DX LISTENING DIGEST 15-29, July 22, 2015 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 2015 contents archive see http://www.worldofradio.com/dxldmid.html [also linx to previous years] 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 1783 CONTENTS: *DX and station news about: Antarctica, Armenia/Azerbaijan, Australia, Bhutan, Brazil, Canada, China, Cuba, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia non, France, Greece, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Nigeria non, Oklahoma, Papua New guinea non, Puntland, Russia, Serbia non, Somaliland, Sweden, UK, USA SHORTWAVE AIRINGS OF WORLD OF RADIO 1783, July 23-29, 2015 Thu 1130 WRMI 9955 [confirmed] Thu 2100 WRMI 7570 Fri 2130 WRMI 15770 [confirmed] Fri 2130 WRMI 7570 [confirmed] Sat 0630 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio Sat 1430 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio Sat 1930v WA0RCR 1860-AM Sun 0315v WA0RCR 1860-AM [confirmed] Sun 2100 WRMI 15770 Sun 2300 WRMI 11580 Mon 0300v WBCQ 5110v Area 51 [confirmed] Mon 0330 WRMI 9955 Tue 1100 WRMI 9955 Wed 0630 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio Wed 1315 WRMI 9955 Wed 1430 HLR 7265-CUSB Hamburger Lokalradio Wed 2100 WBCQ 7490v 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 WORLD OF RADIO PODCASTS: Tnx to Dr Harald Gabler and the Rhein-Main Radio Club. http://www.rmrc.de/index.php/rmrc-service/podcast/glenn-hauser-wor ALTERNATIVE PODCASTS, tnx Stephen Cooper: http://shortwave.am/wor.xml AND ANOTHER PODCAST ALTERNATIVE, tnx to Keith Weston: http://feeds.feedburner.com/GlennHausersWorldOfRadio Also via [but still not back in service]: http://tunein.com/radio/World-of-Radio-p198/ OUR ONDEMAND AUDIO: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html or http://wor.worldofradio.org DAY-BY-DAY ARCHIVE OF GLENN HAUSER`S LOG REPORTS: Unedited, uncondensed, unchanged from original version, many of them too complex, minutely researched, multi-frequency, opinionated, inconsequential, off-topic, or lengthy for some log editors to manage; and also ahead of their availability in these weekly issues: http://www.hard-core-dx.com/index.php?topic=Hauser DXLD YAHOOGROUP: Why wait for DXLD? A lot more info, not all of it appearing in DXLD later, is posted at our yg without delay. When applying, please identify yourself with your real name and location, and say something about why you want to join. Those who do not, unless I recognize them, will be prompted once to do so and no action will be taken otherwise. Here`s where to sign up: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxld/ ** ALASKA. 7355, July 16 at 1207, I try to hear KNLS` English hour, and do barely detect the KNLS theme music and something in English; at least no QRM on this, but incomparably weaker than e.g. CRI in Japanese on 7325 blocking Wantok Radio Light should it even be on (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ALBANIA. R Tirana Albanian morning service to Balkana and Italy on 7389.980 kHz, S=9+10dB, 0740 UT July 18. Talk in Albanian language by two men, on museum art in Ukraine? Bad BUZZY audio HUM signal, when spoken audio feed - many breaks - noted clear empty carrier audio, then no hum at all. So, the hum occurs when transmitter fed by audio program from broadcasting house feed line (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANGOLA. 4949.7 2215-... 16/7 AGL RNA-Canal "A" , Mulenvos. P, tks. Extremely weak modulation. 45343 CGS (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, JRC NRD-545DSP & DRAKE R-E; Advanced Receiver amp.; raised, 4 loop K9AY, 30 m 180º/0º mini-Bev., 80 m 300º/120º Bev., 200 m 270º/90º Bev., 270 m 145º/325º Bev., 300 m 225º/45º Bev via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via DXLD) 4949.75, Radio Nacional, Mulenvos, 2151-2157, 22-07, Portuguese, comments. 14321. Also 0450-0510, 23-07, songs In Portuguese (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Reinante, Tecsun PL-880, Sony ICF SW7600G, cable antenna, 8 meters, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ANTARCTICA. Reminder from DXLD 15-28: LRA36 to resume July 27, M-F 1800-2130v UT on 15476 (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ARMENIA or AZERBAIJAN? 9677v, Azerbaijan, Azeri station Ictimai Radio - or - Tolishstoni Saedo Radio via Stepanakert, "Karabakh Respublika"? ARMENIA {Nagorno-Karabakh enclave} or AZERBAIJAN? Like in past years heard once again a broadband FM signal on 9664 to 9685 kHz frequency range, when spoken breaks occur, a carrier visible on screen on exact 9676.890 kHz. At 0755 UT July 18. wb HISTORY - In the past years noted in this range: Azerbaijan Azeri station Ictimai Radio used to jam Voice of Justice from the Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh enclave too. Summer A-13 sched of 0900-0959 9677.6 SPK 010 kW non-dir to CeAS Talysh Tue/Wed/Thu/Fri/Sat 1200-1259 9677.6 SPK 010 kW non-dir to CeAS Talysh Tue/Wed/Thu/Fri/Sat 1500-1559 9677.6 SPK 010 kW non-dir to CeAS Talysh Tue/Wed/Thu/Fri/Sat Voice of Talyshistan was not air Sun/Mon. 9677.5v Tolishstoni Saedo Radio via Stepanakert, "Karabakh Respublika", 0905-0949*, *1200-1256* and *1500-1547*. 9677.5v, Aedalaetin Saesi Radiosu, Stepanakert Fri at 1400 UT, Sat at 0600 UT. Scheduled with 10 kW Tue/Fri 1400-1425 UT (DX MIX News, Ivo Ivanov-BUL, via wwdxc BC-DX TopNews April 5, 2013) (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. VL8A Roe Creek (Alice Springs) - New SV Imagery The new street view is an improvement. Except for the shipping container, it appears the same as the photo I took of the site in 1986. That image is in the photo section of shortwavesites at this link; I'm guessing the antenna is some type of omni-directional log periodic (J Lenamon, Waco, July 19, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) Hi Jerry, Thanks very much for sharing the pic & for the posting. I've always been somewhat puzzled in regards to the VL8A/K/T SW antennas. Specifically how these antennas work & the basis for their modeling. I didn't cover this kind of antenna in my studies. What I can tell you is that they are a wideband horizontally polarized omni-directional antenna. They've been described as a short range 'shower array' due to the nature of their usage & coverage area. The antennas cover their intended area by the useful radiation directed skyward & reflected over a larger area downward from the ionosphere. The antennas are either modeled upon or are a TCI 615 array. I can't recall exactly from memory. If I could determine looking at the antenna which wires are the active parts of the antennas & which are the supporting wires, I might then have some idea how they work. They do look somewhat like net style LP, but are different. If anyone in the group can enlighten me & other interested members it would be much appreciated (Ian, Australia, shortwavesites yg via DXLD) ** AUSTRALIA. More ABC Australia local radio streaming on the net (including ABC Alice Springs 4835 kHz) Not shortwave news but may be of interest as ABC Alice Springs do broadcast many of their programmes via the ABC domestic shortwave service in the Northern Territory. Just noticed that from July 1st local ABC radio in Australia has started 'beta' testing streaming radio via the internet. Until now only the capital city local stations (plus Newcastle and Gold Coast) were streaming. Testing on ABC Alice Springs, ABC North West – Karratha, ABC Goldfields – Kalgoorlie, ABC Northern Tasmania – Launceston, ABC Kimberley – Broome, ABC Western Queensland – Longreach, ABC South West – Bunbury, ABC North West Queensland – Mt Isa, ABC Far North – Cairns, ABC North and West – Port Pirie, ABC Western Plains – Dubbo, ABC Gippsland – Sale, ABC Southern Queensland – Toowoomba, ABC Goulburn Murray – Wodonga More stations will follow in the next few months. I've tested them on my laptop and they are not working but they do work on the Safari browser on my iPhone 6 plus (after you click on the initial error cross). A lot of the shows are networked (especially at the weekends) but there are local morning, drivetime and evening shows that may be of interest. The ABC is providing this service as internet availability in the regional areas improve and due to the 'decline' in local commercial stations that are (mostly) banned from streaming on the net and which are now mostly networked from the state capitals (Rob, Glasgow, Scotland, Wilson, July 17, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DXLD) Hi Rob, Noted July 18, at 1232 and subsequent checking, on 4835 (ABC Alice Springs NT) // 9580 (RA) // 12065 (RA) // 12085 (RA) with "ABC Grandstand" live cricket coverage of Australia vs England (Ron Howard, California, ibid.) ** AUSTRALIA. 17840, July 17 at 0210, RA remains the OSOB, or at least the SSOB most of the evening; now I pause for some classical music, but it`s just an illustrative excerpt from Rachmaninoff`s Piano Concerto No. 2, second movement, back to interview with the artist by Margaret (Throsby) (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** AUSTRIA. ORS Moosbrunn 11955 kHz AWR Hausa program at 0520 UT July 19 noted properly downunder in Queensland. Via long path across the Açores Atlantic, Colombia, Easter Island, and southern Pacific path, nice propagation S=9+10dB or -71dBm, broadband 10 kHz wide signal (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BANGLADESH. Took my Tecsun PL-880 on a short business trip to London and Noordwijk last week and logged a few stations from the hotel rooms using just the Tecsun's collapsible whip antenna. From Noordwijk: 17 July, 1958 UT, 13580 kHz, Bangladesh Betar (= Bangladesh Wireless or Bangladesh Radio; Radio Bangladesh Betar, as I've seen it, would be redundant) s/off announcement in Bengali. Very strong signal (Richard Langley, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BELARUS. Took my Tecsun PL-880 on a short business trip to London and Noordwijk last week and logged a few stations from the hotel rooms using just the Tecsun's collapsible whip antenna. From London: 14 July, 2150 UT, 11730 kHz, Radio Belarus in English followed by Russian at 2200. Seemingly low modulation. Noise on the frequency, too (Richard Langley, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BERMUDA. 2582-USB, Bermuda Harbour Radio, 0030 to 0040 clear ID as BHR, good signal on 15 July (Robert Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, South Florida, 746Pro, Drake R8 NRD 525, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** BHUTAN. BBS on 6034.96 kHz continued to broadcast after the 1500 UT in Dzongha. Telephone talk back show by Male MC. 24 hours? (S. Hasegawa, Japan, July 22, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Sei-ichi, Very nice to find we were both listening to BBS/Bhutan on 6034.96 today (July 22). I had not heard them recently and believed they were off the air, so was a surprise to first tune in 1248-1300 to hear their unique indigenous music/singing; 1331-1347 monologue; 1347- 1401 more indigenous music/singing; by 1422 heard phone conversations; still on the air when tuned out at 1430. Some mixing with PBS Yunnan (China), in Vietnamese and Chinese, but most of the time BBS was stronger. The last I knew BBS signed off about 1300, so they really were on an extended schedule today. Would be wonderful if this was a new schedule for them? (Ron Howard, California, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) This just in from Mauno Ritola regarding BBS/Bhutan: "Strong signal also here in Finland now at 1615 on 6034.95 kHz." (Ron Howard, July 22, ibid.) ** BIAFRA [and non]. Radio Biafra launches ‘Biafra 24 Radio’, plans 50 other stations http://dailypost.ng/2015/07/17/radio-biafra-launches-biafra-24-radio-plans-50-other-stations/ Just when federal security operatives claim they have arrested suspected masterminds of Radio Biafra with its signals reportedly jammed, the organization announced on Friday that it has launched another station,with 50 others being planned. Radio Biafra, which is still broadcasting on the world wide web, is a transmitting platform calling for the secession of the old eastern region from Nigeria. The Cable reports that the new station identified as “Biafra 24 Radio” has hit the airwaves pushing the same message of “freedom of Biafraland”, adding that the radio station says it is running with the motto of “bringing Biafra closer”. Meanwhile, residents of Port Harcourt, Rivers state, were said to be having difficulty accessing the station. Joseph Udofia, one of the residents told the online newspaper that of all the stations broadcasting in Rivers, none is Radio Biafra “The 97.6 FM was the former frequency (and) they claim to have moved to 102.1 FM, but I can authoritatively say that nothing is being broadcast on that frequency now,” he said. The location and local frequency of Biafra 24 Radio could not be ascertained. Radio Biafra, which refers to Nigeria as a zoo, said the government is being unfair to them, claiming that Buhari promoted “Radio Chanji” when he was seeking power. “Radio Chanji was floated by Buhari and the APC, unregistered, to oust (President Goodluck) Jonathan. Yet Radio Biafra is registered and they want to stop us. Why do you need the United Kingdom, the United States, Israel to stop Radio Biafra?” the on air personality queried. He accused the government of trying to sabotage its operations by telling Tune-in Radio, an online platform, to shut down Radio Biafra. “Boko Haram now stronger; Buhari will not be better than Jonathan” – NCP http://dailypost.ng/2015/07/17/boko-haram-now-stronger-buhari-will-not-be-better-than-jonathan-ncp/ “The government told tune in to shut it down, what they do not understand is that tune in is just one of several listening ports. Tune in after much pressure have now restored Radio Biafra back to their platform,” the voice stated. Posted by: JOSE MIGUEL ROMERO ROMERO, July 19, dxldyg via DXLD) ?? Biafra clandestine was previously on SW, covering the entire ``country`` from one transmitter --- and now they talk about 50 FMs instead? What progress (gh, DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. 3310, Radio Mosoj Chaski, Cochabamba, 0948 to 1015 very weak at first then signal improved with om comments in Q. on 16 July, 1010 to 1025 comments by yl then later om 17 July (Robert Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, South Florida, 746Pro, Drake R8 NRD 525, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** BOLIVIA. CQ, CQ, CQ; Aquí Pedro F. Arrunátegui para compartir algo con los que disfrutan y aman el DX latinoamericano; todas las horas son UT. Desde la tierra de los incas, les informo mediante este Quipus lo siguiente: 3310.00, R. Mosoj Chaski, Cochabamba, 28/06 1045-1110, 33333, px en quechua y mxf. Por momentos la señal se desvanece ya apenas se escucha y/o no se entiende. No escucho ID. A las 1106 UTC apenas audible. 5952.40, R. Pio XII, Siglo XX; 8/07 2305-2340, 44444, px transmiten en directo la visita del Papa Francisco a Bolivia NOTA: transmisión en cadena, no pasan ID La recepción la he efectuado del 17/06 al 17/07 en compañía de mis sabuesos Icom IC R72 + ELAD FDM-S1 + Splitter ASA 4 x 2 + Mizuho KX-3 + MFJ-1025 y una antena de hilo largo de 12 metros + antena auxiliar + una Mini Whip + una antena loop. NOTA: Para un mejor escucha de las grabaciones que adjunto, sugiero escuchar con los audífonos (Pedro F. Arrunátegui, Lima, Perú, CHASQUI DX PFA – JULIO 2015, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BOLIVIA. 6135-, July 19 at 0107, music on surprisingly fair signal, lite het no doubt from Aparecida; 0110 YL ID clearly ``Radio Santa Cruz, la primera``, back to music. The first what? Certainly the best if not only signal out of S America on 49m tonight. Too bad about all the storm noise, else this would be quite listenable strength. Closest lightning is small area circa Guymon OK but plenty of other spots around the country, especially Cincinnati-Indianapolis-Detroit (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. CQ, CQ, CQ; Aquí Pedro F. Arrunátegui para compartir algo con los que disfrutan y aman el DX latinoamericano; todas las horas son UT. Desde la tierra de los incas, les informo mediante este Quipus lo siguiente. 4865.00, BRASIL, R. Verdes Florestas, Acre, 3/07 1135-1205, 44444, news ads varias, ID “Radio Verdes Florestas" ads, mx. He tenido dificultad en captar las estaciones del Brasil, en diferencia a otras oportunidades, desconociendo las razones. La recepción la he efectuado del 17/06 al 17/07 en compañía de mis sabuesos Icom IC R72 + ELAD FDM-S1 + Splitter ASA 4 x 2 + Mizuho KX-3 + MFJ-1025 y una antena de hilo largo de 12 metros + antena auxiliar + una Mini Whip + una antena loop. NOTA: Para un mejor escucha de las grabaciones que adjunto, sugiero escuchar con los audífonos. Vivo en una casa muy pequeña, pero, sus ventanas se abren hacia un mundo muy grande (Pedro F. Arrunátegui, Lima, Perú, CHASQUI DX PFA – JULIO 2015, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 4865 kHz Radio Verdes Florestas, Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil, OM, Noticias do Senado e Assembleias / A Voz do Brazil vs MX; a Mx = Rádio Alvorada de Londrina. O melhor horário de escuta dessa emissora nos 4865 kHz é esse dàs 0000 UT já que o progama de rede nacional ``A Voz do Brasil`` passa 2 horas atrazado da hora de Brasília no estado do Acre, 0047 UT, sinpo 24222, dia 20/07. Rx: Tecsun S-2000, Antenna: Long wire 400 Meters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FMTstSIM_U&feature=youtu.be (Daniel Wyllyans, Nova Xavantina MT, Brazil, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 5035 kHz, Rádio Educação Rural, Coari, Amazonas, OM Jaime, ANN Venda da casa do Seu Jorge na Rua Joaquim Vaz de Almeida N. 290, OM Hora certa agora são 6:29, Atendimento aos Ouvintes Mara, Thaïs, Mozar, e pessoas da Vila Fernandes recado da filha do Galo para o Doni. ``Recado para Jhaimes vim pegar a gasolina no Rio Aruan, ja que estou decendo do Rio Uruqum.`` Depois MX. Sinpo 35333, Dia 16/07 às 0927 UT. Nota: A Rádio Aparecida está OFF há 2 dias; por isso o sinal está sendo bem recebido por aqui. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAP2BNXKphw RX: Tecsun S-2000 Antenna: Long wire 400 Meters horizontal (Daniel Wyllyans, Nova Xavantina MT, Brazil, July 16, Hard-Core-DX mailing list, via DXLD) 5035 kHz, Rádio Educação Rural de Coari, Coari, Amazonas, Brazil, OM Jaime Cxs, ANN Pedrinho materiais de contruçao Super mercados economico de Coari, Alo aos ouvintes Elsione e Ney, Ana Paula da Comunidade Bom Jardim depois MX forro amazonico e banda Calypso 0918 UT sinpo 45333 Dia 16/07. RX : Tecsun S-2000 Antena: Long Wire 400 Meters (Daniel Wyllyans Nova Xavantina MT Brazil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqakfeeFq24&feature=youtu.be Nota: Hoje 17/07, as 2 emissoras estavam OFF em 5035 kHz a Rádio Aparecida e Educação Rural. https://youtu.be/SAP2BNXKphw Abaixo as fotos da Rádio Educação Rural que opera em ondas tropicais de 5035 kHz --- Rádio Educação Rural de Coari 5035 kHz - See more at: http://www.dexismointernacional.com.br/radio-escuta/item/324-radio-educacao-rural-de-coari-amazonas-brazil-nos-5035-khz.html Radio Educação Rural de Coari - AM, 5035 kHz. Minha ultima escuta sem QRM, da Rádio Áparecida. Agora as 2 emissoras está [sic] ON. Rádio Educação Rural de Coari - AM, 5035 kHz, Brazil YL e OM Notícias sobre secretario estadual de saude de Manaus e seu trabalho contra o mosquito da dengue. 1141 UT, Dia 20/07 sinpo 35333 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98e72hishiY&feature=youtu.be RX: Tecsun S-2000 Antenna: Long wire 400 Meters (Daniel Wyllyans, Nova Xavantina MT Brazil, July 22, Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. R. Aparecida retorna pela Parabólica. Amigos da Lista: A R. Aparecida está de volta com seu áudio via parabólica. Neste 21 de julho, estou ouvindo desde as 09:20h e até às 11:30h [local time?]. Muito boa a programação. Som excelente. Voltarei a ouvir o "Encontro DX", aos sábados, relembrando um antigo hábito de assistí-lo pela parabólica. Saudações, (José Ronaldo Xavier, Cabedelo-PB, radioescutas yg via DXLD) Parabolic?? I guess he means he`s getting a satellite feed; WTFK? Parameters? (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) ** BRAZIL. [Re 15-28:] In mail to Dave: Hello Dave, thanks for mail with very interesting info regarding 6160. One or two years ago Stig Hartvig Nielsen at a stay in LA noted Rio Mar on the high side of 6160. Also Daniel Wyllyans heard Rio Mar on 6160 on June 23 at 1130 with distorted signal. Unfortunately he gave no decimals. I have checked this frequency for a long time and there is a carrier (too weak for audio) on 6159.95 signing off exactly at the same time as 9550.035, at around 2200 UT. At that time, (local evening here) have never noted any carrier on the high side. Maybe a drifting transmitter? This is a little mystery. It should be nice to get the exact frequency also for Rio Mar. Hope you can get a 100% ID within the coming days. 73, (Thomas Nilsson, SW Bulletin via DXLD) [Then Dave Valko revised his previous post about this:] Thanks to Daniel Wyllyans for his wonderful help. My reception (and the posted video) shows it was R. Rio Mar that I had with the partial ID at 0958:35 on 6160.058. Upon reviewing the entire reception as a waterfall, I could see and hear R. Boa Vontade sign on at exactly 1001:00 with soft religious music in progress, also on the video. As soon as R. Boa Vontade signed on on 6160.02, it drifted up and down 3 times between 6160.075 and 6159.937 before finally settling on 6159.968. I titled the signals in the screenshot below. Fortunately, CKZN was not a problem as it fades early with the earlier sunrise during the northern Summer at this time of the year. And CKZU was simply too weak to be a problem. And since its Winter in the southern hemisphere, the Brazilians didn’t fade as soon. So basically the only stations audible were R. Rio Mar and R. Boa Vontade. Of course this reception condition can only happen for a short time at this time of year in the eastern US. Thanks again Daniel. I made one small mistake. The signal that I thought was CKZU (Vancouver) and labeled such on my screenshot yesterday is NOT CKZU. I think it’s just a Perseus artifact. CKZU must not have been off the air. I suspect they turn the transmitter off on Sunday night to Monday morning. The time of my reception would have still been 3:00 AM local time in Vancouver. CKZU was definitely there this morning, though. Plainly visible. Below are the corrected screenshots from yesterday (13.7) and today (14.7). Notice how much weaker the signals look today as compared to yesterday. Today, Boa Vontade signed on only about 30 seconds after Rio Mar. All settings were exactly the same, including the antenna (Dave Valko, ibid., WORLD OF RADIO 1783, via DXLD) See Dave's screenshots below, R Rio Mar on 6160.058 and R Boa Vontade on 6159.968. Also for comparison a few screenshots from Ängelholm at local evening here. /TN (Thomas Nilsson, SW Bulletin July 19 via DXLD) ** BRAZIL. 9629.956, Rádio Aparecida ZYE954, Aparecida SP, in BrasPortuguese, S=7 fluttery at 0941 UT, on nighttime path from Bras to Canada, fast spoken talk, like machine gun reader. 9645.410, Odd frequency footprint of Rádio Bandeirantes, talk in BrasPortuguese, S=7, hit by CNR1 Beijing on even 9645 kHz, noted at 0953 UT on July 21. 9664.672, Rádio Voz Missionaria. Many times heard phone number and Caixa Postal addresses in Santa Catarina, S=8-9 at 0958-1000 UT on July 21. Hit heavily by even 9665 kHz KCBS Pyongyang KRE. 9724.845, Rádio RB2 from Curitiba, time signal at 1000 UT, but pips were 27 seconds too late against UT atomic clock exactness. 9819.501, Rádio 9 de Julho, in BrasPortuguese, poor S=5 signal noted in Edmonton Alberta Canada remote post. Hit by Voice of Beibu Bay Radio in Cantonese sce on even 9820 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** BRAZIL. 11815, July 16 at 0510, Rádio Brasil Central must be off, as usually audible at this hour, like last night. Just a trace of crackle spur from 11780 RNA/RNB, likewise on 11745, but fundamental 11780 is splattering some 20 kHz above and below, QRMing fellow Brazilian 11765 SRDA. Replying to my logs of these yesterday, Wolfgang Büschel has the details, monitoring during the same hour today July 16: ``Distorted RNA/RNB heard around 0530 UT July 16 on 11780.006 kHz, 20 kHz wideband signal visible on SDR screen, and very tiny scratch crackling spurs on 11733-11750 and 11807-11822 kHz can be neglected, so low is the spur sound. Nearby heard RNZi DRM mode block on 11690 and AM 11725 kHz, as well as RRI ROU in DRM mode on 11800 kHz. wb`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11710, 11745, 11815, July 17 at 0526, big crackling spurs are back from 11780 RNA/RNB, after a couple nights of almost totally suppressing them. I *knew* that couldn`t last. 11815, July 19 at 0120, R. Brasil Central music at poor level but hardly any crackling spur from 11780 this time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11815: 11780.007 RNA/RNB / 11815.031 Rádio Brasil Central, latter just listenable under spurious scratching this 0630 UT July 19. Wide broadband scratching noted in Edmonton Alberta CANADA post, through full nighttime path from Brasília. Spurs scratching heard/noted at 0635 UT on 11703 ... 11711peak ... 11715 kHz; as well as 11730 ... 11740peak ... 11747peak ... 11763 kHz, but also continuously further to 11780.007 central carrier frequency, S=9+15dB in Alberta Edmonton, scratch continuously up to 11813peak ... covers 11815.031 kHz Rádio Brasil Central ... up to 11821 kHz (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 11815, 11745, 11710, July 20 at 0123, heavy crackling spurs from RNA/RNB 11780 are very much back. Even more so at next check 0137 when many more of them are audible about 33 kHz apart circa: 11912, (not 11879?), 11846, 11813, 11747, 11714, 11681, (not 11648?), 11615. At 0530 I can still hear most of them circa 11846, 11813, 11747, 11714, 11681. Come on, EBC, get this mess cleaned up once and for all! Or close down this terrible transmitter; at least power it down so it will do less damage (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX WORLD OF RADIO 1783, LISTENING DIGEST) 11815, July 22 at 0523, RBC music marred by RNA/RNB crackle spur circa 11813, also around 11846, 11747, 11714 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CAMBODIA [non]. July 16: Voice of Khmer M'Chas Srok in Khmer to SEAs 1130 on 17860 Dushanbe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfjBEuUgnUk&feature=youtu.be (Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CANADA. HISTORIC CBK TRANSMITTER BUILDING IN WATROUS TO BE DEMOLISHED http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/historic-cbk-transmitter-building-in-watrous-to-be-demolished-1.3158268 [with 5-slide show and other illustrations] (via Gerald T Pollard, NC, July 20, DXLD) Viz.: Historic CBK transmitter building in Watrous to be demolished Local historians work to preserve pieces of CBC broadcast history By Nichole Huck CBC, CBC News Posted: Jul 20, 2015 5:30 AM CT Last Updated: Jul 20, 2015 9:35 AM CT The original staff of CBK in 1939 (Sourced from Watrousheritage.ca) Most people who have grown up in the prairie provinces will have received their news via the CBC broadcast tower in Watrous. The massive CBK building was established in 1939 as part of an overall CBC plan to bring programming to all parts of Canada. This was done with several well-placed 50,000 watt transmitters. The CBK transmitter building in Watrous 1939 (Source: Dwight Kornelsen/ Watrousheritage.ca) [captions] CBK was designed to serve all the prairie provinces, which is why Watrous was chosen as the site. It is located in the centre of the populated portion of the prairies, and as a bonus it is located on a potash vein, making its ground conductivity one of the best on the continent. In those days the technology for a single transmitter took up two floors of the building. About 371 square metres was for the transmitter. That amount of equipment required a staff of six to maintain. There was also a manager and living quarters for the staff. The original transmitter needed 371 square metres of room. The new transmitter takes up less than one square metre. (Sourced from watrousheritage.ca) During the Cold War, nuclear threat was a very real concern. "The site was deemed important enough for communications that there was an armed guard protecting the transmitter," said Stephen Tomchuk, transmitter supervisor for Saskatchewan. "There was a fallout shelter built in the basement of the building that contained full facilities to be able to broadcast in the event of nuclear war," added Tomchuk. The transmitter survived the war unscathed but it was a plough wind going 160 kph that tore down the tower in 1976. According to the Watrous historical centre this was the only time in its history that CBK was off the air for more than a few hours. Only several days after the storm, a 91-metre temporary tower put CBK back on the air and in 1983, a new permanent tower was erected, reaching the height of about 43 metres, the same length as the original antenna. [sic --- that can`t be right, 540 kHz tower must be really tall --- gh] CBK transmitter tower destroyed by winds in 1976 (Sourced from watrousheritage.ca) Over the years, electrical noise levels rose, making it necessary to install transmitters in Alberta and Manitoba to improve reception in those areas, and CBK was left with its present role of serving Saskatchewan. CBK building being demolished Technology has changed immensely since the building opened in 1939. "Now technology has evolved, the actual transmitter takes up nine square feet (less than one square metre) of space instead of 4,000 (371 square metres) and we now only have a staff of one that visits there once a month, said Tomchuk. In March 2007, CBC decided to build a new smaller building to house the new transmitter. The new transmitter didn't heat the massive building the same way the old one did. The old building became vacant and with no one maintaining it, it fell into disrepair. CBC was in communication with the local heritage committee to offer it the opportunity to take over the building. However, getting the building up to code and maintaining it was more money than the local heritage committee could afford. Tomchuk said the building contains hazardous material such as lead paint and asbestos in the flooring and he estimates it would cost between $500,000 and $1.5 million just to fix up the building enough to allow the public inside. Instead, members of the local heritage committee worked with CBC to identify pieces of interest from inside the building that could be removed to put on display somewhere else. Local Committee preserves pieces of broadcast history Kathy Bergen is chair of the Watrous Manitou Heritage Centre. She has spent the last few days salvaging everything she could from the building. Bergen said community members are very proud of the old building. "It put Watrous on the map," Bergen said. Bergen said the typical first reaction is "Why can't something be done to save the building? But when you go in you see it's in poor condition and you realize how much money it would be to restore." Workers remove the CBK letters from the historic CBC transmitter building in Watrous before the building is scheduled for demolition. (Submitted by: Gary Bergen) [caption] Bergen's husband Gary has created a website documenting much of the history of the CBK Transmitter as well as the equipment inside. The website even includes audio from the inaugural broadcast featuring messages from premieres, federal ministers and even a tribute from the Happy Gang, a classic CBC variety show. Bergen said members of the Heritage Centre are working on getting a building to house the historical equipment. Volunteers have taken samples of everything inside and hope to one day recreate the space. "It's sad that it's a part of the history that won't be standing, but I feel good about what we've been able to do to preserve the history."- Kathy Bergen The only thing they haven't been able to save is a huge map of Canada on the main transmitter floor. It is made of inlaid battleship linoleum approximately 12 metres by five metres and has all the CBC radio stations from 1939 marked on the map. Tomchuck said the asbestos lined flooring would pose a health concern if it was removed. The floor is made of asbestos lined tile in the shape of a map of Canada with all the CBC stations in 1939 marked. (Sourced watrousheritage.ca) "It's sad that it's a part of the history that won't be standing there but I feel good about what we've been able to do to preserve the history." A demolition crew is expected to arrive in Watrous on Monday. Because of all the hazardous material inside the demolition process is expected to take about two weeks (also via Dan Say via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** CANADA. 2749-USB, VCO, Sydney NS, 0040 to 0045 om with weather “rain …showers“ etc. 15 July (Robert Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, South Florida, 746Pro, Drake R8 NRD 525, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** CANADA. 6070, July 21 at 0601 UT, CFRX with new Art Bell show, `Midnight [sic] in the Desert`, running 8 seconds behind 7490 WBCQ. Apparently not leaving a hole for stations to insert any network or local news on the hour. Bell`s website affiliate list has now added CFRX at the top as a SW outlet, besides CFRB 1010 at the bottom. Schedule is 04-07 UT Tue-Sat; see also USA. This logged on the PL-880 inside with whip only, as everything else disconnected for T-storm (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CANARY ISLANDS. 1179, Radio Club Tenerife, Cadena SER, Tenerife, 0522-0530, 23-07, regional program, comments and advertisements about Canary Islands. Strong interference from SER Rioja, Logroño, and SER Valencia on the same frequency. 12321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Reinante, for medium wave: K-PO WR2100, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA. 3210-USB, Chinese military (Navy), 1220, July 22. Second time I have recently heard them here with Chinese numbers; also heard them back in Aug. 2011 on 9000-USB; Keith Perron explained back then - "This is not the Taiwan number station . . . This station comes from China . . . The station is operated by the Chinese Navy and is very active during military exercises. It's in no way a spy station . . . The reason it sounds the way it does is because of the old technology being used to generate the numbers. Back in the 70s Taiwan's number station sounded the same until there was an equipment upgrade in the late 70s or early 80s . . ." (thanks again to Keith for this info!). It will be remembered that 3210 was the former frequency of the Australian low powered station relaying "Vintage FM" https://app.box.com/s/72o2dndk6se3g072vxcto that was formerly owned and operated by Craig Allen, but he has since sold the 3210 & 5045 transmitters. Do not know the current owner`s intentions, but if 3210 is reactivated, then these Chinese signals could prove to be a problem (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, E1 & CR-1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CHINA [and non]. 