DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-067, June 4, 2008 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2008 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1411 Wed 2100 WBCQ 15420-CUSB Thu 0530 WRMI 9955 Thu 1430 WRMI 9955 Thu 2330 WBCQ 7415 Fri 0100 WRMI 9955 Fri 0800 WRMI 9955 Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 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 0415 WBCQ 7415 [time varies] Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 0530 WRMI 9955 [new] Wed 1130 WRMI 9955 Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN NOW AVAILABLE: http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradsio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD, which seems to be coming out less frequently? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg without delay. When applying, please identify yourself with your real name and location. Those who do not, unless I recognize them, will be prompted once to do so and no action will be taken otherwise. Here`s where to sign up http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. Can anyone confirm if R. Solh is active on 11665 at 0200-0600, via UAE? It`s cochannel to CVC Chile which is all we hear over here (Glenn Hauser, OK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Afghan music noted here at 0557 June 3 on 11665, off without announcement exactly 0600, presumably Radio Solh (Mike Barraclough, England, ibid.) UAE? 11675, R Solh(?) 0810 1-6 with mixed Hindi and Afghan music, S5- 7, 34x33 (x subjected to tower electricity insulators) (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALGERIA [non]. FRANCE, R. Algérienne HQ TEST relays via Issoudun noted on May 26 to 29 only (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, June 2, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1411, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RTA may have ceased the relay (tests?) via France, but still heard via VTC facilities, June 2 at 0528 with sermon in Arabic (not recitation), weak on 7150 Sines and barely audible on 7260 Skelton, but nothing on 7305 which was Issoudun (Glenn Hasuer, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. RAE must have got its stolen feeder cable replaced, after being knocked off the air over the weekend, for June 2 at 2144 I heard a tango, and that would not be Morocco, then talk in German as scheduled this hour. Besides, the frequency was way off, 15343.9 or so; 2150 some Andean music for balance, 2159 IS and Japanese ID, then greeting listeners in Spanish, French, English, German (? fade), Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, Japanese. Finally at 2203 decided which language to stick with, Spanish, and opened with frequencies as 15345, 6060, address of studio, phone number, postal address, C.C. 555, 6000 WAS Buenos Aires --- that`s what it sounded like, but WRTH says C1000WAF, which sounds almost the same! e-mail rae @ radionacional.gov.ar Heard no het at all from Morocco which normally stays on until just after 2200, so RAE was fair and clear. O, per DXLD 8-066 with Morocco suddenly advancing to UT +1, they could be closing an hour earlier (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1411, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15343.85, RAE, Buenos Aires. 2201-2225+, June 3, Spanish programming with IDs at 2201 & talk. Also heard at 2330 with local guitar music. Poor. Weak but readable in noisy conditions. 11710.6, RAE, *2358-0005+, June 3-4, IS. Multi-lingual ID announcements. Portuguese programming at 0003. Good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. 13630, June 2 at 2133 came across Oz accent so assumed it was CRI, especially since they were giving quick weather info for various cities in Asia including Pyongyang, Seoul, Phnom Penh and even Siem Reap, M&W hosts conversing, played ``She`s Not There`` by The Zombies, 2137 stox including NASDAQ, so it must be the business-obsessed Chicom, especially since CRI is relayed by Mali on 13630 at this hour, right? Wrong: then mentioned radioaustralia.net so I look it up. Yes, RA is on 13630 Shep at 21-23, 65 degrees toward us, despite CRI via Mali also supposed to be on 13630 at 1930-2230, but no trace of it; anyway, that changes from English to French at 2130, per Aoki. June 3 at 2008, found 13630, fair with CRI English via Mali, before RA came on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) MALI: 13630, China Radio International; 2043-2054+, 3-June; M&W in English with biz news to program spot & ID at 2054+. SIO=3+43+ (Harold Frodge, MI, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** BAHRAIN. 9744.59, V of Bahrain, 0746 1-6 with Arab songs. Marginal signal (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BHUTAN. JAPANESE ASSISTANCE TO BHUTAN BROADCASTING SERVICE Monday, June 2: The Japanese government will be giving a grant assistance of about Nu. 240 million to the BBS. The exchange of notes to formalize the grant was signed in New Delhi On Friday, May 30. It was signed by Bhutan's Ambassador Lyonpo Dago Tshering and the Japanese Ambassador Hideaki Domichi. The money that will be given to BBS will be used to enhance programme production and news coverage by upgrading facilities and equipment, setting up a master control system and establishing transmission system for the BBS bureau offices. (Source : BBS via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4451.2, RADIO SANTA ANA. Sta Ana de Yacuma, 2325-2340 junio 1. Melodías y comunicados en el programa: El Mensajero de la Mosquitania. Señal muy baja. 4781.4, RADIO TACANA. Tumupasa. 2340-2350 mayo 31. Parcial ID: "... con cada oyente, anhelos y esperanzas marcan nuestro recorrido al compas del alma de nuestro pueblo... Radio Tacana transmite en los 4780 kHz, banda de 60 metros onda corta; estudios y oficina instalados en Tumupasa, La Paz, Bolivia..." Luego programa con comentarios deportivos (Rafael Rodriguez R., Bogotá, Colombia, June 2, Sony ICF 2010, Winradio G303I, JRC 525, Antenas Hilos largos de varias longitudes, playdx yg via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 5580.2, Radio San José. San José de Chiquitos 2300 to 2310, música boliviana, OM, 3 June (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, South Flórida, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 6134.82, Radio Santa Cruz, 0050-0059*, June 2, Bolivian music. Spanish announcements. Many IDs at 0055-0057. Local flute/ranchero tune to sign off. Poor with weak QRM from Brazil on 6134.96 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. I am driven away from one of my favorite webcasters, R. Cultura São Paulo, FM, mms://200.136.27.12/radiofm because when I try to listen, the music frequently wows, just as if a tape were snagging. It`s hard to imagine how this could happen digitally, so is it really an analog tape snagging in the original playback, and why don`t they do something about it, at a classical music station of all things? Seems it has been that way for at least a week. Also, a lot of the programs have changed, and I must update the entries on MONITORING REMINDERS CALENDAR, ASAP (Glenn Hauser, OK, June 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 4905.10, Radio Anhanguera, 0150-0301*, June 3, Portuguese religious talk. Christian/inspirational music. Mentions of Anhanguera. Closing ID announcements at 0300. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 6010, RADIO INCONFIDÊNCIA. Belo Horizonte. 0414-0435 junio 2. Música en español de Luis Miguel. "...Inconfidência apresentando Primeiras Horas com Homero Ribeiro..." menciona Tel. 32983440 "..a hora certa para você, uma y méia em Primeiras Horas..." Música con ABBA. LV de tu Conciencia [COLOMBIA] fuera del aire, no escuchada Radio Mil [MEXICO, both 6010v] (Rafael Rodriguez R., Bogotá, Colombia, June 2, Sony ICF 2010, Winradio G303I, JRC 525, Antenas Hilos largos de varias longitudes, playdx yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. DRM on 7325? See TURKEY [and non] ** CANADA. CKZU, 6160, holding up rather late across daytime path, June 4 at 1312 ending CBC news with perpetual plug for Sirius 137 --- but they never mention SW 6160!! Into local morning show Early Edition with weather for Vancouver and area, hi 18. Weaker than NZ next door on 6170 but no QRM (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CKPT 1420 towers come down --- Hi Glenn, Two links from the Peterborough Examiner: Jun 2 2008 http://photos.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=530082 http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1054704&auth=SARAH+DEETH%2fExaminer+Staff+Writer I understand they are bringing the CJCH towers in Halifax down soon too Regards (Andy Reid, Ont., June 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Whew, first link goes to `slide show` of 120 shots, except it`s not automatic, and you may purchase each for $15 to $50. None captioned, and many virtually identical. I`ll take one each? Andy himself is quoted in the second link, also sent to us by Kim Elliott, and same story at http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1055971 via Artie Bigley (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Video of the CKPT tower fall --- Glenn, remember 'don't you believe'? The two towers we watched coming down were put up in '67. They had already dropped the older first two towers before we got there. It was a four tower array. http://www.peterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplayGenContent.aspx?e=62 73 (Andy Reid, Ont., June 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Canadians abandoning AM makes absolutely no sense to me. If ever there was a country that needed long distance, high power AM it is Canada. Apart from a few metro areas and a strip 100 miles wide along our border, the population density is very low. All those Canadians out in the remote areas of the country depend on AM and especially skywave for news and information - I can't believe they are all streaming now. If AM is obsolete anywhere, it would be the US where the population is higher and the population density is much greater, especially in the East (Bruce Carter, June 2, ABDX via DXLD) Agreed - although the vast majority of the population is clumped to an extent and can be pretty well served by FM. However, a tiny portion of the population is truly remote and is far better served by AM, if AM is still available. It does, however, vary from region to region. For example, PEI is blanketed by FM [although the extreme east and west rely on signals from NS and NB respectively]. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are pretty much blanketed by FM too. There may be the occasional community of say a couple hundred people with shaky FM, but the typical rural area will have decent coverage from a station in a town or city. There are always exceptions though - spots of Cape Breton Island, for example, where the terrain creates so many FM shadows and yet low band AM would fill in nicely. But off CB Island low band AM on 580, 630 and 720 is long gone. You are correct that AM does and should have a continuing role in Canada. I'd like to see the CRTC develop a policy to encourage regional, e.g. high power, high efficiency AM to cover lots of territory and offer a modest power "sweetener" in the form of FM simulcast. Essentially, I'd like to see the CRTC take its decision back in the 1990s with 920 CFRY and extend that to stations serious about regional service. I suspect that some stations could have argued CFRY but just didn't bother, or just didn't know about the decision (Phil Rafuse, PEI, ibid.) What was the CFRY decision? (JNR, ibid.) Here it is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ABDX/message/30036 (Phil Rafuse, ABDX via DXLD) ** CHINA. ARTICULO SOBRE LA OPERA DE PEKIN --- Acabo de recibir el correo de la redacción española en la que me comunican han colgado el trabajo que hace tiempo "colgué" en http://www.opusmusica.com Quizá a alguien le guste leerlo y comentarlo en la web de la emisora. Espero guste a todos. En letralia 188 http://www.letralia.com también ha sido colgado otro trabajo sobre personajes checos (Juan Franco Crespo, Spain, June 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Querido amigo: Publicamos su artículo en esta página: http://espanol.cri.cn/161/2008/06/04/1@155155.htm (Debido a problemas técnicos, los acentos del PINYIN de los instrumentos no salen en nuestra página) Muchas gracias, Lola, CRI (via JFC, DXLD) It`s an article Juan Franco himself wrote about Peking Opera, nicely illustrated (gh, DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. USA/COSTA RICA: Rev. Melissa not heard on any CTR transmitters at 0014 on 4 June. 9725, 7375 (which is never an easy catch) and 6150 not heard. 5030 not heard but 5 MHz mostly inaudible now anyway. 