DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-055, May 2, 2008 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2008 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1406 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. Re 8-054, Riders Radio Theatre on KCHU Valdeez: kept listening UT Sat May 3 past 0300, and episode 2698 finally started at 0310, after an events calendar; then heard, not on schedule, at 0340 companion show Cow Pie Radio, but chopped off at 0400 to start Grateful Dead on time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DRM: see DIGITAL BROADCASTING ** ANGOLA. 4950, Radio Nacional, Mulenvos, Luanda, 2057-2106, 21-04, portugués, canciones, identificación a las 2100: "Radio Nacional, Jornal da hora", noticias de Angola. 24322. También 0532-0545, 25-04, noticias y comentarios, comentario sobre lucha contra la malaria, identificación: "Radio Nacional". 25432 (Manuel Méndez, Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Islas Canarias, Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 5 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. Muy buena propagación para LRA 36 Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, que se escuchaba todos los días que lo intenté, luego de de cerrar Africa nº 1, a las 1900, y con bastante buena señal. ANTARTIDA, 15476, LRA 36, Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, 1901- 1930, 23-04, identificación en español, alemán, francés, portugués, italiano. "Desde los 63º 24' Latitud Sur, 56º 59' Longitud Oeste, transmite LRA 36, Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel de lunes a viernes desde las 15 a las 18 hora local, 18 a 21 UTC, en la frecuencia de 15476 kHz.". Comentarios sobre la historia del ferrocarril en la Argentina, canciones en español. 24322, incluso por momentos 34333. También escuchada los días 21 y 24, más o menos a la misma hora, con comentarios y música en español, tangos, etc. (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, escuchas realizadas en Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Islas Canarias, Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 5 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hace 15 días, envié un e-mail a LRA 36, Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, comunicándoles que, después de bastante tiempo había logrado escucharlos de nuevo, y me respondieron, enviando además unas fotos de la Base, de las locutoras de la emisora y del operador de la misma. Lo reenvío para que todo el mundo lo pueda ver. Saludos, (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, April 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: LRA36 lra36 @ infovia.com.ar Date: 2008/4/23 Subject: Base Esperanza To: Manuel Méndez ESTIMADO MANUEL, REALMENTE PARA NOSOTROS ES UNA GRAN SATISFACCION SABER QUE HAY GENTE QUE SINTONIZA Y ESCUCHA LRA 36 "ARCANGEL SAN GABRIEL", Y QUE POR ESTE MEDIO SE COMUNIQUE CON NOSOTROS. LE CUENTO QUE A PARTIR DEL 04 ABRIL 08 SE COMENZO A EMITIR EL PROGRAMA DEL CORRIENTE AÑO. LE ADJUNTO FOTOS DE LAS SEÑORAS QUE REALIZAZN EL PROGRAMA Y EL OPERADOR DE CONSOLA AL IGUAL QUE UNA FOTO DE NUESTRA BASE QUE ESPERO SEA DE SU AGRADO. DESDE BASE ANTARTICA ESPERANZA LOS INTEGRANTES DE LRA 36 LES MANDAMOS UN FUERTE Y AFECTUOSO SALUDO. (via Manuel Méndez, Spain, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So they reactivated on April 4 (gh) LRA36 op 15476 kHz, 1920 UT April 30, beter dan gisteren met tangomuziek en info Gr. (Maurits van Driessche, Belgium, bdx mailing list via DXLD) Dear Glenn, attached recording from LRA36, 1914 yesterday 30/4. Listening to the new audiojingle Hymn flutemusic originally from Vangelis. I keep out for weak signals, and the Perseus is great!! All the best and 73, You friend (Maurits from Belgium Van Driessche, May 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) A very weak carrier detectable on 15476, not 15475, Friday May 2 at 2056, is the first sign of LRA-36 I have had since reactivation earlier this month. Yet nothing audible on 15345, and I also checked 15825 for WWCR with WOR, also inaudible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 15345, Radio Nacional, General Belgrano, 2135-2150, 27- 04, transmisión partidos de fútbol campeonato argentino, identificación: "Radio Nacional". Excelente señal. 45444 (Manuel Méndez, Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Islas Canarias, Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 5 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sunday! Re 8-054: Sr Glenn Hauser, ¿Cual es la contradiccion? El cambio fue el anunciado dias atras correctamente, y lo detallo nuevamente: Japonés 1000-1100 & nuevo horario 0100-0200 11710 kHz Portugués 0000-0100 & nuevo horario 1100-1200 11710 kHz Los días domingos, nunca ha transmitido RAE. 73s GIB (Gabriel Ivan Barrera, condiglist yg via DXLD) Hola Gabriel Iván, La contradicción está en el esquema `completo` aparecido en Conexión Digital 27 de abril, que no incluye japonés a las 10 ni portugués a las 00. Véase, por favor. También hay contradicción entre los anuncios escuchados y el esquema en el sitio web, como dije. Respecto a los domingos, me acuerdo haber captado a Radio Nacional por 15345 en domingos, y aparece por ejemplo en el esquema EiBi actual; no es correcto? (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Hola Glenn, OK, ahora entiendo. Los domingos, sigue emitiendo LRA1 Radio Nacional Buenos Aires en las frecuencias que comparte con RAE, pero son 100% emisiones de LRA1. 73s GIB (Gabriel Iván Barrera, condiglist yg via DXLD) 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, pela mesma freqüência. As duas emissões são distintas e contam, como sempre, com os programas de DX produzidos por Gabriel Iván Barrera. (http://www.romais.jor.br) (Célio Romais, April 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BANGLADESH. End time of Bangladesh Betar, 4750 is extended at 1710 UT (ex 1600). It is closed after Bengali News at 1700-1710 now (S. Hasegawa, NDXC. Japan, May 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BENIN. 5025, 1856-1901, 23-04, locutor, comentarios, francés. Identificación por locutora a las 1900: "Radio Parakou". 34333 (Manuel Méndez, Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Islas Canarias, Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 5 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4732.04, Radio Universitaria, Cobija, Pando, 1105, noted carrier on several times this week, but band fading out; 0050 to 0110 music under constant RTTY. Verified from Bolivia by Rogildo F. Aragão with complete ID. 2 May 73s, (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, Southeast Florida, NRD 535D, 746Pro, R75, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 6134.80v, R. Santa Cruz (presumed), 0137-0224, May 2, running late with coverage of fútbol game, 2 goals scored within 4 minutes, fair-poor (Ron Howard, CA, dxldyg via 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 (http://www.romais.jor.br) (Célio Romais, April 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) another version: News from DXer friend Pedro M. C. de Castro who is on a DXPedition with 15 members of DXCB in a hotel in Lorena where they are enjoying good propagation and, therefore, a great DX camp. Fresh news from Radio Guarujá Paulista (the owner, Mr. Rampazo, attended the meeting): 1- Radio Guarujá will stop relaying Radio Globo. They will broadcast their "self made" programs. 2- They moved the 3235 kHz transmitter from Marília to Guarujá. 3- They will start testing 9715 kHz (1 kW) very soon. Reports will be answered. 73, (Rich D`Angelo, PA, May 3, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. CBC Hotsheets – dead --- Hi Glenn, note below from CBC (Victoria Wilcox): Dear Eric, Well as of yesterday, the Hotsheet (at least for outside subscribers) died. You'll get a message from Radio Communications outlining future possibilities. All the best, Victoria (via Eric Flodén, May 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hotsheets still posted here, so far, thru May 5: http://groups.google.com/group/alt.radio.networks.cbc/topics?hl=en (Glenn Hauser, OK, May 2, ibid.) ** CANADA. Re 8-054: Received this message. Anyone have an answer? (Harold Sellers, ODXA yg via DXLD) Viz.: I am hearing CBC Radio 1 again on 1070. What`s the deal here??? Is this a lower power relay, reactivation, or what??? Anyone have any ideas??? Surely CHOK doesn't relay CBC overnight??? (Ken Baird, Scotland, 1648 UT April 29 http://www.tadx.mediumwaveradio.org/ via Sellers, ibid.) I just had a look at the CBC site. There`s a CBC Radio One outlet on 1070 in Clinton, BC. Clinton is about half way between Kamloops and 100 Mile House. No other transmitters on 1070 that I can see (Fred Waterer, Ont, ibid.) That`s a 40-watt LPRT, CBRU relaying CBU (gh) Maybe someone who lives near CHOK Sarnia, ON would know if they carry CBC news. I seem to recall hearing CBC mentioned on 1070 many years ago & it turned out to be CHOK Sarnia, ON. Maybe they have a website that would say? 73, (George Sherman, MN, IRCA via DXLD) I checked CHOK's website and there's no indication they carry CBC news (Paul B. Walker, Jr., IRCA via DXLD) They did at one time. In fact they carried a lot of CBC programming, but that was before (long before, in fact) the CBC FMs in London and Chatham came on. I haven't heard them doing anything CBC in years. 73 (David Faulkner, ibid.) Just checked [1070] a moment ago and didn't hear it. Maybe they were testing the equipment as part of the decommissioning? (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, 2348 UT April 29, ibid.) According to the NRC's DX news, CKOK is carrying CBC news. I'm not sure that I believe it, I'm not sure that I disbelieve it. CBA is definitely off the air. I'd be surprised if 40 watts would make it to Scotland (Phil Rafuse, PEI, April 30, ABDX via DXLD) I'm quite certain that I disbelieve it. It's been decades since the CBC has used private affiliates to carry its programming. Beginning in the 70s, the CBC embarked on a massive building project to construct its own 24-hour relay transmitters. According to the Canadian Communications Foundation's history of CHOK: 1979 On January 5, CHOK was given permission to drop its CBC affiliation. The CBC has had it’s own transmitter (CBEG-FM) on the air in Sarnia since 1977. http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/listings_and_histories/radio/histories.php?id=356&historyID=144 It was roughly in the same time frame that many other privately-owned stations were allowed to drop what had been mandatory CBC carriage. Phil, wasn't CJFX a CBC affiliate back in the day? I know CFCY was, until the CBC put CBCT-FM on the air in Charlottetown in the mid-70s. I believe the last privately-owned CBC affiliate was CKWM 97.7 Kentville, NS, which carried the CBC Stereo network on a part-time basis until 1988. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) CJFX -- Yes - disaffiliation was 1982, if I recall correctly. CFCY: I recall that well. I taped CBCT-FM's signal for my Dad - I think it was 1976. He used the tape to convince the CBC to allow CJFX to tape some of the quality programming - As it Happens, for example - and substitute it for some of the CBC junk programming of the day, Anthology, for example. Kentville: Yes, that was a battle-royal! CBC Radio 2 virtually held CKWN hostage. Finally Annapolis Valley Radio got relief. That was pre MBS Radio, I think (Phil Rafuse, PEI, ibid.) ** CANADA. BROADENING THE BROADCAST --- NEW DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMING HAS THE DAUNTING TASK OF CHANGING THE FAMILIAR SOUND OF CBC RADIO by Morley Walker, used to be entertainment, April 29 at 12:45 AM CDT The thing about CBC Radio's Chris Boyce is that you have to sneak up close to see his horns. "Sometimes in the morning I feel around for them," the baby-faced Winnipegger says with a smile as he touches the back of his head with his left hand. A rising star behind the scenes for the past 14 years, he has just been handed one of the toughest jobs in Canadian radio, and many public broadcasting loyalists, especially those devoted to classical music, would say that makes him the devil incarnate. At 36, Boyce is the newly appointed director of programming for CBC English radio, third in command in the national network hierarchy behind vice-president Richard Stursberg and interim executive director Susan Mitton. He is responsible for defending the headline-making decisions on Radio 2, such as canning the CBC Radio Orchestra, and implementing the next round of changes this fall, which will see the signal continue to broaden its musical mandate beyond the timeless masterpieces of those famous dead German guys . . . http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/entertainment/story/4166705p-4754367c.html (via Doug Copeland, DXLD) ** CANARY ISLANDS. Del 21 al 28 de Abril estuve pasando, junto a mi esposa, una semana en Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote. Tuvimos un tiempo buenísimo, con temperaturas que por el día a veces pasaban de 35 grados y por las noches no descendían de los 23 y muchísimo sol durante toda nuestra estancia allí. Alucinante la visita al Parque Nacional Timanfaya, un extrarodinario curso sobre vulcanología. Aproveché para escuchar algo de radio, ya que nuestra habitación en el hotel estaba en la última planta (que había solicitado por teléfono antes de la llegada), con una terrraza abierta al exterior, así que instalé allí como buenamente pude un cable de 6 metros, que con una pinza de tipo cocodrilo conectaba a la antena telescópica del Sony ICF SW 7600 G. [most of his logs from Africa and elsewhere, SW and MW, appear in this issue, and his full report is in the dxldyg] ISLAS CANARIAS, emisoras que se sintonizan durante todo el día, y que son todas las que transmiten desde las Islas. 576, Radio Nacional de España, Radio 1, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, 1500-1506, 24-04, identificación: "Radio Nacional de España, Radio Uno", noticias. 55555. (Méndez) 621, Radio Nacional de España, Radio 1, Santa Cruz, Tenerife, 1507-1512, 24-04, comentarios, programa "Asuntos propios". 55555. 720, Radio Nacional de España, Radio 5 Todo Noticias, Santa Cruz, Tenerife, 1512-1516, 24-04, programa sobre "El día e la Tierra", comentarios sobre el cambio climático y ahorro de energía. Identificación: "Radio Cinco Todo Noticias". 35433. (Méndez) 747, Radio Nacional de España, Radio 5 Todo Noticias, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, 15-16-1520, 24-04, Noticias. 55555. (Méndez) 837, COPE, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, 1520-1531, 24-04, programa "La tarde con Cristina", identificación: "Cadena Cope". 45444. (Méndez) 882, COPE, La Laguna, Tenerife, 1736-1743, 24-04, locutor, comentario sobre incendio en las islas de Gran Canaria y Tenerife. 34333. 1008, Punto Radio, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, 1532-1536, 24-04, anuncios, programa "La Tarde de Ramón García", identificación: "Punto Radio". 45444. (Méndez) 1179, Radio Club de Tenerife, Cadena Ser, Tenerife, 1537-1542, 24-04, programa "La Ventana". 45444. (Méndez) 1269, Radio Ecca, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, 1542-1558, 24-04, identificación: "La música en Radio Ecca", canciones. 45444. Escuchada otras veces transmitiendo programas de enseñanza a distancia (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, escuchas realizadas en Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Islas Canarias, Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 5 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CATALUNYA. 6312.00, 2704 1805, R. Barretina Int, Cat, relay of R. L'Arboç FM, rock, jingle ID 35443 (Silveri Gómez, Barcelona, playdx yg via DXLD) Hola: Reenvío un mensaje sobre Radio Barretina, la piratona que salía desde L`Arboç y que ha recibido la amable visita de los funcionarios de Telecomunicaciones, lo que supondrá el precinto del equipo el próximo día 5 y al parecer se evitará una multa por haber alegado que se trataba de una emisión experimental y no había ánimo de lucro. El texto está en catalán aunque creo que será fácilmente comprensible. Me quedo también con la última frase del colega "L´aire no és de ningú!" (El aire no es de nadie). Cordialmente, (Tomás Méndez, El Prat de Llobregat-Barcelona España, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Asunto: FW: Ràdio Barretina RIP, s´ha acabat el bròquil! Tomàs, bona nit. El sr. Barretina, m'ha enviat aquesta nota sobre el tancament de la primera ràdio lliure catalana en OC... no sé si et pot interessar la noticia. Que vagi be el pont festiu (Silveri Gómez Peralta, via Méndez, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: SILVERI GOMEZ : Ràdio Barretina RIP, s´ha acabat el bròquil ! CLOSED BY TELECOM POLICE !!!!!!!!! 