DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-120, November 22, 2008 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2008 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1435 Sun 0730 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0900 WRMI 9955 Sun 1615 WRMI 9955 Mon 2300 WBCQ 7415 [reconfirmed Nov 17] Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 Tue 1630 WRMI 9955 Wed 0630 WRMI 9955 [or new 1436] Wed 1230 WRMI 9955 [or new 1436] WBCQ is also airing thru November, repeats of recent WOR editions, M-F at 2030 on 7415 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 ** ABKHAZIA. I went through my spam trap mail today and lo and behold there was an email from Apsua Radio dated 15 October. As best as I can translate, it came from Susana Sadeba and states: "We thank you for your letter and thank you for listening" (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, Nov 21, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN. Afghan radio portal --- The recently launched portal for local radio stations in Afghanistan is here. http://www.radioconnect.af/ Afghan Radio Connect offers access to the home pages of Afghanistan’s 33 local radio stations. Some of them are still in ‘planned’ status. And there’s also Google Map showing the stations’ locations (finndxer, October 30, 2008, DXing the Finnish Way blog via DXLD) I love the part where they ask for donations. These stations, most of them not heard here, are all commercial. Guess this is the Afghan version of a GM bailout! (Al Muick, Kabul, Nov 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALASKA [and non]. Pleased to hear KNLS still audible as late as 1603 Nov 22 on 6150, from music to ID in Russian at 1604. We are just a couple weeks from the latest sunrise of the year. Except for WEWN still on 5755 until 1700, no contest, this was strongest signal on 49m band, better than a few others remaining, 6160-CKZU, 6145- jamming/Taiwan, 5920-WBOH. North Korean oscillating jammer still audible too on 6350 at 1601 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. R. Tirana, 13720, English to NAm with fairly good modulation, S9+15, Sat Nov 22 at 1536, news about UK and Kosovo, 1538 press review on budget; 1544 folk music, into notes from a meeting in Nicosia, Cyprus, the same announcer reading someone else`s speech. 1553 Albanian Outstanding Personalities, about someone in the independence movement around the turn of the XIX to the XX century; next check at 1557 was already off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALGERIA [non]. 7455, France, R. Holy Qur`an, Issoudun. November 19, Afrabic, 2148 male talks, 2158 male reciting, female talks, 2200 s/off. 34433 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ASCENSION. Hi Gang, Some good news for the DRM from the man that knows. I was chatting with James Briggs of VTMerlin via email and he has this to say; "I am on Ascension Island at the moment helping to put in some new transmitters - One will be fitted with a DRM modulator, I expect we will do some on air tests next month, although no plans for a regular schedule from here." Let's hope we can persuade them otherwise!! (Mark Phillips, G7LTT/NI2O Randolph, NJ, Nov 8, drmna yg via DXLD) See also LIBERIA; SIERRA LEONE ** AUSTRIA. LISTENING IN ~ RADIO AUSTRIA INTERNATIONAL with Darren Rozier listeningin @ bdxc.org.uk [note: times refer to DST scheduling; one UT hour later now -- gh] The Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) was founded in 1955 when the allied forces from World War II finally left Austria. Radio Austria International is nowadays most easily heard in the UK on 6155 kHz, transmitted from Moosbrunn (which roughly translated means "moss spring" in German) just outside Vienna. It's mostly a relay of ORF 1, but there are specific programmes in English on weekdays 1245 - 1300 UTC. ORF transmits in English, German and Spanish. Although programmes are also scheduled at the weekends I have never managed to hear them (see schedule at end of article). At the scheduled times the relay from ORF 1 just seems to continue uninterrupted) and Spanish (weekdays 2055-2100 UT. Also // 1476 kHz). Reception of 6155 in Fuschl itself is variable and I didn't get a chance to listen to the English service while I was in Austria (see this month’s Holiday Report), but I did manage to catch it on Thursday 11th September as I was home from work early. Here's what I heard: At 1245 UT the ORF 1 relay was abruptly interrupted by the familiar Blue Danube Waltz theme of Radio Austria International. The ID for the station was given, followed by a 3 minute news bulletin, which was read by Jenny Johnson: Story on the Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna and the fact that the leader has stepped down after many years of service. He guided the agency through the worst problems regarding atomic energy matters since the Cold War. The first votes are already being cast for Austria's September 28th General Election. It's the first time that they've used a postal voting system. There are also more female registered voters in the country. There's more controversy over the Austrian political figure Heinz Christian Stracka as photos of him were found from the 1980s apparently doing paramilitary exercises. (This man has previously been suspected of having been involved in neo-nazism.) Mr Straka said he was playing paintball when the photos were taken. The Euro hits a new one year low against the US Dollar. This is due to the current economic slowdown which Jenny said was a "recession". Austria wins a second gold medal in the Beijing Paralympics. Photo: ORF studios and offices in Vienna’s Argentinierstraße, (Ninanuri, Wikipedia 2005) The weather was mainly sunny across the country, but with rain in the mountainous regions. (It was lovely and sunny when I was there! Looks like I came back at the right time!) At 1248 the current affairs programme "Report From Austria" began, presented by Elizabeth Alcock. Four stories were featured in this edition: 1. A special sitting of parliament could affect the outcome of how a new coalition will form after the upcoming general election. The three main parties in Austria are the Freedom Party, the Social Democrats and the People's Party. Reporter Kerry Skyring spoke to Radio Austria International's political commentator Analisa Roror. 2. The WWC, an international organisation concerned with water, had a conference in Vienna. Water expert Paul Brown (from the USA) said they were talking about how we use water, how we can change our habits and how we can recycle waste water. Singapore are a good example of how to do all this as they rely on one single mains water pipeline from Malaysia and they want to try and make the best use of this as possible, rather than over-relying on it. Singapore also use desalination plants so they can extract their own useable water from the sea. 3. Police working in Vienna would rather work in the provinces from which they came, but the jobs seem to be in the capital and not elsewhere. Reporter John Cummings also said that the work in the city was too stressful for a lot of officers. Statistics show a rise in crime and police paperwork in the city, although crime appears to have gone down over the rest of Austria. 4. The leader of Austria's Atomic Energy Agency, Mr. al Bandai (originally from Egypt), has stepped down from his post. He took over from Hans Blix, who ended up working in the UN. He has presided over the agency's work in persuading North Korea to shut down nuclear facilities. Also, before the recent war in Iraq, he publicly said that there was a lack of evidence of Weapons of Mass Destruction in the country. Mr. al Bandai is a passionate advocator of "verification" and "diplomacy". After this story, Ms. Alcock gave out the written address for the station and the e-mail. However, this 15 minute show overran its slot and faded out before the familiar ORF 1 "bong" came in at 1300 to return us to the feed from this domestic network. Radio Austria International is slick and professional. Its 15 minute slot makes it stick to the most relevant points. It's pacey and grabs your attention as there are many stories and lots of different voices in the mix. It's just a shame that this broadcast isn't available in the evening as I'm usually at work when it comes on. Report from Austria is a 15 minute news and current affairs programme on the air Monday to Friday. At weekends the Week in Review, provides a round up of the main stories of the week. You can send reception reports via an online form to be found if you scroll to the bottom of the following webpage: http://oe1.orf.at/service/international_en ORF English schedule A08 [WAS]: to Am on 9870 kHz 0035-0100 (sm), 0044-0059(twtf), 0105-0130(sm), 0114-0130(twtfs), 0135-0200(sm), 0144- 0158(twtf); to ME on 17870 kHz 0505-0630(su), 0535-0600(su); to AsAu on 17715 kHz 1205-1220(m), 1205-1230(ss), 1215-1230(twtf); to EuAsAu on 6155 13730 17715 kHz 1235-1300(ss), 1245-1300(mtwtf). to Am on 13775-Sackville 1505-1520(m), 1505-1330(ss), 1515-1530(twtf), 1535- 1600(ss), 1545-1600(mtwtf). The Moosbrunn transmitter site comprises six shortwave transmitters, owned by state broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk. As well ORF, Moosbrunn is currently used to relay programmes of Adventist World Radio, BBC, Radio Canada International, FEBA, Trans World Radio and the Voice of Vietnam. References: Wikipedia. Barry Mishkind: http://www.oldradio.com The Research Centre for the History of Radio Communications and electronic media (International Foundation QSL Collection) is also housed at ORF: http://www.qsl.at/english/en_main.html (Oct BDXC-UK Communication via editor Chrissy Brand, DXLD) ** AUSTRIA [and non]. HOLIDAY REPORT ~ AUSTRIA -- by Darren Rozier I was on holiday in Austria from Saturday 30th August to Wednesday 10th September. I did a fair bit of radio listening while I was there, as well as going on excursions and walking in the mountains (I nearly fell off one of them!) I stayed at a hotel in the village of Fuchl am See, about half an hour's drive from Salzburg, Austria's fourth city. Situated there (and I think I saw the red and white tower on the side of one of the mountains visible from Salzburg airport) is a 100 kW FM transmitter, which carries the 4 main FM services, plus a 5th 7 kW unit for a relay of a service from the city of Linz. ORF (Österreichischer Rundfunk) offers five national services which I found very interesting: ORF 1: From the 100 kW transmitter at Salzburg on 90.9 MHz, on 1476 kHz MW at times during the day and across Europe on 6155 kHz SW. This service is like a mix between radios 3, 4 and 5 live [UK]. It plays classical and jazz music and broadcasts live classical concerts. There are full speech news programmes at peak times and other feature and cultural programmes at other times. I once tuned in and heard a live stand-up comedy performance. Unfortunately I couldn't laugh along as it was all in German. It's quite good to listen to after midnight as they have a Radio 3-style overnight classical programme, which helps you relax and go to sleep. ORF 2: This is a network of regional stations that sound a bit like our BBC local radio stations. It's music and chat aimed at a mature audience and there's a fair bit of traditional Austrian music to be had as well. The Salzburg tx gives us two versions of this programme. The Salzburg version is on 94.8 MHz at 100 kW and the Linz programme (from upper Austria) is on 101.2 MHz at 7 kW. The programmes are largely self-contained, even very late at night. The only time I heard a common programme on both frequencies was on Sunday 31st August when there was traditional Austrian music. ORF 3: This is tagged as "Hitradio" on the RDS ident, which I read off a couple of bus car-radios whilst travelling around. It's on 99.0 MHz at 100 kW from Salzburg - and it sounds a lot like a commercial top 40 station from the UK. It's familiar songs from the charts and from the last 20 or so years. It's not my cup of tea so I didn't tune in for a long listen, but I did find that a lot of people had it on in the buses I went travelling on. This is possibly the most popular ORF channel. ORF 4: This is called "FM Vier" (German for "4"). This was the station I listened to the most. It's on 104.6 MHz at 100 kW from Salzburg. Its morning programmes from 6 am to 1 pm are presented in English, although there's not a great emphasis on talk. It's mostly music that I haven't ever heard before. I suppose it's a bit like listening to Radio 1's evening schedule all through the day, with music that the likes of Zane Lowe, Colin Murray, Tim Westwood and Chris Goldfinger would play. The presentation is in German from 1 pm onwards, but the hourly news bulletins for the rest of the day are still in English, which is handy when you need to know the weather forecast. Most of the news was about the US hurricanes and the Georgia crisis, although there was a slight Austrian flavour. ORF Radio 1476: From the only AM transmitter left in the country. It comes from Vienna's 60 kW Bisamberg tx. Reception at Fuschl is variable, with a fair bit of fading, but is certainly listenable. I would give it a general SINPO of 45534. This service isn't 24 hours. It operates in the evenings only from 6 pm local time. Just before 6 you get a looped announcement in German which says "Radio Fourteen Seventy Six, from 6 pm to 8 minutes past midnight". During the week the schedule goes something like this: 6 pm - ORF 1 ident, followed by ORF 1's evening news programme "Radiojournal". 