DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-024, March 19, 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 2009 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1452 Thu 0530 WRMI 9955 Fri 0100 WRMI 9955 Fri 1130 WRMI 9955 Fri 2030 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 7290 Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 [or 2029] Fri 2300 WBCQ 5110-CUSB Area 51 [irregular] Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 0900 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 9510 [except first Sat] Sat 1530 WRMI 9955 [March only] Sat 1630 WWCR3 12160 Sun 0230 WWCR3 5070 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1515 WRMI 9955 Mon 0500 WRMI 9955 Mon 2200 WBCQ 7415 Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 0500 WRMI 9955 [or new 1453] Wed 1530 WRMI 9955 [or new 1453] WBCQ is also airing new or archive editions of WOR M-F 1900 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 ** AFGHANISTAN [non]. R. Free Afghanistan, 9990 via Sri Lanka, March 18 at 1311 with several Radio Azadi IDs; fair with flutter being almost trans-polar, aimed 340 degrees from Iranawila. 1327 playing some music very reminiscent of the late lamented Radio Solh, cut off abruptly at 1330 without so much as a goodbye, retune-to-next- frequency, or anything, and carrier off at 1331:10. Initially, WWCR 9980 was no problem but by the end it was starting to build up to its usual daytime super-power desensitizing and splattering signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALASKA. QSL returns continue to be strong. First up is a reply from KNLS with a short personal letter from Paul Ladd, Director of Listener Response who hails from nearby West Chester, PA. Not sure what to do with logo refrigerator magnetic [sic] but I like the cloth pennant (Richard A. D`Angelo, Wyomissing PA, March NASWA Journal via DXLD) You will find that if you put the magnet on a refrigerator or other steel surface, it will magically adhere :0 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALGERIA [non]. Reverent-sounding Arabic talk on 7295, Friday March 13 at 0540, fair signal. That fits for an Algerian relay, and Aoki confirms this is R. Algerienne via Issoudun, FRANCE, since March 1 at 0400-0557, which may continue another hour as alternate to 7115, but not today as gone at 0604 recheck (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS. 4700, AIR Port Blair (tentative), 1358- 1516, March 18. All the evidence I have tends to point to this being the one off frequency from their regular 4760 and not the other AIR there (AIR Leh). Believe the weak carrier I was hearing today on 4760 during the same time period was AIR Leh, which is not often reported (especial in North Amer.) and I do not remember them being reported off frequency before, whereas Port Blair was heard off frequency back in Nov. 2008, when they were on 4765. Today I heard them in assume Hindi, with subcontinent music and singing; 1511 possible local ID but unable to make it out; 1512 the usual switch over to network programming from New Delhi and becomes parallel with 9425 (good reception); ads (“hypertension … doctor”) and perhaps a PSA with mention of “National Disaster Management”; into the news in assume Hindi. In the past I have clearly heard this network programming continuing on till at least through the end of the “News at Nine” (1545). At tune-in was at threshold level and steadily improved up to almost fair. This is the same format and reception pattern that I have been hearing recently for the station on 4760, which I had assumed was AIR Port Blair, but have never actually been able to dig out a positive local ID, so will call it tentative for now, until someone can confirm it with the local ID. Thanks to Jari Savolainen for first pointing out the possibility that this was perhaps one of the 4760 AIR stations (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Heh Ron, I was also listening to 4700 today 18 March at 1547 but they wen to Delhi programming. No luck with local ID due to TV receiver hash later on the band. 4760 had only one carrier with AIR audio at my tune-in time. Just like you, I think it's Port Blair. Sign-off was at 1700 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, ibid.) Hello, 4760 - what ever ? Nils DK8OK and Christoph OE2CRM measured both AIR stations and Swaziland recently with Perseus gear. Leh 4760.029 kHz Pt. Blair 4759.987 kHz 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) INDIA/SWAZILAND Terzett auf 4760 kHz. Es hat was von Feinarbeit; gestern Nachmittag, um 4760 kHz: 1118:06 UT - s/on auf 4760.029 kHz [Leh, see below] mit s/off um 1630:23 UT. 1155 UT - f/in auf 4759.987 kHz [Pt. Blair], kein s/off vor 1715 UT (Ende der Aufnahme) 1555:50 UT - TWR Swaziland s/on, auf 4760.001 kHz hoerbar, schnell staerker werdend, s/off 1659:15 UTC (Nils Schiffhauer-D DK8OK, A-DX) Die Antwort kommt morgens gegen 0100 / 0230 UT am einfachsten: Da erklaert sich durch die unterschiedlichen s/on Zeiten schnell das 4760.029 kHz aus dem Himalaya kommt und 4759.987 kHz direkt aus der Andamanensee zu uns wandert (Christoph Ratzer-AUT OE2CRM, A-DX, all via Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) 4700 seems to be Port Blair, see http://dx-india.blogspot.com/ (Jari Savolainen, Finland, March 19, ibid.) Viz.: All India Radio Port Blair noted on 4700 kHz instead of 4760 with sign off at 1700 UT. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, March 18, via DXLD) ** ANGUILLA. Glenn, on my trip near Anguilla: On Mar. 4 - 0245 Z, PMS preaching on Caribbean Beacon - 1610 AM. We passed southbound approx. 35 miles west of the Island and the signal was quite strong. On Mar 5 - 0330 Z, DGS preaching. We're now passing northbound less than 30 miles to the west. Nothing heard on other Anguilla AM BCB frequencies listed from some sources on 690 and 1505 / 1510. The noise on the AM band on the cruise ship was quite high, but spots high and forward were the best. Used a Kenwood F6A handheld with ferrite rod antenna to null the noise (Brian Miller, Marco Island, Florida, March 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. Radio Nacional RAE A09 [+ Radiodifusión Argentina al Exterior] * = (Mondays to Fridays) U.T.C. LANGUAGE PROGRAM FREQUENCY DESTINATION 0900-1000 SPANISH RADIO NACIONAL NEWS 6060 THE AMERICAS 1000-1100 JAPANESE* JAPANESE PROGRAM 6060-11710 FAR EAST 1100-1200 PORTUGUESE* PORTUGUESE PROGRAM 6060-11710 THE AMERICAS 1200-1400 SPANISH* SPANISH PROGRAM 11710 THE AMERICAS 1800-1900 ENGLISH* ENGLISH PROGRAM 9690–15345 EUROPE 1900-2000 ITALIAN* ITALIAN PROGRAM 9690-15345 EUROPE 2000-2100 FRENCH* FRENCH PROGRAM 9690-15345 EUROPE/NAFRICA 2100-2200 GERMAN* ALEMÁN PROGRAM 9690-15345 EUROPE/NAFRICA 2300-2400 SPANISH* SPANISH PROGRAM 6060-11710-15345 EUROPE/N AFRICA, AMÉRICAS 0000-0100 PORTUGUESE* PORTUGUESE PROGRAM 11710 THE AMÉRICAS 0100-0200 JAPANESE* JAPANESE PROGRAM 11710 THE AMERICAS 0200-0300 ENGLISH* ENGLISH PROGRAM 11710 THE AMERICAS 0300-0400 FRENCH* FRENCH PROGRAM 11710 THE AMERICAS [entries after 0000: axually UT Tue-Sat] 6060 KHz 49 meter Band 9690 KHz 31 meter Band [frequency really active? Never reported] 11710 KHz 25 meter Band 15345 KHz 19 meter Band - Broadcasting LRA 1 Radio Nacional Buenos Aires, AM 870 KHz. – – On the air Saturdays on 6060 & 15345: 17.00 a 23.30 (2000 a 0230 UT) 11710: 17.00 & 19.00 (1900 & 2100 UT) On the air Sundays on 6060 & 15345 KHz.: 15.00 a 24.00 H.L (1800 a 0300 UT): signal Radio Nacional AM 870 KHz. Telefax RAE 54 11 4325 6368. P O Box: 555 – Zip code: C1000WAF Buenos Aires – República Argentina. E-mail: rae @ radionacional.gov.ar DX Programs: barrera @ arg.sicoar.com (via Jaisakthivel, ADXC, Chennai, India, dxldyg via DXLD) In other words, no significant change from B-08, except that until March 15 everything was one hour earlier for DST, despite the fact that this was irrelevant in all external target areas. They also fail to admit that frequencies vary up to 1 kHz (gh, DXLD) ** ARGENTINA. Saludos amigos de la Radio: Queremos anunciar que hemos colocado un enlace a un video sobre el documental "Comunicando Desde el Fin del Mundo". Relata 3 expediciones realizadas por un grupo de radioaficionados del GACW a la legendaria Isla de Los Estados, Argentina. Les recomiendo visitar nuestra pagina en: http://es.geocities.com/programas_dx/frecuencialdia.htm No se lo pierdan, una verdadera joya !!!! 73. (Dino Bloise, Miami, EUA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Scratchy old film. It`s not in Antarctica, but off the eastern tip of Tierra del Fuego, a.k.a. Staten Island, just north of the 55th parallel, and not as far south as many other islands down around Cape Horn, but plenty world-endish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARMENIA. Anybody please give the correct email ID for Radio Armenia. 2009 WRTH gives following ID pr@armradio.am but it`s returned to me?! (Jaisakthivel, India, Mar 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Try here: http://www.armradio.am/contact/ (George, Spain, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA. 4910, VL8T, Tennant Creek, 0158-0215 Feb 10, good carrier in SSB; LSB eliminated QRM completely but only traces of audio peeking through. Caught bits of music but couldn`t nail it down until I heard about 5 seconds of OM announcer with Aussie accent. Poor (Richard W. Parker, Pennsburg PA, USA, March WDXC Contact via DXLD) Sorry, when it`s near noon in tropical N Australia, I would need more than 5 sex of Oz accent to conclude I had logged this station, contrary to all propagational probability. AIR Jaipur, India 50 kW non-direxional is on the air on 4910 at that hour per Aoki and could certainly propagate westward. Jaipur sunrise Feb 10 was 0137 UT per http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=516&month=2&year=2009&obj=sun&afl=-11&day=1 Richard lists an impressive array of equipment including an R-390A, 51S-1, and a variety of antennas, but whatever he was using could not overcome the odds against VL8. The VL8 station usually best here is 2485, but March 13 at 1228 I found 2325 the only one audible with modulation, Strine talk and song, 1230 ABC ID and news theme, English news starting with an item about Queensland. S9+12 on 2325 amid T-storm crashes, carriers detectable on 2485, 2310. All three VL8 stations were in on 120 meters, March 14 at 1257, but this time 2310 was strongest, 2485 next, and 2325 weakest, M&W discussion in Strine thru hourtop, then C&W song. Nothing much on 90 or 105 meters at this time, but one should still check the lowest band. Sounded like same people on RA 9580, 9590, 9560 at 1327 discussion of Angel Flight, free medevax from the Outback, and coördinating with 4WD ground transportation, then ``Don`t Fence Me In`` sung. The VL8s are still `showering` far beyond their up-and-down NT-only target area. March 18 at 1252 check, 2485 best with discussion in English, barely audible on 2310, and nothing but a carrier detectable on 2325 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. While there were no stations on 11625-11645 and 11670-11680, four of them were bunched up every 5 kHz 11650-11665, at 2139 March 14: R. Australia in English on 11650 and 11660; 11650 is Shepparton, but listings differ whether 11660 is Shepparton or Brandon; stronger RNW via Madagascar on 11655; and strongest Arabic on 11665 pausing for music, which is WYFR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. In January 2009, all the broadcasts seemed in German. Now in February, they have changed again. On the evenings of Feb 4 and 5, on 7325 at 0000-0100, programs started in Spanish, changing to German at 0005, English at 0014, French at 0017, and German again at 0020. At 0029, transmitter shot off for one minute. Back on again at 0030 with ID, Spanish to 0035, German to 0044, English to 0047, French at [sic] 0050, and German to 0100 (Bob Fraser, Belfast ME, March NASWA Journal via DXLD) You can always tell who doesn`t read DXLD and is thus ill-informed. Why do I bother? These English and other language segments started immediately in January, e.g. first reported in a Jan 6 log, DXLD 9-003 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. RADIO AUSTRIA 1 INTERNATIONAL – FROM 29TH OF MARCH 2009 TO 24TH OF OCTOBER 2009 --- All programmes on short wave; All times in UT (CEST Central European Time = UT plus 2 hours) EUROPE – SATELLITE 0000-2400 CEST Via the ASTRA 1H Satellite Polarisation: horizontal 12.66275 GHz, Transponder 115 Symbolrate 22.000 MS, FEC 5/6 EUROPE AND AFRICA - SHORT WAVE 0500-1700 6155 kHz 2000-2100 6155 kHz 0500-1300 13730 kHz Monday-Friday: 2055 UT Noticiero de Austria/News in Spanish WORLDWIDE - SHORT WAVE Middle East 0500-0530 17870 America East 0030-0100 9820 America West 1500-1600 13775 [via CANADA] Central America 0000-0030 9820 South America 0100-0130 9820 Asia / Australia 1200-1230 17715 Changes of the regular radio Ö1 schedule for Radio Austria 1 International starting 1.1.2009: MONDAY Europe 2055-2100 Noticiero de Austria (Spanisch) Middle East 0500-0532 like Europe East America 0030-0040 Journal (News in German) 0040-0056 Moment – Kulinarium (Feature about culinary topics) West America 1500-1600 Mittagsjournal (News) Central America 0000-0010 Journal (News) 0010-0026 Moment – Kulinarium (Feature about culinary topics) South America 0100-0110 Journal (News) 0110-0126 Moment – Kulinarium (Feature about culinary topics) Asia / Australia 1200-1215 Nachrichten (News) 1215-1220 Vom Leben der Natur (Feature about nature topics) 1220-1225 Regionalradio-Nachrichten (News) 1225-1230 Wissen aktuell (broadcast about Science) TUESDAY TO FRIDAY Europe Ö1 Programme, with the exception 2055-2100 Noticiero de Austria (Spanisch) Middle East 0500-0532 like Europe East America 0030-0035 Noticiero de Austria (Spanisch) 0035-0050 Journal (News) 0050-0055 Wissen aktuell (Science broadcast) 0055-0100 Vom Leben der Natur (Feature about nature topics) West America 1500-1600 Mittagsjournal (News) Central America 0000-0005 Noticiero de Austria (Spanisch) 0005-0020 Journal (News) 0020-0025 Wissen aktuell (Science broadcast) 0025-0030 Vom Leben der Natur (Feature about nature topics) South America 0100-0105 Noticiero de Austria (Spanisch) 0105-0120 Journal (News) 0120-0125 Wissen aktuell (Science broadcast) 0125-0130 Vom Leben der Natur (Feature about nature topics) Asia / Australia 1200-1215 Journal (News) 1215-1220 Vom Leben der Natur (Feature about nature topics) 1220-1225 Regionalradio-Nachrichten (News) 1225-1230 Wissen aktuell (Science broadcast) SATURDAY Middle East 0500-0532 like Europe East America 0030-0035 Noticiero de Austria (Spanisch) 0035-0050 Journal 0050-0055 Wissen aktuell (Science broadcast) 0055-0100 Vom Leben der Natur (Feature about nature topics) West America 1500-1600 Mittagsjournal (news) Central America 0000-0005 Noticiero de Austria (Spanisch) 0005-0020 Journal 0020-0025 Wissen aktuell (Science broadcast) 0025-0030 Vom Leben der Natur (Feature about nature topics) South America 0110-0105 Noticiero de Austria (Spanisch) 0105-0120 Journal 0120-0125 Wissen aktuell (Science broadcast) 0125-0130 Vom Leben der Natur (Feature about nature topics) Asia / Australia 1200-1210 Journal (news) 1210-1225 Ganz Ich - Wohlfühlen mit Ö1 (feature) 1225-1230 Buch der Woche (Book of the week) SUNDAY Middle East 0500-0505 Nachrichten (news) 0505-0530 Kulturjournal (news about cultural topics) East America 0030-0040 Journal (news) 0040-0055 Ganz Ich - Wohlfühlen mit Ö1 (feature) 0055-0100 Buch der Woche (Book of the week) West America 1500-1510 Sonntagsjournal (news) 1510-1545 Europajournal (news about Europe) 1545-1600 Ganz Ich - Wohlfühlen mit Ö1 (feature) Central America 0000-0010 Journal (news) 0010-0025 Ganz Ich - Wohlfühlen mit Ö1 (feature) 0025-0030 Buch der Woche (Book of the week) South America 0100-0110 Journal (news) 0110-0125 Ganz Ich - Wohlfühlen mit Ö1 (feature) 0125-0130 Buch der Woche (Book of the week) Asia / Australia 1200-1210 Journal (news) 1210-1226 Moment – Kulinarium (Feature about culinary topics) Radio Austria International Ö1-Service Listeners' Department roi.service@orf.at http://oe1.orf.at Please note that all English programmes of Radio Austria 1 International have been suspended with 31th of December 2008. Radio Austria 1 International will continue to broadcast with the given above frequencies and times, but only programmes in German. LINK: http://oe1.orf.at/service/international_en (via Jaisakthivel, ADXC, Chennai, India, March 13, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD) EXCEPT, we know that in reality the 3-minute English news from 0708 UT, followed by French, out of the domestic service, have really been carried during the Journal blox, e.g. 0013 UT or so, which will then be on new 9820, so this may continue, originating in summer at 0608 on 6155 and presumably 13730. Why won`t the station even admit this? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [another version:] O yeah? IF things continue as they have been, the 15-minute Journal segments on weekdays will consist of 8 minutes in German, 3 in English and 3 in French, approximately, repeated from 0600 to 0615 the previous morning. Why don`t they make this clear?? (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. BIELORRUSIA, 7170, Belaruskoje Radyjo, Minsk-Kalodzicy, 0756-0800, escuchada el 15 de marzo en bielorruso, emisión de música pop melódica, locutor con comentarios, fin de emisión, SINPO 24442 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. Radio Minsk A09 1100-2300 UT 7390, 7210 kHz 1705-2300 UT 7255 kHz 1900-2300 UT 1170 kHz Send your Reception reports to Technical Department, 9, Makayonka St., Minsk, 220807, Belarus http://www.tvr.by/eng/ Send you Programme Comments to Radio Station "Belarus", 4, Krasnaya St., Minsk, 220807, Belarus, http://www.radiobelarus.tvr.by Email: radiostation-belarus @ tvr.by (Larisa Suárez, Minsk, via Jaisakthivel, ADXC, Chennai, India, dxld yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) English has been at 21-23, but in A-08 it shifted to 20-22, as per May WRTH supplement. Goodbye to 7135 in B-08, or 7105 in A-08, but 7255 is liable to collide with Nigeria, which doesn`t bother to register its frequencies with HFCC, so Minsk may have imagined Nigeria is not there! Aoki shows it on 7255 at 19-20 and 21-23, but usage varies (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Summer schedule from March 29 to October 25, 2009 Radiostation Belarus [external service] 1100-2300 : 7210 kHz (75 kW), Azimut 270 7390 kHz (150 kW), Azimut 246 1705-2300 : 7255 KHz (250 kW), Azimut 252 1900-2300 : 1170 kHz (800 kW), Azimut 244 Belorusskoe Radio [domestic service] 0400-0700 : 11930 kHz (250 kW), Azimut 72 1170 kHz (800 kW), Azimut 64, Sosnovy 1500-1700 : 7255 kHz (250 kW), Azumut 72 1170 kHz (800 kW), Azimut 64, Sosnovy 0300-2100 : 6010 kHz (5 kW), Brest 6040 kHz (5 kW), Grodno 6070 kHz (5 kW), Brest 6080 kHz (150 kW), Azimut 127, Kolodishchi 6115 kHz (75 kW) , Kolodishchi 6190 kHz (5 kW), Mogilev 7110 kHz (5 kW), Grodno 7135 kHz (5 kW) Mogilev Kanal Kultura 7265 kHz (5 kW), Grodno + numerous MW (Alexander Mazgo, Vitebsk, Belarus, RusDX March 15 via DXLD) But until then apparently SW runs until 2400: 7135, 15/03 2351, R. Belarus, Minsk-Kalodzicy in englisch, 34343 (py5aap-morato, gg46qu cornelio procopio pr, radio kenwood ts 570D antena dipolu 40 metros, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) ** BELGIUM [non]. TDP A09 Program UTC Freq Days Lang Target Area Moj Them Radio 0100-0130 15260 AM m.w.f.. Hmong Asia Haiv Hmoob Radio 0100-0130 15260 AM .t..... Hmong Asia Hmong Lao Radio 0100-0200 15260 AM ...t..s Hmong Asia Hmong World Christian R 0100-0130 15260 AM .....s. Hmong Asia Aso Radio 0530-0600 9680 AM mtwtf.. Hausa Africa Denge Mezopotamya 0400-1800 11530 AM mtwtfss Kurdish Mid East Denge Mezopotamya 1800-2000 7540 AM mtwtfss Kurdish Mid East TDPradio 0800-0900 6015 DRM m...... English Europe TDPradio 0900-1000 6015 DRM .t..... English Europe TDPradio 1000-1100 6015 DRM ..w.... English Europe TDPradio 1100-1200 6015 DRM ...t... English Europe TDPradio 1200-1300 6015 DRM ....f.. English Europe TDPradio 1300-1400 6015 DRM .....s. English Europe TDPradio 1400-1500 6015 DRM ......s English Europe TDPradio 1500-1600 6015 DRM mtwtfss English Europe Que Huong Radio 1200-1300 15680 AM ..wtf.. Vietnamese Asia Aso Radio 1600-1630 15215 AM mtwtf.. Hausa Africa EOTC Holy Synod Radio 1600-1700 15340 AM m...... Amharic Africa Addis Dimts Radio 1600-1700 15195 AM ......s Amharic Africa Radio Xoriyo Ogadenia 1700-1730 15350 AM m...f.. Somali Africa Radio Xoriyo Ogadenia 1700-1730 17870 AM m...f.. Somali Africa Voice Of Asena 1730-1800 15350 AM m.w.f.. Tigrinya Africa Ginbot 7 1700-1730 15350 AM .t.t.s. Amharic Africa Ginbot 7 1700-1730 17870 AM .t.t.s. Amharic Africa Voice Of Meselna-Delina 1730-1800 15350 AM .t.t.s. Tigrinya Africa Radio Bilal 1700-1800 15350 AM ......s Amharic Africa TDPradio 2300-2400 9790 DRM mtwtfss English America Reports to : TDP c/o Ludo Maes P.O. Box 1 2310 Rijkevorsel BELGIUM Tel : +32 33 14 78 00 Mob : +32 477 477 800 Fax : +32 33 14 12 12 E-mail : info @ transmitter.org Web : http://www.broadcast.be ---- (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxldyg via DXLD) ** BIAFRA [non]. via USA, WHRI, 15665, Voice of Biafra International, *2100-2200*, March 13, sign on with African music and opening English ID announcements. Anthem at 2101. Local African music. Many English IDs. Vernacular talk at 2111 followed by English talk about rights and freedom in Nigeria. WHRI ID at sign off. New time, ex-2000-2100. Fri only. Very good signal. Thanks to Glenn Hauser tip (Brian Alexander, PA, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Confirming time shift for V. of Biafra International, which had been at 20-21 UT Fridays only via WHRI 15665: March 13 checked before 2000 in case it shifted earlier as would normally happen due to local DST, but nothing there. Nor after 2000. But at 2103 opening exercises in progress, mezzo-soprano singing God Bless Africa, and at 2110 The Orator with VOBI, Washington DC, ID in English, then into Ibo for a while. Sufficient but not very strong signal. So this is now airing at 21-22 UT Fridays. Probably same transmitter as used by 11785 other days of the week, where also heard with regular English gospel huxters in the hour before 2100 this day. Checked UT March 16, http://www.biafraland.com/vobi.htm shows: ``Voice of Biafra International (VOBI) A SHORTWAVE Radio Broadcast Service transmitting on 15.28 MHz (on 19 meter band) at 2000 - 2100 Hours UTC (Universal Time [Coordinated]) equivalent to 9.00pm- 10.00pm Biafraland time every Friday. A project of Biafra Foundation, and Biafra Actualization Forum.`` So wrong time, wrong frequency, but hey, close enough for anti- government work! What does the audio file linked just below there of the latest March 13 broadcast say, which we axually heard at 2100 on 15665? The Orator speaks: ``coming to you on the 15.67 Megahertz frequency in the 19 meter band, bringing to you matters of interest to Biafra``. In A-09, it looks like this moves to 17650 at 2000-2100 again on Fridays, but we`ll see (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4699.34v, (presumed), R. San Miguel, Riberalta, MAR 7, 0111-0227*, 0904-f/out - steady on 4699.34 kHz until 0227 s/off, poor. S/on at 0904 on 4699.353 and slowly drifting down to 4699.346 by 1045 where it remained steady until 1130 carrier f/out. Peaking around 1028 sunrise at transmitter with talk by male speaker then fading rapidly. 4716.68v, (presumed), R. Yura, Aillu Yura, MAR 7, 0111-0211*. *0955- f/out. 0111 tune in with threshold audio on 4716.69 kHz until 0211 s/off. Back at 0955 s/on on 4716.679 and drifting upwards to 4716.687 by 1045 where it remained steady until 1122 carrier f/out. Peaking around 1024 transmitter sunrise enhancement with threshold audio then rapidly fading (Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. Two seldom heard Bolivians here last night, no definite ID for either but probable for both: R. Yura, 4716.7 at 0145z R. Mosoj Chaski, 3310 at 0120z UT March 18 (Jerry Lenamon, Waco TX, Eton E-1, T2FD & 9m vertical, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA [and non]. This year I received more wall calendars than any time before. They include ones from Buenas Nuevas in Guatemala, HCJB in Quito, Ecuador, VOA, and Mosoj Chaski Radio in Bolivia [3310]. The calendar from Mosoj Chaski has beautiful pictures of Bolivia, its land and its people. It`s in three languages --- English for the months, Spanish for the months and Bible verses, with the remainder in Quechua. Ann Wheeler, the station`s administrator, in her letter wrote that she`d be in the United States for seven months, beginning in June and I wanted to get in touch with her about questions I had about the station to let her know [sic]. I don`t know whether she wants to meet with groups as Jorge Zambrano [HCJB] does when he`s back. If anyone is interested in contacting her, the station`s address is Casilla 4493, Cochabamba, Bolivia or [via] http://www.mosojchaski.com.es (Marlin A. Field, Hillsdale MI, March NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 3255.055, (presumed), R. Difusora 6 de Agosto, Xapuri AC, MAR 13, *0857-f/out and t/on at 0857, increasing in strength around 1038 transmitter sunrise but only producing threshold audio. Fading until carrier fell beneath the noise floor around 1120 UT. 4775v, (presumed), R. Congonhas, Congonhas, MG, MAR 7, *0801-fade/out and t/on at 0801 and rapidly drifting +/- 10 Hz while warming up, settling on 4775.016 from 0900 onward. Definite peak around 0905 transmitter sunrise enhancement, although no audio produced. Carrier dipped below noise floor by 0945. Significant CODAR (Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 9-023: ``4744.95, Radio Imaculada Conceição – Campo Grande, 0346– 0404, 3/3/09, in Portuguese. (0346) lively ballad, OM announcer, 0349 “Radio Imaculada Conceicão, Campo Grande, Brasil”, program previews, 0351, mu. br. [muon bright? musical bridge??], two vocals, 0400, ID, OM talk, 0404 fade down during talk. Fair except for CODAR QRM (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, Icom R-75, Winradio g313e, Eton E1, Satellit 800, Kaito 1103; 2 Flextennas, EWE, NASWA Flashsheet March 8 via DXLD)`` Shouldn’t that be 4754.95? (gh, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 4915, R. Difusora, Macapá, 0430-0435 Jan 5 in Portuguese with OM announcer, pops, usual incredible fidelity, strapping 80 dB signal (Richard W. Parker, Pennsburg PA, USA, March WDXC Contact via DXLD) Compared to what? (gh) 4915, Rádio Diffusora de Macapá, Macapá, Mar 17 0815-0825. Dueling Brazilians. R. Anhanguera (CBN Network) Goiânia and Macapá producing a het on 4915. Macapá winning the battle with a solid signal. OM in Portuguese playing lively Brazilian tunes (Bruce Barker, Broomall, PA, NRD535D and an Alpha Delta DX Sloper, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ao que tudo indica, a Rádio CBN Anhanguera, de Goiânia (GO), está inativa na frequência de 4915 kHz. Com isso, tem aparecido, no mesmo canal, a Rádio Difusora, de Macapá (AP). Em Porto Alegre (RS), foi sintonizada, em 8 de março, às 0935, no Tempo Universal, durante a apresentação de um programa religioso. O comunicador também informou que o programa poderia ser ouvido no seguinte site: http://www.radiodifusoranet.com BRASIL - Uma monitoria feita na última semana por Édison Bocorny Júnior, em Novo Hamburgo (RS), aponta que a freqüência de 11785 kHz, da Rádio Guaíba, de Porto Alegre (RS), permanece fora do ar. Da mesma forma, estão inativas as rádios Guarujá, de Florianópolis (SC), em 5980 kHz, e Clube Paranaense, de Curitiba (PR), em 6040 kHz. Também ressalta que a Rádio Guarujá Paulista, de Guarujá (SP), está fora do ar nos últimos tempos. Como esta coluna já informou anteriormente, a emissora paulista está inativa, eis que o programa de transmitir em ondas curtas é apenas obra e fruto do seu diretor, jornalista Orivaldo Rampazo, que, atualmente, está afastado de suas funções. BRASIL – A Rádio Aparecida, de Aparecida do Norte (SP), tem acompanhado todos os jogos do Guaratinguetá pelo campeonato paulista de futebol. As transmissões são irradiadas apenas na frequência de 5035 kHz, enquanto que as demais seguem emitindo a programação normal (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX March 15 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 11764.95, Super Radio Deus é Amor, 0555-0610, March 15, usual Portuguese preacher. Several IDs at 0602 along with mention of frequencies & website. Brazilan ballads. Back to preacher at 0606. Fair. // 9565 - poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BULGARIA. A-09 schedule of RADIO BULGARIA March 29-October 25, 2009 ADDR: 4, Dragan Tsankov Blvd., 1040 Sofia and P.O. Box 900, 1000 Sofia Phone: +359 2 933 66 33; fax.: +359 2 865 05 60; Web http://www.bnr.bg MW: Petritch (G.C: 41N28/023E19): 747 kHz, 300 kW / non-dir Vidin (G.C: 43N50/022E43): 1224 kHz, 300 kW / 205 deg SW: P=Plovdiv (G.C: 42N23/024E52): 2 x 300 kW, 3 x 170 kW S=Sofia (G.C: 42N49/023E11): 2 x 100 kW, 2 x 050 kW V=Varna (G.C: 43N09/027E52): 2 x 100 kW BULGARIAN / e-mail: 0000-0100 -daily- South America 7400 P170/258, 9400 P170/245 0000-0100 -daily- North America 9700 P300/306, 11700 P300/306 0430-0500 Mon-Fri Balkans 6000 P170/248, 1224 0430-0500 Mon-Fri East Europe 6100 S100/030, 7400 S100/030 0430-0500 Mon-Fri West Europe 6100 P300/306, 7400 P300/295 0400-0500 Sat/Sun Balkans 6000 P170/248, 1224 0400-0500 Sat/Sun East Europe 6100 S100/030, 7400 S100/030 0400-0500 Sat/Sun West Europe 6100 P300/306, 7400 P300/295 1000-1030 -daily- Balkans 7400 P170/248 1000-1030 -daily- East Europe 11600 S100/030, 13600 S100/030 1000-1030 -daily- West Europe 11700 P300/306, 15700 P300/306 1200-1400 -daily- Balkans 1224 1200-1400 -daily- West Europe 11700 P300/306, 15700 P300/306 1500-1600 -daily- Balkans 1224 1500-1600 -daily- East Europe 5900 S100/030, 7400 S100/030 1500-1600 -daily- Middle East 13800 P300/126 1500-1600 -daily- South Africa 15700 P300/185 1800-1900 -daily- Balkans 1224, 747 1800-2000 -daily- Middle East 6100 P170/115 1800-2000 -daily- West Europe 6100 P170/306 ENGLISH / e-mail: 0200-0300 -daily- North America 9700 P300/306, 11700 P300/306 0630-0700 -daily- West Europe 9600 P300/306, 11600 P300/306 1130-1200 -daily- West Europe 11700 P300/306, 15700 P300/306 1730-1800 -daily- West Europe 5900 P300/306, 7400 P300/295 1730-1800 -daily- West Europe 9400 S050/306 DRM 2100-2200 -daily- West Europe 5900 P300/306, 7400 P300/295 2300-2400 -daily- North America 9500 S050/306 DRM 2300-2400 -daily- North America 9700 P300/306, 11700 P300/306 FRENCH / e-mail: 0100-0200 -daily- North America 9700 P300/306, 11700 P300/306 0600-0630 -daily- West Europe 9600 P300/306, 11600 P300/306 1100-1130 -daily- West Europe 11700 P300/306, 15700 P300/306 1700-1730 -daily- West Europe 5900 P300/306, 7400 P300/295 1700-1730 -daily- West Europe 9400 S050/306 DRM 2000-2100 -daily- West Europe 5900 P300/306, 7400 P300/295 GERMAN / e-mail: 0530-0600 -daily- West Europe 9600 P300/306, 11600 P300/306 1030-1100 -daily- West Europe 11700 P300/306, 15700 P300/306 1630-1700 -daily- West Europe 5900 P300/306, 7400 P300/295 1630-1700 -daily- West Europe 9400 S050/306 DRM 1900-2000 -daily- West Europe 5900 P300/306, 7400 P300/295 RUSSIAN / e-mail: 0300-0400 -daily- East Europe 6100 S100/030, 7400 S100/030, 1224 0500-0530 -daily- East Europe 6100 S100/030, 7400 S100/030 1030-1100 -daily- East Europe 11600 S100/030, 13600 S100/030 1400-1500 -daily- East Europe 5900 S100/030, 7400 S100/030, 1224 1400-1500 -daily- Central Asia 7400 P170/045 1530-1600 -daily- East Europe 9400 S050/030 DRM 1600-1630 -daily- East Europe 5900 S100/030, 7400 S100/030 1800-1900 -daily- East Europe 5900 S100/030, 7400 S100/030 2300-2400 -daily- Central Asia 6200 P170/045 SPANISH / e-mail: 0100-0200 -daily- South America 7400 P170/258, 9400 P170/245 0100-0200 -daily- Central America 9400 P170/295 0600-0630 -daily- South Europe 11800 P170/260, 15800 P170/260 1100-1130 -daily- South Europe 11800 P170/260, 15800 P170/260 1630-1700 -daily- South Europe 11800 P170/260, 13800 P170/260 2130-2230 -daily- South Europe 6200 P170/260, 9800 P170/260 2300-2400 -daily- South America 7400 P170/258, 9400 P170/245 TURKISH / e-mail: 0500-0530 -daily- Middle East 5900 P170/115, 7300 P170/126 1000-1030 -daily- Middle East 5900 P170/115, 7300 P170/126 1730-1800 -daily- Middle East 6100 P170/115, 1224, 747 ALBANIAN / e-mail: 0530-0600 Mon-Fri Balkans 6000 P170/248, 1224 0600-0700 Sat/Sun Balkans 6000 P170/248, 1224 1100-1130 -daily- Balkans 7400 P170/248 1600-1630 -daily- Balkans 1224, 747 1900-2000 -daily- Balkans 1224, 747 GREEK / e-mail: 0500-0530 Mon-Fri Balkans 6000 P170/248, 1224 0500-0600 Sat/Sun Balkans 6000 P170/248, 1224 1030-1100 -daily- Balkans 7400 P170/248 1630-1700 -daily- Balkans 1224, 747 2000-2100 -daily- Balkans 1224, 747 SERBIAN / e-mail: 0600-0630 Mon-Fri Balkans 6000 P170/248, 1224 0700-0800 Sat/Sun Balkans 6000 P170/248, 1224 1130-1200 -daily- Balkans 7400 P170/248 1700-1730 -daily- Balkans 1224, 747 2100-2200 -daily- Balkans 1224, 747 EURANET English 0700-0710 Sat/Sun West Europe 9600 P300/306 EURANET German 0710-0720 Sat/Sun West Europe 9600 P300/306 EURANET Spanish 0700-0710 Sat/Sun South Europe 11800 P170/260 EURANET French 0710-0720 Sat/Sun South Europe 11800 P170/260 HORIZONT HS-1 Bulgarian 0900-1200 Mon-Thu West Europe 11900 S050/306 DRM 0400-0700 Friday West Europe 9400 S050/306 DRM 0600-0900 Sat/Sun West Europe 11900 S050/306 DRM RADIO VARNA Bulgarian 2100-2400 Sunday Black Sea 6000 V100/ND 0000-0300 Monday Black Sea 6000 V100/ND DX MIX NEWS in Bulgarian: 1345-1400 Sun 1224 11700 15700 1945-2000 Sun 6100 6100 DX MIX NEWS in French: 2030-2040 Tue 5900 7400 0130-0140 Wed 9700 11700 2030-2040 Sun 5900 7400 0130-0140 Mon 9700 11700 DX MIX NEWS in German: 1950-2000 Tue 5900 7400 1050-1100 Wed 11700 15700 0550-0600 Thu 9600 11600 1920-1930 Sat 5900 7400 DX MIX NEWS in Russian: 1440-1500 Sat 1224 5900 7400 1540-1600 Sat 9400 DRM 1610-1630 Sat 5900 7400 1840-1900 Sat 5900 7400 2340-2400 Sat 6200 0340-0400 Sun 1224 6100 7400 0510-0530 Sun 6100 7400 1040-1100 Sun 11600 13600 0510-0530 Mon 6100 7400 1040-1100 Wed 11600 13600 DX MIX NEWS in Spanish: 1650-1700 Sun 11800 13800 2150-2200 Sun 6200 9800 2320-2330 Sun 7400 9400 0120-0130 Mon 7400 9400 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 17 via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD) DX Mix never mentions the Radio Bulgaria DX program in English, since it is under the control of rivals, different content. Or is it? I know the Spanish version includes some of the same tips from Rumen Pankov as the English, per scripts posted (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** BURMA [and non]. Where they still listen to shortwave --- The two main surviving shortwave listening countries are Burma and Zimbabwe. The governments there have made their domestic media so bad that people tune to shortwave for essential news and even for a bit of entertainment. In Burma, satellite dishes are seen all over the place. I’m talking C- band dishes, like West Virginia twenty years ago. Mostly they’re used for entertainment. Some people in Burma watch dramas from China’s CCTV, that’s how bad Burmese domestic television is. But more news-oriented Burmese watch Democratic Voice of Burma TV via the Telstar 10 satellite. This is a supplement or substitute for the older, but still transmitting, DVB radio service using leased transmitters from somewhere. Audience research I’m involved in indicates that Al Jazeera English has established some audience in Burma. Yes, to be sure, AJE is not in Burmese. But AJE has developed a reputation for gathering news from developing countries not covered sufficiently by Western news organizations. One such developing country is Burma. During the 2007 unrest, and the 2008 Cyclone Nargis recovery, AJE reporters were in Burma, sending video to Doha, from where it was transmitted back to satellite receivers in Burma. (Many are in tea shops, thus group viewing.) Even if the Burmese viewers did not speak English, the fresh video conveyed much information of interest to this audience. The VOA Burmese Service, to its credit, discerned a trend. With limited television production resources, they have cobbled together a weekly television program. It’s seen on VOA’s Asiasat 3 transponder. Expect the BBC Burmese Service to notice this, and to get into television of its own. It would be helpful if all the Burmese-language international broadcasters could agree on a single satellite and transponder, especially given that steerable dishes are relatively uncommon in the target country (Kim Andrew Elliott, Kim`s Column, March NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** CAMEROON. 6005, 0730 18 Jan, R. Cameroon using BBC`s channel, English, SINPO 32323 (Dzever Ishenge, Nigeria, March World DX Club Contact via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD) We recently noted that BBCWS Ascension closed 6005 at the odd time of 0706* after the news. Perhaps it would be worth staying tuned, tho by 0730 it`s a 2+ hours after sunrise in Cameroon. The same listener in Nigeria reported this last May at 1400, leading to further discussion in DXLDs 8-080, 8-081, 8-086, 8-087, concluding with monitoring from another listener in Nigeria, seemingly confirming Buea 6005 was on the air, heard from 1455 until blocked by BBC at 1700. But not a single report since, nor on the onetime nighttime channel 3970. This may be another African whose signal doesn`t manage to escape the continent, and may be a daytime-only operation (Glenn Hauser, March 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Part of last year`s items as from issues above: R. Cameroon, 6005, news in English at 1400 May 20, SIO 333 (Dzever Ishenge, Benue State, Nigeria, Sony ICF-7600G, July World DX Club Contact via DXLD) This is an intriguing logging, as no Cameroon stations are believed to be active on SW. The hour, 3 pm local, suggests the transmitter may not be too far away, altho some schedules show 6005 in use by Yemen, Sri Lanka, and Shiokaze from Japan, as an alternate frequency. BBC Ascension uses 6005 a lot, but not at this hour. Let`s consult the two major sources of info on Africa. BDXC, Africa on Shortwave, updated May 2008 says: ``Official shortwave broadcasting from Cameroon Radio and Television has ceased. The main station at Yaounde was last heard in early 2000 on 4850 kHz. The CRTV regional stations at Bafoussam, Bertoua, Buea, Douala, and Garoua are also inactive on shortwave. The CRTV website indicates that regional stations are now only on FM.`` Was there ever one on this frequency? Thorsten Hallmann`s Africalist, updated 26 June 2008: ``Cameroon: inactive on SW, last frequencies heard in 2000/2001: 4850 Yaoundé, 5009 Garoua, 6005 Buea.`` Ah yes, so if there is a reactivated Cameroonian on 6005, it should be Buea (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, Limited e-mail access here, but following up World of Radio 1417, I do believe Cameroon is on 6005 kHz. I had not identified this station previously as the audio is so badly distorted it is almost impossible to listen to. Here in north-west Nigeria I can hear the station most afternoons until drowned by the BBC sign-on at 1700 UT. On 23 July at 1455 I was able to decipher funeral announcements in English with several mentions of Buea. I cannot confirm transmissions during darkness hours but will check other frequencies mentioned in DXLD posts (James MacDonell, July 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST 8-086) Glenn, I will write in more detail later next week as I have to type this on a cellphone. However, I can confirm that I am still hearing Cameroon on 6005 most days, audible when the channel is otherwise clear - 0706 to around 1700. Signal strength weak and audio always low and distorted making most speech unintelligible (James MacDonell, Nigeria, March 14, 2009, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Long time ODXA member Brian Smith suffered a brain aneurism on Sunday and is unconscious in hospital and is not expected to recover. Brian has been a stalwart member of the executive representing the ODXA at various ham flea markets and running the QSL service for AM 740. I will especially miss seeing him at our Shadow Lake Radio Camps where we shared DX, friendship, and some weird tasting beers. Messages of condolences can be posted here and Harold Sellers will relay them to the family (Mark Coady, March 18, ODXA yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD) I was shocked and saddened to receive this news. Brian and Muriel have always made me feel very welcome when I have had the privilege of participating in ODXA activities in person; his smiling face and enthusiastic handshake were among the first to greet me at both the Radio Camps as well as the Radio Fests. Brian has been a great "bridge builder" -- with his years of service to the members of ODXA, as well as his outreach to the radio hobbyist community at large via his leadership of the AM 740 QSL work. Brian would never let his position of leadership get in the way of a good laugh, either. I still have a multipurpose "DX Bag" in the glove compartment of my car, silently at the ready for whenever it's needed. When Brian joined Harold to pay us a visit at the 20th Winter SWL Fest two years ago, Brian made sure to bring extra DX Bags with him, as he knew how much I enjoyed their goofiness. My condolences to Muriel and their family (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.) ** CANADA. 6069.97, CFRX Toronto, 0301-0311, March 14. Good reception and almost 100% readable with news (“From the Canadian press”), sports and weather (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. ONLINE CAMPAIGN WARNS OF ADS ON CBC RADIO THE CANADIAN PRESS March 16 CBC's board of directors met Monday to discuss strategies for the economic downturn as a watchdog group warned against putting ads on CBC Radio - a possibility that the public broadcaster raised last month. CBC spokesman Marco Dube would not speculate on the nature of the closed-door meeting, expected to continue Tuesday, saying only that a difficult economic climate will force it "to make difficult choices that will affect our people and our programs." Ian Morrison, spokesman for Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, predicted deep cuts to staff and programming, but also said that the broadcaster has been eyeing the ad revenue potential of CBC Radio. full article: http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/603136 I believe CBC Radio was commercial at one time. I seem to recall hearing ads on CBL-740 in the early 70s. 73 (Mike Brooker, Toronto, ON, March 16, IRCA via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD) CANADA PUBLIC BROADCASTER OKS BUDGET, CUTS MAY LOOM By Wojtek Dabrowski TORONTO (Reuters) - Asset sales and layoffs are still on the table at the Canadian Broadcasting Corp after the public broadcaster's board of directors approved its budget for the next 12 months, a CBC spokesman said Wednesday. Spokesman Marco Dube wouldn't comment further, but added that the broadcaster plans to make a more detailed announcement to its employees before the end of the month. The CBC, like other media companies, has struggled with a sharp drop in advertising revenue as the recession forces marketers to slash spending. To cope with the weak ad market, the CBC is looking at a wide swath of options, from selling radio and television assets, to adding more American TV programming to its schedule and consolidating local stations. "Asset sales are still on the table," Dube said, adding that any such move would require the approval of the federal government. Airing ads on the CBC's radio services is not being considered, he said. Layoffs are expected to be part of any cost-cutting plan at the CBC. Dube said the broadcaster is facing decisions that "will affect our services, our programs and our people." The CBC receives more than C$1 billion ($787.4 million) in government funding each year. Aside from this, the CBC generates about C$600 million a year in revenue from commercial activities, including C$340 million from advertising. ($1=$1.27 Canadian) (Reporting by Wojtek Dabrowski; editing by Peter Galloway) Reut10:59 03-18-0903-18-2009 15:59UTC (via Dave Alpert, ABC News, Los Angeles, March 18, via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD) ** CHAD. 4904.966, RNT, N'Djamena, Mar 7, *0427-0730* --- t/on at 0427 with strong carrier, but with poor modulation and practically no audio heard until just at 0512 transmitter sunrise, with male speaker in French. Woman host from 0530 with magazine type format, male speakers then back to woman. Signal degrading from 0540 and unusable after 0600. Carrier still just above the noise floor at 0730 s/off (Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Firedrake (music jamming), 1618, March 13. Heard 9000 clearly parallel and in sync on 9495 (vs. BBC), 9905 (vs. R. Free Asia) and 11920 (vs. VOA). Also heard the usual 8400 Firedrake, but was not parallel at all and assume was just very far out of sync with 9000 and the others. First time 8400 and 9000 did not match up (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 5955, CRI English at 1243 March 13, but co-channel QRM seemingly from something else in English with piano music, and a third language/station, or maybe just two with one of them doing a voice- under. Strangely enough, China registers two transmissions from Beijing during this hour, 80 degrees apart, so perhaps the theoreticians figured they could not interfere with each other! CRI English at 95 degrees, CNR8 Mongolian at 15 degrees. Chicoms vs Chicoms! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [non]. ESTADOS UNIDOS VIA CHILE – A CVC não vendeu nem pretende negociar seus transmissores que estão localizados em Santiago do Chile para a Rádio Internacional da China. A informação é do diretor da estação para a América Latina, Juan Mark Gallardo. Conforme o apresentador da programação em português José Antônio Ceschin, correu uma informação dando conta de que o governo chinês estaria adquirindo os transmissores da CVC para usá-los nas transmissões da Rádio Internacional da China em português para o Brasil. Por decisão sua, a emissora chinesa optou em não renovar um contrato de aluguel de alguns transmissores da CVC que eram utilizados para levar a programação em português para o Brasil (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX March 15 via DXLD) CRI has not renewed its relays via Chile. Someone thought they would be buying the transmitters! Had been not only in Portuguese, but Spanish and English too. I had not noticed but apparently these were already canceled before the end of B-08; were on 15, 17 MHz (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. As for Chinese SW/MW lists reported in DXLD 9-023, Seiichi Hasegawa of NDXC says: "2009 List of Mediumwave Stations in Chinese Mainland" seems to be extracted and translated from Alan Davis's "Asiawaves AM Radio Frequency Tables" and WRTH 2009, and "2009 List of Domestic Shortwave Stations in Chinese Mainland" from Aoki List B08. There is the possibility of copyright violation (Takahito Akabayashi, Japan, March 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also TIBET ** CHINA. I am glad that none of today's new posts referred to "ChiComs". That is an unnecessary and degrading reference with historical roots dating back to an era some 60 years ago. Today we have good relations with the people of the Peoples Republic of China and should treat them as we would like them to treat us, with respect. We may not agree with all their government does, but some of us may not agree with all the US government does. We can remain civil. Thank you (Phil Marcus, Columbia MD, ex-WA2AQX, ptswyg via DXLD) My reply which I will not post on that group: In case you are unaware, it`s short for Chinese Communists, which the last I heard, they still are, even tho they are capitalists too, a conundrum? Until the Chinese Communist Party loses power, and/or control over broadcasting, they will still be referred to as Chicom(s). We do NOT have good relations with the PRC as long as they are intensely jamming our broadcasts!! Talk about respect! Once the Chicom grow up and turn off the jammers, they may be worthy of some respect. The term is axually exactly Politically Correct, and we should never forget that China is still a dictatorship with human rights suppressed (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello, Please let us keep to the reason for this group. Namely the love of the hobby of HAM and SWL radio. I have seen other groups dissolve into the Sunset because some individuals take off on the tangent to correct others` political beliefs. Some of us are too young to remember the "cold war" and others of us can recall what they were doing on December 7, 1941. So, I request that the membership overlook some members use of terminology that may reflect their age or their past life experiences. Let us keep to the subject of and reason for this group. 73, (Mike in Sacramento Hearne, ptsw yg via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. QSL: COLUMBIA [sic], Radio Marfil Estéreo (Puerto Lleras). Freq: 5910. 0443-0514. 7 Jan 09. Spanish. Received an email verification reply in 40 minutes for an English report. V/S Rafael Rodgríguez. Email addy: rafaelcoldx @ yahoo.com The initial report was sent via postal mail to Mr. Rafael Rodríguez R., QSL Manager, La Voz De Tu Concieneia, A/C Colombia Para Cristo, Calle 44 No. 13-67 Bogotá, DC, Colombia, which was returned as "No Existing Number" by the Colombian Postal Service. Mr. Rodríguez verified the street address and PO Box as: La Voz de Tu Conciencia, Columbia [sic] para Cristo, Calle 44º No. 13-67, Local 1, Barrio Palememo, (pr [meaning `or`? -- gh] Apartado Aéreo 67751), SF de Bogotá. Colombia (Joe Wood, TN, MARE Tipsheet March 13 via DXLD) ** CONGO DR. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, 6210, R. Kahuzi --- Shocked to get a nice reply in the mail from the BESI/R. Kahuzi headquarters in San Marcos, CA today. Confirmation frequency folder card "handmade by members of a Radio Kahuzi Club utilizing dried banana bark. The cards are sold in the local markets surrounding Bukavu & the funds raised are used to minister to orphans, widows, and malnourished children". The dried banana bark was cut and pasted creating a scene of the 3 Magi following the Star of Bethlehem. Also sent an info card, a computer generated full/data ham-type card, and complete program sked in local time. The sked has them signing off at midnight, which would be 2200 UT as they're UT +2. However, they were signing off at 2000. The sign on, on the sked is 9:00. So that's either 0700, or 0500. A unique QSL and one of my best!! (hard copy QSLs are few and far between these days!!). 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, March 13, HCDX via DXLD) Dave: Congratulations on a great QSL! The challenge here is not getting the QSL per se, but hearing them in the first place! San Marcos is only about 20 miles down the road from my house so anyone needing intercession for a QSL can feel free to contact me. I have visited Smitty and Barbara Smith at their home and they are very accommodating on their QSL policy. My Kahuzi QSL required the use of the old Johannesburg DX Tuner and even that was a bit of a challenge. My first (of two) Kahuzi QSL's was delivered by Smitty while I was getting my hair cut in his old barber shop in Fallbrook (my current QTH). I'm sure that falls into one of the more "unusual" QSL delivery stories! (Bruce W. Churchill, CA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** CONGO DR [non]. Re: ``TDP changes: Radio Kimpwanza in Lingala, new station: 1700-1800 on 15260 SAM 250 kW / 188 deg to CeAf Sun (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, March 8 via DXLD)`` Did anyone remember to check this again this Sunday? (Glenn Hauser, March 15, dxldyg via DXLD) If the station was operating, there was - again? - no propagation to my location (Noel R. Green (NW England), March 16, ibid.) 15260 is too high for propagation/reception into Germany at this time of the year. Maybe Tarek in Cairo will be more successful. 15260 Sun March 22, 1700-1800 UT. 73 (wolfy df5sx, ibid.) ** CROATIA [and non]. The following transmissions of the VOICE OF CROATIA will be stopped during the scheduled maintenance MARCH 17, 2009 AT 0030-0045 & 0330-0345 UT: - 1134 kHz [Zadar 600 kW] - 3985 kHz [Deanovec 10 kW] - Hot Bird 6 satellite I'm not quite sure, but if Wertachtal, Germany is fed via Hot Bird, then 7375 kHz will also be affected. Best regards & many 73s! (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, March 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Why only quarter-hour segments of longer scheduled Croatian and Spanish broadcasts, respectively, on 3985 at least? Or were any languages specifically referred to? (Glenn, ibid.) March 17 at 0030-0045 & 0330-0345z is chosen randomly, and it has no link with Voice of Croatia (Glas Hrvatske) program schedule. At these time segments, the equipment at Network Control Center of OiV (Odasiljaci i veze) in Zagreb will be at routine maintenance. Only the routing from Zagreb to Deanovec satellite uplink station will be affected (aborted). Since Deanovec will not receive feeds from Zagreb to uplink the Hot Bird satellite, ALL PROGRAMS at Hot Bird satellite will be stopped (all radio and TV stations who are uplinked from Deanovec). All stations who receive feeds via Hot Bird will not have signal, and this includes Zadar mediumwave station, terrestrial FM and UHF transmitters, and since Deanovec will not have any feeds from Zagreb, also the shortwave transmitter will stop broadcasting. My guess is that Wertachtal, Germany also picks up the VoCroatia signal from Hot Bird, so, probably, they will not broadcast at that time on 7375 kHz, or, perhaps they will use a web stream instead (?) Regards, (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, ibid.) ** CUBA [and non]. I too heard RHC [English] move from 6140 to 6180. This conflicted with 6175 V of Vietnam, [via Canada including] English to NAm at 0100, 0230, 0330. There have been no-shows all three slots; propagation? Conflict? March 7, RHC back on 6140. Now this can and has in recent past conflicted with RRI Bucharest English to NAm on 6145; // 9515 is hit or miss; try. PS: RHC 6000 slammed by 5995 Spanish (Bob Thomas, Bridgeport CT, March 9, by p-mail, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Romania has English on 6145 at 0100-0157 only. The only Spanish on 5995 is RFI via GUF at 0100-0130 per EiBi, missing from Aoki (gh, DXLD) 6000, RHC with English News, including a long item about Venezuela, and into ID and EE features, abruptly into Spanish at 1320: this must have been a switching error as English isn't in their sked at this time, and this is listed as Spanish. 1310-1320 8/Mar (Kenneth Vito Zichi, DXpedition, Brighton MI, MARE Tipsheet March 13 via DXLD) A SNAFU I missed! (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. Amused to hear the DentroCuban Jamming Command pulsing against YFR in Bengali via Nauen on 13820, March 13 at 1344 -- - Commies vs Protestants! DCJC was really ramping up against R. Martí whose Greenville carrier came on at 1347, initially with weak tone tests, but Family Radio could still be heard underneath. First checked PWBR `2009` by the radio; was that any help? Of course not! Nothing such from YFR listed in the grid, but it does claim that R. Martí broadcasts to ``Central America``. FYI, Cuba is not in CAm. Europeans frequently make this mistake from their remote vantage point, but you`d think Pennsylvanians or Paraguayans would know better. Central America is the string of countries in the Isthmus between Mexico and Colombia. Cuba is an island in the Caribbean, or rather, islands (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. Glenn: We have a last-minute new program for Cuba beginning tonight at 7:00 pm (2300-2330 UT Saturday) called La Voz de Vueltabajo por Cuba. Vueltabajo is in Pinar del Rio and is well-known for its tobacco production. It will be repeated (for the first few weeks anyway) at 2130-2200 UT Sunday (Jeff White, WRMI 9955, March 14, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CYPRUS. Re 9-023: This is the CyBC International Programme intended for Greek Cypriots in England relayed via BBC. It's been broadcast, at the same time, for more than 20 years. The CyBC could broadcast English language tourism info but it wouldn't be of much use to the intended audience. Regards (Harry Brooks, North East England, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DJIBOUTI. 4780, RTV de Djibouti, Arta, 0320-0427 Feb 10 in vernacular, OM with aboriginal music selexions with drums, strings, vocals, some very similar to old Mississippi delta blues. The astounding 80-90 dB signal (full quieting here), and outstanding audio forced [me] to take a break from DXing and go into the `program listening mode` --- an exceptional broadcast (Richard W. Parker, Pennsburg PA, USA, March WDXC Contact via DXLD) 80-90 dB compared to what? 4779.997, RTV Djibouti, MAR 7, *0251- - t/on at 0251 although no audio heard until 0300 as signal improved, Qur`anic recitations into talk by man in Arabic. Improving further by 0319 transmitter sunrise but still poor-fair in CODAR, with further Arabic talk then vocals from 0343 while steadily fading until carrier dropping below noise floor around 0530. +/- 100 Hz spikes visible on waterfall (Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR [non?]. I've noticed that the 21455 frequency for HCJB is not listed in the 2009 WRTH, despite that fact that it is audible here in Florida throughout most of the afternoon (Russ Scotka - > Florida, via Bob Wilkner, March 17, ibid., DX LISTENING DIGEST) Bob, Ask him if he`s sure it was not WYFR. Scheduled on 21455 at 1600- 1945, first two hours in English, then German and finally French 1900. A bit of backscatter from O`bee could seem like a weak HCJB. HCJB said they closed down their 21455 a couple years ago. 73, (Glenn to Bob, via DXLD) Glenn, Russ is a ham with a rotating directional antenna pointed south for the log. 73, (Bob Wilkner, ibid.) Bob, OK, but we still need to know what times he is hearing this, [in Margate, KE4PTM] and if when WYFR is on, to be sure it isn`t WYFR. When the two were sharing the frequency, they did not overlap, anyway, HCJB taking a break during the WYFR hours. Of course it would be of interest if HCJB has really reactivated 21455, which would be contrary to the gradual decline there. The fact that they have never removed it from their Spanish frequency announcements is probably good evidence this it is really off (Glenn to Bob, via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 6250, Radio Nacional-Malabo, *0605-0640+, March 13, abrupt sign on with Spanish talk. Radio Malabo IDs. Short breaks of Afro-pop music. Good signal at sign on but started to get weaker by 0630. Irregular (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. 5099.987, (presumed), R Bana, MAR 7, *0349-f/out --- t/on at 0349, about 12 minutes after sunrise at transmitter. Signal not strong enough to produce audio and slowly fading until below the noise floor by 0530 (Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA [non]. Venerdì 6 marzo 2009, *17.30 - 9610 kHz, VOICE OF ASENA - Samara (Russia), Arabo (no tigrigna), ids e nxs OM. Segnale sufficiente, QRM BBC Urdu 9605 (SWL I1-0799GE, Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. ETIÓPIA - Amhara State Radio é uma emissora etíope que está no ar, emitindo em amárico, entre 0300 e 0600, na freqüência de 6090 kHz. A emissora tem chegado ao Sul do Brasil, por volta de 0400, no Tempo Universal. Foi ouvida, em Porto Alegre (RS), em 7 de março, quando transmitia músicas típicas do Chifre da África (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX March 15 via DXLD) ** EUROPE. Thanks for joining World of Radio via South Herts Radio every Sunday at 1230 UT. Recent streaming issues have now been resolved and we had a good response this past weekend. This coming Sunday is Mother's Day here in the U.K. I will try to bring you wor 1452 from the live stream but failing that use our sustaining service http://www.southhertsradio.com/playback.html During the U.K. clock change on 29th March our schedule will alter to BST - British Summer Time so world of radio will be one hour earlier each Sunday from then until late October in terms of GMT / UT. SHR also continues in bringing you the best in offshore pirate radio material as often as we can. Thanks also to Glenn for mentioning the return of Laser shortwave in WOR 1451. At 1803 UT on Friday 13th March I heard someone familiar on exactly 4024 KHz playing alternative music - I hoped you liked it ;-) (Gary Drew, UK, March 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) v. unID 6850 ** EUROPE. Re 9-023, KISS-FM: 6670 seems to be on again 13 March at 1850 UT (Jari Savolainen, Finland, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE. I can confirm from my conversations with David Page of RFI English that there are no morning English broadcasts on the weekends (Mike Cooper, Mar 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 04, 05, 06, 07 UT M-F only ** FRANCE. French television, Radio France and RFI plan a 24-hour strike on Thursday over financing and plans to cut 206 jobs at RFI, about one-fifth of RFI's work force. Labor unions are asking that all work positions be retained. RFI officials announced plans in January to cut the positions and end broadcasts in German, Albanian, Polish, Serbo-Croat, Turkish and Lao (Mike Cooper, Mar 17, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RFI STRIKES AGAIN! --- RFI's listeners worldwide can again enjoy a lively music selection today. It's an unintended benefit of station's joining a national strike-2. All RFI's channels carry the same music program from RFI Musique. France 24 TV chose to stay on, though - to provide a continuous coverage of the French people's epic struggle against the regime of Nicolas Sarkozy. You can watch F24's prerecorded report on strike here: http://tinyurl.com/FrenchStrike2 (Sergei S., Moscow, March 19, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. 6030, 0034 26 Jan, Bible Voice Broadcasting, Christian in English, SIO 333 (Robin Tancoo, Trinidad, March WDXC Contact via DXLD) Wow, inconceivable in CNAm to hear anything on 6030 but the DentroCuban Jamming Command and/or R. Martí when they are active, which they always are at this hour; and the Greenville signal toward Cuba should carry on to Trinidad. But BVB is indeed scheduled here at 0030-0100 via Wertachtal, 250 kW, 90 degrees, in Hindi on Mon, Tue, Wed(to 0115), Thu; English Sun, Fri and Sat. But Jan 26 was a Monday! WRTH 2009 and Aoki agree on this. So is the date wrong on the report? Even if he used local date despite Universal time, that would still put it on a UT Tuesday when it should have been in Hindi, which Robin may well understand, his full name being Robindranath, as on an old QSL illustrated in BDXC Communication, probably an anglicization of Ravindranath, which is interchangeably spelt with a b. These reports also lack any country of origin or transmission (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [and non]. Re 9-023: GERMANY +non, ``Why, moreover, should the German taxpayer finance a service with any other agenda?`` --- He doesn't matter anyway, since he is explicitly no target audience anymore. Germans abroad are being referred by DW to German domestic media instead. However, on the other hand the same question could be asked about BBC World Service, the BBG stations or RNW's foreign language services. ``Perhaps the powers that be at DW have lost touch with their raison d`être and instead are more interested in building a Weltreich of influence, to give BBC and VOA some competition, which really cannot be a badthing`` --- Almost. International TV news stations, including CNN, are considered as competition by DW. Here internal critics (who are much more active at DW-TV than on the radio side where a build-up of solidarity could have been prevented) say that DW has simply not the resources to compete with these stations. ``Just to Central Asia? There`s a lot more to Russia than that`` --- This Reuters AlertNet item deals explicitly with the Khronika Tsentralnoye Asii programme, launched in 2001. Topic of this programme are storys from the former Soviet republics in Asia. It is broadcast instead of separate Kazakh, Uzbek, Turkmen, Kyrgyz or Tajik services, since anybody there understands Russian anyway. The same approach DW got heavily bashed for in regard to the Belorusskaya Khronika programme. Khronika Tsentralnoye Asii is at present a 20 minute show on Mon-Fri, aired at 0105 with repeats at 0205 and 0305. Talks are about cutting it back to 9 minutes. Check the comments on the Reuters AlertNet page, here meanwhile a dispute between the head of DW Russian service and the International Crisis Group representatives took place (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Just after this Saturday`s scheduled DW SW broadcast at 1530 of the avant-garde music show Muzprosvet, I attempted to hear its audio file via http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,4356,00.html But what do I get, clicking on Muzprosvet? A quarter hour of somewhat heated discussion in Russian about the financial situation, not a note of music. Geez, their automated audio system can`t even get the right program into the right file. Furthermore the player label says ``Playing Starparade, 15:30 UTC``, which this obviously was not, either. Any humans there paying attention? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) They fixed the problem. Now you can hear the ''Muzprosvet''. By the way, DW just changed the audio links, and here are the current ones for MUZPROSVET: MP3 / 64 kbps / 44 kHz / STEREO [13.8 MB]: http://217.243.250.77/dwworldondemand1/encoder/audio/mitschnitt/Kanal11-rus-stp-1530.mp3 WMA / 48 kbps / 44 kHz / MONO [21.0 MB]: http://217.243.250.77/dwworldondemand1/encoder/audio/mitschnitt/Kanal11-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. Regards, (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Dear Glenn: I listened to the opening announcement of the North American Service of The Voice of Greece at 0000 UT on Tuesday, March 17. Translating, the Greek woman announcer said: "Greetings from Athens. The program which follows is directed to Europe, the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, North America, South America, and the Zone of Panama; also on the Internet at www.ert.gr" The working frequencies of 7475 and 9420 were not mentioned at all. I even wonder if they will issue a new schedule at all for A-09; if they do, it will probably be if and whenever they get the Continental transmitter back on the air. I sent an E-mail to Apodimos at The Voice of Greece asking for the new A-09 Schedule; Babis seems to be a lost cause. Glenn: At the opening of the North American Service of The Voice of Greece on Wednesday, March 18, they are still announcing the three frequencies of 7475, 9420, and 12105. The 12105 frequency never makes it in this area, so I do not know whether the Continental transmitter is back in service yet or not. Has anybody South of the Border been able to pick it up? Regards, (John Babbis, MD, DX LISTENING DIGEST) March 18, 1100 UT still ONLY two transmitter units on air, both S=9 signals in Germany: 9935 Thessaloniki regional with Abba song, and 15650 kHz VoGreece Greek music, til 1350 UT. Nothing on 9420 ! regards de (wb df5sx, ibid.) Dear all, concerning utilization of 12105 KHz, the situation, is as follows: 2300-0300 GMT: Azimuth 226 degrees 0600-1000 GMT: Azimuth 002 degrees (Demetri Vafeas, ERA, via John Babbis, March 18, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No logs seen of 12105 kHz here recently, but the foreign languages observed on 9420 kHz instead, in our early European morning. Also 15630 noted so far, but not 12105. Concerning announcement of 12105 channel: the studio recording may an old one of November '08, when season starts. regards wb (Büschel, ibid.) ** GUAM. KTWR Program Schedule A09 Target Language UTC Days Frequency/mb China Amdo-Tibetan 1300-1315 Mon-Thu 9370 / 31 Cantonese 1330-1400 Mon-Fri 9975 / 31 Cantonese 1100-1200 Sun 9975 / 31 Cantonese 2200-2230 Mon-Fri 12130 / 25 Cantonese 2200-2245 Sun 12130 / 25 Hui 1000-1030 Sat 15325 / 19 Hui 1300-1330 Sat 9370 / 31 Mandarin 0930-1045 Daily 12105 / 25 Mandarin 1015-1200 Daily 11590 / 25 Mandarin 1100-1230 Daily 9910 / 31 Mandarin 1230-1330 Daily 9975 / 31 Mandarin 1200-1400 Mon-Fri 9370 / 31 Mandarin 1200-1330 Sat 9370 / 31 Mandarin 1200-1300 Sun 9370 / 31 Mandarin 2300-2315 Daily 11765 / 25 Nosu Yi 1100-1115 Sat-Sun 11590/ 25 Nosu Yi 1200-1215 Daily 9975 / 31 Uyghur 1000-1030 Mon-Fri 11935 / 25 Mongolia Mongolian 1200-1215 Sat 9910 / 31 Korea Korean 1400-1515 Sun-Fri 11570 / 25 Korean 1400-1545 Sat 11570 / 25 South Pacific English 0855-0930 Mon-Fri 11840 / 25 English 0915-0930 Sat 11840 / 25 SE Asia English 0805-0900 Tu,Th,Fr 15170 / 19 English 0820-0900 Wed 15170 / 19 English 0835-0900 Mon 15170 / 19 Indonesia Balinese 0900-0915 Fri-Tue 15200 / 19 Indonesian 0945-1045 Daily 15200 / 19 Javanese 1045-1115 Daily 15200 / 19 Madurese 0915-0945 Daily 15200 / 19 Sundanese 1115-1145 Daily 15200 / 19 Torajanese 0900-0915 Wed-Thu 15200 / 19 Myanmar Burmese 1200-1300 Sun-Fri 13765 / 22 Burmese 1200-1235 Sat 13765 / 22 Sgaw Karen 1300-1330 Daily 9585 / 31 Vietnam Vietnamese 1100-1130 Daily 9635 / 31 Vietnamese 1400-1415 Mon-Fri 9920 / 31 Vietnamese 1400-1500 Sat-Sun 9920 / 31 South Asia Kokborok 1230-1300 Mon-Fri 11870 / 25 Kokborok 1245-1300 Sat 11870 / 25 English 1415-1450 Daily 9975 / 31 Assamese 1330-1400 Mon-Fri 12075 / 25 Assamese 1330-1345 Sun 12075 / 25 Santhali 1345-1400 Daily 9650 / 31 Boro 1300-1315 Wed-Sun 9650 / 31 Manipuri 1315-1330 Mon-Wed 9650 / 31 Reports to Trans World Radio - Guam P.O. Box 8780, Agat, Guam 96928 USA (via Jaisakthivel, ADXC, Chennai, India. For more A09: http://www.adxc.wordpress.com dxldyg via DXLD) KTWR A-09 Schedule Amdo-Tibetan 1300-1315 China mo-th 9370 Assamese 1330-1345 sAS su 12075 1330-1400 sAS mo-fr 12075 Balinese 0900-0915 Indon fr-tu 15200 Boro 1300-1315 sAS we-su 9650 Burmese 1200-1235 Myan. sa 13765 1200-1300 Myan su-fr 13765 Cantonese 1100-1200 China su 9975 1330-1400 China mo-fr 9975 2200-2230 China mo-fr 12130 2200-2245 China su 12130 English 0805-0900 seAS tu,th,fr 15170 0820-0900 seAS we 15170 0835-0900 seAS mo 15170 0855-0930 sPA mo-fr 11840 0915-0930 sPA sa 11840 1415-1450 sAS Daily 9975 Hui 1000-1030 China sa 15325 1300-1330 China sa 9370 Indonesian 0945-1045 Indon Daily 15200 Javanese 1045-1115 Indon Daily 15200 Kokborok 1230-1300 sAS mo-fr 11870 1245-1300 sAS sa 11870 Korean 1400-1515 Korea su-fr 11570 1400-1545 Korea sa 11570 Madurese 0915-0945 Indon Daily 15200 Mandarin 0930-1045 China Daily 12105 1015-1200 China Daily 11590 1100-1230 China Daily 9910 1200-1300 China su 9370 1200-1330 China sa 9370 1200-1400 China mo-fr 9370 1230-1330 China Daily 9975 2300-2315 China Daily 11765 Manipuri 1315-1330 sAS mo-we 9650 Mongolian 1200-1215 Mong. sa 9910 Nosu Yi 1100-1115 China sa-su 11590 1200-1215 China Daily 9975 Santhali 1345-1400 sAS Daily 9650 Sgaw Karen 1300-1330 Myanm.Daily 9585 Sundanese 1115-1145 Indon Daily 15200 Torajanese 0900-0915 Indon we-th 15200 Uyghur 1000-1030 China mo-fr 11935 Vietnamese 1100-1130 Vietnam Daily 9635 1400-1415 Vietnam mo-fr 9920 1400-1500 Vietnam sa-su 9920 (Jaisakthivel, ADXC via dxldyg mail list, re-arranged by Alan Roe, DXLD) ** GUIANA FRENCH [and non]. TDF DRM noise test for Winter Fest, 17540- 17545-17550, March 13 at 1342 when not much else audible on 16m, primarily Chile 17680 AM. Strangely enough, this transmission is missing from the supposedly comprehensive DRM DX schedule at http://www.baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/drmdx/main&sort=kHz,UTC but publicity says it`s running 13-20 UT on March 13 and 14 only. I gather it`s in French, anyway, so hardly of much use to a North American audience. Evidently, HCJB is not doing a DRM special for the Fest this year, tho Kim may have been trying for its regular broadcasts to Europe, Brasil in the mornings. Those would be in German, Spanish and Portuguese, so hardly of much use to a monolingual North American audience (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also VATICAN Excellent signals here in NNJ; well over +40db over S9 with 100% decode. Pity that it's in French though. Not too many folks at the Fest speak French if any (I think some of the Canadians might). It's been a while since we've heard Montsinery on the air. Looks like those spiders nesting in the TX coils didn't do much damage :} (Mark Phillips, drmna yg via DXLD) Hi Mark, Thanks for good report in NJ of MSY transmissions. Sorry about French program; I know your position regarding this. FYI, in Montsinery, G2 transmitter (250 kW, DRM capable) is daily used during 6.5 h for VoR transmissions on 7335, 11605 and 13630 kHz so no spiders nesting in the transmitter coils, HI! (Jacques F6AJW, ibid.) Haven't checked here on my end (coastal California), but just as it blasts on the east coast, Montsinery equally blasts well here in the west, usually -- And I echo the sentiment about missing hearing TDF's digital presence, and I don't care in what language it's in - The TDF facility there is grossly underused, and can easily serve the majority of North America's population with considerable ease. d.m.f. (Dennis M Falk, ibid.) I couldn't agree more. MSY could well cover North America on a daily basis. I would argue however that TDF should broadcast in the predominant languages of the target area. Unless their intended target is French Canada or areas of Louisiana, French is pretty much wasted on us here. In all seriousness, I don't make this argument out of an culturally inherited dislike of France and all things French (I'm an Englishman after all :}) but out of practicality. Just how big would the audience be if broadcasts were in French? Even my wife's cousin (from French St Martin, married to a Parisien) agrees (Mark Phillips, ibid.) ** HAWAII. Hi Everyone: Yesterday afternoon I was going thru my list of unlogged Hawaiian stations and noticed KUMU-1500 was amongst them. Normally KSTP dominates here with a very loud signal, but as the St Paul/Minneapolis sunrise is much earlier than here this time of year, I thought I might have a chance at logging them. So for an over night session I set my timer/radio on 1500 and crossed my fingers. Naturally the first 8 TOH IDs were all from KSTP. At 06:00 and 07:00 MST [sic; Alberta is on MDT of UT -6 now, so does he mean 12 & 13 UT, or 13 & 14 UT??] there was someone under KSTP, but I know not who. At 08:00 (10:00 EST [sic]) I heard the following ID "something unintelligible followed by 1500 KUMU Honolulu." The ID was heard again at 09:00, though not as clearly. This is only my second new Hawaiian station logged in the last 22 years. If only they were all as easy as this one had been (Mike in St Isidore, AB, Stonebridge, with AOR 7030+ and 1000' E/W beverage, March 16, IRCA mailing list via DXLD) ** HAWAII. WH6, HAWAII (Very Rare County). Attention county hunters! It was announced at the Maui Amateur Radio Club (MARC) this past week that the extremely rare Kalawao County will be activated on 40 and 20 meters, March 30-31st. MARC member, Jayson Kohama, WH6BXK, is expected to work there on those particular days. After he gets off work each day, he plans to be on HF making as many contacts as possible. His station, WH6BXK, will be on the air each day after 1800 local (6:00 pm or 0400z). He will be on 7188 kHz and 14335 kHz. Kalwao County is one of the rarest USA counties. It is the 2nd smallest county and the poorest in the USA. It is located on the Kalaupapa peninsula, on the island of Molokai. It is the old Hawaiian leper colony. Because it was a leper colony, it was totally isolated from the rest of the islands and had its own separate county government, which was administered by the state. Hams must have special permission to go there and operate. Thus it is extremely rare for any ham signals to ever radiate from Kalawao (Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 900, March 16, 2009 Editor Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW, Provided by BARF80.ORG (Cleveland, Ohio) via Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) Sorry, the 2009 Rand McNally Atlas shows no such county. The four `middle islands`, Maui, Kaho`olawe, Lana`i and all of Moloka`i comprise Maui County. There are only four counties in the state, Kaua`i, O`ahu, Maui, Hawai`i. Kalawao does not appear on the map or the index as a town or county. However, Wikipedia claims there are 5 counties including Kalawao which is rather special: Kalawao County (administered by Hawaii Dept. of Health) The village of Kalawao, which lies within its boundaries. The smallest [sic] county in the U.S., population 147, square miles 52. Here is a very interesting discussion in depth of whether or not it is a county, the county-hungry hams of course asserting that it is: http://www.chem.hawaii.edu/uham/counties.html Now checking the 2009 AAA Atlas, which has MUCH better maps of each of the main Hawaiian islands, and does show Kalawao town on the central north coast of Molokai, and furthermore a separate KALAWAO inscription, same font as MAUI elsewhere on the island of Molokai, i.e., implying both of those are names of separate counties. But the index for Hawaii state shows only four counties, and under Molokai, Kalawao is listed only as one of several towns (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. 