DX LISTENING DIGEST 12-21, May 23, 2012 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 2012 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 WORLD OF RADIO 1618 HEADLINES: *DX and station news about: Anguilla, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Equatorial Guinea, Japan, Laos, Nigeria, Oklahoma, Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka non, Sudan, Sudan South non, USA, unidentified SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1618, May 24-30, 2012 Thu 0330 WRMI 9955 Thu 2100 WTWW 9479 Fri 0329v WWRB 5050 Sat 0130v WBCQ 5110v-CUSB Area 51 Sat 0800 WRMI 9955 Sat 1500 WRMI 9955 Sat 1730 WRMI 9955 Sun 0400 WTWW 5755 Sun 0800 WRMI 9955 Sun 1530 WRMI 9955 Sun 1730 WRMI 9955 Mon 0500 WRMI 9955 Mon 1130 WRMI 9955 Tue 0930 HLR 5980 Hamburger Lokal Radio Thu 0330 WRMI 9955 [or maybe 1619 if ready in time] 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://www.wrn.org/listeners/#world-of-radio WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS VIA WRN: http://www.wrn.org/listeners/customize-panel/addToPlaylist/98/09:00:00UTC/English OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org DAY-BY-DAY ARCHIVE OF GLENN HAUSER`S LOG REPORTS: Unedited, uncondensed, unchanged from original version, many of them too complex, minutely researched, multi-frequency, opinionated, inconsequential, off-topic, or lengthy for some log editors to manage; and also ahead of their availability in these weekly issues: http://www.hard-core-dx.com/index.php?topic=Hauser DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg without delay. When applying, please identify yourself with your real name and location, and say something about why you want to join. Those who do not, unless I recognize them, will be prompted once to do so and no action will be taken otherwise. Here`s where to sign up: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** ALASKA. Was KYUK-15 the last analog TV station in the U.S.? I just read an announcement from KYUK-TV in Bethel, AK that they were to begin digital transmission yesterday -- May 18. It said the station was to move from analog channel 15 to digital channel 15 on July 2, but the analog transmitter failed and the date was moved up to May 18. The station airs Alaska 1 programs on 15.1; ARCS on 15.2; 360 North on 15.3 and KYUK Bethel on channel 15.4. Alaska 1 is the PTV service from Juneau which also airs in Fairbanks. I don't know what ARCS is on 15.2, 360 North is a statewide service which airs on 7.4 on KAKM-7 here in Anchorage and KYUK is the local Bethel service. I'm not sure what is on KYUK-TV but at one time I knew their program manager who came to PBS meetings. She said as the only local TV station in the area KYUK (then on analog channel 4) broadcast PBS programs as well as programs from ABC, CBS and NBC. But that was almost 30 years ago. Their website is http://www.kyuk.org Since KYUK-TV didn't switch to digital until yesterday, was it the last analog TV station (non translator or LPTV) in the United States? I was told here by an engineer at KTUU-TV (channel 10 which was analog on channel 2) that the FCC has somewhat different guidelines for Alaska (Dave Pomeroy, Anchorage, AK (for 2 more days), Topeka, KS (beginning Monday), May 19, WTFDA via DXLD) It's possible that KYUK was at one time licensed as a full-power TV station, but it's not now. Their current license record (facility ID #62614) shows the callsign as KYUK-LD and the service category as low- power TV. It appears to have been K15AV from 1985 until just this past Thursday, when it took the calls KYUK-LD. AFAIK, Alaska (and Hawaii, and the US territories) followed the same schedule and deadlines for the DTV conversion as the lower 48. s (Scott Fybush, NY, ibid.) [Later:] Ah, there we go; from KYUK's website: "KYUK television began broadcasting in 1972. In 2004 KYUK converted its full power channel 4 television service to a low power (LPTV) television service, K15AV, broadcasting on channel 15." s (Scott Fybush, ibid.) Hypothesis: they could not justify continuing expense of ``full`` power (whatever that really meant) to cover a mostly uninhabited expanse, rather than the populated area around Bethel (gh, DXLD) ** ANGUILLA [and non]. 12180, May 22 at 0510, very weak signal with talk modulation. Probably a second harmonic since no station intentionally transmits farther out-of-this-band than 12160 WWCR. Yes, at 0520 I am able to // this to 6090 PMS! Don`t believe I`ve heard an harmonic from this before. Propagation was wide-open from the Caribbean; altho RHC had signed off, huge carrier on 12215 at 0514, with intermittent digital data bursts from the Cuban spies. In case Caribbean Beacon`s day frequency also harmonicize, patrol 23550 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. 49 metros, totalmente desquiciada por LRA con el fútbol en 6060 y su splatter. Como casi todos los domingos. 73 de (CX2ABP, Rodolfo Tizzi, Uruguay, 2053 UT May 20, condiglist yg via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. From 28 May onwards for a period of a couple of months, there's a chance you'll hear VL8A running a single-frequency test on 4835 kHz. This is a high-angle skywave, night service intended primarily for a domestic audience within 400 km of the transmitter. The reason for the trial is because the transmitter contractors are unable to maintain the automation system that controls the day-night change-over between 4835 & 2310. Reception reports on the test should be sent to: Gary Baxter ABC Transmission Services Box 9994 Sydney NSW 2001 AUSTRALIA Conversely, if people want to report on 2310 kHz then it might be an idea to do so now in case the test becomes permanent. Note that the address above should be used in all instances, and not that of Radio Australia (Received direct from Nigel Holmes, RA) (via Craig Seager, ARDXC via WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DXLD) Hmmm, out of the question to have an axual human being manually make the change-over twice a day (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. According to Nigel Holmes at RA, the proposed DRM transmissions from Shepparton have been delayed yet again and may now possibly take place from July. In the interim, the only DRM from RA continues from Brandon: 1100-1200 12080 BRN 8 080 DRM 1200-1400 5995 BRN 8 010 DRM BRN=Brandon, north Queensland Regards, (Craig Seager, NSW, May 17, ARDXC via DXLD) Hello Glenn, It may be at least a month before I get DRM going out of Shepparton. I dropped 9890 (with apologies to FEBC) and replaced it with 5940 to Asia. I can swing it back on 9 or 11 MHz towards the Pacific as soon as we get clearance for DRM. Kind regards, (Nigel Holmes, RA, May 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Nigel, One question remains as I still see it on all versions of your schedule, the 100 degree azimuth for 11945 at 06-10 UT. That seems odd to me as you are not using it for any other transmission, and it crosses nothing much English-speaking (beyond NI NZ), just French Polynesia. Or are you aiming for Pitcairn, which is 108 degrees from SHP? Or is it a typo? Regards, (Glenn to Nigel, via DXLD) Shepparton aerial slews 30 deg not 20 deg as designed --- Haha, not a typo. When new aerials were planned mid-90's the slewable arrays were meant to be 50 & 70 deg natural bearing with +/- 20 deg. slews (30 deg Solomons & sw Pac, 50 deg Fiji, 70 deg. Cooks & Samoa & 90 deg French Poly), but --- TCI stuffed the order & installed +/- 30 degree slews. Telstra didn't pick up on the error. I discovered the real slews when doing Proof of Performance tests a couple of years ago (which I'll be doing next week too - so no email please). That's why some odd numbers like 20, 40 & 100 deg. might appear. With 100 deg. I'm trying to provoke long-path to Europe as well as covering the southern Pacific Ocean. With 11 MHz that aerial has an azimuth beam ~ +/- 20 degrees so we have a chance of covering bearings within 080-120 deg. Cheers (Nigel Holmes, RA, May 17, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Logged below --- RA reception really degraded: May 17 at 0137, can`t hear it on usually inbooming 19000, nor on 17795. But by 0233, 19000 has become poorly audible. 15515, May 17 at 0308, poor signal but enough to tell RA is in French, the new service for partner stations at 0300 M-F, but not always. By 0505, now back in English starting `Pacific Beat`, 15515 has arisen to usual very good strength. 11945, May 18 at *0559, RA pops on fair signal with IDs, 0600 timechex only for 5 pm in Port Vila, 6 pm in Suva, then news. I was waiting for this since at 06-10, 11945 is scheduled with an unique azimuth, 100 degrees from Shepparton. Nigel Holmes confirms it`s correct and intentional. It seems that the TCI antennas were supposed to have slews of 20 degrees, but axually 30 degrees, so the 70-degree one can really aim at 100, which would be favorable for Europe far beyond. How is 11945 coming in there? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11945, May 23 at 1300, RA is missing, tho it was OK before 1300; then find 9580 also off. Power failure? Then check 6020 and still audible there with poor signal by now. By 1303, 9580 and 11945 are both back on, inbooming for the rest of the news (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. Updated A-12 of Radio Australia via BRN & SHP: 0000-0100 on 9660 12080 15240 15415 17750 17795 19000 21740 0100-0300 on 9660 12080 15160 15240 15415 17750 17795 19000 0300-0500 on 9660 12080 15160 15240 15415 15515 17750 21725 0500-0600 on 9660 12080 13630 15240 15415 15515 17750 21725 0600-0700 on 9660 11945 12080 13630 15240 15415 17750 21725 0700-0800 on 7410 9475 9660 9710 11945 12080 13630 15240 0800-0900 on 5995 7410 9475 9580 9710 11945 12080 15240 0900-1100 on 5995 6020 6080 9475 9580 9710 11945 12080 1100-1200 on 5995 6020 6080 9475 9580 11945+11945 12080* 1200-1300 on 5995* 6020 6080 9475 9580 11945+11945 1300-1400 on 5940 5995* 6020 9475 9580 11660 11945 1400-1500 on 5940 5995 9475 9580 11660 11945 1500-1530 on 5940 5995 7240 9475 11660 11945 1530-1700 on 5940 5995 7240 9475 11660 11880 1700-1730 on 5995 9475 9500 9580 11660 11880 1730-1800 on 5995 6080 9475 9500 9580 11880 1800-1900 on 6080 9475 9500 9580 9710 11880 1900-2000 on 6080 9500 9580 9710 11660 11880 2000-2030 on 6080 9500 9580 11650 11660 12080 15515 2030-2100 on 9500 9580 11650 11660 11695 12080 15515 2100-2200 on 9500 9660 11650 11695 13630 12080 15515 21740 2200-2300 on 9660 11695 12080 13630 15230 15415 15515 21740 2300-2330 on 9660 11695 12080 15415 15230 17795 19000 21740 2330-2400 on 9660 12080 15230 15415 17750 17795 19000 21740 + 2 transmitters in parallel on 11945 with different azimuth * DRM Updated A-12 of Radio Australia by frequencies: 1300-1500 on 5940 SHP 100 kW / 080 deg English 1500-1700 on 5940 SHP 100 kW / 334 deg English 0800-0900 on 5995 BRN 010 kW / 010 deg English 0900-1000 on 5995 BRN 010 kW / 010 deg Tok Pisin 1000-1100 on 5995 BRN 010 kW / 010 deg Tok Pisin Mon-Fri 1000-1100 on 5995 BRN 010 kW / 010 deg English Sat/Sun 1100-1200 on 5995 BRN 010 kW / 010 deg English 1200-1400 on 5995 BRN 005 kW / 010 deg English DRM 1400-1800 on 5995 SHP 100 kW / 030 deg English 0900-1000 on 6020 SHP 100 kW / 030 deg Tok Pisin 1000-1100 on 6020 SHP 100 kW / 030 deg Tok Pisin Mon-Fri 1000-1100 on 6020 SHP 100 kW / 030 deg English Sat/Sun 1100-1400 on 6020 SHP 100 kW / 030 deg English 0900-1000 on 6080 SHP 100 kW / 005 deg Tok Pisin 1000-1100 on 6080 SHP 100 kW / 005 deg Tok Pisin Mon-Fri 1000-1100 on 6080 SHP 100 kW / 005 deg English Sat/Sun 1100-1300 on 6080 SHP 100 kW / 005 deg English 1730-2030 on 6080 SHP 100 kW / 005 deg English 1100-1300 on 6140 SNG 100 kW / 013 deg English 1500-1700 on 7240 SHP 100 kW / 040 deg English 0700-0900 on 7410 SHP 100 kW / 030 deg English 0700-0900 on 9475 SHP 100 kW / 353 deg English 0900-1000 on 9475 SHP 100 kW / 030 deg Tok Pisin 1000-1100 on 9475 SHP 100 kW / 030 deg Tok Pisin Mon-Fri 1000-1100 on 9475 SHP 100 kW / 030 deg English Sat/Sun 1100-1300 on 9475 SHP 100 kW / 329 deg English 1300-1430 on 9475 SHP 100 kW / 329 deg Chinese 1430-1900 on 9475 SHP 100 kW / 329 deg English 2300-2330 on 9490 DHA 250 kW / 085 deg Burmese 1700-1900 on 9500 SHP 100 kW / 353 deg English 1900-2030 on 9500 SHP 100 kW / 329 deg English 2030-2200 on 9500 SHP 100 kW / 355 deg English 1600-1630 on 9540 SNG 100 kW / 340 deg English 0800-1000 on 9580 SHP 100 kW / 080 deg English 1000-1500 on 9580 SHP 100 kW / 070 deg English 1700-2100 on 9580 SHP 100 kW / 070 deg English 2100-0800 on 9660 BRN 010 kW / 010 deg English 2200-2330 on 9695 DHA 250 kW / 105 deg Indonesian 0700-0900 on 9710 SHP 100 kW / 355 deg English 0900-1000 on 9710 SHP 100 kW / 355 deg Tok Pisin 1000-1100 on 9710 SHP 100 kW / 355 deg Tok Pisin Mon-Fri 1000-1100 on 9710 SHP 100 kW / 355 deg English Sat/Sun 1800-2000 on 9710 SHP 100 kW / 030 deg English 2200-2400 on 9855 DHA 250 kW / 105 deg English 1300-1430 on 9965 HBN 100 kW / 318 deg Chinese 0400-0430 on 11550 TAI 100 kW / 205 deg Indonesian 2200-2330 on 11550 TAI 100 kW / 205 deg Indonesian 2000-2200 on 11650 SHP 100 kW / 030 deg English 1300-1430 on 11660 SHP 100 kW / 329 deg Chinese 1430-1730 on 11660 SHP 100 kW / 329 deg English 1900-2100 on 11660 SHP 100 kW / 065 deg English 2030-2200 on 11695 SHP 100 kW / 329 deg English 2200-2330 on 11695 SHP 100 kW / 329 deg Indonesian 0500-0530 on 11700 SNG 100 kW / 340 deg Indonesian 0500-0530 on 11745 TAI 100 kW / 205 deg Indonesian 1300-1430 on 11760 TSH 300 kW / 325 deg Chinese 0100-0130 on 11780 SNG 100 kW / 340 deg Burmese 1530-2000 on 11880 SHP 100 kW / 050 deg English 0600-1000 on 11945 SHP 100 kW / 100 deg English 1000-1530 on 11945 SHP 100 kW / 070 deg English 1100-1300 on 11945 SHP 100 kW / 329 deg English 0000-0030 on 12005 DHA 250 kW / 105 deg Indonesian 2000-0900 on 12080 BRN 010 kW / 080 deg English, no French 0300-0330 Mon-Fri [see 15515 below] 0900-1000 on 12080 BRN 010 kW / 080 deg Tok Pisin 1000-1100 on 12080 BRN 010 kW / 080 deg Tok Pisin Mon-Fri 1000-1100 on 12080 BRN 010 kW / 080 deg English Sat/Sun 1100-1200 on 12080 BRN 005 kW / 080 deg English DRM 0500-0800 on 13630 SHP 100 kW / 050 deg English 2100-2300 on 13630 SHP 100 kW / 065 deg English 0100-0500 on 15160 SHP 100 kW / 065 deg English 2200-2400 on 15230 SHP 100 kW / 030 deg English 0000-0900 on 15240 SHP 100 kW / 030 deg English 2200-2330 on 15240 TAI 100 kW / 205 deg English 0600-0630 on 15290 TAI 100 kW / 205 deg Indonesian 0000-0030 on 15350 TAI 100 kW / 205 deg Indonesian 2200-0700 on 15415 SHP 100 kW / 355 deg English 0300-0600 on 15515 SHP 100 kW / 070 deg English, no French 0300-0330 Mon-Fri [yes there is, or can be: I heard it once; Ivo doesn`t read my reports? Surely he does, as info first reported here or by others in DXLD often shows up subsequently in DX Re Mix News, never with any credit -gh] 2000-2300 on 15515 SHP 100 kW / 050 deg English 2330-2400 on 17750 SHP 100 kW / 329 deg English 0000-0030 on 17750 SHP 100 kW / 329 deg Indonesian 0030-0400 on 17750 SHP 100 kW / 329 deg English 0400-0530 on 17750 SHP 100 kW / 329 deg Indonesian 0530-0700 on 17750 SHP 100 kW / 329 deg English 2300-0300 on 17795 SHP 100 kW / 050 deg English 0400-0430 on 17800 HBN 100 kW / 270 deg Indonesian 2300-0100 on 19000 SHP 100 kW / 065 deg English 0100-0300 on 19000 SHP 100 kW / 070 deg English 0300-0500 on 21725 SHP 100 kW / 355 deg English 0500-0700 on 21725 SHP 100 kW / 329 deg English 2100-0100 on 21740 SHP 100 kW / 070 deg English (DX Re Mix News, Bulgaria, 21 May via DXLD) ** BAHRAIN. 9745, Radio Bahrain, 2355-0010, May 17-18, audible after Romania 9745 signed off at 2355. Arabic talk. Local Middle- Eastern style music. Weak but readable. Suppressed carrier USB. 9744.996, WIDE OPEN window from ME towards Europe at 0140 UT May 21, S=8-9 signal, Upper Side Band like mostly audio flank. Holy Qur`an male voice prayer (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 21, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. 279 kHz: No longer 24h. Now signing off 2104 after the national anthem. Has been 24/7 for a couple of years. The modulation level remains extremely low (Olle Alm, Sweden, ARC Information Desk 14 May, mv-eko via DXLD) ** BIAFRA [non]. via GERMANY. 11870, Radio Biafra, London, *2000- 2100*, May 19, sign on with local music and opening announcements. Discussions in vernacular and occasionally English. Sign off with about 45 seconds of Biafra’s National Anthem. First time I have heard them play the Biafra National Anthem. Poor. Weak in high noise level. Improved to a fair to good level by 2030. Thur, Sat only (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** BRAZIL. 4865.00, BRASIL, R. Verde Floresta, Cruzeiro do Sul, 22/05 1035-1110, 44444, música religiosa, tocan música en continua y casi al final de la escucha dan el ID “Por Radio Verde Floresta… Acre..” (Pedro F. Arrunátegui, Perú, Chasqui DX, May 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I thought the name was plural, Verdes Florestas (gh, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 4878.2v, Radio Roraima, 0345-0359:35*, May 18, Portuguese talk. Portuguese ballads. Closing announcements at 0355 and National Anthem at 0356. Still here with a poor, unstable, distorted, wobbly signal (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** BRAZIL. 6180, May 17 at 0520, RNA is gone again, but // 11780 is still on overnight with fair but undermodulated signal. 6180, May 18 at 0015, RNA with VG signal in music // 11780, overwhelming VP signal from 6185 XEPPM. Also at 0527 but with humbuzz. 6180 was missing last night. 6180, UT Saturday May 19 at 0514, RNA is gone again, but still running all-night on 11780. 6180, May 20 at 0511, RNA is off again, no loss, since 11780 is still on. UT Sunday had been the one day when both would run all-night. Now they both do every night, except when one is missing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. Now at 2155 UT [May 17] Rádio Inconfidência in Portuguese is on VERY ODD frequency of 15191.472 kHz - 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15190.05, Radio Inconfidência, 2255-2315, May 18, jingles. Portuguese talk. Sounds effects. Sirens. Fair to good. Not usually this close to nominal 15190. Very weak // 6009.93. 15191.72v, Radio Inconfidência, 2140-2220, May 20, Portuguese talk. Constantly varying up and down between 15191.69-15191.72. Frequency a little higher than usual. Weak but readable. And heard a little later at 2310 with a fair signal on 15191.73 (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) 15190, 20/May 2349, No signal R Inconfidência (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, 12 14´S 38 58´W - Brasil, Degen 1103 - All listening in mode of filter Narrow the 6 kHz. Dipole antenna, 16 meters - east/west. Escutas (listening, my blog): http://www.ipernity.com/doc/75006 dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15191.73+/-, R. Inconfidência. 0135-0210 5/21. I was enjoying music on R. Inconfidência on the Collins 51J-4, but getting frustrated that the BFO on this normally very stable receiver couldn't seem to remain on the carrier. Then I looked at the station on the Excalibur Pro and saw that the station itself was abruptly shifting frequency up and down in a range from about 15191.48 to 15191.75. Just to be sure it wasn't my equipment, I watched WWV on 15 MHz for a few minutes -- it was rock solid. Programming was mostly U.S. pop vocals with a male announcer in Portuguese (or Brazilian, if you prefer). Full ID at 0205 (Art Delibert, Maryland, Collins 51J-4, WinRadio Excalibur Pro, Pennant antenna with DX Engineering amp, HCDX via DXLD) See EQUATORIAL GUINEA ** CANADA. 2598/USB, VCG, QC, Riviere au Bernard [sic], with Fishing info for Canada's east coast including mentions of Miscou Island etc. OM had a slight French accent, and there was a YL ID at end that was REALLY hard to understand because it was fast and mumbled but manageable when listening to the recording over and over (and slowing it down by half! "This is Rivière au Bernard Coast Guard Radio, out." 3+544+4. 0454-0458* 12/May (Kenneth Vito Zichi, Port Hope MI MARE Tipsheet May 18 via DXLD) It`s Renard as in fox, not Bernard (gh) ** CANADA. 7850/RCUSB, CHU, ON, Ottawa, with time and digital data. I'm running a trial version of the latest “MultiMode” at the lake, but apparently, the software still mis-interprets the bit for leap second status, and wants to believe it will be SUBTRACTED rather than added. In well from 1703 to 1708 13/May. Here's a sample of the digital data as decoded: CHU Day: 134 Hour: 17 Min: 3 Sec: 32 CHU Year: 2012 DUT1: 0.6 TAI-UTC: 34 DST: 5 One leap second will be subtracted. CHU Year: 2012 DUT1: 0.6 TAI-UTC: 34 DST: 5 One leap second will be subtracted. CHU Day: 134 Hour: 17 Min: 8 Sec: 35 (Kenneth Vito Zichi, Port Hope MI MARE Tipsheet May 18 via DXLD) ** CANADA [and non]. 6190, May 17 at 0516, CRI English via Sackville is on correct frequency tonight, atop much weaker BBC via SOUTH AFRICA More dead air, this time the scheduled VIETNAM relay via Sackville: 9555, May 20 at 0508 when they are usually playing some nice Vietnamese music, just open carrier except for a brief spurt of modulation at 0513, then continued dead until 0529:27* without even a BaBcoCk music IS. Previous frequency 6175 was OK before 0430. More2 dead air, this time the VATICAN relay via Sackville on 13730, May 20 at 1158-1215:24*. There has been some question whether English at 1200 is every day or never on Sunday as in WRTH update. Well, Sackville kept the transmitter on anyway, just in case. Had the 1130 Spanish just ended as I intuned, or was it DA too? 9555, May 21 until 0529:25* cut off Vietnamese talk abruptly, as Sackville is making up for no VOV relay modulation 24 hours earlier. Strange, as normally the last biminute consists of BaBcoCk music loop. I suppose all these anomalies from Sackville could be caused by misprogrammed computer control, perhaps back in Montréal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, the decision to close Sackville is not only stupid, it's also selfish. By shutting down Sackville, other voices will be stopped from reaching us on shortwave. I'm NOT a happy camper (Chuck Ermatinger, MO, May 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. Another big sporadic-E opening, with the 6m ham band map from DX Sherlock showing lots of transcontinental paths, centred around Kansas City, May 19 at 2130, so I start watching channel 2 analog, with antenna first aimed south, and at 2143 start to see some video. At 2152, BELL MEDIA is seen on the screen, hardly Spanish or Mexican, so rotate to NNE where it`s probably coming from instead of Mexico all the time. Signals in and out with CCI, mostly out. 2210 some ad peaks about Top Grain. 2212 on 2, Family Guy, toon with dog seen on Fox in US (but also syndicated, I assume), peaks north, presumably a Canadian 2214 on 3, basketball game, with CCI 2225 on 5, basketball here too; not on 3 at same time if // 2240 on 2, Global newscast with brunette(!) YL anchor at center of screen, moved to viewer`s left when grafix appear. International stories. Constant small rectangular bug in LR, hard to make out, but perhaps weather warning map. Includes a lake which looks like Lake Winnipeg, or maybe smaller but similar Lake Manitoba depending on scale. Since this peaks north, I am confident it is one of my common catches, CKND2 in Manitoba. Later there was a story captioned from AB = Alberta. 2300, Es mostly gone; 2350 a brief resurgence, again May 20 UT at 0130, 0140. Another sporadic-E analog TV DX opening midday May 20, UT: 1703, something fades in ch 2 just as I am pressing SEND on my previous log report! It`s a letterboxed movie with opening credits, looks like Chuck Norris, GLOBAL bug in LR. Probably CKND2 again, MB. 1703, also CCI on ch 3 1718, now not much on 2 or 3, but 4: Documentary with lots of open captioning, apparently due to poor audio pickup from surveillance cameras. Tariq is one name shown. Mentions RCMP. Peaks NNW. 1720 break soon IDs show as `The Fifth Estate`, and CBC news promo. Surely CBKT1 in Moose Jaw, Sask. But if I am getting CBKT1 on 4, where is CKCK on ch 2 from nearby Regina?? O no, it`s already gone DTV on channel 8 as per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CKCK-DT ``CKCK-DT began transmitting over-the-air in Regina on channel 8 at 12:05 AM on Wednesday, August 31, 2011. Using PSIP Virtual channel 2.1 is displayed. Its HD signal is now offered on Bell TV via channel 1106 as of September 12, 2011.`` But nothing about when or if the analog ch 2 transmitter has been downshut. CTV Regina website has even less to say about such insignificant details. CKCK had been one of our most reliable Es stations at just over a kilomile, for fifty years, and now it`s gone forever. It`s also missing from Bill Hepburn`s channel 2 map, and from W9WI.com listings. It is however relayed by some full-power stations (still analog, apparently) on chs 6, 7 and 12. Reginans can how DX analog border Mexicans on 2 if they are very lucky! 1729, now some French Canadian on ch 3; mentions Radio-Canada. Hepburn`s map no longer shows CBWFT in Winnipeg, so it must be one of their two relays in MB, or the CBKFT relay in SK? Maybe not. W9WI.com still lists CBWFT on analog 3 as well as DT on 51. So are both currently on the air or not? 1742, ch 5 now in with rising MUF; 1745, CBC promo for `The Heartland` and back to `The Fifth Estate`. There are still four CBC English on ch 5 in Sask, one in Manitoba, per map. 1745, ch 3 has 10-kHz CCI between CBC and something else in English, including graphic MR BIG. 1747, ch 3 with `Question Time`, from CTV, political discussion, with IADs (intermittent audio dropouts). Would be CFQC1 in Sask, or much further CFRN2 in Alberta. 1800, opening is mostly gone by now (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Read down about only major markets converting. Analog tx's were turned off at midnight. There had been simulcasts here in Metro Vancouver by most channels for considerable periods and only one station that I'm aware of had not gone to air in HD by the last week before the 31:Aug deadline. TD (Theo Donnelly, BC, primetimeshortwave yg via DXLD) ** CHILE. Chile Rocks --- The night of May 18 I listened to CVC (Santiago, Chile) from 0120 to 0145 GMT on 11665 (25 meter band). The program talk, as expected, was in Spanish, but the ongoing, fast-paced Latin pop/rock music was a delight! My strength meter (scale 0-10) registered a strong, clear, stable signal near the top at 8-9. That quality of signal at night from CVC is not unusual (Grayson Watson in Dallas TX, May 19, using a Sangean 909x with an Apex 700DTA antenna, Cumbre DX via DXLD) But mostly gospel rock, surely, if you understand 17640, 1913 15/5, CVC Christian Voice, Chile, DRM, talks, songs, Spanish, good audio, label with text, "test transmission from Calera de Tango, Santiago, Chile" // 17680 in AM, fair (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Firedrake May 17, with propagation quite poor: 15570, very poor at 1324; none in the 16s, 14s, 13s, 12s 17560, very poor at 1404, SAH and CCI from V. of Tibet, Madagascar WWV reported at 1200 and 1500: ``Geophysical Alert Message # Solar-terrestrial indices for 16 May follow. Solar flux 131 and estimated planetary A-index 9. The estimated planetary K-index at 1500 UTC on 17 May was 1. Space weather for the past 24 hours has been moderate. Solar radiation storms reaching the S2 level occurred. Radio blackouts reaching the R2 level occurred. Space weather for the next 24 hours is predicted to be minor. Solar radiation storms reaching the S1 level are expected.`` Firedrake May 18, before 1300: 12230, fair at 1258 with flutter 12600, fair at 1258 with flutter; none in the 13s 14700, tune in just in time to hear a few words of Chinese spoken before 1400*, switching error sometimes happens. No time for full scan Before and after 1330: 17450, fair at 1325 17250, poor at 1325 16980, poor at 1327 16920, fair at 1327 with flutter 16700, fair at 1326 with flutter 16100, fair at 1326 with flutter 15980, poor at 1328 15570, very poor at 1328, het on lo side; none in the 14s 13970, fair at 1330 13920, very poor at 1330 with fax(?) QRM 12230, poor at 1332 with flutter Firedrake May 19, after 1300: 15485, poor at 1307, het on hi side Before 1400, a nonet: 16980, fair-good at 1343; none in the 17s 16700, poor at 1343 16100, fair-good at 1343 15940, good at 1344 15900, very poor at 1344 15490, poor at 1346, het on lo side 14700, very poor at 1347 13920, very good at 1347 12230, fair at 1349 Firedrake May 20, before 1300: 17250, JBA at 1237 16920, good at 1236 16700, very poor at 1237 with flutter 15970, very good at 1232 15940, very good at 1232 15900, very good at 1232 15545, poor at 1232 with additional noise jamming 14700, very poor at 1235 13970, very good at 1235 12230, poor at 1235 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) A pretty good match follows: Steve Handler`s 5-20-12 Firedrake Log --- Hi Glenn, Band conditions are not great today. Firedrake logs for the 1245-1259 period follow. Nothing above and below was heard 12230 Poor signal 1247 13970 Fair-good signal 1250 14700 poor signal 1250 with het that I assume was the Sound of Hope 15555 good signal 1252 15900 good signal 1252 15940 fair signal 1252 (different xmtr site than 15900 or 15970) 15970 good signal 1252 All My Best, (Steve Handler, IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15900, 20/May 2347, Firedrake with weak signal. In 14970 Firedrake with good signal. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, 12 14´S 38 58´W - Brasil, Degen 1103 - All listening in mode of filter Narrow the 6 kHz. Dipole antenna, 16 meters - east/west Escutas (listening, my blog): http://www.ipernity.com/doc/75006 dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake May 21, before 1300: 11500, fair at 1252 over VOR via Tajikistan, making fast SAH 12230, poor at 1255 12600, JBA at 1255 13970, good at 1256 14800, very good at 1256 15555, good at 1258 15900, very good at 1258 16100, fair at 1259 16920, fair at 1259 17450, poor until 1300* After 1400: 17560, fair at 1406 vs V. of Tibet, Madagascar 15600, fair at 1408, presumably vs V. of Tibet, Tajikistan, 15603 Firedrake May 22, before 1300: 17450, poor at 1249 17100, poor at 1248 with flutter 16920, very poor at 1248 with flutter 16100, fair at 1248 with flutter 15970, poor at 1249 15555, very poor at 1252 15250, at 1254 the usual CNR1 echojamming maybe with some FD added? 