73/Liz (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Seems more and more transmitters there are breaking down. Maybe they are just waiting for the last one to go, without attempting repairs? Heard not too long ago on 11870v, but not sure if that is on now either. Has been absent from 5030, 13750 for a long time, and as I said, 9725 for a few weeks now (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. Who would be running 3/4 color bars and tone at 1558 UT Tuesday on channel 2? Probably Cuba? Had been getting PBS kid show during previous semihour, presumably WPBT, and then CB came in briefly. After 1600 heard some Spanish referring to ``en Oriente``, also pointing to Cuba, but tone test also mixing, so two stations? After that had occasional bits of Spanish discussion, as WESH news started to dominate. At 1612 a discussion in Spanish, 1636 two guys playing saxophones, but no audio made it. 73, (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, June 3, WTFDA via DXLD) ``3/4 color bars`` is shorthand for the color bar test pattern version which has three wide blocks at the bottom, and several strips at the top, taking approximately three quarters of the screen starting at the top, as opposed to full CB, i.e. only the color strips from top to bottom (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, I've had two Cubans on 2 before. Several years ago I had Havana in with local news, during which another station's audio came up with the Cuban natonal anthem (Curtis Sadowski, Paxton, Illinois, WTFDA via DXLD) Question for Doug: With Glenn and others (including myself) receiving the unID bars from Cuba lately, how are we to count Cuba TV in the contest? As many of you know, some Cuban TV stations do run local programs in the afternoon prior to TeleRebelde programming. With names like TelePinar and TeleCubanacan, these local program blocks make IDing easy. Unfortunately, I've never seen a local ID during TeleRebelde and Cubavision programming. Without knowing exactly which station (transmitter location or city of license) is bing received, how can Cuban TV be counted in the contest? Thanks (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, ibid.) About what time in the evening do the Cuban stations start "network" programming as opposed to local programming or test patterns? And does it vary on region/province? (Fritze, KC5KBV, Prentice, Jr., Star City, AR, Grid: EM43aw, http://tvdxseark.blogspot.com ibid.) On my honeymoon in Cuba, I seem to remember the semi-local channel 2 Havana always being on network programming --- except during the roughly 4-6:30 PM local time period [2000-2230 UT now] when it was "Ch TV". Don't quote me on the time. Just going by memory. This time period was the same across the entire country. Each "local" station was actually a provincial station - seen throughout a province. The network would run through a sign-on with a mention of ALL of the provincial stations each day around 4 PM, so that in itself can be misleading. Canada is getting like this too. Network most of the time, local only for news and promos (Bill Hepburn, Ont., ibid.) First, let me make it clear that I'm not suggesting that anyone should log Cuba based on those unID color bars. IMHO, that is not enough to count as a real log. Those bars could be another station having technical problems, etc. My question for Doug concerns seeing network programming from TeleRebelde, Cubavisión, and Canal Educativo. The local programming is on at various times in the afternoon, especially around 1600-1800 CT on weekdays. The times do vary by region/province. It is difficult to keep up with TV in Cuba. Web pages often change or close down entirely. At one time, it was easy to find program listings for some of the local programming, but several of those pages no longer exist. This is a good starting point: http://tvdxtips.com/cuba.html (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, ibid.) One other tip as well. The provincial stations are called "Tele Centros". You may see this on the provincial s/on and s/off. See.. http://hepburn.dxinfocentre.com/test/Cuba_prov_signoff.jpg for an example (Bill Hepburn, ibid.) I know Cuban *radio* stations often change networks - one may run Radio Reloj for a few hours, then Radio Rebelde, etc. Do their TV stations do the same? (are Cubavisión stations *always* Cubavisión except when running provincial programs, or do they occasionally simulcast TeleRebelde?) I would suggest you should be able to claim one station per network per channel, provided that we're reasonably certain that a Cubavisión station on a given channel is different from a TeleRebelde station on the same channel. So if you had Cubavisión and TeleRebelde on channel 3, that would be two loggings. Logging only one of the national networks could still count for multiple loggings if you had more than one provincial network on the same channel. If the only national network you saw on channel 3 was Cubavisión, but you saw both ChTV and Pinar del Rio TV, (two different provincial networks) then you'd have two loggings (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) Whew; glad I am not interested in contesting. No doubt Arnie COULD explain this (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. Not only is RHC colliding with REE on 11680 at 0000-0200, but now Habanalog has QRDRM from RNZI which just started using 11670-11675-11680 at 0259-0458 and 1936-2050. As an outlaw country, Cuba refuses to participate in HFCC, so RNZI may not have been aware of the collision in picking 11670-11680; and anyway, with Cuba aiming at SAm, this may not be a problem for RNZI in its Pacific target areas. But it sure is here. June 2 at 0416, RHC 11680 in Spanish was badly bothered by DRM buzz. If RHC adheres to the sked as compiled by EiBi: [NO: see below] 11680 1930-2000 Su CUB Radio Habana Cuba EO SAm 11680 2000-2030 CUB Radio Habana Cuba F SAm 11680 2030-2130 CUB Radio Habana Cuba E SAm 11680 2130-2200 CUB Radio Habana Cuba F SAm 11680 2300-0200 E Radio Exterior Espana S SAm 11680 0000-0500 CUB Radio Habana Cuba S SAm We see that the collisions with RNZI are at 0259-0458, 2000-2050 (Sunday from 1936). But is 11680 really on at 1930/2200? [No: see below] It`s not on the RHC website sked http://www.radiohc.cu/espanol/frecuencia/frecuencias-espanol.htm --- only at 0000-0500; still dated as expiring in March 2008, tho we know it has been updated since then, if not completely so. BTW, per Aoki, Kuwait is also scheduled on 11675 in DRM until 0300, and then in analog from 0315; so it should be interesting to monitor around 0300 in both modes to see what happens, as in DRM 11675 goes from KUW to NZ: 11675 R.KUWAIT 2200-0300 1234567 Arabic(Digital) 150 350 Sulaibiyah KWT 4745E 2910N MOI a08 11675 R.KUWAIT 0315-0700 1234567 Arabic 500 350 Sulaibiyah KWT 4745E 2910N MOI a08 The DRM DX schedule also shows Kuwait active in Arabic to NAm until 0300, tho I rarely see it reported. Kuwait analog after 0315 could be a big problem for NZ DRM. Another problem for RNZI DRM on 11670-11675-11680 could be North Korea which has a 22-hour-a-day transmission varying from 11677 to 11680, e.g. in EiBi: 11677 2000-1800 KRE KCBS Pyongyang K KRE k On the subject of QRDRM to RHC, serves the damn jammers right, 6000 kHz also gets buzz from R. Australia Brandon 5990-5995-6000 at 1100- 1200. Following up earlier item about RHC collision with RNZI DRM --- RHC is not in fact on 11680 in the local afternoons, nothing there at 2119 check June 2, so the collision of concern is only after 0300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1411, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECHIA. R. Prague, 11600 direct, with usual surprisingly good signal into NAm, June 2 at 2130 opening English with news primarily of that country. This is 310 degrees, 100 kW from Litomysl for Mexico, C&E USA, E Canada. Recheck at 2157 with French ID and starting transmission schedule in irrelevant French, but cut off the air before they could get into it. Good idea (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [non] We don't get the new Prague programs until after 1400, so that's why it's yesterday's show. The other language stuff at the end of each audio file is irrelevant, I agree, but that's the way the files are. I certainly don't have time to edit two of them every day. Hopefully they will change this in the future (Jeff White, WRMI, June 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also U S A: WRMI Frequency change of R. Prague in Spanish via VT Communications: 0000- 0027 NF 7275 ASC 250 kW / 245 deg to SoAm, ex 11665 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, June 3 via DXLD) As already in DXLD; Invading 40m hamband (gh) ** EGYPT [and non]. Big het on WEWN 11550, Monday June 2 at 2114 during relay of R. Vaticano in Spanish. Cairo`s European service is still colliding after several weeks of inaxion, and I bet it stays this way for the rest of A-08. Cairo was originally on the hi side of 11550, about 11550.1, but now it`s on the lo side, approximately 11549.5. It was very hard to pull any audio from Egypt due to its own undermodulation, compared to WEWN`s normal modulation level. I did perceive a bit of ME music at 2114. The English sesquihour should have started at 2115; at 2125 I could tell a YL was speaking English, perhaps news. This intolerable situation continued past 2200, no doubt until Cairo closes around 2245 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1411, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. 9250, Radio Wadi el-Nil at 1445 30-5 with finally good signal. S9 max with talks in Arabic. Many voice lows. At 1958 retune in with talks by man, QRM Lincolnshire poacher? at 2019 on 9252. Also 31-5 with S9+10 at 1749 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RWEN had been at 17-23 before DST, so expected to be 16-22 now. Must have been further resked if already on at 1445, or did you get an ID for this program that early? (gh, DXLD) ** EGYPT. 15080 ? 1930 2-6, an ID in Arabic " kahira ...arabi' followed by news. 45543 but distorted audio. ERTU Radio Cairo is notice in EiBi guide (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Eibi, Aoki and WRTH all show 15080 only in use at 1300-1600, Cairo. Might be 1200-1500 with DST. Could also be 2 x 7540, V. of Mesopotamia via `Simferopol` but that should be in Kurdish (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 7110, Radio Ethiopia, *0259-0315, June 2, short IS on electronic keyboard followed by opening ID announcements. Chimes at 0300 & Amharic talk. Horn of Africa music at 0303. Short bits of techno music. Fair but some adjacent channel splatter. Weak // 9704.19-with very low modulation. Listed // 5990 not heard (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GABON. 4777, Radio Gabon, *0458-0515, June 2, abrupt sign on with opening ID announcements followed by local drums to 0500. French talk at 0500. Afro-pop music at 0508. Weak, low modulation at sign on but quickly popped up to a very good level at 0500 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Frequency change of IBRA Radio in Swahili via MB from June 22: 1730-1800 NF 11985 JUL 100 kW / 145 deg, ex 11915 to avoid DW in Russian (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, June 3 via DXLD) Why wait so long? ** GREECE. 11645, ERT Avlis has a problem on its 3rd transmitter now? ERT ERA5 Avlis in German missing on Sun June 1st too, according report on A-DX ng item. Today I checked that foreign language channel, regular on air 0500-1000 UT, but missing again totally. ERT ERA5 Greek was on air at same time on 9420 and 15630 kHz. From 1100 UT ERT ERA5 Greek was on air again on two channels only: ERT Greek on 9420 powerhouse, and 9935 carried the usual ERA3 Makedonias Thessaloniki relay 1100-2300 UT. But 3rd channel 15630 kHz was empty again. June 2. John, may you can ask the ERT staff? (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, June 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Voice of Greece on 9420 at 0006 4 June in Greek. // 15650 -- faint as always but definitely there. Something on 7475 but I can't make it out (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HAWAII. 13650, KWHR came 'through' on May 31: around 0725 UT with station ID at 0727 UT, S=2-3 tiny signal, deep fades into Europe. But not every day, missed here June 1st and 2nd (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, June 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HUNGARY. Magyar Katolikus Rádió to test DRM on 810 kHz Magyar Katolikus Rádió (Hungarian Catholic Radio) will do some DRM tests on the next four Wednesdays (4, 11, 18 and 25 June) via their mediumwave transmitter at Lakihegy on 810 kHz at 1130-1330 and 2230- 0200 UT. Magyar Katolikus Rádió http://www.katolikusradio.hu/ (Source: DRM software radio forums)(June 3rd, 2008 - 14:09 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** INDIA. DD, AIR EMPLOYEES TO PROCEED ON 'TOOL DOWN' STRIKE TOMORROW http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200806021863.htm New Delhi (PTI): About 40,000 employees of Doordarshan (DD) and All India Radio (AIR) would proceed on a day-long 'tool down' strike on Tuesday on their demand for closure of Prasar Bharati and retention of its employees with the Centre. The employees also cite Prasar Bharati CEO B S Lalli's plans for mortgaging the public broadcaster's assets with banks for raising funds from the market as another reason behind their agitation. The employees' national federation also claims that Prasar Bharati management plans to hire people from outside to operate the highly secured areas of DD and AIR installations, which, they say, could infiltrate national security as these are prohibited for the public under Official Secrets Act 1923. During the strike, the employees would not perform activities like maintenance, servicing, logging and scripting that could affect the functioning of various television and radio stations across the country. The National Federation of Akashvani and Doordarshan Employees (NFADE) has written to Minister for Information and Broadcasting (I&B) P R Dasmunsi in this regard. NFADE also pointed out that Lalli had called its office bearers for a meeting last week with the aim of persuading them to call off their June 3 strike. NFADE chairman S Anilkumar told PTI that during the meeting, Lalli told them he was planning to mortgage some of Prasar Bharati's assets to raise funds from the market. Prasar Bharati currently