30 April BONA NIT! MIREU QUE HE REBUT EN TORNAR DE L'HORTA!!! sembla que Barretina ja és història. Ha rebut la visita dels telecos. El pla B no em sembla amb gaires garanties d'èxit... Millor pensar en el pla C: relay via una altra emissora fora del territori estatal, pagant o de franc... aquesta es una altra qüestió, certament Ràdio Barretina acaba per sempre les seves emissions. Aquest dimecres 30 d´abril i a les 9:55 del matí, un funcionari de la "Dirección General de Telecomunicaciones y Tecnologías de la Información" m´ha fet una visita sorpresa als estudis de la ràdio. Sembla que les emissions de Radio Barretina molestaven a la marina francesa i l´administració del país veí ha tramitat una queixa adreçada al govern espanyol, i ja veieu que ha actuat ràpid. Es curiós que aquest 2008, a l´Arboç cel lebrem el bicentenari de la guerra del francès, on els amics gavatxos van exterminar quasi tota la població i cremar totalment la vila i els seus bens. Coincidències ? El proper dia 5 de maig em precintarán el meu estimat tercera mà, Yaesu FT-757 GX, i mai més el podré fer servir. Al tractar-se d´un equip dels anys 80, no dispossa de la normativa i distintiu CE i no es pot legalitzar de cap de les maneres. Tota una llàstima, perque ara que ja no puc emetre, el volia fer servir per rebre i convertir-me en un radio escolta. Alegant que eren emissions experimentals i que no tenia coneixement dels problemes que produeix la meva activitat i que tampoc hi habia cap intenció de lucrar-me, sembla que no em ficaràn cap multa, al col laborar amb el tancament de l´activitat radiofónica en ona curta sense possar cap tipus d´impediment al procediment de precinte. Tampoc m´he amagat mai, sempre han sabut on erem i on trobar-nos. Barretina s´ha acabat amics...... però com ja vaig dir fa uns dies en aquest blog, passo al "PLA B". El pla "B" suposarà el laborar una proposició no de llei i portar-la al "Congrés dels Diputats", on se li demanarà al govern espanyol que acabi amb el monopoli de RNE-REE sobre les frecuències de projecció exterior, i que aixó suposi la modificació o subsanació de les lleis que pertoquen de la Constitució Espanyola, on s´ens permeti, com pais que som, dispossar d´un espai radioelèctric propi a les ones curtes per donar més presència al mòn de la nostra llengua i cultura. El meu projecte, a diferència del que Catalunya Ràdio volgués fer, passaria per ser una emissora que faria difussió dels programes especialitzats que generarien les milers d´emissores municipals que existeixen al Principat, i que durant molts anys han repetit el senyal de Catalunya Ràdio, ajudant-la quant no dispossava de centres repetidors per tot el territori. Jo crec que ens deuen molt, i que mai ens han donat res a cambi, ni les gràcies amb una carta ! Es hora que totes les persones que treballem a les municipals i els oidors/es asidus, ens unim d´una vegada i demanem el reconeixement a la nostra feina, encara que no estem a una ràdio de cobertura nacional, i que els anys i anys d´experiència al mitjà, ens dongui accès "in situ" a una titul lació per mèrits, "Mestres artesans en ràdio". Faré tot el possible perque Catalunya tingui una emissora o llicències per ràdio mundial en ona curta. Tot i que potser les meves idees siguin aprofitades per qualsevol institució o grup polític com a novetat o gran cosa, espero que per qualsevol bon moviment que facin em tinguin en compte, més ben dit, que ens tinguin en compte, perque sense vosaltres que esteu al altre costat del receptor, no hagués estat possible aquesta aventura, i per tant sereu els que decidireu els continguts, al ser bons coneixedors del tipus de programacións que difonen aquestes estacions. Tinc tots els vostres correus electrónics i en qualsevol moment que la cosa prosperi ho sabreu ràpidament i us convocaré a una reunió per si us voleu pujar al carro d´aquest magnífic i prometedor projecte. Les persones que em vulguin donar el seu suport i vulguin col laborar en la seva redacció, només m´han d´enviar un correu a: radiobarretina @ hotmail.com Dir que ara hi ha internet, satèl lits i tal i Pascual, no significa que haguem de donar l´esquena a sistemes mal considerats com antics i obsolets. Vosaltres sabeu que aixó es una injustícia! Ja veurem que passa...... Visca Ràdio Barretina Int , per sempre, la primera en ona curta i en català! _________________ L´aire no és de ningú ! (Silveri Gómez, April 30 via Dario Monfeirini, DXLD) Os copio el mensaje que el dueño de Radio Barretina (6331 kHz) ha publicado en un grupo de noticias sobre radio piratas. La emisora ha sido intervenida por Telecomunicaciones y cerrada. Saludos (Jorge Trinado, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CHAD. We are especially proud of the successful completion of a challenging shortwave project for RNT (Radiodiffusion Nationale Tchadienne) in Chad. Since beginning of January, the government owned and operated radio station at Gredia is broadcasting to the entire country with a new Thomson 250 kW shortwave transmitter and 3 quadrant antennas. In spite of the critical political situation on site, Thomson teams worked selflessly around the clock to put the new equipment on air. Such times of political turbulence testify to the strategic importance of AM radio, when shortwave is often the only reliable band connecting a country with the rest of the world. Radio broadcasting is crucial for the dissemination of information in Chad. It is the main source for news and entertainment right throughout the country for most people due to the fact that the national television station is available only in the capital city area. Our mission is to supply our customers with reliable transmission equipment that supports cost-efficient media implementation. Our products are based on the newest technologies, designed to work well in even the most difficult conditions and optimized for the best signal on air for digital or analog platforms. INSIDE "Medium Wave Trends, Global Networking, Antenna Innovations" (Thomson BMAG / Thomson Grass Valley; Radio News spring 2008, issue 29; Apr 28 via BC-DX via DXLD) N'djamena Gredia MW 840; SW 4904 6165 7120 kHz 2003 til Dec 19, 2007 Taiwanese tx unit. From Dec 20th, 2007 new Thomson Asea 250 kW unit (probably on half less power also depending on mains power ... wb.) 12 06 45.39 N 15 04 28.49 E (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) 4905, Radio Tchad, N'Djamena, 1738-1748, 23-04, vernáculo, comentarios. 45444. Escuchada otros días también con gran señal y comentarios en francés (Manuel Méndez, Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Islas Canarias, Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 5 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. While tuning around a bit I found strong Chinese on 7160. Ah, it has Firedrake in the background, so it's not what I first believed but instead the BBC via Al-Dhabbaya. Firedrake also on 7105 (jamming what?), 7180 and 7190 (against BBC and VOA, respectively, both via Thailand, inaudible here). Transmissions with other program content from China are on 7130 (Chinese) and 7200 (French), the latter much stronger although both are supposed to be co-located at Urumqi. CRI programming also on 7175, via Taldom, still with the old phone-quality feed, in English with news about the Mt. Everest publicity stunt. Check out http://www.mounteverest.net/morenews.php for what's going on there, especially on the Nepalese side (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Xinjiang PBS-XJBS Summer sked from May 4 2300-1800 Uighur: (not Tue 0800-1100) 13670 2300-1800 11885 2300-1800 9560 0300-1200, 6120 2300-0300, 1200-1800 7275 2300-1800 2300-1800 Chinese: (not Tue 0800-1100) 11770 2300-1800 9600 0300-1400, 7310 2300-0300, 1400-1800 7155 2300-1800 5960 2300-1800 2330-1800 Kazakh: (not Tue, Thu 0800-1100) 9470 0300-1150, 6015 2330-0300, 1151-1800 7340 2330-1800 2330-0330: 0530-1030(Tue, Thu 0800), 1230-1800 Mongolian: 6190 2330-0330, 1230-1800, 9510 0530-1030 7230 2330-0030, 0530-1030, 1230-1800 0330-0530, 1030(Tue, Thu 1100)-1230 Kyrgyz: 9705 0330-0530, 1030-1230 11975 0330-0530, 1030-1230 de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, May 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. 6035, La Voz del Guaviare, 1038, 05/01/08, Spanish. Ballad-type songs with frequent IDs between and a few other short announcements/promos. Fair to good though w/adjacent-channel QRM, especially when R Martí came on 6030 (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ?? RM is supposed to be continuous on 6030 22-12 except for the UT Mon 03-09 break (gh, DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. Re 8-054: Glenn and Terry, seems obvious if the Guápiles ELCOR is on 5954.13 that upper spur isn't exactly 5975. At first sight, rather hearing, is where I measured it. Got to remember the 7600GR doesn't show decimals and I didn't zero beat the real frequency. Now, Glenn, you got me thinking that the lower spur is not exactly on 5930. I was ready this local mid-afternoon to verify that buy they didn't show up, they did only on Monday 28. Sure, Terry, I pointed out that if they didn't signed on Saturday, few chances there could be there on Sunday, as in fact happened. Let's hope better luck for Wednesday 30. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. Arnie Coro on Bay of Pigs --- 4.5 minute rm clip of Arnie Coro recounting his experience is now in Pertinent Shows folder in the files of the DXLD yg, recorded at 0322 UT April 17, 2008 on 6180, as in 8-048 (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. RHC was celebrating May Day, as well as its own official 47th anniversary, by keeping 9600 on the air past its usual 1300 closing, still going at 1307, and no 15370 instead. Nor any het from XEYU which must be gone again (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. Heard an announcement on R. Martí (via Hispasat), that Martí TV and Radio are available on DirecTV and Dish Net --- being unfluent in Spanish, I didn`t catch the particulars; but w`dn`t think those services are available in Cuba; & thought sat dishes were banned in any event (or has Raúl loosened restrictions to that extent?) / some surreptitious reception via Hisp w`d be possible if a 1.2 meter dish c`d be sufficiently hidden / Still enjoying mx from R. Clásica, Spain and CMBF, 1260, Habana via Hisp / other Cuban radio – Rebelde etc. – there also (find the announcers on R. Reloj fascinating – hoiw they can fit what they`re reading in those one-minute time segments --- guess it`s written that way) / (Loren Cox, Jr., Lexington, KY, April 23, by P-mail, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECHOSLOVAKIA. See RADIO PHILATELY ** DEUTSCHES REICH [non]. Re 8-054: Voice of To-morrow mention. To see a QSL visit my website http://www.kg4lac.com Click on the Pirate-Unknown link on the left. On the right scroll to the Voice of To-morrow September 24, 1989 link. Click the link to see a larger image of the QSL [if javascript is enabled]. What was the reason for the hyphen in To-morrow? Why not simply Tomorrow? 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Manassas, VA USA, April 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Claimed to transmit from Baltimore, studio in Providence. Kraig has quite a nice large collexion of QSLs and other memorabilia displayed (gh, DXLD) Glenn, Fascinating material about Kevin Strom in the latest DXLD! Here is his Wikipedia entry with more info, including his involvement with Voice of To-morrow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Alfred_Strom (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19 http://harryhelmsblog.blogspot.com/ DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. Queridos amigos, desde ayer estoy escuchando en los 5010 kHz una señal en español que me llega muy débil y no he podido identificar por el fuerte ruido en la frecuencia. ¿Alguien ha escuchado últimamente algo en los 5010 en español???? El en WRTH 2004 aparecen listadas tres emisoras en español: Escuelas Radiofónicas Populares, Radio Cristal y Radio Misiones Int; será alguna de ellas? Para mí podría ser Radio Cristal, bueno si es que está activa, porque tengo años que no escucho nada en esta frecuencia (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Barcelona, Venezuela, http://sintoniadx.spaces.live.com/ DX LISTENING DIGEST) José Elías, Radio Cristal ha sido captado varias veces recientemente, según informes en o vía DXLD. ¿A qué hora? Esta emisora parece siempre cerrarse dentro de algunos minutos de 0000 TU. 73, (Glenn to JE, via DXLD) Saludos cordiales, querido amigo Glenn. Espero te encuentres muy bien. Querido amigo, disculpa la demora en responder tu amable correo; ayer me acosté temprano por la gripe que tengo, pero déjame decirte que escuché la identificación de Radio Pueblo muy bajita y algunas propagandas de un partido político, todo muy bajito pero algo entendible. La escucha fue a las 2330 UT y como dices tú, al rato cerró las emisiones, eso fue a las 0000 UT más o menos. Después de esa hora no la escuché mas. Un abrazo amigo Glenn (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Venezuela, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5009.78, Radio Cristal, Santo Domingo, 1/5 2330. Almost one hour (2307-2358) nice music and info +ID, sometimes in the noise. The Perseus works great on this frequentie. RX: Perseus, Diff. Antennas. Gr (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. HCJB`s Kulina service to a Brazilian tribe, 11920, April 30 at 2254 had missionary referring to Matéu Capítulo XXIII. Seems to have a preference for Matthew, and may be working his way thru this book, as last time I ran across it, April 5 as in DXLD 8-042, the reference was to Matthew XVIII. Checking Chapter 23, my favorite verses would be 15 and then 33. Stop the presses! HCJB has finally started announcing its own frequencies correctly in Spanish. This is after years of announcing the wrong frequencies, and months of announcing no frequencies. Now, as promised, I must be satisfied. May 1 at 1259:30 on 11960, the automated ID gave website, and frequencies 11690, 21455 and 11960 in that strange order. Also audible on much weaker 11690 mixed with RTTY. 11960 also had a transmission break of several seconds at 1259. That`s when they change azimuth from 355 for Cuba, to 330 for Mexico (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. The new WRTH pdf update is organized differently, HCJB Ecuador and Australia being listed under U S A, José Miguel Romero points out under PUBLICATIONS. This follows a discussion here a few months ago about the inconsistent way it had listed multi-national stations with multiple transmitter sites (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. Hi Glenn, Last night (4/30/08 UT) I was listening to an UNID station from 0045 to abrupt 0203 sign-off on 6289/6290 kHz. (AM mode) The program consisted of a male chanting recitations from the Kor`an, with pauses in between. At one point, there was a brief musical segment, lasting 30 or so seconds, followed by a female speaking in UNID language. Reception was very good at the outset, SINPO=45544. I noticed what I would call "audio clipping," which distorted the readability of the signal. By 0200, a significant amount of fading had severely reduced the readability of the signal. At 0203, the station abruptly left the air. I did not hear any ID's during this time period (Ed Insinger, NJ, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Ed, 6290 must surely be R. Cairo in Arabic, where it has had its defective transmitter for some time. However, it has been running until 0300, so maybe something just broke down when you were listening (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** EGYPT. 11550, R. Cairo via Abis 250 kW 325 degrees broadcast wrongly Hausa section - instead of Italian - at 18-19 UT today, in \\ 9990 kHz. Latter carries a terrible audio distortion, but 11550 transmit clear audio instead. 11550 schedule seems 1700 Albanian, 1800 Italian, 1900 Ge, 2000 Fr, and 2115-2245 English (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. Summer A-08 of Radio Cairo: [revised yet again?] 0700-1100 on 15115 ABZ 100 kW / 250 deg Arabic GS WeAf 1015-1215 on 15170 ABZ 250 kW / 090 deg Arabic ME/AFG 1100-2400 on 6290 ABZ 250 kW / 315 deg Arabic GS WeEu 1215-1330 on 17835 ABZ 250 kW / 090 deg English SoAs 1230-1400 on 15710 ABS 250 kW / 106 deg Indonesian SoEaAs 1300-1600 on 15080 ABS 250 kW / 241 deg Arabic WeAf 1330-1530 on 15040 ABZ 100 kW / 070 deg Farsi TJK 1430-1600 on 12170 ABZ 250 kW / 070 deg Pashto AFG 1500-1600 on 11550 ABS 250 kW / 325 deg Albanian ALB 1500-1600 on 13580 ABZ 100 kW / 050 deg Uzbek UZB 1530-1730 on 17810 ABZ 100 kW / 170 deg Swahili CeEaAf 1600-1700 on 15155 ABZ 100 kW / 160 deg Afar EaCeAf 1600-1800 on 6270 ABZ 250 kW / 090 deg Urdu SoAs 1600-1800 on 12170 ABZ 150 kW / 195 deg English CeSoAf 1700-1900 on 6860 ABS 250 kW / 005 deg Turkish TUR 1700-2300 on 9250 ABZ 250 kW / 180 deg Wadi el Nil *EaAf 1700-1730 on 15155 ABZ 100 kW / 160 deg Somali EaCeAf 1730-1900 on 15155 ABZ 100 kW / 160 deg Amharic EaCeAf 1800-1900 on 11550 ABS 250 kW / 325 deg Italian WeEu 1800-2100 on 9990 ABS 250 kW / 241 deg Hausa WeAf 1900-2000 on 6860 ABS 250 kW / 005 deg Russian WeRUS 1900-2000 on 11550 ABS 250 kW / 325 deg German WeEu 1900-2030 on 9380 ABZ 100 kW / 250 deg English WeAf 1900-0030 on 9960 ABZ 100 kW / 160 deg V of Arabs CeEaAf 2000-2115 on 11550 ABS 250 kW / 325 deg French WeEu 2000-2200 on 6860 ABZ 250 kW / 110 deg Arabic AUS 2030-2230 on 9280 ABS 250 kW / 241 deg French WeAf 2115-2245 on 11550 ABS 250 kW / 325 deg English WeEu 2215-2330 on 9360 ABZ 250 kW / 245 deg Portuguese SoAm 2300-0030 on 9280 ABZ 250 kW / 330 deg English NoAmEa 2330-0045 on 9360 ABZ 250 kW / 245 deg Arabic SoAm 2330-0045 on 9735 ABS 250 kW / 241 deg Arabic SoAm 0000-0300 on 6290 ABS 250 kW / 315 deg Arabic GS NoAm 0030-0430 on 9280 ABZ 250 kW / 330 deg Arabic NoAmEa 0045-0200 on 6140 ABS 250 kW / 252 deg Spanish SoAm 0045-0200 on 7270 ABZ 250 kW / 315 deg Spanish NoAm 0045-0200 on 9360 ABZ 250 kW / 245 deg Spanish CeAm 0200-0330 on 7270 ABZ 250 kW / 315 deg English NoAm *Nile Valley Radio (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, April 30 via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. No pude escuchar, parece que fuera del aire entre el 21 y el 28 de Abril: Radio Malabo en 6250 y Radio Bata en 5005 (Manuel Méndez, Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Islas Canarias, Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 5 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, Radio Africa. For the fun of it I sent a report to the Ghana address given over Radio Africa. Received a response from Albert Asante ( albertasante @ yahoo.com ): "Your letter has been received and have instructed the head office in USA to send you the QSL card. THE ACCRA ADDRESS IS ONLY AN AGENT TAKING CARE OF GHANA LISTENERS". I still hope for the best for my report sent to Malabo (Ron Howard, CA, May 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA/ETHIOPIA. Re 8-054: I suppose the conclusion is that Eritrea tries to avoid Ethiopian jamming with their Amharic transmissions or when Ethiopia relay clandestine programmes by using different frequencies like 5100, 8000, 6170 and earlier 7800 and 7900 (Mauno Ritola, Finland, Apr 27, DSWCI DX Window April 30 via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. R. Ethiopia 1300-1800 UT noted with tiny signal around 15-16 UT on 9560.46 Apr 25, 9560.58 Apr 27 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, BC-DX via DXLD) ** EUROPE. Radio Pirates in 1926-1949 --- Pirate radio is nothing new it would seem. At this site are archives newspaper articles: http://archive.scotsman.com/search.cfm?keywords=pirate+radio&period=1817-1950 (Richard Crichton via RadioCarolineMailinglist yg via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD)) ** EUROPE. Atlantic 2000 on the air this Sunday! We are on the air this Sunday 4th of May, on 6220 kHz from 0800 to 0900 UT (1000 to 1100 CEST). Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends! Atlantic 2000 http://radioatlantic2000.free.fr (via Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, May 2, shortwave yg via DXLD) ** FINLAND. Dear listeners, This is Scandinavian Weekend Radio, Virrat, Finland. We are starting our 24 hours May transmission this evening at 21 hours UT on 1602 kHz MW, 6170/5980 kHz and 11720/11690 kHz. Check our program, time and frequencytables from http://www.swradio.net Lot of more information there as well. +358 400 995559 call and send your SMS's info(at)swradio.net send your e-mails here. Letters and reports for QSL's (add 2 euros/2 IRC's) write to: SWR reports P. O. Box 99 FI-34801 VIRRAT FINLAND Best greetings, (Alpo Heinonen, Scandinavian Weekend Radio, May 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. MV Baltic Radio is on this Sunday 4th of May 2008, at 1200 UT on 6045 kHz. The transmissions of MV Baltic Radio will be broadcast over the transmitting station Wertachtal in Germany. The power of the transmitter will be 100000 Watts and will be using a non-directional antenna system (Quadrant antenna). More information is on our website http://www.mvbalticradio http://www.rrms.de (Tom Taylor, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. ALEMANIA, 9655, Radio Sauti Ya Injili, 1850-1853, tentativa el 2 de mayo en su servicio en fulfulde, emisora religiosa luterana con destino a Camerún; se aprecia un locutor con comentarios pero la transmisión es prácticamente anulada por una extraña señal en forma de sierra [buzzsaw]. Tan sólo se aprecia en esta frecuencia, nada en frecuencias adyacentes, posible señal jamer, SINPO 21441 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. New transmissions of CVC International via Media Broadcast from May 1: 1900-2000 on 9840 JUL 100 kW / 115 deg Arabic to ME 2000-2100 on 9565 JUL 100 kW / 190 deg Arabic to WeAf (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, April 30 via DXLD) ** GERMANY [non]. Frequency change of Deutsche Welle in Amharic: 1400-1500 15650 KIG 250 kW / non-dir, ex 15660 to avoid VOR WS English Frequency change of Deutsche Welle in Farsi: 1730-1930 5945 ARM 200 kW / 132 deg, ex 7270 to avoid REE in Arabic (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, April 30 via DXLD) = ``Armavir``, Russia DW Hausa via Rwanda, 15410, April 30 at 1304 talking about Nigeria (pronounced more or less as in English with long I), DW theme and ID; this was over co-channel CVC Chile, with the usual slow SAH, same as noted on CVC before 1300 when DW is in French per EiBi. DW provides one of the best listenable signals in English, other than US gospel huxters, during the 2100 UT hour, and it isn`t even for us, but instead via Rwanda to West Africa. Wednesday April 30 after 2130 I was listening to Arts on the Air, concluding with an interview about conducting with Paavo Järvi of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Unfortunately I was tuned to the slightly stronger frequency 15205, which always cuts off rudely and abruptly at 2157, forcing me to quickly retune to // 11865 for the last 3 minutes of the program. DW is as bad about this as Radio Australia at 1357 on 9580. If they can`t keep all their transmitters on air till the end of the broadcast, the program should have been produced to end 3 minutes earlier. Or at least a courtesy announcement on the early-closing frequency advising listeners to retune ASAP --- but they would still miss something, just as I did. Shortly before 2200, there was a rapid heavy SAH for a few seconds as the upcoming German transmission via Portugal overlapped on 11865, starting soon enough this time to hear the full ``Null Uhr`` time check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DW moving off 15420: see U S A WBCQ ** GOA. INDIA. 9704.00/9705.00strongest/9706.00 --- Three carriers close together like a buzz tone apart of the test tone. At 2240 UT May 1 test tone, just of approx. 800 Hertz. Tentatively PAN Panaji Goa site of AIR. Scheduled 2230-0045 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAITI. For coping with the increasing number of subscribers, and for allocating space for future services, the telephone numbering scheme has been changed by March 1st 2008 from 7 to 8 digits. A diagram of the changes is available from http://www.conatel.gouv.ht/ (A. J. Kuchelmeister, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAITI. The Conatel, Conseil National des Télécommunications, web site http://www.conatel.gouv.ht/ offers a pdf document, publishing date 15 Feb 2008, with a list of authorised radio stations in the FM band in the country's capital city Port-au-Prince. The changes in comparison to WRTH 2008 are: For Radio Antilles Internationales, now a second frequency, 96.9 MHz, has been allocated. Three stations have a slightly different frequency now, to match the channel spacing of 400 kHz: 105.3 (ex 105.1) Radio Nationale; 105.7 (ex 105.5) Radio Soleil; 107.3 (ex 107.5) Radio Solidarité. The complete list, resorted from the Conatel list, to show the frequency (MHz FM), the name of the radiostation, and owner, is here: 88.1, Radio Visa FM; Global Presse 88.5, Radio Kiskeya; Collectif Kiskeya 88.9, Radio Indigène; Alfred Micanor 89.3, RFI - Haïti; Marie Christine Blanc 89.7, Voix de l’Espérance; Mission des Adventistes 90.1, Radio One; Leo de Vastey 90.5, Radio Signal FM; Signal S.A. 90.9, Radio Timoun; Lafanmi Selavi 91.3, Radio Tropic FM; Guy Jean 91.7, Radio Étoile; Jasmin Philippe 92.1, Radio Lumière; MEBSH 92.5, Radio Commerciale; Claudy Joseph 92.9, Radio Ginen; Jean Lucien Borges 93.3, Radio Antilles Internationales; Jacques Sampeur 93.7, Radio Vasco; Christian Sanon 94.1, Radio Nouvelle Génération; Junia Irvelle Pierre Paul 94.5, Radio Caraïbes FM Stéréo; Patrick Moussignac 94.9, Radio MBC; Franck Magloire 95.3, Radio Voix de l’Évangile; Jean Mary Désir 95.7, Radio Horizon 2000; J.B. Baudelaire Dubic 96.1, Radio Communauté Haïtienne 2000; Marie Nérlande Lamothe 96.5, Radio Sky FM; Guy César 96.9, Radio Antilles Internationales; Jacques Sampeur 97.3, Radio Mega Star; Héritiers Jean Verdy Bastien 97.7, Radio Lumière; MEBSH 98.1, Radio Maxima; Jean Robert Lalane 98.5, Radio Ibo; Hérold Jean François 98.9, Radio Maximum Power; Jean E. Béjin 99.3, Radio Vision 2000; Multipresse S.A. 99.7, Radio Sweet FM; Mme Camille Desmangles 100.1, Radio Métropole; Hébert Widmaier 100.5, Radio Éclair; Patrick Joseph 100.9, Radio Magic Stéréo; Fritz Joasin 101.3, Radio Univers FM; Hadler Michaud 101.7, Radio Énergie FM; Lunel Auguste Gégu 102.1, Radio Nationale; l’État Haïtien 102.5, Radio Zénith; CTH 102.9, Radio Super Star; Albert Chancy 103.3, Radio Mélodie FM; Marcus Garcia 103.7, Radio Lakansièl; Alex St-Surin 104.1, Radio Sodec Service; Henry Chéry 104.5, Radio Galaxie; Yves Jean Bart 104.9, Radio RFM; Rotchild François Jr 105.3, Radio Nationale; l’État Haïtien 105.7, Radio Soleil; Conférence Épiscopale d’Haïti 106.1, Radio Haïti-Inter; Héritiers Jean L. Dominique 106.5, Radio Planète Créole; Érilus Kesto 106.9, Radio Kadans; Lionel Benjamin 107.3, Radio Solidarité; Venel Remarais 107.7, Radio Vertières; Wilfrid Saint Juste (A. J. Kuchelmeister, Germany, 19 March, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Solidarité in Port-au-Prince has changed frequency on past April 26th from previous FM 107.5 MHz to 107.3 MHz, in order to meet the requirements of observing a 400 kHz channel spacing. Source: http://www.conatel.gouv.ht/info/nouvelle.php?newsid=107 The observation of the fixed channel spacing was not followed always by the national regulatory organisation, Conatel, itself, in the past, and therefore recent changes to correct the situation. This has been recognized (also) by the country's journal Le Nouvelliste, however they reported 107.7 MHz as previously used frequency: Radio Solidarité qui retransmettait à partir de la 107.7 MHz de la bande FM émet depuis le samedi 26 avril sur la 107.3, selon une note du Conseil national des Télécommunications (CONATEL). La radio de la rue Fernand se voit obligée de reculer sur le cadran de 400 kilohertz en raison du plan de canalisation des fréquences établi par l'organe régulateur qui, dans le passé, n'avait pas toujours été respecté par le CONATEL lui-même. Source: http://www.lenouvelliste.com/articleforprint.php?PubID=1&ArticleID=56891 (via A. J. Kuchelmeister, Germany, April 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HUNGARY. Re 8-054: 3975 and 6025, Magyar R, Jászberény, including relays of Kossuth R and FS obviously was seriously cut down by Apr 01. It is now only noticed in Hungarian tentatively at *1000-1100* and *1600-1700* on 6025, and at *2100-2200* on 3975 . Heard e.g. Apr 26 and 27 at 1615-1700* on 6025 with 55544, after which VOIRI, Tehran took over in Arabic. Also heard at 1000-1100* in Hungarian closing with the multilingual ID for R Budapest (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window April 30 via DXLD) Magyar R is reluctant to explain these cuts, but a public voting in March 2008 forbad the Government to make extra social and medical expenses for the man in the street. Thus it was forced to find other ways to bring down the state deficit and unfortunately this seem to be one of them (Tibor Szilagyi, Sweden, Apr 27, ibid.) ** INDIA. Frequency change of All India Radio in Russian: 1615-1715 NF 9595 DEL 250 kW / non-dir, ex 9585* * to avoid Vatican Radio in Russian, Ukrainian and Belarussian (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, April 30 via DXLD) See also GOA ** INDONESIA. VOI may have been more or less active on 9526 lately, as traces sometimes heard, but reception has been nowhere near as good as it was in winter; April 30 at 1323, only fair with songs (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. 6792.5, AK, Gakona, HAARP, received nice QSL card in 100 days for reception of Moon Bounce, with a nice pix of the antenna array. No V/S. A nice addition to collection with this unusual reception and QSL (Patrick Martin, Seaside, Terra, HCDX via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Satellite stations: see KOREA NORTH; UK ** IRAN [and non]. Frequency changes for VOIROI/IRIB from May 1: 0130-0227 NF 9790 SIR 500 kW / 018 deg, ex 9795 in Kazakh 1530-1627 NF 7375 KAM 500 kW / 110 deg, ex 7370 in English 1530-1627 NF 9600 SIR 500 kW / 105 deg, ex 9635 in English 1830-1928 NF 6000*SIT 100 kW / 259 deg, ex 7260 in French 1930-2028 NF 6000*SIT 100 kW / 259 deg, ex 7260 in English 2100-2157 NF 9690@KAM 500 kW / 055 deg, ex 9670 in Japanese 2100-2157 NF 11655 SIR 500 kW / 053 deg, ex 11990 in Japanese 2330-0027 NF 11740#KAM 500 kW / 064 deg, ex 11820 in Chinese 2330-0027 NF 11970 SIR 500 kW / 098 deg, ex 11975 in Chinese @co-ch RCI in French #co-ch All India Radio in Hindi/Tamil *from Sep.7 co-ch Voice of Russia in Greek/Bulgarian (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, April 30 via DXLD) SIT = LITHUANIA relay ** ISRAEL. KOL HAMUSICA --- Glenn, Well, the IBA program schedules are the ones which they use internally, so, I doubt an English version is in the works. I emailed Kol Hamusica via the public email address, asking about an English schedule. I don't have any contacts there. I checked the Haaretz website, where you can look at the print version as a PDF for free. They have a TV schedule, but no radio schedule. I don't see a radio schedule on the rest of their website. The Jerusalem Post print edition, covers, or at least covered, Kol Hamusica, but their ePaper is a pay service. I don't see a schedule on their free website. I don't know of any other online radio schedule, in English (Doni Rosenzweig, April 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAMAICA [and non]. Nationwide Radio 700 kHz from Jamaica gets in here most nights with BBC World Service (Paul Crankshaw, Troon, Scotland, April 30, LatinMWDX yg via DXLD) Hello Paul! Thanks for the post from Scotland! How cluttered is your MW dial? Do you have a lot of local stations? Thanks! (Matt, ibid.) Hi Matt, Things are pretty cluttered although with the different EU spacing I can use my Perseus receiver with infinitely adjustable bandwith to squeeze in between the EU channels. I'm also on the West Coast of Scotland using EWE antenna so most of the noise is behind me. I thought I would copy a screenshot of some of the band as it appears on Perseus and noticed something very interesting - 700 kHz is in a really quiet bit of the band - no wonder I here Jamaica regularly Here's a pic of a bit of the band including 700 http://paulc.mediumwaveradio.org/images/700pic.jpg Actually at the time of the shot I'm hearing the Mexican National Anthem on 700 - I hadn't even noticed that before! I wonder who that is. You'll see the carrier on 740 which is R Sociedade in Brazil and 750 is Canada CBGY (Paul, Troon, Scotland, ibid.) ** JAMAICA. The story behind the Frontpage of Domestic Broadcasting Survey 2008 Back in January 1994, I spent two weeks of holidays at a remote beach hotel in the village of Oracabessa on the central coast of Northern Jamaica. On my first day I took a walk through the fishing village. Besides seeing many other unusual things, I met a guy on a bicycle holding a live crab in his hand, just being caught. His name was Tom. He asked me, if I would like to eat this crab after being cooked, for lunch at a local restaurant! I could always have lunch at my hotel on other days, so I accepted. After a local beer, I looked for the "restaurant" which I never would have found, if Tom had not been calling at me when passing. It was a tiny kiosk owned by a black woman. In a round side building of bamboo with a total diameter of 4 meters was the "restaurant" from where you could watch the traffic on the street through the wall of bamboo! The crab was cooking in her kitchen behind the kiosk: An outdoor cooking pot on open fire with fresh water taken from a tube in the rock! While the crab cooked, Tom introduced himself as a tourist guide and offered me to see this part of Jamaica which I accepted. The dish was simple, but delicious and fresh. The following days Tom showed me many interesting and beautiful places in the local area and the nearby city Ocho Rios, including the local entertainment: cockfighting. We also went by private car to the Blue Mountains and to the birthplace in Kingston of the famous Reggaesinger Bob Marley. One day Tom invited me on a tour in a rowing boat along the coast. I then met the rower who was called Homer - maybe named after the ancient Greek philosopher Homér ? During our sailing I pointed out an antenna mast on a hilltop and asked Homer, if he knew which station that was? He answered: "That is my radiostation !!!". The surprising fact was that he worked as Reggae DJ at the local radiostation "Irie FM" which broadcasts Reggae music 24 hours a day. I expressed interest in visiting the station and Tom organized a guided tour through the station a few days later. Can you imagine a discoteque filled exclusively with Reggae music ? One day Homer asked me: "Do you want me to record a Reggae song for you ?". I agreed and we went to a primitive studio in Ocho Rios with egg trays on all walls. There Homer and a local friend sang an improvised, modern Reggae song about my visit to Jamaica and added three more, traditional Reggae songs! This vinyl record was cut in one copy only and is a unique souvenir from my Jamaica tour back here in Skovlunde. I told Tom and Homer about my DX-Hobby and one day I demonstrated to them what could be heard on shortwaves on my portable SONY ICF-SW77. They were impressed and stated "Shortwave is Great" after I had shown good reception from my home country - Radio Denmark which then still was audible worldwide on shortwaves. That was the story behind (Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window April 30 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. April 30 at 1315 came upon something new: broadcast in English on 11644. From stilted style soon became obvious it was P`yongyang, and // 9335. Also // nominal 11710 so 11644 is a spur, furthermore matched by one +66 kHz on 11776 putting a warbling het on DGS Anguilla. The 11644 signal was only slightly weaker than 11710 which is to NAm, but not heard the last few days; FE conditions were improved today, also with Firedrake making it on 11785, 11990. Are the spurs always with 11710, only requiring good propagation to audiblize them here? It was hard to pin down a specific carrier frequency, but close to 11644, which was unstable, with distortion and hum, while 11710 only had ``generator hum``. The `news` was just ending, followed by an announcement that V. of ``Korear`` frequency changes would take place May 5. The whole thing was read twice, so I think I got it down: To Europe at 13-14, 15-16, 18-19 and 21-22 on 13760, 15245. To N America at 13-14, 15-16 on 9335, 11710 To NE Asia at 01-02, 03-04 on 7140, 9345, 9730 The trouble is, the NAm and NE Asia broadcasts are already on these frequencies, as per Arnulf Piontek`s comprehensive schedule issued last November after the B-07 changes went into effect. So only the European frequencies are changing, from 7570 and 12015. Besides this anomaly, it may well be that the above announcement does not deal with any further changes to other targets. No doubt their man in Berlin will publish the full new schedule shortly [and it came in within a few hours!] Rechecked at 1354, all the VOK frequencies were off, probably closing around 1350. Recheck at 1520, when 9335, 11644, 11710 and 11776 should have been back on for the second morning hour to NAm, but none heard. While KJES was not audible at 1315 on 11715, it was audible at 1520 when VOK was not. How times change. Unlike April 30, on May 1, VOK was just barely audible on 11710 (if that`s what it was) and consequently no sign of the spurs on 11644 and 11776, checked at 1304 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also 15245 spurs are about 62 kHz away, 