3250.03, Radio Luz y Vida, 1139-1151 March 14. Religious talk and music on program "Mañanitas Cristianas"' several ID's and repetitions of program name. Good signal (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list, via DXLD) ** HONDURAS. 3339.98, HRMI - Radio Misiones Internacionales, 0730- 0750, March 15, lively Spanish music. Spanish ID at 0743. Some contemporary Spanish Christian music. Fair to good (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. (+ UNID) (tentative), AIR Imphal, 4775, MAR 7, 1056 - At 1056 I noticed a carrier fading up above noise floor on 4775, and at 1130 noticed that another carrier had faded up on 4775.002. This was slightly weaker and only a few times peaking to equal levels, but 4775 was consistently dominant from 1145 as the other started fading and was gone by 1215 UT. The 4775 carrier persisted after local sunrise, likely AIR Imphal. I have no idea who the other could be, possibly another Asian or perhaps an Andean or LA station signing on after sunrise? Neither one improved enough in strength to produce audio, and CODAR present (Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. After being on 7190 / 7191 for about a month, AIR Mumbai is now back on its original frequency 7195 from 13 Mar 2009. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, March 15, dx_india yg via DXLD) But not for long; must evacuate above 7200 by March 29 (gh, DXLD) ** INDIA. 4775, AIR Imphal, 1410-1440, March 13. Mostly fair reception with CODAR QRM; assume in Hindi; ads; subcontinent singing and music. Above average reception (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS ** INDIA. Re 9-023: Running commentary of 1st cricket test match between India-New Zealand was noted on following SW channels : Lucknow - 4880 Jaipur - 4910 Jeypore - 5040 Bhopal - 7180 Thiruvanathapuram - 7180 --- (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, March 17, dx_india yg via DXLD) Time? presumably on early before sunrise (gh) ** INDIA. India is Going DRM http://www.drm.org/news/detail/news/india-is-going-drm/ After extensive trials in 2007, the Indian state broadcaster All India Radio (AIR) has decided that DRM is the best technology for converting its vast public service broadcasting network to digital. After conducting trials over a one and a half year period, AIR has started regular DRM transmissions from a 250 KW SW transmitter installed near the capital city New Delhi in January this year. AIR is also in the process of converting 4 shortwave transmitters (250 kW) to DRM mode by March 2009. There are plans to introduce DRM transmissions in 42 new medium wave, 36 existing medium wave and 5 new short wave transmitters. However, the cost and availability of good receivers remains the main issue in their implementation strategy for the next five years. The BES (Broadcast Engineering Society of India) event held in New Delhi on 23rd, 24th and 25th February was a great opportunity for the Consortium to interact with AIR at a very senior level and understand the broadcaster's plans and problems. While Ruxandra Obreja, DRM Chairperson, was the keynote speaker for the event, the DRM workshop on the opening day and DRM session next day was attended by about 300- 400 delegates and had excellent presentations by Lindsay Cornell and Julian Cable (BBC), Thomas Feustel (Deutsche Welle), Joseph Troxler (Thomson), T V B Subbramnyam (Analog Devices), S R Aggrawal, (AIR), Vineeta Dwivedi (DRM). (DRM Consortium PR via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, March 13, dxldyg via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. RRI Fak2 missing again March 13 from 4790 at 1234 check. There goes our best tropical signal from the archipelago. 4605 and 4750 were regulars a few months ago but also disappeared. Nothing heard today on 9525 VOI either. 4790, RRI Fak2, barely audible at 1254 March 14, talk and music vs CODAR. Could not hear it at all the previous two mornings. VOI, 9525, fairly good in English at 1315, YL announcer with constant hum, also during following hour in Malay. ** INDONESIA. 3325, RRI Palangkaraya, 1334-1350 March 15. Kor`an program with recitations and occasional M announcer or imam. Fair but deteriorating. 3987.05, RRI Manokwari, 1351-1414 March 15. Pop music to 1359, then SCI and short Jak news program; back to local programming at 1408, with lite Indo vocals. Pretty good signal but starting to decline (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list, via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. VOI reconfirmed on 9525 in English around 1315 March 15. Someone recently reported this on 9526 a few hours earlier, so this time I made sure it was 9525 --- really slightly below, e.g. 9524.97 as measured March 11 by Ron Howard. Also quite good March 9 for the 13-14 English hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9524.96, Voice of Indonesia, 1607-1613, March 13. Weak with poor reception; VOI IDs; program in BI (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9525.97, V. of Indonesia, news in English by W 1004-1013 with two programs running simultaneously at 1012!! 1013 news ended leaving other English press review program alone. 1014 ID with web site URL. Good. (14 March) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) So there they were almost 1 kHz off again, at the earlier English(es) hour. Evidently a feed duplication, than a transmitter duplication as not also reported on 9525 or so (gh, DXLD) ** INDONESIA [non]. 9680, checking for the Fri. edition of the Kang Guru Indonesia (KGI) program (scheduled 0800-0820, Wed. & Fri.) via RRI Jakarta, with random listening between 0802 to 0825, March 13. By 0806 heard only WYFR in Portuguese with improving signal; never heard any sign of KGI/RRI. Completely different conditions than my Wed. reception, which had no sign of WYFR, but a weak KGI/RRI. I believe that shortly the WYFR schedule will change and they will be gone from here. Hope so! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL. Thought y'all could use the following list of e-mail addresses that I have found useful for sending SWL reception reports - - avoiding the use of lots of $$ in the process! "BBC" "Caribbean Beacon" "China Radio International" "CHU Canada" "CVC La Voz" "Deutsche Welle" "Family Radio" "Global Catholic Network" "HCJB" "La Voz de Restauracion" kvoh@restauracion.com "R. Aparecida" "R. Australia" "R. Austria" "R. Bulgaria" "R. Cairo" "R. Canada International" "R. Catolica Mundial" "R. Exterior de Espana" "R. France Internationale" "R. Free Asia" "R. Habana" "R. Japan (NHK)" "R. Marti" "R. Nacional da Amazonia" "R. Nacional da Brazilia" "R. Nacional de Venezuela" "R. Netherlands Worldwide" "R. Portugal International" "R. Reloj" "R. Republica" "R. Slovakia" "R. Sonder Grense" >maash@sabc.co.za> "R. Taiwan International" "R. Tirana, Albania" "R. Ukraine" "R. Vilnius" "RAI International" "Shiokaze" "T D France Relay Station" [GUF] "Vatican Radio" "Voice of Croatia" "Voice of Greece" "Voice of Russia" "Voice of Turkey" "WEWN (Also WW Catholic Radio)" "World Harvest Radio" "World-Wide Christian Radio" "WWV" If anyone has others to add to the list, please e-mail me at Cheers! (Dave Askine, NASWA yg via DXLD) Some additions have been inserted above ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [ex-WATERS]. "THE BOAT THAT ROCKED" RADIO CAROLINE, THEN AND NOW The forthcoming international release of the comedy movie "The Boat That Rocked" is drawing attention to offshore pirate radio that prospered in Britain from 1964 to 1970, and for many people is it the name Radio Caroline that is synonymous with it. For it was the most famous, as well as being the first and last station in the UK to be based at sea, and those stations changed radio forever, both here and all over Europe. While the film may give the impression that pirate radio was a brief interlude, starting and ending in the sixties, this is not so as Radio Caroline battled on at sea until 1990 and was silenced only when Government officials vandalised its broadcasting ship after which the station suffered a catastrophic shipwreck. With the salvaged vessel having to go for rebuild, Caroline either had to quit or find a new path. This path was satellite radio; through the technical facilities of WRN the station was first launched on Hotbird in 1994 and can now be found on Sky channel 0199 and of course via Internet. To try and retain credibility while operating with UK jurisdiction, Caroline is self funded and totally independent but uses many of her ex-marine staff on air. Their motto is ‘same ideology, new technology’. Having exchanged hardship for a comfortable operation on land, Caroline avoids questions about what may happen when its radio broadcast ship Ross Revenge is fully repaired. Will the staff look longingly toward to ocean again? Never say never is the only response ever made to the question. Information on Radio Caroline is at http;//www.radiocaroline.co.uk Richard Curtis's film "The Boat that Rocked" will be released on 3rd April in the UK and its worldwide release will follow. It stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh and Rhys Ifans (WRN News, March 16, via DXLD) "WHEN BRITAIN RULED THE RADIO WAVES" There is an interesting article in today's Sun which is online at http://www.thesun.co.uk:80/sol/homepage/showbiz/film/article2319234.ece However the caption on the main picture is wrong as the picture was taken in 1991 when the Caroline ship MV Ross Revenge grounded on The Goodwin Sands! (Mike Terry, UK, March 14, dxldyg via DXLD) An interesting article in The Sun which isn't designed to provoke an erection - must be a first! :-) (Dave Kernick, ibid.) You mean, erexion. Well, you can follow the link to the Bikini Babes, but they are rather marginalised. Better the A to Z (gh, DXLD) Pirate Radio is star of Richard Curtis film The Boat that Rocked http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article5896974.ece Johnnie Walker remembers Radio Caroline http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article5897099.ece (Mike Barrraclough, dxldyg via DXLD) ** IRAN. 7130, 9680, 9680 Voz da República Islâmica do Irã - Kamalabad - IRN, Kamalabad - IRN e Kamalabad - IRN. Recebido belo cartão QSL full data (Ornamental printing on glazed tiles - Masjed-e Nassirulmolk (Mosque) - Shiraz) confirmando três informes, carta pessoal, boletim de horários e freqüências, grelha de programas, cartão retratando a cidade de Masooleh e exemplar da revista Az-Zaqalain. Em torno de 109 dias. V/S: N. Edalat Manesh (Director de la Redacción Española). Informes enviados por e-mail: spanishradio@ irib.com QTH: Vali-e Ave., Jame Jam St., P.O. Box 19395-6767 - Tehran - Iran (Rubens Ferraz Pedroso; Bandeirantes - Paraná - Brasil, March 16, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) ** IRAN. V. of Justice, Tehran, English hour to NAm at 0130 has been poor lately on 6120 and 7160; one of the two, maybe, or both useless (Bob Thomas, Bridgeport CT, March 9, by p-mail, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7320, Islamic Voice of the Republic of Iran [sic], 2014-2030 March 13. At tune in, noted a female in English language comments talking about movies and other topics. Signal was good at this early hour (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston Florida, NRD545, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sirjan, English at 1930, 500 kW, 313 degrees (gh) ** IRAN. IRIB ENGLISH RADIO BROADCASTING SCHEDULE (A2009) TIME (UTC) WAVE METER BAND (KHZ) TARGET AREAS 1030-1130 SW 19m 15600 Indian Subcontinent 16m 17660 Indian Subcontinent MW 702 Republic of Azerbaijan [why?? --gh] FM 100.7 Tehran 1130-1230 Receivable Only Via Internet and Hotbird Satellite 1530-1630 SW 41m 7305 Indian Subcontinent 31m 9600 Indian Subcontinent 1930-2030 SW 49m 5945 Central Europe 49m 6205 Europe 41m 7205 Europe 31m 9800 South Africa 31m 9925 South Africa 2130-2230 Receivable Only Via Internet and Hotbird Satellite 0030-0130 Receivable Only Via Internet and Hotbird Satellite 0130-0230 SW 31m 9495 North America 41m 7235 North America IRIB English service, P. O. Box No: 19395-6767, Tehran, I.R of Iran E-Mail:: Englishradio @ irib.ir (via Jaisakthivel, ADXC, Chennai, India, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD) ** IRELAND [non]. Re 9-023, RTE via South Africa from March 17, 1930- 2030 on 6220: altho the one-day test in January was barely audible in eastern North America, same time, frequency and transmitter site, this will be quite difficult to hear in NAm outside our winter. The same transmission is expected to continue in A-09, with 100 kW, 0 azimuth, which perhaps means due north rather than non-direxional. WRMI Miami relays WRN North America on 9955, including half-hours from RTE, Mon-Fri at 1800 and 2100. Both contain the Drivetime news roundup (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Amazing. Shortwave matters. Maybe Africans in Africa will listen, too, RTE. Perhaps other broadcasters will notice and follow suit. Well, we can hope (Rob de Santos, Columbus, OH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6220 suff to good in south Italy (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, March 17, ibid.) Saludos cordiales, hoy 17 de marzo desde las 1900 a 2100 UT por 6220 se ha captado a Mystery Radio, con buena señal, emisión musical e ID. Ni rastro de RTE. 73 JMR (José Miguel Romero2, Spain, ibid.) How can that be? Roberto Scaglione just reported RTE: ``6220 suff to good in south Italy`` Besides invading the maritime band to which Wolfgang Bueschel objects, RTE also faces Mystery Radio. Will the latter deliberately avoid transmitting during that hour? (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) 2005-2015z, only a bit of fading with YL in English (Scaglione, ibid.) Only Mystery Radio audible in NZL on 6220 today - good at 1900 and monitored past 2000 UT with no evidence of any RTE transmission from 1930 onwards. Mystery Radio idents noted at 1947 and 1959, otherwise lengthy pop tracks. Perhaps the RTE technicians were enjoying themselves too much at the Irish Pub, hi? (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai New Zealand, UT March 17, AOR7030+ and EWEs to NE, E & SE, ibid.) I forgot to check RTE 6220 [on March 17] but according to the info I just received from Sentech, RTE was on the air as scheduled 1930-2030 (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, March 18, ibid.) At 2005 on the 17th there were two transmissions of about equal (good) strength on 6220. One was playing continuous pop music - the other was speech (a female voice) in English, but the co-channel station made this almost impossible to copy. It wasn't parallel RTE 252LW at this time (Noel R. Green (NW England), ibid.) Same here Noel. At 2001 tune in on 6220, the woman announcer was confirmed as being in English. The pop music - the stronger signal - identified as 'Mystery Radio' just before 2005 UT (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai (Northland) New Zealand, AOR7030+ and EWEs to NE, E & SE. UT March 18, ibid.) Thanks for the confirmation, Bryan. I noted the same conditions on the 18th too, and perhaps Mystery Radio (pop music) was slightly stronger this evening. 73 (Noel R. Green, England, March 19, ibid.) Glenn, In Europe, Mystery Radio predominated but I could discern RTE here and there. I will wait for reports from Africa to see how it was there but from VOA RMS in Nairobi it was strong (Jeff Cohen, UK, March 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Main primary target for a 100 kW outlet on 6 MHz from Meyerton will be only Africa continent up to the equator or rather Sahel zone, but never Europe. Former RSA outlets towards Europe used to be on 25!, 21, and 17 MHz in days of the apartheid. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Dear Mrs. Abreu, the new WRN (RTE Ireland) service towards listeners in Africa will start March 17th via Meyerton site, at Sentech South Africa: 6220 kHz 1930-2030 UTC 46,47,48,52,53 Meyerton 100-kW 0-degr In the past the Portuguese FCC government organization hard-fought always against using these 6220/6225 kHz channels in the ITU maritime band by international broadcasters, in order to PROTECT communication of their maritime fleet, as fishery and other important vessels. Is this 6220 kHz channel FREE and DISPOSABLE now for worldwide coverage, for International Broadcasters like Sentech in South Africa? Kind regards de W. Bueschel (to RDPI via DXLD) Wolfy uses ``FCC`` as a generic term for a government regulatory body over communications, not really appropriate outside USA (gh, DXLD) Thanks for the tip. "FCC" is, however, something that simply does not exist over here - the radio authority is ANACOM, http://www.anacom.pt and it's them, not the RTP, the only service that may provide an answer to the use of those frequencies. Since you sent the mail to Mrs. Teresa Abreu, RDPi frequency manager, I'm convinced she'll reply approx. the same way as I did. My own view is that, if certain frequencies fall off the authorised BC bands, and are even allocated to other internationally recognised services, then BC stations are breaching the regulations. I remember the issue re R. Tirana using those frequencies and a certain complaint from Portugal. If this is still valid, then it's valid for ALB or any other country, including our own (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, via Büschel, DXLD) Re RTE/WRN on 6220 kHz shortwave in Maritime Band ! See page 29 [of 244] on file http://www.anacom.pt/streaming/qnaf_2008.pdf?contentId=779160&field=ATTACHED_FILE http://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=782182 QUADRO NACIONAL DE ATRIBUIÇÃO DE FREQUÊNCIAS 6200 - 6525 MÓVEL MARÍTIMO 5.109, 5.110, 5.130, 5.132 5.137 Móvel marítimo (MM) Tráfego de socorro e segurança - telefonia (6215 kHz) regards de (W. Bueschel, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY [non]. WORLD OF RADIO, Conditions via IRRS-Milano --- Hello Glenn, short report for the 9510 kHz transmission! Date: 2009-03-14 Time in UT: 0910–0930 SINPO: 55555 (S9+20 R5) Details: DX/Radionews RX: YAESU FRG 7700 Antenna: ARA 60 (very small active Outdoorantenna) 55+73s (Klaus from Western Germany Fuchs, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glad to know Slovakia transmission is doing so well, as it might have been too close to you, in the skip zone (gh, DXLD) ** JAPAN [and non]. NHK WORLD RADIO JAPAN - A09 will access in the following link http://adxc.wordpress.com/2009/03/16/nhk-world-radio-japan-a09 (Jaisakthivel, ADXC, Chennai, India, dxldyg via DXLD) That pdf should also be available directly on the NHK website. I see that the four English relays via Sackville continue unchanged, but still no Japanese via there to N America, just to S and C America which unfortunately has to cross NAm to get there (gh, DXLD) JAPAN: NHK World - R. Japan A-09 Schedule Arabic 0400-0430 ME 5980ar 0700-0730 ME 11905is 2015-2145 ME 1377ar Bengali 1300-1345 swAS 15215uz Burmese 1030-1100 seAS 11740sn 1430-1500 seAS 11705 2340-2400 seAS 13650 Chinese 0400-0430 AS 15300 0500-0530 AS 15300 0600-0630 seAS 17860 1130-1200 AS 6090 1300-1330 AS/seAS 6190 11740sn 1430-1500 AS 6190 2230-2250 AS 9560 2240-2300 seAS 13650 2340-2400 15195 17810 English 0000-0020 seAS 13650 17810 0000-0020 EU 5960uk 0000-0020 NAM 6145sa 0500-0530 AF/EU 5975uk 11970is 0500-0530 AS 15325 17810 0500-0530 NAM 6110sa 0900-0930 As 11815 15590 0900-0930 OC/Hawaii 9625 9825 1200-1230 NAM 6120sa 1200-1230 OC 9625 9695 1200-1230 EU 9790ge 1310-1340 swAS 11985 1400-1430 AS 11705 11985 1400-1430 NAM 11705sa 1400-1430 EU/AF 13630uk 21560is 2200-2220 OC 13640 French 0530-0600 AF 9850ge 11750ge 0630-0700 AF 9800is 1230-1300 AF 15400is Hindi 1345-1430 swAS 9585uz Indonesian 0945-1030 seAS 6140sn 1315-1400 seAS 11705 2310-2340 seAS 17810 Japanese 0200-0300 seAS 11780sn 0200-0400 SAM 11935bo 0200-0500 CAM 5960sa 0200-0500 AS 15195 15325 17810 0200-0500 ME 17560 0700-0800 AS 6145 6165 0700-1700 AS 9750 0800-0900 SAM 9825 0800-1000 seAS/AF 11740sn 15290is 0900-1000 SAM 9795sa 1000-1700 seAS 11815 1500-1700 CAM 9535 1500-1700 AF/swAS 12045sn 17735is 1700-1900 AF/ME 11945is 13740dh 1700-1900 AS 6035 7225 1700-1900 SAM 9835 1900-2200 ME 9560 2000-2100 OC 9625 2000-2200 AS 6085 2000-2400 AS 11910 2100-2200 seAS/OC 11665 13640 2200-2300 ME 9650dh 2200-2400 AS/SAM 13680 15265bo Korean 0430-0500 AS 15300 1100-1130 AS 6090 1230-1300 AS 6190 1400-1430 AS 6190 1630-1700 AS 6035 2210-2230 AS 9560 Persian 0230-0300 ME 5960ar 0830-0900 ME 15190ge Portuguese 0230-0300 SAM 9660bo 0930-1000 SAM 9660bo Russian 0330-0400 EU 6130ge 0430-0500 EU 6130ge 0530-0600 AS 11715 11760 0800-0830 AS 6145 6165 1100-1200 AS 6010 1330-1400 AS 6190 1600-1630 EU 738mo Spanish 0400-0430 SAM 6195bo 0500-0530 CAM 6195bo 1000-1030 C+SAM 6120sa 6195bo Swahili 0330-0400 AF 9555is 1300-1330 AF 21560is Thai 1130-1200 seAS 11740sn 1230-1300 seAs 9695 2300-2320 seAS 13650 Urdu 1430-1515 swAS 9680uz Vietnamese 1100-1130 seAS 9695 1230-1300 seAS 11740sn 2320-2340 seAS 13650 Relays: ar = Armenia bo = Bonaire dh = Dhabbaya ge = Germany is = Issoudun mo = Moscow sa = Sackville sn = Singapore uk = UK uz = Uzbekistan (From pdf Sked at http://adxc.wordpress.com/2009/03/16/nhk-world-radio-japan-a09 via Jaisakthivel, ADXC in dxldyg, retyped and re- arranged by Alan Roe, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN [non]. Dear Glenn, I have just had notification from NHK that Radio Japan will be making further reductions in airtime for Europe during the A-09 season. English will be 1200-1230 UT on 9790 via Germany (presumably Wertachtal). Russian will be 0330-0400 and 0430- 0500 again via Germany both on 6130 kHz. English at 0500, 1400 and 0000 will be cancelled as is Russian at 1100 and 1800. Their full schedule will be posted on their website towards the end of March. Best regards, (Alan Holder, Isle of Wight, UK, March 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See above: still a UK frequency at 0500 anyway, and one via France (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. 2850 with strident Korean talk at 1231 March 13, roughly equivalent signal to Oz 2325; so checked 2350 for KN, but nothing audible; at 1233 weak music on 3250, carrier on 3480, also presumably from the peninsula (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Re alternate frequencies for JSR, Shiokaze at 1400-1430 which for the last months has been alternating between 5910 and 5985: in B-08 the following are also registered: 7175, 7195. In A-09 the choices are: 5910, 6020, 6070, 6075, 6120, 6125 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. Venerdì 6 marzo 2009, *1900 - 7530 kHz, FREE N. KOREA RADIO - Gavar (Armenia), IDs YL. Segnale buono - molto buono. Il canale è occupato da Radio Pakistan con l'inno nazionale fino alle 1900:30 circa (SWL I1-0799GE, Luca Botto Fiora, G.C. 09E13 - 44N21, Rapallo (Genova), Italia, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH. QSL: HLG Seoul Radio, 8484, no data thank you card with antennas in 45 days via airmail for English snail mail letter and $1 return postage (Al Muick, Kabul Afghanistan, March 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH [and non]. KBS WORLD RADIO – ANOTHER VOCAL PERSPECTIVE FROM ASIA Many people look at China Radio International as the best example of the bygone days of shortwave, when each country’s international broadcaster occupied several frequencies per hour over multiple hours in a day. Sure, much of the information was repeated, but you knew you could tune in at the top of the hour and hear the day’s news, news analysis, and rotating feature story. CRI airs English language programming targeting to North America for approximately 11 hours per day, making them nearly ubiquitous on the North American airwaves. As a result of CRI’s blanket coverage, one obviously thinks of CRI first when it comes to Asian broadcasters. Not so fast --- while Radio Japan might be slowly receding, and Radio Taiwan International gamely on the air a couple times a night, Korea’s KBS World Radio continues to target North America via shortwave relays, and has done an effective job of leveraging Internet technology and alternative platforms to maintain a steady presence here in North America. One of the reasons KBS World Radio is particularly relevant is that KBS World Radio pays very close attention to what’s going on in North Korea, and how South Korea interacts with North Korea. With a recent change from a relatively liberal to a relatively conservative government, South Korea has recently become more aggressive in how it deals with the North. There’s nothing like a bird’s eye view to gain an understanding of how the North looms large over the South. Schedule format KBS World Radio's programming is in either 30-minute or hour-long schedule blocks. Overview: The hour-long program The hour-long program block starts off with a daily 10 minute newscast; this tends to focus on Korean domestic issues of interest to a global audience, along with Korea's relations with its neighbors. A five-minute news commentary follows on weekdays, then a 30-minute weekday feature called Seoul Calling. A recent edition of Seoul Calling featured a pleasant male-female team discussing four stories from domestic matters. Their style was conversational without being chatty, and they shared observations about their own experiences, or how Koreans would view a situation, that helped the topics seem more accessible than the sometimes-sterile approach other broadcasters would take to their current affairs programs. After roughly four news stories, interspersed with two tolerable Korean pop music songs, there's a brief rotating feature (for example, Style Korea, focusing on home pedicure tips...I kid you not...) and a Korean language lesson. Weekday hours are then filled out with the following features: Faces of Korea (Mondays), Business Watch (Tuesdays), Culture on the Move (Wednesdays), Korea, Today & Tomorrow (Thursdays), and Seoul Report (Fridays). Saturdays feature Worldwide Friendship, a weekly malibox / listener Q&A program following the news; Sundays feature Korean Pop Interactive, a talk and music magazine for the balance of the hour after the 10-minute newscast. Overview: 30 minute broadcast The main difference between the 30-minute and 60-minute broadcast is that Seoul Calling is omitted in the short version; first there’s the news, then News Commentary, then the feature program as listed above. The weekend programs remain the same, though the versions airing in the 30-minute version are shortened. While I haven’t listened to all of the program segments, I did listen to a recent Seoul Calling. It’s a pleasant program; not as dry as something like Radio Australia’s Asia Pacific or the BBC World Service Newshour program; unlike those two examples, where field reporters report the news, the Seoul Calling team comments on the news and its impact on Koreans or those who interact with Korea and Koreans. How to listen – shortwave Thankfully, KBS World Radio is reasonably easy to hear in North America. A daily half-hour program airs from Radio Canada International’s Sackville, NB transmitter at 0230 on 9560 kHz, with a daily hour-long program from Sackville at 1200 on 9650 kHz. The 1200 edition is the version I listen to the most via shortwave. How to listen – live and on-demand webcast KBS World Radio has embraced the World Wide Web by offering a variety of live and on-demand listening options. There are two live streams that rotate the various language services throughout the day, designated Channel 1 and Channel 2. Channel 1 airs English 0300-0400, 0800-0830, 1500-1530, and 2300-2400 UTC; Channel 2 airs English 0500- 0530, 0630-0700, 0830-0930, 1100-1230, 2030-2100, and 2200-2300. On-demand options include most recent editions of the individual program segments, plus the full hour-long program for the day. Only a limited number of programs are podcast, and the list of available audio is not promptly updated. How to listen – World Radio Network (satellite / webcast / local rebroadcast) KBS World Radio broadcasts daily in the WRN North America programming service; this is available via live webcast and most of the day on Sirius Satellite Radio. English broadcasts are aired 0230-0300, 0930- 1000, and 1530-1600 UTC as of the March Daylight Savings time change. A few public radio stations rebroadcast WRN as an overnight service; the 0930-1000 release would air if the particular station hasn’t switched to NPR programming as of 0900 UT. The 1530 edition is available on-demand at the World Radio Network website, http://www.wrn.org. How to listen – Spectrum Radio (webcast / local London, UK rebroadcast) [see RUSSIA] KBS World Radio airs Mondays-Fridays at 1500-1530 and 2300-2330 UT (Richard Cuff, PA, Easy Listening, March NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** LIBERIA. 6070, ELWA, Monrovia, 2257-2302*, March 13, audible only after Romania signs off at 2257. A poor, weak signal heard at that point under a strong CFRX 6069.97 with gospel music. National Anthem at 2301. Very difficult reception (Brian Alexander, PA, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6070, 15/03 2049, ELWA Monrovia, presumed, English, from Monrovia, with 5 kW, two OM talk American preaching style, recorded, clear reference to God the 2058 UT, 24432 (Jorge Freitas – Feira de Santana BA – Brasil, HCDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. 5010.0, RNM, 1443-1505, March 13. Believe this is the first time this year I have heard this particular transmitter in use here, being on frequency and clearly in USB + carrier mode. Not heard in LSB, making for easy confirmation that it is them. In French with Hi-life music and French ballads; sounded like a singing station jingle; almost fair with no AIR QRM (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5010.0, RNM (presumed), 0331-0348, March 15. Still on frequency and in USB + carrier mode. Non-stop music (Hi-life, ballads and “Manic Monday” by the Bangles); poor-fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Madagasikara, 5010 kHz USB (suppressed LSB) at 0300 on 03-16-09. Continuous music with ID jingles. They were absent during the past two (my local) evenings. I started to listen to them regularly again when the political crisis developed back in late January-early February. When the studios were damaged weeks ago, they were broadcasting in AM mode up until tonight with both sidebands audible then. RNM was absent on 03-14 and 03-15 and returned tonight in suppressed LSB, audio in USB (Stephen J. Price, Johnstown, PA, R-5000 with 400' "L" and 200' buried counterpoise and ground rods, ODXA yg via DXLD) Hi Steve, Propagation conditions have varied a lot recently and I have been able to hear them at both my local mornings and evenings (logs below). Seems they still have a political crisis: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/03/200931512420880333.html (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, NASWA yg via DXLD The final item on PRI`s The World, March 16, is about this, the DJ who says he controls the military, altho he is constitutionally too young to become president. A four-minute report: http://www.theworld.org/taxonomy_by_date/1/20090316 http://www.theworld.org/node/25123 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6134.93, R. Madagaskira (presumed), 1333-1402 March 16. Regional music; YL in French, joined later by OM at 1349; more music and chat past ToH. No break or ID noted at ToH. Presumed, based on other DXers' loggings of RM on this exact frequency. Fair signal on peaks but losing steam. Noted next day (17 March) also but much weaker and very little readable (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100- foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD) Long path, good catch (gh) A great catch, John! Thorsten Hallmann emailed me that “Reports for 6135 from outside Africa have always been very rare.” He has an authoritative website for African stations with a lot of good information: http://www.muenster.org/uwz/ms-alt/africalist/africalist.pdf It also helps that he keeps it very up-to-date, with the most current information available. Again, well done!! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Interesting. I still have a Perseus recording spanning this frequency from March 14 and just took a look. This carrier faded up above the noise floor from 1200 UT on exactly 6134.94, and kept slowly rising in level until the recording ended at 1348, when it was approx. -35.4 dBm above the noise floor. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to produce any audio, perhaps if the recording continued a while longer. Sunrise here in Memphis was 1211 UT. 73, (Brandon Jordan, Memphis, TN, ibid.) Sunset in Antananarivo was 1504 UT, so would 6 MHz really be propagating longpath to the other worldside that early? http://www.gaisma.com/en/location/antananarivo.html (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Glenn, hearing stations an hour or two before sunset is not that unusual. In the middle of winter, the Japanese NHK MW stations are often heard during our local evenings 2 or more hours before their sunset. Now that part of the world is not far from the antipode from the west coast, so long path/short path becomes less of an issue. Not sure how much different John's LP/SP would be from his QTH (Walt Salmaniw, BC, ibid.) Altho the subject continued John, I was referring to Brandon`s showing of a carrier in TN as early as 1200, which is THREE hours before LSS in Mad. And it`s not winter here nor there, but very close to equinox, FWIW. Yes, one can hear DX on 6 MHz anyway 3 hours before sunset or after sunrise, but it`s really pushing the limits; that`s what the Perseus SDR facilitates. No doubt John`s catches are LP, and close to grayline. The path is pretty tropical most of the way. The exact antipodes of Mad is out SW of California in the Pacific. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) 6134.93, RM 1345-1415 March 18. Heard again this morning with fair peaks and similar programming to that heard on March 16 (mostly music); still have not heard an ID. Begins deteriorating after 1400 and is just a het [carrier?] by 1430. Sunrise here is around 1330 and sunset at transmitter around 1450 UT so I guess this is "semi- grayline" - via longpath, maybe? (John WIlkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD) I had two carriers signing off at 1500; one on 6134.93 and the other 6135 kHz. The upper one was Yemen with clear audio, so 6134.93 kHz was most probably Madagascar. Funny, though that it had stronger carrier but I couldn't get any audio from it. Undermodulated? 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, March 19, cumbredx via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. MADAGASCAR PRESIDENT'S HQ SEIZED Madagascan troops have entered the presidential palace compound in the capital Antananarivo, witnesses say. Marc Ravalomanana, the president, was not in the building, which is largely used for ceremonial purposes, when soldiers smashed down the gates with armoured vehicles on Monday. "Surrender, surrender, if you are there surrender, because we are brothers," a soldier shouted into a megaphone as they forced their way in. Troops were also reportedly heading to another palace about 6 km from the city centre where Ravalomanana was believed to be sheltering. Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa, speaking from Antananarivo, said that the army had declared that it would take the second presidential palace during the evening. "The people protecting the president and the few soldiers protecting the president have mined the area to make sure people can't get any closer," she said. "They are expecting some kind of standoff; the question is when will it happen. It doesn't seem, at the moment that [Ravalomanana] will go back on his word not to leave the presidential palace." Crippling crisis Monday's events came amid a worsening political standoff between Ravalomanana and the country's principal opposition leader that has crippled the island nation since the beginning of the year. Just hours prior to the forcible takeover of the presidential compound, Andry Rajoelina, the opposition leader, called on the security forces to arrest Ravalomanana, who he accuses of being a dictator and misusing public funds. "If Andry Rajoelina can resolve the problem, we are behind him" Colonel Andre Ndriarijaona, army chief of staff [caption?] Rajoelina has already declared himself the Indian Ocean island's de facto leader, tapping into widespread public discontent, especially among Madagascar's poor. "We have been told that he [Rajoelina] is actually preparing to go into the presidential palace on Tuesday morning to take office and to tell people that he is in charge," Mutasa said. Ravalomanana had offered to hold a referendum to end the crisis, but Rajoelina said in a radio address that there was no need for a poll as the people had already made their opinions clear. The head of Madagascar's armed forces said on Monday they were 99 per cent behind Rajoelina. "We are there for the Malagasy people. If Andry Rajoelina can resolve the problem, we are behind him," Colonel Andre Ndriarijaona, who led a mutiny last week and replaced the previous army chief of staff, said. "I would say 99 per cent of the forces are behind him." 'Attempted coup' The African Union has called the situation in Madagascar an attempted coup and urged the people to respect the constitution. "The situation in Madagascar is an internal conflict," Edouard Alo-Glele, Benin's envoy to Ethiopia, said after an emergency meeting of the AU's Peace and Security Council. "It is an attempted coup d'etat. We condemn the attempted coup d'etat." More than 130 people have been killed in Madagascar since the country's political crisis began in January, most of them when security forces cracked down on anti-government protests at the order of Ravalomanana's government. Source: Al Jazeera (via Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, March 16, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) I gather from reporters speaking at the scene that the ex`s name is stressed Ravolománana, whose name I have just learned to pronounce, let alone his successor. Biting their nails at WCBC Franklin TN and KNLS Anchor Point! And Hilversum. But, but, as just reported yesterday, the new guy is too young to be president; however, I guess he can be a dictator-DJ (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD) Worth watching 5010 tonight after a day of major developments. President Marc Ravalomanana has resigned after troops stormed his office last night. State-owned TVM TV went off satellite abruptly at 1225 gmt, just minutes after the president's resignation - not sure if it's still on the air locally there (Chris Greenway, UK, 1535 UT March 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) On 17 March at 1615 noted presumed Madagascar on 3287.6 with talks. Bad ute-QRM, not sure if it was in French or Malagasy. Audio went off around 1625 but the carrier stayed on until past 1700. No trace of them on 5010 during random checks (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, ibid.) Thanks for this, Jari. More observations welcome! Both TVM and Radio Madagascar apparently still off their usual satellite beams this morning (18 March). Not sure if they are on the air terrestrially (Chris Greenway, UK, 0849 UT March 18, ibid.) 18 March, no sign of 3287.6 but 5010 USB strong at tune-in 1555, co- channel AIR also strong. Madagascar played local poptunes. They also tried to send a speech by someone but the audio was distorted. Back to music and talks. ID as "Radio Madagasikara". Recheck at 1536 showed only AIR alone on the channel (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also keep an ear on scheduled transmissions of RNW and the other stations it relays via Talata, to see if there are any disruptions. (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, ibid.) If there are any disruptions, we will report this on our website and in the Media Network Weblog. At the moment everything is under control. The local police are providing a 24 hour guard around the station just in case, and relations with the local community are excellent. Even if the mains supply is cut they have enough fuel to operate for two weeks. Our programme distribution department has daily contact with our colleagues there. Their safety is of paramount importance. The most likely reason for any disruptions is if our staff have problems, or their safety is threatened, getting to and from the station, which is about 25 km outside Antananarivo. So far, that hasn't been the case (Andy Sennitt, Radio Netherlands Worldwide March 18, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENIING DIGEST) Bad news. President Marc Ravalomanana was the one who personally invited KNLS to build a SW station there. Now it's an open question if a new guy will honor his predecessor's promises (Sergei S., ibid.) Bad, only if you feel the world really needs another gospel-huxtering SW station (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) VOA OFFERS COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE OF MADAGASCAR --- "Exceptional circumstances need exceptional measures," new president said Washington, D.C., March 18, 2009 - The Voice of America (http://www.VOANews.com) is providing round-the-clock, ongoing coverage of political turmoil in Madagascar by a VOA correspondent, stringers and regular telephone interviews with principals including the self-declared president. Scott Bobb, a VOA correspondent, is filing stories from Antananarivo, the capital of the island nation in the Indian Ocean where Andry Rajoelina says he is the new president. The military handed him power following the resignation of President Marc Ravalomanana. Rajoelina told VOA's French to Africa Service, in a telephone interview before he took power, that "exceptional circumstances need exceptional measures." A former disc jockey, Rajoelina, 34, is six years younger than the required age for president under Madagascar's constitution. He has said he will schedule free and fair elections within two years. Rajoelina, an opposition leader, had led a series of anti-government protests over the past several months, resulting in the deaths of at least 100 people. The African Union has urged Madagascar to respect the constitution, and Washington has warned it could cut off aid to the country (VOA press release March 18 via DXLD) ** MALAYSIA. 7294.97, Traxx FM via RTM, 1636-1709, March 13. Nice promos for the “Traxx Mobile”, which this Sun. will be at the historical city of Melaka, giving away prizes from 12 PM onward; several singing “Traxx FM” jingles; ToH 2 pips; “The news update at 1:00 from the RTM News Center at Kuala Lumpur”; fair. Have posted an audio file of their station jingle and the neat promo, to “file > Station Sounds” at dxldyg. This is still one of my favorite stations! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. IBRAHIM YAHAYA APPOINTED RTM DIRECTOR-GENERAL March 16, 2009 20:37 PM KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 (Bernama) -- Former senior editor of Berita Publishing Sdn Bhd Datuk Ibrahim Yahaya has been appointed Director- General of the Broadcasting Department (RTM) effective Monday. Ibrahim, 48, replaces Datuk Abdul Rahman Hamid who has been Advisor of Digital Broadcasting to the Information Minister since Jan 2. "He was appointed based on his wide experience in the media and broadcasting field," an Information Ministry statement here says. Prior to the appointment, Ibrahim was media advisor to the Information Minister. He had also served as TV3's current affairs and broadcasting manager and Berita Harian editor-in chief. The statement says Ibrahim's appointment is in line with the restructuring of the Broadcasting Department which was approved by the Public Service Department, effective Jan 1 2009. Starting last Feb 25, Datuk Norhyati Ismail, the managing director of TV programmes, was appointed Deputy Director-General (Strategic Broadcasting), replacing Datuk Adilah Shek Omar who is now Director of the Tun Abdul Razak Institute of Broadcasting and Information (IPPTAR). The statement says Adilah's appointment is aimed at strengthening IPPTAR as a respected broadcasting institute at the international level. -- BERNAMA IBRAHIM TO CONTINUE TO TURN RTM INTO CREDIBLE AGENCY March 16, 2009 23:48 PM KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 (Bernama) -- Datuk Ibrahim Yahaya described his appointment as the new Director-General of Broadcasting on Monday as a heavy responsibility to realise the objective of turning Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) into a credible and respected agency in future. He said he would use his experience of more than 25 years in the print and electronic media to ensure that the RTM's move towards digitalisation in 2010 would be successful. "This effort is also in line with the aspiration of the Ministry of Information to form a strong creative industry not only to tap the local market but also at the international level," he told Bernama here. Ibrahim, 48, who was a former senior editor of Berita Publishing Sdn Bhd, succeeded Datuk Abdul Rahman Hamid who was appointed the Digital Broadcasting Advisor to the Information Minister since Jan 2. Ibrahim had previously held the post of Media Advisor to the Information Minister. He had also served as TV3 current affairs and broadcasting manager and chief news editor of Berita Harian. —BERNAMA (both via Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DXLD) Aha, so now we know, until now, RTM has been incredible! (gh, DXLD) ** MALI. 9635, RTV du Mali *0800-0810 March 16, S/on with flute and drums. YL with s/on announcement and then into tribal music. Signal rapidly decayed and gone by 0810 (Bruce Barker, Broomall, PA. Equipment: NRD535D and an Alpha Delta DX Sloper, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 4845.0, RTM, Nouakchott, MAR 7, *0609-0827* - s/on at 0609 with Qur`anic recitations underway ending at 0630, musical bridge, then male speaker in Arabic with greetings then monologue. Fair signal, slightly improving after 0718 transmitter sunrise and only starting to fade slowly from 0750. Off at 0827 (Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. Happy Station show 15.12.69 now posted at the Radio Netherlands Historical Audio Archive for streaming or download. This is part of the last show of Eddy Startz, presented by his successor Tom Meyer (partly in German and French) with recorded messages. Some of Eddy Startz best friends and listeners speaking to him over the airwaves in his own program. The messages come from the United States of America, Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Germany and France. The program is interlarded with some appropriate music, a.o. the Jack Hilton Orchestra, which used to be one of Eddy Startz' favorite orchestras, and a song sung by Tom Meyer. N.B. Eddy Startz is not speaking. There are some other Happy Station shows there; put Happy Station in the search engine: http://blogs.rnw.nl/haa/b27193401-happy-station-laatste-show-eddy-startz-1969-12-15 (Mike Barraclough, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Nederland, Taiwan & USA. The popular program “Happy Station” broadcast 1928 though 1995 with interruption during WWII over “Philips Radio” and Radio Nederland will be resumed by two prominent radio announcers. Based in Taiwan, with a studio in the Netherlands and broadcast via a transmitter of Radio Miami International on 9955 kHz, it will be aired in the forthcoming weeks (Rumen Pankov, R. Bulgaria DX posted March 9, via DXLD) I guess this script is of the RB March 6 broadcast. No one said anything about a ``studio in the Netherlands`` now, nor a second ``prominent radio announcer`` besides Keith Perron, which I gather is pronounced Pérun ?? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Just want to let know that starting with the second broadcast date of Happy Station, which is March 26, 2009 both transmissions will be different. 0100 UT/GMT will be HS 1 (9 pm EDT) Wednesday evening 1500 UT/GMT will be HS 2 (11 am EDT) Thursday morning Frequency: 9955 kHz For the first program at 0100 UT/GMT (March 12, 2009) Glenn Hauser and some other people told me they were picking up jamming from Cuba, but in other parts of the US it seemed to be OK. If you do hear any jamming from Cuba, please let me know. Also the webcast server at WRMI overloaded. Jeff White at WRMI is going to get back to me to inform me what the capacity is. For the second program at 1500 UT/GMT (March 12, 2009) signal had no jamming, but it was weak in some areas and stronger in others. But that’s shortwave for you. To my surprise a listener in Australia who listened to the webcast contacted me with an amazing offer. He first started listening to the show in the mid 60s when Eddy Startz was still hosting and his father who started listening even before that around 1949 or 1950 made a number of off-air recordings. He located them in his attic and is sending along the recorder his father used to make them. To my surprise the off-air recordings his father made in the 50s were done using Wedster 80-1 wire recorder (still works). He sent me a few clips he digitized and I was shockingly surprised at how good they sounded for a recorder bought in 1948. He has over 50 spools of Happy Station from the 50s and is sending them along with the recorder. So thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, Ryan Holden in Adelaide for your kind offer. I will be sure to put them to good use. The version which will be broadcast weekly on Radio Sonora Surabaya in Indonesia will also be different. The problem for online listening is the web stream is very unreliable as the last few times I’ve listened, the program listed as on air was different to the one being streamed; other times there was no stream even with the program being broadcast. But don’t worry, this version of the show will also be uploaded as a file so you can also listen to the podcast. What will be the same and what will be different? Same: Theme (but no interval signal) Interviews done for the N&S America shows A few of the listener messages sent in from the SW version Jingles Length Different: Music Focus more on that target Station Name: Radio Sonora Surabaya Frequencies: 98.0 FM Surabaya, 92.0 FM Jakarta Day: Sundays Date: As of March 22nd, 2009 Time: 9:05PM (local time) Well, that’s it for now. 73s (Keith Perron, Taiwan, March 14, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello Everyone, Jeff White at WRMI contacted me a few moments ago asking me if it would be OK to re-broadcast the 1500 UT March 12th program again on March 19th. So this Thursday March 19th and 0100 and 1500 you can catch a repeat of last week`s show. The program that will air will feature the final radio work of Dick Speekman formally of Radio Netherlands DX Jukebox and Radio Australia’s Spectrum who pas away last week from colon cancer (Keith Perron, Taiwan, March 14, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Everyone, Just wanted to let you know the following. Starting with the March 26th (UT) editions of Happy Station there will be 2 shows and no repeats. 0100 to 0155 (9 pm to 9:55 pm local time [EDT March 25]) will be HS 1 1500 to 1500 (11 am to 11:55 am local time) will be HS 2 Both will be different with music, emails and letters, recorded messages and chitchat. Also the version for Radio Sonora on FM in Indonesia will also be different, known as HS 3. The HS for Indonesia will be weekly and air at 9:05pm local time. This version will be uploaded onto the facebook page. Regards, (Keith Perron, Taiwan, March 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also USA: WRMI, for April 23 anomaly I was busy producing World of Radio during the 0100 hour UT Thursday March 19, so didn`t try to monitor then, but at 1500 UT on WRMI 9955, last week`s Happy Station repeat is well heard even on a portable, very good signal from WRMI. Nevertheless, there IS still DentroCuban jamming audible in the background (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, I'm not sure if I should feel flattered or not that they are jamming the show. Oh well it's costing them much more to jam than it's costing me to put the show together, so good luck to them is all I can say. LOL! Regs, (Keith Perron, Taiwan, March 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Just uploading a very rare interview from 3 years ago - Of Dick Speekman and Ian McFarland to the http://DXer.ca webpage (Colin Newell, Victoria, British Columbia, March 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Our latest podcast features a rare interview between Ian McFarland and Dick Speekman during Dick's visit to Canada a few years back (Newell, HCDX via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. For those interested, I have published the A09 technical schedule of Radio Netherlands Worldwide at http://www.radionetherlands.nl/features/media/090329-rnw-shortwave-schedule (Andy Sennitt, RNW, March 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) RNW complete A-09 of what`s left in English, actually from 1 minute before the start hour to 3 minutes before the end-hour, with site, azimuth, kW: 10-11 KHB 12065 218 100 E China PHT 15110 283 250 E Asia TIN 11895 267 250 E & SE Asia 14-15 TAC 9345 131 100 SE Asia/India 14-16 MDC 11835 50 250 S Asia MDC 15815 35 250 S Asia TAC 7530 131 100 SE Asia/India 18-19 MDC 6020 255 250 S Africa 18-20 WER 15535 150 500 E Africa 19-20 DHA 9480 215 500 E Africa ISS 11660 183 500 W Africa NAU 15335 183 500 W Africa 19-21 MDC 5905 305 250 E Africa MDC 7425 270 250 C & S Africa 20-21 ISS 11610 183 500 W Africa Bonaire is still on the air but not with any English from RNW, which had been at 20-21 on 17810. Site key: KHB = Khabarovsk, Russia; PHT = Tinang, Philippines; TIN = Tinian, N Marianas; TAC = Tashkent, Uzbekistan; MDC = Talata, Madagascar; WER = Wertachtal, Germany; DHA = UAE; NAU = Nauen, Germany; ISS = Issoudun, France (Glenn Hauser, excerpted from http://www.radionetherlands.nl/features/media/090329-rnw-shortwave-schedule for DX LISTENING DIGEST) Worth to mention: The extremely early transmission of English via Trincomalee 1548 will be cancelled (for lack of listeners I suspect). The 1600-1700 slot on Orfordness 1296, booked for the EU-sponsored Euranet programme and switched to Dutch after no relays of other Euranet editions like German could be arranged, will be cancelled. Instead 1296 will be in use for Dutch during the summer season from June to August also between 2000 and 2200. This is possible because 1296 will be used for the DRM service of DW and BBC only between 0600 and 0800 anymore. New shortwave sites: Moosbrunn -- Dutch 0500-0557 on 6015 to southwestern Europe. Rampisham -- Arabic 1800-1857 on 13820. During summer also 6040 2000- 2200 will be temporarily switched from Grigoriopol to Rampisham. Greenville -- Spanish 2300-2400 on 9450, as already discussed here. Re: Los cambios en Radio Nederland Some more aspects: Other secular broadcasters still beaming Spanish programming to South America south of the Amazonas region, and presumably doing so also after March 28, are Radio Exterior de España, Voice of Russia, Radio Prague, Radio Slovakia International, Radio Romania International, Radio Bulgaria, Radio Cairo, Radio Canada International, IRIB, China Radio International, Radio Taiwan International, Voice of Korea and KBS. Transmissions from Cuba probably but not necessarily are to be mentioned here, too. BBC, RFI and VOA already have the same target area limit for their Spanish broadcasts on shortwave than RNW now introduces. In the case of BBC these limited Spanish transmissions (via WHRI and Montsinéry) are also the only remaining shortwave transmissions of the BBC in the western hemisphere altogether. Worth to mention also Deutsche Welle: If I got it right they closed down Spanish radio completely in 1999, completely concentrating on TV since (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) This [1548 Sri Lanka as above] was never a permanent transmission. Deutsche Welle offered it to us as an airtime exchange for the B08 season, and my colleagues at Programme Distribution thought it would be interesting to have some practical data on the range of this transmitter, in case it became available at a more convenient time (which, given DW's planned cuts, is a possibility). We never expected a large audience at this time, but it was an interesting experiment, that cost us nothing. Of course, some people tried to make a connection between this and the end of our shortwave service to North America, but it was a pure coincidence (Andy Sennitt, RNW, March 16, ibid.) Andy, in one of RNW recent broadcasts I heard something about RNW starting English AM/MW relays in Asia. I guess I wasn't very attentive, so maybe I misheard it. At least, I can't find any details on R. Netherlands` site. Did you hear anything about that? (Sergei S., Moscow, ibid.) No I haven't, but I will make enquiries and let you know. The only way we could do it would be on an airtime exchange basis. We are actually trying to reduce the proportion of our budget that we spend on distribution (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) Andy, after re-reading what you and Kai wrote I'm thinking maybe it was an announcement of canceling 1548. It seems like every international broadcaster out there is working on reducing its distribution costs. Except for CRI, that is (Sergei S., ibid.) I was already wondering if 1548 kHz is included when DW talks about closing down shortwave for Asia. Experience seems to suggest that it is indeed considered as "belongs to what is summarized as shortwave". And the other side of this medal was that this airtime contingent could also have been used at Sines, making it unnecessary to buy these two hours for cash from Media Broadcast or TDF. But perhaps it is pointless to discuss this further, now that RNW not only abandons complete target areas (by the way, I think that zero communication in regard to South America would have been the best approach) but also wants to reduce distribution costs (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) ** NETHERLANDS. R. Netherlands Worldwide A-09 sked Arabic 1800-1857 ME mo-fr 13820ra 1900-1957 ME mo-fr 9895is 2100-2157 nAF 5930sm Dutch 0200-0227 nAMe 6190bo 0300-0327 nAMc 6190bo 0329-0357 sAMnw 6190bo 0400-0427 Mex/Car 5975bo 0500-0530 nAMw 6165bo (su: - 0527) 0500-0557 EU 5955si 6015au 6125na 9895na 0500-0557 nEU/Baltic 9835is (1 Jun-1 Sep) 0500-0657 seEU 11935is 0600-0657 c+wEU 6035na 9895na 0600-0758 c+wEU 5955sk (su: -0800) 0700-0757 sEU 6035na 6120we 11935we (su: -0800) 0700-0757 swEU 9895hb 0700-1000 swEU su 9895hb 0700-1000 France sa 9895na(1 Jun-1 Sep) 0800-1000 EU mo-fr 1296or 5955hb 6035is 6120we 0800-1000 c+wEU sa 5955we (1 Jun-1 Sep) 0800-1000 c+wEU su 5955hb 0829-0857 NZ/AU 9790sp 0929-1015 Sur mo-sa 6020bo 0900-0927 AU/Indo 9790sp 1000-1200 Benelux th 1296or (30 Apr-1 May) 1000-1657 EU su (1 Jun-1 Sep: daily) 5955we 9895we 1200-1459 swEU 13700na (4 Jul-27 Jul) 1200-1600 EU 7235is 9595we 13825is (4 Jul - 27 Jul) 1229-1257 seAS 9350ti 1300-1327 AS 5910pk 9650tn 12085tn 17585ma 1500-1557 swEU 13700na 13700na 1500-1657 c+wEU mo-sa 5955we 9895we (not 2 Jun - 31 Aug) 1600-1657 swEU 13700na (1 Jun - 1 Sep) 1700-1727 eAF/ME 9895ma 11665we 1729-1757 c+sAF 6020ma 9895ma 2000-2200 EU 6040ki (not 2 Jun-31 Aug) 2000-2200 c+seEU 1296or 6040ra (1 Jun - 1 Sep) 2000-2200 swEU 6125na 2100-2127 AF/SAM 5970is 17605bo 2100-2127 Ijsland (?) 9895na (1 Jun-1 Sep) 2200-2227 SAM 15540bo 17605bo 2300-2327 SAM/Car 6165bo English 1000-1057 e+seAS 11895ti 12065kh 15110tn 1400-1457 seAS/India 9345ta 1400-1557 seAS/India 5825du 7530ta 11835ma 15815ma 1800-1857 sAF 6020ma 1800-1957 eAF 15535we 1900-1957 e+wAF 9480dh 11660is 15335na 1900-2057 c,s+eAF 5905ma 7425ma 2000-2057 wAF 11610is Indonesian 1100-1157 Indon. 17505dh 1100-1257 Indon. 9795sn 1200-1257 Indon. 11920Sn 15640dh 2200-2257 Indon. 7395tn 2200-2357 Indon. 9475Tn 15280sp 2300-2357 Indon. 6120sn Spanish 0000-0157 C+SAM 6165bo 7325si 9450si 0200-0357 CAM/Mex 6165bo 1100-1127 Carib 6165bo 1130-1157 C+SAM 6165bo 1200-1227 C+SAM 9715bo 9895bo 2300-2359 SAM/Car 9450gr Sites: au=Moosbrunn bo=Bonaire dh=Dhabbaya du=Dushanbe gr=Greenville hb=Hörby is=Issoudun kh=Khabarovsk ki=Kishinev ma=Madagascar na=Nauen or=Orfordness pk=Petropavlovsk Kamchatskiy ra=Rampisham si=Sines sk=Skelton sm=Santa Maria di Galeria sn=Singapore sp=Saipan ta=Tashkent ti=Tinian Islands tn=Tinang we=Wertachtal (RNW website, via Andy Sennitt in dxldyg, re-arranged by Alan Roe, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEWFOUNDLAND. CJYQ-930 St John's Newfoundland has applied to the CRTC to reduce its daytime power from 50 to 25 kW, and to relocate the transmitter due to "numerous acts of vandalism made against its transmitter facilities". Night power remains at 25 kW. The link to the application documents gives a 404 error so I do not know where the transmitter is being relocated to - it is not yet in the Industry Canada Broadcasting Database as well. St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Application No. 2009-0249-6 Application by Newcap Inc. relating to the licence of the English- language commercial AM radio programming undertaking CJYQ St-John’s to amend the technical parameters of its transmitter CJYQ St-John’s by relocating the antenna site and by reducing the transmitter power from 50,000 watts to 25,000 watts day-time. The station’s night-time transmitter power will remain unchanged at 25,000 watts. The licensee states that the antenna relocation is necessary due to the numerous acts of vandalism made against its transmitter facilities. The licensee anticipates a reduction in service to approximately 79,000 individuals with the population served by its 15 mVm contour reduced from 149,655 to 70,522 (via Deane McIntyre VE6BPO, March 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. New RNZI sked coming up on 18 March, give or take a day, as engineers go to site to switch us away from 17675. A lot of work has to go on in the aerial farm to modify things in order to operate on winter frequencies, in preparation for the entire new schedule at the end of March. So 17675 is being replaced early by 13730 and 15720 during the daytime to the Pacific. Will be off the air a whole afternoon while changes are being made (Adrian Sainsbury, RNZI Mailbox March 9, notes by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) He did not make clear which is AM, which is DRM, or the exact new hours. At 1610 UT March 19, the schedule at http://www.rnzi.com/pages/listen.php had still not been updated to this effect, 17675 remaining on it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. FRCN Kaduna, *0430-f/out, MAR 7, t/on briefly at 0420, jumping back and forth between 4770.1 and 4769.964 then off at 0424. Back on at 0430 on 4769.962, poor with hints of audio, improving to almost fair by 0529 UT sunrise at transmitter with Hi-life music, time-pips at the top of the hour, ID into news 0600 and starting to slowly fade. Carrier finally dropped below noise floor at 0800, 2 1/2 hours after sunrise in Kaduna. Weak CODAR (Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA [non]. 7385, March 13 around 0535, fair signal in language mentioning ``Nigeria`` a few times, pronounced almost as in English with long I. Presumably the new morning service of Aso Radio via Samara, RUSSIA at 0530-0600 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Via Samara, RUSSIA, 7385, Aso Radio, *0529-0559*, March 13, sign on with African music & opening ID announcements. Talk in Hausa. Fair to good. Mon-Fri only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Via Samara, RUSSIA, 15180, Aso Radio, *1600-1630*, March 13, sign on with African music and opening announcements. Talk in Hausa. Presumed. Poor. Too weak in noisy conditions to catch an ID. Mon-Fri only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. Andrew Yoder Audio Interview link: http://shortwavepirate.info/wordpress/?page_id=8 (Artie Bigley, OH, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 73 MB download of an Art Bell show from 2001y (gh, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. APPLICATIONS DISMISSED: 1210, KGYN, Guymon - Application to move to Oklahoma City with U4 50000/10000 (AM Switch [FCC news column], NRC DX News March 16 via DXLD) Hijacking this facility to OKC, the only AM broadcaster in No Man`s Land, was a horrible idea. Do they know in Guymon about this? I searched on KGYN at the Guymon Daily Herald, and got a number of hits, but none relevant more recent than below. If, as of last April, KGYN was *not* going to move to OKC, why has their application to do so only recently been dismissed, and was the dismissal at station request or FCC denying what the station ownership still wanted to do? This dismissal does not necessarily mean it`s all over. A new application with different parameters, justification could be filed. But the impression below is that it was the LMA operator, CC, which wanted to do this and now that KGYN is back in hands of the locals, it stays (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RUMORS VS. FACT: KGYN SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT Monday, 28 April 2008 By Miranda Gilbert, Managing Editor http://www.guymondailyherald.com/content/view/81949/ Recent changes to radio contracts and staff at KGYN 1210 AM left some locals with questions. To set the record straight, KGYN's owner Ed Smith of TELNS Broadcasting Co., spoke with the GDH to assure listeners that the station is not only staying on air, but are also celebrating their 60th year as KGYN. *RUMOR- KGYN is going off air and moving to Oklahoma City *FACT- KGYN is NOT going off air nor moving to Oklahoma City Former General Manager, Jim Smith and Clear Channel Communications are no longer associated with KGYN Radio *RUMOR- Advertising that was previously contracted with Clear Channel Communications and KGYN will not be honored and aired. *FACT- Previous contracts will be honored and aired as contracted by KGYN and TELNS Broadcasting Co. *RUMOR- KGYN has new owner/operator *FACT- KGYN is celebrating its 60-year anniversary. Since it signed on 60 years ago, it has only had two owners, Plains Broadcasting Co. Inc / T.M Rayburn (owner) and in 1986 TELNS Broadcasting Co. Inc / Ed Smith (owner) (No relation to Jim Smith, former General Manager) purchased KGYN. *FACT- KGYN is still owned by TELNS Broadcasting Co. Inc. For the past 10 years the station has been under a Lease Management Agreement between Clear Channel Communications and TELNS Broadcasting. As of 5:00 pm April 25, 2008 the agreement has been cancelled and TELNS Broadcasting and its owner Ed Smith are now both owner and managing operator. *FACT- TELNS Broadcasting Co. Inc./Ed Smith realizes there are lots of ways we can improve our dedication and responsibility to our 5 state listening audiences and are committed to "listening to you so that you will listen to us." *FACT- KGYN/TELNS broadcasting, "appreciate" each and everyone of our listeners *FACT- KGYN/TELNS Broadcasting knows that there is no way to provide the programming you want without our "Most valued advertisers." Please support them with your patronage. Without them we could not exist. *FACT- We value your input. We want to listen to you so that you continue to listen to us. Please mail us your comments and suggestions, good and bad; they will all be welcomed PO Box 130, Guymon, OK 73942. Watch the GDH for more news on exciting things happening at KGYN (via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN. 7530: see KOREA NORTH [non] ** PERU. 4746.92, (presumed), R. Huanta 2000, Huanta, Mar 7, *1001- f/out - s/on at 1001 on 4746.916, then slowly drifting upward until settling on 4646.922 kHz by 1100 where it remained until carrier f/out around by 1200. Definite peak from 1100 transmitter sunrise enhancement then rapidly fading from 1110 UT. Poor threshold audio, music, significant CODAR and occasional Ute QRM. 4774.96v, (presumed), R. Tarma, Tarma, Mar 7, 0111-0305* *1000-f/out - steady on 4774.964 kHz until 0305 t/off. S/on at 1000 on 4774.978 and drifting down to 4774.966 by 1030 where it remained steady until carrier fell into the noise floor around 1203 UT. No audio produced, CODAR thru-out. 5120.183, (presumed), Ondas del Suroriente, Quillabamba, Mar 7, *0953- f/out - t/on at 0953 on 5120.5 kHz and very rapidly drifting down to 5120.18 kHz by 1000 UTC, drifting back up a bit slower to 5120.19, then settling on 5120.183 kHz and drifting +/- 1 Hz. Carrier faded into the noise floor by 1050 UT. Definite peak from 1054 transmitter sunrise lasting until about 1110 before fading, possible threshold audio in the noise but could have been imaginary. This is a very noisy frequency at my QTH (Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4805, Radio Rasuwilca, tentative, 1000 to 1100 on several days this week, with aid from Dave Valko but not being received well here or in Cedar Key. Dave Valko seem to be receiving them well. 15/ 16 March (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, et al. Florida DXers, Drake R8 NRD 535D, March 17, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4805.03, Radio Rasuwilca. End of camposina [sic] song, studio announcer mentioning Miguel, TC mentioning Peru, and ID at 1042. 1044 back to campo music with W vocal. M returned at 1050 but impossible, as it was weakening quickly. Gone by 1105. Really surprised as this is very difficult due to its distorted audio (in SSB) and CODAR QRM. This frequency area is one of the worst here for CODAR. Lucky (is it really Friday the 13th??!!) to get the ID and would never have known what it was if not for Alfredo Benjamin Cañote Bueno logging. Tnx!! Been following this but never strong enough for readable audio until now, probably because of increased solar flux in the recurrent coronal hole geoeffective today. (13 March) [also see RRR`s bandscan below] 4826.5, R. Sicuani (presumed), 1036 talk by alternating M and W hosts with many mentions of Pampa, and also Perú, and radio. Took a phone call by W at 1038. 1040 instrumental music with continuous talk by M mentioning camposina [sic]. Ads at 1045 and promos. Thought heard an ID but not 100% sure. (13 March) 3329.56, Ondas del Huallaga, 1052-1056, long talk by W over music, then 1056 nice ID promo by excited sounding M. Another nice clear shorter ID promo by M, and ads. Audible only on the Windom and not at all on the T2FD. The Windom is always better for LAs though. (13 March). 5039.19, R. Libertad de Junín. Came on sometime between 1021-1023. All announcements by M host were over "El Condor Pasa". Doesn't seem to ID very often. (14 March) 5120.21, Ondas del Sur Oriente, 1048 canned M over camposina song with simple ID "Ondas del Sur." 1050 canned M with possible ID. More canned announcements. Tough with ute QRM above and local noise below. (14 March) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD) For the non-native American speaker, we should explain once in a while that ``canned`` in this sense is just slang for recorded, rather than live (gh) ** PERU [and non]. BOLIVIA / BRAZIL/ COLOMBIA / CUBA/ ECUADOR [since countries are irrelevant below, why should I insert them? gh] Bandscan 14-marzo-2009 2300-0100 UT 3280.0, LV del Napo, con música tropical colombiana. 3329.5, Ondas del Huallaga, programa Salud Alternativa. 3310.0, Radio Mosoj Chaski, charla en vernacular 4409.8, tent. Radio Eco, con música folclórica, baja señal. 4451.1, Radio Santa Ana, programa: El Mensajero de la Mosquitania 4699.4, Radio San Miguel, con noticias deportivas 4716.8, Radio Yura, música folclórica 4747.0, Radio Huanta 2000, programa: una cita con su destino 4775.0, Radio Tarma, comentarios locales 4781.8, Radio Tacana, mencionando a Tumupasa. 