DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-054, April 29, 2008
Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING
edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com

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NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1405
Wed 1130 WRMI 9955
Wed 2300 WBCQ 17495-CUSB

SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1406
Thu 0530 WRMI 9955
Thu 1430 WRMI 9955
Thu 2200 WRMI 9955
Thu 2330 WBCQ 7415
Fri 0800 WRMI 9955
Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825
Fri 2230 WBCQ 5110-CUSB
Sat 0800 WRMI 9955
Sat 1630 WWCR3 12160
Sun 0230 WWCR3 5070
Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215
Sun 0800 WRMI 9955
Sun 1515 WRMI 9955
Mon 0300 WBCQ 9330-CLSB [irregular, time varies]
Mon 0415 WBCQ 7415 [time varies]
Tue 1100 WRMI 9955
Tue 1530 WRMI 9955
Wed 1130 WRMI 9955
Wed 2300 WBCQ 17495-CUSB

Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite
and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at:
http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html

For updates see our Anomaly Alert page:
http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html

WRN ON DEMAND:
http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24

WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN NOW AVAILABLE:
http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php

OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO:
http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html
or http://wor.worldofradio.org

** ALASKA. KCHU, Valdez, 770, also webcasts and is the last known
station carrying Riders Radio Theatre, one of my favorites, no longer
in production; has been at 0230 UT Saturdays, but April 26 heard local
newscast instead past 0300. Website program grid still shows it at
0230, and a blank block at 0300-0400, what`s that? E-mailed station
and reply from GM apologizes for out of date grid, attaches new one
updated in March; RRT has been pushed back to 0300 UT Saturdays,
followed by Story Hour [sic] at 0330-0400 --- wonder if that is a
local produxion. However, I listened a bit past 0300 and local
announcements were still running. MONITORING REMINDERS CALENDAR has
been updated accordingly (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ALASKA. DRM EXPERIMENT PROPOSED --- Digital Aurora Radio
Technologies of Delta Junction, AK has applied to the FCC for
authorization to experiment with statewide DRM in the 5, 7 and 9 MHz
shortwave bands.

The FCC has assigned the callsign WE2XRH to this station, but its
license was pending at the time of this writing. Delta Junction is
approximately 130 miles southeast of Fairbanks.
More information is at http://www.26mhz.us
(Benn Kobb, April 29, drmna yg via DXLD) Viz.:

"The ultimate goal of this project is to provide a terrestrial digital
radio service to the citizens of Alaska," the company said. "In
general, the population of Alaska is underserved with respect to the
ability to have a high quality, reliable public radio audio service.
This is especially true for sparsely populated areas of the state."

Digital Aurora would perform propagation, S/N, field strength, bit
rate and audio quality measurements over a two-year period. The
signals will be contained in a 10 kHz channel, but the test may
include a wider signal to investigate the impact on broadcast quality
and "expanded digital capabilities."

Transmissions will be coordinated with the High Frequency Coordination
Conference (HFCC).

"It is clear from the coverage contours that nearly all of the energy
is concentrated for reception in Alaska," the company said. Major
parts of the planned experiment will be to investigate how well the
propagation predictions reflect field conditions and how low the
transmit power can go below 100 kW without jeopardizing coverage in
some parts of Alaska.

A unique element of the proposed station is its use of government
surplus over-the-horizon (OTH) radar transmitters. Tests by the OTH
system manufacturer, Continental Electronics, demonstrated the
capability of the transmitter to broadcast DRM with "excellent
performance characteristics" and within the spectral mask recommended
by the ITU for this mode.

"An Alaskan experiment will fill a gap in assessing the performance of
digital terrestrial shortwave broadcasting in the difficult high
latitude environment," the company said (http://www.26mhz.us via DXLD)

Interesting, very! I was thinking NVIS techniques would be quite
usable but from what I recall NVIS wouldn't be able to cover the whole
state. If I remember correctly, NVIS is only good for about 400 miles,
tops? There's no way a NVIS transmitted signal would cover from the
Panhandle down Southeast out to Adak and the Aleutians and then north
to Barrow.

Sounds like good old dipoles transmitting in at least two separate
patterns for good coverage to me, which increases the likelihood of
outside listening by quite a margin. Not to mention using gov't
surplus OTHR transmitters! Are there any more of those out there?

If granted, this would break the ban on domestic SW broadcasting, and
that's a good thing! (Brendan, WA7HL, Wahl, who is only about 1300
miles southeast of Delta Junction! Ibid.)

WOW! Nice. Has there been any talk of the domestic SW broadcast ban
regulations? Perhaps the STA ameliorates that :-)

I for one am excited about this! I'd sure love to see more of these
type experiments. I'd even welcome weather broadcasts designed to
cover a state, like the NOAA broadcasts on the 162 MHz band, etc.
Thanks for keeping us up on this stuff Benn! (Fibber, ibid.)

** ARGENTINA. A Rádio Difusão Argentina Para o Exterior - RAE
transmite para o exterior, sempre de segundas a sextas-feiras, em
japonês, espanhol, inglês, italiano, francês, alemão e português. A
partir de 1º de maio, haverá uma nova emissão, em português, pela
manhã, entre 1100 e 1200, em 11710 kHz. Já a emissão noturna irá ao
ar, entre 0000 e 0100 [terças a sábados TU], pela mesma freqüência. As
duas emissões são distintas e contam, como sempre, com os programas de
DX produzidos por Gabriel Iván Barrera (from http://www.romais.jor.br
via Célio Romais, April 29, DXLD)

I listened to the opening of the 0100 UT Wednesday Portuguese program
on webcast, and at 0107 the YL announcer Julieta, speaking Brazilian
with a porteña lilt, explained the Japanese and Portuguese changes
both in local and UT. The way I copied it, from May 1 there will still
be Japanese at both 10-11 and 01-02 UT, while Portuguese will be at
both 11-12 and 00-01 UT, the latter in accordance with Célio above, in
other words, matching our original interpretation.

This directly contradicts the version from Barrera, Conexión Digital
via DXLD 8-053, which showed one hour of Portuguese at 11, and one
hour of Japanese at 01, period. Apparently Gabriel, who does their DX
scripts, and lends his E-mail address, is out of the loop about what
RAE is actually doing in schedule changes. Or, the announcer I heard
is out of the loop. They can`t both be right. It`s futile trying to
find an updated schedule on their website. The closest I came was
http://www.radionacional.com.ar/programacion/rae.html where if you
click on Viernes, it still shows two hours of Japanese in the
mornings, and two hours of Portuguese in the evenings, even tho by
then it will be May 2. This is in local time of UT -3 (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** AUSTRALIA [and non]. Early X Band Stations --- My fondest memories
of the early X Band are of the Australian RPH stations on 1629 and
1620, 2RPH and 3RPH, in the late 1980's from Mass. I believe I bored
KAZ with my tapes of those receptions when he visited here in FL a
couple of years ago. I sent the stations a tape and they had a fairly
lengthy segment on their DX program which they recorded on the back of
my tape and sent it back to me. They were running 400 watts at a
distance of about 10,000 miles. I later received a phone call from Ms
Marjorie Lane of 3RPH while she was visiting the local offices of the
Talking Books for the Blind in Boston. She said details on my tape
checked exactly with their program and they were thrilled with it.

I know David Clark in Ontario heard them, also. There was a East
Coast bootlegger on 1620 occasionally and I mused in DX News that I
didn't believe NRC should encourage these stations as they were
ruining my DX but was lightly chastized for it.

Australia can still be logged on Xband today on 1638 right around
local sunrise. It is weak but those with good antennas should be able
to pull it in on occasion. I have had weak audio on my 23" loop
occasionally. It is still there as I have noted their carrier for the
last week on my loop and modified 2010 (Ray Moore, Ft Myers, FL, April
29, NRC-AM via DXLD)

** BELARUS. Cyberattack on RFE/RL: see U S A [and non]

** BRAZIL. BRASIL - A Rádio Cultura AM, de São Paulo (SP), continua
sem ser captada na freqüência de 9615 kHz. Outra freqüência inativa,
no momento, é 9685 kHz, da Rádio Gazeta, também de São Paulo. Da mesma
forma, a Rádio Cultura, de Araraquara (SP), não tem sido captada em
3365 kHz.

BRASIL - O sinal da Rádio Inconfidência, de Belo Horizonte (MG), tem
tido regular sintonia, no Sul do Brasil, por volta de 0400, na
freqüência de 6010 kHz. Em 27 de abril, foi captado, em Porto Alegre
(RS), pelo colunista, quando Tina Gonçalves apresentava o
programa Mutirão Sertanejo.

BRASIL - Cidade Oldies é o nome de uma "rádio livre", que transmite,
sem fins lucrativos, de algum lugar da região Sudeste, nas
madrugadas brasileiras, de sextas, sábados, domingos e feriados, a
partir de 0300, na freqüência de 7695 kHz. A estação
anuncia que executa "músicas que tocaram nos bons e velhos tempos" e
divulga as ondas curtas. Anuncia um cartão QSL para
breve para quem enviar informes de recepção para o e-mail: E-mail:
cidadeoldies @ live.nl (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX via DXLD)

Previous info was UT Sat & Sun; now it`s Fri, Sat, Sun and holidays at
0300 UT (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1406, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** BRAZIL. BRASIL – É provável que, em julho, todas as freqüências da
Rádio Guarujá Paulista, de Guarujá (SP), voltem a transmitir
programação gerada na própria estação e não mais do Sistema Globo de
Rádio, como vem ocorrendo (from http://www.romais.jor.br via Célio
Romais, April 29, DXLD)

** BRAZIL. Radio Gazeta, São Paulo, 15325.020 kHz, 1941 UT April 29,
fair with nice Brazil music and info about São Paulo. Gr (Maurits Van
Driessche, Belgium, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CANADA. I notice that last night CBC News was audible on 1070. Has
CBA Moncton been resurrected or did someone press the wrong button?
(Paul Crankshaw, Troon, Scotland, April 29, IRCA via DXLD) Time?

** CANADA. INTERVIEW: CHANGES TO CBC RADIO 2 AND ORCHESTRA DISBANDING
http://www.insidethecbc.com/r2interview#more-1755

There has been lots of talk recently about the forthcoming changes to
CBC Radio 2, the dismantling of the CBC Radio Orchestra, and more.

So last week, I sat down (via phone) with Chris Boyce, CBC Radio’s
director of programming, and Mark Steinmetz, director of music, to get
some more details and address some of the concerns raised.

The interview text is below and the audio of the interview is coming
soon.

Please note: There are some crappy edits in the audio — all were from
my end (coughing, taking a phone call, and editing out my mangling of
questions and stumbling over words <grin>). At no time has Chris,
Mark, or anyone at the CBC asked for anything to be taken out.

Maffin: There’s been lots of chat these days on the blog, and in the
media, and inside the CBC around the changes to CBC Radio Two,
specifically the reduction of classical music being played, the
addition of a streaming classical music station online and closing the
closing the CBC Radio orchestra. It’s been very contentious, and I’ve
got a couple people with me from the CBC who will hopefully shed some
light and maybe explain some of this. One is Mark Steinmetz. Hi Mark.

Steinmetz: Hi.

Maffin: Briefly, what do you do?

Steinmetz: I’m the Director of Radio Music.

Maffin: And what’s your background?

Steinmetz: I’ve been at CBC for over fifteen years. Was a producer,
did disc shows, recorded concerts, recorded cd’s, and went to music
school, and that’s it.

Maffin: Chris Boyce is the newly minted Director of Programming. Hi
Chris.

Boyce: Hi Tod.

Maffin: You came through the Director of Program Development, and then
you had some time at DNTO. Where have you been, briefly, at the CBC?

Boyce: You’re right. Before I got in to management, I was Executive
Producer at DNTO and the Content Factory, producing a wide range of
content for CBC Radio. And television. Most recently, I was Director
of Program Development where I worked developing a wide range of
programming, from current affairs, to cultural programming, to music.
I just started officially a few weeks ago as Director of Programming.

Maffin: Just by way of disclosure, you used to be my boss when I
worked at DNTO. I believe I still owe you five bucks.

Boyce: You were an exemplary employee.

Maffin: That’s so not true.
__________________________________________
THE OVERALL ENVIRONMENT

Maffin: Before we get to the topics at hand and the controversial
aspects, I want to ask a couple of questions on the overall
environment. Maybe Chris, you might be best to answer this. How has
the way that we listen to radio changed in the last five to ten years?
Are we listening more or less? Do we listen in different places than
we used to?

Boyce: If you look at the overall radio environment in Canada, people
are listening to slightly less over-the-air radio. Where it’s most
predominant is in the under thirty-five demographic. Thirty-five plus
people have lost about an hour of listening a week, still in the
twenty hour a week range. The drop off is most noticed when you’re
under thirty-five, and incredibly noticeable in the under eighteen
demographic.

Maffin: It’s sort of an obvious answer, I suppose, but I guess those
people are turning to podcasts and satellite radio. Where are we
losing them to?

Boyce: That’s the million dollar question, Tod. I think it’s safe to
say that people are finding any number of places, whether it be
satellite radio or podcast. Everybody now seems to own an iPod and
essentially programs their own music, so in the digital sphere, it’s
not just other programmed radio services. It’s people essentially
creating their own programming as the technology has enabled them to
essentially replicate the experience of listening to a radio station
but programming it themselves.

Maffin: I have to say, since podcasting came online a couple years
ago, I listen to almost no radio live off the radio now. I subscribe
to CBC podcast, NPR, ABC and stuff like that every day. It really
changed my listening anyway.

Steinmetz: There’s another fact that we just found out. It’s between,
I think, sixteen and twenty-five percent of listeners of traditional
radio are actually listening off of their computers, so they’re not
even listening to radios, like radio units. They’re listening through
their computers. That’s across North America, so that’s interesting,
as well.
__________________________________________
CHANGES TO CBC RADIO 2

Maffin: I want to get to that as well, when we talk about changes to
the classical music, because I know that one of the things we’re going
to be adding is an online radio station. But let’s start more widely
with the changes to Radio Two overall. I was looking through the blog
comments, and of course, we’ve had plenty. There was a fellow named
Alan Shearn, of course, you never really who’s name it really is, so a
person who calls himself Alan Shearn reminded people in there, there’s
an old saying that says if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. CBC’s
certainly changing. I don’t know whether we’re fixing, maybe we are.
Does that mean Radio Two is broken?

Steinmetz: No. Radio Two, it’s a quality service. I think there are
two things that we’ve realized over the past few years. One is that
we’re not adhering to the overall mandate. That is that the Radio Two
public space reflects the broad range of music making in this country.
We don’t feel that we’re living up to our mandate, and the second
reason is we described as a sustainable audience. We’ve got a
relatively good audience, but fifty percent of the audience is over
sixty-five. We appreciate that audience. We want to keep that
audience, but the fact of the matter is the thirty-five to sixty year
olds are not coming in behind them. Our audience, over the last twenty
years, has grown twenty times faster than the Canadian population.
Everyone thinks that the boomers are coming and they’re going to
discover classical music, but the truth is that thirty-five to sixty
group are not coming to our service. Over the last bunch of years,
we’ve been asking ourselves why that is. And there’s many reasons for
that, but those are the two reasons. We need a sustainable audience.
We need to find an adult audience that will come to us and replenish
us and keep us going in to the future.

Boyce: Tod, we have a great classical music service, but the reality
of music in Canada today is there’s a whole list of genres of music
that people listen to and that are made across Canada. Roots, world,
folk, blues, jazz, contemporary music. There’s singer song writers,
there’s a ton of incredible music being made in Canada today that just
isn’t heard on Canadian airwaves. It’s our responsibility as Canada’s
broadcaster to bring that music to Canadians wherever they live,
across Canada. For us, that’s what this is about. It’s about bringing
Canadian music to Canadians and it’s not really something that anyone
else is doing in Canada right now.

Maffin: I wonder if we sometimes end up accidentally shooting
ourselves in the foot though. Sometimes we’ll give examples of artists
that would be played. I remember when Freestyle was about to launch
here in Vancouver. Somebody, somewhere at the CBC mentioned, probably
in passing, that among the many Canadian artists they’ll be playing
we’ll see some lighter fare. There occasionally be Madonna. Of course
the media reported, CBC Radio goes pop radio. I kind of fear we may
have done the same thing by mentioning Celine Deon and Joni Mitchell
as examples, so let’s set the record straight. When people tune in to
the new CBC Radio Two in the fall, what will they hear? Will it be an
easy listening station?

Steinmetz: No, it won’t be an easy listening station. It’ll be a
station that brings quality music across genres to Canadians. We’ll
not be focusing in on the top ten hits of this country, the commercial
stations do so at presenting to Canadians. There are thousands of
pieces of music across genres, including classical music, made in this
country that are not heard. Quality music, across genres. We will be
reflecting that music. You’re right about you mention one or two
artists, and I think the two artists that were mentioned in passing
long ago were Serena Ryder and Joni Michell, and all the sudden that’s
what CBC Radio Two’s going to become. I don’t know where Celine Deon
came from, but anyway. The fact of the matter is, will there be Joni
Mitchell on the service? Yes, there will be some Joni Mitchell on the
service, but it’s not going to be exclusively a service that is going
to play music just like Joni Mitchell. I guess that’s the key.
Whenever you bring up an artists name, then that’s what happens.
Anyway, quality music across genres.

Boyce: The bottom line, Tod, is tens of thousands of cuts of music are
made every year in Canada. A few hundred of them ever get heard with
any regularity on commercial radio, so there is a really deep catalog
of great Canadian music that nobody gets to hear. We’re going to put
that on the radio.

Steinmetz: That’s right, and the number is often cited as thirty
thousand and acknowledged that there are thousands that aren’t very
good. And we will avoid those not very good ones, but there are
thousands that are excellent and quality recordings that are heard
nowhere else, and we will reflect those recordings.

Boyce: And we’re excited because it’s a radio service that doesn’t
exist anywhere else in Canada right now.

Maffin: As an aside, I actually have a list of music I think is really
bad. Can I just email that to you and maybe we can make some sort of
arrangement?

Steinmetz: Sure.

Boyce: A “do not play” list.

Steinmetz: I get lots of those lists, Tod.

Maffin: It kind of raises in a way, I wonder how diligent we would
have to be to ensure that we don’t compete in a way. There’s a
commenter on the blog, named Dave, who wrote on April first. This is
his comment, the new CBC Radio Two will be more like pop stations than
it was before, and I think you’ve addressed that, but he goes on to
say, it may not occupy exactly the same terrain as a pop station, but
it certainly may appeal more to pop listeners, which I think might be
true. Therefore, regardless of whether we attempt to compete with the
pop stations, we kind of are in a way competing with them, so will we
be paying close attention to make sure we don’t match those, or is
that not really in our radar?

Boyce: We know what the service is that we want to make. We know what
the music is that we think Canadians want to hear, that they aren’t
hearing now. We’re going to put it on the air. If that’s something
that’s appealing to people who are presently listening to another
radio station, that’s great, but for us, this is about what it is to
be a public broadcaster in Canada in the year two thousand and eight.

Maffin: To be fair, the numbers on Radio Two are not that great. I
think, just over three percent of Canadians, who listen to the radio,
tune in to Radio Two.

Steinmetz: That’s right.

Maffin: So how do we defend against charges that these changes are
just an attempt to get higher ratings? And are higher ratings that
bad?

Boyce: We’re a public broadcaster. Our job is to serve the citizens of
Canada. If the citizens of Canada aren’t consuming our service, I
don’t think we’re doing a very good job as a public broadcaster.
That’s very different though, than going out exclusively to get the
largest audience possible, by putting whatever we think will go on the
air to attract that audience. For me, attracting Canadians is
important, because they are our constituencies. They are our clients.
They are the people who we serve. How many of them are listening is
only one of a whole bunch of measures that you use to measure success.

Maffin: Was money, at all, a criteria here? How does this change
Radio’s Two budget? Does it save us money, or cost us money?

Steinmetz: Neither.

Boyce: We’ll be spending about the same on the service after the
change as we were before. What we spend it on, that’s where the change
will be.

Steinmetz: I was just going to say that one of the things that will
remain the same is that we’re going to bring quality presentation to
the schedule. What separates us from the commercial stations, first of
all, is we’re commercial-free and that’s obvious, but the second thing
is there will still be the contextualization of music across the
schedule. There will still be that in-depth look at music, so
regardless of genre, the quality of presentation is still something
that’s really important to us.

Maffin: Since you brought up the commercial-free point, is it your
position to guarantee that Radio One and Radio Two will remain
commercial-free? When we’re starting to see a little bit of slippery
slope with the podcasts, which are now sponsored, are there any plans,
or research, or anything going in to considering adding that to the
terrestrial service?

Boyce: We have no plans whatsoever to add any commercial sponsorship
to our over-the-air service.
__________________________________________
REDUCTION OF CLASSICAL MUSIC

Maffin: Okay, let’s move on to, more specifically, the classical
changes, which of course, have gotten most of the attention around
this. I presume we’ve done polling on music tastes among Canadians. Do
fewer people in Canada like listening to classical music? Is that part
of this decision?

Steinmetz: Fewer than what?

Maffin: Fewer than in the past?

Steinmetz: No, it’s basically been between four and six percent of
Canadians listen to classical music at some point in the year.

Maffin: So the preference hasn’t changed? It’s not like people are
listening to it less as a whole, as a genre? Fair to say?

Steinmetz: No, I think it remains stable. In fact, I know in the
digital space the consumption of classical music is actually quite
high. The changes are not about classical music. Classical music is
doing very well. It continues to do well. Our changes don’t mean the
death of classical music in this country. And in fact, as I was
saying, on the digital space there’s a great demand for it.

Boyce: These changes are about everything else that we want and need
to be doing, rather than anything to do with whether people are
listening or not listening to classical music. The reality, Tod, is
that as an over-the-air service we have one music channel, and it’s
what is the range of music that we need to put on that channel. The
beauty, as Mark says, of the digital space is that we have way more
flexibility in targeting music to niche audiences. Come September, if
you’re in to classical you will be able to listen to a classical web
radio station. Same for jazz, singer song writer or contemporary
Canadian compositions. Part of this is the reality, all of those music
genres exist on Radio Two, we just have the ability in the digital
sphere to target to people’s interests a little better.

Steinmetz: Yeah, you heard it here first actually, Tod, because we
haven’t announced it yet, but we do want to add a fourth station, a
contemporary classical music, all one hundred percent Canadian
composed art music digital streamed. We intend to launch that as a
fourth one. We’re saving that announcement for a couple of weeks from
now, but there, you heard it here first.

Maffin: What does “art music” mean?

Steinmetz: Good question. I guess it is composers in this country who
come from the classical music tradition. It’s not electronica. It’s
not contemporary new popular music. It used to be [called] serious
[music].

Maffin: Will it dive in to the area that perhaps, Brave New Waves used
to cover, which was further on that edge?

Steinmetz: We feel that Radio Three does a lot of that similar kind of
programming. There was a show we had on the air ago called Two New
Hours, and it’s that kind of contemporary music we’re talking about.
We haven’t designed the playlist. We haven’t designed what it’s going
to be, but it will be that genre, sort of twentieth century, twenty-
first century Canadian composed music.

Maffin: Mark, how does that process work, you mentioned designing
playlists and things?

Steinmetz: We’ll be putting a group of producers together to come up
with what it would sound like. We create intentions of where we want
to go. We set criteria. Then producers get together and they, through
program development, come up with what the musical framework and what
the musical world and tone is going to be. That kind of work still has
to be done.

Maffin: Did I read right that we’re calling them Radio Four, Radio
Five and Radio Six?

Steinmetz: Nope.

Maffin: Okay.

Boyce: At this point, we’re still figuring out how they’ll all be
branded. To be honest, for the online stations we’re still figuring
out exactly what the playlists will look like, and what the range of
music is. At this point, we know we’re doing them. We know the broad
areas that we’re going in to, but we haven’t finished the
developmental work on exactly what they’ll be, Tod.

Maffin: So how many stations?

Steinmetz: We’re looking at four. Generally, one will be a jazz
station, one will be a classical music station; I should call them
streams actually. I think that’s a better word. One of them will be
this contemporary music one that I was talking about. And then one
will be feature singer song writers’ songs across genre.

Maffin: Will there be commercials on those streams?

Boyce: There certainly won’t be commercials, per se. There may be a
short, ten second sponsorship message, like a podcast, but certainly
no commercials.

Maffin: Are these hosted stations? Will we actually hear someone
introducing and chatting, or is it essentially like Radio Three has a
station on the internet, but it’s primarily just music, music, music,
back-to-back, with some pre-taped host?

Boyce: It’ll be mostly a music-focused service.

Maffin: So no live hosts:?

Boyce: Again, that’s some of the details we’re working on, but the
expectation is the focus is on the music.

Steinmetz: Yeah, and you’ll know it’s CBC Radio Two.
__________________________________________
DISBANDING OF THE CBC RADIO ORCHESTRA

Maffin: Let’s talk about the orchestra briefly. The only question I
really have here is why close it?

Steinmetz: Why close it? Because we had to make choices. We had to
make a choice about where we wanted to direct the money that we have.
We thought about it for a long time and we feel that by reallocating
the money to other music productions across this country, including
classical music, including [orchestral] commissions --- It was a very
tough choice, but we felt that was a better use of the money overall.

Boyce: It’s interesting, Tod, the CBC Radio Orchestra was created
seventy years ago at a time when there were no other orchestras in
Canada creating Canadian classical music. Seventy years later, there
are essentially, over forty orchestras across the country. The
situation that led to the creation of the orchestra is very different
than the situation we find ourselves in today. As Mark said, this is
about getting the most bang for the buck. It’s about the most
efficient use of resources, and it’s a very, very difficult decision
to make. Nobody wants to see the orchestra go, but that’s the reality
that we work within.

Maffin: How much money in real dollar terms was it consuming?

Steinmetz: Can’t go there. I think in media it’s between five hundred
thousand and a million dollars.

Maffin: And do you dispute the figures the media have come up with?

Steinmetz: No, I don’t, but budgets change year to year. What I can
tell you though, ten years ago the Radio Orchestra did more than it
did today. As years go by, it’s hard to sustain, and to keep cutting
back the season, keep cutting back the concerts became not an option.

Maffin: Just to play devil’s advocate and be fair, the decision to cut
back concerts and you mentioned slowly reducing, that’s not something
that just happens by osmosis. There’s a decision at the CBC to reduce
the level.

Steinmetz: Yeah, that’s right. We made a decision.

Boyce: But it’s not a cost cutting move, Tod. It’s about using the
limited resources we have in the way that will create the most impact
across the country. That’s the bottom line.

Maffin: Okay, and that makes sense. The details on that I’d love to
get a little more sense of. Does this mean we’re going to become a
grant giving organization, or we’ll just record more concerts, or are
we going to commission specific pieces? Where will that money,
specifically [Sound Cuts Out].

Steinmetz: We’re not going to be a grant giving organization, but we
are going to be upping what we call the commissions budget here for
orchestral commissions. That’s for sure to make up for the decision
that we made about the orchestra. Then we’re going to be reallocating
to music productions, recording concerts, more concerts than we had
before. That’s the goal.
__________________________________________
SUMMARY

Maffin: Anything that I’ve missed in this quick interview that you
want to add?

Boyce: I’m just really excited about what we’re launching in
September. For the first time there is going to be a truly Canadian
music service that reflects the music that’s being made across Canada
to Canadians. To be honest, Tod, I’m really excited. I think it’s an
amazing opportunity for Canadians to get something that they’ve never
had access to before. I can’t understate the impact I think this is
going to have for Canadian musicians and for Canadian audiences.

Maffin: Fantastic. How can people continue to add their thoughts in to
this dialogue?

Boyce: If people are looking for more information about what we’re
doing, there’s information on the Radio Two website, CBC dot C-A slash
Radio Two. There’s a little section that you can look at, which talks
about the new Radio Two, what we’re doing, what our plans are. We’ll
be updating that as we head towards the launch in September.

Maffin: There’s always, of course, commenting on the CBC blog at
Inside the CBC dot com, and CBC dot C-A slash contact is a web form
there where people can send their opinions in to the CBC, and those
emails do get read. We actually have a department. I don’t know how
many people it is, a dozen I think, or more, who read those responses,
collate them, put them in front of senior managers, as well, so those
messages do get through.

Steinmetz: Oh yeah. We see them all.

Maffin: Just a quick housekeeping note. Some people may wonder why
Jennifer McGuire is not on this call. Jennifer, of course, was quoted
in the media for a lot of these things. That’s because at the time,
she was largely responsible for communicating this. She has now moved
on to another role inside CBC News. Mark Steinmetz, Director of Music
for CBC Radio. Chris Boyce, Director of Programming. Thank you so much
for your time today.

Steinmetz: Welcome.

Boyce: Thanks, Tod.

CBC Radio 2 • Changes to CBC Radio Two April 28, 2008

6 Responses to “Interview: Changes to CBC Radio 2 and Orchestra
Disbanding”

kathleen Says: April 28th, 2008 at 8:35 pm CDT
You make a very poor argument for shutting down the CBCRO. The budget
for the orchestra is being spent on your huge ad campaign in national
papers. At one point you said the orchestra’s budget will be used for
remote broadcasts of other orchestras and then you said it will be
spent on commissions. What about all of the commissions performed by
the CBCRO in the past few years? I suspect the budget for the CBCRO
will be put into general revenue. That money will never again have the
artistic impact it had when it was spent on the Radio Orchestra. Mr.
Steinmetz, how can you sleep at night, knowing what havoc you have
wreaked on music in this country? I hope that very soon you will be
called to account for your actions.

Gabriel Says: April 28th, 2008 at 10:41 pm CDT
Let me get this straight. According to the interview:
A. The ones who like classical music are the old people.
B. The ones who are turning away from radio and toward the internet
are the young people.

So why is the solution to reduce the amount of classical music on the
airwaves (where “young people” don’t listen), and create a new online
classical station (where “old people” don’t listen)?! That’s sheer
lunacy!

Chip Says: April 29th, 2008 at 1:03 am CDT
Statistics cited in this article: 50% of Radio Two’s audience is over
65. Between 16 and 25 percent of people listen to CBC on their
computers instead of a traditional radio. This also means that 50% of
Radio 2’s audience is UNDER 65, and that between 75 and 84% of CBC
listeners listen to CBC on a traditional radio.

Emily G Says: April 29th, 2008 at 1:07 am CDT
Tod Maffin says: “To be fair, the numbers on Radio Two are not that
great. I think, just over three percent of Canadians, who listen to
the radio, tune in to Radio Two.”

Well, I sure stopped listening to Radio Two after they made the
changes in 2007. And they sure won’t win me back with these new
changes.

Heather Says: April 29th, 2008 at 10:58 am CDT
I am 40 and I stream CBC Two on my computer at work. I remember when
the CBC in its grand wisdom overhauled CBC One - the programming
became repetitive and was pretty lightweight. The CBC lost me as a
listener for years. Over the years, the programming apparently has
been improving and after rediscovering Radio One during an illness
last year, I am listening to Radio One in the car and at home. My
concern is that once again there appears to be no plan. I am being
asked to trust the CBC, despite the fact that large blocks of mish-
mash programming is what is on offer.

Why not keep some of the current shows and add new ones, that way you
could keep your existing audience while building a new one. From a
marketing stand point of view, keeping an existing cliet is easier
than finding a new one. This existing client is going to be streaming
orchestral and classical music from the UK or the US. The CBC may
think we are all going to just simply hang around until they get it
right, but they are sadly mistaken (Inside the CBC blog via DXLD)

** CANADA. The application of CHOU-1450 Montreal Quebec to increase
its power from 1 to 2 kW-U has been approved by the CRTC:
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2008/db2008-87.htm

The antenna will remain non-directional
CHOU Montréal – Technical change

1. The Commission approves the application by 9015-2018 Québec inc.
to change the authorized contours of the commercial ethnic AM radio
programming undertaking CHOU Montréal approved in Ethnic AM radio
station in Montréal, Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2006-82, 15 March
2006, by increasing the daytime and nighttime transmitter power from
1,000 watts to 2,000 watts.

2. The licensee indicated that the changes will improve the reception
of its signal in downtown Montréal as well as on the south shore where
the signal is almost non-existent. 73, (via Deane McIntyre VE6BPO,
April 29, DXLD)

It should be noted this makes CHOU one of a VERY few stations running
more than 1 kW on a graveyard channel. In fact, I count only four
others and one already has a permit to move to FM.

(the other four:
CBG-1400 Gander, NL
CFYK-1340 Yellowknife, NT
CHUC-1450 Cobourg, ON (moving to FM)
new station in Hawaii)

-- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, NRC-AM via DXLD)

I remember logging & QSLing one of my best Quebec's CHEF 1450 Granby
during a DX Test years ago. They were 10 kW. 73, (Patrick Martin,
Seaside OR, ibid.)

Yep, the I-C database lists five now-defunct Canadian stations that
once ran more than 1 kW on a GY channel:

CHVD-1230 Dolbeau, QC (10 kw day, 1 kw night)
CKXX-1340 Corner Brook, NL (10 kw fulltime)
CJLS-1340 Yarmouth, NS (5 kw day, 4 kw night)
CJFP-1400 Riviere-du-Loup, QC (10 kw day, 5 kw night)
CHEF-1450 Granby, QC (10 kw fulltime)

I know there were more (someone mentioned CKKW a few weeks ago). --
(Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.)

** CHINA [and non]. Re DXLD 8-053 BBG cuts: . . .Part of the Program
Plan makes clear the BBG's antipathy to shortwave radio broadcasts:
"Expansion of the BBG Internet capability will continue the
technological evolution of program delivery from shortwave to
Internet".

Yes, maybe you have read this on DXLD by now and I wanted to place it
in the foreground, then wondering why China Radio International is
spending all those millions, taking the first place in short wave
broadcasting, the same we heard in the past from Radio Moscow or VOA,
while the rest of these all time major broadcasters are downgrading
their services. Chinese must be completely wrong, is the only thing I
can figure myself. Dumb people? Strategy; what kind of strategy?
(Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, April 28, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CHINA [and non]. /MARIANA ISLANDS. 13760, Firedrake/RFA (Tinian)
0526 28 April. RFA in Chinese holding its own against Firedrake this
evening. Firedrake also noted on 15130 (against RFA-Tinian which was
also heard weakly), 15270 (presumed against RTI in Chinese), 15490
(presumed against VOA-Irana Wila in Tibetan), 15635 (presumed against
RFA-Irkutsk in Chinese) --- all heard 0520+ while killing time during
One Africa's pop songs (Dan Sheedy, CA, G5/5m silly wire, dxldyg via
DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also TIBET [non]

** CHINA. NPR AND THE NEW CHINA --- NPR News is presenting six months
of intensive coverage of China, leading up to coverage of the Beijing
Olympics, August 8 to 25. Throughout the spring and summer, and across
all NPR programs, we'll hear reports about the rapidly changing nation
from many angles: its youth, technology, schools, development,
environment and its place in the world.

In preparation, NPR staffers in China are giving us a sneak peek at
some of the people, places and events they'll be reporting on in a new
blog, Chengdu Diary. (Don't miss the video of the pandas!)
http://www.npr.org/blogs/chengdu/
(KGOU newsletter via DXLD)

** COLOMBIA. RCN LANZA SU PORTAL DE INTENET CONMEMORATIVO

Comprometidos siempre con la historia de Colombia, RCN lanza su portal
de internet conmemorativo donde quedarán registrados los hechos, los
personajes y la historia de esta gran celebración durante todo el año.
Además con nuevas herramientas como la posibilidad de dejar su mensaje
en audio o el envío de fotografías de los compatriotas en el exterior.

Videos, archivos históricos con las voces y los hechos que han hecho
la historia de la radio, encuestas y el registro semanal del programa
conmemorativo dirigido por Jota Fernando Quintero harán parte de este
nuevo medio que tiene como objetivo celebrar con los oyentes los 60
años de servicio a toda Colombia.

El portal se une al programa radial de la Cadena Básica que busca
recordar la grandeza de nuestra radio durante los 60 años en los que
Radio Cadena Nacional RCN ha acompañado todos los días y en toda parte
a todos los colombianos (tomado de http://www.rcn.com.co via Arnaldo
Slaen, Argentina, condiglist yg via DXLD)

** COSTA RICA. It looks official now: the new sked for testings from
the Guápiles ELCOR transmitter is 2100-2200. 5954 is flanked today
Monday April 28 (can't be different tomorrow) by a couple of spurs,
5930 and 5975. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via WORLD OF
RADIO 1406, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

Raúl, Such spurs usually match at exactly the same distance from
fundamental, so if the lower one is 5930, the upper one should be 5978
(altho no doubt with further decimals since 5954 is .l3 or whatever).
Can you measure the spurs more closely? (Glenn Hauser, ibid.)

No trace of ELCOR on Monday, April 28 or Tuesday, April 29 in the
2125-2200 monitored segment. They were seemingly silent based on
observations here, though Raúl is a better confirmation source. I
believe he had no trace of them on the previous Saturday (and possibly
Sunday). I did not have the opportunity to check either day. Briefly
inactive again? Or shifting transmission time once again? (Terry L
Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CROATIA [non]. HRT 7285 kHz channel will cease on May 10th, 2008.
Wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, April 29, WORLD OF RADIO 1406, DX LISTENING
DIGEST) Per updated MB schedule

** CUBA. 5940, 6300, RHC leapfrogging spurs, 0530-0545, April 28,
English programming. 5940-leapfrogging spur of 6180. 6300-leap-
frogging spur of 6060. 120 kHz separation between each frequency.
Spurs with poor to fair reception. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)

** CUBA [non]. Re 8-053: BBG AWARDS NEW CONTRACT FOR AEROMARTÍ

I've been to the Etowah Indian Mounds near Cartersville twice and it
never dawned on me, or it simply was prior to Phoenix Air Group
(located very near the mounds) coming into play. Their address is 100
Phoenix Air Dr SW [cute], Cartersville, GA 30120 which maps directly
across from the airstrip with Dallas Road SW a/k/a CR-61 separating
them from the airport. It would be interesting for someone who lives
near or frequents the area to scope out the airstrip for various
aircraft types, tail numbers etc. Yahoomaps.com shows a good runway
shot with some suspicious corporate airframe jets and one turboprop
airframe I can't ID -- I don't think it's a civilian C-130 airframe --
maybe a CASA? Googlemaps.com sux -- clouds right atop the runway when
the shot was taken (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA,
27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, April 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** DEUTSCHES REICH [non]. Dear Mr. Hauser: You may remember me as Blue
Bell of WBNY Radio. I am also the ex-wife of Kevin Alfred Strom who
you knew and loved as the man behind The Voice of To-Morrow. Please
see the attached. You will learn way more than you ever wanted to know
about Mr. Strom. -- Yours, (Kirsten Helene Kaiser, April 29, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)

Before someone cries ``off-topic``, I repoint out that Strom not only
had a SW pirate, but also managed to get on WRNO and some other SW
stations, as American Dissident Voices (gh, DXLD) Viz.:

"I AM NOT A PEDOPHILE": STROM GETS 23 MONTHS ---
4/22/08 8:28 AM The Hook News Blog » Blog Archive »
Crime/Justice, Featured 02:16 pm April 21st 2008 By Lisa Provence

The white separatist who pleaded guilty to one count of child
pornography possession January 17 was sentenced to 23 months in prison
this morning in U.S. District Court. Kevin Alfred Strom, 51, has been
jailed since early January 2007, and Judge Norman Moon rejected
Strom’s request that he be sentenced to time served–and that he
"unwillingly" possessed the kiddie porn found on his computer.