0700-0950 UT: 15245.26v nominal produces the two usual (summer season) spurs again in 2008: noted today April 17th around 0700-0750 UT Voice of Korea in Russian language on 15183 - 15188 and 15302 - 15307 (wb, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews, harmonics Apr 19, 2008, via Wolfgang Büschel, April 30, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. VOK A-08 from 0700 May 5; Japanese unconfirmed. Other versions will follow including changes in feeder frequencies Arabic 1500 9990 11545 Near & Middle East; North Africa 1700 9990 11545 Near & Middle East; North Africa Chinese 0000 13650 15100 Southeast Asia 0200 7140 9345 9730 Northeast China 0300 13650 15100 Southeast Asia 0800 7140 9345 Northeast China 1100 7140 9345 Northeast China 1300 11735 13650 Southeast Asia 2100 7180 9345 Northeast China 2100 9975 11535 China 2200 7180 9345 Northeast China 2200 9975 11535 China German 1600 9325 12015 Europe 1800 9325 12015 Europe 1900 9325 12015 Europe English 0100 7140 9345 9730 Northeast Asia 0100 11735 13760 15180 Central & South America 0200 13650 15100 Southeast Asia 0300 7140 9345 9730 Northeast Asia 1000 11710 15180 Central & South America 1000 11735 13650 Southeast Asia 1300 13760 15245 Western Europe 1300 9335 11710 North America 1500 13760 15245 Western Europe 1500 9335 11710 North America 1600 9990 11545 Near & Middle East; North Africa 1800 13760 15245 Western Europe 1900 7100 11910 South Africa 1900 9975 11535 Near & Middle East; North Africa 2100 13760 15245 Western Europe French 0100 13650 15100 Southeast Asia 0300 11735 13760 15180 Central & South America 1100 11710 15180 Central & South America 1100 11735 13650 Southeast Asia 1400 13760 15245 Western Europe 1400 9335 11710 North America 1600 13760 15245 Western Europe 1600 9335 11710 North America 1800 7100 11910 South Africa 1800 9975 11535 Near & Middle East; North Africa 2000 13760 15245 Western Europe Japanese 0700 621 3250 9650 11865 Japan 0800 621 3250 9650 11865 Japan 0900 621 3250 6070 9650 11865 Japan 1000 621 3250 6070 9650 11865 Japan 1100 621 3250 6070 9650 11865 Japan 1200 621 3250 6070 9650 11865 Japan 2100 621 3250 9650 11865 Japan 2200 621 3250 9650 11865 Japan 2300 621 3250 9650 11865 Japan Korean 0000 (PBS) 7140 9345 9730 Northeast China 0700 (PBS) 7140 9345 Northeast China 0900 (KCBS) 7140 9345 Northeast China 0900 (PBS) 13760 15245 Europe 0900 (PBS) 9975 11735 Far Eastern Russia 1000 (PBS) 7140 9345 Northeast China 1200 (KCBS) 11710 15180 Central & South America 1200 (KCBS) 11735 13650 Southeast Asia 1200 (PBS) 7140 9345 Northeast China 1300 (PBS) 9325 12015 Europe 1400 (KCBS) 11735 13650 Southeast Asia 1700 (KCBS) 13760 15245 Western Europe 1700 (KCBS) 9335 11710 North America 2000 (KCBS) 7100 11910 South Africa 2000 (KCBS) 9325 12015 Europe 2000 (KCBS) 9975 11535 Near, Middle East; North Africa 2300 (KCBS) 7180 9345 Northeast China 2300 (KCBS) 13760 15245 Western Europe 2300 (KCBS) 9975 11535 China Russian 0700 13760 15245 Europe 0700 9975 11735 Far Eastern Russia 0800 13760 15245 Europe 0800 9975 11735 Far Eastern Russia 1400 9325 12015 Europe 1500 9325 12015 Europe 1700 9325 12015 Europe Spanish 0000 11735 13760 15180 Central & South America 0200 11735 13760 15180 Central & South America 1900 13760 15245 Western Europe 2200 13760 15245 Western Europe Version by time showing feeder frequencies: 0000 Chinese 13650 15100 3560 SEAs 0000 Korean (PBS) 7140 9345 9730 4405 NECHN 0000 Spanish 11735 13760 15180 CAm, SAm 0100 English 7140 9345 9730 4405 NEAs 0100 English 11735 13760 15180 CAm, SAm 0100 French 13650 15100 3560 SEAs 0200 Chinese 7140 9345 9730 4405 NECHN 0200 English 13650 15100 3560 SEAs 0200 Spanish 11735 13760 15180 CAm, SAm 0300 Chinese 13650 15100 3560 SEAs 0300 English 7140 9345 9730 4405 NEAs 0300 French 11735 13760 15180 CAm, SAm 0700 Japanese 621 3250 9650 11865 4405 J 0700 Korean (PBS) 7140 9345 3560 NECHN 0700 Russian 9975 11735 FE 0700 Russian 13760 15245 Eu 0800 Chinese 7140 9345 3560 NECHN 0800 Japanese 621 3250 9650 11865 4405 J 0800 Russian 9975 11735 FE 0800 Russian 13760 15245 Eu 0900 Japanese 621 3250 6070 9650 11865 4405 J 0900 Korean (KCBS) 7140 9345 3560 NECHN 0900 Korean (PBS) 9975 11735 FE 0900 Korean (PBS) 13760 15245 Eu 1000 English 11710 15180 CAm, SAm 1000 English 11735 13650 SEAs 1000 Japanese 621 3250 6070 9650 11865 4405 J 1000 Korean (PBS) 7140 9345 3560 NECHN 1100 Chinese 7140 9345 3560 CHN 1100 French 11710 15180 CAm, SAm 1100 French 11735 13650 SEAs 1100 Japanese 621 3250 6070 9650 11865 4405 J 1200 Japanese 621 3250 6070 9650 11865 4405 J 1200 Korean (KCBS) 11710 15180 CAm, SAm 1200 Korean (KCBS) 11735 13650 SEAs 1200 Korean (PBS) 7140 9345 3560 NECHN 1300 Chinese 11735 13650 SEAs 1300 English 9335 11710 NAm 1300 English 13760 15245 3560 WEu 1300 Korean (PBS) 9325 12015 4405 Eu 1400 French 9335 11710 NAm 1400 French 13760 15245 3560 WEu 1400 Korean (KCBS) 11735 13650 SEAs 1400 Russian 9325 12015 4405 Eu 1500 Arabic 9990 11545 ME, NAf 1500 English 9335 11710 NAm 1500 English 13760 15245 3560 WEu 1500 Russian 9325 12015 4405 Eu 1600 German 9325 12015 4405 WEu 1600 English 9990 11545 ME, NAf 1600 French 9335 11710 NAm 1600 French 13760 15245 3560 WEu 1700 Arabic 9990 11545 ME, NAf 1700 Korean (KCBS) 9335 11710 NAm 1700 Korean (KCBS) 13760 15245 3560 WEu 1700 Russian 9325 12015 4405 Eu 1800 German 9325 12015 4405 WEu 1800 English 13760 15245 3560 WEu 1800 French 7100 11910 SAf 1800 French 9975 11535 ME, NAf 1900 German 9325 12015 4405 WEu 1900 English 7100 11910 SAf 1900 English 9975 11535 ME, NAf 1900 Spanish 13760 15245 3560 WEu 2000 French 13760 15245 3560 WEu 2000 Korean (KCBS) 7100 11910 SAf 2000 Korean (KCBS) 9325 12015 4405 WEu 2000 Korean (KCBS) 9975 11535 ME, NAf 2100 Chinese 7180 9345 NECHN 2100 Chinese 9975 11535 CHN 2100 English 13760 15245 3560 WEu 2100 Japanese 621 3250 9650 11865 4405 J 2200 Chinese 7180 9345 NECHN 2200 Chinese 9975 11535 CHN 2200 Japanese 621 3250 9650 11865 4405 J 2200 Spanish 13760 15245 3560 WEu 2300 Japanese 621 3250 9650 11865 4405 J 2300 Korean (KCBS) 7180 9345 NECHN 2300 Korean (KCBS) 9975 11535 CHN 2300 Korean (KCBS) 13760 15245 3560 WEu (Arnulf Piontek, Berlin, Germany, April 30, edited at large expenditure of time for non-tabular text file by Glenn Hauser for DX LISTENING DIGEST; any copying or archiving must include both credits) Another version was sent by OM Arnulf, by time showing azimuths instead of feeder frequencies. I wish he would combine them! Instead of editing the whole thing again, I will just give the azimuths, most of which apply to only one frequency, or if not, the different target areas should be obvious. 28 is to NAm, 325 to Europe: 15245 325 15180 28 15100 238 13760 28, 325 13650 238 12015 325 11910 271 11865 109 11735 28, 238 11710 28 11545 296 11535 296 9990 296 9975 28, 296 9650 109 9335 28 9325 325 7100 271 6070 109 Non-direxional: 9730, 9345, 7180, 7140, 3250, 621 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saludos Glenn, observo una posible colisión del servicio en inglés a las 1800 UT en 13760: 1800 13760 15245 Western Europe Aquí en Valencia hoy 30 de abril a las 1850 estaba escuchando con buena señal el servicio en inglés de Radio Internacional de China en la misma frecuencia: 13760 CHINA RADIO INTER. 1800-1857 1234567 English 500 308 Kashi 2022 CHN 07600E3930 CRI a08 (José Miguel Romero2, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) de Aoki; Commies vs Commies! Koreanisches Zentrales Fernsehen (Korean Central TV) und Stimme Koreas (Voice of Korea) über Satellit Satellit: Thaicom 5 auf 78.5 östl. Länge Transponder: 1G C-Band Global Beam Frequenz: 3424 MHz Polarität: horizontal Modulation: QPSK Symbol Rate: 3367 FEC: 2/3 Typ: R-DIG SID: 1 VPID Video: 308 Video: DVB Audio (Video): 256K Audio (Stimme Koreas): 257 (Arnulf Piontek, Berlin, Germany, via Drita Çiço, Albania, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 6005, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze (JSR) via Yamata, Japan, 1401-1430*, April 30 (Wed.). This is their anti-jamming alternative frequency (ex: 6020 - temporary move?), missed sign-on at 1400, as I was on 6020. In English, program of details about the abductees, fair-poor due to splatter from Echo of Hope on 6003, off with ID "JSR. This is Shiokaze Sea Breeze from Tokyo, Japan". Heard 6020 with what sounded like an Asian station (VOV?) and jamming was also present and continued past 1430 (Ron Howard, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So 6005 not a good choice as alternate! (gh, DXLD) 6005, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze (JSR) via Yamata, Japan, *1400-1430*, still here on May 1 & 2. Not the best frequency choice, what with the prominent het/splatter from Echo of Hope on 6003 (Ron Howard, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Radio Free Chosun and Voice of Wilderness QSY: Radio Free Chosun 1200-1300 moves from 15755 to 12125 kHz. Voice of Wilderness 1300-1400 moves from 15710 to 11570 kHz. (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, May 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ARMENIA ** KURDISTAN. IRAN. On 3930 kHz at 0145 songs, sermon, songs, 0202 National Anthem of Kurdistan, ID in Ku "Eira Radio Dengi Kurdestana" soon covered by IRAN jammer and no mentioned [?] on 2nd \\ freq in 60 m.b. as early. So, we have two stations with ID "Voice of Kurdistan" - above and official on 6335 kHz. (Apr 22). (Rumen Pankov, B ulgaria, April 26, wwdxc BC-DX May 1 via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. Saludos cordiales, hoy 1 de mayo se aprecia que la propagación no es buena, nada buena, sin embargo una emisora que a pesar de la mala propagación siempre suele captarse por aquí en Valencia es Dengue Mezopotamya, ahora vía Ucrania, antes desde Moldavia; sin embargo en el día de hoy no he conseguido captarla ni en 11530 ni en 7540. En esta última frecuencia a las 1840 se aprecia sin señal. Sin embargo la escucho sin problemas por Internet. 73 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7540 at 1940 UT, Dengue Mezopotamya on air, with S=8-9 signal, and Iranian bubble jammers co-channel on same signal level. Transmissions replaced transmitter site in Moldova by Ukrainian Nikolayev; latter signal is less strong here in Europe. Denge Mezopotamya via Nikolayev Mykolaiv Luch Posad-pokrovskote 11530 0400-1800 300 kW 126 degrees noted again with poor signal into central Europe, only S=4-5 around 1300 UT, May 2nd. UKR Mykolaiv Luch Posad-pokrovskote SW 500/1000 kW, MW 1431 160 kW 46 48 55.92 N 32 12 36.46 E Microsoft Virtual Earth (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Mientras Dengue Mezopotamya se apoyó en Moldavia, se recibía fuerte por Tiquicia alrededor de las 1400 por 11530. Luego le fue concedida por igual dicha frecuencia, creo no equivocarme que durante B07, a WEWN y todo se fue al carajo. A veces no sé si reiterar que los majes en HFCC están detrás del palo. Su trabajo no debe ser fácil, pero los veo dar demasiados palos de ciego. Y es que desde aquí uno se lo piensa, con tanto espacio libre en el hoy casi desolado espectro de la onda corta. Yo francamente no he vuelto a escuchar DM por 11530, aún no pareciendo estar ya compartida con WEWN u otra emisora religiosa que la chocaba durante B07. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS. 6130, Lao National Radio, 1415-1430, May 2 (Fri.), after the news in Laotian, start of English lesson: "Welcome to Functioning in Business", "Functioning in Business is an intermediate level business English course with a focus on American business practices and culture", talking about cultural differences in the workplace, segment "business dialogue", Laotian translations throughout the program, fair. So it would seem that there is quite a bit of flexibility in their scheduling, as a sports program should have been heard today (Ron Howard, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see LANGUAGE LESSONS ** LATVIA. Radio Relays this weekend on 9290 kHz Sat May 3rd Radio Joystick 0900-1000 UT Sun May 4th Latvia Today 1500-1600 UT (Tom Taylor, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA. LIBIA, 11860, Voice of África, 2000-2005, escuchada el 1 de mayo en idioma swahili a locutor con comentarios y presentación, ID, “..Áfrca.. Liby..”, anuncia probable dirección, la repite dos veces, posible final de transmisión ya que termina a las 2005, SINPO 55444 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADEIRA. Emisoras de Madeira que se escuchan durante el día en Canarias: 531, RDP, Porto Santo, Madeira, 1408-1413, 26-04, portugués, locutor, comentarios. 25432. (Méndez) 603, RDP, Pico de Areeiro, Madeira, 1413-1417, 26-04, portugués, locutor, comentarios, en paralelo con 531. 15422. (Méndez) 1332, RDP, Senhora do Monte, Madeira, 0615-0622, 27-04, portugués, locutor, comentarios. 25322. (Méndez) 1530, Posto Emissor de Radiodifusao de Funchal, Madeira, 0608-0615, 27-04, locutor, locutora, portugués, comentarios, anuncios comerciales, música. 35433 (Manuel Méndez, Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Islas Canarias, Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 5 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA/SARAWAK. 7130, Sarawak FM via RTM, 1342-1359, May 2, in vernacular, DJ with pop songs, singing "Malaysia" jingle, IDs, fair to almost good reception even with light QRM from CNR-2/CBR (with "English Evening" program) (Ron Howard, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MARION ISLAND. ZS8T --- Press Release #2, 28 April 2008 It has been little over a month since Petrus ZS6GCM started his journey to Marion Island and we are glad to report that the staff takeover period is completed and the SA Agulhas is making its journey back to Cape Town. Petrus and Rhy ZS6DXB have been in contact and are happy to report on the following. Petrus has already undergone a full circle walk around the Island with one of the research scientists, and has been out of base camp for the past week. The team is currently on cleaning duty since the takeover and is now cleaning the entire camp - furthermore it is business as usual and all is well. Petrus is planning on starting construction of the antennas this week and will be QRV as ZS8T by May 9th, 2008. Petrus has also confirmed that the newly installed satellite internet system on Marion Island is working beyond expectations to date, so correspondence between Petrus and the ZS8T team are a lot easier than during the Bouvet Island 3Y0E operation. We hereby say good luck to all in working ZS8T and we look forward to seeing your callsign in the ZS8T logbook. We will, of course, notify you all on the first lucky contacts that make it into the log and of any further developments. 73 and good hunting. Rhynhardt Louw ZS6DXB, ZS8T Press Officer/Logistical Support http://zs8t.net/ zs6dxb @ kats.za.net (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** MAURITANIA. 4845 estuvo fuera del aire en esta frecuencia durante todos los días, excepto el día 21, que se escuchaba muy fuerte, incluso entraba durante el día. Sólo escuchada el día 21, luego fuera del aire toda la semana (Manuel Méndez, Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Islas Canarias, Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 5 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4845, Radio Mauritania, Nouakchott, 2055-2100, 30-04, de nuevo en el aire luego de algo más de una semana que no la escuchaba. Canciones en árabe y a las 2100 comentarios en árabe por locutor. 45444 (Manuel Méndez, en casco urbano de Lugo, España, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 8 metros, ibid.) ** MEXICO. XEYU detectable by its het to RHC 9600, April 29 at 1221 on 9599.3 with classical music. Cuba goes off at 1300, so Radio UNAM should be clear then, if propagating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But missing again by May 1; see CUBA ** MEXICO. 4800, XERTA, Radio Transcontinental de América, 0437-0620, 22-04, locutora, comentario religioso: "Dios es amor, Dios nuestro salvador", "Palabras de amor". 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Islas Canarias, Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 5 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4800.0 XERTA, 0150, 05/01/08, Spanish. Modern-gospel type songs in Spanish, clearly // to (though about 30 seconds ahead of) the streaming audio on the website, so definitely not R Buenas Nuevas. Fair (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4800, XERTA, Radio Transcontinental de América, 0604-0610, 02-05, comentarios religiosos por locutor y canciones religiosas. Señal muy débil y sólo audible en LSB. 15321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, escuchas realizada en casco urbano de Lugo, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 8 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOROCCO. 15335/15340 have been absent today, May 1st. Time when writing is 1217 UT. 73, (Erik Køie, Copenhagen, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Saludos Erik, confirmado, hoy 1 de mayo a las 12:30 se observa desde Valencia en España la ausencia de RTV Marocaine en 15335, sin señal en frecuencias adyacentes. 73 JMR (José Miguel Romero, Spain, ibid.) RTM Briech 15335 is OFF today. But noted RTM Nador 15340 as always tiny S=3-5 signal, deep fadings. Mixture of Arabic/French talks by female and male announcer. 1300-1315 UT May 1st. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) No 7135 came up now either. At 2200 Nauen with Polskie Radio (weak scatter signal here only) cut off, leaving the frequency empty. Transmitter changes, effective May 1st, CANCEL ALL or what? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Briech transmissions gone forever? RTM Briech 15335 is OFF today May 2nd again, 1145 and 1250 UT empty channel. But noted RTM Nador 15340 as always tiny S=3-5 signal, deep fadings. 1150 UT May 2nd. Best time with much stronger signal from Nador is 1300-1500 UT slot. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** MOROCCO. MARRUECOS, emisoras que se escuchan durante el día, desde Canarias. 612, RTM, Sebaa-Aioun, 0625-0632, 27-02, canciones en árabe, comentarios, árabe, locutora. 32332. (Méndez) 936, RTM, Agadir, 1417-1425, 26-04, locutora, árabe, comentarios. 