DX LISTENING DIGEST 12-32, August 8, 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 1629 HEADLINES: *DX and station news about: Australia, Bangladesh, Chile, China, Congo DR, Costa Rica, Cuba, Estonia, Ethiopia non, Europe, India, International Vacuum, Iran, Ireland, Japan non, Kuwait, New Zealand, Oklahoma, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Slovakia non, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan non, Syria, Taiwan non, USA, unidentified SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1629, August 9-15, 2012 Thu 0330 WRMI 9955 Thu 2100 WTWW 9479 [confirmed] Fri 0329v WWRB 5050 Sat 0130v WBCQ 5110v-CUSB Area 51 Sat 0630 HLR 7265 Hamburger Lokal Radio 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 1630 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/ ** AFGHANISTAN. Whatever happened to Radio Afghanistan? As so often the case, stations come and then rapidly disappear. I haven't seen RA reported since the winter time on 41 meters. Anyone know whether they're still on the air, or have left temporarily, or for good? (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, Aug 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7200 ** ALBANIA. Radio Tirana logging --- Maybe this is old news but: Audited Radio Tirana English Program at 0130-0200 on line at http://www.rtsh.al/faqe.php?id=6&l2=54&gj=sh# -- Choose Radio Tirana 3. The on-line broadcast is live and simultaneous with the shortwave broadcast to North America. You have to listen to it at 0130 GMT. I find that the on line broadcast only works with Internet Explorer (no Mozilla Foxfire or Seamonkey). Haven't been able to tune in Radio Tirana on shortwave for years, here in California, although Albanian relays of Chinese broadcasts have been fairly well audible depending on the season. 8/2/2012 0130-0200 GMT (Robert Gorsch, San Francisco, CA, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARGENTINA. Radio Guaraní en nueva frecuencia --- La emisora de San Justo se encuentra ahora en 1650.077, según la medición realizada esta mañana por Arne Nilsson en su cabaña DX a pocos kilómetros del Círculo polar ártico (Henrik Klemetz, Borås, Suecia, Aug 6, condiglist yg via DXLD) En efecto, la reporté el día sábado mas la escucha del colega escandinavo es, a todas luces, muchísimo más relevante (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, ibid.) Y desde el 7 u 8 de agosto también con página web actualizada y transmisión en vivo por http://www.radio-guarani.com.ar El buzón de su correo sigue trancada (Henrik Klemetz, Suecia, ibid.) ** ARGENTINA. Radio Nacional o RAE --- destrozando la banda de 49 Metros, imposible escuchar esa banda, está totalmente tomada por el desastre que produce, no sé si RAE o Radio Nacional (Ernesto Paulero, 1951 UT Aug 5, condiglist yg via DXLD) Como habitualmente, Ernesto. Aquí en Montevideo también la banda está inutilizable cuando Radio Nacional transmite el fútbol. 73! (Rodolfo Tizzi, Uruguay, 2149 UT Aug 5, ibid.) En 15345 kHz hay un programa periodístico; hablan sobre la Hermana Bernarda, la que cocina en televisión, y en 6060 kHz hay fútbol, 1952 UT (Paulero, ibid.) RAE in German, 7 Aug 2012, 2106 UT, good reception on 15345 (45333) with tango, weather from Argentina including Malvinas and Antarctica. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, from the Baltic Sea shore at 54 26 N, 12 41 E. Rx: Perseus SDR, DX-10 Active antenna on a 3m pole in the garden. Stronger signals than on the same setup at home downtown QTH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARMENIA. Brother Stair in English, 7 Aug 2012, 2002 UT, 9400 (55555), Zion song, Brother Stair reading an ID. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, from the Baltic Sea shore at 54 26 N, 12 41 E. Rx: Perseus SDR, DX-10 Active antenna on a 3m pole in the garden. Stronger signals than on the same setup at home downtown QTH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also SOUTH CAROLINA [non] ** ARMENIA. National Radio Armenia in Arabic, 7 Aug 2012, 1916 UT, 4810 (35322), talk. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, from the Baltic Sea shore at 54 26 N, 12 41 E. Rx: Perseus SDR, DX-10 Active antenna on a 3m pole in the garden. Stronger signals than on the same setup at home downtown QTH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARMENIA. 15645, R. Free North Korea, Yerevan, 1334-1400* Aug 5 Korean; M & W announcers in discussion with occasional music bit; very poor and barely audible at s/off (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. DU's for 3 Aug 2012 --- A very interesting DU morning, here in southern Alberta, at least at the high end of the dial. Decent carriers on 1476, 1566, and 1593, but the only audio was on the X- band, with 3 stations reaching audio level. Oddly, 1656 that Dennis heard was not among them: 1629, 1129, The strongest DU signal this morning, with country music. Played several songs with no break, then a promo of some sort 1138 mentioning the top 10 hits of the last 10 years. Freq was about 50 Hz low. 1638, 1139, Too weak to make out much, but could hear woman speaking in what sounded like Chinese, so suspect the Brisbane station. 1701, 1127, Music with a south Asian sound, so likely Radio Brisvaani. Freq was a bit high, by 70 Hz or so. 73, (Nigel Pimblett, Dunmore, Alberta, IRCA via DXLD) DU = downunder. Seems term is unused DU (gh) ** AUSTRALIA. Greetings from California! Very nice to catch three stations returning to the air today (Aug. 5) after having been absent for a while. 2368.5 - Radio Symban clearly broadcasting again with the usual Greek music till sign off of 1202 or 03; poor with QRN. Not too bad if still 500 W. Thanks to Ian Baxter (Australia) for the alert that they had been off the air! All of which made for a most enjoyable DXing session! (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also INDONESIA; PNG 2368.5, R. Symban, 1138-1204*, August 8. Phenomenal reception! By far one of their best days; Greek music and songs; sign off announcement with frequency. Edited MP3 audio at https://www.box.com/s/3a19f0ad438ded101ef2 Still with heavy summertime QRN (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRALIA. 9580, August 7 at 1330, RA pulls away from Olympicism, for programming of significance, but not matching their own schedule! Online, both Pacific and Asian streams claim that this Tuesday at 1330 they were airing `Jazz Notes`, but instead I heard a program start about the Hazara, persecuted minority in Afghanistan, some of whom try to escape to Australia via Xmas Island. Could not catch name of show, and no hits searching RA website. Instead found `Rear Vision` on Radio National, whence it originated, with transcript, comments, audio OD: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rearvision/hazara/4165942 Fortunately, since KOSU was starting `The Living Room` at same time I wanted to hear; see OKLAHOMA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Coral Sea Service of Radio Australia on 12080 kHz --- Just a brief note to report that this morning at 1050 GMT I tuned Radio Australia's "Coral Sea Service" again on 12080. Sign-off came abruptly, as always, at 1059. This is a separate programming stream distinct from the regular RA international service. Transmission comes from Brandon, a spot (coastal, I think) in tropical Queensland (northeast Australia), with only 10 kW -- that's right -- 10 kW of power! The usual language of this special service, beamed to the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Bougainville and Papua New Guinea, etc. is Tok Pisn, a pidgin form of language based on English. On Saturday and Sundays, from 1000 to 1100 GMT, they broadcast in English. Try to pick it up, for it's a great DX find -- and features great Pacific-style music. Also, even the regular broadcasts in Tok Pisn are fairly easy to follow because so much English is used. And often, if an interview is being done, they will slip almost entirely into English. It's a hoot to listen to -- and a great DX find for any SWL. I try to write clearly with an eye to sharing some "magic" from the content itself, if possible. I appreciate a good declarative sentence every now and then -- and having some fun with this strange "radio thing." (Grayson Watson in Dallas, TX, Aug 7; using a Satellit 750 with an Apex Radio 700DTA antenna, NASWA yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DXLD) ** BANGLADESH. 4750, BGD monitored good signal as usual - around 1115- 1140 UT the regional language programs were going on - which are not like Bengali dialects but rather Indo-Burmese types - so not to be confused with any South East Asian station as around 1130+ UT they clearly give the address for correspondence to BGD - Dhaka in a Bengali accent :) (Partha Sarathi Goswami, Siliguri, W.B., India, 1313 UT Aug 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non] At 1215 UT heard on remote unit in Japan a mixture of three programs: Odd 4749.951, RRI Makassar Sulawesi INS, and equal level probably TWO stations on even 4750 kHz like China and Dhaka Radio BanglaDesh Betar. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Aug 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Test transmission from Bangladesh Betar new shortwave transmitter and antenna system, 0400-2000 UT, 7250 kHz. More at http://swopan.blogspot.in Thanks, (Swopan Chakroborty, Kolkata, India, 0628 UT Aug 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.: Bangladesh Betar's new 250 kW shortwave transmitter and antenna system at Kabirpur is now ready for commissioning. An irregular test transmission is going on 7250 kHz in between 0400-2000 UT. If you get signal of this test transmission then send a reception report or audio file to rrc @ dhaka.net Please note, it is a occasional broadcast in between above time (Swopan, ibid. via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DXLD) Just sent a reception report with following videos Date 06-August-2012 Time 0700 UT onwards [mentioned in recordings] Frequency 7250 kHz Program details: It was Bengali Songs going on parallel to 4750 kHz, Video 1 : http://youtu.be/JDqq-3gtQjk during 0712 UT, using 30 meter long wire and JRC NRD 72 Receiver powered by 110 V AC Video 2: http://youtu.be/9hmWLwtQWvw during 0730 UT using Kestrel active indoor loop antenna & Sangean ATS909X receiver powered by battery Video 3: http://youtu.be/FJZV_mmRV9M during 0733 UT using Kestrel active indoor loop antenna & Sony 7600GR receiver powered by battery (Partha Sarathi Goswami, Siliguri, W.B., India, ibid.) Thank you for the tip. Also here in Finland a very faint signal already now at 1130. Here's a video at 1236 recorded here in Finland: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5C1AhVM0Go&feature=youtu.be Must be booming in South Asia, if they are heard here 6200 km away in broad daylight 73, (Mauno Ritola, dxingwithcumbre yg via DXLD) Heard Dhaka on 7250 today from tune in around 1045 in Bangla mixing with AIR Gorakhpur. Continuing past 1140 when Gorakhpur signed off. Thanking you, Yours sincerely, Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, India, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Improved conditions in evening: Bangladesh Betar Nepali Service SW New transmitter Test 7250 kHz August 06, 2012 at 1322 UT http://youtu.be/2GujE8UT-LI 1325 UT ID, Nepali service continued till 1345, then open carrier followed by het around 1355 1359 Signature tune followed by time peeps & Urdu Service Started. The program contents were almost identical in both Nepali & Urdu! (Partha Sarathi Goswami, WB, ibid.) 7250, Bangladesh Betar, randomly from 1227 to 1300, August 6 (Monday). Thanks to the alert from Swopan Chakroborty (India). Started out poor and faded up to almost fair. Impossible to hear the // 4750 due to strong RRI Makassar. It is Monday so they must carry the scheduled SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) news bulletin in English. Yes, heard it from 1235 to 1242; “Assalamu alaikum. This is Bangladesh Betar. Welcome to . . edition of SAARC news”; item about the 71th death anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore having been observed across the country today, etc. Now that 4750 is totally covered, is very nice to hear them in the clear here! MP3 audio https://www.box.com/s/eac0e6c93796b2783f69 (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, and since 1430 again open carrier. No program even at 1500, only China Radio Int. turned on 7250 with Nepali program. Before 1430 reception here was 33433; any CW marker works on the frequency (Vitaliy Lisovskiy, Kharkiv, Ukraine, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Open carrier at 1445z tune in, Hindi program at 1513, YL with opening announcements at 1514z, clashing with CRI Nepali (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, ibid.) 7250 kHz From 15 UT onwards CRI Nepali is booming on Bangladesh Betar Dhaka, but no het. I think both have same frequency - last observation at 1534. 7255 & 7260 kHz are free available here (Partha, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DXLD) Hi folks, this is how the Bangladesh Betar test sounded, here in north-western Italy, at 1630 UT TOH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ntivwkomIF4 I'm sending the station a RR with this video. Ciao, (Chris Diemoz, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Bangladesh Betar 7250 kHz Bengali Language Service to Middle East observations on 6th August 2012 after 1630 UT onward: Strong signal, no co-channel but heavy splash from strong CRI Swahili on 7245 kHz and not so strong PBS Xizang (China Tibet Broadcasting Company) - English program Holy Tibet on 7255 kHz, yet programs are intelligible, today's one of the main highlight is Nobel Laureate Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore's 71st death anniversary beside Ramadan. 7261 to 7274 kHz noted as probable free slot! (Partha Sarathi Goswami, WB, ibid.) Bangladesh Betar Test Transmission on 7250 kHz - Observation From Assam. Here are my monitoring observation for the Bangladesh Betar test transmission of 06th August 2012 on 7250 kHz. I have tried this frequency from 0955 UT and tried time to time till 1830, but unfortunately I never got a clear reception on this frequency. On the other hand BDB reception on 4750 kHz is always clear at my QTH here in Jorhat, Assam. 0955-1010 UT: Heard some Bengali Songs followed by Station ID at 1000 and after that more Bengali songs followed. RECEPTION REMARK: STATIC NOISE AND INTERFERENCE. SINPO- 33323 1300-1315 UT: Station ID given by a female presenter in Bengali followed by music/song. After that heard some talks on social issues in Bengali. RECEPTION REMARK: STRONG SPLASH FROM THE CHINESE STATION AT 7255 kHz, NOISE AND FADING. SINPO- 22222 1600-1610 UT: BDB almost inaudible due to strong Chinese signal on this frequency. 1700-1710 UT: Bengali announcement heard with Station ID followed by news in Bengali read by one male presenter. RECEPTION REMARK: STRONG INTERFERENCE/SPLASH FROM CHINESE CHANNEL, NOISE. SINPO- 22222 1800-1815 UT: News bulletin in English read my a male presenter followed by program Voice of Islam which began with chants from Quran. RECEPTION REMARK: MUCH BETTER RECEPTION THAN ALL PREVIOUS OBSERVATION. BUT STILL LOTS OF DISTURBANCE AND INTERFERENCE NOTED. SINPO- 33333 Here are some voice files I recorded during my observation: https://www.box.com/s/866e4abf1158840c8e2f 73s, (Prithwiraj Purkayastha, Jorhat, Assam, 1220 UT Aug 7, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dhaka 7250 was continuously on last night it seems. When I checked at around 2030 UT (2.00 am local) they were still there 444 with Bangla songs -- Thanking you, Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, India, Aug 7, dx_sasia yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DXLD) Monitored from 0545 UT on 7th August 2012 --- Bangladesh Betar is continuing new Transmitter test on 7250 kHz - I believe it's // to 4750 kHz (I can't listen it now since mid day here). Transmitting Bengali Songs - (Rakamari Ganer Anusthan), Bangladesh Betar Dhaka ID by YL at 0618, Signal is good as yesterday, today the fiddling and humming noise of yesterday noon has gone, so Engineers already improved tuning the systems, light atmospheric noise as it's mid day here, but clear and enjoyable. Yesterday night also monitored improved the transmission with good quality audio. The slight over modulation of yesterday noon also gone; all over the thing`s going to be a pleasant listening - Hats off to Bangladesh Betar Engineers (Partha Sarathi Goswami, Siliguri, W.B., India, 0625 UT Aug 7, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, Partha, Bangladesh is now Better!!! So can call it Bangladesh Better!! Thanks to Swopan Chakroboty for having alerted us. http://soundcloud.com/victor-goonetilleke/bangladesh-test-7250-8-6-2012 The station appears to be using their former External Service sked. 73 (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, ibid.) 7250, Bangladesh Betar. Better reception than yesterday at 1152, August 7 with subcontinent songs; ID and time pips ToH; news in assume Bengali till 1205 followed by OM & YL chatting; 1231 ads; 1235-1240 news in English (item about an auto accident, etc.); followed by “news commentary”; more subcontinent songs and a series of speeches in English till 1259; 1300* when they went to a test tone. So will they have news in English every day at 1235? Only on Monday is there the SAARC news bulletin (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Ron, Actually 7250 kHz carries the External Services program, and 4750 kHz carries National Channel; the schedules can be tallied from WRTH National & International Section. But Since they are testing the new transmitter when there is no International program they are giving the feed of 4750 kHz to continue the transmission. 73, (Partha Sarathi Goswami, ibid.) Radio Bangladesh noted today on 7250 at daytime. Now at 1230 News in English followed by Commentary. Very strong and clear. They are noted on this frequency day time, evening, night and even in early morning -- Thanking you, Yours sincerely, Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, India, 1246 UT Aug 7, ibid.) 7250: At 1414 UT Aug 7th, local Asian subcontinent lady singer performed. Around 1405 UT, seemingly news reading. But at 1340 to 1347 UT close-down, heard 1020 Hertz test tone continuously. Broadcasting pause after 1347 UT, switched OFF totally. From 1400 UT onwards heard accompanied by a 140 to 160 Hertz buzz tone also, also heard during pauses when music stopped and control level is high, at 1418 UT! 73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Bangladesh Betar in Urdu on 7250 kHz at 1400 UT; s/off at 1429 on 7th August, 2012 with clear reception. 54444 (Babul Gupta via Alokesh Gupta, dx_sasia yg via DXLD) Reasonable signal here too at 1745 UT S9+40dB some noise and audio distortion on signal and some fading (Tony Molloy, nr Winter Hill, UK, SD639114, 53.6 N 2.55 W, IO83ro, SDR-Radio & Pebble, CCW SDR-4+, Slinky dipoles running N/S & E/W, Twitter @swlistener, swlistener.wordpress.com dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Quite good reception this evening from Bangladesh Betar external service, resumed on 7250 kHz with a new transmitter. Heard here from tune-in at 1630 when it was carrying Bengali until s/off 1730 UT. After a 15 minute pause, the English service commenced at 1745 with ID, programme preview and news - currently in progress. English to Europe is scheduled to continue until 1900. Announced as "Bangladesh Betar overseas service". Great to hear this back on SW, it must be at least 3 years since the old 7250 transmitter failed. 73s (Dave Kenny, Caversham, Berks. AOR 7030 + 25m long wire, BDXC-UK yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DXLD Meanwhile, BB has kept 7250 in the HFCC registration books; note the nominal azimuth changes: 7250 1200 1300 49 DKA 250 140 0 216 1234567 250312 281012 D BGD NBA NBA 16079 7250 1300 1400 42 DKA 250 320 0 151 1234567 250312 281012 D BGD NBA NBA 16080 7250 1400 1500 41 DKA 250 290 0 151 1234567 250312 281012 D BGD NBA NBA 16081 7250 1500 1600 41 DKA 250 305 0 151 1234567 250312 281012 D BGD NBA NBA 16082 7250 1600 1730 39,40 DKA 250 290 0 216 1234567 250312 281012 D BGD NBA NBA 16083 7250 1730 2000 27 DKA 250 320 0 216 1234567 250312 281012 D BGD NBA NBA 16084 but that has not kept other stations from using it, some of which may now want to reconsider, disregarding those in the 20-12 UT period: Goa, India to Iran, and as already noted worse, China with an hour in Nepali from Xi`an, and worst of all, Vatican to Europe when BB is aiming at Europe too; additional SMG transmissions at +1155-1840 conveniently expired June 30: 7250 1500 1600 53,57 XIA 500 252 0 216 1234567 250312 281012 D Nep CHN CRI RTC 2679 7250 1600 1830 39,40 PAN 250 300 0 156 1234567 250312 281012 D 7200 Pers/Mal. IND AIR AIR 2235 7250 1840 1900 28N SMG 250 4 -6 386 1234567 250312 281012 D 7194 Lat CVA VAT VAT 21097 7250 1900 1930 28N SMG 250 4 -6 386 1234567 250312 300612 D 7194 Mul CVA VAT VAT 21098 7250 1930 2020 27 SMG 250 326 16 386 1234567 250312 300612 D 7194 FraEng CVA VAT VAT 21105 (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Re 7250 kHz co-channel, before Vatican Radio Rosario starts at 1840 UT, heard both R Bangladesh AHEAD with ID at 1818 UT on even 7250 kHz, here on S=9+25dB level, and PROBABLY AIR Malayalam from Goa Panaji til 1830 UT on o d d 7249.979 kHz. Nearby Ethiopia in Somali 7234.729 ... wandering up to x.734 kHz, as usual. 73 wb df5sx (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Monitoring Observations of Radio Bangladesh External Services yesterday on 7250: 1230-1300 English 1315-1345 Nepali 1400-1430 Urdu Around 1600-1630 Arabic 1630- Bangla (The sked above is incomplete, more monitoring needed). Email ID announced is betar.external @ yahoo.com -- Thanking you, Yours sincerely, Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, India, UT August 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Last WRTH 2010 sked is all on 7250 kHz and seem to be following it and in between maybe as a test filler with Bangla. Good signals. Transmitter has a bit of a hum. English 1230-1300 SEA/SA 1745-1815* EU V of Islam 1815-1900 EU ARABIC 1600-1630 ME BENGALI 1630-1730 ME 1915-2000 EU HINDI 1515-1545 SAs NEPALI 1315-1345 SAs (Victor Goonetilleke, Sri Lanka, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) The latest schedule of Radio Bangladesh External Services is available in the following link (which matches with what was monitored): http://www.betar.org.bd/externalservices.html -- Thanking you, Yours sincerely, Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, dxldyg via DXLD) Bangladesh Betar in Bengali (tentative), 7 Aug 2012, 1944 UT, 7250 (42442), talk with heavy QRM from CRI 7245 and Belarus 7255. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, from the Baltic Sea shore at 54 26 N, 12 41 E. Rx: Perseus SDR, DX-10 Active antenna on a 3m pole in the garden. Stronger signals than on the same setup at home downtown QTH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Tonight Bangladesh Betar testing on 15520 kHz. More at http://swopan.blogspot.in/2012/08/bangladesh-betar-test-broadcast-on.html Thanks, (Swopan Chakroborty, Kolkata, India, August 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) viz.: Bangladesh Betar test broadcast on 15520 kHz --- Tonight (08.08.2012) Bangladesh Betar is testing on 15520 kHz towards Europe. Reports are welcome specially from UK and France. Transmitter shall remain same, i.e. the new 250 kW one but with old antenna system. Irregular broadcast between 1200-2000 UT. Bangladesh Betar is extremely pleased for the reception reports for 7250 kHz test broadcast. Further reports are welcome to rrc @ dhaka.net (Swopan`s website via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DXLD) *1400 Family Radio in South Asian quite strong here (Tony Ashar, Indonesia, dxingwithcumbre yg via DXLD) Colliding on 15520 (gh) [and non]. 15520, Aug 8 at 1558, very weak signal with bits of modulation, presumably Bangladesh Betar, Dhaka, testing its brand-new transmitter toward Europe at 12-20 UT today, as tipped by Swopan Chakroborty? Instead of 7250 tested yesterday. 15520 is an old frequency of theirs, inactive for many years. In the meantime, other stations have been using 15520, currently registered in this time period, first the other ``DHA`` = Dhabbaya, UAE site with YFR at 14-16, the second hour in English; Turkey in English at 1630-1730, Egypt in Fulfulde at 1845-20, so before 1400, 1600-1630, and 1730-1845 should be the best windows. Recheck at 1608, however, what little signal I had is gone, so suspect it was really YFR/UAE; is BB really still on? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Bangladesh Betar being heard strong on 15520 (today 8 August) from 1655 tune-in to past 1700 in presumed Bangla (with presumed news at the moment). Thanks to Swopan for the tip! (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, dxldyg via DXLD) Bangladesh S9 + 15 dB here at 1707, news, ID, local music, more talk (Mike Barraclough, Letchworth Garden City, UK, dxingwithcumbre yg via DXLD) It was on at several time frequently but not continuous like yesterday, already alerted them about the clashes http://www.shortwaveschedule.com/index.php?freq=15520 just now Voice of Turkey was going on with strong signal (Partha Sarathi Goswami, Siliguri, W.B., India, 1721 UT, dxldyg via DXLD) Yep, around 1728 tune in, decent signal with ID and mailing address. Then into test tone (Jari in Finland Savolainen, ibid.) Yes, heard 2 hours YFR from Al Dhabbaya and also V of Turkey co- channel in the meantime. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, ibid.) Radio Bangladesh sked on their website: The latest schedule of Radio Bangladesh External Services is available in the following link (which matches with what was monitored): Bangladesh 7250 - Last WRTH 2010 sked is all on 7250 kHz and seem to be following it and in between maybe as a test filler with Bangla. Good signals. TX has a bit of a hum. ENGLISH 1230-1300 SoEaAS/SoAS 1745-1815* EUR V of Islam 1815-1900 EUR ARABIC 1600-1630 ME BENGALI 1630-1730 ME 1915-2000 EU HINDI 1515-1545 SoAS NEPALI 1315-1345 SoAS Monitoring Observations of Radio Bangladesh External Services, yesterday on 7250 kHz. 1230-1300 English, 1315-1345 Nepali, 1400-1430 Urdu, Around 1600-1630 Arabic, 1630- Bangla (The sked above is incomplete, more monitoring needed) Email ID announced is (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, DXindia Aug 8, via Wolfgang Büschel) 7250, Dhaka audio quality IS NOT CLEAN. At 1414 UT Aug 7th, local Asian subcontinent lady singer performed. Around 1405 UT, seemingly news reading. But at 1340 to 1347 UT close-down heard 1020 Hertz test tone continuously. Broadcasting pause after 1347 UT, switched OFF totally. From 1400 UT onwards heard accompanied by a 140 to 160 Hertz buzz HUM tone also, also heard during pauses when music stopped and control level is high, at 1418 UT! (wb, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 7) Khabipur 10 most modern SW curtain antennas by Made in China design, in north-eastern corner at 60/240 and 125/305 degr azimuth. Also older lower dipole antennas and non-dir corner-reflector-like antenna, south-westerly at 45 65 115 155 225 245 295 335 degr azimuth. And a lot of more WOODEN registrations of Dhaka too: 17660 0000 0200 49,54 DKA 250 135 15125 0300 0400 41 DKA 250 305 6165 0400 1000 41 DKA 50 0 15320 0500 0600 40 DKA 250 305 9590 0700 0900 37,38 DKA 250 290 15105 1100 1300 49,54 DKA 250 135 7250 1200 1300 49 DKA 250 140 9550 1200 1300 49 DKA 250 140 11995 1200 1300 49 DKA 250 140 13605 1200 1300 49 DKA 250 140 13700 1200 1300 49 DKA 250 140 15505 1200 1300 49 DKA 250 140 6170 1300 1400 42 DKA 250 320 7250 1300 1400 42 DKA 250 320 9550 1300 1400 42 DKA 250 320 11915 1300 1400 42 DKA 250 320 11995 1300 1400 42 DKA 250 320 13700 1300 1400 42 DKA 250 320 7200 1300 1600 41 DKA 50 0 6195 1300 1800 41 DKA 50 0 7250 1400 1500 41 DKA 250 290 9550 1400 1500 41 DKA 250 290 11995 1400 1500 41 DKA 250 305 13700 1400 1500 41 DKA 250 290 13715 1400 1500 41 DKA 250 290 15505 1400 1500 41 DKA 250 290 5995 1400 1600 41 DKA 50 0 7250 1500 1600 41 DKA 250 305 9550 1500 1600 41 DKA 250 305 11995 1500 1600 41 DKA 250 290 13700 1500 1600 41 DKA 250 305 13715 1500 1600 41 DKA 250 305 15505 1500 1600 41 DKA 250 305 15320 1500 1700 39,40 DKA 250 290 13700 1600 1700 39,40 DKA 250 290 15505 1600 1700 39,40 DKA 250 290 17695 1600 1700 39,40 DKA 250 290 17825 1600 1700 39,40 DKA 250 290 7250 1600 1730 39,40 DKA 250 290 9550 1600 1730 39,40 DKA 250 290 11995 1600 1730 39,40 DKA 250 290 11915 1700 2000 27 DKA 250 320 13700 1700 2000 39,40 DKA 250 290 15505 1700 2000 27 DKA 250 320 6170 1730 2000 27,28 DKA 250 320 7105 1730 2000 27,28 DKA 250 320 7250 1730 2000 27 DKA 250 320 9550 1730 2000 27 DKA 250 320 11995 1730 2000 27 DKA 250 320 7210 2300 2400 44 DKA 250 45 (all via Wolfgang Büschel, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, ibid.) Now with news in English, 1755, S9+ 15 dB (Mike Barraclough, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Is that wide hash sound coming from their transmitter or is it something local here? About 9 kHz wide on both sides of 15520. (Jari Savolainen, Finland, 1808 UT Aug 8, ibid.) Confirming the wide hash, 18 kHz bandwidth. Would be armchair listening without it. S9 + 20 dB 73, (Günter Lorenz, Freising, Germany, RX: Perseus, ANT: ALA1530+SSB, ibid.) Right Jari, Looks like the Ethiopians have parked their White Noise jammer here on 15508 to 15533 kHz range. Usual on Mondays on 15355 up to 15390 kHz, but earlier at 17-18 UT. TDP brokered outlet in Amharic. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) 1735 UT observed frequency 15520.12 kHz - S9 +30 dB carrier with continuous audio tone, clear channel, very slight fading. Tone ceased at 1739, carrier off 1740 - 1750 news in English & ID, quite strong interference on channel, 1803 ID followed by reading from Koran. Interference becoming very strong at this time. Screen shot of signal display attached. 73s (Tony Molloy, nr Winter Hill, UK dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) As I am only 600 km far from them I am receiving very weak, may be high angle skip, only a back scatter, but as I was listening to TRT in good quality while you people in Europe was enjoying great signal from Bangladesh it means their Antenna system is doing well, they have a little hum on TX as noted yesterday (Partha Sarathi Goswami, Siliguri, WB, 1824 UT, ibid.) Reminds me of the white noise Ethiopia is using to jam Eritrea. Sent from my iPad (Tarek Zeidan, Cairo, 1829 UT, ibid.) 1129 Hertz test tone from 1905 UT, from Dhaka site (Büschel, ibid) Bangladesh Betar test transmission, 8 Aug 2012, 2010 UT, 15520 (55444). Empty carrier with a big hum stretching from 15510 to 15530. Around 2014, an apparently additional signal came on and was switched off again (same spectral range as the hum, but more homogeneously filled; looked like DRM, but DREAM didn't detect any DRM). When checking again at 2025, subcontinental music, slightly overmodulated, ID at 2030. In silent periods between songs, the big hum returned into the audio feed. Some kind of "carrier" accompanied the music at +/- 4.5 kHz which was beyond the modulation range, so it could be filtered out easily. Listened to the music until 2045. At 2100 and 2110 still on, but silent carrier with the big hum. At 2136 and 2152 still empty carrier without the hum; still same signal strength. Screenshots: DRM-like noise switching on: http://tinyurl.com/cs9m2eq The big hum, not the DRM-like stuff: http://tinyurl.com/c8yem3l Big hum in silent period between songs: http://tinyurl.com/d9y6lzd (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, logs from the Baltic shore, with Perseus SDR and DX-10 active antenna out in the garden, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) to be continued Seems like this brand new no doubt DRM-capable transmitter needs some adjustment or operator familiarization to get rid of any DRM-like emissions whilst supposed to be in AM-only mode (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** BELGIUM [non]. FRENCH GUIANA: Disco Palace in DRM, 8 Aug 2012, 2048, 17875 (S=2). The DREAM software could decode the ID A06021 and the description "English, Pop music". But no audio decoded at all, at 4-6 dB (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, logs from the Baltic shore, with Perseus SDR and DX-10 active antenna out in the garden, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BHUTAN. BBS 6035 kHz was on at 1130 UT but now no trace at 1300+, may be signed off early as they are doing for last 3 days (Partha Sarathi Goswami, Siliguri, W.B., India, 1313 UT Aug 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 4699.40, Radio San Miguel, Riberalta 0930 to 1000 with good signal on 30th July (Wilkner) 4716.63, R Yatun Ayllu, Yura, Yura, 0950 to 1030 fading out with music 4 August (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, 746Pro, dxingwithcumbre yg via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 6055.096, 27.7 2201*, R Juan XXIII (tentative) with closedown at 2201:20 just as last year. Weak as usual but with just a little more audio it should have been possible to get a good ID at their closing ceremony (Thomas Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Aug 5 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. Amigos, depois de minha mudança para a capital São Paulo tenho dedicado a escuta de ondas médias e presenciei acredito ser o inicio dos testes em alta definição, eu achei estranho quando dando um giro no dial em 780 Khz acendeu o piloto HD, deixei sintonizado nessa frequencia e logo decodificou a emissora CBN e o audio muito bom semelhante ao FM sem ruído...perfeito, acho que a CBN São Paulo é a única emissora em ondas médias por enqunto a transmitir em HD porque a noite recebo muito bem a CBN Rio 860 Khz e não decodifica HD. Eu fiz uma gravação e postei no Youtube na minha nova página que vou dedicar a escutas de AM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rglh25udp50 Nessa gravação dá para comparar o audio analógico (piscando HD) e alta definição (HD aceso) talvez por estarem ajustando algo teve essa variação. Minha localização atual é na zona oeste de São Paulo, bairro do Butantã, não sei qual a localização dos transmissores da CBN AM 780 Khz, o bom que os amigos que estiverem fora de São Paulo que tenham receptor HD vão poder desfrutar dessa novidade. Radio CBN 780 Khz São Paulo SP - 05/08/2012 - 01:00 UTC - 55555 - Receptor: Sony XDR-F1HD - Antena: pequeno Loop que veio com o Sony 73's (Fran - São Paulo SP, radioescutas yg via DXLD) HD on radio does not stand for ``high definition``. The IBOC promoters picked those letters to confuse people who know it does stand for high definition when applied to television. My condolences to everyone else in the area who must now be getting noise on their AM radios each side of 780, impeding reception of 770 and 790 stations. You may also find that HD reception of CBN does not decode very far outside the city, unlike its AM signal, while the noise will propagate over a very wide area at night from a 50/10 kW station (Guilherme Glenn Hauser, ibid.) ** BRAZIL. 3375.05, 19.7 0930, Rádio Municipal, Portuguese, varied programming, mentioned São Gabriel, also heard evenings past 0100 UT. Not sure about the ID. Perhaps new name? 35444 (Stig Hartvig Nielsen, visiting Calibishie, Dominica – two longwires (20 and 50 mts) AOR 7030+, HCDX via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 6160.06, 17.7 1045, Rádio Rio Mar, Manaus, Portuguese, news, ID’s, lengthy newscast, news from Amazonas, clear – fine reception, nothing on 9695 kHz. 45333 (Stig Hartvig Nielsen, Gros Islet, St. Lucia – longwire (20 mts), AOR 7030+, HCDX via DXLD) Cf. previous report, suspect CG dropped a zero from 6160.09?? --- ``BRAZIL [and non]. 6160.9, 2114- Brasil?, 17/7, R. Rio Mar (presumed), Manaus AM. Portuguese, Unreadable talks, UnID languange, Adjacent QRM, 14431 6160.0, 2117-2133, 17/7, CKZN, St. John's NL. English, talks, music. Adjacent QRM 24431 (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` See also UNIDENTIFIED ** BURKINA FASO. Someone referred to this impressive-looking website for what`s on 15520 when Bangladesh showed up. Tiny-linked at the bottom was ``Broadcast Times for Radio Burkina``. I sure would like to know that! http://www.shortwaveschedule.com/index.php?station=420 ``Radio Burkina is broadcasting right now on 1 frequency.`` i.e. 5030 at 0530-2400! Trouble is, it`s been off the air for years. GIGO!!! I can`t believe people axually rely on these listings (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CAMBODIA [and non]. OWNER OF VOA AND RFA AFFILIATE RADIO STATION IN PHNOM PENH IN PRISON, FACING ANTI-STATE CHARGES. Posted: 04 Aug 2012 Committee to Protect Journalists, 17 July 2012: "Cambodian authorities should immediately release Mam Sonando, one of the country's leading critical journalists, who has been held since [15 July] on anti-state charges, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. More than 20 officers arrested Mam Sonando, owner, director, and political commentator of Beehive Radio, one of Cambodia's few independent news outlets, at his home in Phnom Penh, the capital, according to news reports. Police questioned him for more than two hours on Monday, and then lodged anti-state charges against him that included insurrection, news reports said. Mam Sonando could face up to 14 years in prison, the reports said." See also World Organization Against Torture press release, 17 July 2012. See also letter to Cambodian prime minister and justice minister in The Nation (Bangkok), 1 Aug 2012. Radio Free Asia, 23 July 2012, Uon Chhin and Vichey Ananddh: "The head of an independent Cambodian radio station arrested ... for allegedly spearheading a land uprising has fallen ill in prison, his wife said Monday. Mam Sonando, the director of Beehive Radio, was moved to a prison clinic for medical treatment on Sunday over a serious flu, wife Den Phanara said as more than 100 activists gathered in Phnom Penh on Monday to pray for his release. ... Beehive Radio, which broadcasts on 105 FM in Phnom Penh, is one of few media outlets in the country airing independent news, including coverage of opposition and minority political parties, and carries programming by RFA and Voice of America." (kimandrewelliott.com via DXLD) ** CAMBODIA [non]. 9960, OPPOSITION, Khmer People Power Movement Radio (presumed) via Palau targeting Cambodia, 1208-1229 in listed Cambodian / Khmer. M presenter, clear but weak signal. Faded out at 1229. Saturday 7/28/12. Also heard it 1200-1216 in listed Cambodian/Khmer with male presenter. Fair signal. Saturday 8/4/12 (Steve Handler, IL, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** CANADA. New website with lots of station news, skewed toward west: Radio West / Canadian Radio News Radio and more .. From Western Canada and Beyond http://rwcrn.com/category/canadian-radio-news (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 6160, CKZU Vancouver, 0411 Aug 3, “Ideas”, host Paul Kennedy speaking to a book author. Het from station on 6160.9, which was likely CKZN St. John’s, but programming was not discernible. Poor, but fair and free of het listening to LSB (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Listening lakeside from my car with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 active antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANADA. 9625, August 4 at 0507, CBC NQ tone test with flutter just after sign-off. Andy Reid in Ontario found a CRTC notice that CBC has resubmitted 5 applications for low-power FM relays in Northern Quebec, adding that "CKCX-SW" [9625] will close November 1 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) CBC North Quebec service, 9625 has following English slots: 0000-0100 Sun 0100-0200 Tue-Sun 0200-0215 & 0230-0300 Mon 0300-0400 Sun & Mon 0400-0506* daily 1100-1200 daily 1200-1400 Sat & Sun 1400-1600 Sun 1600-1700 Sat 1700-2100 Sun 2100-2130 Sun-Fri 2130-2145 Sun 2145-2230 Sun-Fri 2230-2400 Sun Based on monitoring observations and listener tips (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, DX News, August BDXC-UK Communication, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHAD. 6165, 2117, 7 July, ONRT Tchadienne, N`Djamena, presumed. African rap songs, YL announcement in French, brief anthem and gone at 2130; low mod level, SIO 252 (Alan Pennington, Berks, HF Logbook, August BDXC-UK Communication, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) This may have been the last log of Chad; previously in DXLD we had one on 3 July, altho it was already mostly missing in late June (gh, DXLD) ** CHILE. VISITA AL CENTRO EMISOR DE “CALERA DE TANGO”, (CVC LA VOZ) Today's entry in my blog features a photo report, made by Chilean DXer Luis Valderas after a trip he made along with two DX fellows to Calera de Tango, Chile SW transmitter site, on Aug. 4. The pics were originally published in his Facebook wall. The post has been enriched with general info (in Spanish language) on CVC La Voz, one of its users. http://lagalenadelsur.wordpress.com/2012/08/05/chile-visita-al-centro-emisor-de-calera-de-tango-cvc-la-voz/ (Horacio Nigro Geolkiewsky, Montevideo, Uruguay, Aug 5, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No mention of recently departed user, HCJB! (gh, DXLD) ** CHINA. 5050, CNR1, randomly from 1134 to 1300*, August 8. What is this all about? Noted for the first time today! // 6125 (strong); in Chinese mixing with and underneath Beibu Bay Radio (BBR); after 1300 BBR in the clear with their usual fair reception in Vietnamese. Strange! At first I was thinking it might be the return of the Voice of Strait after many years of being off this frequency, but turned out to be parallel to CNR1. I listen here daily for about 10 to 15 minutes checking for the return of the low powered Australian station, Ozy Radio, but not heard yet (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) But gone the next day ** CHINA. PBS Qinghai in Chinese, 8 Aug 2012, 2218 UT, 6145 (23322). Interview and monologue in what didn't sound like Mandarin (not as tonal). At 2230 switch to CNR-like format with male+female presenter, sounded more like Mandarin now (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, logs from the Baltic shore, with Perseus SDR and DX-10 active antenna out in the garden, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 9820.050+, Beibu Bay Radio, Nanning. 