well, and he is a very funny, entertaining storyteller. I highly recommend "Charlatan" - tell your other you'd like it for your birthday! (Fred Schroyer, Freelance Science Writer / Editorial Consultant, Waynesburg, PA 15370 (40 air miles S of Pittsburgh - 20 air miles N of Morgantown, WV) freditor @ alltel.net IRCA via DXLD) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ Re: DST CHANGE AND "ATOMIC" CLOCKS Just to close this out: All my clocks finally re-set to the correct DST time after I moved them around or re-oriented the antenna on the one with a separate ferrite rod. What seems odd to me is that one of the digitals, the newest one which I had received as a Christmas present, seems to have decided to be two seconds off, even after I know it re-set. (That one also had an internal DST switch I hadn't noticed until now.) No big deal but just strange -- I'd think a digital would either set exactly or not set at all. 73, (Will Martin, St Louis MO, March 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Have never understood the need for this facility. I want to set my own clox. Furthermore I often set them about 5 seconds fast, so I know hourtop is nigh. With VCRs anyway you need to set them 10-15 seconds fast so they will be up and running by the time a program starts, but can you do this automatically? Of course not. Anyway, I have never, or hardly ever, had a VCR which kept accurate time. They all seem to gain time so they really need to be reset once a week or so, to avoid being a minute early (and cutting off the last minute if pre-programmed without compensation). That`s another thing I don`t understand --- why, with 60 Hz power standards and such, electronic clox on AC don`t keep exactly exact time. Yes, I know, 60 Hz varies slightly, but it`s supposed to average out in the long run, and it does, since my 24-hour old fashioned shackclock with sweep second hand may vary a second or two but never gains or loses over time. In VCRs, it`s not like they have springs which are unwinding at variable rates, or batteries which are running down. Instead of having them pick up timesignals from PBS stations, sometimes inaccurate anyway, or wherever they come from, why not just engineer them to be accurate in the first place? Ditto VLF radio clox. Of course if there is a power or battery failure that`s a different matter and it could be handy to have them reset when power resumes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also CUBA WORLD OF TELEPHONY ++++++++++++++++++ "The telephone is an antiquity --- you never know who is calling, there is no image, it is an outmoded product that constantly disrupts work." ~ Ralf Hütter [Kraftwerk] (tagline of Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, March 12, DX LISTENING DIGEST) AT&T: U S A DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see IRAN! [that`s it per search of this ish] ++++++++++++++++++++ RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ ANTENNA GETS AROUND? Re 8-033: HCJB Australia has a new antenna from Croatia, which will be erected this year at Kununurra. Additionally, engineers at HCJB Elkhart technology Centre have just completed designing three bother [sic: brother? other?] antennas, which enables submission of plans to the local shire for building licenses. Apparently, $15,000 per week is required to continue with the fitting out of the transmitter building, construction of antenna systems, transmission lines, fencing, road works and farming. Operating expenses overall are approximately $25,000 per month (HCJB NEWS via March ADXN via dxld Mar 11) Glenn, it this that high-gain shortwave curtain array which delivered by TCI California for Croatian Radio Deanovec, but was mothballed in Croatia, and never erected at Deanovec? Payed by donations of the Croatian nationalists in USA. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wolfy, I have no idea, but sounds like an interesting story. Do you have more about it? (Glenn, ibid.) WORLD OF RADIO 1224: ``Croatian Radio has a TCI 611 curtain antenna for sale, 5.9-12.1 MHz, at 100 kW, 5 slews with accessories, original price $300K, delivered in 1995; was to serve North America but never installed`` see http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1224.html Also: http://www.shortwave.org/news/NEWSLETTER_0503.DOC # # # 2004: http://www.shortwave.org/news/NEWSLETTER_0403.PDF Also at the HFCC Conference, Croatian Radio announced that it has a TCI model 611 dipole curtain antenna for sale. The design frequency is 8.75 MHz, although it operates from 5.9-12.1 MHz. The power capability is 100 kW. There are five slew positions. The antenna is complete with guyed masts, air-traffic lighting, remote control unit and all documentation. It is stored in Zagreb, Croatia, where it was originally delivered in 1995. The original price was US$ 300,000. For further information, please contact Ms. Marica Risek, Croation Information Centre, Meduliceva 13, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia. Telephone +385-1-4846121. Fax +385-1-4848634. E-mail: marica.risek@hic.hr (via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) VT COMMUNICATIONS ON THE MOVE VT Communications are moving their London Head Office to the Blue Fin Building on London`s Southbank from Tuesday 25th March 2008. The Blue Fin Building will also be the new home of VTC's Media Management Centre, the control centre of