functions through grant-in-aid from the Centre and funds generated through internal accruals. Official sources said that funds are a problem for Prasar Bharati as its expenses exceed its income. The employees had observed "work to rule" agitation on the issue between May 19 to May 23 (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, June 2, DXLD) or not: AIR, DD EMPLOYEES WITHDRAW PROPOSED 'TOOL DOWN' STRIKE http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200806031759.htm New Delhi (PTI): Doordarshan and All India Radio employees on Tuesday called off their proposed day-long 'tool down' strike after a meeting with Information and Broadcasting Minister P R Dasmunsi. The decision was taken after representatives of National Federation of Akashvani and Doordarshan Employees (NFADE) were assured by the Minister that their demand of retention of Prasar Bharati employees and its assets with the Centre would be looked into during the next Group of Ministers (GoM) meet. A senior Ministry official told PTI that the employees had met Dasmunsi late last evening. "They decided to call off their strike after the Minister assured them that all their grievances would be looked into during the next GoM meeting," the official said. The AIR and DD employees had on Monday threatened to go on a 'tool down' strike demanding fulfilment of the demands. Their talks with Prasar Bharati CEO B S Lalli late last month had failed to yield any result. NFADE chairman S Anilkumar claimed that the Minister had told them that the issues would be addressed "within two months" once the GoM is convened. "We have, therefore, decided to call off our strike as of now," he said. The Ministry official, however, said that the date for the GoM is yet to be decided (via Alokesh Gupta, June 3, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. No sign of VOI on 9525 or 9526 at 1348 check June 2. VOI back again on 9526, June 3 at 1332, mostly music during Korean hour; fair. Ditto June 4, romantic song at 1320 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1411, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. 13789.95, IRIB in Arabic is on odd frequency daily, noted around 0620 UT with S=4 signal (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, June 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. LAY-OFFS LOOM AHEAD AS IBA ADOPTS EFFICIENCY PLAN From the IBA's REKA (Immigrants Network) website: http://www.iba.org.il/reka/index.asp?classto=RekaInner&entity_code=425531&lang=English The Israel Broadcasting Authority's board has accepted the recommendations of management to cut 40 million shekels from the IBA's budget by the end of 2008. It was decided to implement a so-called efficiency plan, after indications that the IBA's deficit would reach 150 million shekels this year. Among other things, workers will be laid off, studios will be closed, and outside productions will be stopped. 03.06.2008 10:14 Full Hebrew article from the IBA Spokesperson's website: http://www.iba.org.il/spokesman/index.asp?classto=DoverInnerYedia&entity_code=426469 (Doni Rosenzweig, June 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ISRAEL BROADCASTING AUTHORITY TO SLASH NIS 40M FROM BUDGET The Israel Broadcasting Authority will trim its budget by some NIS 40 million (approx US$12 million) by the end of the year, it announced yesterday. The IBA’s executive board accepted management’s proposals to reduce the ever-growing deficit, which will be an estimated NIS 150 million by the end of December. Read the story in the Jerusalem Post: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1212041473271&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull (June 4th, 2008 - 11:40 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** KASHMIR [and non]. Re 8-066: AIR Kargil waves to go across border, 684 or 1584 kHz? 684 kHz as already mentioned in dx-india yg by Jose. Station already working but has been formally inaugurated last week. Regds (Alokesh Gupta, India, June 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) As a matter of fact, RNW first started using the Flevo transmitter site in 1985, but it was officially inaugurated at a ceremony in May 1987! I am not aware of any rule that says an inauguration ceremony has to take place within a certain time :-) (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) Agreed, but the stories give the impression that the station just now started operating with 200 instead of 1 kW, especially this one: ``On May 30, All India Radio, Kargil, was put on 200 kilowatt high power transmitter to broaden its reach to all the districts of the state and the northern areas under occupation of Pakistan. The station was presently functioning with a strength of only one kilowatt and there was a dire need to upgrade the station to propagate the regional culture and also to counter the propaganda from across the border.`` Did anyone actually notice by monitoring whether the power jumped up to 200 kW on May 30, which should suddenly have made it audible over wide areas, or was it really at 200 for a couple of years? Or what does ``presently`` mean? Which reminds me, `domestic MW DXing` in India seems to be unknown; anyway, I never see such log reports in dx_india or GRDXC groups. Perhaps everybody is too bored with AIR (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 9940, June 4 at 1318 with jamming pulses mixing with Korean. That`s North Korea Reform Radio, scheduled daily via Tainan, Taiwan, at 2 degrees, 1300-1330 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 11640, V. Wilderness 1334 31-5. Interview with a woman, talking her history and weeping strongly while talking. S5 mean 32333 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. Latvia Today seems to be regular now Sundays 1500-1600 on 9290 (Allen Dean, Lancashire, June World DX Club Contact via DXLD) It was, but then on June 1 switched to 1200-1300 (Mike Barraclough, ibid.) ** MALAYSIA. 15295, VoM at 0806 1-6 is now back. News in English and ID. Signal 3-5 and bad audio (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) They were missing? ** MALI. 5995, RTVM, *0555-0615, June 3, Guitar IS. National Anthem by military band at 0558. Flute IS at 0559 & into opening French ID announcements. Local tribal music at 0601. Weak. Poor with adjacent channel splatter (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. UNIDENTIFIED. 580, (MEXICO?); I was in south St. Petersburg May 31, and happened to have the ICF-7600GR with me, so I dropped in on Ft. DeSoto for a few minutes. Sitting on one of the green picnic benches in the shade -- on the edge of the water -- I pulled a signal west of central Cuba (nulling the only Florida station on 580, WDBO in Orlando). They would play (usually) two ranchera or Spanish ballads, then live Christian talk by male or (at one time) a young, crying female. Lots of mentions of "gloria" (which at first I thought was "Florida"). No ID anywhere near 1900 or 2000 GMT, and no commercials. The Mexican listed in the WRTVH-2008 is XEYI "Mix AM" from Cancún, allegedly relaying XHYI 93.1 MHz). Cursory Google search shows no good hits on these stations, at least that match a logged Christian format. So, could this be something domestic, Gulf of Mexico rim? Or a change in aforementioned Mexican station format? Anyone else? -- (Later, email reply from John Callarman, whose 2007 list at http://www.dxing.info/lists/Mexico_by_Frequency_2007.pdf contains excellent XE mediumwave details by-frequency and state): "The March edition of MPM and Fred Cantú's website still show XEYI as "Mix," parallel XHYI, but the URL for the XEYI/XHYI website no longer works. Apparently, México has eased up on its past restrictions about religious programming ... though the last time I checked XEVOZ-1590's website, (now "Luz," with Christian music) there was a paragraph that seemed to say this was not a religious station! Guadalajara on 920 runs Catholic programming, though, and XEM-850 in Chihuahua has been doing religious programming for several years now. Wish I had a network of listeners south of the border." (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO [and non]. XEXQ, 6045, barely audible June 2 as late as 1302 with classical guitar, then YL ID, only a bit of which I could pull between static crashes and fades, ``Radio Universidad``. Their inverted-V antenna is reported to have been lowered to near ground level, accounting for much attenuated outsending. I was also hearing a very weak warbling het, making me wonder if some Korean clandestine is also on there now provoking such jamming. 6045 is one of Shiokaze`s alternatives in the local mornings, but the evening broadcast, recently on 6020, is an hour later (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1411, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. VOA lost little time in glomming onto 9345 once RN relay in English to S Asia abandoned it between 1400 and 1600: June 3 at 1400 heard VOA Greenville 17530 announcing the hour`s frequencies, including 9345. Since May 19, Poro, Philippines has been on there at 1400-1530, Iranawila, Sri Lanka at 1530-1600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Cf 8-064 USA [non] ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI DRM 9885-9890-9895: Fabulous FM-like reception from Radio National on 9890 at 0543 UT Monday 2 June, with a Canadian icon --- Stuart MacLean's Vinyl Cafe! What a surprise. A solid 25 dB SNR. Never thought that the Vinyl Cafe was heard anywhere else but on the CBC! (Volodya Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RNZI DRM colliding with CUBA: q.v. ** NEW ZEALAND. Responding to an earlier query from Dave Onley, I have measured the nominal 3935 outlet of the Radio Reading Service from Levin, ZLXA, as being on 3935.075 kHz at present (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, New Zealand, 0243 UT June 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. Pirate. 6850.78, MAC Shortwave, 0130-0141*, June 1, theme music from old TV shows & old commercial jingles. IDs. Yahoo e- mail address. Sign off with National Anthem. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DFing from the air: see RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM ** OKLAHOMA. OKLAHOMA STORMS: LIGHTNING STRIKES TOWER With the Oklahoma storms, comes lots of lightning. Lightning struck our Nowata tower and it has suffered pretty severe damage. This affects all of our listeners in the Tulsa and surrounding areas, 107.5 [full power], 107.3 [Tulsa translator fed by 107.5], and 101.9 [Okmulgee translator fed by 107.5 --- ought to be able to pick up 91.7 direct as backup --- gh]. We are working on repairing this problem but right now, do not have an estimation for when the repairs are complete. You can always listen online at http://kosu.org We will keep you posted, and thank you for the listener calls coming in, letting us know you are missing the station! (KOSU e-Newsletter June 2 via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. Updated summer A-08 of Radio Pakistan: [WRONG: see below] BANGLA 0115-0200 on 9380.4 1200-1245 on 9340.4 CHINESE 1200-1300 on 9385 11570 DARI 1430-1530 on 6060.4 ENGLISH [see below!] 1100-1105 on 15100 17835 1600-1615 on 9385 11565 15625.4 GUJARATI 0400-0430 on 9380.4 HINDI 0215-0300 on 9380.4 1030-1130 on 9340.4 PASHTO 1300-1400 on 6065.4 PERSIAN 1700-1800 on 7500.4 URDU 0045-0215 on 11580 15480 0500-0700 on 15100 17835 0830-1100 on 15100 17835 1330-1530 on 9385 11565 1700-1900 on 7530 9390 1915-0045 on 6065.4 Islamabad px (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, June 3 via DXLD) Has all this been confirmed by monitoring, as the split frequencies might imply? We already had a report that the English at 1100 had shifted one UT hour earlier to 1000 due to unanticipated DST from June 1, suggesting that the entire external service schedule might have as well. Please check at 1500 to see if the other English broadcast is on then, instead of 1600, and check then too to reconfirm (Glenn Hauser, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1411, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No trace of English here at 1600-1615. But I'm hearing Urdu at this time on 7530 (which used to start at 1700). So it`s probably all one hour earlier now (Dave Kenny, UK, ibid.) Re: Pakistan & Morocco on DST - one hour earlier shift from June 1. Sorry, read your mail too late. Checked at 1600 and 1700 UT. The only transmission from RP noted here is 7530 kHz, started Urdu at 1600 UT, now with S=9+20 dB strong signal til - seemingly - 1800 UT. No RP \\ broadcast noted, neither 2nd Urdu channel close to 9385-9390, nor Farsi around 7500v kHz. 9390 was covered by RL Uzbek scheduled from Udorn-THA 1600-1700 UT. Tentative co-channel interference now, when one hour earlier shift?: BANGLA 0115-0200 on 9380.4 tent. Almaty TWR Bengali Fri-Sun co-ch HINDI 1030-1130 on 9340.4 QRM KCBS 9345 PASHTO 1300-1400 on 6065.4 QRM KBS Chinese co-ch URDU 0045-0215 on 11580 15480 11580 QRM RFA U-B Vietnamese co-ch 15480 QRM RFA Saipan Mandarin co-ch 1330-1530 on 9385 11565 QRM VOA UDO Pashto 9380 QRM YFR TWN 11560, KTWR GUM 11570 1700-1900 on 7530 9390 QRM RL UDO Uzbek 9390 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, June 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The times quoted immediately above are the old non-shifted ones. It is totally irresponsible for a SW broadcaster to shift all its programming an hour earlier on same frequencies without considering the interference impact on everyone else who are not shifting (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, Pakistan has shifted 1 hour. Am hearing their Urdu/English at 0730-1005 UT (ex. 0830-1105). Haven't checked Morocco. 