DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-098, September 6, 2008 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2008 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1424 Sat 2000 WRMI 9955 [NEW] Sun 0230 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1515 WRMI 9955 Sun 2030 WRMI 9955 [NEW] Mon 2200 WBCQ 7415 [temporary, heard Sept 1] Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN NOW AVAILABLE: http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org EDITOR`S NOTE: This issue besides all the latest info since 8-097, includes some items previously missed during our vacation on August 22 ** ABKHAZIA. Tentative, Abkhazia Radio in Russian on 9494.75 odd around 1530-1600 UT, surprisingly roaring at S=7-8 level. This morning at 0400-0515 UT noted on above 9495 on 9495.55 kHz exact. Two different transmitters in action ? -- varies in frequency depending of the daytime! (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Sept 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UNIDENTIFIED 9495.5 far below ** AFGHANISTAN. 6700, R Solh, Bagram, 1854, Aug 20, local songs, AM detected (Not different programme USB/LSB), 24422 (Franck Baste, St. Bonnet de Rochefort, France, DSWCI DX Window Sept 3 via DXLD) ** ALGERIA. I run the web site http://www.elahcene.co.uk/algeria/ and therefore might have some useful contributions to make regarding Algerian radio. I also do a bit of DXing too, although mostly on FM (Samir Elahcene, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Welcome to the DXLD yg. Looks like a very useful site, with audio linx, photos of sites, etc. But don`t go to http://www.elahcene.co.uk alone unless you want to be forwarded to an unwanted and possibly malicious ``spyware scan`` (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALGERIA. Re Oddity: Algeria was back on exactly 252 yesterday evening (3 September). It had still been on 250 on the 2nd (Chris Greenway, England, Sept 3, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. After a few months' break from the radio, I've been working on constructing a portable beverage antenna for use on local DXpeditions. I gave it a quick-and-dirty test at a local conservation area this afternoon; since it was unterminated and nowhere near being in a straight line, it was basically a randomwire. Nevertheless, it performed better than I had hoped. 15476, LRA36, 1936, 09/05/08, Spanish. Programming consisted primarily of Spanish-language music in a variety of styles interspersed with commentary from a female DJ, with a couple of longer segments of talk like a newscast, including a string of digits repeated several times (possibly a phone number). Signal was weak at tune-in, peaked at about fair around 2010, and was back to being weak at apparent 2055 signoff. Still far and away better than the few very tentative receptions I've ever had here. Mostly poor (Mark Schiefelbein, near Ponce de Leon, MO, USA, Eton E1 / 1000' randomwire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also AUSTRALIA ** ARGENTINA. RAE observed off on SW since Aug 25 (Arnaldo Slaen, and Christian Milling/ R 700, Euskirchen, Germany, via Bueschel, DSWCI DX Window Sept 3 via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 9660 / 11660 / 12080, R Australia, 2105, 09/05/08, English. A relay of the domestic ABC network with a news update followed by a longer news program. All 3 frequencies are listed as being 10kW from Brandon. Did not have full info with me, so did not compare to other RA frequencies. 9660 fair, 11660 very good, and 12080 fair with a bit of an echo from apparent multipath reception (Mark Schiefelbein, near Ponce de Leon, MO, USA, Eton E1 / 1000' randomwire, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See ANTARCTICA ** AUSTRALIA. RA with throw-away feature Perspective, Thu Sept 4 at 1355 on 6020 and 9580. It only lasted 3.5 minutes this time, but nevertheless, both frequencies dumped out of it at 1358, 6020 going immediately to unnecessary IS before closing in time for Shiokaze at 1400, inaudible here; and 9580 just cutting rudely off air, forcing us to retune to inferior 9590 for the rest of the show. The remaining sesquiminute before 1400 news was filled by the RA news sounder already and promos. Perspective is so dispensable that it isn`t even shown for 1355 at http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/programguide/141.htm but just M-F 0955 and 1654 and Sat 2105, none of them convenient times for SWLs in North America. Fortunately, via its website http://www.abc.net.au/rn/perspective/ one may read transcripts or even subscribe. The one I heard was actually for Sept 3, ``Staying good while playing God - looking after animal welfare when applying biotechnology`` and Roger Broadbent said it was the first of a series (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA [and non]. INSIGHT CENTRAL EUROPE HAS COME TO AN END Radio Prague carried the following announcement in its Mailbox programme of 30 August: ”After almost seven years on air, Insight Central Europe, a joint project of six Central European radio stations covering life and events in Central Europe, has this weekend come to an end. The project was launched in October 2001 by Radio Austria International in cooperation with Radio Polonia, Radio Prague, Radio Budapest, Radio Slovakia International and later joined by Radio Slovenia. Yesterday’s Insight Central Europe programme was the last, so from next week on, Radio Prague will broadcast its usual programme on Saturday on all frequencies.” (September 6th, 2008 - 13:14 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) 1 comment so far 1 SRG September 6th, 2008 - 17:24 UTC According to the last issue of ICE, the program is suspended for ‘now’. This is due to upcoming changes at Radio Austria and decreasing funding for public broadcasting in the area. The complete audio archive can be found here: http://incentraleurope.radio.cz/ice/archiv The site itself, http://incentraleurope.radio.cz has been ‘temporarily suspended’ on June 1, 2008 (with exception for audio updates). The June statement is still there: ‘We hope to be back in action in November. Thank you for your understanding.’ (ibid.) ** BAHRAIN. R. Bahrain, 9745, 0500 7 August, news, commentary, ID `` Huna Bahrain``, Arabic (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Sept BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** BHUTAN. 6035, BBS, continues to lose audio during their English segment. Sept 2, at 1411 heard "That was the news from BBS", their usual EZL musical selection, weather forecast: rain tomorrow and cloudy, gives the national temperature, rechecked at 1433 to find only the BBS open carrier; Sept 3, audio stopped at 1421 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6035: Some outstanding reception from Bhutan 1400-1500, Aug 31, English, better than BBC to South Asia 5975!! Announcing teaching vacancies in a private school. Unfortunately closing date was Aug 30 for applications from nationals and non nationals. Hi! (Victor Goonetilleke, Kolamunne, Piliyandala, Sri Lanka in DXplorer via DSWCI DX Window Sept 3 via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. R. Virgen from 4111 to 4555 --- 4555, R. Virgen de Remedios (tentative), Tupiza. September 4, Spanish, 2241-2250 relaying "Bolivia en Contacto", 2248 "la reforma agraria". From 2250 ham QRM annoyed this listening, so until this time was 23433. Checked later at 2316, was a religious ceremony (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) No hams on 4555; some other 2-way (gh, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 5996.27, Radio Loyola, Sucre, 1032-1040, September 06, Spanish, romantic songs selection, announcement and ID by male. TC as: 6 de la mañana con 40 minutos....", 24332. 6025, Red Patria Nueva, La Paz, 1050-1055, September 06, Aymara, news program, report from El Alto, 24422 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, dxldyg via DX LISTENINIG DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. R. Santa Cruz continues to be the easiest Bolivian, 6134.8 or so making het pitch with something much weaker on 6135.0 very close to what CFRX makes with CVC, as I was checking 6070 also at 2350 Sept 5. At 2357, 6134.8 was mentioning Santa Cruz, Bolivia, programa del Instituto Radiofónico Fé y Alegría. But marred by a bonker around the same frequency. At least R. República is currently away on 31m (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) On Aug 20 Chuck Bolland measured this on 6134.86, which correlates with an even closer match to CFRX`s offset from 6070.00, see CANADA (gh, DXLD) ** BOTSWANA [mostly non]. Glenn wrote: "Phew, I smell the spoor of a consultant. If they were really dedicated to public service non- commercial broadcasting, they wouldn`t be worried about "branding", the precise definition of which in this sense is not really clear" (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, you really are out of touch with the way the industry works these days. Branding is exactly what has helped the BBC to be so successful around the world, and too many 'brands' is what Kim Elliott is always complaining about with regard to US international broadcasting. These days, with millions of websites and thousands of online radio stations, it's important to be distinctive, otherwise you get lost in the crowd. The definition of branding may not be clear to you, but it's a word that we use all the time these days in public service broadcasting. It means ensuring that the listener/web user knows what you stand for, identifying and maximising your strengths. Yes, consultants are often used, because the public broadcasters have realised that they have to try harder to retain their audiences. There are just too many alternatives for people if they don't. Because public broadcasting has traditionally not employed people with advertising/marketing skills (a fact which is all too apparent if you look at some of the appalling advertising by international broadcasters in the WRTH of 20-30 years ago), they are brought in from outside. Some of us, including RNW, now try to attract people onto the staff with such a background, but it's tough because they can earn far more in the commercial sector. We actually have a department called "marketing". The distinction you make between public service and commercial broadcasting is valid as far as content goes, but these days all broadcasters, whether public service or private, need an 'image'. When I was in Denmark in the 1980's, and community radio was established, many people were very happy that there was finally an alternative to Danmarks Radio, which had held a monopoly for so long. DR's response to the competition was to put ads inside the commuter trains saying "Danmarks Radio - the station that speaks to the entire country", which of course was precisely the reason a lot of people were listening to the local stations instead. They just didn't get it, and in those days they had nobody on the staff who knew how to 'sell' DR's strong points. They've come a long way since then :-) (Andy Sennitt (RNW but speaking personally), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Then I am glad to be ``out of touch``. Public radio should rely on the outstanding merits of its own programming, not marketing, and market research, which often goes hand in hand with downdumbing. Unfortunately, in a quest to be noticed, the trend is increasingly to sound more and more ``commercial``. The very term `branding` is offensive, since it implies deception, selling stuff to people under false pretenses whether they want it or not (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Salomão Schvarztman de volta ao rádio --- Embora não tenha saído totalmente do rádio, faz ponta na Bandnews com comentários de 10 minutinhos diariamente naquela emissora. Agora, porém, deram-lhe um programa do qual ele gosta de fazer. Trata-se de "Sábado de Clássicos" às 22h na Bandeirantes em 840 kHz, 90.9 MHz e ondas curtas de 49m, 31m e 25m. Este programa estréia hoje, dia 6/9/2008. Salomão deverá fazer o programa nos moldes do Diário da Manhã que fazia na Cultura FM/ondas curtas de São Paulo. Para quem gosta de cultura geral e músicas semiclássicas e clássicas, é só escutar o Salomão. 73 (Luiz Chaine Neto, Limeira sp, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) Enjoyed his shows on R. Cultura FM, SP, webcasts. Does Bandeirantes do that? SW frequencies are 6060, 9645, 11925, and I suppose ``22h`` means local time, i.e. 0100 UT. Bandeirantes exact frequencies reported Aug 29 by Dave Valko were 6089.93 and 9645.23. We often hear the het on 9645 against WYFR 9715/9680 mixing product! (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENIG DIGEST) ** BURKINA FASO. 5030, Radio Burkina, 2345-0001*, Sept 5-6, French talk. Afro-pop music. National Anthem at 0000. Weak. Poor with adjacent channel splatter from Cuba 5025 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CFRX, 6070, relaying CFRB, heard here at 2050 check. I can't hardly believe they are back on! (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, Sept 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Heard an unfamiliar het as I tuned across 49m, Sept 4 at 2315, on 6070. Something in English, yes IDing in passing as Newstalk 10-10, CFRB, so the long-delayed revival of CFRX has finally happened! But it`s off-frequency, about 6069.8. This could be a devious way of encouraging the competition, such as CVC, to evacuate, as a het from this low-power station is more annoying than being on exactly the correct frequency. CVC from Chile is currently scheduled 23-13 UT, which covers almost all the darkness hours in North America. And then there`s ELWA Liberia until 2300 or so. On second thought, that`s unlikely; but CFRX previously was not off-frequency like this. CFRX is also shooting itself in the foot, since the het it causes also makes it very unpleasant for its own would-be listeners in North America, where 100 kW from Chile easily trumps or at least matches 1 kW from Toronto, all-night. A little help: CVC in B-season shrinx to 00-12 UT. At least CFRX should be OK in daytime for areas close enough to overcome absorption. Adjacently: Not much in Western Hemisphere on 6065, with WYFR no longer using it; DW is 24 hours via several rotating sites around Europe on 6075, and then there`s RCI with a big 250 kW on 6075 at 0205-0305 in Spanish, 268 degrees, but that`s for A-season only. {Sure enough at 0302 UT check Sept 5, CVC was dominant, and CFRX only a het, also with splash from RCI 6075.} The need I advocated to change frequency and/or increase power with the comeback was pooh-poohed by CFRX`s QSL manager. BTW, altho I did not see his report until later, Steve Lare in MI was first to report CFRX back, earlier Sept 4 at 2050. Just how long had CFRX been off? Altho it had been intermittent for a while before then, about two years, per this item from September, 2006 in DXLD 6-144: ``CANADA. Not certain if anyone else has mentioned this or not but yesterday I had checked 6070 for CFRX and they were not there. Checked today as well and not there again. Normally they are S9+ here through the day (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, Sept 24, 2006, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CFRB/CFRX QSL signer Steve Canney told me on September 20th that CFRX was off the air then. The chief engineer was looking for the problem, but hadn`t found it. So it appears that the repairs were either too extensive or he ran out of time and it must wait for another visit to the transmitter site. BTW, new QSL card has just been printed and is now in use for CFRX and CFRB reception reports (Harold Sellers, Ont., Sept 24, 2006, ODXA via DXLD)`` Thank You Glenn Hau-ser! Heard on a Sony ICF 2010 and Eton AN-03 wind 'em up antenna: I suspect that it would be highly unlikely that the CRTC would ever agree to a power increase for CFRX without it using a tight directional pattern to keep its signal "international". As it stands, CFRX is omni and radiates a lot of signal within Canada. Of course, I'd love to see them with 10 kW or more of power, especially because CFRB and thus CFRX programming is really pretty good. But, your suggestion, Glenn, of a frequency change might very well be a good one. I don't know if there is a "rule" there, but it seems like any and all private SW broadcast relays left in Canada have to be on the 49M band. Maybe it was habit, not law. And all the former ones - CHNX, CJCX etc. were on the 49M band. Compared with the 10 to 50 watts some former private Canadian relays were running in their last years, for CFRX to have a brand new 1 kW transmitter makes them a true powerhouse. I'm really glad that CFRX is back on the air (Phil Rafuse, PEI, Sept 4, 2008, ABDX via DXLD) 6069.7, CFRX Toronto, ON, 0000 9/5 with ID and ad for the Chris Robinson Travel Show at http://www.cfrb.com Was interference with Spanish speaking station presumed to be CVC. Nasty growl due to being slightly off frequency. Very nice to hear in Tennessee. Now I can get Canadian news no problem. Hooray! (Kevin Redding, Crump, TN, center of the known universe, ODXA yg via DXLD) Its always nice to see a shortwave station being added. So many are going off these days (Kevin Redding, ABDX yg via DXLD) I'm listening to CFRX right now on the Collins R-390A. Pretty weak signal, with what sounds like a 200 Hz or so het - a drone. Good timing too, for folks in the USA interested as to what is going on in Canada - given that an October election is about to be called. It might be a good idea for anyone who enjoys listening to CFRB/CFRX to send an email to CFRB letting them know that you are listening to CFRX on 6070 SW. The email is: gm @ cfrb.com Let them know that SW is still alive! (Phil Rafuse, PEI, 0129 UT Sept 5, ABDX via DXLD) As a long time listener of CFRX here in Houston, I just sent a nice letter to the GM. Hope he reads it!! While the FM sounding internet feed is good CFRX sounds nice on my R390a. Nice to hear it back on the air although not as clear as it used to be it's still listenable. (Robert from Houston TX Bratcher, ibid.) As I type these golden words at 9:05 pm Central/0205 UT, I'm hearing CFRX at a fair level usually atop CVC. The het/drone makes for tiring listening, but it's almost 100% copy. Welcome back to an old friend!! (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17, UT Sept 5, ibid.) Well what the hay. I decided to grab this old Sony ICF2002 I have sitting here at my shop and give it a whirl. I am picking something up but it sounds Spanish or foreign so I am guessing it's CVC and not CFRX. Probably would know better once I get home and use my 7600. Hadn't used this ICF2002 in a while and didn't even realize the thing solves my irritating problem of knowing "which band is which." It displays it right on the display - says "SW 49m", so it's the 49m band. Also this one does not tune in 1 kHz increments, just 5. But apparently you can set it to fine tuning and then adjust the fine tuning for the 5 kHz on either side of the displayed frequency. Hmm... interesting little radio and probably the most I've ever played with it since it was sent to me a few years ago (Michael n Wyo Richard, ibid.) Heard about this earlier today, and did that ever bring back memories. I dug out my ancient QSL card album and found a QSL card from them dated 22 August 1967. Two pages later, there's one from CHNX (6130 kHz 500 W) dated 8 September 1967 (Chris Trask, AZ, ODXA yg via DXLD) QSL unneeded as I have one showing the Toronto skyline from Nov 7, 1957, or rather ``Toronto`s downtown and harbour as seen from the bay``, just added to my gallery at http://www.worldofradio.com/QSL.html Hey, where`s the CN tower?? Not constructed until 1973-1976, says Wikipedia (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I've tuned in 6070 but it's Spanish I'm listening to. CFRX doesn't relay for anybody, does it? Cheers! (Doug Chlan, 0458 UT Sept 5, CFRX yg via DXLD) I believe the Spanish station is in Chile, running 100 kW or so. Several DXers have reported that CFRX is running a bit below 6070, thus causing a pretty wicked het. Hopefully CFRX will get right on frequency - the new transmitter should make being rock solid on 6070 kHz pretty much a piece of cake (Phil Rafuse, PEI, ibid.) No relays. I hear a weak carrier right now, 9:15 pm local time [EDT = 0115 UT] but very little audio. I'm waiting to hear back from the engineer about what's going on. He never mentioned to me that it was going on and now I've received one reception report for it. I know when it`s on it`s supposed to be in what's called test mode because they were waiting for the transmitter to be 'type-approved' by Industry Canada. When approved it can be on at full power, which is 1000 watts. It should be rock steady on 6.070 MHz, seeing its using a crystal rather than using a VFO but who knows, there is probably a small adjustment feature seeing it takes a while for transmitters to settle in. [guess what: crystals are inaccurate and may drift – gh] This has all taken me by surprise seeing I was never told about it coming on. The last e-mail from Ian indicated he had little time to get things on the air but maybe he found it at the last minute. I'll await his response to me (Steve Canney, VA3SC, ibid.) Yeah, the Spanish is Voz Cristiana, Santiago, Chile. I still have CFRX on top here on South Carolina's Grand Strand (North Myrtle Beach), about S9 level (Dan Ferguson, 0533 UT, ibid.) Funny, I live about 15 miles from the transmitter site and can't hear any CFRX at all but the Chilean station is coming in quite well. I'll be close to the tx site tomorrow morning so I'll have a better listen then (Steve Canney, ibid.) Further chex of the reactivated CFRX 6069.8: By Sept 5 at 0302 it was just a het against CVC, and with expected splash from RCI 6075. At 0620 recheck, could only hear CVC and no het, so not sure if CFRX was still on; however at this hour propagation from the east was very poor, with Sackville quite weak on 6045 with Korea relay. WWCR also weak on 5070. Even Greenville 6180 was weak, while Habana 6140 was still very strong, as well as XEPPM: see MEXICO. Checking CFRX again at 1248 it was poor with het still audible, presumably the remnants of CVC which was about to sign off, anyway. And after 1300 the het gone and CFRX actually improved a bit by 1310 when resuming talk show after news and weather. Now the obstacle is local line noise level. Still audible but not listenable at 1355 when I turned on the computer and TV set. At 1735 recheck, could not even get a carrier on the portable in the yard, but with local noise sources turned off might be able to hear it on the big rig and antenna at midday, to be determined. But could not really get into it back at 1310, because of interruptions every few minutes for more weather, traffic reports, commercials, promos, phone-in numbers, all with phony enthusiasm. But that`s commercial radio for you in North America. I still welcome the revival of this relic, as there is no other Canadian or US SW station with such a format. O sure, there are talk shows on several US stations, but they all have a religious or fringe political agenda. Does CFRB have any shows on particular topics worth outseeking? See http://www.cfrb.com/shows where there are lots of different show titles, personality-driven, so if you don`t know the hosts, the names are meaningless. There are quite a few specialty shows on weekends, tho, which is SOP for talk format stations, for example, converted to UT: Sat 12-13 home improvement Sat 16-17 movies Sat 19-20 cars Sat 22-2230 movies Sun 14-15 trivia Sun 18-1830 CFRB Presents documentaries by college students Mon 02-03 comedy (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6069.87, CFRX, 1655-1710, Sept 5, “News talk 1010 CFRB” IDs. Local CFRB news at 1700. Traffic reports. Ads. Weather. Good signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sorry if I missed this earlier but when did CFRB come back to SW? I'm hearing today with an S6 signal here in Harrisburg, PA for the first time in a very long time (Bill Mead, Harrisburg, PA, NRD 525/Wellbrook Loop, Sept 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Bill, Yes, CFRX 6070 just came back Thursday, and there have been lots of reports of it. See upcoming DX Listening Digest 8-098 if you`re not on any DX newsgroups reporting it. Had been off about 2 years (Glenn to Bill, via DXLD) Thanks, Glenn. By the way, I'm zero beating CFRX a bit below 6070 - more like 6069.85 (Bill Mead, ibid.) CFRX check, Sept 5 at 2350, big het between it on 6069.8 and CVC Chile on 6070.0, the two at about equal level. At first CVC was dominating, but at 0000, TC, ID and CFRB News was atop for the moment. A deep notch would help but how many SWLs have that? Intolerable clash caused by people who don`t understand how to do shortwave. Since CFRX is incapable of moving even 200 Hz, so far, they (we?) should try to persuade CVC to move, as they certainly have the flexibility to do so. If they want to move as little as possible, it looks like the easy way out would be for CVC to shift to 6065, which is not used by anything in the Western Hemisphere all night, but their own Zambian outlet starts at 0600, so Chile could use it at least until then, and CFRX could be clear in the local evenings (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) With those two stations so close together, a notch may not be very effective. It would be more feasible to use an interference cancelling antenna system such as the one that was published by Lankford: as well as the ones published by Connelly, though his are more for MW usage (Chris Trask, AZ, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) There are various reports on newsgroups that it has been reactivated. CFRX used to acknowledge all correct reception reports with a QSL card. Most of these reports come from eastern Canada and the north- eastern United States. However, we have received reports from approximately 35 countries. CFRB/CFRX QSL's have been issued by the Ontario DX Association since October 1, 1991. According to The Ontario DX Association, CFRB 1010 kHz began broadcasting in 1927. The original transmitter site was at Aurora, Ontario, and the approximate power was 15 kW. Tubes used in the first transmitters were manufactured by the Rogers vacuum tube company. Indeed, the name of the radio station reflects the Rogers involvement in radio broadcasting, "Canada's First Rogers Batteryless". In 1946, a new transmitter site was opened at Clarkson, Ontario (the present site), and was the first 50 kW DA-2 array in the British Commonwealth. The array was four 250' towers, fed by open-wire transmission lines from the phasing system within the main building. The transmitters were by RCA, a BT50-F and a BT10-F (50 kW and 10 kW). The normal operating power into the array (Day and Night patterns) was 50 kW. In 1971, two new 550' towers were erected and the phasing equipment location was changed to the largest of the four field buildings. Construction planning was such that the technical staff was able to switch between the "old" array and the "new" array with minimal loss of air time, to facilitate adjustment of the tuning and phasing equipment for the new array (two towers were common to both arrays). In 1981, the present facility was opened, utilizing the existing field equipment, but providing a completely new Main Building, with new 50 kW transmitters and control equipment. Again, planning was such that the cutover was made to the new building on April 6, 1981, with less than 10 seconds of lost air time. The transmitters were built by Continental Electronics of Dallas, Texas, and are designated Model 317C-2. They are capable of a maximum output power of 61 kW at 100% modulation. The final amplifier stage uses two high power tetrode tubes connected in a high-efficiency screen-modulated amplifier, known in the industry as the Weldon Linear. The transmitters are equipped with an automatic power cutback to 12.5 kW in the event of an antenna system fault. The program material for CFRB is relayed to the transmitter site by two methods. The first is a stereo, 950 MHz link. The second is a pair of matched stereo lines from 2 St. Clair Avenue West to the transmitter site. CFRB transmits in C-QUAM AM stereo [does it still?? gh], which is the only type of AM-stereo system allowed in Canada. This system operates in a classic manner, with the L+R information amplitude modulating the carrier to the maximum of 1.0 radians, for 100% L-R. In the receiver, this information is recovered by conventional amplitude and phase detection methods, and added algebraically to produce the resultant L and R information. The math is: (L+R) + (L-R) = 2L; (L+R) - (L-R) = 2R. There are decoder chips available for this system. Control of the CFRB Transmitter Plant is done from the remote point of the studios, through a custom system, utilizing FSK methods, and manufactured by Uni-Tel. At the transmitter site, commands are interpreted by, and some indications are given back with, a CFRB- designed Plant Control System, based around a Struthers-Dunn Process Controller. This microprocessor-based dedicated device does the necessary operations and status checks to permit (for example), a five step pattern change to be accomplished in about 310 milliseconds, with greater safeguards for the equipment than would be possible in a relay-based system of comparable size and cost. The controller also continously investigates the status of certain equipment and sounds alarms if out-of-limits conditions exist. CFRX (6.070 MHz), began broadcasting in 1937. CFRX has always been co- sited with CFRB, but has used a separate antenna system. The original antenna system consisted of two 50' vertical towers, configured for a directional radiation pattern to the north-west. The present CFRX array consists of one 50' vertical and provides an omni- directional pattern. The original CFRX transmitter was designed and built by CFRB technical personnel at the first CFRB transmitter site in Aurora, Ontario. The power output of CFRX has always been 1,000 watts, although in the latter years of the old transmitter, this was difficult to maintain. Problems continued to appear in the operation and maintenance of the original homebuilt transmitter, with a resulting deterioration in audio quality. Early in 1983 the decision was made to purchase and install a new 1 kW transmitter for CFRX. The present transmitter was delivered in December of 1983 and was commissioned December 31. The new facility is located in a room next to the CFRB transmitters. The transmitter was manufactured by Elcom-Bauer of Sacramento, California. The design is basically their Model 701B, with the tank circuit of the final stage redesigned and an RF driver stage added after the standard RF oscillator card. The transmitter is now designated a 701B-HF. It is a classic plate-modulated design and is capable of producing high levels of modulation continuously, as is required for a 24-hour-a-day operation of CFRX. The program material is derived from the same links as used for CFRB and is processed at the CFRX audio rack, using CRL processors. The programming is a simulcast of CFRB's, except for a CFRX ID that runs twice an hour. http://www.odxa.on.ca/cfrb/reports.html (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) If I remember correctly CRFX announcements used to contain an ODXA mailing address for those wishing to get a QSL. In the end of 1990s I enjoyed hearing the rare SW listeners calling in during CFRB's live shows with their unwelcomed air checks of CFRX (reception isn't so good today, I have such and such radio and antenna, can you beef up your SW power output, why is RCH jamming you at night, etc.) The hosts were surprised but extremely polite and understanding - as if they were speaking with mentally disturbed people. It was hilarious (Sergei, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The same kind of calls appeared on DT64 in 1992/1993, when they were on 1044. You hit the nail on the head, especially with the description "as if they were speaking with mentally disturbed people". However, I'm unable to find it hilarious, since dealing with shortwave and international broadcasting in general (it makes no difference) brought me this kind of an image. Not everywhere, but it's not too uncommon and had in some cases a quite bad impact. So far I still believe that it is not necessary to bail out in order to deal with the situation, but I can not rule out that I will have to reconsider at some point (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) Kai, Hang in there. Your well-researched information is greatly appreciated by those of us who get it! O yes, I remember that the CFRX IDs were inserted by a clock timer, interrupting whatever programming was in progress, most annoying and unprofessional. Are they or will they resume doing that? (gh, DXLD) Agreed! Kai, your e-mails are consistently among the most informative any of us see, relating to DX in general. The loss of your input would be quite painful (GREG HARDISON, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENIING DIGEST) The funny part was that CFRB hosts seemed to have been blissfully unaware of CFRX's existence (or the SW for that matter). There was no online streaming yet. Also, SW listeners would usually call in with their "reception reports on the air" when other unrelated issues were discussed. BTW, CFRX is heard well right now here, in the southern part of greater Chicagoland. Maybe I should give them a call :) (Sergei, IL, ibid.) ** CANADA. 6160, CKZU/CBC Radio One via Vancouver/Richmond, 1506-1511, Sept 4, mixing with VOA (via Philippines, in English with the start of their English language lesson "New Dynamic English". The same program I usually hear via Lao National Radio on 6130), both about equal strength (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Why is it, that some guy or group decides to apply for a frequency to set up and operate a Radio Station. The proposed frequency is silent for several years. When the time comes to file an application, you then find out there are dozen other applicants applying for the same frequency to set up their own station. Its like where are they coming from all of a sudden everyone else in the community including their grandparents have the same interest in setting up a radio station at the same time? The frequency sat vacant for years and nobody has since claimed it earlier? It happens all the time! (John L., Muskego, WI, WTFDA via DXLD) USA or Canada? The processes are quite different. [see U S A for another answer] In Canada the procedure is somewhat different. I don't know the formalities but it looks a lot like the way AM frequencies are doled out here in the States: 1. You find a frequency that seems to be technically acceptable (I suspect applicants consult with the technical regulators in the Department of Industry at this point). 2. You apply for a new station on this frequency. 3. If you proposed a regular commercial station or the only frequency available for full-power broadcasting in your city, the CRTC issues a call for additional applications in your city. They don't specify who applied or for what facilities, so often some of the other applications will specify a different frequency (and it's technically possible for more than one application to be granted). 4. The CRTC decides which application(s) they feel will best serve the public interest and grant zero or more. (they will consider the effect on the financial viability of existing stations, and may choose to deny *ALL* the applications, or to deny one or more that are technically acceptable.) IMHO the procedure seems to be a lot faster than in the U.S. (Doug Smith, TN, Aug 22, WTFDA via DXLD) I have to say, I don't see identical engineering very often on competing U.S. applications (Allan Dunn, ibid.) It is however quite common in Canada (Doug Smith, ibid.) ** CANADA [non]. Re 8-097: Did not take long to see what I would log on 580 in the null of CKUA, now that CKXR is gone. Using an old Sony TR-6400 (with TRF stage) at 2230 MDT was rewarded right away with armchair copy of WIBW Topeka KS, with several IDs and local announcements in the space of a few minutes. New here. 73, (Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, Calgary AB, NRC-AM via DXLD) Not bad; WIBW`s night pattern aims SW, with not much signal toward you. It is of course, a semi-local here day and night (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. More AM conversions to be considered http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Hearings/2008/n2008-10.htm 12. Guelph, Ontario, Application No. 2008-0685-4 Application by 591989 B.C. Ltd. to convert the English-language commercial radio station CJOY Guelph from the AM band to the FM band. The new station would operate on frequency 95.7 MHz (channel 239B) with an average effective radiated power of 11,000 watts (maximum effective radiated power of 30,000 watts with an effective height of antenna above average terrain of 53.7 metres). The applicant proposes to maintain CJOY’s current Oldies music format on the proposed FM station. 15. Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Application No. 2008-0855-3 Application by Rogers Broadcasting Limited to convert radio station CFDR Dartmouth from the AM band to the FM band. The new station would operate on frequency 92.9 MHz (channel 225C1) with an average effective radiated power of 63,000 watts (maximum effective radiated power of 100,000 watts with an effective height of antenna above average terrain of 196 metres). The applicant is requesting permission to simulcast the programming of the new FM station on CFDR for a period of three months from the date of implementation of the new station. 16. Sudbury, Ontario, Application No. 2008-0857-9 Application by Newcap Inc. to convert radio station CIGM Sudbury from the AM band to the FM band. The new station would operate on frequency 93.5 MHz (channel 228C1) with an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts (non-directional antenna with an effective height of antenna above average terrain of 203.5 metres). The applicant is requesting permission to simulcast the programming of the new FM station on CIGM for a period of three months from the date of implementation of the new station. 19. Athabasca, Alberta, Application No. 2008-0786-0 Application by 3937844 Canada Inc. to convert radio station CKBA Athabasca from the AM band to the FM band. The new station would operate on frequency 94.1 MHz (channel 231B1) with an effective radiated power of 9,000 watts (non-directional antenna with an effective height of antenna above average terrain of 54 metres). The applicant is requesting permission to simulcast the programming of the new FM station on CKBA for a period of three months from the date of implementation of the new station (via Ricky Leong, Calgary, Aug 22, DXLD) ** CANADA. The CRTC has approved the application of the CBC to add a "nested" FM relay (88.1 MHz, 8.9 kW) in Vancouver of CBU-690 Vancouver BC. CBU will remain on AM; I believe that CBU and CJBC are the only CBC stations left on AM that were owned by the CRBC when the CBC look over the operations of the old CRBC in 1936. CRBC = Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (operated 1932-1936) CBU Vancouver – New transmitter in Vancouver 1. The Commission approves the application by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to amend the broadcasting licence for the radio programming undertaking CBU Vancouver in order to operate a transmitter in Vancouver to rebroadcast the programming of its national English-language network service Radio One. 2. The new transmitter will operate at 88.1 MHz (channel 201C) with an average effective radiated power of 8,900 watts. 3. The Commission received an intervention in support of this application. 4. In Licensing of new radio stations to serve the Vancouver radio market, Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2008-117, 30 May 2008 (Broadcasting Decision 2008-117), the Commission approved in part an application by the CBC to operate a new FM station in Vancouver. The Commission authorized the use of 88.1 MHz (channel 201C) by the CBC to operate an FM station in Vancouver. The Commission denied the CBC’s applications to add an FM transmitter of its Vancouver station on Gabriola Island and to add a transmitter of its station CBCV-FM Victoria in Nanaimo, British Columbia. 5. The CBC had proposed to convert its AM station CBU Vancouver to the FM band to serve Vancouver while the proposed transmitters were intended to maintain coverage to the outlying areas. However, the Commission determined that, given the scarcity of frequencies in the relevant areas, the CBC should maintain operation of its AM frequency in Vancouver. The Commission indicated that the CBC could continue operation of its AM station while adding an FM transmitter at 88.1 MHz (channel 201C) or operate a FM station at 88.1 MHz (channel 201C) with a transmitter at its current AM frequency. 6. The CBC has chosen to maintain the AM undertaking CBU and add an FM transmitter to address coverage deficiencies in Vancouver. Accordingly, the CBC filed the present application for an amendment to the authority granted in Broadcasting Decision 2008-117. 73, (via Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, Sept 5, DXLD) ** CANADA. CJCL "The Fan 590" now HD? Was listening/watching the simulcast of Prime Time Sports from The Fan 590 (CJCL 590 KHz Toronto) on Rogers Sportsnet tonight. Bob McCown the host mentioned at the start that they were now on in HD radio (fake HD as he called it). I wasn't paying that close attention, but listeners in S. Ont./W. NY might want to give a listen. The show should be up on their site http://www.fan590.com/onair/primetimesports/ look for PTS: 2008-09-05 (Wade Smith, Sept 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) You sure he wasn't talking about the TV show being in HD? Even if Canada is doing some HD radio experiments, my understanding is that they've mostly been on FM. And with nine towers and a tight DA pattern, I can't imagine the CJCL array easily passing HD... s (Scott Fybush, Rochester NY, NRC-AM via DXLD) Scott, wouldn't you hear it from where you live if it were there? (Pete Taylor, ibid.) Maybe, maybe not. It's about 110 miles from me to the CJCL transmitter site, which is not in Toronto but on the south shore of Lake Ontario, between St. Catharines and Hamilton. The 590 signal has a very deep null in my direction, protecting WROW in Albany and presumably WEZE in Boston as well. So I don't hear CJCL in analog very well to begin with. 580 and 600 are both pretty noisy channels at my QTH, so any contribution from IBOC hash would be hard to determine. The great unknown here is "pattern bandwidth." When dealing with a complex directional array, it's hard enough to get it to tune up properly at the carrier frequency (590 kHz, in this case); the peaks and nulls can often end up somewhere else entirely at the sideband frequencies (580/600). So they could be throwing more RF my way. I'll have to give a listen and see... s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) Highly unlikely, to say the least, that CJCL is running HD. Although Canadian FM stations can apply for an experimental license to try out HD (though none had done so, the last time I checked), there is no provision at all for running HD on AM here. And, hopefully, that's the way it will stay (Barry McLarnon VE3JF Ottawa, ON, ibid.) Well, he did say High Definition radio. But after actuallly watching the stupid show, I guess he was joking. Here is an audio link http://www.qsl.net/ve9wgs/pts.wav I guess the fake HD comment should have been a giveaway. Sorry for the confusion. I'm going back to bed. (Wade Smith, ibid.) My apologies but after paying attention to the program repeat on Sportsnet. I guess he was joking about the HD radio. Audio link http://www.qsl.net/ve9wgs/pts.wav Thanks to Scott Fybush on the NRC list for pointing out that it was highly unlikely (Wade Smith, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Back in last year Peter Senger (from Deutsche Welle, at this time still head of the DRM consortium, now retired) stated that Canada had made a decision to use the DRM system. He did not go into detail, such as who is "Canada", but it seems that the IBOC mediumwave system is not considered for use in Canada at all. Is it in fact considered anywhere else than in the USA, including Mexican border blasters? I seem to associate HD with Brazil, but perhaps they are interested in the FM band system only? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Surely CJCL would not refer to it as `HD` if it were DRM. Altho DRM = fake HD makes some sense, come to think of it. Er, what`s the difference to the common human? No, Brasil has IBOC running on a few MW stations, as reported in DXLD, and also has tested DRM on MW. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** CANADA. CJLO 1690 AM Montreal has been given the green light to test 24 hours a day now. Night signal very strong here, at times equal or better than CINW 940, CHTO Toronto underneath most times and an even mix at others (J. Nielsen, neofoodog, Ottawa, Ont., Sept 6, ABDX via DXLD) ** CHINA. 3900, PBS Hulun Buir, Hailar. September 3, Chinese, 0944 lite instrumental music, 0951-0953 YL and OM talks. Very weak 24322. 73 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 7225, Sichuan PBS-2, 1512-1516*, Sept 4, indigenous music with singing/chanting, fair, // 6060 (weak), not // to Sichuan PBS-1 on 9740 (under BBC) which continued on past 1516. Was nice to finally hear this in the clear, as pre-1500 there is always very heavy QRM from VOA (in Korean) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Coverage of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Paralympic Games. For more on this event see 6060 // 7225, Sichuan PBS-2, 1433-1450, Sept 6, in Chinese and English, relaying CNR-1 programming, with about a 5 second delay, carried the speeches in English with announcer in Chinese talking over them, unable to hear 9740 Sichuan PBS-1 due to live sports coverage by the BBC, which was just too noisy. 4990, Hunan PBS, 1433-1450, Sept 6, in Chinese and English, same relaying of CNR-1 programming (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also TIBET ** CHINA [non]. Via Cërrik, Albania. 7285, CRI-Easy FM, 2140-2155, Sept 5, IDs. China Drive program with talk about cold remedies, accupuncture, upcoming events in China. // 5960 - both frequencies good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. RHC 6180 still missing, Sept 4 at 0110. This is supposed to be in Spanish to CAm, ex-6140, which swapped with it for English. Have not checked the entire evening to learn if 6180 ever appears. If not, where did this transmitter go? Meanwhile, English on 6000 and 6140 still suffer from low modulation and hum, 6000 being worse. Those searching for a frequency associated with my last report around 1400: I happened to be listening on 13680 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tho it had been missing the last few nites, RHC 6180 was back Sept 5- 6, with open carrier from tune-in 2350, and IS, sign-on 2358. The frequencies announced at 0000, when I was listening to 6060, were: 13760, 11760, 11680, 9550, 9600, 5965, 6000, 6060, 6140 and 6180, in that strange Moscow-style order. Yes, 6140 also on for one hour in Spanish before it goes into English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CYPRUS. 9760, Cyprus Broadcasting Corp, *2215-2244*, Sept 5, sign on with Greek music. Greek talk. Local music. Sign off with Greek music. Very good. // 7210 - very weak under China Radio Int. // 5930 - fair signal but did not come on the air until approximately 2225. Fri, Sat, Sun only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CZECHOSLOVAKIA. ``I was 22 years old in 1968 and I was horrified by the Soviet-led invasion.`` Thanks for sharing this, Bruce. As I read your post, I thought that those old feelings that are so vivid even today might help understand what Russians went through as a nation in 1999, during the US-led air campaign in Yugoslavia. I'm not saying that the events of 1968 and 1999 were identical. But the emotional perceptions of '68 in the West and '99 in Russia seem to be somewhat similar. Of course, the bombing of Yugoslavia is a more recent event. Both campaigns had shaky legal grounds. NATO's attack on Yugoslavia was much more destructive, took a considerably higher civilian toll and - most importantly - was well televised. The invasion of Czechoslovakia was presented in the USSR as a self-defense against an "aggressive" NATO expansion. At that time many Soviet people didn't buy this argument. The Soviet intelligentsia was mostly supportive of The Prague Spring. Suddenly for today's Russia it's a different story. Czechs and Slovaks are in NATO, not to mention the former Soviet Baltic states and a few potential members. After Yugoslav events the North Atlantic Pact doesn't seem to be only about defending its member states. So to majority of Russians that old explanation about the need for self-defense sounds very true and real today. That's why this time the sad anniversary of 1968 isn't covered in the Russian media as much at it was 10 years ago. The world might be set for some major upheavals unless we learn to understand the reality of each other's deep fears and emotional traumas (Sergei, IL, Aug 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) And here are two fragments of Vltava on 1430, edited together. It starts with a clear mention of "German Democratic Republic", appearing to be an open announcement of the station's location. http://www.radioeins.de/etc/medialib/rbb/rad/multimedia/audios/200308/internet_bonus_prager_0.smil..smi Wow, great recordings! Thank you, Kai. I didn't study Czech or Slovak but here's what I'm hearing: ... from German Democratic Republic. We are broadcasting daily on the wave of 210 meters or 1430 kHz at 5 in the morning and 18:30 in Slovak language and at 5:30 and 18 in Czech language. This is radio broadcasting station Vltava calling! This is radio broadcasting station Vltava calling! We are broadcasting on the wave of 210 meters or 1430 kHz in Czech and Slovak language. So Vltava had only one hour in the morning and one in the evening? That's it? Unlike other Slavic people, Czechs and Slovaks are known for being the "early risers" (Germanic influence?). I guess 5 am / 6 pm was a perfect time for them. In Moscow everyone is still sleeping at 5 am and many people are still working at 6 pm (Sergei, IL, ibid.) PETER REHAK ON THE PRAGUE SPRING'S END: AN EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT Posted: August 21, 2008, 11:00 AM by Dan Goldbloom http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/08/21/peter-rehak-on-the-prague-spring-s-end-an-eyewitness-account.aspx The date was Aug. 21, 1968. It was a Tuesday night. As I did on most other nights that summer, I joined three of my journalist colleagues to listen to the day´s last newscast from Radio Prague. We gathered after midnight in a guest room at the once venerable Alcron Hotel that served as the unofficial press headquarters for the Prague Spring. The station signed off for the night shortly after 1 a.m. We settled down with a round of gin and tonics, reassured that we had not missed any new developments in the startling story that had been unfolding in Czechoslovakia for months - the attempt by communist party chief Alexander Dubcek to reshape the country´s orthodox political model into "socialism with a human face" that became known as the Prague Spring. I was sent to Prague to reopen the bureau of The Associated Press news agency that had been closed since the 1950s when the last correspondent, William N. Oatis, was jailed as a spy. It was an emotional assignment for me. I was born in Czechoslovakia but moved to Montreal with my family after the communist coup. Since I did not need a translator, I was key to the late night news monitoring. Just before 2 a.m. we heard the whining sound of aircraft landing in quick succession, unusual for that time of night. I made a feeble joke that it was a late charter from Dubrovnik, a favourite vacation spot for Czechs, but we all knew that it was more likely the beginning of the end of the Dubcek reforms. I hit the "on" button on the portable radio and just heard the phrase, "An important announcement from the Central Committee ... " before the station went dead. I sprinted to the hotel desk. An agitated clerk sent me to the hotel garage where Radio Prague continued broadcasting over a land line. The rest of the announcement said that Soviet and other Warsaw Pact forces had crossed the country´s frontiers and citizens were asked not to take action against the invading forces. I filed a bulletin to AP´s European headquarters in London over the hotel telex. It moved on the AP wire at 2:09 a.m. European time. (I later found out that the bulletin was handed to Dean Rusk, the U.S. secretary of state, at a televised hearing about Vietnam.) The reforms started by Dubcek, two decades before anyone had heard of perestroika and glasnost in Moscow, were indeed startling. Dubcek declared that he wanted to build "a new intensely democratic model of a socialist society, which would fully correspond to Czechoslovak conditions." The aims, his "action program" said, "cannot be achieved along the old paths which have long been obsolete and harsh methods, which are always dragging us back." The new regime lifted press censorship, sent Soviet advisors home and even allowed talk of opposition parties. For the first time in years, the borders opened. Czechoslovak citizens were allowed to travel abroad, and foreigners streamed into Prague. For nearly eight months, Prague was transformed from a drab Communist capital into a city bustling with life and optimism. People were smiling and hopeful. The hotels were jammed with Westerners and the nightlife was hopping. The unfettered press titillated its eager readers with tale after tale of crimes and corruption by party officials and the gory details of forced confessions during the Stalinist show trials of the 1950, including an account of how the ashes of those executed were dumped by work crews on icy roads. There were interviews with former political prisoners and the widows of the executed. Members of the new regime talked enthusiastically of economic reform and roundly criticized the leaders they replaced. Clearly, the reforms went too far for the other members of the Warsaw Pact. A public letter in July, signed by Soviet party chief Leonid Brezhnev, Walter Ulbricht, the goateed Saxon who had built the Berlin Wall, Wladyslaw Gomulka of Poland, Janos Kadar of Hungary and Todor Zhivkov of Bulgaria, accused the reformers of unleashing "anti- socialist and revisionist forces" in Czechoslovakia and stressed that what was going on in Prague was "absolutely unacceptable." Dubcek and the reformers were summoned to a meeting in East Germany, the first of several. At the last get-together, on Aug. 3 in the Slovak capital of Bratislava, the two sides hammered out an agreement to rein in the reforms that Dubcek was later accused of not honouring. To add muscle to the complaints, Soviet forces entered the country in May to hold Warsaw Pact manoeuvres. They withdrew after the Bratislava agreement, only to return on Aug. 21. It was morning before the first tanks appeared downtown. The population was incensed. People took to the streets, changed roadside and street signs around to confuse the troops. A network of clandestine radio stations and underground newspapers sprung up. "Russians Go Home" graffiti was soon visible all over town. The clandestine stations co-ordinated the protests, including a general strike. Spread throughout the country, the stations were the main source of news. The panicky troops opened fire and killed at least four people outside the Radio Prague building before they occupied it and shut it down. The troops were mostly young conscripts and they had been told that they would be welcomed as liberators. Faced by hostile crowds, some of them fired and around 60 people were killed in incidents throughout the country. Dubcek and his reformers were arrested while meeting at the Central Committee building and were flown to Moscow. The Russians´ thinly veiled excuse for the invasion was that they were responding to a call for help by the "true communists" on the Central Committee. They were quickly identified as Alois Indra, Drahomir Kolder and Vasil Bilak and branded as traitors by the pro-Dubcek public. Moscow was taken aback by the popular protest and the Soviet leaders prevailed on the country´s president, Ludvik Svoboda, a war hero, to fly to Moscow where he secured the release of Dubcek and the other reformers. With the odds stacked against them, the Czechs agreed to abandon the reforms and to the permanent stationing of Soviet forces in the country. Dubcek was replaced by the old-line communist Gustav Husak as party leader. Dubcek was sent to Turkey as ambassador and eventually expelled from the party. He was given a job managing a forestry department motor pool in Bratislava. He re-emerged in public before a cheering crowd in 1989 when he stood on a balcony with Vaclav Havel, the dissident playwright who was to become the country´s first post-communist president. Dubcek died in a car crash on Nov. 7, 1992. The Dubcek reforms were the biggest upheaval in the communist world since the 1956 Hungarian uprising. But Czechoslovakia´s post-communist generations regard it as a squabble among communists. Except for a small but influential group of dissidents who signed a human rights declaration called "Charter 77," political life in the country remained dormant until the Soviet empire crumbled in 1989. Havel recently told the New York Times that the invasion laid bare communism´s incompatibility with freedom and "rid the Western left of their illusions." National Post --- Peter Rehak was The Associated Press correspondent in Prague when the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries invaded Czechoslovakia on Aug. 21, 1968. [Photo: A young Prague resident climbs on a Soviet T-54 tank in the Vinohrady street near the state-owned radio building in Prague during confrontations between demonstrators and the Warsaw Pact troops and tanks on Aug. 21, 1968. AFP/Getty Images.] (via Fred Waterer, Ont., ODXA yg Aug 22 via DXLD) ** DENMARK. Offshore radio broadcasting did not begin in Denmark. However, the concept of broadcasting popular music programs from international waters directed towards an audience in a country with a state monopoly on radio transmissions came from R Mercur, a Danish commercial radio station that started airing its programs on Aug 02, 1958 - now half a century ago. Henrik Noergaard, author of the book "Pirater i aeteren" (2003), takes us back to that day in a newly written article "When Mercury got wings. Remembering Radio Mercur after fifty years" with links to another one and a Radio Mercur site: http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/VOLUME11/When_Mercury_got_wings.shtml (Mike Barraclough, DSWCI DX Window Sept 3 via DXLD) ** EGYPT. R. Cairo, 12169, 1613 6 August, off-frequency by 1 kHz, chanting, ID, Qur`an, timesignal, English, vernacular, SIO 433 (David Gascoyne, Kent, Sept BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** EGYPT. 9280, R. Cairo, 09/01 2130-2150 in English for some reason (thought it was usually Arabic at this hour). Strong signal but the worst modulation I have ever heard from Cairo. Every third word or so was intelligible. As a blessing, audio kept dropping out, once for 11 minutes. Carrier left all alone. Gave up at 2150. Next day was in Arabic on 9280 with clean audio. On 09/02 I tuned to Cairo in English to Europe on 11550 at 2200. Again with the same defective modulation. Is it just the English services? (Bruce Barker, Broomall, PA. NRD 535D, new Alpha Delta sloper isn't up yet so it's still a short longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, Radio Africa, 2200-2259*, Sept 3, pastor Tony Alamo with his program #655, hymn by Elvis Presley with JD Sumner & the Stamps, read letter from Nigeria, song by Dolly Parton, fair- poor, by 2250 there was moderate QRM (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Guinea Ecuatorial --- R. Africa, Bata, 15190 a 1804 TU, comentarios religiosos, OM, dirección postal, inglés, 43333 RN Guinea Ecuatorial, Malabo, 6250 a 1800 TU, comentarios OM, vernáculo, 34332 (Antonio Madrid, QTH: Moraleda, Granada (España), noticias dx yg via DXLD) 6250, Radio Nacional, Malabo, *0502-0530, Sept 6, sign on with National Anthem. Spanish announcements at 0504. Afro-pop music at 0505. Weak at sign on. Improved to fair reception by 0525 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA/ETHIOPIA. Dear Mr. Hauser, great thanks for the news from OM Thorsten about ERI/ETH puzzle! [8-097]. In really on 8000 kHz: S/on 1454 Eritrea, IS, 1500 ID "Radio & Television Ertran", news in vernacular, songs from 1502 type "Horn of Africa" and on 30 & 31st August around 1520 on exact 8000 (Eritrea is on some 7999.5) kHz started station with strong signal and only two words by man approx. "Thiny Ertran' (Mr. Mauno Ritola, Finland said "Dimtse Ertra" - I think it is more exactly) followed by rap songs in vernacular until 1630. At same time the transmitters of Ethiopia on 7110 (at 0400 UT they using 5990) and on 7165 (F Service) are not heard here. On same dates at 0400 and at 1600 UT Radio Fana was on 5940 and 5950 kHz. 73s, (Rumen Pankov, P. O. Box 199, Sofia 1000, Bulgaria. It is if the link via Internet is cutted, Sept 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FAROE ISLANDS. THOMSON SYSTEM BOOST --- FAROE ISLANDS REVAMPS AKRABERG STATION The Kringvarp Foroya station is situated close to the lighthouse, a famous landmark since 1909. [caption: nice shot of the lighthouse at land`s end, but no sign of the 531 antenna -- gh] The Ministry of Culture of Faroe Islands has awarded Thomson for the supply of two medium-wave transmitters for its Akraberg Station. The new equipment will replace the 200 kW tube transmitter delivered by Thomson in 1989, which had been broadcasting the Kringvarp Faroya program on 531 kHz, but finally broke down in Spring of this year. “The old transmitter went down due to technical problems. It was considered, that the best and cheapest solution was to install a new transmitter. “This will come into temporary use during August, and installing the new transmitter will be completed during last quarter of 2008,” says Hans Andor Johannesen, Head of Technology at Kringvarp Foroya. Kringvarp Foroya is the broadcasting authority of Faroe Islands. The transmitters are operated by the Faroese Telecom on behalf of the Kringvarp Foroya. Akraberg, today uninhabited, is situated on the Suduroy Island and is the southernmost point of the Faroe Islands. The distance to the next village is 2 km. To ensure uninterrupted transmission from the totally unmanned Akraberg station, Kringvarp Faroya opted to purchase 2 transmitters: a 100 kW model (TMW 2100D) as standard and a 50 kW model (TMW 2050D) as passive reserve. If the TMW 2100D fails, then automatically the TMW 2050D standby transmitter will go on air. The transmitter station will run unattended and will be remotely controlled via a webinterface. The station’s power supply comes from a diesel power plant situated 10 km away. With the drastic increase in the price of oil, overall power consumption of the transmitting equipment was a key decision factor. “Thomson transmitters were evaluated best with respect to overall efficiency and lowest operating costs,” says Jóhan Poulsen, Head of Radio department of the Faroese Telecom. “We have been highly satisfied throughout the years with the technical expertise and service from the Thomson team. Their support has always been quick and professional.” The Faroe Islands is an autonomous province of the Kingdom of Denmark. The economy is almost totally dependent on fishing and sheep-farming. Located between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, the country includes 17 inhabited islands, one uninhabited island and several uninhabited islets. The transmissions from Akraberg are especially important for the large Faeroese fishing fleet, enabling them to listen to music, news, entertainment and weather reports from their home town. The FM services of the Faroese Radio do not reach the fishing boats operating in the Barents Sea and Canada’s east cost, whereas the ground wave of the 531 kHz medium-wave transmitter does. The Kringvarp Foroya station is situated close to the lighthouse, a famous landmark since 1909 (RADIO NEWS, AUTUMN 2008 - Published by Thomson Broadcast & Multimedia - Issue 31, via Rachel Baughn, DXLD) ** FINLAND. Listen to Scandinavian Weekend R, Virrat, reports from the EDXC Conference in Vaasa on Sep 05-06 with the following schedule: 1602 MW 2100-2059, 5980 1600-1800, 6170 2100-1600 1800-2059, 11690 2200-0700, 1300-1600 and 1800-2100, 11720 2100-2200, 0700-1300 and 1600-1800. All in Finnish and English. You may hear my voice! (Anker Petersen, DX WINDOW 358 Via G. Bernardini, playdx yg via DXLD) SWR Special EDXC broadcast Sat 6 Sept --- EDXC 2008 via Scandinavian Weekend Radio (SWR) --- On Saturday, 6 September 2008, we will have a special EDXC broadcast by the name "EDXC2008 via Scandinavian Weekend Radio" and a special QSL will be available for correct reports. Scandinavian Weekend Radio broadcasts programmes from town of Vaasa, Finland where SDXL celebrate 50-year anniversary event. It is European DX-Council meeting, also. At Saturday 6th on September programme will be coming from Conference Hotel Silveria during event. Link to Conference official site: http://www.netikka.net/edxc The program will include radio news, music, interviews and presentations from the conference, as well as some historical material from the previous EDXC conferences. All reception reports and feedback is most welcome. Please remember to enclose 2 Euros, 2 USD or 2 IRC with your reception report, and do not forget to submit adequate program details. Please visit our website, http://www.swradio.net for more information, latest news, pictures, sound clips and our program schedule. Contact information SWR P.O. Box 99 FI-34801 VIRRAT FINLAND Phone number +358 400 995 559 (only during the transmission) E-mail: info @ swradio. net Scandinavian Weekend Radio has been on the air regularly since July 2000 as the very first private shortwave station in Scandinavia. Nowadays we broadcast on short and medium waves. Our studios and transmitters are located in Virrat, western Finland. At the beginning all Scandinavian Weekend Radio's transmitters were "home-made" and officially approved for broadcasting. Nowadays there are also some commercial transmitters in our TX room. Currently the maximum power level on medium wave is 400 watts, and normally 100 watts on 25 and 49 meter bands. Occasionally we have a possibility to use 400 watts also on 25 or 49 meters. SWR is on the air on the first Saturday of every month, 24 hours, starting 00:00 local time (UTC+2 in wintertime and UTC+3 in summertime). Our frequencies are: a.. 11690 kHz or 11720 kHz on 25 meters b.. 5980 kHz or 6170 kHz on 49 meters and c.. 1602 kHz on MW The station is operated by an association called "Vaihtoehtoisen radiotoiminnan tukiyhdistys ry" (The support association for alternative broadcasting) which has 13 full members and 5-10 supporting members. (from http://www.netikka.net/edxc2008/swr.html & http://www.swradio.net via Dave Kenny, Sept 3, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) ** FRANCE. Today's RFI transmission didn't begin until 1136, when carrier suddenly came up with RFI Musique fill music. Transmission continued at 1200 with RFI Spanish, then off abruptly at 1202. (Mike Cooper, Sept 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Presumably 13640 GUF as before ** FRANCE. See TAIWAN [non]. Sept 7, first Sunday in Sept, old S- season start date, may still apply for some other Issoudun frequency changes concerning RFI. The A-08 schedule in 8-045 shows them, including English: Radio France International A-08 Schedule from website April 8, 2008 (1) 30 Mar. 08 to 06 Sept. 08 (2) 07 Sept. 08 to 26 Oct. 08 0400-0430 9805 11995 to E. Af. 0500-0530 13680 15160(1) 11995(2) to E. Af. 0600-0630 15160 17800 to E. Af. 11725(1) 9765(2) to C. and W. Af. 0700-0730 13675 to C. and W. Af. 1200-1230 21620 (excluding 04 May to 07 Sept.) 17800 (for 04 May to 07 Sept.) to E. Af. 1600-1700 15605 to C. and W. Af. 17605 to E. Af. [N.B. – anyone confirm this? --- gh] (via Bernie O`Shea, Ont., April 9, DXLD) (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. MV Baltic Radio is on this Sunday, On the 7th of September 2008, At 1159 UT on 6140 KHz. MV Baltic Radio is on the air from the transmitting station in Wertachtal. We will be using a non-directional antenna system (Quadrant antenna). Good Listening 73s (Tom Taylor, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Königs Wusterhausen again on mediumwave --- but only temporarily and running flea power. A special event station called Welle 370 will broadcast on Sep 6 and 7, with first transmitter tests presumably taking place one week in advance. The station will be on 810 kHz with 10 watts only because any higher powers would require an expensive clearance procedure in regard to electromagnetic radiation and fencing off the antenna, both considered as indeed not desirable. The leased transmitter is courtesy of Transradio and will be operated via the antenna of an old portable mediumwave transmission system (such a portable 20 kW transmitter was until 1998 also in use at Burg, but connected to a permanent antenna). Media Broadcast will assist in the transmitter operation. http://www.funkerberg.de/welle370/technik.htm At present the museum also has a special exhibition about the history of Deutscher Fernsehfunk (i.e. GDR TV). http://www.funkerberg.de/web-archiv/2008/20080302/impressionen.htm Presented in the first of these photos are accessoires from DFF's first colour programme in 1969. To my knowledge of this programme only a B&W film recording survived because VTR tapes were for DFF way too expensive for being kept in those days. The only pre-1970 exception I'm aware of is the 1965 concert of Louis Armstrong in Berlin, available also on CD; I was told as an excellent stereo recording that puts the ORTF recording from the Paris concert of this tour almost to shame (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. 3250.00, Radio Luz y Vida, San Luis, strong signal with orchestral music 1110 on 28 August. 3340, Radio Misiones seems silent for last week (Bob Wilkner, FL, Japan Premium Sept 5 via DXLD) 3339.97, HRMI-Radio Misiones Internacionales-Radio MI, 0135-0200+, Sept 6, religious music. Brief Spanish announcements. English religious program with Spanish translations at 0154. Poor to fair. Caught English ID announcement at 0714 IDing as “Radio MI” & mention of studios in California. Fair to good signal at this time. Irregular (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) HRMI back on the air in usual sporadic fashion, 3340, with a good signal at a time when propagation was pitiful on higher bands, SF = 65, Sept 6 around 0610 with OM preacher in English plus consecutive translation into Spanish by YL. As for what either of them was saying, I have no idea, as my ears glaze over whenever I am assaulted by such delusional characters so absolutely certain they have The Truth. If anything, his interpreter was even more so in her pronouncements (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 4750, RRI Makassar, Sulawesi Selatan, 1950-2015, Aug 17, Bahasa Indonesia, popular music, 1959 Song of the Coconut Islands, ID, short news, 2005 music and ID again, QRM from China in background, best 24332 (Schulze) [seems quite irregular, at least around 1300 -gh] 11784.9, Voice of Indonesia, Cimanggis, 1615-1800*, Aug 17, Bahasa Indonesia until 1700, then Arabic. No Hindi program that day at 1630- 1700 as mentioned in SWN No. 6, World News. 35433 - 45544 (Roland Schulze, Stuttgart, Germany, DSWCI DX Window Sept 3 via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. Re 8-097: Hi there and thanks for the replies! Today these links are working: mms://live.voi.co.id and http://www.voi.co.id/realtime/ but NOT http://live.voi.co.id Listening to their English program 08-09 UT. 73, (Erik Køie, Copenhagen, Sept 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Last week realtime schedule appeared according to WRTH spring update schedule. Like 8 En, 9 Kor, 10 En, 11 Chin, 1130 Jpn, 1200 Ins, 13 En, 14 Malay, 15 En. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) 11784.87, VOI, 1450-1500*, Sept 4, indigenous music and singing, 1459 changed to English and says the previous program was in Malay and to stay tuned for English, but then went off the air, which was unfortunate because they had close to good reception (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 9680, RRI Jakarta, 0805-0824, Sept 3 (Wed.), in English, Kang Guru Radio English program, singing "Kang Guru" jingle, segment with song "That's What Friends Are For", Kevin with the end of program announcement (what their website interestingly calls "Outroduction"), poor reception, scheduled for Wed. & Fri. In past years during Ramadan, RRI would change their time period to one hour earlier than normal, but this year seems to be staying with the current schedule (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL. Re 8-097, AUSTRALIA, HAWAII, JAPAN: http://www.icao.or.th/meetings/2008/opmet_tf6/wp12.pdf gives details of Asia/Pac VOLMET frequencies and times (Jari Savolainen, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx, Jari. The schedule can be summarised as follows, in minutes past each hour; we wonder if all frequencies are always used at once, or whether the highest are day-only, the lowest night-only. The document also shows which airports are covered in each 5-minute segment, which could also help to ID source. Notice how several frequencies are 3 kHz apart. Presumably everything is in [robotic] English, the ICAO language, even tho `VOLMET` is derived from the French: PACIFIC: 2863, 6679, 8828, 13282 Tokyo 10-15, 40-45 Hong Kong 15-20, 45-50 Auckland 20-25, 50-55 However, a separate entry further down the list conflicts with above! One would have expected Honolulu to fill in the 55-10 and 25-40 gaps if really on the same frequencies! And in fact my log on 6679 had Honolu2 ID at :35 past. PACIFIC: 2863, 6679, 8828, 13282 Honolulu 10-25, 40-55 [sic] ASIA: 3458, 5673, 8849, 13285 Guangzhou 00-15, 30-45 Beijing 15-30, 45-60 EUROPE/ASIA: 3461, 4663, 5676, 10090, 13279 Tashkent 05-10, 35-40 Novosibirsk 10-15, 40-45 Khabarovsk 15-20, 45-50 Moskva 25-30, 55-60 Kyiv [blank, but presumably if active would fill one gap or the other: 00-05, 30-35 20-25, 50-55] ASIA: 2965, 6676, 11387 Sydney 00-05, 30-35 Kolkata 05-10, 35-40 Bangkok 10-15, 40-45 Karachi 15-20, 45-50 Singapore 20-25, 50-55 Mumbai 25-30, 55-60 Then Liz Cameron sends a much more comprehensive VOLMET schedule, tnx to Bill Hepburn`s site http://www.dxinfocentre.com/volmet.htm which confirms my suspicions about Honolulu; includes callsigns for most, and many more exotic ones like Damascus. One could easily specialize in DXing and even QSLing these VOLMETs, or at least add some countries otherwise difficult or impossible on regular SWBC, such as IRELAND, GIBRALTAR, URUGUAY (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See SYRIA ** IRAN. 6130, IRIB Teheran (presumed), *1428-1432, Sept 2, IS, into reciting from the Qur'an, weak, heard far under Lao National Radio, only occasionally heard here (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. 7480, R. Payam-e Doost, Aug 16 *1800-1806 35333 Farsi, 1800 sign on with opening music, ID, Talk (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) That`s the Bahai service via Moldova, Aoki reminds us; persecuted in Iran where the religion originated (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** IRELAND [non]. RTÉ RADIO TO BROADCAST ON SHORTWAVE, 7, 21 SEPTEMBER RTÉ Radio 1 will bring live commentary of Sunday’s All-Ireland Hurling final between Waterford and Kilkenny and the All-Ireland Football final between Kerry and Tyrone on 21 September to GAA fans worldwide using various broadcasting technologies. In Ireland, fans will be able to hear live commentary of on RTÉ Radio 1 on FM, LW 252, online at RTÉ.ie, via NTL and Sky television and on DAB digital radio in Dublin, Cork and Limerick. In the UK, RTÉ Radio 1 will broadcast live commentary on LW 252, online at RTÉ.ie, via satellite (Hotbird and Eurobird), cable television and on Freesat. Throughout the rest of Europe, fans can hear RTÉ Radio 1’s live commentary via RTÉ.ie, LW 252, satellite and DRM trials. Frequencies: 11715 kHz until 1330, 9850 kHz from 1330 to 1500 UT. In Africa, and as far as Southern Asia, RTÉ Radio 1 will broadcast live commentary from 1300-1500 UTC on both 7 and 21 September as follows: To West of Central Africa: 11695 kHz To East of Central Africa: 11960 kHz To Southern Africa: 7295 kHz GAA fans in countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia can hear RTÉ Radio 1’s live commentary via http://RTÉ.ie and satellite. (Source: RTÉ) (September 5th, 2008 - 14:21 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) Will the accent on the E work as an URL? (gh) 4 comments so far 1 ruud September 5th, 2008 - 16:07 UTC ``Throughout the rest of Europe, fans can hear RTÉ Radio 1’s live commentary via RTÉ.ie, LW 252, satellite and DRM trials. Frequencies: 11715 kHz until 1330, 9850 kHz from 1330-1500 UT`` Fans who are tuned to 9850 and 11715 will hear sshhhshhhggggshh. I bet for a bottle of good wine that this has been decided by a RTE employee who has a DRM receiver himself. Is the Africa coverage also in DRM? 2 Andy Sennitt September 5th, 2008 - 16:15 UTC As far I am aware, the Africa coverage will be in analogue. 3 Paul Rawdon September 5th, 2008 - 19:26 UTC Will they be using their own transmitters for shortwave of buying time off shore? 4 Andy Sennitt September 5th, 2008 - 20:25 UTC RTÉ does not have any shortwave transmitters of its own. No doubt one of the shortwave enthusiasts reading this will tell us what the sites are (ibid.) ** ITALY. 26000, R. Maria, 1045 21 August religious talk in Italian briefly, then faded, SIO 232 (Dave Kenny, Berkshire, Sept BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Also 1501 6 August, V. of Maria, YLs, ``Ave Maria``, ``Laudate Maria``, Italian, SIO 344 (David Gascoyne, Kent, ibid.) ** JAPAN. 6015, SHIOKAZE, Tarjeta QSL, No v/s datos completos. Informe enviado a: chosakai @ circus.ocn.ne.jp Demoro: 12 dias! (Rafael Rodríguez R., Bogotá D.C. - COLOMBIA, Sept 5, playdx yg via DXLD) Presumably the 1400-1430 broadcast which jumped back and forth from usual 6020. Per Aoki, site is: Ibaragi-Koga-Yamata, Japan. See below for more under KOREA NORTH [non] (gh, DXLD) ** JORDAN. 11690, R. Jordan, 1130 UT 8/21, pop female vocal, female announcer in accented English. Very strong at first but quickly faded down under RTTY ute station. Hadn't heard in a while. 73 best DX to all (Rick Barton, Phoenix, AZ, Realistic DX-375 - barefoot ferrite bar, Hammarlund HQ-140-X - outdoor random wire, ABDX via DXLD) Intriguing logging, just pulling it out from my vacation pileup. R. Jordan has been inactive on 11690, and English did not start until 1300 or 1400. Any ID? HCJB in Spanish is also on here, and CRI has English after 1200. No other logs of R. Jordan have surfaced lately (Glenn Hauser, Sept 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. 3980, KCBS. September 3, 0930 female choir music, 0936-0941 instrumental orchestral music. Poor, deteriorating, presumed // 3960, 3970 23322 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 6015, Shiokaze - Sea Breeze via Yamata, Japan, *1400-1430*, Aug 22 (Fri.), program in English (audio from: "Today's News on North Korean Issues"), decent reception, but heavy accent makes it hard to understand all that was said. So far this has proved to be an excellent frequency for them, no jamming. Audio clip posted to DXLD yg files section: "Station Sounds" (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6020, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze/JSR via Yamata, Japan, *1400-1430*, Sept 5, English segment with "Today's News Flash" and "Today's News on North Korean Issues", introduction to the segment in French say something like: "Today we present the information by French language. We confirm North Korea abducted some French nationals in 1970 and guess they stayed in North Korea till now, … information to them by our shortwave radio", so the observations by Walt Salmaniw were correct (DXLD 8- 095), looks as if French will be a regular feature with their English program, fair with moderate QRM from Vietnam. FYI - The Parisian newspaper Le Figaro had a story about the French abductees earlier this year http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2008/04/21/01003-20080421ARTFIG00614-les-captives-etrangeresde-la-coree-du-nord.php (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) French first reported a week ago, so always on Fridays? Don`t count on it. Kidnappés from France itself, i.a., viz., small excerpt: ``Plusieurs témoignages se recoupent en ce sens, affirme, à Tokyo, Tsutomu Nishioka, le responsable de l'Association pour le sauvetage des kidnappés japonais en Corée du Nord. Un fonctionnaire japonais, Toshio Amemiya, directeur du Bureau des enlèvements au cabinet du premier ministre, Yasuo Fukuda, renchérit : «La Corée du Nord n'a pas seulement kidnappé des Japonais. Elle a aussi enlevé des personnes à Macao, en Thaïlande, en Corée du Sud, en France, en Italie, aux Pays- Bas, en Roumanie, au Liban et en Syrie.» Les kidnappings d'étrangers par les Nord-Coréens sont longtemps restés des rumeurs.`` (Glenn Hauser, DX LSITENING DIGEST) See also JAPAN for QSL ** KURDISTAN [non?]. IRAQ/IRAN (clandestines) Nothing heard from V. of Kurdistan on 6335 since around 1 July. But another station with the same name is heard at 0250-0425 and 1255-1420 on 4840v (+/- 40 kHz to avoid the Iranian jammer) and irregularly on 3920 from 0300 UT. The communist stations broadcasting to Iranian Kurdistan were noted in early August at 1428-1538, 1558-1738 and also on Fridays at 0425-0525 all on stable 3881 and 4366 kHz with jamming. According to a tourist in Central Turkey the Iranian jammers are dominant there, but not in Bulgaria; 16-20 August (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, DX News, Sept BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** LAOS. Re: Laos on new 4412.60v --- Thanks, Ron's tip, checking 4412 on remote receiver in Australia. Nothing on listed *1030, but fading in by 1050 with instrumental music. I have listened to this one many times, I don't ever recall hearing a local ID or what such an ID would sound like. Ex 4648, 4695, etc. (Hans Johnson, Aug 22, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** LAOS. 6130, Lao National Radio, Aug 22, typical 1200 format: indigenous music, gong/bell rung slowly seven times (7:00 PM Laos Standard Time), followed by anthem, fair, audio clip posted to DXLD yg files section: "Station Sounds" (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6130, Lao National Radio, 1417-1432, Sept 2 (Tue.), "Hello. I am Elizabeth Moore. Welcome to Functioning in Business", "Functioning in Business is an intermediate level business English course with a focus on American business practices and culture", business dialogues, with Laotian translations throughout, decent reception. Audio clip posted to DXLD yg files section: "Station Sounds" (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. Relays this weekend via 9290 kHz Sat September 6th Radio Joystick 0900-1000 UT Sun September 7th Radio Victoria 1100-1300 UT Latvia Today 1300-1400 UT Good listening 73s (Tom Taylor, DX LISTENING DIGEST) and in advance on the dxldyg tnx to Mike Terry (gh) ** LIBERIA. 6070, ELWA, Monrovia, 2235-2302*, Sept 5, gospel music. Brief announcements. Closing announcements & National Anthem at 2300. Poor with some adjacent channel splatter. No sign of Canada CFRX 6070. Co-channel QRM at 2300 from unidentified station (Probably Chile-CVC). Thanks to Bob Hill for tips (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ELWA on 6070: Schedule: 0530-0800, 1730-2300 with 1 kW (Anker Petersen, ed., DSWCI DX Window Sept 3 via DXLD) ** MAURITANIA. 7245, R. Mauritanie, Nouakchott. September 3. Arabic, 0914 OM talks, long pause, YL talks, musical bridge, 0917 male reciting, 0924 OM and YL talks, musical bridge. Weak but clear, 24433 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4845 inaudible at 0310 check Sept 5, so apparently not running all- night for Ramadan; usual ute noises were there. At 0627, ORTM was poorly audible with ute (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Trying to figure out the true schedule of XEPPM, R. Educación, 6185: Recently had been inaudible after 0600 and presumed off, but Sept 5 at 0625 VG signal with contemporary classical music, and remarkably, hardly any signal from VOA Greenville 6180 to bother it. No sign of Brasil on 6180 or 6185 or 6188 either, but when on, that could be a problem. 0628 gave Spanish timecheck more than a minute fast, ID for MW 1060, and into discussion of jazz. The SW program schedule as of June/08 is at http://www.radioeducacion.edu.mx/ONDA.pdf as mentioned by Harry Helms, and covers only 18-24 local time = 23-05 UT. But this does not necessarily mean 6185 is only on the air during those hours; those could be only when SW programming is separate from MW. BTW, it includes ``Sintonía Libre``, which I think is some sort of DX program, UT Wed/Fri/Sun 0200-0230, repeated Mon 0415-0445 [something to listen to now that WOR is gone from that hour on WBCQ]. Also a show title in English! On the Road, Tue/Thu/Sat 0015-0045. The discussion I heard at 0630 UT Friday must have been ``Datos Para Una Historia``, a repeat scheduled on MW, UT Fridays only 0630-0700, the rest of the block 0503-0957 daily, bookended by himnos nacionales, being unspecified music. Such a pity they did away with detailed minute-by- minute advance playlists. And I think I have the answer to Harry`s unID on 6185 in DXLD 8-094, something ending in -dad, which he heard Thursday August 21 at 1002: shown on the XEEP MW schedule for Wed & Thu at 10-12 UT is ``Del Campo y de la Ciudad``, all other days being unspecified music during this block, except Mondays 1100-1115, Voces de Antiguas Raíces. However if the original SW schedule is in effect, that goes off at 1100. And the evening MW schedule is certainly different from the SW one. We still suspect the SW transmission is somewhat irregular, especially after 0500. As for other Mexican SW. During these unusual conditions Sept 5, with signals from the east so attenuated, RCI relay of KBSWR in Spanish on 6045 was weak enough to uncover a fast SAH at 0620, which I suspect came from XEXQ running all night as I have heard it on occasion, perpetually slightly off frequency. 6010 XEOI was also coming in well as usual, but strength no comparison to 6185 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I still have no idea what I actually heard, but the signal was considerably weaker than XEPPM's evening (my local time) signal on 6185 kHz. The next time I'm awake around 1000 UT, I'll definitely check on this again (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. Checking XEPPM, 6185, Sept 5 at 2350, there was a rumbling SAH with R. Nacional Amazônia, BRAZIL, which was on top. Later on Sept 6 around 0255, non-Spanish, non-Portuguese was on top, presumably Vatican. So R. Educación really needs to stay on all night when the frequency is clearer (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6184.96, Radio Educacion, Mexico City, 0550-0710+, Sept 6, local romantic ballads. Spanish announcements. IDs at 0601, 0656. Poor with adjacent channel splatter. Much better signal after 0600. // 1060 - weak under KYW-Philadelphia (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. XEWA 540, heard Friday morning at 6:20 [1020 UT]. Moderate signal on CC radio plus with no external antenna in an environment with heavy RF interference. Heard a sketch with a father talking to his son into short music bed and truck horn with "Los Amos Del Camino" then "XEW, W radio" ID into Government public service announcements. This is the first time I've logged them here in Ottawa. I used to hear them when I lived in Toronto back in 96/97. Fairly decent signal to overcome all the electrical noise in the house. When I lived in Iowa this was a very strong nightly visitor, lighting 4 out of 5 signal lights on an old AM stereo tuner I once had. This is the second Mexican I've heard here this summer; the parent station XEW 900 has been a regular visitor, sometimes over-riding CHML and taking it right off the dial this summer (J. Nielsen, neofoodog, Sept 6, ABDX via DXLD) ** MONACO. The only SW transmitter actually located in Monaco is operated by the Naya company on 8728 SSB; often heard with weather reports in French and English. For example at 1658 they announce a full list of Naya`s FM and TV transmitters and satellites, before closing with the Monaco naitonal anthem. Address is http://www.naya.mc (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Sept BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Viz.: 8728-USB, 0810 11 August, Monaco Radio, weather reports for Mediterranean, off 0818, English, SIO 243 (Dave Kenny, England, Sept BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** MONGOLIA. Hi Bruce, good to hear from you. Yeah, it was very nice to meet you and your wife have a chat about the hobby we share. It was a big surprise for me too. Thanks for forwarding the QSL image. It looks very familiar to me, however, I did not sign the QSL as I didn't work there during that time. BTW, my full name is Batbayar Demchig, I go by Bayar for short. I worked there between 1994 and 97. We changed the name Radio UlanBator into The Voice of Mongolia. It's been a while since I left the VOM. Our meeting has caused me to wish to recup all these years. I wonder if the VOM started to broadcast in Korean as it was initiated by that time. I'll get in touch with some folks up there with the earliest chance and will let you know some fresh news. ;-) Sure, we should get together again some time. Say hi to your wife for us. Best wishes, Bayar (via Bruce MacGibbon, OR, Aug 22, DXLD) ** MOROCCO. 15340, RTM, 1050 5 August, Arabic music, Arabic ID, SIO 344 (Dave Kenny, Sept BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) We had other reports this revived in early August, but not since. Are they still on? (gh, DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. I had a conversation today with Jim Munger with Trans Radio Radio; he replied they are in fact running a 100 kW transmitter in Bonaire [800 kHz]. They have installed a Kintronics DA- 2 phasor to feed their four tower array. The two markets they are targeting these days are South America and Cuba with the two different patterns (Jerry Kiefer, NM, IRCA via DXLD) ** NICARAGUA. QSL gallery : Voice of Nicaragua. This 1988 QSL letter from La Voz de Nicaragua was received by Robin Tancoo in Trinidad. The revolutionary government was established in Nicaragua by the Sandinista National Liberation Front in 1979 following the overthrow of the US-supported Somoza regime; it remained in power until being voted out some 11 years later in 1990. La Voz de Nicaragua then became Radio Nicaragua but has not been heard on SW for many years. It was last listed in the 1996 WRTH on 5950 although that frequency had been marked as ``inactive`` for several years. [The typewritten letter is then reproduced, and gh attempts to duplicate it. At top is the triangular seal of Nicaragua, which also appears at the lower left corner within the circular rubber stamp with around the edge: Onda International - La Voz de Nicaragua. The top of the letterhead says] SISTEMA ESTATAL DE RADIODIFUSION DE NICARAGUA LA VOZ DE NICARAGUA VOZ OFICIAL DE LA PRESIDENCIA DE LA REPUBLICA and at they very bottom: DIRECCION PROGRAMACION INTERNACIONAL The typed part in between, indentations disregarded but [sic]: 1989: `` PEACE WITH DIGNITY, FREE HOMELAND OR DEATH. `` Managua June 1, 1988 Mr. Robin Tancoo Trinidad West Indies [underlined] Dear Friend Tancoo: Revolutionary Greetings from Managua, Free Nicaragua! We are really pleased to answer your nice letter you dated on May the 3rd, 1988 in which you show us that you are a revolutionary and your words encourages us to go ahead broadcasting to the world the Truth about the current events in Nicaragua and the Central America are. We have an International Bilingual broadcast Spanish-English from 6:00 PM to 1:00 AM, Managuas local time. The English programming is from 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM and then again from 12:00 midnight to 1:00 AM, Nicaraguan local - time. Try to find us on the 49 meter band with 6100 Khz of frequency, send your reports because they are very important to improve our broadcast. Now we are enclosing you some reading material we hope you enjoy with these. Very soon we will try to send more interesting things. Please keep in touch with us. Sincerely /s/ Lic. Freddy López, Director Short Wave Deprt. ** (Sept 2008 BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. 7255, VON (presumed), 2303-2307*, Sept 3, noted open carrier for about a minute, then pop music, followed by drums and off, no announcements heard, fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. Africast 2008 --- The 7th Africast convention will be taking place in Abuja, Nigeria from October 21 to 23. First introduced in 1996 by the National Broadcasting Commission of Nigeria, Africast is a biennial conference platform centered around broadcast issues as they relate to Africa. This year’s conference is devoted to the challenges and implications of digitization for Africa’s broadcasters. In cooperation with Thomson, Radio Benue, a Nigerian state broadcasting organization, is providing live DRM transmissions for this event using their Thomson 50 kW M2W transmitter installed at the Makurdi station. Thomson has provided Radio Benue with the DRM modulator/exciter Alto- Stratus and will make DRM consumer receivers available during the Africast convention. Our specialists will be happy to welcome visitors and discuss the various exciting new coverage possibilities provided by DRM and the Thomson end-to-end DRM transmission chain (RADIO NEWS, AUTUMN 2008 - Published by Thomson Broadcast & Multimedia - Issue 31, via Rachel Baughn, DXLD) That`s 918 kHz; but the other Nigerian on 917 may cause a bit of a problem. DRM DXers in Europe may have fun trying to decode this (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. One of my three local AM stations, KGWA 960, whose major lobe I inhabit, is normally tolerable away from 960, but UT Sept 4 at 0055 I found it was putting out dirty spurs audible between 860 and 1060, worst on 920, 1010, 1040, when checked on a 10-kHz-step receiver. BTW, the local morning 1200+ UT ``Total Information`` news show is televised on Pegasys, local public access cable channel 12 at noon weekdays; more convenient than reading the paper myself, and it sounds like the newscaster is doing just that. Fun to watch him move around the studio, gulp coffee during an axuality, rub his nose, adjust the pantograph inaudibly. That`s J. Curtis Huckleberry --- his real name? See him at http://www.audiostream.net/KOFM/jcurtis2.html To find anything about KGWA you have to go to the website of its FM master http://www.kofm.com --- even tho KGWA predates it by sesquidecades (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. RADIO PAKISTAN: LAUNCHING NATIONAL BROADCASTING SERVICE Hi Glenn, Radio Pakistan has revamped its News and Current Affairs channel and relaunched it on 28 August 2008 under the title, National Broadcasting Service (funny title as if the other broadcasts of Radio Pakistan are not national). Anyways, this 17-hour service would provide news and special current affairs programmes from 07.00 am to 12 mid night (PST [or rather PDST, = UT +6, just like Bangladesh]). The service is reportedly available on medium wave only. Keeping in view the least credibility being enjoyed by Radio Pakistan within the country, this enhanced duration broadcast will surely be an addition to the existing wasteful services. The erstwhile News and Current Affairs channel of Radio Pakistan used to broadcast one-sided government propaganda and had no worthwhile listenership. Specially the fact that Radio Pakistan does not have a network of overseas correspondents which is essential for any credible news network. Otherwise who could be interested in listening to recycled news which they have already heard form other stations. This service is the brainchild of newly appointed of Director-General PBC Mr. Ghulam Murtaza Solangi. Before joining as DG he was producer in the Voice of America Urdu service (Aslam Javaid, Lahore Pakistan, Sept 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PALAU. WHR via Palau was mentioned in DXLD 8-096, September 2. Here is a quote from a WHR e-mail newsletter: "Last month, LeSEA began broadcasting the gospel into China from a shortwave radio station, located on the Pacific Island of Palau near the city of Koror. Through the miracle of high-powered International Shortwave Radio, the good News was preached, verified and received in China. Through the power of shortwave radio, they will soon find out that there is a God in Heaven Who loves them. Please pray for the $600,000 needed to pay off the note on the station and free up resources for operation and equipment expenses will be met." Why wouldn't KWHR reach into China? According to their own website, it does. http://www.whr.org/Technical-Information.cfm This all seems redundant to me (Liz Cameron, MI, Sept 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4775, R. Tarma, 1010 6 Sept, M with TC and talk over lively tinkly OA music, then another song. More voice-overs at 1017. 1019 two great canned ID jingles by M including "Este programa ??tido, por la onda corta de R. Tarma más y más en la banda de 60 metros, ?? usted y el mundo", then back to lively popular OA music. More live announcements by M at 1023 with accurate TCs and song announcements. Nice canned ID by W over music at 1030, then live M again with TC and ID ".R. Tarma Internacional.", and program name "?? Amanacer". 1034 heard a song that I easily recognized having heard in the past!!! 1037 another canned ID followed by live M. If the signal was consistently strong and clear, this could be my favorite to listen to in the AMs for the music. Nice signal but CODAR QRM and some static noise. Sounded better and a little stronger on the Etón E1 than on the NRD- 535D!! 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** PRIDNESTROVYE. 6040, MOLDOVA, Radio PMR, 09/02 2215-2230, Gangbusters signal in English. Program on independence proclamation on Sep. 2nd 1990. At s/off gave address in Moldova instead of Pridnestrovye, the self-declared independent region in southeastern Moldova. Some kind of agreement with Moldovan government? (Bruce Barker, Broomall, PA. NRD 535D, new Alpha Delta sloper isn't up yet so it's still a short longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 7200, R. Sakha, Aug 25 0810-0821 45433 Yakut, ID at 0810, News, Local program, // 7345 kHz (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. MAJOR CHANGES ON RUSSIAN RADIO DIAL According to numerous reports from Russian DXers, all-news Radio Vesti FM took over _all_ MW frequencies of Radio Rossii throughout Russia starting from August 28. Vesti FM appears to have taken over all R. Kultura FM frequencies, as well, with a notable exception of Moscow. R. Rossii is currently heard on its usual LW frequencies only. No reports on what is being relayed on R.Rossii's SW and OIRT FM frequencies as of yet. All three stations, R.Vesti FM, R.Rossii and R.Kultura are state-run. This major change on the Russian radio dial hasn't been reported in the mainstream Russian media yet. Vesti FM first appeared on Moscow radio dial on February 5, 2008 when it took over R. Rossii's FM frequency. It works in the all-news format from 6 am to midnight local time, with classical music overnight. Personally, I prefer Vesti FM to R. Rossii as a more professional and dynamic broadcaster. The loss of R. Kultura is a different story. The station didn't have very high ratings but provided a unique cultural radio service. A few months ago there were some persistent rumors that R. Kultura would be shut down soon due to low ratings. No one seems to be bothered by the fact that Vesti FM (note "FM" in its name) is now carried on AM. (Sergei, IL, Sept 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) victorcity.dxing.ru suggests for Moscow that Vesti FM took over 873 on Aug 29, the previously carried mixture of Radio Rossii and Radio Podmoskovye (the latter using 846 throughout the day) is now on 66.44 only. St. Petersburg: Here both 873 (meanwhile reduced to 75 kW) and 89.3 now carry Vesti FM, Radio Rossii with GTRK Sankt-Peterburg is now on 66.30 only. Ulyanovsk: 102.5 now Vesti FM, Radio Rossii with GRTK Volga still on 71.00. Irkutsk: Radio Rossii with Irkutskaya GTRK still on both 234 and 70.31, 101.7 now Vesti FM instead of Kultura. Vladivostok: 810 now Vesti FM, shared service of Radio Rossii and TGTRK Vladivostok ("Radio 810") now on 71.84 only, on 106.4 still Radio Kultura [really?]. Tyumen: 103.6 now Vesti FM instead of Kultura, Radio Rossii with GTRK Region-Tyumen still on both 1485 and 71.66. Murmansk: Radio Rossii with GTRK Murman still on 657, 5930 and 67.22 [really?], 107.8 planned for Vesti FM, Kultura never on air here. Kaliningrad: 1116 closed down already in 1999?! But also no longer in WRTH, ooops. So Radio Rossii with GTRK Yantar was already on 66.02 only. And indeed 873 now Vesti FM, but Radio Rossii still on 171 (which I understand to be in use primarily to reach audiences in Belarus and Lithuania/Latvia, really reduced to 150 kW now? if so could be the ex-1116 transmitter if this is like the big Tayfun's an MW-LW model). So the situation appears to be as follows: FM OIRT band: No changes, mixtures of Radio Rossii and regional broadcasters (there does not appear to be a single FM frequency without such opt-outs) remained untouched. FM CCIR band: Presumably all frequencies of Radio Kultura, with 91.6 in Moscow being the only exception, have been switched to Vesti FM. Mediumwave: The exclusive Radio Rossii outlets (were there any others besides 873 in the Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad areas?) now carry Vesti FM, apparently since Aug 29, i.e. these switches have been made two days later than on the FM side. The frequencies with mixtures of Radio Rossii and regional broadcasters, as carried on OIRT-FM, probably went to Vesti FM only in some cases but stayed with RR/GTRK in others. If so it is probably the result of case-by-case decisions, considering the coverage of the respective area (i.e. mediumwave still in use where OIRT-FM coverage is considered insufficient). Longwave: Both the exclusive Radio Rossii outlets on 261 (Taldom) and 171 (Bolshakovo) and the mixtures of Radio Rossii and regional broadcasters on the transmitters serving Siberia (Norilsk-162, Yakutsk-171, Surgut-225, Arman-234) remain untouched. Shortwave: It should be a safe assumption that the shortwave outlets providing additional coverage of Siberia remain untouched as well. But I'm not so sure about the Taldom transmitter beaming towards Central Europe. Would not hurt to check out what's carried here now... Some explanations: Vesti FM, launched in last February, complements VGTRK's Vesti TV program (which is also on Hotbird) and vesti.ru website. Radio Kultura has been launched in 2004, from studio 5 in the Ostankino radio complex (if I got it right and if there is such a thing than *the* Ostankino radio studios at all), and it appears to be the offshoot of a TV station (Telekanal Kultura) as well. Their program schedule pages already show the "programming for transmissions of Radio Kultura, FM 91.6 in Moscow" only (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) ** SAINT HELENA. I was in touch with Laura Lawrence yesterday inquiring about my 2007 report. She said that it had not been received and that "It seems there's a bit of a problem with reports sent from USA, we haven't received many of them". I then sent my original report via email and she responded back that the QSL will be leaving the island next week via the RMS St. Helena (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, Sept 4, NASWA yg via DXLD) This is ridiculous. They should confirm by e-mail wherever possible and save everybody the hassle of p-mail in this case (gh, DXLD) I think at least part of the problem (apart from the mail service, which only happens, if I understand this right, twice a year...) is the timing of the broadcasts, at least where us East Coasters are concerned. Putting it around 2130 is just a bit after local sunset, and with propagation so crummy, 11 MHz starts to collapse shortly thereafter. That certainly isn't going to help. The last year or two I've mentioned the RSH broadcasts on another website to maybe drum up a little more support, but I kinda doubt it's gotten very far. 73 (Mike KA3JZZ, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** SAINT VINCENT & THE GRENADINES. 700, 1002 9 August, R. St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Kingstown, musical selexions, English (Robin Tancoo, Trinidad, Sept BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** SAO TOME. 12035, VOA 09/01 2100-2130* French relay for Africa. News after s/on with several stories about Gustav hitting the Louisiana Gulf coast. Following news into long detailed report about Gustav. Then a special program about Willie Nelson included playing some of his songs. Signal knocked your socks off at s/on but began fading badly into band hash and became difficult to copy. At 2128 could hear short Yankee Doodle then the familiar VOA s/off in English, "This program has come to you from Voice of America, Washington. This is VOA signing off." Into Yankee again and s/off at 2130 on the dot (Bruce Barker, Broomall, PA. NRD 535D, new Alpha Delta sloper isn't up yet so it's still a short longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 15205, BSKSA 09/04 1600-1640 S/On with national anthem followed by Qur`an recitations until 1607. Then OM sounded like reading, followed by more Qur`an chanting. Band noise was high and finally swallowed the signal by 1640 (Bruce Barker, Broomall, PA. NRD 535D, new Alpha Delta sloper isn't up yet so it's still a short longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) But no buzz, still fixed? ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Since 1 August, Bro Stair`s Overcomer Ministry has not been heard on 6175 via Germany between 1900-2000 UT. At 1900 Polish Radio has been observed on this frequency in Ukrainian until around 2028* (Edwin Southwell, England, Sept BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** SPAIN. Cambios Amigos Onda Corta REE --- Información recibida de Antonio Buitrago de REE: La primera edición de "Amigos de la Onda Corta", que se emitía los viernes, se ha suprimido. Hasta el cambio de programación y horario del día 26 de octubre, sólo habrá tres ediciones, las correspondientes al sábado, a las 1000 UT... domingo 0300 UT... y lunes [sic] 2330 UT. Los cambios obedecen, entre otras cosas, a la incorporación del informativo matinal "En días como este" (España a las 6) a la programación de REE, cuya duración, de una hora, es incompatible con la emisión el viernes de Amigos de la Onda Corta que salía al aire a las 06:30 UTC. Por otra parte, se ha suprimido la emisión que contribuía con otros programas a llenar el espacio "Tablero Deportivo" durante el verano. Según me comunica la secretaría técnica de REE, te remito detalle de las emisiones de "Amigos de la Onda Corta" SÁBADOS. 1000 UT Europa: 15585 y 13720 África Ecuatorial: 21540 América del Sur: 21570 Oriente Medio: 21610 DOMINGO. 0300 UT América del Norte: 6055 y 9630 (Cariari) América-Centro y Sur: 6125 América del Sur: 9620 y 6020 (Cariari) América Centro y Norte: 9535 América Central: 3350 DOMINGO. 2330 UT [sic; in text above says LUNES; see below] Europa: 7275 América del Norte: 15110 y 17850 (Cariari) América Central: 9765 (Cariari) América del Sur: 11815 (Cariari) [really 11814] Magreb-Norte África: 7270 73 (José Bueno, Córdoba, España, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) José, Entonces 2330 también en vez de 0230 lunes? Pero dice 2330 del lunes al comienzo, y del domingo al final. ¿Cual? Y las otras emisiones deben comenzar a :05 y no :00, verdad? 73, (Glenn, ibid.) 2330 Sunday or Monday is also a new time; apparently replacing 0230 UT Monday. And the other two probably start at :05. At least hope Antonio got his UT conversions right this time (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Hola Glenn: En la información enviada por Antonio Buitrago, entiendo que el cambio será a las 2330 del domingo, o sea; una emisión el sábado a las 1005 y dos emisiones el domingo, a las 0305 (noche del sábado) y 2330 (domingo noche). En los horarios :00 se comienza con el noticiero de 5 minutos, o sea, comienzan a las :05. También cambiaron las frecuencias y los destinos. Tendremos que estar atentos. Cordiales 73 (José Bueno, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. via Sines, Portugal, 17690, Sudan Radio Service, *1500-1530, Sept 6, English “Let`s Talk” program about local issues. Short breaks of local music. Talk about local elections and national unity. Poor to fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. via SLOVAKIA. 15650, Miraya 101 FM, *1458-1515, Sept 6, sign on with local music. Time pips and “Miraya 101 FM” ID at 1501 followed by English news. “Miraya FM” IDs at 1505, 1507 & 1509. Into Arabic talk at 1512. Poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN. Glenn wrote: "At 1449 George Wood briefly mentioned how Sweden Calling DXers was such a pioneer in using the internet, but failed to mention how he deliberately downgraded it from a SW DX news source to Mediascan with news of internet, and primarily satellites, and then let it peter out to almost nothing." This is a misrepresentation of what happened. It was Radio Sweden management, not George Wood, who decided they no longer wanted to air a programme for shortwave enthusiasts. George was told that the only way they would agree to a continuation of the programme was if he focused exclusively on new platforms such as Internet and satellites. I seem to recall that he was not given much time to consider this, probably to avoid giving time for listeners to organise a protest. So he reluctantly agreed, and changed the name to MediaScan since he knew that Dxers wouldn't like the new format. So yes, it was "deliberate" because George was carrying out the instructions of his boss. Not everyone is fortunate enough to be self-employed :-) Over the years, George's workload at Radio Sweden has increased, and he is (I think I am right in saying) the webmaster for the whole website, not just English. He is also, of course, still working on Radio Sweden's daily news programmes. If you have no airtime, no work time and no budget, and you're getting older (George is a little older than me so he must be about 60 now), it's extremely difficult to maintain a quality service, and even harder to remain motivated. By all means lament the passing of what was once a great show, and one which was partly responsible for shaping my career, but don't shoot the messenger (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, Sept 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Andy Sennitt corrects my previous comments about the demise of Sweden Calling DXers: don`t blame George Wood, but the management. Any program at all like that could continue only if he dumped SW DX news for satellite stuff, as gh paraphrases it, so MediaScan was born. My apologies in that case. Meanwhile, it was announced on Thursday`s RS show, which had a feature on Aland, that the anniversary special would repeat on Sunday Sept 7 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ``This is a misrepresentation of what happened.`` Apparently a very common one. Long ago, way back in the nineties, I was told the story exactly the way Glenn described it. I don't know for sure, but it is my impression that the German shortwave DX scene in general blamed George Wood and not Radio Sweden management for the reshaping of the show. The result was that basically nobody here cared about the "new" Media Scan, and it remained unnoticed when it disappeared as a radio show, much unlike the case of Media Network. Now one could discuss if he gave away any hints that would have allowed the crowd to know better, or if perhaps even this would have been too dangerous because being the scapegoat was part of the game. But that's something for those with a bearing on the old "Sweden Calling DXers" program. I would just like to say that in the case of Glenn and his remarks on this topic one should not shoot the messenger either. The irony is that Radio Sweden is still on shortwave. Back then they were expected to be amongst the first ones to bail out (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) Well, DXers can believe what they like. If I had a euro for every incorrect assumption I have read in DX magazines over the years, and later on the Internet, I would be a very rich man :-) There were also a lot of ridiculous rumours about me when I worked at WRTH, some of them quite hurtful, and about the reasons why Media Network ended as a radio show. That's all they were - rumours. If one of them in particular had been true, I would probably be in jail at this moment! But DXLD is a well-respected reference source, and I think it's important that somewhere on the Internet is a place where people can trust what they read about international broadcasters, especially when the information is personalised. Glenn was repeating in good faith what a lot of people have stated, but George is a personal friend of mine and one of the nicest, most decent people I have met in my 34 years (and counting) in the international broadcasting business. He doesn't deserve to be blamed for a decision that was forced on him by management, and I appreciate Glenn's immediate effort to set the record straight (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) I also like George, and believe I met him once at a DX convention. Little-remembered fact: during the final years of the SCDX broadcast (I think, before MediaScan), he put on some taped contributions from me, RIBOTA – Review of International Broadcasting on the Air (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. Re: Here's another comprehensive VOLMET page: http://www.dxinfocentre.com/volmet.htm I'll freak if I ever hear Damascus, which I've never seen reported anywhere. 73/Liz (Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tried Damascus here at 11 UT on 8918 kHz, but nothing heard... 73, (Erik Køie in Copenhagen, Sept 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. Taiwan Area Fishery Radio Station Taiwan Chu Yuyeh Kuanpo, Tientai "Formosa reunion situation" for ocean fishing boat at 0930- 1000 UT (every Wednesday) in Chinese on 11550, 11745, 15240 and 15265 kHz via CBS/RTI Transmitters. de Hiroshi http://www.frs.gov.tw/ (NDXC- HQ, S. Hasegawa, Sept 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I guess this is something new, or perhaps overlooked before? (gh) ** TAIWAN [non]. RTI new frequency -- for listeners in South Asia. Starting September 7th, RTI's transmission to South Asia will be changed from 15515 to 11600 kHz (Jaisakthivel, Chennai, India, Sept 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Suppose you mean the 16 UT English broadcast via France? 73 (from Copenhagen, Erik Køie, ibid.) Although 11600 kHz Issoudun, FRANCE, 500 kW, 085 degrees, 1600-1700Z is scheduled only to 03/30-05/04 & 09/07-10/26 period, I can confirm that they actually broadcasted for entire season on 11600 kHz! Yesterday (Sep. 04) I enjoyed in Radio Taiwan International program with excellent signal on 11600 kHz. Regards, (Dragan Lekic from Subotica, Serbia, ibid.) see also FRANCE ** TAJIKISTAN. 7245 at 0855 30 July, V. of Tajik, Dushanbe, vernacular music, English sign-on, ``welcome to the ?? . . .`` mostly indistinct, unusual propagation, not heard at this time before, SIO 242 (Dave Kenny, England, Sept BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Perhaps the most obscure external service in English in the world (gh, DXLD) ** TAJIKISTAN. 4635.05, Tajik R. Aug 13 1355-1406 35343 Tajik, Talk and music, ID at 1400. Also on exactly same frequency: Aug 14 1355- 1405 35343 Tajik, Music and talk, ID at 1400; Aug 26 1343-1401 35343 Tajik, Talk and music, ID at 1357 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) 4635, Tadzhikistan, Tajik Radio (tentative), Dushanbe-Yangiyul. Sept 4, Tajik (scheduled), 2339 OM talks between short music, 2336-2343 Arabic type music. Sounded like an AIR station, 33433. 73 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. 6200, PBS-Lhasa, 1340-1404, Sept 6, for the first time since the Wenchuan earthquake of May 12, this frequency heard without the CNR-1 relay during this time period, // 4905 and 4920, all three frequencies had the same terrible audio problems, extremely muffled (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA. 4750, R Dunamis, Mukono, Kampala, 1745 fade in-1830*, Aug 17, 20, 25 and Sep 01, active again! English religious program with preacher and a religious choir, some ID's in between, s/off with choir. Sometimes CODAR QRM. Schulze's UNID in DX-Window 357 (Ankekr Petersen, Denmark and Roland Schulze, Germany, DSWCI DX Window Sept 3 via DXLD) Be aware of Bangladesh till 1714* and Voice of China // 4460, 4800 and 5030 till 1735* also on 4750! Recently I received the following information from Marty McLaughlin at Dunamis Shortwave: "We are hoping to have Dunamis Shortwave up and running again the first week in September. HCJB is sending their engineer to help us --- praise God! Hopefully you will be able to try and pick it up again --- as long as we do not encounter another problem. Mrs. Marty McLaughlin, International Ministry Coordinator, High Adventure/Bible Voice Broadcasting http://www.biblevoice.org" (Bjorn Fransson, Sweden, ibid.) ** UKRAINE. Re domestic relay on 5970: Now I was under the impression that the Brovary site was dismantled and surrounded by urban sprawl. In recent years, only Lviv and Kharkiv have been active on SW from Ukraine. Perhaps Vlad Titarev or Alexander Yegorov could comment on this. I still remember the days of UR 2nd program (Promin) on 4940 being well heard in Europe and eastern North America! (Volodya Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, Sept 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) In National radiokompanii of Ukraine developed and printed the likable firm QSL cards of a few kinds for the needs of inoveschaniya on all languages, and also and in case of reception of the stations of broadcasting of local radioprogramm of UR on all ranges. Write reports. Paper mail : National radiokompaniya of Ukraine, monitoring department, ul., Kreshchatik, 26, 01001, Kiev, Ukraine E-mail : egorov @ nrcu.gov.ua (Alexander Egorov, Kiev, Ukraine / "open_dx", via RusDX via DXLD) UR-1 on 5970 kHz (Andrey Voloshko, Poltava / "open_dx") On short waves it is possible to listen the 1-program of Ukrainian Radio now. A transmitter works from Brovar[y] with power of 100 kW. A signal in Saint Petersburg has a high level (9+40 db), but quality of reception of SINPO - xxxx3. In the morning strong hindrances from Radio Vatican on nearby frequency (5965). In the evening China works on the same frequency (5970), and later - Familyradio (Vladimir Kharitonov / "open_dx" via RusDX via DXLD) ** UKRAINE [non]. 9750, R. Emmanuil via DTK GERMANY [CVC service], Aug 13 *1659-1710 25432 Ukrainian, 1659 sign on with music, ID, News, talk and Russian music. Also Aug 14 *1659-1710 24432-34433 Ukrainian, 1659 sign on with music, ID, News, ID at 1700 and 1702, Music. Aug 15 *1659-1710 25332 Ukrainian, 1659 sign on with music, News, ID at 1704. Aug 17 *1700-1710 25332-25432 Ukrainian, 1700 sign on with ID, News and music. Aug 18 *1700-1710 25222-25332 Ukrainian, News and talk and music, ID at 1704. Aug 22 *1659-1710 25332 Ukrainian, 1659 sign on with music, ID, News and talk, ID at 1700 and 1704. Aug 25 *1659-1710 35333 Ukrainian, 1659 sign on with music, ID, News and talk and music, ID at 1700 and 1703. Aug 26 *1659-1711 25332-25432 Ukrainian, 1659 sign on with news, ID at 1703, Music (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium Sept 5 via DXLD) ** U S S R [non]. [NASWA] Country List Question --- Hello all! I have a QSL from Radio Moscow, date 16.7.86 on 11840 kHz. No mention of the transmitter site. Again there are several possible listings on the country list. Which would apply here? Thanks! (Mike Rohde, OH, Sept 6, NASWA yg via DXLD) 11840 was used for some years by the Cuban relay, tho depending on the time it could also have been elsewhere. I believe it was on long hours all day. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Thanks Glen[n], the time was 2006-2036 UT (Mike Rohde, ibid.) That would certainly be Cuba IF those relays were still running in 1986y, and I am not certain of that. Perhaps someone can lay their hands on a 1986 or 1987 WRTH easier than I can (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) The 1986 WRTH shows Cuba as the R. Moscow relay on that frequency as does the 1985-6 Radio Database International. RDI also shows Kenga (50 kW) on 11840 from 0200-1400 and Vinnitsa (100 kW) from 0245-1600 so I would almost certainly say it was via Cuba (John Herkimer, NY, ibid.) ** U K. THE LAST NIGHT OF THE PROMS ON DRM --- On Saturday 13th September, the BBC World Service will be replacing its normal evening DRM broadcasts on medium wave (1296 kHz) and short wave (5895 kHz and 5875 kHz) with a special broadcast of http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2008/lastnight/ The Last Night of the Proms, at the Royal Albert Hall in London, is one of the most popular classical music concerts in the world, watched and listened to by an audience of many millions around the globe. The BBC World Service special DRM broadcast will begin at 18:00 GMT with highlights of Prom 69 featuring music by Debussy and Roussel and will continue with the live broadcast from the Albert Hall in London from 19:00 GMT. More details will be available on the BBC World Service Proms website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/080708_proms2008.shtml Listeners to the BBC World Service English European schedule will be told days before the concert about the coverage on DRM of ‘The Last Night of the Proms’. (DRM via Harald Kuhl, Germany, Sept 5, MWC via DXLD) I hope they both enjoy it (Paul Crankshaw, Troon, Scotland, ibid.) ** U K. BBC RADIO 4: "CROSSING CONTINENTS" AUDIO ARCHIVES RESTORED I love a good documentary, and one of the best series of the genre is "Crossing Continents", from BBC Radio 4. It airs roughly half the year in a series of 8 weeks on, 8 weeks off. Searchable audio archives of prior editions had been available up until early 2008, but a web site reorganization removed all but the most recent edition from the on-demand archive. This capability has now been restored, with all editions back to November 2006 available for online listening. "Crossing Continents" is similar to the World Service programs "Assignment" and "Analysis", and I've heard material that first aired on "Crossing Continents" show up later in "Analysis", but the program's half-hour format lends itself to a decent level of detail. Example program topics include slum clearance in Mumbai, Mexico's drug cartels, Belarus' idealistic youth, and legalized prostitution in Las Vegas. Program website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/default.stm (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, Aug 22, swprograms via DXLD ** U S A. U.S. BROADCASTING BOARD PLANS TO CUT AMERICAN NEWS RADIO TO UKRAINE WHERE VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY VISITS TODAY http://www.bloggernews.net/117638 (via Sergei, DXLD) Great timing, again. Seems like an old story just revived for the occasion (gh, DXLD) BruceRBarker said, in September 5th, 2008 at 1:46 pm --- BBG continues its headstrong mission to dismantle Voice of America. The Board should be disbanded and replaced with an organization that is under Congressional authority not just oversight (comment to above blog entry via DXLD) ** U S A. WBCQ, 5110 was still on the air with rock music at 0106 UT Sept 4, presumably a postlude to Area 51, scheduled 2300-0100. Not // 7415 which at 0113 was airing a preacher sounding suspiciously like Brother Scare. Remember, WORLD OF RADIO is to appear on 5110 Fridays at 2300, then INTERNATIONAL RADIO REPORT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re WBCQ 5110 on past 0100: Hello Glenn, Last night was an anomaly. On rare occasions 5110 will run a bit past 0100. We received a reception report this week from Nurmes, Finland, between 0000 and 0024 on 5110. The listener reported verifiable program details. I think for consistency's sake we will continue to run WOR and IRR at 2300 and 2330 Fridays, respectively, as long as we're able to continue the expanded program. Cheers, Lw (Larry Will, Sept 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5110, WBCQ, 09/04 2355-0025, Tuned in as Captain Ganja was signing off his show because he had to, as he put it, "...take a shower and wash all the grease out of my long, long hippie hair." Then usual stuff on what was announced as "The station that lifts and separates" (Bruce Barker, Broomall, PA. NRD 535D, new Alpha Delta sloper isn't up yet so it's still a short longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7505, WRNO, 09/03 0300, Checked for WRNO but the frequency was silent. Checked other licensed frequencies just in case, but nothing there either. Tuned in again on 09/04 at 0100 to try for s/on but still no WRNO signal (Bruce Barker, Broomall, PA. NRD 535D, new Alpha Delta sloper isn't up yet so it's still a short longwire, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Still missing UT Sept 6 around 0255 (gh, OK, DXLD) I was on DX-Info.Com board and was asked in one of their posts whether WRNO Worldwide survived Gustav in one of the posts on that board. If anyone knows the status please pass it along (Richard Lewis, MS, UT Sept 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Their CE is also on the board, so he could answer (gh) Checking WWL 870, they were still connecting the power and power poles. Apparently, they have the transmission lines between NOLA and Baton Rouge down. So they still have a lot of power to connect. It is probably too early to expect anything out of WRNO Worldwide if in any event. Gustav did a number on Louisiana and in some respects Mississippi so it is going to be a while before WRNO Worldwide will be heard again (Richard Lewis, ibid.) 7505, WRNO, Tarjeta QSL "You'll rave about the wave", v/s WRNO worldwide staff. Informe enviado a: wrnoradio @ mailup.net Demoró: 25 dias (Rafael Rodríguez R., Bogotá D.C. - COLOMBIA, Sept 5, playdx yg via DXLD) ** U S A. WBOH still has a bit of Russian, as I ran across it again Sept 5 at 0635 on 5920, very poor signal along with Greenville 6180 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, be careful about assuming that 5920 in Russian is WBOH. I have Kamchatka Radio logged on August 19th at 06:10 here on the NW of BC (Walt Salmaniw, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Walt, I`m aware of that and sometimes there is some cochannel, but WBOH dominates here and have heard it in Russian at this scheduled time before. Probably would go back to English if I had stayed a few minutes, and // 9370 would be an easy check if propagating (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WBOH, 5920, I noticed was already in Spanish at 0004 check UT Sat Sept 6, as their own schedule has conflicting info about the Spanish timings (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. WHR via PALAU: q.v. ** U S A. On 1060, UT Sept 4 at 0058, heard weather from the Radio Colorado Network, then a quick string of IDs including KKKK Colorado Springs, but that doesn`t apply to 1060, and then mentioned another chain, Rocky Mountain Radio Network. Strangely enough, neither net is mentioned in the introduxion to the year-old 2007 NRC AM Log, altho the former is in the entry for 1060 which is really KRCN Longmont, and KKKK is on 1580 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re KIVA hi power, lo tower: It`s not quite as bad as it seems, per: http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?list=0&facid=84190 KIVA`s present antenna is 35m above average terrain but 55m above ground level. Santa Rosa is in the Pecos River valley, so the AT is generally above the town, altho the station is on a hill on the east side. The CP antenna descends to 24m AAT, 45m AGL, so if you are standing next to the tower, the 50 kW ERP will be coming at you (or over you) from 147 feet up. The new antenna will also be 2 seconds of longitude east of the old one. 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The upgrade application is a poor engineering project - filed by the owner who claims to also be an engineer (Mike McKenna, ibid.) Mike, Yet it`s a CP now, not just an app. The service contour map for 50 kW http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=FM1242990.html shows it not even covering all of Guadalupe county! Something is certainly amiss. Make that 141-142 feet above your head, if you are 5 to 6 feet tall. BTW, this is not on a remote mountaintop, but in town right next to US 66 (a.k.a. I-40 business route), not far from some motels, and the antique car museum, which when last we were there, had no Studebakers! Once the CP is on, you might want to avoid touching anything metallic in there. I understand cars used to be made out of metal. Discovery Channel on auto-innovations says they`ll be wooden in future. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) It's a 203 foot tall tower (200 foot tower and 3 foot beacon) with the COR [center of radiation] at 148 feet above ground level. A very common configuration. It meets ANSI. It's NOT amount of RF that is a problem. It's that the C2 upgrade is worthless, because of the poor coverage and the large electric bill. A very poor application (Mike McKenna, ibid.) ** U S A. LONG-HAUL FM STATION MOVES DENIED The FCC has denied Educational Media Foundation's request to move two New Mexico FM stations hundreds of miles to the east. Tucumcari's KVLP proposed to move to Brewster, Ohio, southwest of Massillon in the northeastern part of the state. The move would include a substantial power increase and a move from 91.7 to 90.1. Roswell's KQAI proposed to move to Rising Sun, Maryland in the extreme northeastern corner of the state, about 25 miles west of Wilmington, Delaware. This move would have included a significant power decrease and a frequency change from 89.1 to 88.3. In both cases, the FCC quoted document DA-08-1537 as the reason for denying the requests. This document addresses the ability of various pending FM applications to lead towards a "fair distribution" of non- commercial FM radio service. In both cases, other applications had been filed for completely new stations, and a competing applicant showed their station would do a better job of creating a fair distribution of service. In KVLP's case, the station didn't claim it would provide a first or second non-commercial service to at least 10% of the people in their proposed service area. (or that that 10% would amount to fewer than 2,000 people) The competing applicant did claim to provide first or second service, and thus won the preference. In KQAI's case, three applicants including KQAI claimed to provide a first service to at least 10% of their potential audience. However, competing applicant Four Rivers Community Broadcasting proposed to reach 33,000 people with a 1st or 2nd service; KQAI claimed only 26,000. Educational Media Foundation operates the "K-Love" and "Air1" religious popular music networks (Doug Smith, TN, Aug 27, American Bandscan blog via DXLD) Since Tucumcari is in QUAY county, pronounced Kway, I suspected the calls were reversed but no, FCC confirms KQAI is the one in Roswell. Maybe it had already moved. Tucum`s 92.7 is KQAY (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. ``Why is it, that some guy or group decides to apply for a frequency to set up and operate a Radio Station. The proposed frequency is silent for several years. When the time comes to file an application, you then find out there are dozen other applicants applying for the same frequency to set up their own station. Its like where are they coming from all of a sudden everyone else in the community including their grandparents have the same interest in setting up a radio station at the same time? The frequency sat vacant for years and nobody has since claimed it earlier?`` Very simple. The other dozen users did not want to pay for the engineering services to apply for the frequency, and maybe they did not want to pay for a frequency search to see what is available. So when somebody does all the work and spends all the money, the others copy the application except for putting in their own name and entity as the applicant. It does happen very often, I am told (Allan Dunn, K1UCY, WTFDA via DXLD) USA or Canada? The processes are quite different. [see CANADA for another answer] In the U.S.: 1. A channel allocation must be requested*. Someone must find a frequency where a station running the maximum power for the class can deliver a city-grade signal across the city of license without interfering with other existing stations, applications, permits, or unused allocations. (in practice, they find a frequency that works & then specify a community within the coverage of that frequency...) When the petition is filed, the applicant must also express interest in using the frequency - essentially, must promise to apply for the frequency if it's assigned. 2. Time must pass for counterproposals. Someone else might think a different frequency can be better used, maybe if 5-6-10-20 existing stations change frequency to open it up. 3. The FCC must open a filing window for new stations. You can't file any old time. Windows seem to open every few years. 4. Now, you file for a new station. Chances are, so do 5-10 other applicants. 5. The window closes. 6. The FCC roots out those applications which are technically defective. If you're REALLY lucky they dismiss every application except yours. Not likely. 7. Your channel is scheduled for auction. Eventually. 8. The auction takes a few weeks. If you're lucky (more likely, if you're rich) you win. 9. After a week or so you get a construction permit. You have 3 years to get on the air. 10. If you're lucky, you planned to lease space for your antenna on an existing tower. You can get in line for a tower crew (after DTV work), hang your antenna, install your transmitter, and go on the air. 11. If you aren't lucky, you're going to erect your own tower. Now, you have to get all the FAA permits, building permits, zoning variances, etc... *Then* you can get in line for a tower crew. Sometimes the FCC will "toll" construction permits - give you more than 3 years to build - if you can show that local government issues have delayed your work. Obviously this whole procedure can take quite a bit of time! * Originally, many channels were allotted by the FCC's own motion. Almost all of these allocations are gone, especially anywhere where anyone would actually want a station (Doug Smith, Aug 22, WTFDA via DXLD) ** U S A. CLEAR CHANNEL RETHINK --- From Alan Furst's Program Director Blog - posted 8/20/2008: http://alanfurst.wordpress.com/2008/08/20/clear-channel-rethink/ Thirty years or so ago the term ‘clear channel’ had a somewhat different meaning than it has today. You were in special company as part of the ‘clear channel’ club. These were the ‘power house’ stations like WGN, WBZ, WLW, WABC, and KFI. All were 50 KW non directional stations day AND night. They were virtually alone on their frequencies often covering up to thirty eight states with skywave. Some time in the 80s a move was made to break down the clears. One by one stations were added to the clear channel frequencies cutting down on their skywave coverage. The thinking was these powerful metropolitan stations could not serve smaller towns as well as a local service on the same frequency. Many strange combinations of power and directional patterns were used to put new stations on the air. In the end the AM band became a jumbled mess. Today there are AM stations operating with as many as eleven towers that have difficulty being heard in their city of license. Power levels can be as low two or three watts. Who does all this serve? Looking at ratings in most cities. Hardly anybody. If AM has become a money loser and many of the cities have outgrown the AM signal coverage, rethinking it is long overdue. These days other than IBOC, it’s rare to hear anyone suggest ways to improve AM service. OK, so I’ll make some suggestions. It’s my blog, all they can tell me is NO! So here goes. Instead of cutting power back, adding towers and adding more stations the FCC should consider the following; * Cut back on the total number of stations, way back! * Raise power significantly on remaining stations * Make all or most non-directional. Most importantly, bring back the clears! Make them very high power, highly desirable properties with outstanding coverage. Their assignment should be based on population needs of the United States in 2008 and beyond. Remember, AM signals don’t cover like they did in the 1930s when the original 50KW stations were assigned. There is far more interference from lights, electronics and other stuff that limit radio signals. Cities exist in southern locales where only small towns could before air conditioning. A disproportionate number of 50KW stations are in the north. Assign a special class license to these stations. * Require a commitment to news and service. * Locally targeted programming, limiting amount of network programming used - careful this is not about government dictating content in any way. * A detailed emergency plan for storms, disasters, terrorism. * Make them a hub to feed other AM and FM stations during emergency programming. * Provide special assistance such as grants to fund back up transmitters, generators and studios, to make sure they stay on the air in times of trouble. * Have each station strategically placed around the country to guarantee 100% coverage of the US by at least one of the signals both day and night. * Give them high power of 100 KW or more, possibly as much as 250KW * Allow only one station per channel, a true clear channel. * Give each clear channel station a full market FM signal to simulcast 24/7, most listening and a younger audience is on FM. * Guard the transmitter sites like during World War II to protect them for national defense. * Tie them into all promotion with NOAA, FEMA and other agencies as the source for up to the minute emergency information so the public knows where to go all of the time. * Turn off the IBOC noise. * These are NOT government stations to be managed and ruled by politicians, they are important sources of information and service like under the FCC rules pre-1996 run by independent broadcasters. * Make it a competitive process. Don’t hand the licenses out like candy or because an owner has a former clear channel signal now. If you want it, prove you deserve it. This ain’t your garden variety radio station we’re talking about here. Will high power and a free FM station give these stations an unfair advantage? Hopefully, it does. If your company is willing to step up and do it right, you should get some breaks. Only serious broadcasters need apply. That should get the debate started. Now it’s your turn (via Dave Alpert, ABC News, Los Angeles, also via Rachel Baughn, Aug 22, DXLD) ** U S A. WWL has had its usual outstanding storm coverage, but WCBS's Iboc has made it impossible to hear on any radio at times. Thursday night when the Yankees were playing, the Iboc was off and WWL had a very strong signal. The advice and information the station has been giving listeners/callers is exactly why radio is so important in the first place. I'd like to see Iboc be forced off of stations ADJACENT to stations like WWL in times of an emergency and recovery, as the interference could be a threat to people's lives if they can't hear the vital information due to the hash. Then again I'd like to see Iboc gone forever. It's a disgrace. Kudos to WWL as always for living up to and exceeding it's on air positioning as being the voice for the Gulf South when bad weather hits (J. Nielsen, neofoodog, Ottawa, Ont., Sept 6, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. New DTV station in Florida? --- There are rumors that the new full-power DTV station in Gainesville, Florida is testing on channel 9. This station was originally allotted channel 61, got it amended to channel 29, and then got channel 9 paired for a DTV operation. More recently, on July 18th Gainesville's CBS station WGFL-53 (licensed to High Springs) shut down its analog signal, becoming a DTV-only station on channel 28. In their application for a "silent STA", WGFL cited the need to open space in their building for the new channel 9 station's transmitter. Finally, in the last week or so the channel 9 permit, long known only as "960920WR", received the call letters WNBW. Internet reports indicate the owners are in fact seeking a NBC affiliation - and there is no NBC affiliate currently in the Gainesville market. Looking at WNBW's transition report, it seems they will allow their analog channel 29 permit to expire unbuilt. (not a surprise!) -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, Sept 5, WTFDA via DXLD) ** U S A. BEDFORD BROWN --- Older WTFDA members will remember the name. From Morrie Goldman: BROWN --- Bedford P. Brown, Jr., 69, retired meteorologist for the New Orleans Weather Bureau, died June 6 in a Slidell hospital. A world traveling bird watcher, Brown grew up in Hot Springs, AR where he graduated as Validictorian of Hot Springs High School. He then earned a degree in meteorology from the University of Texas. He worked for the U.S. Weather Service in Chicago and Puerto Rico before moving to Slidell. He is survived by five first cousins, Harley Bledsoe of Benton, AR; Tom Bledsoe (Terry) of Asheville, NC; Jim Bledsoe, Carolyn Hebert (Byron) and Penny Smothers (Brad) all of Hot Springs. He is also survived by a number of cousins across the U.S. and numerous friends around the world. He was preceded in death by both parents Bedford Philmore Brown, Sr. and Hazel Lois Bledsoe Brown. Services were private. Donations in his honor may be made to the American Diabetes Association (via Mike Bugaj, Sept 5, WTFDA via DXLD) Yes, Bedford had a couple of super TV skip catches from Brazil and Argentina as noted in the TV All-Time Distance Records. Maybe next and following summers or at the 11 yr sunspot peaks (if we have one again?) some of us will be able to have some exotic skip catches from South America, with the signoff of US Analog Ch 2-6 TV stations next Feb (Fred Nordquist, Moncks Corner, SC, ibid.) Sad to hear this. Bedford was a DX friend of mine from long ago. I still remember the coquis (and humidity) when I stayed at his place in Puerto Rico, and another time at a spare high-rise apartment facing the sea in San Juan with salt spray all over the windows, both quite new experiences for me (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Morrie Goldman's forward of the obit for Bedford Brown brings back memories. Bedford was THE top TV DXer in the late 50s. A high school lad, his family had a pioneering (Dumont) receiver and a five element cut to channel (4) yagi on a hilltop just outside Hot Springs (Arkansas), with Alliance rotor. Their 'local' signals consisted of Oklahoma City, Memphis, Dallas - all in the 200+ range - this was pre- 1953 when the new station freeze ended allowing new stations on the air. Bedford was an Es fanatic and one day received more than 60 stations on E skip. His loggings on Venezuela, Argentina were equally legendary. I last spoke with him in 2002 or thereabouts - had recently retired, fighting adult onset diabetes, still interested enough in TV DX to have an extensive VHF-UHF array on his roof in Slidell. It was, he told me, his interest in 'weather patterns' and their association with TV DX that caused him to become a meteorologist for the U.S Weather service (Bob Cooper, New Zealand, WTFDA via DXLD) Bedford`s deep South American TV DX was presumably via multiple-hop sporadic E; Bob Cooper is one of few others, if any, to have accomplished that, I think from Lafayette or Modesto, California rather than New York (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Alternative to the RepubliCon Open RNC: Live event coverage of the Minneapolis Super Rally http://www.votenader.org/openrnc/ (via Clara Listensprechen, early UT Sept 5, DXLD) Started at 0000 UT until about 0330. Had some issues with audio level, but Ventura`s speech, Nader`s speech and Q&A session were well worth monitoring. A real-time forum was very active beside the video (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, Russia Today chose to cover Ron Paul's convention instead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heZHHfdhd1M&NR=1 (Sergei, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3+ minute clip ** ZIMBABWE [non]. MADAGASCAR, 9895, R. V. of the People via Madagascar, Aug 24 0453-0455* 35333 English, Talk, URL announce at 0454, Afro pops, 0455 sign off. Also Aug 25 0452-0455* 35333 English, ID at 0452, Talk, Afro pops, 0455 sign off. Aug 27 0438-0455* 35332 English and vernacular, Talk, ID at 0442 and 0452, URL announce at 0455, 0455 sign off (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Swisher on LW and MW --- Earlier this year a LW swisher was heard here in central N.J. on 503.4 kHz. It has been missing of late but now I hear one centered on about 495.1 kHz. This transmitter sounds like sweep tones but is actually a carrier swishing up and down in frequency. Using the ISB mode (LSB in one ear and USB in the other) I can tune until the left and right channels sound alike, giving me an idea of the center frequency. On MW for recent weeks I have heard one swisher on 1400.0 with sweeps up and down 2 kHz. I looked around and found another swisher on 1393.5 kHz with sweeps up and down 3.5 kHz. Both signals are equally weak at almost S4. There are 50 sweeps per minute. What are they? I am about 10 miles north of Rutgers. Are these signals related to CODAR? Heard these most recently today, Sept. 4, 2008 at about noon (1650 UT). (Wells Perkins, swl_ka2hpu @ hotmail.com DX LISTENING DIGEST) I would guess some offensive devices quite near you doing this unintentionally unless others are hearing these (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Hello Glenn, I see that you are still going strong. I'm picking up WDJO 1160.0 kHz Florence, KY serving Louisville and Cincinnati on the following frequencies: 9660.0, 4830.0 and 3320.0. Possibly, several other frequencies. Comes in here in McAllen TX as a 7plus on my 2010. Would you please explain? 73 and Cheers (Jerry Ervine, Sept 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That`s intriguing. All three are harmonics of 1610, x 2, x3 and x6, but NOT of 1160. Do you also hear it on 1610? The only explanation I can think of, tho unlikely, is that someone near you is picking up WDJO webcast and retransmitting it on 1610, putting out the harmonix. If you go to http://www.wdjo.com/main.html you find that`s Smooth Jazz 106.5 in the Dayton OH market and it does webcast, not the same as on AM 1160? I don`t see any link on that page to the corresponding AM station. AM is insignificant. Ooops, 2 x 1610 would be 3220, not 3320. Did you mean 3220? Otherwise everything would fit for originating on 1610 (Glenn to Jerry, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, Yes, I'm receiving WDJO on 1610 at this moment, 0225 UT Sat. 6 Sept. 2008. Lots of IDs. Good oldies! I have both marked. I will check them out tomorrow. Have a good night, Glenn. 73 and Cheers (Jerry Ervine, McAllen TX, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Just in case, I checked 1610 at 0255 UT Sept 6, but nothing audible here besides traces of TIS outlets (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Here on South Padre Island: 1610 evenings here is ONLY: XEUACH 1610 "Radio Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo, ``R. Chapingo``, variety programs, rock and classical music until S-off 0200* UT, quite strong 0100-0200 UT until s/off. No sign of anything else on frequency and McAllen is only 100 km away! (Steve Wiseblood, South Padre-TEXAS, UT Sept 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 2380.69. Apparent harmonic others have heard here. From 0939 with nonstop LA ballads. 0958 brief announcementt by M sounding like Spanish, then back to more ballads. Weak carrier on 2379.9 which I assume was the ZY. (6 Sept.) (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 3290.8, Just a weak carrier here at 0935 but no audio to speak of. Wonder if this is the same signal Bob Wilkner has had last month. Never heard anything here before. (6 Sept.) (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) Remember this is a primarily a utility band outside the tropix, so a carrier without programming is not necessarily coming from a broadcaster (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Ear-splitting whine is back, centered on 5800, extending up to 50 kHz either side, with cut numbers in middle, Sept 6 around 0615. The Cuban spy number service certainly has no qualms about being noticed, presumably since its code is believed to be unbreakable. Just another way Cuba messes up the spectrum with abandon (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. FRECUENCIAS INTERESANTES PARA SINTONIZAR EN LA ONDA CORTA --- 5800 Khz en am -- Pude escuchar en esta frecuencia transmision de CW con señal muy fuerte por Venezuela, al tratar con lsb y usb la señal desmejoraba considerablemente. Al tratar de decodificar solo pude identificar algo como WAGIN WAGIN ...oida a las 0625 UT. FRECUENCIA DE EMISORAS ESPIAS DE NUMEROS Y LETRAS 5883, en AM Emisora de números en español escuchada con señal muy fuerte por Venezuela.La escucha fue realizada a las 0325 UT. Sigue el misterio con estas transmisiones. 13380, en LSB Escuchada esta emisora espía transmitiendo numeros en español, la señal era buena, fue escuchada a las 2020 UT. 8991.9, en USB Emisora espía transmitiendo numeros y letras en español, la señal era muy buena. La escucha fue hecha a las 2015 UT. 4724, en USB Emisora espía de letras que he escuchado a las 0545 UT con muy buena señal. La transmisión era en ingles y solo decían letras. 15015.9, en USB Esta emisora espía de números estaba llegando muy bien en la frecuencia mencionada, la escuché las 1930 UT y a las 1932 estaba saliendo del aire diciendo out out out. [these two could be overt US military, not exactly spy stations -- gh] 17435, en AM Emisora espía que solo transmite letras, escuchada a las 1725 UT con muy buena señal. La voz que se oye es de una mujer, que para mi por su acento es cubana. Según muchas publicaciones dx, estos podrían ser los servicios de inteligencia cubanos (unattributed, presumably all logged by utility section editor José Elías Díaz Gómez, Venezuela, Conexión Digital Sept 2 via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Last night I heard an unidentified on 9495.5 kHz closing down with an odd anthem at 0230 UT (Jorma Mantyla, Kangasala, Finland, Sept 6, HCDX via DXLD) Iran`s V. of Justice service to NAm in English is at 0130-0227 on 9495 Kamalabad, but don`t know if they are off frequency; // 7235 Sirjan. Aoki also shows ABKHAZIA, q.v. starting at 0200 until 0715 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Re DXLD 8-097: Whew, what a Bulletin, mostly not of much interest to me personally, but such a marathon, well done. Hi Glenn, Sorry to bother you again, you often 'enthuse' about Classical Music Radio in your DXLD's, do you not have any stations like BBC Radio 3 (UK), Classic FM (UK), Lyric FM (Irish Republic)? Surely you need some steady signals just to relax to, especially as you must 'tire' of all the fading and distortion of shortwave signals (at times) (Ken Fletcher, UK, Sept 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) We certainly have lots of classical stations, two I can get off the air in Oklahoma, and most of the time while editing, which unfortunately is a lot more time than I spend at the SW dials, I am listening online to one or another, including BBCR3. I have heard just about every Prom Concert this summer, and am always struggling to keep up with them before they disappear one week after original broadcast. 73, (Glenn to Ken, via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: CANADA; IRELAND; NIGERIA; UK ++++++++++++++++++++ DTV: see USA IBOC IS BACK [see also CANADA, USA] Re 8-097: WGAC, Augusta, GA -- On Tuesday I posted that IBOC was off of WGAC. I am sad to report it's now back. I was hoping it was gone for good. You win some, you lose some, and some are rained out. (Bob Smoak, Bamberg, SC, Thursday Sept 4, ABDX yg via DXLD) HD2 live link Who needs an actual HD radio when you can listen to a lot of feeds here? Hi. http://www.sybercuse.com/cc-common/hdradio/ (William R. Hepburn, Grimsby, ON, CAN, Web Site: http://www.dxinfocentre.com WTFDA via DXLD) Pick a city doesn`t work, but opens the long list of linx (gh, DXLD) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ DATA OVER MAINS RADIO INTERFERENCE Devices that try to use the electrical mains wiring to transfer data or provide Internet connections can cause interference to radios over a wide area. A new video highlighting this problem is now available at http://www.southgatearc.org/news/august2008/data_over_mains.htm There are a number of other videos showing this growing problem:. - UKQRM Video showing the interference caused by BT Vision - BT Vision Powerline Adaptor Interference BPL - theBTman.com - Amateur Radio - HF Interference from BT Vision Powerline Adapter - Ethernet over Power Line - Radio Interference to disaster relief exercise Linz, BPL PLT - BPL and HF (Southgate http://www.southgatearc.org/news/august2008/data_over_mains.htm via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Most of this concerns data thru electrical wires. But my SW radio listening hobby at home died about three months ago, when a neighbour had his wireless internet transponder or whatever is installed. White noise all thru the SW coverage. A week later, added noise was due to a "Coship" Digital Cable Receiver installed by our local cable TV company. ADSL Internet and cable TV reigns and smashes my beloved hobby (Horacio Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) We feel for you! Any of us could be next (gh) No interference problem with my computer. Simply turn it off if I try to listen to short wave in the same room. I'd rather go to my terrace. The real problem I'm facing now is noise from a house alarm system installed early this year. Noise is more evident on 21 m. and no way to listen distant signals on the AM band, unless I attached my antennas using 75 ohms coax lead in. Anyway, since five years ago, SW listening here began to frie-up with all this technology of cell phones, ADSL, alarms and clearly all this began with TV. No way we can get rid off interference completely. Solution: go to a shack on a desert beach or in your own back yard if you can keep at least some 10 meters away from the house. 73 and good listening, while still possible (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) CISPR PROJECT TEAM DOMINATED BY PLT LOBBY - RATIONALE BEHIND PROPOSED APPROACH DISPROVED While the first part of my report http://cq-cq.eu/cispr22 explained how a CISPR Project Team (PT) tried to camouflage a planned 18 dB relaxation of Power Line Technology (PLT) disturbance limits, which would seriously threaten radio services, this second part sheds a light on the composition of that very Project Team and on the findings of two Japanese scientists. Let the reader be reminded that "the primary aim of CISPR is the protection of radio services" according to its own strategic policy statement and that as a standardization body it is assigned to act accordingly by developing appropriate EMC standards. What is expected of a serious Project Team which is assigned to protect public health by appropriate air pollution limits ? I think there is broad agreement that as the basic prerequisite it must be dominated by independent and dedicated health specialists and not by representatives of the automotive industry. Of course the same principle applies to any CISPR Project Team: it must be dominated by independent radio specialists with a deep understanding and rich experience in radio engineering, propagation and communication - and not by any industrial lobby. Does the CISPR PLT Project Team meet this requirement ? Based on the Project Team member list published by the IEC as per 15 August 2008, I have investigated which backgrounds and interests hide behind the names: Mr Jean-Philippe Faure (FR), Project Leader: Co-founder of PROGILON which developed, manufactured and marketed powerline communication products and provided consultancy in PLC (Power Line Communications). Consultant for EASYPLUG, a THOMSON - SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC joint-venture and for ILEVO, a company of SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS. Currently acting as Vice-President Standardization at ILEVO, which is based in France and Sweden manufacturing PLC products based on DS2 chipsets. Chairman of two key groups for the development of the PLC industry: the IEEE P1901 Corporate Working Group and the CISPR/I PLT Project Team. Mr Fujio Amemiya (JP): Manager EMC Center, Access Networks Business Headquarter, NTT ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY CORP., a unit of NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORP. (NTT). Mr Serafin Arroyo (ES): Standardization Manager at DS2, a global provider of PLC technology and HomePlug Powerline Alliance member. DS2 is project partner of OPERA (Open PLC European Research Alliance), the EU sponsored powerline project and consortium of 26 PLC project partners. Head of Delegation at international fora (ETSI, IEEE, ITU) and Vice-President of the UNIVERSAL POWERLINE ASSOCIATION (UPA). Spanish National Committe expert at IEC (CISPR) and CENELEC. Mr Mark G. Arthurs (US): SONY ELECTRONICS INC., Product Quality Division, EMC Group. Mr John Boot (US): Director of Standards at CURRENT TECHNOLOGIES, a major PLC technology provider. Mr Werner Bäschlin (CH): Member of former ASCOM SYSTEC AG, which in 2004 merged with ASCOM AG. Now at CURRENT TECHNOLOGIES INTERNATIONAL (CTI) Switzerland, a major PLC technology provider and OPERA project partner. ASCOM sold its PLC actvities to CURRENT TECHNOLOGIES in 2006, which now has a branch office at the former ASCOM SYSTEC AG headquarter site in Mägenwil, Switzerland. Prof. Johan Catrysse (BE): Head of the EMC laboratory at the CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF BRUGES - OSTEND (KHBO), Belgium. Mr Jean-Luc Detrez (BE): Chief Technical Consultant at INTEL CORPORATION SA, Belgium. Karl Dietrich (DE): SIEMENS POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION (PTD). Promotes PLC for ICT-based energy systems. Mr Víctor Domínguez Richards (ES): Co-founder and Business Development Director of powerline chipmaker DS2, which claims to be the world's leading supplier of chipsets for powerline and which is the designer of reference-standard chips for the UNIVERSAL POWERLINE ASSOCIATION (UPA). Mr Lutz Dunker (DE): GERMAN FEDERAL NETWORK AGENCY (BNetzA). Mr R. T. Garrett (AU): Marketing Engineer at TESTING & CERTIFICATION AUSTRALIA (TCA), owned by ENERGY AUSTRALIA, national market leader in electrical metering. Mr Juan A. Garrigosa (ES): Technology and Innovation Manager at ENDESA NETWORK FACTORY (ENF), developing and promoting PLC. ENF is owned by ENDESA GROUP, the leading utility in the Spanish electricity system and the number one private electricity company in Latin America. ENDESA is a PLC operator. Mr Michel Goldberg (FR): Research Engineer at ELECTRICITÉ DE FRANCE (EDF), a PLC operator and OPERA project partner. Board Member of the PLCforum Association, representing the interests of manufacturers, energy utilities and other organisations active in the field of PLC. Mr Holger Hirsch (DE): Professor at the UNIVERSITY DUISBURG-ESSEN, an OPERA project partner. Promotes narrowband and broadband PLC applications. Mr Jacob Keret (IL): Head of Research and Development at MAINNET COMMUNICATIONS LTD., Israel, a leading provider of PLC systems and solutions. Co-Inventor of US Patent 6927672 - Information Transmission Over Power Lines - for MAINNET. Mr Peter J. Kerry (GB): Former CISPR President and Director EMC Policy & Research Division at the RADIOCOMMUNICATIONS AGENCY (RA), the predecessor of the OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS (OFCOM), which is regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries. Mr Raouf L. Khan (CA): ? Mr Michael Koch (DE): Vice President Strategy and Regulation at POWER PLUS COMMUNICATIONS AG (PPC), Mannheim, Germany, a joint-venture between MVV ENERGIE AG, ABB and MAINNET, which exploits PLC technology in Germany. Promotes PLC within ETSI, CENELEC, CISPR and the PLCforum. Board member of the PLCforum, chairman of BITKOM (German association), and Vice-Chairman of ETSI PLT. Leader of the OPERA Work Package "Business Deployment" and member of the Steering and Technical Committee. Mr Thilo A. Kootz (DE): GERMAN AMATEUR RADIO CLUB (DARC). Dr. Jeffrey A. Krauss (US): ? Mr Philippe Lancelin (FR): FRANCE TELECOM, second-largest internet access provider in Europe, PLC service provider. Mr Trevor Morsman (GB): BRITISH TELECOM, one of the world's leading providers of telecommunication services, PLC service provider. Mr Romano Napolitano (IT): Systems Engineer Distribution Division at ENEL, the second largest European power utility company and a PLC operator. Dr. John Newbury (GB): Head of the Power Systems Communications Research Group at THE OPEN UNIVERSITY, United Kingdom. IEC, IEEE, the European EMC Committee, CENELEC, ISPLC. Mr Yves Ollivier (FR): AGENCE NATIONALE DES FRÉQUENCES (ANFR), ETSI Reporter for ITU-R SG1, CEPT. Mr Kunihiro Osabe (JP): VOLUNTARY EMC LABORATORY ACCREDITATION CENTER INC. (VLAC), the Japanese accreditation body for EMC test laboratories. Mr John Pink (GB): RADIO SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN (RSGB). Mr S. J. Pretorius (ZA): ? Mr Purva Rajkotia (US): INTELLON, which is a HomePlug Powerline Alliance member manufacturing PLT chipsets for many vendors, for example for the German company DEVELO. Mr Richard Razafferson (FR): Research and Development at ORANGE, the key brand of FRANCE TELECOM, which is a PLC service provider. Mr William Rhoades (US): ? Mr Praneel Ruplal (ZA): INDEPENDENT COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY OF SOUTH AFRICA (ICASA). Mr John Ryan (GB): PLC promoter and consultant to the ENERGY NETWORKS ASSOCIATION (ENA), the trade association for UK energy transmission and distribution licence holders. Mr Saneh Saiwong (TH): NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION, Thailand. Andreas Schwager (DE): Engineer for Home Networking at SONY Germany, member of the CE POWERLINE COMMUNICATION ALLIANCE (CEPCA). Dr. Bernd Sisolefsky (DE): GERMAN FEDERAL NETWORK AGENCY (BNetzA). Mr Ronald L. Storrs (SE): TELIA, the Swedish telecom operator and leading Nordic communication company, PLC service provider. Mr Rasmus Trevland (NO): NORWEGIAN POST AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY (NPT). Mr Christian M. Verholt (DK): DANSK STANDARD, Danmarks national standardization organization. EMC Adviser for the INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR RADIO UNION (IARU). Mr Eric Winter (ZA): Owner of EMC ASSIST, EMC and regulatory consulting. Mr Martin A. Wright (GB): BT EXACT, the technology and IT operations division of BRITISH TELECOM (BT). Chairman CISPR I. [FOLLOWING GRAF IN BOLD IN ORIGINAL] The result is that of a total of 42 Project Team members at least 22 - including the Project Leader - represent the PLT lobby (ILEVO, DS2, SONY, CTI, INTEL, SIEMENS PTD, TCA, ENF, EDF, UNIVERSITY DUISBURG- ESSEN, MAINNET, PPC, FRANCE TELECOM, BRITISH TELECOM, ENEL, INTELLON, ENA, TELIA). 6 members represent national regulating authorities which are regarding themselves more and more as spectrum management agencies trying to satisfy the ever growing demands of the markets - with the consequence that they are more and more neglecting and even denying the protection of radio services, which actually is their obligation in many countries, in favor of liberalisation and deregulation of markets. And only 3 members are dedicated representatives of a radio service, namely the amateur radio service, which is reresented by its international and two national associations (IARU, RSGB, DARC). I emphasize that I do not claim for the results of my investigations to be absolutely correct and up to date and I apologize for any possible errors. But despite any possible errors and the fact that the background of 4 members remains to be seen, there can be no doubt that the CISPR PLT Project Team is dominated by the PLT lobby. Therefore it does not meet the basic requirement and it is safe to assume that its proposals are favouring the interests of the PLT lobby and thus threatening instead of protecting the radio services. PLC promoter and Project Team member John Ryan writes on the ENA website http://2008.energynetworks.org/public-plc/ : "[...] The new Broadband technologies such as ADSL and Powerline use existing wiring not originally designed for the purpose and the contentious issue is whether significant interference to radio might be caused. Powerline systems use the HF-band (short-wave), which is also used by the BBC World Service, some safety related services and radio amateurs. However, some of these services are already moving to new delivery media, so there is also a new versus old technology issue. There are now significant deployments of broadband powerline systems in several European countries, with Germany taking the lead, despite the fact that this was originally a British invention. Genuine complaints that are upheld by the regulator are few if any, despite an orchestrated campaign by radio amateurs. National regulators have robust powers to shut down any source of interference following a complaint [...]" However, this is a misstatement which is exemplary for the ignorance of the PLT lobby regarding radio services and radio communication topics and which must be corrected: 1) It is implied that ADSL and PLC are comparable concerning their disturbance potential, which is not true. Though ADSL and PLC indeed both use existing wiring not originally designed for the purpose, the telephone line which is used by ADSL is in many ways much better suited for that misuse than the power line used by PLC and hence ADSL demonstrably causes much less interference than PLC. 2) The shortwaves are used by many radio services including the aeronautical, maritime, broadcasting, amateur, fixed, standard frequency, radio determination and radio astronomy services. And most of them rely on the unique feature of the ionosphere to bend and reflect radio waves in the shortwave part of the spectrum, which makes possible long-range and intercontinental radio communication even with very modest radio equipment. In appreciation of this fact, the ITU Radio Regulations (RR) as part of a binding treaty state that the shortwave bands are part of a limited natural resource (RR 0.3) and "particularly useful for long-distance communications" (RR 4.11), hence the ITU members are obliged and agreed "to make every possible effort to reserve these bands for such communications" (RR 4.11). 3) Shortwave radio still is and will remain to be important. It is the easiest way to reach people living abroad and in many countries it is the only way to communicate with people living in extensive undeveloped rural areas, just to name two of many reasons. And it should be clear that those radio services which rely on the unique features of shortwave can not and will not move to "new delivery media". In addition, the scope of many radio services goes far beyond the mere "delivery" of information. Therefore the protection of radio services is certainly not a "new versus old technology issue" - shortwave radio is alive and well as long as the precious shortwave spectrum is not spoiled by dirty technologies like PLT. 4) PLC trials and deployments have an inglorious and notorious history of interference problems, for example in the USA, the United Kingdom, Austria and Germany. In parts of the city of Mannheim, Germany, the reception of amateur radio and even broadcasting on shortwave is nearly impossible due to harmful interference caused by PLC. "Genuine complaints that are upheld by the regulator are few" simply because many administrations boost PLC due to political reasons and pressure from the PLT lobby and at the same time the regulating authority in many countries ironically is subordinate to the department of commerce, which is interested in a flourishing industry but not in the protection of radio services. And while it is partly true that national regulators have powers to shut down sources of interference, it is also true that most of them notoriously neglect complaints of individual broadcasting listeners and radio amateurs because they know only too well that they will hardly be sued for inactivity, simply because most individuals are not able to fight out an administrative lawsuit. Many administrations and the PLT lobby seem to favour sort of postponed interference management where the protection of radio services is merely an option. This attitude does not only show a lacking sense of responsibility, it is also very opportunistic, shortsighted, dangerous and even illegal. For example, what happens if harmful interference is caused by the cumulated disturbances of a large number of individual PLT devices ? Who is responsible ? Which devices to shut down ? How to stop the harmful interference ? In fact, protection of radio services is not an option but an obligation anchored within the ITU Radio Regulations as well as within the latest EU EMC directive. [FOLLOWING TWO GRAFS IN BOLD IN ORIGINAL] At the symposium "EMC Europe 2008", held in Hamburg on 8-12 September 2008, the two Japanese scientists Masahiro Kitagawa (Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University) and Masatoshi Ohishi (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan) will present their highly interesting paper entitled "Measurements of the Radiated Electric Field and the Common Mode Current from the In-house Broadband Power Line Communications in Residential Environment". They have investigated common-mode current (CMI) and radiated electric field strength (REF) caused by various commercial PLC adapters and found no causality between CMI or LCL and REF. They also found that CMI along the power line could exceed that measured at the modem output by more than 20 dB and that the differential-mode current (DMI) is the major cause for the REF, proving that REF or DMI must be regulated instead of CMI and at the same time disproving the rationale behind the CISPR/I/257/CD as well as the Japanese PLC regulation. They also show that the standing wave common-mode current measured at the PLC adapter output can be arbitrarily reduced by increasing the common-mode impedance of the adapter without reducing the radiated emission, which is a fatal loophole of the regulation. These findings of the two Japanese scientists are a clear proof of what radio engineers already know and what can be calculated, simulated and demonstrated - namely that the common-mode current measured at any point on a network tells absolutely nothing about the possible current imbalance at any other point on the network or about the energy radiated by the whole network. If it could, a perfectly balanced and thus non-radiating transmission line feeding energy from a transmitter to a radiating antenna would be impossible. And by the same token, the common-mode current measured at the ISN tells absolutely nothing about the energy radiated by the whole power line network. It is blatantly obvious that not only the planned 18 dB relaxation of PLT disturbance limits would seriously threaten radio services, but that the regulation of common-mode current measured at an ISN according to CISPR/I/257/CD is through and through an invalid concept which serves PLC but which is completely unsuited to protect radio services. The adoption of such regulation would be a gross violation of the prime policy of CISPR and a clear infringement of the Radio Regulations as part of a binding treaty between ITU members. This information paper is published on http://cq-cq.eu/cispr22part2 and distributed by email to a large number of amateur radio associations as well as organizations, companies, magazines and individuals concerned with radio. I urge all affected recipients to further circulate this information and to take any appropriate measures that could help to prevent the planned relaxation of PLT limits and adoption of the proposed method. These measures include protest notes and comments to the IEC/CISPR info @ iec.ch as well as to the IEC National Committees which can be found on the List of IEC members http://www.iec.ch/dyn/www/f?p=102:5:0 In addition, administrations should be informed and sensitized and at the same time reminded of the binding status of the Radio Regulations. I herewith declare that I undertake this information campaign as an independent idividual for the sole purpose to support all radio services and without pursuing any other goals. To be continued - stay tuned ! 5 September 2008, author and publisher: Karl Fischer Amateur Radio Station DJ5IL Friedenstr. 42 75173 Pforzheim Germany Email: DJ5IL @ cq-cq.eu Website: http://cq-cq.eu >> First Part: http://cq-cq.eu/cispr22 (direct to DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ THE POLITICISATION OF SUNSPOT NUMBERS The counting of sunspot numbers was once an academic exercise but has today become politicised in the debate over climate. At the break of dawn on 1st September, blogs spun into life saying that August was the first month since June 1913 to record a zero sunspot number. This was before the US National Geophysical Data Center had even had a chance to publish the formal sunspot number for August. Formal data is at ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/STP/SOLAR_DATA/SUNSPOT_NUMBERS/MONTHLY Now August may well be the first calendar month since June 1913 to record a zero sunspot count but the key word is 'Calendar'. There have been longer periods of zero sunspots but split over two calendar months. The reason for the interest in sunspots is simple. In Galileo's day the 'Flat-Earther' view of the world prevailed and any other view was considered heresy. Today the view that humankind is responsible for the climate tends to predominate over the view that the Sun is the main factor on the Earth's climate. Both sides in the argument are keen to use sunspot numbers to further their cause. This politicisation could add pressure to distort sunspot counts. Was that speck really a sunspot ? What would you say if your job depended on you giving a 'politically correct' answer ? Galileo Galilei http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei Watts Up With That http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/category/climate_change/ Sunspeck counts, Sun Does Not have Spotless Month http://www.rightsidenews.com/200809011849/energy-and-environment/sunspeck-counts-sun-does-not-have-spotless-month.html First month without sunspots in a century http://heliogenic.blogspot.com/2008/09/first-month-without-sunspots-in-century.html (Southgate http://www.southgatearc.org/news/september2008/sunspots_politicised.htm via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) PROPAGATION FORECAST BULLETIN 37 From Tad Cook, K7RA Seattle, WA September 5, 2008 [excerpt] We're still looking at a quiet Sun, but currently a solar wind is disturbing Earth's magnetic field. 6 meter operators --- after enjoying a fine season of sporadic E propagation this Summer --- may see some added excitement from auroral propagation. Check the site http://www.aurorasentry.net for updated indicators. The planetary A index was 33 on Thursday, September 4, the highest daily number in over a year. I don't know when it was last that high, but the closest recent numbers were 32 on April 23, and 31 on March 27. Planetary A index for September 5-10 is predicted to be 20, 15, 8, 5, 5 and 5. It is expected to rise to 20 on September 14. There has been some news about the current solar minimum regarding continuous days without spots. August was the first calendar month with no sunspots since 1913. Of course, there have been periods longer than 30 days, but generally over a two calendar-month period in which there were some sunspots in each month. As of Thursday, September 4, there have been 46 continuous days with no spots. That is the seventh longest period of no spots, looking back over 150 years to the mid nineteenth century. If there are no sunspots through this Sunday, at 49 days this will be the fourth longest spot-free period. But not everyone is reporting zero sunspots for August. If you go to http://www.spaceweather.com and to the archives on the upper right side, change the date to August 21 and August 22. On both those days they show a sunspot number of 11 (look at the left side of the page), indicating a single spot which had a magnetic signature indicating a new Cycle 24 origin. This is the same number that Zurich shows, but not NOAA, which didn't assign it a number because it was so short lived. Both May and June 1913 were spotless, in a continuous spotless run of 92 days from April 8 to July 8. Cycle 19 was the biggest solar cycle on record, and it is interesting to note that it was preceded by long periods without spots. There was a 26 day spotless run from February 15 to March 4, 1953, followed by 27 days from January 12 through February 7, 1954, and 30 days beginning on June 3, 1954 and running through July 2. In case you've forgotten what a spotted Sun looks like, take a peek at seven years ago, on September 1, 2001 at http://tinyurl.com/6j2r62 In a little over two weeks will be the Autumnal Equinox (September 22) -- the start of the Fall season and a sweet spot for HF propagation. Without sunspots, HF is still useful for long distance communication. Plugging in 0 for sunspots with one of the popular propagation programs shows 20 meters to be the best overall. Figuring a path from Texas to Brazil, W6ELprop http://www.qsl.net/w6elprop/ shows 20 meters at the Equinox begins opening around 1800z, with signals steadily rising, then closing around 0200z. 17 meters looks productive with rising signal strength throughout the day, starting at 1600z with signals rising until the band closes around 0000z. 40 and 30 meters also look productive, with 40 opening around 2300z, and rising signals, especially after 0000z. It stays strong all night, dying out after local sunrise. 30 meters looks good over that path from 2300-0700z (ARRL Sept 5 via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ###