DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-032, April 10, 2009
Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING
edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com
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SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1455, April 8-14
Wed 1530 WRMI 9955
Wed 1900 WBCQ 7415
Thu 0530 WRMI 9955
Thu 1900 WBCQ 7415
Fri 0000 WBCQ 5110-CUSB Area 51
Fri 0100 WRMI 9955
Fri 1130 WRMI 9955
Fri 1900 WBCQ 7415
Fri 1930 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 7290
Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 [or 2029]
Sat 0800 WRMI 9955
Sat 0800 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 9510 [except first Sat]
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
Tue 1900 WBCQ 7415
Wed 0500 WRMI 9955 [or new 1456]
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
** ABKHAZIA [and non]. Abkhaz Radio Sukhumi was strong too today 1710
UT on 9495.58v. And close by RA SHP 9475 17-19 UT on S=9+25 dB level.
Also 13-14 UT on 11660. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Apr 10, dxldyg
via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AFGHANISTAN. Re 9-031: ``AFGHANISTAN. Re 9-030, Khost 621 kHz: I am
told by reliable sources that the Khost medium wave system is nearly
complete (Glenn Hauser, April 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST)``
But will it be completed or has the work on this project stopped,
probably leaving the almost complete facility as investment ruin? (Kai
Ludwig, Germany, April 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLANDS. 4760, AIR Port Blair (presumed), 1445-
1500, April 10. In English (Indian accent) with sermon about Good
Friday; not parallel to 9425, but programs were very similar;
religious songs (Christian); weak (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA,
Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ANGUILLA [and non]. Pastor Melissa Scott's pornographic past is
exposed in the May issue of Marie Claire fashion magazine. The
article, titled "The Preacher's Unholy Past" profiles Melissa Scott's
days in the porn industry, and how she became one of Dr. Gene Scott's
"pony girls", ultimately to become pastor of Los Angeles University
Cathedral. *** WARNING ADULT CONTENT - NOT SUITABLE FOR WORK ***
THE PREACHER'S UNHOLY PAST
Pastor Melissa Scott presides over a televangelist empire. Hard to
believe that she was once a triple-X plaything known as Barbie
Bridges. Gretchen Voss uncovers the true story behind Scott's divine
reinvention...
http://www.marieclaire.com/world-reports/news/latest/melissa-scott-porn-pastor
(via Chaz Lambrusco, April 10, DXLD)
** ANTARCTICA. ANTARTIDA, 15476, LRA 36, Radio Nacional Arcángel San
Gabriel, Base Esperanza, 1845-1856, 07-04, canciones en español,
identificación, locutor y locutora, el tiempo en Base Esperanza, por
locutora. 14321. Señal más débil que en días pasados. Parece que
estamos en una buena época para escuchar esta emisora, pues por aquí
está entrando todos los días. También escuchada 1843-1916 , 09-04,
programa musical, tangos, identificación a las 1900 por locutor:
"Desde Base Esperanza transmite LRA 36 Radio Arcángel San Gabriel, por
15476 kHz." Buena señal al principio, para luego irse deteriorando
poco a poco. 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, escucha realizada en
casco urbano de Lugo, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G,
Antena de cable, 8 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
15476, definite carrier here, not 15475, on portable DX-398 in the
yard while noisy computer on inside, but ambient line noise level in
neighborhood still makes it tough to pull anything more, 1923 April 9.
However, computer off, checked at 2041 on the FRG-7 with longwire, I
found the carrier cutting on and off, almost like slow CW. This has
happened before with LRA36. Now if they had actually been sending a
message by CW instead of AM, it could have been copied (Glenn Hauser,
OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
15476 kHz, Argentine Antarctic, Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel
noted 1945 to 2007 on April 9th with threshold signal, occasional OM
en español. On April 10th nothing at the same time. 73s de (Bob,
Pompano Beach, Florida, Wilkner, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ARGENTINA. Re 9-031, RAE on 9690: Estimado Glenn, Agradeço pelas
informações. Já com relação a RAE havia interferência (SINPO 23332).
Como dito anteriormente, o tempo em que o rádio ficou ligado na
frequência foi bastante razoável, mas tive de dar atenção a outra
tarefa, no entanto posso garantir que se tratava de uma transmissão em
italiano sim. Uma vez mais meus agradecimentos pelo seu interesse em
meus logs (Antonio Garcia, PR7BCP, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
11710.73v, RAE, 0106-0125, April 9. In Japanese with tango music; “R-
A-E, RAE” IDs; fair; at about 0243 was weak, in English with LA music
(Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
11710.76, RAE 0122, Apr 09, 2009. Spanish ID's with surprisingly good
signal of S-9 in the clear. Modulation could have been better but
certainly understandable. I know there was some question lately of
their existence on SW, either on the 19 or 25 meter band frequency. I
remember being so excited to hear them back in the early 80's as an
early teenager. (Steve Price, Johnstown, PA, ODXA yg via DXLD)
Not bad here also, not S-9, I have had them better. Sign/On in English
at 0200 UT, 11710.6 on Icom R71-a with Log Periodic at 160 degrees. 73
(Mick Delmage, Sherwood Park, Alberta, ibid.)
I know some folks consider it cheating, but RAE now has a live webcast
for the 0200 English language service, so one can hear them on an
Internet radio or their Internet-connected computer.
RAE remains one of those services that retains an "exotic" feel, with
the programming 100% focused on Argentina and its place in the world.
(Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, ibid.)
Cheating?? Only if you are racking up a SW country total (gh, DXLD)
11710.74, RAE, 0213-0240, April 9, tune-in to English news. ID.
Contact information. Poor. Weak. Barely audible by 0240 but heard at
0307 check with a good signal in French (Brian Alexander, PA, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
11710.75, Radiodifusión Agrentina [al] Exterior (General Pacheco),
0005-0112, 4/10/2009, Portuguese. Piano and other instrumental music
with announcements and short talk segments by woman. Abbreviated time
pips at 0030. IS and multi-language "RAE Argentina" recording by man
and woman from 0054 to 0111. Time pips at 0100. Piano music and
possible anthem added to ID sequence after 0105, then Spanish ID and
announcements by man at 0111. Start of Japanese program at 0112. Good
signal with fading, down a bit by 0110 (Jim Evans, Germantown TN, Sony
ICF-SW7600G and Whip, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Thanks Ron. Ohh yes noted 11710.73 at 1300-1400 UT here also,
suggested first it was KRE!? Co-channel CNR Beijing even. 73 (Wolfgang
Büschel, Germany, Apr 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA. 4910, VL8T, Tennant Creek, 0810-0830*, April 10, program
of local ballads. // 4835 - VL8A, Alice Springs. Both frequencies poor
in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** AUSTRALIA. 11825, R.A., 1337-1429*, April 10. In Chinese with
English language lesson (“Julia will be on a plane between Darwin and
Singapore”, etc.); ID at sign-off; mostly fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar
Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BELARUS. Belarus seems to have made plenty of changes to its
schedules (both domestic and external) over the past fortnight, so
apologies if this is not news - though it was to me.
Last night at around 2145 GMT I heard their external service in
English on 279. I don't think I've ever heard their English service on
longwave before. According to their A-09 schedule, English at 2000-
2200 is meant to be on 1170, 7210, 7255 and 7390 (Chris Greenway,
England, April 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Hi Chris, not on tonight, so maybe just a switching error? 73, (Mauno
Ritola, Finland, April 10, BDXC-UK via DXLD)
** BELARUS. 7030 kHz mixture: IARU German Bandwatch reported Belarus
signal INTERMODULATION from Minsk Kalodziscy site on 7030 kHz in Ham
Radio band today
7210 1100-2300 MNS 75kW 270degr BLR BTC SDT
7390 1100-2300 MNS 150 250 BLR BTC SDT
53 57'58.96"N 27 47'13.21"E
53 57'59.20"N 27 46'55.49"E
http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=de&geocode=&q=++53.966445N++27.782081+E&sll=51.151786,10.415039&sspn=19.953152,39.550781&ie=UTF8&ll=53.966437,27.782106&spn=0.018227,0.038624&t=h&z=15
cross checked by various German BNA Bundesnetzagentur monitoring
stations. Similar symmetrical outlet on the upper side should be heard
on 7390 + 180 kHz = 7570 kHz too (Wolfgang df5sx Büschel, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** BHUTAN. Bhutan Broadcasting Service in English:
http://www/bbs.com/bt/radosch.htm (page dates 6-April-09)
0500-0520, 0800-0820 & 1400-1420 on 6035
(Converting to UTC assuming listed times are local)
(MARE Tipsheet April 10 via DXLD)
** BIAFRA [non]. Altho we confirmed by monitoring that V. of Biafra
International was on new 11885 via WHRI, Friday April 3 at 2100-2200,
as tipped by their online schedule at that time, a recheck of the
Angel 1 schedule
http://www.whr.org/customcf/dsp_schedule_read.cfm?Search=Angel1
April 9 at 1958 shows that has been deleted and replaced by:
1900-2000 3:00 PM-4:00 PM Fr VOBI Broadcasts Oguchi Nkwocha 17.520 Mhz
So look for it two hours earlier on 17520, Friday April 10. Perhaps
they are experimenting with different times and frequencies to find
out which works best (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Via WHRI, USA, 17520 NF, V of Biafra Int, 1900-1935+, April 10, new
time & frequency. Perhaps temporary. Thanks to Glenn Hauser tip. Sign
on with African flutes & drums along with opening ID announcements.
English programming with Anthem at 1901 followed by IDs, religious
music and prayer. English news at 1911. Some African music. Talk about
poverty in “Biafraland”. Some English difficult to understand due to
thick accent. Fair. Fri only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
As expected, this week V. of Biafra International via WHRI was on
17520, Friday April 10 at 1900 --- as I was barely able to confirm by
recognizing the oratorical style at 1945 on the DX-398 portable as I
was out and about and paused to check it in a store parking lot. Under
those circumstances, it was just barely audible, and with a pretty
heavy echo on what there was of it; backscatter? Brian Alexander also
got it better in PA. I also checked 11885 after 2100, the time it was
on the previous Friday, and this frequency was not even on the air
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BRAZIL. A CBN/Anhanguera está com harmônicos em 12325 kHz ou 12330
kHz, quando sua frequência correta é de 11830 kHz em 25 metros. É uma
"novela" essa frequência. Nunca se encontra a contento. Não há uma
regularidade de transmissão. A potência é boa, porém o áudio sempre
com má qualidade. Acredito que não haja escuta por parte dos técnicos
para checar a emissão. Eles ligam o transmissor e vai que vai. 73
(Luiz Chaine Neto, Limeira SP, 2011 UT April 8, radioescutas yg via
DXLD)
These are not harmonics of 11830, but apparently spurs. Another losing
battle I have fought for sesquidecades --- simply defining what is an
harmonic and what is not (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BURMA [non]. 11685, Dem Voice of Burma, Palau KHBN 1300-1400 UT
S=5-6 in Europe. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Apr 10, dxldyg via DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA [and non]. CRI en español, HORARIOS, FRECUENCIAS Y BANDA
Para Europa, hora UTC
2100-2300 por 6020 y 9640 kHz, 49,83 y 31,12 m
2200-0000 por 7210 y 7250 kHz, 41,61 y 41,38 m
2300-0000 por 6175 kHz, 48,58 m
0600-0800 por 15135 kHz, 19,82 m [17680? See below]
Para Sudamérica, hora UTC
2200-2300 por 9490 y 13700 kHz, 31,61 y 21,90 m
2300-0100 por 9590 y 9800 kHz, 31,28 y 30,61 m
0000-0100 por 15120 kHz, 19,84 m
0100-0200 por 9665 kHz, 31,04 m
0100-0300 por 9590 y 9710 kHz, 31,28 y 30,90 m
0300-0400 por 9665 kHz, 31,04 m
Para Centroamérica, hora UTC
0000-0100 por 5990 kHz, 50,08 m
Para Panamá, HORA DE PANAMA
1200-1400 A través de Chinavisión por 1180 kHz AM
Para escuchar nuestros programas en línea, abra esta página y elija el
sector que le interesa por la izquierda (exige instalado el software
Media Placer [sic]): http://espanol.cri.cn/cribuenosaires/index.htm
O hacer un clic directamente en los días de la semana en la parte
superior al lado izquierdo de la siguiente página (exige instalado el
software Real Placer [sic]): http://espanol.cri.cn/
ESQUEMA DE PROGRAMACION:
LUNES:
Boletín informativo
Visión de China
Actualidad Mundial
Microcosmos de la sociedad china
Chino cotidiano
Actualidad Iberoamericana
Prisma de la economía china
MARTES
Boletín informativo
Visión de China
Actualidad Mundial
Espacio deportivo
Chino cotidiano
Actualidad Iberoamericana
Viaje por China
MIERCOLES
Boletín informativo
Visión de China
Actualidad Mundial
Presencia de la cultura china
Chino cotidiano
Actualidad Iberoamericana
Microcosmos de la Sociedad China
JUEVES
Boletín informativo
Visión de China
Actualidad Mundial
Viaje por China
Chino cotidiano
Actualidad Iberoamericana
Espacio deportivo
VIERNES
Boletín informativo
Visión de China
Actualidad Mundial
Prisma de la economía China
Chino cotidiano
Actualidad Iberoamericana
Presencia de la Cultura China
SABADO
Boletín informativo
Visión de China
Actualidad Mundial
Vanguardia de Ciencia Tecnología, Educación y Salud
Chino cotidiano
Carta de Beijing
DOMINGO
Boletín informativo
Visión de China
Actualidad Mundial
Carta de Beijing
Chino cotidiano
Vanguardia de Ciencia, Tecnología, Educación y Salud
Nuestra dirección electrónica: spa@cri.com.cn
Nuestra dirección por correo es:
Departamento de Español
Radio Internacional de China
Shijigshanlu, 16ª
Beijing, China
C.P. 100040
Y nuestra página web es: http://espanol.cri.cn/ (Información recibida
de la emisora via José Bueno, Córdoba, España, April 9, DXLD)
Here`s the program and frequency schedule in grid form:
http://espanol.cri.cn/742/2009/03/10/1s174199.htm
Seems they use CRI rather than RIC thruout. But why is the title on
that page ``Radio Antarabangsa China`` --- looks like Indonesian?
