DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-110, October 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 SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1429 Wed 2100 WBCQ 15420-CUSB Thu 0530 WRMI 9955 Thu 1430 WRMI 9955 Thu 2330 WBCQ 7415 Fri 0100 WRMI 9955 Fri 0800 WRMI 9955 Fri 1930 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 7290 Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 Fri 2300 WBCQ 5110-CUSB Area 51 Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 1630 WWCR3 12160 Sun 0230 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1515 WRMI 9955 Mon 2200 WBCQ 7415 [temporary, reconfirmed Sept 29] Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 0530 WRMI 9955 [or new 1430] Wed 1130 WRMI 9955 [or new 1430] 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 is a VERY big issue, about 3x normal size, covering six days of material. If I take a little break, I start falling behind and have just now caught up, for the moment, almost. ** ABKHAZIA. The telephone "wind sound" before and after (but sometimes) the start and final of Abkhaz Radio on 9495 kHz remind me on RAI net on MW in the past - they had same sound with fading. So as is the offer of Mr. Wolfgang Bueschel there are two txs on 9495 kHz. Probably one from Sukhumi and with Studio 1 and another from approx Krasnodar with Studio 2 (that's why sometimes the sound is of "phone" type and the Sunday's nx in Ru are under the title "nx from the head quart of keeppeace forces"). It is very unusual that on Abkhaz Radio for many years at the beginning of the programmes they never said what time is. Usually on all radios the transmissions are starting with "it's 7 o'clock" or some similar. Seldom on AR at the end of the transmission said 'the next news bulletin will be at 15 hours (=1100 UT). (Sept 25). For B-08 TWR in Ru 1500-1600 is 9495 kHz (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Sept 25, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Oct 2 via DXLD) Sukhumi Abkhazia 9494.76 til s-off at 0807 UT. 9490/9495 QRM in B-08 season: 9490 0500-0600 Hörby 500 kW 125 deg Mon-Sat SWE P1 Radio Sweden 9495 1500-1600 Moosbrunn [Austria] 100 55 daily Belarus/Russian TWR 9495 1600-1630 Nakornthani [Thailand] 250 325 BBC 9495 1630-1645 Juelich 100 100 DTK (Wolfgang Büschel, Sept 26, ibid.) ** ALASKA. Lots of Alaskans are in tonight. I have KICY 850 Nome coming in at S9+15 dB at the moment with old Gospel music. KNOM-780 is tearing up KKOH [Reno NV], KYUK-640 is dominant [over KFI presumably]. KFQD 750 is topping KXL [Portland OR] (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, 0438 UT Oct 7, NRC-AM via DXLD) ** ALBANIA. Winter B-08 schedule of Radio Tirana ALBANIAN Daily 0000-0130 on 6110 SHI 100 kW / 300 deg to NoAm 0000-0130 on 7485 SHI 100 kW / 310 deg to NoAm 0730-0900 on 1458 FLA 500 kW / 338 deg to WeEu 0730-0900 on 7360 SHI 100 kW / non-dir to WeEu 0901-1000 on 1395 FLA 500 kW / 033 deg to WeEu 0901-1000 on 7360 SHI 100 kW / non-dir to WeEu 1500-1630 on 1458 FLA 500 kW / non-dir to WeEu 2130-2300 on 6005 SHI 100 kW / non-dir to WeEu 2130-2300 on 7510 SHI 100 kW / 300 deg to NoAm ENGLISH Tue-Sun 0130-0145 on 7485 SHI 100 kW / 310 deg to NoAm 0245-0300 on 7390 SHI 100 kW / 300 deg to NoAm 0330-0400 on 6110 SHI 100 kW / 300 deg to NoAm 0430-0500 on 6100 SHI 100 kW / 300 deg to NoAm ENGLISH Mon-Sat 1530-1600 on 13720 SHI 100 kW / 310 deg to NoAm 1945-2000 on 7465 SHI 100 kW / non-dir to U.K. 1945-2000 on 11645 SHI 100 kW / 310 deg to NoAm 2100-2130 on 7510 SHI 100 kW / 300 deg to U.K. 2100-2130 on 9345 SHI 100 kW / 310 deg to NoAm GERMAN Mon-Sat 1905-1935 on 1458 FLA 500 kW / 338 deg to Germany 2031-2100 on 7465 SHI 100 kW / non-dir to Germany GREEK Mon-Sat 1645-1700 on 1458 FLA 500 kW / non-dir to Greece FRENCH Mon-Sat 1830-1900 on 7465 SHI 100 kW / 310 deg to France 2001-2030 on 7465 SHI 100 kW / 310 deg to France ITALIAN Mon-Sat 1800-1830 on 7465 SHI 100 kW / 300 deg to Italy 2001-2030 on 6120 SHI 100 kW / 300 deg to Italy SERBIAN Mon-Sat 1900-1915 on 6010 SHI 100 kW / non-dir to Serbia 2115-2130 on 1458 FLA 500 kW / 004 deg to Serbia TURKISH Mon-Sat 1630-1645 on 1458 FLA 500 kW / non-dir to Turkey (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Oct 7 via DXLD) Above is a tentative schedule, not yet finalized (gh, DXLD) ** ANGOLA. RNA REJUVENESCE ENTRE AS BODAS DE PRATA E AS DE CORAL A Rádio Nacional de Angola (RNA) tem em curso um plano de modernização técnica e tecnológica inclinado a cobertura de todo o país.O objectivo é transportar as suas emissões ao maior número possível de cidadãos do território nacional. Eduardo Magalhães, à propósito do dia da RNA, que se assinala este domingo, informou que para esta empreitada foram adquiridos e instalados meios técnicos de última geração, como estúdios, viaturas de reportagem com estúdio, viaturas de reportagem satélite, motos de reportagem, sistema de comunicação por satélite, e outros meios. . . fuente: RNA http://www.rna.ao/ngolayeto/noticias.cgi?ID=23360 (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) About upgrading the network, digitalizing studios, but nothing specific about transmitters, least of all, SW (gh, DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. LRA36, Arcángel, 15476.020 kHz, 1910 UT Oct 1. Spaans gesproken (vrouw), informatie en lokaal nieuws (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, bdx mailing list via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 2325, ABC Northern Territory, 1232, 10/3/08. Best of three 120 M outlets. OM & YL presenting news feature. Poor signal (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Drake R8B, Alpha Delta SWL Sloper, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. R. Australia, via WRN, via CBC Overnight, via 4-hour delay, via CBU via CKZU, 6160, Vancouver, Sunday Oct 5 at 1228 with Roger Broadbent ending ``Australian Express`` program, and I do mean ending, since he said it was time to give the show a rest and from next week, a new show called ``Australian Bus`` [? Not sure of second word] would ensue. He also mentioned CBC Overnight, so the show was specially re-packaged for that even tho it is, rather was, heard on RA direct at other times. 1230 into another RA show, Innovations, with Desley Blanch. Weak but clear signal on 6160. RA, 6020 and 9580, Tue Oct 7 at 1339, in ``Australian Express`` show hosted by Roger Broadbent. This must have been the same one I heard a few days earlier via CKZU, for it was the finale of the series after three sesquiyears. One of the usual sub-features was in progress, Dr Kate Burridge (sp?), professor of linguistix at Monash University, speaking about how things have changed in English with an extra -g- pronounced after -ng- in some words and not in other words. Roger then admitted that she was not an intentional contributor on RA, but he picked up her talks from a domestic network; then interviewed her on phone about how pleased they were that she thus got an international audience, especially in Canada via CBC Overnight. She used to do a separate show called ``Lingua Franca`` . But now referred to as ``A Way With Words``, not to be confused with the public radio hour/podcast originating in San Diego. Or for those who may be opposed to the whole idea of verbal communication, ``Away with Words``. Wrapping up show, Roger explained the derivation of ``swan song``, and said from next week, a woman named --- Jarvis would present its successor ``Australian Bight``. This is what I previously said sounded like ``Bus``. But the second word is still ambiguous until we see it in print. Bight was the first spelling I thought of, since that is the name of the sea off the south coast, Great Australian Bight, but it could also be Byte or Bite; hmm, or even Bait, per Aussie pronunciation. Normally loud and clear 9580 from R. Australia had some weak co- channel from VOA in a SE Asian language, Oct 6 at 1237, as RA`s Late Night Live was interviewing a female doctor who had served in Tennant Creek and other places. It was just barely audible and first thought it might be receiver cross-modulation, but nothing like that elsewhere on 31m. Have not noticed this before, so something new? Maybe not; per Aoki, Laotian began April 14, Tinang at 283 degrees, 1230-1300 only. VOA Washington ID at 1259 and off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 15230, CVC The Planet, in English with gospel rock countdown at 0930 GMT on 2 Oct. Very slick production with PSAs including one where the announcer lists over twenty reasons to give someone why you do not want to have sex, including this gem: "I'm not old enough," and the more structured: "I'm concerned about my future education and earning possibilities," and "money isn't that important to me." The PSA was almost two minutes long. Gotta hand it to the Holy Rollers, they got all the bases covered. Wonder how this is working for them? Very good signal with some fading (Al Muick, Afghanistan, Oct 2, HCDX via DXLD) The Planet? I believe that slogan is already taken (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRIA. Surprised to hear some news in English on 6155, Monday Oct 6 at 0610, giving temps in the Alps, 0611 into French. Had some splatter from RHC music on 6140. 0615 into German talking about Pulcinella, and music followed a bit later. This has to be OE1, but these newscasts are not accounted for in WRTH nor in the page they refer us to: http://oe1.orf.at/service/international_en In fact, there is nothing about French at all. If you change it to _fr it is nicht gefunden. Signal was rather weak, and I had to be sure it wasn`t Croatia instead on 6165 which does have a bit of English at 0600. Would it be too much to ask for Austria to provide an accurate and complete schedule of its foreign-language broadcasts on SW? Well, yes, it would, obviously. Which home service program is axually being relayed at this time? According to EiBi, 6155 is totally in German from 0400 to 1205 when they start doing the language rotations. Aoki is even less informative (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROGRAMMSCHEMA http://oe1.orf.at/service/schema 08:00-08:15 CEST [0600-0615Z] von Montag bis Freitag: Morgenjournal (II) mit Nachrichten in englische und franzoesische Sprache Mit freundlichen Gruessen, (Dragan Lekic aus Subotica, Serbien, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) And searching the 24 hour grid, there are no more mentions of engl. or frz. (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Glenn, Possibly the reason these short English & French newscasts aren't listed in the OE1 International foreign language output (apart from laziness) is that these news bulletins are really just intended for domestic listeners. Unlike the content of the Report from Austria news bulletins (and the Spanish news bulletin), these are just brief headlines of international news plus local weather. There is little Austrian news included, unless it's something major like an election. Incidentally, last weekend on the Postbox segment of Report from Austria, Murray Hall announced that OE1 will continue on shortwave in 2009 after all, but all English, and I would guess Spanish programming will cease. Maybe the Austrian ex-pat. community complained about losing the shortwave relay of OE1, but complaints from foreigners about the loss of English carry little weight with ORF managers (Will F., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ORF sources confirm that the relay of the First Home Service program via Moosbrunn might be discontinued soon, but no final decision will be taken before the future use of the site is established (Glenn Hauser, Oct 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BAHAMAS. 1540, ZNS-1 Nassau, Oct/02/08, 2012 EDT, English, GOOD in KXEL Null. No sign of CHIN Toronto!! Male DJ spoke at 2012 EDT. Gave ID as "AM 1540 The National Voice of the Bahamas". Gave phone number for station as 502-3800. Another full ID as "AM 1540 The National Voice of the Bahamas". Into pop music song by female singer. 2014- 2017. Then into "island music" with male singer 2017-2022 EDT. Under KXEL by 2022 EDT (Robert S. Ross VA3SW, London, Ontario CANADA N6A5K1, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** BANGLADESH. 4750.0, Bangladesh Betar (presumed), 1448-1501, Oct 4, subcontinent music and singing, poor to fair, best in USB, QRM on the low side was probably RRI and/or China (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. History of the transmitter sites in Belarus (former USSR) http://victorcity.dxing.ru/Europa/minsk.htm Kalodziscy founded in 1931, and Sasnovy included 1170 kHz Zarya directional antenna system from 1962y (NWDXC via BC-DX Oct 2 via DXLD) ** BELGIUM. FLANDERS CALLING IN THE POST-SHORTWAVE ERA Radio Vlaanderen International, international service of the Ditch speaking community of Belgium, gave up on shortwave in 2005. At the time, they promised to maintain content in English, French, and German via http://www.rvi.be I can’t find any English there now. (And whatever happened to the great international broadcaster Frans Vossen?) But I knew, by previous explorations, that English content is available from Belgium. First I visited the website of RVI’s domestic parent VRT: http://www.vrt.be After further exploring, and dumb luck (I would never be able to find it again), I did happen upon http://www.deredactie.be There, as well as the original Dutch, English, French, and German can also be clicked. The English site, which also has the easy-to-remember URL http://flandersnews.be has several news stories about Belgium available as text. Some are also presented as video reports, and some just have background video. It’s an impressive service and a good example of post-shortwave international broadcasting (Kim Andrew Elliott, Kim`s Column, Oct NASWA Journal, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Continued at ITALY ** BHUTAN. 6035, BBS, 1401-1425, Oct 3, in English, news (item about an accident that will be investigated, mentions taxi, etc.), announcements ("to qualify for the scholarship …"), into their Friday talk on Buddhism, poor. This has not improved as much as I had hoped for (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BHUTAN. 6035, BBS. What a great way to start the day! Dragged myself out of bed at 0000 on Oct. 7 and started to check on 6030 above, when I noticed the signal on 6035. BBS was there and a fair level with prayer chanting, but getting some QRM from unID station underneath and the house generator spur on 6032. Chanting ended at 0018 and there was some talk in Dzongkha into some traditional music with flutes, then a piece of pop music that almost sounded like upbeat traditional music. They took a huge hit from the carrier on 6025 at 0039, but still strong and at 0032, talk by a man in Dzongkha, positive station ID, into horn-blowing and talk. Just to confirm this whole thing, I went to their website, http://www.bbs.com.bt and took the live stream for a few seconds and it was // to what I was hearing on 6035 (Al Muick, QTH: Kabul, Afghanistan, RX: WinRadio G303e, Ant: 100m longwire, HCDX via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 6075, R. Kausachun Coca. Nice CP folk music at 1004 tune- in 3 Oct. Another song started at 1010. Then canned promos at 1012 by 2 men with ID, FM frequency 9?.? (possibly 90.5), MW could only copy "amplitud modulada" and SW as "6,075 onda corta banda internacional de 49 metros", possibly transmission times, another clear ID, then program shouted. Fairly strong with moderate fading and some co- channel QRM. Glad to get this one. 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) Radio Causachun Coca, Lauca Ñ, Chapare, Bolivia, is on 6075 kHz with a 10 kW transmitter of the Continental Lensa brand. Pánfilo Condori Choque, general manager of the company that installed the transmitter, says that the antenna system consists of two loop antennas with reflectors. Each antenna is supported by two 15-meter towers, and the reflector is located six meters from the radiator. The location of the antenna is at 16 59'48,00" S 65 13'40,25" W. The antennas are at 265 meters above sea level (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Oct 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Henrik, Saw your logging on Causachun Coca. I was wondering if the name of the radio Station is Casusachun Coca or Kasusachun Coca? I see both spellings here. Since you spoke or communicated with the General manager, I thought you might know for sure? Thanks (Chuck Bolland, FL, ibid.) Hi Chuck, I have not heard Radio Causachun Coca other than on audio clips sent to me directly or thru postings online. My reasons for spelling the first word with a C were outlined in my posting # 30828 on this list, and a few days later in DXLD. Please read that posting. I have been in touch via email with the manager of the firm which imported and installed the equipment to ask him for the power of the transmitter. I have not spoken nor been in touch with the station. JOPACH is the name of the firm and a list of their jobs can be found online. Hope this explains the whole thing (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, ibid.) A lot of questions will never have to be asked if you read DXLD thoroughly. Otherwise, why do I bother? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 3310, R. Mosoj Chaskis, 0150, 9/30/08. fair with songs; into talk in Quechua at 0157 (Jim Ronda, Tulsa OK, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) 3310, R Mosoj Chaski, 0038 UT Oct 5, best ever with talk by W (Sheryl Paszkiewicz, Manitowoc WI, NASWA yg via DXLD) 3310, Mosoj Chaski (Cochabamba), 0057, 10/5/08, in Quechua. Talk by man to 0100 off. Fair. Odd ute tonal signal followed – like a single note on a vibraphone. Thanks to Sheryl Paszkiewicz for the tip (Mark Taylor, WI, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) In case anyone is wondering why I have yet to report this station --- yeah, sure --- my problem in Enid is that there is a local mixing product on 3310, 24 hours, (2 x 960) + 1390. I suspect that KGWA and KCRC are unaware they are combining forces to thwart me (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4716.70, Radio Yura, 2335-2355, Oct 3, Spanish talk. Bolivian flute music. Weak but readable (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 5580.2, Radio San José. San José de Chiquitos, 2320 to 2335 weak signal with music, fading in. Seems to be maintaining a regular schedule. 3 Oct (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5580.30, Radio San José, San José de Chiquitos, 2225-2233, October 04, ¿Spanish? Romantic songs in Spanish non stop, 24222 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) At 2330 Oct 6, noted in southeast Florida: 5580.25, Radio San José. San José de Chiquitos. 73s (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA [and non]. Article on Bolivian political divisions with map of Bolivia illustrating support and opposition to Pres. Evo Morales. http://www.economist.com/world/americas/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12260915 Infant Mortality rates: Bolivia - Infant mortality rate: 52 per 1,000 births Denmark Infant mortality rate: 4 per 1,000 births United States Infant mortality rate: 6 per 1,000 births Guyana Infant mortality rate: 47 per 1,000 births (Robert Wilkner, FL, Oct 7, NASWA yg via DXLD) Basically per map, backing Morales are the highlands in the west; opposing: the lowlands in the east (gh, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Looked for R. 9 de Julho again on 9820 between 0005 and 0030 UT Oct 2, but only traces of some signal there. What was its original frequency before it was banned from SW? Certainly not 9820, which was then considered out-of band (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRTH in the mid-1970s listed the station on 9620 (Dave Kenny, DX News, Oct BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** BRAZIL [and non]. Brazilians even on Stuttgart log tonight. Zanzibar 11735 is OFF since 1-2 weeks ? On repair? 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Oct 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: ZANZIBAR/TANZANIA 11735 Insel Sansibar scheint seit einiger Zeit nicht mehr auf. Der relativ neue chinesische Sender ist wohl in Reparatur? Dafür gibt's heute einige Brasilianer im 25 mb. Fade-in ungefähr 1745 UT und recht starke Signale um 2000 UT. 11724.93, R. Marumby in Port. eine 7.5kW Station aus Curitiba PR. 11734.92, um 1755 UT, jetzt bei 11734.90 als R. Transmundial, Sta Ma RS. Um 1955 UT S=7-8, so circa 30 uV. 11804.74, R. Globo, Rio de Janeiro RJ, Port. 11813.96, die ungerade Station ist REE Costa Rica! nicht der Brasilianer. 11815.00, R. Brasil Central - Sucessos, Goiania GO, \\ 4985. 11829.86, R. CBN Anhangueera, Goiania GO 11915.11, R. Gaucha, Pto Alegre RS, Portug., liegt HEUTE schön über den sonst superpower BSKSA Riyadh auf 11915.00 kHz. 11925.20, R. Bandeirantes, Sao Paulo SP, um 2003 UT. 73 wb 4.Oct (Wolfgang Büschel, A-DX via DXLD) Dear Wolfgang, I must tell that "Fade-in ungefähr 1745 UT und recht starke Signale um 2000 UT" is not entirely accurate, well, at least as far as my own experience & SW coast location are concerned. Propagation permitting, one can actually receive them from s/on in the morning up to the evening time when they start to fade out or simply sign off of which R. Transmundial is a good example - it signs off well before other "colleagues" of them. At 1745 & earlier, reception is usually disturbed by other co-channel (international) stations. Also, on many occasions, certain Brazilian stations on 25 m are not audible simply because they're off the air, e.g. R. Aparecida 11855, R. Globo 11805v, R. Brasil Central 11815v. On the other hand, it's also a matter of selecting the right sort of antenna. In my case, using a dipole type antenna means other co- channel stations are well heard almost covering the B signals whereas the South American Beverage usually erases the offending signal and greatly enhances the B stations. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 1690, 4/10, 0410 Prob. CHTO - Toronto. Greco talk OM e song in EE (segnale troppo basso ed evanescente per essere la pirata greca) suff (Roberto Pavanello, Vercelli Italia, shortwave [sic] yg via DXLD) DX'ING FROM WINNIPEG MB, RECEIVERS: ICOM ICR-70 / DRAKE R8, ANTENNAE: 4 FOOT UNAMPLIFIED BOX LOOP / QUANTUM LOOP/, 155 FOOT OUTDOOR WIRE / 100 FOOT INDOOR WIRE / MFJ 1026 PHASING UNIT SPECIAL: 1690, CJLO, QU, MONTREAL, 10/04 2220 ET, Poor signals under WVON with some instrumental music then into Rap. The were // the internet feed to insure I had them. Now on the air. NEW. COMMENTS Not much to report of late as conditions have been bad here. But you never know what you will hear unless you keep trying. 73 and Best of DX (Shawn Axelrod, VE4DX1SMA, REMEMBER ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN HEAR FOREVER, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. CFVP, 6030, Calgary, Alberta, Oct 4 at 1254 with ``Country Gold Countdown``, mentioned a Canadian contest, fair with no jamming, but over some weaker co-channel. After 1300 blown away by Firedrake (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CKZU: see AUSTRALIA [non] ** CANADA [and non]. ``CBC North Quebec`` is the ID, not ``Northern``, on 9625 heard after the news at 1310 Oct 5 and before starting The Sunday Edition at 1311. Native-accented announcer included 800 phone number twice for contact. TSE first hour was about the US economic crisis, the rest about global warming. Listenable until 1330 with some difficulty due to SAH of approximately 9 Hz, Sackville most likely the one more off-frequency, and mixing with religious music from Asia which per Aoki is FEBC Hmanila in Hmong. That`s a lot better than WYFR, also on 9625 and wiping out CBCNQ, a collision between adjacent countries which should never have been allowed to happen, but the frequency managers for both must keep agreeing it`s OK at HFCCs; who cares about the listeners? Okeechobee is currently scheduled on 9625 at 1100-1245, not to mention a couple more hours via overseas relays (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [and non]. The revived CFRX is now performing this funxion all night on 6070: If propagating at all, makes a rippling subaudible heterodyne against CVC Chile, the stealth evangelical outlet in Spanish originating in Miami, making it more unpleasant to listen to, so it is not a total waste. At best, CFRX signal is accompanied by a bit of undermodulated audio, as noted for example Oct 5 at 0541 check. I doubt that anywhere in the CFRX `coverage area`, such as wherever its maximum signal skips down in the middle of the night, the ratio is any more favorable for it, 100 vs 1 kW, tho proximity counts for very little in the shortwave scenario. They can`t even hear it in much of southern Ontario nor even a few miles away by groundwave in Toronto (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6069.95, CFRB [sic], 1718 3 Oct, end of political report with CFRX [sic] ID at end, traffic report, ad block with promo ID "We need to talk. Pick up the phone and call 416-872-1010, toll free 0-800-561- CFRB. Now here are the ?? on news-talk 10-10 CFRB" at 1023. Fairly strong but modulation only abt 25%. 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) Did you get the calls reversed, or did they really mention the SW call on the air during normal programming? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. The CRTC has approved the application of CKKW- 1090 Kitchener ON to move to FM (99.5 MHz, 2.1 kW). With only 2.1 kW on FM their service area will be small compared to what it presently is ( I am very familiar with this station as I lived in the Kitchener- Waterloo area for several years) http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2008/db2008-277.htm CKKW Kitchener – Conversion to FM band 1. The Commission approves the application by CTV Limited (CTV) for a broadcasting licence to operate a new English-language commercial FM radio programming undertaking in Kitchener, Ontario, to replace its AM station CKKW. The terms and conditions of licence are set out in the appendix to this decision. 2. The Commission received numerous interventions in support of this application. 3. The proposed FM station will continue to broadcast an Oldies music format targeting adults between the ages of 40 and 64. Approximately 124 hours per broadcast week will be devoted to local programming. The station will broadcast seven hours and 50 minutes of spoken word programming per broadcast week, including one hour and 39 minutes of news. 6. As set out in the appendix to this decision, the licensee is authorized to simulcast the programming of the new FM station on CKKW for a transition period of three months following the commencement of operations of the FM station. Pursuant to sections 9(1)(e) and 24(1) of the Broadcasting Act, and consistent with the licensee’s request, the Commission revokes the licence for CKKW effective at the end of the simulcast period. The station will operate at 99.5 MHz (channel 258B1) with an average effective radiated power of 2,100 watts. 73, (via Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wow; another Canadian AMer going to FM with considerably worse coverage. Is no one listening to AM in Canada or to CKKW on AM? 73 KAZ wondering why they'd want to do this ?? (Neil Kazaross, IL/WI, NRC-AM via DXLD) Here's the logic, as I understand it: The CRTC is very strict about stations selling ad time in, or overtly aiming their programming at, areas outside their immediate local market. That's why there's still a Hamilton radio market - if they were playing by US rules, all those stations, which have adequate-to-good signals over nearby Toronto, would be operating from Toronto studios as "Toronto" stations. So there's no benefit to CKKW from maintaining the fairly broad coverage it enjoys on AM. There's a big cost, because it's (if memory serves) a nine-tower array that's difficult to maintain, on land that would be quite valuable if it were sold. And, yeah, almost nobody's listening to AM outside the biggest markets anymore. s (Scott Fybush. NY, ibid.) I wonder how many people in the Kitchener-Waterloo area would actually miss the signal on 1090. They can still get their fix of Gordon Lightfoot, Edward Bear, The Guess Who and The Ugly Ducklings easily on other Canadian oldies stations on 1050 (CHUM), 1150 (CKOC) and 1460 (CJOY). Although I wonder if CJOY gets hammered at night by WKDV ("La Kaliente") out that way too? (they sure do at night in Toronto) 73 (Niel Wolfish, Ont., ibid.) Another thing to keep in mind is that comparing U.S. and Canadian FM powers is like comparing apples and oranges. In the U.S., the quoted power of an FM station with a directional antenna is the power in the direction of maximum radiation. If a station radiates 50 kW 350 degrees around the circle but 5 kW for 5 degrees either side of due north, the FCC calls it a 50 kW station. In Canada, the quoted power of an FM station with a directional antenna is the average of the power in all directions. If the sample directional station above were in Canada, the CRTC would call it a 47.5 kW station. The Canadian FM engineering database does show the peak power. (the same figure the FCC reports) For CKKW-FM it's 5 kW - maybe not enough to match their 10 kW AM coverage but a lot better than 2.1 kW! (Doug Smith, ibid.) Good luck trying to avoid getting hammered by WDCX-99.5. This Buffalo bible-belter does have listeners in southern Ontario, though they're a tight squeeze in between CBL-99.1 and CKFM (i.e. Virgin Radio)-99.9. They even claim to be a Toronto station on their website http://www.wdcxfm.com/ So when did the CRTC start allowing oldies formats on FM? 73 (Mike Brooker, Toronto, ON, ibid.) This QRM problem involving WDCX was even indicated on their coverage map submitted with the CRTC application. If you look at the WDCX coverage map at it even includes Kitchener! I seem to remember that they could be heard in Waterloo on a reasonably good FM radio when I lived there in 1976- 1983, unless I have confused them with another station. ``So when did the CRTC start allowing oldies formats on FM?`` On paper they don't - half of the hits must be post 1981 or so. Some stations comply by including a lot of 1980's hits as "oldies" like CFXL-FM 103.1 here in Calgary 73, (Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, ibid.) ** CANADA [and non]. Check out the free program "Where's That Station" for US AMers. http://www.dobe.com/wts/index.htm There's also the FCC AM database, of course, at http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/amq.html (Dave n2chi, MWDX yg via DXLD) Dave, thanks for those links. I checked out both of them and, just for fun, used the FCC database for BC and came up with an astounding number of new permits, including a couple that make absolutely no sense whatever: there are two CPs listed for 530 and 540, the former in Surrey and the latter in Vancouver. Now, since these two communities are only about 20 miles apart and the Vancouver ap is for 50 kw, it doesn't seem logical to me. Looking at the coordinates, the towers would have to be practically touching as well. There doesn't seem to be any other information available at the moment to help clarify the issue. Interesting situation (Dave Bennett, BC, ibid.) ** CANADA [non]. I hate to deal with matter like this in DXLD, but if you are in Joe Talbot`s hotmail address book you may get spam from someone who has hacked into it, asking you to send ``him`` money in London UK. It`s the address with his latitude and longitude back in Alberta. If anyone has an alternate address or phone for him, please try to notify him about this (gh) ** CHAD. 4904.97, RNT, 2220-2232*, Oct 2, Afro-pop music. French announcements. Sign off with National Anthem but pulled plug midway thru anthem. Fair to good. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHILE. 9635, CVC-La Voz, Santiago, 2100-2259*, Oct 3, perhaps Chuck Bolland’s unidentified. Poor to fair with Spanish talk. Religious music. LA music. “CVC-La Voz” IDs at 2258 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Radio Interview re Firedrake - Download the mp3 --- If you share my interest is radio and television jamming signals. you may enjoy a radio interview I recently did with Keith Perron (ex CBC Canada & China Radio International, Radio Havana Cuba) about finding the Firedrake Radio Jammer on Chinasat 6B. http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/27356&47036 You can also read more about the subject here: http://www.satdirectory.com/firedrake.html Cheers, (Mark Fahey, Australia, Oct 5, HCDX via DXLD) Mark, Very good. So Keith is in Hong Kong now? Is he with any particular broadcast station? I was surprised that neither of you mentioned that the original source of the FD performance has apparently been traced. There is a youtube excerpt showing a HK orchestra apparently playing the same music. Regards, (Glenn Hauser to Mark, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) As in 8-099 ** CHINA [and non]. Trans-Pacific conditions were poor on 120, 90, 75 and 60 m the morning of Oct 2, but Firedrake was still making it on 49m, e.g. at 1340 on 6095 // 6085 // 6030. I see people still running across this ``traditional Chinese music`` on many frequencies and wondering what it is in various DX publications, despite discussions of this for years in DX LISTENING DIGEST, which I cannot force people to read in order to be well- informed. Perhaps part of the problem is that Firedrake is not listed as a `station` in WRTH or PWBR, even tho it has become one of the world`s major `broadcasters`. Interesting to compare CRI transmitter sites at 1346 Oct 2: 9570 via Habana had very low modulation, making squishing sound at peaks. 9650 via Sackville, // but offset, had much better modulation but was splattering/spurring out to plus/minus 10 kHz, and more weakly to plus/minus 20 kHz. No CRI audible on 9560 vs R. Australia, unlike a previous day, so maybe that was a fluke or depends on unusual propagation (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. 3303 (USB), Zhoushan Maritime Meteorological Radio, checked Oct 1, 1400-1412 but heard nothing, Oct 2 checked from 1100-1112 and 1400-1412, but still heard nothing. Believe they must have changed their schedule again, but I do not have a clue as to when they are now on the air. Do not think it was poor propagation, as I was hearing Changjiang Maritime Security Information Center both days 8794 (USB), Changjiang Maritime Security Information Center (presumed), random checking between *1347-1425*, Oct 1 & 2, in Chinese, repetitive IS (EZL orchestra music), reading some type of lists (assume it's the water traffic information for the Changjian River, a.k.a. Yangtze River), short musical bridges between lists, read by different women announcers, before sign-off a series of about 19 pips, poor-fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 5075, Shanghai PBS/Voice of Pujiang, 1320-1351, Oct 5 and 6, has changed back to their winter frequency (ex: 9705), fair, last heard here around April, noted the usual // 4950 (fair) and 3280 (weak). 6035, PBS Yunnan, 1241-1252, Oct 5, with traditional Chinese music, well on top of BBS/Bhutan, just a month ago BBS was much better, // to spur on 6043, by 1401 BBS in English was weak and still under Yunnan; Oct 6 no BBS at all heard after 1401, only Yunnan. 