73, (Erik Køie, Copenhagen, June 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) As other correspondents have noted, Radio Pakistan has shifted all transmissions forward by one hour - presumably as of June 1st. The split frequencies are via faulty 100 kW unit API-3, except Urdu at 1915-0045 - now at 1815-2345 - which is via API-4. This unit is used at other times to broadcast domestically the Current Affairs programme, and which should now air at 0100-0300 on 5940 and 1200-1700 on 4835. Other external transmissions are via 250kW units API-5 & 6. The Chinese service now at 1100-1200 has changed frequency from 11570 to 11510 // 9385. World Service in Urdu to West Europe at new time 1600-1800 will need a new frequency on 9 MHz to avoid a clash with R. Liberty in Uzbek on 9390 via Udorn at 1600-1700 - as pointed out by Wolfy. 7530 continues. (Noel R. Green (NW England), June 4, ibid.) English news at 1000-1004 UT, Urdu ID at 1004:50 UT. 1005:03 UT Pakistan Sindabad, Hymn. Close down 17835 1006:20, 15100 1006:30 UT. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, June 4, ibid.) ** PERU. 4990.9, RADIO MANANTIAL. Huancayo. 2300-2320 mayo 31. Anuncios de las Fiestas del Señor y la Cosecha. Anuncios de Casa de la Biblia y web en somosmanantial.com ID: "...Transmite para Huancayo, Manantial Radio, señal cadena de milagros..." 5039.4, RADIO LIBERTAD. Junín. *1055-1115 junio 1. No Himno Nacional. Solo melodía folclórica "...desde las gloriosas pampas de Junín, testigos históricos de la batalla que consolidó la independencia peruana, ésta es la señal de Radio Libertad... su siempre nueva radio..." Luego programa: La Voz del Rio Macho. Informativo de la municipalidad distrital de Ullcumayo 5120.1, ONDAS DEL SURORIENTE. Quillabamba. 2207-2230 mayo 31. Retransmitiendo a RPP Noticias con el Gran Resumen de la Hora y Enfoque Deportivo. Luego de las 2215 con programación musical. "...Ondas del Suroriente 96.5 frecuencia modulada..." Luego a las 0235* con Cierre: "Ondas del Suroriente finaliza sus transmisiones correspondientes al día de hoy en sus tres frecuencias; FM 94.5*; amplitud modulada 1400 kHz; onda corta 5070 kHz en la banda de 60 metros; ésta ha sido nuestra programación con música, cultura, información y diversión, [esperamos que] hayan sido de su completo agrado y disfrutado de la magia y el sonido de Ondas del Suroriente. Felices sueños y un alegre despertar, siempre con ondas del Suroriente, la emisora que llega más...." [this one in WORLD OF RADIO 1411] *Hay diferencia en la frecuencia que mencionan en la identificaciones y el cierre. [and in the SW announced and axual frequencies! gh] 5486.6, EMISORA REINA DE LA SELVA. Chachapoyas. 1110-1125 junio 2. Música folclórica y anuncios de Transportes Montenegro, Bar restaurante El Chullo y Agroven. Al dar la hora: "...6 con 15 de la mañana, Reina de la Selva y el mañanero..." 6047.1, tentativo, RADIO SANTA ROSA. Lima. 0225-0231 junio 2. Música folclórica y anuncios de presentaciones de artistas. Fuerte QRM de HCJB en 6050 (Rafael Rodriguez R., Bogotá, Colombia, June 2, Sony ICF 2010, Winradio G303I, JRC 525, Antenas Hilos largos de varias longitudes, playdx yg via DXLD) Another log below ** PERU [and non]. BANDSCAN: 4824.49, La Voz de la Selva, Iquitos strong signal, 2300 and 1045; had been silent four days. 3 and 4 June. 4828, Zimbabwe, ZBC 2250 noted with fair signal, while looking for 4826 Radio Sicuani which seems silent, as is 4834 Radio Marañon, Jaen. 3 June. 4857.39, Radio La Hora, Cusco at 2250, good signal, never noted 1000 to 1130. 4974.82, Radio del Pacífico, Lima 1044 to 1100. 4990.95, Radio Manantial, Huancayo, weak and distorted, 2300. 5039.21, Radio Libertad, Junín, 1055, good signal. Never noted 2230 to 0100 here. 5470.66, Radio San Nicolás, San Nicolás, 2240-2300, OM and music 5486.65, Radio Reyna de la Selva, Chachapoyas 1030 and 2250 on June 3 6019.65, Radio Victoria, Lima YL at 2300, signal in the clear 3 June 6047.14, tentative, Radio Santa Rosa, Lima, strong carrier with no audio. Have programming on other occasions. 3 June. 73s, (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, South Flórida, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Santa Rosa de Lima is a patron saint, I guess, also as in New Mexico town (gh, DXLD) ** PERU. 6020, R. Victoria, Lima; June 1, Spanish, 2222 religious talks, 2227 instrumental music, 2232 outside talks “...grupos del evangelización...”(*), 2236-2239 return of religious studio talks, mentioned “Lima” and “Peru”. From 2236, significant signal enhancement 22322. (*) In this outside presumed reportage, could be heard two male voices talking when suddenly started, what sounded like many hard coughs presumed from the two males maybe more there, for some 5 seconds. Then the announcer in the studio said something like “interrompemos la reportage por problemas técnicos...”. 5025, R Quillabamba, Quillabamba; June 1, Spanish, 2244-2252 “en la ciudad del Quillabamba. ..” OM sports talks “ 0x0 en Santa Rosa...”. In a battle against Cuba, from 2252 Quillabamba started to lose, 22322 (Lucio Otavio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. RRI Tiganeshti solved their 2nd transmitter problem on June 1 at 2100 UT. Today June 2nd noted French 1000-1056 on two channels again, 11830 and 15380, as well as German at 1000 UT on 9525 and 11775 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, June 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7185, Radio Romania Int'l; 2201-2209+, 30-May; English news to ID at 2208 then commentary on Romania-Turkmenistan pact. SIO=433, ARO QRM (Harold Frodge, MI, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Noted on 4 June on 9775 at 0020 with business news in English. Fair as usual but clear. 73/Liz (Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 5920, Radio Rossii, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, 1000-1031, June 2 With a pretty good signal this Monday morning, noted a period of news and features in the Russian Language. Periodically a canned ID was let loose as "Radio Rossii" by a female and other times by a male. At 1028, a tune by Neal Young was heard. Signal was good (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No problem from WBOH, 5920, aimed 170 degrees toward you, or was it off? See USA (gh, DXLD) ** SAO TOME. cf. DXLD 8-056: PFC QSL card directly from IBB São Tomé Relay Station in Portuguese is shown in my homepage http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~BCLSWL/QSL0806.html (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, June 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) V/s Henry I. Briley III, Director Interino; address: IBB Estação de Transmissão, C. P. 522, São Tomé, São Tomé e Príncipe. Date: 18/4/08. With IBB São Tomé rubber stamp bearing US Seal (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) A bunch of mistakes in the writing, which the IBB should amend: Silly IBB version: "Confirmamos sua recepção de nossa estação de Retransmissão de IBB em Sao Tome... do (data) ... na frecüência de ....kHz à ... horas de UTC." Correct version, but not the single option: "Confirmamos a sua recepção da nossa estação retransmissora da "IBB" em São Tomé e Príncipe, em (data)..., na frequência de ... kHz, às ... horas HUC [hora universal coordenada]" 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. BSKSA, ``The Buzz``, 11915, June 2 at 2128, with no intelligible audio, but could only hear it spreading plus/minus 5, or maybe a kHz more to the hi side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTNEING DIGEST) At least two of the 500 kW Riyadh transmitters were defective as of deadline; instead of audio they transmit a loud buzzing tone. On May 29 I monitored the 1600-1800 transmission on 15205. The buzzing tone was monitored from 14560 to 16130; for most of this range the buzzing was continuous turning into ignition-like spikes for the last 100 kHz or so. It effectively made the entire 15 MHz broadcasting band unusable here. I then monitored the transmission 1800-2300 on 11915, presumably the same transmitter, buzzing noted between 11710 and 12360. On May 31, 15205 was similar when first checked 1600, had clear audio on 1700 re-check but when moved to 11915 was buzzing again at 1920. The 15435 transmitter was also buzzing at 1620, spreading 15427 to 15440 (Mike Barraclough, England, June World DX Club Contact via WORLD OF RADIO 1411, DXLD) Completely wiped out the 19 metre band again yesterday as it's beamed straight at us. At the moment there's a mixture of buzz and audio and it's only spreading 15197 to 15211 but on past experience it could spread more any minute! Saudi Arabian Radio and Television is a member of the HFCC so I emailed some observations to info @ hfcc.org on Friday and asked them to contact them with a view to getting them taking the transmitters off the air for repair. The email bounced, "permission denied. Command output: maildrop: maildir over quota." Tried again today and it's not bounced back. My email concluded: Clearly the continued operation of these transmitters is against your main objective of efficient and economical use of the short-wave radio spectrum, and the improvement of radio reception of short-wave broadcast transmissions world-wide (Mike Barraclough, England, June 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) If this racket had landed in a hamband there would have been hell to pay, with the DARC/Intruder Watchers jumping on it. No one is looking out for the interests of SW broadcasting, without some prodding, and I am glad you are doing it (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1411, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA [non]. IRS, 6190, June 2 at 2358 with IS in the clear, tho weak; this is worst time of year to try to reach very far into NAm from Europe so long before sunset on 49m. Hope it`s better to the east. Yes: Brian Alexander in Pennsylvania was listening at the same time and says it was very good there. But the Croatians have the right idea, using 9 MHz via Germany, inbooming here on 9925 at same time. June 3 at 0002 could tell 6190 had English news; some ACI from music on XEPPM 6185, but avoidable by sidetuning upward and certainly a great improvement over head-on collision which it was doing for the first two months of A-08 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1411, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Via Bosnia-Herzegovina. 6190 NF, International Radio Serbia, 2328- 0010+ ,June 2-3, new frequency. ex-6185. Tune-in to lite instrumental music. Talk in Serbian at 2330. English programming at 0000 with IDs. English news, commentary. Very good signal. Tnx to Glenn Hauser tip in DXLD (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA [non]. BOSNIA/SERBIA Frequency change of International Radio Serbia from May 30 2330-2358 NF 6190 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg NCAm, ex 6185* Serbian Mon-Sat 2330-0028 NF 6190 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg NCAm, ex 6185* Serbian Sun 0000-0028 NF 6190 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg NCAm, ex 6185* English Mon-Sat 0100-0128 NF 6190 BIJ 250 kW / 325 deg to NoAm, ex 6185* in English * to avoid Radio Educación from México in Spanish (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, June 3 via DXLD) As already in DXLD; in fact QSY upon our recommendation (gh) ** SINGAPORE. RADIO SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL TO CLOSE http://www.straitstimes.com/print/Latest+News/Singapore/STIStory_244013.html RADIO Singapore International (RSI), the shortwave service run by MediaCorp Radio, is shutting down at the end of next month. The station, which was set up in February 1994, broadcasts to the region in four languages, including English, Chinese, Malay and Bahasa Indonesia. It has a following in countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and China. MediaCorp said in a press release on Tuesday that the effectiveness of a shortwave radio service has 'diminished over time with changing technology and media consumption habits'. While FM radio broadcast has remained strong, audiences are turning to a plethora of alternative channels for their news, such as Internet radio and the Internet, said its spokesman. More people around the region are also tuning into MediaCorp's Channel NewsAsia (International) feed for news and information on global developments with Asian perspectives and hence it is 'not optimal to continue with a full regional radio service'. The majority of RSI's listeners, particularly those from its popular Chinese service, are middle-aged and older. Although it offers a mix of infotainment and music programmes on top of its news and current affairs line-up, industry sources say RSI has been unable to attract young listeners in recent years and that could be one reason for its demise. All RSI staff, which number about 50, will be redeployed to other areas such as TV news and scriptwriting (Straits Times via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) ** SLOVAKIA. New transmission of NEXUS-IBA IRRS Shortwave in English to SoAs/FE from June 1: 1400-1430 on 15725 RSO 150 kW / 095 deg Sunday only. NO SIGNAL ON JUNE 1!!! (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, June 3 via DXLD) See also SUDAN [non] ** SOMALIA [non]. 