DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-126, December 7, 2008 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2008 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1437 Mon 2300 WBCQ 7415 [confirmed December 1] Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 Tue 1630 WRMI 9955 Wed 0630 WRMI 9955 [or new 1438] Wed 1230 WRMI 9955 [or new 1438] 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 ** AFGHANISTAN. 936 kHz, R. Zabol, Zabol Province, heard at 1220 on 06 Dec with interview. Fair to good signal, supposedly 10 kW. About 350- 360 km to the southwest of me. Thanks to Mauno Ritola for the tip and prompting! Best 73 de (Al Muick, Kabul, Afghanistan, WinRadio G303e, 200m Longwire/Randomwire, Palstar MW-550P Mediumwave Preselector, HCDX via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN. 6700, R Solh, Bagram (presumed), 26.11 2135, vernacular, traditional and modern Afghan music; O=3 (Michael Schnitzer, DX Camp, 45 km northeast of Nuremberg, Germany, Antennas: seven Beverages, 200-500m length; Receivers: 2 ICOM R-75, ICOM R-70, NRD-525, NRD-535, SDR, Perseus, HCDX via DXLD) ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. 5925, 0235-0358* CLANDESTINE, 01.12, R. Sohl, via Dhabbaya. Pashto and Dari talks, Afghan songs, 0316 "Strangers in the Night", ex 5995, 35333; not yet faded in on // 11675 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, AOR AR7030 with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) When was it ever on 5995? (gh, DXLD) ** ALGERIA [non]. 5865, ALGERIA, R. Algerienne, heard at 2240 on 5 Dec in Arabic with readings from the Kor`an, quite nice koranic singing by a choir (in harmony!) up until 2300 s/off with a long station ID and frequencies/times by YL over an instrumental music bed. Fair to good sigs with no QRM (Al Muick, Kabul, Afghanistan, WinRadio G303e, 200m Longwire/Randomwire, HCDX via DXLD) via FRANCE; no SW direct de ALGERIA (gh) 7455, Arabic talk at 2150 Dec 6, 2155 into Qur`an; figured it was RTA via Issoudun, FRANCE, quickly confirmed by // weaker 5865 just as scheduled. But 7455 closed abruptly at 2200* while 5865 continued, contrary to sked via DX Mix News claiming that 7455 finishes at 2157. Just as well, as RTTY QRM was building on 7455 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANDORRA. One of the most amusing examples of programmes being played at the transmitter site was the old World Music Radio via Radio Andorra. We used to send the programmes on C-60, so it had to be turned over half way through. The programme was played at the shortwave site, often by M. Marquet, the boss of Radio Andorra, himself. One day when I lived in Denmark, I got a phone call from the Manager of AWR Europe who was at the transmitter site with M. Marquet, and they were trying to zero-beat the transmitter onto something that was causing a heterdodyne. AWR's regular programmes were going out at the time. Unfortunately, I did not have a phone in my apartment, and had to use the one downstairs in my landlord's front room, which was too noisy. So I told them to call back in half an hour and went to the WRTH office where I could sit by the phone with a shortwave radio. I was telling the guy from AWR "up a bit, down a bit...." which he passed on to M. Marquet, until the transmission was as zero beat as we could manage. They thanked me for my assistance, and I went back to my apartment - turned on the radio - and the heterdodyne was back! One of the transmitters, either Radio Andorra's or the other one, was clearly drifting. I never did find out what was causing the heterodyne. I think that was probably the most bizarre evening I have ever had. High-tech it was not :-) (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. 15476, LRA36, RN [Arcángel] San Gabriel, 2046, 12/1/08 [Monday]. At 2046 tune-in pop ballad occasionally poking through noise. Flute music heard at 2053. YL made Spanish announcements at 2054 to 2056. More flute music, followed by another ballad. Signal best in USB. Sign-off announcements by YL started 2059:45 to 2100:35 audio out. Transmitter off at 2101. Signal reached fair on peaks by 2100. Always an exciting reception here (Jerry Strawman, Des Moines, IA, Dec 7, AOR AR7030 Plus, Wellbrook ALA-100 Loop, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. 5945v, RNA. December 5, Spanish, 0832-0843 news program "en la cámara, medidas económicas anti-crisis", weather report (temp. 13 oC), sports. Distorted, sounded better mainly on 5945 but moved till around 5950, 43433. 73 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. Re 8-122: ``So is LOL [10000 kHz] still being heard during certain hours? Have not seen it reported for a long time. And is the Brazilian on 24 hours? We are still waiting to find out its callsign, which is not announced (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` Glenn, I have heard LOL when in Buenos Aires back in August 2008. Their schedule is only 14-15 UT now, which is also on their website along with a description of the signal format. http://www.hidro.gov.ar/Observatorio/QueHoraUtiliza.asp Their signal originates directly from the premises of the Observatorio Naval at 34 37 19 S, 58 21 18 W (went there with the radio and heard the last 15 minutes just in front of their gate, and there the strength of the signal and the appearance of the harmonic at 20 MHz made it quite clear). Not a strong signal at other locations. Cheers, (Eike Bierwirth, CO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ASIA [non]. RADIO FREE ASIA: 26TH QSL CARD COMMEMORATING THE HOLIDAY SEASON --- Radio Free Asia (“RFA”) is happy to announce its 26th QSL card commemorating the holiday season. RFA recently announced its new QSL card which promotes world peace. The design is from one of the many holiday cards RFA has used in the past. Besides the dove as the card’s center piece, there are eight different renditions of the word ‘peace’ on the right margin. The eight versions represent each of our broadcast languages: Burmese, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Khmer, Korean, Lao, Tibetan, Uyghur and Vietnamese. The card will be used to confirm all valid reception reports for December 1, 2008 – January 31, 2009. RFA encourages listeners to submit reception reports. Reception reports are valuable to RFA as they help us evaluate the signal strength and quality of our transmissions. RFA confirms all accurate reception reports by mailing a QSL card to the listener. RFA welcomes all reception report submissions at http://www.techweb.rfa.org (follow the QSL REPORTS link) not only from DX’ers, but also from its general listening audience. Reception reports are also accepted by emails to qsl @ rfa.org and for anyone without Internet access, reception reports can be mailed to: Reception Reports, Radio Free Asia, 2025 M. Street NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036, United States of America. Upon request, RFA will also send a copy of the current broadcast schedule and a station sticker (From A J Janitschek via Rich D`Angelo, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. 4835, VL8A Alice Springs, 25.11., 2130, news, ID; O=3-4 4835, VL8A Alice Springs, 30.11., 0735, talk, pop music, reception via long path (!); O=2 // 4910 (Michael Schnitzer, DX Camp, 45 km north east of Nuremberg, Germany, Antennas: seven Beverages, 200-500m length; Receivers: 2 ICOM R-75, ICOM R-70, NRD-525, NRD-535, SDR, Perseus, HCDX via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. 6230-SSB, VMW, announcing its schedule at 1355-1357* Dec 5, but under stronger SSB net involving various cap`ns, which I at first assumed was WHX672 Brownsville, but that`s on 6224, so some other US coastal station blocking it on 6230 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. ORF weekend English programming is not appearing as scheduled to Europe 1300-1358 on 6155 and 13730, frequencies carry German; it's been like this for several weeks. In the December BDXC-UK Communication, Darren Rozier reported that he had advised them of this and they replied that his observations had been forwarded to their technicians. But still no English weekend programming to Europe November 29 and 30 (Mike Barraclough, England, Dec World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** AUSTRIA [and non]. ORF domestic service relay, 6155, Dec 5 with all-too-brief English news segment, and not much about Austria itself, 0709-0712, then into French. This M-F morning news update may be all that`s left of English from Austria on SW after Dec 31, and maybe it will be gone too. It`s conveniently scheduled just after an equally brief English newscast from Croatia at 0700-0704 on 6165, which concludes by listing all their other English times, unlike Austria (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. ORF Radio 1476 will close down at yearend --- Harald Süss of the ADXB-OE listeners club has been told by ORS (the Austrian transmitter operator, outsourced by ORF a few years ago) that ORF's Radio 1476 on mediumwave will be closed down at yearend. Radio Afrika International already confirmed that hereby their terrestrial radio service will end. A remarkable case are ORF's broadcasts in Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Croatian, Hungarian and Romanes: here the options are to either continue online or phase them out altogether. ORS plans to remove the former 585 kHz mast at the Bisamberg MW site in the next year because it would have to be reconstructed and is no longer needed. This does not affect the availability of 1476 kHz, ORS emphasizes that it could still be used by another broadcaster. Concerning ORF's shortwave service ORS said that it is planned to keep five hours a days in the long term. Here it remains unclear if this information is still valid after the recent escalation. Something else could just be heard from somebody at ORF, but these remarks were off the record and the person did not bother to enquire for such an irrelevant detail. Anyway the airtime at Moosbrunn no longer used by ORF will be offered to other customers; ORS does not intend to close the site (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also BULGARIA! ** AZERBAIJAN. 1296, Azerbaijan TV & R. Broadcasting, heard at 0023 on 06 Dec with Azeri programming of talk show. Nice clear sigs, but squashed completely when local R. Free Afghanistan sign-on early at 0027 with VoA English programming. This transmitter went up/down several times before they finally got the feed right and sigh-on with R. Free Afghanistan at 0030. Hopefully I got enough details for a QSL, but there's always tomorrow. Azerbaijan is listed at 125 kW; in Russian after 0030. Best 73 de (Al Muick, Kabul, Afghanistan, WinRadio G303e, 200m Longwire/Randomwire, Palstar MW-550P Mediumwave Preselector, HCDX via DXLD) ** BANGLADESH. 7250, Bangladesh Betar, 1228 IS or subcontinental music, 1230 time pips with the last the highest. OM in English brief news, 1232 music bridge back to om.1236 YL with news items "...in the performance of the authorities... thirty one thousand ...", 1242 clear "...Bangladesh Betar..." ID by OM with percussion music emphasis. OM talk to fadeout 1255. 7 December. Note: Drake R8 returned from Drake after tune up and repair held in AM Synchro with 4.0 kHz filter well. Using the Russ Scotka-built noise reducing antenna. 73s (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** BELGIUM [non]. RUSIA, 5960, Radio Vlaaderen Int., St. Peterburg- Popovka, 1809-1813, escuchada el 6 de diciembre a locutora con invitada en conversación, emisión musical, SINPO 44554 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia). España, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BHUTAN. Bhutan Broadcasting Service being heard regularly here on 6035 fading in around 1345, weak but audible; English service starts 1400, signal fades up but still quite weak to 1430 when Polish Radio signs on in Belarussian. Prior to that usually a pop music and phone in programme with a lady announcer (Mike Barraclough, England, Dec World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Bhutan B.S., 6035, E-QSL in 1 day for an old report sent to sherubt @ bbs.com.bt v/s Sherub Tharchen (Artur Fernández Llorella, Dec 4, Catalonia, Spain, HCDX via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4699.3, R San Miguel, Riberalta, 25.11., 2205, ad, ID: "Radio San Miguel desde la provincia de Pando"; O=3 (Michael Schnitzer, DX Camp, 45 km northeast of Nuremberg, Germany, Antennas: seven Beverages, 200-500m length; Receivers: 2 ICOM R-75, ICOM R-70, NRD-525, NRD-535, SDR, Perseus, HCDX via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. Logged in southeast Florida 2300 to 2345 0n 3 December: 3309.98, R Mosoj Chaski, Cochabamba 3390.11, Emisoras Camargo Camargo 4409.86, Radio Eco, Reyes 4451.143, Radio Santa Ana, S. Ana de Yacuma 4781.35, Radio Tacana, Tumupasa Iturralde 5580.2, Radio San José. San José de Chiquitos 5952.43, Radio Pío XII Siglo XX 73s (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 6134.8, Radio Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz), 2315-2340, 12/2/2008, Spanish. Talk by man and woman with local pop music. Clear identification by man at 2330 followed by more talk, music, and IDs. Initially mixing with Portuguese station, no doubt R. Aparecida [see BRAZIL]. Signal improved after 2330. SINPO 33333 (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, TenTec RX-340, Drake R8B, RF Space SDR-14, Random Wires (90' and 200'), Eavesdropper Dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 6155.28, Radio Fides, La Paz, 1040-1100, Dec 5, Spanish talk. Short breaks of Bolivian music. Presumed. No ID heard. Weak but readable. Lost in noise by 1100 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 4885, ZYG362, Rádio Clube do Pará; 0629, 3-Dec; M in Portuguese with extensive ID into lite vocal. SIO=3+53. 4915, ZYF360, Rdf Macapá; 0631-0636+, 3-Dec; Peppy vocals with ID between. SIO=33-3-, swiper QRM. 5035, ZYG853, Rádio Aparecida; 2225-2229+, 3-Dec; EZL vocals; M mentioned R. Nacional, then W with RP [?] ID; All in Portuguese. SIO=332, QRM is 5025 Rebelde (presumably) in Spanish; not much there less than a half hour before. [see 11855 below] 6000, ZYE852, Rádio Guaíba (presumed); 0015-0031+, 1-Dec; Sports with futebol highlights (way too many gooooooooooals for a game call) with many mentions of Brasil. SIO=2+32 with weak co-channel audio; Cuba obviously not on. 6039.6, ZYE725, Rádio Clube Paranense (tentative); 0008-0012+, 1-Dec; M&W alternating in Portuguese; tentative ID at 0011. Tough copy due to CRI (presumed) in Chinese via Canada on 6040; need LSB. (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 210' center-fed RW, 85' end-fed RW, 125' bow-tie, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. R. Senado, 5990, QSL finally arrived from v/s Alexandre Campos. Address on the envelope: Rádio Senado Ondas Curtas, Praça dos Três Poderes s/n, Brasília DF 70165-900. Report sent to radio @ senado.gov.br (Artur Fernández Llorella, Dec 4, Catalonia, Spain, HCDX via DXLD) ** BRAZIL [and non]. 11855, Dec 3 at 2207, WYFR Spanish with co- channel QRM which I could make out was in Portuguese, and close enough to the same frequency to make a SAH, unlike most Brazilians. Must be Rádio Aparecida, Catholix vs Protestants! Aparecida is listed as only 1 kW, and Aoki says azimuth is 30 degrees, i.e. up the coast from São Paulo. I often hear QRM to WYFR here, so it speaks well for how well Aparecida gets out; if only they had a clear frequency. The big guns just ignore it, as besides WYFR there are transmissions at various times on 11855 from VOA/Thailand, BBC/Ascension, CRI/Albania, and BSKSA/Saudi Arabia. This WYFR transmission in question is at 222 degrees for CIRAF 11, Central America and Caribbean, so they can pretend it`s not going into South America, or North America, but it still dominates the frequency here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Dec 6 at 0658, weak and very distorted Brazilian on approximately 11960, seemed to be preacher until 0701, then tentatively heard Globo mentioned and into music. No detectable carrier. This is probably R. Globo, Rio, which has been reported for months by Brazilian DXers way off nominal frequency 11805 with such distorted spurious emissions. Brazilians on 11780, 11815, 11925 were also audible, but Globo`s nominal frequency has been hijacked by CVC Chile at 0000-0800, so one can hardly blame Globo for moving elsewhere, except this is presumably unintentional. Previous reports have found it way above 12000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) São 0233 UT de 07/12 e sintonizo um forte sinal espúrio da Rádio Globo do Rio transmitindo um programa da IPDA em 11960 com S=4. Esse sinal já foi sintonizado pelo Glenn Hauser nos USA. Coisa que degrime ainda mais a nossa imagem lá fora, mas a ANATEL está mesmo é preocupada com a implantação do PLC, para dá o golpe final e de misericordia nas ondas curtas. 73, (Jorge Freitas, SWL1023B, Feira de Santana Bahia, 12º 15' 1.57" S 38º 58' 40.30" W, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) IPDA = Pentecostal Church God Is Love ** BULGARIA [and non]. ORS BOUGHT BULGARIAN SIGNAL DISTRIBUTION BUSINESS UNIT FROM BULGARIAN TELECOM Saturday, December 6, 2008 5:13 BULGARIA/AUSTRIA --- Bulgarian Telecom sold the Bulgarian Broadcast transmitter net [signal distribution] to Austrian ORS organization (former ORF transmitter unit. ORS - Oesterreichische Rundfunksender GmbH, the signal distribution business of the Austrian broadcasting corporation). Apart from distributing the TV and radio signals for state and private stations in Austria [and now Bulgaria too], ORS also operates its own satellite uplink facilities and applied to operate the first multiplex for digital terrestrial television in Austria. ORS kauft Bulgariens Sendernetz. Die Sendertochter von ORF und Raiffeisen erhielt Mittwoch den Zuschlag fuer die kompletten Rundfunksender des Balkanstaates - Kostenpunkt laut Aufsichtsrat des ORF: 80 Millionen Euro. (fid/DER STANDARD via Herbert Meixner-AUT, Dec 4) BTC: http://www.btc.bg/en/business/about_us/company_information/ (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) BULGARIAN NEWSPAPER SAYS SALE OF TRANSMITTERS TO ORF IS ’SCANDALOUS’ The Bulgarian newspaper Standart says the formerly state-owned Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC) has sold its transmitter network to the Austrian ORF for ‘peanut money’ and calls it a ’scandalous deal’. It says the Radio and Television Systems National Directorate (RTSND) is the only broadcaster of radio and TV signals in Bulgaria, and claims the deal has caused concern not only in media circles but nationwide as RTSND also provides services to the army and NATO. Read the report http://paper.standartnews.com/en/article.php?d=2008-12-05&article=26006 Related story: ORF subsidiary buys Bulgarian transmitter network http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/orf-subsidiary-buys-bulgarian-transmitter-network 1 comment so far 1 John December 6th, 2008 - 11:23 UTC If it has been sold cheap, then that indicates a large amount of investment is needed. But then BBC Transmission was sold for £250 million to a bunch of Texans who sold it a few years ago for well over a Billion pounds (December 6th, 2008 - 11:15 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ORS has issued a press release about this purchase: http://www.ors.at/view08/ors.php?mid=131 (Kai Ludwig December 7th, 2008 - 13:20 UTC, ibid.) ** CANADA [and non]. 7335, at 2152 Dec 6, station in Russian under CHU, 2154 ID in passing as R. Svoboda (Note: NOT ``Sloboda`` as some would have it!), i.e. R. Liberty. This is 250 kW, 30 degrees from Thailand to eastern Russia at 21-22 only. Yet more incentive for CHU to hurry up and QSY to 7850 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 6070, CFRX, Toronto ON; 1703, 3-Dec; No hint of them and nothing heard for a few weeks. Did get a very weak het on 6070 and a stronger one on 6073.4 (no audio). They'd be booming in here if on. I think they're kaput again (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 210' center-fed RW, 85' end-fed RW, 125' bow-tie, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Re 8-125: Glenn: Very interesting account in the last DXLD regarding the two Ted Rogers, Sr and Jr, in response to the recent death of Ted Rogers Jr. Want to correct that statement that CHFI-FM 98.1 Toronto was the first FM radio station in Canada - this so-called fact has been repeated forever here in Canada, was even included in the article on the death of Rogers Jr. on the CBC website. I remember in the 70's, when I lived in the Toronto area, CFHI promoting itself as Canada's first FM station. In fact they were hardly the first FM station in Canada when they came on the air in 1957 (the station was brought by Ted Rogers Jr. in 1960). In fact they were the fourth FM station in Toronto alone - CBL- FM, CJRT and CFRB-FM (now CKFM) all started in the 1946-1949 timeframe, and by 1957 there were many FM stations operating across Canada (three in Edmonton AB for example). Several were owned by the CBC. CHFI-FM as the first Canadian FM station is just shameless self promotion by the Rogers company along the lines of the stories spread by Westinghouse for decades claiming that their station KDKA Pittsburgh was the first broadcasting station in the world. 73, (Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [and non]. Radio Canada International broadcast from 1800 to 1900 UT at 11805 kHz --- Received a Radio Canada International transmission in English from 1800-1900 UT at 11805 kHz on Dec 4, 2008. This particular broadcast frequency is not currently listed on the Aoki, EiBi, Prime Time Shortwave, BCLNEWS.IT, or HFCC Public Data websites. It is also not currently listed on RCI's website. The 11805 kHz RCI broadcast was the same as the listed 13650, 15365, and 17790 kHz RCI broadcasts which were simultaneously transmitted from 1800 to 1900 UT and targeted to Sub-Saharan Africa. It was interesting to note that immediately following the RCI broadcast, 11805 is used from 1900 to 2000 by Radio Netherlands for an English language broadcast to Africa (Bill Hodges, Atlanta, GA; Kenwood R-2000, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) And was RCI English via SMG on 11875 kHz too, tonight? 1800-1859 UTC 7 DAYS SMG 11875 250kW 210degr HR 2/3/0.5 to zones 38,47,48. Maybe punching error 11805 instead of 11875? (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Wolfgang, I attempted to pick up 11875 kHz (and 7185 kHz) tonight from 1800 to 1900, but no signal was received here. I will attempt to monitor the situation again tomorrow to see if it repeats. Your suggestion of a punching error appears to be the likely cause. Thanks for your feedback! (Bill Hodges, Dec 4, ibid.) No signal on 11875? If so this should be Santa Maria di Galeria (i.e. the Radio Vatican transmitters near Rome), either moved from this scheduled frequency or just running the transmitter on 11805 by mistake (Kai Ludwig, ibid.) Here is the latest on RCI's 1800-1900 UT English language broadcast at 11805 as of Dec 5, 2008. This unlisted transmission continued today (Dec. 5, 2008) with an interesting twist. From 1800 to 1811, 11805, 13650, 15365, and 17790, RCI simultaneously transmitted (without a sign-on announcement or other introduction) three popular songs by Shania Twain, Sarah McLachlan, and Alanis Morissette. Then abruptly at 1811 deadair, followed at 1812 until 1859 with conventional RCI programming. Incidentally, 11875 (via SMG) was transmitting conventional RCI programming from 1800 to 1812. When I monitored 11875 kHz from 1826 to 1859, I picked up no signal. Perhaps RCI is planning to replace 11875 with 11805 kHz. Stay tuned! (Bill Hodges, Atlanta, GA; Kenwood R-2000) This observation indicates that 11805 is a fourth Sackville transmitter, on air besides 13650, 15365 and 17790. Interesting that Sackville lost the program feed but 11875 (i.e. Radio Vatican) did not. Can Sackville play out this music fill locally although they are otherwise not supposed to do anything else than putting a certain feed circuit from Montreal on air, no matter what audio comes in? Perhaps this even happens automatically by way of silence detection? If so it must have been a problem with the STL. If not it must have been some switching error at Montreal. I checked all four frequencies after 1830: Just nothing, about four hours after sunset here in Germany (Kai Ludwig, ibid.) Checked RCI at 1845-1857 UT in southern Germany: Nothing on 11875SMG- Vatican due of dead zone nearby; and Sackville 15365 + 17790 kHz too. 11805 kHz RCI English S=6-7 also ID; at 1855 UT VTC Meyerton CELLO pause signal ahead of RCI. 13650 kHz RCI English S=6. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Dec 6, ibid.) Bill, I remember that music fill was used at Sackville if there was a problem with the incoming feed. Last time I heard this was in 2006 during Radio Prague's morning relays from Sackville. It suddenly came on about ten minutes into the broadcast after a few seconds of silence. The music went on for ten minutes (same tracks too) before the hourtop news bulletin was played with only minutes to spare! I didn't stick around for what happened after tho. And there is more than just the three songs you mentioned in that fill. Another instance featured a whole hour of music, all by Canadian artists btw, when a snafu happened with ORF's feed (Jon Pukila, Thunder Bay, Ont., ibid.) Sackville has the facility to play out CD's direct from the transmitter site. When we ran those extra RNW broadcasts to North America 7 years ago, the BBC refused to allow Merlin (now VT) to play the RNW stream through the Bush House control room, and Jonathan Marks produced a special CD which was sent to Sackville and played for several days until we could get a satellite feed in place (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, ibid.) Aaah, so *this* was the reason for "All Jonathan, all the time"... I seem to recall that somebody from the BBC, perhaps even an official spokesperson, commented on these transmissions, dismissing them as "a mere PR stunt". And somehow the whole thing appears to be a memory from a distant past, although just seven years have passed by since. So you got to know for sure that the CD has been played out at Sackville itself and not at Montreal? I think it has been said that anything for transmission via Sackville is routed via Montreal (just as VTC does, now no longer at Bush House), and observations like RCI IS/ID audio before and after transmissions for foreign customers appear to support this claim. Perhaps an insider can shed some light on this? This also reminds me of what would have happened if Nauen (and presumably it was no different for Wertachtal) would have lost the DW feed completely, in particular due to a big failure at DW: They were provided with a CD that contained an announcement like "we're sorry but our programmes are not on air at present" in various languages, with the IS in between, and this CD would have been played until the DW signal resumed (no transmitter would have been taken off air in such a situation). Unfortunately it was not possible to get a copy of it (Kai Ludwig, ibid.) Yes, in this case the CD was played at Sackville, not in Montreal. I remember that our Programm Distribution Department had direct contact with colleagues at Sackville. Remember this was a last-minute idea, conceived and executed within 5 days. It was indeed a PR "stunt", though we thought it was a good one. It produced an enormous volume of mail and publicity, but that was seven years ago and, as you say, it's like a memory from a distant past. We were told that when the BBC management found out about these broadcasts they were "incandescent with rage" which is why they prohibited our programme feed from going via Bush House. Happy Days :-) I cannot comment on normal procedures at RCI as I don't work for them (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) More under ANDORRA I was unable to monitor the RCI 1800-1900 UT transmissions today (Dec. 6) since this was my day to assist relatives. However I do plan to monitor the transmissions tomorrow (Dec. 7) and will report back then. Typically the 11805, 13650, 15365, and 17790 kHz transmissions via SAC are quite strong here at that time, while the 11875 kHz transmission via SMG is audible but typically weak. Thanks for the signal reports Wolfgang! Thanks for the CD music fill background info Jon, Kai, and Andy! Best regards, (Bill Hodges, Atlanta, GA, ibid.) Checked 11805 at 1815 Dec 7, yes, RCI // 13650, certainly typical reception of Sackville. I think I had noticed 11805 quite some time ago but assumed it was already on the schedule (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Monitoring RCI's 1800-1900 UT English language broadcasts today (Dec. 7) revealed the 11805, 13650, 15365, and 17790 kHz transmissions via SAC were all quite strong; the 11875 transmission via SMG was weak (very noisy and fading near the end of the broadcast). Conventional RCI programming was monitored on all 5 frequencies, which included news from 1800 to 1803, the Maple Leaf Mailbag from 1803 to 1858, ID & signoff at 1859. Note it is assumed that 11805 kHz is via SAC, since it appears to have the characteristics of the other 3 SAC 1800-1900 UT transmissions. I did not perform any directional experiments with the 11805 kHz transmission. My antenna orientation was fixed throughout this monitoring (Bill Hodges, Atlanta, GA, ibid.) ** CANADA. Various applications to the CRTC that are of a more minor or housekeeping nature are handled behind the scenes, with the decisions being made public in bulk every three months. Today was such a day: AM related decisions: B-4 Application by CKPC-1380 Brantford ON to change pattern approved- will eliminate null to the east, which was made possible by the move of CKLC-1380 Kingston ON to FM. Thus will now to able to serve Hamilton with a good signal. Remains 25 kW-U B-9 Application of CHVO-560 Carbonear NL (Spaniard's Bay NL in Industry Canada database) which moved to FM to continue to simulcast on AM - approved with new deadline to discontinue simulcast Oct 7, 2008 B-11 Application of CKST-1040 Vancouver BC to move transmitter site about a half mile south of its present location (to colocate with CFUN-1410) - approved. No change to pattern or power (50 kW-U) 73, (Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, Dec 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Application of CKKY-830 Wainwright AB to move to FM DENIED by CRTC The application of CKKY-830 Wainwright AB to move to FM has been DENIED by the CRTC as the owner, Newcap, owns two FM stations in Lloydminster AB. As the FM transmitter for CKKY would be located between Wainwright and Lloydminster it would provide a good signal into the Lloydminster market, giving, according to the CRTC, three Newcap owned FM signals in that market which is not allowed by the CRTC regulations. This will also mean that 50 kW CFCW-790 Camrose AB will not be able to move to 840 as Camrose and Wainwright are too close to permit the use of adjacent frequencies. CKKY Wainwright – Conversion to FM band The Commission denies the application by 3937844 Canada Inc., a subsidiary of Newcap Inc., for a broadcasting licence to operate a new FM radio station in Wainwright, Alberta, to replace its AM station CKKY. Introduction 1. The Commission received an application by 3937844 Canada Inc. (3937844 Canada), a subsidiary of Newcap Inc. (Newcap), for a broadcasting licence to operate a new English-language FM radio programming undertaking in Wainwright, Alberta, to replace its AM station CKKY. The new radio station would operate on frequency 101.9 MHz (channel 270C1) with an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts. 14. The Commission notes that the coverage area of the proposed FM station would extend the station’s signal into the Lloydminster radio market and considers that this could potentially make it a competitor for listeners and advertisers in that market. Given that the reasoning behind Newcap’s proposal was to provide a high quality FM stereo service to Wainwright and the surrounding areas, the Commission is of the view that an FM station designed to replace CKKY should have a coverage area that more closely replicates that of the AM station’s existing coverage and as such continues to provide service to the same localities and the same population size. Conclusion 15. Since approval of the present application would be inconsistent with the Commission’s Common Ownership Policy; since the applicant has not provided justification for an exemption to that policy; and given that the proposed FM radio station for Wainwright could potentially compete for listeners and advertisers in the Lloydminster radio market, the Commission denies the application by 3937844 Canada Inc., a subsidiary of Newcap Inc., for a broadcasting licence to operate a new English-language FM radio programming undertaking in Wainwright, Alberta, to replace its AM station CKKY. 73, (Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Interesting. This nixes the whole plan it seems now. I wonder if Athabasca 850 will even bother moving from 850 to FM now? Could CFCW move to 850 rather than 840? But the CFCW pattern would then have to protect KOA. 860 SK may be an issue then. 73, (Patrick Martin, OR, ibid.) It might be too early to regard the whole plan as over. Note that the decision suggests an FM conversion would be approved if a different set of FM parameters (that didn't cover Lloydminster) were requested. So if CKKY's business plan doesn't require serving Lloydminster, they might refile the FM plan at lower power or from a different site and be likely to be approved. It's been a LONG time since I was in Lloydminster, don't recall whether CKKY's AM signal is "non-DXer quality" there. I don't think CFCW would get bent out of shape if they had to protect KOA and the Saskatoon station. I think they're only interested their signal to the north -- over Edmonton. -- (Doug Smith W9WI. Pleasant View, TN EM66, NRC-AM via DXLD) Doug, Thanks for clarifying. Wainwright to Lloydminster is only 50 miles. Then it looks like there may be another app making a few changes and trying again. If by some chance, CFCW 790 did get the ok to move to 850, it would be one "Very" tight pattern as KOA in U1. But CFCW may end up getting 840 in time. 73 (Patrick Martin, OR, IRCA via DXLD) You may wonder why MW threads like this come from a variety of different lists, yet hold together. Cross-posting. I just copy each reply I come to first in ploughing thru the mail (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. 4950, 1535-1600* 03.12, Voice of Pujiang, Shanghai. Chinese announcement, songs, closed with time signal 23222 QRM R Kashmir + CWQRM // 3280 (15121) and 5075 (13221 utility QRM) (Anker Petersen, Denmark, AOR AR7030 with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) 4950, V. of Pujiang, Shanghai, not often audible here, but when it was, Dec 5 at 1424 in Chinese talk and music, I found it to be overmodulated and distorted (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. 5030, definite Chinese at 2146 Dec 6, in the sidebands of Cuba 5025. Commies vs Commies at an unusual time for reception from Beijing on 60m, and not heard after 2200 altho that`s still only 6 am in China. BTW, at 2146, Mauritania was also audible on 4845 with ute QRM, so that made three separate continents at once on 60m (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 3303 USB, Zhoushan Maritime Meteorological Radio, *1400- 1412*, Dec 5, IS (Kenny G instrumental music - "Forever in Love"), woman in Chinese with assume the maritime weather conditions, poor/QRN. After hearing them on Sept 29 and 30, I never heard them again until today. Their current website is , where I find no schedule or reference to SW. The reference at (their former website) is: SSB to receive high-powered radio (frequency 3303). Audio clip posted at "Station Sounds". 4830, China Huayi BC, 1551-1600*, Dec 4, in Chinese with call-in program (answered calls with traditional greeting: "Ni Hao" [pronounced: Nee HaOW]), 5+1 pips, man started talking and quickly signed off, fair, heard every day with decent signal, on from *1200. 9530, Firedrake, 1516, Dec 4, strong signal, // 6105 and 9000 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 4330, presumed Xinjiang PBS, Urumqi, 0103-0133, Dec 6, listed Kazakh. M & W in Russian-sounding language, between musical selections; weak but in the clear. 4500, presumed Xinjiang PBS, Urumqi, 0134-0202 Dec 6, listed Mongolian. M & W with talk & listener phone-calls between musical selections; sounded like a music request program; presumed ID at 0200; right back to music; poor-fair (Scott Barbour, NH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 7220, CRI Xi'an, in Vietnamese, 2305-2315, 6 Dec. Woman announcer with news or commentary. Lots of mentions of China (chung kuo) and Viet Nam. Similar music breaks as other CRI/CNR programs. Choppy fade, but very strong. 12/6. 7290, CNR1 Beijing, in Chinese, 2301-2305, 6 Dec. Fast-paced news by man and woman announcers. Quite strong, choppy fade. Program and site per Aoki list which was the only place I could find a matching listing, but the ID heard sounded different than usual. It sounded like "Zhongguo hongshu..." rather than normal "Zhongguo guangbo diantai, zhongguo zhi sheng." 7470, CNR1, site unknown, in CH, 2233-2238, 6 Dec. Man and woman in Chinese talk, definite ID "Zhongguo guangbo diantai...", but this frequency not listed for them. It is listed for RFA at this time, whom I suspect they are trying to jam with this program (Paul Brouillette, Geneva, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CONGO DR. Radio Kahuzi heard in French on 6210 from 1905 tune in November 14, political talk with several mentions of President Bush and Barack Obama and fewer references to Congo and Kinshasa. After a time check there was a discussion, clear identification at 1935, SINPO 22332 with splash from 6205 (Arthur Miller, Wales, Dec World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** CONGO DR. 5066.3, COD, RT Candip, 28.11, 1638, French/vernacular, ID, Afro pop, closing down, 1638 s/off; O=3 (Michael Schnitzer, DX Camp, 45 km northeast of Nuremberg, Germany, Antennas: seven Beverages, 200-500m length; Receivers: 2 ICOM R-75, ICOM R-70, NRD- 525, NRD-535, SDR, Perseus, HCDX via DXLD) ** CROATIA [non]. From Jan 1, V. of Croatia plans to broadcast via Singapore at 0600-1000 on 17655, 100 kW, 135 degrees to Australia and New Zealand. Perhaps this will replace the long-path relay via Wertachtal, Germany on 11690 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Re 8-125, radios to Cuba: Glenn, I took shortwave radios to Cuba several times, starting in 1996, when we first went to Santiago de Cuba. We made several trips, and did not have an issue at various Cuban airports (Santiago de Cuba, Varadero, Holguín, Habana). Unfortunately, Cuban Customs was difficult when we arrived in Cayo Largo. Cuban Customs x-rays luggage going into the country and coming out. We were held up for about 20 minutes in Cayo Largo while I filled in the paperwork on a six year old Grundig radio worth perhaps $200 new in 1997 and worth virtually nothing at the time. When we last went to Varadero in 2007, we had no issues with cell phones despite warnings to the contrary. It seems to depend on the mood of the local bureaucracy. P.S. Cuba remains a popular destination for Canadians: I like the factory outlet shopping. We keep our eyes open outside the resort areas and see what is going on. All the best, (Michael Bolitho, Canada, Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. VIGENCIA DE RADIO MARTÍ --- JOSÉ DANIEL FERRER GARCÍA, PRISIONERO DE CONCIENCIA http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y08/dic08/04_N_6.html PRISIÓN PROVINCIAL DE LAS TUNAS, Cuba, diciembre (www.cubanet.org) - Según el tribunal que nos condenó a pasar décadas en prisión por defender pacíficamente los derechos humanos y las libertades públicas en nuestro país, uno de los delitos más graves que cometimos fue hablar a través de Radio Martí. Es harto conocido que en nuestra patria no hay libertad de expresión y de prensa. Los medios de comunicación responden a los intereses del régimen, que viola persistentemente los derechos civiles de los ciudadanos. La desinformación es el aliado principal del gobierno. De ahí su temor a Radio y Televisión Martí. Por eso su empeño en interferir sus transmisiones y las acciones represivas para que la población no los sintonice. Radio Martí, durante 23 años, ha dado voz a quienes no la tenemos en nuestra tierra. Muchos cubanos supimos de la Declaración Universal de Derechos Humanos por esta emisora, que transmite gracias a la generosidad del pueblo norteamericano. Esta estación ha sido escuela y tribuna de democracia. Por esta vía conocí del valiente y altruista trabajo de la oposición pacífica y los defensores de los derechos humanos. También supe de la patriótica labor del Movimiento Cristiano Liberación y del Proyecto Varela; del importante trabajo de los periodistas independientes, la autonomía universitaria, los campesinos y las bibliotecas independientes. En fin, de la naciente sociedad civil cubana. Además, tuve noticias de nuestros entrañables hermanos que desde el exilio trabajan por la transición pacífica hacia la democracia. Hasta el día en que me encarcelaron, en marzo de 2003, fui un fiel oyente de la programación de esta emisora, que cuenta con magníficos profesionales de mucha estima en Cuba. Radio Martí es para nosotros lo que fue Radio Europa Libre para los pueblos de Europa Oriental. Hoy adquiere mayor relevancia cuando la libertad de expresión está más amenazada que nunca en América Latina. Mientras en nuestra patria no haya democracia, no tengamos un Estado de Derecho y nuestro pueblo no disfrute de libertad de expresión y prensa, y no se permita “pensar y hablar sin hipocresía”, como escribiera el Apóstol, Radio Martí seguirá siendo imprescindible para nosotros, y debe mantener abiertos sus micrófonos a quienes en condiciones extremadamente difíciles, luchan por un futuro mejor para todos los cubanos. La información es tan necesaria como el alimento para quien muere lentamente de hambre. Hablo a título personal, pero estoy seguro que es la opinión de muchas personas. José Daniel Ferrer García pertenece al Grupo de los 75, juzgado y encarcelado durante la Primavera Negra de 2003. Es activista del Movimiento Cristiano Liberación y gestor del Proyecto Varela. El texto fue grabado y transcrito por el Centro de Información del Consejo de Relatores de Derechos Humanos de Cuba (via Oscar de Céspedes, FL, condiglist yg via DXLD) ** CUBA [non]. TV MARTÍ LOOKING FOR NEW PARTNER IN MIAMI MARKET The International Broadcasting Bureau (BBG/IBB) in Washington, DC is looking for a broadcast provider who has excess time available on a Miami market DirecTV channel. The Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB) in Miami will provide signal delivery of the following: 26 minutes of uninterrupted live news between the hours of 6:00 and 6:30 pm Mon–Fri 26 minutes of uninterrupted pre-recorded programming between 6:30 and 7:00 pm Mon – Fri 26 minutes of uninterrupted pre-recorded programming between 11:30 pm and midnight Mon–Fri 26 minutes of uninterrupted pre-recorded programming for each half hour between midnight and 2:00 am daily The contract states that the Source may broadcast its own station announcements before or after OCB programs, but not during OCB programs. The OCB programming shall be run uninterrupted for 26 minutes during each half hour segment. Station announcements shall be limited to commercials and features of local interest and must be clearly distinguished from the OCB and the United States Government and shall be done with the highest degree of integrity and business ethics. Also, there shall be no political advertising immediately before or after the OCB provided programming. The contract terms will begin with service beginning on or about 19 December 19, 2008, through 18 December, 2009, with four subsequent 1- year option periods beginning on December 19 of each option period, if exercised. More information here http://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=0f7afd6f0e348c3e84a3989f6374093b&tab=core&_cview=1&cck=1&au=&ck= (Dec 5, 2008 - 9:36 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** CUBA. Radio Encyclopedia, http://www.racioenciclopedia.cu features piano rhumbas, snappy 70s renditions and Spanish female announcer. Replaced R. Cadena Habana and a couple others on 530, appx. DEC '07 on 530. Developing quite a following here, many locals enjoy format, some aware it's coming outa Cuba, some not. z (pv zecchino, manasota key, fl, IRCA via DXLD) ** CUBA. 11690, RHC at 0134 in Spanish with IS fanfare and a man with apparent news // 6060, Very Good Nov 9 – I wonder if this was a mistake, or forgetfulness of their part, as it is not listed in the 2009 Passport and not mentioned in the HFCC B08 files. RHC claims that they file their frequencies but they also have a habit of not admitting to their mistakes (Mark Coady, ye editor at the Shadow Lake Radio Camp, Ont., Kenwood R-2000 and 200 foot wire, G5RV antenna, and mini-slinky loop, Dec ODXA Listening In via DXLD) No, as I have observed in DXLD, 11690 is a replacement for 11680 which collided with Spain for several months. So from RHC`s point of view it is not a mistake. By now 11690 does appear in the RHC schedule at http://www.radiohc.cu/espanol/frecuencia/frecuencias-espanol.htm as 0000-0500, even tho it is dated as expiring in October 2008! Missing from Passport is nothing unusual. They miss lots of stuff. Missing from HFCC is also to be expected, since RHC does not register ANY of its frequencies with HFCC, forcing the HFCC group to beware of RHC`s real usage when they think a frequency may be available according to the incomplete info available to them, if they do not pay attention to DX publications. CRI relays via Habana, however, are duly listed in HFCC. Arnie claims that notifying ITU of RHC frequency usage is sufficient, but it certainly not in the practical world of real-time frequency coordination. I should add that as a result, RHC also collides with DW via Rwanda on 11690 to South America until 0200. Another anomaly from RHC: UT Sat Dec 6 at 0706 I was surprised to find English still running on 11760, past nominal 0700 closing. Quickly checked other frequencies and found it // but an echo apart on 6000, 6060, 9550, not on 6140. Recheck at 0716, still running on 6000 only. With RHC you never know whether they are just being sloppy, experimenting or deliberate. I suspect the program feed automatically restarts the English recording every two hours, and if the transmitter operator is dozing, out it goes again until he upwaxe (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. Checking WRMI webcast, Dec 5 at 2240, heard R. República instead of WRN – or rather in addition to WRN, as there was something in English mixing underneath. Not enough clear signal on 9955 to tell if they same thing was happening there, but probably so. Strangely enough, program outro until 2257 was Amanecer, i.e. the wake-up show for the mornings, presumably repeating the one at 11-12 on 6100 via Sackville. By now the WRN clash was gone. Then announced schedule on 11835, which I missed, and Sat and Sun 7-9 pm [0000-0200 UT Sun & Mon; used to be 7 days] on 9785. This may be outdated since R.R. is back on WRMI directly, 9955. Probably at least M-F 22-01 UT, time which had been filled with WRN programming, so the following lose their WRMI relays again, probably without even knowing they were on in the first place: 2200 Ireland, 2230 Romania, 2300 Netherlands, 0000 Russia, 0030 Israel. Break for WRMI`s own ID around hourtop 2300, and then at 2302 Patos a la Libertad, I thought they said at first, but it`s Pasos a la Libertad. R. República, 11835 via Sackville, Dec 6 at 2204, good with no jamming audible; tho on weekdays when sign-on is not until *2300, I have been hearing lite jamming in standby(?) mode as early as 2200. Programming may or may not be // WRMI 9955 which just resumed R.R. during same time period (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNKNOWN, Radio República, 9785, 0013, Spanish, 444, Dec 5, YL with ID and comments. OM with ID 0017 as Radio República, then vocal music 0018 (Stewart MacKenzie, WDX6AA, Huntington Beach, California, Dec 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Via Sackville as mentioned several times (gh) ** CZECHIA. Radio Prague --- In many ways, Radio Prague can be called your “Christmas Station” of the international bands. Of all the stations on the world band, our friends in the Czech Republic bring you stories of Christmas in Prague, contests and spirited renditions of carols sung by the staff. I could probably do without the traditional Czech Christmas dinner of fried carp and potatoes, but that’s just my bias. Radio Prague seems to embrace the season like no other station. If anyone could entice me to eat carp, it’s the people at Radio Prague http://www.radio.cz/en/article/86580 Through Radio Prague you can send your friends and relatives a Christmas greeting via the internet. Choose a picture to accompany your greeting. http://www.radio.cz/en/html/christmas_greeting.html (Fred Waterer, Programming Matters, Dec ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** CZECHIA [non]. Hola: Según anuncio escuchado en R. Praga emisión de las 15 UT del 05/12: La emisora cambiará a partir de las 00 UT del 9 de diciembre la frecuencia a través de la repetidora de Ascensión, se utilizará la frecuencia de 7420 kHz en vez de 7275. Este cambio es debido a los problemas reportados con la mencionada frecuencia anterior. La lista de emisiones en español de la Asociación DX Barcelona (ADXB) http://www.mundodx.net ya está actualizada con este cambio, (esta última información por parte del equipo de redacción de ADXB) Cordialmente, (Tomás Méndez, El Prat de Llobregat-Barcelona España, logsderadio yg via DXLD) So my hearing them a month ago already on 7420 must have been just an initial test (gh, Dec 7, DXLD) ** DESECHEO. DESECHEO 2009 ---> The Documentary Archive Radio Communication provides on its website http://www.dokufunk.org a special coverage of the forthcoming DXpedition to Desecheo: a first exclusive interview with Co-Team Leader Glenn Johnson, W0GJ, and extensive background information on this and all previous KP5 expeditions. Further interviews before, during, and after the February 2009 DXpedition are scheduled. [TNX OE1WHC] (425 DX News via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** DIEGO GARCIA. 4319 USB, AFRTS, 1436-1449, Dec 4, Dr. Joy Browne call-in program, Department of Defense sponsored announcement by McGruff the Crime Dog about the dangers of online chat rooms, many PSAs, ABC news, "This is AFN", somewhat surprised to hear this just about every day with a nice steady signal. RE: DXLD 8-124: was indeed my typo, was CBS Radio Network News, thanks Glenn (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DJIBOUTI. 