1014-1102 Aug 5. Been checking this one for about a week; today the magnetic field was quieter, and I could get a good logging. At 1033:30, a break in the music, male announcer with "BBR," brief announcement by female, possibly in Vietnamese. Then M again with "FM 96.4, Beibu Bay Radio." At TOH, 5+1 time pips, similar ID routine, and into Vietnamese. Weak at tune-in, but built to a pretty good level by 1030. Frequency drifted slowly upward through the period, from 9820.050 at tune-in to 9820.117 by TOH. Thanks to Barbour for noting this one (Art Delibert, North Bethesda, MD, Collins 51J-4, Sherwood SE-3/WinRadio Excalibur, ProPennant antenna with DX Engineering amp, HCDX via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. VOA Uzbek, jammed by mainland China jamming service --- KUWAIT/MARIANA ISLANDS {Tinian}/PHILIPPINES/THAILAND --- CNR1 heavy jamming of S=9+30dB powerhouse against VOA Uzbek language service daily at 1500-1530 UT, to cover national speakers in western China on UZB/KGZ border. Weak 9580PHT, mixture on 11920TIN, best Uzbek reception on 11930UDO channel, and powerful jammed 15100KWT relay transmission (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 8, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CHINA [and non]. EASTERN JAMMERSTAN: Some observations in July 2012 C = Chinese speaking without any jammer B = Bang Fire Drake (Bing-bang Sounds) Pseudo Opera P = Program of CNR in Chinese as a jammer July 21 1200-1300 16100, 16920, 16980, 17900 all B July 22 1600-1800 16920//17900 C July 24 1200-1400 16920 C July 25 05-06 16920 C 12-13 16920 C, 16100 and 16980 B ! 1300 different programs both in C on 16100 and 16920 at 1355 16100, 16980, 17250 with B and 16920 not on the air July 26 10-11 16100 & 16920 B 13-14 14980 // 16920 C 14-15 14980 C July 27 1300-1355 different programs in C on 16920 and 17250! 0900-0925 16920 C but at 0926 s/on of B, on 16980 no signal but at 0926 was start of B ! at 1215 3 different programs : one on 15940 // 16920 // 17250, all C another on 14980 // 15900 // 17900 all C third on 16100 C July 28 11-13 17900 C At 1135 16100, 16920, 14980 all with B (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, August 4, for WORLD OF RADIO / DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake August 02: 0815 UT past fair with fading on 16980 kHz; SOH Xi Wang Zhi Sheng has no trace though (Partha Sarathi Goswami, Siliguri, W.B., India, 0834 UT, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake August 2, before 1230: 12370, fair at 1227; newish frequency not heard before July 6, by Steve Handler and myself 12980, fair at 1227; none in the 11s, 10s 14700, very good at 1226; none in the 13s 15435, very good at 1222 16100, very good at 1223 16920, poor at 1224, quite a contrast with 16100 16980, equally poor at 1224 17450, very good at 1225; none in the 18s Before 1300, not a full search: 15560, good at 1238, het on hi side After 1300: 15485, fair at 1311, het on hi side 15570, poor at 1312, with additional noise jamming, het on lo side Before 1400, all with flutter now: 12980, poor at 1355; none in the 14s, 13s, 11s 15490, fair at 1352, het on lo side 15605, fair at 1352, het on lo side 16100, very good at 1352 16920, poor at 1352 16980, poor at 1352; none in the 17s After 1400: 17560, good with flutter at 1406; vs V. of Tibet via Madagascar jumper (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. Steven Handler's early 8-3-12 Firedrake Logs 12320 Fair 1243 15555 Fair-Good 1240 sign on was between last check at 1238 and 1240. 16100 Poor 1244 16920 Poor 1245 16980 Good 1245 All frequencies I believe were directed against the Sound of Hope except the 15555 frequency which I believe was targeting the Voice of Tibet on 15553. There was a large disparity of signal strength between 16100/16920 both of which were poor and 16980 which was a solid good, I believe that the large difference in signal strength between the first two and 16980 can only be accounted for by the 16980 broadcast using a different transmitter site than the first two. Good DX (Steve Handler, IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake August 3, after 1300: 15485, poor at 1305 with het on hi side; another one circa 15565 just cut off before I could pin the frequency Before 1400: 15490, fair at 1342 with het on lo side; no 17s, 14s, 13s, 12s, 11s 15605, very poor at 1343, vs squishy WEWN 15606 spur 16100, poor at 1340 16980, poor at 1340 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Aug 4 1150-1230, Nothing heard below or above despite many searches. 12980 Fair 1153 14600 Poor 1154 14700 Fair-Good 1157 14980 Good 1158 15435 Fair 1228 16100 Good 1155 and Fair 1228 16980 Good 1158 17100 Poor 1157 Good DX (Steve Handler, IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake August 4, before 1300: 17250, very poor at 1246 16100, fair at 1246 15555, very good at 1258; none in the 14s, 13s, 12s Before 1400: 15605, fair at 1356 vs WEWN 15615 squishy spur on 15605 15560, good at 1335 15500, fair at 1333 mixing equally with Chinese // 11990, CNR1 jammer 15490, fair at 1356, het on lo side; none in 17s, 16s, 14s, 13s, 12s (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) August 5, 2012 Firedrake Log from Steven Handler --- Hi Glenn, 15435 Fair 1227 with het, sign of 1230 no other frequency above or below heard 15490 Fair 1350. No other Firedrake frequencies heard at this time above or below. 15555 Fair 1231 with het, this frequency not heard three minutes earlier. No other Firedrake frequency heard in use above or below at 1231. Firedrake sign off at 1236 heard. They were only on this frequency for a very short time. Three minutes after signing off on this frequency they signed on five kHz above. This short duration on this frequency and then the use of the adjacent frequency of 15560 kHz a few minutes after sign off on this frequency is consistent with other days in the past month. However some days they have stayed on 15555 kHz until 1306 GMT. I would note that it is possible that the Voice of Tibet may be alternating between the use of 15553 and 15562 kHz for the 1238-1304 GMT broadcast. For more info see my Clandestine list for the 1238 time slot. The list is posted at http://shortwavereport.com/?page_id=250 15560 Fair at sign of 1239. See my comments about 15555 kHz (Steve Handler, IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Firedrake August 5, after 1300: 15500, fair at 1316 with het on lo side, just up from 15485? 15570, fair at 1316 with noise added, just going off. None in the 16s, 17s, nor before 1400 in the 14s, 13s or 12s (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also CUBA Firedrake August 6, not full scans, just noticed: 15500, poor with flutter until 1340* 15610, poor with flutter at 1416 with ACI from 15615 WEWN, but not as bad as it would have been on 15605 vs the WEWN 15606 spur 17570, JBA at 1418, mixing with V. of Tibet via MADAGASCAR, on this frequency today instead of alternating 17560. Firedrake August 6, after 1700: 13780, fair at 1707 mixing with Chinese, RFA and/or CNR1 jamming 13780, fair with flutter at 1915 recheck, now FD music only August 7, after 1300, without full bandscan: 15570, good at 1306 with het on lo side 15485, fair at 1306 with het on hi side Before 1400: 16920, very good at 1342 16100, poor at 1342 15970, fair at 1342 15490, good at 1344 After 1400: 15610, fair-good at 1411 with added noise jamming, aside WEWN 15615 17565, fair at 1412 vs V. of Tibet via MADAGASCAR on this frequency today splitting the difference between 17560 and 17570. Obviously it makes no difference to jump among these three, as the ChiCom monitors will find which one is in use. Firedrake Aug 8, after 1230: 16100, very poor at 1234; none in the 17s 12230, good at 1240 going from open carrier (maybe just a pause) to FD; none in the 13s, 14s, 15s After 1300: 14700, very good at 1317 15560, fair at 1317, het on hi side 16100, fair at 1321; none in the 13s, 12s 17450, JBA at 1324 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn. Here are some of my Firedrake logs for 8/8/12. Good Dx-Steve 12230 Good signal 1252 14700 Fair signal with het 1321 15485 Poor. Musical jammer as well as propeller jammer 1306 to 1316 both signed off. 15560 Fair-Good signal 1253 to sign off at 1306. 15560 Poor signal 1321 15570 Fair signal 1309 Sill there are 1315 check gone at 1317 check. 16100 Poor signal 1254 16920 JBA signal 1254 (Steve Handler, IL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. PALAU: R Free Asia in Mandarin, 7 Aug 2012, 2038 UT, 9905 (52442), interviews; CNR jammer // 9845 at same level on same frequency. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, from the Baltic Sea shore at 54 26 N, 12 41 E. Rx: Perseus SDR, DX-10 Active antenna on a 3m pole in the garden. Stronger signals than on the same setup at home downtown QTH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. 14950.75v, August 2 circa 0200, 1215 and 1400 chex, still nothing from Salem Stereo, but we have now reached the target date for resuming, per last word from the pastor, so keep alert for revival (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Still not by UT Aug 9 (gh) ** CONGO DR. 5066.3, R Tele Candip, Bunia, 0316 (not heard so early before), Aug 03, female singer, big Mama Africa style, soaring voice with Afropop, guitars, very short male speaker ann in French, more songs, long tracks of 5-7 minutes, speaker taking greetings from callers in French, more great local music, fair (Graham Bell, Simonstown, South Africa, DSWCI DX Window via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DXLD) ** COSTA RICA [and non]. 17775-17970, August 2 at 1947, approx. range of modulation spike spurs from REE Cariari 17850. Bothers 17885 BBC Hausa via ASCENSION, in the absence of QRDRM from GUF 17875. 17475-18095, August 4 at 1907, the spikefest range coming out of the overdriven REE Cariari 17850 transmitter. The overmodulation spurs gradually diminished from each side of 17850, but could be detected out that far, i.e. interfering with every other station on the 16 m band, and also into the so-called 17 m hamband, not to mention the aero band above 17900. See also SPAIN [and non] 9765, August 7 at 0526, REE relay is here // stronger 9630, 5965, and missing from 3350 where the third transmitter is supposed to be. This happens periodically; just not paying attention at Cariari? 9765 is a frequency for them at other dayparts. Fortunately, no one else is trying to use it now (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CROATIA [and non]. Voice of Croatia in Croatian, 7 Aug 2012, 2208 UT, 1134 (54444) and 3985 (45333) and 9925-WER (25222). Weather; ID as "Hrvatski Radio Prvi Program" and "Glas Hrvatske". 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, from the Baltic Sea shore at 54 26 N, 12 41 E. Rx: Perseus SDR, DX-10 Active antenna on a 3m pole in the garden. Stronger signals than on the same setup at home downtown QTH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 1000, Radio Artemisa, Artemisa. 2351 July 31, 2012. Parallel weaker 1020 with Punto guajiro vocals, weak Radio Reloj under. Repeat log 2123 August 1 and 2322 August 2. 1020, CMKS Radio, Baracoa, Guantánamo. 0856 August 5, 2012. Following up on a log by David Crawford, Titusville, FL (about the opposite side of the state from me). Traditional folk vocals, female “CMKS Radio... Guantánamo..” then “Guantanamera” theme on single chime xylophone-like instrument at 0859, vocal, male announcer 0904 and more vocals including Punto guajiro song poetry with tres guitar accompaniment. Fair, about equal to co-channel Radio Reloj. No mention of Trinchera Antiimperialista slogan of old, and it seems they may have re-branded as “Radio Guantánamo” at some point as per the following pages: Confirming date/year of CMKS' inception, which matches the Facebook page inauguration date details: http://www.radiocubana.cu/index.php/historia-de-la-radio-cubana/25-Documentales/203-cmks-cumple-70-anos- And that Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RadioGuantanamo But the old Trinchera slogan is referenced on this presumably stale EcuRed page, however see bottom page link: http://www.ecured.cu/index.php/Radio_Trinchera_Antiimperialista Of which that link which is: http://www.radioguantanamo.icrt.cu/index.php The WRTVH 2012 listed http://www.radioguantanamo.cu page is dead, for what it's worth. 1080, Radio Cadena Habana, Villa María, Ciudad de la Habana. 1802 August 5, 2012. Tune-in to male live “Radio Cadena Habana, la emisora (de, de la?) música Cubana.” Very good. 1140, Radio Rebelde FM, unknown site. 0825 August 5, 2012. Female, “Rebelde... frecuencia modulada... música Cubana...” into Cuban oldies, parallel 1620. Transmitter way over-modulated and clipping audio about 2 X per second. At least couple of 'standard' AM network Rebelede outlets under (Terry L. Krueger, Clearwater FL, JRC NRD-535; ICOM IC-R75; Sony ICF-7600GR; Sangean PR-D5; Aqua Guide 705 RDF Marine Radio; GE Superadio III; 1 X roof dipole; 1 X room random wire; Terk Advantage non-active portable loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Look at this Radio Cuba/ICRT page: http://www.radiocubana.cu/index.php/directorio-de-radio-emisoras-cubanas with lots of interesting local FM stations, including some heretofore unknown ones with unusual slogans, such as Radio Triple M, Radio 8SF, etc. The 1T, 4T etc. presumably indicates number of transmitters vs. actually helping their own citizens and accidentally any Dxer's by listing the frequencies. All to be taken with a grain of salt of course (Terry L. Krueger, Clearwater, FL, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. WESTERN CENTRAL AMERICA JAMMERSTAN – Cuban Propaganda: Heard on July 27 at 0045 programs in Spanish jammed with white noise type jammers – same type as were used in Bulgaria before 90s vs RFE, BBC etc.: On 6030 // 7365 seems Radio Marti, on 5890 unID and on 9490 also unID (Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria, August 4, for WOR / DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5890 vs VOA Spanish; 9490 vs R. Republica via GUF (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. 11565 CW, August 2 at 0410, cut spy numbers in groups of five, still going at 0431, not especially strong, and pure CW, carrier cutting on and off. Cut numbers means each is replaced by a Morse Code letter for easier copy. 15330, August 2 at 1252, lite pulse jamming against nothing, Arnie`s incompetent blocker never turned off for A-12 when R. Martí is never using this frequency. 9530, August 2 at 1356, the POS RHC 9540 transmitter is again making filthy FMy blob circa here and a weaker clone circa 9520; not sure if a remnant remained on 9540 too vs CCI. VOI doesn`t know how lucky it is, still missing from 9526. 15340, Aug 3 at 1302, RHC is on but you can barely tell it`s there under HCJB AUSTRALIA in S Asian language, longpath? By 1343 they are about equal, big collision mess, a fast SAH apart; tnx a lot, Arnie! HCJB`s Friday-only language at 1300-1315 is Dzongkha, i.e. Bhutanese. 11760, Aug 3 at 1311, RHC, Antonio Gómez has a ``pequeña problemita`` in contacting a correspondent. Language note: problema is one of those Greek-root words which altho ending in -a, are masculine in Spanish; but it seems once diminished it is transgendered into femininity. Gringos attempting to speak Spanish, including some Congressman, may make it ``la problema`` or ``el problemo``, hee hee. 17705, August 3 at 2109, RHC Spanish is very undermodulated on this frequency compared to // 17750. 6125, August 4 at 0510, RHC English absent, but still on the redundant other three 49m channels. 9570, August 5 at 1329, CRI English via Habana is open carrier/deadair, except for some hum, leaving us with no alternative since Sackville has been deleted, tsk2. 6125, August 6 at 0500, no signal from RHC English which is supposed to start now; 0508 finally has reached open-carrier status, while the other three are modulating on 6010, 6050, 6060. I don`t keep listening as that would run into CO2KK. Just another night of SNAFU from RHC 6125, August 7 at 0519, at first it seems RHC English is once again dead air, but turning the volume way up, I can tell it`s JBM // synchronized 6050. 7370-7430, August 7 at 0523, DentroCuban Jamming Command buzz field extends out to here from wall-of-noise jamming centred upon 7405 R. Martí (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Radio Habana Cuba Program Question --- Listened tonight, Monday Aug. 6, to Radio Habana Cuba from 2330 to 0000 on 11840 kHz. The program, I assume, was in progress from the top of the hour when I tuned in at 2330. Music was the total focus of the program featuring dreamy, jazz-like music. It was a delightful half-hour to which I will return again. Does anyone know the name of the music program from 2300 to 0000? Is it just on Monday evenings, or perhaps Monday-Friday? Tried to locate RHC's program schedule to answer these questions, but no luck at all. Does anyone know the answer? If you can guide me to the answer, I would appreciate that (Grayson Watson in Dallas, TX; using a Satellit 750 with an Apex Radio 700DTA antenna, dxdingwith cumbre yg via DXLD) Grayson, Spanish program schedule is here: http://www.radiohc.cu/de-interes/programacion.html Unfortunately they skip what`s on in the 23-24 hour. Maybe it`s just filler, or buffer, as in the winter the Revista Iberoamericana shifts one hour later to 22-24 instead of 21-23. 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Thanks for taking time to reply, Glenn. I'll just have to keep listening to get the answer. It's just that the music was so good (Grayson, ibid.) [and non] Signals Better Tonight on 25 Meter Band --- Checked on three important stations in the Caribbean and South America beginning at 2300 GMT and continuing across the hour: Radio Habana Cuba on 11840 kHz; CVC International in Santiago, Chile on 11665 kHz; and Radio National da Amazonia in Brasil on 11780 kHz. My main interest was RHC with its wonderful program of Cuban, salsa and jazz music. I am still trying to find out the name of this program and the days it is broadcast. I think it is Monday thru Friday at 2300 GMT. So far it has aired on Monday and Tuesday (today) at that time. I will check daily because the music is very fine on an intensely hot and muggy day in Dallas -- enjoying it all with a glass of cold lemonade and tonic water. Wow -- suddenly a big wind pushing ahead of a cold front entering the NW part of metro Dallas has blown the humidity away! While enjoying RHC's ongoing music, I checked twice on the two other stations. All three were beaming strong, clear, & steady signals across the hour. My S-Meter (0-5 scale) registered 3.5 to 4 throughout for all 3 stations. CVC had a man and woman chatting much about matrimony, and R. Amazonia filled the ether with its usual great music! With my iced lemonade & tonic drink, all was well. And I was enjoying shortwave radio on my balcony (Grayson Watson in Dallas, TX, 0106 UT Aug 8, using a Grundig Satellit 750 with an Apex Radio 700DTA antenna, dxingwithcumbre yg via DXLD) 11680, Aug 7 at 2358, RHC music-only, no announcement until 0000, stronger here than on // 11840, which Grayson Watson in Dallas has been monitoring, enjoying the music from 2330, but what program is it? RHC website Spanish program schedule skips the 23-24 hour entirely! Maybe it`s just filler/buffer because in the B-seasons, the 21-23 magazine, Revista Iberoamericana, shifts to 22-24. Since an evening frequency announcement is airing at 0000 Aug 8, I copy it to see what errors this one contain. 17705, 15230, 11760 11840, 11680, 9810, and at 02-06 5040. Well, 5040 closes at 0500 like all the other Spanish frequencies (except when they forget and overrun). I check all those frequencies and find RHC normal, except: 9810, August 8 from 0001, open carrier. I leave a receiver on this frequency with volume turned up to see when they get around to modulating. Never! Still silence at 0006, 0048, 0103, 0130 and beyond. Not paying much attention after 0300, but at 0449 yes, still OC, and at 0500 it has been turned off as scheduled. 9810 supposedly starts at 2100 so there you have 8 hours worth of 250 kW burned for nothing (the minuscule amount of juice my receiver consumed monitoring it was insignificant by comparison, and well worth it). What happens tonight Aug 8 at 0500 transition from Spanish to English? At 0501, both 6010 and 6125 are missing. By 0511 recheck, 6010 is on, and 6125 is open carrier; at 0515, English modulation finally joined in progress, but who needs it anyway, with 6010, 6050 and 6060? Next morning, there are not only dead air in Spanish, but numerous distorted modulation problems --- wiggle those patchcords!! 11860 at 1218, modulation very suppressed and distorted 11760 at 1218, is even worse 11690 at 1218, is not so bad, but still affected this way 9550 at 1223, also needs a better connexion 9540 at 1223, from the other site, is OK, but weaker as usual 9850 at 1228, inherits the open carrier/dead air of yesterday; maybe traces of distorted modulation, almost totally suppressed 6150 at 1231, some modulation, but too much CCI from Asia to evaluate 15230 at 1232, modulation OK, on usual weaker signal 17580 at 1233, undermodulated but not distorted 17730 at 1233, undermodulated with some distortion 11860 at 1313, modulation is finally almost normal, as well as 11760, 11690, 13780 15340 at 1320, mod OK, but heavy HCJB Australia CCI as usual lately (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA [and non]. 9490, Aug 8 at 0140, R. República via Guiana French is still strong but weakened a little close to the end of its 2-hour transmission, allowing Cuban noise jamming to be detectable underneath. I imagine it is just as ineffective Dentro-Cuba, except in near proximity to the jamming transmitters. Hey Arnie, how many are they and where are they located? Likely near population centers, as the Caribbean Island Nation is too small to employ skywave jamming against itself, especially on the higher bands; or do they use NVIS for shorter skip zones? But that`s not useful on the higher bands either (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CYPRUS. BBC East Mediterranean Relay Station - Limassol Technical Issues --- Taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/arabic/institutional/2011/01/000000_frequencies_radio2.shtml "Draw your attention to the stop in broadcasting on shortwave 7375 kHz between five o'clock and seven in the evening GMT and on shortwave 5875 kHz between the hours of five and six pm GMT until further notice due to technical failure" [translated from Arabic] What has happened at Limassol? (Stephen Cooper, 1306 UT Aug 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CYPRUS. OTH radar pulsing, presumed from here, all with same pitch: 17838-17863, August 5 at 0319 15798-15827, August 5 at 0316 15052-15079, August 5 at 0457 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DIEGO GARCIA. 4319-USB, 0000 to 0020 pop music under major ute interference, narrow filter 3 August (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, 746Pro, and Mark Coaody, Ont., dxingwithcumbre yg via DXLD) 4319-USB, AFN, 1322-1344, August 8. Phenomenal conditions! Perfect grayline reception!! DG sunset 1311 UT, my local sunrise 1319 UT; daily I check here and only hear strong QRM from the NATO STANAG signal (per Al Muick), but that was totally absent today (very rare!); program of C&W songs; listeners calling in to talk about the Olympics; “American Forces Network” IDs; military spots (US Marines training exercise in the Hawaii; “This is one minute of American history” (San Francisco 1906 quake); promo for “Air Guard”; defines A-W-O-L; etc.); back to C&W songs. MP3 audio posted at https://www.box.com/s/90b59a36de6b661302ee (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ECUADOR. 4781.5, Radio Oriental, Napo *1100 sign 2 August (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, 746Pro, and XM-Cedar Key - South Florida, NRD 525D - R8A - E5, dxingwithcumbre yg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. 9315, August 2 at 0202, R. Cairo English to N America sesquihour is still here, despite alleged plans to switch to 9720. Modulation is so poor I can`t confirm it`s really English, but nothing on 9720. With splatter QRM from their own Arabic trashmitter on 9305, so if for no other reason, they really should move the English to unimpeded 9720. 15610, August 2 at 0401, Qur`an with flutter, undermodulated, not // Saudi Qur`an on 15170. But 15610 cut off abruptly at 0405* --- Allah`ll get `em for that! Thought it might be runover from previous hour but HFCC shows it was start of R. Cairo Swahili service, 04-06, 250 kW, 170 degrees from Abu Zabaal. No doubt fixing R. Cairo is not even a blip on the Moslem Brotherhood to-do roster (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [Re 12-31]: Frequency changes of Radio Cairo from July 19: 1800-1900 NF 9805 ABS 200 kW 325 deg to WeEUR Italian, ex 6270 1900-2000 NF 11560 ABS 200 kW 325 deg to WeEUR German, ex 6270 2000-2115 NF 11560 ABS 200 kW 325 deg to WeEUR French, ex 6270 2115-2245 NF 11890 ABS 200 kW 325 deg to WeEUR English, ex 6270 2300-0030 NF 9965 ABS 200 kW 325 deg to NoEaAM English, ex 6270 0030-0430 NF 9965 ABS 200 kW 325 deg to NoEaAM Arabic, ex 6270 (DX MIX News, Ivo Ivanov-BUL, via wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Aug 1) Did someone hear any Radio Cairo program content on either 9805 or 11560 kHz lately? Nothing heard here on past days, not even 3% audio modulation level, even heard not on headphones. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, 1830 UT Aug 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Right now (2038), on 11560, in French. Bad audio, unreadable (Jean- Michel Aubier, France, Aug 3, ibid.) 2015-2045 UT Nothing on 6270 other than carrier with no modulation, Arabic language broadcast on 9855.07, music & speech on 11560.1, sounds French but rather distorted. 73s (Tony Molloy, nr Winter Hill, UK, SD639114, 53.6 N 2.55 W, IO83ro, ibid.) Radio Cairo on 7 August 2012: [a= abis; z=abu zabaal] Good modulation: 9855z Arabic at 2036. 15480z Arabic at 2335. Slightly too much modulation: 9990a Hausa at 2042. Modulation almost zero: 9280a Russian at 1955, 11560a French at 2049. No carrier on home service channel 9305 at 2001 and at 2104. An UNID carrier with no modulation was on 9300 instead at the same times. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, from the Baltic Sea shore at 54 26 N, 12 41 E. Rx: Perseus SDR, DX-10 Active antenna on a 3m pole in the garden. Stronger signals than on the same setup at home downtown QTH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15610, Aug 8 at 0509, ME music, undermodulated, 0510 mentions Qahira. So tonite unlike August 2 log, R. Cairo managed to stay on the air past 0405 for the 04-06 Swahili broadcast, 250 kW, 170 degrees from Abu Zabaal (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA [and non]. 15190, August 2 at 1950, non-Alamo gospel huxter from R. Africa. I gather from other reports it goes off around 2000 these days. Had het on hi side at G6 = 1568 Hz, off my keyboard, but matched an octave lower, either R. Inconfidência or computer spur. 15190, August 4 at 2033, R. Africa is still on with gospel huxter, as if to contradict my recent remark that they go off around 2000; het de ZY? And after 2000 there is also ACI from stronger YFR Ascension (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5005, Radio Nacional, Bata (presumed), 2025-2035, 05-08, religious program with a man in Spanish "El Rey Salomón", and another man translated into Vernacular. The male voice in Spanish have the characteristic accent of the Radio Bata speakers. At 2035 the transmission cut of abruptly. 34433. (Méndez) 15190, Radio Africa, 0525-0550, 05-08, female, religious talks in English. 24322 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Friol, Sony ICF SW 7600 G, cable antenna, 10 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15190, August 6 at 0603, ``In the Sweet Bye `n` Bye``, harmonious hymn with fiddle, good signal but lofi audio, 0605 into YL gospel huxter. More music, please, from R. Africa! Was not hearing it in the previous hour (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ERITREA. 7110, 1756 1 June, VOBME2, Arabic // 7180 Salam Aleikum, anthem, off 1802, SIO 242 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, HF Logbook, August BDXC-UK Communication, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ESTONIA. Looking thru EiBi for something else, I notice these interesting entries from a non-SWBC country: 3310 0233-0243 EST Tallinn Radio E NEu 3310 0633-0643 EST Tallinn Radio E NEu 3310 1033-1043 EST Tallinn Radio E NEu 3310 1433-1443 EST Tallinn Radio E NEu 3310 1833-1843 EST Tallinn Radio E NEu 3310 2233-2243 EST Tallinn Radio E NEu I assume these are scheduled weather broadcasts in English rather than Estonian, but not VOLMET which is somewhere else in an aero band, altho this is not a real marine band either, and Estonia is hardly tropical. EiBi includes more and more utility `quasi-broadcasts`. Tough luck for me with my local MW mixing product blocking 3310 (Glenn Hauser, Enid OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA. 6110, 19.7 2100, Radio Fana, in local language, chanting. Fades in (in Dominica) around 2040 UT with strength quickly increasing, s/off 2103. 34333 (Stig Hartvig Nielsen, visiting Calibishie, Dominica – two longwires (20 and 50 mts) AOR 7030+, HCDX via DXLD) ** ETHIOPIA. R. Ethiopia External Service and clandestine services were monitored as follows, until 6 July: Voice of Eritrea, Voice of Democratic Alliance and Voice of Peace & Democracy of Eritrea: 0400-0500, 1500-1600, 1800-1830 on 9705 (plus jamming from Eritrea 2 // 7175); External Service 1200-1500 in Somali, Afar, Arabic; 1600-1800 in English, French on 7200. Since 9 July: programs at 1200-1500 & 1600-1800 have been observed on 9705 // 7234.2 and 9558.3 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, DX News, August BDXC-UK Communication, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7200, 1630 1 June, R. Ethiopia, news in English (seems Mon-Fri only), QRM Sudan & Eritrea, SIO 433 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, HF Logbook, August BDXC-UK Communication, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. From Austrian newsgroup: 15355 MDA / 15540 KWT Guten Abend! Wer hilft mir mit der 15355 und 15540 jetzt? Auf zweiter Frequenz schöne asiatische Musik. 55+73! (Andreas Tschauder, QTH: Lauterbach/Vogelsberg/Hessen; RX: Sony ICF 2001D, 7:25 PM Aug 6, A-DX via Wolfgang Büschel, DXLD) 15355 --- Wahrscheinlich ESAT RADIO in Amharisch, von TDP Ludo Maes in Belgien gebrokert, sendet n i c h t jeden Tag, über Grigoriopol Maiac in Moldova, der Geländezaun dort direkt an der Grenze zur Ukraine gelegen. Und auch noch ein 20 kHz digitaler Rauschglocken Störsender aus Addis Ababa-ETH darunter liegend, breitbandig auf 15345-15365 kHz, zischelt so schön wie DRM. Hopping auch noch, die Aussendung kann nächsten Montag bis 15390 kHz hoch die zentrale Frequenz wechseln. 15540 - da fällt mir nur Radio Kuwait ein. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) 15355, Probably ESAT RADIO in Amharic, of TDP Ludo Maes in Belgium brokered, broadcast n o t every day, via Grigoriopol Maiac site in Moldova, area fence direct on the frontier of MDA-Ukraine situated. And also 20 kHz digital NOISE FLOOR White Noise jamming from Addis Ababa-ETH underneath, broadband on 15345-15365 kHz today, like fizzy DRM noise signal. Hopping also, maybe next week vary to 15390 kHz central frequency then. 73 wb (Wolfgang Büschel, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Times not specified, other than local timestamps on mails. 15355 is not in HFCC from TDP, but Aoki shows ESAT Radio, 17-18 UT in Amharic on Mondays only from Moldova, and may skip from 15355 to 15390, along with QRDRM (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. From Laser Hot Hits Facebook (6 Aug): Announcement: Lasers 76M band outlet will be off air until early autumn to carry out engineering work to further improve the signal. Sorry for the inconvenience. 43M continues 24/7 [so 4015 kHz off air but 6980 kHz continues] (via Alan Pennington, BDXC-UK yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DXLD) ** FALKLAND ISLANDS. FALKLAND ISLANDS RADIO ANNIVERSARY - 1 The 30th anniversary of the end of the Falklands War took place, just ten days ago. This brief but decisive conflict began on April 2, 1982; and it lasted a total of just 74 days, ending on June 14, thirty years ago. At 4:30 am local time in the early morning hours of Friday April 2, 1982, Argentine forces successfully deployed an amphibious landing party on the shores of East Falkland Island at Mullet Creek, a small rivulet on a small peninsula some five miles north of Port Stanley. England saw this invasion as a hostile act of war, and Argentina saw this landing as an attempt to reclaim its own rightful territory, the Islas Malvinas. Less than four hours later, another Argentinian invasion party landed ashore at Port Stanley, the capital of the Falklands; and at 9:15 am, Governor Sir Rex Hunt declared a surrender. Later that day, during the afternoon, Governor Hunt and other captured personnel were evacuated by plane to Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay on the South American mainland. When Port Stanley was aware that Argentine forces had successfully landed nearby in the Falklands, the government radio station was quickly activated for the broadcast of special messages to the local inhabitants. At the time, the Falkland Islands Broadcasting Service, FIBS, was operating two broadcast transmitters, 5 kW on 536 kHz & 1 kW on 2370 kHz. Emergency programming consisted of music, known information about the progress of the invasion, counsel as to what islanders should do for self protection, and talks by Governor Hunt. Interestingly, New Zealanders, particularly those living in the Auckland area at the top of the North Island, state that they were able to follow the progress of events in the Falklands by listening to the emergency programming that was on the air from the low powered shortwave station on 2370 kHz. They tell us that this was the first occasion on which FIBS Port Stanley had been logged in New Zealand. Just 50 minutes after the official surrender by the Falklanders to the Argentinians, FIBS Port Stanley returned to the air under the oversight of the Argentine army, with programming on two channels, mediumwave 536 kHz & shortwave 2385 kHz. Three days later, on Monday April 5, the callsign was changed from FIBS to an Argentinian designation, LRA60, and the on air identification announcement became, “Radio Nacional Islas Malvinas”. The island capital was no longer Port Stanley, it was now Puerto Rivero. * Music Insert - Malvinas: March of the Malvinas, orchestra & choir. Regular programming from LRA60 in Puerto Rivero was in both Spanish & English, and it was made up of locally produced programming, together with recordings from the BBC transcription service that were already in the station library. Some shortwave programming was received off air in the Malvinas Islands and this consisted of live relays from the BBC in London, mainly sports programs, and also live relays from Argentina, often via LRA11 Radio Nacional Comodoro Rivadavia. Additional live programming from Argentina, via RAE Radio Argentina Exterior with 100 kW on 6060 kHz, was also inserted into the local programming on the air at Puerto Rivero. For example, this service was noted in Sri Lanka by Victor Goonetilleke on June 6. [Puerto Rivero? We thought Stanley was renamed Puerto Argentino: Spanish Wikipedia explains: ``Durante la ocupación argentina de la ciudad en 1982, el gobierno militar argentino utilizó varias denominaciones para nombrarla en los comunicados de prensa. Entre el 3 y 4 de abril de 1982, la denominó Puerto Rivero; el 5 de abril se utilizó el nombre Puerto de la Isla Soledad; entre el 6 y el 15 de abril se utilizó Puerto de las Islas Malvinas. Finalmente, el gobierno militar, a través del decreto 757/82 del 16 de abril de 1982, renombró la ciudad como Puerto Argentino para reinvindicar su soberanía sobre las islas`` --- gh] Plans were announced that a new pair of radio broadcasting stations would be installed in Puerto Rivero, and these would be on the air under the Argentine callsign LRA50, on 710 kHz mediumwave and 4784 kHz shortwave at a power level of 10 kW. There was also another shortwave station on the air in the Falklands during that era and this was the Cable & Wireless station, C&W, under the callsign VPC. This was a low powered facility operating in the USB, upper side band mode, and logged usually on 24145 kHz. During the Argentine era, this C&W station at times carried the programming from the radio broadcasting service, and this was noted also in New Zealand on 15890 kHz & 24145 kHz. These broadcasts were beamed to Buenos Aires for relay throughout Argentina on many stations, mediumwave & shortwave. At other times, this communication station carried a relay of programming for the benefit of Argentine army personnel, and also regular military traffic. The occupation government retained the services of the C&W station engineer, who it is said, slipped in a few items of interest for official personnel in England who might happen to be listening. The regular programming from the main broadcasting service on 2385 kHz shortwave was terminated at the end of April due to the fact that it was heard in areas too far distant; in Chile for example. Likewise, the mediumwave transmitter on 536 kHz was also closed down in early May for the very same reason, and the programming service in the Malvinas Islands was then available only on “cable radio”. However, as Jerry Berg states in his memorable historic volume, “Broadcasting on the Shortwaves”, the mediumwave station LRA60 was reactivated on June 11 for just one day only in order to carry a live relay of the open air broadcast by the Pope in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A temporary low power TV service was inaugurated in Puerto Rivero on channel 7 on April 3, with a relay in color from Buenos Aires. Then, in another development, an Argentine businessman applied for a license for a regular commercial TV station in the capital city. Also, an amateur station was established under the callsign LU4ARM or LU4ERM to enable servicemen to communicate with families back in Argentina. On the memorable day, Friday June 18, 1982, Argentine forces surrendered to the British. The Malvinas Islands again became the Falklands, and Puerto Rivero again became Port Stanley. Governor Sir Rex Hunt was flown in from Uruguay, and the C&W commercial station resumed communication to London with its regular USB schedule on 19950 & 24145 kHz. Then too, radio broadcasting station LRA60 returned to the air as FIBS. However, due to the fact that the mediumwave facility was damaged in the war events, this station was revived only on shortwave, with 1 kW on 2370 kHz and ½ kW on 3958 kHz. More about the Falklands radio events in coming editions here in Wavescan (Adrian Peterson, AWR Wavescan script for June 24, 2012 via DXLD) ** FALKLAND ISLANDS [non]. FALKLANDS RADIO ANNIVERSARY - 2: THE STORY IN ARGENTINA Just 4 weeks back, we presented the first article in the story of radio broadcasting during the Falklands War, as a 30th anniversary feature. In our program today, we present Part 2 in this our Falkland Islands sequence, and it is the Argentine story of radio broadcasting in association with the Malvinas conflict. As you will remember, Argentine forces invaded the Falkland-Malvinas Islands with a small task force during the early morning hours of Friday April 2, 1982. This first group landed at Mullet Creek, about 5 miles north of the island capital, Port Stanley; and this event was followed by a second landing at Port Stanley itself, less than 4 hours later. Surrender was declared at 9:15 am. Over in Argentina itself, at least three of the prominent radio networks in Buenos Aires, Radio Continental, Radio Rivadavia & Radio del Plata, joined in with the government network, RAE Radio Nacional Argentina, and formed a working relationship for the production and broadcast of programming beamed to the Malvinas Islands. The initial broadcast from this new and temporary programming service was presented on April 8, less than a week after the successful take over of the Malvinas Islands by the Argentine armed forces. The programming from this National Sovereignty Network, as it was called in English, was heard widely throughout Argentina on the government and commercial radio broadcasting networks, mediumwave & shortwave, and it was also beamed to the Malvinas Islands with the use of at least 5 shortwave channels. In addition, RAE Radio Argentina Exterior increased the duration of its daily external service on shortwave, particularly in English. In addition, a new radio service specifically designed for the occasion was inaugurated in Argentina, and this was launched on April 22, as Radio Liberty. This new shortwave programming, 40 minutes in duration, was on the air sometimes three or four times daily, and it was voiced by a well known TV news anchor in Buenos Aires, Silvia Fernández Barrio. Programming for Radio Liberty was produced in available radio studios in Buenos Aires; and in like vein to Tokyo Rose of World War 2 fame, the Argentine girl was dubbed by the English as “Argentine Annie”. The broadcasts of Radio Liberty were in English and they were beamed on shortwave to the British armed forces in the Malvinas area. Known channels for this Radio Liberty were 15115 kHz, 17740 kHz & 25680 kHz. The final broadcast went to air on June 22. We would ask the question: What were the transmitters that were in use for these special broadcasts beamed to the Malvinas Islands? And where were they located? In answer, we would suggest that the Argentine authorities used what ever was available at the time. Radio Argentina Exterior, RAE, was known to be on the air during that era with just one shortwave transmitter, a five year old 100 kW Harris transmitter from the United States, operating at half power, 50 kW. This unit was installed in the large transmitter plant, near Buenos Aires, General Pacheco, which houses many other shortwave transmitters that are in use for national, maritime & international communication. It would be presumed that some of the 10 kW units at General Pacheco were also in use for the shortwave broadcasts beamed to the Malvinas area, depending on the time of day and the frequencies in use. It is also probable that several of the lower powered regional shortwave commercial transmitters throughout Argentina were also carrying the combined programming from the National Sovereignty Network whenever it was scheduled. In addition, a list of shortwave stations in use for the Malvinas programming specifically identifies Radio Nacional Mendoza in the Radio Sovereignty Network. This regional shortwave station, LRA34, was on the air with 1 kW on 6180 kHz. It is stated also that Radio Liberty was on the air at varying times on three shortwave channels, 15115, 17740 & 25680 kHz. We would suggest that some of the 10 kW transmitters located at the large shortwave station identified as General Pacheco were on the air for this purpose. At one stage, it was suggested back then that the programming from Radio Liberty was produced and broadcast from a radio station located in Algeria. The reason for this conjecture lies in the fact that the 25 MHz channel for Radio Liberty was the same as for a shortwave station located in Algeria. However, the same channel in use by two different stations was simply a coincidence and it is understood that this Radio Liberty originated in already established facilities in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In addition to the program broadcasts on shortwave, the Argentine authorities also attempted to jam three of the British program services on shortwave that were beamed to the area: BBC World Service to Latin America, from England & other relay locations Radio Atlántico del Sur from Ascension British Forces Broadcasting Service from Ascension DX reports at the time state that the jamming against Atlántico del Sur was rather ineffective, and it is suggested that the jamming transmitters in Argentina were lower powered units at Transradio Internacional, at the General Pacheco location. A few lonely QSLs were obtained from Radio Liberty in Buenos Aires by international radio monitors living in the United States and New Zealand (Adrian Peterson, AWR Wavescan script for July 22, 2012 via DXLD) FALKLAND ISLANDS RADIO ANNIVERSARY - PART 3: RADIO STORY IN ENGLAND In two previous editions of Wavescan, we have presented the story of radio broadcasting in the Falkland Islands during the era of the Falkland War, back just 30 years ago. On those two occasions, you heard the story of radio broadcasting in the Malvinas Islands during the era of Argentine occupation, followed by the radio story in Argentina itself. So, stay tuned today, and you will hear the story of radio broadcasting in England during that same time period of 74 days, a little over 10 weeks, running from April to mid June in the year 1982. In the era before the beginning of the Falklands War, the BBC in London was on the air shortwave with a regular program beamed to the Falkland Islands every Sunday under the rather appropriate title, “Calling the Falklands”. This program was on the air at 2200 UTC, corresponding to 7:00 pm in the Falklands. “Calling the Falklands” was a half-sesqui-hour program containing items and information of interest to the 2,000 inhabitants living in the Falklands. Back then, this program was beamed to the Falklands on two high powered shortwave transmitters located in England, 100 kW and/or 250 kW, and transmitting on 9915 kHz & 12040 kHz. This BBC program was usually received in the Falklands and relayed live over the local mediumwave and shortwave transmitters of FIBS, the Falkland Island Broadcasting Service. Back then, FIBS was on the air mediumwave with 5 kW on 536 kHz, and shortwave with 1 kW on 2370 kHz. However, at the onset of the Falkland War in April 1982, the BBC increased their program, “Calling the Falklands” from one broadcast each week on Sundays, to three broadcasts a week, on Sundays, Tuesdays & Thursdays from 2120 to 2200 UT. To ensure adequate propagation to the Falklands, these programs were transferred from home based transmitters in England, to transmitters located on Ascension Island, half way to the Falklands. The two channels in use on Ascension were 11820 kHz & 15400 kHz, both at 250 kW. These increased broadcasts from the BBC were also relayed over the two active transmitters at Port Stanley in the Falklands. Then, beginning on April 26, this dedicated BBC program was increased from 3 times each week to a regular daily broadcast each evening. The feeder transmitters in England beamed the Falklands programming to Ascension Island on two channels, 15670 & 19455 kHz, both in the SSB, single side band mode, and Ascension relayed the broadcasts onward to the Falklands on the same previous two channels, 11820 & 15400 kHz. Beginning in early May, a new programing service from England was beamed to the Falklands, and these broadcasts were aired under the title, “Radio Atlántico del Sur”. The Ministry of Defence in London took over part time one of the 250 kW shortwave transmitters at the BBC relay station on Ascension Island, and the programming was beamed to the Falklands area on 9700 kHz in the morning and 9710 kHz in the evening. * Program Insert --- Radio Atlántico del Sur This de facto radio programming was on the air for just 28 days, beginning on May 19, and ending with the final broadcast on June 15. This shortlived radio “station” was noted with strong signals almost worldwide. Then too, we should remember that BFBS, the British Forces Broadcasting Service, also came into the act, and they produced special programming in their London studios for the benefit of British personnel on duty in the Falklands area. These broadcasts were on the air, again from Ascension, on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays on two channels, 17830 & 21490 kHz. During this same era, the BBC markedly increased the output of its daily Spanish Service beamed to Latin America, and this was heard over multiple shortwave outlets in England, Ascension Island, Delano in the United States, Sackville in Canada, and the Caribbean Island of Antigua. Interestingly, one of the large radio broadcasting stations located in Santiago, Chile carried a full daily relay of the BBC Latin American Service in Spanish during this era. This station was Radio Mineira [sic], and it was on the air with three transmitters in parallel:- Radio Minería CB106 100 kW 1060 kHz AM Mediumwave CE607 2 6075 Shortwave CE11960 5 11960 Shortwave There was another radio broadcasting service on the air in the Falklands area during the Falklands War and this was a series of spontaneous transmissions by the Costa Rican borne son of a British diplomat. Captain Roderick Bell, Royal Marine on HMS “Fearless”, spoke fluent Spanish and for a period of 10 days he broadcast frequent appeals over army radio to the Argentine officers & army conscripts, offering surrender and repatriation. Fruition came on the final day, June 14, when surrender was agreed upon and the documents were signed in Port Stanley. Regarding QSL cards for the British broadcasts to the Falklands, many were issued. Those international radio monitors who were official monitors for the BBC obtained BBC cards with the brief QSL details typed in or hand written; and QSL cards verifying the reception of Radio Atlántico del Sur & BFBS were issued from their respective offices in London (Adrian Peterson, AWR Wavescan script for Aug 5 via DXLD) ** FAROE ISLANDS. Utvarp Foroya (tentative), 7 Aug 2012, 2255 UT, 531 kHz, (45333), non-stop pop music. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, from the Baltic Sea shore at 54 26 N, 12 41 E. Rx: Perseus SDR, DX-10 Active antenna on a 3m pole in the garden. Stronger signals than on the same setup at home downtown QTH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** FIJI [non]. [Re 12-31] Glenn, I'm sorry for the mistake, but for me it's not a problem if the reception came from one or another WHR transmitting site, I only was happy to hear this new SW service, even if with a very low signal. But my area of course is not the programme target. Now, as always, I wait for a station reply (Luca Botto Fiora, Italy, playdx yg via DXLD) ** GERMANY. Zehlendorf 177 kHz off air? Hallo Kai, Do you know, why Deutschland Radio Kultur has been away from 177 kHz since Monday morning this week? For maintenance maybe or is it a "stealthy" closing? Best 73 (Ydun Ritz, Aug 2, mediumwave.info via Kai Ludwig, dxldyg via DXLD) Guten Abend, it's maintenance. People who asked have been told that it's supposed to continue throughout August and that the transmitter is supposed to be switched on overnight, from 8 PM to 7 AM or thereabouts (well, tonight at 20:38 CET it is still off). No further details emerged so far, but there are hardly other explanations than extensive work on the antenna. And there is no longer a back-up antenna, the Dreieckflächenantenne (don't have the English term at hand) that previously existed had been decommissioned in 1999, when the current solid-state transmitter took over, and subsequently demolished. Not even to dream of a complete back-up facility since the longwave equipment at Königs Wusterhausen had been finally shut down in 1999, too. Still this is of course pretty excessive, and an obvious question could be turned around into why they bother at all if the transmission contract expires in 2016 anyway? Or, to throw in a little conspiracy theory, is the "maintenance" in fact a test? All the best, (Kai Ludwig, ibid.) 177 kHz Zehlendorf - Deutschland Radio off air? Anybody knows why Deutschland Radio Kultur on 177 kHz has been off air for the last 3 days? (Ydun Ritz, Denmark, 2 August, MWCircle yg via DXLD) Hi Ydun, just called their listener´s service. Till August 31, every (week?)day from 0500 till 1800 UT the transmitter on 177 kHz will be off the air for maintenance purposes. This somehow depends on the weather, so maybe on some days the transmitter will be on the air, on others not. From September, 177 kHz should be back on every day. 73 (Harald Kuhl, Germany, ibid.) ** GERMANY. One of the four masts of the 183 kHz antenna at Felsberg (Saarland) has been partly destroyed this morning. Its upper parts broke off, apparently after guy ropes ruptured: http://www.sr-online.de/nachrichten/1668/1463055.html (The article, which btw. is written in remarkably poor German and uses send in photos without paying royalties, obvious from the "Foto: privat" credit, specifies the location as Berus, which is another, larger but more distant village.) Apparently the two mast back-up antenna is now in use instead, obvious from the reception in Germany which is clean now. On the main antenna it uses to be horribly distorted trash, caused by the circumstance that it uses a very deep null (quoted are up to 20 dB) which effectively suppresses the carrier but has way too little bandwith to do the same with the sidebands, too. The incident has perhaps not been noted in France at all, no own reports from Europe 1 have been spotted so far. Here's some material from the seventies. I'm not aware of any more recent documentations, including the basic details of the transmission equipment which very likely has been replaced since: http://tvignaud.pagesperso-orange.fr/am/e1/fr-e1.htm (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Or not?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LExYtuQzFyQ Meanwhile the Saarbrücken offices of Lagardere / Europe 1 said on enquiry that nobody there will say anything to news media. Muzzle from Paris it seems, from where thus no reports/statements are to be expected either (Kai Ludwig, ibid.) to be continued ** GERMANY. [Re 12-31] 04/08-2012 --- In the period 4th to 11th August Welle 370 will transmit with 9 watt [810 kHz] via a T-antenna from the historical transmittersite of Königswusterhausen near Berlin. Most days transmissions from 11 - 20 GMT. 15-minuts resume will be sent via Radio 700 in Kall/G. More information http://welle370.funkerberg.de/index.php/aktuelles/tagebuch 73 Karl Erik Stridh, nordx yg (3/8-2012) (Ydun`s Mediumwave Info via DXLD) 9 watts!? In effect, never mind (gh) ** GERMANY. 1593 khz occupied again? Mittelwelle 1593 kHz aus Kall-Krekel --- Hallo, Freunde der amplitudenmodulierten Rundfunktechnik. Es wird spannend am oberen Ende der Mittelwellenskala. Nach 5 Jahren erfolgreichem Funken auf bis zu 4 Kurzwellenfrequenzen (3955, 5980, 6005 und 6085 kHz) wird es Zeit für neue Herausforderungen. 10 kW auf Welle 194m = 1593 kHz. Dieser Blog zeigt die Entwicklung des zunächst 6-monatigen Testbetriebs, den Aufbau der Sendeanlage und der Antenne, den Sendeplan, bis hin zum hoffentlichen Regelbetrieb im nächsten Jahr. This can be read on http://www.1593.eu Kall Krekel, Germany has a license to test on 1593 khz till the 14th of February 2013. Next week they start to build the antenna (Max van Arnhem, The Netherlands, Aug 8, MWCircle yg via DXLD) Translated: Medium wave 1593 kHz from Kall Krekel Hello, friends of the amplitude-modulated radio technology. After 5 years of successful short-wave frequencies (3955, 5980, 6005 and 6085 kHz), it's time for new challenges. 10 kW on 194 m = 1593 kHz. This blog shows the development of the test operation of the first month, the transmitter and the antenna, the schedule to the control operation in the next year (via Barry : -) Davies, Carlisle UK, ibid.) ** GERMANY. 3955, presumed R. 700/"Welle 370 Koenigswusterhausen", Kall, 0310-0355 Aug 6 German; Announcer with talk and pop music selections, including The Eagles, Neil Young & Lionel Richie; into relay of presumed Welle 370 at 0340 with wind instrument flourish (clarinet?); M & W announcers with banter; pop music tune at 0345; another clarinet bit at 0347 with more M & W announcers; again at 0351 into presumed listener phone-call; another clarinet bit at 0355 and snippet of Lou Reed's "Take a Walk on the Wild Side" then back to scheduled Radio 700 at 0355; poor with no discernible ID noted for either program; Welle 370 Koenigswusterhausen is scheduled via Radio 700 relay at *0340-0355* beginning August 5th through August 12th; tnx Wolfgang Bueschel tip (Barbour-NH) 3995, HCJB, Weenermoor, 0249-0310 Aug 6 German/Russian; M announcer with talk into choral music at 0250; ID over music at 0300 into W announcer with Russian service; choral music & talk; fair in ECSS-LSB (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. July QSLs: Nord AM 6005 QSL in 34 days. Report sent to nordam @ shortwaveservice.com Transport Radio 6095 QSL in 53 days. Report sent to info @ transportradio.nl Good QSLing! (Christian Ghibaudo, France, via Dario Monferini, DXLD) ** GERMANY. Radio 6150, 8 Aug 2012, 2349 UT, 6070 kHz (35333) with ID loop in German and English, asking me to stay tuned to be there when the station's re-launch comes in August (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, logs from the Baltic shore, with Perseus SDR and DX-10 active antenna out in the garden, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY. 7265, 0655 24 June, Hamburger Lokal R, end of gh`s WORLD OF RADIO, then OM Talk in German, SIO 252 (Alan Roe, Middx, HF Logbook, August BDXC-UK Communication, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) Was UT Sunday, but now on UT Saturdays from 0630 (gh) Hamburger Lokalradio. 7264.97. Herr Michael Kittner responded to my email in which I inquired whether my 0500-0615 July 28 log was in fact HLR. He confirmed, and asked for my physical address for their QSL. Happy with this one. (Terry L. Krueger, Clearwater FL, JRC NRD-535; ICOM IC-R75; Sony ICF-7600GR; Sangean PR-D5; Aqua Guide 705 RDF Marine Radio; GE Superadio III; 1 X roof dipole; 1 X room random wire; Terk Advantage non-active portable loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 7265, Hamburger Lokal Radio, *0500-0515, 04-08, program in Spanish: "Radio Tropicana, Radio Tropicana", Latin American songs. 44444. 7265, Radio Gloria International, *0800-0830, 05-08, opening with identification: "Radio Gloria International", pop music. Weak. 14321. (Méndez) 9480, Radio Gloria International, *1000-1023, 05-08, opening with identification in English: "Radio Gloria International", pop music and comments. 34433. 6140, MV Baltic Radio, *0900-0920, 05-08, tuning music, identification in German and English: "This is MV Baltic Radio", comments in German and music. 34433 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Friol, Sony ICF SW 7600 G, cable antenna, 10 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GERMANY EAST. [Re 12-31]: RBI back on SW?? > Most of the photos are on this blog, the ones in the July 24 > entry have many that presumably are of the station itself and > its transmitter site. > http://rbi-radio-berlin-inter.blogspot.co.uk/ Sort of. This is just random material for the Nalepastraße and Nauen, Königs Wusterhausen keywords. What the photos show is not necessarily related to RBI (the studio, as an example, is H 1, the largest radioplay studio, which had nothing to do with RBI). > > > We await comments from BR Germans about what this is all > > > about; nostalgia for the ancien regime? (Glenn Hauser, DX > > > LISTENING DIGEST) Bayerischer Rundfunk Germans...? Just ask what RBI has to do with the Wustermark marshalling yard (nowadays known as depot of new Bombardier trainsets that have been produced but lack a type approval) and a former military facility at Zittau, and you have the answer. It does not take much to set up an online radio, and I have to admit that I'm quite amused about the enthusiasm about it. It says something about the current media scene and its surroundings (Kai Ludwig, ex- DDR, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) BR = Bundesrepublik, ya know? Re: RBI-Radio-Berlin-International is back and begins broadcasting Una extraña pero interesante noticia. El link donde supuestamente accederíamos al streaming 24 horas no funciona. Sin embargo si entramos al sitio web indicado abajo encontramos un link "Live Sendung", pero el mismo no es streaming, solo un archivo de audio (en alemán [e inglés, como dije antes --- gh]) de una hora de duración. Al menos podemos escuchar allí la señal de intervalo y música de apertura basada en el himno de la DDR (Auferstanden aus Ruinen). Me pregunto cuál es el trasfondo de esto que parece ser un emprendimiento totalmente voluntario, es decir si la idea es crear una emisora on-line (una más de tantas) que pretende capitalizar una audiencia que alguna vez existió. 73 (Moisés Knochen, Uruguay, Aug 5, condiglist yg via DXLD) ** GOA. 15175, INDIA (GOA), All India Radio, 1550 Aug 3, Gujarati, woman briefly, then some dead air, seemed to be having problem with CD player, occasional “plink” of sound, then Indian song start and stop a couple of times, 1555 animated talking and also a child, 1559:30 closing announcement and carrier off after 1600. Fair (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Listening lakeside from my car with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 active antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUAM. 11825, Adventist World Radio, KSDA, 1620 Aug 3, English, Gospel songs, man and woman telling a modern prodigal son story, closing at 1626 with ID, address and email. Good, // 15360 barely audible. (Sellers-BC) 11740, Adventist World Radio, KSDA, 1646 Aug 3, English, with identical program heard a half hour earlier on 11825. Fair (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) ** GUIANA FRENCH. 17875 DRM, August 2 at 1946, following yesterday`s mystery DRM transmission just after 19 UT, checking today but not on; could have been a mere tuneup for the upcoming 2000 broadcast --- can`t be done unobtrusively like an AM open carrier --- it`s all or nothing with DRM, full noise level even if no modulation contained (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. subcontinent DX - August 2 Highlight Itanagar On Today 1320 UT Obs: 4850 kHz AIR Kohima not available - off air 4750 BGD great as usual 4775 kHz Imphal nice clear signal but low modulation 4990 kHz Itanagar Great Signal 4940 kHz Guwahati good & steady 4910 kHz Jaipur fair but high splash from 4920/4905 China 4895 kHz Kurseong fair but low modulation 4880 kHz Lucknow nice & clear As good as usual 4835 kHz Gangtok fair with local thunderstorms 4821 kHz Kolkata much better than other days even with co channel 4820 4810 kHz Bhopal good signal but splash from 4820... 4800 kHz Hyderabad weak and down under China 4760 kHz Port Blair faint (Partha Sarathi Goswami, Siliguri, W.B., India, 1341 UT Aug 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Partha, I suspected I was hearing AIR Itanagar on 4990 about the same time today that you were listening, but for me was a weak signal. Thanks for your confirmation. Definitely was not China (PBS Hunan) which is sometimes heard. After yesterday’s nice AIR Kohima reception on 4850, it was certainly missed today, being off the air. To your excellent list I can only add 4970 AIR Shillong. Heard from 1246 to end of program at 1315; YL DJ in English playing pop songs (“You Light Up My Life”, etc.); audio is still good; about 1306-07 their transmitter cut in and out a few times, but always came back on. BTW – AIR Guwahati (4940) for me is usually totally covered by a strong Voice of Strait (China) and AIR Gangtok (4835) is totally covered by ABC Alice Springs (Australia). RRI Makassar dominates for me on 4750. Thanks for your first hand observations from India! (Ron Howard, Monterey, Calif., USA, ibid.) Today Itanagar 4990 kHz was giving a beautiful clean signal - no other station disturbed here at my QTH today, both signal & modulation was right till 14 UT; after that modulation or audio degraded for some reason, 1430 signed off, there was no audio around 1403 for few minutes (Partha Sarathi Goswami, Siliguri, W.B., India, Aug 2, ibid.) ** INDIA. Sub-Continent DX August 3 - AIR Kohima On, Itanagar Off Observation Today at 1255 UT: 4850 kHz AIR Kohima putting good signal and clear audio 4990 kHz AIR Itanagar not available (monitoring since 11 UT) 4775 kHz AIR Imphal is noisy and weak than yesterday 4820/4820.8 kHz AIR Kolkata was more stronger today around 1130 UT but now the Chinese txr rullz (Partha Sarathi Goswami, Siliguri, W.B., India, 1313 UT Aug 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Partha, Could 4990 (AIR Itanagar) been late signing on? Heard station there August 3 from 1316 to 1326 sounding very much Itanagar with repetitive indigenous singing/chanting. Brief MP3 audio posted at https://www.box.com/s/1a5e89fff6eda3acb7b3 Signal strength and content seemed to be non-PBS Hunan (China). Better reception than yesterday. AIR Kohima (4850) back after yesterday’s hiatus; nice Grayline reception here; Kohima sunset 1228 UT and Monterey sunrise 1315; segment in English at 1302 with ID and mentioned Olympics; another ID and seemed tentatively to be recap of Olympics; 1313 to 1337 possibly their program for the local Naga people which starts and ends with usual stringed indigenous theme music; 1340-1350 news in Hindi; 1350-1400* news in English; mostly poor and at times heavy QRM from utility station here. Sign off time varies (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, Calif., USA, ibid.) Today's good news for me was that AIR Kohima (4850) was again heard, this time till 1400 sign-off (Ron Howard, Monterey, Calif., 1714 UT Aug 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Dear Ron, Greetings, The recording you provided is exactly regional/indigenous song by group from Arunachal Pradesh http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arunachal_Pradesh that means they might have a power problem at transmitter site or something - so they started after 13 UT and which I missed, thanks for sharing - your contributions are always praised & well appreciated. Today the Kohima did well, wish they can continue regularly. I would love if you who listen can send letters to them occasionally, even complaining for not transmitting; even if you don't get any reply remember that fuels to keep the station on! What I learned when AIR Ranchi stopped transmitting on Shortwave - they didn't get any complaint in within Two years - hence they dumped the plan to repair it! 73s, (Partha Sarathi Goswami, WB, ibid.) Don`t write off All India Radio, Ranchi on SW. They will be back on SW with a a bang sooner or later. Tenders have been floated for purchase of spares for their reactivation on SW. -- Thanking you, Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, India, Aug 4, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) That's a good news indeed, but last year when I talked to AIR Eastern Regional HQ at Kolkata they told me so, that they are not any more trying to restore it, I found it hopeless (Partha Sarathi Goswami, Siliguri, W.B., India, ibid.) Viz, from Nov 1, 2011: Just talked to a person in the office of Additional Director General (E)(East Zone) (in Kolkata) All India Radio, and found the fact that AIR Ranchi will not return to SW any more, it was closed for more than 2 years and no listener complained about it, hence they stopped it. And it will not return on SW. The number was +91-33-22438547. So always send your mails to stations you listen otherwise you may not know your one letter can be a drop to build an ocean. AIR Kohima and Itanagar fall under AIR GUWAHATI, some one can try to talk with them if possible, I discussed in Bengali - as it was comfortable for both of us. The person also confirmed that 594 kHz Mogra (near Kolkata) HPT 1000 kW MW will return by February 2012 as up-gradation is going on now. – (Thanks & Regards, Partha Sarathi Goswami, Siliguri, Dist. Darjeeling, West Bengal, INDIA, Nov 1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DXLD) 4970, AIR Shillong. Since June 1 have enjoyed hum-free reception, but sad to say the adjustment made to their transmitter did not last long! August 7 again heard with prominent audio hum; noted 1313 to 1317 (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. AIR Bengaluru changes --- Dear Friends, As one 500 kW SW transmitter at AIR Bengaluru is being replaced by a new DRM one, the following changes are noted from there. 11620 1215-1315 Burmese changed to Delhi 9690 1330-1500 English dropped 11620 1615-1715 Russian dropped Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, India, Aug 5, dxldygd via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9690, August 7 at 1417, still no signal from AIR GOS English sesquihour to SE Asia, but a frequency which used to make it here on good days from 1330. Jose Jacob reports that AIR has deliberately closed down this and some other frequencies from Bengaluru in order to install a new DRM transmitter. Try // 11620 and 13695 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 500 kW A/DRM transmitter from Riz for AIR Bengaluru on its way --- The new 500 kW AM/DRM transmitter consignment (10 containers) from Riz [Croatian manufacturer] is expected to reach Bengaluru tentatively on 23rd August 2012. http://tenders.indiamart.com/details/965808479/ (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, dx_india yg via DXLD) But how many transmitters? (gh) ** INDIA. AIR SPECIAL BROADCASTS ON INDEPENDENCE DAY India is celebrating its Independence Day on August 15. All India Radio will broadcast the running commentary in English and Hindi on the Flag Hoisting and Prime Minister`s speech to be held at Red Fort, New Delhi between 0135-0240 UT (0705-0810 hrs IST) on 15th August, 2012 (Wednesday) on the following frequencies. English: 13620 Bengaluru 500 kW 15050 Delhi 250 kW 17510 Delhi 250 kW Note: On 17510 interference expected from BBC Hindi: 6030 Delhi 250 KW 6155 Aligharh 250 kW 9595 Delhi 250 KW 11620 Bengaluru 500 KW (Note: External Services in Urdu on 6155, 9595, 11620 are replaced by commentary at this time) The Regional SW Stations will start using their daytime frequencies about 1 hour or more earlier than usual on 15th August as follows to relay the Commentary. This may provide enhanced reception of stations than on normal days. The sign on schedule for that day is as follows with normal sign on timings in brackets. 1. BHOPAL 0130 UT (Ex 0225) 7430 2. CHENNAI 0130 UT (Ex 0300) 7380 3. HYDERABAD 0130 UT (Ex 0225) 7420 4. IMPHAL 0130 UT (Ex 0225) 7335 5. KOLKATA 0130 UT (Ex 0230) 7210 6. PORT BLAIR 0130 UT (Ex 0315) 7390 7. SHIMLA 0025 UT (Ex 0215) 6020 8. THIRUVANTHAPURAM 0130 UT (Ex 0230) 7290 Note: Srinagar will not change to 6110 at 0215 but will continue on 4950. All stations of AIR will relay the running commentary. Reception Reports to : spectrum-manager @ air.org.in OR Director (Spectrum Management & Synergy) All India Radio, Room No. 204 Akashvani Bhawan, Parliament Street New Delhi 110001, India Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, India Mobile: +91 94416 96043 http://www.qsl.net/vu2jos Aug 7, dx_india yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DXLD) ** INDONESIA. 3325, RRI Palangkaraya, 1221, August 6, playing the patriotic song “Dirgahayu Indonesiaku” at the conclusion of the Jakarta News relay; probably will continue with this throughout August. MP3 audio: https://www.box.com/s/40922c8d849461cd0e41 (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, August 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 4750, RRI Makassar, 1204 Aug 6, Indonesian, playing back to back Indo pop songs. No sign of Bangladesh Betar on this frequency Fair (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Listening lakeside in my car with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 active antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. Greetings from California! Very nice to catch three stations returning to the air today (Aug. 5) after having been absent for a while. 4869.9 - RRI Wamena with Jakarta News relay in progress at 1205; not playing the usual "Bagimu Negeri" (For You Our Country) song at the conclusion of the news relay, but as Alan Davies (Indonesia) predicted in April, they now play the patriotic song "Dirgahayu Indonesiaku" in honour of Indonesia's Independence Day (August 17). This was almost as strong as // RRI Palangkaraya on 3325! All of which made for a most enjoyable DXing session! (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also AUSTRALIA; PAPUA NEW GUINEA 4869.9, RRI Wamena was a one day only reactivation (Aug 5)? Not heard since! (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, August 7, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 9680, August 5 at 1404, Qur`an, no doubt RRI, and nice for a change without any CCI from the China radio war, which per Aoki supposedly lasts from 1100 to 1700/1705. 9680, August 7 at 1327, RRI with Indonesian talk and music, the Chinese radio war only causing a weak SAH; at 1417 in Qur`an even less CCI; cantor has quite a hi-pitched voice: could it be a child, eunuch, or Allah-forbid, a woman? Those straying IndoMoslems! Meanwhile, still no signal on 9526 from VOI English which during this Tuesday hour might have been on an `Exotic Indonesia` co-produxion with RRI Banjarmasin. Atsunori Ishida has no logs of this at any hour in August, last heard July 26 until 1500, and I cannot disagree. Also after 1400, CRI Russian 9525.0 had no het at all. Of course, since VOI could not modulate it to any audible level, they might as well turn 9526 off (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [non]. JODRELL BANK OBSERVATORY FOUNDER SIR BERNARD LOVELL DIES --- BBC News 7 August 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19164236#?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed Pioneering astronomer and physicist Sir Bernard Lovell has died aged 98. Sir Bernard, who was born near Bristol and studied in the city, was the founder of University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory. Jodrell Bank and the surrounding Cheshire countryside is dominated by the Lovell Radio Telescope, which was conceived by Sir Bernard. Professor Brian Cox, who knew Sir Bernard, said he was "an inquisitive scientist all the way". A book of condolence has been opened at the observatory's Discovery Centre. Sir Bernard was born in Oldland Common, Gloucestershire, in 1913 and studied at the University of Bristol before joining the University of Manchester's Department of Physics in 1936. During World War II he led a team developing radar technology, for which he was later awarded an OBE. Following the war, he returned to the university and set about planning the observatory. His iconic 76 m (249 ft) telescope was completed in 1957. Within days of it becoming operational, it tracked the rocket that carried Sputnik 1 into orbit. The Lovell Telescope was completed in 1957 and is the third largest steerable telescope in the world. The structure remains the third largest steerable telescope in the world and plays a key role in global research on pulsating stars, testing extreme physics theories including Einstein's general theory of relativity. The telescope and his other contributions to radio astronomy led to him being knighted in 1961. A spokesman for the university said Sir Bernard was "warm and generous". He said the astronomer had "retained a keen interest in the development of science at Jodrell Bank and beyond". The spokesman added: "Indeed he continued to come in to work at the Observatory until quite recently when ill health intervened." Sir Bernard was also an accomplished musician, a keen cricketer and an internationally-renowned arboriculturalist who created an arboretum at Jodrell Bank. He is survived by four of his five children, 14 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. Professor Cox, who met Sir Bernard after joining the University of Manchester in the 1990s, said: "I remember once I went to his house and immediately he said 'ah Cox, tell me about this muon' [a sub- atomic particle]. "He knew that I was doing particle physics and thought back to the last time he had thought about such things - he'd been thinking about astronomy for decades - and that's what he wanted to talk about. "That was him - all his life, he was a scientist. "He was a pioneer of radio astronomy and almost invented the subject. "He built the leading telescope and that radio study of the sky has contributed a vast amount to our understanding of the universe." (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DXLD) obit A PERSONAL REFLECTION --- My father was one of the most eminent particle physicists based at Manchester University. I was privileged as a child to have Sir Bernard invited to supper at my home. When my father died I was astonished to see Sir Bernard at my father's funeral. I went on many trips to Jodrell Bank to admire the huge (at least it was then) Radio Telescope. 73's (Dan Goldfarb (owner of mwmasts Yahoo Group), dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL VACUUM [non]. 9410, August 6 at 0530, BBCWS via SOUTH AFRICA, news headline that Curiosity was about to have landed on Mars, my cue to turn on CNN immediately, to witness the jubilation at JPL and then the first low-res shots appeared; WTFK? As a funder and space exploration enthusiast, I too am jubilant, altho somewhat less overtly (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) For more information on the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mars and http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl Follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at: ttp://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity http://www.southgatearc.org/news/august2012/nasa_lands_car_size_rover_beside_martian_mountain.htm (Southgate via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL WATERS [and non]. Growth continues for the ILLW Southgate By Jim Linton VK3PC August 4, 2012 http://www.southgatearc.org/news/august2012/record_year_for_the_illw.htm With less than two weeks to go, the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend (amateur radio) continues to grow in its 15th year. The 48 hour fun event has steadily grown from the 158 in its first year and most of those early registrations continue to be involved. In the United Kingdom there are 60, and half of those can be found in England. There are plenty throughout Europe including Germany on 52 and The Netherlands 25. North, Central and South America have more than 80 stations registered with Argentina, Canada, Chile, Curacao, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and Puerto Rico plus 55 in the USA. Nearly 70 been received from Australia and New Zealand, South Africa has 15 and no matter where you are there will be plenty to work. Most issue special QSL cards. The mainstream media continues to run the story. The Clare Herald reports that the Loop Head Lighthouse in County Clare will be on air courtesy the Limerick Radio Club EI0LHL. It will join others to participate in promoting public awareness of lighthouses and lightships and their need for preservation and restoration. The International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend is on August the 18th and 19th. Visit its website http://ILLW.NET to make an online registration, read the guidelines and explore it for more details (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** IRAN. 11920, August 5 at 0327, VIRI musical prélude/IS, fair signal and nothing on 13 MHz yet; 0330 three chimes and V. of Justice ID, opening to NAm, now also on // 13650 as announced, unheard on 99.5 MHz for Tehran, online or satellite. 0332.5 into Qur`an for three minutes --- do they really think this is the best way to greet a non-Islamic audience? After that, announcer rather muffled and hard to understand. By 0408, 13650 is stronger than 11920 interviewing someone with American accent, but 13650 now also has CCI making copy even harder, presumably R. Cairo in Swahili as scheduled from 0400. VIRI still hasn`t managed to find two clear frequency-hours a day for its only North American service in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRAN [non]. 9760, Aug 4 at 0520 pop music, off at 0530*. HFCC shows IBB Persian, i.e. R. Farda, 0230-0530, 100 kW, 108 degrees from Lampertheim, GERMANY (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND. (Bad) Radio News from Ireland --- The planned closure of Malin Head and Valentia Radios seems like it is going ahead but there are protests. DXers may have heard them on their “Medium Frequency” channels (e.g., 1752 or 1677 kHz) in winter. [I always count this part of the dial as lower SW, anything above 1600 or 1700 kHz, whatever the ITU says]. Valentia is in the far southwest. It has a very long history, going back to the Marconi years and before Irish independence. Malin Head is near the northernmost tip of Ireland, close to Northern Ireland: that station has been active at least since the 1920s. This is the latest story from the national Sunday Independent newspaper: http://www.independent.ie/national-news/coast-guard-station-cuts-will-cost-lives-3190029.html (Derek Lynch, Ireland, Aug 6, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** IRELAND [non]. Life FM from Cork via HCJB 3995 kHz Hello folks! HCJB Germany is now broadcasting LIfe-FM every night from 2230 to 0000 UT on 3995 kHz in the 75m Band. Life-FM is a Christian community radio from Cork in Ireland. More Information can be found on: http://www.lifefm.ie/life/Index.html It would be quite interesting for us to know how reception is over Europe. 73, (Stephan Schaa, HCJB Germany, Aug 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3995, 2247 12 July, Life FM, via HCJB Germany? Irish DJ, ID, pop- music, English, SIO 454 (Alan Pennington, Lancs., Tropical Bands Logbook, August BDXC-UK Communication, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3995, 2305 6 July, Life FM, via HCJB, Weernamoor, Germany, news, weather for Cork, ID, http://www.lifefm.ie Bible promo, English, SIO 444 (Dave Kenny, Berks., ibid.) So this had been going for quite a while before the previous DXLD item above arrived (gh) see EUROPE ** ISRAEL. 15850, August 5 at 0315, Galei Tsahal unusually good at S9+15 in Hebrew narration with music. But by 0458 had become JBA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ITALY [non]. 15215, August 2 at *1358, brand-new clear frequency for IRRS, as usual starting clumsily with tail of some report in English about the Euro, 1358:25 cut to ``Triumphal March from Aïda`` theme, and very brief ID, ``IRRS shortwave in Milano, signing on``. Dead air past 1400, then fade up The Overcomer Ministry, joining in progress some black-sounding gospel huxter other than BS, punxuated by hoots from the congregation. Started at poor-fair level, S7 to peaks barely reaching S9+3 and weakened progressively. Meanwhile I compared to TOM via WWRB 9385, but never could figure out which was ahead of which, they were so far out of synch as I was losing the IRRS signal. On 15215, IRRS will no longer have to worry about colliding with irregular R. Africa on 15190. Ron Norton had notified us of the new schedule, as 150 kW: 15215 to Asia at 14-15 and also new 17770 to Africa at 17-18, never mentioning it is still mostly Brother Scare; as DX Re Mix News reports, these are still via Tiganeshti, ROMANIA, at 100 and 187 degrees, respectively. What a letdown after the majestic opening theme to hear nothing but BS. Heard that again on 17770 at 1659 tune-in August 2, now much better signal than 15215 had been. Same sign-on procedure and JIP (join in progress) TOM, same non-BS g.h. as before. I again compared to 9385 WWRB (whose signal was axually weaker!), and easily found 17770 running exactly 60 seconds behind 9385 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Brother Stair TOM via IRRS: [15215] good with little fading - over all nice reception here - listening after 1430 UT onwards (Partha Sarathi Goswami, Siliguri, W.B., India, Aug 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Heard TOM 17770 kHz - probably from Gavar Armenia site; brokered by IRRS and Spaceline Ltd. too, two organizations to wash their hands in the rent sum ... [do you mean, like, money laundering?] Checked some remote units in Europe. Only well 17 MHz reception at right kilometer distance in U.K. and North Sea coastline, signals as S=9+20dB and more. All other Holland, Germany, Italy, Germany, Austria and Moscow reception posts had additional dead zone echo, signals arrived twice paths, direct partly and a 2nd signal travelled around earth. 73 (Wolfgang Büschel, Aug 2, ibid.) ** JAPAN. 3925, Radio Nikkei, 1138 Aug 6, Japanese, woman talking about Tokyo, 1140 ended program with English announcement “Let’s read the Nikkei weekly.” followed by same in Japanese, so this was obviously the preceding program, then into classical music program. Very good, // 6055 same (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Listening lakeside in my car with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 active antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** JAPAN [non]. 11655, Aug 3 at 1312-1325, NHK via CANADA with nice short Bach piano pieces; 1325 on to something else with jazzy theme, mentioned Olympix. 11655, August 5 at 1324, NHK via CANADA with ``We Got the Beat``, by The Go-Go`s, girl-group from the 1980s; 1326 segué to song in Japanese. NHK has no plans to continue this 13-15 UT broadcast to North America via another site once Sackville is kaput, but does plan to move most of the others to Guiana French; English at 0500 and 1200 will have to move to higher bands than 49m (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KASHMIR. Caught Radio Kashmir, 4950, Srinagar on extended schedule for Ramadan last night (3 Aug) just before went off air, from tune-in at 2252 until went off air abruptly at 2257 UT. Programme mainly adverts (including Kashmir Motors I think!). WRTH 2012 says extended schedule for Ramadan 2145-2245, though this was a little after this time. Recording at: https://www.box.com/shared/708e13abea567ca21fd7 (Alan Pennington, Caversham, UK, AOR 7030plus / longwire, Aug 4, BDXC- UK yg via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [non]. VOICE OF WILDERNESS: TRINCOMALEE, SRI LANKA 15180 & DUSHANBE, TAJIKISTAN 15630. 1300-1330 August 6. A woman and then a man spoke in Korean with 2 vocal solos. Signal strength: 15180 fair; 15630 poor (Wendel Craighead, Prairie Village, Kansas, USA, Aug 6, cumbredx yg via DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. 