its Global Media Network, delivering broadcast and media content globally across multiple platforms. The Blue Fin building boasts a carbon emissions rating that is the lowest possible for a deep-plan office in London. It is named after the 2,000 sq metre blue aluminum panels that shade the outside of the building and help keep its inside temperature consistent. Therefore from Tuesday 25th March 2008, please address all correspondence to: VT Communications Ltd Blue Fin Building 110 Southwark Street London SE1 0TA UK The telephone and fax numbers will remain the same: Tel: +44 (0)20 7969 0000 Fax: +44 (0)20 7396 6221 We have organised a temporary redirection service with Royal Mail to ensure we receive any late postal deliveries. We will be organising tours of our Media Management Centre in due course. Please let your VTC Account Manager know if are interested in visiting. Below is a location Map of our new offices. If you have any further questions or queries concerning our move, please contact your VTC Account Manager or Laura Luckett (Head of Marketing and Communications) on +44 (0)20 7344 5777 or email at: laura.luckett@vtplc.com (VTC March 13 via DXLD) DXTUNER / GLOBALTUNERS Hallo, DXtuner ist wieder auferstanden. Naeheres unter dem neuen Namen http://www.globaltuners.com Schoenen Gruss aus Hattingen. (Gerd Opalka, Germany, A-DX Mar 12 via BCDX March 15 via DXLD) Yes, the administrator verified my new login. User name and password of DXtuner are obsolete now. You need to create a new GlobalTuners account (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ GROUNDWAVE RANGE ON MEDIUMWAVE Re 8-032: If you see fading on your S meter and hear audio phase distortion on the medium frequency signal then the propagation mode is sky wave. If you hear a steady signal most of the time, with occasional fading on your S meter and audio phase distortion then the propagation mode is a mixture of ground wave and sky wave. During winter time and especially at the low part of a solar cycle, (like we are experiencing at the moment) at daytime virtually 100% of medium frequency propagation past the normal ground wave reach of a particular station is via sky wave. Even in the summer time at the low part of a solar cycle the majority of medium frequency signal propagation past the normal ground wave reach of a particular station is via sky wave, especially at mid and high latitudes. This occurs as the absorptive D layer is weak to even non existent. During summer time at a moderate and high phase of a solar cycle virtually all long haul propagation via medium frequencies is via ground wave. This occurs as the background x-ray solar flux level is greater than A0. increasing signal absorption of medium frequencies via the D layer. You can read more about it at KN4LF 160 Meter Radio Propagation Theory Notes: http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf8.htm under 1.) Medium Frequency Radio Wave Propagation Overview- under .1) .b) .d) .f) and elsewhere on the website. As I write this email at 1430 UT I'm listening to the Turks and Caicos Island station R. Cristobal [sic] on 530 kc and it is coming in via a mix of ground wave and sky wave. A bit earlier the same with WWL 870 kc in new Orleans, WCNZ 1660 kc from Marco island, FL and WSB 650 kc from Nashville. 73, (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF Lakeland, FL, USA, March 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) In 2001, while in Accra (Ghana) I had groundwave reception of Luanda (Angola) on 945 kHz in the middle of the day. A distance of around 1,300 miles, almost all of it over salt water. Very weak signal but with confirmed audio. Undoubtedly groundwave, not skywave, as this is a trans-equatorial route so D-layer absorption would be total in the middle of the day (also, it was sunspot maximum). Receiver was an Icom IC-R8500 with a good long-wire aerial about 50 feet above ground. I'm not claiming a world record - in fact I'm hoping that someone can beat that 1,300 miles, especially as the listed power on 945 is only 25 kW. Two essentials are an all-ocean path and a low local-noise level at the receiving end (Chris Greenway, UK, March 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Chris, While still in the employ of Uncle Sam I visited Signal Hill in St. Johns, NF in September 1988, at the peak of Solar Cycle 22. At the time I was an SWL, not yet licensed as a Ham, which came in December 1989. I had with me a Sony ICF-6500W receiver and at daytime on ground wave I was able to clearly copy WQAM 560 kc 5 kw in Miami, FL. At the time WQAM's single tower was out in Biscayne Bay. That was an approximate distance of 2158 km, 3474 mi. Part of the ground wave path in NF was over land but the signal probably skewed along and around the coast to Signal Hill. BTW I returned to Signal Hill in December 1995 at the bottom of Solar Cycle 22 to see what I could hear on the LF and MF AM broadcast bands, as well as 160 meters. At this time propagation conditions were identical to what was in existence when Guglielmo Marconi heard the famous "S" in December 1901 [?]