14950, very poor at 1255 14600, poor at 1255 13920, poor at 1255; none in the 12s Before 1400: 16920, very poor at 1357 16100, very poor at 1357 15970, very poor at 1359 15900, very poor at 1359; out of time to check lower Firedrake traditional music jamming, May 23, before 1300: 11500, poor at 1253; none in the 10`s, ever, for many months now 12230, fair at 1250 13970, very poor at 1252 14700, very good at 1252 15555, fair at 1254 15760, poor at 1253 15970, very good at 1252 16100, very poor at 1254 17450, very poor at 1256 After 1400: 14700, now very poor at 1421 14950, fair at 1421 15605, fair at 1422; none in the 13s, 16s 15940, very good at 1422 with flutter 17250, fair at 1425 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 17580, May 18 at 0005, very poor signal with YL in Chinese. It`s in HFCC so not a jammer! CNR, LIN site, 100 kW, 286 degrees. Aoki explains: CNR1, Lingshi 725 site at 112E, 37N starting at 2330. 9440, May 18 at 1246 sounds like a rock opera, unknown language; 1250 announcement, in the Cambodian hour from CRI via Kunming-Anning site per Aoki; good signal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also MALI ** CHINA [and non]. 21480, May 20 at 0412, CCCCCI, i.e. ChiCom Chinese language co-channel interference mixing with another station, i.e. R. Free Asia in Mandarin via TINIAN. One of them cuts off at 0458* while the weaker one continues until 0500*. My guess is that RFA went off first, about to make a frequency change. At 0500, 21580 and stronger 21710 are now on, // but a few syllables out of synch, typical deliberate offset by Tinian to even out power consumption. // stronger 17855 via SAIPAN sibling even further out of synch (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. Hi All, back in 1961 I logged, and verified, a SW station broadcasting from Bogotá, Colombia. They sent me a colorful pennant which I proudly displayed in my radio room, AKA bedroom! Unfortunately the pennant was lost over the ensuing decades. Odd in itself, as nothing else was lost! I am now wondering what SW station was broadcasting from Bogotá back in 1961? Per chance is it still on the air, is there no longer a SW station in Bogotá or has it been replaced by another? Does anyone have a good guess? Thanks! (Duane Fischer, W8DBF - WPE8CXO, swl at qth.net via DXLD) Duane, I am sure there were several in 1961. The big one was Radiodifusora Nacional, IIRC on 4965. None are left, and only two or three elsewhere in Colombia. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** CONGO. [Re 12-20:] 6115, 0557-0629 23/May, R Congo in French. Open Carrier. At 0600 OM talks in French, very low modulation. Sure French with African accent. At 0602 OM says: “révolution”. At 0603 short tribal instrumental music, then YL and OM talks lively. At 0610 local pop music. At 0612 YL talks, between short music. At 0615 local pop music. Signal degrading, after 0625. 44432 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana Bahia, 12 14´S 38 58´W - Brasil, Degen 1103 - All listening in mode of filter Narrow the 6 kHz, Dipole antenna, 16 meters - east/west Escutas (listening, my blog): http://www.ipernity.com/doc/75006 dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So confirms they are on for a morning broadcast and also propagable to North America, whence I have yet to see it reported; Jorge has quite an advantage right across the pond (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** COSTA RICA. On May 5 I was pleased to hear REE (Radio Exterior España) from 0200 to 0220 GMT on 9630 MHz [sic]. The signal, in Spanish, was beamed from their transmitter in Costa Rica in DRM, a clear, strong digital signal. My Strength Meter (0-10 scale) registered 9-10 throughout the 20 minutes I listened. Beautiful audio. From Grayson in Dallas on a modified Sangean 909x using an Apex 700DTA active antenna (Grayson, shortwave-swl-antenna yg via DXLD) Grayson, 9630 kHz is supposed to switch from DRM to AM at 0200 UT. Is that time correct? Have you explained how the 909X is modified for DRM? 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, ibid.) ** COSTA RICA [and non]. LUZ VERDE PARA RADIO DIGITAL La digitalización de la transición de la señal añade a la radio propiedades interactivas y la posibilidad de agregar servicios como avisos de emergencia. [caption] Una comisión especial mixta recomendará al Gobierno, en seis meses, el formato estándar de radio digital que debería adoptarse en el país. Así lo establece un decreto ejecutivo publicado en el diario oficial La Gaceta el 10 de mayo. Con ello, la administración Chinchilla Miranda da el banderazo de salida para que la industria radiofónica inicie el proceso para digitalizar la transmisión de la señal y así para ofrecer emisiones más nítidas y de mayor cobertura y gozar, dependiendo del estándar, de opciones interactivas en radio. Un proceso que ya inició la televisión digital en el país y que finalizará en cinco años, cuando se apague la señal analógica. . . FUENTE: http://www.elfinancierocr.com/ef_archivo/2012/mayo/27/tecnologia3174130.html (El Financiero via @yimbergaviria, DXLD) Commission will have to decide among: the Japanese, US, and European ``standards`` without naming them otherwise. US must be IBOC, but what are the others? Both DRM and DAB are in Europe, and in Japan something different? As for TV, digital has started and analog will be turned off in five years (Glenn Hauser, summary translation for DXLD) ** CUBA. Re 12-20: ``1140, Radio Musical Nacional, unknown site. 1054 May 10, 2012. Fair in the mess of other sunrise stations, parallel 590. Possibly the same transmitter that is or at least was carrying Radio Cadena Habana (neither listed in the Molano list). Appears to LOB slightly east of Havana-proper, regardless (Terry Krueger, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` The R. Musical Nacional web says "Villa Clara FM 100.7 MHz, AM 1140 kHz". The RadioCuba-2009 list shows a 10 kW transmitter in Villa Clara assigned to Rebelde in that moment. About Radio Cadena Habana signal on 1140, you must remember that the new Mayabeque province was part of La Habana one until recently. So, maybe some degree of collaboration between RCHabana (old provincial station) with Radio Mayabeque (new provincial station)? (1140 R. Mayabeque, La Salud, 25 kW). Radio Musical Nacional recently QSLed on 590 kHz: http://moladx.blogspot.com.es/2012/03/cmbf-590-khz-radio-musical-nacional-la.html 73s (Mauricio Molano, Salamanca, ESPAÑA - SPAIN, RX site: Aldea del Cano, Cáceres, LAT: 39º17'09.70 N LONG: 6º19'00 W RX: PERSEUS. ANT: WELLBROOK ALA1530S+ http://moladx.blogspot.com/ dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 5040, Radio Habana Cuba. *2051 May 13, 2012. Carrier up, fragment of music patched in/out 2057, 2057:40 Cuban vocal up mid- song, cut for interval signal 2100:01, anthem 2100:30, into Spanish programming. Excellent. And on May 19: abruptly up at *2100 (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6000, May 17 at 0514 strong open carrier, presumably RHC, not turned off yet after English to 0500; while English was already going on the four scheduled frequencies, 6010, 6050, 6060, 6125. Recently, 6125 had been missing when 6000 was on late, but they have plenty of transmitters to go around after Spanish ends at 0500. Not checked again until 0532 when 6000 had vanished. 5300, May 17 at 0531, squishy pulse jammer against nothing, as frequently found wandering around this range, spur? 15330 and 13820, May 18 at 0542, weak pulse jamming against nothing. Also on 11930 at 0558, two different jammers fading up and down independently, one at pitch and rate matching 13820, the other at a faster rate and higher pitch. Presumably from different parts of the island. The incompetent DentroCuban Jamming Command is still attacking these frequencies, despite: 1) all never on the air from R. Martí in the nightmiddle, and 2) 15330 never on the air at all in the A-seasons 17580, May 19 at 1342, this RHC frequency is on the air for a change, // 17730. Ever a source of anomalies: 9790, May 20 at 0509, CRI relay transmitter via Habana is still on with dead air except for hum. Seems they never turn it off promptly at 0500. Still burning the kW at 0518 while Cubans go hungry. 6000, May 20 at 0512, more slipshod operation at RadioCuba, with RHC English still here instead of 6125 which is supposed to be on after 0500. Also on // 6010 and weaker 6050, 6060. Still the same at 0540! 11840, May 20 at 0516, RHC Spanish is still going after nominal 0500*, and still2 at 0529. 15340, May 20 at 1403, open carrier/dead air from RHC, still at 1409, finally comes on around 1417. All the other frequencies from 9 to 17 MHz were properly modulated. [and non]. 17580, May 22 at 1400:35, RHC cuts modulation during its own IS, and carrier off a few sex later; meanwhile all the other frequencies are still announcing both 17730 and 17580 as on the air until 1500; what do they know? 17580 uncovered something else much weaker, presumably YFR Bengali via Wertachtal at 13-15. I`m sure RHC is going off for its own reasons, not in deference to this. See also ANGUILLA [and non] 11845, 11930 and weaker 13820, May 23 at 0547, the incompetent DentroCuban Jamming Command against nothing on these daytime-only R. Martí frequencies, but the pulsing is different than the usual regularity, instead irregular, sounding somewhat like Morse code, altho nonsense (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. CANADA, 9490, Radio República (veiled network against Cuban government) in Spanish noted with Cuban rumba trumpet music at 0136 UT May 21. Fair S=8 signal from Sackville, and slight "like flowing water" noise broadcast from La Habana (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Broker RMI = Radio Miami International, not exactly veiled; weekends only. a.k.a. ``bubble jamming`` (gh, DXLD) ** CYPRUS. 9760, Cyprus Broadcasting Corp, 2232-2244:26*, May 18, tune-in to Greek talk. Some Greek music. Sign off with their usual Greek theme music. Very good. Good on // 7220. Fair on // 5925. Fri, Sat, Sun only. Irregular. 9760, Cyprus Broadcasting Corp, 2217-2244:30*, May 20, tune-in to Greek radio-drama. Some Greek music. Sign off with their usual Greek theme music. Very good. Weak on // 7220, 5925. Fri, Sat, Sun only. Irregular (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, USA, Icom IC-7600, two 100 foot longwires, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also R.E.F. ** DJIBOUTI. 4780, Radio Djibouti, *0305-0320, May 19, abrupt sign on with local chants. Arabic talk at 0312. Weak. Poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, USA, Icom IC-7600, two 100 foot longwires, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. 15480, May 18 at 0007, good signal but undermodulated and muffled M&W in Arabish. HFCC shows it`s ERU (R. Cairo), 250 kW, 245 degrees from Abu Zabaal at 2215-0045 in Portuguese and now Arabic to S America. Much stronger signal here than Cuba 15370, 15230, and Vatican via Bonaire does not start 15470 until 0030. This inspired me to check another R. Cairo frequency, 13855: good signal level but with hum and barely modulated, distorted at peaks, unusable. It`s 286 degrees from Abis in Arabic & Spanish at 2330-0200 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17725, Cairo? 1334 May 19 in Pashto/Dari but only a carrier is heard (very low modulation), S7 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, http://zlgr.multiply.com web2: http://sites.google.com/site/zliangas (replacement of geocities) http://www.delicious.com/gr_greek1/ZAK (all my pages) Pesawat penerima: ICOM R75, Lowe HF150, Degen 1102-3, Tecsun PL200/500/600, Chibo C300/c979, Yupi 7000, Antenna: 16m hor, 2x16 m V invert, 1m Australian loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Updated summer A-12 of Radio Cairo: 0400-0600 on 15610 ABZ 250 kW / 170 deg to CEAf Swahili 0700-1100 on 17510 ABZ 100 kW / 250 deg to WeAf Arabic General Service 1015-1215 on 17480 ABZ 250 kW / 090 deg to WeAs Arabic 1215-1330 on 17870 ABZ 250 kW / 090 deg to SoAs English 1230-1400 on 15710 ABS 250 kW / 106 deg to SEAs Indonesian 1300-1600 on 15080#ABS 250 kW / 241 deg to WeAf Arabic 1330-1400 NF 17725 ABZ 250 kW / 070 deg to WeAs Dari, ex 13-14 15065 1330-1530 on 15040 ABZ 100 kW / 070 deg to WeAs Farsi 1400-1600 NF 15545 ABZ 250 kW / 070 deg to WeAs Pashto, ex 15065 1500-1600 on 13580 ABS 250 kW / 315 deg to EaEu Albanian 1500-1600 on 15160 ABS 250 kW / 061 deg to CeAs Uzbek 1530-1730 on 17810 ABZ 250 kW / 170 deg to CEAf Swahili 1600-1700 on 13680 ABS 250 kW / 315 deg to EaEu Bosnian, future plan 1600-1700 on 15450 ABZ 100 kW / 160 deg to ECAf Afar 1600-1800 on 17585 ABZ 250 kW / 090 deg to SoAs Urdu 1600-1800 on 15345 ABS 150 kW / 196 deg to CSAf English 1700-1730 on 15285 ABZ 100 kW / 160 deg to ECAf Somali 1700-1900 on 9280 ABS 250 kW / 005 deg to N/ME Turkish 1730-1900 on 15285 ABZ 100 kW / 160 deg to ECAf Amharic 1800-1900 on 6270 ABS 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu Italian 1800-2100 on 9990 ABS 250 kW / 241 deg to WeAf Hausa 1845-2000 on 17625 ABZ 250 kW / 245 deg to WeAf Fulfulde 1900-2000 on 6270 ABS 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu German 1900-2000 on 9280&ABS 250 kW / 005 deg to EaEu Russian 1900-2030 on 15290 ABZ 250 kW / 250 deg to WeAf English 1900-2400 on 9305 ABS 250 kW / 315 deg to WeEu Arabic General Service 1900-0030 on 11540 ABZ 100 kW / 160 deg to CEAf Arabic Voice of Arabs 2000-2115 on 6270 ABS 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu French 2000-2200 on 9855 ABZ 250 kW / 110 deg to AUS Arabic 2030-2230 on 15210 ABS 250 kW / 241 deg to WeAf French 2115-2245 on 6270 ABS 200 kW / 325 deg to WeEu English 2215-2330 on 15480 ABZ 250 kW / 245 deg to SoAm Portuguese 2300-0030 on 6270 ABS 200 kW / 325 deg to NEAm English 2330-0045 on 15480 ABZ 250 kW / 245 deg to SoAm Arabic 2330-0045 on 13855 ABS 250 kW / 286 deg to CeAm Arabic 0000-0700 on 9305 ABS 250 kW / 315 deg to NoAm Arabic General Service 0030-0430 on 6270 ABS 200 kW / 325 deg to NEAm Arabic 0045-0200 on 9315 ABZ 250 kW / 330 deg to NoAm Spanish 0045-0200 on 13620 ABS 250 kW / 241 deg to SoAm Spanish 0045-0200 on 13855 ABS 250 kW / 286 deg to CeAm Spanish 0200-0330 on 9315 ABZ 250 kW / 330 deg to NoAm English # in the near future can be changed to 15770 or 15800 * in the near future can be changed to 9805 & in the near future can be changed to 9280 + in the near future can be changed to 9315 (DX Re Mix News, Bulgaria, 21 May via DXLD) Cartão QSL recebido da Rádio Cairo Amigos, hoje recebi uma carta estranha do serviço em português da Rádio Cairo. Digo estranha, pois, veio um cartão QSL confirmando uma escuta na frequência de 13810 kHz. Essa frequência ela está usando atualmente para o período A12. Acontece que já faz um bom tempo que não ouço as transmissões em português da Rádio Cairo. Não enviei portanto nenhum informe de recepção a esse deparetamento recentemente. Além do cartão QSL, também recebi um postal (agradecendo pelo e-mail) e schedule. Se tivesse só recebido um postal e o schedule, não acharia estranho, pois, no passado já escrevi algumas poucas vezes para eles. É um tanto comum receber alguma carta de emissoras para as quais já escrevi no passado (contendo schedule, postal, calendário, etc). Não vou considerar o QSL como uma confirmação recebida, uma vez que não enviei um informe de recepção para a Rádio Cairo. A imagem do QSL e do postal estão no meu blog. 73! (Rubens Ferraz Pedroso (PY5-007 SWL), Bandeirantes - PR, http://www.dxreunion-br.blogspot.com.br 21 May, radioescutas yg via DXLD) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA [and non]. [Re 12-20] ``I wonder if this could have been China Radio International in English which is scheduled on 15190 from 1000-1100 UT? (I think Radio Africa is usually off the air at this time) 73s (Dave Kenny UK, ibid.) ## I`m afraid it was. Listen for IDs or typical CRI content during this hour only; southward from Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN (gh, DXLD)`` The friends are right, is RCI [sic] in English. Sorry and thank you for the correction. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, 12 14´S 38 58´W - Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15190, 1920 15/5, Radio Pilipinas, talks in Tagalog, fair, in LSB to avoid QRM Radio Inconfidência on 15191.48 15190, 1957-2004* 15/5, Radio Africa (presumed), Bata, Guinea E., American slow English, talks, abrupt sign-off at 2004, no ID Fair (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italia, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15190, May 17 at 0535, S9+10 peaks from R. Africa with gospel huxter, OM in English, distorted modulation, suspect defective original recording. Was not on air a semihour earlier when I tuned across, and still no sign of Nigeria 15120, quite sporadic. 15190, May 18 at 0543 R. Africa, good signal with androgynous-voiced preacher/ess, but not like the one from Fence Lake NM on 15420 et al.; good modulation and signal as s/he goes into a prayer. Switched to AFN 7811-USB for Jim Hightower at 0544-0546, back to 15190 at 0546 to hear a different, definitely male voice, now with somewhat distorted modulation. So I missed a program transition, shux, but it was worth it. 15190, May 18 at 1836 check, there are both a SAH and an AH, which means all three stations are in the weak mix: R. Africa and R. Pilipinas on almost the same frequency, and R. Inconfidência a sesquikHz on the hi side (altho a few hours later Brian Alexander heard it back close to 15190). 15190, May 20 at 1537, assertive gospel huxter in English on poor signal, presumed R. Africa at this hour with IRRS/Romania finished. 15190, 20/May 0856, R Africa in English. YL talk, At 0858 full ID by OM, in background African instrumental music. At 0900 off the air. 35443. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, 12 14´S 38 58´W - Brasil, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Jorge, Did you get a recording of this full ID? They are extremely rarely heard or reported from R. Africa. I don`t see it on your Escutas blog (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) No, Glenn. It was very fast and have not had the opportunity. I will try this morning. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA - Brasil, 12 14´S 38 58´W, ibid.) 15190, 21/May 0846, R Africa in English. YL asks a question and OM responds. At 0853 hymn. The modulation is with distortion. At 0856 OM talks. At 0857 Cuts in modulation. At 0859 ID by YL. At 0901 the end of transmission. The ID was not like yesterday. 35333 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, 12 14´S 38 58´W - Brasil, ibid.) Glenn, Desculpe a gravação que está em meu blog, inverti os cabos e a gravação ficou com distorção. A modulação também tinha distorção, mas não como na gravação. Ontem a ID foi por um OM com voz grossa e disse claramente R Africa com site, e-mail e endereço. Amanhã talvez eu tende novamente. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA Brasil, ibid.) ** EUROPE. FRANCE, 6966, Atlantic 2000 International, 1932-1940, 19- 05, Atlantic 2000 International now on air. Pop music, male, French, identification: "Atlantic 2000". Very weak. Best on USB. 14231 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Log in Lugo, Sony ICF SW 7600 G, cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GABON. 9580, Africa No. Un. 2140-2201 May 11, 2012. Excellent with English and French vocals, none particularly Africa continent sounding, French male ID 2158, time sounders 2200, news brief in French through tune-out. Who's funding this thing now? (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. Dear friends, For those of you who want to see what I have been doing in Wertachtal, there is a short 4 minute video clip on YouTube. What you see: Switching on the transmitter. You hear and see the studio signal coming in. Putting a sticker from the radio organization that rents the transmitter on the tranny. Tour by car through the Antenna park to the non directional antenna for 6095 kHz. It can be seen here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ08TiV9cq4&feature=youtu.be Have fun! (Jan Oosterveen, May 20, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) ** GERMANY. 9515, PAB, ??, 2008 May 19 with religious program, A salute at 2020, a song at 2025, then a passage from Matthew. 2030 with Dardasha with 3 IDs !! (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) HFCC May 23 shows: 9515 1930 2030 37,38 WER 250 150 30 201 4 7 210412 090612 D 8400 D MBR MBR 19497 341 9515 2030 2045 46N,47NW,38W,37S WER 250 180 -30 217 1234567 010512 271012 D 10700 D MBR MBR 19500 namoall DX Mix News 1 May as in DXLD 12-18 showed: Pan American Broadcasting (PAB), new from April 25 till June 6 1930-2030 on 9515 NAU 250 kW / 150 deg Wed to NoAf English Radio Dardasha 7, new schedule: 2030-2045 on 9515 WER 250 kW / 180 deg Daily CEAf Arabic from May 1 Aoki is similar, with the broadcast before 2030 on Wednesdays only, but not identified and ZL heard it on a Saturday; and a different start date than 21 April; after 2030 R. Dardasha 7 is really BVBN: 9515 PAN AMERICAN BC 1930-2030 ...4... English 250 150 Wertachtal D 01041E 4805N PAB a12 Apr 25-Jun 9 9515 BIBLE VOICE BCN 2030-2045 1234567 Arabic 250 180 Wertachtal D 01041E 4805N BVBN a12 May 1- (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY [non]. 17810, May 22 at 1245, station in French talking about Congo-Brazzaville, and // weaker 17820. It`s DW, via RWANDA aimed USward at 325 degrees, and Woofferton UK aimed due south, respectively (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUAM. KTWR will be testing in DRM mode on Saturday 26th May 2012 at 1330-1342 UT on 15240 kHz. Azi: 290 Deg, Power: 75 kW --- (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dx_sasia yg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUAM. BUCKING THE TREND, ADVENTIST WORLD RADIO PLANS SHORTWAVE TOWER PROJECT ON GUAM. Posted: 22 May 2012 Adventist World Radio News, 4 Apr 2012, Shelley Nolan Freesland: "For 25 years, AWR’s shortwave towers on the tiny Pacific island of Guam have been broadcasting messages of hope to countless listeners across Asia. ... But to be effective, this facility needs a crucial upgrade. AWR’s board of directors has stepped out in faith and approved a $2.9 million project to make the necessary changes, as you can see in the photo. This picture doesn’t do justice, however, to the immense size and power of the towers and antennas. To put it in perspective, each curtain antenna is approximately the size of two football fields!" http://www.awr.org/en/news/show/55 (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** INDIA. [Re 12-20:] Two things to report both concerning Rajkot 1071. Firstly, Alokesh Gupta has reported (via DX Top News) that the replacement 1000 kW transmitter has in fact been installed and tests are to start shortly. Secondly, I checked the GE area around Paddhari - well to the NW of Rajkot at 22 30 07N 70 31 06E. The 4 masts are now clearly visible. ITU has 1071 recorded as omnidirectional. I have followed the angle of the antenna array at 305 degrees and arrived at Karachi. Should anyone know the correct azimuth for Rajkot B, please let me know! Once regular use of 1071 restarts (presumably returning to use Urdu, Sindhi, and Baluchi) then I will classify it as Active. 73's (Dan Goldfarb, May 19, mwmasts yg via DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 9526-, May 18 at 1251, carrier from VOI is back on after missing several days, either open or JBM. Same at 1337 during English, and still on at 1406 causing het to CRI Russian on 9525.0. Ishida shows it began to appear again on May 15 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9525.974, Surprisingly excellent feeder audio quality noted today. The TX will have been well repaired. VOI Cimanggis in Arabic logged at 1636 UT May 20, women singer chorus, S=9+15dB signal strength in Germany (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGST) Absolutely huge signal from V of Indonesia but weak audio on 9526. See what happens when English comes on later to record (Mark Davies, Anglesey, Wales, 1836 UT May 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9525 20/May 1841 Here comes a carrier unmodulated, with a regular signal (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA - Brasil, 12 14´S 38 58´W, ibid.) Hi Mark, Tried getting the English transmission 2 days ago, great signal, however 5 minutes before the English broadcast, I had too much interference from a another broadcaster switching on, not which one, but it more or less killed the VOI signal. Any one else had any luck? (Damien Read, Stouport On Severn, Worc UK, May 22, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) That would be CRI in Russian from 1900, 500 kW, 318 degrees to Europe resuming on 9525.0, per HFCC (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Hi Damien, The other broadcaster is CRI with a big signal on 9525. If you are in AM, then there is a massive het and you have little chance of getting VOI with their English transmission at this time. However, as VOI is 1 kHz above, if you tune in USB you will cut out what is below, i.e. CRI, and get VOI quite clearly. I imagine VOI's sender was at one time supposed to be on 9525 but its drift is perhaps working to our advantage. This is what I heard; not very good tonight https://www.box.com/s/5675d365b84c893d3884 (Mark Davies, Ynys Mon, May 23, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) 9526-, May 22 at 1302, S9+10 carrier, just barely modulated with music rather than talk as one would expect from VOI at the beginning of the English hour on Tuesdays co-produced with RRI Banjarmasin, if they are still doing that. Still on at 1403 causing usual het to CRI Russian USward accurately on 9525.0. One editor took pains to point out with my previous log that this is only ``presumed``. I have no doubt whatsoever that this futility is still VOI as logged numerous times before with enough modulation on exactly this off-off-frequency. There is still hope: Wolfgang Büschel reported earlier May 20 on a later broadcast: ``9525.974, Surprisingly excellent feeder audio quality noted today. The TX will have been well repaired. VoINS Cimanggis in Arabic logged at 1636 UT women singer chorus, S=9+15dB signal strength in Germany`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. Does anyone know if True Oldies satellite feed itself is in stereo off-the-bird? If not, the True Oldies stations may not have a good incentive to go stereo / HD. Many network feeds are still mono over the satellite (even for top- ranking national shows) because the satellite provider tries to make more money by splitting an audio feed into "L" and "R", and then subleasing those as a-la-carte as standalone channels in and of themselves for delivery of content at somewhat lower rates. That's why you STILL hear nearly all of the highest-ranking established major talk and sports feeds in mono even if the AM or FM station is stereo or HD. If you're listening to a live sports event, or a major show like Hannity, Rush, or Coast-to-Coast AM - when they break for local news and commercials or a station ID, you hear those in stereo, but when the show's bumper music starts up again or a network-based commercial is played, it's mono. Satellite network broadcasting for radio in particular still has a WAYS to go technology-wise, whereas TV has made leaps and bounds even with audio delivery. It isn't THAT hard or bandwidth-intensive to stream a decent-sounding 160Mbps stereo audio feed via satellite nowadays to a radio station's studio (or for that matter, via the internet to a transmitter site as an STL). (Darwin Long, Buras, LA, May 19, ABDX via DXLD) Yes, Citadel distributes "True Oldies" in stereo over XDS on the bird. 73, (Kevin Raper, KJ4HYD, CE WCKI WQIZ WLTQ, ibid.) There is no limitation to the fidelity of AM radio. From a mathematical standpoint, AM does better in frequency response than FM. - Leonard Kahn [Kevin`s tagline] ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM. This has nothing to do with radio per se, however, if you have any interest at all in Astronomy (and a great many Radio geeks seem to be for some reason) you need to make a point of being somewhere with a clear western horizon to watch sunset on TUESDAY June 5. If you haven't already heard, Venus will transit the face of the Sun and it will be visible in the evening starting at about and continuing until the Sun sets. Be careful and don't look directly at the Sun without APPROPRIATE eye protection (sunglasses won't cut it -- use a proper solar filter or a projection system to be safe folks!) The last transit was in 2004, which makes it sound more common than it really is -- the NEXT one will be 2117, so if you miss this one, you're going to be REALLY old for the next one! :) And remember you don't need a 'dark sky' location to appreciate this. If you can see 'ole Sol', you can enjoy this one! But remember: Be safe! Sunglasses won't cut it as eye protection! Use a proper solar filter or a projection system to be safe folks! (Kenneth Vito Zichi, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) More about this, and an earlier event May 20: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/y-big-story-annular-solar-eclipse-transit-venus-212122216.html (gh, DXLD) see also PROPAGATION ** IRAN. 15480, May 19 at 0459 nondescript music, IS? 0500 ``Govorit Tegran`` ID in Russian, NA, 0501 another brief Russian announcement, into Qur`an as required by the Ayatollah, from VIRI as scheduled 0500- 0530, 500 kW, 320 degrees from Sirjan, so also USward. Fair signal with flutter (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND [non]. 5820, RTE R1, 1954 May 19 with ID Radio 1 though with many IDs then a discussion with many laughs. News at 2000, S10, sudden sign off on 2004 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) via RSA sked to 2000* ** ISRAEL. 6973, Galei Zahal, 2320-2345, May 19, US R&B music. Very weak. Good on // 15850. (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** ISRAEL. Summer A-12 of Kol Israel in Persian: Apr. 6 - June 30 1400-1525 on 13850 ISR 250 kW / 090 deg to WeAs Sun-Thu 15760 ISR 250 kW / 090 deg to WeAs 1400-1500 on 13850 ISR 250 kW / 090 deg to WeAs Fri/Sat 15760 ISR 250 kW / 090 deg to WeAs Jul. 1 - Sept. 30 1400-1525 on 15760 ISR 250 kW / 090 deg to WeAs Sun-Thu 17535 ISR 250 kW / 090 deg to WeAs 1400-1500 on 15760 ISR 250 kW / 090 deg to WeAs Fri/Sat 17535 ISR 250 kW / 090 deg to WeAs (DX Re Mix News, Bulgaria, 21 May via DXLD) ** JAPAN. Metro Tokyo/Chiba Bandscan (Update) Here's an updated bandscan from Narita, Chiba province, east of Tokyo. Two new stations were logged, which oddly were absent the last time I passed through town, although it's not all that surprising given the downpours I had last time. The weather this past weekend was mostly clear. The two new stations were 85.1 NHK Saitama (closeby and rather powerful) and 86.0 NHK Kofu (90 miles with a 160 W mountaintop ERP). Other stations from both of those antenna sites were in just fine the last time. Other stations from those locations, such as FM-FUJI, were much stronger this time as well. The bandscan was taken exactly 6 months to the day after the last one and just three days before the opening of the massive 2,080-foot Tokyo Sky Tree transmitting tower. Because I was passing through on the same flight numbers both on the same time schedule and same terminal on the same day of the week, the programming schedules of the stations were basically identical to last time, giving a serious feeling of déjà vu. Due to the lack of flight delay this time around though, I was unable to make more than some brief recordings of only some of the stations. My plan to complete the recordings in the plane didn't pan out. The dial was VOID of all stations (what's UP with that with these Japanese stations??? Stations using the American / Korea dial plans from 88-108 have no issues busting through plane windows, but even at 19 miles, I get nothing!!!). The result of all this was just an amazingly disappointing 20 minutes to listen to the radio, and due to the sudden wonderful efficiency of airline travel, my flight, which left right on time, arrived more than an hour early at its destination (maybe only a DXer would wish for his/her flight to be delayed for purposes of DXing!?) I'm only listing the basic details here due to space limitations and clutter. Freq. + Calls / Tower Site / Station Name / Output / ERP / Distance 76.1 JODW-FM / Tokyo Tower / InterFM / 10kw / 11.5kw ERP / 37 miles *77.1 JOUD-FM / Tokyo Tower / Open Univ. of Japan / 10kw / 38kw ERP / 37 miles *78.0 JOGV-FM / Chiba / Bay FM 78 / 5kw / 23kw ERP / 19 miles 78.6 JOCV-FM / Mt. Mitutouge / FM-FUJI / 300w / 2.6kw ERP / 90 miles *79.5 JODV-FM / Saitama / FM Nack5 / 5kw / 37kw ERP / 44 miles *80.0 JOAU-FM / Tokyo Tower / 80.Love Tokyo FM / 10kw / 44kw ERP / 37 miles *80.7 JOMP-FM / Chiba / NHK Chiba / 5kw / 25kw ERP / 19 miles *81.3 JOAV-FM / Tokyo Tower / J-Wave / 10kw / 44kw ERP / 37 miles 81.9 JOGP-FM / Yokohama / NHK Yokohama / 5kw / 19kw ERP / 52 miles *82.5 JOAK-FM / Tokyo Tower / NHK Tokyo / 10kw / 44kw ERP / 37 miles *83.2 JOEP-FM / Mito / NHK Ibaraki / 1kw / 5.8kw ERP / 40 miles 84.7 JOTU-FM / Yokohama / FM Yokohama / 5kw / 21kw / 52 miles 85.1 JOLP-FM / Saitama / NHK Saitama / 5kw / 41kw ERP / 44 miles 86.0 JOKG-FM / Mt. Mitutouge / NHK Kofu / 100w / 160w ERP / 90 miles * - station was received in seek (details from last November only) I had a nice article on it on the forums, full of audio attachments and maps and transmitter links, but alas, all attachments were deleted and I haven't used the forums since. For the tower junkies who didn't catch that post and still have interest, here are some coordinates for the Google Earth users amongst us. Japan is home to some pretty darn impressive towers. Narita Int'l Airport: 35?45'51.18"N 140?23'05.27"E Chiba Tower Site: 35?42'30.79"N 140?03'10.79"E Mito Mount Kaba Tower Site: 36?18'20.38"N 140?08'37.29"E Mount Mitutouge (5,856 ft): 35?32'57.84"N 138?48'33.12"E Saitama Tower Site: 35?51'09.67"N 139?36'54.17"E Tokyo Tower (1,093 ft): 35?39'30.50"N 139?44'43.66"E Tokyo Sky Tree (2,080 ft): 35?42'35.78"N 139?48'39.03"E Yokohama Isogo Tower Site: 35?21'36.85"N 139?35'45.91"E (Chris Kadlec, from Narita, Japan, 21 May, WTFDA via DXLD) ** JAPAN [and non]. 11730, May 18 at 0537, NHK news in French pausing for frequency announcement of this and 13840. We know summery conditions are upon us when 11730 direct from Japan begins to come in better than adjacent NZ on 11725. 13840 via MADAGASCAR was about one second behind 11730. 6080, UT Sat May 19 at 0510, NHK World Radio Japón is opening `Observatorio Digital` show with talk about televisión inteligente. Strangely, on the NHK Spanish website, name of show is given in English as `Media Watch`! Then I tune to 6110, NHK World Radio Japan in English, and hear exactly the same subject, ``smart TV``, exact translation within a few seconds of each other. 6080 is via Bonaire, 6110 via Canada; and Sackville fortunately keeps China on 6190 tonight, where it is supposed to be, instead of colliding on 6080. Checking the archive audio of the English version, it is indeed called `Media Watch`. Should we include this loosely as a DX program? http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/radio/asx/201205191430.asx and they say ``this month``, so the program is not weekly? Right, next Saturday`s show in this slot will be `Japanese Pop Culture Magazine`. Just before music fill in the last pentaminute, said next edition of `MW` would be on June 23. Hmmm, trouble is, today is the third Saturday of May, while June 23 is the fourth Saturday of June. Maybe it`s scheduled as the second-from-last Saturday of each month? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, The previous edition of Media Watch was on 21 April - a 3rd Saturday again, so I would have expected June edition to air on 16th June. My preliminary schedule for the Saturday rotation is: 1st Sat: Let's Sing in Japanese (aired 7 Apr/5 May) 2nd Sat: Music Cafe (aired 14 Apr/didn't check 12 May) 3rd Sat: Media Watch (aired 21 Apr/19 May) 4th & 5th Sat: Japanese Pop Culture (aired 31 Mar/28 Apr/26 May) but further checking is required to confirm (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN. 9595, May 21 at 1307, R. Nikkei two YLs conversing rapidly in Japanese, but occasional English terms, such as ``something else``, ``how much is?``, ``what`s the movie?``, apparently an advanced language lesson; poor signal. 9595, Tuesday May 22 at 1308, R. Nikkei in Japanese discussing various German words, such as ``arbeiten``, 1312 ``Frau und Herr``, ``Klavier``, another advanced language lesson instead of English yesterday at this time. 9595, May 23 at 1311, R. Nikkei on this Wednesday is back to English lessons, having switched to German yesterday at this time; example: ``Are you afraid of every bloody thing?`` So much for American pre- eminence in Japlish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREA SOUTH [and non]. Glenn, Re the discussion on FM frequencies (and TV audio) in Korea from your latest DX Listening Digest 12-20: If one looks in the ITU Regs or even the FCC Rules (47CFR2.106) you can see that in Region 1 (Europe et al.) the "FM Band" (technically, just frequency bands allocated for broadcasting) starts at 87.5 MHz, and in Region III (Asia) it starts at 87 MHz. I remember years ago doing some work for a paging company that was attempting to obtain authorization in Singapore, and that subcarriers on narrowband channels at 87.8 and 87.85 or 87.9 were considered for this use along with subcarriers on normal FM channels (Ben Dawson, WA, May 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. Summer A-12 of Radio Kuwait: 0200-0900 on 5960#KBD 250 kW / non-dir to N/ME Arabic General Service 0500-0900 on 15515*KBD 250 kW / 059 deg to EaAs Arabic Holy Qur`an sce 0800-1000 on 7250 KBD 500 kW / non-dir to WeAs Persian 0905-1600 on 11630^KBD 250 kW / 230 deg to CeAf Arabic Holy Qur`an sce 1005-1500 on 21540+KBD 500 kW / 310 deg to WeEu Arabic General Service 1100-1600 on 9750!KBD 300 kW / 275 deg to NEAf Arabic General Service 1600-2200 on 6080@KBD 500 kW / non-dir to N/ME Arabic General Service 1700-2000 on 13650 KBD 500 kW / 350 deg to NoAm Arabic General Service 1800-2100 on 15540 KBD 500 kW / 310 deg to WeEu English 2000-2400 on 17550 KBD 500 kW / 350 deg to NoAm Arabic General Service # co-ch Radio Japan NHK in Japanese till 0500 * co-ch Radio Australia in English 0300-0600 and BBC Hausa 0630-0700 ^ co-ch CNR in Kazakh/Chinese + co-ch REE in Spanish ! co-ch Radio Japan NHK in Japanese @ co-ch Radio Belarus HS-1 and VOA in English NOTE 1: Frequencies 6080 and 21540 are unregistered. NOTE 2: Registered is 6050 and 21520 respectively. (DX Re Mix News, Bulgaria, 21 May via DXLD) ** LAOS. 6130, RN Lao heard May 14 from 1406 UT tune to past 1500 UT from Perseus site in Brisbane. In past days even from this site RNL has suffered with co-channel PBS Xizang but today was clearly dominant, at least until 1500 UT or so. As Ron has reported previously, English news from tune in to 1428 UT. Two men were reading what sounded like local news to 1420, then a woman gave station ID and frequencies at 1420, followed by what sounded like regional news by a woman to 1428 UT. At 1428 gave s/off in English and after a short 30 second pause, into a French ID by woman at 1429. French programming followed to 1455 UT which sounded like another news with woman and a short music snippet between news items - Vietnam and Pakistan were mentioned at times so the news in this segment may have been less local and more regional. At 1455 UT, a woman gave an ID and frequencies in Vietnamese followed by a man in Viet to past 1500 UT - again sounded like news. WRTH only shows English/French from 1415 to 1430 UT. It seems as if RNL 6130 has moved its former foreign service on 7145 to 6130. WRTH forgot (or perhaps by design) did not include Laos in the International section for 2012 edition. I used USB for this reception which materially improved legibility and reduced adjacent channel QRM, allowing a SINPO of 43544. Each of the announcers for English, French and Vietnamese spoke slowly and clearly making the broadcast easier to follow. In tuning the home Perseus at 1430 UT, heard nothing but noise on this channel (Bruce W. Churchill, CA-USA, DXplorer May 14, via BC-DX May 18 via DXLD) E-QSL - LAOS - Lao National Radio, Vientiane, 6130 kHz, 1405z, in 130 days - e-mail from Mr. Inpanh Satchapansy, Foreign Language Director, for mailed report in English + recording, IRC & prepared card/SWL card & follow/ups by e-mail. Promise of QSL response by mail. Thanks to S. Chakroborty of India and T. Breyel of Malaysia for their valued assistance and inspiration! (Bruce Jensen, CA, May 16, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thursday, May 10, 2012 Lao National Radio [illustrated] http://shortwavedxer.blogspot.com/2012/05/lao-national-radio.html Lao National Radio, transmitting from Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic was logged on 10 May 2012. An English language broadcast of domestic and regional news was heard from 1400 to 1430 UT on 6130 kHz. Reception (SINPO) was 55545 -- excellent reception overall, despite slight fading. Here is a summary of the programming received on this date: 1400 - Station ID of Lao National Radio, location and frequencies was announced by a female announcer. 1401 - News headlines, followed by news reports about Laos, particularly comparative ASEAN financial aid, rural water supply/hygiene development, doctor visits to rural areas, transport road work upgrading and European food festival, were presented by female and male announcers. 1418 - Station ID, frequencies and website address was presented by a female announcer. 1419 - Regional News featured reports about the ASEAN meeting in Brunei at the German Consulate, the Russian airplane crash in Indonesia, a health programme for HIV infected children, ASEAN tourist promotion in Cambodia, which was presented by a female announcer 1427 - Station ID presented by female announcer, followed by instrumental music. 1430 - English language broadcast ended, followed by a broadcast in French. A SoundCloud file with LNR signing-on -- as heard in Malaysia -- may heard by clicking this (link). Reception report was emailed on the following day. On 15 May 2012, Inpanh Satchaphansy, Director of Foreign Language Service for Lao National Radio, emailed promising to send a QSL (see actual email above). His message follows: "Thanks for your mails. I am arranging the QSL to send you soon. Hoping you will receive it. It will take some time." QSL card arrived in the mail on 22 May 2012 (Tim Breyel blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DXLD) ** LIBYA. Hi Glenn, Awful reception in SA tonight, very noisy. Hardly seems worth bothering. Radio Libye ?? 11600, Location ?? May 17, 2012. Thursday. 1806-1813*. French, YL talking, with music, sounds like Strauss or similar. If it is Libya, it`s running late; Aoki says 1800*, EiBi says 1805*. Actually cut off at 1813*. Very poor, can ID the language but it isn’t readable. Jo'burg sunset 1528 (Bill Bingham, RSA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11600, Radio Libya, Sabrata?, French, 19/05 1750. Songs in French, YL: “Ici Radio-Television Libya, Radio Libya de la Capital Tripoli”. International news, with an instrumental French music. 35543. Rx: Icom IC-R75, Ant.: Horizontal 20m. 73, (Rudolf Grimm, PY2-81502 SWL GG66rg, São Bernardo SP, BRASIL, http://dxways-br.blogspot.com DX Clube do Brasil http://www.ondascurtas.com radioescutas yg via DXLD) 11600, 20/May 1720, R Libye in French. Pop music. At 1723 YL talk and ID. QRM in background from Family Radio or CRI (?), the same frequency. 33433 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, 12 14´S 38 58´W - Brasil, Degen 1103 - All listening in mode of filter Narrow the 6 kHz. Dipole antenna, 16 meters - east/west Escutas (listening, my blog): http://www.ipernity.com/doc/75006 dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Radio Libya está en 11600. Pero no la puedo separar, la tapa Radio China en Swahili (Ernesto Paulero, Argentina, 1755 UT May 20, condiglist yg via DXLD) Cerro Radio China y 56, así que en estos 3 minutos entra bien Radio Libya en Francés 11 600 KHz, sinpo 33333 (Paulero, ibid.) Ernesto, Radio China ou Family Radio? Deu para ouvir o idioma da QRM? Eu não consegui identificar qual das duas. Agora as 1802 sem QRM, com bom sinal. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA - Brasil, 12 14´S 38 58´W, ibid.) Si, ahora llega más limpia, je je (Paulero, 1803 UT, ibid.) Eu gostaria de entender francês para saber o que tanta essa YL fala tão animada entre as músicas instrumental, rsssssssss 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA - Brasil, 12 14´S 38 58´W ibid.) Yo lo único que entiendo algunas palabras y más por acostumbramiento de la práctica del diexismo. Pero la identificación se entiende bien clarito que menciona Libia, la radio de la Capital Trípoli (Paulero, ibid. A pesar de que el horario figura hasta las 1800, sigue en el aire siendo las 1805, Radio Int de China cerró en Swahili a las 1756 y Family Radio cerró 1759, casi 18. 1809 Se produjo el cierre de la emisión con la identificacion como Radio Trípoli o Libia de la capital o algo parecido, jeje (Paulero, ibid.) 11600, Radio Télévision Libye - Radio Libye, 1750-1810*, May 20, lite music. French ballads. French talk. Weak. Poor in high noise level (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** LIBYA. NEWLY-DELIVERED, INNOVATIVE EQUIPMENT GIVES LIBYAN LISTENERS EXPANDED FM ACCESS TO RADIO SAWA Washington, DC — The Broadcasting Board of Governors has launched an FM radio transmitter in Tripoli that covers the Libyan capital and its suburbs, home to about two million people. The new transmitter broadcasts a 24/7 stream from Radio Sawa, with a signature mix of more than six hours of daily news combined with popular Arabic and Western music. “This is a country in turmoil, seeking a foothold in democracy,” said Brian Conniff, president of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc., home to Radio Sawa. “We offer a reliable source of news and information essential as the people of Libya strive to shape their future. We are proud to support free media in Libya, most especially during its political transition.” The BBG, which provides and maintains technology around the world to support its broadcasters, had been working non-stop since mid-2011 to get the new transmitter in place. Compact enough to fit in a refrigerator box, the equipment enables programming on 106.6 FM, an easy-to-find frequency. [? How is it easier than any other?? --- gh] “It’s crucial that we reach audiences via the media that they prefer,” said André Mendes, the BBG’s Chief information Officer and Chief Technology Officer. “In this region, at this time, that means FM radio. And we’re delighted to be able to use a frequency with such a good signal, so people will hear our programs loud and clear.” Audiences in Benghazi have heard Radio Sawa programming around the clock on the locally well-known 88.1 since October 2011. A major Libyan city, Benghazi was the stronghold of Libyan rebel forces. As the protests of the Arab Spring swept across the Middle East in 2011, correspondents for Radio Sawa and its sister station, Alhurra Television, reported on the wave of uprisings in Libya by traveling from Benghazi to Tripoli. Their on-air and online reporting tackled the news from the front lines as well as the challenges facing Libya during its transition to a new government. Radio Sawa has a weekly reach of 14 million listeners, according to international research firms such as ACNielsen. In addition to Libya, Radio Sawa broadcasts on FM in Morocco, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, U.A.E., Lebanon, Iraq, Sudan and Djibouti. Radio Sawa also broadcasts on medium wave to Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Syria and online at http://www.RadioSawa.com (BBG PR May 17 via Clara Listensprechen, Dr Hansjoerg Biener, DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. 5010.00, Radio Madagasikara, 0223-0240, May 19, suppressed carrier USB. Tune-in to African choral music. IS at 0225:30. National Anthem at 0225:55. Lite music and opening announcements at 0228. Malagasy talk. African choral music. Weak. Poor in noisy conditions (Brian Alexander, PA, DX Listening Digest) ** MALAYSIA. 5965, RTM Kajang, 1605 UT, playing non stop local hits, 333, 17th May 2012. Thanks (Swopan Chakroborty, Kolkata, India, May 21, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALI. [re 12-20, CRI Bamako relay on the air?] Here so far: Last night on 11640 before 1930 a very faint, unID carrier and nothing at all after 1930. No traces of signals on 13685 and 13630, respectively. Today at 1315 again no traces of anything on 13685 and 17880 (Kai Ludwig, Germany, May 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) CRI Bamako signal were NEVER STRONG here in Europe, see the azimuths table. kHz from-to ITU zone loc kW deg ant lang target 7295 0800-0900 46 BKO 100 0 925 Hau non-dir quadrant 7295 2300-2400 46 BKO 100 0 925 Chi non-dir quadrant 11640 1800-1830 46E,47W BKO 100 85 206 Hau CeAF 11640 1830-1930 47E,48NW BKO 100 85 206 Ara Ce/EaAF 11640 1930-2000 52S,53W BKO 100 111 216 Por GAB/AGL/CGO/AFS 11640 2000-2100 48SW,52NE,53 BKO 100 111 216 Eng Ce/EaAF 11640 2100-2130 48SW,52NE,53 BKO 100 111 216 Eng Ce/EaAF 11975 2130-2230 46 BKO 100 20 216 Fre WeAF 11975 2230-2300 37,38W BKO 100 20 216 Chi NoEaAF 11975 2300-2400 37,38W BKO 100 20 216 Chi NoEaAF 13630 1930-2000 52,53 BKO 100 111 206 Por GAB/AGL/CGO/AFS 13630 2000-2100 48,53 BKO 100 111 206 Eng Ce/EaAF 13630 2100-2130 48,53 BKO 100 111 206 Eng Ce/EaAF 13630 2130-2230 46,47,52 BKO 100 111 216 Fre We/Ce/EaAF/GAB/AGL/C 13645 1700-1800 48SW,53NW BKO 100 111 206 Swa Ce/EaAF 13645 1800-1830 46 BKO 100 111 206 Hau WeAF 13685 1300-1400 46 BKO 100 111 206 Fre WeAF 13685 1400-1500 52N,53 BKO 100 111 206 Eng GAB/AGL/CGO/AFS 13685 1500-1600 52N,53 BKO 100 111 206 Eng GAB/AGL/CGO/AFS 13685 1830-1930 37,38 BKO 100 20 216 Ara NoEaAF 15125 1600-1700 47E,48NW BKO 100 85 206 Ara Ce/EaAF 15125 1700-1800 48SW,53NW BKO 100 111 216 Swa Ce/EaAF 15505 2230-2300 46-48 BKO 100 85 206 Chi We/Ce/EaAF 17630 1400-1500 46-48 BKO 100 85 206 Eng We/Ce/EaAF 17630 1500-1600 46-48 BKO 100 85 206 Eng We/Ce/EaAF 17880 1300-1400 46,47,52 BKO 100 111 216 Fre W/C/EAF/GAB/AGL/CGO 17880 1600-1700 37,38 BKO 100 20 216 Ara NoEaAF Otherwise heard CRI Bamako in past months on strong level on SDR gear at receiving posts like in Greece, Ukraine, Russia and Japan. According to the most modern Chinese antenna design of #206/216 ITU antenna curtain type, visible in Google Earth like at Dong Fang Hainan isl., the equipment is same ost modern like at Cerrik-Albania, latter which works EXCELLENT since 2005. 17630, May 17 at 1400-1404 UT tx carrier only. TX off 1404-1406 UT, then program heard from 1406 UT. But all 13 MHz 22mb checks negative today. Supposedly single Arabic service channel 11640 at 1830-1930 UT on poor level noted (Wolfgang Büschel, May 17, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 18 via DXLD) [and non]. 17630, May 18 at 1408, straining to detect CRI relay in English: very poor carrier, occasionally peaking to a generous S9, but undermodulated, as I try to match it to CRI via CUBA 13740. Finally I think it does, one or two words ahead of Habana. Nothing audible on // 13685. 17630 is listed as 100 kW, 85 degrees from Bamako. Pales by comparison to neighbor 17640 BBC, 250 kW, 114 degrees from Ascension. Several other MALI relay transmissions are unheard even in Europe (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 7245, May 17 at 0517, IGIM fair signal with Arabic talk; 0539 now chanting on better signal. [and non]. 7245, May 20 at 0407, IGIM is on early/late in Arabic talk, squeezed between stronger 7240 DW Rwanda and 7250 Vatican, surely 250, not 10 kW as in HFCC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 1090, XEAU, Mileneo Radio, Monterrey, Nuevo León. 1056 May 20, 2012. XEMCA, Tampico is the dominant one here local sunrise, so I expected this was them with anthem from 1056, but surprised by male, "Esta es XEAU, Mileneo Radio..."at 1058, into Spanish vocals. Good (Terry L Krueger, Clearwater FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 6185, May 20 at 0406, XEPPM, poor signal in Spanish with SAH, CCI from presumed Vatican, unreadable. ACI not much of a problem, no Brasil on 6180, but something else, presumed DW RWANDA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Since WEWN has been inbooming on 15610, plus its spur field, indicating HF sporadic E is in play, I try VHF channel 2 analog, and something fades in at 2256 UT May 18. Antenna is at default aim southward, so Mexico? No audio yet. Checking the 6m Es map, there is a big opening with paths centered over Iowa, so Canada? Rotating antenna to NNE, nothing there (and no signs of DTV either), so back to S, where a video signal resumes at 2310; 2315 amid the CCI there is a talk show with three YLs, usually shown two at a time, fadeout. 2331 another brief fade-in now with audio, a political ad in Spanish for a presidential candidate, but could not catch which one or which party (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR [and non]. 7110, May 20 at 1208, bits of music still making it thru, but not much longer, and no way we will hear the 1430 English this far into the dayside until winter if it still exist then. SS SSB ham was right on frequency too (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. Lots of dead air lately: including 6195, BONAIRE, May 20 at 0405, big S9+22 signal with no RNW Spanish modulation as scheduled. Remaining days are numbered, and they miss an opportunity! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. 15720, 1940 15/5, Radio New Zealand Int. DRM, ID in English and talks in a Pacific Language, reported to be Tongan, really good audio: no gaps. Perfect! The DRM text gives news headlines. // 11725 in AM good. 17675, 2350 7/5, Radio New Zealand Int., DRM, fair signal S=7, audio usable, with few bugs, talks, ID at 0000 with news (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, Italia, 19 May, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA. 15120, V of Nigeria, Lagos in English with Mailbag show including READING the whole reception report from a DXer in Italy (I suppose at least they are trying, which is more than a lot of western broadcasters are doing these days!) presented by two YLs. A PSA about HIV testing, and programme promos for 'Health Corner' and musical programming aired on the Voice of Nigeria. Nigerian Vocal music, and mentions of programming carried on VoN. ID and PSA for women's health services at BoH and into a YL talking -- modulation hum and her accent conspiring to make it impossible to follow what she was talking about! 3+4+4+43+ 0511-0535 12/May (Kenneth Vito Zichi, Port Hope MI MARE Tipsheet May 18 via DXLD) 15115-15120-15125, May 17 until 1958:40* tuned in just in time to hear DRM noise cut off from VON, uncovering spur from SPAIN, q.v. I wonder if this DRM is ever decodable in NAm? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Searching the drmna yg, we find ONE report of it: (gh) Voice of Nigeria test coming in intermittently at 1837 UT / 11:37 AM PDT in Northwest US. 9.5 dBi - 9.10 kbps EEP aac mono 16-QAM / SM 16- QAM 100 kW from Abuja (Jayson Bucknell, April 26, drmna yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DXLD) Here are latest reports of it on the DRM RX forum, http://www.drmrx.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2390&page=4 mostly, all? from Europe, including this gem: (gh) Reception was very good here today! Doppler was down at 1 Hz and SNR very stable at 29 dB. There was hardly any fading, the signal always was within a 5 dB window! The only problem is that the sound quality at 9 kbps is worse than with AM! With today`s signal mode B at 15 kbps should be possible! These little dropouts were TX related. I wonder why the shorttime frequency stability is so bad (Fritz Wue, 8 May, Location: 40km west of Muenster, NRW, Germany, Posts: 5,644 via WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DXLD) Nice strong signal this evening too. The Newstar DR111 arrived this morning, so I let it play on the same frequency as Dream this evening. There were no drop-outs that I can recall. I need to look into the different features and get used to the controls. I wrote to VoN and they replied that they were going to look into the matter regarding the 9 kbps bitrate and perhaps dare to fiddle with the controls a bit. We can only hope that they increase the bitrate. The audio in the DR111 was pretty muffled (but that was not a problem with the Newstar!) Regards, Terje, HED362 http://www.omnirep.se/drm/ (Digger, 18 May, Location: Biberstein, Switzerland JN47aj 47 25'N / 8 05'E, Posts: 6,480, ibid.) ** NORTH AMERICA. [Pirates]. 6924.64, WBNY, 0125-0133*, May 20, pop music. IDs. Easter music. Talk. Weak. Poor in noisy conditions. 6925, Radio Ronin Shortwave, 0155-0215, May 19, rock music. IDs. Strong. 6925 USB, Wolverine Radio, 0310-0319*, May 20, music by Fine Young Cannibals and Lyle Lovett. ID and SSTV at sign off. Very good. 6925.07, Channel Z, 0010-0030, May 20, British announcer. IDs. Announced “music before they were famous”. Oldies 60’s music from Elton John, Rod Stewart and others. Fair to good. 6932.25, Radio Jamba International, 0020-0035, May 20, music. ID. Weak. Poor audio quality (Brian Alexander, Mechanicsburg, PA, USA, Icom IC-7600, two 100 foot longwires, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGESTE) ** OKLAHOMA. 780, May 22 at 0125 UT, as I am checking out 770 KKOB, notice that KSPI Stillwater is already off the air, unlike yesterday. Official May sunset is 0130 UT (June and July: 0145). Conversely, this daytimer sometimes leaves its carrier on past sunset, or even all- night. 780, UT May 23 at 0125, KSPI Stillwater is absent again before its mandatory sunset close at 0130. I had not been checking whether it was also missing during the day, but it was on as normal at 1245. I suppose daytimers don`t have to occupy all their legal airtime if they don`t want to (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 1430, May 22 at 0553, good signal with a caller from Scottsdale on ``Extra Sports 910``. Soon faded to nothing, then back up. I was expecting something more exotic than KTBZ Tulsa, but slogan chex for KGME in Phoenix on 910, and both of them are on the Fox Sports Network. No other likely sportstalkers on 1430 around here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. ELCR --- Station; City: East Lawton; Station Description Info: Now on 1670 AM (in C-QUAM stereo) and 96.7 FM (both antennas up about 30 feet), East Lawton Community Radio (ELCR) formerly ran on 1600 on the AM side. Before that, it ran on 98.7 as JazzFM (and PowerFM before that). PowerFM in Mountain Home, Arkansas, is a sister station. Active: Yes Found via useful site: http://www.part15.us/node/623 However, no date on this and filed under OLD STATION LISTINGS. Are these active now? I wonder if our listener in Lawton know anything about it. At very low power, far too distant to hear here (Glenn Hauser, Enid, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. 