DX LISTENING DIGEST AUGUST 2003 ARCHIVE HOME presents...
DX LISTENING DIGEST AUGUST 2003 ARCHIVE
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-157, August 31, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser 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 HTML version of this issue will be posted later at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3h.html For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1197: RFPI: Mon 0030, 0630, 1230, Wed 0100, 0730, 1330 on 7445 [nominal times subject to delay or pre-emption] WBCQ: Mon 0415 on 7415 WWCR: Wed 0930 on 9475 WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1197h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1197h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1197.html [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1197.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1197.ram UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIAL May I be allowed to issue a 'reminder' that if you are having any difficulty with Wordpad or Notepad, regarding Glenn's DXLD (or any other Text Files for that matter), that the best thing to do, seems to be to Download to your 'Favourite' Word Processer (Even a DOS one!). This is because Glenn very thoughtfully provides his DXLD primarily in Text (=.txt) form, which makes a VERY healthy contribution to its 'Universality'. You can also easily download to a Floppy Disk if you prefer, just make sure that either the Box at the top of the Save As shows Floppy A:\ or you can also insert, where it comes up DXLDxxxx. e.g. a:\dxldxxx, this of course can be used for other Partitions, Drives and Folders as well (Ken Fletcher, 0950UTC=1050UTC+1 August 30th 2003, BDXC-UK) ** AFGHANISTAN. Looks like autumn, also on the bands. AM was highlighted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka last week. QTH this time: Jalasjärvi, Western Finland. Rx: Racal RA-1792, Yaesu FRG-100. wires: 700 m 100 grad, 500 m 180 grad, 500 m 270 grad, 700 m 290 grad. 1107, often 1630-, R. Afghanistan, Kabul. New 400-kW unit seems to be in top condition, but how long. 1296, every evening 1700-, Azadi R, Kabul. VOA Afghan programming, Dari & Pashto. Funniest moment was when the lyrics of country & western song were translated into local language by the speaker. Great signal. BBC sign-on 1927 UT spoils a bit of the fun (Jari Lehtinen, Lahti, Finland, Aug 20, hard-core-dx via DXLD) ** ANGUILLA. After a modest absence, Caribbean Beacon on 11755 with Dr. Gene Scott program at 2100 tune in. Signal as strong as ever (Dale Thomas, location unknown, Aug 30, hard-core-dx via DXLD) You mean 11775, also confirmed here Aug 31 at 1948, poor, but better than WWCR 13845; more than modest, about a month (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. BRAZIL? Olá amigos, Existe alguma estação brasileira na "X Band", ou programação retransmitida por alguma emissora do exterior? Escutei hoje, por volta das 2330 PY, emissão brasileira religiosa (pentecostais) em 1610 kHz. O nome do programa era "Encontro com Jesus". Fiquei intrigado, até gravei trechos da transmissão em MP3. A emissora também dispunha de anúncios: sobre material de contrução, "Eletrônica Miller", etc. Citado endereços "Rua Bélgica, 654, Jd. São Luiz", "Av. República Argentina" duas vezes, uma como "Bairro Morumbi 1" e "Jd. São Miguel", "Foz do Iguaçú". Telefones "525-1730, 3025- 5574". Tel do programa "525-0999". O máximo de sinal era 43333, com interferência da Rádio 9 de Julho. Fica a questão para a turma MW-DX, HI! 73! (Flávio Archangelo, Jundiaí -SP, Aug 30, radioescutas via DXLD) Archangelo, Esta emissora está em Puerto Iguazú, Argentina; transmite em espanhol e português. Você poderá ouvi-la também em 6215 kHz como Radio Baluarte. Em Onda média (1610 kHz) se identificava como Rádio Maranatha; não sei se mantém os dois nomes ainda. 73 (Samuel Cássio Martins, São Carlos SP, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA. After some discussions with Roger Broadbent from RA, detailed HF freq information is now included on the RA web site. the schedules may be found at: http://www.abc.net.au/ra/hear/ 73 (Glenn, VK4DU, Aug 31, EDXP via DXLD) Like pulling eyeteeth --- I guess that`s progress, but you still have to pretend your are in some target country, such as Christmas Island, and get only the transmissions for your area, and in local time! Is it still too much to ask for a comprehensive transmission schedule on one page showing all broadcasts in all languages, in UT? USA (never mind Canada), in three versions, East Coast, West Coast, and Central, is found under EAST PACIFIC, where else? But yay, the Great Center finally gets recognized, tho times are in UT -6, currently observed nowhere in the Central zone! We`d like to take it as a fraternal condemnation of DST --- But nice anyway for the non- Arizonan Montagnards, who are thus inadvertently recognised (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Hundreds of employees at Australia's national radio and TV broadcaster ABC stopped work in Sydney in protest at the suspension of a presenter who had written an article for a major newspaper. More than 300 staff downed tools to take a vote on whether to take further industrial action if the Religion Report's presenter Stephen Crittenden was not given his job back. Crittenden was suspended six weeks ago for "serious misconduct" after his article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald. --- Read more? http://tinyurl.com/lrs3 http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/27/1061663852060.html (via Georges Lessard, CAJ-list, via Ricky Leong, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. The Howard government's attack on the editorial independence of the ABC, as reported in Saturday's New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/30/international/asia/30AUST.html (Chuck Albertson, Seattle, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER TAKES ON BROADCASTING SERVICE http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/30/international/asia/30AUST.html?ex=10 62820800&en=e40c055a2de379fa&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE (via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) Same: AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER TAKES ON BROADCASTING SERVICE August 30, 2003 By JANE PERLEZ http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/30/international/asia/30AUST.html?ex=10 63263806&ei=1&en=866361855f2ffafc SYDNEY, Australia, Aug. 25 - The government of Prime Minister John Howard is in a battle with the publicly financed Australian Broadcasting Corporation, accusing it of "biased, and in particular anti-American" coverage of the war in Iraq. Australia sent combat troops to Iraq, and the conservative Mr. Howard's battle with the well-regarded broadcasting system has focused public attention on the importance he places on Australia's relationship with the United States. The Ministry of Communications released a bill of particulars against a popular morning current affairs radio program, AM, citing 68 examples of what it contended was biased coverage during the conflict in Iraq. Among the complaints were that the program gave too much attention to accidental killings of soldiers by their own troops and to civilian casualties and that it gave too little prominence to successes, including the "strategic achievements" of the Australian troops, the ministry said. The system, known to Australians as ABC or just Auntie, includes a radio network and a national television channel. It is patterned after the British Broadcasting Corporation, including a multi-tiered system to review complaints. ABC's ombudsman, Murray Green, looked into the accusations and issued a report that rebuffed the government. Mr. Green found that only 2 of the 68 citations had merit: one story about the tenor of the daily Pentagon briefings veered toward sarcasm, he said; another dealing with President Bush's decision not to watch the televised first night of the bombing of Baghdad was too speculative. Mr. Howard, like Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, is now waging political wars at home against both the public broadcasting system and against those who contend that the government exaggerated the extent of Iraq's inventory of weapons. A parliamentary inquiry that opened in the capital, Canberra, last Friday somewhat mirrors the British inquiry into the intelligence dossier that the BBC charged had exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq to make a stronger case for war. But statements by an Australian intelligence analyst, Andrew Wilkie, that Mr. Howard's office overstated the threat from Iraq's weapons have failed to raise anything like the firestorm that similar accusations raised in Britain. Mr. Howard appears to be benefiting from the fact that Australians supported their soldiers in Iraq, even if they were not largely in favor of sending them. Also, unlike Mr. Blair, Mr. Howard brought almost all combat soldiers home once the war was over. In his report, Mr. Green said he compared the 68 news reports the government found objectionable with reports on the same subjects filed by the international wire services, major American news outlets and statements by the Bush administration. In some cases, the wording of the ABC radio reports was exactly the same as that of the wire services and the American reports. For example, the ministry complained that the ABC had said the war was likely to result in "hundreds of thousands" of refugees. Mr. Green pointed out that wire services carried the same prediction based on public statements by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Many of the complaints turned out to be what some commentators here belittled as nitpicking, but what others said established a pattern of bias. The Howard government was not deterred by Mr. Green's findings. It sent its accusations to a five-member independent complaints review panel of literary and public service luminaries, which is now considering the case. If the government does not get its way with the review panel, it is likely to take the matter to the governing board, where most of the members are appointees of the Howard government. To drive home its displeasure with the ABC, the government last month turned down a request for an increase in the budget for this year. Unlike the BBC, which raises revenue from individual home license fees as well as the government, the ABC is entirely dependent on the government. Unlike the Public Broadcasting System in the United States, the ABC has no provision for private sponsorship of programming. There has been much speculation in the Australian press about why the Howard government has persisted with the case. Mr. Howard has criticized the ABC many times since coming to office in 1996, but this is the first time his government has charged a program with being unfair toward the United States. Many commentators have concluded that Mr. Howard is unhappy because the ABC is no longer the custodian of conservative views that he remembers hearing on the radio when, as a youth, he was molding his own political outlook. In those days, the ABC radio news opened with a piece of heraldic music, "Imperial Fanfare." Cricket matches from Britain were faithfully relayed for days on end, and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth was broadcast live from Westminster Cathedral in 1952. The organization is highly esteemed by Australians, who ranked it in a survey last year as second only to charities as a cherished institution - well above big business, which supports the Howard government. "Howard is fighting a cultural war with the ABC," said Gregory Hywood, a columnist in The Sydney Morning Herald. "He thinks it is biased to the left and wants to move it to the center, and he is using funding and continual complaints of bias for leverage." Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company (via DXLD) ** BELGIUM. Hello Glenn, I've seen that you used my Dutch language message in DXLD. Here is a translation that is probably of better use. Seen in Radio Vlaanderen Int`l 'Onder Ons' leaflet. RTBF is transmitting again via Waver. They are using the a.o. old VRT/RVI transmitters. RTBF transmits only on one single frequency. They use 9970 kHz the whole day long. Transmitting on one single frequency is not really a habit in the short wave world but without switching they hope to save the obsolete parts. (end quote) It was not specified what 'the whole day long' means but their web page at http://www.rtbf.be/ri/ says that 9970 is on air between 0400 and 1900 UT. So it is again possible to hear a Belgian transmitter-site on short wave. 73, (Guido Schotmans, Belgium, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx, Guido; but I thought RTBF had been using 9970 for quite some time now after a brief break (gh, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 4780.96, Radio Tacana, Tumupasa, 0230 - 0250, Aug 27, Spanish, Musical program, man announcer, tc, ID "4780 megahertz, banda de 60 metros, ésta es Radio Tacana", Very weak signal, better in LSB. 6054.46, Radio Juan XXIII, San Ignacio de Velazco, 2129 - 2135, Aug 27, Spanish, female announcer, news program, IDs "gracias por estar junto a Radio Juan XXIII" "Radio Juan XXIII presenta...", 23332 (Nicolás Eramo, Argentina, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 5045, R. Guarujá, 30 Aug 2338-2353, A few soft ZY romantic pop ballads, but mostly talk by live M announcer who liked to play the "Guarujá Guarujá, Brasil" shouted by M jingle often!! Gave a TC at 2346. Played a soul song at 2349 with M announcer voice-over again giving many "Guarujá"s and many IDs. Although there was something on 3235, I couldn't //. This frequency so nice it was an easy copy!!! (Dave Valko, DXpedition somewhere in PA? -- see EUROPE, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) Could have been PR romantic pop ballads (gh) Prezados, Seguindo a sugestão de alguns colegas da lista, fiz uma visita hoje à Rádio Guarujá, aqui de Florianópolis, para questionar o motivo de não responderem aos IR's enviados. Fui muito bem recebido pelo sr. Carlos Alberto Silva, executivo de contas da emissora, que me disse que tem respondido a todas as correspondências que recebe. Mas que atualmente tem recebido apenas cartas do exterior, nenhuma do Brasil. O que pode estar ocorrendo, segundo ele, é que os IR's chegam para setores da emissora que não dão importância e não encaminham a ele. Conversamos por um bom tempo e ele me garantiu que a emissora tem muito interesse em receber os IR's, pois assim fica sabendo da qualidade do sinal e das transmissões. Me disse que costuma responder com adesivos e cartas confirmatórias. Me mostrou inclusive uma correspondência de um dxista de Hannover (!) para quem respondeu enviando uma edição do "Dicionário Ilhéu". Ganhei alguns adesivos e a sugestão de repassar à lista o nome e endereço do sr. Carlos, para quem devem ser encaminhados os IR's. Aqui vai: Rádio Guarujá AM Rua Nunes Machado, 94 - 10º andar Centro - Florianópolis - SC CEP 88010-460 A/C Carlos Alberto Silva Um forte abraço a todos (Marcelo Herondino Cardoso, Florianópolis - SC, radioescutas via DXLD) IR = reception report; v/s given Amigo Marcelo, Que excelente iniciativa foi a sua! São atitudes como esta que demonstram o verdadeiro espírito radio escuta. A tua informação será de enorme valia para todos do nosso hobby. Nunca perca este entusiasmo ! Parabéns ! Um abraço (Adalberto, PY4WTH, Barbacena, MG, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. Hello Glenn! Many DXers have had for the last weeks problems with a religious station on 6060 kHz. Here in Quito I´m hearing Radio Tupi, Curitiba on 6060.18v kHz in // with 11765.03 kHz. Some months ago I also heard Tupi, Curitiba on 9565 (don´t remember the exact freq.) in // with these 2 frequencies. Tupi has the program "A Voz da Libertação" and "Iglesia Dios es Amor". I checked the ID this morning on 6060.18v kHz at 1058 UT = "Radio Tupi". 73s de (Björn Malm, SWB América Latina, Quito, Ecuador, Aug 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Radio Canção Nova prepares the Second International Promoting Day to Canção Nova Communication System on September 13th. - ' D Day '. It will be one special day where TV, Radio and Internet will be live, all day long chatting, transmitting through TV and Radio commentaries from every part of Brazil and world about the initiatives to promote this communication system. If you want to receive our QSL confirmation, you can send us a recording to: Radio Canção Nova P.O. Box 57 Cachoeira Paulista SP, Brazil 12630-000 Or MP3 recording to: alemfronteiras@cancaonova.com Live contact during the day; just type: http://www.cancaonova.com/chat and chose Radio AM room radio reports to: alemfronteiras@cancaonova.com See you there. We confirm radio reports on the air and 100% QSL back. Program: Além Fronteiras (Beyound Boundaries) Every Saturdays: 22:00 to 23:00 (GMT) AM 1020 khz- SW 49m 6105 kHz -SW 60m 4825 kHz - SW 31m 9675 kHz - (Eduardo de Moura, RCN, dxing.info via DXLD) Beware: religious station (gh) ** CANADA [and non]. Loveline --- REUTERS OTTAWA --- A Vancouver radio station was reprimanded yesterday for running an episode of a U.S. show whose host mocked the Holocaust by saying "Burn those Jews. Gas 'em in the shower, baby." The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council said the broadcast by Mojo Radio last December had "exceeded any reasonable level of propriety" and ordered the station to make a public apology. The episode of Loveline featured a call from a telephone sex operator who wanted advice on how to make her clients stay on the phone longer. Adam Carolla, one of the show's hosts, suggested she use words like "Holocaust," "Vietnam" and "cancer" to dampen her clients' ardour. The sex operator then speculated she might tell a client, "Well I'm wearing a nice black garter. Mmm, just thinking about the Holocaust right now." Carolla laughed in response and said: "Yeah, yeah, burn those Jews. Gas 'em in the shower, baby. Yeah, yeah ... send 'em on the train to Krakow." The standards council said it understood the "intended humour" in the concept of advising a telephone sex operator to use words like "Holocaust" to prolong conversations with clients. "When, however, the hosts progressed to the level of `Yeah, yeah, burn those Jews. Gas 'em in the shower, baby,' and so on, even in aid of their sarcastic view of the ignorant `telephone actress,' they exceeded any reasonable level of propriety," it said in its judgment. "The laughter of the hosts directed at the notion of the concentration camp trains and lethal `showers,' which combined to exterminate 6 million persons, accentuated the inappropriateness." In its defence, the radio station said the use of the word "Holocaust" had been designed to make fun of the caller (Via Harry van Vugt, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO BROADCAST RULED IMPROPER [same story] http://tinyurl.com/lnwk (Toronto Star Aug 28 via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** CANADA. SOFT LANDING --- VANCOUVER (CP) - Less than four months after being fired, popular open-line radio host Rafe Mair has landed a new gig. The irascible Mair, the bane of B.C. and federal politicians, was dismissed from Vancouver station CKNW after 19 years, apparently after his producer complained about the way he treated her. On Tuesday, Mair will launch a public affairs-oriented show on competitor 600 AM - CKBD - in his old morning time slot. Mair's first guest is scheduled to be B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell. Mair, 71, was a cabinet minister in the Social Credit government of Bill Bennett before becoming an open-line host. He was fired from top-rated CKNW in early June in what was called an internal matter that did not reflect on the quality of Mair's show. Fill-in host Peter Warren took Mair's 8:30 a.m.-11 a.m. slot until recently, when Bill Good, whose show had followed Mair's, was moved to the earlier slot. In an interview at the time, Mair suggested his firing was due to a clash of styles with Corus Entertainment, which took over CKNW a few years ago. His show had also been carried outside British Columbia on Corus's radio network. He said a rift with his on-air producer acted as a catalyst. She had allegedly complained Mair forced her to have coffee with him, to get his coffee and carry a bag of shoes down some stairs. Mair denied forcing her to have coffee or get his coffee but admitted telling her that she was acting like "a little girl with her knickers in a knot." Mair, who started in radio in 1984, became known for outspokenness on such issues as electoral reform and environmental threats to B.C. salmon stocks. He won a Michener Award for meritorious service to Canadian journalism in 1994 for his successful, year-long campaign to stop Alcan from completing a billion-dollar hydro-electric project in northern British Columbia because of its threat to salmon and the environment (via Harry van Vugt, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, DXLD) ** CHINA. BEIJING 2008 OLYMPIC BROADCASTING DEAL SIGNED | Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency) Beijing, 31 August: The organizers of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games signed a frame agreement for the establishment of the Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Co. Ltd (BOB) with the Olympic Broadcasting Services S.A. (OBS) here on Sunday [31 August]. The agreement, a crucial document for the successful broadcasting of the Olympic Games in Beijing, was signed by Hein Verbruggen, chairman of OBS and Liu Jingmin, executive vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee (BOCOG). According to the frame agreement, the Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Co. Ltd will be jointly established by BOCOG and OBS. The new establishment will be in charge of producing the International Television and Radio Signals for the Olympic Games, building and operating the International Broadcasting Centre and necessary facilities and equipment at other venues. "The frame agreement establish a new era for the Beijing Olympics." said Verbruggen, also the chairman of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Coordination Commission of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. "It will assure us to provide high quality services in broadcasting of Olympic Games. I hope the BOB will play a key hole in the highly regarded field of the Games with the cooperation of the OBS in the future," he said. IOC President Jacques Rogge, who arrived in Beijing on Sunday morning, BOCOG President Liu Qi and BOCOG Executive President Yuan Weimin were present at the ceremony. Source: Xinhua news agency, Beijing, in English 1206 gmt 31 Aug 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) ** CUBA. Back in July a bunch of us saw Cuban TV one afternoon on ch 5 and also color bars on ch 4. Jesús Pérez in Havana sent a letter with comments on those receptions. He writes: -------------------------------------------------------------------- What you watched on channel 5 that day at 5:59 pm was Telecubanacan from Santa Clara city in the center of the country. That transmitter on ch 5 is very strong. On that frequency of ch 5 they broadcast both Perlavisión from 4 to 5 pm and then TeleCubanacan from 5 to 6 pm and after that the transmitter starts running the Tele Rebelde national network with its central studios in Havana. Perlavisión is in Cienfuegos city but it also uses the Santa Clara city transmitter tower on ch 5 from 4 to 5 pm and also during the same period of time Perlavisión also uses the Matanzas city transmitter tower on ch 13. Then, after that at 5 pm TeleYumuri local station in Matanzas city starts its transmissions on their ch 13 frequency till 6 pm. ||| The color bars that you and other members of the club have been receiving on your TV sets on ch 4 was from the transmitter which is outside Havana City for "Canal Educativo", which is the only station here using color bars for long minutes. ||| Canal Educativo uses the frequencies of ch 4 and 12 for Havana city and Havana county. That station uses UHF frequencies for the rest of the country. Jeff, that's your answer re the color bars (Mike Bugaj, CT, Aug 27, WTFDA via DXLD) Thanks to Jesús for this information. However, I'm still a little confused. First of all, I've seen color bars from the direction of Cuba on channel 4 several times on weekday afternoons; but according to the Cubaweb site, the educational network comes on at noon. Second, I saw educational programs from the direction of Cuba on channel 4 at 1440 CT on April 30th (which would indicate that the educational channel is on at least some afternoons). Third, does the channel 5 in Santa Clara run a Phillips PM5544 TP all day, prior to s/on? (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, ibid.) ** DENMARK. ``Daemp Radioen`` -- see RADIO STAMPS below ** ECUADOR. 4815, R. El Buen Pastor, 30 Aug 1001-1029, Choral NA at tune-in, 1003 LA Pop and instrumental music with live M in Quechua giving opening ``Radio Alli Michic`` ID announcement with mention of "música del sur" and campesina. Then HC campo music with same live M host in Quechua. 1009 program segment with race car and rooster SFX and talk by M and W mixed with campo music. Mention of campesino and "Radio Michic" at 1006. 1014 brief canned Spanish announcement by M with mention of "frecuencia popular", followed by SFX of knocking on a door and rooster crowing repeatedly. 1015 canned Spanish simple ID by M as "En ?? R. El Buen Pastor, 4815 kilohertz onda corta". Another Quechua ID, more campo music and announcements by live M host. Good and still doing well by 1029 tune-out (Dave Valko, PA, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** EUROPE. Went up to a new remote QTH for a micro-DXpedition. The site is a reclaimed surface mine, so laying out the Beverage was relatively easy. Used 300' laid across the tall grass at 180 degrees. Changed direction to 40 degrees for the Power 41 special NA transmission. PIRATE, 6245v, Power 41, 31 August 0156-0255, Noted a het here (6245.45) while I still had the antenna aimed at South America. Quickly redirected it to 40 degrees and found the signal had drifted up to 6245.76 when I returned at 0159. 0200:50 sign-on with "Axel F Theme" by Harold Faltermeyer, 0203 opening announcements by M announcer. 0204-0207 "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor. 0207 clear IDs by M over music; "This is Power 41, low power..." and mention of US. 0210 more IDs. During another announcement from 0213 to 0217, caught this "...once again... 17...9...5... number. Power 41. We're broadcasting..." Another song, then another announcement at 0220-0222 with M giving phonetics (address??). 0232-0235 "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes. 0235 IDs, mention of meterband, e-mail. 0237-0241 "Africa" by Toto. Then continued with more ID, song announcements and unrecognizable songs. At 0253, announcement again with mention of "write to us", 1 IRC, address, and ID. Weak with horrible ute QRM right on top from 0200 to 0230, and also a lot of QRN. The signal did weaken slightly towards 0300. In clear conditions, free of the QRM and QRN, I think this could've been copied 90% despite weak signal (Dave Valko, DXpedition somewhere in PA?, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** GERMANY [and non]. The Berlin-based home shopping station Kaufradio announces that it is testing DRM on 1485; see the enclosed press release. This is or at least used to be a single frequency network of three transmitters at Berlin-Frohnau, the Schäferberg site (Berlin- Wannsee) and at Rüdersdorf. I guess Kaufradio is put on 1485 permanently for the duration of the IFA fair; however, no such explicit statement is made in the press release. Kaufradio is otherwise carried on the 1.5 GHz DAB bouqet covering Berlin and the surrounding region. This bouqet is at present promoted by carrying the individual programs one after another in a rota system on 104.1, an FM frequency otherwise reserved for special event stations. Two years ago a special IFA program was carried on 104.1; this year the 97.2 frequency will be used for this purpose, not to speak about DAB: The IFA-Radio program is sponsored by the DAB marketing initiative. Re. 693: Recent observations indicate that the audio (reported as either Deutschlandradio Berlin or pop music nonstop) is in the clear, but apparently there are two additional, indeed encrypted data streams (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: FUNKAUSSTELLUNG: KAUFRADIO TESTET DIGITALE MITTELWELLE Berlin (ots) - Der neue Shopping-Radiosender Kaufradio testet seit heute die Verbreitung über die digitale Mittelwelle (DRM). DRM steht für Digital Radio Mondiale und ist ein Verfahren, das es erlaubt, in den derzeitigen AM-Bereichen (Kurz-, Mittel- und Langwelle) digital zu senden. Die dabei erreichte Klangqualität ist um einiges besser als die des bisherigen Mittelwellen-Radios und wird allgemein als UKW-ähnlich bezeichnet. Ausgestrahlt wird das deutschlandweit neue Verbraucher- und Serviceradio in Berlin über Mittelwelle 1485 kHz. "Wir sind stolz, als einer der wenigen privaten Sender neben den großen Stationen wie DeutschlandRadio und Deutsche Welle, die neue Technologie testen zu können", sagt Kaufradio-Geschäftsführer Oliver Dunk. Mit DRM sei weltweit ein Sendeverfahren verabschiedet worden, das die Kurz-, Mittel- und Langwelle wieder attraktiver mache. Daher ist Dunk überzeugt, dass es bald eine Renaissance der Mittelwelle geben wird: "Bald haben wir Empfänger, die DAB-(Digital Radio) und DRM-Empfang ermöglichen. Das Radio wird digital." Im Jahr 2005 wird es DRM-fähige Geräte zu günstigen Konditionen im Handel geben. Das prophezeit der kaufradio-Chef. Der Shoppingsender plant perspektivisch sein Programm neben DAB auch über die digitale Mittelwelle zu verbreiten. Kaufradio ist der erste Hörfunkshoppingsender in Deutschland. Er wird seit dem 20. August 2003 in Berlin im Digital Radio (DAB) und zeitweise auf UKW 104,1 gesendet. ots Originaltext: Kaufradio Digitale Pressemappe: http://presseportal.de/story.htx?firmaid=52376 Für Rückfragen, Interviewwünsche und Fotos: kaufradio - der neue digitale sender c/o PART OF SUCCESS, Sebastian C. Strenger, Kleine Hamburger Straße 16, 10 117 Berlin Tel.: +49 (0)30 - 28 44 55 55 Fax: +49 (0)30 - 28 44 55 44 Mail: strenger@part-of-success.de http://www.kaufradio.de (via Kai Ludwig, DXLD) I'd be interested to know if any UK listeners have noticed QRM in recent evenings on 693 kHz, where a transmitter in Berlin is currently testing DRM in readiness for the IFA exhibition. Yesterday evening the BBC 5 Live signal in Naarden, about 20 km SE of Amsterdam, was almost wiped out in the late evening by what I presume was a DRM test. Fortunately I do not depend on 693 as I can get the station FTA [?] on satellite, but I'm curious to know how far the DRM signal is getting, and if it noticeably degrades the BBC signal in the UK. I know there will be some wry smiles amongst some of you :-) (Andy Sennitt, Holland, Radio Netherlands, MWC NL Aug 27) Last night I noticed severe digital interference on BBC R5 on 693 kHz around midnight. It sounded like strong jamming in the background. Apparently this was some sort of DRM test from the Funkaustellung exhibition in Germany. Here in the Reading area the signal strength on 693 and 909 kHz is much the same, but I always prefer to listen on 693 kHz because Droitwich has far better audio (6 kHz bandwith) compared to muffled 909 kHz from Brookmans Park (4.5 kHz bandwidth). Would be interested to know if anyone else in the 693 kHz coverage area is having problems with this DRM noise at night. Hopefully it will stop by 3rd September when the Funkaustellung ends. I would encourage anyone hearing it to complain to reception@bbc.co.uk --- hopefully they if they get enough reports they will be able to protest to the German authorities about it. The level of interference here last night was totally unacceptable (Dave Kenny, UK, BDXC-UK Aug 30) Re: DRM interference on BBC R5 last night. The 692/693 kHz channel used once by GDR stations at Wachenbrunn and later in new ITU plan from 1978 at Berlin Uhlenhorst, both with 250 kW of power. In Continental Europe both GDR transmissions suffered always also from the British co-channel signals, in past 44 (f o r t y four) years. After the collapse of the GDR regime, 693 kHz usage by Germany ceased approximately eight years ago. So the BBC listeners in Western Europe profit by the silenced German transmitter at Berlin (ex-Uhlenhorst), now located at Zehlendorf north of Berlin since that date. 693 kHz at Zehlendorf was used by [now bankrupt] MEGARadio for a short period of few months only during 2002 (wb Aug 30) When the GDR was on 692/693 it was not really audible in the UK under the BBC stations; maybe they used a directional transmitter then? The interference only seemed to start when Mega Radio launched. However this DRM noise is much worse than Mega Radio; it`s just like having jammer on the frequency continuously. I live within the coverage area of BBCR5 on 693 and my reception is being totally ruined by the DRM noise! If DRM becomes widespread I really fear, having heard 693 kHz, that it`s going to wreck MW and SW DXing. Very bad news (Dave Kenny, UK, BDXC-UK Aug 30) The dreaded DRM noise from Germany is audible again tonight (Saturday) on 693 kHz. I noticed it from tune-in at 10.50 pm. Once more it is totally ruining reception of BBC R5 here in Reading - it sounds just like having an old fashioned jammer in the background. I've emailed BBC Reception Advice to report the problem and would encourage others to - their address is reception@bbc.co.uk (Dave Kenny, UK, BDXC-UK Aug 30) 693 kHz - I hear RAI2 Milano Italy only here in Stuttgart, this morning and on daytime. Will check channel tonight towards U.K. and Berlin (wb, Aug 31) (all via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) De IFA Exhibition in Berlin loopt tot 3 september en heeft voor de aardigheid op 693 khz een DRM station in de lucht gebracht dat 's- avonds de BBC in Engeland moeilijk hoorbaar maakt (Max van Arnhem, Aug 30, BDXC via DXLD) More under DRM below ** GERMANY. Another page with pictures of transmitter sites in eastern Germany: http://home.snafu.de/macs/radio/sender.htm To pick out the AM's: http://home.snafu.de/macs/radio/britz.htm Berlin-Britz. First and seventh picture: Cross dipole for vertical incidence radiation, in the past used for 990 during nighttime. http://home.snafu.de/macs/radio/stallp.htm Berlin Stallupöner Allee. http://home.snafu.de/macs/radio/orburg.htm Zehlendorf. First picture: Main mast and the three masts of the trideco antenna in one shot. http://home.snafu.de/macs/radio/leipzig.htm Wiederau near Leipzig. First and second picture: Carrier of UHF antennas to the left, mast to the right TV/FM carrier and also self-radiating antenna for mediumwave. Pictures # 8, 9 and 10: Trideco antenna now used for 783 with noticeably poorer performance than the pipe mast (ground-/skywave congestion). Picture # 11: 51 metres tall mediumwave mast, a standard design found on most mediumwave sites in the former GDR for powers up to 20 kW. # 12: Former trideco antenna with the actual antenna wires obviously pulled down (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. 3340, R. Misiones Internacional [sic] (presumed), 31 Aug 0046-0147, Alternating spiritual religious talk by W in Spanish and M in English(!!), similar format to KJES!!! Ended at 0101. Then, canned deep-voiced M over music, sometimes accompanied by W announcer until 0105. 0105-0147 nonstop soft romantic or religious songs. Finally same live W in Spanish again at 0147 with mentions of Palabra. No IDs heard. Fairly good signal but the QRN was too high. Have been hearing this regularly lately but just can't ID (Dave Valko, Dxpedition somewhere in PA? -- see EUROPE, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) 3340, Radio Misiones, 0115-0145 with "Radio Misiones" ID by OM, religious music but no ments de Honduras. Per Malm logs (Bob Wilkner, FL, Aug 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 3516.7 (RSPK-Ngada) Aug 24 1341-1400* 24231-23231 Indonesian?, Music and talk by woman, 1359 announce by woman. 1400 s/off (Kouji Hashimoto, Yamanashi, JAPAN, Japan Premium via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS. Subject: World Mission Radio Dear Friends: Is there someone in your ministry who was connected with World Mission Radio which broadcast via Radio Caroline about 1988? Thank you (Bill Harms, USA, Aug 16 to Stg. Johan Maasbach Wereldzending via DXLD) Dear Bill, Please, let me know why you want this information. David Maasbach, Stg. Johan Maasbach Wereldzending/ Johan Maasbach World Mission Foundation Apeldoornselaan 2, 2573 LM Den Haag, HOLLAND tel. +31-(0)70-3635929 fax +31-(0)70-3107111 http://www.jmwz.com e-mail: information@jmwz.com Global Prayer Network: http://www.gpnetwork.com Hello David: When I lived in Germany in the late 1980's I heard a radio station that I believe was World Mission Radio, and I received a QSL card from the station. Unfortunately, the information on the card did not indicate the name of the station. You can see a copy of the card at http://home.comcast.net/~billqsl/w_mission_radio.html and http://home.comcast.net/~billqsl/WMR_via_R_Caroline-f.jpg I see that you have the same address and phone number as what is on the card. So it looks like there is a connection. I would like very much receiving an official confirmation that this card actually came from your office because the name of your mission does not appear on the card. Thank you. (Bill Harms) Dear Bill, I am sorry that I cannot confirm your question! The police force from England, France & Holland have taken Radio Caroline on WMR out of the air in the late 80. It is many years ago that this happen and that is what I remmember (David Maasbach, Stg. Johan Maasbach Wereldzending / Johan Maasbach World Mission Foundation, Aug 29 to Harms via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. NEW HURRICANE LIST IS UP - SEEKING ADDITIONS/CORRECTIONS --- Utility World (Hugh Stegman) The Utility World Hurricane Frequency List has been revised for 2003. There are a lot of minor changes. The list is taken seriously, and additions/corrections are always sought. More than one emergency manager has used this list or its several variations, so accuracy is essential. I would advise that people replace older copies, to eliminate some very old misinformation that still propagates around the net, such as Miami Monitor still being on HF. (Hasn't been in many years.) As always, the list lives at http://www.ominous-valve.com/hurricne.txt [correct!] (Hugh Stegman, WUN, Aug 29 via F. W. Ripken, BDXC via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. As of September 1, the 1700 UT broadcast will be extended to 15 minutes. (1700-1715 instead of 1700-1705). That's 1-1:15 PM Eastern [daylight time]. http://bet.iba.org.il/?lang=23 Israel radio announcement Israel radio announced Sunday that from Monday, September 1, the English news will be broadcast from 8 to 8:15 p.m. [Israel Time] 31.08.2003 14:11 (Doni Rosenzweig, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH. 6072.34, R. Pyongyang, A het long before 1100 30 Aug, then 1101 M announcer briefly followed by the R. Pyongyang IS. Fairly strong but weak modulation and QRM from 6070 (Dave Valko, PA, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. NORTH KOREA WANTS SOUTH KOREA TO DROP RADIO PROGRAM THAT IT VIEWS AS SUBVERSIVE. . . http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/ap08-28-225546.asp?reg=PACRIM (AP via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) Viz.: RADIO LIBERTY KEEPS ON AFTER SALVATION CLOSURE By SOO-JEONG LEE, Associated Press Writer SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Every day, a South Korean public radio program broadcasts news, hit pop songs, talk shows and lectures over its northern border -- material that North Korea says it can't tolerate any longer. KBS's Radio Liberty program was created in 1948 to provide Koreans living in Russia, China, and North Korea with news of Korea. It used to contain condemnations of North Korea. Now it features interviews with North Korean defectors describing their new lives in South Korea, and provides information such as the number of computers in the two Koreas. Many South Koreans are unaware of the program. But for decades, North Korea has considered it a propaganda tool aimed at destabilizing the isolated communist state. Last month, North Korea halted its own three-decade-old anti-South propaganda radio, the Voice of National Salvation, and demanded that South Korea reciprocate by nixing the KBS program. KBS said it would not comply. "Since our program is one of the few means of providing truth to North Koreans, we have no intentions of halting our programs," Yoo Woon-sang, chief producer at KBS's radio overseas service department, said this week. "North Korea's hidden intentions seem to be to prevent outside information from coming into its country," said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert in Seoul. The pressure to end the South Korean broadcasts came as North Korea held talks this week with the United States, South Korea, China, Russia and Japan to discuss its nuclear program. A U.S. government official said the North threatened to carry out a nuclear test. North Korea tolerates no independent news media and no public Internet access. Control of information buttresses Pyongyang's totalitarian rule over its 22 million people. In past weeks, North Korea has accused Washington of waging "psychological warfare" by sending transistor radios into its territory and boosting airtime of the Washington-based Radio Free Asia and the Voice of America. In North Korea, tuning into private radio broadcasts is banned. North Koreans in possession of private radios must report to authorities, who mechanically alter them to catch only local stations. Those caught listening to outside radio broadcasts can be sent to prison, according to North Korean defectors. Nonetheless, the number of North Koreans listening to outside broadcasts is rising with the help of radios smuggled from China, they say. People also remove the frequency jammers [sic] on their state- issued radios. "For many North Koreans, South Korean broadcasts make more sense than the local ones, and by listening to them, they spot inconsistencies in their regime," said Lee Joo-il, a 38-year-old defector who arrived in Seoul in 2000. For decades, the two Koreas waged fierce propaganda battles. The sides used balloons to scatter leaflets on each other's territories. Loudspeakers traded slander across the 2.5-mile-wide Demilitarized Zone separating the two countries. Radio stations infiltrated each other's populaces with political programs. They featured interviews of defectors, who typically described the countries they left behind as "hell" and how they were enjoying a new life in a "paradise." In both Koreas, it was illegal to listen to those broadcasts. Following a historic 2000 inter-Korean summit, such propaganda subsided. In July, the two sides even agreed to consider ending "slanderous broadcasts." North Korea's state-run media, which can be monitored in South Korea, still issues saber-rattling remarks against the United States and is full of praises of its leader Kim Jong Il, although its anti-South Korean slander has dwindled with progress in reconciliation (AP via Mike Cooper, Aug 29, DXLD) ** KOREA SOUTH. Hi Glenn, The new station is called Arirang FM (as it is run by Arirang TV), but the Web site at http://www.arirang.co.kr/english/index.asp does not mention what the frequency is :-( 73, (Andy Sennitt, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. Here is a broadcast you do not seem to have in your listings. It is the official broadcast (Monthly) of the New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters http://www.nzart.org.nz/nzart/Update/Broadcast/ (Chris Wright, New Zealand, Aug 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: The NZART Official broadcast is made on the last Sunday of each month, except December when it is made on the Sunday before Christmas. The broadcast is made on 3900 kHz, and on the National System and local VHF repeaters. The broadcast is made at 2000 hours NZT, with a repeat at 2100 hours NZT. [Sun 0800 and 0900 UT currently; 0700 and 0800 during DST] Members and Branches are welcome to submit material to ZL2BHF, c/o NZART Headquarters, P O Box 40-525, Upper Hutt, for inclusion in the Broadcast. There is also a special Official Conference Broadcast made on the Sunday of the New Zealand observance of Queens Birthday weekend at 2000 hours NZT. The next Official Broadcast will be on Sunday the 31st of August 2003. Recent Official broadcasts are available here in MP3 format. Contact Jim Meachen if you have any comments: July 2003 OB in MP3 format 2.8Mbytes June 2003 OB in MP3 format 3.1Mbytes Conference 2003 OB in MP3 format 2.2Mbytes (via Chris Wright, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND. Radio New Zealand Int`l was not audible here Friday night (0630 8/30), and the RNZI Web site confirms that their SW transmitter is off the air due to a technical fault. Might be back on 0800 Sunday, 8/31 (Chuck Albertson, Seattle, WA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RNZI Has A Major Transmitter Fault. RNZI has been off air since at least yesterday [Aug 30th]. This message is on the website http://www.rnzi.com RNZI short-wave transmitter is off the air with a serious fault - we regret this interruption to our Pacific Service. We expect normal service to resume on Sunday at 0800 UT (Barry Aug 31) (later) ... I have just arrived at home from work at 1000 UT after recording yet another symphony concert, and I checked for RNZI on 9885 kHz. I heard nothing! (1008 UT, Barry Hartley, New Zealand, BC-DX Aug 31 via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) My morning check showed RNZ off air this a.m. at 0900. No het found so believe to be off air at this time (Bob Montgomery, swprograms via DXLD) FWIW, I couldn't hear them last night either, Bob. I monitored 17675 starting at around 2330 just to see when fade-in would commence. I was hearing them, but not well, around 0100-0200 or so (only an S3 signal with lots of noise). Sometime after that during the early part of the next hour, I lost them completely. To be honest, the signal had been so weak that it was hard to tell if the transmitter had gone off or the noise level on 16m just overwhelmed the signal. After reading your report, however, I now suspect it was the former. RNZI has had what I would call a higher than comfortable number of transmitter drop outs over the last few months (John Figliozzi, NY, Aug 30, swprograms via DXLD) Noted still off air last nite on 17675 and also this a.m. on 9885. Wondering if they have adopted new freq not listed yet. Can't seem to find them (Bob Montgomery, PA, Aug 31, ibid.) ** NIGERIA. VON used 17800 many years ago when they first got their high-powered transmitters. Also pays to check 9690, which seems to be in use periodically (Craig Seager, ARDXC via DXLD) Changed from 15120 to 17800 kHz on August 27/28th. Is an old VON frequency, also used by the station about 20 to 25 years ago. In 1983 used 7255 9690 11770 15120 and 17800 kHz. All these old units end rot in rust a decade ago. VON set up very new SW transmitter units few months ago on 15120 and 11770 kHz, and from July also on 9690 kHz. 73 (Wolfgang Bueschel, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** PAKISTAN: MORE THAN 30 PRIVATE RADIO, TV CHANNELS LICENSED | Text of report by Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency Islamabad, 29 August: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shaykh Rashid Ahmed on Friday [29 August] informed the National Assembly that PEMRA [Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority] has granted 26 licences to private Pakistani companies for FM radio stations and two TV channels for telecasting purely educational programmes while three satellite TV stations, ARY Digital, Indus Vision and AVT Prime, have been granted permission to operate from Pakistan. He was responding to a question of Mohammad Hanif Abbasi about the number of local radio and television channels functioning in private sector. The minister said two licences for FM radio stations located at Islamabad and Sialkot have been issued to the university for educational purposes only. Out of these, two radio stations have started test transmission. He said during the first phase, 26 licences including five in Karachi, three each in Islamabad/Rawalpindi and Lahore, one each in Peshawar, Multan, Vehari, Sukkur, Sarai Naurang, Gujrat, Sialkot, Abbottabad, Hub Chowki, Muridke, Changla Gali, Gwadar, Bahawalpur have been issued for FM radio broadcast. To another question about operating of more private radio and TV channels, Shaykh Rashid said PEMRA has finalized the process of granting licences for FM radio stations in cities other than those included in the first phase. He said the second phase would be completed within the next one and a half months. Details would be available after the process mandated by PEMRA Ordinance is completed, he added. To another question about any recruitment in PTV and Radio during the present regime, the minister said no recruitment has been made in the Pakistan Television Corporation and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation and Shalimar Television Network during the present regime. However, PTV hires the services of resource persons on a consolidated payment basis in different areas of its operations to fill the professional gaps resulting from no recruitment for so many years. Source: Associated Press of Pakistan news agency, Islamabad, in English 1243 gmt 30 Aug 03 (via BBCM via DXLD) CYBER WING TO COUNTER PROPAGANDA, NA TOLD PEMRA grants 26 licences for FM Radio, 5 private TV channels PBC to resume Balochi bulletins from Islamabad soon ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said that the Information Ministry has established a cyber wing which not only projects Pakistan's point of view and policies on its website but also takes measures to counter propaganda against Pakistan... http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_30-8-2003_pg7_27 (Daily Times via Jill Dybka, TN, DXLD) ** PERU. ACERCA DE RADIO VIRGEN DEL CARMEN, HUANCAVELICA El colega peruano Rubén Contreras Espinoza me cuenta que Radio Virgen del Carmen está operando desde Huancavelica por su frecuencia habitual de 4886 kHz pero en forma restringida. Ellos transmiten por la mañana desde las 1100 UT hasta las 1500 y, los fines de semana, desde las 1100 a 1400. Estos son los programas que irradia: 1100-1200 un programa de agricultura 1200-1230 La hora Cultural Educativa 1230-1300 La Universidad en el Aire, programa de la Universidad de Huancavelica. Actualmente la emisora está asociada a Radio Católica Mundial. La programación de la emisora es netamente religiosa (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, Aug 31, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** ROMANIA. Bonjour à tous, Radio Roumanie Internationale et Raymond Aupetit nous ont fait parvenir ceci: "JOURNEE DE L'AUDITEUR 2003 Chers amis, le dimanche 2 novembre, nous vous invitons à fêter ensemble LA JOURNEE DE L'AUDITEUR SUR RRI. V 1 - Nos amis du monde entier se sont certainement déjà habitués à célébrer aux côtés des journalistes de RRI la Journée de la Radio roumaine par un programme spécial, réalisé par la contribution directe de ceux qui, tout le reste de l'année, sont fidèles à nos ondes. V 2 - Cette année, notre Journée s'annonce spéciale, parce que le 1er novembre, la Radio roumaine fête ses 75 ans. V 1 - Alors, il serait gentil de faire un petit cadeau à cette vieille dame. V 2 - Elle ne veut pas de produits de jouvence, mais plutôt un cadeau symbolique qui porte votre signature! Nous vous invitons donc à nous communiquer votre opinion sur le rôle que la radio joue aujourd'hui dans "la société de l'information", aux côtés d'Internet, des offres multimédia, de la télévision transfrontalière, de l'immense nombre de périodiques à la portée de tous. V 1 - Selon vous, comment les radios publiques internationales peuvent-elles s'acquitter de la mission d'informer un auditoire extrêmement divers et dispersé, mais qui souhaite une information directement à la source sur tout ce qui doit marquer la destinée contemporaine de l'humanité? V 2 - Et nous, en tant que journalistes à RRI, que pouvons-nous faire à l'avenir pour mieux répondre à vos attentes? V 1 - Nous attendons avec intérêt vos pensées sur le sujet proposé, à l'adresse de RRI, 60 - 64 rue du Gl. Berthelot, BP 111, secteur 1, Bucarest, avant le 15 octobre prochain, date de la poste. Vous pouvez également nous écrire par fax, au n +40.21.223.26.13, ou par courriel: fran@rri.ro V 2 - Ceux qui souhaitent intervenir sur nos ondes avec leur voix dans nos programmes spéciaux consacrés à la Journée de l'Auditeur sont priés d'expédier leur contribution enregistrée sur cassette audio ou de nous faire connaître, dans un délai raisonnable, leur numéro de téléphone, ainsi que le jour et l'heure quand ils sont disponibles pour l'enregistrement. V 1 - Nous vous attendons tous, chers amis, à la "table ronde" du 2 novembre, sur le thème "Le rôle de la Radio publique dans la société de l'information", l'échange d'opinions organisé par RRI pour la Journée de l'Auditeur." En ce qui me concerne, quelques questions trouvent chez moi quelques résonnances (comme une antenne). Donc, une cassette audio sera enregistrée. Bonne Fête R.R.I. Daniel Wantz Union des Ecouteurs Français --- Radiodiffusions, utilitaires, radio- écouteurs, radioamateurs, techniques... Courriel: tsfinfo@magic.fr Web: http://www.radiocom.org U.E.F.: B.P.31, 92242 MALAKOFF Cedex, FRANCE (via Bill Westenhaver, QC, DXLD) V2 and V1 want to say?? ** SAUDI ARABIA [non]. Sounds like Al-Islah are still on shortwave; 15705 jammed, but a bit of weak talk heard in LSB. Can anyone confirm? (Hans Johnson, WY, Aug 30, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) No time Yes. S/off at 2000. Jammer still there alone at 2010. 73, (Mauno Ritola, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) CLANDESTINE (NORWAY TO SAUDI ARABIA). 15705, R. Al-Islah (presumed), 1800-2000*, sign-on with March-like songs. M announcer in language at 1806 but just too weak. Back to instrumental music at 1807. Came back at 1930 and noted a bit stronger with M announcer host and speech excerpts. M vocal singing at 1954. Men announcers then, but cut off in mid-sentence at 2000:33. Weak signal with quick QSB. Heavily jammed but still getting through with some audio (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, 30 August, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** SOMALIA. Somalia Media Page --- Hello Mr. Glenn Hauser, Your media profile for Somalia was very well done. But there were some omissions of Puntland regional media. Puntland Newspapers Yamayska-- Galkacyo based private weekly newspaper. http://www.yamayska.com Puntland Post-- Bosaso based private newspaper. I'm not sure if it just internet based or printed as well in Puntland. http://www.puntlandpost.com Yool-- Bosaso based private newspaper. Sooyal-- Bosaso based private newspaper. War Ogaal-- Weekly Puntland based private newsaper. For reference for the last three newspapers see: http://www.freemedia.at/wpfr/Africa/somalia.htm ***** Sahan-- Private newspaper in Puntland Bossaso Bureau at: Tel # 6224 or 826111. Listed in a previous BBC Country profile: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/country_profiles/newsid_1072000/1072592.stm/ Cut and paste entire link to web browser. ***** Television/Radio Section Somali Broadcasting Corporation (SBC)--Private TV broadcaster based in Bosaso (Bari). Substation in Garowe(Nugal) and Qardo(Bari), all in Puntland. SBC Radio-- Private Puntland based FM Station. Both were shut down by the Puntland government in May 2002 but were reopened in May 2003. Here is the news link from the UN IRIN News report: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=34022&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=SOMALIA Cut and paste entire link to web browser. ***** Radio Midnimo-- (Bosaso) based FM station. Reference: http://www.africaonline.com/site/Articles/1,3,43386.jsp Radio Galkacyo was included but the link wasn't. Please include: http://www.radiogalkayo.com ****** Puntland maps: http://www.radiogalkayo.com/banner/puntlandmap.php http://iquebec.ifrance.com/rolf1/info/nif/map008.gif Keep up the good work! Sincerely, (John Lewis, Aug 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tnx, but my only `good work` in this case is re-publishing the work of Chris Greenway, BBC Monitoring, presumably what you refer to, and I wish people would cite issue numbers, back in DXLD 3-100. Please pay attention to the credit lines and do not try to attribute to me the work of others (gh) ** SOUTH AFRICA. MUSIC ``TORTURE'' CLAIMS HALT S AFRICAN TREASON TRIAL JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) - The stop-start treason trial of 22 white South African right-wingers was again halted Monday, this time over defense claims that prison authorities were "torturing" their clients with loud popular music. Last week, 13 of the defendants, charged with seeking to overthrow South Africa's black-led government, complained loud "black" music piped over prison loudspeakers was driving them crazy. Judge Eben Jordaan postponed the trial Monday for one day to give defense counsel Piet Pistorius time to ready an application forcing prison management to stop playing Metro FM radio, which broadcasts a mixture of urban contemporary music. Pistorius said prison authorities had ignored Jordaan's earlier request to management to turn off the music. The group, dubbed the Boeremag or Afrikaner force, is charged with orchestrating a campaign of bomb attacks and the planned assassination of former President Nelson Mandela. Pistorius said the music was having a "drastic psychological effect" on his clients, not only hampering trial preparations but also infringing on their human rights, the South African Press Association reported. In a letter to prison management, the men complained that the music was being "forced upon them" 15 hours a day, "at horrendous noise levels," SAPA said. Pistorius also made further applications for a delay over accusations the prosecution had intercepted privileged defense information. Proceedings in South Africa's first post-apartheid treason trial were due to start in mid-May, but it has been bogged down by wrangling over procedural details that look likely to postpone the calling of the first witness for several weeks (REUTERS Aug 26 via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. THE FIRST FOOTPRINT ON THE BEACH WAS MINE After years of turmoil, Trincomalee in north-east Sri Lanka is opening up to tourism again. Go now and you'll have its beaches to yourself, says Jane Knight, Saturday August 30 2003 The Guardian http://observer.guardian.co.uk/travel/story/0,6903,1032493,00.html But did they mention the Deutsche Welle? Of course not! 73- (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** TAIWAN. RTI Global Exchange Mailbag Time bridges the gap between you and CBS. Each week we carefully select letters from our friends worldwide, read them on the air, play song requests and answer questions. RTI Global Exchange Every month, we pose a new question to listeners as part of our Global Exchange segment. If we choose your letter to read on the air, you will receive a souvenir and your answer may be shared in Taipeiwave. September What is the most unforgettable thing someone has ever said to you? Send entries to natalie@cbs.org.tw or to PO Box 24-38/ Taipei, Taiwan (RTI website via Swopan Chakroborty, Kolkata, India, DXLD) ** TIBET. CHINA (Tibet). 9490, China Tibet People's Broadcast Co. (presumed) 1104-1114 Aug 31. Talk by YL in English, until music at 1112 with voice-overs by OM and YL. At 1114 the program changed to Chinese. SINPO 23332 (George Maroti, NY, Cumbre DX via DXLD) ** TIBET [non]. V. of Tibet today Aug 31, 1215-1300 UT heard on 15660 kHz, but couldn't trace any second channel of the broadcaster; 21560 was empty. Lousy conditions, maybe VOT moved back from 21 MHz band to 15 MHz (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UGANDA. UGANDA REOPENS CHURCH-OWNED RADIO STATION Last Update: Sunday, August 31, 2003. 6:01am (AEST) http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s935574.htm The Ugandan Government says it has unconditionally reopened a church-owned radio station it shut down in the north-east of the country last June after accusing it of abetting a rebellion in the region. "We reopened Radio Veritas on Saturday and asked the management to take up their obligation of informing the public," Information Minister Nsaba Butulo said, who later used the same Roman Catholic radio station to address the public in the Teso region. "We have, however, emphasised to them and they accepted that this should not be done at the expense of security and the security of our forces," Mr Butulo said. The head of the radio, Roman Catholic Father Ethanasius Mubiru, confirmed the announcement, saying Butulo and other government officials went to the station on Saturday morning and announced it was being reopened on the orders President Yoweri Museveni. "We immediately returned on air and we have been broadcasting since 10:00 am on Saturday," Mr Mubiru said. Ugandan police stormed the studios of Radio Kyoga Veritas FM on June 22 and stopped broadcasts, after accusing it of airing news about rebel incursions, instilling fear and abetting subversion. One of the programs featured interviews with people who had been abducted and released by Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels. "We asked them whether they were mistreated while in captivity, and they said no, interviews government officials said was promoting rebels," Mr Mubiru said after the radio was ordered closed. The radio, owned by Soroti Catholic Diocese's Integrated Development Organisation (SOCADIDO), features development and pastoral programs and had reported on the spate of attacks by the LRA in the north-east districts of Katakwi, Kaberamaido and Soroti. In one of the attacks in the region, the LRA raided a girls school where they kidnapped more than 100 schoolgirls, over a dozen of whom are still missing and believed to be in rebel hands. The LRA rose up against the Ugandan Government in 1988, ostensibly to replace it with a regime based on the biblical Ten Commandments, but it is infamous for the cruelty of its campaign, marked by abductions and brutal killings of civilians. The rebel campaign has displaced more than 800,000 people in the north and north-east Uganda, forcing them to live in squalid camps dotting the entire region. -- AFP (via Mike Terry, DXLD) FM, WTFK? Not SW ** UKRAINE. Glenn, Following is from Alexander Egorov of RUI. "No one frequency is absolutely available to North America from Europe on 9 or 7 MHz for time period 2300-0400. For B03 schedule I plan use 5905 kHz." 73, (Kraig Krist, VA, Aug 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. WELCOME TO THE FESTIVAL OF BBC BAITING Rod Liddle, Wednesday August 27, 2003, The Guardian Lordy, but you have to feel sorry for the inhabitants of Edinburgh. Having scarcely ridded themselves of a prolonged infestation of hilariously wacky Irish comedians, last weekend the skies above Holyrood Castle suddenly opened and a vast sack of London media monkeys and moppets was deposited upon the city, thousands of them, jabbering endlessly, hugging and petting each other and, late at night, behind the George Hotel, in George Street, having swallowed 12 spritzers apiece, vomiting copiously into their free Sky TV canvas goody bags. "When I hear the words culture supplement, I reach for my revolver," the locals muttered darkly to themselves as they watched Tamsin and Sara and Charlotte and Ben empty the ATMs and climb, still jabbering, into reluctant taxis to travel the 85 yards from their hotels to the conference centre for the morning's keynote session: "TV - is it vacuous shite, or what?" at the Edinburgh international television festival. . . http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4741049-103680,00.html (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U K. BBC TO LAUNCH ON-LINE ARCHIVE OF SHOWS By DAVID AKIN, Friday, Aug 29, 2003 The British Broadcasting Corp. plans to make much of its vast television and radio library, including portions of shows such as Dr. Who and Monty Python's Flying Circus, available for free on the Internet. It's an initiative that the BBC hopes will encourage other public broadcasters to do the same. The CBC, Canada's public broadcaster, already has a section on its Web site that contains clips from historically significant radio and television broadcasts... http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPPrint/LAC/20030829/BBC29/TPEntertainment/ (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) Thought you'd like to see this explainer on how the BBC could digitize and post its archives online. 73- Bill Westenhaver TAPED AT THE BBC --- CAN THE BEEB PUT ITS ENTIRE ARCHIVE ON THE WEB? webhead By Paul Boutin Posted Tuesday, August 26, 2003, at 4:24 PM PT For those of us still debating whether to shell out the 40-odd bucks for Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection on DVD, BBC Director- General Greg Dyke may have settled the matter this weekend. At the end of his speech to an annual TV industry conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, Dyke announced that the Beeb plans to put its enormous TV and radio archives online and to allow anyone to download them --- free --- for non-commercial use. "Under a simple licensing system, we will allow users to adapt BBC content for their own use," Dyke said. "We are calling this the BBC Creative Archive." Giving away the BBC's content online is an eye-popping proposal, in part because it's such an ambitious project. The BBC produces eight TV channels and 10 radio networks, and it broadcasts the news in 43 languages worldwide. It's been doing television since 1936, and radio since 1922. How much of the Beeb's voluminous output could it really put online? Dyke and the BBC press office have refused to give out further details, but Beeb staffers had already discussed the project with two of the Net's leading big brains, Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig and Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle. Lessig chairs the Creative Commons project, which has drafted a set of free license agreements for people who want to give away their writing, art, or other works online without having their intellectual property claimed and resold by someone else. In both technical and legal terms, Kahle and Lessig agree: It would be easy for the BBC to put its future programming online, but tougher to pull old tapes from the vault. Kahle's napkin math on the project goes like this: DVD-quality video requires 3 megabits to 5 megabits of data per second. Over a year, that works out to about 10,000 gigabytes of disk space to store the ouput of one BBC channel, not including reruns and off-air time. That sounds like a lot --- 10 terabytes --- but it's not uncommon for a single array of disks in a corporate server room to hold hundreds of terabytes at the ready for instant access. Kahle's estimate, based on his 9/11 Television Archive project, is that a rack of low-cost Linux machines could store and serve one channel-year of television, plus a backup copy, on less than $50,000 worth of disks at today's prices. By the time the BBC gets rolling, you might as well cut that number in half: Disk prices have been falling even faster than CPU speeds are rising, halving every nine months by some estimates. If that rate continues, in three years, a year's worth of BBC One would fit on less than $4,000 of disk space. Serving those bits to Web surfers worldwide could be done by expanding the Beeb's existing deal with Akamai, which operates a global network of high-speed Web servers. (MSNBC, which served 85 million video clips during the Iraq war, is another Akamai customer.) With today's production software, digitizing the Beeb's shows to disk as they air or uploading a copy of each segment separately as it's produced would be easy. But what about the old shows? They can be digitized en masse from tape at an in-house cost of about $15 per hour of material, Kahle estimates. That adds up to around $100,000 per channel per archived year, which suggests it may be better to cherry- pick the best of the Beeb rather than try to upload the whole thing. The real roadblock to putting the old shows online isn't technical. It's legal. The Creative Archive's license could allow unlimited viewing, editing, and reuse of the digitized BBC programs, which are funded by an annual TV fee (don't call it a tax unless you're ready for a pub brawl) on UK viewers. The archive's license would contain specific language to prohibit resale or any use the Beeb sees as an attempt to cash in on Britain's public property. Here's one of the many thorny questions the project will raise: If Google crawls and indexes the whole thing, does that count? Whatever the new license's terms, though, it can't just be applied retroactively to existing material. As record companies and book publishers have already learned, the technical work of digitizing and distributing old works is far easier than resolving legal agreements that were crafted in the analog era. Until BBC lawyers go through the exhaustive work of clearing the rights to redistribute the old shows online, we won't know if the Creative Archive will include John Cleese classics or just old News 24 clips. Paul Boutin is a Silicon Valley writer who spent 15 years as a software engineer and manager (via Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** U K. The BBC's Annual Report has just been published and it seems they should spend more on UK radio!! SATURDAY 30th August 2003 TV BBC One - £859m BBC Two - £367m Radio Radio 1 - £17m Radio 2 - £21m Radio 3 - £30m Radio 4 - £65m Radio 5 - £54m BBCi on the internet - £72m On-air trails & Navigation - £26m http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/report2003/ With regard to the World Service (funded differently): "This division runs 43 language services financed directly by the UK Government, BBC Monitoring and the commercial television channel BBC World. The full BBC World Service & Global News review is in PDF format. Key points include: BBC World Service celebrated its 70th anniversary, and surveys showed it to be the most trusted and objective international broadcaster providing the greatest breadth and depth. Coverage of the war in Iraq war was provided by its biggest ever operation. BBC World Service played a pivotal role providing independent information to the Arab world. Audiences to short wave are falling and those to FM rebroadcasts and the internet service have risen." (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** U K. M GIBLIN sends in a local press cutting about the BBC station in Ottringham, Humberside: "In 1943 Ottringham was home to the world`s most powerful radio transmitter carrying BBC Overseas and Home Services, including the wartime speeches of Winston Churchill. The Ottringham station was built mainly to transmit BBC radio broadcasts overseas, and transmitted across the whole of occupied Europe. It proved almost impossible for the German occupiers to jam, and may even have been used to transmit secret coded messages to resistance fighters. The station was heavily guarded and well camouflaged and did not sustain a single hit during the whole of the war. It also transmitted popular British programmes, and it was said that locally the signal was so strong that locals could listen using only a tin bath and metal spoon!" (via Mike Barraclough, Sept World DX Club Contact via DXLD) MIKE BARRACLOUGH has researched further: In a series of articles on black propaganda and the Aspidistra transmitter published some years ago in Contact MICHAEL BURDEN reported that "Throughout 1943, "Aspidistra" continued to relay the BBC European Service but early in that year it could no longer claim to be the `biggest Aspidistra in the world`. For, on 12th February 1943, the BBC brought into service a high-power Long Wave station on the east coast of England, situated at the village of Ottringham on the north bank of the Humber Estuary. The station consisted of 4 x 200 kW transmitters which had the facility to he coupled to give a combined output of 800 kW. This made Ottringham the most powerful radio station in the world at that time, and ensured that the BBC was heard with good reception in Germany, even during daylight hours on a standard domestic receiver. It operated on a frequency close to the German national "Deutschlandsender" home service. A Google search found Arthur Dungate`s home page, http://www.bbctv-ap.freeserve.co.uk/home.htm where he recalls listening to the BBC European Service from Ottringham on 167 kHz with 200 kW after the war in Blackpool. The internet site http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/o/ottringham has a lot of detail on the site including two photographs of one section some of the original basement rooms in the control centre which still remain intact. Details of the Aspidistra site in Crowborough, with recent photographs are also linked to. The site was 94 acres with seven buildings and several 500 foot transmitter masts. It was owned by the Government, not the BBC. The transmitters were housed in 4 heavily protected surface buildings, possibly with earth revetments. These were driven and fed from a 5th building while the 6th building was the Central Combining House which contained the circuits to combine 200 kW at a time to a maximum 800 kW output. Although it was tested to 800 kW it never ran on programme to that level, 600 kW being the maximum used. The station was designed to broadcast with 200, 400, 600 or 800 kilowatts with up to four separate programmes simultaneously. The fourth transmitter was used to relay the Home Service to the East Riding and Lincolnshire. The station continued in service until well after the war but closed on 15th February 1953 because neither channels nor funds were available for it to continue in service. The site was dismantled shortly after closure and the transmitters were moved to Droitwich where they carried Radio 1 and Radio 4 on medium wave and Radio 2 on longwave well into the 1970`s. One of the aerial masts in still in use at Brookmans Park; the others are believed to have gone to other BBC HF sites. The site of the masts has returned to farmland, the rest of the site was cleared of buildings and is now an industrial unit, storage yard and lorry park. As a boy I lived in nearby Withernsea between 1952 and 1963 and can recall, when I was about 8, being taken round the Ottringham site. A local family friend, who was a farmer, was considering buying the land and took my father, his bank manager, accompanied by me, around the site as he was looking for a loan to cover its purchase (Sept World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** U S A. Re WRMI: BOY do I feel stupid now. Figured I was helping out and was totally wrong. I'm new to shortwave. I'll just crawl under a rock now... The show was something like "Apocalypse Chronicles". Radio of course faded out when host said his name. I see from today`s DX-Digest that it wasn't true. Sorry for wasting your time. Later (Steve, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Steve, Please don`t feel that way. No harm done; we are getting to the bottom of the item since you now say it was Apocalypse Chronicles. Well, of course something bad is always about to happen as far as they are concerned! (Glenn to Steve, via DXLD) ** U S A. A very good, "must read" article about Ibiquity's situation and the future of digital radio (actually discusses the problems with adjacent channel hash on AM!): http://www.radioworld.com/reference-room/guywire/gw-08-28-03.shtml (Harry Helms, W7HLH Las Vegas, NV DM26, NRC AM via DXLD) ** U S A. BRUCE PENNINGTON; GAY ACTIVIST HAD RADIO PROGRAM By Claudia Levy, Washington Post Staff Writer, Thursday, August 28 Bruce Pennington, 56, a chef, teacher and former radio broadcaster who was honored in June at Washington's annual gay pride celebration as a "Capital Pride Hero" for 35 years of activism in the city, died Aug. 26 at the Hospice of Washington. He had AIDS and had suffered a stroke. Mr. Pennington, an early member of the Gay Liberation Front in Washington, was a host of the "Friends" radio program from 1973 to 1982. The program, one of the first aimed at a gay audience, was launched on the Georgetown University radio station, WGTB-FM, and picked up later by Pacifica Radio, WPFW-FM... http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A56697-2003Aug27?language=printer (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** VIETNAM [non]. unID 7380 1321-1328* 8/30. Talks and music here in Asian language; ended at 1328 after a final song. Carrier went off a few minutes later. Was looking for Degar Radio - may have been them, although they are sked to 1400 (John Wilkins, CO, Cumbre DX via DXLD) This observation is correct, Degar Voice ends at 1330 now (instead of originally 1400), confirmed by Mauno Ritola, Finland. 73s, (Bernd Trutenau, Lithuania, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED [non]. Re: DXLD 3-156, 6069.7 with the religious network `A Voz da Libertação`. Per info available at PERU ON SHORTWAVE 1992- 2002 --- Monitored by Henrik Klemetz (1992-1998) and Rafael Rodríguez R. (1998-2002) (35 pages of pdf by frequency), http://homepage.sverige.net/~a-0901/hkperu-2.pdf the transmitter belonging to Radio JSV, in Huánuco, Perú, started relaying La Voz de la Liberación way back in 1998. (Previously, this shortwave transmitter had been idle for a good number of years). Some programs may be local in character, originating in Lima or even Huánuco, while others are relayed from Brazil. If in doubt, the São Paulo feed can be monitored at http://www.ipda.org.br/ (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, Aug 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 7571.95, Asian at 0030 Asian music, weak audio, fade with carrier remaining 0130+ (Bob Wilkner, FL, Aug 31, DX LISTENING DIGEST) {probably Pakistan} ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RADIO STAMPS ++++++++++++ RADIO LICENSING: STAMPS, REMINDERS, SLOGANS The Aug 25 issue of Linn`s Stamp News has an article by this title on page 30, by David A. Norris, with five interesting illustrations, including the Danish slogan cancel from 1955 with a humorous cartoon drawing and inscription ``Daemp Radioen``, meaning ``Turn Down Your Radio``. I remember getting a bunch of those way back when R. Denmark had an external service and even a mailing list. Linn`s doesn`t seem to put much online, so check your library. Tnx to Mike Cooper for a hard-copy clipping (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES / DRM +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ IFA [non] I am just back from Berlin. Messe Berlin staff accepted neither the membership in a magazine's editorial board nor regular editorial contributions for a public broadcaster as sufficient for a press accreditation, contrary to the officially publicized guidelines. No idea if they would like to see an order from the director itself; anyway, I have still some second-hand news to offer: The promoted "special announcement" of DRM consortium and World DAB contained basically a common marketing in future, so nothing spectacular. Actual DRM transmissions: 693 DRM-only, 177, 603 and also 855 AM/DRM simulcast. My observations at Berlin fully confirmed the first findings I made on 177 for this frequency as well as for 603 and 855: the DRM component disturbs the analogue one noticeably, and it appears that hardly anybody is convinced of this mode. DAB: I was told that it appears to be widely recognized now that the idea to replace FM by DAB in the coming years (i.e. to shut down FM in 2010 or so) is merely wishful thinking. The already mentioned DAB promo on 104.1 is indeed operational with the weird RDS PS code _100_DAB. At 2000 UT the just carried program was abruptly cut off, followed by silence for at least 15 minutes, so the rotation works not really perfectly. After 2000 I also remembered to check 97.2 for the special IFA-Radio service and found only an open carrier. Not exactly convincing either. So much in a short, best regards, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 30, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Much more under GERMANY above EURORADIO 2003 - CALAIS, SATURDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2003 (This is one I attended a few years ago, and it was excellent - Mike). Euroradio 2003 commemorates twenty years of Radio Caroline's famous ship the Ross Revenge and will take place in Calais, France on Saturday 13 September 2003. Guests will include Peter Chicago Associated with Radio Caroline for many years during her offshore days, firstly as engineer on the Mi Amigo, when he was persuaded to jump ship from RNI. Chicago worked as transmitter engineer on the Ross Revenge and was on board during the infamous 1989 raid. Nowadays he works in broadcast engineering. Paul Graham A veteran of numerous offshore and free radio projects, Paul has worked in Irish radio, as well as deejaying on the Ross Revenge, during the time she started to drift. He now works in radio consultancy. Tony Campbell A former trawler captain and lifelong supporter of Radio Caroline, Tony got the opportunity to captain the Ross Revenge during the mid 1980's and the time of Eurosiege. Nowadays he runs nature sightseeing trips around the inland waters of Essex. He is also a talented artist. Dennis Jason If you've seen photos of the Ross Revenge, taken from the top of the 300 foot mast, you may also see part of the foot, of the man intrepidly climbed the mast to take the picture. Dennis Jason, as well as being a deejay, is an accomplished photographer. Euroradio starts at 2.00 pm local time [1200 UT], features a selection of offshore radio videos playing during the afternoon. We'll also be talking to our special guests. The Offshore Echo's [sic] Boutique will be open during the event, featuring a wide range of offshore radio related merchandise. In the evening there is a special Euroradio dinner, with fine French cuisine including wine, at the Georges V restaurant. Details at http://www.offshoreechos.com (via Mike Terry, UK, DXLD) RECEIVER NEWS +++++++++++++ NEW RADAR SYSTEM WARNS OF ICEBERGS -- ALSO GUARDS AGAINST SMUGGLERS DEAN BEEBY, Canadian Press, Saturday, August 30, 2003 HALIFAX (CP) -- A cutting-edge radar system has begun providing early warnings of icebergs to the Hibernia oil rig off the East Coast. And the unique technology, more than a decade in the making, will soon be guarding against drug smugglers, illegal immigrant traffickers, foreign fishing vessels -- potentially, even terrorists -- lurking far out to sea on Canada's Atlantic seaboard. The radar uses the ocean's salty surface as an electronic conduit to track vessels and aircraft as far as 370 kilometres into the North Atlantic. The so-called "surface wave" system hugs the curvature of the earth, reaching to the very edge of Canada's 200-nautical-mile economic zone, unlike traditional radar technology, which is limited to lines of sight less than a quarter that distance. Two unmanned research installations in Newfoundland, at Cape Race and Cape Bonavista, are currently undergoing a $5-million upgrade that will make them the first in a two-coast network designed to increase Canada's maritime security. "It's been very promising -- it has tracked vessels in near real time out to significant ranges," said Lt.-Cmdr. Greg Bannister, the navy officer in charge of the project. "It's quite an achievement for Canada." The Newfoundland stations are already tracking threatening icebergs for the operators of the Hibernia oil rig. "That's the first practical application in the private sector," said Brian Smith of Raytheon Canada Ltd., the Waterloo, Ont.-based firm that since 1996 has been jointly developing the system with National Defence. The concept of surface-wave radar has its origins in Britain during the Second World War, but the concept was impractical until the advent of powerful computers that can decipher the signals. Canada's system is currently unique in the world, with competing technologies some 18 months to two years behind, says Smith. With National Defence as a partner, Raytheon has begun marketing the system to the United States. A demonstration was given in the Bahamas last year to a private-sector American company. And this summer in Key West, Fla., the U.S. Coast Guard was shown how the radar operates using a portable version. "The United States is very interested in the technology," Smith said in an interview, though there have been no contracts signed yet. Meanwhile, National Defence has been given $43.1 million to build as many as six additional sites on both the East and West coasts, with construction expected to begin in the summer of 2005. Internal military documents, obtained under the Access to Information Act, show the favoured locales are Baleine, N.S., in Cape Breton; Little Brehat and Taylor's Bay Point, Nfld.; and Ucuelet and Nootka Island, B.C. These "would provide continuous coverage of the seaward approaches to the St. Lawrence Seaway and Strait of Juan de Fuca," says the document. The network has been scaled back significantly from the 21 sites first envisioned. Canada currently relies on patrol aircraft, coast guard ships, conventional radar and other means to survey some 244,000 kilometres of coastline. Each day, about 1,700 vessels operate within Canada's 200-nautical-mile economic zone -- and not all of them announce their presence. Surface-wave radar installations cost about $5 million each to build and less than $200,000 a year to operate. Signals will be fed by telephone lines to a navy intelligence centre in Halifax. West Coast signals will be processed at Esquimalt, B.C. Costs are a fraction of the bills for military Aurora flights, coast guard patrols and fisheries surveillance flights, which run into the millions. For example, a single radar site could be operated for a tenth or less the cost of Provincial Airlines surveillance flights carried out on the East Coast for the federal government, an internal document estimates. The system has limits. Electromagnetic interference at night reduces the range, for example, and high waves can mask the presence of smaller vessels, such as fishing trawlers. Surface-wave radar is also ineffective over Arctic ice. At the same time, the signals are not affected by weather and the system provides real-time tracking, with updates of vessel locations every five minutes or so. The developers say surface-wave radar can act as an early-warning system to direct patrol aircraft and ships only to suspicious or distressed vessels and planes, a more efficient use of resources. The system can even be used to measure distant ocean currents to help build a clearer picture of the ocean environment. The data is not considered classified and can be readily used as evidence in court cases, unlike some electronic intelligence information that is regarded as highly sensitive and unavailable for prosecutions. "The navy will be using the data within the next year," says Bannister. "It's very impressive." Some facts and figures: Technology: Surface-wave radar uses the salty surface of the ocean as a conduit for its high-frequency signals. As a result, the signals hug the Earth's surface, travelling much farther than standard radar, which extends only to the horizon. History: The concept of surface-wave radar has been known since the Second World War, but only recently has computer technology allowed clear interpretation of the signals. Stations: Two experimental stations at Cape Race, Nfld., and Cape Bonavista, Nfld., built in the mid-1990s, currently undergoing $5- million upgrades to become fully operational. The data is already being used to track icebergs. Future: Up to six additional stations are planned for the East and West Coasts, the first being built in the summer of 2005. The project budget is $43.1 million. Savings: Unmanned stations can be built for about $5 million each, and operated for under $200,000 a year -- far less than for surveillance aircraft and coast guard ships. Prosecutions: Radar data is not classified and can be used in court to prosecute offenders, such as drug traffickers and ships that spill oil. © Copyright 2003 The Canadian Press (via Jill Dybka, DXLD) WTFK?? Note the above uses *high* frequencies, but along the surface, so presumably any ionospheric propagation would be minimised or incidental??? (gh, DXLD) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ BPL (PLC) INTERFERENCE TO AM BROADCAST STATIONS? Here's the ARRL's position on BPL interference to medium wave broadcasting: (Chuck Hutton) Hi, Charles, None of my tests nor the claimed frequencies seem to affect below 2 MHz, so for the most part, I think AM BC radio will be okay. 73, Ed Hare, W1RFI, ARRL Lab, via Hutton, NRC-AM via DXLD) I think some caution is advised. I think many would believe (and I am NOT saying that Ed is, or is not, among them) that AM broadcasting QRM issues are just concerned with heavy interference to local signals. If there can be something like a 40 to 60 dB range between "local signals" and "DX-interest signals" you can easily come up with the scenario in which "no interference was noted" because the test site was able to copy a local signal cleanly, while the DX signal could have been covered up with some lower-level noise.. I think frequently, SW, VHF and HF Ham/BC are treated as a medium of weak-signal interest, whereas AM is not. But we in NRC and IRCA, for two, know better. Didn't Bruce Conti just recently report here serious problems on the AM BC band from this interference while at a demo site? Will a different s/n ratio standard be applied to AM than to HF? With the convention on, some discussion of this may have to wait a few days (Bob Foxworth, NRC-AM via DXLD) I doubt that even one "official" individual has tuned a receiver to anywhere in the MF AM broadcast band while measuring BPL HF QRN in the vicinity of powerlines. I've had dealings with W1RFI with powerline QRN in the past and he never really impressed me. I still think BPL is a threat to our hobby, especially the top 1/3 of the MF spectrum. 73, (Thomas F. Giella, KN4LF Space & Atmospheric Weather Forecaster Website Designer, 4208 Thackery Way, Plant City, FL, USA 33566, ibid.) I own an ICOM IC756PRO Ham rig. It is a great rig (on the ham bands) and supposed to be a sound to light receiver. 150 khz to 300 Mhz. I have this rig at my office which adjoins the Sarasota Airport. The outer marker transmitter for the Instrument Landing System is on 242 khz. Power is 25 watts. I cannot pick it up on this receiver. ARRL's own testing lab showed that this receiver needs 9.2mv to obtain a satisfactory s/n ratio at 1.2 Mhz. A receiver of this quality should be down around 0.5mv for a decent signal. They never mentioned this terrible performance. On the higher end of the AM band, I can sit in my office and receive 1600 from Key West during the day. Nice Salt water path to Sarasota for only 500 watts. Same with WWL out of New Orleans. Comes in great all day long. But 620 out of St. Pete has noise on the signal here. Did anyone read the glowing report printed in QST regarding IBOC and WOR? Never did they ever talk to any AM DXer to add balance to that report. It was nothing but repeating WOR's propaganda. So, I've learned to take any report from the ARRL with a grain of salt (Paul Smith, W4KNX, Located in Sunny Sarasota, Florida, ibid.) Yeah, that QST report on IBOC was a real piece of work. What was truly amazing was how they repeated the claims that you can add that huge digital component to an analog signal and still have everything fit into the same bandwidth as the analog signal alone. I knew ham radio was going straight to hell when they lowered the code speed for the Extra from 20 wpm to 5 wpm, and there's your proof (Harry Helms W7HLH Las Vegas, NV DM26, ibid.) I've discovered through Internet research that products already exist to remove BPL from power mains before it enters the house. Low pass filters allow the 50/60 Hz AC in while blocking high frequency interference. The claim is that BPL will not only interfere with broadcast reception, but it will also cause interference or stress to other household appliances and electronics such as programmable devices in microwave ovens, coffeemakers, etc. and audio/video equipment. One particular filter device is installed outside at the meter and provides USB outputs for connection to the computer. If (or should I say when) the FCC approves BPL, the public utilities should be required to install low pass filters on the meters of every non- subscribing household. In terms of AM broadcast interference, I expect that BPL will only worsen an already bad situation for AM listeners on the road. AM is already significantly compromised by powerline noise in suburbia. For the most part around here, AM is only listenable on the interstate highways where powerlines aren't overhead. In terms of DXing, a noise-reduced outdoor wire should do the job, just as it does now in terms of isolation from household interference. IBOC will likely represent a bigger challenge for MW DXing (Bruce Conti - Nashua NH, ibid.) You're right - until some real MW DXers say it's OK, it's not guaranteed to be OK. But Ed's note is still good news. I identified myself as a DX'er in my email to him, so at least he should have understood that the question is not "will local signals be trashed?". It was Fred V, not Bruce C that reported noise as best I remember. What was missing from Fred's report is something saying how much noise was there with no BPL. It's tough to say what Fred heard without a bit more information - maybe he heard a noisy system like Ben D's. And remember that with the modulation scheme used in BPL, there is no (repeat no) energy transmitted in MW frequencies (Chuck Hutton, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ CUMBRE PROPAGATION REPORT A similar story to past reports. Flare activity has been very low over the last week, however the solar wind speed was elevated through until Aug 26 due to a coronal hole causing active/storm geomagnetic conditions and degraded propagation at mid and high latitudes. However periods of active conditions have persisted all week especially at higher latitudes with some absorption noted. Similar conditions should prevail for the next week with degraded propagation again forecast from Sep 3. A previously active region is returning to the eastern limb of the sun and may again produce some flares that will move into a geoeffective position over the next few days as well. Prepared using data from http://www.ips.gov.au (Richard Jary, SA, Aug 30, Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) Book Review "THE HIGH LATITUDE IONOSPHERE AND ITS EFFECTS ON RADIO PROPAGATION", R. D. Hunsucker, J. K. Hargreaves, October 2002, Cambridge University Press, 617 pp. --- Here's what the publisher had to say about this great addition to the Space Weather field. The physical properties of the ionized layer in the Earth's upper atmosphere enable us to use it to support an increasing range of communications applications. This book presents a modern treatment of the physics and phenomena of the high latitude upper atmosphere and the morphology of radio propagation in the auroral and polar regions. Chapters cover the basics of radio propagation and the use of radio techniques in ionospheric studies. This book includes many examples of the behavior of quiet and disturbed high latitude HF propagation (SEC User Notes July via DXLD) AURORA OUTLOOK Earth is heading for a solar wind stream flowing from a coronal hole on the sun. Our first encounter with the stream could take place on Sept. 2nd, so that's when sky watchers should be alert for possible auroras. Visit Spaceweather.com for more information and updates (via Ary, BDXC, Aug 30 via DXLD) TIP FOR RATIONAL LIVING +++++++++++++++++++++++ MAKING THE WORLD SAFE FOR . . . THEOCRACY? By DOUG SAUNDERS, Saturday, August 30, 2003 - Page F3 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20030830/DOUG30/TPFocus/ (Toronto Globe & Mail via Gerald T. Pollard, DXLD) ### ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-156, August 29, 2003 edited by Glenn Hauser 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 HTML version of this issue will be posted later at http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldtd3h.html For restrixions and searchable 2003 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn NEXT AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1197: WWCR: Sat 1030, Sun 0230 5070, 0630 3210, Wed 0930 on 9475 RFPI: Sat 0800, 2330, Sun 0530, 1130, Mon 0030, 0630, 1230, Wed 0100, 0730, 1330 on 7445 [nominal times subject to delay or pre- emption] WRMI: Sat & Sun 1800+ on 15725 WINB: Sun 0031 on 12160 [for last time] WRN: Rest of world Sat 0800, Europe Sun 0430, N America Sun 1400 WRN ONDEMAND: http://new.wrn.org/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO [also for CONTINENT OF MEDIA, MUNDO RADIAL]: Check http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html [High] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1197h.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1197h.ram (Summary) http://www.worldofradio.com/wor1197.html [Low] (Download) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1197.rm (Stream) http://www.k4cc.net/wor1197.ram ** ALASKA. LF beacon gathers additional reports: A low-frequency (LF) beacon in Alaska has drawn confirmed reports from Canada and California. WD2XDW experimental beacon operator Laurence Howell, KL1X, in Anchorage, has reports from Steve McDonald, VE7SL, on Mayne Island near Victoria, British Columbia, and from Mike Silvers, KB6WFC, in Daly City, California. WD2XDW is on the air 24/7 at 137.77350 kHz using very slow-speed CW (called ``QRSS``) -- one dit every minute. McDonald said a week of monitoring had previously yielded ``small bits and pieces`` of the beacon signal, but conditions between British Columbia and Alaska turned excellent the morning of August 17. McDonald said the WD2XDW signal faded abruptly as the sun hit the D layer. McDonald is using an ICOM IC-R75 receiver and a J310 active whip at 25 feet (ARRL August 27 via John Norfolk, DXLD) ** ANTARCTICA. 15475.99v, R. Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, LRA36, 0100-0104 28 Aug, LA music, unreadable M announcer in Spanish, more music mixed with soft-spoken W and with same M announcer. Alternating M and W to at least 0120, but just below a readable level. Possible mention of Buenos Aires at 0110 by M. Faded down after 0115. Signal picked back up around 0140, but dropped back down. Seemed to go off at 0204. Gradually drifted also. Tnx to Gabriel Iván Barrera and Arnaldo Slaen for this special broadcast announcement (Dave, Valko, PA, 28 August, Cumbre DX via DXLD) Straggler A reminder of LRA36`s webpage: http://www.fcapital.com.ar/esperanza/pagina_otras.htm (via Adiel Bregado, SP, radioescutas via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. This is an interesting set of statements that Glenn reported (notes on RA Feedback Aug 22). Serving both external and internal audiences is certainly a challenge. I hope they continue to realize that just putting the national 24-hour feed (which normally wouldn't have repeats) on shortwave is not the answer. With today's digitizing of everything, even for production, I would think it ought to be "easy" to produce multiple feeds, albeit with the occasional "hiccups" of mistakes (such as those regularly pointed out among the various BBCWS feeds). A computer list of programs is all it should take to determine the schedule for a feed -- - perfect for the technofile in each office, leaving the actual program production to those who do it best. It can't be that more expensive or challenging, unless of course they haven't yet upgraded to an all-digital production methodology (such as RNW recently announced). But back to the original point of the message --- the program changes. It is too bad that we'll lose unique programming from yet another international broadcaster. The economy is affecting everyone. Cheers from Iowa, "where dreams come true" (Kevin Anderson, swprograms via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Glenn: (With regard to your recent news about RA...) According to John Westland, English Service Exec. Producer, RA's program changes have been scaled back and there will be no modifications to the schedule until the weekend of 6/7 Sept. RA has renegotiated deals with music producers that will permit RA to maintain its weekday music programs for the time being. Weekend changes (from 6/7 Sept.) include the following: Music Show with Andrew Ford -- adding a first run at 0405 UT Sat in addition to its current 1205 UT broadcast. (It's a two hour package.) Business Show -- moves to 0005 UT Sat and is packaged during that hour with Ockham's Razor and Lingua Franca. Background Briefing -- adds an airing at 1005 UT Sat starting 13 Sept. Airing 6 Sept at this time will be a special forum on "smart societies". Keys to Music -- This is a new educational program, produced for ABC Classic FM and presented by Graham Abott and airing at 0005 UT Sun, with a repeat at 1005. The program's description says it "is designed to demystify fine music." (John Figliozzi, NY, Aug 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. NEED CASH? BECOME A CHARITY, ALSTON TELLS ABC By Annabel Crabb Communications Minister Richard Alston yesterday travelled to Ballarat to give the ABC board his latest idea on how the broadcaster can raise money - become a registered charity. . . http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/Weekly2003/08.26.2003/Australia6.htm (The Age Friday, August 29, 2003 via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. ABC JOURNALIST UNDER ATTACK --- By Marcus O'Donnell ABC staff yesterday threatened industrial action unless disciplinary proceedings against religion correspondent Stephen Crittenden were halted immediately. Crittenden, the presenter of Radio National's Religion Report, was taken off air six weeks ago and suspended on full pay following his publication of an article in the Sydney Morning Herald. The article explored `the clash of civilisations` stemming from the rise of fundamentalist Islamic movements and the west's militant response. . . http://www.ssonet.com.au/showarticle.asp?ArticleID=2557 A piece on the ABC's Stephen Crittenden from the Sydney Star-Observer, their major gay paper. (I hadn't realized that Crittenden was openly gay.) 73 (Bill Westenhaver, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ANGRY ABC STAFF WALK OUT OVER SUSPENSION By Barney Zwartz August 28, 2003 http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/27/1061663850604.html (via Jilly Dybka, Bill Westenhaver, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Hi Glenn, While typing this message about Voice International, Darwin, I`m listening to the CD of Finnish tango legends. On SW I heard I heard the VOICE INTERNATIONAL from Darwin on three frequencies: 13685 kHz in English signing off 15 UT. Hindi service with excellent reception on 13635, scheduled 11-17. The third frequency 7180 kHz is a bit mystery for me. Nice reception noted yesterday 1510 UT with in Bahasa Indonesian programme. Somehow Voice International, Darwin offers much stronger and clearer reception than HCJB Kununurra ever. 73`s (Jouko Huuskonen, Turku, FINLAND, Aug 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. HCJB on 15405, 1700-1730 Aug 29. Instead of scheduled Urdu program, nonstop religious contemporary music. English announcement that "normal programming will be continued as soon as possible" At 1730 s/off in middle of music (Silvain Domen, Belgium, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELGIUM. Gelezen in RVI 'Onder Ons' --- De RTBF is opnieuw via Waver aan het uitzenden, ondermeer met de oude zenders die de VRT/RVI hebben opgegeven. De hele dag door op één frequentie 9970 kHz. De hele dag uitzenden op maar één frequentie is in de wereld van de kortegolf een beetje ongewoon. Maar hoe minder er geschakeld wordt, hoe kleiner de kans dat er iets kapot gaat. 73, (Guido Schotmans, Belgium, Aug 28, BDXC via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. Radio San Miguel en los 4906.58, a las 0321, el 29/08, SINPO 3/3. En virtual "colisión hertziana" con R. Zambia en 4910. El pasado 23/08 la capté en 4905.56, es decir, un poco más abajo (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, Yaesu FT-890, Antena TH3MK3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. Amigos DXistas en Conexión Digital! Consulta número. 1: 4600.35 kHz --- aquí en esta frecuencia supongo que transmita Radio Perla del Acre, Cobija, pero parece que nunca se identifique. Perla del Acre ha estado fuera del aire durante largo tiempo. Hace, no recuerdo la fecha exacta, aproximadamente 1 mes comencé a escuchar esta señal siempre con OM-DJ y música. La última vez yo noté Perla del Acre era en la frecuencia de 4600.33 kHz. Alguien en la lista tiene una identificación positiva? (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, Aug 29, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 5045, 0104 24/08 R. Guarujá Paulista, Guarujá (SP). Música "La Bamba", "Love is in the air". Programa "Pickup Musical" com Edson Nunes, "os grandes sucessos de seu ídolo preferido". "Straight from the heart" com Bryan Adams. Programa "Viver e Reviver" com Maria Eli. ID ``ZYK590 1550 KHz; ZYG860 3235 KHZ Ondas Tropicais; ZYG850 5045 KHz Ondas Curtas - Rádio Guarujá Paulista - A Rádio da família - falando para o Brasil". Música Let's Twist Again com Chubby Checker. - 54454 (Marcelo Herondino Cardoso, Florianópolis - SC, radioescutas via DXLD) ** CHINA. China is the world`s 800-pound gorilla, in terms of both audience size and Internet interdiction technology. Xiao Qiang, executive director of Human Rights in China, an international non- governmental organization, told On Line Journalism Review that the People`s Republic ``can dedicate unlimited resources to devleopment and deployment of censorship and surveillance technology. It is impossible for a relatively small number of technically savvy users, Xiao said, ``to defeat state censorship through grassroots efforts without external help.`` Some Internet blocking technology, ironically, is thought to be supplied to Beijing by U.S. firms. The BBG`s Ken Berman, testifying at the Capitol Hill hearing of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, explained some of the measures being taken to counter the jamming of VOA and Radio Free Asia websites. ``What we have essentially instituted,`` he said, ``is a two-prong `push-pull` program that consists of separate but related efforts: ¨ The `push` component consists of pushing e-mail news to those users in China who would find the news interesting or a complement to China`s official, approved news stories. (The e-mails get through because they circumvent the central Internet Service Providers thoroughly filtered by Chinese authorities.) ¨ The `pull` component consists of circumventing an elaborate matrix of Chinese filtering and content filtering techniques to permit users to access the VOA and RFA websites and pull internet content into the browsers of their computers. Because of the support by the Office of Engineering, says VOA East Asia Division Director Jay Henderson, the VOA Chinese Branch now sends more than a sesquimillion e-mails a day. ``We`ve easily surpassed our goal for this year and hope that at the rate we`re going,`` Henderson adds, ``we might reach five million a day long before our 2005 deadline to attain that goal.` As for the `pull` element of the program, one each of those e-mails sent, there are links with two to six different proxy sites, those not prohibited by Chinese censors. The proxy sites contain a wealth of information, including VOA and RFA websites, and can be changed from day to day, just as broadcast engineers over the years have switched from some frequencies to others to confuse jammers. The struggle is onging. Reporters San Frontières, in a report just released, notes that Chinese specialists in April sent e-mails containing specially designed viruses to the VOA Chinese website, and that other sites such as those of the Falunggong movement and pro- Tibet organizations, also were attacked. The Australian TV network ABC reported on April 23 that its website also had been blocked for the first time, just a few weeks before the Dalai Lama was to visit Australia. But countermeasures to blockage of the Internet and the courage of people with a need to know have combined to demonstrate again that no nation can seal itself off electronically in the digital, satellite age of communications. Radio Free Asia Vice President of Programming Dan Southerland says China`s decision to finally announce the gravity of the SARS crisis came after a retired military doctor, Jiang Yanyong, revealed to RFA and Time Magazine that those infected in Beijing were ``a dozen times more numerous than top Chinese officials had admitted`` between January and April 2003. ``As unfortunate as SARS is,`` engineer Ken Berman observes, ``it has been a boon to the freedom of Internet information movement. Our news is anxiously followed, the VOA and RFA Chinese language traffic has doubled, and has allowed Chinese citizens free and unfettered access to a wide range of previously censored information. E-mail news (as of June 5) includes daily SARS reports and statistics, and links to the World Health Organisation and other sites.`` In the end, VOA`s Jay Henderson told the Commission`s June hearing, ``let us ask the Chinese every day between now and the opening of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing how they can expect the world to send its best athletes into their care if their government thinks the proper response to a health crisis is to cover it up. I hope, `` he concluded, ``that the next time a SAES-like crisis hits China, the first response will be: `Let`s get the word out`.`` (from ``China, Iran and the Internet,`` by Alan Heil, The Channel, AIB, July 2003 via DXLD) ** COLOMBIA. Armónico de otra colombiana: Radio Mundial (si mal no escuché), se repite en los 2740 kHz, segundo armónico de 1370 kHz OM, con locutor y locutora que hacían comentarios religiosos. Música religiosa. Mucho más fuerte que el armónico de Radio María en 3160 (29/08, 0417 UT). (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, Yaesu FT- 890, Antena TH3MK3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Radio Habana Cuba: 27/08, a las 0417. 15230 (5/5), 11875 (5/5), 9550 (5/4), 11760 (3/2), 9600 (5/5 +40dB), 5965 (3/3). (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, Yaesu FT-890, Antena TH3MK3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. More about our new transmitters tests. 11760 kiloHertz, 100 kiloWatts beaming to the East Coast of North America in Spanish from 00 to 05 UT, and we may soon add the 05 to 07 UT segment in parallel with 9820 and 9550 in English. Be on the lookout for this new RHC additional frequency that will soon be on the air; again the frequency is 11760 kiloHertz and the time from 05 to 07 UT, with our English language program. {not 3 Sept but heard in early Oct anyway} Sad day for Cuban radio: both broadcasting and amateur radio in Cuba today are mourning the death of Eduardo Fernández, CO7RR, the founder of Radio Rebelde station that from the Sierra Maestra mountains in 1958 made daily broadcasts telling the people of Cuba and the Americas about the revolutionary war in progress at that time against the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship. Eduardo was a very dedicated and enthusiastic radio amateur operator, and for a number of years was the President of the Cuban Federation of Radio Amateurs. I met him in 1959, just as he came down from the mountains where he was what could best be described as the chief engineer of Radio Rebelde. Eduardo Fernández loved radio and it he helped every one he could to become a radio amateur. Among his favorite aspects of ham radio was operating using radioteletype, a mode that he simply loved. From the days of the mechanical teletype machines, Eduardo patiently explained to every Cuban radio amateur willing to listen, how radio teletype worked, and his participation in several international RTTY contests was always much expected, because at one time CO7RR and later his newer call CO2BB were the only RTTY stations operating from Cuba. A very modest and humble person, he was promoted to the highest military rank of the Ejército Rebelde, the Cuban Rebel Army that fought against Batista, where he was one of the Comandantes de la Sierra. Saying good bye to my long time friend Eduardo Fernández Rodríguez, CO7 Radio Radio, today at the Cristóbal Colón Cemetery in Havana several hundred Cuban radio amateurs joined workers of Radio Rebelde and the many friends and compañeros he had in the military. Adios, mi amigo Eduardo, we will always remember you on the air !!! (Prof. Arnie Coro A., CO2KK, RHC DXers Unlimited Aug 26, via Bob Chandler, VE3SRE, ODXA via DXLD) ** CUBA. NEW ANTENNAS AN EFFORT TO JAM U. S.-BASED RADIO MARTÍ? http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y03/ago03/28e1.htm HAVANA, August 26 (http://www.cubanet.org) - The Cuban government has installed four large parabolic antennas in Palma Soriano, in easternmost Cuba, which experts have said could be intended to jam transmissions of U. S. -based Radio Martí. "The antennas are about six meters (about 19 feet) in diameter and have been placed in the tallest structures: the water tank on the roof of the Palma Hotel, the Popular Council building, about 80 meters (about 250 feet) high; another on the water works water tank, about 300 meters (over 900 feet) high; and the fourth on the roof of the printing plant, at more than 100 meters (over 300 feet) high," said Juan Carlos Cárdenas, a human rights activist in Palma Soriano. It is widely known that at San Felipe, in southern Havana province, there are several such antennas, as well as in several other places on the island (via Artie Bigley, DXLD) Versión original en español: http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y03/ago03/27a1.htm Satellite jamming: See INTERNATIONAL VACUUM {more on this in Sept} ** CUBA [non]. CUBA LIBRE: HERNÁNDEZ TAKES REINS --- Radio Martí Has a New Director With a Familiar Mission --- by Steve Sullivan For the heads of most radio stations, success is measured in terms of revenue. But for Jorge Luís Hernández, success will come with the transition of one nation's government from communism to democracy. . . http://www.radioworld.com/reference-room/special-report/02_rwm_marti.shtml (RW Online Sept 1 via DXLD) ** ECUADOR. Radio Quito, 4919, SINPO 33322, a las 0348. Noto que ya no está 24 horas en la banda tropical. (27/08). (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, Yaesu FT-890, Antena TH3MK3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. The French service of Radio Cairo announced two e-mail addresses for its listeners: frenchprog@erti.org and oridi@hotmail.com (Mohamed Kallel, Tunisia, Aug 27 DSWCI DX Window Aug 29 via DXLD) ** FINLAND. POWER OUTAGE BLACKS OUT HELSINKI AND VANTAA ON SATURDAY EVENING . . .The blackout disrupted traffic and emergency response centres in Helsinki. Hospitals and airports reverted to back-up systems and avoided emergencies. Emergency response centres were flooded with telephone calls, and all calls to 112 could not be answered. Citizens have been instructed to listen to radio station Radio Suomi in the event of a power failure. However, even Radio Suomi was off the air for eight minutes beginning at 8.45 p.m. Normally, the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) receives power from its own generators, but even this reserve stopped functioning for a short time. The generators failed to provide electricity, and the batteries that form the second back-up could not handle the entire required output. YLE head Arne Wessberg commented that the break in radio transmissions was unforgivable. "People have learned to rely on battery-operated radios during power cuts." YLE relays official statements from authorities during emergencies, but no such statement was prepared about the power outage on Saturday. . . http://www.helsinki-hs.net/news.asp?id=20030825IE3 (Helsingin Sanomat Aug 25 via Jilly Dybka, DXLD) ** GERMANY. Allerweltshaus Köln --- Quite interesting. The website (obviously not updated during the summer season) states that an Ethiopian group, an Uganda project called Vovi and a Kenya group called Tafungua http://www.tafungua.de meet there, to mention the ones that would fit to CIRAF 48, so to speak. I will try to find out more (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 28, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Relatively new gospel station Evangelische Missions Gemeinden Deutchland via DTK-Wertachtal on 6015 at 1730-1759 Thu/Fri only (Silvain Domen, Belgium, Aug 29, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. DEUTSCHE TELEKOM T-SYSTEMS SUPPORTS OVER 30 BROADCASTERS The HF facilities at Julich and Wertachtal are now used by over 30 broadcasters on a leased basis. The complete schedule, as a PDF file, updated to August 18, may be viewed, downloaded and printed at http://engradio.org/t-systems.pdf It was submitted by member Alokesh Gupta, India (EDXP Aug 29 http://edxp.org by permission via DXLD) ** GERMANY. DW preview Aug 29-30: One of the topics on Spectrum, DW's weekly look at developments in the fields of science and technology: European DX council: Each year, dedicated listeners manage to tune in to radio stations from thousands of miles away on the AM broadcast band. In fact, the AM band is where DXing began. Back in the 1920s, the first radio stations were keen to know just how far away they were being heard. So they asked for reception reports from listeners, and promised to reply to reports with souvenir postcards confirming that the listener indeed heard the station. In fact, the entire hobby of short wave listening grew from those beginnings. Today, there are hundreds of DX clubs around the world. The European DX Council was formed in 1967 in Copenhagen, Denmark; it is not a DX club, but an umbrella organisation of DX clubs in 17 European countries with a membership of some 6,000. Luigi Cobisi, Secretary-General of the European DX Council, told Rajiv Sharma just how popular the hobby is today (World Radio Network WRN-English-Newsletter@wrn.org (via Mike Terry, DXLD) ** GUATEMALA? 4698.71, R Amistad (tentative). I think they may have reactivated. 1100 Aug 29 with a strong carrier, but almost no modulation. Anyone else hearing something here with perhaps better reception? (Hans Johnson, WY Cumbre DX via DXLD) UNID 4698.70, Latin first noted on 18 August with fair signal 1015- 1030, noted since with Latin programming. Also at 0030-0045 . Never pulled an ID, station prone to deep fades. This is regards to Hans Johnson question in Cumbre DX (Bob Wilkner, FL, ibid.) Amigos DXistas en Conexión Digital! Consulta número 2: 4698.75 kHz - La señal está muy débil y de mala calidad. Encontré esta señal hace aproximadamente 14 días y ayer en la mañana escuché el programa "Mañanitas de Amistad". Por esto creo que sea Radio Amistad, San Pedro de La Laguna (Guatemala). Probablemente ha estado fuera el aire durante bastante tiempo. La última vez yo capté Radio Amistad, estuvo en 4698.75 kHz. Alguien en la lista tiene una identificación positiva? (Björn Malm, Quito, Ecuador, Aug 29, Conexión Digital via DXLD) ** GUATEMALA. 4780, Radio Coatán, 1100-1131 frequent IDs by M over religious music, excellent signal "estudios de Radio Coatán... las palabras de Dios". Frequency and station ID 1130 [Robert Wilkner, FL, Aug 29,DX LISTENING DIGEST] ** HONDURAS. Música religiosa en 3340 kHz, 0352, SINPO 23221. (27/08). (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, Yaesu FT-890, Antena TH3MK3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** HONDURAS. Radio Litoral fuera del aire (la medí en 4830.06, el 27/08), durante los días 28 y 29/08 (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, Yaesu FT-890, Antena TH3MK3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Voz masculina, parecía un predicador. Cierre con marcha que asumo es el himno nacional, 3249.48 kHz, a las 0344 UTC. SINPO 3/2 (Adán González, Catia La Mar, VENEZUELA, Yaesu FT-890, Antena TH3MK3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Presumably Radio Luz y Vida (gh) ** INDIA. Glad to note this station AIR Thiruvananthapuram / Trivandrum 5010 kHz once again in the air. 1730 UT a five minute news bulletin in English. Then close down at 1735 UT with really nice rec