7 pm - ORF 1 ident, followed by news, then by own programmes. These are a variety of specialist music and speech shows which, clearly, ORF feel do not fit the formats of any of the 4 FM networks. At one time I heard a long interview, conducted in English, with a professor from one of Austria's universities, talking about their science faculty and their research. On another occasion I heard a music feature programme which included Transvision Vamp's "I Don't Care" from the 80s. 9:30 pm - Radio Afrika International. This isn't a separate station hiring airtime on 1476. Its offices are in the same Vienna building as the other ORF services so it is part of their specialist output. The programmes serve to bridge the gap between the indigenous Austrian population and the African communities which live in the country. Programmes are mainly in German, but there are some French and English shows. On the night of Saturday 30th August, while having a listen across LW and MW, I came across 1476 kHz and the Radio Afrika International team were talking in English about sexual health. This was just after 10 pm local time (2000 UT). 10:55 pm - Radio Austria International's daily 5 minute Spanish news bulletin // 6155 kHz. 11 pm - ORF 1's low frequency "bong" to mark the hour, followed by the ORF 1 news bulletin. This in turn is followed by an hour of non-stop traditional Austrian music which is specifically from Radio 1476. Like ORF 1's classical output it's nice to relax and go to sleep to! 12 midnight - ORF 1 "bong", followed by ORF 1 midnight news. 12:08 am - News finishes and tx signs off. Again this is an interesting station with a wide variety of programmes, but it's best listened to if you understand German. Although the tx is only at 60 kW, it can be heard clearly and regularly in the UK after dark. In fact, I remember some years ago listening to Radio Austria International's English service on this frequency, which brings me to. this month’s Listening In column, which you can read elsewhere in this issue. Notable loggings on LW and MW: 207 kHz - relay of DLF, obviously from Southern Germany. Excellent reception at 55555 day and night. 270 kHz - Czech Radio 1. Around 35553. Playing Cliff Richard and "Some People" around lunchtime on Sunday 31st August. 549 and 558 kHz from Slovenia. Own programmes during day. Relays Radio Slovenia 1 after midnight // 918 kHz. 567 kHz - RAI Radio 1 // 900 kHz. 612 kHz - Radio Serbia 1 from Belgrade. Plays mainly pop music in the evening. 639 kHz - Czech Radio 2 during the day. Quite weak. Czech Radio 6 at night. 55555 from high power tx in Prague. 657 kHz - RAI Radio 1 // 900 kHz. 693 kHz - RAI DRM from Milan. Quite strong. 702 kHz - CRI French from France. 747 kHz - Radio Bulgaria from Petrich. Mixed with NPS Radio 5 from Flevoland. 765 kHz - Option Musique from Sottens. Very strong with heavily compressed audio. Sounded like it was coming from a rather old tx, possibly with valves instead of transistors. 55555 after dark. 801 kHz - Bavarian Open Radio. Youth music. 35555 during day. Listenable with some QRM at night. 828 kHz - New Dutch station from Netherlands. Heard from plane as I flew towards the UK on Wednesday 10th September. Sounds like a hit music format similar to the old "Hitradio Veronica" which broadcast on this frequency some 10+ years ago. I heard the "828 AM" ident, but no discernible station name. 873 kHz - AFN Power Network. Heard from plane on 10/09/08. Strong signal. Discussion programme (mid morning) about wounded soldiers. 891 kHz - Radio 538 from Hulsberg. Dance music clearly audible after dark. 900 kHz - RAI Radio 1 via Milan. 55555 after dark. 918 kHz - Radio Slovenia 1. 55555 after dark. English news clearly audible at 10:30 pm local time (2030 UT). The main subject most evenings was the Slovenian government taking Finnish public broadcaster YLE to court over libel allegations. 1017 kHz - SWR Cont. Ra. Around 45554 after dark. // 666 kHz. 1107 kHz - AFN from plane on Wednesday 10/09/08 at around 0800 UT. First up was AFN Bavaria carrying AFN The Eagle. Pop and prattle American style! Turned into AFN Power Network from a different tx about half an hour later // 873 kHz. 1134 kHz - Voice of Croatia. 55555 after dark. 1143 kHz - Same story as 1107. 1170 kHz - Radio Slovenia International. Playing mainly music at 33533. Turning the radio around after 10 pm local time (2000 UT) could quite clearly hear English service of Radio Station Belarus at around 22552. 1179 kHz - Radio Sweden. Absolutely booming in from the Solvesburg tx after dark at 55555! Better than any reception I've ever got from this in the UK in over 10 years of coming across this frequency. Also got SR Antenna Saar with a weakish signal whilst on the plane on 10/9. 1224 kHz - Radio Bulgaria via Vidin // 747 kHz. Better at around 35553. 1233 kHz - RTBF Pure FM from Belgium, booming into the plane on 10/9 as we flew over Belgium in the mid morning (around 0830 UT). Playing Coldplay and Viva la Vida. 1278 kHz - Radio Bleu Strasbourg. 55555 after dark. // a weakish 864 and 1494 kHz. 1494 kHz - Mix of both Radio Bleu and France Info after dark. A bit of a mess. 1530 kHz - Vatican Radio. A very strong 55555 after dark. Broadcasting a drama of one of the Apostle Paul's missionary journeys on the evening of Saturday 30th August. I cut in on this at around 2010 UT. It was very interesting and of Radio 4 quality. 1548 kHz - Gold London. Clearly audible after dark at around 35553. Caught Greg Edwards' soul show on the evening of Saturday 30th August at around 2030 UT. His American accent made me think that VOA had re- bagged their Kuwait frequency! 1611 kHz - Vatican Radio DRM. Quite strong. All Brookmans Park services quite clearly audible after dark, especially Sunrise radio: BBC Radio 5 Live - 909 kHz. Talksport - 1089 kHz. Virgin Radio - 1215 kHz. Sunrise Radio - 1458 kHz - if radio turned away from Brookmans Park you got that old heterodyne courtesy of Albania and their off-channel transmitters! Radio used for all this listening - the faithful Roberts R9914 with the whip antenna for FM and SW and the internal ferrite rod for MW and LW (Oct BDXC-UK Communication via editor Chrissy Brand, DXLD) ** BHUTAN [and non]. 6035, BBS 1207-1215 news in Dzongkha (I guess according to sked) by M. Pulled up their Web site and was listening to the live streaming audio which also had a M speaking over much lower local instrumental music. Voice tone sounded just a little different than on the radio. Distinctive music bridge at 1215 which was positively recognized as the same about 15 seconds later on their streaming audio!!!! W then, definitely the same and absolutely no doubt, followed by beautiful local vocal song by W. Same W returned at 1220. Weak of course and with some slop-over QRM from 6040 and apparent 6025 DRM. If not for their streaming audio, I could never have identified it. Great to hear them again after many years. Wonder if they'll be able to confirm via MP3 audio file. (22 Nov.) 73 (Dave Valko, NRD-535D and 60mb T2FD, Dunlo, PA, USA, BCDX via DXLD) The 6020-6025-6030 DRM would have to be RTB Wavre, Belgium, 12-14, 100 kW at 162 degrees, coming over from noon in Europe (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 4885, R. Clube do Pará, 11/22 0402-0420, music program "Clube na Madrugada." Seems an automated overnight program of varied Braz music (ranging from salsa and cumbia styles [OK, those are the Spanish terms for them!] to sertaneja and old romantic standards). Frequent canned slogan announcements like "Clube na madrugada. Bom dia para você!" (There are several different ones). Good signal, punchy audio (Paul Brouillette, Geneva, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. GLOBO COM SINAL ESPURIO --- Não adianta. A globo [R. Globo, Rio, nom. 11805] vem causando uma série de interferencias nos 25 metros e nada acontece. Onde está a Anatel? Já enviei dois e-mail para eles e nada. Como fica a questão legal de se alugar os transmissores de 25 metros e 31 metros para programas religiosos? A Transmissão está interferindo na transmissão da Band[eirantes 11925] e na Gaucha em 11915 aqui em Feira. Isso acontece em outros rádios que tenho. Agora mesmo está em 11920 kHz com um programa para lá de bizarro, tenha dó! Estão mesmo é interessados no PLC e no bolso deles. 73 (Jorge Freitas, SWL1023B, Feira de Santana Bahia, Nov 22, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) ** BULGARIA. R. Bulgaria`s defective transmitter on the air again, very strong signal on 15700, Nov 22 at 1357, heavy warble messing up otherwise nice folk music when listening in AM mode; the constant frequency variation even more obvious with BFO. It`s amazing they keep running this, also on 7400, 5900 at other times of day. Do the engineers have no awareness that something is drastically wrong? Kai Ludwig says it`s the exciter which should have been replaced immediately long ago. Still going at 1445 recheck during talk segment in 13-15 UT Bulgarian language broadcast (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Here one must carefully tell apart deliberate interference, loosely known as "jamming", and the results of bad frequency planning and defective equipment. Indeed one technique to "jam" other stations is to send out an unmodulated but quickly varying carrier. It hets the carrier of the targeted signal, resulting in a loud, bubbling sound. But here we discuss something else, defective broadcasting transmitters in Russia (at Lesnoy near Moscow) and Bulgaria (at Padarsko near Plovdiv). Their carriers vary quickly as well, indeed in a way similar to what certain authorities in certain countries send out to block unwanted broadcasts, with the main difference that in this case the carriers are of course modulated with program audio. It is in no way intended, just the result of the transmitter's exciter (that's what generates the carriers, all following stages of these classic plate-modulated transmitters are, to simplify it, just amplifiers) seriously malfunctioning. Of course these exciters should be immediately replaced, but both RTRS and BTC (the operating companies) or rather their Lesnoy and Padarsko transmitting stations just do not care, like hey, the customer pays anyway, so why bother?? And what goes on at night on 5900 sounds like a jamming war because the defective signal from Russia has another signal from Bulgaria co-channel. But of course it has nothing to do with jamming, this is just the result of poor planning, in particular the Bulgarians ignoring that the frequency is already in use by Voice of Russia at this time. Without the transmitter fault it would be an "ordinary" collision, with the audible result being a mixture of program audio from both transmitters and subaudible heterodyne (a continuous signal fluctuation, somewhat similar to deep fading but with a constant speed). Now, around 1400, the defective Padarsko transmitter is again on 15700. So it's already nailed down to 1100-1500 on 15700 and 0000-0400 on 7400. Other frequencies where the wobbling signal must appear, too: 0500/0530-0600 and 0630-0800 on 5900 or 7400, 1600-1700 on 7400 or 15700, 1730-1900 and 2000-2300 on 6200 or 7400 (always only one of them because the other 500 kW transmitter at Padarsko is OK). (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) As recently reported, I have also heard this on 7400 at 0730+, 1800+ (gh, DXLD) Wobblemitter check: Found it both at 1800 and 2030 on 7400. Scenario: Wobblemitter in use on 7400 via SGD-RA 6/7(/9...) MHz at 295 deg. 1600-1700, 1730-1900, 2000-2300, 0000-0400, 0500/0530-0600, 0630-0800, then changes frequency to 15700 via high-band SGD-RA at 306 deg. for 1100-1500, then back to 7400 set-up. And second, stable PKV-500: On 6200 via SGD-RA 6/7(/9...) MHz at 306 deg. 1730-1900 and 2000-2300, retune to 5900 and change to 312 deg. antenna (maybe rotatable PA system?) for 0000-0400, 0530-0600 and 0630-0800, retune to 11700 and keep 312 deg. azi. for 1100-1500, retune to 15700 and change azimuth to 185 deg. for 1600-1700, then go to start. Of course it is only wild speculation for what they use the PA and for what fixed antennas (they all appear to be SGD-RA dipole walls there), the PA could well be in use for certain transmissions of one of the PKV-250 transmitters instead. Both 6200 andd 7400 are remarkably weak tonight. But at the same time Shijak (i.e. Radio Tirana) on 7465 does not propagate after 2030 at all, provided that it is indeed on air (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 9755, RCI English for Central North America continues unheard here. Again, not even a carrier is detectable with BFO on. I have sent one note to RCI about this, and am going to complete a daily log for a week's period and send that to them as well. Maybe they would be able to make a change in meter band, but I am doubtful as to how much flexibility they have (Paul Brouillette, Geneva, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. CFRX 6070: I was at the site today and met up with Ian, the engineer, who was working on the new Studio 1010, a mobile studio which will be replacing there old beast in the coming weeks. I wish I had brought my camera along; it`s quite the rig! Anyway, with regard to CFRX and the present poor quality signal, one reason is the transmitter is operating at about 250 watts due to a problem with one of the internal power supplies --- already! So, he's waiting for a tech to come up from the U.S. (whenever!) to replace the supply and do any other adjustments. It`s on, but limping at low power. 