3480, SOUTH KOREA, Voice of the People, 1134 Aug 6, Korean, man with speech. Fair, // 3912, 4450, 4557, all with noise jamming. (Sellers-BC) 3985, SOUTH KOREA, Echo of Hope, 1145 Aug 6, Korean, male and female speakers, Korean music. Fair, //,6003 and 6348 both poor with noise jamming (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Listening lakeside in my car with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 active antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KOREAS. Remote SDR units in FE and Pacific area are full of - seemingly - Korean jamming intermodulations, heard around 15-16 UT July on 6106, 6230, 6300, 6348, 6359, 6445, 6605, 6593, 7082, 7092, 7569, 7581 kHz, to mention few (Wolfgang Büschel, July 27, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews August 3 via DXLD) Some are direct, not intermod (gh, DXLD) ** KOREA NORTH [and non]. NAUGHTY BRISBANE METRO CHALLENGES OLYMPIC SPIRIT: KCNA Commentary --- August 7. 2012 Juch 101 Pyongyang, August 7 (KCNA) -- The Australian newspaper Brisbane Metro behaved so sordid as to describe the DPRK as "Naughty Korea" when carrying the news of London Olympics standings. This is a bullying act little short of insulting the Olympic spirit of solidarity, friendship and progress and politicizing sports. Media are obliged to lead the public in today's highly-civilized world where mental and cultural level of mankind is being displayed at the highest level. Brisbane Metro deserves criticism for what it has done. The paper behaved so foolish as to use the London Olympics that has caught the world interest for degrading itself. The paper hardly known in the world must have thought of making its existence known to the world by joining other media in reporting the Olympic news. Then it should have presented its right appearance to the world. Editors of the paper were so incompetent as to tarnish the reputation of the paper by themselves by producing the article like that. There is a saying "A straw may show which way the wind blows". A single article may exhibit the level of the paper. Many people were unanimous in denouncing the small paper for defaming the mental and moral aspects of the players of the DPRK who earned recognition from several appreciative world famous media. Even hostile forces toward the DPRK heaped praises on its players' successful performance at the London Olympics, saying that "Korea whirlwind" sweeps the world. The Australian paper cooked up the way of moneymaking, challenging the authority of the dignified sovereign state. The paper deserves a trifle sum of dirty money. As already known, it was reported that a lot of petty thieves sneaked into the London Olympics together with tourists. Players fight to the finish in the stadium, but those petty thieves demonstrate their "skills" outside the stadium. The paper Brisbane Metro is little different from those petty thieves. In a word, the paper discredited itself. How pitiful it is. The Brisbane Metro will remain as a symbol of rogue paper for its misdeed to be cursed long in Olympic history. The infamy is the self-product of the naughty paper Brisbane Metro which dared challenge the spirit of Olympic, common desire and unanimous will of mankind. Copyright (C) KOREA NEWS SERVICE(KNS) All Rights Reserved (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** KURDISTAN. 3970, 0230 14 July, V. of Kurdistan, anthem, choir, sign-on in Kurdish, jammed, SIO 322. 4870, 0225 13 June, V. of Iranian Kordestan, IS, 0230 ID, anthem, jammed, SIO 422 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, DX News, August BDXC-UK Communication, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT [and non]. 15092 approx., August 7 at 1407, intermittent ute blasts atop 15090, IBB`s weak R. Free Afghanistan. Second one heard with BFO on was the ``running-water`` type. So there are utility users of this area despite the broadcast intrusion (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** KUWAIT. Radio Kuwait Urdu Service Daily broadcasting 1600-1800 UT on 15540 Frequency. I am listening last 3 days regularly. After this Urdu Service end, English Service broadcast 1800 UT on 15540 (Abid Hussain Sajid, Mailsi, Pakistan, Aug 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15540, Radio Kuwait 3 August at 2040. Usual selection of western dance/disco songs and brief news in English at 2050. Signed off with correct frequency announcements - no mention any more of the non- existent morning shortwave transmission, and announcing 15540 for the 1800 UT evening transmission. Off promptly at 2100, immediately after the National Anthem (Alan Roe, Teddington, UK, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) A red-letter day in the history of broadcasting, and I missed it!!! (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15540, August 4 at 2057, R. Kuwait starts ``King of the Road``, only to be faded out at 2058.4 for sign-off announcement, which has FINALLY after years and years, been corrected to remove the imaginary 0500 English broadcast on 15110, and give the correct frequency for this broadcast at 18-21 instead of ``11990``. Unfortunately, the real red-letter day in the history of international broadcasting was yesterday when I was not listening, but Alan Roe, England heard the new announcement. Stayed on a few sex past 2100 timesignal and opening Arabic. 15540, Sunday August 5 at 1900, R. Kuwait opening `Pioneers & Personalities of Kuwait`s Cultural Awakening`, i.e. the 24th episode about Emir al-Sabah, at the time of the Iraqi invasion, support from Pres. Mubarak of Egypt with whom he met on 7 August 1990 to thank him. Program must be about three times as long as necessary due to musical interludes between each sentence, but makes it more palatable for SWLs with ADD. 15540, Tuesday Aug 7 at 1930, R. Kuwait in English, YL with a recipe for Ramadan, said was a joint produxion with R. Bahrain. Lasted only two sesquiminutes, back to rock music at 1933 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** LAOS. 6130, Lao National Radio 1152-1222 Aug 8, OM talk about Vietnam, Kampuchea, vernacular music, 7 times gong, presumed national anthem, news by OM and YL in turn, 43422 (Tony Ashar, Indonesia, dxingwithcumbre yg via DXLD) ** LEBANON [non]. July QSL Report: Vatican: Voix de la Charité, 11715 card in 46 days. Report sent to Couvent St Jean rue Fouad Chehab BP 850 Jounieh LIBAN. Good QSLing! (Christian Ghibaudo, France, via Dario Monferini, DXLD) ** LITHUANIA. I belatedly in early August sent a QSL request to RMRC for the June 9 EDXC special broadcast on 11900, and an e-QSL in PDF was received in a few days on August 7 from Michael Haun, Treasurer RMRC, added to my gallery via http://www.worldofradio.com/QSL.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. 11665, Sarawak FM, 1609 Aug 3, Bahasa Malay, several Malay pop songs, 1618 jingle ID for Sarawak FM. Fair and parallel to 9835, also fair (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Listening lakeside from my car with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 active antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11665, RTM/Wai FM, Kajang, 1220-1240 Aug 6; M announcer with Malay talk; tentative "Wai FM" jingle at 1223 into ballad; more talk and pop music; Kor'an-like vocals from 1233 thru tune/out; weak but surprisingly readable in ECSS-USB; my best reception of this station to date (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MAURITANIA. 7245, August 2 at 0503, Arabic speech from IGIM, on early again, with SSB QRhaM, no doubt for all those Ramadan breakfasters. Sunrise in Nouakchott is currently 0643 UT, somewhat earlier in most of the country eastward (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Presumably they're on "all night" locally. Has been audible as 41m opens ~0300 UT/8 p.m. PDT for me in SW BC. TD (Theo Donnelly, Aug 2, ptsw yg via DXLD) 7245, August 3 at 0533, IGIM is on and chanting. Theo Donnelly, BC, says he hears it as early as 0300 so presumably all-night for Ramadan. 7245, August 5 at 0345, IGIM is on with Qur`an for sleepy fasters, SSB QRhaM. 7245, August 6 at 0458, IGIM is on in very undermodulated Arabish, consistently for Ramadan. 7245, August 7 at 0521, IGIM is once again on and chanting, which they do anyway around this hour if on the air, Ramadan or not (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. An unusual mix of propagation modes, UT August 8: Around 0230 UT on ch 2 with antenna southward, I see occasional split- second flashes of NTSC video, usually not locking in. Could be Perseids, except really too quick for meteor scatter. Instead I think it is lightning scatter, since there are big storms south of here in central Oklahoma, far enough away not to be an antenna threat here --- but there are no ch 2 NTSC transmitters anywhere around to be propagated that way. Instead, since there is also a fitful minor sporadic E opening from Mexico, my theory is that what I am seeing is Es from Mexico coming down somewhat south of me, and then sparked on a bit further by LS! Later on I am getting brief fade-ins of direct Spanish Es, only ch 2: 0250, that comedy show with childish adults in funny hats, slapstick like 3 Stooges; then slide says LA HORA - algo. One day I will research what this show is, unless someone knows and infills me. [Could it be El Chavo del Ocho? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chavo_del_Ocho If it's a newer-looking show where the adultkids are mostly in a classroom setting with a female teacher, I've seen it also, but don't know the name. --- Bill Blair, dxldyg via DXLD] Not sure (gh) 0309, another fade-in of algo, soon gone [algo is short for something] 0352, burst of about a second with Spanish laughter. This is MS. At another time I did not note, I heard some English, suspected XHRIO 0407, fade-in with Olympic docu about Nadia, also with CCI; Es, or MS- influenced Es? Lasted less than a minute 0443 some Spanish audio fades in, but little video. This is unusual, as audio normally comes second, riding in above the video carriers. There may have been more, but it`s time for me to call it a night. 1538 on 2, have been monitoring ch 2 for a bihour, and now MS shows something for a couple of seconds; at 1542 a longer opening, almost a minute, in Spanish with ads, CCI; overlapping meteor bursts or fitful Es, perhaps caused by the MS. 1549 more weak CCI on 2. 6m Es maps are showing several contact paths across central USA. 1558, definitely Es opening building with algo on 4, and Spanish variety show, hoy? past 1600 on 2, CCI. 1612 on 4, Olympic volleyball in Spanish --- or is it men`s net handball, whatever that is called, as live on NBC now. Satellite and/or digital delays make it impossible to match video even if //. Opening continues weakly on 2 as I wrap this report at 1638 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But nothing further logged ** MONACO. July QSL report: Radio Monaco via 3AC Monaco Radio 8728 & 13146 kHz. QSL letter in 7 days. report sent to info @ naya.mc Fotos of Quirino Tirelli : http://www.mediasuk.org/archive/MonacoRadio/index.html Good QSLing! (Christian Ghibaudo, France, via Dario Monferini, DXLD) ** MONGOLIA. S/on from The Voice of Mongolia in Japanese, 12085 kHz at 0900 UT with usual good signal: http://youtu.be/mIgX34bKbVA Received in Montevideo, Uruguay. 73! (Rodolfo Tizzi, August 5, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) "The Voice of Mongolia" has updated its website. On it you can vote, answer to the question "do You Like our new site". I didn't like, he put his assessment is satisfactory. http://www.vom.mn/ru/ (Dmitry Kutuzov, Ryazan / “deneb-radio-dx” via RusDX Aug 5 via DXLD) ** MOROCCO. 9575, August 2 at 0530, Médi 1 in French with ``Bonjour au Maroc, cinq-heures-trente``, informations; fair signal, better than adjacent 9580 Gabon (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) see also WESTERN SAHARA ** MYANMAR. Myanma Radio in tentative Burmese, 8 Aug 2012, 2251 UT, 5985.8 (35322). First empty carrier with 1 kHz test tones at 2251 and 2254. At 2300 opening theme, then mix of announcements and music. Decent until 2330. At 2340 much weaker; also WYFR 5985.0 started to fade in and produced a het. Nothing heard on other known MR frequencies (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, logs from the Baltic shore, with Perseus SDR and DX-10 active antenna out in the garden, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. 7110, Thazin Radio – Naipyidaw, 1217, in Burmese. US pop song, woman announcer, another longer talk by 2nd woman announcer, fading 1230 with hard to identify music, faded out 1240. Poor to fade out. First time heard by me. 8/4/12 (Mark Taylor, Lake Farm County Park (Madison), WI, E1, Flextenna, NASWA Flashsheet via DXLD) ** NAGORNO-KARABAKH. 9677, 0615 11 July, Fedaletin Sesi Radiosu [V of Justice, Stepanakert - BDXC ed], times, Azeri, SIO 544 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, HF Logbook, August BDXC-UK Communication, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS [non]. July QSL report: Radio Nederland, Special QSL for the last day of English Service, all in 32 days. Reports sent to P. O. Box 222. TXs : Santa Maria di Galeria: 17605; Trincomalee: 9800; Wertachtal: 6065; Issoudun: 11615. Good QSLing! (Christian Ghibaudo, France, via Dario Monferini, DXLD) ** NEWFOUNDLAND [and non]. 6160.9v, Aug 3 at 0532, audibly wavering het from off-frequency CKZN is now a semitone higher than before, not A5 = 880 Hz, but Bb5 = 932 Hz approx., so CKZN is a tad higher vs CKZU and/or CKZU is a tad lower to make up the difference. 6160.9, August 5 at 0455, now the het between wanderer CKZN and CKZU is somewhere between A6 and Bb6, i.e. 880 and 932 Hz, slightly higher than before. Audio clash from both of them requiring more selectivity than at my disposal on the FRG-7 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NEW ZEALAND. On a warm but starry night in Dallas, with a not-quite full moon shining brilliantly, I tuned 15720 kHz at 0405 GMT on my Sangean 909x portable with a simple 23' random wire antenna attached. The frequency was that of Radio New Zealand International. Its signal beamed in strongly and clearly, with my S-Meter (10 scale) showing a steady 5-7. A program with a panel of scientists began discussing the struggle that goes on between the urban and rural areas of New Zealand in terms of controlling animal pests and predators, conserving the environment, saving species, and protecting wildlife, etc. But it was noted that while 80% of New Zealanders live in cities, they nevertheless have a deserved reputation of caring greatly for rural and wilderness areas (Grayson Watson, Dallas, TX, UT August 5, dxingwithcumbre yg via DXLD) 6170, Monday August 6 at 1329, RNZI playing music, as fortnightly `Mailbox` has started early as usual; poor signal and even worse at 1333 about to outfade as Kevin Hand is starting his utility DX report; back to the audio on demand via http://www.rnzi.com/audio/mailbox2.mp3 Has lots of tips about information sources. Toward the end, Mike Bird in Australia, ex-Media Network, discusses propagation, having taken over from Adrian Sainsbury for this. Both of them are to return in two weeks. Opening music occupying more than a quarter of the program is a nice pro-peace anthem, ``No More Fighting, No More Dying`` altho rather off-topic. Hmmm, no letters at all in this ``mailbox`` either {nor in the previous show; overdue for a rechristening?} (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Just heard that Mt. Tongariro has erupted in the middle of North Island; it`s about 130 km from Rangitaiki, the RNZI transmitter site, so volcanic ash could disrupt transmissions (Glenn Hauser, OK, 1605 UT August 7, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Actually, the distance from Tongariro to Rangitaiki is less than that, more like 45 miles/72 km directly across the Kaimanawas. By road, it could push 130 km as you'd have to go north to Taupo and then back ESE. The ash plume did spread in that direction ENE with stuff dusting down as far away as Napier and Wairoa. Close by, there wasn't a huge amount but messy as it rained on the day following: TD (Theo Donnelly, BC, ex-NZ, ptsw yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DXLD) Autolinx to further videos re. Says activity could continue for next few weeks; trying to determine if caused by steam or magma. Axually, I could not find a place named Rangitaiki on the atlases I checked, no doubt printed before it became a significant world site with SWBC transmitters, but there was a river called Rangitaiki, I assumed was nearby (gh, DXLD) ** NEW ZEALAND [and non]. Radio Hauraki --- There once was a time when the New Zealand Government decided what would be on the radio. In 1966 a few good men set out to change that. The MV Tiri had a transmitter installed and was anchored three miles offshore in the Hauraki Gulf, just outside Government jurisdiction. Despite the best attempts by Government (and mother nature), New Zealand's first private radio station was born. In 1970, the Government finally caved and allowed Hauraki to broadcast legally from land breaking their long-held monopoly over the airwaves. This started the entire private radio industry in New Zealand. Hauraki has been playing great music ever since. Look at some of the early photos here; Hear the audio from 1968 onboard Hauraki's original home: The Tiri. This was the on air broadcast from the Tiri as it run into rocks on 28 Jan 1968 http://hauraki.co.nz/history/ (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** NICARAGUA. 8989-USB, "Pescador Preacher" 0000 to 0020 with sermon en español 3 August (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, 746Pro, and MAR-Vero Beach, South Florida, Sony 7600GR, NRD 525 Gilfer Modified, dxingwithcumbre yg via DXLD) ** NIGERIA. Re VON: "Well, terrible buzz and distorted audio were also heard earlier this year on 15120 (gh, DXLD)" No comparison; The other one had not just some bad audio link or misbalanced modulation, but a completely distorted mess for several months. 73 (Thorsten Hallmann, Germany, Aug 3, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15120, August 7 at 0514, VON fair with news in English of Nigeria, and a whine on the signal, but not too bad. This transmission last logged here on July 30, upon almost nightly chex (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6930 USB, PIRATE, Blue Ocean Radio, 0427 August 3, playing rock music, 0434 ID "On shortwave, you are listening to...Blue Ocean Radio...". Gave a promo for UK website of Pirates for Peace. Very good (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Listening lakeside from my car with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 active antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 515, August 2 at 0439, `PN` beacon on MCW, weak but clear and steady on my bathroom radio, Panasonic RF569-D, which I inherited from a late aunt, and was apparently made for Sears, a good little radio. Batteries are used only in power failures, so I checked and removed one of the four AAs before it had leaked very much. O yeah, PN is in Ponca City, not too far away. Heard it too on the DX-398 at 0512 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. Broadcast series Editions 1 and 2 now available online Greetings! Performance Oklahoma is off and running with the 2012 OKM Chamber Music Broadcast Series and if you missed yesterday's transmission or stream, you may now listen to Editions 1 and 2 online. The links are posted on my Performance Oklahoma webpage at http://bit.ly/PerformanceOklahoma (scroll down past this week's program info on the left side of the page) or you may go directly to the podcasts here: Edition 1 http://chirb.it/mkpEnH Edition 2 http://chirb.it/e4k1x9 [previously these have only been up for a limited time, so don`t delay. Highly recommended! --- gh] But see below – updated URLs I hope you enjoy! I'll post the new podcast segments each Monday following the Sunday evening broadcasts. And if you are wowed (and I hope you are) please share with a friend and also let me know by replying to this email. I'll be happy to forward your comments to our station's GM and to the folks at OK Mozart. Feedback will help ensure that the Festival chamber series and these broadcasts continue and will help me convince other broadcasters to offer the series and know about OK Mozart's chamber music offerings. I have just posted my second in the Behind-the-Scenes: The Making of the 2012 OKM Broadcast Series here: http://www.kcscfm.com/tune-in/ Thank you! (Kimberly Powell, Director of Production & Syndication Assistant Director of Programming, Host/Producer Performance Oklahoma Oklahoma's Choice for Classical Music, 90.1 KCSC Edmond Oklahoma City, 91.9 KBCW McAlester, http://www.kcscfm.com (405) 974.2111 (KCSC mailing list Aug 6 via DXLD) Greetings! The direct links to Editions 1 and 2 of the 2012 OKM Chamber Music Broadcast Series have changed. (Technology!) Edition 1 http://chirb.it/m9q06m Edition 2 http://chirb.it/NnpfCa You may also access the programs via links at http://bit.ly/PerformanceOklahoma And shortly, you'll also find program info for this week's editions. I'm going to offer the Chausson Chanson perpétuelle, Schumann's Bilder aus Osten and the Kodály in the first hour and Barber's Dover Beach, the Schubert Quartettsatz and the Mozart Piano Quartet in the 2nd. If you were there during the Festival in June, you'll know this is a fantastic line-up. And my Behind-the-Scenes on the Making of the Series blogs continue: http://www.kcscfm.com/tune-in/ My apologies for any inconvenience! Hope you'll share these performances with everyone you know. Thank you! (Kimberly Powell, Aug 7, ibid.) ** OKLAHOMA. KOSU 91.7 Stillwater is about to make another shakeup, ``KOSU version 2.0``, promoted as ``hotter than ever`` from August 20. I fear it will mean finally dumping what`s left of arts/classical music on this public radio station. Perhaps some clues are here: http://kosu.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/2012-KOSU-Strategic-PlanPublication1.pdf Three programs have been on trial runs starting in July, with listener reaxion encouraged: http://kosu.org/2012/08/kosu-to-pilot-three-new-weekend-shows/ I find the `TED Radio Hour` worthwhile with some intellexual stimulation, but not if it`s permanantized at the expense of `The Splendid Table` food show which it has displaced. The others, `Ask Me Another` and `Cabinet of Wonders` are unneeded in my opinion (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 91.7, Tuesday August 7 at 1330, KOSU breaks away from NPR `Morning Edition` for monthly `The Living Room` interview show by Gerry Bonds, ex-OETA. Her first guests, head of Devon Energy, and an industry lobbyist, extol the oil and gas industry and how wonderful horizontal drilling and fracking are, so I sent her this comment: ``Hi Gerry, I always try to catch your show, altho the strange scheduling on KOSU makes it a task. Good that they are now available online. BTW, I was sorry to see how OETA treated you, and glad for you that you have found a new outlet. However: when are we going to hear the other side from environmentalist guests about fracking, and even wind-power??? I`m afraid the OPUBCO connexion [credit for produxion facilities] makes it pretty clear that you`re in with the corporations. Regards, Glenn Hauser, Enid`` She announced she now has a website with audio archive of this and all previous programs: http://www.thelivingroomgb.com where we are reminded of the schedule on KOSU and its relays: ``first Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. The program repeats the following Saturday at 2:30pm and the following Tuesday at 8:30am.`` i.e. Wed 2330, Sat 1930, Tue 1330 UT (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Subject: Thanks for your comments! Dear Mr. Hauser, First of all, thank you for listening to "The Living Room with Gerry Bonds" and for your longtime loyalty. I am glad that our new website makes it more convenient for you to catch the program. The goal of the Energy program was primarily to acquaint our listeners with the "energy renaissance" taking place in Oklahoma and in North America, largely due to fracking, as well as exploring the prospects for American independence from foreign oil, including the role that wind power might play here in Oklahoma. It was not meant to debate the environmental pros and cons. However, your suggestion for a future program of that nature is a good one, and my producer and I will definitely explore it. Let me also assure you that the program's only connection to OPUBCO is that we record at their audio facility. Thanks again for your interest! (Gerry Bonds, OK, reply to my previous note, via DXLD) Dear Ms Bonds, And thanks for your kind reply. I see that a previous guest was Bill Moyers, so perhaps I was a bit too sensitive about the politics of the latest guests, altho I don`t know if he got into such issues. I believe I missed it and will have to hear it now. Regards, Glenn Hauser (via DXLD) ** OKLAHOMA. Big changes coming at KOCO-7 (``5``) OKC --- their lead meteorologist Rick Mitchell is leaving after 18 years for a much bigger market but where he will be a smaller fish, channel ``5`` in Dallas; his last day here will be August 20: http://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=31041 http://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=31147 And KOCO will also dump ThisTV from 5-2 channel in October for METV: http://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=31156 (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 45, August 7 at 0400, I aim the UHF antenna toward OKC and try to detect any signal from KOHC-CD, which is a 15 kW station allegedly on the air with the Azteca América network, per W9WI.com listings; I have never seen it here in Enid, just 100+ km away. Instead, I am getting full decode from full-power KSNW 45, NBC in Wichita from the opposite direxion, less than 200 km, which is not unusual with a bit of tropo from the north. The freebie Spanish newspaper, El Nacional de Oklahoma, had a big front-page story in the August 2 issue that the new network Mundo Fox is about to start from August 13, on KOHC 45, which happens to be owned by the newspaper. It seems that it has no different virtual channel. The important thing for them is of course, as a result of being on the (low-power) air, getting on cable and satellite systems. More details in upcoming DX Listening Digest 12-32, or linx to the puff pieces: http://www.noticiasoklahoma.com/noticias/noticias/portada/10431-imundo-fox-ya-esta-aqui http://www.noticiasoklahoma.com/noticias/noticias/oklahoma/10413-mundo-fox-es-ahora-parte-de-el-nacional-media-en-oklahoma (Glenn Hauser, Enid, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Whatever became of El Latino American, freebie Spanish/English paper out of OKC? Haven`t seen one for months now on some stands reserved for it in Enid, but they were always unreliable in availablizing new issues here in the outback. Big story on the front page of the 2 August issue of another freebie, El Nacional de Oklahoma, which we pick up from one grocery store in Enid, says Mundo Fox 45 starts August 13 on KOHC Oklahoma City. So that will be the fourth(?) Spanish-language TV network on the air in OKC, but hardly a match for UNI and TM which share a full-power transmitter on KTUZ-29. W9WI.com shows it`s really KOHC-CD, 15 kW affiliated with Azteca América, network apparently to be dumped, but is it really on the air at all yet? I`ve never had any trace of it on RF 45 even when area tropo is up, and just checked again with no signal, unlike another OKC/Norman DTV, Daystar on 46, KOCM with 50 kW, which rarely decodes but at least shows a `bad` signal. Channel 45, of course, competes with full power signals in neighboring cities, KOTV in Tulsa, and KSNW in Wichita. But the important thing is to be on the local air and eligible for cable/satellite pickups. Ask your provider! Found the digital versions of these puff-pieces: it`s no coincidence that KOHC is under same ownership as the newspaper. Note that they claim they will be doing local news (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENIING DIGEST) Viz.: ¡MUNDO FOX YA ESTÁ AQUÍ! Escrito por Carlos Ortiz Viernes 03 de Agosto de 2012 19:28 http://www.noticiasoklahoma.com/noticias/noticias/portada/10431-imundo-fox-ya-esta-aqui El Nacional Network se consolida con arribo a Oklahoma de gigante de la televisión en los Estados Unidos. El Presidente del Directorio de El Nacional Media, Randy Quiroga-King, anunció la llegada oficial de Mundo Fox Televisión a Oklahoma, para convertirse en un pilar de las comunicaciones hispanas en nuestro estado. “La llegada de esta cadena que ya está en el 75% de todos los hogares hispanos de los Estados Unidos y su fusión con El Nacional Media, garantizan la audiencia de la mayoría de los hogares hispanos en el estado”, dijo Quiroga-King. “Mundo Fox será, sin lugar a dudas, todo un éxito entre la audiencia hispana a todo nivel, incluyendo el creciente segmento de hispanos anglo-parlantes”, afirmó. Igualmente destacó que la televisora presentará lo mejor en deportes como la liga europea de futbol y los encuentros “Full Contacto” de la UFC. Para asegurar las audiencias en horarios más hogareños, Mundo Fox se ha asociado con la RCN de Colombia, quienes ofrecerán las famosas telenovelas de ése país, consideradas como una de las mejores a nivel latinoamericano. El empresario señaló también que la producción de noticias y programas locales son otra de las garantías de preferencia de la televisora con más impacto entre los hispanos en los Estados Unidos. Mundo Fox fue lanzada a nivel nacional el pasado primero de agosto en las ciudades de mayor importancia en los Estados Unidos, incluyendo Oklahoma City. “Este acontecimiento reacomodará las bases de la televisión Hispana en los Estados Unidos y nosotros estamos listos para el desafío de caminar al mismo paso que las capitales más importantes del mundo”, afirmó Quiroga-King. “El Nacional es reconocido a nivel nacional como el periódico de mayor trascendencia en Oklahoma desde hace 23 años y esto solo nos obliga a seguir trabajando con la misma perseverancia que en todo este tiempo”, añadió. “La programación nacional de Mundo Fox dará cabida a programas y comerciales locales, para asegurar la conveniencia de una sociedad entre nuestro grupo y nuestros clientes, a lo largo y ancho de Oklahoma”, aseguró Quiroga-King. MUNDO FOX ES AHORA PARTE DE EL NACIONAL MEDIA EN OKLAHOMA Escrito por Por: Carlos Ortiz Jueves 02 de Agosto de 2012 21:51 Fabulosa programación asegura exitosa presencia de televisora que ya llega al 75% de hogares hispanos en los Estados Unidos. La espectacular programación de Mundo Fox y su comunión con los servicios locales que ya se preparan, son solo alguna de las razones para afirmar que ha llegado una verdadera revolución en la televisión hispana a Oklahoma y todos los Estados Unidos. Oklahoma City es una de las ciudades más grandes de los Estados Unidos donde se ha producido este lanzamiento largamente esperado y El Nacional Media recibe el encargo de manejar localmente una televisión que no olvida a ningún segmento de la hispanidad en los Estados Unidos. Al anuncio del Presidente de nuestro Directorio, Randy Quiroga-King sobre el compromiso de El Nacional Media de complementar la excelente programación nacional de Mundo Fox con la mejor y más amplia cobertura periodística y de entretenimiento locales, se suma la utilización de talentos profesionales locales y nacionales. Entre la programación estelar de Mundo Fox destacan: Betty La Fea El Capo 2 Kdabra Los Exitosos Pérez Un Minuto Para Ganar Pobres Rico [with synopses of each:] http://www.noticiasoklahoma.com/noticias/noticias/oklahoma/10413-mundo-fox-es-ahora-parte-de-el-nacional-media-en-oklahoma (via Glenn Hauser, Enid, DXLD) See also USA for another Mundo Fox startup in Arkansas (gh) ** OKLAHOMA. Aug 8 at 1336 UT, since analog signal from KOCY-48 OKC is somewhat tropo-enhanced showing lucha-libre goons on Estrella TV, I look for other signals. Still no sign of KOHC-CD 45 before official Mundo Fox start Aug 13, just KSNW Wichita coming in off the back. 43 has a `bad` DTV signal of some sort. Seems to peak to SW, rather than N/NNE, so suspect an Oklahoman rather than Kansan. There are translators in Lawton, Seiling, Elk City and Altus. Lawton has 5+ times the power of any of the others, 2.6 kW, but Seiling is closest. From 1336, holds up past 1500 but never decodes (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PALAU. La estación religiosa cristiana “The Voice of Hope” (T8WH), operada por la High Adventure Ministries (USA), opera en inglés de acuerdo al siguiente esquema: HORA UT KHZ DIAS 0200-0400 17800 1234567 0800-0900 9930 12345 7 0800-1100 17650 1234567 0900-1000 9930 1234567 1200-1400 9930 1234567 1600-1700 15530 1234567 2200-2300 9930 7 QTH: Station T8WH, P.O.Box 66, Koror, Rep. Of Palau, PW 96940, USA. Para QSLs: World Harvest Radio, P.O.Box 12, South Bend, IN 46624, USA. (Sin Fronteras [schedule column], Conexión Digital Aug 4 via DXLD) This mixes up the previous owner and the present one. It has not been The Voice of Hope since High Adventure sold it years ago to World Harvest Radio. Also the details are probably incorrect. Where did they come from? This column never attributes sources! A.k.a. ``KHBN`` and ``T8BZ``, former calls, and widely used as a relay site by other broadcasters. EiBi shows these are the ONLY broadcasts currently from Palau on 9930: 9930 1200-1230 Fr CLA Que Me Radio VN VTN /PLW 9930 1200-1300 Sa-Th USA World Harvest Radio E SEA /PLW (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Greetings from California! Very nice to catch three stations returning to the air today (Aug. 5) after having been absent for a while. 3345 - NBC Northern playing EZL songs from 1318 to 1332; poor. Too weak to make out the language or an ID. All of which made for a most enjoyable DXing session! (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also AUSTRALIA; INDONESIA 3345, NBC Northern, the Voice of Oro. Heard for three consecutive days now! August 7 had strongest reception so far; 1303 bird call/NBC National News in English; news // 3204.96, 3315 and 3365. At 1323 hit song “Baby I Love Your Way” followed by phone calls in Tok Pisin which started with “Hello N-B-C” (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 6039.97, 30.7 1912, NBC, Port Moresby, definite carrier, in the clear until co-channel VOA appeared 1957. Last day I could hear them during random checks 1900-2000, might be gone for good now the elections are over? (Martien Groot, Netherlands, SW Bulletin Aug 5 via DXLD) [and non]. NBC Port Moresby gone from 6040 kHz. My last reception was on July 30 from 1003 to 1213. Off the air July 31, August 1 and 2. Now I am only hearing PBS Nei Menggu (Mongolian Service) // 7270. Seems NBC is finally gone from this temporary frequency. Was great while it lasted! Nothing noted on 4890 kHz (Ron Howard, Monterey, CA, Aug 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) After missing them on 1 and 2 August, logged NBC on 6039.97 at 0706 UT on 3 August with health message from the PNG Coalition Against HIV Aids in Tok Pisin. But absent when rechecked at 2030 (Bryan Clark, Mangawhai, New Zealand, AOR7030+ and EWEs to North, Central & South America, ibid.) From Dave: "I was recording it on the Perseus at the time. I think it went off at 1032 UT." Thanks Dave (Ron Howard, Aug 3, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) - - - On Fri, Aug 3, 2012, John Herkimer wrote: Good morning, The PNG on 6040 is still being heard here, noted today from 0945. Maybe it will stay around longer than we thought? John - - - On Fri, Aug 3, 2012, Dave Valko wrote: Hi Ron!! Listening to a nice signal from NBC on 6040 at the moment (1024 UT). We can wipe our brow and enjoy the program. 73 Dave Hi Fellows, Thanks for your updates!! You were lucky to catch them!! Later they were definitely off the air. John, your recording of NBC was good for the east coast. Thanks. Mauno Ritola: "Nothing at 1050 and the same now at 1305." Ian Baxter: "Yes I checked at 1300 UT on 6040 nothing there." I also checked as soon as I got to the beach at 1142 and subsequently, with only China heard on 6040, so NBC went off very early today. Erratic at best!! (Ron Howard, Monterey, Calif., 1714 UT Aug 3, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA. 7324.96, Wantok Radio Light. 0840-0910 August 5, 2012. Most tentative. Rapidly wobbling carrier (audible both USB and LSB), unsure if any programming or just a carrier at tune-in, but by 0852 seemingly faint traces of talk by man, pretty much hopeless after 0900, and there seemed to be something weak (carrier only detected) after 0900 on 7325, suppressing much of the wobble when in USB tuned low, but still present in LSB when tuned on the high end. Ron Howard responds to my inquiry this morning regarding the wobble, if it could be them: “I have noted their audio is fairly bad (distorted) when they play music, but is fine when anyone is talking. https://www.box.com/s/0456715487195db394be has MP3 audio of one of my better (fairly clear) receptions. Cannot say I have noted "a terrible rapid wobble", but certainly the frequency is right for Wantok Radio Light.” (Terry L. Krueger, Clearwater FL, JRC NRD-535; ICOM IC-R75; Sony ICF-7600GR; Sangean PR- D5; Aqua Guide 705 RDF Marine Radio; GE Superadio III; 1 X roof dipole; 1 X room random wire; Terk Advantage non-active portable loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 3329.5, Perú, Ondas del Huallaga, Huánuco, 1025 OM in rapid español 30 July (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, 746Pro, and MAR-Vero Beach, South Florida, Sony 7600GR, NRD 525 Gilfer Modified, dxingwithcumbre yg via DXLD) Noted 1, 2, 3 and 4 August same time (Wilkner only, ibid.) ** PERU. 4747, Perú, Radio Huanta 2000, Huanta, Ayacucho noted strong at 0930 to 0940 on 31 July (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, 746Pro, and XM-Cedar Key - South Florida, NRD 525D - R8A - E5, dxingwithcumbre yg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4809.99, 23.7 2303, R Logos with an ID at this time. Has been a regular here since their start. Managed to get the first verification from them according to Pastor Jairo Sangama Saurin! More about that below. TN Verification from R Logos. In the FAIENAP website and in the item concerning March 22, 2011, I found a mailaddress to a Pastor Jairo Sangama Saurin responsible for the project Radio Cristiana “EL HABLA DE MI PUEBLO”. Normally I never send reports but couldn’t resist this time so a report together with my recording from 24 July at 0103z and two pictures of the surroundings seen from our house with the rape crop in wonderful yellow bloom. A few days later arrives a nice mail from Pastor Jairo Sangama Saurin: ``Querido hermano Thomas Nilsson, Gloria a Dios por su comentario. Le cuento que usted es la primicia de los oyentes de este nacimiento de este medio de comuinicación. Cuánto gozo tengo en el Señor saber eso. Nuestro objetivo es transmitir la Palabra de Dios en las diferentes Lenguas de la Amazonía Peruana y llegar a la selva de Ecuador, Colombia y Brasíl. ¿DE DÓNDE ES USTED? ¿ME PUEDE DETALLAR SUS DATOS Y MINISTERIO? Necesitamos mucha ayuda para dar sostenibilidad a este ministerio del Señor. Seguiremos en contacto. Su siervo: Jairo Sangama Saurín`` According to this it looks like I am the first to receive a verification from the station. A few days later I got mails from both Rafael Rodríguez and from Henrik Klemetz telling me Rafael Rodríguez that on July 27 also Rafael has got his verification. My knowledge of the Spanish language is almost non-existent so I asked Henrik to translate the lines to Swedish: Käre broder Thomas Nilsson Gud ske lov och pris (=Prisad vare Gud) för er rapport. Får jag berätta att ni är förstlingen bland lyssnarna till det nyfödda kommunikationsmediet. Jag fröjdas i Herren över att få veta det. Vår målsättning är att sända ut Gud ord i de olika språken i Perus Amazonas-området samt att nå djungelområdena i Ecuador, Colombia och Brasilien. Varifrån är ni? Kan ni ge mig mera uppgifter om er person och vilken uppgift ni har i er kyrka? Vi behöver mycket hjälp för att hålla denna predikotjänst i gång. Vi håller kontakten. Er tjänare: Jairo Sangama Saurín. Stort tack till Henrik Klemetz för översättningen till svenska (Thomas Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Aug 5 via DXLD) Pastor assumes anyone writing him about the station must also be a minister! (gh, DXLD) ** PERU. 4810, Perú, Radio Logos, 0905 to 1110, "Old Rugged Cross" at 0948, "Onward Christian Soldiers at 0957, 1000 to 1020 flauta andina, 1030 OA traditional flauta andina with yipping, 1050 to 1100 rapid fade out 30 July (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, 746Pro, and XM-Cedar Key - South Florida, NRD 525D - R8A - E5, dxingwithcumbre yg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 0000 to 0010 poor signal but 0300 to 0310 strong signal with religious music and no flauta andina 3 August (Wilkner) 1030 to 1050 with strong signal flauta andina excellent program. Very rapid fade out from 1050 to 1100. 4 August (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, 746Pro, dxingwithcumbre yg via DXLD) New Peruvian on 4810, R. Logos, heard with Andean flute music & vocals at 0005. Severe Codar and static, no announcements heard (Steve Wood, Harwich, Mass., UT August 8, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** PERU. 4826.5, Radio Sicuani, Sicuani, Cusco silent last three days (Robert Wilkner, Pompano Beach, South Florida, 746Pro, Aug 4, dxingwithcumbre yg via DXLD) ** PERU. 4986.4, 4.8 0006, R Voz Cristiana (presumed) with something sounding like football. When checked again at 0057 the station had signed off (Thomas Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Aug 5 via DXLD) i.e. ex-R. Manantial (gh) ** PERU. 5120, 17.7 0040, Radio Suroriente, Spanish, talk, 25232 (Stig Hartvig Nielsen, Gros Islet, St. Lucia – longwire (20 mts), AOR 7030+, HCDX via DXLD) ** PERU. 5460, 19.7 0027, Radio Bolívar, Spanish, ID’s, 25222 (Stig Hartvig Nielsen, visiting Calibishie, Dominica – two longwires (20 and 50 mts) AOR 7030+, HCDX via DXLD) ** PERU. La Radio en el Perú, por Emilio Bustamante - Por HÉCTOR TURCO SOBRE EL LIBRO --- La historia de la radio tiene tantos escenarios que es muy difícil encontrar una bibliografía integral que aborde los temas de tecnología, propietarios, programas musicales, noticieros, locutores, radionovelas, educación a distancia, emisoras pirata o sin licencia, publicidad, entre otros aspectos relativos a este medio de comunicación en el Perú. Por ello, el panorama estudiado por Emilio Bustamante resulta importante y valioso como información cabal, y puede, asimismo, ser un incentivo para nuevas investigaciones sobre este medio audiovisual. El libro (parte de la Serie “Historia de los Medios de Comunicación en el Perú: Siglo XX“) empieza relatando el surgimiento de la radio, en la década de 1920, y luego expone su posterior transformación de un medio de elite en uno de masas, pasando por su Edad de Oro, a mediados del siglo XX, el fracaso del experimento realizado por el Gobierno Revolucionario de la Fuerza Armada; y concluye con el estudio de las dos últimas décadas de caótica expansión, la conformación de nuevas cadenas y corporaciones, así como el desarrollo de la radio popular. LA PRESENTACIÓN --- “La radio en el Perú” de 742 páginas será presentada el martes 31 de julio, a las 19 horas, en el 17 Feria Internacional del Libro de Lima 2012 – Sala Ciro Alegría. (Parque de Los Próceres – Jesús María, Lima). Participan: Juan Garguverich, Teresa Quiróz y Carlos Rivadeneyra. Firma con el autor. SOBRE EL AUTOR --- EMILIO BUSTAMANTE: Licenciado en Ciencias de la Comunicación por la Universidad de Lima. Ejerce la docencia en esa casa de estudios y en la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Es crítico de cine y ha sido miembro del consejo editorial de las revistas La GranIlusión, Tren de Sombras y Ventana Indiscreta. FUENTE: http://lamula.pe/2012/07/22/la-radio-en-el-peru/hectorturco Enlace: 17 Feria Internacional del Libro de Lima 2012 http://www.filperu.com/ (Via @yimbergaviria WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DXLD) ** PHILIPPINES. 