4790.1, Radio Visión, música andina 4796.5, tent. Radio Malku [sic], locutor en quechua y música folk 4805.0 presumed, Radio Rasuwilca, mezclándose con Dif. Amazonas que domina el canal, música folclórica 4826.6, Radio Sicuani, programa: Panorama Deportivo 4950.0, tent. Radio Madre de Dios, pobre señal, música tropical 4955.1, Radio Cultural Amauta, locutora en quechua 4991.1, Radio Manantial, predicación en vivo 5025.0, Radio Rebelde, noticias deportivas mezclada con Radio Quillabamba (mejor en LSB) 5120.3, Ondas del Suroriente, música folclórica 5460.4, Radio Bolívar, música y comentarios locales 5910.0, Marfil Estéreo, música y anuncios locales "ondas de paz" 5952.7, Radio Pio XII, música y charla en vernacular. "la radio que se hace pueblo" 6010.0, LV de tu Conciencia, programa: tu historia preferida 6035.0, LV del Guaviare, programa: Fiesta RCN 6135.0, Radio Santa Cruz, programación en vivo 6155.3, Radio Fides, comunicaciones telefónicas Escuchadas en otros horarios: 4799.7, Radio Buenas Nuevas, parece predicación en vernacular 4824.5, Radio LV de la Selva, identificándose como "LVS Digital" 6173.8, Radio Tawantinsuyo "que buena música solo aquí en Radio Cusco" Buen DX (Rafael Rodríguez R., Sony ICF 2010 hilo de 15 mtrs, Bogota D.C., COLOMBIA, March 18, condiglist yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. QSLs: FEBC, 12095, full data Monkey-Eating Eagle card in 108 days along with partial data letter for English snail mail report and 2 IRCs. V/s: Ms. Menchie Marcos Radio Pilipinas, 11730, full data card in 100 days with schedule for English snail mail report and 1 IRC. V/s: Ric G. Lorenzo, Audience Relations (Al Muick, Kabul Afghanistan, March 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Pilipinas 11730 // 11890 in Filipino with s/on (English also noted for sign on announcements) at 1730, then into feature program about economy. Very Good March 14/09 (Mick Delmage, Sherwood Park, Alberta, Icom R71a with 7-30 MHz Log periodic, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. ROMÊNIA - Nos domingos, a programação em espanhol da Rádio Romênia leva ao ar os espaços Rádio Domingo, Club de Oyentes e Rincón Diexista. Neste último programa, Victoria Sepciu apresenta informações do mundo das ondas curtas (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX March 15 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [non]. LONDON’S SPECTRUM RADIO – ANOTHER CHANCE TO HEAR THE VOICE OF RUSSIA AND OTHER BROADCASTERS London has had a multi-ethnic MW station for nearly 20 years that broadcasts a variety of foreign-language and English language programming of interest to particular ethnic groups or groups interested in particular global regions. The station is Spectrum Radio and broadcasts on MW 558 in the UK with a second service on Britain’s DAB digital radio. I came across Spectrum Radio while browsing the Voice of Russia website – there is an entry there for “English Hour in London” which, it turns out, is the hour-long broadcast that airs Sundays through Fridays at 1300 UT (likely 1200 UT as of April). During the hour, each broadcast opens with news; Russia and the World – An Update fills out the first half hour on weekdays. The second half hour consists of Kaleidoscope (Mondays), Music Around Us alternating with Music Calendar (Tuesdays), Folk Box (Wednesdays), Legends of Russian Sports alternating with A Stroll Around the Kremlin and other music features (Thursdays), and Timelines (Fridays). Sundays are a bit different: after the news, Music and Musicians fills out the hour. Easiest way to catch the Voice of Russia this way is to visit the Spectrum Radio website, http://www.spectrumradio.net and click on the Listen Live | AM 558 link. Other English language broadcasters featured on Spectrum Radio include Canada’s CBC and RCI, China Radio International, Polish Radio, Radio Sweden, Radio Netherlands, Radio Australia, Radio Romania International, and Radio Prague. And, at 0300, the audio from PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (Richard Cuff, PA, Easy Listening, March NASWA Journal via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Re 9-023: MAJOR CHANGES AT THE VOICE OF RUSSIA I can't find anything at the Voice of Russia website about the reported plans to drop a third of its languages at the end of this month. (See previous post.) Of the affected languages, the one I could remotely understand is Romanian. Nothing there, either. But the VOR website has an interesting video report about old Russian radio sets. Posted: 17 Mar 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott, see http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=6110 for linx, via DXLD) Thank you, Kai! You are right, for a short while in the beginning of 1990s VoR Russian was under Russia's Home Service R. Rossii. But I guess it was more of an artificial administrative oversight that had to do Yeltsin's victory over Gorbachev. In the Soviet times there was All-Union Radio that covered the whole USSR and Republic Radio that covered 14 Soviet republics. However, the Russian Federation never had its own Republic broadcasting (or TV). R. Rossii was Yeltsin's creation. It started as a few hours on the First Programme (Channel) of the All-Union Radio. When Yeltsin trumped over Gorbachev, R. Rossii took over the First Programme's transmitters and studios. VoR in Russian was grabbed, as well. I guess VoR Russia spent a year or two under R. Rossii. The editorial offices of two services were located in different buildings. They didn't cooperate much and there was even some deal of animosity between the two. ``What was actually the predecessor of this old Golos Rossii service, was it simply the Mayak relays that are described as once omnipresent on shortwave?`` The predecessor was the so-called Fifth Programme of the All-Union Radio. It was never announced as such on the air though. It was more of an administrative designation used in internal documents. This round the clock service consisted of various SW/MW broadcasts in Russian - Mayak, First Programme, the Seaman Services (Atlantika, Tikhiy Okean and maybe a few others), Radio Station Rodina (Overseas Compatriot Service), Broadcasts for the Soviet Specialists Overseas, the Arctic and Antarctic Service. Mayak and First Programme had numerous SW relays targeting local listeners. Those broadcasts were not considered a part of the Fifth Programme. `At present still 35 foreign language services from Moscow are on air` Actually, VoR's official tally from December 2008 stands at 38. I guess it's because of newly added CIS languages. The highest number of the language services for Radio Moscow that I saw in the Soviet publications was 85. But 68 was a more common figure that referred to pre-perestroika 1980s. VoA number of languages was always put at 42 (Sergei S., Moscow, March 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Emailed Voice of Russia about 24 hours a day broadcasting. Here is their reply. Also, the survey mentioned in the email was uploaded into the files section [of the dxldyg]. The name is POLL_VOR_80.doc. Yes, it's been virus scanned. 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Krist, Manassas, Virginia, March 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ***** V of Russia reply follows ***** Dear Mr. Krist, I have received your kind e-mail and would like to thank you for writing me and the Voice of Russia again. It is always a pleasure to hear from you and the interest you take in our broadcasts is highly appreciated. Thanks for staying tuned in to them. As for your question about the 24-hour broadcasting planned here at the Voice of Russia, we inform you that it is really so. It is only a plan at the moment, but it seems to be implemented. You will know it exactly when receive the new schedule which we will send to you as soon as it is off the press. So, I am sending you my best wishes for health and good luck and hope to receive more e-mails from you with questions and of course reception reports. They are most welcome. Attached you will find a poll conducted on the threshold of the VOR's 80th anniversary. If you have time, fill it please. Thanks in advance. Yours sincerely, Evdokiya Tolkachyova, Letters Department, World Service, Voice of Russia (via Krist, ibid.) This is what the RM/VOR WS 24 hour schedule used to look like. RADIO MOSCOW WORLD SERVICE September 26th, 1993 - March 26th, 1994 --------------------------------------------------------------------- ENGLISH SCHEDULE . . . (via Harry Brooks, ibid.) Huge schedule of up to 40 frequencies during a single hour; full of asterisks denoting different effective dates within a season. A bitch to make sense of, frequencies also not given in order (gh, DXLD) Hehe, that's a good one, thanks! Those confusing stars are a hallmark of a real VoR schedule! But don't hold your breath, you won't see as many digits in VoR's upcoming schedule. A good half of those transmitters are probably gone forever. And quite a few antennas were sold for scrap. Judging by that letter from VoR's World Service, switching to 24x7 service was a last-minute decision that came out of the blue. Now everyone has to rush like crazy creating a new schedule. Quite typical for Russia I should add. - Planning isn't our strongest feature... I'm worried for those 100+ personnel who are going to lose their jobs as a result of this abrupt cutting of 13 language services. Maybe a year ago that would be OK, but in today's economy those people will have a very tough time finding a new job. Many of those who will be laid off stuck with VoR through some very difficult times in 1990s. And now they are thrown out on the streets without much advanced warning and explanation. They won't have a chance to do anything close to RFI's strikes and rallies. In accordance with the Russian labor code, the people whose positions are eliminated will get two months worth of their contract salary. (No bonuses though. Although they comprise up to 2/3 of one's pay at gov jobs in Russia.) And VoR's new director will be able to report on his achievements at huge savings while promoting Russia's positive image overseas (Sergei S., Russia, ibid.) I wouldn't want to see VOR using that many frequencies again. It's totally unnecessary. As far as broadcasting in English to Europe, primarily the UK and Ireland, is concerned, they could do it with less frequencies than in use now and get better reception. Reception of VOR in the last few years, here in North East UK, can generally be summarised as:- A season (Apr-Oct) morning, on mw or sw, very poor or zero, afternoon and evening, good from Moscow transmitters, very good/excellent to outstanding mono fm quality from Pridnestrovye relay. B season (Nov-Mar) morning, on mw, very good/excellent, on sw, very poor or zero, afternoon and evening, poor to very poor from Moscow transmitters, very good/excellent to outstanding mono fm quality from Pridnestrovye relay. What I would like to see is this:- A-season, 0600 to 1500 no mw, sw on one 12/13 mhz frequency from Moscow, from 1500 to 2400 on sw on one 6/7 mhz frequency from Pridnestrovye relay. B-season, 0600 to 0900 on mw, 0900 to 1400 on sw on one 12/13 mhz frequency from Moscow, from 1400 to 2400 on sw on one 6/7 mhz frequency from Pridnestrovye relay. It can't be any worse than the current situation. Regards (Harry Brooks, North East England, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re: ``Hehe, that's a good one, thanks!` Yes, sheer nostalgia. Those were the days when during daytime the shortwave bands were still stuffed with Russian signals, often running open carrier for extended periods. Also German 1000-1200 was on a good bunch of 19 and 16 metres frequencies. The 13 metres outlets with RM Russian are a particular memory I have as well. ``Those confusing stars are a hallmark of a real VoR's schedule!`` But no reason to worry for German service listeners, there were always the helpful announcements for the upcoming autumn, winter, spring and summer schedules. I remember a certain point in 1994 (or perhaps already in 1993) when RM suddenly gave correct frequency announcements. Until then half of them or so were simply wrong. And not only at RM, it was the same with Radio Ukraine as well. ``But don't hold your breath, you won't see as many digits in VoR's upcoming schedule. A good half of those transmitters is probably gone forever.`` It seems that surprisingly little of the Russian shortwave infrastructure is gone. The only major site I'm aware of being off altogether is Yekaterinburg. All the other big sites are still around, also Samara in spite of all the talks about shutting it down. All three big shortwave plants around Moscow (Lesnoy, Taldom, Kurovskaya) appear to be still active as well. Likewise it appears that all the unused shortwave transmitters in the Ukraine still exist as well. I heard from a quite reliable source that station staff even powers them up on dummyloads at regular intervals, as required by equipment manuals. It would be an interesting question anyway from where all the frequencies of RM English in 1993/1994 actually originated. Back then I heard about anecdotal evidence about 4795 and 4860 originating from here: http://maps.google.de./?ie=UTF8&ll=49.63145,36.119056&spn=0.020514,0.038624&t=h&z=15 Info from Olle Alm indicates that this site opened around 1970. The mediumwave antenna is for 837 kHz (150 kW) and 257 metres tall, until November 1973 this installation was in use on 385 kHz. The shortwave equipment consists of three Sneg-M transmitters. In the USSR days it was a common practice to combine during daytime two transmitters for Mayak on 9620 kHz and use the third one for Radio-1 on 9800 kHz while during the evening all transmitters carried foreign service broadcasts to Central/Western Europe. Since autumn 2002 two transmitters are in use alternately, i.e. only one frequency at once, for Radio Ukraine International. The third transmitter had been taken aside, it was until then well known for a characteristic noise it had developed over the years: http://www.radioeins.de/etc/medialib/rbb/rad/multimedia/audios/200410/winterfrequenzen_von.smil..smi Not the crackle which is of local origin but the "celestial" sound. Upper mids of this recording had to be excessively boosted to compensate for a very muffled modulation, thus the crackling sounds so harsh. Note also the room ambiance (mic worked from quite a distance) and the long list of announced frequencies (this was in 1997). All this said it is extremely unlikely anyway that VoR will now lease an amount of transmitter capacity even remotely close to the transmitter use one and a half decades ago. ``Judging by that letter from VoR's World Service, switching to 24x7 service was a last-minute decision that came out of the blue. Now everyone has to rush like crazy creating a new schedule.`` After just all plannings for shortwave have already been done for the A09 season ... ``Many of those who will be laid off stuck with VoR through some very difficult times in 1990s.`` On the German service one could at a point here hints (no big calls for protest, just a "we would like to hear from you" in passing) that the station could perish. There was also a mention of the building getting little if any heating, like "it is completely irrelevant that we're sitting with our coats here, but let's hope that the studio equipment tolerates this". And they had the problem that people with sufficient knowledge of German could find considerably better paid jobs in Moscow. So those who stayed did obviously so due to their passion for radio. One of them, who passed away a few years ago, made no secret of being a communist and produced very interesting programmes about history. Another longtime broadcaster has become a very good indicator for how much is possible on this station. It's more than one probably thinks. Unforgettable to me was his presentation of a news magazine during the worst times in Chechnya: "These were the official points of views, but there are others, too", followed by reporting the dissenting opinions within Russia. It seems they have drawn some conclusions from the past. Now the questions about the Soviet times arise: ``R. Rossii was Yeltsin's creation. It's started as a few hours on the First Programme (Channel) of the All-Union Radio. When Yeltsin trumped over Gorbachev, R.Rossii took over the First Programme's transmitters and studios.`` So what was until 1991 carried on 171/234 kHz on one side and 261/873 kHz on the other side, to mention the main frequencies of Radio-1 and Radio Rossii in European Russia during the nineties? Concerning the studios: Mayak, Radio-1 and the break-off Radio Rossii were at Ostankino, Yunost at ul. Pyatnitskaya 25 and Radio Orfey at neither of both but an own location in Moscow, is this correct? ``At present still 35 foreign language services from Moscow are on air. Actually, VoR's official tally from December 2008 stands at 38. I guess it's because of newly added CIS languages.`` Could it be that they are broadcast within Sodruzhestvo? (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) ``But no reason to worry for German service listeners, there were always the helpful announcements for the upcoming autumn, winter`` I guess VoR German is much better. The Russian services have always refused to give out their frequencies on the regular basis, only m- bands. One can hear the frequencies only in Klub DX announcements before a new broadcast season. ``Until then half of them or so were simply wrong. And not only at RM, it was the same with Radio Ukraine as well.`` Kai, first you ask for the correct frequencies. Then you'll want to know transmitter's power, antenna's azimuth and their exact QTH. R. Moscow and R. Kiev had to draw the line somewhere! :) In the Soviet times even the local maps and road atlases purposely weren't precise. The idea behind that was to confuse the expected NATO invaders. That didn't make much sense considering the satellite technology but the first detailed map of Moscow went on sale only in the end of 1980s. I suspect the secretive Soviet and later Russian Ministry of Communications never felt comfortable about the fact that its SW frequencies were openly announced on the air. That's why they had to confuse the broadcasters so that they would confuse the listeners. Not long time ago Kim Elliot wrote in his blog that he doesn't always get VoA's frequencies for special broadcasts, either. The reason for that is simple - he has the "nasty" habit of passing this info to others! ``Likewise it appears that all the unused shortwave transmitters in the Ukraine still exist as well.`` I heard other reports but I hope you are right. You seem to be better informed in this area than I'm. ``After just all plannings for shortwave have already been done for the A09 season ...`` Yes. And many other things now have to be changed in a huge rush. Imagine all the stress. As I mentioned a few weeks ago in DXLD, VoR people have been reporting the persistent rumors of major cuts. But all the changes were kept secret to the very end. I still don't see any official announcements on ruvr.ru or any press releases. The news was only announced in Klub DX and later published by DXing.ru. Shutting down the strategic Korean and Vietnamese services while keeping the Japanese, Polish, Romanian and Italian broadcasts doesn't make much sense to me. ``Another longtime broadcaster has become a very good indicator for how much is possible on this station. It's more than one probably thinks.`` The Soviet generation was notoriously difficult to control. Once the fear of persecution was gone people started saying what they were really thinking. And in the end of 1990s the pay was so little that firing someone from VoR wasn't much of a threat, either. Today is different. The new Russian generation is similar to their Western peers. They are conformists and don't have a habit of thinking for themselves (Sergei S., Moscow, ibid.) ``In the Soviet times even the local maps and road atlases purposely weren't precise.`` What was the scale of the best general maps available to the public? Was it 1 : 1,000,000 as I seem to recall? Anything bigger was called "tourist scheme", i.e. did not claim to be a real map at all. In the GDR the best general purpose maps were 1 : 200,000, and these were already not precise at particular points. After 1989 the publishing house Haack Gotha had to come to the bitter conclusion that they can throw away all the trail maps they created over decades, and the name of the house disappeared when it was privatized in 1992 because it was completely burnt. It should be added that official topographic maps on the other side of the Iron Curtain contained forgeries, too. ``I suspect the secretive Soviet and later Russian Ministry of Communications never felt comfortable about the fact that its SW frequencies were openly announced on the air.`` And concerning the sites they went on the path of disinformation. I once saw a WRTH from the eighties that promised already on the cover "Radio Moscow full transmitter details". It's perhaps needless to say that they were sheer phantasy, with no relation whatsoever to reality. ``Not long time ago Kim Elliott wrote in his blog that he doesn't always get VoA's frequencies for special broadcasts, either.`` Yup. Such insights are a bit too reminiscent for comfort to what we left behind in 1989 here. (If we really left it behind at all.) ``Likewise it appears that all the unused shortwave transmitters in the Ukraine still exist as well. I heard other reports but I hope you are right. You seem to be better informed in this area than I'm.`` Maybe not necessarily. What I vaguely heard first referred to the Krasne site and its two shortwave transmitters. Recently one of them went back into regular service (away from breaks due to lack of money) for RUI after the site was off shortwave for more than five years. Also DW tried to use the site for a short time but left again since. It appears to be an educated guess that all transmitters are still in place at Kopani/Lutch as well. This site is no longer used by RUI (away from the short period when they had to burn some remaining money towards the end of last year) but has still a few transmissions for foreign customers. However, apparently not all antennas are still usable. Specifically the large curtains for transmissions to North America have deteriorated to a degree that they can no longer be used. Thus they had to make do with rhombics, and the results were so bad that they decided to move this service to Krasne. But what about the Brovary transmitters near Kiev? They have a complex of 100 kW transmitters, and one of them is at present in use for UR1 on 5970 kHz. But they also have another complex of 200 kW transmitters (maybe Sneg-MU, like at Krasny Bor, but this is entirely speculation), five ones it seems, and they were never used again since autumn 2002. So hints about dismantled transmitters should be seriously considered, they could well be true, referring to this Brovary complex. ``After just all plannings for shortwave have already been done for the A09 season ... Yes. And many other things now have to be changed in a huge rush.`` Some last minute plannings took place at VoR for the B08 season, too. In early to mid October the German service did not know yet the shortwave frequencies they would use. I suspect this had something to do with uncertainty about whether the Samara site would still be available for the B08 season or not. ``Shutting down the strategic Korean and Vietnamese services while keeping the Japanese, Polish, Romanian and Italian broadcasts doesn't make much sense to me.`` I even wonder if the list of victims is complete and reliable? For Europe I think it is reasonable to keep Polish, but what makes me wonder is that Czech and Slovak are on the list while Hungarian is not. At present all three languages air in a combined 1800-2000 block of 45 minutes Hungarian, 45 minutes Czech and 30 minutes Slovak. It hardly fits into anything to run a 45 minutes broadcast alone, or is it supposed to be expanded to a full hour? And the plan to close Korean was quite a surprise to me, too. ``The new Russian generation is similar to their Western peers. They are conformists and don't have a habit of thinking for themselves.`` Tell it all the sceptics: The promotion of western values in Russia is successful! (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) ``So what was until 1991 carried on 171/234 kHz on one side and 261/873 kHz on the other side, to mention the main frequencies of Radio-1 and Radio Rossii in European Russia during the nineties?`` I guess people with access to older WRTHs should be able to answer those questions. ``Concerning the studios: Mayak, Radio-1 and the break-off Radio Rossii were at Ostankino, Yunost at ul. Pyatnitskaya 25 and Radio Orfey at neither of both but an own location in Moscow, is this correct?`` It's tough to say as they were moving around and the names were changing. It is my understanding that back in 1980s there were no domestic broadcasts recorded at Pyatnitskaya, 25. I believe R. Nostalgie was the first one. All local radio used to come from Ostankino. If I'm not mistaken Radio Station Rodina (the overseas compatriots service) was also located there. The standard All-Soviet radio lineup was: First Programme - several streams (Orbita) for different time zones (News, information, culture, a bit of various music) Second Programme - Radio Mayak (news at :00 and :30, various music) Third Programme - culture broadcasting, many radio plays and concerts Fourth Programme - classical music. Does anyone remember its fine SW network on 75 m-band? R. Russia really took over First Programme even though Radio-1 argues to be FP's legal heir. R. Mayak is still out there - at least, by name and frequency of 549 kHz. Today its mostly trash talk radio with some pop-music thrown in. The Third Program is really gone. One can argue that in Moscow its place is taken by Radio Rossii-Kultura (former R.Kultura). Sadly, R. Kultura lost its national FM-network and even its name after Russia-Georgia conflict. R. Orfey is a true heir to the Fourth Programme. It's still a classical music station with no commercials. In the end of 2008 it finally got an FM frequency in Moscow! The station has some English and audio streaming on its site: http://www.muzcentrum.ru/eng/ Radiostantsija Yunost used to be just the catchy name for Youth Broadcasting Department within the All-Soviet Radio used from Khrushchev's times. As such it was located in Ostankino. In 1980s the department prepared a few hours daily for FP (spoken programs and music) and Mayak (daily 25-min. request program for the Soviet Army conscripts, incl. those serving in Afghanistan). In the end of 1980s Yunost got three hours of morning broadcasting on the Third Programme (it was called Molodyezhnyj kanal). Finally, in 1990s it became the real station with its own frequencies. ``Could it be that they are broadcast within Sodruzhestvo?`` Yes, on local FM-affiliates (Sergei S., Moscow, March 15, ibid.) Until August 1991 there was Radio-1 (the former first program of All- Union Radio) on 171, 234 and 261 kHz while 873 kHz carried Radio-2 (the former 3rd program) After August, Radio Rossii took over all the frequencies of Radio-2 and some of Radio-1's, including 261 kHz. If I recall correctly, Radio Rossii from its foundation in 1990 was at 5-ya ul. Yamskogo Polya. One should notice though that the studios of broadcasters were not necessarily located at the same place as their head organizations. Radio Orfey was on ul. Kachalova (now called Malaya Nikitskaya). -- 73! (Serghey Nikishin, Moscow, ibid.) Thanks, Sergej [sic], this is helpful. I guess "Radio-2" name wasn't used for two long. Did Radio-2 take over the frequencies of the Third Programme? This announcement from 1993 suggests that Radio-2 was the same thing as R. Yunost: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1278/542557181_245ebb36ba_o.jpg Note that they had 233- phones. That was Pyatnitskya 25 extension. I guess "Molodyezhny kanal" produced by R. Yunost and carried on the Third Programme simply took over the network? The Youth Broadcasting Department of the All-Union Radio ("R. Yunost") was the most pro- Yeltsin department there. Perhaps that's why with his victory, it became a real radio station. Generally under Yeltsin funding for cultural broadcasting dried up and the top rouble went for political propaganda (Sergei S., Moscow, ibid.) Hello Sergei, and thanks for your reply. I don't remember exactly when the Third program became Radio-2, but you're right: that name didn't exist too long. I couldn't even find any reference to it in Russian Internet resources. Here's a quote from WRTH-1992: "Radio 2: Formerly the 3rd program, this program lost several of its transmitters to R. Rossii in Oct. 1991. The exact situation was not clear at the deadline of this section, but apparently Radio 2 continues on all its FM and on MW/SW transmitters, except MW in European Russia. Radio 2 includes programs for youth (``R.-stantsia Yunost``)." Perhaps R. Yunost had occupied the whole airtime of Radio-2 right after the official dismissal of Soviet Union or even earlier. Yunost came back to Pyatnitskaya studios supposedly in 1993, just before the October events, although until 1995 the channel stayed under the rule of GTRK Ostankino. Some info can be found at http://www.politika.su/media/rhist.html but I'm not sure those data are absolutely correct. -- 73! (Serghey Nikishin, Moscow, ibid.) ``Fourth Programme - classical music. Does anyone remember its fine SW network on 75 m-band?`` Gone already before 1990? Nothing shows up in a German frequency list from this year, besides foreign service transmissions on 4045 and 4060. Plus "RM2 Chita" on 4055, shown as a regular strong station, thus this must have been what I got to know as Radio-1 via the former jamming transmitters within Moscow, coupled to a single 60 kW. ``R. Mayak is still out there`` In autumn 1993 it was even still on shortwave: http://www.radioeins.de/etc/medialib/rbb/rad/multimedia/audios/200605/radio_majak_auf_kurzwelle.smil..smi This was on 7360, apparently the very same Tbilisskaya transmitter that also carried RM German during the evening. If I recall correct this recording is of the start of this Mayak relay, so 7360 signed back on at 2200 UT. Actually I made this recording at work, on a signal box. The ticking and the prominent whining noise of varying speed were of local origin, from the signalling and radio equipment, respectively. The other background hums and whines should have been transmitted, however. ``The Third Program is really gone.`` Could it be that it was in fact eliminated to make way for Radio Rossii? See this: http://www.radiorus.ru/news.html?rid=326&date=17-03-2009&id=916 Says they started in December 1990 with four hours airtime per day, two small offices and a single studio at Ostankino. First on the second button, Mayak. We're not responsible for taking airtime away from a popular station, it was an order from above. But this tyranny lasted only for a short time. New order: We're on the third button now. And then August 19 1991, the complete ban of the broadcasts. And a note on the door of one of the two Ostankino offices: "Nu schto, doigralis?", something like "hey, what's the game?". Then we already had offices at 5th Yamskogo polya street ... If I get it right Radio Rossii went fulltime by way of some order that eliminated the former third programme. So they have their offices at 5th Yamskogo polya street, in the not terribly big number 19/21 building, but do they have also their studios there? Or perhaps they even have studios both there and still at Ostankino, too? Take a look at this piece about a Radio Rossii audio engineer: http://www.radiorus.ru/news.html?rid=326&date=17-03-2009&id=146760 Looks like an old Pyatnitskaya street studio, but this should be quite unlikely. Perhaps this is rather an Ostankino studio, since a few details seem to differ from what could be seen on Voice of Russia photos. In particular this appears to be a stereo-capable studio, if the grey device with the small screen is indeed a goniometer and the level meter above it shows indeed two channels. Radio-1 was still around after 1991, but probably they lost not only 261 kHz but also most or even all their OIRT-FM frequencies to Radio Rossii? Then they had to give up one transmitter after another due to lack of money. In the end only the 171 kHz transmitter at Sasnovy in Belarus was left, who knows who paid for its operation. I still remember how I was notified on May 15 2000 that this transmitter did not sign on this morning, "so this was it then for Radio-1". In 1997 Radio-1 was even still on shortwave: http://www.radioeins.de/etc/medialib/rbb/rad/multimedia/audios/200304/kurzwellensender_noginsk.smil..smi I made this recording on Christmas Day 1997, in the room that is to my back while I type this, shortly before going away for the due visit of relatives. As far as I remember this was said to be a transmission via Noginsk, via an old transmitter (I was told that the hum was typical for them). I'm not sure about the frequency, but it was some 75xx. Could it be that they used another hour opener with drum beats during the early nineties? Damn, I did never press the "Rec" buttom when hearing it (on 171 kHz, at this time still in use from Bolshakovo). Concerning domestic broadcasting from the Voice of Russia building: Could it be that Radio Podmoskovya was already there in the eighties? At least WRTH 1994 shows this address for them. And here is an interesting photo of this building: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/5629169 Note the large shortwave dipoles on the roof and the new air- conditioners, probably belonging to their great new studios which introduced muffled mic audio and inconsistent audio levels to VoR. German service staff once told that this building was originally supposed to become an office building for the Ministry of Culture but then considered as not representative enough, and so the radio got it. ``R. Orfey is a true heir to the Fourth Programme. It's still a classical music station with no commercials. In the end of 2008 it finally got an FM frequency in Moscow!`` Here we should the other readers tell that in Russian the term "FM" specifies the CCIR band only while the OIRT band is being referred to as "UKV". Radio Orfey was of course not an AM-only station until now but in Moscow besides mediumwave also on 72.14 MHz. [UKV is obviously taken from German, ultra-kurz-welle --- gh] ``Radiostantsija Yunost used to be just the catchy name for Youth Broadcasting Department within the All-Soviet Radio used from Khruschev's times. [...] Finally, in 1990s it became the real station with its own frequencies.`` But very few it seems. Looks like what could be taken away from the other four networks (Kai Ludwig, Germany, March 16, ibid.) This lengthy thread has been most enlightening, if confusing, and we are indebted to our Russians and Germans for conducting it here all in English (gh) ** RUSSIA. 5900, True Light via Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka, 1205, 3/14/09 poor with man and woman talking in Mandarin; still with talk at 1225 recheck; all in surging band noise; best in LSB (Jim Ronda, Tulsa, OK, NRD-545; R-75; E-5 + RF Systems Mini-Windom, GMDSS-2 Vertical; several homebrew FlexTennas, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) What`s that? An IBRA program, per Aoki: 5900 IBRA RADIO True Light 1200-1300 1234567 Chinese 250 263 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka 15824E 5311N IBRA b08 (gh) ** RUSSIA. Missing 23 hours earlier, but March 13 at 1253, R. Rossii, Pet/Kam, back on 6075 with the usual motorboating, in Russian talk over piano music. Also after 1300 March 16, before 1300 March 19 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Encouraging [DRM] News from Russia http://www.drm.org/news/detail/news/drm-encouraging-news-from-russia/ The Consortium has received some very encouraging news from Russia that its General Radio Frequency Centre has decided to introduce 'Digital Radio Mondiale' (DRM) in Russia in the medium and shortwave bands. The Russian General Radio Frequency Centre, the organisation that coordinates national spectrum management issues, took the decision number N 09-01-05 on 20 January 2009 following a series of tests on the future use of transmission networks with digital technology. The Radio Frequency Service carries out supervision over emissions of radio-electronic facilities and high-frequency devices, provides proper use of radio frequencies and radio frequency channels, radio- electronic facilities and high-frequency devices, assistance in international legal protection of radio frequency assignments. The Russian text of the decision is available on the website of the Ministry of Communications and Information of the Russian federation. To read the Russian text, click here : http://minkomsvjaz.ru/ministry/170/174/6780.shtml (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, March 13, dxldyg via DXLD) Google translate the text it refers to and you get: 1. To approve the results of the work performed to clarify the conditions for use in the Russian Federation networking digital audio broadcasting, and to recognize the possible use of radio frequency bands 526,5-1606,5 kHz, 3,95-4,0 MHz, 5,9-6,2 MHz, 7, 1-7,45 MHz 9,4- 9,9 MHz 11,6-12,1 MHz 13,57-13,87 MHz 15,1-15,8 MHz 17,78-17,9 MHz, 18,9-19,02 MHz 21,45-21,85 MHz and 25,67-26,1 MHz to create the territory of the Russian Federation, networking digital audio broadcasting standard DRM. 2. The allocation of bands of radio frequencies to the RECs digital audio broadcasting standard DRM radio frequencies in the bands listed in paragraph 1 of this decision, should be on the applications of legal and natural persons of Russian Federation in accordance with established procedure. Can any Russian speakers on the list clarify if that is a fair translation, please. To me, noting in particular the word possible, the translation is saying that, following a test period, the General Radio Frequency Centre, who are a regulator not a broadcaster, has said that broadcasters may now apply for DRM licences if they so wish. If so, that's different from the impression that the press release gives. The encouraging news, from the Consortium's point of view, would be if Russian broadcasters now decide to apply for DRM licences, allied with the development of simple low cost consumer receivers by the local radio industry (Mike Barraclough, ibid.) It`s PR stuff, after all (gh) The main words are 'to recognize the possibility to create the DRM networks on the territory of the Russian Federation'. By now there were just VOR tests outside or just tests. After this GRFC decision Krasnodar (from Tbilisskaya site evidently) in February has started the test DRM broadcasting for Krasnodar region on 3930 kHz, possibly till 15 March. Content - Vesti FM. Krasnodar project description http://translate.google.com/translate?langpair=ru|en&u=http://www.rtrs.ru/projects.asp?view=19812 logs http://www.drmrx.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2067 (Victor Rutkovsky, ibid.) "encouraging". It depends on whether you enjoy listening to deliberate interference. It is no different to what has been written about here, http://www.radiojamming.puslapiai.lt/article_en.htm Regards (Harry Brooks, North East England, UK, ibid.) ** SAIPAN. 11650, VG signal at 1358 March 14, Central Asian language giving address in Almaty, Kazakhstan, chime IS, KFBS Saipan ID, then YL in Russian with ID as Radio Teos, and off before 1400. About which more here once it loads: http://www.radioteos.ru Apparently they have a 24-hour satellite service, but nothing found about SW relays. You would think ``Teos`` refers to God, cognate Deus, etc., but Google is unable to translate the word! KFBS is completely missing from EiBi on this frequency, whence you might list-log CRI instead, but Aoki has KFBS on 11650 with multiple languages at 11-14, concluding Fri and Sat at 1345-1400 with Kyrgyz (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) KFBS schedule can be retrieved from here: http://data.febinfo.org/enq4.php (Station Location: Marpi) Their frequencies usually don't change between A and B seasons. Teos came from Greek; the correct Latin [alfabet] transcription should be ``Theos``. The Russian word for God is ``Bog``. This FEBC affiliate is also on AM in Moscow (1134 kHz), St Petersburg (1089 kHz) and some other Russian cities. --- 73! (Serghey Nikishin, Moscow, Russia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 21640.0, 1224-1230 9/3, Broadcasting Service of [the Kingdom of] Saudi Arabia - Presumida, Riyadh, Arabic, falas de OM; banda musical tocando dobrados; falas de OM. - Extranhamente o audio não acompanha a intensidade do sinal; 35332 (Antonio Laurentino Garcia, PR7BCP, Escutas realizadas em João Pessoa-PB HI22nu, IC 706MKIIG - 3DX3/dipolo 40m, HCDX via DXLD) i.e. undermodulated, but no mention of buzz here (gh) SAUDI ARABIA On March 8th observed massive BUZZ on 17732 kHz (fundamental program was on 17730 kHz) at 0850 and close down at 0855 UT. Switching to 17805 kHz at 0857 UT. I found same buzz on approx. 17807 kHz. Checked the other frequencies at 0858 UT - all were without buzz 11855, 11935, 17615, 17785, 21670 etc. But again "Saudi Mix Effect" noted on 13 m.b.: mixing product [Intermodulation in Riyadh] from program in Indonesian on 21670 kHz and Main 1st program in Arabic on 21705 kHz was heard with strong signals at 0856 UT on 21635 and 21740 kHz. That "effect' was observed just for last 4-5 years (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 10 via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD) Not having looked for it the past week, I made a point of checking for Sout ul-Buzz, March 16 at 1509: yes, there it is on 15435, the frying sound detracting from but at the moment not totally overriding the Word of God, Who speaks only Arabic (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SIERRA LEONE [non]. Tentative A-09 for Cotton Tree News, daily 0730-0800: 15220, 250 kW, 189 degrees from Rampisham; ex-11875 in B-08 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SINGAPORE. QSL: Singapore VOLMET, 11387, full data letter with information about their services in 45 days for English report and $2 via snail mail. V/s: Ms. Chua Guat Mui (Al Muick, Kabul Afghanistan, March 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 9541.52, SIBC/R. Happy Isles. Set the timer on the radio and MD recorder to record over the 1200 ToH when they close down their own programming in the hopes of catching their closing ID. Indeed, at 1154 lively Island song, 1155 program closing, 1156-1200 prayers, fanfare music bridge, then closing by M "You have been listening to the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation, R. Happy Isles, 9545 kHz in the 31 meterband, ?? shortwave frequency of 5020 kHz in the 60 meterband… for today but will return … broadcast tomorrow morning. Until then … goodnight everyone". Then instrumental NA 1201-1202, and immediately into BBC news. Was extremely poor before 1150 but came up nicely quickly. Unfortunately adjacent channel QRM prevented 100% copy. (10 March) 73 (Dave Valko, PA, HCDX via DXLD) No confirmation they are really active on 5020 (gh) ** SPAIN [and non]. REE on 11890, Saturday March 14 at 2101 with live coverage of stupid ballgame, Real Madrid mentioned, but cut to open carrier only at 2102, and it had been colliding with VOA Creole which has moved without notification one hour earlier than 2200, and 5 kHz down from previous 11895. It was almost as if Spain were aware a collision had just started and shut down their modulation, but the carrier was still on at 2106, producing a slow SAH, almost zero-beat. Rechecked at 2142 after VOA was finished, Spain was again modulating game, punxuated at 2144 by ``goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool``. Found same game in synch on 9630 and much weaker 9665, and with usual delay and lower modulation via Costa Rica 9765. I can`t find 11890 for Spain at this time in any of the online or paper references, but PWBR `2009` shows it to Mideast at 0500-0700, while WRTH has that on 11895. Perhaps Noblejas punched up a totally wrong frequency, maybe instead of 11940 which I did not check at the time. 9665 is the weekend-only REE Spanish sports transmission which causes English and French to Europe to be weekdays only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN [and non]. Travessias é o nome do programa da Rádio Exterior de Espanha que pretende fazer “uma viagem cultural” pela música, livros e outros temas. Uma das transmissões vai ao ar, de terças a sábados, entre 0400 e 0500, no Tempo Universal, em 5965 e 6125 kHz, que é via retransmissores localizados na Costa Rica. Na edição que foi ao ar em 7 de março, foi enfocada a música árabe. Confira! (Célio Romais, Panorama, @tividade DX March 15 via DXLD) 5965 is CR relay; 6125 is direct from Noblejas with much better fidelity, but best here is 6055 direct (gh, OK, DXLD) ** SRI LANKA [non]. From Monday March 16 for a week, WRN is testing a new IBC Tamil broadcast daily at 1200-1257 via Madagascar, on 17530, 50 kW at 50 degrees. WRN already carries IBC Tamil at 0000-0100 on 6045 via Wertachtal (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. via Sines, PORTUGAL, 17745, Sudan Radio Service, *1500-1530, March 15, English “Lets Talk” program with radio-drama & discussion about women’s rights & equality in Sudan. ID. Arabic talk at 1530. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See U A E ** SUDAN [non]. via GERMANY, 9830, Radio Dabanga, 0515-0527*, March 15, Arabic talk. IDs. Very weak. Poor. Stronger on // 7315 but with constant tone on frequency. 13800 not heard (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO DABANGA: DUTCH LIFELINE TO DARFUR REFUGEES Read the AFP report here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iCu4oOCiIP1Vqt9eCCrbqC48lmSQ (via Alokesh Gupta, March 15, dxldyg via DXLD) [one small excerpt from above:] When Radio Dabanga starts up each morning, people in these camps huddle in hordes around battery-powered radios for a brief connection with the outside world, said Muhagir Muhagir, 47, one of six Darfuri journalists on the editorial team in Hilversum. The programming focuses on hard news, reported by some four dozen volunteer local correspondents in five languages: standard Arabic, Darfuri Arabic, Masalit, Fur and Zaghawa (via Zacharias Liangas, DXLD) R. Dabanga, tentative A-09: 0430-0527 13800 UAE, 13840 Madagascar 1530-1727 11500 Madagascar, 13730 Wertachtal (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWAZILAND. TWR, 4774.994, Mar 7 *0341-f/out - c/on in mid program at 0341, religious talk in language until 0400, ID in German? into program of contemporary religious vocals. Transmitter off at 0418, then back at 0419. Religious program at 0430 and starting to fade, almost unusable by 0500 when possible English programming. Carrier dropped below the noise floor by 0600 (Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWAZILAND. QSL: TWR, 7315, full data Map of Swaziland card in 45 days via airmail for English snail mail report and $5 return postage. V/s: Mrs. L. Stavropoules. Also sent schedule and a rather hilarious bible tract promising death and destruction for human excesses (Al Muick, Kabul Afghanistan, March 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN [and non]. Radio Sweden in English. A-09: Broadcasts to Asia and the Pacific 0230-0300 11550 (50 ) via Madagascar 1330-1400 15735 (55 ) 1430-1500 13820 (120 ) Europe, Africa and the Middle East 1430-1500 13820 (85 ) 1530-1600 13600 (120 ) 1630-1700 MW 1179 1730-1800 MW 1179 1900-1930 MW 1179 2030-2100 7395 (320 ) via Madagascar 2130-2200 7395 (280 ) via Madagascar + MW 1179 North America 0130-0200 6010 (268 } via Sackville 0230-0400 6010 (277 } via Sackville Source: http://sr.se 73! (via Alexey Zinevich: a DXer from Minsk, Belarus, ptsw yg via DXLD) degree symbols after azimuths disappear ** SWITZERLAND. Vintage MGR's / Vintage Two Bobs --- Hello Glenn. I hope this finds you well. Sad news about Dick Speekman. He and I kept in contact, and I could sense - and so could he - that the end was near. I just want to let you know that we have added two new features to The Two Bobs section of http://www.switzerlandinsound.com One is Bob Thomann's collection of the only known surviving recordings of some of the Merry-Go-Rounds of the 1960's, as well as a couple of special interviews. The other is a collection of the only known surviving recordings of some of The Two Bobs shows of the 80's and 90's, including the final show sequence in 1994, as well as a couple of specials. I thought the DX/SWL community would appreciate getting this news. Thanks and 73, (Bob Zanotti, March 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) There are 8 editions of the Swiss Shortwave Merry Go Round and 9 editions of the Two Bobs available (Mike Barraclough, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWITZERLAND. swissinfo celebrates ten years of Swiss news Friday, swissinfo.ch March 13, 2009 http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/news_digest/swissinfo_celebrates_ten_years_of_Swiss_news.html?siteSect=104&sid=10448588&cKey=1236947194000&ty=nd Friday marks the tenth anniversary of swissinfo.ch, a multimedia platform that produces news about Switzerland in nine languages for an international audience. Based in Bern and part of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, the enterprise was created by federal mandate. The portal replaced shortwave radio broadcasts produced by Swiss Radio International for decades. swissinfo aims to provide an authentic image of Switzerland through special dossiers and coverage of a wide array of topics of worldwide interest. The target audience are Swiss nationals living abroad and those with ties to or an interest in the country. Teams produce content in three national languages - French, German and Italian - as well as English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese and Japanese. A pilot programme for a tenth language, Russian, will launch in time to cover to the World Hockey Championships in Kloten next month. From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRG_SSR_id%C3%A9e_suisse --- The abbreviation SRI originally stood only for "Swiss Radio International", which was SRG-SSR's international broadcasting arm, aimed at expatriates and others interested in Switzerland. In October 2004 SRI ceased broadcasting on short-wave and satellite, and instead concentrated its efforts on its Swissinfo 'multimedia internet platform', which now takes most of the SRI resources. The Swissinfo website is produced in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese. Nevertheless, SRI remains an international broadcaster as Swiss Satellite Radio operates under the SRI umbrella. Founded in the 1980s and based in Berne, it consists of three trilingual radio channels for different types of music, available on satellite and the internet as well as terrestrially in Switzerland: Radio Swiss Pop Radio Swiss Classic Radio Swiss Jazz (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SYRIA. Radio Damascus, 12085 kHz with huge carrier at 2058 UT but when English audio came on just past the hour it was very low. Sign-on announcements and program line-up. Things picked up a bit at 2106 with a newscast. Good March 15/09 (Mick Delmage, Sherwood Park, Alberta, Icom R71a with 7-30 MHz Log periodic, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9330, Radio Damascus, 1844-1942*, March 15, German talk. Local Mid- East music. Into French at 1900. Poor audio with low modulation. 12085 not heard (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. THE OFFICIAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE WEBSITE OF SYRIAN RADIO & TELEVISION IS ONLINE Dear Radio Friends, At last the official English language website of Syrian Radio & Television came online. Please find below the letter I sent to my friends at Radio Damascus (the head of the English language section with a copy to the Director General of the radio) with my suggestions. Greetings from Belgium! Kris Janssen http://www.radio-damascus.net http://www.radio-damascus-listeners-club.tk http://groups.yahoo.com/group/radio_damascus ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Antwerpen, 16th of March 2009 Dear Rasheed, Dear Radio Damascus friends, Congratulations! It looks as RTV Syria at last got the promised English language website online at http://www.syriaonline.sy and it looks very promising. Its design is clear attractive and the content is great. Daily news from Syria, the Arab World and the rest of the world --- interviews, opinion articles, economic & business news and arts & culture. I am very happy with this new website. It's an excellent piece of work which, I hope, will only grow in the future. Something else I have noticed. The audio recordings page at the general Arab language RTV website, http://www.rtv.gov.sy/index.php?m=541 does since today mention all the language programs of Radio Damascus. Besides English and German, we can now also find French, Spanish, Turkish, Russian and Hebrew. This is again great news. At last it is possible for Radio Damascus listeners from all language sections to download the daily program. But please, link the two: the audio recording of the daily Radio Damascus program with the "Syria Online" website. Please put a link to the daily audio recordings of Radio Damascus on the homepage of the new "Syria Online" website! The international listeners of Radio Damascus are non-Arab speaking listeners and they can not find the Radio Damascus recordings on the Arabic RTV website. They will visit from now on the English "Syria Online" website. So, it is there they will be looking for Radio Damascus, the international service of Syrian Radio. And it would also be great news and a major boost to Radio Damascus availability and hence its listener numbers if the Radio Damascus (international) program would also be streamed live on the internet, as the Arabic General program already is, besides the daily downloadable audio archive. This would make Radio Damascus complete. I hope this suggestions are of use to you and I am looking forward to it's future implementations. Keep on the excellent work and best wishes to everyone at Radio Damascus! (Kris Janssen, Belgium, March 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I see that R. Damascus` audio archive page has so far empty linx to strange new languages: Hebro, Rassian, and Latin: http://www.rtv.gov.sy/index.php?m=541#5 It`s about the time the duopoly of WWCR and Vatican Radio in Latin broadcasting were broken! O yeah, WEWN too now and then (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. 9745, Voice of Han, *0758-0852, March 13. In Chinese; starts with brief announcement, Western orchestra music till ToH; played Chinese ballads and Western EZL orchestra music; a few ads; program consisted mainly of conversation between two women; parallel to audio streaming directly at http://www.voh.com.tw/e301_1.asp?fq=309 fair. Their website is http://www.voh.com.tw/ (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. QSL: Bangkok VOLMET, 11387, full data Manee Mekhala folder card and partial data letter in 45 days for English snail mail report and $2. V/s Ms. Jantima Niyomchok (Al Muick, Kabul Afghanistan, March 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET. Re 9-023: 6010, CNR-11, 1423-1447, March 15 (Sun.). Tuned in with the expectation of hearing their program in English which normally starts at 1430, but the program was already in progress. Must have started at 1400. Talking about Tibetan music and playing Tibetan music & songs; BoH generic sign-off announcement (“That’s all for today’s program. Thank you for joining me.”); into Tibetan, with another program of Tibetan music & songs. Fair to poor; QRM from jamming on 6003 not as severe today. Was this a one day event or what? Last Sun. I heard their English program from the regular 1430 to 1500; playing a lot of Tibetan music & songs and also talking about the music (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TINIAN [and non]. More signs of the ailing IBB transmitter on 7575 for VOA English in the 13-14 UT hour only: Sat March 14 at 1311, jazz marred by continuous whine. With BFO on, could tell there were multiple carriers on both sides of the fundamental, so I think it is a transmitter defect rather than QRM or jamming. At 1312 the pitch as heard on AM suddenly shifted higher and became somewhat less annoying. Should be interesting to watch on a spectrum display. At 1330 I noted same program on 9760 via Tinang, but five sex ahead of 7575, contact info for Jazz America and fulfilling a request from Rwanda. However, on March 18 7575 sounded OK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TUNISIA. RTT, 7275, lovely singing by child, 0550 March 13, 0559 to open carrier, 0600 Arabic talk, presumably news but much lower modulation than the singing had been. Checked // 7190 at 0606 and its modulation was much better (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TURKEY [non]. Sackville is STILL carrying the wrong feed from V. of Turkey, UT March 15 at 0400. 7325 transmitter cut on barely before the hour, no IS, no ID, just joined discussion in progress, and again sounds like an informal conversation in a cabaret or somewhere with background noise, presumably in Turkish. Hard to believe it has gone on this long without being fixed, or at least compensated for by accessing webcast http://www.trt.net.tr/Canli/anasayfa.aspx?kanal=rdvot&slv=0 instead of mixed-up satellite feed. Another reply from Sackville was uncooperative, so I have sent this to the English Desk at VOT, and frequency management: Hello Seref, et al.: You may be surprised to learn that your 0400 UT relay via Canada on 7325 has not been in English for the past two weeks at least --- I have been in contact with Sackville about this and they insist they are downlinking the correct satellite channel they have always used, Galaxy 19, 11966 H, channel 6. This is VOT World, as listed at Lyngsat: http://www.lyngsat.com/galaxy19.html I do not have satellite myself so cannot confirm, but whatever is coming over at that hour is a program in progress; I am not even sure it is in Turkish, but it is certainly not English. There is no interval signal or sign-on, just a conversation with background noise. Sackville will not make any effort to find your correct English feed, or even substitute a web feed, since they are merely following instructions on record as to which audio input to use. Therefore it is up to TRT to investigate this and take whatever steps are necessary to get the correct program to Sackville if you wish to continue having an English-language relay to North America. Would you please keep me informed about if and how this is resolved? BTW, there is usually another mixup in this transmission when the time changes happen, i.e. March 29 when it becomes 0300 UT, which could further complicate matters. Regards, (Glenn Hauser, Oklahoma, March 15, via DXLD) Glenn: I made a spot check at about 0415 UT Monday and found music on 7325, but not // with the satellite feed. Checking again at 1400, a period during which Turkey is broadcasting on SW in English, I did not hear English on satellite (presumed Turkish). The "satellite programme schedule" on the TRT English Web site lists both TSR-Turkish and TRT-World as being broadcast on the Galaxy 25 (now Galaxy 19) satellite. I don't know how these two services have presumably been sharing time on the satellite feed, but perhaps Turkey is sending TSR-Turkish sted TRT-World at the 0400 Sackville relay time. Until TRT resolves this, I guess listeners will have to go "cold turkey" (Mike Cooper, Mar 16, DXLD) 7325 at *0400 March 16 with nice Turkish (?) music, but still not the scheduled English broadcast. Several people at TRT should have received my E-mail on Monday, so perhaps we`ll see some axion on this misfeed which has now gone on for at least two weeks since I first noticed it (not three). I then heard from frequency management, who were going to look into it, but a lower priority than working on the A-09 schedule. So again at 0407 check March 17, Turkish music. At 0450 check March 18, talk in Turkish(?), not English. And *0400 March 19 abruptly into Turkish (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Listened to VOT`s Letterbox Wed March 18 on daily audio archive, in case they acknowledged my report about the foulups on 7325 via Sackville. Seref Isler read reception report after reception report, praising the programming and hankering after QSLs, but no mention of this problem. The mailbag ran from 37 to 49 minutes into the file, and appeared after another feature, Turkey-EU Agenda, contrary to the order on their current printed program schedule folder, which shows that to be last on Wednesdays. Yet, in replying to another listener who mentioned that programming heard did not match the schedule, Seref explicitly said, ``We confirm every day before going on the air that the program schedule matches airplay``! Another one wanted to be a `monitor`, but ``unfortunately, we don`t have a monitoring service``. No surprise there, considering that no one but yours truly seems to have noticed the wrong language on 7325, and nothing has been done about it so far. By `monitoring service` I suppose he means some kind of organized group sending regular reports as other stations have, or used to have, in return for small or large favors, even a paycheck (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA. 4975.966, R Uganda, Kampala, MAR 7, *0308-f/out - Weak signal never increasing enough to produce audio. Only modest 0357 sunrise at transmitter enhancement noticed on carrier signal. Transmitter slowly drifted +/- 2 Hz around 4975.966 kHz. Signal faded below noise floor by 0525 and unable to verify 0600 s/off (Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA. 4750 at 1805 3 Feb, R. Dunamis, religious talk in vernacular, SINPO 25432 (Patrick Cody, Co Tipperary, Ireland, AOR AR7030 Plus, Wellbrook ALA-1530 loop, March World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Also at 1807 27 Jan, Dunamis Shortwave, song and religious talk in English, SINPO 33433 (Arthur Miller, Llandrindod Wells [Wales], JRC NRD-545, 40m long wire, G5RV, ibid.) ** UKRAINE. SW transmitter sites here are also discussed in the long thread above under RUSSIA ** U A E. QSL: Sudan Radio Service (via UAE), 13720, no data email and attached no data letter thanking me for my report and confirming it was their broadcast in 48 days for English snail mail report and $1 return postage. V/s: Michael R. Tamburo, Marketing Coordinator, mtamburo @ sudanradio.org (Al Muick, Kabul Afghanistan, March 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Spectrum Radio, 558 and webcasts: see RUSSIA [non] ** U K. BBC RUSSIAN LAUNCHES ITS NEW RADIO SCHEDULE WITH INNOVATIVE WEEKEND LIVE NEWS PROGRAMME --- London, 12 March 2009 http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/category/world_service_index.shtml BBC Russian service has introduced a new programme in its newly refreshed radio schedule. From tomorrow, 14 March, live weekend news and current-affairs programme, Pyatiy Etazh (Fifth Floor) will go on air every Saturday and Sunday. Broadcast at 20.00 Moscow Time (MT) (17.00 GMT) Saturdays and Sundays from the fifth floor of Bush House – the London home of the BBC Russian service for more than 60 years – Pyatiy Etazh is a news and current-affairs programme with a difference. As well as covering breaking news stories as they happen, the programme offers audiences a fresh view on key events and trends, seen by studio guests from various walks of life. Pyatiy Etazh is a conversation about latest developments in politics and world affairs, culture and sport, and society, with a special focus on British life. With a different tone to the weekday news and current-affairs programmes on BBC Russian, Pyatiy Etazh aims to create an atmosphere for lively, engaging discussions. Reporters from the BBC Russian team around the world, the wider BBC as well as personalities from different areas of Russian and international life will be invited to take part with their comments and views. The programme will have regular reviews of British press, and it will have its own webpage on bbcrussian.com where the team will stay in touch with listeners and readers about current and future programmes. Pyatiy Etazh producer Ben Tobias says: "We want this programme to be a place where interesting conversations happen. We hope to draw out opinions that haven't been heard before and to shed a new light on stories by looking at them through the eyes of our guests." On Sundays there will be regular appearances by author and broadcaster, Zinovy Zinik, known to BBC audiences as the host of the programme Westend. Zinovy adds: "On Pyatiy Etazh we will put cultural events in the context of politics and life in general, revealing, sometimes invisible, links and connections, and joining lives and developments in stories which, I hope, will engage our audience." The introduction of Pyatiy Etazh is part of a wider change in the BBC Russian radio output. Head of BBC Russian, Sarah Gibson, comments: "In an increasingly competitive environment and with fast-changing audience demands, we have decided to focus our services on what audiences primarily expect from the BBC – high quality news and current affairs, and strong analysis of global events, in whatever area of life they occur. "But at weekends audiences want something a little different. We also know that they are very interested in British life. I think Pyatiy Etazh will bring audiences the content they expect in a format that they will enjoy." In other changes to the BBC Russian radio schedule, the flagship morning weekday news and current affairs programme, Utro na BBC, has been increased by half an hour to three-and-a-half hours each weekday. It now starts at 06.30 MT. The afternoon weekday drivetime news and current affairs sequence, Vecher na BBC – which includes the hour-long BBSeva hosted by Seva Novgorodsev – will be increased in April by one hour to four hours each day (from 17.00 MT). In the new schedule, the last hour of this sequence, from 20.00 MT, will include the BBC's extended interactive programme, Vam Slovo. Sarah Gibson concludes: "We are excited by these changes and believe that together they will deliver an even better service to our audience in Russia and around the world." (BBC World Service Publicity March 12, via DXLD; also via Alokesh Gupta, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U K. STRIKE NOTICE IN WHOLE OF BBC IN SUPPORT OF WORLD SERVICE'S HINDI, URDU AND NEPALI SECTIONS BBC strikes over threat of compulsory redundancies === 16 March 2009 http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=1169 Thousands of journalists at the BBC are to hold two national one-day strikes against compulsory redundancies. NUJ members at the corporation voted 77 percent in favour of strike action in a national ballot. The most urgent threat of compulsory cuts is at the World Service's South Asian section where up to twenty members are at risk. London- based journalists on the BBC Hindi, Nepali, and Urdu radio programmes and websites have already held a one-day strike over the cuts. Union representatives from across the BBC met today and passed the following motion: "This meeting of BBC NUJ M/FoCs: - Condemns the compulsory redundancies faced by NUJ members, in particular at this time by members at the South Asia Service. - Notes with concern the efforts by some World Service managers to coerce staff in the South Asia service in to accepting redundancy packages against their will and warns that the NUJ will continue to consider such arrangements as compulsory redundancies. - Welcomes the ballot result that reiterates our opposition to CR in all parts of the BBC - Calls on management to immediately enter meaningful negotiations and to withdraw the threat of CR. - Resolves to call industrial action on Friday 3 April and Thursday 9 April in the event that further talks fail to resolve the issue. - Resolves to meet Bectu and Unite reps to seek to co-ordinate our response. - Will meet again on 30 March to consider plans for additional action." Jeremy Dear, NUJ General Secretary, said: "Once again NUJ members at the BBC have shown they will not accept compulsory redundancies. "Journalists at the South Asian services have been fighting a heroic struggle against the outsourcing of their jobs which will sacrifice jobs and editorial independence. "Now they have the weight of thousands of NUJ members at the BBC behind them." Paul McLaughlin, NUJ National Broadcasting Organiser said, "Today's result shows that members at the BBC are fully prepared to stand up for their colleagues under threat across the BBC. "At a difficult time for journalism the fact that so many members at the BBC are willing to support their colleagues is inspiring. "If the BBC wants to provoke a strike over such small numbers it would be shameful. We call on the BBC to get round the table with us and sort it out." The action at the BBC is part of a union-wide campaign against media cutbacks (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD) ** U K. PHAROS POWERS BBC WORLD SERVICE --- 7th January 2009 Pharos announces the completion of a major contract for BBC World Service. In the role of prime contractor, Pharos was selected to supply content management and automation for 68 channels of radio programming together with automation for live and time-shifted content playout. Central to the project is a Pharos Mediator content management platform which has been chosen to integrate the network's ingest, media workflow, transfer management, router control and playout. Mediator includes a task-specific web-based user interface which guides operators and supervisors through the workflow and allows search and browse of any material from their desktop. World Service workflows are prioritised and resources managed by Mediator based on the demands of an integrated programme schedule. A total of 32 channels are configured as complete playout-capable subsystems, each safeguarded by a fully mirrored channel. "This latest contract was awarded after a lengthy OJEC process," comments Nigel Fry Head of Transmission & Distribution at BBC World Service. "A full audit was conducted which Pharos passed with high recommendations. Pharos was then commissioned to look at our current operation and to co-operate with staff in creating an outline requirement for a future playout and routing infrastructure to cover the entire World Service operation. These requirements included flexible delivery of material to multiple platforms for both traditional linear broadcasting and new on-demand services. Reliability was obviously essential so the new playout infrastructure is protected by full redundancy. The overall system enables us to respond more quickly to late-breaking editorial changes and is scalable to meet changing demand." "Our Project Services team worked closely with the BBC to determine the system acceptance criteria," adds Pharos Technical Director Spencer Rodd. "The new system is based on PC workstations running standard web browsers. Where staff previously interacted with individual audio elements manually, content management and switching are now automatically driven by the scheduling system. As material becomes ready for transmission, it is made available to Pharos Playtime automation for secure playout in conjunction with live and scheduled programmes switched from studios and other sources. All workflow states are tracked on-screen and used to generate reports as well as updating the material preparation status." Pharos has worked with BBC World Service for over 10 years, helping deliver new systems that maximise efficiency and allow prompt response to the rapidly developing media marketplace. Newly-developed features in this latest installation include a node-based online storage subsystem for content management plus a high-performance audio server. Router control was also a key challenge with thousands of on-demand sources and destinations. The audio routing system consists of dual Lawo Nova73 routers scalable up to 8,192 mono channels. http://www.pharos.tv (via AIB via DXLD) Should that be 8,196, = 2 to the tenth power, or allowing for four of them to be inoperative? Now we know what to blame when we can`t get to a BBCWS programmme (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U K [non]. BBC Mundo Radio, 9410 via WHRI, still filling the hour with the same old classical music, lovely at it is, Friday March 13 at 1258 with Puccini aria O Mio Babbino Caro, excellent signal. Fortunately she finished in time before transmission cut off without any announcement at 1300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Very strong signal from Greenville on 15185, splattering even upon WYFR-Ascension 15195, March 13 at 2033 playing great hilife music. Hmm, strange to have music instead of news at the start of VOA`s M-F 2030-2100 Hausa service as per previous logs and schedule at http://www.voanews.com/english/about/frequenciesAtoZ_h.cfm Oh, oh, it`s not Hausa, but the English service to Africa, in ``The Africa Beat`` show as per DJ announcements, and // frequency which really is supposed to be in English, currently via Bonaire, 11975 tho a reverb apart; most of the lyrix unseemed English; at 2050 heard ``Africa Numéro Un`` mentioned in a song which also unseemed French. 2052 outroed as having originated in the DRCongo. Vocals on some of these were electronically altered for a yodeling effect, not something easily accomplished in the jungle. Ladysmith music interrupted at 2059:30 for VOA sign-off in English. So the poor Hausans (surely not Hausers?) have lost their broadcast due to a feed mixup somewhere along the line at VOA. Geez, what a mickey- mouse operation; can`t even get the correct languages on the air according to their own schedule (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOA HAUSA transmissions 2030-2100z Mo-Fr are wrongly fed for the entire season!!! The wrong feed originates from AOR (Atlantic Ocean Relay). Greenville takes the audio from AOR. HB (Eutelsat HotBird) is fed by AOR, and that is why Nauen also has a wrong feed. freq tx az sat lang ----- --- --- ------- ----------------- 4940 SAO 030 afsat Hausa 6040 NAU 190 aor->hb ENGLISH TO AFRICA !!! 9780 MEY 328 afsat Hausa 12080 IRA 275 ior Hausa 15185 GB 094 aor ENGLISH TO AFRICA !!! If you check the VOA satellite schedules for HB http://www.voa.gov/afl/pdf/hotbird.pdf you can see the entry for HB-7 at 2030-2100z M-F is VOA HAUSA, but I checked the audio on Hot Bird 2 months ago and last week, they played VOA ENGLISH TO AFRICA!!! Regards, (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, March 14, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear ALL, I checked SW recordings via IBB Monitoring website, and instead of VOA Hausa 2030-2100 Mo-Fr GREENVILLE 15185 kHz and NAUEN 6040 kHz again and again aired (FOR THE ENTIRE SEASON) VOA ENGLISH TO AFRICA instead of VOA Hausa! The error is in AOR satellite (wrong audio feed uplinked from VOA) and also in Hot bird satellite (HB-7 VC 242 2L, 252 2L & 253 2L), because HB relays signal from AOR (Atlantic Ocean Relay). PLEASE, can anyone have an e-mail address of VOA/IBB/BBG Master Control/Network Control Center, so I could pass them a note to correct the wrong feed. Thanks, (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, March 17, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, ibid.) Re: Need help: VOA/IBB Master Control e-mail address Thanks for your email, forwarded by Wolfgang Bueschel. It's pretty embarrassing to have such an obvious flaw go on for the whole A09 season and not be aware of it. I have passed your email on to our schedulers and now that the season is almost over, I expect we'll have it fixed shortly. When you run in to things such as this in the future please feel free to email me. Thanks. bw (Bill Whitacre, IBB, March 18, via Lekic, DXLD) Dear Mr. Whitacre, Sure You ment B08 season :) Thank You for quick respond. I'm cc-ing this reply also to DX Listening Digest Yahoogroup, because there many DXers write about VOA/IBB transmitter errors, etc. Especially Glenn Hauser notices almost every Greenville transmitter error :) I sometimes visit your IBB Monitoring website and use it to listen to sound recordings and band scans, because I love to hear SW sound. Of course, in the future, if any new anomaly occurs, I'll email you immediately. P.S. I`ve checked IBB Monitoring site recordings for 03/17 2030-2100z: 15185 kHz Greenville FIXED (VOA Hausa aired), but 6040 kHz Nauen, Germany aired VOA English to Africa again. So, the problem is at Hot Bird satellite. Kind regards, (Dragan Lekic, DXer from Serbia, to IBB, via dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Have been intending to check VOA Creole service this week since DST began, to confirm whether or not it has moved one UT hour earlier as usual despite the fact that there is no DST in target Haïti. I did notice one day that it was missing after 2200. Yes! Finally noted March 13 at 2100 with strong signal in Kriyol on 15390 // 11890*, but unfound on any 13 MHz band frequency, nor in a quick scan of other bands 9-17 MHz. VOA language schedule website for ``C`` at http://www.voanews.com/english/about/frequenciesAtoZ_c.cfm claims this is still at 2200-2230 on 11895*, 13725 and 15390. Par for the course. Likely the other two Creole transmissions are also one hour earlier for the convenience of Washingtonians, not Haitians, at 1130 M-F and 1630 daily, instead of 1230 and 1730, 15390 being the only channel common to all of them, if there have not been further unlisted frequency changes too. VOA Creole, at 2100 instead of 2200, Sat March 14 on 11890 instead of 11895, but colliding with SPAIN, q.v. at first on unlisted 11890; still missing from 13725, and weaker on // 15390. Yet another VOA/IBB SNAFU: Greenville 15590, which is supposed to carry the Spanish service, was in English at 1304 Wed March 18 ending VOA News Now with Austrian incest item, 1305 to VOA Music Mix, also introduced in English. VG signal here, but no signals on the two // scheduled, 13715 and 9885. Has Spanish been moved an hour earlier without notice due to DST in Washington, which is irrelevant in the LAm target area? Last Oct/Nov some unexpected schedule changes were also made to this broadcast. Guess what? The VOA language schedule for B-08 now shows: Spanish 1130-1200 UTC 9885 13715 15590 M-F 1200-1300 UTC 9885 13715 15590 2300-0000 UTC 5890 5940 9690 So that is exactly what has happened, but the 15590 transmitter is still being run for an extra hour on the pre-DST schedule! The program schedule on the Spanish site ignores SW, but for webcasts: ``Buenos días América, 20 kbps, duración 00:30:00, Lunes a Viernes 1330 UTC, 09:30 Hora de Wáshington`` --- so that is long outdated. Rock music in English, such as M. Cyrus, continued on 15590 only, but at 1333 recheck there was an announcement in Spanish, and again a few minutes later, so sometime in the interim, a switch was made from English to Spanish feed, the so-called Éxitos Latinoamericanos show I usually hear until abrupt 1400* Eibi shows the way it was until March 8: 1230 1300 Mo-Fr USA Voice of America S LAm 13715g 9885g 15590g 1300 1400 [daily] USA Voice of America S LAm 15590g 9885g 13715g (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KVOH, 17775, ditto my report of March 5, again putting out hefty filthy spurs at multiples of 144 kHz plus and minus, March 13 at 2013, strongest on 17631 and 17919, also audible considerably weaker on 18063 and 17487, but not heard on 3x and 4x 144 kHz further out, tho they might have been if I had turned off a noisy computer. 17775 fundamental was also somewhat distorted. However at 2106 recheck could not hear the spurs, luckily for RFI 17630, tho 17775 was still audible (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also UNIDENTIFIED [non] ** U S A. I believe I have heard WWCR via long path, i.e. some 39 megameters away. At 2017 March 13, 13845 PMS/DGS service had extremely heavy echo, i.e. the echo was almost as strong as the direct signal, and relatively quite a long delay. In round figures, the LP is 38 Mm longer than the SP, so the computed delay is 38/300 = 0.1267 second, or approximately one eighth of a second, which I bet would be confirmed if I had a way to measure it. I know it`s possible for 13 MHz to hold up thru the darkside, since I often hear R. Australia there when it is the middle of the night here, including 14 hours earlier. The direct signal from 13845 is usually borderline here due to skip zone, and this was still the case; if it were very strong it would obscure the echo if there were any. Compared to other WWCR frequencies at same time: 15825 fair with a much quicker echo, like a reverb, which is what you would expect from backscatter, i.e. coming back from the first reflexion point eastward from Nashville, rather than all the way around the world. 12160 had a good signal, no echoes, tho occasional audio dropouts during program discussing Islam, which per the program schedule at http://www.wwcr.com/program-guides/WWCR_Program_Guide.html on Fridays at 3-4 on CT is called ``Warning``. According to the program website, the guest was ``Walid Shoebat, Ex-Muslim Terrorist``. Disregard the incorrect UT time conversions as if TN were still on UT -6 instead of UT -5. Back on 15825, the Friday airing of World of Radio 1451 started late at 2030:35 after a over-running preacher, making me apprehensive that I might be cut off at the end, but WWCR was paying attention and let WOR play to completion at 2059:20 before starting the frequency change announcement to 7465, an exercise which has been compacted (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WWCR 5070 missing at 0611 March 13, but big signals as usual on 5890 and 5935. WWCR-3 on 5070 had been missing earlier, and on routine check to confirm WORLD OF RADIO airing, Sat March 14 at 1656, found 12160 also off the air, tho inbooming on all three other transmitters, 9980, 13845, and even on 15825, so must be with sporadic-E assistance. Checked a few minutes earlier, the WWCR-3 webcast was also missing, the winamp and real players running silently. Continued missing from 12160 Saturday afternoon and thru the DX block UT Sunday March 15 0300 on 5070. Just as I was writing this at 0319, the real audio stream cut on; I had left the player running silently after I notified WWCR. Not until 0358 did I check 5070, and it was finally back on too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4910, WWCR spur, or mixing product, or something, 0128–0145, 3/15/09, in English. Mixing of at least 2 (maybe 3 for a while) streams; preaching (maybe Pete Peters) on one stream and the preacher who sings to the pump organ on another, possibly Brother Stair mixing in for a while. // 5070 at one point but not another. Abruptly off at 0145. Quite a mess. I could not find a // spur to either 5070 or 3215, but didn't check further. Thanks to Don Jensen who pointed it out and Jerry Strawman who also investigated it with us (Mark Taylor, Madison, WI, R-75, Winradio g313e, Eton E1, Satllit 800, Kaito 1103; 110’ random wire, Flextenna, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) It`s 9980 minus 5070 = 4910, reported several times in DXLD at least. Brother Scare not involved, but the singing preacher was probably Peters who occupies 9980 (or night 5890) 24/7 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WWCR mixing products 9980 - 5070 = 4910 with both audio streams appearing on 4910, March 18 (Jerry Lenamon, Waco TX, Eton E-1, T2FD & 9m vertical, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Time? other logs in same report range from 0120 to 0215. Both 9980 and 5070 are on the air between 2200 and 0200 (gh, DXLD) 5890, WWCR Nashville, on Mar 12 at 0800. Good Book vs. Good Book. Tuned in at WWCR ID and then into Pastor Peter Peters and dueling bibles as he compared passages from different bibles in an attempt to, as he put it, "discern evil." Modulation was way too hot (Bruce Barker, Broomall, PA, NRD 535D and an Alpha Delta DX Sloper, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) 9980, WWCR Nashville TN (presumed); 1705-1730+, 15 Mar; English program about Sacred Geometry -- entertaining; lots about the layout of Washington DC. Among the pearls of wisdom offered: The universe is shaped like a dodecahedron. The Nile River branches left and right; the Potomac River branches left and right, just like we were still in bondage to the Egyptians. The shape of the Oval Office amplifies the bio-physical energy of the body. (Maybe this is the stimulation I keep hearing about -- I'm still waiting to be stimulated.) The background music sounds a lot like that used by Alan Maxwell on the pirate KIPM. SIO=353+, QRN (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 5920, WBOH, March 13 at 1245 Gringo preacher who didn`t bother to learn accents in Spanish, giving address with ``codígo postal`` instead of código, accompanied by ``Maravillosas palabras de vida`` tune; then YL in Spanish with different FBN e- and p-mail addresses. Once again, there is no sign of any program title in Spanish on their own program schedule in unspecified timezone, whether you take it as EDT or EST: http://www.fbnradio.com/new_page_copy(1).htm --- and this wacky URL always breaks apart due to the parentheses (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. "Off The Hook" Restored on WBCQ --- The shortwave simulcast of the New York technology-oriented radio program "Off The Hook", which had been regularly aired on WBCQ on 7415 kHz up till a few months ago, has now been returned to WBCQ as part of the "Area 51" programming on 5110 kHz. The first one was on Wednesday, March 11, at 2300 and it should be on every Wednesday at 2300 on 5110 from now on. The relay was discussed on the program itself by the participants so it is a joint project between the "Area 51" programmers and the "Off The Hook" personnel. I hope this means that they will acknowledge their shortwave audience to a greater degree now than was the custom in the past; they tended to only address their local New York public- radio audience before. To get more information about the program and the organization behind it, look at their website "2600.com". Thanks to the "Area 51" staff and to WBCQ for this! 73, (Will Martin, MO, March 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) First mentioned in 9-022 ** U S A. WBCQ has extra transmissions on 5110 and 9330 during the SWL Winter Fest, but it`s mostly just rock music and/or old pirate tapes rather than live coverage of the proceedings. UT March 13 around 0230 I heard nothing but music on 5110`s webcast. At 1301 found 9330 on the air early as publicized, but with ---ugh!!--- Fox News Radio, ``fair and balanced``, hum and undermodulated, cut to hard rock music without the hum at 1303. It`s always fun to wait for the BFO on the FRG-7 to stabilize when trying to hear music in SSB; it takes a few minutes without switching back to AM. 1307 DJ back-announce as AC-DC. 1311 mentioned Karnataka with a K, apparently in this sense a music group or title. 1316 DJ is Barry on Caroline in the afternoon until 2 o`clock, so live relay of something from UK? 1318 Scorpions, etc., etc. past 1340. Referred at one point to The Boat that Rocked film coming up April 1, so this is something current rather than an old archive tape. 1349 switches to Jean Shepherd routine, end of show and 1357 to vintage WOR 710 newscast from the Vietnam War era, 1400 ad for whitewall tires. After that I had other listening commitments, altho a quick check at 1407 sounded like Allan Weiner and a YL were axually on live. This was also being webcast on the same stream as 5110, checked at 1518, a maharishi speaking with funny accent, presumably another pirate tape, V of the Runaway Maharishi. On March 13 and 14, scheduled time to switch from 9330 to 5110 is 2200, with WORLD OF RADIO still scheduled at the DST-shifted time of Friday 2300. Rechecked WBCQ for WinterFest coverage on 9330, Friday March 13 at 2025, but it was too weak, at least without turning off computer. Could tell it was more on USB than LSB, and sounded like someone off- mike speaking in a forum, with co-channel QRM, possibly Syria. Meanwhile 15420 was VG with preacher, and 7415 somewhat better than 9330; after 2100, 7415 with Behavior Night, old record show, but one UT hour earlier now and noisy, so we shall have to rely on webcast more and more for that as solstice comes on, likewise Marion`s Attic 24 hours later. WBCQ, 9330-CUSB with another special transmission inspired by, if not from the SWL Winterfest: 1318 like yesterday relaying R. Caroline from UK, live webfeed? ``San Francisco`` song, 1323 name-that-tune-clip, e- mail via http://radiocaroline.co.uk --- checking that, none of the linx on the homepage work, including the one to ``relays``, but I bet it would be news to them they are on WBCQ. 1403 DJ reminiscing with anecdote about copying news from the BBC. 1404 cut abruptly to Allan Weiner in progress, an old interview from WRKO 680 about his several pirate ships and busts. 1419 he mentioned Pirate`s Cove, so a replay of that show which is intentionally running UT Wednesdays at 0000 on 7415; 1437 into aircheck from 7/23/87 of the first RNI broadcast from the m/v Sarah, as in http://www.worldmicroscope.com/?p=620 --- Nothing heard from the current Fest itself. WORLD OF RADIO 1451 failed to appear March 13 at 2300 on webcast of 5110, despite being in the ``Confirmed Friday Line-up`` for that date, just rock music, but I assume that`s now its nominal 5110 airing time on following Fridays. I understand would-be WOR listeners closer to Monticello would like to have a reliable transmission on 5110. WBCQ, 9330-CUSB, March 14 at 2040 seemed to have something originating at the Fest, but soon into novelty songs, including Popeye. I couldn`t miss Marion`s Attic from 2100 on 7415 instead. Quick-checking 9330 again at 2136, Radio Free Mount Airy ID in passing. 9330 much weaker at this hour than had been in the morning (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7415, WBCQ Monticello ME (presumed); 2210-2231+, 16 March; Glenn Hauser's World or [sic] Radio #1451 ending at 2229+, then two sesqui- minutes of DA till English religious program came up suddenly; no ID at BoH. SIO=544 with weak co-channel QRM--from inside WBCQ maybe? (Harold Frodge, Midland MI, USA, Drake R8B + 125 ft. bow-tie; 85 ft. RW & 180 ft. center-fed RW, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. The Thursday 1530 airing of WORLD OF RADIO on WRMI, 9955 has been displaced by the repeat of Happy Station. However, Jeff White tells me a new temporary airing of WOR has been added as of March 14, for the rest of the month only, Saturdays at 1530 (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRMI 9955 has mostly been off the air for maintenance the past fortnight on weekday afternoons, but once resumed it is again running WORLD RADIO NETWORK relays eight hours straight at 1600-2400 UT; the webcast continued. Content is as follows, from WRN`s schedule, converted to UT, which as of March 15 is incorrect on the North American service, altho local times in DST are correct: 1600 RNZI Korero Pacifica - Recorded in RNZI’s Wellington studios, this 15 minute programme includes a news bulletin covering the Pacific region including Fiji, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Samoa and New Zealand, followed by a short current affairs feature 1615 Vatican Radio World News - a daily bulletin of international news from the team at Vatican Radio 1630 Radio Slovakia International News and Features 1700 Polish Radio External Service News and Features 1730 Radio Netherlands News and Features 1800 RTE Ireland Drivetime - A round up of the day's top news stories in Ireland. [if Drivetime is a 1-hour show originally, is this part 1? See 2100] 1830 Radio Prague News and Features 1900 Radio Sweden News and Features 1930 Radio Australia News and Features 2000 Polish Radio External Service News and Features 2030 KBS World Radio (Korea) News and Features 2100 RTE Ireland Drivetime - A round up of the day's top news stories in Ireland. [if Drivetime is a 1-hour show originally, is this part 2?] 2130 Radio Romania International News and Features 2200 Radio Netherlands News and Features 2300 Voice of Russia News and Features 2330 Israel Radio News - a round up of the day's news and current affairs from Jerusalem Now, let us see no mystery loggings of any of these stations on 9955 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nothing audible March 16 on 9955 at 1800. Are you still off afternoons for maintenance, and how much longer? (Glenn to Jeff White, via DXLD) Yes, we're trying to get some specific things done during March. Our goal is to be back on 24 hours by the beginning of A09, if not earlier. Unfortunately, we're at the mercy of our consulting engineer and when he can do the work (Jeff White, WRMI, ibid.) Glenn: So The DCJC has no reason to keep jamming 9955 while Jeff's station remains off the air, right? (Noble West, TN, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) No, but they don`t need a reason, because, they can. Or: They don`t need a reason other than too lazy or incompetent to turn it off when not required. However, I was not hearing jamming either at that particular time. For many months that had not been a time when there was exile programming. However, at 2208 I am again hearing lite jamming against nothing on 9955; also heavier jamming against nothing, on 9810, an hour before Radio Republica via Sackville upcomes (Glenn Hauser, OK, ibid.) Earth Day Special: I just checked the calendar and April 23 is UT Thu, so conflict with Happy Station? Is this still planned? (As well as the prior one on UT Sat March 21)? (Glenn to Jeff White, via DXLD) Glenn: I checked my records and discussed it with Keith. Looks like the 0100 UTC April 23 Happy Station will be pre-empted by the two-hour Earth Day special from 0100-0300. However, a new Happy Station will air at 1500 April 23. I should add that the 1500 UT Happy Station on April 23 will probably be repeated at 0100 the following UT Thursday. Keith is talking about possibly updating the 1500 transmission each time with listener comments, etc. Things are kind of fluid for the moment (Jeff White, WRMI, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Take it easy, Keith; one single new program per week is enough (gh) ** U S A. 15385, KJES at 1940 7 March with OM reading the Bible. Excellent signal but no Robo Kids. Hope they're still alive (Liz Cameron, DXPedition, Brighton MI, MARE Tipsheet March 13 via DXLD) ** U S A. WEWN, 7555, defective modulator hi-pitched squeal getting worse to the point of driving away even motivated listeners, March 18 at 1339 check during Spanish discussion. Why have they let this go on and worsen for years without fixing it? If they can afford the juice for all those 500 kW transmitters, they should be able to afford a replacement part. But hey, the fewer listeners being misled by this nonsense, the better (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. 9720 at 1129 13 Feb, Family Radio, Open Forum in English, SINPO 34543; site? (Edwin Southwell, England, March World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Aoki shows Novosibirsk during this hour only, 250 kW at 125 degrees, but in Cantonese. Was Open Forum being translated? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. I was pleased to hear gh and DXLD cited in a number of the first items on Radio DX, the CVC A Sua Voz Brazilian DX program, monitored on the 0200 UT Sunday March 15 webcast-only. And to hear how what we reported comes out in idiomatic Portuguese. Other DX program producers should take to heart quoting reliable sources and crediting them fully. I believe this segment was voiced by Marcelo Xavier Vieira; followed by more news from Célio Romais. Both had annoying and distracting continuous music bed which the producer apparently thinx is required to liven-up the proceedings (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. US COAST GUARD TO DISCONTINUE LORAN STATIONS http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/03/11/10694/?nc=1 Last month, the US Coast Guard announced that due to economic conditions, they would be closing down the 24 LORAN-C (Long Range Aid to Navigation) stations operated under the auspices of the USCG. LORAN stations provide navigation, location and timing services for both civil and military air, land and marine users. According to the USCG, LORAN-C is approved as an en route supplemental air navigation system for both Instrument Flight Rule (IFR) and Visual Flight Rule (VFR) operations. The LORAN-C system serves the 48 continental states, their coastal areas and parts of Alaska. On February 26, 2009, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) publicly announced the President's Fiscal Year 2010 Budget. In the section for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the budget "supports the termination of outdated systems such as the terrestrial- based, long-range radionavigation (LORAN-C) operated by the US Coast Guard, resulting in an offset of $36 million in 2010 and $190 million over five years." The USCG, once a part of the US Department of Transportation, is now under the direction of DHS. LORAN-A stations were developed beginning in World War II, and signals were transmitted on frequencies in and around our present-day 160 meter band. LORAN-A was responsible for reduced amateur radio operations, including frequency and power limitations, on 160 meters in the United States. In 1979, the Coast Guard phased out the LORAN-A stations; they were replaced by LORAN-C stations. The newer stations operated on 100 kHz [plus pulsing harmonix into the MW band nearby --- gh], enabling the restrictions on 160 meters due to LORAN functions, to be dropped. According to the Coast Guard, the nation's oldest continuous sea-going service will continue to operate the current LORAN-C system through the end of fiscal year 2009; it is in the process of preparing detailed plans for implementing the fiscal year 2010 budget. According to USCG Vice Commandant and Chief Operating Officer Vice Admiral V. S. Crea, further details of the LORAN-C termination plan will be available upon the submission of the President's full budget. -- Some information provided by Cliff Appel, W7CGA -- (via Andrea Borgnino IW0HK - HB9EMK, blcnews.it yg via DXLD) So much for the economy of Boise City, OK (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DXLD) ** U S A. 4049.923, KWMO, Washington, MO, March 13, 0419-0649* *1159- f/out - 3rd harmonic of KWMO, nominal 1350 kHz with C&W format, off at 0649 in mid-program and back on at 1159 UT. Poor to fair with slightly distorted signal; this one should be getting out pretty well. I caught this on an overnight Perseus recording. I will check this evening and verify that KWMO offset is 1349.974 kHz (Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN, USA, http://www.bcdx.org dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Hello Glenn, re the recent info contributed on X-Band WCNZ - 1660 and WVOI - 1480 - Marco Island, Florida and format changes. I'm a just a few miles from their shared transmitter site, which is actually just off the Island. WCNZ and WVOI share one of the towers with WCNZ running 10 kW day - 1 kW night, non-directional. WVOI uses the entire four tower directional array with 1 kW both day and night. On Mar. 17, WCNZ was in their Oldies format, but WVOI had just a dead carrier most of the day. Later at 2225Z, they were simulcasting the Oldies format. What a change. In their religious format days, I once counted them saying "Relevant Radio" 17 times in one minute. Surely a record in repetitively - !! Best Regards, (Brian Miller, Marco Island, Florida, March 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WHYL DX Test This Weekend!!! New info --- I will have sweep tones. I will have Morse ID's at least 6x/hour at different frequencies, going up from 400 Hz. I will crank the processing to the max and a bit more. Music will be 70's and 80's mostly, but maybe some Americana too. TV themes, etc. This thing really squawks! Great antenna system. 1957 and someone knew their stuff! Original sticks but transmitter site burned in 2004 and so most equipment dates from then, SX5A transmitter, phaser, Optimod, etc. Tuning boxes are Gates 1957 and are like new!! Gorgeous! Live jocks and maybe on-air calls. Got an audio clip from Ken [Baird?] in Scotland in 2006! Very clear, must've been transmitter work and I believe there was a big problem about then that resulted in some down time, so likely engineer testing the rig. It's really cool to hear your own station from Scotland!!! Peace and 73, BC (Bruce, York, PA 722ft ASL, FM19px, March 12, NRC-AM via DXLD) WHYL Carlisle, PA 960 kHz DX test March 15, 2009. Listened from 0355 until 0605 UT. Mixing with R. Reloj, another Spanish station mentioning "Habana Cuba" and WFIR in Roanoke, VA. Clearly heard many WHYL in CW, sweep tones, ID by OM and songs from the 1970s. 73, (Kraig, KG4LAC, Krist, Manassas, Virginia, USA, March 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Reminder was posted shortly in advance on the dxldyg. There were numerous reports mostly from the NE quadrant of the country, it seems, the furthest being: 960 WHYL-PA, slow CW ID, 2310 CDT 15 MAR 09, followed by sweep tones; new one! Thanks, Bruce! (Bruce Winkelman AA5CO, Tulsa, OK, Drake R8, Quantum Phaser, 2 - 50foot wires, IRCA via DXLD) I didn`t even try for it in Enid, with local KGWA 960 a couple miles away (gh) ** U S A. Article on KGBC-1540 Galveston TX -- Hi Glenn, Found this on the Illinois Airwaves Message Board: http://b4.boards2go.com/boards/board.cgi?action=read&id=1236975064&user=ilradio "A NEW TREND TO LOCALISM? Posted on 3/13/2009 at 02:11:04 PM by Dan Hughes GALVESTON — After years of changing musical formats and a gradual slide into obscurity, radio station KGBC is going back to its roots. Since it first started broadcasting in 1947, the station was a vital part of the community, delivering music, local news and coverage of community events, said Vandy Ánderson, one of the station’s former owners. Julián Arango, whose family now owns the station, said he plans to bring KGBC back to prominence as a source of local entertainment and news. The Arangos, whose company Siga Broadcasting owns several other small stations around the state, bought KGBC about six years ago, Arango said. Until about three weeks ago, the family leased the station out to other people to operate, a business plan it uses for all but one of its stations. But after Hurricane Ike, the Arangos decided to operate KGBC themselves because of its smaller market, Arango said. The format will be more personal than the corporate fare offered by stations in larger markets, he said. The station, which broadcasts on 1540AM, is now playing a mixture of music from the 1960s through the 1980s. The Arangos have dubbed it “sounds of the bay.” In the next few months, Arango plans to add local, on-air disc jockeys and talk show hosts to the mix. As general manager, Arango is searching the island for possible talent. He also wants to create relationships with island businesses that might have expertise, like landscaping or home repair, they can offer on air during regular shows, he said. “We’ll have all the good stuff that comes along with being a local station,” he said. As a community service, the station will also offer information to islanders during a hurricane, something that’s lacking now, Arango said." One interesting response: "Re(1): A New Trend to Localism? Posted on 3/13/2009 at 07:38:51 PM by responder In response to this story concerning KGBC, 1540, currently licensed to Galveston, I have some questions. If they are going to be a local station for Galveston bay area, how can it be explained that they have an application with the FCC to move the station to a new city of license, Dayton TX, which is approximately 50 miles to the north of Galveston? If this happens, it is obvious that it won't be serving the local Galveston community. When it goes way up north of Houston it might simply be used to extend a present Houston station which does not cover the northern part of Houston. Please explain how this can be local to Houston with an APP to change city of license to Dayton. I doubt very seriously that a signal would reach Galveston." Take care, Glenn! (Eric Loy, DWS Sportsnight, WDWS Radio, Champaign IL, 217-351-5613, March 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KARN 920/102.9FM which is Little Rock Arkansas' only news/talk radio station is going to convert the AM signal on 920 to an all-sports format. KARN has aired a news/talk radio format on 920 since the late 70's. http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=113223.54928.125346&view=all&link=perm I'm not sure Little Rock can stand yet another sports-talk station. There is already a station on 103.7 FM (KABZ) with mainly Razorback college football/basketball talk and also a smaller signal with ESPN radio on KDXE 1380 [an ex Air America affiliate]. However, local talk on 920 has been reduced to Dave Elswick's conservative fare and even that is only aired the first two hours since a sports-talk show is aired on 920 AM between 4-7 pm local time. Perhaps Citadel could come to their senses and take off the gospel-huxters off sister-station KAAY 1090 and make a viable format out of that sleeping giant (Fritze H. Prentice Jr, KC5KBV. Star City, AR, Grid: EM43aw, http://tvdxseark.blogspot.com March 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN. 15495-15500-15505, DRM Noise test to SWL Winter Fest, March 14 at 1343, weaker than 17545 GUF. An exercise in piety, gone at 1416 recheck as publicized for one hour only, but 17545 still running; see GUIANA FRENCH. Strangely enough, both transmissions were missing from the supposedly comprehensive DRM DX schedule at http://www.baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/drmdx/main&sort=kHz,UTC I gather it`s in Italian, anyway, so hardly of much use to a North American audience (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: To Vatican Radio, In that this is a demo related to the properties, advantages and fidelity of DRM radio, it might be in your best interest to transmit some contemporary or classical music rather than Italian religious dialogue that most people here in N.A. cannot understand. Sincere Best Regards, 73,s (Eric//KG4OZO// Atlanta, Georgia, March 12, drmna yg via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. Sunday March 15 checking the Aló, Presidente service via Cuba: at 1440 on 11875 they were just announcing frequencies: 13680, 13750, 11680, 11875, 17750. Also audible on 13750 and much weaker 13680 with CCI. Nothing on 11680, but has really been using 11690 which had too much QRM to confirm this date. Then joined in progress someone speaking; if it was the would-be president-for- life, he was unusually subdued. Meanwhile, mainstream RHC was running on 11760, 12000, 13760, 15120, 15360, 15370 --- but for a few minutes just some rustling noises, apparently feed cutting out, then weak audio on 13760 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZAMBIA. CVC Lusaka, 1Africa in the service at 315 degrees toward Nigeria and Michigan, tentative A-09: 05-06 9430, 06-19 13590, 19-22 5940. Note the last which will finally resolve the collision with Greece on 9420, but look out in B-09 --- assuming ERA gets back to full transmitter usage. The earlier plan to change to 13835 in the evening has been dropped (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4965.0, Christian Voice, Lusaka, Mar 7, 0111-0558* - Decent signal with variety music, from hip hop to inspirational, announcements, phone numbers, etc., between songs. Best signal between 0200-0230 before fading somewhat and then another moderate peak around 0408 transmitter sunrise before fading out. Carrier still above noise floor to verify 0558 s/off. 5914.955, ZNBC Radio 1, Lusaka, MAR 7, *0231-f/out - t/on at 0231, likely NA starting at 0250, drumming at 0253 then spirited male speaker in vernacular with sign-on announcements. Local music past top of hour until 0310 into talk. Very slight enhancement after 0408 transmitter sunrise. QRM from co-channel DW Rampisham from 0459 (Brandon Jordan - Memphis, TN, USA, Receiver: Perseus SDR, Antenna: Wellbrook ALA100, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. Zimbabwe Community Radio (5935) website http://www.zicora.com has now some material. The banner says "We are currently rebranding please stay tuned for our new website coming out on Monday 06 April 2009" (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, March 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5935, Zimbabwe Community R. via Dhabbaya. FD email confirmation inside 12 hours from Nigel Johnson (Station Manager of Radio Dialogue in Bulawayo) at njohnson @ mweb.co.zw (David Foster, Australia, March 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nigel Johnson provided these details - Zimbabwe Community Radio has been set up by a community radio support organisation outside of Zimbabwe called Friends of Radio Dialogue. The material for the programmes is being provided by various community radio initiatives within Zimbabwe, who are members of the Zimbabwe Association of Community Radio Stations (ZACRAS). The coordination for the gathering of this material is being done by Radio Dialogue in Bulawayo. ZCR’s schedule is – 2000 Ndebele news (5 min) followed by program (20 min) 2025 English news (5 min) followed by program (15 min) 2045 Shona news (5 min) followed by program (10 min) Programs - Sunday- A religious program about people’s beliefs (Ndebele) Drama, Comedy, Documentary (English) (The drama and comedy will tackle issues like democracy, human rights, and social issues like politics) –though not sure we’re ready for this immediately. Human interest--(Shona) Monday- Current Affairs (Ndebele) Youth Chat program that tackles youth issues (English) Magariro current affairs (Shona) Tuesday- Elimeni Tradition, culture and social issues (Ndebele) Women’s issues (English) Dapurahunanza Traditions and values (Shona) Wednesday- Ebandla Women’s issues (Ndebele) Know your rights (We discuss human rights and we inform people about their rights) (English) Kete pakete Youth program (Shona) Thursday- Yazi amalungelo akho Program that looks at issues of Human rights (Ndebele) Heart beat Current Affairs program (English) Dzebanhu Kadzi Program that deals with women’s issues (Shona) Friday- Ezobuciko Program on Art and Artists (Ndebele) Human Interest/Arts (English) Sports Diary (Shona) Saturday- Ezabontanga (Ndebele) Health issues/Religion (English) Zwirimumatare Program that looks at court cases and whether justice was done (Shona) Some web surfing uncovered more details about Nigel Johnson and Radio Dialogue showing that broadcasting as Zimbabwe Community Radio from outside Zimbabwe is a natural evolution of the station’s activities. Father Nigel Johnson is a Jesuit priest originally from Britain. He co-founded Radio Dialogue in 2000. He is variously described as Station Manager, Executive Director and Coordinator of the station. In 2008 he received an award from Zimbabwe Christian Alliance for his work in promoting justice and peace in Zimbabwe. Radio Dialogue is a recording and production studio offering its services to the community of Bulawayo and at the same time advocating for the licensing of community stations in Zimbabwe. In 2005 Radio Dialogue was refused a licence by the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe. Even though it is a community station, it had in desperation applied for a commercial licence. Johnson said that although the existence of community stations was provided for in law, “the problem is that there is legislation . . . saying no licence can be issued to any organization that is partly or wholly foreign funded, which we are, as we receive funding from international NGO’s.” Johnson added, “You would find most community stations are (foreign funded), as to raise funds locally is nearly impossible. It’s a major stumbling block to community stations.” “What we do while we’re waiting (for a licence) is to make radio programs and record them on cassette for minibus taxis to play. We call these taxi tunes. Each of the programs focuses on a different theme, such as HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, religion, politics, and so on,” said Johnson. On 4 April 2008 Johnson wrote the following article which outlines the trials and tribulations of Radio Dialogue. See www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=6516 ZIMBABWE RESULT COULD OPEN THE AIRWAVES “A year after Radio Dialogue started operations in 2000, we were invaded. They locked me in my office, and attempted to replace the lock on the main doors and take over the studios. The local state-owned newspaper reported that I had been replaced, and published a cartoon of me being kicked out of a window. From then on we have employed 24 hour security. Two weeks later, we were raided by the riot police, police internal security, central intelligence and the national telephone corporation. The telephone people were hoping to find radio transmission equipment so that they could confiscate it, but all we had was recording equipment. The police and central intelligence were hoping to find subversive material, but there was nothing. Two days later, we had a visit from the immigration people, who were hoping to find someone they could deport. They found one. He was given two days to leave the country. A few months later, I was filming a Valentine's Day demonstration by a group of women, and was arrested along with them. We spent the night in jail, and next day were charged with holding an illegal demonstration, then released. Some time later, I was filming a youth group to make a music video for them. That earned me another night in jail. That is how it has been in Zimbabwe for the past ten years. The government is very suspicious of any independent organisation they are not in control of, especially media organisations. Radio Dialogue was set up as a community radio station for Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo. But no one has ever been granted a broadcasting licence in Zimbabwe, except the state broadcaster. So, while waiting for a change, we have 'broadcast' by alternative legal means. We make programs on CD and cassette, which are then played on public transport, in hair salons, bars and so on. We put on road shows in the suburbs, featuring local singers, dancers and drama groups. Each show contains a special message. The earliest shows got across to people the idea of community radio. The most recent ones urged people to register and then vote. We then developed our 'Live Broadcast Meetings'. These are public meetings, organised by our Radio Dialogue ward committees. They select a topic of local interest — mostly concerned with shortages of water, electricity or food. They then invite local officials to be questioned by the audience. The whole show is presented like a radio program, with the presenter behind a mixing desk, playing CDs and jingles between segments of the program. The day before the meeting, we gather local news from that suburb, and present a news bulletin in the middle of the program. The meeting ends with a 'phone-in' segment, where a roving microphone is passed among the audience. Through this people get a real experience of what local community radio will be like — that they will not just be passive listeners, but will actively participate and have their voices heard. We also do music recording and work a lot with local youth and artists. So far, it's been difficult. We have to get police clearance for any public event, which is time consuming and makes planning difficult. Last year, the police banned the opening night of our cultural festival a few hours before it was due to start because President Mugabe was in Bulawayo. As I write, the whole nation is anxiously waiting to hear the final results of the general election. Tight state control ensures that small amounts of information trickle through very slowly. This is made up for by the rumours that fly around via the internet or mobile phones. Some people are despairing — 'It's been rigged ... the election's stolen ... five more years of this misery ... how can I get to South Africa, to UK, to Australia?' Others, like myself, are hopeful — 'Our time of suffering is about to end ... a new beginning ... a new dawn ... an end to the police state ... the beginning of freedom of speech ... the opening of the airwaves ... soon we'll be broadcasting.' The next few days will prove who is right.” It’s also worth reading the article ‘Zimbabweans find a voice through Radio’ in online magazine Jesuits & Friends Issue 68. See http://issuu.com/ianjcurtis/docs/winter_07_issue/06 No doubt Zimbabwe Community Radio’s expansion into international shortwave has been inspired by the examples of Radio Voice of the People and SW Radio Africa, as well as the proliferation of all sorts of organisations broadcasting into African countries such as Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia and Congo (David Foster, Australia, March 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Hola a todos, en 4895 en estos momentos 1755 UT, música americana big band 40-50's, funky 70's. ¿Qué puede ser? (Antonio Madrid Gutiérrez, March 14, QTH: Rubí, Barcelona (España), CG: 41 31'49.19N, 1 59'37.69''E/328 Mts Altitud, Rx: Sony ICF2001D+Kenwood R5000+Degen, Ant.: Hilo largo de 25 mts+Yaesu FRT7700, Web: http://www.elradioescucha.tk dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, rather nice signal on 4895 around 1815 with kind-a funky music (Jari Savolainen, Finland, March 14, ibid.) Radio Pakistan? (David Kernick, ibid.) Hola de nuevo, he podido escuchar una identificación "EPMGMT on the radio dance international" o algo así... (Antonio Madrid, ibid.) Or rather: Also heard here in UK with quite good signal from tune-in at 1830. Just before 1900 a male voice with a foreign sounding accent said what sounded like "8 pm GMT on Radio Jazz International" So their clock is an hour out! Not heard at 1915 recheck. Could somebody somewhere be testing a new transmitter? (Dave Kenny, Caversham, UK, AOR7030+ 30m long wire, ibid.) One of those pirates again I guess. Modulation was rather nice, but I think the carrier was wobbling at times (Jari Savolainen, Finland, 2037 UT, ibid.) The station being relayed on 4895 was Swiss-based internet, satellite and cable station Radio Jazz International: http://www.r-jazz.ch/en/home.aspx Similar ID on the internet stream at 2000 UT as "Radio Jazz International" with time check as "9 pm GMT". I don't remember any pirate using this frequency before though? (Alan Pennington, Caversham, UK, ibid.) Domenica, aprile 06, 2008, New italian pirate??? 4895 kHz, relay FM stations from Sicily http://bclnews.blogspot.com/2008/04/new-italian-pirate.html (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 5825 NO ID, 1910-1915, escuchada el 13 de marzo en idioma sin identificar, probablemente ruso o ucraniano, locutor y locutora con noticias, referencias a Ucrania, frecuencia no listada ni en EiBi ni en Aoki, SINPO 33443. [poco después] Se trata de Radio Praga, anunciada en 5840, pero sin señal (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Are you sure? 5840 was scheduled as Ukraine at 18-21, not Prague, and neither on 5825 (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. The two VT Merlin tests at 0800 on 5875 and 12095 at 0810 appear to have concluded. Both were heard on the 9th and 10th - I didn't listen on the 11th - but on the 12th and 13th only 12095 was on air. And so far this week, neither is heard (Noel R. Green (NW England), March 16, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. There was an English voice on 6850 kHz at 0011 GMT today but I could not make out the ID. I have not copied anything on this frequency before. Maybe someone will know, the signal faded out by 0017 and reception was poor (Gary Drew, UK, March 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 7887-AM, 5-digit YL Spanish spy numbers, sufficient signal March 13 at 2028 repeating 50651 several times, then into other groups starting with 83424 and 76281 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Another big utility noise invading the ``exclusive`` 31m SWBC band is making 9495 and 9500 unusable much of the time, such as at 1339 check March 14, a multiplex signal covering at least 9494-9500 so centered around 9497. What is this? Searching the 20,145 posts so far in the UDXF yg on 9496, 9497, 9498 got zero relevant hits (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Aside RHC 13760, at 1354 March 14, heard some 2-way intermittent Spanish SSB on approximately 13757 give or take a kHz, as never could nail it down, too close to RHC. Probably another invasion into the exclusive SWBC band by poachers or drug traffickers. Query: why don`t the feds DF these communications and nab `em? The culprits apparently transmit with impunity (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 13935-13960, weak OTH radar pulses, presumed, 1308 March 18. This area is one of its favorite ranges just below 20m hamband (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Re 15120: puzzle. German DXer noted unID Arabic station on 15120 kHz at 1228 to 1256 UT only, March 3rd, und 4th. [From 1300 UT US IBB R Liberty Biblis in Kazakh starts.] (wb, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 9 via DXLD) Hi dear Tarek, German DXer discovered an UNID Arabic station on 15120 UT in 1228 to 1256 UT slot in past two days. [not Cuba Spanish and not Saipan IBB Laotian]. May you can check and trace that service in coming days at your place in Egypt? Maybe even a Palestine radio service via Iran facilities at noon time? Kind regards de (Wolfy df5sx http://topnews.wwdxc.de March 4 to Tarek Zeidan, Egypt, via DXLD) 15120 BSKSA Riyadh in Bengali. Dear friends, it seems to be Saudi R. in Bengali \\ 17820 kHz, signed on today at 1230 UT (Mauno Ritola, Finland, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 9 via DXLD) Hi Guys, I kept on monitoring that freq. for sometime now around 1200 UT, but no Arabic heard around that time on that frequency. All the best, guys (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, Egypt, March 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Tarek, has been solved recently: BSKSA Riyadh in Bengali from March 29th onwards. In A-09 season BSKSA Riyadh schedule a \\ transmission to 17820 kHz is on 15120 kHz registered, possibly an hour extended till 1600 UT. 15120 1200-1600 41E RIY 500 70 17820 1200-1500 41E RIY 500 70 (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Mar 10, via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. ESTACION DE RADIO NO IDENTIFICADA EN ESPAÑOL Hoy domingo 15 de Marzo de 2009, Santiago San Gil captó una radio no identificada en idioma español en Barrancas - una zona campestre distante a unos 20 kilómetros de Barinas la capital del Estado Barinas, Venezuela - La frecuencia fué la de los 17920 kHz con una programación musical con intervenciones de un locutor dando la hora e identificando las canciones y saludando a los oyentes a las 2145 UT con un SINPO 25322 pero con demasiada distorsión del audio. El receptor utilizado es un portátil marca Grundig G5 y su antena telescópica. Posteriormente a las 2100 me comuniqué con Jorge García Rangel en Barinas para que grabara esa transmisión, quien me confirmó que también escuchaba la emisora con música de baladas e inclusive cumbia peruana pero con muchísimo ruido. Él la captó con un receptor Kaito 1103 y una antena de hilo largo con un SINPO 25111. Cuando regresé a Barinas, escuché la grabación y evidentemente Jorge tenía más ruidos estáticos y atmosféricos que yo. De hecho la siguiente grabación alojada en el servidor de audio TooFiles es prácticamente inservible: http://www.toofiles.com/es/oip/audios/mp3/emisoramisteriosa-17920khz2100utc15-03-2009.html Tanto Jorge como yo presumimos que esta transmisión “pudiera” ser el tercer armónico de alguna estación que opera en los 5973v kHz o sus alrededores desde Colombia, Ecuador o Perú. Y aunque chequeamos también esa frecuencia, ninguna señal había allí. Verificamos en el Libro Passport to Worldband Radio 2009 y no hay ninguna estación listada de esos países en esas 2 frecuencias. ¿Alguien más la pudo captar? Será una nueva estación? Seguiremos monitoreándola a ver si podemos identificarla, pero mucho agradecemos a los colegas diexistas, vecinos de los países andinos, que nos ayuden (Santiago San Gil, Jorge García Rangel, Editores del Blog “Diexismo Venezolano” http://diexismovenezolano.blogspot.com CLUB DIEXISTAS DE LA AMISTAD, V E N E Z U E L A, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hardly anything but noise is audible on the sound file, which is interrupted by Wii commercial! I replied that `17920` is one of the KVOH spurs, as reported in great detail in DXLD 9-021 and again in this issue (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Thanks again for providing a valuable service to all of us. Keep up the good work! (Donna Ring, Baltimore MD, with a check in the mail to Glenn Hauser, P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702, WORLD OF RADIO 1452) SCOTT BARBOUR I think Scott Barbour is doing a great job with the Trop Band column [NASWA Journal, print]. `` Non-editing`` is the key here; he allows the guys to express their comments on what they`re hearing, rather than chop submissions down to a ``just the facts, ma`am` format. Consequently, the column now reads like a bunch of DXers getting together to shoot the breeze. It`s very lively and entertaining. It seems like participation is up as well (Richard W. Parker, Pennsburg PA, March NASWA Journal via DXLD) Many other clubs and editors might take this to heart (gh) RON HOWARD: 2009 MEMBER OF THE YEAR NASWA Executive Council member Alan Johnson announced at the [Winter Fest] banquet that Ron Howard was selected by the club`s Executive Council to be the recipient of the William P. Eddings Award as the club`s 2009 member of the year. As many of you know, Ron is a regular contributor to the club`s Flashsheet, Yahoo Group and the Journal. Attacking the bands from his location at Asilomar Beach, CA, Ron provides excellent reports of DX emanating from the Asian and Pacific region as well as from other parts of the DX globe. Congratulations Ron! 73, (Rich D`Angelo, PA, NASWA yg via DXLD) Hi Rich, Thanks and appreciation to the NASWA Executive Council for selecting me for the William P. Eddings Award as NASWA’s 2009 member of the year. It was back in early 1971 that I first joined the club and have certainly enjoyed my membership ever since. It’s been a pleasure to have had the privilege of interacting with many of our members. With my recent retirement, I find I can put in even more time listening to my favorite stations from Asia and hope to continue to pass along many more postings, with my logs and observations. Thank you again for the honor of receiving this award! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, ibid.) DIGITAL BROADCASTING DRM: see also BELGIUM; BULGARIA; GUIANA FRENCH; ++++++++++++++++++++ INDIA; NETHERLANDS; NEW ZEALAND; RUSSIA; VATICAN DRM PROGRESS REPORT A few items from DRM steering board meeting Jan 2009 DW may work with RDP (Portugal) on a joint DRM broadcast as it already is doing with BBC. Brazil has declined HD Radio. Possible Brazilian DRM seminar in May. Discussions going on with ABU, EBU and WBU on a worldwide standard receiver profile. DRM panels at NAB next month. DRM Wiki being worked on, though this may be a member only service. UniWave receivers tested in Paris, Finland and NZ. Good indoor reception in NZ of French broadcasts. "It should have a competitive price and retail networks are now well informed and waiting to take delivery of receivers." DRM+ continues to make progress as a standard. A wide-coverage area Traffic Management Channel spec has been developed. The upper limit for DRM+has been set at 170 MHz. Manufacturers are trending to multi-standard chipsets. Analog Devices has a multimode chipset to be released within a few months; Mirics has a system-in-package RF, demod and audio DSP for a multistandard radio, not yet in production; STM will have samples of itsDAB+/DMB/DRM chipset in 3Q 2009. Near term focus of DRM on regulatory bodies in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Russia. Longer term India, Brazil, China, Canada (Benn Kobb, DC, March 11, drmna yg via DXLD) DRM DEMO AT THE SWL WINTERFEST, KULPSVILLE PA, MARCH 13-15 The Vatican Radio DRM at 1300-1400 on 15500 mostly did not work. But that is via a trans-Atlantic path during poor propagation. It was worth a try. And Vatican Radio at 2300-2400 on 7370 is usually good. We were at dinner and couldn't try it at Kulpsville. [see also VATICAN above] TDF French Guiana was about 90% successful on 17545, 1300-2000. It would have been closer to 100% on a better receiver in a less noisy location. [see also GUIANA FRENCH above] We had about 50% reception of Kuwait on 11675. Sackville was almost always good on 9800. And that is just about all the DRM we had to receive. 73 (Kim Elliott, March 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 9-023: TRANSLATOR PROBLEMS ``Cash-strapped translators should just use a consumer STB as input -- - assuming there is any DTV signal to capture (gh, DXLD)`` That was my first thought also but I believe a lot of translators are heterodyne type, downconverting the received channel to an IF frequency then upconverting that to the output channel. So you'd need a good quality modulator to get the STB audio/video up to the IF frequency (Ed/wd8kct Thomas, March 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 9-023: AIRPLANES DISRUPT DTV At my previous residence jet airliners would pass over at about 1000 feet; happened to be watching a DTV channel on the spectrum analyzer during one flyover and the normally flat waveform developed a sinewave, the frequency of which changed as the aircraft flew over. the old Accurian DTV STB I was using would freeze several times during flyovers (Ed/wd8kct Thomas, March 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DTV IN-HOME ELECTRICAL INTERFERENCE I had previously been under the impression that digital television, although affected by things like airplanes and bad weather, was not affected by electrical interference within the house. I hadn't had issues with it like I did with analog because the picture was always so nice and clear. Then I found out tonight that just like analog, digital IS affected by other appliances and devices. My antenna was turned just enough away from my locals (without my knowledge) that whenever I would turn on my computer's monitor, our very strong local PBS would go to hell then totally drop out within 5 seconds. All other stations would drop out as well, except our 10-mile local which only intense tropo can wipe out. On our PBS, the signal metre was about halfway into the "Good" category (usually at the very top when the antenna is aiming in the right spot) and upon turning on the monitor, dropped halfway into the bad category then to the very bottom. Local NBC and CBS started in the very middle of the bar and turning on the monitor dropped the signal entirely - nothing even showing on the signal bar. I can imagine the problems with reception if one were to buy an appliance that unknowingly was affecting their DTV - no lines like analog, no ghosts, just crappy signals or none at all. Trying to find the source of the interference would be rough, and you wouldn't even know if it was from within the house or just weather patterns. Can you use signal traps with digital like you can with analog? Anyone else experience in-home interference like this yet? Of course, aiming the antenna properly (a turn of about 5 degrees) fixed the problem entirely, except I am noting that my NBC and CBS - two already weak signals - become even weaker with my computer monitor on. Nice to know I guess, because I hadn't caught onto that in the past 3 months until today (Chris Kadlec, Fremont, Mich., March 16, WTFDA via DXLD) STB's DIFFER Found something strange the other day .I thought that KTCI-17 (analog) KTCI-16 digital were only providing an analog signal, having dropped their 3 sub-channels when they combined with KTCA-2(TPT). My Magnavox Model TB100MW9 STB picks up 16-1 & 16-2. My Zenith STB's fail to remap to the 16 digital. Even adding the 16 channel manually fails to give me anything except 'no signal'. The signal level on the Mag unit only reads about 22, which should give me some sort of signal reading on the Zenith & Insignia boxes. It is strong enough to decode on the Mag box. Heck, my 4 year old Accurian STB at least gives me a signal readout for 16/17, which is on the weak side, but it's more than the Z & I boxes do. Really odd (John Ebeling, Bloomington, MN, March 16, WTFDA via DXLD) If I'm reading their website correctly, and they're not especially clear about this, they're playing an interesting game with remapping, using "2.x" as their major channel for both KTCA-DT and KTCI-DT. http://www.tpt.org/program/dtv/dtv_channels.php From this, and from RabbitEars.info, it appears that KTCA-DT (RF 34) is running "TPT2" in HD on 2.1 and TPT MN Channel in SD on 2.2, while KTCI-DT (RF 16) carries TPT Life in SD on 2.3 and weather in SD on 2.4. So if you rescan and get 2.1 through 2.4 inclusive...you ARE getting both KTCA and KTCI; it's just that they're using the combined 12 MHz of the KTCA and KTCI signals to deliver all their "2.x" signals. I would bet that there are at least a few brands of boxes out there that might choke on this sort of a setup, but that's just a guess. I don't know of any other stations that are trying anything like this, but then there are few other PBS duopolies like KTCA/KTCI remaining. (Off the top of my head, there's WGBH/WGBX Boston, WNET/WLIW New York, WCVE/WCVW Richmond, WMVS/WMVT Milwaukee, WPTD/WPTO Dayton - though WPTO has really moved to Cincinnati now, KET/KET2 in Louisville, and I suppose you could include WQED/WQEX Pittsburgh, though WQEX is no longer operated as a PBS outlet, and KUED/KUEN Salt Lake, though KUEN is operated rather independently of KUED.) s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) MUSEA +++++ RUSSIA CELEBRATES A RADIO PIONEER'S 150TH ANNIVERSARY/SESQUICENTENNIAL Today is Alexander Popov's 150th anniversary. Traditionally he is credited in Russia with "inventing radio." In accordance with a presidential decree, this anniversary is widely celebrated throughout the nation. The celebration includes special ham radio broadcasts, student rallies, a special post stamp issue, countless media reports, several expositions, unveiling of monuments and public plaques, etc. Popov was originally from the Urals area. He graduated from the Russian Orthodox seminary there. Then he studied at St.Peterburg university. You can read more on him and his scientific achievements at Wickipedia at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Stepanovich_Popov For a purely Soviet perspective from Stalin's time I recommend watching an English-subtitled part of a 1950 blockbuster Alexander Popov at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrxT1ya9fso Marconi is featured there, too :) Finally, Popov Central Museum of Communications runs a surprisingly comprehensive English version of its site at: http://www.rustelecom-museum.ru/?lang=en Curiously, today's Vesti National Newscast carried a special report on both radio hams and pirates. The radio pirates weren't presented as such but rather as bright students who set up their own low-power station with a coverage of five kilometers. The reporter didn't deal with legality issue. (Actually Russian regulations don't provide for low-power broadcasting. And I guess five km aren't so low-power anyway.) (Sergei S., Moscow, March 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Any listener to R. Moscow knows that Popov invented radio, not those Italo-British or American impostors (gh) After watching that old movie I came to a conclusion that TV Martí, in a Marconi-like fashion, stole a Russian invention! The TV channel used a blimp over Florida Keys for its antenna :) (Sergei S., Moscow, March 16, dxldyg via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ THOMAS TOLIVER GOLDSMITH, JR. passed away at his home in Lacey, Washington on March 5. Among his many accomplishments, Goldsmith was the Director of Research at the Allen B. DuMont Laboratories from 1936-1966 and founder of Washington , D.C. station WTTG-TV (5) in 1945. The station was a DuMont Network-owned station (as was Pittsburgh 's WDTV-TV (3) - later KDKA-TV (2)) and dubbed with Goldsmith's initials. WTTG still exists today. Goldsmith was 99 and is survived by his wife of 70 years, Helen, three children, six grandchildren and ten great- grandchildren. Nine interviews from 1997 on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npNfOikMMFA Full obit: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/arts/television/15goldsmith.html?ref=obituaries&pagewanted=print (Brock Whaley, HI, March 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) TECSUN PL-600 LW-MW-SW PORTABLE Hello, I received the Tecsun PL 600 receiver from Hong Kong this morning, in good shape, no probs. Receiver is light, and has many features, including 600 memories, Single Side band (tuned by Beat Frequency Oscillator), external antennas socket etc. Upon powering up the receiver, immediately noted how sensitive it actually is. Amateur communications on 7 MHz here in Europe came in with half of the whip antenna extended, giving ample results. China Radio International, 13665 at 1200 UT, was received very well with no antenna whatever, still perfectly listenable. The receiver was supplied with several meters of wire, with a winding frame on one end, being terminated with a 3.5 mm jack plug. This gave more than adequate reception for general shortwave listening. The receiver has three settings for reception. DX, Normal and Local. The normal setting is useful when signals are particularly strong, such as CRI on 13665. FM reception is great, with a stereo output via the two supplied earbuds. Longwire is satisfactory also, tuning BBC Radio 4 on longwave (198 kHz) just fine. I didn't try medium wave yet. The receiver is powered using 4 NiMh Batteries, which can be charged in the receiver, using the charging circuit. The batteries are 1000 mah, which should on normal use, last fairly well. When time comes to re-charge, you select the mah of the batteries used, and select from the relevant choice on the receiver. Unit was supplied with an AC wall wart, which is 220 Volts, with American-style prongs. Pleased with this purchase, recommend to others (Chris Lewis, England, March 14, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello All, One of the newest SSB models from China, the Tecsun PL-600 is obviously designed to compete with the Sony ICF-SW7600GR, with very similar size, shape and features. As a much newer model, however, it has superior digital features and a much lower price-- $65.95 plus $24 shipping, from the eBay seller "tquchina." Although this model is seriously oversized for Ultralight radio qualification, it does have one stellar quality that would thrill any pocket radio transoceanic DXer -- the ability to act as a compact SSB spotting receiver, with a sensitive and selective AM section. Its 4" x .4" loopstick is identical to that of the new PL-450, and provides highly directional nulling capability to identify transoceanic SSB carriers. In addition, its SSB fine tuning range covers about 5 kHz of total spectrum, giving it greater flexibility than the more narrow SSB tuning range of the ICF-SW7600GR (which is switched between LSB and USB). The BFO circuitry is also stable enough for routine copy of amateur radio SSB and CW signals. As in the ICF-SW7600GR and ICF-2010 models, the PL-600 has a broadbanded, fixed loopstick which doubles as the LW antenna. These loopsticks have two fixed coils with no alignment system, making them a completely different type of antenna than the single-coil E100 and C. Crane SWP loopsticks, both of which can be replaced by a sliding- coil transplant providing greatly increased sensitivity. In the case of the PL-600 (and also the ICF-SW7600GR and ICF-2010), greatly increased sensitivity can be obtained by matching the stock coil inductances in a longer composite ferrite bar loopstick transplant, however. As a stock model, the SSB-equipped PL-600 should be a great choice for Ultralight radio DXers needing a "spotting receiver" for transoceanic DX possibilities. Strong TA or TP carriers on a PL-600 should indicate a great chance for stock Ultralights like the E100, C. Crane SWP or DT-400W to receive their first transoceanic DX signals. As one of the lowest priced, relatively competent SSB portables on the market currently, the new Tecsun PL-600 can really help the beginning TA or TP DXer discover the thrills of transoceanic DX at a very reasonable cost. 73, (Gary DeBock, WA, IRCA mailing list via DXLD) AND --- you can also use it to axually listen to SW! (gh, DXLD) Hi Gary: Thanks for the review! You're willingness to get and try out new receivers is a great benefit to us all. I have three hopefully easy questions. 1. A question on the SSB: how stable is the BFO after warmup? In other words, would using this in ECSS be an annoying warble-fest as the zero-beat is slowly lost, or does it settle down to allow good ECSS listening? The Sony 7600GR (mine, anyway) stabilizes after about 15 minutes, allowing the selection of either sideband, a great DX asset, but I have heard from several others whose 7600GR simply won't stabilize. You're right about the limited BFO range of the 7600GR - mine has a range of +2.2 kHz and -1.8 kHz, meaning that you can go either 2 kHz down or 1 kHz up and still get a zero beat, a sort of "poor man's passband tuning". If the PL-600 is plus/minus 2.5 kHz, you could detune 2 kHz in either direction. 2. Does the SSB allow the use of the Wide bandwidth? On the Sony 7600GR, shifting to SSB restricts you to only the narrow bandwidth. 3. If the answer to #2 was yes, does the Wide bandwidth cause "fluttering" in ECSS on AM signals? On many sets, if the filter bandwidth is too wide, the opposite sideband starts to leak through, and the ECSS signal starts to flutter. It would be nice to have a set that allows higher-fidelity single-sideband reception, sort of a poor- man's emulation of the Drake R-8B's Selectable Synch mode with its 6 kHz filter. If the PL-600 does flutter in Wide bandwidth, can you detune a couple kHz, re-zero beat it, and get rid of the flutter, since you are 2 kHz further away from the offending sideband? Thanks for any info! (Kevin Satya, Bainbridge Island, WA, IRCA via DXLD) Hi Kevin, In answer to your questions, the SSB capability of the new Tecsun PL-600 is basically similar to that of the ICF-SW7600GR, with neither radio having any significant edge in BFO stability. Both of them require a short warm-up to be completely stable, and the ECSS reception potential of the PL-600 is similar to that of the Sony model. The major difference is ergonomic, with the PL-600 having a dedicated round knob for the SSB fine tuning, compared to the ICF-SW7600GR's rather cumbersome tuning thumbwheel. As mentioned previously, the PL- 600 also has a wider tuning range in the SSB control, and need not be switched between LSB and USB, as in the Sony model. The Tecsun's SSB capability can be used with either the wide or narrow IF filter, although for serious AM DXing the wide filter is essentially useless, allowing far too much slop from local stations. As a result, any flutter issue is pretty much a moot point. Since the SSB fine tuning control on the PL-600 covers a wider range, it is also slightly more difficult to zero in on the desired DX station than on the Sony model. Using the narrow filter in the SSB mode can allow the PL-600 user to make some excellent DX catches adjacent to strong locals, however, when the SSB fine tuning control is optimized on the weak DX station's frequency. As mentioned previously, the PL-600 lacks the ICF-SW7600GR's effective synch detector, and in general does not have the highly attractive fit and finish of the Sony model. But at roughly half the cost of the ICF- SW7600GR, it does provide outstanding DX performance for the money, and ergonomically superior SSB tuning capability as an Ultralight radio spotting receiver. For DXers with stock Ultralights like the E100, DT-400W, C.Crane SWP and other sensitive models, the Tecsun PL- 600 would be an excellent, economic choice to organize a search for transoceanic DX. 73, (Gary DeBock, ibid.) MYSTERIOUS 60 MINUTES ANOMALY It happens every week about 2 minutes into CBS` 60 Minutes, and it just happened again March 15 at 2302 UT. When the correspondents are introducing themselves one after another, right after the billboard, there are two or three glitches, audio and video, interrupting the flow as if switching back and forth between two slightly unsynchronized sources, for no reason at all. This is as received from KWTV OKC via Suddenlink cable here in Enid. This time I had another monitor running on the direct KWTV-DT-9 signal (analog already closed down, as did temp DT-39 on Feb 17), and there were NO such glitches. I thought S/link was getting KWTV off KWTV-DT- 9, but the cable version was running about 5 seconds behind direct OTA DTV, so it must be less direct. Anyhow, I don`t think this has anything to do with DTV as it has been going on for many months, always at this precise part of 60 Minutes. So the question is, has anyone else noticed this on their CBS affiliate, direct, by cable, satellite, or whatever. Or will you notice it next weeks now that I have inquired? And for that matter, any similar instances which always happen at certain points in other programs? 73, (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Above was posted on a number of TV DX lists, and several responses were received, but none really about this particular kind of anomaly (gh) I can't comment on "60 Minutes" as I've only watched one segment on the show in the last five years (and that was very disappointing), but I did notice once that the cable signal on one of the local Chicago stations (if memory serves it was WGN) was about six or seven seconds ahead of the OTA DTV signal. I can only assume the station is feeding the cable system directly via wire and the encoding/decoding of the OTA digital signal adds an effective delay of several seconds. Not good news if you're trying to watch a sporting event on TV but listen to the radio coverage (Jay Heyl, IL, ABDX via DXLD) Could have the local station been recording the Sixty Minutes feed via video tape - and a glitch/splice on the very same spot on said tape? Just a wild guess (Ron Gitschier, Palm Coast, FL, ibid.) Glenn, We don't really get a CBS here on DTV without constant distortions or a plain unreliable signal, so it's tough to compare 60 Minutes here to yours, but --- We have been getting constant glitches just like you describe on multiple channels recently, that just started up in the past week or maybe two. They're just like you describe, almost similar to a brief signal loss, but seems more like the glitches are based in the studio as they are occurring even on our closest DTV 10 miles away on our most powerful signals, in the daytime and in the dead of night. No planes flying overhead and last I checked, not many birds have nightvision and fly at 4 am in the path of our signals. Your situation is probably different than mine, but I have been wondering about these glitches. On the plus side, I always have closed captioning on and such loss of signal that briefly doesn't interrupt it. I do more reading while watching TV than I do in a magazine. After all, with the signal quality of our DTVs out here, CC is a necessity to piece together what's being said every time the signal drops. Good thing all our analogs are still running here. Damn good choice to keep em running too - because hey, we're happy we can watch all our shows til the end of the season without dealing with digital ;). (Oh yeah, analog Es too). (Chris Kadlec, Fremont, Mich., 105 mi ene of Milwaukee, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn; I've noticed something that may be similar, on AT&T U-Verse. Many channels and networks while watching Standard Definition programming, sometimes the picture will hiccup and jump to partial letterbox. It doesn't do it on OTA but it is annoying. A tech stated that he thought it was auto switching of (feed) sources, like you mentioned but it seems to happen lots during ad blocks and other times too (Dave in Indy Hascall, ibid.) I was having multiple problems with nearly all HDTV signals. Lots of uncorrectable errors showing even tho the SN was still respectable. The Ch 13 HD channel the worst, Ch 29 the best. It all came down to one freaking loose F connector on the input of a splitter/3 dB amp feeding the entire house (Bill Frahm - Boise, amfmtvdx at qth.net via DXLD) Important news from The BLANDX News Service http://www.blandx.com/bdx3/draco_bailout.html (Bill Kyle, CEO, The BLANDX Corporation, March 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ Geomagnetic field activity was at predominantly quiet levels during 09 - 12 March. Activity increased to unsettled to minor storm levels on 13 March. Quiet to active conditions prevailed on 14 March through mid-day on 15 March, when activity returned to quiet levels. ACE solar wind data indicated the activity was due to a coronal hole high-speed stream (CH HSS). Velocities increased to a maximum of 587 km/s at 13/2111 UTC and then gradually decreased to the end of the period, with a velocity of 435 km/s at 15/2359 UTC. During this period, the interplanetary magnetic field Bt increased to a maximum of 20 nT at 12/2147 UTC, and Bz reached a minimum of -11 nT at 13/0108 UTC. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 18 MARCH - 13 APRIL 2009 Solar activity is expected to be at very low levels. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to remain at high levels through 18 March. Normal flux levels are expected during the rest of the period. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at predominantly quiet levels through 08 April. Activity is expected to increase to unsettled to active levels during 09 - 10 April, with a chance for minor storm periods at high latitudes due to a recurrent CH HSS. Mostly quiet activity is expected for the rest of the period. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2009 Mar 17 2113 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # Product description and SWPC contact on the Web # http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2009 Mar 17 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2009 Mar 18 70 5 2 2009 Mar 19 70 5 2 2009 Mar 20 70 5 2 2009 Mar 21 70 5 2 2009 Mar 22 70 5 2 2009 Mar 23 70 5 2 2009 Mar 24 70 5 2 2009 Mar 25 70 5 2 2009 Mar 26 70 5 2 2009 Mar 27 70 5 2 2009 Mar 28 70 5 2 2009 Mar 29 70 5 2 2009 Mar 30 70 5 2 2009 Mar 31 70 5 2 2009 Apr 01 70 5 2 2009 Apr 02 70 5 2 2009 Apr 03 70 5 2 2009 Apr 04 70 5 2 2009 Apr 05 70 5 2 2009 Apr 06 70 5 2 2009 Apr 07 70 5 2 2009 Apr 08 70 5 2 2009 Apr 09 70 15 4 2009 Apr 10 70 10 3 2009 Apr 11 70 5 2 2009 Apr 12 70 5 2 2009 Apr 13 70 5 2 (SWPC March 17 via WORLD OF RADIO 1452, DXLD) ###