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Hola José y Colegas: Sobre los horarios de CRI, me permito una duda
sobre si son los actuales, son un calco de lo vigente en el anterior
periodo con una excepción: la emisión para Europa de las 0600-0800 la
he escuchado yo el pasado día 4 de abril ya en la frecuencia de 17680,
que es la frecuencia habitual para esta emisión en verano, el resto
exceptuando las 2100 (correcto) no lo he monitorizado. Cordialmente,
(Tomás Méndez, QTH: El Prat de Llobregat-Barcelona España, logsderadio
yg via DXLD)
** COLOMBIA. UNIDENTIFIED. 2980, 0250-0315, April 9, Spanish ballads.
Spanish announcements. Talk. Religious music. Still here at 0555
check. 2nd harmonic of 1490? Weak but readable. (Brian Alexander,
Mechanicsburg, PA, TenTec RX-340, two 100 foot longwires, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
[Later:] Thanks to Henrik Klemetz for IDing this station. It is 2nd
harmonic of Radio Vida Nueva, 1490, Colombia. 2 x 1490 (Brian
Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
There are countless Spanish stations on 1490 which might be
harmonicizing. Is the ID based on anything more definite than this
Colombian having been confirmed recently as one of them? 73, (Glenn
Hauser, ibid.)
Henrik Klemetz helped ID the station by sending me streaming audio of
Radio Vida Nueva which I compared to what I was hearing. And later I
actually heard a good clear Radio Vida Nueva ID at 0708.
2980, Radio Vida Nueva, 0630-0720, April 9, 2nd harmonic of 1490.
Spanish religious ballads. Spanish talk. Weak but readable. Good clear
ID at 0708. Thanks to Henrik Klemetz for the help IDing this one. Also
heard earlier at 0250-0315+ (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. DentroCuban Jamming Command pulses against nothing on 9545,
that frequency used only a few hours earlier by Radio República, but
jamming still going at 0628 April 9 --- and QRMing RHC on adjacent
9550, ha ha ha, whose signal was markedly weaker. That gives you a
good idea of the priorities in Cuban broadcasting and anti-
broadcasting. DentroCuban Commies vs DentroCuban Commies! (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. R Havana Cuba new frequencies announced --- On Radio Havana's
English Service this morning (10 April) they announced new frequencies
from Monday 13th April:
17660 kHz 2030-2130
13790 kHz 2300-2400
6010 kHz 0500-0700
Sadly they didn't announce the full schedule, or which frequencies
these were replacing (assuming they are not extra ones). Currently
6000 and 6140 kHz both give good reception here around 0400-0500 so
hopefully these will be unchanged. (The new announced 6010 would
suffer splatter here from very strong Netherlands on 6015 kHz 0500-
0600). (Alan Pennington, Caversham, UK, Sony 7600GR/ telescopic
aerial, April 10, BDXC-UK via DXLD)
Ha! Great news for the Mexico/Colombia radio war on 6010. I certainly
see no need for RHC to change any of its 0500-0700 frequencies in
English, 6000, 6060 or 6140 --- unless it`s Bulgaria on 6000 to the
Balkans, which I haven`t noticed here. When WYFR was colliding on
6000, RHC didn`t care about that.
Can it be coincidental that these changes are not announced until the
HFCC A09 public file is available? As an outlaw nation, Cuba refuses
to participate in HFCC for advance coordination. There may be more
changes for other languages (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CZECHIA. Czech Republic: The latest edition of Radio Prague's
weekly 'From the Archives' programme, broadcast on 9 April in the
English service, focused on the efforts of the Czechoslovak communist
government to discredit the Munich-based Radio Free Europe (RFE)
during the 1970s. The regime's efforts, according to the feature, were
'little short of an obsession'.
It recalled that, in January 1976, a Czechoslovak agent who had worked
for many years with RFE's Czech Service as an announcer had returned
to Prague and, at an international press conference, condemned the
station for being controlled by the CIA and accused some of his former
colleagues of being CIA agents. After the return of the agent, Captain
Pavel Minazic, a popular song had been recorded in his honour and he
was regarded by the regime as a national hero. The feature, which
contained some archive recordings relating to RFE and the Czechoslovak
government's reaction to it, ended with the news that the once-
celebrated Captain had been in the news again recently when he was
convicted of an insurance fraud and that, subject to appeal, he now
faces a lengthy jail sentence (Roger Tidy, UK, April 10, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** ECUADOR. In an unnamed DX bulletin, I see yet another log of the
timesignaller on 3810 as ``HD210A``. How many times have I explained
that the call really has one number in it, not three? How long will it
take for people to catch on that the callsign matches the institution
running it, Instituto Oceanográfico de la Armada? Why am I wasting my
time trying to educate people about minor but significant points
relating to DXing? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ECUADOR. HCJB Quito in DRM mode, ex Sp, Ge at 0830-1030 UT on 11625
kHz, to replaced by 15280 drm Sp 1959-2059, Ge 2059-2200 UT
15280 1959-2200 27,28 QUI 4 kW 35 deg
15280 1959-2200 58-60 QUI 4 225 [probably 35/225 for both]
(HFCC public file Apr 9, via BC-DX Apr 10 via DXLD)
** EQUATORIAL GUINEA ECUATORIAL. 15190, Radio Africa, 0635-0642, 08-
04, inglés, locutor, comentario religioso. 44434 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo,
España, escucha realizada en casco urbano de Lugo, Grundig Satellit
500 y Sony ICF SW 7600 G, Antena de cable, 8 metros, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
15190, Radio Africa, *1429-1440, April 10, abrupt sign on with English
religious talk & gospel music. Poor in noisy conditions. Also noted at
2040 & 2135 with a strong signal but somewhat distorted, over
modulated audio.
6250, Radio Nacional - Malabo, 2045-2140+, April 10, on late with an
eclectic mix of Afro-pops, lite instrumental and classical music.
Spanish talk at 2100. Radio Malabo ID. Poor to fair with occasional
RTTY QRM & T-storm static. Irregular. They were on late last Friday
night also (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ERITREA. Radio Bana, 5100 --- the station signed and stamped my
prepared card, in 45 days. My QSL went to Reijo Alapiha {sic] in
Joennu, Finland, who contact me via e-amil before forwarding my card.
He asked me if I received his card. I hadn`t but three days later a
Radio Bana envelope arrived with his full/data station card. He sent
me my card and I sent him hiis. Although I was glad to get the prpared
card back, I would have liked the modest station card too! (Rich
D`Angelo, PA, QSL Report, April NASWA Journal via DXLD)
Well, you could have kept a photocopy, scan or other image of it to
admire, notwithstanding its true ownership (Glenn Hauser, DXLD)
** ERITREA [non]. via Samara, Russia, 15350, Voice of Meselna-Delina,
*1730-1735, April 9, Tentative. Sign on with Horn of Africa music and
opening announcements. Instrumental music. Talk in unidentified
language. Poor to fair. Tues, Thur, Sat only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** ETHIOPIA. 9704.2, R. Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, 1850-1940, April 7,
vernacular. Various announcers with talk between Afropop bits; ID at
1900 followed by techno-beat and presumed news and reports with lots
of talk re Obama; tentative ID at 1931; soft-spoken announcer with
music program; poor-fair; much improved by tune/out (Scott R. Barbour,
Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, NRD-545, RX-350D, MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole,
dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ETHIOPIA [non]. via Samara Russia, 15350, Ginbot 7, *1700-1730*,
April 9, sign on with Horn of Africa music & opening ID announcements.
Talk in listed Amharic. Some African music. Poor to fair signal but
with weak noise jammer. Very weak // 17870. Tues, Thur, Sat only
(Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** EUROPE. Piratas --- 6870, Playback International and Mystery Radio,
1941-1949, escuchada el 9 de abril en inglés con cuña conjunta de ID
entre Playback Int y Mystery Radio, emisión musical, sufre un
desvanecimiento largo y se restablece la señal, cuña de Mystery Radio,
SINPO 34433 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean
ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GRENADA. NOSTALGIA: THE GRENADA REVOLUTION ONLINE
http://www.thegrenadarevolutiononline.com/
I came across a site I hadn’t seen before, though it has apparently
been online since 2001. The Grenada Revolution Online describes itself
thus: “Learn the basics of the story of The Grenada Revolution online.
In 1983, the United States was part of Grenada’s history. Discover
what happened and why.” One page of the site
http://www.thegrenadarevolutiononline.com/radio.html
is devoted to radio, and looks at the history of broadcasting in this
West Indies island, including its various incarnations as the Windward
Islands Broadcasting Service (WIBS), Radio Grenada and Radio Free
Grenada (now the Grenada Broadcasting Network - GBN). The site is very
comprehensive and well worth browsing, though it could do with some
illustrations. (April 9th, 2009 - 14:02 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media
Network blog via DXLD)
WTFK? The radio page doesn`t even mention the memorable (?) Radio Free
Grenada frequency, 15045 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GUINEA. Colegas, Nesse novo período A09 a frequência de 7125 kHz a
partir das 2000 UTC não tem interferências e pode-se ouvir a Radio
Conakry com relativa facilidade, nesse momento chega com uma boa
portadora, sem praticamente ruídos, mas com uma baixa modulação em
francês audível. 73 e boas escutas (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana
Bahia - Brasil, dxclubpr yg via DXLD)
** HONDURAS. 3339.99, Radio Misiones Internacionales, 0720-0733, April
10, contemporary Spanish religious music. Spanish ID at 0730. English
religious talk with Spanish translations at 0731. Fair signal (Brian
Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDIA. 9425, AIR Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) - National Channel,
1433-1500, April 10. In English; news bulletin; ID for “National
Channel”; western music; religious segment with sermon about Good
Friday, along with religious songs (Christian); fair (Ron Howard,
Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INDONESIA. 9525, V. of Indonesia, Jakarta, 1116-1132, April 8,
Mandarin. W & VOI URL; ballad into another URL at BoH; English URL
announcement thanking listeners for tuning in to Chinese program, into
M with same in presumed Japanese; fair. Been a while since this one
last made it to NH (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, NRD-545,
RX-350D, MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
9524.98, Voice Of Indonesia, 1005-1015, April 10, tune-in to English
news. ID at 1013. Weak. Poor in noisy conditions. Heard earlier at
0945 with local music & talk in unidentified language (Brian
Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. WRN is back on the WorldSpace Afristar
service to Africa as WRN1, which includes WORLD OF RADIO, Saturdays at
0800 UT (Glenn Hauser, April 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. "FRYING PAN TO FIRE FOR WORLDSPACE BOSS."
"Just days after Worldspace’s founder Noah Samara successfully bid to
the Delaware bankruptcy court some $28m to 'buy back' Worldspace,
comes more unpleasant legal news that concerns Mr Samara. He is named
as a key witness in the high profile bribery trial of former Rep.
William Jefferson in New Orleans." Rapid TV News, 7 April 2009.
"In one letter to the president of the Republic of Congress [sic],
Jefferson says, 'I wish to ask your special attention to the
WorldSpace education-through-technology project that I discussed with
you on our visit.' The date of the letter isn't listed. In its
indictment of Jefferson, the Justice Department charged that
WorldSpace Inc., which provides satellite radio services to audiences
outside the United States, signed a contract through its CEO, Noah
Samara, with Andrea Jefferson, Jefferson's wife, on behalf of her ANJ
Group in 2002 for help getting satellite transmission services in
three African nations. Samara, according to the Justice Department,
considered it a brief solicitation." Bruce Alpert, New Orleans Times-
Picayune, 7 April 2009. See previous post about same subject.
"Isinya, in Kajiado District [Kenya], has become the latest
beneficiary of a project by Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN), an
organisation working to bring IT to rural villages. ... Mr Noah
Lusaka, programmes manager at ALIN, explains that bridging the digital
divide for interior villages started when Worldspace Radio was
introduced to the country — it has since evolved into the creation of
digital villages. He adds that most communities in rural Kenya will
open up when the fibre optic cable is finally installed and WiMAX
technology put into place." The Standard (Nairobi), 6 April 2009.
(kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD)
And, thus, one of the challenges to the Worldspace business plan.
Shortly after the satellite radio system was launched, internet access
became feasible in much of the developing world, offering a larger
variety of media content. Posted: 09 Apr 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott,
ibid.)
** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [non]. ON 470 MHZ, THE SONGS OF THE KIMS ARE
UNHEARD. "Scientists and technicians of the DPRK have succeeded in
putting satellite Kwangmyongsong-2, an experimental communications
satellite, into orbit by means of carrier rocket Unha-2 under the
state long-term plan for the development of outer space. ...
It is sending to the earth the melodies of the immortal revolutionary
paeans 'Song of General Kim Il Sung' and 'Song of General Kim Jong Il'
and measured information at 470 MHz. By the use of the satellite the
relay communications is now underway by UHF frequency band." Korean
Central News Agency, 5 April 2009.
"Stage one of the missile fell into the Sea of Japan/East Sea. The
remaining stages along with the payload itself landed in the Pacific
Ocean. No object entered orbit and no debris fell on Japan." United
States Northern Command, 5 April 2009.
"The International Telecommunication Union, the international agency
in charge of radio frequency allocation for satellites, has dismissed
North Korea's claim that it successfully put a communications
satellite into orbit last Sunday. In an interview with Radio Free Asia
on Tuesday, Sanjay Acharya, ITU's chief of media relations and public
information, said the organization has no information about a
satellite." Chosun Ilbo, 10 April 2009.
Xinhua's coverage. Danwei, 5 April 2009.
"If you're wondering what 'Song of General Kim Jong Il' sounds like,
listen here." The New Republic The Plank, 6 April 2009 (see
http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=6267 for linx, via DXLD)
No one in the satellite or radio enthusiast communities is reporting
that they are hearing the Songs of the Kims. I've tuned my own scanner
to 470 MHz, with an antenna on my roof cut for 144 and 450 MHz, so I
would have a fair chance of hearing it if it were actually
transmitting. So far, 470 MHz is Kimless. Posted: 10 Apr 2009 (Kim
Andrew Elliott, kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD)
** IRAN. IRIB Tehran in Dari on 3rd channel at 0830-1200 11975 kHz.
DARI 0830-1427 9940 13720, 0830-1200 11975 (IRIB April 5 via BC-DX
April 10 via DXLD)
** IRAN [non]. via Wertachtal, Germany, 7280, Radio Farda, 0210-0230,
April 10, interesting Middle-Eastern techno-pop dance music. ID. Talk
in listed Farsi. Good signal. Weaker on // 5860 - via Kuwait and 7295
- via Biblis, Germany (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ITALY. EARTHQUAKE --- Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1652 - April
10 2009
Amateur radio may be assisting in the aftermath of a powerful
earthquake struck Italy early on Monday, April 6th. Bill Pasternak,
WA6ITF, is in the newsroom with more:
According to several sources and some DX cluster reports, 3640 and
3634.5 kHz on 75 meters, along with 7045 on 40, are being used as
emergency net frequencies into and out of the disaster area. But
Alberto Barbera, IK1YLO, who is the IARU National Emergency
Communications Coordinator for Italy, says he is not aware of any nets
operating on behalf of the emergency communications groups on the High
Frequency bands. He believes that any such operation is being done on
an individual basis.
Bob Josuweit, WA3PZO, is CQ Magazine's outgoing Public Service editor.
He relays a report from IARU Region 1 Emergency Communications
Coordinator Greg Mossop, G0DUB. Mossap says that Barbera is trying to
coordinate various groups in light of the recent shutdown of Italy's
national emergency communications organization. Bob says that IK1YKO
has stated that practically all repeaters are still in operation, and
that much of the region's cellphone infrastructure is intact as well.
The magnitude 6.2 quake hit Italy very early in the day killing at
least 240 people, leaving thousands of people without homes and
causing damage to many ancient buildings. The quake's epicenter was in
a town of L'Aquila, about 70 miles from Rome. Numerous important
churches and castles, some more than 700 years old, partially
collapsed in the quake. Thousands of newer homes were leveled as well.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, reporting.
--
As we go to air rescue efforts are still reported as ongoing and hams
world-wide are being asked to keep the frequencies of 3.640, 3.634.5
and 7.045 MHz clear until further notice, even if its all unofficial
at this time (WA3PZO, CQ, other reports) (via Mike Terry, April 10,
dxldyg via DXLD)
The first references were also in MHz --- I try to keep everything
(below FM band) in kHz for consistency and ease of searching. Hams
seem to prefer MHz for some odd reason. If you don`t find something
searching on a kHz frequency, try a MHz in case one slipped thru (gh)
** KOREA NORTH. ``Satellite launch`` -- see INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [non]
** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 11680, Korean veiled station? on Gavar-
Armenia site S=7 at 1300-1400 UT, and co-channel KRE domestic station
on usual odd 11679.84 kHz. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, Apr 10,
dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
11680, Voice of Wilderness, Yerevan Gavar, 1301-1306, escuchada el 9
de abril en coreano, música de sintonía, locutor con presentación,
locutora con comentarios, SINPO 24422 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot
(Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg
via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
So is VOW aware that there is long-standing North Korean use of this
frequency; they do not even have to do anything to jam it? (gh, DXLD)
** KOREA SOUTH [non]. 6045, KBS World Radio ID in Spanish but
pronouncing this name in English, April 9 at 0631 still going with
recipe, announcing date of broadcast as April 8, then lecture on the
importance of washing your hands. Unfortunately that is still very
much needed, if you keep an eye on the other males in the public
restroom skipping that final step, so never touch the door handle if
it opens inward! 0639 into Hablemos Coreano, LL. This took me by
surprise, as I had not noticed on the A-09 schedule that this 0600
transmission via Sackville to Europe, has been doubled to a full hour
now. Ahá, they traded that for the English half-hour at 0230 on 9560!
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KURDISTAN [non]. UCRANIA, 7540, Dengue Mezopotamya, 1906-1909,
escuchada el 9 de abril en kurdo a locutora con comentarios,
referencia a Kurdistán, segmento musical, SINPO 45544 (José Miguel
Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio
Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MADAGASCAR. 5010 AM, 0314 GMT, 09 April, 2009. Easy listening music
with a 1.1 to 1.2 kHz "tone" messing with their audio. I have been
hearing this the past few nights. From what I can make out, is not a
het from another transmitter. I can not get it to zero beat at all. I
have heard this even when RNM is not signed on yet. Wonder if it is
some kind of "intentional" situation (Steve Price, Johnstown, PA, ODXA
yg via DXLD)
5009.95, Radio Madagasikara (Antananarivo), 0310-0335, 4/8/2009,
French(?). Pop music with occasional low audio talk by man. Talk by
man and woman at 0319 with piano music in the background. Talk ended
at 0324, and a program of upbeat yet smooth vocal music with a hint of
African instruments followed. Talk by man at 0330. Poor signal with
fading, improving to good at 0321 peak, then degrading slowly until
poor again at 0335. Not certain of language, but appeared to be French
or French sounding vernacular (Jim Evans, Germantown TN, Eton E1, 200'
Random Wire, DX LISTNENING DIGEST)
** MADAGASCAR [non]. Re 9-031, R. Mada: WRN says the last broadcast
was Monday April 6 at 0400; they suddenly stopped, not sure why (Glenn
Hauser, April 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Was 5895, also at
1700; site?
** MALAYSIA [non]. Re 9-030: (Henry Umadhay, location unknown, but in
SE Asia? April 2, Cumbre DX via DXLD)
He is the host of PILIPINAS DX in AWR WAVESCAN program. According to
QSL in my collection, his address is: San Pedro, San Jose, Antique,
Philippines 5700; email pilipinasdx @ yahoo.com (Tony Ashar, West
Java, Indonesia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** MOLDOVA [and non]. NEWS AGENCY SAYS ALMOST ALL ROMANIAN JOURNALISTS
LEFT REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA | Text of report in English by Romanian
government news agency Agerpres
Chisinau, 10 April: Agerpres correspondent Cornel Ciobanu reports:
Almost all Romanian press journalists have left the Republic of
Moldova territory starting Thursday evening, in the context of past
days events Romania being accused for allegedly organizing the
protests in Chisinau and the authorities rebuked the Romanian
journalists present in Chisinau for falsified information in
connection with the events in the Republic of Moldova Capital.
On Thursday, Antena 3 and Realitatea TV cameramen teams returned to
Romania after being summoned by the police and underwent some
verifications. Antena 3 correspondent to the Republic of Moldova left
the territory of the Republic of Moldova together with the accredited
team for the elections in this country. Radio Romania correspondent
accredited to the Republic of Moldova also left the country on Friday
and NewsIn Agency correspondent told Agerpres that she plans to leave
for Bucharest shortly for fear of some attacks against her and her two
small children. As well, TVR1 correspondent is most likely detained by
Chisinau authorities and no contact could be established with him.
The Press Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European
Integration of the Republic of Moldova told Agerpres that journalists
employed by four press institutions in Romania have permanent
accreditation to the Republic of Moldova and another 13 journalists
received accreditation for the parliamentary elections on April 5. Two
of the four accredited journalists have left the country, or plan to
do it shortly and for the time being nobody knows the whereabouts of
TVR1 correspondent.
In Bucharest, the Press Monitoring Agency, the Centre for Independent
Journalism and the Romanian Centre for Investigative Journalism
created an emergency cell to offer aid to journalists working in the
Republic of Moldova, who fear of being arrested in the street or at
home, or beaten-up, or their equipment destroyed. The aforementioned
institutions asked to be contacted in the case there is information on
eventual abuses against the journalists, announcing they are ready to
grant technical assistance and that they will apply a case-based
approach. The cell will get in touch from time to time with the
journalists in the field for their protection and for receiving
information.
Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin made on Wednesday allegations
according to which Romania organized some protests in Chisinau and,
the same day, Chisinau declared two Romanian diplomats persona non
grata, also taking the decision to introduce visas for Romanian
citizens.
Several Chisinau officials also blamed the Romanian press for
incorrectly reflecting the protests in the Republic of Moldova, with
special emphasis on the press using the word 'revolution' when
commenting the events on Tuesday. Source: Agerpres news agency,
Bucharest, in English 1407 gmt 10 Apr 09 (via BBCM via DXLD)
** MONGOLIA. Hi Glenn, Noticed your call for help and have been doing
some digging on 9665. This is what I could make out. 9665.00, Voice of
Mongolia, 1429, April 09, Mandarin opening announcement after IS. Poor
audio, surfaced after VOIRI Urdu left at 1427. Just about readable in
LSB to avoid KCBS on 9665.14, cf DXLD 9-031. Very unfortunately VOM
then got bothered by co-channel CRI in presumed Pashto 1500 &1530 but
I did manage to trace Japanese 1500 and finally English 1530 with
definite ID, frequency announcement and program preview. NF apparently
replacing 12085 where VOIRI Bengali was in the clear 1430-1527. 73,
happy Easter, (Martien Groot, Schoorl, Netherlands, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** MYANMAR. 5985.0, R. Myanma, 1530-1545, April 10. In English; full
ID; news (Prime Minister General Thein Sein and other top generals of
the State Peace and Development Council left today for Pattaya, in
Thailand, to attend the ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations]
summit, etc.). Back in 1968, while I was stationed at
U-Tapao/Sattahip, I had the good fortune to visit nearby Pattaya and
enjoy the magnificent beach there. Weather, followed by music program
(Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** NEPAL. Radio Nepal in English http://www.radionepal.org (8-April-
09, page not dated): 0215-0227 & 1415-1427 on 5005 (Converting to UT
assuming listed times are local) (MARE Tipsheet April 10 via DXLD)
I.e., listed as 8 am and 8 pm local time, so at UT +5:45, the
conversions are 0215 and 1415. There are also some other programs with
English titles, but who knows if they are really in English, such as
following the 0215 UT news on Sundays:
08:12 - 08:30 voice of handicapped people.
And: Assuming 5005 is on the air, which apparently it is not, or if
so, just barely. I found their imaginary SW schedule at
http://www.radionepal.org/radionepal/aboutus.php#coverage
Khumaltar Transmitting Station
SW 3 x 100 KW
Summer: 5.005 MHz 6.100 MHz 7.165 MHz [5005, 6100, 7165 kHz]
Winter: 3.230 MHz 5.005 MHz [3230, 5005 kHz]
2315-1715 GMT (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NETHERLANDS [non]. Keith Perron has changed the name of the group
"The New Happy Station Show" to "The Happy Station Show".
To see the group, follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=48638249355
Here's the introduction:
Welcome to the Happy Station facebook page. For those who've never
heard of Happy Station, it is the longest running SW show in the
world. First hitting airwaves in 1927 via Philips Radio PCJ and then
after the second world war VIA Radio Netherlands. The format of the
show? Well, tune in to find out.
Times:
0100 to 0155 UTC South America & Southern USA
Frequency: 9955 khz, 31 meters
1500 to 1555 UTC North America/Caribbean
Frequency: 9955 khz, 31 meters
Live steam can also be heard at http://www.wrmi.net
The show is also heard in Jakarta, Indonesia via Radio Sonora Sundays
at 9 to 955 pm local time. Frequencies for Europe to be announced
SOON!
The new Happy Station crew is:
Host/producer: Keith Perron
Technician: David Hsiao & Kevin Lee
QSL Designer: Theo Lee
Consultant: Tom Meijer (via Mike Terry, April 9, dxldyg via DXLD)
Hi Everyone, There was a small technical glitch for the 1500 UT
transmission of Happy Station on April 9th and the special program
with Frank Ifield was not aired, instead the 0100 UT program was
repeated. The program that was not broadcast will be on air April 16th
at 0100 and 1500 on 9955 kHz.
For those who were logging into http://www.wrmi.net as you noticed
there was a problem with the audio. Jeff White told me they are
working to resolve this problem. So it should be OK by next week. I
will inform you all the on the latest on that. Regards, (Keith Perron,
Taiwan, April 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEWFOUNDLAND. 6160, CKZN, St. John`s, 0858-0922, April 6, English.
Monday edition of "Labrador Morning"; program hi-lites & CBC news re
Italian earthquake; N. Korea; etc.; back to program at 0913 with
weather; local and business news and humorous Top Ten list re why PM
Harper is missing from the G-20 Summit group photo; poor-fair;
improving (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, NRD-545, RX-350D,
MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
6160, CKZN, 0129-0206 + 0225-0241, April 9. Fairly good signal
strength but mixing with Vancouver; program “Q”, talking about acting;
radio drama “Monsoon House”, with subcontinent music; segment about
“The Armchair Guide to Survival” (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón
E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NEW GUINEA. RADIO BROADCASTING IN NEW GUINEA – EARLY WIRELESS
STATIONS
The island of New Guinea, located north of Australia, is considered to
be the second largest island in the world, with only Greenland larger.
New Guinea is about 1500 miles long with an area of a little over
1/3rd million square miles, much of which is not yet totally explored.
The shape of the island, according to many people who live there, is
like one of their national birds, the Bird of Paradise. It is a very
rugged island with high snow covered mountains in the interior, deep
forested valleys, and low lying jungles along the coastal areas that
are hot and humid.
The total population of the entire island of New Guinea is around nine
million people, most of whom are Melanesian and Palauan whose
ancestors migrated in pre-historic eras from South East Asia. In
addition, there are several minorities whose ancestry is European,
Asian, Indonesian or Australian. The peoples of eastern New Guinea
speak more than eight hundred and fifty languages with three
nationally recognized languages; English, Tok Pison, and Hiri Motu. On
the western side, there are more than three hundred languages, with
Indonesian as the government language.
History tells us that the first European to visit the island of New
Guinea was the Portuguese governor of the nearby Molucca Islands,
Jorge de Menesses, and this was in the year 1526. He named the island
"Papua", a Malay word meaning "frizzy hair". However, twenty one years
later, a Spanish explorer, Ynigo Ortiz de Retez, visited the island
and he named it New Guinea, due to the similarity to the people he had
seen in the country of Guinea in Africa.
The first European settlement was established by the English at Fort
Coronation at Doreri Bay in 1793, but it was abandoned two years later
as untenable due to the poor export quality of the local produce. This
settlement was located near the top of the head of the Bird of
Paradise map, at Manokwari in what is now Irian Jaya.
Following the introduction of European settlements in several
locations around the island, the three major powers in the area,
Holland, England and Germany, agreed to partition the island; the
western half to Holland, the north eastern quadrant to Germany, and
the south eastern quadrant to England.
However, at one stage, the Australian colony of Queensland laid claim
to the south eastern quadrant of New Guinea, and after the Australian
colonies were federated into one country, England passed on to
Australia the administration of its territory in this bird shaped
island. Then, after the end of World War 1, the League of Nations
granted the German territory, North East New Guinea, as a mandate
under the Australian administration.
During the Pacific War, Japanese forces landed on the north east coast
of New Guinea in mid 1942, and three months later their overland
forces came within just thirty two miles of Port Moresby itself. It
was claimed that they could see the lights of Port Moresby from their
mountainous viewpoints. A year or two later, American and Australian
forces reversed the situation and reclaimed this strategic island.
After the Pacific War was concluded, the two eastern territories on
the island of New Guinea were combined under the Australian
administration as Papua New Guinea. In 1973, Papua New Guinea was
granted self-government for its internal affairs; and on September 16,
1975, Papua New Guinea was granted complete independence.
When Indonesia assumed independence in 1949, it laid claim to the
western half of New Guinea; and ultimately, it became a province
within Indonesia as Irian Jaya, though these days, the entire
territory is now administered apparently as two provinces, Papua and
Papua Barat.
The very first attempt at wireless communication in New Guinea took
place in Port Moresby in March 1911. The Australian born Catholic
priest, Father Archibald Shaw, had joined a search party that went to
Port Moresby looking for a group of lost Australian officials. He
brought with him some electrical equipment manufactured in his own
factory in the Sydney suburb of Randwick. He installed this equipment
temporarily at Paga Hill, Port Moresby, and tried unsuccessfully to
contact a wireless station on Thursday Island.
In the era before and during World War 1, a total of four different
permanent wireless stations were established in the mainland territory
of Papua New Guinea, though the advent of wireless in the Dutch side
of the island was not implemented until after the conclusion of the
European conflict. These very early wireless stations were located at
Port Moresby, Aitape, Madang and Morobe. The equipment for these
stations was assembled in Australia, using a mixture of Telefunken
apparatus imported from Germany, items of electrical apparatus
manufactured in Sydney by AWA, together with some additional items
from the Randwick factory of Father Shaw. All of them at this stage
were spark wireless stations which we would describe these days as
being electrical transmitters, rather than electronic.
The first of these new permanent stations was installed on the edge of
Port Moresby, Papua. It was a 5 kW Telefunken transmitter and the
receiver was a simple crystal set. It should be remembered that all of
the spark transmitters anywhere in the world at this stage were
operating only in Morse Code.
The Port Moresby station, VIG, was installed and operated by Sydney
based AWA and it was intended to be a gathering point for news,
information and messages from other stations in the New Guinea area
for onward relay to the AWA station located at Pennant Hills, near
Sydney in Australia. Station VIG was also intended for use in
communication with nearby shipping approaching or departing the harbor
at Port Moresby. Station VIG Port Moresby was officially taken into
service on February 26, 1913.
Photographs of the Port Moresby wireless station taken on the opening
day of the European Conflict in August 1914, show two buildings, both
about the same size. Perhaps one housed the technical equipment and
the other was for use by staff personnel. The station was located in
an isolated area beyond the edge of Port Moresby; and the aerial mast
was a little under one hundred feet high.
The second wireless station installed on the New Guinea mainland was
VZX Aitape, and this unit was installed in 1914. The station was
located on a flat area in between a muddy river and the ocean beach;
and the town itself was built on a rocky headland overlooking two
islands in the bay. Aitape town is situated on the north coast of New
Guinea a little over a hundred miles from the Dutch/Indonesian border
of Irian Jaya. At the time when the station was installed, there were
some seventy five foreigners in the town of Aitape, mostly Dutch or
German.
Station VZX was built to enable the local administration to
communicate with government headquarters in Rabaul, and initially the
Morse Code messages were relayed to Rabaul via an intermediate Morse
Code station on Manus Island.
The third wireless station installed in New Guinea was located at
Madang, under the callsign VIV. By this time, World War 1 in Europe
was well underway and the Australian government moved quickly for the
installation of this facility.
Madang was settled originally by people from Germany in the year 1884.
The town is located on a peninsula overlooking a beautiful harbor on
each side and it was finally ridded of deadly malaria mosquitoes
twenty years later. The wireless station, VIV, was quickly installed
by AWA for the Australian government in 1916.
The fourth wireless station installed in mainland New Guinea during
this very early era of wireless communication was station VZK at
Morobe. The town of Morobe was originally named by the German settlers
as Adolfhafen and it was located a little south along the coast from
Lae. Station VZK Morobe also came into service during the year 1916.
Each of the three smaller regional wireless stations in mainland New
Guinea was described as having a normal coverage range of two hundred
miles, whereas the main station at Port Moresby had a range of five
hundred miles.
And that’s the story of our first introductory presentation on the
long and interesting research into the history of radio broadcasting
on the island of New Guinea. More on a later date! (Adrian Peterson,
AWR Wavescan March 29, via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA. Voice of Nigeria heard here at 2030-2100 with a strong
signal and unusually good modulation. Included a long interview with a
Nigerian scientist, followed by an announcement about the station's
regular Highlife Music programme which, if I heard correctly, airs
Sunday at 1130, Monday at 1330, Wednesday and 1430 and Saturday at
1930. This was followed by an anti-AIDS advertisement and, at 2100, a
news programme (Roger Tidy, UK, April 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
But must have been heard on April 9 or earlier, and presumably on
15120, altho that may not apply to all the airings of the programme
cited (gh, DXLD)
Yes, it was 15120. I heard them again this evening at 1800 with a news
bulletin followed by a programme entitled 'Sixty Minutes'. They seem
to have a good network of correspondents around the world. In the news
there were reports from the US and Britain by local (and obviously
professional) broadcasters. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the
recent improvement in this station's audibility will continue. They do
seem to have some interesting programmes (Roger Tidy, ibid.)
15120, VON, April 10 at 2047, English talk with distortion, pause for
announcement that it`s the 60 Minutes show and the anchor`s audio was
clear as well as a musical bit, then back to another muffled reporter.
Sounds like they are re-using old worn-out tapes, and/or dirty, worn-
out heads, but hey, what counts is that 250 kW transmitter and claims
of worldwide coverage (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
9690, Voice of Nigeria, 1015-1040, April 10, English talk about
agriculture & politics in Nigeria. Short breaks of African music.
Promo at 1029 about HIV testing in Nigeria. ID. Some African music at
1032. Poor in noisy conditions. Lost in noise at 1040 (Brian
Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** NIGERIA [non]. via Samara, Russia, 15215 NF, Aso Radio, *1600-
1630*, April 9, ex-15180. Sign on with opening ID announcements. Talk
in listed Hausa. Short breaks of African music. Fair. Mon-Fri only
(Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** OKLAHOMA. OKLAHOMA BURNING UP --- Since at least 2200 UT Thursday,
Oklahoma City TV stations have blown away all network programming for
continuous coverage of wildfires which have erupted S and E of
Oklahoma City. I see this still hasn`t made the national news
headlines. [at yahoo, anyway]
It`s rather like a tornado emergency; KFOR is being relayed on KTOK-
1000, they say. Have not checked but there may be live streaming from
KFOR, KOCO and/or KWTV. And there could also be day-at-night MW
facilities, etc.
Fortunately the area affected is at quite a distance from us in Enid,
altho we have also had high winds causing my antennas to wobble
somemwhat precariously (Glenn Hauser, 0330 UT April 10, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
It made NBC Nightly News - they had a live Q&A with KFOR-TV's
helicopter pilot as he was in the air over one of the fires. He
apparently was having trouble hearing Brian Williams at first, as
there was a long pause when he was first introduced, and you could
hear the producer yelling in his headset, "Go! Go!" s (Scott Fybush,
ibid.)
Glenn: I saw part of the coverage on KWTV's web site and it is looking
like the fires out in California. I was especially interested in the
wildfires around the Stillwater area since my family lived in
Stillwater for a little while in the mid 70's and I went to college at
OSU. It really looks bad around the Lake Carl Blackwell area and from
all reports north of Stillwater on one the way to Ponca City from
Stillwater since 177 was closed at the Payne-Noble county area. I am
very surprised that you didn't get any wildfires in the Enid area. I
hear that it has been very dry in Oklahoma and Texas so you can say a
prayer of thanksgiving that you did not get any wildfires in the area
you live in (Richard Lewis, Forest, MS, dxldyg via DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
It also made the free-to-air (FTA) satellite - KFOR 4 had their live
helicopter shots uplinked to AMC 1 on the Ku band with continuous
coverage, and KFOR was also streaming continuous news coverage last
night from their website (JimThomas, Colorado, ibid.)
It is really affecting Dallas, too. I am temporarily a Dallas /
Houston gypsy (commuter to a new job through the week). There is a
high point about 30 miles south of Dallas where you can see the
distant skyline. Not yesterday - I went over that ridge into a sea of
- brown. At first I thought it was spillover from an extreme West
Texas dust storm (it happens occasionally), but it had a smoky smell.
You couldn't see the Dallas skyline more than 3 miles away (Bruce
Carter, ABDX via DXLD)
** PAKISTAN. Pakistan’s Minister for Information and Broadcasting
Qamar Zaman Kaira has told journalists that the Federal Cabinet has
decided to advance clocks by one hour from 15th of this month. “It was
decided to advance clocks by an hour from 15th of April to make the
maximum use of day light and save the electricity as the similar
decision last year had helped to save 250 MW of electricity daily”, he
noted. (Source: The Nation) (Media Network blog April 9 via DXLD)
** PALESTINE [non]. A fecha de hoy y habiendo sido anunciada Al Quds
TV para 7350 vía Irán, no se ha podido confirmar que esté emitiendo,
sin rastro tanto en esta frecuencia cómo en 6220, última frecuencia en
la que emitió. Támpoco se ha captado nada ni en 5815 ni en 5835,
frecuencias en las que se escuchó tiempo atrás Radio Al Aqsa.
Dudo que sean reactivadas, a no ser, que la situación en Palestina de
un giro y se complique la situación. Por otra parte, creo que es el
deseo de todos que la zona en conflicto le llegue por fín la Paz y la
estabilidad. Atentamente (José Miguel Romero, Spain, April 9, dxldyg
via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
[Luego:] Saludos cordiales, la emisora en árabe que no pude
identificar el 8 de abril se trata de Radio Tunez, ex 7190,
información recibida por Glenn Hauser en DXLD Yahoo Groups, una vez
más gracias por aclarar las dudas. Atentamente (José Miguel Romero,
ibid.)
Iran`s registered usage of 7350 is: 0230-0530 Kamalabad in Arabic;
1630-2030 Sirjan in various; 2130-2230 Sirjan in Bosnian(?). So is
there reason to believe any of the Various is or was any of those
Palestinian TV soundtrack relays? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3345, presumed R. Northern, Popendetta, 1038-
1050, April 8, Tok Pisin. W with talk re "education" at tune-in; M & W
between music bits; pop-like music selection; poor; fading under band
noise by tune/out.
3385, R. East New Britain, Rabaul, 1020-1037, April 8, Tok Pisin.
Ads/promos; including one in English re "Saturday night... brought to
you by (??) Industries"; local ballad at tune/out; fair at best. Over
the past few years, this has been the most reliable PNG I can pick up
here in NH (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA, NRD-545, RX-
350D, MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
See also NEW GUINEA
** POLAND [non]. FRANCE/GERMANY [Poland non] 9790 iss --- Slight
correction. Polskie Radio in English from Apr 15, replaces previous
9555iss.
Polskie Radio A09 BC schedule - 29 March to 25 Oct 2009: ENGLISH 1200-
1300 7330nau 9525; 1700-1759 7265DRM 9790iss [x9555iss] (wwdxc BC-DX
TopNews Mar 22, updated Apr 9 via DXLD) No 9790iss here around 1750
April 20; just RCI DRM hiss centered on 9800 (gh, DXLD)
** ROMANIA. RRI Tiganesti in German replaced 15220 by 9675 today,
1200-1300, \\ 11875, see new HFCC public list version. 73 (Wolfgang
Büschel, Germany, Apr 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ROMANIA. Buenas noticias desde Radio Rumanía Internacional
Estimados amigos de Radio Rumanía Internacional: Me agrada informaros
que a partir del 12 de abril de 2009, el Rincón Diexista de RRI se
emitirá por separado los domingos (o sea ya no formará parte del
programa Club de Oyentes) y se repetirá los martes.
También recordaros que el próximo 2 de mayo este programa cumple diez
años de existencia. Con este motivo os invito a participar en un
pequeño concurso que os dará la oportunidad de ganar un CD con música
folklórica rumana.
Para participar en este concurso debéis realizar un pequeño comentario
acerca de lo que significan los programas dx y concretamente el Rincón
Diexista de RRI para vosotros: desde cuándo escucháis este espacio, si
lo hacéis de manera regular, qué otros programas dx escucháis, cómo os
parece el Rincón Diexista de RRI en comparación con otros programas
que tratan los mismos temas, etc.
El plazo límite de participación es el 30 de abril de 2009. Los
nombres de los ganadores del concurso los anunciaré el día 17 de mayo
de 2008. Gracias por difundir esta noticia. Un cordial saludo,
Victoria Sepciu, Club de Oyentes, Rincón Diexista de RRI
Via: Dino Bloise
http://es.geocities.com/programas_dx/frecuencialdia.htm April 10,
dxldyg via DXLD)
** RUSSIA. Here http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&w=471
- all the A-09 skeds of all RUVR services can be downloaded (in .xls
format). 73! (Alexey Zinevich: a DXer from Minsk, Belarus, April 10,
dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.:
English to NAm:
2200-2300 9890
2300-0200 9890
9665
0400-0600 13775
English to C&SAm:
0200-0300 9665
9890
0300-0400 9665
So the `middle` of the 8-hour span is not really to NAm, but C/SAm,
yet on the same frequencies, and 9665 Moldova at least, stays on the
same azimuth 295 thruout. The two 9 MHz frequencies work well here,
but not 13775; how is it in WNAm? To put the schedule more
straightforwardly: 22-03 on 9890, 22-04 on 9665, 04-06 on 13775.
That`s not much compared to 40 frequencies at once in the heydey of
Radio Moscow --- but two good frequencies should be enough? Poor
propagation around 0055 April 11, neither 9665 nor 9890 making it
across the Atlantic. What we need, and this should be obvious to
anyone who knows the first thing about SW propagation, is a relay in
the Caribbean area, say Guiana French (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** RUSSIA. Stimme Russlands wieder auf analoger KW in Deutsch
Andreas Volk ADDX from Munich reports
RUSSIA/KALININGRAD, 7330 / 12010, Voice of Russia's German service
which [planned] to cease all AM mode transmissions on shortwave after
80 years in service, will be back soon on two AM mode channels in
European afternoon.
1500-1900 UT
7330 Kaliningrad (Koenigsberg Bolshakovo) 120 kW at 245 degrees
12010 Samara 240 kW at 285 degrees
73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, April 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Die Stimme Russlands hat mir soeben mitgeteilt, dass für die
Nachmittagssendungen von 1500-1900 Uhr UTC zwei KW-Frequenzen mit
analoger Modulation benutzt werden: 7330 und 12010 kHz. Die Proteste
der Hörerschaft haben also doch etwas bewirkt. vy73 Andreas Volk (via
Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD)
Apparently soon = as of tomorrow, April 10. This hasty move is the
result of lots of listeners complaints, and some insiders say that
VoR's management is simply incompetent, considering this course of
events as proof. Btw, does anybody know why Armen Oganesyan had
actually been fired? Does he know it himself at all? (Kai Ludwig,
Germany, ibid.)
All this information originates from German service circles, there is
no connection to the English programmes. And they were no empty
promises. 7330 has by 1740 already faded out here in eastern Germany,
but 12010 comes in with strong signal on a clear frequency. Slight
background noises (a whistling growl, so to speak) can be noted,
apparently caused by the transmitter, so it seems to be another unit
than used at Samara for VoR German until March (Kai Ludwig, April 10,
ibid.)
** RUSSIA. 5940, R. Rossii, Arman, 1005-1030, April 6, Russian M & W;
several IDs in passing; ads/promos at 1025; opera-like music at 1028;
fair as was // 7320-Arman (Scott R. Barbour, Jr., Intervale, NH-USA,
NRD-545, RX-350D, MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING
DIGEST) Arman = Okhotsk in HFCC (gh)
** SAUDI ARABIA. Observed the ARS BSKSA Riyadh BUZZ transmitter on
21505 at 1200-1500 UT, 1st program news, \\ 21640 kHz totally crystal
clear quality. HQ at same time at 1300 UT on 17895 and 21600 kHz, no
buzz at all (wb, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Apr 5 via DXLD)
** SERBIA [non]. IRS and CRI still colliding on 9580, April 10 at 0120
check, back to about equal levels, unusable for both. Neither IRS nor
RRI audible on 9580 around 0050 April 11, but believe due propagation,
not QSY (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOMALILAND. SOMALILANDIA, 7145, Radio Hargeysa, Hargeysa, 1820-
1830, escuchada el 9 de abril en dialecto africano sin identificar a
locutora con comentarios presentando temas músicales africanos,
emisión de música pop y folklórica local, SINPO 24432 (José Miguel
Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio
Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. As I tuned across WWRB, 9385, April 10 at
1311, Brother Scare was saying that he was on ``585 and 1251 kHz in
China for the next 30 minutes`` --- Really? 1311-1341? What an odd
timing. Or does he mean 1300-1330? 1330-1400? Or something totally
different if this was a recording --- he can`t possibly be awake and
blathering 24 hours a day. In China? I seriously doubt it; but maybe
inTO China. Are these frequencies shown here?
http://www.overcomerministry.org/calendar/phpicalendar/swrpt.php?cal=itlradio&getdate=20080627&printview=day
Of course not! And why in the world are the local times in Asia,
Europe, Pacific on this page designated as (US) Eastern?? And why is
the title of this page ``Friday, June 27``? B.S. is seriously
challenged in just presenting his own scheduling information
correctly, let alone having a direct line from God in the future. Is
either frequency mentioned anywhere on this version of his schedule?
http://www.overcomerministry.org/calendar/phpicalendar/report.php
Of course not!
I am afraid 1251 kHz may be the 600 kW at Ussuriysk near Vladivostok,
but there are also 1251 possibilities in Korea South, Taiwan and
Philippines. Similar fears about 585 being the 1200 kW at Belogorsk,
DV Russia. What are the poor Asians to make of this apocalyptic
nonsense emanating from the styx of SC? We pray they may not assume it
is typically American, but only affirms that Americans are free to
speak total B.S., even unto the whole wide world. Maranatha! (Glenn
Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SUDAN [non]. via Wertachtal, Germany, 13730, Radio Dabanga, 1715-
1727*, April 9, vernacular talk. ID jingles. Once again I heard
English news at 1722-1726:30. Poor to fair with high pitch tone on
frequency. Weak but readable on // 11500 - via Madagascar. 13730
running 1 or 2 seconds ahead of 11500 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** TAJIKISTAN. 4765, presumed Tajik Radio, Yangiyul, 0105, April 6,
listed Tajik. Light pop-like music, talk; format similar to my logs of
CODAR free, ex-4635; poor under CODAR (Scott R. Barbour, Jr.,
Intervale, NH-USA, NRD-545, RX-350D, MLB1, 200' Bevs, 60m Dipole,
dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. TRT (VOT) website updated on April 6 the frequency
schedule: http://www.trtenglish.com/Diger/ingFrequence.pdf
(Dragan Lekic, Serbia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
But it has some strange errors in it, such as the 2200 English
broadcast starting at ``0.92`` ! It also shows an English broadcast at
0100 on 9620 as if it were VOT instead of the RCI relay! So beware of
relying on anything else in it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** TURKEY. Çakirlar SW revolving Thomson Thalès antenna [like at Sines
Portugal] on the northern corner. Former LW 198 kHz, 120 kW
Google Earth 39 58 31.67 N 32 40 36.32 E
<http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=39.975464&lon=32.676756&z=16.5&r=0&src=yh>
<http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=39.975464&lon=32.676756&z=16.5&r=0&src=msl>
<http://maps.live.de/LiveSearch.LocalLive?cp=39.97469470744059~32.67745971679687&style=h&lvl=16&dir=0&tilt=-90&alt=-1000>
Emirler 500 kW site, 21 curtain arrays, 1 x Alliss revolving antenna
on the western corner. 39 24 05.00 N 32 51 21.00 E
<http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=de&geocode=&q=39+24+05+N++32+51+21+E&sll=51.151786,10.415039&sspn=19.953152,39.550781&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=16&iwloc=addr>
(BC-DX April 10 via DXLD)
** U K. I find the BBCWS in English on 15245.00 kHz at 1600z for an
hour. I can't find this frequency on their web site or on any English
Schedule postings. Any idea where the transmitter is and where the
signal in beamed to? Thanks (Gary W. Froemming, CTC, Certified Travel
Counselor, Glendale, Arizona, USA, WB7CAG / W7GWF, 33.5601N /
12.1841W, Grid Square: DM33vn74vk, April 8, odxa yg via DXLD)
Where are you located? Looks like you got Wooferton [sic], where I did
my "job experience" training when I was in school; not supposed to be
beamed to the US/Canada at all. If you're in the Americas, as I am
now, you got it long path :D Here's some great station info
http://www.bbceng.info/Operations/transmitter_ops/Reminiscences/Woofferton/pw-woofferton.pdf
The curious thing is that it's not "supposed" to be transmitting WS
now according to VT Communications own website and the BBC engineering
site, it only does BBC local DRM stuff now (1986944, ibid.)
Woofferton has been used for BBC transmissions for years; e.g., an A03
Merlin schedule shows some 30 entries for BBC WOF. As I recall
Woofferton has no antennas directed toward NA, but that does not
preclude 'short path' reception in NA, which is certainly the most
likely here. The planned schedule shows BBC in Russian, so either
they've made changes or this is a transmission error (DanFerguson, SC,
ibid.)
Hi Dan, Wooferton [sic] was used through '07 for BBC World Service,
but is only officially slated for use by the BBC local services; or at
least, that's what's on record. Can you send me a link for the A03
schedule? I'm interested when they started to use the site for World
again, and why it's not listed on the BBC Engineering site.
Wooferton's arrays are directed towards Eastern Europe. Since we're at
a solar minimum, it makes it highly unlikely that short path reception
occurred.
There was recently a memo that apparently went out regarding the cost
effectiveness of shortwave to reach certain target audiences by the
BBC, so maybe this is why the service has been reinstated. Droitwich
will be next....(only kidding), LOL!!! (1986944, ibid.)
Hearing Woofferton [note spelling] and the other UK sites in North
America is extremely common whether they are aimed this way or not, hi
or lo sunspots. I hear the Russian service on 15245 on many mornings
before the unscheduled English. Don`t you believe that SW
transmissions are unidirexional and have to come around the long way
or not at all. Those antennas emit a lot of back-radiation. Local
services? Woofferton is certainly used for external services in
various languages including English. Perhaps they have failed to keep
their engineering site up to date. Or are spreading disinformation for
some reason (Glenn Hauser to Anonymous, ibid.)
Thank you for all your input. All I can tell you is I ran across this
frequency over a week ago and it has been running English every day
from 1600-1700z. Signals from S2-S7 here in Arizona. It is much better
than 15400 or 21470 here most days. OK, it's 1700z and it is now a
clear frequency. No English, no Russian. Don't understand, I'm just
the reporter. HaHa. Thanks again for the help (Gary W. Froemming, CTC,
ibid.)