15449.988 / 15450, FEBC Manila program from TWO DIFFERENT transmitter sites around 0900 UT. Mongolian language service on odd 15449.988 kHz from Iba site at 0858 UT, overlapped both 3 minutes, and another FEBC signal from Bocaue site appeared with Indonesian service on rather even 15450 kHz at 0900 UT, -1030 UT (Wolfgang Büschel, July 28, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews August 3 via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DXLD) ** PRIDNESTROVYE. 9665, Sunday August 5 at 2211, poor signal in Russian, must be Radio PMR as scheduled. I was noticing that there haven`t been any logs of this reaching my desk for many weeks and wondered if it had vanished without notice. First checked it Friday August 3 at 2201, but that was too late, as their broadcast week concludes at 2100 Fridays, resumes at 2100 UT Sundays. Best chance for us to hear English is at 2230 Sun-Fri, unchecked. Lack of reports must be due to absolutely boring programming and poor summer reception over here, intended only for Europe (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ROMANIA. Last night at around 2345 I heard the DX programme on RRI on 7435. I was very pleased as they confirmed the rumours of them closing on shortwave are not true and they are in fact looking to add more frequencies! (Gary Drew, S. Herts. [not Hertz as I typoed in original version!], 23 July, DX News, August BDXC-UK Communication, retyped by gh for WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Would that also mean more transmitters?? (gh, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DXLD) 11795 // 9645, August 5 at 0325, RRI in English much stronger on WNAm frequencies than // 11895 and DRM noise on 15340 for Asia. This broadcast continues past 0330, on UT Sunday with multi-station produxion dubbed `Euranet Special` during the second half (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA. A feeder for new private MW broadcasters in Russia on 1584, 1593 and 1602 kHz will be on 3370 according to several DX sources from Russia (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, DX News, August BDXC-UK Communication, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RUSSIA [and non]. August 27, 2011 LW-MW: [from LAST YEAR] 2182 kHz USB - frequency disaster of the Maritime mobile service. Astrakhan and radio Makhachkala radio check the connection. 2130 kHz - backbone communications on the railway. 2920, 6660 and 10460 - USB frequency "free operators", where the usual radio, as the official of the Amateur, only call sign invented. The exception is the famous "six" - 6660 kHz. There are people with normal mentality be contraindicated! 4015 kHz USB - frequency shipping company "ALBATROS" Roll at 0400 and 1600 UT. 4625 kHz - famous "military bazzy", the radio-marker. 8200-8300 kHz USB. There are our sailors with each other about the things of life. 8888 USB - actual weather for cities of Russia for aviators. August 28, 2011 2098.8 - Baku gives the weather on the Caspian sea. September 04, 2011 The frequency of 4200 kHz quite active. Suitable ship stations, and someone else (Astrakhan_radio Forum of the Astrakhan radio Amateurs/ note 2011y, via RusDX Aug 5, 2012 via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Radio Rossii in Russian, 7 Aug 2012, 1942 UT, 7215-Taldom (55544), 6160-Arkhangelsk (45433), 5930-Murmansk (35322), 171- Bolshakovo (35242, local QRM), all parallel with piano music. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, from the Baltic Sea shore at 54 26 N, 12 41 E. Rx: Perseus SDR, DX-10 Active antenna on a 3m pole in the garden. Stronger signals than on the same setup at home downtown QTH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** RWANDA. Radio Rwanda in Kinyarwanda, 7 Aug 2012, 1933 UT, 6055 (42332) with radio drama and co-channel QRM by CRI French from Albania (also 42332). 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, from the Baltic Sea shore at 54 26 N, 12 41 E. Rx: Perseus SDR, DX-10 Active antenna on a 3m pole in the garden. Stronger signals than on the same setup at home downtown QTH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. Punch-up error, BSKSA 1 in Arabic, 7 Aug 2012, 2037 UT, 9875 instead of 9870 (55343), // 9555. Still on at 2124. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, from the Baltic Sea shore at 54 26 N, 12 41 E. Rx: Perseus SDR, DX-10 Active antenna on a 3m pole in the garden. Stronger signals than on the same setup at home downtown QTH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA [non]. BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA: International Radio Serbia in Serbian, 7 Aug 2012, 1936 UT, 6100 (55343) about Kosovska Mitrovica, with hum. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, from the Baltic Sea shore at 54 26 N, 12 41 E. Rx: Perseus SDR, DX-10 Active antenna on a 3m pole in the garden. Stronger signals than on the same setup at home downtown QTH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SINGAPORE. 6140, presumed NHK/R. Japan, Kranji Aug 5; M & W announcer with discussion in listed Indo between a few ballads and pop music selections; "Goodbye" at 1028 and filler music until pulled the plug at 1030 with no discernible ID noted; fair in ECSS-USB (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SLOVAKIA [non]. 9955, Aug 8 at 0050, music, then R. Slovakia International ID in English, no jamming as Cuba suffers it to be free! Even RSI does not acknowledge the WRMI relay which is the only way they survive as a SW station. Under How to Listen at http://www.rozhlas.sk/radio-international-en you have a choice of: internet or satellite However, if you search the site on WRMI, you get its website as a ``partner`` link along with WRN`s. Searching on 9955 gets one misleading hit titled ``cable``: http://www.rozhlas.sk/radio-international-es/como-escucharnos-cable which adds outdated and Spanish-only info: ``Les recordamos a todos los que nos esuchan que a pesar del anunciado cierre de las ondas cortas, los oyentes de América Latina y el Caribe, durante la temporada de invierno 2011/2012 pueden sintonizarnos en las ondas de Radio Miami Internacional, en la frecuencia de 9955 kHz, en los 31 metros, entre: las 05:30 y las 06:00 ET (El tiempo del este, UTC-5) Nota: todos los días las 09:30 y las 10:00 ET (El tiempo del este, UTC-5) Nota: Solamente lunes, miércoles, jueves y viernes las 10:30 y las 11:00 ET (El tiempo del este, UTC-5) Nota: todos los días`` [pm, they meant!] Latest WRMI program grid dated July 5 shows RSI in Spanish is really: 0930-1000 Mon-Sat 1230-1300 daily 0230-0300 daily And in English: 0030-0100 Tue-Sat Rechecked 9955 an hour later at 0141, and now there is wall-of-noise jamming during scheduled ``Bible Commentary``, and no, there is nothing else even in Spanish on WRMI at 01-02, as the incompetent DentroCuban Jamming Command marches on (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5019.9, S.I.B.C., 1150 Aug 6, Tok Pisin, pop music, announcer on phone with callers, English country music song, 1156 devotional Bible message in English, 1201 “You have been listening to the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Happy Isles.”, frequencies, “goodnight everyone”, national anthem to close. Poor (Harold Sellers, Vernon, British Columbia, Listening lakeside in my car with the Eton E1 and Sony AN1 active antenna, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Brother Stair TOM via secret/hidden transmitter site SIE, not SOFia from Aug. 6: 2000-2200 on 9400 to WeEu. Poor to fair reception in Sofia, Bulgaria. 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Aug 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Ivo, Where do you get the SIE?? Do you have any idea what it stands for? (Glenn to Mr Ivanov, via DXLD) Hello Mr. Hauser, I have no idea of SIE, but as noted in IBB Monitoring under CME broadcaster (Ivo, ibid.) See also ITALY [non] ** SPAIN [and non]. 9535 better than // 9620 but lesser than // 9630 via COSTA RICA, REE in non-Castilian, UT Sunday August 5 at 0450 W&M conversation soon recognized as Catalan, as we rediscover the weekly program `Vida Verda`, which is obviously in Catalan if you listen or look at http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/audios/vida-verda/ but no online schedules bother to break this away from Spanish, UT Sundays only at 04-05, originally at another time on domestic Radio 4. Program site has audio of 194 previous shows, tho running more than a month behind. Program schedule grid http://www.rtve.es/radio/radio-exterior/programacion/ shows another interesting show UT Saturdays at 04-05, `Españoles en el Exterior` of whom there are a sesquimillion, somewhat more comprehensibly in Castilian, presumably, altho would they rule out other co-official tongues when appropriate? (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SRI LANKA. The Story of Radio Broadcasting in Sri Lanka - 13 THE LARGE DEUTSCHE WELLE RELAY STATION AT TRINCOMALEE The picturesque and strategic harbor at Trincomalee is situated on the east coast of the island of Sri Lanka, at around one third of the way down the total eastern coastline. The harbor is well attested in ancient times, and it was visited by the famous Italian explorer and traveler, Marco Polo, on his return visit from China in the year 1292. The harbor was in use by the British Royal Navy as a submarine base during World War 2, acting as a guard point to the wide Bay of Bengal. There was also a British Royal Air Force base nearby. On August 12, 1980, representatives from Deutsche Welle in Germany and the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation in Colombo signed a mutual agreement, whereby a large radio broadcasting station, mediumwave & shortwave, would be constructed at the former Royal Navy Base, a dozen miles north of Trincomalee Harbor. This original agreement provided for one mediumwave transmitter at 600 kW, three shortwave transmitters at 250 kW, and one communication transmitter at 10 kW. An additional clause provided for a doubling of the station’s broadcasting equipment, if needed. The Trincomalee site is located in the community of Perkara and it was originally under consideration for use by Trans World Radio TWR, though they subsequently preferred to build their station north of Colombo, near the west coast of the island. The original concept on the part of Deutsche Welle was that the large Trincomalee-Perkara relay station would be a joint project between Deutsche Welle in Germany & Radio Tehran in Iran. Throughout the development of the station, progress always seemed to be somewhat slow, due to the isolation of the area, and at times also to the incursions of local insurgents. Construction work on the 242 acre site at Perkara began in October 1982. Some of the old colonial buildings from the British days were modified and updated for use by the station, and several buildings were constructed new. Local wildlife also played its part at various times in causing disruption at the station, with occasional elephant herds breaking through the perimeter fencing and tramping through the property. Then again, there were the occasional fights and adventures on the part of monkeys who enjoyed swinging through the wires in the curtain antenna systems. Crocodiles also ventured onto the station property on occasions. Test broadcasts from the first shortwave transmitter were noted on December 1, 1984, and also from the second shortwave transmitter a few weeks later, in early January 1985. In April, test broadcasts were noted from the mediumwave transmitter; and in mid year, the third shortwave transmitter became airborne. Electric power was generated at the station itself. The final configuration of the four broadcast transmitters was a little different from that which was originally envisaged. The 600 kW mediumwave transmitter became two at 300 kW, though the total output on 1548 kHz was dropped to 400 kW. The three shortwave transmitters at 250 kW each became two at 300 kW and one at 250 kW, though all were in use on air at 250 kW each. This electronic equipment was provided by the German electronics giant, Telefunken. The original program feed was provided via Colombo, with 5 FM transmitters perched on top of Sri Lanka’s second highest mountain, at Radella. In due course, the program feed from Germany was taken off satellite at Perkara. Deutsche Welle Perkara-Trincomalee was ready for full service in October 1988, but this usage was postponed until the middle of the following year, due to a shortage of local trained staff. The three shortwave transmitters were heard at good level throughout Asia, and well beyond also. The mediumwave transmitter was also heard quite widely. Multitudinous QSL cards have been issued in confirmation of wide coverage areas of Deutsche Welle Sri Lanka. According to one reference, the official Sri Lankan callsign for this mighty station was 4QQ, though no callsign was ever used on air. There were times when the station was closed, and at times the staff was evacuated to safe locations when insurgents infiltrated the area. On those occasions, DW programming to the Trincomalee coverage areas was carried by Radio Veritas in the Philippines, and also by shortwave stations located in the southern countries of the former Soviet Union. As is happening these days to so many important shortwave stations throughout the world, downsizing is now part of the picture. Deutsche Welle decided to close two of its major shortwave relay stations, Sines In Portugal & Trincomalee in Sri Lanka. At the end of October last year Deutsche Welle programming from the Trincomalee relay station came to an end, though some client programming remained on the air until the end of the year. However at this stage, the noted Victor Goonetilleke in Colombo reported that the SLBC carried one program via the Trincomalee station, and this was a three hour broadcast in the Sinhala language beamed to the Middle East on 11750 kHz from 1530 to 1830 UT. Then Jose Jacob VU2JOS at Hyderabad in India noted a brief series of test broadcasts from the mediumwave transmitter on 1548 kHz, when a simple station announcement was given in several languages. That was earlier this year. On January 1 earlier this year, the large international radio broadcasting station located at Perkara-Trincomalee was taken over by the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. That was the end of an era; alas DW Sri Lanka is no more! (Adrian Peterson, AWR Wavescan script for April 8, 2012, via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA. Today 5 Aug 12 Sri Lanka BC noted with News in English at 0215-0220 on 7190 & 11905. in between Hindi Service. This is not parallel to regular English Service on 6005, 9770 & 15745. So on 7190 & 11905 several languages now in the mornings: 0115 Bangla (Christian program) 0130 Tamil 0215 English Hindi at other times in mornings. Hindi dropped in evenings -- Thanking you, Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, India, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 15745, SLBC at 0200 with time pips and a man with "7:30. This is the All Asia Service of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation." then news - Good Aug 5. Of course the TC is local Sri Lanka time which is UTC+5- /1/2 hour (Mark Coady using an Eton E-1 and a loaded inverted vee dipole on Chemung Lake near Peterborough, ON, dxingwithcumbre yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DXLD) [and non]. 15745, 0420 3 June, SLBC, Christian program in English, SIO 433; QRM Bro Stair 15740 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, HF Logbook, August BDXC-UK Communication, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ? I thought BS was on 15750 (gh, DXLD) Sorry, I have been somewhat busy in the last 2 months getting SLBC's new QSLs organized. They are all now ready and being issued. Thanks to Christoph Ratzer for having done an excellent job of printing. If you need any help I will be happy to help. E-mail the report addressed to the Director General SLBC. If you have old reports with sound clips which are conclusive I will dig up records and get QSLs. The current schedule goes like this: 0025-0300 (Sun 0500) English All Asia 6005/9770/15745 0015-0330 7190/11905 Vernacular Service, but English news at 0215 a repeat of the English news at 0200 on the Asia English Service 0830-1215 Vernaculars 6005/11905 1630-1835 11750 Sinhala mainly with some Tamil and English via Trincomalee ex DW station 250kW. For reception reports sent to me by friends, QSLs are signed by the Deputy Director General Engineering which I collect and post to make sure it does get done. Hi. You are free to send them direct to SLBC of course (Victor Goonetilleke in DXplorer Aug 07 via DSWCI DX Window via DXLD) ** SRI LANKA [non]. Re: Voice of Tigers, 12140 --- VOT 12140, 1530 UT, - No transmission heard today (Thu). Per Jaishaktivel on air announcements/website says they are only on Saturday (Alokesh Gupta, New Delhi, Aug 2, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, from 1515 to 1600 UT nothing heard. So, it`s confirmed that they broadcast only on Saturdays (Jaisakthivel, Tamil Nadu, Aug 2, ibid.) 12140, Saturday August 4 at 1528-1532, another try for V. of Tigers weekly clandestine hour, but nothing audible here except CODAR swishes (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 12140, Voice of Tigers start at 1531. Just now I get it here in south India. Signal is audible. 1600 news is read by male announcer in Tamil. Before that they played revolution song played (Jaisakthivel, Aug 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN. 7200, 0245 14 July, Sudan R., sign-on in Arabic, SIO 454. On 13 July, *0215 was sign-on; also 13 June, 0301, ID march, news in Arabic, SIO 353; also 2 June, 1745 soccer game, Arabic, SIO 353 (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, HF Logbook, August BDXC-UK Communication, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. 13765, August 6 at 0452, surprised to find good signal in Arabic here. Since Vatican via MADAGASCAR is in English from 0500, wondered if this too were Vatican, during the semihour when they used to relay V. of Charity from Lebanon --- but no, soon IDs flew by for R. Dabanga, and yes, // and synchronized with usual 15400. HFCC shows VR via MDC starting at 0455, but they turned it on even earlier with the wrong program feed! Then I also checked 11650 which is Dabanga via Vatican itself and found this always weaker signal was way out of synch with 13765/15400, 26 seconds ahead of them, i.e. just enough time for MDC to be getting a buffer-delayed internet feed, which would account for its substandard audio quality. 15400, August 7 at 0536, no signal from R. Dabanga via MADAGASCAR. Normally it`s one of the SSOBs (strongest signals on band), and very reliable. Only poor // 11650 via VATICAN is detectable, M&W in dramatic dialog, but one doesn`t have to wait long for a jingle ID at 0539. {Earlier I had checked 13765 where Dabanga appeared by mistake before but by 0455 there was only open carrier prior to Vatican IS around 0457} 15400, Aug 8 at 0450, R. Dabanga is back with usual good signal via MADAGASCAR after having been missing last night. Tuned to 13765 at 0453 a bit too late, only hearing one syllable of something before cut to dead air (except for a little buzzing-flies noise out of the malfunxioning transmitter); suspect another mis-relay of Dabanga prior to Vatican, whose IS started at 0457 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN SOUTH [non]. 15725, August 6 at 0517, V. of South Sudan Revolutionary Radio, good in Arabish speech, better signal than usual. Not in English at this time as alleged by Aoki. But 0551 recheck now a speech in English about South Sudan and its problems, 0556 into spirited singing and talk in unknown language, unseems Arabish. I was trying hard to understand the English, to get a feel for where this station is coming from politically, but unable to. I am beginning to wonder if it`s really anti-South-Sudan, as the `revolutionary` bit could be construed as pro-South, anti-north. Some reports say the site is Tajikistan, which I continue to doubt. If it is, that might mean it`s not on the side of the genocidal [north] Sudanese government, and brokered thru usual channels which leads to various pro-Western overt and clandestine broadcasts also from Orzu, e.g. Voice of Tibet (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SURINAME. 4990, 15.7 2310, Radio Apintie hard to copy, fair signal but weak modulation, a bit better 19.7. at 0930. But never strong here nor in Dominica. 34332 (Stig Hartvig Nielsen, Gros Islet, St. Lucia – longwire (20 mts), AOR 7030+, HCDX via DXLD) ** SWEDEN. July QSL Report: Radio Northern Star, 5895, Email-QSL in 6 days. Report sent to 1000 @ northernstar.no V/s: Svenn Martinsen. Good QSLing! (Christian Ghibaudo, France, via Dario Monferini, DXLD) ** SWITZERLAND [and non]. Sendeantenne Sarnen > Vor einiger Zeit habe ich per Zufall irgendwo gesehen, dass die > Antenne des ehemaligen MW-Senders Sarnen noch stehen soll. Ggf. hier: http://www.sarganserland-walensee.ch/radio_tv_historisch/AM_Sender/mittelwellensender-beromuenster2.html > Ein Ausflug am 1. August hat das bestätigt. Ich finde das Ganze > interessant. Der MW-Sender wurde etwa 1995 abgeschaltet. 1992 dürfte zutreffen, wobei man auch noch fragen könnte, warum. > Etwa 200 Meter neben der MW-Antenne befindet sich auch heute noch > eine zweite Antenne. Ein etwas älterer Teil mit Masten von der > Kurzwellenzeit - so nehme ich an. Was auch augenfällig ist, alle > Masten sind total verrostet, aber die Kabel und Halterungen sehen > sehr neu aus. Eventuell ist das ganze sogar noch betriebsbereit. Das > würde mich nicht überraschen, da die ehemalige KW-Antenne sehr > wahrscheinlich über einem Tunnel steht. Ein grosser unterirdischer > Zugang ist gut sichtbar und befindet sich genau in der Mitte > zwischen den Antennen. Ja, das sieht sehr nach unterirdischen Technikräumen aus. Solche werden auch aus Lenk beschrieben. Dort soll es oberirdisch nur die Antennen zu sehen gegeben haben, die als einfache Dipole oder Quadrantantennen recht unauffällig gewesen sein dürften. Interessant wären einmal Fotos der Anlagen in Lenk, da ist bis jetzt nirgends etwas aufgetaucht. Der Standort steht völlig im Schatten, m.M.n. durchaus zu Unrecht, denn die Austrahlungen auf 6165 und 3985 kHz waren in Europa nun wirklich signifikant. (Zuletzt [alles vor 1993 war vor meiner Zeit] wurden beide Frequenzen dem Standort Lenk zugeschrieben, was insofern plausibel ist, als man ganz zuletzt auf 3985 kHz hören konnte, wie zwischen den Sendeblöcken von China Radio International, damals noch in schauderhafter Telefonqualitä t zugeführt, das Programm von 6165 kHz durchschlug und vom Kompressor hochgezogen wurde; HF-Einstrahlung am Sender selbst ist sicher wahrscheinlicher als technische Fehler im Funkhaus oder auf den Übertragungsleitunge n.) > Sarnen hatte einen MW-Sender mit ca. 250 kw auf 1566 khz. Auch hier ist die Frage, wo der eigentlich stand. Zu vermuten wäre natürlich die Bunkeranlage, in der auch der Kurzwellensender installiert war. (Das gilt übrigens auch für den Berliner Sender Stallupöner Allee. Dort sieht man das noch in Form einer Sandgrube, die das letzte deutlich erkennbare Relikt der Sendeanlage ist, abgesehen von dem vergessenen Briefkasten mit Schild "RBB", der zumindest vor anderthalb Jahren noch an der Einfahrt hing.) > Der Empfang war am Abend immer besser als vom Sender Beromünster. Die Steilstrahlanlage in Burg auf 1575 kHz, deren Nutzung für RBI schlichtweg Unfug war (das hatte die Post dem Rundfunk damals auch deutlich gesagt, aber O=3 in Norwegen ist ja sooooo geil... oder wurde dafür dann auf eine Flächenantenne umgeschaltet? aber davon hat bis dato niemand etwas gesagt), knallte in ihrem eigentlichen Versorgungsgebiet auch nur so rein. > Ebenso gab es noch einen KW-Sender mit der gleichen Leistung. Im > Internet habe ich über den ehemaligen KW-Sender nicht viel gefunden. > Scheinbar wurde er für für eine Frequenz des damaligen > Europaprogramm eingesetzt (damals im 75-, 49- und 31-m-Band). > Der Standort Stalden liegt etwa auf 1000 m.ü.M und damit etwa 500 > Meter oberhalb von Sarnen. Viele Häuser hat es auch heute nicht > dort. > Der erste Teil der Fotos zeigt die MW-Antenne. Vielleicht hat ja > jemand noch Infos zur zweiten Antenne. > > https://picasaweb.google.com/ferienradio/SendeantenneSarnen Das ist eine logarithmisch-periodische Antenne. Eine Richtantenne also, kein Rundstrahler. Es könnte sich trotzdem um die Antenne des Kurzwellen-Rundfunk senders handeln, dessen Betrieb auf 9535 kHz an diesem Standort wohl unstrittig ist. Möchte mir aber trotzdem die Hintertür offenhalten, daß sie für einen Rundfunksender mit 250 kW recht zierlich aussieht. Das Richtfunkzeugs könnte evtl. für Mobilfunk noch aktiv sein, falls das nicht doch ganz einfach die frühere Programmzuführung ist. MfG (Kal Ludwig, Germany, April 4, A-DX via Ludwig, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) MfG = with friendly greeetings, and now summary in English: Besides the vertical incidence antenna for 1566 kHz (to my knowledge the first one, pioneering the concept) also a LP shortwave antenna still exists at Sarnen, as shown in the above linked Picasaweb gallery. It is of a rather delicate design, leaving some doubts if it was really for 250 kW, i.e. the broadcasting transmitter on 9535 kHz. The transmitters, both for 9535 and 1566 kHz it seems, sat in underground rooms which look untouched from the outside. This raises the question if they have really been scrapped, i.e. if what is now Swisscom Broadcast really bothered to clear the rooms while leaving the antennas and the rooms themselves alone. Lenk has once been described as having the transmitters underground, too, so it must have been a quite inconspicuous facility. I have not found any photos of it so far. It is not appropriate how it remains in the shadow this way, since 6165 and 3985 kHz were significant signals for Europe. Actually WRTH 1984 listed the site of 3985 as Beromünster instead, but in the final years it apparently originated together with 6165 from Lenk, since it could be observed on 3985 how in the pauses between the CRI programs leaked, distorted SRI audio from 6165 had been sucked up by the limiter/compressor. On-site HF bleed-in appears to be much more likely than other kinds of leaking in the audio equipment. Other sources see Beromünster for the final years rather as back-up. However, the Red Cross "test transmissions" on 7210 kHz had been said to indeed originate from there (Kai Ludwig, ibid.) Hi Chaps, In reply to Kai's posting here is a reply from an amateur radio contact of mine Bob Zanotti, one of the ''Two Bobs'' of Swiss Radio. A copy and paste follows (Dave Porter, ibid.) Hi Dave. Your source is obviously well informed, and the photos are fantastic. I never saw the Sarnen transmitter, so I can't talk about its construction. I did see the Lenk TX from the outside, however, and I can confirm that the TX's were underground for security reasons. This anecdote: The warm water produced by the TX cooling system was piped to the local public swimming pool in Lenk. :-)The antenna was a rather low set of dipoles in an omni-directional square configuration. I can imagine that both the Sarnen and Lenk underground bunkers are still there, although I cannot confirm this. I also have no idea what happened to the 250 kw transmitters themselves, although I would imagine that they were sold. I assume that the antennas have since been removed, although I cannot confirm this either. The 9535 signal did come from Sarnen, but both the 3985 and 6165 signals originated from Lenk. Beromuenster was listed as a standby, but was not is regular use. The 1566 MW station was at different central Swiss locations years ago, including Sarnen. It was primarily a night time alternative frequency to German-language program on Beromuenster 531, which was badly QRM'd by Algeria at night. Back in the early 80's, I believe, the 1566 operation moved to Monte Cima in Italian-speaking Switzerland, although it still carried the German-language service. Monte Cima was also the new location for the Italian-Swiss program on 558, a shift from the old Monte Ceneri location not far away. The Monte Cima site was closed down a a couple of years ago, but not dismantled. The Voice of Russia is now leasing airtime from this station, although I'm not sure if they're using 558 or 1566. I *think* it was to be 1566. I am sending my old friend Bob HB9GX [Thomann] a copy of this mail. He was closely involved with HF engineering at what is now Swisscom (the old PTT), and probably knows more than I do. There is another friend who is a former Swisscom/SRI transmitter technician, who was also directly involved with some of these stations in the army. If I learn something more, I'll let you know. 73, Bob HB9ASQ [Zanotti]`` 73 (via Dave G4OYX Porter, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) Sendeantenne Sarnen Two UPDATES --- Here are two emails from Bob Zanotti with more information. 73 Dave Porter --- Follows>> Hi Dave. I was about to mail you. I spoke this morning with Paul Stettler, a retired TX technician at Schwarzenburg, and a former member of the Swiss Army Signal Corps. We discussed all of this, and these are the facts: The attachments you sent are old and no longer applied to the later years. Sarnen and Lenk were built in 1974, and both featured underground bunkers, which are apparently still there, although the antennas and transmitters have been removed. In the case of Lenk, the bunker is being used by a local cheese-maker to ripen his cheese. :-) "Bero" *used* to handle SW traffic for SRI, but this was transferred to Lenk and Sarnen when those stations opened. Sarnen handled the omnidirectional 9535, while Lenk took over 3985 and 6165. The rest of what I told you is correct. The only remaining question is which MW frequency the Voice of Russia is using: 558 or 1566. I'll get back to you if I find out more. 73, Bob Hi Dave. According the following link, which is usually reliable, the Monte Cima MW frequency for VOR is 558. 73, Bob HB9ASQ (Zanotti, via David Porter, Aug 6, ibid.) > I did see the Lenk TX from the outside, however, and I can > confirm that the TX's were underground for security reasons. See http://www.festung-oberland.ch/Dossier/APF/APF.html The transmission facility was civilian but prepared for military use. Unrelated, but still of note is the related "Bilder" page, featuring also a protected FM transmitter and the sheltered radio studio at Bern. (And yes: It's "the Lenk".) > This anecdote: The warm water produced by the TX cooling > system was piped to the local public swimming pool in Lenk. As far as I remember was the closure thus a problem for the municipality, because they had to establish a substitute for heating that swimming pool. http://www.lenk.ch/de/AktivitaetenWinter/Hallenbad > I also have no idea what happened to the 250 kw transmitters > themselves, although I would imagine that they were sold. I have this in my files: * Sarnen: One 250 kW transmitter, closed and scrapped in 1995. * Beromünster: Two 250 kW transmitters, closed in 1995 and sold to North Korea. * Schwarzenburg: Two 250 kW transmitters closed in 1993/1994 and sold to North Korea. Remaining transmitters closed in 1998, of these one 250 kW transmitter has been scrapped, two 250 kW and one 100 kW transmitters have been sold to Adventist World Radio. * Lenk: Two transmitters, closed in 1998, scrapped in 1999. AWR had purchased the Schwarzenburg transmitters (and, so it seemed, also some accessories like antenna switching gear) for its Italy project they later terminated. I have nothing at hand about the final fate of the transmitters in question. Of the transmitters sold to North Korea, at least one definitely reappeared, on 6070/6100 kHz, used alternately for Japanese and Joson Jung-ang Pangsong, with the frequency switch apparently having the mere purpose of marking a clear distinction. Clear signs were the in- band frequencies (perhaps the BBC transmitters do not allow wide OOB operations as they are) and different modulation. The site of 6070/6100 kHz is listed as Kanggye, and indeed it appears to be neither in Pyongyang area nor at the Kujang plant. > Beromuenster was listed as a standby, but was not is regular use. What about the Red Cross transmissions on 7210 kHz? For them Beromünster had been specified as site I've been told. (It appears that SRG was not involved in these transmissions at all. What is now Swisscom Broadcast run them for the Red Cross as a courtesy, for legal reasons as alleged testing.) > Back in the early 80's, I believe, the 1566 operation > moved to Monte Cima in Italian-speaking Switzerland Was there really a switch of regular operations? So far this 1566 kHz equipment had been believed to be a back-up for Sarnen. To make the confusion complete: The short-lived Radio Evviva revival originated from Beromünster (unless this needs to be corrected). > The Monte Cima site was closed down a a couple of years ago, > but not dismantled. The Voice of Russia is now leasing airtime > from this station, although I'm not sure if they're using 558 > or 1566. I *think* it was to be 1566. It's 558 kHz, run at 200 kW, not throughout the day but on a somewhat limited schedule. I have no time to put together the details, but it is programming in German, French and Italian, and 558 kHz should show up in the published schedules (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Aug 8, ibid.) ** SYRIA. 9330, 1600 UT transmission R Damascus? Currently running with a pulsing carrier and occasional faint audio fragments being heard. 73s (Tony Molloy, nr Winter Hill, UK, SD639114, 53.6 N 2.55 W IO83ro, 1645 UT Aug 4, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9330, 1700 UT transmission R Damascus? Currently partially running with a carrier that keeps dropping and occasional faint audio are fragments being heard. 73s (Tony Molloy, nr Winter Hill, UK, 1710 UT Aug 4, BDXC-UK yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DXLD) ** SYRIA. [Re 12-31:] MORE Syrian frequencies --- 1125 from Al-Hassake would be missing, and 918 would carry both 1st and 2nd program. Tarek, are you getting anything on 1125 or is Libya too strong? 73, (Günter Lorenz, Germany, Aug 4, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1125 is having only Libya here in my QTH 918 is having General Program same as 783 and 567 73s (Tarek 0146 UT Aug 5, ibid.) ** SYRIA. On August 06 a bomb exploded on the third floor of the Headquarter’s of the Syrian Radio and TV in Damascus (Anker Petersen, DSWCI DX Window via DXLD) The state TV building in Damascus was reported to have been bombed on Monday(?) altho TV broadcasts apparently continued. As we know, TV considers radio negligible, so was there also any unreported disruption to R. Damascus on 9330, more than usual? (Glenn Hauser, Wednesday Aug 8, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Was on the air yesterday (Tuesday) as usual. (Jean-Michel Aubier, France, ibid.) Radio Damascus in English, 7 Aug 2012, 2049 UT, 9330 (55441) Arab music, very weak modulation of a strong carrier. ID heard at low modulation. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, The answer is clear and confirmed as I had a phone call with my friends at Radio Damascus after the bomb. The bomb only resulted in some material damage and three people were slightly injured. Radio Damascus is operating as normal without interruption. Everyone at Radio Damascus is fine. Best, (Kris Janssen, Belgium, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. Han Sheng in Chinese, 7 Aug 2012, 2122 UT, 9745 (44433), talk with mideastern music from Bahrain in the background (S=2) 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, from the Baltic Sea shore at 54 26 N, 12 41 E. Rx: Perseus SDR, DX-10 Active antenna on a 3m pole in the garden. Stronger signals than on the same setup at home downtown QTH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN. Sound of Hope in Chinese, 7 Aug 2012, 2207 UT, 7605 (24222), talk, no jamming. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, from the Baltic Sea shore at 54 26 N, 12 41 E. Rx: Perseus SDR, DX-10 Active antenna on a 3m pole in the garden. Stronger signals than on the same setup at home downtown QTH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non]. Sound of Hope [opposition broadcast from Taiwan to China] was monitored in July as follows. It is mainly jammed with CNR1 or Bim-Bam Pseudo opera music [Firedrake]: 15900 03-06, 08-10, 12-14 15940 05-06, 13-15 15970 03-07 16100 03-06, 08-09, 10-14 16700 03-07, 11-12, 13-14 16920 06-07, 08-09, 10-18 16980 03-05, 08-09, 10-14 17100 08-09, 10-12, 13-14 17170 07-09, 10-12 17250 11-13, 16-18 17900 11-13, 16-18 (often replaced by 17920) Monitored only between 03 and 18 UT (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, DX News, August BDXC-UK Communication, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) Did he axually hear SOH at all these times, or assume it was there under the jamming? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAIWAN [non]. 7570, August 5 at 0453, RTI via WYFR is finally in correct language again, Spanish instead of English, altho mostly Chinese at the moment in language lesson. In the previous hour at 0341, 5985 was correctly in Mandarin, 5950 much stronger in English. See also INDONESIA 7570, August 6 at 0458 checking RTI via WYFR just in time to see whether it`s still in correct language, Spanish for the 04-05 hour: yes, but with disclaimer that regular program has been suspended due to ``problemas técnicos``, plus music fill. I then tune in 5950, the frequency which goes from Chinese to English at 0500, and on another receiver just before 0500, the music fill on 7570 starts to match and then 7570 cuts off the air. 5950 has just finished Chinese talk, another apology? Music continues instead of opening English; 0503-0504 dead air; 0504 YL says the ``60- minute English program is canceled due to technical difficulties``, and more music fill, later an OM ID; 0510 repeating the YL cancel notice. I suppose this is standby material played from Okeechobee when they can`t get the feed from Taibei. 5950, August 7 at 0518, RTI via WYFR playing a song in Chinese, which makes me suspect the new program feed is still down. Yes, at 0520, disclaimer about missing programming, but in Spanish, wrong language for this hour instead of English! And then inviting us to listen to another ``hermosa canción``. By now they could have delivered the program by some backup means such as ftp, satellite, overnight express, whichever isn`t normally used and has failed. 7570, Aug 8 at 0450, after at least two nights of apologetic missing programming, RTI is back to normal via WYFR and in correct language too! YL Spanish talk about exports (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TAJIKISTAN. 11500, V. of Russia, Dushanbe, 1200-1210, Aug 6 English; Tune/in to sign/on announcement in progress with sked and ID; M announcer with news headlines; "Welcome to another edition of In Focus" at 1205; fair though just enough band noise to prevent program details (Scott R. Barbour Jr. Intervale, N.H. USA, NRD-545, MLB-1, 200' Beverages, 60m dipole, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TATARSTAN [non]. 15110, August 5 at 0411, Tatarstan Wave is underway as EiBi denotes it; had open carrier as early as 0350 before 0410 opening. Recheck at 0458 singing, 0459 closing in Russish as ``Programa Tatarstana``. Is really 60 degrees from Samara, RUSSIA site (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** THAILAND. 17800, August 2 at 1240, Russian with flutter, mentions Svoboda several times, appropriately for R. Liberty, not often heard here and I would not have guessed the site, Udorn during this hour only, 250 kW, 351 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** TUNISIA. RTT Tunis in Arabic, 7 Aug 2012, 1949 UT, already on 7345 (43433), // 7225 (55343). 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, from the Baltic Sea shore at 54 26 N, 12 41 E. Rx: Perseus SDR, DX-10 Active antenna on a 3m pole in the garden. Stronger signals than on the same setup at home downtown QTH, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 17735, Aug 8 at 0506, IWT with nice Arabic song, in fact the SSOB and better than // 7275, much better than // 12005 --- but I know it will be cut off rudely and abruptly by timer, as modulation on 17735 stops at 0507:50, and carrier cut at 0508. Only RFA Saipan 17855 had rivalled it on 16m. Then 12005 is also gone (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K [and non]. 6195, August 5 at 0344, avant-garde music, must be BBCWS, listed during this hour from both Skelton and Cyprus, but no echo. Much stronger on // 9410 which is Woofferton. It`s amazing to hear serious music any more on dumbed-down newstalk station BBCWS; 0358 outro as something from a Prom Concert, so it`s only temporary. Must have been `The Strand` weekend edition, on Euro stream, altho I find no mention of such content on website for this programme. BTW, I am enjoying listening to almost every Prom Concert as soon as they are ondemand from BBC Radio 3. 9565, August 5 at 0403, collision of two signals making low het, one in Farsi. It`s BBC Persian via Cyprus at 0230-0430, and other must be SRDA Curitiba, BRASIL. No Cuban or Iranian jamming audible now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U K. Hi, saw this statement on Brill's Village Facebook page: "Hello. We went to the olympics today and bought a couple of the in ear radioes [sic] that give you commentary whatever venue you are in. if you want to borrow them, let me know. We are in The Lawns. Cheers." As far as I know there are no RSL's for these events; I wonder what frequency these radios are on (Paul Ewers, Aug 6, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) The message on the Facebook page may be a bit confusing, Paul, perhaps. It says the in-ear radios "give you commentary whatever venue you are in". This suggests that the commentary provided relates to each individual sport in each different venue, but could it be that they are actually single channel radios covering Radio 5 Live? In that case, of course, the commentary offered would only relate to what 5 Live is carrying at the time, not necessarily the sport in the venue you are in. Otherwise, I think the most likely answer is that these are actually small Bluetooth devices which link to a locally generated commentary only available on site, or else an encyrpted digital sound channel on a WiFi network. As Paul says, there have not been any RSLs publicised for the Stratford E20 area and it would be hard to imagine them finding many separate FM or AM frequencies to support the number of venues in the Olympic Park (let alone ExCeL, the 02- sorry "North Greenwich Arena"- etc! (Mark Savage, ibid.) Could be what Ofcom refers to as ADS-RSLs, this from the Ofcom web site: "Audio Distribution Systems (ADS-RSLs) are for the transmission of audio content for direct reception within a small defined area. ADS-RSLs are not licensed for operation on the FM or AM wavebands, but within other parts of the spectrum" We had an item about receivers for venues being sold by Sports Channel in December 2009 Communication (page 12). As well as ordinary FM, these radios have an "FM2" band for ADS-RSLs which covers the frequency range 60-64 MHz. http://www.sportschannel.org/ The Ofcom web site lists a few venues, mostly sports grounds, where ADS-RSLs have been licensed, although it has not been updated recently so does not show Olympic venues apart from the O2 Arena in Greenwich which already had an ADS-RSL licence. Possibly other Olympic venues have similar licences? http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/radio-broadcast-licensing/restricted-service-licences/current-rsls/ads-rsl 73s (Dave Kenny, ibid.) He is most likely talking about "RAD" which is a system designed specifically for the purpose of broadcasting audio descriptions to blind and partially sighted people attending public events like London 2012. The system transmits on a very narrow band UHF frequency using an Induction Loop type antenna and the ear piece receiver worn by the user automatically tunes itself to the frequency being used at the particular event, hence him saying "it gives you commentary whatever venue you are in". i.e. each venue transmits on a different frequency. Using a UHF frequency means that it is not classed as a RSL hence it not appearing in any of the lists (Tony Boreham, ibid.) ** U K [and non]. OFCOM RULES VOICE OF RUSSIA BROADCAST IN BREACH OF BROADCASTING CODE The February 19 edition of the Voice of Russia programme, Religion and Society, available for streaming on the Voice of Russia website is: "Lesley Pilkington, a Christian psychotherapist from Great Britain, tells her story how British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy attempts to annul her accreditation after she tried to cure homosexuality. Mrs. Pilkington’s patient who had wanted to get rid of same sex attractions appeared to be a gay activist and brought accusations against her." Whilst the British regulator Ofcom has no juridisction over shortwave broadcasts, or internet streaming, located in Russia as World Radio Network has a London DAB licence, through which Voice of Russia are aired, broadcasts under that licence have to comply with the UK Broadcasting code. Ofcom has ruled that the interview with Christian therapist Lesley Pilkington in which the presenter referred to homosexuality as a ‘disorder’ to be ‘cured’ and decried ‘aggressive homosexual propaganda’ breached the Broadcasting Code when it aired in the UK. While her own comments about homosexuality being a choice and parents ‘grieving’ over their gay children were “at the margins of acceptability”, Ofcom said they were justified by the context and did not breach the rules on causing offence. But “frequent” comments by the show’s Russian presenter about homosexuality being a disorder demonstrated that he was using Ms Pilkington to “advance his own offensive viewpoint on homosexuality”, Ofcom said. Among the comments in its ruling, Ofcom noted that Vakhtang Kipshidzhe had asked: “There are people that want to be cured from homosexuality; have you met many people who want to be cured from this mental disorder, or how we can call it?” Ofcom was concerned that the presenter referred to homosexuality “quite frequently” as a “disease or affliction”. It ruled: “The potential offence was exacerbated by the presenter using the answers given by Lesley Pilkington as a means of supporting his own highly critical views of issues linked to homosexuality.” At the end of the interview he told his guest: “Thank you very much Mrs Pilkington and I wish you good luck in this fight and I hope that you will win in this case but generally, please feel support from our side because I think that many people in Russia are on your side, because nobody is happy about the things which are happening around the world in relation to this aggressive homosexual propaganda.” It said: “We noted the Licensee’s representation that ‘shortcomings’ in the English language skills of the presenter may have contributed to the impression that the programme sought to denigrate homosexuality. [...] “Ofcom therefore acknowledges that – to some extent – the language limitations of the Russian presenter, who was not speaking in his mother-tongue, may have contributed towards an inappropriate choice of words. We also acknowledge that attitudes towards issues such as religion and homosexuality may vary considerably between different cultures. “However, Ofcom expects all broadcasters to: be fully aware of the impact broadcast material may have on their audiences; exercise caution when complying programmes that discuss sensitive or controversial issues; and, ensure all presenters and programme makers are capable of having – and are appropriately selected or trained to have – proper regard to the sensitivities of their audience." Ofcom ruled that World Radio Network was in breach of rule 2.3 "In applying generally accepted standards broadcasters must ensure that material which may cause offence is justified by the context…Such material may include, but is not limited to,...discriminatory treatment or language (for example on the grounds of...sexual orientation) and expressed concerns over the effectiveness of World Radio Networks editorial control over the station's output." (via Mike Barraclough, Aug World DX Club Contact via DXLD) ** U K. UK TV SHOULD SWITCH TO INTERNET, PEERS SUGGEST http://www.southgatearc.org/news/august2012/tv_should_switch_to_internet.htm The Guardian newspaper reports on a House of Lords committee suggestion that TV should be moved onto the Internet to free up radio spectrum. Read the Guardian article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jul/31/digital-television-internet-revolution (Southgate August 2, 2012 via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) See also POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ** U S A. A DAY OF INFAMY --- Tuesday, July 31st, is a day that as far as the international broadcasters that work here are concerned, should go down in infamy for the Voice of America. In London, the U.S.A. swimmer Michael Phelps became arguably the greatest Olympian of all times, setting an all-time record with 19 medals. He swam a brilliant anchor leg in the men's 200-meter freestyle relay, taking the big lead his teammates gave him and using it to propel the team to the win and the 15th gold medal of his career - his 19th overall. The news immediately flashed around the world, as it had been much anticipated and was the leading story of the day for the U.S.A. It was also carried by most major networks on their websites, such as the BBC, but not by the Voice of America. It was not until a couple hours later, at precisely 18:25 pm, that VOA finally bothered to list Phelps' victory on its web site. Duh, by then, hundreds of millions of people had read the news elsewhere on the web. We at AFGE Local 1812 have witnessed first-hand management's casual disregard and contempt for sports, to the point that the newsroom sports writers were ordered to work on other subjects. But the Voice of America Charter still stands and it says, among other things: VOA will serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news. VOA news will be accurate, objective, and comprehensive. VOA will represent America, not any single segment of American society, and will therefore present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions. So we ask: why did it take almost two hours for the Voice of America to recognize and publicize the historical feat of one of the greatest Olympians, who happens to be American, on its web site? Is VOA still a network worth its name? And if it cares so little, as this example of tardy coverage would indicate, why is it that heads never roll among its incompetent management? Posted: Wednesday, Aug 01, 2012 (AFGE Local 1812 via DXLD) ** U S A. BROADCASTING BOARD OF GOVERNORS BUILDS A COSTLY MOUSETRAP THAT DOESN’T WORK --- By BBGWatcher on 01 August 2012 in Featured News, Hot Tub Blog, Just Asking with 1 Comment BBG Watch Commentary Weapons of Mouse Destruction Facebook Page [caption] New media innovators at the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) built their “Weapons of Mouse Destruction” as “the largest participatory art project against government Internet censorship that has ever been launched.” But the mousetrap that was supposed to drive fear into the hearts of Iranian ayatollahs turned out to be an expensive fiasco — with hardly any viewer-provided art photos, hardly any comments, hardly any web traffic, and hardly any attention from anyone. The only people that should pay attention are American taxpayers. . . http://www.usgbroadcasts.com/bbgwatch/2012/08/01/broadcasting-board-of-governors-builds-a-costly-mousetrap-that-doesnt-work/ (BBG Watch via DXLD) ** U S A. VIEWPOINT: DICK LOBO ON INTERNATIONAL MEDIA --- International Broadcasting Bureau Director Dick Lobo has launched a blog called “ViewPoint” to share some opinions and ideas about international media. With an extensive background in both private sector broadcast journalism and as a public television executive, Lobo offers a unique perspective on the evolving world of international media and the operations of the Broadcasting Board of Governors. With the start of ViewPoint, he adds blogger to his list of credits. “My hope is that ViewPoint will shed light on the vast number of issues confronting the BBG and international media at this exciting and challenging time. I’d like readers to learn about the innovative and sometimes heroic work our people are doing around the world and reforms we are undertaking to fulfill the agency’s noble mission,” Lobo said. The blog, located at http://viewpoint.bbg.gov launches at a time when the BBG is seeking to meet the critical information needs of new and different audiences around the world while at the same time wrestling with funding reductions. ViewPoint will share an insider’s view of 21st-Century challenges for the BBG’s global news gathering operation within a worldwide distribution network of radio, television, Internet and mobile platforms. It also will focus on the innovations, reforms and adaptations the BBG is making to meet its public diplomacy mission and contribute to U.S. national security. ViewPoint will also follow trends and related developments in international broadcasting and journalism. The IBB provides transmission, marketing, and program placement services for BBG broadcast organizations. It is also responsible for overseeing the Agency’s strategic planning, communications, financial operations, and legal support (BBG PR Aug 7 via Dr Hansjoerg Biener, DXLD) ** U S A [and non]. 11905, August 2 until 0429* good signal in uncertain African language: HFCC shows VOA Kinyarwanda, 350 kW, 320 degrees so also USward from MADAGASCAR at 0400-0430. The previous semihour in same was via Sri Lanka until July 29, replaced by Somali from July 30 13645-13675 approx., August 2 at 1214, VOA Spanish, Greenville-B is putting modulation spike spurs here from strong 13750, peaking circa 13660. 9740, August 5 at 0350, Farsish talk and music, but not // 9760 R. Farda. 9740 is IBB really in Tajik via Biblis, GERMANY, gone after 0400. 9610, August 5 at 1330 amid `Jazz America` announcement from VOA, very poor signal but in the clear. Is 305 degrees from TINIAN during this hour weekends only. 9820, August 8 at 0140, VOA ending Spe-cial Eng-lish news, into health re-port; with C5 het from always off-frequency R. Nove de Julho, Brasil, i.e. approx. 523 Hz, but let`s just call it 9819.5. Seems the IBB frequency manager is oblivious of such problems, since Brasil refuses to participate in HFCC; therefore its numerous SW stations sharing the ISWBC bands do not exist. Current lineup for UT Tue-Sat Special English at 0130-0200 via Greenville-B is only: 184 degrees on 7465, 164 degrees toward Brasil! on 9820 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1628 monitoring: I myself missed confirming the Thursday Aug 2 2100 broadcast on 9479 WTWW --- It`s been very reliable, but if anyone heard or tried and did not hear it, please inform me. Next airing on WWRB, 0330v UT Friday August 3: brought up webcast first before 0330, but KJV Bible readings instead // other WWRB stream. Sometimes this happens; both are linked at http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html So I have to check 5050 itself at 0334, where WOR 1628 is well underway, with some fading. Next: UT Saturday 0130v on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB. Advance skeds of the somewhat variable Area 51 content, which is now on every night, are at http://www.worldmicroscope.com/ For some time, following us at 0200 UT Saturdays has been `Voice of the Dead`, rather than Jean Shepherd, who is also dead. Then: UT Saturday 0630 on Hamburger Lokalradio, 1 kW on 7265 And: UT Sunday 0400 on WTWW 5755. Plus on WRMI 9955: Sat 0800, 1500, 1730, Sun 0800, 1530, 1730, Mon 0500, 1130. Also on WRN via SiriusXM 120: Sat & Sun 1730, Sun 0830 WORLD OF RADIO 1628 monitoring: confirmed on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v- CUSB, and on webcast at 0130 UT Saturday August 4. Further airings: on WRMI 9955, Sat 1730, Sun 0800, 1530, 1730, Mon 0500, 1130. On WTWW 5755, UT Sun 0400. Also on WRN via SiriusXM 120, Sat & Sun 1730, Sun 0830. WORLD OF RADIO 1628 monitoring: confirmed on WTWW 5755, UT Sunday August 5 at 0400 with usual upcut/join in progress billboard after canned ID insert. Remaining airings on WRMI 9955: Sun 1730, Mon 0500, 1130; on HLR 5980: Tue 0930. On SiriusXM 120: Sun 1730 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9955, UT Monday August 6 at 0511, no signal detectable from WRMI during scheduled WORLD OF RADIO broadcast, despite only lite pulse jamming from Cuba. Off the air? Propagation has tended to be `long` lately with weakened US signals, strengthened further ones, a nighttime generalization (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9955, August 7 at 0526, Channel Africa via WRN via WRMI with metallic mineral and oil prices, then ID as the `Africa Rise & Shine` show with 7:27 timecheck, so it`s a live relay; only lite bubble jamming to bother. At least WRMI is confirmed on air, unlike 24 hours earlier when WORLD OF RADIO would have aired. Only direct frequency during this hour from SOUTH AFRICA is 7230, which I sometimes also hear, but it`s on from 05 to 07, M-F only per EiBi. One night I must check how far out of synch they are with WRMI. Only the first semihour is on WRN/WRMI, and Tue-Fri only, per latest program grid dated July 5, as at 0531, WRMI has gone on to R. Praga in Spanish (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also SLOVAKIA [non]; VENEZUELA ** U S A. 12105, August 4 at 1914, WTWW-3 is missing again; more feedline shorts? 9479 WTWW-1 was on as usual with ham show breakaway from PPP SFAW. Monitored on the porch at only 107.8 degrees F. No, the horrible wildfires in OK yesterday and today were not in the Enid area. 12105, August 5 at 0324, back on in Portuguese, only poor signal with propagation uncoöperative this late. 12105, Aug 5 at 1857, WTWW-3 is still missing. 12105, August 6 at 1705 check, WTWW-3 still missing. This does not explain why #3 was off, captions to photos just in from George McClintock: ``WTWW: dead bird on antenna --- Dead bird on # 1 antenna. Smoke and rectified audio coming from the carcass. George removing bird with telescoping stick. Transmitter off; using # 2 on # 1 frequency, while removing bird. Bird gone, August 6, 2012`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WTWW is on the air again on 12105 kHz, 8 Aug 2012, 2339 UT, 35333, talk in Spanish about men and women. 73, (Eike Bierwirth, Zingst / Germany, logs from the Baltic shore, with Perseus SDR and DX-10 active antenna out in the garden, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Seems to be most active in the local afternoons now (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. 15825, August 2 at 1313, surprised to find WWCR with a talk show, rather than `Inspirations Across America`` black gospel music as still on the schedule M-F 13-14; host is so self-confident that he felt no need to give his name or program name when breaking for commercial; 1349 recheck tho signal has faded down from VG to only fair, now it`s IAA. They put on wrong program earlier? Was certainly not YL Joyce`s `Power Hower` either as on 7490/13845. 12160, August 4 at 1915, WWCR ``please stand by as we investigate a few technical difficulties`` loop with jazzy music. Must refer to lost program source, as modulation and signal OK (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 7506.4, August 5 at 0347 check, WRNO is JBM. They just can`t get their act together (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 13830, August 2 at 1951, WEWN Spanish with distorted modulation, wobbling carrier. 7555, August 7 at 0522, WEWN Spanish is gone again from its good overnight frequency; still weak but detectable on the other two, 11520 in English, better 11870 in Spanish, at 0533 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Please note the following frequency change for WYFR A-2012 operating schedule effective August 13, 2012: Delete 6115 kHz 2215-0300 UTC 355 degrees azimuth Zones 4, 5, 9 Add 6145 kHz 2215-0300 UTC 355 degrees azimuth Zones 4, 5, 9 Sincerely, (Brenda Constantino, WYFR, Aug 8, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6145 would not have worked across this span until CRI closed down a one-hour relay via Sackville; why move? Nothing much on 6115 on this worldside, but maybe to avoid Cuba on 6120 after 2300. 6145 appears to be quite open during this period (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Frequency Tolerance for SW --- Hello Glenn, I note some recent discussion regarding the frequency tolerance for USA SW transmitters. The old 0.0015% of the assigned frequency still is on the books for regular AM transmissions on shortwave. For SSB or digital SW modes, the tolerance is 10 Hz. Around 20 years ago, the FCC informally requested that we conform to the ITU standard of plus or minus 10 Hz. Our frequency synthesizers were pretty good, but not that good. So we purchased a high-stability 10 MHz standard, and slaved all our frequency synthesizers to it. We stay within plus or minus 1 Hz. For regular medium wave AM, the tolerance is plus or minus 20 Hz. For FM, under 10 watts is 3000 Hz; over 10 watts is 2000 Hz. Best regards, (Dan Elyea, WYFR, Okeechobee FL, August 3, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9367.7, August 4 at 0130, WTJC is missing, and also at 0505 and 1528 rechex. An engineer familiar with the Newport NC facility tells me that the transmitter is an old 50 kW GE medium wave rig converted to shortwave by Armstrong, plate modulated. The "frequency source" is a Kenwood TS440 or similar ham rig which explains some things. Most broadcasters use high quality frequency synthesizers. TDP just lists it as Armstrong. 9367.8, WTJC remains absent August 5 at 0348, 1327 chex. 9367.7v, various chex August 6 and 7, still no sign of WTJC. Oh oh, looks like their website has been redesigned, http://www.fbnradio.com/index.htm removing any mention of WTJC or shortwave; instead, listen to them via affiliates, or online. Even the ``tune in radio instructions`` are about an app! Inquiry is out to FBN whether SW is gone for good. Perhaps they gave up trying to get it on-frequency before FCC citation. Received a reply from FBN just after dispatching my last report, responding to this inquiry: ``Hello, WTJC, Your shortwave signal has been off the air for several days, and I no longer see any mention of WTJC or SW on your website. Have you closed down WTJC permanently? Regards, Glenn Hauser, World of Radio`` (to FBN, Aug 7 via DXLD) ``Thank you for writing. Yes, WTJC is officially off the air since August 2nd. In Christ's service, Mrs. Robinson`` (FBN reply, 1722 UT Aug 7, DX LISTENING DIGEST) So another station quits shortwave for good. Their other SW station, WBOH, 5920v, was last heard on October 2, 2009; by Oct. 22 we were convinced it was off. Adrian Peterson reported it was ``removed from service`` on Oct 31, 2009 (Glenn Hauser, August 7, 2012, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) The demise of WTJC would be ironic in light of what the call letters supposedly stood for: "Working 'Til Jesus Comes." Guess the shortwave operation fell short of that goal (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 3185, 0324 16 July, unID US religious station, hard to hear, USB only, SIO 222 (Kevin O`Daly, Herts., Tropical Bands Logbook, August BDXC-UK Communication, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) WWRB - Overcomer? (Alan Pennington, ed., ibid.) Of course it has to be WWRB, dedicated 100% to Brother Scare on this frequency where no other broadcasters exist. But USB only? I have never noticed that; just checked UT August 8 and there is full carrier plus as much modulation on LSB as on USB. Please, always make clear when referring to sidebands, whether you are saying the transmission was on only one sideband; or something entirely different, best reception was on one sideband, e.g. to avoid interference on the other (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A [non]. 9505, August 5 at 0352 good signal with instrumental inspirational music, 0358 talk past 0400. HFCC shows AWR in Farsi at 0330-0430, 300 kW, 100 degrees from Moosbrunn, AUSTRIA (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 4900, FLORIDA, CODAR, Ocean Circulation Group/University of South Florida et. al., (located at) USCG Auxiliary Station 86, Venice. 1658 UT August 5, 2012. Excellent CODAR sweeps local mid-day, the station Paul Zecchnio, David Crawford and myself confirmed and poked around last Saturday, transmit and receive sticks all on the beach. And I just noticed there's one right in my back yard, see the photos at: http://ocgweb.marine.usf.edu/hfradar/codar/photos/rdshore_gallery.html The site is at 18200 Gulf Boulevard, Redington Shores, FL (27 49.937' N, 82 50.032' W) within the Pinellas County, FL/Redington Shores Beach Access Park. The transmit antenna is identical to the Venice antenna. This will have to be a quick drive some day soon, mostly to scan on the Sony ICF-7600GR and locate what CODAR frequency transmits from here, seemingly shared 4900 kHz with Venice per online, in which case that may be the primary I'm hearing here. And maybe there's one at Ft. Desoto http://cordc.ucsd.edu/projects/mapping/stats/?sta=FDS certainly never noticed when there. 4500, 12351, 12969, 13137 channels silent here. 13440 California fair by 1900 (Terry L. Krueger, Clearwater FL, JRC NRD-535; ICOM IC-R75; Sony ICF-7600GR; Sangean PR- D5; Aqua Guide 705 RDF Marine Radio; GE Superadio III; 1 X roof dipole; 1 X room random wire; Terk Advantage non-active portable loop, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 27256+/-, FLORIDA, presumed retention pond water level control sensor data-bursts transmitters. 1638 UT August 5, 2012. Besides the always 24/7 very loud one, at least five other weaker ones trading off in beautiful pulsing harmony, usually four-ish very annoying and rapid data bursts lasting a total of about a second. How many others out there reading this can hear similar ones in their locations? This .PDF is for a European version (including frequencies) but it gives you a good visual on these cool noisemakers: http://www.elsema.com/datasheet/glt2712.pdf Suspect an antenna stick I long-ago spotted on East Bay Drive just west of Starkey/Lake near Fulton, south side retention pond, may be the source of the loudest one. Now imagine pirating one of these and causing mass flooding! The possibilities are endless (Terry L. Krueger, Clearwater FL, JRC NRD-535; ICOM IC-R75; Sony ICF-7600GR; Sangean PR-D5; Aqua Guide 705 RDF Marine Radio; GE Superadio III; 1 X roof dipole; 1 X room random wire; Terk Advantage non-active portable loop, Florida Low Power Radio Stations: https://sites.google.com/site/floridadxn/florida-low-power-radio-stations DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 5745.0, Currently active with SESEF MAYPORT testing all modes with a USN vessel. Moved here after long-haul testing with SESEF NORFOLK on 7535.0: 1351 USB voice (06/AUG/2012) (JLM) --- 5745.0, Hard to tell with the static, but vessel sounds like "EASTER ROSE" testing with SESEF MAYPORT. Went to UHF for RTTY & now back here for voice coordination while running HF RTTY on 4040.0: 1420 USB voice (06/AUG/2012) (JLM) (Jack L. Metcalfe - Stanford, KY, Software Radio Laboratory, QS1R SDR, Icom IC-R75 (x2) & Icom IC-R8500, Icom IC-R5, Uniden BCD996T, BCD996XT & AOR AR8200, 355' Longwire & 155' Inverted L Sloper Antennas, Diamond D-130J Discone & SAMCO UHF Yagi, UDXF yg via DXLD) Times? I wish people would put them in body of logs instead of ``currently`` or ``now``. First post was stamped 8:52 am August 6, the second one at 9:30 am --- meaning my local time CDT, or his? Or being a yahoogroup, PDT? Of more interest, this item caught my eye since 5745 has also been used by US broadcasters! A-12 FCC has WWRB on it at 22-04 UT, but has not been in use. R. Martí has also really used it in B-11 at 11-14, and previous winters. Presumably USN would have priority unless they are willing to timeshare 5745 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Tim Tromp checks in with this item which may be of particular note to DXers in the Detroit area: "I guess I've heard of this one before, but it was brought to my attention again last night when a DXer in Detroit reported hearing it. "Grosse Pointe Radio" has moved from 970 kHz down to 920 kHz and broadcasts on Saturday nights from the fictitious "Grosse Pointe Gardens Ballroom overlooking beautiful Lake St. Clair". The station airs big band swing music and gives the sense that the old time announcer is broadcasting live from a ballroom. Likely not a Part 15 station according to the DXer in Detroit. Any MAREs know anything about it, or have logged it? I found some nice recordings online here: " (MARE Tipsheet 3 Aug via DXLD) ** U S A. Another local 94.1 Spanish religious --- Does anyone know anything about this station? Is it licensed? Haven't heard an English ID yet, and I don't know if they use call letters. Only ID heard is Radio Rio Novente Cuatro Uno FM [sic]. This is coming in at 38dBu on my Tecsun PL-310 vs 58 dBu on 94.5 KSTP. Seems to be on 24/7. Mostly plays music, from piano to more lively. I hear little pops on some of the songs, like they may be playing scratched vinyl records. Would like to hear from local DXers if they are hearing it & how well. We might be able to make something like a coverage map that might give us somewhat of an idea of their power & location. And I hope if distant DXers are hearing this on tropo or e-skip that they will let us know. Thanks & 73, (George Sherman (20 mi S of DT Mpls), 2247 UT 2 August, WTFDA via DXLD) ** U S A. Here's an article about St Louis local radio from the Riverfront Times. A lot of it is about East Side (Illinois) politics, but the early part is about how a number of long-time local stations were acquired by the subject of the piece. ROMANIK'S INTERLUDE: AN EX-CON FINDS HIS SECOND CALLING AS THE "GRIM REAPER OF RADIO" Comments (10) By Jessica Lussenhop, Thu, Aug 2 2012 In a faded strip mall in northwest Belleville, Illinois, Bob Romanik, a.k.a. the Grim Reaper of Radio, is resplendently dressed in a cream- colored leisure suit. His other outfit — a skull mask frozen in mid- scream and a black robe — hangs behind the front desk of Insane Broadcasting. The silver-haired host sits behind the microphone, eyes closed, diamond-ringed fingers laced contemplatively, as a recorded voice introduces him to the invisible audience listening in Belleville, East St. Louis and across the river in Missouri. After a few bars of "Bad to the Bone," the 63-year-old Romanik flicks his fingers to his producer and a clap of thunder silences George Thorogood. "This is Bob Romanik," he bellows into the mic. "The Grim Reaper of Radio. And you're listening to the all-new WQQX, 1490. Hot talk and timeless memories. America's voice...of freedom." The airwaves fill with the sound of a desolate wind and a steady downpour. Romanik goes to "the dark side." . . . [MUCH more] Here's the link: http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2012-08-02/news/bob-romanik-grim-reaper-of-radio-insane-broadcasting/ I tried listening to his broadcast this morning, and they do seem to describe it accurately. The one specific (1490 kHz) station's other programming is actually enjoyable to listen to, being mostly uninterrupted music with very few commercials. 73, (Will Martin, MO, Aug 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1430 is also Insane (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. GATEWAY CITY RETURNS TO CIVILIZED WORLD By Jack Allen on | August 2, 2012 in | Comments { 0 } Or at least in the suburbs, in small Clayton, a town of 16,000, which will serve greater St. Louis. Things are “still in the works” for the new station, but it looks like the 21st media market will indeed re-gain a primary terrestrial, analogue signal dedicated to the classical format, FCC permits not withstanding. My colleague, Marty Ronish got out ahead of this news back in April. Things are getting finalized and that much closer. This just in a couple of days ago: “St. Louis’ only classical station, Classic99, went dark last year — much to the dismay of its fans who were stunned a city this size could not support even one classical station. Clayton’s Board of Aldermen on July 24 unanimously approved an operating permit for the Radio Arts Foundation project. The station is expected to being broadcasting by Sept. 1 at HD2 signal 96.3 on digital broadcast receivers, general manager James Connett told the board. An analog channel will be announced later pending approval from the Federal Communications Commission.” The station will support 7 staffers and air fairly standard classical programming fare. Read more here from Nate Burt of the ChesterfieldPatch. http://chesterfield.patch.com/articles/classical-music-radio-station-returns-to-area-in-september As a reader said last April, in response to the article announcing this news to the world, “Finally we (St. Louis) will return to the civilized world!” Kudos to the “Gateway to the West” communities of St. Louis and Clayton, Clayton’s Board of Aldermen and the Radio Arts Foundation for resurrecting classical radio, and best of luck from the few, the proud, the classy, the independent, listener-supported, classical music sister stations – still standing. Onward! (Insidethearts blog via DXLD) KFUO + FM were also licensed to Clayton, where I lived for a biyear at Washington University (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. ASSAULT ON FEDERAL FUNDING FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING RESUMES AGAIN On July 18, the House Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee approved the FY 2013 Labor-HHS spending bill that proposes to phase out federal funding for public broadcasting. It is likely to move forward to the full Appropriations Committee in late July. The vote was 8-6. This bill poses a serious threat to the programming and community service of hundreds of public radio stations. The bill contains language that proposes a phase-out of federal funding for CPB, including rescissions of roughly 25% (or $111 million) for FY 2013 and 50% (or $222 million) for FY 2014 for public radio and television stations. For KUNM, these cuts would represent a permanent loss of $62,500 in FY 2013, an additional permanent loss of an additional $125,000 in FY 2014, an additional permanent loss of $62,500 in FY 2015. In three short years we would see $250,000 of our CPB revenue stream go totally dry. In addition, the bill seeks to terminate the two-year advance funding process for public broadcasting that has served for more than four decades as a “firewall” from political interference in programming. The bill also mimics last year’s language by prohibiting stations from using CPB funds to pay for NPR programming or otherwise support NPR. Please ask your friends, family and neighbors to join the campaign to save federal funding for public broadcasting. They can sign up at http://170MillionAmericans.org and ‘like’ 170MillionAmericans on Facebook. This is going to be a fight that lasts all year long and we will need as many supporters as possible to prevail in the end. The budget battle is strictly partisan. As I was looking for various information for this article, I ran across this commentary from Michigan Radio, “Confessions of an NPR Conservative.” Charles Brown, an attorney from Michigan and self-described “conservative,” writes: ``Conservatives who criticize NPR often make the mistake of mixing up the different functions of NPR news production, the independent public radio producers, and the operations of their local public radio stations. Conservatives who make that mistake are as wrong as someone who mixes up the functions of the federal government and your neighborhood community association. When those kinds of mistakes blur into conservative calls for “defunding NPR,” the argument devolves into near-uselessness, like calling for the abolition of the Department of Education to solve a problem with your local school board. Like your local school board, public radio is mostly all about local support, from local listeners.`` So, what comes next? Congressional appropriators will need to approve a stopgap funding measure, or Continuing Resolution (CR), before the start of the new fiscal year on October 1, which would provide the House and Senate more time to reconcile differences between their bills. However, reconciling differences between the House and Senate spending bills will likely not occur until well after the November elections. The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved nine bills, and may mark up the remaining three in July. As a reminder, level funding of $445 million for CPB’s FY 2015 two-year advance was approved last month by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The House Appropriations Committee has approved 11 of the 12 annual spending bills, and six have already passed the full House. The one remaining bill, the controversial Labor-HHS bill that seeks to rescind funding for CPB and public broadcasting stations, has been approved by the LHHS Subcommittee and may move to the full House Appropriations Committee as a next step. It’s going to be a Bumpy Ride! On July 17 NPR expressed serious concerns about the impact of funding rescissions on public radio and television stations and the communities that rely on them every day. Cuts of 25%, or $111 million, for FY 2013 and 50%, or $222 million, for FY 2014 will severely disrupt the programming and community service of hundreds of stations. The subcommittee is also seeking to terminate the special two year advance funding process for public broadcasting that has served for more than four decades as a firewall from political interference in programming. This provision is particularly important to maintain the editorial independence of NPR and all of those that produce news programming. “We are disappointed and troubled by these proposals and we and our Member Stations are actively engaging with Members of Congress to explain the damage it would do to public radio and television stations if enacted. Over 34 million people rely on public radio stations every week for fact-based, independent news they can trust, for civic and civil dialogue, and for music and cultural programming that can’t be found anywhere else,” said Gary E. Knell, NPR’s President and CEO. Knell added, “By prohibiting stations from using CPB funds to pay for NPR programming like Morning Edition and Car Talk, the Subcommittee is overlooking the big role that our programs play in helping stations to raise private sector funds from listeners and businesses in their communities. This provision would undercut stations’ ongoing efforts to raise funds locally to support expanded local news, information and cultural programming.” (KUNM Zounds, August, via DXLD) ** U S A. The soap opera of network changes to the remnants of the Equity Broadcasting empire continue; this time it`s KLRA-LP 16 Little Rock AR. KLRA-LP 16 (800 watts) isn't using its actual callsign in the PSIP but that of "KMYA-LP" on both the "47-1" subchannels (MundoFOX) and "49-1" is MeTV ( // with KKYK-CD 20 subchannel "KMYA-DT 49-1"). Still with me? Meanwhile there has been no observed signal at all from the real KMYA- LP 47 Sheridan AR in several weeks. But there are TWO LPTV transmitters for MeTV in Central AR, but at least the "LPTV" KKYK-CD 20 (Actual callsign) signal will decode here as often as "full power" KKAP 36. For the record, Little Rock AR has a MundoFOX affiliate (the Spanish- language OTA network from NewsCorp/FOX) for now (and as I finished typing that last sentence, the signal on KLRA-LP 16 dropped below t/ decoding threshold). (Fritze H. Prentice, Jr KC5KBV, Star City AR, EM43aw, twitter.com/fritzehp, Aug 7, WTFDA via DXLD) See also OKLAHOMA ** VATICAN [non non and non]. Vatican Radio revamped its schedule from 1 July, dropping most but not all frequencies to Europe, with minor reduxions also to some other areas. However, VR is still a significant SW broadcaster with several transmissions in English continuing on SW. Try 0630 and 1615 to the Middle East which is well received in UK on 15595, also some of the African frequencies. This is the complete English schedule after Sackville relays ended 31 July: 0140-0200 daily AsAu 9580-va 11730-ta 0300-0320 daily AsAu 15460-rv [via R. Veritas Asia, Philippines] 0300-0330 daily Af 7360-md 0500-0530 daily Af 11625-md 13765-md 0630-0645 exc Sun DomME 585-va 15595-va 0630-0700 daily Af 11625-va 13765 va 0825-1015 Wed DomEu 585-va 6075-va (Papal Audience some English) 1130-1200 Fri AsAu 15595-va 17590-va (mass) 1530-1600 daily As 11850-ta/rv 13765-ta 17520-md 17815-va-drm 1615-1630 daily DomME 585-va 15595-va 1730-1800 daily Af 11625-va 13765-va 15570-[no site, -va /HFCC] 2000-2030 daily Af 9755-va 11625-va Following cuts to many of the European transmissions from VR at Junend, the low-power 10 kW transmitter within the gardens of the Vatican itself now appears to be in use for only one broadcast per day. It is observed here from 1840v to 1900v with the Rosary on 3975.5v (also // 6075, 7250, 9645, 9755, 11625, 13675 from SMG). While the Santa Maria frequencies all close promptly at 1900, the 3975 transmitter sometimes stays on the air well beyond 1900, especially at weekends, e.g. on 14 July it continues with Italian until closing about 1920 (Dave Kenny, DX News, August BDXC-UK Communication, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3975.52, 1854 4 July, VR, VC, religious service, prayers in Latin (presumed Rosary), brief classical music, one IS, then off at 1858. AM + USB, Morse QRM, SIO 322 (Alan Pennington, Norfolk, Tropical [sic] Bands Logbook, August BDXC-UK Communication, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) 3975.7, 1835 14 July, VR, VC, abrupt start with end of German program, 1839 IS, 1840 Rosary // 6075, 7250, 9645 to 1900. VV, 343 (Dave Kenny, Berks., ibid.) VV ? Vietnamese? Vernacular? Vaticanese? 11715, August 2 at 0411, fair signal in Arabic, presumed Vatican Radio as scheduled from SMG. I made a point of retuning at 0428 for the expected 0430 relay of V. of Charity from Lebanon, but the signal was already off; nor evident on 9645, so is this relay terminated? HFCC A- 12 still shows 11715 at 0355-0500 100 kW, 113 degrees, in Arabic; and 9645 at 0400-0430 in Arabic, break until resuming at 0455 in English. There are still plenty of other VR broadcasts audible minus Sackville: 11625, August 2 good after 0430 in French; at 0457 IS with a fast SAH, 0458 the stronger signal goes off and the IS continues without SAH. This was the overlap between SMG finishing French and Madagascar about to start English, per HFCC. Morning broadcasts alternate these sites, additionally: 0400-0430 Ethiopian via MDC, 0530-0700 Portuguese, French & English via SMG. 13765, August 2 at 0523, VR English to Africa in well as usual via MADAGASCAR, but again with lite whine QRM of slightly varying pitch, transmitter defect? Unlikely to be jammed. Also had splat from VOR English on 13775, stronger than usual. 9645, August 2 at 0533, VR with mea-culpas in Latin mass, good signal not on earlier, but with lo pitched propellor noise, another modulation fault? Carrier sounds stable on BFO. This is one VR frequency which is always via SMG only, whenever you hear it thruout the day. 13730, August 2 at 1213, no signal from VR, confirmed kaput via Sackville which would have been on until 1214*. 9645, Aug 3 at 0540, VR in Latin with motorboating-rumble, presumably transmitter defect, tsk2. BTW, have not been hearing usual het from R. Bandeirantes, Brasil lately; is it off? 13765, August 6 at 0513 VR via MADAGASCAR in English now, with signs of squeals on the transmission; see SUDAN [non] for mistaken broadcast a few minutes earlier. 9645, August 6 at 0546, VR in Latin again has that motorboating noise on the modulation, and also unstable frequency. One of the SMG transmitters is about to blow? 9645, August 7 at 0531, VR opening multi-lingual mass show, and once again with the motorboating-rumble on the frequency. Are they aware of this symptomatic defect at SMG? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VATICAN [non]. Excerpts from Recent Correspondence from WRMI Listeners --- Open Letter to Vatican Radio – Last month in our newsletter we printed a letter in Spanish from a WRMI listener in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba named Yasmany Machado, who is a 24-year-old recent Social Communication graduate. He sent us an open letter he had sent to Vatican Radio regarding their recent decision to eliminate shortwave broadcasts to the Americas. (WRMI still broadcasts a few programs in English and Spanish from Vatican Radio, but they no longer broadcast daily programs directly from the Vatican.) As Yasmany's letter illustrates the continued importance of shortwave radio to listeners in Latin America, and particularly Cuba, we have translated part of his letter to English this month for the benefit of those who cannot read Spanish: Cuba, June 26, 2012 --- I am a brother in Jesus Christ, a Christian from Cuba, listener to Vatican Radio and many other stations via shortwave – those which still remain. I just want to tell you that I am very sorry that you are ending your shortwave transmissions. What you are doing is a grave mistake because in Latin America most people do not have Internet access and the audience to your station will decrease considerably, especially in Cuba where there is no access to the Internet as there is in other countries. When you speak of freedom of expression and human rights, keep in mind shortwave because this medium that you consider obsolete, antiquated and expensive is of great importance to those of us who don't have Internet or cable TV. Shortwave is the only medium to know what is happening outside of our borders. Yasmany Machado McCarthy, Sancti Spíritus, Cuba (WRMI Correspondence file, August via DXLD) ** VENEZUELA. Radio Nacional de Venezuela direct from CLZ Calabozo TX center in B-12 season? Somehow the project CLZ Calabozo transmitter center of Radio Nacional de Venezuela, the Cuban assistance and China BBEF installations at the tx location seen Image of 20 Feb 2012 in Terraserver now shows northeast of the station house Since 2008, now built it - or stagnate at work location, station house is doing after the rapid construction in 2008/2009 year, but there nothing more. Some leveling work, either protrude out of there white stones, or there are already mast pole, but really with no consistent pattern for later curtain antennas erection. The Chinese are also deliver horizontal log-periodic antennas for the supply of 800-1500 km, as seen in Myanmar beautiful (Wolfgang Büschel, July 29, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews August 3 via DXLD) September 2012 was one of the target dates as of late last year. Everything keeps being delayed. The big question is why they did not keep the relays via CUBA going until their own are ready? Those have been gone for more than a year (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) See also below ** VENEZUELA. Media Scene in Venezuela --- Note: this report includes many audio clips, should really be listened to, via: http://audio.awr.org/asia/ENGMI/WAV/unchecked/ENGMI_WAVx_20120708_1.mp3 As we mentioned on a recent edition of Wavescan, we were in the South American country of Venezuela preparing a report on the media scene there. Today we'll try to explain to you a bit about the very extensive media scene in that country, which incidentally is in the middle of an important election campaign. On October 7th, Venezuelans will vote whether to re-elect President Hugo Chávez or to replace him with the opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski. As is the case in many countries, the media in Venezuela are playing a very important role in the election campaign. The Venezuelan government, headed by Mr. Hugo Chávez, has for the past many years increased its control of the media since he came to power in 1999. The main government-controlled radio station is Radio Nacional de Venezuela, which is really several networks of stations. The main network is the News Channel, or Canal Informativo, which is carried on many AM or mediumwave channels throughout the country: * RNV Canal Informativo [0:30] In addition to its news network, Radio Nacional de Venezuela operates another AM network which is principally music: * RNV Musical AM [0:08] On FM, the government operates Radio Nacional de Venezuela Activa FM: * RNV Activa FM [0:13] And for the more culturally-minded, Radio Nacional de Venezuela has the Classical Channel: * RNV Canal Clasico [0:31] Shortwave listeners will be familiar with the international channel of Radio Nacional de Venezuela, which has for a number of years now broadcast via the shortwave transmitters of Radio Havana Cuba: * Canal Internacional A version of this international program of Radio Nacional de Venezuela is broadcast every morning at 3:00 am local time on Radio Nacional's domestic news network on mediumwave. The program contains Venezuelan music, features about various aspects of the country, tourist information and speeches by President Chávez. [audio inserts additional info at this point and perhaps others -- gh] * DX Segment We should mention that Radio Nacional is building a very large shortwave center near the city of Calabozo in rural Venezuela which is being designed to have multiple studios and multiple high-powered shortwave transmitters and antennas to reach all of the Americas and beyond. Development of the center has been delayed several times, but local residents told us that there has definitely been some construction in the area, and we saw one report that the shortwave center could be in operation by September of 2012. For the past several years, President Chávez has had his own radio program called “Aló Presidente” on Sundays, which is carried by every radio station in Venezuela, government and privately-owned. * Alo Presidente Ad [0:26] “Aló Presidente” sometimes runs for several hours, with President Chávez expounding on current topics, interviewing people, and taking telephone calls from listeners. This program is also broadcast on shortwave through transmitters of Radio Havana Cuba. [I gather it`s basically a TV program, also on radio --- gh] All of the radio stations owned by the Venezuelan government are heavily-laden with programming which promotes the current re-election campaign. And there are other stations throughout the country which are not Radio Nacional de Venezuela outlets but they were once privately-owned stations that have been absorbed into the government networks. The government also operates many television stations as well. Key among them is Venezolana de Television, or VTV: * VTV [0:27] And the government took the initiative to create an international terrestrial and satellite television network called Telesur, which is headquartered in Caracas and airs programming from various Latin American countries. * Telesur [0:30] The largest shareholders in the Telesur network are the governments of Venezuela, Argentina and Cuba. In addition, the Venezuelan government has promoted the creation of dozens of low-powered community radio stations throughout the country, mostly on FM. In addition, there are a great many privately-owned stations throughout Venezuela. In the country's third largest city, Valencia, which we visited during our recent trip to the country, there are stations like Radio America for example on 890 kHz AM: * Radio America 890 AM [0:14] And on the Venezuelan Caribbean island of Margarita, there are stations like Perla Stereo FM: * Perla Stereo FM [0:10] While we were on the island of Margarita, we needed to find a cyber- cafe, which are widely available. I found one in a small shopping center, and right next door I found a small FM station called Mi Radio: * Mi Radio 90.5 FM The interesting thing about Mi Radio is that its main studio has a big glass store window so that shoppers can watch the action in the studio as they walk by. This same concept is actually used by a lot of radio stations in Venezuela, undoubtedly as a good means of publicity. In fact, the last time I visited the interior city of Barquisimeto, there was a building in the downtown area called the Radio Palace. Several of the radio stations in the city got together and put their studios and offices in this one building, despite the fact that they are commercial competitors. The local people could walk through the building and look through the big store windows where they could watch the broadcasters in the studios of each station – a very interesting concept. Getting back to television for a moment, the major political opposition channel is called Globovisión. Its news programs are very supportive of the opposition leader Henrique Capriles. * Globovisión and Capriles spot [1:04] That was a news bulletin and then a campaign spot for the opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski, as aired on Globovisión. At midnight on May 28, 2007, RCTV's image went dark and all of its transmission facilities were taken over as a new government-owned channel called TVES – T-V-E-S. * TVES [0:21] Radio Caracas also has a major radio station on 750 kHz AM called Radio Caracas Radio which is still on the air and has wide coverage: * RCR 750 AM ID Jingle [0:59] I can remember hearing Radio Caracas on 750 kHz on my car radio when I lived on the Caribbean island of Curacao back in the 1980's. Nowadays, they have an FM channel as well on 92.9 MHz: * 92.9 Tu FM Caracas [0:07] Many Venezuelans who support Radio Caracas TV have downloaded RCTV ringtones to their cellular phones, like this one: * RCTV ringtone [0:33] A Radio Caracas TV ringtone. And speaking of ringtones, cellular telephones are very widely used in Venezuela. Blackberrys are particularly popular with their messaging service. Venezuelans are very technologically savvy, and they have all of the latest high-tech gadgets, from ipods to large-screen TV's. I even saw Google TV in use for the first time while I was in Venezuela. It's a box and a keyboard that allow you to watch the Internet on your large-screen TV – perhaps the television of the future (Jeff White, AWR Wavescan script for July 8, 2012 via DXLD) Hi Jeff, Enjoyed your well-illustrated report on Venezuela in Wavescan. I was about to ask whether that was really by you or by Adrian, since it was not credited to you and he usually writes the script. Finally, mentioning living in Curaçao in the 80s must mean it`s really by you. You should give yourself more explicit credit. One point: you say RNV relays via Cuba on SW as if they still exist. Canal Internacional via RHC was last heard on May 19, 2011, and Aló, Presidente was sporadic for a few weeks more, then gone until a brief revival last January, nothing since. Of course the latter is mostly due to Hugo`s health problems, and I believe RHC still shows it on their own schedules Sunday mornings, but not even filler programming or a carrier has been heard for a very long time now. Dropping the daily RNV broadcasts was permanent, and very strange, lacking any Calabozo transmissions yet. 73, (Glenn to Jeff, via DXLD) Viz.: VENEZUELA [non]. 15290, RNV via CUBA, May 19 [2011!] at 1857 IS heard briefly but off at 1858*, back on at *1901.5 joining program in progress until 1902.4* off again, *1903.6 on again, and did not keep monitoring, but noted it until intentional sign-off at 1958.5* (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST 11-21 via DXLD 12-32) Thanks, Glenn. Will mention this on next week's program (Jeff White, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM [non]. 6175, August 5 at 0343 a bit surprised to hear Japanese, until soon voiced-over in English, discussing Vietnamese tourism, from VOV via CANADA. Once Sackville is closed down, in B-12 (or earlier?) VOV plans to move this frequency to GUIANA FRENCH except for Spanish segments at 03 and 04 via WHRI (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIETNAM. [Re 12-31, gh`s unID carrier on 9634.012] 9635.0, VOV-1, 1240, August 2. Strong signal with slight het, but unable to make out anything on 9634.0; was // 5975 (fair), 7210 (QRM), 7435 (fair); while 11720 remains off the air after a very short reactivation a while ago. 9635 scheduled for 1600* (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** VIRGIN ISLANDS BRITISH. Please note this correction for your 2013 edition of WRTH. ZBVI, 780 kHz. Despite having the incorrect email address on their website, I called them today and their correct email address is: zbvi @ surfbvi.com and *NOT* zbvi@caribsurf.com Kind regards, (Al Muick, Whitehall, Pennsylvania USA, Aug 8 to WRTH, cc to DXLD) ** WESTERN SAHARA [and non]. [Morocco]. Between 19-26th July I was in Costa Teguise on the East coast of Lanzarote. I found a bit of time scanning the bands with a car radio and my Tecsun PL606. No fancy antennae but I tried various coastal low noise locations. [excerpt:] Daytime scan: 711, RTM Laâyoune - Arabic low level modulation 936, RTM A, Agadir - Arabic low level modulation A limited amount of night-time listening was done. A few random observations: 1550 RASD Tindouf good; evenings 711 Laayoune --- Seems to carry a phone-in show most nights after 2300 hours Canary Islands time characterised by repetitive pips during the calls (similar to pips generated by some public payphone systems). I'm sure I heard a local ID just once at 2336 hours. No ID heard at 2400; not // 936 or 1044. Seems to be local programming. 711 is // 936 at 1800 hours with news. 711 usually very low modulation. Also noted once with a blank carrier mid afternoon. 936 // 1044 Maroc late evening; audio on 936 is slightly delayed 936 // 711 // 540 Maroc around 1530 hours 73s (Steve Whitt, MWCircle yg via DXLD) Interesting report, Steve, especially since this area, watt for watt, often propagates better than Europe to East Coast North America. 711 Western Sahara (Morocco) is often noted here on a slight offset, 711.05 or 711.06. This sets off quite a low growl against France 711.00 which is often at similar strength. Possibly they have corrected the offset since the last time I listened. And, yes, the audio level on Laayoune is always poor, much inferior to (sort-of) co- channel France. Somebody should go there with a Perseus and some serious wire sometime. Stops at Madeira and Azores would also provide many months of listening excitement (Mark Connelly, WA1ION, South Yarmouth, Cape Cod, MA, USA, ibid.) ** ZAMBIA. ZNBC2 - 6165 kHz. The mystery whistle. Hi everyone, On July 14, I posted to DXLD details of a mystery het (Chad ?) or whistle of other origin which was interfering with reception of Zambia ZNBC2 on 6165. Glenn suggested that this was simply local interference from set-top boxes, computer power supplies or suchlike, or, as a far outside runner, a faulty shortwave transmitter on a nearby frequency. I am happy to concede that it is not caused by Chad, since it appears that Chad is off-air at present. I have heard no modulation from that country (my initial thoughts were that it could have been a Chad het caused by a carrier badly distorted by transit through the tropics; it certainly is not a pure het, because the Drake notch filter will not remove it.) Before posting the log and sound clips I had satisfied myself that the interference was not local (by which I do not mean not South African). I live above my workshop and everything in it is switched off and disconnected at night, simply because night time is a favourite for power cuts in Jo'burg; I see a lot of the resulting surge-damaged equipment for repair. My own accommodation is likewise disconnected, apart from the radio in use and a laptop computer - running on battery - which had been eliminated as the source. I had also satisfied myself that the interference was not arising from the flats (apartments ?) above. At my location the whistle is not present when ZNBC2 is not being received in Joburg. It fades in and out with the ZNBC2 signal. When ZNBC2 is not present it is not possible to simulate the interference by coupling an unmodulated 6,165,000 hz carrier into my receivers (Drake R8, Hallicrafters SX122), at any level approximating to reception of ZNBC2. This would seem to rule out any possibility of a mixing effect with a locally generated and radiated interfering signal. I have discussed the interference with a fellow radio-repair colleague who lives and works some 16km (about 10 miles) northish of my location. He confirms hearing an identical whistle there on ZNBC2, under similar circumstances. I have also discussed the interference with another local DXer, Vashek Korinek, who lives some 12km (about 8 miles) to the west of me. Vashek can hear the whistle at his location, and because of its distribution on and around 6165kHz he too believes it is not local interference. He stresses that it is not a steady whistle, describing it rather as a "wobbly" whistle, and has also confirmed that it fades out as ZNBC2 fades out at his location. Vashek expresses the opinion (which I repeat here with his permission) that the whistle seems most likely to be caused by a faulty ZNBC2 transmitter, but that it is weak compared to the legitimate modulation and may not be audible to DXers further afield. According to my own logs this began sometime between June 11 and June 30, so it has been ongoing for more than a month. I would be interested to hear if anyone else is picking up this background whistle, as it might help us to pin down the source with more precision. Is this the sort of problem that could benefit from study by someone with a SDR and spectrum analyser? Regards, (Bill Bingham, Johannesburg RSA, Aug 6, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6165, Radio 2, 0400-0414*, *0416-0437*, August 8. In English; news headlines for 3 minutes; pop songs; transmitter suddenly off, but came back on once, then went off again and stayed off till 0441 tune out; at 0430 clear IDs: “Radio 2 . . . only on Radio 2”; heavy summertime QRN; unable to make out Bill Bingham’s mystery het or whistle (Chad?); I had no hint of another station; was only hearing Zambia and when Zambia went off the air briefly I heard no carrier (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, Etón E1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Ron, Many thanks for checking on Zambia. Vashek is probably correct in suggesting that it is coming direct from the ZNBC2 transmitter, but at too low a level to be audible behind all the other QRN crud on receivers much further afield. Certainly, on the night I did the posted recordings, propagation was excellent and reception here in Jo'burg was better than usual, the interference isn't normally that pronounced. Regards, (Bill Bingham, RSA, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 980, August 2 at 0506 UT, W & M rendering ``gracias a dios`` dominating frequency, then a 150/minute = 2.5 Hz SAH with a Coast-to-Coast outlet; Spanish loops close to due south, so I start looking at the Mexican listings: most likely would be XETU in Tampico, but none of the Mexicans have an obvious religion-only format; and this one is in Cantú`s by-frequency list, but no Tamaulipan at all on 980 in his by-state listings! So does that station exist, or not? O well, maybe it`s an American? Yes, here`s the likely one from the NRC-AM Log: SS:REL on KRTX, Rosenburg/Richmond/Pasadena, TX, just call it Houston! (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTFIEID. 1340, KVOQ, CO, Denver (TENTATIVE) 8/5, 1845 MST. Caught my attention, a station playing music (!). Simple Minds, A-Ha and Joe Jackson. Some atmospheric turbulence on the hour gave me 3 of the 4 call letters, but I am pretty sure of the ID on this. Went into CBS network news, faded out shortly after. Not the first time I've had a 1 kW station from Colorado. Caught on my barefoot Panasonic RF-2200 . (Rick Barton, El Mirage, AZ, Panasonic RF-2200 - barefoot, ABDX via DXLD) Altho latest format change makes this ``Open Air`` with ``new music``, it`s still part of Colorado Public Radio, and it would be unusual if they really carry commercial CBS news. Nothing of course about their news if any at http://www.openaircpr.org/schedule 73, (Glenn Hauser, ex-Denver, ibid.) Rick, you may have a real puzzle on your hands here. As Glenn pointed out, a non-comm station like KVOQ would most likely not carry CBS News, and the music that you listed (1980s pop) would qualify as oldies, rather than the "new" music that is featured on KVOQ. 1340 is also the home of call letters KTOX in CA, KVOT in NM, and KTOQ in SD. However, the first two carry all-talk formats, and the 3rd is all- sports, with ESPN. Good luck! 73, (Rick Dau, South Omaha, Nebraska, ibid.) You know, to be honest this isn't the first time that I've seen the name Open Air used. Do you mind if I were to ask a bit more about what it means, beyond the trademark of AM 1340? Maybe I'll give them a listen sometime online. I took a look at their play list. They include The Cure and Iggy Pop so they can't be too bad in my book (narvorr, wolfwere, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. To my surprise the elusive UNID on 6075.72 was there again this morning, Aug 5. Suppose you heard them too? 6075.72, 5.8 0257, weak carrier sandwiched between VOA 6080 and R6150 on 6070. One of their erratic appearances, Braz? (Martien Groot, Netherlands, SW Bulletin Aug 5 via DXLD) Martien, At that time I recorded the MW band so not observed here (Thomas Nilsson, Sweden, ibid.) UNIDENTIFIED. 6159.98, 3.8 2102, carrier surfaced after co-channel Rossii had closed. Noted to 2200:44 s/off, side by side with CKZN on 6160.87. First heard this July 28. Arne Nilsson suggests a Brazilian, so must be either Boa Vontade, which has been reported as reactivated here, or possibly Rio Mar? (Martien Groot, Netherlands, SW Bulletin Aug 5 via DXLD) 6159.98, 31.7 2159* UNID tentative Brazilian. This carrier was first observed by Martien Groot on July 29 after R Rossii sign off at 2102z. I managed to follow the signal on July 31 from 2102z to sign off at 2159:45. Unfortunately very little audio was heard. There are two possibilities, R Rio Mar, http://www.rederiomar.com.br/ or R Boa Vontade, http://radio.boavontade.com R Rio Mar seems to be most likely as they are known for an early sign off. Not enough audio here to check those webstreams for possible parallels (Thomas Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin Aug 5 via DXLD) 6159,98 4.8 2146* OID. Ja, mycket talar för att det är Rio Mar… I går kväll var läsbarheten i princip noll och den stängde redan 21.46z Så intet nytt… En inspelning gjordes den 3/8 vid sign off, tyvärr ganska svag då stationen försvagades en stund före sign off. Det hördes faktiskt sämre på inspelningen än jag tyckte då jag lyssnade live. Den stängde 2200.47z. AN 6159.98, 4.8 2146* UNID. Yes, there are many indications that it might be Rio Mar. Last night the readability was basically zero, and it closed already 2146z. So nothing new. A recording was made on Aug 3 at sign-off. Unfortunately, quite weak and weakening a moment before sign off. It was actually worse readability on the recording than what I thought when listening live. They closed at 2200.47z (Arne Nilsson, Sweden, ibid. translated by editor Thomas Nilsson for DX LISTENING DIGEST) A comment: that night, Aug 3, when AN had audio on his 500 m long beverage almost nothing was heard on my 12x4 m Flag. So there is a big positive difference when using long beverages. 73 (Thomas Nilsson, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also BRAZIL UNIDENTIFIED. 9634+, August 2 at 1256 looking for the mystery carrier as heard a couple of previous dates, but no sign of it today, just very weak one on 9635.0, overlain by stronger but still weak CRI carrier *1258 with flutter, no musical prélude until 1300 IS and sign- on in listed Hindi via Kashgar, EAST TURKISTAN. Still no 9634 het, tho RA is strong as usual on 9580, so maybe it was something else, or intermittent from Shepparton. Ron Howard in California was also monitoring this today, hearing VOV-1 on 9635.0 at 1240, no doubt my initial weaker station, and only a slight unID het from 9634 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11751.5, August 6 at 1320, another new het, this one upon RHC 11750, slightly above F#6 which is 1480 Hz. Of the 11750 stations, Brasil would be the one most likely off-frequency. 11751.5, the sesquikHz het against weak RHC 11750, like yesterday is also heard again today, August 7 at 1315. 11776, August 6 at 1320, close to 1-kHz het upon ANGUILLA, between B5 and C6 on the keyboard. Computers not on and never heard such before in almost daily bandscans around this time. No modulation detectable. Maybe AIR Goa in Tibetan off-frequency, and/or ChiCom jamming. 11776, that weak 1000-Hz het is here again 24 hours later, beating against Anguilla, August 7 at 1315. And now another one of exactly the same pitch on 11784, i.e. 1 kHz below the China/Taiwan radio war. Since 11775 is also a jammable frequency, AIR attempting to broadcast from Goa to Tibet, the hets could be another method of ChiCom jamming. They are also audible at 1415 recheck, tho the major signals on 11785 are gone. Altho these match as 4 kHz apart from mid-11780, nothing is audible there to produce them, not even Brasil; hmmm. 11776 & 11784, the carrier/hets heard in the mornings, in case they are parasitic from an unknown 11780 transmitter halfway between, like RNA Brazil, I check in the evening when 11780 is inbooming, August 8 at 0143: no trace of them. Aug 8 at 1219, first check this morning, nothing on 11776 or 11784. But at next check 1312, there they are again. Are they coming from something on 11780, if not Brasil? I can only detect an even weaker carrier there, so seems unlikely. 11734, furthermore, at 1242 here is another 1-kHz het! Against VOK in pompous Korean on 11735; still audible at 1311 when VOK has switched to Chinese // 11710 underneath English in double audio feed. 11751.5, the other mystery carrier/het vs Cuba 11750 is again here at 1312 Aug 8 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 11830, August 5 at 0336, open carrier, slightly unstable with a whine. Nothing listed at this hour; maybe R. Daqui, Brasil, supposedly closing at 0300 per Aoki, but 2400 per EiBi. HFCC shows only an AIR internal service from Delhi, probably wooden (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 13832 approx., Aug 8 at 1238, huge ute noise blob; can detect a very weak AM carrier under it at 13830; blob still there at 1316. Broadcast victim at 11-14 would be IBB Tibetan via Tajikistan, but I doubt this is jamming, it`s so strong here. If it keep up, will also bother WEWN at 17-24; 13830 also registered for YFR via MBR Nauen at 15-16; and RMI something else via MBR Wertachtal, Issoudun on limited schedules, and optimistically by the as yet incomplete Madagascar World Voice at 14-15 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15325, August 2 at 0516, 1000 Hz tones cutting on and off frequently. Only thing scheduled here in HFCC is NHK in Japanese, due west from Yamata at 0500-1000 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 15748 approx., Aug 3 at 1308, big noise roar around here, jamming? weak AM carrier detectable on 15745 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Also was heard May 8 at 0520 as 15747 approx ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ None received this week: contributions to cover our expenses and gh`s donation of what amounts to a full-time job, may go to: check or money order in US funds on a US bank: Glenn Hauser, P O Box 1684, Enid OK, 73702-1684, USA by PayPal, not necessarily in US funds; no credit cards: woradio at yahoo.com Thank you! (gh) PUBLICATIONS ++++++++++++ WRTH HISTORY WEBSITE Hi, Glenn, After a seven year hiatus, I've decided to rebuild my website on the history of the World Radio-TV Handbook. Previously, I was using one of the so-called 'free' websites (NOTHING is free) but, I was tired of the pop-ups, adware, malware, spyware, etc. that kept creeping in, so I pulled it off-line. I thought it best to buy my own domain name and start it up again. It has been updated and there are no scripts, flash or shockwave plug-ins to get in the way or slow it down. It can be found at: http://www.wrthhistory.com I am trying to find information on O. Lund-Johansen, Jens Frost and Andy Sennitt as I would like to include a section of the WRH/WRTH Editors as I think they should receive recognition for the outstanding work they did, as well as contributing editors. There is scant information on the web, so I thought that some of your readers/ listeners could help. Possibly printed articles in NASWA, DSWCI, ODXA, etc. that are not on the internet. ANY information would be appreciated. Thanks again, Glenn, and keep up the good work! (Terry Palmersheim, KT7DX, August 8, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1932 LOS ANGELES SUMMER OLYMPICS, AND RADIO, 80TH ANNIVERSARY Hi everyone! This is my latest essay that I’ve worked on intermittently for the past 2-3 months for the 80th anniversary of the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, July 30 to August 14 that year. The article is posted at this link below on Jeff Miller’s radio history site. http://jeff560.tripod.com/olympics.html Jeff had to cut out some of my captions in a description of the attached photo, which was taken at the Fox Movie Studios in the Westwood Hills area, 2 days before the start of the Summer Games. I wanted to send you what I wrote about comedian and actor Will Rogers and his part in radio during the Depression. I thought some of what I found about his 1930 radio program and his salary at the time was quite interesting. Rogers and other Hollywood celebrities did their part to make the Olympic athletes feel welcome during their two weeks in Southern California . Photo # 1, dated July 28, 1932, taken at the Fox Hills Movie Studio in West Los Angeles (William Fox Studio, later 20th Century Fox) From left to right, the people in this picture are: 1, Helene Madison, “the wonder girl of Seattle ”, who won 3 gold medals in swimming at the Los Angeles 1932 Summer Olympics 2, Grantland Rice, famous sports writer of that time period. 3, Babe Didrikson. She who won 2 gold medals and one silver medal in track and field events at the ’32 games. She later became a champion golfer, and in 1950, was named by the Associated Press the “Greatest Female Athlete of the First Half of the 20th Century.” In 2000, Babe Didrikson Zaharias was again at or near the top of several lists which named the best athletes, male or female, for the entire 20th century. 4, Will Rogers was a vaudeville entertainer, popular political humorist, social commentator, stage and movie actor, writer and radio personality. Rogers had a network show on CBS for 12 weeks in 1930, which originated at the KHJ studios at 7th and Bixel in Los Angeles for 10 out of the 12 weeks. The April 30, 1930 Los Angeles Times reported in its radio column that Rogers was reportedly paid $320 a minute (worth about $4,200 in 2012) for this 30-minute program, or $9,600 per show. The show was sponsored by the E. R. Squibb pharmaceutical company on Sunday nights at 10 Eastern and 7 p.m. Pacific time. According to the book “On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio”, CBS President William S. Paley later learned that Rogers had donated his entire $115,200 (equal to a bit more than $1.5 million in 2012) 12-week salary from this 1930 radio show to charity. Rogers was heard again on national radio on the NBC Blue Network for Gulf Oil in 1933 and ’34, and for the same sponsor over the CBS network in 1935, until his tragic death at age 55 in a plane crash that year. 5, Georgia Coleman. She won a gold medal and silver medal in diving events, at the 1932 Olympics. Coleman had previously won a silver medal and a bronze medal for diving at the 1928 summer games in Amsterdam. 6, Braven Dyer, Los Angeles Times sports writer and radio sportscaster, who reported on the Summer Games for KHJ radio in 1932. And, here is one more link to a site which shows some interesting photos from the ’32 Olympics and a map put out by the Union Oil Company for the Olympics. http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=171850&page=2 Warm regards, (Jim Hilliker, August 5, DX LISTENING DIGEST) N4KC publishes Amateur Radio book Prolific and best-selling author Don Keith has just published his 25th book and it is a unique blend of fact and fiction that pays tribute to the writer’s hobby of choice: amateur (ham) radio. RIDING THE SHORTWAVES: EXPLORING THE MAGIC OF AMATEUR RADIO is made up short stories, opinion pieces, humor, and “how to” articles, all dealing with the growing and vibrant hobby. Some of the material in the book has appeared in other forms on various web sites including Keith’s own ham-radio-oriented site,www.n4kc.com. [. . .] RIDING THE SHORTWAVES: EXPLORING THE MAGIC OF AMATEUR RADIO is available as a trade paperback book or as an e-book for the Kindle or other e-book readers. Copies may be ordered through Amazon or via Keith’s web site, http://www.donkeith.com (including in Europe) or http://www.n4kc.com It will also be offered soon by other sellers of amateur radio books. SOURCE: http://www.southgatearc.org/news/august2012/n4kc_publishes_amateur_radio_book.htm (Via @yimbergaviria, DXLD) CONVENTIONS & CONFERENCES +++++++++++++++++++++++++ TOKYO HAM FAIR 2012 This annual event is to be held on 25th and 26th of August at Tokyo Big Site. JSWC will open our own booth to promote short wave radio listening. Our booth number is J-45. We will have a special lecture during the Fair. The topic to be presented is radio world topics in the past 10 years by Mr. Akabayashi, an administrator of Gekkan Tampa, a popular monthly short wave news on the web. This year is our club`s 60th anniversary, so we will have a big celebration party at Hotel Sun Route Ariake in the evening of 25th during the HAM Fair. We anticipate many club members and foreign broadcasters to join the party. We are also planning to print the booklet titled JSWC`s 60th Years in Japanese to cover 10-year activities of the club and various radio topics in the past 10 years, as we did for our 50th anniversary book, which covered 50-year activities. Both 50th anniversary and 60th anniversary books will also be published in CD format at this occasion. These are only in Japanese. Special radio programs celebrating 60th anniversary are in progress. During the month of July, HCJB Japanese Service aired 3 special programs, and KBS World Radio aired a special program on 17th of July. All of these programs were in Japanese. We are planning to broadcast a special English program sometime this fall, and the schedule will be announced when the detail is defined. A special QSL card will be issued. This is all for this month and hope you enjoy this. Toshi Ohtake, Japan Short Wave Club JSWC, P. O. Box 44, Kamakura 248-8691, Japan (via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) 2015 WORLD RADIOCOMMUNICATIONS MEETING There are numerous items on the 2015 World Radiocommunications meeting agenda, as spelled out at the end of the recently concluded 2012 conference. One is the proposal for a possible new allocation to the amateur service on a secondary basis within the band 5.250 to 5.450 MHz. The International Amateur Radio Union has described such an allocation as being among the best for hams to use to provide around the clock emergency communications. So far, little in the way of objections has been heard in public (Amateur Radio Newsline via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ RON HOWARD AT THE BEACHES The fact that I do all of my SW listening from within my car, parked very close to the Pacific Ocean, helps enhance my reception a great deal. Both of the beaches I listen at (Asilomar State Beach near my house in Monterey and Ocean Beach located near my condo in San Francisco) are extremely free of Radio Interference (no street lighting, very few houses or buildings around, no trees or tall obstructions, etc.). All of which makes for spectacular reception and motivates me to make my daily trip to the beach, where I string out 30 meters of antenna wire to attach to my Eton E1 whip antenna. As an extra bonus, it is wonderful to be able to enjoy the colorful sunset out over the Pacific as I sit in my car listening to Zanzibar on 6015 or as dawn approaches I can see the waves rolling in through the morning fog while listening to AIR Kohima on 4850. Exotic DX and beautiful scenery; an unbeatable combination! Harold Sellers (Vernon, British Columbia, Canada) also listens to SW at remote [lakeside] locations that are free from RI too, while he is in his car. His resulting receptions are likewise very fine and he too has beautiful scenery up there in Canada to go along with his DXing. (Ron Howard, Monterey, Calif., dxingwithcumbre yg via DXLD) SW LOGS FROM SAINT LUCIA AND DOMINICA Back in Denmark after some weeks in the Caribbean. On two occasions I stayed at places where I was able to set up longwires, and so – had the chance to do a bit of DX’ing. There was - however - a lot of noise – local noise as well as a lot of statics. So very noisy bands – which made listening less pleasant. Besides – my PSU for my AOR7030+ has a fault which makes listening in SSB difficult (unstable) so had to DX in AM-mode, and it is hard to measure exact frequencies. Anyway here are some logs made in Saint Lucia and Dominica in East Caribbean. http://www.mail-archive.com/hard-core-dx@hard-core-dx.com/msg31960.html MW BANDSCAN EAST CARIBBEAN JULY 2012 The Medium Wave band as monitored from the North Eastern part of Dominica July 19-21 2012. It is basically the daytime situation (08-16 local time) with some observations done during evenings. Sort of omni directional aerials (two long wires 20 and 50 metres). Receiver: AOR7030+. Plenty of local noise (from neighbours energy saver bulbs), statics from thunderstorms etc. - in particular the lower end of the MW dial suffered from QRN. While I have tried to be accurate and avoid errors, I did not spent hours double checking everything, so this list should be taken with reservations. § = ID`ed http://www.hard-core-dx.com/article.php?story=20120805111531591 FM BANDSCAN FORT-DE-FRANCE, MARTINIQUE - JULY 2012 The FM-band as monitored on a car radio from various places in and near Martinique capital Fort-de-France July 7th 2012. While I have tried to be accurate and avoid errors, I did not spent hours double checking everything, so this list should be taken with reservations. http://www.hard-core-dx.com/article.php?story=20120805111531844 (all: /Stig Hartvig Nielsen, Aug 5, hard-core-dx via DXLD) RECENT DXPEDITION TO GRAYLAND, WA & FLORENCE, OR From July 31 - August 2 I visited Grayland, WA and Florence, OR. At each location I set up a Perseus and a an 'extended DKAZ' antenna pointing at 235 deg -- towards Hawaii and the south Pacific [Aus/NZ]. The best day, of course, was the last day and I have put sound samples from 1300 utc up through 1280 kHz from both Grayland and Florence on a webpage for comparison: I'll be adding more as time permits. The Grayland location was the famous Grayland Motel and Cottages and the location near Florence was a place called Sans Suci at about 800ft. elevation and back about 1000 ft. from the Pacific. There are Google Map links to both sites on the webpage above. Also on the webpage are links to stats [stations logged, countries logged, stations/country, etc.], a Google Map view of the loggings and something I call AzBar which is a bar graph of the number of loggings at given azimuth ranges – a good way to visualize how an antenna works. There is also a link to a pdf drawing of the extended DKAZ antenna, designed by Neil Kazaross. It is the best single-element, non-phased antenna I have ever used. It's pretty easy to erect and without phasing doesn't give me the opportunity to screw things up! What it does require though is some tweaking of the termination resistance - Rt. I know there's been a lot of interest recently in cliffside DXing. Perhaps some of the data in this report will let you compare simultaneous loggings from two locations at very different elevations. Unfortunately, the locations were also about 6 hours drive from one another so I make no claims on the issue based on these loggings but I won't be forsaking the Grayland Motel anytime soon! (Bill Whitacre, DC, NRC-AM via DXLD) a very long thread continued under PROPAGATION MUSEA +++++ AMERICAN RADIO HISTORY Hey. I thought you may find this of interest. Artie Bigley, and radio expert David Eduardo told me about it. http://www.americanradiohistory.com/ (GEORGE THURMAN, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It is in fact run by David Eduardo [Gleason], replete with files, including complete Broadcasting Yearbooks going way back (gh, DXLD) POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ THREAT OF GREATER PLT RADIO POLLUTION Southgate August 1, 2012 There are concerns that a new PLT standard to be voted on soon will significantly increase the level of radio pollution In 2011 a PLT EMC standard known as prEN 50561-1 was proposed by CENELEC. The proposed PLT standard was rejected by a majority of the National Standards Committees (NCs) of the EU countries who approve all new standards. Many NCs made comments to help improve the proposed standard, some comments questioned the very high radio pollution levels that would be permitted from PLT devices. A revised version of the PLT standard is about to be circulated, to be voted on by the NCs. For all intents and purposes, it is believed to be identical to the previous rejected standard - it would cause higher levels of radio pollution and ruin peoples' enjoyment of radio. Read the full story at http://www.m5fra.org.uk/rsgb-emcc-update-on-plt-pren50561-1/ BBC highlight problems with PLT http://www.southgatearc.org/news/march2012/ bbc_highlight_problems_with_plt.htm UKQRM is a group fighting PLT interference. Join the Yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UKQRM/ Ban PLT http://www.ban-plt.co.uk/ http://www.southgatearc.org/news/august2012/threat_of_greater_plt_radio_pollution.htm (via Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Which reminds me I saw this gizmo advertised locally in Vancouver recently: D-Link Powerline AV Network Starter Kit - DHP-307AV CAD $69.99 --- Prices may vary from those in store and are subject to change without notice. • Ready to Use - Simply Plug into Existing Outlets • Easily Connect and Secure Your Network with Push Button Security • Up to 200Mbps - Stream HD Video and Enjoy Lag-Free Gaming • Plug & Play • Power Saving Mode • QoS Support Helps Prioritize Internet Traffic • Support 128-bit AES Encryption For Network Security • Uses your Home's Existing Electrical Wiring Use existing wiring to create a home network The D-Link PowerLine AV Network Starter Kit (DHP-307AV) allows you to create or expand your home network using your existing electrical wiring. By simply attaching one adapter from your router into your existing electrical system, you can turn every power outlet into a possible network connection. . . My immediate thought was, yikes, power line noise. As I think I've posted before, in recent months I've switched my TV feed to Telus' Optik IP service with PVR and bought an LED set, and haven't suffered any serious noise problems. TD (Theo Donnelly, BC, ODXA yg via DXLD) RADIO HAMS UNITE TO FIGHT OFF NEW POWERLINE COMMS STANDARD IN UK http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/06/rsgb_plt/ If you tolerate this, your ADSL will be next By Bill Ray. Get more from this author Posted in Wireless, 6th August 2012 14:03 GMT The Radio Society of Great Britain is mobilising Europe's radio hams in protest against the forthcoming standard for powerline networking, predicting dire consequences if existing standards aren't applied. The society has issued a call to arms (PDF, lots of details) in protest at the new standard for powerline telecommunications (PLT), which seeks to regulate a technology which some argue has fallen between the cracks of existing legislation, but the RSGB has long argued that the more-stringent EN55022 would cover PLT tech perfectly adequately if only it were applied properly. The new regulation - EN50561 - proposes much higher permitted levels of radio pollution, meaning PLT kit-makers could take advantage of this - thus muddying the spectrum for amateur radio enthusiasts. This is in contrast to the regulation the hams would like to see enforced: EN55022, which is much more stringent about radiated emissions testing. PLT kit sends signals over domestic mains wiring, but as that wiring is almost entirely unshielded, it acts as an enormous antenna so the networking signal can blanket the neighbourhood with unwanted radio. Existing PLT kit uses a narrow signal band which only really upsets radio hams, but newer devices are pushing up into FM bands and down into those used for ADSL connections. ADSL operates over copper phone lines, but if those are running alongside mains wiring then cross-interference is very possible. Ofcom, the UK regulator, argues that it has had almost no complaints from radio users, but that's hardly surprising given that such complaints are handled by the BBC these days, not to mention that most listeners will blame their radio rather than consider their PLT kit might be causing the problem. Ofcom also argues that it's powerless to do anything, as it only regulates radio transmitters. The regulator has long been pointing to the new standard's status as "in development" (numbered EN50561) as "proof" that regulations don't exist (despite assertions from the European Commission that EN55022 is applicable), and has added that even if EN55022 did apply, it's too vague to be useful. EN55022 currently requires kit bearing the CE Mark to avoid interfering with existing radio users, but once the new legislation passes the RSGB fears that it "risks manufacturers of virtually any new device or product wanting to use the very high radio pollution levels allowed by prEN 50561-1, claiming it as a precedent", leading to a more-polluted spectrum across the dial. The RSGB reckons the new regulations were largely drafted by manufacturers of PLT kit, and is calling on hams around the EU to get in touch with their reps who'll be voting on the measure over the summer. ® (Dick Pache, Ramsey Electronics, UK, Aug 6, DX LISTENING DIGEST) RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ [BC] FCC Hot Tip Line Folks: After someone called for an anonymous 'hot tip line' to the FCC for reporting Rules violations, I sent the suggestion to the FCC. Their reply is quoted below. =========== You are receiving this email in response to your inquiry to the FCC. Hello, The Enforcement Bureau has two divisions responsible for handling broadcast complaints. The Investigations and Hearings Division http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/ihd/ is responsible for resolving complaints of non-technical broadcast violations such as complaints alleging broadcast of obscene, profane and/or indecent material, violations of the FCC's rules regarding broadcast of hoaxes, licensee-conducted contests, broadcast of telephone conversation, and public inspection file requirements. The Spectrum Enforcement Division http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/sed/ resolves complaints of technical violations such as unauthorized operation of a broadcast station, violation of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) rules, antenna structure registration, marking and lighting rules, and operation with excessive power or at an unauthorized location. Types of Complaints Broadcast of Obscene, Profane and/or Indecent Material Complaints http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/oip/Compl.html Broadcast of Hoaxes http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/bccomplaints/hoaxes.html Licensee-Conducted Contests http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/bccomplaints/contests.html Broadcast of Telephone Conversations http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/bccomplaints/telphon.html Public File Requirements http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/bccomplaints/pif.html Payola and Sponsorship Identification http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/bccomplaints/compsponsid.html Unlicensed Operation of Broadcast Stations http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/bccomplaints/unlic.html Emergency Alert System http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/bccomplaints/eas.html Antenna Structure Information http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/bccomplaints/asml.html Broadcast Interference http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/broadcast/interference.html The FCC Enforcement Bureau: A Broadcaster's Guide http://transition.fcc.gov/eb/broadcast/bcenf.html You may also email your whistleblower complaint to fccinfo @ fcc.gov Thank you (via Mark Durenberger, CO, IRCA via DXLD) Everyone should try to be responsible in using these - DX'ers will quickly lose credibility with reports not based on actual facts. More than half of the cases of stations we report on the DX lists are running day facilities at night or similar have no factual backup. When a station sounds stronger than usual, that doesn't cut it. Propagation may be to blame. If you normally hear a reduction at sunset and then you don't or if the station isn't licensed for night power, then that's more conclusive (Russ Edmunds, 15 mi NNW of Philadelphia, Grid FN20id, NRC-AM via DXLD) Now all those who love to yell "cheater" without ever verifying the station's antenna current at the time of their reception can join "The Junior Radio Police League." So when you see an odd wavy line on your waterfall display that you recorded a week ago, don't just bitch, be a DX snitch (Brock Whaley, Afghanistan, ibid.) The FCC does in fact have a phone complaint line. They do not socialize that among the general public. I would speculate that is why the FCC does not socialize the number to the monitoring stations (Chuck Rippel, IRCA via DXLD) Oh great, now we have some self-appointed guardians of the AM band calling for an anonymous hotline to the FCC to report stations using day power at night or staying on later than usual. Everyone here must already know that the AM band is already mostly destroyed and logging new stations more difficult than it has ever been. Many of my own new logs have been made from stations running day power at night or staying on later than usual. Some people really need to get a life. I know for some it's really difficult and reporting to the FCC makes them feel really important for a day or two but the hobby is in enough trouble already so why contribute more to its demise. Idiots (Mike Bugaj, Enfield, CT, WTFDA- AM via DXLD) The other side of this, Russ, is the number of times the issue has been in error. Case in point, a member who complained a station's pattern didn't switch at sunset. However, sunset is different in zones and areas, and are not the same in one time zone. I think anyone can understand the feeling of being accused falsely, except the anonymous accuser. Then there are the accidents, the time when the station takes a power bump and something happens to their remote control. If you notice that a station is not switching, you might want to contact them to let them know rather than assuming that it's malicious. I would ask the person ratting them out to the FCC, if you had some papers on the dashboard of your car, and while driving down the road one flew out, how would you feel about someone reporting you for littering and score a $500 fine. I would think it's petty. Personally, I don't worry about signal reports except when I'm monitoring the station within their groundwave zone, with a receiver that has the ability to switch off AGC so you can see the power or pattern change. As you point out, there is no factual backup otherwise (Frederick R. Vobbe, OH, IRCA via DXLD) TV PUBLIC FILES GO ONLINE NAB's legal request to block online TV public files has been denied. "Petitioner has not satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay pending court review," said the court without elaboration. http://tinyurl.com/CourtDeniesPF-Delay http://tinyurl.com/PuttingThePFsOnline ONLINE PUBLIC INSPECTION FILE INTERFACE NOW AVAILABLE August 2, 2012, FCC, Washington, D.C. -- "Today all full-power television broadcasters will begin to upload new public inspection file documents to the Federal Communications Commission's online public inspection file site, where the public will be able to access them...." http://tinyurl.com/OnlinePubInspectionFiles-TV (FCC Pub Notice) https://stations.fcc.gov/ (public file access by the public) https://stationaccess.fcc.gov/ (access by TV stations) TOWARD THE DEMISE OF FRANKEN FMs A major blow has been struck to Franken FMs (Channel 6 TV stations acting like FM broadcast stations on or about 87.7 and 87.9 MHz). It appears that Franken FMs will not be entering the digital television era because of the following hot-off-the-press decision from the FCC. http://tinyurl.com/TheDemiseOfFrankenFM (all: CGC Communicator Aug 6 via Kevin Redding, ABDX via DXLD) DES WALSH`S STRANGE DIGITAL NOISE BURSTS My main activity for the past few weeks has been listening across shortwave and trying to get to the bottom of the mystery of the widespread digital bursts that I began to hear in late May. Initially whilst listening to a few of my regular shortwave stations such as Radio Australia 9475, BBC World Service 9410 and 21470, Croatian Radio 7410, etc., I noted bursts of noise at times but put it down to lightening static. Then on closer examination I noted that the noise bursts only occupied a few kHz and were in fact transmissions. Next I noted the bursts at about 7018 whilst monitoring 7020, the 5th harmonic of 1404 France Info – which seems to finally been cleared up in recent days (by July 20th). By using two receivers I gradually noticed that there was a large number across a wide swathe of frequencies from 6 to over 9 MHz, and there were some patterns. First of all the transmissions were spaced about 8 kHz apart. For instance hearing a burst on 7408 meant you could hear them on 7416, 7424, 7432, etc., on upper frequencies, and on 7400, 7393 kHz, etc., on the lower side. Besides a single short burst of about one-half second, there were some trains of 8 of these bursts lasting about 5 seconds. Sometimes transmissions were followed by a single burst less than a second later. Times between transmitted bursts vary a lot, from a minute or two to over twenty minutes so that great patience is required to hear a transmission on a particular frequency. Signal strength in the 6 and 7 MHz areas in daytime is strong leading me to think that the source is some hundreds of miles from me rather than thousands. At this stage it seems to me that a digital burst transmission exists at some time every 8 kHz from about 5.9 MHz to over 15 MHz, across Aero, Marine, Amateur, Broadcast allocations but so far has not really been noticed. It is certainly a widespread and complex network but I cannot guess its origin, technology or purpose. It has been heard by a number of other listeners, ranging from Scotland to near Continental Europe. On AM mode the sound of the bursts is a harsh digital noise like a very short DRM transmission. I am told is a packet type transmission with a start and stop framing pulse. But I wonder why it is transmitted across at least 500 discrete frequencies of shortwave? Is it a last-resort communications system with frequency hopping to avoid detection or jamming? It certainly is a major and sophisticated network. Sit on one of the following frequencies to hear it: 7418, 7018, 7006 or 6982. You need a good outdoor aerial and little local interference to hear it. So reception of these digital bursts have occupied me for the last few weeks! One other observation is that I note less and less DRM transmissions on the bands. Is the whole idea being quietly dropped? Certainly receivers are far and few between. Remember the enthusiasm for SSB with reduced carrier, ‘compatible SSB’? Hopefully some stations will remain for us on shortwave. Certainly much more versatile than internet/on-line or other keyboard/keypad access systems. To end, has anyone noticed during daytime the soft noise that rises and falls over a few minutes over wide ranges on shortwave during daytime on the lower bands? It must be solar noise due to disturbances lately in the sun (Des Walsh, Ireland, Making Contact, August World DX Club Contact via DXLD) NOISE PEAKING AT 12127 KHZ I wonder if you could advise me on helping to try to get rid of noise from about 2 to 30 MHz. Most of the H.F. Bands. It's very bad at 12.127 MHz. I know this is a very tall order. I have tried to locate with a small transistor receiver with batteries inside as next door have a plasma TV. I have tried the RX at other places - still get some noise at 12127. Was going to phone Chris Shorton, Norwich, see if he gets it! but don't have his number. May be someone in the club can help. I miss the RX and would like to be able to listen again (Reg Howard, Making Contact, August World DX Club Contact via DXLD) Reg - I'm not sure about the noise specifically on 12.127 MHz which you say that you can hear both at your location and elsewhere. I haven't noticed anything here. As for the other noise that you get through the 2-30 MHz bands: can you describe the sort of noise that you are hearing? As for tracking it down, I would first suggest determining whether the source of the noise is in your house or elsewhere. To do this, first turn off all electrical items and then turn off the power at the main switch. Then test with your portable RX with batteries. If noise is gone, then it's clearly something in your house, so by turning on the power again, and then each electrical item one at a time, checking as you go with the portable, should reveal the source of the problem. If noise is still there, then walk up and down the road away from your house with your portable switched on to see if the noise goes away or gets stronger and maybe eventually determine which house the noise comes from. Next steps will depend on how well you get on with your neighbours. You mentioned that your neighbour has a Plasma TV, and I know that these can be a source of such noise interference -- maybe you could ask them to unplug it for a few minutes and test again with your portable? Otherwise, you will need to report the interference to Ofcom, (however if your complaint is not accepted by Ofcom, then you will need to report it to the BBC's Radio and Television Interference Service and request that they refer it to Ofcom on your behalf.) I wish you luck in tracking this down, and will be happy to advise further (Alan Roe, ed., ibid.) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See BANGLADESH; BELGIUM; COSTA RICA; ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ETHIOPIA; GUIANA FRENCH; INDIA; ROMANIA; VATICAN; RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DTV See OKLAHOMA; USA ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- IBOC See BRAZIL +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ PROPAGATION +++++++++++ SPORADIC E: THE SWIRL OR VORTEX THEORY --- By Simon Hockenhull [from May and June 2012 issues of British DX Club Communication] [re 12-24:] ``In response to Vick Haviland`s question,`` Simon Hockenhull ``was wondering if these wind systems within the E layer would have a drag-like effect on low orbiting satellites or spacecraft re-entering the earth`s atmosphere, rather than the electrical effect these winds would have on these space vehicles. I am sure Vick is right as most of these spacecraft would be more than adequately screened against such ionisation effects as well as radiation from the sun and cosmic rays from outer space. I would also like to correct or amend my article. I said that one of the reasons for the general increased ionisation levels of the E layer during the summer months was possibly down [sic] to the increased infra-red radiation from the sun. I now think that this increase is more likely to be due to ultra-violet radiation.`` This is the current stage of the ping pong correspondence between Vick and Simon as a result of Part II of Simon`s article about Sporadic E (Open to Discussion, August BDXC-UK Communication, retyped by gh for DX LISTENING DIGEST) RECENT DXPEDITION TO GRAYLAND, WA & FLORENCE, OR [continued from DX-PEDITIONS sexion above] Your experiences and DX from both locations provide a lot of "food for thought", Bill. I've listened to all of your clips over the last couple of days. I like your summary comment "...I won't be forsaking the Grayland Motel any time soon!". I'm in agreement with that, after hearing all your files and drawing my own conclusions. However, I'll add the nearby Grayland Beach State Park into the mix of not-to-be-foresaken DXpedition locales; it's my "thrifty DXer's" destination of choice. I'll be back at the south end of the park in a few days, likely using a DKAZ for the first time instead of a phased array unless the brush and obstacles aren't as bad as I remember. I hope I get a haul of DX even half as good as you managed on the 2nd; those Hawaiian clips and some of the Kiwi recordings are really impressive! GREAT JOB on providing comparison DX from both QTHs, Bill. Although we have the variable of the distance between the two locations to consider, your efforts provide the most interesting DX test yet of sea level vs. elevated DXing (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA, IRCA via DXLD) Hi Bill, Thanks very much for your detailed investigation of relative DU signal strengths at the 800 ft. high ocean coast elevation near Florence and at the much lower elevation near the Grayland Motel. I'm sure that your detailed work will be very helpful in clarifying the principles affecting ocean cliff propagation. Thanks also for posting the links to many Australian and New Zealand signal recordings made at each location, all of which are most interesting. Having recently gone through the process of recording and posting many MP3 recordings from the recent Cape Perpetua ocean cliff DXpedition, I can certainly appreciate all the time and effort that was required. In regard to the relative signal comparisons, the DKAZ antenna seems to have done a great job at both locations, and I'm surprised that the San Suci recordings at 800 feet do not show much of a signal advantage over the Grayland recordings near sea level. I would have loved the opportunity to set up at the Cape Perpetua ocean cliff site with the PL-380 and 8" FSL antenna (the same combination used during the recent trip to receive DU's at very strong levels) at exactly the same time, and record some MP3's to add to the comparison. I have no doubt that the PL-380 + 8" FSL combination would lose out miserably to the Perseus SDR + DKAZ antenna combination at either of your locations if there was a relative reception comparison, but because of the FSL antenna's unique ability to set up at the very narrow ocean cliff site at Cape Perpetua it apparently was able to tap into DU propagation of highly unusual strength, even with the modest Ultralight radio receiver. With the much more sensitive Perseus SDR the 8" FSL may well have produced legendary DU signals at the ocean cliff site, instead of the booming ones that were overloading the modest PL-380's front end. Most of us have had the experience of listening to a distant AM radio station on a sensitive car radio while we go up a steep hill. If the distant AM station is located in a direction down slope from the hill we usually can hear the weak station's signal strength rise dramatically as we go up the hill in our cars. This dramatic effect usually stops at the top of the hill, though, and as we go further away from the hill the weak AM signal begins to drop off again. It will be very interesting to run more tests on ocean cliff propagation to see if this same effect applies to DU and TP signal boosts. Thanks again for your detailed work, Bill, which is much appreciated. 73, (Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA), ibid.) I suspect that the Florence location suffered somewhat from being 1000 feet inland, Gary and Bill. My limited experience has been that you're generally better off being right at the coast for the best DX, although Gary's experience seems to point to an advantage to being right at the coast and higher up, and that phenomenon certainly needs to be looked at more carefully. There was a research paper done years ago by the BBC, I believe, showing the "coastal effect" as a wavefront moved from the water to the land, and although there were peaks in signal strength as one moved inland, their location depended on the frequency of the received signal, were compensated for by lower signal strength in the area between the peaks, and, overall signal strength dropped the further inland one went. I'll look it up again when I'm home; I have a vague recollection that cliffs might have been incidentally involved, though I don't think that clifftop vs. seashore was investigated. Best wishes, (Nick Hall-Patch, BC, ibid.) That's almost what I blurted out in my original email -- what Gary [and others' research to understand it] may have stumbled upon is the true nature of 'sea gain' or 'coastal effect' and that it falls off REALLY rapidly away from the coast whether you're at sea level or elevated. I think it's really hard to 'compare' what Gary's able to hear on a small portable radio with a super cool FSL antenna with what I do via a Perseus & DKAZ. Somehow I give him several 'bonus points' just for doing what he does LIVE, with cars whoosing by and a few hundred feet above the pounding surf while I'm literally sleeping! Now that I've been to where Gary did his last DXpedition I'm VERY impressed. I would not do what he does. I might visit Sea Lion Caves down the road but I would NOT stand out there with a portable radio and a FSL and cars whooshing by at sunrise! For that alone he deserves a '10' on the Olympics scale. > There was a research paper done years ago by the BBC I've seen that paper and know some people who had something to do with it; assuming they're still alive. It was incorporated, in some fashion, into the Rio 1979 Final Acts where the Region 1 & 3 MW stuff was negotiated/allocated. I remember once writing a TI-59 'program' to calculate desired and undesired signals along radials using the 'Rio Plan.' Had to see if changes we wanted to make to VOA MW facilities would affect Rss by more than 0.5 dB -- the limit to having other admins notified! Blah, blah, blah ... that's when people still gave a hoot about AM and HF. :-( (Bill Whitacre, ibid.) A few years ago I was in Naples, FL. The rental car had a decent radio. I parked at a lot right at the beach, maybe a hundred or so feet from the Gulf of Mexico. Cuban stations blasted in. As I drove away, they faded down within a couple of blocks, and came back up when I drove near the water again. Literally a couple of blocks away made a significant reception difference. I'd like to hear if anyone else has a similar find. I'd also like to find if anyone has done DXing from a small boat near the coast. I'd love to tag along on a commercial fishing boat around here that can go out a few hundred miles. Another thing that is similar: I had a client in Providence, RI a decade ago at the upper end of Narragansett Bay. The salt water had a straight line to Puerto Rico. I heard WPRA-990 sign off with a decent signal a couple of times. Never heard it anywhere else (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, ibid.) Thanks, Gary. Let me ask if you've ever done 'cliffside' DXing closer to sea level but just as close to the sea? I'm thinking, maybe, it is the proximity to the sea that is more important than elevation. In all your elevated, cliffside locations are you not literally 'perched' over the ocean? If you were suddenly transported vertically down you'd be in the water, right? I saw a number of pull-offs at or near sea level on the way from Grayland down towards Yachats a few of which looked like they had enough room for a DKAZ -- these were actual parks, not the precarious pull-offs you're so fond of! I volunteer to check one of these out next time I'm out there or look for a rental that's closer to the sea and closer to sea level. I'm also wondering if one put a DKAZ or flag out on the beach at Grayland we might not get a little better signals? That's an awfully wide beach and except at really high tide you're a few or several hundred feet from any breaking waves when you erect antennas in the 'back yard' behind Room 15. Just some thoughts. I wonder what others' experiences are with elevation and proximity to water -- salt or fresh? (Bill Whitacre, ibid.) 10 or 15 years ago, Don Nelson, et al looked into that with a K9AY situated right at the ocean edge at Grayland, vs a similar one located outside the Room 15 windows. A lot of effort, and a very long coax. Bottom line, there wasn't any difference noted. Now that's not to say that the same is guaranteed for a DKAZ or Flag or whatever, but I am suspecting this to be the case. Perhaps further inland, differences would be seen. In this case it's in the neighbourhood of 500' or so inland from the high tide line (Walt Salmaniw, ibid.) There are a couple of papers, one by Knight and Thoday "Influence of the ground near transmitting and receiving aerials on the strength of medium-frequency sky waves", Proceedings of IEE, Vol. 16, #6, June 1969, and "LF and MF Propagation: An Approximate Formula for Estimating Sea Gain" by Knight, the BBC paper RD 1975/32. A quick reread says 1000 feet shouldn't make too much difference at least on land of the same elevation, if I've sailed past the mathematics successfully, so my original point does not seem to be backed up by theory, or (presumably) peer reviewed observation. But there is an empirical gem in the second paper on page 917 concerning cliff-side signals: "...measurements of the magnetic-field strength due to Rome, 845kHz, at the top of Beachy Head (a vertical cliff in southern England 160m high), gave results 2.3dB higher than values measured on a beach well away from the cliff. This enhanced filed strength is believe to be a purely local effect, associated with the sharpness of the cliff edge; 200m from the edge, the measured increase was only 0.4dB. These figures are consistent with the theoretical increases in the magnetic and electric fields which occur near the apex of a rectangular wedge illuminated by a plane wave..." Interestingly he goes on to say, similar to Bill's point about Gary's "extreme DXing" prowess: "....severe practical difficulties would attend the siting of an aerial so close to a cliff edge." (hi) best wishes, (Nick Hall-Patch, ibid.) Thanks very much for that "empirical gem" from the Beachy Head study! It seems that by accidentally setting up on the side of the Cape Perpetua sheer ocean side cliff with one of the small footprint FSL antennas, I was stumbling across this theoretical 2.3 dB gain boost that the scientists had considered impractical to exploit. Some of the DU signals observed during the Cape Perpetua DXpedition seemed to border on science fiction, with even 765-Radio Kahungunu (2.5 kW) pegging the PL-380's S/N reading at 25. Apparently the development of the new FSL antenna will finally will allow DXers to tap into this ocean cliff propagation advantage (assuming that they don't first use up all their vacation $$$ by purchasing so many ferrite rods). 73, (Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA), ibid.) The experiences of many of us on the East Coast is similar - you don't have to go very far inland at all to lose the TA's that you have at the shore. I can remember back before digitally-tuned radios that you could tune in a TA on the car radio on a good split channel at the shore, and lose it a short way inland. Elevation almost NEVER hurts. In combination with sea gain, it can be awesome. Somebody years ago took a portable up to the top of a lighthouse right on the shore up in New England and compared between reception on the ground and at the top, but as far as I know that isn't documented except in some brief description somewhere in one or both of the bulletins (Russ Edmunds, 15 mi NNW of Philadelphia, NRC-AM via DXLD) An important aspect of losing signal when going away from the shore is the ground conductivity in that area. That makes a significant coverage change for any identical station by frequency, power and antenna. Local stations like 1230, etc., cover far better in the middle of the US than in places like New England. The FCC has a PDF map that can be downloaded to show the ground conductivity in the US. Should be accurate for Canada near the border as well. http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/m3-map-effective-ground-conductivity-united-states-wall-sized-map-am-broadcast-stations (Craig Healy, Providence, RI, IRCA via DXLD) I've seen similar maps for Canada. The east side of the Rockies in Alberta is supposed to be superb for MW DX, and it has been proposed that this is due to the excellent ground conductivity. Interesting thread, indeed! (Walt Salmaniw, IRCA via DXLD) I used to notice this when I worked in downtown Boston (right on the water) and lived in Billerica, MA which is 15 miles to the NW and 15- 20 miles inland on various TA bearings. When I'd get in the car in Boston around sunset in late autumn / winter, TA's were blasting in on numerous channels, even some 10 kHz ones. By the time I got to the house, there were just a few hets from the biggest ones. Long-term measurements made at the house and at Granite Pier in Rockport, MA using the same radio (Drake R8A) and car-roof antenna indicated 20 to 40 dB improvement of TA signals at the shore without much difference in the domestics arriving over land at both sites. Signals from Africa and Brazil during aurora were up in the 35-40 dB difference range, likely indicating a very low arrival angle little different from groundwave. The shore-versus-inland difference factor reduced to about 15-20 dB for northerly stations (Norway 1314, Germany 1593) during prolonged low solar A/K ionospheric numbers. This says that those incoming skywaves were from a higher angle above the horizon, less affected by ground loss. Overall results on TA's are fairly similar to V-Soft measurements for groundwave. It's obvious that many signals that are near the domestic interference and/or noise threshold can wind up being comfortable listening quality at the shore site while non-existent at a site not too far inland. Here are a few V-Soft groundwave examples, excerpted from an article I did a few years back. Freq = 950 Call = WROL TX QTH = Saugus, MA Power, kW = 5 Approx TX-RX Distance, mi. = 14 Approx. TX-RX Distance, km = 22.5 Coastal RX site = Hull, MA Inland RX site = Billerica, MA Coastal RX level (dBu) = 90.4 Inland RX level (dBu) = 69.9 delta dB = 20.5 power multiplier = 112.2 comment: 561 kW to get the over land signal comparable to 5 kW over water ! === Freq = 1240 Call = WBUR TX QTH = West Yarmouth, MA Power, kW = 1 Approx. TX-RX Distance, mi. = 22 Approx. TX-RX Distance, km = 35.4 Coastal RX site = Edgartown, MA Inland RX site = Pocasset, MA Coastal RX level (dBu) = 78.2 Inland RX level (dBu) = 52.8 delta dB = 25.4 power multiplier = 346.74 comment: A whopping difference! The land route is over exceptionally dry sandy soil (scrub oak / pitch pine forest) that, although flat, eats up signal strength to a greater degree than the "loamier" soil in the Boston area. Over 346 kW would be needed to put the same signal into Pocasset (north of Falmouth) as is produced a bit farther away in Edgartown (Martha's Vineyard) with just 1 kW! === Freq = 1300 Call = WJDA TX QTH = Quincy, MA Power, kW = 1 Approx. TX-RX Distance, mi. = 19 Approx. TX-RX Distance, km = 30.6 Coastal RX site = Marblehead, MA Inland RX site = Bridgewater, MA Coastal RX level (dBu) = 75.3 Inland RX level (dBu) = 52.4 delta dB = 22.9 power multiplier = 194.98 comment: A typical delta dB for this part of the band. === There are very few sites in eastern Massachusetts that offer altitude at a coastal site. I'd think that a quarter wavelength of altitude would be necessary to make much difference. That would be about 45 m (150 ft.) on the higher end of the band and about three times that on the low end. That's about the amount of height that I've observed to make a noticeable improvement at inland mountain sites in NH and VT. Acadia National Park in Maine would be one of the few East Coast USA sites of considerable altitude by the seashore. I do recall hearing a number of Brazilians pretty well on Cadillac Mountain there around sunset once but I'm not sure if any better than at numerous sea-level coastal sites. One would have to do long-term simultaneous monitoring with identical receivers (e.g. Perseus) and antennas. Alternately, there may be software somewhere that could figure all this out by accurate propagation modelling (Mark Connelly, WA1ION, South Yarmouth, Cape Cod, MA, NRC-AM via DXLD) MORE ON DXING A LITTLE BIT INLAND --- Further to shooting down my speculation about 1000 feet inland having any significant effect on Bill Whitacre's DX, here's a comment based on my own experience by John Bryant, from over six years ago: "At the Annual Big Bash at Grayland this season (October 2005) Nick and I gave up most of one night to try to quantify the decrease in MW TP signal strength as one moves inland from the beach. Since we were dealing with signals from the Far East, they were arriving at the beach a bit obliquely, from the WNW to NW. We found one location where one of us could move directly inland (due East), by stages, for about 2 km while the other team member member moved North up the beach, by stages, so that we would remain ~aligned with the incoming wave. We were connected by walkie-talkie radios. Our data gathering equipment consisted of twin battery-powered set-ups of a McKay-Dymek DR-333 computer controlled receiver and laptops for operating the radios in an automated pattern and to auto-log the results on ten different TP signals (one each were LW and SW). For the first 1.5 km, the topography was dead flat at about 10 feet above high tide. At the 1.5 km mark, the land rose about 50 to 75 feet in an abrupt and flat-topped earthen bluff. The results were not what we expected --- a rather rapid diminution in signal strength. Instead, the AVERAGE of the 8 MW signals stayed very close to the same, even 2 km back from the beach. Looked at individually, though, the signals varied in strength by up to 5 dB from one test location to another. For instance 594 was down 5 dB only .5 km inland, but rebounded to +2 dB at 2 km inland from the beach. We were at each test location for a ten minute logging session, BTW. Signal strength on 972 maintained about equal strength, except at 2 km inland, where it was actual up a couple of dB. ...... I, for one, was shocked that the levels over a km or two inland could be at or even quite near the ones on the beach itself. I'm still gonna try to get as close to the beach as possible, but if I'm a km inland because of campground location, etc., I'll not throw up my hands and catch up on sleep.... for sure!" Unfortunately, we never followed up on that experiment; even writing it up in a cogent manner seemed difficult at the time, and it never happened. I recall my day job being particularly crazy then, and John also must also have had other fish to fry. Since then of course, a lot of nasty water has flowed under the bridge, and John won't be helping out anymore except in spirit. The bright side is that present day SDRs would make repeats of the experiment somewhat more detailed and accurate, though one would likely need to set up or modify some analysis software. Using the same antenna at each site shouldn't be impossible; we used small AMRAD active antennas mounted at the same height above ground for each setup, and tested each setup side by side at the beginning of the experiment to verify similar response to DX. Best wishes, (Nick Hall- Patch, Victoria, BC, Canada, IRCA via DXLD) This is getting more and more interesting! Thank you Gary and Bill for the recent cliffside DXing results, and Nick for sleuthing out the limited technical papers on this topic. Some years ago during an annual family vacation to Yachats, Oregon, I was parked at that exact spot of Gary's wonderful receptions, wondering if that might be a good place to DX -- if only an antenna could be devised. I was still in the mindset of large passive antennas like a Beverage or a lengthy active loop array being the only way to seriously DX. One look over the guard rail, down that steep cliff to the crashing surf below convinced not to try anything crazy like an impromptu vertical antenna! Gary's boldness to blaze the trail by DXing with an FSL between cliff and traffic dangers at this beautiful, coastal Oregon location has gotten me interested in figuring out a way to try a different way to DX from this wide spot in the road. I'm looking forward to giving it a try in early September. My goal is to be able to make broadband Perseus SDR recordings from the relative safety of a vehicle at this DX-friendly cliff QTH on Oregon's Highway 101. My wife doesn't know it, but her SUV is about to become a PRV (Perseus Recording Vehicle :^) (Guy Atkins, Puyallup, WA, ibid.) I did some experiments with this theory (with Nick as well) in 1994 and 1995 during one particularly good season where TA's were audible at my location 1.35 km from the waterfront in Victoria B.C. (on Cook Street) sometimes early in the afternoon. Cook Street, in Victoria B.C., terminated on Dallas Road -- and although not a true coastal location, it did exhibit unusual characteristics during the occasional "walk down" to the waterfront. The problem with this method of observation was, as I changed location, signal levels definitely ebbed and flowed but without simultaneous and synchronous signal readings being taken from fixed points along the route, the observations were merely anecdotal and curious. I noticed a similar pattern as I drove inland, one season, to a mini beverage site daily over a couple of weeks - that signals seemed to rise and fall, across the entire band with some predictability. Here in 2012 it is good to see the group pursue this theory and supposition with a bit more technology and ability to extract some more scientific metrics (Colin Newell - Victoria B.C. Canada, ibid.) P.I.G. BULLETIN 120806 Solar & Geomagnetic activity forecast for period August 6 - August 17 Solar activity will dynamically fluctuate between 90 - 150 s.f.u. in next weeks, depending on present active regions on solar disc (low about August 18, high about end of August). Irregular occurrence of C class, some M class and possibly X class flares is expected Geomagnetic field will be: Quiet on August 9 - 10, 15 - 16, 22 - 24, 31, September 1. Mostly quiet on August 7 - 8, 14, 21, 27 - 28. Quiet to unsettled on August 11, 17 - 20. Quiet to active on August 13, 25 - 26. Active to disturbed on August 12, 29 - 30. High probability of changes in solar wind which may cause changes in magnetosphere and ionosphere is expected on August 10 - 11, (16,) 20 - 21, (23). F. K. Janda, OK1HH, Czech Propagation Interest Group (OK1HH & OK1MGW, weekly forecasts since 1978) e-mail: ok1hh(at)rsys.cz (via Dario Monferini, DXLD) Geomagnetic field activity ranged from quiet to minor storm conditions. The period began at quiet to unsettled levels with isolated active intervals due to a period of sustained southward IMF Bz to -8 nT from about 30/ 0600 - 1800Z. From 31 July to midday on 02 August, quiet levels were observed. At about 02/1000Z, the 28 July CME arrived at the ACE spacecraft producing active to minor storm periods from 02/1200 - 2100Z. During this time frame, IMF Bz was negative multiple times, peaking at about -12 nT at 02/1220Z while solar wind readings indicated a slight increase from near 450 km/s to about 500 km/s. For the remainder of the summary period, quiet to unsettled conditions prevailed. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 06 AUG - 01 SEPT 2012 Solar activity is expected to be at low to moderate levels through 14 August as Regions 1539 and 1540 (S27, L=087, class/area Dso/110 on 05 August) rotate off the visible disk. From 15 - 20 August, mostly low levels are expected. A return to low to moderate levels is expected from 21 August - 01 September as Regions 1532 (S20, L=185, class/area Fho/510 on 28 July) and 1536 rotate back onto the visible disk. A greater than 10 MeV proton event at geosynchronous orbit is possible through 14 August as Regions 1539 and 1540 traverse the visible disk and again from 21 August - 01 September as Regions 1532 and 1536 rotate back onto the visible disk. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at normal to moderate levels throughout the period. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at predominately quiet levels from 06 - 07 August. Quiet to unsettled conditions with isolated active intervals are expected on 08 - 09 August due to glancing blow effects from the 04 August CME. Predominately quiet conditions are expected from 10 - 18 August, 21 - 23 August, and 27 August - 01 September. Quiet to unsettled conditions with isolated active intervals are expected from 19 - 20 August and again from 24 - 26 August due to weak coronal hole high-speed stream effects. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2012 Aug 06 0759 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 2012-08-06 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2012 Aug 06 135 5 2 2012 Aug 07 135 5 2 2012 Aug 08 130 10 3 2012 Aug 09 130 8 3 2012 Aug 10 125 5 2 2012 Aug 11 120 5 2 2012 Aug 12 115 5 2 2012 Aug 13 115 5 2 2012 Aug 14 105 5 2 2012 Aug 15 100 5 2 2012 Aug 16 90 5 2 2012 Aug 17 90 5 2 2012 Aug 18 95 5 2 2012 Aug 19 100 8 3 2012 Aug 20 100 8 3 2012 Aug 21 110 5 2 2012 Aug 22 115 5 2 2012 Aug 23 120 5 2 2012 Aug 24 125 8 3 2012 Aug 25 130 8 3 2012 Aug 26 135 12 3 2012 Aug 27 140 5 2 2012 Aug 28 145 5 2 2012 Aug 29 140 5 2 2012 Aug 30 140 5 2 2012 Aug 31 140 5 2 2012 Sep 01 135 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1629, DXLD) ###