73 (Steve Canney, VA3SC & VE3DUQ, VA3ODX UHF Repeater (442.225 MHz) CFRB/CFRX QSL Manager (17 years), Nov 11, CFRX yg via DXLD) Thank you for the update, Steve. Let's keep our collective fingers crossed that necessary improvements are made soon. Power issues aside, I hope the modulation can be set closer to 100%. CFRX has a decent signal here in Illinois, but, sadly, the audio is sorely lacking. 73, (Chip W9EBE, ibid.) Thanks, Chip. I'll ask Ian about the modulation level. Not sure if he changed anything with the power supply problem or if they are connected at all. I guess when the tech shows up he'll want to make sure everything is humming nicely seeing they won't want to make a return visit! (Steve Canney, Nov 12, ibid.) ** CHAD. 6165, RNT, 2210-2234*, Nov 21, French talk. Afro-pop music. Sign off with National Anthem. Fair to poor with some co-channel QRM and adjacent channel splatter (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. It really looks like CNR-1 (China domestic service) is now on the air for 24 hours a day. The last silent period (1735-2000 UT) observed by me was on Monday, November 17. On Tuesday there was no afternoon maintenance period (0600-0850 UT) and in the evening there was no break. The former gap between 1735-2000 is now filled with radioplays. Other CNR programs seem to be without changes (Karel Honzik, CZECHIA, Nov 22, HCDX via DXLD) ** CONGO DR. PERIODISTA DE RADIO OKAPI MURIÓ POR DISPARO EN LA CABEZA EN ESTE DE RDC. --- KINSHASA, 22 Nov 2008 (AFP) - Un periodista congoleño de la radio Okapi, apadrinada por la ONU, murió por un disparo en la cabeza realizado por desconocidos en Bukavu, en el este de la República Democrática del Congo (RDC, ex Zaire), informaron el sábado fuentes de la emisora. Didace Namujimbo "volvía a su casa ayer por la noche (viernes). Le dispararon a pocos metros de su vivienda", explicó a la AFP el redactor jefe de la radio, Léonard Mulamba. "Le dispararon en la cabeza. No tenemos ningún detalle sobre el móvil o sus responsables", precisó en Kinshasa. . . http://www.univision.com/contentroot/wirefeeds/world/7660423.html (via José Miguel Romero2, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CONGO DR. Radio Kahuzi Heard in Finland by Shortwave Listener From time to time we receive reports from shortwave listeners around the world. It is amazing to think that the Gospel is not only be transmitted throughout Africa, but as far away as Northern Europe, Australia and beyond. You can check out our website under SHORTWAVE to see the list of individuals who have reported from around the globe having heard Radio Kahuzi on shortwave! We just recently received this report from an individual in Finland. Here is his report! FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2008 Dear Sirs, Thank you very much for your programme. It was most interesting to listen to Radio Kahuzi here in Finland! I am 40 years old, married, a father of two lovely & lively kids and working with a marketing research company as a managing director. My favourite hobbies are sports and listening to foreign radio stations (DX-listening). I work with leading media companies in Northern Europe, including online media, print, tv and radio. Thus I find it extremely interesting to tune into foreign radio stations. Actually radio is both professionally and personally my most favourite media, the one I spend most of my time with. Radio simply reaches you everywhere, is very useful and is so much fun to listen to. I spent my fall holiday in Lemmenjoki, Lapland, Northern Finland with a friend by hiking and listening to foreign radio stations. We rented a cottage where we had 8 antennas (each 1000 meter long)! Because of the long antennas and good atmospheric conditions I was able to receive your station. The receiver I used was a communications receiver NRD 535. I received your station as follows: Date of reception: Monday, the 29th September 2008 Time: 19.30 - 20.04 hours UTC Frequency: 6210 kHz Reception quality: Moderate reception quality, even though I guess Finland lies a bit out of your normal coverage area ;) Programme details: 19.30 Programming in French. Talk by a male and a female announcer. 19.59 The talk programme ended, followed by closing announcements and information. 20.03 Closing music 20.04 The end of the transmission On the enclosed CD/audiofile I have recorded your programme at 19.59 and 20.00 UTC. It was fantastic to hear your signal so far away. I hope the recording is of interest! Here in Espoo we have a local radio listeners club, Espoon DX- Kuuntelijat. We are some 20 active members, meeting once a month and having listening trips around Finland. With other DX-clubs in Finland we publish 'Radio World' magazine. If you will visit Finland and Espoo one day, please visit our club, too. You are most welcome! I would appreciate very much if you verified that I heard your station. It would be very nice to receive a verification letter, card or e-mail from you, simply saying that I really heard your station. That would be a very important 'treasure' in my collection! Thank you very much for your programme. I hope to hear your station in the future, too. With best wishes, Jim Solatie (via Radio Kahuzi blog Oct 10 via DXLD) More recent blog entries are about their FM transmitter being burned out, SW apparently unaffected; distributing long-delayed Galcom ``you- will-only-listen-to-us`` radios (gh, DXLD) ** COSTA RICA [non]. RADIO FOR PEACE INTERNATIONAL --- RIP ?? While their webpage still exists, http://www.rfpi.org/index_peace.html the program grid has not been updated since Sept, the audio linx don`t work, and no replies have been received from the contact address, nor from its last known operator, Joe Bernard. Does anyone know anything definite about the fate of RFPI, which continued as a web station following its SW demise in Costa Rica? (Glenn Hauser, OK, UT Nov 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [and non]. Report: more jamming by Ethiopia. "The Meles dictatorship in Ethiopia has jammed a radio program that was being broadcast to Ethiopia from Europe by the Ginbot 7 Movement for Freedom and Democracy, according to Ethiopian Review sources in Addis Ababa. Voice of Ginbot 7 was launched on September 11, 2008, and had been heard through out Ethiopia and most countries in eastern Africa." Ethiopian Review, 20 November 2008. The Ginbot 7 schedule is 1700-1730 UTC on 12120 and 15350 kHz shortwave. See also Ginbot 7 website. Posted: 22 Nov 2008 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) Why is Voice of Ginbot 7 referred to in the past tense? As if the jamming is 100% effective, and/or it has driven G7 off the air?? The rest of the Ethiopian Review item has some interesting statistics, and one wonders how the author arrived at them! The 100 megawatt figure probably comes from some theoretical calculation of ERP on SW; is it believable? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Similar attempt by the Woyanne regime to jam the Voice of America (VOA) Amharic program had been successful only for a few days. The VOA countered by running its program on multiple frequencies, each with 500 kilowatt, making it too expensive to jam them. VOA's transmission power can go up to 100 megawatt per frequency when supplemented with powerful antennas. According to experts, it costs up to U.S. $10,000 per kilowatt to jam a radio program. To build and operate a facility that is capable of jamming multiple frequencies with 100s of kilowatt each, the Meles regime could be spending tens of millions of dollars. This is the money that could have been used to feed and cloth [sic] so many of Ethiopia's starving children who are unable to attend school because they are too weak from hunger. Sources inside ETC say that the facility that the Chinese built for the bloodsucking Woyanne regime can jam frequencies only up to 100 kilowatt. The Meles dictatorship is also unable to jam Eritrean Radio's Amharic Service, which uses both Short and Medium wave frequencies. The jamming of radio programs and blocking access to web sites that are deemed critical of the dictatorship in Ethiopia is being carried out by Ato DebreTsion GebreMichael, a central committee member of the ruling Tigrean People Liberation Front (TPLF) and a protégé [sic] of Meles Zenawi. Ato DebreTsion is chairman of the Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation (ETC) and Director General of the Information and Communication Technology Development Agency (EICTDA). His main assignment, however, is not the development of information technology in Ethiopia. His primary objective as Ethiopia's chief IT officer is to restrict access of such technology to most Ethiopians. He has been good at it. Under his watch, out of 80 million Ethiopians, only 2 million use mobile phones. There are only 20,000 internet service subscribers in Ethiopia — the lowest in Africa (from http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/7229 via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Is there no stopping me? I just bagged "bit eXpress" from Erlangen, Germany. For those of you unfamiliar with these guys they are a 100W station on the roof of a university. It's part of their student radio station. I've only been trying to grab this one for the last 5 years!!! Somehow today at the bottom of the sun cycle it came in. Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket? (Mark Phillips, G7LTT/NI2O Randolph, NJ, Nov 6, drmna yg via DXLD) 15886-15896-15906 (gh) Congratulations, Mark, great catch! You're only the third person I know of to receive this station in North America. Mark Fine was the first about three years ago, then me, now you. I had a really spectacular five minute reception of them, about 80% audible, about three years ago, and then about five or six other occasions where I got brief snippets of audio. Haven't heard them since. I think the fact that they're on 15 MHz instead of 26 MHz like the other low- powered Europeans makes them easier to hear at this point in the sunspot cycle (Ralph Brandi, ibid.) ** GERMANY [non]. 15620 at 1528 Sat Nov 22 with Vivaldi from The Seasons, 1530 DW ID in Russian, into music show which I am pretty sure is still Muzprosvet; sounds like the usual host but I never heard that show name mentioned. Started with folk song in German, later fiddling, and odd instruments. 1536 found it on // 11720 except running about 1 second behind 15620. Slightly better reception on 15620, but that cut off at 1556:30 in the middle of an announcement, while 11720 continued until 1559:30, cutting off during music. DW seems incapable of coordinating its programming with its transmissions, except in some schedule versions they warn that certain frequencies close 3 minutes early. 15620 is via Sines, PORTUGAL; 11720 via Rampisham, UK. If it`s DW, you know it can never be from Germany (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUAM. 9585, KSDA (AWR Relay), heard at 1606 on 22 Nov in English with a doctor speaking about G.E.R.D. (gastro something-or-other Reflux disease). Are the sky pilots trying a new tack? Providing health advice in between balm for the soul? S5 signal and nothing else around it. 73 de (Al Muick, Kabul, Afghanistan, WinRadio G303e, 200m Longwire/Randomwire, HCDX via DXLD) Not new for the 7Dadventists; health and nutrition one of their main more redeeming concerns (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Glenn, Re WOR 1434: BBC World Service is, and was always on XM channel 131. XMPR is 133, "NPR Now," (many NPR programs, news at top of hour, but, not Morning Edition or ATC) is 134, and WRN is 135. 