13685, IRIN starting with a string chord, ID as IRIN in a language sounding as Arabic. Many mentions of Sudan. At 0833 1-6 heard voices from many people. Sudden TV sounded jamming across all bands with S7 level (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 13685 IRIN RADIO 0830-0845 1234567 Somali 250 225 Dhabbaya UAE 05415E 2410N IRIN a08 May 13- (Aoki via DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 5109.9, WBCQ Monticello ME (presumed); 0340, 4-June; Bro. Scare sez that he will accomplish more by dying than by living. See 7415 log. Seems like I've heard all this stuff from bin Laden. SIO=554+ 7415, WBCQ Monticello ME (presumed); 2139, 2-June; Bro. Scare sez that anyone who sez he loves God, but doesn't condemn the world is a liar. Sounds like Christian terrorist stuff to me. SIO=4+54 (Harold Frodge, MI, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. 11905, SLBC, 12143 [sic; 1143?] 31-5 with Tamil songs. At 1158 with old Hindis. At 1200 ID, then Hindi songs of 60's. S3-4, 24332 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. SSIRI, via Meyerton, S Africa, Monday June 2 at 1309 on 15390 with usual condescending English lessons, frequent 2-tone doorbell sounds, noticed at first because it was underneath open carrier and occasional tones, probably Greenville testing for much later Creole broadcast at 1630, but that went off shortly. Then found more SSIRI on another new frequency via RSA, 15485, sounding like same show, but not //. Doesn`t this confuse the recipients? Did not try to figure out if same show but not synchronized, or two different episodes. Both of these are scheduled M/W/F only, at azimuths of 7 and 5 degrees, respectively, both to CIRAF 53W and 48. But zone 53 extends only as far north as Tanzania, nothing of Sudan, while 48 covers i.a. the eastern half of Sudan, including the southern tip (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. SLOVAKIA [see also]. Frequency change of Miraya FM Radio in English/Arabic to Sudan: 1500-1800 NF 15650*RSO 150 kW / 160 deg, ex 9825. Very good signal in BUL! *strong co-channel Voice of Oromiya Independence in Oromo/Amharic on Sat via WER (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, June 3 via WORLD OF RADIO 1411, DXLD) As already in DXLD 15650, Miraya FM, 1502 31-5 with hilife song in English. Canned ID at 1505 by man, fadeout 1517 but 1523 with again good signal, S9+10 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SURINAME. 4990, Radio Apintie, Paramaribo fair signal at 2250-2300, om Dutch (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, S Flórida, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** SWAZILAND. 4775, TWR Africa. Manzini, Swazilandia. 0500-0515 junio 2. "...Trans World Radio Africa... it's 7 am and this is your friendly voice in Africa, Trans world Radio, good morning..." Mencionan dirección postal y electrónica. Luego programa evangélico (Rafael Rodriguez R., Bogotá, Colombia, June 2, Sony ICF 2010, Winradio G303I, JRC 525, Antenas Hilos largos de varias longitudes, playdx yg via DXLD) ** TURKEY [and non]. On 3 June, I noted V of Turkey on 5975 at 0300 with a good signal. Presumed VOT on 7325 with DRM same time. At 0354 heard analog IS under DRM. A couple of French IDs, then both transmitters off at 0359. Analog back on with Arabic at 0400. DRM does not obliterate everything, contrary to what I previously thought, but it's still annoying. 73/Liz (Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Liz, So do you think Sackville was running both DRM and AM on 7325? Their DRM transmitter has been known to slip into DRM when it was supposed to be in AM (IIRC this happened with Sweden relay on 15240), but both at same time? No DRM scheduled anywhere around 7325. If DRM did not obliterate AM, that may be because it was in hybrid mode, either deliberately or by mistake. I assume by Arabic at 0400 you are referring to 7325, which is BBC via Rampisham, since RN Bonaire starts Dutch at 0400 on 5975 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, I heard DRM only at 0300 and for a few minutes thereafter. At 0354 I heard both DRM and analog and analog only at 0400. So yes, at one point they were running both modes (Liz Cameron, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. A 10 minute film on the construction and start of the Droitwich transmitter in 1934, Droitwich The World's Most Modern Long Wave Transmitter, has recently been uploaded to YouTube by the bbceng.info site. The film was contributed to BBCeng as a result of help from Neil Wilson of the Washford Radio Museum, John Phillips, Jeff Cant and Dave Porter. The original film was 14 minutes long but it has been edited down to just under 10 minutes by Martin Ellen in order to avoid having to split it before uploading to YouTube. The commentary has not been cut, but some relatively unimportant scenes have been shortened (e.g. a bucket being hauled up the side of the building). [A new version will be uploaded in due course as a few short gaps in the sound appeared after rendering!] Sound by E.A. Pawley, who later became editor of the book BBC Engineering 1922-1972. The YouTube link for the film is: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7hr4xwpZYJ0 Very good article on Droitwich at: http://www.bbceng.info/Operations/transmitter_ops/Reminiscences/Droitwich/droitwich_calling.htm (Mike Barraclough, England, June 3, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. VOA DOMESTICALLY DISSEMINATED AGAIN --- Raleigh Chronicle reprints Voice of America story about the World Health Organization urging governments to ban all tobacco advertising around the world. Raleigh Chronicle, 1 June 2008. See also VOA News, 31 May 2008 (from http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=4147 via WORLD OF RADIO 1411, DXLD) Gartner v. USIA ruled that VOA cannot distribute its materials within the United States, but any U.S. media operation can, of its own accord, use VOA material. U.S. newspapers, cutting down on foreign correspondents and bureaus, might be tempted to tap the VOA website, generally unencumbered by copyright issues, for their foreign coverage. See previous post about same subject. Posted: 02 Jun 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) VOA BETHANY: see MUSEA ** U S A [non]. Something in S Asian language, mentioning Bangladesh, fair on 15790, June 2 until abrupt 1359* in mid-word. EiBi shows: 15790 1400-1500 USA VoA Radio Aap ki Dunyaa UR SAs /KWT But this is a service which has just shifted one UT hour earlier due to unforeseen DST in Pakistan, as in DXLD 8-066. Aoki already has it changed to: 15790 VOICE OF AMERICA 1300-1400 1234567 Urdu 250 70 Kuwait KWT 4741E2931N IBB (R Aap Ki Duniya) a08 Jun. 1 However, when the time changed on June 1, the site also changed from Kuwait to Sri Lanka (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Frequency changes for Voice of America: Radio Aap Ki Dunyaa in Urdu from June 1: 0000-0100 on 7135 IRA, 11755 IRA >>> new txion 0100-0200 on 7145 IRA, 11805 UDO >>> cancelled 1300-1400 on 9340 KWT/UDO, 15790 IRA, new txion 1400-1500 on 9510 UDO, 15790 KWT >>> cancelled Deewa Radio in Pashto from June 1: 1200-1300 on 7445 UDO, 9310 KWT, 9380 IRA/UDO, 9780 IRA >>> new txion 1800-1900 on 7445 IRA, 9310 KWT/UDO, 9380 UDO, 9780 UDO/KWT, cancelled VOA Kurdish from May 29: 1900-2000 NF 12030 LAM 100 kW / 104 deg, ex 11745 to avoid VO Russia French Ukrainian from June 4: 2000-2030 NF 7170 BIB 100 kW / 088 deg, ex 7230 Mon-Fri 2000-2015 NF 7170 BIB 100 kW / 088 deg, ex 7230 Sat/Sun (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, June 3 via DXLD) ** U S A. Updated summer A-08 of World Harvest Radio: WHRI Angel 1 1300-1800 on 9495 1800-1900 on 17520 Mon-Fri 1800-1900 on 9495 Sat/Sun 1900-2000 on 9495 DXWC 1930 Sat 2000-2100 on 17650 VOBI Fri 2000-2100 on 9495 Sat-Thu 2100-2300 on 7385 2300-1300 on 7315 DXWC 0130 & 0430 Sat; 0330 Sun WHRI Angel 2 0000-0300 on 7385 0300-0400 on 6110 Mon-Fri 0300-0400 on 7385 Sat/Sun 0400-0700 on 7365 0700-0900 on 11565 Mon-Fri 0700-0900 on 5875 Sat/Sun 0900-1000 on 5875 1000-1200 on 9425 1200-1300 on 9410 BBCS Mon-Fri 1300-2000 on 9840 2000-2200 on 15665 2200-2400 on 9615 KWHR Angel 3 0100-0500 on 17800 JAP# 0430 Sat 0500-0800 on 13650 JAP* 0500 Sun 0800-1200 on 9930 JAP* 0800 Sat 1200-1300 on 12130 HMAR 1200 Wed 1300-1400 on 9930 Mon-Fri 1300-1400 on 12130 Sat/Sun 1400-1800 on 9930 SOHR 1400 Mon-Sat; DXWC 1500 Sun KWHR Angel 4 0500-1100 on 11565 DXWC 0500 Sun WHRA Angel 5 0500-0700 on 7490 Sat/Sun 1200-1400 on 15710 Sat/Sun 1400-1600 on 15195 Sat/Sun RUS# 1530 Sun 1600-1800 on 17520 1800-2000 on 17690 DETE 1900 Mon; VOMD 1800 Thu/Fri 2000-2100 on 7520 Mon-Fri 2000-2100 on 11885 Sat/Sun 2100-2300 on 11885 2300-0500 on 5850 DXWC 0230 Sat/Sun; RUS* 0300 Sun WHRI Angel 6 0000-0700 on 5875 0700-1300 on 7385 DXWC 1000 Sun 1300-2400 on 11785 HMLR 1300 Sat/Sun; DXWC 1430 Sat/Sun; 1830 Sat; HWCR 1400 Sat BBCS=BBC in Spanish (60 min.) DETE=Demitse Tewahedo in Amharic (60 min.) DXWC=DXing With Cumbre in English (30 min.) HMAR=Hoa-Mai Radio in Vietnamese (30 min.) HMLR=Hmong Lao Radio in Lao (60 min.) HWCR=Hmong World Christian Radio (30 min.) JAP#=Japanese txions (30 min.) JAP*=Japanese txions (60 min.) RUS#=Russian txions (30 min.) RUS*=Russian txions (60 min.) SOHR=Sound of Hope Radio in Chinese (180 min.) VOBI=Voice of Biafra International in Ibo (60 min.) VOMD=Voice of Meselina [sic] Delina in Tigrinya (30 min.) (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, June 3 via DXLD) Tnx for trying to make some sense of WHR`s increasingly complex schedule; however, as I have reported repeatedly, A6 11785 is not really on the air straight through between 1300 and 2400 seven days a week. There are likely to be other deviations from the published schedules! Like 11750 instead of 11785 for HMLR as I monitored it June 1 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: ** U S A [and non]. Unlike Sunday with Hmong Lao Radio, no sign of WHRI/Angel 6 on 11750, or 11785, Monday June 2 at 1315 check; but differing weekday skeds are de rigueur for them. Still nothing on either at 1724 recheck. As of June 2, the Angel 6 program schedule shows 11785 off the air for maintenance M-F at 1300-1600 but listed expendable LeSEA fill programs are also missing after that; and still claims to be using 11785 Sat/Sun 13-14 for HLR. BTW, without Cypress Creek on 11750, BBCWS, English via Thailand at 25 degrees, was audible poorly at 1349, and I recall it can be listenable on good FE mornings, so no doubt BBC would prefer to have it blocked in NAm. No such luck today (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1411, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WHRI, tho scheduled at least from 1600 on Angel 6, 11785, was not to be heard before 2100, but it was on at 2127 check June 2, so perhaps came on at 2100. Also ran across WHRI on 9615, which is Angel 2, June 2 at 2211 when Peter Sumrall asserted he was standing in front of his TV station in Tulsa, KWHB-47, ``here in Central Oklahoma``. The poor guy is not only religiously, but geographically challenged (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 11785, WHRI, World Harvest Radio, Cypress Creek SC; 1824, 3- June; Pop religious music to full English ID at 1829. SIO=554, splattering all the way down to Dead Dr. Gene pontificating from Anguilla on 11775 (Harold Frodge, MI, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U S A. 15855 with open carrier and continuous squeal, typical for WEWN`s defective transmitter, June 2 at 1359 just before starting modulation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Tuesday June 3 at 0637 I was surprised to hear Russian on 5920, so is it R. Rossii, Kamchatka, scheduled 22 hours a day? But the signal is too strong, and no QRM from WBOH. In fact, the modulation is crummy, so it must be WBOH! Yes, on their schedule M-F at 0635 for 5 minutes is ``The Spoken Word of God – in Russian``, 0640-0700 not being accounted for. But at 0639 went to kids` hymn in English with piano accompaniment, and clinching the ID, // WTJC 9370; 0641 ``How Great Thou Art,`` in English, not ``Kak Tebya Lid`` (sp?) as I used to hear it rendered in Russian on HCJB. The weekday program schedule at http://www.fbnradio.com/new_page_copy(1).htm does not flag any other programming during the 24 hours as not being in English. Nothing on Saturday either, but on Sunday there are quarter-hours of Spanish ``Word of Life`` at 1000 and UT Monday 0030. The schedule must be in EDT of UT-4, tho not specified by this so- called international broadcaster. In winter it would be UT -5. I just lucked into the Russian bit, but I had been wondering about Chuck Bolland`s log of RUSSIA, q.v. on 5920 at 1000 Monday June 2, with no mention of WBOH QRM, even tho it is aimed 170 degrees toward him, but he did report R. Rossii IDs (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1411, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9369.94, WTJC, Bible reading program in English, with S=4 signal at 0605 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, June 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. WRMI has done some work on the NW antenna at 317 degrees for 9955, and testing it June 2 so I check for any improvement: As usual before 1400, when on 160 degree antenna and/or in Spanish, nothing but DentroCuban jamming audible. 1408 tune-in, R. Prague relay, good in English, steady S9+17 but with periodic deep fades, quite readable. I would say this is an improvement, but still fighting high noise level on the band, at least around here. Contest promo in mailbag, later Letter from Prague, and music, so this is obviously the Sunday program played back on Monday. Firedrake and KWHR/Sound of Hope were stronger and clearer on 9930, while PPP on WWCR 9980 was as usual inblasting, and by 1428 was overloading the FRG-7 receiver with E/W longwire, even when tuned to 9955. WRMI has improved, but the modulation isn`t up to the signal level. Needs audio processing to get the most out of what signal is available. Maybe this is not possible on the old Wilkinson ex-Clarín transmitter? 1429, R. Prague outro in English, more music, and I hoped that the totally out-of-place announcement of R. Prague`s complete transmission schedule in French had been deleted --- but no, they were just running a few minutes late as usual, for at 1431-1433 we got the IS and irrelevant French sked, contact info in French, but it was cut off before completed in the middle of the URL, at 1433 for WRMI half- minute ID. Idea: if R. Prague can`t get its act together and make the half-hour in English totally in English, why not do it for them, inserting an English transmission schedule announcement instead? Or leave it out to get back on time. 1433:30 Italian DX program. [Jeff replies: see CZECHIA] Reception deteriorated slightly and steadily during the following semihour, probably more due to increasing daytime absorption than anything else. Judging from neighbor WYFR reception, WRMI would do much better on 11 MHz or higher during the daytime, but I suppose 9955 is the best compromise if only one frequency must be used 24 hours. At 1500 a het appeared from a carrier on 9956, detracting further from WRMI reception. What could this be? Aoki already has the answer, which I had not noticed before: 9956 FAMILY RADIO 1500-1700 1234567 Russian 100 352 Tainan TWN 12038E 2311N WYFR a08 This is certainly not the frequency published in YFR`s A-08 Taiwan schedule as in DXLD 8-027, ``9955``. Why in the world did they shift one kHz? The signal is too weak here to be noticeable against WRMI if it were on 9955. At 1502 it sounded like a prayer in Spanish from WRMI, not sure how that got in there; ID, then 1503 DX Partyline. Recheck at 1608, WRMI weaker and unreadable, but the 9956 carrier was still detectable too, gone at 1724 recheck, as scheduled. I at first thought the QRM must be KHBN Palau which is known to share 9955, and HFCC has it on the air at this time, instead of YFR/Taiwan. FCC May 6 update also shows KHBN on 9955 at 08-17. HFCC also has KHBN on 9955, not YFR/Taiwan on 9955 or 9956, so those going by HFCC may not be aware of it. EiBi May 29 update has neither KHBN nor YFR/Taiwan on 9955. There have been indications recently that KHBN/T8BZ listings include a lot of wooden registrations, so this may be another case of that. Further chex of WRMI 9955 on June 2: must be over midday-absorption hump, for at 1950 UT, reception had improved so that WRN programming in English was intelligible. For those who would like to hear the stations lucky enough to get such a SW relay in NAm, without even asking for it, from http://www.wrn.org/listeners/schedules/schedule.php?ScheduleID=2 here is the schedule between 16 and 21 UT M-F: 1600 Radio New Zealand International: Korero Pacifica 1615 Vatican Radio 1630 Radio Slovakia International 1700 Polish Radio External Service 1730 Channel Africa: Africa Rise and Shine [at 7:30 pm local???] 1800 RTE Ireland "Drivetime" 1830 Radio Prague 1900 Radio Sweden 1930 Radio Australia 2000 Polish Radio 2030 KBS World Radio (Korea) Checked again at 2107, ``welcome back to Overnight AM``, as if they were just coming back from a break instead of starting the show, talking about ``the paranormal community``; signal a bit better than in the morning, now hitting S9+20. So the refurbished NAm antenna (is it really still at 317 degrees?), seems to be a definite improvement. Listeners to the NW of Miami with decent equipment and motivation may be able to listen to WRMI programs without too much strain. WRMI was scheduled to switch back to 160 degree antenna at 0000 UT so I retuned at 2357, but must have been too late, as not audible at all. With BFO engaged, about 15 seconds after 0000 heard weak carrier come on, but when I switched to AM it was obviously grinding from the DentroCuban Jamming Command, even tho WRMI is supposed to have English religion on at this hour, unworthy of jamming, or has that changed? Schedule grid at http://www.wrmi.net/images/wrmichart.xls still hasn`t been updated to show Overnight AM, M-F at 21-24, and the mostly Prague and DX shows of 22-24 shifted to 01-03, all of which happened a few weeks ago. Still nothing but jamming audible June 3 at 0006 when I gave up (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1411, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Checking WRMI, 9955, June 3: DentroCuban Jamming Command grind went off at 1401*; WRMI came on with R. Prague in English a semi-minute later, but only poor signal. At 1959, 9955 was JBA with fades but WRN ID heard (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 8-066: Antenna farm closure, Tracy California I read this as a continuance of other things governmental occurring in the immediate vicinity. Notably the two articles below. Tracy is becoming a more suburban community, changing from the rural destination it has been. It would appear that the encroachment of population is having an effect. http://www.tinyurl.com/3w8urx is a look at layoffs from nearby Lawrence Livermore Labs recently. This is a news article posted from a yahoo link; it might be temporary. http://www.sprol.com/?p=369 is a rather eyebrow-raising article on what lies to the South and West of town and what`s been going on there. Now about that antenna farm on Lawrence Livermore property: that wasn't revealed in the above articles either. It does seem plausible that secure communications is a good candidate. Nonetheless, the gov'ment hand in the immediate area is quite obvious at certain levels (Paul Shaffer, Cheshire, CT, June 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) "The subject site was used as a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) antenna field in the 1960's, with the use discontinuing in 1981. FAA antennas remain on the site. " see below. vy73 wb pages 9, 10, and 11 on http://snipurl.com/2do7x [search_ci_tracy_ca_us] http://www.ci.tracy.ca.us/government/ click on Site Search, search for "Antenna" City Council Minutes 9 July 18, 2006 APPROVE A PURCHASE AGREEMENT FOR ACQUISITION OF 200 ACRES LOCATED ON SCHULTE ROAD BETWEEN LAMMERS ROAD AND HANSEN ROAD APN 209-230-03, ALSO KNOWN AS THE ANTENNA FARM PROPERTY FROM THE FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, BUREAU OF PRISONS, FOR THE PURCHASE PRICE OF $950,000, AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE THE PURCHASE AGREEMENT AND AUTHORIZE THE CITY CLERK AND MAYOR TO EXECUTE THE QUITCLAIM DEEDS - Andrew Malik, Economic Development Director, presented the staff report. Mr. Malik indicated the purchase of the Antenna Farm property, approximately 200 acres of land located on Schulte Road between Lammers Road and Hansen Road, represents the culmination of many years of analysis, negotiations and planning with regard to public recreational uses for the subject site. The purchase agreement represents the final step to site acquisition and subsequent construction of public facilities. The subject site is approximately 200 acres and currently owned by the Federal Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons. The subject site is located along Schulte Road between Lammers Road and Hansen Road on the west side of the community. The site adjoins the Delta Mendota Canal, a surface-water transport canal that provides San Joaquin Delta water to agricultural and municipal users in the Central Valley, and a railroad line to the south. The subject site was used as a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) antenna field in the 1960's, with the use discontinuing in 1981. FAA antennas remain on the site. The property, once conveyed to the City, will include approximately 150 acres of recreational uses; i.e., football, soccer, baseball, softball and other recreational fields. The site will also accommodate passive play areas and 50 acres for economic development uses, which have not yet been identified. The proposed compliment of sports fields include: 16 Soccer Fields, 5 Football Fields, 18 Baseball - Softball Fields (60' basepads), 5 Baseball Fields (90' basepads) [more…] (via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) How prosaic ** U S A. LONG-DISPUTED RADIO TOWERS APPROVED FOR SNOHOMISH [WA] By Yoshiaki Nohara, Herald Writer, Published: Monday, June 2, 2008 http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080602/NEWS01/915846246&news01ad=1 SNOHOMISH -- Four powerful new AM radio towers are expected to start broadcasting this summer in the Snohomish River Valley despite residents' having fought the controversial project for years. "We will have them on the air toward the end of July," said Andy Skotdal, whose family owns KRKO-AM 1380. S-R Broadcasting Company Inc. received a construction permit for the towers from the Federal Communications Commission on Friday. The ruling disappoints opponents who believe that the towers will lower their property values and cause health problems. "It's definitely going to have a long-term negative impact on the Snohomish River Valley," said Rick Reed, an opponent. The company already had been preparing a 40-acre site south of Snohomish to add the towers after the project received approval from Snohomish County last year. Three towers are expected to be 199 feet tall, and the other 349 feet tall. The new towers will increase KRKO's broadcasting power from 5,000 watts to 34,000 watts during the day and to 50,000 watts at night, Skotdal said. That means the station will be able to reach listeners all the way from Tacoma to Mount Vernon during the day. Meanwhile, opponents still hope to stop the county from approving two other radio towers proposed near the four towers. The Skotdal family wants to build the two other towers to put a proposed new frequency at 1520 AM. The new signal is expected to reach all of Snohomish County during the day and some cities at night. "For Everett, it's important to have multiple media voices," Skotdal said. The two towers won't get a county permit until any potential health risks cited by opponents are addressed. A study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology suggests that electromagnetic energy from AM radio towers increases the likelihood of leukemia in those who live nearby, opponents say. If the county rejects the two 199-foot-tall towers, opponents may try to appeal the federal permits for the four other towers, Reed said. Reed leads a grass-roots group called the Stewards of the Land and Community that mailed brochures to thousands of Snohomish-area residents earlier this year to fight the radio towers. The group used the same method to fight growth plans for the Harvey Field airport in Snohomish. "We feel betrayed by government officials we trust to protect the environment and public health," he said. Federal regulators already took potential health risks into account when they issued permits for the four towers, Skotdal said. His family has made changes in the project to alleviate any concerns addressed by opponents. The project has had more than 40 hearings since 2000, Skotdal said. Now, it's finally nearing an end. "I am so appreciative for all the people who made this happen," he said (Everett Herald, via Artie Bigley, DXLD) It looks like the new site may be a bit farther to the SE than currently., but I don't know about the land in that area, and where the water is. Maybe someone from the Puget Sound knows? My question for the 33/50 K, was, why can't they have 50 KW ND days? KAST? KRKO is hardly audible here days. Very weak, if at all with 5KW. OK at night. But with 50 KW ND days, I doubt they would QRM KAST at 170 miles (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, IRCA via DXLD) I year or two ago I swapped e-mails with KRKO's consulting engineer Ben Dawson regarding the day vs night power. I can't find his reply now, but as I recall he said they didn't have good info on ground conductivity at the transmitter site, so they were conservative with their design. The new site is in a semi-rural are that is gradually becoming more developed. I'm not sure why they picked it, since it doesn't seem to provide significantly better coverage for Seattle, Bellevue, etc. It may have just been chosen based on size, cost, zoning, etc. It's in a river valley, so the ground would be relatively moist most of the year (Bruce Portzer, WA, ibid.) KRKO was somewhat constrained in where it could go. It had to be east of Everett, so it could put most of its upgraded power over its COL and then out over water. But if it's too close to Puget Sound, the increased conductivity of the water would create impermissible overlap with KKMO on 1360 and KITZ on 1400. And it had to be not only east of Everett but as far south as it could get so as to increase signal levels in southern Snohomish and northern King counties, where all the growth is. Add in local land-use issues and an FAA clearance issue with a nearby airport, and that's how Andy ended up with the site he's using. No, it's not a full-fledged Seattle/Eastside move-in, but it can't be with KKMO on 1360 to the south. s (Scott Fybush, IRCA via DXLD) ** U S A. Full powered VHF goes dark --- When was the last time this happened? A full powered V? KCWK channel 9 Walla2, WA, 316 kW ERP. They also had a low powered LP satellite in Yakima (Brock Whaley, HI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: LOCAL TV STATION FILES BANKRUPTCY, GOES OFF AIR by Mai Hoang, Yakima Herald-Republic http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/print/4543 Local fans of shows such as "America 's Next Top Model" or "Gossip Girl" may have had trouble tracking down new episodes or reruns this past week. That's because KCWK-TV, the local affiliate for The CW, went off the airwaves at midnight Sunday, weeks after the station filed for bankruptcy. KCWK-TV general manager Bob Powers will stay on until the end of June. But the station has informed the Federal Communications Commission that it may return when television begins broadcasting on a digital signal in 2009, and likely under new ownership. In the meanwhile, The CW, a network aimed at viewers between the age of 18 to 34, can still be viewed on cable and satellite. The network is broadcasting directly to cable households while the satellite companies are receiving feeds from affiliates in Spokane and Los Angeles. KCWK-TV was among 13 Pappas Telecasting Co. television stations that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month. The stations that filed are local affiliates of a variety of English- and Spanish-language networks. The Fresno, Calif.