. At daylight a myriad of signals were received from Europe using a Radio Shack DX-390 receiver via sky wave. That of course did not prove that Marconi heard the "S" but propagation conditions certainly would have allowed it if his receiving equipment had been up to the task. 73, (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF Lakeland, FL, USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Groundwave propagation on mediumwave: This statement >> "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." << is not related to the question how far groundwave reaches out (which can be answered only for a certain fieldstrength) but instead to the situation at night. It describes the problem of ground-/skywave congestion for which in German the dedicated term Nahschwund exists. Sophisticated antenna designs suppress steeply upwards radiation to avoid this problem, they radiate only at rather low take-off angles, thus the first skywave signals come back to earth only at a distance where no ground-/skywave congestion arises anymore. Another solution is to let the antenna the other way round radiate steeply upwards and produce no groundwave signal (using dipoles with no grounding grid). Of course such systems can be used for nighttime service only. Not much of them have been ever built although the concept works pretty good; Berlin-Britz (990 kHz, dismantled after further use of this antenna had been banned because of too high fieldstrengths outside the transmitter site), Madrid-Arganda (1359 kHz, hardly if ever on air nowadays?), Sarnen (1566 kHz, dismantled), Mainflingen and Burg (1539/1575 kHz, respectively, in everyday use) are the ones I'm aware of. See http://www.waniewski.de/id200.htm and further links there (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) There can be a significant difference in ground conductivity in a given area between when the ground is dry and hard, and when it is very wet an flooded although maximum effect occurs when the ground is saturated. A similar effect occurs when the ground is snow-covered. When a signal isn't rock-steady at the same time day to day that is usually indicative of skywave involvement unless we're speaking of a water path or mostly water path (Russ Edmunds, Blue Bell, PA ( 360' ASL ) [15 mi NNW of Philadelphia], IRCA via DXLD) Hi Jeff, Russ: The Australian Authority for Civil Aviation has published an interesting document named "Operational Notes on Non- Directional Beacons" here: http://www.casa.gov.au/pilots/download/NDB.pdf At certain point, they say: ""The useful range of an NDB is influenced by the type of terrain over which the radio wave travels. It is greatest over the sea and least over sandy or mountainous country, and an NDB with a daylight range of 600 miles over the sea may only have a range of little more than 100 miles over unfavourable types of land. Therefore, when an NDB is located on the coastline, its range in different directions can be expected to vary considerably."" Another document compiled by PY3JJ using data available from the old Brazilian Telecom Operator (Embratel), lists the "terrestrian ranges" for several MF/HF frequencies: 1700 KHz - 160 km 2000 KHz - 144 km 4000 KHz - 88 km 6000 KHz - 80 km 9500 KHz - 64 km 11900 KHz - 56 km 15100 KHz - 56 km 17800 KHz - 40 km 21550 KHz - 32 km 28000 KHz - 16 km I think this is the "assured range" (Huelbe Garcia, Brazil, ibid.) Glenn, Re all the discussion, groundwave distance, daytime skywave, etc., can be confusing. Here is some (simplified) basic data: 1. Groundwave propagates along the half-space surface, attenuated by the ohmic losses of the earth. It can exceed 1/R only in VERY limited situations of layered conductivity. (San Joaquín Valley, Kuwait and maybe Iraq near the mouth of the Tigris/Euphrates, the Arctic over sea ice are the exceptions I know about. J. R. Wait wrote a whole book on the subject. And >1/R conditions can exist only for limited areas because of the laws of conservation of energy.) Thus for a 1 MW omni 1/4 wave antenna, E = ~ 10,000 mV/m at 1 km, so at 1000 km E = 10 mV/m unattenuated. But the attenuation is, even for sea water at 500 kHz, substantial: 20 dB/1000 km, so received field would actually be 1 mV/m. At the upper end of the band the attenuation over sea water is a little over 30 dB/1000 km. Any path over land has far greater loss. At 500 kHz even very good ground has about 36 dB/1000 km loss, while at 1.6 MHz it's over 110 dB. 2. Daytime skywave probably accounts for most N. America reception at distances greater than 4 or 500 miles or a little further (over the 30 mS/m conductivity in the Great Plains region, for example). And despite the fact that the Fuzzy Confusion Commisariat won't consider the concept of daytime skywave, it's clearly a factor where powers greater than the Region II 100 kW limit are used, and is certainly observable from time to time in N. America as well. I have certainly seen (or more correctly, measured) it, particularly where the ground conductivity was poor and skywave predominated at relatively short distances from a high power site with DA gain. ITU-R Recommendation P.1147 ("Prediction of Skywave Field Strengths......") at Annex 2 "A discussion on daytime sky-wave propagation" item 2, "MF cases," states: "/Available data show that midday sky-wave field strengths display a consistent seasonal variation pattern with maximum occurring in winter months. The average winter-month field strength is about 10 dB stronger than the annual median value and the winter-to-summer ratio can exceed 30 dB. The annual median value of midday field strength is about 43 dB lower than its counterpart at six hours after sunset. Field strength exceeded for 10% of the days of the year is about 13 dB stronger than the annual median value. See also the ITU-R Handbook - The ionosphere and its effects on radiowave propagation." 