4780, Radio Djibouti, *0316-0325, Dec 5, abrupt late sign on with Arabic talk. Horn of Africa music at 0325. Sign on usually at 0300. Poor to fair with CODAR QRM (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. Christmas at HCJB. The radio station itself is a group of buildings on a city block in Quito. No one actually lives there, so it’s not like there’s a single big dinner or anything on Christmas Day. There are department Christmas parties in the weeks and days ahead, though. Now that I think of it, HCJB did/does have a big annual celebration during the weeks before Christmas. It’s the Quito Day concert. (Quito Day is December 6). It is a major event with a large choir (Rich McVicar, ex-HCJB, Programming Matters, Dec ODXA Listening In via DXLD) So I wonder if and when the Quito Day concert is broadcast on SW? (gh) ** EGYPT. EGIPTO, 9250, Radio Wadi El Nil, Abu Zaabal, 1804-1807, escuchada el 6 de diciembre en árabe a locutora con comentarios acompañada por música infantil, locutor con comentarios, SINPO 24322 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia). España, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA [and non]. INDICTMENT AGAINST EVANGELIST ALAMO UNSEALED TEXARKANA, Ark. (AP) -- A judge in Arkansas has unsealed a federal indictment that includes eight new charges against evangelist Tony Alamo. The 74-year-old Alamo, who remains jailed while awaiting trial, originally faced two charges that accused him of taking children across state lines for sex. The eight new counts are similar, but involve four new victims. The alleged victims, all girls, are unnamed but described as under the age of 18. Alamo has pleaded not guilty to all 10 counts. Arkansas child welfare officials have seized 26 children associated with the Alamo ministries since September, citing stories of alleged beatings and sexual abuse. Alamo once had a clothing store in Nashville, Tenn., as well as a church and a downtown mission there (AP Dec 2 via Mike Cooper, DXLD) 12/4/08 - FBI: GIRLS TOLD AGENT ALAMO ABUSED THEM Associated Press December 4, 2008 By PEGGY HARRIS http://www.tonyalamonews.com/778/12408-fbi-girls-told-agent-evangelist-alamo-abused-them.php [or as the Enid Eagle rewrote the headline:] FBI: EVANGELIST MARRIED, THEN RAPED YOUNG GIRLS LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Before evangelist Tony Alamo’s arrest on federal sex charges, three girls who lived at his Arkansas compound told an FBI agent that he had sexually abused them, and one said he had threatened to have “someone take care of you” if she talked, according to a newly unsealed FBI affidavit. Two of the girls said Alamo married them, one at age 9 and the other at age 11, according to the affidavit unsealed Tuesday. One also allegedly said she saw photos Alamo had taken of naked girls. Alamo, 74, who heads Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, has pleaded not guilty to 10 federal counts that accuse him of violating the Mann Act, a federal law that bans carrying women or girls across state lines for “prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.” The minister has maintained that “consent is puberty” when it involves sex with young girls. Thirty-two juveniles associated with Alamo have been taken into protective custody since a Sept. 20 raid on his compound in Fouke. Alamo was arrested in Arizona five days after the raid. Before the raid, FBI agent M. Randall Harris filed an affidavit describing information he said he received in interviews with three girls who had lived at the compound and from a confidential informant. One girl, now 17, said Alamo molested her when she was 8 and she and the minister “exchanged wedding vows” May 17, 2000, when she was 9. She said Alamo told her he was “trying to not make her a virgin any longer,” the affidavit said. Alamo raped the girl then told her to “clean herself up,” according to the document. The girl also said Alamo took pictures of her naked and she saw similar photos of other girls that Alamo had taken. She said he made her watch pornographic movies in his bedroom to show her how to perform oral sex, the affidavit said. Alamo’s lawyer, John Wesley Hall Jr., did not immediately return a call seeking comment Thursday. Another girl, also now 17, told the agent Alamo chose her to marry him March 27, 2003, when she was 11. She said Alamo later raped her on many occasions over the course of several months. In January or February of 2006, when she was 14, she said, Alamo took her in his bus to California, had sex with her during the trip and when they returned to Arkansas. A third girl, now 14, told the FBI agent Alamo touched her sexually when she was about 12, sometime around August 2007. He came into a bathroom where she was taking a shower and got into the shower with her, the affidavit said. She said she was afraid he would beat her if she screamed, and he also kept one hand over her mouth while rubbing her. She said he threatened to have “someone take care of you” if she told anyone, the affidavit said. A confidential informant said she saw Alamo go into his bedroom with young girls and heard him tell them that he had candy bars in his room. The informant said Alamo also kept a Barbie doll collection and at least nine computers in his house. The unsealed documents listed two Polaroid cameras as items taken by FBI agents in the Sept. 20 raid. Six children were taken into custody at the time. On Nov. 18, state officials took 20 children from the ministries, most of them found in two vans that were stopped on a state highway near the Texas border. Tuesday, another six children associated with Alamo were taken into custody in Indiana, bringing the total to 32. Arkansas child welfare officials have indicated they are looking for dozens more. Tony Alamo remains jailed in Arkansas, awaiting trial in February. (via DXLD) Ahem, how much longer will this [alleged?] monster get to broadcast on R. Africa and a couple US SW stations?? Well, I`m sure he needs to rake in from diehard fans as much more dough as possible for his defense (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 5005, Radio Nacional Bata (presumed); 2219- 2225+, 3-Dec; Afro music; no announcements heard. SIO=332 with ute bursts; tough catch so far this year (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 210' center-fed RW, 85' end-fed RW, 125' bow-tie, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5005, Radio Nacional, Bata, 2145-2258*, Dec 5, Spanish talk. Wide variety of Afro-pop, Euro-pop & US pop music. Sign off with National Anthem at 2255. Fair signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. R. Fana, 6889.9: much weaker in the past evenings compared to // 6110, may be old 10 kW-transmitter. 7210 is empty at some hours, so maybe moved away from there. 9560v: 1800-1833, today Dec 3. + yesterday definitely Voice of Peace and Democracy of Eritrea. But maybe other program on other days, the "Dimtsi Ertran" type known from 8000 kHz which is silent (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, http://www.africalist.de.ms Dec 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. Unidentified strange signal on 11760 kHz, possibly religious, in extensive discussions with African language and music typical of equatorial Africa, abrupt end in 1659. Not listed on Aoki and Eibi, any ideas? Cordialmente, (Tomás Méndez, QTH: El Prat de Llobregat-Barcelona España, Coordenadas 41º 19' 26" N- 02º05'25" E, RX: GRUNDIG Satellit 700, SONY ICF-SW7600GR,ICOM IC-R2. ANT: L.W. exterior 10 mts. y telescópicas. Visite mi sitio Web en: http://www.amarantadx.net dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I think you heard Voice of the Oromo Liberation Front (not to be confused with Voice of Oromo Liberation) via Wertachtal that operates Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday 1600-1700 UT. Since Thursday 4 December they have added an additional frequency, 11760 kHz, in parallel with 9695 kHz. Broadcasts are in Oromo. Both transmitters are 100 kW from Wertachtal, Germany (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) Now 100 kW, 130 degrees from DTK Jülich, an RMI transmission (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** FINLAND. SWR - Independence Day transmission 6th of December Dear listeners, Scandinavian Weekend Radio is transmitting whole Saturday day 6th December until 22 hours UTC on 1602, 6170/5980 and 11720/11690 kHz. Check our time and frequencytables from http://www.swradio.net Lot of more information there as well. +358 400 995559 call or send your SMS's info(at)swradio.net send your e-mails here. Letters and reports for QSL's (add 2 euros/2 IRC's) write to: SWR reports P. O. Box 99 FI-34801 VIRRAT FINLAND Aikataulu - Schedule 06.12.2008 Local Time Frequency - Taajuudet Program details - Ohjelmatietoja UTC LOCAL 48 25 MW Program Details UT 00-01 6170 11720 1602 Opening show 22-23 01-02 6170 11690 1602 Opening show cont. 23-24 02-03 6170 11690 1602 SWR jukebox 00-01 03-04 6170 11690 1602 SWR jukebox 01-02 04-05 6170 11690 1602 SWR jukebox 02-03 05-06 6170 11690 1602 SWR jukebox 03-04 06-07 6170 11690 1602 SWR jukebox 04-05 07-08 6170 11690 1602 SWR jukebox 05-06 08-09 5980 11690 1602 Huomenta - Good Morning Virrat by Dj Häkä 06-07 09-10 5980 11690 1602 Itsenäisyyspäivän aamuiloittelua Dj Madmanin seurassa 07-08 10-11 5980 11720 1602 Lauantailuotaimessa vieraana elokuvaohjaaja Åke Lindman 08-09 11-12 5980 11720 1602 Lauantailuotain jatkuu 09-10 12-13 5980 11720 1602 12.00 Hukala.net News 12.05 Studiossa Dj Miki 10-11 13-14 5980 11720 1602 Radiolehti- ja harrastekatsaus by SWR crew 11-12 14-15 5980 11720 1602 14.00 Hukala.net News 14.05 Joulupaneeli by Peeveli, J-tonttu ja T- tonttu. Asiapitoista puhetta joulusta rennolla meiningillä 12-13 15-16 5980 11720 1602 Joulupaneeli jatkuu 13-14 16-17 5980 11690 1602 Virrat Tänään - Itsenäisyyspäivän tapahtumia Virroilla. Virrat Today - Finland Independence Day Happenings at Virrat by dj Häkä 14-15 17-18 6170 11690 1602 Rock'n'roll evening of Finland, Dj Madman 15-16 18-19 6170 11690 1602 Studiossa Dj Miki 16-17 19-20 5980 11720 1602 Progressive rock and other strange things by Dj Esa 17-18 20-21 5980 11720 1602 Studiossa Dj Miki 18-19 21-22 6170 11690 1602 SWR open studio 19-20 22-23 6170 11690 1602 SWR open studio 20-21 23-24 6170 11690 1602 Closing ceremony by SWR crew 21-22 Best regards, (Alpo Heinonen, Scandinavian Weekend Radio, UT Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Before finding this msg, I was hunting all thru their website and could find nothing about a Dec 6 broadcast. This was posted on the dxldyg well before it expired (gh, DXLD) ** FRANCE. 162 kHz, Radio France-Inter, 0255-0320+, 12/05/08. Wrapup of the previous program, then time pips and into a brief newscast at 0300, followed by an assortment of classic pop/rock, some familiar songs and some less so. Definitively //'ed to the live webstream. Barely moving the S-meter on the radio, but fairly clear and getting a little stronger, with some intermittent local QRN. Poor but building (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Evidently not on his rural 1000-foot Beverage. See PROPAGATION Yup. Got it here closer to the coast in upstate NY on four different radios -- Drake R8B, Grundig YB400, Tandberg TP41 and Sony 2010. Not surprisingly, it's best on the vintage TP41. Hats off to you (and/or the conditions) for being able to hear this in Missouri (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, NASWA yg via DXLD) Excellent --- I accidentally posted it here by mistake - I figured longwave is bit outside the scope of NASWA! But I'm glad it helped someone else catch it. I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've bothered to do a bandscan below 500 kHz..I always assumed the only thing one would find there (at least in this part of the country) is a handful of navigational beacons (Mark Schiefelbein, ibid.) Nice LW evening. 162 +3dB 183 +5dB (Steve Price, Johnstown, PA, ibid.) Good tip; 183 also coming through here in MO at 0420, better signal than 162. Actually moving the S-meter to S3 or S4. It's very strange - I have two antennas and on one of them 162 is comes with not a peep on 183, on the other it's the exact opposite. 183 is also French, I presume this is Radio 1. Sounds like it matches their webstream, at least (Mark Schiefelbein, ibid.) ** GERMANY. MV Baltic Radio is on this Sunday at 1300. On 7th December 2008 at 1300 UT on 6140 kHz, MV Baltic Radio is on the air from the transmitting station in Wertachtal. We will be using a non-directional antenna system (Quadrant antenna). Good Listening 73s (Tom Taylor, Dec 4, HCDX via DXLD) Was it for 1 hour? (gh) ** GERMANY. Re: Berlin: Radio Multikulti closure I wrote on May 29: ``Another news from public broadcasting in Germany: RBB (Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg) will close down its Radio Multikulti station on 31 Dec 2008. As of 1 Jan 2009 the FM frequencies, at least 96.3 at Berlin (there are two low power outlets at Frankfurt/Oder and Cottbus as well), will relay Funkhaus Europa of WDR instead.`` Close-down, i.e. switch-over to Funkhaus Europa, will be on New Year's Eve at 10 PM (2100 UT). WDR will continue to produce in RBB's Berlin studios some former Radio Multikulti programmes, at present broadcast by both stations under an already existing cooperation. Foreign- language programmes in Polish, Russian and Arabic will still be produced at Berlin, too. The complete arrangement has so far been agreed for one year and will be reviewed next summer (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. GERMAN RADIO BROADCASTER DEUTSCHE WELLE (DW) HAS REJECTED CLAIMS THAT ITS CHINESE-LANGUAGE PROGRAMMES WERE PRO-BEIJING, Monsters and Critics.com reports. Before this year's summer Olympic Games in Beijing, controversy erupted over allegations by German critics that DW was not neutral. But it said a detailed analysis had shown the claims were baseless and the result of poor translations. The claims were directed at radio transmissions in Chinese and the Chinese-language part of DW's website, with critics attacking its Deputy Editor Zhang Dan-Hong. They claimed she used words of support for Chinese policies. DW's chairman of the board, Valentin Schmidt, said that there was "no evidence whatsoever" of systematic bias. He said an outside translator had made fresh translations of the Chinese transcripts into German and the board was unanimously of the view that the Chinese staff had not broken any journalistic rules. Its Chief Executive, Erik Bettermann, criticised the ambiguity of meaning in some of the earlier translations which were used by the critics, saying they did not reflect what the people meant in the interviews. Monday 01 Dec 2008 fuente: ABU Pacific Bc Union http://www.abu.org.my/public/dsp_page.cfm?articleid=4110&urlsectionid=715&specialsection=ART_FULL&pageid=247&PSID=2807 (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia http://yimber.blogspot.com DXLD) Another interview with DW director Erik Bettermann, published Nov 19: http://www.faz.net/s/Rub475F682E3FC24868A8A5276D4FB916D7/Doc~ECBE36E2A1CC447BEA7EE79B560E77912~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html Herein he says that DW Chinese gets jammed "since 14 days", i.e. since early November. As reported no jamming could be found on RMS recorings around Dec 1. But certainly it would not hurt to keep an eye on it. Another noteworthy (not made elsewhere, too) remark from this interview: "In all language services I use people with a western- Christian background." About 100 DW staff members have set up a "Pro Deutsche Welle" action group, as earlier reported. The Journalist magazine published their position paper: http://www.journalist.de/downloads/pdf/dokumentationen/Doku_Pro_Deutsche_Welle.pdf Condensed translation: DW TV has just been relaunched in 2007, now the management announces a complete reorientation for 2009 that on the radio side has already started. The changes are drastic: Abandoning German as primary language in favour of English; radically changing the target audience, away from German-speaking people abroad to English-speaking audiences; concentrating on the internet at the expense of mass distribution platforms like shortwave (radio) or cable (TV). More than 100 stafff members from all departments came together in the "Pro Deutsche Welle" initiative because they are deeply worried about the future of DW as far-reaching German voice for freedom, democracy and human rights, ready to fight for DW, its service obligations, its quality and its audiences, hoping that they can count on council members and politicians as allies. About the language: Law defines the primary language of DW as German, anything else would require to change the law. Our culture, the resulting points of view, values and actions can be fully imparted only with the German language as part of this culture. Everywhere else in Europe the foreign TV services stick with the cultivation of their own language, but DW management has apparently decided to consider our station as part of the English-speaking domain. While politicians are fighting to establish German in the institutions of the European Union the station that gives the picture of the Germans abroad sends out the signal that the own language has no priority. BBC World and CNN are considered as competitors. These are stations with a budget and a network of correspondents completely out of reach for DW. Competing with them would be possible only by dramatically increasing the DW budget. It's quite easy: Who speaks English and wants to get informed about the world tends to rely on the BBC or CNN. And this will be the case in future, too. Director Bettermann mentioned as a model for DW amongst others France 24. A bit surprising because France 24 for its part mentions DW TV as model. Another model he mentioned is Russia Today, a station that has not succeeded in becoming a primary source of information for English-speaking "information elites" and lacks journalistic distance to its own government. Management says that empirical evidence is the foundation for the intended reorientation of DW. But so far no such data has been presented. Allegedly it says that there is hardly a need for German- language programming abroad. So far we have not seen even the weakest proof for this claim. Instead we got over the years an abundance of feedback from politicians, embassies and consulates, universities and institutes, companies, businessmen, artists, journalists, students and other people all over the world. They all say that it is good and important to have German-language programming. About the target audience: So far it is officially defined as multiplicators abroad, people outside free media markets and in regions of crisis (i.e. beyond the multiplicators also a broad audience), people learning German, Germans abroad, either on travel or permanently. Apparently this definition is now considered obsolete: Changing the preference from German to English neglects German- learning people and Germans abroad. This way DW not only loses faithful viewers but also important messengers and its identity. The management only wants to get more viewers. It is planned to achieve this by expanding English-language programming because on a global scale more people speak English. But that's a wrong strategy. DW TV already broadcasts 12 hours a day in English. It is highly doubtful if even more English can attract more English-speaking viewers, but in any case German-speaking audiences will get lost. The globalized world requires something else: Focusing on a neglected group, the Germans acting worldwide. The number of travellers continues to rise. German architects work in Shanghai and Dubai, German companies invest in Russia, Brazil and India, German managers live for years abroad, German students are matriculated worldwide. They all form a growing, intensively networked and interested target audience. During the last years DW failed to position itself in this group. It is startling how many people do not know that DW exists at all. DW should finally work harder on attracting these people instead of writing off millions interested as well as interesting viewers. Beyond that it should be hard to explain to the citizens of Germany that the station they pay for with their taxes explicitly does not want them as audience. About the distribution: Reducing the German-language TV programming is part of a strategy that has already progressed far on the radio side. Here both the programming and the distribution on shortwave have been much reduced during the last years. In part of the world DW radio is already no longer audible. Even in Europe the German program of China Radio International can be received much better than DW's one. It is planned to drastically cut back the coverage of current events in autumn. Beyond that it is planned to greatly reduce the shortwave distribution of the German program in next year. Most of the money saved this way will be used for the online offerings. However, it is well-known that all German websites can be accessed worldwide. But those without access to the internet have to rely on DW for information about Germany in German language, and these people will be let down. The strategy to distribute audio and in the next step also video content online instead as radio and TV transmissions does not consider the circumstance that independent journalistic web platforms have hardly a chance worldwide. Established media like CNN, BBC or Der Spiegel share the market among themselves. Without recognizable TV and radio offerings, DW will disappear in the cyberspace. The concentration on the online offerings is also problematic in regard to the again increasing number of censored media markets. The head of Radio Vatican's German service has said that "they can switch off the internet but not radio waves". Many staff members from former East Block countries know that it was even with intense jamming not possible to block western stations completely. About the orientation on the audiences: Typical for DW TV are newscasts at least every two hours. Now it is planned, apparently as a cost-saving measure, to abandon this concept and weaken the market position of DW TV. BBC World, Russia Today or France 24 are explicit news channels, but the planned English program of DW TV at times provides for news only every four hours. This way the clear and successful program structure, achieved by hard work, will be abandoned for clearly not journalistic motivations. So far it is simple and easy to remember: One hour German, the other hour English, news at the hour, documentary and magazines at the half hour, fixed slots for program windows in other languages. CNN or France 24 have different channels for different languages, but DW TV has only one channel at its disposal. Under this situation the hourly language change is the easiest method. Breaking up this established structure irritates the viewers and drives them away. About the internal situation: The approach of the management has already dramatic consequences for the internal state of DW. The expensive relaunch from 2007 had been plagued by a considerable lack of internal communication from the start. It was possible to implement it timely and successful only due to the great engagement of the staff. Now all the mistakes will not only be repeated but even worsened. A just established structure will immediately be scrapped again. Facts are being made without involving the staff, something that is for such far-reaching steps definitely standard even in commercial media ventures. This lets it become a demotivation program for the whole station (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Dec 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) IBB Monitoring has a server which keeps a 30 day archive, online at: http://amp.ibbmonitor.com/rmsweb/ui/sound_query.phpRight Now it has data from Nov. 06 till Dec. 05. If someone have time to check DW CHINese audio at the beginning of November (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, ibid.) No, n o t h i n g like CHN mainland jamming noted on the RMS recordings of DW Chinesisch of earliest server files, i.e. of Nov 9th, 2008. All three outlets of DWL Chinese service like 12010 Kranji-SNG, and both Trincomalee 13680 and 15640 kHz are jamming FREE at 1030-1150 UT. Despite at 2 to 3 US embassies the local noise level is very high, on various other US monitoring posts the signal is SUPERB. Today on Dec 5th, I checked the three channels at 1030-1150 UT slot here in Germany. Nothing like jamming noted so far. So, I'll now start to check the 1300 UT and 2300 UT recordings of RMS monitoring slots of DWL Chinese services. --- Comparison: But at the same time slot 10-12 UT, the VOA Chinese services are object of HEAVY jamming by some Chinese music jammers, noted both on various RMS recordings of Nov 6 to 11, as well as on air also live today Dec 5th. 9530PHT, 9680PHT, 9805PHT, 11920UDO, 12040PHT, 15515UDO, - all are jammed heavily by the Chinese mainland jammers. No jamming on DWL Chinese 1300-1330 and 2300-2350 UT, too. Checked RMS Nov 9th to 12th. But if you like to listen to Lao National Radio co- channel, you may check RMS DW CHIN 1300-1330 all monitoring. Then select two CBG and LAO files in MP4 format. There is a 20 seconds recording of LNR Vientinane co-channel each, via Phnom Penh-CBG and Vientiane-Laos RMS posts. 1300-1330 DWL Ch 6130 Novosibirsk, only of use in northern, western part of China and in Mongolia. But heavy disturbed in southern China, KRE, KOR, JPN, PHL, HKG, TAI, INS, due of LNR Vientiane co-ch. 9650SNG (disturbed in PAK of Kashi 9655); 11945TRM, and 13735 TRM. 2300-2350 DWL Ch 9865SNG; and 11830 from Petropavlovsk Kamchatka. Latter suffers sideband splatter in northern China and MNG, due of VOA En Tinang 11840 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, Dec 5, ibid.) Dear Wolfgang, Since you just finished extraordinary research about DWelle's Chinese programs NOT BEING JAMMED, if you could somehow forward this research to Mr. Betterman, the director of Deutsche Welle --- Because he was so wrong about Chinese jamming. Regards, (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, ibid.) Has somebody contact to DW's technical monitoring at Bockhagen? I think it is quite safe to assume that Erik Bettermann made his statement about DW Chinese being jammed (it appeared in at least one radio and two newspaper interviews, i.e. it was not just a minor remark in passing) on the foundation of Bockhagen reports (Kai Ludwig, ibid.) No Chinese jamming noted today Dec 7 at 1300-1330 UT slot on 6130NVS, 9650SNG, 11945TRM, and 13735TRM. Only 6130 kHz channel had usual QRM by CNR8 Lhasa outlet, which is registered co-channel (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [non]. DWL German service main frequency towards Europe 6075 kHz is now used again by Sines Portugal site at 1700-2400 UT [instead of poor reception from Al Dhabbaya UAE 20-23 UT], also in \\ co-channel to Balkan, NE & ME via Woofferton England at 1800-2000 UT too (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Dec 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Is Sines really in use between 2000 and 2300? I listened before and after 2100 tonight, and I'm quite sure that Woofferton was running alone. There was no trace of the somewhat hollow sound that is always typical for the Woofferton/Sines synchro operation, even when it's perfectly synchronized (carriers locked to same reference, Hotbird signal picked up by identical receivers with identical software on them, audio processing with analogue, delay-free units or again identical set-ups, perhaps even more things must be considered to avoid bad echos). Anyway it's considerably better than Al-Dhabbaya. Wonder who will be the next customer to which VTC tries to sell this clever but, alas, not working solution? And better enjoy it while it lasts, in light of the talk about the shortwave service of DW German being subject of heavy cuts in next year. Btw, Glenn was wondering about the BBC/DW DRM tests. This may help, especially with site info: http://www.drmrx.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2033 It also reveals that the output originates from the BBC, i.e. they are relaying DW content rather than vice versa (Kai Ludwig, ibid.) 6075 in southern Germany, at 2140 UT S=9+40dB, that's undoubtedly Sines relay outlet, in comparison to former weaker UAE relay S=9. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** GREENLAND. 3815, 2050-2113* 03.12, KNR, Tasiilaq (USB). Greenlandic announcement, local pop songs, talk, not heard every evening, 14221; occasional utility QRM from two Russian women (Anker Petersen, Denmark, AOR AR7030 with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** GUINEA. 7125, R. Conakry, Conakry-Sofon. December 5, 0728 OM talks, 0730 African Hi-Life music returning talks at 0732 with music Hi-Life at 0734, abrupt s/off at 0737. Music playing with significant stronger audio level than when studio talks, 24422 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONG KONG. En om 1545 hoorde ik Hong Kong Volmet op 6679 kHz (Johan PE9DX, Dec 7, BDX via DXLD) ** INDIA. 4970, AIR Shillong, 1601-1613, Dec 4, program of Johnny Mathis Christmas songs, ID for the Northeast Service of AIR, ad in vernacular, fair. Yesterday they also played a lot of Christmas music (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 9425, AIR-Bangalore, 1448, 12/03/08. Noted in passing with a radio drama, but stopped when I realized it was in English. (This frequency listed by most sources as Hindi-only, except for brief English news bulletins.) Despite pretty good signal, was difficult to follow the characters with their unabashedly thick (to a N. American ear) accents. Had all the good Bollywood ingredients: a master / servant, a wedding, a baby being smuggled somewhere, etc. Was not // to 9870. Fair/good (Mark Schiefelbein, Bois D' Arc Conservation Area, Bois D'Arc, MO, USA, Eton E1, ~1000 ft E-W beverage at ground level, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 3976.1, RRI Pontianak, 27.11., 1516, BI, ID, gamelan music with singing; O=3 3995, RRI Kendari (presumed), 27.11 1550, BI, pops; O=2 (Michael Schnitzer, DX Camp, 45 km northeast of Nuremberg, Germany, Antennas: seven Beverages, 200-500m length; Receivers: 2 ICOM R-75, ICOM R-70, NRD-525, NRD-535, SDR, Perseus, HCDX via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 9525.90, Voice of Indonesia, *0958-1015+, Dec 5, on with a Stevie Wonder tune. At 1001 announced this was the end of their Korean broadcast & was beginning their English broadcast. Theme music, IDs, and into English news at 1003. Talk about migrant workers Local music. Fair signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOI, 9525.9, Dec 6 at 1502 re-opening an English broadcast and soon cut off the air at 1502:30. This is SOP for such an uncoördinated station (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS. Trailer for the forthcoming movie set around 60's pirate radio is now on YouTube: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XnQc3lO4JDs&fmt=18 (Mike Barraclough, WDXC yg via DXLD) ‘The Boat That Rocked’, the new comedy movie written and directed by Richard Curtis, will be released in the Netherlands on 30 April, and in the UK the following day, according to details published on the Internet Movie Database (IMD), which offers this description: The Boat That Rocked” is an ensemble comedy in which the romance takes place between the young people of the ’60s and pop music. It’s about a band of rogue DJs that captivated Britain, playing the music that defined a generation and standing up to a government that, incomprehensibly, preferred jazz. The Count, a big, brash, American god of the airwaves; Quentin, the boss of Radio Rock - a pirate radio station in the middle of the North Sea that’s populated by an eclectic crew of rock and roll DJs; Gavin, the greatest DJ in Britain who has just returned from his drug tour of America to reclaim his rightful position; Dave, an ironic, intelligent and cruelly funny co- broadcaster; and a fearsome British government official out for blood against the drug takers and lawbreakers of a once-great nation. Based loosely around the real-life offshore stations of the 1960’s, and featuring equipment rented from Radio Caroline, the movie is sure to be popular with those of us who have fond memories of listening to the offshore stations. The movie is now in post-production (December 5th, 2008 - 17:35 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** JAPAN, 774, JOUB Akita (NHK-2), 1440-1455, Dec 5, Mark Schiefelbein's recent postings inspired me to give a listen here; caught the start of an "NHK English lesson" (short segments in Japanese), man and woman each read a short passage and it was repeated several times, segment "Let's Review", poor-fair, fading in & out (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN [and non]. Since I had tuned in too late for the monthly haiku segment on NHKWNRJ`s World Interactive, on the 1400 UT Saturday Dec 6 broadcast, I wanted to catch it on the next play at 2200, but the only frequency, 13640 was weak and mixed with VOA Cambodian via Tinian! Making a SAH of approximately 8 Hz. If the collision is bad here, it must be awful in SE Asia. It looks like R. Japan just tacked the 20-minute English broadcast onto the preceding hour in Japanese, what the hell if it collides with VOA after Japanese is over. BTW, PWBR `2009` shows it more like 15 minutes long, as the bar between 2200 and 2300 obviously extends less than one third of the way. So while compiling this report, I listened to the show ondemand, no SAH or anything to make it shortwavey, via http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/radio/program/index.html Full name of the haiku guru sounds like Shokan Tadashi Kondo as pronounced both by himself and his co-host; axually about renku this time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KALININGRAD. 9435, Voice of Russia, 1403, 12/03/08, Russian. Female presenter reading short items with "newsy" music stingers between them, then ID that sounded like "Radio... Golos Rossii" amid echo effects. Believe this is a relay of one of the Russian domestic / regional networks, but uncertain which. Fair (Mark Schiefelbein, Bois D' Arc Conservation Area, Bois D'Arc, MO, USA, Eton E1, ~1000 ft E-W beverage at ground level, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. CLANDESTINE. 9690, Nihon no Kaze (via Darwin), 1514-1530*, 12/03/08, Korean. Male and female announcers, including one segment where they gave running translation of a couple of Japanese-speakers into Korean. Gave a variety of info at program closing, including email address spelled out with English letters. Good (Mark Schiefelbein, Bois D' Arc Conservation Area, Bois D'Arc, MO, USA, Eton E1, ~1000 ft E-W beverage at ground level, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Shiokaze via Yamata, Japan, is still sticking to 5910, for the 1400-1430 broadcast, and still sticking to English on Fridays, as noted with no jamming, Dec 5 at 1408 with ID in clear American English, then several brief Kyodo news stories about North Korea, read by someone with an extremely heavy accent and could barely understand a word to be sure it was really in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 9365, North Korea Reform R., Nov 30 *1330-1340, 45433, Korean, 1330 sign on with opening music, ID, Opening announce, Talk. 11560, R. Free Chosun, Dec 01 *1200-1210, 45444, Korean, 1200 sign on with opening music, ID, Opening announce, Talk (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium Dec 6 via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. [Op-Ed] Radio Free North Korea http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2008120617298 DECEMBER 06, 2008 10:04 Joy and sorrow crossed the minds of North Korean defectors and anti- North Korea activists struggling to let the North Korean people know about their leader Kim Jong Il´s totalitarianism. The Paris-based Reporters without Borders (Reporters sans Frontières) has awarded its media prize this year to Kim Sung-min of Radio Free North Korea, the founder of the Stalinist country´s first dissident radio station, along with 2,500 euros (3,194 U.S. dollars). Park Sang-hak, head of the Fighters for a Free North Korea that disseminates anti-North Korea leaflets to the North, pledged to stop the practice for the time being. Kim received his award in Paris to global fanfare, while Park made his decision at the headquarters of the ruling Grand National Party in Seoul. The French group said its jury chose Radio Free North Korea to pay tribute to its courage to broadcast news and information in North Korea, along with other winners such as a Cuban journalist and two Burmese bloggers. The media advocacy group apparently considers Kim Sung-min´s activities despite North Korea´s threat to kill him as fighting for freedom of the press. This is in stark contrast to ruling party leader Park Hee-tae, who asked Fighters for a Free North Korea to stop sending anti-communist leaflets to the North for the time being. So Reporters without Borders encouraged North Korean defectors to alert the North Korean people of their situation, while the ruling party chief did the exact opposite. Both leaders of the two anti-North Korea groups, who are also defectors from the North, have received more encouragement and support from abroad than at home. U.S. President George W. Bush invited them to the White House to praise their commitment. The U.S. government and civic groups have also offered significant financial support, especially to Radio Free North Korea. The radio station´s award should make people think about progressive forces in South Korean society, which have ignored anti-North Korea activists and defectors who try to tell the truth to those in the North. Progressive or left-wing groups who physically confronted members of the Fighters for a Free North Korea and the Family Assembly of those Abducted to North Korea four days ago welcomed the measure to stop sending the leaflets. The People´s Solidarity for Social Progress praised the ruling party´s measure, and urged a complete suspension of sending the leaflets. The group probably knows that Radio Free North Korea won the award. Though different in form, broadcasts and leaflets have the same purpose of telling North Korans the truth about the Stalinist state. So one cannot help but ask if the progressive groups criticize the award by Reporters without Borders as a hostile activity against the North. Editorial Writer Bhang Hyeong-nam (via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) ** KYRGYZSTAN. PROTESTERS DEMAND DISMISSAL OF KYRGYZ STATE TV, RADIO CHIEF December 04, 2008 BISHKEK -- Dozens of employees at the Kyrgyz National TV and Radio Broadcasting Corporation (UTRK) have begun a protest against the company's director. The protesters, who began demonstrating in downtown Bishkek on December 3, are demanding the dismissal of UTRK Director Melis Eshimkanov for failing to transform the state company into a public television and radio station and for his "poor management." Prominent TV producer Assol Moldakhmatova, an organizer of the picket, told RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service that protesters may begin a hunger strike if Eshimkanov is not fired. Four of the protesting staffers are meeting on December 4 with Kyrgyz State Secretary Dosbol Nur-uulu, who deals with cultural issues. Eshimkanov, a former opposition lawmaker, was appointed UTRK director by President Kurmanbek Bakiev in October 2007. He has been criticized by media watchdog groups for failing to carry out promised reforms. (RFE/RL via Dale Park, HI, DXLD) Hmm, any relation to following? (gh) BBC RADIO AND RFE/RL PUT OFF THE AIR IN KYRGYZSTAN Fri Dec 05 15:31:34 UTC 2008 BISHKEK (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan has taken the BBC's local radio service and U.S-funded Radio Liberty off the air after accusing them of violating their obligations, the Kyrgyz state broadcaster said on Friday. The state television and radio company KNTR said it had switched off the British Broadcasting Corporation's local radio service because it failed to install required radio equipment. "When they meet their obligations, the contract will be prolonged," Melis Eshimkanov, head of KNTR, told Reuters. He said the local service of Prague-based RFE/RL had also been taken off the air because it owed his company $57,000 (38,924 pounds) in service fees. RFE/RL could not be reached for comment. The BBC said in a statement it was aware of the problem. "The BBC is working to find out why our programmes have been put off the air," it said in a statement. Kyrgyzstan has positioned itself as an island of liberalism in the otherwise authoritarian Central Asian region, allowing journalists and the opposition to operate freely. But the opposition has stepped up its criticism of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev this year, accusing him of tightening his grip on power and putting pressure on independent journalists. Public criticism of his rule has also been on the rise due to a sharp increase in food prices and electricity shortages in the former Soviet republic, home to a U.S. and a Russian military base. (Reporting by Olga Dzyubenko; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov) (via Dale Park, HI, DXLD) KYRGYZ STATE RADIO SUSPENDS BBC BROADCASTS http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gDvUn4d1bW-TIEdv6CGRlflqIz2wD94SJPMO0 By LEILA SARALAYEVA - 1 day ago BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) - Kyrgyzstan's state radio station has taken BBC programming off the airwaves, days after withdrawing broadcasting rights from U.S.-funded Radio Liberty's Kyrgyz Service. The British broadcaster said Friday on its Web site that no explanation was given for the suspension, but negotiations are ongoing with the head of the Kyrgyz National Television Corporation in hopes of resolving the situation. Melis Eshimkanov, who heads the state broadcaster, cited unspecified technical reasons for the suspension of BBC programs. Government pressure on the media in Kyrgyzstan has increased in recent years amid growing economic uncertainty in the impoverished Central Asian country. Most Kyrgyz people rely on state-controlled broadcasters as their main source of news. The BBC has broadcast news programs three hours daily on the state radio station in Russian and Kyrgyz. It has been operating in the former Soviet nation since the mid-1990s. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Kyrgyz Service, Radio Azattyk, also has had its radio frequencies withdrawn, which Eshimkanov said was due to shortcomings in contractual obligations. Radio Azattyk has declined to comment. Ata-Meken opposition party leader Omurbek Tekebayev said the move to shut down Radio Azattyk's broadcasts is part of a broader effort to clamp down on independent media in the country. "Radio Azattyk's news coverage has made it one of the most influential media concerns in Kyrgyzstan, as people in the regions always tune it to learn about the latest and most objective news on developments in the country," Tekebayev said. All Central Asian countries - which also include Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - are ranked by international rights groups as the worst offenders for absence of free expression. Journalists have suffered the most severe harassment in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, where they are routinely subjected to intimidation and arrest. The BBC was forced to close its World Service operation in Uzbekistan by a campaign of official harassment after its coverage of the government's violent suppression of a protest in the eastern town of Andijan in May 2005. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America are also banned from broadcasting from within Uzbekistan (via Zacharias Liangas, Dec 7, DXLD) ** LAOS. 6130, Laotian Radio, Vientiane, 1130-1202, Dec 6, listed Laotian. M & W with talk between musical selections; distinct 7 gongs at ToH; music bit into presumed news; weak copy at tune-in; signal never got above poor but was in the clear (Scott Barbour, NH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also GERMANY [non] ** LATVIA. R. Waves International, 9290, 4 different and beautiful QSLs, CD, sked, info, for reports to rwaves@free.fr (Artur Fernández Llorella, Dec 4, Catalonia, Spain, HCDX via DXLD) ** LATVIA. Relays this weekend via 9290 kHz Sat December 6th Radio Joystick 0900-1000 UT Latvia Today 1000-1100 UT RWI 1100-1200 UT Radio Casablanca 1200-1300 UT Sun December 7th Latvia Today 1300-1400 UT Good listening 73s (Tom Taylor, Dec 4, HCDX via DXLD) 9290, UNIDENTIFIED, Ulbroka, 1204-1217, Dec 6, presumed German. Folksy pop music selections by same artist; M at 1213 mentioned "Maria..." which I presumed was the singers name; couldn't stick around long enough for ID & I missed the usual "Latvia relays" DX tip for this weekend; fair (Scott Barbour, NH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) LETONIA, 9290, Radio Casablanca, Riga-Ulbroka, 1245-1300, escuchada el 6 de diciembre [sábado] en alemán a locutor con comentarios, emisión musical, música pop melódica, ID “Radio Casablanca”, SINPO 45433 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia). España, ibid.) ** LIBERIA. Re 8-125: ``4760 ELWA (?), Monrovia, 1654-1700*, 29 Nov, Vernacular, talks; 24432, QRM de INDIA (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No, TWR Manzini, SWAZILAND is on 4760 at 1545-1700 only, in vernax. 4760 seems to be inactive, just 6090 for ELWA (gh, DXLD)`` It may well be TWR via SWAZILAND instead, but yesterday 02 Dec I saw some reports on ELWA 4760 observed some 10 days before I did (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I wonder where those were? May have also made wrong assumption (gh, DXLD) ** LITHUANIA. New 3960, 1520-1529* 03.12, VOIRI, Tehran, via Sitkunai. Russian ID, news summary, musical interlude, closing with addresses. New frequency scheduled from *1430 55555 // 9575 and 9735. Transmitter continues with clandestine R Racja (Anker Petersen, Denmark, AOR AR7030 with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. QSL from TRAXX FM Malaysia --- Dear DXers, Last week received a feedback from Malaysia's Traxx FM. They sent the programme guide, car sticker, pen with Traxx FM logo, note pad and wonderful travel bag with their logo and lots more. I put the sticker and programme guide on my blog http://www.dxersguide.blogspot.com and some times you also listen them on 7295 kHz. CONTACT THEM AT MaTiC 109, Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur or TRAXXfm 2nd Floor, Wisma Radio Angkasapuri 50740 Kuala Lumpur Email: djtheshaz @ gmail.com Call : 03- 2288 7663 / 7285 / 7284 Fax: 03- 2284 5750 SMS: TX (message) and send to 32776 (Jaisakthivel, ADXC, Chennai, India, Dec 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. 5995, RTVM, 2330-0059+, Dec 5-6, French talk. Rustic African tribal music. Covered by Radio France Int at their 0059 sign on. On late tonight. Mali usually signs off at 2400. Fair signal. 5995, RTVM, 0750-0800*, Dec 6, French talk. Local string music. Rustic tribal music. Sign off with flute IS. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RTM, 2nd daytime frequency back to 7284.5, quite strong at 0800, and already fading in before 1500 in Europe. Often louder modulation compared to // 9635 (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, http://www.africalist.de.ms Dec 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9635, RTV du Mali, 12/05/08 0820-0830, First time heard this QTH. Nice tribal music, lots of drums and singing in vernaculars. ID at 0829. Then off. Listed until 1800 so I don't know if the band noise swallowed the signal or they just pulled the plug, which seems unlikely since they supposedly just signed on at 0800 (Bruce Barker, Broomall, PA, NRD535-D Alpha Delta DX Sloper, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9635, RTVM, *0800-0845, Dec 6, sign on with flute IS and opening French announcements at 0801 followed by local music. Mostly continuous local African tribal music & local guitar music. Occasional French ID announcements. French talk at 0830. Poor to fair. Weak // 7284.58 - on at approximately 0755 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 4845, RTV Mauritaine (Nouakchott), 2315-2410, 12/5/2008, Arabic. Program of talk, music, and drama with very strong signal. One of the best signals on 60 meters this afternoon. SINPO 43333 (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, TenTec RX-340, Drake R8B, RF Space SDR-14, Random Wires (90' and 200'), Eavesdropper Dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Signal yes, but I always find the modulation quite deficient, don`t you? (gh, DXLD) 7245, Radio Mauritania, *0830-0845, Dec 6, abrupt sign on with local chants. Local string music. Arabic talk. Good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Re: 6105: The ``some kind of anthem-like thing`` may very well have been THE Mexican national anthem, which all stations are required to play at local midnight; one should become quite familiar with it. 73, Glenn Hauser Perhaps if the handful of active Mexican SW stations weren't regularly inaudible or blown out by adjacent/co-channel broadcasters, more of us would be (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., NASWA yg via DXLD) Or if more of us also DXed mediumwave (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) See also PHILIPPINES [and non] CANDELA FM YA NO ESTÁ EN LA ONDA CORTA. Saludos cordiales queridos amigos diexistas. Espero se encuentren muy bien. Hace dos semanas aproximadamente estuve escuchando a Candela FM (XEQM) a través de la onda corta en la frecuencia 6105 kHz entre las 23 y las 00 UT con muy buena música norteña, estilo Tigres del Norte y tecnocumbias mexicanas muy buenas; inmediatamente les he enviado el informe de recepción y hoy he recibido un correo donde se me informa que mi tarjeta QSL viene en camino, pero lo que me ha desconcertado es que ya no vamos a escuchar más a Candela a través de la onda corta. En este correo que me ha enviado el Sr Bernardo Laris Rodríguez se explica lo que ha pasado. Estimado José Elías: Muy amable, como siempre, por su palabras. Pero permítame comentarle que desde hace una semana, la XEQM transmite la programación de XEMQ: 1. Radio Yóol iik’ (Radio en lengua maya) de 05:00 a 19:00 hora de la Ciudad de México. [1100-0100 UT] 2. Radio 6.20 (XENK desde la ciudad de México) de 19:00 a 05:00 hora de la Ciudad de México. [0100-1100 UT] Para seguir escuchando Candela, puede hacerlo por la Web a través de http://candela.fm o http://sistemarasa.com.mx Reciba un afectuoso saludo, atentamente: Bernardo Laris Rodríguez. (via José Elías Díaz Gómez, Apartado Postal 488, Código Postal 6001-A, Barcelona, Venezuela, http://sintoniadx.spaces.live.com/ Dec 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) They have made it clear from the outset that this was their intention, and the Candela FM programming was just filling in until they could get the feeds arranged to transmit the Maya service in the daytime and relay XENK at night. So the 6105v transmitter is still supposed to be on the air, but seems to be irregular anyway; could not hear it around 1230 Dec 3 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Desde el pasado viernes 28 de noviembre XEQM 6105 kHz está transmitiendo la señal de 810 kHz que transmite en lengua maya de las 1100 a las 0100 UT. Sin embargo, la señal es poco audible, por lo que el Ing. Balam de RASA Yucatán realizará una revisión para obtener una mejor señal tal y como se escuchaba a "Candela" hasta hace una semana. Saludos, (Julián Santiago, DF, Dec 4, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6105, Candela FM apparently off air with only a very weak UNID signal here at 1240 on 12/03/08, in contrast to good reception last week at this time (Mark Schiefelbein, Bois D' Arc Conservation Area, Bois D'Arc, MO, USA, Eton E1, ~1000 ft E-W beverage at ground level, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6104.82, Candela FM [sic], Mérida, 1230 to 1310 much weaker signal than before. 6 December (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) See also PHILIPPINES, the het I hear? (gh) ** MONGOLIA. PUBLIC RADIO AND TV STREAMS LIVE ON THE WEB Dave Kernick of Interval Signals Online writes: Mongolia’s public broadcaster, Mongolian National Broadcasting (MNB), now provides live audio and video streaming of its main radio and television services from its website at http://www.mnb.mn The recently revamped website is mainly in Mongolian, but the stream link for MNB Television is clearly indicated with a television icon, whilst the Mongolian Radio 1st and 2nd Programme streams are designated in English as “FM 106.0? and “FM 100.9? respectively. The 2nd Programme was noted occasionally identifying in English simply as “Public Radio”. There is also a link for MNB’s external radio service, Voice of Mongolia, with a dropdown menu listing its five language services. However, these links currently lead only to MP3 music files. MNB broadcasts its radio First and Second Programmes on shortwave, mediumwave, longwave and FM throughout the country, while Voice of Mongolia is available on shortwave and mediumwave for audiences abroad. The TV channel is broadcast terrestrially and on the Telstar 18 satellite at 138 degrees east, frequency 12690 MHz, horizontal polarization, symbol rate 43200, FEC 3/4. The organization has another website, devoted to digital broadcasting, at http://www.mnbc.tv (December 5th, 2008 - 10:57 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) For years and years, VOM only had one old generic English program audible on demand from an unofficial(?) website (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** MONGOLIA. 7260, Mongolian Radio, 27.11., 0739, Mongolian, ID, reports and nice music; O=3 (Michael Schnitzer, DX Camp, 45 km north east of Nuremberg, Germany, Antennas: seven Beverages, 200-500m length; Receivers: 2 ICOM R-75, ICOM R-70, NRD-525, NRD-535, SDR, Perseus, HCDX via DXLD) ** MYANMAR. 5770, BRM, Defence Forces BC, 26.11, 1525, local language, closing down; O=3-4 (Michael Schnitzer, DX Camp, 45 km north east of Nuremberg, Germany, Antennas: seven Beverages, 200-500m length; Receivers: 2 ICOM R-75, ICOM R-70, NRD-525, NRD-535, SDR, Perseus, HCDX via DXLD) 5770, Myanmar Defense Forces BS via Taunggyi, 1526-1528*, Dec 4, in vernacular, pop songs, indigenous instrumental music at sign-off, poor to fair, the spoken audio is typically lower that the level of the music they play. Audio clip posted at "Station Sounds" (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW CALEDONIA. Fantastic New Caledonia opening!! by Geoff Wolfe on Mon Dec 08, 2008 0040 U --- FM log 8 Dec 08 (so far today) from 09:34 to 11:33 AEDST [UT Dec 7 2234-0033 UT Dec 8] New Caledonia - nice strong opening. 101.0 can be heard clearly next to high powered local 100.9 using the Sony XDR-F1HD. 88.0 RFO - RDS "RFO RNC" strong over local 88.0 vision FM !!!!! 89.0 RFO - RDS "RFO RNC" 90.0 RFO - RDS "RFO RNC" 93.0 R. France Int. - RDS "INTER" 93.5 Energy FM - RDS "N R J" 95.0 Oceane-FM - RDS "Oceane" 96.0 R. Djiido - RDS "DJIIDO" 97.0 R. Djiido - RDS "DJIIDO" 98.0 R. Rythum Blue 99.0 R. Rythum Blue - RDS "R R B" 100.0 R. Rythum Blue 100.4 R. Rythum Blue - RDS "R R B" 101.0 R. Rythum Blue - RDS "R R B" 102.0 R. Djiido 103.0 R. Djiido - RDS "DJIIDO" (Geoff Wolfe, somewhere in Australia, NSW? Dxing.info via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. 6089.8, R. Kaduna, Hausa, today Dec. 3rd and several other days recently: coming in with quite distinctive loud and dirty modulation and het to 6090 almost every day from 1700, later dominating over other channels on the frequency (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, http://www.africalist.de.ms Dec 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I didn`t see this log until after posting my own: (gh) 6089.9, no sign of Anguilla at 2247 Dec 3, but instead a strong and very distorted signal with singing/chanting, unseems Arabic, probably Hausa. Also unseems Qur`an, but 2256 followed by brief no-nonsense talk in Arabic, probably sermon. 2257 cut to another announcer, 2259 anthem and off. Already had open carrier 6085 on side from WYFR, and at 2257 QRM from its IS. Also heard DRM noise on 6090, but nothing scheduled co or adjacently, per DRMDX, closest being 6080-6085-6090 10 kW from Ismaning, but closing at 2200. Anyhow, this must have been Radio Nigeria, Kaduna, which WRTH says is 50 kW, Aoki says is 250 kW, PWBR says is 50 kW. I guess we should go with the mode instead of the mean. When Anguilla is on during overlap times, Kaduna furnishes the annoying het (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6089.83, presumed R. Nigeria, Kaduna, 2102-2112, Dec 4, listed Hausa. Announcer with news & field reports; wildly fluxuating audio levels; fair in USB to avoid DRM hash; I was hoping to stick around for an ID but our baby woke up! (Scott Barbour, NH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA [and non]. 7255, Dec 6 at 2149, heard N6HK asking if anyone is using the frequency? Well, yes! V. of Nigeria in French which was perfectly demodulating your SSB, but I guess you can`t hear them a couple megameters further west: Berman, Stephen D, N6HK (Extra), 24031 Sage Ave, Tehachapi, CA 93561 per ARRL lookup (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 9690, Voice of Nigeria, 1015-1035, Dec 5, English talk about agriculture in Nigeria. Afro-pop music. Strong but somewhat distorted audio (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9690, Voice of Nigeria, Ikorodu, 1308-1312, escuchada el 6 de diciembre en inglés a locutora con comentarios, emisión de música afro-pop, SINPO 34322 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia). España, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA [and non]. Observations from caradio in Oklahoma City & vicinity, Dec 4: 1000, KTOK apparently not running IBOC at night, at least not when I was getting CBW well on 990, UT Dec 5 at 0405 with frigid Manitoba weather. 99.7, still no sign of KZLS Mustang, hijacked from Enid/Alva market; instead ``The House FM`` is still running on translator K259AM, which is 75 watts from a centrally located transmitter site in downtown OKC, per Tiger maps, and covering the entire Metro, but of course not audible back in Enid. It will be knocked off the air when Mustang is ready to go. At 1720 UT slogan ID and Xmas music from this gospel huxter, // 89.7 also audible, from 100 kW Ponca City KJTH, site axually halfway to Enid, and studios just west of Ponca on US 60 toward Tonkawa. 101.1, at 2050 UT, Stillwater ads including Thai Café, which I thought was out of business, and ``The New KVRO 101.1``, ex-98.1. Somewhat marginal signal in OKC, as is only 6 kW ERP from site halfway between Stillwater and Perry to its NW. There used to be OKC pirates on this frequency. I suppose KVRO wanted to get off 98.1 due to OKC on 97.9, which started out on 97.7 many years ago; and KVRO started off as a student but commercial station at OSU on 105.5. FCC FM Query is still confused about whether KVRO is on 98.1 or 101.1. 107.1, the long-running OKC pirate is still/again active from site presumably just NW of the state capitol building, with far-right talk programming, such as RBN via Radio Free Austin (Texas), another long- running FM pirate, specializing in apocalyptic views of the Obama administration, in order to sell survivalist products (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OMAN. 9410, BBC, 1411, 12/03/08, English. News and regional correspondent reports for Evening Report, a news program that appears to be targeted in particular at South Asian listeners. Fair/good (Mark Schiefelbein, Bois D' Arc Conservation Area, Bois D'Arc, MO, USA, Eton E1, ~1000 ft E-W beverage at ground level, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OMAN. 15140, R Sultanate of Oman (presumed), 1442, 12/03/08. Check at 1442 found only a fairly big open carrier here, no audio. Recheck at 1510 found the same carrier with a low hum and some faint, barely- modulated speech, far too low to make out details. Not sure if this is Oman, but not sure what else it would be. Fair (Mark Schiefelbein, Bois D' Arc Conservation Area, Bois D'Arc, MO, USA, Eton E1, ~1000 ft E-W beverage at ground level, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PALAU. 9930, T8WH Palau WHRI, Koror, 1315-1318, escuchada el 6 de diciembre en inglés a locutor con comentarios, probablemente en programa religioso, se aprecia fuerte interferencia de Radio Makedonias en 9935, hay que templar a 9929 para evitar colisión, SINPO 33443 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia). España, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 12130, T8WH World Harvest R., heard at 1026 on 06 Dec in English with Christian light pop music. Fair to good sigs but beat to death by R. Free Afghanistan on 12140 which was splattering a lot Best 73 de (Al Muick, Kabul, Afghanistan, WinRadio G303e, 200m Longwire/ Randomwire, Palstar MW-550P Mediumwave Preselector, HCDX via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. En omdat het toch zo lekker liep nog even iets verder geluisterd : 3905 kHz, R. New Ireland (PNG) pop muziek, Pidgin aankondigingen. 2001 UT: IS, Nieuws in het Engels (O=2). Bovendien ook nog een spoor van een signaal op 3365 (R. Milne Bay ?). Maar niks op 3335 kHz (R. East Sepik) Groeten, (Aart Rouw, Bühl, Duitsland, AR7030 + ALA1530 (PNG kwam net zo goed op Grahn GS2), bdx mailing list via DXLD) No date in report, and I didn`t catch it on the msg (gh) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3290, R Central, 1256, 12/03/08, English / vernacular. Threshhold signal for closing comments, then NBC IS at 1259 and into national program with news, apparently in English, and pop tunes. Signal much improved at 1328 recheck with some sort of public service announcement, and distinct ID as "NBC National Radio, the Voice of Papua New Guinea", as also noted by Dave Valko recently. Still going at 1345 tuneout, though fading by then. It's nice that some of these stations are staying on past their listed 1300 signoff, since right now the local peak for PNG reception is later than that. Fair at best (Mark Schiefelbein, Bois D' Arc Conservation Area, Bois D'Arc, MO, USA, Eton E1, ~1000 ft E-W beverage at ground level, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. Consulta al foro --- Hola!! Buenos dias!! Alguno de ustedes escuchó o escucha en la onda corta a Radio Atlántida, de Iquitos, está actualmente en la onda corta? Yo tengo dos blogs que mantengo casi diariamente hasta tanto reactivemos con mi socio la web El Mundo de la Radio. Y varios lectores, en estos últimos dias, todos ellos desde Perú y uno desde Colombia, han comentado entre sí que la escuchan por su frecuencia de onda corta. Gracias desde ya! 73 (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Dec 6, condiglist yg via DXLD) Not reported from abroad for many months, just the other Peruvian on almost the same frequency 4790, R Visión, and it has been irregular (gh, DXLD) Viz.: ** PERU. 4790.1, R. Visión, 2320-2345, 6 Dec, nice local huayños with occasional short canned ID's like "Transmite Radio Visión" or "R. Visión de Chiclayo." Fair, with heavy CODAR (tracking all those "ocean currents.") (Paul Brouillette, Geneva, IL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. RADIO BROADCASTERS ARE NO LONGER SAFE IN THE PHILIPPINES --- By The Guardian. The killing of radio commentator Leo Mila is conclusive proof that the Philippines is the most dangerous country in the the world for radio broadcasters. Mila, a commentator for Radyo Natin, was shot dead outside the radio station in San Roque town, Northern Samar. Last month another Radyo Natin journalist, Arecio Padrigao, was shot dead in Misamis Oriental. Known for his hard-hitting political commentaries, Mila was the seventh journalist killed in 2008, and the 62nd to be murdered since Gloria Arroyo became president seven years ago. . . http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2008/12/04/radio-broadcasters-are-no-longer-safe-in-the-philippines/ (via Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES [and non]. Checking 6105 for signs of Yucatán, I was getting a weak het on a much stronger signal, Dec 5 at 1359, so the het may be all that`s making it from Mérida. But I was quite surprised to hear Radio Netherlands introducing its 1400 English broadcast, with frequencies 5825, 9345, 11520, 12080, 15595, plus IS briefly, before cutting to VOA Chinese, which is what is supposed to be on 6105 at 1400. A feed/switching mixup at IBB somehow put the RN opening on 6105; I don`t know what appeared on 12080, the only correct Tinang frequency for RN at this time. Checked 24 hours later, exactly the same thing happened again, so it must be misprogrammed that way into the automation: Dec 6 at 1359 on 6105, R. Netherlands opening English broadcast, even tho followed at 1400 by VOA Chinese via Tinang. And once again a weak het, maybe Mérida. So until fixed, RNW needs to add to its schedule a one-minute English broadcast at 1359 on 6105. But checked another 24 hours later, Dec 7, 6105 was late coming up, not joining VOA until after 1400:00 so no RNW heard (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** POLAND [non]. As of December 15th Polish Radio External Service's 1800 transmission in English will be in DRM mode while its // 7345 will remain in analogue (Mark Coady, Ont., ODXA yg via DXLD) WTFK? Has been on 6015 AM via Wertachtal, while 7345 is Issoudun. You can`t just change 6015 from AM to DRM without consequences to neighbors, and yourself if the QRM is too heavy, in this case CRI which is broadcasting to Europe during this hour on both 6010 and 6020, tsk2. But that is exactly what they are doing. I found the source of this info, the latest Multimedia program: ``As of December 15th one of the evening SW transmissions in English and German will be available in digital format. Presented by Slawek Szefs. The 18 hours UTC broadcast in English on 6015 kHz will be changed to DRM. 7345 kHz shall remain analogue.`` One may listen to the entire program at http://www.polskieradio.pl/zagranica/news/artykul97462.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL [and non]. RDP Internacional, 11885, Dec 6 at 1438 with Portuguese music, soon IDed by // 15560, but 11885 much weaker. Had not noticed it before, but it`s scheduled weekends only at 45 degrees. RDPI collision with HCJB, 12040, Sat Dec 6 at 2249 making fast SAH. This starts at 2230 when HCJB comes on in German, but at recheck 2302 HCJB was alone (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PORTUGAL. R. Sim, 594, QSL, sked, in 2 w. Address: Rua Ivens 14, 1249-108 Lisboa (Artur Fernández Llorella, Dec 4, Catalonia, Spain, HCDX via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. Radio Romania International heard in English on new 11970 kHz (ex-17745) at 1300-1400 UT on 6 December 2008, very good reception, parallel with 15105. 11970 kHz also used for French 1100-1200 and German 1200-1300 (RRI French Service website says this frequency became effective 5 December 2008) (Tony Rogers, Birmingham, UK, AOR 7030+, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) 15105 and often 17745 were good in North America too; 11940 in Romanian at same time. First shortwave schedule you get on their website is outdated A-08, all wrong times and frequencies, until you find a link to the B-08: http://www.rri.ro/art.shtml?lang=1&sec=20&art=15758 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 4996, RWM time station, 1219, 12/03/08. Time pips, tones, etc., under WWV and WWVH but clearly audible. Confirmed it was them with R-W-M CW IDs at 1239 recheck. Apparently propagating via greyline, with Moscow sunset and local sunrise at about the same time, but still an unexpected surprise. Nothing heard on 9996. Fair/poor (Mark Schiefelbein, Bois D' Arc Conservation Area, Bois D'Arc, MO, USA, Eton E1, ~1000 ft E-W beverage at ground level, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAINT HELENA. Radio St. Helena Day 2008 : a short review ( 05. Dec. 2008 ) and new info --- During Radio St. Helena Day 2008, RSH received 295 emails. There were two successful telephone calls: -- Mr. Shamim in Southern India -- Mr. Chris Wood in Tennessee, USA. The "new postal route" works. Note that it is better to < omit > the words "South Atlantic Ocean" in this "new postal route", so as not to confuse your local post office. Make certain that your letter reaches the United Kingdom. The P.O. in the UK then knows very well what to do with the letters. Be certain to include sufficient return postage inside your letter: (3+ IRC's or 3+ USDollars, or 5 Euro or 5 GBPounds (smallest banknote)). Be sure to put sufficient postage < on > your letter. You need airmail postage to the most remote country in the world (even if you are in the UK). From Germany, Euro 1.70; from USA, 94 cents; from UK, 81 Pence. This is for a standard, airmail, "world"-letter of (max.) 20 grams (USA: 1 ounce) weight. The first two reception reports have reached Ascension Island. -- Christian Ghibaudo, France, sent his report on 18. November -- Richard Mitchell , Raleigh, NC, USA, also sent a report. Both of these letters arrived on Ascension on 26. November. In the mean time, several other reports have arrived. The Royal Mail Ship RMS St. Helena will pick these letters up at Ascension on 07. December and deliver the letters to St. Helena on 09. December 2008. Do < NOT > expect any RSD 2008 QSL cards to be posted before about July of 2009. The RSD 2008 QSL is, as of December, 2008, still being designed. The cards will, probably, be printed in January of 2009. It will then take about two months to ship the cards to St. Helena. From about April or May of 2009, RSH will be able to actually fill in the details and sign the QSL cards. That may take a month or two. Therefore, the RSD 2008 QSL cards will, probably not be sent to SWL's before about July of 2009. This is the usual procedure and has been the approximate time table of events in the past years. Unfortunately, the SUN did not help at all with the propagation of radio waves via the ionosphere this year, and we are still at the bottom of the old sun-spot cycle. Reception around the world was, generally, not good. Japan, however, had some phases of wonderful reception, but many areas of Europe and USA heard almost nothing. Lucky were those DXers who have big antenna systems in the right direction. Among others, Anker Petersen (DSWCI), Glenn Hauser, and Jerry Berg have published excellent and detailed summaries of the reception conditions in many parts of the world. Simply put, that is the way things are on the shortwaves. The shortwaves are like a box of candy; you never know what you are going to get. The RSD 2008 Team at Radio St. Helena sends their thanks to all SWL's everywhere and sincere best wishes to everyone for current Holiday Season and for the New Year 2009. Gary Walters, Station Manager, Radio St. Helena (Robert Kipp, Dec 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 9541.53, SIBC, Nov 30 0713-0802, 34443-34433, English, Talk and music, ID at 0715, Thanks for tip from peace J via Kageyama BBS. 9541.53, SIBC, Dec 01 0651-0713, 45333-45433, English, Talk and music and news, ID at 0659 and 0700 and 0707. 9541.52, SIBC, Dec 04 0658-0711, 35333-35433, English, Music and news, IS at 0700, ID at 0708 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium Dec 6 via DXLD) New 9541.54, 0650-0840 02.12, VERY TENTATIVE, Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corp., Honiara (very tentative) No audio, but a clear, weak carrier on this new frequency slowly fading out while Deutsche Welle, via UK on 9545 increased signal strength 13111. New 9541.55 0720-0730 03.12, SIBC, Honiara (tentative) weak carrier, but no audio, QRM Deutsche Welle 9545. New 9541.55, 1005-1059 02+04.12, SIBC, Honiara (tentative) Tok Pisin (tentative) talk, 15121. No QRM until CRI started on 9540 *1059. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, Denmark, AOR AR7030 with 28 metres of longwire, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) Beste mensen, Bij al het middengolfgeweld dat hier elke dag over ons wordt uitgestort (ja, de frustratie zit diep…), de aloude kortegolf niet vergeten: Op de Duitse A-DX lijst veel aandacht voor SIBC (Solomons Islands) die sinds enige dagen op 9541.5 kHz (of daaromtrent) te horen is. Piek schijnt rond 1000-1200 UT te zijn. Maar ook ’s avonds is er nog een dun signaaltje waarneembaar. Daarnet (1945 UT) met ongeveer O=2. Pop muziek en aankondiging in het Engels (ben van de taal niet geheel zeker). Geen ID gehoord, dus “tentative“. Ik heb zelf nog geen tijd gehad om ’s morgens te proberen – dat is een oefening voor het weekend. Deze frekwentie schijnt de aloude 5019.9 te vervangen. Ronde frekwenties schijnen ook nu bij SIBC niet hoog te scoren. Groeten, (Aart Rouw, Bühl, Duitsland, AR7030 + ALA1530 (PNG kwam net zo goed op Grahn GS2), bdx mailing list via DXLD) date? (gh) Heeft er iemand dit weekend nog intensief zitten luisteren op 9541.55 kHz daar waar Solomon Isl. zou moeten opduiken. Ik heb diverse keren geprobeerd maar absoluut niks opgevangen het hele weekend niet. Zo af en toe zijn de grote jongens rustig op die freq. en dan zou het toch moeten lukken. Heb 's nachts, 's morgens en 's avonds geprobeerd zowel tijdens sunrise als sunset maar tot nu toe helemaal niks Groeten (Johan PE9DX, Dec 7, BDX via DXLD) Johan, zaterdag voormiddag gehoord. Maar wel aan de zachte kant. Gr (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, ibid.) Hallo Johan, Vorige maandag waren ze ongestoord tussen 10 en 11 UTC. Deze morgen heb ik ook nog even geprobeerd maar CNR bleef in uitzending op 9540 kHz. 73, (Guido Schotmans, Belgium, ibid.) Johan / Maurits, Ook vanmiddag rond 1130 UTC zeer zwak te horen – geen kans op ID. Na 1200 UTC in het 31m geweld ondergegaan. Schijnt ’s avonds niet meer aktief te zijn – in elk geval de laatste dagen niet meer gehoord. Schijnt 1000-1200 UT het beste te gaan (zeggen mijn Duitse mede DX-ers) Groeten, (Aart Rouw, Germany, ibid.) Ik heb ergenes gelezen dat het test uitzendingen waren om de zender te testen; Het vermogen zou nu teruggedraaid zijn wardoor ontvangst vrij moeilijk is. Tijdens de testen waren ze storingsvrij te horen tussen 1000 en 1100 UT (als de freq 9545 niet bezet is). (Max Van Arnhem, Netherlands, Dec 7, ibid.) 9541, Solomon Islands, SIBC Honiara. December 4 0640 Pacific music selections (sounded like some Papuan music, like a slow reggae) and OM talks, canned announcements, 0647 OM talks "Solomon", 0655 English pop music, 0700-0702 seems news. Degrading 33433 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7 Dec 08, SIBS Honiara, Guadalcanal, 9541.51 very weak at tune in at about 0550z, slowly improving. Annoying splash from R Habana Cuba on 9550 but no QRM on the lower side. Good quality audio even though just above the noise floor. BBC News at 0601z into BBC program about events of 1968 presented by John Tusa (former director of BBC?). Reception continued until past 0700, mention of news on the hour in Pidgin and English (Jerry Lenamon, Waco, Texas, Eton E1 with T2FD, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Regarding SIBC Honiara and their transmitters on 5020 and 9545 kHz, I got the following reply below. Quoting: Hi, Our short waves have been down for few weeks now. One should be back and I think you can get it on 9545. The other, 5020 should be back this week. Cheers, Walter Nalangu, SIBC Honiara (Alf Aardal, HCDX Nov 30 via DXLD) ** SPAIN. Surprised to hear news about Spain in Castilian, good signal on 9690, Dec 3 at 2303, but the audio cut off for several seconds at a time, came back, off and on again. Finally cut carrier off abruptly at 2306* REE not scheduled here at this time. Per http://telefonica.net/web2/radioescuchadx/reeb08.pdf the URL of which somehow carries with it the Netscape logo, it`s only for the Sephardic broadcast to NAm UT Tuesdays 0415-0445. Tho 9690 is also used for CRI relays in Chinese and English at 0200-0400. As soon as I heard 9690 I also checked 9640, 9630 and 9620, but no sign of REE there, nor during the following few minutes. According to same schedule, REE is supposed to switch from 9640 to 9620 at 2300, also switching antenna from N to S America. So I suspect that 9690 was punched up by mistake instead of 9640. Did find REE on scheduled 9535 at 2310 but much weaker than 9690 had been, and still nothing on 9620. REE, which is supposed to be on 9640 at 2200, and which was on 9690 past 2300 Dec 3 as in previous report, was instead on 9630 when checked Sat Dec 6 at 2205 with sports, // 11940. Per Aoki and EiBi, REE is not using 9630 at all this season, but in HFCC it`s a duplicate registration with 9640, identical parameters at 19-23, so they can take their pick any given day. Or possibly it`s one of numerous weekend variations which make more sense to REE than to anyone else (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN [non]. La Pirenaica - RADIO ESPAÑA INDEPENDIENTE Sobrevivió a Franco - de quien quiso ser Némesis - casi dos años. Había nacido en Moscú en 1941, apadrinada por la Komintern, cuando la "Patria del Socialismo" parecía derrumbarse bajo el empuje de los tanques alemanes de la Operación Barbarroja. Oficialmente se llamó Radio España Independiente (REI), pero fue conocida con el nombre de guerra de La Pirenaica, porque sus responsables deseaban sugerir la máxima cercanía a la España amordazada. Ése fue uno de los primeros mitos construidos en torno a la legendaria emisora de radio, pronto convertida en la "voz" más conspicua de la resistencia antifranquista. Nunca estuvo allí, ni fija, ni móvil, aunque hubo quien estaba convencido de que la emisora era trasladada casi a diario de un lugar a otro de la cordillera para burlar a sus enemigos. No estuvo afincada en otros lugares que en la capital soviética -salvo unos meses en Ufa, cuando Moscú estuvo en peligro- o en Bucarest, desde donde emitió a partir de 1955, cuando la "guerra fría" entraba en su fase gélida. . . http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Pirenaica/elpepucul/20081203elpepicul_4/Tes (MANUEL RODRÍGUEZ RIVERO, El País, via José Miguel Romero2, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. 13800, Dabanga with signal S5 in parallel to 7315 with signal S9!! With horn of Africa songs ID at 0511 then with news mixed with short tune in-between news feeds. Mention of Omdurman and Sudan. Language: local. On 3rd Dec, 7315 had a delay of ca 0.7 sec. On 3rd with signals S7 (33323) for 13800 // S5 (35334 ) for 7315 but now 13800 had the delay! On 4th with S5, 35343 for 13800 delayed over // 7315 on S9 SINPO 43534 with 1 kHz tone (Zacharias Liangas, 2 3 and 4 Dec, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 13800 = Madagascar, 7315 = Germany ** SWEDEN. Is Radio Sweden becoming the new RCI? I noticed this description of the weekly "Inside Sweden" feature from Radio Sweden: "Inside Sweden, carried on the national P2 network Fridays as well as on shortwave, connects Sweden to the world and new immigrants to Sweden." Gee, sounds just like the remit of RCI today! (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, Dec 4, International broadcasting / shortwave blog: http://www.intlradio.blogspot.com Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) ** SYRIA, R. Damasco, 9330, QSL, pennant, sticker, vc, map of Syria, 24 w. for e-report to radiodamasco@yahoo.com v/s Amalia Puga (Artur Fernández Llorella, Dec 4, Catalonia, Spain, HCDX via DXLD) ** TATARSTAN [non]. Re 8-125: ``15105. V. of Tatarstan, Samara. News in Russian 0710-0835 (seems it is only on Tuesdays - other times in Tatar?) on 11/11 (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, Sony ICF-2001, Marconi, Dec Australian DX News via DXLD)`` Did not sign-off at the usual 0800? Probably typo for 0735. Also for clarification, the Nov 11 log was before the B-08 schedule change (DXLD 8-118: 0510-0600 on 15105; 0710-0800 on 9860 and 0910-1000 on 11915). Aoki listed Tatar daily for the first 10 minutes of each broadcast, followed by Russian for the remaining time. Dan Sheedy in So. Calif. has confirmed reception of the *0710 on 9860, on Nov 23 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Dec 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. 9810, R. Thailand, Udon Thani, 1243-1256, Dec 2, English. News items re Thai king; 14th ..?.. Charter with "10 nations, 1 people" zinger; world news; local TCs & several promos re Thai tourism. Interestingly, no mention of Thai political unrest; fair (Scott Barbour, NH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. 6200, Xizang PBS - Lhasa, 1630-1700, Dec 3, "Holy Tibet" English program, news (tells number of students attending school, government money being spent to remodel the monasteries, etc.), segment "Tourism of Tibet", finally heard with decent audio at their sign-off: "Okay, that's all for today's program. Hope you had a good time listening to Holy Tibet program. Also if you have anything to tell us, you can contact us at: China Tibet People's Broadcasting Station, No. 41 Beijing [sounded like "Zhonglu"?], zip code 8850 Thank you for joining me", "This is China Tibet Broadcast Company calling Tibet. Holy Tibet will take you to visit the roof of the world. Holy Tibet is the window into the world of Tibet". Have updated the audio file in "Station Sounds" (under Holy Tibet) with today's sign-off announcement (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. 4905, CHINA TIBET. PBS Xizang (Lhasa), 2340-2350, 12/5/2008, Tibetan. Man talking. Short bridge of oriental music at 2342. Moderate signal, peaking 2340 - 2345, then declining slowly. Parallel 4920 had slightly weaker signal bothered by heavy CODAR interference. SINPO 33323 (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, TenTec RX-340, Drake R8B, RF Space SDR-14, Random Wires (90' and 200'), Eavesdropper Dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. Major MW&LW Changes in TRT --- Dear Mr Glenn Hauser, TRT have been changed since October 13 2008 Medium and Long wave transmitters as below: 1) Istanbul-Mudanya (MW 1071 kHz) and Erzurum (LW 243 kHz Regional Programme) have been closed forever. 2) Istanbul-Catalca (MW 702), Izmir (MW 927), Antalya (MW 891) and Gaziantep (765 kHz) will be on the air between 0400-0800 UT which are carried Radio 1 Programme. 3) Ankara (LW 180), Denizli (MW 558), Malatya (MW 594), Van (LW 225) will be on the air 1100-1300 UT which carried are Radio 1 Programme. 4) Cukurova (MW 600), Diyarbakir (MW 1062) and Trabzon (MW 954) will be on the air 0400-0800 UT which are carried Regional Programme. Kind regards (Mustafa CANKURT, Dec 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Mr Mustafa Cankurt, Thanks for the info, but I don`t quite understand. Do you mean that 2, 3, and 4 groups of stations are on the air ONLY at the times given, or just that the programming carried at those hours has changed? Thanks, Glenn (to Mustafa Cankurt, via DXLD) Dear Mr. Glenn Hauser, Thank you for your reply. As you know, before TRT has used 14 stations, both in MW & LW Bands. Four of them long wave and ten of medium wave. Those stations have been on the air Radio 1, Radio 4 and some of Regional Programmes between in 0400-2300 UT. I have new transmission schedules as below. As you see, Mudanya (Istanbul) on 1017 kHz and Erzurum on 243 kHz transmitters have been definitely closed. Other stations have been changed transmission times as are below: kW kHz UT RADYO-1 Antalya Aksu 600 MW 891 0400-0800 Gaziantep Ibrahimli 600 MW 765 Istanbul Izzettin - Catalca 1200 MW 702 Izmir Cumaovasi 200 LW 927 Agri Ozanlar 1000 LW 162 1100-1300 Ankara Temelli -Polatli 1200 LW 180 Denizli Asagisamli 600 MW 558 Malatya Yaka 600 MW 594 Van Bardakci 600 LW 225 Cukurova Radio Çukurova Kazanli 300 MW 630 0400-0800 GAP (South East Antolian Project)- Diyarbakir Radio Diyarbakir Cinar 300 MW 1062 0400-0800 Trabzon Radio Trabzon 300 MW 954 0400-0800 As a summary, two stations have closed, others have shortened their transmission times and only carried Radio 1 Programme, Cukurova, Diyarbakir and Trabzon Stations have been carried regional programmes in shortening transmission times. Hope that I can say what happening. Sincerely (Mustafa CANKURT, Turkey, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY. TURKEY'S TRT CLAIMS TO BE "ONE OF THE WORLD’S FIVE LARGEST BROADCAST CORPORATIONS." "The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), which has multilingual television programming in the works, has become one of the world’s five largest broadcast corporations with the introduction of Internet and radio broadcasts in 30 languages. ... One of the most interesting languages is Uygur. The language has had no radio broadcasts in the past, and special permission was obtained from the Chinese authorities. An overwhelmingly positive response has been received for the first radio station in Uygur and the accompanying Internet programming by Uygur Turks. ... The top four broadcast corporations in terms of multilingual content are: Voice of America (47 languages), China Radio [International] (45 languages), Voice of Russia (33 languages) and BBC World Service (32 languages). [TRT languages are] Arabic, Albanian, Azeri Turkish, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Dari, English, Farsi, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Macedonian, Pashto, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Tatar, Turkish, Turkmen, Urdu, Uygur and Uzbek." (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) International broadcasters are more often compared by their number of broadcast hours per week, rather than their number of languages. Deutsche Welle also claims 30 languages, and some religious international broadcasters would claim more. Also, Radio Free Asia has broadcast for a few years in Uyghur. And RFA certainly did not seek Chinese permission for those broadcasts. See previous post about same subject. Posted: 06 Dec 2008 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) ** UGANDA. Dunamis Shortwave on 4750 was heard from 1800 to 1904 closedown November 14. Programme consisted of hymns with little speech, short excerpt from a "hot gospeller" with a congregation. English announcement prior to 1900, listeners were referred to as "friends", followed by a short music segments and then closing announcements in a local language which were gabbled so fast I doubt even native speakers could follow them. SINPO at 1845 was 23222 and improving, as was Radio Uganda on 4976 (Arthur Miller, Llandrindod Wells, Wales, Dec World DX Clube Contact via DXLD) ** UKRAINE. THE BEGINNING OF BROADCASTING IN UKRAINE Each year, on November 16th, Ukraine marks the Day of the Ukrainian Radio, Television and Communication. Our listeners are interested in the history of the Ukrainian Radio. So here is a story about how it began. We took it from Kharkiv radio amateur’s website. On that day in 1924, for the first time in Ukraine a radio broadcast was made – it was a concert. It took place in Kharkiv. Only 70 radio amateurs heard it. Of course, the staff of the first radio station was limited. There were no hosts then. So the transmission was started by a radio technician who opened the program with a usual “Hello”, and then added three times “This is Kharkiv calling”. With these simple words radio broadcasting started in Ukraine. Generally, the first radio concert was sort of a bait for listeners, because it was followed by propaganda radio news magazines. The radio station of Kharkiv, the then capital of the Ukrainian Socialist Republic, was launched practically by a military order and was placed in the Central Club of the Bolsheviks – now the Philharmonic Society. But let’s go back to the events that took place in the 19th century. Professor of Kharkiv Technological Institute Mykola Pilchikov was a world’s known scientist who invented distant control of machines by radio. He created a device that could be tuned to a certain radio wave. Unfortunately, the results of his experiments and the devices created by him were lost. But the prominent scientist continued his research, offering the Chief Engineering Board of the military department to start a new program of protection of wireless telegraph devices from the influence of electrical waves of outside origin. At the Institute’s laboratory Pilchikov equipped an experimental radio station with a 25 metre antenna and, in 1904, with his own money he bought a car, on which he mounted necessary equipment. This car became the first mobile radio station in Russia. With the advent of Soviet power in Ukraine an order was issued by the Chairman of All-Ukraine Central Executive Committee Hrihoriy Petrovskiy and the Head of the Ukrainian government Vlas Chuban to build a radio station so powerful that its signal could reach other countries. And it was built. The station started to transmit and receive messages on the 17-th of January 1921. However, the most talented Kharkiv’s radio engineers tried hard to launch Ukraine’s own broadcasting. A special room for mounting a radio station was given to them at the building of the All-Ukraine Central Executive Committee. So the first transmission was a meeting of the committee. A couple of loudspeakers were installed in the street for people to hear it. On December 1922 the first radio link Kharkiv- Moscow was arranged. Although that “applied” radio station amused the pride of the leaders of the Soviet Ukraine, but it could not serve the major purpose of the Bolsheviks – that is the carrying out of a countrywide propaganda campaign. So, the Party began the work on mounting such a radio station for a wide broadcasting. It was mounted in the two rooms of the Central Club of the Bolsheviks Party. The equipment was brought there, and the work started, but the echo of voices impeded broadcasting. The technicians tried everything to get rid of the echo. They tried a lot of different methods, but nothing helped. And finally the pioneers of Ukrainian radio broadcasting found the right solution. Perhaps, the location of the radio station – on the grounds of the former racecourse did the trick. They asked the army commander of Ukraine and Crimea Yegorov permission to take some horse cloths with which they covered the walls of the radio studio. Of course, the pungent smell of horses’ sweat was in the room, but, as good, there was now no echo of voices and musical cords. Such were the first steps of Ukrainian radio broadcasting. Since then the 16th of November has been celebrated as the day of the birth of Ukrainian Radio (Olex Yegorov, RUI Whole World on the Radio Dial Nov 29 via DXLD) ** U A E. 1269 kHz, R. Asia heard at 0039 on 06 Dec with Malayalam programming and music. Fair sigs here with 200 kW but some seriously deep fades. This is a station serving the servants in the UAE. Best 73 de (Al Muick, Kabul, Afghanistan, WinRadio G303e, 200m Longwire/ Randomwire, Palstar MW-550P Mediumwave Preselector, HCDX via DXLD) ** U K [non]. 7445, at 2152 Dec 6, as tuned across, heard station in English mentioning bbcworldservice.com so presumably BBCWS. Yes, this is another of their fragmented 1-hour transmissions, 21-22, 100 kW from Meyerton, South Africa, at 330 degrees to W Africa, and also favoring North America (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. VOA CALENDAR FEATURES INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTERS Order or download today --- Washington, D.C., December 5, 2008 - The Voice of Americas (VOA) 2009 calendar features individual stories and pictures of international broadcasters who reach millions of people around the world with news and information. "Many of VOA's broadcasters have fascinating personal stories, and we are proud to be able to tell them in our new calendar," said VOA Director Danforth Austin. The calendar features broadcasters who are natives of Burma, Haiti, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Tunisia, Indonesia, Iran, Tibet, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Pakistan. [hmm, that makes only 11 --- gh] Among those profiled is Lina Rozbih, who fled Afghanistan at an early age after Russia invaded the country. She lived in refugee camps in Iran before moving to Canada and, eventually, the United States. Today she anchors VOA's Dari-language TV Ashna broadcast to Afghanistan. Lwin Htun Than was a student leader in the 1988 uprising against Burma's ruling government. He fled to neighboring Thailand, and then to Britain and the United States. Lwin is the head of VOA's Burmese service. To request a copy of the 2009 VOA Calendar, please e-mail lettersuser@voanews.com. The VOA website also offers a downloadable PDF version http://www.voanews.com/english/About/2008-11-21-2009-calendar.cfm Directly: http://www.voanews.com/english/About/upload/VOA_2009_Calendar_Final_11_08_Layout-1.pdf Good B&W portraits of 12 VOA broadcasters, and most of them have faces made for TV, not just radio. O yeah, VOA is TV now as much as possible. In past, VOA has been stingy about sending paper calendars to Americans who are paying the bills (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. SMITH-MUNDT WILL BE DISCUSSED ON 13 JANUARY. The Smith-Mundt Act of 1948: A Discourse to Shape America's Discourse will take place January 13, 2009 at The Reserve Officer's Association in Washington, D.C., at the intersection of First Street and Constitution Avenue, NE. "The Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 ... was distorted into a barrier of engagement. From its propaganda and counter-propaganda intentions, it transformed into an anti-propaganda law for reasons that had little to nothing to do with concerns over domestic influence and far removed from the original intent of the law. The resulting firewall has never been extensively explored or debated, the effects of which are broad and deep. The Smith-Mundt Act is believed by some to cover the activities of the State Department, the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the Defense Department, the Agency for International Development, and more. It is time to put the law into its proper context, especially in today's global information environment." Smith- Mundt Symposium website http://mountainrunner.us/symposium/about.html See also mountainrunner.us 07 Dec 2008 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** U S A. Voice of America (VOA): http://www.voanews.com/ The VOA website now offers news in 45 languages and language-variants (as compared to 53 languages last year). We’ll stick with the main page, as it’s already in English. The layout of the page has changed since last year, but remains quite simple. At the top of the page, beside a VOA logo, is a search box and links to About VOA and Contact Us; below these is a scrolling Today at VOA news feed. On the left side are direct links to news in each of the 45 languages, followed by selectors for five Web Services (Podcasts, RSS News Feeds, Mobile, Webcasts, and Subscribe E-mail Newsletter). The main body of the page has tabs to the VOANews.com Home (where we already are), News, TV & Radio Programs, Learning English, and About Us. Below these are links to the five Web Services (as above), a drop- down selector to select from the 45 languages (again, as above), and tabs that change the language of the subsequent news headlines box (five headlines, five language choices) but leave the rest of the page in English. The next box down features links to Video & Audio: video is in Windows Media format or via VOA’s YouTube channel, while audio is streamed live in Real Media and Windows Media formats, with the news also presented in MP3. Below these are boxes for Special Features, In Depth, Learning English, and TV/Radio Programs. Finally, at the bottom of the page you’ll find more VOANews links, many of which simply repeat what has come above (such as a third set of Web Services links). My greatest surprise with this year’s version of the VOA website was the discovery that beyond the glossy new homepage, everything else appears unchanged. There’s still some fantastic content, but you have to dig to find it, and there are numerous examples of duplication of effort (such as several distinct text-only versions). Hopefully the VOA site will continue to progress in the coming months/years into something truly world-class (Paul E Guise, MB, Click!, Dec ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. CVC Miami via Chile, A Sua Voz in Brazilian Portuguese on 15410, Sat Dec 6 at 2224 in Sem Limites hour of classical music. Axually there certainly are limits, like 4 minutes max for any single selexion! I listened to most of the rest of the hour, deeply offended by the cavalier treatment given the greatest music. Only excerpts are played, the most recognizable portions. Almost always the DJ talks over the music at open and close, a sign of gross disrespect, and of course fades it in and out since degraded attention spans of their perceived audience must be served and observed. Name of DJ sounds like José António Sesquim, but axually spelt Ceschin as found on website. Music included Tchaikovsky`s Capriccio Italien which got a full four (4!) minutes at 2224-2228 before a 3-minute commercial break. 2241 Dança dos Marineros by Rimsky-Korsakov, marred further by a semiminute break in transmission; 2245 Assim Falava Zarathustra by R. Strauss got only 2 minutes, and it was the jazzed-up with drumming version, only of the opening, godforbid anyone should hear the entire tone poem. 2248 March of the Siamese Children, by Rogers & Hammerstein II. 2256 wrapping up saying would be back tomorrow, so it`s on Sundays too? (Glenn Hauser, OK, REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING via DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. Sometimes the first airing of WORLD OF RADIO on WRMI, 9955 is UT Wednesday at 0630, but that depends on getting it ready and downloaded in time. Not so for #1437 Dec 3, but the new edition did appear at the next opportunity 1230, as checked in progress at 1240; at first no DentroCuban jamming audible, but then could hear it building up. Excuse me if I am a bit peeved at my fellow DX program colleague Arnaldo Coro Antich who gets no such treatment from the USA; in fact a DXLD contributor has even been recording his shows and availablizing them so anyone can listen at their convenience. WRMI, 9955, again with unscheduled airing of QSO with Ted Randall, UT Fri Dec 5 at 0734 with antenna commercial, music vamping, and eventually 0739 resuming interview with Nelson Cosby(?), Michigan ham. Not sure when this starts or ends or if it`s the entire two hours. Many nights the MUF is way below 10 MHz, but this date good signal and no jamming audible. Several other 9 MHz signals also making it. A bit surprised to hear a DX program in Portuguese on WRMI 9955, UT Sat Dec 6 at 0634, but after a few minutes there was Jaime Báguena speaking his usual Castilian; I guess these were segments in the scheduled La Rosa de Tokio; no jamming at the moment (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA [non] ** U S A. WTJC SPLATTER --- Hi Glenn, Though you and many others have experienced the audible effects of this, a picture tells a thousand words. Today I decided to take a look for myself on a spectrum analyzer. The green trace is WTJC during a period of no modulation; yellow captures the occupied bandwidth of the peak splatter. It was really bad today prior to 1900 UT during some music material with a lot of high frequency content. At 1910 the speech audio from the programming on the air (Brother Maze) had VERY LITTLE high frequency energy and the resulting signal wasn't bad at all - I could easily hear Issoudun in French on 9365 until 1930 when the music came back. Compare with the excessive sibilance in the speech at 2000 and concurrent splatter. A little audio low pass filtering ahead of the transmitter could do wonders. 73, (Rob Peebles, W8LX, Dublin, Ohio, Dec 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WBCQ is drifting further off 15420, worsening the het with BBC RSA collision on 15420.0; Dec 5 at 1820 I put WBCQ on about 15420.2-CUSB (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 2730 Harmonic, WSBA, York, PA, 1100-1115+, Dec 5, 3rd harmonic of 910. Located about 25 miles from my location. FOX news at 1100. Local York County news. “News Radio 910 WSBA” IDs. Traffic & weather reports. Weak in noisy conditions & audio somewhat distorted. No distortion on fundamental 910. 2nd harmonic not heard (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 4517-SSB, Air Force MARS net from Wisconsin, Fri Dec 5 at 1420 apparently starting at 7 am (1300 UT) per mentions, NCS AFF3C the only call copied for certain, saying he would be missing the morning and evening nets until Monday night due to family activities. According to http://usafmars.tripod.com/officials.htm AFF3C is Frank Miller, Region 3 director a.k.a. AFA3PQ, and here he is: http://usafmars.tripod.com/PictureGallery/AFA3PQ.htm But watch out for a Zwinky popup from Tripod. He has pictures on the wall of his shack showing train and horses; another of a motorcycle (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1710 kHz, UNITED STATES [French Caribbean Pirate] R. Soleil Inter, Brockton, MA, 02Dec08 1814 - We Wish You a merry Xmas' bumper, ID "Radio Soleil International ... [French]…" 'We Wish You a merry Xmas' bumper. - Recorded - Fair-Good. Additional information provided by Jeff Lehmann: TIS type antenna located on an old furniture store building at the corner of Center and Main Streets in Brockton. They used to be on 1620 until the city of Brockton put a legal TIS station on that frequency. http://www.radiosoleilinternational.com/ 1710, [Spanish Pirate] R. Celestial, Boston area, MA 03Dec08 0026 - Man in SS preaching with ID "Radio Celestial" - Recorded - Good. Best de (Chris Black, Cape Cod, N1CP, NRD-515 circa 1982, ABDX via DXLD) Saul Chernos called to alert me to two strong stations on 1710 kHz this evening, one a high tone Spanish preacher, and the other a low tone speaker, language as yet unID. One of the stations is off channel slightly (Jim Renfrew, NY, 0013 UT Dec 6, IRCA via DXLD) At 7:30 PM using the ALA Loop toward Boston picking up a woman ranting and raving about something and man came on and then into Spanish music. Now at 7:44 PM that station under the other one with a man talking in unknown language. The first station I got a clip of the audio (Roy Barstow, Cape Cod MA, ibid.) I'm now online, and organized after arriving at Burnt River at sunset and hauling my three wires from underneath crusty ice and snow. One of the first things I noticed was a Spanish male preacher on 1710, with frequent words like Hallelujah. I also heard the woman Roy describes below. The language Jim is not sure about is Radio Soleil, in French. It's best on 1710.02 and I'm working in USB. Got a few nice IDs from them on tape and when I get back to Toronto where I have ethernet I will make this available to anyone who wants to hear. I have two subsequent tapes of the Spanish preacher, including content where there may be clues as to its identity. I will continue to listen as I also tune around the band looking for DX. The signals are pretty strong, and tonight is the Jewish Sabbath, so Lubavitcher pirate is off. Tonight - FRIDAY night - is the optimum time to get these two. And to my knowledge no one has IDed the Spanish-language station besides noting it is likely in the U.S. northeast (Saul Chernos, Burnt River ON, 0102 UT Dec 6, IRCA via DXLD) This is likely the one that Chris Black recently reported, using an ID of Radio Celestial. And, with a bit of help from Mr. Google, I found this (mind the wrap, if any): http://www.inspiracioncelestial.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1022 They're putting in a good signal here tonight... and, although there is a station about 20 Hz high, I believe this one is about 34 Hz high. It's a bit hard to sort out who's who, though (Barry McLarnon, VE3JF Ottawa, ON, ibid.) Yes, a booming Radio Soleil International ID. I sent a message to this station a year or so ago and got an e-confirmation. I think I found it from their web page. They are a legit program that buys time on legal stations, aside from the 1710 operation (Jim Renfrew, NY, NRC-AM via DXLD) 1710 - earlier ID by Radio Soleil (later better ID as R. Soleil Internationale) makes this my second of the two Boston-area Haitian- French stations, as I've previously IDed Radio Top Inter there.) I have previously heard a Radio Soleil on 1620, one of two "Haitians" I've had on 1620). For those of you listening there but further away - Soleil has been playing Christmas carols and such. 1700 has something there I suspect is one of the Boston-area stations. I've had one on 1700 awhile ago so not spending much time there (Saul Chernos, Burnt River ON, UT Dec 6, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) If Radio Celestial is from the Bronx, how does it coexist with the Lubavicher station in Brooklyn? (Neil Kazaross, IL/WI, Dec 5, IRCA via DXLD) Good question. Of course, we don't know where the actual transmitter sites are. Also, keep in mind that groundwave range at that end of the band isn't very good, and these stations are probably running only a few hundred Watts or so into inefficient antennas with poor ground systems. So, at night they launch a pretty good skywave signal, but probably don't get all that far locally, in the urban jungle with its high noise levels (Barry McLarnon, VE3JF, Ottawa, ON, ibid.) Both of these were into Grafton WI a week ago. I am told that the Spanish preacher is from the Boston area, 73 KAZ in Calif for a few days (Neil Kazaross, NRC-AM via DXLD) Wasn't the Lubavitch station on 1710? Haven't heard them in awhile here. If Radio Celestial's transmitter is located in the Bronx, they would be heard easily at my QTH. At least I would think so. 73- Good DX (Gary Wilt- W2GJW, NRC Webmaster, Wood Ridge, NJ FN20wu, ibid.) ** U S A. WQIZ298 1640 Bedford MA --- I heard it for the first time this afternoon. I don't know my exact distance from Bedford, but I'd guess ~15 miles. Signal was weak and often drowned out by QRM, but when the QRM subsided, the messages were easily copied. This is NOT a typical TIS because I heard no travel info. The IDs say that it is an EMERGENCY information station and that it is licensed by the FCC. There is no emergency at this time, yet the tape loop says that the station operates 24 hours/day. Some of the announcements are in the same female robotic voice as you hear on the USWS VHF service. The content is mostly PSAs about goings on in Bedford and many announcements give the phone number of the Bedford Public Library, 781-275-9440. It would be interesting to know what kind of antenna and how much power this station uses. Also its exact location. I think that if the station were using a 100' vertical antenna (highly doubtful) with a standard AM ground (120 1/4 wavelength copper radials), it would need to run a minimum of 20W on 1640 to get in here as well as it did; the soil conductivity around here is nothing to write home about. Any additional info about this station would be welcome (Dan Strassberg, Dec 4, dan.strassberg @ att.net eFax 1-707-215-6367, NRC-AM via DXLD) WQIZ298 on 1640 kHz is using a 3 meter whip antenna on a utility pole at 12 Mudge Way in Bedford running 10 Watts a few hundred feet east of a baseball field at the corner of Mudge Way and School Way (Paul Walker, http://www.onairdj.com http://www.realradiousa.com ibid.) Dan, Looks like this is what you heard. This from the FCC database. Callsign: WQIZ298 Licensee: Town of Bedford City: Bedford, MA Status: Active Grant Date: 06/26/2008 Expiration: 06/26/2018. Site: 1 Address: Town Center 12 Mudge Way. City: Bedford, MA. County: MIDDLESEX A lot of local jurisdictions use these TIS frequencies for promoting their local attractions and events (Plymouth MA Chamber of Commerce on 1620 comes to mind), road construction info, and other announcements to keep the frequencies open for the infrequent actual emergencies. The Steamship Authority here on the Cape uses 1610 to give directions and parking information for tourists. Best de (Chris Black, Cape Cod, ibid.) ** U S A. WWVB READABILITY ON THE US WEST COAST --- Hello Glenn: Your discussion in WOR 1437 about time/frequency stations prompts me to forward this e-mail exchange I had recently with NIST staff regarding WWVB. Some interesting background on the method of signal monitoring. The rather unscientific "zero beat" of 60 kHz was just a comment on the signals heard here in Portland; never thought of JJY or MSF as perhaps receivable here? (KB7WOX, Dec 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx; Would contributors who are also hams please sign messages with their real full name and real location? I had to look up KB7WOX at ARRL and find: Zigoy, Edward A, KB7WOX (General), 2960 NW Parkview Ln, Portland, OR 97229, yet he is addressed as Robert? (gh, DXLD) Viz.: Michael: Thanks for the update on WWVB's status. I've been monitoring the readability of the signal to various RCC sites based on this web page: http://tf.nist.gov/tf-cgi/wwvbmonitor_e.cgi I noticed the RCC in my Atomix clock paralleled the Santa Clara, California performance, so I've been using that location as a guide to current conditions. Since Boulder and Santa Clara are about equal distance as between Portland OR and Boulder (1500 km). And the coverage areas for both CA & OR are on the west side of the antenna pattern. As an aside, I don't how accurate this may be, but in the past I can tune my Japan Radio NRD-525 receiver down to 60 kHz and "zero beat" using USB mode the carrier signal tone to an exact frequency; however lately I can only "zero beat" the carrier to about 59 to 59.5 kHz. The NRD 525 has excellent performance down to 100 kHz, so I'm confident on what I hear is correct. However the radio is 20 years old and so the circuits are likely ageing and maybe giving me a false reading. Anyway thanks for considering my input. The WWV stations are a great service to the nation (KB7WOX to NIST) Hi Robert, The web site that shows the status is generally helpful, but there are a few things I should mention. We measure field strength with relatively simple boxes that contain inexpensive electronics like you would find in a typical VB alarm clock or wall clock. These boxes indicate relative field strength, and they also break out the time code. We derive the readability index from looking at that code. The boxes have a ferrite bar antenna, about four inches long and highly directional, that is placed somewhere inside the building. Moving the antenna can drastically change the results we get. You'll notice that the readability from Gaithersburg is much stronger than it is in Santa Clara, even though the system in Gaithersburg is further away from Colorado. This could be based entirely on the antenna placement. We sent one of the guys from the WWVB transmitter site to Gaithersburg, Maryland to find the optimal antenna placement, but we had someone at the California facility do that for us, so perhaps the antenna there is in a bad spot or near interference. In other words, the difference in signal readability between the two coasts might not be as large as the web site indicates. There is some potential interference on both coasts from other time signal stations. MSF transmits on 60 kHz from the UK, and JJY transmits on 60 kHz from Japan. Our calculations show a small amount of potential interference from those broadcasts, but it shouldn't present a large problem. The NRD is a great radio, but there is probably a problem with your zero beat test. The frequency as transmitted is controlled very tightly. It should be within +/- 1E-13 of 60 kHz at all times. Thanks for writing. Sincerely, (Michael Lombardi, NIST Time and Frequency Division, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305, lombardi @ nist.gov http://tf.nist.gov via KB7WOX, DXLD) ** U S A. BANNED IN CENTRAL ARKANSAS: Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Wednesday, December 3, 2008 CBS's broadcast of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, will likely not be broadcast in Little Rock (and for cable/sat viewers in the Little Rock DMA) since KTHV will preempt the show for a "taped telethon" for St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis (show title is "Fighting for Life" according to my Dish channel guide, and Titan TV). A poster to the local AVS Forum thread mentioned this, and I confirmed via KTHV's web site. KTHV had a small "programming notice" that the VSFS would not be shown, but available on demand via the CBS website. If the program guides are correct and barring a last minute programming change, then KASN/KASN-DT won't be picking up the show. A CW affiliate and previously a UPN affiliate, KASN aired the VSFS in previous years when KTHV preempted it. This will be the first time that VSFS won't be broadcast at all in Central Arkansas. However the following stations in and surrounding Arkansas will carry the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show (tonight, December 3rd at 9pm Central) WREG 3/DT 28 (3.1) Memphis TN KOLR 10/DT 52 (10.1) Springfield MO KFSM 5/DT 18 (5.1) Fort Smith AR KSLA 12/DT 17 (12.1) Shreveport LA KNOE 8/DT 7 (8.1--moderate power) Monroe LA WXVT 15/DT 17 (15.1--no HD, low power) Greenville MS Once again, central Arkansas gets yet another black eye. How often must the people of this state have to put up with such paternalistic nannyism. Why should responsible adults have to suffer because a few religious right pressure groups catterwall, bitch and moan? Every CBS affiliate surrounding Little Rock including in mostly conservative Northwest Arkansas (Fayetteville and Eureka Springs being liberal islands) is airing the show. Even in the Mississippi River Delta, WXVT is airing the VSFS. Its not like there isn't objectionable programming in the Little Rock TV market. What about Jerry Springer, Maury on other stations and even some of the infomericals that KTHV itself airs? Is the public interest served by KTHV airing infomericals for dubious products late nights and on weekends? The author of this blog and many readers will certainly agree that responsible parents should not let children watch age inappropriate shows broadcast on TV be it OTA, cable, satellite. Yet, the attitude is that scantly clad women is somehow evil, but the violence on many shows gets a pass is a byproduct of the religious right influence in the South/Midwest. Or that no one says a damn thing about daytime television (save for the moaning about The View --- there's actual dialog there instead of screaming). I don't see the American Family Association ranting about Jerry Springer or Maury and their sheep sending in cut 'n paste "Action Alerts" to station managers about the way that Jerry's and Maury's guests conduct themselves in manners more akin to professional wrestling and a dive-bar brawl than an actual talk show. KTHV is conducting censorship, its not "capital C" censorship as there isn't a State Censorship Board approving content for broadcast in Arkansas, but the fact that KTHV's management has by fiat decided that Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is somehow some sort of "pornography". Argue the point that its a business decision, but if it walks like a duck, and quacks likes a duck its still a duck. A rose by any other name... A "business decision" is KATV bumping ABC programming for Razorback Basketball, censorship is KTHV preempting the VSFS due to content. Therefore, until further notice I will no longer watch local newscasts produced by KTHV. Only CBS network programming that KTHV chooses to broadcast will be watched here. I have no desire to watch Dr Phil. Ellen, if I choose to watch is also available via KTVE-DT. Posted by FHP-DXer at 3:40 AM (via -- Fritze H. Prentice Jr, KC5KBV, Star City, AR, Grid: EM43aw, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I kept an eye on this controversial show; I find it rather amusing the way the models strut and pout, as if that were attractive (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 1370, North Carolina logging --- Good evening. WGIV, 1370, Pineville, NC, 12/2/08, 6:45 pm EST. Locals ads in the 704 area code, frequent mentions of Charlotte, and finally a stn ID "WGIV the best in talk and inspiration" Heard on my Honda car radio and my first logging since they were formerly WLTC (Joe Miller, KJ8O, Troy, MI -- Grid EN82, NRC-AM via DXLD) Hmm, methinks they didn't drop power. Powell, what say ye? (Paul B. Walker, Jr., Ord NE, NRC-AM via DXLD) As I said over on the other list, this station got a "serious" fine for not cutting power. It took my friend with a NE Georgia 1370 almost a year of SCREAMING at the FCC to get Norfolk VA FCC office to do anything. They got fined, and still afterwards a lot of nights either didn't power down, or were many hours late. If the FCC would actually do something about compliance, including stations being off frequency, which still happens, though not common, the band would be better. Also, the FCC no longer does anything about audio quality, as long as it's not splattering all over. They ought to go back to requiring audio proofs and being correct from studio to transmitter (Powell E. Way III, W4OPW, ibid.) Tnx Powell, Paul and Willis, How much ammunition the FCC could have if they read the postings in this list, hi, hi. I didn't mention the signal strength in my posting but how does "armchair copy" sound??? Even though it was 4 years ago, I then entered WLTC as a tentative logging, and now I feel quite comfortable changing it to a definite logging. 73 de (Joe, KJ8O, Miller, ibid.) Absolutely no ammunition. They need solid, concrete evidence --- as in Field Strength readings before they'll investigate over power violations (Paul Walker, ibid.) I agree that they need good solid evidence, but they also have to know where to look (JBM, ibid.) ** VATICAN CITY STATE. Vatican Radio: http://www.vaticanradio.org/ or http://www.radiovaticana.org/ The Vatican Radio website is now offered in 38 languages, an increase of four since last year. There haven’t been many other changes in the past year. We’ll begin by selecting English. The next page has options for English World, English India, and English Africa, each featuring more localized content – we’ll stick to the main English page. The page layout is quite simple, with a Vatican Radio banner logo across the top, links on the left and right sides, a few items about Vatican Radio in the centre, and technical links (Webmaster, Credits, Legal Conditions) at the bottom. Simple and effective. On the left side, you’ll find several links About Vatican Radio, including About Us, Schedules, Our programmes, Contact us, Links, RSS and Podcast, Video live, and Video on demand. Live audio is in Real Audio or Windows Media format, with five different streams of each. Audio On Demand is delivered in Real Audio and MP3 formats, while Features are MP3 only. Video Live comes in three Quicktime formats: MPEG4, H.264 (each optimized for three different connection speeds), and Multicast IPv4, while Video on demand is in an unknown (yet Quicktime compatible) format that is very slow to load – the most recent content dates from 2005. There’s even an email link to the Vatican Television Centre (CTV) to order DVDs. Still on the left, and below these links, are further links to Other Languages, Other programmes, Help Vatican Radio, and the various components of the Vatican Web Site. On the right side of the page, there are numerous media links (some already mentioned, such as Live and Features), including Professional Services and my favourite, Radio for Radios. Good to know that’s still an option. Further down is a heading for The Pope’s Voice; last year’s links to Special Services, Music, and Liturgical Programmes appear to have been removed – that’s a shame, as the music was good. All in all, there’s an immense amount of material to be found on the Vatican Radio website. If Roman Catholic content is of interest to you, it’s well worth a visit (Paul E Guise, MB, Click!, Dec ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. 6060, R. Nacional 1105-1158* 12/07/08 Via Havana with interference from unID station on frequency. YL in English gave election returns and translated another long Chávez speech. OM in Spanish gave AM frequencies for various cities. S/off ID at 1158 (Bruce Barker, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Still no sign of revived Aló, Presidente via CUBA Sunday morning Dec 7 on usual frequencies after 1400, 1530. His plans for this are probably well-known in Venezuela, if someone has time to search the press (gh, DXLD) ** VIETNAM. Voice of Vietnam International (VOV6): http://www.vov.org.vn/ or http://www.vovnews.vn/ The site loads in Vietnamese, so we’ll begin by clicking on English, located near the top left, just below the VOVNews graphic. The layout is typical, with a logo (and advertisement, currently “Advertising with VOVNEWS”) at the top, links on the left side, news-type items in the middle, and links to the online streams VOV1, VOV2, VOV3, and VOV6 (in Windows Media format, with an option for Real Media) on the right. All of these link to a page labeled VOV1 Online, where you must again select the stream you want before your player will launch; complicating this, only three of the VOV streams are listed at any one time, but with enough clicking, you’ll be able to make all four appear as choices. Below these, still on the right, is News In Brief. Back on the left side of the main page, there are links to Current Affairs, Politics, Economics, Society, Culture, Sports, Mailbag, and Commentary. These same categories are presented in the middle of the page, each with three stories; the first of each includes a picture and brief annotation. Each link leads to a page of the same name, and typically presents about ten stories in detail. Below the links on the left side are graphic links to feature items, such as Electricity Conservation and Minority Culture, all of which led back to the main Vietnamese-language VOV homepage, not to the stories indicated by the graphic links. Finally, the top of the centre column features a slim grey menu bar with links to the Vietnamese version of the site, the VOV main site, the Homepage, and Media. This last item didn’t appear to work last year, but now you’ll find a page that’s packed full of colourful icons linking to a treasure trove of audio and video material. Not all of the content is in English, but that’s half the fun, right? (Paul E Guise, MB, Click!, Dec ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** ZANZIBAR. 11735, RTZ Dole, 1802-1816, Dec 2 [Tue], English/listed Swahili. Announcer with English news re Thai political crisis; Hillary & Obama; Chemical Ali sentencing; quick "Spice FM" ID at 1811 followed by announcer in Swahili with Afropops & Hindi-like music; fair-poor (Scott Barbour, NH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. RTZ, 11735, Friday Dec 5 at 1805, sounds like English as scheduled, with heavy accent, a few words recognizable, but also distracted by definite warble on unstable carrier, audible in AM mode and certainly with BFO on. Off-frequency Brasilian may also have been in the mix helping to audiblize the warble (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) TANZANIA, 11735, Voice of Tanzania Zanzíbar, Dole, 2008-2012, escuchada el 5 de diciembre en suahili con emisión de música folklórica local, se aprecia mala modulación, SINPO 45333 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia). España, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I`m glad someone else has noticed the bad modulation (gh) ** ZIMBABWE. LISTENING LICENCES IN ZIMBABWE --- ZBH CALLS IN COPS Wednesday, 03 December 2008 Zimbabwe's cash-strapped state broadcaster has roped in the police to force listeners and viewers to renew their licences, writes our correspondent. The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) has been running adverts warning the public that police would launch a door-to-door visit accompanied by ZBH licence inspectors as it seeks to raise cash. ZBC spokesman, Sivhukile Simango, said: "There is nothing sinister about our campaign to have the public renew their licences. We are quickening the process by involving police. "Previously, we collected our fees through the post office and later the police in situations where viewers were penalised for having not renewed their licences on time." He refused to comment on whether police will mount roadblocks to force private motorists and commuter omnibuses to pay for their car radios. Previously, the ZBC collected their fees from roadblocks but were later forced off the road after a public outcry. Millions of Zimbabweans have not renewed their licences in the past as a way of protesting against poor programming and services by the state broadcaster. Television programming is dominated by Chinese content and liberation struggle films. Meanwhile, the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights' (ACHPR) legal secretariat has completed its draft decision in the case brought against the Zimbabwean government challenging provisions of the draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). ACHPR Chief Legal Officer, Dr Robert Eno said that a draft decision had been arrived at on the merits of the case brought against the government by MISA-Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) and the Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe (IJAZ) challenging a number of sections of AIPPA. He said the draft decision will now be submitted to the African Commission for its consideration pending a final decision in the matter. Details will only be known when the Commission makes its final decision (via David Pringle-Wood, Dec 4, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 930 kHz, heard in Arabic with Kor`an talks and singing at 0110 on 06 Dec. OK signals but a lot of noise and this is where no station should be in this region of 9 kHz spacing. Wondering if this is Saudi Holy Koran program shifted down from normal 936 or Pakistan shifted up from 927? Station still there after daylight here at 0214 but declining rapidly. Any help would be appreciated! Not there when I checked this evening at 1755. Not there at 0050 on 07 Dec either. Possibly they found and corrected their error? An interesting day for DX all around! The 930 kHz log is interesting. Definitely not a spur, so I presume someone punched up the wrong freqs on the tx'er, but you would think they would have seen some serious reflected power by being off-freq. Perhaps that is how they caught their error. I sure hope thing continue to be quiet job-wise, so I can continue to DX for the rest of this government-inspired holiday. Best 73 de (Al Muick, Kabul, Afghanistan, WinRadio G303e, 200m Longwire/ Randomwire, Palstar MW-550P Mediumwave Preselector, HCDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Announcing the 950 DX Challenge --- Niel Wolfish in Toronto has been trying to pin down a station on 950 he has heard just prior to 0600 EST every morning where a woman sings the SSB starting around 0558 EST and then the station fades into the mud by the time an ID might happen. I thought I heard a wee bit of this here at Burnt River ON this morning. Saturday morning it was solid WWJ MI and WIBX NY so I am tentatively ruling them out. This morning I had WROC NY separately (with ESPN) and am tentatively ruling them out. Possible candidates include stations in OH (Niel deems this most likely) and WV. But who knows... And that's the basis of this little DX game. For those of you who like a good mystery, or have reliable 950s to listen to, why not sit on the channel from 0555 to 0601 EST, [1100 UT], log what you can, and report it. Who knows. Barry McLarnon in Ottawa did this a week or so ago and logged a new station - one in MN, nice and far away! Funny enough, this one doesn't appear to be our candidate, either. So set your alarms, pour some coffee, and join us as we take on this DX Challenge! (Saul Chernos, Ont., Dec 7, IRCA via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 4865.03, 1120-1130 Noted a female talking joined by a male at 1123 Dec 4. Signal was barely audible over the noise. The nuance of the speech sounds like Spanish, but can't be sure? Could this be that elusive shadowy radio station called Logos [BOLIVIA] that hasn't been heard here in Florida yet? Signal is audibly gone by 1130, but I can still see it on the scope (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida USA, WinRadio G305/pd, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. I am receiving AIR Lucknow on 4880 with subcontinent music; tune-in at 1240z 12/3, with 43344 signals. News at ToH. I'm really curious about the bubble jammer I'm hearing just below it. I see that R. Voice of Kurdistan is listed here. Perhaps someone is jamming RVoK, or someone else? The jammer either faded out quickly, or it went off at 1300z (Steven Zimmerman, Ulsan, South Korea, Yaesu FT- 817, and a 49m dipole, on roof with twisted-pair feeder and balun, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Steven, So this jammer must be the same I heard when received AIR as per my 02 Dec post, viz.: "4880 Lucknow, 1635-1639, cf. \\ 4910; 23431, QRM de jammer (ZWE against SW R. Africa? If so, it was unusually strong)." It certainly didn't sound like as the Zimbabwean one, and the way you put things, it can't be ZWE. Most likely the target you mentioned. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, ibid.) This 4880 bubble jammer most probably is related to the "numbers lady" spy station operating at times also on this frequency on USB. ZIM jammer against SW R Africa used to be totally different kind of sound, not heard recently anymore. Kurdish clandestine uses portion around 4830-4900 and is jammed by Iranian bubble jammer shifting the frequency along with its target. I recall SW R Africa is on 4880 only 1700-1900. [later:] Have to correct myself. The Iranian jammer against V of Kurdistan in the 60 mb isn't actually "bubble-jammer" but the sound (hard to describe) like rtty running "empty" rapidly. Hope you get what I mean. 73 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 6074, Dec 6 at 1400-1401, V/CQ marker de 8GAL lasting a few sex past 1401, so must have started a few sex past the closing R. Rossii timesignal. A bit earlier on Dec 7 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6090: Martien Groot "Was wondering if this might possibly be Oromiya on NF ex 6030" DXLD 8-123. Interesting question. I think it's too early for them at 0345, but I won't get up earlier to find it out. But: until not long after 1700 there is a station playing HOA music there (heard best today, Dec. 3rd, but also traces of that on previous evenings, definitely off before 1730. At 1800 there is another station sounding more traditional Arabic than East African, this one off at 1900. No idea, but don't think either is R. Oromia. Think I caught "Ertran" during short announcement at 1700. 73 de (Thorsten Hallmann, Münster, Germany, http://www.africalist.de.ms Dec 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also NIGERIA: Kaduna UNIDENTIFIED. 6400 kHz - 04/12 2249 UT - Mx folclórica ou hino (não consegui identificar o idioma), depois anúncio por Om em EE " This is Country Four, the buddy company in my radio". 33333. Gostaria de saber se alguém da lista já ouviu, ou pode tentar ouvir para identificar. 73s (Roberto Landolpho, Sony 7600DS, Antena loop coaxial blindada, dxclube pr yg via DXLD) Presumably he is in Brasil, even Paraná (gh) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. 7505, 1444, 12/03/08, Vietnamese. Weak, fluttery talk by a woman in what sounded like Vietnamese. Probably not WRNO, but then what? EiBi/Aoki show the only other station on this frequency as being RFA-Burmese, but not till 1630. Poor (Mark Schiefelbein, Bois D' Arc Conservation Area, Bois D'Arc, MO, USA, Eton E1, ~1000 ft E-W beverage at ground level, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I guess: MOLDOVA 7505 YFR at 1400-1600 UT via Grigoriopol site 300kW 116 degrees, Target: 40 Iran, Afghanistan, 41 Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, 49 SE Asia. Check this: \\ ?? 9585 YFR 1400-1500 Vietnamese 100 kW 225 degrees, Paochung-TWN (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 9153, cut numbers in MCW, i.e. spy code on A3/regular AM mode, with tones like on DXers Unlimited closing, rather than on-and- off carrier, Dec 5 at 0734, so strong and overloading that first noticed it in background of WRMI 9955 as receiver-produced cross- modulation; since it was QSO with Ted Randall, ham show, at first thought it was deliberate SFX on that. By 0735, just open carrier on 9153. Presumably Cuba (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 9600, weak Dec 3 at 2312 had a tone, which I figured would be Vatican about to open its Vietnamese service, instead of running 2.5 minutes of English as they used to do --- but no, the tone kept on going past 2315, 2321, and no VR IS was heard altho there was a weaker signal underneath, despite nothing else on schedules. Another idea: could it be a revival of XEYU, which was always offset around 9599.2 or 9599.3? Hard to tell on my FRG-7, but I think the tone was on both sides of the carrier, rather than a het from one side. No RHC yet, nominally from 0000, but has been known to open an hour earlier. Needs more checking (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Looking for the Observatório Nacional, Rio de Janeiro timesignals on 9999 --- Dec 3 at 2155 WWVH was dominating 10000, tho not very strong; it did seem there was a third signal producing additional tones, but could not pull any voice, which of course coincides with the WWV announcements just before minute-top. Great coordination! Not to mention QRMing WWV and WWVH, a much bigger problem in S America, when a further offset frequency could have been chosen deliberately, such as 10004. {Oops, ON is reported to give timechex every 10 seconds, not every minute, so it shouldn`t take long to ID it when it is not conflicting with WWV, or WWVH voice announcements; best when neither is intoning either or running various other service announcements} 10000, zero-beating my BFO on WWV, Dec 5 at 1815, noticed that there were unusual timesignal tones from something else, and they were a semi-second off falling between the WWV tix. Could it be the new Brazilian? Then some of the off-pips missed, came back for a couple at a time, then gone before I could determine if they were originating on 9999. 15000 had Spanish SSB 2-way at 1445 Dec 2; no timesignals audible at all (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ I've not had opportunity to mention this, but I'm always quite impressed that you pronounce my name correctly on World of Radio. I'd hazard that maybe 1% of the general population gets it right on the first try, generally either German-speakers or people who had some German in school. Best, (Mark Schiefelbein, MO) I have studied some German, and also the phonetic schemes of many other languages. I used to be a classical music announcer and wanted to get the pronunciations right. So naturally I go to the language origin in question unless otherwise informed, and of course a lot of people have anglicized their name pronunciations. Glad to know yours matches. Now I am wondering what your name means. I know Bein, but neither Google nor I know Schiefel. 73, (Glenn to Mark, via DXLD) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ ICONS OF TALK: THE MEDIA MOUTHS THAT CHANGED AMERICA Just wanted to let everyone know about my new book; It's a history of the talk show genre, with rare photos and individual profiles of 20 influential talkers. It includes both righties and lefties, radio as well as TV talkers, famous talkers from days gone by and some from the present. I've long been fascinated by the enduring popularity of talk shows, whether the "call-in and discuss the outrage of the day" type or the "comedy monologue and interviews with famous guests" type. The book contains a very thorough examination of the format from day 1 to the present. (It took me about 2+ years of research, but it was a labour of love!) For more information, go here: http://www.greenwood.com/catalog/GR4381.aspx (Btw, since Greenwood Press deals mainly with academia and libraries, the quoted price is rather high, but I am told they will soon option the paperback rights and that edition will cost less.) Please encourage your local or college library to order it, and of course it makes a wonderful Christmas or Hanukkah gift!!! Donna L. Halper, Asst. Professor of Communication, Lesley University, Cambridge MA (via Kittrell Rushing, UTC, DXLD) Viz.: Icons of Talk --- The Media Mouths That Changed America Series: Greenwood Icons Donna L. Halper, 0-313-34381-0/978-0-313-34381-0 Description: Americans love talk shows. In a typical week, more than 13 million Americans listen to Rush Limbaugh, whose syndicated radio show is carried by about 600 stations. On television, Oprah Winfrey's syndicated talk show is seen by an estimated 30 million viewers each week. Talk show hosts like Winfrey and Limbaugh have become iconic figures, frequently quoted and capable of inspiring intense opinions. What they say on the air is discussed around the water cooler at work, or commented about on blogs and fan web sites. Talk show hosts have helped to make or break political candidates, and their larger-than- life personalities have earned them millions of fans (as well as more than a few enemies). Icons of Talk highlights the most groundbreaking exemplars of the talk show genre, a genre that has had a profound influence on American life for over 70 years. Author Information: DONNA L. HALPER is a well-known media historian with expertise in broadcasting and social history. She has been a guest on the History Channel, PBS and NPR, and her research has been quoted in numerous publications. She has spent over 25 years as an educator and over 30 years as a broadcaster and is the author of three books, including Invisible Stars: A Social History of Women in American Broadcasting (2001). List Price: $75.00 Pages: 392 Publication: 11/30/2008. To order, visit http://www.greenwood.com call 1-800-225-5800, or use this order form: http://www.greenwood.com/books/printFlyer.aspx?sku=GR4381 (via Halper, ABDX via DXLD) DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ WINTER HARBOUR DX REPORT NOW AVAILABLE For those interested, head over to http://www.dxer.ca and locate the Download section. Under "Manuals and Instructions" there's a travelogue/DXpedition report that I wrote outlining my trip there last weekend with Chuck and Lynne Hutton. Lots of interesting pictures to see, as well as comments on DX possibilities and results. Enjoy! (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, Dec 3, IRCA via DXLD) Report is now in "Field Reports" on DXer.ca http://tinyurl.com/dxer-field-reports Yet another wonderful read from Doctor Walter Salmaniw (Colin Newell, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, ibid.) Scenic but not good for DX CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ NATIONAL RADIO CLUB CONVENTION REPORT John Malicky's summary about the 2008 NRC/DXAS 75th anniversary convention in Pittsburgh in August is now available to read online at http://www.nrcdxas.org/ I am not an NRC member but am a subscriber to the monthly e-DXN and its great value for online access at $15 a year. Last month contained some interesting audio from the convention including the highly professional AM/FM special event radio station. Old editions of e-DXN can also be accessed at no extra cost (Mike Terry, England, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) SITIO EN INGLÉS DEL 15 ENCUENTRO DX Te esperamos!!!! Glenn Hauser: http://cuernavaca2009.mi-website.es/15dxmeeting.htm (Magdiel Cruz Rodríguez, México, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FEMALE PIONEERS IN AMATEUR RADIO I just published a long article about Female Pioneers in Amateur Radio. I have got a number of positive reactions from readers of QTC (Swedish Radio amateur monthly) where it was published. In my article the main figure was Barbara Dunn, G6YL, who learnt Braille around 1920 and worked with texts for the blind (she was not blind herself). My article is in Swedish but there is a lot of interesting material published on the web about Barbara. 73 and all the best (Ullmar Qvick, Sweden, Dec 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ HOW TO DX LONGWAVE BEACONS All EST. All new loggings. 12/3 2021 UFX 260 Lourdes de Joliette QC 2024 YGK 263 Kingston ON 2025 ZMM 266 Montreal QC 2027 YQA 272 Muskuko ON 2028 YHR 276 Harrington Hbr QC 2031 QX 280 Gander NL 2033 UWP 323 Argentia NL 2035 YHN 329 Hornepayne ON 2036 ZOW 344 Ottawa ON 2037 YNT 344 Millinocket ME 2038 YKQ 351 Fort Rupert QC 2242 YTF 253 Alma QC 2255 YLD 336 Chapleau ON 2301 GR 370 Magdeline Islands QC 2306 3B 391 Brockville ON 2309 CBC 415 Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands And at work today I was driving around with the radio off trying to ID the morse code I was still hearing in my head. Will beacons be the things that finally drive me crazy? (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT USA, R75, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) It's best if you put on big earphones, close your eyes, turn off the lights, and slowly work your way up the band. Eventually, your entire brain function will be reduced to dots and dashes. At that point, imagine that each of the beeps is an alien microlaser targetting your head, you reach the red zone when a sheer cacaphony of beeps overwhelms your ability to sort them out. Then your head will explode. Just don't let that last beep get through and you'll be okay (Jim Renfrew, NY, ibid.) Poor Jim. I think we've lost him (Saul Chernos, Ont., ibid.) Yes, last week after 2 hours of beacon hunting I was losing it. Had to use the magnifying glass to read the calls and the last 2 stations could not find on the list or simply didn't exist and nodding off and on I had to call it a night (Roy Barstow, Cape Cod, ibid.) RADIO RESTRUCTURING: GROUP PROPOSES MOVING THE AM BROADCAST BAND Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1634 - December 5, 2008 Here in the USA, a group calling itself the Broadcast Maximization Committee, has recommended the conversion of all AM stations to digital broadcasting and their migration to a new spectrum allocation over an extended period of time. It also proposes relocating the Low Power FM service to a portion of this spectrum. In a nutshell, the Broadcast Maximization Committee plan would extend the current FM band downward to include frequencies 76.1 to 87.7 MHz with a 100 kHz channel spacing. This would create 117 new channels. The first eight channels from 87.0 to 87.7 MHz would be reserved for non commercial use as they would be contiguous to the current non commercial broadcasting allocation. The next 100 channels from 77.0 to 86.9 MHz would be used to migrate AM stations to the proposed FM new extended band channels, where they would operate in digital mode. One channel at 76.9 MHz would be set aside for NOAA and other government use nationwide. The last eight channels from 76.1 to 76.8 MHz would be for Low Power FM use. Lastly, the vacated AM band from 540 to 1700 kHz) would open up for multiple uses including an improved AM broadcast service. While the policies, standards and priorities for an AM migration would need to be developed, the Broadcast Maximization Committee has offered a technical plan to show that its proposal is possible and to encourage further discussions. What the group has not addressed is what to do about the tens of millions of people who want to listen to AM radio the way it is on a $5 radio that anyone can afford to own (RW, BE, others via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) MicroDXpedition logs One last decent morning before the weather turns cold for a while, so I made time for a short trip out to the country. Location: Bois D' Arc Conservation Area, Bois D'Arc, MO, USA Equipment: Eton E1, ~1000 ft E-W beverage at ground level (Mark Schiefelbein, Dec 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Mark, Tnx for the good logs. I am a bit intrigued by your using a kilofoot beverage for these, as such an antenna would be most desirable for MW. Are you also DXing MW with it? Do you find that it really helps on SW to have an antenna that long? Maybe on 90m, but the higher frequencies? Of course, if you have it permanently installed, may as well use it, but if not, is it worth it to reel out that much for a few hours of SW monitoring? 73, (Glenn to Mark, via DXLD) Glenn -- I have to admit I'm not much of an expert when it comes to beverage/antenna theory. I came into a length of insulated wire several hundred yards long through a good friend, and rather than cut it down I decided to start by leaving it as is. I reel it out onto a mowed grass boundary path, and when it's time to go I can walk out and crank it up in about 15 minutes. So the long length isn't much extra hassle. My one concern with using that much wire was that reception might be more directional than I would want, but so far that doesn't seem to be the case, as I've pulled in signals from weaker stations on azimuths both roughly parallel (e.g., R Central) and perpendicular (RWM) to the antenna. I've scoped out a site where I could run the antenna N-S instead of E-W, and I may try that on one of my visits and compare notes. I should note that unlike a "true" beverage, it's unterminated. From what I gather that mostly helps increase directivity, when I want the opposite. The biggest benefit I've noticed, aside from the gain on weak signals, is the big reduction in fading compared to my antennas at home. Except for transpolar flutter, shortwave signals are usually quite stable. Could I get that same benefit with a wire half as long? One-third? I can't say. I was aware also that beverages are considered a "low-band" antenna, but I've been pleasantly surprised how well it does on higher frequencies. Galei Zahal on 15785 seems to be a pretty regular visitor in the mornings, and a lot of the European stations on 16/13m can be heard well if propagation is open. I don't know if that much wire helps on the higher frequencies, but certainly doesn't seem to hurt. SW is my main interest, so that's been my focus on visits so far. One of these times I'm going to try a MW bandscan, but so far there's been too much interesting stuff on the shortwave spectrum to keep me busy. I've tried a couple times to check for 774 JOUB and gotten a carrier, but never any audio. Whether that's because I'm checking at the wrong time, or poor conditions, or because my antenna actually isn't that great for trans-Pacific DX, I'm not sure (Mark Schiefelbein, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So you are using the same approach, so to speak, as I do, Mark. Just compare it against an inverted L of, say, 20 m or even longer, and you'll quickly find out you should keep the Beverage, terminated or unterminated! I don't understand why many think Beverages cannot be used, or are useless on HF. I'm pretty happy with mine, and would be l o s t without them! I too use my unterminated Beverages for HF up to 12/13 MHz, and sometimes even 15 or 17 MHz (R. Cultura in Brasil 17815 is a pretty good example)! My 2nd longest one is nearly the size of yours, 270 m, beamed 144º/ CeAfr-SoAfrica. The others are 300 m/225º ESAm, 200 m/Central Am. The 4th one is what I call mini-Beverage as it's just around 80 m, beamed 300º/NAm. This Summer, I erected another wire, an experimental one, possibly 30-40 m long/180º; this is particularly useful for those tiny UK stations. Of course, being unterminated, they work "over the shoulder", but this concept is not entirely true. My experience tells me they can pull a little more signal from the opposite end of the transformer. But, yes, my Central American Beverage can be used for instance for those VL8A, T & K stations. In some circumstances, depending on the angle of arrival, best reception is via the roughly N~S aligned 45 m inverted V, which seems to work best for Asian signals (along with the on the ground K9AY), not Central America. Besides, it's far too noisier than any of the Beverages, from the mini versions to the longer ones. On MW, particularly during daytime, both the Bevs. & the K9AY are used. After dark, my TA DXing is, believe it not, 90% via the K9AY, one of the reasons being this is a quiet antenna; the other is related to the fact that the Bevs. are not terminated, so they get too much junk from the back. One last detail: you should raise the antenna at least to 1.5 m above ground. This will reduce the impedance and enhance signal pick up, and reduce hiss noise when it rains. You don't say whether you're using a transformer for your 300 m Beverage: are you? If not the case, then allow me to say you should. Do install others, if you can! You won't regret it 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, ibid.) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: GERMANY; NIGERIA; POLAND ++++++++++++++++++++ IBOC: see also OKLAHOMA DETROIT FULL OF IBOC Here are some loggings from a recent visit to Dearborn, MI. IBOC crud is everywhere. WRDT-560, WJR-760, WWJ-950, WFDF-910, WDFN-1130, WXYT- 1270, and even a graveyarder WEXL-1340. If I'm not mistaken Detroit has the most IBOC stations of any market as they try to push this failed technology in the auto industry. Will the suits at Ibiquity go to Congress to ask for a bailout? (Mike Brooker, Toronto, Ont., Dec 6, IRCA via DXLD) DTV QUESTIONS Long informative thread on how remapping worx, basic understanding: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ABDX/messages/34327?threaded=1&m=e&var=1&tidx=1 (ABDX via gh, DXLD) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ Daytime MW DX --- WHAS 840 Louisville KY and XEN 690 Mexico City, both at about 1:30 pm to central Texas (Jerry Lenamon, Waco, 1930 UT Dec 3, ABDX via DXLD) December 3, 2008 noontime (Central) bandscan. Location: Star City AR at home. Equipment: Yaesu FT 897D with 75m/20m fan inverted vee, apex at 30 ft. Times given are UTC/GMT [local time: UT-6 (during winter)] 1748, WBAP 820 Fort Worth, very weak fading in and out 1752, unid 570 likely KLIF Dallas with talk, too weak to understand, fading. 1753, WWL 870 New Orleans, carrier audible just above the noise level. 1756, unid 940 weak talk 1758, unid 980 mixture of two stations: one talk, and the other an ad 1759, WDIA 1070 Memphis, S8 signal level. Usually inaudible during the summer. 1800, unid 1120 religious programming, certainly not St Louis's KMOX 1801, KVCE 1160 Highland Park, TX (suburban Dallas)FOX News radio news, with local news break 1808, KFAQ (ex KVOO) 1170 Tulsa with Bill O'Reilly 1809, unid 1180 talk 1809, unid 1190 talk 1810, WOAI 1200 San Antonio, its certainly close to winter when those guys are heard at noon this far north. "Rush Limbaugh" with sub host. 1812, unid 1240 (NOT KWAK) with "Jim Rome Show" 1814, unid 1290 with southern gospel 1816, KFFA 1360 Helena, AR -- WEAK GROUNDWAVE with King Biscuit Flour Time (local blues show aired for decades). Pre recorded show has low audio level and barely gets out from all the noise [seems to me the King Biscuit Flour Hour is/was widely syndicated – gh] 1822, KXTR 1660 Kansas City, KS. Opera movement, and S9 signal level. Very listenable with the DSP and wide AM filter selected, stronger than some neighboring "locals". Noise levels with the computers, heat pump etc make hearing the weak ones hard (Fritze H. Prentice Jr, KC5KBV, Star City, AR, Grid: EM43aw, http://tvdxseark.blogspot.com WTFDA-AM via DXLD) LONGWAVE DX IN MID-AMERICA Hello Glenn -- Coming across 162 France [q.v.] by accident set me to wondering. Is there normally the possibility of trans-Atlantic (or trans-Pacific) longwave reception from this part of the country, or is this pretty freak occurrence? Really, I'd almost never done a bandscan below 500kHz before tonight. I always assumed that unless one lived on a North American coast, there wasn't going to be much there other than some beacons. I figured if anyone was aware of inland transcontinental longwave DX in the past, it would be you (Mark Schiefelbein, MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Mark, There has been quite a lot of LWBC DX reported from inland lately. Conditions have been very good, but I think that there is usually something to be heard. I guess you are not in contact with Randy Stewart in Springfield who does a lot of MW, and I think LW DXing. (Works at KSMU). The FE LW BC stations make it to the west coast quite reliably, tho I don`t see reports of them much this far east. But trans-Atlantics, yes (Glenn to Mark, via DXLD) See also RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM LONG HAUL TRANS-EQUATORIAL FM DX, CARIBBEAN TO SOUTHERN BRASIL [tho frequency comes first, these are in date and time order, by UT; with ITU country codes, SINPOs] 96.7, 1/12 2348 VCT Nice FM, Kingstown, mx caribenha, EE 45333 107.5, 1/12 0018 VCT NBC, Kingstown, mx caribenha, EE 25332 92.7, 1/12 0024 JMC Fame FM, Coopers Hill, mx pop EE, OM, EE 35333 92.7, 2/12 0154 JMC Fame FM, Coopers Hill, mx pop EE, EE 35333 97.0, 5/12 2352 GDL RFO, Basse-Terre, OM, nxs, FF 33343 97.1, 5/12 2353 ATG ZDK - Liberty Radio International, Saint John's, mx caribenha, EE 45344 97.3, 5/12 2356 LCA Radio Saint Lucia, Castries, mx country, EE 43333 98.1, 5/12 2357 BRB Liberty FM, Bridgetwon, OM/OM, talks, EE, melhor sinal em 97.97 MHz, devido interferência 43343 99.9, 5/12 0001 VCT WE FM, Kingstown, OM, mx caribenha, id YL, EE 44333 102.7, 5/12 0003 ?? Unid (ZJF Radio - ATG??), mx pop EE, EE 45344 103.7, 5/12 0011 VCT Hitz FM, Kingstown, mx caribenha, OM, EE 45333 105.7, 5/12 0014 VCT Praise FM, Kingstown, mx gospel c/ coral, relg, EE // 95.7 MHz 44333 95.7, 5/12 0015 VCT Praise FM, Kingstown, mx gospel c/ coral, relg, OM, EE 35333 95.5, 5/12 0034 ?? Unid, mx caribenha, EE 33333 (Rubens Ferraz Pedroso, Bandeirantes/PR, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) ###