15465, "Firedrake" (Chinese music jammer) 0903+ 10 July, 0934+ 11 July. Huge signal (spreading 15455-15475) v. unheard RTI (sked 09-10). (Dan Sheedy, Encinitas, CA, G5/6m X wire, via Robert Wilkner, NASWA yg via DXLD) 12560, July 20 at 1342, CNR1 jammer, poor; no other OOB ones found 12- 19 MHz. Propagation on higher bands has been pitiful lately (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LITENING DIGEST) July 21 - It only took the PRC about two months to finally notice that SOH was on 6230. Thanks to a timely tip from Ralph Perry today, heard strong CNR1 (// 6125) jamming of SOH here at 1229, but a check at 1324 found SOH in the clear and // 10960. So Aoki Nagoya's frequency database list can now add an asterisk(*) to 6230 SOH (Ron Howard, California, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) His original report of SOH on 6230 was May 21 (gh) ** CHINA [non]. UZBEQUISTAN, 7530, Stream of Paradise, Tashkent, 2115- 2120, escuchada el 18 de julio de 2015 en mandarín con sintonía, locutor con presentación, fragmento musical y locutora con comentarios, SINPO 34433 (José Miguel Romero, Sacañet (Castellón), España, YAESU FRG-7700, Antena hilo 10m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA. CQ, CQ, CQ; Aquí Pedro F. Arrunátegui para compartir algo con los que disfrutan y aman el DX latinoamericano; todas las horas son UT. Desde la tierra de los incas, les informo mediante este Quipus lo siguiente: ONDA MEDIA 570.006, R. NACIONAL DE COLOMBIA, BOGOTÁ; 20/06 0220-0240 44444 mx colombiana, estamos parrandeando con el folclore colombiano ID "Por Radio Nacional de Colombia" px Por las noches del fin de semana por R. Nacional de Colombia 770.009, RCN la Radio, Bogotá; 21/06 0535-0555 33333 px Antena dos por RCN la radio mx por Antonio Sáenz artistas de todos los tiempos en RCN la Radio. 809.970, Caracol Radio, Bogotá; 21/06 0602-0620 22222 mx ID “Más información, en Caracol” px la noticia news ID “Caracol Radio más compañía” 5910.06, Alcaraván Radio, Puerto Lleras; 27/06 0010-0035 33333 mx varios países de LA ID “0046 ID “La Voz de tu Conciencia desde Colombia” NOTA aunque están en la frecuencia de Alcaraván Radio, también pasan el ID de Radio La Voz de tu Conciencia ID “Alcaraván Radio.." La recepción la he efectuado del 17/06 al 17/07 en compañía de mis sabuesos Icom IC R72 + ELAD FDM-S1 + Splitter ASA 4 x 2 + Mizuho KX-3 + MFJ-1025 y una antena de hilo largo de 12 metros + antena auxiliar + una Mini Whip + una antena loop. NOTA: Para un mejor escucha de las grabaciones que adjunto, sugiero escuchar con los audífonos (Pedro F. Arrunátegui, Lima, Perú, CHASQUI DX PFA – JULIO 2015, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** COLOMBIA [non]. QSL do Programa Anglo Parade, de Omar Ostiz e equipe, Bogotá - Colombia via WRMI (Radio Miami International), 9955 Recebido QSL do Programa Anglo Parade, de Omar Ostiz e equipe, Bogotá - Colombia via WRMI (World Radio Miami International), informe enviado via email a : info@angloparade.com 9955 kHz Anglo Parade via WRMI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bibUT_e1R8c&feature=youtu.be Estimado Daniel, Muchas gracias por su cálido mensaje así como por su completo informe de recepción. En los próximos días le estaremos enviando una de nuestras tarjetas QSL en verificación al mismo. Por el momento, le adjuntamos una copia escaneada en PDF. ¡Cordiales saludos! Equipo Angloparade Bogotá, Colombia (via Daniel Wyllyans, July 16, http://dxbrazilsw.blogspot.com.br/2015/07/qsl-do-progama-anglo-parade-de-omar.html Hard-Core-DX mailing list via DXLD) ** CUBA. Sancti turns 70 --- PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION OPENED FOR 70th ANNIVERSARY OF RADIO SANCTI SPIRITUS This reads easier in Spanish. http://www.cubanradio.cu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2743:photographic-exhibition-opened-for-70th-anniversary-of-radio-sancti-spiritus&catid=40:national-news&Itemid=103 (Terry L Krueger, Florida, July 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I`ll say --- a machine translation could do better. Upper right click to original Spanish. Seems just about every Cuban radio station celebrates a big anniversary every year, be they multiples of 5 or 10 or not (gh, DXLD) ** CUBA. 840, July 17 at 0538 UT, WHAS can be nulled to hear Spanish, bio of Wilfrido Vargas, the Dominican merengue master. Presumably 10 kW Radio CMHW Santa Clara, rather than a Mexican. I seldom hear any XE here (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. Re 15-28: ``English on Radio Rebelde! Well, sort of. And French, too. Cuba's Radio Rebelde covered the opening ceremonies of the Pan American Games in Toronto last night and with announcements being made in English, French, and Spanish, there was no need to continuously over-dub in Spanish. Noted at 0200 UT (11 July) on 5025 kHz with the usual good signal. – (Richard Langley, NB, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Date stamp is 0241 UT July 12, not 11 (gh)" Glen[n]: Opening ceremonies were held on Friday, 10 July, beginning at 8:00 p.m. EDT. So, 11 July UT. I suppose I made the posting the following day, i.e. on the evening (my time) of 11 July = 12 July UT. (Richard Langley, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. 6100, July 17 at 0533, this is the missing RHC English frequency tonight, the other four of The Cuban Five nominal altho with usual defects. 9850, July 17 at 1236, RHC Spanish missing from this one, still nominal on 9550, 9640, 9820, et al. higher. Are these the same transmitter? No, 6100 is Bauta-2 supposed to start at 0500; 9850 is Bauta-4 supposed to end at 1300 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [and non] COLLISION: 9710, 7/18 0216, CUB-CHN RHC, Bejucal - CRI, Kashgar, all in Spanish; Collision behind this transmissions; better signal of RHC (José Ronaldo Xavier (JRX), Cabedelo - Brazil, HCDX via DXLD) 9820, July 18 at 1159, RHC IS, VG signal here unusually on a par with 9850; by 1213, back to inferior, and comparing them, there`s a reverb between two different sites: 9850 is Bauta-4, 100 kW toward Chicago, while 9820 is Bejucal-9, 100 kW with an Actral antenna, whatever that mean. 9542.8 and 9557.2, approx., July 19 at 1228, JBA carriers matching about 7.2 kHz away from VG 9550, so spurs from this RHC transmitter. [I was inspecting the 9545 area where Solomon Islands often runs late past nominal 0500 switch to 5020, altho today I had a trace of 5020 after 1200, also impeded by adjacent Cuba. Sei-ichi Hasegawa says today the switch was at 0830; is this deliberate or merely sloppyration? Several others were hearing it on 9545 after 0500, 0630] 9550, RHC at 11-13 is the 250 kW Titán-5 transmitter, on the A-16 HQ 2/2/0.2 antenna toward San Francisco. So it and the spurs are all gone at 1311 check, leaving only a very weak algo on 9550, presumably fellow-traveler 500 kW CRI in Vietnamese from Beijing site. I was going to cite the other frequencies Titán-5 uses for checking spurs there, but it`s the only RHC transmission; elsewhen presumably for spy numbers and/or China relays. If one does find 7.2 kHz spurs around any of those, that would clinch it (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See below! [and non]. 15370, July 20 at 1428, RHC covering the imminent opening of the Cuban embassy in Wáshington; I also view it on TV: unfamiliar MSNBC correspondent declares Cuba is a ``tiny Caribbean nation``. Ceremony begins at 1434 with flag-raising, band and Cuban national anthem sung by a few diplomats? at the site. Also on CSPAN-1, but CNN only played catch-up at the last minute. A few minutes earlier, R. Martí was also talking about this, but one can only digest so much at a time, and was still jammed on weaker 13605. On MSNBC, Ileana was not pleased. 9782.7 & 9797.3 approx., July 21 at 0457 just before close-down, JBA carriers, spurs from very strong CRI relay on 9790.0 halfway between them. Therefore this is the same transmitter as for RHC 9550 at 12-13 UT which I reported: ``9542.8 and 9557.2, approx., July 19 at 1228, JBA carriers matching about 7.2 kHz away from VG 9550, so spurs from this RHC transmitter. 9550 RHC at 11-13 is the 250 kW Titán-5 transmitter, on the A-16 HQ 2/2/0.2 antenna toward San Francisco. I was going to cite the other frequencies Titán-5 uses for checking spurs there, but it`s the only RHC transmission; elsewhen presumably for spy numbers and/or China relays. If one does find 7.2 kHz spurs around any of those, that would clinch it``. So now it`s clinched. But surely there are more (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** CUBA. RADIO HABANA CUBA, NUEVA PÁGINA WEB Radio Habana Cuba Hoy a las 6:57 PM Estimados amigos: Es un gusto comunicarles, que la página web de Radio Habana Cuba http://www.radiohc.cu desde hace pocas horas, exhibe un nuevo diseño. Los invitamos a visitarla y a escribir sus opiniones, críticas o sugerencias, las cuales servirán de gran ayuda para enriquecer nuestro trabajo. Fraternalmente, Rosario Lafita Fernández, J’Dpto. de Correspondencia Internacional, Radio Habana Cuba Posted by: (JOSE MIGUEL ROMERO ROMERO, July 16, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CUBA [and non]. US-BASED TV AND RADIO NEWS FOR CUBANS BECOMES OBSTACLE AS RELATIONS IMPROVE http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/18/radio-tv-marti-cuba-florida Radio and TV Martí A sign hangs on the wall in the Radio and TV Martí headquarters in Miami, Florida. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images Cara McCoogan, Saturday 18 July 2015 12.00 BST Last modified on Saturday 18 July 2015 14.26 BST “Welcome, welcome to 1800 Online!” says presenter Lizandra Díaz Blanco at the start of Radio Martí’s popular interview and call-in show 1800 Online. http://www.martinoticias.com/archive/one_thousand_800_online/latest/97/129.html A few clicks away, TV Martí streams live from the network’s website, with a daily diet of news, comedy and Major League Baseball games – all of it in Spanish, and all directed at an audience in Cuba. After more than half a century of mutual enmity and distrust, Cuba and the United States are poised finally to restore full diplomatic relations. Foreign ministers Bruno Rodríguez and John Kerry will meet in Washington on Monday to mark the reopening of Cuba’s embassy to the United States. The Cuban flag will once more hang in the lobby of the State Department. “We are in the front seat of a very important moment in history,” said Carlos García Pérez, director of Martí Noticias, in April, when he addressed the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees all US- funded international news. “More than ever the Martís need to provide Cuba free flow of information so that our audience can make informed decisions as to their future.” But several obstacles remain in the path to fully normalized relations: a broad economic and travel embargo is still in place, and president Raúl Castro has called again and again for the return to Cuban sovereignty of the US naval base at Guantánamo Bay. He has also repeatedly insisted that the US close down Radio and TV Martí. And as relations improve, the stations – which have cost Congress more than $700m during the last three decades – are under pressure to show they are truly effective at providing Cubans with access to a free press. Radio Martí went on the air on 20 May 1985. Photograph: Bob Daugherty/AP http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/18/radio-tv-marti-cuba-florida#img-2 Radio Martí was launched in 1984, at the height of the cold war. According to Dr Daniel C Walsh, author of An Air War with Cuba: the United States Radio Campaign Against Cuba, the station’s creation was the result of President Ronald Reagan’s concern over “communist influence” in the Americas. “He attributed a lot of that to Cuba and he thought one way to counter that would be to create a radio station,” Walsh said. The station was born with a mission similar to that of Radio Free Europe and Voice of America: to broadcast independent reportage that might just destabilize a regime opposed by the United States. Its name was inspired by the Cuban national hero José Martí, a darling of the communist government and dissidents alike. In the early days there were strict editorial guidelines: Radio Martí would never refer to Fidel Castro with the loaded word “dictator”. But the mood changed after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall left Castro bereft of powerful supporters. TV Martí was launched a year later. “It was a complete disaster,” said Walsh, because Cuban authorities jammed the broadcasts and few Cubans saw it. “TV Martí has never had a useful reach to Cuba,” said John Spicer Nichols, professor of Communications and International Affairs at Pennsylvania State University, who has been deeply involved in the congressional debate over the stations. “All the Cubans have to do is sneeze on it and it’s entirely disrupted and unusable.” The TV station was creative in its attempts to reach Cuba. It even flew a plane dubbed “AeroMartí” over [sic!] the island, but according to Don Mansfield, who was technical director at the radio station for 17 years, it failed to penetrate Cuba’s signal-jamming. “The television, to my knowledge, never got through,” said Mansfield. “They would’ve been better to bomb Cuba with bales of fifties.” AeroMartí now sits in unused in a hangar for almost $80,000 a month. Reporter Amado Gil, right, tapes a segment with guest Alexis Jardines at the TV Martí studio in Miami on 9 March 2015. Photograph: Angel Valentin/New York Times / Redux / eyevine http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/18/radio-tv-marti-cuba-florida#img-3 By the late 1990s it became clear communism in Cuba would outlive its collapse elsewhere. Radio and TV Martí continue broadcasting, but as Cuba approaches its own “Berlin Wall” moment critics say that it is unclear what the point of the stations is. For a start, nobody really knows how many Cubans are actually listening to the stations – either on air or online. “There’s no way for doing real audience measures on the island, because of the Cuban government’s regulations and the inability to get access to the island,” said Natalia Crujeiras, chief content officer for Martí Noticias. An independent survey in April found that 20% of Cubans had listened to Radio Martí in the last seven days – but interviewees were twice as likely to have listened to Cuban state-run stations. The study – carried out by the research firm Bendixen and Amandi, in collaboration with the Washington Post and Univision – found that the majority of Cubans get their news from TV. Cuba's 'offline internet': no access, no power, no problem Cubans have found a unique albeit semi-legal way around their country’s practically nonexistent internet access – external hard drives passed from person to person TV Martí is still experimenting with new ways to reach its target audience. It produces 16,000 DVDs and flash drives a month loaded with newscasts, documentaries and sports reporting to distribute on Cuba’s informal unplugged internet, from which just 3% of Cubans get their news. Crujeiras said this has been a success. But Mansfield, the former technical director, said, “Most of us suspected that 10 minutes after it was given out it was erased and somebody put out a bootleg copy of a movie or porn.” Access to the internet remains severely restricted – Cuba has some of the lowest levels of connectivity in the world – but things are slowly beginning to change. Earlier this month the Cuban government launched 35 Wi-Fi hotspots across the island, and – hopeful that more and more Cubans will be getting online – Martí is shifting its focus to the internet. But analysts say it’s unlikely the US-funded site will be able to compete with privately owned or Cuban state-run publications. Martí Noticias officials report that visitors to its website have increased 1,000% in the last two years and that on average they get 18,000 visits a day. But 50% of these are from within the US. Meanwhile On Cuba Magazine, a private Florida-based publication produced for a Cuban audience, saw six times more visits than Martí Noticias in the last three months. http://oncubamagazine.com/en/ Nearly 70% of its audience is from Cuba and just 15% from the US. Hugo Cancio, owner and publisher of On Cuba, said, “As far as we know, we are the second most read website in Cuba.” This follows the Cuban state-run Cuba Debate, which saw over four million visits from the island in the last three months. Alongside CNN, On Cuba has the only American news bureau on the island. “Our job is to report the news as fair and as truthful as we can,” said Cancio. The US Broadcasting Board of Governors has proposed merging Martí with Voice of America Latin America to form a Spanish language complex that will cost $30.32m a year. The move would mostly be cosmetic as Martí Noticias costs $27m annually and VOA Latin America only $4m. But some predict Martí will continue to broadcast so long as the Cuban government denies its citizens freedom of information. Ken Oliver- Mendez, a former Martí producer, said, “The mission of Radio Martí is far from accomplished. So this is the time to strengthen it, not weaken it.” Others believe it’s time for the Martís to finally close. “What is in the best interests of the Cuban people?” said Nichols, the Martí expert and professor at Pennsylvania State University. “It’s a slam dunk: You close it down.” Posted by: (JOSE MIGUEL ROMERO ROMERO, dxldyg via DXLD) ** CYPRUS [non]. BULGARIA, 13600, Famagusta Gazette Radio, Kostinbrod, 1802-1815, escuchada el 16 de julio de 2015 en inglés a locutor y locutora con comentarios, segmento musical, tema pop, locutor anunciando dirección de Internet, ID, tema musical de Beatles, despedida anunciando frecuencias, SINPO 24332 Web: http://famagusta-gazette.com/index158.htm Email: broadcast@cytanet.com.cy (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Grundig Yacht Boy 80, Sangean ATS 909, Antena hilo 10m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. TV ch 2: see HAITI [and non] ** ECUADOR. CQ, CQ, CQ; Aquí Pedro F. Arrunátegui para compartir algo con los que disfrutan y aman el DX latinoamericano; todas las horas son UT. Desde la tierra de los incas, les informo mediante este Quipus lo siguiente: 6050.00, ECUADOR: R. HCJB, Quito; 17/07 1040-1105, 44444, px en quechua, mx, ID “HCJB Quito, Ecuador” px saludos y mensajes. ID en quechua y español a las 1100 UT, tocan el himno nacional del Ecuador. La recepción la he efectuado del 17/06 al 17/07 en compañía de mis sabuesos Icom IC R72 + ELAD FDM-S1 + Splitter ASA 4 x 2 + Mizuho KX-3 + MFJ-1025 y una antena de hilo largo de 12 metros + antena auxiliar + una Mini Whip + una antena loop. NOTA: Para un mejor escucha de las grabaciones que adjunto, sugiero escuchar con los audífonos (Pedro F. Arrunátegui, Lima, Perú, CHASQUI DX PFA – JULIO 2015, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EGYPT. Unscheduled transmission of Radio Cairo again on, July 14 0845-0925 9965.2v ABS 200 kW / 325 deg to ENAm Arabic General Service: from 0925 9965.2v ABS 200 kW / 325 deg to ENAm open carrier / on & off http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/unscheduled-transmission-of-radio-cairo_14.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #919 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, July 20, 2015, dxldyg via DXLD) 13850, July 16 at 0517, fair signal from R. Cairo, but open carrier/dead air. 13850, July 17 at 0213, R. Cairo Arabic to N America is open carrier, or rather just barely modulated, distorted 9965, July 17 at 0218, R. Cairo, other Arabic service with music, good strength but JBM with whine; unseems distorted, anyway 9315, July 17 at 0220, R. Cairo good signal, but English modulation to N America is suptorted (suppressed + distorted), and hummy. 9965, 9315, 11935 and 12070, all four R. Cairo frequencies are absent, July 19 at 0118 and later chex. Not due to propagation as e.g. Turkey 9770 & 9870, and by 0126, Albania 9850 are doing fine. 12070, 11935, 9965, July 20 at 0122 and 9315, July 20 at 0127 check, all four R. Cairo transmitters are off the air for at least the second night (off July 19, not checked July 18, but heard July 17). 13850 also absent July 20 at 0537. Are any/all R. Cairo transmission at other dayparts also missing? Could merely be overnight staff recovery days off after a lunar month of Ramadaning. 9315, 9965, 11935, 12070, July 21 at 0120, for at least the third night, all four R. Cairo transmitters are missing. I still haven`t seen a single reply to my yesterday`s query whether any/all other R. Cairo transmissions be silent. After absence of all four 0045+ UT Cairo frequencies the last few nights, I`m checking earlier July 21: 9965 at 2307 July 21, no signal from the early English to North America sesquihour Arabic after 2330 listed by Eibi on five frequencies, including alternates? No signal on 12035, 13820, 15460; unknown carriers on 12000, 12070 At 0110 July 22, during Spanish broadcast: no signal on 9315, 12070; JBA unknown carriers on 12080, 12035, 12000, 11935, 9720. 9965 Arabic also off 9965, July 22 at 2355 is back on in suptorted music, presumably English service; 12070 also back on with very good signal but heavily distorted Arabic (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EQUATORIAL GUINEA. [re 15-28:] ``5005, Jun 13, 0432, R Nacional Guinea Ecuatorial, Bata, 0432-0500, Jun 13, long sequence of slow romantic pop in Spanish with very occasional short announcements in Spanish, no ID or talk at top of the hour, 45333. Also 1636, Jun 15, similar pop songs, no anns, 25333 (Graham D. Bell, Simonstown, South Africa Rep., DSWCI DX Window July 8 via DXLD) Last reported in Oct 2014! (DXW Ed., ibid.)`` re in 5004 ... 5005 kHz range, I have great, great doubt that this was a real regular transmission of Radio Nacional Guinea. We had a lot of times before over the past decade, that fishing vesselcommunication and music belongings released from Spain, Galicia, Spanish Sahara fishery fleet, on the Northwestern African Coast. Last I heard personally this broadcast on the Portuguese Algarve during holiday stay. I have serious doubts about this log entry. So, let us observe increasingly commonly this 5005 kHz channel. Especially from posts in Spain, Portugal, South Africa and South American east coast posts (Wolfgang Büschel, WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hello, Thanks for all info. I also had doubts about this log. I check the 60 mb almost daily and haven't seen anything there for a long time. But strange things happen now and then and the reception conditions in South Africa are probably different from here in northern Europe. As there was no ID someone else could have listened to his recording, maybe it wasn't in Spanish after all? (Thomas Nilsson, WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DXLD) Hi, Graham Bell is very a very experienced DXer. A fishing boat transmission from North Africa coast would be unlikely in South Africa at 1600 on such a low frequency. Long sequences of music doesn't sound like them, either. According to the station they operate "con una emisión en pruebas" on 5005 kHz and also 6250 kHz is planned to be back "en breve". Maybe it is similar daytime only operation like on 6250 kHz a few years ago? If it stops at 1700, it will not be audible in Europe. Have you checked 5005 kHz regularly at 0430-0500? 73, (Mauno Ritola, Finland, July 20, WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ETHIOPIA [non]. Friday, July 17, 2015: Upcoming clandestine broadcast of IRRS Shortwave === ITALY/ROMANIA, Upcoming clandestine broadcast of IRRS Shortwave via Radiocom: 1600-1800 on 15470 TIG 150 kW / 165 deg to EaAf Amharic Fri, eff. from July 24 (Observer 2:56 PM Bulgarian DX blog via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DXLD) Which one? (gh) http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/upcoming-clandestine-broadcast-of-irrs.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #919 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, July 20, 2015, dxldyg via DXLD) Or July 31? So, start Fridays only transmission from next week. Checked now July 17: 15470 kHz channel is empty, but adjacent 15465 kHz signal next door is the jamming white noise audio scratching signal from China mainland against R Taiwan Chinese service other time slots on 24 hrs schedule. Covers SCRATCHING 15460 to 15471 kHz frequency range (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. New EMR website! Dear Listeners, I am proud to announce my New and better website telling the complete history of the last 50 years of my radio interest. Please take a look and leave any comments New EMR website is http://www.europeanmusicradio.com New Internet stream will follow in September! 73s (Tom Taylor, July 18, DX LISTENING DIGEST) New EMR email address --- Dear Listeners, Please note that the EMR email address has changed to emrshortwave@gmail.com The old email address of studio@emr.org.uk is not in use anymore! Thank you for your support. All the best (Tom Taylor, July 19, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** EUROPE. Radio Waves International --- RWI will be on the air during all night on 7630 kHz from 41mb Radio Waves International since 1983 on shortwaves 31 years on the airwaves with 21 year of country music --------------------------------------------------------- RADIO WAVES INTERNATIONAL BP 130 92504 RUEIL Cedex (France) for UPS or Fedex ask us an alternative postal address. http://www.wrwi.fr "the terrible twins" Philippe & Peter HILLS (via Roberto Scaglione, Sicily, bclnews.it yg via DXLD) DATE? Presumably Sat July 18 when this was posted at 1826 UT (gh, DXLD) ** FALKLAND ISLANDS [non]. Argentina English broadcast to Falklands Thanks to Andy Sennitt for posting this on the PCJ FB page. From July 16 MercoPress news agency with link to YouTube broadcast and report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=FDLoovExfBI “BOLETIN MALVINAS” TWO-YEAR DAILY BROADCASTING CELEBRATED IN ARGENTINA http://en.mercopress.com/2015/07/16/boletin-malvinas-two-year-daily-broadcasting-celebrated-in-argentina The midnight and early morning news broadcasted to the Falkland Islands, (Boletín Malvinas or Argentine News Bulletin) in English, from Tierra del Fuego, has completed two years in the air and the event was celebrated by Argentina's Public media national system. The brief report, with general news, 9 to 12 minutes long is aired by LRA24, the Rio Grande public radio system, AM 640 kHz, and reaches all of Falklands territory “with no problem”. According to the Argentine media the purpose of the daily report is to “break the media barrier” of the Islands where Argentine television signals can't reach and “to guarantee the right to information of the English speaking population”. Marcelo Ayala head of Argentine news broadcasted overseas, said the idea of airing news to the Falklands had been around for some time, but was finally agreed a couple of years ago during a meeting of Argentine public radio managers. “From then on it was very quick, an editor was named and in coordination with the Rio Grande station, the schedule and duration of the daily report was agreed. In 2013 the first trials took place”, revealed Ayala. “No Argentine doubts that the Malvinas Islands belong to us and thus the state has the obligation to keep all of the inhabitants of that territory informed. This is a right under Argentine law and is guaranteed through the public radio system that has global reach”, said Ayala. Since in Argentine territory live many different foreign communities, ”the people of Malvinas have the right to receive the news in their language. It's also a way of ending with all that nonsense from the (1982) war when the first thing done was to interrupt English broadcasting and replace it with a Spanish transmission“. Apparently the report is prepared and edited in Buenos Aires and then sent to Tierra del Fuego for its airing. ”At first there were adverse reactions in internet and local media from the Islands but with time things quieted down and maybe leaving aside the sovereignty dispute, communications is always positive for people to be informed“. Argentina's broadcast overseas service is provided daily by internet and short wave for all the world in eight different languages. ”International media have their own global agenda and they have Argentina under a certain profile. The idea is to show our own reality from government policies to the massive cultural activities that take place in Argentina”. 73s (via Marty Delfín (Madrid, Spain), dxldyg via DXLD) Spanish version from Telam: CUMPLIÓ DOS AÑOS EL BOLETÍN DE NOTICIAS PARA LOS HABITANTES DE MALVINAS QUE EMITE RADIO NACIONAL EN RÍO GRANDE https://gruporadioescuchaargentino.wordpress.com/2015/07/18/cumplio-dos-anos-el-boletin-de-noticias-para-los-habitantes-de-malvinas-que-emite-radio-nacional-en-rio-grande/ (GRA blog via DXLD) ** FRANCE. France Inter closing medium and longwave? There's a report on the France Inter website this morning about mediumwave closing at the end of this year and longwave at the end of 2016. I can't tell from my schoolboy French or from the English google translation whether this is still a proposal which the Ministry of Culture agrees with or whether this is now a definite decision. Can any French speakers clarify this please. Radio France, moins de fréquences et autant de tensions - France Inter L'abandon des ondes moyennes et longues permettra d'économiser 13 millions d'euros, mais pour la direction, c'est l'effort sur la masse salarial... http://www.franceinter.fr/depeche-a-radio-france-moins-de-frequences-et-autant-de-tensions (via Mike Barraclough, July 22, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DXLD) Glenn: Here's a rough translation of the main points of the France Inter article: Ending medium wave and long wave would save 13 million Euros, but for directors, it's attacking salaried workers that will relaunch the machine, with 19 million Euros of savings between now and 2019. The Culture Minister wants to see... Medium wave? That will be gone at the end of the year. Same thing at the end of 2016 for longwave. Two major abandonments for the group (Radio France), even if the two broadcasting methods have been somewhat superfluous for quite some time. But talk about frequencies also brings out tensions. Labor officials and unions remain opposed to a voluntary departure plan proposed by Mathieu Galley, the plan that was the target of a strike of historic length earlier this year. The plan would see about 350 voluntary departures (out of the 4,400 employees in Radio France). Directors say that the cuts are necessary because of the French government's desire to see Radio France break even in 2017. Labor unions insist on an alternative scenario that would not fill most positions vacated when people retire. They say the plan would reach a break-even point in 2018. Contacted by AFP, the Culture Minister said he hasn't decided on a proposal, adding that a plan for so many voluntary departures would require detailed work, station by station, which has not been provided. mc (Mike Cooper, WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) I posted the same question elsewhere, see response Digital Spy Forums - View Single Post - The 'AM death watch' thread... http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showpost.php?p=79043727&postcount=553 (Mike Barraclough, ibid.) Viz.: Seems pretty definitive that it's going to happen; if it were just a proposal and only might be happening, 'permettra' and 'sera' would be 'permettrait' and 'serait' respectively. With 4000+ angry employees on the warpath, MW and LW are low-hanging fruit as far as RF's management are concerned (vectorsum, Location: South Uist, Western Isles, July 22, via DXLD) An AFP story today (in French) says union officials presented their alternative proposal at a meeting yesterday. They've asked administrators of Radio France and government ministers to consider their plan at a meeting scheduled for tomorrow. Also to be revealed at that meeting is another plan, developed by Dominique-Jean Chertier, who was named as a mediator one day after the Radio France strike ended earlier this year. The AFP report says that a possible end to long- and medium-wave transmissions is among the subjects to be considered by the Conseil d'administration at the meeting (Mike Cooper, July 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) France to scrap MW & LW Hi everyone, Hard-core MW DXers rejoice, Radio France is to scrap all MW broadcasts at the end of this year and all LW broadcasts at the of next. More than the news itself, which did not really come as a surprise, it's the way it was made public that is shocking: no official announcement, just an article by a journalist on the online edition of France Inter. The end of AM transmission is mentioned among other measures and presented as if it had been taken for granted for a long time, almost as if it were a side-effect. As usual RF management didn't have the balls to come out of the woods themselves... http://www.franceinter.fr/depeche-a-radio-france-moins-de-frequences-et-autant-de-tensions Now what does this entail? 1/ for many listeners the main RF programme, France Info, will not be available anymore. FM coverage of the station is far from perfect and in many areas people rely on the MW outlets to get the news. Worse, since the closure of Nancy, Limoges & Toulouse last year many could only hear the station early in the morning or late in the evening, when the other MW outlets propagated. Now for them it's all over. 2/ it will be the end of programmes in the Alsatian language (currently on 1278 kHz). Of course they may still go out on the web for a while, but as only older people still speak that language and listen to France-Bleu Elsás it is as good as over with the programme as well; I can't really see my 80-year-old neighbour give up her radio and buy a computer or a smartphone to listen to her favourite programmes. 