35433 (Manuel Méndez, Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Islas Canarias, Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 5 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. Re 8-054: Rangoon has two additional transmitters on air, makes it 4 in total (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX May 1 via DXLD) I'm hearing a Burmese (may be Kachin or Karen) program at 0000-0130 UT with lots of music and also at 1230-1500 UT (s/on, s/off time may vary). In the morning it is causing severe cochannel to Vatican Radio to So. Asia at 0025 UT onwards till 0130 UT (Alok Dasgupta, India, Apr 26, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 1 via DXLD) This being 5915? (gh) Checking at 1100 found 5915 running \\ to 5040 with Domestic Service and also 5985 kHz exactly not that off freq of 5985.75 or so, with the usual more western oriented service. At 1230 also noted 5770 active making 4 SW transmitters. At 0000 UT on 5915 \\ 5985.75 kHz Burmese Service. At 0030 UT 7185 kHz starts up as well (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, 4S7VK, DXplorer Apr 28-29, ibid.) I think now at 1330 they are on 5985 kHz exact. Can't confirm 5915 kHz due to CRI (Mauno Ritola, Finland, DXplorer Apr 29, ibid.) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Radio Netherlands on 9845 --- I happen to be off tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday having to take a couple of vacation days from last year or lose them. So, not having the need to turn in by 8 PM to be up by 3:30 AM for the hour and 15 minute to Toronto, I tuned into Radio Netherlands. They are on 9845 in English (0000 UT transmission) with "Curious Orange" - a personal favourite of mine. The signal is noisier than 6165 which seems to be in Spanish. Andy Sennitt, can you please pass on to the "powers that be" that it would be nice to have 6165 in English, as well, at this hour. Since I only have two years left until retirement, maybe I can get used to the evening transmission, as long as there are adequate frequencies. I'll just have to wean myself off of afternoon shortwave transmissions and refocus onto evening transmissions (Mark Coady, Bridgenorth, ON K0L 1H0, ODXA yg via DXLD) Hi Mark, We don't have any "powers that be". Just a few hard-working guys in our Programme Distribution Department :-) I will pass your comment on to them. Having two frequencies on the air immediately doubles the transmission costs for that broadcast, but if frequencies are under-performing we do change them (Andy Sennitt, RNW, ibid.) Frequency changes of RNW in English to SoAs: 1400-1555 NF 5830 DB 100 kW / 125 deg, ex 9345 NF 9885 MDC 250 kW / 050 deg, ex 9890 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, April 30 via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [and non]. REMEMBER TO CALL HER... DEBORAH On April 7, 1938 (in soon-to-be war torn Amsterdam), hardly a soul would have guessed that a newborn baby girl named Dorothy Mae König, would one day become one of the most popular personalities ever on shortwave radio. That day finally arrived, and in the 1960's, all though the 70's (and a tiny bit in the 80's) Dorothy Mae - with her most expressive voice and an unparalleled gift for laughter - would sit in front of a microphone each and every Tuesday and bring a little bit of cheer to an eagerly awaiting world of SWL's. That was then... Nowadays... Dorothy has a bright new career as a writer - and goes by the name of Deborah Rey. (Her Hebrew name is Ruth Deborah; with Rey being the Occitan translation of König = King). Deborah Rey's recently released book, Rachel Sarai's Vineyard, is about the Underground Resistance and Children at War during WWII. (It is also an autobiographical novel about a very courageous, sensitive, and lovely lady.) You say, you don't remember Dorothy Mae? Perhaps that is because Dorothy Mae Cowan (yes, Cowan, since she had married fellow radio personality, Jerry Cowan) usually just went by the name of... "Dody". Yes, you read that correctly, "our Dody" Cowan is now the author, Deborah Rey. (In 1990, the Cowan's were divorced). Today, Deborah (Dody) lives in France with her husband, as does her daughter (remember her name? - Samantha) and grandson. Clearly, this fascinating story will finally set straight, once and for all, the rather bizarre rumor that had been bandied about from the 1990's until today; namely, that Dody had passed away many years ago. (Dody will have a "hoot" of a laugh from that one.) You will read from my recent correspondence with her (below), that she is as bubbly as ever and "...still laughs the way she did at the time." I'm sure she will get kick from the fact that she shares something in common with author Mark Twain, i.e., "The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated." Here's our correspondence: 4/27/2008 Hello, I - formerly Dody Cowan - posted a rather kind message a few days ago, but it doesn't seem to have reached its destination, or was refused. IF refused, would it not have been nice to let me know? Whatever, Hello to the old H&H listeners! Deborah Rey (Dody ex-Cowan's author name) 4/27/2008 Dear Dody, Thank you so very, very much for remembering me! As the surprise of your letter today continues to "sink in," I will remain in a daze! Earlier today, while playing "soccer dad" for one of our three sons (by the way, my wife Ruth is the starring "soccer mom"), I quickly looked at my emails and saw your letter. I was quite beside myself as I read the note. While asking, "Is it really her ...?," I had to quickly speed away to my son's Boy Scout activity. Later this evening while reading your email again, I became curious about your author's name - so I quite naturally Googled it. You should know I quickly recognized the picture found on your website as coming from the "one and only" Dody from His and Hers!! Dody, I absolutely could not let this day go by without responding to your very kind note. Since I am still in quite a daze, please allow me to get my thoughts together and write a better letter to you. I will do so, very soon! Thank you again for remembering me. With most kind regards to you Dody, and to your family, I remain Kindly, Mark Vosmeier p. s. I very much look forward to reading your book. 4/27/2008 I just realized that I should have used Deborah in addressing you. After ten years of writing to you as Dody, it was an old habit. Please forgive me. Again, I'll write soon. 4/28/2008 Dear Mark, And here I was, thinking I had been 'excommunicated'! I don't know my way around yahoo at all and thus never thought of looking for mail! Well, dear Mark, it REALLY is really me. Just the name that has changed + the career. My book, Rachel Sarai's Vineyard, will show you a face of 'your' Dody nobody ever knew about and I can only tell you that it is not a very nice book, but it is honest and seems to be of great interest to people who want to know more about the Underground Resistance and Children at War during WWII. My next book, a novel, will come out in May 2009 and is muuuuuuuuuch nicer! Well, here I am, a still rather nutty lady of 70, who can do wheelies on her wheelchair and still laughs the way she did at the time. My husband and I live in France, so do my daughter and grandson, and I can only say that life is more livable than it used to be. No matter that you addressed me as Dody ... just see it never happens again :^) My sunniest and best regards to you and yours, Deborah 4/28/2008 PS If you wish, you could put my letter on the Happy Station thing. Many people mention H&H there. Bests, Deborah. I Speak My Soul. I Write. http://www.deborahrey.com 4/29/2008 Hoi Deborah! Any important news that reaches the Happy Station group always finds its way into the more widely read news bulletin "DX Listener's Digest". Always does. This news is one big "scoop" - so before I post your letters tonight on the Happy Station group, I am asking you if its okay to also be the one who presents this wonderful news to the worldwide shortwave community? For now, it's off to work I go! I hope to hear from you! Good day! Mark 4/29/2008 Dear Mark, Go right ahead! I think many people may be happy to know I'm alive and well and doing wild things, such as writing bestsellers (it is beginning to look that way!) Warmest regards, Deborah PS Must find the DX Listener's Digest ... no idea where to look! (BTW: My apologies to Glenn for calling it DX "Listener's" Digest) Any lingering doubts? Go to Deborah's website: http://www.deborahrey.com/ Or, her weblog: http://www.rachelsarai.blogspot.com/ which mentions her days at Radio Nederland. Your friends and fans around the world love you, dear Deborah, and welcome you back!!! And please, remember to call her... Deborah (all from Mark Vosmeier, N9IWF, April 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. Do you still plan to use 9615 at 05-07 UT? (Glenn to Adrian Sainsbury, via DXLD) Glenn, We will indeed - I expect 9615 will come into use at the end of May (Adrian Sainsbury, RNZI, April 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It`s great that a SW station is so flexible to be sure the best frequencies are in use, and willing to make changes monthly if not more often; the only problem is keeping up with them. Lately I have found 11725 the only significant and quite listenable signal on the 25m band at that hour (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3365, R Milne Bay, 1141-1153, 05/01/08, presumed Tok Pisin. Surfacing out of the noise for about 10 minutes, a female announcer with the usual PNG mix of island and Western pop tunes. This seems to be one of the toughest PNGs to hear here. Poor/fair at peak (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Addition to DXLD 8-049, Radio New Ireland QSL. Radio New Ireland has two post office boxes, P. O. Box 477 and P. O. Box 140, Kavieng. But it seems these boxes are not used. My previous reception report to P. O. Box 140 was returned due to the fact that no one received the mail. The station member might forget to go to the post office boxes to receive the mail! This time I sent my letter simply to "Kavieng, New Ireland, Papua & New Guinea", and succeeded. The letter seems to be directly sent to the station. BTW their QSL card is printed by PNG printing Co. Ltd in Koropo, East New Britain (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, May 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 6019.44 R Victoria, 0750, 05/01/08, Spanish. Nice long ID over classical music at tune in, then into Spanish-language commentary and programming. Clear signal. Fair to good (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So is not 100% gospel huxters? (gh) ** SAUDI ARABIA. There are just two transmitters with "buzzy" signal. The stronger is used usually for Holy Qur`an and Bangla Service but another was noted 0600-0700 9675 2nd Home Service in Arabic and 1500- 1800 9640 in Turkestani (presumed), noted since March 2nd and Apr 20th (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, April 26, wwdxc BC-DX May 1 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED: Arabic station on 15205 and 11615 being jammed - by whom? Any ideas? I think the affected station might be RTV Algeria. It sounds like a jamming signal to me (Richard Byron Smith, gw4mte, April 29, BDXC-UK via DXLD) What time did you log this, Richard, and was 15205 parallel to 11615? 15205 is used by Sa`udi Arabia's Holy Qur`an Service early evening UT and is noted for a buzz on the signal (due to faulty transmitter?). I'm not sure if Algeria uses either of these frequencies - see Algeria in "Africa on Shortwave" via http://www.bdxc.org.uk (follow link to Articles) 73s (Alan Pennington, ibid.) The original "buzzy" is now with this (almost) new schedule: 0300-0550 15170 0555-0850 9675 0855-1150 11935 1155-1455 17820 (Bengali px) 1500-1800 9640 (Turkmen px) 1555-1750 15205 1755-2308 11915 So they have already two such of signals? (Mar 5 & 6). (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, March 6, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews via Büschel, ibid.) Hello Alan, Apologies for some inaccuracy - I was in a hurry to send the mail out last night. The frequencies are 15205 early evening and 11915 (not 11615) a bit later around 1910 UT. Both frequencies are affected by the same hum or buzz. I guess it could be a faulty transmitter but I would have thought the Saudi Arabian government could afford to put that right pretty quickly. Take a listen and tell me what you think. Regards (Richard, ibid.) It`s certainly defective transmitter from BSKSA, as noted numerous times here and by Wolfy, not jamming. Been that way for years. Sure, they could afford to fix it, but why bother? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, definitely both Saudi Arabia's buzzing transmitter (per schedule posted by Wolfgang yesterday). Listened to 15205 earlier and now 11915 - I'd forgotten how bad the buzz is! I'm also surprised they do nothing to fix it - it`s unlistenable so may as well switch it off (Alan Pennington, BDXC-UK via DXLD) ** SERBIA [non]. 6185, 3/5 0010, Radio Serbia International [sic], English program, economic reports, compressed modulation, fading, good. Rx: Perseus, Ant: T2FD, (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. Radio Eslovaquia --- Al menos aquí en Córdoba (España) la recepción de Radio Eslovaquia Internacional en el 9440 kHz (emisión de las 20 UT) está siendo fuertemente interferida por otra emisión en inglés, supongo que de Radio China Internacional. En 11650, supongo que por estar dirigida la emisión hacia Sudamérica, su recepción es mala y con mucho ruido, por lo que hemos pasado de unas excelentes señales a prácticamente no poder escuchar esta emisora. Saludos (Jorge Trinado, Spain, April 29, noticiasdx yg via DXLD) At 20-21 on 9440, it`s CRI via Kunming, 500 kW at 300 degrees, so no doubt a problem in Spain, with Slovakia aiming 245 degrees and subject to skip zone problems, even more so 11650, which is almost same azimuth, 235. Both are for W Europe, with 11650 additionally for S America. You might wonder why an English broadcast to Eu is not aimed at the UK, but much more southward (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA [non]. Re 8-054: 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) Please confirm? Hi Glenn, I could only detect a carrier here on 9735 which came up just past 1730 and left at 1745 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, April 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) SOUTH AFRICA [to SOMALIA], 9735, Yes, noted that service when switched in around 1735 UT today Apr 30th. Solid S=8-9 signal here in central Europe. Mentioned often "MCH" and "WMCH Somalia". Clear ID Radio IRIN Somalia around 1743 UT. Program end at 1744:00 UT. Remains on air with typical two different tones again and again from 1744 til 1746 UT tx off (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, ibid.) Me, too. I tuned 9735 at around 1728 on the 30th but the broadcast didn't appear until it made a "crash start" at about 1731 after transmission had started. A very good clear signal here too. I alternated my listening with 9665 and found what I think was North Korea (CBS) on about 9665.45 at fair strength - maybe this was the reason why IRIN shifted, and not the imaginary REE transmission. A big carrier also came on for a short time but dropped off without IDing itself. 73 (Noel R. Green (NW England), ibid.) I understand that REE really is on the air at that time, altho maybe not 7 days; what`s imaginary is that they still broadcast in German (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) SUDAFRICA, 9735, IRIN Radio, 1730-1738, escuchada el 1 de mayo en idioma somalí, comienza emisión con presentación y una corta sintonía, locutora con comentarios, locutor, pequeño fragmento musical y cuña, ID "..Radio IRIN", ex 9665 para evitar colisión con REE, gracias Noel R. Green en DXLD por la noticia, SINPO 45433 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) U.K. (non), Frequency change of IRIN Radio in Somali via VT Communications: 1730-1745 NF 9735 MEY 100 kW / 020 deg, ex 9665 to avoid REE in Spanish (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, April 30 via DXLD) Like we said ** SPAIN. Confirming report from Bill Hodges in 8-054, REE's 2000-2100 English transmission heard tonight on 9690 in parallel with 11625. I presume that 9690 replaces listed 9665 or it could be a scheduling error at the transmitter, perhaps since the start of A08, as I have not heard 9665 at all despite several checks this month (Dave Kenny, UK, AOR 7030+ 30m long wire, April 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) That happened not for the first time with REE operational data. In past seasons we noticed often a discrepancy between HFCC and REE data. A-08 some info via Bueno "telefonica.radioescuchadx" seems wrong. http://telefonica.net/web2/radioescuchadx/reea08.pdf Dave, your assumption of 9665 kHz English ??? HFCC A-08 had never an entry on 9665 English Mon-Fri. I see an English entry to Africa Mon-Fri 9565 [sic]. 