Throughout Strom’s trial last year for enticement of a minor and
witness intimidation --- charges that were thrown out by Moon --- the
prolific writer, radio broadcaster, and founder of the white-rights
National Alliance offshoot, the National Vanguard, has been silent in
court, speaking only in January to denounce his portrayal in the media
as a neo-Nazi and white supremacist.

"I’ve been in solitary confinement for 16 months," says Strom. "I ask
the court to grant me one minute for every month I’ve been in prison."
During his statement, Strom said he’s been a good father to his three
children, ages 15, 13 and 11, especially his severely autistic 13-
year-old son, and that his predicament resulted from "false
accusations" by his wife, Elisha Strom.

"I am not a pedophile," says Strom. "I am the furthest thing from a
sexual pervert." He shared his disgust of pedophiles and child
pornographers with the court, noting that he regarded sex as "holy,"
and that in high school he was an "absolute straight arrow," and was
called a "prude." Strom mentioned his love of art. "I believe when the
human body is portrayed, it should be with nobility and respect," he
said. Before his marriage to Elisha Strom, his personal website
included many photos of the human form in the form of young girls,
including a horseback-riding teen Brooke Shields.

"I do not like pornography," said Strom. "When I’ve sought out the
erotic, it’s never been pornography." He explained that the child porn
photos found on his computer were fewer than 10 out of more than
100,000, and that they came from an online forum he’d visited that had
been "flooded with spam," including "sleazy, tragic" pictures of
children that he deleted. "I possessed them unwillingly," he told
Moon, "but I did possess them." "Mr. Strom, this is an unusual case,"
acknowledged Judge Moon. "But Mr. Strom, you pled guilty to charges
that now you’re saying you’re innocent. I prefer people plead not
guilty than put it on me."

Moon said he was struck by the fact that Strom never inappropriately
touched the 10-year-old girl who was a friend of his stepdaughter and
whom he was charged with attempting to entice. Nonetheless, calling
the child porn guilty plea "extremely serious," Moon sentenced Strom
to 23 months in prison and 15 years of supervised release. He did not
prohibit Strom from associating with his minor children.

Afterward, Elisha Strom, who had contacted authorities and is the
witness Kevin Strom, was accused of intimidating, called the almost
two-year sentence "a joke." During his October trial, she had
testified against her husband, saying that she’d returned home to find
him naked and aroused in front of the images of two young, white
nationalist-movement singers whose heads had been superimposed onto
two nude bodies.

Moon ruled that was not illegal, and despite Elisha’s claims that
Kevin had choked her to keep her quiet, he dismissed the witness
intimidation charge. Kevin Strom finally had his day in court to
respond to Elisha. He accused her of selling or burning his
possessions, including his art, "[w]hen I left my home to protect
myself from my wife’s violence," he said. "At her hands, I’ve suffered
innumerable bruises, cuts, and lacerations and went to the hospital,"
said Strom. And when he refused to give in to his wife’s demands, he
alleged, "She followed through on her threat to make these false
accusations and ruin me."

In court last fall, Elisha admitted bashing Strom in the head with a
telephone, and that she had the worse temper of the two. He further
claimed that Elisha did not think he was a pedophile because the day
after she found him looking at more little-girl pix on October 17,
2005, she allowed her daughter to go with him on a four-day trip to
pick up his autistic son. Elisha Strom did not respond to her
husband’s charges, saying only, "I did my best to prevent him from
accessing children."

For more than a year, Kevin Strom claimed he was not a pedophile.
Today he admitted that he is. Strom is now a registered sex offender
on his way to federal prison.

By Terry S. Regis April 21st, 2008

http://www.readthehook.com/blog/index.php/2008/04/21/

Now a registered sex offender, Kevin Strom is on his way to federal
prison. Don’t come back, Kevin. But of course, he will. Kevin Strom’s
mother and stepfather were in the courtroom today to assure us all
that their special little freak will be living with them here in
Charlottesville, once he is released. For a couple that makes a pretty
good living in this town counseling underage pregnant teens in crisis,
how could you dare support and offer to house a convicted pedophile
with an appetite for underage girls in this community?

Strom’s lawyer admitted last year that Kevin "courted" a ten year old
girl. He sent her love notes, flowers and gifts. He wrote disgusting
poems about marrying her. A fifth grader! Kevin Strom was caught
stalking the child at her home and school. And the sick, twisted judge
actually commended Kevin Strom today for not physically touching this
10 year old.

The only reason Strom did not touch the child is because the FBI
arrested him before he had the chance, you moron. What a country! With
time served, Kevin Strom will be back on our streets before
Thanksgiving. I can see it now, film crews from the Maury Povich Show
will come to Charlottesville next year to tell America the story of
the neo-Nazi pedophile that lives with his parents, who work as crisis
pregnancy counselors for underage girls. Sort of like the exterminator
who gets caught letting ants loose in your house, isn’t it?

Unbelievable

Strom Sentenced April 21st, 2008
"Terry S. Regis" wrote:

A white supremacist, neo-Nazi, onetime cvillenews.com troll and
pedophile Kevin Strom was sentenced to 23 months in prison today for
possession of child pornography.

For more than a year, Kevin Strom claimed he was not a pedophile.
Today he admitted that he is. That is incorrect, according to the
statement attributed to Strom in the article. During his statement,
Strom said he’s been a good father to his three children, ages 15, 13
and 11, especially his severely autistic 13-year-old son, and that his
predicament resulted from "false accusations" by his wife, Elisha
Strom. "I am not a pedophile," says Strom. "I am the furthest thing
from a sexual pervert." He shared his disgust of pedophiles and child
pornographers with the court, noting that he regarded sex as "holy,"
and that in high school he was an "absolute straight arrow," and was
called a "prude."

Kevin Strom lied yesterday. But perjury is the least of his crimes.
The record shows that Mr. Strom "possessed" images of child
pornography more than just "unwillingly." In grand jury and open court
testimony, it was learned his wife secretly videotaped Kevin Strom
sitting nude in front of his computer screen masturbating to images of
child porn on more than two dozen occasions in 2005 and 2006 before
confronting him about it.

The grand jury record and subsequent court testimony shows that Kevin
Strom admitted to his wife and mother that he had a "problem" with
collecting images of child pornography. His parents paid for and
encouraged Kevin to get counseling for this problem. Instead of
working through this incredibly horrific behavior, the record shows
Mr. Strom went into damage control mode and tried to cover up his
evil.

Court records and evidence shows that Kevin Strom did not delete these
images as he claimed yesterday. Mr. Strom cleverly encrypted these and
thousands of other images of child pornography, confident that the
feds would never be able to determine what the images were. In fact,
in preliminary hearings, the US Attorney admitted they had a great
deal of trouble decoding most of these files.

The FBI reported to Congress last year that child predators in our
society have turned collecting illegal photographs of children into a
very high-tech science. They can encrypt images and protect their
activities better than terrorists, organized crime bosses or
industrial spies. Kevin Strom, an electronics engineer by profession,
went even further. Testimony revealed that Strom would disassemble his
computers, smash the hard drives and take the broken pieces of his
machines all over the region to dispose of in random dumpsters and
trash cans.

The truth is Kevin Strom is an unrepentant pedophile. And when he
admitted to having more than 100,000 images of children on his
computer yesterday he was basically bragging that the FBI was only
able to find 10 illegal child porn images among them. Court records
show the FBI was unable to decode tens of thousands of images in
Kevin’s "collection."

But the truth is Mr. Strom pleaded guilty because he knew what a jury
in this town would decide had they seen exactly what the FBI was able
to find on his computer. Everything I have said here is a matter of
public record. Let me add that I am friends with and greatly admire
Kevin Strom’s parents, Ron and Mary Lou Schneider. I take exception to
the post above that in any way blames them for the horrific,
unspeakable conduct of their son. They know what their son is and they
are heartbroken. This tragic case has tested their faith and
strengthened their character as human beings. But it had nothing to do
with them. The truth is the Schneider’s are good Christian people who
do God’s work here in Charlottesville. They treat all people with
kindness, humility and grace. And yes, they extend their humble
Christian charity to everyone, even the devious monster that is their
son.

Please, all of you leave them out of this (all via Kirsten Helene
Kaiser, DXLD)

** ECUADOR. DRM on 15355-15360-15365, April 28 at 2205 check. No doubt
HCJB`s retimed and refrequencied German to Europe, supposed to run
from 2000 to 2200 only, on its first day, but they are not at all
careful to turn this off as scheduled, unlike their analog broadcasts
which cut as soon as the timesignal finishes. DRM DX schedule shows
language is ``various`` implying not just German; maybe accounting for
a Low German portion? HCJB has done a pretty good job lately of
picking DRM frequencies without adjacent channel collisions, even if
they are annoyances right smack dab in the middle of an analog SWBC
band. Tuning around 49m a couple minutes later, I first thought there
was a new DRM on 6130-6135-6140 until I realized it was DentroCuban
jamming against R. República (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

Good DRM reception this evening --- 15360 kHz at 2040 UT, SNR 13.5 db,
RSSI -85dbm (S7) extremely stable and 100% decoding. Sincere Best
Regards, 73,s (Eric//KG4OZO// Atlanta, Georgia, April 28, drmna yg via
DXLD)

Thanks Eric, The bad news is that we aren't gettin' to our target
(Europe) very well. :-( (Doug Weber, HC7AW, HCJB, ibid.)

** EGYPT. Re 8-053: EGIPTO, 9280, Radio Cairo, 2117-2120, escuchada el
29 de abril en su servicio en francés a locutora con comentarios y
emisión de música pop local; se aprecia una mala modulación, sin
servicio en 9300, SINPO 44333 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot
(Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master, dxldyg via
DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ERITREA. 7175, VOBME, program 2, *0356-0410, April 28, IS. Talk at
0358 & Horn of Africa music. Weak under Radio Liberty. Program 1
7090/7100 not heard (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** EUROPE. Radio Spaceshuttle International will be on air Sunday 4th
May as follows:
5815 kHz from 08 to 12 UT
5815 kHz from 18 to 22 UT
We like to play best ever music for every tastes, letterbox (17th
February transmission post)... some surprices, contests (with nice
prices) etc.... Stay tuned "The Sound of Universe" (Dick Spacewalker,
April 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GABON. 4777, Radio Gabon, *0459-0515, April 28, rough sign on with
bits & pieces of National Anthem. Talk at 0500 with low modulation &
distorted audio. Afro-pop mx. French pops/ballads. Audio much better
at 0527 check (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GERMANY. I'm delighted how right now MDR 1 Radio Sachsen has the
common overnight programming from their sister station at Erfurt on
air without Optimod. What a relief from the hefty processing they
otherwise use, leaving on-air talent giggling when somebody gives
feed-back about a mix being not so good. What mix when you can't do
any fades because -20 dB will still be sucked up to 0 dB and when you
have to turn the fader way down when talking over a bumper bed because
otherwise the Optimod will turn anything into a mess? (See also the
Dresden bandscan thread recently in DXLD.) (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April
29, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** GUAM. Re KTWR, 8-053, WTFK? 11840, Long path from GUM via S
Pacific, Colombia, Bonaire, Azores into Europe: KTWR English starts at
0800 till 0835 UT Mon-Fri (-0845 Saturdays, not Sundays). S=4.
(Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Apr 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** HUNGARY. Updated A08 Hungarian Radio on short waves via JBR 100 kW:
0400-0500 on 3975 / non-dir
1000-1100 on 6025 / non-dir
1600-1700 on 6025 / non-dir
2200-2300 on 6025 / non-dir --- All others cancelled! (DX Mix News,
Bulgaria, April 29 via WORLD OF RADIO 1406, DXLD) But there`s still:

** HUNGARY. Summer A-08 for IBB via JBR 250 kW:
0300-0400 on 7155 / 065 deg Radio Liberty in Russian
1700-1730 on 9520 / 065 deg Voice of America Russian
1800-1830 on 9520 / 065 deg Voice of America Russian
1300-1330 on 11725 / 055 deg Voice of America Russian
1330-1430 on 11725 / 055 deg Voice of America Special English
1400-1500 on 15265 / 065 deg Radio Liberty in Uzbek
(DX Mix News, Bulgaria, April 29 via DXLD)

** INDIA. LOVE`S IN THE AIR:
http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/artMailDisp.aspx?article=27_04_2008_015_002&typ=1&pub=47
(Hindustan Times April 27 via Alokesh Gupta, DXLD)

** INDONESIA. RE: DXLD 8-046: Kang Guru Radio English program on
9680, via RRI Jakarta. Sue Rodger of KGRE has been informed by RRI
Jakarta that they have a new schedule: 0800-0820 UT on Wed. and Fri.
(ex: 1000-1020 UT on Wed. and Sun.), which would explain why I have
not heard them on their former schedule for almost two months now.
Within the past hour Kevin has updated their website with the new
schedule http://www.kangguru.org/broadcastschedule.html

This change is an unfortunate development for me, as I had enjoyed
their entertaining programming for some years now, but think the new
time is too early for reception in Monterey, whereas the former time
of 1000 was close to perfect for me. Jakarta sunset will not be till
about 1045 UT. The only other alternative is to attempt to hear
another RRI station that carries KGRE programs, but that would be a
real challenge (Ron Howard, CA, April 29, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO
1406, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** KUWAIT. Summer A-08 for IBB via KWT 250 kW:
1930-2130 on 5830 / 046 deg FAR Farsi
0200-0530 on 5860 / 058 deg FAR Farsi
1900-1930 on 5860 / 046 deg VOA Farsi
0000-0100 on 9765 / 046 deg RFE Kazakh [sic, out of order, due QSY?]
1000-1400 on 7125 / 046 deg FAR Farsi
0100-0200 on 7430 / 094 deg VOA English
2200-2300 on 7460 / 058 deg VOA English
2300-2400 on 7500 / 070 deg RFA Tibetan
1600-1700 on 7555 / 054 deg RFE Uzbek
1830-2030 on 7555 / 070 deg ASH Pashto/Dari
2030-0030 on 7555 / 070 deg VOA English
1700-1830 on 9310 / 078 deg DEE Pashto
1430-1530 on 9335 / 070 deg ASH Pashto/Dari
1530-1730 on 9335 / 070 deg ASH Pashto/Dari
1730-1830 on 9335 / 070 deg ASH Pashto/Dari
0100-0300 on 9365 / 070 deg RFA Tibetan
0300-0400 on 9555 / 046 deg FRE Turkmen
1830-1900 on 9780 / 078 deg DEE Pashto
1330-1430 on 11550 / 078 deg AFG Dari
1500-1600 on 11550 / 070 deg RFA Tibetan
1630-1730 on 11565 / 070 deg ASH Dari
1730-1830 on 11565 / 070 deg ASH Pashto/Dari
1630-1730 on 11580 / 070 deg ASH Dari
1730-1830 on 11580 / 070 deg ASH Pashto/Dari
1200-1400 on 11590 / 070 deg RFA Tibetan
1400-1500 on 11975 / 078 deg RFA Tibetan
0230-0330 on 12140 / 070 deg AFG Pashto
0830-0930 on 15090 / 070 deg AFG Pashto
1130-1430 on 15090 / 070 deg AFG Dari/Pashto/Dari
1430-1530 on 15090 / 070 deg ASH Pashto/Dari
1530-1630 on 15090 / 070 deg AFG Pashto
1500-1530 on 15265 / 046 deg VOA Uzbek
0330-0530 on 15615 / 070 deg AFG Dari/Pashto
0730-0830 on 15615 / 070 deg AFG Dari
0230-0330 on 15690 / 070 deg AFG Pashto
1400-1500 on 15790 / 070 deg AAP Urdu
0430-0630 on 17670 / 070 deg AFG Pashto/Dari
0630-0830 on 17685 / 070 deg AFG Pashto/Dari
1000-1200 on 17750 / 070 deg RFA Tibetan
0600-0700 on 17780 / 070 deg RFA Tibetan
1000-1100 on 21510 / 070 deg RFA Tibetan
AAP=Aap Ki Dunyaa
AFG=Radio Free Afghanistan
ASH=Radio Ashna
DEE=Deewa Radio
RFA=Radio Free Asia
RFE=Radio Liberty
FAR=Radio Farda
VOA=Voice of America
(DX Mix News, Bulgaria, April 29 via DXLD)

** MEXICO. De nuevo al aire en los 9600 kHz Radio UNAM onda corta
después de casi tres semanas. Buena señal (SINPO de 4) en la Cd. de
México (1915 hrs. UT) con programa de música clásica a piano.
73´s (Julián Santiago, DF, April 28, WORLD OF RADIO 1406, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)

** MEXICO [and non]. I kept meaning to check, and forgetting to do so,
whether Vatican Radio`s unscheduled 3-minute English broadcast is
still a problem over here at 2311 on 9600.0, preceding the scheduled
Vietnamese broadcast direct and eastward from SMG.

Following Julián Santiago Díez de Bonilla tip that XEYU had
reactivated April 28, I did check at 2339 April 28, and sure `nuff,
the old ~700 Hz het is back, and the Vietnavatican signal is stronger
than XEYU, 9599.3. Only hope is using LSB and tightest possible
selectivity while Vatican is on, and then there`s Cuba on 9600. Also
at 1221 check April 29, classical music, het from RHC (Glenn Hauser,
OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1406, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** MEXICO. Estoy buscando cómo subir audios a mi blog, porque a veces
NO sirven los links. Pero, acabo de subir un audio de la Radio
Huayacocotla, una emisora que antes se podía escuchar en onda corta
también. http://entre-ondas.blogspot.com/

Dar click en el encabezado de "Radio Huayacocotla" para que escuchen
una identificació n que grabé en tierras potosinas a finales del 2007
en FM. Gracias. Que tengan buenos DX's!!!!!!!! !! (MAGDIEL CRUZ
RODRÍGUEZ, JIUTEPEC, MORELOS, MÉXICO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.:

XHFCE, Radio Huayacocotla. "LA VOZ DE LOS CAMPESINOS" en su momento
transmitió por los 2390 kHz. Desde el 2005, lo hace por los 105.5 MHz
de Frecuencia Modulada, alcanzando a una buena parte de la región
veracruzana, potosina, hidalguense, y tamaulipeca.

Esta es una grabación de la señal de FM, de Radio Huayacocotla,
Veracruz. México. Realizada en el mes de diciembre 2007, desde mi
pueblo natal: Coxcatlán, San Luis Potosí. Ahora, ya no más en Onda
Corta. Más información en:
http://www.sjsocial.org/fomento/proyectos/plantilla.php?texto=radio
(Si quieres escuchar el audio, da un click en el título de esta
entrada. Gracias por tu visita) Viz.:
http://www.esnips.com/doc/a1f78618-dbb8-4cc4-87db-840eb8cfd544/XHFCE-Audio1-ID
(Entre Ondas blog via DXLD) 2390 kHz call was XEJN (gh, DXLD)

** MOROCCO. Good morning, if an observed absence of 15335 raised
questions if the Briech site is off air now: No, it is not, this night
7135 was again on air 2200-2400 as always (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April
29, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

Yes right, RTM program Briech 15335 noted again today Apr 29th at
1100-1500 UT, in \\ to RTM Nador relay 15340 0900-1500 UT. Delay -
latter is three-quarter second behind Briech programm.

11920 1-5 UT is the planned night frequency though. But 0500 UT is too
early at my place, I wake up usually around 0630. Somebody should
check the 4-5 UT hour on 11920 soon.

RTM Briech
0100-0500 11920 (winter season 5980)
1100-1500 15335
2200-2400 7135

Briech
<http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=35.55268&lon=-5.966817&z=16.1&r=0&src=ggl>

Nador
<http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=35.043566&lon=-2.913216&z=17.5&r=0&src=ggl>
73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1406, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)

** NETHERLANDS [and non]. Re 8-053, reply to Figliozzi: Thanks, John.
Yes, we have had to make more cuts this year, including some to our
Dutch service to Europe. We have to continually examine the cost-
effectiveness of everything we do. When we asked for input, we were
completely open-minded. I would have been prepared to argue the case
for continuing the transmissions we dropped, if there had been
sufficient evidence that they had a significant number of regular
listeners.

If we had specifically said we were going to drop these services, we
would have been flooded with requests not to do so - from SWLs and
DXers who rarely listen, but routinely insist that shortwave
broadcasts are continued, however much they cost and however few
people listen, just because they're on shortwave. I believe the
response we got was more representative of the general RNW audience,
and we responded accordingly.

We are in the process of setting up a listeners' panel for English. We
already have one for our Dutch service. If anyone is interested in
joining, please let me know (Andy Sennitt, RNW, andy.sennitt @ rnw.nl
April 28, ODXA yg via DXLD)

** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI has revised its frequency schedule again. The
main change I see is back to 9615 at 05-07 instead of 11725, as Adrian
previously told us was pending (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
[but see below!] Viz.:

AOTEAROA, O TE MOANA-NUI-A-KIWA
P O Box 123, Wellington, New Zealand
Phone: +(64 4) 4741 437 Facsimile +(64 4) 4741 433
E-mail address: info @ rnzi.com
Web Address: http://www.rnzi.com

28/04/2008 5:59 AM FREQUENCY SCHEDULE Effective from 28 April, 2008

ANALOGUE SERVICE
UTC kHz Primary Target
1300-1550 6170 Pacific
1551-1850 7145 Cook Islands Samoa, Niue, Tonga, Fiji
1851-1950 9615 Pacific
1951-2050 11725 Pacific
2051-0158 13840 Pacific
0159-0458 15720 Pacific
0459-0658 9615 Pacific [? See below]
0659-1058 7145 Pacific
1059-1258 9655 NW Pacific, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, Timor

DRM SERVICE - A DRM Capable Receiver is required for this service
UTC kHz Primary Target
1200-1550 NO SERVICE AT THIS TIME
1551-1850 6170 Cook Islands, Samoa, Niue, Tonga, Fiji
1851-1935 9890 Samoa, Niue, Fiji, Cook Islands, Tonga
1936-2050 11675 Tonga, Samoa, Niue, Fiji, Cook Islands
2051-0158 15720 Solomon Islands, Vanuatu
0159-0458 13840 Pacific
0459-0658 9890 Pacific
0659-1158 6170 Pacific
(Adrian Sainsbury, RNZI, April 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

According to http://www.rnzi.com/pages/listen.php the only real change
is between 2051 and 0158. 0459-0658 still on 11725, and heard this
morning at 6 UT. 73, (Erik Køie, Copenhagen, April 29, dxldyg via DX
LISTENING DIGEST)

When updated website conflicts with info direct from station, one is
at a loss (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

Sorry about that - that is a mistake - 11725 is working well at the
moment and we will continue to use it for the time being (Adrian
Sainsbury, Technical Manager, Radio New Zealand International (via gh,
DXLD)

I don't have any doubts that 31m will work marvelous for RNZI, as I
experimented here last year on this same season. They were supposed
to go there this Tuesday 29, but I found them all the way on 11725.
So, if they change to 7145 at 0700 is still good, guess that 9615
would be better again, as it did last year. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa
Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** PAPUA NEW GUINEA [and non]. Re 8-053, 3325, out of date info in
Aoki: Not the only one, Ian. If you go to 5954, Radio Casino, Puerto
Limón is still there, as well as the long time suspended Peruvian
Radio Satélite 6725 (rather 6724), Santa Cruz. At least WRNO isn't
listed on 15420 anymore. If anyone has the patience will find some
other "inconsistencias". Anyway, we all got to be thankful for the
helpful information Aoki or Eibi represent. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa
Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)

Hi Raúl, Thanks for the feedback & info. Absolutely agree on the
thankful bit. In answer to Glenn's question/s. Yes, I got the spelling
wrong, sorry. It is indeed 'Kieta' - I realised the error immediately
after sending the message. Glenn, I haven't heard the station for some
time so I can't say if name has changed to Radio Buka from Radio
Bouganville. I wish we had some email addresses for these provincial
NBC stations so we could discover more with greater ease. Cheers (Ian
Baxter, Australia, ibid.)