134 and 135 are new, taken from Sirius. Channel 29 is new, BBC Radio 1. Just rock. When I heard it, I thought someone said "CBC Radio 1" and I was very disappointed that it was not, but, so far, no CBC (Tim Hendel, Huntsville AL, Nov 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. GERMANY, 6115, Radio Farda, 0005-0050, Nov 22, many IDs. Persian announcements. Mid-east style pop music. US pop music. // 5860 - via Sri Lanka. // 7145 - via Germany. All frequencies fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY [non]. Tuned in 7290 at 2030 on a Sangean ATS 803A. China Radio International heard in English from 7285 with the wide filter. A terrible noise heard with the narrow filter made up of Russian language, unidentified music and lots of interference from CRI on 7285. WORLD OF RADIO starting music not heard or Glenn Hauser's voice. At very nearly 2034 a few notes of WOR starting music could just about be heard well in the background. GH's voice not heard after that. Russia, IPAR and the "other" station are TOTALLY UNLISTENABLE. Put up with it for another couple of minutes and tuned to 15825 in the hope of hearing WOR at 2130. Nothing at all heard there apart from static. Regards (Harry Brooks, North East England, UK, Friday Nov 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also 8-118 Thank for the report above and earlier emails this week. Indeed we are aware that the propagation situation is bad all over the lower bands (6 and 7 MHz) in the evening CET, due to congestion and the bottom low SSN values this winter. This is unfortunately hitting a lot of broadcasters. As you know, this situation is cyclic approx every 11 years, and we are currently hitting the bottom, until Jan-Feb 2009 when propagation should hopefully start again to improve. HFCC negotiations on lack of available frequencies are very difficult, if not impossible, so we are all bound to accept interferences on not- primary targets when no other solution is possible. For IRRS-Shortwave & European Gospel Radio what you report has impact primarily on some late evening broadcast on 7290 kHz, when listeners attempt to tune to them in Europe. However, you should know that for the last two years we shifted from Europe as a primary target in the evenings, to using a directional antenna towards Africa and Middle East as a primary target for 7 MHz/evening CET times. On 7290 - specifically - we are aiming at reaching Europe only as a secondary target, only when propagation allows reception for what is truly an African/Middle East beam. A part from our streaming audio available worldwide when you have an Internet connection, European listeners should instead tune into our morning broadcasts Mon-Thu on 5990 from 0530 to 0630 UT and to our main broadcasts on Sunday from 1030-1300 UTC on 9510 kHz where we a clear and very loud signal all over the continent. DX signals on 5990 and 9510 are also regularly reported from the Americas and Asia. For these broadcasts the situation is reversed: Europe is our primary target, and Africa (north) / Middle East is a secondary target. So far reports from N/Mediterranean Africa and Middle east indicates that the signal is strong on 7290 kHz, and this is the indication we get by our member broadcasters for a preferred area to cover during the evening. We hope to see an improvement for Europe on the 7 MHz early next spring, where Europeans will start getting a louder signal from us (then beating any far-away competing stations hitting EU, that are today more favored by the current propagation situation). Higher band frequencies will also be more usable for distant stations trying to hit Europe, so congestion in Europe on 6-7 MHz may also diminish during the evening as of next summer. Here is some useful references to see how the SSN is changing and affecting propagation: http://www.ips.gov.au/Solar/1/6 ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/STP/SOLAR_DATA/SUNSPOT_NUMBERS/sunspot.predict Thanks again, and look forward to hearing from you. Best regards, (Alfredo E. Cotroneo, CEO, NEXUS-Int'l Broadcasting Association email: alfredo @ nexus.org http://www.nexus.org ph: +39-02-266 6971 - Toll free: 1-888-612-0039 fax: +39-02-706 38151 Nov 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY [non]. 9510, SLOVAKIA, IRRS, *1230-1300*, Nov 16, English. Choppy ID at s/on; "Dover Street" program with Chicago blues music; IRRS contact info at 1246 into religious program of sorts with Cali[fornia?] contact info I could not fully copy; IRRS info/IS at s/off; poor (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R8, R75, CLR/DSP, MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. 2850, KCBS Pyongyang, 1206, Nov 18, Korean. M & W with talk under co-channel data QRM; poor (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R8, R75, CLR/DSP, MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I was also hearing presumed this with weak signal around 1330 Nov 22 (gh, OK, DXLD) ** LATVIA. 9290, Latvia Today, 1105-1120+, Nov 22, Latvia Today ID announcements. Talk describing local geography, culture, & history of Latvia and Riga. Local music. Fair to good. Stronger than usual (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBERIA [non]. ASCENSION, 11875, Star R., Nov 19 0720-0730*, 34322- 34433, English and Vernacular, Talk, ID at 0720 and 0725, Frequency change, (ex: 9525) (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. 5010, RTV Malagasy, *0201-0225, Nov 22, sign on with choral anthem. Opening announcements in Malagasy at 0203 followed by a variety of choral music and local pops. Fair to good in reduced carrier USB (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. 5995, RTVM, 0750-0800*, Nov 22, vernacular talk. Short closing French announcement at 0800 & off. Poor to fair. 9635, RTVM, *0800-0810, Nov 22, sign on with flute IS & opening French ID announcement. Vernacular talk at 0801. Fair. Very weak on // 7284.88 - very difficult due to unidentified station on 7285 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 7245, Radio Mauritania, *0800-0820, Nov 22, on with Arabic talk. Local music. Sign on time varies. Very good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Moving up from 4845 (gh) ** MEXICO. 6104.9, Candela FM, Mérida continued this week with same distorted signal when logged by Charles Bolland several months ago. 1230 to 1600 "Muy Buenos Días ...ésta es Vera Cruz, mentions of Ciudad México and other confusing mentions of cities and radio stations. Coca Cola, banco ads, 18 and 19 November. 73s (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, Icom 746 Pro and NRD535D, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Maybe they have started relaying RASA network feed from DF (gh, DXLD) 6104.75, presumed Candela FM, Mérida, 1117-1130, Nov 21, Spanish. M with Spanish music & talk under brutal band noise; unusable by BoH; very poor; this one is proving to be a tough catch up here in the mountains (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R8, R75, CLR/DSP, MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. XEROK --- Yes it's across the border from El Paso, but its weak signal out here in Houston at night leads me to wonder is it back up to full power? I've been reading on here and other places for four years that it was running as low as 500 watts at one time (sad for a station that once ran 150K). Anyone know what its signal issues are now, if indeed there are any? (schmave, Nov 15, radio-info.com TX board via DXLD) When XEROK dropped Top 40 and became a local station as Radio Cañón, it abandoned the Bruce Earl-rebuilt 150 kW transmitter and started running 50 kW, which is what it is doing today. A couple of years ago, an engineer was hired to combine several Harris 50's to get the licensed 150 kW, but the power grid in the area was so overburdened by growth in the neighborhood that it could not provide for the transmitters, so just a new 50 went in, which they use today (David Eduardo Gleason, ibid.) My dad listened to XELO when he was in the Philippines during WWII and was excited when I started doing weekends there as XEROK. I saw the x- mitter only once. Bruce Earl gave us a tour and turned his radio OFF as we got near the towers. The closer we got, the more we could hear the station getting louder. I think the elements in the car speakers picked it up. Skull & crossbones signs along the fenceline. RF making the arm on your arms and the back of your neck standing up. Pretty cool (Jamey K, ibid.) I believe XELO 800 ''The Gospel Station'' became XEROK in the early 1970s when it went top 40 as ''X-Rock 80.'' The only thing I recall about their programming is that they speeded up their music a bit too much. Some artists ended up sounding live Alvin and the Chipmunks. Their top 40 days didn't last long because FM was starting to catch on in El Paso and across the USA (Fred Cantú, ibid.) 3% faster. To this day, when I hear "Jackie Blue" at regular speed, it sounds slow (Jamey K, ibid.) XELO became XEROK in '72, but the first XEROK format was not a pure top 40. Rather, it was a mish-mash of brokered programs, religion, interspersed with some top 40, most memorably with market legend Steve Crosno. However, the American operation (there were always two operating companies, one in Mexico and one in the U.S.) was sold by Garrett Haston to "World Broadcasting" (a consortium of EP businessmen), and they brought in the staff that converted it into the more memorable X-ROK 80 in late '73. Spring '74 Arbitron book was stellar --- about a 21 share (Analog 420, ibid.) One slight correction to David Eduardo's posting: Bruce Miller Earle was the technical consultant to the station, but he did not rebuild the transmitter. At about the time of the change from XELO to XEROK, the original water-cooled 150 kW transmitter built by Mr. Branch was replaced with a new Continental 150,000 watt unit, serial number 00002. However, Bruce oversaw the Chief Engineer, Sergio Cortez, and personally did much of the xmitter maintenance. He also designed the audio chain, both for period the station was on tape delay from El Paso, and later when it was live from the transmitter site on the Porvenir Highway near Waterfill, Chihuahua. Bruce also was responsible for reinstalling and upgrading the ground system. As a souvenir, he kept one of the old final tubes from the water cooled unit; it stood about 7 feet high (txrad, ibid.) ** NEW ZEALAND. Dear Mr Hauser, Radio New Zealand coming loud and clear on 13660 from 1100 till now (1138). It`s been ages since hearing it in South India so well (Manikant Lodaya, VU2JRO, Nov 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That`s the one transmission aimed your way, 325 degrees at 11-13 (gh, DXLD) ** NIGERIA. 9690, Voice of Nigeria, *0759-0820, Nov 22, sign on with opening theme music. Vernacular talk at 0800. IDs. Fair to good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Re 8-116, KEOR-1120 reported Nov 3-6; I have also heard it on several chex more recently but not kept track. Some pertinent posts about it elsewhere, first from the radio-info.com OK board (gh) 1120 is on the air --- As noted in another thread on this board, KEOR Catoosa is on the air at 1120. No jocks, no commercials, no imaging, just oldies presented not-so-seamlessly (at least two seconds of dead roll between songs), with an occasional legal id. Interesting but not entertaining listening (Ben Tehelenbach, Oct 29, 11:32:44 am, radio- info.com OK board via DXLD) At the end of songs...almost sounds like there's a needle on vinyl!! Who's doing this project? Are they going to outdo the big guns and operate with no people? At least that prevents cutbacks... (tulsagent, Oct 30 02:43:34 pm, ibid.) The Raftt Corporation of Rogers, TX http://www.fccinfo.com/CMDProEngine.php?sCurrentService=AM&tabSearchType=Appl&sAppIDNumber=1194201&sHours=D (radioguybroadcasting, Oct 31, ibid.) KEOR has been off the air now since Friday, possibly earlier... You want Fifty Minutes of Music Every Hour with More Variety, Less Talk and Fewer Commercials? Why not get yourself an mp3 player and get sixty minutes of music every hour with even more variety, no talk, and no commercials (Les Stock, Nov 2, 11:03:13 am, ibid.) Fri = Oct 31 It's 6:12 pm, and they're still on the air, long after local sunset. I can hear KMOX through the huge gaps between songs (Les Stock, Nov 6, 06:14:04 pm, ibid.) They've been on an STA to stay silent (for "technical" reasons.) If the station stays dark for more than 12 consecutive months, the license will go away. So, they have the station on the market and they're tracking CDs for a while to reset the license-clock till they can sell the station. I suspect they will soon go dark again (stacker, Nov 6, ibid.) OK, I'm going to open a can of worms for you guys. Let's say that the owners give up and they would sell the station to you for $10,000. Given the limitations of a daytime signal, would you buy and.... and what would you do with it? I like the dial position, but a daytime only sig, that's a tough one (Radio55, Nov 7, ibid.) They only paid $10,00 [sic] for the station, but I assume when they bought it, it was nothing more then a license (radioguybroadcasting Nov. 7, ibid.) Re: ``P.S.