DX LISTENING DIGEST 10-24, June 17, 2010 Incorporating REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING edited by Glenn Hauser, http://www.worldofradio.com Items from DXLD may be reproduced and re-reproduced only if full credit be maintained at all stages and we be provided exchange copies. DXLD may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Materials taken from Arctic or originating from Olle Alm and not having a commercial copyright are exempt from all restrictions of noncommercial, noncopyrighted reusage except for full credits For restrixions and searchable 2010 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html NOTE: If you are a regular reader of DXLD, and a source of DX news but have not been sending it directly to us, please consider yourself obligated to do so. Thanks, Glenn SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1517, June 17-23, 2010 Thu 1500 WRMI 9955 [NEW] Thu 1900 WBCQ 7415 Thu 2100 WRMI 9955 Fri 0030 WRMI 9955 Fri 0330 WWRB 3185 Fri 1430 WRMI 9955 Fri 2030 WWCR1 15825 Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 0800 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 9515 [not this week; second, fourth, fifth Saturdays, maybe] Sat 1630 WWCR2 12160 Sat 1800 IPAR/IRRS/NEXUS/IBA 7290 Sat 1900 WRMI 9955 Sun 0230 WWCR3 4840 Sun 0630 WWCR1 3215 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1330 WRMI 9955 ex-Sat Sun 1515 WRMI 9955 Sun 1900 WRMI 9955 Sun 2330 WWCR4 9980 Tue 1530 WRMI 9955 Tue 1900 WBCQ 7415 Tue 2230 WRMI 9955 Wed 0030 WRMI 9955 Wed 1530 WRMI 9955 Wed 1900 WBCQ 7415 Latest edition of this schedule version, including AM, FM, satellite and webcasts with hotlinks to station sites and audio, is at: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html or http://schedule.worldofradio.org or http://sked.worldofradio.org For updates see our Anomaly Alert page: http://www.worldofradio.com/anomaly.html WRN ON DEMAND: http://193.42.152.193/listeners/stations/station.php?StationID=24 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN: http://www.wrn.org/wrn-listeners/world-of-radio/ http://www.wrn.org/listeners/world-of-radio/rss/08:00:00UTC/English/541 OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org WORLD OF RADIO 1517 headlines: *DRM developments from Australia, Costa Rica, Malaysia, Spain *DX news from Bolivia, Central African Republic, Laos, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, St. Helena, Uganda *Spurs from Brasil, Poland *China blocks India, Ethiopia; Cuba jams Costa Rica, Russia *Silly ballgames from Cuba, Madagascar *Habana cuts English in half *Clandestine for Gambia monitored *Program tips from Japan, Venezuela *Arabic from North Carolina and New Orleans ** ALBANIA. Checked again R. Tirana opening announcement of complete English schedule, UT June 12 at 0331 on 7425: poor reception in summer noise level, but could make out a mention of 2100-2130 on 7430, and 0130-0145 on a 6 MHz frequency, i.e. the old winter B-09 schedule. Wonder if they are playing back entire broadcasts from winter for summer vacation? In any event, the outdated announcement should be destroyed, deleted from whatever formats so it cannot possibly be broadcast now by mistake (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) By chance, I listened to R. Tirana at 2000 on June 12 with fair to good reception on 13640. The opening frequency announcement gave the broadcast period as October 2009 to March 2010. However, they are not simply replaying an entire broadcast from the B-09 period, as Glenn wondered. Second item in the news referred to the 11th anniversary of the UN troops entry into Kosovo. Via Wikipedia, I find that NATO-led KFOR troops entered Kosovo under a UN mandate on 12 June 1999 - so the news at least is current. The news was followed by a traditional music programme featuring Kosovo music - so at a guess that's not just a replay either (although of course the item may still be a repeat). (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. 13755, checking R. Tirana again Monday June 14 at 1430, whether they are still announcing the B-09 English schedule at the outsets: unheard, altho an extremely weak carrier was detectable on frequency. Other European reception on 13 MHz band missing, so maybe just bad propagation rather than off the air. 13760 French and 13650 Korean from North Korea were fair by comparison. Even Zambia 13590 was poor. 15 MHz: Spain Sephardic 15385 at 1438 was JBA carrier. Another check whether R. Tirana got rid of their outdated B-09 English schedule announcement: 7425, UT June 15 at 0325 tune-in already on with music, and brief announcement not sure of language. Program feed line may have been active with additional repeats of English or Albanian. 0328 cut to usual IS, 0330 opening theme interrupted IS, sign-on, and yes, schedule dated Oct 2009-March 2010! S9+18 signal on the inside antenna during stormy weather (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. 15476, LRA36, June 10 from 1425 till transmitter off at 1520 (the latest I have heard them); started out very poor; slowly improved, but quickly downhill after about 1455; program mostly of LA ballads; the talking segments had low audio compared to the nice songs (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15476, LRA36, not even a carrier detectable June 11 at 1343 or 1438 tho 15480 stations could be, Woofferton and Gavar respectively. 15476, LRA36 carrier JBA Monday June 14 at 1400, not 15475 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) And not detected June 15-17 15476, LRA36 (presumed), June 15 noted carrier going off at 1509; unable to hear any audio, as is the case most days now (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 11710.625v, 11/6 0015 RAE, Argentina, in Portuguese, talks about education, weak/fair 15345, 6/6 2100, Radio Nacional Argentina, News. "Argentina está informada... Radio Pública... Radio Nacional Argentina presenta..." Good (Giampiero Bernardini, RX: AOR 7030; Drake R8; Perseus, Ant: T2FD 15 meters long, QTH: Milano, Italia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15344.18, R. Nacional, June 12 special World Cup coverage of the Argentina game from 1421 to 1457; numerous “Radio Nacional” IDs; BoH two pips; naturally the announcer was excited. Please listen to audio attachment (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Broadcast Australia has asked DRM member company Continental Electronics to supply two new DRM-ready 100 kilowatt transmitters for two of its short-wave stations. The purchase represents the first step in Broadcast Australia’s plan to enhance its digital short-wave (HF) broadcast capabilities throughout its network of transmitters. The state-of-the-art Continental Model 418G-DRM transmitters will enable Broadcast Australia to transmit programming in analogue AM and digital (DRM) modes from both stations, Tenant Creek and Shepparton. Both transmitters are expected to be on the air and fully operational by late summer (DRM Newsletter, June 2010) Read the DRM Newsletter June 2010 issue here : http://www.drm.org/old/index.php?id=367 [more at MALAYSIA] (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, June 10, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. Hello Stewart and all, I finally received a response from Radio Australia about Darwin and the use of 11840, and as promised, I am sharing it with the group. This was their answer: ============ ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= Hi Ronald, The history of the Darwin transmitter site is much longer than 1997. Yes, it was mothballed in July that year, but it was subsequently sold to a UK based Christian broadcaster. From 2001 Radio Australia leased time at the site to resume broadcasts into South East Asia. The site was finally closed and dismantled in March this year. The frequency 11840 is not currently being used. The frequency chart on the website will be amended. Thanks, John@radioaustralia ============ ========= ========= ========= ========= ========= Best regards, (Ron Curtis, Fort Worth, Texas USA, June 16, ptswyg via DXLD) As we already explained if people would read DXLD (gh) ** AUSTRIA. Spurs from Moosbrunn: see POLAND [non] ** BANGLADESH [and non]. Sporadic E logs 12 June 0550z 89.6 Radio Today, Dhaka with RDS ID 0630z 89.2 ABC Radio Dhaka 0638z 88.4 Radio Amar in Bangla 0639z 87.9 Radio Mandalay in Burmese [MYANMAR] 0645z 88.8 Rasta FM in Bangla, Music etc 0653z 88.0 Radio Foorti in Bangla (Sangean ATS 909 + Quad Loop) (Raman, VU3DJQ, New Delhi, India, via Alokesh Gupta, ibid., dx_india yg via DXLD) Quad loop = MW antenna?? ** BOLIVIA. 3310.05, Radio Mosoj Chaski, Cochabamba, 0000 om and yl alternating, ID by om, cut to music, "la esperanza de ...?" [Wilkner] 4699.95, R San Miguel, Riberalta, 0000 good with om en espanol 11 June 4700, Radio San Miguel, Riberalta, 1030, strong on 2nd frequency, 11 June (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, 746ProDL, R8, noise reducing antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4787v, Radioemisora Ballivián, San Borja, Depto. Beni, 06/Jun 0015 S, avisos, ID, musica latina, S-3 (Rogildo Fontenelle Aragão, Quillacollo- Bolivia (via Bob Wilkner, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I think Bob is just passing on a log from Rogildo, tho this isn`t always clear. Already in last issue we had a log of this by Bob himself 24 hours later (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 5952.47, 2300-2310 05.06, R Pio XII, Siglo XX, Quechoa discussion, 44333 (Anker Petersen, heard at our DSWCI DX-Camp at Vejers Beach in westernmost Jutland, Denmark, with the AR7030PLUS receiver and about 20 metres longwire plus testing a new Wellbrook S330 frameantenna which in many cases gave the best results! via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. New 5964.96, 2255-2325 11.06, R Nacional de Huanuni, Huanuni. Spanish dialogue between 3 persons, songs and announcement. Reactivated! First noted by Roland Schulze! 25232 (Anker Petersen, heard on my AOR AR7030PLUS with 28 metres of longwire in Skovlunde, Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 6025, 12/Jun 0910, R Illimani/Patria Nueva, in Spanish. Long sequence of Latin music romantic, boleros. At 0923 UT short male talks, then more music. First heard here. Confirmation of listening via link http://www.patrianueva.bo/audio/wmp.html At 0930 UT the signal was completely taken by QRM from Radio Netherlands on 6020 kHz. Signal weak and degrading. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia 12 14´S 38 58´W, Brasil, Degen 1103, Dipole antenna, 19 meters - east/west - Balun 4:1, Skype: jorge.freitas.fsa, Escutas (listening, my blog): http://www.ipernity.com/doc/75006 dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 6134.79v, R. Santa Cruz, 0150-0219*, June 10. The few times that I have recently check this, have found almost fair reception. Fútbol coverage, which is why they were running late; many time checks; one team must have been local as there were numerous “Santa Cruz”; several IDs and a final canned sign-off announcement with “Buenas noches Bolivia” (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6134.81, Radio Santa Cruz, 0040-0105*, June 12, Spanish pops/ballads. IDs. Spanish announcements, ads. Local folk music. Many IDs at 0101- 0102. Poor with adjacent channel splatter from Brazil’s Rádio Aparecida on 6135.04 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** BRAZIL. 3480 15/05 2120 B Unid, (2 x 1160 ou 4 x 870 kHz) espúrio de emissora de OM com mx rlgx e TC OM "...seis e vinte e três..." 25222. Receptor Icom IC R 75, Antena T2FD (Marcio Martins Pontes, Registro - SP, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 4875, R. Roraima, Boa Vista, 0201-0210 May 1, slow singing by Whitney Houston-type vocalist at tune-in, talk between OM announcers, then singing with OM crooner. Great sigs to 60 dB, and music really punched thru but 30 dB static/QRN made it tough to hear the announcers --- music good-excellent, announcers poor-fair (Richard W. Parker, Pennsburg PA, Miltronix/SignalCorps R-390A, Sherwood SE-3 MK III Deluxe Synchronous Detector, Collins 51S-1 with 55G-1 pre- selector, Collins 51-X, Yaesu FT-840, Lowe HF-150, Grundig Satellit 800, MFJ-901B antenna tuner, 25m dipole, Alpha-Delta DX Sloper, 160 foot inverted L, Shortwave Logbook, June World DX Club Contact via DXLD) 4875.5, 2215-2245 04+05.06, R Difusora Roraima, Boa Vista, RR. Portuguese ann, Brazilian songs, 35333. 4925.23, 2225-2255 04+05.06, R Educação Rural, Tefé, AM. Portuguese talk, 34433, utility QRM (Anker Petersen, heard at our DSWCI DX-Camp at Vejers Beach in westernmost Jutland, Denmark, with the AR7030PLUS receiver and about 20 metres longwire plus testing a new Wellbrook S330 frameantenna which in many cases gave the best results! via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 10000, Brasil, Observatório Nacional, Rio de Janeiro. June, 12 Female in Portuguese time announcemments at 0950 “Observatório Nacional, seis horas, cinqüenta minutos, vinte segundos” time pips. Poor, 25422 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 11780, RNA, rather weak this time of day, June 11 at 1456 but talking about the World Cup; 1517 also back to play-by-play of second half of Mexico/RSA game, a Portuguese alternative to Spanish from COSTA RICA and CUBA [qq.vv.]. Broadcasting anything else would be unthinkable, and no doubt lots more to come from Brasília when reception is better. 11780, June 12 at 1440 could hear enthusiastic sports talk, presumably World Cup again from RNA; poor at this hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Re 10-23: Rádio Daqui em ondas curtas --- No domingo, 13/6, por volta das 15h (hora de Brasília) ou (18h UT) escutei em 11830 kHz emissora de nome rádio Daqui de Goiânia. Parece ser religiosa. Em ondas médias ela transmite em 1230 kHz e agora em 11830 kHz. Antes atuava nesta QRG de ondas curtas a Anhanguera/CBN. Que seja rádio Daqui ou rádio de lá, o importante é que as ondas curtas permaneçam ativas, mesmo com conteúdo de programação sem qualidade. 73 (Luiz Chaine Neto, Limeira sp, 13-6-2010, Radioescutas yg via DXLD) Olá Luiz, Ouvi hoje tambem, ela estava fazendo relay de 1230 kHz, mas a modulação me pareceu ruim (ou havia forte ruido na propagação). 73s (Sarmento Campos, ibid.) Amigos, Também escutei esta emissora nesta mesma data, aqui na cidade onde moro, por volta de 0900 UTC, chegando com bom sinal, apesar de estar na frequencia de 11830, a chamada de identificação era da freq: 1230 KHZ. (Reinaldo Tadeu Pires, PY2 018 SWL (SWARL), São Sebastião- SP, June 14, ibid.) Olá amigos! Lendo as mensagens lembrei-me que, há alguns meses, sintonizei a Radio Daqui em ondas curtas, num sábado por volta de 17:00 UTC. O curioso foi que a sintonia se deu em pelo menos três frequências diferentes, entre 12300 e 13100 kHz. Será que o transmissor/ antena da emissora estava com problemas ou era meu recepetor? (Degen DE1121, antena telescópica) 73 (Alexandre Sancanauta, São Carlos-SP ibid., WORLD OF RADIO 1517) 10 x 1230 = 12300?? Or 11830 very out of order (gh, ibid.) ** CANADA. NEW BOOK ON PIRATE RADIO IN CANADA Just by chance, I was listening to our local CBC station in Victoria on Friday morning, and lo and behold, there was a piece on pirate radio in Canada. Two authors (both women) have published a 297 page book and they were both interviewed. There's even a book launch here today. Of course not a word about bands used, but it sounded to me that they were mostly talking about the FM band. In any case, you might be interested in hearing the interview. Not sure how long the link will last, but here it is: http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/bcontheisland_20100611_33814.mp3 or the page to find the program: http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/pastpodcasts.html?68#ref68 Enjoy! [Later:] Just listened to it again. It starts at 22:36 on the mp3 file. The name of the book is "Islands of Resistance". I did a Google search and found lots of links, including this one with another review from CKUT in Montreal: http://ckutnews.wordpress.com/2010/05/22/islands-of-resistance-pirate-radio-in-canada/ Great looking cover too!: http://www.newstarbooks.com/book.php?book_id=1554200504 Only Cdn $15.96 at Chapters/Indigo: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Islands-Resistance-Pirate-Radio-Canada-Andrea-Langlois-Ron-Sakolsky/9781554200504-item.html?pticket=z3oz0wus5yfp4m45041kvefit6eT1mG5XqU1BHRpLV4bpUpZ2rg%3d Finally, $15.16 at Amazon.ca PS: Noticed that the FRN had a posting on it on May 24th. (Walt Salmaniw, BC, June 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) And also was mentioned in June CIDX Messenger, and then DXLD 10-23 and WOR 1516 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST 10-24) ** CANADA [non]. 5920, RCI via Hoerby, Sweden, in Arabic at 0225, Jun 17. M & W w/ prob news, multi mentions of Canada. Fair (Icom R75, Mike Bryant, Louisville, KY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. SACKVILLE RESIDENTS HEAR RCI VIA HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES In an amusing piece, the website canadaeast.com tells us how residents in Tantramar marsh hear voices from their bathtubs, refrigerators, washing machines and toasters. These are apparently coming from the nearby Sackville transmitter site of Radio Canada International (RCI), though I am slightly puzzled at the sentence “Speaking in tinny, muffled tones, these voices ramble, sing and chat in Italian, Chinese, Portuguese and various other sing-song languages of the world” as RCI does not broadcast in Italian. (June 17th, 2010 - 11:37 UTC, by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) Viz.: THIS IS YOUR TOASTER TALKING Published Thursday June 17th, 2010 http://herenb.canadaeast.com/reviews/article/1097326 (via DXLD) If it’s really Italian then it can’t be RCI. I don’t think any other station that uses Sackville relay station broadcasts in Italian, either (SRG, MN blog comment) Maybe some Italian creeps into Vatican relays (gh) ** CANADA [and non]. Hello Glenn, I enjoy listening to the CBC in the evenings when reception is good. Often I am able to hear 9625 fairly well, but 6160 much less well, between 23-01 weekdays. On weekends, 9625 went beyond 01. For the last 3-4 weeks, something strange has been happening. At about 2346, 9625 just becomes noise; and, I haven`t heard 6160 at all. I`ve noticed this on weekdays, because I haven`t been able to listen on weekends, because reception has been poor. Do you know what is going on? Budgets are tight, so maybe 6160 was discontinued, but I don`t understand 9625 turning to noise at 2346, or thereabouts. I hope you can check this out, and I`ll be listening to WOR, if you decide to report on it. Many thanks and all the best, (Kent Murphy, N Martinsville WV, June 11, postcard by P-mail typed by gh for WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, I know and have explained this, but of course you can`t read my reports promptly without the internet. The noise on 9625 comes from the new DRM transmission by REE via Costa Rica, centered on 9630, and officially occupying the band 9625-9635, CBCNQ be damned, but axually extending 20 kHz or more each side of 9630. It`s scheduled 00-02 but they turn the transmitter on early. After 0200 it`s back to AM, but don`t be surprised if they decide to convert more of that to DRM. You could direct complaints to REE, cc to CBC, but I have a feeling neither one cares since we aren`t supposed to hear NQ in the USA anyway. However, it probably interferes with it in Northern Quebec! As for 6160, I am still hearing a mix of CKZN and CKZU on slightly different frequencies when I tune around 0500-0600. CKZN would be the one your heard earlier in the evening. I expect it`s just mid-summer noise and lack of full, quiet darkness path from Newfoundland, but should gradually improve as we get into July and August (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. Altho a storm was approaching us from west, 6 MHz daytime reception unusually good for this yeartime, not much noise yet, June 16 at 1330 with CFRX 6070 and CKZU 6160 audible, poor-fair. Also still Cuba 5025. This is 2.25 hours after LSR (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. TVDX June 13: 1958 UT on analog channel 2, CTV logo, and ad for Sturgeon Falls mentioning a golf course, antenna NE. Two possibilities: CHBX Sault Ste Marie, and CKCO-2 Wiarton Onts. Both are over 400 km by road from S.F., which is just west of North Bay, but Wiarton on the Bruce Peninsula near Owen Sound, is closer by boat or air directly across Georgian Bay. It looks like neither would be serving North Bay area which has a separate CTV affiliate, but the golf course may be a big draw inspiring long trips from elsewhere in the province (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn: The CBC English TV network is broadcasting nearly every game of the World Cup live so if you get soccer in English via Es it is likely them. 73, (Deane McIntyre, Calgary AB, ibid.) ** CANADA. "Global Thunder Bay" CHFD-4 --- This was a big surprise to me: CHFD-4 has apparently switched from CTV to Global. The signal is not much in this picture, but I'm sure it won't be long before I see a stronger signal from CHFD. They still use the "Tb" logo as well. CKPR- 2 is still CBC (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, June 12; TV DX Photographs http://www.tvdxexpo.com WTFDA Forums via DXLD) ** CANADA. END OF THE LINE FOR CANADIAN DAB This may not be of interest to anyone other than Bill Hepburn [Grimsby Ont.], since he's the only person I know who has one - but there's word this afternoon that the CBC has surrendered its digital audio broadcasting (DAB) licenses to the CRTC and it's turning off those transmitters up in the L-band (1452-1492 MHz). I suspect Bill won't have much to listen to on his radio before long, since the commercial stations are sure to follow suit... s (Scott Fybush, NY, 15 June, WTFDA via DXLD) What are the odds that you brought this up today Scott? While earlier today I was messing around and decided, what the heck, let's see what's on DAB these days. I think CBC is already gone; I couldn't pick up its multiplex on Channel 6 (a.k.a. Channel LF). For the longest time, the CBC was the only mux still on in Toronto as the others all left, but the others came back on about a year or so ago. Of the ones that are still left, many have a text ID - but no audio!! This is what's left: Channel 3 (LC) 1456.3 MHz : CFTR-2 (no audio), CHFI-1 (no audio), CHUM-2 (no audio), CHUM-1 (no audio), CFNY-1 (only one with audio on this mux). Channel 4 (LD) 1458.05 MHz : CFRB-2, CKFM-1 (text ID still MIX 99.9), CJCL-2, CJEZ-1, CJRT-1 Channel 9 (LI) 1466.77 MHz : CJYE-2 (no audio), CJMR-2 (no audio), CIRV-1, CIAO-2, CFMZ-1 (text ID still CFMX) The Channel 8 (LH) mux seems to be gone too. You're right Scott, I'm probably the only DXer to have ever received these. What an ill-conceived plan. These DAB stations still sound like internet quality. Yuck. The official call signs have -1 suffix for existing FM stations and -2 suffix for AM stations. The original plan was for DAB to replace AM & FM by 2010. LOL x 2. wrh (Bill Hepburn, Ont., ibid.) ** CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. R. ICDI (presumed) on 5035 kHz --- The Reception condition in Japan at 1700 UT on June 14. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLdIUSgtMis by Hiro in Akita (S. Hasegawa, NDXC, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DXLD) 2-minute clip, with CODAR QRM, sounds like; you can see it sweeping downward across center frequency on the waveform. We don`t hear it in that area in NAm, but apparently active in Asia. Not sure it`s ICDI. Does sound like French. YouTube tag only says: ``5035 kHz UNID Station --- June 14, 2010 — UTC -1700- *** fade in around +1600 - 1900v* sigh off RX: PERSEUS SDR ANT: ALA-1530S+ QTH: Japan`` Correct info believed to be that HCJB installed a transmitter for R. Centrafrique on its dormant frequency 5035, like the one for ICDI to be on 3390 --- has anyone heard that yet? Unstated, but surely the one for the government is a `courtesy` in order to be allowed to provide one to ICDI (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 5860, The Voice of Jinling - Jinling zhi Sheng. Recently have noted them signing on about 1437 or so. Seems to be a new sign on time; later than in the past (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, June 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Firedrake June 11: nothing from 8 to 19 MHz except: 11100, very poor at 1339; gone at 1444 16100, good at 1347 // 11100; gone at 1439 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake June 12: 8-19 MHz between 1205 and 1220, nothing except: 9380, good at 1205 15760, fair at 1338 during drumming passage, gone at 1436 recheck Per Aoki, Sound of Hope is on 15750 via Tajikistan at 1230-1300, via Uzbekistan at 1400-1430, 1500-1530, but varies 15700-15795. Checked 10-18 MHz again after 1338 and no others found. BTW my previous remark about Firedrake and snake charmer music was a misunderstanding, as someone was merely commenting on how apt both the latter name and ``crash & bang`` are for their respective styles, so never mind (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) An unidentified station was heard on 15705 at 1415 on June 12, when suddenly a strong Firedrake signed on at 1417; // 8400 (good). Against who? (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See above 15285, at 1437 June 12, CNR1 jammer with discussion in Chinese during pause(?) in World Cup game, as could hear those damned vuvuzelas in the background; also on // 11990 jammer. And also at 1507 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake scan 7000 thru 19000, from 1217 to 1238, June 13. All //: 13630 (good) against who? 14600 (good) probably against SOH; 15550 (good) found gone by 1332 and assume against Voice of Tibet; 16100 (fair) against SOH and 16800 (good) assume a new SOH frequency. At 1315 Firedrake heard on 15545 (good) against Voice of Tibet. Info per Aoki data (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 16100, Firedrake Jamming at 1225, Jun 13. Weak (Icom R75, Mike Bryant, Louisville, KY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake June 13: 14600, good at 1324; nothing lower found starting at 1320; off at 1359 16800, good at 1332, // 14600; at 1400 to open carrier, 1405 resuming. 15330, CNR1 // 15285, both jammers, June 13 at 1321, but 15330 has additional noise, somewhere between bubbling and grinding. Vs. BBCWS Uzbek via THAILAND at 1300-1330 only. Frequency clear after 1330. Standard remark about China messing with Uzbek affairs. Firedrake June 14: Nothing found between 19 and 8 MHz in the few minutes before 1359, nor after 1400, except: 14700, JBA at 1444. 15140, VG at 1354-1355 --- as I`ve noticed before, during these minutes of the hour there are some bad edits, as we hear bits of music cut off before resuming. But who cares? It`s just a jammer. 