DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-099, September 7, 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 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 not only contains the latest news since 8- 098, but finishes catching up the items missed during our August vacation, approximately Aug 18-21. N.B. the dates cited (gh) ** 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) Checking here at 1215 I'm hearing a het on 9494.7, not strong enough for any audio. Aoki shows no transmission at this time on a Sunday, but all other days of the week 1100-1300 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI USA, Sept 7, ibid.) Nothing noted here between 1100 and 1358 UT today Sept 7th. Now Abkhazia Radio on air again on 9494.74...75 kHz from 1400 UT. Hall room speech in progress, Russian? Reception in NAm seems better in 0400-0600 UT slot. ? Steve, is WHRI on air on 9495.00 (Büschel, ibid.) WHRI fires up at 1300. I checked 9494.7 several times, and the het was still there though getting progressively weaker prior to 1300. If not Abkhazia then unclear who it might be (Steve Lare, ibid.) ** ALBANIA. R Tirana 7424.98 at 0239 with news, then good Albanian music after 0240. 6 Sept (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALGERIA. Re 8-098: Hi Glenn, Regarding http://www.elahcene.co.uk I can assure you there is nothing malicious there. I don't know why you would see anything to do with a spyware scan. The only thing can think of is that I have a counter programmed in (statcounter.com, see the html code if you like) and for some reason your anti-virus or anti- spyware software is wrongly picking up on it. The strange thing is that exactly the same code in on the main page http://www.elahcene.co.uk/algeria/ but you seem to have no problems with that one. Best regards, (Samir Elahcene, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. 15476, 1/9 1850, R. Nac. Arcángel San Gabriel - Base Esperanza, Spanish, música, suff (Roberto Pavanello, Vercelli - Italia, via Roberto Scaglione, shortwave yg via DXLD) Sufficient? What about Gabon which is normally on 15475 until 1900*? (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. To sneak in a little SW news --- No sign of 2368.5 at all. OK, now on to read what others have said, before heading back to the cabin for some fresh Dungeness crab!? (Walt Salmaniw, QCI, 0047 UT 21 August, IRCA via DXLD) Radio Symban 2368.5 --- Hi John, Thank you for your email. We are extremely happy that you are keeping our station in mind. The current situation is that Radio Symban is in the process of moving to a bigger studio and premises and the antenna that handles the sw frequency is pulled down with a new bigger and better antenna being currently manufactured. We expect to be back on air with the sw frequency in the next 8 to 12 weeks. There is a lot of upgrades also being carried out. Basically Radio Symban will come back bigger and better than better. Kind Regards (Angelo, Manager symban@radiosymban.com.au undated, and who is John, Aug NZ DX Times via DXLD) Just been going through the listings updating the Australia section for next year's WRTH. I see the Radio Symban licence on 2368.5 which was from up near Gosford no longer exists but he now has one at Marrickville. So perhaps the station will come back on air once he relocates the transmitter (Richard Jary, Australia, Sept 6, ARDXC via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. HCJB Australia 5 minute video just uploaded to YouTube, includes some footage of Kununurra including erection of antennas: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuHtn7tL_DY&fmt=18 (Mike Barraclough, UK, Sept 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. RA, 9785, G signal in Indonesian, 2230 UT Sat Sept 6 starting ``English from Australia`` lessons based on lyrix of John Denver songs; this is no Kang Guru show originating in Australia and carried on RRI stations, also teaching English. Axually more English than Indonesian heard past 2250, with occasional QRDRM from Sackville 9795-9800-9805. Site is Darwin at 290 degrees, almost due west, making me wonder if it`s long-path, which would seem unusual, while RNW Indo via Madagascar longpath around same time on other frequencies is common. At 2313 found another RA // Indo frequency, 15230, which by then was better than 9785 and not synchronized with it. 15230 is Shepparton at 30 degrees, surely short-path, but why is it aimed eastward of any part of Indonesia? Because the 2300 hour just like the 2200 hour on 15230 is supposed to be in English to Oceania, per Aoki and EiBi; mistake, or recent change? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHAMAS. 810, ZNS[3], 0900-0915 20 Aug, few seconds of dead air then dramatic shouted ID "...National Voice of the Bahamas.." by om then into music but no weather news on Tropical Storm Fay. // 1540. 73s, (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Southeast Florida, US, NRD 535D R75, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHAMAS. ZNS1, Nassau, New Providence; 2354-0020 UT 18 August, 2008. No trace at 2130 (rather early on the west coast of Florida and what with the 1550 local splatter). But at 2354 recheck, very good with Bahamian soca, audio off 2357 (carrier still on), up at 2358 with male canned "A-M 15-40, Zed En Es One, The Voice of the Bahamas" twice, another slightly different canned ID at 0004, promo for "Sports Talk", abrupt audio lost at 0005 (transmitter still on), back up at 0007 with soca, 0010 into sports talk by two Bahamian-accented males, mostly talking about the Olympics through tune-out. Again on 19 August, audible at 2244 with some 1550 splatter. Some type of news program by male reader. Recheck 0040 (by now 20 August) with a huge signal and mostly Bahamian soca, frequent ID's. Cool-voiced male DJ who I quote, from 0007, "...I don't care what anyone says, Bahamian music is on a roll... Support Bahamian music, go to the stores..." followed by a quick quote from the Book of Proverbs, and a request for everyone to just stop complaining about things, as "... everything in the Universe is going to come back to you... let's be positive, and you'll have a good life... it's 9:11 [no, it was 9:09]... so keep it here on A-M 15-40, The National Voice." A massive signal in the evenings, not heard at this level in many years. This should be widely heard now (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, Aug 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Another item that was in the dxldyg but did not get into DXLD itself until now. Presumably still in non-direxional hurricane mode as discussed here recently: (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Bahamas 1540 In Tonight --- Getting Bahamas-1540 in well, with R&B- type music, IDs as "National Voice of the Bahamas" and "Bahamas Radio Network", also with some hurricane info. Have them barefoot on the SRF-59 at 2015 EDT (John Cereghin, Smyrna DE, 0018 UT Sept 7, ABDX via DXLD) Hi Everybody, I also just heard Bahamas coming in on 1540 on my ultralight and bigger rig as well, mentions of Bahamas and current weather and forecast. Good signal and first time I've ever heard it in here. Thanks for the tip. Country # 97 Overall on AM. Al VO1-001-SWL, St. John's, Newfoundland (Allen Willie, 0230 UT Sept 7, ABDX via DXLD) 1540, BAHAMAS, ZNS, Nassau surfacing amid the mess last night around 11:03 pm Central with hurricane programming. ZNS announcer was on the phone with someone in the Bahamanian government --- who had a VERY Bahamian accent --- advising listeners to stockpile drinking water in all available containers "because there is a possibility of scattered water interruptions for a few days" and also said residents of several islands "need to be ready to move quickly if the situation deteriorates." At least the official said New Providence would likely only receive winds of tropical storm strength. At 11:10 pm, the announcer spoke via phone with persons on other islands about storm preparations and emergency shelters on them. Signal was good on peaks but heavy QRM at times from KXEL, XESTN, and XEHOS. It looks as if Cuba is going to take a heavy hit from Ike, and I'll be monitoring stations there this evening. Ike could also pose a threat anywhere on the Gulf coast. Di and I have already decided to head for San Antonio if it is projected to make landfall near here at stronger than category 1 (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17, Sept 7, ABDX via DXLD) ** BELGIUM [non]. RVi via Skelton with good signal at 1851-1856* Sept 5 on 9590; had some item on film festival in Canada, and music related to some movies, all in Dutch. Heard in mini-Dxpedition at a park in Medford, NJ with Grundig G5 and whip (Joe Hanlon, NJ, Sept 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BHUTAN. Re CFRX 6070, awareness of online streaming --- Not only on stateside stations, but I have recently observed the host of the live call in program on BBS (Bhutan on 6035) asking the callers if they were listening online. One caller was in fact from Australia. This station has put considerable effort into their online presence, as noted in an email from Kesang, the general manager of BBS Radio Service: "The challenge for the BBS Radio is the quality. The day BBS Radio went online... I was thinking about the content. But keep listening and your feedback will only help us to do better. Keep Tuning." (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Sept. 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 6155, Radio Fides, La Paz, 0352-0359, 07-09, locutor, comentarios, español, identificación a las 0358: "Radio Fides, onda corta, banda internacional de 49 metros..., Frecuencia Modulada...". A las 0359 inicia transmisión Austria en la misma frecuencia, ocultando completamente a Radio Fides. 24322. (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, escucha realizada en Friol, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF, SW 7600G, Antena de cable, 10 metros, orientada WSW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Logged these stations while on a Micro-DXpedition last evening. Was focusing on LAs but only Brazilians were coming in well. 11804.65, R. Globo. Fairly strong but distorted signal here and weak audio at 2324. Could definitely // 6119.9 when M in Portuguese screaming. 6119.9 was somewhat weak with co-channel QRM. (6 Sept.) Noted these ZYs above 49 meters: 9505, 9584.8, 9629.9, 9645.25, 9665, 9675, 9685.27, 11780, 11804.65, 11814.96, 11854.96, 11895, 11915.12, and 11925.04 (6 Sept.) (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** CAMEROON [non]. QSL: 9655, Sawtu Linjiila/ Lutheran World Federation via Wertachtal Transmitter. Full data (with site) verification letter, with additional information about their broadcasts as being in the Fulani language. This for a e-mail report with attached 5 minute MP3 audio file. Response in 19 days for this verification. A quick e-mail response back to the V/S thanking him for his response to my request. v/s: Jukka-Latva Hakuni, Media Consultant. 9655, Sawtu Linjiila via Media Broadcast/Wertachtal Transmitter. Received six days (25 days) later (e-mail verification) my PPC, signed and stamped for a postal report with two audio files (CD MP3 format) for July the 20th and 27th. Also sent a compliment card. v/s the same as above (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Harold Sellers has written an article (with many illustrations) about his trip to the CKZU transmitter site in BC. It`s posted on the ODXA website. http://www.odxa.on.ca (posted under Broadcasting in Canada on the right hand column) (Fred Waterer, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. CBC RADIO TWO SCALES DOWN CLASSICAL MUSIC AS PART OF FALL RELAUNCH http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hNrXN5cyNRDNfFvSf2dU3JzUKhyg TORONTO — CBC Radio Two is scaling down its classical music programming and serving up more contemporary artists in a bid to reach a wider audience, a move that critics say is shutting out many listeners. The public broadcaster unveiled plans Tuesday for its Radio Two fall relaunch, which includes four new programs, new hosts and a heavier emphasis on non-classical music genres such as pop, roots, urban and jazz. The changes, beginning Sept. 2, will see the amount of classical music played every weekday shaved to five hours from the present average of 12 hours. Julie Nesrallah, a mezzo-soprano from Ottawa, will host a classical music show, called "Tempo," from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Programming director Chris Boyce said the move follows a CBC survey on Canadian arts and culture and radio listening habits. "At the core of all of this is what it means to be a public broadcaster," he said. "And that is to provide programming for all Canadians and to reflect the arts and culture scene in Canada and to reflect Canada back to Canadians." But research done by the Canadian content watchdog Friends of Canadian Broadcasting indicates that what CBC Radio Two's average 1.1 million listeners per week "like best about (the station) ... is the classical music," said the group's spokesman Ian Morrison. "So CBC is greatly compressing that kind of music, which you could call serious music, into a listening ghetto of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.," he said. "I say ghetto just because they know - anybody who looks at the numbers knows - that the available audience between 10 and 3 is very small compared with mornings or evenings or the drive home or drive- to-work period." Morrison also said the move "puts down" younger audiences by assuming that "young people are not interested in classical culture." This is the third phase in CBC Radio Two's makeover. In March 2007 it launched a new evening jazz show and last October it made changes to its weekend schedule. The most recent changes will see host Tom Allen start weekday mornings with "a mix of contemporary artists and familiar favourites" on the show "Radio Two Morning," said a release. The afternoon classical music show will air next, followed by "Radio Two Drive," with Canadian funk/hip-hop artist Rich Terfry (a.k.a. Buck 65) serving up 75 per cent Canadian contemporary music. On the weekends, jazz singer Molly Johnson will helm "Radio Two Morning" while CBC Radio Two personality Jurgen Gothe will follow with "Farrago," featuring music drawn primarily from his own collection. CBC Radio Two is also launching four new online music channels, dedicated to classical, jazz, Canadian songwriters and Canadian composers (via Kevin Redding, TN, Aug 20, ABDX via DXLD) The CBC Radio One fall season schedule has also been updated, in MONITORING REMINDERS CALENDAR, as best we can determine it, since some outdated info remains on the CBC websites (gh, DXLD) ** CANADA. When I was on the Richard Skyrett show on CFRB several months ago, I was speaking with him and his engineer during a commercial break, and casually mentioned I used to hear CFRX via SW when I lived in California. Both seemed genuinely surprised that people still listen to SW today. Perhaps I should claim credit for being the motivation for CFRX's return to the air! ;-) (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17, Sept 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 6069.86, CFRX, Toronto; 2303-2315 5 September, 2008 and 1124-1201 6 September, 2008. Essentially uncopyable due to het and RVC-Chile on 6070. Better upon checking the next local morning, with "...I'm Terri Hart..." Their web site shows "The John Donabie Show" this hour, an entertainment show, but if so there's some long local breaks. "Newstalk 1010, CFRB... it's 7:41... sports..." into sound byte highlights of the Rays v. Blue Jays game from last night, another ID, commercials for local businesses, "Newstalk 1010, CFRB, Toronto" at 1146, more commercials, time check by man into weather by female who said "Good morning, Tom" then back to presumed Tom, who read lotto numbers. Interview with a lady regarding some outdoor event and mention of a street closing as a result, mention of getting there via Third Street, 160th anniversary of something, commercials from 1156, mention of 1-800-561-CFRB, female with temperature and news from 1200. Fair, but LSB and some notching needed to copy (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CFRX, still on 6069.85 or so, Sept 6 at 2258 in the clear, no het, but as soon as news started at 2300, a slight het appeared, no doubt from CVC Chile as scheduled. It should only get worse as the evening progresses, and CVC builds up while CFRX loses out. The news was barely underway at 2301 when it was interrupted for a traffic report about the 401. Such irrelevancies could get old quick for CFRB`s now expanded continental audience (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Just to mention that I heard them up here in North-Western B.C on Saturday evening, but it was very tough getting away from Chile! (Walt Salmaniw, Masset, BC, Sept 7, HCDX via DXLD) ** CHAD. 4904.94, R. Chad. Beautiful R. Chad ID at 2221 and mentions of Chad, then Hi-life music. Another R. Chad ID at 2227, and closing ending with official ID. Muffled instrumental NA to 2230:25*. Fantastic signal, 6 Sept (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** CHINA. Re: "China enters a 3-day mourning period for victims of the Sichuan earthquake from Mon. to Wed. Therefore music disappeared from Chinese broadcast, Firedrake was replaced by CNR-1. The title of Firedrake is "Fengshou luogu" http://www.nme.com/video/id/g1tL7X4PJac/search/%E8%B1%90%E6%94%B6%E9%91%BC%E9%BC%93 de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) YouTube with 4 sesquiminutes` worth anyway, the percussionists having a big time especially in the final sesquiminute. Labeled as: Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra / ??? Yan Hui-chang. Now we can see some of the musicians whose art has been stolen for the evil purposes of the unelected, corrupt Chicom dictatorship to squelch freedom of information." (Glenn Hauser, ibid)`` Chris Greenway mentioned this item when we were discussing interference/jamming at the Reading meeting. The link given is the New Musical Express video search engine rather than a direct YouTube link and doesn't seem to work, I traced the original item in NDXC's blog and I think the video is this one: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=lzMzIETbQbs which is the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra whose conductor is Yan Hui Chang. Is this the video referred to in 8-062? If so there's another version here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=OtLU3r3MJVU&NR=1 and it's part of Firedrake called in English Harvest Gongs and Drums. Firedrake satellite details and 60 minute audio CD is at: http://www.satdirectory.com/firedrake.html (Mike Barraclough, England, Aug 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. Am I correct that the Cuban jamming sound is that "17 dollar guitar pedal" grinding comb resonance thing? The female numbers channel that still pops up on occasion is also uninspiring, and really does no favor to the rich history of said stations. Could they at least add a theme jingle? Otherwise why not switch to QRSS. At least "FireDrake" is listenable. And a report: China jamming activity percolates through the plentiful urban noise and obstruction on 19..22m in afternoon/evening here, actually pleasant - the original signal rarely makes it. Yesterday there was an echo on China's 9570 from Sackville (or is that Cuba), not sure why. Are there any countries besides China and Cuba who still act like babies? (Carmen R., Aug 17, HCDX via DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. And the DentroCuban Jamming Command is still blasting its noise at WRMI 9955 while WORLD OF RADIO is on, in English, 2025 UT check Saturday Sept 6, so we were totally inaudible here. Same before and after 2300. It is beginning to seem that Arnie`s jamming pals have decided just to turn it on and leave it, rather than adjust jamming times only to block Cuban exile programs in Spanish, despite hours for those having been drastically reduced, as there is more English, religion, Saturdays at 2300 on the WRMI schedule. Meanwhile, RHC itself was not jammed at all! On 11750, English `news` in progress at 2308, in yet another runover from scheduled 2300 closing of that frequency in other languages. 11750 was axually better than the only frequency supposed to be in English then, 9550, which had DWL ACI from 9545. But those engrossed in learning what is really going on in the world were abruptly abandoned when 11750 went off at 2309* This is getting to be more the rule than the exception (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA: WRMI ** CUBA. DISCLAIMER: No portion of the below may be reproduced or redistributed by the National Radio Club, their editors or current members without expressed written permission, which will then be swiftly denied. Editors receiving this directly from me are excluded provided this disclaimer is included where any of the below is reproduced. 1140, Radio Rebelde, unknown site; 1158-1205 7 September, 2008. Almost a second ahead of the stronger 1180 and 5025, Rebelde theme sounder and "Aquí la Habana" into news headlines, back into the usual Sunday morning Cuban classic oldies program. Mixing with at least one other station, one definitely Cuba as at 1203, telco audio female with Instituto Meteorológico update on Hurricane Ike. Either the Rebelde audio is from the same transmitter as the usual Radio Cadena Habana source, or the weaker was the latter. The unidentified was not parallel Musical Nacional on 590 (Paul Zecchino reports irregular Musical relays from one of the transmitters on Sundays). Oh no, Rebelde now has a goofy imaging for Instituto Meteorológico updates, a cheesy faux male Kraftwerk-like computer voiced "Instituto Meteorológico" repeated at times during updates (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. Am I correct that the Cuban jamming sound is that "17 dollar guitar pedal" grinding comb resonance thing? The female numbers channel that still pops up on occasion is also uninspiring, and really does no favor to the rich history of said stations. Could they at least add a theme jingle? Otherwise why not switch to QRSS. At least "FireDrake" is listenable. And a report: China jamming activity percolates through the plentiful urban noise and obstruction on 19..22m in afternoon/evening here, actually pleasant - the original signal rarely makes it. Yesterday there was an echo on China's 9570 from Sackville (or is that Cuba), not sure why. Are there any countries besides China and Cuba who still act like babies? (Carmen R., Aug 17, HCDX via DXLD) ** CZECHOSLOVAKIA. [This is the post that set off a long thread in dxldyg now previously published in DXLD] We are approaching the fortieth anniversary of the day that Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia, a day that I can remember as if it were yesterday. I was in those days a regular listener to Radio Prague's English service for Britain as well as its (slicker) North American Service and, occasionally, its Afro-Asian Service. I had followed the events of the Prague Spring with great interest. In particular I can remember a daily feature that ran all through the late spring and early summer entitled "What's Going on in Czechoslovakia?". When Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia it was as if I had been attacked personally. I can remember even now the first news I heard of the event, at 07.00 BST, when the BBC announced as the first headline of its morning bulletin that "Russian troops have invaded Czechoslovakia". I spent as much time as I could that day trying to hear everything that was coming out of Czechoslovakia. In the evening, on Radio Prague's regular medium-wave channel(which in those days was used for the service to the UK) I heard one of the station's regular announcers, George Hara, translating live reports he was receiving from CTK, the official news agency. He was obviously broadcasting from a makeshift studio and the normal language schedule had been scrapped in favour of short segments in many of Radio Prague's languages. I later read that they had been using emergency facilities that had been created in case of a war with the West but I do not know if this was indeed the case. The next day George was off the air and a number of his colleaagues took over, this time on shortwave from low-power transmitters but on the normal Prague frequencies. I recognised one of the voices as being that of Radio Prague's American-accented science correspondent Milan Brod. At one point, the low-powered transmitter was blotted out by the main Radio Prague transmitter coming back on the air with the announcement "This is Prague, Czechoslovakia testing" along with the normal Prague interval signal. There was also Soviet-bloc jamming on some of the Prague frequencies. But perhaps my strongest memory is of an urgent appeal by the station for listeners to pass on a message to the CTK office in London, which I can still remember said, probably in some sort of code, that "At home and at Yikars everything is OK'. I duely passed on this message, via Scotland Yard, and was later visited by a police officer who thanked me for doing so. The occupation of Czechoslovakia, I remember, led to many changes at Radio Prague. For one thing, its newly created Swahili service was scrapped and, as far as I know, never returned and many familiar voices disappeared from the English services, among them Karl Greggor, an excellent announcer in the North American Service. But it took some time for the station to be fully 'normalised', to use a buzzword of the time. One year later, on August 21, 1969 an as-yet unpurged host of the programme beamed to Britain made a point of opening the programme by giving the date, something which was never done normally. In such ways, while they were still able, many of the announcers continued to drop hints about their feelings concerning what was happening to their country. These memories and feelings will stay with me for the rest of my life (Roger Tidy, UK, Aug 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. R. Cairo, 9280 at 0017 in Arabic with chant. Extremely low audio but signal solid S7. 6 Sept (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. Re 8-098: Use to make my checkings of Radio Bata15190 around my local mid-afternoon, 2100 UT, when I suppose conditions from East to West improve, and have been noticing a hum in that frequency. Well, I found the same hum earlier today Sat. 6, just before 1700 which seems self-inflicted from this Equatorial Guinea transmitter, and can be nearly null when tuning on LSB. Do they still operate with 50 kW as Aoki lists? Got my doubts because that signal came stronger than BBC15400 and Africa #1 15475, since Radio Bata transmission started at 1700. The flop with this one is that kind of telephonic audio. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, Sept 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA/ETHIOPIA, Re 8-093: The homepage obviously mentioned in the 8000-bc belongs to Tesfa Delina Foundation, which operates a clandestine, VoTD, to Eritrea, so this may be a (most certainly) Ethiopian relay of this programme, or another clandestine/ethiopian government psy-op refering to this... These programmes are not Eritrea, and I suppose that Brian Alexander's log and other similar ones are not Eritrea, but this one, as recently I observed it some Hz higher than 8000 also. Also interesting that 7165 observed for ERI, but it's well possible that also the Ethiopian Ext. Service is there at 0400+ with another clandestine program to Eritrea, as observed before. 73 (thorsten hallmann, münster, germany, Aug 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 5950, Voice of the Tigray Revolution (Makele), 0320-0335, 9/6/2008, Tigrinya. Upbeat Horn of Africa music followed by man with news at 0330. Very good signal over just audible Taiwan via Okeechobee, who normally dominates the frequency (SINPO 43333). Signal degraded somewhat over time, but was still on top at 0335 tune out. Parallel 6170 was also heard with very poor signal. Have seen reports of them on 5950, but first log here. Also noted Radio Ethiopia blasting in on 7110 with similar HOA music (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, TenTec RX-340, Drake R8B, RF Space SDR-14, 90' Random Wire, Eavesdropper Dipole, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) I wonder if these V of Tigray Revolution transmitters are anymore at Mekele. I recall reading some speculations that all Ethiopian HF SW BC transmitters might nowadays be located in one centre at Geja (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, ibid.) ** ETHIOPIA. R. Ethiopia 7110 at 0345 in Amharic. Talk, music. This is really a neat station to hear. 7 Sept (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FAROE ISLANDS. Journalism Review --- Glenn, More acerbic commentary from a troglodytic curmudgeon. Trade "journalists" are even more unreliable than the general ones. One of my professional colleagues refers to all marketing puffery as "journalism" as a term of contempt. The weasels who have taken over Radio World, buying it from Steve Dana, are even more reluctant than Steve was to name names for fear of annoying their advertisers. Here is an article from the current (August 2008, p. 14) international edition, which is certainly informative but would be a lot more interesting and useful if it told us (1) who made the unreliable and uneconomical box of whistles that's being terminated, (2) who supplied the “used” (perhaps rebuilt?) tube that would only make 40% power and (3) who was selected to supply the replacement pair of 50's and maybe even why they were selected, since it is a government purchase and may actually be public information, even in a European country (Benjamin Dawson, WA, Aug 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: “*Unsuitable Tube:* The Faroe Islands parliament has approved state funding for the purchase of two 50 kW medium-wave transmitters for public broadcaster Kringvarp Føroya. The new units replace a 200 kW transmitter, which has been in the local headlines for a number of years. Not only did the energy costs for the transmitter rise enormously but, after a failure of the main tube, the transmitter was also out of use for several months. Kringvarp Føroya acquired a second-hand tube but it proved unsuitable, resulting in bad audio quality and frequent transmitter failures. The maximum power achieved with that tube was around 80 kW. The investment necessary for the new installations is estimated at approximately 9.7 million Danish Krone. The transmitters will operate on 531 kHz as before. The standard operational power will be 50 kW but may rise to 100 kW by adding the second transmitter whenever appropriate.” (via Dawson, DXLD) ** GABON. Re 8-093: RTG 4777 and 7270 off since about Mid-July. Maybe this was via Moyabi-II? At least until end of March, there were definitely three transmitters active from Moyabi (independent from the question whether RTG is aired via Moyabi, which is, however, very very likely. 73 (thorsten hallmann, münster, germany, Aug 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GEORGIA [non]. Additional broadcasts of VoR's Sodruzhestvo / Commonwealth Radio Service for Georgia in Russian starting Aug. 13, 2008 (UT): 1200-1500 9555 (beam change from Central Asia to the Caucasus region) 1300-1500 1089 1400-1500 1170 1400-1700 9475 1400-1700 11985 1600-1900 1170 1600-1900 11610 1600-1900 9835 (from Aug. 17) Resulting service cancellations: 1600-1700 9475 VoR Persian (St. Petersburg) 1700-1800 9835 VoR Arabic (Samara) 0400-0600 1089 Russian International Radio in Russian (Krasnodar) 1500-1900 11610 VoR Arabic (?) 1400-1500 11985 VoR Turkish (Moscow) 1500-1700 11985 VoR English to Africa and the Middle East (Moscow) Source: MIDXB 594 (Aug. 19, via Sergei S., Aug 20, dxldyg via DXLD) ** GERMANY. New transmitter for AFN Bavaria on 1107 kHz On Aug 28 the former 1107 / 10 kW transmitter of AFN Bavaria has been replaced by a new one with a 65 metres tall mast at Rose Barracks in Vilseck, where they also have their studios since 1994. The old transmitter was located in the housing area of the US Army base at Grafenwöhr, only some dozens metres away from the next buildings (unthinkable if it were civilian buildings), seriously disturbing DSL lines and other electronical equipment there. Finally the grounding grid had been damaged, so the transmitter did no longer radiate properly. The construction of the new facility plus the demolition of the old Grafenwöhr site costs about 1.4 Mio. USD. The Grafenwöhr transmitter will be moved to Vilseck and installed as aux there. http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57208 A newspaper clipping with a photo of an AFN announcer in front of the new antenna, exercising with an EV RE20 (one weights about 700 grams), is in the Yahoo Group (Photos / Miscellaneous). Google's map service censors the complete Grafenwöhr area (like they do with the Brunssum/Geilenkirchen region), but Bavaria's land survey office has this to offer: http://www.geodaten.bayern.de/BayernViewer/index.cgi?rw=4493680&hw=5508480&layer=DOP&step=0.5 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. QSLs: 11645, Gospel for Asia via DTK-Telekom- Wertachtal (Dec. 07 report). Date/frequency and site Indian Bible Study via Radio QSL card, with my PPC, returned and signed. This for a follow-up report sent to: Gospel for Asia 1800 Golden Trail Court Carrollton, Texas, 75010 USA. The Canadian address does not verify reports as my first attempt went. V/s: Regina Person GFA Media. 7230, FEBA Radio, via Wertachtal. E-mail .pdf QSL of transmitter site for Jülich from Media Broadcast, in 10 days time. This after sending an e-mail letter to: QSL-shortwave @ mediabroadcast.com v/s: Mr. Michael Puetz (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also CAMEROON [non] ** HONDURAS. HRMI, R Misiones Internacional, 3339.97 at 0519 in Spanish with talk. Glenn noted this same date about an hour later. 6 Sept (Liz Cameron, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. Glenn, Jakarta today 20/8 from 1758 to 1800, 11784.880 kHz. Gr (Maurits Van Driessche, From Belgium, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. Beste mensen, Het Indonesie seizoen kondigt zich aan. Vanmiddag 1630 UT, 3976 kHz. RRI Pontianak, met Islam gezang, en talk. 1655 Love Ambon & off.(O=2). Signaal zwak, maar frequentie vrij, want Boedapest is (nog ?) afwezig. Tot nu toe wel het enige RRI station dat te ontvangen is, maar misschien komen er deze maand in de Ramadan nog meer. Groeten, (Aart Rouw, Bühl, Duitsland, AR7030 + ALA1530, Sept 7, bdx mailing list via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Re: ``Same story with satellite radio. The U.S. satellite networks, XM and Sirius (soon to be one company), are VERY aware their audience is national`` We're talking about different things (and I seem to remember that this misunderstanding recently came up elsewhere, too, so it indeed appears to be worth to point it out): Here in Europe there are no such systems like XM and Sirius, and I think there is little point in discussing Worldspace announcements in detail. Thus satellite radio means here Ku band satellites, geostationary and running DVB-S, just what the small satellite dish at home is good for. Many European countries have subscription services like Dish Network and DirecTV in the USA, Germany is special in people being used to FTA transmissions. Either way many radio stations are on air in these DVB-S muxes, in many cases also FTA when the TV services are routinely encrypted. It meanwhile became a mantra if somebody asks for advice in setting up an outdoor FM antenna for better reception, because without it remains hissy: Why bother, just set up a satellite dish even if you are not interested in TV at all (is the phenomenon "I do not have a TV set" known in the USA as well?), you will hear radio better than ever, without any hiss, in some cases without Optimod, and much greater variety than on FM. Way back in the nineties satellite transmissions were also believed to be the future for international broadcasting in Europe (cf. the just discussed refocussing of Radio Sweden's media programme; this believe was the reason for "let's talk about satellites instead of shortwave"). At this time nobody could foresee how "new media" (i.e. the internet) would roll over the scene (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS. 11330 KHZ HF AERO COMMS – HURRICANE HUNTERS 11330 USB 1509z: New York wkg "Kestrel 760" for Selcal check. (06Sep2008) (ALS). 11330 USB 1517z: New York wkg "Jet Blue 711" for position report, Selcal check. (06Sep2008) (ALS). 11330 USB 1536z: New York wkg "NOAA 42" (WP-3D Hurricane Hunter, MacDill AFB) for position report during Hurricane Ike mission in Caribbean. (06Sep2008) (ALS) 11330 USB 1536z: New York wkg "NOAA 42" (WP-3D, NOAA Hurricane Hunter, MacDill AFB) for position report during Hurricane Ike mission in Caribbean. (06Sep2008) (ALS) 11330 USB 1925z: New York wkg "NOAA 49" (Gulfstream G-IV-SP, NOAA Hurricane Hunter, MacDill AFB) for position report from 25-30 North, 64-00 West (eastern Caribbean). (06Sep2008) (ALS) 11330 USB 1959z: New York wkg "NOAA 49" (Gulfstream G-IV-SP, NOAA Hurricane Hunter, MacDill AFB) for position report from 27 North, 67 West, intends position 28 North, 64 West at 2012z and position 30 North, 64 West next (all Atlantic Ocean east of Florida). (06Sep2008) (AL STERN, Satellite Beach FL, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** IRELAND. Re 8-098, http://RTÉ.ie --- Glenn asked "Will the accent on the E work as an URL?" In a word, no. Well spotted, Glenn. I overlooked the fact that they had put the accent in the URL in the press release, but indeed it doesn't work. I tried it to see what would happen, and the browser converted it to "http://xn--rt-cja.ie/ :-) I have now amended the original text (Andy Sennitt, Media Network, Sept 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND [non]. Re 8-098: RTÉ Radio to broadcast on shortwave on 7 and 21 September --- Hi Wolfie, Info as below, I have just come to the site to find out for you! 7295 1300-1700 MEY 290 degr AM 9850 1530-1700 WOF 160 degr DRM 11695 1500-1700 MEY 335 degr AM 11715 1300-1600 WOF 102 degr DRM 11960 1500-1700 MEY 100 degr AM All RTE English, Sunday 7 Sept only. [We have no info about 21st yet] All times GMT. Target Middle East. 73 Dave G4OYX, Sen Tx Eng WOF. We look forward to the DX reports! (via Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) Automutilation. Unbelievable toy. What a waste of energy in Woofferton, I guess less than ten people overall will listen to the DRM hurling finale in Europe in total (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) So far two reports at forum.mysnip.de and no additional ones at drmrx.org. What do we count as "listen"? I dare to guess that the figure is zero when referring to real listeners, interested in the program content, as opposed to merely technical observations by enthusiasts. One could argue that these transmissions are just meant to make a point, but if so, to whom? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, 1435 UT Sept 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Gotta start somewhere! Ooops, started 10+ years ago (gh, DXLD) Sep 7th at 1530 checking the RTE channels, AM 11695 decent with a bit weaker // 11960. DRM noise (which I can't decode) on 11715 strong with weaker 9850 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, ibid.) As I tuned across KJES, 11715, Sunday Sept 7 at 1312, there was unmistakable QRDRM centered on same frequency. Both signals weak, but that means DRM was a considerable problem for those of us hankering for a KJES-fix, preacher talking in English, then off-key singing with guitar accompaniment. Checked the online DRM skeds, and nothing anywhere near 11715 at any time! O yes, this is the day Irish hurling goes hi-tech with special one-day-only DRM transmission via Woofferton UK at 102 degrees on 11710-11715-11720. A considerable oversight by the DRM schedule maintainer. After 1500 I also checked the analog frequencies via Meyerton, South Africa, 11695 and 11960, but heard nothing. So a `successful` DRM transmission at the expense of poor KJES. Made me want to hurl (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Today Ireland Hurling finale coverage in DRM mode. E-mail answer and included photograph of the DRM 100 kW RIZ sender, Made in Croatia, after a single hour. Via Issued by Martin Goulding, Broadcast Engineer, VT Communications, and thanks for the RR. (wb) Heute Ireland Hurling finale ... Wolfgang Bueschel schrieb: Ich weiss nicht, ob es von VTC auch eine Bestaetigung gibt, oder nur aus Dublin. Es gibt zumindest mal eine offizielle e-mail fuer Empfangsberichte im Begleittext: Und nach 1 Std. kam von oben genannter Adresse eine e-mail mit Foto vom Sender - einem RIZ 100 kW-Sender - , in der sich Martin Goulding, Broadcast Engineer, VT Communications fuer den Empfangsbericht bedankte (Patrick Robic, Austria,, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Sept 7 via Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Re 8-093: I mentioned: "Netiva Bar Ilan" I meant "Netiva Ben Yehuda" IBA - domestic frequencies updated on website I mentioned that especially the REKA frequencies were way out of date. Not only didn't it have the new transmitters, it still had the 88.2 FM REKA/Reshet Hey frequency, which has been gone for a few years. Anyhow, the REKA 104.8 near the "Greater Tel Aviv" listing, has a 1 superscript. The 1 superscript says, in Hebrew, Netanya. Again, these are broadcast area listings and not what cities the transmitters are located. Also, the satellite frequency was updated. I can't vouch for how accurate everything else is, but the REKA frequencies match the Spokesperson's webpage list. http://www.iba.org.il/reception/ The shortwave page is still incorrect. It still has the W. Europe / N. America frequency which doesn't exist and the main frequencies to Iran are listed as the 'alternates' and the 'alternate' frequencies are listed as the main frequencies. It seems that for Winter vs Summer, those two groups of frequencies were just swapped (Doni Rosenzweig, Aug 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL [non]. HARVARD UNIVERSITY TO DIGITIZE IBA ARCHIVES http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=SimpleSite/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1218710387429 A few snippets... look at the above link for the entire article: "...After many months of negotiation, the university agreed to transform the archives and digitize them, keeping one copy for itself and future academic researchers and sending the other to the IBA. An agreement to this effect was signed last week. Under the terms of the agreement, the university judaica department, headed by Charles Berlin, will bear the cost of the project - somewhere in the range of $10 million... "The IBA archives are a national treasure trove documenting not only events from British Mandate times to the present day, but also preserving for posterity the voices and faces of the people who made history in this part of the world..." "...With the fate of the IBA hanging in the balance as it continues to perpetuate its deficit and is unable to reach an agreement with union representatives over conditions regarding several hundred employees' dismissal, the arrangement with Harvard takes on particular significance. This way, Israeli historians can rest assured that there is at least one place where the IBA's invaluable archives will be safely stored." (via Doni Rosenzweig, Aug 18, dxldyg via DXLD) ** ITALY [non]. ESLOVAQUIA, 9510, IRRS Milano, 1130-1135, escuchada el 7 de septiembre con emisión de música melódica, en paralelo por Internet, SINPO 33343 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA. LETONIA, 9290, Radio Victoria, 1115-1125, escuchada el 7 de septiembre probablemente en alemán a locutor con comentarios e identificación, "Radio Victoria", emisión de música disco dance, anuncia dirección web y E-mail, SINPO 34343 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A- 108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 7245, R. Mauritanie, Nouakchott, finally reactivated as checked at around 1500 on 18 Aug, but it was silent in the morning; 4845 also active. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) And then many other reports of reactivation already published (gh) ** MEXICO. 1610, XEUACH “Radio Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo”, Chapingo, Estado de México; 0150 variety of jazzy music! Always stronger near their s/off of 0200*, occasional Spanish talk by a M DJ; Very Good for 250 w! 73's de Steve/AB5GP (Steven Wiseblood, South Padre Island, TX, 9/7/2008, DX-399, times in UT, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I caught XEUACH a couple of times in the last week of August with the good signals you report just prior to sign off. I'd bet my life they are now running far more than 250 watts; if not, they must have a very effective ground system under their antenna! (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17, ibid.) Checking for the pirate relay on 1610 plus harmonix in McAllen, I guess; nothing further on that since 8-098 ** MEXICO. XEPPM, 6185, apparently on with carrier at least 5 minutes before 2300 Sept 6, as I was hearing a lo het with presumed RNA Brasil. At 2301 recheck, XEPPM well on top with Mexican anthem, 2301 sign-on in Spanish, and 2302 sign-on in English, plus program summary, but most or all of them are going to be in Spanish. Do they assume all listeners are bilingual? Each also gave e-mail of ondacorta @ radioeducacion.edu.mx and 2303 back into Spanish programming, a repeat from something on Friday giving Sept 5 date (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MOROCCO FRENCH. I see the VOA/IBB site in Morocco (now closed) sometimes listed as Tanger-Briech or Tangier-Briech. Some time after VOA opened the "New Morocco" site in the early 1990s, I did some checking and found that the new site, near the town of Briech, was about a mile south of the border of the old Tangier International Zone. So reception of the site would not count as Tangier but as French Morocco (DanFerguson, SC, Aug 17, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Re 8-093: VON's expansion in this or that way is regularly announced in mailbag or other programs, but also we know from then that there are three high-power transmitters from 1996. In the past days they seemed to be completely off-air, that's still the major problem. 73 (thorsten hallmann, münster, germany, Aug 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN [and non]. Re 8-093, Current Affairs on SW, 9340: Hi Aslam, I checked 4835 kHz tonight and after 1600; AIR Gangtok's s-off there was a strong buzz on the frequency. I couldn't get any audio from it even in AM. So I recorded the audio spectrum (attached, 4835.0 kHz is at 1000). The buzz, which consisted of many carriers, disappeared at 1803. So I suspect that this still is PAK transmitter, but the modulation has gone so bad now that the audio can't be heard anywhere. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, Aug 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. Re Méndez log of Aug 16: Yo he escuchado la transmisión en español de Radio Rumanía Internacional en 11965 kilohercios el día 15 de agosto, entre 2115 y 2133 UTC, con SINPO de 45454. Escuchados programas sobre los Juegos Olímpicos, sobre reunión en Roma sobre alimentación, y programa cultural. No sé qué habrá pasado después, a lo mejor fue un problema puntual (Eduardo Peñailillo Barra. QTH: Santiago, Chile. Brigmton BT-353), DX LISTENING DIGEST) RRI seems to have dropped off the map as far as any further interest in logging it, guessing which frequencies are new Galbenis (gh, DXLD) ** ROMANIA [non]. I found this interesting articles on RFE/RL site: MEMORIES OF A ROMANIAN ICON by Eugen Tomiuc http://www.rferl.org/content/Memories_Of_A_Romanian_Icon/1187788.html I don't remember precisely when I first heard this announcement, carried over the strains of Enescu's beautiful "Romanian Rhapsody." I must have been eight or nine, and it was in the late 1960s. But I do remember vividly the circumstances -- my father, in the corner of the room, covering his old Telefunken radio with a thick blanket, and listening to the Romanian news. It wasn't exactly the best listening experience, as the shortwave broadcasts were notoriously unstable and full of static. The volume had to be turned down to a bare minimum, so suspicious neighbours would not hear -- or even suspect -- that dad was listening to Europa Libera (via Jonathan Murphy, Ireland, World DX Club) Three more in the same section: 'RFE'S ROMANIAN SERVICE OPENED OUR EYES' by Vladimir Tismaneanu http://www.rferl.org/content/RFEs_Romanian_Service_Opened_Our_Eyes/1187792.html It is hard to believe that Radio Free Europe's broadcasts in Romanian will fall silent on August 1. I grew up listening to Radio Free Europe. In a Bucharest pervaded by official lies, with newspapers dominated by sycophantic poems and hagiographic articles celebrating the "triumphant march of Marxism-Leninism" and the infinite genius of the general secretary, Radio Free Europe was indeed the "spoken newspapers of all Romanians." I started listening to RFE haphazardly, zapping on our family's old East German radio and discovering the "forbidden fruits": RFE, the Voice of America, Deutsche Welle, Radio Vatican, the BBC. I even listened to Albania's Radio Tirana denouncing the Khrushchevite "traitors and renegades." 'THEY TOUCHED THE MINDS AND SOULS OF ROMANIANS' by Nestor Ratesh http://www.rferl.org/content/They_Touched_The_Minds_and_Souls_Of_Romanians/1187842.html My love affair with Radio Free Europe began long before I had the chance to join its ranks. Unlike many of my fellow Romanian listeners, what attracted me to it was not the desire to hear the news. As a news writer at the Romanian News Agency, I had direct and continuous access to the international news agencies. And domestic news -- I had no interest at the time. Rather than the news itself, it was the kind of journalism that Radio Free Europe developed that attracted me -- the freedom of expression its broadcasters enjoyed and the way they touched the minds and the souls of their Romanian listeners. It was, if I may say so, a professional attraction and envy. ROMANIAN PRESIDENT HONORS RFE/RL FOR 'HEROIC' BROADCASTS BY RFE/RL http://www.rferl.org/content/Romanian_President_Basescu_Honors_RFERL_For_Heroic_Broadcasts/1187428.html In a ceremony July 30 at the Cotroceni Palace in Bucharest, Romanian President Traian Basescu awarded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and the BBC the "High Commander of Cultural Merit" award for their decades of providing uncensored news and information to the people of Romania (via Mike Barraclough, England, Aug 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RWANDA. QSL: 11985, Family Radio, French To West Africa via Kigali. Full data (with site) 'Three decades of Faithful Service' QSL Card , along with religious material for a e-mail report to: intl @ familyradio.com & familyradio @ familyradio.org Reply in 26 days (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, CANADA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA. Re: 8-093. B-92 & nation-wide stations in Serbia, What became of B-92? (gh, DXLD) Dear Glenn, RTV B92 http://www.b92.net & http://www.b92.fm got a licence for nation-wide broadcasting. They've already installed entire FM & VHF/UHF network in last year. Nation-wide radio-stations in Serbia (all studios in Belgrade): RADIO B92 http://www.b92.net RADIO INDEX http://www.index.rs RADIO S http://www.radios.rs ROADSTAR RADIO http://www.roadstar.rs RADIO FOKUS http://www.fokus-radio.com - B92 has a joint live show with the BBC directly from London [1 x 60 mins weekdays] - S relays Deutsche Welle [3x5 mins weekdays] - FOKUS relays the Voice of Russia [3x30mins daily] Nation-wide TV-stations in Serbia all studios in Belgrade: RTV B92 http://www.b92.net TV FOX http://www.foxtv.rs RTV PINK http://www.rtvpink.rs TV AVALA http://www.tv-avala.com TV KOSAVA 18:30-06:30/ HAPPY TV 06:30-18:30 http://www.kosava.co.yu / http://www.happytv.tv & http://www.happytv.rs - TV AVALA relays VOA TV in Serbian [2x30mins daily] Radio licence for the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina: RADIO AS, Novi Sad http://www.radioas.fm TV licence for the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina: SUPER TV, Subotica http://www.supertv.rs I hope this information is helpful to you... Regards, (Dragan Lekic from Subotica, Serbia, Aug 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY [non]. 7325, CANADA. V. of TURKEY, 0332, 9/7/08. English service with fortnightly DX Corner. Spent much of show tearing into comments allegedly made by Glen[n] Hauser regarding VOT. DX Corner ended 0336. S8 signal (Jerry Strawman, IA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) That at least confirms that DXC was on this week, as I intended to check, but missed it. Did anyone else hear this or even record it, as I would certainly like to know exactly what was said. That is still one of many VOT shows NOT available as a podcast: http://www.trt.net.tr/wwwtrt/podcasting.aspx?dil=12 Tnx, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Hi Glenn! I am embarrassed to tell you that I wasn't paying real close attention. The presenter was hard to follow from a thought organization standpoint. I do recall he called your comments an attack more than once. He also said it was an insult to him. He never got to specifics. Since I did not know what comments he was talking about, it was hard to make any sense of it. It was obvious he was having a hard time holding his tongue while recording. At the end of the segment he said "end of my rant." Wish I could be of more help. I checked the TRT website and couldn't find a recording. I was not recording. Best wishes, (Jerry Strawman, IA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKS & CAICOS. Bandscan from the Turks and Caicos --- Just spent a week on the island of Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos; here's an FM bandscan using the Sony DX-398: 88.7, WDDR - Hip Hop "88 Jamz" 90.5, WIV Radio - Religion 92.5, WIV Radio - Hot AC, format oriented towards the tourist population 93.9, WIV Radio - relays country channel from Sirius or XM satellite 96.7, Religious Talk, over-modulated audio 98.9, Religious Music 99.9, WIV Radio - relays "60's on 6" channel from XM Radio 101.5, WIV Radio - Variety 102.5, WIV Radio - Religious Music 103.3, relays 80s channel from Sirius 105.5, Hip Hop, R & B 106.3, KIST Religious 107.7, Radio Turks and Caicos Based on what I can glean from the web and from the WRTH, all of these stations run power levels between .25 and 1 kw. At my QTH on the east end of Providenciales, 105.5 was the strongest signal; all the others were close behind. WIV is the cable company which also runs a cable TV station (WIV 4) and several FM stations (see above). (Steve Branch, Champaign, IL 61822, Aug 17, WTFDA via DXLD) Providenciales FM stations The chap who operates some of the stations listed in the bandscan provides me with the following (the WIV transmitter tower is in mid island and it is a banana shaped atoll running mostly east by west): 90.5, 200W, 5 ele log periodic yagi 92.5, 600W, stacked 3 el yagis 93.9, 25W, 5 ele log periodic yagi 99.9, 50W, 5 ele log periodic yagi 101.5, 50W, 5/8 vertical 102.5, 250W, 5 ele log periodic yagi 103.3, 50W, 5 ele log periodic yagi (Bob Cooper, NZ, ex-Provo, who as a matter of fact built the stations and used to own them, Official WTFDA TV/FM DX list, Aug 20 via DXLD) Hello Bob, This is interesting, I drove by the WIV facility on the Leeward highway near the center of the island and noticed a number of yagis on the self-supporting tower behind their building. Since I didn't see any of the standard "rototiller" antenna bays on this tower, I wondered if they were using the yagis to transmit. Several of the yagis were mounted vertically, which made me suspicious that they might be transmitting. Thanks for the information! (Steve Branch, Champaign, IL, ibid.) ** UKRAINE. Re: 5970 new non-direxional Brovary outlet --- There are TWO Brovary transmitter sites: http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&hl=de&geocode=&q=50%C2%B030%2700.99%22N++30%C2%B048%2732.49%22E&ie=UTF8&ll=50.500274,30.809028&spn=0.009923,0.020342&t=h&z=16 This view shows (provided you get the same frame, it probably depends on the screen resolution in use) to the left what appears to be an ARRT-257, which I assume to be the 207 kHz antenna. To the right a mediumwave mast, and note also the separate transmitter building with the circular cooling ponds in front of it. Out of view to the south/southwest appears to be another transmitter building, with presumed shortwave antennas just barely visible. http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&hl=de&geocode=&q=50%C2%B030%2746.69%22N++30%C2%B046%2735.45%22E&ie=UTF8&ll=50.515541,30.77837&spn=0.009919,0.020342&t=h&z=16 Phoptos of this site (one is on the preceding page, but beware, they will all move when the author will upload new material): http://www.flickr.com/photos/15522856@N07/page8/ And inside: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mbr/sets/72157594211977744/ The console and big monitor speaker probably belong to a shortwave transmitter, as seen behind the control receiver; it's a really old one called KV-100, hardly still in use anywhere now. TDP and I think also other sources differentiate between "Brovary A" with 100 kW transmitters and "Brovary B" with 5 x 200 kW. The single KV-100 in sight suggests that this is the "A" site, although one would expect these more sophisticated antennas to be related to the listed 200 kW transmitters (at this power level they could be the Sneg-MU modernization type, as installed at Krasny Bor near St. Petersburg). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) There are TWO Brovary tx sites: one MW station UKR Brovary Kiev MW 549/783/1242 150 kW 594/873 50 kW 242m mast at 50 30'00.99"N 30 48'32.49"E http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=50.500516&lon=30.808684&z=16.5&r=0&src=yh http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=50.500516&lon=30.808684&z=16.5&r=0&src=msl http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&hl=de&geocode=&q=50%C2%B030%2700.99%22N++30%C2%B048%2732.49%22E&ie=UTF8&ll=50.500274,30.809028&spn=0.009923,0.020342&t=h&z=16 and the LW 207 and former SW station about 2.9 kilometers northerly at 50 30'46.69"N 30 46'35.45"E 4x 100 kW and 8 curtains at 254 degrees. http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=50.515988&lon=30.77648&z=16.9&r=0&src=msl http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=50.515988&lon=30.77648&z=16.9&r=0&src=yh http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&hl=de&geocode=&q=50%C2%B030%2746.69%22N++30%C2%B046%2735.45%22E&ie=UTF8&ll=50.515541,30.77837&spn=0.009919,0.020342&t=h&z=16 The latter SW station dismantled now, I guess. And replaced by a small non-dir antenna at the MW site 50 30'00.99"N 30 48'32.49"E Tiny signal in SW Germany, less powerful than poor 5 kW Belarus outlets on 6010 and 6070 kHz at same morning. Distance from Brovary 1700 kilometers, so Stuttgart is NOT the target of this domestic service (Wolfgang Büschel, Sept 5, dxldyg Sept 6 via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Virgin Radio changing name to Absolute Radio --- 1215, Virgin Radio was heard SEP 7 0500 UT with a promo for Absolute Radio. Per the website http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk/ "Virgin Radio is re-inventing itself, with a brand new name and a whole new attitude. Just like David Bowie became Ziggy Stardust and Prince decided to be a symbol, Virgin Radio wanted a new look so we´ve shaken things up a bit, added a little spice and created a brand spanking new radio station that is about to blow your socks off. Yes folks the rumours are true, by October 2008 we ´ll be saying goodbye Virgin Radio, and hello to Absolute Radio with the launch of a new music and entertainment brand that keeps all the great things our listeners love but a million times bigger and with more attitude and naughtiness than a Rolling Stones backstage party." (Bruce Conti - Nashua NH, http://members.aol.com/baconti/bamlog.htm Sept 6, mwdx yg via DXLD) http://news.moneycontrol.com/india/news/pressnews/toi-group-launches-musicentertainment-brand-absolute/17/31/355107 The Times of India Group's subsidiary, Times Infotainment Media Ltd, has announced the launch of a new music and entertainment brand Absolute, which will replace its UK rock music station brand, Virgin Radio. The change will formally take effect on September 28. The station, which has the largest reach in the 15-44 years age group, has over 5 million listeners and users in UK and the rest of the world. It will also diversify into new areas like stand-alone branded properties, event ownership, TV and customer transactions like music subscriptions, downloads and ticketing. The station will also have a fresh line-up of presenters and at 7.45 am GMT, September 2, will embark on a period of cross-fade to Absolute Radio. The largest multi-platform marketing campaign in commercial radio history will also be starting this autumn, using the campaign line "Discover Real Music". Two key initiatives - the open http://www.oneGoldenSquare.com blog and a new approach to play list meetings with listeners and the music industry, will also be rolled out. Virgin Radio is owned by TIML Golden Square, which is a 100% subsidiary of TIML India (which, in turn, is 100% owned by Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd) Virgin Radio, which is the only rock format commercial FM radio station in London, has the largest reach in the 15-44 years age group. It is also the only commercial music radio station that covers all UK in the AM format. The website http://www.virginradio.co.uk which is acknowledged as the leading music radio station website in the world in the commercial sector, will also re-brand as http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk Over 50% of its online visitors are outside the UK. Absolute Radio (Virgin Radio) was one of the first radio stations in the UK to stream online in 1997. Mr Vineet Jain, Managing Director, The Times of India Group, said: "Rock music, Internet and digital platforms cut across countries, cultures, and all age groups, especially the youth. Our existing strong rock music listener base through FM, AM, DAB in UK and through the Internet from across the world, positions us uniquely to develop a new-age, multi-platform Web 2.0 music and entertainment brand". Mr AP Parigi, MD & CEO, TIML India, said: "The name Absolute Radio is the brainchild of Mr Vineet Jain, MD, The Times Group. As a brand, it is being developed to be unapologetic, cheeky and infectious, with a long-term brand building and investment strategy behind it. We are going to develop this brand, with radio at its core, and diversify the business and revenue opportunities into other related areas. Our ambition is international - this is just the start" (moneycontrol.com September 6 2008 via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ?? Why mess with an admittedly world-famous `brand`? Change for change`s sake (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Hi Jeff, Well, I`m hearing an exile program after 2030 UT Sunday [on webcast], so WOR is gone for good from that time; any other new ones? Said 4:30:-5:15 pm domingos, heard Escambray mentioned so is it LV del? Jamming unrelented Sat during 2000 WOR broadcast and also before and after 2300. Good luck vs Ike. 73, (Glenn to Jeff White, WRMI, Sept 7 via DXLD) Glenn: Sorry, I meant to send you a message, but forgot. We had a last-minute program change this weekend. Foro Revolucionario, which used to be at 1130-1200 UT Sunday, wanted to expand to 45 minutes, so we had to find a new time slot for it. They chose 2030-2115 UT Sunday, which meant we had to get rid of WOR and Wavescan. No change on any other times right now. It looks like Ike is heading sufficiently south of us that it shouldn't be much of a problem. Whew! It looks like another one just missed us. Can't wait for us to get past August and September. Ah, the only good thing I suppose is that Cuban jamming should be interrupted for a few days (Jeff White, WRMI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. The September 2008 issue of Monitoring Times profiles WBCQ in its cover story. The article gives a history of WBCQ and Allan's free radio activities leading up to the WBCQ's official sign-on on September 8, 2008 [sic!]. There are technical details of WBCQ's operations and of its predecessors such as Radio Newyork International, as well as reviews of some of the notable programming on WBCQ. Check out Monitoring Times at your local book store, or you can order an electronic subscription online via their web site. Source: http://www.wbcq.com/ BTW, WBCQ was off the air today 2200 to 0000 UT. Their schedule lists 2100 to 2300 as "available time". Off the Hook should have been on 2300 to 0000. [later confirmed as canceled, and WBCQ hours reduced] I read that WBCQ started turning its transmitters off when it doesn't have the paying customers. I didn't realize that applies to 7415, as well. After an abrupt departure of Brother Stair, WBCQ's schedule looks pretty sad. I'd suggest the station should give up other frequencies and concentrate on filling up 7415 (Sergei S., IL, Aug 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) It did give up 9330, AFAIK, which worked much better daytime at this distance (gh, OK) ** U S A. 6110, 0301, WHRI, vg in English, with program relay of Radio Liberty (not the RFE/RL one). 0400 off. Timings not as per sched. 08/7 (unattributed log in Aug NZ DX Times via DXLD) Sked now shows this for Angel 2: 0300 - 0400 11:00 PM - 12:00 AM Mo,Tu,We,Th,Fr Radio Liberty Dr. Stan Monteith 6.110 Mhz That`s the transmitter which on Sat and Sun is on 7385 but on weekdays goes to 6110 for one hour at 0300. There is no link to the program on the WHR site, but there is at WWCR, http://www.radioliberty.com which begins `` Bringing you the Story behind the Story, the News behind the News. Hoping to convince you that reality is usually scoffed at and illusion is usually king, but in the battle for the survival of Western civilization it will be reality and not illusion or delusion that will determine what the future will bring. Radio Liberty is hosted by Dr. Stanley Monteith.`` So just another wacky gospel huxter (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. SOS! Sunday Sept 7 at 1320-1330, came across reading of Song of Solomon on WYFR 25m, hot stuff about breasts and such, but all in the usual ponderous style of all other Bible readings. Just once, I would like to hear this read with a bit of leer. I was so excited that I failed to notice whether it was 11830 or 11865, both on the air in English to WNAm with separate programming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Update: Our little CB pirate station in Jackson County, Michigan on 27165 kHz (Channel 17) is playing more than just nut-case Alex Jones. I've noted other shortwave programs such as David J. Smith and "The Power Hour." The broadcasts have been heard going into the wee hours of the morning and even airing this past weekend. (I'm curious what type of CB radio he's running that would take this kind of abuse!). The program has no fading when rebroadcast, so I have to assume the pirate is recording them or playing them directly from a high speed Internet stream, rather than off of a shortwave station. (Bill Lauterbach - WA8MEA, Hanover, MI, Aug 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWWT slight format change --- WTOP was on the air this morning relaying WFED 1050. In fact they did not note they are were on WWWT except for the top of the hour (TOH), for the TOH ID; I heard IDs for WFED, WWWT, and WWWP. Mark it down as a format change (Bill Harms, MD, Aug 21, NRC-AM via DXLD) This is a slow-motion, rolling format change. Here's how it's playing out: The "3WT" talk format is slowly disappearing over the next month or so, and will be gone for good by the end of September. On WWWT 1500 and WWWB 820, the former 3WT morning show disappeared last week, replaced by the simulcast of WFED 1050's morning show. The rest of the day still has the syndicated talk lineup that was on 3WT, and there's still Nationals baseball in the evenings. On WWWT-FM 107.7, the former 3WT morning show was replaced by a simulcast of WTOP-FM 103.5's morning news. The rest of the day still has the 3WT talk lineup, followed by Nats baseball at night. Over the next few weeks, the 3WT talk shows will continue to disappear, being replaced by WFED content on 1500/820 and by WTOP content on 107.7. By mid-September, 1500/820 will be full-time Federal News Radio and 107.7 will be full-time WTOP news...EXCEPT at night, when those three frequencies will continue to carry the Nats until the end of their season. (No worries about post-season baseball there this year!) Once 1500/820 become full-time Federal News Radio, 1500 will take the WFED calls and current WFED 1050 will be sold (Scott Fybush, ibid.) I am envisioning a huge flow chart at the office there so they can remind themselves everyday how this is going to work. 1500 will always be WTOP to me (a Post-Newsweek station !!) (Russ Johnson, K3PI, ibid.) ** U S A. HD-2s and Translators -- Glenn, We have a very interesting situation in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on the FM band: A station, WNNK 104.1 MHz, is relaying its HD-2 signal on an analogue translator. The main station carries a hit-music format. Its HD-2 is an R-and-B station called "The Touch". WNNK HD-2 is not only transmitting its digital signal on 104.1 but ALSO on a translator at 95.3 MHz. When the original paperwork was filed with the FCC the proposed translator was supposed to be used to relay a MW station on graveyard 1400 kHz. But the translator only relayed 1400 for a few weeks as "The "Touch" moved from MW to HD-2, all the while // 95.3. 1400 is now an ESPN sports affiliate. The other interesting aspect of all this is that the translator antenna sits on the same tower as the main 20 kw transmitter antenna, so it can't do the kind of work a translator normally would, i.e. filling in "gaps" in the main transmitter's signal coverage. So what owner Cumulus has done, essentially, is create a brand new FM station using a translator license to "relay" an HD-2 signal which most people would have no access to because of the few HD sets sold. They've also managed to free the R-and-B format from the MW signal allowing for a new sports station to pop up on the dial. At a time when "translators" are relaying signals from hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of miles from their parent station this would seem to be another lessening of the translator standard we used to have in the US. I also need to mention that I work for a competing broadcasting company but the opinions I have are my own (Bill Mead, Sept 7, DX LISTENIG DIGEST) ** U S A. KOMO-1000, a 50 kW news/talk station in Seattle, has been running with an ugly 60-cycle hum recently which I found to be very obnoxious while listening to it with earphones as I worked out. I E- mailed them about it on Sunday citing the fact that is was unbecoming an otherwise quality operation. By Tuesday it was clean. I'm not sure why it was allowed to persist in the first place but this does show that there still are people out there who care about AM audio quality and also that big stations can move fast (Pete Taylor, Tacoma, WA, 12225w 4719n, HQ180 + Kiwa air core loop, ICF2010 + " " " ", DX398; Palomar loop, SRF-59 & SRF M37V, Aug 20, IRCA via DXLD) You are too generous. They should NOT have to hear from a listener to know something was wrong, and it should NOT take them 2+ days to fix something like that (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) It also shows that there are many listeners who either don't notice noise or don't care, this is why there are so few complaints about IBOC seems that everyone thinks well, I'll let the other guy do it (Bob Young, Analog, MA, KB1OKL, NRC-AM via DXLD) The only radio stations in this market that have truly embraced IBOC and promote it heavily are the two NPR FMs, KPLU 88.5 and KUOW 94.9. KPLU uses their secondary "stream" to play music when the NPR news/talk programming is on the main channel, and vice versa-not a bad idea-and KUOW uses one HD channel for round-the-clock BBC World Service and the other for programming from the World Radio Network -- relays of international shortwave broadcasts. But, BBC is also available on the main KUOW channel several times daily, and much of the WRN programming is available on KUOW's sister station KXOT 91.7. As far as the general public is concerned, they don't seem to know what IBOC is and couldn't care less. They're much more interested in Ipods, Iphones, Blackberries, etc. (Keith Beesley in Seattle, Sept 6, ABDX via DXLD) Hi All, A slight correction to Keith's post about Seattle. KUOW's non- BBC HD channel runs the programming of KXOT, Tacoma full-time. Sandusky does something innovative with their HD's, and they do promote it. KKNW-1150 is simulcast on K98.9's HD2, and KIXI-880 is simulcast on 106.9's second HD channel. That being said, I agree with Keith that most of the HD programming isn't promoted much, and much isn't worth promoting. Best offerings are KUOW's BBC and KXOT offering, and KJAQ's "Boom FM," which consists of a varied oldies mix. I'm not sure how deep it is, but it plays everything from Buddy Holly to the James Gang's "Funk 49." It's only been around for a couple of weeks. But the thing is that all of the HD music channels are automated jukeboxes, with no personality or surprises (Rick Lewis, ibid.) ** U S A. Re 8-093: Glenn:-- "Jeff Levy ...truly arrogant jerk". After his weekly shows, this "truly arrogant jerk", at least during his KFI/640 days, would spend up to an hour on the phone with some hapless caller or another, each and every weekend, after said caller would get timed-out from being on the air. He did just that with a lady friend of mine, who walked away from their twenty minute chat with enough knowhow to rebuild her hard-drive...all, to my knowledge, without any charge whatsoever to those he helped. Perhaps we need a few more "truly arrogant jerk(s)" of this stripe on the planet; it would sure as hell beat any of several TAJ's in Radio with whom I've had the displeasure of labouring. -- GREG HARDISON, CA, Aug 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1550 ON HIGH POWER TONIGHT --- A quick heads up, due to the hurricane warning/watch for NE Florida, WNZF the new 1550 in Flagler county (Bunnell) will have the wick turned up tonight to 8.7 kW to provide weather information. They just received program test authority today(good way to break her in). (Jerry Kiefer, NM, Aug 18, ABDX via DXLD) This an update on the message Jerry graciously posted on my behalf while making storm preparations for our radio station. Tonight WNZF will be on night power VICE day power as the local government hasn't called a state of emergency, considering what we're in for from the current perspective concerning Tropical Storm Fay. We are a new upstart station, the first commercial broadcast station serving Flagler County, FL, approx. population 100,000, with a planned roll out of our actual format, News/Talk over Labor Day, 2008. (Ron Charles, WNZF News and Engineering, Bunnell, FL (Ronald-Charles Gitschier, WYHI 1570, via Kevin Redding, TN, ibid.) Upstart or start-up?? And of course this could happen again with further hurricanes, if not already (gh, DXLD) I've been unable to hear WNZF though. Tonight, 1550 a mixture of semilocal WAMA, WRHC, the Cagasstro Whooper not too far below them, and a slurry of other unreadable signals (Bob Foxworth, Aug 18, ABDX via DXLD) Ron or Jerry, When did New Smyrna Beach-1550 go dark? I assume that is what enabled WNZF to get a license for Bunnell. New Smyrna Beach-1550 was heard here with a couple of different calls over the years - WCCZ was one I believe. A couple of times they were running only 84 watts, confirmed by phone call to Station Engineer. Congrats to Ron your new job - best of luck! (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, MA, IRCA via DXLD) Marc, 1550 in New Smyrna Beach went dark in the mid 90's. The frequency laid dormant until we filed an app in 99 to move it to Flagler county. With the increased distance from Tampa we were able to go for more power. The station in New Smyrna Beach started in 62 as WORT, in the mid 60's became WOGO until the change to WCCZ in the mid 70's. The tower location was on Smyrna Yacht Club Island in the intracoastal which provided a perfect salt water ground. Even in its 250 watt days up until the mid 80's, you could hear it quite easily up the coast to Charleston, SC. 1550 has been reborn and being the first commercial operation in one of the fastest growing counties in the US should have a bright future. Thanks (Jerry Kiefer, NM, Aug 19, ibid.) OK, thanks for all the info, Jerry. I first heard WOGO-1550 on an equipment test on a Monday Morning around 2 AM in early 1972. This was in the days when CBE-1550 signed off around 1:05 AM leaving the channel wide open here in the Northeast. I called the station and the Engineer told me he was only running 84 watts. When I told him I was receiving his signal on Cape Cod, he was amazed. But, as you mentioned, their tower was in salt water, the Cape is surrounded by salt water and there was nothing in between the transmitter and the receiver except salt water! My location at that time was about 1/8 of a mile from the beach in Hyannis. Coral Gables-1550 used to blast in at sunset like a local. I believe their towers are also in the water off of Key Biscayne. Best of luck with your new operation in Flagler County! (Marc DeLorenzo, South Dennis, MA, ibid.) ** U S A. 940, FLORIDA (MIS), WPTI814, Pinellas County Emergency Management, Largo; this recently-reactivated station has slipped back to useless audio status. Noted 1315+ 7 September, 2008 with loud 60- cycle hum and about 25% voice modulation, seemingly a local looped male mentioning "Pinellas County residents" etc. WINZ, Miami weak underneath (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See CUBA for disclaimer ** U S A. Re: ``AFN out of the Florida Keys seems to be off the air at 2015 check of 7811 and 12133.5. Tropical Storm Fay is currently hitting the Florida Keys (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` Up and running on 7811 and 12133.5 at 1100 check on 8/20. I had checked in the past two hours and not on (Steve Lare, ibid.) 5446.5-USB, FLORIDA, Armed Forces Network (via NAR [Naval Air Reserve?] facilities), Saddlebunch Keys; 1346-1352 7 September, 2008. Interview with Joan Baez about her new album of alleged songs, excerpts of which should be sufficient enough to rally the troops into an aggressive stance. Excellent signal, but with the bursts of randomly dropping audio as often noted. Much weaker 7811U from the same site was free of audio clipping (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 14325-USB, TEJAS, KA5E Hurricane Watch Net, Liberty Hills; 1635+ 7 September, 2008. You'd think having covered these things for so long he would at least be familiar with geography. It's not Great Iguana (it's Inagua -- just look at the spelling and you should at least not butcher it to become the name of a lizard) and Rum Cay (he pronouncing it like "Kay"). Probably other Bahamian insults I missed (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. I do a better job of predicting weather, including hurricanes, than the TV weather folks and in some cases NOAA and NHC. A big pet peeve of mine. During the winter the dew point might be, say, 38 F. The local TV station will predict "hard freeze for Austin" which involves me bringing in plants which I know I don't have to do. The temperature can't drop below the dew point and during periods of static weather the dew point isn't going to change drastically in a few hours. The next morning the same station will say, "The low last night in Austin was 39 ." WTH? Where's the apology for their wrong forecast just 8 hours before? I could go on, but I don't want to drag this list completely off topic. I think the old maxim of "if it bleeds it leads" applies to weather. The masses want to hear about disaster and not "oh, the storm is going to miss us by 100 miles" (John Mayson, Austin, Texas, USA, Aug 20, HCDX via DXLD) ** U S A. Alan Furst's Comments --- There are several points reprinted in DXLD 8-098 worth comment. AM-BCB radio (530-1700 kHz) as practiced in the United States is indeed a mess. A government, and business mess. How would Mr. Furst oust and/or alter the structure of the FCC as imbedded in in its current morass? I really can't think of a way short of a series of executive orders. It is the FCC that "duly considered" the matters of both contour allocation and "new technology" in bandwidth specifications. Your complaints are in fact directed in this way. The FCC is the only authority that can ban the use of iBOC after local sunset, outside of the free will of the station-owner(s) / shareholder(s). The answer is not 100 kW ERP and rigorous standards. The real answer is to overhaul the FCC, and re-think the "privilege of broadcasting", as opposed to the present attitude of "Right to Broadcast". The Right to Broadcast also includes using the internet as an alternative means of propagation. The "privilege of broadcasting" incurs a granted license to use the frequency spectra allocated to distribute factual news, weather, traffic, entertainment, and opinion. The inclusion of the latter has to remain, as the internet effectively does allow the reading/ hearing/ seeing of the "voice of the people" in a manner consistent with the axiom of "Right to Broadcast". We as a free country cannot abridge the right to opinion and or dissent. That holds true to those who pay for a "Privilege to Broadcast" permit. Where the distinction between the "Right" and the "Privilege" turns grey is when those with the "Privilege" specify and allocate more air- time to national-opinion than local production to support the local contour. This is where the fundamental problem exists. And though I don't have the solution, its clear that local stations need more local production serving the local contour. And I also include the clear- channel stations. If the station-owner(s) can't afford that, then turn in your licence, or reduce power to a level affordable. You do have the right to fail, as well as succeed. The coordinated web of timely disaster aid and information does include the AM-BCB contrary to network opinion. If the amateur radio operators can do this well, so can the privileged licence-holders of the AM-BCB. It is to be expected and demanded, without hesitation --- without worry of the cost to share-holders and owners. It is part of the high price paid for the privilege to broadcast. It is superior to the network demands and feeds at all times. Don't get me wrong, its not a charity event, its the business of keeping the people informed in times of dangerous contour-wide events. The people have the "Right to be informed" and I would add, "in a timely and professional manner". Consider the events of over-the-air TV broadcasting. Its demise is predicted to occur next year. One cannot use a portable TV set to get the news. Think about it for a moment, and one comes to the conclusion that in a contour-wide disaster, TV becomes instantly irrelevant, and moot. TV is then broadcast through a wire that can quite easily get damaged. That leaves only radio propagation as the source of important news. The internet also becomes moot, as it too is carried by wire. One must ask the essential question, "Is the AM-BCB prepared for this?". I agree it is not, and should be made more coordinated. It will become incumbent upon the AM-BCB once over-the-air television either ceases, or greatly restricted. Like it or not AM/FM will shoulder this (Paul L Shaffer, Cheshire, CT, Sept 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** URUGUAY. "RADIOACTIVIDADES" es un programa (2) semanal de "Radio Uruguay" 1050 AM, conducido por Daniel Ayala y Pablo Pérez, con la producción y el diseño técnico de Luis Ignacio Moreira. Se emite los sábados y domingos a las 11 horas CX, 1400 horas UT y se repite a las 23 CX, 0200 UT. Tiene una trayectoria de 20 años, comenzó con un programa de dx pero se fue diversificando para en este momento tratar todo lo relevante a la historia de la radio en general, sus personajes, sus programas, todo con material de archivos, sin descuidar lo referente al diexismo. Se puede escuchar en directo por Internet en: http://www.sodre.gub.uy:80/ E-mail: lmoreira @ montevideo.com.uy Además desde "Programas DX", en cualquier día y a cualquier hora. http://es.geocities.com/programas_dx/radioactividades.htm Si desea escuchar otros espacios diexistas en español lo pueden hacer en: http://es.geocities.com/programasdx/ Cordiales 73 (José Bueno, Córdoba, España, Sept 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [non]. RNV, 15250 via Cuba, Sat Sept 6 at 2314 in English, YL with tedious enumeration of constitutional articles concerning corruption, apparently trying to dismiss such charges against Chávez in the 1990s, made only worse by her didactic and heavy accent. A SAH of about 3 Hz was detectable during fades and bits of modulation from something else. Only possibility in Aoki and EiBi is CVC in Indonesian via Darwin, 290 degrees, 250 kW, exactly same parameters as RA being heard at same time on 9785; see AUSTRALIA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6980-USB, 1328-1336* 7 September, 2008. Out-of-band Gulf redneck-accented duplex fishermen, babbling about nets, grabbing a bag of ice, going into town, a "white hawk" diving after his fish (probably an osprey) and checking back tomorrow morning to share what they've caught (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15403: For a second morning in a row, I found a carrier centered on 15403 this Sunday 7 at 1500, which puts a het over the good signal BBC 15400 delivers from Ascension at this time. The only way to escape from it is detuning to 15397 or using LSB but this latter case still barely audible. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I noticed that over here in UK during daytime, there is a co-channel split, have definitely heard Christian Voice on 15400 after BBC gone – interesting frequency; also BBC Oman 11760 has a idling data transmitter on one side during day plus co-channel Cuba on Saturday. It`s quite a challenge to get BBC WS on SW all day from UK; have to use Asia and Africa relays. They`re very unpredictable. M1ELK (Michael Dawson, Sept 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) HCJB Australia is scheduled on 15400 at 1030-1430; could that be it on 15403? (gh, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thank you so much for all the wonderful information you put together for DXLD. Now that I am retired, I have even more time to peruse through this tantalizing morsel of DX'ing delight! Best regards, (Ron Howard, Monterey/Asilomar Beach, CA) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ A LITTLE NOSTALGIA I was cleaning out the basement awhile back and found a bunch of reel- to-reel tapes and some logbooks from the early 70's. Rather than throw them all away, I digitized the tapes and using the logbooks am editing stuff into sound bytes. The results [still in progress] can be found here: http://realmonitor.com/dx.php What you will find is mostly domestic AM stations' sign/ons, sign/offs and tests logged between 1971-1976 from Lansing, MI. Enjoy! bw (Bill Whitacre, Sept 7, IRCA via DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ OLD TIME RADIO FANS READY FOR 33RD CONVENTION By Corey Deitz About.com - Guide to Radio since 2002, August 28, 2008 http://radio.about.com/b/2008/08/28/old-time-radio-fans-ready-for-33rd-convention.htm It happens yearly and the "2008 Friends of Old Time Radio Convention" is slated to be held October 23 - 26 in Newark, New Jersey. Each year, the gathering features live recreations of classic radio plays by all-star casts, memorabilia, music, historical presentations and interviews with stars. Sean Dougherty from Friends of Old Time Radio tells me its the largest event of its kind as well as the longest-running. This is the group's 33rd event and it annually strives to gather not only fans of the OTR genre but original performers from the era and radio professionals. In a press release, FOTR Chairman, Jay Hickerson notes the original Golden Age of Radio is considered to have spanned 1932 to 1962 and adds, "Our convention has thrived longer than the era it celebrates. We are still having fun every year, and we are very proud." For more information, visit http://www.fotr.net (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) SWLs & DXers Invited to NASB-DRMUSA Annual Meeting, May 7-8, 2009, NASHVILLE DX Editors: Greetings from Miami. I am attaching a document with the latest information about the next NASB-DRMUSA Annual Meeting, which will take place in Nashville, Tennessee May 7 and 8, 2009. Please let shortwave listeners and DXers know that they are invited to attend and participate in the meeting. There is no cost to attend; you only need to pay your own travel and hotel expenses. While the two days of meetings are primarily for personnel from shortwave stations, transmitter and antenna manufacturers, consultants, etc., there are many talks and activities which will be of interest to SWLs and DXers as well, such as the tour to WWCR and World Christian Broadcasting, a panel discussion about the state of shortwave listening and broadcasting in Europe, a presentation about the new shortwave station Madagascar World Voice, etc. Thanks for helping us make people aware of this event. 73's. (Jeff White, President, National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters (NASB) c/o WRMI Radio Miami International 175 Fontainebleau Blvd., Suite 1N4 Miami, Florida 33172 USA Tel +1-305-559-WRMI (9764) Fax +1-305-559-8186 E-mail: radiomiami9 @ cs.com http://www.shortwave.org Sept 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: INITIAL PLANS ANNOUNCED FOR 2009 NASB-DRM USA ANNUAL MEETING Join us for the 2009 annual meetings of the NASB and DRM USA in "Music City" -- Nashville, Tennessee, known as the capital of country music. Shortwave broadcasters, shortwave listeners, equipment manufacturers, consultants and anyone with an interest in shortwave radio is invited to take part. The meetings will take place at the Holiday Inn Express in downtown Nashville, near an area known as "The District." All of the downtown tourist attractions are within easy walking distance of the hotel, as well as stores, restaurants and entertainment centers. No rental car is needed. Just take a taxi or a shuttle from the Nashville airport to the hotel downtown. Corporate sponsors will offer lunches to meeting participants on Thursday and Friday, May 7 and 8. The Thursday lunch will be sponsored by the meeting hosts themselves, World Christian Broadcasting and WWCR. The Friday lunch will be sponsored by Thomson Broadcast and Multimedia. Meals will showcase some of the regional specialties of Southern cuisine. Media Broadcast of Germany will sponsor the Thursday coffee break, and Continental Electronics will sponsor the Friday coffee break. Thursday morning will feature talks and discussions about DRM – Digital Radio Mondiale – the future of shortwave. On Thursday afternoon, there will be a sightseeing tour of the Nashville area. The highlights of the tour will be stops at WWCR's studio and transmitter facility and at the headquarters of World Christian Broadcasting, which operates shortwave station KNLS in Alaska and is building a new station on the island of Madagascar, just off the coast of Africa. The bus tour will end early Thursday evening with a dinner sponsored by VT Communications at The Factory, a refurbished factory building in the historic suburb of Franklin, which has been converted into a shopping mall and entertainment complex. For those who still have energy left after the bus returns to the hotel downtown, there is a multitude of nightlife within easy walking distance in The District. Friday morning at the NASB annual meeting will be filled with talks and presentations about various aspects of shortwave radio. After the Friday lunch, the NASB annual business meeting will take place, where members and non-members alike can discuss the association's future plans. Many people will undoubtedly want to make a vacation out of their visit to Nashville, so they can stay up to three days before and after the meetings at the same special hotel rate. Nashville is full of world-class tourist attractions, such as the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, which includes the historic RCA Studio B. There's also the Grand Ole Opry, which began as a weekly radio broadcast of country music in 1925, and continues today as the world's longest- running radio show (on WSM 650 AM), in a large auditorium open to the public. Other attractions in Nashville include The Hermitage (home of President Andrew Jackson), the Parthenon (a full-scale replica of the famous Greek temple), the Ryman Auditorium (where music's brightest stars -- such as Elvis -- have performed, and you can produce your own music CD in a famous recording studio) and The Upper Room Chapel and Museum, which features international Christian art including a life- size woodcarving of The Last Supper. The meeting location, the Holiday Inn Express at 920 Broadway Street, is a newly-renovated hotel, ideally situated in the heart of downtown, near Music Row, numerous restaurants and Nashville's nightlife, with names like Stockyard Restaurant, Jack's Bar B Que and the Wildhorse Saloon. Breakfast is included in the $125 daily room rate (single or double occupancy, same rate), and the hotel offers free wireless Internet service. Guest rooms have mini-refrigerators and flat-screen plasma TV's. The hotel has a swimming pool, fitness center and a newly-renovated amphitheater where the DRM USA and NASB meetings will take place. For those who will be driving, the Holiday Inn Express charges $14 per day for parking, but a vehicle is not really needed for those who fly in. There's a flat rate of $22 for taxis from the airport to downtown hotels, or you can take a Gray Line shuttle bus for $12 one-way or $18 round-trip. There's no cost to attend the NASB-DRM USA annual meetings, thanks to NASB members and associate members who are sponsoring various functions. But you must pre-register in order to attend, and space is limited. So we suggest you register as soon as possible. Just send your name and e-mail address to nasbmem@rocketmail.com and ask to be registered for the NASB Annual Meeting. Plan to arrive by Wednesday afternoon or evening (May 6) as the meetings begin early on Thursday, and they will end at about 5:00 p.m. Friday. But feel free to come early or stay late to enjoy all of the attractions that Nashville has to offer. Hotel Reservation Details The Holiday Inn Express at 920 Broadway in downtown Nashville is already accepting reservations for hotel rooms during the 2009 NASB Annual Meeting. The rate is $125.00 per room for single or double occupancy (plus local taxes). You can guarantee your reservation with a credit card, and your reservation can be canceled without penalty until three days prior to arrival. To make your reservation, call toll-free (in the U.S.) +1-888-465-4329, and be sure to mention that you are part of the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters meeting in order to get the special conference rate. Nashville Facts Population: 1.5 million in the Nashville metropolitan area Weather: The average daily high temperature in May is 77 degrees Fahrenheit/25 Celsius. The average daily low is 57 F/14 C. Location: 50% of the U.S. population lives within 700 miles of Nashville. Sample distances are 246 miles from Atlanta, 187 miles from Birmingham, 478 miles from Chicago, 662 miles from Dallas, 288 miles from Indianapolis, 922 miles from Miami, 811 from Philadelphia, 575 from Pittsburgh, 540 from Raleigh and 671 from Washington, DC. Interstate highways 65, 40 and 24 all intersect in Nashville. Airport Info: Nashville International Airport (code BNA) served over 9.6 million passengers in 2006. Sixteen airlines provide 400 daily arrivals and departures to 90 markets, including 48 nonstop. Sample flight tiems are: Boston 2.5 hours, Cincinnati 1 hour, Kansas City 1.5 hours, Los Angeles 4 hours, Minneapolis 2 hours, New York 2 hours, Seattle 4.5 hours, Frankfurt 9.5 hours, Montreal 3.5 hours, Paris 10 hours, Toronto 2 hours. Major airlines serving Nashville are Air Canada, American, Continental, Delta, Frontier, JetBlue, Midwest Express, Northwest, Southwest, United and US Airways. NASB-DRM USA 2009 Preliminary Agenda Thursday, May 7, 2009 – DRM USA annual meeting 9:00 am – Opening of DRM USA Annual Meeting in the Holiday Inn Express Amphitheater. Welcome remarks from World Christian Broadcasting and WWCR. The Amphitheater meeting room is sponsored by TCI International. 9:05 am - Welcome remarks from Adil Mina, Jeff White, Mike Adams of USA DRM Group 9:15 am – The Latest Developments in Digital Radio Mondiale – report from a representative of the DRM Consortium 10:00 am – WinDRM: Amateur Radio's DRM Evolution - One of amateur radio's digital voice and image transfer modes was derived from DRM's Dream receiver/transmitter software. Mel Whitten, who holds amateur radio callsign K0PFX, will talk about how these amateur modes were developed, how they are used and the transmitting and receiving equipment used. 10:30 am - Coffee Break, sponsored by Media Broadcast 11:00 am – Continuation of DRM Seminars 12:00 pm - Lunch at Holiday Inn Express, sponsored by World Christian Broadcasting and WWCR 1:00 pm - Break 1:30 pm - Bus leaves hotel for Sightseeing Tour, sponsored by TCI International, visiting WWCR studio/transmitter site and World Christian Broadcasting headquarters in Franklin 6:00 pm - Dinner at The Factory in Franklin, sponsored by VT Communications, followed by free time at The Factory mall 9:00 pm - Bus returns to the Holiday Inn Express. The rest of the evening is free to explore The District. Friday, May 8, 2009 – NASB Annual Meeting 9:00 am – Opening of NASB Annual Meeting in the Holiday Inn Express Amphitheater. Welcome remarks from Jeff White and Mike Adams. The Amphitheater meeting room is sponsored by TCI International. 9:15 am – The North American Shortwave Audience – First presentation of results of the NASB survey 10:00 am - Panel Discussion: The State of Shortwave Listening and Broadcasting in Europe 10:30 am - Coffee Break, sponsored by Continental Electronics 11:00 am – Madagascar World Voice, African shortwave project of World Christian Broadcasting [maybe on the air by then --- gh] 11:30 am – Presentation to be announced 12:00 pm – Lunch, sponsored by Thomson Broadcast & Multimedia 1:15 pm - NASB Business Meeting 4:00 pm - NASB Business Meeting ends, conference ends. Brief closed meeting of the NASB Board (via Jeff White, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see AUSTRALIA; IRELAND; CONVENTIONS above ++++++++++++++++++++ IBOC: USA KPLU+ DRM at IFA 2008/Mirics Consumer Radio Module Couple of interesting articles on the 26 MHz US site: Tuning for News at IFA 2008 / ADI Digital Audio The IFA (International Radio Exhibition) in Berlin is one of the world's largest trade shows. At the 2008 IFA in early September, the DRM Consortium exhibited a handful of DRM receivers. The PR for this event is puzzling, however. It is difficult to obtain photos or detailed information about exactly what was displayed. http://klixie.textdriven.com/26mhz/index.php?id=62 Mirics Unveils Complete Consumer Radio Module Platform at IBC Mirics Semiconductor announces the immediate availability of a complete consumer radio module platform for its FlexiRFT solution, addressing FM, DAB, DAB+, DMB-A and DRM standards. http://klixie.textdriven.com/26mhz/index.php?id=63 (via Mike Barraclough, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) IFA visitors report no DRM consortium box on IFA 2008. They will appear at IBC in Amsterdam during the 12th-16th September in Hall 6, stand A29. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) I think it was like two years ago: A desk on the Digital Radio booth, primarily dealing with DAB. Sorry, can't help with more precise information since I did not bother to visit IFA. No new material at http://www.knallfunke.de/drm/index.htm either. Btw, all you can see on the DRM website at present is a nice welcome by the CMS: "The current username, password or host was not accepted when the connection to the database was attempted to be established!" (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) IBOC vs DRM Re 8-098, CANADA: ``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?`` I just meant to say that a Canadian mediumwave transmitter indeed appears to be quite unlikely to run IBOC. And the difference to the common human is there by chance: IBOC is rarely or just never run in digital-only mode, DRM rarely or just never (with the test on Zehlendorf-693 having ceased) in hybrid mode. DRM = HD indeed makes some sense, both use the same modulation scheme (COFDM), just with different parameters. Probably both even use the same audio coding since PAC, the dedicated IBOC codec, has been replaced by an adopted version of AAC. "Probably" because it could be that Ibiquity made it incompatible to standard AAC / MPEG-4. Some time ago I read somewhere a rumour that an IBOC exciter could be used to run DRM, it would just need to load another software to it. Wrong or true? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Sept 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) CONSUMER REPORTS NAMES 4 BEST DTV CONVERTERS The magazine rates 14 different converter boxes. --- By Swanni Washington, D.C. (June 23, 2008) -- In its latest issue, Consumer Reports Magazine has given top scores to four Digital TV converters now on the market. The four top-rated converters, which the magazine says delivers the 'Best Picture Quality,' are the Tivax STB-T9 ($50); the Lasonic LTA-260 ($55); the Sansonic FT300A ($60); and the Microgem MG2000 ($65). Consumer Reports says the four converters are "capable of picture quality that comes close to a good quality DVD." On February 17, 2009, all full-powered local stations must switch their analog signals to digital which means viewers will need a Digital TV, a digital converter box or a pay TV subscription to watch television. The feds are offering two $40 coupons for consumers to buy the converter boxes, which generally cost around $50-$60. The boxes will enable an analog TV to display the new digital signals. However, consumers must use the coupons within 90 days after receiving them. Consumer Reports says the four top-rated converters can be purchased at solidsignal.com and freeDTVshop.com. The magazine gives 'Better' ratings to six other DTV converters, saying they offer a picture better than most current analog broadcasts. The six 'Better' converters are: the Philco TB100HH9 ($50); the Magnavox TB100MW9 ($50); the Artec T3A Pro ($55); the Insignia NS-DXA1 ($60); the Zenith DTT900 ($60); and the RCA DTA800B ($65). Four converters were rated 'Acceptable.' meaning they offer a picture comparable to an analog broadcast but with some flaws. Those four converters are: the Digital Stream DTX9900 ($60); the Digital Stream DSP7500T ($70); the GE 22730 ($70); and the GE 22729 ($80). There are approximately two dozen Digital TV converter boxes now on the market (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) Is ``picture quality`` more important than anything else, and is there really any detectable difference to the eye on an analog set, which is the way anything will be viewed with these? What about sensitivity, an extremely important factor, i.e. how much signal it takes for DTV to decode and lock in solidly? And isn`t ``pixure quality`` more a funxion of the analog TV set and how it handles scanning, pixel/ phosphor arrangement, etc., than of the converter. The TV set is after all just seeing another analog signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Does anyone know how these D/A converters work? Are all received bits processed, or are some "discarded" during the conversion process? (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17, ABDX via DXLD) COMMISSIONERS ON TOUR / BECOME AN FCC ASSISTANT Commissioners on Tour - Meet a Real Live FCC Commissioner in Your Town! http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-284629A1.pdf College Students - Become an FCC "Community Relations Assistant" informing the public about DTV until February 2009. One vacancy in each of 19 major cities plus 20 vacancies in D.C.: https://jobs1.quickhire.com/scripts/fcc.exe/runjobinfo "The work promises to be important and interesting," FCC said, adding: "Is there promotion potential? None." (via Benn Kobb, Aug 19, DXLD) IBOC POWER RATIOS But isn't IBOC AM only 1% also? (Patrick Martin, OR, IRCA via DXLD) This is an amazingly persistent myth. There are two possible settings for the digital power, according to the NRSC-5 specification. One sets the digital power to 5.8% of the analog (carrier) power, and the other sets it to 6.8% of the analog power. See http://topazdesigns.com/iboc/AM-IBOC-Parameters.html (Barry McLarnon VE3JF Ottawa, ON, ibid.) It turns out that there are no real exact limits. The one AM station on which I've seen the installation first hand has totally adjustable power for the digital sidebands. This particular station had the power turned down a bit at a time until the unwanted spurs fit below the - 65db limit in the mask. Instead of -25db from carrier that ended up about -32db. Even then the spurs were right at the -65db limit. FWIW, we tried running this into the night antenna system. It was so distorted the Day Sequerra tuner in the transmitter room wouldn't decode at all, nor would any other receiver we tried. So, it's not on at night and probably won't be for years, if ever. That will put this station at a disadvantage in the unlikely future of IBOC success. This installation used a Nautel HD exciter, so perhaps other brands like Harris or Broadcast Electronics have specific settings as mentioned. I've also heard of another situation where the interference caused the IBOC station to have to turn down it's sideband power by a fair amount - 6db I think. Too bad that the 1040 station in upstate NY couldn't get that cooperation from the FCC. It would please me no end to see WBZ-1030 forced to drop the IBOC power. It's a bloody nuisance here, even causing noise on WINS-1010 daytime. It also causes background hiss on the WBZ analog signal on some radios including the one in my wife's 2004 Chrysler. So, WBZ has lost an occasional listener in the southern MA area. Not that they care, I'll bet. It's also noticeable on the audio in the EAS receiver at several clients. That's not good at all. I'm also not looking forward to KDKA IBOC interfering with WBZ on several EAS receivers. That is potentially dangerous (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ SINGGIH KARTONO'S WOODEN RETRO RADIOS Sunday, August 17, 2008 Critical Distance Weblog It takes 16 hours to make a wooden radio by hand. That, at least, is the story from South-East Asia. I remember reading about the ultimate minimalist wooden radio designed by Indonesian artist Singgih Kartono sometime last year. I was reminded by a follow-up article in British Airways' Business Magazine this week. The story wasn't so much about the technology inside (which was simply a good but basic analogue AM/FM circuit in the first model), but the fact that the radio uses sustainably harvested pine wood and palisander/sonokeling. .... another [ 500 lines ] http://criticaldistance.blogspot.com/2008/08/singgih-kartonos-wooden-retro-radios.html (via Dan Say, BC, Aug 19, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) And the last picture shows a shortwave dial (AM, FM, SW1, SW2). No shorting to the case in that Hallicrafters (Dan Say, BC, ibid.) DX "Toys" Website - Caution: May Be Addictive! KNEE-BOARDS While digging through my closet the other night (no, my name is not Fibber McGee, although it could be, I guess), I came across a knee- board that I had long forgotten I had. I bought it a few years ago when I was in much better health and was active in the QRP side of ham radio. What is a Knee-board? It's a sturdy clipboard that you place on your upper leg, just above your knee, and secure with some velcro straps. That way, as you sit and listen to the radio, you have a handy notepad to jot notes, callsigns, etc. on. Plus, if you have to change locations, it literally walks with you. Here's the website from which I bought my knee-board: http://flyboys.com/ They're primarily used by pilots, but another QRP operator was using one of their knee-boards. I liked it so much, he gave me the URL and I ordered one for myself. WARNING - the website is addictive! There are so many neat things one can buy. BEWARE! I use my knee-board now for "dashboard dx'ing" or just sitting around the house. Mine holds a 5x8 inch pad, so I'm thinking of buying one that holds a standard size notepad. Enjoy! 73 & Great DX, (Rev. Steve N5WBI Ponder, Houston TX, Aug 18, ABDX via DXLD) COLD WAR EFFORT A PROBLEM NOW --- POTENTIAL FOR FUTURE DANGER IS CRUCIAL CONSIDERATION TODAY === August 17, 2008 http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200808170432/OPINION01/808170350 Radio stations or the sites where they once stood might harbor a dirty little secret that can harm you even if you don't know about it. During the height of the Cold War, the federal government provided generators and fuel storage tanks containing diesel fuel to power them to radio stations for use in a possible emergency situation -- the dreaded nuclear attack, for example. Over time, funding for the program was eliminated as the Cold War threat dissipated, but the tanks full of diesel remained in place. FEMA took over responsibility for this and other programs once administered by the Civil Defense Agency in 1979, by which time some 700 radio stations had participated in this voluntary program. The tanks are made of steel, and over time, rust and corrosion can create leaks that remain undetected for years. Why does this matter to Delmarva residents? Two of these aging tanks are located here, one in Salisbury and another in Georgetown. FEMA plans to evaluate these tanks, which may or may not be leaking. If they are, it's bad news, not just for the environment, but for people living nearby as well. One gallon of leaked fuel can contaminate 1 million gallons of drinking water. And what are the consequences of drinking water contaminated by diesel fuel? It increases the risk of cancer, kidney damage and nervous system disorders. FEMA has said it is dedicated to inspecting and remediating, removing or upgrading these tanks as necessary. It has, according to a FEMA spokesman, taken decades just to go through the paperwork from various federal agencies that participated in the program at one time or another. The sooner these tanks are inspected and dealt with, the better. The program was deemed important when it was put in place. People were living in fear of a nuclear holocaust and any measures that might help rein in chaos in the event of an emergency were well-received. The problem is a lack of foresight and planning for future consequences. Let this be a lesson for us in making sure --as much as possible -- that whatever we do today to make our lives better, more secure or more convenient will not come back to bite our descendants someday (via Benn Kobb, DXLD) ###