DX LISTENING DIGEST 9-044, May 31, 2009 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2009 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1462, May 28-June 2 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 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 [suspended] 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 1463 starting here?] Wed 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 1900 WBCQ 7415 Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html or http://schedule.worldofradio.org or http://sked.worldofradio.org For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN NOW AVAILABLE: http://podcast.worldofradio.org or http://www.wrn.org/listeners/stations/podcast.php OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org ** ALBANIA. R. Tirana still doing well on 7425; checking English to North America UT Sunday May 31: at 0143 already on the air with music, then RT theme, 0144-0146 IS, 0146 theme again and opening English with full schedule. WBCQ 7415 was strong enough to cause a bit of splatter but no other QRM, and RT somewhat undermodulated as usual (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGUILLA [and non]. I have accomplished the impossible: I have heard a local ID on the Caribbean Beacon! Normally it`s 24/7 DGS/PMS satellite feed from UN HQ in LA, with no local breaks built in or ever exercised. Here`s how I did it: May 26 at 1329 tuned in 11775 to hear a hefty mix of three audio sources. On the bottom, something in Chinese, which disappeared at 1330. That`s CNR1 jamming against All India Radio`s Tibetan service via Goa, which also ends at 1330. That left not one, but two preachers in English mixing at about equal level. One was certainly PMS, // WWCR 13845 where she was alone (almost, except for a bit of crosstalk), inbooming tnx to sporadic E. The other: an OM with a Caribbean lilt to his accent. At 1332 his show was upwrapping so I strained to make out what was being said vs all the PMS QRM. Local YL announcer came on, said his next appearance would be Friday at 9-9:30 am, time check for 28 before 10, and ID!!!! ``This is the Caribbean Beacon Radio``, and into next preacher, a YL. Recheck at 1359: still a mix, jazz at the moment from the PMS service, and YL preacher, outroing at 1400; 1401 local live YL announcer again with C. B. ID, and saying ``Music to Live By`` would come next, and then three other shows named starting at 10:10, 10:15 and 10:30, and into the music filling a bit of unsold time. How could this happen? The Caribbean Beacon local audio, presumably what was supposed to go out only on 1610 kHz, was just about equal level to PMS, so not bleedthru like we get on WWCR, with the unwanted audio very much in the background. Probably not a transmitter problem, but someone left a pot open on the audio mixing board. How long would it last? Is no one paying attention in The Valley? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, It appears that it lasted until just after the noon ID and timecheck, which was at 1601:30 UT. I have posted a clip here: http://www.bcdx.org/?p=106 Thank you! 73, (Brandon Jordan, TN, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) George McClintock tells me the cause was RF from the MW 1610 transmitter getting into the SW audio processor. This has happened before. The reason it stopped at 1600 UT (1601 as Brandon Jordan observed May 26) is that the SW and MW become parallel at that time (noon AST), after the local programming on MW only. So the 1610 audio could still be mixing in there, except it`s then the same as on SW anyway. It was not yet known whether the problem had been fixed. It could happen again between 1000 and 1600, which are the hours WRTH says 1610 splits away for local programming. So I monitored 11775 again the next morning, May 27. At 1320 PMS was mixed with gospel rock and the ChiCom jamming producing a SAH. After China quit at 1330, it was quite clear that the Anguilla audio mix of two programs into one transmitter is still happening, and no SAH. Shortly after 1330, the same local YL announcer as yesterday was heard in break between programs while the University Network was playing revival music. 1333, Caribbean Beacon started OM preacher referencing Matthew XIV, vs PMS preaching about something else. At 1356 the LA announcer claimed ``You are watching the University Network`` --- I beg to differ. I can`t possibly be watching it since I am listening to a shortwave radio! Does T.U.N. ever acknowledge its SW broadcasts any more? Again running slightly late, at 1401 ``Caribbean Beacon Radio`` ID by live YL, ``Music to Live By`` about to start, and again previewing programs upcoming at 10:10, 10:15 and 10:30. If anything, the C.B. audio is now louder than PMS. 1413 another Caribbean Beacon Radio ID, more music mixed with Melissa. Meanwhile I was checking WWCR 13845 for // PMS programming. At 1352 she was inbooming tnx to sporadic E, but the MUF was somewhere between that and 15825 where WWCR was still weak. 13845 was strong enough to audiblize the crosstalk from WWCR 7490 programming. 11775 fixed mix with local MW 1610 programming as heard the past two days: May 28 at 1311, Pastor Melissa Scott all by herself; even the ChiCom jamming was barely audible. A pity: 99% of SWLs would rather hear the Carib huxters along with live local Caribbean Beacon continuity announcements between 1000 and 1600. PMS and DGS should take a daily break and give us a chance to hear the real Anguilla unimpeded without leaving it to technical breakdowns. It was `fixed` on May 28, but it`s unfixed again on May 29 at 1347 check: 11775 with two programs at once, PMS, and another YL preacher from the Caribbean Beacon local service, at a slightly lower audio level. As previously explained, this can happen between 1000 and 1600 when 1610 kHz carries separate programming. Caribbean Beacon, 11775, still mixing local 1610 program audio with PMS, May 30 at 1308, at the moment gospel music from the former, and now much lower audio level than PMS, but still obviously there. An hour later a male preacher could be heard underneath her. The ChiCom co-channel jamming until 1330 was even weaker this date, but enough to cause a SAH (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. ANTARTIDA, 15476, LRA 36 Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, Base Esperanza, 1848-1909, 26-05, canciones argentinas, tangos, comentario, locutora, identificación a las 1858: locutor, "música y cultura, de Esperanza al mundo", locutora: "Transmite LRA 36 Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, por la frecuencia de 15476 Kilociclos, banda de 19 metros, desde Base Esperanza, Antártida Argentina", locutor: "63 grados... latitud Sur, 56 grados... longitud Oeste, por 15476 kHz. transmite LRA 36, Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel", locutora: "música folclórica de Santiago del Estero". 24322 ANTARTIDA, 15476, LRA 36 Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, Base Esperanza, 1820-1906, 28-05. Siguen las buenas condiciones de propagación para sintonizar a esta emisora. Escuchada hoy con música, luego, a las 1825 comentario deportivo por locutora "Barcelona sigue de fiesta luego de ganar la Champions Ligue de fútbol, consiguió por primera vez en su historia, Champions, Liga y Copa del Rey", resultados de los tenistas argentinos en Roland Garros, canciones argentinas, identificación por locutor: "Sabe Vd. que la Base Esperanza se encuentra a 63º 24' latitud Sur, 56º 59' longitud Oeste, desde aquí transmitimos todos los días de 15 a 18 horas por 15476 kHz. para todo el mundo". "Continuamos con nuestro programa de Esperanza al mundo; pueden escribirnos a través de nuestro correo electrónico lra36 @ infovia.com.ar ". 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600g, Antena de cable 8 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. Historias de Radio - Otra buena noticia --- Traspaso el mensaje enviado por nuestro amigo Daniel Camporini, productor y realizador de Historias de Radio: Ante todo deseo agradecer a todos quienes han enviado sus mensajes lamentando el cierre del programa y es debido a estos pedidos para que el programa se siga emitiendo que voy a realizar un maximo y ultimo esfuerzo por ver a que le puedo robar tiempo para poder realizarlo. La verdad es que la cantidad de mensajes recibidos a superado todas mis espectativas y de verdad eso me pone en una situación mas que dificil. Asi es que si todo sale bien, a partir de mañana podrán ustedes encontrar un nuevo programa de Historias de Radio en la dirección habitual de Internet, y esa misma historia en Diexismo & Comunicación. Un abrazo a todos, mi agradecimiento y mis cordiales 73 Daniel Camporini http://www.dxradiomonitor.freehosting.net http://www.historiasderadio.podomatic.com El programa “Historias de Radio” también se emite a través de “Radio Paris La Paz 106.9 FM, La Paz , Bolivia, los domingos a las 2230 UT (17:30 local [sic: not UT -5 hours]). Si desean ponerse en contacto con el programa se pueden dirigir a: historiasderadio @ hotmail.com Pueden escucharlo, a partir del sábado, en su página: http://es.geocities.com/programas_dx/historiasderadio.htm Si desean escuchar otros programas diexistas en español lo pueden hacer en: http://es.geocities.com/programasdx/ Cordiales 73 Daniel Camporini Villate 4534 B1605EKV Munro [Argentina] (via José Bueno, Spain, May 31, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So he has decided to keep doing the show after all, due to the huge response to his cancellation announcement (gh, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA [and non]. Something is very wrong at Shepparton: R. Australia absent from the air, May 30 at 1249 check, nothing audible on usually inbooming 9580, nor lesser 9590, nor lesser 9560, nor lesser 9475. Nor 6020 where Vatican Radio in Chinese via RVA Philippines finally had the frequency to itself! Still not a peep out of RA at further chex during the next hour, and nothing on 7240 which is supposed to open at 1400. Massive power failure, or necessary maintenance break? Propagation? SE Asian signals were pretty much normal, e.g. Indonesia on 9525. There is nothing but New Zealand to compare with further S of the Equator, and it popped on 6170 a few sex before 1400 with bellbird, timesignal and news, altho poor by now with sunrise almost at its earliest here. Is there anything about this on the RA homepage http://www.abc.net.au/ra ? Of course not! When you are a modern multi- platform broadcaster, it is of little importance if one of them goes down. Not checked again until 2206, when 15560 was on the air, discussion of bushfires. RA, which was missing from at least six frequencies May 30 around 1300, was back on the air 24.5 hours later when 9580 was checked at 1325 May 31 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. This time I was able to reconfirm that OE1 is still relaying the token English newscast at 0608 M-F from domestic service: On 13730, poor but readable, Tue May 26 at 0611, some news in English mentioning California voters, then brief weather summary, presumably for Österreich instead of Kalliforrnya, 0612 into French. Would be // 6155 if it were propagating that long after LSR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BANGLADESH [non]. The station I reported last month as Radio Bangladesh on 7250, noted under Vatican Radio, is incorrect. It is All India Radio, interval signal heard at 1614, into local music, language is Farsi (Edwin Southwell, England, DX News, June World DX Club Contact via DXLD) They have moved here from 7115; Farsi is 1615-1730, Malayalam 1730-1830 per the Eike Bierwirth online frequency list (Mike Barraclough, ed., ibid.) ** BELARUS. 7255, R. Belarus, 2057 Pop song // much weaker 7210. Nigeria in French came on over top them, then came back on on 7256 at 2106. At 2134, found Nigeria had moved back down covering this, but did get an ID by M over music on 7210. (27 May) 7255 Nigeria [q.v.] didn't come on until after 2100 today leaving Belarus in the clear, but unfortunately Belarus was weaker than yesterday and just too much QRN. (28 May) (Dave Valko, DXpedition at Black Bear Cabins, Cook Forest State Park, PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. From Band Scan for last fortnight: 4409.8, Radio Eco, Reyes, 0000 best in lsb 4451.2, Radio Santa Ana, Santa Ana de Yacuma note [sic] heard here or by Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec in Brasil. 6155.2, Radio Fides, 1000 Logs ~ Pompano Beach, Cedar Key, Boca Raton, Clewiston, Coral Springs and Embu SP Brasil. 73s (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Southeast Florida, NRD 535D ~ Drake R8, May 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4409.7, Radio Eco, Reyes, 0010 to 0025 on 27 May, usual pulsating signal absent for once. 5580.31, Radio San José, San José de Chiquitos, 0000 to 0020 on 27 May with weak signal, music. 5952.54, Radio Pío XII, Siglo XX signs on after 1100 noted 29 and 30 May, noted every evening at 0000 but with much cochannel interference and a rather weak signal. 73s de (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, Florida, US, May 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 6075, R Kawsachun Coca, Lauka. May 29 Spanish 2325-2337 elation to Evo Morales content, political and others matters “el traidor de la pátria, dividir Bolivia,.. el país está preparado para recibir la gripe! etc”, at 2336 ID by OM. Strong QRM underneath presumed by Deutsche Welle, 21422 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello Lucio, 6075 Bolivia is a great log, maybe I missed it; do not remember seeing any other logs of this. Will try tonight. Thanks! 73s (Bob Wilkner, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Not lately, but it was quite a sensation when it first appeared last year (gh, DXLD) 6075, R Kawsachun Coca, Lauka. May 31 1001-1019 National Anthem, 1007 OM talks, ID, email adress and other info, from 1010 folk, Andean music selections, 1015 canned ID. Enhancement from 1013, at peak 33433 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 6155.28, R. Fides already on before 1000 at 0953 with usual W doing presumed news (27 May) (Dave Valko, DXpedition at Black Bear Cabins, Cook Forest State Park, PA, HCDX via DXLD) 6155.27, Radio Fides, La Paz, 0150-0200*, May 30, Bolivian music. Spanish announcements at 0156. ID at 0159. Poor in t-storm static and adjacent channel splatter (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Inconfidência ondas curtas de 6010 kHz --- Pessoal, Depois de um certo tempo fora do ar, em razão de um acidente com um caminhão que avariou as dependências em que estava o TX de ondas curtas, a Inconfidência voltou a transmitir em 6010 kHz e sua potência passou a ser 25 kW, segundo o técnico de TX da emissora, Sr. Marcus. O técnico pede que os demais colegas da lista o informe da recepção em sua cidade, diretamente pelo e-mail -- mstar@... [truncated by yg]. Ele informa também que NÃO haverá troca de cartão QSL. Trata-se apenas de subsídios técnicos para ajustagens finais do TX de ondas curtas. 73 (Luiz Chaine Neto, Limeira sp, May 25, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Radio Inconfidência em 19 metros --- Caros Amigos, Em uma conversa telefônica com o Técnico da Radio Inconfidência de Belo Horizonte, Sr. Gleyson, obtive boas noticias sobre esta emissora mineira. Eles deverão estar operando até o final do mês com o transmissor de 25 Kg [sic] em 6010 kHz. No momento eles estão operando com o transmissor de 5 Kg [sic]. Uma boa notícia, é que eles estão planejando reativar o transmissor de 19 metros (15190 kHz). A grande dificuldade encontrada na manutenção das freqüências, foi o descaso de administrações passadas com os transmissores da emissora, que foram sucateados e canibalizados. Eles esperam voltar a transmitir em menos de um ano (George Cunha, Brasil, May 26, radioescutas yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1462, DXLD) & watch out for R Africa 6009.80, Radio Inconfidência, Belo Horizonte, 0905-0925, May 31, Portuguese pops/ballads. Portuguese announcements. IDs at 0913 and 0924. Poor. Weak but in the clear. No sign of Mexico or Colombia. I think I also heard them 4 or 5 hours earlier on 6009.77 but with a lot of QRM from several stations closer to 6010 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 6135.06, Radio Aparecida, 0930-0945, May 29, local Brazilian music. Portuguese talk. Poor to fair. Threshold signal on // 9629.97 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6135.06, 29/5 2336, Rádio Aparecida, Brazil, talks "Diário Nacional", fair. RX: Drake R8 - Ant: T2FD - QTH Milano (Italy) (Giampiero Bernardini, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. What`s this distorted music centered on 6500, May 31 at 0630? No stable carrier, and strong blubbering signal, maybe partly ute QRM mixed in. 0638 started talking and with some strain, I finally determined it was in Brazilian. That makes the prime suspect R. Nacional da Amazônia, and sure `nuff, it`s missing from 6185 leaving XEPPM in the clear, not usually the case on UT Sundays when RNA runs all-night. And 6500 // 11780, clinching it. So the 6185 transmitter was VERY out-of-order. Is no one paying attention in Rodeador Park? When are they going to get the new ones installed? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. This was too easy. As soon as I tuned in 11925, May 26 at 0622, I heard a YL give a Rádio Bandeirantes ID in passing, poor-fair signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. BRAZIL CRACKS DOWN ON PIRATE OPERATORS Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1659 - May 29 2009 Brazil, working with the U.S. intelligence has begun a crack down on pirate operators who have been using an abandoned United States military satellite system for their own personal use. The FLTSATCOM which is an acronym for the Fleet Satellite Communications System was a constellation eight non-encrypted communications satellites launched between 1978 and 1989. These were replaced in the 1990's by a newer and more secure satellite system, but two of the old birds remain operational. This was discovered by pirate radio operators in Brazil about a half decade ago, but no action was taken until the U-S discovered the illegal operators and filed complaints to Brazil. Now, Brazil has undertaken an enforcement campaign called "Operation Satellite" In it, Brazilian police use coordinates provided by the U.S. Department of Defense and confirmed by Brazil's telecommunications authority to raid locations of suspected satellite pirates. Among those already caught and charged have been university professors, electricians, truckers and farmers. The suspects face up to four years and jail, but are more likely to be fined if convicted. According to one article the abandoned birds were left operational in case they were needed in emergency situations. The growing amount of pirate activity from Brazil has made them unusable for that purpose. Its not known if the United States might simply de-orbit the remaining birds to put an end to the pirate operations. (Published reports) (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) WTFK? 2-meter area? What stations or IDs used? Do they mean they were running broadcasts thru them, or some other usage? 2-way comms? (gh, DXLD) ** BURMA [non]. MYANMAR KEEPS IN TOUCH WITH CHRISTIAN RADIO Radio Veritas Asia keeps the people of Asia in touch with the rest of the world. The Catholic radio service, based in the Philippines, also serves Kayin Christians in Burma, most of whom are Evangelicals and other Protestants. . . http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idCategory=33&idsub=122&id=19431&t=Myanmar+keeps+in+touch+with+Christian+radio (via Zacharias Liangas; Arnaldo Slaen, dxldyg via DXLD) Are we to understand that RVA operates freely inside Burma? And this article, likely a press release from RVA itself, too concludes with that absurd assertion: ``RVA, which broadcasts in 15 languages across Asia, is the only continental Catholic shortwave station in the world. It celebrated 40 years of broadcasting in April.`` So Vatican Radio and WEWN are not ``continental``? Or to RVA`s way of warped thinking, is VR too big to be merely ``continental``. RVA might possibly claim to be the ``only continental Catholic SW station in ASIA`` (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** CANADA. Hello Glenn, I Noticed a weak 3rd harmonic signal from CHU's 3330 transmitter this morning, Saturday, 30 May at 1215 UT on 9990 kHz. I was tuning below WWV and noticed a very weak-noise floor signal with no audio detected. Only by putting the receiver in USB could I hear the familiar time code from CHU. Nothing heard on 6660 (Bill Mead, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, NRD 525/Wellbrook loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 6030, CFVP, May 28 at 1249 with 6:49 = 11 till 7 timecheck; weak but clear, altho not heard a few minutes earlier. Sunrise enhancement? No, Calgary sunrise is now 1130 UT. 1253 plug ``old time country favourites``, ``Classic Country`` ID, and they meant it with Johnny Cash`s ``Walk the Line`` played next. At this time not even a carrier from CFRX 6070, perhaps totally absorbed over summer daytime path now, or off the air? WYFR 6085 weakly audible in Spanish with 100x the CFRX power aimed south, 1000x the CFVP power. Yes, CFRX appears to be off the air again, after a good run of several months. No sign of it on 6070 May 29 at 0529 or at 1327. What`s the problem this time? After missing a couple days, CFRX back on 6070, May 30 at 0612 check in Holder talkshow from CJAD Montréal; also audible at 1240 with another phone-in show (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [and non]. For the last several months, RCI has been oblivious to the collision with China`s Japanese service on 7325; at best, the two signals were roughly equal here, but by May 28 RCI has weakened greatly, putting CRI on top, at 1259 check with Chinese traditional music prélude, 1300 IS and opening in Japanese, way over RCI, so buried I could not even be positive it was in Spanish as scheduled until 1305; and running another hour in Chinese, which must be a total loss (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. It seems that more news about RCI could emerge next week: > "in a few days we're supposed to get official notice about the CBC > layoffs and how they will impact Radio Canada International" > http://twitter.com/RCI_Action/status/1887458355 Has management muzzled them in regard to telling about the impact, like further program cut-backs? The next post from their Twitter account merely says: >> It's now official. Colleagues have received their letters of "redundancy" today as part of the CBC budget cuts at Radio Canada International << http://twitter.com/RCI_Action/status/1938032772 On their Facebook page only this measly notice has been added as well: >> Colleagues receive "redundancy" letters May 27, 2009. Still seems a bit unreal! << And their old Geocities page is apparently no longer updated at all. Yahoo plans to eliminate the Geocities service, this dinosaur from 1994 (!), at yearend anyway. See also http://www.insidethecbc.com/layoffs-cancellations-and-retirements >> CBC Northeast Ontario in Sudbury got nailed. They now have only 3 reporters left to cover a region larger than New Brunswick. Amazingly, I'm told the manager is still safe. What there will be to manage is unclear. << >> I will be losing my job in the newsroom. I am being bumped for someone more senior. Of course that senior person is unqualified and has far less skill than yours truly. I have been given the dubious task of training this guy. Yes, I get to train the guy to do my job --- and then after 6 weeks he will take it away from me. I don't blame him per se. I blame the union. They are more interested in protecting the highly paid and under skilled than those who are actually capable. The union loves to pick on management...but right now I'm failing to see the difference. << http://teamakers.blogspot.com/2009/05/tweeting-wounded.html#c1954923220916144856 >> You don't understand what it takes to make TV and radio. << --- >> A billion dollars and 750 senior managers? << http://teamakers.blogspot.com/2009/05/vent.html#c3383725995712762642 http://teamakers.blogspot.com/2009/05/vent.html#c8462487121181424486 (via Kai Ludwig, May 31, dxldyg via DXLD) The RCI unions should learn from the RFI unions (Keith Perron, Taiwan, ibid.) See FRANCE ** CANADA. In case any Americans are still not convinced that life is better in Canada, literally: after the violent disclaimer-requiring drama Afghanada on CBC Radio One, I was listening to the noon news May 28 from Winnipeg on webcast, and one of the stories was the FIRST murder of the year in Winnipeg --- here it is, almost five months into 2009. Imagine any American city of similar size being able to report that?! Yet per Wikipedia, in 2005, Winnipeg had the highest murder rate among Canadian cities, but their crime rate in general has been declining. Some US cities of similar size, 700K (multiplied from murder rates listed per 100K population), for the whole year 2007, figures per Wikipedia: Austin 30, Columbus 81, Fort Worth 60, Memphis 127, San Francisco 102 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA [and non]. Farm Radio is the topic on the first half of the third hour of The Sunday Edition on CBC Radio One, May 31. They provide scripts which are freely used by radio stations in Africa, Asia and other developing areas. Very interesting; should be available ondemand as ``listen to latest show`` once May 24 is replaced, at http://www.cbc.ca/thesundayedition/index.html And maybe thenceforward if preserved as a podcast. BTW, Sunday Edition used to have the `latest show` full info up before the latest show had finished original broadcast, but not any more. Closing clip was IDed as from ``Mali in the Bujumbura language`` by Michael Enright. I don`t think so --- Bujumbura is the capital of Burundi, nowhere near Mali. I suppose he meant to say Bambara (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANARY ISLANDS [non]. A Spanish-speaking station broadcasting around 6990.1 at 2220 identifies as La Nueva Voz de Canaria Libre. Does anyone know anything about this station? (Alexander [Koutamanis?], Netherlands, May 29, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) Is this? http://canariaslibre.podcast.es (Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, ibid.) 25 episodes, the latest dated May 23 (gh, DXLD) Sounded similar, probably had similar content too but I cannot vouch for it (no Spanish). (Alexander, Cumbre DX via DXLD) La Nueva Voz de Canarias Libre anuncia emitir en Podcast y analógico para América, espero contestación de la emisora para que confirmen que emiten por Onda Corta. Alexander, Thanks (José Miguel Romero, Spain, ibid.) Any pirate could put the podcast on 6990 (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. Firedrake observations May 26: at 0614, JBA on 14420 and at 0619 also audible better to fair level on 18320. At 1322, on 9000 stronger than 8400. Not sure if //. CNR1 jamming: see ANGUILLA (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1462, DX LISTENING DIGEST) E Asian reception not so good the morning of May 27, but at 1326 heard weak Firedrake on 15420, likely against V. of Tibet`s variable frequency via Tajikistan. Aoki, however, puts that on 15425 and says it varies 15422-15427, but this was exactly on 15420, despite BBC Seychelles scheduled in English, unheard. VOT runs 1300-1400, but at 1347 recheck neither it nor FD heard anywhere in this area. The only other FD found was 13970, fair at 1349, nothing on 14420 et al. Firedrake check May 28: at 1239, 9000 kHz had not only FD, but atop it, `anvil` pounding at the rate of six times a second. Additional jamming as June 3-4 approaches, so one can`t even enjoy the jammusic? These were continuous bangs, no pauses like the `bonker` heard on various other frequencies such as 11740. Could be a ute legitimately on 9000, but none such heard here before. Anvil still pounding at 1304, and Firedrake resuming at 1305 after hourtop pause. 1325 still anvil, but at 1353 FD in the clear. Only other FD noted was 13970 at 1352, just barely audible, but anvilless. 11605 a big mess of QRM at 1356 May 28; CNR1 jamming and het from something deliberately off frequency. Aoki shows RFA Tibetan via Tinian until 1400; but at 1400 it all cleared up as RFA introduced Vietnamese, which per Aoki is via Tanshui, Taiwan site. It seems that Vietnam is not so afraid of outside ideas getting in; are they doing any jamming at all of less benign clandestines? Firedrake check May 30: E Asian conditions not so good; at 1313 fair on 9000 but found nowhere else in 8-19 MHz range; at 1320 it was JBA on 13970. CRI Japanese service, 7430, May 30 at 1400 with opening ID as ``Pekin Hoso``, so that obsolete name is still politically correct in Japanese. Fair signal, 500 kW on 59 degree beam from Jinhua-Youbu site #831 per Aoki. Many of CRI`s Japanese broadcasts greatly exceed their necessary reach and here we are in North America, far beyond Japan in more or less the same direxion. Firedrake check May 31 at 1354: best on 15600, then 13970, then 15150. Nothing audible on 18320, 14420, 11300, 9300, 8400, but the lower ones may have been on sinking into the noise level. At 1439, however, 14420 now audible // better 15600. T minus 3 days and counting (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEEST) ** CHINA. BBCWS: THE LOST VOICES OF TIANANMEN James Miles has a unique insight into the way China works based on over 20 years' experience as a correspondent there. He was the BBC's China correspondent in 1989 when he was eye-witness to the events leading up to the Tiananmen Square protests Miles describes what it was like to witness such a moment in history and why the crackdown was so brutal. He considers how the Tiananmen Square massacre shaped the China we see now. But most of all, how important the protests were for China. Were they an aberration which has been crushed forever? Or could those cries for democracy re-emerge as China grapples with the effects of the global economic crisis. The Lost Voices of Tiananmen - Part One First broadcast on Monday 20 May 2009. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2009/05/090519_lostvoices_tiananmen_one.shtml The Lost Voices of Tiananmen - Part two First broadcast on Monday 27 May 2009. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2009/05/090526_lostvoices_tiananmen_two.shtml (via Jaisakthivel, ADXC, Chennai, India, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CHINA. FREE TRIPS TO CHINA WINNERS Local man bags best China radio's best listener award Vellore, (PTI) A private insurance company official here has bagged China Radio's 'best listener' award in India for his feedback on its Tamil broadcasts and won himself a free 10-day free trip to that nation. Kannan Sekar, secretary of the local branch of China Radio will make the trip from Chennai on May 23. China Radio Tamil broadcasting Chief Kalaiyarasi said Kannan been listening to the Tamil broadcast of the radio for the last 46 years and been sending valuable feedback. The best listener is chosen by China Radio once in three years for a trip to China. Note: He is also a members of Ardic DX Club for eight years. Rest of the CRI Free trip winners Eduardo da Silva Ferreira from Brazil Rosset Pierre-André from Switzerland Budinova Rumyana Asenova from Bulgaria Cocoru Daniel-Radu-Alexandru from Romania Mohammad Idi Gargajiga from Nigeria Prapin Manomaivibool from Thailand Andrew Peterson from U.S. Kim Yeon Joon from S. Korea Huang Guoping from France (via Jaisakthivel, Chennai, India, http://www.dxersguide.blogspot.com May 28, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CHINA. Enclosed an account of a visit at China Radio International, on invitation of the German service. Abridged translation: "The entrance to the building is severely guarded, resulting in some turbulencies due to linguistic problems. It was of no use to show off the CRI letter with my name; the voice of the person in uniform became increasingly loud and excited as I indicated that I have to get in. To my rescue came an American(?) who returned from the canteen outside the building. She told me that I first have to announce my arrival in a small building across the street. There I first got a national on the phone and told him joyfully that I want to visit the German service. But his reaction or rather non- reaction appeared strange to me, so I hung up and shook my head. The receptionist noticed this, and I somehow managed to let her know that this attempt led to nothing. Now she called the number 68892221 I gave her and talked in Mandarin with the gentleman. After concluding the call she asked me to sit down and wait. After about five minutes I was greeted with smiles by Lu Shan from the German service. Some further formalities where necessary until I finally got a badge. The already mentioned guard inspected this badge especially carefully; at least this was my impression. It apparently required some good words from Lu Shan until he finally decided to let me in. Immediately after entering the building there was already the second guard post. But here we could pass faster. [...] Most impressive to me was an exhibition with 45 glass cabinets, corresponding to the 45 language services, each one two metres tall and a half metre wide. They contain souvenirs sent or brought in by listeners. Reminiscent from the German cabinet was to me a Bavarian beer can. The Russian cabinet contains an empty Vodka bottle and Matryoshka puppets. [...] Also on display are historical transmitters, historical receivers, loudspeaker components for streets, photos and information about the construction of the new CRI building. [...] " (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The original, posted by Paul Gager. Austria, appeared in dxldyg (gh) Good read. Thanks for translating this, Kai! The question remains, who drank that vodka, as no Russian would give an empty bottle as a gift (Sergei S., Moscow, ibid.) Here is something very funny. When I left CRI in 2006 I kept my pass and use to use it to get access to CRI. A few months ago I needed t go to Beijing to arrange some of my things to be sent to Taiwan and went to CRI with my pass which I find very funny. The solders who guard CRI are changed every 2 months and none of them are from Beijing. Why? The reason is simple. In 1989 PLA solders who were from Beijing started fighting the PLA solders from outside the city trying to prevent them from taking action in Tiananmen. In March 1990 at the CCP Congress the military leaders decided to only have solders from outside Beijing in Beijing. Something that you should have seen because it's so funny is the changing of guards at 8am, 2pm, 8pm, 2am (Keith Perron, Taiwan, ibid.) ** CUBA. Today's TV Es May 28 [including] TeleRebelde on 2 and 5, Cuba on 6 with news and small ?clock-face? logo upper right. TeleRebelde ran "Murder She Wrote" at 0947 CT [1447 UT] with a black rectangle lower right covering the originating network or station's logo. They were back to unID color bars a couple of hours later (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, May 28, WTFDA via DXLD) So was the show pirated? ** CUBA. Presume this could impact some MW transmitting hours, with any luck at least. CUBA ANNOUNCES NEW AUSTERITY PLAN ---By Michael Voss, BBC News, Havana Cuba has announced it will introduce an austerity programme in June to try to offset the impact of the international financial crisis and reduce energy use. Unless energy use is reduced over the summer there could be blackouts, the authorities warn. Details of the restrictions have yet to be announced but could include limiting the use of air conditioning at work and home, and shorter working hours. Until recently the global recession has not been felt by most Cubans. There have been no mass redundancies in this state-run economy where most workers have jobs for life. But life is about to get harder. Prices of Cuba's major export, nickel, have slumped, tourism revenues are down while last year's hurricane caused $10bn (£6.25bn) worth of damage and the US trade embargo continues to bite. Liquidity problem The result is a serious liquidity problem. The government is running out of money to pay for imports. Shortages are starting to appear in the shops of items ranging from milk to toothpaste and babies' nappies. Cuba used 40,000 more tons of fuel to produce electricity in the first three months of 2009 because of increased consumption, according to figures published in the state-run newspaper Granma. According to Cuba's Minister of Economy and Planning, Marino Murillo, the predicted 6% growth in 2009 is now expected to fall to barely 2%. Many foreign firms operating in Cuba are currently unable to send money abroad or take cash out from their corporate accounts. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/8069877.stm Published: 2009/05/27 10:39:11 GMT © BBC MMIX (via Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, DXLD) ** CUBA. Saludos cordiales, Ya estoy de vuelta y creo... que ahora es para siempre si Dios quiere, Un abrazo a todos los amigos de la lista y les dejo con esta noticia que salio ayer en el diario Granma de mi país. Un abrazo a todos. Hasta pronto y felices DX. Yandys. [viz.:] LA ADUANA GENERAL DE LA REPÚBLICA ENFRENTA SUCESIVOS INTENTOS DE INTRODUCIR EN EL PAÍS DISPOSITIVOS ELECTRÓNICOS CON FINES DE LUCRO Y DE SUBVERTIR EL ORDEN Luego del viaje breve y confortable llegaba el momento decisivo para el pasajero procedente de los Estados Unidos que intentaba pasar gato por liebre. La primera señal de evadir los controles establecidos para el cruce de frontera fue no reflejar en la Declaración de Aduana los implementos de telecomunicaciones que portaba. Uno de ellos (plato de antena parabólica) había sido enmascarado de manera tan ingeniosa que simulaba un adorno frutal de centro de mesa, del cual era la base. Intento fallido: pasar plato de antena parabólica por adorno frutal de centro de mesa. Tanta imaginación tuvo contrapartida efectiva. Un poco por intuición, y sobre todo por el adiestramiento ganado en el día a día frente a los intentos de introducción al país de medios electrónicos debidamente regulados, el inspector a cargo del control radiológico el pasado 15 de abril en la Terminal 2 del aeropuerto internacional José Martí, procedió a marcar el equipaje del sujeto indicado tras observar un artículo con estructura dudosa. Receptor de televisión satelital colocado dentro del chasis de un equipo de video VHS. [caption?] Descubierta la trampa se procedió al decomiso de las partes del equipo receptor satelital, y al viajero le fue impuesta una multa de 500 CUC. Más recientemente, el 13 de mayo, otro pasajero de igual origen, llegó al mencionado aeropuerto con un supuesto equipo de video VHS, que de ello solo tenía el casco (entiéndase chasis) y la mala idea (voluntad de burlar las reglas), pues en su interior había un receptor de televisión satelital y un aditamento LNB (booster). El fraude fue detectado oportunamente y tomadas las medidas pertinentes. Estos dos ejemplos, escogidos entre los más de 150 casos reportados en el canal aéreo en lo que va de año, reflejan la insistencia en violar las regulaciones contenidas en la Resolución 10/2006 del Ministerio de la Informática y las Comunicaciones, las cuales relacionan los equipos que requieren aprobación previa por parte de la Agencia de Control y Supervisión de dicho organismo. RESPONSABILIDAD DEL VIAJERO Si bien por los canales postal y marítimo ocurren incidencias relacionadas con el intento de entrar al país artículos no autorizados o regulados, es en la frontera aérea donde se encara el mayor desafío. De ello es testigo cada minuto Argelio Zaldívar Fundora, jefe del departamento de Enfrentamiento de la Aduana General de la República (AGR). El modus operandi más frecuente es el ocultamiento de estos medios —apunta el funcionario—, lo que revela en primer orden que se trata de una acción premeditada. Pero no faltan los pasajeros ingenuos, quienes sin saber lo que portan incluyen en su equipaje un encargo recibido en el punto de origen para entregarlo aquí a un familiar o amigo indicado. Tal desconocimiento no los exime de la responsabilidad. Las muchas formas de intentar burlar los controles aduaneros obliga a nuestro personal a una constante capacitación, señala Argelio; por tanto, las fuerzas de la Aduana reciben periódicamente entrenamiento en las técnicas relacionadas con el chequeo de los viajeros y sus equipajes. La práctica indica que una buena preparación incrementa la efectividad del trabajo. Todo cuanto hacemos en materia de control está en correspondencia con los estándares internacionales establecidos por la Organización Mundial de Aduanas, apunta Norayda Tamayo Mora, inspectora de Información y Análisis de la AGR. Y agrega que la actividad de análisis en función del control selectivo y racional, constituye uno de los pilares fundamentales de la Aduana cubana, unido a un trato respetuoso y amable a cada pasajero, incluso aquellos que violan nuestra legislación. CULTO A LA SUBVERSIÓN Y A LA BANALIDAD En el empeño de imponernos su ideología las administraciones estadounidenses, con más o menos fondos financieros, según la coyuntura, han insistido en mantener la insultante TV Martí, y en nombre del engañoso libre flujo de información apuestan también por otros canales de televisión de Miami, cuya programación está permeada de tanta superficialidad que lejos de aportar instrucción y cultura agreden y saquean la inteligencia humana. Renombrados intelectuales de todas las latitudes coinciden en calificar de mediocre este tipo de televisión que convierte en trascendental el hecho más banal. De manera particular existen canales que se esmeran en tergiversar la realidad cubana con la finalidad de crear confusión, descontento y pesimismo en la población. Para tal veneno hay antídoto; de ahí el permanente reto que tienen nuestros medios de difusión. Piratear y distribuir ilegalmente señales televisivas supone una sanción severa en muchos países. En Cuba, el intento de introducir, por partes, piezas o como unidad, equipos receptores de señal satelital es el inicio de una cadena de transgresiones de normas jurídicas y administrativas. Cuando ello ocurre le suceden operaciones ilícitas como brindar el servicio de televisión por cable sin poseer la licencia correspondiente, utilizar mano de obra no autorizada, así como materiales (cables, accesorios... ) sustraídos de almacenes estatales, dañar el patrimonio al usar los postes eléctricos y telefónicos, y llegar incluso a romper calles con el fin de ocultar todo lo posible el "servicio" a domicilio. Enfrentar el negocio jugoso de la piratería y distribución de las señales de televisión satelital es una cuestión de honor para los cubanos, porque la programación en oferta nada aporta a la identidad nacional, sino todo lo contrario. El único beneficiario es el imperio que satisface su apetito de engaño y dominación (via Yandys Cervantes Rodríguez, Ing. en Telecomunicaciones y Electrónica, May 29, Noticiasdx yg via DXLD) Detailed report on intercepting satellite and other unauthorized equipment being smuggled into country, e.g., inside innocent-looking VCRs (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. Re: CUBA/CHINA Chinese and Cuban officials have been discussing installing four new 250 kW transmitters at one of the Radio Havana Cuba transmitter sites, but not for Radio Havana broadcasts. So we may be able to hear CRI relays even better or US broadcasts to Cuba even worse (Glenn Hauser, dxld via WDXC-UK Contact magazine May 27 via BCDX May 30 via DXLD) Quivican upgrading at 22 49 36.16 N 82 17 34.18 W (Wolfgang Büschel, BCDX May 30 via DXLD) So how do you interpret this: you see signs of upgrading? (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. RHC caught my ear May 28 at 0538 on 11760 as they were reporting on Western Sahara. It seems Cuba hosts an ambassador from that non-country and supports the Polisario in their struggle against Morocco for self-determination. Clips of the ambassador speaking Spanish were included. Yet for months and months, RHC blocked the only SW frequency of LV de la RASD, 6300, by negligently putting a mixing product of 6060 leapfrogging over 6180 on there until 0700. Could that have been a factor in Cuba switching 6180 to 6140, thus moving the spur to 6220? Naah, too far-fetched. The abysmal quality of the broken English RHC announcers speak these days is notable; are they taking lessons from R. Nacional de Venezuela? The above item was presented by one Alex Silva. The YL host of the broadcast, whose name I didn`t catch, is just as bad, not only accent but bad grammar. RHC really needs to advertise for new hires, such as more hijackers, or at least political refugees, whose native language is AmerEnglish. The next item accused Wáshington of waging biological war against Cuba, such as viruses released in 1952(?) to ruin the Cuban agricultural harvest, supposedly verified by US government documents now available; 1979-1982, CIA released four plagues against Cuba, including conjunctivitis and dengue, the latter affecting 340,000 people of whom 1,058 died; so reports Juan-Carlos somebody. Can any of this be true? Then into some nice Cuban music. For the second time this week, a WORLD OF RADIO airing on WRMI 9955 audible without any DentroCuban jamming, Thursday May 28 at 0547 check, poor signal but in the clear. If the DCJC has efforted to turn off the jamming when uncalled for at such times, thank you very much. Further monitoring will show whether these were flukes. Cuba has had to start an austerity program, but one would assume jamming retains its top priority for the fluid of electricidad. The DentroCuban Jamming Command is still attacking WRMI 9955; Friday May 29 at 0519, Frecuencia al Día, the DX program had heavy buzz bursts on top of it during reports from Julio Pineda in Guatemala, and Tony Herrera in Spain. RHC missing from recent new frequency 6010 May 29 at 0530, just weak Spanish talk from Mexico and/or Colombia, het. RHC still on 6000 as usual. Checked 6010 for RHC, May 31 at 0642 and it was back on as usual, much better modulated than // 6000. 6010 had been missing a couple nights before. In English re what else? The Cuban Five (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also KOREA NORTH, RUSSIA: QRM; VENEZUELA [non] ** CUBA. 11690, Radio Habana Cuba; 2303, 26-May; Found S9-10+ OC here at 2254; no sign-on by 2301+; tuned away then back and found RHC there at 2303. Jazz program with SS announcers, RHC ID and e-mail addy. SIO=554 (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) See RUSSIA ** CUBA [non]. R. República, 9545, doing well May 31 at 0150 check with ID in passing and closing ``Atrévete`` show [means dare, or take a risk --- as in opposing the regime, or fleeing in a risky raft? Sort of like my parody motto, ``Patria o Suerte, ¡Pensaremos!``], well over the DentroCuban Jamming Command (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. Re 9-043: "...So is this now from the plane, or an aerostat, or ground-based, and what hours is it on the air, surely not 24?..." The aerostats are no longer at the Cudjoe Key Air Force Site, as reported previously by others and reconfirmed as not present when I was at the gates last September. Anything TV these days is from the "contract" aircraft. And since 530 has gone untraced for a very long time, and not found elsewhere on the dial, I can only presume TV is the only thing transmitting from the airborne platform. Schedule? One can only guess it's the hours/days posted on the Martí URL (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, May 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DJIBOUTI. 4780, Radio Djibouti, *0302-0330, May 29, sign on with National Anthem followed by local flutes & vocals. Qur`an at 0303. Arabic talk at 0311. Rustic vocals at 0322. Fair level but poor overall reception due to strong CODAR QRM. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. From Band Scan for last fortnight: 3220, HCJB Pifo, 1000, strong signal. Logs ~ Pompano Beach, Cedar Key, Boca Raton, Clewiston, Coral Springs and Embu SP Brasil. 73s (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Southeast Florida, NRD 535D ~ Drake R8, May 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. EGIPTO, 6270, Radio Cairo, Abu Zaabal, 1756-1800, escuchada el 29 de mayo, probablemente en Urdu con emisión de música folklórica local, locutor con comentarios, música de sintonía, servicio anunciado en Aoki de 1600 a 1800, emisión en paralelo por 6255, probablemente en nuevo servicio, no anunciado ni en Eibi ni en Aoki, tampoco en el wrth 2009. A las 1800 comienza el servicio en italiano, SINPO 44433 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España. Sangean ATS 909, Antena Radio Master A-108, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) We already examined some weeks ago how the extra frequency was otherwise unaccounted for (gh, DXLD) ** EGYPT. Colegas. Recebi esse e-mail da Rádio Cairo. Eles me solicitam verificar a recepção da emissora por essa semana, o que farei sem dúvida. Solicito aos colegas que possam observar a recepção da Rádio Cairo e enviar relatórios de como a transmissão está chegando para ver se contribuímos com a sua melhora. A Rádio Cairo completa 75 anos de fundação e prestigia o Brasil com uma programação diversificada, muito diferente do que ouvimos em outras com muito mais recursos e que nos enchem de noticias e comentários políticos em até mais de 90% de sua programação. 73 (Jorge Freitas, May 31, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) -----Mensagem original---- - De: brazilian_prog @ ertu.org Enviada em: sábado, 30 de maio de 2009 21:53 Assunto: RE: Escuta do dia 09/05/2009 na frequência de 9360 kHz, às 2230 UTC Olá José [sic], Sou Amal, a direitora do departamento brasileiro da Radio Cairo. Lhe agradeco muito pela sua mensagem; desejo que me escute hoje na frequencia de 9360 K.H.Z. na banda dos 31 m. de 2215 até 2330 U.T.C. e que me escreva sobre a sintonia da nossa emissora durante uma semana por favor, para poder resolver o problema. [what problem, abysmal modulation?? --- gh] Sra Nadia está alegre de poder ouvir as cancoes que apresentava e ela vai responder a você. Te [sic] prometo enviar Q.S.L. e materiais da R.C. que celebra amanhã seu 75 aniversario da fundação. Desejo receber cartas, E.mails de você e de todos os amigos brasileiros. Um abraco, Amal (via Jorge Freitas, May 31, dxclubepr yg via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA ECUATORIAL. 15190, Radio Africa, 1909-1915, 26- 05, locutor, programa religioso en inglés, comentarios. 44434(Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600g, Antena de cable 8 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. The two domestic stations are usually an easy catch from here in Nigeria but the following may be of interest. 5005, Radio Bata, 10/05/2009 at 1617, in parallel to Malabo on 6250 with sports programme - Spanish talk and some short interviews in English and French with each item separated by the same song by Cher. 1631, Bata broke away for African pop while 6250 continued with sports and Cher. Later tune-in at 2023 found Bata 5005 (not parallel to 6250) in Spanish reading reception report letters in full from DXers in Finland. Ended at 2045 but another listener correspondence programme heard the following Sunday 17/05/2009 from 2013 until 2052, reading reception reports from Brazil, but not heard on 24/05/2009. (James MacDonell, Nigeria, May 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Guinea Equatorial active with big signal! 5005, 2105-2110 May 29, Radio Nacional, Bata - news in Spanish, "Guinea Equatorial", "Malabo", "Addis Abeba", "cooperation.. Brasil..." S=4 (Leonardo, Rx: degen 1103, Italy, RadioBlog: http://appuntidx.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6250, R. Nacional, Malabo. May 29 Spanish 0507-0524 OM talks, Madonna music, 0512 studio OM talks, short pop musical pieces, and outside talks about news and general events of the day. Noisy 24422 (lob-B). 5005, R. Nacional, Bata. May 29 0526-0537 male short talks with undistinguishable language, but maybe vernacular in Hi Life music selection. Better than Malabo and basically musical content, 34433 73's (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) GUINEA ECUATORIAL, 5005, Radio Nacional, Bata, 1912-1925, 31-05, español, programa religioso del domingo, locutor, menciona versículos y capítulos de la Biblia, canciones religiosas. 24322. 6250, Radio Nacional, Malabo, 1917-1928, 31-05, canciones africanas. 23322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, España, Grundig Satellit 500 y Sony ICF SW 7600G, Antena de cable 8 metros, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. === Site Unknown === === CLANDESTINE === 15340, EOTC Holy Synod R., May 25 *1600-1610, 25332, Amharic, 1600 sign on with opening music, ID, Opening announce, Talk and local music. 15350, Ginbot 7, May 26 *1700-1720, 25432, Amharic, 1700 sign on with opening music, ID, Opening announce, Talk. 15350, V. of Meselna-Delina, May 26 *1730-1740, 25322, Tigrigna, 1730 sign on with opening music, Opening announce, Talk (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** FRANCE. RFI workers voted again today to continue their strike, according to a statement issued by labor unions. The next meeting of workers was scheduled for late afternoon tomorrow (Wednesday). (Mike Cooper, May 26, WORLD OF RADIO 1462, DX LISTENING DIGEST) LeMonde.fr carries a story about RFI being on strike since May 12. The article quotes a director, Genevieve Goetzinger, who defends the plan to eliminate 206 positions as "non-negotiable." "We want to develop RFI, with digital radio, new medias and mobile telephony," Geotzinger says. Addala Benraad, a delegate with the SNJ-CGT journalists union, responds in the article by saying: "For our audience in Africa, the radio is indispensable. Everyone has it and it's free. Management wants to develop news bulletins for portable telephones. Do you think that a Nigerian would care? He'd have to have the telephone already, then have a signal and finally, he'd have to pay. Who are they kidding?" Article at: http://www.lemonde.fr/actualite-medias/article/2009/05/26/les-salaries-de-rfi-entament-leur-troisieme-semaine-de-greve_1198331_3236.html (Mike Cooper, GA, May 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Editorial staff of RFI held a press conference Wednesday afternoon as the strike continued. Labor unions object to the elimination of 206 jobs, including 86 journalists in six foreign languages top RFI management wants to close. At the press conference, editors called on foreign journalists in France to support their actions. A petition with more than 2,000 signatures supports RFI's Polish service, organizers said. AFP reported that the German service had the support of more than 1,500 people, including the mayor of Berlin. "We think we're seeing RFI reduced to a sad shell targeted only to Africans," AFP (in French) quoted Daniel Brown of RFI's English service as saying. Brown is the host of the "World Tracks" world-music show that normally airs on Fridays. Editors of RFI's German service have written German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Sarkozy asking for RFI's German broadcasts to be continued in the name of French-German understanding. The head of RFI, Alain de Pouzilhac, has said there is no more reason for German broadcasts since the Berlin Wall "fell 19 years ago." The letter sent out by editors with RFI's German service states: "The Berlin Wall was never our reason for being." (Mike Cooper, GA, May 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RFI workers voted unanimously (though there was one abstention) to continue their strike on Wednesday. Unions also said five freelancers in the German service were told on May 26 that their contracts would end on June 1 -- even though a court has temporarily banned RFI's plans to lay off workers (Mike Cooper, May 28, DXLD) This is beginning to have similar undertones to the air traffic controllers' strike in the U.S. during the Reagan Administration (John Figliozzi, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) And for a German it is reminiscent to a strike in eastern Germany in 2003 that ended badly. The IG Metall union had simply to stop after four weeks because nobody cared for them. No negotiations, no talks, no nothing. Just as it is the case at RFI now, unless management talks again with the unions (last I read was that they refuse to do so since Tuesday of last week). I wonder if the mentioned five people comprise all freelancers working regularly for the German service. If yes it could be that Sunday will be the last day of RFI German. Nothing about an imminent closure on the German pages so far, however (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 28, ibid.) RFI's strike will continue through next Tuesday, after a meeting where RFI personnel asked the French president to name a mediator, AFP reports today, citing a labor union source. RFI's employees also voted to ask national journalist unions to support the move. About 40 personalities -- including artists, scientists, politicians and media figures -- signed a petition that appeared in the Liberation newspaper today, asking for the French government to set an example by ending its plans to lay off more than 200 RFI workers (Mike Cooper, GA, May 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE [non]. RFI still on strike, renewed day after day by the union member votes. But the fill music is very enjoyable. Good reception here during 2100-2130 via Guiana French on 17630, supposed to be in Spanish; May 28 at 2119 surprised by RFI ID in Russian, then eclectic mix of songs in French, hilife, and English ``Like a King`` until abrupt cutoff at 2130*. Meanwhile much weaker 17620 was not in // like it had been on previous days; other music and talk mixed in via Guiana French to Africa, so perhaps that service was not en grève at the moment (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [non]. Frequency changes of Deutsche Welle, all new: 0300-0400 7240 DHA 250 kW / 240 deg, ex 9790 to CeAf in Swahili 0400-0530 6180 SIN 250 kW / 150 deg, ex 7430 to NCAf in English 0500-0530 7430 RMP 500 kW / 180 deg, ex 9440 to NCAf in English 1400-1600 15510 RMP 500 kW / 062 deg, ex 15265 to RUSS in Russian 1600-1700 11835 KIG 250 kW / 210 deg, ex 11625 to SoAf in French 1900-1930 13650 TRM 250 kW / 255 deg, ex 15620 to SoAf in English 1930-2000 13650 TRM 250 kW / 255 deg, ex 15620 to SoAf in Portuguese 2000-2100 13650 TRM 250 kW / 255 deg, ex 15205 to SoAf in English 2200-2400 9730 KIG 250 kW / 265 deg, ex 9430 to CeAm in German 2200-2400 17820 HRI 250 kW / 152 deg, add to SoAm in German, June 1 (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, May 26 via WORLD OF RADIO 1462, DXLD) ** GERMANY. PROGRAM CLOSURES AT WESTDEUTSCHER RUNDFUNK The following may be a bit off-topic, although it also concerns the DRM signal on 1593, but this is about the least relevant aspect of this story. Here it is anyway, since it will presumably be nowhere else told in English language: On May 28 WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk) closed down its WDR 2 Klassik program. It was distributed in the DVB radio service on Astra 1H and cable nets, online, via the DAB ensemble of Nordrhein-Westfalen and the DRM test transmitter on 1593. WDR 2 Klassik was a combination of news/reports from WDR 2 and classical music, done by way of automation, thus tending to sound crude. After carrying an announcement loop the broadcasting channels have been switched on May 29, 10 AM local time, to Kiraka, a radio channel for children, launched in late 2006 and until now distributed online only. Kiraka primarily consists of replays from the children`s programmes on WDR 5. Overnight it relays 1 Live Diggi, a channel of continuous mainstream pop music. At the same time WDR also closed down 1 Live Kunst, another webchannel that combined culture pieces from WDR 3 and WDR 5 with music for young listeners, thus presenting them to new audiences. Rumour has it that WDR first planned to keep this project and eliminate the rather redundant 1 Live Diggi instead. One has to be surprised about the final result of this decision-making process. WDR cites as reason for these changes the twelfth Rundfunkänderungsstaatsvertrag (only German civil servants can create such words) that regulates the online activities of the public broadcasters. WDR took it as reason to voluntarily downsize its websites, although not as heavily as ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) who decided to eliminate 80 percent of its online offerings. However, the story is a bit more complicated as those "communications" people put it. It has also something to do with the number of radio stations WDR is authorized to run. It seems that WDR had to eliminate two channels because they no longer got away with declaring them as mere online offering, now that a closer eye will be kept on the online side (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 31, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. ERA 5--VOICE OF GREECE, ATHENS--LIVE RADIO (CLICK TO HEAR): http://tvradio.ert.gr/radio/liveradio/voiceofGreece.asp ERT 3 RADIO STATION, THESSALONIKI, GREECE--LIVE RADIO: http://tvradio.ert.gr/radio/liveradio/102fm.asp (John Babbis, MD, May 30-31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREENLAND. 3815 USB, KNR, Tasiilaq (USB) (presumed), heard very faint May 25 at 2105-2111* Danish news (presumed), 15111 (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI SDX Window May 27 via DXLD) {If a native speaker can`t even be sure it was Danish, reception must be really, really bad (gh, DXLD)} ** GUATEMALA. 4052.5, R Verdad, Chiquimula: On May 26, I received the message from Édgar Amílcar Madrid that they did receive the needed transistor a month ago, but their technician still has problems in getting it working. They can still be heard at http://radioverdadguatemala.blogspot.com (Manuel Méndez, Spain, DSWCI DX Window May 27 via DXLD) ** HAWAII. PACIFIC RADIO GROUP has expanded its "NATIVE" branded format to its home base of MAUI from the BIG ISLAND, where it was launched "about eight months ago," said President CHUCK BERGSON. THE STAR BULLETIN reports that Alternative KLHI has flipped to a mix of "Jawaiian," or reggae-influenced Hawaiian music and contemporary island music. It had been on the air with a satellite-delivered Alternative Rock format from the mainland for almost two years, but it is now locally staffed and locally programmed, BERGSON said. (allaccess via Brock Whaley, HI, DXLD) 92.5 MHz. I'm surprised they used the term native. They are a "local" radio company, but there are few "native" Hawaiians left, unfortunately, In this politically correct climate, trues Hawaiians may call themselves "native", but when used by others out here, it brings up connotations of a 1930's racist Tarzan movie. The Jawaiian format began on KCCN-FM Honolulu, and is also on KDNN-FM here. It has been very popular and highly rated among 18-34 year olds for two decades now. KINE-FM plays a more AC based Hawaiian format aimed 25-54. If you like your Hawaiian music from the 78 RPM era, there is KKNE-AM 940. KMKK-FM on Molokai has a nice mix of traditional and AC Hawaiian MX and it's 102.3 has a very good signal in Hawaii Kai, and windward Oahu here in the Honolulu market, It is // new 107.5 on Maui. 103.7 KNUQ also on Maui has been Jawaiian for some time now. They run 100 kW. Their new competition runs 1.7 kW (Brock Whaley, Oahu, May 27, DX Listening Digest) ** HONDURAS. Previous unID is now definite, update: 3250, 05/03 0149, HONDURAS, R Luz y Vida, Spanish, from San Luis, with 1 kW, OM Talk, music “happy days” in Spanish, local music, 24333. Confirmation of the listener through the email of Radio: “Estimado Amigo, Jorge, nos alegra mucho su reporte de la Radio, por este medio confirmamos que sintonizo Radio Luz y Vida Transmitiendo desde San Luis, Santa Bárbara, Honduras, por 30 años consecutivos, proclamando a Cristo, con programacion Cristiana. Le Adjunto Logotipo de la Radio. Soy su Amigo Adonay Sánchez, trabajando con la programación” José Adonay Sánchez joseado76@yahoo.es 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia - Brasil, HCDX via DXLD) ** HONDURAS. From Band Scan for last fortnight: 3340, Radio Misiones Internacionales, Comayagüela, 1030, 0000 Logs ~ Pompano Beach, Cedar Key, Boca Raton, Clewiston, Coral Springs and Embu SP Brasil. 73s (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Southeast Florida, NRD 535D ~ Drake R8, May 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. Re 9-043: CYCLONE AILA SILENCES MOST OF AIR KOLKATA Kolkata A 657 and Kolkata B 1008 were silenced by Cyclone Aila on 25.05.09 afternoon local time. This morning they did not sign on at 0025 UT. Kolkata A 657 kHz started airing fillers of continuous Shehnai music from 0200 UT. The regular local news in Bangla which starts at 0200 abruptly appeared at 0208 UT. The news briefly mentioned that except FM all other services of AIR were affected. Kolkata B 1008 kHz is still off the air. I have been logging Vividh Bharati 1323 kHz as usual. No sign of any signal on 594 kHz Chinsurah which was in direct line of the storm. Tropical Cyclone Aila which passed by Kolkata at 100 kmph speed winds on 25.5.09 at around 0930 UT silenced all the services of All India Radio Kolkata except its FM service. On 26.5.09 Vividh Bharati on 1323 kHz was the first to start. Kolkata A 657 kHz which signs on morning at 0025 UT came on air only at 0200. Kolkata B 1008 kHz and External Service with Nepali 0130-0230 on 594 kHz (Mogra 1000 kHz) were silent. Kolkata on 4820 kHz could not be logged in the morning transmission 0025-0220 UT. AIR did not make any announcement on air about its disruption in services. There was only a cursory mention in the local news bulletin. There was no sign of AIR this morning 26.5.09 on 4820 kHz from 0025- 0220 kHz. No signal either on 7210 kHz which is due to sign on at 0230 UT. AIR announcements made no mention of this disruption. Dr. Supratik Sanatani, Kolkata (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, May 26, dx_india yg via DXLD) 1000 kW AIR MW transmitter on 594 kHz limps back after tropical storm Aila --- Located at Mogra, Chinsurah some 50 km away from Kolkata is the 1000 kW external service MW transmitter of All India Radio. Ever since tropical storm Aila passed over this location on 25th May 2009, the transmitter was silent. Only this morning, 29th May did it come back at 0130 UT with the Nepali service. There was , however, a transmitter noise and it is not clear if it is running full power. Tropical storm Aila killed some 100 persons in the state of West Bengal, India and in the city of Kolkata it uprooted some 1200 trees and 638 electricity poles. There is no news yet on damage to All India Radio Installations (Supratik Sanatani, Kolkata, May 29, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. 4800, AIR Hyderabad, 0018-0020 usual AIR IS, M briefly, "Vande Mataram", W for about a minute then M with a few words, and Hindi music. M and W again with possible news. Went into music at 0030, then W in English with what sounded like a brief sked for possible news, then M in English with what sounded like the news. No Mexico. Very noisy from thunderstorms in the area. Also in were 5040, 5010, 4920, 4910, 4880 (weak IS at 0024), 4860, 4840. (28 May) (Dave Valko, DXpedition at Black Bear Cabins, Cook Forest State Park, PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** INDIA. 9554 [sic, means 9445 as in second reference below], AIR Delhi 2100 W in English with news. Was // 11620 but wasn't // before 2100. 2105 M with GOS ID, then commentary by W on Myanmar. Fairly good. 11620 about equal, but 9445 seemed better closer to 2200. (27 May) (Dave Valko, DXpedition at Black Bear Cabins, Cook Forest State Park, PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** INDIA [non]. CVC The Voice Asia will be broadcast in DRM from Jülich to India Date: 27th May 2009 (one day only) Time: 0530 – 1130 UT 1100 – 1700 Local time, India Frequency: 17695 kHz Language: Hindi Any reception reports would be welcome, but especially from India. Many thanks, James Serpell (via drmrx forum via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dxldyg via DXLD) Hi All! For your info. Today 27 May , 1600 - 1800 UTC, special DRM transmission from TDF Issoudun to Bombay / India. Frequency = 15335 kHz in 1600-1700 UTC; 11830 kHz in 17.00-18.00 UTC Azimuth = 90 Antenna configuration = 4/4 Audio Programme = RFI DRM parameters: B mode Bandwidth=10 kHz MSC = 64 QAM cr=0,6 Audio encoding = AAC+SBR Prms = 150 kW. Associated datas: Label = < TDF Issoudun > Text message = "DRM transmission by TDF, France to India. Wishing you a good listening if possible in the target area. Regards. Jacques GRUSON (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, ibid.) STRONG INTEREST IN DRM DIGITAL RADIO AMONGST INDIAN FM BROADCASTERS http://www.drm.org/fileadmin/media/downloads/DRM_IRF09_Press_Release_2009-05-27_v3.pdf (via Jaisakthivel, dxldyg via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. Re 9-042: ``4605v, RRI Serui, Has not been heard here in many months. Last logged here in May 2008 (John Wilkins, Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Drake R-8, 100-foot RW, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD)`` Well, I had something on 4605 at 1314, as late as Sept 28, 2008 as in DXLD 8-108 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 9524.98, Voice of Indonesia, *1000-1015+, May 29, open carrier on the air at 0956. Sign on at 1000 with IS, theme music, and opening English ID announcements. Contact information. Preview of upcoming programs. English news at 1002. Fair signal. 9524.98, Voice of Indonesia, *0951-1015, May 31, abruptly on the air with programming in listed Korean. Talk. Lite local music. IS & theme music at 1001 along with opening English ID announcements. English news at 1003. Weak but in quiet conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And still regular here at 1300 on 9525 in English daily (gh, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Abandoned US military satellites being used by pirates: BRAZIL ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. 7.1 Earthquake off Caribbean coast line --- The US Geological Survey reported a 7.1 Earthquake off the Caribbean coast of Honduras. A tsunami warning has been issued for Honduras, Guatemala and Belize. I tried to get the latest on the news out of Belize on streaming video and the TV news is nonexistent on this happening. Has anyone monitored any shortwave emergency traffic from that part of the world at this hour? (Richard Lewis, 0952 UT May 28, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi: I'm in El Salvador; the earthquake woke me up. There is a ham net on 7090 kHz, the usual frequency of the Centroamerican hams. I have a heavy noise and barely can hear, but at this time are reported 4 deaths in Honduras. Early in the morning landline phone with San Pedro Sula (Honduras) was not possible from El Salvador, but cellphones were functional. The tsunami alert was canceled. A Good news source is http://radioamerica.hn "Saludos" from San Salvador, El Salvador, C.A. (Humberto Molina, 1459 UT May 28, ibid.) ** IRAN [non]. VOA ADDS SATELLITE FREQUENCIES IN RUN-UP TO IRANIAN ELECTION === Ensures reception of intense special election coverage Washington, D.C., May 28, 2009 – The Voice of America has added new satellite frequencies to ensure millions of Iranians are able to watch and listen to programs on VOA's Persian News Network (PNN) in the run- up to Iran's June 12 presidential elections. The addition of new satellite paths (on Arabsat Badr-4 and Eutelsat HotBird) comes after viewers flooded PNN with reports of signal interference. VOA officials subsequently confirmed that Iranian authorities have greatly increased jamming in parts of Tehran, the capital, and some other locations. "Iran is one of the most important countries to which we broadcast," said Alex Belida, acting director of VOA's PNN. "Our job is to provide people with objective and balanced information so they can make the best decision possible. The initial response to our new satellite frequencies has been very positive." PNN has launched intensive special reporting on Iran's June 12th presidential election, including "news of the day" campaign reports, background election stories, and analysis of the activities of the country's four approved presidential candidates. PNN has the largest combined radio and television audience of all international broadcasters in Iran, with one in four adult Iranians tuning in to a VOA show at least once a week. PNN broadcasts seven hours of television daily, repeated in a 24-hour format, and five hours of radio. Broadcasts are available on demand on the Internet at http://www.VOAPNN.com (VOA press release May 28 via DXLD) WTFK? ** JAPAN [and non]. 