15755, F-G at 1437, and 15140 is now off. 15755 must be today`s landing spot for SOH, as in my June 12 report it was on 15760 and per Aoki varies 15700-15795. Except SOH supposedly takes a break between 1430 and 1500, and the June 14 Aoki shows no more Uzbekistan site, but all 131 degrees via Dushanbe-Yangiyul, Tajikistan site at 1230-1300, 1400-1430, 1500-1530 on 15750v. 11990, CNR1 jammer against VOA Chinese via Novosibirsk (do the Russians care? Ha), which was totally inaudible here, June 14 at 1406 with Chinese conversation presumably about World Cup since those damned vuvuzelas were sounding continuously. Evidently a game was not axually in progress, due to lack of cheering or any sounds of axion, and still the case at 1429. If the ChiCom (and other broadcasters) have soundproof studios at the stadia, the 140 dB horns penetrate them; more likely they think it`s neat to mix in this ambient noise deliberately. // 11805 weaker, and // 11785 off by now, more jammers. At 1447 I noticed that 11990 audio had a slight reverb, rather than a more displaced echo, but could be two transmitters, or deliberate double audio to enhance jamming. Firedrake June 15, scanning 8-20 MHz from 1315 to 1335: 11100, fair at 1324, nothing heard lower 13100, good at 1327 // 11100, and all the others were // too 13970, something JBA at 1325, not sure it was FD 14700, good at 1329 16100, good at 1332 16800, fair at 1333 Firedrake search June 16 1323-1328: fruitless 18-8 MHz, in very poor conditions. Firedrake June 17, scanning 8-20 MHz, 1321-1335 found only: 11100, fair at 1326 13100, good at 1330 The usual CNR1 jammers were in well on 11 and 15 MHz bands (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. China Radio International // interference with Vividh Bharati at 9870 ---- Why can't CRI sort out its frequency management? Or they are deliberately targeting VBS evening transmissions. This seems to be happening since last few months. VBS has been occupying 9870 kHz for several years. Conventional wisdom would suggest CRI pick another slot. As per fmscan.org the offending CRI transmitter is located at Xian and beams 500 kW of propaganda towards India. I wonder to what purpose? I think Eastern India is more severely affected. Such a shame that VBS evening primetime broadcast is ruined by CRI's propaganda blabbering away in background. VBS still rides on top but the CRI interference is irritating. The interference peaks between 1400 to 1600 UT. In desperation I have to switch to VBS in FM but its not half as good as SW. Either the Chinese are up to usual mischief or they are trying to overpower VBS in areas such as Tibet which I understand has a fancy for Indian film music. Either way CRI will lose goodwill in India (Ashok Satpathy, India, June 10, dx_india yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DXLD) Hi Ashok! Thank you very much for bringing this up. Yes, I have also noticed this particular thing, not just for VBS but also on various bands, and it also seemed to me in particular that this is not just any co-incidence, but a ploy against various international broadcasters so that they can't reach out to an International audience. I believe it's one of their government strategy and this belief was confirmed by recent news that China has pumped in more than US$6 billion for the purpose of International propaganda through various means of broadcasting their agenda, and reaching out to as much population on earth as possible, and shortwave is one of that means. For us Indians, it's not just hampering the Vivid Bharati; I have noticed, these Chinese stations are hampering AIR Hyderabad on 4800 during its afternoon and evening transmission. I believe, almost 40% SW stations that I can catch at any time during the day in my location are Chinese, and not to mention, their broadcast are some of the most boring ones, including the regional Hindi and Bengali broadcasts. Their programs lack quality and they not only just transmit wrong information, but also show no respect to their neighbors during some of their commentaries. I don't think CRI enjoys any popularity among Indian listeners, except a few politically inclined individuals. Having said all this, I must also add that there is no respite from this menace, because at a time when majority of broadcasters are taking themselves away from Short Wave, these Chinese seem to have just started with a newly found enthusiasm in Short Wave broadcasting, and is investing more and more every each to bolster their presence in the Shortwave Band. Regards (Arnab, India, ibid.) Hello Arnab, I actually applaud the Chinese for so robustly sticking with SW. Technical quality of their transmissions is truly outstanding. Presently they OWN the worldband and seem to have a 500 MW transmitter each 10 kHz. However, it would have been nicer if they didn’t forcefully ply us with their propaganda. You are right. They have been interfering with AIR senders. My favorite daytime listening is AIR Urdu service. I have the best reception at 11620, but as you would guess correctly CRI has monster transmitters going on at 11610, 11620 and 11630 at the same time almost clamping down the tenuous feed from AIR. CRI seem to target Africa very keenly. That is the next frontier for Chinese economic and political interests and they are deploying all tools to achieve their goal. Cheers (Ashok, ibid.) They (CRI) want to live and others have no right. Might is right. Best medicine: never send any reception report or feed back to these stations who violate every law of every land and the world. de (Arasu VU-1004/rb, ibid.) All of you are very right! As an Avid shortwave listener, I never listen to any CRI broadcast, wherever they might be broadcasting! I consider them exactly the same as I would consider the Spam Folder mails in my E-mail Inbox. The Spam mails just fills my inbox with crap, and same with these Chinese broadcast. They just fill the broadcast band every single minute of the day with crap! It's true that the technical quality of their broadcast is good, but that is no good when you produce such low quality programs. And it is worse, rather really affects your reputation when you jam other broadcasters, which might be having a fan following! In this case, due the CRI interference, the low power 50 kW broadcasts of regional Indian stations from various cities are not being easily heard across various parts of India. And mind you, some of these regional broadcasts are having some good and quality programming. Not just that, the news and current affairs programs of the regional stations helps those people who cannot afford Cable TV, to stay in touch with the other parts of the country, which is many cases could be their native places of origin! I wish AIR address this concern, and increases the strength of their regional station transmitters, some of which are as low as 8.5 kW, and that is a complete joke when you compare these with the 500 kW broadcast of CRI propaganda simultaneously at the same frequency range! Though this is highly unlikely, but this speaks for itself, where the situation of shortwave broadcast in India presently standing (Arnab, ibid.) ** COSTA RICA. 5954, ELCOR, 0020-0050 May 14, in Spanish. Per D`Angelo`s snail mail tip received today, pops with YL vocal at tune in with QRM free 40 dB [compared to what?] signal, on the Collins 51S1, used USB, 2.75 kc mechanical filter, oddly enough best on the A/D Sloper. Obviously concert of Latin pop music with OM making on- stage announcements in between songs, excellent audio. Massive adjacent channel QRM at 0025, switched to LSB and notch filter to minimize het, still good-excellent but notch degraded audio fidelity. Still going strong at 0148 recheck, thanks Rich (Richard W. Parker, Pennsburg PA, Miltronix/SignalCorps R-390A, Sherwood SE-3 MK III Deluxe Synchronous Detector, Collins 51S-1 with 55G-1 pre-selector, Collins 51-X, Yaesu FT-840, Lowe HF-150, Grundig Satellit 800, MFJ- 901B antenna tuner, 25m dipole, Alpha-Delta DX Sloper, 160 foot inverted L, Shortwave Logbook, June World DX Club Contact, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5954.17, ELCOR, Guápiles 0045-0052* [date?] the 'new' music shuffled cycle, and abruptly off. Still not back on at 0120 recheck (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, June 13, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5954.17. Finally, I score so big!!! Tune-in at 2304 June 14+, 2010. Presumably just after sign-on, with telco-ish audio. Cuban-accented female with anti-Castro monologue, mentioning the Moncada disaster, Fidel Castro, Cubano, Estados Unidos. Then, abruptly off at 2309. Back up 2314, same female mid-stream, into reggae-ish Spanish vocal from 2317. Abruptly off again at 2325. Back at 2334, more talk, into Barbra Streisand "I Am a Woman In Love" or whatever the title at 2339, and into telco female interview with same female studio host. Male ID for "Radio República" at 2351, with lots of frequencies (not copied, but surely inaccurate for real time), rooster crows, more anti-Castro speak. 2356 more República ID's, and many more through tune-out. This is likely the first night (a local Monday) that they have actually deviated in all these years from the mystery canned music shuffles, but the frequent transmitter and/or audio breaks that have appeared over the past few weeks are making listening very annoying. You may tune in and think they are not active, but you really need to sit on the frequency for awhile until they pop back up. And I suspect that -- within a few days as a result of my glorious post -- Arnaldo de Jesús Coro Antich will authorize massive jamming on 5955 as a result of this information. Also, a shout-out to the to the CIA's FBIS monitoring station in Key West! You know me, for certain. (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W Florida Low Power Radio Stations: http://sites.google.com/site/floridadxn/ WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Good going. I wasn`t around to monitor at this time but will try it now circa 0145. I believe that R. República also appeared on this frequency sometime during ELCOR`s previous activity a couple years ago. Remains to be heard whether this keep up. Should check 9490, 9780, 9955 for possible parallels, but RR usually does not do so between WRMI and the other sites. Sure would be nice to catch what frequencies they do mention on 5954+ (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sr. Coro, As of this afternoon, and through this moment, I am now monitoring the programming of Radio República via the Costa Rica transmitter on the 5955 (variable -- and very strong now), that has been running test transmissions for well-over two years with music loops -- until tonight. Will you promise us radio listeners that there will never be Cuba transmitter jamming the 5955 channel, in fairness of open opinions? Any jamming on the channel going forth, can be easily direction-found the SW Florida monitoring site. Thank you for your reply in advance. Regards, (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida USA, 0143 June 15, direct to Coro, cc to DXLD) Huge signal, still (Krueger, 0147 UT June 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The signal is not huge here; in fact I don`t make out any modulation, just carrier, 0145-0155+. But am using interior antenna during stormy wx. At one time in the past, Radio Republica was on 5955 via Germany, so let`s not leap to conclusions. 5954+ however is different (Glenn to Terry, via DXLD) Oh it's CR, same drift pattern (Krueger, ibid.) 5954+, weak carrier and could not make out any modulation June 15 at 0145-0155, after Terry Krueger reported hearing Radio República ID and programming on this ELCOR test frequency. Same thing happened during previous activity 2+ years ago but it did not last. At another time RR was on 5955 for a while via Germany, and that got jammed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Schedule mentioned Jun 15 at 0052 per audio clip sent in by Anders Hultqvist, Stockholm. Times in EST Mon-Fri 7-10 pm, 9490, 31 m b Mon-Fri 10-12 pm, 9955, 31 m b Sat&Sun 10-12 pm, 9955, 31 m b No mention of "5955" (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Are they still on 9780 at 02-04 UT? RR announcements are extremely unreliable, incomplete, outdated, or inaccurate (gh, DXLD) 5954.183, COSTA RICA, ELCOR (Radio República relay), Guápiles. *2257- June 15, 2010. Transmitter up at 2257:58 as carrier-only, but off within about 15 seconds. Then back up at 2300:34 with taped or streamed Radio República programming, mid-stream. Female and male announcers, light non-political (pro-Christian comments) patter. Male canned ID at 2315, "Sintonice Radio República... (and a string of frequencies)..." into live vocal, more patter. Same canned ID at 2331. And "Esta es República..." following, all canned. Transmitter power is definitely bumped up, too. But it is still in slow-drift downward mode, albeit slower than before. The technician that bumped the power must have made some fixes on ELCOR. I've now received three emails (or) viewed board comment posts, claiming I am dreaming that República is here, or that I am hearing a big Euro transmitter relaying said. All three have not only NOT heard anything on the channel, but also are not within likely reception range of hearing this one at sign-on time. After this post, those sources will be excluded from any further ELCOR logs of mine. They can read my observations a few days later from other threads. Raul in CR would be nice to chime in right about now (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, June 15, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5954.16 - Radio Republica ---- 6/16/10 0058 nice clear series of IDs leading up to the top of the hour. “Esta es Radio República” indisputable. Exact same freq as a mystery music operation, heard over the last few weeks, first noted with Radio República programming on 6/15 around 0030 UT (local Monday evening). (Gerry Bishop, Niceville, FL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Have my doubts about this. One thing is Radio República, in fact heard around 0100 June 16 on 5955, and a different thing is the ELCOR transmitter on 5954, lately testing with José Luis Perales songs and some salsa music, instead of Maná and Shakira. 73s (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, June 16, ibid.) Anders Hultqvist, using Perseus gear, says frequency on Monday night EST was slowly varying and settled around 5954.15-16 after transmitter warmup. He has been hearing the tests previously, but Monday night transmission was louder than before (Henrik Klemetz, Sweden, June 16, ibid.) ELCOR go bye-bye! 5955 CUBA (jammer). Barely 48 hours after by Internet plea to Arnie to spare ELCOR's new Radio República from jamming, guess what? Tune-in at 2258 June 16, 2010 to a massive swath from a Cuba jammer, no trace of ELCOR here as a result. Thanks, Arnie! (Terry Krueger, FL, 2328 UT June 16, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Are you surprised, after taunting him about it? Probably just sped up the process. 73, (Glenn to Terry, via DXLD) But it's a nice public display of who's calling the shots (Terry L. Krueger, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COSTA RICA [and non]. 15170, REE relay with Copa Mundial live coverage in Castilian, not // 13740 Cuba [q.v.], of same opening game, México vs Sudáfrica, June 11 at 1452. At 1513 I noticed that this was NOT // REE direct from Spain on 17595, with normal programming, music! That`s certainly unusual. Maybe REE did not get the rights to broadcast it from Spain, just CR? I expect there will be lots more live coverage one way or another from REE. What`s this continuous noise in the background, heard on all stations? First thought it was a siren, then more like an amplified beehive! Perhaps emanating from Tutu`s yellow and black striped stocking cap; just how cold is it in Jo`burg now, almost winter? Looks like he`s shivering and huddling. How do I know what he`s wearing instead of that glorious purple mitre? Because it`s also on ESPN. BTW, tho ``RSA`` seems to have fallen out of favour as the short name of the host country, I see it still in use on scoreboards. Whatever became of ``Azania``, once expected to become the official name of the post-apartheid nation? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also SPAIN I don't think that broadcasting rights specify shortwave transmitter sites in particular. This is just a too unimportant detail. A possible scenario: The Costa Rica transmitters presumably take the modulation from Hispasat 1C, where three program streams of REE are carried on a beam that covers the Americas only. Perhaps the situation is such that REE has the rights to broadcast FIFA stuff "to the Americas", thus on this Hispasat beam, thus also via Costa Rica. But they have no rights for Europe, thus substitute programming goes out at least via Hotbird and the Noblejas transmitters, with nobody bothering to differentiate between the target areas of individual shortwave frequencies, which would require a separate audio circuit for certain transmissions. > What`s this continuous noise in the background, > heard on all stations? These devices are called Vuvula [sic], and they produce sound pressure levels up to 140 decibels. Well, it's not my hearing that gets damaged there (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also SOUTH AFRICA 15170, REE relay as I tuned in June 16 at 1313, ``bienvenidos al partido de España``, apparently in studio discussing imminent WC game involving Spain, inexplicably with ``Can`t Buy Me Love`` playing in background. No horns heard yet, but there they were by 1344, axually bringing in audio from RSA, discussing medical condition of some player. Meanwhile, 17595 direct from Spain was // and leading by several syllables, unlike previously, but extracontinental signals above 12 MHz much degraded compared to usual reception. Checking 49m at 1333, found JBA signal on 5970 // 15170, and I think even weaker 5930 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DRM on 9630 via CR: see SPAIN [non] ** CUBA. 13740, blew away their scheduled CRI English relay at 14-16 June 11 to run R. Rebelde instead, live coverage in Spanish of the opening World Cup game from South Africa, 1447 June 11, Mexico vs RSA. Somewhat undermodulated but sufficient considering the huge signal. 1453 during half-time break, Rebelde asserted that it would broadcast ``todos los partidos``. Resumed at 1516 in time for Mexico to score. Off the air at next check 1604, but would they have prolonged it if the game had run longer? Meanwhile I had checked all the other Cuban SW frequencies and this was the only one out of the ordinary instead of RHC or RNV. During this world sequence, there are likely to be further special SW broadcasts from this and other soccer-mad countries, pre-empting regular programming and perhaps on special frequencies at special times. See also BRAZIL, COSTA RICA, GERMANY. Rich Cuff says the BBCWS was also carrying this game, in English altho did not notice it here (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also JAPAN Quite interesting. It sheds a light at the arrangement under which these relays take place (Kai Ludwig, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15370, RHC VG at 2250 June 11 in Spanish to Europe // weaker 15380 an echo apart. Anomaly: NO spurs detectable now despite strong signal from 15370. Resumed CRI English relay on 13740, June 12 at 1438 and later chex, while the day before it had been pre-empted by R. Rebelde with Copa Mundial. Perhaps the DentroCubans will blow the ChiCom away again if a game of interest fit in the 14-16 timeslot. I`ve noticed RHC keeping 15370 on the air later than scheduled 21-23 for Europe, such as UT June 13 at 0004 still going with Revista Informativa de la Noche, // much weaker 15380; and also stronger than CRI relay on 15120. Still 15370 a few minutes later. Next check 0037, 15370 was off. I wonder if it was still on antenna aimed toward Europe (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5040, Radio Havana Cuba, 2147 June 13. Spanish, with "En Contacto" segment, rolling across the top-of-hour with no ID and still in Spanish. Recheck 2313, in English and introducing "DXers' Unlimited" with Arnie, who announced on the segment that RHC will now be airing one hour English segments instead of two hour blocks, and as a result, DXU will be reduced to 10-12 minutes. The hour compression, he claims, was the result of "surveys" that say listeners do not have any more than an hour to listen in one sitting. Naturally, he failed to source the survey sources, because they don't exist. It's obviously a sign of RHC cutting back on a nearly dead transmission source, namely shortwave (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Havana Cuba changes --- Radio Havana Cuba switched last week to a one hour English language programme format between 0100-0700 UT, replacing their previous two hour block of programmes. I first heard Ed Newman announce this change last Thursday (10 June) when I caught the end of the midweek 'Mailbag' programme on 6000 kHz at 0249, but had to wait less than an hour to hear the programme again the following hour starting at 0337. Ed mentioned some programmes could be temporarily suspended as a result of this change. On Sunday (13 June) the one hour 0300-0400 included the 'World of Stamps' programme and Arnie Coro's science and technology programme 'Breakthrough' (but not the anticipated 'DXers Unlimited'). Instead Arnie Coro's 'DXers Unlimited' was on the air this morning, Monday 14 June, heard in the hour 0300-0400 on 6000 kHz at 0314-0323 and repeated the following hour 0414-0423, etc. The script of the programme is already available to read at http://dxersunlimited.blogspot.com/ and includes some background behind the change to the one-hour English format i.e. fewer people are able to listen for a full two hours. I've yet to confirm if there's still a midweek edition of 'DXers Unlimited'. One anomaly to this change was on Sunday 13 June when instead of English there was an Esperanto programme at 0400-0430 on 6000 // 5970, seamlessly reverting to the second half hour of expected English at 0430-0500. Best frequency here 0100-0500 is 6000 kHz though it varies according to conditions. This is is beamed 25 degrees to East Coast North America and Canadian Martime Provinces per Arnie Coro on his programme this morning. Parallel 5970 kHz is weaker, and sometimes barely audible here on my Sony. At 0500 English switches to 6060 kHz (//5970). I can never hear 6010 here, also scheduled in English from 0500 to 0700 (Alan Pennington, Caversham, UK, Sony 7600 GR + telescopic, June 14, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I'm not really surprised about this change. There have been some changes that took place internally within the government. In short, RHC days are numbered in its present form, due to the findings from a government think tank over its audience. Jorge Myaries, who was the head of the English Service when I was there, told me that the government has been raising questions about state funds to RHC. Jorge is now the head of the Spanish service at United Nations Radio (Keith Perron, Taiwan, ibid.) Just to confirm, RHC does still air a mid-week edition of 'DXers Unlimited' on its usual day, heard this morning [Wednesday] 0338-0349 UT on 6000 kHz. And now can be heard every hour with the new English programme format (Alan Pennington, UK, June 16, ibid.) Viz.: Dxers Unlimited's mid week edition *short format version * - edition 15' 16 June By Arnie Coro radio amateur CO2KK Hi amigos radioaficionados around the world and orbiting planet Earth … I am your host Arnie Coro, radio amateur CO2KK happy to have you listening to the mit week edition of Dxers Unlimited, now in its short format 10 to 12 minutes version, especially designed to fit into our new one hour news and information format. As expected, I have received several e-mail messages from listeners that want to have the show back to its long form 18 minutes format, something that at the present time is not possible... but that maybe in the not too distant future we may have it available again, at least during the weekend edition, the one that according to audience research statistics is heard by a larger number of radio hobby fans worldwide. In the meantime, let's optimize this format, so that more radio related information may go on the air on each program. . . This is Radio Havana Cuba, the name of the show is Dxers Unlimited, and it can be heard twice weekly, now every hour all along our broadcast segments. Dxers Unlimited used to be on the air once every two hours of our English language broadcasts, but now that we are transmitting one hour, the program goes on the air every hour, just after the half hour news bulletin... and you can also read the scripts of the show and see some interesting photos about solar activity by visiting http://dxersunlimited.blogspot.com (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) 6010, RHC in Spanish instead of English, June 15 at 0550 // 5040, 6120, 6150, while music in English service was on 5970, 6060. Expect even more confusion as Arnie says they are no longer producing two hours of English daily, just one, presumably meaning even more repeats unless total English transmission hours are cut too. 11675, JBA DCJC pulses vs nothing, June 16 at 1340. Normally one cannot correlate these things with RHC frequencies, but this one fits as a leapfrog of one of the wall-of-noise units on 11845 against Radio Martí mixing with RHC on 11760, another 85 kHz lower. While most of the jammers are probably at distinct sites, some of them may be coming from RHC broadcast sites. It`s all RadioCuba, after all. 6060, 6010 and 5970 June 17 at 0657, RHC YL introducing new and reduced 60-minute English broadcast which is not supposed to exist after 0700. Usual disparity in audio and strength among the // frequencies. 15360, June 17 at 1354 Despertar con Cuba with very distorted audio, while // 15380, 15120 were OK. Both 15360 and 15380 peak around S9+5, no spurs audible, but probably not enough signal yet on fundamental. Poor propagation with only the strongest, nearest signals making it at all on 19m (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. 9885, DentroCuban Jamming Command grinding against nothing, UT Monday June 14 at 0002 since VOA Spanish is only one hour on weekends from 2300 --- except it seems like the Greenville carrier is still on, slightly attenuating the jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. June 8 edition of the WRMI 9955 program grid, available in DXLD yg attachments, shows numerous minor exile broadcasts scattered, predominantly on weekend evenings, plus these major ones: Radio República: M-F 0900-1200, daily 0200-0300 (22 h per week) [R.R. via COSTA RICA: q.v.!] Radio Libertad: Daily 1200-1300, M-F 2300-2400, UT Tue-Sat 0400-0500 (17 h per week) La Voz del Consejo para la Libertad de Cuba: Tue-Sat 0100-0200, Sat/Sun 1800-1900, Sun 0500-0600 (8 h per week) (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [non]. 11930, R. Martí, Friday June 11 at 2315 with béisbol game, mixed with DentroCuban jamming. Current week`s daily program schedule at http://www.martinoticias.com/RDprogramacion.aspx shows ``Baseball [sic] de las Grandes Ligas`` starting Friday and Saturday at 2300 until 0200 (or whenever?), also Sunday 17-20 UT (or whenever?). I suppose the times should vary as do live baseball games depending on origin zone. Surely this is a big draw for Cuban listeners, if not the politix (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DJIBOUTI [non]. UNID, 17880, TDP - La Voix de Djibouti, on June 03 at *1201-1216 UT. 25332-35333 Arabic, 1201 UT sign on with Quran, ID and opening announce, Talk (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium June 11 via DXLD) Sound reminds me rather via Issoudun or Wertachtal outlet. Need more opening procedure check on Thursdays (Wolfgang Büschel, BC-DX June 17 via DXLD) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 6025.0, R. Amanecer, 0303-0307*, June 10. Believe this is closer to their normal sign off time, rather than the extended schedule Glenn and I both heard on June 7. Series of IDs at sign off; carrier remained on past 0336. No het or other station heard here (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6025.05, Radio Amanecer International, 0220-0313*, June 12, continuous Christian music to sign off. Weak. Poor with adjacent channel splatter (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 6025.0, R. Amanecer, 0301-0305*, June 14. Series of IDs at sign off; No het or other station heard. 6025.0, R. Amanecer, 0322, June 15. Religious singing till 0327 and seemed like a short announcement before probable going off. After that heard a very faint station on about 6024.96 with what sounded like LA pop songs and a DJ (definitely not the R. Amanecer format), so maybe when conditions are good it is now possible to heard R. Illimani/Patria Nueva (Bolivia) after R. Amanecer goes off. Worth checking! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. 6270, R. Cairo, Abu Zaabal, in Engl at 0218, June 17. M w/ news, Turkey appointing committee to examine Israeli interdiction of Gaza flotilla. Strong w/ good modulation! (Icom R75, Mike Bryant, Louisville, KY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 13580, June 11 at 1501 a bit of muezzining, then announcement in uncertain language, undermodulated. Only thing scheduled is Cairo`s Albanian service, also USward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. 15190, 0601, Radio Africa tentatively the station on 15190.03 carrying US religious preaching. Good carrier but subdued audio. Frequency. measured as 15190.03. Overseas reports confirm identity but apparently local idents are rare, 27/5 (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, New Zealand, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, June NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** ERITREA. 7175, Voice of the Broad Masses, Selai Dairo, 1745-18121, 11 Jun'10, Arabic, talks, Arabic songs; 45433. \\ 7180 (see below). 7180 ditto, 1746-1822, 11 Jun'10, cf. \\ 7175 until 1800, then Vernacular, talks, HoA music; 25432. Silent on 13 Jun'10, moved to 7190 (see below). 7190 ditto, 1750-...., 13 Jun'10, Vernacular, talks; poor, but no QRM; \\ 7175 good. So this happens to be my 04 Jun'10 UNID as reported on 08 Jun'10 (see IDENTIFIED). (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 6030, Radio Oromiya, *0321-0329, June 14. Another Monday of no Cuban jamming, no R. Martí and no Calgary QRM; repetitive xylophone-like IS (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 7120, 0415, Radio Ethiopia on NF 10/5 at good level in local language. Confirmed with parallel 9704.2. Next day had returned to usual 7110 which was audible 0305 past 0430 with improving signals (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, New Zealand, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, June NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. via Pridnestrovye, 15540, Radio Xoriyo Ogadenia, *1430-1440+, June 11, sign on with Horn of Africa music and opening ID announcements. Gave website address. Talk in listed Somali. Local chants. Horn of Africa style music. Poor to fair. Mon/Fri only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** FINLAND. 6170, 1000-1055 05.06, Scandinavian Weekend R, Virrat. Finnish ann, British oldies // 11720, 25212. APC-DNK 11720, 1000-1055 05.06, Scandinavian Weekend R, Virrat, Finnish ann, British oldies // 6170, short ID in English, 25322. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, heard at our DSWCI DX-Camp at Vejers Beach in westernmost Jutland, Denmark, with the AR7030PLUS receiver and about 20 metres longwire plus testing a new Wellbrook S330 frameantenna which in many cases gave the best results! via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** FRANCE. 