DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-012, February 7, 2009 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 1446 Sun 0730 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0900 WRMI 9955 Sun 1615 WRMI 9955 Mon 0600 WRMI 9955 Mon 2300 WBCQ 7415 [confirmed Feb 2] Tue 1200 WRMI 9955 Tue 1630 WRMI 9955 Wed 0600 WRMI 9955 [or new 1447] Wed 1630 WRMI 9955 [or new 1447] WBCQ is also airing new or archive editions of WOR M-F 2000 on 7415 Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html or http://schedule.worldofradio.org or http://sked.worldofradio.org 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://podcast.worldofradio.org or http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org ** ALBANIA. Hello all, Listening to Radio Tirana 1530 UT broadcast on 13720 on February 4th, with a very good signal SINPO 44444. Audio quality is excellent today, this is how it should always be. Very nice to hear them so well! (Gilles Letourneau, Montreal, Canada, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Drita and group: As the Albanians say: "Gezimi yne eshte i pafund" - our joy is endless. At last fine audio from Radio Tirana! I checked last night at 2130 UTC on 6 and 7 MHz - signal not very strong but fine audio. This morning 08 UTC 7360 kHz fair reception and fine audio. On the web at the same time fine audio! I think it could be worthwhile to promote radio and web listening to Radio Tirana among Albanian emigrants and also DX listeners who often like to send reception report and also often appreciate the beautiful Albanian music. After this long period with awful reception quality it's a real pleasure. I tried also Radio Cairo last night on 6255 kHz. Interesting programme items, but alas, too low modulation degree... They have had troubles for many years now. Who could help them? All for now! But "O ju malet e Shqiperise, o ju lisat e gjata. Shqiperia nena ime, ndonse jam e merguar, dashnine tende nuk kam me harrue..." are the pathetic sounds now coming through my loudspeaker in the Radio Tirana morning broadcast: "Oh you mountains of Albania, oh you high oaks... Albania My Mother, even though I am in exile I will not forget your love".... Oh dear, I feel really like an Albanian exile when I listen, it is very very emotional.... tears coming to my eyes! Kind regards, (Ullmar Qvick, Sweden, via Drita Çiço, Feb 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re: Audio cilesore e Radio Tiranes per jashte Shqiperise Hi Drita, yes I can confirm that since you switched to produce via PC the last days all programs are in good quality. The new produced shows in German via PC are in perfect quality and the ones coming from analogue tape are OK. Thanks for the precious work of your engineers finding the faulty parts Regards, (Christian Milling, Germany, ibid.) PS: Christian Milling from Radio700 in Germany, realized on 26 Nov 2008 the project for Radio Tirana German Program in Internet at Radio700 web page http://radiotirana.funkhaus.info:8000 or http://radiotirana.funkhaus.info:8000/listen.pls On this occasion there are also several other programs of Radio Tirana on line at this website (Drita Çiço, ibid.) ** ALGERIA [non]. RTA, fair on 5865 via France with Qur`an, cut off abruptly at 0657* Feb 7 as transmission had to end, unbeknownst to the studio (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. The VL8s were in Feb 4, first time heard here in months. 2485 best with Aussie-accented English talk at 1345; also could hear weaker carriers on 2325, 2310 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 2325, VL8T Tennant Creek NT, 1120 to 1200 the best signal of the three NTs. 5 February using Sony 2010XA 73s (Bob Wilkner, S Florida, NRD 535D, R8 and Sony 2010XA modified by D. L., DX LISTENING DIGEST) 2485, VL8K Katherine NT, Feb 6 at 1351 discussing the Universe, surprisingly good here, S9+12 but deep fades; almost listenable, and could only detect carriers with BFO on 2310, 2325. Sunrise here was 1328 UT and getting one minute earlier every day (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. A visit to VNG transmission station before it was closed. The Lyndhurst site near Melbourne carried the ABC domestic program VLH and VLR beamed to North Australia, but was most famous for the time signal service VNG: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61C6IyWEqZE Three minute video with indoor shots, ends with announcement of imminent closedown (Mike Barraclough, England, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Audio track is entirely recorded off-air from VNG (gh) ** AUSTRIA. Re: 1476 Bisamberg --- 60 kW is correct. The transmitter is a Thomson M2M, installed in 2000: http://www.hcrs.at/BSBG100.HTM It's rated at 100 kW but was run at reduced power 60 kW, a level that had been introduced earlier with the old 120 kW Brown Boveri transmitters where 60 kW were a specified power level (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 6089.95, Radio Bandeirantes, Sao Paulo, 0525-0540, Feb 6, Anguilla 6090 off the air allowing Brazil to be heard for a change. Good signal with Portuguese talk. Very weak // 9645.28. Anguilla back on the air at 0602 check (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 11765, Súper Rádio Deus é Amor, Curitiba, Feb 5 at 0628, wacky wailing David Miranda preaching in Portunhol, overriding BBCWS English via South Africa with 25 times the power, as listed in Aoki, which also says ex-R. Tupi is off the air between 0300 and 0900. Something does not compute. ZYE726 also so strong that it was causing ACI to RHC on 11760, and one had to side-tune downward to avoid. 11815, R. Brasil Central, Goiânia, music // 4985, Feb 5 at 0630. 11815 only fair, much weaker than 11765 and 11925 Brazilians; 11780 not on yet. 11925, R. Bandeirantes, São Paulo, such a treat to hear real Brasilian programming rather than gospel huxters; Feb 5 at 0631 talking about Carnaval do Salvador; 0632 ``Bandeirantes, a caminho do sol``, meaning on the way to sunrise, timecheck for 4:30 am --- but that`s DST, it`s really only 3:30 am; news headlines. Good booming signal. Only on a fraxion of nites does the MUF coöperate for such reception up to 12 MHz. RNA, 11780, VG signal Feb 7 at 0638, but split-second audio dropouts every few seconds, making it unlistenable. Still during a song at 0657 recheck on // 6185, and dropouts synchronized so an audio feed input problem, not a transmitter problem. This has been ongoing for months; is no one paying attention in the Brasília control room? I was somewhat surprised this was incoming, as no Brasilians were audible on 31m, and no other Brasilians on 25m either, contrary to previous night, when 11765, 11815 and 11925 also audible. Super-power makes the difference. Not much else on 25m except CVC Chile also inbooming on 11805 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Rádio Mundial AM 1180 - RJ encerra atividades Uma das emissoras mais modernas do país em termos de investimentos técnicos encerrou seus trabalhos de forma triste nessa madrugada. A Rádio Mundial (AM 1180 kHz) dispensou cerca de "40 funcionários" entre redatores, jornalistas, radialistas, programadores, operadores de áudio e técnica, e todo setor administrativo. A emissora localizada na Rua da Assembléia nº10 no 18º andar no centro do Rio está operando somente com um programa de músicas via computador. A Rádio Mundial (razão social Globo-Eldorado), foi arrendada ao Sistema Globo de Rádio em maio de 2008 por um grupo de investidores. O canal AM 1180 kHz é uma freqüência internacional e na verdade pertence a um "grupo chileno" que trabalha em parceria ao Sistema Globo de Rádio. O arrendamento da empresa e a utilização do nome "Mundial " eram por 10 anos. A emissora sobreviveu apenas 9 meses. Fonte: Brasil Rádio News Sábado, Janeiro 31, 2009 (via Marcelo Bedene, Feb 3, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) ZYJ463 Rio was once the dominant/only Brazilian on 1180, and DXed in North America, Europe, but now there are 17 others. It is still the highest powered, both day and night, per WRTH 2009, 50/10 kW. I gather that the transmitter remains on the air with computer-generated music programming, but no local origination (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Olá Marcelo e Colegas. Era previsível. Muito, mas muito pesar mesmo :- (Não sei o que se passa na cabeça da Globo e outras grandes redes! Onde está a ANATEL? Provavelmente perseguindo algum legalizado radioamador por causa de um vizinho com um televisor de péssima fabricação do circuito de sintonia; ou prevendo os lucros do PLC. Esperem e vejam mais uma emissora de noticias o dia inteiro; estão viciando a população com informações inúteis, ou mais uma com o "quintal da globo" (em minúsculo mesmo). Infelizmente a proliferação do baixo nível musical e de programação das emissoras tanto de OM como de FM foi abraçada pela nossa pobre e inculta população. Que a voz do colega Daniel de Aracajú, QTC Brasileiro, seja ouvida e praticada por nós radioescutas e dexistas e nos empenhemos em uma maior divulgação de nosso hobby entre os jovens que estão sendo metralhados com tudo de ruim em termo cultural. 73 em luto (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia, Brasil, op. cit.) ** BRAZIL. Summer time: Hi Glenn, de acordo com o Decreto nº 6.558 de 8 de setembro de 2008, o Horário de Verão 2008/2009 terá início à zero hora (00:00) de 19 de Outubro de 2008, com término à zero hora (00:00) de 15 de Fevereiro de 2009. According to law act nº 6.558 of september 08, 2008, Brazilian summertime starts at (00:00) zero hour of October 19, 2008 ending at (00:00) zero hour of February 15, 2009. It´s just to be in accordance with (Eduardo Heinrich, São Paulo, Brasil, Feb 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Vinyl Café from CBC Radio 1, Wed Feb 4 at 0722 on 6160, Stuart McLean going from a story to a song. This is the final Tuesday night repeat from the PST zone via CKZU, 11:06 pm local across Canada. SAH probably from CKZN but CKZU quite dominant at the moment. CBC News, 6160, Feb 7 at 0701, double feed one word apart, especially long ones like Saskatchewan, mostly about Canadian job losses; usual fast SAH between CKZN and CKZU. Since CBC decided to put them both on the same frequency many years ago, they should also have taken steps to synchronize them. But this applies only during newscasts and Cross Country Checkup live nationwide, which is during the afternoon anyway; otherwise the two are 4 or 3 hours apart (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. The sorry state of local radio --- From the public files of the CRTC - an intervention against CKDH Amherst NS's application to flip to FM - also, an insight into MBS Radio, the regional chain that owns, among other stations, CKDH: "Commentaire / Comment : Mr. Robert A. Morin Secretary General Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Central Building 1 Promenade du Portage Hull, Quebec K1A 0N2 I am writing today in opposition of application # 2008-0816-5 by Maritime Broadcasting System Limited (MBS) to convert the radio station CKDH Amherst from the AM band to the FM band. Having CKDH on the FM frequency band will not improve the quality of the radio programming to the citizens of Amherst, and will only serve to increase the profits of MBS. CKDH Amherst employs four individuals - two sales reps and two jocks. The two jocks each do a shift, and then two other shifts are piped in from out-of-town or out-of-province. I would not have a problem with this lineup if the remote voices reflected the thoughts and perspectives of the citizens of Amherst. But frequently mispronouncing both local place names (e.g. River Hebert; Nappan) and family names that have long been established in Amherst is insulting, and serves to alienate the proud people of Amherst. Jocks should do more than say "that song was.." and "this next song is.", they should be a part of the community. I found it interesting that MBS's response of September 3rd, 2008 indicated that, if granted an FM license, it would provide 13 hours of live programming daily, weekdays from 6:00am to 7pm. If this is such a good idea, why are they only providing a fraction of this amount now? The news service provided sporadically throughout the day on CKDH is from the Maritime News Network, which originates 200 kilometers away in Halifax. The news coverage rarely covers local stories and mostly covers stories from Halifax. Even when Provincial or National stories are presented, than at the very least CKDH could be presented with an Amherst perspective to the news stories. Just when newspapers and television are cutting back on their local news content, you would think that the local radio station would step up and fill the void. A simply telephone call to the radio station reveals that even the music played at CKDH is picked remotely. Apparently an individual in another province programs the identical music for CKDH and two or three other MBS radio stations. I was told that if you take out the commercials, you would hear the exact same songs at the exact same times on each of the four radio stations. This cookie-cutter approach does not reflect local preferences and tastes of the people of Amherst. Citizens of Amherst should be able to request a song from the local high-school band and promote area talent. What incentive is there for youth today to encourage and develop musical culture when the local radio station does not provide an opportunity for their music to be played? CKDH is not an active member of the community, and rarely participates in local parades and charity events. Four employees cannot keep a radio station on the air 24/7. I know for a fact that Amherst Town Council has sent letters to MBS on multiple occasions about the radio station being off the air during bad weather. I can think of one particular winter storm two years ago when the citizens of Amherst were desperate to know if schools were cancelled, if hospitals were open and when power would be restored. When the citizens of Amherst were begging for a local voice amidst the confusion, CKDH was off the air. MBS speaks of declining profitability as a reason to oppose the recent application by the Tantramar Community Radio Society for a community station. For the record, I am neither in support nor against a community radio station. But given the out-of-town news, out-of-town jocks and out-of-province music provided by CKDH, it is little wonder that profitability has decreased. CKDH has alienated the citizens of Amherst through poor programming decisions. Furthermore, the station is run so leanly, that I would wager that the profitability of CKDH is better than most AM radio stations in the Maritimes and Canada. A conversion of CKDH to the FM band would result in out-of-town news, canned jock talk and out-of-province music being heard in a clearer FM signal. The only benefactor will be MBS, who will now charge more for its advertising with an FM signal. The CRTC is entrusted with maintaining the airwaves of all Canadians. Without a clear improvement to the quality of radio programming to the citizens of Amherst, the application by MBS to convert CKDH must be denied. J Ripley" (via Phil Rafuse, PEI, Feb 2, ABDX via DXLD) Continued under U S A – local radio ** CANADA. Canadian Coast Guard - Atlantic & Gulf of St. Lawrence --- A picture is worth a thousand words at least. In map format this month mostly all the coastal frequencies you will need to DX Canada’s eastern seaboard. John Fisher of Mass. asked me for some detail on what he was hearing on 2749 kHz USB. I managed to pick it up at 0742Z to 0802Z with the detailed weather bulletin for the Maritimes in both French and English, signing off “Sydney (NS) Coast Guard Radio out”. Wanting to find out how this vast area is covered by radio led me to these maps. It is by far the best representation of communications in an all in one format that I have seen to date. For more information go to the following site. http://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/eng/CCG/MCTS_Radio_Aids (Robert Ross, Ont., Feb CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** CHINA. 8400, 1522 1 Jan, Firedrake jammer? Jamming what? Tx product? SIO 433 (David Gascoyne, Staplehurst, Kent, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) The answer appeared three times in December DXLDs, and nine times so far in 2009. 9000, Firedrake mixing with some other audio, maybe Sound of Hope itself, or an additional CNR-1 jamming source? Feb 6 at 1420, stronger than 8400 but both poor. CRI English, 5955, weak but clear at 1410 Feb 6, an echo apart from Cuba 13740. 5955 is 95 degrees from Beijing site, per Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. RHC normally closes 6180 in Spanish at 0500, per sked, but Feb 5 at 0657 it was still going with news sounder, 0658 timecheck for ``8 de la noche, hora nacional en toda Cuba``, so a replay from 6+ hours earlier! Distorted, lo-fi, adjacent-channel interference from Brasília 6185. RHC still going past 0700. Next nite, Feb 7 did not check until 0723 and it was not on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 6220, Radio Havana Cuba spur, 0220-0235, Feb 7, spur from 6060 leapfrogging over 6140 and landing on 6220. Spanish talk. Poor to fair signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. 9550, Arnie Coro news with big hum, Feb 7 at 0634. Wiggle that patchcord! A theory on why there are so many SNAFUs at RHC: people there are demoralized, and don`t really give a damn. They know it is the home of the Big Lie, such as U.S. ``genocide`` against Cuba. Even if they agree with the Party Line, they are as bored to death as listeners abroad about RHC`s obsession with the ``Cinco Héroes`` Commie talking point. Propagation was unusual, with little else audible on 31m --- not even WYFR, 9355, 9680, 9715, which are normally inbooming, nor WTJC 9370. There was some weak French on 9580, which would be Gabon (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 6140, R Habana Cuba f/d 45th anniversary card with photo of a lighthouse and fort, 4/Sept/08 0546 reception. Received in FIVE months(!) for *email report* in an envelope that was almost completely split open but which somehow managed to not lose the contents, including not only the QSL but also a sked and two pocket calendars commemorating the 90th anniversary of the birth of Ecuadorian artist Oswaldo Guayasamin who died 10 years ago. I wonder if they were slow or if this was how long it took the border officials to inspect, detect, reject and neglect it? Kinda fun to get an exotic looking envelope in the mail again. I may need to send more reports! (Ken Zichi, MI, MARE Tipsheet Feb 6 via DXLD) ** CUBA. HAVANA (Reuters) - The man who banned the Beatles from the communist-run island's radio and television stations has died, state television said on Tuesday. Jorge "Papito" Serguera, who at the time was president of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television, pulled Beatles music from the airwaves in the 1970s even though he later admitted he enjoyed listening to it in private. Serguera, who was 76 when he died, said in a 2001 interview he was following orders from high government officials who viewed the British band's music as a threat to the revolution. But he was viewed as an architect of a general cultural crackdown that dampened dissent and marginalized many for their beliefs or sexuality. "There were national leaders who were against, not them (the Beatles), but the so-called modern music ... there was incredible pressure," he told Ernesto Juan Castellanos, author of "John Lennon in Havana with a little help from my friend." Today, Beatles music is played on the Cuban airwaves and one of Havana's minor landmarks is a statue of Lennon sitting on a park bench. Serguera fought in the 1959 revolution that toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista, then worked alongside Ernesto "Che" Guevara as a prosecutor in controversial trials that condemned to death hundreds of Batista collaborators. His appearance on television in 2006 provoked protests from intellectuals still angry about his 1970s actions (via Brock Whaley, HI, Feb 4, DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. PUBLICAN INFORME SOBRE RADIO MARTI La Oficina de Auditoría General de Estados Unidos, GAO, divulgó este miércoles los resultados de una investigación sobre las transmisiones del gobierno federal a Cuba. La GAO, brazo de investigación del Congreso, señala que las transmisiones de Radio y TV Martí enfrentan diferentes niveles de interferencia del régimen cubano, y la audiencia y televidencia es pequeña. Sondeos realizados por teléfono desde el 2003, indican que menos del 2 por ciento de los consultados en Cuba escucharon Radio o TV Martí durante la semana correspondiente a la fecha de la encuesta. El informe de la GAO precisa que las emisoras no comparten bien la información sobre la audiencia en Cuba, y los directores carecen de los datos que se necesitan para evaluar la efectividad de los métodos de transmisión. La GAO destaca que el Buró Internacional de Transmisiones, organismo que administra a la Oficina de Transmisiones a Cuba, no da suficiente entrenamiento a las personas que evalúan el rendimiento operacional de Radio y TV Martí. Asimismo, una estación privada de televisión contratada para difundir programas de TV Martí, incorporó publicidad inapropiada, y las transmisiones interfieren la televisión cubana. Añade la GAO que hay problemas de pobre comunicación por parte de la administración de la Oficina de Transmisiones a Cuba, baja moral entre los empleados, y carencia de mecanismos para recibir información de los empleados. El legislador demócrata Bill Delahunt, quien en el pasado ha cuestionado la eficacia de las transmisiones de Estados Unidos a Cuba, solicitó esta investigación de la GAO, y comentó que el informe de 55 páginas es preocupante, y que dada la crisis económica, hay que garantizar que cada centavo de los contribuyentes invertido en estos programas sea usado de manera eficiente.Delahunt es el presidente del Subcomité de Organizaciones Internacionales, Derechos Humanos, y Supervisión, entidad adscrita al Comité de Relaciones Exteriores de la Cámara de Representantes de Estados Unidos. Fuente: MartiNoticias.com http://www.martinoticias.com/FullStory.aspx?ID=C4A9DF26-FC2D-4570-B2791F93126A8F60 (via Yimber Gaviría, Colombia http://yimber.blogspot.com Feb 5, DXLD) INFORME CUESTIONA LA AUDIENCIA DE RADIO Y TV MARTÍ EN LA ISLA, http://www.cubamatinal.com/Noticia.cfm?NoticiaID=10273 Cubamatinal/ Tras décadas en el aire y unos $500 millones en gastos, todavía no está claro si hay cubanos que escuchen o vean las transmisiones de Radio y Televisión Martí, según un nuevo informe del Congreso publicado el miércoles. Washington, 5 de febrero/ The Miami Herald/ El año pasado, menos del 1 por ciento de los encuestados dijo que había escuchado Radio Martí la semana anterior, indica el estudio de la Oficina de Fiscalización del Gobierno(GAO), el brazo investigador del Congreso. Pero el mismo informe indica que casi la mitad de los recién llegados de Cuba dicen que han escuchado las transmisiones en los seis meses anteriores. La encuesta telefónica entre por lo menos 1,200 cubanos se realizó entre marzo del 2008 y enero del 2009. Aunque el informe de la GAO afirma que la programación ha mejorado y elogió a la administración, señaló que la programación con frecuencia es prejuiciada y no satisface las normas periodísticas. Pedro Roig, director de la Oficina de Transmisiones a Cuba, cuestionó las encuestas porque hasta los mismos encuestadores reconocen que los cubanos piensan que los encuestadores son miembros del gobierno cubano y Radio Martí es ilegal en Cuba. "Usted tiene gente que dice que nadie la oye y recién llegados que dicen que cinco millones de personas están oyendo Radio Martí'', dijo Roig. "Las dos cosas son exageradas''. El informe se publica después de críticas públicas de destacados disidentes cubanos, como Martha Beatriz Roque, quien dijo que la estación no transmitía los reportes de los disidentes sobre los abusos de derechos humanos en la isla y exhortó a "reportar desde el corazón''. El gobierno federal invierte $34 millones anuales en Radio y Televisión Martí, con sede en Miami, con el objetivo de romper el monopolio del gobierno cubano sobre la información, pero las frecuencias son interferidas constantemente por el gobierno cubano. "En vez de gastar fondos en otro estudio, deberían de usar el dinero mejorando la tecnología para que las transmisions de Radio Martí lleguen a más casas'', dijo la representante Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, republicana por Miami. Según el informe: * Las encuestas no han mostrado ningún aumento en la audiencia, pese a dos años de un plan anual de $5 millones para burlar la interferencia. * Los locutores usan con frecuencia lenguaje "incendiario'' que no satisface las normas básicas de la objetividad periodística y los espacios que llenan estaciones de televisión comerciales han incluido anuncios políticos y hasta un anuncio de relaciones sexuales telefónicas. El representante William Delahunt, demócrata por Massachusetts, que solicitó el informe a la GAO, dijo que el estudio subrayaba la necesidad de realizar audiencias sobre el tema. "¿Cómo sabemos que le sacamos provecho a la inversión?", dijo Delahunt. "Lo reto a encontrar alguien que haya visto TV Martí. Es una estación de televisión sin audiencia''. En una declaración por escrito en respuesta al informe, la Junta de Gobernadores que supervisa las operaciones de Radio y TV Martí, dijo en general concordaba con las conclusiones y recomendaciones del informe, pero subrayó que las restricciones del gobierno dificultan mucho la medición de la audiencia. Roig dijo que la sugerencia de Martha Beatriz Roque de reportar con más emoción es exactamente lo que la estación evita para ofrecer noticias de manera profesional y con credibilidad. "Yo rechazo la noción de que estamos prejuiciados'', dijo Roig. "Esas personas no están oyendo Radio Martí. Si alguien oye Radio Martí va a encontrar periodistas muy profesionales. Durante la campaña se criticó mucho al presidente Bush y nosotros sacamos esas críticas al aire''. Hugo Landa, director de una página de internet con reportajes independientes desde Cuba, dijo que las encuestas en la isla no son confiables y que las transmisiones de Martí son una fuente importante de noticias del exterior. "Tenemos informes independientes desde Cuba de que la gente sí escucha Radio Martí'', dijo Landa, director de Cuba Net (www.cubanet.org), con sede en Coral Gables. "Es difícil pero la gente sí escucha... Es una de las pocas formas de conseguir otra información que no sea la propaganda oficial''. Las transmisiones de televisión, dijo, habían tenido menos éxito (via José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) REACH OF U.S. TV, RADIO IN CUBA QUESTIONED http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_11630811 Denver Post Wire Report Posted: 02/05/2009 12:30:00 AM MST WASHINGTON — After decades on the air and the expense of half a billion dollars, it remains unclear whether any Cubans listen to or watch U.S.-funded radio and television broadcasts to the island, according to a new congressional report on Radio and TV Marti released Wednesday. Last year, fewer than 1 percent of people surveyed said they had listened to Radio Marti in the past week, said the study by the Government Accountability Office, the investigating arm of Congress. But the same report said nearly half of new Cuban arrivals to the United States said they had listened to the broadcasts in the past six months. Pedro Roig, director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, questioned the listener surveys because even the pollsters acknowledged that Cubans who responded to survey calls believed the surveyor was a member of the Cuban government — and Radio Marti is illegal in Cuba (via Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DXLD) RADIO & TV MARTÍ INEFFECTIVE IN ATTRACTING LARGE AUDIENCE IN CUBA http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2009/02/radio_tv_marti_ineffective_in.php By Kyle Munzenrieder in Media Watch , News Wednesday, Feb. 4 2009 @ 4:58PM The idea that the free broadcast of views opposing the state sponsored media could, in part, help to tumble Communism in Cuba is certainly a noble one, but its chances of success would certainly be helped if more Cubans were receiving those broadcasts. Reports today from Congressional investigators state that gauging the audience for TV and Radio Martí is not an exact science, but their best guess is that less than 2% of Cubans have heard or seen the broadcasts in the past two years. This is, undoubtedly, in part due to Cuba's efforts to jam the signals, an operation the investigation finds the US has few details on. The U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors, which is responsible for Radio Martí, hopes to carry out surveys this years of recently arrived refugees to gauge which broadcasts are most effective. The report also suggests that broadcasts increase their journalistic standards (via Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DXLD) ** CZECHIA. RADIO FREE EUROPE MOVES TO NEW PRAGUE HEADQUARTERS The Associated Press February 4, 2009 Prague http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/02/04/business/EU-Czech-Radio-Free-Europe.php U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has begun broadcasting from its new headquarters in the Czech capital. Network spokesman Julian Knapp says the first program broadcast from the newly built five-story facility was a six-minute news bulletin to Iraq on Tuesday. Knapp said Wednesday the broadcaster's studios, equipment and more than 500 employees would be relocated by the end of May. The Czech and U.S. governments agreed to move the station several miles (kilometers) from downtown Prague after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks raised fears that it was vulnerable at its previous location. Radio Free Europe is a private, nonprofit corporation that broadcasts in 28 languages to 20 countries (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ....and the new email addresses to write to: webteam @ rferl.org and knappj @ rferl.org {Tony Ashar, West Java, Indonesia) FIRST BROADCAST FROM NEW RFE/RL HEADQUARTERS http://www.rferl.org/Content/First_Broadcast_From_New_RFERL_Headquarters_/1378790.html February 03, 2009 (PRAGUE, Czech Republic) Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) began a new chapter in its long and distinguished history today when Radio Free Iraq broadcast its first program from RFE/RL's recently completed Prague headquarters. The six-minute news bulletin at 18:00 Baghdad time was part of RFE/RL's 17 hours of daily programming to Iraq. Many of today's stories focused on the aftermath of Saturday's elections and what they might mean for Iraq's future. [Read a commentary by RFE/RL's Abbas Djavadi, "Iraq is More Democratic than Iran"] The broadcast was the first step in relocating all of RFE/RL's more than 500 Prague-based employees to the facility in Hagibor, ten minutes from the city center. The five-story, 236,000 sq/ft broadcast center features multimedia recording studios, interlinking offices, and a modern newsroom. It is also energy-efficient and one of the most secure buildings in Europe. "Our new home is tailor-made to meet the needs of a 21st century media organization," said RFE/RL President Jeffrey Gedmin. "It allows us to stay ahead of the technological curve as we broadcast news and information to many places where authorities are hostile to free and independent media." Steve Simmons of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees all U.S. international broadcasting including RFE/RL, credited a number of partners for the successful completion of the project. "We could not have done this without the crucial support of the Czech government, the U.S. Congress, and the U.S. embassy in Prague," he said. "The BBG is delighted that RFE/RL employees, who broadcast in 28 languages to 20 countries via radio, TV, and the Internet, will now have a state-of-the-art headquarters to meet their needs." The building was constructed by Paris-based Orco Property Group and designed by the architectural firm Cigler Marani. RFE/RL is leaving its home of 15 years, the former Czechoslovak communist parliament building, which is being turned over to the National Museum (via Zacharias Liangas, Greece; Kai Ludwig, Germany, DXLD) See also CTK report: http://praguemonitor.com/2009/02/04/radio-free-europe-starts-broadcasts-new-building-prague Presentation of the building by the owner: http://www.orcogroup.com/projects/hagibor-office-building Presentation from the contractor: http://edv.heberger.de/cms/cms/front_content.php?idcat=131&idart=203 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DENMARK. Dear Sir, The information for Danish longwave 243 kHz on the Hepburn Radio & TV DX Information Centre: 243 DAN DR P1 OXP DNK Kalundborg-Frederiksberg 0433-2330 is no longer correct and should read: 243 DAN "DR Kalundborg" OXP DNK Kalundborg 24H The transmitter has been broadcasting exclusively in DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) since October 2008. Best regards, Niels Dreijer, Broadcast Service Danmark A/S, Banestrøget 21, DK-2630 Høje Tåstrup (via William Hepburn, Ont., DXLD) See also GREENLAND ** ECUADOR. Yet another HCJB anomaly. Listened again to the ID at 1444:30 Feb 4 on 11960. Besides claiming to be on ``11690, 21455, 11690``, says ``la señal`` will indicate the time of 9:45 am --- but unlike BBCWS, HCJB never runs timesignals on the quarter hour! The announcer must have been recording a string of these ages ago for the automation, without engaging brain (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA ECUATORIAL. 6250, Radio Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial, Malabo, 1905-1908, escuchada el 7 de febrero en español a locutora con comentarios, a pesar de llegar buena señal el nivel de audio es muy bajo y la escucha se hace inaudible, SINPO 34232 (José Miguel Romero, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6250, Radio Nacional, Malabo, 1950-2011*, Feb 7, Spanish talk. Local tribal music. Afro-pop music. Abrupt sign off mid-song. Weak. Poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. 7175, VOBME, program 2, *0355-0407, Feb 7, IS. Talk at 0400. Weak. Covered by noise jammer at approximately 0405. 7209.98, VOBME, program 1, *0355-0415, Feb 7, IS. Talk at 0400. Horn of Africa music at 0412. Weak (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 5980, Voice of Tigray Revolution, *0255-0310, Feb 7, sign on with IS. Talk at 0300. Horn of Africa music at 0301. Weak but readable. // 5950 - poor, mixing with Okeechobee, FL (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. Re 9-011, ``UNIDENTIFIED 11835, Ethiopian clandestine at 1710-1730 fade out, CLANDESTINE Sat Jan 24, UNID, via Nauen, Germany. Vernacular talk like a speech without audience, 1717 UT song from Horn of Africa, more talk 25332 (Anker Petersen-DEN, via Dario Monferini-ITA, playdx yg via dxld Jan 24 via BC-DX Feb 2 via DXLD) According to DTK/M&B schedule: ADM Abu Dhabi Media Company. Sats 1700-1758 UT only: 11835 1700-1758 47E,48 145degr 7-Sat 030109-280309 NAU 500 kW ADM (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX Feb 2 via DXLD) Yes, but what is the program, the client, the language; another Ethiopian cland? (gh, DXLD)`` Hi Glenn, This mystery is solved by the recent WRTH update: it's Ethiopia Adera Dimts Radio! http://wrth.com/files/WRTHB08UpdateFEB2009.pdf Regards (Dave Kernick, Interval Signals Online, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. Pirate DX event Friday! I saw this report to share with you from Paul Watson of http://www.shortwavedx.blogspot.com Russian pirate to test Finnish DXer Harri Kujala reports on his blog "Pirate Radio DXing in SW Finland" that Radio Snowball from Stavropol-city, SW Russia will have a test broadcast to Europe tomorrow (Friday, February 6). Harri writes: "Radio Snowball will broadcast music for one hour on 6630 kHz on Friday 6th February 2009 from 2000 to 2100 UT. Power is 50 Watts in USB. This station was heard in Finland on 31.1.2009 on this same channel. At the moment there is no public e-mail or contact address to the station!" Harri says reports can be sent via his blog at http://hkdx2.blogspot.com/ For more information and to hear an MP3 clip go to Harri's site at the above web address (Gary Drew, UK, Feb 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I gave it a try here, but no luck. Did hear what I assumed to be some fishermen on the frequency, 6630 USB, laughing and whistling. I did suggest to Harri, and perhaps he can pass on to Radio Snowball, that they try to test at a later time for North America (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, ibid.) No joy here in London either just static at 2040 GMT (Drew, ibid.) ** FINLAND. Dear listeners, Scandinavian Weekend Radio shall start 24 hours broadcast this evening 22 hours UT. Our frequencies are 11720 / 11690 kHz on 25 mb. I encourage specially to try these 25 mb frequencies because we might have antenna tests there during transmission (specially towards South-East from transmitter location). Other frequencies are 5980 / 6170 kHz on 49 mb and 1602 kHz MW. Timetables for frequencies and programes available can be found from our web: http://www.swradio.net/schedule.htm Main page: http://www.swradio.net/index2.htm Best Regards, (Alpo Heinonen, Scandinavian Weekend Radio, P. O. Box 99, FI-34801 Virrat, FINLAND, Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. 3955, HCJB via DTK/M&B Juelich, two spurious on 3901 and 4009 kHz. Nils DK8OK noted two HCJB signals symmetrical on Perseus SDR Feb 1st. Confirmed by YT on Eton E1 on Feb 2nd 3899.60 - 3903.88 and 4006.80 - 4010.40 kHz. Antenna type 976 - VM12.5/12.5/ 120/3 midst on the cornfield (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Feb 2, harmonics yg Feb 3 via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Glenn, since you always suggest us to listen to DW Russian's ''MUZPROSVET'' via web, and you never give the DIRECT download links, here they are: MP3 / 64 kbps / 44 kHz / STEREO [13.8 MB]: http://217.243.250.77/dwworldondemand1/encoder/audio/mitschnitt/Rot-rus-stp-1530.mp3 WMA / 48 kbps / 44 kHz / MONO [21.0 MB]: http://217.243.250.77/dwworldondemand1/encoder/audio/mitschnitt/Rot-rus-stp-1530.wmv First airing of the show is at 1530z on Saturdays, so we can download the latest show approximately as of 1610z on Saturdays. By the way, how is that .wmv (actually it is an audio file) bigger than mp3 file, but has less kbps??? Best regards! (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, Feb 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I have not given the direct linx, since I have not been sure they will stay the same for following weeks` programs. Do they? (gh, DXLD) ** GERMANY. A rare picture of the Calau transmitter site, 15 km west of Cottbus and often listed as such, has been put online: http://www.bilder-hochladen.net/files/9aey-4-jpg.html It features the old lattice tower, dominated by the big 62 MHz antenna for the ch. 4 outlet that went on air there in 1958, and behind it the current tower under construction. The old tower had been dismantled around 1987 or so. A local TV piece that also features the transmission equipment: http://www.myvideo.de/watch/994013/Funkturm_Calau After 3:40 the now scrapped analogue TV transmitters and their PA stage tubes are portrayed, away from an inserted shot of the FM equipment. These transmitters were shut down on Dec 12 2006 at 0:30, disconnected from the antenna, the new DVB-T transmitters connected instead and fired up at about 3:00. And it turned out that nobody had a possibility to tape the event here at all. Analogue terrestrial TV was so dead that nobody was equipped to pick it up anymore. A local newspaper report: http://www.bilder-hochladen.net/files/9aey-3-gif.html Herein a former transmitter engineer is quoted with the statement that the frequency had been "allocated by an international body", probably a response to frequent accusations that it was a primary purpose of the Calau transmitter to reduce the reach of the co-channel Ochsenkopf transmitter. Here it must be noted that both sites are about 200 km apart from each other, used different polarization and the power for Calau was limited (probably 30 kW, but I have not seen a reliable figure so far). So dismissing the Calau transmitter as jamming against Ochsenkopf is certainly unqualified Cold War rhetoric. The press article also says that the original transmitter "was made in Czechoslovakia and most spare parts had to be imported from the West", which is a bit contradictory in itself. After 1970 it was replaced by a new, higher powered and colour-capable Tesla transmitter, installed in a new building and requiring an upgrade of the antenna. Finally in 1985 the whole old transmission facilities were replaced by a new tower, which for the first time allowed high power transmission of the second TV program on ch. 23, previously on air only from a low power transmitter within Cottbus, covering the city only. Ch. 4 was replaced by an UHF channel for the first TV program, too, namely ch. 53. This is prove that the GDR was really serious about getting rid of band I, because elder TV sets could not tune beyond ch. 39, so it became necessary to use a converter box. The new tower also brought for the first time a complete set of FM transmitters for all networks. A photo of the construction of the current tower's base: http://www.bilder-hochladen.net/files/9aey-5-jpg-nb.html (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Here is a photo: http://forum.mysnip.de/read.php?8773,626371,664690#msg-664690 It should be added that perhaps just the existing transmitter got an upgrade, especially since this is certainly not a fancy new transmitter room. Likewise other VHF transmitters had not been replaced either when colour broadcasts on the first program started in 1972. Btw, what had the BBC common with East German Deutscher Fernsehfunk? Both got Marconi Mark VII cameras for launching their colour services. http://www.mausoleumclubforum.org.uk/xmb/viewthread.php?tid=17404 http://www.asmi81.dsl.pipex.com/marconi/mk7/m_mkvii1.htm In Berlin the last ones (in the presentation studio of the second program) had not been retired before 1987, when they were almost 20 years old. And yes, the productions made with these cameras during the seventies were of pretty good picture quality. (And beware, the Mark VII and the Soviet KT-116 cameras look pretty similar, so when someone talks about those heavy Russian cameras one must be a bit cautious, it could have been the Marconi's as well.) (Kai Ludwig, Feb 8, ibid.) ** GREECE. Radio Ouranio Toxo, alias Radio Arcobaleno, 1620 kHz http://www.harriku.com/photos2008/QSL_R-98.jpg Ciao, curiosando su google ho trovato questo link di una WEB di Harri Kujala in Finlandia .....un altro CACCIATORE di pirate dalla Grecia ...... dice che ha addirittura visitato Radio Arcobaleno !!!!!! ed ha QSL da Radio 98 Volos attiva su 1720 kHz. Sempre su 1720 kHz Radio Pilios e Radio Xenos ..... http://hkdx2.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html 1625 kHz - Radio Nikolas Dynamitis, Tyrnavos (10 km NW of Larissa), Greece giving SMS-number (6972734489). I phoned to this number shortly and sent sms - and I have message back!! They are the oldest station in the town!! (Tnx Costas for help) - 18.50- (O=1-3) mp3 (name clearly mentioned in the end of mp3) 1630 kHz - Radio Anatolia, from Kilkis, Greece. This is also on air daily with phone-in's in the evenings (usually +/- 2 kHz). Must have a few kW tx - 18.30- (O=2-4) 1650 kHz - Radio Thessalos, Larissa-city, Greece. Music-programme for many hours. Now I have learned to identify this station - 18.45 -(O=2- 4) 1680 kHz - Stathmos Alpha Vita, Thessaloniki (East), Greece. QSO- station (Vita=Beta. (Tnx Costas for confirming this stn) - 18.40- (O=2-4) 1622 kHz - Radio Anikito Kytos, Imathia, west from Thessaloniki, Greece with music and SMS. Gave n:o: 6981748558. I phoned to this number but nobody talking English (First a little girl talking)!- 21.45- (O=1-3) mp3 (tnx Costas for correction) 1629 kHz - UNID Greek with music and SMS-number. Tel. 6949398344. I phoned them but no reply. - 21.45- (O=2-4) mp3 1640 kHz - Radio Anatolia, Kilkis, Greece had to move 10 kHz up from usual frequency because the other station on 1630 kHz. 21.45- 1690 kHz - Stathmos Sylvania, Thiva, Greece. QSO Panorama. He says his location "Stathmos Sylvania apo Thiva"(100 km North of Athens; Tnx Spider and Vagelis). 21.24- O=2-3+ - mp3 1689 kHz - Radio Samurai, Kalamata-city, South Greece. QSO Panorama. I have heard this before (map). This is 1.5 k- station from very South Greece.. 21.30- O=1-2+ - mp3 --- spero siano informazioni utili ! 73's (Dario Monferini, Italy, Feb 5, playdx yg via DXLD) ** GREENLAND [and non]. Re Callsigns --- Hi friends, I have some editions of these "Broadcasting Stations of the World" (BSW) publications and I have downloaded all the available ones in http://www.archive.org/ When I QSLed the Kalundborg (DENMARK) LW station on 245 I added its call sign OXP (as read in BSW-1953 and 1955) to my log; when I received the QSL from coastal station OXZ/LyngbyRadio, I deleted it. Why? because the QSL say: "SkagenRadio/OXP was established in 1945 (...) since 1993 OXP has been controled from OXZ" (and still is!). The 1948 ITU list already show OXP/SkagenRadio. So why BSW-53&55 assign OXP to D.R. Kalundborg is a mystery for me. The same editions assign OXQ to a station in Copenhagen (1484). Years ago, when Danish Administration assigned call signs to MW stations, OXQ belonged to a transmitter at Skamlebæk: http://www.qsl.net/oz3yi/QSL.html In the BSW 1957 both c/s OXP and OXQ has been deleted (OXQ was assigned to DansmarkshavnRadio in Greenland). It seems that BSW did just like the Danish Administration: to erase the call signs for MW/LW Broadcasting Stations (but many years later). On SW Danmarks Radio still used c/s for a while. And that is what the ITU Registers show: c/s for SW broadcasting and c/s for utility services, nothing more. That´s the fact (see first half of the graph.). Are/were the Greenland AM stations operated from the same sites or by the same people who operate the coast / communications stations? Probably yes, and probably from the same hut. But this does not mean that KNR-570 shares the c/s with GodthaabRadio. Not today and not from 1948 (at least). But looking at the 1958 OXI´s we will find a broadcast c/s: OXI26, probably assigned to the transmitter on 49 m.b. at this time? As the OXI23 (3999) was registered for FX service (1967), or a change of transmitter, service and c/s --- who knows! (look for number 1 in graph). ``There is nothing unusual about the same call sign being used for both a coast and broadcasting station - since they are both owned by the Greenland government.`` Yes, but when done, this is reflected in the ITU register with several entries. One per service or per service and site as the same call can be assigned to different transmitter sites (see #2). We must remember that it is the Administrations which assign c/s to the transmitters or services they want. Or, if they want, to delete or change them according to their own interests. ZDK, Antigua´s Magic Radio? Nope! Gibraltar´s Coast station in 1958 (see #3), but (I suppose) after the problems with my country (Spain) about the sovereignty claim and the UN declaring it as a Colony, the British Admin. changed the c/s allocation for Gibraltar services to the "first class" ones used in the Isles as the Z series were for --- the colonies. So in the 1968 ITU Register, the Gibraltar entries are in the G series. So ZDK is freed and assigned to a broadcast station. What the Danish Admin. did with the c/s in Greenland and Denmark for MW stations was --- to delete them. And the "American" stations? No, they did not have either! They could call their stations like they wanted but these calls seems to be --- "fantasy calls" for doing things as at home? or internal calls for their military organization? Anyway no real call signs internationally registered. That is the cruel reality; another thing are our desires. Our old EFE, EFJ and ECS stations lost their c/s when merging with RNE. The RNE stations never have had c/s assigned (with some exception during the war or before the real born, no that clandestine station launched in Salamanca by the Franco´s forces). A real pain, but they are gone. Now there are only EAJ and EAK stations. And about the WRTH: no comment [sic]. In some of the recent years editions it seems that they have put more enthusiasm in deleting call signs that in any other thing (Mauricio Molano, Salamanca, Spain, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Mauricio, Your comment about OXP was interesting because in November I received an update to my website from Broadcast Service Danmark about Kalundborg-OXP (see DENMARK). Curiously enough, they did not mention to omit the OXP callsign and in fact repeated it! I agree though that the c/s is very old and is now (also/instead) assigned to Skagen. However it is the last known call and thus I have it in my log as such. Being Canadian, I got over the issue of callsigns assigned to different locations a long time ago. The reason being - in Canada there are OFFICIAL broadcast callsigns CBE, CBK, CBN, CBW, etc., etc. which are clearly also officially assigned to Chilean maritime stations as well - and presently at the SAME TIME. If you do a search in the current IFL for " CBY " you will see it assigned in both Canada and Easter Island. In the USA, the same calls are often used by unrelated AM & FM stations 100's of miles apart (although the FM does officially have a prefix attached). The IFL, by the way, only displays callsigns that have been submitted by national administrations. Some administrations keep track of callsigns but do not submit them to the ITU. Jim Thomas, editor of Emisoras de FM, has done a lot of research collecting official FM callsigns from national administrations in Central America and the Caribbean. The IFL needs a major 21st century overhaul to be current and complete. Right now, it sadly is not. I have been collecting lost & forgotten call signs and will be publishing them on the web this year. It's been a long project and I hope to have people send in additional information & updates. The project got started after I was told by several DXers that I was wrong - that Radio Canada International does not have an official callsign, when in fact it does, CKCX. (Type in CKCX here https://sd.ic.gc.ca/pls/engdoc_anon/web_search.call_sign_input to see). It would be nice to see the WRTH publish CKCX and other valid callsigns (CMRH Radio Habana Cuba, etc, etc). Good discussion. Regards, (William Hepburn, Ont, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi again, yes my friend, Good discussion! I love to talk about this things. ``Curiously enough, they did not mention to omit the OXP callsign and in fact repeated it! I agree though that the c/s is very old and is now (also/instead) assigned to Skagen. However it is the last known call and thus I have it in my log as such.`` but, as things run this days, do you think they know what is "OXP" or what this mean?... For me it is not sufficient that OXP appears on some edition of B-S-W as the c/s for Kalundborg-LW to give it credibility. Because there are many more sources saying other thing. From the official (ITU reg.) to published listings in magazines from the early days. Do you now the "Radio Station Treasury 1094-1946" book? It contains lots of listings reprinted from radio magazines of the 30´s and 40´s. None of this listings show a c/s for Kalundborg (and there are c/s rarely listed as Finish-LW/MW, Czech, Italian, Hungarian...), only an OXO for a station in Skamlebæk (may be a typo for the OXQ showed in http://www.qsl.net/oz3yi/QSL.html ??) And to put more doubts on the table, on the same page there is other QSL-letter showing OXP as the c/s of a SW station on 9520 kHz. Nope, for me there is not sufficient evidence. Yes, I know. This is an agreement between Govs. after the efective "robbery" by Canadians of the Chilean letters (as previously did with the Moroccan CN´s! hi, hi, hi...). An interesting place could be Nicaragua, where the official license papers show calls HAM style YN-number-XXX while in WRTH are listed the old 4 letters ones... and some of this "new" c/s where assigned in 1999!!!. [see later entry under NICARAGUA] Or Portugal, where they still assign a c/s to every FM station but when several years ago I asked ANACOM for a list or a place where this info could be found, they told me that they don´t have such thing (?!), that the better way would be ask station per station!!. Portugal have assigned c/s to all the stations even the AFRTS ones!(I heard the FM Lajes, Açores, station via Es, giving a TOH ID with its CSB call years ago!). Yes, a very interesting and almost "secret" subject this of the c/s!. Saludos (Mauricio Molano, Salamanca, Spain, ibid.) ** GUATEMALA. Re: LANZAN LA PRIMERA RADIO DIGITAL EN BANDA AM EN EL PAÍS Prensa Libre Edición Electrónica Guatemala, 2 de febrero de 2009 La emisora "Carretera Radio" en la frecuencia 810 AM, fue lanzada hoy a las 18 horas en Guatemala, con lo cual se completa otra etapa de la historia radiofónica, ya que es la primera emisora digital de esa frecuencia. Los locutores informarán constantemente sobre reportes del tránsito en todo el país, así como "talkshows", noticias y música. NOTA: No hay más información sobre esta emisora. Fuente: Prensa Libre http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2009/febrero/02/292972.html (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia http://yimber.blogspot.com DXLD) IBOC??? WRTH 2009 has three stations on 810, none by this name, and none in Guatemala City; there is a G.C. outlet on 820, so none of this makes sense (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-011) Re DXLD 9-011, 810 AM Carretera Radio, first digital station Glenn, I found what appears to be the station's web page http://www.carreteranews.com/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49&Itemid=37 and http://www.carreteranews.com/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=70 I'll leave it to someone else to translate (Bruce Portzer, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Second page has an interesting overview of broadcasting history in Guatemala, including the once-dominant TGW, which also put Guatemala on the world map via shortwave. Nowhere in either page do I find any specific info about the location of this 810 station, nor its call sign, but they do refer to it as serving the ``municipios de Santa Catarina Pinula, San José Pinula y Fraijanes``. Those municipalities are in the vicinity of Guatemala City, all in the same department as G.C. Nor do these stories ever detail what kind of ``digital`` radio this is, no mention of IBOC, HD or DRM, but claims that the sound is better than FM, and how digital will somehow relieve congestion on the bands. The station`s purpose is to serve drivers (truckers mainly?) on the highway between Guatemala and El Salvador, the latter country frequently mentioned. I suppose one is more likely to find IBOC radios in some new imported cars than in homes. But it`s hard to believe it has any significant `digital` audience and if IBOC, is surely hybrid relying overwhelmingly on its AM signal, surrounded by noise. It could even be that this is nothing but hype, no axual digital transmission mode, but who knows, `digital` studio equipment! The website also has streaming which connects promptly via an embedded player. ID says ``810 AM Digital`` and no callsign. The main towns on the Panamerican Highway from Guatemala to San Salvador are Cuilapa, Jutiapa and El Progreso, in Guatemala, all some distance down the road from the places mentioned. It`s interesting that of the 3 stations on 810 in WRTH 2009, two of them are without callsigns and all of them are without powers. But this also happens on various other frequencies. 810, R. Moapán, Santa Elena, Petén --- in the north so not this one 810, TGEND, R. Constelación, San Marcos, San Marcos, in the west near Mexico, so not this one either 810, R. Circuito San Juan, San Juan, in Sacatepéquez, SW of Guat City, wrong direxion, but close, the most likely candidate unless there is now a fourth station on 810 plus IBOC sidebands. Can anyone find more definite info about this? How is its coverage in Guatemala, especially with a station on 820 in the capital? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-012) [non] Amigo Glenn, Aqui no Brasil também existe isso. São emissoras que anunciam serem digitais, mas realidade é o audio deles que é com qualidade digital. A emissão de RF continua analógica com todas as tradicionais emissoras de AM. Aqui em Barbacena, a Rádio Correio da Serra, também fala isso, "Transmissão digital..." , mas a transmissão deles é a comum e tradicional analógica, eles apenas deram uma melhorada no som (audio) e não mecheram na RF. É questão de falta de conhecimento do pessoal. Um abraço, (Adalberto Marques de Azevedo, Barbacena-MG, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUIANA FRENCH. Occasionally I run through the time stations to get an idea of propagation conditions. The frequencies below 10 MHz were all doing well from the US and Canada. 10 MHz and above was a wasteland until I came to 14670. Surprisingly, the Voice of Russia was coming though loud and clear. I had to adjust my antenna tuner down to a frequency near 3 MHz as opposed to 14-15 MHz in order to get a clear signal. SIO was running from 333 to 211. The female announcer was talking about the state of the Russian economy in terms of food production and was followed by a speech by the Russian President Medvedev. The English voice over was reminiscent of the old Russian line that by such and such a date we will improve production by some outlandish amount. In this case it was a 50% increase in production by the year 2010. Next came a request by e-mail from a Russian living in America for a song by a famous Russian writer of pop music similar to the style of Irving Berlin. He is very well known in Russia as he was able to keep writing music that followed the party line from Stalin's time to the present. The song was played and then the announcer talked about the history of the composer. His name was Isaac Domeyesky (sic) if I understood right. I was trying to figure out why I was hearing VOR on 14670 when it dawned on me that this was an exact multiple of 7335, a station that VOR uses every evening from 0400 to 0600 UT. You never know what you can find until you look for it. Shortwave will always show you something new if you just keep at it (Steve Cross, Midwest City, OK, USA, UT Feb 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Steve, While it`s possible the French Guiana relay would be putting out a harmonic on 14670 and it would be propagating, the fact that you had to peak your antenna tuner somewhere other than 14-15 MHz suggests that this was produced in your receiver, not the transmitter. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) It could be very possible. I am using an Eton 5 receiver with a random wire. It has usually been pretty reliable about receiving a station most clear with the tuner peaked to the receiving frequency. But I'm sure stranger things have happened. Thanks for your reply (Steve Cross, ibid.) ** GUINEA. 7125, Radio Conakry, 2210-2340, Feb 6, French talk. Some Afro-pop music. Tentative. Weak but readable (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7125, R. Conakry (tentative). February 6, 2224, African music, 2231- 2241 OM talks unreadable. Low modulation, co-channel QRM, 22322 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4970, AIR Shillong; 1411-1512, Feb 3; mostly in English; IDs "This is the North Eastern Service of All India Radio broadcasting from Shillong on 60.36 meters on shortwave, corresponding to 4,970 kHz."; news about the government (parliament, supreme court, etc.); subcontinent music; BoH DJs with phone-in dedications and playing pop songs (Billy Joel singing "Uptown Woman", etc.), giving phone number if calling from Shillong and another number if calling from the North Eastern region; program ended at 1512, when they switch over to programming from New Delhi (news in vernacular and English); fair to poor (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. AIR GIVES A DEMO OF LIVE DIGITAL RADIO TRANSMISSION Wed, Jan 21 10:29 AM http://in.news.yahoo.com/48/20090121/804/tnl-air-gives-a-demo-of-live-digital-rad_1.html As air broadcasts go digital, a live demonstration of digital radio transmission was held at the Ahmedabad centre of All India Radio on Tuesday. The demonstration was held under the aegis of Broadcast Engineering Society (BES). Sources said the technology called DRM (digital radio mondiale) was launched at the Khampur transmitter at Delhi and it has near-FM quality. V G Malagi, who is in the R and D division of AIR, New Delhi, was in Ahmedabad for monitoring the DRM signals transmitted from AIR, Khampur. He said the digital technology was launched after a series of tests and trails over the past two years. He explained that the existing Short Wave (SW) transmitter at Khampur Delhi had been modified for DRM broadcasting and radiating at frequency 6095-6100-6105 kHz from 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm [0900-1200 UT] daily on 100 KW power. The primary expected coverage area of this system is in the radius of 800 kilometer. BES honorary secretary, Gujarat Chapter, and the Station Engineer of AIR-Ahmedabad Meenakshi Singhvi said the DRM was a consortium of about 75 broadcast-related organisations, which had worked to develop a digital transmission system for the current AM broadcast bands. "The DRM system provides a universal, non-proprietary, digital transmission system designed to replace, eventually, the current analogue transmissions in the LW, MW and SW bands." She said DRM offers great advantages for listeners like excellent reception quality, no more fading, noise or interference. Experts present believed that DRM would slowly replace AM broadcastings to become the "digital AM" by using the existing band and infrastructure with little modification in the transmitter and with the present listening habits. Related news : http://news.webindia123.com/news/articles/India/20090120/1156808.html (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDIA [and non]. AIR RECOVERS HISTORIC '59 MARTIN LUTHER KING JR INTERVIEW http://www.radioandmusic.com/content/editorial/news/air-recovers-historic-59-martin-luther-king-jr-interview An archival recording found by the staff of All India Radio quotes Civil Rights activist Martin Luther King Jr as saying Gandhi “embodied in his life certain universal principles that are inherent in the moral structure of the universe, and these principles are as inescapable as the law of gravitation.” The recording was made a day before he left India in March 1959. The recording dated 9 March 1959 is available on All India Radio at the website http://www.indianembassy.org/newsite/press_release/2009/Jan/MLK on All India Radio.mp3 The transcript is also available on the Embassy of India in Washington’s website at http://www.indianembassy.org/newsite/press_release/2009/Jan/17.asp Invited by then Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, King along with his wife Coretta and biographer Lawrence Reddick, arrived in Mumbai on 9 February 1959, and traveled to New Delhi and several other cities over the next four weeks. The 50th anniversary of that historic journey is being commemorated this month with a visit to India by King’s son, Martin Luther King III; members of the US Congress, including Representative John Lewis who is the last surviving speaker from the 1963 March on Washington; Clayborne Carson, editor of several volumes of King’s papers; jazz musician Herbie Hancock; and others. This State Department–sponsored tour will include two musical performances by Hancock plus a special tribute by Indian musicians (via Jaisakthivel, Chennai, India, dxldyg via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 4790, RRI Fak2, again the only Indo audible on 60m, Feb 4 at 1355 with talk in Indonesian, constant CODAR, and 4750 still absent. 4790, Feb 6 at 1359 tuneby with the RRI theme, Song of the Coconut Isles. At http://www.intervalsignals.net you may hear this on the RRI Pro-3 clip rather than Fak2. VOI has been very poor to poor lately, even inaudible, on 9525.9; Feb 4 at 1446 all I could make out was open carrier and hum; by 1450 some undermodulated music (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Jakarta 9525.890 kHz, 1006 UT. Program in English about Obama, strong signal and clear audio. RX: Pereus + selfmade home loopantenna. Gr (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, Feb 7, bdx mailing list via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS. RADIO MOVIES: THE TRAILER OF "THE BOAT THAT ROCKED" --- The boat radios in UK during the '60. The new Richard Curtis Movie. The trailer is available on youtube or here: http://blog.libero.it/radioascolto/6454592.html 73's (Francesco Cecconi, cumbredx via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS. New 8-week series debuts February 7 (archived for 7 days after broadcast). This sounds like a blast. Pirate Johnnie Walker --- Johnnie recreates the sounds of a bygone era, with classic tracks from 1955-'75 and jingles capturing the vintage pirate radio sound SATURDAYS 2100-2300 ABOUT THE SHOW: Climb aboad the good ship Rock'n'Roll for a flavour of the golden era of pirate radio with plenty of nostalgia, music and banter. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/piratejohnniewalker/ (Fred Waterer, Ont., To those of you who seek lost objects of history, I wish you the best of luck. They're out there, and they're whispering. - Clive Cussler, http://www.doghousecharlie.com dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) He was one of my favourites. He once really upset the BBC while one day relaying part of their radio soap operas, "Mrs Dale's Diary". He also had the best theme tune, IMO, for 60's radio... Because They're Young by Duanne Eddy. Aside from a good "tune", it is perfect for a theme tune, slow start, lots of places for dramatic pauses while doing a talk over. I used it myself while doing some local FM radio, plain stole it from him (Andy O`Brien, NY, K3UK, ibid.) ** IRAN. Has anyone received any messages from the Iranian national station? They are in regular contact with me and I have been invited to submit an article for their magazine; the theme is celebration of the 30th anniversary of the overthrow of the Shah and the ascendancy of Ayatollah Khomeni. I will be planning to submit a piece, seeing as I grew up in the airport town of Gander, Newfoundland, and we had Iranians defecting there all the time during the Shah days! (I will mention why Iranians don’t like the US government, and with good reason. Google Operation Ajax and you will find out how the CIA helped overthrow a democratic government so they could get at Iran’s oil! Anyway, enjoy the rest of your winter and happy DXing! 73 (Sue Hickey, NL, Feb CIDX Messenger via DXLD) ** IRELAND [non]. In case anyone is still wondering about the RTE test on Jan 28, 6220 kHz, WRN says the test was from Meyerton, South Africa (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. While P`yongyang was in on 2850, Feb 4 at 1342, also noticed SSB VOLMET in YL robot English on 2863 kHz. Hard to catch cities, but heard Fukuoka mentioned twice, and at 1344 ``Tokyo, out`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KALININGRAD. 7320-7325-7330, [Kaliningrad] Bolshakovo in DRM mode at 1000-1300 UT. Here in Stuttgart at 1017 UT 'looks' the noise at S=8-9 level on Eton E1. ... vy73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Feb 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Here in Copenhagen the SNR is up at 20-22 dB producing fine audio, at 1050 UT, 7325 kHz. 73, (Erik Køie, Denmark, ibid.) ** KOREA NORTH. Nice when propagation and noise level coöperate to bring in P`yongyang on 2850, an old and extremely out-of-band frequency: Feb 4 at 1338 M&W in Korean with dramatic dialog, fair with heavy fading; nothing heard on somewhat higher NK channels 3250, 3320, 3560, so we may class this as a mediumwave opening? However, at 1349 there was a continuous wailing sound and a het on 3480, which I assume has something to do with this, as in Aoki: 3480 KOREAN NAT. DEM. FRONT 0757-1400 1234567 Korean 5 ND Wonsan KRE 12725E 3905N KNDF relay KCBS --- Also another entry for same at 2157- 0400. One might wonder, why they bother if all they do is relay KCBS? This is a ``target broadcast`` in WRTH 2009, page 495: ``broadcast service claimed to be provided by the Pyongyang Mission of the [South Korean] `Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front` (AINDF). Believed to be a North Korean government operation. Jammed.`` And they QSL from an address in Shinjuku, Tokyo. This is the one also on 1053, 4450 and 4557. Also, 3985 at 1354 with roaring noise, waves, no doubt NK jamming against Echo of Hope. 2850, KCBS, Feb 6 at 1354 with singing, weaker than VL8K 2485, 26 minutes after LSR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Todas con fecha: 04 Febrero 2009, QTH: Jiutepec, Morelos México; Receptor: Sangean ATS-818 (Hace milagros!... .) y con Antena: Tipo "V" invertida, de 7,55 mts. x lado. Fabricación casera. 2850 kHz / 1308 UT / KCBS Pyongyang / SINPO: 23332. Voces masculina y femenina en idioma coreano. (Esta señal ya cotejada con log de Glenn Hauser!!! en Play DX) 4450 / 1318 UT / KCBS Pyongyang / SINPO: 34443. Música como de ópera cantada por mujer, idioma coreano (Misma emisión que 2850 kHz). Cordiales 73's y muy buenos DX's!!! (Magdiel Cruz Rodríguez, Jiutepec, Morelos, México, playdx yg via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 5985.0, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze via Yamata; 1417- 1430*, Feb 4; in English with details about the abductees (birth date, height & weight, place & date of abduction, etc.) with musical bridges between names; completely different format from their Fri. English broadcast; would be nice if this was the return of English twice a week as it use to be; moderate Myanmar QRM and possible light jamming (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Sent an email to Mr. Sadaki MANABE, at COMJAN, informing him about the interference I was hearing with the Shiokaze broadcast on 5985 (*1400-1430*), as a result of QRM from Myanma Radio also on that frequency. Attached an audio file of a recent reception, so he could hear for himself what it sounded like, with the proviso "I do not know how much interference Myanma Radio causes for reception in North Korea, but wanted to call this situation to your attention." I have paraphrased the response I received Feb. 6, at 0230 UT: He thanked me very much for my information. Because of my email he consulted with "Mr. MURAO, who is a specialist and manages Shiokaze", who indicated he knew about the Myanmar interference and the situation was under review/analysis. "Then, I will change the frequency of SHIOKAZE soon today. I would like to ask Mr. Ron Howard to search near 5985". So it seems their next broadcast from 1400 to 1430 will not be on 5985, but close to it and still will be in the 49m band. Let's hope they have better luck with the new frequency! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Feb 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5910, Shiokaze/Sea Breeze via Yamata; *1400-1430*, Feb 6 (Fri.); ex 5985. Heard on the first day of this new frequency, actually their former frequency. Should be much better reception than 5985, at least until the jamming starts again. In English with "Today's News Flash" and "Today's News on North Korean Issues" and long commentary about President Obama; ID "JSR. This is Shiokaze Sea Breeze, the shortwave radio program from Tokyo, Japan"; mostly fair reception. After Shiokaze signed-off, heard Iran signing on in assume scheduled Bengali; Anthem and reciting from Qur'an; weak (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Shiokaze, Sea-Breeze, the service obsessed with North Korean kidnappings of a few Japanese years ago, has returned to their previous frequency via Japan, 5910, after a few weeks on 5985: Feb 6 at 1407 in heavily-accented English, as usually on Fridays, mentioning bombing of that KAL flight; 1412 speculating on Obama`s policies vis- à-vis P`yongyang. 5910 is better here, no QRM except for lite splatter from WBOH 5920 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. 9880, Feb 4 at 1448, Japanese W&W narrative, sad-sounding, with occasional music stingers; G signal with lite hum. Per Aoki this is: Furusato no Kaze, daily at 1430-1500, 250 kW, 3 degrees via Darwin, AUSTRALIA. This time I was waiting for Furusato no Kaze to start via Darwin, 9880. Less than a minute after R. Japan finished 9875, Feb 6 a few sex before 1430 heard a few words of Chinese, then into Japanese. Uncoördinated switching at Darwin; wonder what the Chinese was about (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH. 6215, Korean numbers pronounced by emphatic YL, Feb 4 shortly after 1400 and again at 1437. S. Hasegawa, NDXC says this is ``random number station of S. Korea. I can sometimes receive even 5715 kHz at 1400``. But nothing audible here on 5715. Are the numbers really random, or encrypted spy messages? Neither frequency is in Aoki, probably classified as utility (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. 13620, R. Kuwait presumed, doing very well against WYFR 13615, Feb 6 at 1537 with ME music; 1611 recheck still good and WYFR gone, axually closing at 1545 per Aoki; fast-paced Arabic programming mixing music and talk. Kuwait is 310 degrees toward us, while 13615 is 160 degrees away from us (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. 5009.92v, R. Nasionaly Malagasy (presumed); 1516-1545, Feb 3; heard about 8 songs (high-life singing, pop songs, ballads, etc.) played non-stop with only brief silence between selections; no parallels found; best in LSB to escape from AIR on 5010 (which had news in vernacular and English); mostly poor (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR. Radio Madagascar 5010 --- the past two evenings around 0200 gmt I have tuned in to 5010. There are continuous easy listening songs and music of their country. At 0249 tonight, I heard the musical jingle "Radio Madagascar" between continuous songs. The frequency is centered on 5009.95. However, there is LSB and USB modulation. Signal strength is very nice, peaking at S-7 to S-9. Fade down starts happening around 0345 as the grayline disappears into daylight over Madagascar, just like last year this time when I regularly monitored them. I was a regular listener of Radio Madagasikara last year this time but I don't remember ever hearing them this strong or this clearly. I was getting a nice collection of reception reports to try and QSL them. Well, guess that probably won't happen anytime soon. Perhaps all my 40-50 reports that I sent over the past year are smoldering in the studio somewhere. Of all the luck and success I have had with the most difficult QSL countries (Radio Bata, Tunis, come to mind) this is a very strong holdout for me, even with the most detailed reports written in French, sent to all known good (at one time) BP 442, 4422, 1202 addresses. Also, the LSB was suppressed last year this time and not now. The signal strength is strong and very clear. I can only contribute [sic] this to propagation or could they have cranked up the power of the transmitter? I must say, it is a very nice copy tonight (Stephen J. Price, Johnstown, PA, 5 February 2009, 400 foot "L" with 200 foot buried grounding system, Kenwood R-5000, NASWA yg via DXLD) Hi Stephen, Indeed this was nice reception. Made it all the way over to California, but not as strong a reception as at your location. On Feb 6, from 0309 to 0327, I was listening to a DJ playing African hi- life music and songs; 0327 heard what sounded like a singing jingle, perhaps the station jingle you mentioned. This is the first time recently that I have actually heard announcers and not just non-stop music, so they seem to be getting back to normal programming again. After 0333 noted they had speeches, with some background sounds. All in all an enjoyable reception! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, ibid.) Yep on that. I was a reg listener last year for a few weeks from 0230- 0345 fade out. they had some very nice programming with news, music, id's jingles, etc., etc. I really like that station, but I would bet the fire was kept alive a few more hours due to all the reports and goodies that I sent them --- with absolutely no QSL luck. I mailed to BP 1202 (once good in 90's), 442 (rm website addr), 4422 (WRTH address). I would send the same report to all three addresses AND I even just put a generic RM, Antanananrivo, Mad on the envelope, full words, of course. I sent CD recordings, $$$, postcards, and other goodies, to even plain unsealed envelopes of all combinations. Three of my 40-50 letters came back stamped in "Antanananrivo" "unclaimed". yea, I got something from Madagascar, but it was some of my letters BACK! (Steve Price, NASWA yg via DXLD) Radio Madagasikara in with S+15 dB at 0300 with excellent local music. Stronger than Mauritania on 4845. Undoubtedly the absolute best I ever heard them -- even over last evening. As a regular listener of RM last winter/spring, the signal is incredible. I am very familiar with the propagation from there to here as the grayline crosses over the island. Either they cranked up the power of the transmitter -or- the atmosphere is extremely charged for propagation. Right now at 0307, I have the kenwood piped thru my professional audio system and the AM sounds just like my local WCRO station, despite a slight bit of fading. It is not Cristal, for what I believed to be them earlier in the evening, signed off at 0200, and were no way near as strong. The Malagasy transmitter turned on with OC at 0225 and had audio at 0230. ID at 0320 with musical jingle. I could be wrong, but I think power has been increased on the xmtr. It is UNBELIEVABLE. Has anyone else experienced a much stronger than normal Radio Madagasikara lately ? (Steve Price, Johnstown, PA, UT Feb 7, ODXA yg via DXLD) 5009.92v, R. Nasionaly Malagasy (presumed); 0309-0337, Feb 6. First time recently that I have actually heard announcers and not just non- stop music, so they seem to be getting back to normal programming again. Seemed to be in French, DJ playing African hi-life music and songs; singing jingle (Stephen J. Price - Johnstown, PA reported hearing a station jingle, so perhaps this was it); sounded like speeches, with some background sounds; poor to fair reception. This continues to broadcast in conventional DSB mode (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5009.9, RTV Malagasy (Ambohidrano), 0247-0302, 2/7/2009, Malagasy. Pop music with drums, local stringed instruments, and a male vocalist. A minute or so of very low audio talk by a man at 0251 followed by more music. No ID on the hour, just music. Surprisingly good signal, peaking just before 0300 which is, per my ancient DX Edge (copyright 1981), sunset at the transmitter site. SINPO 33333 (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, TenTec RX-340, Eton E1, Random Wires (90' and 200'), Eavesdropper Dipole, Cumbredx via DXLD) You mean sunRISE (gh, DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. Você tem alguma informação sobre a estação que o World Christian Broadcasting está montando em Madagascar? Vi na internet que ela irá emitir também em português, será que isso é verdade ? Em que situação está esta emissora? Um abraço (Adalberto Marques de Azevedo, Brasil, Feb 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I have not heard anything about the station since the riots broke out. But if Pres. Ravalomanana goes out of power, the WCBC project is in trouble, as he was their patron. The WCBC website seems to have no updates but does mention ``Be prayerful about the Spanish and Portuguese broadcasting teams being assembled.`` Yes, they previously publicized plans to broadcast to Latin America from there. Here`s the latest story about the Mad situation. Seems Ravalomanana remains in power at the expense of many lives. Are WCBC sure they want to be involved with this individual, even if he is a Presbyterian? http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/world/africa/08madagascar.html?_r=1 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA SABAH. KENINGAU FM RADIO ACCESSIBLE WORLDWIDE February 07, 2009 13:53 PM http://web7.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news.php?id=388302 KOTA KINABALU, Feb 7 (Bernama) -- The Keningau FM radio station, which begins its broadcast on Jan 1, can now be viewed and listened to throughout the world live on the internet through audio-video streaming. Sabah Broadcasting director Datuk Jumat Engson, said the proactive measure by Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) Sabah in making the Keningau FM broadcast accessible through the internet was mooted by Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek. "We thanked the Information Minister for his commitment in helping to promote the uniqueness of the culture and language, including those of the Murut and Dusun in the Sabah interior areas," he told Bernama here today. He said the Keningau FM broadcast could be accessed through the internet at http://www.rtmsabah.gov.my Keningau FM is a 10 hour broadcast which starts from 7am daily and can be listened at frequency 98.4 MHz. The Bahasa Malaysia broadcast is at 0700-1000 hrs and 1400-1700 hrs, Murut (1000-1200) and Dusun (1200- 1400). Jumat said currently the Keningau FM could be listened by residents staying within a 12 km radius of the Keningau town, adding that the coverage would be expanded to other districts like Nabawan, Sook and Ranau with the installation of the FM transmitters at Bukit Sigapon and Layang-Layang under phase two of the project. Meanwhile, Jumat said Ahmad Shabery would be in Sandakan for a visit tomorrow to brief local leaders on the restructuring of RTM programmes. He said the Information Minister would also attend the launching of the "Berita Wilayah Sabah dan Sarawak" on TV1 by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman in Kota Kinabalu on Monday. -- BERNAMA (via Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DXLD) Malaysia: Keningau FM radio accessible worldwide . . .He said the Keningau FM broadcast could be accessed through the Internet at http://www.rtmsabah.gov.my Keningau FM is a 10 hour broadcast which starts from 7 am (2300 UT] daily and can be listened at frequency 98.4 MHz. The Bahasa Malaysia broadcast is at 0700-1000 hrs [2300-0200 UT] and 1400-1700 hrs [0600-0900 UT], Murut 1000-1200 hrs [0200-0400 UTC] and Dusun 1200-1400 hrs [0400-0600 UT]. (Source: Bernama) Andy Sennitt adds: To access the stream, click on the graphic at the bottom right hand corner of the home page. At times when the station is not broadcasting, this produces an error message. I would be pleased to hear from anyone who successfully hears the station between 2300 and 0900 UT (February 7th, 2009 - 11:46 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD). ** MALI. 5995, RTVM, *0556-0615, Feb 6, guitar IS. National Anthem at 0558. Flute IS at 0559 & opening French ID announcements. Religious recitations at 0601. Vernacular talk. Poor to fair with some adjacent channel splatter (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Logged XEHB (Hidalgo de Parral, Chih) tonight on 730 kHz at 0259 UT Feb 6 with call letter ID in English(!) then longer ID in Spanish mentioning 50,000 watts of power, call letters, "Grupo Radiofonico Zer" network, into cumbia music. Slogan sounds like "Radio Viva Vida". Ex-770 kHz. Thanks to local DXer, John Wilkins, for the tip! 73, (Chris Knight, Fort Lupton, Colorado, IRCA via DXLD) Another nail in the coffin of XEX`s once clear-channel status. A recent change, I suppose as WRTH 2009 still had XEHB on 770 with only 1000/250 watts; I used to hear it there (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENIG DIGEST) Pretty amazing grant considering XEX's dominance/longevity! (Pete Taylor, Tacoma, WA, IRCA via DXLD) There were already 6 other Mexicans on 730, per WRTH 2009 (gh, DXLD) ** MYANMAR. 7185, 0030 13 Jan, R. Myanmar, Yangon, sign-on IS, nat[ive? ional?] song, ID, prayers to 0040, then talk and songs, QRN but strong clear signal, 333 by 0125, vernacular, SIO 534 (Charles Hendry, Bucks., Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** MYANMAR. 5985.0, Myanma R.; 1529-1545, Feb 4; their signature indigenous instrumental music, "Good evening. This is Myanma Radio. We are calling with our second English transmission located on 5985 kHz., 50.13 meters, 576 kHz., 520 meters, 555 (?) kHz., 585 (?) meters [sounded very much like 555 & 585, but not completely positive, as they do not compute together correctly]. Now you can hear the news. I am … with the news. First the headlines", information as to the activities of various government military leaders (e.g., Minister for Rail Transportation Major General Aung Min); "This news comes to you from Myanma Radio. The weather. Partly cloudy … Outlook for the next two days …", conditions for Myanmar waters; pep talk about national policy and development, always sounds like it's given over a loudspeaker (reverberation); played pop songs in English; would have been good reception except for the splatter / QRM from adjacent station (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEPAL. I haven't seen the 5005 carrier in a few days, but I have just received an email from Ram Karki who is working out in the field there. He tells me: "Great apology for not replying on time. I was away from home and it is very difficult to find internet and power supply together. We have power supply only 8 hours a day and 16 hours of power supply cut. "Regarding SW transmitter, I need to find the donors. Government is not funding us this time. We are not in priorities. So it may take long time." I had no idea that things have gotten so bad there. It seems that DX'ers will still have to wait a while more before a new shortwave transmitter is brought online in Nepal. Ram personally delivered my QSL to me in 2006 when he returned to Sudan from annual leave. Maybe USAID or some other grant machine will come through for them. 73s de (Al Muick, Afghanistan, Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Alo Glenn, Tal como você previu no DXLD, falando que a R. Nepal em 5005 estava silenciosa desde fevereiro último, o Albert Muick, de Kabul divulgou que recebeu E-Mail do Ram Karki, (eu tenho um QSL antigo assinado por ele), e neste E-Mail ele informa as dificuldades que estão enfrentando, sem financiamento do governo, com racionamento de comida, 16 horas por dia sem energia, trabalhando no transmissor e procurando doadores. Pelas palavras dele eu pude deduzir que v ocê estava certo, a R. Nepal está mesmo fora em 5005 kHz (Adalberto Marques de Azevedo, Brasil, Feb 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. RNW establishes disaster service Radio Netherlands Worldwide has established a special disaster service for Dutch citizens living abroad. A calamity team consisting of members of the editorial staff will go into action whenever there are major events involving large numbers of Dutch citizens, such as natural disasters, accidents or attacks. The service will provide Dutch citizens in the region with information and advice and, when necessary, report on possibilities of returning to the Netherlands. The information will be made available via radio, television, internet and mobile phone platforms. Editor-in-chief Rik Rensen says the special disaster transmissions will provide an extra service, in addition to the regular broadcasts. He points out that there was a huge demand for extra information during the recent attacks in Mumbai and the blockade of Bangkok’s international airport. Comments so far: 1 Steve February 5th, 2009 - 19:45 UTC This would be nice if they still had a substantial network on shortwave. Unfortunately, Jan Hoek and company have embarked on a misguided plan to dismantle the shortwave network that was once the envy of the industry. 2 Andy Sennitt February 5th, 2009 - 21:20 UTC There is no plan to “dismantle the shortwave network”. We only ever had two shortwave transmitter sites of our own, both of which are still in operation. Bonaire was refurbished with new transmitters only a couple of years ago. The third site, Flevo, was owned by the Nozema, in which we held a small 1% share. That company was dismantled and the site privatised by the Dutch government. We no longer use it because we can get airtime more cheaply on other sites, most of which are one hop away from the target area and provide stronger signals than we could provide from Flevo. In our current schedule we use well over 20 shortwave transmitter sites. If that’s a plan to “dismantle the shortwave network” it clearly isn’t working very well (February 5th, 2009 - 13:37 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** NICARAGUA. During many years I have been accustomed to see the Nicaraguan stations linked to call signs of four letters --- YNRS Radio Sandino, YNRC Radio Católica. So, what a big surprise when I discovered that these c/s are no more the valid ones! YNRS has become YNA3LS and YNRC is now YNA3RC. And this is not a recent change. There are some on the "new" c/s issued in 1999! The Telcor (Gov.) site contains many License files (many others are not available) but it seems that it is not updated regularly. This is the data I extracted several months ago: kHz Call KW Station name/Licensee, City (Key) 540 YNA3OW 20 RADIO CORPORACIÓN, Managua (1) 570 YNA2RQ 5 RADIO 570, Chinandega (1) 580 YNA3LP 10 RADIO 580, Managua (1) 600 YNA3MD 10 LA NUEVA RADIO YA, Managua (2) 620 lic 031 gob. nic., pero datos de La Mera! (*) 640 YNA3LR 5 RADIO LA MERA MERA, Managua (*) 650 RADIO DIRIANGEN (3) 650 YNA6RS 5 RADIO MUZUN, Matagalpa (1) 660 Carlos Mario Peña Pérez (4) 680 ASOC. DE PROF. RADIODIF. NICARAGÜENSE (3) 690 Diócesis de Matagalpa, Matagalpa (5) 720 YNA3RC 25 RADIO CATÓLICA, Managua (1) 730 YNAARS 5 RADIO SEGOVIA, Nueva Segovia (2) 740 YNA3LS 10 RADIO SANDINO, Managua (6) 760 YNA3AR 10 RADIO MAGIC, Altamira, Managua (1) 780 YNA3RD 1 RADIO MILENIUM, Altamira, Managua (1) 800 YNA3RO 10 RADIO 800, Managua (7) 820 YNFAOL 20 RADIO ONDAS DE LUZ, Managua (1) 840 YNA3NT 5 RADIO NOTICIAS, Managua (1) 860 YNA3CO 5 LA GRAN CADENA, Managua (1) 870 Asociación para el desarrollo de la Región V (8) 880 YNA3EP 5 RADIO EL PENSAMIENTO, Managua (1) 890 SILVIO JAVIER PILARTE CENTENO (3) 900 YNA3RT 5 RADIO TIEMPO (2) 910 TRABAJ. ASOC. DE RADIO JINOTEGA Y Cia. Ltd. (3) 920 Cadena Nicaragüense de Radiodifusión (9) 940 Fundación Libertad y Democracia (3) 950 YNA4RR 10 RADIO RUMBOS , Rivas (2) 960 YNACTH 2’5 RADIO LA VOZ DEL TRÓPICO HÚMEDO, S. Carlos (2) 970 YNA2RD 5 RADIO DARÍO, León (1) 980 YNA3NO 1 LA PODEROSA 980, Managua (2) 990 Mons. BERNARDO HOMBACH (CURIA EPISCOPAL) (3) 1000 Dulce Maria Rivera Cruz (9) 1010 YNFAVP 1 RADIO LA VOZ DEL PINAR, Ocotal (2) 1030 1 Jorge Correa Montiel (no tech. data on Lic. file) (2) 1040 YNA5RC 2 RADIO CIMA, Sto. Tomás (1) 1050 YNA3AF 1 RADIO DEPORTES, Managua (1) 1080 YNA3LC 10 RADIO 15 DE SEPTIEMBRE, Managua (1) 1090 YNHAAL 5 LA NUEVA RADIO ALMA LATINA, Esteli (2) 1110 YNF2MT 1 RADIO MOMOTOMBO, La Paz Centro (2) 1120 YNA3CP 5 RADIO CEPAD, Managua (1) 1150 YNA2RD 5 RADIO DARÍO, León (1) 1180 YNA3AC 0’5 LA RADIO, Managua (10) 1190 YNA6RB 1 RADIO BENDICIÓN, Matagalpa (2) 1200 YNA3AC 0’5 LA RADIO, Managua (10) 1220 YNA3RA 1 RADIO AMÉRICA, Managua (7) 1230 Coop. de Scios. Pub. de Radiodif. de Nueva Guinea (4) 1240 YNA3RR 5 RADIO RESTAURACIÓN, Managua (1) 1260 YNA3LR 10 LIDICE RADIO, Managua (1) 1270 Freddy Méndez Lainez (11) 1280 YNA3VA 25 RADIO LA VOZ APOSTÓLICA, Managua (1) 1290 Graciela de Jesús Herrera Joya, Jinotega (12) 1300 Alejandro Amador López (3) 1300 YNA2CC 1 CANAL 130, Managua (2) 1310 Ana María Aguirre Gómez, Chinandega (13) 1350 Negocios Múltiples S.A., Jinotepe (12) 1370 YNA6RM 2 RADIO MATAGALPA, Matagalpa (14) 1370 YNAARS 1 RADIO FRONTERAS, Somoto (2) 1380 Diócesis de Matagalpa, Matagalpa (5) 1400 YNA3MA 10 RADIO MARIA, Managua (Lic. includes FM repeater) (1) 1410 YNA2RA 3 RADIO AMISTAD, León (2) 1430 YNAARL 5 RADIO LIBERACIÓN “TAYACANA”, Estela (2) 1440 YNA3MR 25 RADIO MARANATHA, Managua (1) 1470 RADIO YARRINCÉ DE BOACO (3) 1500 RADIO MINUTO S.A. (no tech. data on License file) (2) 1530 YNA4TS 0’5 RADIO LA VOZ DE TERESA, Sta. Teresa, Carazo (2) (*) The National Licenses Registry links the 620 kHz freq. to the License document "LIC-2004-RDSAM-031". This doc. show as Licensee (Operador) the "Gobierno de Nicaragua" but the rest of the data are those of 640-Radio La Mera Mera. The 640 kHz are linked to a not available license document. (1) Active license (2) Expired license. Licensee deleted (3) License file not available. Licensee deleted (4) License file not available. Licensee is now holder of FM licenses only. (5) License file not available. License status: “en trámite”(in proceeding). (6) Expired license. Licensee is not holder now of any license (AM or FM). (7) Expired license. Licensee is now holder of FM license only. (8) License file not available. License “en renovación”(renewing). (9) License file not available. License “elaborada”(elaborated, but not signed). (10) Expired license. Licensee deleted. The National Licenses Registry lists this station on 1200. 1180 on the License document. (11) License file not available. License status: “Abandono de trámite” (left proceeding) (12) License file not available. Licensee is now registered for FM service only but is not holder of any License. (13) License file not available. License status: “En renovación” (renewing). (14) Expired license. Licensee deleted. The National Licenses Registry lists this License on 1330 (Mauricio Molano, Salamanca, Spain, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. Undercover Radio - Pirate 1720 kHz --- A rare chance to hear a pirate just above the MW band. Still on at 0338 UT, with a replay of the 2005 Halloween show. S8 signal into NY, SIO 444. Off at around 0341, then gave a notice that they're moving down to 1710 kHz. Requesting immediate reception reports via e-mail to undercoverradio @ mail.com (George Maroti, UT Feb 7, NASWA yg via DXLD) Pirate, 1710 USB, Undercover Radio, 0458-0550*, Feb 7, Thanks to George Zeller tip. Dr Benway with IDs. Gave e-mail address & Merlin, Ontario mail drop. Said this was a 1000 watt mobile transmitter. Replaying the 20th anniversary special with stories about Progressive Music Radio from 1986. Good. Strong, but occasional co-channel QRM from Spanish station (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 1640, KFXY, Enid, OK; “Your sports authority, The Score, 16-40 KFXY Enid-Oklahoma City” Personal First, Fair, 0000 UT 03 Feb (Paul Crankshaw, Troon, Scotland, MWC via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. OKLAHOMA SPLIT OVER DIGITAL TRANSITION DELAY OKLAHOMA TV STATIONS PREPARING FOR DIGITAL SWITCH By The Associated Press Published: February 5, 2009 http://www.newsok.com/oklahoma-tv-stations-preparing-for-digital-switch/article/3343506 Despite congressional action allowing a four-month delay in the switch to digital-only television, stations in Oklahoma City and Lawton plan to make the changeover as scheduled on Feb. 17. The situation in Tulsa is less clear. Officials with Oklahoma City stations KFOR, KWTV, KOCO, KOKH and OETA and Lawton station KSWO said the switch from analog to digital signals will proceed without change. [but see below: KOCO backed out] "Everything's done, we've notified everybody, we've run the ads at our expense that the government required us to," KWTV general manager Rob Krier said. "They told us a year ago, or two or three, and we've been going full steam ahead to get ready for this and for them to come out a week before, two weeks before, that's even not fair." The U.S. House voted 264-158 Wednesday to postpone the switch to digital until June 12. The Senate previously approved the bill unanimously and President Barack Obama has said he will sign it. The Obama administration and Democrats in Congress maintain that the previous administration mismanaged efforts to ensure that all consumers — particularly poor, rural and minority Americans — will be prepared for the switchover. People who subscribe to cable or satellite TV or have a newer TV with a digital tuner will not be affected. Those with older televisions receiving their signal via antenna will need a converter box to continue to get reception. A government program providing coupons to defray the costs of converters has hit its funding limit. Krier said, though, that tests in which the station briefly switched to a digital-only signal, leaving analog TVs with no signal, went well and there were few complaints from viewers, leading him to believe most are ready for the change. One Oklahoma City station, KSBI, said it plans to continue broadcasting both analog and digital signals. "We are fortunate in that we will be able to continue to operate both in analog and digital through the new cutoff date," Brady Brus, president of Family Broadcasting Group, Inc., said in a statement. "It will be operations as normal for us through June 12." [KSBI = analog 52, digital 51 in OKC, but what about their statewide analog translator network, even into Kansas? K45EJ in Enid has just revived after months of absence or very low power -- gh] In Lawton, KSWO general manager Larry Patton said viewers have had plenty of time to prepare. "They've had two years to get ready is our feeling," he said. "We feel there's always going to be a few people who are going to wake up on the morning of Feb. 17, or June 17, or whenever it is, and not be ready. "We're willing to get it done." David Griffin, president and chief executive officer of Griffin Communications, which owns both KWTV in Oklahoma City and KOTV in Tulsa, said he has filed a request to switch both stations to digital transmission on Feb. 17. But he also said he reserves the right to rescind that request for one or both stations if other broadcast outlets do not convert or if there are signal interference problems. Steve Foerster, vice president of corporate development for Griffin, said stations could interfere with each other's signal if some move to digital only while others continue with an analog broadcast. "If we could get all stations in both markets to convert, we believe that would be in the best interest of the public." Michael Vrabac, vice president and general manager of Tulsa television station KJRH, said stations in that market haven't finalized a date to make the switch (via DXLD) TULSA: OKLAHOMA BROADCASTERS GO FORWARD ON TRANSITION TO DIGITAL BY ROBERT EVATT - Tulsa World Published: February 6, 2009 [how`s that for a misleading headline: if you READ the story, it`s Tulsa where the transition apparently is NOT going forward. Mostly it duplicates the above story --- gh] Most Oklahoma television stations plan to shut off their analog transmissions on or near Feb. 17 despite the deadline extension, said Vince Harrison, president of the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters. . . . http://www.newsok.com/tulsa-oklahoma-broadcasters-go-forward-on-transition-to-digital/article/3343693 (Daily Disappointment Feb 6 via DXLD) However, on Feb 7 we heard KOCO-5/DT-7 say it would NOT make the switch Feb 17, but keep going with both until June 12(?). http://www.koco.com/news/18660122/detail.html KFOR-4/DT 27 has kept running announcements that it would turn analog off Feb 17 --- so far, and so has KWTV-9/DT 39 which will be going back to 9 with DTV (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See more under DIGITAL BROADCASTING ** PALESTINE [non]. Re: 6220 kHz, Al Quds TV audio carrier. Israelian sources say that Al Quds TV is financed by Damascus and just another Hamas outlet: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/128340 http://armyofheavens.blogspot.com/2008/11/marketing-terrorism.html I have not found an independent review of their programming so far, but of course it would fit to the circumstance that their TV audio is now relayed on shortwave in the very same way than the Al Aqsa TV audio. Again the same question: Who does this, where are the transmitters located? However, I think that these Israelian sources messed up one thing: The signal on 7 deg. West is, as Tarek already mentioned, on Atlantic Bird 4. This is a satellite owned and operated by Eutelsat, cf. http://www.eutelsat.org/satellites/7wab4.html Nilesat has an agreement for capacity on Atlantic Bird 4 with Eutelsat. But the multiplex in which Al Quds TV is included is operated by the Bahrain-based Noorsat company, and I understand that Noorsat leases its slots directly from Eutelsat (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. With all the axion on the 120 and 105 m bands, looked for PNG stations on 90m, Feb 4 at 1347: 3235 with island music; best signal was 3365, but only a carrier with hum, still wastefully audible past 1400. Carriers on 3325, 3345 at 1352. 3335 at 1358 bothered by non-Spanish SSB (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3905, R. New Ireland, Kavieng. February 7, 0822-0834 Cher music, 0824 after some seconds silent a slow reggae, from 0826 Spanish talks like ham changed Papua to behind but don't annoyed. At tune-in 34333. 73's (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 3329.6, Ondas del Huallaga, Huánuco 1115 to 1145. Noted 4 and 5 February with several IDs by om. 4857.5, Radio La Hora, Cusco with om ID, 1115 to 1145. Noted also 2300 to 0030 most recent evenings. 5039.24, Radio Libertad, Junín, 1120 to 1200 on 5 February, noted each morning. 73s (Bob Wilkner, S Florida, NRD 535D, R8 and Sony 2010XA modified by D. L., DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. One of the most complicated schedules is of Radio Rossii. It seems they have four or more variations of programmes, earlier named Orbita-1, Orbita-2, etc.; later Dubl-1, Dubl-2, etc. Now the tentative schedule looks like this (according to observations of US DXers and me): Dubl-1 Far East: 1800-1400 UT, regional programs usually on 12th minute after news: 6075 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy – programmes ``Radio Rossii`` and ``Radio Rossii Kamchatka`` at 2310-0000 and others; 5935 // 7320 Magadan - Programmes ``Radio Rossii`` and ``Radio Rossii Magadan`` Dubl-2 East Siberia: 2000-1600, includes regional programmes from Yakutsk/Radio Sakha on 6150, 7140, 7200, 7345 Dubl-3 West Siberia: 4050 Bishkek 2300-1800 (and 1800-2000 with ``Dubl-4`` programmes) 6085 Krasnoyarsk, 6100 Kyzyl, 6195 Ulan Ude, all three 2200-1800 with regional programmes; 9495 Sukhumi, Abkhazia Mon-Sat 0600-0800 and 1600-1800 Dubl-e Europe: Radio Rossii on: 0100-1600 6030 0200-2200 5930 6160 0500-0800 9840 0825-1300 12075 1325-1600 7310 1625-2200 5905 Radio Rossii plus regional programmes on: Murmansk 5930 and Arkhangelsk 6160. Sometimes the programmes of Dubl-3 and 4 are common (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. R. Rossii, 6075 via Pet/Kam, has developed a slightly unstable carrier --- or is it a modulation problem? Hard to tell, a bit of motor-boating underneath audio on Feb 5; and Feb 6 with late timesignal at 1400 and stayed on for a semiminute while I reconfirmed 8GAL; see UNIDENTIFIED (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. NOVOSEMEYKINO SITE TO BE DISMANTLED For looking up about Novosemeykino: http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&q=novosemeykino+site%3Awww.w4uvh.net&btnG=Google-Suche&meta= And a new photo set: http://foto.cqham.ru/showgallery.php?cat=698&ppuser=2420 The Samara branch of RTRS now announces that it will dismantle the Novosemeykino transmitter site, saying that it deteriorates further every year and that there is meanwhile a risk that the antenna towers could collapse. http://samara.rtrn.ru/news.asp?view=10762 At the end of this news they also mention another dismantling project for tall objects, to be carried out in the second or third quarter of 2009, with the paperwork being under way at present. It's not specified what this project is about, but the first suspect would of course be the Radio Centre 3, i.e. the shortwave site in the northern outskirts of Samara. Here is an extensive photo collection: http://foto.mail.ru/inbox/yemel/21 And a nice view of the antenna farm at sunset: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/4466573 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Feb 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. PERSONALITY PROFILE --- Estelle Winters – Voice of Russia Estelle has, perhaps, the most distinctive female voice on the air at the Voice of Russia since Lucy Pravdina. A self-described “Brit” she started working at the VoR in 1990 when it was still Radio Moscow and has been with the station ever since. She can be heard on a few shows, principally Science Plus (successor to Boris Belitsky’s old science programs on Radio Moscow) and Timelines, and interview program. Estelle brings a pleasant style and subtle sense of humour to VoR broadcasts. Science Plus is as the name suggests a straight science and technology program. Lots of space related subjects and developments on the ground in Russia and the FSU (and the world). Science Plus --- “Estelle Winters brings you a wide range of themes related one way or another with scientif c matters. The program is aired during the week and also includes short interviews with the people around our world who specialize in Russian scientific affairs. “Tune in to Science Plus on Monday at 07.00 and 17.00 , Wednesday at 05.00 and 17.00 and Thursday at 04.00 UTC.” http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&rt=119&p=22.05.2008 Timelines Perhaps my favourite VoR program; well, tied with Carl Watts’ Jazz Show. Timelines can be heard in North America on Mondays at 0230 UT and Saturdays at 0530 and at other times worldwide. Each week Estelle brings you an interview with someone from abroad, who is living in Moscow or just visiting. It offers some fascinating insights into the way people see life in the Russian capital. In the past I’ve heard her interview a Latvian author on a book tour, an African woman (Ghanaian?) on the perils and joys of giving birth in Moscow (and the Russian health care system) and most recently the Press Attaché of the US Embassy in Moscow on the election of President Obama. Yes, Obama-mania has reached Moscow. “Estelle Winters giving you an insight into life in Moscow through foreign eyes every weekend with information, entertainment and a few laughs.” “TIMELINES used to be the only new thing back in 1992; now it’s one of the best things every weekend without fail with British radio personality Estelle Winters chatting with all ranks from all over the globe about Moscow and its vast surroundings. “Warning: Not recommended for those who don’t wish sometimes to have a chuckle. VoR-PG - suitable for most ages! “Tune in to TIMELINES on Saturday at 05.30 and 15.30, Sunday at 07.30, 09.30 and 17.30 and on Monday at 02.30 UTC.” http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&rt=127&p=22.05.2008 Unlike the old Radio Moscow, Estelle, and Timelines, presents Moscow warts and all. Estelle has a great interviewing style, she asks pointed questions, but also has a delightful sense of humour. I highly recommend Timelines (Fred Waterer, Ont., Programming Matters, Feb ODXA Listening In via DXLD) ** SAUDI ARABIA. BSKSA (Jeddah) 4790. 0444-0453. 31 Jan 09. Arabic. OM with prayers and preaching. Poor (Joe Wood, Greenback TN, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) I don't see a listing for BSKSA in either EiBi or Aoki, or anything at that time. Not saying you're wrong but that I don't see it listed. -- Ed. ----- http://www2.starcat.ne.jp/~ndxc/ ----- http://www.eibi.vu.de (Liz Cameron, ibid.) This was reported years ago as a semi-harmonic, but haven`t seen it logged in a long time now. Check 9580 and you will find in Aoki: 9580, R. Riyadh, 03-06 and 17-22, 50 kW ND from Jeddah, B-08. Is anyone else hearing them on 4790 during these hours? CODAR and R. Visión, Peru with prayers and preaching in Spanish normally occupy 4790 here (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA. Another Serbian MW-pirate Radio Texas (from Vrsac, East Serbia) has built new PLL-transmitter with 120 W output for MW (around 1700 kHz). Looks very professional, clean and cool! The station plans to put 1 kW on air later this year by using this tx as a driver! Radio Texas will also test internationally during this autumn. I will inform about the broadcasts later in the forums! 1688 kHz - Radio Panorama, Serbia. I have never heard this Serbian before. QSO Sylvania. 21.26- - mp3 O=2 [apparently from same source as GREECE, q.v.] spero siano informazioni utili ! 73's (Dario Monferini, Italy, Feb 5, playdx yg via DXLD) ** SERBIA [non]. International Radio of Serbia heard on 6190 kHz at 2200 UT with Interval Signal and ID at start of English Service. SIO 444. Frequencies still announced at end of broadcast at 2230 as 6100 and 7200 kHz. I do not recollect hearing them on 6190 at 2200 before, so presume this is a recent replacement for 6100? (Tony Rogers, Birmingham, UK, Feb 5, AOR 7030+ / LW, BDXC-UK via DXLD) Seemingly a one-off on 6190 kHz last night. This evening (6 February 2009) heard in English at 2200 UTC on usual 6100 kHz (Tony Rogers, Birmingham, UK, AOR 7030+ / LW, ibid.) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. Nu momenteel op 9541.52 kHz, 0815 UT. Met worldnews, wel aan de zwakke kant maar goed tevolgen (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, Feb 4, BDX via DXLD) Ik hoorde inderdaad de solomon eilanden vanmorgen, maar dan alleen met de T2FD, maar niet met de andere antennes. Signaal was zwak, een beetje te verstaan, misschien genoeg voor een ontvangst rapport. 9541.55, wel veel last van 9545. 73! (Ruud Vos, JRC.NRD-545, T2FD, bdx mailing list, Feb 5, via DXLD) Solomon Islands tehoren op 9541.518 kHz, 0838 UT. With talks by female, very weak and splatter from the D.W. 9545. RX: Pereus, Kaz antenna. Gr (Maurits Van Driessche, Belgium, Feb 7, BDX via DXLD) ** SOMALIA. RADIO CHIEF IN SOMALIA SHOT DEAD The director of Somalia's independent HornAfrik radio station, Said Tahlil Ahmed, has been killed in the capital. An eyewitness told the BBC a group of journalists were attacked on their way to a press conference called by the hardline Islamist militia al-Shabab. Gunmen escaped from the scene and no-one has claimed responsibility. Al-Shabab does not support the new president - Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a moderate Islamist - recently elected by MPs as part of a peace process. Since the announcement of the murder, all radio stations in the capital have been playing Kor`anic verses. Analysts say this may be out of respect for Mr Ahmed or possibly because they are frightened of further attacks. A journalist, who was with Mr Ahmed when he was attacked, told the BBC Somali Service that senior members of Mogadishu's radio stations had been called to a press conference by al-Shabab. He said they were nearly at the venue in Mogadishu's central Bakara Market when gunmen fired on them. Mr Ahmed fell to the ground and his attackers approached him and shot him again. Colleagues say Mr Ahmed was a well-respected journalist who continued working in Somalia after the collapse of Siad Barre's regime in 1991 despite extremely dangerous conditions in the capital. HornAfrik's owner, Ali Iman Sharmake, and a station presenter, Mahad Ahmed Elmi, were murdered in 2007. Somalia has not had a functioning central government for nearly two decades and tens of thousands of people have been killed in successive waves of violence. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7869862.stm Published: 2009/02/04 14:48:35 GMT © BBC MMIX (via Terry Krueger, FL, Ben Dawson, Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) STATEMENT FROM THE BROADCASTING BOARD OF GOVERNORS AND THE VOICE OF AMERICA ON THE MURDER OF SAID TAHLIL AHMED Washington, DC, 02/04/2009 The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) and the Voice of America (VOA) condemn the senseless murder of Said Tahlil Ahmed, Director of HornAfrik, a Somali media network. Mr. Ahmed was gunned down today in Mogadishu's Bakara market. "Targeting journalists such as Said Tahlil Ahmed has a disastrous impact on the institution of the press in Somalia," said Blanquita Cullum of the Broadcasting Board of Governors which oversees the Voice of America. "Free media is one of the building blocks for stability, something greatly needed in Somalia." HornAfrik, a longtime VOA affiliate, operates two radio stations and a television station in Somalia. The private network has been an important partner in transmitting VOA's news and information in both English and Somali to listeners throughout Somalia. "This is a tragic loss for HornAfrik, VOA and the people of Somalia who suffer the most when they are without reliable and unbiased news and information," said VOA Director Danforth Austin. Mr. Ahmed had been director of HornAfrik since 2007 and hosted a popular talk show on the station. No one has claimed responsibility for his death. Somalia remains one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, a situation that has led many journalists to flee the country or cease their work rather than risk their lives. Mr. Ahmed's predecessor at HornAfrik, Mohamed Elmi, was killed by a roadside bomb in Mogadishu in 2007, and the network has been attacked and shut down at various times by insurgents or government officials (via Dr Hansjoerg Biener, and Clara Listensprechen, Feb 5, DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Heard B.S. on WCKY 1530 Cincinnati circa 0715 Feb 4 mention that he is not getting much response from listeners to KAAY 1090 Little Rock so it`s time to re-evaluate whether to continue on that station (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. English podcast from Madrid --- Hi Glenn, Hope all is well on your side. Would like to inform you about a new English language newspod that a few of us at the English-language edition of El País have begun producing. It is an approx. 20-minute news and sports roundup, plus analysis, of the current events in Spain, and features Guy Hedgecoe, editor of El País English edition, journalist Simon Hunter and myself. We hope to be putting online a fresh podcast every two weeks. Here is the link: http://www.spanishnewspod.libsyn.com/ Please check it out. All the best (Marty Delfín, Madrid, Spain, Feb 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN. CAMBIOS EN REE --- A partir del 2 de febrero 2009 ha cambiado la programación de Radio exterior de España. Página de REE: http://www.rtve.es/programas/radioexterior Esquema de programación: http://www.rtve.es/files/70-13363-FICHERO/Parrilla__5.pdf Frecuencias: http://www.rtve.es/files/70-13342-FICHERO/Microsoft_Word_-_Frecuencias+++_pdf.pdf Frecuencias en lenguas extranjeras: http://www.rtve.es/files/70-13364-FICHERO/FRECUENCIAS__extranjeras_en_su_idioma.pdf (José Bueno, Córdoba, España, Feb 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Among other things, Fuero Propio is now shown at 1330-1400 M-F, instead of News in Co-Official Languages; last time that came off the grid, it wasn`t true, so need to confirm. Also Amigos de la Onda Corta gets a new time UT Sundays 0005-0030, followed by semi-hour mailbag (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) El programa Amigos de la Onda Corta no sale al aire en el horario que publican en su esquema de programación para el sábado; en lugar de las 0505 UT, fue a las 0605 UT cuando comenzó. Imagino que las frecuencias tampoco coincidirán con las publicadas. Solo pude escucharlo en 11895 kHz. Desconozco si el programa del domingo también está erróneo (José Bueno, Córdoba, España, Feb 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Did not try at 0505 or 0605, but confirmed the tail end of the program at 0025 UT Sunday on webcast, so must have started at 0005 as on the new schedule (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Confirmado Amigos de la OC hasta terminarse a las 0028 del domingo Universal, en línea, así es que en este caso es correcto el horario de 0005 TU del domingo. Y a las 0029, El Correo del Oyente. 73, (Guillermo Glenn Hauser, Oclajoma, ibid.) ** SUDAN [non]. via Rimavska Sobota, Slovakia, 15650, Miraya FM, 1501-1511, Feb 6, English news. Mentioned _www.MirayaFM.com_ http://www.MirayaFM.com website. Arabic at 1511. Poor, mixing with a strong Greece (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. Re: DXLD 9-011. Radio Damascus appeal --- Radio Damascus should be named as Radio Hum. See Horacio, exactly that same strong carrier but worthless with such strong hum I heard at 2220, Wed. 4 Feb., on 9330 with very distorted audio, let's say in a 90/10 % ratio. This time nothing on 12085. It's funny that while the announcers cast this urgent appeal, the engineers don't seem to know where they are standing. Frankly, because this is not a new transmission problem, hard for me to explain how can be unnoticed by their technical department. Hope this time someone send them a clip, so they finally awake. 73 (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 12085, Radio Damascus, 1855-1935*, Feb 7, German talk. Short breaks of Mid-East music. French at 1900 with talk & Mid-east music. Abrupt sign off. Strong carrier level but slightly low modulation, loud hum and slight distortion. Nothing heard on 9330. First time I have heard 12085 in quite a long time (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN [non]. Re: ``9280 02/02 2328 (TWH) TAIWAN, Family Radio, em chinese, desde Yunlin, com 100 kW, tradicional programa de perguntas e respostas, QRM de jamming, 43433 (Jorge Freitas - Feira de Santana BA - Brasil) What kind of jamming? I didn`t think the Chicom bothered to jam YFR (Glenn Hauser, DXLD)`` Glenn, quanto ao jamming da Family Radio em chinês é o som parecido com o antigo pica pau da década de 70, não era contínuo, mas frequentemente interrompia a transmissão. 73, (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Like the old woodpecker. In that case I think it was some ute QRM and not jamming (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** TRINIDAD & TOBAGO [and non]. TRINIDAD GOVERNMENT TO OWN REGIONAL NEWSPAPERS AND RADIO STATIONS AFTER BAILOUT http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/article.php?news_id=13985 (via Dale Park, HI, DXLD) ** U K. BBC "On Air" Vs "World Agenda" magazine --- After stop of the BBC "On Air" magazine, now BBC World Service send the 28 pages "World Agenda" (A4 Size) magazine to their listeners / Government / diplomatic services / Media / culture / Business and trade / Development agencies / NGOs and Education / research people. To request a free copy of World Agenda or confirm your mailing details complete the form in the following link http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/worldagenda/registration_form.shtml (Jaisakthivel, ADXC, Chennai, India, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. 12150, VOA at 1454 Feb 4 with editorial about Richard Holbrooke, envoy, and clip of Sec. State Clinton. Hard to copy tnx to CODAR x 2. This is via Iranawila, Sri Lanka, 250 kW at 322 degrees. I cringe whenever I hear an English-speaker pronounce `envoy` half in French, half in English. Make up your mind! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOA Spanish, Greenville 15590, with Saturday morning music show Feb 7, outro at 1358 as ``Éxitos Latinoamericanos llegó a Vds. vía satélite e internet, www.voanoticias.com`` So at VOA, shortwave is not even worth mentioning as another delivery platform. Off at 1359:30* without any sign-off announcement. It`s also nonsensical to have a website URL with `news` in it when you also play music. But that`s becoming common: a local TV station which only spends a small fraxion of the 168-hour week on news, such as KWTV OKC, brands itself as ``News 9`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. ARMED FORCES RADIO MUTATES AWAY February 3, 2009: A U.S. military tradition is about to be killed off by the iPod. Since World War II, the U.S. Armed Forces Radio (AFR) has broadcast to the troops, no matter where they are, using local transmitters and troops as announcers. But declining ratings, caused by iPods and changing tastes, has resulted in massive changes in what will be heard. Surveys and focus groups were conducted among the military audience, and it was found that a lot of the current programming was not well liked, or listened to. Troops would tune in for the news, and then go back to their MP3 players for music and podcasts. Another change that has sort of crept up on everyone is the fact that over half the troops are married, and most have kids. There are more families overseas, who are also AFR listeners, and they have different preferences than the troops. . . . . .Long term, AFR will mutate into AFN (Armed Forces Network), that will live on cell phones and the Internet, not via radio broadcasts. AFR will become a fond memory, like the base newspaper and many other military customs that have disappeared the last half century. http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htmoral/articles/20090203.aspx (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) It`s already been known as AFN for ages (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. KJES, 11715, inaudible around 1405 Feb 4, but by 1457 it had infaded with G signal, but very undermodulated, YL solo. This correlates with sporadic E opening on HF if not VHF, which during the hour had also brought WWCR from nothing to inbooming on 15825. Once again, it seems these HF Es openings are quite broad geographically, unlike when they hit VHF (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. BILL LEONARD AWARD TO TED RANDALL http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/02/04/10610/?nc=1 The award is nice but the picture is rather scary! (Ted Randall, Radio Disclosure, QSO Radio Show http://www.tedrandall.com Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Sad to say, but NPR occasionally botches their news on the hour. Usually around midnight when I get my final news fix of the day at 0500, 0600 or 0700 UT, I have noticed problems like playing the wrong clip and then trying to get out of it, throwing off the timing for the optional rigid cutaway at 4 minutes past the hour, for the benefit of affiliates who think 3 minutes of news is plenty! But everything went wrong Feb 6 at 0500 as heard on KOSU. Automatically joined network at 0501 --- silence. After a minute or so, non-classical fill music cut in, and then abruptly joined news in progress, voiced by Shay Stevens, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2101249 but there was background noise, papers rustling, she blew some lines and may have been out of breath, but doggedly kept going. One can only guess at what catastrophe had happened in the studio. Totally amateurish-sounding. Dirty little secret: some commercial network news on the hour is not live at all, but recorded a few minutes earlier to ensure there are no such problems, or if there are, then can do it over live and hope for the best. Perhaps NPR needs to adopt this tactic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. BU SELLS WRNI FOR $2 MILLION -- RHODE ISLAND PUBLIC RADIO TO OWN, OPERATE NPR STATION The sale of radio station WRNI by Boston University to Rhode Island Public Radio became final earlier this month, ending a multiyear process and marking the first transaction completed in accordance with a 2005 Rhode Island law requiring the attorney general to protect the state’s charitable assets. “Now, finally, we can say that WRNI is owned and operated by Rhode Islanders,” says Joe O’Connor, the station’s general manager since 2006. The agreement gives WRNI, Rhode Island’s first National Public Radio news station, administrative and financial independence from Boston University and its WBUR Group. The station, formerly WRCP 1290AM, was acquired by WBUR and BU for $2 million in 1998. . . http://www.bu.edu/today/2009/01/29/bu-sells-wrni-2-million (via Artie Bigley, OH, Feb 3, DXLD) ** U S A. 1560 kHz with booming dominant loud & clear signal in sports talk, discussing merits of Monday night football hosts, Feb 7 at 0649 UT, phone 1-800-878-PLAY. Missed hourtop ID if any but at 0706, got program name ``Sports Overnight America``, and mentioned several affiliates, including KTRB-860, but not 1560. Would normally tune out this nonsense, but something is amiss. Strongly suspect KGOW Bellaire/Houston TX, which has a 50 kW rig for daytime only, but which got out very well a few months ago during a hurricane on emergency usage. Searching on S.O.A., one gets to this which does show KGOW as an affiliate: http://www.sportsbyline.com/affil.htm And KGOW`s own program schedule, ``lineup`` calls it ``Midnight Sports Byline`` starting at 9 pm most nights with no details of exactly what`s on until 7 am local CT: http://www.1560thegame.com/media/?page_id=150 This signal was huge, and by comparison, XERF-1570 was buried in QRM. So was KGOW running day power and tower? Inspecting FCC info at http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/amq?list=0&hpat=2&facid=17389 --- Licensed nite power is 100 watts, but this was no 100 watts; no point in even looking at the direxional pattern for that. But also has a CP for 15 kW at night, with peak at 145 degrees, nulls at 45, 100, 295 and 345 degrees --- we are about 345 degrees from Houston. The 50 kW day pattern, however, has a broad peak from 340 to 50 degrees, centered on 15 degrees, so it sure looks like this was in use --- and no hurricanes anywhere near. If I were one of the four other Texans on 1560 {adhering to licensed feeble night power}, or KOCY Oklahoma City, not a trace of which was audible here, I`d be blowing the whistle on KGOW (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I believe KGOW is non directional at night and I don't think they've built out their CP; it took them forever to get to 50 kW as it is. The 50 kW is directional, with 6 towers and sends a huge lobe N/NE. Blowing the whistle? That's a bit harsh, why don't you call the station first? Don't assume because it prevents you from DXing that it was done intentionally. I've called stations recently when I noticed a problem, and one in particular in Mississippi was extremely aprpeciative and glad I mentioned something to them as they didn't know (Paul Walker, NE, NRC-AM via DXLD) This is in reply both to Paul Walker and Ron Gitschier, who are not on the same lists: Every time some station gets caught cheating, and someone exposes them on it (in this case a lot of someones as far away as Scotland), someone else comes back that we should treat them with kid gloves, or do responsible monitoring of their own station for them. If I had some personal connexion with someone at the station, that might be different. It does not prevent me from DXing. I had no burning need to hear anything else on 1560 at the moment. I am not KOCY or one of the other Texans on 1560, adhering to licensed feeble night power, and it is not my job to inform KGOW about what they are fully responsible for doing, or letting happen unintentionally. As for phoning automated stations in the middle of the night trying to reach a real human being, I have better things to do. Anyhow, checking next night, UT Feb 8 at 0222, back to normal multi-station jumble on 1560, no KGOW heard (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, List: While the KGOW situation seems likely to be what is speculated - I think a simple phone call of "Hey you might want to check your (circuit werks sicon / Burke / Sine Systems) switch or something. Last night you were really tearing up the ether in xxx QTH - vice mobilizing the feds may do the trick. Maybe wait for the station ID before calling for selfish DX reasons... (snicker). Now if they were a habitual offender - sure blow the whistle loud and clear. I won't say you method is wrong; just trying to look it from all sides. No station deserves unintentional interference. Somebody may have absent-mindedly left the transmitter in local vs remote - could be a myriad of things; and the folks who operate the station probably would appreciate the heads-up. Even though they ought to turn a radio on every now and again to check on their baby. I do, but I don't listen 24/7. I know that on that rare occasion things happen - and that in and of itself wouldn't make me a hardened criminal. I don't ever approve operating out of parameters. That will just bite you in the hind end sooner or later, attracting undesired results. Just a view from the cheap seats (Ron, Gitschier, ABDX via DXLD) Meant to say no station deserves interference from a breach of diligence (Ron Gitschier, Palm Coast FL, ibid.) Although the current episode may be an accident, I'm pretty sure they are habitual cheaters. When I was in Houston in Feb 2004 for my dad's cancer diagnosis, they were still a daytimer. They actually had brokered programming scheduled 4 or 5 hours past sunset every night (they had no FM or other // station as far as I could tell) and left their carrier on all night to boot. The FCC was oblivious to these apparent flagrant violations, and with Clouseau-like skill, deftly awarded them with a permit for night operation a year or two later. 73, (Tim Hall, CA, ABDX via DXLD) I`m not saying we need to monitor a station for the owners, but unless we can pretty much, without a doubt, prove frivolous negligence on the licensees part, we can't always assume the worst, yet we do. Just today, rather then report them to the FCC, I contacted the licensee of a 2 tower AM DA that lights on both towers were out, because I KNEW it wasn't done on purpose (Paul Walker, NE, IRCA via DXLD) Glenn, We have been through this several times in the past. I have always felt that the term "cheating" should NEVER be used in regard to a suspicion that a station might be on high power on the lists. First of all, it does not go over well using that term with many engineers and it does not look well on us. Plus there are many other terms that could be used. Second, we have no idea why a station may be on high power, testing equip, a glitch in the timer, or whatever. Also in some cases, it could be reception conditions that we hear a station. Even though we cannot control what people do, but calling a station in the middle of the night doesn't help either, as you stated. Maybe a quiet call asking for the CE the next day, as he/she may not know about a glitch in their timer. But I wish people would quit using that term on the lists. It just does not look good. I don't want to start a flame war here, but every time I see that term used, it drives me up the wall. For the record, I know of several engineers who see our postings. They do not directly sub to the lists, but the postings show up elsewhere. Often within a few minutes (Patrick Martin, Co Moderator, IRCA reflector, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Back to the original night: KGOW Bellaire TX is poking through WQEW here tonight at 2130 EST [0230 UT], likely indicating day power operation. Sports talk format (Barry McLarnon VE3JF Ottawa, ON, UT Feb 7, IRCA via DXLD) Received here in Scotland at 0101 UT with fair signal (Paul Crankshaw, Troon, Scotland, UT Feb 7, IRCA via DXLD) This was LOCAL-like here in southern Missouri Friday night with sports-talk around 10:30 pm Central (0430 UT Sat 7 Feb). Are you sure there WAS anyone else on the channel, hi? Assuming KGOW, they had to have been running on their 50kW blowtorch last night (Randy Stewart, Battlefield MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks for the tip on KGOW. Good solid signal here, almost nothing from R. Disney in New York. KGOW with good ID at 03:05 CST. Signal is much stronger & clearer than when heard during hurricane Ike last September (Tom Jasinski, Shorewood, IL, R8A & Quantum loop, IRCA via DXLD) KGOW operated off of their daytime power for a few nights after hurricane Ike. They are a regular, and very strong daytime fixture here in the Dallas area. The strongest Houston signal during the daytime up here, almost sounding local between deep fades that characterize these frequencies in the daytime (Bruce Carter, Feb 7, ABDX via DXLD) I guess you are speaking here of winter daytime skywave, which should diminish progressively as equinox oncomes (gh, DXLD) According to Radio-Locator, they have a Construction Permit granted on 15-Jan-2009 that allows them to operate with 15,000 watts at night, but with a VERY narrow directional pattern to their southeast. Their normal nighttime power is 100 watts with a relatively non-directional pattern. Maybe they kicked up their power, but forgot to switch patterns?? 73, (Steve N5WBI Ponder, Houston TX, Feb 7, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. ECONOMIC DOWNTURN'S EFFECT ON RADIO Radio is indeed getting hit hard in the present economy. The company I work for [Salem] has laid off 10% of its employees in the last three months, and all employees have taken a 5% pay reduction as of Feb 1, except for upper management who have taken a 10% reduction. Still, it is better than letting go 1850 employees as Clear Channel did last month, with more rumored to come as on Feb 20. Radio stocks are at their lowest point ever. All of this is, of course, public knowledge (including the info on the company I work for). Still, it's not just the economy. It's the technology. As has been noted, fewer and fewer young people are listening to radio. I can understand that. Why would you want to listen to a mode of technology in which one must listen to what someone else wants you to hear when you can carry around a small device that will hold an entire music library of music you like? Logic alone tells you that eventually the latter will win the battle. And that can be extended to satellite radio, as well. The comments about local programming are right on the mark. But, I would take it even further. Local programming without innovative programming is still at a disadvantage. With few exceptions, everyone does the same formats in the same way. Radio has become generic. You can hear the same formatics in Minneapolis that I hear in Philadelphia. If radio is to survive, it must reinvent itself, whether it be AM or FM. It will always have the "one-way" medium disadvantage, as opposed to technologies that are interactive. It must find new ways of presenting what it historically does best: entertaining. Without the relatable, local entertaining factor, radio will continue to have additional nails hammered into its coffin day by day, week by week, year by year, as people flee to more flexible media. Radio has to give people what their mp3 players can't. As for me, I'm an old fart like a lot of you. I am 57 and was raised primarily on AM. I remember great stations of the past - WNBC, WNEW, WKBW, WCFL, and so on. I even had the privilege of working for some great heritage AMs like WNEW and WPTR. But, creatures like me (us?) are fast becoming the exception to the rule. I still listen to AM, although not as much as I used to: except for DXing, of course. I work for two AM stations, and as an engineer I prefer doing AM to FM. It is still the more challenging technology - particularly in the aspect of directional antennas. But, even I can see the writing on the wall, and I don't like what it says. 73, (Rene' Tetro, PA, Feb 7, IRCA via DXLD) What I find bizarre is that, despite those massive layoffs, Clear Channel has added AM IBOC on no fewer than five stations (WNIO, WARF, KXEW, WFXJ, WGIN) so far this year. Granted that the IBOC conversions were probably in progress before the latest downturn, but I still think they have their priorities badly skewed. The problem is not the delivery system - it's the content, stupid! (Barry McLarnon VE3JF Ottawa, ON, ibid.) One of my locals, KFRU, just fired the rest of the news staff who hadn't already been let go, along with the meteorologist. Some trivia: KFRU's alumni includes Chuck Roberts, now at CNN Headline News, and Skip Caray. Jim Bohannon tried to get a job there back in the day but was turned down. I wanted to go into radio from about age 12 but wound up in magazine journalism instead (Tim Kridel, ibid.) Tim, I think back on the first radio station I had connections with, WALL in Middletown, NY. I spent a lot of time "hanging out" there when I was a young teenager in the 60s, and worked there in the 70s. This was a small class IV 1 kW-day/250 watt-night station on 1340 in a city of about 22,000 and a county of under 100,000. The station had a three person new department, plus a sports director. And, of course, all local disc jockeys. And the station made money hand over fist. The joke was that all the station had to do to make money was remember to turn the transmitter on in the morning. And in Orange County it had to directly compete with the big-guns in New York City (and even regularly beat WABC locally in the ratings). WALL was owned by R. Peter Straus at the time, who also owned Top-40 WMCA in New York City. Later the station was sold to Oroco Communications, formed by Jim O'Grady who had been the general manager at WOR. These were radio people who almost instinctively knew what worked and what didn't. And, they new that a strong local identity was key. Strong local personalities and local news presence drove the station. What the current crop of radio corporations has forgotten is the audience. I can remember a radio owner in the 70s, who cut his teeth writing copy for NBC in the 40s and 50s, telling me, "The station has to stick out like a sore thumb." It has to be distinctive. You have to give the audience a reason to want to listen. As radio's "piece of the media pie" gets swallowed up by newer, "sexier" technologies, this is going be increasingly important to keep the industry viable. When Mike Bloomberg bought WNEW in 1992 he gave an interview to the New York Times. Something he said about the industry has always stuck with me. He said, "Often people can't see the forest for the trees. Radio people are definitely tree people." He was right. 73, (Rene' Tetro, ibid.) ** U S A. REPORT OF KNAU'S DEMISE GREATLY EXAGGERATED --- NAU administrators affirm that they are not considering completely eliminating financial support for KNAU. The station will be subject to some state budget cuts and survive. KNAU is largely self-funded and a great example of a successful public-private partnership. Each dollar that NAU provides the station is leveraged to five dollars through membership, underwriting, and grant revenue. As more listeners and businesses support KNAU, we become a stronger and more widely-used service. Sincerely - John Stark (KNAU newsletter, Flagstaff AZ, Feb 5 via DXLD) ** U S A. COUNTY COUNCIL REVERSES RADIO TOWER RULING --- Council discounts studies' claims of health risk --- By David Chircop, Herald Writer, Published: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 EVERETT [Washington] -- The Snohomish County Council in an appeals hearing Tuesday voted 3-2 to overturn a hearing examiner's October ruling that halted construction on two controversial AM radio towers south of Snohomish. Council members who reversed Examiner Barbara Dykes' decision said she cited studies that lacked substantial evidence to prove that radio frequency emitted from the radio antennae could pose a public health risk. "I certainly can't find significant evidence to support the hearing examiner's decision," County Councilman Dave Gossett said. The decision, which may be appealed to Snohomish Superior Court, opens a path for S-R Broadcasting Inc., the owners of KRKO (1380 AM), to open a new full-power AM radio station to broadcast on a frequency of 1520 AM. . . http://heraldnet.com/article/20090128/NEWS01/701289798 (via Artie Bigley, OH, Feb 3, DXLD) KRKO-1380 IBOC? Off the NE EWE, there is a "Very" strong carrier at S9+45-50 DB on 1380 and horrible IBOC hash on 1390. Cannot tell on 1370 as I have a local, KAST. Anyone in the Puget Sound can check? Thanks. 73, (Patrick Martin, Seaside OR, 0551 UT Feb 4, IRCA via DXLD) Hi Patrick, I'm in northeast Seattle, and I certainly hear the IBOC hash, but KRKO's modulation is very low. Carrier sounds stronger than usual, though, and I know they were planning on using IBOC. Their signal isn't sensational here, but I can't imagine who else would be doing IBOC on 1380. – (Rick Lewis, ibid.) Patrick, I checked on the SDR-IQ, and the display is showing IBOC hash on 1370 and 1390. The IBOC carriers are about about the right level to be originating from them, and they change strength by the same amount as KRKO when I switch antennas. Your suspicions appear to be correct, but I'll try to check tomorrow during the day to confirm them. I'm not getting a strong carrier there, just KRKO at S9+10 with bits of other stuff in the background (Bruce Portzer, WA, ibid.) Thanks Bruce & Rick, The signal is down now to S9+15, but it was "Very" strong for a while. It looks like they are testing the new 50 kW, IBOC and all. The earlier signal was probably the 34 kW ND I would guess, maybe 50 kW ND? It was stronger than I get KIRO or KJR!!! Oh great, another IBOC generator (Patrick Martin, 0623 UT Feb 4, ibid.) It looks like the power boost for 1380 has become a reality, unfortunately, plus more IBOC noise and 1390 has been a good channel logging Maine & SC and few years back (Patrick Martin, ibid.) What amazes me is just how strong their IBOC was compared to their modulation on 1380. At times I could hear the carrier, but had trouble hearing what was being said, due to low modulation and other signals on the frequency. Yet the IBOC was pounding away loudly especially on 1370 (Rick Lewis, ibid.) It sounded like they were on with high power, but low modulation. I guess the IBOC hash gets out as well even with the modulation is low (Patrick Martin, ibid.) ** U S A. NAB SUES FCC OVER LPFM http://prometheusradio.org/rahrahrah (Bennett Kobb, Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Very enlightening item (gh) ** YEMEN. Republic of Yemen Radio, Sana`a, heard on 21 Jan with news in English at 1830-1835 on 9780.15 kHz, SIO 242. Possible weak parallel on 6005, but not certain (Dave Kenny, Feb BDXC-UK Communication via DXLD) ** ZANZIBAR. 11735, Radio Tanzania-Zanzibar, 1800-1811, [Sat] Feb 7, English Spice FM news. Into Swahili talk at 1811. Local pop music. Not as strong as usual but audio much better. Clear and clean audio without the distortion or wobble (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. ZBC JOURNALISTS PLACED ON EU TARGETED SANCTIONS LIST Six more Zimbabwean journalists were slapped with European Union (EU) targeted sanctions on the 26th January according to the latest list published from Brussels. Recent additions include ZBC chief correspondent Reuben Barwe, diplomatic correspondent Judith Makwanya, senior producer Musoro Wegomo Mukosi, board chairman Justin Mutasa and Acting Chief Executive Happison Muchechetere, who will not be able to travel to any EU country. The targeted sanctions which include a freeze on assets were introduced several years ago to target individuals aiding and abetting the brutal regime of Robert Mugabe. Barwe, Makwanya and Mukosi were accused of whipping up violence during the government-orchestrated terror campaign before and during the 2008 elections. According to the list Muchechetere and Mutasa, who chairs the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings and is Chief Executive of Zimbabwe Newspapers, (owners of the Herald and Chronicle newspapers among others) are accused of having ties to the Government and being involved in activities that seriously undermine freedom of expression and the media in Zimbabwe. Also on the list is Pikirai Deketeke who chairs the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe and is editor of the official pro-government newspaper - The Herald. He also has ties to the regime, which further compromised freedom of expression in the media. Last year Herald journalists Caesar Zvayi and Munyaradzi Huni were the first journalists to make it on the list. The EU said the measures were being extended for another 12 months and took into account the situation, including the violence organised and committed by the regime, and the continued blocking of the implementation of the unity deal signed by ZANU PF and the MDC last year. Previous additions on the list include businessmen like John Bredenkamp, who is said to have provided, through his companies, financial and other support to the regime. Sekesai Makwavarara the former opposition mayor who later joined ZANU PF is also on the list, and is accused of ‘bearing wide responsibility for serious violations of human rights.’ Other key people in the army, police, intelligence, media, political circles and business are on the EU list which has 203 people and 40 companies aligned to Mugabe. This week Mugabe tried to use the African Union summit to lobby for a removal of the targeted sanctions, but western countries said they would remain in place until ‘real progress’ was made in sharing power with the opposition. Many people are still suspicious of Mugabe’s sincerity in the unity government, convinced he wants to use the MDC to win international acceptance for his rogue regime, and relieve pressure on his embattled stay in power (SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news via David Pringle-Wood, Feb 5, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 3623, Feb 4 at 1403, open carrier with fading, when NK and PNG were in on lower frequencies, so possibly Indonesian or some other Asian broadcaster of interest meriting further checking tho nothing listed here. Or just a closer ham (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This was probably Japanese Meteo which has operated on or near this frequency for ages. It comes in here in our local evenings (Robin VK7RH Harwood, Tasmania, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3622.5 kHz are Kyodo NEWS and Meteo Fax (F3C) of JMH 5 kW via Nazaki transmitter site, Ibaragi-prefecture of NTT (Nipon Tel&Tel). These other frequency of JMH on 7795 and 13988.5 kHz. JMH change a TX site this year in Kagoshima (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, ibid.) 3623, open carrier again Feb 6 at 1355. Following my previous log, Robin Harwood in Tasmania says it`s probably Japanese meteo; S. Hasegawa says JMH, a 5 kW NTT transmitter at Nazaki which carries Kyodo News and Meteo Fax, on 3622.5. Maybe I have caught it during idle moments, but this time I measured to be sure and it was on 3623.0, or within 0.1 of there (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4750, 0045-0100 Feb 8, Noted a threshold signal here with a person in steady unidentified language. Signal faded in to poorest a few times, but not well enough to copy anything. I'd like to think this was Bangladesh since that's all I can find listed on this freq for this period? Signal faded to only a carrier by 0100. Needless to say, CODAR didn't help with the copy (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston, Florida, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6074, Feb 6 at 1400 V/CQ marker started during R. Rossii closing timesignal on 6075, and was strong enough to reconfirm tactical ID as 8GAL, probably Russia too. Last year this was not heard after Feb 28 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6092v, carrier oscillating making variable hets with weak 6090 and 6095 signals, Feb 4 at 1433; trying to pull some audio, but off already at 1434. One guess: Mérida 6105v malfunxioning (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 8000, with regular beeps on modulated carrier you could take for timesignals except there were 36 of them per minute, and no marker on the minute, Feb 6 at 1419. I believe there used to be something here from Japan (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Saludos amigos, monitoreen rápido los 9630 kHz. Que emisora es esa, se escucha toda saturada y corrida de frecuencia (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Apartado Postal 488, Código Postal 6001-A, Barcelona, Venezuela, 0156 UT Feb 8, condiglist yg via DXLD) Did not see this until several hours later. As reported in DXLD, two stations have previously been putting spurs around here: CBCNQ 9625 and Brasília 9665 relaying CRI (gh, DXLD) José Elias e colegas, Não sei se é a mesma emissão, mas agora às 0228 UT nessa frequência sintonizei a CNR(Central PBS) em chinês, muito forte, mas sem saturação. SINPO 55444. Rx Sony ICF SW 7600 GR, com um cabo coaxial esticado pela janela. 73's (Arthur Antonio Raimundo, Araçatuba SP Brasil, Latitude -21 13' 04'' Longitude 50 25' 55'', radioescutas yg via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ WRTH VIA AMAZON ARRIVED Well, what do you know. Received the 2009 WRTH from Amazon on February 4, 2009. Ordered, I believe, back in October. Should have gotten at least 1/2 off since there already is a WRTH update. 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Krist, VA, Feb 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sorry, but as a former editor of WRTH I fail to see the logic here. WRTH now offers free updates (which I always wanted to do, but I was never given the budget to do it), and yet you expect to get it half price? Many people in Third World countries have to pay a lot more in real terms and have to wait a lot longer to receive their copies. And many of them are not able to take advantage of Internet updates. I guess you ordered from Amazon because it was cheaper already than ordering direct from the WRTH website, which would certainly have ensured earlier delivery. I guess Amazon requested surface mail shipment rather than air shipment, which is a lot cheaper and is one of the reasons they can offer the book at a lower price. In fact, I just looked at the Amazon website and, because the pound has tumbled in value, the 2009 edition is $23.10 but the 2008 edition is still on sale at $26.95 !! All the years we printed WRTH in the States, we had very few complaints about late delivery from US customers, but plenty from Europe. Now the situation is reversed. I always told people that it depended on where they ordered from. You can get it quicker if you cut out the middleman. But the fact is, you normally get what you pay for (Andy Sennitt, Netherlands, Feb 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Andy, 1/2 price from Amazon since the WRTH is late. I've had people email me from other locations telling me they've had the WRTH 2009 for months. Yes ago when I created and published the "Shortwave Listeners Program Guide" EEB in Vienna sold my publication. EEB's mark up was 40%. Plenty of room to offer a "discount". Perhaps, I really don't know, this is how Amazon gives book discounts. They wait until the item is old, they buy it at a great discount and then it is available? I know DeepDiscount had it less than Amazon. Don't know if the WRTH was in stock or not at DeepDiscount. 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Krist, ibid.) No, that's not how Amazon works based on my experience, both as an author and a publisher, of selling tens of thousands of books through Amazon. It sounds like the problem is on the WRTH end; maybe late shipment? I got a smile out of your mention of EEB. By far, they were the most dishonest SWL/DX vendor I ever encountered, and I got a good laugh back in 1995 when a federal jurt returned a couple of felony convictions against Dick Robinson (owner of EEB) for defrauding the U.S. government. The karnic boomerang hits its target!! (Harry Helms W5HLH, Corpus Christi, TX EL17 http://harryhelmsblog.blogspot.com ibid.) Hi Glenn, I am aware of, and share, the concern about these delays. I have been chasing this since the beginning of January. As I have explained to many WRTH readers, the books reached the Port of New York on December 16. They were trucked from there in a sealed container (so it did not have to go to a warehouse to be broken down) direct to the distribution center in Virginia. They should, and could easily have been, released from there before Christmas. For some reason they did not get released *officially* until January 15. I think they were actually released on February 2 as they arrived at Grove and Universal (and, I assume, Amazon.com) on February 3 - by UPS courier! This is the worst distribution performance ever in any country for any edition of WRTH. We were delivering in Mongolia and Christmas Island long before these books were finally despatched. The failure to deliver to Amazon has also had an impact on readers and clubs all over the world who ordered from Amazon.com or from websites who do so. The new owners of Billboard (Random House) do not want to carry books like WRTH and so next year we will have a completely different distribution arrangement. Best wishes (Nicholas Hardyman, Publisher, World Radio TV Handbook, Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ HIGH FREQUENCIES DEBATED IN TUNIS --- ASBU The Tunisian capital, Tunis, hosted February 2, 2009, the winter session of the High Frequencies Coordination Congress (HFCC), with the participation of 130 experts, representing 30 countries and 50 broadcasting organizations. Slaheddine Maaoui, Director General of the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) and Tunisia's Minister in charge of Communication and Relations with the Chamber of Deputies and the Chamber of Advisors, Rafaa Dkhil, co-chaired the opening session. Proceedings are expected to go on in the tourist resort of Hammamet till February 6. In his opening statement, the Director General welcomed participants and Mr. Dkhil, whose presence, he said, "reflects the high interest the Government of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali puts in ASBU's activities and programs and the support it provides to the Union's projects and achievements." He also praised the active participation by ASBU and its member organizations in HFCC, which allowed them to choose the most appropriate broadcasting channels and helped provide better service to their Arab and international audiences. Such a participation in the coordination process has also been economically efficient. He called on even more broadcasters to take part in the process. Mr. Maaoui said that ASBU is looking forward to digital broadcasting and is striving to encourage all its members to adopt the upgrade from the analogical system to the digital one. The conference President, Oldrich Cip (Czech Republic), reviewed the rich history of cooperation between HFCC and ASBU in the field of coordinating high broadcasting frequencies. He stressed the importance of such an effort to achieve better broadcasting results and avoid interference through improving work equipment, especially in Africa and Asia. He called on all broadcasters to use HFCC's common database, now available on its website. Minister Rafaa Dkhil highlighted the importance of coordinating radio shortwave broadcasting, especially that such a technology is one of the most important means to disseminate the news worldwide, along with home broadcasting satellite. "Although shortwave radio broadcasting needs no advance authorization; he said; international coordination is required because it allows each station to broadcast with no interference from other stations." http://www.asbu.net/www/en/articles.asp?artid=77 (photos on site) (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ 'THE LARGEST RADIO TRANSMITTER IN THE WORLD' A 1950 newsreel movie showing the opening the of a new 1 megawatt transmitter for the US Navy can be seen on YouTube. The YouTube video titled - 'The Largest Radio Transmitter in the World' 1950 newsreel - can be seen here: http://www.southgatearc.org/news/february2009/largest_transmitter_in_the_world.htm (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Jim Creek, Washington. WTFK?? What`s the call? This one-minute newsreel gives no such details. VLF, of course. Some of these use very long cables strung across a canyon as antenna, or even buried cables. Yet shows a string of self-supporting radio towers. Seems I recall it was since decommissioned? (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) 24.8 kHz, NLK: http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/c3i/vlf.htm The Google results page indicates that it was a site in Virginia that has been closed down and replaced by a new installation. And of course those who wrote the script for the Newsreel bawler did not know that these 1000 kW were nothing unique for a transmitter. Maybe for RCA, since another megawatter I'm aware of (Erching near Munich) had been built by Continental instead (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) That info from 1998y shows power as only 192 kW (gh, DXLD) Might this have been physically largest, because of component sizes at VLF? (David Coursey, ibid.) I don't think so. The 1000 kW VLF transmitter at Kalbe/Milde, known as "Goliath", sat in a transmitter hall of 14 x 26.5 metres size, and the transmitter itself can not be distinguished from a LW/MW broadcasting transmitter of the same power by its optical appearance, without a closer look at details. The real giant thing was the antenna, as it is the case with other VLF sites as well. No pictures of Goliath itself appear to be online (only of the remains of this installation), but here is a coil of another VLF transmitter: http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/c/criggion_radio/index2.shtml And another old VLF transmitter with tube PA stages: http://www.hawkins.pair.com/nss.shtml Another detail: Transradio offers VLF transmitters "on request" just as a variant of their TRAM series, well known for MW (TRAM) and LW (TRAM-L) broadcasting as well as LW utility (TRAM-LC) stations. Or should I say VLW? Medium waves, long waves, very long waves -- in German VLF is indeed called Längstwelle = "longest waves" (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) IMAGES FROM OVERLOAD DUE TO MISCONNECTED BALUN Re 9-011, UNIDENTIFIED 8760: Olá Glenn e Colegas. Descobri o motivo das imagens em meu Degen. No domingo eu estava tentando identificar algumas emissoras em OT que estavam chegando com sinal baixo e muito ruído, tentei diversos baluns e outros procedimentos e os ruídos continuavam. Aí inverti as pontas do balum 9:1 e os ruídos diminuíram, acontece que eu esqueci de voltar a posição correta. Esse foi o problema das imagens nos 30 metros e pela manhã de segunda feira liguei o rádio e me deparei com diversas imagens de uma rádio local em diversas faixas, pensei: o degen pifou :-( Desmontei a antena, troquei de lugar, direção, aterramento, angulo de inclinação e nada, apenas pequena melhora. Foi aí que olhando já desalentado para o rádio percebi que o balum estava invertido, coloquei no lugar correto e.... UFA, tudo voltou ao normal, isso me custou um atraso considerável em minhas atividades profissionais. Bem, resolvido o problema as imagens sumiram, é como o Glenn disse: a inversão do balum provocou uma sobrecarga de sinal na entrada do degen. 73, (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia, Brasil, DX LISTENING DIGEST) THE CONSUMERS ARE NOW IN CHARGE by Mark Durenberger, 02.02.2009 [illustrated with author in shorts in front of VLA, irrelevant] Commenters on the state of the radio industry are passionate and engaging, striving to energize management and their troops in the creation of new ideas. Some may miss the point. The ultimate reality is that radio will have to totally reinvent itself. The concept of "top-down" broadcasting from a radio tower to passive listeners in real time is no longer relevant. It's now dangerous to buy a station for stick value and do cash-flow analysis and projected ROI based on "expected sales." Consumers ("listeners") are now in charge. They seek content they can manipulate; delivered when they want it, in the form they want it, and containing only what they want. Radio stations operating in real-time can't do this. Multiple HD Radio channels might provide limited content choice but can't sort, prioritize or manipulate content to the continued satisfaction of their constituents. . . http://www.rwonline.com/article/73976 (via Harry Helms, ABDX via DXLD) There are still some stations that are nearly all local - like WSNJ- 1240 in Bridgeton NJ, or WMIK-560 in Middlesboro KY but they are rare. There are very few such stations here on the east coast. It simply is cheaper to pipe in your programming rather than pay to sit a warm body in front on a mic for a 6-hour shift, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That's the simple economic truth of the matter, which is why many stations can't afford to go all local. You have to find talent and pay for it and keep it, and that means benefits and health care and what- not, and that gets expensive. I wish more could/would go all local (and I'm looking at you, WDOV-1410 in Dover, Delaware, which is a CC station) but I just don't see it happening, especially with those stations run by Clear Channel and other conglomerates that care only for the bottom line instead of actually serving their community. If the FCC is going to mandate some form of localism, it needs to apply to FM stations even more than it does AM. One thing it could hopefully accomplish is to kill off many of the translators groups like Calvary Chapel or some universities litter the FM band with, which would be a good thing. Maybe we would see a decline in voice tracking and out-of-town personalities as well. In my opinion, FM is much more of a wasteland than AM is when it comes to lack of local programming. But how many stations would a revived Fairness Doctrine/local programming rules kill off? (John Cereghin, Smyrna DE, ABDX via DXLD) See also CANADA: CKDH PHASING OUT JAMMING WITH `INTERFEROMETER` Recently I heard a very interesting storey on Radio Liberty Russian service in the programme “Your letters” hosted by Anatoliy Strelyany. The storey has been written by an old lady, Albina Sats. I’ll retell it to you briefly. “Before the War, boys had mass enthusiasm for a radio hobby. At the time it was very hard to get by somebody subscription to the magazine “Radiofront”. My neighbour – a nice, clever boy – presented me a homemade valve receiver, and as a gift I arranged him subscription via a relative of Polina Zhemchuzhina, the wife of Viacheslav Molotov, the then Foreign Minister of the USSR. So, friendship was started between me and this boy, named Igor G. Somewhere in the 40s, Igor invented a method how to listen to the shortwave Western stations – BBC, the Voice of America – through the jammers. He named his invention “interferometer”. He had some antennas in the attic of our house, signals from which he somewhat put together. The signals from the neighbouring jammers occurred in the contrary phases, and were annulled, but those from the remote stations were added and heard practically without jamming. When Igor studied at the 9-th form of a secondary school, he was arrested. His mother died after his arrest. I asked Polina Zhemchuzhina, who was later arrested too, for help. Igor was released from prison but not allowed to live in Moscow. He sent me a letter. Sixty years later, he found me. Now he lives in Canada, in a little university town on the ocean coast. He teaches the theoretical course of quantum physics. He is considered an authority in this field of science.” Such was the storey told by Anatoliy Streliany in his programme “Your letters” on the Russian service of Radio Liberty (Olex Yegorov, RUI Whole World on the Radio Dial Jan 24, via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see DENMARK; GUATEMALA; INDIA; KALININGRAD ++++++++++++++++++++ ABOUT THE NEW ANALOG CUTOFF DATE I wonder just how this "piecemeal" approach to the analog switch-off (in which stations MAY shut down analog on the original February date, but don't have to absolutely until June) is going to work. Probably not too well. I have a feeling there is going to be some confusion, quite a few conflicts, and some hard feelings all around. Take one local case in point. In the Orlando-Daytona Beach market, CBS affiliate WKMG (channel 6 analog) has its DTV transmitter on (out of core) channel 58. They were approved to move to channel 26 on Transition Day. They have been running both analog and DTV on reduced power, prepping the transmitter in anticipation of the big move. Whoa, but hold on there: Univisión affiliate WVEN is on analog channel 26 (DTV 49). WKMG's move to their permanent channel hinges on WVEN shutting down their analog. Suppose WKMG is all set to go on February 17th, but WVEN says, "Ah, we're not quite ready; we're going to wait until the new June cutoff date." In essence, WVEN can then hold WKMG "hostage" and leave them in limbo, unable to finalize their DTV plan. Locally, that seems to be the only conflict, but I know there are dozens of other similar situations around the country. The whole point of the transition was to do the final switch all at once, in a smooth and coordinated fashion. This new plan, with the option of making the switch pretty much any time between February and June is, IMHO, going to cause some major problems in some markets. Stations that literally cannot afford to keep two transmitters going without major financial investment (or engineering repairs, renegotiating tower leases, etc.), but can't make their final move due to a channel conflict, are going to be between a rock and a hard place. They may be stuck with their temporary DTV channels, power, and transmitter sites until it can all be resolved (Stan Jones, FL, Feb 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) FCC RELEASES PROCEDURES FOR FEBRUARY 17TH ANALOG SIGNOFFS http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-6A1.pdf The FCC has issued a Public Notice implementing the DTV Delay Act. The Notice waives, in part, the requirement that stations signing off before the final deadline (now June 12th) notify viewers 60 days in advance. It waives in part the requirement to get advance FCC approval before signing off more than 90 days before the final deadline. (it is roughly 110 days before June 12th) SOME STATIONS MAY BE DENIED PERMISSION TO SIGN OFF "ON TIME" The Commission "...reserves the right to limit or reconsider this partial waiver in the event that it determines that analog termination on February 17 by a station or group of stations is contrary to the public interest." It looks like they might look poorly upon notifications of on-time termination if most of the stations in a market notify and an unusual number of viewers in that market are not prepared for digital. Expect affected stations, if any, to scream bloody murder. Stations wishing to sign off their analogs on February 17th have three days to notify the Commission of their decision. That includes stations which have already so-notified the FCC; they must notify again. Stations wishing to sign off their analogs on February 17th face additional audience notification requirements. From Tuesday through Saturday of next week, stations must run a notification crawl for five minutes out of every hour. On Monday and Tuesday of the subsequent week, the crawl must run for ten minutes. (somehow they managed to skip Sunday.) The crawl must specify that the station is signing off before the new mandatory deadline of June 12th. Stations whose post-transition digital facility is different from their pre-transition facility must obtain FCC approval before activating their post-transition facility on February 18th. This presumably to ensure they don't interfere with any analog stations that are remaining on past that date. -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, Feb 6, WTFDA via DXLD) Just like a new version of the "Soup Nazi" episode on Seinfeld. "No early sign off for you!!!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ3AOmZ2fps&mode=related&search?SteveIndianapolis (Steve Rich, IN, ibid.) WHITE HOUSE SEEKS COMMENT ON DELAY BILL --- Obama not likely to sign bill into law before Monday, asks for five day public comment period By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/6/2009 8:33:28 AM MT It looks like the White House won't be signing the bill into law until at least Monday, the same day broadcasters must let the FCC know if they want to pull the plug on analog Feb. 17, which is now early but is the date the government has been telling them was the drop-dead date for years. President Barack Obama, as part of his pledge of openness and transparency, said he would give the public five days to comment on bills before he signed them. The text of the DTV delay bill has been posted on the White House Web site along with a comment form. Broadcasters may make the transition on Feb. 17, but bill co-author Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WVA), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, has asked broadcasters to "put consumers first." The FCC is doing more than asking. Broadcasters must request to make the move by Feb. 9, but the FCC can deny the request if it doesn't think it is in the public interest, say, if all the stations in a market with high analog-only penetration want to go on Feb. 17. The big problem is that the converter box coupon program slowdown, which prompted the Obama administration's request to move the date, may not be unstuck until March or April, so, the more stations that go Feb. 17, the more the bill's effect is weakened (via Steve Rich, WTFDA via DXLD) Cf. OKLAHOMA above: Here in St. Louis, analog channel 46 is already off the air, with 46.1 working quite fine. My main objection is that I can no longer record some movie-review programs on at 10 AM Sunday (the same time as To The Best Of Our Knowledge on local NPR (KWMU)). KDNL, channel 30 (ABC), is still announcing the closing of their analog channel on Feb. 17th; I get 30.1 much better than I ever could receive the analog -- I could never reliably record them anyway. Don't know if this new delay will affect their analog cutoff or not. Channel 4 (CBS) is somehow partnering with the religious organization New Life Evangelistic Center, which operated channel 24 KNLC, and analog 24 is off the air while their digital 24.1 is on in addition to a much clearer & stronger duplicate on digital 4.2 -- no idea if that will go on indefinitely or what. 4 keeps announcing "rescan" days for people to do new autoprograms to keep up with their series of revisions to the digital equipment. 4 also held a converter-box giveaway with the NELC head (Rev. Larry Rice, a local homeless-persons and poor-people supporter) at their headquarters in downtown St. Louis. Nobody ever addresses the issue of what`s going to happen in a digital-only world during windstorms, tornadoes, etc. when the public- safety aspect of TV stations transmitting weather warnings and data to battery-operated portable TVs disappears. I thought that I had read here (or in DXLD) that the state of Florida had officially requested the cancellation of the digital changeover because of the effect on hurricane warnings -- whatever happened with that? Also, there was a political decision to delay the changeover within 50 miles of the Mexican border to preserve the audience of US Spanish-language stations from Mexican still-analog transmissions, wasn't there? What happened with that? Of course, LPTV stations are still going along on analog; I get about 5 of those with home-shopping and religious programming. Don't watch them with any regularity, so haven't seen or heard any plans for any of those to go digital. The local PBS station (KETC, channel 9) has the usual PBS group of 4 digital subchannels [NOT usual in OK! -- gh] -- one duplicating the analog, one kids' programming only, one "Create" (mainly cooking & crafts shows). The other was "PBS HD" up until this week when it suddenly switched to being "World" and has a different program line-up (& also moved from 9.1 to 9.3, with 9.1 now being the analog-copy subchannel). But they haven't even changed their website's schedule info to show the new programming; I just sent them a gripe via e-mail about that. 73, (Will Martin, St Louis MO, Feb 6, dxldeyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) While glad to publish input from DXLD direct contributors, I am not attempting to round up from other sources, everybody`s comments about what`s going on in every market, especially in such a state of flux. Maybe we will eventually have a list of which stations are doing what to link to (gh, DXLD) I suppose there's no limit on how boneheaded DC can be about this, but I think any further extension would be awfully hard to pull off. We won't know the final numbers until Tuesday, but it seems like a good bet that between 400 and 700 of the 1800 or so full-power TV stations will be going off on or before Feb. 17. Among those are every commercial station, save one (WOAY-4), in the state of West Virginia. Could Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), the chief sponsor of the extension bill in the Senate, really get up there in June and make the case that a further extension is needed, three-plus months after TV in his state has gone effectively all-digital? Then there's also the promise that was made to Qualcomm and other concerned parties that the latest extension would be the last; but we know what promises are worth in Washington, don't we? s (Scott Fybush, NY, Feb 6, WTFDA via DXLD) This is almost surreal. On WTNH 8 News at 10:20 pm, an item that states that the DTV delay will cause a shortage of converter boxes. So let me understand this. Without the delay we'll have a shortage of coupons. And with the delay, we'll have a shortage of converter boxes. Either way, we lose. -- (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT USA, Feb 6, ibid.) Yup. I spent a couple of hours yesterday watching the FCC's open meeting, and one of the last witnesses to testify was from the Consumer Electronics Association. He explained that the Chinese factories that make the boxes had ramped down production a few months ago, on the expectation that demand for them would drop to near zero within a few weeks after the Feb. 17 cutover. You can see where this is going, right? They've restarted production in China now that the delay has passed, but the new boxes being made there won't make it here until mid-April at the earliest. Which should work out just fine, since the new coupons might not be budgeted until then, anyway. Your gubmint at work... (Saul and fellow Canadians excepted; presumably by the time OTA analog ends up there in 2011, they'll have the bugs all ironed out for the 0.15% of Canadians still watching OTA TV...) s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) Can somebody explain to us non US group members, the Channel 46.1 concept US Digital TV is using - i.e. the analog is normal US Channel 46, and the digi channels are being described as decimals on that number - are they really slightly off the actual frequency, or are they somewhere else? (Keith, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) It's a virtual channel designation. The stations broadcasting in 8VSB DTV format can carry more than one program simultaneously. Each program is designated by its sub-channel, so a station carrying three programs would be on .1, .2. and .3. While the primary, or .1, sub-channel is typically a high definition network feed, each additional sub-channel takes bandwidth away from the primary since the overall bandwidth is a fixed rate. As sub-channels are added the bandwidth is shared between them and the primary HD channel is degraded to allow enough bandwidth for the other sub-channels. Typically the higher numbered sub-channels are in SD or Standard Definition format or the DTV equivalent of the NTSC analog signal, although the amount of bandwidth allocated to a sub-channel can be low enough that digital artifacts are visible and the picture quality is noticably lower. HTH, 73, de (Nate Bargmann, KS, ibid.) Sorry, I appreciate that explanation, but it does not answer my question. In the UK where the network has been a bit more controlled over the years, we have Channels 21-69, which equate for a frequency within the range 471-861 MHz, though neither of these sets of numbers are used on air.?? In Manchester, UK, we have 5 national channels utilising Ch 55, 62, 59, 65, and 48. Within the Terrestrial DTV realm these services are currently duplicated from a set of 6 transmitters on Ch 56, 60, 63, 66, 67, 68, each broadcasting between 10 and 15 services of radio, TV, and teletext. The basic Satellite EPG utilises the names in its numbering. Whilst over the years, the main channels have become known as BBC1 (Analog-Ch55 / Digital-Ch56 / SatEPG-Ch101), BBC2 (62 / 56 / 102), ITV (59 / 66 / 103), Channel 4 (65 / 66 / 104), and Five (49 / 68 / 105), as they usually occupy those places in all lists, and most people`s TV sets(!) (including above) So my query was really, if an analog US Station is using US channel 46 (i.e. 663.25 MHz), where are digital Channels 46.1, 46.2, etc.? Or like in UK there is no correlation between the two? (for any with a historical interest, all the above Analog and Digital services emanate from one aerial, alongside an analog VHF net and DAB net at Winter Hill, with the first VHF-TV service starting in 1956? = an awful lot of stations!!! see (Keith, UK, ibid.) Exact same frequency range. 46 in DTV is the same slice of spectrum as 46 in analog. Some stations are moving to a new channel allocation with DTV operations and others are replacing analog with DTV on their current allocations. Channels 51 through 69 will be vacated by TV and reallocated to new services. 73, de (Nate Bargmann, KS, ibid.) I think the point is that the digital/virtual channels designated by .1, .2, etc. cannot be correlated with any specific frequency within the 6-MHz bandwidth of any TV channel. They are all mixed in together, right? (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Yes. It's the computer chips that take care of the multiplexing for us. Here is more than anyone probably wants to know: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8VSB 73, de (Nate Bargmann, ibid.) I was going to add this point too. In most cases, the ultimate digital RF channel is not the same as the original analog RF channel, but it could be, depending on circumstances. Many stations have been operating on a temporary DTV channel until the transition be complete (whenver that may be!). For example, in Oklahoma City, KETA-13 has been duplicated on digital channel 32, which in this case consists of 32.1 and 32.2. On Feb 17 (?), it turns off 32 digitals, turns off 13 analog, and turns on 13 digitals. All along it has retained its identity as ``Channel 13`` even when viewed on channel 32. To further confuse matters, the DTV system is set up so that when the digital channel is tuned in, it is `re-mapped` to display the original analog channel identity. On the other hand, KFOR channel 4 has been duplicated on digital channel 27 (27.1 and 27.2), and will stay on 27, turning off 4 forever. So the station transmitting DTV on channel 27, KFOR, will continue to be identified as 4.1 and 4.2, and only the techies need to know it is really on RF channel 27. If you punch in 27 on your DTV converter it tunes to 27.1 and then displays that it is tuned to the pretend- channel channel 4.1, not 27.1 as I implied. Yes, it does get very confusing! It could get even worse if a new station went on the air (DTV) really on channel 4 in the same city --- how would it be numbered? But that is unlikely (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Glenn, But, it will likely be known as "4" and will map into the converter box/ATSC tuner as 4.1, 4.2, etc. while actually transmitting on RF 27. The remapping has made things quite confusing for some people who don't easily understand that after all of these years they will need a UHF antenna to receive "4". In this area KSNB, 4, Superior, NE was slated to operate on 34, but submitted a petition last fall to operate DTV on 4 instead. The FCC granted their request in December as Pappas Broadcasting is cash strapped and requested 4 to reuse most of their tower equipment as a cost savings measure. Nearby KHAS, Hastings, NE will also commence DTV operations on channel 5. It will be interesting to see how DTV on VHF low will work out for the mostly rural area they serve. At Lincoln, NE, KLKN and KOLN will commence DTV operations on their analog channels, 8 and 10 respectively. As far as I know all four of the previous stations have filed to terminate analog by the 17th. In Omaha, NE, KMTV, 3, WOWT, 6, and KETV, 7, will all operate DTV on their current UHF assignments and at some point will terminate their analog operations. KUON, 12, Lincoln, suspended analog operations on November 11, 2008 and sometime by mid December (when I did a rescan for grins) NETV had also converted translators 23, Beatrice, and 33, Pawnee City, to DTV. From Topeka, KS, WIBW, 13, will commence DTV operations on 13 as will KTWU, 11. So, for these parts to get all channels a full sized TV antenna is still required. 73, de (Nate Bargmann, ibid.) THE NEW FCC, AND IBOC A fairly complete overhaul of the FCC is in progress. Commissioner Tate and Chairman Martin have both resigned; President Obama will be appointing two new Commissioners to replace them (the full strength of the FCC is five Commissioners, so there's 40% turnover going on). It is very common to see this kind of turnover after a Presidential inauguration. Even if it's the same President being re-inaugurated for a second term, let alone if there's a new President, let alone if that new President is of the other party. So don't consider these resignations unusual. Congress has expressed considerable displeasure with the way Chairman Martin ran the Commission; the critical report released late last year didn't cite IBOC but it did complain about the Commission sweeping evidence under the rug in other proceedings. On the other hand, you should not count on the new Commission to end the IBOC program entirely, or even just on AM. -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, having trouble typing because Friendly Neighborhood Stray Cat is insisting on rubbing her head on my hands as I type. She's been hanging out around a fire somewhere, I can smell it, Feb 3, WTFDA via DXLD) RECORDING OF HOW AM HD RADIO SOUNDS. I just posted something on the web archive of some interest to the list- an AM HD radio recording. The information at the site pretty much gives the details: http://www.archive.org/details/HdRadioAircheckWls-hd890AmChicagoIllinois02-04-09 (Curtis Sadowski, Paxton, Illinois, WTFDA-AM via DXLD) I'm surprised how graceful the transitions between HD and 'real' AM sound. It is painful to hear how narrow the standard AM broadcasts sound when forced through an HD system. The analog remains of WCBS-AM, here in NY, sounds so lousy since they went to HD. How graceful are transitions while mobile? Interesting recording! (Karl Zuk N2KZ, ibid.) IBOC: see also USA: KRKO POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ LANÇAMENTO MUNDIAL ! PLC - INTERNET PELA REDE ELETRICA http://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-89106063-lancamento-mundial-plc-internet-pela-rede-eletrica-_JM (via Marcelo Bedene, dxcljube pr yg via DXLD) Fiz uma pergunta, e tive uma resposta que acredito, dentro da ignorancia do vendedor , foi o melhor que podia dizer. Ele necessita ser melhor esclarecido. *Pergunta:* Senhor Vendedor Poderia informar se este equipamento provoca interferencia em equipamentos como receptores e transceptores utilizados por radioamadores, radioescutas, aeronautica, etc.? Como já foi constatado. 04/02/2009 12:50 *Resposta:* A evolução deste produto no exterior foi muito grande, toda esta gama de problemas já foi resolvida há muito tempo (via Ulysses Galletti, PY2UAJ, Feb 4, ibid.) I know some of you have been following this. Just a quick update: a very helpful Ofcom investigator was round today, and my QRM problem IS the infamous BT home-hub after all. His next step is to contact BT and lodge a complaint and get the Noisy PSU replaced; he's also begged the BT customer (on my behalf) to unplug the thing when he's not using it (until the replacement arrives) - but the customer is elderly and seems to have forgotten this already. For 5 minutes this afternoon I had the band back - I swear it was as quiet as Grayland with this thing off! But eventually The Ofcom man had to allow the BT user to plug his home hub back in and it`s back to the usual QRM hell again. The Ofcom man did promise to phone the guy tonight to remind him to unplug it, so I may be able to get an overnight session in tonight. Feel free to forward this to UK QRM or anyone else suffering with this problem (Tim Bucknall, England, Feb 6, harmonics yg via DXLD) WORLD OF HOROLOGY +++++++++++++++++ BBC PIPS 85 Glenn, I was listening to the CBC Radio One show Q this morning and the opening monologue paid tribute to the pips leading up to the top of the hour on the BBC's radio services, which celebrate their 85th birthday today. 73, (Ricky Leong, AB, Feb 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also BRAZIL; one more week of DST left PROPAGATION +++++++++++ CARIBBEAN SPORADIC E TV DX INTO WEST FLORIDA Mike Schaffer, KA3JAW of Tampa, Florida likes to hunt commercial broadcast television DX, and reports that last winter he didn't see any, but on January 25 he reported, "I just snagged my initial 2009 winter season television DX on channel two coming from HIJB Tele Antillas, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. I saw the station logo (TA) several minutes before 17:00 GMT. The audio level was about equal to the video quality in this case, but normally the audio is loud compared to the video level. The distance from me here in Tampa, Florida to Santo Domingo city is 1,045 miles. Half this distance, 523 miles, would place the Es plasma cloud near south-west of George Town, Bahamas." Mike copied the signal for less than 3 minutes. Later that same day he copied WKAQ on channel 2 at 2313z from San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1,232 miles away. He said the sporadic-E opening that day ran from 1530-2320z. The next day, also on channel 2 he copied a TV station in Managua, Nicaragua. (QST de W1AW Propagation Forecast Bulletin 6 ARLP006, From Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, WA February 6, 2009, To all radio amateurs, via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) ###