7225, Sichuan PBS-2, 1506-1517*, Oct 3, traditional Chinese songs, almost good reception, in the clear after VOA 1500 sign-off, // 6060 (fair, 1515*), these two frequencies are never in sync for sign-off, usually 1-4 minute difference (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 9600, PBS Xinjiang, heard on 3 Oct at 0436 with fair to good sigs, but deep and slow fades. Some banjo music, DJ patter and telephone call-ins in the Mandarin language. Good modulation and professional presentation (Al Muick, QTH: Kabul, Afghanistan; RX: G303e; Ant: 100m longwire, HCDX via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. This Federachi bulletin for Oct is illustrated with lots of CRI Olympic QSLs as one of the contributors sent them reception reports for many different language services: http://federachi.multiply.com/journal/item/48 There seems to be something wrong with the html encoding, with some entire paragraphs hotlinked to somewhere; most of the logs are undated and thus of not much use, and also some questionable ones, previously dealt with here, e.g. CONGO on 9610, so beware (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) QSLs: CHINA RADIO INTERNATIONAL: 7130 KASHI; 9570 CERRIK, ALBANIA; 5990 HAVANA; 9690 NOBLEJAS, SPAIN; 6020 SACKVILLE. Full-data (including sites) National Stadium, National Aquatics Centre, Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium, & Olympic Sports Centre Stadium cards, all in 1 month. Also bookmark & personal note from Ying Lian, English Service, on larger “One World One Dream” card with logos of various CRI services. Address: China Radio International, P.O. Box 4216, CRI-2, Beijing 100040, China (Wendel Craighead, Kansas, USA, Oct 3, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Can a note be ``personal`` from a collective name, Ying Lian? (gh) ** COLOMBIA. During my usual tune through 49m today (Oct. 3) I found La Voz de tu Conciencia dominating on 6010 at 0715. After a talk by a male, which I thought had religious content, the ID was given at 0720 in both Spanish and English - frequency too in the latter language. A music and song programme followed. Signal strength was weak to fair. This frequency is usually dominated by Brest (BLR) before 0700, but this had faded by 0715, although it was obvious that other(s) were also still present. CLM appeared to be using as near 6010 as I could determine - when previously identified some time back it was always on the low side. On the other hand, their other station (Marfil Estéreo) was heard on about 5910.1 with popular Colombian melodies, and this signal was slightly stronger than 6010. It's a regular around this same time, but naturally does vary in strength from day to day (Noel Green, NW England, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO DR. 6210, 3/10 1915, R. Kahuzi - Bukavu, vernacular talk YL suff (Roberto Pavanello, Vercelli / Italia, shortwave yg via DXLD) Radio Kahuzi, DRC, 6210, 1735 UT Oct 6. Tamelijk goed tevolgen, met vernacular talks (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, bdx mailing list via DXLD) ** CROATIA. Winter B-08 schedule of Croatian Radio HS-1 in Croatian: 0558-0857 on 6165 DEA 100 kW / non-dir to WeEu/NoAf 0858-1457 on 9830 DEA 100 kW / non-dir to WeEu/NoAf 1458-2157 on 6165 DEA 100 kW / non-dir to WeEu/NoAf 2158-0557 on 3985vDEA 100 kW / non-dir to WeEu/NoAf (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Oct 7 via DXLD) ** CUBA. 6220, Radio Habana Cuba; 0402-0407+, 4-Oct; M&W in Spanish with commentaries re Centroamerica. SIO=3+32+ with ute bursts; // 6060, S30 sig; nothing on 6300 (Harold Frodge, MI, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Because 6220 is ex-6300, now 6060 leapfrogging over 6140 instead of over 6180 (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. RHC`s English program at 23-24 UT is supposed to be only on 9550 --- to Rio de Janeiro? To the Caribbean? Who knows? But I was monitoring 11800 at 2301 UT Oct 1, and guess what --- RHC opening English, not unusual for this frequency to be running overtime past scheduled 2300* in Spanish. So I then checked 9550 --- just open carrier! Then I checked 9600 --- and there was RHC English // 11800. Modulation on 9550 came up around 2303. It came to pass that 11800, bothered by QRDRM from 11790-11795- 11800 HCJB with 4 kW aimed 110 degrees from Pifo, cut off sometime between 2305 and 2307, but 9600 kept going past 2330 as if it were intended. BTW, RHC does not announce its frequencies at the beginning of English hours, which is a very good idea since they change from day to day, and the studionix are in no position to know them, unlike an axual monitor in faraway Oklahoma. Also, while listening to RHC on 9600, I could barely hear the Vatican IS underneath at 2314, but did not notice whether they still had a 2.5 minute English service just before it; RHC was much stronger. DentroCuban Jamming Command was busy jamming nothing the evening of Oct 2, early UT: at 0010 on 9515 vs R. República which closes at 0000 (but heavier jamming on its axual frequency 9640 to the extent that RR was inaudible); also against nothing on 5890 and 6110, which are VOA Spanish frequencies not opening until 0030 and then not exclusively for Cuba. RHC, 13680, Oct 3 at 2106 in English, quite muffled audio, and running about two words ahead of // 11760 which had good audio. My theory now is that this 13680 broadcast is via one of the decrepit transmitters mostly used for CRI relays with similar-sounding crummy modulation. Why not? It so happens there are no CRI relays via Habana during this period, 2030-2130. Meanwhile RHC Spanish at 2107, much better on 13760 // 11750 and // 11800 with SAH and audio mixing from R. Bulgaria Spanish. Propagation from Habana was very good Oct 4 at 1245 on 31m, such that very strong RHC 9600 mixed with CRI relay on 9570 putting a leapfrog mixing product another 30 kHz below on 9540, where much weaker audio from both could be heard at once. DentroCuban Jamming Command attacking VOA Spanish, 5890 and 6110, UT Sun Oct 5 after 0100 when VOA was talking about the embargo, but jamming continued at 0130 in non-Cuban VOA program ``Club de Oyentes`` which started with Mercedes interviewing on phone Ricardo ---, a Colombian photographer, about Armenia, Quindío. Another day, another SNAFU at RHC, broadcasting contrary to its own schedule: Oct 6 at 2110 checked 13680 for the scheduled English broadcast. Nothing there. However, at 2112, on came RHC in Spanish, not English. It was // 13760 and leading it by about two syllables. 13680 as usual with inferior modulation and weaker signal, but no interference, unlike 13760 from 13755 Portugal. At 2115 I checked the 25mb frequencies. 11800 was in English instead of scheduled Spanish, SAH with R. Bulgaria in Spanish, and // RHC English as scheduled on 11760, just a reverb apart, much stronger than 11800. So basically, the programming on 13680 and 11800 was exchanged. Uncross those patchcords or feedlines! At 2118, 11750 in RHC Spanish was suffering from a SAH of roughly 10 Hz, as often happens from a station in Chinese, with hymns. Per Aoki at 21-22 this is KSDA Guam, aimed due northwest, but plenty problematical for RHC over here, more like northeastward. At 2136, 11800 had gone into Kriyol, while 11760 was in French; 11750, 13680 and 13760 in Spanish. At 2208, 13680 still in RHC Spanish instead of scheduled French, and this time over NHK if it was there at all; 11800 in French instead of Spanish. Spanish very good on 11750, the co-channel now gone. 11760 was off. At 2210, I checked 17705, and found RHC Portuguese quite strong, but distorted. That encouraged me to check for higher harmonics, and sure enough, there was lite bubble jamming on 18090, 3 x 6030 against R. Martí, intruding into the hamband (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Unidentified Cuban on 1040 --- I have uploaded a file recorded Sept 28. Need some help. It is clear that they announce Radio Cadena Habana, but perhaps they say that they will send programs from Radio Cadena Habana? There is a frequency mentioned (1040?) just after one minute of the recording. The Cubans have moved around lately so this may very well be Radio Cadena Habana. My Spanish is not good enough to solve this one! (Gert Nilsson, Scandinavia, Oct, RealDX yg via DXLD) Gert, This is Radio Cadena Habana, la frecuencia popular. Somos la Radio de La Habana, la radio que te llama hoy y siempre... Says that they are coming in like a ton of bricks (como un cañón) in motor cars on the island, being heard in the Caribbean and Central America!! Mentions at least one FM freq, 99 something, and on AM at least 1140. /The fq annct is tough to digest/. As the Guantánamo station on 1070 appears to have moved to 1020, there is a good possibility that the 1080 outlet now is the one on 1040. Interesting to note their phone numbers, 838 14 68 and 838 14 69. I wonder if they´d put you through. Well worth a try next time you hear them (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, ibid.) I've heard "Radio Guamá" a couple of times recently on 1020. Is this a different station from the one you are referring to, Henrik? (Paul Crankshaw, Scotland, ibid.) Thank you Henrik! I will try to send them a mail if I can locate their email address. I don't think they would understand my Spanish if I called them.... (Gert Nilsson, ibid.) Paul, I was referring to my posting on the MWC net on Sept 29, which went like this, "Cuban move from 1070 to 1020? Radio Trinchera Antiimperialista, CMKS, Guantánamo, noted on 1020, at 0500 on Sept 13. Used to be on 1070." A verbatim reprint can be found in Glenn Hauser´s DXLD #8109 dated October 1. Have you been hearing Radio Guamá on 1020 later than Sept. 13? (Henrik Klemetz, ibid.) ** DENMARK. Yesterday and today I noted very weak DRM on 243 kHz. Is Denmark testing DRM? (Jurgen Bartels, Suellwarden, N. Germany http://dx.3sdesign.de/tv_logs_2008.htm http://fewo.3sdesign.de - Holidays at Northsea coast Oct 7, mwdx yg via DXLD) Yes, low-powered tests with 30 or 50 Watts, but 500 Watts intended later. Tschüß (Martin Elbe http://home.wolfsburg.de/elbe/ ibid.) Viz.: From Oct. 3rd DRM tests on Kalundborg 243 kHz, IDing as "DR Kalundborg Current Affairs", "Test Transmission". 1 kHz test tone and same signal strength (30 watts) as during tests in March/April. Observed at my place in southern Jutland less than 150 km away from transmitter (Ydun Ritz, Denmark, Oct 5, dxing.info via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. HCJB`s Kulina service on 11920, Oct 1 with carefully enunciating preacher referring to Matthew XXIV, pronounced in Portuguese, at 2253 and again at 2256. I figured they would have moved much further into the NT by now, since my last log of this on May 10 found them also citing Matthew XXIV. Either they`re really hooked on this chapter, or more likely, they have recorded only a few programs in this exotic language and play the same ones over and over. And just like 5 months ago, the speaker was faded out rudely at 2259:30 with no outro or closing, just in time for the automated introduxion to the Portuguese service which follows. 3220, music and unID language, fair signal Oct 4 at 0120, so I first thought of Africa, but must be only HCJB in Quechua, supposedly NVIS. BTW, the 90-degree ``azimuth`` shown in Aoki means straight up, not due east! WWCR does not open 3215 until 0200. Surprised to find HCJB on a third frequency in Spanish on the 25 m band, Oct 7 at 1308 on 11920, ``Cruzada con Luís Palau`` show, going into hymn, much weaker but synchronized // 11960, and always-RTTYed 11690. Will this be accounted for in the ID break to follow? Of course not! At 1314:30 still playing ancient outdated recording claiming to be on ``11690, 21455, 11960``. Is 11920 a mistake? It so happens that HCJB does use that frequency at a very different daypart, 2245-0230 in Kulina and Portuguese, so did the automation erroneously bring it up in the morning, or did they decide to make use of a spare transmitter at this hour? 11920 still audible at 1413 but now with some lite QRM co-channel, and also splash from the DentroCuban Jamming Command on 11930. QRM could be China in French via Albania, or BBC in English via Thailand, both starting at 1400 per EiBi (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. New DRM schedule from HCJB, 4 kW: The 11790-11795-11800 Portuguese broadcast at 2300-0100 and the 15355-15360-15365 German at 2000-2200 have been replaced by: 0830-1030 on 11620-11625-11630 in German, 43 degrees 1500-1700 on 11700-11705-11710 in Portuguese, 131 degrees (Glenn Hauser, Oct 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) New transmissions of HCJB Global in DRM from Oct. 1: 0830-0930 NF 11625 OUI 004 kW / 043 deg to WeEu in Spanish Mon-Fri 0900-1030 NF 11625 OUI 004 kW / 043 deg to WeEu in German Sat/Sun 0930-1030 NF 11625 OUI 004 kW / 043 deg to WeEu in German Mon-Fri 1500-1700 NF 11705 OUI 004 kW / 131 deg to SoAm in Portuguese Cancelled transmissions from Oct. 1: [THESE WERE DRM --- gh] 2000-2200 on 15360 OUI 004 kW / 035 deg to WeEu in German 2300-0100 on 11795 OUI 004 kW / 110 deg to SoAm in Portuguese (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Oct 7 via DXLD) OUI? How about QUI, as in Quito, really meaning PIFO (gh, DXLD) ** EGYPT. R. Cairo notes Oct 2: at 0012, 9360 with open carrier, or almost so: straining to make out any traces of modulation I thought I heard ``Qahira`` mentioned; this is scheduled in Arabic to S America. Meanwhile, 9280 at same time had good modulation with Arabic music; this is English to North America at 2300-2430, commonly mis-listed as Arabic, e.g. in Aoki, since schedules emanating from ERTU repeatedly overlook this English broadcast and people are also ignoring my correxions about it in DXLD! Here`s another chance to do so. At 0014, also checked 6290 and found that good in an Arabic drama, W&M alternating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA [and non]. On Oct 1 I did not get around to checking 15190 for R. Africa until 2250, too late for modulation but not too late for a big open carrier they had not yet turned off. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Heard Oct 1, at 2144 with preacher (not Tony Alamo), fair signal, but the audio did not sound quite right, not really bad but not normal for them, suddenly at 2147 the audio went off, leaving just a strong open carrier, checked 2147-2206 + 2216 + 2226 and continued to find just the OC with no audio, just as you also noted at 2250, so over an hour of OC. Very light QRM today (very faint WYFR IS at 2200) (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Africa, 15190, big carrier at 1954 Oct 2, just barely audible modulation. Why can`t some stations ever get their act together and keep it together? If you don`t have any significant modulation, can`t you tell that is the case at the transmitter and just turn it off? What`s the point of burning the kWh? Bulletin: you can`t have one without the other and claim to be `broadcasting`. Well, you can the other way around, SSB modulation and no carrier, but this isn`t that. Maybe RA should consider that if they can only rely on one of the two. Not that we really care, since all they broadcast are gospel huxters, even those facing criminal charges of child porn and sexual abuse. I listened to a few seconds of Tony Alamo on WINB and right away heard him talking about fornication. {BTW, I see on the Tony Alamo website that linx have been dredged up proclaiming that he has been cleared! But if you look at them, those are old stories from a previous brush with the law in 1991!} (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6250, Radio Nacional, Malabo, *0502-0525, Oct 3, sign on with brief 10 or 15 second Spanish announcement followed by National Anthem. Hi-life music at 0504. Spanish announcements. Fair to good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15190, Radio Africa, 2240-2251*, Oct 2, English religious programming. Radio Africa ID announcement at 2248 with email address, & address in Accra, Ghana. Good. Strong. Very weak WYFR heard underneath (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Africa, 15190, Oct 3 at 2153 with big carrier, fair modulation level, sounds like Tony Alámo conversing with someone. 2159 WYFR sign- on in Portuguese. Any R. Africa ID at 2200? Of course not! Roughly equal level at the moment and virtually zero-beat so couldn`t really tell how much of the big carrier came from Bata and how much from Okeechobee. Sat Oct 4 at 2159, no trace of R. Africa on 15190 as on previous days, just strong open carrier, and WYFR opening Portuguese // 15665. 24+ hours later, Sun Oct 5 at 2204 nothing but WYFR heard on 15190 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Via remote receiver in Europe: 15190 R. Africa missing when checking at 1100 Oct 5 (Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Checking 15190 again Sunday Oct 5 at 2204, all I could hear was WYFR in Portuguese, so presumably R. Africa still missing. However, around 0600 Oct 6 and 7 I was hearing RNGE 6250 in Spanish. Axually at hourtop they are usually playing music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15190, Radio Africa (presumed); 1620-1626+, 6-Oct; Gasping English preacher; 1625 audio abruptly off, couple of tape garbles and into different English religious program in progress. SIO=353- (Harold Frodge, MI, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** ERITREA, 5940, V. of the Tigray Revolution at 0414 UT Sept 28. Presumed this one with man and woman in local language, up-tempo Horn of Africa vocals past 0430; very muffled, telephone-quality speech audio. \\ 5950 at first [mi]xing under, then equal to, WYFR (Bob Hill, MA, DXplorer via BC-DX via DXLD) ** ERITREA/ETHIOPIA. V. of the Broad Masses of Eritrea (VOBME) observed around 1500 with weak signal but much stronger at 1657 retune. Transmitter cut out at 1700 but back at 1701 with sign-off at 1800 UT (Edwin Southwell, England, DX News, Oct BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) Presume 8000 kHz (Dave Kenny, ed., ibid.) Another station is also heard around 8000 kHz and mainly noted during VOBME`s short transmitter breaks at the top of the hour for a minute. This seems to be a station broadcasting in Arabic and I noted Call to Prayer at 1700 on Friday 5th September. VOBME has a stronger signal; the other station is weaker. Jamming has been noted while Eritrea has a short transmitter break and when Eritrean radio`s signal is weaker due to propagation (Edwin Southwell, Hants., ibid.) 7999.4, 1730 14 Sept, unID, VOBME Asmara? Weak signal after station on 8000 had signed off; this station off itself at 1732; SIO 131 (Tony Rogers, Birmingham, England, HF Logbook, Octt BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) 8000, 1620 Sept 12, VOBME presumed, OM talk between Afro songs, vernacular, SIO 343 (Edwin Southwell, ibid.) 8000, 1710 13 Sept, unID, Eritrean opposition? Tune-in to talk in unID language (presumably an Eritrean language) with mentions of Asmara, HoA instrumentals, closing announcements at 1730 and then off, SIO 343 (Tony Rogers, ibid.) ** ERITREA [and non]. 7999.41, 1650-1702* 02.10, Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea, Asmara. Vernacular announcement, Horn of Africa music - also after 1700. 22332, jammed by ETH on 8000 with a different programme. 8000.01, 1700-1703* 02.10, Ethiopian jammer relaying HS programme in Amharic, jingle, news (tentatively), 34333. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [and non]. Hi to all, Listen to my new audioclip. Radio Oromiya, clandestine station, Ethiopia, 6030 kHz, 29th sept. 2008 at 0400 UT in Oromo language, with ID and int. sig. http://www.hb9gce.ch/Radio%20Oromiya_20080929_ 35221_6030.mp3 73 de Andy http://www.hb9gce.ch (Carl Andreas Stumpf, playdx yg via DXLD) Not clandestine (gh) I received R. Oromia, Ethiopia on 6030 kHz at -1900*UT (ex. 1800*) on Oct. 4. QRMed of BBC-Arabic. When would you extend broadcast from? (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) R. Oromia heard on 6030 kHz at 1735-1900* UT on Oct. 5. http://ndxc.org/aoki/binews/ai/oromia-20081005-1852_6030.mp3 de Hiroshi (S. Hasegawa, Japan, NDXC, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The change must have happened fairly recently, but on the other hand when they started operation, they were sometimes on until 2000. BTW, also on 6030 kHz R. Maranatha/Hit Shortwave from Bishkek is heard again here in Finland with rather good signal around 1530, before Oromia signs on at 1550. Some QRM from China of course. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) ** ETHIOPIA. Saludos Cordiales amigos de las ondas cortas, que "acortan" distancias: Con gran satisfacción les comparto que en éstos días descubrí por primera vez a dos de las tres emisoras de onda corta de Etiopía, un país al noreste de Africa. Radio Fana, idioma amárico, 6110 KHz, (audible también en los 7210 KHz, pero con pobre señal y mucho ruido) en horarios de 3:00 a 4:00 UTC, con SINPO de 2 a 3. Música y comentarios informativos. (2 Octubre 2008) Radio Ethiopia, en idioma amárico, 7110 KHz, con un SINPO de 3 a 2. Música y comentarios informativos. (2 Octubre 2008) [¿hora?] Gracias a los colegas que me auxiliaron para identificar a Radio Ethiopía. Les invito a visitar mi blog: http://entre-ondas.blogspot.com Ahí encontrarán unos fragmentos de las escuchas realizadas (MAGDIEL CRUZ RODRIGUEZ, Jiutepec, Morelos a 85 kms. al sur de la Cd. de México, SANGEAN ATS-818, Antena tipo V invertida de 7,55 por lado, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 9560.28, 1805 13 Sept, R. Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, presumed, talk in unID language, HoA music; drifting down to 9559.8 and back to 9560.28; off at 1833; SIO 232 (Tony Rogers, Birmingham, England, HF Logbook, Oct BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. 15650, *1730-1830* CLANDESTINE, Friday 03.10, Voice of Oromo Independance, via Juelich, Germany, Amharic. Opens with Horn of Africa folksong, talk with a few musical interludes, 23242. QRM Spanish speaking station. At *1752 began a severe noise, probably jamming from Ethiopia with QSA 3 which signed off at 1902* Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. Via Samara, Russia, 21555, Ginbot 7 Dinst Radio, *1700-1729*, Oct 4, talk in listed Amharic. Short breaks of local music. Threshold signal-very weak. Fair to good on // 17655. Tues/Thur/Sat only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FINLAND. This is what I heard recently on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire: 5980, 1000-1105 Sat 04.10, Scandinavian Weekend R, Virrat, Finnish / English. It is now using 5980 instead of 6170 at 0600-1300 (during summer!) in its monthly broadcast. Miki with "Musicbox" playing a lot of English pop songs, weak, improving to 25232, heard // 11720 AP-DNK 11690, 0815-0915 Sat 04.10, Scandinavian Weekend R, Virrat. Finnish / English, obviously a test with a long conversation in Finnish, followed by statements in English from the EDXC Conference in Vaasa by Dario Monferini, Torre Ekblom and Jyrki Talvitie 33333 - 34232. QRM Voice of Croatia via Wertachtal, not // 11720! 11720, 0900-1105 Sat 04.10, Scandinavian Weekend R, Virrat Finnish / English DX-talk in Finnish, "Musicbox" with English pop songs, several ID's 35444, but at times deep fades 25233, heard // 5980. No QRM until Beijing signed on at *1059 with Voice of Minorities programme in Uighur. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) So they were on two 25m frequencies at once, 0900-0915, thus two 25m transmitters (gh, DXLD) ** FRANCE. Observations on RFI English schedule since 6 September: 0400 M-F 9805, 11995 0500 M-F 11995, 13680 0600 M-F 97965, 15160, 17800 0700 M-F 13675 ?till 0730? 1200 daily 21620 announced but not heard 1600 daily 15605 (+maybe 17605, not heard) (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, DX News, Oct BDXC-Communication via DXLD) ** GEORGIA. GEORGIAN REGULATOR SLAPS FINES ON RUSSIAN BROADCASTERS Georgia's National Communications Regulatory Commission has fined two Russian media outlets the equivalent of 36,000 US dollars each for broadcasting in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the two breakaway regions which declared independence from Georgia in August, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported on 2 October. The commission imposed the fines after ruling that the two outlets - the Vesti FM radio station, which is owned by the Russian state through its VGTRK media holding, and Channel One, Russia's most watched television channel, which is also controlled by the state - had broken Georgian law by broadcasting in the two breakaway regions without a licence. "Under the law 'On rules for business activities in Georgia's occupied territories', there are standards operating in Abkhazia and South Ossetia which require that a licence be obtained for the use of frequencies in these regions," a spokesman for the commission told RIA Novosti. "Russia's Vesti FM radio station and Channel One have not obtained broadcast licences for Abkhazia and South Ossetia. On that basis their work in these regions of Georgia is illegal." The spokesman added that both broadcasters had been sent notification of the ruling. The commission also said that, if the fines go unpaid, they will be increased to 1m Georgian lari, the equivalent of 720,000 US dollars. Source: RIA Novosti news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1218 gmt 2 Oct 08 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** GERMANY. I've determined that if Biblis has free time before transmission, it will open carrier on xx59:10 or xx59:11 or xx59:12. If the transmitter has a pause of at least 15 minutes up to several hours, it will end transmission at xx00:01 or xx00:02 or xx00:03. If the Biblis transmitter has to switch frequency immediately, it will drop a carrier at xx58:57 or xx58:58 or xx58:59. And only few seconds before TOH transmission starts. The station's engineer decides which seconds will be used in automated schedule. I must say I really don't understand why so many variations are used (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Two reasons I guess: -- a tx unit is always pre-warmed up with few hundreds watts ONLY. -- before the PC automatic driven procedure fires up the final stage tube booster, the automatic antenna switcher has to switch from the new transmitter unit to the new meter-band antenna via a driven matrix between xx59/29 and xx00/30. -- If two or more transmitters at one site start new service on new frequency and/or new antenna via matrix path, they can only boost step by step at one time. (Example: start 10 TV sets in your living room via a 8 Ampere fuse at one time, fuse-protection) (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) An impression how Biblis transmissions actually sound: I must say those Biblis transmitters (Continental) and audio processing units are giving almost the best quality on short waves. You can hear every instrument in music jingles. One month ago I couldn't sleep, so I DXed, and during my listening, I compared at 0030z the following: R Farda, Persian 7280 kHz, Wertachtal, 105 deg R Farda, Persian 7350 kHz, Biblis, 105 deg And absolutely the Biblis transmitter had the best audio quality. Of course, R Farda was playing some grate music, and the signals were very strong. If I must to grade audio quality between 1 and 10: WER 8, BIB 10. Regards & good night! (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, Oct 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. 13810, Bible Voice Broadcasting via Nauen, 1659 with Horn IS into Tigrinya programming on 02 Oct. Signal was weak but otherwise in the clear, so it was intelligible. They were aiming at East Africa, so it's a decent catch for me off the side lobe of T-Systems' antenna. Listing in WRTH is under Canada for headquarters. OM announcer was going to town with what seemed to be a real fire and brimstone sermon, interspersed with African gospel chanting and music. 73, (Al Muick, Afghanistan, Oct 2, HCDX via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Re: Will today be the last day of Radioropa? ``Now it remains to be seen what will happen in Saxonia, provided that the Sächsische Zeitung report was correct.`` Insiders say that it of course was correct, but Technisat withdrew from purchasing BBC Radiocom Deutschland GmbH before the sale had been completed. So the relays of BBC and RFI in Saxonia will continue without changes for the time being. It remains to be seen what will happen later. Either BBC and RFI will keep their direct commitments to Saxonia, will seek for another buyer/partner or simply pull the plug (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. 7475, NO ID, 0220-0230, escuchada el 6 de octubre en inglés a locutora con entrevista a invitado, hablan de forma pausada, parece una entrevista de caracter cultural, hablan de "Hamlet", terminan conversación con fragmento de música clásica, SINPO 45444 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Como dice en MONITORING REMINDERS CALENDAR para LUNES TU: 0200-0300 VOG Partial English show, title? 7475 9420 15650 [unconfirmed lately] Es decir Voz de Grecia. Hubo más en griego? 73, (Glenn, ibid.) Saludos Glenn, la emisión se mantuvo en inglés hasta las 0300 UT; creo que luego no hubo emisión. 73 JMR (José Miguel Romero2, ibid.) ** GREENLAND. 3815, 2045-2108v* 29+30.09, KNR, Tasiilaq (USB) (tentative) Greenlandic/ Danish pop songs, 2100 talk (news ?) 12111. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) If you are not sure, could it be a pirate in Europe playing Greenlandic / Danish pops songs on this frequency as spoiler? (gh) 3815 USB, KNR Tasiilaq (0.2 kW) (tentative), 2045-2107*, Sep 28 and 29, seems reactivated, non-stop screaming pop songs which did not sound like this station two years ago, but more like an Europirate, 2100 talk which could be news in Danish. Disappeared as usual without ID or closing ann or music. Occasional CWQRM and Russian utility conversation, 24332. Also heard Sep 30 at 2102-2109*, talk in UNID language. Strong telefax QRM 2027-2102* (Petersen, and Ritola in Cumbre DX, DSWCI DX window Oct 2 via DXLD) Re 8-109, 3815 reports: trying via a number of remote receivers in Europe, no joy so far (Hans Johnson, Oct 5, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** GRENADA. 540, GBN Klassic AM, St. George's (12 04'N 61 45'W) OCT 5 0300 - Presumed, under CBT; BBC World Service. GBN relays the BBC after 0200 UT (Bruce Conti, Camden ME; SDR IQ, MWDX-5, terminated Delta antennas 15 x 20-m east and 15 x 27-m south, Mid-Coast Maine DXpedition, Oct 4-5, mwdx yg via DXLD) ** GUAM. On 9900, Oct 2 at 1357 found VG signal in what sounded like an Indian love song; 1358 ID in S Asian language with postal address, ``namaskar`` and off immediately at 1359* Is my PWBR `2008` next to the radio any help? Of course not! I risked spraining my wrist for nothing. It shows something starting at 1400 but nothing ending at 1400. So as usual one must consult the much more accurate and up-to- date online resources, once the computer is turned on. Aoki shows KTWR Guam, daily 1345-1400 in Santali, 100 kW, 285 degrees. Eibi spells it Santhali and in the readme explains that it`s spoken in India by 5.5 megapersons, and in Bangladesh by 150 kilopersons. WRTH says target is E Asia rather than S Asia. All agree it is the only KTWR broadcast on this frequency (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUATEMALA. Radio Verdad – Radio Truth: A todos nuestros amigos de Radio Verdad: Mis mejores saludos a todos. Muchos se preguntan: ¿Qué pasó con “Radio Verdad”. Lamento mucho, pero, por el exceso de trabajo, hasta ahora va nuestra información oficial: El día lunes 22 de septiembre, como a las cuatro de la tarde (hora de Guatemala), cayó un espantoso rayo sobre la antena de nuestro transmisor de onda corta, a pesar de tener 3 pararrayos con 3 puntas cada uno, el pararrayos del transformador eléctrico y el “chispero” propio del transmisor, debidamente calibrado, y un blindaje a tierra con cable número 2, con rejilla profunda de cobre. Como consecuencia, se quemaron casi todos los transistores de potencia, y otros menores, de los dos módulos de salida. De modo que, estamos fuera del aire, y no sabemos por cuánto tiempo. Yo creía tener suficientes transistores de reserva, pero, no alcanzaron ni para un módulo. Nuestros transistores son muy extraños y difíciles de encontrar en todo el mundo, y trabajan con 600 voltios. De modo que, tendremos que pedir que nos los fabriquen en los Estados Unidos. Agradecemos a los amigos Magdiel Cruz, de México, Dino Bloise, de Miami, y otros amigos, que ha divulgado la información. Esperamos también la ayuda de Christer Brunström, de Suecia, y HCJB. También, agradecemos los muchos correos de solidaridad que hemos recibido de los “diexistas”. Ahora, sólo nos queda pedir a Dios su ayuda, para volver pronto al aire. Por de pronto, les invito a escuchar nuestra señal por Internet, en la siguiente dirección: http://www.radioverdad.org Édgar Amílcar Madrid, Director y Gerente --------------ENGLISH – INGLÉS---------------------------------------- To all Friends of “Radio Truth”: I send you my best wishes. Many may ask: What happened to “Radio Truth”? I am sorry, but, because excess of work, it is now that I send you the official information. On Monday, September 22, at 4:00 p, m. (Guatemala time [2200 UT]), a disastrous lightning [bolt] fell upon our SW transmitter antenna, despite having 3 lightning rods, with 3 tips each, the electric transformer lightning rod, and a well calibrated sparky devise inside of the transmitter, with a good grounding using number two copper wire. As a consequence, we got almost all power transistors burned out and some smaller ones, on our outcome two modules. So, we are off the air, and we don’t know for how long. I though I had enough spare power transistors, but they were not enough. Our transistors are very strange, and difficult to find in all the world. They work on 600 volts. So, we’ll have to ask them to be produced in the United States. We appreciate our friends Magdiel Cruz, from Mexico, Dino Bloise, from Miami, and other friends, who have spread out this information. We expect the help of Christer Brunström, from Sweden, and HCJB also. We are grateful for the sympathy expressed by many “Dxers”. Now, we have to ask God to help us, for coming back on the air. On the mean time, I invite you to tune our signal over Internet, on the following address: http://www.radioverdad.org (Édgar Amílcar Madrid, Manager and Director, Oct 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. R. Luz y Vida, 3250.0, Oct 4 at 0121, announcer in Spanish with birthday greetings to someone in Guatemala. I see this station is missing from Aoki listings, tho quite regularly reported. EiBi has it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HUNGARY. Correxion [sic] for B-08 schedule of Hungarian Radio in Hungarian: 0200-0300 NF 5995 JBR 250 kW / 306 deg to NoAm, ex 6135 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Oct 7 via DXLD) ** HUNGARY [non]. GERMANY B-08 schedule of Hungarian Radio in Hungarian via Media Broadcast 0100-0200 on 5980 WER 250 kW / 300 deg to NoAm 0200-0300 on 6145 WER 250 kW / 300 deg to NoAm 0500-0830 on 6145 WER 250 kW / non-dir to WeEu Sun 1100-1200 on 3975 WER 250 kW / non-dir to WeEu 1200-1300 on 17690 WER 250 kW / 090 deg to AUS 1500-1800 on 3975 WER 250 kW / non-dir to WeEu 1900-2000 on 3975 WER 250 kW / non-dir to WeEu 1900-2000 on 9845 WER 250 kW / 090 deg to AUS (alt. 9895) 2100-2200 on 3975 WER 250 kW / non-dir to WeEu 2100-2200 on 5970 WER 250 kW / 300 deg to NoAm 2300-2400 on 6025 WER 100 kW / non-dir to WeEu Sat/Sun 2300-2400 on 9665 WER 250 kW / 240 deg to SoAm (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Oct 7 via DXLD) That`s quite a surprise, since we thought SW broadcasts originating in Hungary were on their last legs (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** INDIA [and non]. 