11995, with solar flux up a bit, Euro signals making it this high in the nightmiddle, June 13 at 0620 seemed like HOA music and announcement, but listed as RFI in Hausa, 0600-0630, 170 degrees from Issoudun. Note spelling: I often see that site wronged (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FRANCE [re 10-23, tho the thread no longer has anything to do with France in particular]. ``Why did there ever have to be such a dichotomy between the SWL and the DXer? For sesquidecades in my personal tuning and in my writing, editing, and broadcasting I have embraced both with equal enthusiasm. 73, Glenn Hauser`` I don't know if I look at this as a dichotomy, though others might. I look at it more as a classic Venn diagram. To me, anyway, a DXer is more like a "sport fisherman" -- it's the catch, not the consumption, that's the thrill. A program listener (as opposed to an SWL) is interested in eating fish, and enjoys it whether it's served at a restaurant, purchased at a fish market and prepared at home, or caught on a line off a dock or a back of a boat. In that analogy, the commonality is fish. In the shortwave analogy, it's the use of shortwave as a transmission medium -- and the interest in the medium -- that's the area of commonality – the shaded portion of that Venn diagram where the circles intersect. Some folks prefer one activity more than another. That's fine. Others prefer both. That's fine too! (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** GAMBIA [non]. As reported by Glenn Hauser in this week's World of Radio, there is a targeted broadcast by the "Save the Gambia Democracy Project" - just 15 minutes a week, at 1815-1830 GMT on Saturdays on 15225 kHz, via the Nauen site in Germany. In the UK we'll only be getting a signal off the side of the beam (Chris Greenway, England, early UT June 12, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) So did anyone hear it to confirm, and note how much of it was in English? Unfortunately I neglected to advance-remind the DXLD yg about it (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) I was able to check for the broadcast from Save the Gambia Democracy Project. 15225 heard well on 12/06/2010 from 1815 until 1830. I wasn't able to listen to the entire 15 minutes, but it seemed to be one speaker in a local language (Mandinka?). I didn't hear any English, nor a clear ID (James MacDonell (Niger State, Nigeria), June 13, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I missed the very start of what I presume was the STGDP transmission on 15225 on 12 June, tuning-in to a talk in a West African-sounding language at 1817 UTC and listening through to the close at 1830. Just talk, didn't hear any ID, address, mention of Gambia, or anything else to say that this was STGDP, although it wasn't getting my full attention at the time, but undoubtedly it was them. No English. Good reception here (Tony Rogers, Birmingham, UK, listening on a Tecsun PL- 360 / telescopic antenna, ibid.) Yes, I heard it too - same to report as Tony. Strong and very clear signal in Kent. Audio a bit "clipped" (Chris Greenway, UK, June 16, ibid.) ** GERMANY. 13780, June 11 at 1520 once Cuba is off, poor signal in German about World Cup, buzzing background, so must be live coverage here too; of course, the opening game is special, but we wonder how many of the other matches not involving Germany they will broadcast. 13780 is scheduled 06-10 and 14-18 via Woofferton, 18-20 via Sines. Not that we care a bit about silly ballgames; just covering shortwave developments. However, this inevitably leads to lots of reporting about what else is going on in South Africa, which could be useful (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Mit DW-RADIO sind Sie deshalb bei allen Spielen der DFB-Auswahl live dabei. In der Vorrunde D spielt das Team von Nationaltrainer Joachim Löw a.. am 13.06.2010 gegen Australien (18:30 - 20:30 UTC) b.. am 18.06.2010 gegen Serbien (11:30 - 13:30 UTC) c.. am 23.06.2010 gegen Ghana (18:30 - 20:30 UTC) Erreicht Deutschland das Achtelfinale, würde je nach Ausgang der Vorrunde am 26.06.2010 (ab 18:30 UTC) oder 27.06.2010 (ab 14:00 UTC) gespielt. Und ab dem Viertelfinale heißt es dann bei DW-RADIO "WM total"! Sie können alle Spiele bis zum Finale live und in voller Länge hören. Außerdem wird vom 11. Juni bis 11. Juli 2010 im Deutschen Programm von DW-RADIO auf dem Sendeplatz von "Journal Extra" das "FIFA-WM-Studio" ausgestrahlt. Von Montag bis Freitag kommt das WM-Studio zusätzlich um 15:20, 17:20 und 19:20 UTC direkt im Anschluss an "Journal Aktuell". 73 wolfy (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, June 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. EMR this Sunday [European Music Radio, means it still??] Date 20th of June 2010 Time 0900 to 1000 UT Channel 6140 kHz Programmes: 0900 Tom Taylor programme 0920 Mike Taylor (Mail Box programme) EMR Internet radio service on Sunday and Monday Programme repeats are at the following times: 1000, 1300, 1600, 1900, 2200 UT. Please visit http://www.emr.org.uk and click on the “EMR internet radio” button which you will find throughout the website (see the menu on the left). Please send all reception reports to studio @ emr.org.uk Good Listening. 73s (Tom Taylor, June 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. DRM on 11805: see SPAIN [non] ** GREENLAND. 3815, 2110-2120 04.06, KNR, Tasiilaq (USB) (presumed), Greenlandic (presumed) talk and music, at times QRM a German numberstation, 15/1211. Best 73, (Anker Petersen, heard at our DSWCI DX-Camp at Vejers Beach in westernmost Jutland, Denmark, with the AR7030PLUS receiver and about 20 metres longwire plus testing a new Wellbrook S330 frameantenna which in many cases gave the best results! via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) What does 15/1211 mean? (gh) ** GUATEMALA. 4780, Guatemala [?], OM en español just fading out as I tuned in at 1135, gone by 1140, only other 60 meter band signals were 4789.89 and 5019.904. 12 June (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, 746ProDL, R8, noise reducing antenna, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The others probably Indonesia and Solomons. R. Cultural Coatán has been gone for a sesquiyear. Bob last reported it Jan 1, 2009 with ID at 2300. As in DXLD 9-082 last November, they said they would like to resume SW if they could get replacement parts needed. Nothing on their website now except 103.3 FM http://www.radiocoatan.com/ and no other reports of it on SW found lately (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, ibid.) ** GUINEA. 4900.00, 2040-2050 04.06, Familia SW [sic] (presumed), vernacular talk, 15111 (Anker Petersen, heard at our DSWCI DX-Camp at Vejers Beach in westernmost Jutland, Denmark, with the AR7030PLUS receiver and about 20 metres longwire plus testing a new Wellbrook S330 frameantenna which in many cases gave the best results! via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) See also UNIDENTIFIED ** GUINEA. 7125, 2215-2225 05.06, R Conakry, Sonfonia. French and vernacular ann, African string music, excited talk about Guinea and Mali, 35333 (Anker Petersen, heard at our DSWCI DX-Camp at Vejers Beach in westernmost Jutland, Denmark, with the AR7030PLUS receiver and about 20 metres longwire plus testing a new Wellbrook S330 frameantenna which in many cases gave the best results! via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** GUYANA. 3290, V of Guyana, 0256-0320 May 14 in English, slow romantic music with OM crooner at tune-in along with unexplained R. Reloj-style metronome for a while, OM announcer and child`s voice, then Elvis Presley`s ``Are You Lonely Tonight?``, 40-50 dB signals [compared to what?], audio levels poor on announcements but quite good on music, overall transmission vastly improved by 0322 with Beatles ``I`m in Love with You``. First I`ve heard them after receiving Rich D`Angelo`s tip on May 1; previous tries yielded only loud noise that was very similar to the Soviet jammers of the Cold War years; the noise was still present this evening but negated by the use of USB (Richard W. Parker, Pennsburg PA, Miltronix/SignalCorps R-390A, Sherwood SE-3 MK III Deluxe Synchronous Detector, Collins 51S-1 with 55G-1 pre-selector, Collins 51-X, Yaesu FT-840, Lowe HF-150, Grundig Satellit 800, MFJ-901B antenna tuner, 25m dipole, Alpha-Delta DX Sloper, 160 foot inverted L, Shortwave Logbook, June World DX Club Contact, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) The usual QRM is on 3287v, carrier with occasional RTTY bursts, unlike jamming (gh, DXLD) Stabroek News (Georgetown), 12 June 2010, letter from Mohamed Sattaur, chief executive of NCN: "With reference to a letter titled ‘Test cricket should take precedence over World Cup football’ in the June 11 edition of Stabroek News, The National Communications Network [Guyana] wishes to advise that cricket reigns supreme on radio at 560AM and 102.5FM as well as our shortwave signal which is received worldwide." Update: Stabroek News, 17 June 2010, Mohamed Sattaur, CEO of NCN: "The Voice of Guyana is broadcast on the medium wave on 560 and 700 AM, on the shortwave on 3.290 and on 102.5FM. Everyone along the coast, in most of the interior locations and some parts of Suriname should be able to hear VOG on 560 AM without any difficulty. The shortwave signal is heard internationally. We have received word from Europe, Africa, Australia and the USA, among other places, that the signal is clear." (via kimandrewelliott.com June 17 via DXLD) Technically heard, but only if you are a DXer willing to strain to hear it rather than recline in an armchair, hardly clear (gh, DXLD) ** HAWAII. ALOHA! QSL: HAWAI'I, WWVH, National Institute of Standards, 10,000,000 Hz, 26 May 2010, Serial Number 22502, no time specified (was late evening my local time). Partial data card (no timeframe, my name not entered), 4 x 6 [inch] color photograph on Fuji Paper, with sunset silhouette of half-wave vertical antenna and station name, web URL and data - For reception report by mail in 16 days (Bruce Jensen, California, USA, pgsw yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. 4860, 0025-0035 09.06, AIR Delhi, Kingsway. Hindi ann, Sitar music and talk, heavily distorted, 35231 (Anker Petersen, Skovlunde, Denmark, (AOR AR7030PLUS with a 28 metres of longwire), via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. 5010, *0020-0040 09.06, AIR Thiruvananthapuram. Malayalam ann, Vande Mataram hymn, drums and string music, news from Delhi in Hindi and English, 45544 (Anker Petersen, at Skovlunde, Denmark, (AOR AR7030PLUS with a 28 metres of longwire), via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. 9425, AIR Bengaluru - National Channel, from 1435 to 1500. Monday (June 14) “Vividha” program in English about the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, along with lecture about Mahatma Jyotirao Phule; Wednesday (June 16) “Vividha” with “Earth Beat”. Tuesday and Thursday “Vividha” is in Hindi. Different program on Friday in Hindi (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. The following are the recent changes noted to AIR External Services. 11620 Aligarh 0015-0430 (Ex 0100-0430) 7410 Bangalore 1745-1945 English (W.NW Africa) (Ex 7550) 7550 Delhi 1745-1945 English, 1945-2045 Hindi 2045-2230 English (Europe) (Ex 7400, 7410) 9940 Delhi 1745-1945 English, 1945-2045 Hindi 2045-2230 English (Europe) (Irregular) 15075 Delhi 1615-1730 Hindi(Back on air) 9810 Panaji 0130-0230 Nepali (Back on air) 15185 Panaji 0315-0415 Hindi, 0415-0430 Gujarati, 0430-0530 Hindi (Back on air) The updated lists are available as follows: Complete SW in kHz order http://www.qsl.net/vu2jos/sw/freq.htm External Services in Language order http://www.qsl.net/vu2jos/es/Language.htm External Services in Time order http://www.qsl.net/vu2jos/es/time.htm Complete SW Stations order http://www.qsl.net/vu2jos/sw/loc.htm 73 (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad 500082, India, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks. Can you confirm if the overseas Urdu transmission at 4860 is still active? Or for that matter the 6045? I am only able to receive 3945 for last several days. Best regards (Ashok Satpathy, ibid.) Hi Ashok, yes, 4860 kHz heard here in Finland // 6045 kHz at 1720, while 3945 kHz sounds empty or not yet audible. Regards, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, ibid.) Interference by CHINA: q.v. ** INDONESIA [and non]. 4749.95, RRI Makassar, June 10 doing much better than normal from 1216 to 1230, with the relay of the news from Jakarta (World Cup news and sound bite of the World Cup song in English, etc.); mixing with QRM; // 9680 (RRI Jakarta); ends news with distinctive choral National Anthem (Indonesia Raya); after the NA no longer //. RRI Fak Fak off the air during this same time period on 4789.96 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 9526-, VOI, fourth day in a row with good modulation! June 11 at 1322 starting Indonesian Wonders (or is it just Wonder?) segment, this time about some Ambon cake sold by 30 shops in faraway Medan, Sumatera, lite yellow with many flavours; 1334 recheck already starting Music Corner, so missed Miscellany. Ruined by ChiCom 9525.0 het from *1357:15 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9525.90, Voice of Indonesia, 1013-1030 June 12. Noted a female in English language comments. She seems to be giving details of events that happened on June 12 throughout recent history. When finished she gives URL information for Voice of Indonesia. Signal was good. 9680, RRI Jakarta, 1018-1030 June 12. Noted a female in Japanese language comments. Do they have a segment of Japanese here? At 1024, a male continues in Indonesian. So, this may have been an interview of a Japanese person or something like that? Checked the WRTH and it didn't list Japanese as a language broadcast here. Program continued in Indonesian. At 1027, ID in Indonesian language. Signal was good (Chuck Bolland, Clewiston FL, NRD545, 26.37N 081.05W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9526-, VOI, fifth day in a row with good modulation during English hour at 1300, June 12; 1301 headlines about megadollars US being spent on power companies. Signal strength, however, was degrading compared to the preceding hour in Japanese. 9526-, VOI with good modulation, sixth day in a row, June 13 at 1318 with ``Highlight of the Week`` segment, about Israel`s nuclear program (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9525.88, Voice of Indonesia, 1050-1100 June 15. With the usual good signal, noted a male and female in English language comments resembling an AM Radio type format of some music and chatter. Signal went off the air abruptly at 1057, but came back 20 seconds later. At 1058 music and female gives credits and then into Indonesian(?) with URL. Signal was good (Chuck Bolland, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) After more than a week of reliable signals with good modulation, not even a carrier from VOI could be detected June 17 at 1323 or 1343 on 9525.9. Other E Asian signals on 31m band with hi noise level were poor but audible, e.g. 9735 Taiwan in Japanese; somethings on 9680 maybe including RRI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACCUM. Do the people at the World Radio Network ever listen to the program services? Apparently not. WRN English for North America airs "The Tubridy Show" from RTE Ireland every weekday morning. And, every weekday morning, and in occasional promos at other times, a WRN promo touts the "tuh-breed'-y" show. Except, if they'd actually listen to the show, they would find that Ryan Tubridy's name is pronounced "tuh'-ber-dy" or "tuh'-bri-dy" (Mike Cooper, Jun 17, DXLD) ** IRAN. 7245, VOIRI, V. of Justice, Sirjan, 0133-0137 April 22, in English with Koran chants and religious talk, then into VOJ program. Huge 80 dB signals [compared to what?], and excellent audio, equally strong on // 9495 (Richard W. Parker, Pennsburg PA, Miltronix / SignalCorps R-390A, Sherwood SE-3 MK III Deluxe Synchronous Detector, Collins 51S-1 with 55G-1 pre-selector, Collins 51-X, Yaesu FT-840, Lowe HF-150, Grundig Satellit 800, MFJ-901B antenna tuner, 25m dipole, Alpha-Delta DX Sloper, 160 foot inverted L, Shortwave Logbook, June World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** IRAN. Press TV on shortwave (audio anyways) --- hi Glenn, Tuning around the 15 MHz band this morning (6/15) and came across an English transmission on 15235 kHz, around 0700 UT. It was audio from PRESS TV Iran, fair signal. Shall check whether same is on tomorrow. Anybody noticed this too? Best Wishes (Chris Lewis, England, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That`s supposed to be the Albanian service of VOIRI at 0630-0730; feed mistake? How long did you hear English? (Glenn to Chris, via DXLD) Till about 0725, when transmitter left air. Checked this morning, and regular Albanian service, so yes, feed mistake, I guess (Chris Lewis, England, June 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN. 9609.96v, Strange log June 17. IRIB via Kamalabad, registered Arabic Saut Falestin "Voice of Islamic Palestinian Revolution" at 0330-0427 UT on 9610, but heard IRIB Spanish program instead. Spanish schedule and frequencies announced at 0335-0336 UT. [and non] In background underneath Vatican Radio via Sackville to Americas also in Spanish (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND. 6295, 2000 Reflections Europe at poor level but the best readability I’ve had for them on 16/5. Usual religious format, ident 2041 (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, New Zealand, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, June NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** ISRAEL. 15785, 11/6 0034, Galei Zahal, Israel, talks, music, weak with fading (Giampiero Bernardini, RX: AOR 7030; Drake R8; Perseus, Ant: T2FD 15 meters long, QTH: Milano, Italia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15785, 11/Jun 1827, GALEI ZAHAL, in Hebrew. Pop music and male talks. Weak signal with rapid improvement. After a long time with no signal, since my location. Signal degrading. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia 12 14´S 38 58´W, Brasil, Degen 1103, Dipole antenna, 19 meters - east/west - Balun 4:1, Skype: jorge.freitas.fsa, Escutas (listening, my blog): http://www.ipernity.com/doc/75006 dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15785, Galei Zahal 0003-0045+ June 13, 2010. Wow, what a huge signal. At least as good as 6973 used to be before seemingly greatly reducing power. No trace of the aforementioned, but 15785 one was putting in a massive signal with Hebrew techno, rock and rap vocals, nice female jock (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY. Auf genau 14000 kHz, also 13999.8 kHz um 1834 UTC 13999.45 kHz um 2045 UTC 13999.4 kHz um 0614 UTC hoert die europ. Bandwatch z.Zt. unregelmaessig ein TV Musiksender Livestream relay von Radio Napoli oder aehnlich. Ist das fundamental oder eine Harmonische von 7000 kHz? (Wolfgang Büschel, June 10, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews June 17 via DXLD) ** ITALY. 26000, 1330 24 May, R. Maria, religious talk in Italian, 45433 (Arthur Miller, Llandrindod Wells, UK, Shortwave Logbook, June World DX Club Contact via DXLD) 26000, 1635 26 May, R. Maria, talk in Italian, 44444 (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth, ibid.) Hi Glenn, Good SpE opening to (from) Italy with R Maria 26000 strong with typical SpE fading at 1615. Here is a link to a recording I made with an ID: http://www.box.net/shared/9l84d8zq12 (Mark Davies, Anglesey, N Wales, June 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Very interesting; beware of sound blast at end of file (gh) 26000, R. Maria, Andrate, 1013-1921, 12 Jun'10, prayer, chimes at 1015, rlgs. ballads, chorus, Vatican R news bulletin at 1738, rosary, etc., still audible at 2110, when airing the rosary; 25443 best via a 20 m home made T2FD (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN [and non]. 11655, scheduled NHKWNRJ in Japanese via Sackville, Friday June 11 at 1407 playing Hank Williams, ``Jambalaya``, 1409 ``Your Cheatin` Heart``, 1412 ``Take These Chains from my Heart``, 1414 ``Honky Tonk Blues``. Suspected RCI was playing fill music again, having lost feed from Tokyo --- but no! 1416 Japanese YL back-announcement of these album cuts, and then several from John Denver: ``Country Roads``, ``City of New Orleans`` (which is about a train), 1424 ``Sunshine``; 1429 no announcement but switched to Willie Nelson, ``On the Road Again``, ``Blue Eyes Cryin` in the Rain``. 1434 YL Japanese announcement in that ``confidential`` tone they love to affect. FINALLY, at 1436 we get a singer in Japanese; 1445 ``Dance of the Hours`` by Ponchielli, on piano. (I must rethink my previous log of jazz album cuts during this time period as having been deliberate from NHK rather than fill music from Sackville/Montreal.) I like NHK`s taste in music, probably a domestic service relay for bedtime Friday night. Serenaded my consumption of 21 just-picked apricots for breakfast, our first successful harvest in a few years as we finally evaded late freezes and had plenty of bee pollination. Yes, our `cots are smaller than the frankencots in stores, but much more tasty. 11730, June 11 at 1455 with jazz music atop one of RHC`s weaker signals; 1459 ``NHK Hoso desu`` ID, but too late to detect if it was // 11655 via Sackville which was already off; and 1500 opening RCI relay in Chinese, still atop Cuba. Aoki axually shows R. Japan with a 5-minute transmission in Japanese at 1455-1500, same paramaters as the 1500-1558 RCI relay, 300 kW, 234 degrees from Ibaragi-Koga-Yamata. But Aoki misses Cuba completely on 11730 tho it has been on there for several months now. Another DXer recently discovered it (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11655, NHKWNRJ, via Sackville, June 17 at 1327 playing ``Can`t Buy Me Love``, // weaker 11815 direct. I assume they were not pretending to be a spy station of yore; but it`s rather mystifying why NHK thinx they need to broadcast classic western pop music via a North American relay with announcements only in Japanese, while relays in English are reduced every season. 6250, June 12 at 0522 in Spanish, music, // 6080 so it`s again the NHK via BONAIRE leapfrog of 6080 over 6165 RNW Dutch until 0527*, not Equatorial Guinea, of which there was no sign before or after 0527 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JORDAN. 11960, Radio Jordan, 0352-0420 Jun 10, Woman with Arabic vocals; man announcer with ID and Arabic talk at 0400 followed by music fanfare and news. At one point I could hear the man turning the pages of his script! Fair (Rich D'Angelo, Wyomissing PA 19610, Ten- Tec RX-340, Drake R-8B, Eton E1, Eton E5, Alpha Delta DX Sloper, RF Systems Mini-Windom, Datong FL3, JPS ANC-4, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** KASHMIR [non]. 3995, 1235, PAKISTAN, Azad Kashmir Radio, Islamabad poor and very noisy in vernacular – 21/4 (Des Davey, Te Kuiti, New Zealand, Eton E5, National DR 45, 50m long wire, 50m “L``, June NZ DX Times via DXLD) Are you sure? AKR may move around, but Aoki now shows only on 3995: 3995 Radyo Dengi Kurdistana 0245-0430 1234567 Kurdish/Persian 50 ND unknown TKM 057..E38..N KDP-I 3995 Radyo Dengi Kurdistana 1257-1430 1234567 Kurdish/Persian 50 ND unknown TKM 057..E38..N KDP But WRTH A-10 update does have 3995, but shows a different Pakistani clandestine; neither scheduled at the time reported: Target: INDIA (IND), VOICE OF JAMMU & KASHMIR FREEDOM MOVEMENT (Clan) kHz: 3995 Summer Schedule 2010, Kashmiri/Others Days Area kHz 0300-0400 daily IND 3995isl† 1300-1430 daily IND 3995isl† Key: † Irregular. (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH KOREA. 9665.56, KCBS Pyongyang (presumed) heard at 1013-1018 with opera-like music, vocal by W. Would have checked for //'s had I known the frequencies. (12 June) (Dave Valko, NRD-535D and 60 meter T2FD, Dunlo, PA, USA, HCDX via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH. 15245, V. of Korear, poor June 13 at 1339 English ID, then joyful music by happy workers. Seldom heard on this transmission for Europe; // 11710 to NAm (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. It would interesting to know, from anyone who can receive it, if the North Korean domestic service(s) broadcast 'live' coverage of their first game in the World Cup tonight (June 15). Brazil v North Korea from Ellis Park in Johannesburg starts at 1830 UTC and the game should conclude at around 2015 UTC. Brazil's games are usually accompanied by samba music, but will we hear it over the trumpeters !!!!! According to a BBC report this morning the North Korean officials at their Press Conference yesterday would only say that the game 'might' be shown on domestic TV (Noel R. Green, UK, June 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Live relay of this historic match online http://3s.tv/static/img/online-ch.html (Russian-Ukrainian commentary) Good to hear the North Korean anthem in the beginning of the game ;) So far Koreans are playing pretty good (Sergei S., 1906 UT June 15, ibid.) I was following this thread since it was posted, and I must say, the North Koreans are not just playing good, in some way they are playing way too good, much better than what they were expected of, before the game started. Being the lowest ranked country to play in the main draws of World Cup since 1994, it's not easy to keep Brazil at bay [until half time], especially when Brazil boast of the players like Kaka, Ronbinho, Fabiano! Yes, if there is any news on whether this match is being broadcast in North Korea, either on TV or even a radio commentary, please share with us here. Also, can anyone get to listen to any English commentary of the world cup matches in the Short Wave? (Paul, India, ibid.) Yes, see UK: BBCWS ** KOREA NORTH. QSL estranho --- Korean National Democratic Front Caros amigos DXistas, Em 22/fevereiro de 2009 ouvi, em Jaguaruna/SC, uma emissão com músicas orientais em 4450, por volta das 0935 UT, com um sinal bastante fraco, o que obviamente, despertou-me grande curiosidade. Ao ver a lista AOKI, deparei com uma única emissão relatada nessa frequência, que seria a National Democratic Front, transmitindo desde Pyongyang, Coreia do Norte. Após uma breve pesquisa na internet, descobri que alguns dx-istas haviam reportado a escuta dessa emissora ao endereço "National Democratic Front of South Korea, Grenier Osawa 107, 40 Nando-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan". Fiz o mesmo, mas a carta voltou, dando endereço inválido. Não desisti. Raciocinei que se esse movimento (National Democratic Front) é pró-socialista, conforme podem conferir na wikipedia em http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Imperialist_National_Democratic_Front certamente as autoridades de radiodifusão da Coreia do Norte lhe dão apoio. E assim fiz, escrevi para a Coreia do Norte, solicitando que repassassem o meu relatório a algum departamento que pudesse verificá- lo, ou então, que a própria autoridade norte-coreana de comunicações o verificasse, se assim lhe coubesse. Pois bem, recebi hoje uma carta da Rádio Voz da Korea (do Norte), contendo um cartão QSL, que apesar de não fazer nenhum menção ao movimento National Democratic Front, confirma aquela minha escuta de 22/fev/2009 nos 4450 Khz !! Ou seja, verificaram essa minha escuta em um cartão da VOK, em idioma francês. Gostaria de perguntar se os amigos consideram válido um QSL nestas condições, para confirmar que eu ouvi a Korean National Democratic Front, apesar de o mesmo só fazer referência À VOK, muito embora o horário e a frequência listados não correspondam a nenhuma das emissões da VOK daquele ano (nem da atualidade). Espero ainda hoje colocar esse QSL no blog http://pqslfabricio.blogspot.com/ Um forte 73 a todos (Fabricio Andrade Silva, Tubarão-SC, PP5002 SWL, 16 June, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Fabrício, Isso faz eu lembrar que nos anos 90 a R. Internacional da China centralizava o envio de confirmações. Ou seja, diferente dos dias atuais em que ao ouvir a emissora regional tibetana você pode mandar um informe direto para Lhasa, o informe tinha que ser enviado para Pekim. Se confirmaram seu informe é porque alguma relação existe entre o movimento em questão e a emissora estatal da Coreia do Norte. Fazendo um paralelo com a questão chinesa do passado, consideraria válido seu QSL. 73 (Ivan Dias Jr. - Sorocaba/SP http://ivandias.wordpress.com ibid.) ** KOREA SOUTH [non]. 9650, KBS World Radio via CANADA, Saturday June 12 at 1237 with Worldwide Friendship mailbag, including discussion of the many millions of Catholix & Protestants in Korea. Kevin O`Donovan in Farmington NM presented his listening tips segment at 1253-1256, this time about REE DRM to NAm on 9630; Sri Lanka discontinued service to Korea; VOR relayed on FM in India; World Cup on Sirius/XM. No sources credited but all these items appeared in the Media Network blog. He has only three minutes, but could have squeezed in two more words for proper credit (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS. 7145, Lao National R., Vientiane. Since May 28 I have been unable to hear this, but on June 10 noted them at 1209, gone by recheck at 1336. On June 12 was not on the air at 1254. Seems to have become erratic! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LIBERIA. 4025, 0553, Tentative traces of Star Radio’s new 2.5 kW, 31/5 with talk and music too weak to make out. Possible newscast at 0700 but lost 0713 (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, New Zealand, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, June NZ DX Times via DXLD) 4025-, no carrier from Star Radio detectable June 11 at 0531; this time T-storm QRN from SW OK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4025, Star Radio. June, 11 2045-2055 female talks alternating short African music. Unable to check if the language was English. 