- They went off the air right before 4 pm today, right in the middle of Chuck Berry's "My Ding-A-Ling."`` ROTFL! I'll say this: it's interesting hearing music on AM with (a far as I can tell) NO compression. I really wonder if they have any final limiting! It's w-a-y open, like a non-Dolby cassette with the Dolby switched on (remember that effect?). If they need programming, I have an internet radio station stream I hereby authorize them to re-broadcast... Pre-processed, too! (Hey! Send me the calls and city of license and I'll put it in rotation!) (Nightaire, Nov 7, ibid.) Noticed they were on the air again tonite [sic]; called and called and nobody answered. Wanted them to play "Pata Pata" by Miriam Makeba, to honor her passing. If you ever played that 45, you worked in MOR!!! Be brave enough to admit it!! That song played on my Gates 16" TT, amplified thru a Gates Yard, and transmitted thru about a 150 ft AM tower, and all the cows, pigs and tomato plants in rural South Jersey that heard it, loved it. Oh, per some of the above, plenty of ways to make money with that signal if the purchase price were right (cooptulsa, Nov 11, 02:19:21 pm, ibid.) OK, so does ANYBODY know the lowdown on this place? Who owns it, what is its phone #, where are their studios, IS it up for sale, what? Just curious (Mad-Dog, Nov 17, ibid.) Yes, it's for sale. And if you look back at a previous post, I mentioned who purchased it and the link I gave would bring you to fccinfo.com and give you their mailing address/email address (radioguybroadcasting Nov 17, ibid.) Only because I don't know much about the engineering side of these things, is there a way the FCC would grant a night signal on 1120? For instance, positioning the signal in a particular direction at a low power, but enough to cover your city of interest -- covering, say, Catoosa/Broken Arrow (since it's licensed to Catoosa in the first place)? (But probably by the time you got to Claremore, the signal would be gone?). Any of you technical guys have an opinion? (Radio55 Nov 17, ibid.) No, you need a minimum of 250 Watts at night, as many towers as it takes; as the station won't allow "new" daytimers. But an existing daytimer can move and remain a daytimer. KEOR 1120 is also way less then the minimum 750 miles away from Class 1A Clear in St Louis, KMOX 1120, so KEOR will never have night power. (radioguybroadcasting, ibid.) OK, here's what I found out this evening. KEOR is up for grabs for $600,000! And, there is apparently a "serious" potential buyer. It was looked at by most of the licenses in the Tulsa market but was turned down by them. And, the current owner, Jerome somebody or other, turned down a solid offer for 1/2 a mil! He had started out at $1M. Also, it is a true day-timer, literally sunup to sundown only. No word on who the "serious" prospect is. And yes, they are only tracking music to satisfy license requirements. Their "studio is just some equipment in the corner of their tranny shack up on N. 161st E. Ave (Mad-Dog Nov 18, ibid.) And all it'll ever be is a daytimer. It's probably an ethnic group looking at it (radioguybroadcasting, ibid.) I seem to remember KGTO, when it was sold several years ago to Perry, it went for $500k. AM 1050 daytimer. If you could do a solid 6a to 7p broadcast day, it might be worth it, but daytime only. Man, that's a tough one. Religious talk, maybe? Something along the line of faith- based talk, Dave Ramsey-like talk shows but for a faith based audience. Just an idea. Wouldn't have to worry about ratings and you can pay the bills. Thoughts? (Radio55, ibid.) Faith-based talk is getting to be a harder format to profit in as ministries are moving their resources to the web. The idea of paying to be on your signal is becoming harder & harder to justify. Even KCFO, for decades the standard-bearer in this market for "Talk You Can Trust" has moved to more talk show type elements (Dave Ramsey, Dr. Laura, etc.) to try to attract advertisers as either ministries have dropped the station or the station has simply seen the writing on the wall. Is there enough money to be made in all-infomercials? And do infomercial buyers buy market coverage, or ratings? If ratings, you're doomed. If coverage, you might be able to keep a one-man automated operation like that afloat. (Cable / satellite TV are both doing that more and more.) (NightAire, ibid.) Infomercial companies buy results. They will buy 1 month as a trial. The infomercials that air on your station are assigned a special phone number, or when someone calls, orders are tracked by zipcode. If they get results, they stay, if they don't get results, they leave. The cheaper the rate you give the informercial folks, the more likely they are to stay, as the less they have to pay, the less they have the make to be profitable! (radioguybroadcasting, ibid.) Nightaire has it. On terrestrial radio, unless you have a huge signal or a setup like Bot does with 95.1 in Shawnee and a number of stations nationwide, ministries have found it more wise to move to the web, where their followers will easily go to maintain the relationship. To get new cume, I would guess you'd use internet marketing techniques, direct mail or something else. "The fifth e-mail gets the prize --- and remember you must not have clicked in the past thirty days!" (cooptulsa, Nov 18, ibid.) 1120, KEOR, Catoosa. 11/17 1110-1330 [EST = 1610-1930 UT] with no IDs! Oldies standards type music. Only ad was a “Kids Off Drugs” ad [that`s a PSA --- gh] with no other talking. No ID at ToH. Very strong; 1120 is the strongest Tulsa area station here now (Steve Sprague, Coffeyville KS, DX-396, Select-a-Tenna, DDXD-West, NRC DX NEWS Dec 1 via DXLD) I wonder if, based on what Steve was hearing, the station was (is?) still testing its new facilities (Bill Dvorak, Ed., ibid.) Yes, it was surely testing, altho we had heard some IDs too. Strongest Tulsa station in Coffeyville? With 2 kW, direxional away from you, vs 50 kW KRMG, KFAQ??? (gh) ** OKLAHOMA. 89.9 In / Near Tulsa? Monday afternoon I caught a weak signal on FM 89.9 (or 88.9? Darn it, I was sure before I walked inside...); I assumed it was somebody's translator but it wasn't Air 1 & it wasn't KOSU so I stuck around long enough to hear it was something called The Genesis Communications Network. http://www.gcnlive.com/ I heard 25 Hz tones at the top of the hour but never any legal (or translator, or local) ID. I picked it up near 71st & Lewis, with static but not unlistenable. Any guesses? The FCC search didn't really turn up anything that looked right. If I'm wrong on the frequency & it was 88.9, could it be OKC or Grove? Pirates for Jesus? (Nightaire, Oct 27, 04:34:27 pm, radio-info.com OK board via DXLD) GCN is a network that is rebroadcast by many a pirate broadcaster around the country, and legitimate stations, too. It's the home of Alex Jones, host and instigator of infowars.com (Sgeirk, ibid.) They have a really strong signal on 107.1 fm in Oklahoma City (watercooler, ibid.) I can confirm it was 89.9 FM, and the signal seems to be strongest in midtown... MAYBE. I wonder if it could just be topography affecting the signal. About the time I would think it was clearing up it would go to static, and about the time I would think it was gone, it would strengthen. North of Tulsa it started going away for good. I heard an ad for somebody running for sheriff for Travis County, Texas. The ad was during a (loony tunes) show hosted by a former sheriff, so I worry that the ad might have been for the host of the show and therefore useless for identifying the location of the transmitter. Travis County appears to be home of Austin, Texas, which (despite what the atmosphere is capable of) seems an unlikely candidate as the source of this station that didn't legal ID but ran an ad for a county sheriff's race. I've got a real mystery on my hands with this one, and as goofy as the show was ("everyone knows" 9/11 was an inside job, Oswald "obviously" didn't shoot Kennedy, and "buy these seeds to survive 7 years of famine or be owned by the new world order!"), kinda like a train wreck, I found it hard to turn away. That, and I wanted a frickin' ID! There's a transmitter in Overland, TX but it isn't supposed to be much bigger than a space heater. hm... (nightaire Oct 27, ibid.) Here is an interesting article about minor programming changes at 107.1 in OKC and 89.9 in Tulsa. http://www.reddirtreport.com/news.php?id=7873 107.1 has been around long enough, I think they might be eligible for honorary membership in the local NAB chapter (milton77, Oct 28, ibid.) Milton77: That helps some! Thank you! "low power FM..." OK, so are we talking part 15 here, or pirate, or... because I didn't see a licensed 89.9 in Tulsa at FCC.gov. Anybody know where their antenna is (approximately) located? They're right, btw. NOBODY on the radio is saying what they're saying. Maybe Coast-To-Coast AM. wowza. Time to sharpen my tin-foil hat (nightaire, ibid.) A friend of mine and I tracked them down twice once at a house on NW 31st and Military [OKC 107.1] and then the second time just two houses west from the old house house. What is funny is the house that it was at had an Obama sign in the front yard, haha, kinda funny when this group is preaching for Ron Paul who is a Republican from Texas. Go Figure (Ryan Beam, ibid.) Ryan: Absolutely wild! Thanks for the info. I can pick up 89.9 in MOST of Tulsa to one degree or another, although the closer to the river I get the better it seems to sound. They're running in mono which is smart, and other than not filtering the cue tones I have to say they sound pretty good. I'm not hearing any local content at all, though. It sounds like their daytime programming maybe isn't quite as goofy as what I heard last night, although I did hear an ad today saying turning your assets into gold will help if you're in a hurricane. () I'll miss them when they go, but for now it's an entertaining alternative to all the political garbage seeping out of all ends of the radio dial. !VIVA LA RESISTANCE! (Nightaire, ibid.) Any other pirates in Tulsa? (Journalguy, ibid.) Not that I've heard, but that doesn't mean anything. They could be operating when I'm not rolling across the dial, or I could be out of their coverage area all the time. BTW, I drove north on Yale from 71st last night (dinner at Diamond Jacks... YUM) & while the rumor mill suggested they might be near TU, I no longer think so, by about 15th Street I was getting significant interference from an NPR affiliate / college station playing traditional jazz (maybe from Kansas?). I jumped on I-244 EB and continued to have the interference almost until Hwy 169. So the question becomes, did I get far enough away from the legit station, or closer to the pirate? I'm still not sure. Last night I was listening over the internet and hear the most WONDERFUL news about this WONDERFUL tea that CURES cancer, CURES hemorrhoids, CURES high blood pressure, and the guy was willing to SELL it to me! How great is THAT!!! OBVIOUSLY the government is trying to suppress this information to control society through disease, right??? (Nightaire, ibid.) That would be KRPS from Pittsburg State University, and the only thing I've been able to pick up, faintly, on 89.9 on the East side of Tulsa. (BenTehelenbach, ibid.) I wonder if they have tin foil in there house to keep the government from looking at them? You can also buy this certain kind of water that when the government poisons us that we can live an extra three days or so on this so called clean water (Ryan Beam, Oct 29, ibid.) How about Willard Water. It's wetter water and better for you. Tin hat required. See store for details. Sorry Arkansas, not available in your state! The black choppers will be flying over soon so I have to go hide now in my tin-foil wrapped home with a bomb-shelter under the garage (OKCRadioguy, ibid.) "Radio is finished as we know it. But that doesn't seem to matter to people in radio. They talk a big game... The guys that run radio are these big people and they regard themselves as big people... I laugh because they are big in their own minds." - Cramer Anyone notice, it's gone? the pirate, that is? (Sgeirk, Nov 4, 10:19:36 am, ibid.) The black choppers and guys dressed in all black uniforms slid into their home and stole away the transmitter. Of course, the government wouldn't admit that. It's a conspiracy I tell ya! (LOL!!!!) (OKCradioguy, ibid.) People told