-based company also owns 17 other television stations and two radio stations, which are not affected by the bankruptcy cases. The stations filed for bankruptcy after Pappas Telecasting failed to resolve financing issues with several non-bank lenders. The company has struggled with low network ratings, a tightening credit market and a tough economic climate, which have all cut into the stations' revenues (From the YakimaHerald.com Online News, Published on Saturday, May 31, 2008 via Brock Whaley, DXLD) ** U S A. POTENTIAL 1010 PIRATE AT CHAFFEY COLLEGE/RANCHO CUCAMONGA According to the San Bernardino Sun, Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, has been operating an AM radio station on 1010 kHz using a 30-watt transmitter. According to the college (when contacted by CGC), the station is unlicensed and the signal is heard five miles away. A faculty member involved with the station has not answered CGC's questions concerning the antenna system and (more importantly) compliance with the field strength requirements of FCC Rule 15.221. However, the station has reportedly gone dark for the summer. Broadcast engineers who frequent Rancho Cucamonga are encouraged to monitor the AM broadcast band for any sign of this station returning to the air. If a signal is detected, please notify r.gonsett @ ieee.org We had been hoping to resolve this case without the intervention of the FCC or any embarrassment to the college. For information on license-free low power radio stations of all types, see: http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/lowpwr.html (CGC Communicator June 3 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. At CBS Radio's KDKA (1020 Pittsburgh), engineers turned on 24-hour HD Radio last week, and that sets up an interesting test case for the effects of digital sidebands via skywave, since CBS is also running HD on adjacent-channel stations WBZ (1030 Boston) and WINS (1010 New York). There have already been many anecdotal reports of interference to KDKA's signal within its home market, especially in Westmoreland County, east of Pittsburgh; will KDKA's substantial skywave wreak havoc with WBZ in areas such as Worcester and southern New Hampshire? (We're waiting, too, to hear what WINS sounds like now at our usual New York-market listening post in Rockland County, 25 miles or so north of its transmitter site, where deep nulls in WINS' pattern already make it a challenging listen in analog; there's also a question about whether KDKA's digital sidebands will interfere with another 1010 signal, Toronto's CFRB.) (Scott Fybush, NY, NE Radio Watch June 2 via DXLD) IBOC ** U S A. Name: Jim Pizzi. City: Palmyra, NY. user_comments: Receiving your signal with fund raising drive for WPBT, from 8:05 to 8:12 pm EDT here 15 miles ESE of Rochester, NY. @ 8:44 you`re still being seen here with interference from WGRZ-2 in Buffalo, NY. [sent to WPBT on its General Comments Feedback Form; reply:] I am receipt of your e-mail regarding you watching our signal in Palmyra, New York. I am always interested in these types of reports. I will miss these reports when we turn off our analog Channel 2 signal in February of next year. Thank you for e-mailing us about this and I hope that you get to watch us again soon. :-) (Graham Simmons, Sr. VP Engineering/Operations, WPBT Miami, via Pizzi, WTFDA via DXLD) WPBT-DT is on 18 and will stay permanently on 18, per http://www.w9wi.com/dtvch/dtvch-fl.html What a comedown from the premier Es DX TV station! Which I just saw again on June 3, with KIDTV, the D made to look like a 2. There will be no lowbanders in MIA, of course, but 7 and 10 will wind up back on their original channels. Jim also sent a similar report to WEDU-3 Tampa (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WPBT used to send out an awesome graphic QSL. Try to get one before they go digital. You can see it at http://www.adamrivers.com/dx/qslimg/WPBT.JPG (Adam Rivers, WTFDA via DXLD) See also CUBA [and non] ** U S A [and non]. 1600, FLORIDA, WKWF, Key West; 1919 May 31 at Ft. DeSoto. Nearly local level, coming out of rebroadcast "Bob and Bob" syndicated sports talk with station program promos, a nice WKWF ID, "Sporting News Radio" slogan mentioned and back to the Bobcrap. Definitely need to go back to Ft. DeSoto in the next few weeks with the ICF-7600GR and (this time) a set of headphones, WRTVH-2008, Cubalist and the Scotka loop and/or RadioShack passive loop. And get there no later than 1100 local in order to make a good daytime mediumwave bandscan. The car radio truly sucks. Enciclopedia on 530 barely audible, but OK on the Sony portable. Ditto with 1180 Rebelde -- at least three out-of-sync plus one non- parallel with mostly music, presumably the fourth transmitter with Rebelde FM network as often is here but down in the mix (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 99.9 MHz, FLORIDA (Part 15 station) "WECX" Eckerd College, St. Petersburg; great signal May 31, on Bayway and even traces at Ft. DeSoto-proper. Stereo, with nonstop James Brown tracks (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UZBEKISTAN. 11790, CVC, 0220-0250, June 2, Presumed with English talk. Christian/inspirational music. Very weak-threshold signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Frequency change of CVC The Voice Asia in Hindi to India: 1100-1400 NF 9660 TAC 100 kW / 153 deg, ex 13820 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, June 3 via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. 4940v, Radio Amazonas, Puerto Ayacucho, 0115-0140+, June 3, still here with a strong, very distorted signal. LA music. Spanish announcements, promos. ID at 0126. (I think) (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4939.96v, Radio Amazonas 1020 to 1040, hyper OM en español, badly distorted signal "FM-ing", AM quality acceptable; difficult to zero beat in SSB as it kept going into FM. 4 June; also 2256 to 2305 on 3 June similar. Thanks Anker Peterson logs (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, South Flórida, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. ADDITIONAL TRANSMISSION TO ZIMBABWE FROM RADIO VOICE OF THE PEOPLE In connection with Zimbabwe’s presidential run-off election on 27 June, Radio Voice of the People has introduced a third daily transmission via the Radio Netherlands Madagascar relay station. The broadcast is at 1100-1200 UT on 11695 kHz, beam 265 degrees, power 250 kW. This transmission was introduced on 1 June (June 4th, 2008 - 13:45 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 3287.4, possibly R. Madigasikara (Antananarivo), 5/31/08, 0740, in unrecognized language. Undistinctive contemporary Euro / US pop style music with female announcer. Madigasikara is not listed as being on at this time from any of my sources, but it is the only station listed in this part of the band. Very poor (Mark Taylor, WI, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) Intriguing, but I`d say virtually impossible to be Madagascar, as it`s 10:40 am local time there (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 4968, Latin? 2250 to 2300 (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, South Flórida, June 3? Cumbre DX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 6104.63, 1029-1040 June 4. Noted a station here in Spanish comments from both male and female. In between, music presented. At one point, about 1033, a male in Spanish mentions "Lima" during his comments. Would he say that if this were Radio PanAmericana? I don't know? Consequently, I have reported this as an unID. That was the only identifiable tidbit of this logging that I could recognize. The signal deteriorates quickly since it's almost sunrise here in Florida. Maybe someone in the middle of the country has a better chance to hear this? (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) There was another report of this in 8-061, repeated here: UNIDENTIFIED. 6104.6, 1150-1202, 5/17/2008. Extremely weak signal with still weaker audio. Slow instrumental with lots of drums at 1150, talk by man in unidentified language at 1158. Music with drums at 1200 followed by what appeared to be pop music (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, TenTec RX-340, Drake R8B, RF Space SDR-14, 90' Random Wire, Eavesdropper Dipole, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD 8-061 via 8-067) Glenn, As you can see, I dropped this at 1040, but I came back to it at around 1058 or so, and on the hour I heard an unrecognizable National Anthem and more talking afterwards. Still I missed the ID if there was one? I am very suspicious that this might be a relay of the Venezuelan station that comes out of Cuba every once in awhile. Why do I think that? Because the format wasn't like a Bolivian or Peruvian that I have heard and the signal was getting stronger after the hour, making me think it was a relay possibly from Cuba? I looked for references of the Venezuelan in my hard copy books, but couldn't find anything? What do you think? (Chuck Bolland, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I think one thing anyone hearing such an unID should always do is tune around the band looking for // in case it is a spur, which is always a possibility. Surely the Venezuelan anthem would be recognizable, but I don`t think RNV CI plays it routinely. The Cuba relays are on 6180 at 10, 6060 at 11, so that seems unlikely as the two logs were in different hours (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. June 2 at 1328, 1350 and still at 1402 I was hearing a het between two weak carriers at approximately 17693 and slightly less than 17695, on more than one receiver. Reminded me of Sawt al-Amel, Libyan clandestine which used to jump around this area and along with it various types of jammers, but which has been gone since last year. Could not pull any audio, so would those further east please check. Nothing likely shown in Aoki or EiBi, altho HFCC has VOR on 17695 via `Armavir` at 1300-1500, 284 degrees to C&W Europe; what service would that be, if active? Doubtful, as it`s nowhere in the WRTH May update for VOR, or any other station at this hour. Heard same thing 24 and 49 hours later, so beginning to wonder if of local household origin (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Something you already know. I find World of Radio most compelling and spellbinding to tell you the truth. I have and will continue to recommend the program to all my friends in the commercial broadcast business. You need to be on XM and Sirius! (Ted Randall, TN) MUSEA +++++ MORE MONEY FOR "SLOW RESTORATION" OF OLD VOA BETHANY SHORTWAVE SITE Ohio "State Sen. Gary Cates (R-West Chester Twp.) secured $500,000 in funding for the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting... . The work at the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting [is} laid out in the leaking roof and seeping walls of the aging building. West Chester Twp. has pledged $300,000, and an additional $1.5 million in grants has been obtained from various state and federal sources for building restoration, but Stoker said she expects the building's list of needed improvements will go beyond the money raised thus far. 