** PERU. 9720.03, Radio Victoria, Lima, 0435-0510, April 28, Spanish
talk. Phone-talk. National Anthem at 0501. Spanish music at 0504
followed by sermon. Weak. Better on // 6019.44 (Brian Alexander, PA,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** ROMANIA. ROMÊNIA - Quem enviar um informe de recepção para a
programação em espanhol da Rádio Romênia durante o mês de maio,
receberá um cartão QSL que retrata a Chaenomeles. A foto foi feita no
Jardim Botânico de Bucareste. Durante todo o ano, a série de cartões
de confirmações da RRI homenageiam flores daquele país dos bálcãs
(Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX via DXLD)

** RUSSIA. RÚSSIA - Onda DX é o nome do programa de dexismo que a Voz
da Rússia leva ao ar nas emissões, em português, das quartasfeiras.
Tem a produção do experiente jornalista Francisco Pancho Rodriguez
que, há muitos anos, apresenta o segmento Frecuencia RM, dentro das
emissões em espanhol da Voz da Rússia. O Onda DX tem a locução de
Jonas Bernardino. Você pode conferir, entre 2300 e 0000, em 7200,
7300, 11510 e 12010 kHz. A última edição que foi ao ar pode ser
ouvida, na Internet, acessando aqui,
http://www.news-of-russia.info/radio/dx.htm
(Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX via DXLD)

** SAINT HELENA. UN RECORD MÁS: QSL DE RADIO ST. HELENA!!!!!! 73's!!!!
Y con muchísima emoción quiero compartirles que el día de hoy saqué de
mi apartado postal UNA QSL (LA PRIMERA!!!!) DE RADIO ST. HELENA.

Deposité mi informe de recepción el 28 de Diciembre 2007. La QSL fue
"DESPATCHED Date 11-04-08" desde ST. HELENA ISLAND. Llegó el 26 de
Abril 2008 a la oficina postal de CIVAC, Morelos; y el día de hoy 29
Abril la saqué del buzón. Espero que pronto les llegue la QSL a
quienes la solicitaron. Así que paciencia. Adjunté: $ 3.00 US
Un fragmento de mi escucha reportada:
http://entre-ondas.blogspot.com/2008/02/lo-que-omos-en-la-onda-corta-radio-que.html
Espero comentarios. Pronto estaré subiendo la respectiva QSL a mi
blog. http://entre-ondas.blogspot.com/
(MAGDIEL CRUZ RODRÍGUEZ, JIUTEPEC, MORELOS, MÉXICO,
SANGEAN ATS-818, ANTENA V INVERTIDA, April 29, DXL ISTNEING DIGEST)

** SAUDI ARABIA. Qur`an on 11820, April 28 at 2120, can give one the
willies. This is BSKSA Riyadh, 500 kW at 320 degrees to Europe, but
also toward us, scheduled 18-23. This is one of their buzzless
transmitters (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SOMALIA [non]. IRIN, via South Africa in Somali, daily at 1730-
1745, has moved from 9665 to 9735, obviously to avoid the collision
with Spain`s imaginary German broadcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, April 28,
WORLD OF RADIO 1406, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** SPAIN. Hi Glenn, I had good reception of a Radio Exterior de España
(REE) transmission in English at 2039-2057 at 9690 kHz on April 28,
2008. The broadcast was similar to the simultaneous REE English
language broadcast on 11625 kHz (note: the 11625 kHz transmission
suffered from a collision with Vatican Radio). Just before signoff at
2057, the announcer mentioned the transmission frequencies of 9665 kHz
and 11625 kHz, but never mentioned the 9690 kHz frequency. I could not
receive the 9665 kHz transmission from 2039-2057 on April 28, 2008.
Could 9690 be a new frequency to replace 9665?

There is no listing for REE at 9690 kHz on the HFCC (Public Data),
Aoki, EiBi, or Prime Time Shortwave websites at this time. Information
from these websites indicates 11625 and 9665 kHz as the frequencies
for the 2000 - 2100, Monday - Friday, English broadcast of REE
targeted to Europe and Africa for A08 (Bill Hodges, Atlanta, GA,
(Kenwood R-2000 and 50ft long wire), WORLD OF RADIO 1406, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)

Bill, Looks that way; I have no info about such a change yet. It could
be that 9690 was a mistake for 9665, the next frequency on the roster
as Noblejas does use 9690 at 02-04 UT and they could have just punched
up the wrong frequency this time. So if you could check tomorrow or
subsequently, that would help. I tried at 2000 April 29 but could not
hear any of them (Glenn to Bill via DXLD)

** SPAIN. 6055, R. Exterior de España, 0156 with rock tracks and to IS
and ID at TOH, into Spanish language programs. Once again, have not
resumed Summer schedule. Cupola years ago, Glenn had mentioned the
drastic gap between Spain's summer [15385] and winter frequencies, and
suggested R.E.E. try use of 31 m band. But R.E.E. has made it worse by
not using a higher frequency at all in summer, making reception pretty
much impossible here in the West during months with long days (Rick
Barton, Phoenix, Arizona, Drake R-8, lw & rw, Palomar loop, April 28,
ABDX via DXLD)

** SPAIN. ESPANHA - O Espanhol no Brasil é o único programa da Rádio
Exterior da Espanha que é bilíngüe, ou seja, em espanhol e português.
Ele vai ao ar entre 1800 e 1900, em 17595 kHz. Depois, é reprisado,
entre 2100 e 2200, pela mesma freqüência, sempre de segundas a sextas-
feiras. A apresentação é de Víctor Guerrero e Estela Viana (Célio
Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX via DXLD)

** SYRIA. SÍRIA - Em 2008, Damasco é a capital da cultura árabe. Os
ouvintes que escreverem para a programação em espanhol da Rádio
Damasco citando algumas atividades desenvolvidas por tal ocasião,
receberão prêmios da estação. A Rádio Damasco também preparou novos
cartões de confirmação com motivos que lembram o tema. A programação
em espanhol vai ao ar, entre 2215 e 2330, pela freqüência de 9330 kHz
(Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX via DXLD)

How sad that the ``capital of Arab culture`` is in a police state
dictatorship, etc. Or would some other Arab capitals dispute this
claim? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD)

** TAIWAN. Re 8-053: Current sked of Voice of Han on 9745 kHz.
*0755(ex 0855)-0105* (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, April 29, dxldyg via DX
LISTENING DIGEST)

** TAIWAN [non]. I almost concluded RTI English to Europe, 44 degrees
via WYFR, 15600, was absent, April 28 at 2209 check, but listening
closely a signal was JBA on 15600, so assume poor propagation.
Okeechobee on 15440 at same time was audible, but NVG contrary to
usual strong signal at 285 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)

Solar-terrestrial indices for 28 April follow. Solar flux 69 and
estimated mid-latitude A-Index 12. The mid-latitude K-index at 2100
UTC on 28 April was 3 (24 nT). No space weather storms were observed
for the past 24 hours. No space weather storms are expected for the
next 24 hours (SWPC via DXLD)

** TIBET [non]. CHINA (NON)/N. MARIANAS. Interesting piece in the
April 29 Wall Street Journal on Radio Free Asia and its reporting of
events in Tibet. A seeming put-down of SW radio, they make it sound
like the miracle of the steam locomotive. There's even a link to RFA's
how-to for listeners that want to defeat the Chinese orchestra jammer.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120943421014951627.html?mod=links_from_todays_paper_asia
(Chuck Albertson, Seattle, Wash., DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.:

TIBET REPORTS BY U.S.-FUNDED RADIO ANGER CHINA
The Perfect Foil To Jamming: Rubber Bands
By NICHOLAS ZAMISKA and GEOFFREY A. FOWLER April 29, 2008; Page A7

HONG KONG -- The earliest reports of unrest in Tibet last month didn't
come from a major newspaper, wire service or TV station. They came
from a U.S.-funded shortwave radio broadcaster that advises listeners
to get around Chinese signal jamming with tinfoil, plywood and rubber
bands.

With a current annual budget of $34 million from Congress, Washington-
based Radio Free Asia broadcasts news about Asia across the region in
nine languages, including Mandarin, Tibetan and Uighur, a Turkic
language used in China's Xinjiang province.

• The Scoop: U.S.-funded shortwave broadcaster Radio Free Asia broke
news about recent unrest in Tibet.
• The Concern: RFA's federal backing has led to claims it's a
propaganda tool, which station executives deny.
• Bottom Line: Some listeners rely on RFA for news, and it has earned
credit for its scoops.

RFA's reporting on the crisis in Tibet has reignited longstanding ill
will with China over the U.S. government's Cold War-era broadcasting
system, while also highlighting a question that hangs over the radio
service's mission: Is it a news outlet or a propaganda tool? . . .
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120943421014951627.html
(Wall Street Journal via Mike Cooper, DXLD)

** U K [non]. More 24/7 BBCWS audio on HD radio --- Every once in a
while I go looking for US public radio services that have added the
BBC World Service to an HD2 or HD3 service, especially instances of
24/7 access to the World Service.

Wichita, Kansas' KMUW-FM is in the process of establishing additional
HD subchannels, and its HD3 channel - which will feature the BBC World
Service 24/7 - is already being streamed.

The service is a 128 kbps ASX stream, which provides a higher-quality
service than the BBC's own streaming. The only downside is that this
service is the news-heavy PRI service offered to US public radio
stations. Check it out at http://www.evolutionofkmuw.org/hdradio.php -
look for the HD3 stream (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, April 29,
swprograms via DXLD)

** U S A [and non]. TEST OF THE TRANSMISSION TECHNOLOGIES: RFE/RL HIT
BY "MASS CYBERATTACK``

Shortwave is the only medium of international broadcasting granted
immunity from interdiction by the laws of physics. This is because
shortwave signals travel better over long distances (e.g. from the
listener to the distant foreign station) than over short distances
(e.g. from the listener to the jamming transmitter in his/her own
country). The internet is more vulnerable to interdiction because its
information is usually transmitted via landlines in the target
country, and thus subject to the regulation and interference of the
government of the target country. Shortwave is the failsafe, but if we
reach the point where not enough broadcasters have shortwave
transmitters, and not enough audiences have shortwave radios, the
shortwave communication system breaks down, and the dictators win.
Posted: 28 Apr 2008 more: http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=3890
(Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via WORLD OF RADIO 1406,
DXLD)

RADIO FREE EUROPE SAYS IT'S UNDER CYBER ATTACK
Hello Glenn, Believe it or not, I found this story via Kim Komando's
daily tech news roundup.
http://apnews.myway.com:80/article/20080428/D90B0NJ80.html
(via 73, John Wesley Smith, KC0HSB, DXLD)

Cyberjamming -- REVIEW & OUTLOOK
FROM TODAY'S WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE April 29, 2008

Eight Internet sites operated by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty were
knocked out or affected in recent days by what the broadcaster calls
an "unprecedented cyberattack." Welcome to the front lines of the 21st
century's information wars.

The medium and the means may have changed from the days when this
legendary U.S.-funded station set up shop to beam news behind the Iron
Curtain. But the conflict is no less pitched. Despots live in fear of
accurate information and go to extraordinary means to stop it.

The likely source of the cyberstrike is Europe's longest-ruling
dictator, Belarus's Aleksander Lukashenko. The Web site of RFE/RL's
Belarusan-language service on Saturday was brought down by 50,000
"fake hits" a second. The Minsk regime may have wanted to limit access
to coverage of opposition protests. Saturday marked the 22nd
anniversary of the Chernobyl accident and the beginning of the end of
the Soviet Union.

In the old days, the Soviets and their satellites jammed radio
broadcasts. "They did not succeed in the last century and they will
not succeed now," Jeffrey Gedmin, RFE/RL president, said yesterday.
The cyberattacks spread to the Iranian, Russian and other Web sites of
the radios' local-language stations. By last night, the sites were
back up.

Cyberattacks are the latest threat to this plucky broadcaster, and
freedom of the press in general. In the past year, numerous RFE/RL
journalists have been killed, kidnapped and intimidated in the course
of reporting the news. They deserve our respect and support (Wall
Street Journal via David Cole, OK, DXLD)

RFE/RL BELARUS SERVICE DIRECTOR DISCUSSES CYBERATTACK

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2008/04/C63E2EA2-431B-4FE4-9CC2-C748E49F8D99.html

Belarusian - RFE/RL's Belarusian Service Lukashuk Alexander
Alyaksandr Lukashuk (RFE/RL) [caption]

Following a cyberattack on April 26 that targeted the website of
RFE/RL's Belarus Service and affected a number of other RFE/RL
websites, service Director Alyaksandr Lukashuk discussed the attack
and what his service did to get their message out to their audience in
Belarus.

RFE/RL: Can you explain what happened to the Belarus Service's
website?

Alyaksandr Lukashuk: On Saturday, April 26, we were preparing special
intense coverage of mass protests in Minsk dedicated to the
anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster. Several thousand people were
gathering in Minsk and usually we cover them online as we are off-air
at this time. At the moment when the march was to begin, 2 p.m. local
time, all of the sudden we noticed that we could not operate normally
on our website. It became slower and slower and literally within a
couple of minutes we lost the site.

RFE/RL: How did you react? How were you able to get the news out to
your audience?

Lukashuk: There was not much we could do because at this moment we
also lost e-mail communication and Skype communication with Belarus.
As we found out later, the attack was so massive that the firewall
that protects Radio Free Europe went down. And a number of other
[RFE/RL] sites went down as well.

So we went back to our old methods, calling our correspondents over
the phone, taking their messages, recording them here, and making
[shortwave] radio programs. And as for the radio program, we were able
to put it together as it should have been, and it went on the air ok.

RFE/RL: Since you have been off the air for so long, how did you get
the word out for people to tune in to their shortwave radios again?