me I was a conspiracy theorist when I hinted that someday the government would take over the banks. No one's laughing (Gary Thompson, Program Director, Positive Hits 99.3, JQ99, Grand Rapids Gary@JQ99.com ibid.) People thought the same thing when I said that the Army is being deployed on our shores for a year starting October 1st. Now it's in the mainstream news (sgeirk, ibid.) They're gone! Looks like they're also selling hemp, survival kits, and a spray that's supposed to keep cops from photographing your license plate if you run a red light. The lead story on the front page says: Quote USA now the Obamanation, Illuminati and elites are always the real winners in elections, politicians ruled behind the scenes by the powerful, gold and silver futures have been suppressed, more economic bubbles coming, stock market losses to reduce global wealth by trillions ...What a fascinating mix of morality & immorality these guys are... (Nightaire, Nov 7, 05:04:51 pm, ibid.) Here`s the info from Red Dirt Report as linked above: 'RADIO FREE OKLAHOMA' TO RETURN - INTERNET ONLY UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE October 16, 2008 3:32 PM By Andrew W. Griffin Red Dirt Report, editor Posted: October 16, 2008 OKLAHOMA CITY -- While We the People Radio Network - WTPRN.com - is no longer operational, the locally-operated "Radio Free Oklahoma" program will continue to broadcast on Revere Radio Network, a Florida-based alternative news network which can be heard at http://RevereRadio.net And while the Oklahoma City-based low-power FM station 107.1 FM and 89.9 FM in Tulsa will continue to broadcast shows featured on Genesis Communications Network including "The Alex Jones Show," "Uncovering the Truth with Katherine Albrecht" and others. As for "Radio Free Oklahoma, the first and only guest for most of the two hours - 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. Saturday October 17 will be alternative news researcher Dave McGowan. McGowan, an author based in California, runs Center for an Informed America and since the past spring has been working on a fascinating, multiple-part series called "Inside the LC: The Strange but Mostly True Story of Laurel Canyon and the Birth of the Hippie Generation." We were pleased to interview McGowan on RFOK back in August and we hope to find out more about 60s/70s rock-n-rollers and their alleged connections to the military- industrial complex. So, Chris Emery, Holland Van den Nieuwenhof and I will continue to air "Radio Free Oklahoma" and news related to the Oklahoma City bomabing, 9/11 and alternative information you won't hear on most news outlets in the Sooner State and beyond. Copyright 2008 West Marie Media Comment: Posted by: Ranger Bob on Oct 28, 2008 @ 9:25 AM Just warning you that the 89.9 frequency in Tulsa will be shut down shortly. It is causing interference (via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. 1580, KOKB, Blackwell. 9/26 0804 [EDT = 1204 UT]. “Radio Oklahoma Ag Report” in progress; area (Stillwater, Enid) ads; political ad for Jim Halligan for Senate. Fair on peaks with fading and mixing with a couple of others. They are now right on 1580.00 after operating on 1580.04 for a couple of years (John Wilklins, Wheat Ridge CO, DDXD-West, NRC DX News Oct 20 via DXLD) So that was the 40 Hz hum I was often hearing (gh, DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3260, R. Madang, Madang, 1148-1204*, Nov 18, Tok Pisin/English. Ballads & announcer in language thru ToH; NBC at 1202 with EE ID; news & weather; pulled the plug at 1204; poor. 3905, R. New Ireland, Kavieng, 1217-1233, Nov 18, Tok Pisin/English-? W in language with a few English phrases noted; up-beat island music; tentative NBC in passing at 1222; fade/out by BoH; fair-poor (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, R8, R75, CLR/DSP, MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU [and non]. 3329.53, Ondas del Huallaga, Huánuco fading in daily at 1025 to 1040 with good signal, rapid intense Spanish by YL, no music. Surprisingly good signal 17/18/19 November. 4790, Unidentified carrier 1010 to 1020 with Radio Visión off the air. Visión has become irregular. 4826.45, Radio Sicuani, Sicuani 1030 to 1040, weak signal but there. 4949.9, unID while looking for Radio Madre de Dios, Puerto Maldonado. 1030 to 1040 has the same fade out pattern as --- 4955 Peru, Radio Cultural Amauta Huanta. Need a better opening for this one. 17, 18 and 19 November 73s (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, Nov 22, Icom 746 Pro and NRD535D, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SIERRA LEONE [non]. ASCENSION, 11875, Cotton Tree News, Nov 19 *0730-0750, 35433-45433, English and Vernacular, News, IS and ID at 0730 and 0737, Frequency change, (ex: 9525 kHz), (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. It`s always fun to listen to Brother Scare trying to announce his frequencies; he never gets them right. God help him! Paused on 13810, via Germany, Nov 22 at 1436 to hear him have a go at it. Said his Sabbath 10 am to noon broadcast [1500-1700 UT] would be on 9265, 9330, 9385, 6110, 13570, 15420, 17435. And also all day on 9385, 10-noon on 9330 and 8 am to 8 pm on 9265. Guess what: can`t be on 9265 and 13570 at same time since that`s one WINB transmitter. 17435 is a long-standing typo for 17485, which is via Germany. If he knew anything about SWBC, he would instantly recognize 17435 as impossible, since 17485 is the current absolute lower limit, to 17m out-of-band usage. 9265 does not run all-day from WINB, but mornings and evenings, tho on Saturdays it`s extended later than other days for the benefit of B.S. At 1506 check, WBCQ with B.S. both on 9330.0 and 15420, no BBC co- channel audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA. 7230, RSI, 11/22 *0100-0125, news and features on Slovak politics. Tough copy, very weak and noisy. // 9440 is barely in at all (Paul Brouillette, Geneva, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RSI really needs to rethink its North American service, like adding a morning daypath broadcast, or even a relay (gh, DXLD) see ITALY [non] ** SPAIN. 6055, REE, English for NAm 0000-0100 puts in a very solid signal here, but is often spoiled by Cuba on 6060 with the excessively splashy music they seem to punctuate their program with every couple of minutes. Tuning low as much as 2 kHz and using a 4 kHz BW still won't kill the splash, though it helps some (Paul Brouillette, Geneva, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. 13800, Madagascar, R. Dabanga. November 21 (Sudanese Arabic and local languages) 0434-0446 Arabic type music selections, many ID`s "R. Dabanga", OM talks on music. Good 45444. 73 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TATARSTAN [non]. RUSSIA, 15105, V of Tatarstan, 0504 with open carrier and signal S5. ID at 0510 `isirde Tatarstan" in Tatar and ``na volne Tatarstan`` up to 0510 21 Nov with reports, 35434 (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. R. Thailand, 9725, Nov 22 at 1407 YL with news about Zimbabwe, 1409 ID by OM as ``Radio Thailand English language service``, on to report on Thai tourism, over music by Albinoni; fair with flutter but readable and no QRM. This is aimed at Australia where it is a bit late; if they aimed it to NAm it would reach us better than the 0030 and 0200 broadcasts, i.e. not at all, or even better on 7 MHz band in our mornings (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKS & CAICOS. Power has just been restored on South Caicos to the RVC transmitter site so I expect they'll be starting to rebuild their tower shortly for 530 (Jerry Kiefer, Roswell, NM, Nov 21, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) That`s a long time to be without power following the hurricanes; how did residents manage, let alone radio stations? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. 15635, RUI, presumed Lviv transmission to Australia, 1200- 1300, Nov. 22, cultural programming in English with songs, full IDs. Weak at first, signal improved nicely to very good at 1214 (Nick Kucij, VT, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. The Alistair Cooke Memorial Lecture on his 100th birthday. -- Disappointing that Mamet had never heard Cooke's "Letter From America," and indeed did not know much about Cooke. A future Cooke memorial lecture should be given by someone who actually heard "Letter From America," in all its glory via shortwave. Actually, in the final years of "Letter From America," it was transmitted only at times when World Service was typically not heard in the United States. This was based on the chopped logic that the program was about the United States but for audiences outside the United States. Posted: 22 Nov 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) I had the same reaxion, altho it was interesting to hear Mamet aside from any real connexion to Cooke. But he evaded a number of questions, especially in the follow-up audio also available (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. REPORT ON ALHURRA SQUELCHED DATELINE: Washington, 11/10/08. Pro Publica reports that the BBG had tasked the University of Southern California's Center on Public Diplomacy with conducting a review of Alhurra. The study was reportedly completed in July of this year but the BBG, true to form, has not made the findings of the report public. The BBG reportedly has even failed to provide it to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. It is important that this report be released to the public. First, it was paid for with taxpayer funds. Second, if, as we suspect, the findings show that Alhurra is a boondoggle, the waste of taxpayer money should be ended and the VOA Arabic Service should be reestablished (AFGE Local 1812 via DXLD) ** U S A. 11975 with big open carrier and tentative-sounding tone test faded up and down, Nov 22 at 1436-1437*. Typical behavior of IBB, and I have no doubt this was Greenville testing; currently scheduled on this frequency only at 1800-1830 in English to WAf, per EiBi. Surprised to find very strong, loud and clear signal from R. Martí on 15530, Nov 22 at 1447, // 13820 with heavy jamming, and nothing but jamming on 15330 where it`s supposed to be. Obviously a punch-up error, or maybe no mistake at all since it temporarily escaped jammers? No, at 1456 it was back on 15330, uncovering a poor victim on 15530, with a weak signal which had been totally covered by Martí, i.e. VOA Kurdish via South Africa. Americans vs Americans! This cut off at 1459* just as a vocal (Kurdish?) version of Yankee Doodle started, and I really would have liked to hear clearly (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWCR-3, 7490, Sat Nov 22 at 1605 with heavy reverb which could have been mistaken for a long-path echo, during The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith with Bishop S. C. Johnson, as scheduled at 1500 UT Sats during DST. Same frequency had much more enjoyable program until 1400, Rock The Universe. At 1743 check, WWCR-3 on 12160 was just barely audible with WORLD OF RADIO, but I hope it`s doing better further away than 1 megameter, beyond the skip zone. Then I checked the webcast, and heard crosstalk from some music in the background (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tuned in at 1730 to hear WOR starting pretty much bang on time. Good signal with only a very small amount of atmospheric interference. However by 1745 the signal was starting to deteriorate very gradually with also more frequent and sharper fading and by 1755 was poor to very poor. The last few minutes were barely audible. I was surprised to hear even 25 minutes at listenable quality. Regards (Harry Brooks, North East England, UK, Sat Nov 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 8-119: Hello Glen[n], It was probably me that sent you a short note about receiving DXing Cumbre at 0436 UT (Saturday UT -- Friday night local) on 11/14/08 on 7315 kc. Found a saved copy of message. SIO was 212/111. Lots of interference on same frequency and from those on either side of 7315 but you could pick out the voice from everything else with headphones. Was streaming also on Angel 1 at WHR website. The show was on loud and clear today Saturday 11/22/08 at 1530 on 11785. Show #608 recorded 11/19/08. Opened with a reading of the schedule as printed at the WHR website. Even Marie sounded a little surprised at some of the times the schedule listed the program running (Steve Cross, Del City, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Re 710 AM in Seattle will become ESPN Radio --- Frankly, I doubt that all of ESPN-710 Seattle's content, aside from play-by-play sports, will be ESPN Radio content; they'll hire local hosts much of the day like other big-market ESPN outlets (Philly on 950, NYC on 1050, Chicago on 1000 etc.) are doing -- yet, it seems that there isn't a "balance" between local shows and ESPN shows, and often there's so much local content that it doesn't feel anything like ESPN Radio at all. This is something I am annoyed with, especially in Philly, where Mike and Mike gets cut off at 9am so Jody McDonald has to have his four hours on-air, and where ex-ESPNer Dan Patrick's show, aired live earlier in the day, is TAPE-DELAYED at 11 pm-2 am ET most weeknights (and NO national SportsCenter slots at TOH -- just infomercials!) --- why can't 950 air live ESPN shows at that time when fans want to get current sports news, updated scores, etc.? What a joke (Joe Hanlon, NJ, Nov 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. FCC CHIEF IS SILENT IN PROBE --- LAWMAKERS COULD FINISH LEADERSHIP INQUIRY WITHOUT HIS INPUT --- By Cecilia Kang, Washington Post Staff Writer, Saturday, November 15, 2008; D02 Lawmakers investigating Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin said yesterday that he has failed to respond to their requests for an interview, even though Congress has neared the final stages of its inquiry into his leadership. Reps. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of the subcommittee on oversight and investigations, yesterday sent a letter to Martin and three other FCC staffers, telling them that they have until Nov. 21 to meet with the House committee staff. If they do not, the committee will finalize its report without their input. A committee spokesperson said the final report is expected to be released this month. "Since last week, the committee staff has attempted to arrange an interview to provide you with an opportunity to comment personally on these matters," Dingell and Stupak wrote. "Thus far, however, your office has failed to arrange a meeting in response to our calls." Identical letters were sent to Martin; his chief of staff, Dan Gonzalez; the FCC's inspector general, Kent Nilsson; and Catherine Bohigian, a former aide to Martin who is vice president of federal affairs for Cablevision Systems. Martin's office said it has cooperated with Dingell and Stupak's office in the investigation and has provided thousands of documents at their request. "We continue to cooperate with the committee, and we're considering their offer," said Robert Kenny, a spokesman for the FCC. Dingell launched the investigation into the regulatory practices and management of the FCC in December after complaints surfaced from within the commission that Martin had suppressed reports that didn't support his agenda to change media ownership rules and purposely delayed meetings for several hours to pressure other commissioners. Some said Martin tried to rush through controversial reforms on how phone companies pay each other and the overhaul of a federal program that provides funds to phone service providers in rural and underserved areas. Those proposals were pulled from the agenda of the FCC's meeting earlier this month after the commission's four other members disagreed with Martin, according to sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. "We have witnessed too much sniping among the five commissioners, and we have heard too many tales of a short-circuited decision-making process," Dingell said last December at a hearing on media ownership reforms. "The FCC appears to be broken." (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. The latest DXLD mentioned that Canadian MW stations continue to migrate to FM. But that couldn't happen here. In most places in the US there's no more room on the FM band to which they could migrate. Without news/talk radio the US MW band would be in a similar condition to the Canadians. A wholesale loss of stations. Of course, many people would be happy with that, they would continue to enjoy the politics of NPR courtesy of the US taxpayer. But have they forgotten that news/talk saved MW? Arbitron estimates that about 17% of the total radio audience is tuned to news/talk, it's the biggest format in radio. And most of that audience is on MW. Without the news/talk audience the US MW band would undoubtedly be without a significant audience. It's pretty obvious that most of news/talk's critics are less interested in balance and more interested in silencing voices that disagree. It's too bad that if they succeed it will almost certainly be the death knell for MW (Jerry Lenamon, Waco TX, Nov 22, ABDX via DXLD) Fact break! --- Direct federal funding now makes up only about 2% of NPR's annual budget. Far more of your tax dollars - and mine - go to funding moose-reproduction research in rural Alaska, or hundreds of other obscure programs neither you nor I know much about. Fact is, the death knell for MW may be sounding anyway. Even if MW licenses aren't moving to FM (and indeed, there's no procedure for that to happen in the US, unlike in the Canadian system), MW *formats* certainly are. I'm quite certain WTOP, KIRO and KCBS won't be the last big news-talk AMs to move their formats upstairs to the FM dial - and as they (and KSL and KTAR and others) move their shares of news-talk listenership over to FM, it's bad news for their crosstown competitors - the WMALs and KOMOs and KGOs and KFYIs - who are trying to continue to make a go of it on AM. And then there's the financial disaster that several of the big broadcast groups find themselves in - most notably Citadel, whose ill-timed purchase of ABC Radio made them both a huge force in talk radio (they own the biggest local outlets for Rush, Hannity and their ilk) and a house of cards on the verge of collapse any moment now. Against that backdrop, it doesn't seem to me as though the remote possibility of a revived Fairness Doctrine (and it really is a remote possibility, no matter how worked up the talk hosts have been about it) is the biggest thing talk radio - or ANY radio - has to worry about right now. Incidentally, while I speak here only for myself and not for any of my employers, it's worth noting that the public radio station for which I work part-time, WXXI in Rochester, has its news-talk programming on the AM dial. It's certainly not in our best interest - nor that of any of the other public radio AMs scattered from Cape Cod to Alaska - for anything to happen to diminish MW listenership beyond its already sagging levels. Finally, I don't believe that even the migration of news-talk formats and listeners away from MW will mean the immediate death of the band. Plenty of smaller MW outlets are making a go of it - in some cases, more profitably than the "big guys" - with ethnic and other specialty programming. If someone showed up at my front door this afternoon and handed me the license to any of the AM signals here in Rochester (with the possible exception of WHAM), I know just what I'd do with it, and it wouldn't be English-language news/talk. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) For those worried about the Fairness Doctrine --- It ain't happenin... THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE BOOGEYMAN By Jay Bookman | Thursday, November 20, 2008, 11:38 AM The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Talk-radio hosts play their listeners as well as Yo Yo Ma plays the cello, stroking a string and making their audience respond exactly the way they want. It’s bizarre how easily they can manipulate people who like to think of themselves as sturdy, independent-minded Americans. Nowhere is that more evident than in the fabricated right-wing outrage about reimposition of the Fairness Doctrine. Under that long- abandoned rule, radio and TV stations that use the public airways were required to give equal time to various sides of every political issue. The rule was well-intended, but in practical terms radio and TV stations found it safer to avoid political discussion altogether rather than risk running afoul of the law. For that and other reasons, the Fairness Doctrine was abandoned more than 20 years ago, a change that quickly led to the boom in right- wing talk radio. However, with Democrats in control of Congress and Barack Obama about to become president, the maestros of talk radio are eager to take advantage. They know that the more threatened their audience feels, the higher their ratings get. And what better way to get their listeners riled up than to claim that the Democrats are out to silence talk radio itself, the medium that brings conservatives the truth as they want to know it? So for months, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and others have been warning their audiences that once in power, the Democrats plan to bring back the Fairness Doctrine. Politicians such as Newt Gingrich have joined the chorus, and the issue is now being cited as a critical reason why Saxby Chambliss has to be re-elected to the Senate. Right-wing pundits insist the issue will be part of Obama’s agenda in his first 100 days in office. But of course, it’s all made-up nonsense, backed by no evidence whatsoever. In the current issue of the New Republic (subs. req. online), Marin Cogan goes looking for those Democrats supposedly plotting to kill talk radio but ends up empty handed. Obama, for example, is on the record as very clearly opposing a new Fairness Doctrine (To which the paranoid replies: “That’s exactly what he WOULD say, now isn’t it?”) Other top Democrats questioned by Cogan either laugh off the idea or dismiss it as ridiculous. “That’s a completely made-up issue,” the press secretary to Sen. Dick Durbin told Cogan, stressing that Durbin has “no plans, no language, no nothing.” The bottom line is that the Fairness Doctrine is not going to come back and it never was going to come back, and those on the right who got suckered by this scam ought to be angry at being played for fools. But they won’t be. To the contrary, just as quickly as one justification for paranoia disappears, another one is certain to emerge. Among a certain crowd, paranoia is a steady state that continues independent of evidence or proof. In a famous essay written back in 1964, historian Richard Hofstadter traced the evolution of what he called “the paranoid style in American politics” from the earliest days of the country up to what was then modern times. More than four decades later, his description of the paranoid narrative remains as fresh and accurate as the day it was written: “But the modern right wing … feels dispossessed,” Hofstadter wrote. “America has been largely taken away from them and their kind, though they are determined to try to repossess it and to prevent the final destructive act of subversion. The old American virtues have already been eaten away by cosmopolitans and intellectuals; the old competitive capitalism has been gradually undermined by socialistic and communistic schemers; the old national security and independence have been destroyed by treasonous plots, having as their most powerful agents not merely outsiders and foreigners as of old but major statesmen who are at the very centers of American power. Their predecessors had discovered conspiracies; the modern radical right finds conspiracy to be betrayal from on high.” Again, that was written more than 40 years ago, a passage of time that confirms Hofstadter’s wisdom that the paranoid style is enduring. The only thing that has changed is the degree of influence that the paranoid style has since achieved through talk radio, and the grip it now holds on the Republican Party. In fact, the Democrats have every reason to encourage rather than break that relationship, and they seem to know it. As the paranoid right talks amongst itself on radio, Fox News and conservative web sites, egging each other into ever higher fits of hysteria, they construct an alternative America and alternative reality that is increasingly divorced from the reality perceived by mainstream America. And when conservative politicians make the mistake of exposing that alternative reality to the mainstream, as U.S. Rep. Paul Broun did recently, they only make that alienation more obvious. In his piece, Hofstadter made it clear that he was not using the term “paranoid” in the clinical sense. As he put it, “it is the use of paranoid modes of expression by more or less normal people that makes the phenomenon significant.” “The paranoid spokesman sees the fate of conspiracy in apocalyptic terms — he traffics in the birth and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, whole systems of human values. He is always manning the barricades of civilization. He constantly lives at a turning point,” Hofstadter wrote. Again, nothing has changed. In a piece this week in the Wall Street Journal, writer Thomas Frank quoted the words of Home Depot co- founder Bernie Marcus in an Oct. 17 conference call. “This is the demise of a civilization,” Marcus is quoted as saying about the election. “This is how a civilization disappears. I’m sitting here as an elder statesman, and I’m watching this happen, and I don’t believe it.” Marcus was not referring specifically to Obama in those remarks, but there’s no question that the president-elect stokes such emotions by his mere existence. Everything about Obama — his race, his age, his intelligence, his name, his back story — feeds the paranoid’s sense of dispossession identified by Hofstadter. In fact, if you had to design someone to perfectly epitomize their deepest fears, Obama would be it. Over the next four to eight years, he’s destined to make Limbaugh, Hannity and their ilk even richer than they are today, and make their listeners seem even more crazy. (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. Brand new AM 50 kW Daytime blast furnace seeks DX Reports « on: September 02, 2008, 11:45:04 pm » Hi DX-ers, Our station management and engineers are seeking "HONEST" DX reports from DX-ers in the following states. Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, & Canada (Manitoba/Saskatchewan) If you are able to receive WZFG-AM 1100 Dilworth, MN/Fargo, ND Please e-mail Scott Hennen at: scotth @ am1100.tv or you can snail mail the station at: WZFG-AM 1100 The Flag Attn: Scott Hennen 64 N. Broadway Fargo, ND 58102 Please include the date and time as well as your location (please include Long. & Lat. also) and the programming you heard. WZFG-AM is a daytime 50 kW Non Directional, Nighttime .4 kW Thank you « Last Edit: September 02, 2008, 11:47:46 pm by The Beave » Our 440 watt night time AM signal was received 4,001 miles all the way to Eastern Sweden. October, 25, 2008 @ 4:49am CDT. By 2 different DX- ers. Read the rest of the thread: http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,108419.0.html (via DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. Here are my other VOV logs from summer A08, all on 6175 kHz [via Sackville]. Primarily music in these clips, as that's what I had an ear to record. This first batch is with interference from Cuba on 6180. I played them for my brother, a veteran of Tet, and he asked "what is that pig snuffling in the background?": 23 Jun 08, 0211 GMT (4+ minutes): http://www.mediafire.com/?jr3ymmi3z5z 23 Jun 08, 0252 GMT (4+ minutes): http://www.mediafire.com/?jtvgdztijnm 23 Jun 08, 0322 GMT (4+ minutes): http://www.mediafire.com/?nri0qyoktjz And these are after the pig went rooting for truffles elsewhere in the 49 m band: 31 Aug 08, 0157 GMT (10+ minutes): http://www.mediafire.com/?1flythlqzzq 31 Aug 08, 0209 GMT (81+ minutes): http://www.mediafire.com/?tkl03lmmidr Audio logs are a good thing. Thanks again to Bob N30EA for the great recording software. Ouch. Obviously I wasn't using ECSS for that 81 minute clip. Beware of Fading Distortion. Minor interference from I believe CRI on 6170 (Terry Wilson, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ? No CRI was on 6170 that I know of (gh, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Best 73, I always think you are a DX-hero running DXLD all these years. I admire you very much! (Horacio Nigro, Montevideo, Uruguay) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ MEXICAN NATIONAL DX MEETING, CUERNAVACA, when? Invitación a los diexistas. Saludos. Para quienes no lo conocen, ya está en la red el sitio sobre el futuro XV Encuentro Nacional Diexista a celebrase el proximo verano en Cuernavaca, Morelos. http://dx15mexico.super-red.es/cuernavaca2009.htm También les recuerdo sobre la 2da. Jornada de Escuchas de Emisoras de Onda Media "AM" que inicia el día primero de diciembre, y cuyo objetivo es fomentar el diexismo en esta banda en México. Igualmente, tenemos también a "Cazadores de QSL" se trata de reunir la máxima cantidad de QSL y presentarlas en el XV Encuentro. Ahora en dos versiones: ASIA (Emisoras de cualesquier banda, servicio o tipo) y para la segunda variante de 7000 a 12000 Khz (igualmente, todo tipo banda o servicio). Cada diexista podrá participar en una o ambas variantes. IMPORTANTE: De los asistentes, quien no participe en el concurso Cazadores de QSL aportará un pequeño obsequio para el o los ganadores participantes. Se puede participar con solo una verificación o QSL, y se queda exento de aportar el regalo o premio en cuestión. Las bases de ambos concursos están en la sección de archivos - Encuentro DX- de Club Diexista México. Si te interesa el conocer estas bases y no puedes acceder a los archivos te los enviaré con mucho gusto. ¿Crees que es pérdida de tiempo y recursos la realización y participación en esros concursos? ¿Deberían cancelarse? ¿Es muy difícil participar en ellos? Tu opinión es importante. La esperamos. profesormiguel @ msn.com xe2itx @ yahoo.com.mx Cordiales 73 y muy buenos DX (Miguel Angel Rocha Gámez, Nov 22, Noticiasdx yg via DXLD) Cordiales saludos (73's), Es oficial, el próximo evento anual de Diexismo Mexicano se realizará del 31 de julio al 2 de agosto del 2009, en la ciudad de Cuernavaca, Morelos (México). La página con mucha información gráfica y datos de accesos e información turística, es la siguiente: http://dx15mexico.super-red.es/cuernavaca2009.htm Espero que les sea de gran utilidad, y espero sus comentarios y sugerencias. Posterioremente, estaré enviando el lugar sede, cuando ya esté designado, así como el programa preliminar de actividades, recuerden que involucra el tema del Diexismo y la escucha de la Onda Corta, pero también algún tour turístico, y convivencia. En esta edición, 2009, Los Diexistas Mexicanos estaremos festejando el XV Aniversario de reuniones formales, por eso será una gran fecha y, con la ayuda de todos ustedes será algo excepcional!!! Se buscan: Expositores sobre las diversas tematicas DX's. Se requiere que todos los amigos que por lo menos una vez, hayan estado en un evento anterior, estén nuevamente presentes!!! Recuerden traer sus QSL's y participar en concursos de cazadores de QSL's!!! Más información: Magdiel Cruz Rodríguez Apartado Postal # 22 CIVAC, Morelos 62571 México Internacional: (+52) 777 319 38 08 Nacional: (777) 3 19 38 08 Desde Jiutepec, Morelos, México.- NOS VEMOS EN CUERNAVACA!!! TODOS SON BIENVENIDOS!!!! DIEXISTAS, GENTE DE RADIO, GENTE QUE ES ENTUSIASTA POR LA RADIO, DE LA QUE SEA: AM, FM, SW, LW.... (Magdiel Cruz Rodríguez, Nov 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Website has lots of photos of previous Encuentros, and of Cuernavaca (gh, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: ASCENSION; AUSTRIA; BHUTAN; GERMANY ++++++++++++++++++++ POST-FEB. 17TH ANALOG LIKELY Our corporate Director of Engineering circulated an email yesterday indicating the "Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act", S. 3663, has passed the U.S. Senate. (why "Flash"? Because that way, the bill's acronym spells "SAFER"...) This legislation would require the FCC to establish rules no later than January 15th which would allow many TV stations to continue analog operations for 30 days after February 17, but only to broadcast information about the DTV transition and such emergency/safety information as the FCC may find to be in the public interest. It specifically excludes stations whose analog operations are in channels 14-20 and 52-69. It also specifically excludes stations whose analog operations would interfere with post-transition digital operations. (this would of course include stations whose post-transition digital channel is their current analog channel! - that will affect two of our stations.) It does NOT *require* stations to leave analog operations on the air. The House version H.R. 7013 has not yet been acted on. The wording is slightly different so unless it's amended before approval a conference will be necessary. We do expect the bill to pass the House. I've not read anything about whether President Bush plans to sign the bill, but I'd be VERY surprised if he vetoed it. The bill gives the FCC a deadline of January 15th to act - that's five days before President Obama is inaugurated, so he won't be the one signing it. ====================================================================== While researching this one, I stumbled across a number of bills regarding DTV coupons, most involving expiration: H.R. 6763 - would double the validity of DTV coupons from 3 months to six. H.R. 6933 - would set a single expiration date of March 31st, 2009 for all DTV coupons, whenever they were issued. H.R. 7100 - would give a $40 income tax credit for each expired coupon (up to two coupons - $80 credit - per taxpayer). H.R. 5635 - would suspend the import taxes on converter boxes. S.3242 would do the same thing. To my knowledge none of these bills has passed either house (Doug Smith W9WI, WSMV, Pleasant View, TN EM66, Nov 22, WTFDA via DXLD) Interesting, and not necessarily a bad idea. But, couldn't one argue that this would give some stations (i.e., the ones which may take advantage of this scheme) an unfair competitive advantage over stations that are precluded? In Memphis, for instance, our CBS affiliate, WREG (analog 3/DT 28) could do it, but our NBC affiliate WMC (returning DT to analog's current 5) could not. The same goes for our Fox O&O, which returns to 13. ABC and CW should be fine. Our MyNetwork station and TBN affiliate may also remain under this scheme. But, would anybody notice? I'm just sayin'... (Peter, N4LI, Baskind, J.D., LL.M. Germantown, TN 901-624-5295 ibid.) Well, my personal take is that every day we allow the analogs to continue after Feb. 17th is one more day that procrastinators can wait before doing anything about DTV. Presumably it would not be legal to run commercials on the analog channel (that said, presumably it would be legal for stations to run their logo on the analog, with that name recognition alone being promotionally valuable...) (Doug Smith, ibid.) ANALOG SHUTDOWN AND DTV CONVERSION BOXES I've got the Insignia working at home, in downtown Toronto, fed through rabbit ears, about a mile or so from the CN Tower, where the transmitters are located. I have fairly tall buildings blocking in between. I can receive some local signals OK, but some are spotty, breaking up badly to the point they're not worth watching, and one or two are consistently 'no signal' despite signs it's trying. Oddly enough, WNLO in Buffalo is fairly consistently in (WNED and others only occasionally). I'm doing this in deadband winter conditions. With analog, some signals I were less than perfect but entirely watchable. Is my experience with the DTV conversion box typical? Is this what people can expect with over the air DTV, with or without good rooftop antennas? Are apartment dwellers and people who can't install good rooftop antenna systems SOL? If so, there will be unhappy consumers. I'm curious to any DXer reaction to this (Saul Chernos, Ont., WTFDA via DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ NVIS – Re 8-119: Some notes: Skip distance is not a matter of the antenna design but of the propagation. Waves arriving in the ionosphere under a low angle still get reflected at much higher frequencies than waves coming in under a steep angle. For a given frequency there is a certain limit for the angle that decides whether the waves will be reflected or pass through the ionosphere and get lost in space. If that limit is smaller than 90 degrees the skywave signal will be present only in a certain distance from the transmitter, and the area in between is the so-called dead zone where no signal can be received, at least according to the text books (in practice there is often a weak, fadey signal, coming in by way of backscatter). For 49 metres the skip distance is during daytime more or less zero, but in winter nights it stretches out to 1000 km and more, and that's a real problem for shortwave broadcasting within Europe: Many sites can not reach certain target areas on any but the 75 metre band. Is groundwave propagation in jungle areas really so bad? It is my understanding that mediumwave was/is problematical in such areas for another reason, the frequent and intense thunderstorms, producing so much static that mediumwave reception gets completely ruined, especially when it's not possible to churn out hundreds of kilowatts. This was the primary reason for reverting to shortwave there, and the dead zone problem was the reason for introducing the "tropical bands" below 6 MHz. If one wants to attach the fancy term NVIS to shortwave transmissions for a target area within a certain distance (which one? without a definition it is quite meaningless) one just has to take a look at the target area of transmissions from a certain site. Here in Europe there are numerous cases of shortwave transmissions being meant for audiences within less than, let's say, 400 km from the transmitter site. Wertachtal, Jülich, Berlin-Britz, Moosbrunn, Litomysl, Sitkunai, Brovary, just to mention the sites I'm immediately aware of running such services (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Nov 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###