** U K [non]. Re 9-031, BBC America --- I know this is off topic but
it is distressing that BBC America has dropped their three hour
morning block of BBC News. It isn't getting any easier to get
international news via the conventional media in this country. We are
the poorer for it (Mr Sandy Finlayson, Swprograms mailing list via
DXLD)
Agreed, Sandy. I did write to BBC America and they did send me a very
nice response saying -- in effect -- that ratings for the morning news
were low and that they have decided to place their limited resources
into improving the BBC News America evening (7 and 10 p.m.) effort
which has shown an increase in viewers. I said exactly what you said,
that I would be condemned to watch the meaningless and awful daily
diversionary pageant of the Today Show or GMA or CNN. They didn't
budge. :-)) (John Figliozzi, ibid.)
Dear Andrew, Thank you for taking the time to contact us.
Please know that our commitment to providing viewers with access to
the BBC's unrivalled international news coverage is a top priority for
BBC America. Since launching "BBC World News America" in October 2007,
the BBC's first U.S. facing newscast, audience figures have steadily
grown for both the 7 and 10pm week night broadcasts. At the same time
our morning news audience has declined.
This has been a tough decision but, with finite resources, we have
decided to cease airing news on BBC America 6am-9am and divert
resources to the evening news programs which benefit substantially
more viewers. BBC America will also continue to cover major breaking
news and significant live events as they occur.
Viewers can, however, continue to watch international news from the
BBC via the 24-hour BBC World News channel – where available. Up-to-
the-minute news clips can be viewed on bbc.com/news and half-hour
weekday BBC World News bulletins air on PBS stations across the
country. We recommend checking your local listings for details.
We thank you again for your comments. Regards, Stephanie, Viewer
Relations, BBC America (via Andy O`Brien, NY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
BBC AMERICA REPLACES MORNING NEWS WITH "KITCHEN NIGHTMARES."
"BBC America, owned by BBC Worldwide, has axed its three-hour morning
international news block due to low ratings. The changes to the
schedule kicked in Monday without prior announcement from the BBC. A
BBC America spokeswoman confirmed that the simulcast from the BBC
World News channel, which aired at 6 a.m. ET seven days a week, is
being replaced by lifestyle fare such as 'Kitchen Nightmares,'
presented by foul-mouthed U.K. celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay." Variety,
6 April 2009.
"Jeremy Paxman's big chance to break the US has ended after BBC
America axed its US version of Newsnight as part of a series of
changes that includes dropping its daily three-hour block of
international news. The BBC's commercial US channel, which is
available in more than 63m American homes via digital, cable and
satellite, today dropped its daily simulcast from the BBC World News
channel, which aired between 6am and 9am, because of disappointing
ratings." The Guardian, 6 April 2009.
"With his acerbic style and withering put-downs, Jeremy Paxman was
expected to be a sure-fire hit in America. ... Newsnight's US edition
was actually pulled in November, after the US elections, but nobody
noticed it had gone until the BBC admitted it this week." Daily Mail,
8 April 2009.
"The challenges of going 'green' in Muskegon [Michigan] will be the
focus of a six-part documentary film being aired at 7 p.m. tonight by
the British Broadcasting Company during BBC World News America. A BBC
reporting and film crew visited Muskegon in February to see how
difficult it is for people in the Midwest to adopt environmentally
friendly habits." Muskegon Chronicle, 7 April 2009. Posted: 10 Apr
2009 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD)
Never got BBC America here, so hardly miss any of that (gh, OK, DXLD)
** U K. UK LAUNCHES MASSIVE, ONE-YEAR PROGRAM TO ARCHIVE EVERY EMAIL
What does this have to do with radio listening? Along with archiving
e-mails, they will be archiving "information about every website
visited by any computer user in the country." (See the first sentence
in the second paragraph.)
You can listen to programming from outside the country or elsewhere
via shortwave without Big Brother knowing, as people have in
totalitarian countries virtually since the dawn of the medium. IMHO,
that's just another huge advantage of radio listening, shortwave and
otherwise.
But the UK's big archive will "log" all of your listening catches on
the Internet for you. They might send you a verification you didn't
ask for. And with the BPL type interference that is being battled in
the UK now, listeners may be de facto forced to the Internet, as their
radios may become less and less usable.
But that's just in the UK. This could never happen in the USA with
our protections of liberty, unless maybe we had Supreme Court justices
that referenced foreign laws and precedents in their rulings... ooops.
Just FYI. 73, (Curt Phillips W4CP, Raleigh, NC USA, April 6, NASWA yg
via DXLD) Viz.:
In a move that even the most nonchalant of privacy advocates is crying
foul over, the UK has put into effect a European Union directive which
mandates the archival of information regarding virtually all internet
traffic for the next 12 months. The program formally goes into effect
today.
The data retention rules require the archival of all email traffic
(the identities of the sender and receiver, but not the contents of
the messages), records of VOIP telephone calls (traditional phone
calls are already monitored), and information about every website
visited by any computer user in the country. The rules are being
pushed down "across the board to even the smallest company," as every
ISP large or small will be required to collect and store the data.
That data will then be accessible -- to fight "crime and terrorism,"
of course -- by "hundreds of public bodies" to investigate whatever
crimes they see fit.
FULL STORY: http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/136610
(via Phillips, ibid.)
I thought this was along the line of the "Bill Gates will pay for
e-mail" rumor of several years ago. It's legit, but the data being
tracked is probably no different from what many ISPs has long tracked.
See the BBC's take at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7985664.stm
(Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, ibid.)
** U S A. 15530, at 1444 15 March, R. Martí, political talk, fanfare,
32432 (Arthur Miller, Llandrindod Wells, UK, April World DX Club
Contact via DXLD)
?? Looks like a typo for 15330 --- EXCEPT, I axually heard RM on 15530
myself, Nov 22 at 1447, as reported in DXLD 8-120, so that `typo` was
at the transmitter by the resident lysdexic at Greenville.
Unfortunately, in a one-line-per-log report, no clarification or
remark about it truly being off the proper frequency can be included
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. VOA Korean service, VG signal on 11740, April 10 at
1316 --- except the audio was cutting out sporadically. Checked //
5890 and the same was happening 4 seconds later, as it is deliberately
delayed. 11740 is Tinang, Philippines, while 5890 is Tinian, NMI.
Therefore, the problem is somewhere between Washington and the
separate transmitter sites. Is anyone paying attention at either end?
Why isn`t there a backup system, switching to a lower-quality but non-
interrupted dial-up program feed, for example, the instant that the
satellite feed starts to act up? During the next few minutes there was
no American Song, but continuous [note spelling] Korean talk over
music, at one point interrupted by VOA News announcement in English
(Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A [non]. [Germany/Sri Lanka] R Liberty in Kyrghiz til Apr 13 on
11780 1200-1230 30S,31S BIB 100 kW 085 deg replaced by
17730 1200-1230 30S,31S IRA 250 334 from Apr 14.
VOA Azerbaijani program, replace 7235BIB by 5820BIB, from Apr 13
5820 1730-1800 29SE BIB 100 kW 105 deg
\\ 7215BIB 13580LAM
VOA Burmese program, replace 9325IRA by 9325PHX - old Tinang[Poro]-PHL
mobile 50 kW unit, 9325 1430-1530 49 PHX 50 kW 285 deg
VOA Burmese program, replace 12120PHX - old Tinang[Poro]-PHL mobile 50
kW unit, by 12120IRA from Apr 14
12120 1430-1530 49 IRA 250 kW 57 deg
VOA Creole extension on Wednesdays only ? - from Apr 15
15390 1700-1730 11 GB 250 kW 174 deg
17565 1700-1730 11 GB 250 174
VOA Mandarin program, replace 11615PHT by 11615 Saipan, from Apr 14
11615 1400-1500 42-44 SAI 100 kW 310 deg
VOA English program, replace 7430 by 7545 Tinang-PHL, from Apr 14
7545 1400-1600 40,41 PHT 250 kW 270 deg
VOA English program, replace 7590 by 9485 Tinang-PHL, from Apr 14
9485 1500-1600 43,44 PHT 250 kW 349 deg
VOA English program, replace 9670 by 9780 Udornthani-THA, from Apr 13
9780 1900-2000 39,40 UDO 250 kW 316 deg
VOA English program, addit 50 kW unit 9885 Botswana, from Apr 13
9885 1800-2030 46-48,52,53 BOT 50 kW 350 deg
VOA Indonesian program, replace 13620 by 7550 Tinang-PHL, from Apr 14,
Thu-Sat only
7550 1400-1500 54 PHT 250 kW 200 deg
R Liberty Russian program, replace 17730 by 9585 Lampertheim-D, from
Apr 14, 9585 1200-1300 29,30 LAM 100 kW 55 deg
RFA Cantonese additional from Apr 14
5835 1400-1500 54 TIN 250 kW 279 deg [Thu-Sat only?]
(HFCC public file Apr 9, via BC-DX April 10 via DXLD)
It seems it wasn't mentioned here yet. R. Liberty in Turkmen - new
frequency: 1500-1600 - 7230 kHz - probably Wertachtal - ex 7420 -
parallel: 7260 (Found today when monitoring 41 MB.) 73! (Alexey
Zinevich: a DXer from Minsk, Belarus, April 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
** U S A. SHOULD THIS STATION BROADCAST NEWS, OR INADEQUATELY
RESEARCHED OPINION? (updated)
"If it had the equipment and personnel for the job, the United States
could broadcast radio programs for the Pashtuns commemorating Rahman
Baba’s life and poetry, thus helping to revive the collective memory
of Sufism and inspiring opposition to the Taliban. Other programs
could highlight the cultural and physical devastation wrought by the
Taliban and Al Qaeda. The United States conducted impressive strategic
communications during the cold war. Radio Free Europe, Voice of
America and other programs conveyed information and ideas that
contributed to the discrediting and ultimate defeat of Soviet
communism. Pakistan’s Islamist extremists apparently know the value of
strategic communications. They preach and broadcast, understanding
that every non-extremist school they close, every artist they force to
move, every moderate tribal leader they kill and every Sufi shrine
they destroy can increase their powers of intimidation and
persuasion." Douglas J. Feith and Justin Polin, New York Times, 29
March 2009.
"It's not at all surprising to read today's New York Times opinion
section and find that Doug Feith continues to be a font of lazy
thinking. ... Strategic communications directed at the Muslim World,
patterned after Radio Free Europe? Sorry Doug, maybe you sh[o]uld have
gotten involved with al-Hurra, the Bush administration's attempt to
replicate the success of Cold-War era public diplomacy, but which has
been widely regarded as a sham by the Muslim world." Patrick Barry,
Democracy Aresenal, 30 March 2009 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD)
My job: cleaning up after the experts. All three writers overlooked
the fact that VOA's Deewa Radio already broadcasts in Pashto to that
very part of Pakistan. So apparently the United States does have "the
equipment and personnel for the job." Deewa's output includes programs
about poetry, but, as part of VOA, its mainstay is reliable news and
information. If Messrs. Feith and Polin prefer a station that is more
partisanly anti-Taliban, such a station may not want to be identified
with the United States. (And see previous post about Radio Khyber.)
This op-ed could inspire an amendment, to some future legislation, to
create an RFE/RL Pashto service to Pakistan's Northwest Frontier
Province, to do what Deewa is already doing (and, for that matter,
what RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan is already doing), resulting in
even more duplication in US international broadcasting.
As for Alhurra, it's not up there with Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, but
it has too many viewers to be dismissed as a "sham." See previous post
(Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.)
Update: "That’s what Voice of America, financed by the American
government, has been doing daily since September 2006 with its popular
Deewa Radio. Deewa, with 13 staff members in Washington and 23
stringers throughout Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province and
Federally Administered Tribal Areas, covers local, national and
international news and engages with its listeners seven days a week."
VOA director Danforth Austin, letter to New York Times, 5 April 2009.
Posted: 09 Apr 2009 (kimandrewelliott.com, see for linx
http://kimelli.nfshost.com/index.php?id=6215 via DXLD)
** U S A. VOA WEBSITE REDESIGN INCLUDES RELEGATION OF RADIO
"VOANews.com has revamped its home page to give news a more central
role on the page. ... While the home page retains many of its current
special features, including links to all of VOA's 45 language
services, it improves navigation to the various features that allow
people to access VOA on different platforms. It also prominently
displays links to interactive features, including podcasts, RSS feeds,
mobile services, and links to the T2A web chat and unique video
footage." VOA press release, 6 April 2009. (kimandrewelliott.com via
DXLD)
I thought the radio transmission schedule had been eliminated, but I
finally found it. Can *you* find it? Users are obviously steered
towards online access to VOA content, rather than old fashioned radio
reception. The VOA home page betters that of BBC World Service in that
links to *all* of VOA's languages are there. They are, however, "below
the fold." The non-English user may or may not guess that he/she must
cursor down to find the link to his/her language. Posted: 09 Apr 2009
(Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.)
** U S A. VOA violating separation of church and state: At 2123-2129*
April 10, in the Kriyol service on 11895, Agnus Dei and Pie Jesu,
beautiful music, but it can hardly be coincidental that it`s ``Good
Friday`` and they are playing classical music for a change. Mentioned
Roman Catholic Church; adherents of Voudou, or any other belief,
should raise hell with VOA and demand equal time.
It`s far from the first such violation. R. Martí broadcast Catholic
services and may still do so; R. Liberty used to broadcast Russian
Orthodox stuff. Thus the US Government is endorsing Christianity of
various ilx to the exclusion of countless other religions practiced at
home and abroad. Better to keep it secular (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. NOW A BLOG EXAMINING THE MURDER OF RFA'S GC
"The murder of Robert Wone: it's freaky, complex with loads of bold
face names & firms attached. One of the craziest murder mysteries this
city has seen in ages, no one has been charged but the three
housemates at the Dupont Circle home where Robert was drugged,
assaulted then stabbed all face prosecution on multiple charges of
conspiracy, obstruction of justice and evidence tampering charges. The
trial is later this spring/summer. Now, a few DC media types
(including two C-SPAN alums) are using their new media savvy to help
solve this mystery on a blog entitled Who Murdered Robert Wone."
fishbowlDC, 6 April 2009 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD)
Wone was Radio Free Asia's general counsel when he was murdered on 2
August 2006. See previous post about same subject. Posted: 10 Apr 2009
(Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.)
** U S A. 9329.75/USB, WBCQ Monticello ME (presumed); 1900, 3 April;
Glenn Hauser's World of Radio with music played on top. Sudden audio
loss at 1901+, not back as of 1914 (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheet
April 10 via DXLD)
That was an inadvertent overrun as during the previous hour 9330 is //
7415, and WOR presumably continued on 7415 only (gh, DXLD)
** U S A [and non]. Ted Randall says he has been getting interference
complaints while his shows are on WBCQ 7415, Tue-Wed-Thu 2100-2300. In
Puerto Rico, there`s China co-channel until 2200, which is 2000-2200
English via Kashi, 500 kW at 308 degrees for Europe but prolonged
trans-Atlantically. And in eastern NAm, YFR 7420 Arabic via
Wertachtal, 250 kW at 210 degrees for W Africa. I heard the latter at
2218 check April 9, but not really a problem for WBCQ in CNAm. It may
also be bothering WORLD OF RADIO Mondays at 2200 further east. Looking
at the schedules, the only other adjacent problem could be 7410, BBC
via South Africa, 330 degrees at 2100-2200 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WLS 890 Chicago will air a special two hour 85th Anniversary
program on Sunday, 12 April, from 12 n to 2 pm Central Time. [17-19
UT] http://news.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=n19133
(Steve Lare, Holland, MI, April 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. KARZ 42 Little Rock: frozen in time --- Nexstar's MyNetwork
TV affiliate in Little Rock. AR KARZ channel 42 had been broadcasting
// with KARK's wall to wall storm coverage but for the past hour has
been transmitting only a still frozen image with no audio.
http://tvdxseark.blogspot.com/2009/04/frozen-frame-transmitted-on-karz-kark.html
Mena AR has had extensive tornado damage (Fritze H Prentice Jr,
KC5KBV, Star City, AR EM43aw, April 9, http://tvdxseark.blogspot.com
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** VENEZUELA [non]. Another Spanish gospel huxter on 16m? 17705, VG
signal April 10 at 2024 with YL telling the story of Jesucristo,
complete with inspirational music past 2032, as if it were historical
fact. It has to be Radio Nacional de Venezuela as scheduled during
this hour via Cuba, violating separation of church and state. Back to
politix! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** ZANZIBAR. RTZ, 11735, April 9 at 2023 check with ME music, poor
modulation with rumble, and signal weakening perceptibly in the next
minute (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. Family Radio en los 1190 AM --- Saludos cordiales
queridos colegas diexistas. Espero se encuentren todos muy bien.
Día jueves a las 0115 UT pude escuchar en los 1190 kHz a Family Radio
con su programa Foro Abierto, donde se respondía a las preguntas de
los oyentes. Pude escuchar muy bien la identificación de Radio Family
y grabarla, cuando dicen que transmiten desde Oakland, California.
Anexo imagen del recorrido de las ondas de Radio Family de mas de 6480
km. Pero me pregunto ahora ¿es esta una frecuencia de Family Radio o
es la de otra emisora que la retransmite? La he sintonizado con el
Digital Tuner Sony SRF-M37. Atte: (José Elías Díaz Gómez, Apartado
Postal 488, Código Postal 6001-A, Barcelona, Venezuela, April 10,
noticiasdx yg via DXLD)
Hola JE, Como no, no está transmitiendo desde Oakland en 1190. Puede
ser una emisora venezolana o cercana. O imagen de la OC -- debe probar
las frecuencias paralelas de WYFR a ver si correspondan precisamente.
Me parecía una posibilidad la WBMJ de Puerto Rico, pero según su
esquema hay Luis Palau a esa hora. O como digo en inglés ---
Of course FR is not transmitting direct from Oakland on 1190; I
wouldn`t be surprised if one of the three Venezuelans on 1190 is
relaying it, or else some other country close to you. Or even an image
from SW on that radio. Did you try // any WYFR SW frequency to see if
it matched? WBMJ in Puerto Rico looked like a good prospect with its
religious format, but schedule at
http://community.therockradio.org/guide/ shows Cruzada con Luis Palau
at that time (9:15 pm local) (Glenn Hauser, DXLD)
Excelente tu comentario amigo Glenn, quien quita entonces que pueda
ser la la venezolana Ondas de Libertad desde San Felix transmitiendo a
Family Radio, esta noche volvere a estar a la escucha a ver si repito
esa captación y posible identificación de la emisora que retransmite.
Lo que sí no creo es que sea imagen de la onda corta, ya que en la
misma frecuencia anoche estaban tres emisoras luchando por entrar en
los 1190. Un abrazo amigo Glenn y gracias por tu comentario (José
Elías Díaz, Venezuela, ibid.)
Hola Joselito, Felices Pascuas desde Italia. Es muy probable que en
los 1190 kHz sintonizaste WBMJ-AM (1190 kHz) localizada en Puerto
Rico, 10 kW, en frente a tu bonita costa Venezuelana. WBMJ-AM (1190
kHz) is part of The Rock Radio Network:
WBMJ AM-1190, San Juan • WCGB AM-1060, Juana Díaz/Ponce • WIVV AM-
1370, Vieques Island
Calvary Evangelistic Mission, Inc. 1409 Ponce de Leon Ave., 4th Floor,
San Juan, PR 00907-4023.
PO Box 367000, San Juan, PR 00936-7000. Tel: (787) 724-1190 Fax: (787)
722-3595. Jacqueline Rodríguez, Radio Office Coordinator. The radio
stations broadcast 18-20 hours daily touching lives in Puerto Rico and
the Lesser Antilles Islands http://northernstar.no/wbmj.htm
Muchos 73's (Dario Monferini, http://www.playdx.com radioescutas yg
via DXLD) But see sked above
UNIDENTIFIED. Re 9-031: 15150, RRI Jakarta at 1244 with gamelan music.
Poor Apr. 4
Are you sure about 15150? That`s normally used only for VOI external
service, but not at this hour. So not // 9525 or 9680? Beware; Iran`s
lengthy Arabic service is on 15150 at 0530-1630, 500 kW, 295 degrees
from Sirjan (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Hi Glenn: I could have mistaken Iran for Indonesia, but it sure
sounded like gamelan music to me. Thanks for your suggestions (Harold
Sellers, VA3DXO, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, Managing Editor,
"Listening In" Ontario DX Association, http://www.odxa.on.ca April 9,
DX LISTENING DIGEST)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PUBLICATIONS
++++++++++++
HFCC A09 SCHEDULE is now available at http://hfcc.org/data/index.html
Direct Link: http://hfcc.org/data/a09/a09allx2.zip
(Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, April 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
HFCC A09 public schedule [13% reduced data lines] (BCDX via DXLD)
EIBI A09 SCHEDULES now available: http://www.eibi.de.vu/
Sincerely, (Dave Jeffery, April 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
WORLD OF HOROLOGY see also PAKISTAN
+++++++++++++++++
IRAN DOESN`T GET IT
INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTER PRESS TV HAS YET TO LEARN ABOUT
INTERNATIONAL TIME
"As many countries around the globe adjust their clocks one hour
forward to save daylight, Press TV schedule will accordingly switch to
DST for the viewers' convenience. Press TV programs will be broadcast
in Daylight Saving Time (DST) starting from 23:00 GMT on Sunday April,
5, 2009. The programs, which have so far been broadcast in Greenwich
Mean Time (GMT), will be aired one hour early in the non-DST-observing
regions." Press TV, 5 April 2009. (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD)
This is a tricky business. Twice a year, some countries move their
clocks forward, some countries (in the opposite hemisphere) move their
clocks back, and some don't move them at all. And not all countries
changes their clocks the same weekend. This is why real international
broadcasters stick to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), more
traditionally known as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Audiences
sufficiently motivated to tune in international broadcasts will
understand that when their clocks change, the broadcaster's clock will
stay where it is. And they might even keep a clock in the house set to
UTC. Posted: 09 Apr 2009 (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.)
We recently had a similar confused announcement from IRIB`s Spanish
service --- in Iran they must think the world revolves around them,
even tho they are out of step with most of the world, observing a
wacky half-hour-offset timezone (Glenn Hauser, DXLD)
CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
EDXC 2009 DUBLIN, IRELAND
Dear DX-Friends all over the World! If you book your hotel room (Grand
Canal Hotel, Dublin) through the internet hompage of the hotel
http://www.grandcanalhotel.com you can arrive at l o w e r hotel room
rates, like EUR 89,--- / Room / Night (Tibor Szilagyi, DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
DIGITAL BROADCASTING: IBOC DRM: see ECUADOR; POLAND; UK
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
HD RADIO CRYING OUT TO BE HEARD
Today's New York Times (Thu. 9 April) has this piece by David Pogue in
the State of the Art feature which is a pretty fair analysis of HD
Radio and where it is in the marketplace today. It runs about 35
column-inches and is on page B-1 (business).
Interestingly the author is on Twitter and solicited comments from
other "tweeters' (?) who follow him, and out of a field of a hundred
thousand, found 16 who had tried HD radio.
The author's email addy is given in the piece. I have little doubt he
would enjoy hearing from the select group of readers of _these_ email
groups (NRC, IRCA etc) who have first hand knowledge of the features
and foibles of HD, especially on AM. 73 (Bob Foxworth, FL, NRC-AM via
DXLD)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/technology/personaltech/09pogue.html?_r=1&8dpc
starts
Q: How do you make an HD radio executive bang his head against the
wall? (Eric Flodén, April 9, dxldyg via DXLD)
David Pogue always does a very good job of deconstructing technology
into understandable, relevant pieces.
A couple key points in the article:
"To get a wider sampling [of experiences with HD], I asked my 100,000
Twitter followers if they’d tried HD radio. Sixteen people responded."
and:
"That explains the five Twitter pals who independently mentioned that
they listen to Internet radio more than HD radio these days,
especially on the iPhone. It may not sound as good, but wow, what
programming — radio stations from all over the world, all available
free."
I've posted a comment (the first) to the article...pointing out the 5
fundamental flaws that I see in how HD Radio has been developed. Once
the content is approved I expect you'll see it on the NYT website
(Richard Cuff, skeptical in Allentown, PA, ibid.)
At last count there were 37 comments, mostly negative when someone
(David Pogue?) cut off access to comments for this article, I get it
online. BTW this guy is associated with both NPR and CBS who are both
HD proponents. it looks like comments on this puff piece didn't go the
way the author wanted so he pulled them all. Even if it was an opinion
piece of which I don't think it was, you shouldn't be able to pull
comments from readers who are in disagreement with your ideas; since
when does a paper like the Times print articles like they are blogs
with writer approval on all comments? (Bob Young, Analog, MA, 1642 UT
9 April, ibid.)
Comments still open for me, apparently, at 1045 PDT [1745 UT] (Eric
Flodén, BC, NRC-AM via DXLD) NO comments visible here appended (gh)
The last paragraph says it all:
But the number that counts ? people actually listening to HD radio ?
is shockingly low. Unless the economy turns around, unless satellite
goes away, unless reception improves, unless HD gets a reputation for
great shows (and not just great sound), HD may have a tough slog
ahead.
FM IBOC is circling the drain. AM IBOC is toast. Even if the economy
hadn't driven off a cliff. The recession and the potential demise of
GM and/or Chrysler only put the last nails in the 'ol coffin. 73 (Mike
Brooker, Toronto, ON, IRCA via DXLD)
RDS TRAFFIC
In the New York City market, two stations leave their RDS traffic tags
on 24/7. Doesn't this defeat the purpose of this feature? How do you
get the stations to turn off these tags? Does 'traffic' alerting
actually work in some markets?
Also, some of the format tags are not correct. Stations love to list
themselves as MISC. Others are equally inappropriate. Religious
stations listing themselves as ROCK, etc. I'm presuming there is no
group watching over RDS behavior.
Also, my car prohibits showing message information while the car is in
motion. What a great feature! Outside of helping DXers ID stations
more easily, what is the point of RDS? Does RDS mean 'really dumb
system?' Thanks for listening, (Karl Zuk N2KZ, April 10, WTFDA via
DXLD)
RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM
+++++++++++++++++++++
SILICON VALLEY HAMS to the rescue
The evening news led, the SF Chronicle's top story, and what a
story it was: Vandals opened 300' [pound?] manhole street covers at 4
southbay locations in the early morning hours and cut fiber cables.
This wiped out band ATM's 911 emergency phone and the internet
for the entire silicon valley. AT&T was hardest hit, but Sprint and
Verizon got their share, as they all carry traffic in the same
subterranean holes 8-10 feet under the asphalt.
Hardest hit was Morgan Hill. They activated their emergency
operations center can called in HAM radio operators to
provide missing telecommunications. HAMS were able to get
out the story enough to where the media were all copying THEM
instead of the other way around.
...............
comment
Forgive me, but I cannot refrain from putting in my two cents worth:
Somehow the entire society has taken signals so for granted, we
have been in signal gluttony for so long, that nobody could even
recall what signal starvation is like.
You don't miss your water until your well runs dry.
There are hundreds of manholes, millions of feet of fiber running
under the floor of that valley. Yet all the 'competation' carriers
chose to lease space from eachother in an incestious relationship
that sets the stage for one pair of hands with knowledge and a pair
of bolt cutters could be so effective in reminding society of what
signal starvation means.
..................
Radio to the rescue
Microwave radio is virtually immune to such, it heals in seconds
where fiber takes days and weeks. Nobody believes in 'diverse and
redundant' routing. When I left that industry, it was possible to
carry a considerable portion of fiber's capacity on microwave radio.
At least the HAMS were there with their radios to help restore 911.
Yours in DX, (-- Tim Alderman, Microwave Engineer, FCC License
PG00011282, April 10, WTFDA via DXLD) hams, not HAMS (gh)
DAMAGING PORTABLES BY OVERLOAD?
Re 9-031: ``I talked to someone at Universal Radio last week and he
told me that using wire antennas over 40 ft. could result in your
portable being desensitized -- reduction in weak-signal reception due
to damage to the radio's circuitry -- if used over time``
So damage must be expected only after an extended period? Torturing my
ATS 909 next to transmission antennas for periods of some minutes, on
which it reacted by screaming out in bad distortion, did apparently
not hurt it (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 9, dxldyg via DX LISTENING
DIGEST)
ETON & GRUNDIG NEWS
I have the 2009 Etón Product Catalog which includes Grundig products.
There has never been, and there is not going to be, a Grundig E1. The
Eton E1 is going to be taken off the market. The Grundig G5 is going
to be taken off the market. The Grundig G4 (records) is going to be
taken off the market. So, if you want an Eton E1 or a Grundig G4 or
G5, start thinking of paying for it now. There is going to be a
Grundig G3 with SSB, RDS, synchronous detector and aircraft band. For
the UK, Nevada is the importer for Eton and Grundig radios (David
Crystal, Israel, April World DX Club Contact via DXLD)
COMMENTARY
++++++++++
I enjoyed reading Keith Perron's commentary [9-031] on the importance
of shortwave radio.
For me, the message is more important than the medium, i.e.
international broadcasting, by whatever means, is more important than
the method whereby it reaches the listener's ears. Having said that,
however, I think Keith is correct to point out the continued
importance of shortwave, a medium that, unlike the internet and local
radio relays, cannot be 'switched off' arbitrarily by an organisation
over which the originating broadcaster has no control.
Keith's point about the importance of shortwave radio in an emergency,
when other media are not available, was also well made.
I also agree with his point about the domination of news broadcasting,
with station after station trying to imitate (badly) the major news
providers such as the BBC. Even the BBC World Service, which used to
provide a much more varied fare, has succumbed to the temptation to
saturate its transmissions with news programmes. News, of course, is
important, but not to the detriment of drama, literature, the arts and
science, etc.
I also feel that there is too much unnecessary 'actuality' in some
news programmes (this applies to domestic as well as international
broadcasting). I am a fan of the old-fashioned nine-and-a-half minute
straight reading of the news that the BBC, and many other stations,
used to broadcast. Adding extra voices, even if they are on-the-spot,
is fine but only if it adds to the listener's understanding of the
story. In my opinion this practice is grossly overdone in modern news
programmes - but on this point I'm pretty sure I will be in the
minority!
Does anyone remember what happened to Swiss Radio International back,
I think, in the early 1980s when its splendid and leisurely
entertainment programmes were replaced with a news programme called
'Dateline'? From that point on SRI lost its magic and, probably, much
of its audience: I know that I rarely listened to it after the
changeover. Within 10 years or so, SRI had decided - probably on the
basis of its falling audience, for which its own programming errors
were responsible - that shortwave had no future. It then perpetrated
another mistake by concentrating on satellite delivery, which must
have further reduced its audience, and a few years later it died
altogether.
Another problem, to me, is the soullessness of many station's
presentation as a result of automation. How many stations these days
open their programmes with a live announcer saying, 'Hello and welcome
to our programme. I'm ... and here's what we've got lined up for you
tonight...' I get no sense of this personal touch from many of today's
shortwave stations.
I also feel that some stations lose out on valuable feedback by not
soliciting listeners' responses and by not given out their contact
details often enough. But there is also a problem with many shortwave
listeners who, while grumbling about the cut-backs that have affected
their listening, are slow to respond to what they hear with reasoned
comments and suggestions concerning programme content (Roger Tidy, UK,
April 9, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
>>> My first question was "Have you ever listened to shortwave or do
you even own a shortwave radio?"
His answer was "No!" And he's running a shortwave station? <<<
--- He's running an organization that no longer considers radio as
their primary medium but just as something else besides TV and online.
And the answer is no surprise also because the director of Blablabla
Broadcasting is no radio guy but was formerly a politician or rather a
civil servant from the political field. To my knowledge he never sat
behind the mic, away from some interviews.
>>> And you're bringing in a new audience? Who? <<<
--- Blablabla Broadcasting calls them the "information elites". The
organization is not interested in reaching ordinary people anymore.
They are no longer interested in reaching compatriots abroad either
and explicitly send them away. Thus there is just no point in arguing
that abandoning shortwave altogether could cut off such audiences,
because this doesn't matter anyway.
>>> Some stations feel that maybe shortwave to the People's Republic
is not a good idea because of the amount of jamming done by Chinese
authorities with FIREDRAKE. This is silly. I lived in Beijing for over
8 years and never had a problem to tune in. Yes, it's true that
frequencies directed to China were jammed, but all I had to do was
tune to a frequency for let's say Africa or Eastern Europe, and had no
problem to listen. <<<
--- So those were broadcasts in other languages than Chinese it seems?
Are such programmes jammed by China at all?
In regard to Chinese it appears to be indeed difficult but not
impossible to get listenable signals into China, especially with a
brute-force approach to use as many frequencies as possible. But this
is no argument against shortwave, since in this case the related
webcasts are of course blocked as well.
>>> My feeling is that over the next 10 years or hopefully less, the
stations, people and governments that have cut shortwave will wake up
and say "What have we done?" <<<
--- And my feeling is that a number of the classical international
broadcasters will get lost in cyberspace and fall into oblivion within
less than ten years (Kai Ludwig, Germany, April 9, dxldyg via DX
LISTENING DIGEST)
PROPAGATION
++++++++++++
LOGGING HAWAII IN CALIFORNIA
Now that we have several FM (and TV) DXers in (southern) California,
it might be a good time to review the 'basics' of what it will take to
'hear' Hawaii on the infamous duct which appears sporadically between
late May and September - sometimes even in mid-winter (but not often).
The reverse path (California plus Mexico, et al) heard in Hawaii is
the stuff of legends; Sheldon Remington living at around 1,500 '
elevation in Hawaii has logged tens (hundreds?) of stations from the
lower extremities of Mexico north to at least San Francisco but being
a quite reclusive individual his exploits have never been properly
detailed. Sheldon's interest in TV DX never matured so as we approach
the end of the analog era (Hawaii switched off virtually all analog in
January) the odds are neither he nor anyone else will find ducted (TV)
reception in either direction anytime soon.
Observation of tropospheric ducts from Hawaii to the 'mainland' date
back to at least the 1950s; the first hints came from airline pilots
landing in San Francisco who, when switching to a 120 MHz region
frequency to talk to San Francisco found Honolulu there instead as
they were settling into the California landing pattern. John Chambers
(deceased), W6NLZ, and a New Jersey transplant ham living in Hawaii
(KH6UK) turned this knowledge into the first two meter (144 MHz)
contact over the 2,500 mile path and from those late 50's events all
has flowed.
Ducts vary in intensity, height, 'depth' and over the 50 intervening
years much has been learned. First, the Hawaii end of the duct(s)
nominally remains more elevated than the stateside end; hams in Hawaii
often (but not always) have to go 'up' to elevations approaching 8,000
feet to break into the tropospheric layer while in California a 25
watt two-meter mobile on the shoreline in San Diego is 'perfect copy'
on both VHF and UHF bands.
On rare occasions the mainland side actually moves inland enough that
hams in the Sierras well off the coast make the grade if their
antennas are large enough and their power high enough. Hams as far
north as British Columbia have at least heard the Hawaiian signals and
from Seattle to Baja California there have been two-way contacts on
144 and 432 MHz. One time a ham in Reno, Nevada even made it across
the Sierras!
Alas, working a Morse (CW) contact with a signal buried in the noise
is one thing; hearing a Hawaiian FM station on the mainland is
another. The primary problem is not the lack of signal; it is 'too
many, too strong' signals - originating in California (or Oregon
etc.). The first step is to get rid of the band-clobbering signals
nearby and for any location in southern California that may not be
possible. Every frequency from 88.1 to 107.9 is occupied, sometimes
two, three or four times, between Santa Barbara and San Diego and
while the Hawaiian signals could possibly be quite strong, they will
seldom if ever be strong enough to override a much closer station.
Step one: Research and make a 'cheat sheet' of all higher power,
elevated Hawaiian FM stations. Know their frequency, their format, and
if they are in fact operating from an elevated location. Sheldon
Remington's experience at 1,500 feet ASL might be instructive; or it
may not. Now find yourself a spot - no matter how difficult it may be
- where you can set-up to listen on one or more of these identified
channels without mind numbing overload from 'local' signals. Frankly,
if I were making this my challenge, I would immediately search out a
location between Santa Barbara and Monterey along or west of Highway
1, preferably right on the (Pacific) water around Grover Beach-Avila
Beach, or better yet perhaps between Cambria and Big Sur. Here's why.
Duct signals wander up and down (elevation and area illuminated) as a
function of time of day. Fifty years of experience tells us the 'at-
water' seacoast locations usually work best between 3pm and 10pm but
predicting when ducts will function for any given location is a fool's
game. Next, have a way to know 'when' the ducts exist. The best
suggestion I can make is to monitor the web site
http://www.dxworld.com/50prop.html and look for reports from K6QXY (he
is northeast of San Francisco) who can be counted on to report when
there are ducting conditions to Hawaii. You can also once on the site
click on '144 prop' at top for two-meter reports from others along the
California coast. Not all ducts of course are created equal; some last
hours, some days; some are strong, some are weak. Some favor 144 MHz,
others 432 MHz or higher.
FM (88.1-107.9) will be best when there are many reports of 144 MHz
contacts between Hawaii and the west coast (even six meters or 50 MHz
has made it on ducting on occasion). When K6QXY or others on that site
say 'the duct is in' head to your pre-selected spot armed with your
research; which frequencies to listen on, which format to listen for
and note the easy to spot 'time zone' difference (Hawaii is typically
two hours west of California [winter; 3 hours summer]).
The real advice here is to pre-hand-pick your DX-pedition location
(just as Saul does in Ontario and Chris does in Michigan!) carefully,
preferably in advance by making a test run to locate where you can
park (a decent car radio may - 'may!' - be all you need) and have
local shielding from the multitude of interfering stations along
California's coastal area, on one or more frequencies known to be
occupied by Hawaiian stations of moderate to high power and at some
elevation.
Would it be helpful to include a fold-up transportable FM antenna -
even a Radio Shack version? Probably but if you are car-radio only,
that presents a coupling challenge (not insurmountable but involving
some wiring changes). The primary reason why I would seriously
consider this option is to help with phasing out the unwanted
California layers of signals. I have personally been on Mt Pinos
(8,816 feet asl; drive to the top) off of highway 33 and south between
Cuyama and Maricopa (northeast of Santa Barbara) with a suitable yagi
under 'dead band' (summer) conditions and literally been able to log
every FM station from Sacramento and San Francisco on the north to the
Mexican border (a span of approaching 500 miles) with as many as ten
(10!) on some channels. This is a wonderful spot NOT to try for Hawaii
because you would never - ever - have enough antenna to eliminate one,
two or five California stations on the same frequency.
Plus - at 8,816 feet, you would most likely be above the duct anyhow.
Remember - the great majority of Hawaiian ducts at some point stick to
the ground on the eastern end which explains why one guy in San Diego
actually made it to Hawaii with a two-meter handheld radio a few years
back (oh yes - he had replaced the 'rubber ducky' antenna with a
homebrewed five element two meter yagi but his power was under 5
watts; it works out to 0.002 watts per mile which is pretty good in
anyone's book.)
TV? Sorry - the (analog) opportunity has passed and unless you are
prepared to use a suitable antenna (such as Dennis Smith's five foot
parabolic dish) and carefully select a location where the set top box
might decode a Hawaiian UHF signal. The odds are against you but then
if you did it, you'd have a distance record that might never be
surpassed!
In summary, it has been a curiosity to me (after nearly 60 years of
TV-FM DXing) that nobody has ever logged a Hawaiian station via
ducting (setting aside double hop Es and F2) from the mainland. It is
not really a big challenge but it will require some careful research
and planning - and like all things DX - 'Being in the right place at
the right time - on the right frequency!' (Bob Cooper in New Zealand,
April WTFDA VHF-UHF Digest via DXLD) ###