Lukashuk: That was a problem. That is why we used other friendly sites
to advertise our radio programming.

RFE/RL: And what about the website?

Lukashuk: As for the website, we regained out ability to receive
materials from Belarus via e-mail in a couple of hours. We received
dozens of excellent photos from the march, we received 15 video clips,
and we posted them. The only unfortunate thing is that we were the
only ones, as it turns out, that could see this material.

RFE/RL: So how were you able to get that material out?

Lukashuk: The attack continued for two days and for two days we were
announcing on air to our listeners. [In the past] we would say [on the
radio that] you can go for more details to our website. But now we
were telling people who usually go to the website to tune in to the
radio. We started to alert our friends.

There is a group of supporters in Belarus called the Friends of
Liberty who are active on LiveJournal, who have their own chatrooms,
which is called "circle of friends of Radio Liberty." They started to
send out the news that we are not accessible. We gave them our
publications, our articles, and they started to send them out over the
weekend. But the major event happened on Monday [April 28].

RFE/RL: What happened then?

Lukashuk: This morning [April 28] when we came to the office, we
decided to issue an appeal to the independent media and Internet
community in Belarus asking them for solidarity. More than 30
organizations that have their own sites responded positively and began
to take our material that was posted on LiveJournal and publish it on
their websites as their top story. Among them is the site of European
Radio for Belarus, the site of Charter 97, the site of the independent
trade union organization Solidarity. These are quite popular sites and
they now deliver our coverage as their top story.

RFE/RL: It isn't a new thing for RFE/RL to be attacked. What other
attempts have there been to silence RFE/RL and how did you deal with
those and how does it compare to this situation?

Lukashuk: In terms of the Internet, our site is 10 years old. This is
the worst attack that has ever happened on the Belarus site and, as
far as I know, on RFE/RL in general.

As far as the bigger historical picture, yes, there were decades of
jamming and our audience had a hard time looking for the RFE/RL signal
on different shortwave frequencies. That was the reason why the same
program was broadcast on three, four, sometimes five different
frequencies simultaneously to make it more difficult for jamming. So
there is some history to this kind of thing.

RFE/RL: In terms of effect, is there a difference between a
cyberattack and old-style jamming?

Lukashuk: The new aspect to this is that during the old times, when
the authorities in the totalitarian countries jammed RFE/RL, they
jammed only the signal from the broadcaster. But nowadays, the
Internet is an interactive tool. By jamming our Internet publication,
those who do it also jam the voices of hundreds of people who
participate in the online discussions, who send their comments,
questions, photos, and videos to us. Now they are also deprived of
this. So in a way, this was a more harmful attack.

RFE/RL: Do you see anything positive coming out of this experience?

Lukashuk: What we see now is the first attempt in the Belarusian
Internet community to act in solidarity to an attack on press freedom.
And it may be the most valuable -- and unexpected -- result of this
attack (via Bob Wilkner, Cumbre DX via DXLD)

Actually, most people in Belarus are unaccustomed to reading
Belarusian texts. Like it or not, but they prefer do Russian. Same is
true for many Ukrainians, especially in eastern Ukraine. It’s similar
to many young people in Nordic countries and Germany preferring
English-language pop music over their native languages.

No wonder DW quietly switched their much-touted “Belarusian” service
to 99% Russian. DW is also is the process of gradually shutting down
their failed Ukrainian-language service.

All in all, RFE/RL shouldn’t overestimate their role in informing
their audiences in the former Soviet Union. The station’s glorious
days are long over. RFE/RL sites are just a small bitter drop in a
bucket of diverse information (SRG, April 28th, 2008 - 18:02 UTC,
Media Network blog via DXLD)

See also:
http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/rferl-website-operating-normally-after-denial-of-service-attack
(via DXLD)

** U S A. SHOP TALK: VOA PROGRAM DISCUSSES U.S. INTERNATIONAL
BROADCASTING

On 26 April, the topic on VOA's Press Conference USA was "U.S.
International Broadcasting, and the challenges that lie ahead." Guests
were two retired senior VOA officials: Alan Heil and Barry Zorthian.
Audio available at the PCUSA web page
http://www.voanews.com/english/NewsAnalysis/pressconferenceusa.cfm

The program was introduced as "the need to take a serious look at why
America is losing its friends in the world, and what can be done to
reverse the trend." It would be miraculous if U.S. international
broadcasting could reverse that trend. I would think that U.S.
policies would have a greater role.

Mr. Zorthian described "surrogate broadcasting" (Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia) as "the presentation of a
radio broadcast that the target audience would have had in its own
territory if it had a free press. It's a substitute for a national
radio network." On the other hand, according to Mr. Zorthian, "the
Voice of America's mission, as defined by its charter, is to project
the United States, its actions, it policies."

VOA does that. But as anyone who listens to VOA would attest, VOA
spends much of its time providing listeners with information about
their own countries. I.e., it also has a significant "surrogate" role.
VOA must do this to attract an audience.

And so there continues to be a disconnect between U.S. international
broadcasting as described by prominent persons, and U.S. international
broadcasting as it really is.

Later in the program, Mr. Zorthian said: "Let me point out that
numbers of listeners are not the end goal. Sure it's great to have an
audience and to have widespread popularity, but it's the makeup of
that audience, and in the case of the Voice, reaching the people who
want to know what the U.S. is doing.

Most viewers want to see what is happening next door, but there are
certain ones who want to see beyond that. And if we can get those
viewers, they're the ones who tend to set the outlook of a country,
and help determine the actions of the other country, that's what we
want to reach."

This view, shared by others, is that U.S. international broadcasting
should be divided as follows: VOA will provide information about the
United States, and the surrogate stations will have an audience.

Much of the interview dealt with issues discussed in a new book edited
by Mr. Heil, Local Voices/Global Perspectives: Challenges Ahead for
U.S. International Media, published by the Public Diplomacy Council.
See also Amazon.com. Posted: 28 Apr 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, see
http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=3889 for linx,
kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD)

** U S A. TALK 2 AMERICA CHAT 30 April: Journalism and Diplomacy
http://www.voanews.com/english/t2a.cfm

Amb. Pat Gates Lynch Ewell --- Join us at 1800 UT, when we meet former
Ambassador and VOA program host Pat Gates Lynch Ewell to learn about
journalism and diplomacy during the second half of the 20th century.

Pat served the government during the Vietnam War and discusses the
aftermath of pivotal events including the Shuttle Challenger and
Chernobyl disasters, the Lockerbie bombing, the Iran / Contra affair,
Tiananmen Square and the fall of the Berlin Wall. These and other
chronicles of her life are detailed in her book Thanks for Listening:
High Adventures in Journalism and Diplomacy. That's at at 1800 UTC.

Pat Gates was co-host (with Phil Irwin) of VOA's Breakfast Show, years
ago. 73 (Kim Elliott, APril 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. WHRI, 11785, April 28 at 2121 check, in hymn, plus audible
squeal in modulation, just like heard during Hmong Lao Radio in the 13
UT hour Sunday --- in the morning it`s supposed to be Angel 1, and in
the afternoon Angel 2, i.e. two different SC transmitters. Either they
both have the same problem, or it was really the same transmitter.
Surely the Angels are not interchangeable, each with their own
personality and watchover assignments? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)

** U S A [non]. Frequency change for WYFR in Urdu via Media Broadcast:
1700-1800 NF 11970 WER 500 kW / 075 deg, ex 11785 to avoid V of
Indonesia in Spanish (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, April 29 via DXLD)

** U S A. It`s ORGY MONTH again on WHRB at Harvard starting May 1. All
the details: http://www.whrb.org/pg/MayJun2008.pdf
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. When you get out to Grants, New Mexico, there is an
incredible Oldies/One hit wonder station out by the painted desert
area. It's called KDSK and you can stream them at http://www.kdsk.com/
One of the most fun stations I have ever heard- and all local and
hometown!

An excerpt: "KD Radio, Incorporated purchased KMIN AM and KDSK FM in
Grants in January 2001. Having had much success with kdradio.com in
California, it was decided to put the massive KD Radio oldies format
of 7000 songs on the broadcast station KMIN. The response has been
very good. KDSK was a hot country station at this time." Yep- 7,000
songs! (KXOJBob, April 28, radio-info.com Oklahoma board via DXLD)

** U S A [non]. WHERE IN THE WORLD IS MATT LAUER?
It isn`t even May Sweeps yet (I think), and The Today Show`s co-host
is off on another whirlwind tour of the world to mystery destinations.
I missed the first one, Buenos Aires, since I zap/mute all commercials
and promos even if I am watching NBC or MSNBC and didn`t know it was
coming, but it seems all(?) the Bs. As. video segments are here, as
subsequent ones will be, more convenient to view anyway:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24315287/
It seems the WITWIML portion occupies segments in the first two hours
of the now four-hour-long Today Show. From the Today homepage you can
link to further WITW pages, day 2 being Amsterdam (Glenn Hauser, OK,
April 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** U S A. THE BLUE ANGELS --- I was down in Vidalia, GA this past
weekend and went to see The Blue Angels at the Vidalia Onion Festival
Air show. Amazing as always, but what made it even more amazing was
being able to listen to the pilots as they flew the show. Popular
Communications and Monitoring Times published a list of frequencies
they use and I took along my HT and had a blast listening to them. I
highly recommend taking along a scanner or HT the next time you hit an
airshow. You'll be glad you did.

I also had the opportunity to ride in a UH-1 that was built in 1970.
It had been used in Vietnam before being shipped back to the states.
It was one of the most incredible rides I have ever taken! The doors
were open and they did several moves that just about took my breath
away. Another thing I highly recommend (Bert New, Watkinsville, GA,
Proudly Serving You Since 1964! April 29, 2008, dxhub yg via DXLD)

** VATICAN. See MEXICO [and non]

** ZAMBIA. 9430, One Africa/CVC (via Lusaka) 0512-0530 28 April. Usual
Christian contemp-pop/hip-hop with new SMS/text message #, fax: +2721
9149 261, email: oneAfrica @ cvc.tv URL: http://www.oneAfrica.tv and
mailing address: One Africa, POB 3933 Tiger Bay 7536, South Africa.
Apparently the new studios are up and running, although I can't seem
to access the e-mail address (probably my ineptness). (Dan Sheedy, CA,
G5/5m silly wire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)

Shouldn't that be Tygervalley instead of Tiger Bay? Did they change
the station name, earlier they announced "Voice Africa"? Best 73,
(Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, ibid.)

Hi Jari, Tyger Valley is correct, my ears aren't working up to spec.,
hi. "One Africa" was used as slogan/ID a few times and in their URL.
If time/conditions permit, I'll check tonight for their closing ID at
0600.Thanks for the info! 73 (Dan Sheedy, CA, ibid.)

We pointed out some time ago that they had a new website and new name,
1Africa. The question was whether they axually started using that ID
exclusively on the air, not to be confused with Africa 1, Gabon,
hardly a missionary station (Glenn Hauser, DXLD)

** ZIMBABWE [non]. SW Radio Africa, 1700-1900 on 12035, originally
reported to be Kvitsoy, Norway site, is now believed to be back at
Rampisham, UK (Glenn Hauser, April 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: ALASKA; ECUADOR; NEW ZEALAND
++++++++++++++++++++

SYNCING TV AND RADIO SPORTS BROADCASTS

Re DXLD #8-053: The University of Illinois football and basketball
networks have been trying to sync up to local (Champaign-Urbana, IL)
cable as best as possible. The network engineer takes a digital delay
with him and calls back to us at the flagship, WDWS-1400. We then
adjust the delay over the network to match local cable. There is a big
problem when the game is on HD, as mentioned here as the delay is far
too great for the box, or if the game is on satellite only. That just
gets us angry calls form listeners used to being able to "turn down
the sound". Thank you as always, Glenn! (Eric Loy, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)

Ultimate solution: use the radio announcers and radio version for the
original TV soundtrack so there will be no point in turning down the
sound; it`s all the same (Glenn Hauser, ibid.)

DTV TRANSITION AND TRANSLATORS

Jim Thomas wrote: ``I am curious how the atv/dtv transition is going
to affect *minor market* areas. What I mean by *minor market* areas
are areas that *MAY* have one full power dtv station, but mostly even
now rely on translators for television reception.``

Here in Grand Marais, MN [far northeastern MN] pop. 1400, we have no
TV stations. We have 4 translators. All these translators are for
Duluth, MN stations. We receive WDIO-10 on 61. KDLH-3 on 63. KBJR-6 on
65. WDSE-8 on 67. All of course must leave those channels next year.
The ch. 65 translator broke down last year and KBJR said they would
not repair it because they had to take it off the air soon anyway.
The other three are still operating.