3. The reason a good ground system is important for producing skywave is that it produces the field from the "image" antenna that is below the "half-space." (Ben Dawson, Hatfield & Dawson, WA, March 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ben, Tnx but even this is a bit over my head, starting with what 1/R signifies. Aside from theory, is there any way with non-professional equipment to determine once and for all whether WGN-720 is getting here at midday by groundwave, skywave or a combination? If it is skywave, why don`t I get higher-frequency Chicago-area stations even better? 1160 might be a possibility (clear frequency). And there was 1690 which I did think was skywave altho not IDed. But the skywave factor obviously dropped off below the X-band, or below 1500. What about WNAX 570 SD which I can hear any day mixing with KLIF? Steady, not fading, unless there is a SAH. Such distances correlate well with the lower-the-frequency-the better, and thus groundwave. It really seems counterintuitive that this should more likely be skywave. 73, (Glenn to Ben, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn 1/R merely is the equation for "inverse distance" - that is, at twice the distance you get 1/2 the signal, at ten times you get one tenth. R is Radius, which is just the conventional usage. There is frequency dependence in skywave transmission as well as in groundwave, and although in N. America it's considered to be greater signal the higher the frequency, in the rest of the world the data is considered to be the opposite of that. And it varies, day to day, hour to hour, just as the signal itself does. Conductivity between Chicago and Yankton toward you is generally pretty high, so it probably is groundwave, particularly if it does not vary from hour to hour. If the average conductivity is 30 mS/m, Chicago should give you about 13 uV/m, Yankton about 55 uV/m. Average conductivity of 20 mS/m would drop that 6 dB, but still a useable signal with good gear in a low-noise environment (Ben Dawson, ibid.) I happened to be out driving in the middle of Enid, March 12 at 1902 UT (one semihour after local mean noon), and tuned 720 on the caradio as I was parked on the south side of Starbux (I haul their grounds to garden, not buy their coffee), and there was WGN news, quite audible even tho there was some line noise. So I don`t even have to expedition to a quiet country parking spot to get it. As I drove away, between high noise powerline spots, I checked 670, and there was The Score with sports news and talk, mixing with but slightly atop KLTT Denver. 780, 890 and 1000 are blocked by OK stations, but the next Chicago clear is 1160 --- nothing audible there; nor 1690 which I would expect to be showing at topend, if skywave were in play. Essentially the same results next day around same time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGST) LAKE INVERSION A last message about this for those who don't get the VHF-UHF Digest or haven't bothered to look at it: I recently finished my lake inversion website, which is pretty much the end of my studies on that topic (at least officially). I posted my 2006 radio log (405 pages) with a 45-page report on lake inversion - graphics, maps, and all - my minute-by-minute TV Es log for that summer, site photos, weather graphs, links, journal articles, and 160 station logos I rounded up. I also have the extensive article I wrote on the topic (same one in the VUD). On the side, I also have posted some of my better screencaps of Es from over the recent years, smaller than most of yours, but I also have virtually no technology for my DXing hobby, so it's better than nothing. It took a full year to put all the data and research together... so hopefully a few of you will find it of some assistance. And if you've seen it and have any feedback, please do let me know. I've always been a sort of rebel in the DX world and do my own little thing... so it's nice to see if anyone benefits from my different way of DXing. The site is at http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/ for those who are interested (Chris Kadlec, Muskegon, Mich., amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) WORLDSPACE vs DOUBLE GLAZING I’ve not used my Worldspace receiver for a while, not since it all went encrypted, but today I decided to get it out again now that there are clear channels again. In the past I’ve used it on an upstairs south facing window sill but this time I tried it downstairs and could not find a beam. After a bit of fiddling and head scratching I took it outside and, bingo, it sprang to life. OK, the downstairs window was double glazed about three years ago, whereas the upstairs is much older. Recent legislation requires double glazing to have an additional reflective layer for increased insulation. You can just see a slight light loss compared to an older installation. This reflective layer seems to completely block L band signals. One wonders how it would affect other frequencies, would a satellite dish work through it, I suspect not. What about UHF, would it affect indoor TV aerials? Obviously more research needs to be done (Gareth Foster, March 11, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) ###