3/ in the mountains of Corsica, "France Bleu Corse Frequenza Mora" on MW is (or should I say "was"?...) for many the only radio station they could listen to. FM does not reach the mountainous areas of the Island and people rely only on MW for information. I pity the lone Corsican shepherd who takes his sheep to the mountains in spring and does not come back to his village until fall. 4/ Worst of all: this is going to cause havoc in the traffic in and around Paris. The local France Bleu station called "France Bleu 107 1" broadcasts traffic information all day long on FM from the Eiffel Tower. But as that signal does not reach the whole region it is currently relayed on 864 kHz from Villebon. That MW station plays an important part in traffic regulation and an is an anchor for all the Parisian commuters. On a more personal level, this means that at my location, with the simultaneous demise of MW stations in Germany, Luxembourg and France there will be *NO* MW signal available from sunrise to sunset !!! Regards, (Rémy Friess, July 23, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) If I understand the French press reports in the past couple of days correctly, this is just a proposal in a savings plan presented by the Radio France Chief Executive Officer in order to balance the budget of Radio France by 2017 (presented in a meeting with unions over proposed redundancies). So it is not yet a firm action plan, and would need to be agreed with the Ministry of Culture? 73 (Alan Pennington, Moderator, ibid.) Radio France to shut down all remaining MW txers end of 12/2015 Dan, let me be the 1st person to report this on your informative mailing list. This comes directly from a official source, therefore it isn't gossip or speculation. Following a decision yersterday on July 21st, at the end of 2015, Radio France transmitters on 603, 711, 864, 1206, 1242, 1278, 1377, 1404, 1494, 1557 kHz will be switched off. It seems unlikely that another station would rent one of these transmitters in the foreseeable future. À Radio France, moins de fréquences et autant de tensions - France Inter --- L'abandon des ondes moyennes et longues permettra d'économiser 13 millions d'euros, mais pour la direction, c'est l'effort sur la masse salarial... http://www.franceinter.fr/depeche-a-radio-france-moins-de-frequences-et-autant-de-tensions Google Groups https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/fr.rec.radio/SQvxtZK2UBE SNJ Radio France on Twitter https://twitter.com/snj_rf/status/623474289824636929 And longwave SNJ Radio France on Twitter https://twitter.com/snj_rf/status/623474348658171904 (mwlistdb, July 22, mwmasts yg via DXLD) Members, After conducting some research I am far from convinced that such a closure will take place at the end of this year. With this much doubt (certainly the France Inter website is not certain) I will assume that authority from ‘l'Assemblée Nationale’ will not be given either due to complaints from deputies or due to delays in legislation. 73 and 88 (Dan Goldfarb, July 22, mwmasts yg via DXLD) ** GERMANY. DE-CONSTRUCTION OF FORMER RADIO MAST [RIAS], BERLIN-BRITZ http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/abriss-nach-54-jahren-rias-sendemast-in-berlin-britz-gesprengt/12075062.html http://www.deutschlandradiokultur.de/sprengung-des-sendemastes-britz-nun-ist-das-alles-vorbei.2165.de.html?dram:article_id=325839 http://www.deutschlandradiokultur.de/sendeanlage-berlin-britz-der-rias-sendemast-ist-geschichte.1895.de.html?dram:article_id=325475 (Dr. Hansjörg Biener, DX LISTENING DIGEST) includes video HISTORIC RIAS BERLIN MW MAST DEMOLISHED It is 54 years old, now the former RIAS transmission tower in Berlin- Britz has been blown up. With its 160 metre height, it was one of the highest buildings in the city. Used since 1961 for the medium wave distribution of RIAS (Radio in the American Sector) and later Deutschlandradio Kultur [until September 2013]. The Britzer transmitter can look back on an eventful history. After the construction of the first transmitting stations went from here on September 4, 1946, the Radio in the American Sector (RIAS) on Air. Later it was Europe's most powerful medium-wave transmitter, for years to overcome the jammer from East Berlin. Full article including video of the demolition and photos of the historic RIAS MW mast in Berlin-Britz being demolished on 18th July 2015 at: http://www.deutschlandradiokultur.de/sendeanlage-berlin-britz-der-rias-sendemast-ist-geschichte.1895.de.html?dram:article_id=325475 Also there are many photos of the transmitter site at the bottom of this same page. Also a report on Deutsche Welle (DW) Polish website at: http://www.dw.com/pl/powalony-olbrzym-berlin-po%C5%BCegna%C5%82-si%C4%99-z-kawa%C5%82kiem-swojej-historii/a-18593696 Posted by: ("Alan Pennington", July 21, BDXC-UK yg via DXLD) ** GERMANY. 9450, July 20 at 0126, assertive talk probably sermon in uncertain language. Latest HFCC shows 0030-0130, MBR via Nauen multi- lingual, 250 kW at 100 degrees. Latest MBR schedule in DXLD 15-27 shows it`s Gospel for Asia, but still no language. Then to EiBi: yes, truly multilingual, changing every quarter hour and depending on day of week. Mondays at 0115-0130 it`s BH --- would that be Bhojpuri? No, in Aoki it`s Athmeeya Yatra Radio in Bhili, but back to EiBi`s readme to find out more about it: ``Bhili: India-Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat (3.3m) [bhb]``. So there are 3.3 megabhilis just ripe for conversion (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GREECE. Voice of Greece in Greek and 8 other languages on July 14 till 0400 on 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg to WeEu Greek till 0400 on 9935 AVL 100 kW / 323 deg to NoAm Greek, clean audio 0400-0500 on 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg to WeEu Greek 0500-0600 on 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg to WeEu Vary*, no // freq. from 0600 on 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg to WeEu Greek, no // freq. *2-4 minutes news bulletin in Greek, Serbian, Romanian, Spanish, Russian, Polish, Albanian, Italian and Arabic. Surprisingly 9420 was cut off around 0608, no signal! http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/voice-of-greece-in-greek-and-8-other_14.html Voice of Greece in Greek was back on the air on July 14, part two from 1800 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg to WeEu, co-ch VIRI/IRIB in Arabic from 1800 9935 AVL 100 kW / 285 deg to WeEu, terrible audio + hum tone http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/voice-of-greece-in-greek-was-back-on.html July 14: Voice of Greece in Greek to WeEu, NoAm 0305 on 9420, 9935 Avlis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CDrdo7phSo&feature=youtu.be Voice of Greece in Greek to WeEu 0500 on 9420 Avlis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFyTudWhqrY&feature=youtu.be Voice of Greece in Serbian to WeEu 0504 on 9420 Avlis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGcBua8krQg&feature=youtu.be Voice of Greece in Romanian to WeEu 0512 on 9420 Avlis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCsLV-cBlEQ&feature=youtu.be Voice of Greece in Spanish to WeEu 0518 on 9420 Avlis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz_2APWaoJ8&feature=youtu.be Voice of Greece in Russian to WeEu 0529 on 9420 Avlis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_DCcanrI1w&feature=youtu.be Voice of Greece in Polish to WeEu 0535 on 9420 Avlis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOlJuQMerAI&feature=youtu.be Voice of Greece in Albanian to WeEu 0542 on 9420 Avlis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtBJHKJgFLI&feature=youtu.be Voice of Greece in Italian to WeEu 0549 on 9420 Avlis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqg9M5rrkkY&feature=youtu.be Voice of Greece in Arabic to WeEu 0554 on 9420 Avlis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCaqaW8G-OU&feature=youtu.be Voice of Greece in Greek to WeEu 0600 on 9420 Avlis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAN6BVelc1c&feature=youtu.be Voice of Greece in Greek plus 8 other languages this morning, July 15: till 0400 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Greek till 0400 9935 AVL 100 kW / 323 deg NoAm Greek, terrible audio, hum 0400-0500 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Greek 0400-0500 11645 AVL 100 kW / 182 deg NoAf Greek, blocked by R Dabanga 0500-0600 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Vary* 0500-0600 11645 AVL 100 kW / 182 deg NoAf Vary*, blocked by R Dabanga from 0600 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Greek, continues 0700 & 0800 from 0600 11645 AVL 100 kW / 182 deg NoAf Greek, terrible audio, hum *2-4 minutes news bulletin in Greek, Serbian, Romanian, Spanish, Russian, Polish, Albanian, Italian, Arabic. Both frequencies are off after 1145 UT! http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/voice-of-greece-in-greek-plus-8-other.html July 15: Voice of Greece in Serbian to WeEu 0503 on 9420 Avlis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb7KTctr1JI&feature=youtu.be Voice of Greece in Romanian to WeEu 0511 on 9420 Avlis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J98CwxADahI&feature=youtu.be Voice of Greece in Spanish to WeEu 0517 on 9420 Avlis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqEAkiLIgnE&feature=youtu.be Voice of Greece in Russian to WeEu 0526 on 9420 Avlis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrnTOV8nk0U&feature=youtu.be Voice of Greece in Polish to WeEu 0531 on 9420 Avlis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJnrCCabp-Q&feature=youtu.be Voice of Greece in Albasnian to WeEu 0537 on 9420 Avlis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq2fi2GqpPA&feature=youtu.be Voice of Greece in Italian to WeEu 0543 on 9420 Avlis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9frLBS_NSEo&feature=youtu.be Voice of Greece in Arabic to WeEu 0551 on 9420 Avlis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCCqOxPzVWk&feature=youtu.be (Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9420, July 16 at 0507, ERA with horrible echo, a couple syllables apart at about equal levels, double audio feed as unseems double transmitters, no SAH. Can`t tell the language but probably not Greek during this multi-lingual news-capsule hour. Recheck at 0523 still echoing and unusable, also weakening well into the dayside. 9935, July 16 at 0509, ERA is also on this frequency, just barely modulated below the self-imposed whine made up of multiple closely spaced spur carriers. Usually by 0500 this transmitter has shifted to 11645 (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) On July 16 tuned-in at 0500 UT, but heard annoying DOUBLE ECHO feed on both channels 9420.005 and 9934.962 kHz in 31 meterband still til 0518 UT. (Wolfgang Büschel, WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9935, July 17 at 0218, big whine from V of Greece atop music, which is clear on good 9420. At least no more double audio echoing. Neither heard after 0500 when Wolfgang Büschel says they went off today (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Voice of Greece in Greek this morning, July 17: 0300-0400 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WEu Greek 0300-0400 11645*AVL 100 kW / 182 deg NAf Greek, terrible audio, hum 0400-0500 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WEu Greek 0400-0500 11645 AVL 100 kW / 182 deg NAf Greek, blocked by R Dabanga *instead of scheduled 9935 till 0400. Both frequencies cut off at 0501 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/voice-of-greece-in-greek-this-morning.html 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ERT Avlis Greece mixed talk/Greek music program noted from tune-in 0450 UT til exact cut-off TX at 0501 UT, on July 17, both equal strong S=9+35dB signal on 9420.004 with clean audio, and and 12 buzz hum tone peaks visible accompanied each sideband some 283 / 566 ... Hertz distance apart, on 11644.940 kHz. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Yes, at 0300 on 9420, 11645, instead of 9935 and cut off at 0501 UT Video will be added after few minutes. -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, dxldyg via DXLD) 9420 & 9935, July 19 at 0119, it`s another off-night for Voice of Greece. Not due to propagation as e.g. Turkey 9770 & 9870, and by 0126, Albania 9850 are doing fine (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9420 & 9935, July 20 at 0127, another Voice of Greece-less night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Voice of Greece in Greek plus 8 other languages this morning, July 20: till 0400 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Greek till 0400 9935 AVL 100 kW / 323 deg NoAm Greek, terrible audio, hum 0400-0500 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Greek 0400-0500 11645 AVL 100 kW / 182 deg NoAf Greek, blocked by R Dabanga 0500-0600 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Vary* 0500-0600 11645 AVL 100 kW / 182 deg NoAf Vary*, blocked by R Dabanga from 0600 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Greek from 0600 11645 AVL 100 kW / 182 deg NoAf Greek, terrible audio, hum *3-5 minutes news bulletin in Greek, Serbian, Romanian, Spanish, Russian, Polish, Albanian, Italian and Arabic. http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/voice-of-greece-in-greek-plus-8-other_21.html Voice of Greece on 9420 with news in English at 1202 UT, July 20 -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, ibid.) Voice of Greece on the air from 1150 UT on 9420, July 20, no // frequencies -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, ibid.) Voice of Greece in Greek and English on July 20 1150-1201 on 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg to WeEu Greek 1201-1206 on 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg to WeEu English from 1206 on 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg to WeEu Greek No signal on 11645 or 9935; 15650/15630 are inactive. And surprisingly 9420 kHz was cut off around 1212 UT! http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/voice-of-greece-in-greek-and-english-on.html Voice of Greece on 9420, 9935 at 1830 UT, July 20 -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, ibid.) 9420.005, at 1835 UT July 20th, strong POWERFUL signal of S=9+50dB in southern Germany. Tonight excellent shortwave signals also heard from Asia / Pacific area. 9934.957v, Annoying BUZZ tone accompanied the S=9+30dB ERT audio signal from Avlis here in southern Germany at 1840 UT on July 20th. [selected SDR options, span 12.5 kHz RBW 15.3 Hertz] BUZZ signal like GARDEN FENCE showed in Perseus browser screen 25 times! x accompanied buzz spur peak signals - each sideband - peaks at 207 Hertz / 414 ... Hertz apart distance ... , each sideband. Nothing noted on either 11645, 15630, nor 15650 kHz channels (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews July 20, dxldyg via DXLD) Voice of Greece in Greek on July 20, part 2: from 1830 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WEu Greek, co-ch VIRI/IRIB, Arabic from 1830 9935 AVL 100 kW / 285 deg WEu Greek, terrible audio, humtone http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/voice-of-greece-in-greek-on-july-20.html (Ivo Ivanov, ibid.) Greek folk music played, what else, nice music this UT morning. 9420.005 S=9+40dB powerhouse from ERT Avlis this morning. 0310 UT. And surprisingly less minor buzz hum peaks this morning, almost smoothed signal! 9934.996 ! kHz - close to even frequency, S=9+25dB here in southern Germany (Wolfgang Büschel, July 21, ibid.) GRECIA, 9420, Helliniki Radiophonia, Avlis, 0727-0733, escuchada el 21 de julio de 2015 en griego a locutor con entrevista a invitado, probablemente en exteriores, se escucha murmullo de fondo, la modulación es buena, la propagación no tanto, sin señal en 9935 ni en 11645, SINPO 34343 (José Miguel Romero, Burjasot (Valencia), España, Grundig Yacht Boy 80, Sangean ATS 909, Antena hilo 10m, dxldlyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Surprisingly broadcasts of Voice of Greece in Spanish/Russian July 21: 0800-0815 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Greek/Spanish/Russian 0800-0815 11645 AVL 100 kW / 182 deg NoAf Greek/Spanish/Russian, hum from 0815 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Greek from 0815 11645 AVL 100 kW / 182 deg NoAf Greek, terrible audio, hum Also please check after 1200 UT news bulletin in English, observed on July 20. http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/voice-of-greece-in-spanish-and.html Surprisingly broadcasts of Voice of Greece in Spanish/Albanian July 21 0900-0910 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Greek/Spanish/Albanian 0900-0910 11645 AVL 100 kW / 182 deg NoAf Greek/Spanish/Albanian, hum from 0910 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Greek from 0910 11645 AVL 100 kW / 182 deg NoAf Greek, terrible audio, hum http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/surprisingly-broadcasts-of-voice-of.html Surprisingly broadcasts of Voice of Greece in Polish/Italian, July 21 1000-1008 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Greek/Polish/Italian 1000-1008 11645 AVL 100 kW / 182 deg NoAf Greek/Polish/Italian, hum from 1008 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Greek from 1008 11645 AVL 100 kW / 182 deg NoAf Greek, terrible audio, hum http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/surprisingly-broadcasts-of-voice-of_21.html 9420, July 21 at 0458, Greek music, poor signal, so VOG is on tonight; 11645 Dabanga via Vatican has a rumbling het, presumably also VOG, as not on 9935 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Voice of Greece is off the air on 11645 at 1100 and on 9420 after 1450 UT July 20 [sic; probably means July 21 when posted --- gh] -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, dxldyg via DXLD) Voice of Greece in Greek and English on July 21 till 1100 on 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg to WeEu Greek till 1100 on 11645 AVL 100 kW / 182 deg to NoAf Greek and off air 1100-1204 on 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg to WeEu Greek, no // freq 1204-1209 on 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg to WeEu English, no // freq from 1209 on 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg to WeEu Greek and continues http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/voice-of-greece-in-greek-and-english-on_21.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DXLD) 9420, July 22 at 0524, VOG ending Spanish news segment with temp in Salónica, poor-fair, music break, 0527 Greek ID ``I Foni tis Helladas``, and into Russian news. This is part of VOG`s revived foreign-language service, probably really simulcast of the domestic R. Philia service, but would be nice if it develop into a full-fledged multi-lingual external service. Reception here is weakened by this hour into the dayside, but should gradually improve with latening sunrises. Back on July 9, Ivo Ivanov recorded and listed the language schedule as follows, apparently still in effect altho times may vary somewhat: 0500 Greek 0503 Serbian 0509 Romanian 0516 Spanish 0526 Russian 0531 Polish 0536 Albanian 0543 Italian 0548 Arabic He`s also found more briefer language segments after 0800, 0900, 1000 and 1200, only the last including a few minutes of English, when North American reception is unlikely (Glenn Hauser, WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) No buzz, no hum, CLEAR audio heard this morning on 11645v kHz noted around 0830-0900 UT July 22 slot. 11645.009 kHz S=9+15 dB strength logged in Moscow Russia and southern Germany, but only S=7 in Belgium and U.K., due of 182degrees true north/south antenna in usage. Phone- in program also talk on symphony music, but heard rather Cuban Rumba music. 9420.006 kHz S=9+15dB strength here in southern Germany and Belgium post, but only S=6 fair signal at remote Moscow Russia rx unit. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) Also no buzz, no hum, clear audio from 1010UT on 9935 // 9420. Polish and Italian at 1005 UT, English at 1201 UT, videos after few minutes (Ivo Ivanov, July 22, ibid.) Voice of Greece in Greek, Polish, Italian, Greek and English July 22: 1000-1005 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Greek 1000-1005 11645 AVL 100 kW / 182 deg NoAf Greek, no buzz&hum, clear audio 1005-1008 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Polish/Italian, no // frequency 1005-1010 change frequency from 11645 kHz 9935 kHz, instead change 1155-1200 1008-1201 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Greek 1010-1201 9935 AVL 100 kW / 285 deg WeEu Greek, no buzz&hum, clear audio 1201-1206 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu English 1202-1206 9935 AVL 100 kW / 285 deg WeEu English, no buzz&hum, clear audio from 1206 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Greek from 1206 9935 AVL 100 kW / 285 deg WeEu Greek, no buzz&hum, clear audio http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/voice-of-greece-in-greek-polish-italian.html Voice of Greece on 9935 kHz with motor audio at 1300 UT -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, July 22, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DXLD) Voice of Greece with "motor" audio on 9935 after 1300 UT July 22 1300-1410 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Greek, clear audio over CNR13 1300-1410 9935 AVL 100 kW / 285 deg WeEu Greek, motor audio from 1410 9420 AVL 170 kW / 323 deg WeEu Greek, clear audio over CNR13 from 1410 9935 AVL 100 kW / 285 deg WeEu Greek, clear audio, continues http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/voice-of-greece-with-motor-audio-on.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, dxldyg via DXLD) No real buzz or hum, rather low bassy PROPELLER audio sound heard underneath this night at 2210 UT on July 22, - on 9935v kHz. 9934.991 kHz S=9+30 dB signal strength logged in southern Germany, and 18 x buzz hum tone peaks visible accompanied each sideband like garden fence some 73 ... 146 ... 209 ... Hertz distance apart. 9420.006 kHz S=9+40dB strength here in southern Germany and Belgium remote SDR unit post (Underneath VoIRIB Arabic scheduled from Zahedan site, some 4 Hertz lower side, on exact 9420.002 kHz) (Wolfgang Büschel, wwdxc BC-DX TopNews, July 22, dxldyg via DXLD) ** GUAM. Reception of KTWR in English on July 16: 1445-1500 on 15280 TWR 100 kW / 290 deg to SoAs 1501-1518 on 15110 TWR 100 kW / 285 deg to SEAs http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/reception-of-ktwr-in-english-on-july-16.html 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** GUYANA. 3289.9, GBC Voice of Guyana 2340 to 2355 pop rock music on 15 July; at 1000 silent, no carrier on 16 July; 1010 with music, then break in transmission at 1025 on 17 July; 0400 to 0408 BBC news relay on 17 July (Robert Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, South Florida, 746Pro, Drake R8 NRD 525, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** HAITI [and non]. ATV CH 2z - stOrmtv Haiti still on the air http://forums.wtfda.org/showthread.php?10087-ATV-CH-2z-stOrmtv-Haiti-still-on-the-air&p=36106#post36106 stOrmtv ch 2z Haiti still on the air, seen yesterday 7/23 & today 7/24 all alone for a while. Logos noted UR and LR but hard to see; but the big O gives it away. See attached pix. Their tone on 55250 kHz seems to hover around 750 Hz with USB on the IC-746PRO RX, while HIJB's tone around 1000 Hz. Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. Name: 100_0910.JPG Views: 12 Size: 935.3 KB ID: 17486 Name: 100_0909.JPG Views: 11 Size: 1.01 MB ID: 17487 (Fred Nordquist, Moncks Corner SC, KJ4BUG FM03af, July 24, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) Nice catches. Looks like the digital transition just fell through for Haiti; it seems politics was to blame (Raymie Humbert, AZ, July 24, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) ** INDIA. On July 15 around 1715 while at my summer cottage I noted strong AIR station on 5000 blocking BPM almost totally. At 1730 Delhi news was switched on in mid-sentence of the local announcement, so no ID heard. And I had to leave radio so didn't hear s-off announcement. Anyway, AIR Thiru was missing from 5010 that evening, so I suppose it was them. Next evening Thiru was on nominal and nothing BC on 5000. 73, (Jari Savolainen, Kuusankoski, Finland, WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DXLD Re: AIR Trivandrum on 5000 kHz 000 AIR Trivandrum is noted back on 5010 kHz today. Yesterdays use of 5000 kHz must be a "punching error" Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, India, Mobile: +91 94416 96043 http://www.qsl.net/vu2jos July 16, dx_india yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DXLD) ** INDIA. AIR Shimla temporarily off SW --- AIR Shimla is not heard recently on its SW frequencies of 4860 & 6020 kHz. When I contacted the station officials, I was told that they are off air now due to some valve problems. Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, July 16, dx_india yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DXLD) ** INDIA. 5050, AIR Aizawl, brief check at 1230, July 22. Poor reception; in English underneath Beibu Bay Radio (China); seemed // AIR Shillong on 4970. Recently noted Aizawl active again. Nice! (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, E1 & CR-1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDIA. AIR External Service noted to day 18 Jul 2015 on 11645 ex 11715 at 0130-0230 in AM Mode Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, India, dx_india yg via DXLD) That explains someone`s unID. I believe this used to be in DRM on 11710-11720, QRMing Argentina (Glenn Hauser, DXLD) AIR External Service noted noted on 11715 AM again (not as reported on 11645): 0159-0230: almost continuous South Asian music (0207 AIR ID), 0220 News (Samachar), 0230 abrupt end of the programme, but carrier continuing, 0235 tune out, 45444 via http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/ (Dr. Hansjoerg Biener, Germany) dx_india yg via DXLD) ** INDIA. AIR External Service in Chinese has changed to 11845 kHz from 11855 kHz at 1145-1315 UT. The Jammers have not yet noticed the new frequency. (Now they will!) Yours sincerely, (Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, National Institute of Amateur Radio July 17, dx_india yg via DXLD) Frequency change of All India Radio in Chinese from July 20 1145-1315 NF 11845*DEL 250 kW / 065 deg to EaAs Chinese, ex 11855 1145-1315 on 15795#BGL 500 kW / 035 deg to EaAs Chinese, DRM mode 1145-1315 on 17705$BGL 500 kW / 058 deg to EaAs Chinese * co-ch Vatican Radio Russian 1230-1300 NF from July 19 # co-ch World Wide Christian Radio WWCR 1 till 1200 UT $ co-ch BSKSA, General Service in Arabic from 1200 UT. (Ivo Ivanov, Bulgarian DX blog via DXLD) All India Radio in Chinese on new 11845, confirmed at 1200 UT, July 20 -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, dxldyg via DXLD) ** INDIA. 15120, July 17 at 0212, 1 kHz tone, poor signal, 0213 wonderful AIR IS, 0215 opening a language listed as Kannada. It`s 0215-0300, 500 kW, 300 degrees from Bengaluru; to be followed by Hindi, Gujarati and Hindi until 0530 on 240 degrees per Aoki. 13695, July 17 at 0214, ~1 kHz tone test, but no AIR IS here, 0215 very poor into language talk, also listed as Kannada, 500 kW, 300 degrees from Bengaluru. I didn`t try to // with 15120, as assumed something different since one had the IS and the other not; why? 13695 is followed by Hindi until 0415, also 300 degrees (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INDONESIA. 3905, RRI Merauke. Very nice to find them still broadcasting post-Ramadan. Recently has been the strongest RRI station heard; much better than 3324.88, RRI Palangkaraya or 4869.88, RRI Wamena. July 17, brief edition of Jakarta news, ending with patriotic song “Bagimu Negeri” at 1215. At 1300 another Jakarta news, ending with “Bagimu Negeri” at 1308. Atsunori Ishida http://rri.jpn.org/ indicates they also had Jakarta news at 1400. First day of their unique three newscasts! July 18, again with multiple newscasts; ending news with “Bagimu Negeri” at 1219. Atsunori also shows 1301 and 1401 news. July 19, ending Jakarta news at 1214 with “Bagimu Negeri.” News again, ending with “Bagimu Negeri” at 1309 (not shown by Atsunori). July 20, at 1300 time pips and Jakarta news ending with “Bagimu Negeri” at 1315. July 21, Jakarta news ending at 1224 with “Bagimu Negeri.” At 1301 time pips and news and economic news ending with “Bagimu Negeri,” followed by local ID. By far my best reception so far. https://app.box.com/s/h3310uucx59nbuwtxdyn1tecg01kz7fn audio contains fairly clear ID for economic news RRI, patriotic song “Bagimu Negeri,” followed by local ID. BTW - RRI Ternate did not broadcast at all this year during Ramadan as they normally have done in past years. Reminder - Next month (August) we can expect patriotic song “Bagimu Negeri,” that is now played at the end of the 1200 Jakarta news, to be replaced by patriotic song “Dirgahayu Indonesiaku,” starting Aug 1st. This is due to the fact that Indonesian Independence Day is August 17, so they play “Dirgahayu Indonesiaku” all month long (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, E1 & CR-1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** INTERNATIONAL. HOW PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING SHAPES UP WORLDWIDE Many of the BBC’s defenders highlight its standing as the pinnacle of PSB globally – but what are they comparing it with? Interesting analysis from the Guardian on public radio --- Covers public radio in the UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, and the USA. Tough times in Europe, for sure, given the overall spirit of austerity that underlies European government spending. Less impact here, in part because the USA's funding model is different. Might be an enjoyable read... http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jul/19/public-sector-broadcasting-worldwide-bbc (Richard Cuff, Internetradio mailing list via DXLD; also via Mike Cooper, DXLD) Rather superficial, but you get the basix (gh, DXLD) ** INTERNATIONAL INTERNET. Three ways podcasts and radio actually aren`t quite the same For those who enjoyed John Figliozzi's series of podcast reviews over the past few months, you might enjoy this look at the differences between podcasting and radio from the public radio analysis website, Current.org... Shared link: http://current.org/2015/07/three-ways-podcasts-and-radio-actually-arent-quite-the-same/ (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA, July 20, ODXA yg via DXLD) ** IRAN. VIRI/IRIB in Arabic on odd frequency 9421.2 kHz at 1745 UT July 21 -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, dxldyg via DXLD) Voice of Islamic Republic of Iran IRIB odd frequency July 21: 1700-0030 9421.2 ZAH 500 kW / 289 deg NEAf Arabic, instead of 9420.0 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/voice-of-islamic-republic-of-iran-irib.html 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** ISRAEL. Galei Zahal program not anymore on Mediumwave? "Here is a little update from Israel. Galey Zahal is not using anymore MW frequencies, unfortunately only FM." 945 and 1368 kHz also off-air, also 1224 and 1305 kHz. Update: Ombudsman Eran Elyakim by Galei-Zahal confirms that the MW-broadcasts ended last month (Bengt Ericson-SWE ARC, via Christoph Ratzer-AUT OE2CRM A-DX July 14 via BCDX 16 July via DXLD) ** JAPAN [non]. NHK Newsline via OETA OKLA, July 22 at 1600 UT includes toward the end a weather map labeled 1200 UTC, so today`s show is not delayed from 1000 UT like previous note (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hmmm, unless it was a forecast map time ** KOREA NORTH. 2850 tentative, Korean Central Broadcasting Station, 1030 to 1040, first time this summer… weak audio. Thanks Victor G. 15 July (Robert Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, South Florida, 746Pro, Drake R8 NRD 525, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** KURDISTAN [non]. A little change of Denge Kurdistan effective from July 16: 0300-0500 on 11600 ISS 250 kW / 090 deg to WeAs Kurdish 0500-1400 on 11600 KCH 300 kW / 116 deg to WeAs Kurdish, ex 0500-1300 1400-1700 on 11600*SCB 100 kW / 090 deg to WeAs Kurdish, ex 1300-1700 1700-1900 on 11600 ISS 250 kW / 090 deg to WeAs Kurdish * on July 19 later started at 1414 UTC! http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/a-little-change-of-denge-kurdistan-via.html 73! (Ivo Ivanov, July 20, dxldyg via DXLD) ** MADAGASCAR. Seemingly hops 30 !!! Hertz up and down, close to 5010.230 -- .260 kHz, heard at 1825 UT tonight (Wolfgang Büschel, July 20, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MADEIRA. 1530, Posto Emissor do Funchal, Poiso, 0535-0545, 23-07, Portuguese songs, identification song: "Posto Emissor do Funchal, Asia [a sua?] companhia dia a dia". 14321 (Manuel Méndez, Lugo, Spain, Logs in Reinante, for medium wave: K-PO WR2100, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MALAYSIA. Radio Television Malaysia Sarawak, 9835 kHz, verified an electronic report with a real f/d QSL card in 47 days. The report was sent to all of the following e-mail addresses: rtmkuc@rtm.gov.my, rohani@rtm.gov.my, kamalroslim@rtm.gov.my, salmah@rtm.gov.my, jamel@rtm.gov.my, sitifadhilah@rtm.gov.my, shazwani@rtm.gov.my, syakila@rtm.gov.my, nursyuhada@rtm.gov.my, deblin@rtm.gov.my, kamalroslim@rtm.gov.my, saptuyah@rtm.gov.my, zulrahim@rtm.gov.my (Antonello Napolitano, Taranto, ITALY, playdx yg via DXLD) And you got only one reply?! From which one? (gh, DXLD) ** MEXICO. 560, July 16 at 1100 UT, full ID for ``La Tremenda``, NA, i.e. XESRD, Santiago Papasquiaro, Durango, 10/1 kW per Cantú and IRCA, which shows sign-on at 1200, which would be correct in winter. Have heard it a few times before but not a regular (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 630, July 16 at 1103 UT, XEFB opening `Radar 63` morning news, from ``Grupo Radio México, Monterrey``. Fair but never a bigsig here; it`s one of few Mexicans with a direxional antenna. NRC Pattern Book shows at night, major lobe is due west; day pattern, probably on already, is broader to the southwest, and not a notch to the north, 10/10 kW. Its offspring, XEFB-TV has been a TV DX regular here for many years on channel 3 and then channel 2, ``TELEACTIVA`` tentatively seen as recently as June 17, 2015 before the digital transition (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. 690, July 16 at 1114 UT, ``107.1 FM y 690 AM``, roughly southwest, QRM from another Spanish. By now it may be too late for DF or NL at lowband, and that FM/AM combo leads only to: XEMA, La Mejor, Fresnillo, Zacatecas, 50/2 kW, and likely already on day power. Enid SR today is 1126 UT, definitely latening past Solstice, currently at the rate of 5 minutes per week {Ironic how much of our XE MW DX IDs now depend on matching FM frequencies, where AMs are encouraged to ``migrate``} (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Re: ``1060, June 27 at 0203, tune-in to partial ID ``La Poderosa, 93.9, la estación de todos``, ranchera music. There are only two or three Mexicans on 1060, and it`s not XEEP, so likely the new XERDO in Reynosa. WTFDA and Cantú show two Poderosas on 93.9, one in León, the other in the XERDO area, Reynosa per Cantú, XHRAW but with power ironically missing; per WTFDA it`s in Ciudad Miguel Alemán, Tamaulipas with a paltry 2.6 kW on FM which is about right for a station needing to claim to be ``powerful``. But neither connects XHRAW with XERDO. Cantú had XERDO as La Radio in yet another border city, Matamoros, 7/2.5 kW. Could there be a USSS station on 1060 with a 93.9 FM? Doubtful; none known to NRC AM Log (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)`` A recent report by Chris Knight in the NRC Facebook group connects XERDO with XHRAW La Raza (Bruce Conti, ed., International DX Digest, NRC DX News July 27 via DXLD) [and non]. 1060v, July 16 at 1120 UT, off-frequency station from the south, 1127 detectable as Spanish, so presumably XERDO Reynosa etc., Tamaulipas. More notable is that I still am NOT hearing anything from 1060v KIJN, Farwell TX on the NM border: see U S A (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. [Re 15-25, big June 23 Es opening] ``90.3, at 2019, ``Somos Romántica 90.3; 3 con 19 minutos`` automated TC; $ and RDS {XHQS}; 2020, news of drug violence in Tamaulipas, Sinaloa, Coahuila, etc. 2024, still news, partial RDS: {GRUPO B-15 / CABLE / XHQS}, ``Radio Fórmula``. Longer RDS: {930 AM / DIRECTO / A TUS / SENTIDOS / GRUPO / B-15 / TELE / CABLE / FLLO / XHQS}. I couldn`t figure out this strange ``FLLO``, until it dawned on me: short for Fresnillo, which has one too-many letters for an RDS field (of 8)! So now, what does B-15 refer to?`` Grupo B15 owns several radio stations in Zacatecas and Fresnillo and also comes with two cable stations, both on channel...15. http://www.b15.com.mx/ That explains a bit more of the RDS. There are a good number of cable- only local stations in Mexico that add significant localism to an otherwise centralized landscape. "97.7, at 0102, ``Grupo Radiorama`` noticias, then music. Is this the same as Multimedios` XHSLP just relogged a minute earlier, as under entry starting at 0027 above; or another station? Grupo names such as those generally don`t appear in Cantu or WTFDA listings where they would be very helpful" This has to be another station. Radiorama confuses me (it's Mexico's largest station group but it's full of affiliates and local clusters). Tampico, Tepic, Culiacán or Xalapa (Raymie Humbert, AZ, July 17, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. Sporadic E analog TVDX, July 17, UT: 2314 on 2, fade-in Televisa-2 net star bug lower right, then image of Virgen de Guadalupe with her mandatory rays, a Mexican thing 2328 on 2, fade-in during a novela, still net-2 bug; 6m Es map shows centered over Kentucky, but not for this path 2338 on 2, fade-in again, still net-2 bug UT July 18: 0000 on 2, fade-in again, still same 0002 on 2, now the novela features guys in hard-hats; also algo on 4 0034 on 2, old movie, probably monochrome, playing a 78 rpm, sounds like Gardel, no bug visible on this one, CCI with the above novela 0047 on 4, animated movie, Televisa-5 net bug in LR 0134 on 2, still some CCI [co-channel interference] 1755 on 2 and 3, CCI and Spanish 1753 on 2, Televisa-5 net bug in LR during movie? not animation; NO activity shown on either 6m map! 1802 on 2, still Televisa-5 bug LR, same offset CCI, now seems novela 1806 on 2, ``Cine Cinco`` promo heard [break in my TVDX monitoring, not promising, I thought] 2010 on 2, resume monitoring, CCI with Azteca 7 promo audio; Gala swirl video bug lower right; stronger signals than before and more MUF 2010 on 4, CCI from algo 2012 on 5, CCI, brief MUF peak, maybe just beating against KOCO cable radiation; but time to check FM 2013 on 88.1, sermon in Spanish, seems Es rather than Oasis fooler; so I head to the preferred FM DX monitoring spot on the 100 degree porch 2022 on 97.7, no Es DX found from 87.75 up, until now a few words of weak Spanish. Reminds me of XHGL Mérida to go with frequent ch 2 visitor XHY-TV; but there are now 18 other XEs on 97.7! [deep fading completely out and in doesn`t have to be Es, especially on a hot OK afternoon: on 99.5, a signal is doing just that, but soon an ad for something in Coweta, so it`s merely KXBL Henryetta OK; after one last lower bandscan, back inside for cool TVDX] 2032 on 4, strong signal with Azteca 7 promo, heavy ghosting 2032 on 4, CCI at 10 kHz offset. Now the 6m central Es node is over north Texas 2042 on 2, movie with unknown bug in upper right; a bit more CCI and then nothing more. Brief sporadic E MUF topping 54 MHz, UT July 19 at 0341, CCI on 2, and a soccer field on 3. 1513 July 19 on 2, CCI fades in after peripherally watching snow for a sesquihour; here we go? NO After a morning of summer snow, July 21 at 1558 UT, fades in sporadic E analog CCI on 2. 1601 on 2, Televisa-5 net bug in LR, animation amid CCI 1604 on 3, Play-Doh ad with no CCI, // 2 with CCI 1605 on 2, promo for Ridículos show on net-5 1610 on 2, f bug in LR = Televisa 4 Foro net 1617 on 4, algo video, no bug, but 1618 MATUTINO EXPRESS on set background, letters so large you can see only part of them at a time as the rotate; little CCI. 1622 on 3, net-5 animation almost snow-free in color 1624 on 4, Scotch-Brite, Smartphone, USACell, VICHY, Kleenex, Bayer, Nuevo RAID (``ride``) ads, back to show `Sin palabras, torneo de verano` 1627 on 5, now strong video here, PSA for MOVER MEXICO. 1632 on 6, some DX video starting here, 1636 net 5 bug LR, as I wrap this report; more to come? If MUF keeps going up I`ll have to head to the porch for FM DX. Sporadic E opening July 21 continued from previous report, UT: With TV MUF up to channels 5 and 6, I head to the porch to check for FM, circa 1645-1705 UT, but no DX showing. Back inside for more TVDX: 1705 on 2, Info 7, anchor, CCI with time and temp LR, 32 degrees. Crawler to go with current story about a big traffic accident on the Reynosa-Juárez Hiway, where 27 were lesioned. [There is no thru hiway anywhere near the border in northern Coahuila; evidently refers to indirect Hwy 40 from Reynosa to Torreón, then 49 to Jiménez, and 45 to Juárez.] This programming points to XHTAU, Tampico, but originating in Monterrey, altho local IDs are rare if ever. 1712 on 4, still some CCI, and on 5, algo 1719 on 2, Info 7 1719 on 4, animated 5 logo = Televisa 5 net 1727 on 2, Info 7, also exhibiting the old Azteca 13 swish logo on the set near the LR logo. I guess it`s generic Azteca since the 13 net itself merely bugs as TRECE anymore 1730 on 4, TVMÁS and RTV logos on full-screen; male singer in Studio; video squeezed. It`s XHGV in Veracruz 1733 on 5, novela, with unknown white text bug in LR 1822 on 2 and 3, still some CCI; gone by 1845 A similar opening July 22, UT: 1534 on 2, fade-in Es CCI, YL anchor; 1536 Mérida on backdrop, SN logo by YL (elongated horizontally letters as SIPSE Noticias); 1527 Gala bug in LR apparently same station, as the wide S is also in the LL, i.e. XHY-TV in Yucatán, quite a regular here 1548 on 2, exercise segment led by muscular but effeminate guy; digital clock in lower right is rolling over now only 20 seconds slow; XHY 1625 on 2, XHY still morning variety show 1630 on 2, CCI from novela? with music 1633 on 2, Info7 takes over making same-offset almost single heavy bar video beat. Bill Hepburn`s channel 2 map confirms what I suspected: XHY-TV and XHTAU in Tampico are same offset = zero. These offsets must not have been planned with DXers in mind; nor platforms in the Gulf midway? 1637 on 2, PLAN B in large font on set or backdrop, program name? Have seen it before. 7 bug in UR, with clock 11:38 and 29 degrees. Apparently part of the Info7 XHTAU program 1644 on 2, Gala bug LR, street scenes 1645 on 2, PLAN B, same-offset CCI again, 30 degree temp now in UR; talking about Saltillo; 1647 it`s snow-free in color 1648 on 5, algo video in Spanish 1648 on 4, Spanish audio, and some video but 2 fades at the moment 1649 on 4, it`s a docu/news report about bomberos [not bombers, but pumpers, i.e. fire-fighters]. Letterboxed with open Spanish/Spanish captioning. This has a little unknown triangular bug in the UR, but it`s not right in the corner, somewhat toward the center 1655 on 2, PLAN B again, and I see its clock turn over 5 seconds slow; when anchorette appears, large Coca Cola logo behind her 1722 on 2, CCI between novela and talk show 1730 on 2, serious animated drama, but no 5 bug visible; instead the Azteca 7 bug in UR, and some more same-CCI. I guess XHTAU has moved on from Info7 show after local noon 1738 on 4, audio & video letterboxed, ads; 1740 for Felix = cat food? 1743 on 4, Azteca Noticias promo; mentions Monclova 1816 on 3, federal PSA interviewing kids, tv3 bug in LR which means XHP-TV Puebla. The 3 is a lot larger than the tv and they are italix 1817 on 3, promo for tv3 Noticias, L-V 2:30-4 pm, and logo tv3N 1819 on 2, star bug in LR of Televisa-2 net; CCI 1820 on 3, after ads, XHP back to film drama 1829 on 2, Azteca novela promo 1911 on 2, game show with Televisa-2 bug 2020 on 2, Televisa-5 bug in LR, CCI 2045 on 2, sitcom from net-5 bug LR; algo on 3 2049 on 3, now net-5 bug LR here too but can`t tell if // 2 2056 on 3, tv3 bug in LR now during the XHP news sesquihour as above 2058 on 3, interview in Xalapa per caption 2107 on 3, net-5 animation 2124 on 3, animation, net-5 bug LR; algo CCI on 2 Some CCI on 2 remains for a while till fadeout (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MEXICO. As you know, Televisa is good about producing all newscasts for stations in a state or region at one station. From what I understand, XHBC-3's newscasts were produced at channel 12 in Tijuana. I wonder if "Hola Mexicali" came from Mexicali. I think it did, but with Televisa, you never know by just watching the programs (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, July 19, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) There is a certain level of integration between Televisa's operations in Baja California (Tijuana 12, Mexicali 3 and Ensenada 23), though the studios are separate. Their newscasts are known as Notivisa. Televisa also has these regional units: Hermosillo Juárez Chihuahua Monterrey Nuevo Laredo Noreste del Golfo (Ciudad Victoria/Tampico) Laguna Aguascalientes Zacatecas del Bajío (León) Querétaro Guadalajara Estado de México (this is a shadow channel Gala TV) Morelos Puebla Veracruz Acapulco Campeche (Gala TV on cable) It has smaller regional operations in Oaxaca, Chiapas (the morning newscast), Colima, Saltillo (XHAE-5), Piedras Negras, and Tepic and Vallarta. Of note is that Televisa's local station markets do not have Televisa Regional units. Areas served by TGP and TES are not included. Local stations like XHK, XHND, XHA, XHSLV, XHDE, XHFX/XHKW, XHBG, XHVSL and XHMH are protected from Televisa setting up their own regional services. (Those last two are among Televisa's smallest local partners.) Celaya is a large metro area in its own right and it would be very surprising if they got more Querétaro content than Televisa del Bajío content. I went to Bajío TV's Facebook and didn't take long to find a Celaya headline: "Transportistas de Celaya exigen que se les otorgue el título de conseción" [sic]; their YouTube had this video about pilgrims in Celaya; etc. Televisa Querétaro's pages don't feature Celaya news. It'd be odd if there was just one NBC station, in Washington, and Baltimore viewers only got news from Washington. That's not the case, of course. Celaya and Querétaro are 27 miles apart but in two different states and are two metro areas. Azteca has duplicated transmitters in both cities, as does the SPR. To the actual problem, San Miguel de Allende versus Querétaro, I imagine it would be a lot easier to use a Celaya/Bajío feed in SMA especially at election time in order to broadcast Guanajuato-specific pautas and whatnot. San Miguel de Allende is just 27 miles from Celaya and 31 from Querétaro. Thus I believe a "Televisa Querétaro" ad would only run on Cerro El Zamorano and Cerro El Cimatario. Because the station is on channel 6, it is the latter. Sometimes Televisa plays a bit loose with the shadow channel rules — see "XHCNL-2" and XEQ-8 (Raymie Humbert, AZ, ibid.) Many thanks, Raymie. That all sounds reasonable. When I said I thought XHBC-3's newscast was produced in Tijuana, I didn't mean it was the same newscast used on channel 12. It was a Mexicali newscast that originated at channel 12. I saw something on the Internet that gave me that impression but can't remember exactly what it was now. I saw XHBC's news many times. There are a few pictures of it on TV DX Expo. I once saw a talk show on XHBC-3 while XHBC-3 was having technical problems and XHBC's logo went down and the channel 12 logo appeared. Like you said, the Celaya/Bajío situation may be the key in the XEZ situation. I'll think about it, but I don't like guessing about logs (Danny Oglethorpe, ibid.) Something else just occurred to me. Broadcasting rights in Liga MX are mighty strange. The league does not hold a monolithic broadcasting contract for its teams, as is usual of American sports leagues. Instead, each team in the Primera División has its own broadcasting rights for home games. Most of these are with Azteca or Televisa, though a couple teams are bucking the trend and going cable-only. It's to the point where Azteca (Monarcas Morelia and Atlas in GDL), Televisa (Club América) and Grupo Imagen (Querétaro FC, rights still held by Azteca but certainly headed for C3 at the earliest opportunity) all own teams! (Until this year, Atlas was stuck with its Televisa contract; Azteca negotiated a swap of Atlas's rights for those of Cruz Azul.) It extends through the playoffs ("Liguilla") too, which means that Televisa can be shut out of the Liga MX championship if both teams that are playing are non-Televisa squads. (Even if Televisa does air it, they cannot have exclusive rights because of their status as preponderant economic agent.) Celaya has a second-division team, but another noteworthy feature is that games are blacked out in their local market (and have been since 2001, in reaction to falling ticket sales). When Morelia viewers started receiving Azteca HD from Guanajuato (Cerro Culiacán), they were getting Monarcas Morelia home games which should have been blacked out. There may be good reason, particularly for Azteca, to have the feeds separated (I am not sure if Celaya can transmit Querétaro FC games). (Raymie Humbert, ibid.) As for XHZ-6, I'm not opposed to counting stations with unknown locations in my log (but not for WTFDA stats). I have five of those, and I know which state/province the transmitters are located, except for a Cubavision on channel 2. As I don't keep track of political divisions in Cuba other than city, I don't have a problem with it. However, I do keep track of Mexico states, so I don't how to keep a station in my log that could in Querétaro or Guanajuato. México is too big to bunch everything together like you can with small Cuba (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, ibid.) ** MEXICO [and non]. RAYMIE`S MEXICO BEAT: Quote Originally Posted by mp11: Sounds like what happens when Gov't is involved in things. Sad to hear for his sake, and his viewers. It is sad. My personal biggest loss, of all the stations on that list, would be XHABC Chihuahua. But each of them means something to their communities. Some stations in the US went off the air too when DTV kicked in. The biggest group of these was Equity and especially its Fox Montana stations. In those cases, the stations were so new they would have had to perform on-channel digital flash-cuts (there has only been one of these in Mexico so far, XHPUE back in March). The economic crash of 2008 rendered Equity bankrupt and unable to build the digital facilities that were necessary to keep the stations afloat. "Es la televisión de Dios, porque nadie la ve." — Javier Castillo Castillo, El Universal (Raymie Humbert, Phœnix AZ, July 17, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) Here are some Ciudad Juárez Analog shutdown videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZH7jhK1Yx8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3eaINs_UBM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=783LhEnNHGg (Mike, southeastern Louisiana, ibid.) Thanks for that — unfortunately all we have is XHIJ, it seems. We have now learned who will have those new TV and radio stations: TV: Gobierno del Estado de Zacatecas (XHZH-FM 97.9), Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco (owns XHUJAT-FM 107.3 Villahermosa), Fundación Cultural por Zacatecas, A.C., Integración Mexicana con Visión en Zacatecas, A.C., Valores y Tradiciones de Mi Tierra, A.C. FM: Sistema de Televisión y Radio de Campeche (WHOA!), Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua. Holy smokes, TRC lives, and it looks like XETEB's time is about to dry up. That's also at least three new television stations in Zacatecas, plus they got an SPR transmitter. The UJAT station is almost certainly in Villahermosa where they already own an FM. But who the heck is that last civil association? And where is UACh putting an FM — certainly not Chihuahua Capital where they already have two of them? (Raymie Humbert, July 17, ibid.) Maybe TRC wanted to move XETEB transmitter to Campeche without a lot of burocracy (remember, XETEB transmitter is in Tenabo, 40 km near to Campeche) and, if it was possible, migrate to FM. And I'm still waiting for the new commercial concessions in FM (Gargadon, Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, July 17, ibid.) And I'm still waiting for the new commercial concessions in FM. That's a good point. They probably wanted their new FM station to actually be in San Francisco de Campeche. If they are building a new tower as I thought they were for the digital station, putting the FM on it makes more sense. It was probably only in Tenabo because the IMER partnership wanted to make sure it was kinda out there. The callsign XHTRC was available if they wanted it (Raymie, ibid.) Speaking of Juárez --- I ran across a series of documents from 2010 where Cofetel told potential television station operators "no, that won't work". There were four applications of the type, and you'll see how I found these: Channel 24, Ciudad Juárez, Chih. Applicant: Instituto Politécnico Nacional Reason for declining: Would cause too much interference to XHJCI- 32 and to KINT-26. Could it be done now? The channel is vacant, as is channel 32 (XHJCI-TDT is physical 41). 27 was allotted for a new network, and C3 received 43. However there is likely going to be a major demand for repacking in El Paso/Juárez and it may not be possible. Channel 27, Zacatecas, Zac. Applicants: Instituto Politécnico Nacional; Fundación Cultural por Zacatecas, A.C. Reason for declining: Interference to digital channel 34 in Fresnillo. Could it be done now? Well, guess what...this is now a C3 allotment. Also network-allotted was 28. It is unknown how many of the new Zacatecas television stations will actually be in Zacatecas Capital; at least one, probably the FCZ station, most likely the IMVZ station, and who knows about the Valores y Tradiciones people (if this is where they are operating). Channel 8, Texcoco, Edomex Applicant: Universidad Autónoma Chapingo Reason for declining: Interference to XEQ-9 Mexico City and XEQ-8 Toluca. The station's location is in the Mexico City metro. Could it be done now? Well, after shutoff, there won't be any VHF stations in central Mexico. The answer is yes, but would the IFT prefer to allot a UHF frequency instead? There will likely be room after the analog shutoff, even considering that there are six stations to be repacked (41, 44, 45, 48, 49, 50). (Raymie, July 18, ibid.) Were these analog proposals? In the U.S. analog rules, http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2012/octqtr/pdf/47cfr73.698.pdf channel 24 would indeed have been off-limits at Juarez. 8 channels' separation (vs. XHJCI) could cause a heterodyne that would fall in the 40-46MHz IF band. (the high-gain intermediate frequency amplifier found in all analog TV sets) It would be prohibited within 31km of XHJCI. 2-5 channels' separation (vs. KINT) was off-limits due to potential intermodulation. Again, more than 31km separation would be required. Channel 27 would indeed have been off-limits within 96km of Fresnillo 34. The local oscillator of a TV tuned to channel 27 would fall within channel 34. 96 km was required between VHF stations on adjacent channels. (Texcoco vs. XEQ) 305 km was required between co-channel VHFs. All that said, I'm sure the rules were different in Mexico. In the U.S., the FCC assumed a full-license analog station would use the maximum power available for its channel. Even if the station was actually authorized for considerably less. The idea was to ensure the station could upgrade in the future without being hemmed in by newer facilities. For example, KINT and KFOX's UHF signals from El Paso were both protected on the presumption they would use 5000 kW to an antenna 610m high, resulting in a predicted coverage of 107 km. In fact, both stations ran considerably less than this limit and had predicted coverages of 88 km & 80 km respectively. Canada & Mexico didn't do it that way. Stations *within their country* were protected according to their actual coverage. By 2010, U.S. stations were only protected from interference within the U.S.. But since Juarez is within 31km of the border, a channel 24 there could indeed have caused interference in the U.S.. All these "taboos" went out the window with digital. The taboos protected the incredibly poor UHF tuners that existed in 1952 when the tables were built. For the most part, the only taboo is that adjacent channels can only be used if they're either within 23 km, or at least 110 km apart (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66 http://www.w9wi.com ibid.) That makes a lot of sense. I was aware of some of the spacing taboos but not all of them. That said, Mexico did use a lot of spacing that was odd, largely because terrain kind of permits it. A prime example is channel 6. There is an analog channel 6 in Toluca, in Puebla, and in Cuernavaca. Cerro Jocotitlán is 112 miles from Puebla, which is 67 miles from Tres Cumbres, which is 58 miles from Jocotitlán. The Toluca and Puebla channel 6 stations have maximum ERPs of 100 kW. The Cuernavaca one, owned by the IPN, is authorized for 5 kW. And within that triangular area, there are a couple of shadow XHGC-6s! The proposed "XHUACH"-8 would have been 17 miles from Pico Tres Padres (XEQ-9), 59 miles from Jocotitlán (shadow XEQ-8), 33-34 miles from Altzomoni (XEX-8) and 42 or so miles from Pachuca (shadow XEX-8). As to the Juárez 24, Mexico did originally predict that a lot of its UHFs would have the ability to run up to 5000 kW ERP. If you read the original concessions of a lot of Mexican Us like XHTVM, XHCJH, XHJUB, the Radiotelevisora de México Norte Us like XHMOW and XHTOK, etc., they do specify maximum ERPs of 5000 kW. But nobody did. XHJUB-56 ran 688 kW analog. XHTVM runs 1535 or so. XHMOW is the most powerful at a bit over 3800 kW. The Fresnillo 34 allotment was made digital in 2011 (XHKC-TDT 34, 12.x, Azteca 13). (Raymie, ibid.) Yep. The U.S. never considered terrain in analog coverage (not even for LPTVs, whose distance separations did take actual power into account). Terrain is now part of the Longley-Rice method used for digital. But my understanding is that the geography of Mexico is such that terrain shielding is a lot more common there. I believe the 5000 kW figure was specified in the treaty. IIRC the largest station in Canada was 3000-something kW (Doug Smith W9WI, ibid.) That was kind of a miscue. I suppose regulation never caught up to improved understandings of how VHF and UHF signals propagate. Also I should note these line items: - One of the guys on the forum mentioned that he'd talked with Sergio Valles of XHABC and said that they'd likely be on in October. While most stations are expected to be on by August 15, permit stations can file for extensions to build their station. - Meanwhile, Telemax is beginning tests for HD newscasts https://twitter.com/juanczuniga/status/622551401143517184 and will be on the air soon in HD. A handful of Telemax transmitters already have digital authorizations (Agua Prieta, Cananea, Nacozari); Hermosillo does not, though the station has even run promos mentioning their new physical channel 40. One source says likely testing will begin the first week of August. Even with Telemax, Hermosillo will not have digital parity. - It's digital parity in Oaxaca as XHAOX-TDT 36 is on the air. https://twitter.com/cortv/status/622490800543240192%22 The Oaxaca state network was never on the endangered list because it had opened new digital-ready facilities last month. Other transmitters will need time to come on. Like XEWH, XHCDE and XHDEH, this is not in the April tables. We really could use a new release (Raymie, ibid.) Raymie, as you may know, there was different spacing for analog TVs in different parts of the US. Doug could talk about this better than I, but the three zones took tropo conditions into consideration, from what I recall. I learned all of those regulations in college, so I may be telling you something from a dream (Danny Oglethorpe, Shreveport, LA, ibid.) I'll definitely be interested in more information. Late item: Another apagón analógico --- but I've never heard of it? That's because it's in Loreto, Baja California Sur, where apparently Azteca's shadow channels were converted to digital by flash-cut. http://www.oem.com.mx/elsudcaliforniano/notas/n3860676.htm I cannot find any information on them in the INE coverage maps at all and am not sure from which city they come. Loreto has no separately licensed TV stations (except for a C3 allotment). (Raymie, ibid.) Now that Juárez and Tecate have shut off analog TV, which cities along the US-Mexico border still haven't done so? Cd Acuña, Piedras Negras, Nogales? Any others? (mismac7, South Texas, July 19, ibid.) San Luís Rio Colorado, Nogales, Acuña, Piedras Negras. That's about it. But each of those cities does not have (to my knowledge) all of its stations in digital. I am very curious to see what will happen in each of those cities. I went to search XHPNW-22 and it actually turned up with a digital authorization: XHPNW-TDT 39, 15 kW http://rpc.ift.org.mx/rpc/pdfs/110515-FREC_ADICIONAL-009817.pdf I also ended up pulling some new channel assignments for endangered stations, and most importantly... XHUS-TDT 8(C), 38.43 kW http://rpc.ift.org.mx/rpc/pdfs/180515-TECNICA-009836.pdf Your eyes are not failing you. (Last edited by Raymie; 07-19-2015 at 05:58 PM, ibid.) The problem with considering terrain is that the formulas are a bit complex and must be calculated over a LARGE number of points to return meaningful answers. And then must be compared to the same calculations run on the interfering station to determine whether the interfering station is strong enough to cause interference in any place where the protected station is strong enough to provide service. Today, any halfway-decent PC can run a Longley-Rice in a minute or so. Of course, halfway-decent PCs didn't exist in 1952 - The zone maps are in 47CFR73.699. http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2012/octqtr/pdf/47cfr73.699.pdf Zone I is basically the Northeast, plus Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, and southern Wisconsin. Zone III is the Gulf Coast. Zone II is everywhere else. - The minimum separation between co-channel stations depended on the zone (and still does, for digital). In analog, VHF stations were limited to 305m of antenna height in Zone I. (610m was the limit elsewhere, and on UHF) The limits are more complex for digital. In any case, in digital usually powers are limited by interference, not class maximums (Doug Smith W9WI, Pleasant View, TN EM66, ibid.) Line item: - Azteca Colima is back on air. And this time, from Atenquique, where it should be. And to give you something to chew on: [with hotlinx to each and every one of the below, pdfs about frecuencias adicionales; see original post: http://forums.wtfda.org/showthread.php?9113-OPMA-is-changing&p=36015#post36015 --- gh] XHTLZ-TDT 25, 22 kW XHVAZ-TDT 22, 22 kW XHPUM-TDT 46, 37 kW XHTWH-TDT 51, 45 kW XHSJT-TDT 27, 30 kW XHPAC-TDT 22, 62 kW (known on air) XHMAC-TDT 29, 14 kW XHMTS-TDT 29, 27 kW XHZIM-TDT 36, 30 kW XHBVT-TDT 35, 25 kW XHIGG-TDT 26, 43 kW XHEFT-TDT 21, 18 kW (known on air) XHAN-TDT 49, 28 kW and XHCPA-TDT 34, 28 kW XHOMT-TDT 26, 43 kW XHSEN-TDT 38, 17 kW XHZMM-TDT 25, 10 kW XHIMN-TDT 23, 1.3 kW (station is on an island thus the low ERP) XHNOZ-TDT 23, 32 kW XHLRM-TDT 31, 22 kW XHTEC-TDT 23, 33 kW (known on air) XHTGG-TDT 34, 24 kW XHCHM-TDT 40, 14 kW XHATV-TDT 35, 22 kW XHLBU-TDT 25, 22 kW XHCBA-TDT 22, .114 kW (Chiapas state network xmtr) XHTAT-TDT 29, 40 kW XHBF-TDT 27, 65 kW XHJZT-TDT 22, 25 kW XHMIO-TDT 39, 18 kW XHMNG-TDT 49, .200 kW (TVNL) XHPMG-TDT 51, .146 kW (SMRTV) XHURU-TDT 34, .147 kW XHMOR-TDT 49, 2.951 kW XHLAM-TDT 29, .151 kW XHMZI-TDT 22, .113 kW XHNAN-TDT 22, .500 kW (TVNL) XHZRZ-TDT 14 (assignment) XHTPG-TDT 24, 20 kW (Nayarit state net) XHCHN-TDT 34, 50 kW XHZMT-TDT 29, 32 kW To think that stations like XHCDC, XHVTT, XHCDE and XHDEH, known on the air, are STILL not on this list (Last edited by Raymie; 07-21-2015 at 03:36 AM, ibid.) Is there a current list of low VHF analogs STILL ON THE AIR in Mexico? Some DXers are still seeing some signals with Es and they aren't sure where they might be from (Jim Thomas, Springfield, MO, July 21, ibid.) Every low-V is on in Mexico except [gh:] XHTJB-3 [Tijuana] XETV-6 [Tijuana] XEFE-2 [Nuevo Laredo] XHRIO-2 [Matamoros] XHBC-3 [Mexicali] XHAQ-5 [Mexicali] XEPM-2 [Juárez] XEJ-5 [Juárez] (Raymie ibid.) So XHI Obregón, which has digital subchannels (it had its main HD feed and an SD -1 hour feed), added XHI Mochis to its subchannels today as 2.3. So now you can watch XHI Mochis from Ciudad Obregón. Confused yet? (Raymie, July 22, ibid.) It's slow right now, so... Features of the Cadena Tres Network The new Cadena Tres network will incorporate 123 stations. That's more separately licensed stations than every other national network in Mexico, with the exception of CE (128). There are some interesting things going on here, too: How Much Power Do You Need? The Celaya-Querétaro-Morelia station (also add a few other cities) has a ridiculous coverage area to serve. Ciudad Hidalgo, Mich., and Guanajuato, Gto., are 102 miles apart. 63 miles between Irapuato and Querétaro. Morelia is 62 miles from Celaya. The location of the cities here will force C3's hand. They will pretty much need to put their transmitter on Cerro Culiacán, and they will need to get a very high ERP on it — I would suggest they go for a million-watt transmitter here, which is absolutely unheard of for Mexico. Morelia is the only one of the cities here that will have its own transmitter; the transmission area is drawn as Morelia/Pátzcuaro, which likely means Cerro Burro. (There's even an Uruapan transmitter, which could be superfluous!) Hello, New Cities New cities, like San Quintín BC, Loreto BCS, Hopelchen and Xpujil Camp, Creel and Guachochi Chih., and Rioverde SLP, join the ranks of television towns. This is important, as some of these cities are very heavily indigenous. There are three SRCI AM radio stations in these cities (San Quintín, Xpujil and Guachochi). Some certainly don't have TV; others barely have radio service (San Quintín has one AM, a new FM that is not on air yet and just received its SUC, and the C3 allotment). Repacking Repacking will be an immediate concern for C3. 31 of the 123 stations in the allotment are above channel 36, including critical new major city stations in Tijuana, Juárez, Toluca, Chihuahua Capital, Oaxaca, Hermosillo, Nuevo Laredo, Aguascalientes, Culiacán, central Veracruz, San Luis Potosí, central Chiapas, Tampico, Cancún, the aforementioned C-Q-M station, and Monterrey. C3 will have to launch some stations on January 1 with a provision to move them later, as C3's goal of launching in 30 big cities come 2016 will require quite a few of these to be built ASAP (Raymie Humbert, July 23, ibid.) Raymie, I have not seen any CCI from an Azteca-7 relayer mixed with XHHSS-4 Hermosillo this year. I even saw K04QP with only CCI from XHHSS hindering decoding. That is very odd, as Azteca-7 relayer XHCAN- 4 Cananea has always been there. I wonder if XHCAN is off or with greatly-reduced power (Danny, Shreveport, LA, ibid.) It should still be there, though this one guy has kept complaining to @rn_azteca that their Cananea signals are...not great. They have shadow XHFA-2 (100 watts) as well there (Raymie, July 24, ibid.) Thank you, Raymie. XHFA-2 Nogales is a tough catch for DXers. The last time I IDed XHFA was several years ago, and they were putting their text ID upper right. I wonder how well TV viewers ever received that 100 watt shadow in Cananea (Danny, Shreveport, LA, ibid.) THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING GONZÁLEZ In the early 1980s, in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Raúl R. González Lozano began operating a radio station. XHRG-FM 95.5. From this one station, the seeds of a media empire spanning both sides of the Río Grande, several generations of the González family, and broadcasting and cable, came to life. Soon, Grupo RCG would become a media empire in its home state. With Televisa local station XHRCG-TV channel 7 in Saltillo (bought in the late 1980s and rechristened in 1991), its satellite XHCAW-58 Ciudad Acuña, a pair of Saltillo FM radio stations and a string of northeast Mexican cable systems. But it is not the only media empire in the González family. In fact, there are two more of them, and the three interlock in utterly confusing ways. Now, they are being threatened by a very serious money laundering scandal involving the ex-governor of Coahuila. The Son: Roberto G. González R Communications is the lone business in this group to be based in the United States. Owned by Roberto G. González, the son of Roberto Casimiro González and one-time chief advisor to RCG, is one of the successors to BMP, Border Media Partners. Border Media Partners was a privately owned binational station group, with stations in San Antonio, Austin, Laredo and Nuevo Laredo, the Rio Grande Valley and Waco. When BMP was broken apart in 2009 as part of a forbearance agreement with its lenders, it was mostly split up. The Laredo LPTV went to Brian Brady’s Eagle Creek Broadcasting and was used as a license replacement for KVTV in that station’s sale to Gray Television earlier this year. The San Antonio and Austin stations went elsewhere. But in Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley, R Communications, owned by the González son, picked up the slack. It owns 13 radio stations, some of which are licensed to BMP concessionaires in Mexico, and it also programs the two Ciudad Acuña radio stations owned by Grupo RCG, including XHRG-FM. Its biggest move to date is perhaps its acquisition of KMBH channel 38 from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brownsville, which occurred in 2014. KMBH, which is comparable to Mexican stations like XEWH as a non-profit station with a commercial license, remains with PBS programming. R Communications has formed its own binational empire, based on the American side unlike RCG and NRT. The Brother: Rolando González Treviño The story of KVAW in Eagle Pass, Texas, is kind of long, confusing, and it’s only gotten more so in recent months. This station, which is the only American station to serve Piedras Negras, came into the world in 1991 on analog channel 16. In 2000, a dispute between Juan Wheeler, Jr., the station owner, and HTVN, which wanted to buy the station, led to one of the strangest FCC applications. HTVN filled out both the buyer and the seller side of the application, and the Maverick County Sheriff signed in lieu of Wheeler, who was believed to have fled the US. HTVN soon crumbled, and Dr. Joseph Zavaletta picked up the station in 2003. It began running Más Música, which soon became MTV Tres. Zavaletta also managed to file a digital application, originally for channel 18 but eventually to move to channel 24 for post-transition operations. The good doctor, though, began seeing problems. Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras do not make a large station market, and Zavaletta saw more value in the station as a San Antonio rimshot. He filed with the FCC to move the station closer in. It became a tangled mess, not helped by economic issues, the need for Mexican coordination, and the station needing to go silent for financial reasons during the recession. As if that were not enough, Zavaletta was diagnosed with cancer, and he died at the age of 77 in January 2010. http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/article_eb24dff6-9cb3-58dc-9c6b-d6210782cc0d.html After almost having its license revoked, the FCC had a change of heart, reinstated the license, and allowed for the sale of the station from the doctor’s estate to NRT Communications Group. This is where things get even cloudier. If you have read this blog recently, you might have recalled a blurb about XHMAP-7 Monclova, Coahuila. This station, with an unusually lengthy history and many program sources over the years, had settled down airing NRT’s channel 4, a cable channel. NRT, which stands for Núcleo Radio y Television, is owned by Rolando González Treviño, who was a friend of the governor of Coahuila, Humberto Moreira. It was the second broadcast station to air cable channel 4, after the (probably unlicensed) XHRG-TV. (The callsign itself tells you the provenance of the station!) In addition to cable 4 Monclova, NRT also owned its own cable provider, EIINRT; cable channels 6 Saltillo and 10 Sabinas; KVAW, which now brands as channel 24; and XHEMF 96.3 and XEWGR 780/XHWGR 101.1 in Monclova, each carrying formats from MVS Radio. NRT, however, began hitting serious legal trouble last year. US prosecutors allege that members of a conspiracy wired $1.8 million to González’s bank accounts as payment from a Mexican company for the sale — money stolen from the state government of Coahuila. He has pleaded guilty to these charges. http://www.informador.com.mx/mexico/2015/594689/6/empresario-de-coahuila-admite-robo-de-dinero-del-estado.htm His sentencing is in September; he not only faces either five years probation or up to five years in prison, but also deportation. In November 2014, XHMAP dropped NRT. So now what? While RCG is likely to be the least affected operation, and NRT has taken a beating precisely because its owner is the center of controversy, R Communications is in an interesting situation. R Media Trust’s stations were transferred to R Communications Trust, whose sole beneficiary is Robert L. Reed, a resident of Scottsdale, Arizona and a manager of a company related to R Communications. Who knows what’s next (Raymie Humbert, July 24, Raymie`s Mexico Beat, WTFDA Forum via DXLD) ** MICRONESIA. [non-log]. 4755.54, PMA-The Cross Radio. Since May 10 has been silent, through to July 22 (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, E1 & CR-1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MONGOLIA. Amigos da Lista: A Voz da Mongólia está no ar, ainda pelos 12000 kHz. Emissora bastante irregular em suas transmissões e, com sinal e modulação muito pobres. Vejam: 12000, 21/7/2015 1005, Voz da Mongólia, Ulanbator, serviço em Chinês; YL fala em chinês lento; um breve trecho de música; ID e o website dito letra por letra, em inglês; sinal e modulação muito pobres ou quase inaudível; 25432/25431. Receptor: Sony ICF-SW100S; Antena: Telescópica Portátil. Saudações, (José Ronaldo Xavier, Cabedelo-PB (UTC-3), Brasil, radioescutas yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DXLD) José, Ela sofre com esse problema há pelo menos uns dois anos. Na verdade é de surpreender que ainda transmita em ondas curtas. O sinal de intervalo dessa emissora é na minha opinião um dos mais bonitos. Na década passada confirmavam os informes com QSLs igualmente bonitos. 73 (Ivan Dias Jr. - Sorocaba/SP, July 22, ibid.) ** MONGOLIA [non]. ALEMANIA, 3985, Voice of Mongolia, Kall-Krekel, 1910-1913, escuchada el 19 de Julio de 2015 en inglés a locutora con comentarios, SINPO 23342 (José Miguel Romero, Sacañet (Castellón), España, YAESU FRG-7700, Antena hilo 10m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** MYANMAR. 9589.993, footprint of ?Thazin Radio?, from northern Myanmar shortwave site at Pyin Oo Lwin, now scheduled also at extended 0930-1330 UT, heard on threshold level in remote SDR unit on Perseus net at Edmonton Alberta Canada, at 0933 UT on July 21 (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NETHERLANDS. RNW NAME CHANGE, ADDRESS CHANGES AND NEW TENANTS Four major changes have occurred fairly recently at the former Wereldomroep! 1. Their longtime website found at http://www.rnw.nl has been changed to: http://www.rnw.org 2. The new English name for RNW will be "RNW Media" (This information is found on the new website's history page, https://www.rnw.org/rnw-history which states: "RNW changed its name to RNW Media in mid 2015." 3. They now share the Wereldomroep facility with another broadcaster: AVROTROS (The public broadcasters AVRO - (Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep) and TROS (Televisie Radio Omroep) merged in 2014 (due to budgetary concerns) and has become AVROTROS. They needed a place to move into - and the fine facilities and vacant space at the Wereldomroep provided the answer. So, once again there is a broadcaster in the building - and not just the web-based operation of RNW Media! 4. RNW Media has changed its street address to: Witte Kruislaan 55A, 1217AM, Hilversum - as seen in this contact address: https://www.rnw.org/contact-us (Interestingly, AVROTROS now uses the old RNW address of: Witte Kruislaan 55, 1217 AM, Hilversum, as seen at this AVROTROS contact page: https://www.avrotros.nl/site/contact/ under the title: Bezoekadres. The new kid on the block gets to use the original address! 73, (Mark Vosmeier (N9IWF), July 16, dxldyg via DXLD) Re: ``RNW Media has changed its street address to: Witte Kruislaan 55A, 1217AM, Hilversum - as seen in this contact address: https://www.rnw.org/contact-us`` This address refers to the small training centre (RNTC) building behind the former RNW radio house, as can be seen at https://www.google.com/maps/views/view/115654067236863167015/gphoto/5945383407817983586?gl=de The former main building had been abandoned by RNW in 2013, see http://criticaldistance.blogspot.com/2013/03/bit-spooky-ghosts-of-broadcasts-past-in.html Afterwards it has been refurbished for AVROTROS, rather extensively I understand (i.e. the building shell was a construction site for months): http://criticaldistance.blogspot.com/2014/01/transformation-almost-complete.html I think it was already in 2013 that they abandoned the rnw.nl domain as well. Ah, and that's interesting: Anyone who considers working there should keep in mind that he/she will be out after turning 30. And this day will come much sooner than our cool, young hipsters believe. "We work with people aged 15 to 30" is at https://www.rnw.org/about-rnw-media already the third sentence. A prime example of the phenomenon known in German as Jugendwahn (Kai Ludwig, Germany, ibid.) Kai, Is this Jugendwahn meaning the phenomenon at employers that after reaching an age you are not needed anymore? In Hungary when you reach 35 they say you are too old to change job, to change your life. For example, when you work as a financial lawyer and want to go to environmental law, they say you are too old to change. This age limit was 40, 45 or above in the past, but it goes lower and lower. I think this is a European phenomenon. I did not hear about this discriminatory practice when i was in the U.S. in 2003. Sorry for the off-topic (Tibor Gaal, Budapest, Hungary, ibid.) ** NIGER [and non]. BBC HAUSA TV NEWS NOW AT PRIME TIME ON GASKIA TV IN NIGER http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2015/hausa-gaskia-tv-niger (via "Hansjoerg Biener", July 17, DXLD) ** NIGERIA. 9690- // weaker 7255-, July 20 at 0623, VON in Hausa still active and modulating (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA [non]. FRANCE, Test transmissions of Nigerian Armed Forces Radio on July 13: 0600-0700 11825 ISS 250 kW / 170 deg WeAf English/Text messages/Music 0600-0700 13775 ISS 250 kW / 170 deg WeAf English/Text messages/Music http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/test-transmissions-of-nigerian-armed_13.html Test transmissions of Nigerian Armed Forces Radio are cancelled: 0600-0700 11825 ISS 250 kW / 170 deg Hausa/English/Text messages/Mx 0600-0700 13775 ISS 250 kW / 170 deg Hausa/English/Text messages/Mx No signal on July 16 and July 17. My last five video recordings on Mon July 13 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/test-transmissions-of-nigerian-armed_17.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #919 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, July 20, 2015, dxldyg via DXLD) 13775 & 11825, July 20 at 0620, no signals from Nigerian Armed Forces Radio via RMI via FRANCE. I had not checked last few nights after learning that the test was extended ``indefinitely`` but in fact it definitely was gone by July 16-17 according to Ivo Ivanov. Jeff White tells me July 20: ``Yes, the program is on hiatus. May come back in August. Jeff`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NIGERIA [non]. Radio Dandal Kura via BABCOCK and Manara Radio via MBR July 13 0700-0800 15480 WOF 300 kW / 165 deg WeAf Kanuri Radio Dandal Kura 0730-0830 15440 ISS 150 kW / 170 deg WeAf Hausa Manara Radio http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/radio-dandal-kura-via-babcock-and.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #919 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, July 20, 2015, dxldyg via DXLD) These two are not related beyond targeting (gh) ** NORTH AMERICA. 6925-USB, July 19 at 0123 blues music, 0127 fax? QRM to 0128, still on at 0149. Closer to 0100 a pirate bandscan produced nothing. UnID logs here turned into Radio Gaga by 0152* http://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php?topic=22579.0 Just too much storm noise here vs signals just too weak. 6945-USB, July 19 at 0140, pirate music, slightly stronger than 6925, and 6945 was not on when I first heard 6925. 0142, ``Dick Weed on the air, this is Radio Free What-ever``; 0151 another ID. Numerous detailed logs here say he started circa 0130 with Russian anthem: http://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php?topic=22580.0 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** NORTH AMERICA. Greetings, shortwave pirate radio friends! A TCS show is expected to be relayed tonight on 6876 kHz. Not quite sure of the starting time, but it ought to be underway by 0130 UTC, or 9:30 pm EDT. I know I still owe a few QSLs from the period around July 4th. You haven't been forgotten! I should get those out this coming week. 73s and FIGHT For FREE RADIO! (John Poet, The Crystal Ship / TCS Shortwave Relay Network http://www.tcsshortwave.com Join Our Pirate Radio Forum! Free Radio Cafe Pirate Radio forum http://freeradiocafe.com/forum/ FRC Home http://freeradiocafe.com Free Radio Cafe On Facebook https://www.facebook.com/FreeRadioCafe Follow FRC Loggings on Twitter https://twitter.com/FreeRadioCafe YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/FreeRadioCafe The Free Radio Weekly: A weekly Email publication with the most current pirate loggings and information now being published anywhere! Send your free subscription requests to freeradioweekly@gmail.com and tell 'em that we sent ya! (via gh, 0053 UT July 20, dxldyg via DXLD) 6876-AM, July 20 at 0132, JBA carrier, music bits when John Poet tipped us another The Crystal Ship relay would occur. These pirates really need to multiply their power if they are going to operate noisy summer evenings on such a low band (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 1120, July 22 at 2150 UT on caradio, KETU/KEOR is on with regional Mexican music, but check after 2200 it`s either off or dead air; hard to tell. 2355 recheck, music modulation again. I have yet to hear *any* announcements, let alone ads or IDs at many random chex (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 13560, July 16 circa 1600 UT, I am waiting in a medical office near one of Enid`s hospitals, with the G8 to entertain me; most signals are severely attenuated inside the building, so I check the Industrial/Scientific/Medical part 15(?) frequency, and behold, there are hefty pulses much like CODAR, but these extend way beyond on either side, thru most of the 22m broadcast band. Not the kind of `hash` I hear at home impeding HIFER beacons (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 88.3, July 17 at 1559 UT, ID only for KEAR, 88.1, Sacramento, which is the feeder {via satellite} for Fámily Radio translators around the country. So now the one in Enid, K202BY, has been reactivated. It had been missing since at least Feb 15, opening up a good sporadic-E DX frequency, and I hoped it was gone for good. Now repaired, with $tereo signal and usual FR programming. Fortunately it`s weak enough not to impede 88.1 KWOU Woodward`s attempts to fringereach Enid {on some receivers, others problematic} (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. While checking for Es FM DX from Mexico, no dice, I do note a couple of OK items: 89.3, July 21 at 1659-1700 UT, ID for 3 Angels Broadcasting Network [Adventist] but cut off for local ID: ``Loyal to God and Country, KIEL, Loyal OK, 89.3``, then cut back to network just as roughly (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. 104.5, KZZW Mooreland (Woodward market) is stunting. Due to T-storm I am relegated to safely bandscanning FM on portable PL-880 rather than SW with longwire, July 21 at 0532 UT encountering synth male voice with countdowns and aphorisms. There are two countdowns in a row as little as 6 seconds apart, such as ``Z minus 3 days, 15 hours, 27 minutes, 54 seconds`` which means Zero-hour will be Friday July 24 at 2100 UT. Fifteen is pronounced ``fifteem``. In between every second countdown an aphorism is inserted, some silly, occasionally profound, or hilarious, and often unreadable due to poor dixion of the robot. Some are timeless; some are local; Barney the flight attendant/waiter occasionally appears. Examples, not necessarily verbatim thru my scribbling: ``We are bringing this [s?]lag to the Tri-State area, and Oakwood [and Canton, and other towns]`` ``OK, Lambert(?), enough of this In-Balance stuff; it`s time to get Un-balanced`` ``We have 100,000 watts of awesome and we`re not afraid to use it`` ``Boom --- ready or not, here comes the voice from the south`` ``Billy Jean is not my lover`` ``This is the second softest thing I`ve ever felt`` ``There`s more than one way to look at a problem, and they may all be right`` ``Coffee, tea or milk?`` ``She`s breaking up, captain; she can`t take much more`` ``We have a really big shoe tonight; a really big shoe`` ``The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or one`` ``Remember, computers cannot think for themselves; they are just like everyone else in your office`` ``I`ve got the right shoes, the right dress; I don`t know why you don`t love me`` Etc., etc., etc.! By 1553 UT recheck, there are *three* countdowns in a row between aphorisms instead of two --- giving us a little more time to copy them. KZZW IDs are frequently integrated, occasionally mentioning it`s on Facebook, Twitter: 1045KZZW. There is some repetition of non-local aphorisms if you listen long enough, but seems always mixed in with new material. Length of the aphorisms varies widely, but countdowns resume to the second. Except, comparing to WWV around 1300 UT, I calculate that KZZW is running about 9 seconds slow. This reminds me a lot of what WKY 930 was doing a few years ago as it was transitioning to La Indomable format. I wonder who produces this stunting countdown stuff. The new KZZW`s original format, as I have reported, was ``In-Balance`` music, i.e. an audacious mixture of hymns and short popular classics, never identified by title. Earlier on July 20 afternoon I was still hearing them playing ``Hallelujah Chorus`` as I tuned across. Quibbles: KZZW is licensed for only 60 kW ERP. Reception here some 90 miles away is as usual marginal, but is getting a bit of morning tropo boost. Depending on whip antenna orientation, there can be QRM from the 250-watt KRXO translator in closer OKC, and on the DX-398 even mixing produced between KOFM 103.1 plus KCRC 1.39 MHz = 104.49 MHz with KOFM audio --- these stations are *not* at the same site, rather competitors. 104.5, July 21 at 1703 UT, tropo is still up and now favoring Tulsa over Woodward or OKC: capturing frequency is KMYZ Pryor, ``The Edge``. KZZW faded out for a while at 1417, but got a big boost for a few Doppler-wobbly seconds at 1422 via airplane scatter; thank you, Vance jets which must fly right over populated Enid and crash only occasionally (and I suspect jet fuel exhaust fallout accounts for too much grimy dust accumulation) (Glenn Hauser, Enid, WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OKLAHOMA. RF32, July 21 around 0200 UT, WQOS306, Enid is off the air. Had been on as recently as July 20. It`s the ``TV-OK`` intercity relay from Enid to Lamont for an alleged channel 35 translator. Main channel of KXOK-LD, RF-31 had been off the air for many months, but the ``relay`` kept running automatically? with nothing but infomercials, usually without audio, on 31.1, PSIP as M-Fox and TVAzteca but really nothing but color bars on 31.2 and 31.3. Clueless Suddenlink cable in Enid, headend a block away from TV-OK on the Broadway Tower, kept and keeps wasting cable channel 15 with ``! Weak Signal`` instead of simply picking up the 32 RF, lacking 31 --- but useless programming anyway. Now what? [non] RF31, July 21 around 1500 UT, despite antenna aimed at OKC, longtime lack of local KXOK-LD, and some tropo enhancement from the north bring in the Wichita Univisión affiliate, with some breakups during novela. PSIP only as Univisi but it`s really megawatt KDCU-DT, Derby KS, which W9WI.com lists as remapping to 46.1 --- no, it doesn`t; and with a 46.2, UniMAS --- no, there isn`t (Glenn Hauser, Enid, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** OMAN. 9740, July 19 at 0112, Mideast music strumming and Arabic talk, somewhat undermodulated, presumably RSO on alternate frequency as there is nothing on prime channel 9500; other alternate 15140 has a JBA carrier, probably CRI in Chinese. 9740 is `alternate` only in the sense that it`s scheduled for 22-24 UT only, then 9500. However, Iran is supposed to start Urdu eastward at 0120 on 9740, and it seemed like I was hearing the same station as before at 0143 recheck; RSO staying presumably on the 315 antenna much more favorable for us. 9500, July 20 at 0125, ME music and Arabic announcements, poor-fair, as RSO is back on scheduled frequency instead of extended 9740 last night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9500 - R. Sultanate of Oman. Thumrayt, Oman. Tune in at 0050 to recitations that continued past the top of the hour. Good signal with only slight fades and minimal QRM. Caught YL with talks in Arabic upon return at 0120. Then into OM with apparent commentary concerning Iran & Iraq. Occasional brief fanfares, western instrumentals, interspread throughout commentary. Talk went past bottom of the hour with no apparent ID's (Stephen C Wood, Harwich, Mass., Perseus SDR with 25 x50 variable terminated superloop antenna, UT July 22, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PAKISTAN. Surprisingly broadcast on shortwave of Radio Pakistan: 1200-1300 on 15700 ISL 250 kW / 070 deg to EaAs Chinese on July 13 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/surprisingly-broadcast-on-shortwave-of.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #919 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, July 20, 2015, dxldyg via DXLD) ** PALAU. PALAU Cancelled transmissions of T8WH Angel 5 from July 18/19: 1300-1400 on 9930 HBN 100 kW / 345 deg to NEAs English Sat/Sun -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, dxldyg via DXLD) {Well, they were back on July 26 --- gh} ** PAPUA NEW GUINEA [non]. AUSTRALIA, Radio NBC, National Radio of Papua New Guinea in 0500-0700 UT on 12025 BRN 025 kW / 080 deg to EPac English, good reception July 13 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/radio-nbc-national-radio-of-papua-new_13.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #919 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, July 20, 2015, dxldyg via DXLD) Ivo has not accepted evidence it was Shepparton (gh) NBC National Radio 1312 15 Jul 2015: 6075, 1305 15 JUL - NBC NATIONAL RADIO (PAPUA NEW GUINEA) from SHEPPARTON VIC. SINPO = 34122. English, news, list of PNG medals won in 2015 Pacific Games. PSA commercial about car importation to Islands. music: “We Are the World”. sf105.7, a7, k2, geomag: quiet. 25 kW?, beamAz 10deg?, bearing 258deg. Sangean ATS505 with Kaito KA33 in west facing window. Brandon?. Received at Las Vegas, United States, 13008 km from transmitter at Shepparton. Local time: 0605 (Rodney Johnson, NV, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 6075, July 16 at 1146, NBC relay via Shepparton, AUSTRALIA, with song we`ve heard before (played at least daily?), ``Spirit of the Games``, as if they are a transcendental experience for all; 1148 hilites of today`s games, anchor Kevin connecting to reporter Dora at the PNG PowerDome where there has been Taekwando, and also female lightweight boxing, then 1155 clips of that bout; I couldn`t listen to the carnage. Dora also gave schedules for upcoming games culminating with competitions for the Gold on Saturday`s finale (after which, any more SW relays?). Said today was a ``rest day`` in many cases (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NBC National Radio 0613 18 Jul: 12025, 0604 18 JUL - NBC NATIONAL RADIO (PAPUA NEW GUINEA) in ENGLISH from SHEPPARTON VIC. SINPO = 45333. English, some sort of play by play by two male announcers with heavy native accent. PNG vs. ?. ‘runs’ and 'balls’ or 'bowls’ mentioned, cricket? good signal, good modulation, just difficult to understand through the accent. Pretty slow action. sf98.2, a5, k0, geomag: inactive. 25 kW?, beamAz 80deg?. Sangean ATS505 with Kaito KA33 in west facing window. Received at Las Vegas, United States, 13008KM from transmitter at Shepparton VIC. Local time: 2304 (Rodney Johnson, NV, dxldyg via DXLD) Radio NBC, National Radio of Papua New Guinea on Sat, July 18 from 0600 on 12025 BRN 025 kW / 080 deg to EPac English, last day via Brandon: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/radio-nbc-national-radio-of-papua-new_19.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #919 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, July 20, 2015, dxldyg via DXLD) Ivo has not accepted evidence it was Shepparton (gh) 6075, July 18 at 1200, NBC relay via Shepparton, AUSTRALIA, importation-assistance ad again in English, then one in Tok Pisin; no news on this hour. 1201 ID for 90.7 and mobile numbers, song about the games. 1205 DJ acknowledges text messages thanking NBC for coverage of the games, and of the closing ceremony. Says CDs of the opening and closing ceremonies will be available (what about TV?); congrats to Team PNG (not ``TPNG``). Still fair signal, on what could be the last day of this ``temporary`` relay setup; or will they let it continue for normal times? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) AUSTRALIA/PNG. No sign of the South Pacific Games service 0500 7/19 on 12025 or 9860 (the latter of which I never heard when it was on the air, anyway). Too bad -- I always liked listening to the NBC when it covered the Pacific on 4890, way back in the day, and a lot of the post-game programming was in that vein. Also agree that the transmitter site for this one-off was not Brandon. When Brandon carried RA and was audible here, it was usually the weakest AUS signal on the band; during the South Pacific Games, 12025 was usually (though not every night) on par with RA on 15240 and RNZI on 15720/11725, all generally around 0400-0700+ (Chuck Albertson, Seatle, Wash., DX LISTENING DIGEST) AUSTRALIA, Only 9860 kHz noted last UT night / July 19 morning. \\ Shepparton 12025 kHz had been ceased now. re PACIFIC Games: At 0510 UT noted women swim competition broadcasts, logged in Brisbane Queensland on the remote Perseus unit. Nearby signal was still S=9+20dB, on Australian mid-afternoon. Nice wide 10 kHz broadband audio signal, excellent satellite feed quality (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 12025, July 19 at 0511, as I feared, NBC relay via Shepparton, AUSTRALIA, is over, no signal now that the Fifteenth Pacific Games have concluded. But wait --- 9860 was still on July 19 after 0500, says Wolfgang Büschel as heard on a Brisbane remote. That`s the much weaker signal here, really Brandon which we kept hearing a satellite-delay behind 12025. AND: 6075, July 19 at 1204, the other NBC relay frequency via Shepparton, AUSTRALIA, is still on, in normal programming, the show Ron Howard raves about, `Island Praise` of gospel music, which he recently described as ``Stacy Rose's syndicated USA (Florida) program "Island Praise," with her usual upbeat program of mostly Caribbean gospel music (reggae, soca, calypso, hip hop gospel, etc.)``. Apparently it is a bihour also heard on any other NBC stations which may be active on 90m. I can`t make out the lyrix but seem to be in English, and 1210 announcement as `Island Praise`; 1219 another break with a ``language lesson`` about the word shoosh(???). Sorry, but this programming violates Separation of Church and State, as NBC is a government agency per WRTH. So PNG officially promotes Christianity at the expense of all other religions. Rise up, Animists! Anyhow, remains to be heard whether 6075 if not 12025 will remain in use beyond this. Shame to waste all those Sheppartons that Radio Australia has no more use for (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) More than 95% of the population in Papua New Guinea identify themselves as members of a Christian church so I don't see what's the problem there. There are other state-funded broadcasters in countries with a separation of Church and State that do broadcast religious programming as well, and in most of the cases, if not in all of them, the programming is dedicated to the major religion of the country. 73 and sorry for the off-topic (Georgi Bancov, Bulgaria, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Sorry, but percentages have nothing to do with SOCAS --- all the more so, minority religions are entitled to equal treatment, or rather, keep government out of religion, and vice versa! And who says 95% Christian? Things may have changed, but the 2002 World Almanac I have handy says: Chief Religions: Indigenous beliefs 34%, Roman Catholic 22%, Lutheran 16% [that leaves 28% Other] (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) See also TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING Hi Glenn, Having listened to PNG-NBC SW stations for a good number of years now, I can attest to the fact NBC clearly broadcasts religious content that is exclusively Christian. Such syndicated programs as "Beyond Today" and "Island Praise" are two examples. Today (July 20), at various times between 1143 to 1400*, on 6075 (NBC via Australia), there were numerous calls taken during a program of "PNG issues," with discussions dealing with the fact that two men had burned a Bible last Friday. Several callers expressed the opinion that PNG was a "Christian nation." Full story http://news.pngfacts.com/2015/07/preachers-burn-holiy-bible-in-city-of.html (Ron Howard, California, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Continued at SOLOMON ISLANDS 6075.0 kHz, clear station ID PNG Nacional Radio - "the Voice of Papua New Guinea" twice at 1951 and 1955 UT on July 19, noted on remote SDR unit at Okayama Japan, S=9+5dB strength acroos the Pacific Ocean path. Mens chorus at 1953 UT. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) Finished Pacific games though NBC via Australia continuing on 6075 kHz at *1900-2159* and 9860 kHz at *2200 UT on July 19 (S. Hasegawa, Japan, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) AND still 6075 at *10-14* presumably same span as before (gh, DXLD) 12025, July 20 at 0618, again no signal from NBC relay via Shepparton, Australia; much needed sleep deficit catchup meant my next check not until 1330 on 6075, by when only a very poor signal is audible, but still running. Sei-ichi Hasegawa has the explanation July 20 to the DXLD yahoogroup: ``According to e-Mail from NBC to A. Kageyama in Osaka. "For your information, the service will be available for the next 3 days and will cease. Our arrangement with Broadcast Australia to use their short wave transmitters was so that the NBC could broadcast the Pacific games to the whole of the country. This is an expensive exercise and unfortunately the NBC is unable to sustain the services due to budget constraints. The NBC does have plans to purchase its own transmitters and go back to broadcasting on 4890 and 9675 mhz [sic] but this might happen in 2016. Thank you Allen Arifeae Executive Director" TNX A. Kageyama.`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) NBC National Radio (PNG) 0715 21 JUL 2015 --- 9860, 0715 21 JUL - NBC NATIONAL RADIO (PAPUA NEW GUINEA) in ENGLISH from BRANDON QL. SINPO = 42233. English, QRM from kbc [KBS?] via Woofferton. Music, with male announcer. Male interviews male. ID at 0726z ‘the voice...(*pause*) of Papua New Guinea’ followed by music. sf92.8, a5, k3, geomag: unsettled. 25 kW, beamAz 10deg, bearing 258deg. Sangean ATS505 with Kaito KA33 in west facing window. Received at Las Vegas, United States, 11908 km from transmitter at Brandon QL. Local time: 2321. 73s (Rodney Johnson, NV, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) 9860, July 21 at 0606, very poor signal presumably from the NBC relay via Brandon, AUSTRALIA; 6075, July 21 at 1217, good signal from NBC via Shepparton, AUSTRALIA, during song, then 17 past 10 time-check, announcer with 3 questions about the games, listeners required to text in 3 answers to each and win a prize, 1220 a song from Fiji. Text number sounded like 16423. (How can text numbers be only 5 digits? Does that mean there are no more than 99,999 of them in the entire world?). Remember these frequencies are to close in a couple days due to expense; closing 12025 earlier makes sense as that was for other islands during the games only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Hi Glenn, Requested texted answers be sent to SMS short code 1623. (Ron Howard, CA, dxldyg via DXLD) Sources in Australia tell me the PNG National Radio transmission on 12025 at 2200-1000 is, in fact, via Shepparton, due to a fault at Brandon (Ferguson in DXplorer, Jul 14, via DSWCI-0567 Dan Ferguson, Little River, SC, U.S.A. DSWCI DX Window July 21 via DXLD) 6075, July 22 at 1253, music on VP signal, so NBC relay via Shepparton still going, maybe for one more day (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. LA HISTORIA DE LA RADIO EN EL PERÚ --- Amigos, Les alcanzo un articulo sobre la radio en el Perú, esperando sea del agrado de ustedes? http://historyperiodismoperu.blogspot.com/2011/06/la-radio-en-el-peru.html 128's (Pedro F Arrunátegui, Lima, Vivo en una casa muy pequeña, pero, sus ventanas se abren hacia un mundo muy grande, July 22, DX LISTENING DIGEST) It`s by M. Yaya García. Pretty thoro, but only mentions the term ``onda corta`` once in passing (gh, DXLD) ** PERU. CQ, CQ, CQ; Aquí Pedro F. Arrunátegui para compartir algo con los que disfrutan y aman el DX latinoamericano; todas las horas son UT. Desde la tierra de los incas, les informo mediante este Quipus lo siguiente: 710.271, PERÚ, RPP, Ica; 28/06, 1120-114 [sic], 22222, news // con RPP de Lima, 730 AM, ID “RPP en la noticia``. NOTA: para escucharla bajé el filtro BW a 4000 en el SDR, quedando de fondo pues R. Integridad. Por momentos la cubre casi por completo, programa La Rotativa del Aire 870.011, PERÚ, RPP, Chiclayo; 18/07, 0320-0340, 22222, ID "En Chiclayo escuchas RPP noticias" ads, news varias 1030.017, PERÚ, R. Los Andes, Huamachuco; La Libertad; 3/07 1020-1035, 33333, ID “Que escucha Radio los Andes desde muy temprano” ads, Aquí en el mercado de Huamachuco calzado Ranqui, ID “Gracias por estar en sintonía de Radio Los Andes, señal satelital”, programa Amanecer Andino, mxf [música folklórica] 1060.014, PERÚ, R. Éxito, Lima, Lima; 28/06, 1150-1210, 44444, mxf y news, ID “Éxito”, mx, ID “En La cabina de Radio Éxito...” 