Duluth is 100 miles from here. Too far for any over-the-air reception
to be reliable. All the Duluth stations said they would not move these
translators to another channel or change them to DTV. So the people in
this town will have no TV translators after next Feb. Satellite TV is
of course available. No more free TV after next Feb. What will become
of the towers is anyone's guess (Paul LaFreniere, Grand Marais, MN,
WTFDA via DXLD)

I recently installed a box at my brother-in-law`s at Dubuque, Kansas.
He can now get digital from Great Bend (NBC), Hutchinson (CBS) and
Bunker Hill (PBS), but no ABC. I sent a message to KAKE-10 in Wichita
which responded that they would convert translators in Hays, Russell
and Great Bend to digital between February and June next year. They
are all on lower UHF channels and will stay on those channels. FOX is
received on analog channel 14 from Hoisington which will need to flash
cut to digital. KTWU-11 (PBS) will switch their Iola translator on
channel 30 to digital. There are two digital only TV stations in
Kansas --channel 19 in Colby and channel 21 in Dodge City. Channel 19
is a new station that never did operate in analog. Both are PBS (Dave
Pomeroy, Topeka, Kansas, ibid.)

HOW DO MULTIPATH-TOLERANT CECBs WORK [Coupon-Eligible Converter Boxes]

Recently, I've received quite a few comments about my review of the
Philco TB100HH9 CECB, which, in particular, praised the CECBs ability
to reliably decode ATSC signals that are affected by multipath, far
more so than my 27" SDTV set or my old RCA HDTV boxes.

Less read was my observation that the Zenith box had as much multipath
tolerance as the Philco (and, depending on your needs, may be the
better buy, with regard to its ergonomics and [at least the appearance
of] better build).

Many web forums and web sites have compared the sensitivity of CECBs,
but few if any have tried to evaluate them for multipath tolerance.
This is unfortunate, as multipath is a more serious problem for most
users of DTV tuners - this goes for common consumers and DXers alike!

My question, for which I can't seem to find an answer anywhere on the
Web, is what makes these multipath-tolerant DTV tuners work. Two
observations made with my Philco box may provide a clue. In fixed
reception of local stations with an outdoor antenna, it was not
uncommon to find a null point whilst rotating the antenna, at which
the Philco (and Zenith) boxes would lose lock on the ATSC signal they
were tuned to. However, when I would keep the antenna pointed into
this null point, the receiver would quickly regain its lock on the
ATSC signal and excellent reception would resume. An attempt at mobile
reception (tried only with the Philco) was much more disappointing.
Once the vehicle was placed into motion (FTR, I was in a back seat
being chauffered), lock was impossible unless the surrounding field
was extremely clear of features.

From this, I have my suspicion of how these receivers work. They may
have a "smart" decoder that analyzes the value of each byte, and looks
for values that are not a product of an eighth. Any figure not a
product of an eighth is a result of multipath, the "smart" decoder may
determine the value (intensity) of the reflection signal, and the
delay (path distance) of the reflection, then use math to effectively
subtract the undesired path from what is received, restoring the
signal as it had been in the main path. In fixed reception, the
"smart" decoder can quickly find the right correction for an antenna
null, but, mobile reception fails because the multipath environment is
always changing, faster than the "smart" decoder could recalculate the
necessary corrections.

Two other questions about multipath-tolerant ATSC tuners: Which (if
any) Integrated-tuner TV sets and/or Integrated-tuner DVD recorders
have multipath-tolerant tuners? (I notice that Panasonic advertises
onf of it's DVD recorders as having a "high performance tuner"). And
is there anything about multipath-tolerant ATSC tuner technology that
is limited to SDTV converters? Put another way, are there HDTV sets
out there with multipath-tolerant ATSC tuners?

Some of the forums and websites make mention of the tuner and decoder
chipsets used in the various models of CECBs. Do we have any idea of
which chipsets are multipath-tolerant, and which are not?

If we had this information gathered in a list, DXers and TV viewers
could make better choices in their purchases. I've been eyeing the
Sansonic FT300, with its compact size and 5V DC input, for portable
DTV DXing, but, if it lacks multipath-tolerance (and I have no reason
to believe it does), it would be of little use to me (Robert Grant,
Michigan, April 28, WTFDA via DXLD)

I think it depends on the generation of the DTV tuner chip - with each
chip being better for multipath. For instance, I'm sure that my HDTV
has a later generation than my DVR, as both are about equal if pointed
directly at weak stations - but the HDTV easily outperforms the DVR on
30-60 mile locals & semi-locals when pointed in the wrong direction
(thus multi-pathing). That's when I'll see decent signal strength on
the DVR but flaky decoding. Seeing a good signal strength but flaky
decoding is much rarer on the HDTV. My guess is that my HDTV is 5th-
gen, the DVR 4th-gen. The new Zenith is apparently 6th-gen (Bill
Hepburn, Ont., ibid.)

I think one should also take into consideration the power of the
broadcast facility one is attempting to receive. Is the facility still
operating at a lower power from what it's final post-transition power
will be? Many dtv facilities are operating at reduced power output
until the February transition date.

I have been able to experience lower kilowatt usage here north of
Denver, as the main network stations in Denver await their move to the
Lookout Mountain facility (tower & transmitter), which in itself will
change the reception abilities of dtv receivers, even without a power
increase. Keep in mind that I am 45 miles north of Denver and don't
have to move the antenna much to receive the individual stations. When
reading on the AVS forum for Denver, I notice the dtv viewers in the
immediate Denver area have more multipath issues than I do. Viewers in
the Boulder area, which sits against the Flatiron Mountains, are
really having a tough time receiving the dtv signals. The Flatirons
really have a high concentration of iron ore and have always caused
multipath problems, even for the analog channels. (As a sidenote, many
of the Denver fm's have translators in Boulder, only 20 miles
northwest, because of what those mountains do to radio signals.)

Doug Smith is probably much more aware of how much power KCNC-DT 4,
KMGH-DT 7, KUSA-DT 9, and KTVD-DT 20 are currently running from
Republic Plaza in downtown Denver, which is currently the tallest
building in Denver. I believe that none of them exceed 20kW currently.
Now that we've moved into spring time with warmer temperatures, I
notice the *enhancement* early in the day of the aforementioned
channels. I can typically expect them to be received on the Insignia
stb during the early morning hours, and again, late in the evening.
Generally, their signal begins to degrade and break up mid to late
mornings, with 4, 7, & 20 completely dropping out. KUSA-DT 9 is
running enough power now that they generally do not drop out.

The bottom line from my take is, there are a lot of variables to
consider when deciding which receiver does the best with multipath
issues. Once, full power analog signals begin to disappear, the
dynamics of dtv multipath will again change (JimTonne, CO, ibid.)

CURRENTLY-AUTHORIZED POWERS OF DENVER DTV STATIONS:

Stations that seem to be downtown:
KCNC-35: STA 11kw/177m, 39-44-37/104-59-18
KRMA-18: STA 13.8kw/183m, 39-44-37/104-59-18
KTVD-19: STA 6.47kw/180m, 39-44-37/104-59-18
KUSA-16: STA 10.9kw/178m, 39-44-37/104-59-18
KMGH-17: STA 1.91kw/20m, 39-43-34/104-59-06

(presumably KCNC, KRMA, KTVD, and KUSA are on the Republic Plaza and
KMGH is on a nearby downtown building.)

Stations elsewhere:
KCEC-51: STA 10kw/138m, 39-23-07/105-25-02
(this would seem to be in the general vicinity of Evergreen. Their
analog tower would seem to be just west of downtown?)

KPXC-43: STA 10kw/96m, 39-40-31/104-52-22 (a bit southeast of town)

KDEN-29: LIC 540kw/379m, 40-05-59/104-54-02 (near but not on analog
tower)
KDVR-32: LIC 223kw/296m on analog tower
KRMT-40: LIC 74.8kw/344m on analog tower
KWGN-34: STA 450kw/248m on analog tower
KTFD-15: LIC 200kw/351m on analog tower
KBDI-38: STA 42kw/732m on analog tower

-- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.)

RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM
+++++++++++++++++++++

ALURATEK'S BIG STEP IN INTERNET RADIO

The new alarm clock radio from Aluratek has drawbacks, but it offers
the joys of listening to broadcast programs from around the world

by Arik Hesseldahl

Editor's Rating: star rating
The Good: Easy setup when using an Ethernet connection
The Bad: Setup is trickier over Wi-Fi. No AM tuner.
The Bottom Line: A promising start for Internet-connected radios.

Reader Reviews

When I was a boy, I wanted a shortwave radio. I was fascinated by the
idea of listening to radio programs from around the world. I didn't
get one until I was an adult, by which time the reason I had wanted
one was diminished: In recent years, most of the national radio
services around the world have stopped or cut back on their shortwave
broadcasting, opting instead to broadcast via the Web. Britain's BBC
is a prime example. Some years ago its World Service stopped
broadcasting directly into North America via shortwave.

Meanwhile, although radio broadcasters have embraced modern times,
with some 10,000 around the world now streaming their programs online,
radio makers haven't caught the hint. Why don't more radios feature an
Internet connection? . . .
http://www.business week.com/ technology/ content/apr2008/ tc20080428_504429.htm
(via Bob Wilkner, Cumbre DX via DXLD)

PROPAGATION
+++++++++++

Re 8-053: NOTHING UNUSUAL WITH THIS SOLAR CYCLE

``...CONCLUSION: AT THE MOMENT IT IS UNJUSTIFIED TO ASSUME THE SUN IS
UNDERGOING A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN BEHAVIOUR. ON THE BASIS OF
SUNSPOT NUMBER DATA, WE CANNOT ASSUME ANYTHING ODD IS HAPPENING
UNLESS THE NEXT CYCLE DELAYS ITS START INTO 2009 OR 2010...``

That is an incorrect statement. My prediction of a smaller and later
peak of solar cycle 24 peak (smoothed sunspot number of 105 in 2012)
is based on the slowing of the internal meridional circulation of the
Sun and related weaker than normal magnetic field line packing at the
poles of the Sun.

Normally the internal meridional circulation (kind of like a conveyor
belt) moves at approximately 1 meter per second. In the past ten years
the circulation has slowed to approximately .75 meters per second in
the north and .35 meters per second in the south, the slowest since
the 1800s. This a significant change in the behavior of the Sun.

The current state of these processes are precursors of a smaller and
later solar cycle 24 peak. BTW as of March 1, 2008 solar cycle 23
became the longest in recorded history, which is the anecdotal
evidence of a smaller and later solar cycle 24 peak, that I mentioned
in a previous email.

The NOAA Space Weather Forecast Center (SWPC) currently has two
forecasts out for solar cycle 24. Forecast #1 calls for a sunspot
number peak of 140 in October 2011. Forecast #2 calls for a sunspot
number peak of 90 in August 2012.

The SWPC also has a very long range forecast out for solar cycle 25
that would be smaller still than the previous four.

Are we headed for another Dalton Minimum?
http://www.kn4lf.com/Dalton%20Minimum.jpg

Only time will tell! Anecdotal evidence is pointing towards another
one. A Dalton Minimum is a miniature version of the infamous Maunder
Minimum, where the number of sunspot groups drop to a below normal
level and corresponding total energy output of the Sun also drops.
This would bring on a mini mini ice age for a period of 30-50 years.
73 & God Bless, (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF, Lakeland, FL, USA,
kn4lf @ arrl.net KN4LF Daily Solar Space Weather & Geomagnetic Data
Archive: http://www.kn4lf.com/kn4lf5.htm April 29, dxldyg via WORLD OF
RADIO 1406, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

SOLAR-ACTIVITY FORECAST FOR THE PERIOD APR 25 - MAY 1, 2008

Activity level: predominantly very low
Radio flux (10.7 cm): a fluctuation in the range 67-75 f.u.
Flares: weak (0-3/day)
Relative sunspot number: in the range 0-25

Astronomical Institute, Solar Dept., Ondrejov, Czech Republic
e-mail: sunwatch(at)asu.cas.cz
(RWC Prague)
_________________________________________________________________

GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY FORECAST FOR THE PERIOD APR 25 TO MAY 1, 2008

quiet: Apr 27 to 30
quiet to unsettled: Apr 26 and May 1
unsettled: Apr 25
active: 0
minor storm: 0
major storm: 0
severe storm: 0

Geomagnetic activity summary: geomagnetic field was quiet from
Apr 17 to 22, active on Apr 23.

RWC Prague, Geophysical Institute Prague, Geomagnetic Dept,
Czech Republic
e-mail: geom(at)ig.cas.cz
_________________________________________________________________

GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY FORECAST FOR THE PERIOD OF ONE SOLAR ROTATION

unsettled to active: Apr 26, May 6-7, 9-10, (16,) 19
active to disturbed: Apr (25,) May (1,) 2, (3-4,) 5, 13
quiet: Apr 27-30, May 8, 11(-12,) 14-15, 17-18

Survey: quiet on: Apr 18
mostly quiet on: Apr 17, 19-22
quiet to unsettled on: Apr 16
unsettled to disturbed on: Apr 23

Notice: Days in brackets refer to a lower probability of possible
solar activity enhancements depending on previous developments
on the sun.

(F. K. Janda, OK1HH, Czech Propagation Interested Group
e-mail: franta.janda(at)quick.cz via WORLD OF RADIO 1406, DXLD) ###