25522 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4025, presumed Star Radio carrier just barely audible, June 14 at 0612, and again slightly on the low side by comparison to Cuba 5025 (which is not necessarily on 5025.000 itself) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) STAR RADIO LAUNCHES SHORTWAVE SERVICE Written by Matthias Daffah Friday, 11 June 2010 http://www.starradio.org.lr/content/view/16146/380/ Star Radio-Liberia has formally launched its shortwave service in the country. The new facility will broadcast programs on 4.025 Megahertz on the 75 meter Shortwave band. The launch of the Star Radio Shortwave service was performed by the entity’s Board Chairperson, Mrs. Hawa Goll-Kotchi. For his part, Star Radio’s Station Manager James Morlu said the new service provides a new medium to disseminate information in Liberia and the sub-region. Mr. Morlu believes Liberians in every part of the country and beyond would be able to access the new frequency. Also speaking, the head of Infinitive Incorporated, owner of Power FM and TV Aaron Kollie thanked the management of Star Radio for the initiative (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) It may have just been ``formally launched`` but the same homepage still gives the previous ``for now test transmission`` schedule (gh) ** MADAGASCAR. 3215, AWR Talata-Volonondry relay, 0255-0301 May 5, in Malagasy with OM talking, slow relig songs. In the clear with sigs to 40 dB [compared to what?], G-excellent (Richard W. Parker, Pennsburg PA, Miltronix/SignalCorps R-390A, Sherwood SE-3 MK III Deluxe Synchronous Detector, Collins 51S-1 with 55G-1 pre-selector, Collins 51-X, Yaesu FT-840, Lowe HF-150, Grundig Satellit 800, MFJ-901B antenna tuner, 25m dipole, Alpha-Delta DX Sloper, 160 foot inverted L, Shortwave Logbook, June World DX Club Contact, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) In the clear with WWCR on 3215? No, without WWCR due to the flood, but it resumed the next day (gh, DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. 7105 (USB + carrier mode), RTV Malagasy, June 10 from 1328 to 1403 the signal continues to be stronger than ever heard here before; Hi-Li songs; 1332-1346 was talking, then back to Hi-Li music; ToH ID; today unable to hear 6134.9v nor 5010 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6134.935, Radio Malagasy, 1448, fair, with presumed World Cup coverage. Warbly transmitter, drifting above and below measured frequency, but otherwise strong S9+30. Parallel 7105.007 (weaker) running carrier+USB. 11 June (David Sharp, NSW Australia. NRD-535D, FT-950, R8, ICF-2010, ICF-SW7600GR etc., dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Should that be June 12, compared to Ron`s logs? (gh) 7105 (USB + carrier mode), RTV Malagasy, June 12 had almost fair reception with pre-World Cup coverage at 1355 with songs (“We Are the World”, etc.); into excited World Cup coverage till 1410 tune out. Believe we will now be hearing a lot of “We Are the World”, as I also heard the same song today via Radio Fly (Papua New Guinea). Outstanding reception conditions for SW coverage of the World Cup! Please listen to the audio attachment. 7105 (USB + carrier mode), RTV Malagasy, June 14 continues to be heard via long path with a decent signal. 1336 had promo for World Cup; into long talk till 1354 series of ads followed by the start of commentary about the upcoming Cameroon vs. Japan World Cup match with countless mentions of “Cameroon”; then into the actual coverage of the game; still faintly heard at 1420; // 5010 (poor in USB + carrier mode) and 6134.9v (poor). June 13 also had football coverage. ** MADAGASCAR. 7105 (USB + carrier mode), RTV Malagasy, June 16 continues on with daily World Cup coverage; randomly from 1317 to 1503*; mostly fair for the whole time. Segments with commentary before the match started, then coverage of the action on the field followed by many phone calls taken live; Hi-Li music before sign off with no announcement; // 5010 (poor in USB + carrier mode) and 6134.9v (poor). Day after day with incredibly fine reception here! The audio attachment has a very nice “Malagasy” song with African music, followed by yelling and “gooooal” (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADAGASCAR [and non]. 13710 in French, discussion of Congo and then Central African Republic, something about a presidential term expiring, June 11 at 0540. It`s VOA via Talata, M-F 0530-0600. Another French broadcast on 13840, June 11 at 0542 but they keep mentioning Japon, i.e. NHK also via Madagascar, daily 0530-0600. These two, plus others, want to split the audience. Not to mention RFI itself on 9790 at 04-08, also heard at this time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also NETHERLANDS ANTILLES +non ** MALAYSIA. [Continued from AUSTRALIA] Radio-Television Malaysia (RTM) has chosen the same Continental model for its new short-wave transmitters. The three 100 kilowatt DRM-ready HF transmitters from Continental, along with other associated equipment, are to be installed in the RTM transmitting station at Kajang, and will enable RTM transmissions in digital DRM format as well as conventional analogue AM. RTM’s new transmitters are expected to be on the air and fully operational before the end of the year (DRM Newsletter, June 2010) Read the DRM Newsletter June 2010 issue here : http://www.drm.org/old/index.php?id=367 ---- (via Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, India, June 10, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DXLD) ** MALAYSIA/SARAWAK. 7270.47, Wai FM via RTM, June 10 continues off frequency at 1408 (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6009.92, Radio Mil, 0434-0453, June 15. It has been a long time since I last checked here, back when Voz de tu Conciencia totally dominated; was nice to find R. Mil completely in the clear now with almost a fair signal, except for summertime QRN. Played mostly pop songs; promo for Classic Fútbol; many IDs. 6184.95, XEPPM, R. Educación 0356-0406, June 15. EZL music; Spanish and English IDs (something like: This is Radio Educación, shortwave from Mexico City, XEPPM, 6,185 kHz in the International Band of 49 meters, with 10,000 watts of power); promo in Spanish and English for new series “discovery of Inca gold, on XEPPM Radio Educación shortwave from Mexico City”. If one listens long enough here, one is bound to hear some English (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) But I bet Inca show really only in Spanish (gh) ** MEXICO. Correxion to my previous report about the two channel 3 stations: Mexicali is XHBC, not XHBQ. Sporadic-E TVDX, all times UT: June 13 at 1800, channel 2 fade in, Spanish from SSW, but did not develop; instead had CANADA [q.v.] a couple hours later. UT June 14: 0201 on 2, Julio Morán with Noticiero Fin de Semana, seems from SSW. Googling doesn`t help. 0226, MUF up to channel 6 video, guy in white coat wearing tie 0232 on 6, 9:32 clock in LR = CDT zone, talkshow with at least 3 people around a desk. 0235 on 5, FUERA large letters on screen; looks like star bug in UR = XEW-2 net, Canal de las Estrellas 0244 on 6, bug for Azteca-7 net in UR, film drama. There are about 4 full-power possibilities. Per TVG, movie is ``Gol!`` on this net altho in brief glimpses I did not see any fútbol. 0245 on 5, drama breaking into color; same-offset CCI i.a. 0300 on 3, promo for soccer on Televisa-2 net, but I think this was Televisa-5 net (XHGC) as per promo for it two minutes later. This can all get quite confusing and misleading with cross-promotion among different Televisa nets, different Azteca nets, etc. 0303 on 3, political ad for PT = Partido del Trabajo (Workers` Party – must be a minor one). 0305 opening weakening now down to mostly channel 2 with mélange of signals. Es TVDX June 14: at 2315 UT on 2, local Spanish newscast, single YL anchor at left of screen, talking matter-of-factly about someone busted for homosex conduct, mentioning Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, but this signal did not peak from the SW, rather south, so doubt it was XEPM CiJz. There was also some bug in LR, looked like horizontal lettering rather than logo. At 2318 CCI from Mundial about Holanda game, natch with hornoise. There was a lot of other skip but no time to dig further, and stormy too (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. YUCATÁN FM AUDIO AND TV TRANSMITTER PHOTOS I have added two separate posts to the forums for those who are interested. First, there is Yucatán FM, which includes an audio clip of every station in Merida (most with full detailed IDs - impressive!): http://wtfda.info/showthread.php?p=13324 Second, there are some TV transmitter photos I took of XHY, XHMEY / XHDH, and XHST in Merida: http://wtfda.info/showthread.php?p=13325 Bandscan in Mérida is as follows. They're all in town and not a damn thing else was heard on FM anywhere in the state aside from these: 89.3 XHMIA "Ultra" - CHR/Electronic 92.1 XEMYL "Los 40 Principales" - AC/Variety 92.9 XHYUC "Yucatán FM" - Mostly talk, some Mexican music 93.7 XHMRI "Ke buena" - Mexican 94.5 XHVG "Radio Fórmula 1a Cadena" - government/talk 95.3 XHMH "Candela" - Mexican 97.7 XHGL "KISS FM" - Hot AC/Variety 98.5 XHMT "La Comadre Puros Exitos" - Mexican 99.3 XHMRA "Exa FM" - Variety/Electronic 100.1 XHYU "Amor" - Romántica/AC 103.9 XHRUY "Radio Universidad" - UADY Variety, largely talk 105.1 XHZ "Radio Fórmula 2a Cadena" - government/talk 102.3 XHIPM is listed on many pages. It was not heard at any time in any place for all 8 days. It's not on the air. 105.1 isn't listed on any pages. I'm assuming it's a new station on FM. Calls are XHZ per station ID (also as XEZ-AM). (-Chris Kadlec, Fremont, Mich. http://www.beaglebass.com/dx 12 June, WTFDA via DXLD) ** MONGOLIA. 12085, The Voice of Mongolia, Tarjeta QSL, V/S Densmaa Zorigt, Mail Editor, Carta personal, Esquema y Horario. Demoró: 110 días. Informe enviando a: densmaa9 @ yahoo.com cc. Mr @ mogol.net [sic] incluyendo archivo de audio .mp3 Imagen disponble en : http://dxdesdecolombia.blogspot.com Buen DX (Rafael Rodríguez R., Bogotá D.C. - COLOMBIA, 14 June, playdxyg via DXLD) Nice clouds: big sky country (gh, DXLD) ** MYANMAR. 7200.0, Myanma Radio. On June 11 heard Korea going off at 1249, leaving Myanmar in the clear; in vernacular; pop and indigenous music. Please listen to the audio attachment. From 1331 to 1334* a lecture completely in English, provided by the Minorities and Distance Learning Services; running four minutes late. 7185.78, Myanma Radio. Tuning thru 41m band on June 14 at 1254, heard a weak station on this former Myanmar frequency, playing pop song in vernacular. Checked 7200 (actually on 7200.03v today) and found a fairly good Myanmar signal and yes, was // to 7185.78, which suddenly went off the air at 1258, while 7200.03v continued on till 1331*. Must have been an anomaly caused by miscommunication between Yangon and Naypyidaw! (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Myanma Radio, Rangoon, on approx. 5985.8 kHz has been heard over the past few days with sign-on just after 2300 UT in Burmese. Weak to fair reception on a clear channel. There is a greyline path around this time between South-East Asia and Northern Europe, which no doubt helps. Reception starts to deteriorate soon after (Tony Rogers, Birmingham, UK, AOR 7030+ / LW, June 16, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) ** NETHERLANDS ANTILLES [and non]. Bonaire story --- This was the text of a brochure which I wrote in 1989 following a visit to the station. The show is just on line at http://jonathanmarks.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=622794 this is the text of the brochure which explains how the transmitters were fed. RADIO NETHERLANDS BONAIRE RELAY STATION Three minutes before the start of each Radio Netherlands broadcast you will hear frequency details read out over the air. Reference is usually made to the fact that the broadcast originates from transmitters in The Netherlands, or via one of the two Radio Netherlands overseas relay stations. One facility is on the island of Madagascar, the other on the island of Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles. LOCATION If you take a map of the world and look just north of the coast of Venezuela, around 80 kilometres in fact, you will find three islands. They are usually termed the “ABC” islands, though strictly speaking the order is ACB --- ”Aruba”, “Curaçao” in the middle, and the island furthest to the East is called “Bonaire”. Until 1986 all three islands formed part of the Netherlands Antilles. But Aruba has now been granted a separate status as part of its move towards full independence from Holland. Although only 288 square kilometres in area, Bonaire is an island of contrasts. On the north side are the hills around Slagbaai, while the south side is completely flat. From the media standpoint, the island is well served. There are four radio stations, a cable system and a television station. The combined transmitter output of the radio stations is 1,204,750 kilowatts [sic], so you can imagine that Bonaire has its fair share of radio. 750 watts are needed by the local FM radio station, “Voz di Bonaire” (literally the “Voice of Bonaire”), another 4000 watts for the station "Ritmo FM", and 650 kilowatts are used by the evangelical station, Trans World Radio, situated on the southern part of the island. The remaining 550 kilowatts are radiated from Radio Netherlands' relay station on the northern part of Bonaire. The idea to build a relay station in Bonaire goes back to 16 September 1954, when the first stone was laid at the Lopik shortwave transmitting centre right in the heart of Holland. Upon hearing that The Netherlands was embarking on a plan to improve its external service, the Antillian government proposed that instead of building one huge station in Holland, Radio Netherlands should consider building part of the station in the Caribbean. Initially there didn't seem to be the need. But in 1960 when Drs Leeuwe Frans Tijmstra became the director of the Dutch external broadcasting service the matter was considered again. He was aware of the need to transmit as close as possible to distant target areas and came across the Antillian relay proposal. Shortly afterwards Jackie Debrot, the Antillian Minister of Culture, informed Radio Netherlands that they had signed a deal with Trans World Radio for the establishment of a medium and shortwave radio station in the Antilles. Dr Tijmstra immediately phoned Trans World Radio to congratulate them on their success, and suggested that Radio Netherlands was interested in hiring airtime, if it was available. At the end of 1963, the contract was sealed, and the following year Radio Netherlands programmes were being relayed by TWR Bonaire. The small team of combined Radio Netherlands and TWR personnel were given the task of compiling daily 50 minute broadcasts. Some shows were pre-recorded four weeks in advance and shipped to Bonaire by airmail --- but news and current affairs had to be picked up off the air using a sophisticated receiving system. Initially this consisted of a rhombic antenna receiving the regular AM transmissions from Lopik. Later, the Dutch PTT set up a special Single Sideband feed via a transmitter in Kootwijk. This provided the relay station in Bonaire with a much better quality signal for re-broadcast. SEPARATE FACILITY It was now clear to the Radio Netherlands management that they needed at least two relay stations abroad to reach distant target areas with a competitive signal. Bonaire was ideal for the Americas and the Pacific, whilst Madagascar came under consideration for Southern and Eastern Africa plus Asia. Hiring time from Trans World Radio was successful in building up much larger audiences, but the ultimate goal was a relay station of their own. After some tough negotiations in The Hague, this was finally achieved, and in March 1969 it was ready to be inaugurated. Two 300 kilowatt shortwave transmitters had been purchased from the Philips company, and a large antenna array from Switzerland. Although plans for a satellite feed of the studio signal were discussed the day after the station was inaugurated, it wasn’t until 1978 that this was finally realized. This allowed Radio Netherlands to broadcast far more topical material, and it became one of the first shortwave broadcasters to use a satellite feed to an overseas relay station, first via a complicated route though Curaçao, until in the course of the eighties when an Intelsat receiving dish was installed on Bonaire. THE STATION TODAY Just outside the town of Kralendijk is the satellite receiving centre and administration offices. The signal is sent over the satellite circuit in digital form. At the satellite receiving station the signal is converted back into an audio signal. A cable and radio link connects the receiving station with the transmitter site some 10 kilometres to the north-west. Remember before the satellite era, programmes had to be picked up off shortwave. It is not good practice to cannot build a shortwave receiving station next door to a transmitting antenna pumping out 550 kilowatts! It is a ten minute drive from Kralendijk to the transmitter site. As you drive along the coastal road; you can not only see the antenna masts, (the tallest is 105 metres high) but you can hear the constant wind blowing through the antenna rigging. The station has fourteen antennas beaming towards West Africa, the Pacific, North, Central and South America. An omni-directional antenna is used for the Caribbean service. Most of the antennas are curtain arrays, the beam direction being varied in a 30 degree arc by slewing. 6000 LITRES A DAY When the station was established, there was not enough power generated on the island to supply the station. So five diesel generators are currently installed, three running at any one time. These generate a total of one million watts to power the transmitters. This is about the same energy consumption per day as forty fully equipped houses consume in one month. The diesel engines run for nine months and then are fully dismantled for maintenance. The generator house has no doors on one side of the building; the heat has to be allowed to escape. But even with the doors open, it is 35 C in there. The relay station uses around 6000 litres of gas oil [sic] per day. That works out at approximately US $1300. Deliveries are every two days, although the station keeps several days supply in reserve tanks. Salt air is one of the biggest enemies. Special anti-corrosion paint has to be used to prevent the antennas (and the supporting towers) from collapsing. Salt water from the sea is indirectly used to cool the generators and one of the old Philips 300 kW transmitters. THREE TRANSMITTERS Radio Netherlands Bonaire relay station was upgraded in 1989 with a new 250 kilowatt transmitter made by Brown Boveri. This replaces an older 300 kW Philips transmitter which is now kept on standby. Another 300 kW Philips sender is still in daily operation. The station operates for up to 19 hours a day for 20 years, and with the few hours in the morning for maintenance, it is impossible to dismantle major sections of a transmitter and have them working again a few hours later. If you have ever experienced an electric shock from a mains appliance, you can imagine how careful you’ve got to be when potentials of up to 28,000 volts are used in modern transmitters. The components are expensive too. Forty-two people currently work at the Radio Netherlands Bonaire relay station. Three of the staff are Dutch, the rest come from all parts of the Netherlands Antilles. It is a hard working team that work round the clock to make sure the programmes get to their destination! (Jonathan Marks, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) Remember, the above was as of 21 years ago! There have been a few changes since, like installation of DRM transmitter, and a transmitter whose origin is being kept secret (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGESET) ** NEWFOUNDLAND. CANADA. 6159.96, CKZN, St John`s, Newfoundland, 0120- 0200, June 12, talk about HIV/AIDS in South Africa. “CBC-Radio One” IDs. Rap music. CBC news at 0200. Poor to fair with adjacent channel splatter (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) see also CANADA ** NEW ZEALAND. Ron Howard has been noticing that RNZI opened 6170 an hour late at 1400 on Fridays for two or three weeks, but not June 11: tune-in 1329 to honky-tonk piano music with bass, sounds like a girl group with old-time Hawaiian song. Must have started a minute or two early as keeps happening on RNZI with ``1330`` shows. Soon program announced as ``Waiata``, which is about Maori music, so could not possibly have been Hawaiian. BTW, to be just right, put a macron over the a of Maori. If you can find one. Glad Waiata is back on SW, one of my MONITORING REMINDERS CALENDAR recommendations, http://www.worldofradio.com/calendar.html But no playlists have been posted since 31 January at http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/waiata 6170 signal is descending into the noise level 2.5 hours after LSR; lucky to get what we can. No het detectable from DZ station (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6170, RNZI, 1317, June 11. As Glenn has already reported, this Friday they returned to their normal sign on time (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. 13725, RCI with rock music, scheduled Spanish service this hour with huge signal, June 12 at 0035, impossiblizing reception of RNZI on much weaker 13730, another needless abutment. Yes, I know, we`re not supposed to listen to RNZI anyway. Well, there`s always RNZI DRM on // 15720, but rather weak and I doubt it would have decoded (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. SHORTWAVE 'WILL CONTINUE TO PLAY MAJOR ROLE' IN PACIFIC http://www.abu.org.my/abu/index.cfm/elementid/61486/Shortwave-will-continue-to-play-major-role-in-Pacific Shortwave radio is likely to continue to play a major role in the Pacific for many years, the Chief Executive of Radio New Zealand, Peter Cavanagh, has said. In an interview with ABU News, he said advances in technology were helping Radio New Zealand International reach more people and provide a more technically robust signal. But many people still depended on shortwave. "We currently broadcast to the Pacific using both analogue and digital (DRM) shortwave transmitters. Most of our local partner stations are now using our digital transmission to provide a higher quality and more reliable signal for re-broadcast to their own audiences. "But many individuals and those living on the more remote islands are still very much dependent on analogue receivers - particularly in times of crisis such as the cyclone season - and it's likely that analogue shortwave will continue to play a major role in the region for many more years to come." Around 20 Pacific radio stations relay RNZI material daily, and individual shortwave listeners and Internet users across the world tune in directly to RNZI content. Mr Cavanagh said RNZI had been one of the first broadcasters in the region to adopt online broadcasting and provided a comprehensive archive of Pacific news and information. "While reliable Internet connections in the Pacific are still not widely available, we're aware that there's a significant and growing online audience for RNZI's programmes and services," he said. Visit RNZI at http://www.rnzi.com (ABU 11 June 2010 via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. [Re 10-23, UNIDENTIFIED] Glenn, So far no sign of FRCN Enugu on 6025. I haven't heard it for a long time now but will keep checking. In fact right now there do not seem to be any domestic Nigerian stations on shortwave, though the Kaduna 6090 service in Hausa doesn't normally remain off the air for very long (James MacDonell (Niger State, Nigeria), June 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. Whilst I have no interest in football, for the record I did note on 12 June that Voice of Nigeria was relaying English World Cup commentary of the Nigeria/Argentina match from 1500 on 15120 when programming switched to this frequency. This seemed to me like a relay of a TV commentary rather than the ball-by-ball commentary normally associated with radio commentary. However, what would I know! Anyway, for those who're interested in such matters, I guess that VoN may also relay other World Cup matches involving Nigeria (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 32, KXOK-LP, and 31, KXOK-LD, Enid, back to circle in middle of black screen and No Signal! below it starting around 0130 UT June 13 when a storm went thru our city. STILL the case at 1755 UT, long after the brief torment. However, I happened to be watching at 0500, when cut to their animated ID with a training jet flying around, then back to No Signal! Evidently programmed at TOH to insert legal IDs on autopilot, for which we are thankful. Meanwhile, around 0500 UT I was also getting the OETA DTV translator in Ponca City on RF channel 38. 32, local KXOK-LP Enid, UT June 14 at 0325 is back with programming, OK Wildlife show, just in time for another storm to hit us. Yes! At 0341, back to ``No signal!`` screen, and the circlish logo in the middle I see is bluish, not whitish. 1530 it`s back again with ancient Vincent Price B&W movie. The analog channel 36 in OKC, KHCM-CA, bringing Univisión into the city from primary station KUOK-35 in of all places Woodward, had been a marginal signal I could usually pick up by aiming right at OKC, but has been absent for a few days. Not sure what is going on here, as in FCC TV Query I do not see a DTV replacement for it on same or any other channel. Licensee is ``Oklahoma Land Company``. Univisión has another relay in OKC on channel 48, less often seen and not lately either, per W9WI.com KWDW-LP, same licensee, also analog only. OKC DTV reception starts breaking up whenever there are storms around here, and that is often currently. I have been somewhat surprised to find equal or better reception of OETA & OKLA at times on channel 38 translator from Ponca City, K38AK-D, 13.560 kW ERP. I wish OETA would reactivate its closer one west of Medford, due north of Enid on channel 46, but it`s currently shown as DK46AH, i.e. deleted; analog coverage area included Enid tho few knew about it: http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=LD1123587.html N.B. the advisory that Census has deleted Tiger Map service, but FCC retains what it has on its servers. Monday morning into the afternoon, the OKC stations are in fullbore coverage of the floods in OKC: no, not affecting us in Enid (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello Mark, I haven`t bothered you about OETA reception issues, but we still have them in Enid. Let the atmosphere be a bit jumbled by storms anywhere in the area and the digital signals on 13 start breaking up. Like Sunday night when you have the string of public affairs talkshows we like to get on OKLA. Meanwhile I have installed a brand-new antenna with rotor, and find that I am sometimes getting the ch 38 translator in Ponca, which leads me to wonder if and when you ever plan to bring back the ch 46 translator in Medford (closest one to here, and I used to get a weak signal on analog). FCC info indicates it is licensed for digital but currently `deleted`. That could help fill in when we can`t get a decent signal from OKC. I assume it still would if getting satellite feed rather than having to pick up 13 too from further than I am. Regards, (Glenn Hauser, Enid, to Mark Norman, OETA via DXLD) Glenn, Thanks for your note. The Medford translator was scheduled to be rebuilt with the others but the company we lease tower space from hired a tower crew to work on the tower and they left it un-guyed and it fell. We had already put a new building in place. They decided not to rebuild the tower so we are not going to replace the site. We could only get 400 watts of digital power which would not have made it to Enid. The Ponca City transmitter is putting out 8,000 watts ERP so you might get it better than OKC when the weather is bad. I am sorry the signal fades from time to time but this is what the FCC has left us with so I guess we live with it for now (Mark Norman, OETA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NTSC channel 36, KHCM-CA, invisible for a while, back June 16 after 0300 UT; 0455 fading out, back again. Apparently this OKC low power relaying KUOK-35 Woodward with Univisión is not sufficient to reach here under dead conditions and needs some area tropo boost. Normally invisible LPs in OKC on 17, 19, 21 and 48 // 36 also coming in at 0552. 19 has GCN network with 700 Club; 21 home shopping. Meanwhile, 32, KXOK-LP Enid back to No Signal! screen at 0500 and still at 1445 UT June 16. In the NTSC analog era, in Enid we could commonly view at least weak signals from the Tulsa TV stations in the 200 km range, but now by ATSC DTV they are invisible without tropo DX enhancement! That occurred June 17 from 0500 past 0600 UT, so I made a few observations: KOTV on RF 45 has three channels: 6.1 KOTV itself, the CBS affiliate; 6.2 PSIP says KOTV-CW; and 6.3 thisTv showing old movie Topkapi starring Pyotr Ustinov. Strange about 6.2 with Oprah, as // KQCW-HD on RF 19, but 6.2 is SD; why bother to duplicate? KOTV website has schedules for all of them. No other way to see thisTv around here. Fortunately, Enid translator K45EJ of KSBI ``52`` is still missing, gone for a couple years, else it would block KOTV and well as KSNW RF 45 NBC in Wichita. K45EJ is supposedly going to come back as DTV on same channel. On RF channel 22 is KOKI-DT as virtual 23, Tulsa Fox affiliate. No subchannels. On RF channel 42 is KMYTDT with My41 as 41.1, plus Untamed Sports program with e/i bug in circle upper-right on 41.2. PSIP ID for BOTH says KMYTDT (no hyphen)! What is e/i, anyway? See it as program source on many different network stations. Or is it a ratings mark, but unlike the usual form? On RF 28, megawatt KTPX licensed to Okmulgee with Ion`s usual three channels 44.1, 44.2 and 44.3. Tiger Map shows site is really in the middle of the triangle Okmulgee-Bristow-Bixby. I was getting OETA fine on 11.1, OKLA on 11.2, i.e. KOED, but not enough signal from KJRH RF 8 (NBC) or KTUL RF 10 (ABC). W9WI.com does show KOED with about twice the power (33 kW) on RF 11 as the commercial VHF stations, but only as an APP and a CP MOD, while it`s LIC on RF 38 with a megawatt ERP. Was I axually getting it on 38? I neglected to check with manual tuning. God, how I hate this remapping crap! Even OETA will not tell you which RF channels they are REALLY on under ``What`s the frequency?`` at http://www.oeta.tv/about/dtv/channels.html E.g. Cheyenne is on RF 8, not 12, and Eufaula is on RF 31, not 3! Wait a minute, their Ponca City DTV translator is definitely on RF 38, but its PSIP ID is only OETA, while the 11 I was getting IDed as KOED, so that must really have been on RF 11, right? I also looked for analog low-power Tulsa channels as several are listed, but none making it with antenna aimed right at Tulsa (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3290, NBC Central, relay of Radio Gadona 95.5 FM, 1224, June 16. Island songs; 1301 bird call; “News Roundup” in English; frequent 95.5 FM IDs; poor to almost fair (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 3915, Radio Fly, 1214-1257, June 12. Mostly pop songs; one segment with announcer between songs, but mostly non-stop music. Adjacent splatter in Korean from strong (unjammed) 3912. At first was unable to hear // 5960, but by 1257 it was stronger than 3915, which was fading out. Played “We Are the World”; after 1300 noted 5960 mixing with talking in Chinese (PBS Xinjiang); very poor by 1350. This is the first decent reception I have had since my last one on June 7; all other days were unusable (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3915, 1800, Radio Fly noted thru the night with music and announcements in a language. English good morning announcement noted at 1800. Poor to fair 28/05 (John Durham, Tauranga, New Zealand, JRC 535D Eavesdropper trap dipole, June NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7325, 1924, Wantok Radio Light with contemporary Christian vocals, gospel message, 30/5. Poor signal and transmitter sounds increasingly sick – wobbly sound (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, New Zealand, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, June NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. RNZI AIRS NEW RADIO HERITAGE DOCUMENTARY --- PAPUA NEW GUINEA RADIO 75 YEARS ON THE AIR Join us from Monday June 14 2010 when we air our new radio heritage documentary about Papua New Guinea Radio on the Mailbox program from Radio New Zealand International. It's 75 years this year since 4PM Port Moresby began its first commercial broadcasts to the largely unexplored territory of Papua New Guinea. We take a look back at those early days, soon to be followed by an amazing variety of radio stations that filled the airwaves over the following decade. You can listen directly via shortwave or audio on demand [for the following month] with full details of broadcast frequencies and times for your area and audio downloads at http://www.rnzi.com You'll hear about the Armed Forces Radio Jungle Network, the Australian Army Amenities Service network, propaganda broadcasts from Rabaul, the shared command station 9PA and more about the signals on the airwaves of the mountains, islands, and jungles of this scattered archipelago in the south-west Pacific. Just how do you go about broadcasting to the home of several thousand local dialects and languages when the only transport your station has available is the truck that empties the town toilets every night. Join David Ricquish of the Radio Heritage Foundation for a fascinating story about early radio in Papua New Guinea and some enjoyable local music. You'll also find the story of the joint command station 9PA, and guides to the AFRS Jungle Network and the Australian AAS network stations across Papua New Guinea at http://www.radioheritage.net Use our free Pacific Asian Log Radio Guides for full details of AM and shortwave broadcasters from around the entire region including Papua New Guinea. RNZI's Mailbox program from Monday June 14 via shortwave and audio on demand with full times and schedules for your area now at http://www.rnzi.com Radio Heritage Foundation is a registered non-profit organization connecting popular culture, nostalgia and radio heritage across the Pacific. Annual supporter packages start at US$10 and your donations keep this important radio heritage preservation and information project alive (David Ricquish, Media Release, Radio Heritage Foundation, June 10, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 3329.53, Ondas del Huallaga, Huánuco, 0003 OM, fair signal, 1030 fading out, 11 June (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, Florida, 746ProDL, R8, noise reducing antenna, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4965, R. Santa Mónica, Wanchaq, 0833-0839 April 30, in Spanish with OM talking and brief campos, in the clear but weak; not shown until 0900 in DBS-11 but from 0800 in EiBi (Richard W. Parker, Pennsburg PA, Miltronix/SignalCorps R-390A, Sherwood SE-3 MK III Deluxe Synchronous Detector, Collins 51S-1 with 55G-1 pre-selector, Collins 51-X, Yaesu FT-840, Lowe HF-150, Grundig Satellit 800, MFJ- 901B antenna tuner, 25m dipole, Alpha-Delta DX Sloper, 160 foot inverted L, Shortwave Logbook, June World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** PERU. 4955.00, 2255-2305 05.06, R Cultural Amauta, Huanta (presumed), Spanish announcement, music, 25332. [so much for my recent comment that this station would unlikely be on exactly .00 --- gh] 6019.27, 2255-2315 05.06, R Victoria, Lima. Spanish talk about La Patria, Beethoven's 7th Symphony, ID and "La Voz de la Liberación" [sic], 34433 (Anker Petersen, heard at our DSWCI DX-Camp at Vejers Beach in westernmost Jutland, Denmark, with the AR7030PLUS receiver and about 20 metres longwire plus testing a new Wellbrook S330 frameantenna which in many cases gave the best results! via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) ** PERU. In previous report about 18057.9 harmonic of R. Victoria I cited the wrong frequency as fundamental, ``9719.3`` --- I meant to write 6019.3. Perhaps with some more sunspots we can get it also around 29160 --- a number of third harmonix of 9 MHz on 10m band were heard long ago. Perhaps more likely would be 30096.5 = 5 x 6019.3 since we know for sure the 6 MHz transmitter produces one odd harmonic (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 6173 [sic], 1004, Radio Tawantinsuyo, Cusco fair in Spanish with excited speech 1/6. Ident 1008 then folk music. Measured at 6173.89 and best on LSB to avoid 6175 het, but QRM also from RNZI 6170 (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, New Zealand, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, June NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** POLAND [non]. Having a tune around at 1710 UT and found with ID External Service of Polish Radio from Warsaw in English on 9680, interview OM in GB about current affairs. Cannot find listed. Maybe new frequency for them (Mark Davies, Anglesey, UK, June 15, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Had been on 9770 for a while (via AUSTRIA). Maybe too much QRM there from Kashgar? (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) 9680 Was a single-day punching error at Moosbrunn site on June 15 ? Polish Radio Warsaw today June 16 at 1700 UT again on registered 9770 kHz, S=9+20dB and a bit fluttery as always. On 9680 seemingly R Taiwan in French S=3-4, noted after Bucharest signed OFF at 1656 UT. 7265 drm \\ via Kvitsoe Norway, S=9+40dB. Wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) At 1715 UTC, 16 June, I am hearing Polish Radio in English on both 9680 and 9770 kHz. Strong on 9770 kHz, very much weaker on 9680 kHz (Tony Rogers, Birmingham, UK, AOR 7030+ / LW, ibid.) Yes, Mark and Tony, - a spurious signal originate from Moosbrunn, Austria site. Please ask for QSL at Contact: ORS Moosbrunn Ing. Ernst Spitzbart Leiter KW-Sendezentrale Moosbrunn A-2440 Moosbrunn, Austria Tel +43 / 02234 / 78133 Fax +43 / 02234 / 78133 - 21920 Email: Now checked Aoki list entries 9725 V OF VIETNAM 1700-1830 Vietn 100kW 300degr Moosbrunn AUT VOV a10 9770 R. POLONIA 1700-1800 En 300kW NonDir Moosbrunn AUT PRW a10 2 x 9725 = 19450 minus 9770 = 9680 kHz symmetrical 9815 kHz should also carry the Voice of Vietnam program. Check it out tomorrow. 2 x 9770 = 19540 minus 9725 = 9815 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid., WORLD OF RADIO 1517) I.e. another leapfrog mixing product, another 45 kHz down (gh, DXLD) Voice of Vietnam indeed heard on both 9725 and weaker 9815 kHz from 1700 UTC in English (Tony Rogers, England, June 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Poland 9680 // 9770 English 9680 the weaker at 1720. V of Vietnam 9725 // 9815 English; 9725 much better at 1720 (Mark Davies, Anglesey, June 17, ibid.) ** POLAND. POLISH RADIO TO STREAM LIVE ELECTION NIGHT SPECIAL Polish Radio’s English section will be streaming a live election night special on Sunday 20 June from 1930 UT. The programme, presented by John Beauchamp and Peter Gentle, will have pundits trying to make sense of the results, vox pops from outside polling stations and all the latest presidential election news. The live audio stream will be accessible from the Home Page of the website. http://www.thenews.pl/ (Source: Polish Radio) (June 17th, 2010 - 14:22 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** PORTUGAL [and non]. WORLD CUP: No livetream transmission of RDP Internacional on game Ivory Coast vv Portugal team via RDP shortwave facilities. No seafarer nation anymory? All fishery and merchandise fleet staff use socket outlet of W-LAN satellite connect? (Jun 15) Only two channels of live coverage from Port Elizabeth: FRANCE Radio France International in French via Issoudun [Unfortunately local coordinate on dead zone, only 600 km distance!] 1600 UT June 15 13620 kHz S=9+20dB 15300 kHz S=9 (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Wolfgang, RDPi --- I'm afraid not, no relays via HF for a number of reasons which may coincide with those applied in some similar event here in Europe as I seem to remember, and I recall you also pointed that out. One of the reasons is, as I'm sure you'll understand, the mere fact that a given match may be held at the time when no b/casts are scheduled, like now (1553 UT). However, I'm sure there will be reports on the matches during the regular and/or extended (extra) HF b/casts. Another reason, which I think is the true one, is related to the rights of relaying the matches; they may apply to the domestic network, not via HF, but I'm not sure about this particular. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RDPi, no W.Cup b/casts: fortunately! Wolfgang, I've just got the confirmation of what I anticipated when you asked me why our RDPi was not carrying any live reports on the matches, or at least those attended by our national team. Live reports are solely for the domestic service via Antena 1, Antena 1 Açores, Antena 1 Madeira plus RDP África (available on VHF-FM via 3 txs on mainland and in Cabo Verde, Guiné, São Tomé e Príncipe and Moçambique). But then, what's so important about such "panem et circenses"?! My own opinion, I know, but you then you already know how I "like" f/ball and all the filth around it, now even spiced with the dreadful sound of the horns! Speaking of [such] horns, the kids on the school just behind our house have fun blowing one or two on occasions; what if installing a big loudspeaker towards them shouting some exalted junk broadcast of N. Korean? Perhaps that would silence them for good. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, June 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PRIDNESTROVYE. 9665, Radio PMR in English, UT Monday June 14 at 0002, somewhat better signal than VOR on 9890. PMR is off the air on UT Sat and Sun, and the transmitter might as well be used for VOR those days only at 00-02 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Attention, easy QSL --- Dear friends, yesterday I write an Email to PMR Moldova to have some information about English service asking the time table. This morning opening my office eMail I received their answer with a complete QSL card that confirm me that I listened to their emissions in SW. Naturally I've deleted the QSL card (it was very nice and colour) because I believe to be a serious DX and I don't like have confirmation concerning emission never heard. Bye (Dario Gabrielli, North of Italy, June 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. Radiostation Yunost on MW --- The radiostation Yunost will not prophesy more on AM, on extreme to measure in Vladivostok. Yesterday talked to people with VGTRK, and they have told, that the order from VGTRK has come to disconnect radiostation Yunost on average waves. I so understand, that the reason and in other cities where the oldest was broadcast is similar Youth radio of the country (Viktor Rutkovsky, Ekaterinburg / “open_dx” via RusDX 13 June via DXLD) Saratovskaya oblast. Saratov. The transmitter is switched – off. RW-396, 1278 kHz, 30 kW (Mikhail Kozhevnikov, Saratov, ibid.) ** RUSSIA. Bolshakovo, Krasny Bor, Moscow sites I just took a closer look at the current use of these facilities. Bolshakovo: No analogue shortwave anymore, the 9850/9880 DRM transmissions are all that is left, besides 171, 1143, 1215 kHz. Krasny Bor near St. Petersburg: Current shortwave schedule of this site appears to be 1200-1500 VOR Russian on 13870, 1500-1700 VOR Serbian on 12060, 1600-1900 CRI/VOR Arabic on 12065, 2000-2130 VOR Serbian on 7350. And that's all. Even when assuming that two transmitters are combined to a single 400 kW on 12065 and 7350, as registrations suggest, the remaining use of the installed capacity is a mere three percent. Moscow sites: All that is left besides Radio Rossii (0400-0800 12070, 0820-1300 13665, 1320-1700 9480, 1720-2100 7215) and the DRM on 12060/9750/9605, both from Taldom, are VOR English 1500-2100 on 12040, VOR Russian/Italian 1600-2000 on 7310, VOR English 1700-1900 on 13855, VOR French 1700-2000 on 15465 and CRI English 1930-2000 on 7225. CRI was known to originate from Taldom, but this transmission is part of an airtime exchange with VOR, so probably the "no analogue VOR from Taldom anymore" statement applies here, too. There are still MW/LW transmitters on air from both Lesnoy (873 kHz) and Kurovskaya (198 kHz) sites, so the few remaining VOR transmissions could either go out from a single one of these sites or shared between both ones, since a complete closure of either one appears to be unlikely. Calculating use-per-capacity figures would be almost pointless in either case, since about 15 shortwave transmitters have been installed at Lesnoy and more than 20 ones at the Kurovskaya plant. [later:] Hmmm, but do these CRI relays still exist at all? After 1930 I find on 7225 just Tunisia in the clear. It's quite strong, but still a co-channel signal from Russia should at least produce a noticeable SAH. And without a CRI relay there would also be no constellation of Krasny Bor operating on two frequencies just 5 kHz apart, since 12065 would start at 1700 when 12060 ends. While checking it all out I also note that 12040 has a different modulation, less bass range and slight distortion. This could indicate a different site, in particular as opposed to 7310. I noted these characteristics already years ago and associated the slightly distorted signals with Kurovskaya, since this behaviour could not be found on signals that were known to originate from Lesnoy. But so far this is still not much more than speculation (Kai Ludwig, Germany, June 12, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. 5930, R. Rossii (presumed). Horribly distorted signal with talk in language by W at 1006 tune/in. The noise is so bad, you can't even determine the language. Guess this would be the Petropavlovsk QTH. (12 June) (Dave Valko, NRD-535D and 60 meter T2FD, Dunlo, PA, USA, HCDX via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [non]. 7440, checking runup to VOR`s new frequency in English to NAm, June 11: carrier on circa 2347, but off a few minutes later. Back on again at *2357:30, then 2359 VOR IS, 2400 opening, poor in summer noise level, but somewhat better than // 9890 due to adjacent QRM from 9885 DCJC and VOA Spanish. Meanwhile, VOR Spanish via GUIANA FRENCH on 9810 was much better. No clues I could detect to link 7440 to Lviv, UKRAINE site, such as ``This is the RRT transmitter in Krasne/Lviv, Ukraine, signing on``; tho very likely (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) June 4, 2010, Voice of Russia World Service, new frequency of 7440 at 0005 UT (Radio Ukraine frequency and transmitter?) I sent VOR an e- mail asking whether this is temporary or a permanent addition to their schedule. Although they know me from having sent many reception reports over the years, I still haven't got a reply?? (Rich Brock, Bridgewater/Beaver, PA USA, (near Pittsburgh), Grundig Satellit 750, Zepp Longwire Antenna, MFJ - 941 Versa Tuner II, HCDX via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Voice of Russia with interference --- At 2259 UT on 9890 I tuned to VOR World Service. There was a steady bird chirping sound in with them, almost as strong of a signal. This sound seemed to cover 9890 to 9898. I seem to remember this back in the 1960's, the same sound but on various frequencies. The word was then that it was over the horizon radar? I haven't scanned to find out if it's on other frequencies now and I haven't heard that for many years. It's fading in and out now at 2318 UT. Just wondering (Rich Brock, Bridgewater / Beaver, PA, USA, June 13, HCDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DXLD) Rich, 9885 has VOA Spanish at 2300, which is jammed by Cuba. If you only heard chirping, you were lucky as usually here it`s a wall of noise. [OTH radar did not make chirping sounds.] Theory is that just one Cuban jammer puts out pulses which are individually detectable like that, while if you are getting a bunch of them, they merge together, overlapping. Ask Arnie? You might time how many chirps you hear per minute as I have done in some of my monitoring of Cuban jamming. In this case probably what we also refer to as bubbling. As soon as VOR started using 9890, I complained about what a poor frequency choice it was, right next to Cuban jamming and VOA. Now they`ve added 7440 (via Ukraine apparently) from 0000, but deeper into the summer noise level. 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks for identifying that for me, Glenn. I couldn't even hear VOA. I listen to Russia all the time and that's the first time that I heard the bubbling. When I hear that again I'll count the chirps per minute. I've been DXing since 1965 and I guess that I still have a lot to learn? The cold war years were really fun! 73 (Rich Brock, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [later:] Hi Glenn, I tuned on Voice of Russia at 0037 UT, June 15th on 9890 intending to time the "bubbling" as you suggested. No bubbling at all but VOR was all but covered up by Cuban splatter from 9885, even with my receiver set on narrow bandwidth. No reason for a 5 KC splash in my book. Couldn't even take it out with the RF gain. You were right about this as read in one of your prior posts. Back to tuning around now for me. Take care! (Rich Brock, ibid.) ** SAINT HELENA. Photos and audio clip from Joe BUCH Hi Glenn, at the end of March, the QUEEN MARY II visited St. Helena for the first time. It was a "national" holiday on the island, and Radio St. Helena broadcast live all day. Look at http://www.RMRC.de and look on the left side and click on "St. Helena Info". You can listen to an audio clip and look at several pictures. The audio is from MR. JOE BUCH of Florida, USA. Joe Buch (USA) and Bruce Salt (St. Helena) provided the photos. I am a member of the RMRC = Rhein-Main Radio Club, and this material just came online today. With very best greetings and good wishes, (Robert Kipp, June 11, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, Thanks to Robert Kipp, the audio from my interview over Radio St. Helena March 30, 2010 is now up on the internet at: http://www.rmrc.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=7&Itemid=71 This page has lots of photos of the day and if you scroll down the page there is a small player that can be used to hear the 7+ minte audio file. 73, (Joe Buch, N2JB, June 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The audio of my interview on Radio St. Helena (1548 kHz) during my visit to St. Helena on March 30, 2010 aboard the Queen Mary 2 is now available on the internet thanks to Robert Kipp and the Rhein-Main- Radio-Club. Go to: Scroll down the page to find a small player where you can hear a 7+ minute segment of a broadcast from the pier that ran for about 8 hours. 2195 tourists and crew invaded this small island with a population of only about 4000 friendly natives. Robert has told me that RSH is targeting the first Saturday in October for the annual Radio Saint Helena Day broadcast on 11092.5 USB. A few more folks need to agree to the date before it is official but Gary Walters and company are hoping that propagation will be better than last year on that earlier date. During the interview, I managed to get a big plug in for the Radio Saint Helena Day SW broadcast and let the station staff know that at least two people visited their island as a direct result of these broadcasts. 73, (Joe Buch, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) ** SAIPAN. 11650, something too close for comfort to NHK relay 11655, June 11 at 1338 ballad, would be good except for Sackville splatter; sounds Russian, but Aoki lists as Kyrgyz during this quarter-hour daily from KFBS (and also Beijing in Esperanto during this hour; no sign of it). Would not be surprised if there was some Russian mixed in with the Kyrgyz, a post-Soviet tribute (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAO TOME. 4960, VOA Pinheira relay, 0431-0434 May 6, in English with news. Carrier levels to 50 dB [compared to what?], but audio severely attenuated (Richard W. Parker, Pennsburg PA, Miltronix / SignalCorps R-390A, Sherwood SE-3 MK III Deluxe Synchronous Detector, Collins 51S-1 with 55G-1 pre-selector, Collins 51-X, Yaesu FT-840, Lowe HF-150, Grundig Satellit 800, MFJ-901B antenna tuner, 25m dipole, Alpha-Delta DX Sloper, 160 foot inverted L, Shortwave Logbook, June World DX Club Contact retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA [non]. 9675, June 12 at 0028, fast SAH between two signals, one IRS with music, then IS, poor, and 0030 opening sounds like scheduled English (UT Mon-Sat, while Serbian extends on UT Sundays). The other is probably R. Canção Nova, Cahoeira Paulista SP, Brasil, altho CNR1 from Beijing site is supposedly on too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5019.96, R Happy Isles. Usual program of music mixed with W host giving PSAs and messages. Quite strong and clear at 1018 tune/in, but nearly dropped out of sight in fade and Rebelde slop in 2 minutes from 1026-1028. Was hoping to get a nice ID recorded. (13 June) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) ** SOMALILAND. SOMALIA (?), 7145, R. Hargeisa (presumed), Hargeisa, Somaliland, 1800-1900*, 13 Jun'10, talks (no readability, no language ID), pops; 25321. It sounded too western though. 73, (Carlos Gonçalves, PORTUGAL, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So how about a mixing product of some common station above 7200? (gh) ** SOMALIA [non]. 9930, R. Bar-Kulan via Meyerton SOUTH AFRICA, Jun 01 *1600-1605 35433 Somali, 1600 sign on with SJ, Koran, Talk. Also Jun 07 *1600-1608 45433 Somali, 1600 sign on with ID, SJ and opening announce, Koran, Talk; Jun 08 1605-1617 45333-45433 Somali, Talk, SJ at 1612 (Kouji Hashimoto, Japan, Japan Premium June 11 via DXLD) SJ = singing jingle?? ** SOUTH AFRICA [non]. Following up on some of my comments about World Cup. Later I got a close-up view of Tutu, and his stocking cap is yellow and green, not black; so much for the bee analogy. Fritze H Prentice Jr., KC5KBV, Star City, AR, says ``Glenn, that "buzzing" is those horns the fans from South Africa have been blowing all during the games.`` Kai Ludwig says the continuous noise comes from ``devices called Vuvula, and they produce sound pressure levels up to 140 decibels. Well, it's not my hearing that gets damaged there.`` Media Network has a new item about them, really called ``vuvuzelas``: http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/dutch-viewers-complain-about-world-cup-vuvuzelas So what`s the point; trying to annoy the multitudes and/or the players? Andy Sennitt approves of them! Are they peculiar to the Azanians? Re game 1 being on REE Costa Rica but not Spain, Kai Ludwig: ``I don't think that broadcasting rights specify shortwave transmitter sites in particular. This is just a too unimportant detail. ``A possible scenario: The Costa Rica transmitters presumably take the modulation from Hispasat 1C, where three program streams of REE are carried on a beam that covers the Americas only. Perhaps the situation is such that REE has the rights to broadcast FIFA stuff "to the Americas", thus on this Hispasat beam, thus also via Costa Rica. But they have no rights for Europe, thus substitute programming goes out at least via Hotbird and the Noblejas transmitters, with nobody bothering to differentiate between the target areas of individual shortwave frequencies, which would require a separate audio circuit for certain transmissions.`` Ron Howard in California also heard Argentina 15344.18 and Madagascar 7105-CUSB with World Cup Saturday morning (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also BRAZIL, CHINA, CUBA 22 comments so far: http://blogs.rnw.nl/medianetwork/dutch-viewers-complain-about-world-cup-vuvuzelas#comments (Media Network blog via DXLD) LE MONDE SUGGESTS METHOD TO FILTER OUT VUVUZELAS RNW’s Rob Kievit writes: I saw a report in Le Monde about filtering out the vuvuzela sound. Here’s my summary. You don’t have to wait for the broadcasters to take action, though. French daily Le Monde suggests feeding the audio output from your TV set into your computer and adjusting the equaliser setting on your audio player. You would need to filter out the 233 Hz ground tone (or should I say drone), plus its overtones at 466, 932 and 1864 Hz. This option is available in some audio player software, such as Logic Express or MPlayer. But, Le Monde warns, only a fast state-of-the art soundcard will enable real-time sound processing. Read the original article http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2010/06/16/filtrer-le-son-des-vuvuzelas-avec-son-ordinateur_1372845_651865.html (June 17th, 2010 - 10:07 UTC, by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) Seems to me one reason they are so annoying is that the horns do not emit exactly the same pitch, due to poor quality control? causing them to make massive beats. Missing from all the WC discussion are any reports about Channel Africa, which apparently is not SW broadcasting any games? (gh, DXLD) ** SPAIN. Transmittersite Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty Playa de Pals --- Friends, In the 1950's the IBB responsible for the transmissions of The Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty started building the largest shortwave site ever in Europe south of Barcelona in Playa de Pals. From there they transmitted enormous strong signals (1 Megawatt or more) to Russia in the Cold War. Between 2000-2002 they stopped using the site. In 2006 the site was demolished, and all the towers were brought down with dynamite. Apparently as I understand the buildings are a museum now. I found a 54 minute documentary of Cataluña Television showing the history and demolition of the site. The language is Spanish but I was able to perfectly understand it. Here is the link: http://www.tv3.cat/ptv3/tv3Video.jsp?idint=288799 Also I found a website with a lot of pictures, schematics descriptions of the site and so on. The link: http://www.radioliberty.org/introang.html Hope you enjoy, Regards, (Jan Oosterveen, Netherlands, June 10, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) ** SPAIN [non]. The new DRM transmitter of REE at the Cariari de Pococí, COSTA RICA relay is still bleeding far beyond the legal 10-kHz bandwidth so touted by DRM as making it a good neighbor to analog signals. June 14 at 0004, shortly after opening of 2-hour transmission centered on 9630, I can hear the DRM at least as far as plus and minus 20 kHz, not 5 kHz, i.e. down to 9610 and up to 9650, or slightly beyond both. Yes, the major brunt of this DRM is in the 9625-9635 band, but instead of cutting off sharply at the edges, it progressively becomes weaker, and I can imagine what it would look like on a spectrum analyzer. So 9625 CBC Northern Quebec is totally blocked for two prime evening hours --- so much for Randy Bachman`s Vinyl Tap and Saturday Night Blues and their fan in Costa Rica. It probably bleeds even further than 20 kHz in proximity to the transmitter. Plus, REE itself direct from Spain, presumably // programming on 9620 is degraded by the DRM jamming; not much I can detect on other 9610- 9650 channels. This and all other DRM transmissions should be moved OUT of the analog SW broadcast bands, where they cannot possibly be good neighbors, into the fixed bands, e.g. for this to the middle of the 10 MHz band, where there is plenty of open space; just ask Sound of Hope and Firedrake. DRM proponents originally decided that in order to get noticed, they should be mixed right in there with the analogs. They certainly succeeded in that, especially here, right smack dab in the middle of the 31m band, despite the overwhelming negative PR it causes for the entire idea. BTW, the 00-02 DRM transmission to NAm could easily contain English for the first hour, but I suppose it does not, as the CR relay has never condescended to do that even in analog (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN [non]. COSTA RICA, REE, 9630 DRM, 17 June 2010 at 0015 UT. S9+30 signal of OM and YL in Spanish. Signal strength frequently peaking at S9+40. Occasional non-decodable dropouts despite the strong signal. Constant dropouts starting 0040, but stabilized by 0044. Talk continues until 0056, when listeners who no habla Español finally get a song to listen to. ID at 0100 as Radio Nacional de España. Exterior ID at 0105, followed by a song and more talk. Peter Gabriel song in background at 0124. Sharp drop-off of DRM signal observable on the scope at 9625 and 9635, but not to zero; DRM noise continues with lower and tapering intensity for another 10 or 15 kHz. CBC on 9625 useless in AM and USB, but fair in LSB, even using portable with whip inside the house. REE in analog on 9620 is parallel but five seconds ahead of the DRM signal; does it take five seconds for the DReaM freeware to decode the signal? Decent mono audio for the most part at 20.96 kbps (and no text or photo streams included,) though the odd DRM vocal fuzz is apparent; I have yet to hear DRM audio which doesn't distort into fuzz in the middle of the vocal range, though low and high audio frequencies remain clear. This is fine for music broadcasts such as TDPradio, but a travesty for talk broadcasts and as an example of 21st century technology. Big drop in signal strength mid sentence at 0101. Still present as low-strength analog noise but non-decodable. Re-targeted to a different CIRAF zone at this time? Signal strength hiccuping on and off thereafter, so apparently technical difficulties (Terry Wilson, MI, Ten-Tec RX-320D, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN [non]. On 11805 kHz at 2327 UT 11 June I got a DRM signal with Perseus. No audio, but on Dream I could read: Cadena SER Cadiz. At 2330 the signal was off. Have you any idea? Thanks (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italy, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) DTK is registered for a DRM transmission via Nauen, Germany at 2200- 2330 on 11805, 200 kW, 135 degrees (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Thank you Glenn, it is really strange to find on DRM Cadena SER Cádiz. It is a regional Spanish radio on FM and MW belonging to the National Spanish network of SER that does not seem to have any interest on SW. We'll see in future. Ciao (Giampiero Bernardini, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Perhaps they just pulled up whatever program source was handy for a test (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DXLD) Log: DRM-Test 11805 kHz. Seit 2300 UT ist das Label "N-TV" und es wird mit 17.2 kbps eine leere MOT Website uebertragen. MSC laesst sich immer noch nicht decodieren. Auch heute wieder auf Sendung, seit 2200 UT auf 11805 kHz hier in Sueddeutschland mit durchschnittlich S9 aufnehmbar. Label: "Radio", MSC laesst sich komischerweise nie decodieren. ID ist FC2010/Germany/German/Information. M&B Nauen 11805 200kW 135degr 2200-2330 UT to zones 38,39,48 (Mathias Weber, Germany, A-DX June 15 via BC-DX June 17 via DXLD) ** SPAIN. Buscando emisión sefarad esta noche --- Por favor los colegas de Sudamérica sintonicen para la ``emisión sefarad`` de REE esta noche de lunes, que se anuncian funcionar entre las 0115 y 0145 TU (de martes), en 11795. Desde hace varias semanas no puedo conseguir ninguna señal, ni en la frecuencia anterior de 11780 que utilizaron a pesar de Brasília. Aunque llegue bien p. ej. en castellano por los 11680. ¿Tal vez en aun otra frecuencia de 25 metros, u otra banda? Gracias, (Guillermo Glenn Hauser, Oclajoma, 2117 UT Monday June 14, dxldyg and several Spanish/Portuguese/Italian lists, via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DXLD) No replies whatsoever from S America; however: (gh, DXLD) Hola Glenn: Me puse en contacto con Antonio Buitrago de REE y ésta es la contestación sobre la emisión en sefardí. Parece que se trata de una avería en el transmisor. Supongo que se refiere a los 11795 kHz. Un cordial saludo (José Bueno, Spain, June 16, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Avería = damage, breakdown. Viz.: Hola José. Ya estoy al tanto. Te explico. Las compañeras de la emisión sefardí continúan, de hecho los programas de las últimas semanas se han transmitido los lunes hacia Oriente Medio sin problemas. Sin embargo, tenemos averiado el transmisor por el que se radian las emisiones hacia Sudamérica y en la frecuencia de 1.795 [sic] Khzs. Nos hemos puesto en contacto con el Centro Emisor de Noblejas y nos comunican que con toda seguridad se podrá escuchar el martes, la emisión sefardí. No obstante, creo que si no es así, puedes volver a escribirme para volver a insistir en esas transmisiones. Recibe un cordial saludo, Antonio Buitrago (via Bueno, ibid.) ** SRI LANKA. 15745, Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, Ekala, *0051- 0102 June 13, 2010. Transmitter up with open carrier at 0051, into percussion quasi-interval signal for a few seconds, then choral till 0059 English female ID, into religious poetry by male through tune- out. Clear, fair-to-weak. No trace of parallels 6005 and 9780 [sic]. The latter was clear, but by 0101 recheck, blocked by VOA (Tinang?) English with "Daybreak Asia" from 0105, after the news and at decent level (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) You mean 9770 for SLBC. Was that not the frequency you checked? 9770 would collide with Turkey`s Spanish service at 0100. 9780 has IBB via SRI LANKA too from 0100 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. 13600. R. Dabanga via Madagascar in African-accented Arabic at 0445, Jun 17. M w/ nx, clear ID at 0450 incl mention of internet. ID includes tribal chorus where "Radio Dabanga" is repeated multiple times. Surprisingly strong (Icom R75, Mike Bryant, Louisville, KY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. via Slovakia, 15710, Miraya FM, 1403-1420, June 11, Arabic talk. “Miraya” jingles. Local African music. Poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** SWEDEN. 13870, June 12 at 1512 in Swedish mixed with RTTY, clash of the modes. Yet another frequency broadcasters should avoid, if anyone were paying attention to the real world. High probability it`s axually R. Sweden: yes, 13870 per Aoki scheduled direct from Hörby at 1500- 1730, including English at 1530-1600 and 1700-1730; 1600-1700 in Kurdish, Assyrian, Persian depending on day of week and semihour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN. SAQ transmissions on July 4 --- REMINDER! We will remind you of the Grimeton Radio/SAQ transmissions on 17.2 kHz, CW, with the Alexanderson alternator on Sunday July 4 ,"Alexanderson Day", at 0900 and 1200 UT. We will start tuning up some 30 minutes before message. The radio station is open to visitors. QSL-reports are kindly received: - E-mail to: info@alexander.n.se - or fax to: +46-340-674195 - or via: SM bureau - or direct by mail to: Alexander - Grimeton Veteranradios Vaenner, Radiostationen Grimeton 72 SE-430 16 ROLFSTORP, SWEDEN Also read our web site: http://www.alexander.n.se Yours (Lars Kalland, SM6NM, sm6nm @ telia.com lars.kalland @ telia.com via Mike Terry, June 11, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SYRIA. 12085, R. Damascus, Adra, in English at 2250 June 11. Heavily-accented W discussing history of Israeli aggression against Syria. Fair with audio buzz, but still the best English reception of Damascus that I've heard in a long time (Icom R75, Mike Bryant, Louisville, KY, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Have been listening to Damascus Radio on 12085, with better modulation between 2100 and 2200 UT. Transmitter noise quite high, but much better audio. During news cast, levels of microphones differed, but still nice to hear this station (Chris Lewis, England, June 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. 9734.895, R. Taiwan International. Talk by M in Japanese at 1120. Went off at exactly 1200 as scheduled. Was able to check it on the Perseus before it went off and found it to be 105 Hz low. Broadcast was jammed, but not very effective here. Thought at first it might be NHK. (13 June) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) Did it really go off at 1200? Haven`t heard it do that, but any time later in the hour, open carrier is on, presumably this until resuming another Japanese hour at 1300. What kind of jamming? I hear none such after 1300. Nothing else known on frequency to cause coincidental jamming; doubt the ChiCom would bother to jam Taiwan when in Japanese, unless they have really ramped up their meanness (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** TAIWAN. A warm welcome to Alex Wolfgram, RADIO TAIWAN INTERNATIONAL Alex Wolfgram joined the English service in mid-June. Those of you who tuned in to Here in Taiwan last week might have heard his voice and known a little bit about him. Following is Alex's self-intro. Alex was drawn to the Oriental when he first heard traditional Chinese classical music. This inspired him to embark on an eight month journey that brought him through Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia and finally to China. While in Beijing Alex discovered his passion for East Asia and later returned to the University of Minnesota to pursue a degree in Asian Languages in Literatures. He is currently doing his masters degree at National Chengchi University in Asia Pacific studies and his fields of interest include International Relations and Social Development. In his spare time, Alex enjoys photography, learning new languages and playing percussion instruments. His favorite artist is Alex Grey and he encourages everyone to think for themselves and question authority. Source: Radio Taiwan International [illustrated] http://bit.ly/bR9SGr (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) ** TAIWAN. Re 10-23, Taiwan takes on underground radio In the last three weeks, half the stations taken off air have returned. The only stations that were not targeted were music / entertainment ones. But the problem with shutting them down is not easy. In most cases even if the police and the NCC (National Communications Commission) confiscate equipment, buying a new transmitter and antenna is as easy as going to the main computer market. FM transmitters are very cheap here. Prices range from 100 to 1000 USD. You can buy a 3000 watt for less than a 1000 USD (Keith Perron, Taiwan, June 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TATARSTAN [non]. 15110, Tatarstan Wave/GTRK Tatarstan, via Samara, *0410-0435 (scheduled for 0500*), June 10. This continues to carry their normal mixed programming of news/reporting/talk and ballads; started out poor but did improve. 15110, Tatarstan Wave/GTRK Tatarstan, via Samara, *0410-0433, June 14. Brief IS; IDs in assume Tartar (the word “Tatarstan” give before “programa”) and also in Russian ("programa na volne Tatarstan"). Nice balance between segments of talking and playing songs/ballads; poor reception, but still very enjoyable to listen to their songs (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [non]. Listening at 1308 on 15562, a station in Chinese. Checked listings and it gives Voice of Tibet in Chinese on at this time. Fair to good copy, OM and YL talking, no music as yet. RX. Perseus SDR. ANT. Longwire in loft and balun (Steve Calver, England, June 16, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) I assume you refer to Aoki which says: 15562*VOICE OF TIBET 1200-1230 1234567 Chinese 100 131 Dushanbe-Yangiyul TJK 06848E 3829N VOTi a10 The * means jammed, so there is a good chance that was what you were hearing instead of VOT itself. WRTH A-10 update shows it in Tibetan during this semihour, on a widely variable frequency: VOICE OF TIBET (Clan) kHz: 13700, 15400, 15430, 15520, 15540, 17560 Summer Schedule 2010 Chinese Days Area kHz 1230-1245 daily CHN 13700dsb± 1315-1330 daily CHN 15540dsb± 1330-1400 daily CHN 13700dsb± Tibetan Days Area kHz 1100-1230 daily CHN 15520dsb± 1245-1315 daily CHN 15540dsb± 1330-1400 daily CHN 15400dsb±, 15430dha 1400-1430 daily CHN 17560mdc Key: ± Frequency variable. (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [non]. 11510, presumed VOA Tibetan via Thailand, June 14 at 1450, sounded like Chinese to me, plus hi and lo pitched tones, so really hearing additional ChiCom jamming (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TUNISIA. TUNISIAN RADIO LAUNCHES NEW PORTAL AND MAGAZINE http://www.radiotunisienne.tn/ TUNISIAONLINENEWS- With the view to better meeting its listeners’ aspirations, the Tunisian radio developed a new online version of its portal: http://www.radiotunisienne.tn The Tunisian Radio station staff are tasked with renovating the portal in terms of form and content to be in conformity with international radio standards. revue-radio-juin Tunisia’s 9 regional radio stations all have websites broadcasting their programs live for increased interactivity with listeners. The Tunisian Radio Institution also issued a new edition of the monthly magazine “Radio” which included several topics among which the board meeting held on May 26, which emphasized communication technologies sector. Source: Tunisia Online News » Tunisian radio launches new portal and magazine http://bit.ly/b0So6L (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) Illustrated with a model showing her hair. Blasphemy! (gh, DXLD) ** UGANDA. 4975.97, 2145-2240 04.06, UBC R, Kampala English phone-in, African Hip-Hop music 34433 Noise QRM, APC-DNK 4975.97, 2325-0015 08-09.06, UBC R, Kampala, DJ in mixed English / vernacular playing Afropop, phone-in: "Good Morning! How are you ?" 45444 (Anker Petersen, first log from DX-camp, second from home in Denmark, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DXLD) ** UGANDA [non]. 15410, *1700 08 May, FRANCE, R. Y`Abagabda [sic], OM relig sx [meaning religious singing rather than sex, I think --- gh], 1800* Sunday [sic] in vernacular, 35443 (Michael L Ford, Staffordshire, Shortwave Logbook, June World DX Club Contact via DXLD) You mean Saturdays only, and 8 May was one. I haven`t checked for R. Y`Abaganda in a few weeks; this was the one which kept losing 50+% of its airtime to Live365 apology loops; still? June 12 (Saturday) around 1730 I could hardly hear a carrier, so still on? And I thought it was political rather than religious? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [non]. 15285, June 11 at 1344 ``Nessun Dorma`` aria concluding, probably Pavarotti, but faded out last syllable of ``Vincerò`` before it could resolve, unforgivable. BBCWS in Chinese, 13 degrees from Singapore, was axually atop the ChiCom CNR1 echo jamming, but turn up the jamming if this is how BBC treats us! 1345 into BBC Learning English, ``Life is a Journey`` topic. Explanations in English, not just Chinese, so must be for advanced students (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [and non]. World Cup is on Shortwave in English - BBC World Service Frequencies --- I poked around the World Service website. It appears the 1332 UT match between South Africa and Mexico aired on 3255, 6190, 7230, 7405, 9860, 11860, 15420, 17640, and 21470 kHz. The 7405 and 11860 frequencies appear to be specially added. On Saturday 12 June, the 1232 match between Argentina and Nigeria will air on these same frequencies. To find the frequencies and schedule for future matches, visit the World Service website, click on "How & Where To Listen", then "Schedules", then enter a suitable city name -- such as Nairobi, Lagos, and Windhoek. Best to choose examples from all around Africa, Look for entries labeled "World Cup 2010." (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, June 11, swprograms via DXLD) ** U K [non]. 17830, BBC World Service, 1313 on 13/06/2010 running the "There are no programmes on this channel" loop. Not the first time the feed has been lost but probably frustrating to listeners in West Africa expecting live World Cup football commentary (which was running on East Africa frequencies 17640 & 21470). 1357, checked again and African feed restored (James MacDonell (Niger State, Nigeria), June 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17640, BBCWS via Ascension, June 14 at 1442 poor but at fadeups talking about balls, and with vuvuzelas JBA, so surely World Cup special. This is probably the best of the lot for BBC reception during afternoon WC broadcasts = morning in America, boo hoo (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. BBC investigate vuvuzela-free option - report The BBC is investigating the possibility of offering vuvuzela-free coverage of World Cup matches on the red button. The Guardian claims that while the BBC is committed to reflecting the atmosphere within the stadiums on their main coverage, it could also offer a ‘clean’ feed that wipes coverage of most crowd noise. 220 complaints have been received from viewers incensed at the noise from the horns, while many are choosing to listen to BBC Radio 5 live commentary because it uses a cleaner feed. Many footballers at the World Cup would like the option of a red button, with Thomas Sorensen, Lionel Messi and the Netherlands’ Robin van Persie among those complaining about the noise. Argentina’s Messi said: “It is impossible to communicate, it’s like being deaf.” (Source: worldcup.football365.com) (June 15th, 2010 - 10:55 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) Related story: * Dutch viewers complain about World Cup vuvuzelas 1 Comment on “BBC investigate vuvuzela-free option - report” 1. #1 loujosephs on Jun 15th, 2010 at 19:09 Quick, get something to snare the 41 second audio clip. Annoy everyone at work. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/15/sports/soccer/15horns.html And crank it up (Media Network blog comment via DXLD) ** U K. Vimeo: An interview with Margaret Howard --- Fascinating 24 minute video interview by Jonathan Marks with Margaret Howard on her career with BBC World Service, Radio 4, Radio 2 and Classic FM, what a wonderful lady. Includes her remembering accepting an award from ANARC at the Montreal Convention and a shot of it: http://vimeo.com/12542380 (Mike Barraclough, June 14, dxldyg via DXLD) Was host of mailbag show ** U K. [RADIO-STUDIES] BBC Radio series starting tonight I thought list-members might be interested to know that my five-part 'media history' series starts at 11pm tonight on BBC Radio Three, and runs every night this week. It's called "Rewiring the Mind", runs in 'The Essay' slot, and it looks at ways in which media have shaped ways of thinking since about 1900: The Essay: Rewiring the Mind, 11pm, Radio 3:: The historian of broadcasting, David Hendy, explores the ways in which the electronic media have shaped the modern mind. Episode 1 (Monday 14th June): "The Ethereal Mind": How did wireless conquer the world in the early years of the twentieth century, and how did a fascination with radio among scientists and writers unleash new ideas about the transmission of thought and the utopian potential of invisible forces? Episode 2 (Tuesday 15th June): "The Cultivated Mind": How effective were the efforts of the BBC to improve the 'public mind' between the wars? Did broadcasts such as W.B. Yeats's poetry recitals or E.M. Forster's talks foster ideas of a 'spiritual democracy' and an enlightened citizenry? Episode 3 (Wednesday 16th June): "The Anxious Mind": Tonight the reporting of the Holocaust in 1945 and television coverage of the Challenger Space Shuttle explosion in 1986. If media have made us all witnesses to horror and tragedy do they also help us to come to terms with suffering, or just leave us depressed at the wrongs in the world? Episode 4 (Thursday 17th June): "The Fallible Mind": Two seminal TV programmes: the American drama Marty, broadcast in 1953, and the BBC's Face-to-Face, from 1960, used unflinching close- ups to reveal human beings as flawed individuals. Did they make us more compassionate - or just more obsessed with the private lives of others? Episode 5 (Friday 18th June): "The Superficial Mind": Might the Internet, despite its wonderful power as a repository of information and creativity, be slowly degrading or enhancing our mental abilities? Are our brains ready for it? (Presenter: David Hendy. Producer: Matt Thompson). The series will also be available to listen to on BBC I-player for up to seven days after broadcast. For further details and to listen again after broadcast - go to the BBC website, follow links to Radio 3, then 'The Essay': http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006x3hl (via David Hendy, Reader in Media & Communication, University of Westminster, June 14, via David Goren, swprograms via DXLD) ** U S A. GETTING THE MESSAGE --- Sen. Richard Lugar (Ind.), the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's top Republican, issued a lengthy report Thursday on the state of U.S. international broadcasting, calling on the Senate to confirm a long-stalled slate of nominees for the eight-member Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees that broadcasting. The 95-page report asks, "Is Anybody Listening?" The answer is decidedly mixed. For example, Alhurra, the much-criticized Arabic- language television station, has "marginal" viewership outside Iraq, the report says. Earlier studies note that TV Marti, the anti-Castro station, doesn't even have a "marginal" viewership in Cuba. On the other hand, Arabic-language radio seems to have a "large following," and broadcasts to Iran provided "much-needed news and information" to that country. For the last 15 years, Lugar said in a statement, "both parties in the Senate [have been] playing politics with Board nominations." The "partisan bickering and obstruction" have kept the board below full strength during that time, he said. Only four of the eight seats on the board are filled -- and all four have terms that expired five years ago. Time to either confirm the new board, he said, or "it is perhaps time to create a new mechanism that will have greater Congressional support." As it turns out, we're hearing that there is a chance the Senate could move in the next few weeks to approve the nominees -- including author and Aspen Institute chief executive Walter Isaacson, formerly CEO of CNN and editor of Time magazine, who's up for chairman. (Al Kamen, Washington Post, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/10/AR2010061005536_pf.html via Mike Cooper, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DXLD) The full report is in the dxldyg attachments; see also ZIMBABWE (gh, ibid.) Responses to Senator Lugar's report on US international broadcasting (updated). I have finally read and digested "U.S. International Broadcasting -- Is Anybody Listening? -- Keeping the U.S. Connected," a report by the staff of Senator Richard Lugar (see previous post). My comments are in this pdf document. http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/Kim_Lugar.pdf MountainRunner.us, 11 June 2010, Deirdre Kline, Communications Director, Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc: "We appreciate Senator Lugar’s report pointing out the success of Alhurra in Iraq where research shows it has a weekly reach of 64 percent and is the third most trusted TV news station in the country. However, it is equally important to highlight the success Alhurra has had throughout the Middle East. As the chart on page 31 of Sen. Lugar’s report shows, Alhurra’s audience has consistently averaged more than 25 million weekly viewers for the last three years – a significant audience by any standard - and an unprecedented audience by international broadcasting standards. The network is the leading international non- indigenous news television channel broadcasting to the Middle East. Television is an expensive medium, but America needs a voice in the region and television is the way people consume news in the Middle East. In a region filled with anti-American sentiment and with the local media regularly distorting U.S. policy; Alhurra’s steady inroads into the competitive Middle East marketplace are noteworthy." Huffington Post, 14 June 2010, Philip Seib: "Al Hurra, the U.S. government's Arabic-language television news channel, was created as if there were audiences eager to hear from America because they had no reliable home-grown news sources. That, however, is no longer true. With Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, and many other broadcast news providers in the Middle East, people there no longer need to rely on outsiders' views of the region's events. Although hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on Al Hurra, it does not have a significant audience and needs to be torn down and rebuilt." Update: USC Center on Public Diplomacy blog, 15 June 2010, Shawn Powers: "Lugar's report will serve as a critical text for the future of U.S. International Broadcasting, and the timing could not be any better. Walter Isaacson, current President and CEO of the Aspen Institute and former Chairman and CEO of CNN and the Managing Editor of TIME, was nominated to be the Chairman of the BBG in November 2009 and is reported to be thinking outside the box when it comes to the future of American broadcasting. In 2007, Isaacson wrote about the need for dramatic overhaul to create 'an organization for public diplomacy in the digital age. This is a field in which America, with its values and media savvy, should be triumphing, but instead it is failing astonishingly. The outmoded structures of the Broadcast Board of Governors, Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and the like -- built for an analog broadcast era -- should be swept away for a coherent agency empowered to create an honest and open information strategy built for the age of blogs, social networks, digital streaming and satellite.' Well, Mr. Isaacson, there is no better place to start thinking through the details of such a broad and important shift in structure and organization than with this detailed report on the state and future of U.S. International Broadcasting." Budget Insight, 16 June 2010, Elizabeth Cutler: comments made by BBG Governor Jeffrey Hirschberg do not bode well for the BBG’s fate on the budgetary chopping block. He stated that a “one-to-one correlation as to whether or not for every dollar we spend we can change hearts and minds” simply does not exist. Concern runs rampant in Washington that American dollars are supporting the promulgation of anti-American views that are often espoused by local broadcasts made possible by the BBG. On the other hand, if the ultimate goal of the BBG is to support democracy worldwide, then diversity of views is necessary. Hirschberg’s statement thus demonstrates the vulnerability of the BBG right now as it tries to defend its purpose in the broader context of U.S. foreign aid while scrambling to establish an actual full board of governors. Posted: 16 Jun 2010 (kimandrewelliott.com via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DXLD) BBG NOMINEES ANSWER SEN. COBURN'S QUESTIONS. NOW WILL THEY BE CONFIRMED? Posted: 16 Jun 2010 Washington Post, 16 June 2010, "Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) had a hold on all eight nominees to the Broadcasting Board of Governors until he could talk to them about challenges facing U.S. international broadcasting. 'I am pleased to report,' he wrote in a letter to Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) and top Republican Sen. Richard Lugar (Ind.), 'that each of them has answered my questions,' apparently to Coburn's satisfaction. 'However,' he added, given the BBG's 'vital role' in international broadcasting, he requested a 'balanced oversight hearing before the end of the year to discuss the agencies under the BBG's purview.' What's more, he wrote, 'I would further ask that I be allowed to attend the hearing and question the witnesses.' Maybe not unprecedented but pretty unusual. Kerry and Lugar are said to be mulling." See previous post for Senator Coburn's questions to the BBG nominees (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) So will the BBG nominees soon be confirmed? Or will they and dozens of other nominees to federal positions continue to held up by other Republican senators, unhappy about a Democratic nominee to the National Labor Relations Board? If the hearing that Senator Coburn wants takes place, especially with himself in attendance, it could be a battle for the soul of U.S. international broadcasting. One side is articulated in the recent Lugar report on U.S. international broadcasting: "[I]n order for the BBG to be credible to its audience and draw in not just those who already agree with U.S. policy, its networks must be permitted to present both sides of an argument." This is in contrast to Senator Coburn who, in April 2008, wrote: "The U.S. taxpayers should not subsidize content presenting a balance between the truth and the regime's malicious propaganda. U.S. broadcasts should be the balance to the propaganda being broadcast by the regime and others." The eight new BBG members, probably in attendance at the hearing, might align with the Lugar view and take their firewall function to heart. Or they may go with Senator Coburn and his call to transmit the U.S. version of truth. At the hearing, they may get a sense of which way the wind is blowing. The Lugar version will be attractive to the potential audience, which tunes to international broadcasts as an antidote to one-sided government controlled media in the homeland. The Coburn plan will be attractive to certain members of Congress who might, in coming years, be in the majority. Send the messages that please those legislators, and the funds will continue to flow. No need for an audience (beyond Capitol Hill), except as a pretext (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) ** U S A [and non]. CHINA HELPING ETHIOPIA JAM? 11925, VOA to Ethiopia, via Wertachtal, 1830-1840, Jun 13, Amharic talks, 44444 disturbed by noise jammer; much worse jammed on // 11975 Wertachtal (SINPO 31..2), 13630 Botswana (31..1), 13835 Kuwait (31..1), 13870 Nauen (21331), 15230 Kuwait (45434) and 15730 São Tomé (01..0). // 11905 Wertachtal (33443) had QRM from REE (?). 9620 Iranawila and 12120 Udorn Thani were not heard. At our recent AGM, IBB Monitor leader in Finland Arto Mujunen indicated that jamming is not necessarily totally by the Ethiopians. It sometimes starts less than 15 minutes after the VOA begins to use a new, unannounced frequency! That requires a huge monitoring network! (Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window June 16 via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DXLD) ** U S A [non]. 12080, still hearing VOA English, at a time unshown in any of the online schedules, 1235 June 12, Saturday with panel discussion, poor reception, site unknown. 15185, June 12 at 1509 familiar theme, talk in Turkic Central Asian language with Russian influence, fluttery. Fits for VOA Uzbek via Sri Lanka during this semihour only, 348 degrees and thus USward too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Dear DXers, Glenn and I discovered VOA Music Mix variety with Victoria Ray is on SW 1405-1430z weekdays. At first, we thought that was a wrong feed. Today I've got a reply from 2 VOA monitors, who explained to me that, as of May 03, as a result of a new VOA English program line-up, VOA Global English feed carries regular English program in Asia, and VOA ENGLISH TO AFRICA regularly carries MUSIC MIX program 1405-1430z Monday-Friday!!! VOA English to Africa 1400-1430 frequencies: 4930 BOT 020 6080 SAO 138 12080 SAO 100 15580 SAO 138 17585 GB 094 73 (DrAgan Lekic, Serbia, June 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I had already concluded it was no mistake, just bad judgment and bad planning. What`s wrong with Africans getting to hear news concentrating on Asia. It might just matter to them too. Music Mix does not have a break at 1430, so it`s obviously slapped on as a filler (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** U S A. 9955, WRMI with WORLD OF RADIO at new Sunday 1330 time, June 13 at 1342 check, no jamming audible but poor signal, and overload from WWCR 9980 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Updated WRMI program grid as of June 8 in EDT has been attached to a dxldyg post. It also shows another new WOR time, Thursdays at 1500. (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWCR-4 chex for WORLD OF RADIO: 9980, yes, Sunday June 13 at 2355, VG signal; starts at 2330. 5890, no, UT Monday June 14 at 0332, still some preacher contrary to online program schedule (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. During degraded conditions June 16 with many signals attenuated, WWCR 9980 and WTWW 9479 were still inbooming, but not WWRB 9385, the third TN station remarkably weaker during Brother Scare asking for monitoring reports on the 940 station in MA to decide whether he should buy time on it. It`s WGFP in Webster, 1 kW day, 4 watts night, per NRC AM Log (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WWCR: Listening to perhaps one of the YL Scotts on 13845 at 2107 on 16 June and wondering why there's an OM preacher ranting in the background AND music playing. Turns out the OM is on 9980 and the music is on 9350. Ooops. Way to have three feeds playing simultaneously on 13845 (Terry Wilson, MI, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) There is only one YL Scott heard on TUN: Melissa (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 3919-LSB, WWCR, no doubt relayed by a ham. Found while looking for R. Fly. Piano music, then clear English ID with QTH by M, and usual instrumental music theme. Strong. Gone, fortunately, at 1008 recheck. (12 June) (Dave Valko, NRD-535D and 60 meter T2FD, Dunlo, PA, USA, HCDX via DXLD) But you didn`t give the original time. WWCR has four programs, so which frequency was //, if any, or a tape? Instrumental music theme? Something other than steel drums as at QSY time? (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 11715, KJES increased modulation from JBM to fair level, June 11 at 1337 with song about Calvary, YL accompanied by guitar (or ukulele?) 11715, KJES, June 16 at 1327, decent modulation proving they can do it if they really try, woman with apparent Bible verses, soon over to robokids who read with much less expression (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9370, WTJC again with Chinese preacher missing from their overt schedule, UT Sat June 12 at 0033 tuneby; it`s muffled with background noise, non-professional recording. Is it on this schedule at 8:30 pm or any time? http://www.fbnradio.com/new_page_copy%281%29.htm Of course not! Do they think they are reaching China with this transmission? Registered with 50 kW at 40 degrees to CIRAF 4 and 9, i.e. Canada from Ontario northward and eastward. Well, if RCI can broadcast in Chinese to USA, why not? 9370, WTJC with Arabic preacher, UT Sunday June 13 at 0009, same muffled audio and background noise as heard 23.5 hours earlier in Chinese, likely from same ministry. Perhaps FBN has Arabic 0000-0030 and Chinese 0030-0100 daily? No such entries on their program schedule, tho they do have a link to their Chinese site http://www.reachingtheworld.net/ where I could find nothing readable about any SW broadcasts; and no link to Arabic from homepage http://www.fbnradio.com/ 9370, tune by WTJC, UT Monday June 14 at 0006 and it is not in Arabic like 24 hours earlier, so it`s not every day; instead, program of hymns in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. WEWN spurs also from 11520, June 12 at 0050, vs WYFR in Spanish on 11530, and so strong that could also hear the mushing on 11510 without a signal to beat against. I`ve also been noticing a constant het on the low side of 12050 WEWN in Spanish for several days. Finally measured it June 12 at 1232 on 12046.9, but I suspect it`s from some household device. Recheck at 1650 on portable outside the house did not hear it, but Japanese on 12045 which is NHK NW from Singapore, rather odd to be hearing that here and now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9479, WTWW relaying SFAW, June 14 at 1402 as I was trying to detect an Australian carrier on 9475 to compare to 15476, while SFAW had double audio, both PPP and his announcer talking at the same time. Besides being full of Aryan racist nonsense, SFAW is clearly not up to the task of professional international broadcasting, also with unexplained long periods of dead air, etc. This reflects poorly on WTWW, altho they are not to blame for such lapses from their client (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7506.20, WRNO (presumed), 0342-0400*, June 10. Christian program in Arabic along with Middle Eastern music. First time I have heard this language here. No ID at sign off. Appreciate the kind assistance of Tarek Zeidan (Denmark), who listened to my audio clip and confirmed it was a Christian religious program and he notes: no ID but typical Christian radio in Arabic, like WYFR and AWR. Thanks go out to Tarek! Per Wikipedia (Shortwave broadcasting in the United States): “On March 13, 2010, WRNO began transmitting a weekly religious broadcast in Arabic for a portion of its broadcast schedule.” (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) = UT Thursdays Hi Glenn, Sent a report to Larry Thom at WRNO, along with an audio file of a portion of my June 10 reception on 7506.20. His response: “I didn't even know about this until I read your email. I made a call to confirm and it seems this is something they have just started doing in the last hour of the broadcast. Apparently they have some audience in the Middle East. I do know they are talking about going on the air 24/7 at some point. They have hired someone in your neck of the woods to do their marketing. They have revamped the "WRNO Worldwide" Web site, so if you haven't been there, go check it out. There is supposed to be a live feed there, but I have not confirmed this as the link is made in the Dallas Studio and I'm at the transmitter end. I think they are planning on doing some other things with the Web site as time goes on. The frequency is actually off a little due to a defective oscillator, and the replacements turned out to be too large to fit in the driver area of the transmitter. We are working to get new ones but so far they have not arrived. Anyway, glad to hear the signal was so good; it is the kind of reports I like hearing! Thanks, Larry” (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, CA, June 11, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7315, big open carrier with slight noise like maybe a fan running, June 15 at 1311, presumably WHRI transmitter normally on until 1300* only. It`s unlike WHR to waste any transmitter time not with paid programming, which also resulted in the demise of DXing with Cumbre as an on-air SW broadcast radio program. Don`t you believe the DX Mix News, Bulgaria schedule recently which detailed all the imaginary DXing with Cumbre times from online listings. If anyone ever hears it on the radio, do let us know (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [and non]. Re DXLD 10-23 DW via WSHB --- Dear Sir, Ref. WRTH 2005: WORLD HARVEST RADIO (WHRA/WHRI/KWHR/WSHB)(Rlg) - World Harvest Radio is a shortwave radio network owned by LeSEA Broadcasting, Inc. It includes the stations WHRI & WHRA (see above), KWHR (see Hawaii), and since 2004 WSHB (see above) (Tony Ashar, Indonesia, June 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tony, WHR purchased the WSHB station in South Carolina, and changed its calls to WHRI long ago. So it is never correct to call WSHB a WHR station. WSHB was the original callsign when it was owned by Herald Broadcasting = Christian Science Monitor. WHRI callsign previously applied to WHR`s original station in Noblesville, Indiana, which was closed down. Consequently the DW relays are via WHRI, NOT WSHB. By now KWHR and WHRA are also defunct, but they own the Palau station instead, T8WH (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** U S A [non]. Starting date for Adventist World Radio emission of two new languages to AFG/PAK - Pashto Sun/Tue/Thu/Sat and Sindhi Mon/Wed/Fri was changed from June 20 to July 25, 2010: 1530-1600 on 15260 MOS 300 kW / 095 deg to WeAs, but at same time AWR used adjacent frequency 15255 via WER 250 kW / 075 deg in English to Nepal, Tibet, 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, June 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But this a problem of AWR, not M&B Wertachtal or ORS Moosbrunn (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) ** U S A. 17775, surprised to find KVOH at the early hour of 1334 June 17, preaching about Jeová, usual audio distortion, signal fair with fading, but at 1338 hit S9+10. Normally they don`t sign on until 1500. Perhaps could not resist taking advantage of HF sporadic E opening. In fact, FCC schedule says they are supposed to be on 9975 at 13-15, but that frequency is imaginary. WRTH A-10 update daggers both 17775 and 9975 at 0100-0300 as ``irregular``, implying equality, while 9975 is really imaginary at both times (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Amigo Glenn, Também fiquei muito surpreso em captar, aqui em Barbacena-MG a KVOH, em 17775 kHz, ontem (16 - junho-2010). Eu fiz a captação, mas não tinha conseguido identificar qual emissora era, somente agora, lendo esta tua mensagem pude tirar esta dúvida, pois a transmissão apresentava pregação religiosa , em espanhol, acredito que poderia ser a KVOH, pois no momento não existias nenhuma outra transmissão nesta ou em frequência próxima que pudesse interferir nela. Tal como as emissoras religiosas do Brasil, a KVOH demora muito a se indetificar e isso causa dificuldades para fazermos uma identificação completa da escuta. Só fiquei surporeso porque me parece que esta emissora tem a programação direcionada para a região do Caribe e assim sua antena não deve oferecer um bom direcionamento para ser captada na parte sudeste da América do Sul; mas ela chegou aqui em Barbacena com um ótimo sinal, e com muito pouca interferências, e pude captá-la á pertir da 2132 com boa clareza, em espanhol. Por volta de 2158 UT passou a apresentar um pouco de desvanecimento do sinal, e após mais uns 10 minutos o sinal sumiu completamente. Não tive oportunidade de verificar posteriormente se ela havia voltado. Um abraço, (Adalberto Marques de Azevedo, Barbacena - MG - Brasil, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. RADIO CELESTIAL 1710 kHz ---- At night here in southern New Hampshire, usually the Haitian Radio Soleil used to dominate However recently the Spanish language religious Radio Celestial has started to dominate. Much to my surprise, the google street view for 3138 Webster Ave, Bronx, NY (the address of the church in question) clearly shows a large antenna in the back of the church! (Rik van Riel, NH, 12 June, mwdx yg via MWN yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DXLD) ** U S A. Re 10-23, PUBLIC BROADCASTING IN THE DIGITAL AGE The NPR exec's haughty rant about Internet radio vs. broadcast: "In the next five to 10 years, Internet radio will take [the broadcast tower's] place, and there's no reason why we should be fearful about it. In fact we should embrace it, especially on mobile. Mobile is the second coming of radio. It has been a godsend for us, because mobile devices are so easy to take with you, and you can listen to any stream you want." "...whether they're listening via an Internet stream or broadcast, it's identical. So why do we care?" Maybe they don't care, but *I* do. Right now, if I want to listen to NPR (and I do, frequently), all it takes is a $10 radio that I can already carry with me wherever I go. No need for any expensive fancy- schmancy wireless Internet device, no monthly fee for access, no need to pay for a lot of other services and features for which I have no need or desire, no adding my personal information to yet another commercial database, no danger of my whereabouts and patterns of usage being relayed back to some corporate monolith with less than honorable intentions for its use. The digital revolution is not just leaving the poor behind in its dust, but also those who, like me, do not have the compulsive need to be constantly wired into some hive mind just to listen to "Car Talk" or "Talk of the Nation." I only own a cheap cell phone (one that has no text, IM, twitter, Internet -- just for making phone calls, which is all I need a phone to do) to keep tabs on my invalid mother -- were it not for her, I would not even need one. The day that NPR becomes listenable only via some i-whatever mobile Internet gizmo is the day that NPR loses one of their most loyal fans. But, as the CEO said, they don't care. I'm just one rapidly aging schlub who is seen as "behind the times" and as relevant as a dinosaur, and clearly in the minority in our fast-approaching "everyone is connected to everyone else 24/7" world. (Now you kids get offa my lawn!) (Stan Jones, Orlando FL, June 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hear, here! See also this about KDVS abandoning broadcast: (gh) http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=1437752 (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. 1070 KFTI WICHITA RIP === FROM: WICHITA BUSINESS JOURNAL. The AM station commonly known as the “Radio Ranch” is no more. Journal Broadcast Group is changing its KFTI-AM from a classic country format to oldies music. The conversion to True Oldies 1070 AM was effective at 12:30 pm Thursday. The station will operate under the call letters KLIO-AM. Journal Broadcast says the change was based on the large number of oldies music fans in the Wichita area. “There is a gap in the Wichita market that needs to be filled,” said Eric McCart, Journal Broadcast Group-Wichita’s vice president and general manager, in a statement. True Oldies 1070 AM will play oldies music from the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s. “A lot of the songs listeners will hear on True Oldies 1070 AM originally aired on AM radio, and we want to bring those favorites back for them where it all started,” McCart said. Regular features will include the True Oldies Daily Countdown, the top five hits from a different year every day; the Rock & Roll Calendar, a quick look back at music history and the events of each day; and sets of One-Hit Wonders, Forgotten 45s and Cruising Classics. True Oldies 1070 AM remains part of the six-station radio cluster in Wichita owned by Journal Broadcast Group. The other five stations are: Today’s KFDI-FM 101.3, Classic Country 92.3 (KFTI-FM), 104.5 The Fox (KFXJ), T-95 (KICT) and Radio Lobo 106.5 (KYQQ). (via Dale Park, HI, IRCA DX Monitor June 19 via DXLD) What Thursday?? Please cite dates of publication. This is incredible. Classic country was a radio institution in this area on 1070, its main DJ a legendary voice (Glenn Hauser, OK, DXLD) ** U S A. WEATHER RADIO TOWER NEAR ALBERT PIKE DOWN FOR PAST TWO YEARS I saw this via a tweet by KATV Little Rock and their website has a story on the outage of a NOAA Weather Radio transmitter in the vicinity of the Albert Pike Campground. There is no video in the link however, only text. http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0610/746270.html -- -- (Fritze H Prentice Jr, KC5KBV, Star City, AR, EM43aw http://tvdxseark.blogspot.com http://www.twitter.com/KC5KBV June 15, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. KLRG 880 LITTLE ROCK AR VIA TAN TALK AIRS SEX TOY AD DURING BROKERED TALK SHOW --- Glenn, I thought you would find this of interest. This is from my blog today. http://tvdxseark.blogspot.com/2010/06/june-lull-finally-arrived.html Here is proof that checking out the local AM dial can be very interesting at times. Text below from the above link via blog, DXing From Lincoln County, Arkansas "Oh, and the oddest thing yet in the KLRG 880 file: I'm not making this up folks. During a local brokered talk show (this one is some local guy from Tampa) at 10:33 AM Central an ad for an adult toy called "Blowguard" was aired! Can you just imagine the right wing nuts in Little Rock AR tuning the dial or hitting the presets and hearing this ex-religious station airing a damn sex toy ad! Who said AM Radio in the summer wasn't interesting! (update at 10:45AM: that sex toy ad aired again, preceded by one for a stripping pole)" -- -- (Fritze H Prentice Jr, KC5KBV, Star City, AR, EM43aw http://tvdxseark.blogspot.com http://www.twitter.com/KC5KBV June 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VANUATU. 3945, R. Vanuatu, Port Vila. June, 12 0953-1007 Hansons music, Cher music, music at top of the hour, female announcements in English, short music, male talks. 25422 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3945, Received an email reply 14 days after a followup to Mr. Warren Robert at technical @ vbtc.com.vu for a 2006 reception report of Radio Vanuatu. Previous postal reports had not been answered. The email included my report with a statement of thanks and a promise that a card would be sent when they were available (Jim Evans, Germantown, TN, IC-R75, RX-340, Random Wire (90'), ALA100M Loop (20') Cumbredx mailing list via DXLD) ** VATICAN. 4005, 0354, Vatican Radio in European language 1/6. Astonished to find 75m open so early! USB mode transmission at fair level but readability spoilt by co-channel utility QRM. Improving signal confirmed as VR at 0420 when VR interval signal played at close of scheduled Polish, and // freq (Bryan Clark at Mangawhai, New Zealand, with AOR7030+ and Alpha Delta Sloper, EWEs to NE, E and SE, plus various 100 metre BOGs to the Americas, June NZ DX Times via DXLD) ** VATICAN [non]. Another check for VR`s alleged English broadcast at 1200 on 9830 via Sackville: June 12 at 1210 in heavy mix with RTTY, it`s in Spanish again like last Sunday, about sacerdotes; 1211 sign- off announcement claims to be on 7305, 9610 and 11910(?)! And into VR IS. Checking the current VR schedule folder, the first two frequencies pertain to the evening Spanish broadcasts via Sackville et al., lasting <45 minutes at 0100, 0145 and 0320! So it looks like RCI is playing back that service at 1130, but it doesn`t fit into half an hour, so dispense with the English! Which indeed appears on the schedule as 1200 on 9830. Yet another SNAFU between RCI and its relay partners (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Still SS June 18 ** VENEZUELA [and non]. And I do mean non --- no signal from RNV on 11680 during the usual 15-16 relay via CUBA, June 12 at 1514 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yimber Gaviría found on the alopresidente website that El Hugazo has moved his show 7 hours later this month in order not to conflict with silly ballgames. Usual start time is 11 am Venez = 1530 UT, so now will be at 2230 UT. Since the Cuban relays have become quite sporadic anyway, that would be even more inconvenient for RHC to integrate into its Sunday evening schedule, but one may look around for him. BTW he won some kind of award from Cuba on behalf of Ibero-American announcers (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: “ALÓ PRESIDENTE” SE MOVIÓ DE HORARIO -> Por Mundial, Chávez posterga su programa --- http://www.alopresidente.gob.ve/ Desde ayer, empezó a hablar 7 horas más tarde “para que todo el pueblo disfrute” de los partidos. El presidente venezolano, Hugo Chávez postergó el fin de semana la emisión de su programa de radio y televisión “Aló Presidente” para no superponerse a las transmisiones de los partidos del Mundial de fútbol Sudáfrica 2010, informó ayer el portal digital argentino Infobae. “Aló Presidente” se emite tradicionalmente a partir de las 11 de la mañana venezolana, pero durante las próximas semanas, y para no interferir con la transmisión del mundial de Sudáfrica, comenzará con unas siete horas de retraso, refirió la información. “El espacio se mueve de horario para que todo el pueblo disfrute de los encuentros previstos en el marco de la Copa Mundial de Fútbol 2010”, puntualizó el Ministerio de Comunicación e Información en un comunicado. Chávez es probablemente el mandatario que más horas habla frente a las cámaras de televisión en el mundo. En sus largos monólogos dominicales, el presidente venezolano anuncia de todo: desde cambios en su equipo de gobierno hasta la expropiación de tierras o empresas. También cuenta historias, chistes y hasta canta, apuntó Infobae. Desde el 23 de mayo de 1999, cuando empezó a emitirse “Aló Presidente” por radio, Chávez dedica entre cuatro y seis horas de los domingos al programa de radio y televisión, su instrumento preferido para monopolizar la atención y establecer un temario nacional. Al año siguiente, comenzó a difundirse por la televisión estatal. Fuente: Por Mundial, Chávez posterga su programa - lanacion.com.py http://bit.ly/9fp9YB (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, June 14, WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DXLD) Locutores de Iberoamérica reconocieron al presidente Hugo Chávez como profesional de la palabra por conducir magistralmente su programa radio televisivo, "Aló Presidente", que arribó a su edición 361, desde que comenzara el 23 de mayo de 1999 hasta el presente. Durante el Segundo Encuentro Científico de Locución que reunió a casi un centenar de profesionales de la palabra en La Habana, Cuba . . . Fuente: Radio Nacional de Venezuela -> Locutores de Iberoamérica reconocen a Chávez como profesional de la palabra http://bit.ly/9kmlGm (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, June 14, DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. VENEZUELAN AUTHORITIES TRY TO ARREST GLOBOVISION HEAD The Venezuelan authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Guillermo Zualoga, the owner of Globovisión television station, and his son on charges of conspiracy and usury, according to news reports. Following the January suspension of opposition-aligned Radio Caracas Television Internacional’s (RCTVI) cable operations, Globovisión is Venezuela’s only remaining anti-Chávez news broadcaster, reports say. Mr Zualoga and his son have been charged with business malpractice, after 24 new Toyota SUVs were found at one of their homes during a raid in May 2009, reports say. The vehicles were allegedly illegally acquired, and were going be sold for profit, according to a report on Vheadline.com. Mr Zualoga, who owns a number of car dealerships, told reporters that the charges are meant to intimidate him, news reports say. He said the cars were at his home for safekeeping, because one of the dealerships had been robbed. On Friday, intelligence agents raided Mr Zualoga’s home with an arrest warrant for him and his son, but the pair were nowhere to be found, according to the Associated Press. Their lawyer said she has no idea of their whereabouts. The Globovisión owner also faces charges of insulting the president and spreading false information, which could result in six to 30 months and two-to-five years in prison, respectively. Mr Zualoga was arrested and temporarily detained on 25 March on these charges, four days after he made comments at the Inter-American Press Association’s annual meeting condemning Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s repression of the media. The Venezuelan media has been placed under serious pressure in recent months with a slew of administrative sanctions and law suits against radio and television stations that criticize the government. Last year, many broadcasters that had formerly been classified as “international” were reclassified as “Venezuelan,” subjecting them to local restrictions. In January this year, six television stations were closed for refusing to air President Chávez’s speeches when required. All except cable station RCTVI have resumed broadcasting, despite the fact that the station accepted “under protest” its national status and agreed to air government programming, reports say. “We condemn the Venezuelan government’s repeated efforts to single out and punish Guillermo Zualoga and Globovisión, and its continued repression of critical media in general,” said International Press Institute Deputy Director Alison Bethel McKenzie. “President Chávez should recognize that democracy cannot thrive without the free flow of information, and indeed, without a diversity of sometimes conflicting views and opinions.” (Source: International Press Institute) (June 14th, 2010 - 15:14 UTC by Andy Sennitt, Media Network blog via DXLD) ** ZANZIBAR [non]. Thought I'd check 11735 today at 1800 after Radio Romania International signed off to see if Radio Tanzania-Zanzibar had been reactivated, but unfortunately not. 13 June. Am hearing Radio Transmundial in Brazil, however (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, June 13, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE. 4828, Voice of Zimbabwe, Gweru. June, 11 2056-2107 Afropop music, 2058 audio off until 2103 returning with the same music, 2104 African music. Splash of presumed 4825 Canção Nova, 22432 (Lúcio Otávio Bobrowiec, Embu SP Brasil - Sony ICF SW40 - dipole 18m, 32m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. ``VOA’s Zimbabwe service had perhaps one of the most creative marketing tools in that repressive society – times and frequencies were printed on tooth brushes and handed out, thus providing both a much needed commodity in that improvised [sic!] country as well as needed information in an easily concealed from [sic] President Mugabe’s regime.`` Illustration shows: ``7 PM 909 AM 11975 & 17895 SW`` on handle of no- frills toothbrush. (Sen. Lugar`s June 9 BBG report, page 41 (pdf page 45) via gh, DXLD) Altho 909 via Botswana is not likely to change, 11975 is no longer in use for any Zimbabwe services; 17895 is Greenville for first half hour, then switches to Sri Lanka, only in English not specifically for Zimbabwe. The current A-Z schedule, which may or may not be current, shows for Zimbabwe: 909 4930 11605 15775 in Shona, English and Ndebele at 1700-1830 UT. So toothbrush-advertising has it limitations; OTOH, they do wear out, so there is always the option of issuing updated toothbrushes. Is IBB frequency management in the loop on this? If they stick to 4930, via Botswana, that should certainly be added. But getting IBB to stay on same ISWBC frequencies for 5 or 7 months straight is more of a challenge. One would also hope the Zimbabweans are not as confused as the American toothbrush-purveyors about the distinxion between frequency ranges and modulation modes. Should read ``909 MW`` if they are going to call the other frequencies ``SW`` as they are just as amplitude- modulated (fortunately no DRM in this yet), as the MW one (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. 9875, CLANDESTINE (to Zimbabwe), Radio Voice of the People – Madagascar, 0401-0423 Jun 10, Woman announcer in local language with news featuring music segments between each item. Report about the World Cup. From 0407 a combination of music programming alternating with news features with some English and periodic IDs. Poor to fair (Rich D'Angelo, Wyomissing PA 19610, Ten-Tec RX-340, Drake R-8B, Eton E1, Eton E5, Alpha Delta DX Sloper, RF Systems Mini- Windom, Datong FL3, JPS ANC-4, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 4024.98, 0636-0645 June 12, 2010. Just a fairly weak carrier detected here when checking for the new Star Radio (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 4900, 2305 carrier only and weak. Gone at 2351 recheck [date?] Looking for the new Radio Familia, Guinea, reportedly till 0000v* (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, June 14, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 5959.92, Found a carrier here off-frequency at 1004 along with presumed R. Fly. No audio detected. Haven't heard anything other than R. Fly at this time in the last 2 weeks. Who would be here? (12 June) (Dave Valko, NRD-535D and 60 meter T2FD, Dunlo, PA, USA, HCDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 6025, Enugu? Glenn, Checked 6025 yesterday and did in fact hear something in the 2120-2200 time frame. Sounded like a mid- east station. There appeared to be the Koran at 2150 or so. Of course it was wiped out by 6030 splatter at 2159. There was also another station in there slightly off frequency. I presume it was Amanacer. Couldn't get any readable audio on it though. I'll try to check again today. 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, June 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dave, Tnx for checking. Per Aoki, Iran`s Arabic service, 500 kW non- direxional is on 6025 then and very long hours. Enugu is not in the Islamic part of Nigeria, so unlikely to be doing Koran. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) See also NIGERIA: Enugu not heard nor any regionals UNIDENTIFIED. 6140.98, 2304-2320 June 11, 2010. Just a carrier audible here, squeezed by 6140 stations. Not heard on nightly rechecks since. Radio Líder, Colombia, was reported reactivated (albeit on reported at 6140), which prompted this check (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater, Florida, USA, 27.55.83 N, 82.46.08 W, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6215, ARGENTINA? been hearing SP or PT once in awhile here. 6-13 at 0310 leaning towards PT. Baluarte? Not listed in latest combined skeds so maybe an image (Sheryl Paszkiewicz, Manitowoc WI, NRD-515 & Eavesdropper, NASWA yg via DXLD) Sheryl, I strongly suspect Bonaire, which is a known mixing producer in this area. 6215 in Spanish should occur only at 0059-0127 and 0259- 0327 when RNW Dutch is on 6190, providing a fulcrum for 6165 in Spanish during longer hours to leap over it another 25 kHz higher. Whenever you hear something like this, check 49m inband for // and note the times it cuts off or on. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 9830 6/14/2010 --- at 1930 to 1940 UT I heard English on 9830, Male announcer conducting interview or call-in. Might be religious in nature. I checked Aoki A-10 all I can find in English on- channel is Voice of Turkey 2200-2255. Started going thru messages here to no avail. Conditions: SINPO 33433. Moderate volume, fair to good signal with static noise floor some light fading. Any ideas on this one? Thanks (Paul Shaffer, Cheshire, CT using a Tecsun PL-200 barefoot/whip with DX switch engaged, June 15, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Only thing scheduled is Jordan until 2000, but in Arabic. Checked June 16 at 1940, nothing audible on 9830; however, weak WHRI religious discussion on 9840. Any chance you were 10 kHz off? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) 9830, YFR program "Open Forum" phone-in questions on bible book on June 16, 18-20 UT, S=9+55 dB tremendous signal, supposedly via Rampisham 500 kW beast, to Europe. \\ at 1930: 18930YFR, S=3-4 weak. 9775UAE, S=3 weak 9610WER, S=3-4 very weak, due of dead zone, site 120 km away. 2000-2100 UT YFR English to Europe, all different English programs 17750 YFR S=9 9850 ARM Krasnodar, S=7-8 9610 WER, S=3 weak 7430 Grigoriopol, Moldova, S=9+20dB (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) 9830 must be new (gh) UNIDENTIFIED. 11714.87, Just talk by W in [non-English, unknown] language at 1120. Too weak. Definitely Asian, and kind of sounded like North Korea, but I couldn't find this frequency listed anywhere. (13 June) 73 (Dave Valko, Dunlo PA, HCDX via DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. 12180 ?? 1533 June 13 with program in English and spiritual songs, marginal signal (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I hope 12180 is the correct frequency, as his reports are full of typos, such as 5-digit times, never proofread (gh, DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Re 10-23: Glenn, thank you for all you do for our hobby, year after year! My check is in the mail to you tomorrow. Thank you again. Your contributions to the enjoyment of our radio activities are appreciated! Best regards, (Ron Howard, Asilomar Beach, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) With thanks for DXLD/WOR. Tony Ward VE3NO --- a sometimes far too silent partner! (With a contribution via PayPal) Just thought you'd like to know Nicholas Feliccia sent you [a contribution via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com] Note from Stephen Kellat: I hope this helps. My crew at the LISNews Netcast Network is having to raise funds too while we're on hiatus. You can view our materials at http://www.lisnews.org/podcast. -- 73s de (KC8BFI via PayPal) Just thought you'd like to know Bruce Miller sent you [a contribution via PayPal] Hi, Glenn - I know it isn't much just now, but I love what you do, and hopefully I'll be able to help some more soon. Thanks, (Bruce Jensen, CA, with a contribution via PayPal) Looks like I`m going to have to split a contribution 3 ways this month --- Larry Will, Marion`s Attic, You (Fred Jodry, New Rochelle NY, by P-mail) Yeah, money`s a tad tight but I (and so many others) really appreciate what you do! PS --- loved the `gh` reference, even though it took me a moment to get it BC (before coffee), and please continue your Tips for Rational Living! Have a good summer and very 73 de (Anne Fanelli, Elma NY, with a card and check to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702) All the above were acknowledged in the mid-break of WOR 1517. Many thanks! (gh) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ CAMPAIGN TO SAVE THE ARABIC LANGUAGE IN LEBANON Lebanon's government launches a campaign to promote Arabic, as French and English take over as the language of choice with the nation's youth. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/world/middle_east/10316914.stm (via Terry Krueger, DXLD) MUSEA +++++ BBC WORLD SERVICE TO FEATURE RADIO CURATOR GERRY WELLS RSGB News 11 June 2010 http://www.rsgb.org/news/newsitem.php?id=3 Gerald Wells, known as Gerry, is the curator of the British Vintage Wireless and Television Museum in Dulwich, London, which was features in the December 2008 RadCom. His museum is not open to the general public, but guided tours are available by appointment. Dan Shepherd has recently finished making a radio documentary about Gerry for the BBC World Service. The programme will be broadcast at 9 am BST on 20 August, although it is worth checking the BBC World Service website nearer the date as the schedule can change (via Mike Terry, June 11, dxldyg via DXLD) INTERESTING DXING DOCUMENT FROM 1949! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130400330204 (via Bob Wilkner, FL, DXLD) A round-robin carbon-copied `flashsheet` While this slightly pre-dates my serious DXing -- I joined my first radio club, the United 49ers sometime in 1949, and NNRC in the early 1950s -- I was quite familiar with Boord's column in RTVN, and, indirectly, with the round-robin newsletter that operated behind the scenes (without the likes of this 14-year-old "newbie) About a decade later, I did "qualify" to be part of Boord's tissue-thin, carbon copied newsletter/round robin. The format still was very similar to this 1949 issue. Some of the names on the mailing list of this particular round (the number of rounds was dictated by the number of legible carbons KRB could manage, I recall 5 or 6.) D.W. McPheeters I knew of later, when he lived in, as I recall, Louisiana. Who is Hankins? Surely not the mysterious Ben Hankins that Ferguson frequently mentions. FBIS, of course, we all know. Stanly Worris is a name I do not recall. The text, of course, mentions many names I know, most notably, August Balbi in California. Who does not know that name? And Roger Legge, NY, and Art Cushen, too, in NZ. Rex Gillette was a TOP NOTCH Dxer from Australia. Also familiar to me are Harris in MA, Slattery in OR and Dobson in the UK. A real surprise, and a pleasant one to see this real bit of DXing history. Internal evidence suggests that it was among papers belonging to Worris, whoever he was, and that he retired to Florida, where his estate was settled. –don (Don Jensen, WI, NASWA yg via DXLD) SHORTWAVE AS MUSIC ++++++++++++++++++ JAZZ SEPTET CREATES PIECE BASED ON SHORTWAVE NUMBERS STATIONS, AND GETS PAID TO DO SO All About Jazz, 11 June 2010: New Jazz Works awarded a total of $200,500 was awarded to nine grantees. "New Jazz Works provides support to professional U.S. ensembles for the creation and performance of new work in the jazz idiom." One of the grantees: "Curtis Hasselbring and The New Mellow Edwards (Brooklyn, NY) A work for septet, inspired by broadcasts that mysteriously appear on shortwave radio, in which each musician has his own five-pitch scale, or 'number station.'" CounterPunch, 11 June 2010, David Yearsley, reviewing Richard Williams' The Blue Moment: Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue and the Remaking of Modern Music: "It’s as a teenager in England in 1963, some four years after Davis had made Kind of Blue, that Williams first hears the sounds that will shade his musical world: Kind of Blue comes over his wireless courtesy of the Voice of America nightly Jazz Hour, 'presented' as Williams puts it 'by Willis Conover, a man who introduced jazz records in a tone of impeccable sobriety but probably did more for the image of the United States around the world than any president you could mention.' Williams has a penchant for well-meaning overstatement." Posted: 14 Jun 2010 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST: AOR UK WIRD ÜBERNOMMEN From Austrian newsletter A-DX Moin, Das hat mir gerade Hartmut Wolff geschickt: http://www.aoruk.com/ "The Rimarton office (located in Matlock) will close by the end of June. Our stock and spare parts are being transferred to W&S, so we are no-longer processing new orders. Richard Hillier of Rimarton will be working with W&S for some time to ensure a smooth transition." Ohne Richard Hillier sieht es dann aber trübe aus für AOR. Da kann man den Nachfolgern nur viel Erfolg wünschen. -- Tschüß, (Martin Elbe, http://home.wolfsburg.de/elbe/ June 15, A-DX via Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) C. CRANE COMPANY CATALOG MAY - OCTOBRE 2010 A full version of the C. Crane Company Catalog. This catalog is in Adobe Acrobat* format. The text is searchable and you can print the catalog. Adobe Acrobat Reader* version 3.0 or higher is required to view this catalog. Download https://www.ccrane.com/instruction-manuals/ccrane-catalog.pdf Audio (MP3) * Catalog 20F Tape 1 Side A * https://www.ccrane.com/audio/Catalog-20F-Tape1-Side-A.mp3 * Catalog 20F Tape 1 Side B * https://www.ccrane.com/audio/Catalog-20F-Tape1-Side-B.mp3 * Catalog 20F Tape 2 Side A * https://www.ccrane.com/audio/Catalog-20F-Tape2-Side-A.mp3 * Catalog 20F Tape 3 Side B * https://www.ccrane.com/audio/Catalog-20F-Tape2-Side-B.mp3 Source: http://www.ccrane.com/radios/ (via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DXLD) NOSTRADAMUS, THE FRENCH SKYWAVE OVER THE HORIZON RADAR April 14, 2010 — Presentation movie of Nostradamus, over the horizon skywave radar demonstrator, designed and built by Onera Ciao a tutti, vi segnalo questo video: che spiega perfettamente come funziona il radar HF Nostradamus usato dall'aviazione francese: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDnPS6U5JX4&feature=player_embedded#! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDnPS6U5JX4&feature=player_embedded#%21 73 de (Andrea Borgnino IW0HK - HB9EMK, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) Narration in English. Enlightening, except the YL refers to this as ``low frequency, 3-30 MHz`` --- Well, it`s ``low`` only in comparison to your usual SHF radars! Says its primarily for tracking aircraft, but can also be used for ships at sea, ocean currents, icebergs. 5- minute video with views of antennas, animation with maps of how it worx. WTFK? Computer decides depending on propagation, but what bands are off-limits, if any? (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ ITU TO STUDY BPL INTERFERENCE Amateur Radio Newsline 11 June 2010 "The International Telecommunications Union's Working Parties 1A and 1B will meet in Geneva, Switzerland. between June 21 and 28. A major item of discussion will be protection of radio services from interference caused by Broadband over Powerline or BPL. Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, has a preview of what to expect: -- The International Amateur Radio Union or IARU has already contributed to a report titled "The Impact of Powerline Telecommunication Systems on Radiocommunication Systems Operating in the Low Frequency, Medium Frequency, High Frequency and VHF Bands Below 80 MHz." In it, the acceptable criteria for degradation of the High Frequency radio noise floor caused by BPL is defined as being one half of one db. Now, this group will concentrate on the protection of radio services from the effects of BPL in range from 80 to 200 MHz. The IARU delegate to the SG1 and its working parties is Peter Chadwick G3RZP. He says that three input contributions have been prepared for this meeting. The first of these is a report on the effects of intermodulation in power supplies causing the amateur band frequency notches in the BPL spectrum to be degraded. This report has been prepared from the work by Richard Marshall, G3SBA. It goes so far as to point out the difficulty such effects could have on the BPL system itself. A further input establishes the protection criteria for amateur stations operating in the 2 meter band. Ian White, GM3SEK contributed to it. It finds that the amateur and amateur satellite services require protection such that BPL interference does not exceed the level of 4 point 5 dB per volt per meter in the main lobe of the antenna. This, with a separation between antenna and the PLT installation being at least 10 meters. The third input is of a more general nature. It shows that there are a number of non-amateur services that could suffer interference from BPL or its harmonics. These include alarms for the elderly, pagers, medical implant telemetry, as well as broadcasting. And when accumulation of radiation from BPL and other sources is added together, aircraft navigation and communications could be negatively impacted as well. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, in Los Angeles." (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See AUSTRALIA; CANADA; KOREA SOUTH; ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ MALAYSIA; NETHERLANDS ANTILLES; NEW ZEALAND; POLAND; RUSSIA; SPAIN; ZIMBABWE DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DAB See CANADA ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Re 10-23: DTV conversion on cable This DTV switch is a mess - badly executed at best. I finally gave in - I just had the home theater people come out and do the job right all over the house. The only residue of my old TV's: One analog TV hooked to a box in the bedroom (endangered species - it goes next), another old analog TV in the guest room hooked to an antenna through one of those converter boxes. That last installation will never change - my HOA stuck me with ATT U-Verse. Great when it works, but their fiber / CAT-5 system means NO hooking a TV to the raw cable any more to get basic channels. It also is very vulnerable to being cut, and ATT has frequent re-boots, and at least once their record keeping was wrong and they disconnected me when my line was supposed to be to another house. UGH! At least with one analog TV on an antenna, I can get something even if OTA network shows suck most of the time. What is really stupid about this HD conversion is that if and when you do get a TV with an HD tuner - you still have absolutely no idea which frequency a station is coming in on - "Channel ___" is a holdover from the old analog days, they are long gone off that frequency, so if one of your locals disappears because you don't have a good enough antenna - actually tracking down where its RF really is so you can buy the right antenna is a pain in the posterior!!! They should have made the TV stations just advertise their new channels and be done with it! Channel lineups basically suck on ATT, Comcast, Dish, and Direct. The only system with any real choice - and more obscure goodies like ALN is Time Warner and we can't get them here. Oh well - 90% of the channels are there, a lot in HD. What gets me is that the channels are duplicated - analog below 1000 and HD above 1000. I can't wait until 2012 or this stuff is mandated - because that (1) ends the premium charge for HD because it will ALL be HD and (2) maybe it forces them to quit advertising "4 programs at once", when it is really only 2 for HD. Sucks when there are 3 people watching three different things in the house (Bruce Carter, TX, ABDX via DXLD) I had U-Verse Cable had it disconnected. Not that I didn't like it, but with my Wife's hours being cut to part-time ,and then having to add her to my health Insurance at a cost of $450 a month, we had to do some serious evaluations of our finances. Cable TV was one of many things we got rid of. And you know what ? we really don't miss it at all. We get most of the networks over the air, although we seldom watch them...I do like Retro TV Network though. We kept Internet, and I re-subscribed to Netflix. I also purchased a Roku box so we watch tons of old TV shows and movies via Internet, through Netfilx; and the quality is excellent. I don't think I will be paying for TV anytime in the near future, even when my Wife returns to fulltime. PS. I also severed my AT&T contract for my iphone, and now use Page Plus Cellular at 29.95 a month for 1200 minutes and 1200 texts (and it uses the verizon network). My iphone is now a simply an ipod touch (I still use if for streaming radio in wifi areas like work and my house) (Juan a.k.a. Mr. Cheap, Gualda, FL, ibid.) I dropped the video part of cable 6 weeks ago (took the DVR back) & my bill went down from $140 to about $50 per month since I'm keeping the cable modem. Still Comcast has called me twice plus sent a salesman over to try & get me back on video services. No thanks. Between all the movies I recorded off cable plus the ones I bought from Amazon I don't need that expensive cable bill. Not with about 2000 movies to watch!! Instead my DVD recorder is connected to a DTV converter box & an outside antenna for OTA DTV which I seldom watch but it's 100% free if I do want to watch something. Oh & I also have Netflix both for the DVD's & the instant movie streaming too. So who needs cable? I don't. Nor do I want sat TV either. Nothing but a waste of money (Robert M. Bratcher, Jr., ibid.) I guess whatever works for you - with my daughter and her friends doing shows on Disney, Nickelodeon, and starting on other networks, I like to keep track of who the competition is, and what they are doing. Plus - Disney and Nickelodeon have good, clean family sitcoms like I used to watch in the 60's. I never thought I would see good clean family television again in my lifetime. Those two networks are bringing it back, and TV's dirty little secret is that adults are watching, and in ever increasing numbers to the exasperation of network execs who are clueless as to why. Contrast that to OTA television, where the primary themes of sitcoms seems to be which human is breeding with whom this week, where traditional families are being redefined into bizarre things, where faith and people of faith are ridiculed, or where the special effects teams endeavor to show more and more gruesome corpses and bigger and bigger explosions. No thanks - I'll take cable / satellite any day. I hardly watch anything on the OTA networks they have gotten so bad over the decades since the 60's. I had an interesting experience with one of my daughter's little friends. A bright eyed little blonde named Greer Grammer. I think we knew her for several months until she mentioned she was the daughter of somebody named Kelsey Grammer. Never heard of him - never saw him on television. She was stoked to have friends who only knew her through her own work, and not her fathers. Point is - OTA TV may be for some folks. I've had the worst time with the quality of programming, and freely admit I am completely out of touch with current society. I've always been more interested in being spiritually correct than politically correct. Now back to a reasonably on topic question: WHERE can you find out the real RF frequencies that TV stations are on? My local channel 13 is only 20 miles away, and on a huge tower, and the stupid converter box can't find it. But it does scan and bring in a station from Bryan TX that has to be 70 or 80 miles away - so it has to be our local 13 is on some different frequency, probably high UHF that I can't get. Bizarre stuff this digital switch. They needed to force the TV stations to just announce channel changes. Instead we have to guess where TV stations really are, and have no idea what antenna to get! (Bruce Carter, ibid.) I use http://tvfool.com Enter your address, including zip code, and it will give you a listing of stations (both the virtual channel as well as the real channel) you should be able to pick up (Larry Wild, Old guy from South Dakota, ibid.) Bruce, I agree with your comments about OTA television. And those comments apply to a lot of cable programming, as well. But there is some good content on cable, like Disney, Hallmark, RFD, etc., if you look for it, and if your cable company carries it. There is also some great documentary programming like the History Channel, PBS, etc. Because the overall programming is so poor on both cable and OTA tv, I continue to subscribe to it, but if I had to give it up for some reason, I wouldn't lose too much time worrying about it (Dick W., ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ DISAPPOINTINGLY LOW SOLAR MAXIMA AHEAD? The next two solar minima were indeed forecast to be very low minima, with the maxima only reaching values similar to those of recent minima. There's an interesting discussion about this on QRZ: http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?t=252134 Disappointing perhaps to those who anticipate high MUF F2 activity, but VERY good news for MW DXers. I will definitely reactivate my Perseus this coming Autumn if activity stays low. Some experts predict high activity while others predict low. Hopefully one of them will be correct (John Faulkner, June 14, skywavesmw yahoogroup via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) The geomagnetic field was predominantly quiet during the week with the exception of some isolated unsettled periods and an isolated active period at high latitudes on 13 June. Solar wind data from the ACE spacecraft showed generally nominal conditions with the exception of a weak coronal hole high speed stream on 10 June and a solar sector boundary change that started late on 12 June. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 16 JUNE - 12 JULY 2010 Solar activity is expected to be at very low to low levels. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at normal background levels for the most of the forecast period with the exception of 17-18 June and 27 June - 03 July due to recurrent high speed streams. The geomagnetic field is expected to be unsettled with a chance for active periods for 16-17 June due to a coronal hole high speed stream. Quiet levels are expected for 18-24 June, followed by another increase to mostly unsettled levels with isolated active periods for 25-30 June due to another coronal hole high speed stream. Quiet levels are expected for 01-12 July. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2010 Jun 15 2151 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # Product description and SWPC contact on the Web # http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwire.html # # 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table # Issued 2010 Jun 15 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2010 Jun 16 72 12 3 2010 Jun 17 70 10 3 2010 Jun 18 70 5 2 2010 Jun 19 70 5 2 2010 Jun 20 70 5 2 2010 Jun 21 70 8 3 2010 Jun 22 72 8 3 2010 Jun 23 72 5 2 2010 Jun 24 75 5 2 2010 Jun 25 75 12 3 2010 Jun 26 75 15 3 2010 Jun 27 75 15 3 2010 Jun 28 75 8 3 2010 Jun 29 75 10 3 2010 Jun 30 75 8 3 2010 Jul 01 72 5 2 2010 Jul 02 72 5 2 2010 Jul 03 72 5 2 2010 Jul 04 72 5 2 2010 Jul 05 72 5 2 2010 Jul 06 72 5 2 2010 Jul 07 72 5 2 2010 Jul 08 72 5 2 2010 Jul 09 72 5 2 2010 Jul 10 72 5 2 2010 Jul 11 72 5 2 2010 Jul 12 72 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1517, DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ ATHEISTS CALL FOR SUPPORT OF NEW COMEDY CENTRAL SHOW ON "J.C." Religious Right Coalition Trying to Deny Americans The Freedom to Choose. Comedy Central has announced plans to develop a new show, "J.C." that takes a lighthearted look at Jesus, God and other mysteries of the universe -- and that's just fine with a national organization of Atheists. Christian and Jewish groups are objecting, though, and have launched a campaign to pressure VIACOM, the parent company of the network, to end production. This comes just weeks after an Islamic group made threats over the "Draw Muhammad Day," once again raising the specter of blasphemy, legislation, and intimidation of those who poke fun -- or possibly even just question -- organized religion. "They just don't get it," said Dr. Ed Buckner, President of American Atheists. "The religious conservatives like the Catholic League are behaving like Islamist fundamentalists in trying to censor what Americans want to read, see, or say about religion. They may be using slightly different tactics, but it amounts to the same thing -- censorship." "The freedom to satirize any idea or belief is crucial to true liberty," added Buckner. “As Thomas Jefferson is reputed to have said, 'The remedy for bad speech is more speech, not less,' and that goes for all other forms of religious and political expression. No group should be able to protect its ideas through intimidation. Only weak ideas or beliefs need or want the protection of so-called 'blasphemy' laws.” "There should be no special rights or privileges for religion. Comedy Central should not have caved in to pressure from Islamic extremists in the past and should not now cave in to Christian bullies." (Buckner pointed out that an episode of "South Park" was recently "bleeped" for its depiction of Muhammad.) Dave Silverman, Communications Director and Vice President of American Atheists, said that if they wanted to distinguish their religions from that of authoritarian Islamists, Christian and Jewish groups should be defending the program, not trying to censor it. "They might actually benefit from standing up on behalf of freedom of choice in the marketplace, and taking a stand against censorship by either corporate interests or the government," said Mr. Silverman. "And remember -- the next step is trying to pass restrictive laws that forbid 'blasphemy' or anything else that mocks or questions religion. That's dangerous social policy, it violates the Bill of Rights and our Constitution, and it's un-American." AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a nationwide movement that defends civil rights for Atheists; works for the total separation of church and state; and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy. American Atheists, Inc. PO BOX 158, Cranford, NJ 07016 Tel.: (908) 276-7300 Fax: (908) 276-7402 AMERICAN ATHEISTS, INC. http://www.atheists.org http://www.americanatheist.org For more information, please contact: Ed Buckner, President 908-499-9200 (cell) or 770-803-5353 (office/fax) Dave Silverman, Communications Director 732-648-9333 (AA June 15 via DXLD) ###