9665 1700-2000 Sunday SPANISH E REE 9665 1700-2100 Saturday SPANISH E REE 9665 1800-1900 Mon-Fri FRENCH E REE 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Re 8-054: My guess is that 9690 kHz is a test frequency which REE eventually plans to utilize instead of 11625 kHz (which suffers from collision) for its 2000-2057 broadcasts to Africa. I heard REE again in English at 2000-2057 at 9690 kHz on April 30th. As on April 28th it paralleled the broadcast on 11625 kHz which was once again colliding with Vatican Radio throughout the hour. I could not receive the 2000-2057, 9665 kHz transmission beamed to Europe on April 30th. The 9690 kHz transmission was interrupted a few times during the hour (once from 2010-2015, and another time from 2041 to 2043). From 2000 to 2010 the signal strength was weaker, ranging from about 2 to 3. After 2010, the signal strength was stronger and faded less frequently, ranging from about 3 to 4. Was this due to possible transmitter/antenna adjustments made during the first interruption, or was this merely due to changes in propagation between Noblejas and Atlanta. Maybe REE knows, but I certainly do not. Just before signoff the announcer mentioned the transmission frequencies of 9665 kHz and 11625 kHz, but as on April 28th never mentioned the 9690 kHz frequency (Bill Hodges, Atlanta, GA, (Kenwood R-2000 and 50ft long wire), April 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) If wanting to replace 11625, which they surely need to as long as Vatican is on there, it`d make a lot more sense to find a nearby open frequency that hour on 25m (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN [non]. Yet another check of REE`s Lenguas Co-Oficiales block, April 30 on 15170 via CR: 1249 wrapping up Galician segment OK; 1250+ Intro Euskadi segment, but then immediately into Castilian items about Basque country, 1252 a bilingual anti-terrorism PSA, back to Castilian; 1255 promo REE show El Mundo del Teatro, but no time mentioned that I heard, and a song, no Catalan, just Castilian. Last beep of time signal at 1300 matched the Big Ben bong on 9410. May 1 at 1250 on 15170 via Costa Rica, another check of REE`s supposedly Basque-language news: after the opening ID it was entirely in Castilian once again, mainly about three bombs ETA allegedly exploded to celebrate May Day. Catalan also missing at 1255 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. El programa de Radio Exterior de España "Amigos de la Onda Corta" ha cambiado su dirección de e-mail. Los interesados pueden tomar nota de la nueva dirección: amigosdx @ rtve.es Me comunica Antonio Buitrago, Director del programa, que mantendrán la antigua dirección durante 6 meses que se redireccionan hacia la nueva. También me informa que todas las direcciones de e-mail de REE que tenían el añadido "ree.rne" se han eliminado para dejarlo solo con el nombre del programa y "@rtve.es" mucho más fácil de recordar (José Bueno, Córdoba, España, May 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. De ESPAÑA, durante la noche se escuchaban multitud de emisoras en Onda Media, pero durante el día sólo la siguiente: 684, Radio Nacional de España, Radio Uno, Sevilla, 1743-1748, 22-04, locutor, comentarios. 24322 (Manuel Méndez, visitando a Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, Islas Canarias, Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 5 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see CANARY ISLANDS ** SURINAME. 4990, Radio Apintie, 1034-1045 May 2. At initial listen, noted a male in Dutch language comments. Signal improves from a threshold at 1034 to a poor at 1037, but by 1043 it is already beginning to disappear again. At 1044, a female comments too. Even so, this is the best I've heard Apintie in a long time. Conditions have been very bad lately, especially here in South Central Florida. I've checked my antenna connections both outside and inside hoping to get some improvement, but nothing helps. I just can't get a break (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN [and non]. RTI - North American English Service. Do you still want SW? Radio Taiwan International is still requesting North American listeners to write in and express their thoughts regarding if listeners might be happier listening via the Internet as opposed to shortwave. If you haven't written in or emailed & want to retain this SW service, then you should do so now. (I did) Write to: paula (at) rti.org.tw Regards (Ian Baxter, Australia, May 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA WEWN ** U S S R. [In case you wonder, USSR comes before UK and USA because Union comes before United --- gh] Glenn, I was wondering if you recall the days when Radio Moscow operated two radio stations called Radio Magallenes and Radio Station Rodina. I haven't been able to locate any information on these stations. Recently, I was reviewing my QSL collection and came across these two from 1978, just a few months before Radio Moscow became the Voice of Russia. I would like to try and determine the transmitter sites for these two broadcasts. Any suggestions or input would be most appreciated, Glenn. Many thanks. Best 73's, (Ed Insinger, NJ, April 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ed, yes, I certainly remember Radio Magallanes and Radiostantsiya Rodina. However, it may not be possible to pin down transmitter sites as back then they were not published. Maybe old issues of the USSR HF Newsletter (or whatever it was called) by Roger Legge would have some educated guesses. Someone else recently wanted to find transmitter sites from USSR in the 70s(?) without any luck. Seems to me the Voice of Russia name came along much later. For quite a while it was RMWS, Radio Moscow World Service. 73, (Glenn, ibid.) ** U A E. For the first time I noted an UAE outlet on odd frequency. Came across of DWL German program via Al Dhabbaya on 9545.08 kHz, S=9 signal at 2225 UT May 1st. 250 kW 245 degrees. But at same time 2200- 2300 UT NHK Japanese service also via UAE, was on 9650.00 even (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC WORLD SERVICE HAS A UK PUBLIC DIPLOMACY MONKEY ON ITS BACK. "Ian Hargreaves has been appointed as the new Strategic Communications Director for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. ... As the FCO's Strategic Communications Director, Ian will have responsibility for communications and public advocacy issues, organising the FCO's public diplomacy network both at home and overseas. He will also coordinate the FCO's wider public advocacy tools, working closely with the British Council and the BBC World Service." FCO press release, 30 April 2008 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) BBC World Service director Nigel Chapman said just a few days ago, at the Arab Media Forum, that World Service is different from Alhurra and France 24 because "BBC has maintained an independent and fearless news coverage over decades." And, so, statements about senior FCO officials "working closely" with World Service must make World Service officials turn pale. This behooves World Service to issue a statement clarifying its relationship with the FCO, similar to its response to the Carter Review on 15 December 2005. BBCWS might also ask FCO to modify its phraseology. Better to say: "Ian will consult with BBC World Service, funded by the FCO, on its selection of language services, while content remains the exclusive responsibility of the BBC." (Kim Andrew Elliott, 1 May, ibid., see http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=3923 for linx, via DXLD) ** U K [non]. BBC Mundo Radio, 9410 via Furman, Wednesday April 30 at 1235 played exactly the same unannounced classical fill-music as on Monday April 28, i.e. the Gershwinesque piano and orchestra suite, 1248 segué into something that starts like The Moldau, but isn`t, followed by a choral piece until 1300 when one bong of Big Ben was heard! And yes, it was 1 o`clock pm GMT, but surely B.B. observes BST, so must have been cut off before the second bong could be broadcast. This time WHRI carrier stayed on until 1303* so no urgency to get it going on another frequency, due to startling gap in usage. I have thus put together solely by monitoring the program schedule for this last remnant of BBC SW broadcasts to the western half of the planet, M-F only: 1200 News 1203 Extended news 1215 Estudio Abierto, call-in show, always pre- and back-announced as from the archives (possibly some days other archived shows) 1230 Efemérides, 2 or 3 this-day-in-history items 1234 M/W/F unannounced classical fill music, duplicated 1234 Tue/Thu BBC Top Diez de la Semana, top 10 countdown of pop music in English (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1406, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. If you're near an NPR affiliate -- and I mean near -- you'll get more BBC (John Figliozzi, swprograms via DXLD) John, is that true for any NPR affiliate? How much "more" BBC can one get? Are there sites where I can find out more about HD radio offerings in my area? Is HD AM signal really as good as they describe it on that link to Radiosophy HD radio? Sorry for too many questions (Sergei Sosedkin, IL, ibid.) Hi Sergei, I'll tackle the HD questions: The two sites to check on HD offerings are: http://www.hdradio.com/ http://www.ibiquity.com/hdradio_find_a_station The quality of an HD radio depends on several factors: a) how many streams are being fed. Only 1 is allowed on AM/MW but 3 are allowed on FM. More equals more content but less quality in each. b) how far are you from the transmitter. Too far and no signal at all. On the edge and you will have frequent shifts back and forth between analog and digital mode. C) the same factors that affect any other signal: the care and feeding of the signal by the engineers and producers. Overall, the signal is definitely better. CD quality? Umm, well, maybe... not usually. The Radiosophy radio is good, but not the best I've heard. Regards, -- (Rob de Santos, AFANA Chairman, ibid.) As to "more BBC" it depends on where you live. Some cities' public radio stations offer the World Service as a sub channel (HD-2 or HD-3) 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Many stations aren't that extreme, but offer a "news/talk" programmed sub channel that might be, say, 12 hours / day of the Beeb -- it seems that a general pattern for BBCWS carriage might be (all times local): 12 midnight - 6 am (general BBC WS PRI stream carriage) 9 am - 10 am (Newshour) 3 pm - 4 pm (Newshour) 8 pm - midnight (general BBC WS PRI stream carriage) The PRI website has a search utility where you can look for BBC carriage by state. Those that carry the World Service as HD offerings will be listed as "WXXX-FM2" or "WXXX-FM3". Visit http://www.pri.org The general buzz I hear is that HD on AM is a losing proposition. Keep in mind that many folks under 30 have never tuned an AM radio station in their life (and we wonder why they don't listen to SW?). Check out the WOSU website (Columbus, OH) -- they have a letter sent to listeners that describes why they are pretty much abandoning efforts to uniquely serve listeners via their AM station. Visit http://www.wosu.org/ (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, April 30, swprograms via DXLD) ** U K [and non]. Argentina sign-on 2200, 15345, RAE; seems that CRI is everywhere along with the God-possessed AND the BBCWS, tho no longer targeting N America, can usually be heard drifting in from someplace (need a fixed dish on I-805 for BBC; w`d save actuator wear; & I seem to have abandoned BBCW for Al Jazeera (Loren Cox, Jr., Lexington, KY, April 23, by P-mail, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also PUBLICATIONS ** U S A [non]. VOA French to Africa on 17550 between 1830 and 2030 has been booming in here in recent weeks. It's the strongest VOA signal I've gotten in years – often very solid with no fading. It reminds me of when French and English were regularly well-received in the afternoons some years ago (Mike Cooper, GA, May 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx to new Bonaire relay, you being in the skip zone, daytime at least, from Greenville`s higher frequencies (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. WYFR treats us to not one, but two, Harold Campings at once, April 30 at 1335, both of them talking about, what else? God. So HC outdoes DGS, BS and PPP, all of whom come only one at a time, even if they are 24/7! Audio sounded the same, as if before a live audience, but content did not match: one set on 11830 and 11910, the other on 11865. Could have been non-synchronized feeds of same speech, but I could not bear to listen long enough to figure that out (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I suppose one could say Camping was beside himself. Or, this could be a brave new way to utilize Family Radio's numerous FM-Stereo facilities: double the pleasure, double the fun! (GREG HARDISON, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 6915, WYFR, Spanish, OM/YL talk with many mentions of Cristo and Dios, as well as mentions of "familia radio". Not so good as 6985 SIO 444 0315-0330 17/Apr [sic] (Kenneth Vito Zichi, MI, MARE Tipsheeet via DXLD) I don`t hate to quibble, but has always sounded to me like the ID in Spanish is ``Fámily Radio``, i.e. the English word pronounced as if it were Spanish (Glenn Hauser, Oclajoma, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Frequency changes of WYFR Family Radio via TV Radio Waves: 1400-1500 NF 9405 ARM 300 kW / 110 deg in Punjabi, ex 9850 1500-1700 NF 11505 ERV 300 kW / 100 deg in Punjabi, ex 9850 1600-1700 NF 9735 ARM 300 kW / 110 deg in Urdu, ex 11630 ERV 300 kW / 100 deg (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, April 30 via DXLD) ERV = Armenia; ARM = ``Armavir``, RUSSIA! ** U S A. Hi, Glenn! The latest "Ask WWCR" program, which doesn't seem to be on their website yet, contained some discussion of sked changes that increased the hours occupied by Alex Jones. Though they discussed some of the programs that would be shuffled around or moved because of that, they did not mention "Into Tomorrow". However, the hours that Jones was getting did include that timeframe. When I last tried tuning the Saturday-morning 0500 UT airing of Into Tomorrow, it was Alex Jones instead. I'm not sure about the Sunday airing but I think that it was replaced, too. It might be that "Into Tomorrow" is just plain gone. WWCR's website is of no help -- it hasn't been updated yet to reflect these changes. 73, (Will Martin, MO, April 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. DW Arabic is moving off 15420 afer May 9, at 1700- 2057, via Rwanda, replaced with 15445. This should clear the way for WBCQ to resume 15420 as had been planned for A-08, ex-17495 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Evidently A W (WBCQ) will sell time to anyone / a couple or so Saturdays ago I tuned in a little before 0100 [UT Sun] to spend a little time in Marion`s Attic and heard some character spouting racial hatred in such utterances as: the only say blacks c`d ever be made civilized w`d be by some form of genetic engineering --- Sort of thing I haven`t heard since K A Strom [cf DEUTSCHES REICH] was to be heard on the old WRNO / yet have a perverse fascination with this sort of stuff / speaking of which, wonder what became of the ``somerset Psycho`` -- still incarcerated? (Loren Cox, Jr., Lexington, KY, April 23, by P-mail, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) Per current sked just before M.A. is Cut the Crap with A. J. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. WEWN, 11550, April 30 at 1401 also with a fast SAH indicating some co-channel collision. Per EiBi that could be RTI in Vietnamese, or less likely R. Free Afghanistan via Kuwait (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WHRB SPRING 2008 ORGIES This is a checklist to keep track of what`s on in the first 10 days of the May Orgies. MUCH more detailed background info and playlists at http://www.whrb.org/pg/MayJun2008.pdf which is in local time and days of UT -4 UT THURSDAY, MAY 1 0900-1700 CHESS RECORDS: BIGGEST LABEL IN CHICAGO BLUES 1700-2400 THE WARHORSE ORGY UT FRIDAY MAY 2 0000-0200 THE WARHORSE ORGY 0200-0900 THE INLAND EMPIRE ORGY 0900-1700 JOSHUA REDMAN ORGY – JAZZ SAX 1700-2400 THE HARVARD GLEE CLUB AT 150 UT SATURDAY MAY 3 0000-0200 THE HARVARD GLEE CLUB AT 150 0200-0900 THE RVNG ORGY 2200-2400 THE ARTS AT HARVARD UT SUNDAY MAY 4 0000-0200 THE ARTS AT HARVARD 0200-0900 THE BROTHERS/SISTERS ORGY --- THE FAMILY DYNAMIC IN BANDS 0900-1500 CHESS RECORDS: BIGGEST LABEL IN CHICAGO BLUES (CONT.) 1630-2100 THE OLD TIME RADIO ORGY 2100-2400 THE NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV ORGY UT MONDAY MAY 5 0000-0200 RIMSKY-KORSAKOV 0200-0900 THE BROTHERS/SISTERS ORGY (CONT.) 0900-1500 CHESS RECORDS: BIGGEST LABEL IN CHICAGO BLUES (CONT.) 1500-2200 MISSISSIPPI FRED MCDOWELL ORGY --- BLUES GUITARIST 2200-2400 THE NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV ORGY (CONT.) UT TUESDAY MAY 6 0000-2400 RIMSKY-KORSAKOV (CONT.) UT WEDNESDAY MAY 7 0000-1400 RIMSKY-KORSAKOV (CONT.) 1400-2400 THE ALEKSANDR KONSTANTINOVICH GLAZUNOV ORGY UT THURSDAY MAY 8 0000-2400 GLAZUNOV UT FRIDAY MAY 9 0000-0300 GLAZUNOV 0300-0900 THE LEGENDARY MUSIC ORGY 0900-1500 CECIL TAYLOR ORGY --- JAZZ PIANO, ANTI-MUSIC 1500-2200 TRADITIONAL PERSIAN MUSIC 2200-2400 SONGWRITERS OF THE MIDDLE AGES UT SATURDAY MAY 10 0000-0400 SONGWRITERS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 0400-0900 THE LEGENDARY MUSIC ORGY (CONT.) [TO BE CONTINUED] Streaming linx: http://www.whrb.org (Glenn Hauser, April 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) While we were thinking that only some stations like BBC Mundo use to cut abruptly their SW services, I've just heard the same from WHRB Orgy. Would this be the reason why they call it an "orgy"? First of all, I woke up in the middle of the wee hours to listen to The Chess Record Co. Blues history. Simply toooooo long for those 8 hours from 0900 to 1700, with male announcer giving credits about the songs played every half hour, among some slight promos of the station. Well, I was listening back my local morning. Exactly at 1700, courtesy forgotten, nobody said a word inviting to the next Blues extravaganza. No ID for the station, just this female announcer with very low mike, inviting you to pump up the volumen, and classical music with a Mozart piece started. Yes, an orgy of mixtures, unless this is the way they usually work 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Quality of WHRB programming (announcing and produxion) varies quite a bit depending on whether a pro(fessor) is at the controls or a student (even a Harvard student) (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, With all this classical music, you ought to be in radio heaven! (Kevin Redding, AZ, ABDX via DXLD) Well, not exactly. Many of the Orgies are anything but classical. And unfortunately I can`t drop everything for hours or days at a time to listen to nothing but WHRB. One can only hope to catch some enjoyable portions (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Gambling returns to WOR --- John R. Gambling is returning to do morning drive on WOR Radio. The station says Gambling, who left the station in 2000 will be back 5:30 a.m. [1030 UT] on Monday, May 5. There's been a tradition of having a Gambling at the morning microphone on WOR for more than 75 years since John R. Gambling's grandfather