1300.010, PERÚ, R. Comas, Comas, Lima; 17/07 1115-1140, 44444, mxf, ID “Por Radio Comas”, ads, px Vocero de Pachas, ads restaurante… 1334.822, PERÚ, R. Amistad, Chiclayo, Lambayeque; 3/07 1050-1115, 22222, ID, Radio Amistad”, mxf en español, ID “Radio Amistad”, ID “Radio Amistad siembre corazones” NOTA: Su frecuencia oscila bastante (1334.822-1335.942). Frecuencia nominal 1330. Slogan en Internet confirmada al escuchar vía internet // la señal. http://radioamistadperu.net/ 1400.022, PERÚ, R. Nueva Campesina, Cajamarca. 17/06 0310-0300 33333, mxf, ID “Por Radio Campesina”, mxf, ID “Nueva Campesina, sintonía total”, ads varios, ID “Radio Nueva Campesina” 4747.60, PERÚ, R. Huanta 2000, Huari, Ayacucho; 5/07 1150-1210, 44444, px Avisos y comunicados, ID "Avisar a Radio Huanta 2000" ads en español y quechua, Cooperativa de Ahorro de la federación del mercado de Ayacucho, px en en español y en quechua, ID “Al costado de Radio Huanta 2000” 4774.90, PERÚ, R. Tarma, Tarma, Junín; 13/07 1110-1130, 44444, ads Cemento Andino construye, con px Impacto el Informativo nacional news, ID “Por Radio Tarma”. 4955.00, PERÚ, R. Cultural Amauta, Huanta, Ayacucho; 26/06 1150-1215, 44444, mxf, ads varias bilingüe español y quechua, ID ”Usted escucha Radio Cultural Amauta” 5980.00, PERU, R. Chaski, Urubamba, Cusco; 27/06 0040-0105, 44444, px religioso El amor que vale, mx himno religiosos // con Red Radio Integridad 700 AM 6173.85, PERÚ, R. Tawuantinsuyo, Cusco; 17/07 0115-1140, 44444, mxf, ID “Esta es Radio Tawuantinsuyo desde la ciudad del Cusco”, mxf ID “La fuerza poderosa de Radio Tawuantinsuyo" La recepción la he efectuado del 17/06 al 17/07 en compañía de mis sabuesos Icom IC R72 + ELAD FDM-S1 + Splitter ASA 4 x 2 + Mizuho KX-3 + MFJ-1025 y una antena de hilo largo de 12 metros + antena auxiliar + una Mini Whip + una antena loop. NOTA: Para un mejor escucha de las grabaciones que adjunto, sugiero escuchar con los audífonos. Vivo en una casa muy pequeña, pero, sus ventanas se abren hacia un mundo muy grande (Pedro F. Arrunátegui, Lima, Perú, CHASQUI DX PFA – JULIO 2015, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 4747.5, Perú, Radio Huanta 2000, Huanta, Ayacucho, 2340 to 2350 om in Spanish with music, good signal during band scan on 15 July 4810, Perú, Radio Logos, Chazuta, Tarapoto 0930 beautiful melodic flauta andina, best in LSB on the R8. Continues with good signal in the local mornings 16 July 4939.65 tentative, Perú, Radio San Antonio de Atalaya, Ucayali, weak signal 2340 to 2350 fade, en español, tentative 15 July 4985.5, Perú, Radio Voz Cristiana, Huancayo 2340 to 2350 om en español noted with USB to avoid RTTY on 4985, 15 July (Robert Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, South Florida, 746Pro, Drake R8 NRD 525, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** PERU. 5980, July 19 at 0104, JBA carrier from R. Chaski. Good thing I tune in already, as it cuts off earlier than expected at 0104:59.5*. Extrapolating from last capture 9 days earlier, July 10 until 0106:03.5*, I was expecting it to have slipped close to 0107*. Unless this is an anomaly, must have reset autocutoff timer but not all the way back to 0100v, as this is 64 seconds *earlier*. 5980, July 20 at 0104 UT, JBA carrier from R. Chaski, until autocutoff at 0107:05.5*. This puts it back on track, after last night`s anomalous early cutoff at 0104:59.5*. Compared to the previous time, July 10 until 0106:03.5*, this one is 62 seconds later after 10 days, averaging 6.2 seconds later per, the standard slippage rate (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** PERU. 6173.9, Perú, Radio Tawantinsuyo, Cusco noted from 1030 with om chat in Spanish, narrow filter LSB needed 15 July (Robert Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, South Florida, 746Pro, Drake R8 NRD 525, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** POLAND [non]. RADIO POLAND IN RUSSIAN Dear Friends, Due to conflicting information about the broadcast of Polish radio on 1395 kHz from Armenia, I think I review and try to clear the information available from different sources. 1. Broadcasting frequencies and time: in DXLD nr. 15-27 an information was published under POLAND [non] which contained an answer from Polish Radio's Russian section that their broadcast frequency 1224 kHz is wrong and the right frequency is 1395 kHz from Armenia and they set the transmitting time 21.00 o'clock Moscow time. I don't know where the 1224 kHz information was coming from. Maybe Polish Radio Russian service's own website is the original source of the wrong information. I have read it also in "RUS-DX" # 827, 05 July, 2015. The right frequency and the right broadcasting time in UT was published on WRTH facebook page and republished by Ydun's Medium Wave Info (www.mediumwave.info) as follows: "06/07-2015 POLAND --- Radio Poland has added Russian transmission via Armenia 1800-1830 UT on 1395 kHz http://www.radiopolsha.pl/6/40/Artykul/85173 Mauno Ritola, WRTH facebook group (5/7-2015)" I want to point out that the right broadcasting time is the following on 1395 kHz: 1800-1830 UTC = 21.00-21.30 Moscow standard time (MSK). MSK is in UT +3 hours. According to my observations on Alex's remote SDR (Ariel, Israel) the station mentioned correctly the broadcast time and frequency at the beginning and end of its transmission. Their webpage also shows the correct frequency of 1395 kHz, time and the transmitter location as Armenia. My monitorings took place on 18th and 19th of July, 2015 on Alex's SDR in Ariel, Israel. On 18th the signal was fair to good (overall 3-4) with long deep fadings as usual on the mediumwave bands, no heterodyne. But on the 19th, signal was poor to fair (2-3) with long deep fading, and a heterodyne started around 1808 UT from Albania on the same frequency. As the programme started on the Albanian transmitter later, I could detect the language which was Hungarian religious broadcast. After the Armenian transmitter signed off at 1829 the albanian transmitter was audible better (overall 3) where I could understand every word of the religious programme. Interestingly I heard the same heterodyne beep/whistle after the Armenian transmitter signed off. 2. Glenn asked the following questions in DXLD nr. 15-27: "Why don't they broadcast direct from Poland to Russia??? Is this the official Polskie Radio, or something else?" My answer is: Yes, this is the official Polskie Radio's Russian service called in Russian as "Zarubezhnoj sluzhby Pol'skogo radio" from Warsaw. Their interval signal also supports this statement. "Why don't they broadcast from Poland to Russia directly?" It seems to me that their intended target is not only the border areas (Kaliningrad region) to Poland but much-much wider as Poland's geopolitical influence has increased as an EU member state in favour of sanctions toward Russia. They want to broadcast not simply to Russians living in Russia but to Russian-speaking people in the targeted regions. As the radio's webpage shows they broadcast to Moscow and Moscow Region (Oblast') on 738 kHz via the channel of World Radio Network (WRN; in Russian: Vsemyrnaya Radioset (VRS)). According to http://www.emwg.info the transmitter site is Kurkino with 5 kW power. I compiled a schedule using the polish radio's and WRN's list (please, see the complete Russian broadcast time schedule of WRN in "RUS-DX" # 827). 0030-0100 UT = 03.30-04.00 MSK 0300-0330 UT = 06.00-06.30 MSK 0600-0630 UT = 09.00-09.30 MSK 0930-1000 UT = 12.30-13.00 MSK 1330-1400 UT = 16.30-17.00 MSK 1700-1730 UT = 20.00-20.30 MSK} 1900-1930 UT = 22.00-22.30 MSK} 2130-2200 UT = 00.30-01.00 MSK 1395 kHz Armenia: 1800-1830 UTC {21.00-21.30 MSK}, target area: Central Asia, South Russia, Caucasus, Israel, Cyprus. Note 1: Cyprus and Israel have a relatively large immigrant and/or EXPAT Russian communities; there are Russian minorities in Central Asia and in the era of Soviet Union Russian was the official language there. 1386 kHz: As http://www.emwg.info says: "LTU - Radio Baltic Waves International, Sitkunai (75 kw) ... 1700-1730 Polish Radio in Russian ..." According to the station's website this broadcast is intended to Kaliningrad region. Another broadcast at 20.00-20.30 local time (1800- 1830 UT) goes to Western Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. In summary, the target area for 1386 kHz is: western Russia, Kaliningrad region (Enclave) of Russia, Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Belarus, Ukraine Note 2: there are Russian minorities and other people understand Russian also in Belarus, Ukraine and in the Baltic region (if they want to understand Russian, but this is a different question...) Then - as the Russian text continues - it advertises DAB+ in Poland, mentioning the times of the Russian broadcast, then mentions Radio Liberty's (in Russian: Radio Svoboda) broadcasting times on DAB+ platform. Attention: in this case the time is in CET (UT +1 in winter, UT +2 in the summer) I ask you to correct if I made mistakes in my description. Especially I am interested in to hear if the 1386 kHz broadcasts go as I described them. I can hear nothing on 1386 here in Budapest. Thanks P.S.: You can see Polskie Radio's russian service's schedule: http://www.radiopolsha.pl/6/40/Artykul/85173 My text-based web browser (Lynx) is capable of converting Russian Cyrillic characters into latinised version. I attach the text in which they describe in Russian their broadcasting schedule available on the link http://www.radiopolsha.pl/6/40/Artykul/85173 http://www.radiopolsha.pl/6/40/Artykul/85173 Kak nas slushat' Nas mozhno slushat' v internete, cherez sputnik, a v Moskve, Kaliningrade, yuge Rossii, Kavkaze i Central'noj Azii takzhe na srednih volnah. S 1 iyulya 2015 goda nashi peredachi retransliruyutsya iz Armenii. My veschaem v diapazone 214 m na chastote 1395 kGc v 21.00 po Moskve. Vy smozhete uslyshat' nashu programmu, kotoraya vyhodit v 17.00 po Varshave. Nadeemsya, chto nas opyat' smogut pojmat' slushateli iz Central'noj Azii, takzhe na Kavkaze ozhidaem poyavleniya horoshej slyshimosti, signal dolzhen dojti i do Moskvy i Minska. CHto sovsem novoe - nas mozhno budet pojmat', naprimer, v Izraile i na Kipre. V zapadnoj chasti Rossii, v chastnosti v Kaliningradskoj obl., a takzhe v stranah Baltii, v Belorussii i na Ukraine slushajte nas na srednih volnah na chastote 1386 kGc. V Kaliningradskoj oblasti slushajte nas v 19.00 chasov po mestnomu vremeni, v zapadnoj Rossii, Belarusi i Ukraine - v 20.00 po mestnomu vremeni. Slushateli iz Moskvy i moskovskoj oblasti mogut slushat' nas slushat' posredstvom Vsemirnoj radioseti (738 kGc) v 0.30, 3.30, 6.00, 9.00, 12.30, 16.30, 20.00, 22.00 po MSK. Napominaem, chto "Vostochnoevropejskuyu volnu" mozhno slushat' 24 chasa v sutki. "Zarubezhnaya sluzhba Pol'skogo radio" rasshiryaet veschanie v cifrovom formate DAB+ v Pol'she Vladel'cy novyh cifrovyh priemnikov, rabotayuschih v sisteme DAB+, teper' mogut prinimat' kanal "Zarubezhnoj sluzhby Pol'skogo radio", prednaznachennyj dlya inostrancev, prebyvayuschih v Pol'she, s peredatchikov v Varshave, Katovice, Lodzi, Vroclave, SCHecine i Opole. Veschanie na russkom yazyke osuschestvlyaetsya v 13.00, 15.00, 17.00, 19.00, v 21.00 i v 22.30 (pol'skogo vremeni). Izbrannye informacionnye peredachi «Radio Svoboda» v nashem `efire mozhno uslyshat' v 2.00, v 5.00 i 11.00. Programma peredach kanala DAB+ nahoditsya na internet-sajte dabplus.polskieradio.pl. Takzhe slushajte nas, perehodya po ssylke: http://www.polskieradio.pl/Player/-13 Vashi predlozheniya i zamechaniya po rabote kanala DAB+ prisylajte po adresu digital@polskieradio.pl (ALL via Tibor Gaal, Hungary, July 19, dxldyg via DXLD) ** PUNTLAND. Finally, after many days of checking this frequency 13800, heard Puntland Radio this morning 7/20 with male in talk at 1332 tune in with mentions of Somalia or Somaliland. AM mode via TwenteSDR with just a trace of carrier using my receivers and Wellbrook loop here in Maryland (Dan Robinson, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) SOMALIA, Puntland Radio One again on the air on July 20: 1445-1505 on 13800 GRW 020 kW / non-dir to EaAf Somali CUSB Surprisingly 13800 kHz was cut off around 1507UT, no signal! http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/puntland-radio-one-again-on-air-on-july.html (Ivo Ivanov, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DXLD) Weak signal of Puntland Radio One after 1500 UT slot: 1500-1600 13800 GRW 020 kW / non-dir EaAf Somali CUSB, July 21 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/weak-signal-of-puntland-radio-one-on.html -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Monitoring 13800 on 7/22 noted Radio Puntland in the 1230-1300 UT range, then suddenly carrier off, using TwenteSDR. On re-check at 1400 UT noted back on with stronger signal, male announcer in Somali talk (Dan Robinson, MD, dxldyg via DX WORLD OF RADIO 1783, LISTENING DIGEST) Reception in Sofia, Bulgaria of Puntland Radio One in Somali 1425 on 13800 CUSB on July 22, video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5CpkfCx828&feature=youtu.be -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, DXLDYG VIA dxld) ** QATAR [non]. Transmissions of audio of Al-Jazeera TV via BABCOCK are cancelled: 1200-1400 11835 DHA 250 kW / 225 deg N/ME Arabic Sun-Thu July 5-9 1800-1930 17680 WOF 250 kW / 114 deg N/ME Arabic Sun-Thu July 5-9 My last recordings on July 9 at 1800, 1814 and 1834 UT on 17680 via Woofferton: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/transmissions-of-audio-of-al-jazeera-tv.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #919 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, July 20, 2015, dxldyg via DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Voronezh region. Radio Comintern. 6990 kHz. Today I received a letter from Sergei in my request to change the schedule of broadcasting of the Comintern. Sergei plans to broadcast in the summer from 1500 for 1800 UT, and in winter from 1200 at 1500 UT. [brush up on those prepositions! gh] http://dxing.ru/forum.html?func=view&catid=21&id=30608&limit=8&start=32#30861 (via RusDX 19 July via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DXLD) ** RUSSIA. Very good reception of Adygeyan Radio on July 17: 1800-1900 on 7325 ARM 100 kW / 188 deg to CeAs Adygeyan Fri http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/very-good-reception-of-adygeyan-radio.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #919 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, July 20, 2015, dxldyg via DXLD) July 17: Adygeyan Radio in Adygeyan to CeAs 1800 on 7325 Armavir https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjQjkKLHlx4&feature=youtu.be Adygeyan Radio in Adygeyan to CeAs 1815 on 7325 Armavir https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G31ref34wg&feature=youtu.be Adygeyan Radio in Adygeyan to CeAs 1830 on 7325 Armavir https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDZ_TNtNVMc&feature=youtu.be Adygeyan Radio in Adygeyan to CeAs 1844 on 7325 Armavir https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti01h7QEu1E&feature=youtu.be Adygeyan Radio in Adygeyan to CeAs 1857 on 7325 Armavir https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yes_UdTAp8&feature=youtu.be ** RWANDA [non]. 17605, Radio Inyabutatu, Issoudun, 1830-1835, escuchada el 18 de julio de 2015 en kiñaruanda a varios hombres en conversación en forma de tertulia en exteriores, se escucha murmullo de fondo y el sonido de un teléfono móvil, SINPO 45554 (José Miguel Romero, Sacañet (Castellón), España, YAESU FRG-7700, Antena hilo 10m, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SAUDI ARABIA. 9714.920, HQ prayer from BSKSA Riyadh, seemingly muslim Ramadan festivity program? 0748 UT on July 18. S=5-6 poor signal of this non-directional NE / ME target signal, here in southern Germany (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SERBIA [non]. Took my Tecsun PL-880 on a short business trip to London and Noordwijk last week and logged a few stations from the hotel rooms using just the Tecsun's collapsible whip antenna. From London: 14 July, 2100 UT, 6100 kHz, Radio Serbia International in English. Weak signal with co-channel QRM possibly from China Radio International in Arabic (Richard Langley, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) No signal from International Radio Serbia on 6100. Nothing at 1730 Italian, 1800 Russian -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, 1824 UT July 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Thanks, Ivo, yes, Bijeljina Bosnia broadcaster, with Serbia International program is not on air, 6100 kHz tonight. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, 1851 UT July 20, ibid.) International Radio Serbia on the air from 1730 on 6100 kHz tonight, July 20 [sic, posted July 21 – gh] 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, ibid.) I want to try and log them before they close down for good at the end of the month. They are still on Shortwave, right? I've looked and looked, but can't find times or frequencies for them. I looked on their website using Google Translator and didn't see anything. Does anyone have a website or listing with CONFIRMED schedule of times and frequencies? (Paul Walker, Beaumont, Texas, July 21, dxldyg via DXLD) It will be tough from Texas on 6100 long before sunset (gh, DXLD) 1730-2200 on 6100, more info here http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/04/international-radio-serbia.html (Ivo Ivanov, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DXLD) I doubt I stand much of a chance of logging them, looking at the schedule; it's pretty much smack in the middle of the daytime, daylight hours here. Plus, it seems CRI is on the same channel at some times and I'd likely hear them instead (Paul Walker, TX, ibid.) All I found is this: Program schedule | INTERNATIONAL RADIO SERBIA */ /*-->*/ RADIO YUGOSLAVIA - SHORTWAVE Period: 29. March 2015. - 25. October 2015. http://voiceofserbia.org/program-schedule http://www.short-wave.info/index.php?station=R.SERBIA%20INT And I'm hearing them right now in russian on 6100 on http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/ hope this helps, 73s (Rodney Johnson, NV, ibid.) Yes on air, with announcement in Italian and Russian, but not in ENGLISH, to closing on shortwave on July 31. Videos will be added today -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria 1843 UT July 21 Now is broadcasting in English, ID at 1830 UT on 6100; now is playng music (Roberto Sadun, Italy, July 21, ibid.) International Radio Serbia Programming Times/Frequencies If you just want to listen to their final weeks, they are on my Pro version on my Android app: http://1radionews.com The app has a 4.9 out of 5 rating and is half off right now in US for the next 20 installs. (Until we reach 500 downloads.) Free version reached 11,000 downloads but doesn't have the dozens of "shortwave" station streams I've scoured, tested, and make easy to access a swipe and a button press. Or on the web, listen from: http://voiceofserbia.org "Government closing International Radio Serbia! Dear listeners, by the decision of Serbian government, International Radio Serbia – Radio Yugoslavia – ceases to exist on 31 July 2015. Thus our fruitful cooperation with you and our tradition of continously informing the diaspora and the public worldwide of the current events, business and cultural capacities, beautiful landmarks, culture and tradition of Serbia and former Yugoslavia in 12 languages, via short waves, the Internet and the satellite will be terminated. Thank you for having listened to us and for having trusted us for more than 79 years." ... One last comment - they do not have a podcast/itunes option nor on- demand on their site. If they somehow survive, they should add those options. The sign of a "with it" international broadcaster is a full iTunes/Rss feed for each of their shows and an additional web-based on-demand player. Some go so far as having language-based streams rather than just a copy of their broadcast feed with multiple languages. It is great that Radio360 pulls a lot of satellite feeds and makes podcasts, but more intl broadcasters should do it directly. I want to see stations stay on shortwave, but in my view more online listeners can help keep the content in production. Note: http://www.radio360.eu/index.php/english-podcasts Oh, the coming version 2.1 on my app will add thev simple ability to play just the latest English language podcast from many sources on- demand. Thanks, (Steven Clift, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Announcement to closing International Radio Serbia on July 31: By the decision of Serbian government, International Radio Serbia ceases to exist on 31 July 2015. Thus our fruitful cooperation with you and our tradition of continuously informing the diaspora and the public worldwide of the current events, business and cultural capacities, beautiful land-marks, culture and tradition of Serbia and former Yugoslavia in 12 languages via shortwaves, Internet and satellite will be terminated. Thank you for having listened to us and for having trusted us for more than 79 years!! Another station which goes from shortwave. Current A-15 schedule 1730-1800 6100 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg WeEu Italian Mon-Fri 1800-1830 6100 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg WeEu Russian 1830-1900 6100 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg WeEu English 1900-1930 6100 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg WeEu Spanish 1930-2000 6100 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg WeEu Serbian Sun-Fri 1930-2030 6100 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg WeEu Serbian Sat, co-ch CRI Ar 2000-2030 6100 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg WeEu German Sun-Fri, co-ch CRI Ar 2030-2100 6100 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg WeEu French, co-ch CRI Ar 2100-2130 6100 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg WeEu English, co-ch CRI Ar 2130-2200 6100 BIJ 250 kW / 310 deg WeEu Serbian Fri, co-ch CRI Ar Videos with announcements in Italian, Russian, Spanish, Serbian on July 21 http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/announcement-to-closing-international.html 73! (Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) International Radio Serbia English Service --- Just wanted to pass this along. International Radio Serbia broadcasts in English for North America and Western Europe Tuesday through Saturday from 12:30 to 1 AM UT (Presumably 0030 to 0100 UT) on 9865 khz. Source: International Radio Serbia Editorial Staff via email to me (Paul Walker, TX, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) No, it doesn`t! The North American service has been off the air for years altho they keep it on their schedule; as I have corrected this nonsense several times before. If the staff said this, they must be totally clueless. It was once on 9685, anyway, not 9865, (and the winter frequency was 6190). 73, (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) Sorry, typo on my part. It's 9685 not 9865 kHz. I was given the frequency and time by the International Radio Serbia staff and simply transposed the frequency numbers myself (Paul Walker, ibid.) Reminds me of the time I was at the old RCI Challenges series in Vancouver, BC back in the 90s. I met and had a nice conversation with an engineer from BSKSA who was adamant that they had a North American Service in English, despite I knowing that there was no such thing. Moral of the story is to take with a grain of salt what staff of a radio station say. Believe the expert SWL more so! 73, (Walt Salmaniw, BC, ibid.) ** SLOVAKIA [non]. 9955, July 21 at 1230, R. Slovakia International opening English via WRMI admits at the outset that it`s the July 20 program, so they are always a day late; Prague at 1200 too? No jamming at first, but pulsing soon builds up, as the still yoked Cubans are pissed at the central-European ex-Commies (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOLOMON ISLANDS. 5020, July 16 at 1137, SIBC with music, poor with 5025 Cuba splash; carrier still on at 1212 and still splashed by Cuba, which is lasting incrementally longer with latening sunrises (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) [continued from PNG]. Lest it be overlooked, SIBC - Solomon Islands is another example of a SW station daily providing Christian material. SIBC was established by an Act of Parliament – The Broadcasting Ordinance 1976. About 1157 every day there is a Christian "evening devotional" consisting of a sermon and prayer. A look at their program schedule shows the likes of "Morning Devotion," "Derek Prince Legacy," "Bible Reading," "Catholic" program and "Sunday Church Broadcasts," all being Christian in outlook. Have never heard PNG-NBC or SIBC with any non-Christian programs (Ron Howard, California, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) SIBC, July 18 anomaly; not on the normal 5020.0 at 1157 for the usual "evening devotional," but instead on 9545; followed by ID and NA till 1201; then just open carrier; by 1236 able to confirm pop songs, so Wantok FM relay; heavy adjacent QRM; 5020.0 silent (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, E1 & CR-1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) So that`s why I found no carrier on 5020 around 1200; never have much luck with 9545 here tho untried now. Cuba 9550 would be a problem; why do these two keep adjacenting? There was a 7.0 earthquake offshore in Solomons earlier Sat which I suspected might shake up SIBC operations; apparently the immediate danger of tsunami passed (Glenn Hauser, ibid.) I can still hear weak music at 1420, so presumably them. For me, it's CRI that's splattering over from 9550, listed as in Vietnamese, at strong level. Thanks for the heads-up, Ron! 73, (Walt Salmaniw, ibid.) Yes, SIBC with light pop singer music at 1820 UT July 18 on exact 9545.0 kHz - nothing on empty silent 5020 kHz. S=7-8 signal on 9545 kHz in Queensland Brisbane remote unit, slight QRM of adjacent 9540 kHz RRI Bucharest from Tsiganeshti in German language on S=7-8 signal level in downunder. wb 9545.0 kHz, S=8-9 signal also at 0500 UT on July 19, heard on remote SDR unit in Queensland Australia. Same 'optimistic' sounding music selection as on July 18. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, ibid.) Just above threshold levels on the west coast of Canada. I can hear a male speaking, but that's about it, at 0544 UT. 73, (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, ibid.) Reasonably good here in Alberta at 0548, YL modulation seems a bit low. (Perseus and Wellbrook loop) 73 (Don VE6JY Moman, ibid.) 9545 SIBC heard also, noted at 5 p.m. time local in the Solomons [= 0600 UT July 19] http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2015/07/01/raquel-impacts-solomon-islands-as-earliest-tropical-cyclone-off-australias-north-east/ (Wolfgang Büschel, Germany, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) FYI: SIBC does stream Live on The Internet so you can use that to compare the 5020 or 9545 signal to: http://www.sibconline.com.sb (Paul Walker, TX, ibid.) http://www.sibconline.com.sb/about-us/ Interesting picture of an Yaesu FRG 7700 (rather worn) tuned to 5020. I couldn't find the audio link, though (Walt, ibid.) It's on the main homepage. If you're using a computer it's on the right-hand side about halfway down. If you're using a mobile device it's in the center of the page it almost the bottom of the page (Paul Walker, ibid.) I'd call it fair at 0557 with instrumental music. Noisy, likely due to my urban environment. Modulation of the music, at least is relatively good. Speech at 0559 is just a bit too weak to make out content. Nothing special over the TOH, unfortunately. Gone are the days of the interval signal and formal ID! Off to bed, I'm afraid. 73, (Walt Salmaniw, BC, ibid.) Paul, Thanks for the link. No trouble matching the audio at 0628z here in Virginia USA. A new SWL country for me. Regards, (George, NJ3H, Stephens City, Virginia USA, Perseus SDR and Wellbrook ALA1530AL-2, ibid.) SIBC on 9545 kHz. QSY to 5020 kHz at 0830 UT (S. Hasegawa, July 19, ibid.) July 20, another day that SIBC did not end transmission at 0500 on 9545. 0500-0505 ABC (Australia) news in English followed by what sounded like a RA program with sound bites from the weekend closing ceremony of the Pacific Games in PNG and item about Marshall Islands; 0532 pop music; above average reception. So they are now switching frequency to 5020 much later than in the past. Anomalies or a new schedule? (Ron Howard, California, ibid.) Listening to their local news time 0705 GMT. Just gone 0707 GMT. Regards (Bill, Adelaide, South Australia, July 20, ibid.) This is how SIBC, on 9545, sounded at my location in far far northern California one night http://www.onairdj.com/SIBC_9545_05112015_0800_100ampacific.mp3 After a year of trying, with not so much as even a hint of a carrier, they suddenly appear one night at listenable levels, and are never heard from again. And yes, the time is correct; and if my math is correct, they were off schedule then too (Paul Walker, TX, ibid.) 9545, July 20 at 0532, very poor carrier, trace of music, presumably SIBC again running late. Bill in Adelaide confirms it ran 9545 until cutoff at 0707. Aoki shows it`s the only station at any time on 9545; HFCC shows registered available until 0800, plus imaginary UAE at 22- 24 and imaginary RRI - PGA (Palangkaraya?) at 08-09 only (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOMALIA. See PUNTLAND [not always cross-referenced] ** SOMALILAND. 7120, R. Hargeisa, 1327, July 19. Heard bits and pieces of definite English and some pop music; 1340 start of Somali; noted usual NA marching music 1359-1400*, so back to normal post- Ramadan schedule (off 1400-1500); poor with normal amount of ham QRM (Ron Howard, Asilomar State Beach, CA, E1 & CR-1, dxldyg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SOUTH AFRICA. 3320, Radio Sonder Grense, Meyerton 2350 to 2357 om ballad, very strong signal 12 July (Robert Wilkner, Pómpano Beach, South Florida, 746Pro, Drake R8 NRD 525, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. Unscheduled broadcast of Brother Stair via Media Broadcast, July 15 from 0845 on 9790 unknown site NAU or ISS to WeEu English, cut off at 0925 UT: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/unscheduled-broadcast-of-brother-stair.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #919 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, July 20, 2015, dxldyg via DXLD) ** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 9370, July 20 at 0530, WWRB is still on day frequency with Brother Scare, // stronger 3185, so must be intentional; presumably all-night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) But not since ** SRI LANKA. 11905, July 19 at *0114:11.5, weak carrier on from SLBC, 0114:46.5 music prélude starts; 0115:19.0 the 2+1 mistimesignal ends, opening presumed Bengali (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN [non]. 13800, July 16 at 0516, R. Dabanga via MADAGASCAR is good with no jamming audible; in fact it`s the SSOB altho likely to lose that status after 0527. Much weaker on // 11645 via VATICAN 13800, July 19 at 0512, R. Dabanga is VG tonight via MADAGASCAR and no het/carrier jamming audible. (BTW, at 0518, WWV reported the K index at 03 was zero --- unusual!) José Miguel Romero Romero forwards an item from the Sudan Tribune, July 17, that ``Arabsat removes Radio Dabanga from its satellite`` http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article55733 due to complaints from the Sudanese government. This certainly hasn`t impeded its SW relay, and ``Radio Dabanga asked its listeners to follow its programmes everywhere in Sudan on Nilesat 7 degrees frequency 12399 Symbol Rate: 27500 Polarity 6/5``, not even mentioning SW! Aren`t there a few more SW receivers than satellite dishes in Darfur and rest of Sudan? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz: ARABSAT REMOVES RADIO DABANGA FROM ITS SATELLITE http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article55733 July 17, 2015 (KHARTOUM) - The Arab Satellite Communication Organization (Arabsat) has removed the radio station Radio Dabanga from its satellite upon a request from the Sudanese government, said a statement released by the radio on Friday. Radio Dabanga is a shortwave radio station which serves the Darfur area of western Sudan. It is based in the Netherlands and it has been broadcasting in Arabic and local languages since December 1, 2008. The radio was the first media outlet to report accusations last November that Sudanese soldiers had raped some 200 women and girls in Tabit, a village 45 km south-west of North Darfur capital El-Fasher. Mohamed Karim Mahmoud, product marketing manager of Arabsat Broadcast Services, said the decision to remove the radio station was based on a formal complaint he had received on the 24th of May 2015 by the Sudanese ministry of information, said a statement issued by the radio station. “The station is considered to be hostile to the Sudanese government,” said Arabsat in its announcement to stop Radio Dabanga broadcasting. Asked by the uplink company whether there was any item or programme considered to be hostile to the Sudanese authorities, ArabSat answered "We note that this complaint concerns the whole radio station [Radio Dabanga], and not to a specific news item”. Radio Dabanga asked its listeners to follow its programmes everywhere in Sudan on Nilesat 7 degrees frequency 12399 Symbol Rate: 27500 Polarity 6/5. Posted by: (JOSE MIGUEL ROMERO ROMERO, dxldyg via DXLD) 13800, July 22 at 0519, R. Dabanga with good signal via MADAGASCAR, and the jammer carriers are back, two on the hi side making different pitch hets (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SUDAN SOUTH [non]. 