4920, AIR Chennai, 1415-1431, Oct 5, in vernacular, ads, subcontinent songs, BoH ID for A.I.R., almost fair, totally dominating Tibet (// 4905) on this frequency. Normally Tibet has better reception; Oct 6 Tibet well heard at 1348 with very weak AIR under them (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Picturesque All India Radio Kurseoung [sic] http://alokeshgupta.googlepages.com/AIR_Kurseoung.jpg (Source : All India Radio via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, DXLD) 4895, 2325-0035 28/29.09, AIR Kurseong. Vernacular songs, early morning Mahalaya broadcast, 34333, QRM Mongoliin R // 4830 Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. RADIO: A FRIEND IN NEED, A FRIEND INDEED Ashok Kumar Panigrahi Radio can rightly be called as a friend in need, a friend indeed. Once again, it proved that even amidst the glare of hundreds of TV channels and glossy magazines, it remains the trusted well wisher of the common folks during the floods in Bihar. . . http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=142806 (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, DXLD) ** INDIA [non]. 9855, *1530-1630* UZBEKISTAN, 28.09, FEBA, via Tashkent, Hindi announcement, Sitar music, long talk with advices to the people in heavily flooded Bihar province, 1557 sad songs, 55434 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. AIR GOS, 9690, again making it Oct 2 at 1348, good modulation, but over some co-channel QRM also producing a ripple-fast SAH {Maybe V. of Nigeria, previously heard on rare occasions at this time?}. Woman was speaking clearly in English in a tribute to Gandhi, pro-non-violence, ``dialogue is the only way to prevent terrorism``. Outroduced at 1353 by less intelligible YL announcer, so could not copy the attribution, into rap music and immediate tune-out (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Re 8-109, AIR DRM on 9945-9950-9955, All India Radio starts regular DRM tests to Europe --- Long time DRM Member All India Radio started regular DRM tests on 2nd of October from Khampur, Delhi (India) into Europe. The broadcast is at 1745-2230 UTC on 9950 kHz. More information in the DRM Live Broadcast Schedule. (Source: DRM Consortium) Rob K, October 7 comments: And there was me thinking that the purpose of broadcasts, and the testing thereof, is to provide a service to an audience. I’d be happy to listen to AIR by satellite, partly because there’s a good range of Asian channels on Astra 28.2 and others, to which this would be a useful addition. Would I buy a DRM receiver, assuming that the tests are successful (whatever that means) to listen to a solitary Asian channel on a box separate from my main sources of information and entertainment and which is likely to suffer from the effects of SID as well as locally generated noise? (October 7th, 2008 - 10:20 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) Oh no, more jamming against WRMI 9955, where, ironically Jeff White is the DRM promoter in North America (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Can just barely see them on the waterfall. Of course there is no decoding at present 20:11 UTC. 10/02/08. Sincere Best Regards, 73,s (Eric//KG4OZO// Atlanta, Georgia, drmna yg via Alokesh Gupta, DXLD) AIR was decodable for a few minutes "Down Under" this morning - see my post at: http://www.drmrx.org/forum/showpost.php?p=50641&postcount=56 73 (Chris Mackerell, Wellington NZ, Oct 3, ibid.) ** INDIA. I received an Indian TV sound in Hindi on 60.75 MHz at 0422- 0536+UT on July 24 '08 in Japan. Over 5000 km! http://oyunna.web.fc2.com/20080724hindi6075.wav Program was documentary until 0430, after TV drama or movie. I don`t know an Indian high-power station in E3 channel. Please give me advice (RX: IC R-9000, ANT: ALA1530+) (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, Oct 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Uploaded an audio File again. http://ndxc.org/aoki/binews/ai/unid-20080724-0422hind6075.mp3 (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, Oct 6, ibid.) In a huge country like India you`d think here would be multiple transmitters on every channel, including E3. The problem is getting a complete and accurate listing. In 1969-1970, I frequently got E4 New Delhi, including video, whilst DXing from Thailand. WR[T]H 2008 devotes about one inch to TV in India with no attempt to list any specific channels. Hunt at http://www.ddindia.com Lotsa luck. For instance, the page about DD transmitters does not bother to go into channel numbers either: http://www.ddindia.gov.in/About+DD/Doordarshan+Transmitters (Glenn Hauser, OK, ibid.) ID at 08:46 Min: Doordarshan, Kashmir Channel. Regds (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, ibid.) Thank you very much, Alokesh. The reception of Doordarshan is the first time and the most long-distance record for me. It is received a signal seeming to be several times India on E4 ch (67.75 MHz) so far in Japan. However, all of them are unconfirmed (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, ibid.) ** INDONESIA. Opname van daarjuist 1545 UT Oct 6, Palangkaraya 3325 kHz. Om 1600 ID "Radio Republik Indonesia" op 4 seconden in bijlage. Sterk signaal,maar de audio is aan de zwakke kant (best koptelefoon). Antenne was LW100meter +Perseus. Gr. Maurits Glenn, recording from Indonesia, strong signal but audio are sometimes weak. I`m now more on the mediumwave, for TA DX. Gr (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. Omdat de tropenband het nu iets beter doet tegenover anders. Zit ik nu al uit teluisteren vanaf 2005 UT Oct 2 op 4789.973 kHz. Hier zit blijkbaar Indonesia, Fakfak. Met typische lokale muziek. Signaal is zwak, maar toch tevolgen. Gr (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, bdx mailing list via DXLD) ** INDONESIA [Re: 8-109, Oct 1, 2008 - 4925 RRI-Jambi (presumed), 1326-1341, Sept 30]. On Sat Oct 4 1445 I heard dangdut music request by phone program hosted by OM Adi, callers of which from Muara Sabak and Rantau Puri. 1502 “.....bersama RRI” jingle, IS then OM IDing “RRI Pro Satu Jambi”. The next 50 minutes program: “Jelang Malam”, oldies request by phone 074165995 (Tony Ashar, Depok – West Java, Indonesia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thank you Tony. I appreciate your feedback. Is very nice to have someone located in Indonesia to confirm these stations with positive identifications. Thanks again. Wish you good listening! (Ron Howard, CA, ibid.) ** INDONESIA. 11784.86 on air VOI with Indonesian language news in at 1400 UT, fair signal today Sept 26. \\ VOI stream 128 kb/s on MS IE Media Player, VLC-Player, Winamp. On Firefox started Media Player by hand! Schedule like 0800 En, 0900 Kor, 1000 En, 1100 Chin, 1130 Jpn, 1200 Ins, 1300 En, 1400 Malay, 1500 En[but break approx. 1506 til 1545 UT on SW and antenna switch from 30 to 315 degrees], 1600 Ins, 1700 Arabic, 1800 Spanish, 1830 German, 1900 French, and 2000-2100 UT English (Wolfgang Büschel, Sept 26, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Oct 2 via DXLD) 11785.94, VOI, 1445-1520*, Oct 2, in English, checking for their usual 11784.83v and heard nothing there. Open carrier on 11785.94 caught my attention, was below threshold level, steadily improving, by 1458 could hear English and several VOI IDs, ToH into news in English, I expected the usual 1501 sign-off, but was surprised when they completed the news and went into Today in History, Indonesian Wonders, etc., fair by the time they suddenly went off, moderate CODAR QRM. As Mauno Ritola has recently commented on, seems that VOI is in a constant state of flux; we never know exactly where they will be or what language we will hear (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOI was on 11785.98 kHz from 1600 UT, today Oct 2nd. They use three different transmitters; one is +xx.90...98 kHz, like 9525.96 or 11785.98. Another -x4.86, the third unit or -x4.74 kHz. (9524.xx / 11784.xx). Similar happens at Sana'a Yemen, where either two different transmitters like 9779.65 or 9780.04 kHz on oscillation ... or at Abkhazia where two former jamming units on schedule like one day on 9494.74, the other day on 9495.55 kHz instead. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Jakarta 11784.450 kHz, 1948 UT, Program in het Frans, goed signaal maar zwakke audio (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, bdx mailing list via DXLD) 11785.95, VOI, 1459-1505*, Oct 3, what a difference a day makes! Yesterday they were coming up from threshold level and today they had a strong signal. Announced they had been broadcasting in Malay and were going into English, started the news in English but cut off in mid-sentence, no CODAR heard today; Oct 4 noted 1504*, heard with the weekend QRM from WHRI on 11785.0 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA?? 11785.97, V. of Indonesia?? Only a weak carrier here, probably Indonesia at 1725. Carrier on 11784.45 at 1818 check with just strains of audio. No chance to get any positive indications it`s Indonesia. (3 Oct.) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) Today VOI again on the transmitter of 970...980 Hertz above xx.00. Just noted at 1555 UT [when CRI in Russian from Urumchi 500 kW powerhouse 11790 closes] on exact 11785.97 kHz, 35 uV signal on Eton E1 Lextronix set. ID in American accented English at 1601:10 UT. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Oct 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see LAOS [non]. WHRI vs VOI 11786v VOI, 11786, Oct 7 at 1414 with quick ID in English, then back into woman talking in presumed Malay. Poor signal, heavy flutter, but at this hour no het or any other QRM. Lately they have been on 11786 rather than 11784-11785 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. I catch your SW show sporadically, as I'm all over the spectrum quite randomly; hope you're well. RN is about to leave shortwave. I can't follow all these SW stations to the damned internet --- for cryin' out loud, I'm on 26.4K dialup! Radio is so much more fun anyway! Best, (Chuck Ermatinger, Oct 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re: Who hears "ex short-wave" stations using a computer? Listening to international broadcasters and other streaming audio over the Internet is great, but I'm starting to wonder if it's going to last much longer. Increasingly I'm finding that stations in the U.S. are blocking access to their streaming audio for listeners outside the United States, for licensing or legal reasons. The latest I stumbled across was 1180 WHAM in Rochester, NY, yesterday, when I tried to listen to its stream and got a message saying listeners in Canada are no longer allowed to receive it. (This is silly, since we can listen to WHAM over the air on a real radio, but there you go). So far this seems to be a purely American issue, but I'm wondering how much longer it will be before it spreads to other countries (Greg Shoom, ODXA yg via DXLD) I've encountered a similar problem with Cool 96FM in Belfast, telling listeners outside the UK that they're not longer streaming around the world. Radio stations must not deny listeners outside the U.S. the opportunity to listen to their stations! (Richard Clifford, Oct 6, ibid.) In these two examples we're talking about commercial, for-profit stations, right? Being a bit cynical here: Remember, these stations don't generally exist to serve listeners. They exist to serve advertisers. One wonders if the VOA will apply this logic at some point. Since they're not allowed to serve (or even acknowledge) a domestic audience, they might, at some point, decide to employ one of these IP address location systems and block those of us in the USA from listening. Nowadays, advertising is getting so quantitative in terms of spending and measuring the impact of that spending that advertisers will not want to pay for advertising if the odds are good that they're paying for an audience not interested in their offering. Notice also that this discussion has migrated away from the "international broadcasters" that Sr. Coro spoke about. That is one of the key differences when considering Internet-delivered audio vs. shortwave: a local broadcaster can be every bit as global as the BBC World Service just by providing an audio stream (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) See a parallel thread under NETHERLANDS ** IRAN [non]. 7460, USA, R. Payam-e Doost, in Farsi to Iran. OM talk with nice instrumental music at 0312 on 02 October. S/off right at 0315 after a string of IDs. Nice strong signals, S4 without any jamming. This is the Bahai'I Faith getting their 2 cents in. 73, (Al Muick, Afghanistan, Oct 2, HCDX via DXLD) What does USA have to do with it? Site is Grigoriopol, Moldova, per Aoki. No listing for it in WRTH 2008 under Clandestine section, Iran (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAQ [non]. R. Free Iraq: see SUDAN [non] ** IRELAND. 549, Hot Country CIMR, Monaghan OCT 5 0300 - Nostalgic vocal, canned ID in English, "This is Hot Country CIMR," a weak signal under heavy interference from 550 kHz. Thanks to Jean Burnell of RealDX for help identifying this (Bruce Conti, Camden ME; SDR IQ, MWDX-5, terminated Delta antennas 15 x 20-m east and 15 x 27-m south, Mid-Coast Maine DXpedition, Oct 4-5, mwdx yg via DXLD) This one is making quite a splash amongst European DXers. Why would ``CIMR`` pretend to be Canadian? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** IRELAND. Via remote receiver in Europe: Reflections Europe. Thanks Brian Alexander's tip. Heard them with Jack Van Impe at 1900 on 3910 and 6295. Untraced on 12255 (Hans Johnson, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** IRELAND [non]. RTE, via WRN via WRMI, 9955, Oct 3 at 2110, Irish accent talking about the EU, good S9+15 signal and no jamming! For one minute. Then at 2111 pulse jamming at the rate of 132/minute started, or maybe faded in. RTE still rather readable as WRMI signal peaked and jamming dipped. This broadcast is M-F 2100-2130, and there is another M-F at 1800-1830. At 2130 switched to Romania, q.v. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. 15785.03, Galei Zahal, 1734 3 Oct, program of local instrumental and vocal music hosted by M in Hebrew. 1756 canned announcements including clear ID by W. Music bridge, then 1800 fanfare and tone denoting ToH, and apparent news brief by M. 1802 jingle mentioning "The sounds". Fair at best with a lot of fading. 6973 also in but too early. 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) 15785, Galei Zahal; 1642-1702+, 6-Oct; M in Hebrew with Motown tunes to 1650 then traditional music; promos 1658-1700; ToH GZ ID!, not often heard, and into news. SIO=252 at QRN level; improved substantially toward 1700. Nothing detectable on 6973 (Harold Frodge, MI, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. Israel Radio yearly one day shutdown --- As every year, due to Yom Kippur, all of the Israel Radio networks will not be broadcasting from this Wednesday afternoon, until Thursday evening, Israel time. All Times below Israel STANDARD time (UT +2). As of 14:06 Wed, Oct 8, all of the networks (I have no idea about REKA, or Reshet Dalet) relay Reshet Bet, until Reshet Bet goes off the air. Actually, that should really be 14:00, since the hourly news comes from Reshet Bet. When the networks come back on the air at 19:00 on Thursday, they relay Reshet Bet for one hour, before continuing their own programming. Reshet Bet schudule: No programs broadcast: Wed Oct 8 16:06 - Thurs Oct 9 19:00 On Thursday: Broadcast tests from studio: 18:15-18:45 40% Tone at 18:45 Reshet Bet interval signal 18:57 19:00 broadcasts resume. [LOCAL TIME UT+2] == As of now, at least, I'm not sure of REKA's schedule, or if the Persian shortwave broadcast will occur on either of those days, considering the schedule (Doni Rosenzweig, Oct 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. Another example of post-shortwave international broadcasting: you can still hear the news in English from RAI Italy. Go to http://www.rai.it then click on Radio, then click on RAI International Radio, then click on Notturno Italiano. This is an all- night RAI program heard in Europe on medium wave. It’s available from 2220 to 0400 UTC (2320-0500 UTC after October 26), or, hour by hour, on demand. News in Italian is transmitted at the top of the hour, followed by news in English at about 5 minutes past, followed, sometimes, by news in French. The rest of Nottorno Italiano is in Italian, but most of it is an eclectic mix of music, nice to listen to while you’re doing something around the house (Kim Andrew Elliott, Kim`s Column, Oct NASWA Journal, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** ITALY [non]. SLOVAKIA Winter B-08 of NEXUS-IBA IRRS Shortwave from Milan, Italy: 0530-0630 on 5990 RSO 150 kW / non-dir Eu/ME/NoAf EGR English Mon-Thu 1030-1300 on 9510 RSO 150 kW / non-dir Eu/ME/NoAf EGR English Sun 1400-1430 on 15725 RSO 150 kW / 095 deg India/SoAs EGR English Sun 1500-1800 on 15650 RSO 150 kW / 160 deg EaAf/Sudan MIR Eng/Ara Daily 1900-2100 on 7290 RSO 150 kW / 160 deg Eu/ME/NoAf EGR English Fri-Sun EGR=European Gospel Radio MIR=Miraya FM Radio,Sudan (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Oct 7 via DXLD) ** JAPAN. Previously around 1300 on R. Nikkei, we have heard English lessons and German lessons, and on Thu Oct 2 at 1302 there were French lessons for Japanese listeners, on 6055, about goings-on in Paris (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KASHMIR. Channel E3 TVDX to Japan: see INDIA ** KOREA NORTH. Re UNIDENTIFIED, DXLD 8-107 & 8-108 – Glenn's drifting station is indeed North Korea (Voice of Korea), heard at 1104 on Oct 2, on 6068.30 in Japanese, // 3250, both poor, mostly talking, 1125 distinctive music that matched up on both frequencies, so VoK really is a drifter, as I heard them on 6072.09 on Sept 23 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 6020, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze via Yamata, Japan, 1427-1430*, Oct 3, sign-off announcement in English, North Korea has found this frequency and is jamming with pulsating noise, the good news is that the Shiokaze signal was well on top, also heard light QRM from Vietnam; Oct 4 jamming also present, so perhaps they will shortly change frequency again (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 7530, R Free North Korea, via Yangiyul, Tajikistan (presumed), 1857 Test tones till *1900-2058*, Sep 26, 27, brief fanfare and ann, Korean talks till 1956, song, more talk past 2000. The Korean speech tone sounds entirely different from the strident, staccato delivery on KCBS! Extremely faint at first, steadily building to almost fair level by 2000 despite constant sharp fades (Bob Hill, MA via DXplorer via DSWCI DX window Oct 2 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Additional frequency for Voice of Wilderness in Korean: 1300-1400 9330 DB 100 kW / 070 deg to NoKo from Oct.1 \\ 11640 IRK (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Oct 7 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 9905 OPPOSITION. Open Radio for North Korea (via Gavar, ARMENIA), 2142–2200, 10/4/08, in Korean. Radio drama (woman over piano music, man,20then interaction between, ending with woman over piano music), contemporary Korean vocal, 2157 brief song, 2158 woman with announcement including English “Open Radio for North Korea”, “Pomp and Circumstance”, 2200 off. Poor with grinding jamming (Mark Taylor, WI, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. I received the test broadcast on 9965 kHz that used opening music of Nippon no Kaze at 1530-1600* UT on October 1. At 1558 replaced [by] English Service of WHR via T8WH. Probably that Nippon no Kaze is transmitted by T8WH, Palau from B08 sked. http://ndxc.org/aoki/binews/ab/furusatonokaze_test-20081001-1553.mp3 de S. Aoki (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, Oct 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Just music until 6 minutes in, WHR ID, and T8WH Palau. See also PALAU (gh, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. CLANDESTINE - 11690, Nippon no Kaze (presumed), *1500-1530* Oct 4. Long opening routine, followed by Korean talks; closing announcement at 1525, mentioning e-mail address info @ rachi.go.jp (same as Furusato no Kaze) and website http://www.rachi.go.jp Could not make out any ID's - the Korean ID's must not sound anything like they do in Japanese. Good signal from Darwin transmitter (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW. Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH [non]. KBSWR, 9650 via Canada, Thu Oct 2 at 1240 in English with Korean language lessons on the theme of bank transaxions. One really needed printed material to follow it. And even better, some printed won (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KURDISTAN [non]. 11530, CLAN, Denge Mezopotamya, in Farsi at 0435 jammin' with pop music on Oct 2. S4 sigs and no QRM and only light QSB. Call me crazy, but the music sounded like a combo between traditional Arab, Judas Priest and Sparks! I actually sat and listened for awhile. We've had the last three days off here in Kabul for the Eid al Fitr holiday and it's been a lot of fun just DX'ing! Looks like I picked up all the religious and clandestine DX today. QTH: Kabul Afghanistan. Receiver: WinRadio G303e. Antenna: 100m longwire. 73, (Al Muick, Afghanistan, Oct 2, HCDX via DXLD) Possibly they have some Farsi, but WRTH shows only Kurdish (gh, DXLD) ** KUWAIT Radio Kuwait not heard on 11990 at 1800 in English over the past few days; perhaps they have ceased this service (Edwin Southwell, England, undated, DX News, Oct World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Not audible here September 30, they were on 15110 0715 tune in to 0756 off October 1; assume English service though just pop songs, no announcements (Mike Barraclough, ed., ibid.) ** KYRGYZSTAN. Re ETHIOPIA: BTW, also on 6030 kHz R. Maranatha/Hit Shortwave from Bishkek is heard again here in Finland with rather good signal around 1530, before Oromia signs on at 1550. Some QRM from China of course. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, Oct 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UNIDENTIFIED ** LAOS. 6130, Lao National Radio, 1415-1435, Oct 6, recently they have not aired their usual 1415-1430 programming, but had played indigenous music instead. Today had exceptionally good reception, very strong signal (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS [non]. WHRI, 11785, with Hmong Lao Radio, Sat Oct 4 at 1348, with het from V. of Indonesia. Usually it`s on the low side, but this time on the hi side, about 11786. This correlates with measurements by Ron Howard; and Wolfgang Büschel, who says VOI has three different transmitters which operate on three slightly offset frequencies from the nominals. WHR now has a third Hmong program, which I ran across UT Sunday Oct 5 at 0112 on 5875, excellent clear reception, no fading or distortion and a good time to record some more exotic music. This was singing accompanied by a hi-pitched and repetitive drone on a string instrument bowed back and forth. 0117 announcement in Hmong and more music; ended at 0129, back into English. Per online sked, this is Hmong North Radio, under the auspices of one Liaj Sou Vang, UT Sundays at 0100-0130 and also UT Saturdays 0000- 0030, both via Angel 6, WHRI. On this time and frequency it must also be intended for Hminnesota rather than Laos. It`s not clear what organization is behind this, and none of the Hmong programs are in the program links list at http://www.whr.org/Links.cfm Even a Google search gets zero hits to ``Hmong North Radio`` so it must be so new Google has not even found it on the WHR schedule pages. Ditto his or her full name. (The other shows are Hmong Lao Radio, Sat & Sun 1300-1400 on 11785, and Hmong World Christian Radio, Sat 1400-1430 on 11785, also Angel 6, and all of them recommended for their exotic music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LATVIA [and non]. Front page: One of the masts at the Latvian short and mediumwave transmitter site at Ulbroka just outside Riga. This Blaw-Knox MW radiator mast with its unusual diamond cantilever design is one of only a few such masts that exist in Europe. This mast was originally sited in Germany, but moved to Latvia as war reparations after WW II. When visited on 9 September none of the Ulbroka transmitters were on the air as the site is usually only used for weekend SW transmissions on 9290 including ``Latvia Today`` and various commercial programmes. Latvian Radio no longer broadcasts on MW altho this mast at Ulbroka is reportedly used at weekends for low power transmissions from Radio Nord on either 945 or 1485 kHz (Photo taken by Dave Kenny during the post EDXC conference visit to Latvia). Another Blaw-Knox mast can be seen at the BBC`s Lisnagarvey site near Belfast. The Lisnagarvey mast, which was installed in 1936, is still standing but is now missing its top section (Oct BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** LIBERIA. 6070, ELWA, Monrovia, 2240-2300*, Oct 2, religious music. Closing announcement at 2258 followed by National Anthem at 2259. Weak. Poor with adjacent channel splatter. Mixing briefly with CVC Chile at their 2300 sign on. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBYA. 21695, Voice of Africa, 1530-1559*, Oct 4, surprisingly strong signal. Also a good, strong signal on // 17725 but signing off at 1603. English news at 1534. Commentary at 1543 about the problems of democracy. IDs (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LITHUANIA. Frequency change of Mighty KBC Radio in English from Oct. 5: 0200-0258 NF 6145 SIT 100 kW / 310 deg to NoAm, ex 6110, Sunday only (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Oct 7 via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. 5964.93, Klasik Nasional FM via RTM, 1301-1317, Oct 1, in vernacular, news (mid-way through the news: "Radio RTM Kuala Lumpur"), a regular feature now after the news at 1310 is a long version of a choral Anthem followed by singing station jingle ("Klasik Nasional"), pop songs, fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. 5995, RTVM, 2100-0001*, Oct 3-4, French talk. Wide variety of rustic tribal music, Afro-pops, & instrumental music after 2200. Some vernacular talk. Sign off with National Anthem at 0000. Fair signal but poor after 2300 due to adjacent channel splatter. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. R. Mauritanie, 4845, still on at 0118 UT Oct 4 with speech in Arabic, strongest station on band below 5 MHz. Was not listening closely but went off somewhere around 0130; however at 0156 check there was still a carrier on about 4845.2, maybe this (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. I finally had a chance to check XEPPM`s program with an English title ``On the Road`` per their website SW schedule for 6185, at 0015 UT. Oct 2 at 0015 music, then segué into a romantic song in Spanish, but by 0019 the announcer was talking and it soon became clear that this is a series presented in Spanish about Jack Kerouac`s ``On the Road``, at its fiftieth anniversary. Plus hiway SFX, and even at 0020 the theme music to ``Ruta 66``. Now we know. Wikipedia: ``On the Road is a novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, written in April 1951, and published by Viking Press in 1957. It is a largely autobiographical work that was written based on the spontaneous road trips of Kerouac and his friends across mid-century America. It is often considered a defining work of the postwar Beat Generation that was inspired by jazz, poetry, and drug experiences. While many of the names and details of Kerouac's experiences are changed in the novel, hundreds of references in On the Road have real-world counterparts.`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Have barely been able to detect a carrier from XEXQ lately, but heard much better Oct 2 on 6045: 1222 tune-in, good modulation with classical cinema music from an epic western, familiar but I could not place it. No announcements. Much better copy than under-modulated CFRX 6070 with 4x the power; and also better than XEOI 6010 which is also 4x the power, nominally, further than SLP and normally has the upper hand in this time period. At 1230 a SAH of 72 per minute started from another 6045 station, = 1.2 Hz, but no detectable modulation and not too obtrusive. However, online schedules do not show anything starting at 1230 on 6045. Rechecking at 1249: Spanish announcement in progress mentioning Universidad Autónoma de San Luís Potosí, which is all one needs for a definite ID, besides the paucity of classical music on SW, any other 6045 station in particular. Now the QRM had changed a lot with a fast SAH, flutter, and het or tone: the latter no doubt from Vladivostok warming up for the VOR Chinese broadcast at 1300. At 1257, XEXQ was playing Albinoni`s Adagio, an extremely beautiful piece for which all other stations should QRX or QRT in deference. But no! At 1300 Chinese talk started from VOR. Recheck at 1332, VOR had faded down and XEXQ again dominant with some more classical music, and was still stronger than 6010 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. 9730.77, Myanma R., 1437-1448 + 1518-1539*, Oct 3, mathematical lesson with many equations in vernacular with English terms ("minus … squared … minus … complex number ... minus … equals ... equal to …"), indigenous music at sign-off, almost fair except for adjacent splatter. 9730.77, Myanma R., 1440-1458, Oct 5, in vernacular and English, continues to provide a lot of educational programming, spelling words in English, lesson in business English ("The goods under consideration are inferior goods … If more buyers enter a market the cost … the demand will rise", etc.), mostly poor (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [and non]. RAPIDLY FADING SHORTWAVE --- Of particular importance to us in the the North American Shortwave Association is Radio Netherlands’ decision to quit English-language shortwave broadcasts to North America. This is a big one, following the BBC and Deutsche Welle abandonments of shortwave English to North America, as well as similar moves by Kol Israel, HCJB, Radio Vlaanderen International, RAI, Swiss Radio International, etc. German shortwave expert Kai Ludwig wrote: “This marks the end of shortwave as a relevant broadcast medium in the USA and Canada. The programming still transmitted on shortwave in and into North America should be of interest to very small niche audiences only. In some cases it may even damage the reputation of the medium further.” The RN announcement on September 15 conveniently buried the lead, mentioning first the availability of the station’s programs via public radio stations, Sirius satellite radio, and the internet, then, finally, down in the middle, mentioning that “we have decided to end our shortwave broadcasts to the region” as of October 26. As for those newer media, RN via public radio stations is very overrated. RN may have several “affiliates,” but chances are the program you want to hear is not on a station in your community, at least at an hour you would like to listen. The Sirius option is only for Sirius subscribers. The best bet is internet access. And even though internet radio is now receivable on internet radios, these nifty new devices are still not as portable as battery-powered shortwave radios. As an exercise, I have been listening to Radio Netherlands on my Tangent Quatrro wifi internet radio. It is based on the Reciva list of internet stations. Via shortwave, Radio Netherlands was the only station from the Netherlands (with the exception of the occasional pirate). Via Reciva-based internet radio, there are 439 radio stations available from the Netherlands. The Reciva database is a mess, with stations added on request even though they might already be available. For Radio Netherlands, the following are available on the menu: 1) radio Nederland en español, 2) Radio Nederland Wereldomroep, 3) Radio Netherlands, 4) Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 5) RNW 1 NL, 6) RNW 2 English, 7) RNW 24, 8) RNW 3, 9) RNW 3 Español, 10) RNW and Radio Netherlands. Some are separate streams, some are redundant. But it is a reasonably reliable way of hearing Radio Netherlands in English. The only improvement I would ask for is on-demand RN programs on Reciva-based internet radios, as is the case with BBC World Service and BBC domestic radio networks. Of course, RN programs are available on-demand for online listening or downloading from http://www.rnw.nl So far, there are about 75 responses to the RN announcement about dropping English shortwave to North America. Not surprisingly, most oppose the decision, and many of these mention the portability of shortwave radios compared to other media. Some of the responses are resigned to the decline of shortwave, and a few even support the decision. But there will be no major Save Radio Netherlands Shortwave campaign. After the vigorous effort to convince BBC World Service to keep its shortwave to North America, spearheaded by Ralph Brandi’s http://www.savebbc.org (still available and worth reading), ultimately did not succeed, U.S. shortwave listeners, I think, concluded that further resistance would be futile. Indeed, other stations have been leaving shortwave with distressing regularity (Kim Andrew Elliott, Kim`s Column, Oct NASWA Journal, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) See also BELGIUM; ITALY Radio Netherlands Going Forward --- Perhaps Andy Sennitt can answer this. What is going to become of the transmitting site in the Netherlands Antilles? Is it to be decommissioned or used for other services? (Mark Coady, Co-Moderator, ODXA Yahoogroup, Oct 1 via DXLD) Andy can, but I can too. I already exchanged e-mails with Andy. The transmitter-hours that were used for English to North America will be used for Spanish language services augmenting what are currently being used -- no net change in transmitter hours (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) This was also answered some time ago in DXLD; is no one paying attention? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) So the transmitter will remain "hot", with all of its overhead. Hey, throw us some crumbs, guys. If you're going to have the English content on the web (and thus produced and paid for), feed an hour or two a week through the transmitter. Why would that be so bad? It seems like virtually a no-additional-cost situation (Curt Phillips W4CP, Raleigh, NC USA, ODXA via DXLD) Depends on how you count your beans. I also recently suggested they keep one English hour a night and delete the other two which are duplicates, anyway (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Who hears "ex short-wave" stations using a computer connection? Dear amigos: It would be very interesting to run some kind of social research a.k.a. "listeners survey" to learn more about who listens to international broadcasters using an Internet connection. The research must be done taking into consideration not only different countries, but also different areas of the same country. For example, in developed nations like Canada, there are areas that are served using satellite links down to the homes of the users of the Internet, while in other areas, dial-up continues to be the only option, and still at other locations users may enjoy even a very fast fiber optic link!!! If the data from such a survey * that I anticipate will cost a lot of money * will be made available to the decision makers at the international broadcast stations that so far have operated using the short wave bands to distribute their service, my perception is that much better decisions will be taken, and in many instances the return to short wave use will be implemented at short n[ot]ice, especially if the decision makers don't want to have as a permanent audience the control room operator of their station, because nowadays transmitters usually run automatically using remotely controlled units. Comments invited (Arnie Coro, Host of Dxers Unlimited, Radio Havana Cuba, Oct 2, ODXA yg via DXLD) One of the challenges with this type of research is that those who interact with a broadcaster via the Web don't consider that any type of "hobby" unless they started out as shortwave listeners years ago. They just listen, or browse text. Radio Netherlands actively solicited input for the past year -- via their website, perhaps via other methods -- regarding how listeners *heard* their broadcasts. Their recent decision was based in part on responses to that survey. Surveying us in this group will thus introduce a bias to the process -- because everyone here has some sort of attachment to radio. One fact is that, here in the USA, broadband Internet access (as a percent of total home Internet access) became the majority method of Internet access in 2004. The year-over-year increase was 13 percentage points, or 34% overall. I am sure there remains differences in access method when one considers rural versus urban/suburban listeners. See this link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-5314725-7.html 90+% of my listening is either downloaded to MP3 files, streamed via a PC, or listened via an "Internet" radio. I'd be happy to continue this conversation off-line if anyone is interested. I have been personally studying trends in shortwave / satellite / rebroadcast / webcast tradeoffs for 10+ years (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, Editor, "Easy Listening", NASWA Journal, ibid.) Group, I am writing to ask people to please visit the Radio Netherlands website and post your comments about their plan to end English language shortwave broadcasts to North America on October 26th. If enough people contact them about this, maybe they will reconsider their decision (Denny Dollahon, Oct 4, ptsw yg via DXLD) Great idea -- here's the link. http://www.radionetherlands.nl/features/media/080912-shortwave-america (Rob, ibid.) RN considers the decision already made after a year or more of `research`. The comments are merely for listeners to blow off steam. As I said before, RN could keep one of the three English hours to NAm and get off the hook. English hours will still be produced for other targets, so playing back one more time should be no big deal. The news could even be repeated from the last previous English broadcast, admitting that it was recorded earlier, as some other stations do, e.g. Turkey, Sweden, or leave out the news on overnight/early morning repeats local time, as Radio Japan does at 2200 and 0000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, I am sure that Radio Netherlands will be happy to hear from any listener but frankly, the time to be doing this was months, if not years ago. A few e-mails or letters won’t change anything at this time, IMHO. Unless you can muster hundreds if not *thousands* of responses, they will be ignored. Moreover, it isn’t shortwave enthusiasts they need to hear from, its program oriented listeners. I don’t have any special insight into the decision by RN but I’ll bet if you divide the average number of listeners by the cost per minute of delivering the service it is vastly higher than any alternative means of delivery. Sadly, the numbers of shortwave listeners in North America has declined to the point that a few or a few dozen messages won’t change the fundamental situation. There aren’t enough people listening anymore to justify the costs of providing the service. Perhaps world events might again necessitate shortwave to North America in the future, but I wouldn’t count on it. I wish you luck on your campaign. -- (Rob de Santos, Columbus, OH USA, ptsw yg via DXLD) We tried hard when the BBC discontinued the North American Service, but they just laughed at us and said in effect, "SW is no long the avenue we can afford to spend money on to North America, when our biggest audiences are in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and the South and Western Pacific!". Of course the problem with all of this is in the event of a national emergency such as a nuclear war. We will not be getting any news from outside the US. But, I guess it is worth at least an e-mail (Bob Clark, From the Foothills of the North Cascades, ibid.) One huge advantage of internet-based delivery schemes over all other methods is the instant and complete nature of statistical information available. A radio station can know on a daily, hourly, or even by the minute, how many users are "listening" (streaming or downloading a podcast) and, with just a bit of analysis, approximately from where each accessed from. OTA shortwave can't compete in this regard. Short of having all listeners e-mail once a week a "listening log" to a clearing house similar to an Arbitron diary, they would have no idea when someone is listening at a statistical level anywhere close to internet. More of the "just-in-time" "me" world applied to international broadcasting (Kevin Anderson, via Richard Cuff, swprograms via DXLD) A follow-up note: One of the metrics that both the BBC World Service (in 2001) and Radio Netherlands (in 2008) used in deciding to curtail shortwave usage to North America was "cost per shortwave listener". Back in 2001, the BBC published an assessment of its "audibility" in each target region -- that is, how easily the station could be heard in various geographies. This was when the BBC made use of Antigua and Sackville (as well as the UK) to reach North America -- before they pulled the plug. The BBC found that its audibility in North America was not as good as it was in West Africa, South Asia, Europe, Southern Africa, the Middle East, and the Pacific Islands. Meanwhile the BBC also calculated a cost per listener -- looking at the transmitter-hours that served the various targets and then dividing by the number of listeners to reach a cost-per-listener. They found that the North American audibility was lower than most areas, and the cost per listener was higher than most areas. That wasn't a good combination. Radio Netherlands pretty much went through a similar exercise over the past year. They didn't develop this audibility assessment, but they did estimate their audience in various regions and also look at the transmitter cost to reach that audience. Once again, the cost-per-listener for North America was higher than in other English language regions. Given the decline in North American listener feedback (vs. other regions) and given the maturity of North American media vs. media in English-speaking Africa, Asia, and much of the Pacific, North America became a lower priority for RNW and they decided to shift SW resources to services where SW was a more important delivery method -- Spanish speakers in Latin / South America. Much like Radio Australia has noted, RNW believes that it can reach many of its its devoted North American listeners via Internet delivery, and the costs for that are much less (by RNW's calculations) than the shortwave costs. The moral of the story: "vote early, vote often:" If you value a broadcaster's presence on shortwave and listen to it regularly, tell them so, and tell them why these alternate platforms don't work for you. That type of "letter writing" won't work for RNW at this point -- the analysis is complete, and the decision has been made -- but it might be helpful for other broadcasters on the fence (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, Oct 7, swprograms via DXLD) See a parallel thread under INTERNATIONAL INTERNET ** NEW ZEALAND. RNZI`s current schedule at http://www.rnzi.com/pages/listen.php still shows a gap in DRM service from 1158 to 1551 UT, but Oct 4 at 1257 there was DRM on 6165-6170-6175, surely RNZI; it stopped at 1258 and RNZI AM came on at 1258:50 with bell bird, 1300 accurate 6-pip timesignal and into the 2:00 news. Did not sign on as RNZI, but at 1307 gave full ID over music, and then into Pacific news show ``Tagata o te Moana`` which was about a conference in Wellington dealing with four underdeveloped countries in Melanesia. This show is 1308-1330 UT Sat and Sun, instead of Dateline Pacific on weekdays. As far as I listened, Tagata+ was really in English except for a greeting in some other language, Maori? Then scanning 41m at 1312 I found DRM on 7140-7145-7150, surely RNZI as well; a frequency not currently scheduled for DRM at any hour altho it has been in the past. Did Rangitaiki decide on its own to resume DRM during the former break without telling the website? RNZI, which was inexplicably in DRM the day before until 1258 on 6165- 6170-6175, missing again like it is supposed to be per its own schedule, when rechecked Oct 5 at 1228. Another anomaly from RNZI: Oct 6 at 1413, surprised to hear YL with marine weather on 9615, mentioning knots and swells. Sounds like the regular coastal forecast from RNZI. Are they on 9615 instead of scheduled 6170? No, they are on BOTH, and both in analog during what must again be a break in the DRM service, so the DRM-capable transmitter can be run on AM via a second frequency. 1416 time check as 15 past 3, RNZI ID, music, dramatic reading, apparently. Per RNZ National schedule for the All-Night Programme Tuesday 7 October 2008 or if you prefer, Ratu 7 Whiringa-a-nuku 2008, this is what I was hearing: 3:15 The Year of the Horse, by Sam Mahon (RNZ); 3:30 NZ Books (RNZ); no mention of the coastal weather forecasts. Still audible poorly on both at 1432 final check. Per RNZI`s posted schedule effective until Oct 18, 9615 AM is supposed to be on the air only at 0459-0658 and 1851-1950. Has the automation gone haywire again? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. 6170, 1400-1505 04.10, R New Zealand International, Rangitaiki. English news, ID, pop music 34343, QRM from Croatia on 6165. RNZI scheduled here at present in DRM at 0659-1258 and 1551- 1850, and in AM at 1300-1550. 6170, 1330-1515 06.10, R New Zealand International, Rangitaiki. English chatting, music, 1500 time signal, ann "Radio New Zealand News", 33343 - 34343. QRM Over-the -Horizon -Radar first strong, then becoming weaker. I checked 6170 when the DRM transmission from RNZI was broadcast at 1615, but its noise did not reach Denmark, probably due to low transmitting power during DRM. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. ZLXA Reading Service, Levin, 3935.060 kHz, 0620 Oct 4. Good signal from ZLXA, with news by female. Only for 10 minutes, after this more noisy. RX:Perseus,with new software V.1.1C. Gr (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, bdx mailing list via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. R. Nigeria Kaduna, measured 6089.92 on Oct 1st (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. NIGERIA - N4.8BN VON STATION READY IN 2009, SAYS THE STATION'S DIRECTOR-GENERAL --- Daily Triumph 3 October 2008 http://www.triumphnewspapers.com/n68s3102008.html The Voice of Nigeria (VON) transmitting station in Abuja will be completed by the first quarter of 2009, according to Alhaji Abubakar Jijiwa, the station's Director-General. The cost of the project, located in Lugbe on the Airport road Abuja, has been put at N4.8b. Jijiwa told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Abuja that construction work at the project site had reached 80 percent completion while the civil works were 100 percent ready. ``Most of the equipment in terms of transmitters, antennae, mast systems and generators are already on site at the moment,'' he said. The Director-General said that on completion, the project would produce the first radio station with capability to broadcast in digital and analogue systems, within the Short Wave Bands. ``If the budget works out well in 2009, we should be able to roll out the project in terms of getting it commissioned in the first quarter of next year. ``When that project is completed and commissioned, it promises to be the biggest in Africa , whether North or South of the Sahara ,'' Jijiwa said. He explained that the new transmitters would expand the international coverage of the station, because it would be heard worldwide. `` The station has the capability of a rotating antenna that can target any country in the world when desired, '' he said. On digitisation, Jijiwa said there was no cause for alarm over the country's road-map to digital broadcast migration, beginning from June 2012, compared to South Africa which had set November 1 as start-up date. `` South Africa is working hard to roll-out its digitisation programme in good time in preparation for the 2010 World Cup. ``In reality, South Africa will not fully digitize until 2010 but they are going to start skeletal movement from analogue system, just like it is being done in the UK . ``I do not think that there is anything much Nigeria can learn from South Africa in terms of broadcasting; they might have better facilities in terms of equipment but in human capacity, we are far ahead of them, '' he said. Jijiwa is the Chairman of Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), a voluntary umbrella body for all broadcast stations in the country and the President, Commonwealth Broad-casting Association (CBA). (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Same from original source: http://www.voiceofnigeria.org/von-abuja.htm (via Scott Walker, Thorsten Hallmann, DXLD) Ha3! Without decent transmission equipment, ``human capacity`` makes no difference. There is no comparison between VON`s crummy audio and only one funxional SW transmitter, and the well-maintained multi- channel SENTECH facilities carrying Channel Africa. That will be hard to beat, with just how many transmitters and excellent audio are they getting? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Presumably the digital system is DRM, although VON is not presently listed as a DRM Consortium member at any level. Posted: 04 Oct 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) I have noticed that their audio seems to have improved lately. Copy on 15120 is excellent this afternoon in central PA (Scott Walker, New Cumberland PA, 2050 UT Oct 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. KFOR-TV 4, DT-27 generally gets low marx on OK broadcasting discussion boards for its technical expertise, so I will add something else: whenever they cut in and out of the network, such as for weather capsules in the Today Show, or near the end of NBC ``Nightly`` news to promo the upcoming local news, there is an audio glitch. Unbecoming for what should be a professional operation (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. The newspaper ads that KNID ``has moved`` from 99.7 to 107.1 continued every day for almost a week, contradicted by axual monitoring confirming that it was still simulcasting on both frequencies, with the latter legally IDing as KZLS North Enid. Finally, Oct 4 at 2130 UT on the caradio I noticed that 99.7 was missing, so that transmitter, originally KXLS Alva-Enid, but always intended to be an Enid-market station, site halfway between the two near Helena, has finally been turned off. (KXLS started out as much- needed competition to the duopoly controlling all commercial broadcasting in the Enid market, but after a few years was bought out by one of them.) 99.7 allocation and consequent station is moving to Mustang OK, SW of OKC, a poor little town which until now has lacked any local radio service! That is about to change once the transmitter is moved(?) into the new site, and oh, by the way, just happen to cover the much larger market of OKC. I assume it will be audible also in Enid when it appears, but nothing like the local signal it used to be. So what has become of 107.1? Now I hear a legal jingle ID at 1400 UT Oct 5 on that as ``KNID North Enid``, so just as I predicted, the call KZLS was just a temporary place-holder (Glenn Hauser, Enid [non-North] OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OMAN. 15140, Radio Sultanate of Oman, 1436-1500, Oct 4, tune-in to end of English news broadcast. US pop/Euro-pop music at 1440. Chimes/gongs at 1500 & into Arabic talk. Weak. Poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15140, R. Sultanate of Oman, heard with fair sigs at 1400 on Oct. 6. Started off with Arabic news, into English R&B music. Audio died around 1409 and left dead air until transmitter was shut off at 1425, reappeared at 1427 and audio back at 1429 in time for cool chimes and bell IS, Three Stooges-style national anthem, ID and news by YL in English. Went to their website and the shortwave schedule is still from 2004! (Al Muick, QTH: Kabul Afghanistan, RX: WinRadio G303e, Ant: 100m longwire, HCDX via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. 4790, R Pakistan, Islamabad, has not been heard on this frequency at 0045-0100 since June (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX window Oct 2 via DXLD) Used to be a.k.a. Azad Kashmir Radio too (gh) ** PALAU. 9965, Oct 3 at 1249, VT Communications test transmission loop announcement with music, reference to website http://www.vtplc.com/communications At first I thought it was exactly 60 seconds long, but more like 65 as it started over later and later in each minute, until off abruptly at 1300* Was good with some fades. KHBN scheduled before and after this hour on 9965, a.k.a. T8WH. This station is really a one-of-a-kind hybrid, with two or three callsigns, under both FCC and Palauan administration, relay business both from IBB and VTC and being purchased (or part of it?) by World Harvest Radio. VT Communications test loop in English heard again Oct 4 at 1249 on 9965, only fair and not as good as 24 hours earlier. VTC refers us to their website, but anyone wanting real info about their SW operations will be disappointed, no time and frequency schedule, and even in HFCC they are playing games, not registering their transmissions of Radio República. VT Communications test loop on 9965 via T8WH, tho never identified on- air as such, which had been heard the past two days, missing Sunday Oct 5 at 1247 check (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also KOREA NORTH [non] ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7324.96, Wantok R. Light, Sep 18 0758-0809, 35333, English, Music, ID at 0806, (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium Oct 5 via DXLD) ** PERU. 4835.49, Radio Marañón, 1014-1030 Oct 4. Tuned in this frequency earlier and only heard the carrier; the audio didn't fade in until 1014 with a male in Spanish language comments. Still weak, so not able to catch substance of his comments. At 1016, hear a female in there talking too. At 1018 huaynos music. Signal remain threshold. 4826.45, Radio Sicuani, 1022-1030 Oct 4. Noted a male in Spanish language comments which continue for the period. Signal was fair. (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545 & R390-A, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Compare to exact frequencies reported below ** PERU. 3329.53, Ondas del Huallaga, Huánuco, 0240 weak in LSB, OM and music, 0300* carrier off, CHU notched. 4 Oct. 4826.53, Radio Sicuani, Sicuani 2310, Het from 4828 ZBC Zimbabwe, this with music and stronger signal than earlier in the week. 3 October (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4826.48, Radio Sicuani, 1018-1030 Oct 5, Noted a male in Spanish language comments. Suspect this was news, since heard place names from other countries. At 1029, TC followed by ads and/or promos. Signal was steady but remained poor. 4835.48, Radio Marañón, 0132-0200 Oct 5, Noted a female in Spanish comments with a male. Don't know the significance of this exchange since the signal is rather poor. But a recent notation for this station says that their signoff is at 0230, so there's plenty of time left to provide an answer maybe? It was unusual in its tonal quality which made it seem significant. After a few minutes a third male begins comments at 0136 which is followed by a brief promo and then huaynos music. Unfortunately, the assumption that this station would remain readable to 0230 was erroneous. The signal faded into the noise and could barely be heard much after 0145, but the carrier was still on the air at 0200. That being all I could hear, I dropped it leaving the above question unanswered. I hope it doesn't keep me awake tonight, worrying about it? (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4955, Radio Cultural Amauta, Huanta, 2340-0005, Oct 3-4, continuous Spanish talk. Tentative. Very weak (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. At 2330 Oct noted in southeast Florida: 6173.83, Radio Tawantinsuyo, Cusco, with very narrow filter. 73s (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL [and non]. Heard at 2345 UT on a R-390A set at 16 kHz bandwidth: 9715 kHz, RDP Internacional with some rather lively music and superb, wideband fidelity. With the exception of a bit of fading, this brutishly strong signal is remarkably FM like in fidelity. Now, if only I could find FireDrake at this hour of the evening - brash Chinese music complete with gongs would sound so nice on the R- 390A on 16 KHz bandwidth :) (Phil Rafuse. Stratford PEI Canada, Oct 2, ABDX via DXLD) Phil, What is RDP? (Kevin Redding, TN, ibid.) It`s Portugal's International broadcaster, with a wickedly powerful signal beamed to the east coast of North America. I was tuning around last night, bored with the fare on MW. I stumbled upon this super strong, super clear signal. 9718 on the dial, and I know the R-390A is out about 3 KC at that point [need to do the endpoints on the PTO but I'm not that brave plus it`s fun to do math in my head and it makes me feel better about flunking Grade 12 math :)] so I figured 9715 and confirmed that on the R71A. Then I pulled out the 2008 Passport for Worldband Radio [SW for the man/woman on the street]. According to Passport, they shouldn't have been on yet, but I know how schedules flop around so much. So I went online, got their online feed - and except for a delay, it matched. I knew Portugal had an international broadcaster, but frankly, before last night I didn't recall their name (Phil Rafuse, ibid.) ** PRIDNESTROVYE. MOLDOVA. Radio PMR, not checked North American service but presumed on 6240 with English at 2215 and 2300 Sun-Thu (Edwin Southwell, UK, Oct BDXC-UK Co9mmunication via DXLD) Radio PMR still on 6040 to NAm, Oct 1 at 2339 check in German, which alternates every quarter hour with English and French. As important as it may be, German is not a language native to Moldova or to North America, but very much a minority language at best, not even worth DW`s trouble to broadcast to NAm, so why does PMR aim it at us? Probably because they have someone on staff capable of translating and reading their propaganda in German, which is useful for the European service, so by golly, NAm gets it too. If they were really thinking of reaching minority audiences, the third language to NAm should be Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. 11735, R. Romania International, 1729 3 Oct, end of English program on financial news, then ID "This is R. Romania International broadcasting from Bucharest", Jazz music bridge, then arts program. Good signal with slight het QRM from 11734.9 (Zanzibar??). 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) q.v. ** ROMANIA [non]. After RTE relay [see IRELAND non], via WRMI 9955, Fri Oct 3, at 2130 switched to R. Romania International, introducing North American broadcast in English on ``11940``. Do they even know they are relayed by WRMI? I figured this was delayed from an earlier transmission so did not check 11940; it is on the schedule for RRI direct at 2030-2100 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [non]. OPOSITORES PIDEN A EEUU NO REDUCIR EMISIONES DE RADIO LIBERTY EN RUSO http://actualidad.terra.es/sociedad/articulo/opositores-eeuu-radio-liberty-2793554.htm Los políticos y periodistas opositores rusos instaron hoy a la Administración de EEUU a renunciar a sus planes de reducir el volumen de las emisiones de 'Radio Liberty' en ruso no obstante la censura estatal que reina en Rusia. 'En Rusia quedan contados medios de comunicación no controlados por el Estado, y en esta situación resulta incomprensible la decisión de reducir las emisiones en ruso de 'Radio Svoboda'' (Libertad), señala la carta abierta difundida en Moscú. El mensaje destaca que hoy en Rusia, al igual que en la URSS -donde las autoridades comunistas silenciaban las emisiones de las radios 'Libertad' y 'Voz de América'-, esa emisora es una 'voz independiente poco frecuente para centenares de miles de radioaficionados'. En este contexto, los autores de la carta critican la decisión de las autoridades norteamericanas de disminuir las emisiones de 'Radio Svoboda' y destinar los fondos liberados al desarrollo de su página digital en ruso, según informa la radio 'Eco de Moscú'. En la carta se subraya que la censura en Rusia afecta principalmente a las cadenas de televisión y emisoras de radio, mientras que internet sigue siendo un espacio todavía independiente y libre, y recuerda que la mayoría de los rusos no tienen aun acceso a la red. Firman la carta el ex disidente soviético y escritor Vladímir Bukovsky, el ex viceprimer ministro y político liberal Borís Nemtsov y el periodista Vladímir Kara-Murza, quien trabajó en su tiempo en las cadenas de televisión independiente NTV y TV6, cerradas y, de hecho, nacionalizadas por el Estado. El mensaje va destinado al Consejo de Radiotelevisión de EEUU, al departamento de Estado, a los comités de Asuntos Internacionales del Senado y la Cámara de Representantes, así como a los candidatos presidenciales, Barack Obama y John McCain (via José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADERS ASK US NOT TO CUT RUSSIAN-LANGUAGE BROADCASTS --- Three leading figures of the Russian opposition are calling on Washington to reverse its decision to reduce Radio Liberty’s Russian-language broadcasts next year, lest Russian citizens, at a time when Moscow has established “practically complete control” over domestic radio and television, lose a vital source of “objective information.” In a letter to the US State Department, the foreign affairs committees and the Helsinki Commission of the Congress, and presidential candidates John McCain and Barak Obama, the three – Vladimir Bukovsky, Vladimir Kara-Murza and Boris Nemtsov – say that reducing such broadcasts from abroad would make their struggle for freedom that much more difficult. The Voice of America ended Russian-language radio broadcasting earlier this summer not only as part of a general cost-cutting effort but because the affiliates in Russia on which its programming was broadcast increasingly refused, under pressure from the Russian government, to carry VOA programmes. Read the full story from GeorgianDaily.com http://georgiandaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8220&Itemid=65 SRG October 6th, 2008 - 15:00 UTC comments: RL hasn’t announced publicly any reduction in its Russian broadcasts yet. So this letter-writing campaign was most likely encouraged by the station itself. Out of three men who signed the letter only Nemtsov is well-known in today’s Russia. He has a great deal of ill-fame as a result of his participation in Yeltsin’s privatization campaign. Older Russians still remember Vladimir Bukovsky but majority probably think that he is already dead. Kara-Murza isn’t known at all. But I heard him (or his son?) on RL quite a few times before. (October 6th, 2008 - 8:44 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** SAINT HELENA. Solar-terrestrial indices for 02 October follow. Solar flux 66 and mid-latitude A-index 13. The mid-latitude K-index at 1800 UTC on 03 October was 2 (19 nT). No space weather storms were observed for the past 24 hours. No space weather storms are expected for the next 24 hours (SWPC via DXLD) Re 8-109, special test on October 3 or 4: Radio St. Helena heard in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India on 03 October 2008 at 1805-1920 UT with 23323 on 11092.5 kHz USB. Receiver: Sony ICF 2010 with five meter long wire antenna. Recording available - Visit: http://www.dxersguide.blogspot.com http://www.sarvadesavaanoli.blogspot.com (Jaisakthivel, Chennai- 600106, India, Oct 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3 Oct at 1808 noted distorted music programming on 11092.5-USB. Pushing too high audiolevel into transmitter? Regards, (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, ibid.) I can receive it by a poor to fair condx in Japan. s/on at 1809 UT (S. Hasegawa, ibid.) 11092.50 USB, 03-10 1810, R. St. Helena, English, ballads, ID, greets to German DX club members, bad modulation on USB, 24332 (Silveri Gómez, FRAGA, CATALUNYA NORTE OCIDENTAL, [Spain], R-2000 & ATS 909, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) 11092.3 USB, Radio St. Helena, 1810-1828, 10-08, canciones en inglés y comentario por locutor en inglés. A las 1926 identificación por locutor: "Radio St. Helena, broadcasting on 11092.5 kHz USB". Señal fuerte pero distorsionada. 45444 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Grundig Satellit 500, Antena de cable, 8 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ALERT: Radio St. Helena TEST IN CORSO TEST IN PROGRESS! (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, 1817 UT Oct 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Very poor here even with a 200' W-E wire (Steve Lare, Holland, MI USA, 1824 UT, ibid.) 11092.5, St Helena test now good in Milano 3 Oct 2008 1825 UT songs, talks in English. Perseus & T2FD (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italia, ibid.) 11092.40, Radio Saint Helena, some hum on the signal, 1830 to 1849 some fades with dipole and noise reducing antenna. 11092.40, Radio Saint Helena received fairly well with dipole and long antenna by KM- Cedar Key with Eton E5 at rural site. ---reported in Panama City and Palm Beach County. Radio Saint Helena, 11092.43, 1820 to 1836, music. What is the present beam? 73s (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, US, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I heard them announce once that they were beaming to Europe which I think they did during the entire test (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, NASWA yg via DXLD) Yes, The sound quality is poor. Over modulation? (S. Hasegawa, Japan, 1834 UT, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) A bit overmodulated (at 1839z) but very comprehensible (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, ibid.) Nu te horen op 11092.44 kHz (Guido Schotmans, Belgium, 1846 UT Oct 3, BDX via DXLD) Buon segnale a MILANO --- 1849 UT. 11092.5 USB!!!! (Mauro Giroletti, -Swl 1510- -IK2GFT- -JRC525Nrd - Lowe HF150- Filter PAR Electronics - BCST-LPF + BCST-HPF -Eavesdropper SWL Sloper 11mt to 120mt Band- Loop LFL1010 -Lat. 45.42166 Long. 9.1248 -Locator grid. Jn 45 Nk- playdx yg via DXLD) 11092.5, 03/10 1910-1930, Radio Santa Helena - teste de transmissão, musicas, talks , EE 44433 Vídeo da escuta: http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=biuAjoAWYs8 (MARCELO VILELA BEDENE, CURITIBA - PARANÁ - BRASIL, Sony ICF-2001D - Sony ICF-6800A, Palstar MW550P, Antena fio longo cordoalha, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The condition was fair, and sound quality was improved. S/off at 1927 UT (S. Hasegawa, Japan, ibid.) Laaste woorden van St. Helena op 11092.48, 1929 UT Sluit Test transmission. Signaal was sterk tot Spunt 9. Gr (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, bdx mailing list via DXLD) Not yet s-off, came back around 1933 :-) (Jari Savolainen, Finland, ibid.) Is again on (Roberto Scaglione, Finland, 1937 UT, ibid.) Yes, Good signal and good quality in Japan at 1935 UT (S. Hasegawa, ibid.) Last heard here at around 2005 (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, ibid.) Yep, they pulled the plug around that time. Local news started around 2002 (Jari Savolainen, Finland, ibid.) 11092.5, *1810-2005* 03.10, R. St. Helena, Pounceys (USB). English test programme with pop songs, announced // 1548 MW. 25333, Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) Just for curious I fast checked for RSH yesterday 3 Oct: Signal about S3 under a S3 level local noise at 1845. Recheck on 1945 with S4-5. New check on 2012 with nothing (local noise remained) (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, Oct 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) MANY MANY THANKS for your continued interest in and support of the Radio St. Helena Day Revival Project. It was and still is a LOT of work, required a large TEAM (especially on the island), and took a lot of support (mainly from Japan) to complete. The total support from the entire North American continent has been VERY disappointing. Strange that, as the USA-DXers are the loudest when it comes to QSL cards and saying what a shame it is that RSH had to stop the shortwave broadcasts. Even, now that our success has proven the critics to be wrong, the donations from USA are very small. Even after the huge Double-Anniversary program and after the best QSL card that RSH has ever issued, the donations from USA remain almost invisible. It is true that a huge percentage of the "missing" reception reports came from USA. There is absolutely nothing that I can do about that. RSH and I are trying to process the emails from all DXers claiming to have sent a report and not to have received a QSL. In spite of all this extra work on behalf of the many DXers in USA, the donations to the Project from the USA are very disappointing. Richard D'Angelo is my contact person in USA regarding donations. With best regards and good listening (Robert Kipp ZD7PU, Oct 2, to gh via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Robert, Sorry to hear that you don`t feel RSH is getting enough financial support from North America. I suspect there is some misunderstanding between the way ham DXpeditions are organized and special broadcasts such as this. I don`t think there is a tradition for SW DX listeners to send large or small financial contributions to stations, beyond return postage, unlike hams do for DXpeditions, which of course entail a lot of expense to send several people and lots of equipment to very remote islands. Perhaps because there is really no one doing anything like this except RSH. One assumes that broadcast stations have some greater motivation for speaking to as large an audience as possible. Once the shortwave transmitter and associated equipment were installed at RSH, and presumably having been paid for at that point, it is not clear why it takes such great expense and effort to operate it for a few hours a year. Surely not even very much in electric bill, a few kWh. Of course your own roundtrip fare must be considerable, for however many times you have been there. (I assume you are back in Germany at the moment.) In fact, it would seem not to be very cost effective to have the equipment on hand, yet only transmit on very rare occasions. Of course it may require some maintenance. Why not a monthly or even weekly broadcast on SW? They could be at a variety of different hours to give everyone a chance, and also take advantage of different propagation conditions rather than putting all the eggs in the basket of a few hours straight in a row on one day per year. I am sure most listeners would be just as happy to eavesdrop on the local news or other local programming from Saint Helena, rather than having a worldwide call-in during every broadcast. If the real purpose is to promote tourism to the island, surely more frequent broadcasts would produce more results. Besides yourself, however, I wonder how many actual visitors to the island can be attributed to RSH days? Also a great deal of the hassle and expense could be avoided if the station would simply agree to verify by e-mail rather than requiring to go thru p-mail, which it has been proven is so unreliable, long- delayed, and subject to so much interception. SH would seem to be the ideal place to use e-mail instead now that it is available. Just some ideas which I hope may be considered for an improvement in the situation. O, I did check for the recent test, but nothing audible here. RSH reception normally picks up later in the UT day. 73, (Glenn Hauser to Robert Kipp, via DXLD) P. S. If QSLing by E-mail is unacceptable to the station even if acceptable to a good fraxion of the listeners, there is yet another alternative: Manage the QSLing from somewhere with reliable postal mail service. This is a very common approach in ham radio. Philatelists would of course still prefer to get something direct from the source. Many of us enjoy listening but do not require QSL after QSL (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTTENING DIGEST) ** SAINT KITTS & NEVIS. 