began broadcasting shortly after the station signed on the air in 1922. Gambling's father, John A. Gambling then hosted the morning program until 1985, when John R. took over. John R. Gambling left in 2000 to go to WABC (Pete Kemp, April 30, NRC-AM via DXLD) IIRC, it was WOR that didn`t want Gambling at that time (gh) John B. Gambling at one time had a live musical ensemble in the studio each morning. As I recall that ended when a labor strike occurred, forcing Gambling to broadcast briefly from the transmitter site in Cartaret, NJ. Once the labor unrest was over, all music was from recordings (Allan Dunn, K1UCY, ibid.) ** U S A. OPERA BROADCASTS IN THE MET HIATUS --- The following no doubt applies to most other stations on the Met network; too bad he did not give specific dates (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The Metropolitan Opera broadcast season ends on the first Saturday in May. We will follow it with a series of broadcasts from four of America’s other great opera houses, just as we did last year. The broadcasts, produced by WFMT in Chicago, will originate from Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Los Angeles Opera, Houston Grand Opera and, finally, the San Francisco Opera. Once upon a time, New York’s Metropolitan Opera was considered, rightly or wrongly, the only great opera company in the United States. In recent years, however, the explosion of interest in opera has meant that the Met has competition. These four great opera companies, from the 85 year old San Francisco Opera to the more recently formed Los Angeles Opera, constitute the cream of American theatres. We are lucky to be able to hear the greatest singers, players and conductors America has to offer fifty-two weeks a year. Lyric Opera of Chicago begins its season on Saturday, May 10 with Verdi’s La Traviata (Daniel Berry, Program Director, WUOT, via DXLD) ** U S A. KAVT 1680 Fresno CA: Glenn, This station used to be Radio Disney. I turned it on the other eve and noticed it is now playing songbook standards/ adult easy listening music. Sincerely (Brian in Roseburg OR Gilbert, April 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And has also changed call to KGED. Patrick Martin in Seaside is still their QSL manager (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KERR 750 Polson, MT off frequency --- I'm hearing KXL Portland on exactly 750.000, while KERR in Polson, MT appears to be off frequency on 750.092 easily seen on my Perseus waterfall. ID for KERR Polson, MT heard at 10:00 PM Pacific DT (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, 0502 UT May 1, IRCA mailing list via DXLD) This goes back three or four months when I heard the growl but I always thought it was KOAL which was out of whack. Daytime, when both KERR and KXL are on their 50kw rigs, they are in sync. Walt, you are doing well to hear them at night at all (Pete Taylor, Tacoma, WA, 12225w 4719n, HQ180 + Kiwa air core loop, ICF2010 + same loop; DX398; Palomar loopm SRF-59 & SRF M37V, ibid.) Could this be something else besides a technical issue? When I was in the NRC (mid 80's - early 90's), Ray Cole from SE Missouri found stations slightly off frequency and that correlated to seismic activity. They would shift over time. He tried to get a Government Science grant but they "pooh-poohed" the idea and said that shift was related to the ionosphere, IIRC. I think that Ray has since passed on but the measurement of this shift is now accepted science, as I have seen some scientific articles on it. I'm not saying that Polson is doomed but wonder if this being slightly off could be connected to "seismicity"? 73, (Dave in Indy Hascall, ibid.) Anything is possible but whatever the case, they are only off frequency at night on the 1 kW rig. Also, as previously mentioned, this aberration goes back at least four months - but it appears to be inconsistent (Pete Taylor, ibid.) ** U S A. Great piece on The CBS Evening News tonight as CBS TV news turns 60. Plenty of Douglas Edwards kines! Also on their website at http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?source=nav_video Enjoy, (Brock Whaley, HI, UT May 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA. EL APAGÓN DEL MARTES Y LA RADIO El apagón [blackout] que se registró este martes 29/04 en más de 8 estados de Venezuela, sirvió de pretexto para comprobar cuántas radios de Caracas, por ejemplo, disponen de plantas eléctricas de emergencia. La falla se produjo aproximadamente a las 4 pm (2030 UT) y ya en Catia La Mar se había restituido el servicio unos 45 minutos después, sin embargo en la ciudad capital aún no había fluido eléctrico. Aproveché de encender el radio y constaté que la mayoría de las emisoras estaban transmitiendo, aunque sí noté las siguientes frecuencias fuera del aire a las 2156 UT: - Radio Continente 590 - Radio Rumbos 670 - Radio Sensación 830 - RNV 880 - Radio Tropical 990 - Red de Radiodifusión Bíblica 1260 - Radio Uno 1340 - Radio Ondas del Mar 1380 (Puerto Cabello) - Radio Deporte 1590 (señal al aire sin audio) A las 2251 se comenzó a restituir la energía en diferentes sectores de Caracas, ya que Radio Rumbos retomó actividades a esa hora; Continente hizo lo propio a las 2257, Radio Deportes a las 2300, Sensación a las 2301 y Radio Uno a las 2320. Radio Fe y Alegría salió del aire aproximadamente a las 2242 y volvió en frecuencia totalmente distorsionada a las 2256. Se regularizó después de las 2311. Radio Tropical fue la última en entrar en escena – en Caracas - a las 2342, a pesar de que la portadora estaba desde las 2300. En el caso de RNV 880, ya a las 2214 tenía su señal al éter gracias a una planta de emergencia que entró tardíamente en acción. Llama la atención que tantas estaciones en Caracas no tengan generadores de emergencia. Si bien son una minoría, no deja de ser inquietante la cifra. ¿Razones económicas o desidia? 73s y buen DX (Adán González, Catia La Mar, Estado Vargas, VENEZUELA, May 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. RNVCI via RHC, 11705, May 1 at 1300 was running late, giving years-out-of-date transmission schedule once again, proving that the announcers and producers in the Caracas studio pay no attention to their own shortwave broadcasts. This is not one of RHC`s better transmitters as there is some distortion, and in the final contact-info, words were cutting out. Ran until 1302* with a Windows logo and off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. Re 8-054, CVC 1Africa: Thanks Glenn. Their website is at http://www.1africa.tv and their e-mail is 1africa @ cvc.tv E-mailing them produces a "validation message" to be confirmed, then the e-mail will be delivered (Jari Savolainen, Finland, April 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. SW Radio Africa, 12035, April 30 at quick check 1832, woman with comments on how bad things are there, such as people being whipped with bicycle chains, murdered. Was that Gerry Jackson herself? Fair reception with fading, but had not been hearing at all for some time. Perhaps switch from Norway to Rampisham UK site has inadvertently helped reception here. Turned the radio back on at 2100, just in time to hear Yankee Doodle Dandy, VOA opening French on 12035 via São Tomé (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) You should be able to tell from the accent. If she had a British- sounding accent, that would be Gerry. All the other staff at SWRA are black, and have distinctive Zimbabwean accents (Andy Sennitt, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Andy & Glenn, Perhaps the female announcer heard is either Violet Gonda or Mandisa (Mandy) Mundawarara. They are the only two female station announcers on SW Radio Africa and both have British-sounding accents having been educated at private schooling in Zimbabwe. Gerry Jackson is the station manager and hardly does any programme announcing except the occasional Letter from Zimbabwe script. [later:] A correction to all, This was Gerry Jackson, station manager of SW Radio Africa with Letter from Zimbabwe as female announcer at 1832 UT, April 30. The script details are here http://www.swradioafrica.com/pages/buckle280408.htm (David Pringle-Wood, Zimbabwe, an SWRA listener, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. As I was tuning across the 13 MHz band, May 1 at 1335, surprised to hear a good signal in French on 13640, but it vanished in a few seconds. Nothing listed here, but suspect Montsinéry was turned back on for a test or something, as it is scheduled two hours earlier, 1130-1200 to NAm, 250 kW, 320 degrees, in French (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ WRTH A08 SCHEDULES FILE AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD WRTH Publications are pleased to announce that a file containing the Summer (A08) schedules for International and Clandestine/Target Broadcasters is now available for download from the WRTH website http://www.wrth.com The pdf file runs to 104 pages and is 377 kB. Included in the file are not only the broadcast schedules for 236 stations but also frequency listings and our broadcasts in "English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish" section, both of which are derived from the schedules. We hope you find this file a useful accompaniment to the printed WRTH. Should there be any problems with downloading the file, please contact sean_gilbert @ wrth.com Regards, WRTH Editorial Team (Sean Gilbert, May 1, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Contiene 105 páginas. Se puede descargar directamente de este enlace: http://www.wrth.com/files/WRTH2008IntRadioSupplement2_A08Schedules.pdf (Manuel Méndez, Spain, HCDX via DXLD) Nuevos criterios en el WRTH 2008 --- Saludos cordiales, respecto a la última actualización del WRTH se observan ciertos cambios a la hora de listar a las emisoras, por ejemplo se observa que la HCJB no la listan en Ecuador ni en Australia, sino en Estados Unidos, 73 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ver HCJB en la página 47 bajo HCJB Global Voice (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Tampoco está listada en Australia la CVC, ahora está en el Reino Unido. En Austria tampoco está listada la Trans Wold Radio Europe, ahora en Estados Unidos. Ni en Egipto Wide El Nile [sic]. KBC Radio la listan en Holanda. Por ejemplo, Radio DMR está en Moldavia y subtitulada Transnistria, por el momento no reconocida internacionalmente. Ya no se la trata como Clandestina. En fin, ésto son algunos cambios que se observan en el wrth edición 1 de mayo del 2008, posiblemente hayan alguno más. 73 (José Miguel Romero, noticiasdx yg via DXLD) BDXC WEB SITE UPDATES / BROADCASTS IN ENGLISH Several of the reference lists compiled by Tony Rogers have just been updated and these are now available on the BDXC web site: -Africa on Shortwave -Indian Sub-Continent on the Tropical Bands -Middle East & Near East on Shortwave -UK on Shortwave The DX & Media Programme Guide has also been revised. All of the above can be found on the Articles Index page at http://www.bdxc.org.uk Also, the Summer edition of BDXC's Broadcasts in English booklet has just been printed. Full details and ordering info on the BDXC web site - see home page (Dave Kenny, May 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) LONG LIVE SHORTWAVE LP NOW ONLINE Live Shortwave was an LP released in the UK in 1979 by British pop music producer and shortwave fan Mitch Murray. First side is information on the hobby by Mitch Murray and Henry Hatch, who was on the BBC's World Club, second side has 30 interval signals with Mitch talking about the stations. The entire LP is now online for download, together with scans of the booklet and cover at: http://theradiokitchen.net/live-shortwave/ (Mike Barraclough, UK, April 30, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ALAN FURST`S PROGRAM DIRECTOR WEBLOG Glenn, I hope it's OK with you that I added World Of Radio to my list of links on blog. It's a blog mostly for radio program directors. But being a blog I write about different radio stuff on it. http://alanfurst.wordpress.com (Alan Furst, TX, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CROSSING THE ETHER: BRITISH PUBLIC SERVICE RADIO AND COMMERCIAL COMPETITION 1922-1945 H-NET BOOK REVIEW Published by Jhistory@h-net.msu.edu (May 2008) Sean Street. _Crossing the Ether: British Public Service Radio and Commercial Competition 1922-1945_. Eastleigh: John Libbey Publishing, 2006. 296 pp. Bibliography, index. $29.95 (paper), ISBN 0-8619-6668-6. Reviewed for Jhistory by Noah Arceneaux, School of Journalism and Media Studies, San Diego State University Beyond the BBC In discussions of early American radio, the British Broadcasting Corporation has long served as the reliable counter-example. According to standard media histories, the early American industry exemplified the overtly commercial approach to radio, with the airwaves dominated by advertising while the British industry was controlled by a government-sanctioned monopoly that sought to educate and uplift listeners without the taint of commercialism. Sean Street, a professor of radio and director of a broadcast history center at Bournemouth University, complicates this accepted narrative with a wonderfully researched book that documents the wealth of commercial radio programming available in the United Kingdom before World War II. The BBC explicitly avoided such fare, though stations in a number of European countries broadcast English-language advertisements specifically for the benefit of British listeners. Street argues that this commercial competition, though initially dismissed by the BBC, eventually lead to significant changes within the corporation, including the adoption of sophisticated audience measurement techniques, innovations in recording technology, and, perhaps most importantly, a greater diversity in program content. Two decades after World War II, the BBC responded to competition from offshore pirate radio stations by loosening its monopoly and allowing independent radio stations. Streets covers this later period in the final chapter of the book, arguing that the reorganization of the British radio industry in the 1970s should be viewed within a larger context. A complete history of British radio, according to Street, is not simply a history of the BBC but must include the commercial competition that spurred changes and innovations throughout the twentieth century. The primary period of interest for this book is the decade of the 1930s. Though there were commercial programs aimed at British listeners before this time (including a 1925 program sponsored by Selfridge's department store transmitted from the Eiffel Tower), the creation of the International Broadcasting Company (IBC) in 1931 was a significant moment for British commercial radio. The IBC was the brainchild of Leonard Plugge, an entrepreneur and central figure in Street's history. Plugge bought airtime from various European radio stations whose signal could be heard in Britain, then found advertisers willing to purchase this time. A small industry developed around such activities, and the American J. Walter Thompson advertising agency worked with the IBC and others to help British companies circumvent the BBC's prohibition on radio advertising. These European ventures were aided immensely by the BBC's Sunday programming, or rather, lack thereof. The BBC was silent for much of the day, offering only serious religious talks and solemn music when it was on the air. The freewheeling commercial broadcasters filled the void and found positive response for programs of popular music. These commercial stations reached their peak in the second half of the 1930s, a few years after commercialization had taken over the American radio industry. British companies interested in sponsoring radio programs used American methods and guidance, particularly when it came to audience measurement techniques. Advertisers needed a reliable estimate as to the size of the audience, a situation that the BBC did not face. Consequently, the commercial broadcasters picked up social scientific approaches to audience measurement before the BBC. Similarly, the production requirements of these European stations encouraged them to experiment with the latest innovations in recording technology. Performers would be recorded in London, with the resulting discs shipped across the channel to be transmitted back to British listeners. While these commercial stations, particularly the two most famous, Radio Normandy and Radio Luxemburg, have been noted in previous histories, no one has presented such a complete picture. Complete is indeed the correct word as it appears that Street has availed himself of every conceivable resource, including the archives of the BBC and the J. Walter Thompson agency, prior scholarship, written recollections of listeners, and a number of personal interviews. Following the main body of the book (211 pages), there are a number of appendices that provide additional information on the European commercial stations, French radio history, listeners' recollections, and changes within the BBC. The CD that accompanies the book is a valuable resource, with twelve tracks that provide a glimpse of 1930s radio. Of particular interest is a 1938 presentation from the J. Walter Thompson agency that explains which type of program is most acceptable for which listener at which time of day. Street has indeed done a service for the study of British radio with the presentation of so much material (though the volume of details and lengthy footnotes could be intimidating to a casual reader or non-specialist). References to the American radio industry are numerous throughout the book, not surprising given that British advertisers and radio programmers were keenly aware of events on the other side of the Atlantic. But, while Street is busy muddying the conventional version of British radio history, he inadvertently supports the conventional version of American radio history; namely, that AT&T "invented" the concept of commercial broadcasting. We get, for example, a discussion as to the date of the "first" commercial on American radio (pp. 77-78) that aired on station WEAF. The argument that AT&T invented this concept can be attributed to the first