11560, July 16 at 0513, fair signal in English with heavy African accent, seems to be discussion of food shortages, i.e. the Miraya FM relay from and back to South Sudan; per latest HFCC, it`s at 03-06 daily, 300 kW, 180 degrees from KCH = Kishinov, Moldova = Grigoriopol`, Pridneststrovye. One of the few target broadcasts at least partly in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWAZILAND. TWR Swaziland asks for additional donations so that a replacement medium wave transmitter for 1170 kHz (50 kW, on air in the evenings) can be shipped to the site to replace a malfunctioning prototype currently in temporary use. According to information received earlier, the transmitter was originally used by an offshore broadcaster and came to be used in Swaziland in 2011 after being refurbished by the HCJB Global Technology Center (Dr. Hansjörg Biener, July 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** SWEDEN. COLOMBIAN MUSIC FEATURED ON SUMMER BROADCAST FROM RADIO REVIVAL SWEDEN --- On Saturday July 25th, Radio Revival Sweden will broadcast the monthly programme from the Swedish DX-Federation at 1200 UT on 7430 kHz with a repeat broadcast on Sunday July 26th at 1000 UT on 9405 kHz. The programme will include a 15-minute show featuring Radio Neiva and Colombian 1960s popular music. Reports and comments on the broadcast can be sent to qsl@sdxf.se (Christer Brunström, Sweden, via Dario Monferini, playdx yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DXLD) ** TURKEY. TRT / Voice Of Turkey website - any update? Still seems as though the TRT website is ignoring the existing Voice Of Turkey English language service and making no attempts to either provide a listening reference or live / on-demand audio. Looks like all previous routes to the external service have been usurped by the web- and TV- centric service. I know Alan Roe's last communication reached a sympathetic ear but, unfortunately, someone who couldn't change the situation; has there been any movement in that area? (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, July 22, NASWA yg via DXLD) ** U K. 3910 kHz early this morning - Amongst the usual weak signals on tropical bands as sunrise approached this morning (17 July) at 0330 UT, I was surprised to find by chance a mammoth strength signal on 3910 kHz when tuning around on my Sony 7600GR portable with its telescopic aerial. (SINPO 55434) Programme was a nice mix of not often heard continuous (sixties/seventies) oldies (soul, tamla etc) plus songs like Elton John's "Benny & the Jets" and The Young Rascals' "A Girl Like You". Unfortunately no IDs apart from two Big L Radio London jingles heard at 0356 and 0440 UT. Excellent listenable strength, despite moderate fading, which had me hooked through to 0500 UT when the transmitter cut. I'm guessing this could be Focus International, though I didn't catch any ID, but would I be their only listener on 3910 between 0330-0500 UT (0430-0600 BST)!? 73 (Alan Pennington, Caversham, UK, Sony 7600GR +telescopic, BDXC-UK yg via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DXLD) On air now at 1830 with a very good signal, much stronger than Laser Hot Hits on 4025 kHz; sadly, still no ID. 73's (John, Faversham, Kent UK, Hoad, Sangean ATS909X + 10m random wire, Sent from my iPad, ibid.) ** U K. FUTURE OF BBC UP FOR GRABS AS UK GOVERNMENT KICKS OFF REVIEW Reuters London By Kate Holton July 16, 2015. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/07/16/uk-britain-bbc-idUKKCN0PQ15V20150716 Britain's newly elected Conservative government signalled on Thursday it would cut back the BBC, the opening salvo in a battle over the future of the world's biggest public service broadcaster. Any attempt to change the 92-year-old broadcaster provokes a fierce reaction in Britain, where it claims a unique cultural status from its role in showing everything from royal weddings and sports events to local news and popular dramas. Setting out proposals for the biggest overhaul of the BBC in at least a decade, the government said changes in viewing habits meant the current scale, scope and funding of the corporation may no longer be appropriate. "With so much more choice in what to consume and how to consume it, we must at least question whether the BBC should try to be all things to all people," Media Secretary John Whittingdale told parliament. Supporters of the BBC say it is a prized national institution that projects British culture around the world while providing essential domestic and international news. But opponents as diverse as Scottish nationalists, media tycoons and some in Prime Minister David Cameron's government say the BBC is a bloated organisation that throttles commercial competition and fails to properly balance its news coverage. "We believe that this Green Paper would appear to herald a much diminished, less popular BBC," the corporation said of the government's consultation document. "That would be bad for Britain and would not be the BBC that the public has known and loved for over 90 years." Known affectionately as "Auntie", the BBC runs nine national TV channels, 10 national radio stations and a comprehensive website. With an overall income of 4.8 billion pounds ($7.5 billion) a year, it employs nearly 19,000 people. It is currently funded by a 145.50 pound ($226.92) licence fee paid by every TV-owning household as well as by some commercial income. After an unexpectedly decisive election victory, Cameron's government is in a strong position to take on the BBC. Whittingdale said the government would examine whether the BBC should be reduced in size, whether a subscription service or home levy would become more appropriate in time, and whether it needs stronger oversight from a new external regulator. Its commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, which promotes and sells its programming around the world, could be privatised. "Given the vast choice that audiences now have, there is an argument that the BBC might become more focussed on a narrower, core set of services," the government said. "A smaller BBC could see the public pay less for their TV licence and would also be likely to have a reduced market impact." Long criticised by successive British governments and sections of the right-wing domestic press, the BBC says polling shows that audiences think it produces a broad range of high quality programmes. "Would it not be profoundly unpatriotic to seek to diminish the BBC and thereby diminish Britain?" said Chris Bryant, a lawmaker from the opposition Labour Party. "The BBC is not a government play-thing," he said. Posted by: (Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U K. BBC, A TARGET OF CONSERVATIVES, FACES A REVIEW OF ITS MISSION http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/world/europe/bbc-faces-review-by-conservative-critics.html BBC headquarters in London. The government says the BBC could be smaller and less costly. Peter Nicholls / Reuters [caption] By STEVEN ERLANGER July 16, 2015 LONDON -- The Conservative government in Britain has set its sights on remaking the BBC, the broadcaster supported by a national license fee, after a political campaign in which the Conservatives complained that the BBC's news coverage has a left-wing bias. On Thursday, the government's secretary of state for culture, media and sport, John Whittingdale, presented a "green paper" to Parliament, the opening of a comprehensive study of the BBC's future, suggesting that the corporation could become smaller, less costly and less competitive with British newspapers and private television channels. The BBC, which is currently financed by an annual payment of 145.50 pounds, or $227.50, from nearly every household that owns a color television or that can watch television in real time, is up for its 10-year charter review next year. Mr. Whittingdale, a known critic of the corporation, said he wanted to examine the nature, funding, reach and governance of the corporation, considered one of the finest, if not necessarily the most efficient, broadcasting networks in the world. "With so much more choice in what to consume and how to consume it, we must at least question whether the BBC should try to be all things to all people, to serve everyone over every platform or if it should have a more precisely targeted mission," Mr. Whittingdale told Parliament. The review would look at how the BBC is financed, the scale of its output and whether it needs tougher oversight by a new regulatory body, replacing the much-criticized BBC Trust, he said. It would also include a period of consultation with the public. The fight is ideological and philosophical, as well as political. The BBC was founded more than 90 years ago as a state broadcaster with a mission to "inform, educate and entertain." Some believe that the BBC currently has become much more than a broadcaster -- running a news service on the web that rivals newspapers, for example -- and competing too avidly with private companies to create popular entertainment of the lowest common denominator, both on radio and television, while paying its top talent salaries that dwarf those of the most senior government officials. There have also been parliamentary hearings into large severance packages the corporation awarded to senior management in what was meant to be an effort at cost-cutting. Those on the right believe that the BBC is biased toward London and the left. Many on both the left and the right believe that the BBC is too afraid to offend anyone and takes "political correctness" to an absurd degree. In other words, critics believe that "Auntie," as the BBC is sometimes affectionately known, should stick to her knitting -- documentaries, middlebrow programming, "objective" broadcast news, filling niche segments and gaps in the market that profit-driven companies would never bother to fill. Or as Mr. Whittingdale suggested, "The BBC, as a public institution, should not have the same imperatives as commercial companies, such as trying to maximize audience share." He distinguished between programs the BBC itself creates and those it competes with other companies to buy, like "The Voice," a singing talent show, in order to counter a similar program on the private network ITV and improve ratings. Others, of course, believe that competition from the BBC produces better programming and content all around. But there is no question that the BBC is a huge operation, employing close to 19,000 people and with an annual budget of about -L-4.8 billion ($7.5 billion). George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer, noted that the BBC News website "is a good product, but it is becoming a bit more imperial in its ambitions," he said, "crowding out national newspapers." Most of Britain's newspapers are on the right and support the Conservatives, and have complained about the BBC's move into nonbroadcast news reporting. As for financing, with the increase in people watching television programs after broadcast on devices that are not televisions, like computers and smartphones or tablets, the government wants to study whether the current license fee should remain and increase with inflation, or whether there should be a subscription model, or some hybrid. For instance, the BBC is proud of its iPlayer, which allows viewers to see programs already broadcast for a set period of time without cost; some suggest that the BBC should charge for such broadcasts, as iTunes does. Another idea in the green paper is for a core BBC that is free and a premium BBC that is paid. Another is that the license fee simply be applied to every household as a universal levy. There has already been a major controversy over a deal that the BBC should pay for license fees for anyone older than 75, a bill previously pushed by the government and estimated at -L-750 million, or $1.1 billion -- a boon to the government and a real-term cut to BBC funding of between 10 percent and 15 percent. Tony Hall, the director general of the BBC, went along with the idea in return, he said, for assurances that the license fee would remain and would increase in line with inflation -- it has been unchanged since 2010. For those so inclined, the license for a black and white television costs only -L-49 ($77). But Mr. Hall has been criticized for giving up too much to the government by agreeing to absorb part of the state's budget, and committing to spending that the corporation cannot control in an aging population. Mr. Hall has defended the deal as necessary and said he would ask older citizens who can afford the license fee to pay it regardless. As for the larger changes suggested in the green paper, the BBC said in a statement that it would fight them, while praising itself as "a creative and economic powerhouse for Britain." The green paper, the BBC said, "would appear to herald a much diminished, less popular, BBC. That would be bad for Britain and would not be the BBC that the public has known and loved for over 90 years." As part of its defense, the BBC admitted to having organized a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron against any changes from some well-known actors and personalities, including Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, J.K. Rowling, Mark Rylance and David Attenborough. The letter called the broadcaster "the envy of the world" and said, "A diminished BBC would simply mean a diminished Britain." The government has also criticized the BBC's commercial ventures, including BBC Worldwide, which sells programs abroad. But Mr. Hall argued that it made the corporation -L-226.5 million ($354 million) last year. The government has appointed a panel of eight people to work on the renewal of the BBC's charter. Some of the group come from commercial broadcasting, and the former chairman of the BBC Trust, Christopher Patten, called the panel "a team of assistant gravediggers" appointed to help Mr. Whittingdale "bury the BBC that we love." (via Mike Cooper, DXLD) ** U K. [Swprograms] BBC LICENCE FEE COULD BE MEANS TESTED UNDER GOVERNMENT CHARTER RENEWAL PLANS - Telegraph Shared link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/bbc/11742553/BBC-licence-fee-could-be-means-tested-under-Government-charter-renewal-plans.html The BBC Charter is up for renewal, and there are several elements of the BBC's existence that could be changed. One of them is the Licence Fee funding mechanism - making it "means-tested", as is the Finnish broadcasting licence fee. Another item for consideration is public service programming, a decision that has long been part of the discussions on the CBC: Should CBC (or the BBC) participate in sports programming rights fee discussions such as the NHL or Wimbledon? Worth keeping an eye on; because the fortunes of the World Service are directly tied to the Licence Fee, which historically wasn't the case (Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA USA, July 16, Swprograms mailing list via DXLD) Rich, Most of us probably remember when WS had Div I matches on Saturday and Sunday, before the Premier League and programming right was even an issue. I think the only footy that BBC covers anymore (and someone can correct me if I¹m wrong) are some select FA Cup matches, which at best are blacked out on 5 Live streams. Today, the sums that Sky and BT are shelling out are somewhat absorbed by advertising revenue on TV. That would have to be recouped at the BBC via their UK-only licensing fee. I may be mixing radio and TV metaphors here, but therein lies another part of the problem: Brits would be paying a much larger licensing fee for the whole world if audio were broadcast on the WS again - that part would clearly have to change. What`s interesting is that part of the issue here is why broadcasting rights are so high to begin with, something that they also dealt with in Spain recently (all of La Liga was on strike because of a rights disagreement). (Mark Fine, ibid.) I think the answer is two-fold: 1. The absolutely ridiculous profits and salaries this enterprise produces (largely due to its audiences' willingness to pay.) 2. The excess profits of the corporate world have to go somewhere. Cynical, yes. Inaccurate? I think not (John Figliozzi, Halfmoon, NY, ibid.) Even more cynical, yet admittedly off-topic, it would bring FIFA/Sepp Blatter into the picture. But I agree, the amount of money involved in world football is absolutely insane enough to fund whole countries back to solvency (if only Greece had a profitable league such Germany, Italy, or Spain). How the BBC uses it as a funder of the PL, passing it along to viewers, or as billpayer for other services (if they even could) remains to be seen (Mark Fine, ibid.) When the EPL signed their last radio rights deals "world rights" went to TalkSports who carry commentary from every game on their app. But the deal also gave BBCWS the right to pick up the BBC domestic feed for a game on Saturday and a game on Sunday. So the World Service usually features second half commentary on Saturday's and sometimes more than that on Sunday. Additionally BBC WS also still has FA Cup games and the Champions League Final (Mr. Sandy Finlayson, Director of Library Services & Professor of Theological Bibliography Westminster Theological Seminary Philadelphia, PA, ibid.) The Charter Review document has now been published. See page 56 on the BBC World Service, protected use of licence fee funds. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/445704/BBC_Charter_Review_Consultation_WEB.pdf (Mike Barraclough, July 16, ibid.) The first three paragraphs are complete drivel. The BBC is governed by a Crown Charter which is reviewed every 10 years and always has been since it has been formed except when it has been agreed that it be extended for a few years. The Government started that process which it is required to do legally (Barraclough, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. THE RADIO BROADCASTER WHO FOUGHT THE COLD WAR ABROAD BUT REMAINED UNHEARD AT HOME http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-radio-broadcaster-who-fought-the-cold-war-abroad-but-remained-unheard-at-home-1437512977 Willis Conover spread American culture and values across Europe and the U.S.S.R. with his radio program, but almost no one in the U.S. knew about his show. By Doug Ramsey July 21, 2015 5:09 p.m. ET 5 COMMENTS During the Cold War, listeners in captive nations behind the Iron Curtain huddled around radios in basements and attics listening to the imposing bass-baritone voice of the man who sent them American music. His greeting -- "Good evening, Willis Conover in Washington, D.C., with Music U.S.A." -- was familiar to millions around the world. At home, relatively few people knew him or his work. A proposal for a postage stamp honoring Conover may give hope to those who want the late Voice of America broadcaster to be awarded a larger mark of distinction. Willis Conover during a radio show in 1949. Photo: Associated Press/Bob Daugherty For 40 years, until shortly before his death in 1996, Conover's shortwave broadcasts on the Voice of America constituted one of his country's most effective instruments of cultural diplomacy. Never a government employee, to maintain his independence he worked as a freelance contractor. With knowledge, taste, dignity and no tinge of politics, he introduced his listeners to jazz and American popular music. He interviewed virtually every prominent jazz figure of the second half of the 20th century. His use of the VOA's "special English" -- simple vocabulary and structures spoken at a slow tempo – made him, in effect, a teacher of the language to his listeners. Countless musicians from former Iron Curtain countries have credited Conover with attracting them to jazz, among them the Czech bassists George Mraz and Miroslav Vitous, the Cuban saxophonist and clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera and the Russian trumpeter Valery Ponomarev. On the Conover Facebook page established in 2010, Ponomarev wrote that Conover had done as much for jazz "as Art Blakey, Duke Ellington, Horace Silver, Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie." Conover's New York Times obituary said, "In the long struggle between the forces of Communism and democracy, Mr. Conover, who went on the air in 1955 . . . proved more effective than a fleet of B-29's." In his publication Gene Lees Jazzletter, the influential critic wrote, "Willis Conover did more to crumble the Berlin Wall and bring about the collapse of the Soviet Empire than all the Cold War presidents put together." In its Dec. 9, 1966, issue, Time magazine quoted Conover on the importance of the music he championed. "Jazz tells more about America than any American can realize. It bespeaks vitality, strength, social mobility; it's a free music with its own discipline, but not an imposed, inhibiting discipline." When Conover visited Eastern Europe and the U.S.S.R. -- Poland for the first time in 1959, the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia in 1965 – huge crowds gathered to greet him as a hero. But thanks to the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948, which forbids the VOA from broadcasting within the U.S., only Americans who snagged VOA shortwave signals directed overseas knew Conover's programs. Attempts to persuade Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama to posthumously award Conover a Presidential Medal of Freedom have yielded no result. There have been official recognitions, however slight. News articles about Conover were read into the Congressional Record in 1985 and 1993. In 2009, on a resolution introduced by Rep. John Larson of Connecticut, Congress declared a Willis Conover Day, and he was mentioned during celebrations on the National Mall. But the greatest appreciation has come from members of the public who set up the Conover Facebook page, just as a new campaign to have Conover recognized by way of a postage stamp grew out of a citizen petition. The petitioners' goal was to collect a thousand signatures. As of July 18, the total was 7,757. The Voice of America broadcast most of the early Newport Jazz Festivals, with Conover as master of ceremonies for many of the concerts. That increased his fame abroad and also made him known to festival audiences who, because of the Smith-Mundt Act, couldn't listen to his broadcasts. He produced concerts at other festivals, notably the 1969 New Orleans Jazz Festival, remembered as one of the greatest of all such events. Its Stars included Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, Gerry Mulligan, Paul Desmond, Eubie Blake and a host of Crescent City luminaries headed by Pete Fountain. Conover's VOA theme music was Duke Ellington's "Take The `A' Train." Early in the first term of President Richard Nixon, he suggested that the president give Ellington a 70th birthday party at the White House. Nixon advisers Leonard Garment and Charles McWhorter got the president's approval. In April 1969, Conover assembled an all-star band that included Clark Terry, Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan, with guest pianists Dave Brubeck, Earl Hines, Billy Taylor and Willie "The Lion" Smith. The all-stars serenaded Ellington with new arrangements of his music. Guests included an array of Washington dignitaries, and celebrities as various as film director Otto Preminger, composers Harold Arlen and Richard Rodgers, pianist Marian McPartland, and Oklahoma football coach Bud Wilkinson. Mr. Nixon played the piano and led the guests in singing "Happy Birthday." Then he awarded Ellington the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In the New Yorker, Whitney Balliett wrote that Ellington "was finally given his due by his country." That is an honor that eluded Conover while he was alive. If the 13 members of the Postal Services Stamp Advisory Committee approve a Conover stamp, perhaps the posthumous medal won't be far behind. Mr. Ramsey writes about jazz for the Journal. He blogs about jazz and other matters at Rifftides, http://www.dougramsey.com (via Mike Cooper, David Cole, DXLD) ** U S A. VOA Radiogram, 18-19 July 2015 Am 17.07.2015 um 17:20 schrieb VOA Radiogram: Hello friends, ............. If you enjoy decoding images, this weekend’s VOA Radiogram will include six MFSK32 images, five in color and one gray-scale. Here is the lineup for VOA Radiogram, program 120, 18-19 July 2015, all in MFSK32 except where noted: 1:28 Program preview 2:38 Solar airplane grounded until 2016* 7:07 Cubans yearn for Internet access* 12:59 The New Horizons Pluto mission*......................... Perhaps the next time a few more details of the data transfer, as described here: "...The Solar System’s Worst Dialup Connection..." http://gizmodo.com/why-itll-take-new-horizons-16-months-to-send-us- this-we-1717769317 In ‘three-axis pointing mode’ 600-2000bit/s, in ‘spin-stabilized mode’ up to 4kb/s and what kind of digital mode is used..... ? Yesterday again good transatlantic reception on 17870 kHz, + scattered KBC-pics from 9925 kHz, skipzone: http://www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/VoA_Radiogram_2015-07-18.htm (roger, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1782 monitoring: confirmed Friday July 17 at 2130 on WRMI 15770, and at 2130.5 on WRMI 7570 --- this time 7570 is as good as 15770, much better than usual. Also confirmed Saturday July 18 after 1430 (via UTwente) on Hamburger Lokalradio 7265-CUSB, sufficient. Next: 0315vUT Sunday WA0RCR 1860-AM 2100 UT Sunday WRMI 15770 2300 UT Sunday WRMI 11580 0300vUT Monday WBCQ 5110v Area 51 0330 UT Monday WRMI 9955 1100 UT Tuesday WRMI 9955 0630 UT Wednesday HLR 7265-CUSB 1315 UT Wednesday WRMI 9955 1430 UT Wednesday HLR 7265-CUSB 2100 UT Wednesday WBCQ 7490v WORLD OF RADIO 1782 monitoring: confirmed from 0316 UT Sunday July 19 on WA0RCR, 1860-AM. Quite better signal than last week. Vern does his own introduxion and edits out my country-list billboard because of the music. Next: 2100 UT Sunday WRMI 15770 2300 UT Sunday WRMI 11580 0300vUT Monday WBCQ 5110v Area 51 0330 UT Monday WRMI 9955 1100 UT Tuesday WRMI 9955 0630 UT Wednesday HLR 7265-CUSB 1315 UT Wednesday WRMI 9955 1430 UT Wednesday HLR 7265-CUSB 2100 UT Wednesday WBCQ 7490v WORLD OF RADIO 1782 monitoring: WRMI off the air: no signal Sunday July 19 at 2100 on 15770, nor at 2300 on 11580 (nor on any other frequency). I asked Jeff White and he replied at 2242 UT: ``Power failure. Florida Power & Light estimates restoration of service at 10:30 pm ET. Let's hope. Jeff``. It had axually come back by 0103 UT July 20 when I found 11580 and the others back to normal. WOR confirmed at 0330 UT July 20 on 9955. Also confirmed from 0302 UT Monday July 20 on Area 51 via WBCQ 5110v-CUSB. Next: 1100 UT Tuesday WRMI 9955 0630 UT Wednesday HLR 7265-CUSB 1315 UT Wednesday WRMI 9955 1430 UT Wednesday HLR 7265-CUSB 2100 UT Wednesday WBCQ 7490v WORLD OF RADIO 1782 monitoring: confirmed Wednesday July 22 at 1315 on WRMI 9955, good signal. WORLD OF RADIO 1783 monitoring: 1130 UT Thursday WRMI 9955 2100 UT Thursday WRMI 7570 2130 UT Friday WRMI 15770 2130 UT Friday WRMI 7570 0630 UT Saturday HLR 7265-CUSB 1430 UT Saturday HLR 7265-CUSB 1930vUT Saturday WA0RCR 1860-AM 0315vUT Sunday WA0RCR 1860-AM 2100 UT Sunday WRMI 15770 2300 UT Sunday WRMI 11580 0300vUT Monday WBCQ 5110v Area 51 0330 UT Monday WRMI 9955 1100 UT Tuesday WRMI 9955 0630 UT Wednesday HLR 7265-CUSB 1315 UT Wednesday WRMI 9955 1430 UT Wednesday HLR 7265-CUSB 2100 UT Wednesday WBCQ 7490v Full schedule including AM, FM, webcasts, satellite: http://www.worldofradio.com/radioskd.html Access to audio, podcasts of this and previous programs: http://www.worldofradio.com/audiomid.html (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 9955, July 19 at 0116, WRMI modulation is suptorted, not English, maybe Kriyol. Suspect it`s an input, not output problem, i.e. crummy program source. Listed for 0115-0130 UT Sunday is Soulsvision. At 0142 now the modulation is OK from next show in Spanish giving address for Ejército de la Salvación en Atlanta, Georgia, i.e. `Maravillosas Palabras de Vida`; and at 0151 now W&M in Italian, the language of the `Made in Italy` show rather than English. If they were to do an English version, the title would then be in Italian (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. Art Bell advance test on SW Art Bell on SW: Posting by The Dood on the FRN; As heard on Allan Weiner World-Wide, a test broadcast of Art Bell's Mid-night In The Desert will be Sunday night mid-night EST July 19th, or Monday morning the 20th, if you look at it that way, on WBCQ. [No frequency was given for this, but I'd try 5110 and 7490. The original posting indicated that Art would be on 5085 WTWW.] (MARE Tipsheet July 17 via DXLD) i.e. 24 hours before the official launch. As I said on WOR 1782, Art Bell website shows 7490 and 9330 for WBCQ, also 5085 WTWW, PLUS CFRB 1010 which means 6070 too. What EST? It starts at 0400 UT when it`s not mid-night in the Nevada desert (gh, July 17, dxldyg via DXLD) Art Bell`s revival show, `Midnight [sic] in the Desert` starts UT Tuesday July 21 at 0400-0700, to be 5-nightly, but word leaked out that there would be a test run 24 hours earlier, so I start monitoring at 0400 UT July 20: Via 7490, WBCQ, July 20 at 0400, Art is already going with ``Rule #1: there will be no bad language``. This is VG, stronger than // 9330, and at first I think that is still on something else as not synchronized. Later I time the delay on 7490 behind 9330 at seven seconds. Unsynchronized WBCQ //s are the rule, not the exception for reasons unknown. Also about a minute behind on 5085 via WTWW-2. He`s rambling on and eventually taking callers, many of whom are using Skype and sound like they are right next to him in studio (and no satellite-delays either). Australians are listening at convenient afternoon time, unlike Europeans in their early morning. He keeps asking how it sounds, and most report it sounds great, presumably listening via online/apps. In fact at 0445 Art thinx he`s not yet on radio stations, but will be tomorrow including shortwave. What does he know? At 0545 and 0615 there are some buffering breakups, oh oh. He thinx this is the only talk show feeding stations exclusively by internet; really? Everyone is excited to have him back, and honored to talk to him. Subjects for future discussion suggested, the oddball stuff you would expect, such as feral humans, unpleasant near-death experiences, etc. Also had an oddball newscast by someone else at 0430-0440 or so. I never was a big Art Bell fan --- too much else to monitor in the late night, or sleep --- but it`s nice to add a little variety to the American SW bands beyond gospel-huxtering. He`ll also be on CFRB Toronto, which means 6070 CFRX too, but as far as I can tell on very poor signal at 0543 July 20, not yet for the trial run --- which includes mandatory C Crane commercials already and another very annoying yeller for some food product played far too often. {I will admit to listening to most of this via WBCQ 7490 stream for convenience, once I had confirmed and compared the SW signals} Full station list on AM and FM (including one near here): http://artbell.com/radio-stations/ (Glenn Hauser, OK, WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Glenn, thanks for the heads-up. 9330 and 7490 in // came on without any announcement, cutting off in mid-sentence the program in progress. 5085 is in parallel, but delayed by almost a minute. I'm not hearing Art Bell on 6070, however, although reception is not great from Toronto. Both 7490 and 5085 is very strong, with 9330 only slightly less so. 73, (Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC, 0405 UT July 20, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) Test broadcast of Art Bell's Mid-night In The Desert is on air after 0500 UT on 7490.0 and 9330.1 probably until 0700 UT. On 7490 no signal here in Bulgaria. Videos on 9300.1 will be added later today -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, QTH: Sofia, Bulgaria, July 20, ibid.) Test broadcast of Art Bell's Mid-night In The Desert via WBCQ July 20: 0500-0700 on 7490.0 BCQ 050 kW / 245 deg to ENAm English AM, no signal in BUL. 0500-0700 on 9330.1 BCQ 050 kW / 245 deg to ENAm English CUSB. Good signal til 0600, poor from 0600, co-ch Cuban Spy Number HM01 Sun/Mon/Wed/Fri from 0657 UT. http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/test-broadcast-of-art-bells-mid-night.html Tuesday, July 21, 2015: Updated SW schedule Midnight In The Desert with Art Bell from July 20: 0400-0700 5085.0 TWW 100 kW / 180 deg SoAm English M-F WTWW-2 0400-0700 6070.0 TOR 001 kW / non-dir ENAm English M-F CFRX 0400-0700 7490.0 BCQ 050 kW / 245 deg ENAm English M-F WBCQ in AM mode 0400-0700 9330.1 BCQ 050 kW / 245 deg ENAm English M-F WBCQ CUSB mode (Ivo Ivanov, ibid.) It`s UT Tue-Sat, not Mon-Fri! (gh, DXLD) Noted around 0500-0525 UT on July 20: 5085.000, USA WTWW S=9+25dB heard on remote SDR unit in Florida. 7489.972, USA ?same program time delayed?, but seemingly ?WBCQ, fluttery S=9+10dB. 9330, cusb mode, broad uppersideband signal, rather tall string peak visible on exact 9330.053 kHz, S=6-7 fair signal on remote Florida at 0525 UT, WBCQ? wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) I heard this last night while checking 41 meters as I often do this time of night here. Seems he was having difficulties with his ISP and his incoming lines were all VOIP. While I was listening he had very few callers that could stay on the line and sometimes his own broadcast feed would do the digital start-and-stop dance. At one point he himself, over the air, was wondering if he was still *on* the air! I'm not much of a talk radio fan and I must admit I found all of this poor planning pretty hilarious as he was obviously flustered! WBCQ The Planet, 0545 20 Jul 2015, 7490, 0533 20 JUL - WBCQ THE PLANET (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) in ENGLISH from MONTICELLO, ME (WBCQ). SINPO = 35132. English, heavy QRN. Art Bell show. ARRL commercial for amateur radio at 0533z. Story about a head transplant 0534z. Musical selection “twilight zone” by golden earring. 0542 a caller from Canberra Australia, comments on Art’s musical selections. 0545 choppy modulation, then an announcement about technical difficulties, followed by dead carrier. Then music. Then came back 0548z. They lost phones and internet, Art says he doesn’t know if he’s on the air or not. sf97.7, a3, k1, geomag : very quiet. 50 kW, beamAz 245 deg, bearing 58 deg. Sangean ATS505 with Kaito KA33 in west facing window. Received at Las Vegas, United States, 4100 km from transmitter at Monticello, ME (WBCQ). Local time: 2236 (Rodney Johnson, NV, ibid.) Midnight in the Desert heard well in the Sonoran Desert --- 7490, WBCQ (Monticello, Maine) 7/21, 0420. Art Bell taking listener calls on suggestions for program topics. Possible // on 5110 (Poor). //s confirmed 5085 (Excellent sig level; audio hum); 9330 (VG). (Rick Barton, AZ; Grundig Satellit 750 and outdoor Slinky, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) I don`t think Bell is/was on 5110; at least not scheduled (gh, DXLD) 7490, July 21 at 0459 tune in to WBCQ with gold ad not synchronized with 9330 but both interrupted at 0500 WBCQ quick jingle/bell IDs which are synchronized. This is the much-hyped début of `Midnight [sic] in the Desert`, Art Bell`s radio revival (what else has he been doing all these years?), but rather anticlimactic since he really came back 25 hours earlier with a test run. Back to program and now 9330 and 7490 are almost synch, a reverb apart. // 5085 WTWW-2 is timed on a 46-second delay. During the next local commercial break, July 21 at 0559, WTWW is instead filling with electronic music loop, maybe provided by AB feed. When programming resumes after 0600, now it`s 31 seconds behind 7490. And then 7490 is lagging behind 9330 by about one second. These variations can be blamed on each frequency using a different internet feed. Also on CFRX: see CANADA. 