555 | R. ZIZ, Basseterre, SEP 4 0049 - soca vocal with '50s Sam Cooke and doo-wop influences. Better on SE Kaz Delta because of less WGAN slop than on NE SuperLoop. + SEP 25 0133 - gospel-influenced reggae, then fast-talk DJ; good. + OCT 3 0104 - heavily Caribbean accented man in discussion of the importance of education; to good peak. 895, V. of Nevis, Bath Village, OCT 3 0047 - soca music; poor (Mark Connelly, Billerica, MA, USA, (GC= 42.5332 N / 71.2205 W) (= 42 32' N / 71 13' W), (home) - 24 km (15 miles) northwest of Boston, Receiver: RFSpace SDR-IQ, Drake R8A, Phasing Unit: Quantum Phaser. Antennas: SuperLoop, peak northeast / null southwest, 10 m vertical by 16 m horizontal, base height 1.5 m, variable resistance southwest termination + Kaz Delta, peak southeast / null northwest, 10 m base center to apex vertical distance by 20 m horizontal, base height 1.5 m, 1000 ohms fixed northwest termination, NRC-AM via DXLD) 555, ZIZ, St. Kitts seemed to be dark, not noted at any time, while 895 Voice of Nevis was received with a good signal: 895, Voice of Nevis, Bath Village (17 07'N 62 37'W) OCT 5 0900 - Fair; light R&B/soul vocals (Bruce Conti, Camden ME; SDR IQ, MWDX-5, terminated Delta antennas 15 x 20-m east and 15 x 27-m south, Mid- Coast Maine DXpedition, Oct 4-5, mwdx yg via DXLD) ** SERBIA. MAJORITY OF NON-LICENCED FM STATIONS IN SERBIA CLOSED Over 70 percent of non-licenced Serbian FM stations ceased broadcasting on the deadline on September 1. Broadcasting agencies RRA & RATEL checked the FM air in September and have sent several dozens of decisions to stations who did not stop broadcasting. These decisions are conveyed in steps. Station are receiving these decisions, and if they not stop broadcasting, RATEL agents will seal their transmitters, and press charges against stations. As RATEL contstantly monitor and measure the air, step by step, more ban- decisions will be sent. First set of bans was sent on October 2, 2008. http://www.rra.org.rs http://www.ratel.rs Yet, in some areas of Serbia, the additional tender for licences is in process, so some stations will have several more months an opportunity to transmit, till the decision of who will get the licences will be brought. P.S. Some stations stopped broadcasting on day, but turned on transmitters on the evenings and nights from 20:00 to 05:00 local time. They think RATEL will not spot them. Hooh, hooh, hooh, they will be so surprised. Some stations are actually awaiting RATEL agents (Radio 90, Hajdukovo; Radio Fox, Senta...), and are ready to defend transmitters with force, but, in this case, police will be engaged (Dragan Lekic from Serbia, Oct 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SEYCHELLES. BBC'S INDIAN OCEAN RELAY STATION MARKS 20TH ANNIVERSARY 02.10.2008 - The BBC's Indian Ocean relay station is commemorating 20 years of transmissions from Grand Anse, Mahé, in the Seychelles. Launched in October 1988, and currently run on behalf of BBC World Service by VT Communications, the station is transmitting BBC World Service programmes on shortwave to an estimated audience of up to nine million listeners across East Africa. The BBC Indian Ocean relay station in the Seychelles broadcasts BBC World Service in a range of languages including the BBC's English-language output for Africa as well as programmes in Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Somali and French. It brings the BBC's radio output to audiences in countries such as Burundi, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Nigel Fry, Head, Transmission and Distribution, BBC World Service, says: "The BBC Indian Ocean relay station constitutes the backbone of the BBC's shortwave broadcasts to East Africa. In many areas of the countries it covers, the shortwave broadcasts relayed by the station are the only way in which audiences can get BBC news and information." To commemorate the anniversary, VT Communications will be holding a series of events in the Seychelles. These include an Open Day exhibition on Monday 6 October, which will highlight the history, operations and the safety aspects of the station. BBC in the Seychelles: noteworthy dates 1985 - BBC World Service signs an agreement with the Seychelles Government allowing it to broadcast from the Seychelles. 1986 - Building work begins on the station. A plaque was unveiled on 9 June 1986 by the BBC's Austen Kark (MD, External Broadcasting) and Bryce McCrirrick (Director of Engineering) to mark the commencement of building work. 1988 - Test transmissions began in September 1988. Opening ceremony of the station on 7 October 1988 was attended by John Tusa, MD, BBC World Service and Bill Dennay, Director of Engineering, BBC World Service. 1995 - BBC World Service starts FM transmissions in Seychelles on 106.2 MHz in Victoria (eastern part of the island). 1997 - BBC World Service contracts out the operation of its transmissions sites. Merlin Communications is formed. 1998 - Initiation of localisation process. Cable and Wireless Engineering Operations contract comes to an end in 1999. 2000 - Merlin Communications is bought by VT group. Renamed VT Merlin Communications, later VT Communications. 2004 - BBC World Service starts transmissions on 105.2 MHz in Anse Soleil (western part of the island), in June, and on 105.6 MHz in Pointe aux Sel (southern part of the island), in July. Localisation process started in 1998 comes to successful conclusion, with the appointment of the first Seychellois manager, completing the objective of 100% local staff (BBC World Service Publicity via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SLOVAKIA. Radio Slovakia International --- Pete Miller and Katrina are no longer presenting Listeners Tribune on Radio Slovakia International. There was no announcement made during their final appearance on August 31st. Listeners Tribune on September 7th was presented by 5 presenters, including Anca Dragu, Michal Groch and Ivan Badnak. They also introduced a new presenter on RSI, William Martin, from Wales. So the British influence has not ended at RSI, which is nice to hear. The September 14th Listeners' Tribune was presented by two presenters, Ivan and Maria. It included a short statement from the Chief Editor acknowledging that they had received letters from listeners asking what had happened to Pete and Katrina. He said that it was regretful but 'primarily came down to finance as we have been forced to reduce our cooperation with external contributors, and not just in the English Section of RSI. I am convinced that my colleagues who took over from Pete are preparing no less interesting programmes and that Listeners' Tribune will continue to be your favourite programme.' The two presenters also added that they all missed Pete and Katrina and expressed their thanks for all their work over the years. They will continue sending out QSL cards, but the exchange of stamps which was Pete's own project will no longer be handled. Listeners are invited to get in touch directly with Pete (no details how were given, however later in the programme Ivan said that stamps sent in by one listener would be forwarded to Pete). RSI was one of the first stations I tuned into and wrote to when I started my radio listening hobby. Over the years it has had its ups and downs, including going off shortwave for a time. I, like many others, have naturally become very attached to many of the presenters, meeting some on my visit to the station in 2004. It is, and continues to be, a very friendly station. The quality of programmes is still excellent and I would encourage World DX Club members to continue to support Radio Slovakia International (Jonathan Murphy, Oct World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. See USA for Brother Scare et al., on WINB ** SPAIN. ENTREVISTA A LA DIRECTORA DE REE --- Amigos radioescuchas, no se pierdan la interesante entrevista que Antonio Buitrago realiza a la nueva directora de Radio Exterior de España, en su programa Amigos de la Onda Corta, del sábado 4 de octubre 2008: Josefina Benéitez, directora de Radio Exterior de España Sustituye a Eduardo Moyano, quien deja Radio Nacional de España tras acogerse al Expediente de Regulación de Empleo. La nueva responsable de REE es entrevistada en el programa para dar a conocer las líneas estratégicas que seguirá. El objetivo principal será dar a conocer la imagen de nuestro país en el mundo. En cuanto a la programación que entrará en vigor a partir del domingo 26 de octubre, la apuesta es por los bloques de contenidos (mañana, tarde y noche) para estar más en sintonía con la actualidad. REE, además de emitir programas en otras lenguas (inglés, francés, portugués, árabe, ruso y sefardí), realiza una gran labor difusora del idioma español. En este sentido, la nueva responsable de la emisora internacional de RNE, Josefina Benéitez, ha destacado que “internet, onda corta y la digitalización de las emisiones son el vehículo para que desde REE se hermanen orillas y culturas a través de su transmisión en castellano y lenguas autóctonas, además de la emisión en lenguas extranjeras, sin renunciar para ello a que emisoras de otras partes del mundo compartan su antena con REE y viceversa". Pueden acceder al audio en la página de Programas DX: http://es.geocities.com/programasdx/amigosondacorta.htm También en la página web de Amigos de la Onda Corta: http://www.rtve.es/programas/amigosdelaondacorta Cordiales 73 (José Bueno, Córdoba, España, dxldyg via DXLD) The above is blather not really telling us anything except that SW will continue to be part of the mix (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** SPAIN. REE`s 80 Libros show, 17595, Tue Oct 7 at 1321 check was Castilian mixed with English. At first I assumed they were unusually doing voice-over translation, but the English was too loud, and did not match the Spanish! Some kind of duplicate audio feed, I guess. They were later referring both to Robin Hood and Don Quixote. The clash ended about 1323; meanwhile I checked Costa Rican relay 15170 and it did not seem to be happening there. Maybe instead it was a separate zero-beat station mistakenly on 17595, such as WEWN, which is supposed to be on there at 19-22 only, when it also clashes with REE part of that time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also USA +non for REE live translations of US vice+presidential debates ** SRI LANKA. 11905, SLBC, banging away from around 0800 GMT here in Kabul on 1 Oct. Almost an S4 signal with female DJ and lots of subcontinental music. Transmits in local languages; however the address was given in English several times asking for reports and there are English IDs as well. When last I had occasion to listen to them (pre-tsunami) they were playing pop and rock music. Must have been a serious change of heart! 73s (Al Muick, RX: G303e Antenna: 100m longwire QTH: Kabul, Afghanistan, HCDX via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. Hello Group, trying to check the special transmission of VOA to Darfur today 4/10/08 around 1805 UT I noticed the following: the three frequencies were too weak to follow: 4960 SAO 100 kW / 030 deg 9650 UDO 250 kW / 272 deg 11635 IRA 250 kW / 275 deg 11635 was too weak to hear anything. 9650 was having that special program. I could hear the 2 announcers making interviews over the phone with people from Darfur, maybe tribe leaders or whatever. But the funny thing was 4960 didn't transmit "lights on Darfur". They were talking mainly about Iraq, and the ID I almost heard was Voice of Free Iraq, asking people to send SMS to a certain telephone No. in Baghdad (might be Radio Ma'loumat as well; not so sure as I recall them asking listeners to send SMS to report about any an usual moves!) Let me see how's the reception of the 1900 UT will be and will try to get a clear ID of that special transmission. All the best (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, Oct 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So apparently a switching error occurred and Radio Free Iraq had been put on 4960 by mistake. Probably this station is almost forgotten now, so a reminder: Radio Free Iraq is a product of RFE/RL, launched in 1998, substantially raising the fears that RFE/RL could become a target of terrorist attacks, leading to severe security measures which in turn created the wish that RFE/RL should move out of the city to a remote location in the outskirts of Prague (what became of this, in 2006 it had been reported that the new building, costing 11 million Euros, was expected to be ready in 2008?). For a time Radio Free Iraq was a rather massive operation, using a megawatt transmitter in Armenia on 1314 as well as the Kavála, Briech, Lampertheim and Jülich shortwave sites. But in May 2004 (i.e. not at a regular SWBC schedule change) all these transmissions were cancelled, leaving the 1593 transmitter at IBB's Kuwait site as only outlet for Radio Free Iraq (besides possible FM outlets in Iraq itself), a situation that persists until today. Concerning this Darfur special (is it established that it clearly aims at audiences there?): What still needs a clarification is whether this is a production of Radio Sawa or the VOA. These are distinctively different operations, with Radio Sawa broadcasting from the Alhurra building outside Washington and constituting together with Alhurra what is called the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (maybe Radio Sawa could now be called the radio arm of Alhurra). So who is in charge for these broadcasts, who took the initiative and where are they produced (i.e. in an Alhurra/Sawa or a VOA studio)? It should be added that Radio Sawa already runs a dedicated Sudan service since spring 2004, using the 1431 transmitter in Djibouti. So it's in any case not "Radio Sawa for Sudan" what we're discussing here, simply because that already exists. What an unbelievable mess! (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 5, ibid.) Hello Group, for the second day I can confirm that 4960 SAO 100 kW / 030 deg, 1800 UT is carrying Radio Free Iraq. I managed to pick up the YL giving the URL http://www.iraqhurr.org BTW HURR means Free in Arabic. Kai, judging from what I managed to hear on "lights on Darfur" I guess it's recorded in the studios of VOA as the show was hosted by OM and YL their voices are familiar to me from the old days of the Arabic section of VOA. That was long before R. Sawa. I was totally confused when I heard 4960 playing music (I used to think it's lights on Darfur thing )I said to myself OH NO, not again. But it turned out to be R. Free Iraq --- no music for the people of Darfur. They have more than enough on R. Sawa. All the best, guys (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, Oct 5, ibid.) But KWT 1593 has Persian til 1830 UT, RFIRQ starts later at 1830 UT. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) No problem: Radio Free Iraq is also on a number of FM transmitters in Iraq, separated from the Radio Sawa outlets, and also on satellite, including the Nilesat and Badr DTH satellites common in the Middle East. Thus it's no surprise if their programming is not confined to the hours when it's on 1593, too. Years ago they even planned to go 24/7, but it seems that some gaps are still left. Sao Tomé presumably takes modulation off NSS 703 and got the wrong one of the 32 radio channels in the mux on 4.055 GHz. Meanwhile I received word that these programmes are produced in the Radio Sawa studios on the Boeing compound in Springfield/Virginia (actually a suburb of Washington, but already outside the District of Columbia). Two VOA editors have been sent over to Radio Sawa to help with this special service, perhaps these are the familiar voices you heard if they not went over to Radio Sawa earlier (since Radio Sawa in fact replaced VOA in Arabic). The service is sponsored by the State Department, apparently an arrangement similar to the one for the BBC's Darfur Salaam transmissions which are or were (do they still exist?) separately financed by the BBC Trust and sponsored by the European Union and a foundation related to Ford (I have only an abstract at hand). Can you say which ID is used for these special Darfur programmes; are they presented as Radio Sawa or something else? Due to the special nature of the whole thing this is something that indeed needs to be confirmed by monitoring (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) Hello group, checking today 6/10/08 the VOA Darfur program at 0300 UT I noticed that all three frequencies: 4960 SAO 100 kW / 030 deg 5995 LAM 100 kW / 132 deg 11635 IRA 250 kW / 279 deg relaying Radio Sawa. No lights on Darfur. Will try to get an ID - hopefully- this evening for that special VOA transmission to Darfur. All the best (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, ibid.) That's a SAWA transmission to Sudan: 0300-0330 4960 SAO 100 30 5995 LAM 100 132 11635 IRA 250 279 1800-1830 4960 SAO 100 30 9650 UDO 250 272 11635 IRA 250 275 1900-1930 5880 IRA 250 275 9650 WER 250 150 11635 PHL 125 270 (Wolfy df5sx Büschel, Oct 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello Group, checking VOA to Darfur 1900 UT tonight, 6/10/08, I think I caught an ID but I have to say it's very tricky for my ears. It's one of two words: 1) Adl Drfur which means Justice of Darfur 2) aql Darfur which means Mind on Darfur. I have to say I tried several times to make sure which one is the right one, but the way they pronounce it, it's almost the same in Arabic, and of course thanks to the heavy QRM and not so good reception. All the best, guys (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, Oct 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I have learned from someone who works for the broadcast that its name is Affia Darfur. This is a colloquial greeting in Sudan, so it probably could be translated as "Hi, Darfur." More precisely, "Affia" means "good health." Posted: 07 Oct 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) It seems to me that these broadcasts may be the reason for the erroneous press story from Sudan that said the Dutch-backed broadcasts to Darfur were going to start on 27 September. Maybe someone got wind of this new US broadcast and confused the two. The Dutch-backed broadcasts will be in ethnic languages, not Arabic, and are still in the planning stage. I have not, as yet, heard of any definite starting date. I believe they are still raising finance for the project, which in the current economic climate may be more difficult than anticipated (Andy Sennitt, RNW, Oct 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. via Slovakia, 15650, Miraya 101 FM, 1500-1513, Oct 4, English news concerning Sudan. “Miraya FM” IDs. Mentioned _www.MirayaFM.com_ http://www.MirayaFM.com website. Into Arabic talk at 1511. Local Arabic pop music at 1513. Fair. Stronger than usual (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN [and non]. RADIO TAIWAN INTERNATIONAL - 97TH NATIONAL DAY CELEBRATIONS ON OCTOBER 10TH On October 10th, the live coverage of the 97th national day celebrations can be heard from 0200 to 0300 UT on 15320 kHz to Southeast Asia. Those of you who live in other parts of the world are welcome to visit our website to hear the webcast of the live coverage. Meanwhile, RTI's English broadcast to North America from 0200 to 0300 UT on 5950 kHz will be cancelled on October 10th. (RTI website via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxldyg, also via Rachel Baughn, DXLD) ? Tnx a lot! Why is it necessary to cancel the NAm broadcast on this occasion? What will WYFR fill with? Just more erratic behavior from RTI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. GIO CHIEF DENIES GOVERNMENT TRYING TO CEN[SOR RTI] Taipei Times Wednesday, October 1, 2008 By Shih Hsiu-Chuan http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=98263 Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Vanessa Shih yesterday denied a report that state-owned Radio Taiwan International (RTI), which broadcasts in 13 languages around the world, had been told by the government not to denounce China. A front-page story in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) yesterday said some independent directors of RTI were planning to resign en masse to express their dissatisfaction with the government's intervention in the company's operations. "The GIO, as a supervisor of RTI, has urged it to build a good image of the country. It has not asked them not to criticize China," Shih said. RTI chairman Cheng Yu said he has told the GIO that he intends to step down and will give his letter of resignation to a provisional meeting of RTI's board of directors today. Cheng was assigned by the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government to lead the RTI. His term expires next September. Board member Luo Chih-cheng said that he, several independent directors and RTI director general Shao Li-chung would submit their resignations today to protest the government's repression of free speech and its pro-China position. Meanwhile, Cheng refused to respond to comments by some Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers that he should have resigned after the KMT administration took office since RTI is a national station. KMT Legislator Kuo Su-chun accused Cheng of using political intervention as an excuse to quit his job. DPP Legislator Tsai Huang- liang criticized the KMT government for reshuffling RTI's board for political reasons. Date Posted: 10/1/2008 (via Alokesh Gupta, Dale Park, DXLD) TAIWAN: CBS BOARD APPROVES OF RESIGNATIONS BY CHAIRMAN AND OTHERS Radio Taiwan International chairman, directors and board members resign over government directive not to denounce China in the station's broadcasts --- Taipei Times Thursday, October 2, 2008 http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=98304 At a provisional board meeting of the Central Broadcasting System (CBS) in Taipei yesterday, the board of directors approved the resignations of chairman Cheng Yu, Radio Taiwan International (RTI) director-general Shao Li-chung and deputy station chief Chang Cheng- lin. Board members Luo Chih-cheng and Tung Li-wen also announced their resignations at the meeting. Luo also offered the resignations of two other directors -- Liao Chin-kui and Chu Tai-hsiang -- who were not in attendance, on their behalf. Speaking at the meeting, one of the directors got agitated, claiming that "the government has mobilized the media to force a mass resignation." Ho Nai-chi, head of the Government Information Office (GIO) Department of Broadcasting Affairs, who was put forward in the meeting to serve as provisional chairman, rebutted the remarks. He said the government had never pressured any director to resign. Ho said that after the meeting yesterday, the GIO would appoint new directors to fill the vacancies as soon as possible, and a new chairperson would be elected in due course, so that the CBS and RTI can continue their operations with minimum disruption. A front-page story in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) on Tuesday reported that the RTI, which broadcasts in 13 languages around the world, had been told by the government not to denounce China. It also reported that some independent directors of RTI were planning to resign en masse to express their dissatisfaction with the government's intervention in the company's operations and to protest the government's repression of free speech. GIO Minister Vanessa Shih on Tuesday denied the report. Date Posted: 10/2/2008 (via Dale Park, HI, DXLD) TAIWAN MUST NOT USE CHINA'S NEWS STANDARDS Taiwan News Page 9, 2008-10-03 01:37 AM The lightening decision of state-run Radio Taiwan International Chairman Cheng You, RTI President Shao Li-chung, RTI Deputy President Chang Cheng-lin and two board directors to resign Tuesday has cast a dark shadow over the commitment of the restored Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government to maintaining full news freedom in Taiwan. The RTI chairman and four other colleagues on the 15-member board submitted their collective resignation in the wake of news reports that the KMT government, notably the Government Information Office, and KMT lawmakers had put intense pressure on Cheng and RTI management to change its news and programming management. According to Taiwan media reports, GIO officials cited reports by the Guangzhou-based "Global Daily" (Huanqiu shibao), an internationally- directed subsidiary of the PRC's official "People's Daily," that "the independence faction controlled the voice of Taiwan to attack Ma Ying- jeou" and called on RTI management to "make improvements." Cheng, a widely respected former journalist with the vernacular Commercial Times and ex-chairman of the Taiwan Television Network, has not been known for "pan-green" partisanship, stated that he had resigned with one year left in his contract because he had been "tagged with the colors of a particular political party and subjected to doubts of not endeavoring to propagate the new government's policies." According to Taiwan media and RTI contributors, GIO claimed that RTI was an agency for "international broadcasting" and should "uphold the image of the Republic of China" and should also not be "too" critical of the Chinese Communist Party-ruled People's Republic of China, apparently in accordance with Ma's policy of promoting cross-strait "reconciliation" and his unilateral call for a "diplomatic truce" with Beijing. Targets of criticism The targets of the criticism included RTI talk show hosts, such as former "Contemporary Monthly" editor-in-chief Chin Heng-wei, whose shows have been critical of human rights and news freedom in the authoritarian PRC and Beijing's actions to isolate Taiwan from the global community. The apparent demand by the KMT government that the RTI should not be critical of Beijing is highly ironic since its mission for decades has always been to criticize the PRC. Under the KMT during the Cold War, the then Central Broadcasting System beamed anti-communist propaganda drafted by the scarcely less authoritarian KMT regime to the "bandit areas" governed by the Chinese Communist Party. After the DPP took over government in May 2000, then CBC Chairwoman Chu Wan-ching fled Taiwan in advance of an indictment for embezzlement and the station was renamed "Radio International Taiwan" and transformed into an autonomously managed if still state-owned news media directed at audiences outside Taiwan without direct interference from the DPP government or the DPP party. With objective news coverage of Taiwan and China and the world and programs highlighting Taiwan's democratization and progress in field such as human rights and cultural and social pluralism, RTI is now ranked as the second most popular Chinese language foreign -based broadcaster behind only the British Broadcasting Corporation. GIO Minister Vanessa Shih has denied interference and declared that she has never told the RTI not to criticize China, but it is evident that the dramatic decision by Cheng and the other four RTI directors and executives aimed to expose some problem with the KMT government. Protestations of innocence Indeed, such protestations of innocence by the KMT government are belied by previous events, such as the "encouraged" resignation of former Cabinet deputy secretary-general Chen Mei-ling, the appointment of a clearly partisan management team for the state-run Central News Agency and numerous cases of direct or indirect interventions in news management by KMT party officials aimed at CNA reporters and editors. The KMT camp must recall that it is the government of all of Taiwan's 23 million people, not just the 7.6 million who voted for Ma or KMT lawmakers, and is also not the local agents of the CCP regime and has no business imposing the CCP's standards of news media "unfreedom." We do not believe that the interests of Taiwan will be served by a RTI whose programming and news coverage for the international community and the people on the China mainland reflects only one of our political parties and especially if its performance is judged based on whether it makes Beijing's authoritarian rulers happy. It should be obvious that such a standard will not help RTI will maintain its currently high popularity among PRC listeners. The best image and reality of Taiwan that the RTI should present is that of a democratic Taiwan which is governed by the KMT but also manifests the values of pluralism and tolerance and displays the complete spectrum of viewpoints in Taiwan's pluralistic and diverse society. We therefore urge President Ma, Premier Liu and the GIO to offer a thorough and honest explanation of this incident, openly reaffirm an unambiguous commitment to uphold 100 percent news autonomy and professionalism in state-owned news media and display that commitment in action by appointing a non-partisan board of directors to RTI (via Dan Say, BC, DXLD) ** TAJIKISTAN. 7245, V. of Tajik, in Arabic (? according to sked, but sure didn't sound like Arabic; maybe accent), 2 Oct at 0400. S4 signals until transmitter faulted off at around 0403, then back at S3 and lower modulation. Dunno what transmitters they are using, but the old Brown Boveris we had at VoA Tinian during my stint there used to always choke and puke if the mod levels went too high (it's a protective circuit actually), so maybe this happened here - or someone leaned on the emergency shutdown switch (that happened too!). Does anyone have a valid email address for Voice of Tajik? 73, (Al Muick, Afghanistan, Oct 2, HCDX via DXLD) ** TANZANIA [non]. Lutheran Radio Centre. Pulling up some details on this one via their website, thanks WRTH for the address -- Seems like sked is 0300-0400 6110, 1700-1800 9475, all in Swahili via TWR Swaziland. Local SW is still listed as planned (Hans Johnson, Oct 6, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) SWAZILAND [TANZANIA] "Redio Sauti ya Injili" program, aired via TWR- Manzini on SW. They are located at P. O. Box 777, Moshi, Tanzania, radio @ elct.org Plans for their own SW transmitter have run into licencing issues. Text of e-mail: "Moshi, September 22nd 2008. Dear Harald. Yes, you have received our programmes indeed! They are aired by Trans World Africa in Manzini Swaziland. We are very glad that you could listen to our short-wave broadcasts from Manzini Swaziland. We prepare the CDs and send them there every month. These days we also send the programmes by FTP to Trans World Radio airing them for us. In addition to the half hour on short wave, we have more than 18 hours on air on FM. Unfortunately we are not allowed to use the short wave transmitter yet in Tanzania. No private station is allowed to use SW yet. It is still a political issue. But the government is working on it. Since many private stations can be heard through Intelsat, there is no reason why not use short wave as well. The range of the satellite is up to Europe. So up to now the transmitter is waiting. We plan even to use DRM, a digital mode, to transmit on short wave and connect further FM transmitters through it, but without license it is not possible! Please visit our new website on http://www.sautiyainjili.org for further information. Under Technical you will find all the details of our FM transmitters. Blessings. Martin." (Harald Kuhl, Germany, DXplorer Sept 28 via BC-DX Oct 2 via DXLD) see also ZANZIBAR ** TIBET. 7385, CHINA/TIBET, PBS Xizang, Lhasa, 1630 with English service on 1 Oct. Announcers trying to read the news over a too loud disco music bed, talk of construction projects planned for the area. Jeez, this tx'er needs help! Music audio was at an OK level, but the voice audio was distorted and slightly echo-ey. Very hard to understand even on AM-wide setting. Booming signal, all fives, but audio and occupied bandwidth were splattered like a rotten tomato +/- 10 kHz. Am trying to send them an email to give them a heads up (and get a QSL, of course); tried calling, but it was a no-go. I'll use the sat-phone tomorrow if I have to. Same problem noted to a much lesser extent on 7310 at 1740, although not nearly as bad in Mandarin language (and playing US folk music!). Their compressor limiters and/or compellors need desperate adjustment! 73s (Al Muick, RX: G303e Antenna: 100m longwire QTH: Kabul, Afghanistan, HCDX via DXLD) ** TURKEY. During the last days of Ramadan I have this habit of trying to have some MW DXing, so on 29/10/08 I was checking some MW frequencies and I noticed that on 1017 kHz a male speaking in Arabic around 0315 UT, talking about current affairs topics mentioning Turkey, no ID given. But around 0330 the program switched to Turkish language. First time to hear Voice of Turkey in Arabic on the MW frequency. All the best guys (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, Oct 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Assume you meant 29/09. This is not the external service but TRT program 1 from Istanbul, 1200 kW, which per WRTH 2008 is in Turkish except at 0410-0445, obviously meaning winter timings: Mon Bosnian, Tue Arabic, Wed/Fri Kurdish, Thu Circassian. But Sept 29 was Monday, so there must have been an error or a change (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Tarek, or maybe you meant 30th Sept.? Acc. to http://www.trt.net.tr/wwwtrt/rdakis.aspx?kanal=1 Arabic should still be on Tuesdays (Mauno Ritola, Finland, Oct 7, ibid.) Hello Mauno, rechecking my logbook, both you and Glenn are right, it was 30th not the 29th. Sorry about the typo, guys. Still my first time to hear Arabic from Turkey on SW :) Thanks guys and my apologies once again, yours (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, Oct 7, ibid.) ** TURKS & CAICOS. 530, Radio Visión Cristiana, is still off the air due to antenna damage caused by Hurricane Ike, leaving Radio Enciclopedia, Cuba, in clear (Bruce Conti, Camden ME; SDR IQ, MWDX-5, terminated Delta antennas 15 x 20-m east and 15 x 27-m south, Mid- Coast Maine DXpedition, Oct 4-5, mwdx yg via DXLD) ** UKRAINE. 5970, Ukrainian R 1 (UR-1), 2100-2200*, daily, new home service relay readable after co-channel WYFR goes off at 2059*. Six pips at 2100 followed by mixed bag of slow jazz instrumentals, Slavic vocals by women's chorus, old U.S. doo-wop songs, talk in Ukrainian; one day noted weather forecast at 2158 and six pips. fair to moderate strength, but audio sometimes quite low (Bob Hill, MA, via DXplorer via DSWCI DX window Oct 2 via DXLD) ** U K. Can any readers help us to save the BBC? What do you think? Leave your comments here. The MediaGuardian supplement this week is simply titled "How to save the BBC"? Anyone have any ideas? Polly Toynbee says that the BBC is "the only truly admired emblem of Britain" and finds it "typically British" that the great institution should be under attack from all sides. Toynbee states: "The Guardian is the BBC's firm champion and defender against both political and commercial predators. But as the BBC draws up its own response to these criticisms, we offer some suggestions to help save it from encircling foes." . . . [much more] http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2008/oct/06/bbc.ofcom (Organ Grinder blog via Dan Say, BC, DXLD) ** U K. Interesting that the BBC was involved in an actual disaster plan, if such an event happened here the broadcasters would be knocking each other out of the way to "get it on the air first." BBC'S DILEMMA OVER WHO WOULD ANNOUNCE A NUCLEAR ATTACK By Cahal Milmo, Friday, 3 October 2008 'Whitehall was obsessed as much with the voice that would be used to announce Armageddon as it was with protecting what was left of the British population' "This is the Wartime Broadcasting Service. This country has been attacked with nuclear weapons." In the normally prosaic world of public safety announcements, they were probably the two most chilling sentences ever recorded in readiness for release across Britain's airwaves. But secret documents released today, revealing for the first time the full text of the warning to be broadcast by the BBC in the event of a nuclear war, show that Whitehall was obsessed as much with the voice that would be used to announce Armageddon as it was with protecting what was left of the British population. . . [more] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/bbcs-dilemma-over-who-would-announce-a-nuclear-attack-949703.html (via Dale Rothert, DXLD) ** U K [and non]. DAVE GALLOP e-mails, from Theale, a fascinating follow up to his July OTD [Open To Discussion forum] contribution: 'There was always too much going on at Daventry in the old days to permit casual listening by DXers! There were often flashover burn-ups to clean up or cooling water leakages to mop up. The high-voltage spark-gaps had to be kept meticulously clean. All of the sender frequencies had to be set up and checked for accuracy. The selection of an antenna array and its slewing (from preset adjustments of beam heading on phased curtain bays) was undertaken between transmission commitments by the aerial lads cycling out night and day in all kinds of weather to change overhead hook-and-eye connections, using long wooden (insulated) "lamplighter's poles". In any case, high-power short-wave transmissions would continue from the site through much of the night shift, firstly directed to the Americas and then later to Asia and Africa, thus rendering any attempt at radio reception nigh-on impossible! There may well have been many a free lunch gained by telling of drawing long and noisy "modulated" arcs from feeders of out-of-service arrays, energised only by stray pick-up from other 250 kW senders on the site, let alone fluorescent tube lights lit when switched off, RF burns received from overhead window winders as well as switches at the end of steel conduit runs with enough RF induced voltage to raise the hair of any "health & safety" inspector. By 1963 I had been transferred to the Midland Home Service transmitting station at Postwick, just outside Norwich, which then sported an RCA 10-kW mediumwaver backed up by a 2-kW Marconi reserve. In those times, much of European broadcasting closed during the night, including the domestic services of the BBC. The overnight staffing at the station was then solely one engineer with a security "minder" - one of whom in particular was exceedingly well-trained in the culinary arts and also took great pride in growing all his own vegetables which he lavishly shared. Thus was the setting for my nightly transatlantic listening sessions for music while I worked. The antenna system comprised two 110 foot guyed poles vaguely directional at the service frequency of 1088 kHz to protect other reception areas on the frequency. A top catenary enabled each mast to be part of an inverted L to extend the effective lengths of both radiator and reflector. However, both the tuning and the relative phasing of the two masts would have differed from optimum at frequencies other than 1088 kHz. Nevertheless, there would still have been considerable gain at 1510 kHz for reception of WMEX in Boston, Mass., compared with one's usual backyard endfed wire! Incidentally, when I was first "posted", I undertook a recce trip to sort out accommodation, etc., but despite finding the nearby village after which the transmitting station was named, I was unable to locate the actual site itself. I therefore enquired of one of the locals where I might find the BBC Postwick transmitter. I duly received a very puzzled look until it eventually dawned on him - "Ohhr, you must mean Porzzik !" It became apparent to me that at around a mile distant those 110 foot masts were quite insignificant! I also soon learned that the country Norfolk dialect was very very different from that of Norwich city. However, we did later have an opportunity to use BBC short-wave curtain arrays for amateur radio during maintenance breaks when the Ariel Radio Group organised an activity period around 1971-2, by which time I was on Ascension Island. But I do not remember it as being a very successful operation, no doubt due to all of the Ascension antennas at that time being of the 'dual-band' type, as opposed to the more modern 'wide-band' variety. Dual-banders were tuned and optimised to function at the mid-frequency of each of two adjacent short-wave broadcast bands, e.g., 15/17 MHz or 21/26 MHz. Use of the array on any other frequency became more and more of an unpredictable compromise as the operating frequency departed from the setting-up points. Thus the back-radiation of antennas designed to beam on West Africa as well as, hopefully, Europe and the UK but used on one or other of the Amateur bands at a power of around 100 Watts could instead well have been favouring Antarctica and contributing to the melting of the polar ice- cap. There must still be enough material to fill a further volume of "On Air" ! I had bought a copy when it first came out but at last year's Transmitter Group Reunion we were all cajoled by Norman Shacklady into purchasing "seconds", from a reprint with printing faults, at a fiver for charity!' OTD welcomes any further reminiscences, and can also thoroughly recommend the book to which Dave refers. Great stuff! (Open To Discussion, Sept BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** U K. Herbert Meixner from Austria logged again DWL German program on a spur channel of 9610 kHz this morning Oct 6th at 0700 UT. Woofferton relay, of 2 x DWL German, 9480 0600-1000 UT 70 degrees 9545 0600-0800 UT 170 degrees Symmetrical spurs 65 kHz away on 9415 and 9610 kHz in 0600-0800 UT slot. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, harmonix yg via DXLD) ** U S A. I think I've found some information pointing toward the location of the extinct Brentwood site [LINY]. From: http://www.mackayhistory.com/Mackay_Radio_2.html "Brentwood was the mailing address but it was actually located in Hauppauge, a rather ill-defined locale at the time. As operations began here in 1936, operations began to be phased out at Sayville. This building was much larger than it appears in this photo having large east and west wings. All Mackay Radio operations on Long Island ended in 1986. Not long after this building was erected in 1935, CBS entered into an agreement with Mackay to share the site for construction of an international short-wave broadcasting station. The building's west wing was extended and the station built in 1940-41 for beaming programs to South America. Shortly after the outbreak of WW II, the Office of War Information (OWI) leased the station from CBS for operation as a Voice of America station. VOA operated from here until 1962." A map is available at: http://www.mackayhistory.com/Mackay_Radio_1.html See Photo Mackay's Brentwood Station around 1984 http://longislandgenealogy.com/Wireless/Wireless.html A paper is available from the IEEE entitled "CBS International Broadcast Facilities" in Volume 30, Issue 3, March 1942 Page(s): 118 - 129: "This paper describes the present significance of international broadcasting; its growth and present status in both the Eastern and Western hemispheres; factors governing service to Columbia's new Latin American international network consisting of sixty-four stations located in eighteen different countries; the many problems attendant upon successful relaying of programs to these many points; facilities for this service, including new studios, frequency-modulatio n program-relay circuits, and two complete 50-kilowatt transmitting plants located at Brentwood, Long Island, New York; features of design and operating performance characteristics of the transmitting apparatus, including thirteen directive antenna arrays and their associated transmission lines. A typical international radio relay receiving-station installation and the importance of properly engineering such facilities, will also be briefly discussed." My initial swag is N40 49.07, W73 15.1 -- (Rob Peebles, W8LX, Dublin, Ohio __._,_.___ shortwavesites yg via DXLD) Hi Rob, Good to hear from you. Thanks very much for the reference to this fascinating material which I've just finished reading. I doubt I could be any more accurate that yourself on the former station's coordinates with the land having since been redeveloped with industry. This just now leaves the former VOA sites of Wayne & Bound Brook [NJ] in the USA as the remaining extinct shortwave sites still to be located. Perhaps another of our US based members could assist with the location of these sites? Have a good weekend all. Regards (Ian Baxter, swsites, ibid.) Hello again, Here is some possible information on Wayne [New Jersey]: http://www.waynetownship.com/his-homes.htm http://www.abandonedbutnotforgotten.com/testing laboratory.htm WOOW Radio – Voice of America transmitting station Ryerson Avenue (west end) Demolished in 1996 My best approximation is N40 55.342 W74 17.063 (Rob Peebles, ibid.) ** U S A. If you type http://www.ibb.gov in the address bar, you will be transfered to http://www.bbg.gov Does this mean IBB no longer exists, replaced by BBG? (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, Oct 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. THE CHALLENGE OF DIRECTING QUESTIONS TO THE APPROPRIATE BUREAUCRAT "James Glassman, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, gave incomplete and misleading answers when asked Friday whether the elimination of vernacular broadcasts to Georgia, Russia, and India is going to hurt his 'war of ideas' effort. Speaking in Washington at a National Press Club luncheon on 'The New Age of Public Diplomacy,' Glassman seemed surprised and annoyed by the question." Ted Lipien, Blogger News Network, 4 October 2008. (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Maybe Mr. Glassman was annoyed because he is no longer CEO of U.S. international broadcasting, but now only one vote on the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Furthermore, the 'war of ideas' is a public diplomacy effort. To achieve the credibility necessary for success, U.S. international broadcasting must stick to reporting the news, and leave the 'war of ideas' stuff to public diplomacy. Posted: 06 Oct 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) ** U S A. FOUR VOA SERVICES END RADIO BROADCASTS --- September 30 was the last day of radio broadcasts for the VOA Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian, and Hindi services. They continue as internet services, and VOA Hindi has a weekly feed on India’s Aaj Tak television. VOA Hindi and Serbian were on shortwave to the end, while Bosnian and Macedonian were only via affiliates in their target countries. VOA Russian ended July 26, inconveniently just before Russia’s incursion into Georgia. VOA Georgian was supposed to be shut down altogether, in all media, on September 30, but the South Ossetian events have put that off for the time being. VOA Ukrainian radio also has a stay until later in the year. The Broadcasting Board of Governors reversed its earlier decision to drop VOA Croatian, Turkish, and Greek radio broadcasts. The Greek service is supported by a strong Greek-American lobby and Congressional caucus, and will probably stay on the air forever. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty retains its radio broadcasts in Russian, Georgian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Bosnian, and Macedonian. Views expressed are my own. More at www.kimandrewelliott.com. Posted: 26 Sep 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, Kim`s Column, Oct NASWA Journal, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** U S A. Four VOA radio services prepare to sign off (updated). I forgot to mention that VOA Ukrainian radio, slated to end 30 September, has been given a stay until the end of this year. Friends in Europe confirm that its shortwave frequencies are still on the air (Kim Andrew Elliott, Oct 1, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Re: VOA Ukrainian monitoring files: ``Dear Sergej, You are absolutely wrong. I'd ruther say that reception is very good! Regards, Dragan Lekic, Serbia`` It appears that the reception was indeed very good on both frequencies. But the RMS files sound just awful. 16 kbps AAC coding does not explain the complete lack already of the upper mids, so I guess the receiver uses a quite narrow filter bandwith. I also suspect that the hum and whine, respectively, were not on the received signal but were produced by a poor computer soundchip. It seems that the RMS is not designed to supervise the audio quality of transmissions but only to monitor signal strengths and interferences? An impression how Biblis transmissions actually sound gives this less-than-perfect recording from February 2006 which now is of historical value: http://www.radioeins.de/etc/medialib/rbb/rad/multimedia/audios/200602/voice_of_america_auf.smil..smi (maybe a bit shrill, but in the end it depends on the receiver anyway how it gets out of the loudspeaker) Concerning the continuation of VOA Ukrainian being an amazing development: It appears that the decision to keep it at least until yearend had been made at very short notice, just a few days ago. What one hears suggests that it culminated in the absurd situation that editors even did their show in the studio and were not sure if they are really still on air. This was also the reason for my question if the shortwave transmissions are still on air in reality, because this was an aspect that needed to be clarified separately. See also http://www.bloggernews.net/117638 Am I the only one who fails to realize what VOA broadcasts have to do with the vice president visiting whatever country? And here it becomes really absurd: http://www.bloggernews.net/117876 The BBG prevents VOA from airing the Russian programs it no longer produces via the Kurkino transmitter. But it's always nice to have a voodoo doll one can beat instead of the own corporation, isn't it? Btw, Sergei, your description of the current programming on 810 points at VOA Music Mix. It would be quite remarkable as well if VOA really does not bother to put News Now And Then on instead when it's on air. And nothing one could blame the BBG for (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re: Last VOA shows in Serbian, Bosnian and MacedonianWednesday, October 1, 2008 3:59 PM ``VOA Serbian programming 1930-2000z was an ordinary show [...] At 1958.59 Biblis turned off a carrier, to move before TOH to another frequency... [...] a podcast. They announced even some radio stations will download this show [mp3, 128 kbps, 44 kHz, stereo] and will transmit on their FM frequencies!`` What about the 2100-2130 transmission of VOA Serbian which I found still listed a few days ago on their website, although it was apparently just the soundtrack of a TV show if I got the remark there correct? Isn't it common practice at IBB sites to cut carriers at xx59:00, with Greenville being the most noteworthy exception? At least RFE Lithuanian ended just the same way than VOA Serbian on shortwave, on Jan 28 2001 at 2059, recorded on a Briech frequency (instead of // Playa de Pals, found that quite unfortunate until recently, but now it is of just the same historical value...): http://www.radioeins.de/etc/medialib/rbb/rad/multimedia/audios/200311/radio_free_europe.smil..smi And MP3 stereo at 128 kbps as source for broadcast use? Holy dear... (Kai Ludwig, Oct 1, ibid.) Audio from VOA TV in Serbian will be discontinued on SW 2100-2130 Mon- Fri 7255 kHz, I am sure. I am sure because I've just visited a IBB satellite schedule for HotBird: http://www.voa.gov/afl/pdf/hotbird.pdf and there is a blank cell where use to be audio from VOA Serbian TV program. Also on this schedule you can see that all audio of Macedonian, Serbian, Bosnian is deleted. Till yesterday there was an audio of VOA Bosnian TV program 2330-2400 M-F. I am also sure they discontinued TV audio, because VOA website http://www.voanews.com/english/about/frequenciesAtoZ_s.cfm shows: "Serbian: radio cancelled as of 1 October 2008" (and no SW frequencies at all!) ``Isn't it common practice at IBB sites to cut carriers at xx59:00?`` [See GERMANY for this part, since it concerns Biblis --- gh] Tinian transmitters drop carrier at xx58:30, I think... ``And MP3 stereo at 128 kbps as source for broadcast use? Holy dear`` Unfortunately, YES! Radio Subotica, Serbia with program in Croatian at the evenings used to transmit mp3 64 kbps, 44 kHz, MONO of Deutsche Welle Kroatisch. I phone-called the station's editor to intervene, so now they transmit DW with mp3, 128 kbps, 44 kHz, stereo. BY THE WAY, on IBB satellite schedule for NSS 703 (IOR): http://www.voa.gov/afl/pdf/ior.pdf You can easily see the following in red color: IOR 21: AMHA 0300-0330 M-F cancel 10/04/08 IOR 24: SWAH 0930-1000 M-F cancel 10/04/08 So, in the conclusion, apparently VOA Amharic & Swahili shows will be cancelled as of this Saturday. Best regards & many 73s! (Dragan Lekic from Serbia Oct 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) VoA Ukrainian 2000-2015 UT, 2015-2030 UT Mo-Fr, still via Biblis Germany on 7170 S=7, 9715 S=4-5 til Oct 25th, 2008. Ciao wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Yes, VOA Amharic morning program 0300-0330 and Swahili 0900-0930 will be ceased from Oct 4th (last program on 3rd). 2100 Serbian 7255 was OFF today Oct 1st. Regards (Wolfy Büschel, Oct 1, ibid.) VoA Ukrainian 2000-2015 UT, 2015-2030 UT Mo-Fr only, still via Biblis Germany on 7170 S=7, 9715 S=4-5 til Oct 25th. Sudanese Arabic at 1900-1930 UT 5880 Iranawila - nothing heard here, except adjacent DRM 5868-5875-5882 kHz; 9650 Wertachtal S=6-7, 11635 Tinang-MRA S=4-5, Oct 1st, wb. Yes, VOA Amharic morning program 0300-0330 UT and Swahili 0900-0930 UT will be ceased from Oct 4th (last program scheduled on 3rd). (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Oct 2 via DXLD) New VOA program for Darfur: SUDAN [non] ** U S A [non]. VOA, 9510 via Thailand, Oct 2 at 1345 promo for vice presidential debate ``Friday morning`` at 0100 UT. WTFK? Of course not! But VOA is normally on the SW air anyway to Asia at this hour. See our previous reports about special frequencies added for Africa, America. VOA, 9760 via Philippines, Oct 2 at 1354 with USG editorial delivered by YL, criticizing Malaysia`s Internal Security Act allowing jailing of any opposition; mixing with CRI on 9760 but clear on // 9510 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Frequency change for Voice of America in Bangla: 1600-1700 NF 9320 PHT 250 kW / 283 deg, ex 11835 \\ 7260 UDO 250 kW / 288 deg + MW 1575 [Thailand] (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Oct 7 via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Hello DXers, R. Sawa: while checking the 31 MB this morning today 3/10/08 around 0410 UT I noticed an Arabic station on 9575 kHz with a promo about a TV show on Al Hurra TV! Later on, a hip/hop song followed by an Egyptian new style hit; later on the ID was right, Radio Sawa. I checked 990 kHz and it was the same stream beamed to Egypt [via Cyprus]. They signed off at 0430 UT. I guess that was supposed to be in English as follows: 9575 VOICE OF AMERICA 0400-0430 English 250 kW 335 Talata-Volondry MDG. I checked their website, but there was only a list of FM frequencies and 3 MW frequencies, 990 kHz for Egypt and the eastern part of the Arab world, 1548 kHz for Iraq and the Gulf, 1431 kHz for Sudan and Yemen. Is that sort of a warmup for the ``VOA Sudanese Arabic for Darfur?`` mentioned in the DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-109, October 1, 2008? Will try to keep an eye on that frequency and will keep you posted. All the best guys (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, Oct 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The Darfur service supposed to be at 0300-0330 on other frequencies. See SUDAN [non] (gh) ** U S A. Now that RNI has moved from 7415 to 5110 on WBCQ, what do I hear at 0045 UT Monday Oct 6 on 7415? Brother Scare, of course, assuring us that the USA is about to go under. Much better signal on 7415 than 5110-CUSB, which was also evidencing approaching thunderstorms, but those closer to Monticello evidently prefer less coverage out here as it`s inevitably a tradeoff if you have to be on only one frequency from one site. At 0157, BS was still going on 7415 and still asserting the USA is about to collapse, but signal had weakened considerably, still better than 5110 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES TO AIR ON WBCQ 5110 October 2, 2008 – 5:47 pm --- The United States Vice Presidential Debate between Democratic candidate Joe Biden and Republican Sarah Palin, scheduled for Thursday, October 2, 2008, at 9:00 PM US Eastern Time (0100 UT Friday, October 3) will be aired on WBCQ 5.110 MHz as a service to our listeners in North America. Reception reports are welcome; direct your correspondence to radio [at] zappahead [dot] net. (Larry Will and Allan Weiner, WBCQ, in advance, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Running the debate was Al's idea; he called me late in the afternoon and asked if I could provide the audio, just as a continuation of the "Area 51" block. The source I used was live, off-air from C-Span Radio, WCSP FM 90.1 Washington DC (I remember hearing at least one station ID from them in our relay). It's the first time I've actually tuned into or listened to WCSP in a long time. We are now feeding WBCQ using a higher bitrate (64/44 mono) webcast, and I've calculated the delay between us and WBCQ to be about 30 to 35 seconds with the new higher bitrate. If Al would like to continue to run these important events on WBCQ, we here at "Area 51" will be ready to support the station. Lw (Larry Will, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Observations of the US Vice Presidential debate, starting at 0100 UT Oct 3: at the last minute, WBCQ announced it would broadcast the debate live on 5110-CUSB. Audible here running 15 seconds behind C-SPAN; I wonder what WBCQ`s source is. Kudos for being the only known private US SW station performing this public service, while there were none at all for the first Presidential debate. With local noise sources running, I scanned all bands from 16 to 60 meters at 0118-0123 and could not find a single VOA frequency with the debate, altho there surely were some on the other worldside. 15595, which was barely audible for previous debate, could not be detected now. There was however, an open carrier on 6040 at 0123, and it signed on as usual at 0129, but instead of Spe-cial Eng-lish immediately joined the debate in progress. A minute later the VOA announcer talked over the debate which did not pause for him, to say it was ``special simulcast coverage`` and invited e-mail reaxions to debate @ voanews.com Then found same on // 9820, also as before. And as I write at 0142 UT, I bet both of them go off again at 0200 in the middle of the debate. Most surprising was discovering live coverage of the debate, with immediate voice-over translation into Spanish, from REE, Spain on 9535 and much better on 6055. Shames VOA Spanish which was not doing it. After 0200 these should be joined by several other REE frequencies, 3350, 9630 via Costa Rica, 6125; and 6020 should already be on via CR as well. BTW, I cannot detect any correxion in Sarah Palin`s lenses, making me suspect she is wearing glasses for some other reason, such as to make her look more intelligent. See my Tips for Rational Living Commentary in upcoming DX Listening Digest 8-110 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VoA's Clandestine Relay of VP Debate VoA once again canceled its Special English broadcast today, Oct. 3 0130-0200 UT. Instead, a midsection of a fast-paced VP debate was carried on the usual Greenville frequencies of 6040 and 9820. Of course, the debate itself started at 0100. So it was picked up in Palin's mid-sentence right after a standard station's ID at 0130 (even though the carrier was up and running at least 20 min. earlier). No explanations of who's talking and what's the occasion were given. VoA finished its clandestine broadcast just as unexpectedly at 0200 by cutting Biden's response short. As a former Special English fan myself I can only imagine the disappointment of VoA's listeners. - Once again they were treated to a barrage of strange political slogans instead of scheduled specialized programming (Sergei S., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) You missed the voice-over announcement I copied at about 0131 at least explaining what was going on, not that that was any excuse for such unprofessional behaviour (gh, DXLD) Glenn, I did a band scan between 5900 to 10000 kHz looking for the debate and only found 5 stations broadcasting it: 6055 Radio Exterior España, (presumed) with the English broadcast underneath a Spanish translation. 0100-0200 6080, Voice of America, Just the English broadcast 0100-0200 7430, Voice of America, Just the English Broadcast 0100-0200 9535, Radio Exterior España, (presumed), with the English broadcast underneath a Spanish translation 0100-0200 9620, Radio Canada International (presumed), with the English broadcast 0100-0200 I didn't go any higher than 10 MHz since that band was probably gone by now (Chuck Bolland, FL, 0037 UT Oct 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I looked for VOA 6080 [Botswana or São Tomé] and 7430 [normally Kuwait during 01-02 UT] as reported by Chuck Bolland, FL, but could not hear them here. 9535 and 6055 were also heard here as in previous report. 9620 is the RCI English relay via Turkey! A bit surprised they would be carrying it. After 0200 I could hear REE/CR 3350 poorly but the other frequencies were not making it. I should add that as you would expect, AFN is carrying the debate, on 7811 at 0156 check, running a few seconds ahead of C-SPAN. The two VOA Greenville frequencies 6040 and 9820 did indeed sign off in the middle of the debate, just before 0200, according to the normal Spe-cial Eng-lish schedule of 0130-0200 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It's doubtful RCI carried the American Vice Presidential debate; however, at the same time as the Palin-Biden smack down was going on, the Canadian would-be Prime Ministers were duking it out in Ottawa on CBC Radio One and the many and various TV networks. This would also normally be carried on the CBC Northern Quebec Service on Shortwave [9625], same as the French debate the night before. If reception was poor they could be mistaken for each other because Elizabeth May (Green Party) was in the debate as well. I watched on TV. 5 people talking over each other could be mistaken for QRM I suppose. I focused on the Prime Minister squirming and Ms. May's glasses (cue ominous music). (Fred Waterer, 12 days to go and still undecided. Really, ibid.) Yesterday I heard a VoA Africa Service's announcement that presidential debates are carried live from 0100 to 0300 UT on 6080 and 15580. Every debate is followed by a discussion to fill up the second hour. The UT dates are Oct. 8 (hosted by Tom Brokaw of NBC at Belmont University in Nashville, TN, in a town hall-style format) and Oct. 16 (by Bob Schieffer of CBS at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY, with candidates seated at a table). (Sergei S., IL, Oct 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The same two I heard mentioned on the VOA African service regarding live coverage of the Republican Con; but we know there are more frequencies (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. VOA French service, Friday Oct 3 at 2105 on 12035 in the clear and also on 12080 mixing with presumed R. Australia, Brandon in English. At 2114 also found VOA French on 9830 mixing with the incessant RTTY on this frequency which other broadcast stations are smart enough to avoid. At this time 9830 was // 12035 but ahead of it; 9830 and 12080 were almost synchronized. What are the sites? 9830 - São Tomé at 335 degrees 12035 - São Tomé at 20 degrees 12080 - Botswana at 350 degrees One would have expected 9830 and 12035 to be synchronized, from same site --- unless they are deliberately unsynchronized from same site, to even out power consumption, as is done at other relay sites such as Tinian, Bonaire. With little propagating on 19m, found open carrier on 15115, Oct 5 at 1259, so stayed with it. At 1300, ``VOA Washington`` ID in unID language, poor with fades. Strangely, there was no YDD VOA sign-on nor any announcement in English of the language to follow, altho possibly I missed the latter in a fade. Turns out this is Somali via Madagascar. Do the RNW relays of IBB disallow the standard VOA sign-on and sign-off procedures? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That's a good question. Since I never heard standard VOA s/on & off procedure on non-IBB transmitters, I suppose they (RNW, Media Broadcast, VT Communications) don't have an audio source to transmit. So, probably all non-IBB transmitters take audio feed from satellites. IBB transmitter stations have CDs with VOA s/on & off announcements so they can use them. I'm not sure with Woofferton, England, since that was the IBB station in the past (I can't remember if they transmitted announcements). And since one transmitter from Kavala, Greece will be relocated to Dushanbe, Tajikistan, it is possible DB will transmit VOA s/on & off (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, Oct 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) It's even better: Apparently YDD is confined to sites that belonged to VOA in the old, pre-1994 days. I never heard this stuff on a former RFE/RL site, with Biblis and Lampertheim now being the only ones left. And yes, YDD is played out locally, thus one will never hear it on a non-VOA-old transmitter. Is it really a CD or probably NAB cart instead? I think I spotted the latter on a photo from Greenville, but it was not sufficient for being sure. Satellite should now be the audio source for all IBB transmitters, including Greenville. Delano had a telcom line feed because they were not in the footprint of any satellite carrying an IBB mux, but to my knowledge this was the only remaining exception. But wait, what about the Marathon mediumwave transmitter; is Greenville delayed against it? The complex satellite distribution can result in funny effects. I recall "This is Radio Free Europe. Radio Liberty. Praha. *buuub*" preceeding VOA Persian on a Wertachtal frequency. The feed had been switched to VOA only in the last second, certainly not a good idea. There appears to be an operational practice to not uncut the modulation early, but the result can be heard in the recording of VOA via Biblis referenced a few days ago: Ussian. Ah-yes. Actually this was meant to be "Welcome to the Voice of America in Russian." Didn't we already discuss which other operators still insert interval signals or audio with the same function (i.e. YDD) locally? Litomysl and Bijeljina apparently still do, and Wertachtal/Nauen did also for DW for a long time, probably even til the bitter end. Anybody else? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) ** U S A. JOHN H. NORRIS BATTLED FOR FREE SPEECH THE CO-FOUNDER OF RED LION BROADCASTING CO. DIED SUNDAY. By TERESA ANN BOECKEL Daily Record/Sunday News Article Last Updated: 10/01/2008 02:44:17 PM EDT http://ydr.inyork.com/ci_10604047 John Harden Norris took a leap of faith when he moved to the York area to manage a religious broadcasting station that his father wanted to start and that became part of an important First Amendment case. Norris, a chemist, was living with his young family in Delaware at the time, but he believed in what his father, the Rev. John M. Norris, was doing, said Patti Slaughter, John H. Norris' daughter. Together, they started the Red Lion Broadcasting Co., which grew from an AM radio station in 1950 to include FM radio, shortwave radio and a television station. The shortwave radio broadcasts have been heard in South America, Europe and the Mediterranean. John H. Norris, who has been considered a pioneer in the broadcasting field, died Sunday at his home. He was 88. The broadcasting company is also known for a U.S. Supreme Court battle it waged against the Federal Communications Commission over the "Fairness Doctrine" in the 1960s. One of the station's broadcasters, the Rev. Billy James Hargis, said on air that journalist Fred J. Cook -- who had written a book called "Barry Goldwater -- Extremist of the Right" -- had been fired from a newspaper after making a false charge against an unnamed official. Hargis also said Cook's book was meant to "smear and destroy" Goldwater. Cook wanted air time to respond to Hargis' statements, and Norris offered it to Cook as long as he paid for it. Cook, however, argued that it should be free. For small stations, it would be difficult to survive if they had to provide free air time to people who felt they had been criticized, Patti Slaughter said. It was a battle between free speech under the First Amendment and a government agency regulating what broadcasting companies can do, said Norris' son-in-law, Edward Slaughter. Norris lost his case when the Supreme Court sided with the FCC, but he later felt vindicated when the Fairness Doctrine was abolished under President Ronald Reagan's administration, the family said in written statements. "We felt that we were right," Patti Slaughter said. "He continued to speak out against it all these years." To this day, the Fairness Doctrine is still taught in law school and even debated by the public. Besides the court case, Patti Slaughter said her father will be remembered for helping out with projects or personal needs. "He would give and give and give," she said. John Peeling, general manager of the television station, recalled John H. Norris as an easy-going guy who was nice to work for. Norris always had a goal he wanted to achieve. One of his latest ones was going digital with the television broadcast. It's already on the air. "We will do whatever he would want us to do if he were here," Peeling said. SERVICES --- The funeral service for John Harden Norris will be 10 a.m. Thursday at Burg Funeral Home, 134 W. Broadway in Red Lion, according to Norris' obituary. Viewings will be 7 to 9 p.m. today and 9 to 10 a.m. Thursday at the funeral home. Burial will be in New Harmony Presbyterian Cemetery with full military rites by the York County Honor Guard (via Kim Elliott, DXLD) Published in the York Daily Record & York Dispatch on 9/30/2008 (extract) ,,,He worked as an engineer of Sinclair Oil and Refining Company in Claymont, Del., and also at Dupont Chemical in Wilmington Del., as a chemist. John left his position with the Sinclair Oil to assist his father with the Red Lion Broadcasting Company project. On October 22, 1950, WGCBAM went on the air and John assumed its managerial duties. In 1958 he established WGCB-FM, this being one of the first stations to broadcast in stereo, WINB short-wave in 1962 and WGCB-TV channel 49 in 1979. At that time he was the only individual in the United States to own and operate AM, FM, short-wave and TV in one location and under one ownership. Under John's watchful care, these stations have specialized in family and religious programming to this day. The mission established by the motto of their call letters WGCB "the World for God, Christ, and the Bible" has been fulfilled. During his lifetime, he had been a church elder at Bible Presbyterian Church of York County. He was also active in the Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club. Better Business Bureau of York, National Religious Broadcasters; FCC landmark Supreme court case Red Lion Broadcasting vs. the FCC... http://www.legacy.com/YORK/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStoryPrint&PersonID=118189240 Red Lion Broadcasting Co.v. FCC, April 2, 1969: Facts of the Case http://www.oyez.org/cases/1960-1969/1968/1968_2_2/ The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) fairness doctrine requires radio and television broadcasters to present a balanced and fair discussion of public issues on the airwaves. The doctrine is composed of two primary requirements concerning personal attacks in the context of public issue debates and political editorializing. The FCC conditioned its renewal of broadcast licenses on compliance with its regulations. Red Lion Broadcasting challenged the application of the fairness doctrine with respect to a particular broadcast. In a companion case (United States v. Radio Television News Directors Association (RTNDA)), the fairness doctrine's requirements concerning any broadcast were challenged. Question Do the FCC's fairness doctrine regulations, concerning personal attacks made in the context of public issue debates and political editorializing, violate the First Amendment's freedom of speech guarantees? Conclusion In a unanimous decision, the Court held that the fairness doctrine was consistent with the First Amendment. Writing for the Court, Justice White argued that spectrum scarcity made it "idle to posit an unabridgeable First Amendment right to broadcast comparable to the right of every individual to speak, write, or publish." The Court held that the FCC's fairness doctrine regulations enhanced rather than infringed the freedoms of speech protected under the First Amendment. With respect to the regulation of personal attacks made in the context of public issue debates, the FCC's requirement that the subject of the attack be provided with a tape, transcript, or broadcast summary, as well as an opportunity to respond without having to prove an inability to pay for the "air-time," insured a balanced and open discussion of contested issues. The requirement that political editorializing be presented for and against both sides of the debated issues also contributed to the balanced discussion of public concerns (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I have never [heard] WINB up in Allentown, but perhaps those further afield might want to keep an eye on its frequency(ies) (is it even still on now?) for changes (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) Of course it`s on the air, viz.: (gh) ** U S A. Brother Scare via WINB, 9265, Oct 2 at 1341, mixing with ``running water`` ute QRM for part of the 1343 minute; and not // Brother Scare via WWRB, 9385 --- at least no // detected during a minute of listening to each frequency. If you don`t like what he`s saying on one station, just tune to the other! Then what? Just when is B.S. on WINB? Their online sked displays it this way, rather inconveniently, in EDT: The Overcomer Mon-02:00P, Tue-02:00P, Wed-02:00P, Thu-02:00P, Fri-02:00P [= M-F 1800 UT, for how long? One hour] The Overcomer - Bro. Stair Sun-05:00P [2100 UT, for how long? 1 hour per sked by time, so why isn`t this included in the following entry?] The Overcomer (1 Hr.) Sun-02:00P, Mon-05:00P, Tue-05:00P, Wed-05:00P, Thu-05:00P Fri-05:00P, Sat-05:00P [Sun 18-19 so why isn`t this included in the first entry? And Mon-Sat 21-22 UT] The Overcomer (3 Hr.) Sat-02:00P [1800-2100 UT] The Overcomer (4 Hr.) Sat-10:00A [1400-1800 UT] Note that on Saturdays only, or rather The Sabbath, this adds up to a continuous 8-hour broadcast 1400-2200. Frequencies? At the top of the page it now shows: Frequency Schedule (EDT) 0630 - 0800 9265 kHz [1030-1200 UT] 0800 - 1700 13570 kHz [1200-2100 UT] 1700 - 1800 11520 kHz [2100-2200 UT] 1800 - 2300 9265 kHz [2200-0300 UT] 11520??? I was almost convinced the 21-22 UT hour, which only carries Brother Scare, came via DTK in Germany. WRTH, HFCC and EiBi do not have this hour at all on 11520 from anywhere, and Aoki lists it as USA but no further details. The latest FCC update as of August 14 does not have 11520 as WINB or any US station. We hear the broadcast just about any day, and it seems to us the audio is appropriate for DTK and not WINB. However, the WINB schedule shows it filling a one-hour gap between 13570 until 21 and 9265 from 22, so it would seem to be their own transmitter. Even so, another possible scenario is that it is WINB only in the sense that WINB is being relayed via Germany. But the latest M&B/DTK schedule dated Sept 5 does not show 11520, only 13810, 17485 and 6110 for TOM = The Overcomer Ministry, at other times. Yet another scenario is that 11520 may have been relayed from Germany for a while this summer, then transferred to Red Lion. We must listen closer to any IDs at beginning or end, and also whether there is any overlap with 13570 and 9265. Furthermore, whenever we tune 13570 with BFO on, we find that the frequency is unstable with a pronounced warble, and if it is the same transmitter, that should also happen on 11520 (and 9265). That may be the clincher once checked. But why doesn`t FCC have 11520 on record?? {Wait a minute: I got so carried away with the 11520 anomaly, that I failed to note that per their sked, at 1341, WINB is supposed to be carrying Family Radio instead of Brother Scare! So the FR sked via WINB is further questionable. Furthermore, WINB is supposed to be on 13570 after 1200 UT, let alone 1300, per their own schedule, and online schedules. Could BS heard on 9265 be something else? Nothing else listed except WMLK, which also uses 9265, but not scheduled anywhere near that hour either, and has been silent for months. I did not check 13570 at that time.} {at the Overcomer website, if you click on Graphical Shortwave Schedule, http://www.overcomerministry.org/calendar/phpicalendar/day.php?cpath=&getdate=20080625&cal[]=t-sys&cal[]=wbcq&cal[]=winb&cal[]=wwrb it defaults to June 25! But then you can ``jump to`` the current week, and find it is hopelessly confused and out of date, still showing WBCQ 9330 and 5110, which were abandoned months ago. It does however, still claim that 11520 is WINB} Let`s also check the Family Radio relay times on WINB, which can cause confusion with Harold Camping & Co. showing up here despite his dozen transmitters in Okeechobee and ever-expanding overseas relays. There can never be enough droning from this unordained authority with seemingly limitless broadcasting resources: Family Radio - English Sun-08:00A, Sun-09:00A, Sun-08:00P, Mon-08:00A, Mon-09:00A, Mon-08:00P, Tue-08:00A, Tue-09:00A, Tue-08:00P, Wed-08:00A, Wed-09:00A, Wed-08:00P, Thu-08:00A, Thu-09:00A, Thu-08:00P, Fri-08:00A, Fri-09:00A, Fri-08:00P, Sat-08:00A, Sat-09:00A, Sat-08:00P. [I.e., much more succinctly, converted to UT, one hour each and with frequencies: Daily 12-14 13570, 00-01 9265.] Family Radio - Spanish Sun-07:00A, Sun-07:00P, Mon-07:00A, Mon-07:00P, Tue-07:00A, Tue-07:00P, Wed-07:00A, Wed-07:00P, Thu-07:00A, Thu-07:00P, Fri-07:00A, Fri-07:00P, Sat-07:00A, Sat-07:00P. [I.e., much more succinctly, converted to UT, one hour each and with frequencies: Daily 11-12 & 23-24 9265.] While we are looking at the WINB program schedule, we find this for Tony Alámo: Mon-11:00A, Mon-03:00P, Mon-06:00P, Tue-11:00A, Tue-03:00P, Tue-06:00P, Wed-11:00A, Wed-03:00P, Wed-06:00P, Thu-11:00A, Thu-03:00P, Thu-06:00P, Fri-11:00A, Fri-03:00P, Fri-06:00P Or put much more conveniently, converted to UT: M-F 1500-1600 & 1900- 2000 13570, 2200-2300 on 9265. So we may hear how he responds to the charges against him, and whether these broadcasts get canceled (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) About 3 weeks ago somebody scattered leaflets all over the part of town where I work. In English and Spanish. They said "Pastor Tony Alamo tells it like it is... On WINB. Frequency 13.570". Very odd to see any form of advertising for a SW program. 73 (Tim Hall, San Diego, Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry, Oct 2, ABDX via DXLD) FWIW, Tony Alamo is considered "fringe" even by the Fundamentalist community, and has run afoul of the law of late. See http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/239535/ (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, Oct 7, swprograms via DXLD) Following up my earlier observations of WINB: silly me, I assumed the schedule on the WINB website was correct. Well, stations are entitled to the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise by axual monitoring, which is extremely easy to accomplish, as RHC has also found out. I had certainly heard 11520 between 21 and 22 with Brother Scare, several times in past weeks, but not any more. At 2058:30, 13570v went from the Fence Lake, New Mexico preacher to sign-off announcement, talking over the Star Spangled Banner! And these gospel-huxters are supposed to be super-patriotic? That`s tantamount to flag desecration. They don`t quite get what you are supposed to do with the SSB, which is: play it all the way thru unimpeded, even if it is a shortened version, when signing on or off. Announced QSY to 9265, no mention of 11520, cut off with SSB still playing at precisely 2059:08. Meanwhile I was standing by on both 11520 and 9265. Nothing ever came up on 11520, but a much weaker signal than 13570 came up exactly one minute later on 9265. It had the same warbling unstable carrier as 13570 when monitored with BFO. Did not sound like Brother Scare programming; signal built up a little bit by 2106 when I could be sure the singing on 9265 was not // the B.S. talking on WWRB 9385. If another site was carrying B.S. on 11520 during this hour, it was inaudible. Reception from Europe was not very good, but Spain [not Vatican] to Africa was audible on 11625. So WINB is not using 11520, which the FCC has not listed anyway, and contrary to its own claimed schedule, switches directly from 13570v to 9265v at 2059-2100 UT. Also, as noted earlier, it appears WINB stays on 9265 at least two hours longer in the morning than the authorized 1200 switch to 13570. And then there`s the YFR and BS programming which does not match the schedule either. Multiple things are amiss here. Cf my comments under EQUATORIAL GUINEA about getting act together. Checked WINB again Oct 3 to reconfirm scheduling anomalies contradicting own website: at 1235, 9265v with the warbling carrier, Brother Scare instead of Harold Camping on 13570 where there was nothing. At 1300, B.S. continued on 9265 with no ID break. A different Brother Scare not // 9265 was on WWRB 9385 at 1310; however, he was just barely audible beneath a big hum. Wiggle that patchcord! I then decided that 9385 was running about one minute behind 9265 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WYFR Audio clip --- Hi to all. My new audio clip of WYFR 6985 KHz is available here: http://www.hb9gce.ch/WYFR_20081004_025834_6985.mp3 73 de Andy http://www.hb9gce.ch (Stumpf Carl Andreas, Oct 4, HCDX via DXLD) Very authentic sounding announcer, sounded like a tech inserting the announcement into the broadcast. It added a touch of class (Paul, NZ, ibid.) This YL voice does all the WYFR frequency change announcements, clearly not a professional announcer. Hearing her is hardly remarkable in NAm, multiple times a day on multiple frequencies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. New transmissions of WYFR Family in UNID langs: 1400-1500 on 6180 SAM 250 kW / 140 deg to CeAs from Oct.6 1400-1500 on 13600 WER 250 kW / 075 deg to CeAs from Oct.7 Cancelled transmissions of WYFR Family Radio via VT Comm. from Oct. 6: 0400-0500 on 3955 SKN 250 kW / 106 deg to WeEu German 1230-1330 on 15340 DHA 250 kW / 085 deg to SoAs Bengali 1600-1700 on 17545 ASC 250 kW / 100 deg to SoAf Portuguese 1800-1900 on 3955 SKN 250 kW / 106 deg to WeEu English 1800-1900 on 13780 RMP 500 kW / 105 deg to ME English 1800-2000 on 11775 SKN 250 kW / 165 deg to WeEu English 1900-2000 on 11970 DHA 250 kW / 285 deg to NoAf French 1900-2000 on 15165 SKN 250 kW / 105 deg to ME Arabic 2000-2100 on 3230 MEY 100 kW / 005 deg to SoAf English 2000-2100 on 9485 DHA 250 kW / 260 deg to WCAf English 2000-2100 on 11970 DHA 250 kW / 330 deg to WeEu English 2030-2130 on 11985 KIG 250 kW / 295 deg to WeAf French 2115-2315 on 11875 ASC 250 kW / 065 deg to CeAf English (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, Oct 7 via DXLD) ** U S A. WWRB scheduling with FCC has finally been updated to reflect what they have axually been doing during the A-08 season. Unused 15250, 12180 and 9430 have been removed, leaving 100 kW at: 2300-1200 3185, 340 degrees 1200-2300 9385, 340 degrees 2200-0400 5050, 0 degrees 2200-0400 5745, 150 degrees 2200-0400 6890, 45 degrees All of these shift one UT hour later for the standard time period, Nov 2, 2008, to March 7, 2009. WWRB`s FCC schedule has been revised to show the 340 degree antenna changing from 3185 to 9385 at 1200 UT. Nevertheless, Oct 4 at 1241, both were on the air, but not //, R. G. Stair not speaking at the moment, but presumably The Overcomer Ministry anyway. 3185 was much better than 9385 at this time as higher bands had not yet opened up, e.g. WWCR 7490 and 9980 nearby geographically also poor. At 1249, Stair himself had started talking on the 3185 Sabbath broadcast. UT Sun Oct 5 at 0132 found dead air on 3185, but not for long. Pauses lasting from 6 to 15 seconds were interrupted by unintelligible screaming, usually in two smaller segments. Occasionally the preacher lapsed into quasi-normal speech, so that at 0144 I could make out that he was referring to I Thessalonians, chapter 1, which looks like boilerplate to me, nothing special to quote, refute or ridicule. This screaming alternating with excessive pauses is the M.O. of E. C. Fulcher, on The Truth House, as on the WWRB 3185 schedule for 8-9 pm Saturdays, i.e. CDT, not EDT. It is as if he is recharging after each outburst. WWCR has a link http://www.truthhouse.org/ Incredibly, this is at the top of the homepage: ``Dr. Fulcher feels that his greatest accomplishment, whether it is in the music field or the ministry, is when people say that he teaches God's Word in a way that they can understand.`` His shortwave station listings at http://www.truthhouse.org/thvbn/pdf/radioschedule.pdf include WWCR but fail to mention WWRB (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWCR, 13845 as always with Doctor Gene Scott service, Oct 4 at 2203, quite strong signal tho with RTTY QRM audible. Also audible clearly underneath DGS was another program which I soon paralleled to 7465, at 2205 starting Golden Age of Radio Theatre, presenting `1984y` by George Orwell! I am still not clear whether this pervasive problem at WWCR happens in the transmitters and antennas right next to each other, or in the audio control boards (or both). If the DGS modulation had stopped, I could easily have listened to the other program, altho dubbing it undermodulated. WWCR, 13845 with DGS service, Oct 5 at 1256, good signal and no crosstalk audible, even during his pregnant pauses, unlike the previous afternoon. Other programming on WWCR 15825 also good at 1303, so must be an off-season sporadic-E opening. Otherwise 19m was pretty dead with not much besides Sackville and Habana, and 16m was even deader. K-index at 12 was 2, and solar flux for Oct 4 was still 67 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. World Harvest Radio, more Hmong programming: see LAOS [non]. T8WH with VTC tests: see PALAU ** U S A. The new shortwave KTMI in Oregon is expected on air some time quite soon (Adrian Peterson, AWR Wavescan 27 August via Oct BDXC- UK Communication via DXLD) Not by me! As previously reported, the KTMI construxion permit expires October 3. Scuttlebutt in the industry is that they have made no progress whatsoever in building the facility, so CP is not likely to be renewed, and certainly not hit the airwaves in the next few days, despite advance frequency registrations just in case (Glenn Hauser, Oct 1, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Glenn: Just a heads up on some changes beginning this weekend. Saturday changes as follows: 1600-1630 UT - Your World Your Way 1630-1800 UT - The Bryne Edwards Show 1800-2000 UT - Repeat of 1600-1800 2000-2030 UT - La Visita (new time) [replacing WORLD OF RADIO] 2030-2100 UT - Junta Militar de Veteranos Cubanoamericanos (new program, although it used to be on for a time several months ago) [replacing AWR Wavescan] and Sunday: 0200-0230 UT - Your World Your Way 0230-0400 UT - The Bryne Edwards Show 0500-0700 UT - QSO (new time) 1600-2000 UT - Repeat of 1600-2000 UT Saturday [replacing QSO with Ted Randall 18-20] and UT Monday: 0200-0230 UT - Your World Your Way 0230-0400 UT - The Bryne Edwards Show As far as I know, there is one new show of Your World Your Way and The Bryne Edwards Show each week. They are repeated in two hour blocks throughout each weekend. Brief program descriptions for YWYW and Bryne Edwards Show are on our website (Jeff White, WRMI, Oct 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Your World Your Way The mission of the radio show "Your World, Your Way" is to help people achieve their dreams faster than they ever before imagined. The show is sponsored by Cheetah Learning and is hosted by Michelle LaBrosse, the founder of Cheetah Learning and author of Cheetah Project Management. In this show, Michelle shares with listeners how they can quickly reach any goal by using easy to learn accelerated learning and project management methods. For more information visit http://www.cheetahradio.com Broadcast Schedule on WRMI: 1600-1630 UT Saturday and Sunday on 9955 (12:00-12:30 pm Eastern Time) 1800-1830 UT Saturday and Sunday on 9955 ( 2:00- 2:30 pm Eastern Time) 0200-0230 UT Sunday and Monday on 9955 (10:00-10:30 pm ET Sat & Sun) The Bryne Edwards Show Just when you thought the world was too serious, The Bryne Edwards Show may change your mind. Spend some time with us and enjoy music, talk, satire and a good dose of fun. Delivering good entertainment to the world of shortwave broadcasting is our mission. So, relax, enjoy and let The Bryne Edwards Show take you on a journey of the mind. Broadcast Schedule on WRMI: 1630-1800 UT Saturday and Sunday on 9955 (12:30-2:00 pm Eastern Time) 1830-2000 UT Saturday and Sunday on 9955 ( 2:30-4:00 pm Eastern Time) 0230-0400 UT Sunday and Monday on 9955 (10:30 pm-12 mn ET Sat & Sun) (WRMI website via DXLD) Google search on his unusual name gets very few hits, but this: http://www.new.facebook.com/people/Bryne_Edwards/591991689 Listened to a bit of the Bryne Edwards Show, new on WRMI, 9955, via webcast Sunday Oct 5 at 1634. It`s pronounced Brinn, short i. Started with music rather than discussion of financial markets, so is that his main focus? Hard-driving rock music continued uninterrupted past 1657. And I interrupted listening to the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, now on KCSC Sundays at 16-17 UT, for this??? Promised ``more insightful commentary`` after the top of the hour; meanwhile, more music. After 1700, Bryne described his music as ``hard driving techno, trance, even some chill-out music`` and promoted show called ``Power Learning``. At 1702 he explained that his planned guests this week both cancelled, so more music fill. Next week he said there will be a change in programming, first hour Your World Your Way, followed by Power Learning and then the B.E. show, check WRMI website for details. As of 1550 UT Oct 6, nothing about Power Learning on WRMI site, where The Brynn Edwards show is filed under T. So these shows are in fact related, coming from the same source. They appear to be thinly disguised infomercials, but what are they selling, exactly? Enough of that music so I quit at 1710. It seems they jumped the gun in buying all this SW airtime before they were really ready to fill it. Reminds me of some previous short-lived WRMI clients (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. This week on QSO --- Alvin C. York special event station this week starting Sunday. N4Y on 28.370 14.270 7.270 3.870 145.270 FM and EchoLink N4ECW-R Operating October 5-12, 1800-2359Z Dr. Birdwell of the Tennessee Tech University and Dr. Michael Barrett talk about Alvin C. York appreciation week and the special event station N4Y. If you just make contact with N4Y you will receive a beautiful certificate suitable for framing. You will also be entered into a drawing to receive a custom Alvin C. York knife. Find out all about this famous American hero and the special event station N4Y Also this week on QSO Wayne Green W2NSD He is the founder of 73 Magazine, Byte, CD Review, Cold Fusion and dozens of other magazines. He is an international speaker as well as being a guest speaker on popular radio shows including Art Bell's Coast to Coast AM. Wayne speaks about amateur radio, health, nutrition, world travel, cold fusion, education, new/future technologies, ET's, and his helping develop amateur radio in Jordon. Listen for Wayne’s health and weight loss diet for hams! If you are an overweight amateur, Wayne tells what to buy at the supermarket that will take off the pounds. ---------------------- QSO Radio Show http://www.tedrandall.com WBCQ 7415 kilohertz Monticello Maine Saturday nights [for two hours?] 11PM EDT, 10PM CDT, 9PM MDT, 8PM PDT, 0300 UT [Sundays] Target area the USA and Mexico WRMI Radio Miami International 9955 kilohertz Sundays From 1 to 3 AM ET 0500-0700 UT [NEW TIME, ex Sun 18-20] Target area the Caribbean and South America (Ted Randall, Oct 4, in advance on the dxldyg, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WOR: WRN Podcast? Survey. Anyone else having trouble downloading the current WOR Podcast from WRN using Itunes? If worse comes to worst I will download it from GH's Webpage. Be Honest: How do you regularly listen to WORLD OF RADIO? Me: Podcast, downloads. The last time I listened to WOR on shortwave was at least ten years ago (Larry Nebron, CA, Oct 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. In the clear: The following move, as reported in the Waterloo Region Record, should facilitate nighttime reception of Cleveland's WTAM on 1100 in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, which is about 60 miles west of Toronto: "Oldies 1090 will soon be moving to the FM dial. "Music just sounds better on FM," Paul Cugliari, vice- president and general manager, said. The station has approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. The CTV Globemedia-owned station must build a new transmitter, but Cugliari hopes be on the air at 99.5 FM this year. The station will broadcast on both bands for a few months. There are also plans for a new name but one hasn't been chosen yet." (Harry van Vugt, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, Oct 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CANADA ** U S A. KFI is very very weak tonight. There is an SS [Spanish speaker] on 640 and KFI is not listenable at all (Patrick Martin Seaside OR, Oct 3, IRCA via DXLD) According to KFI engineering staff -- most of the latest DX reports confirm that the new 650 foot tower with top hat is not doing as well as the old 750 foot tall tower (Mike McKenna, ibid.) KFI is much weaker tonight than I have ever heard them. There's an SS station on there making listening to them really tedious. Some of you commented on their improved signal from their new tower, which they started using a week ago today. Are they a lot weaker than they were then? (Dennis Gibson, CA, Oct 2, ibid.) Gibson never says where he is, which would be helpful in discussions like this. ARRL lookup on his ham call W6TNB reveals: Santa Bárbara. Once you`re licensed, you can`t hide, unless you move and don`t tell the FCC (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Dennis, KFI 640 at 1236 UT is S-9+10db on the NW ewe. S-9+5 db on the H-800 active whip. Much fading on both antennas. Signal is down here from the first two days of the new antenna switch. Solar indices at A 14 and K 4, maybe this could be the reason? (Dennis, Salmon Creek, WA, Vroom, ibid.) Interestingly enough, sometimes an electrically short tower [think fat donut] works better than an electrically tall tower [think flattened donut], when it comes to skywave. For groundwave and to reduce groundwave/skywave interaction, an electrically tall tower is a big plus however (Phil Rafuse, PEI, ibid.) Same here over Dallas. Very disappointing, they used to punch through very well. Fortunately I can compare with KNBR and KNX to determine when the propagation is best. Although they aren't always reliable predictors. I am wondering if the problem is their grounding system (Bruce Carter, TX, Oct 3, ibid.) Ground is certainly a possibility. It may be that the ground is worse than before, or it may be that it is better and there is less skyward radiation. Some stations with lousy ground systems had awesome skywave, as some European DXers noted in the past when CIGO was 10 kW on 1410. Could there be some building or buildings messing with their pattern? Maybe someone put up a windmill? Don't laugh, a windmill really messed up the former 92 CJCH's signal in downtown Halifax. Are they [KFI] back on IBOC? I remember WOR's signal 1. before new site, 2. with new site but no IBOC at night and 3. with new site and IBOC at night. Their old site had a pretty pathetic signal in PEI, new site without nighttime IBOC was really good - really holding its own against then local 720 CHTN and awesome when CHTN flipped to FM, then when WOR switched on IBOC at night [Sept 2007??? IIRC???] their signal lost all its punch. They are often messed up by Cuba here and they are plagued by fading - a very unstable signal. If I didn't know better, I'd say WOR was only running 10KW analogue at night. or, that IBOC really messed with their pattern. Often 5 kW 1410 WPOP Hartford CT has a better signal here than WOR. Yet before nighttime IBOC WOR seemed on a par with 660 WFAN, 880 WCBS etc. with a strong stable skywave signal (Phil Rafuse, Stratford PEI Canada, ibid.) My understanding is that their ground system was not damaged when the tower came down; they are still using it. Their signal strength is back to normal today. [Later:] They are not doing IBOC. Yet. There is a problem with the new tower. I know what it is but I was told with the condition that I not pass it along. I will after the problem is resolved. They're not going to do IBOC until the tower problem is fixed (Dennis Gibson, Oct 3, ABDX via DXLD) Yeah, I figure there's GOT to be something going on with it. With all of us (including YOU, Dennis, right there IN SoCal) having reception issues, there just doesn't seem any way they could be running the full 50 kW (Michael n Wyo Richard, ibid.) ** U S A. Caught this about Peoria, Ill. radio: From the Illinois Airwaves Message Board: "PEORIA RADIO STATIONS WOAM 1350 AND WPMJ-FM TO CLOSE ________________________________________ By STEVE TARTER of the Journal Star Posted Oct 02, 2008 @ 10:23 AM Last update Oct 02, 2008 @ 01:40 PM ________________________________________ PEORIA — Two Peoria radio stations, WOAM 1350 and oldies station WPMJ- FM 94.3, will close after today, according to station owner Bob Kelly. Staff was informed this morning that the two stations would leave the air after today's broadcast day, said Roger Monroe, co-host of WOAM’s "Breakfast with Royce and Roger." Monroe has hosted the morning show with Royce Elliott for the past seven years. "We’re devastated. We knew the station wasn’t setting records, but we have an excellent audience," he said. He said word that the stations have been in financial difficulty have been circulating for over a year. "The stations have been up for sale for years. We thought (Kelly) was announcing a buyer," he said (via Eric Loy, DWS Sportsnight, WDWS Radio, Champaign IL, 217-351-5613, Oct 2, DXLD) ** U S A. COMMENTS ON THE TEMECULA 1610 KHZ TIS STATION The new Temecula AM station appears to be a Travelers' Information Station [TIS], licensed under Section 90.242 as WQIQ379 at 10W ERP on 4/14/08. This is considered a Public Safety station, not a broadcast station. Does [the City of Temecula] know the difference? TIS stations are restricted in their location and use to information about road conditions, traffic alerts and directions, lodging availability, and visitor attractions. That does not include emergency alerts not falling into those categories nor other news about city operations. It appears from the article that they may be slightly over the line and in need of education. This has been a problem that the non- technical agents in the [FCC] Field Offices run up against time after time. Perhaps one of the San Diego FCC crew can set them straight. Phil Kane, K2ASP [Phil Kane was District Director of the FCC's San Francisco District Field Office and speaks from years of experience. -Ed.] FOLLOW UP ON THE TEMECULA 1610 KHZ TIS STATION o The Temecula TIS station is in fact licensed with call sign WQIQ379. To see their authorization, visit the URL below and about 1/3 of the way down the page click on the blue colored phrase "Authorization -- Licensee." http://tinyurl.com/469srf o Note that the station is authorized by the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, not the Media Bureau or even the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau as one might imagine. o Atop page 2 of the authorization, note that a condition is imposed whereby "Travelers Information Stations shall transmit only noncommercial voice information pertaining to traffic and road conditions, traffic hazard advisories, directions, availability of lodging, rest stops and service stations, and descriptions of local points of interest." o The following newspaper articles suggest that the Temecula TIS station could be using some programming that would violate the aforementioned bounds: http://www.myvalleynews.com/story.php?story_id=32963 http://tinyurl.com/Press-Enterprise o The Editor of the CGC Communicator newsletter has spoken with Tim Thorson, the person apparently in charge of the Temecula TIS station, and he is aware of the strict limits placed on TIS programming. Random monitoring by CGC suggests that the actual programming on the station is rule-compliant for the most part -- even outstanding in several respects -- and we hope that the potentially non-compliant parts will be removed quickly. o WQIQ379 is not an all-purpose disaster information station. WQIQ379 could conceivably broaden the scope of its programming by obtaining a letter-ruling from the FCC, but absent something in writing the type of information WQIQ379 is allowed to disseminate is tightly restricted. o Finally, here are a couple of photographs of the TIS antenna atop the City of Temecula's Library - it's an attractive installation: http://earthsignals.com/add_CGC/Temecula_TIS.htm o Thanks to CGC Communicator readers for providing valuable insights on WQIQ379. May the station have a very successful future (CGC Communicator Oct 6 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. A new digital Es target? KSNB Superior NE applies to change its permanent DTV allocation from 34 to 4! http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-08-2234A1.pdf I never logged this one in analog form...maybe without KTIV and all those other 4s in the way, it will come through digitally next year... s (Scott Fybush, Rochester NY, Oct 6, WTFDA via DXLD) ** UZBEKISTAN. 15515, NORTHERN MARIANA [sic]. CVC, in English, 9/27, 0801-0838. pop song, music break and M talk, brief chat by M & W, M ID, announcement by W and continuing music program with disco, pop and rock songs and M DJ, IDs, W interview to M correspondent, QTH, ID: " This is CVC..good friend and a message of hope", song , heard in LSB with slow sporadic QSB, fair (Giovanni Serra, ITALY, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) I`m not aware of CVC using any Northern Mariana site – yet; anything could happen, these days. But this is listed as Tashkent, 03-09 UT. Why did you hear it in LSB? Was there QRM on the hi side? Surely you don`t mean it was transmitted in LSB only. If you just happened to have receiver in LSB mode and that worked OK, it`s not really significant (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VANUATU. 7260 kHz, at 0645 UT Sept 28 tune in with pop music program with female DJ. Could not make much out of the chat but 0700 definite mention of Vanuatu and perhaps a brief 2 minute newscast. Back to pop music program but now with male DJ, and many mentions of Vanuatu. Just above the noise (Mick Delmage, Alberta, DXplorer via BC- DX via DXLD) Via remote receiver in Australia: 7260, VTBC, Tentative, 0845 Oct 5. Still flirting with this one. Channel seems clear, but very weak signal. Pop music. Tried again at 0915 and there is a station co- channel (Mongolia) at this time, but could hear man with snippets of Pidgin English. But he faded out or station signed off by 0918. Just gotta keep trying and hope to catch it on a good day or with a new 10 kW transmitter (Hans Johnson, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Hans, Tnx, up there now, good Island music some,,,, non English (Bob Wilkner, FL, 0804 UT Oct 6, ibid.) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Since the relay was so fouled up the day before, [see CUBA in previous report] I checked 11705 again Oct 2 at 1243. This time RNV was axually being broadcast and in Spanish, but somewhat distorted and with occasional audio dropouts for a fraxion of a second. At the moment, a sports segment, with listeners addressed as ``usuarios y usuarias``, i.e. male and female users! I have never heard any other Spanish-speaking station do this, so I wonder why RNV uses this terminology. Is it a Venezuelan thing, or a Bolivarian thing with ideological implications like ``comrades``? Or are they implying listeners should be addicted to RNV broadcasts?! Also for our amusement, occasional Windows cues mixed with the talk (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Usuarios y usuarias --- These terms don't have an ideological implication and it is not fair to translate them as users in English, in other words, in Spanish they don't sound "bad" to our ears. It is unusual, yes, but not in bad taste. Just another way to address the Spanish speaking public (Fabio Mota, Ada, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) OK, so what would be a better translation? (gh, DXLD) Usuario (a) would be a person who repetitively does something of the same nature frecuently, like listening to the radio often. User in English gives more the impresion of using something physically. It is a broader term in Spanish. The RNV program language is not as sophisticated as the Cuban ones. I have not heard the Cubans use that word (Fabio Mota, Ada, ibid.) ** VENEZUELA [non]. In the Oct issue of BDXC-UK Communication, page 39, appears this: ``RNV, English at 2300-2330 is now on 15250 (ex 13680) via Cuba. Heard by Glenn Hauser (DXLD) on 6 September with the usual heavy-accented translations from Spanish to English.`` I said no such thing. Here is that log item verbatim: ``** 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. . . (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` I said nothing about 13680 one way or the other, but this transmission has been on both frequencies for years, not one moving to another, and reconfirmed on both Oct 1 at 2343 in Spanish. I also did not say English was at 2300-2330. Editors are eager to pin RNV`s English to specific times, but in fact it appears at irregular times, usually mixed in with Spanish segments (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VENEZUELA [and non] CHAVEZ SUSPENDS WEEKLY RADIO PROGRAM http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iszbbmzIjLq9yX2pIUQNBe3uVt9A 16 hours ago CARACAS (AFP) - President Hugo Chávez said Sunday he will suspend his weekly radio program, "Hello Mr. President" until after the November 23 local elections, but that Venezuelans will still be able to see him on the news. "We've decided to suspend the 'Aló Presidente' series until after the elections," Chávez said during a visit to the site of a new chemical plant in nearby Carabobo. He said the Sunday broadcast would resume in early December. In the meantime, he added, people will still be able to follow him on television and radio news programs, although his appearances will be restricted to "inaugurations and public rallies of (official) candidates." Chávez' radio program has turned into a weekly pulpit for his "21st Century Socialism" agenda. It has aired 323 times since he took office in February 1999. Some 17 million Venezuelans are eligible to vote in November for governors, mayors and state legislators. The latest surveys predict some gains for opposition and dissident parties, who currently control six of the country's 25 state governments (via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) He`s suspended it many times before, but didn`t last. Meanwhile, what will RHC do on Sunday mornings from 1400 on 5 frequencies? (gh, DXLD) ** ZAMBIA. 13590, CVC-Christian Voice, 1545-1555, Oct 4, English pop music countdown program. Fair to good level but mixing with an equally strong Bible Voice Broadcasting via U.K. with English religious talk. A real mess on this frequency (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. 1Africa, Lusaka, 13590, VG signal Oct 7 at 1317 with gospel rap after Aussie(?)-accented English announcer. This does nothing for my spiritual growth. Stronger than Prague intended for us on 13580. BVB not yet clashing 13590 at this hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. 11735, 1759 9 Sept, V. of Tanzania, Zanzibar, ID ``Hii ni Sauti Tanzania, Zanzibar``, tc ``9 hours East African Time``, news in English from Spice FM, SIO 344 (Tony Rogers, Birmingham, HF Logbook, Oct BDCC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** ZANZIBAR?? 11734.89, UNID. In the clear with Romania [q.v.] off at 1815 3 Oct, M and W announcers, but couldn't determine what lang. 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** ZANZIBAR/TANZANIA. 11735 Insel Sansibar scheint seit einiger Zeit nicht mehr auf. Der relativ neue chinesische Sender ist wohl in Reparatur? Dafür gibt's heute einige Brasilianer im 25 mb. Fade-in ungefähr 1745 UT und recht starke Signale um 2000 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, Stuttgart, Oct 4, A-DX via WB, DXLD) Brazilians even on Stuttgart log tonight. Zanzibar 11735 is OFF since 1-2 weeks ? On repair? 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschell, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And see BRAZIL ** ZIMBABWE [non]. 12035, CLAN, SW R. Africa, in English at 1743 on Oct 2 with reporters and discussions about the situation in Zimbabwe. I remember a year or so ago they were almost forced off the air due to lack of funds. How fortunes have changed! Signal was weak (not beamed towards my area), but no interference to be heard (again possible that I just can't hear the QRM - or that Zimbabwe is too bankrupt to run the jammers!). I still occasionally look lovingly at my QSL from the old Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation. 73, (Al Muick, Afghanistan, Oct 2, HCDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Tuning around on a remote receiver in Sweden, approx. 2115 UTC Saturday (Oct 4), when lo & behold I hear distinctive Chinese on 1098. Not understanding a word, for some reason I stuck with the weak signal for a few minutes, when I then heard a definite "R F A- dot-O R G" jump out of the schpiel. Could it be from Vladivostok...or even Taiwan?? Either one would carry interesting political & diplomatic implications, no?? Perhaps I missed something, but I don't recall seeing any mentions of any Radio Free Asia outlets on 1098 (GREG HARDISON, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Aoki says it's RFA Chinese from Kouhu, Taiwan, 1900-2200 UT. Power is 300 kW. Oddly, there is no indicator of it being targeted for jamming. It could be that RFI Chinese (never been jammed as far as I know) is on right after 2200 from the same site (Jon Pukila, ibid.) The Aoki list we refer to does not include any MW info. Did you find this somewhere else on the NDXC website? EiBi does show: 1098 2200-2300 F Radio France Int. M FE /TWN 1098 1300-1800 TWN Radio Taiwan Int. M FE 1098 1900-2200 USA Radio Free Asia M FE - The last item not specifying any transmitter site (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) TWN Kouhu TWR 1557 kHz RTI-CBS 1098. 250 kW 299 degrees. 23 32'15.11"N 120 09'45.09"E http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&hl=de&geocode=&q=23%C2%B032%2715.11%22N++120%C2%B009%2745.09%22E&ie=UTF8&ll=23.53753,120.162535&spn=0.01438,0.020342&t=h&z=16 (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4959.95v, 2225-0115 fade out, Sep 21 and 22, heard with hymns and talks, at night Sep 21 drifting to 4959.91 and 24 hours later to 4959.71; not // disturbing Christian Voice, Lusaka on 4965. Is Catholic Network, PNG, or AIR Ranchi back? (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX window Oct 2 via DXLD) 4959.75 at 2330 on Sep 23, very weak carrier with no audio. Christian Voice was in well on 4965 (Bob Wilkner, FL, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 6030, station at 1659 with time pips and OM talking straight through on Oct. 6. Into some talk but at 1704 into ME-style pop music and then a bizarre twist. Signal got stronger and at 1707 there was a male chorus singing ME-style music a cappella with almost a military march cadence. This trend continued at 1711 with a female chorus singing the same chant, a cappella, over and over. Another piece of male chorus music at 1715, into some flute music and singing by YL at 1718 and a man spoke in ?? (couldn't ID the language). At 1720 a new piece of music started and then OM/YL chatter. This continued up to abrupt s/off at 1748. This chase started as a hunt for Radio Maranatha from Kyrgyzstan as an attempt to verify a logging for Mauno Ritola. BBC Arabic is supposed to be here at this time, and Radio Oromiya from Ethiopia as well. EIBI has R. Maranatha 1700-1900 in Farsi. I'm out of ideas; can anyone shed some light on this? You'll be single-handedly responsible for postponing my impending brain aneurism for at least another week, LOL (Al Muick, QTH: Kabul Afghanistan, RX: WinRadio G303e, Ant: 100m longwire, HCDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Saludos cordiales. 6215 AM, Señal no identificada, 1804- 1820, captada el 4 de octubre, es una extraña señal, emitida en AM; me recuerda un poco a la música ancestral africana tocada con palos sobre un tronco. He intentado captarla en modo LSB y USB sin resultado; la emisión es en AM. ¿Alguien más consigue captarla? ¿Alguien puede saber de qué puede tratarse? (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hola José Miguel, pues efectivamente, vi tu mail y puse la radio en 6215 y también se escucha aquí, y parece lo que tu dices, música africana tocada con palos sobre un tronco. Aquí se escucha con un SINPO 35433. Un cordial saludo (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, noticiasdx yg via DXLD) Saludos Glenn, le adjunto una grabación realizada en la frecuencia de 6215, hoy 5 de octubre donde se ha hecho presente otra vez la señal no identificada, en modo AM, el diexista Antonio Madrid del Club Catalán ADXB, también la captó en el día de ayer. Le suena de alguna forma esta señal? Un saludo, atentamente (José Miguel Romero, to gh, DXLD) I agree, it sounds like sticks beating on a trunk of a downed tree, producing several different tones, which is an ancient African method of DX communication. Beyond that, no idea (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I noted this yesterday, I tuned a receiver on 6215 and it was there for many hours (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, Oct 5, dxldyg via DXLD) 6215 AM, Señal NO ID, hoy 5 de octubre desde las 1700 se observa activa otra vez la extraña señal, ¿digital? en modo AM, sigue recordándome al sonido que se produce al golpear un tronco con unos palos, sonido hueco, muy rítmico, la señal es más nitida y consigo captarla en modo LSB. 73 JMR (Romero, ibid.) Hallo Liste ! Höre gerade eine Station auf 6215 mit ungewöhnlicher Musik ??? Keine Ahnung was das ist.Hört mal rein. Zeit 17:40z (? DL6NL, Oct 5, BDX via DXLD) Kann auch sein dass Radio Pakistan wg. der politischen Unruhen in der Region seine Ex-Frequenz 6215 kHz nun mit einem "elektronischem Musik- Px" als Störsender einsetzt, hi! Moin Theo (Theodor Averbeck, Germany, ibid.) Gd morgen, Nieuwsgierig geworden mbt onderstaande berichtjes op het A- DX forum heb ik gisteravond een opname gemaakt van dit wel bijzonder geluid op 6215 KC om ca. 1745 UT. Misschien herkent onze utility man Ary dit geluid. gr, (John Marsyla, Delfzijl, Oct 6, BDX via DXLD) 6215.00, 04-10 1655 unid, electronic tune non stop 35443 6215,00, 05-10 1620 unid, electronic tune non stop 35443 (Silveri Gómez, FRAGA, CATALUNYA NORTE OCIDENTAL, [Spain], R-2000 & ATS 909, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 9635, 2130-2145 Oct 1. Steady African type music with French comments by a male. Music continues during period. I want to call this Mali, but I can't find anything where they are active these days? Well the best thing to do is stick around and maybe I'll get an ID on the hour? This music is giving me a headache; so if I don't make it until the hour, you'll know why. 2153 UT, seven minutes to go. Ouch! At 2200 the announcer returns, speaking an African language (non-understandable). Didn't catch a single word or phrase. Signal remained fair (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, R390-A, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Mali certainly is active earlier in the morning and daytime, frequency reported, so maybe they were running late. I`ve heard CVC Chile several times in the daytime here, but I guess you are sure it was not Spanish (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) In Europe sounds rather as CVC Chile. 2145 UT. Now from 2200 UT scheduled Xi Wang Zhi Sheng SOH Taiwan and accompanied Firedrake sound on 9635 kHz. But on 5995 kHz typical RTM Bamako accented French announcer, fair S=6-7, 8uV signal. 73 wb Oct 3 (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi - I wonder if you had a chance to check out Bolland's UNID of 9635 on 2200? I have it on my hit list but haven't had a chance to check. 73s (Hans Johnson, to Brian Alexander, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Viz.: CHILE. 9635, CVC-La Voz, Santiago, 2100-2259*, Oct 3, perhaps Chuck Bolland’s unidentified. Poor to fair with Spanish talk. Religious music. LA music. “CVC-La Voz” IDs at 2258 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11815, 0915 15 Sept, REE via Costa Rica presumed, co- channel Brazil? SIO 252 (Steve Calver, Herts., HF Logbook, Oct BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) I would not presume that. REE should not be on that early from CR. HFCC has it registered from 1000, but in fact, sign-on depends on day of week, no earlier than 1200 on Sundays only, per Eibi and Aoki; however, both fail to note that it is consistently on 11814, not 11815, which becomes obvious when colliding with Japan on Sunday mornings. And at 0915 the only stations listed on 11815 are R. Japan in English, and R. Brasil Central (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. A question e-mailed by Jonathan Kempster asks if anyone can help. Jonathan has noticed traditional Chinese music on multiple frequencies, including 11705, 15795, 15375, 15330, 15285, 15265, 12040, 11990, 11965, 11805, 11785, 9780, 9680 and 9605. Some frequencies according to PWBR are VOA, and one for the BBC. Any ideas? (Open to Discussion, Oct BDXC-Communication via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 18180, 1155 7 Sept, Chinese music, nothing listed, SIO 454 (Steve Calver, Herts., HF Logbook, ibid.) Well, let`s see --- could it be --- FIREDRAKE?? As discussed here innumerable times, mentioning most or all of these frequencies, and also appearing in several logs in the same issue (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks to Rod Scribner, who sent a check in the mail to Glenn Hauser, P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702, ``in memory of Rocky`` (gh) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ CLASSIC AND NOT SO CLASSIC SW QSL WEBSITE: http://k6eid.tripod.com/ (Stefano Valianti, Southern European Report, Oct BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) SWEDEN CALLING DXERS ARCHIVE, et al. I stumbled across this archive posting of radio Sweden and George Wood`s Sweden Calling DXers from November 1989 at : http://ftp.funet.fi/pub/dx/text/NEWS/SCDX/scdx2071.txt In those days the internet was not yet funxional but email groups were the vogue, although email was usually just for academics and those with a computing bent. Interesting to see how things have changed, from Radio Sweden then to today: http://www.sr.se/international/index.stm You can access a whole lot of other nostalgic DX bulletins form other stations and clubs, including more of SCDX, at the no-frills Finnish parent directory: http://ftp.funet.fi/pub/dx/text/NEWS/ This 1988 edition looks back at 1948: http://ftp.funet.fi/pub/dx/text/NEWS/SCDX/scdx2000.txt (Chris Brand, Webwatch, Oct BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ ITV PLOTS FUTURE IN WHICH THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM ADS Patrick Foster, Media Correspondent The Times October 1, 2008 Television viewers who like to fast-forward through advertising breaks may want to look away now. ITV is developing a new form of unavoidable advertisement that can be embedded in television programmes. The new technology, which is known as “automatically placed overlay advertising”, uses complex computer algorithms to find clear space, such as blue sky or blank walls, in video footage in which to display logos or messages. The technology, which was developed for ITV by Keystream, a Californian company, is currently being tested in news footage on the broadcaster’s ITV Local website. If it is well received, and if regulations permit it, ITV hopes to transfer it to the television screen. . . http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article4856354.ece (via Dale Rothert, DXLD) We already see crap like that on American TV, if only for program promotion, totally distracting from whatever programming is already underway (gh, DXLD) PERSEUS DEBATE The e-List discussion about Perseus, summarised in the latest MWN, started while I was on holiday in Canada for my nephew’s wedding; and since returning home I’ve not participated until now, as I’ve been busy taking advantage of the good DX conditions along with John Williams, who’s just returned home after a 1 week visit with his wife Jean. I’m not going to go over ground that’s already been covered, especially since my thoughts align fairly closely with those expressed so eloquently by Jack Weber, but would like to raise some additional points, which are based on just 4 months use of Perseus. Firstly, I should say that it was with some trepidation that I purchased a Perseus, as I knew it would change forever the way I carried out DXing. In my view the waterfall and spectrum displays are as significant as the ability to record the whole of the MW band. The additional information about the immediate RF environment, coupled with the ease of setting the pass-band edges to the optimum settings means that when I try to go back to the NRD-545 to DX, I feel as though I’m working in the dark, there’s so much information missing. Nevertheless, I’m not getting rid of the NRD just yet, since I have still to be convinced that during very quiet mid-winter daytime conditions I won’t suffer from pick-up of interfering USB cable/computer hash or switched mode power supply noise on the antennas when I’m hunting for weak DX from Alaska or the Pacific region – conditions that aren’t relevant for most DXers in urban environments where noise levels are already elevated. I’ll report on this issue in due course. The second point I’d like to make is that broadband recordings of the MW band using Perseus has clearly demonstrated to me that far more stations can be heard than I had previously thought possible, irrespective of which receiver is being used – I’d just missed them when using the NRD! Perhaps with better receiving strategies and techniques I would have heard more of these stations using a single channel receiver. I believe this is as true in the south of England as it is in Clashmore. Of course, being able to record 160 10 kHz channels with Perseus during the short morning enhancement in reception (often less than 15 minutes) improves the probability of “hearing” those rare and new stations considerably. Thirdly, Perseus gives the potential for the use of digitally implemented tools, techniques such as AM sideband splatter rejection, and rejection of a co-channel dominant station (both to make reception of the station underneath clearer), which will help DXers living in those areas where there are many local strong interferers. At this point, however, I have to say that I don’t have enough experience to vouch for the effectiveness of these tools. Although these techniques have been possible in the analogue domain for many years, their implementation has up to now been too expensive to be available to hobbyists. An AM splatter rejection facility is already incorporated in the latest software release of Perseus, 1.1c, and I believe the designer, Nico, is intending to provide the co-channel rejection feature in the not too distant future. Indeed, in developing the software, Nico has been very responsive to the needs of his customers, and in particular to MW DXers (join the Perseus Yahoo Group if you want to learn more). All software upgrades have so far been free and readily downloadable from the web. Sorry if this is starting to sound like an advert, but I‘m a fan! When I first started to use Perseus, I was concerned that I wouldn’t get as much enjoyment from using it as I did from the NRD. Would the checking of broadband recordings just become a tedious, mechanistic chore? It’s taken me a while to start getting my head around strategies for the best use of Perseus when MW DXing, but I’m slowly moving forwards. I now think of listening to broadband recordings as time-shifted DXing – it still requires all the skills I used before to extract the DX, but with the advantage that I can now check all 160 of the 10 kHz channels in the MW band on my recording at any given time of reception. Where am I now? – at this time of year the DX is coming in around 0730, so as in the past I listen “live”, running Total Recorder in the background so that I can check any ID announcements I might hear, and look out for the channels with anything of interest on them. But now at the top and bottom of the hour when conditions look interesting, I record broadband using Perseus for later checking. I have no doubt my receiving strategies will continue to evolve as my experience of using Perseus increases. Believe me, once you buy a Perseus, you won’t want to go back to a conventional receiver. Beware! (Martin A. Hall, Clashmore, Scotland. Perseus SDR, NRD-545, RPA-1 preamp, MFJ-1026 phaser (modified), beverages: 490m at 233 degrees, terminated; 500m at 279 degrees, terminated; 545m at 338 degrees, terminated; 50m at 321 degrees, unterminated. http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/clashmoreradio/ MWC via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: CUBA; DENMARK; ECUADOR; INDIA; NEW ZEALAND; ++++++++++++++++++++ NIGERIA; TANZANIA; USA VOA. DTV: USA KSNB, below IBOC: just below COMPLETE RADIO DATA SERVICE INFO FOR 242 STATIONS RDS station info from Rochester NY to Madison WI -- http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/pdf/dx_2008_rds.pdf (9 pages / 35 kb PDF) RDS readouts from 242 Great Lakes area stations, including the following market areas (and the month the stations were last updated): - Greater Toronto Area / Buffalo-Niagara (41 stations) / May - Southwestern Ontario / London / Kitchener (17 stations) / April - Metro Cleveland (22 stations) / May - Metro Detroit-Toledo / Mid-Michigan (43 stations) / May-Sept - West Michigan / Grand Rapids (32 stations) / October - Michiana / Northern Indiana (16 stations) / August - Chicagoland / Northwest Indiana (34 stations) / August - Milwaukee (26 stations) / October - Green Bay / Appleton / Central Wisconsin (11 stations) / September Station info is shown EXACTLY as seen on my 2004 Chevy Malibu radio, including punctuation, spacing, and even RDS typos. My radio consists of a PTY display, a "display," and a "message" button which lights up when a message is received. If I saw it, it's on the list. There are some program type errors, which ARE listed as the station displays them - WAPL (classic rock) lists themselves as "Oldies", WSRB (R&B) lists themselves as "Country", WFDL (hot AC) lists themselves as "Country", and WOOD (adult contemporary) changed their program type to "News" over the summer for some strange reason. The oddball station, WDEZ (country) shows themselves as "PTY 25" - which I believe is country, but still... that's a rare sight. There are a few that intermittently change their program type and some that have recently made a permanent change -- in which case both the old and new are listed. Most of the stations in the market areas are there on the list and complete though. Green Bay (120 miles from me but a 7 hour drive) is surely missing some stations which are locally covered by IBOC these days. Michiana (South Bend / Fort Wayne) is missing some as both cities are out of the way for me no matter where I'm going - but a good deal are in the list still. The Chicago list has been kept obsessively up-to-date and complete, as well as West Michigan, which was updated an hour ago. Hope this helps some people out or at least provides a few minutes of interesting reading to fans of RDS. Unfortunately, this RDS info is limited to this one document because Chris' RDS website's entry form... well, I don't understand half of it and I've been DXing for many years. Even though my radio is pretty basic - no PI codes and all that fancy stuff - I wouldn't know what is what from my displayed RDS info in order to enter it into the website (PS, Dynamic PS, Radio Text (my message or my display?) and Alternate Frequency... out of my league). (Chris Kadlec, Fremont, Mich, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) RDS displays are really a (minor) form of digital broadcasting, thus the placement of this item (gh) ROTORS & CONVERTER BOXES ! Or do you want to use an antenna rotor with your converter box? The Channel Master CM-7000 exclusively offers the "Scan Add" feature. This important feature allows you to scan for channels at one compass setting, store them, and then rotate to a new compass setting scan for channels and adds them to your already existing list. Never again will you have to re-scan for channels simply to change the channel. With the RCA box, I had to "re-scan", everytime, that I moved the antenna. A real pain. Looks like someone, has done something, about that problem (Gary Hickerson, Okla., WTFDA via DXLD) SENIORS VS DTV This video shows the reason FCC field agents are spending so much time helping senior citizens with the DTV transition. The video is humorous but the underlying message is all too true: Installing DTV converter boxes is not trivial for the elderly novice, and this could be a huge problem for the FCC and our industry come February 17, 2009: http://tinyurl.com/SeniorDTV (CGC Communicator Oct 6 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ CONCERNS OVER POWERLINE ADAPTORS IN THE UK Southgate October 3, 2008 http://www.rsgb.org/news/plt_statement.php After waiting for nearly two years for a response from Ofcom over the introduction of possibly non-compliant power line adapters, the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) was extremely disappointed to hear from Ofcom that they do not intend to do anything about it. RSGB President Colin Thomas, G3PSM, has written to Ofcom stating the RSGB's concerns that Ofcom are failing to deliver on their statutory duty of ensuring the optimal use of the electro-magnetic spectrum especially in the HF bands. The RSGB will continue to pursue Ofcom on this matter. http://www.southgatearc.org/news/october2008/rsgb_unhappy_over_ofcom_plt_response.htm The full statement and an extract of the letter sent by RSGB President is below from http://www.rsgb.org/news/plt_statement.php The RSGB has recently received a reply from Ofcom in response to a PLT complaint made almost two years ago. The Society has in turn expressed its dismay at the contents of this letter and has responded accordingly with a letter from the President. The following edited extract will hopefully show that the Society is not about to roll over and accept what amounts to "shoddy service" from the regulator - "The Radio Society of Great Britain understands that as the product in question was declared compliant in Germany, Ofcom extended the usual courtesy of asking BNetzA to investigate as the home authority in the first instance. You say that BNetzA has investigated but decided not to take enforcement action but you have given no reasons. The implication is that you will not be taking any further action. However as the product is available from UK outlets we do request that you continue to investigate our complaint of non-compliance. You will know that if your investigations confirm the non-compliance, the fact that the German authorities have chosen not to take enforcement action is not a bar to the UK doing so under the principle of national subsidiarity. The integrity of New Approach Directives is in fact dependent on Member States acting where non-compliance is found. The procedure under Article 10 of the EMC Directive or Article 9 of the RTTE Directive provides the method by which Member States must notify the Commission of such independent action. The Society submitted a detailed complaint case nearly two years ago and is still awaiting positive action by the UK regulatory authorities. You will appreciate that there is considerable frustration among HF radio users about this matter, many of whom are members of the RSGB. This delay, attributed to restructuring, is frankly deplorable, unprofessional and certainly does not reflect well on the neutrality of the administration or the stated Statutory Duty of "Ensuring the optimal use of the electro-magnetic spectrum". We believe the recent increase in reported incidents of interference received from licensed radio amateurs and short-wave broadcast listeners alike and attributed to units from various manufacturers represents only a small percentage of those suffering with this problem, with the majority not yet aware of what is causing the harmful interference to their reception. It is understood a number of sufferers have already written to their MPs and MEPs in respect to this problem and no doubt these letters will reach your desk in due course. In the meantime we look forward to hearing of the results of your investigations as referred to above and the pursuance of the "enforcement policy in line with stakeholders needs"" (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) NEW VIDEO FROM UKQRM Dear group, The latest video offering from UKQRM is now on-line http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1f0KZZZbws Regards (Mike, Oct 3, http://www.ukqrm.org The end of world broadcasting? monitoringmonthly yg via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ RAINBOW DX? Back in 2003, the biggest rainbow I've ever seen brought a 350-mile CBON-FM francophone signal in like a local from Sudbury along with other unusual signals. It faded out as the rainbow faded out. People told me it was caused by the weather conditions, not the rainbow's presence. Since a rainbow is not a solid object (then again, neither is air), this makes sense. Yet still interesting that multiple times in the past years the band has opened here during large rainbows when conditions are otherwise dead, then promptly closes up shop as the rainbow disappears. This afternoon just after 6 pm, another double rainbow to the northeast popped up strong with a few sprinkles --- and as expected, signals again to the northeast on the other side of the rainbow: 1813 96,5 CHOA PQ Rouyn-Noranda - Planete and Abitibi-Temiscamingue mentions - in like a local playing the end of Boom Desjardins' "Je t'aime comme je suis" (470 mi) 1815 99,1 CJMM PQ Rouyn-Noranda "ENERGIE! Mont le son," Phil Denis avec le top 10 de l'Abitibi in loud as heck with no sign of WMYX, 3kw (470 mi) 1822 Rainbow fades, signals fade out with it. Band is absolutely dead. The only time I've ever logged out-of-state signals to the northeast via tropo is during rainbows. These two stations appear to have towers beside each other (Chris Kadlec, MI, WTFDA via DXLD) Very interesting. Seeing a rainbow at 6 pm directly implies that there was significant rain East of you. Lines of thunderstorms usually KILL tropo, but, several months ago, I had a DXperience very similar to yours. A line of severe thunderstorms had just passed through, when another channel 11 almost overpowered WTOL (11 miles from here) with 20kHz CCI (almost certainly WBKB, Alpena, MI). Further checking showed STRONG tropo as far as Green Bay. Just like your experience, the opening was very brief for tropo. Funny coincidence about the rainbow. When people ask me how common E- skip is, a cite a rainbow as an example. If you're not looking for rainbows, you might see only one a year. if you stay indoors (rainbow) or only watch cable (E-skip), you'll never see one, and if you are looking for rainbows (or E-skip) on purpose, you'll see them several times every summer! (of course, I have to explain, with great difficulty, that there is NO correlation between Es and rainbows). (Rob, N8NU, Grant, ibid.) MORE ON NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS In response to last week's mention of noctilucent clouds and UHF propagation, Ken Beck, WI7B of Kennewick, Washington sent a copy of the scientific paper by Bellan referenced in the article in Science Daily, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, vol 113, D16215. He notes the article mentions propagation from 50 MHz to 1 GHz, so this may be a useful propagation mode for 6 meters as well. Click on http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2008/2008JD009927.shtml to read an abstract of the article, and note there is a link on that page providing access to the full article. Patrick Dyer, WA5IYX of San Antonio, Texas sent a link to a 1968 article in Soviet Life about noctilucent clouds and experiments run by a Latvian teenager. Read about it at http://www.qsl.net/wa5iyx/es-nlc.htm (QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 41 ARLP041, From Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, WA October 3, 2008, To all radio amateurs via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) TRANS-EQUATORIAL PROPAGATION GROUP Hello friends, Following the news came from Brazilian listeners (fmtvbr list) that inform about Transequatorial Propagation openings in higher frequencies like 88 MHz. [previously published Trinidad & Tobago logs] For Caribbean amateur radio operators ready on 50 MHz and 144 MHz: it could be a good time for DX by TEP. We have created one mailing list focused on DX involving The Caribbean and nearby regions. All DXers are invited: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vhf-dx-carib (Flavio Archangelo PY2ZX, WTFDA via DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ SARAH PALIN, PHONY SPECTACLES? We will not get into the numerous demerits and hard-to-find merits of the Republican VP candidate, which have been discussed ad nauseam in the media. Instead, we focus on one particular angle, which, amazingly, we have not seen mentioned anywhere: her glasses. First, this item: ``NOTED: Since the Republican convention, demand for the stylish $375 Kazuo Kawasaki eyeglasses worn by Sarah Palin has quadrupled. Italee Optics, which manufactures the glasses, has added shifts and is working around the clock to keep up with the flood of back orders. --- The Wall Street Journal (via The Week, October 3 via DXLD)`` Aside from the stupidity of the masses in shelling out good money just because some celebrity wears something (and how did they find out the brand: was she paid off?); and glasses` frames are one of the most overpriced items in the economy, for what you get --- Take a good look at her in close-ups of her face, still or animated. As a glasses-wearer for a semi-century, I know the first thing about optix. That is: when you have corrective lenses, there is some distortion around the edges, not only from behind the lenses, but even when you look at someone wearing them. There should be a disconnect for example between the cheek line, or edge of the face, seen thru the lens and the axual cheek line. To detect this you need to be looking at her from at least a slight angle rather than head-on. Do we see any such disconnect on Palin? NO. This strongly suggests there is no correxion in her lenses, and thus no valid reason to be wearing them! A correxion also makes the eyes look slightly larger (farsighted) or smaller (nearsighted), but not so obvious without a means of comparing them to an unfettered face. Cheek misalignment is more likely to be noticeable in the case of nearsightedness. This can often be observed on TV or in the movies, where a character has to wear glasses, stereotypically to make her more: ugly, nerdish, or intelligent, while the actress does not really need them (or normally wears contacts). These phony glasses with no correxion are easy to spot, even more so if their front surface is flat, and reflects light like a flat mirror, rather than reflecting a light source greatly reduced as from a convex surface (front surfaces are never concave in spectacles). However, it is also possible to have a convex front surface, but a matching concave back surface, resulting in zero correxion, and that is what is normally done today with phony spex, or for example sunglasses with no correxion. Sometimes they even try to get away with no lenses at all in the frames, which certainly solves the reflection problem and makes the subject easier to light! But best avoid close-ups. So the question is, when did S.P. start wearing glasses? Old stock footage of her as TV anchor or a beauty contestant show her without them. It COULD be that like many people, she is experiencing middle- age vision problems as her eyeballs start to harden and dry up, and thus does need a bit of correxion, at least for reading. But now she is ALWAYS seen wearing glasses, with no perceptible correxion from the outside. Normally, vain women obsessed with their appearance avoid wearing glasses, at least in public. So the suspicion is, her handlers decided she desperately needed to look more intelligent, and even more, mature for her new role as a candidate, also suggesting subliminally that she actually reads, or has read, newspapers or something. Trumping everything, however, assuming she does not have a bug in her ear like Bush, is the necessity to be able to read the TelePrompTer. Speaking of bugs, I hope someone at Washington U. tonight is sweeping the spectrum just in case. Adopting spex for show could well have happened earlier when she first ran for governor. Perhaps Alaskans who have observed her for years can enlighten us. Only her optometrist, if any, knows for sure (Glenn Hauser, OK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Note: this is NOT to be the start of a thread debating the political campaign itself. If anyone has anything substantive to add about the issue of whether her spex are phony, especially after observation during the debate, that`s fine (gh) Hi GH. Odd that you mention the spex. About 2 weeks ago I went for the check-up at the eye-doc`s. After my exam, I looked at frames, with the lady that does the fitting. I made a bad joke about the square frames, on the rack, and SP. She said the kids are asking for the frames, and she said they are hard to grind glass for. I said they looked like window glass on SP, and she said I was right. I didn't take that any farther, but looking back, you may have hit it right. Maybe SP thinks they make her look serious? (Mike..., ibid.) ###