11705, Sackville carrier already on at 1356 May 27, atop NHK direct at end of Indonesian service with music; 1359:30 cut on fragment of RCI IS and ID, into a few sex of NHK IS, 1400 timesignal perfectly out of sync with Yamata direct, and opening English relay (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. R. Nikkei frequently plays synthesized classical music shortly before sign-off, Isao Tomita? One such time was Thursday May 28 at 1241 on 6055; poor signal as too much summer daylight on path now, and anyway at 1244 cut it off for Japanese announcements and/or commercials. Also on // 9595 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KASHMIR. Radio Kashmir Srinagar is now noted signing on at 0000 UT on 4950. They used to sign on at 0025 in Summer and at 0120 in Winter. 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, May 28, dx_india yg via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. Re 9-043: Glenn, Thanks. The 11710 was best. In fact very good during my walk listening on a G5. They could use better audio processing. It was a little muddy. The writing was right out of Orwell 1984. War is peace type of thinking. Even when we complain about our own government, we can say whatever we want. Listening to the content from North Korea is pretty amazing. I love my WIFI radio. But shortwave is still the best way to hear stuff. Thanks again. af (Alan Furst, TX, May 26, WORLD OF RADIO 1462, DX LISTENING DIGEST) English at 13 and 15 on 11710, 9335 ** KOREA NORTH. V. of Korear, 11710: one is never sure just when the `hour` transmission will end, but on May 27 I just caught ``Goodbye, this is P`yongyang`` until 1356 but carrier stayed on. I did listen a bit earlier in the hour, but their crap gets old quick. At one point they were saying war could break out at any minute again, tnx to the S Koreans` supporting US initiatives against NK`s nuclear, missile tests; except their wording was not quite so polite. VOK with usual bluster on 11710, which would be ludicrous if it weren`t a serious situation --- no, it`s still ludicrous, May 28 at 1315, stronger than // 9335; bandscanning further up at 1324, found same over/under RHC 13760. Perhaps the current crisis leads them to add more frequencies? Altho this one is useless, Commies clashing with Commies. No, checking the sked, the 1300 English broadcast is also on 13760 and 15245 for Europe (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH KOREA. 9665.5, KCBS M talk in Asian language at 1054. Dead air 1059, M with probable ID, 3+1 long time ticks, then M again. W joined in at 1101. Was hoping for Mongolia. Too weak and too much adjacent channel QRM. (27 May) (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. Glenn, Just a quick logging. Whenever I listen to KBS World Radio (South Korea) at 1200 UT on 9650 I also hear the Voice of Korea (formerly known as Radio Pyongyang, from North Korea) in Japanese at the same time and frequency. At 1202 on 5/26/09, KBS had the news while Voice of Korea was signing on with their national anthem. According to WRTH the Japanese service is aimed to East Asia. I guess with the increased sunlight in the east weakens the KBS's signal from Sackville, and darkness in the west helps North Korea's signal. Perhaps the north has extra power to use? Has anyone reported this lately? I've noticed this the past week and it's regular (Kevin O'Donovan, New Mexico USA http://jazzkevin.blogspot.com May 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This clash on 9650 has been going on a long time. It certainly was a poor choice of frequency by KBS. I`m not usually listening as early as 1200 UT. We can never know what power VOK is really running, altho I would tend to think it may be cut back sometimes due to shortages, rather than increased. The variations of its strength vs Sackville are mostly propagational, as you say with KBS losing out in our summers when there is a long daylight path to traverse, vs mostly night from Asia. Another problem is Tinang turning on carrier well before 1300 for the RN Dutch relay on 9650. Have you noticed that? 73, (Glenn to Kevin, via DXLD) Hi Glenn, Yes I have noticed additional interference closer to 1300 UTC before KBS signs off. I agree, it's not a good frequency for them. It's good during the fall/winter, but I have suggested to them in the past to move to 11 MHz for the summer. They used to do that. I am one of KBS's Official Monitors for this year so I do have to keep a keen eye on reception on that channel. I have reported the interference to them in my daily reception reports. At the end of March they did eliminate their 0230 broadcast on 9560. Reason I was given was that they wanted to extend their 0600 Sackville transmission to Europe on 6045 in Spanish to an hour. I do have a personal blog and have posted pictures and stories of my trip to Korea last March. It's been a dream of mine to visit Seoul and KBS after all these years. Also, finally got the opportunity to meet the staff and toured the facilities. Warm regards, (Kevin O'Donovan, New Mexico, USA http://jazzkevin.blogspot.com DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LITHUANIA. 9635, Radio Liberty (Sitkunai), 0354-0400, 5/28/2009, Tatar-Bashkir (per schedule). Man talking with a few words from a second man at a remote location. Announcement by woman at 0359 followed by music. End of transmission at 0400, at which time a Radio Farda broadcast from Wertachtal began on the frequency. Good signal with interference from Costa Rican relay of Radio Exterior de España on 9630. Parallel heard on 7390 (Lampertheim). (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, RX-340, R8B, E1, ICF-SW7600G, Random Wires (90' and 200'), Eavesdropper Dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. 5995, RTVM, 2350-0001*, May 30-31, Afro-pop music. ID. French talk. Sign off with National Anthem at 2400. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Saludos a todos los que han seguido a Radio México Internacional, por Internet; les comunico que debido a los problemas presentados por el redireccionador a la página de la estación, he cambiado este. Ahora aparte de las direcciones que ya conocen, podrán accesar por las siguientes ligas: http://www.rmi.ya.st http://paginasprodigy.com.mx/antonio_martinez_s Gracias a todos y recuerden que RMI es de todos y requiere de la participación de todos. Saludos Fraternos (Ing. José Antonio Martínez Sánchez, XE1A, May 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Mystery Mexico TV "cdc" Solved After a few months, my hunch has proved correct this morning: XHLGT-2 Leon GTO, Canal de Casa, is now using "cdc" upper right. A good signal finally allowed me to read "canal de casa" in tiny letters under cdc. A full-screen, animated ID at 0935 CT also displayed cdc with canal de casa under the letters. In addition, calls "XHLGT" were lower right on the big ID. Cantú has XHLGT-2 listed as XEW, which has *not* been the case since 2005. My XHLGT-2 ID pictures from the past can be seen here: http://www.tvdxexpo.com/tvsguan.html (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, May 31, WTFDA via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Note the items in DXLD 9-043 that RNW has been persuaded by its Spanish-speaking listeners in southern South America to resume Spanish on SW to that area starting June 1. How about it, English-speakers in North America? A massive campaign to resume just one hour of English via Bonaire, or French Guiana, might persuade them of that too (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I have warned my colleagues, and we are taking on extra staff to deal with the flood of correspondence :-) (Andy Sennitt, RNW, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Andy, I realize that organizations such as RN are trying to cope with both limited resources and with the changing landscape in media. As media enthusiasts, we shortwave listeners need to be aware of it too. After all, we're spending other people's money. Very easy to do. Personally, I miss the morning broadcasts from Bonaire. Seldom did I fail to tune in for at least a portion of the broadcast.Something to be remembered is that there are four primary time zones (apologies to AST) so a one hour broadcast is pretty limited in relation to the entire US & Canada. But, consider the size of the market. Roughly 300 million English speakers in North America. A one share is 3 million. A .1 share is 300,000. Since RN is already producing the content, it might be cost effective to reach that audience by reducing the distribution expense by contracting with private domestic broadcasters. For example, KVOH is on the air only about 6 hours daily. They might jump at the chance to sign a contract for several hours in the morning and the evening. Four hours in the morning and four hours in the evening would still allow KVOH their full schedule plus downtime for maintenance. KVOH is just one example. Look at the Caribbean Beacon, they're covered 24/7 with Dr Gene Scott. I'll bet they offer Mrs Scott a hell of a deal to get her business. WWCR and WWRB would probably love to make a bid too. The recent news about Vatican Radio accepting advertising is, I think, good news. I can think of three Dutch companies that have a major presence in the US; Shell, Philips & Unilever. Maybe RN could hit them up for sponsorship support. Heresy possibly but the landscape is changing and perhaps we can adapt. I think the big broadcasters have gotten ahead of the curve in regards to alternative distribution. Perhaps the new distribution will work out but I think they're leaving a lot of their traditional audience behind. Good Luck, (Jerry Lenamon, Waco TX, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Andy: I can still hear the RN IS ringing in my ears from my years - - admittedly 35 years ago -- as a constant listener to shortwave programming. I am still a believer in government, public service international broadcasting. I do care what happens around the world, but it's unlikely I'll understand the Dutch if the Dutch don't reach out to me. There is still a place for shortwave in reaching denied areas and audiences and sometimes in supplementing available local media. For the industrialized world, a 24-hour loop of English programming, updated as needed, and delivered to my bedside Internet radio is probably the best option today. That and XM in the car are how I get my BBC WS fix. I need to mention that WRN is not a substitute for a full-time "Internet radio station" as I expect predictability when I press the "RN" button on the device. Thanks for all the good work RN has done in the past and will do in the future. I almost visited Hilversum on a trip to Holland many years ago. (Was surprised when the highway sign popped up and tried to redirect and stop). I fondly remember the SW listening handouts the station offered to listeners. RN has been a very large voice for a fairly (very?) small country that plays an outsized role on the global stage (David Coursey, to Andy Sennitt, via DXLD) You assume there is a massive number of HF RN listeners in NA. That has never been known. Also, broadband is a much rarer bird below the Rio Grande, making HF more viable there (Scott Royall, Conch Republic, swprograms via DXLD) No, I don`t make any such assumption. I am merely outpointing that RNW was open to listener persuasion in another instance. I bet a large proportion of the people pushing for the resumption of Spanish made their case known by e-mail, ergo could get RNW online too. Why be so defeatist? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) When RNW gave up on shortwave in English to North America, I was told by RNW that RNW would look much more favorably on using SW to reach Spanish speaking listeners in the Americas. This was because there was a clear preference for shortwave as the preferred method of hearing RNW broadcasts and these listeners did not have alternative methods of receiving or interacting with RNW at their disposal. RNW actively solicited listener input from North American listeners over a two-year period prior to leaving SW for English, and they found that those NA-based listeners who took the time to respond were more flexible -- they had a greater number of methods to obtain info from RNW at their disposal. English language listeners would read content at the RNW website as well as stream audio and seek out WRN. Further, RNW considered Africa a more important English language target than North America, because North American English-language media is much more diverse than African English-language media in most countries. This process followed the earlier RNW process where they solicited input from North Americans regarding the morning broadcasts that were sent our way starting in July 2001 (when the BBCWS stopped using SW for English to NA). While these broadcasts were originally received with great enthusiasm, in later years very few people indicated they found those morning broadcasts useful. So...am I saying that North American listeners shouldn't contact RNW encouraging a reinstatement of SW? No, but the decisions taken by RNW over the past couple of years suggests RNW is not likely to shift funding back towards SW for NA in English (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, swprograms via DXLD) Please resume SW English to North America! Since the change to the summer schedule at the end of March, it has been difficult to hear Radio Netherlands on shortwave here in eastern North America. Shortwave is my platform of choice; I find it inconvenient to listen online, and Radio Netherlands is not carried by any local FM stations in Buffalo, New York. The broadcasts to Africa in my local afternoon via Bonaire on 17810 kHz were very well heard here, but 25 meters via Issoudun does not propagate here nearly as well at solar minimum. I'm sure I'm not the only one who misses hearing you. Lately I've been listening to Deutsche Welle due to their good signal quality, but I really enjoy your wide variety of programs (especially your documentaries). It would be wonderful to have just one hour in my local evening (between 0000 and 0200 UT would be good for the entire continent), via Bonaire or French Guiana, again. With the international situation in flux and information sources consolidating (and becoming fewer) many Americans, in particular, turn to international broadcasters for news they don't get from their domestic media. I hope you can find room in your budget to resume an English broadcast on shortwave to North America. Sincerely (from a loyal, longtime listener), (Anne Fanelli, 541 Schultz Road, Elma, New York 14059, USA, to letters @ rnw.nl and cc to DX LISTENING DIGEST) I appreciate what Anne tried to say in her letter. However I personally disagree with 0000-0200 UT being "good for the entire country," as that is way to early for the western portions of the U.S. Possibly 0100-0200 in the summer, as that is 8 to 9 p.m. local time here in the Central time zone, although 0200-0300 (0300-0400 in the winter) has always been better for my likes, a time I'm more likely free to listen to the shortwave. This just points out one of the problems with serving the U.S. by shortwave - with four time zones for just the 48 states, there is not a single hour that is good for all of us. So it is not simply asking RNW to reinstate one hour, but in fact at least two hours, one that is earlier for the east coast and one that later for the west coast. One of my long-standing problems with RNW's schedule before they cut English to the U.S. was that their early evening hour was always too early for me, when I was still busy with other activities, and their later hour was always too late for me, after I had already gone to bed. That was the main reason I told them that I had stopped listening when I answered their survey, not that I had and used "alternatives." (Kevin Anderson, Dubuque, Iowa, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) You can`t possibly satisfy everyone, but if we are considering only one single hour --- and how can we possibly ask for anything more under the circumstances, and anyhow that`s enough to cover RN`s daily new programming output --- and we are considering only the four `core` US and Canadian timezones, I think 0200-0300 UT is the best compromise in the DST season, i.e., starting at 10 pm Eastern, 9 Central, 8 Mountain and 7 Pacific, all `prime time` more or less as it can be vaguely defined. Plus, would still finish before midnight ADT, and not start until 6 pm ADT, where I assume drive-time does not run much past then (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Which, in a way, underlines the impression that shortwave no longer serves as an optimal (let alone cost effective) way of serving a North American audience. I grant you that far from everyone has this; but using a portable (i.e.: battery capable) wifi internet radio, I can either (a) access a more conveniently scheduled RNW broadcast (netcast?) sometime in their 24/7 window; or (b) access a podcast of a particular program at any time of my convenience; but only at home of course (at least for the most part). If I require something that allows me to listen away from home, I can download the podcast to an iPod or MP3 device. From the RNW perspective, if their broadcast is of any value to you then you will arrange your schedule in such a way that you will be able to hear them on shortwave if they make the effort and incur the costs. Of course, they know this attitude is unreasonable. So, they've surveyed the landscape and determined that the internet approach, while not even close to being perfect, offers a cost/benefit ratio that stays within their means and is becoming more and more within the means of the North American audience. jaf (John Figliozzi, swprograms via DXLD) I didn`t repro it before but a letter from Adrian Korol to RNW has been appearing on the condiglist yg, with the implication that it made the difference. Like Anne, he admits that he has unlimited internet access, but he prefers to listen to radio stations on the RADIO. It`s long and in Spanish so I won`t include it here, but in the next DXLD 9-044 (Glenn Hauser, swprograms via DXLD) Viz., introducing it: Amigos, Como uds. bien saben Radio Nederland ha dejado de emitir para Sudamerica, es así que muchos de nosotros inundamos de quejas al Depto. Latinoamericano de RNW. Al parecer gracias a todas esas quejas, están reviendo esa posición y existe una posibilidad que se retome a 1 hora de transmisión. Muchas de esas cartas fueron leídas y han caído como "bombas" en los directivos de RNW en especial la de mi amigo Adrian Korol al que enterado de la situación escribió esta carta, la que yo leí a manera de primicia --- y que ahora me tomo el atrevimiento de publicar ya que fue comentada en el programa de Jaime. Les recomiendo bajar rapidamente el programa aquí antes que lo renueven: http://download.omroep.nl/rnw/smac/sp_cartas.mp3 PD. No dejen de enviar sus quejas a RNW !! Esta es la carta de AEK: 73 (Enrique Wembagher, Argentina, May 20, condiglist yg via DXLD) ----- Original Message ----- From: Adrian Korol To: cartas@... Sent: Saturday, April 25, 2009 12:38 PM Subject: Es demasiado... Amigos de Radio Nederland: Les escribo porque una cosa es la globalización y los avances de las nuevas tecnologías y otra cosa es la estupidez. Una cosa es la crisis económica y otra cosa es la crisis de inteligencia. Como es posible que RADIO NEDERLAND, el mejor vínculo que tiene el Reino de los Países Bajos con el Mundo (al menos para quienes no pudieron ir al Red Light District o visitar un Coffee Shop) venga dando tropezón tras tropezón [stumbling block] respecto a su amplia audiencia en América del Sur? Para sus decisiones estrategicas --- ¿Se basan en el interés de Holanda y su lazo con la comunidad de América Latina? O se basan en un plan de márketing que responde a la volatilidad de la cotización de las acciones de Phillips? El primer gol en contra se lo hicieron al sacar del aire RADIO ENLACE. Un pecado (aun para mí que no creo en esas cosas de la religión). Un error. El mejor programa de comunicaciones en español, que excedía largamente el marco del diexismo, y daba espacio a los avances en el campo de la comunicación, se discutía sobre libertad de prensa, la integración de las nuevas y las viejas tecnologías, lo analógico y lo digital, información y entretenimiento, y, por si no lo saben, cita obligada de los viernes, el programa de mayor audiencia cautiva de la radio en español --- lo dan de baja, sin ton ni son, generando además del vacío --- una verdadera ola de antipatía hacia la medida, y el sentimiento de que el lazo, aquel que se forjara en los años de dictadura en nuestro continente, donde LA VOZ de RADIO NEDERLAND era sinónimo de información, democracia y libertad --- comenzó a romperse, y luego --- RADIO NEDERLAND ENTRABA EN SUDAMERICA CON UN NUMERO DE PASAPORTE: 15.315. Frecuencia que se escuchaba perfectamente bien, sin necesidad de antenas exteriores, con una radio portátil de onda corta en la ciudad y el campo --- también ha sido silenciada. ¿Cuántos oyentes perdieron? ¿Cuántos más van a perder? Se dan cuenta que si no revisan estas medidas en forma inmediata, el futuro del servicio latinoamericano de RNW entra en una cuenta regresiva irreversible? Ustedes, que tanto han hecho por la formación de profesionales de medios en el tercer mundo --- creen que la gente los escucha por internet? Imaginan al campesino boliviano? Al empleado bancario del interior de Uruguay o al maestro rural argentino escuchándolos en su láptop con banda ancha y wi fi? Se equivocan. Y aún más --- piensan que la gente que disfruta escuchando RADIO en Latinoamérica --- va a escuchar RADIO POR INTERNET, aun teniendo la posibilidad de hacerlo? No, señores. El que les dijo eso les mintió para salvar su sillón. Yo, que tengo la suerte de tener acceso ilimitado a internet, y las herramientas necesarias para escuchar radio online desde hace años, sin embargo escucho la radio POR radio. Y así mucha gente más, que tiene radios en sus mesas de luz, en sus cocinas, en su escritorio, aun al lado de la computadora, pero que a la radio la escuchan por radio. ¿Y saben por que? Porque por más fotos que saques con el teléfono celular --- las fotos importantes de la vida, se sacan con CAMARA DE FOTOS. ¿Qué quiero decir con esto? Que cada cosa tiene su lugar y que todo tiene su límite. Que RNW no esté en 15.315 significa que HA DESAPARECIDO para miles de personas que diariamente, o incluso como yo, cada tanto, sabíamos que alrededor de las 20.30 prendes la radio en 19 metros y lo primero que escuchas con señal, presencia, y muy buena programación era RADIO NEDERLAND. La radio que tanto hizo para denunciar, como veíamos antes, temas tan dolorosos como el de los desaparecidos en nuestras naciones --- finalmente HA DESAPARECIDO. Vaya paradoja. Y ¿cómo es posible que ustedes, los hacedores de la radio, que se formaron escuchando radios en sus pueblos y ciudades de América Latina, asistan en silencio cómplice a esta triste decisión? No se trata de transmitir en BLANCO Y NEGRO cuando todo el mundo tiene TV Color... Pero bien saben ustedes que en NUESTROS PAISES una RADIO DE ONDA CORTA está en cualquier casa, apartamento, rancho o choza, no así una computadora ni internet. Bien saben ustedes que en Buenos Aires se puede comprar una radio portátil con bandas de SW por menos de 20 dólares, pero una PC apta para recibir radio sale muchas veces eso, mas la conexión apropiada a internet. Y sepan que en estos tiempos de mentada crisis, la radio es mucho más compañera que una computadora. Acaso no se han dado cuenta que más allá de sus atrapantes servicios (de hecho yo les estoy ESCRIBIENDO DESDE MI ORDENADOR), la RADIO es mucho más afectiva y entrañable que una COMPUTADORA? Basta de hipocresía. No quieren más oyentes, quieren cibernautas. ¿Acaso RNW ha muerto y no les avisaron? Con todo el verso de la plataforma multimedia, las ventanas mobile, los podcast y la mar en coche --- podrán llegar a un segmento VIP de los países centrales, y a quienes más o menos tenemos alguna posibilidad en los emergentes. Pero... ¿y los que se quedan afuera? Esto es una versión del SÁLVESE QUIEN PUEDA neoliberal aggiornado a un ESCÚCHENOS QUIEN PUEDA globalizador. Sin renegar a todos los avances, sin descartar las digitalizaciones -- - se están equivocando (mucho) con este "apagón" analógico que solo genera silencio, vacío y una razón más para que RNW comience para muchos a ser justamente lo que quieren evitar: ALGO DEL PASADO. Respetemos las decisiones buenas y las decisiones malas. Pero no vamos a respetar una decision ESTÚPIDA. Cobian y Cadicamo, desde el tango y en el año 1942, describieron muy bien lo que sentimos muchos por Radio Nederland : Hoy vas a entrar en mi pasado y hoy nuevas sendas tomaremos... ¡Qué grande ha sido nuestro amor!... Y, sin embargo, ¡ay!, mirá lo que quedó... "Los Mareados" Cobian-Cadicamo Año 1942 Ojala se den cuenta del gol en contra que se están haciendo y den vuelta este partido antes de los 90 minutos --- no creo que el arbitro agregue mucho de descuento. Saludos desde Argentina, Adrian Korol (via Wembagher, ibid.) My view for the past 15 years is that international broadcasters have lost their way. A while ago I was reading something that was pointed out. If shortwave had {just} been invented people would be jumping on the band wagon, but because the technology dates back around 100 years people just think it's out of date. Another problem I see is that international broadcasters, radio makers, and also we as listeners have not done a very good job in the promotion of shortwave. My hope is that DRM will take off. But from what I've seen in the way of promotion of DRM, it seems again they will miss the boat. One of the other problems stations such as RNW, DW, RCI, RJ and others have is they more or less sound the same. And I don't just mean content but also in the way of on air talent. Most of the announcers hired now by international broadcaster sound like clones. Can anyone think of SW voices from 1995 to 2009 that can be remembered as: Ian McFarland - RCI Joe Adamov - RM/VOR Jonathan Marks - RNW Ginger De Silva - RNW Pete Myers - RNW Aldo Marcini - RCI Eric Beauchemin - RNW Kim Shippy Bea Reed - RSA Carl Watts (aka Karl Yegorov) - RM/VOR Bob Cadman - RCI Tom Meijer - RNW Nevil Gray - RNW Hardy Grubner - RBI Bob Zanotti - SRI Bob Thomann - SRI Bill Schiller - RS Willis Conover - VOA George Collinet - VOA Dick Speekman - RNW/RA Robert Dell - RM And the list goes on. These people were very distinctive voices and personalities. But today everyone almost sounds the same. If international SW broadcasters want an audience they need to provide something different; otherwise what is the point of tuning into, let`s say, RNW if I can hear or see the same news somewhere else (Keith Perron, Taiwan, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) You forgot Vladimir Posner!!!! (Rick N6NKN Zolla, ibid.) Y'all can forget Rudy Espinal if ya want, but *I* won't!!! ;) (Clara Listensprechen, ibid.) Clara: Yes, I remember Rudy as well.I even have him on an old tape when he had a show on Radio Clarín on 11700. Those were the days (Noble West, TN, ibid.) At RNW, we don't have "announcers", except for a few hours during local daytimes at weekends when Jackie Spears reads the news bulletins live. The rest of the time, standard announcements are "voice tracked". Yes, I agree with you, there is less "personality radio" on shortwave now, but you seem to listen to stations for the voices rather than the content, and your list of names has a strong bias towards those who presented the so-called "DX Programmes", suggesting again that you were especially interested in stations talking about other stations. If this is a misinterpretation of your position, I apologise. Yes, some international broadcasters have lost their way. I mean those who stick to broadcasting on shortwave to dwindling audiences, unable (or unwilling) to comprehend that the rest of the world has moved on. Shortwave is now just one component of what we call "the distribution mix". The exact balance between shortwave and newer distribution methods depends on the station's mandate, target audiences and budget. At RNW, our principal targets on shortwave for English are Africa and South Asia, the areas from which we still get a lot of response. And I mean response about the programme content, which is specially geared to audiences in those regions. We don't expect these shortwave services to last for ever. Our best guess at the moment is 5-10 years, which means I will be retired by then :-) Your comment that "what is the point of tuning into lets say RNW if I can hear or see the same news somewhere else" is exactly the reason that we stopped spending a significant part of our budget broadcasting on shortwave to North America. The age of providing free entertainment to people thousands of miles away has long gone. Some of the people you mention in your list of names, if they had their time over again, would probably not even work on radio but would be on one of the satellite TV networks. Tom Meijer certainly would, I've no doubt. They worked on international radio because there was no international TV as there is now. You have to remember that the reason so many stations broadcast in so many languages in the past was that there was a political reason for being there. Forty years ago, diplomats often learned of significant changes in a country's policy via its international broadcasts. Now there are much more sophisticated methods. At RNW, we have to constantly review our raison d'être and justify it to the politicians who allocate our budget. Telling them that we'd like to broadcast a programme of entertainment to people in another country just because they have a shortwave radio isn’t going to impress them. Unlike most of the people on this list, I - along with a few other people - actually put thousands of dollars of my own money into shortwave projects that were predicated on listeners helping to pay for the running costs. I know now that we shouldn't have bothered. People wrote in significant numbers to say how much they appreciated the programmes, but given the chance to help pay for them very few did. It seems to me that the principal attraction of shortwave to many people is that the programmes come free. I'm not criticising anyone for that, especially in a recession, but the fact is that you can't expect people to provide you with something for nothing any more. There has to be a tangible benefit to the people doing the providing. Everyone is welcome to write to RNW to make the case for resuming English shortwave broadcasts to North America. But if you want to stand any chance of your email or letter being taken seriously, you need to provide a reasoned argument justifying the cost involved. Some of you on this list are business people. You need to use the same criteria you would use in your professional life and make the business case. Part of the work I do at RNW is to analyse these arguments. As a long-time SWL and Dxer I would love for someone to produce such a case. So far, I haven’t seen it, just a lot of comments from people saying what they would like us to do. Me too, but I have to work in the real world. Send any comments you may have to letters@rnw.nl You're welcome to post them here too, of course (Andy Sennitt, Radio Netherlands Worldwide (but speaking personally, not for RNW), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Well, exactly how did the proponents of resuming Spanish successfully justify the cost??? Resuming one hour of English on SW to NAm would not necessarily increase RN`s costs at all, if that hour replaced one transmitter-hour of, say, a little-understood, sparsely-spoken language such as Dutch. That of course is exactly what happened when English was explicitly replaced with Spanish. And the English programs are still being produced anyway for other timezones. All they would have to do is schedule in the English hour and automatically play it back. Nor would we expect any live newscasts at this wee hour in Europe, so no additional personnel-hours on duty would be required. Andy makes it sound so selfish, that we want the Dutch taxpayers to shell out to `entertain` us with SW broadcasts. That`s not fair to RN itself, as it`s valued mainly for its predominantly public-affairs output today, even if it is about Asia or Africa! Not fluff like Happy Station, long gone (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) For myself, when I listen to a show, content is very important. But at the same time the person who presents the show is also important. As an example. When I watch CNN International I the content on Quest Means Business is interesting. But if it was not for the strong personality of Richard Quest I don't think I or many others would tune in. With the list I mentioned, only five did communication programs. The rest were news readers and magazine presenters. Myself, when I listen to SW it's because of content. At home, yes, I do have CNN International, BBC World, and I do watch a lot of television. But weekday mornings when I get my day started, second thing I do after finish making coffee is listen to the Voice Of America and then to the BBC World Service. For me content is very important. But personalities are also a reason. Programs that are "voice tracked" I find sound cold and dull. I still remember when I relocated to Taipei I sent an email to BBC WS for frequencies that might not have interference from Chinese jamming. The answer I got back made me laugh. They told me the best way to listen is off their FM relay in Taipei from ICRT at 0900 to 1000 UT [sic]. I thought that was just to funny. They just told me I would need to get up at 5 am to listen. They then listed some SW frequencies. I wrote back asking if BBC was on FM at other times and it was. They told me the BBC via ICRT is on for two hours from 1 to 3 am local Taiwan time. You've got to be kidding. As for internet, the problem here is not that it's slow. It is fast; I mean super fast. But when you listen to online streams or download podcasts you`re charged extra. If I was to listen online what I listen to on shortwave, my monthly bill would be an estimated 6000 to 7000NT$ (183 to 214USD) a month. I think one way that international broadcasters should look at is independent producers. The private sector normally can produce programs cheaper that large government organizations. A case in point would be a news magazine I did from 2001 to 2006 for China Radio International. CRI in 2001 asked me to create a daily 30-minute news magazine. After the first year, the program was on the chopping block, not because no one was listening, but because of the cost. I then approached them with the idea that I produce it for them and they buy it from me. I did the show for 5 years at 60% less than what it cost to do at CRI. The only part of the show that CRI was directly involved in was distribution, which I then contacted a distributor in Hong Kong who was able to do it cheaper. When I did the show, we had somewhere around 60 or 70 stations pick up the show in the US, Canada, South Africa, Australia, UK and others. After I left, the show went back to a solely CRI produced show. Guess where it's heard now? 3 stations in the US, 2 in Canada, 1 in Estonia, 1 in Zimbabwe, 1 Hong Kong and that is it. A few reasons. The show now is "voice tracked" six hours before it's sent out. I would always do the first program live for KRLA, and then feed that program to the distributor for the other stations. Staff for the show was three people, Lu Feng who would help me schedule interviews and Fei Shaowen who was re-packaging the reports from the newsroom and myself. The show now has 8 people involved: 1 announcer "Voice tracked", 3 editors, 1 producer, 2 feature producers, 1 production assistant. So costs have now gone up. Also because they are using CRI's own distribution, it means an even higher cost to what I was paying the distributor in Hong Kong for. After I left CRI in 2006 I started my own production company for both music and video. I also host a weekly jazz show in Chinese (with a very funny accent) for domestic radio, which again I produce for them. Having programs produced by independents is what television has been doing for a number of years now, but it seems that SW or international radio lags behind in this regard. On a very very personal note. When I revived HS on shortwave part of the reason was nostalgic. At the beginning, I even looked at satellite and only internet streaming. So I thought to myself, well let`s see with SW and see what happens. To be honest, I'm a little shocked. And for a long time I had my doubts about SW. But the amount of people that have written in was never expected. I don't want to give too much information right now, but in 2010 there will be a daily newsmagazine on SW to N&S America. Not hosted by myself, but by someone many listeners might know (Keith Perron, Taiwan, ibid.) The trend to do without professional announcers more and more is problematical. At Deutsche Welle it seriously affected the quality of the news delivery. The old approach that never an author/reporter appeared on air itself is certainly not appropriate anymore, but the other extreme that they even have to do voice-overs etc. is far from ideal as well. Are any noteworthy broadcasters without a "distribution mix" left? I'm not aware of stations using shortwave only, not anymore since Radio Tirana and Radio Habana Cuba are available online. So shortwave can hardly be blamed anymore when nobody listens. (Wasn't it one of the driving ideas behind DRM that just analogue shortwave is to blame for that?) And I strongly oppose an opinion that TV supersedes radio. These are two entirely different media, and radio has still its strengths. Even as fifth wheel on the car. As Nikolay Yolkin from Voice of Russia's German service put it: "Ladies and gentleman, please listen to the radio, because the pictures are lying!" Concerning the original discussion here: Why not considering just a single hour per day to make some people happy and produce good PR? It is about a transmission facility RNW bothers to operate on its own anyway, even made significant investments there recently. Saying this I take of course for granted that there will be enough people who can explain that they are genuinely interested. No arguments like "the magic of shortwave", they are in fact counterproductive, to say it one more time (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) Kai, If I gave the impression that I think TV superceded radio, this is not what I believe. I am, and have always been, first and foremost a radio man. The point was that, since I know quite a few of the people mentioned in the list of names, I believe some of them might well have gone into TV rather than radio, or at least combined the two, if they'd had the choice. I mentioned Tom Meijer specifically because he did for a time have a TV show in the Netherlands Antilles, and always hoped to break into TV here. Had he done so, I wonder if he would have continued on the Happy Station show as long as he did. But the kind of radio we produce now doesn't depend on personalities - it depends on good, solid journalism. That wasn't always possible in the past. Ian McFarland's budget for the 14-minute weekly programme Innovation Canada was $50 (Canadian) per week. He told me that as just enough for 7 minutes of telephone interviews and the other 7 minutes was filled by re-writing material from Canadian magazines. Ian succeeded in making an entertaining show because of his personality as well as his journalistic skills. Imagine the same programme as it would have been presented on Radio Tirana! People like David Monson in Brussels depended solely on their personalities. David could walk into a studio with no material prepared beforehand, and do a live show for 45 minutes I believe it was, making it up as he went along. That was great radio, but look at VRT now - no English programmes at all. Great memories - but that's what they are - memories. I personally don't see how programming aimed specifically at Africa and Asia is going to attract shortwave listeners in North America, other than the occasional DXer. And we certainly have no budget to make different ones on the offchance that someone will listen. I bet some of the people who will write to us never listened to us on a regular basis even before we changed the format and content. But that's nothing new either. We regularly used to get letters from people claiming to be regular listeners to programmes that had been dropped two years previously! I look forward to being proved wrong on all counts :-) (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) Andy, I have a better one. Someone who claimed to have listened to Eddy Startz for many years and wrote his email addressed to Eddy. The only thing I can say to that is I'll pass along your email when I see him, but I'm just not sure when that will be. Like the few listeners who heard the show even before it aired. Maybe these people should be helping the financial groups. LOL (Keith Perron, Taiwan, ibid.) Keith, What you're doing is very interesting, and I wish you well with it. I suspect your audience profile is strongly skewed towards the 50+ age group. That's fine for a privately-produced nostalgia show, but at RNW we are trying to reduce the average age of our audience. That means going onto the platforms that are used by the younger generations. And with a limited budget, we have to reduce shortwave to pay for it. I think it's a good thing that people like yourself are filling the gap that we have left. I find it ironic that, all the time I was a Dxer, people were complaining that the international broadcasters used too many frequencies and didn't leave enough space for the small stations. Now that there has been a substantial reduction in the output of many international broadcasters, some of the same people are complaining about that :-) (Andy Sennitt, ibid.) 40 frequencies at once is too many, zero at once is too few. How about a happy medium? (gh, DXLD) Andy, Do you think also that part is the cost of SW in Europe? I'm only asking because I've been talking to a few relays in Europe and the cost is more than double of that in the US. What you about it being ironic is very true. I was discussing the same thing with someone last month. But at the same time I have to say in this part of the world where I live, it is the only way to listen to foreign radio because of the high cost of internet service and other factors. Next week I'm looking forward to get a DRM radio and see what it's like. Hopefully if PR and marketing of the sets is done right it will do something to boost SW and international broadcasting (Keith Perron, ibid.) Hi Keith, Well, I remember when I used to work for WRTH and my colleague Bart Kuperus submitted his claims for gasoline spent on business trips here in Europe. Our boss in New York always queried the amounts as it cost about *four times* what it cost in the States. Taxes on oil and gasoline are very high here. So I guess that's part of the reason why shortwave transmitter time is expensive. Unfortunately the ordinary shortwave listener doesn't understand the complexities of the financial costs involved in international broadcasting. Neither did I until I came to work at RNW. Yes, we understand that shortwave is still the best solution for people in some parts of the world. But that will change - there's so much being invested in new technology that within a few years the situation may look completely different. By that time, I will hopefully be enjoying a peaceful retirement :-) (Andy Sennitt, May 29, ibid.) No surprise. In the case of WRMI, it is the placement of a programme in the schedule of a small shortwave station, running a single 50 kW transmitter with a complete program line-up. Here in Europe it would instead be an arrangement for a completely new customer on some big shortwave plant. Here it had to start from scratch: Approval of the broadcaster (i.e. you), obtaining a frequency allocation for this broadcaster (i.e. you). And a single hour per week tends to cost more than a larger bunch of airtime, because the estimation has to consider the maintenance of the transmitter plant, not just the actual transmitter hours. The higher costs for mains power here in Europe of course do not help either. You could ask Jeff White for placing your production on the Media Broadcast transmitters. He runs already various transmissions there, with himself (i.e. Radio Miami International) being the broadcaster. Perhaps a more interesting arrangement could be made this way (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) ** NETHERLANDS. Hello from Hilversum, Just a few days to go before our new website is launched. Barring any last-minute problems, the new site will go live on Tuesday 2 June. The Media Network section will remain on the old website for a while, as I haven't had time yet to create the new pages. But as of 1 June, I shall be reducing the amount of hours per week that I work for the English department, which will allow me more time to work on the weblog and other media-related things (Andy Sennitt, Media Network Newsletter May 28 via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Last Friday afternoon, Keith Perron did a "down the line" interview with yours truly for the programme. I don't know how much of this will be featured in the programme as aired, but it was great fun to do and it sounds as though this is going to be a very interesting programme, featuring some familiar names from the DX world who, to be honest, are probably far better qualified than me to comment on such things as the past and future of the hobby. Nevertheless, I did my best to give the club a good mention, and hope you enjoy the programme when it airs. Happy Station is on 9955 kHz via WRMI in Taipe [sic], but is not usually audible in Europe. However, it can be heard online at http://www.wrmi.net (and afterwards is uploaded as a podcast at http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/series/The+Happy+Station+Show (Mark Savage, UK, May 25, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) The Happy Station schedule is June 4th at 1500 UT and June 11th at 0100 and 1500 UT, both on 9955 kHz. It will be a special Happy Station called "Tribute to DXers" - featuring an interview with Ian McFarland and yours truly. Tune in (Colin Newell, Victoria, British Columbia, IRCA via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. 7256, V. of Nigeria, 2107 remote report by W in [unknown] language. Then studio M in French mentioning Enugu and "capitol" [capital?]. 2113 music bridge, then M again mentioning Africa. 2130 found back on 7255. 2131 possible ID and mentions of Nigeria. (27 May). 7255 Nigeria didn't come on until after 2100 today leaving Belarus in the clear, but unfortunately Belarus was weaker than yesterday and just too much QRN. (28 May) (Dave Valko, DXpedition at Black Bear Cabins, Cook Forest State Park, PA, HCDX via DXLD) See also BELARUS ** NIGERIA [non]. I've noted that for the past couple of weeks Aso Radio International has been absent from its usual frequencies for both morning and evening transmissions (0530 on 9680; 1600 on 15215). (James MacDonell, Nigeria, May 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. Email from John Poet indicated that The Crystal Ship has returned, starting at 0130 today. Heard here at 0230 with fair to good signal, deep fades, suggesting the station is no longer in suspected Michigan, which was in ground wave range in earlier times, providing a good and steady signal then. Frequency is 6876 AM, using the Johnson Viking II, to an inverted L fed with 300 ohm twinlead through MFJ 962D antenna tuner. Good to hear this one again (Don Jensen, Kenosha WI, 0243 UT May 26, NASWA yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1462, DXLD; also via Will Martin, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. From the 5/28-6/3 Urban Tulsa Weekly (News Update Column, p. 13): The plan by the Catholic Diocese of Tulsa to purchase KEOR-1120 has "come apart", even though the FCC granted approval in March 2009. The sale price was $532,000. The Rev. Deacon John M. Johnson did not expect the deal to be consummated after all. "Several issues had arisen between the diocese and the Raftt Corporation that had derailed the transaction" (Bruce Winkelman AA5CO, Tulsa, OK, May 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) AFAIK, 1120 has been totally off the air since last reported here several weeks ago; I check it a few times a week in daytime (Glenn Hauser, Enid, ibid.) ** OMAN. 15140. R. Sultanate of Oman, May 12 1429-1437, 35333, English, Music, Gongs and ID at 1430, News. Also May 13 1426-1436, 45433, English, Music, Gongs and ID at 1430, News (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. From Band Scan for last fortnight: 3260, Radio Madang, Madang, 0910; 1030 3290, Radio Central, Boroko, 0910; 1025 3315, Radio Manus, Lorengau, 0910; 1030 3325, Radio Buka, Kuba [sic], 0910; 1035 3335, Radio East Sepik, Wewak, 0910; 1030; 0915 3385, Radio East New Britain, Rabaul, 1000, 1050 Logs ~ Pompano Beach, Cedar Key, Boca Raton, Clewiston, Coral Springs and Embu SP Brasil. 73s (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Southeast Florida, NRD 535D ~ Drake R8, May 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. From Band Scan for last fortnight: 6019.65, Radio Victoria, Lima, 1000 6195.8, Radio Cusco, 1100, 0000 Logs ~ Pompano Beach, Cedar Key, Boca Raton, Clewiston, Coral Springs and Embu SP Brasil. 73s (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Southeast Florida, NRD 535D ~ Drake R8, May 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3329.53, Ondas del Huallaga, Huánuco, 1015-1034 with much improved signal on 29 May, long talks by OM and YL but no music this time. 5059.2, La Voz de las Huarinjas, Huancabamba, 1034 to 1040, best in LSB, seems on about half the time. 30 May; 0015 on 27 May. 73s de (Bob Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, Florida, US, May 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. Here`s an odd juxtaposition. VOA from same site 5 kHz apart with two different services at same time: May 30 at 1402 on 7550 there was a rock song in English, but 1405 Indonesian announcement mentioning ``VOA Direct Connexion``. Weaker on 7445 with QRM from 7550 was VOA news in English. Per Aoki, 7550 Indonesian at 1400 airs only on Thu/Fri/Sat at 200 degrees from Tinang; while 7545 English at 1400 is daily, 250 kW, 270 degrees from Tinang (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES [and non]. On 9625, started to listen to CBC News at 1300 May 30, poor but readable, but a minute later I had to be reminded that ``Jesus Saves`` as FEBC started its Hmong service aimed westward, causing a fast SAH of 11 Hz, more or less and plenty signal here to ruin CBC. Channel Africa in Lozi is also on frequency during this hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PHILIPPINES. Summer A-09 of Radio Veritas Asia Bengali 0030–0057 on 11945 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SoAs 1400–1430 on 11870 PUG 250 kW / 300 deg to SoAs Burmese 1130–1157 on 15450 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SEAs 2330–2357 on 9720 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SEAs Hindi 0030–0057 on 11710 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SoAs 1330–1400 on 11870 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SoAs Hmong 1200–1227 on 11935 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SEAs Kachin 1230–1257 on 15225 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SEAs 2330–2357 on 9645 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SEAs Karen 0000–0027 on 11935 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SEAs 1200–1230 on 15225 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SEAs Mandarin 1000–1157 on 9615 PUG 250 kW / 355 deg to SEAs 2100–2257 on 6115 PUG 250 kW / 350 deg to SEAs Filipino [reportedly with bits of English inmixed] 1500–1530 on 9615 PUG 250 kW / 300 deg to ME Mon/Tue/Thu/Sat 1500-1600 on 9615 PUG 250 kW / 300 deg to ME Wed/Fri/Sun 2300-2327 on 9720 PUG 250 kW / 331 deg to CeAs Russian 0130–0227 on 17830 PUG 250 kW / 000 deg to FE 1500–1600 on 9570 PUG 250 kW / 331 deg to CeAs Sinhala 0000–0027 on 9865 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SoAs 0000–0027 on 11730 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SoAs 1330–1400 on 9520 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SoAs Tamil 0030–0057 on 11935 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SoAs 1400–1427 on 9520 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SoAs Telugu 0100–0127 on 15530 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SoAs 1430–1457 on 9585 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SoAs Urdu 0100–0127 on 15280 PUG 250 kW / 300 deg to SoAs 0100–0127 on 17860 PUG 250 kW / 300 deg to SoAs 1430–1457 on 11870 PUG 250 kW / 300 deg to SoAs Vietnamese 0130–0230 on 15530 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SEAs 1030–1127 on 11850 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SEAs 1300–1327 on 11850 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SEAs 2330–2357 on 9670 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SEAs Zomi-Chin 0130-0200 on 15520 PUG 250 kW / 280 deg to SEAs (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, May 26 via DXLD) ** POLAND. Twoje Radio transmitter off-channel --- One of Twoje Radio transmitters, probably from 1584 kHz, is on 1558.15 kHz drifting a little bit up and down. Heard on 28 May 2009 after 1800 UT and also in the morning of 29 May 2009. Before and after 0700 there was no local program so it looks like this transmitter relays their central program only. IDs: "Twoje Radio AM". Twoje Radio (pron. Tvoye Radio) = Your Radio (Karel Honzik, CZECHIA, MWC via DXLD) ** PUERTO RICO. Is WKAQ-2 really off the air? PRs are blasting in on 6m and I had an ad on channel 2 with a 787 area code (Jeff Kadet, Macomb, IL, 1428 UT 30 May, WTFDA via DXLD) No, not according to the spreadsheet list at http://www.rabbitears.info/ss/DTV-Channels.xls (Steve Rich, Indy, ibid.) Channel 3 SS --- I have this here, in and out, with picture in color on peaks and SS audio. Showing old movie projectors and talking about películas. TuTV bug in lower right. Best towards the SE. Going to check the TuTV affiliate I can get on BUD to verify. Anyone know if this Puerto Rican network has relays in the 48 states? (Jay Novello, Wake Forest NC, 1439 UT May 30, ibid.) Program was "Mini Ciencia", including inserts for upcoming events in Puerto Rico. Confirmed parallel to the San Juan TuTV outlet on Panamsat 1R at 45 W. There's a full-power satellite listed on channel 3 in Mayagüez. Pretty much gone by TOH, even though I was standing by with a camera - but I did get a good picture of the "Mini Ciencia" logo (Novello, 1504 UT, ibid.) TuTV = public TV in PR: WIPR/WIPM (gh) ** RUSSIA [non]. 11690, FRENCH GUIANA, Voice of Russia – Montsinéry, 2341-2357* May 19, short features hosted by a man announcer in the Portuguese language service with music fanfare, closing ID and carrier cut at 2357. Fair (Rich D'Angelo, Wyomissing , PA 19610 , U.S.A. Equipment: Ten-Tec RX-340, Drake R-8B, Eton E1, Eton E5, Alpha Delta DX Sloper, RF Systems Mini-Windom, Datong FL3, JPS ANC-4, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ?? Can`t find this on any schedule; supposed to be on 11605, where I have heard it various times. Recent change or error? RHC in Spanish is scheduled to start 11690 at 0000, but typically is on as much as an hour earlier. So I was monitoring on May 26: at 2258 open carrier already on 11690, but nothing started at 2300 sharp. Meanwhile, on 11605, VOR came on at 2259 with IS, 2300 opening Portuguese with 25 and 49mbs only mentioned. Recheck at 2303, 11690 was in fact RHC in Spanish, // 9600, while its several other frequencies were in other languages. See CUBA for Frodge log at exactly same time (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [and non]. 12000, VOR Chinese at 1310 May 28 again heavily distorted and strong, ruining reception of RHC. Is anyone paying attention in Khabarovsk, or Moskva? VOR Chinese service on 12000 via Khabarovsk the worst yet, May 29 at 1335, very strong, extremely distorted with buzz, unstable carrier; RHC theme music barely audible underneath at one point. VOR, 12000 in Chinese, still massively out of order with distortion, unstable carrier, and noise bursts, May 30 at 1307, this time about equal level to Habana whose reception was ruined. Is anyone paying attention at the Khabarovsk transmitter site, or Moskva HQ? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 12110 - 12112 kHz spurious signal. Of Voice of Russia Moscow outlet in English to Europe 12040 kHz via SRP [``Serpukhov``] site near Moscow, scheduled 1500-2300 UT. Very distorted audio like final stage tube failure, seemingly combined 4 x 50 kW units = 200 kW. \\ transmission on 12070 kHz via different Taldom Moscow site is 2 seconds ahead. 73 (Wolfgang Bueschel, Stuttgart, Germany, 1820 UT May 27, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 13855 with on-and-off Russian tone tests, May 27 at 1352. Per Aoki, that`s a Moscow site prior to VOR Turkish service at 1400. Only poor signal and by 1403 recheck too much splash from WWCR 13845 to make out 13855 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 15170, BSKSA (Riyadh), 0332-0350, 5/28/2009, Arabic. Man with Kor`an recitation. Recheck at 0350 found man talking. Initially a good signal with significant fading. Signal had degraded badly by 0350 (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, RX-340, R8B, E1, ICF- SW7600G, Random Wires (90' and 200'), Eavesdropper Dipole, DX LISTENING DIGEST) A good summer soporific, if time fits for you (gh) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. U S A. 9385, WWRB Manchester TN; 2044-2101+, 26-May; Bro. Scare sez he's diabetic and has heart trouble, and "I'm alone". (If you have easily influenced daughters, be very afraid.) Caller sed he listens on the phone because he has trouble picking B.S. up on shortwave. (I have more trouble avoiding B.S. on SW.) Another caller sed he didn't know how to fast. Another caller wanted to know why B.S. said that God would end the Earth in 2012. B.S. said he didn't say that. Caller must have confused B.S. as a Mayan prophet. Break-in ID at 2100:45. S10-30 sig (Harold Frodge, MI, MARE Tipsheeet via DXLD) ** SPAIN. 13m still usually dead in the mornings except maybe for BBC Ascension 21470, but May 26 at 1404 instead of that I was getting a very poor signal on 21570 in Spanish, just enough to // REE on 17595. Should also be on 21610 but could not pull that one vs my local noise level which is up again after a respite. A hopeful sign, anyway (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SURINAME. From Band Scan for last fortnight: 4990, [Unid] Suriname, Radio Apintie, Paramaribo "possibly" 0900 carrier no audio --- Logs ~ Pompano Beach, Cedar Key, Boca Raton, Clewiston, Coral Springs and Embu SP Brasil. 73s (Bob Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Southeast Florida, NRD 535D ~ Drake R8, May 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SYRIA. 12085, R. Damascus 2115 news in English by M. 2116 news outro by different M, into vocal Arabic music. More audio than on 9330, whereas 9330 was more readable the evening before. 2118 commentary about US aggression. 2120 more Arabic music. 2122 possible ID. 2123 commentary on Syria and an Islamic conference. Finally ID at 2129. Nice ID at 2157, news by M, another ID, and choral NA. S-10 signal with 2% modulation. (27 May) (Dave Valko, DXpedition at Black Bear Cabins, Cook Forest State Park, PA, HCDX via DXLD) 2 percent! 12085, Radio Damascus, 2113-2200, May 30, tune-in to English news. Some local pop music. Talk about North Korea. News, features. IDs. News headlines at 2157. National Anthem at 2158. Into Spanish at 2159. Fair modulation but still with hum. Modulation better than usual. Very poor on // 9330 with very low modulation (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. 9735, RTI Japanese service, again putting out those spurs producing hets of almost but not quite the same pitch on CRI 9730 and BBC 9740, May 26 at 1325. This indicates the 9735 transmitter itself is slightly off-frequency. The spurs are often absent. Don`t BBCWS listeners in Asia complain? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN?? 11550.57, another station off frequency. 1044 Asian music. W announcer at 1046. (28 May) (Dave Valko, DXpedition at Black Bear Cabins, Cook Forest State Park, PA, HCDX via DXLD) Puts big het on WEWN later (gh, DXLD) ** THAILAND. 7570, R. Thailand W.S. - Udon Thani, in English, 5/11, 1859*-1934 [sic; means sign-ON at 1859, in which case the asterisk goes BEFORE the time. AFTER a time means sign-OFF. Surprised people have a hard time catching on to this convention --- gh] S/ON IS (gong chime), OM / ID & announcement into YL & OM news in brief and in detail; music pause & OM ID at 1911: "You're listening to Radio Thailand news", OM talk over slow piano music, then YL talk over orchestra, OM brief announcement over music and continuing news from about 1914 to 1921, music break and ID, OM & YL talk over lite music & ID, brief announcement by OM into business news at 1926. Heard better in SSB [receiver mode] with lite QSB, lite crackles at times and almost excellent local audio & S9+25 of peak! (Giovanni Serra, Roma, Italy. Equipment: JRC NRD 525; Alpha Delta DX- SWL Sloper-S; RG 8 mini coaxial cable; JPS NIR 12 Noise & Interference Reducer-Dual DSP outboard audio filter; Intek PS-35 5 ampere feeder; JRC - NVA 319 external loudspeaker unit; Yaesu YH - 77 STA stereo headphones; Zoom Corp. H2 handy digital recorder MP3 & WAV files; Oregon Scientific radio controlled clock; Interkart framed wall board political world map (1: 46,400,000); the DX Edge-Xantek Inc. (daylight-darkness desk world map), NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) 15275, Radio Thailand, 0017-0029, May 31, tune-in to English news. IDs. Ads for “Spa Intercontinental”, “Infinity Fitness Gym” and a Thai export company. Good signal but signal abruptly dropped down to a threshold level at 0029 due to apparent change in the antenna beam heading. It looks like the antenna beam switches from eastern North America to western North America at 0029 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) There`s a commercial ISWBC station! (gh, DXLD) ** TURKEY. 9830, V. of Turkey, 2229 W talking in English about North Korea's nuclear test. Into Turkish pop music. 2239 M ID and talk with other W host about a British couple celebrating their 81st anniversary. Excellent clear signal. (26 May) (Dave Valko, DXpedition at Black Bear Cabins, Cook Forest State Park, PA, HCDX via DXLD) So no co-channel RTTY, off the air, or in skip zone? (gh, DXLD) ** U K [non]. 11855 with heavy collision about equal levels from WYFR with Foro Abierto in Spanish and BBCWS in Luso Portuguese, May 28 at 2038-2058:30* when BBC quit but WYFR continued. WYFR is at 222 degrees for Central America, while BBC is 114 degrees from Ascension for Angola and Mozambique. There is really no need for such a clash, with plenty of open frequencies on 25m for the BBC semihour at 2030, but it must have been decided that neither causes significant interference in the other`s target area. It`s quite a different story in Oklahoma (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. BBC Caribbean listeners have a new local 24/7 option See http://www.anguillalife.com/news/stories/regional/3216.php Trinidad, Tobago, Jamaica, and Antigua now all have 24/7 access via local FM (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, swprograms via DXLD) WTFK? The story does mention frequencies, but for Jamaica only ``104 FM`` --- does that mean 104.0, one of the few split channels in the Caribbean? No, a quick look at the Jamaica map in Emisoras de FM shows that BBC has several transmitters around the island on different 104+ frequencies, 104.1, 104.3, 104.5, 104.7 and 104.9 – didn`t that work out nicely (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGST) ** U K [non]. Frequency change of TWR Africa via VT Communications: 1800-1845 NF 5940 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg to EaAf, ex 9895 as follows: 1800-1815 in Tigrinya Mon-Wed; 1800-1815 in Amharic Thu/Fri; 1800-1830 in Tigre Sat; 1800-1830 in Kunama Sun; 1815-1845 in Tigrinya Mon-Fri; 1830-1845 in Amharic Sun (DX Mix News, Bulgaria, May 26 via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Quite a collision on 11740, May 26 at 1326: VOA Korean service, 21 degrees via Tinang, PHILIPPINES, so also USward, trying to teach an English lesson on the theme of Memorial Day, but heavy interference from something in Chinese. Are the ChiCom jamming this for their Juche pals? I don`t think so. Checking Aoki, we find that R. Japan`s Chinese service via SINGAPORE is also on 11740 until 1330 at an azimuth of one degree. If the clash is bad here, imagine the way it must sound in East Asia! How was this ever approved? BTW, Vatican`s Iberian service is also scheduled on 11740 until 1330 at 263 degrees from SMG (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Voice of America noted on 6120 May 20 signing on 1900, Facebook Africa program to abrupt sign off 1927. News and News Now heard at same time on May 22 and 23, on May 23 continued at 1930 with Special English (Edwin Southwell, England, DX News, June World DX Club Contact via DXLD) The frequency has been added to their online schedule, site currently not known (Mike Barraclough, ed., ibid.) Too good a frequency to go to waste (gh) VOA Museum: see MUSEA below ** U S A [non]. Re gh log May 23, VOA on 17585 at 1400-1500 changing site in the middle: Glenn, effective May 23, VOA changed 1430-1500z 17585 kHz UDO to BOTSWANA 350 degrees, so you did not hear UDORN. 73 (Dragan Lekic, Serbia, May 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KUSW/KTBN Shortwave Aerial Photo I was just putting together some info on the local Salt Lake City transmission sites, and came across this: http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=qs7jg85nwhxq&style=b&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&scene=32584645&encType=1 It’s a maps.live.com aerial and bird’s eye view of the old site, as they were taking it down. Could be that the photos were taken the day I stopped by to say “goodbye” to the place, except there aren’t any cars in the lot. You can see the old tower bases, to the left of the fenced off feed point area, and the two ocean cargo containers that were being filled to go to Anguilla. One held the tower components, the other was the transmitter. Cool, huh? (Ken W. English, Studio Engineer, KSL-TV/KSL-DT, Salt Lake City, UT 84110-1160 USA, May 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. 11885, Cheetah R, via Wertachtal, Germany (125 kW, 90 degrees), *1600-1640 fade out (scheduled till 1659 to India on Sat only), Sat May 23, two women talking all the time in American English about a happy life, 32332, drowned by Xinjiang PBS in Uighur 11885, R Okapi 11890 and others (Anker Petersen, Denmark, DSWCI DX Window May 27 via DXLD) This is not a `station` any more than it is when it is buying time on WRMI itself. Following log certainly same tho name missing (gh, DXLD) Sat May 30 1611-1658, 11885 phone conversation in English with much laughter: organization, very attracting walking picture, multicolor, show, public relation, and collaboration. After program info at 1630 by OM, conversation continued: internet, computer, human communication, monetary system, Wall Street, US Treasury, computerpower.net, email, to motivate learning in internet, iphone, learning process, and peoplelearning.com before off abruptly. SINPO 34222 (Tony Ashar, West Java, Indonesia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWCR was inbooming on 15825 tnx to more sporadic-E, May 30 at 1407, so it`s time to check 18770 for that WWRB harmonic from 9385. With BFO on, I could detect a carrier, and by golly in the next minute it faded up enough to // 9385 while some psychophant other than Brother Scare himself was testifying. Once the TV was fired up before 1500, found the MUF up to at least channel 3, 66 MHz. Back at 1408, CB was also hopping but who wants to listen to all that co-channel crap in distorted English, trying to determine an area skipping in, with no legal IDs? So up to 10 meter beacon band, and it was hopping too, including on 28245, N8RT; per the huge list at http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=11614 this one is: 28245 N8RT C BLAIRSVILLE, GA # 40W, RINGO VERTICAL Pwr increase 8 Nov 08 The C stands for continuous and the # means confirmed as active. More of those were incoming than SSB contactors, but a few could be heard above 28300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello everyone, Summer is here. I just logged my first 10 meter amateur radio beacon by e-skip for 2009. NC4CW Zebulon NC on 28265 on 29 May 2009 at 2356 UT. 73 (Joe Miller, Troy, MI, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** U S A. NAVY MARS SUNSET --- A Navy MARS member tells me: it`s in danger of being abolished at the end of September. It seems the US Navy considers it obsolete and no longer relevant, unlike Army and AF MARS. It`s not the first time the services have attempted to end MARS, but until now Congress has nixed that. Less so than the other services, Navy MARS has made little effort to bring in new blood, and many members are aging into their 70s and 80s, dedicated veterans, but set in their ways. One problem is that with the financial crunch, supply of surplus equipment has dried up. The military is trying to keep its old equipment patched up and working. This was originally a major incentive for hams to get active in MARS, obtaining transmitters et al., at little or no cost, which incidentally could also be used on the ham bands at proper powers and frequencies. Still, there is useful software freely available to everyone for digital modes on HF, such as MT63 and WSJT6. MARS got a big boost thanks to the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, when President Kennedy found his normal lines of communication with the military disrupted. The idea was to have lots of transmitters dispersed around the country in homes of individuals, as well as on bases at home and abroad, which could be accessed in an emergency. What MARS remains in the other branches is going to be renamed Military Auxiliary Radio System, instead of – Affiliate - thus stepping up its importance in the hierarchy. There`s a lot of info unrestricted on the Navy/MC MARS website http://www.navymars.org/ not including access to frequencies! Notably this about the `sunset` of Navy MARS on 30 September 2009: http://www.navymars.org/national/cmb/CMB-2009-05-16-01.TXT --- ``DE NNN0ASA 040 R 162200Z MAY 2009 FM CHNAVMARCORMARS WILLIAMSBURG VA TO ALNAVMARCORMARS INFO ZEN/CHIEF ARMY MARS FT HUACHUCA AZ ZEN/CHIEF AIR FORCE MARS SCOTT AFB IL BT UNCLAS SUBJ: CHNAVMARCORMARS BCST 03-09 A. DOD DIRECTIVE 4650.2 DTD 26 JAN 1998 B. DOD INSTRUCTION 4650.02 (PROPOSED) NOTAL 1. COMMANDER, NAVAL NETWORK WARFARE COMMAND (NNWC) HAS DECIDED TO 'SUNSET' THE MARS MISSION WITHIN NAVY AS OF 30 SEP 2009. NNWC HAS REQUESTED ALL MILITARY BILLETS AND MY CIVILIAN POSITION BE DELETED AND UNFUNDED AFTER THAT DATE. OPNAV HAS NOT YET APPROVED THIS REQUEST. 2. ALL THREE MARS SERVICES HAVE OPERATED UNDER THE MANDATE OF REF A, WHICH IS STILL VALID. REF B IS A PROPOSED UPDATE TO REF A AND IS IN THE PROCESS OF BEING COORDINATED BETWEEN DOD AND THE THREE SERVICES. REF B INCREASES THE SERVICES REQUIREMENT TO SUPPORT THE MARS PROGRAMS WITHIN THEIR SERVICE. ARMY AND AIR FORCE HAVE AGREED TO THE CHANGES BUT NAVY (OPNAV) HAS ASKED TO BE LET OUT OF THIS REQUIREMENT. THIS NEGOTIATION IS STILL IN PROCESS AND WE DO NOT KNOW WHEN IT WILL BE RESOLVED. 3. AS A CONSEQUENCE OF NNWC DECISION TO 'SUNSET' THE MARS MISSION, I AM FORCED TO INITIATE ACTION TO CLOSE DOWN NAVY-MARINE CORPS OPERATIONS AND FACILITIES BY 30 SEP 2009. ACCORDINGLY: A. AREA DIRECTORS WILL TRANSFER ALL MEMBERSHIP RECORDS TO HQ NLT THAN 31 JUL 2009. WHEN RECORDS HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED, STATE DIRECTORS WILL SEND ALL MEMBERSHIP RELATED MATTERS DIRECTLY TO CHNAVMARCORMARS VICE THE AREA DIRECTOR. B. AREA DIRECTORS WILL CLOSE DOWN THEIR OFFICES AND TURN IN ALL EQUIPMENT TO DRMO NOT LATER THAN 30 SEP 2009. C. NONE OF THE EQUIPMENT AT THE AREA DIRECTORS STATIONS WILL BE ALLOWED TO BE TRANSFERRED TO ANY MEMBERS. THE EQUIPMENT MAY BE TRANSFERRED TO OTHER OFFICIAL NAVY ORGANIZATIONS (LIKE MWR OR SPECIAL SERVICES) TO HELP EQUIP OR START UP MILITARY RECREATION STATIONS. THESE TRANSFERS WILL BE APPROVED BY HQ ON A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS. 4. IF NAVY'S REQUEST TO BE DELETED FROM REF B IS NOT APPROVED, THERE WILL BE A NAVY-MARINE CORPS MARS PROGRAM BUT IT WILL NOT HAVE AREA DIRECTORS (THEY WILL HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED). ALL MEMBERSHIP CORRESPONDENCE WILL BE HANDLED BETWEEN THE STATE DIRECTOR AND CHIEF, NAVMARCORMARS DIRECTLY. AREA DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND AREA STAFF POSITIONS WILL BE RETAINED TO COORDINATE FREQUENCY MATTERS, TRAINING, ETC.. ALL OPERATIONAL MATTERS WILL BE HANDLED BY STATE AND REGION DIRECTORS. 5. I WILL INFORM YOU AS SOON AS I FIND OUT THE FINAL RESOLUTION OF NAVY'S REQUEST TO 'SUNSET' NAVY-MARINE CORPS MARS. BT NNNN`` (Glenn Hauser, May 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1020, WCIL-AM --- After an "inland tornado" and multi-day power disruption two weeks ago this class D Southern Illinois AM station [Carbondale] is sometimes transmitting long into the night. Interference with KDKA may be noted. Located in Jackson County, Illinois (Plutonius, May 26, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. ESPN RADIO STATIONS: WHERE'S THE BALANCE? I have raised concerns in these pages about the lack of balance in programming on ESPN Radio's affiliated stations, such as 950 in Philadelphia (WPEN), and will continue to do so. What I am happy with 950 is that in March they made an adjustment -- one which they should have done when the station went to ESPN from Fox Sports on April 1, 2008 -- by airing all four hours of ESPN-R's Mike and Mike in the Morning (M-F at 1000-1400 UT), and then airing the first hour of Colin Cowherd's midday show (The Herd, M-F at 14-15). What is it that I am not happy about? To me it's not good enough to offer a balance of local content with ESPN-R's content -- from 1500 all the way to 0200 it's 11 hours straight of local sports talk shows! Okay, the local hosts do have some national guests including ESPN contributors on their shows, but the content is mostly about the Philly teams -- good for many listeners but not good for others because some other ESPN shows (Mike Tirico/Scott Van Pelt in afternoons, for one) are bumped for this reason! To make it worse, since January, 950-ESPN has been airing three hours on weeknights (UT-Tue to Sat, 02-05) of a nationally syndicated (it's NOT RELATED to ESPN-R in any way) show hosted by a former Philly radio figure/front-runner named Tony Bruno, called "Into the Night". Just because they choose to air someone with a Philly angle does not provide what a station with an ESPN connection should be offering its listeners -- some ESPN content! I wish 950 could air "SportsCenter Nightly" at 03-05 UT Tue-Sat, but they went for the lowest matter of sports talk, not provide a detailed sports-news program many people want to hear. Also all of those "every 20 minutes" SportsCenter updates on 950 are run locally, and they should at least offer the top-of-hour SportsCenter update from ESPN itself (which 1050 in New York does) every hour, along with the local updates. Again, it's a matter of balance in content. In short, 950 in Philly, and other markets that carry ESPN Radio, should try to offer more ESPN programs at various times of the day, along with some local content (afternoon drive time is okay) in some hours. To me, a station claiming a national connection that chooses to load up with local hosts and offer limited national programming is only going by name and not the variety of its content -- i.e. it's ESPN in NAME ONLY! (Joe Hanlon, NJ, May 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Such `branding` is not unusual among affiliates of a network, e.g. many (all?) Fox network TV affiliates call their own local news Fox- this-and-that, even tho they are not owned by Fox at all, e.g. in OKC. Gullible viewers are fooled into thinking there axually is a Fox connexion (as if that were a plus) (gh, DXLD) I'm getting a bit bored with sports radio; they never ID and who wants to talk about sports that much anyway?? The only reason I even bother with them is to fill empty spots on my log book (Dean Wayman, O'Neill NE, Kaito 2100, homemade loop, ABDX via DXLD) The ESPN clients I have always ID precisely at xx:59:50 every hour. And, there's usually a liner promo that also mentions the station at xx:01:30 most hours, live sports excepted. There are also liners that more or less ID the station after every commercial break, usually three or four per hour (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) I've also noted that sometimes they'll have a local promo toward the bottom of the hour as well. Then again, I've heard some ESPN stations not ID anywhere near the top of the hour (Eric Berger, ibid.) I mostly DX while traveling, and it's amazing how many ESPN stations have no ID whatsoever during these breaks. Just a few seconds of dead air, and on they go. It's especially common in the small and midsize markets. 73, Tim Hall, CA, ibid.) There's a clock format for most satellite-forwarded programming including ESPN. I doubt it's top secret, so I'll make a note of the times. The commercial breaks do vary according to the program inertia. Can be as much as five or so minutes off the clock times. Automation fails, and I'm sure some really underfunded stations don't have reliable systems. The TOH ID can be really simple, though. Just take an old cart machine and wire it to the satellite receiver contacts that are set to that cue closure. I will say that in all the time I've monitored, the TOH ID has never missed that time except during live sports broadcasts. One useful thing about satellite forwarded stations is the ability to listen to a local and see how the content matches. Just be aware that many stations (including my clients) have a delay in-line for obscenity protection. Not that it's ever used with satellite content, but in most cases the station insurance policy requires that delay equipment (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) There ya go. I was going to mention that too. Numerous times when trying to ID an ESPN station that is the case. No liners where they should be. No ID. Yeah, it's illegal but no one cares. In this day and age even in the BIGGER markets, it's like no one is listening and no one cares. And I am reasonably sure that in many of those cases --- especially when it's a cluster you're talking about --- the "station" is nothing more than a computer. Period. No studio, no board. Just a computer. My point is: many times even in the bigger markets, it's just there and nobody at the station is listening or monitoring. I'm sure there is some sort of alarm that would alert them if the transmitter went off the air but as far as content on the air and if the automation is screwing up; they probably don't even notice unless somebody calls. (Michael n Wyo Richard, ibid.) ** U S A. A self-described “florist and a Hispanic pastor” has won U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval to pay $65,000 for KQLO (AM-1590) licensed to Sun Valley, Nevada. Ricardo García told Chief Judge Gregg Zive that he plans to air some form of Hispanic religious programming on the 5,000-watt daytime/67-watt nighttime station (Radio and Records via Brock Whaley, DXLD) So, will this huxter ask for money for the ministry, or for a Mothers day bouquet? The station in non-DA. Closest 1590 in San José (Brock Whaley, Oahu, May 27, DX Listening Digest) ** U S A. FCC to station: GO OFF THE AIR NOW http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-09-1161A1.pdf Previous forfeiture order July 2008: http://www.fcc.gov/eb/Orders/2008/DA-08-1647A1.html WOLY 1500, Battle Creek MI; its website, minimal info and zero about this: http://woly1500.homestead.com/home.html (via Artie Bigley, May 28, DXLD) ** U S A. ABC 7 LOSES ITS VOICE AFTER 19-YEAR RUN RON ROLLAND | Station goes with younger, L.A.-based 'sound' May 28, 2009 BY LEWIS LAZARE Sun-Times Columnist http://www.suntimes.com/business/lazare/1595787,CST-FIN-lew28.article# Another long run -- 19 years to be exact -- comes to an end Friday, when ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7 parts ways with its familiar voiceover announcer Ron Rolland, who worked for the city's No. 1-rated TV station as a contract employee. To anyone who is a regular WLS viewer, Rolland's voice is instantly recognizable -- having been used for countless newscast promos over the years. WLS General Manager Emily Barr and vice president of programming and creative services Tom Hebel have decided to replace Rolland, 58, and his "sound identity" with a younger, Los Angeles- based voiceover talent, Roger Rose. He has also done voiceover work for the ABC network. Rose will transmit his WLS voiceovers from his L.A. studio. Rose, a former usher for the "Oprah Winfrey Show," is the son of the late Chicago radio personality Sondra Gair. » Click to enlarge image Voiceover announcer Ron Rolland and ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7 are parting ways, after 19 years. (Courtesy) [caption] Understandably, Rolland, who has done voiceover work for several of the city's radio and television stations and for hundreds of television commercials since he was 15, would have preferred to carry on at WLS for a while longer. But Rolland said he has the utmost admiration for Barr and her team at WLS and respects their decision. "This is another way we continue to tweak our product," a WLS spokeswoman said. Still, Rolland, who did the voiceovers for the CBS- owned WBBM-Channel 2 newscasts fronted by the legendary anchors Walter Jacobson and Bill Kurtis, thinks many WLS viewers will notice the change, and, at least for a while, possibly feel a bit disoriented (via Brock Whaley, Oahu, May 28, DX Listening Digest) ** VATICAN. VATICAN RADIO GOES COMMERCIAL Radio Vaticano emitirá publicidad a partir de julio después de 78 años http://www.abc.es/20090526/nacional-sociedad/radio-vaticano-emitira-publicidad-200905261710.html (via José Miguel Romero2, Spain, dxldyg via DXLD) Una notizia interessante su Radio Vaticana, che ha deciso di iniziare a fare pubblicita': http://www.corriere.it/notizie-ultima-ora/Cronache/Radio-Vaticana-pubblicita-risanare-passivo/26-05-2009/1-A_000024234.shtml RADIO VATICANA: SI' ALLA PUBBLICITA' PER RISANARE PASSIVO (via Andrea Borgnino IW0HK - HB9EMK, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) Here's the English version. I guess they mean local radio service in Italian... http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/270443,vaticans-radio-opens-to-commercial-advertising.html VATICAN'S RADIO OPENS TO COMMERCIAL ADVERTISING Vatican City - The Vatican's official radio station is set to start airing commercials for the first time since it began broadcasting almost 80 years ago, officials said Tuesday. Vatican Radio will run a series of "spots" advertising the services of Italian state-controlled energy provider, Enel, beginning on July 6, the station's director Father Federico Lombardi said. "We are proud to have been chosen as the first advertiser on one of the world's most widely broadcast radio stations," Enel's chairman Piero Gnudi, said speaking at Vatican newsconference. Established in 1931 with the help of radio's Italian inventor, Guglielmo Marconi, Vatican Radio currently broadcasts in some 47 languages, also through its online site http://www.vaticanradio.org Enel produces and sells electricity mostly in Europe, North and Latin America and it also a major distributor and vendor of natural gas in Italy (via Dragan Lekic, Serbia, May 26, dxldyg via DXLD) So the RCC will in effect be endorsing certain products, and not others. Totally in keeping with the concept of the RCC as a big business, à la Robert A. Heinlein (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Vatican Radio - the voice of the Roman Catholic church - is going commercial in July to meet rising costs. An advertising agency is to vet the radio ads to make sure they are in keeping with moral standards. On 6 July it will transmit its first commercial advert. More at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8068680.stm Wonder which products would be denied access :-) (Mark Hattam, BDXC-UK via DXLD) Here is what Radio-Info.com says about Vatican Radio accepting commercials: VATICAN RADIO TO START AIRING ADVERTISING TO BOOST REVENUE It costs $30 million annually to operate Vatican Radio, so they've taken the big step of accepting advertising, as of July 6. However, not every ad will be allowed to air on Vatican Radio, as the operation will have an advertising agency vet all ads. It's expected that Vatican Radio will attract advertisers from around the world. The first ad is being bought by Italian electricity multinational ENEL. Set up in 1931 with a transmitter from Guglielmo Marconi, Vatican Radio broadcasts worldwide by short, medium and long wave, on FM in Rome, as well as the internet, in 47 languages (via Richard Lewis, dxldyg via DXLD) Vatican Radio just announced on its 0250 UT English Broadcast on May 28, on July 6, they will begin airing commercials; the first for what sounded like the Italian Electric company. 73s, (Bill Bergadano, KA2EMZ, Join me Friday nights at 8PM Eastern for the 'Friday Night Party' & Sundays at 8 PM Eastern for 'Doo Wop Avenue' ! Just go to http://www.radioscooterinternational.com and click on the player and enjoy! swprograms via DXLD) Reminds me of a Cheech & Chong routine. Or, as one of my work colleagues chimed in, "Wonder if the Catholic Church is offering any specials?" Who says the selling of indulgences is dead? (Rich Cuff / Allentown, PA, swprograms via DXLD) Funny... I had a different reaction. Like, why haven't any other international broadcasters (challenged by resources as they are) gone this route or at least given it a try.... Heineken ads on RNW? BMW ads on DW? Sony ads on NHK World? Seems like a natural to me (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, ibid.) Yeah, but remember the Hebrew National ad slogan: "We answer to a Higher Authority..." That's the funny part... Hey, the BBC is doing that for the news.bbc.co.uk website: the BBC has the capability to serve ads to Internet users that originate outside the UK (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, ibid.) Agreed, John - If anything, run tourism ads: the "visit the Ukraine" sort of thing. Maybe that's what Radio Netherlands should do; I know a lot of people that go to the Netherlands; run a few ads about the country on shortwave. Anything to get them back on to North America. 73s (Bill Bergadano, KA2EMZ, ibid.) I can hear it now -- condom ads on Vatican radio (Joe Buch, ibid.) Funny... but you're illustrating my point by citing the extreme. I think advertising on international broadcast stations is a perfectly reasonable thing to do if the effort is properly tailored. (Figliozzi, ibid.) VATICAN RADIO TO EXPERIMENT WITH ADVERTISING TO DEFRAY COSTS http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=16125 Vatican City, May 28, 2009 / 03:05 am (CNA).- Vatican Radio has announced that it will carry advertising in an attempt to help defray its 21.4 million Euro ($29.8 million) annual operating fees. The official broadcasting service of the Holy See, Vatican Radio has never carried advertising in its almost 80 year history. Three years ago, Vatican Spokesman Frederico Lombardi said that the radio´s audience was too geographically, linguistically and ethnically diverse to appeal to advertisers. On Friday, however, he announced Vatican Radio would begin accepting advertisements, ANSA reports. A Tuesday press conference held by Fr. Lombardi and Bishop Renato Boccardo, Secretary of the Governorate of Vatican City, stressed that the project is in an experimental phase and that the ads will be placed at appropriate times in between regular programming. The first ads will be run by Italian electricity utility ENEL. The ads will be broadcast in five languages from July 6 to September 27. ''We are proud to have been chosen as the first advertiser for a radio station that is among the most wide-reaching in the world,'' ENEL President Piero Gnudi said, according to ANSA. Vatican Radio generates almost no revenue currently, but is considered a vital contributor to spreading the Gospel. The station employs about 200 journalists and transmits news, religious events and music programs across the world in 47 languages (via Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. CHAVEZ STARTS FOUR-DAY TALK SHOW MARATHON CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's garrulous President Hugo Chávez on Thursday began a marathon four-day edition of his trademark television [sic] show to mark 10 years since the influential and widely watched [sic] program first hit the airwaves. Chavez is a tireless talker who uses frequent television appearances to make policy announcements, berate opponents and even sing during rambling speeches often delivered in the florid vernacular of working class Venezuelans. Normally transmitted on Sundays from a different corner of the South American oil exporting nation each week, 'Aló Presidente' is the boisterous socialist's favorite forum, with the program once running to eight hours. "'Alo Presidente' starts today and finishes this Sunday, we don't know at what time," Chavez said at the start of Thursday's program broadcast from an electricity plant in Venezuela's oil heartland state Zulia. Venezuela's media reflect its polarized society, with government stations strongly supporting Chavez and private newspapers and Globovision TV relentlessly critical of the president and his policies. Chavez believes strongly in the political power of the press and TV. In 2007 he refused to renew the license of the nation's largest television station, implicated in a brief coup against him. This year he has increased pressure on Globovisión. Chavez, who keeps his energy levels high with multiple cups of coffee, has used his television show to announce nationalizations, and rail against the United States. He once shocked his defense minister on the show by ordering tanks to the border with Colombia. On Thursday he began the program giving sexual education tips to a group of teenagers and talked about problems with his weight, which has ballooned since he took office in 1999. Chavez also quoted from a letter written by his close friend Fidel Castro, in which the former Cuban president said "Alo Presidente" had broadcast a total of 1536 hours, or 64 full days, since it was first aired. "Never has a revolutionary idea made use of the media so effectively," Castro wrote (via Brandon Jordan, TN, May 28, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) If any of this is being carried on SW via RHC, I am unaware of it. Would quite disrupt its own scheduling, tho they could probably spare one transmitter without too much problem. But was there any mention of this on the RHC website? Of course not! Lástima that RNV does not have its own SW site running yet (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CHAVEZ EN PROGRAMA DE RADIO Y TV DE CUATRO DIAS http://www.ansa.it/ansalatina/notizie/notiziari/venezuela/20090528185034887723.html CARACAS, 28 (ANSA) - El presidente de Venezuela Hugo Chávez comenzó hoy una edición maratónica de su programa audiovisual "Aló presidente", que se extenderá hasta el domingo, para celebrar los 10 años de su primera transmisión. El mandatario puso en marcha una segunda unidad de la planta Termozulia, en el occidente del país, que generará 150 megavatios de electricidad y sumará un total de 350 megavatios. "Hacia los 150 megavatios para el Zulia y hacia todos los megavatios de potencia para el pueblo", afirmó y dio inicio al programa. "Ha comenzado aquí un programa mollejúo (fantástico)", señaló con una expresión dialectal. Chávez acompañó luego a un coro de niños con quienes entonó una canción de apertura a la edición 331 del programa y advirtió que "no sabe cuantas horas a va a durar". "Prepárense, será un programa con paréntesis, desde el jueves 28 hasta el domingo 31. Será por capítulos, como una telenovela y habrá de todo. Habrá canciones, habrá crítica", dijo esta semana al hacer el anuncio. El espacio aniversario coincide con la celebración de un foro internacional en el que participan varios escritores críticos del gobierno, encabezados por Mario Vargas Llosa, que ha sido cuestionado por el oficialismo como un evento de la "extrema derecha". DFB 28/05/2009 18:50 Fuente: Ansalatina.com (via Yimber Gaviría, Colombia, DXLD) 'ALÓ PRESIDENTE,' ARE YOU STILL TALKING? VENEZUELA'S CHÁVEZ CONDUCTS 4-DAY SHOW By Juan Forero Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, May 30, 2009 CARACAS, Venezuela, May 29 -- There's probably no president in the world as loquacious as Hugo Chávez, the self-styled revolutionary leader who frequently commandeers the Venezuelan airwaves to deliver monologues that can last hours. Now, he is threatening to break his own record with a special four-day episode of "Aló Presidente," or "Hello President," to commemorate the 10th anniversary of a program that is part talk show, part bully pulpit and all Chávez. "We never tape; we never script," Chávez said Friday afternoon. Shaking hands and hugging visitors, he said the program offers a lesson to all who tune in. "That is 'Aló Presidente,' a class -- a permanent class," he said, noting that this is the 331st episode. . . http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/29/AR2009052903379.html?hpid=sec-world (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA [non]. El Mandatario was doing a much-publicized 4-day Aló, Presidente marathon starting Thursday May 28, but apparently that didn`t make it onto any special Cuban frequencies. After a few weeks` gap, however, the finale got the Cuban five going again on Sunday May 31, checked at 1415 with 13750 usward best as usual, in mailbag segment during the prolog, and not // RHC mainstream on 13760, 13780. At 1437, 13750 service was // much weaker 13680 which also had degraded audio during song, and detectable on 11690 and better 12010, barely on 17750. Not checked again until 1613 when there was a Venezolana de Televisión program promo about something else, so I never axually heard Chávez (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [and non]. Dear DXers, I went to VOV website to look at A09 freq schedule, but nothing there: http://www.vovnews.com.vn/?lang=2 I could not believe my eyes! Nowhere schedule! What if I were a new SW listener? I could not find frequencies, so I could not listen to their programs. 73 Dragan V O I C E O F V I E T N A M A 0 9 --------------------------------------- [Aoki extract]: CHINESE 7220 1100-1130 Chinese 100 27 Hanoi-Sontay 9550 1100-1130 Chinese 100 27 Hanoi-Sontay 9550 1200-1230 Chinese 100 27 Hanoi-Sontay 7220 1200-1230 Chinese 100 27 Hanoi-Sontay 9550 1300-1330 Chinese 100 27 Hanoi-Sontay 7220 1300-1330 Chinese 100 27 Hanoi-Sontay 9550 2200-2230 Chinese 100 27 Hanoi-Sontay 7220 2200-2230 Chinese 100 27 Hanoi-Sontay 9840 2230-2300 Chinese 100 57 Hanoi-Sontay 12020 2230-2300 Chinese 100 57 Hanoi-Sontay ENGLISH 6175 0100-0130 English 250 212 Sackville 6175 0230-0300 English 250 212 Sackville 6175 0330-0400 English 250 212 Sackville 9840 1000-1030 English 100 177 Hanoi-Sontay 12020 1000-1030 English 100 177 Hanoi-Sontay 7285 1100-1130 English 50 216 Hanoi 12020 1130-1200 English 100 57 Hanoi-Sontay 9840 1130-1200 English 100 57 Hanoi-Sontay 9840 1230-1300 English 100 177 Hanoi-Sontay 12020 1230-1300 English 100 177 Hanoi-Sontay 12020 1330-1400 English 100 57 Hanoi-Sontay 9840 1330-1400 English 100 57 Hanoi-Sontay 9840 1500-1530 English 100 177 Hanoi-Sontay 7285 1500-1530 English 50 216 Hanoi 12020 1500-1530 English 100 177 Hanoi-Sontay 9550 1600-1630 English 100 290 Hanoi-Sontay 7220 1600-1630 English 100 290 Hanoi-Sontay 9730 1600-1630 English 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 7280 1600-1630 English 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 9725 1700-1730 English 100 300 Moosbrunn 9730 1900-1930 English 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 7280 1900-1930 English 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 7220 2030-2100 English 100 290 Hanoi-Sontay 9730 2030-2100 English 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 9550 2030-2100 English 100 290 Hanoi-Sontay 7280 2030-2100 English 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 12020 2330-2400 English 100 177 Hanoi-Sontay 9840 2330-2400 English 100 177 Hanoi-Sontay FRENCH 7285 1200-1230 French 50 216 Hanoi 7285 1300-1330 French 50 216 Hanoi 7220 1630-1700 French 100 290 Hanoi-Sontay 9550 1630-1700 French 100 290 Hanoi-Sontay 7280 1830-1900 French 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 9725 1830-1900 French 100 300 Moosbrunn 9730 1830-1900 French 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 7280 1930-2000 French 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 9730 1930-2000 French 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 9730 2100-2130 French 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 7220 2100-2130 French 100 290 Hanoi-Sontay 7280 2100-2130 French 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 9550 2100-2130 French 100 290 Hanoi-Sontay GERMAN 9730 1530-1600 German 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 7280 1530-1600 German 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 9730 1800-1830 German 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 7280 1800-1830 German 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 9430 1930-2030 German 300 90 Skelton 9730 2130-2200 German 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 7280 2130-2200 German 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay INDONESIAN 9840 1030-1100 Indonesian 100 177 Hanoi-Sontay 12020 1030-1100 Indonesian 100 177 Hanoi-Sontay 9840 1300-1330 Indonesian 100 177 Hanoi-Sontay 12020 1300-1330 Indonesian 100 177 Hanoi-Sontay 12020 1430-1500 Indonesian 100 177 Hanoi-Sontay 9840 1430-1500 Indonesian 100 177 Hanoi-Sontay 9840 2300-2330 Indonesian 100 177 Hanoi-Sontay 12020 2300-2330 Indonesian 100 177 Hanoi-Sontay JAPANESE 9840 1100-1130 Japanese 100 57 Hanoi-Sontay 12020 1100-1130 Japanese 100 57 Hanoi-Sontay 12020 1200-1230 Japanese 100 57 Hanoi-Sontay 9840 1200-1230 Japanese 100 57 Hanoi-Sontay 12020 1400-1430 Japanese 100 57 Hanoi-Sontay 9840 1400-1430 Japanese 100 57 Hanoi-Sontay 12020 2200-2230 Japanese 100 57 Hanoi-Sontay 9840 2200-2230 Japanese 100 57 Hanoi-Sontay KHMER 7285 1030-1100 Cambodian 50 216 Hanoi 7285 1230-1300 Cambodian 50 216 Hanoi 7285 2230-2300 Cambodian 50 216 Hanoi LAO 7285 1330-1430 Laotian 50 216 Hanoi 7285 2300-2400 Laotian 50 216 Hanoi RUSSIAN 7220 1130-1200 Russian 100 27 Hanoi-Sontay 9550 1130-1200 Russian 100 27 Hanoi-Sontay 7220 1230-1300 Russian 100 27 Hanoi-Sontay 9550 1230-1300 Russian 100 27 Hanoi-Sontay 9730 1630-1700 Russian 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 7280 1630-1700 Russian 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 9725 1900-1930 Russian 250 75 Woofferton 9730 2000-2030 Russian 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 7280 2000-2030 Russian 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay SPANISH 6175 0300-0330 Spanish 250 212 Sackville 6175 0400-0427 Spanish 250 212 Sackville 9550 2130-2200 Spanish 100 290 Hanoi-Sontay 7220 2130-2200 Spanish 100 290 Hanoi-Sontay THAI 7285 1130-1200 Thai 50 216 Hanoi 7285 1430-1500 Thai 50 216 Hanoi 7285 1530-1600 Thai 50 216 Hanoi 7285 2200-2230 Thai 50 216 Hanoi VIETNAMESE 7285 0000-0100 Vietnamese 50 216 Hanoi 6175 0130-0230 Vietnamese 250 212 Sackville 6175 0430-0500 Vietnamese 250 240 Sackville 6175 0500-0527 Vietnamese 250 240 Sackville 9550 1500-1600 Vietnamese 100 290 Hanoi-Sontay 7220 1500-1600 Vietnamese 100 290 Hanoi-Sontay 7280 1700-1800 Vietnamese 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 9730 1700-1800 Vietnamese 100 320 Hanoi-Sontay 9725 1730-1830 Vietnamese 100 300 Moosbrunn 11840 2030-2130 Vietnamese 300 110 Skelton [HFCC extract]: 5925 0900 1500 49 CK2 50 320 5925 2300 0300 49 CK2 50 320 5975 0900 1500 49 HAN 50 176 5975 2300 0300 49 HAN 50 176 6020 0900 1500 49 DAL 20 320 6020 2300 0300 49 DAL 20 320 6165 0400 0530 49 CK2 50 176 6165 1145 1400 49 CK2 50 176 6165 2200 2300 49 CK2 50 176 6175 0100 0430 8,10E,11W SAC 250 212 6175 0430 0530 7,8,10 SAC 250 240 7210 1400 1500 49 DAL 20 320 7210 2300 1300 49 DAL 20 320 7220 1100 1330 33,34,43,44 VNI 100 27 7220 1500 1700 30,39,40 VNI 100 290 7220 2030 2200 30,39,40 VNI 100 290 7280 1600 2130 27,28 VNI 100 310 7285 1030 1600 49 MET 50 216 7285 2300 0100 49 MET 50 216 9430 1930 2030 28NW SKN 300 90 9530 0100 1400 49 CK2 50 176 9550 1100 1330 33,34,43,44 VNI 100 27 9550 1500 1700 30,39,40 VNI 100 290 9550 2030 2200 30,39,40 VNI 100 290 9550 2200 2230 33,34,43,44 VNI 100 27 9725 1700 1830 27 MOS 100 300 9725 1830 1900 27 MOS 100 300 9725 1900 1930 29 SKN 300 70 9730 1600 2130 27,28 VNI 100 320 9840 1100 1230 33,34,43,44 VNI 100 57 9840 1230 1330 49,51,54 VNI 100 177 9840 1330 1430 33,34,43,44 VNI 100 57 9840 1430 1600 49,51,54 VNI 100 177 9840 2200 2300 33,34,43,44 VNI 100 57 9840 2230 2400 49,51,54 VNI 100 177 9875 0200 1000 49 MET 50 176 11840 2030 2130 28S SKN 300 110 12020 1100 1230 33,34,43,44 VNI 100 57 12020 1230 1330 49,51,54 VNI 100 177 12020 1330 1430 33,34,43,44 VNI 100 57 12020 1430 1600 49,51,54 VNI 100 177 12020 2200 2300 33,34,43,44 VNI 100 57 12020 2230 2400 49,51,54 VNI 100 177 (via Dragan Lekic, Serbia, May 30, dxldyg via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Good Morning Glenn, I stumbled across an interesting station in Spanish this morning. I thought you and your readers might want to hear about this one. 530, UNID, 1144-1220 UT, 5/29/09, While checking this frequency for the travel station near Wellington, KS [Kansas Turnpike Authority], I heard a station in Spanish. Okay, it seems rather late to be hearing R. Enciclopedia, so my interest was tweaked from the start. They were playing pop type music which included some disco sounding stuff as well as some R&R I believe in Spanish. Station was weak to very weak. It faded up to a little above threshold level from approximately 1200 to 1210. Apparently an ID at 1200, but could copy very little. Heard several TC's for UT-5 I think. Several mentions of Manzanilla were hrd during a couple of ads. This was NOT R. Enciclopedia. I checked their streaming audio, and it certainly wasn't //. Any ideas?? Heard on a modified Eton E-100 with a Select-a-Tenna. I look forward to any feedback you or others might have regarding this station. I hope all is well with you. Everything here is okay (Kirk Allen, Ponca City, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Kirk, Very interesting. I will have to see if I can hear it. There is a Manzanillo in Colima state, Mexico. Checked the frequency list here http://www.mexicoradiotv.com/frec_am.htm And nothing on 530 listed in Mexico yet. 73, (Glenn to Kirk, May 30, via DXLD) Glenn, Did you have any luck detecting the station on 530 this morning? This indeed is a curious one. I heard that SS station on 530 again this morning, but at a slightly weaker level except for one short peak at 1212 which only lasted about 10 seconds, This is weird. At times it kind of sounds like a spur of some kind. All I know is that it's not WBBZ, KOKB or any station near here .I guess the latter was a no-brainer, ha ha. Thinking it might be a subharmonic of 1060, I checked that frequency and it's not the SS station heard there (probably KIJN) I began listening for this one at 1140 UC this morning, but nothing was detected until it began to fade in at 1151. I hope someone else can detect this one. Otherwise, I'm afraid people my begin to doubt my sanity. Whoever this is, it's going to take some darn good conditions and or a good directional antenna; well, at least from the sounds of it up here. Take care, (Kirk Allen, ibid.) Kirk, No, but I did not try until about 1240 UT, and was only using DX-398 portable which I have to rotate to null out the local noise level. Nor did I hear anything around 0530-0600. Have you looked for it in the evening or late at night? Or for that matter in full daytime in case it is a spur or mix of something elsewhere on MW. Hope you can get a definite ID or more useful clues. +910 kHz = 1440 where the Dallas station is SS, and now 50 kW daytime. Rule out WKY 930 // just in case (Glenn to Kirk, via DXLD) Here's what Bryant had to say re the 530 station. You fellas are more than likely on to something here no doubt! Will certainly try to // with 1440 in the morning. Thanks so much for your input. "They" [say] (whoever THEY are) that the proof is in the puddin, so we need some puddin' very soon. MY mouth is already beginning to produce anticipatory amylase. Thanks again for your input. -Kirk- "Kirk, I was using the Bazooka Slider tonight for a while and I got your mystery station, coming in weakly/moderately music + talk. With the sharp null of the Bazooka, I'm certain that it was not Cuba... Cuba loops almost east from here and the 530 SS was straight south. I came inside and tried on my Wellbrook + NRD-535 and got nothing. I'll betcha a paycheck that it was 1440 KTNO, University Park (Dallas), leaving their 50000 watts on at night again, rather than dropping down to 375 watts night time power. 1440 - (2 x 455 kHz IF) = 530 kHz... and KTNO at 50 kW nights puts in a SMOKING signal here. The Overload of the Slider fooled us both, I betcha. If you hear this in the morning on 530, try a parallel with 1440. Darn It! John B. (via Kirk Allen) Glenn, Tnx to tips from you and John Bryant, my previously UNID on 530 in Spanish indeed turned out to be an image of KTNO, University Park, TX. There was just enough signal from 530 this morning to confirm the // with a booming KTNO 1440. Noted them this morning 5/31/09 past 1200 UT with same type programming,, mosstly pop R&R songs in Spanish. Tnx guys for the tips. That one could have made me buggier than I already am! That demonstrates why I thought at times it sounded like an image/spur of some sort. Thanks to both you and John. I appreciate your helping solve this mystery. I had my hopes all up that maybe it was a new arrival on 530 and a new station for the logbook. Best of 73 to you, (Kirk Allen, Ponca City OK, May 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) If it does power down at night, hearing it around 1200 UT makes sense, in that the 50-kW daytime power would most likely be strongest here around SR and SS, when there is still some skywave, but not in full day and only running low power at full night. So the bottom line is that altho both Kirk and John were able to hear this 530 on some receivers, the signal is not really there, just an image produced inside the radios. N.B.: 1440 stations are particularly ideal for such imaging, as 530 is a relatively open frequency with no full-power US stations on it, yet not so far down that it is beyond the tuning range of most radios. 1430 too in the case of 450-kHz IF radios (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. Listening to WFAN 660 kHz from New York. Underneath and faint are definite tone sweeps. First noticed at 14:45 EDT (1845 UT) for a good 10 minutes. Anyone else hearing this? (Paul S., Cheshire, CT using Grundig G6 barefoot, May 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) No further reports. It`s hard to imagine anything but WFAN being audible midday on 660 in the GNYA. NRC AM Log shows the nearest 660 stations are daytimers in PA, OH and VA (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 783 kHz: Subject: [IRCA] minimalist TA --- Continuing to keep an ear out for African TA carriers here. This evening, all of five minutes of carrier on 783 at 0440 UT; mind you, a carrier is all I'm likely to be hearing at this time of year --- and even that continues to be a surprise. Best wishes, (Nick Hall-Patch, Victoria, BC, Canada, May 28, IRCA via DXLD) One wonders where your 783 is from. It seems rather late for Germany so I presume Mauritania. They are listed as 0600 s/on but I have had them in fall from WI pre 0430 with weird Afro-chanting even though their SW // didn't come on til 0600. Mauritania 783 is honestly an easy catch lake Mich front in WI even though I seem to be the only one west of New England getting them except for DX paradise spots like Masset (I think Walt has them) or Easter Island. 73 KAZ (Neil Kazaross, IL/WI, ibid.) I suspect Mauritania, Neil; and it actually kept up tonight until at least 0600 UT after fading back in before 0500. It hasn't been logged here in the winter months, though a tentative carrier later on in the evening on the rare occasions when auroral conditions got really quiet. It's only in the last couple of seasons that I've even heard Spain here; previous years, openings have been via more northerly paths, trans Arctic rather than trans Atlantic. There were loggings of the old Senegal transmitter (765?) back in the 70s in the northwest I believe. The other interesting carrier here is 1566, likely Benin, which has been logged in the Charlottes, but it was very weak and transitory tonight. But, I'm not aware of these ever being heard this late in the season out here, even as carriers...possibly most folks have better things to do at this time of year, hi (Nick Hall-Patch, Victoria, BC Canada, ibid.) By 0535 UT this evening, the carrier from presumed Mauritania has shown up yet again on 783. This is regular enough that one of us in the northwest should think about finding a Beverage site to see if there's any audio available from it. Listed s/on isn't until 0600, but that's only a few more minutes. (is there any sign of this at your antenna farm, Steve R.?) best wishes, (Nick Hall-Patch, Victoria, BC, Canada, UT May 31, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. The 1710 kHz Russian-language pirate in Washington state has been traced to a private residence in Mill Creek WA near Seattle. Another very long thread has yet to be edited down, so holding it over for next issue (gh) UNIDENTIFIED PIRATE?? 1710, Getting the Hispanic station here too at 0958. Good signal but no different than at home. And it faded as morning progressed. So still no clues where its from (27 May) (Dave Valko, DXpedition at Black Bear Cabins, Cook Forest State Park, PA, HCDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 3200. Must be a harmonic. Heard what sounded like lively LA music at 0941. Possible M at 0946. Sounded more like a W announcer at 0946. But who?? Nothing on 1600. (27 May) (Dave Valko, DXpedition at Black Bear Cabins, Cook Forest State Park, PA, HCDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 6090, 0345 on 5/12. M/W in seeming Russian with Anguilla off. No ID at TOH but mention of a website at 0402 and talk over music at 0403. Much poorer at 0425 recheck (Gerry Dexter, Lake Geneva WI, NRD 545, TenTec 340, "Mark” (MK-l) ant, NASWA Flashsheet May 24 via DXLD) Only AWR via Austria in Persian is scheduled at 0330-0430, but Persian is nothing like Russian (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 6910, 2032-, 24 May, English, pops, IDs that I was unable to read despite the signal strength, but were heard during low, poor peaks; 45343. At the same time, both Mystery R on 6220 & R. Playback International on 6870 were audible, with the latter much poorer than usual. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, May 26, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Long ago, 6910 was R. Dublin, pirate (gh) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See GERMANY; INDIA; NETHERLANDS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [except for Propagation, below the ~~~ line material is held over] PROPAGATION +++++++++++ BRAZIL TV DX IN PORTUGAL El DX-ista Hugh Cocks de Algarve en Portugal, recibió hoy Mayo 30 via propagación esporádica multi hop (multi salto) un canal de TV brasilero transmitiendo la programación de la TV Brasil en el canal A2 sin offset (55.250). Vean el video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ6un3d8IdI (Gustavo Maia, Goiânia, Brasil http://fmtvdx.wordpress.com/ via fmtvbr yg via Horacio Nigro, Uruguay, traducido, noticias dx yg via DXLD) SOLAR PEAK WILL SUCK May 29, 2009: An international panel of experts led by NOAA and sponsored by NASA has released a new prediction for the next solar cycle. Solar Cycle 24 will peak, they say, in May 2013 with a below- average number of sunspots. "If our prediction is correct, Solar Cycle 24 will have a peak sunspot number of 90, the lowest of any cycle since 1928 when Solar Cycle 16 peaked at 78" . . . http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/29may_noaaprediction.htm?list1319331 (via Brock Whaley, Oahu, DX Listening Digest) An international panel of experts has issued a new prediction for the solar cycle which takes into account the surprisingly deep solar minimum of 2008-2009. Read today's story to find out when they think solar maximum will return. FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/29may_noaaprediction.htm?list1066436 (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) NW7US comments on latest Solar Cycle 24 prediction (May 2009) How much credibility should we grant to the panel of solar researchers and scientists that again releases a speculative prediction of the new Solar Cycle (the 24th since accurate solar cycle records have been kept)? Panel chairman Doug Biesecker of the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center states, "If our prediction is correct, Solar Cycle 24 will have a peak sunspot number of 90, the lowest of any cycle since 1928 when Solar Cycle 16 peaked at 78." NASA's lead representative on the panel, Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center, adds, "It turns out that none of our models were totally correct... The sun is behaving in an unexpected and very interesting way." What I find entertaining is the self-importance prevalent in the solar science community, by both professional and some amateur participants. Pesnell states the obvious, "In our professional careers, we've never seen anything quite like it." Yeah, how many solar cycles can one experience during their professional life? The average cycle lasts between 11 and 12 years in length. But the Sun is millions of years old. In my view, it is pretty arrogant to postulate that mankind has any real understanding and handle on what the Sun might do next. Pesnell, again: "Go ahead and mark your calendar for May 2013, but use a pencil." If none of the models are totally correct, how are they making this current prediction with such dismal expectations? I'm not holding my breath in favor of supporting any of the predictions, at this point. No one can postulate with any credibility just how intense the new cycle will be, because there's no direct correlation between this solar minimum and any regular pattern of past minimums. In 2008 and 2009, the sun was quieter than any period during the 'Space Age' (again, a very short time of reference in relation to the millions of years of solar history). During the last two years, we've seen low sunspot counts, weak solar wind, low solar irradiance, and a period without a significant solar flare. What does all of this mean in the real world of amateur communications? With the slow yet sure increase in solar activity during recent months as seen with the emergence of more frequent small sunspots (many of which are new cycle spots) and 'proto-sunspots', there is hope that the sun is waking, at least. Other evidence that the sun is experiencing an increase in solar cycle activity is the 'zonal flows' (enormous currents of plasma on the sun`s surface) that are gaining strength and slowly drifting toward the sun`s equator. Tiny but significant increases in solar radio emissions are being observed. All these things are precursors of an awakening Solar Cycle 24. Even this little of an increase in solar activity has brought some welcomed increase in excitement on the amateur radio bands. With continued very low geomagnetic activity, any slight increase in solar activity that strengthens the ionosphere translates to noticeable enhancements to radiowave propagation over many radio paths on the middle to low HF (high-frequency) bands. The Panel expects another year of very quiet conditions. They expect the cycle to peak in 2013, which means a rapid rise in activity between 2010 and 2013. Whatever the final level of activity, one thing will likely happen: a rapid and chaotic rise in geomagnetic activity, at times at major storm levels, will occur. Enjoy the unique propagation opportunities currently presenting themselves during this quiet phase, because the game will change in the next few years, regardless of whose predictions hold true. Prepare now for whatever the sun will do, by honing your radio skills, increasing the efficiency of your antenna system, and participate in the on-the-air opportunities to be a part of the solar cycle story. As the story unfolds, be an active player and record as best you can your activity, what the sun is doing. I keep a log of all the solar data, on a daily basis, and I record my contacts made, antenna and power used, modes, and other observations. This information might reveal new and interesting facts as we journey forward in this new solar cycle. =========================================================== 73 de (NW7US, Tomas David Hood - Singer/Songwriter/Guitarist QTH: Bitterroot Valley of Montana -- DN36an / CW, DIGI, HF Main Page: http://hfradio.org/ http://tomas-david-hood.com/ AM Operating Mode: http://amradio.org/ CW / Morse Code Operation: http://cw.hfradio.org/ Propagation and Space Weather: http://prop.hfradio.org/ Digital Operation Resources: http://digital.hfradio.org/ =========================================================== swl at qth.net via DXLD) Geomagnetic field activity was at quiet levels at all latitudes during most of the period. However, activity briefly increased to active levels at high latitudes on 22 May. ACE observations indicated the active period (22/1500 - 22/1800 UTC) was due to solar wind changes associated with a period of sustained southward IMF Bz (minimum - 4 nT) and a modest increase in velocities (approximately 370 km/sec). FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 27 MAY - 22 JUNE 2009 Solar activity is expected to be very low. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at normal flux levels. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at quiet levels through 02 June. Activity is expected to increase to mostly unsettled levels during 03 - 05 June with a chance for active levels at high latitudes on 04 June due to a recurrent coronal hole high-speed stream. Mostly quiet conditions are expected during 06 - 09 June. Activity is expected to increase to quiet to unsettled levels on 10 - 11 June due to a recurrent coronal hole wind stream. Mostly quiet conditions are expected during 12 -22 June. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2009 May 26 1821 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # Product description and SWPC contact on the Web # http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2009 May 26 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2009 May 27 70 5 2 2009 May 28 70 5 2 2009 May 29 70 5 2 2009 May 30 70 5 2 2009 May 31 70 5 2 2009 Jun 01 70 5 2 2009 Jun 02 70 5 2 2009 Jun 03 70 10 3 2009 Jun 04 70 10 4 2009 Jun 05 70 8 3 2009 Jun 06 71 5 2 2009 Jun 07 72 5 2 2009 Jun 08 72 5 2 2009 Jun 09 72 5 2 2009 Jun 10 72 8 3 2009 Jun 11 72 8 3 2009 Jun 12 72 5 2 2009 Jun 13 72 5 2 2009 Jun 14 72 5 2 2009 Jun 15 71 5 2 2009 Jun 16 71 5 2 2009 Jun 17 70 5 2 2009 Jun 18 70 5 2 2009 Jun 19 70 5 2 2009 Jun 20 70 5 2 2009 Jun 21 70 5 2 2009 Jun 22 70 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1462, DXLD) ###