48, May 21 [correct] at 0502-0512+ UT, KOCY-LP in OKC is locked up! Audio bits in Spanish are cutting on and off rapidly at the rate of 6 per second (360 per minute), and the video is frozen. Not snow-free and hard to make out, but various geometric figures, maybe tiling, and possibly some lettering. I suppose an input problem from the Estrella TV network downlink? Something wonderfully digital even tho the ultimate transmission is still analog. W9WI.com has three listings for this: licensed as 18.1 kW; application for 10.6 kW; and CP for LD = digital 15 kW, all at same site. I am dreading the day this may flash-cut to DTV, the last of my near-local analog TV signals (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. Summer A-12 sked of Radio Pakistan: Bangla 0900-1000 on 11870vISL 100 kW / 118 deg to SoAs 15620 ISL 100 kW / 118 deg to SoAs Chinese 1200-1300 on 15700 ISL 250 kW / 070 deg to EaAs 17725 ISL 250 kW / 070 deg to EaAs Dari 1445-1545 on 7510vISL 100 kW / 270 deg to WeAs Gujarati 1145-1215 on 9805 ISL 100 kW / 147 deg to SoAs 11865vISL 100 kW / 147 deg to SoAs Hindi 1045-1145 on 9805 ISL 100 kW / 147 deg to SoAs 11865vISL 100 kW / 147 deg to SoAs Nepali 1000-1030 on 11870vISL 100 kW / 118 deg to SoAs 15620 ISL 100 kW / 118 deg to SoAs Pashto 1345-1445 on 7510vISL 100 kW / 270 deg to WeAs Persian 1700-1800 on 7510 ISL 100 kW / 260 deg to WeAs 9370vISL 100 kW / 260 deg to WeAs Sinhala 1230-1300 on 11880 ISL 100 kW / 147 deg to SoAs 15540vISL 100 kW / 147 deg to SoAs Tamil 1300-1330 on 11880 ISL 100 kW / 147 deg to SoAs 15540vISL 100 kW / 147 deg to SoAs Urdu 0045-0215 on 15490 ISL 250 kW / 118 deg to SEAs 17710 ISL 250 kW / 118 deg to SEAs 0500-0700 on 15725 ISL 250 kW / 313 deg to WeEu 17830 ISL 250 kW / 313 deg to WeEu 0830-1105*on 15725 ISL 250 kW / 313 deg to WeEu 17720 ISL 250 kW / 313 deg to WeEu 1330-1530 on 15290 ISL 250 kW / 282 deg to N/ME 17520 ISL 250 kW / 282 deg to N/ME 1700-1900*on 11575 ISL 250 kW / 313 deg to WeEu 15265 ISL 250 kW / 313 deg to WeEu v=xxxxx.4 kHz *including English news 0905-0910, 1100-1105, 1700-1710 (DX Re Mix News, Bulgaria, 21 May via DXLD) But for R. Pakistan, English is not worth mentioning explicitly even tho it is one of Pak`s two official languages and of considerable use elsewhere (gh, DXLD) ** PERU [and non]. CHASQUI DX PFA – MAYO 2012 --- CQ, CQ, CQ; Aquí Pedro F. Arrunátegui para compartir algo con los que disfrutan y aman el DX latinoamericano, todas las horas son UTC, desde la tierra de los incas, les informo mediante este Quipus lo siguiente: 4747.05, R. Huanta 2000, Huanta, Ayacucho, 21/05 1150-1235, 44444, ads Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito Señor de Marinay, saca tu préstamo, ID “A través de Radio Huanta 2000” NOTA: Esta estación el mes pasado la capté en 4747.10; ahora está en 4747.05 5024.90, R. Quillabamba, Cusco, 30/04 2220-2305, 55555, programa Avisos y Comunicados en quechua y español, música folklórica huayno, ID “El centro de la comunidad de comunicación de Radio Quillabamba, presenta….” [compare frequency to the following] 5024.98, CUBA, R. Rebelde, La Habana, 1/05 0540-0605, 44444 música tropical, ID “Por Radio Rebelde, La Habana”, programa Cuba y el Mundo, news, ID “Por Rebelde la Habana, la emisora de la revolución” 5039.15, R. Libertad, Junín, 9/05 1145-1220, 55555, música folklórica huayno en español ads Orquesta Internacional Bazán, lo mejor en esta ciudad de Junín, Pollos a la brasa Ki Ki Ri Ki en Bolívar 292 en esta ciudad de Junín, ID “Ya viene en noticiero Libertad de Radio Libertad” 5120.00, R. Ondas del Sur, Quillabamba, Cusco, 9/05 1235-1310, 44444, ads Compre Sanito al 25%, el mejor parasitario para sus animales, ID “Radio Ondas del Sur, siempre primero en la información” 5460.00, R. Bolivar, Bolivar, 13/05 1205-1240, 44444, ID A través de Radio Bolívar”, muy buenos días, un saludo muy especial a todas las madres de esta provincia de Bolívar. 6173.90, R. Tawantisuyo, Cusco, 25/04 0150-0220, 55555, música folklorica huayno en español, ID “En Radio Tawantisuyo” música folklórica huayno, A través de Radio Tawantisuyo” programa De todo un poco. La recepción la he efectuado del 24/04 al 22/05 en compañía de mi sabueso Icom IC R72 acompañado del Mizuho KX-3, una grabadora Alesis Palm Track, una antena de hilo largo de 15 metros y una antena loop. Muchos 128´s PFA (Pedro F. Arrunátegui, May 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) His full report in the dxldyg includes more MW items from Perú and neighboring countries (gh) ** PHILIPPINES. 15150, 19/May 1833, R Pilipinas in Filipino (no English). Strong spurious signal of the frequency of 15190. Also detected in 15110, 15230, 15275. 15190, 19/May 1838, R Pilipinas in Filipino (no English). YL talk and local pop music. Moderate QRM from R Inconfidência. 43443. 11720, 20/May 1729, R Pilipinas in English. Open carrier unmodulated, good signal. At 1730 1 kHz signal after busy telephone signal. Radio Pilipinas in English? At 1739 The Buzz. In 15190, R. Pilipinas in English, with modulation. At 1740 pop music. At 1741 full ID by OM. In // 15190. 45433. 15190 20/May 1825 R Pilipinas in English. YL talk. At 1831 local pop music. Moderate QRM from R Africa, no R Inconfidência. R Africa YL talk in English. 43443 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, 12 14´S 38 58´W - Brasil, Degen 1103 - All listening in mode of filter Narrow the 6 kHz. Dipole antenna, 16 meters - east/west Escutas (listening, my blog): http://www.ipernity.com/doc/75006 dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) via TINANG like: ** PHILIPPINES. 15765 & 15785, May 22 at 1252, the IBB Tinang transmitter with VOA Korean at 21 degrees, also USward on 15775, has developed a pair of very distorted roaring FMy parasitic spurs with no specific carriers. The fundamental still sounds fine. Still the same at 1408 altho all are weaker. Fortunately, nothing else is scheduled on either spur frequency per HFCC and Aoki (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. 21510, May 19 at 2130, RRI amid the Spanish hour, good signal to S America, and can also hear some of those strange audio artifacts on the sidebands which used to bother their German service in the B-season (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Aqui 17725 com 45444 e 11955 44433. Na R Romania tem um zumbido na transmissão aqui. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA - Brasil, 2345 UT May 20, condiglist yg via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Scan of Moscow OIRT FM band --- This was posted on Skywaves this morning. Very interesting, IMO. Check out the video. I got back from Moscow Sunday night, wonderful time of course. I will upload more later but this is a scan of 66 - 74 MHz while in my hotel room on the 28th floor - TV reception was interesting also from Ostankino tower with 31 analogue channels and about 20 odd digital ones all using DVB-T2 standard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kVu6u_Nemo (Dave, amstereofan, SkywavesDX yg, via Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT, May 22, WTFDA via DXLD) ** RUSSIA [and non]. Russia: taldom. UKRAINE: Luch - Panoramio images FYI, some answer from Taldom staff, of this Luch - Taldom AMO-900 and AMO-450 antenna installation discussion in SW TXsite and DXLD and others ... 73 (Wolfgang df5sx, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Radiocenter-3" To: "Wolfgang Bueschel" > Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 7:08 AM Subject: Re: Russia: taldom. UKRAINE: Luch - Panoramio images Hello Wolfgang, regarding our high gain antenna systems ("Luch" type) which you mentioned, both of them are in full set, but they are not used nowadays. By the way, antenna of 315 contains 3 driver masts (for 3 directions: 289 , 310 , 315 ). Both 36 and 315 antennas are tunable through 6.5 - 25 MHz band (by means of rail systems). Earlier these antennas were used with single 500 or 1250 kW TX unit, but it was so long ago... Best regards, xxxx http://www.radioscanner.ru/forum/topic18920.html -- are these both reflector SW antennas at 315 and 36 degrees still in use these days ? -- how many 500 kW TX units - up to 2000 / 3000 kW in total ? - have been combined to use regularly with these installations? -- in which meterband used these antennas ? 49 and 41 mb only at nighttime? at reflector distance of 430 meters. -- which was the purpose of the Far Eastern Russia antenna at 36degrees azimuth, 8 reflectors towards Workuta, Norilsk, Yakutsk, Magadan, and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Only used for Radio Rossii domestic service ? 220 meters distance of reflector array behind driven dipols - latter used for 25 and 19 meterband towards Kamchatsky ? -- why is the 2nd big mast of the driven dipoles destroyed or collapsed? antenna length of 2 legs of 186m = 372 meters in total, long antenna line at 56 45 21.62 N 37 37 35.44 E ----- Original Message ----- Sent: Friday, May 11, 2012 Subject: RUSSIA Taldom, UKRAINE: Luch - Panoramio images What should also be pointed out is the circumstance that the OTH installations at Luch were prototypes. The fully operational Duga-3 system has been set up near Pripyat, better known by the near-by Chernobyl. Lots of pictures are around, and one writing could be read in such a way that the Duga-3 transmission equipment has been derived from the Kondor broadcasting transmitters. At least two of these parabolic antennas have been set up at Taldom as well: Years ago I saw a writing that claimed their gain to be 30 dB and went that with such an antenna at a site in the Ukraine (that would have to be Luch it seems) three transmitters have been coupled to an output of 3000 kW (possible, perhaps even the trio RV-167/8/9 that, judging from the unit numbers in a row, appears to have been installed in one project) but achieved rather disappointing results which immediately became better when reducing the transmission power, indicating that literally a hole had been burned into the ionosphere. However, no technical details have been given, so one must suspect that this is blown up gossip. The parabolic antenna at Luch, so taken down around 2005, apparently fell into disrepair during the nineties. At this time two frequencies aiming at North America used to be on air there, a 6 MHz and a 7 MHz one, and this operation produced such a strong mixing product in the 5 MHz range (at least some kilowatts I think, made one already being surprised about the transmitters taking that) that it was often believed to be be a real 60 mB transmission, which says quite a lot about the shape of the antennas. Somewhat vague reports went in such a way that in the end the single remaining North America frequency could be operated only through a rhombic, although still with up to 800 kW. This finally led to a decision to use for this transmission Krasne instead. This site is now at least mothballed if not even shut down definitely. [not credited, reads like Kai Ludwig?] more Taldom antenna details and images. UKRAINE/RUSSIA Mykolaiev Luch - Panoramio images. these is the Hy Gain antenna, 2 TX mast in background, and 9 of 13 relector masts on the left side. This is a BOOSTER parabolic reflector antenna of 12 wired curtains between 13 masts, never a screening relector to protect the small Posad-Pokrovs'ke village. Latter would be TOO EXPENSIVE, draw the large open country around in consideration, to erect villages elsewhere instead. BC txing and Woodpecker direction finding gear: Mykolaiev Luch BC site 46 48 33.04 N 32 12 31.23 E DUGA/DYGA 1/2 Woodpecker site {Duga 3 woodpecker erected at Chernobyl} transmission site 47 04 30.00 N 31 39 00.00 E receiving site 47 02 32.32 N 32 11 51.52 E DUGA Woodpecker receiving site Kalyniwka, Mykolaivs ka oblast, Ukraine 47 02 32.32 N 32 11 51.52 E receiving antenna curtain. 30 x 24 ? rows but the DUGA location is given wrong in Google Maps as should be instead at 47 02 32.32 N 32 11 51.52 E like Wullenweber antenna, 232 antenna masts settled 360degr around ! for exact direction finding UKR exUSSR Woodpecker TXstn Mykolaiv OTHR Duga-1 and Duga-2, 1960'ties over-the-horizon radar. Only many mast poles "wounds" visible 47 04 30.00 N 31 39 00.00 E Mykolaiev Luch Broadcasting site 46 48 33.04 N 32 12 31.23 E Hy Gain 1000 kW 8 horizontal row x 2 masts curtain antenna towards 320 degr at North America; and 12 reflectors 435 meters apart behind. Unfortunatelly I couldn't find the DRAWING or even URL link of this Hy Gain antenna type anymore, which I'd seen few years before ... Distance Kalyniwka rx to Luch BC 25 km Distance Mykolaiev tx to Kalyniwka 42 km Distance Mykolaiev tx to Luch BC 52 km Similar LUCH High Gain boost parabolic like antennas erected also at Taldom Russia site, 110 kilometers north of Moscow downtown. RUSSIA Re: Mykolaiev Luch-UKR / Taldom-RUS. cf bc-dx #1065. HISTORY Some pictures of the Taldom site can be found at {but URL moved now to instead, wb.} I assume that all 100 kW transmitters at Taldom, except RV-806, are of this design. TDP mentions two SSB transmitters separately, but I think they singled out only in as far as two 100 kW's at Taldom carried Radio Rossii on OOB frequencies like 8005 in USB mode until this service had been changed to "ordinary" 250 kW AM. From the captions I gather that the three masts are a directional system for 153. The mentioned height of 257 metres probably belongs to the 261 antenna (the one still churning out 2500 kW, thus being the highest powered broadcast outlet in the world). (Kai Ludwig-D, dxld 4- 190 Dec 24, 2004) The picture (VoR1) with three tall masts shows part of the reflector wall for one of the parabolic type highly directional shortwave antennas, called AMO450 (high band) or AMO900 (low band) by the Russians. The platform used by the skydiver seems to be one of the masts of the six mast system assumed to be used by 261 kHz (Olle Alm- SWE, dxld 4-190 Dec 254, 2004) There is also one of these AMO-900 systems at Taldom, which also has three AMO-450 systems with "only" 9 towers in the reflector wall (unless they have been brought down in recent years). The beam directions for the AMO-900 system at Taldom are 289 and 310 degs, and for the AMO-450 systems 68 degs, 53 +100 degs, and 310 degs, respectively (Olle Alm-SWE, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Dec 23, 2007) Would the Taldom parabolic antenna still be in use? 1 x AMO-900 and 3 x AMO-450 systems I've been visible in GE Taldom satellite image site seen, see the new screenshots from G.E. of today. What does the numerical value 900 / 450 mean? About value half in meters is the distance from the active driving signal-dipole to rear parabolic reflector wall position? So located about 435 and 220 meters behind. AMO-900 system - It looks like that additionally to the two fixed-mast of 8 vertical dipol rows, and another a single mast on a movable rail track visible! AMO-450 and the short azimuth open up to me (yet), but with the movable displacement device of dipol masts displayed. See the new G.E. Screenshots, that's my estimates by AMO-450 36 degr, RUS FE, Magadan, Kamchatsky located on the northernmost, right of the LW 153 kHz mast. AMO 900 312 degr, NoAM beam, thereunder AMO-450 60 degr, towards FEaRUS, VLD, JPN, thereunder AMO 450 316 degr, NoAM beam, thereunder, in the southeast. This installation does not have the sliding track / dipole masts, and seems to be have been the prototype for the AMO type construction ? AMO-450 system, 36 degr, single mast only? 2nd destroyed? 372 m long antenna line track. Dipole mast movable. 220 m in front of 8 reflectors. 56 45 21.62 N 37 37 35.44 E towards 36 degr at FE-RUS Workuta, Magadan, Kamchatsky; 9 SW masts, 8 reflectors. Center Reflector Mast, 220 meters behind driven masts, at 56 45 15.67 N 37 37 27.99 E AMO-900 system, 312 degr, 2 SW masts 8 dipol rows, 490 m long antenna line track. A single dipole mast movable. 430 m in front of 12 reflectors. 56 44 59.02 N 37 37 09.01 E 12 reflectors towards 312 degrees at North America, FIN, SWE, NOR, ISL, Greenland, Toronto, Alabama, Veracruz-MEX. 13 SW masts, 12 reflectors. 56 44 49.91 N 37 37 27.91 E AMO-450 system, 60degr, 2 masts, 370 m long antenna line track. Dipole masts movable. 220 m in front of 8 reflectors. 56 44 23.62 N 37 37 42.35 E towards 60 at FE-RUS Surgut, Yeniseysk, Irkutsk, Chita, Vladivostok, Japan. 9 SW masts, 8 reflectors Center Reflector Mast, 220 meters behind driven dipole masts 56 44 18.75 N 37 37 33.23 E AMO-450 system, 316degr, single dipol mast, no track lane, not movable. 220 m in front of 8 reflectors. 56 44 03.96 N 37 36 58.86 E towards 316 degr at NoAM, FIN, SWE, NOR, ISL, Greenland, Toronto, Alabama, Veracruz-MEX. 9 SW masts, 8 reflectors. Center Reflector Mast, 220 meters behind driven single dipole mast 56 43 58.99 N 37 37 07.59 E Taldom photos LW 198/261 kHz ? and Victory day 9 May 2010 Also nice lives some 110 kilometers north of Moscow (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 13 via DXLD) wb has a lot more info like this in BC-DX if you are interested (gh) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 17895, May 19 at 0456, poor signal with Qur`an, i.e. BSKSA, 500 kW, 40 degrees from Riyadh at 0300-0800 per HFCC, as hi- latitude paths are holding up across the nightside which is increasingly illuminated or partially so (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. Summer A-12 of BSKSA: First General Programm in Arabic 0600-0855 on 17730 RIY 500 kW / 295 deg to NEAf 0600-0855 on 17740 RIY 500 kW / 310 deg to WeEu 0900-1155 on 15490 RIY 500 kW / 310 deg to WeEu 0900-1155 on 17805 RIY 500 kW / 295 deg to NEAf 1200-1455 on 17705 RIY 500 kW / 310 deg to WeEu 1200-1455 on 21505 RIY 500 kW / 295 deg to NEAf 1500-1755 on 15225 RIY 500 kW / 295 deg to NEAf Call of Islam 15-17 1500-1755 on 15435 RIY 500 kW / 310 deg to WeEu Call of Islam 15-17 1800-2255 on 9555 RIY 500 kW / 295 deg to NEAf 1800-2255 on 9870 RIY 500 kW / 310 deg to WeEu Holy Qura'n in Arabic 0300-0555 on 15170 RIY 500 kW / 355 deg to WeAs 0300-0755 on 17895 RIY 500 kW / 040 deg to CeAs 0600-0855 on 15380 RIY 500 kW / 310 deg to N/ME 0900-1155 on 11935 RIY 500 kW / 310 deg to N/ME 0900-1155 on 17570 RIY 500 kW / 070 deg to SEAs 0900-1155 on 17615 RIY 500 kW / 100 deg to SEAs 1200-1355 on 15380 RIY 500 kW / 310 deg to N/ME 1200-1355 on 17625 RIY 500 kW / 100 deg to SEAs 1200-1455 on 17895 RIY 500 kW / 295 deg to NEAf 1300-1555 on 17615 RIY 500 kW / 190 deg to CSAf 1500-1755 on 13710 RIY 500 kW / 295 deg to NEAf 1600-1755 on 15205 RIY 500 kW / 320 deg to WeEu 1600-1755 on 17560 RIY 500 kW / 270 deg to WCAf 1800-2255 on 11820 RIY 500 kW / 320 deg to WeEu 1800-2255 on 11915 RIY 500 kW / 295 deg to NEAf 1800-2255 on 11930 RIY 500 kW / 270 deg to WCAf Second Programm in Arabic 0300-0555 on 9580 JED 050 kW / non-dir to N/ME 0600-1655 on 11855 JED 050 kW / non-dir to N/ME 1700-2155 on 9580 JED 050 kW / non-dir to N/ME External Service 0400-0655 on 15285 RIY 500 kW / 190 deg to CSAf in Swahili 0800-0955 on 17785 RIY 500 kW / 270 deg to WCAf in French 0900-1155 on 21670 RIY 500 kW / 100 deg to SEAs in Indonesian 1000-1225 on 15250 RIY 500 kW / 250 deg to WCAf in English 1200-1455 on 13775 RIY 500 kW / 070 deg to SoAs in Urdu 1200-1455 on 15120 RIY 500 kW / 070 deg to SoAs in Bengali 1400-1755 on 17660 RIY 500 kW / 270 deg to WCAf in French 1500-1755 on 7240 RIY 500 kW / 040 deg to WeAs in Farsi 1500-1755 on 9885 RIY 500 kW / 040 deg to CeAs in Turkmen/Uzbek/Tajik 1800-2055 on 9675 RIY 500 kW / 340 deg to N/ME in Turkish (DX Re Mix News, Bulgaria, 21 May via DXLD) ** SERBIA [and non]. BOSNIA/SERBIA, Updated summer A-12 schedule of International Radio Serbia 0000-0030 on 9685 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg to NoAm Serbian Mon-Sat 0000-0100 on 9685 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg to NoAm Serbian Sun 0030-0130 on 9685 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg to NoAm Serbian Mon 0030-0100 on 9685 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg to NoAm English Tue-Sat 0100-0130 on 9685 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg to NoAm Serbian Tue-Sat 1300-1330 NF 9635 BEO 010 kW / 310/130 to WeEu English, ex 9640 1330-1400 NF 9635 BEO 010 kW / 310/130 to WeEu Serbian, ex 9640 1400-1430 NF 9635 BEO 010 kW / 310/130 to WeEu Spanish, ex 9640 1430-1500 NF 9635 BEO 010 kW / 310/130 to WeEu Arabic, ex 9640 1500-1530 NF 9635 BEO 010 kW / 310/130 to WeEu Russian, ex 9640 1530-1600 NF 9635 BEO 010 kW / 310/130 to WeEu French, ex 9640 1600-1630 NF 9635 BEO 010 kW / 310/130 to WeEu German, ex 9640 1630-1645 NF 9635 BEO 010 kW / 310/130 to WeEu Chinese, ex 9640 1645-1700 NF 9635 BEO 010 kW / 310/130 to WeEu Albahian, ex 9640 1700-1715 NF 9635 BEO 010 kW / 310/130 to WeEu Hungarian, ex 9640 1715-1730 NF 9635 BEO 010 kW / 310/130 to WeEu Greek, ex 9640 1730-1800 NF 9635 BEO 010 kW / 310/130 to WeEu Italian, ex 9640 1800-1830 on 6100 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg to WeEu Russian 1830-1900 on 6100 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg to WeEu English 1900-1930 on 6100 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg to WeEu Spanish 1930-2000 on 6100 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg to WeEu Serbian Sun-Fri 1930-2030 on 6100 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg to WeEu Serbian Sat 2000-2030 on 6100#BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg to WeEu German Sun-Fri 2030-2100 on 6100#BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg to WeEu French 2100-2130 on 6100#BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg to WeEu English # co-ch 2000-2130 CRI in Arabic (DX Re Mix News, Bulgaria, 21 May via DXLD) ** SOUTH AFRICA. Test from South Africa on Victoria Day --- The HFCC file from 19 May lists a test transmission from Meyerton/South Africa on Monday, 21 May 2012, on 15430 kHz at 0800-0910 UT, for CIRAF zones 46S,52,47SW (Central Africa), 250 kW, 330 degrees, in English. The broadcaster is "CAF SNT", so Channel Africa programming might be carried. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, May 19, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Victoria Day is an interesting concept for southern and central Africa, since Victorian Britain is held in a lot of contempt by most ex-British African states. I know that Victoria Day eventually became Empire Day throughout most of the British Empire / Commonwealth, and whilst despising the concept, after independence several southern and central African countries couldn't bring themselves to abolish the public holiday that came with it. So they changed the name. This year the public holiday is on May 25, celebrated as "Africa Day" in Lesotho and Zimbabwe, and as "Africa Freedom Day" in Zambia. Lesotho also makes it "Heroes' Day". Neighbouring countries fancied a public holiday as well, so "Africa Day" is also celebrated in Angola (ex Portugese) and Namibia (ex-German, but later annexed by South Africa). South Africa itself, full of abhorance for anything related to the British Empire / Commonwealth, simply pretends the day and its associated holiday never existed; no one here seems to have heard of it. Not that we need it; we already have 14 public holidays each year, much to the dismay of our private-sector economists. I am unable to find any information about a special transmission on the Channel Africa web site. Having listened on the 15430 and alternate 15450 frequencies from 0725 to 0830, nothing seems to be happening. Not even a change of background noise to suggest a possible DRM transmission in progress. Of course, with the transmitter only 25 miles away it could all be going right over my head to central Africa, but I would normally hear something, however poor. Would be interested to hear if anyone else picks it up. Regards, (Bill Bingham, RSA, May 21, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15430, May 21 0800-0910, conversation in English difficult to get details, Latin American music, song by male presumed in African language, sirene like, beep - beep, SINPO 34222 to 24222 (Tony Ashar, West Java, Indonesia, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Now, 0925, in 15450, gospel music. FEBC in Indonesian. 25432. 15430 0927, No signal. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA - Brasil, 12 14´S 38 58´W, ibid.) But that was after the test sked time (gh) ** SOUTH AFRICA. New time for the evening program of S African Radio League: 1730-1830 on 3230 MEY 100 kW / 000 deg to SoAf Mon, ex 1630- 1730 on same (DX Re Mix News, Bulgaria, 21 May via DXLD) It was originally at 1730-1830, but changed to 1630-1730 circa the beginning of A-12; now changed back, evidently. MUYM (gh, DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 15190, May 19 at 1309, Brother Scare via IRRS via ROMANIA, very poor signal, talking about having to add three phone numbers to handle all the calls for his phone-streaming. Compared to WWRB 9385, and 15190 was running about a minute behind, but had faded down when I was trying to catch a keyword to time the exact interval. The Romanian relay has become much less audible as the year wears on. BTW, DX Re Mix News says TOM is conducting tests via ARMENIA at various times May 19-20-21 on 15425, 9400; details in DXLD 12-20 15425, May 20 at 2244 check, no sign of Brother Scare, which according to DX Re Mix News, was to be testing today via ARMENIA. Could well have been on and not propagating USward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SPAIN [and non]. 15123 & 15097, May 17 at 1959, spurs from REE 15110 detected circa these frequencies, the higher one only audible once 15115-15125 DRM from Nigeria, q.v., cut off. 15123 & 15097, May 18 at 2137, REE 15110 is again putting out spurs about plus/minus 13 kHz. They are weak and distorted, but // Spanish modulation audible. Nothing heard further out at plus/minus 26 kHz, so this is quite an improvement (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11880, Sunday May 20 at 1315 I tune in to enjoy world-music show `Mundofonías` from REE COSTA RICA relay, but cut off the air at 1316, power failure? Much weaker // 11815 also missing, just NHK Japanese. 11880 back on at 1318, announcing a semi-Palestinian about to guitar bulerías; still no 11815 at 1320, and at 1321*, 11880 off again, *1325:30 on again. Direct signals were too weak on 21610, 21540 still mixed with Kuwait, and 17595 taking Sunday morning off. I give up; anyhow, at 1330 it`s time for new series of `Tracks Ahead` on OETA, and a breakfast of freshly-fallen apricots from our #1 tree, only a few of which are wormy. The `cot season is early this year (who needs Twitter?) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15097 & 15123, May 22 at 2105, the spurs from 15110 REE Noblejas continue to infest +/- 13 kHz from very strong fundamental which is also splattering closer to 15110, as `Un Idioma Sin Fronteras` is comenzando. Not to be outdone, the Cariari, COSTA RICA relay 11880 is also outputting similar spurs, May 23 at 1245, circa 11866 and 11894, i.e. 14 kHz away. Wonder if it`s the same model transmitter with the same built-in defects? Weak but first signaled when I heard a het on 11865 against some weak carrier: nothing in HFCC, but Aoki shows V. of Korea in Japanese until 1250, and indeed it was gone after then (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. 7189.782, SLBC Colombo Ekala, female singer in Hindi. S=6 poor signal in Germany, 0115 UT May 21 (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. AWR Trincomalee, 15490, full/data "Adventist World Radio returns to Sri Lanka"; "Special QSL: AWR relay via Trincomalee, Sri Lanka card, with power & site, in 18 days for SASE (not used) and report to Indianapolis, IN address. V/S: Adrian M. Peterson, DX Editor. Also received religious materials, pocket calendar and AWR 41st Year Annual DX Contest sheet. C/V #120 (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale, N.H. USA, May 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA [non]. TAMIL GOVERNMENT STARTS RADIO BROADCAST TO SRI LANKA ON MAY 18TH Report via http://www.tgte-us.org/ and http://world.einnews.com/pr_news/96213939/tamil-gov-t-starts-radio-broadcast-to-sri-lanka-on-may-18th-3rd-anniversary-of-tamil-genocide states that the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) is to start radio broadcast to Sri Lanka on May 18th, scheduled from 1500 to 1600 [UT]. No indication given as to whether daily, weekly etc. No frequency was given in the report, but graphic on http://www.tgte-us.org/ shows 12.250 MHz (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, May 20, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE)* today announced that it will start broadcasting Radio News to the Island of Sri Lanka starting from May 18, 2012; the 3rd anniversary of the Genocide of Tamils by the Sri Lankan Government forces. The Tamil Government's Radio called Naatham will broadcast in shortwave frequency. This Radio can also be heard in India, Malaysia and Singapore where large number of Tamils live. While this broadcast will become a bridge between the Tamil diaspora and the Tamils living in Tamil homeland, it will also play a role of politically and emotionally link Tamils worldwide. The first special broadcast will be on May 18 th (Friday), for one hour from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm, Sri Lanka time. TGTE has designated May 18th as the Tamil National Mourning Day to remember tens of thousands of Tamils who were killed simply and solely on account of their Tamil nationality. "While the Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka are struggling to cope with the mass killing and be subject to systematic and pervasive human rights violation on account of their Tamil nationality, this broadcast will ease the pain and give them confidence that their dream of achieving sovereign and independent state of Tamil Eelam will become a reality" said Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, Prime Minister of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE). "This broadcast will pierce the strict media censorship in Sri Lanka and reach the Tamils to give them unbiased information." (via Alan Roe, May 20, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DXLD) [More Background from same site]: Tamils faced repeated mass killings since 1958 and the killings in 2009 prompted UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to appoint a Panel of Experts to report on the scale of killings. According to this UN report over 40,000 were killed in five months in 2009, due to deliberate and intense carpet bombing of areas designated by the government as "no-fire zones", where Tamils assembled for safety. The Sri Lankan Government used cluster bombs and restricted food and medicine for Tamils, resulting in large numbers of people dying from starvation and many of the injured bleeding to death. According to the UN, Tamil women were sexually assaulted and raped by Sri Lankan forces. According to a recent UK government report there are over 90,000 Tamil war widows. There are also reports that detained Tamil women are used as sex slaves by the Security Forces. According to the Bishop of Mannar, Dr. Rayappu Joseph, 146,679 Tamils were unaccounted for when Sri Lankan forces attacked Tamil people in 2009. Members of the Sri Lankan Security forces are almost exclusively from the Sinhalese community and the victims are all from the Tamil community. For information contact: media@tgte.org *Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) is a democratically elected government of Tamil Diaspora from the island of Sri Lanka. Its actions are strictly non-violent, democratic and diplomatic. It held internationally supervised elections in twelve countries to elect Members of Parliament (MPs). These MPs drafted and ratified a Constitution and elected a Prime Minister, a 10 member Cabinet and a Speaker. Web: http://www.tgte-us.org http://www.govthamileelam.org or http://www.en.naathamnews.com (via gh, DXLD) I was able to receive nonstop music on 12250 kHz during +1542-1600* on May 20. Japanese DXer in Hokkaido reports it for the first time as UNID station on May 19. Additionally: youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM-Cb68zG60&list=UUS_t20AguM6rl4KcDP0jV8g&index=1&feature=plcp by Nakanaka in Hokkaido, Japan (S. Hasegawa, Japan, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 12250, May 21 at 1502, a JBA carrier is detectable with the DX-398 on battery power on the porch with short wire antenna, and still at 1512, but in the meantime closed down household noise sources and tried on the FRG-7 with regular longwire: inaudible there. No doubt it`s the new Tamil clandestine, info about which Alan Roe discovered May 20. Sponsored by the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), it`s called Naatham, and according to http://www.tgte-us.org/ and http://world.einnews.com/pr_news/96213939/tamil-gov-t-starts-radio-broadcast-to-sri-lanka-on-may-18th-3rd-anniversary-of-tamil-genocide started May 18, at 1500-1600 UT on 12250. For information contact: media@tgte.org Sei-ichi Hasegawa then reported hearing nonstop music on 12250 at +1542-1600* on May 20, after a Japanese DXer in Hokkaido reported it for the first time as an unID station May 19. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM-Cb68zG60&list=UUS_t20AguM6rl4KcDP0jV8g&index=1&feature=plcp by Nakanaka in Hokkaido, Japan. Aoki now has listed it May 21 but without any power or site info: ``12250 Tamil naatham Radio 1500-1600 1234567 Tamil TGTE a12 May 18-`` The far-out-of-band frequency suggests the site is a big secret, as it`s hard to believe M&B, BaBcoCk or Russia/CIS would admit to using such a frequency. WRN confirms they are not involved in this. The fact that it is audible at all here on the opposite worldside indicates that power is considerable (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 12250, May 22 at 1501, again today a JBA carrier and more flutter than yesterday, presumed new Tamil clandestine Nathaam, from unknown site. Swopan Chakroborty in NE India reports they were only playing music yesterday: ``Heard non stop music at 1500-1600 UT on 12250 kHz, 21 May 2012. Here two audio files recorded at 1531 & 1535. https://www.box.com/s/83e37becfa5655caddf2 https://www.box.com/s/722a4ce8c7ca22a25135 Thanks, Swopan Chakroborty`` The files play but nothing is audible for me. Nor when downloaded and played on Winamp tho displaying modulation visibly. What kind of music is it? What about today? Reports promptly from DXLD yg members May 22: ``Dear Glenn, I can receive UnID station on 12250 kHz May 22 from 1500 UT. This station is strong to fair signal, but the audio modulation is poor. As for the music, LA Music totally irrelevant to Sri Lanka is broadcasted. Where will a transmission site be from? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7HfQNy5hUM on May 21 by Hiroshi Inoue. S. Hasegawa, Japan`` ``I haven’t been able to receive the station here in Ohio, but I was able to play the recordings using my Web browser. It does sound like non-descript light Latin pop music, which I definitely wasn’t expecting. --Larry Cunningham`` ``50 secs audio file at 1556 UT today: http://soundcloud.com/alokesh/unid-12250-1556utc-22may2012 ``Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Is it a cruel joke? 22 May 2012, 1500 UT, 12250 kHz opens with fair signals with Afro beat music and at 1507 plays Ricky Martin track. All of other music played is western pop disco, etc. - nothing remotely Asian in flavour, leave alone patriotic Tamil in nature. To suggest a frequency dedicated to the 3rd anniversary of Tamil Genocide playing non stop disco, pop, etc. is a cruel joke (Supratik Sanatani, Kolkata, India, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I would not conclude that quite yet; start-up services may have a hard time getting their program audio to remote transmitter site and have no control over what fill music be played (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DXLD) I can receive it on 12225 kHz today [May 23] from 1500. QSY or transmission error? Only as for as ever nonstop music (S. Hasegawa, Japan, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [Too late for WOR 1618] Nothing noted on 12250 but same music on 12225 1510 tune in. Will do a DF one of these days (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, ibid.) Better sooner than later; may not last long (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Looks like a relay from Central Asia, a bit of a hum in the background so pending a good DF effort, can rule out the cleaner transmitting stations (Goonetilleke, ibid.) ** SUDAN. 7200.00, R. Omdurman, *0231-0305 5/21. Have listened to Omdurman several times this week. S/on is 0231, not 0200, as listed in several sources. Kor`an, commentary (or sermon?), some great music, IDs for "Huna Omdurman" at intervals. Time pips come at 0301:15, not at exact TOH. Then ID and into the news in Arabic. Typically ham radio interference on LSB, and sometimes a ham tuning on top of the USB, so have your notch filter handy (Art Delibert, Maryland, Collins 51J-4, WinRadio Excalibur Pro, Pennant antenna with DX Engineering amp, HCDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DXLD) ** SUDAN [non]. 11650, May 18 at 0536 Arabish talk about one second behind // 15400, i.e. R. Dabanga. 11650 is via VATICAN, 15400 MADAGASCAR. No jamming audible on either. 15400 is usually much stronger here but not this time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN SOUTH [non]. Correct time for Voice of South Sudan Revolutionary Radio in Sudanese Arabic and English according to monitoring made on May 17-21: 0601-0801 on 15725, co-ch -0700 Radio Pakistan, World Service in Urdu 1301-1501 on 11650, very strong co-ch -1500 CRI in Esperanto and Amoy BUT on Friday May 18 morning transmission 0601-0846 & afternoon 1216- 1501! (DX Re Mix News, Bulgaria, 21 May via WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DXLD) ** SWAZILAND. 4775, Trans World Radio, 0433 May 17, English, preacher talking about marriage and divorce; although sked for German, it appears they do have some English this hour; HFCC shows German / English, EiBi and Aoki shows just German. Poor with CODAR QRM (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Listening lakeside from my car with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 active antenna. Editor of World English Survey and Target Listening, available at http://www.odxa.on.ca dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWAZILAND. 15359.655, Came across TWR Africa signal from Manzini in Urdu on odd channel, S=7 heard here in Germany. Scheduled daily 1400- 1415 UT. At 1413:35 UT TWR station ID by male, address and P.O.Box number at Lahore Pakistan given. Followed by typical distinctive chimes interval signal by TWR, and ID "This is Trans World Radio Swaziland" at 1415:30, cut off at 1416:21 UT May 18 (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Small world. I was listening at the exact same time to the chimes IS. Heard regularly here; off-frequency but nothing on 15360.00. 15360-, May 22 at 1412, TWR Urdu service is only poor today with music, but I decide to measure this off-frequency by my technique: BFO on, zero-beat WWV 15000.0000 on the YB-400, tune to 15360.0 and compare the pitch of the het with my keyboard, which almost matches at F below middle-C, i.e. 175 Hz. That makes it 15359.825. On May 18, Wolfgang Büschel measured this at 15359.655 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. 15265.141, RTI in Chinese from Tanshui site at 1319 UT May 18, S=8-9 signal even here in Germany. 2 male announcer of CNR jammer, but enjoyed RTI light Taiwanese pop music instead. Annoying 140 Hertz interference buzz tone though (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TATARSTAN [non]. 15110, RUSSIA, Tatarstan Wave, Samara, 0402-0425 May 15, Russian; Carrier until *0410; IS & s/on in presumed Tatar & solid ID in Russian; alternating talk with M & W announcers; weak but clear; haven't logged this one in years (Scott R. Barbour Jr., Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TIBET [and non]. TAJIKISTAN/MADAGASCAR/CHINA. 15437, Voice of Tibet in Tibetan via Yangi-Yul tx site in TJK observed here in Germany around 1206 UT May 18, S=6-7 strength. Chinese Firedrake jamming next door on 15435 kHz. 15497, Same program/station at 1324 UT May 18 noted here with S=8-9 signal increased, and Firedrake jammer on 15500 kHz even frequency. And at 1335 UT too on 15568 kHz odd, accompanied by Firedrake on 15570. But hopped away on 15487 kHz at 1337 UT and Firedrake 8 kHz away on 15495 kHz. Latter left air at 1342 UT. Cat and mouse play. V of Tibet replaced 15568 by 15613 kHz, and accompanied Firedrake on 15615 kHz at 1340 UT. 15603, V of Tibet appeared here at 1423 UT May 18, and Firedrake music jamming on 15605 kHz. 17560, Only Firedrake drums and violin music noted on this channel at 1428-1430* UT May 18, but no signal from Talata-Volondry Madagascar observed here in Europe on sidelobe (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TINIAN. 21710, May 18 at 0548, weak signal in Chinese, sounds the same as 17855, but too poor to //. 21710 is scheduled as RFA in Mandarin at 05-06, shifting to 21720 at 0600, but on different azimuth. 21710 was the OSOB. 21480, May 19 at 0457, very poor signal with talk, unseemed Chinese, but surely was, since RFA is scheduled in Mandarin, 250 kW, 279 degrees at 04-05 only, and it was gone at 0458, having been the OSOB, so presumed not the jammer (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TUNISIA [and non]. 17735, May 17 at 0507, Arabic music, fair signal. Quickly found // on 7275 and 12005, so confirmed as IWT, then both 17735 and 12005 went off at 0508*. 7275 continued with a SAH, presumably from FRCN Abuja, NIGERIA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Summer A-12 of RTTunisia in Arabic: [a.k.a. IWT] 0200-0510 NF 17735#SFA 250 kW / 100 deg to N/ME, ex 9725 0200-0510 on 12005 SFA 500 kW / 100 deg to N/ME 0300-0610 on 7275 SFA 500 kW / 340 deg to WeEu 0600-0810 on 7335 SFA 500 kW / 265 deg to NoAf 1600-2010 NF 17735#SFA 250 kW / 100 deg to N/ME, ex 9725 1600-2010 on 12005 SFA 500 kW / 100 deg to N/ME 1700-2110 on 7225*SFA 500 kW / 340 deg to WeEu 1900-2310 on 7345 SFA 500 kW / 265 deg to NoAf # co-ch Radio Free Asia in Tibetan # co-ch Radio Japan NHK World in Japanese to CeAf till 1700 # co-ch RCI in French/English/French to NW & CeAf from 1900 * co-ch CRI in Croatian from 2100 (DX Re Mix News, Bulgaria, 21 May via DXLD) ** TURKEY. 13635, May 18 at 0557, Turkish music, now strong enough to affect still stronger RA on 13630. Must have just opened the 06-13 broadcast at 310 degrees USward from Emiler, after 11980 closed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** UKRAINE. [Re 12-20:] Radio Promin on 549 kHz Thanks, Wolfgang. Interesting details. Both Lutch (Mykolayiv) & Brovary (Kyiv) are audible here (33e/49n) daytime, ca. 250 km (South - Lutch, NW - Brovary). Both transmitting on exact frequencies which are a bit above center, so forming "thick" trace on Perseus waterfall: 549.0002-.0003 kHz. Tudor in NE-ROMANIA is getting their signal from Krasne (Lviv), I guess (groundwave). Half megawatt from Lutch looks like true. I believe Brovary's P is not less 100 kW. (Is it possible they re-launched former 207 kHz xmtr on 549?). Hardly noticeable echo between Brovary's & Lutch's TXers. Historical note: 549 is "conflict" channel with Russia (old post URS story, when few newly formed countries (RUS/BLR/UKR/ AZE/etc.) inherited parts of huge All-Union "Radio Mayak" network (Vlad Titarev, Kremenchuk, Ukraine, mwdx yg via DXLD) Vlad, I have noticed that UR2 (Promin) and UR3 (R. Kultura) are back on OIRT now. I rcv'ed UR3 yesterday here via sporadic E. Seems UR has some money available, I wonder if it will be only active during the upcoming soccer games? http://www.promin.fm/page/6.html?name=CHastoti http://www.ukrtvr.org/841UR2 http://www.ukrtvr.org/842UR3 (Jurgen Bartels, Suellwarden, N. Germany, Antennas hor.: 45-87 MHz: 11-ele, FM: 15.11, Band-III: 13-ele, UHF: 48-ele, TV: Winradio G305 / Fly2000 + video noise filter & variable IF BW FM: Downconverter + Perseus + Speclab as WFM demod. MW: 90m bev 220 , 30 x 4m EWE 320 with JB-terminator, Winradio & Perseus http://zeiterfassung.3sdesign.de/station_list.htm May 18, ibid.) See also RUSSIA [and non] for Luch stuff ** U K [and non]. 9915, May 17 at 0522, BBC Arabic has good strength, but with bad roar, crackle, breakup and carrier wobbling. First impression might be that this is external jamming, but not a service normally subject to that, so again suspect something is very wrong at Skelton and/or Woofferton. Can`t BaBcoCk tell? 7305, May 17 at 0527, B-B-C- chimes, fair signal, 0529 opening in Hausa. Thus BBC have done as I suggested in this previous item: ``ASCENSION. 7305, April 23 at 0527, BBCWS with announcement loop, ``no programmmes on this channel at present``, which just might encourage ordinary listeners to tune away, but not me --- 0529 cuts to Hausa opening. Why don`t they use that biminute for something more entertaining, like B-B-C- chimes, Oranges & Lemons, or Lilliburlero?`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Or Bow Bells BBC en 15790 --- está en repetición mecánica de la identificación de la emisora continuamente en lugar de la emisión en Persa (Ernesto Paulero, Argentina, 1529 UT May 29, condiglist yg via DXLD) Scheduled via CYPRUS at 1500-1600, per Aoki (gh, DXLD) ** U K. SPECIAL DIAMOND JUBILEE PROGRAMS FROM THE BBC WORLD SERVICE These will air over the next couple of weeks. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1205/S00314/bbc-world-service-celebrates-diamond-jubilee.htm (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, May 23, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) ** U S A. The VOA Web site appears to have been revamped in the past few days. It now nags users to get a more recent browser, as if everyone around the world can do so, despite the expense of new computers and bandwidth. And the VOA can't even spell correctly: ``Did you know that your Internet Explorer is out of date? To get best possible experiance using our website we recommend that you upgrade to a newer version or other web browser. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below. Just click on the icons to get to the download page Firefox 3+ Firefox 3+ Opera 9.5+ Opera 9.5+ Chrome 2.0+ Chrome 2.0+ Safari 7+ Safari 7+ Internet Explorer 7+ Internet Explorer 7+`` Perhaps visitors with more recent browsers will not "experiance" this message (Mike Cooper, GA, May 17, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) VOANEWS.COM IS REDESIGNED, WITH RADIO AND TELEVISION RELEGATED TO THE FOOTNOTES. Posted: 21 May 2012 http://www.voafanti.com/gate/big5/www.voanews.com/content/voa_redesign_2012/177394.html VOANews.com, The New VOANews.com page: "Welcome to the new VOAnews.com. We hope you'll find our new site easier to navigate, with better visuals and more opportunities to join the conversation. Among the site's features are: 1. More visual appeal: Images tell a story as well as words or sound, so the new VOAnews.com features more photos in higher resolution. You can also see larger versions of photos inside stories by clicking on them. ... 2. Easy navigation ... 3. Find your language ... 4. Improved search ... 5. Coming soon: In the next few weeks, Learning English will get a whole new look. In the meantime, you can still reach their site in the upper right of any page." (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) -- See also the comments. One trend is listeners who note that they can no longer access the 30-minute VOA Special English radio broadcast (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) Critical Distance weblog, 17 May 2012, Jonathan Marks: "Although IP is now leading at VOA, as in most broadcasters, the VOA radio and TV broadcasts have been relegated to sidebars. I would put listen live as a permanent top menu bar, with larger links to radio, TV and on demand catalogue of content across the top. They are not an afterthought. They could save screen real estate by eliminating the top line (with the breaking news bar) and the menu switch to other languages. Incorporate all of that in the menus lower down. ... International broadcasters used to be champions of realising that there are different time zones - and that we're often enjoying the shared experience of listening or viewing at a different time (or even a different season). GMT and UTC was our reference. But, even if that is old fashioned, time mentions on the new VOA site are confusing." Placebotronics.com, 19 May 2012, Bennett Z. Kobb: "VOA does offer a mobile-optimized site, but you must scan almost the entire page to find the link to the mobile site at the bottom. Good luck. A user scrolling through the home page on a phone or tablet may well give up before this point. I listen to VOA's 'Latest Newscast' every day, but the new design has hidden it under a Live Streams button. The Latest Newscast is not a live stream – it's an MP3 recording – and this essential VOA product isn't even visible when you look at the page. I have to locate and click a Live Streams button, but my work is not done. It's a radio program I want, but the Live Streams button has a TV icon. Go figure. Fortunately, the button is bright red – the only red widget on the page, so the user is unlikely to miss it." (kimandrewelliott.com, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, ibid.) The redesigned VOA website is cleaner and less cluttered. Other than the live streams link at the top, the only indication that VOA is still involved in radio and television is at the very bottom of the page. With mention of radio and television pushed as far as possible downward and rightward, the observer might conclude that it is only a matter of time before these media will be shoved outward and goneward. "Find your language" is noted as one of the improvements, but doing so is via the "Sites by language" link at the top. If a person speaks, say, Khmer, but does not speak English, how does the person know that "sites by language" is the gateway to the VOA Khmer site? International broadcasters, and all multilingual organizations, must have links to all their languages, in the language, prominent on the home page. For VOA, with 43 language services, this is a design challenge, but it really is necessary. After all, VOA is not unique because [of] its English output. There are hundreds of US news websites in English. VOA is unique because of its 42 languages besides English. So don't hide them. Furthermore, if VOA advertises its website in a 30-second television spot, it will have time only to display the URL VOANews.com, not zeriamerikes.com, vijestiglasaamerike.com, glasnaamerika.com, glasamerike.net, etc. This makes a home page portal to all of VOA's languages even more important. (After a few years' absence, BBC World Service finally restored a language service portal to its home page.) http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/ There is an alphabetical listing of VOA English programs, http://www.voanews.com/section/radio/2212.html but for the past few years, there has been no "what's on tonight" or "what's on this morning" chronological schedule. For those who listen via shortwave or to the live stream rather than on demand, such a schedule is necessary to plan listening. Virtually all other international radio stations have such a schedule. See for example, Voice of Russia. http://english.ruvr.ru/radio_broadcast/schedule/ There is also no chronological schedule of VOA's satellite feeds. The VOA English transmission schedule is now easy to find. http://www.voanews.com/info/frequencies_and_schedules/2218.html For transmissions in other VOA languages, click the Inside link at the bottom of the page (under About VOA), then find VOA Programs again at the bottom of the page, which actually produces a VOA Frequencies page, with links to each VOA language service. These lead to the language service's schedule page, which in many cases is usable only to those who speak the language (Kim Andrew Elliott, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, ibid.) ** U S A. REPS MAC THORNBERRY AND ADAM SMITH PUSH BILL TO EASE SMITH- MUNDT DOMESTIC DISSEMINATION BAN ON US INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING. Posted: 18 May 2012 Washington Times, 15 May 2012, Shaun Waterman: "Two lawmakers — a Democrat and a Republican — are pushing a bill to update a Cold War- era law on propaganda efforts by federal agencies that critics say hinders the U.S. war of ideas against Muslim extremists. The Smith- Mundt Act of 1948 was designed 'to counter communism during the Cold War, [and] is outdated for the conflicts of today,' said Rep. Adam Smith, Washington Democrat. ... At issue are provisions of the law banning the domestic dissemination of government-produced or -funded communications aimed at a foreign audience, to keep anti-communist and other kinds of U.S. propaganda out of America. But experts say such restrictions do not make sense in the Internet age. ... The two lawmakers, authors of the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 (HR 5736), say the current law restricts the broadcast in the United States of any programs produced by Voice of America. In 2010, for instance, emergency broadcasts in Creole, aimed to help the stricken survivors of the Haitian earthquake, could not be carried by Sirius satellite radio, according to a joint statement from Mr. Smith and Mr. Thornberry." Reps Thornberry and Smith press release, 15 May 2012: "[I]n 2009 the law prohibited a Minneapolis-based radio station with a large Somali- American audience from replaying a Voice of America-produced piece rebutting terrorist propaganda. Even after the community was targeted for recruitment by al-Shabab and other extremists, government lawyers refused the replay request, noting that Smith-Mundt tied their hands. Due to legal questions surrounding interpretations of the law, domestic news organizations have been reluctant to use U.S. international broadcasters for source material. Private news organizations are also hampered by some of the restrictions. In 2009, the Christian Science Monitor, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Reuters each inaccurately reported poll results, based on a single Honduran newspaper source, that a plurality of Hondurans supported the coup against the government. VOA reported the Gallup poll results about the coup accurately." (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) In general, I favor the repeal of the Smith Mundt domestic dissemination prohibition. Americans have a right to see or hear what US international broadcasting is telling the world, and US ethnic radio stations can provide a useful public service by relaying news from USIB outlets. On the other hand, any such legislation must have language to ensure that the budget and resources of US international broadcasting are not expropriated into a domestic public relations campaign. The domestic dissemination prohibition was enacted in part to prevent the US government from engaging in a domestic propaganda campaign. If US international broadcasting adheres to the principles of balanced and objective journalism, which it must do to maintain an audience, propaganda is no longer an issue. Competition with US domestic media was another reason for the prohibition, and this becomes even more of an issue as US private media that cover international news move behind paywalls. As I have written several times before, the "internet age" has not made the domestic dissemination prohibition obsolete. To the contrary, it has finally made the prohibition enforceable by dint of geoblocking. Content of US international broadcasting websites can be geoblocked, preventing access by US IP addresses, should the executives of USIB choose to observe Smith-Mundt. On the other hand, VOA and RFE shortwave broadcasts were routinely heard in the United States, and no internet technology could block them (Kim Andrew Elliott, ibid.) Shhh, about that geoblocking (gh, DXLD) Update: BuzzFeed, 18 May 2012, Michael Hastings: "The new law would give sweeping powers to the State Department and Pentagon to push television, radio, newspaper, and social media onto the U.S. public. 'It removes the protection for Americans,' says a Pentagon official who is concerned about the law. 'It removes oversight from the people who want to put out this information. There are no checks and balances. No one knows if the information is accurate, partially accurate, or entirely false.'" (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** U S A [non]. Some IBB changes: Radio Farda in Farsi: 1300-1500 NF 13690 LAM 100 kW / 104 deg to WeAs, ex 13860 Radio Free Asia in Cantonese: 1400-1500 NF 12135 TIN 250 kW / 287 deg to EaAs, ex 9605 2200-2300 NF 15320*TIN 250 kW / 280 deg to EaAs, ex 9720 * strong co-channel AWR KSDA in Indonesian/English [oops!] Voice of America in English: 1400-1500 NF 15265 SAO 100 kW / 100 deg to CeAf, ex 12080 [as originally logged here apparently on its first day --- gh] 1500-1600 NF 15265 WER 250 kW / 180 deg to CeAf, ex 12080 (DX Re Mix News, Bulgaria, 21 May via DXLD) ** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1617 was ready for first SW broadcast UT Thursday May 17 at 0330 on WRMI 9955; repeats: Sat 0800, 1500, 1730, Sun 0800, 1530, 1730, Mon 0500, 1130. Also: Thu 2100 on WTWW 9479; UT Fri 0330v on WWRB 5050 (last week started at 0335); UT Sat 0130v on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB (last week started after 0145); UT Sun 0400 on WTWW 5755. Also on WRN via SiriusXM 120: Sat & Sun 1730, Sun 0830. WORLD OF RADIO 1617 monitoring: confirmed on first audible SW airing, excellent 9479 WTWW, Thu May 17 at 2100, to be repeated UT Sunday 0400 on 5755. Also on 5110v-CUSB, WBCQ Area 51, UT Sat 0130+; 9955 WRMI: Sat 0800, 1500, 1730, Sun 0800, 1530, 1730, Mon 0500, 1130. And WRN via SiriusXM 120, Sat & Sun 1730, Sun 0830. WORLD OF RADIO 1617 monitoring: WBCQ 5110v-CUSB airing confirmed on webcast at nominal time UT Saturday May 19 at 0130-0159. WTWW 5755 airing missed, as off the air at 0400 UT Sunday May 20! And 5755 still off during the next hour. Meanwhile there was some utility hash circa 5760. What else can one listen to instead? 9955, WRMI, Jeff White with `Wavescan` at 0409, fair with pulse jamming; 9825, WHRI, Chris, Lobdell, pirating with Cumbre, very good signal at 0409. Marie said no new DWC show this week, but not an evergreen either as a log was quoted from April 22. Try again for WOR on WRMI, Sunday May 20 at 1532: nothing but a JBA carrier; hope it`s making it to the Caribbean/S America. Repeats at 1730, Monday 0500, 1130 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) World of Radio by Licenciado Guillermo Glenn Hauser via Radio Miami International [9955], catched here in Montevideo, Uruguay, today at 0804. Some QSB... http://youtu.be/h_CPGwTLfuA 73 de CX2ABP (Rodolfo Tizzi, May 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) WORLD OF RADIO 1617 monitoring: 9955, UT Monday May 21 at 0526, confirmed on WRMI, about to conclude, more or less readable vs pulse jamming. WORLD OF RADIO 1618 was ready early UT Wednesday May 23 via http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html more than 24 hours before first scheduled SW broadcast, UT Thursday 0330 on WRMI 9955; then: Thursday 2100 on WTWW 9479; UT Friday 0330v on WWRB 5050; UT Saturday 0130v on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB; UT Sunday 0400 on WTWW 5755. And also WRMI 9955 repeats: Sat 0800, 1500, 1730; Sun 0800, 1530, 1730; Mon 0500, 1130 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 12105, May 18 at 1417 and various other random chex lately, WTWW-3 remains off the air (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. HAMVENTION ON THE AIR --- WTWW-3 is still silent from 12105 but WTWW-2 has finally been reactivated after about 3 months, excellent signal on 9990, May 18 at 1842 UT --- it`s Ted Randall doing live interview, about ham and CB radio. No one sent us any publicity about this, but must be from some hamvention. Yes, on http://www.tedrandall.com --- in UT -5: ``Broadcasting Live From the 2012 Dayton Hamvention Friday, Saturday and Sunday May 18-20 10 am till 2 pm Friday and Saturday CDT [15-19 UT] 10 am till 12 pm Sunday CDT [15-17 UT] On WTWW 9990 KHZ & WBCQ 9330 Live from booth 403`` (Glenn Hauser, 1857 UT May 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also tried to hear it on 9330, but signal too weak in the daytime noise level. 9990 indeed back on the air after 1500 May 19, but at 1523, 9330 definitely not //, playing music instead, presumably usual paid religion. 9990, May 19 after 1500, WTWW-2 was back on the air with Ted Randall at the Dayton Hamvention, but recheck at 1830 it was already off. Supposed to be at 15-19. However, 9479, WTWW-1 was now running Ted Randall at his usual time on Saturdays 18-20, so no need for both of them to be running. One more live broadcast is on his website, Sunday May 20 at 15-17 UT on 9990. 5755 was missing May 20 at 0400 instead of WORLD OF RADIO, and still missing before 1300, but day frequency 9479 was on at 1310 check. Meanwhile, found big open carrier on 9990, May 20 at 1217, but no 5755 or 9479 or 12105. 9990 must be WTWW-2, but no show at 1536 when it was supposed to be on for one more live Ted Randall broadcast from Dayton at 15-17. Still nothing at final check 1653. These were also supposed to be on 9330 WBCQ, but if on, it was too weak to discern. 5755, May 21 at 0523 check, WTWW-1 is back on night frequency with SFAW, having been absent 25 hours earlier. Still missing US SW stations, May 21: 12105, nothing from WTWW-3 at 1552 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7490, May 20 at 0408, usual canned sign-off by Allan Weiner on WBCQ, but at odd time. The only Saturday show on 7490, `I Sing` from Rod Hembree`s evangelical network, is scheduled 1900-0400. 9330-CUSB, May 21 at 0531, WBCQ with hard-rock travesties, courtesy of Rev. Rod Hembree: ``Runaway`` re-lyricked into some tale about leaving Egypt; segué to ``I Ain`t Nothin` But a Found God``! Retune at 1249, still doing this, ``Let`s Rock`` has become ``Let`s Talk`` about Jesus Christ. 1250 plug biblediscoverytv.com and more of this innovative tactic for ever-increasing faith. [and non]. 15420-CUSB, May 22 at 2050 tune-in to WBCQ playing a music loop rather than `Global Spirit Proclamation` which must have been lost or ended early. 2054 ID thrice; 2055 the different ID with fanfare IS by band (hard to count the notes due to overlaps), same loop as heard before 1400 opening on Saturdays. 2059 Allan Weiner`s usual plug seeking new business, and then his sign-off until just past 2100. Meanwhile, a weak het had appeared at 2057 from a carrier closer to 15420.0, tho I did not attempt to measure either directly. Both carriers were still on past 2100 when WBCQ had stopped modulation, so I checked the pitch on my keyboard: D below middle-C, i.e. 147 Hz, i.e. 15419.853, assuming The Planet is on the lo side as usual. Then at 2104 an interesting thing happened: the pitch of the het, which had been wobbling slightly, gradually declined to zero, as if WBCQ were zero-beating its transmitter with the other station (or some accurate frequency reference), and finally went off at 2107, uncovering the much weaker 15420.0 station alone. So what is the other station? Not BBC as one might have guessed, which is finished with 15420 at 1900 via Cyprus and collides with WBCQ earlier. No, HFCC shows KSDA GUAM starts at 2100, 100 kW, 315 degrees from Agat, in Mandarin except on Sundays in Yue (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9955, May 20 at 1406, WRMI poor with Jeff White voicing `Wavescan` vs lite pulse jamming, and fast SAH. During this semihour only now, allowed to collide with KTWR Guam, per Aoki in Yui language on Sundays, other days Cantonese (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 15550-USB, WJHR has been missing. It`s at a distance where it doesn`t always propagate well to here, but even when nearby WEWN is inbooming on 15610/15615 with sporadic E help, not hearing anything on 15550 May 19. Also absent May 20 at 1532, 1654 when WEWN and WWCR 15825 were inbooming at similar distances. Still missing US SW stations, May 21: 15550-USB, nothing from WJHR at 1407 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15550-USB, May 23 at 1500, WJHR is still missing, even when neighbor WEWN is inbooming on 15610 plus spur field (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9370, WTJC has been missing. For quite a while modulation level had been very low, but not distorted or squeezing out spurs. It`s definitely absent May 20 at chex: 0507, 1220, 1405, 1533. Comparing to WBCQ 9330: usually it`s well heard, but very poor at 1533. Nothing observed of WTJC Morehead City around 0130 UT, empty channel on 9369-9370 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 21, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Still missing US SW stations, May 21: 9370-, nothing from WTJC at 1412 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9370-, UT May 23 at 0230, WTJC is back with preacher after having been missing a few days, shortly after I have finished recording WORLD OF RADIO 1618 mentioning its silence. There has been no improvement in the undermodulation level or in the frequency accuracy, at 1338, still off-channel to the lo side (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7555, May 17 at 0518, WEWN Spanish is missing again; other two transmitters poorly audible on 11520 English, 11870 Spanish. After 1300, all three poorly audible, 11550, 12050, 15615. 7555, May 18 at 0530, WEWN R. Católica Mundial is on again, unlike last night; also around 1240. 5810, May 19 at 0453, WEWN, R. Católica Mundial is active again on this spurless frequency, heard just in time for mention of second hour of `En la Paz de la Luna`, and 0455 QSY announcement to 7555, also continuing on 11870. 0509 check, 7555 is indeed on, and 11870 has weakened greatly as usual by this hour. 7555 is still on circa 1245, treating some great classical music as just produxion music to be talked over, faded down. 15615, May 19 at 1304, HF Es is helping this signal to inboom, during Beethoven`s ``Ode to Joy``, rudely transformed into a sectarian ``Alleluya`` hymn in English. Just as well that it`s abruptly cut off for a Bronx cheer (inserting patch cord?), then priest talking about the Poor Clares and EWTN (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WEWN heard on 11520 on Saturday 19 May at 0530 with an enjoyable Radio Drama in "Family Theater Classic Radio". Today was part 1 of the classic story Treasure Island. At the end, the announcer said that the programme was founded in 1947 and you can hear the likes of Lucille Ball, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, James Stewart, Shirley Temple, and others in the series. This dramatisation sounds like an early 1950's programme. Checking the WEWN schedule, I see that this series is also scheduled Sundays at 0330 also on 11520 (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) What? Something seemingly secular on WEWN? (gh, DXLD) 7555, May 20 at 0510 check, WEWN is on with very good signal in Spanish; you never know whether it will be or not (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 11715, KJES, Vado NM, With Robo-kids chanting/singing religious songs, and a YL reading Bible verses and an OM (His voice had changed so we'll call him an OM -- a Robo-adult?) "preaching" -- surprisingly sane preaching at that. Really VARIABLE audio quality as if some of the programming was done close miked, and some was done in a larger sanctuary type building with microphones nowhere near the speaker. :57 into the Lord's Prayer and kids singing and then an IDs in English and Spanish at the ToH by young kids and into more of their typical stuff. Varying from 3+4+4+44 to 342 with fading and audio issues mentioned above. 1445-1505 13/May (Ken Zichi, Williamston & Port Hope MI, MARE Tipsheet May 18 via DXLD) ** U S A. 13570, May 20 at 1202, since it`s Sunday, WINB already on this frequency with YL gospel huxter, constant carrier wobble (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7490, May 20 at 1213, WWCR-2 usual excellent signal with YL gospel huxter, but some other modulation too underneath her, soon verified as // Dead Gene Scott on WWCR-3, 13845. After all these years, WWCR still hasn`t isolated its transmitters and antennas one from another. Website now shows June 4 as the effective date for frequency schedule changes until August 31. The only difference is that WWCR-1 will stay on 6875 one hour longer before changing to 3215, at 0200 instead of 0100. 12160, May 21 at 1511, WWCR-2 has cross talk matching modulation from 13845, WWCR-3 with DGS; same as happens earlier on 7490 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 17510, WHRI, last Sunday was not airing `DXing with Cumbre` at 2130, and their schedule showed it at 2100 instead. So this Sunday, May 20 I check at 2115: Christian songs (what else?) for truckers, but retune at 2131, DWC is back at this time. Marie is just doing pro- forma introduxion, then turns it over to Chris, Lobdell for `Pirating with Cumbre`, starting with an April 22 log from Bill Hassig, a previous show repeated with no new one this week. Then on May 21 I recheck the searchable WHRI program schedules. Still shows 2100, not 2130 Sundays on 17510 for DWC. Plus numerous other times on this frequency, presumably imaginary from Angel 2 rather than 1 for the imaginary Sunday 2100 transmission: Saturday at 2000; Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 2100; Sunday at 2300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. Frequency change of WYFR Family Radio in Somali via BABCOCK: 1700-1800 NF 15600 WOF 250 kW / 128 deg to EaAf, ex 15255 (DX Re Mix News, Bulgaria, 21 May via DXLD) UZBEKISTAN. 17605, May 19 at 1340, good signal with hymn in unID language to tune alleging that ``God will take care of you``. Some IADs. Surprisingly good signal for listed Tashkent relay of YFR, 100 kW, 131 degrees, but lacking a language in HFCC. Aoki says it`s Burmese at 13-14. 17605, May 20 at 1327, YFR Burmese again, very good signal, I find hard to believe is really 100 kW, 131 degrees via Tashkent, UZBEKISTAN as in HFCC, Aoki, EiBi. Aha, WRTH A-12 supplement shows this as KCH instead = PRIDNESTROVYE, which is somewhat more believable. Much stronger than e.g. 17705 Saudi, and nothing much from Iran 17550. 17605, May 21 at 1325, YFR Burmese is still a good signal, far, far, away from the target, and the transmitter. As I reported before, site shown as Tashkent in HFCC, but Kishinov in WRTH, so I asked Dan Elyea at WYFR which is correct? ``Hi Dan, Have been getting YFR Burmese broadcast at 13-14 UT on 17605, with quite a good signal. This was registered in HFCC as TAC = Uzbekistan site, but WRTH update shows it as KCH = Moldova. I could not believe it was that good from Uzbekistan, and seems to me it`s too strong even for Moldova here. Could it be Germany? Please confirm what the correct site is. Thanks, Glenn`` Dan replies: ``The registration was correct, Glenn, but maintenance at the TAC site temporarily prevents their provision of the service (no date for restoration). So the WRTH update is actually correct with the KCH. That's 500 kW on a 4/8/0.8 antenna.`` ``Dan, Thanks for the explanation. KCH must put plenty of signal off the back. Do you know if TAC site is totally down? Or have all FSI transmissions at least been moved elsewhere too, details? (I assume there were more scheduled, haven`t checked). Glenn`` to Dan. Dan replies again: ``Agreed, Glen[n]; one of the sidelobes must fall near 325 degrees for you to get such a good signal. FSI presently has a TAC transmission to India, 500 kW, 4/4/1, 14-15 UTC, 15450 kHz, Assamese. So TAC is not totally down. 73, Dan`` Once again May 22 at 1316 with hymn in Burmese, 17605 has good signal and modulation but with flutter, and held up well for the rest of the hour. If Grigoriopol` is aiming right at Yangon, directly off the back would enter America at the eastern tip of Venezuela, far off from here (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17605, May 23 at 1342, only a very poor signal, presumed YFR Burmese. Maybe it`s back to UZBEKISTAN site after temporary switch to PRIDNESTROVYE as confirmed yesterday? Or propagation is rather degraded today even from the latter. WWV reported at 1418: SF=121; K at 12 was 3. Then 10000 faded down so I couldn`t copy the rest of it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7210-LSB, May 20 at 1211, unmistakable voice of Nelson Roig, N1NR in Pennsylvania, no ID needed, as he remarx in Spanish that he was divorced 17 --- no, 19 years ago due to a ``reflexión de personalidades``. Perhaps his wife had enough of his anti-Castro ranting all the time, however justified (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 770, KKOB, Albuquerque NM monitoring during and after the annular eclipse May 21; Utahns et al: see PROPAGATION ** U S A. DX Test scheduled for Saturday, May 26, 2012: WFNY 1440, Gloversville, NY will test on Saturday morning, May 26, 0100-0200 ET (0500-0600 UT). Format rock and roll music, Morse IDs, etc. (also via Rich Line) (MARE Tipsheet via DXLD 12-20, WORLD OF RADIO 1618) ** U S A. NPR SEES SHARP DOWNTURN IN ADVERTISING [sic] REVENUE, LEADING TO TALK OF CUTS - . . . http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/npr-sees-sharp-downturn-in-advertising-revenue-leading-to-talk-of-cuts/2012/05/16/gIQAKWjkUU_print.html (The Washington Post via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U S A. SHORTWAVE AMERICA NATO CHICAGO COVERAGE For those who are not yet aware, Shortwave America is covering the Chicago NATO Command and Communications story. There are two ways to follow the story. The first link takes you to the NATO Communications Guide with LIVE Communications coverage, and the second link takes you to the story the main stream media isn't telling and that story includes photos. http://shortwaveamerica.blogspot.com/2012/05/nato-communications-monitoring-guide.html http://shortwaveamerica.blogspot.com/2012/05/chicago-nato-command-and-communications.html Here's to hoping this whole event stays peaceful (Dan Hensley, IL, May 18, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) But what has this to do with shortwave? Rather VHF/UHF scanning (gh) ** U S A. THERE'S JAZZ ON CHICAGO RADIO, DESPITE DEATH OF SMOOTH 87.7 My post about the demise of Chicago smooth jazz station Smooth 87.7 [sic] two weeks ago continues to gather comments lamenting the station’s passing. Many of the commenters express a sentiment like Sandy Kowalski, who writes, I searched all the chicago (sic) FM stations for another jazz station, I can not find any. Anyone know of a station in chicago (sic) with similar music? I would like to bring some hope to many of these forlorn jazz fans by letting them know that, yes, indeed, Chicago still has jazz on the radio. . . http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2012/05/15/theres-still-jazz-on-chicago-radio-despite-the-death-of-smooth-87-7/ (via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) 87.75 = a Franken-FM LPTV (gh) Jazz of any kind is nearly dead and extinct on the radio now. If a major metro can't hold a mainstream jazz station, particularly in jazz heritage cities, the future's very bleak for the format. It's bad enough that all the 'smooth jazz' stations today are morphing to "coffee-house" AC formats. Yuk. I'll take Chick Corea Elektric Band and the like, or a good shot at classic Miles and Monk anyday. From the "jazz-less analog radio area" of New Orleans - you know - the birthplace of American jazz (Darwin Long, -Buras, LA, ibid.) ** U S A. Clear Channel, Citadel, and others, including Cumulus, are incredibly bad models for American business. They went on crazy shopping sprees, paying way too much for most of the stations they grabbed up in the frenzy, after having borrowed millions of dollars to get them. Then, in order to cut costs and increase profits, as well as to pay the interest on all of those loans, they fired hundreds of people from those stations and gave modest raises to the few who remained to handle all of the work. In the case of air talent, they fired as many as possible, replacing them with voice tracking or syndicated programs, mostly from their own company. As a result, their stations all across the country sound pretty much the same because they are airing the same programs. Local origination is a thing of the past in many markets now. On the AM side with all of talk shows, it's a very safe bet that when the discussion of unemployment in the U.S. comes up, no mention is ever made of how many people in the radio broadcasting industry lost their jobs because of these companies. It's shameful that a company like Citadel, that bit off way more than it could chew, bought the former ABC stations, most of which had big signals in big markets, and then eliminated most of the local programming in favor of syndicated services. To see a major 50 KW AM and full power FM in Market #3 be turned into just another repeater for out of market syndicated programming is a disgrace. There were a lot of high paying union jobs lost at WLS (as well as many others) after "consolidation" and the changes that followed, yet I have never heard any comment on the situation from the unions. Considering that both Clear Channel and Citadel ended up in bankruptcy, and numerous smaller companies as well, it's appalling that the government has not reconsidered retroactive ownership caps for broadcast stations. While the government has gone way out of its way to break up what it considered "monopolies" in other businesses for years, it went completely the other way by creating monopolies in the radio broadcasting industry by eliminating ownership caps. The result has been nothing short of a disaster. 73, (Kit, W5KAT, CO, ABDX via DXLD) W5KAT = SAGE, KIT S, Golden CO 80402 (FCC via ARRL via DXLD) ** UZBEKISTAN. YFR not via Tashkent: see U S A [non] ** VATICAN [non?]. Olá amigos, a dúvida é sobre Rádio-países. Eu escutei a Radio Vaticana em 9645 kHz; segundo minha lista, a transmissão é feita a partir da Galeria de Santa Maria [sic]. Aí é que está a duvida: a Galeria de Santa Maria fica a pouco mais de 18 km da Cidade do Vaticano. Então esta emissão seria registrada como Vaticano ou Italia? Forte 73, (Diego Braga de Morais, 19 May, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Seria registrado como Vaticano, amigo. 73! (Rubens Ferraz Pedroso, (PY5-007 SWL), Bandeirantes - PR, ibid.) Diego, Rubens, no Wikipedia inglês há uma nota que a área em Santa Maria di Galeria tem condição "extraterritorial" desde 1952. Em outro artigo, esta condição é a mesma que se aplica à embaixadas. Because of space purposes, the Holy See acquired a 400-hectare area located 18 kilometres north of Rome at Santa Maria di Galeria (GC: 42 2?39?N 12 19?22?E). The Italian Republic granted the site extraterritorial status in 1952.[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Radio Although part of Italian territory, all of them have an extraterritorial status, similar to those of foreign embassies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Properties_of_the_Holy_See (Huelbe Garcia, ibid.) Olá amigos, gostaria de agradecer as respostas; vou atualizar meu logbook! Forte 73, (Diego, ibid.) Santa Maria di Galeria é um caso bastante específico nas relações internacionais do Vaticano. É algo que surge pela necessidade desse que é, em direito internacional, denominado um "Estado exíguo". Veja o que consta na wikipedia, em italiano (traduzido eletronicamente): ``A área de Santa Maria di Galeria, grandes quase dez vezes o território do Estado do Vaticano Cittdel, goza do privilégio de extraterritorialidade para a Santa Sé. Cisignifica, como em outras áreas "imunes" em Roma ou nas proximidades (Castel Gandolfo), que nessas áreas que se mantêm apesar do território italiano, como resultado de acordos especiais entre as partes, não pode autoritdell'Italia exercer as suas competências nessas áreas, principalmente os de polícia (investigação, apreensão, entrega de citações, prisões). Perigo direito de se pronunciar sobre um determinado crime, ou mesmo crime que acontecer lá, é o judiciário italiano. Precisamente a mesma situação que existe em todo o mundo, as embaixadas de países estrangeiros nas capitais de vários países.`` Então, com tamanha particularidade jurídica, não vejo problemas em nós, DXistas, considerarmos a escuta dessa estação como uma escuta genuína do Vaticano. Um forte 73 (Fabricio A. Silva, Tubarão - SC, (obs.: Bacharel em Relações Internacionais), ibid.) But there have to be different rules for ``radio-countries``. Otherwise, you have to consider anything heard from a country`s embassy building on the other side of the world (admittedly not much in the way of shortwave broadcasts), to be coming from the home country. You still have the possibility of hearing the real Vatican itself on 3975 kHz. Or maybe 7250 again in the B-season. 73, (Guilherme Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Gui -- how would you prefer logging transmissions from Santa Maria di Galeria? Italy or Vatican? (Huelbe Garcia, ibid.) I am somewhat inconsistent about this. Usually VATICAN for SMG. For the Vatican Gardens transmitter, VATICAN [non non], just to make the point. Unlike a lot of listeners, I am not interested in counting up radio-countries heard or verified, so it`s really academic. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Caros amigos, como é bom participar de uma lista que trás assuntos os mais variados e nos dão conhecimentos sobre lugares e particularidades que nem imaginávamos que pudessem existir, parabéns a todos que participaram deste tópico e buscaram informações (Tulio Queiroz, Teresina -PI, ibid.) Amigo Túlio, Glenn, Diego e demais, Nada impede os DX-clubs, tampouco os DXistas individuais a considerarem arbitrariamente a classificação da origem das rádio emissões. Nesse ponto, obviamente, pela multiplicidade de opiniões acerca do tema, sempre se topará com dissensões. Veja, por exemplo, o caso extremo do DXCC que chega a considerar Fernando de Noronha como um rádio-país, ou a Rússia Asiática e a Rússia Europeia como rádio-países diferentes. Mas voltando ao nosso caso em cena, só posso afirmar que, para o DIREITO INTERNACIONAL, a referida emissão é considerada oriunda do Vaticano. De igual sorte, uma eventual emissão da Embaixada Egípcia na Nigéria, por exemplo, é depreendida, à luz das Convenções de 1961 e 1963, como uma emissão oriunda do Egito. O fato de, por acaso, se tratar da embaixada de um país hospedada em outro país do outro lado do mundo é irrelevante, por esse critério. Uma vez que não quero trair às minhas concepções acadêmicas, opto pela classificação formal. Mas nada impede o surgimento de outras classificações informais por parte de DXistas e radioescutas - só acho salutar que saiba disso. Forte 73 (Fabricio A. Silva, ibid.) ** VATICAN [non]. Hello to all, a good day. I want to share my happiness on the ground to receive a QSL card from Radio Vatican that I heard in Freq. 7555 KHZ. Sent a Receiving Report in June 2011 received day January 2, 2012. QSL cards signed and stamped flyers over the station to see on my blog: http://qsldobrasil.blogspot.com/ (Rama, Feb 5, 2012, Sangean803 yg via DXLD) Não foi R. Vaticano --- esta fq pertence a WEWN, Radio Católica Mundial, Alabama, que retransmite alguns programas de R. Vaticano. This was not Vatican Radio. They do not use 7555. Instead you must have heard WEWN, Radio Católica Mundial in Alabama, which retransmits some programs in Spanish from VR. Your QSL shows time as 0055, UT? Last year. I don`t think they ever used it at that hour UT. Currently is on the air (not always) between 0500 and 1300 UT. http://www.ewtn.com/radio/freq.htm Spanish program schedule is here: http://www.ewtn.com/radio/sp_radio_sched.asp Showing current Vatican relays are M-F at 1600-1630 & 2100-2130 UT, when they are not on 7555. Not to be confused with a very different ``Catholic`` station in New Mexico, KJES, which also uses 7555 at 0100-0230 UT in our summers, one hour later in winters. If Vatican Radio verified 7555 as their own broadcast, they are not paying attention to their own schedule. 73, (Guilherme Glenn Hauser, Oklahoma, May 21, ibid.) ** VIETNAM [and non]. 9715, May 18 at 1405, RFA Vietnamese hour via TINIAN is accompanied underneath by oscillating-tone whoop-whoop jammer typical of this still hostile Viet Cong-controlled country (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ZANZIBAR. Si alguien la puede copiar --- La dirección de la Voz de Tanzania, la dirección electrónica que pasaron en el programa En Contacto de hoy en el informe de Pedro Sedano, me la pasan por favor, Gracias (Ernesto Paulero, Argentina, May 20, condiglist yg via DXLD) Hola Ernesto, con mucho gusto aca va: La Voz de Tanzania: karumehouse @ tvz.co.tv 73. Dino Boise, FL, ibid.) Con Respecto a la Voz de Tanzania --- Los e mail vienen de vuelta a la única dirección que me han facilitado (Ernesto Paulero, May 21, ibid.) ** ZIMBABWE [non]. 12115, Zwe Community radio, 1629 May 19 in African English with someone interviewed. At 1644 in (presumed) Swahili with discussions then, IS and ID with jingle 'radio 4u', S9, clear frequency with little local QRN (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, http://zlgr.multiply.com DX LISTENING DIGEST) Swahili is not a language of Zimbabwe! (gh, DXLD) UNIDENTIFIED. Strange sound on 4775 kHz --- I just added a short recording to the sounds folder. Anyone know what it might be? The pulses are exactly one second apart om 4775 kHz (de Neil, KJ6FBA, CA?, 1353 UT May 21, NASWA yg via DXLD) Usually referred to simply as CODAR and usually heard in this frequency range. For details on this seabed monitoring system, see CODAR website. –dnj (Don Jensen, WI, ibid.) We had a session on CODAR during the SWLFest in March. Here's some background you might find interesting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastal_ocean_dynamics_applications_radar It's interesting technology, though a shame it messes up the Tropical band (Richard Cuff, Allentown PA, ibid.) and 9, 12, 13, 24-25 MHz (gh) UNIDENTIFIED. AGGRESSIVE POLICEMAN STATION -->MAY 18/ 6950 USB/ 0200-0207+. sigs at S3-6 with moderate static. continuous loop running about aggressive policeman. Checked again at 0240 and still going. From the internet reports, appears to have ran all night long. Please QSL (Scott A. McArdle: 3500 S. Boulevard, Suite 18C, Edmond, OK 73013, Free Radio Weekly via DXLD) An interesting transmission that apparently started on 6990-USB within the past few days, and now on 6950-USB (at 0730, 18 April), continuously repeats the following: "She had your dark suit in greasy wash water all year. Don't ask me to carry an oily rag like that. They used an aggressive policeman to flag thoughtless motorists" Reminds me of the Yosemite Sam fun we had years ago. (via many reports at the UDXF Yahoo group) (Steve Lare, Holland, MI, USA, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Googling on the ``dark suit`` sentence gets some interesting results. It is not original with this, but appeared in a 2008 blog by one Bryan, without explanation, apparently. Also some kind of voice recognition experiment at Berkeley. http://voicesof.berkeley.edu/compare_voices.php I wonder if that`s an exact match to what`s being heard. Is it originally a quotation from literature, what? (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Roundup of pertinent UDXF posts about this last two days: I Googled some of this to see if there was any known film scripts/ radio plays or anything with those lines on, and found some odd quotes of a similar phrasing by Scott Fitzgerald, but further digging found this, but I have no idea what this is, http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:0z60E09fLhsJ:www.ldc.upenn.edu/Catalog/docs/LDC93S1/PROMPTS.TXT+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ukThe Funny thing is I have it only in the cache like this because the proper source document is either no longer there, or has been removed for public view. If you scroll through the page you can find all the lines you can hear. If this is a number station then it's truly an odd one (Dennis Smith, M1DLG, May 17, UDXF yg via DXLD) A huge list of sample sentences, but suspiciously this one right at the top. (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) Further digging would suggest these quotes and lines are some kind of speech analysis and language analysis tools, sometimes used to teach students in university or in research of these subjects. Whatever these are, they certainly appear odd. I wonder if these are being used by engineers at a transmitter site to check the transmitters are running correctly? Look at http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1993STIN...9327403G for an explanation of these sentences (David L. Wilson, ibid.) Viz: Abstract The Texas Instruments/Massachusetts Institute of Technology (TIMIT) corpus of read speech has been designed to provide speech data for the acquisition of acoustic-phonetic knowledge and for the development and evaluation of automatic speech recognition systems. TIMIT contains speech from 630 speakers representing 8 major dialect divisions of American English, each speaking 10 phonetically-rich sentences. The TIMIT corpus includes time-aligned orthographic, phonetic, and word transcriptions, as well as speech waveform data for each spoken sentence. The release of TIMIT contains several improvements over the Prototype CD-ROM released in December, 1988: (1) full 630-speaker corpus, (2) checked and corrected transcriptions, (3) word-alignment transcriptions, (4) NIST SPHERE-headered waveform files and header manipulation software, (5) phonemic dictionary, (6) new test and training subsets balanced for dialectal and phonetic coverage, and (7) more extensive documentation (via DXLD) These are called the Harvard Sentences, this subject come up from time to time. They've been heard recently on the recently expanded BAPERN police network in the UHF land mobile spectrum here in my area. http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~hgs/audio/harvard.html (Clyde N1BHH, Weymouth, MA, ibid.) I was unable to receive this transmission in Los Angeles, so thanks for all the info on my favorite subject, weird stuff on the radio. Digging around the links I found this paragraph: The text material in the TIMIT prompts (found in the file "prompts.doc") consists of 2 dialect "shibboleth" sentences designed at SRI, 450 phonetically-compact sentences designed at MIT, and 1890 phonetically- diverse sentences selected at TI. The dialect sentences (the SA sentences) were meant to expose the dialectal variants of the speakers and were read by all 630 speakers. The phonetically-compact sentences were designed to provide a good coverage of pairs of phones, with extra occurrences of phonetic contexts thought to be either difficult or of particular interest. Each speaker read 5 of these sentences (the SX sentences) and each text was spoken by 7 different speakers. The phonetically-diverse sentences (the SI sentences) were selected from existing text sources - the Brown Corpus (Kuchera and Francis, 1967) and the Playwrights Dialog (Hultzen, et al., 1964) - so as to add diversity in sentence types and phonetic contexts. The selection criteria maximized the variety of allophonic contexts found in the texts. Each speaker read 3 of these sentences, with each sentence being read only by a single speaker. Table 2 summarizes the speech material in TIMIT. Perhaps its a test to see how well their software can interpret under unpredictable AM conditions. Did anyone with a directional happen to get a vector on this? It only takes a few to zero in on the general area. – (Jeff KJ6NWU Bradford, ibid.) Having a look at the website http://www.ldc.upenn.edu/Catalog came up with:- http://www.ldc.upenn.edu/Catalog/project_index.jsp which may throw some light on the phrases? 73's (Clive S Carver, GW4EYO, ibid.) The LDC site has the following info. This apparently was a DARPA project to listen to broadcast newscasts for content. Of course, I'm sure the applications go beyond monitoring newscasts. A bit creepy but fascinating. I concur that it is a real-world test that's on 6990. 73 During 1991, the DARPA Spoken Language Program initiated efforts to build a new corpus to support research on large-vocabulary Continuous Speech Recognition (CSR) systems. The first two CSR Corpora consist primarily of read speech with texts drawn from a machine-readable corpus of Wall Street Journal news text and are thus often known as WSJ0 and WSJ1. (Later sections of the CSR set of corpora, however, will consist of read texts from other sources of North American business news and eventually from other news domains). The texts to be read were selected to fall within either a 5,000-word or a 20,000-word subset of the WSJ text corpus. (See the documentation for details). Some spontaneous dictation is included in addition to the read speech. The dictation portion was collected using journalists who dictated hypothetical news articles (via Radioman390, ibid.) Interesting! In the late 90's there was a similar system monitoring "ham" radio frequencies documenting pirated callsigns, and various illegal activity in SoCal on 2m and 220 MHz. Text transcripts were retrieved nightly through a BBS, later, via e-mail. A similar data- only version monitored packet radio. It was a simple system doing a complex task remotely. I had thought about doing a write-up on it a few years ago for the Ham mags, but nearly a decade later, still not sure it would be well received (Kurt, ibid.) This also heard in Massachusetts at various times between 0000-0200+. Signal was only fair at best and plagued by static. At initial tune in I also noted some rock music in the background but it was very weak. I believe that this was a completely different station from our "dark suited" friends. Perhaps someone is really excited about the new "men in black 3" film coming out soon. If you see a black helicopter seek cover (Steve Wood, Harwich, Mass, May 18, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Black choppers have been flying over Enid last few days (the kind with two rotors), and could not see any markings. Of course we are right next to Vance AFB. I never managed to hear 6950; did it stop? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Any ideas of where may be coming from? (Mark Davies, Wales, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 15125, TWR, 1651 May 19, OM with talk in Amharic or similar with a very lively talking or even up to screaming with mentions of J Christ heard at 1657 (so it is religious), 1659 with IS of TWR, S10 (Zacharias Liangas, Thessaloniki, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Not in HFCC or Aoki: instead at 16-18, CRI in Arabic, Swahili via MALI I wonder if ZL meant 12125, where we find not TWR but FEBA in Amharic: 12125 FEBA RADIO 1630-1700 1234567 Amharic 300 192 Yerevan-Gavar ARM 04511E 4025N FEBA a12 BAB (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15660 at 1925 UT May 19, very strong signal, two guys with African language, huge crowd roars, football? special, from where? Nothing listed at this hour in HFCC, Aoki or EiBi. Channel Africa does use 15660 at 15-16 in Swahili. BBC? (Glenn Hauser, OK dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Very strong here also (Mark Davies, Anglesey, Wales, 1932 UT, ibid.) 15660, 19/May 1935, UNID. Glenn, It seems an interview in the Studio. Here, Almost with the local signal. They speak of Bayern Munich. 45444 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA - Brasil 12 14´S 38 58´W ibid.) I think it`s commentary of Bayern Munich v Chelsea; I think it`s half time at the moment, 0-0. Yes it is. So who? Possibly Channel Africa extended as is quite a big game (Mark, Anglesey, 1938 UT, ibid.) Eu acho que seja BBC ou DW. A DW teria o interesse devido ser um time alemão, mas a BBC tem histórico de transmissões esportivas. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA - Brasil, 1950 UT May 19, ibid.) BBC transmite o jogo em 15400. Aqui com bom sinal. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA - Brasil, 1952 UT, ibid.) em inglês (gh) 15640, 19/May 2020-2033 UNID. Transmission of football. It seems Arabic. 35433 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana, Bahia, 12 14´S 38 58´W - Brasil, ibid.) 15660 Booming at this moment (2020 UTC) in Montevideo, Uruguay. Seems to be a soccer match. 73 de CX2ABP (Rodolfo Tizzi, ibid.) It seems that 15640 & 15660 transmit the same football match (Jean- Michel Aubier, France, 2104 UT May 19, ibid.) Yes, the same football match, but it sounds in different languages. In 15640, the signal is degrading, and very weak. In 15660 very good signal. Almost local. 73 (Jorge Freitas, Feira de Santana BA - Brasil, 2122 UT, ibid.) 15660 off the air at 2153. No ID. 15660 19/May 2155-2157 UNID. YL talk in English. 45444. 15660 19/May 2159. ID BBC. At 2200 beep signal e ID. At 2201 “BBC news” by OM. 45444 (Freitas, ibid.) 15660 at 1925 UT May 19, very strong signal, two guys with African language, huge crowd roars, football? special, from where? Nothing listed at this hour in HFCC, Aoki or EiBi. Channel Africa does use 15660 at 15-16 in Swahili. BBC? I posted this immediately on the dxldyg and several members began monitoring too. Mark Davies in Wales identified the game as the important Bayern Munich v Chelsea, at half time 1938. Jorge Freitas stayed with it, and also found the same game in English on BBC 15400, and in Arabic on 15640. He says 15660 went off without ID at 2153, but came back on in English at 2155, now definitely BBC with news at 2201; for how much longer? I checked periodically: 15660 at 1957, thought I heard a mention of ``Radio Freedom`` and Nigeria. Went right past 2000, and 2100 with no discernible IDs. Seems soccer fans are constantly screaming, since goals are so rare. At 2129 mentioned Chelsea. Now at 2130 I could hear some lite humbuzz on 15660, a signature of ASCENSION. 15400 had been audible more poorly earlier as per Jorge Freitas tip, but not heard any more. Wish I could recognize Somali easily, but we know BBC does a lot of sports in Somali earlier on Saturdays. Website makes a big deal of this game but nothing about 15660 or any SW to be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/somali/war/2012/05/120519_championship.shtml Contrastingly, not much about it on the BBC Hausa site (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15866.5-USB, approx., May 17 at 0215, US-military- sounding contact, only one side heard evidently from an aircraft. Mentioned ETAs, ``drop a patient off``, ``about an hour out now from the Atlantic(?) test center``. Mostly silence, occasionally punxuated by ``running water`` blasts, usually two at a time, one after another, related? At 0225 gave position as 38-47 north, 122-17 west, except I am not sure of the 122, but surely in the Pacific, not Atlantic. Or rather, those coördinates would put it right close to Sacramento already, overland. Maybe it`s a slow medevac chopper. This is in a fixed, not aeronautical band, but the military can transmit wherever they like (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 55.25 MHz, May 22 at 1740 UT, weak NTSC channel 2 video fades in, and out, mostly out, and nothing more seen after 1810. Antenna was aimed S but 6m Es map showed most activity in the W & NW USA, so could have been a Canadian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ ACKNOWLEDGED ON WORLD OF RADIO 1618: Thanks for all you do! (Ron Howard, Monterey CA, with a check in the mail to P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702) TO BE ACKNOLWEDGED ON FUTURE EDITIONS: Dustin Brann, with a contribution via PayPal to woradio @ yahoo.com [sorry about typo in the name last week --- gh] Tnx to Chuck Ermatinger, St Louis, via PayPal Re: DX Listening Digest 12-13; World of Radio 1610. As usual, Glenn, a LOT of data, but superb information as always. Thanks and take care there (Joe Rotello, April 2, shortwave-swl-antenna yg via DXLD) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ GRAHAM BELL`S QSL-ILLUSTRATED BLOG Hi Glenn, I scratched my head for years about what to do with my QSLs, collected since the mid-1960s. It's far from being the biggest but there are a few gems and I have 100s: AM, shortwave and utilities. Then I hit on the idea of scanning the lot and feeding them one by one into a blog. It's loosely based on waves and cycles that interest me: global financial markets, surfing/sailing and radio. Each individual blog involves a country and I post a QSL from a station in that country. I've been doing it approximately weekly for two years now and average about 2 hits a day. Not exactly taking the world by storm, but fun... If anyone's interested, the blog is on: http://www.capetownradio.blogspot.com 73s, (Graham Bell, London, UK, WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Graham, I`ve really enjoyed reading your blog. You have come up with a great way to present QSLs (or to illustrate your globetrotting adventures). Thanks for letting us know about it and will publicize forthwith. 73, (Glenn to Graham, via WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DXLD) "PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA: BEHIND THE GREAT WALL OF SILENCE JAMMING, RESPONSE, AND POLICY" Hi Glenn, Thank you for mentioning my new publication in DX LISTENING DIGEST 12-20, May 16, 2012. I hope that you enjoyed the publication. It took a tremendous amount of research and time on my part. The free giveaway period has ended and it is now for sale as a PDF file sent anywhere in the world by email $3.95. For those who do not yet have a copy it can order by using PayPal or through the post. The PapPal address for orders is shortwavereport @ yahoo.com It can also be ordered by post and payment must either be by check or money order, drawn in US Dollars on a US Bank. The postal address for order is Steven Handler, PO Box 11, Lincolnshire, IL 60069-0011 USA. Those ordering by post must be sure to include your email address with your postal order. I am now working on another book, my 4th publication this year which I hope will be available before the end of the summer. The topic will be about a segment of shortwave radio and its future (Steve Handler, IL, May 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WRTH BARGRAPH FREQUENCY GUIDE A12 Now Available - Order your cd today! We are delighted to announce the availability of the new WRTH Bargraph Frequency Guide for the A12 season. The CD contains the complete, and monitored, A12 international broadcasts, and fully updated domestic shortwave, displayed as a pdf colour bargraph. This CD is only for sale on the WRTH site. Visit our website at http://www.wrth.com to find out more and to order a copy. I hope you enjoy using this Frequency Guide. Nicholas Hardyman, Publisher (via Dario Monferini, May 19, playdx yg via DXLD) LANGUAGE LESSONS ++++++++++++++++ LIANGAS` VIRTUAL LANGUAGE DIRECTORY http://www.mediafire.com/#7fwpl575bnw5u Notice that the following languages have been added [audio samples]: Afar, Bangla, Dari (unsure if anyone know better please check) http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?c5x13x615nwxahf and Turkmen (Zacharias Liangas, Greece, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ PROGRAMME FOR EDXC CONFERENCE Dear DX-friends, Please find attached the latest, official programme for the EDXC Conference. I hope you all can attend the DSWCI AGM and my lecture on Saturday afternoon. Best 73, Anker Petersen Agenda Wednesday, 30. May Arrival and Check-In to hotel and Check-in to the Conference (H. Gabler) Thursday, 31. May 10.00 Short formal Opening of the EDXC 2012 Conference by Tibor Szilagyi (EDXC) and the DSWCI Annual General Meeting 2012 by Anker Peterson (DSWCI) Presentation and raising of the flag and then a glass of sparkling wine : Harald Gabler (RMRC) Excursion to the Wörlitz Park ( UNESCO ) 15.00 Official Opening of the EDXC 2012 Conference Opening Speech by H. Gabler : "EDXC yesterday - today - and tomorrow?" 15.30 Presentation by Michael Schmitz ( ADDX ) : "Perspectives and Challenges for SWL-Clubs in a new Age" 17.00 Excursion to the Amateur Radio Club (DR5Y) in Dessau to see their 10 meter (diameter) parabolic antenna for Moon-Bounce (EME) 19.30 Presentation of the new receiver "RDR50" from the B. Reuter company -- presented by Bernd Reuter himself 21.00 Radio listening and informal discussions with friends OR Presentation: Jörg Plötz : "Packet Radio in the Republic of South Africa" Friday, 01. June 10-12.00 EDXC Matters : Annual General Meeting 2012 of the EDXC Lunch (informal) 13.30 Presentation by Robert Kipp : "The Media Situation on Saint Helena" 15.00 Excursion to the "Lutherkirche" in Lutherstadt-Wittenberg (UNESCO) 19.30 Presentation of the new "RadioJet" receiver from the Bonito company 21.00 Radio listening and informal discussions with friends OR Presentation by Manfred Rippich: "My Travels in the South Atlantic" Samstag, 02. June 10-13.00 Excursion to the "Bauhaus" (UNESCO) in Dessau Lunch (informal) 15-17.00 DSWCI: Annual General Meeting 2012 17.00 Presentation by Anker Petersen : "DXing along the Pan American highway from Canada to Argentina" 20.00 Banquet Dinner Interlude : "Remembering 'DX-JukeBox' and Radio Nederland" Drawing ("Tombola") Sunday, 03. June 10.00 Presentation by Stephan Schaa: The "Pappradio" 15.00 Presentation by Dario Monferini: "Travel to Argentina and Peru 2011" 16.00 Presentation by Manfred Rippich: "Visits to Radio Stations in Gibraltar, the Isle of Man, Poland, Rumania, and the Faroe Islands" OR Excursion to Wörlitz Park OR Excursion to the Amateur Radio Club (DR5Y) in Dessau Preparations and interviews for the shortwave radio broadcast from Sitkunai 19.30 Podium Diskussion "The Future of Shortwave Broadcasting - There is Hope" Tibor S., Anker P., Manfred Böhm, Toshi Ohtake, and Guests Monday, 04. June Check-out of hotel and Departure OR 10.00 Depart for visit to Museum for Radio Technology in Königswusterhausen (Anker Petersen, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) MUSEA +++++ GREENWICH BOASTS HISTORIC COMMUNICATIONS FEAT [Connecticut] http://www.thedailygreenwich.com/news/greenwich-boasts-historic-communications-feat Interior view of the operating shack of shortwave radio station 1BCG, ca. 1921. Photo credit: Courtesy of Greenwich Historical Society Did you know that the first Trans-Atlantic shortwave message was sent from a small structure near the corner of Clapboard Ridge Road and North Street, right here in Greenwich? In an age when nearly instantaneous global communication is taken for granted and communication delays of only a fraction of a second are intolerable for certain businesses, it’s easy to forget how far we’ve come in this arena in a relatively short time. Greenwich was the site of a noteworthy early step in this constantly evolving technology. Shortwave radio uses a portion of the radio spectrum where wavelength characteristics are suitable for long distance communication. During the early part of the last century, many people were interested in the exciting possibilities that radio waves offered for rapid communication, and clubs were formed to explore this nascent technology. One of the earliest was the Radio Club of America. On December 11, 1921, amateur radio station 1BCG successfully transmitted a message that was received by Radio Club member Paul Godley in Ardrossan, Scotland. This resulted from a great deal of experimentation and skill on the part of Mr. Godley and six fellow Club members, who constructed the antenna and operating shack on the Greenwich property of their team Minton Cronkhite. Accounts of the event note that these men employed then-unconventional radio techniques to make their breakthrough. Today, a small monument commemorating the event can be found on a traffic island near the site of the original transmission. The achievement was important enough that two notable figures traveled to Greenwich to view the station’s configuration. They were Professor Michael Idvorsky Pupin, a scientist and inventor who made significant contributions to telephony and Mr. David Sarnoff, a leader in the development of radio and television as successful commercial broadcast media. Mr. Sarnoff also served as chairman of the board of the Radio Corporation of America (commonly referred to as RCA). One of the men who constructed the Greenwich station, Edwin H. Armstrong, is best known today as the inventor of FM radio. He would eventually be brought to work at RCA by Mr. Sarnoff. Sadly, the men would become adversaries when Armstrong went on to establish an early FM radio network called The Yankee Network. Sarnoff saw FM radio as unwanted competition to his established AM radio stations, and lengthy litigation ensued. The archives at the Greenwich Historical Society has the October 1950 publication of the Proceedings of the Radio Club of America, which details the achievement of station 1BCG in great detail. The archives are open to the public on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1 to 4 p.m. Christopher Shields is the archivist at the Greenwich Historical Society, 39 Strickland Road, Cos Cob, CT 06807 (via Kevin Redding, TN, ABDX via DXLD) CBC/SRC ARCHIVES NOW GONE !FLASH! CBC's archives website is now Flash-based, reducing plugin frustrations, says one. http://www.cbc.ca/archives or http://archives.radio-canada.ca/ RADIO Size: two vaults, 304 m2, [3300 square feet ] with climate control Holdings: 205,000 analog tapes, DATs and CDs The radio vaults in the basement of the CBC Broadcast Centre contain the single largest collection of audio material in Canada. The oldest item is a copy of Canada's Diamond Jubilee Broadcast on July 1, 1927. From there, the more than 250,000-hour collection spans the trivial to the profound - from pre-television era radio game shows to Winston Churchill's famous speech to the Canadian House of Commons after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. It's not just old material, either. Each week, the archives acquire approximately 135 hours of new programming. The range takes in music, comedy, news, current affairs, documentaries, plays, interviews, elections and live events. The current storage medium is the CD-ROM. The department uses computer workstations and audio streaming technology to selectively capture new programming directly to CD via a copying and cataloguing system known as RADIOLA. Because continuous radio programming can eat up a lot of CDs in a short time, the system is equipped with a 500-magazine CD jukebox. A second RADIOLA system is used to make CD copies of archival material that had previously been stored on =BC [sic] inch reel-to- reel audio tape. All programming material, once copied, is accessible from the department's computer database. CBC staff from coast to coast to coast have online access to RADIOLA material through CBC's Intranet. This makes it much easier to incorporate old programming into new coverage - when reporting on the history of a conflict, say, or the death of a national figure. FILM Size: two vaults, 533 m2 Temperature: 4=B0C [sic] Relative Humidity: 25% Holdings: 115,000 cans The film archive's mission sounds simple enough: "To ensure the preservation of all program material created on film, broadcast by the CBC, as cultural assets for future generations." But take one quick pass through the two film vaults in the Broadcast Centre basement and the job's true scope is clear - 115,000 cans of film is a lot of film. How much? Joined end to end, it would stretch 19,500 kilometres. That's long enough to ring halfway around the equator. Or to span the distance from St. John's, N.L., to Victoria, B.C., three times over. Here in the vaults, to conserve space, film reels are stored in colour-coded plastic "cans" (red =3D irreplaceable negatives, yellow =3D [sic] magnetic audio, etc.) and packed side-by-side in horizontal slots on long moveable shelves. The contents are grouped into four categories: master elements, production elements, outtakes, and news. To the average person, they're precious copies of The Beachcombers, The Nature of Things or This Hour Has Seven Days. This still-growing collection, which includes all nationally broadcast material and local Toronto programming, along with some regional material, spans CBC Television's 50-year history. In our digital age, film and TV might sound like an odd fit. But for many years film was a CBC mainstay. In the 1950s and early '60s, programs were recorded on film directly from television monitors. These copies are known as kinescopes. The adoption of two-inch videotape ended the need for kinescopes, but film - mostly 16mm - continued to be used to make news programs until 1978 and documentaries and other shows into the early '90s and beyond. VIDEO Videotape has been the production and storage medium of choice for much of television history. Digital disks and computer editing suites might soon render it pass=E9, but for the moment videotape still rules. At the CBC - where video archives are subdivided along programming lines - all new broadcasts are currently copied for archiving in either digital Betacam format or, to a lesser extent, newer high- compression digital SX format. Digital Beta is also the tape of choice for creating new archive copies of older programs currently stored on older videotape formats. Along with copying work, footage is also "shot listed" (scene contents are summarized in sequence) and catalogued in databases that CBC staff can then search from their desktop computers (these databases include all national and regional holdings but not sports, which is catalogued separately.) Digital copying produces an exact replica of the original. As long as this tape is properly stored and preserved, archivists know they'll be able to make as many additional copies in future as they need without any loss in quality. This means your children and grandchildren will be able to watch the same broadcasts of This Hour Has 22 Minutes or Hockey Night in Canada that you do today. The goal of the video archives is to have two copies of every program ever broadcast on the CBC - one "untouchable" master and one available to CBC staff to copy for reuse, rebroadcast or licensing to outside clients such as filmmakers and foreign networks. But as long as tapes decay and technology changes, the video archives will always be something of a work in progress (via Dan Say, alt.radio.networks.cbc via Mike Cooper, DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV See also CANADA; COSTA RICA; OKLAHOMA ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Now A Spectrum SURPLUS !!!??? http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/mcadams-on-surplus-spectrum/213579 You mean those TV stations that used to operate on channels 52-69 didn't need to move?? But now those DTV stations on channel 51 need to move to another channel?? This is becoming more and more comical (Steve Rich, Indianapolis, IN, WTFDA via DXLD) Viz.: 700 MHZ DIVESTURES RAISE QUESTIONS ABOUT VALUE OF TV SPECTRUM FOR WIRELESS Deborah D. McAdams / 05.18.2012 1:58PM McAdams On: Surplus Spectrum NEWS, FLASH: The world as we know it will not end if the remaining TV spectrum is not commandeered for the wireless industry. It seems the wireless industry doesn’t have any use for the TV channels it obtained in 2008 auction of 700 MHz spectrum. Both Verizon and Cox are now trying to dump 700 MHz spectrum, which, if you recall, was absolutely vital just a few years ago to the wireless future of the United States. Wireless carriers have been talking about a spectrum crunch since the mid-’80s, when they convinced Congress to push through the digital transition (at a cost of billions to taxpayers), and redesignated TV Chs. 52-69 — the 700 MHz allocations — for wireless communications. Now, there appears to be a spectrum surplus, though we’ve known that. The so-called “spectrum crisis/crunch” has always been “looming,” like Boo Radley, behind a door. Even the Federal Communications Commission said in 2010 that of 547 MHz licensed for wireless communications, only around 170 was in use. (“McAdams On: Fun With Numbers.”) And now we know what’s going on with the rest of it — squatting! Recall that broadcasters were accused of spectrum squatting when the digital transition took longer than the arbitrary timetable set by Congress. Remember that much of the necessary technology had not yet been invented when the transition was initiated, and that there was no requisite receiver technology as of the original 2006 deadline. Broadcasters were nonetheless vilified as spectrum squatters because of the delay. What exactly is a spectrum squatter? When you receive a TV facility construction permit on a 6 MHz license, you have to build a TV station and transmit a signal within three years, according to FCC rules. I have to wonder how this comprises “squatting.” Especially compared to what’s not going on in the 700 MHz spectrum. Recall again that this spectrum had been carrying 18 free TV channels across the country before the 2009 digital transition. Nearly three years later, most of those channels appear to lay fallow, enough such that Verizon and Cox are now trying to get rid of their holdings. Does the FCC not have build-out rules for wireless licensees? It does. Cellular licensees generally have four years to build out to 35 percent coverage, and 10 years to reach 70 percent. Construction notifications on the 700 MHz licenses are due to the commission June 28, 2013, and will be made available for public comment. Interim performance reports were due to the FCC on Jan. 13, 2012. I can’t find these in the commission’s Universal Licensing System. I’d love to hear from anyone who can. I think the commission would, as well, because its Wireless Bureau chief asked Verizon this week what was going on with its 700 MHz spectrum. (Addendum: Thank you to the individual who directed me to these reports in the FCC database. I should clarify here that Verizon is seeking to get rid of its lower A and B block spectrum, while it appears to be building out the upper C block of 700 MHz spectrum it won.) Verizon more or less said, “Look, we’ll sell this 700 MHz spectrum if we get FCC approval to buy the SpectrumCo licenses.” Verizon made a co-marketing deal with SpectrumCo partners Time Warner Cable, Comcast and Bright House to buy the group’s 2 GHz licenses for $3.6 billion. The 2 GHz spectrum works better for wireless services in urban areas than does the 700 MHz because of a difference in reach characteristics. So much for bringing broadband to underserved areas. This is a bit like Verizon taking 700 MHz to the dance and leaving with 2 GHz. The FCC isn’t all that keen on the move, nor has it taken kindly to the aforementioned ultimatum. “Would Verizon Wireless abandon its plan to sell its lower 700 MHz licenses if the commission does not consent to the sale of all the AWS licenses at issue to Verizon Wireless?” FCC Wireless chief Rick Kaplan inquired in a letter to Verizon’s vice president and deputy general counsel, John T. Scott III. Kaplan asked for a response by next Tuesday. Scott will undoubtedly blame the commission for not resolving the “interference” issue involving Ch. 51, the top end of the TV allocation. Even though Verizon, along with every other bidder in the 700 MHz auction clearly knew they were vying for spectrum adjacent to a TV channel, it suddenly became a problem after the fact. The FCC froze applications for new TV stations on the channel last year, although why anyone would file for one is a mystery, given the commission’s intention to redesignate Ch. 51 and the 19 below it to wireless as well. So should Mr. Scott plead Ch. 51 interference as the carrier’s reason for doing little or nothing with its 700 MHz spectrum, we here at McAdams On might have to conclude that’s absurdly disingenuous. There is but one takeaway from these proposed divestitures of 700 MHz spectrum that fit the law of parsimony: There’s a spectrum surplus. From a more generous perspective, this surplus of former TV channels happens to be materializing just months after Congress authorized the FCC to auction off more TV channels. Does anyone doubt the potential impact on the market price of TV spectrum? Any stations or groups hoping for an incentive windfall need to pay close attention to the 700 MHz allotments. You may be whistling in the wind. ~ Deborah D. McAdams (via DXLD) MORE SENSITIVE DECODE THAN THE ZENITH ? !! It could (should) be true. I think I now have the ability to capture TSID's (TV equivalent of RDS's PI code) off of a weak signal in the "buffer zone" between decoding and not decoding. Ever notice the Zenith change the channel from 35-1 to 35-3 without any calls or video appearing? This is what I'll call the "buffer zone". Yesterday, Mike Glass said something that got the gears in my head turning - and Mike & I ended up comparing notes back & forth. As you know, we are in a small minority whose use USB DTV tuners with a PC to decode PSIP/MPEG2 data for automated DXing. What did he say? That sometimes he gets a "PAT" (Program Association Table) without a "TVCT" (Terrestrial Virtual Channel Table). Now the TVCT is the PSIP data that gives you the virtual channel numbers & call signs/program names, as well as the TSID (PI). I've never bothered capturing PAT's up to now, since the PAT didn't seem to contain any useful (it does contain the TSID (PI)...but so does the TVCT). The PAT is shorter in length than the TVCT, so it's less likely to get corrupted. In tests using TS Reader, the PAT consistently shows up before the TVCT! By nudging my antenna, I was able to have a steady signal on CICO-28 Kitchener where the PAT decoded but not the TVCT (nor, of course, any video). So: the scripts are now re-written, and I am now also looking for PATs without TVCTs. In most weak signals, I have found out that the TSID (PI) is usually decoded as " 0 ", but the rare one should decode - like my CICO-28 example yesterday. I am now letting the automated scripts run - and will see if I can capture a call sign (TSID) off of some of those "buffer zone" sigs that make the Zenith go from 35-1 to 35-3. Bill H. -- (William R Hepburn (VEM3ONT22) [what kind of callsign is that?? -- gh] Grimsby ON CAN 43 10 59.5 -79 33 34.3 DX PIX : http://dxinfocentre.com/hepburn/ AUTOLOG : http://dxinfocentre.com/hepburn/logs/dxtv.htm TWITTER : http://www.twitter.com/vem3ont22 TUNERS DT : Hauppauge Aero-m + TS Reader Zenith DTT900 TV : Samsung SV-5000W ?W : WCS 99X-II FM : Sangean HDT-1 Sony XDR-F1HD SCMO : JRC NRD-535D PSB: Icom R-8500 + Microtelecom Perseus SDR ANTENNAS H : modified CM-3671 @ 70' AGL 209' HAAT (w/separate V& U feeds) V : Create CLP 5130-2 @ 74' AGL 213' HAAT V<45 : longwire May 23, WTFDA via DXLD) Just got my 1st "PAT-only" hit though it's a semi-local from Buffalo. I have the antenna pointed west away from Buffalo. http://dxinfocentre.com/hepburn/logs/dxtv.htm (Bill H. (Hepburn, 1419 UT 23 May, ibid.) TSID Question I use two Silicon Dust HDHR tuners connected to my computer thru my local LAN. When the Autoscan computer program scans a channel that has a very weak DTV station sometimes it will get the TSID but not the PSIP. How does this happen? I always thought it was all or nothing (MikeGmach1, WTFDA via DXLD) ATSC metadata is transmitted in "tables" -- Program Association Table (determines which audio & video streams go together), Event Information Table ("program guide"), Terrestrial Virtual Channel Table (what to name a given set of streams), etc... Some tables are transmitted more often than others. Relevant to Mike's question, the TVCT which contains the virtual channel numbers (8.1 etc.) and station name ("WISH-TV") is transmitted every 400 milliseconds. The PAT is transmitted four times as frequently, every 100 milliseconds. The TSID is located in *both* tables. In other words, it's transmitted several times as often as the virtual channel information. And if one transmission of the TSID is clobbered by noise/interference, there's a much better chance the next transmission will get through. -- (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See also AUSTRALIA; CHILE; COSTA RICA; ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ GUAM; NEW ZEALAND; NIGERIA; RUSSIA; SPAIN and RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM: Heathkit DIGITAL BROADCASTING The Receiver Task Group, which is Ludo Maes and Mireya Martínez (TDP) went to China to meet with a variety of broadcasting organizations and companies. We held meetings with the producers of the chipset RDA Microelectronics and Silicon Labs, with the producers of the receivers Philips and Tecsun, manufacturers of mobile phones Nokia, suppliers of the equipment for cars Continental Corporation, as well as with the government agencies of China on broadcasting and other public service broadcasting organisations, including RFT, SARFT, China Radio International, BBEF, ABP and ABS. We learned that the Chinese state organizations are very interested in DRM, especially for international broadcast on short-wave, and they now expect ofiuial`novo [sic] decision to have the opportunity to start a regular digital broadcasting. For national and local broadcasting the decision about what standard is approved, has not yet been made. It may be that this standard is the Chinese standard, which is called CDR, designed for broadcasting in the FM range, but also possible and at the ST. New information about the progress of DRM on the markets of such countries as India, Russia and Brazil, as well as on the development of receivers, proved to be very useful and may serve as an impetus to the intensification of the start of digital broadcasting in the near future. On the basis of what we have seen in China, we can make a conclusion that the industry is ready for mass production of chipsets and receivers for DRM equipment, which can be used in homes, cars and portable devices. Development of the production of the more compact and cheap solutions can significantly increase sales of DRM-receivers (Ludo Maes, Bulletin of the DRM consortium, May 2012 via RusDX May 20 via DXLD) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- IBOC et al. See COSTA RICA +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ RADIO STAMPS ++++++++++++ INTEGRATED CIRCUIT --- HOW IT CHANGED THE WORLD (PHILATELIC EXHIBIT] Dear friends: Do you know what is an INTEGRATED CIRCUIT? If you have interests to learn something about its history, just click on IC http://www.selosefilatelia.com/PastaColecoesdeTerceiros/FabioFlosi/001.html Have fun (FABIO FLOSI, radiostamps yg via DXLD) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ RADIO BISCUIT TIN IN BHS You too can own a biscuit tin that looks like a bizarre parody of a modern copy of a 1960's Bush portable radio. It even has a printed telescopic whip, battery compartment and power connector, not to mention American stations on the Long Wave dial. It contains 450g of three types of biscuits. Available from British Home Stores now for twelve quid (for which you could probably buy 450g of assorted biscuits and a REAL radio). (Mark Palmer, UK, May 17, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) Biscuit tin = cookie can HEATHKIT IS COMING BACK AS A KIT MANUFACTURER This may be off topic but in August, Heathkit is coming back as a kit manufacturer. This news has been telegraphed in ARRL News. I guess some of us old timers can remember their first SWL rig as a Heathkit. Now is the time to speak up if you want new kits on the market for SWL use. I know there is no equipment in the US that does DRM other than Ten-Tec, and other things that you would like to have as improvements that no other manufacturer has. The reason this is being mentioned now is that there is a post on Radio-Info.com mentioning this. I am posting the article from ARRL news which was sometime back. http://www.arrl.org/news/surfin-got-heathkits (Richard Lewis, Forest, MS, May 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I assembled several Heathkits decades ago, and watched my father build many more. However I can't get excited about any revival of the kit business. Today's modern technology isn't practical for kit building, and any new products from Heathkit would probably be dumbed-down modular assembly, or just a rehash of outdated technology from long ago. I have fond memories of Heathkits, and still have a couple of working models. But technology has moved far beyond that which existed in Heathkit's heyday, and I have no enthusiasm these days for big clunky electronics. I suspect this will all be aimed at the nostalgia market (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, ibid.) OTH RADAR NEWS OF THE DARC BANDWATCH - APPLIES EQUALLY TO THE BROADCAST BANDS. 73 wb df5sx Here is the news of the DARC-band watch, compiled by their Dir Ulrich Bihlmayer, DJ9KR. {google automatic translation} Chinese OTH radar and ocean wave radars are on the 40-m band very disturbed and in large numbers, especially received heavily in the IARU Region #3 and the U.S. west coast of the United States. Sometimes up to 50% of the 40-m-band covered with radar signals, and thus for the amateur radio unusable. In DL, these disorders are hard to hear. In the range 14070-14125 kHz sends one already for weeks CODAR ocean- wave radar. Location is probably Indonesia. The Federal Network Agency and the Swiss OFCOM are informed. In DL it is from 15:00 UTC audible. The bands 18-, 21-, 24- and 28 MHz are very much on the OTH radar signals of from Turkey and the UK Royal Air Force occupied on the island of Cyprus. Above all, is 15 meters long hours every day with Radars covered, with the facilities of both locations sometimes at the same time Blazed are. Went for the 21 MHz band in April of 104 reports for the 28-MHz band, 61 reports of unknown radars in the band a watch. With the Sporadic E conditions in April were again many band invaders in the 10m band is one that has been active there for years, otherwise not be heard are: taxi cabs with their centers of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in FM radio in Russian. Even private radio pirates "from all over the world" are listen to this band openings in very large numbers in AM, FM and SSB. The meeting of the Bandwatch is 23 June at 10 clock in the hall, "Switzerland" on the HAM RADIO in Friedrichshafen. The guest lecture by Peter Jost, HB9CET, swiss bandwatch. His topic is: "Digital Intruders in our bands - from freeware to high-tech" (via Wolfgang Büschel, May 16, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews May 18 via DXLD) THE SUPERIORITY OF AM STEREO ``HD AM is almost impossible to decode unless you live within 20-30 miles of a 50 kW AM station. C-Quam stereo can be decoded hundreds of miles distant at night. Let's bring C-Quam back for more people to enjoy! It is a proven system that works.`` I couldn't agree more. And let's also let Kahn come back, too - it has its good uses, such as graveyard channels, tight-pattern stations, or lower-power stations susceptible to cochannel signals. No reason both can't coexist on the same band. A chip can determine which to use by virtue of the pilot tone, and DSP circuitry only needs to change the phase on the IF signal for one or the other to decode properly in a receiver. I have just transferred 80 or so hours of recordings of AM stereo off- air radio I made from about 35 different stations during the 80s and 90s to my harddrives and cloud storage (both C-QuAM and Kahn), and it certainly refreshed me about how good analog AM stereo sounds. Along with synchronous tuning, stereo AM analog could sound even better with today's DSP technology - notching 10 kHz hets, de- emphasis, S/N improvements, pulse interference removing, etc. And using QRSS over narrow FSK shifting, an AM version of RDS/song-tagging would work great even at very low signal levels. Probably a lot cheaper to do (all in one chip) and less power-consuming than iBOC, too. But stations first need to shift away from syndicated talk and other "formula AM formats", and play what people want to hear, not what market research supposedly predicts they supposedly want to hear. And engineers would need to be re-educated about how analog AM stereo DOES NOT reduce coverage. Before iBOC rollouts began to be the main reason for dumping AM stereo, "coverage reasons" was the number one excuse given (even though positive peaks can be modulated at 125% without distortion on C-QuAM). (Darwin Long, Buras, LA, ABDX via DXLD) 1080/AM$, WOAP, MI Owosso, IN STEREO! I saw a reference to this being in stereo so I had to check it out. They had promos for "B/S in the Morning" show, and oldies pop music local news, ABC news, and many "Big 1080" IDs and local weather and local ads, all with the added plus of being in glorious AM Stereo -- NICE modulation and sound quality even in Mono as I drove into work, but it really showed off the MCS 3050's quality (and obviously their quality signal as well!) while I worked from home this AM and listened to it in Stereo! They have a most bizarre mix of stuff -- everything from Motown to Disco to Beatles to David Bowie (I had no idea that "Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am" line in "Suffragette City" was a reference to the Charles Mingus' 1961 Oh Yeah album and was also used in a 1950 Dean Martin song! -- learn something new every day!) to the Monkees. Never heard a mention of AM Stereo on the air tho, and I've been listening to this a lot, including 1400-1450 17/May (Kenneth Vito Zichi, MI, MARE Tipsheet via DXLD) A HUMAN ANTENNA OF BREAKING NEWS By COREY KILGANNON May 18, 2012 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/nyregion/james-crockman-the-human-antenna-of-the-breaking-news-network.html?_r=1&hp FROM where James Crockman sits, New York City is a nonstop flurry of fires, murders and mayhem. Mr. Crockman, 52, is the weekend overnight man at Breaking News Network, a service that culls news reports from fire and police radios and sends them as alerts to news media outlets and other subscribers. A former warehouse worker, he commutes to BNN’s headquarters in Fort Lee from the Trenton area. From the office, it can be a five-minute drive over the George Washington Bridge to Manhattan, but Mr. Crockman has never made that drive. His New York is a virtual one, created by the crackling chatter of fire and police commanders and 911 operators giving a never-ending narrative of mishaps. “If I visited New York, all I’d know about the city is ‘This is where such-and-such homicide happened,’ or ‘That’s where that deadly fire occurred,’ stuff like that — a breaking-news perspective,” he said last weekend during one of his 14-hour overnight shifts at the news desk. But oddly, Mr. Crockman knows the city in a way that few New Yorkers do. “He knows streets, neighborhoods, police precincts, firehouses, engine companies, ladder companies,” said Rob Gessman, one of Mr. Crockman’s bosses. Mr. Crockman works four long overnight shifts, including on the weekends, and he seems born for the job. “Listening to the scanners was always my escape,” said Mr. Crockman, who has not married. For years he called in tips to BNN until the company hired him six years ago to work weekend nights, a peak time for crime in New York, which makes Mr. Crockman a main gatekeeper for the flow of so-called spot news in New York. “When I first realized these media outlets are relying on me, I would get nervous,” he said. “Now, I can almost do this in my sleep.” He has proved to be something of a human antenna, capable of picking out newsworthy items from a sea of static emanating from the bank of 17 scanners on the desk, all tuned to radio frequencies used by emergency responders in New York City and beyond, not to mention several more Internet scanner feeds and the running computer chat that Mr. Crockman monitors with hundreds of regular tipsters, who are mostly police and fire buffs listening to scanners at home. “Hey Kev U on?” Mr. Crockman typed into the chat discussion, hoping to reach a certain fire chief. He picked up the ringing phone and spoke quickly and familiarly to another tipster: “Oh, was he D.O.A.? What hospital — do you know? O.K., thanks man.” It was Saturday night, approaching midnight, and fueled by Life Savers washed down with coffee, Mr. Crockman fielded radio reports of events in progress: assaults, overdoses, accidents, robberies, fires, car chases. Sifting through the numerical codes and jargon, he discarded the merely mundane mayhem. Every few minutes, he typed up a short bulletin of an episode, including the address and a description, and sent it out. There was the teenage boy who fell into the Harlem River and drowned, and the 4-year-old struck by a car in Hoboken, N.J. Mr. Crockman was able to pick out snippets of clipped speech from a soup of scratchy conversations, the way a gifted conductor might hear an individual violinist amid the entire orchestra. “He can sit there listening to 20 sources of sound, and he can discern from all that noise the newsworthy items,” Mr. Gessman said. “Not everything you hear on the scanner makes the news, but James has a good nose for what will.” While immersed in conversation, Mr. Crockman suddenly cocked his head, reached over and turned up one scanner. Out came a thick New York accent mentioning a “10-75.” Mr. Crockman said he knew instantly that the gruff voice belonged to a certain Brooklyn fire commander who was describing a “working fire” on the second floor of a three-story brownstone on Sterling Place in Brooklyn. Mr. Crockman said he could identify hundreds of commanders and dispatchers simply by their voices, which enables him to know the borough, and sometimes the neighborhood, of the emergency without having to consult scanner channels. The sirens from the Brooklyn fire could be heard through the speakers, as Mr. Crockman put out a bulletin; he then updated it when the blaze went “all hands.” After being quizzed about a list of New York City streets and correctly providing the police and fire commands for them, he grew sheepish, gave a chuckle and said, “I guess I’ve been doing this too long.” But then something in the scanner-squawk caught his ear, and without missing a beat, he said, “Ah, we got a fire in Paterson” (via Brock Whaley for DXLD) FRONTLINE EPISODE 3007 --- CELL TOWER DEATHS Tuesday May 22, 2012 @ 9:00pm on OETA [times vary; and may repeat] The smartphone revolution comes with a hidden cost. A joint investigation by FRONTLINE and ProPublica explores the hazardous work of independent contractors who are building and servicing America's expanding cellular infrastructure. While some tower climbers say they are under pressure to cut corners, layers of subcontracting make it difficult for safety inspectors to determine fault when a tower worker is killed or injured. Also this hour: Nearly four years after the financial crisis, yet another scandal rocks Wall Street. . . (OETA online schedule via Glenn Hauser, DXLD) WHO CARES WHERE THE SIGNAL REALLY GOES? Re: FM Sports station coming to Tampa? - Tampa Bay Media | Examiner. 1010 in Tampa is a 50,000 watt station, but it’s highly directional, transmitting east-west, with nulls to the NE & NW. One of the engineers on another forum said: The existing 1010 pattern puts out nearly 250,000 watts in the main lobes. In the deepest (NE and NW) nulls ... 158 watts. Nothing they can do will permit them to cover the entire Tampa Bay market. This was quite interesting to me, since it shows the extremes that these lobes & nulls can produce. 250 kW east-west is quite a signal, and it also explains why the 1010 signal is so poor in NW Hillsborough County – only 158 watts! (Dick W., May 21, ABDX via DXLD) One has to wonder why stations like that were ever built. It amazes me to see the amount of money wasted on the construction and operation of 50 kW stations on all three coasts that have tight directional patterns sending nearly all of their signal into the water. I worked for a 5 kW station like that on the coast. We had an 8 tower array running a DA-2 with all eight towers active day and night. The main lobe was straight out into the water, and the minor lobe went along the coast in one direction. Before upping the power to 5 kW with that big array, the station was a 1 kW ND daytimer. The original 1 kW ND signal covered more land area than the 5 kW directional signal. I asked the GM of the station (who was the son of the owner) why they spent the money for eight 400 foot towers in an area that is very hurricane prone to run a system like that. He said the only thing that was important to them was that our national rate card showed that we were the only 5 kW fulltime signal between the larger markets on both sides of us, so they figured the agencies in New York would buy time with us, and besides, they had no idea where our signal was going. We always joked that we would be the number one station in the market if Arbitron sent diaries to all of the people on the shrimp boats and oil rigs where the bulk of our signal went. By the way, the GM told me the annual insurance premium on our towers was $6100/year, and that was in 1979. We were only a few miles inland, and that area is no stranger to hurricanes. And yes, Katrina was the last big one there. Amazingly, the towers are still there. 73, (Kit, W5KAT, CO, ibid.) PROPAGATION +++++++++++ SUNSPOTS Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJu3a2C5zwo for a wonderful video of sunspot group 1476 as it transits the Sun over the week of May 5-11. The images also have a lovely orchestral accompaniment. If you plan to be in Washington, DC on June 5, 2012, you may want to attend the Space Weather Enterprise Forum 2012, held at the National Press Club. See details at http://www.nswp.gov/swef/swef_2012.html The "Monster Sunspot" (group 1476) is all over the news, and on the web as well at http://www.space.com/15736-monster-sunspot-solar-flare-satellites.html Be sure to follow the story all the way down the page below the video. A large scale photo of the spot - taken a week ago on May 11 - is at http://news.discovery.com/space/big-pic-sun-space-weather-sunspot-eruption-120511.html Don't miss a National Geographic article and photo gallery on solar activity at http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/06/solar-storms/ferris-text Sunspot size comparisons are all the rage this week, including this article from Universe Today: http://www.universetoday.com/95232/how-big-are-sunspots/ (QST de W1AW, Propagation Forecast Bulletin 20 ARLP020, From Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, WA May 18, 2012, To all radio amateurs, via John Dave Raycroft, ODXA yg via DXLD) PROPAGATION OUTLOOK FROM PIG --- P.I.G. BULLETIN 120520 Solar activity will irregularly fluxuate in subrange 110 - 140 s.f.u., accompanied by irregular occurrence of C class and occasionally M class eruptions. Probability of X class flares will be mostly very low. Geomagnetic field will be: Quiet on May 24, 27 - 28, 31, June 1, 10 - 11. Mostly quiet on May 29, June 2, 13. Quiet to unsettled on May 23, 25 - 26, June 3, 9, 14 - 15. Quiet to active on May 30, June 4, 6, 8, 12. Active on May 22 and June 5 and 7. High probability of changes in solar wind which may cause changes in magnetosphere and ionosphere is expected on May 22 - 23, 30 - 31 and June 5. F. K. Janda, OK1HH Czech Propagation Interest Group (OK1HH & OK1MGW) e-mail: ok1hh(at)rsys.cz (via Dario Monferini, May 20, DXLD) ECLIPSE DX? Lacking a total eclipse, let`s see if there are any DX effects during the imminent annular eclipse. Beside avoiding looking directly at the sun, if you are close to the path of annularity, tune around MW and even lower SW bands to see if night-like conditions briefly skip in some signals not normally heard in the daytime. Here`s info including maps: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/A-Preview-of-May-20ths-Annular-Eclipse-141037803.html Since the maximum eclipse will be at sunset around here, like from Dallas to Chicago, night-time conditions will already be in effect normally. So best DX results should be over northern California, where it`s long before sunset. There might be propagational patches energized for paths at an angle to the path, e.g. from Idaho to southern California or vice versa. But should theoretically be best along the path, i.e. northern California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and into west Texas. For this you may disregard worries about weather obscuring the event! 73, (Glenn Hauser, OK, 2237 UT May 20, dxldyg and several MW DX groups via DXLD) [a bit later:] Some major targets, high-power 50 or 10-kW stations within the path, include: KKOH Reno 780 KDXU Saint George 890 KTNN Window Rock 660 KHAC Tse Bonito 880 KKOB Albuquerque 770, plus loads of other ABQ stations; maybe more likely at the hi end of the band? Here`s a more detailed map of the track: http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/2012_annular_eclipse_track_l.jpg (Glenn, ibid.) 770, May 21 around 0130 UT, KKOB Albuquerque NM is audible with fair and steady signal. This is just when the annular eclipse is about to occur there, but a local talk show says nothing about it! Sounds live but may not be; hostess breaks for ID and ads. I was listening on the portable as I went out into a field for our best view of the setting sun. Unfortunately there were too many clouds in the way, but I felt a certain qinship to the `Querquians nevertheless. I expect this reception was normal, nothing to do with the eclipse, with K`KOB still on day power and tower (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) More -- The solar eclipse has commenced here in Southern CA. The upper right portion of the sun is covered so far and it's looking darker than normal outside now. Radio is on 1450 right now in case anything pops up (Mike Sanburn, 0149 UT May 21, IRCA via DXLD) No time, but PDT timestamp converts to this; did he mean 0049 UT? Unseems (gh, DXLD) I watched the eclipse take place beginning around 6:00 PM Arizona Time (MST/PDT) and noted Utah doing very well on 650, 1080 (station underneath probably KGVY), 1120, 1160 (KSL), and 1320. Also noted a strong station on 1140 (Las Vegas?). I checked 640 and 1070 for Los Angeles but nothing there. I checked stations toward the oncoming SS such as 820 WBAP, 1200 WOAI. Nothing there. 73, (Chris Knight, Phoenix, Arizona, Radio: Sony ICF-7600GR. No external antenna, 1803 UT 21 May, IRCA via DXLD) Was 1140 Disney-type music? If so that would have been Vegas. They're not a Disney affiliate, but they do seem to play much of the same music. I can occasionally hear them here when they're strong enough to cut through 1130 KSDO's local (10 kW at 6.3 mi N) Radio Nueva Vida splatter. 73, (Stephen Airy, El Cajón / La Mesa, CA, ibid.) Chris, Now if at all possible please check 24 hours later whether you are again getting the Utah stations, and 1140? Or in the next few evenings. Or any other Phoenecian DXers. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Nothing there last night at the same time (6:30 to 7:00 PM) on the same mentioned frequencies, same radio. Just some weak powerline noise (Chris Knight, Phoenix, AZ, May 23, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 770, KKOB NM, was in with a steady signal at eclipse-time, UT May 21, so I check it again 24 hours later, UT May 22 at 0125-0130+ in exactly the same situation, out in the field with the portable DX-398. This time the sky is cloudless and the moonless setting sun is unimpeded, but NO signal from KKOB. There could be other variables, but now I`m thinking maybe the partial eclipse did have something to do with its audibility yesterday, even here far off the track. KKOB official UT sunrise/sunset times: May 1200-0200, June 1145-0215, July 1200-0215 770, UT May 23 at 0125, 48 hours after the eclipse, KKOB Albuquerque is again inaudible under the same circumstances when it was audible on May 21 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Here in Seattle I noticed Portland stations (970 and above) gaining strength shortly after 6 PM Pacific, with Vancouver BC's 1410 coming in about 6:05, and their 1040 shortly after 6:20. I'd think this would be a bit early, but maybe not. I'll check tonight or tomorrow night to compare. In the 90s (1995? can't remember), there was a partial solar eclipse in May shortly after 9 AM, as I recall. I lived in Phoenix at the time. At that time Utah and El Paso stations on the upper end of the AM dial came to life for about ten to fifteen minutes. Another partial solar eclipse occurred in the late 70s or early 80s, and from central and southern California reception to CKWX-1130 in Vancouver BC was enhanced for a few minutes. But that was a winter morning, thus inconclusive, and last night's eclipse was closer to sunset than I'd like. I'm hoping the total eclipse in 2017 will happen at a more favorable time (Rick Lewis, ABDX via DXLD) Hi all! Years ago I took part in a total solar eclipse observation conducted by Prof. D. D. Meisel of University of New York. Wonder if such projects are still conducted now-a-days! Kind regards, (Sudipta Ghose, India, VU3TKG, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Geomagnetic field activity ranged from quiet to active levels. Quiet levels were observed on 15, 17, and 19 May. Quiet to unsettled levels were observed on 14 and 18 May. Quiet to unsettled levels with isolated active periods were observed on 16 and 20 May. On 16 May, an extended period of the southward Bz component of the interplanetary magnetic field caused an isolated active level during the 16/2100 - 2400 UTC period. At approximately 20/0136 UTC, the ACE satellite ovserved an interplanetary shock passage with a corresponding weak sudden impulse observed in the Boulder magnetometer (15 nT) at 20/0215 UTC. The shock passage was likely associated with the 17 May CME. The geomagnetic field responded with an isolated active period during the 20/0300 - 0600 UTC period. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 21 MAY - 16 JUNE 2012 Solar activity is expected to be at very low to low levels with a slight chance for M-class flares through 31 May and again from 14 June through the end of the forecast period. Low to moderate levels are expected from 31 May through 13 June due to the return of old Region 1476. A chance for a greater than 10 MeV proton event at geosynchronous orbit exists from 31 May through 13 June due to the return of old Region 1476. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at normal levels on 21 - 23 May, 30 May - 05 June, and again on 13 - 16 June. High levels are expected on 24 - 29 May and again on 06 - 12 June. High levels are in response to recurrent coronal hole high speed wind streams. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be quiet to active on 22-23 May as the arrival of the 18 May CME as well as a coronal hole high speed stream become geoeffective. Quiet to active conditions are also expected on 06 - 09 June as another recurrent coronal hole high speed stream moves into geoeffective position. Mostly quiet to unsettled conditions are expected for the remainder of the forecast period. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2012 May 21 1636 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 2012-05-21 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2012 May 21 130 8 3 2012 May 22 130 15 4 2012 May 23 135 10 3 2012 May 24 125 8 3 2012 May 25 115 5 2 2012 May 26 115 5 2 2012 May 27 115 5 2 2012 May 28 115 5 2 2012 May 29 115 5 2 2012 May 30 115 8 3 2012 May 31 115 5 2 2012 Jun 01 120 5 2 2012 Jun 02 125 5 2 2012 Jun 03 125 5 2 2012 Jun 04 130 5 2 2012 Jun 05 135 8 3 2012 Jun 06 135 12 3 2012 Jun 07 135 15 3 2012 Jun 08 135 10 3 2012 Jun 09 135 8 3 2012 Jun 10 130 5 2 2012 Jun 11 125 5 2 2012 Jun 12 125 8 3 2012 Jun 13 120 8 3 2012 Jun 14 120 5 2 2012 Jun 15 120 5 2 2012 Jun 16 115 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1618, DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING Glenn, I've started digitizing the extant air checks of The Secular Bible Study, a show that ran on WBCQ from 2002 to 2010. You may recall that this show presented a critical analysis of the Bible from a non-religious viewpoint. The shows will be archived here: http://www.radionewyorkinternational.com/archives/index.php?path=secular-bible-study/ There were about 350 one hour shows produced for WBCQ. Thus far I've located only a small percentage of the original tapes in the archives but I plan to make these available on our archive site. Regards, Lw (Larry Will, May 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###