'That would probably use all of it and more,' [West Chester Township trustee Catherine Stoker] said of the needed roof and wall repairs, electrical repairs and HVAC system that need to be installed. The museum's initial projected cost was $12 million, she said, adding that an architectural survey is now under way to determine exactly what needs to be done to preserve the historic relay station. Despite the challenges, though, Stoker said she was optimistic the additional half-million will go to good use in the museum's slow restoration." "Hamilton (OH) Journal-Mews, 2 June 2008. Posted: 04 Jun 2008 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ OUTDATED RADIOS FAIL CAPITOL POLICE --- REPLACEMENT COST WOULD BE 'HUGE' --- By Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, June 2, 2008; B01 [also applies nationwide; read on --- gh] The U.S. Capitol Police guard one of the nation's biggest terrorist targets. But their radios conk out in "dead spots" around congressional buildings and have limited connections to local police in the Washington area, officials say. Channels on the Reagan-era police radio system often crash, officers said. One went down during President Bush's State of the Union address to Congress in January, according to several officials. Last year, all five Capitol Police radio channels briefly collapsed, prompting officers to whip out their personal cellphones to communicate, officials said. "It has some type of failure at least once a week," said Matt Tighe, head of the Fraternal Order of Police labor committee that represents Capitol Police officers. Despite receiving billions of federal dollars since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the nation's first responders still struggle to communicate, even in Washington. In recent years, local police and firefighters have built a modern, digital radio network. But they can have trouble reaching federal officers who use different frequencies and outdated equipment. The Capitol Police force isn't the only one with radio problems. The U.S. Park Police, in charge of protecting the Washington Monument and other icons, have a radio system that is between 20 and 30 years old, officials said. And a report last year found that 84 percent of FBI radio systems nationwide are obsolete. "Logically, 9/11 is a wake-up call that federal, state and local agencies ought to work together to build something much better than what they have today," said Jon M. Peha, associate director of the Center for Wireless and Broadband Networking at Carnegie Mellon University. But, he said, "little progress has been made" toward a strong national system. The Capitol Police rely on hand-held and car radios on an analog system. The equipment doesn't work in several "dead spots" around congressional buildings, officials said. The system's age complicates efforts to link it to those of nearby law enforcement agencies. Because of such difficulties, the Capitol Police have resorted to installing D.C. police radios in their cars alongside their own radios. Another concern for officers: Most of the Capitol Police system does not have encryption, as newer equipment does. "It can be monitored by the public, media and our adversaries," said one officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment. Phillip D. Morse, who became Capitol Police chief in 2006, has been blunt about his force's "antiquated" radio system. "We cannot communicate effectively with each other," he testified before a House subcommittee last year. Morse declined a request for an interview. Congress has given the Capitol Police hundreds of millions of dollars to enhance anti-terrorism protection since the Sept. 11 attacks. Terrance W. Gainer, the Senate sergeant-at-arms who helps oversee the force, said the money went to other priorities, including a hazmat unit and officer hiring. One difficulty in building a better radio system is the project's scale, said Gainer, who led the Capitol Police force from 2002 to 2006. The radios must work not just on streets but also throughout the thick-walled, marble-sheathed congressional buildings, including the basements. Officials also want the new system to have backup capacity to prevent failures. "The price tag is huge," Gainer said. Congress has appropriated $10 million for the project so far, but it is expected to cost tens of millions more, according to Capitol Police officials. Capitol Police officials recently told Congress that they have completed the design and cost analysis for a new system. When construction begins, the system will take at least two years to complete, police said. Gainer noted that in the meantime, Capitol Police officers have found ways to communicate with other agencies. The radio problems have "not ever put the Capitol complex, staff or visitors at risk," he said. Decades ago, it didn't matter much that local and federal officers were working on a patchwork of communications systems, with different frequencies and equipment. The Capitol Police, for example, used to be a smaller force, more worried about controlling tourists than terrorists. But with growing threats in recent years, law enforcement agencies collaborate more closely. For example, when the World Bank received a wave of bomb threats in January, D.C. police asked other forces to help them sweep the buildings for explosives. Participating Capitol Police officers found themselves unable to talk to their counterparts at the scene, two officers recalled. The fractured state of the country's emergency communications burst into view during the Sept. 11 attacks, when New York's firefighters and police were unable to share information. In the Washington area, the issue emerged even earlier, when an Air Florida jet slammed into the Potomac River in 1982, killing 78 people. Rescue officers from the District, nearby suburbs, the Park Police, the military and National Airport responded. "Nobody could talk to each other," said James Wadsworth, manager of Fairfax County's radio services center. Today, nearly all local police and firefighters in the Washington area can communicate on digital Motorola radios on the same 800-megahertz band. With the flick of a switch, a Fairfax firefighter can jump onto a Montgomery County fire channel or talk to police. The region also maintains 1,250 extra radios to hand out in emergencies. The Department of Homeland Security gave the Washington area a top score last year in a nationwide survey of communications "interoperability." That success is partly attributable to federal grants. Since 2003, the federal government has given more than $5 billion to state and local governments to improve emergency communications. But such grants are not available to federal agencies. When the cash- squeezed Park Police tried to design a radio system a few years ago, they discovered that the price tag was "twice the amount of funds we had available," said Lt. David Mulholland, the force's technology chief. The Park Police have tried to compensate by partnering with other agencies. They considered joining a project started in 2001 to create a nationwide wireless network for 81,000 agents in the Justice, Homeland Security and Treasury departments. But that project became bogged down in funding issues and differences among agencies, according to a report last year by the Justice Department's inspector general. Justice is hoping to start the network in the Washington area in 2009. Because of the delay, some federal agents are using unreliable equipment; 84 percent of the FBI's radio systems nationwide are obsolete, according to the report. Officials in the Washington area emphasized that they have ways to connect local and federal forces with disparate equipment and bands. Dispatchers for various agencies can monitor one another's radios. And the Capitol Police and other agencies can use technical "patches" to tie themselves to other departments' radios. The Justice Department has spent more than $1 million installing a patching system for local and federal responders in the Washington area. But patches can tie up an entire radio channel, limiting other communication, especially in older systems, officials said. Some patches can be unreliable or time-consuming to install. Some experts are calling for building a national emergency communications system from scratch, instead of having agencies create new systems and then try to link them. It would be the first-responder equivalent of the kind of national network set up by cellphone companies. The Federal Communications Commission is trying to create such a system on a chunk of spectrum being vacated by television broadcasters switching from analog to digital signals. But the FCC has yet to find a commercial partner, and the system could take 10 years to complete. Jerry Brito, a fellow with the Regulatory Studies Program at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, said only a national system can provide the efficiency and seamless communication emergency responders need. "You have about 50,000 public-safety agencies in the country, everyone from the local sheriff in Mississippi to the FBI," he said. "Even if each agency wanted to get together and coordinate, it's impossible." (c) 2008 The Washington Post Company (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) DF`ING PIRATES FROM ON HIGH [Re 8-066, USA, WWRB] Hi Glenn: I cannot tell you directly what the 'ultra' hi tech' RDF equipment and high resolution cameras installed in our two airplanes is going to be used for: I can say that if I were operating a pirate radio station in the state of Florida, the 'pirate' we understand, is looking at a FELONY, 5 years in jail the loss of his / her home, and some serious fines! Understanding the State of Florida needs money NOW --- could be 'easy money'. With equipment installed, one quick pass is all it takes. Is that an airplane overhead???? PANIC!!!!! Is it worth it ??? a word to the WISE! Our airplanes will be spending the upcoming XXXXX or is the upcoming XXXX ?????? in Florida (Dave Frantz, WWRB, June 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see CUBA; HUNGARY; NEW ZEALAND; TURKEY ++++++++++++++++++++ IBOC: see USA: WINS/KDKA/WBZ LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ CARRAPATO etc. RE 8-066 ``Glenn, The best known name for this bloody insect [sic] of the spider family is "carraça" http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrapato I didn't know "carrapata" would be the Castilian equivalent. In fact, common folk use the name "carrapato" for tiny, harmless bug like insects that can pest grain, potatoes, rice & alike, but "carraça" is absolutely not used in this case. The station announcement is aimed at farmers of course: ticks usually pest cattle. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` The right word presumed I heard was "garrapata" and not "carrapata" like I wrote in the log, that was my mystake. No doubt carrapata isn't the equivalent for carrapato or carraça in Spanish because carrapata simply doesn't exist in this language (No existe ningún artículo con el título que has escrito, http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Especial:Search?search=carrapata&go=Ir Like I said, that was my mistake, the term carrapata, but see what means these words: garrapata: Se llama garrapata a diversos géneros de arácnidos hematófagos (se alimentan de sangre) del orden ácaros, los de mayor tamaño en este grupo. Se encuadran en las familias Ixodidae, Argasidae y Nuttalliellidae. Wikipedia, http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argasidae carrapato: o mesmo que carraça (Portugal), aracnídeo da família dos Ixodideos que vive sobre o corpo de alguns quadrúpedes e aves. (Dicionário Caldas Aulete). carrapato, carraça ou chato é um artrópode da ordem dos ácaros, classificado nas famílias Ixodidae ou Argasidae. São ectoparasitas hematófagos, responsáveis pela transmissão de inúmeras doenças. Wikipedia http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrapato Have no mentions, at least from these dictionaries that carrapato or carraça are "harmless bug like insects that can pest grain, potatoes, rice & alike", but only have mentioned as above as garrapata. I don't know if carraça "is the best known name for this bloody insect of the spider family"; I think it sometimes depends where you are using what; so in Portugal must be carraça and in Brasil is carrapato, simply because these are the respective more commonly used terms at these two countries. 73's de (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, SP, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ The geomagnetic field was at quiet to active levels during the summary period. On 26 - 27 May activity was at mostly quiet levels. At approximately 0130 UTC on 28 May a co-rotating interaction region (CIR) was observed at the ACE spacecraft. Shortly thereafter the onset of a coronal hole high speed stream was observed at 0500 UTC on 28 May. During this timeframe activity increased to quiet to unsettled levels. Solar wind speed values also increased to 552 km/s around 0130 UTC on 29 May, with interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) values ranging between +/- 8 nT. On 30 May activity increased to quiet to active levels, again, due to a coronal hole high speed stream. Wind speeds gradually increased to a maximum of 657 km/s at approximately 0730 UTC on 31 May, with IMF values ranging between +/- 6 nT. As wind speed values leveled off at around 600 km/s, the geomagnetic field declined to quiet to unsettled levels through the end of the summary period. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 04 - 30 JUNE 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 04 - 08 June and 19 - 23 June. The geomagnetic field is expected to be at quiet levels 04 - 14 June. Activity is expected to increase to quiet to unsettled levels on 15 - 20 June, with isolated active periods possible on 17 June as a coronal hole high speed stream rotates into a geoeffective position. Conditions should decline to quiet levels on 21 - 24 June. On 25 - 29 June expect activity to increase again to quiet to unsettled levels due to a coronal hole high speed stream. Activity should decline to quiet levels on 30 June as the coronal hole high speed stream rotates out of a geoeffective position. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2008 Jun 04 0023 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 Jun 03 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2008 Jun 04 67 5 2 2008 Jun 05 67 5 2 2008 Jun 06 67 5 2 2008 Jun 07 67 5 2 2008 Jun 08 67 5 2 2008 Jun 09 67 5 2 2008 Jun 10 67 5 2 2008 Jun 11 70 5 2 2008 Jun 12 70 5 2 2008 Jun 13 70 5 2 2008 Jun 14 70 5 2 2008 Jun 15 70 8 3 2008 Jun 16 70 10 3 2008 Jun 17 70 15 4 2008 Jun 18 70 8 3 2008 Jun 19 70 10 3 2008 Jun 20 70 8 3 2008 Jun 21 70 5 2 2008 Jun 22 70 5 2 2008 Jun 23 70 5 2 2008 Jun 24 70 5 2 2008 Jun 25 70 8 3 2008 Jun 26 67 10 3 2008 Jun 27 67 8 3 2008 Jun 28 67 8 3 2008 Jun 29 67 8 3 2008 Jun 30 67 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1411, DXLD) SPACE WEATHER CANADA 27 - DAY MAGNETIC ACTIVITY FORECAST June 23-29: http://www.spaceweather.gc.ca/forecast27days_e.php (via gh, DXLD) ###