97.5, July 21 at 0524 UT, KPAK Alva OK, ``The Rock`` promo ID, and NO Art Bell (yet?), despite being on his station list both for Alva and nearby Kiowa KS --- I suspect this alleged affiliate has something to do with WBCQ`s Scott Becker being a resident of Kiowa (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 5085 good, 7490 good, a bit less selective fading, 9330 barely audible here in the woods 5.7 miles WNW of Silverstreet, SC! (Powell NNNN E Way, III, ABDX via DXLD) Streaming tips: Schedule located at http://darkmatterdigitalradio.com HTML5 streaming at http://player.streamguys.com/dmr/sgplayer/player.php CFRB 1010 is OTA only. (Paul S. in CT, FN31nl, July 22, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. 5109.723 main peak and UPPER SIDEBAND signal visible, WBCQ TOM Brother Stair sermon at 0343 UT July 21. And another strange lower peak 'seen' on 5109.626 kHz too. S=8 signal across the Atlantic here in southern Germany. wb (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. 5085, UT Fri July 17 at 0535, WTWW-2 is unusually on with rock music, soon Ted with shoutouts to alleged listeners, first names only, and all in the USA, then playing an alleged request. Is it really live? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 12105, July 20 at 0121, WTWW-3 is off when it is normally on until circa 0200, but at 0136 it`s back on with the separate PPPP screed in English not // 9475 WTWW-1. 5085 WTWW-2 was also on at 0121. At 0618, open carrier on 12105 again, surely WTWW-3, and still/again so at 1343. Ted must have forgotten to turn it off overnight. See also separate logs of the Art Bell experiment (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Open carrier / dead air of WTWW-3 on 12105 at 0750 UT, July 20 -- 73! (Ivo Ivanov, dxldyg via DXLD) ** U S A. 9265, July 17 at 0222, no signal from WINB, already off, despite latest schedule on website http://www.winb.com/schedule.htm dated July 5 for Thursday evening in ET/UT: 09:00P / Fri-0200...Faith Holiness Church 09:30P / Fri-0230...NeUventureon Wallstreet [sic] WINB *still* hasn`t figured out that ET is currently EDT which is 4 hours, not 5 hours behind UT!! So maybe they really went off at 0200 UT with Wallstreet show starting at 0130 UT? Schedule is headed in general ``0730-2200 EST`` [sic] (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 570, July 22 at 0537 UT, PSAs for something in Nebraska, and the South Dakota National Guard; youth carnival August 1 in Yankton, 0538 UT discussion of baseball stats. Surprised to be getting 5/5 kW WNAX at this time of night, yet nothing from KLIF, XEBJB, Radio Reloj, Las Cruces or anything else! WNAX is audible all day on groundwave, but always way below KLIF Dallas, which is twice as close, but with unfavorable E-W patterns day and night for us. WNAX night pattern is supposed to throw most signal slightly east of north, minor lobes to SW and SE, while day pattern is ND. As of a year ago, WNAX format was news/talk, not sports talk per se: hypothesis, maybe they had carried a late/west coast silly baseball game, and forgot to go off day pattern; but how did they get rid of the other 570s? I don`t think there was an ionospheric disturbance wiping all normal signals out leaving this by groundwave even at night (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) WNAX is still primarily news/talk/farm but often carries games in the evenings but as far as I know even when covering the State tournaments they still switch to night pattern. They did get a lot of rain in Yankton and to the SW recently, maybe enhanced the SW lobe? (Tim Hills, Sioux Falls, SD, ABDX via DXLD) ** U S A. 690, July 16 at 1124 UT open carrier, obviously from KGGF Coffeyville KS. They sometimes leave carrier on long after sign-off shortly after local midnite 0500 UT, and might have been all night, but this time was not on a few minutes earlier when I was picking up Zacatecas. Still OC past 1130 UT and not checked again until 1201 UT, when now it`s modulating programming. Wonder if KGGF is now intentionally not signing on until 7 am CT? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 720, July 16 at 1106 UT, ``104.1, La Picuda(?) está en el aire``, into music, CCI from another Spanish, slow SAH. At first I was thinking Mexican but no such correspondence fits; instead per http://www.alphamediausa.com/markets/sanantonio/vsredir/index.php and http://www.nortenosa.com/ the 720/104.1 combo is San Antonio`s KSAH (COL: Universal City), ``Norteño`` brand which may or may not be current. 104.1 is KSAH-FM, 100 kW licensed to Pearsall TX, as discussed before, rimshooting San Antonio. WTFDA database agrees on the Norteño identity, but shows format as sports, and 720 has also been listed with ESPN Deportes. Masculine norteño may be significant as a manly sports image, rather than norteña implying música which is feminine. Not at all sure of the Picuda non-ID, but reminds me of what was heard for a while on the 1120 Tulsa station, syndicated format from Los Ángeles, http://www.picudaradio.com/ (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1020, July 16 at 0535 UT, Spanish religion is way over near- local KOKP Perry OK sportstalk, which I can only hear by nulling KCKN Roswell NM, obviously powered back up to 50 kW, but NOT protecting KDKA. Relaying Radiovisión Cristiana, 1330 NYC, KCKN has been back for some weeks but never heard this strong before (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Applications to extend existing STAs were received from KCKN-1020 Roswell NM (U4? 1000/1000 from backup transmitter, although new 50 kW transmitter is installed and will be relicensed soon); (AM Switch, NRC DX News July 27 via DXLD) See my recent reports: 50 kW? ** U S A. I still am NOT hearing anything from 1060v KIJN, Farwell TX on the NM border {and address in Clovis NM}, religion mostly in Spanish tho the calls obviously stand for In-Jesus`-Name, 10 kW daytimer which used to run all night, nor noticed around SR or SS either making we wonder if it`s on the air at all. It was also off- frequency enough to make a LAH. In case it got religion, official SR/SS times for July: 1145/0200 UT; August: 1215/0145 UT. Aha, a new letter in the KIJN Correspondence File dated July 1, 2015: http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=59133 notifying licensee that they are 25 months delinquent in payments to FCC, and application for renewal will be dismissed after 30 more days unless payment resolved. I guess this means they could still be on air till end of July, but maybe gave up already. License expired August 1, 2013! Evidently the FCC is unaware of their cheating into the nights, unless the delinquency is at least partly for an unfound fine. WWJD! (Glenn Hauser, OK, July 16, DX LISTENING DIGEST) 1060, July 17 at 0156 UT, I`m deliberately checking for KIJN Farwell TX, 10 kW daytimer which if on the air should be about to sign off at legal sunset --- but no trace of it. No het against anything from its perpetually off-frequency transmitter --- but if I aim N/S, I do get a het, obviously from XERDO Matamoros etc. 1060, July 17 at 0158 UT, EWTN fades in, i.e. KRCN Colorado, which has another half hour to legally run 50 kW day power (August: until 0200 UT); it has also sometimes run day power into the night instead of 111 watts, but not noticed lately. And still no sign of KIJN; see previous report about its difficulties with the FCC (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1110, July 18 at 1857 UT on caradio in eastern Enid, South Asian music on very weak signal. Has to be 50 kW KVTT in The Metroplex TX (COL: Mineral Wells). Normally on 1110 in daytime I get a trace of 50 kW KFAB Omaha instead. KFAB is ND and Radio-Locator shows fringe contour only to between Salina and Great Bend; NRC Pattern Book shows its contour extending right to Enid (tho that`s not what it really means, rather strength relative to others), while KVTT has three lobes: major to the SE, medium to the SW, and minor to the NW, but Enid closer to a null. This is slightly after local mean noon at 1832 UT when skywave should be minimal if any. I suspect KVTT got a slight boost from sporadic E, as this was amid an opening into VHF TV and maybe FM from Mexico, same direxion; see previous report. Es affecting MF could explain these anomalies especially in the summer season. I wish other DXers would be alert for such correlations, but I sense a certain disinterest in daytime DXing (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1190, July 17 at 0200 UT, singing ID for ``All American Radio, KQQZ``, then ``Jimmy Brown``. Oh2, official July sunset is 0130 UT (August: 0100 UT). FCC shows 10 kW daytime, 22 watts night from Desoto MO; but has CP to change COL to Fairview Heights IL, where it can run 650 watts at night (or hey, why not just keep on 10 kW??). (St Louis MO market). Multiple slogans from website http://www.kqqz1190am.com/ Hot Talk / Kool Killer Kountry / ``The 1st Amendment and All American Station`` (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. 1200 WAMB Nashville, TN was Spanish CHR, now Westwood One Real Country, old slogan: “La Radio De Hoy”, new: “Real Country” (Robert Wien, Broadcasting Information, IRCA DX Monitor July 25 via DXLD) ** U S A. "Music Radio AM 1300", KSET Lumberton/Beaumont, TX is on the air for some testing today through the weekend. It's not in AM stereo yet and not on the air permanently yet; some things are just being tested for now. Enjoy tuning in if you are in Southeast Texas. Posted by: ("Paul B. Walker, Jr.", July 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) But back off later before official start delayed, he says (gh) ** U S A. AM STATION SUNSET SIGN OFF MESSAGE === Before I programmed WABV Abbeville, South Carolina as "Cool Country 1590" I ran it as conservative Christian talk "Family 1590" and had a little ditty / station song created by television shopping show host Steve Bryant that I played every night at sunset when I signed off, in this order: 1.) Legal ID 2.) This song 3.) Sign off message with full contact details and technical info 4.) National Anthem performed by the US Naval Band 5.) Legal ID 6.) Carrier Drop The legal ID was ran again because, as I interpreted the rules, the legal ID was the first thing to be played at sign on and the very last thing to be played before you sign off. And right after the legal ID was played a second time, I dropped the carrier. Yes, the sign off took 4 minutes and 15 seconds! Listen to it on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/paul-walker-11/family-1590-wabv-abbeville-south-carolina-sign-off Or via this direct URL on my website: http://www.onairdj.com/wabvsignoff1.mp3 Enjoy! (Paul Walker, walkerbroadcasting@gmail.com IRCA via DXLD) That`s the way to do it, as few other stations believe (gh, DXLD) ** U S A. Re: ``1590 UNID 6/27 2154 [EDT] – Gospel in English about Holy Spirit, loops about east-west like the Spanish I was getting almost 24 hours earlier. Greg Hardison reminds me that 1590 in Houston is now Spanish religion. Could be my DFing is getting skewed again. If it were Houston, they would have had to be on ND day pattern after sunset instead of night out into the Gulf (mutually protecting Great Bend which goes north?). At 2200, missed full ID (and could be a different station; meanwhile there was some sports talk at 2158) but at “9 pm” they do refer in English to 103.7 FM. I don’t find any 1590/103.7 combo in the 2014 NRC AM Log. Anyone know of such a new match? (GH-OK, NRC DX News via DXLD)`` How about KGAS-1590 // K279CF-103.7 Carthage TX, ESPN – DY (Dave Yocis, NRC DX News via DXLD) OK; 103.7 match was not in 2014 AM Log ** U S A. 1700 WRCR: July 13, 2015 at 9:58 am #138394 --- My car radio was swamped by the strong RF field which surrounds western Manhattan. I was hearing WMCA, WBBR and others mixing at 1700 Khz. Even with that there were a few areas, such as W57th street between 11th ave and the West Side Highway, where I could hear WRCR’s signal. When they reach full power which will be 3 times the power they are currently broadcasting at which means that they should have enough R.F. to be heard on the west side in Manhattan. The audio from the Nautel is outstanding (areefburns, July 13, radioinsight via Artie Bigley, DXLD) July 13, 2015 at 10:09 am #138396: I heard on the show this morning they are testing all power levels so they might of been testing full power too when you heard the station today (MusicGoodAsGold, July 13, ibid.) July 13, 2015 at 10:36 am #138398: I tried WRCR’s new frequency at 1700 and the station covers the entire NYC area including Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Manhattan, Bronx, Yonkers, White Plains, and others including parts of NJ and parts of CT. But right here in Kingston where I live, WRCR’s new station at 1700 is unlistenable when you get to Poughkeepsie, New Paltz and Highland along with other places including Saugerties. That’s why WRCR’s new signal at 1700 AM cannot reach the Mid-Hudson Valley (musicradio77, ibid.) They are not at 10 kW now. What Steve meant is that during this week while they finalize the installation, do their proof of pattern, take care of a few other technical issues, the power might not be at 10 kW. I can tell you for a fact that they were not at 10 kW this morning. Still, 3 kW at 1700 kHz is better than 125 watts at 1300 kHz. The coverage in Rockland county showed marked improvement. Besides all of that their on air audio (processing, etc.) is outstanding (areefburns, July 13, ibid.) The station is not supposed to cover the mid-Hudson Valley, nor is it supposed to cover the entire NY metro area (limegrass69, ibid.) Accoring to NERW: In the meantime, today’s biggest news comes from Rockland County, NEW YORK, where WRCR (1300 Spring Valley) became WRCR (1700 Pomona) at 6 this morning. I thought WRCR was being licensed to Ramapo at 1700, not Pomona (where their studio happens to be). Has there been a change there? (limegrass69, July 13, ibid.) The station is licensed to Ramapo. Their studio is in Pomona and their transmitter site is where it’s been since 1965 (areefburns, ibid.) Better signal tonight, and I heard one of my all time favourite songs just before 11 pm. It’s nice to have a station doing something different on the AM dial (mimo, ibid.) The signal is pretty good all over Westchester. Also the I-84 corridor from Danbury to Middletown. Pretty decent coverage. I know they will do something really special with it! Nice to have a radio station doing something local that provides a service to the community (Towerclimber31, July 16, ibid.) Is WRCR varying its power? A few days ago in Flushing, Queens the signal came in loud and clear, but since yesterday I can barely pull it in (Bruce, July 17, RadioInsight thread via Artie Bigley, OH, DXLD) 1700 WRCR heard this evening --- I just received a new Sangean ATS-405 and am putting it through its paces. While checking the X-band near sunset 2345 UT (19:45 EDT), I found 1690 WPTX on daytime coming in fairly well for FN31nl. A move to 1700 produced audio for a baseball game with segué into an auto dealership located in Ramsay, NJ. So I immediately eliminated WJCC which does make it here late night. In going back though my notes, I see that I have thought I received WRCR Ramapo, NY but was told it was not functional. Tonite I have verite at 0006 UT (20:06 EDT) with a nice call for "1700 WRCR Ramapo" heard clearly, with resumption of minor-league baseball game. Perhaps folks here with recording equipment can get a copy. According to FCC, WRCR is BMJP with a CP dated 2014 10 kW day/1 kW night (Paul S. in CT FN31nl, using Sangean ATS-405 (DSP), UT July 17, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) ** U S A. On July 16, the FCC approved a reorganization of the Enforcement Bureau’s field operations, with the goal of maximizing the agency’s effectiveness despite declining budgets. The intent was to concentrate operations in urban areas where (so it is thought) the need is greatest. The field offices in Anchorage, Buffalo, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City, Norfolk, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Juan, Seattle, and Tampa will close, while the Atlanta, Columbia MD, and San Francisco offices will move to FCC-owned properties in the same areas. The field offices in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, and Portland OR will remain open, and Kansas City will have field agents on a part-time basis. The FCC will also engage part-time contract employees to cover Alaska and Puerto Rico (AM Switch, NRC DX News July 27 via DXLD) REVAMP OF FCC FIELD OPERATIONS BITTERSWEET TO SOME http://www.radioworld.com/article/revamp-of-fcc-field-operations-bittersweet-to-some/276646 ("Dennis Gibson" wb6tnb, July 21, Sent from my iPhone, ABDX via DXLD) ** VATICAN [non]. Upcoming frequency change Vatican Radio from July 19 1230-1300 NF 11845 TAC 100 kW / 056 deg to FERu Russian, ex 11850* // frequency 15370 PHT 250 kW / 332 deg to FERu Russian, unchanged * to avoid All India Radio in Chinese plus CNR 1 Jamming on 11855. http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/upcoming-frequency-change-of-vatican.html (DX RE MIX NEWS #919 from Georgi Bancov and Ivo Ivanov, July 20, 2015, dxldyg via DXLD) ** VIETNAM. 9635.972, Voice of Vietnam, from Son Tay, national Vietnamese sce, S=7 signal in Alberta Canada at 0950 UT on July 21. 9839.835, Voice of Vietnam from Son Tay site, English service, news at 1005 UT, S=6-7 fluttery signal across Alaska northern Pacific. About some Vietnamese built up project. UN security council decision. Iran economical restrictions of the western US world (Wolfgang Büschel, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 6947.5, July 20 at 0116, RTTY now here, following previous logs of an unmodulated carrier which we hoped might lead to a broadcaster, pirate or otherwise. So can someone ID the RTTY source? (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. 7205, July 17 at 0222, very poor AM signal with singing, presumed Sudan Radio on earlier than Aoki-listed *0245 for what`s left of Ramadan --- but then it disappears, so maybe instead some spoiled ham (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST) UNIDENTIFIED. Station, playing Arabic music was heard again on July 18 0900-0912 on 9550 long Arabic folk song, very poor reception: http://swldxbulgaria.blogspot.com/2015/07/unid-station-playing-arabic-music-was.html (Ivo Ivanov, Blgaria, dxldyg via DXLD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIALS ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Reception report on WRMI 11580, Sunday July 12 at 2300 Male announcer talk about radio stations, transmitters and frequencies, and other technical informations. 23:29 music. Very strong signal (S9+10dB), only few fading and clear sound, small noise. Very useful informations for shortwave listeners. This is the first time I heard this programme, but I will listen often, because I got lots of useful informations for my shortwave listener hobby. Yours sincerely, (István Biliczky (HA5BI) to gh, via DXLD) István, Thanks for your report. I`m glad to know that WOR via WRMI is putting such a good signal into Europe. There are several other times on WRMI, including two hours earlier Sundays at 2100 UT on 15770. As a program, I do not offer QSLs, but WRMI has a special WOR QSL, so I am forwarding your report to Jeff White there. 73, (Glenn Hauser, to István, via DXLD) Hello Glenn, Thank you very much for your action and informations. I will wait for QSL from Mr. White. 73, (István, ibid.) Our expenses continue unabated thru the summer, including maintaining websites and producing WORLD OF RADIO, not to mention time spent compiling DXLD rather than lucrative pursuits. Contributions welcome by check or MO in US funds on a US bank to Glenn Hauser, P O Box 1684, Enid OK 73702. OR Not necessarily in US funds via PayPal to woradio at yahoo.com DX-PEDITIONS ++++++++++++ LOGGINGS FROM WEST GLACIER, MONTANA Tim Hall - Loggings from West Glacier, MT 6/21 through 6/24. All dates/times UTC. Receiver: Perseus SDR-IQ v4.1 / Lenovo W540 laptop with eSSD drive. Antenna: 250 ft. longwire aimed roughly S The new receiver/laptop combination is working great. The laptop is quiet, and the signals are nice and loud. The faster CPU and disk allow me to record the entire AM band at once (on my old laptop I could generally only record 400 kHz at a time before I started having some risk of stuttering). The high-powered stations in Canada and Washington State were often armchair copy, like the good old days. The 3rd night we were there, conditions were very auroral. About 80% of the high-powered Canadian and Washington stations virtually disappeared, leaving a nice pipeline to California… even the graveyard channels had stations from California and Nevada. I’m happy to have logged 42 graveyard stations in 4 nights, especially given that I had loud locals on 1240 and 1340. The following loggings were gleaned from my top-of-hour recordings (generally :58 to :01). It will take me several more weeks to go through my after-news (:04 to :07) and bottom-of-hour (roughly :28 to :32) recordings, and they aren’t likely to produce a lot of additional catches. . . https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ABDX/conversations/topics/69525 (Tim Hall, ABDX via DXLD) Lots of logs in frequency order, mostly multiple stations on each, with lots of slogan, programming, format info (gh, DXLD) SAN CARLOS, MENDOZA DX-CAMP - ARGENTINA Para los que no estaban avisados, quedan todos invitados. confirmen para reservar cabaña. Ingreso, Jueves 27 mediodia, salida domingo 30 mediodia, Salimos desde Mendoza Capital Lugar, Camping Millaray, San Carlos, Mendoza WEB: http://www.campingmillaray.com.ar/ Alojamiento: cabañas para cuatro personas, costo por noche para cada grupo de 4 $ 700. Las ocupamos 3 noches. Incluye desayuno Actividades: Recepcion de LW MW y OC. Diexismo en FM Comunicados en todas las bandas autorizadas LU HF, 6 Mt y 144 Antenas: Beverages hasta 600 metros, Loops y dipolos Para todos los Almuerzos y cenas se cocina comunitariamente y después se reparten los gastos. Propagacion: Necesidad de buena onda!! Saludos, (José LU8YC Kucher, July 18, condiglista yg via DXLD) What month??????? Certainly not July; days of week fit August (gh) DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DAB See POLAND ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCASTING --- DRM See BRAZIL; INDIA ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ DIGITAL BROADCSTING --- DTV See DOMINICAN REPUBLIC; HAITI; MEXICO; +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ OKLAHOMA RADIO EQUIPMENT FORUM +++++++++++++++++++++ HEALTH EFFECTS OF ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS Southgate July 21, 2015 The EC Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) has published their opinion on potential health effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) The report notes: "Overall, the epidemiological studies on RF EMF exposure do not show an increased risk of brain tumours. Furthermore, they do not indicate an increased risk for other cancers of the head and neck region." Read the report at: http://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/emerging/docs/scenihr_o_041.pdf Posted by: (Mike Terry, dxldyg via DXLD) Very interesting; though having known OF several people who, over the past decade, have died of brain tumors/brain cancer who used their cell phones for business several hours per day. I believe the risk of getting cancer from RF is certainly proportional to the amount of time exposed to the RF energy as well as the power and frequency of the RF signal. One obvious case is of a Radio Technician who, in 1983, literally got FRIED standing in front of a 5-Megawatt UHF antenna that was LIVE. He apparently won Darwin's award for that year for ASSUMING that the power would be off before checking the antenna (Steven Wiseblood, TX, dxldyg via DXLD) GRAPHENE MAY USHER IN “RADIOS” THAT DO NOT USE RADIO WAVES Jul 11th 2015 | From the print edition Acoustic chatter http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21657353-graphene-may-usher-radios-do-not-use-radio-waves-acoustic-chatter FROM Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to FM and AM, wireless communication depends on electromagnetic waves—usually, radio waves. But as any motorist driving through a tunnel or under power lines can attest, such waves cannot always propagate properly past every obstruction. Sometimes, a system that used a different medium of transmission would make communication that bit easier. As they report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/07/01/1505800112 Alex Zettl and his colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, think they have devised such a system. Instead of radio waves they use ultrasound. By exploiting sound at frequencies above the 20 kHz limit of human hearing they can, in principle, send messages that neither affect nor are affected by human conversation and other everyday noises that take place at lower pitches. Ultrasonic transmitters and receivers have been around for a long time. But they usually employ the piezoelectric effect, whereby an alternating electric current causes them to vibrate if transmitters or, if receivers, to generate an electric current in response to vibration. This means their range is restricted by their resonant frequencies—which in turn restricts their bandwidth, and thus the amount of information they can handle. More conventional diaphragm-based equipment has a wider frequency range than the piezoelectric sort, but is harder to deploy ultrasonically because the diaphragms are too thick and heavy to vibrate in synchrony with the rapid oscillations of ultrasound. Dr Zettl has therefore been looking for an alternative. And he thinks he has found one: graphene. Graphene is a form of carbon in which the atoms are arranged in a sheet a single atom deep. This lack of thickness leads to lightness which, combined with graphene’s strength (100 times that of steel) and electrical conductivity (better than any unalloyed metal), means the material has attracted a fair amount of commercial hype in recent years. It certainly looks like something thin, light and strong enough to deal accurately with ultrasound. So Dr Zettl and his colleagues have built both loudspeaker and microphone using it. They have field-tested their microphone by recording bats in a nearby park. The animals’ calls range in frequency from 50 to 100 kHz, and the kit’s ability to record them accurately shows its potential to act as a receiver for ultrasonic “radio”. Dr Zettl has gone on to construct such a radio, using the microphone together with a graphene loudspeaker, to broadcast signals within his laboratory. Whether a graphene version of wireless really is the best way to deal with places that the conventional sort cannot reach has yet to be determined. And on land, the need to shuffle between ultrasound and radio waves according to circumstances means the answer may be “no”. But the technology could have wide application underwater—a place that radio waves do not like to go. Swimmie-talkies for divers, anyone? (via Gerald T Pollard, DXLD) PROPAGATION ++++++++++++ 3 HOUR TROPO MAPS + MORE Major change made to the tropo forecast website. http://dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html 1) More maps - 3 hour intervals out to 30 hours. 6 hour intervals out to 6 days. 2) Just one map. Click on map to advance time --- or even easier, use left and right arrows on your keyboard to animate at your own speed. Please pass along any issues or bugs you discover. Thanks! (Bill Hepburn, July 19, WTFDA gg via DXLD) Hi Bill, The VHF ham radio community, like the FM and TV DXers, has been indebted to you for so many years now for providing state of the art propagation forecasting. Thank you so much (Doug Allen K4LY, Inman, SC, ibid.) :Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts :Issued: 2015 Jul 20 0508 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/weekly.html # # Weekly Highlights and Forecasts # Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 13 - 19 July 2015 Solar activity began the period at very low levels on 13 Jul but increased to low levels on 14 Jul with C1 flares from Region 2381 (N14, L=074, class/area Eko/550 on 08 Jul) and 2387 (N17, L=271, class/area Dai/120 on 18 Jul) at 14/0925 UTC and 14/1210 UTC respectively. Very low levels were observed on 15-17 Jul. Ground observatories reported a 22 degree filament eruption, centered near N39E36 at 16/1453-1643 UTC. The associated CME was not geoeffective. Region 2388 (N08, L=024, class/area Cao/020 on 16 Jul) produced a C1 flare at 18/1442 UTC and was accompanied by a Type II radio sweep (est speed 418 km/s). A CME was later observed in SOHO/LASCO C2 coronagraph imagery erupting from the west limb at 18/1512 UTC with an estimated plane of sky speed of 337 km/s. This event is not expected to be geoeffective. A long duration event (LDE) C2 flare was observed at 19/1040 UTC. The LDE was associated with a 23 degree long filament eruption located in the SW quadrant centered near S32W52. CME analysis, and subsequent WSA-Enlil model output, revealed a possible weak glancing blow from the northern flank of the SW-directed CME expected to arrive at Earth early on 23 Jul. No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at moderate levels on 13 Jul. High levels were reached from 14-19 Jul due to effects from a coronal hole high speed stream. Geomagnetic field activity reached minor storm levels on 13 Jul due to effects from a positive polarity coronal hole high speed stream. Mostly quiet conditions with isolated unsettled periods were observed from 14-16 Jul as coronal hole effects subsided. Quiet conditions were observed for the remainder of the period. FORECAST OF SOLAR AND GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY 20 JULY - 15 AUGUST 2015 Solar activity is expected to be very low to low from 20-27 Jul. Moderate levels are likely from 28 Jul through 10 Aug due to the return of old Region 2381 followed by a return to very low to low levels for the remainder of the period. No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to remain at high levels from 20-22 Jul before an anticipated glancing blow from the 19 Jul CME is expected to redistribute. Normal to moderate levels are expected from 23-26 Jul followed by a return to high levels from 27-30 Jul following elevated wind speeds from a combination of the CME and a positive polarity coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS). High flux levels are expected from 03-05 Aug and 10-15 Aug following recurrent negative and positive polarity high speed streams respectively. Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at quiet to active levels on 20 Jul due to influence from a positive polarity CH HSS followed by quiet conditions from 21-22 Jul as effects subside. Unsettled to active conditions are expected from 23-24 Jul due to a possible glancing blow from the 19 Jul CME followed in close succession by a recurrent positive polarity HSS. Quiet conditions are expected to prevail from 25-30 Jul. Unsettled to active conditions are expected from 31 Jul-02 Aug due to a recurrent negative polarity CH HSS, with minor storms likely on 01 Aug when the HSS is at its peak strength. Mostly quiet conditions are expected to return from 03-05 Aug. Minor storm conditions are likely from 06-07 Aug due to another recurrent positive polarity HSS, followed by a steady decrease to active and then unsettled conditions from 08-10 Aug as effects wane. Mostly quiet conditions are expected for the remainder of the forecast period. :Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt :Issued: 2015 Jul 20 0509 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 2015-07-20 # # UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest # Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index 2015 Jul 20 100 10 4 2015 Jul 21 100 5 2 2015 Jul 22 105 5 2 2015 Jul 23 110 15 4 2015 Jul 24 105 10 4 2015 Jul 25 110 5 2 2015 Jul 26 110 5 2 2015 Jul 27 105 5 2 2015 Jul 28 110 5 2 2015 Jul 29 110 5 2 2015 Jul 30 110 5 2 2015 Jul 31 110 18 5 2015 Aug 01 115 25 5 2015 Aug 02 115 12 4 2015 Aug 03 115 5 2 2015 Aug 04 115 5 2 2015 Aug 05 110 5 2 2015 Aug 06 105 20 5 2015 Aug 07 100 25 5 2015 Aug 08 100 15 4 2015 Aug 09 100 10 4 2015 Aug 10 95 8 3 2015 Aug 11 95 5 2 2015 Aug 12 95 5 2 2015 Aug 13 95 5 2 2015 Aug 14 90 5 2 2015 Aug 15 85 5 2 (SWPC via WORLD OF RADIO 1783, DXLD) TIPS FOR RATIONAL LIVING ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Since I rail against violations of SOCAS when they apply to broadcasting, I can hardly object to others expressing their opinions on this. But when doing so, please put your piece only in the body of the message, not the subject! The latest item came from Stein, George A, NJ3H, Stephens City, VA 22655 It seems I need to clarify. When I point out such violations, I say nothing about Jefferson, the First Amendment, the US Constitution or even the USA. I am not justifying such objexions in that way whatsoever. Governments are supposed to represent ALL the people in their jurisdixion. Except in a true 100% theocracy, the so-called Vatican State, this means NOT PLAYING FAVORITES. It is totally unfair to those not members of the favored religion. The only practical way to achieve this is SOCAS. Keep government out of religion and religion out of government. This should be a no-brainer. But you will find that those who object to applying SOCAS are really theists of some sort, in all probability adherents of the favored religion. Don`t try to fool us otherwise with all your arguments. Government stations favoring one particular religion also (should!) open themselves to legitimate claims of all other religions for equivalent airtime. This could be a real can of worms, best avoided. I am an absolutist about this, as you might gather. I declare that the concept of SOCAS {or SOMAS} should apply everywhere {as a basic Human Right}, including countries where it is routinely and severely violated, more so than the PNG case. 73, (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST) ###