generation of radio historians who favored corporations and big business, though as Cliff Doerksen illustrated in _American Babel_ (2005), there were other stations that offered airtime to other businesses prior to WEAF. Regarding the inspirational role of commercialism within British radio, Street could perhaps have done more to interrogate this particular claim. Street, for example, often cites Susan Smulyan's work _Selling Radio_ (1994), on the growth of advertising in American radio, though this particular work is as much a harsh critique of the system as it a historical narrative. For Street, the forces of commercialism brought innovation and diversity to British radio, providing enjoyable fare for the working classes as opposed to the highbrow, restrictive paternalism of the BBC. While there indeed may be support for some Street's particular claims, the book at times comes across as a one-sided defense of the commercial system. Having a government-sanctioned monopoly provide all of a nation's radio programming may not be the most effective system for a democracy, though it is hard to imagine that a system in which the sponsor is the final word would really be preferable. Putting aside the book's minor weaknesses, Street has authored an informative and enlightening history of a previously overlooked topic. Those scholars interested in media history, advertising, or popular culture will no doubt find something of interest within. Copyright (c) 2008 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For other uses contact the Reviews editorial staff: hbooks @ mail.h-net.msu.edu ------------------------------------------------------- jhistory @ H-NET.MSU.EDU http://www.h-net.org/~jhistory ------------------------------------------------------- (via D H Lueker, via Jim Leonhirth, DXLD) RADIO PHILATELY +++++++++++++++ RADIO PROPAGANDA, CZECHOSLOVAKIA Play-DX Philatelic Everybody likes a mystery. This edition of Play-DX Philatelic features a rather mysterious stamp issue. There aren't many mysterious stamps in a collection of radio related items. Most stamps depict specific radio stations which can be easily identified. In addition there are radio license fee stamps and poster stamps advertising radio stations. Recently I acquired a set of stamps from Czechoslovakia which pose a number of questions. They don't carry any country name but it's fairly obvious that they were printed in Czechoslovakia. The values are all in Kè [garble; K plus c with a hook over it] which is short for Czechoslovak crowns. Also they were purchased from a Prague stamp dealer. The stamps are all inscribed RADIO PROPAGANDA and they were probably printed some time in the 1930's. My sources in Prague suggest that they were intended for some kind of tax or fee on radio equipment. Thus the stamps were intended to help spread information about radio broadcasting. This was a system used in Norway between the two wars. Another theory is that they were intended to pay for government propaganda. Getting Czechs and Slovaks to cooperate in the newly formed Czechoslovak Republic was possibly quite difficult and radio could certainly be used to improve relations between the two peoples. Also at the time the country had a sizable German-speaking minority. Let's take a look at the stamps. Type I are rectangular in an upright format depicting the globe. Denominations are 1, 2, 5 and 10 Kè. They have all been perforated with the letters EK. Type II is also rectangular and shows two antenna towers in a mountain landscapes. Denominations are 2, 4, 10, 20 and 40 K and most are perforated EK. The stamps are only known unused which would suggest that they were never used. Possibly they are essays, i.e. labels prepared for possible use. About ten years ago some 50 sets were found in an archive in Prague and they were later sold to a local stamp dealer. What was the exact purpose of these stamps? When were they printed? Why are there different designs of the same value? Perhaps some Play- DX reader can help us with the answers? They are not listed in the specialized catalogue of Czechoslovak revenues (Christer Brünstrom, Play-DX Philatelic, in Play-DX 1406, Apr 21 2008 via Horacio Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, radiostamps yg via DXLD) I also scanned the pic from Play DX original article: http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm182/hanurg/radiostamps/radiopropcz.jpg 73 (Horacio Nigro, playdx yg via DXLD) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ WHERE IN THE WORLD MATT LAUER WAS, WAS LAO And today of course he was in Laos, which (during the live opening) he repeatedly stated is actually pronounced "Lao" -- the "s" having been added by the French. I'm not sure if that's true, maybe so. But regardless, it was amusing to note that in the taped segment that aired in the first 1/2 hour of the show, ML's very own V/O referred several times to "Laos" (the "s" pronounced). Did ML quickly forgot his own language lesson? Or learned of it after recording the V/O? If so, was there no time to edit? Or could it be merely the usual sloppy journalism? Some or all of the above? (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, April 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: not mentioned anywhere above exc cross ref ++++++++++++++++++++ Re: DRM SHORTWAVE TEST PROPOSED FOR ALASKA DRM on shortwave makes about as much sense as IBOC does on AM. Why? 1) Digital modulation is a genuinely dopey idea on any frequency where skywave propagation is normal. 2) Average listeners could care less about "digital shortwave." And receiver manufacturers don't care either. DRM on SW has a small, cult-like following --- sort of like a cross between the old Newark News Radio Club and Scientology --- who keep making a lot of noise about DRM being the next Really Big Thing. Some of them are even babbling about putting domestic U.S. DRM broadcasters around 26 MHz. Those people are apparently serious, and I hope they don't have access to firearms (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19 http://harryhelmsblog.blogspot.com/ ABDX via DXLD) I don't think it makes sense for truly long distance propagation, but it was my impression that the reliability was far better with transmissions intended for intermediate distances like with what Radio New Zealand was trying to do with their broadcasts for the South Pacific region. Their intent is to just cover New Zealand, Australia, PNG, and some of Indonesia. Using DRM in Alaska would seem to be similar. You don't think it will work even with one hop reception? (Jay Heyl, FL, ibid.) My question about DRM on SW is the same I have for IBOC on AM (or FM in the USA): exactly what problem for listeners is this supposed to solve? Second question: are SW listeners, especially in Third World nations, willing --- or able --- to spend the money for a new DRM SW receiver? Like U.S. broadcasters, DRM SW advocates are assuming their problem is "our broadcasts are in analog" and DRM will solve it. But the real problem is their broadcasts are in "suck." (Harry Helms W5HLH, Smithville, TX EL19, ibid.) It is hard as hell to decode with lots of drop outs. I guess that makes it better. The analog fades but you can still hear it until if comes back up. That must be bad or something. If you could afford a computer and net access, you don't need a DRM receiver. Being that they are at the unaffordium level even for folks in the USA, think about how out of reach it would be in the third world. It`s the programming, stupid. If your programming blows in analog and you simulcast it in digital, its still gonna blow and the digital signal sucks so it is suck squared (Kevin Redding, AZ, ibid.) FM IBOC MAKES IT AROUND ANALOG BLOCKAGE I heard of an interesting case recently from the operations manager at Nevada Public Radio, KNPR in Las Vegas. They have a listener way out at the fringes of their signal, 130 miles or so away in the California desert. His reception of KNPR's analog signal was trashed when a translator came on closer to him on the same frequency (88.9). But the translator was analog-only, and when the listener tried an HD receiver, the KNPR IBOC sidebands were in the clear and locked in. We're truly in uncharted territory here! s (Scott Fybush, NY, WTFDA via DXLD) That happens regularly here with the slightest enhancement of Rochester. Local CISS 92.5 disappears and is replaced by WBEE-HD 92.5 Rochester on my HDT-1 rx. Of course there are no Canadian IBOC stations, so our analogs vanish when an American IBOC comes in (Bill Hepburn, Ont., ibid.) DIGITAL TV TRANSITION AND DX SITE http://www.rabbitears.info/ Has info on the U.S digital transition here: http://www.rabbitears.info/dtr.php This from a note sent to me from a colleague familiar with the local TV broadcast scene (Saul Chernos, Ont., WTFDA via DXLD) Viz.: Many stations have links to official digital transition status reports on the FCC site. An interesting one is WKYC Cleveland on channel 2 digital. This is only temporary so this summer is your only chance to get Cleveland digitally on E skip (probably too close but somebody may catch it from far away). Very few ATSC stations are on VHF low and most are temporary until Feb. Most stations are shutting down NTSC on Feb 17 and their transitional digital signals on the same day if they are on a temporary channel, turning on their permanent channel the next day. For example, WHEC and WHAM in Rochester are shutting down 10 and 13 analogue as well as 58 and 59 digital (I've had both 58 and 59 here BTW) on Feb 17 at midnight. They will be live digitally on 10 and 13 sometime on Feb 18. I thought there would be a transition period where they would simulcast but no except for extenuating circumstances. Cleveland 2 may get an extension due to construction logistics. The details of some of the New York stations are interesting to read about. P.S. In case you don't know, all the Toronto/Hamilton stations are now on digitally except TVO who haven't applied for a license and CFMT/CJMT who have been testing occasionally for a year and a half, once for three weeks, probably so they can sell HD on Rogers cable. A cable ad appears at the start of every HD newscast. They just have to turn them on permanently by their deadline of Jul 29 (anonymous, via Saul Chernos, ibid.) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ Foto's antennes in de buurt van Chernobyl --- WOODPECKER? Waren dit de antennes voor de beruchte Woodpecker uit de tachtiger jaren? http://englishrussia.com/?p=1882#more-1882 (Martijn Reneman, Netherlands, May 1, bdx mailing list via DXLD) Klopt, dat is de Kiev Woodpecker. Gr, (Ary Boender, ibid.) Indrukwekkend, hoor: wat een constructie!! Maar niet bepaald van roestvrij staal, hi. Wordt hier tegenwoordig nog wat mee gedaan? 73, (Jan Reint, ibid.) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ NEWSPAPER REPORTS "BPL PLAN IS DEAD IN DALLAS" May 2, 2008 The Dallas Morning News has reported that "an ambitious plan for using power lines to deliver fast Internet service to 2 million Dallas-area homes collapsed Thursday." Current Group, LLC has announced plans to sell its Dallas BPL network to Oncor, a regulated electric distribution and transmission business, for $90 million. Oncor reportedly has no plans to offer Internet service but will use the network to detect distribution network issues. While Current originally touted the network as a way to offer Internet service to consumers and had entered into a marketing arrangement with DirecTV, the Houston Chronicle quotes Oncor spokesman Chris Schein as confirming that Oncor will use the network only for monitoring the power grid: "Our business is delivering electricity, not being an Internet provider or a television provider." Full story at http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2008/05/02/10078/?nc=1 (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) How could it possibly be worth that much, especially if generating no income from its original purpose? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ Geomagnetic field activity was at mostly quiet levels during 21 - 22 April. Activity increased to unsettled to active levels early on 23 April with minor to major storm periods detected at high latitudes. These levels persisted through midday on 24 April. Thereafter, and through the remainder of the summary period, activity decreased to mostly quiet levels at middle latitudes, while high latitudes experienced mostly unsettled to active levels with some isolated minor storm periods. ACE solar wind measurements indicated a solar sector boundary (SSB) crossing from ‘away’ orientation (positive) to ‘towards’ orientation (negative) at about 22/1410 UTC. Increases in solar wind velocity, density, and temperature, along with positive and negative fluctuations in IMF Bz followed the SSB. These signatures were consistent with a co-rotating interaction region (CIR) followed by a high speed solar wind stream. Interplanetary magnetic field changes during the CIR included increased Bt (peak 14 nT at 23/0708 UTC) and increased Bz variability (minimum -13 nT at 23/0710 UTC and maximum +10 nT at 23/0919 UTC). The high speed stream commenced during the later half of 23 April. ACE detected a peak velocity of 695 km/s at 23/1849 UTC and a density maximum of 20 p/cc at 23/0413 UTC. Velocities decreased during 17 April, but remained elevated during the remainder of the period (range: 450 - 525 km/sec). FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 30 APRIL - 26 MAY 2008 Solar activity is expected to be very low. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to reach high levels during 30 April - 12 May and 21 - 26 May. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at unsettled to active levels during 30 April - 07 May with minor storm levels possible on 01 May as a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream affects the field. Activity is expected to decrease to quiet to unsettled levels during 08 - 18 May as the high-speed stream subsides. Activity is expected to increase to unsettled to active levels on 19 - 21 May with minor storm periods possible on 20 May as another recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream affects the field. Quiet to unsettled levels will return on 22 - 26 May. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2008 May 01 1609 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # Product description and SWPC contact on the Web # http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2008 Apr 29 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2008 Apr 30 70 12 4 2008 May 01 70 15 5 2008 May 02 70 10 3 2008 May 03 70 10 3 2008 May 04 70 10 3 2008 May 05 70 8 3 2008 May 06 70 10 3 2008 May 07 70 10 3 2008 May 08 70 5 2 2008 May 09 70 5 2 2008 May 10 70 5 2 2008 May 11 70 5 2 2008 May 12 70 5 2 2008 May 13 70 8 3 2008 May 14 70 5 2 2008 May 15 70 5 2 2008 May 16 70 5 2 2008 May 17 70 5 2 2008 May 18 70 5 2 2008 May 19 70 10 3 2008 May 20 70 15 5 2008 May 21 70 12 4 2008 May 22 70 8 3 2008 May 23 70 5 2 2008 May 24 70 5 2 2008 May 25 70 5 2 2008 May 26 70 5 2 (SWPC May 1 via DXLD) This was admittedly posted two days late on Thu instead of Tue, so we had to go with propagation info from Prague in WOR 1406, which was just as well (gh, DXLD) "4D" LIVE MODEL OF EARTH'S IONOSPHERE NASA-funded researchers have made available a new "4D" live model of the Earth's ionosphere. Without leaving home, anyone can fly through the layer of ionized gas that encircles Earth at the edge of space itself. All that's required is a connection to the Internet. "This is an exciting development," says solar physicist Lika Guhathakurta of NASA headquarters in Washington, DC. "The ionosphere is important to pilots, ham radio operators, earth scientists and even soldiers. Using this new 4D tool, they can monitor and study the ionosphere as if they're actually inside it." NASA - Explore the Ionosphere http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/30apr_4dionosphere.htm?list948869 How to Launch the 4D Ionosphere http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/30apr_4dionosphere_launch.htm 4D Ionosphere demonstration video http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010200/a010208/Ionoshpere_WebShort_320x240.mp4 ---- 73 (Trevor M5AKA, Southgate ARC via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) EXPLORE THE IONOSPHERE By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, Contributing Editor, ARRL, May 2, 2008 http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2008/05/02/10076/?nc=1 This week, a brand new application for Google Earth finds us flying through the ionosphere. NASA's Explore the Ionosphere (from the safety of your own home) Web page announced a new online tool that uses Google Earth to visualize the ionosphere. This just in: NASA-funded researchers released to the general public a new "4D" live model of the Earth's ionosphere. Called Earth Space 4-D, this new online tool visualizes the ionosphere using Google Earth and an Internet connection. "This is an exciting development," says solar physicist Lika Guhathakurta of NASA headquarters in Washington, DC. "The ionosphere is important to pilots, ham radio operators [and SWLs, maybe???], earth scientists and even soldiers. Using this new 4D tool, they can monitor and study the ionosphere as if they're actually inside it." NASA's Explore the Ionosphere (from the safety of your own home) Web page announced the news about the tool and includes a video demo highlighting its features as well as a link to instructions on how to launch it. In order to use Earth Space 4-D, you first must install Google Earth on your computer (both Earth Space 4-D and Google Earth are free). Second, you follow the simple instructions listed on the Communication Alert and Prediction System (CAPS) Web page. This tool is so new (only one day old as I write this) that I have only explored the tip of this impressive iceberg, but from what I have seen, it is an important addition to the Amateur Radio toolbox (its Maximum Useable Frequency [MUF] features alone should be interesting to most hams). I highly recommend Earth Space 4-D. The price is right, so try it out (ARRL via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ###